Green Bataki (Mustard Green leaves and Potato Gravy)

This is an other Punjabi dish I found in a book, I do not know the real recipe for this, I do not know if it is authentic, please forgive me if it isn't but it was quite nice and tasty recipe as it had potatoes in it :).

GREEN BATAKI

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE CURRY:
1 bunch of Mustard leaves  (around 250 to 300 gms) (Recipe called for spinach)
1/4 Kg Potatoes (5 to 6 Medium sized)
3 to 4 pods of Garlic
2 small Onions (45 to 50 gms)
2 Small Tomatoes (45 to 50 gms)
3 to 4 Green chillies

Ground to Paste:
6 to 7 Cashew nuts
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1 tbsp Anardana seeds ( Recipe called for Magastari seeds)

METHOD:

First of all peel the Potatoes and cook them on a stove top with enough water until it is 3/4th done. (Actually the recipe calls for peeling and cutting and half cook the potatoes into Small cubes and deep fry them in Ghee until they are good), I did not deep fry but once it was nearly done I cut them into cubes and with a bit of more oil say around 4 to 5 tbsp of oil I roasted them nicely and kept it aside.
Then I cooked the Mustard Greens in 1 and 1/2 cups of water, drained the water into a bowl (do not throw away the water) and kept aside.
when the Greens were cooking I grounded everything in the Ground to paste heading to a smooth paste.
In a wok heat a tsp of oil add Green chillies and Onions saute then until they turn transparent then add Tomatoes and saute them again, until well cooked, allow them to cool.
Grind the spinach and the sauteed vegetables into a smooth puree and keep aside.
Next take a wok heat oil and cumin seeds, when they splutter add the Roasted potatoes then add the pureed Green paste and the Cashew paste to it with the reserved drained water and allow it to boil to this add Red chilli powder, Garam masala powder and salt as required with an other cup of oil as it starts thickening you can adjust by adding  more water as needed to make it into a nice Gravy.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it with any roti, pulka or Nans.
I would like to send this to Pari's Flavours of Punjab  event started by Nayana of simply food and to Anardana event hosted by me, started by Priya.

Hope she accepts my entry :)........

Penne Pasta with Lentil Sauce

Hi yaa, I am posting a third one today!, wanted to send all the posts as fast as possible and not to regret latter that I just couldn't make it, Sneezing like a thousand times, feeling sick, I decided I will do this now! and sleep tight and nice get up late in the morning tomorrow and dish up some Upma and start my chores later on..
I made this a few days back, Pasta has become like a back up for make some sauce and keep it or my daughter's make their own sauce and cook pasta and eat when they come home from school dying of hunger, especially my eldest is it a teen problem or a eldest sybling problem God knows she hates to eat her break-fast and gets on my nerves every morning.. Oops running the morning scene in my head, stop moaning to your friends women and get down to bussiness... sorry..., let me stop it right away and the bed is beckoning me!

PENNE PASTA WITH LENTIL SAUCE

Recipe source: The complete Pasta cook book

INGREDIENTS:
350 to 400 gms of Penne Pasta
250 gms of Dried Brown Lentils
1 Litre of Vegetable Stock
2 to 3 tbsp of extra virgin Olive oil
1 Onion Chopped
2 Carrots
2 Celery stalks
1 Red Pepper
6 to 7 French beans
1/2 cup peas
3 Cloves of Garlic
3 stalks of Fresh Thyme leaves
1 Tbsp of dried Italian Spices

METHOD:
First of all wash the dried Brown Lentils and pressure cook them till soft, these lentils don't need soaking overnight they just cook like Thuvar dal, you can use any other lentils of your choice.
In the Mean time cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling water with a bit of salt and a tsp of oil so they don't stick together until al dente.  Drain well and toss with 2 tbsp of olive oil to ensure that they don't stick together. 

Slice all the Veggies and keep aside, Make your own stock or use a stock cube to make 1 litre of stock.
Take a wok heat oil then add the sliced onions and crushed garlic fry until they turn transparent. Then add all the vegetables and cook them well over a medium heat for 10 minutes add the stock and then the dried herbs and fresh Thyme. cook for few more minutes until the vegetables are tender. Then stir in the cooked Lentils adjust water let it syrupy at this point, adjust salt and combine the pasta with the Lentil sauce and allow it to cook for 2 more minutes by closing a lid. Serve it with cheese..
My kids just loved it.. hope you too make it and enjoy.
I am sending this to Lisa's kitchen who is hosting MLLA #29 of Susan's MLLA event.

Dhingri Mutter

Hi everybody, I am here an other post from an other Region of India, It is such a fun to taste different spices from different cuisines, Blogging has brought me more of this lovely interact with people, food and cuisines of the world. I was looking for a Punjabi recipe in my books and then I noticed that I had a few recipes of  Punjabi recipes from my cutting (rather my sis had cut some magazine sheets out for me when I went last time to India after I started blogging my family write down recipes from magazines, books, friends, TV shows and pass it on to me when I visit them how very kind of them to do this for me) coming back to the recipe the name was very cute I thought I do not know what Dhingri means if anybody knows please enlighten me.
Well, anyway Dhingri Mutter with the parathas was very nice and tasty I do not know if it is authentic please write to me if I have missed out anything. Let's get back to the recipe then.
Oh! I forgot to tell you why I got interested about this recipe because it had Mushrooms, as we all know they are high in Folic acid and is good for women and my daughter loves it but other family members are not really have a Oh! yes feeling about it (including me :) ). But, I try to include them now and then, and this one will definitely reappear in my kitchen as you can never ever guess it had Mushrooms in it!.

Here is how the recipe goes.....

DHINGRI MUTTER

INGREDIENTS:
250 gms of closed cup Mushrooms
1 cup of Green peas (I used frozen peas)
2 Onions
2 Tomatoes
1 Green chilli
7 to 8 sprigs of Coriander leaves
2 to 3 tsp of Oil
1 tsp of Chilli powder
1 tsp of Garam Masala powder
1 tbsp of Poppy Seeds
5 to 6 Cashew nuts
1 cup Fresh Yoghurt
3 to 4 Garlic cloves
1'' piece of Ginger

METHOD:
First of all wash the Mushrooms pat dry it, remove the stalks.
Meanwhile boil the mutter with a 1 and a 1/2 cup of water, do not throw away the water just keep them aside together.
Grind Onions, Tomatoes, Green chilli, Cloves, Ginger into a smooth paste.
Then Grind poppy seeds and Cashews into a smooth paste with little water. (to get a nice paste properly you can soak both these ingredients in hot water before you start this subzi which gives ample time to soak well).
Chop the Mushrooms into thin slices and chop the coriander leaves and get everything ready.
Take a wok heat oil, then add the Ground smooth paste and fry it until the raw smell disappears and oil starts to appear around the edges as in the third picture below then add the sliced Mushrooms and fry them until they becomes soft.

Then add  all the Masala powders and give a fry for 2 minutes then add the cooked Peas with an extra 1/2 cup of water with the water already with peas. Mix well then add the smooth paste of Cashew and Poppy seeds and allow it boil with required amount of Salt. Do not leave the wok unattended as it may start thickening Once it starts boiling nicely for 5 minutes add the Fresh Curds mix well and leave it for another 2 minutes with continuous stir otherwise the curds may break, Garnish with chopped coriander leaves mix well and serve this lovely dish with chapatis, parathas or pulkas.
It was very and tasted beautiful.

I would love send this to Pari of food delicious who is hosting Flavours of Punjab started by Nayana of simply food. 

Herbed Mascarpone and Veggie Tart with a French Tart dough

I had an eye on this Tart recipe from David Lebovitz's blog, He is got such a wonderful space, you get just drawn to it so easily well explained, Daring things he explores with ingredients and in culinary art of cooking and baking, you can learn a lot from his wonderful posts, not only that his beautiful photographs are a feast to your eyes even though we know we cannot lay hands on them!. I have not done a good justice to this tart recipe as he has done, because I was little slow in checking out the tart when it was baking so you can see a little nicely browned edges, Anyway  my family loved it and they all enjoyed it and it was like a one pot meal as it was quite filling.
I have to write about this tart as he learnt this from this lady by name Paule Caillat  who teaches cooking classes in Paris Promenades Gourmandes. You have to visit his site and read about this lady and how she taught him make this Tart in his own words as it is very interesting to read, as we all go through that phase when you listen to something you have never heard or thought before that you can do some thing like this for a pastry!, I was really drawn into this French Tart dough and wanted to try out this right away.
You can see wonderful photo Tutorial of this Tart dough in his blog and you would really understand well and try this out.
As we in India make a lot of cakes, this tart dough something very similar to it and a very interesting recipe to try it out.

HERBED MASCARPONE AND VEGGIE TART WITH FRENCH TART DOUGH

So  let us start with how to make this French Tart dough..., check out his blog on the link above for this tart recipe with lovely clicks than mine, and he uses microwave to make his butter to boil and I did this on the stove top!.  coming back to the recipe.

FRENCH TART DOUGH

INGREDIENTS:
90 gms Unsalted butter
1 tbsp Vegetable oil (I also used canola oil)
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp sugar
1/8th tsp salt
150 g (50z or I used 1 cup of flour).

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 410 degree F or 210 degree Centigrade, mine is a Gas oven so I baked it at Gas mark 6

Take a thick bottomed wok as shown in the photo take the measured quantity of butter and start melting it once it is completely melted add the other Ingredients oil, water, sugar and salt and allow it to boil, for a few minutes you can the edges turning brown (something like the smell of ghee I did not allow it to turn brown too much) then put of the flame add the sifted flour to the wok and mix it well until well combined and forms into a ball and pulls out or comes out clean from the wok.
If you are using a Microwave method put all the first five Ingredients into a microwave safe bowl or pyrex bowl and allow it to boil for 15 minutes as David Lebovitz says until you can see the edges turning brown and be careful when handling the bowl as it will be very hot and do not grab it with your bare hands!
Once the dough is done, transfer it into a 9 inch (23 cm) Tart mould with a removable base and spread it with the help of a spatula once it starts getting cool with the back of your fingers/heels press the dough completely into the tart mould to cover it pressing it to the base and edges as shown.
Prick the dough a few times and bake the tart shell in the oven 15 minutes until it is Golden, mine turned a Golden brown as I baked it a few more minutes and my tart mould was bigger than anticipated and the crust of the shell was really thin.

HERBED MASCARPONE AND VEGGIE TART FILLING:

This filling was again from David lebovitz blog as the spring onions caught my attention. Actually this Tart caught my attention then when I scrolled down thinking that I wanted to make my own pastry case, I found this French Tart dough recipe! So I made both of them, as usual I had to make some changes with my filling as I had to use the things which I had in hand and fridge.
Basically David's recipe calls for Ricotta, which I did not have and no time to make it as it was night! So, I had to tweak the recipe to my pantry requirement.
My tart tin was a little bigger I think so use the 9 inch (23 cm) mould for a perfect pastry.
So I used what all I had in hand I had .............

I
INGREDIENTS:
250gms of Spring Onions
1 tbsp butter
1 and 1/2 tbsp Fresh Thyme
5 ounces of Mascarpone
1 Large Egg
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup whole milk
300 gms of Broccoli
1 Yellow pepper
50 gms of Crumbled Tofu

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas mark 6.
Clean and chop the spring onions into 1/2 an inch thickness, cook Broccoli and peas until 3/4th done drain and keep aside until all the water is gone. Press the Tofu and squeeze out all the water and crumble it. wash and pat the Thyme leaves ready.
Heat butter in a wok and stir fry the Yellow pepper (thinly sliced) first and then add spring onions until  tender and then put of the stove season it with salt and pepper and some fresh thyme, and allow it cool down.
Meanwhile In a large bowl take egg beat it well so the egg and yolk are well mixed then add the cheese, milk and heavy cream give a whisk again then add the crumbled Tofu, Broccoli, Peas, thinly sliced yellow peppers
and the spring onions and some more salt and pepper to season as required.
I had some mint and coriander leaves I added a tbsp of them into it. mixed them well and scraped it into the already baked tart shell.
Bake this in the pre-heated oven until it is nicely done as you can see above and check with a tooth pick inserted comes out clean for 20 to 30 minutes
I served it with an array for oven roasted fresh vegetables and sauce of your choice.

I would like to send this to Priya who is hosting AWED - French started by DK of chefinyou, and to Healing foods started by Siri and Guest hosted by Spice mantra.
Hope both of them would like it as my family did....
I am also linking this recipe with ..........

Ragda Pattice.... with a Twist ?

Ragda Pattice .... with a Twist ?, So what's new in that, Even though We all know that this one is So,,? good for health, It is difficult for convincing my kids to eat it.., Then I think.... I think..... and find ways to feed them with this Protein Rich Diet, when ever you visit a Surgery here and you tell them you are a vegetarian they tell me I might not be getting the required quantity of Protein in my diet as Meat eaters .. ?, Then I think..Mmm rather thought, which I never thought about it too much about it all the 37 years I was in India!, Nobody told me I might be not getting the RDA of Protein, I sometimes is it true ?, Because My Grandmother lived the Age of 104 without bothering about Protein diet !!, she had perfect hearing, senses, eyes everything only Her age was giving up on her but still she was so adamant in getting her way!. Well, Bless her wherever she is Let her rest in peace.
Coming back to the Recipe, talking about that too much is that Ingredient is nothing but Tofu!, that's what I used in making these Pattice, A little Twist from the Authentic one.., well, it went down good, that's what we want a clean neat plate.., and asking for a second helping from our kids and you know how its going ? right ?.
I wanted to send this to Tofu event  of Seduce your tastebuds of PJ's and forget to post it on time as always, No excuses sadly :(, I forgot the date !, anyway I will link it to the event, hoping she might accept my late entry if she has not posted her round-up, (please..please...please.. accept my entry) :)


RAGDA PATTICE WITH TOFU


































INGREDIENTS:

250 gms Firm Tofu (shop bought)

150 gms Potatoes

50 gms peas

1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste

1/4 cup chopped Coriander leaves

1/2 cup chopped mint leaves

1 tbsp Red Chilli powder

1/2 cup Rice flour

1/2 Cup Corn Flour

Salt to taste (may be 1 and 1/2 tsp)

METHOD:

Take the Tofu and squeeze the water out of it with pressing it very well, then Crumble it and keep it aside on a kitchen Towel.

Boil the Potatoes peeling the skin off and peas (I use frozen peas if you get fresh peas it's got a taste of its own right ?).

Clean and chop down the coriander and mint leaves.

Mix Both the flours together.

Take a big bowl, Mash the potatoes, peas and crumble the Tofu thoroughly. To this add G-G paste, chilli powder and Salt to taste. Mix them well nicely with a 1/4 cup of Mixed flours if it's still kind of wet add little more Flour. .

Make nice Lemon sized Balls or like pattice or something the size of a Burger! 

Then dip these or coat these pattice in the flour once again, Then Roast on a griddle till brown or Reddish brown on both the sides by adding oil.

Just like in the picture below.

POTATO - TOFU PATTICE

TO MAKE RAGDA:


Ingredients:
250gms of Dry peas
1 tsp Ginger - Garlic paste
1 tsp Garam masala
2 Medium sized Tomatoes
1 Medium sized Potatoe
1 Onion
1/2 tsp of Sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Amchur powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
2 to 3 tbsp Oil
1/2 cup freshly chopped coriander leaves for Garnishing

FOR SEASONING:
1 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of Mustard seeds
1 Sprig of curry leaves
A pinch of Asafoetida

METHOD:
Soak the dry peas overnight with a pinch of soda it makes the peas quite soft. Morning drain and wash the peas well and cook them well with 2 to 3 cups of water  in a pressure cooker until soft (may be 3 whistles) with the potatoes. Take a Kadai heat oil and season it with mustard seeds after they splutter add curry leaves then chopped Onions and Ginger-Garlic paste fry them well, means when they change colour and chopped Tomatoes when they cook well add the powders and fry them for a few minutes then add the cooked peas with the water mix well and allow them to boil for a few minutes then mash the potatoes and mix it into it this makes the Gravy thick and a bit of Jaggery if preferred. Then add the required quantity of salt and cook for a few more minutes and garnish with coriander leaves.


















Once the Ragda and Pattice are ready it needs to be served in this way...

Take a plate place the pattice and add Ragda over it and chopped onions  if you want you can add grated carrot, Beetroot and if you want add some Sev on it.
You can also serve it with Khajur and Imli ki Chutney (Tamarind chutney or Red chutney) or Green Chutney.

Hope you all like and try it out too............

Quinoa Dinner Rolls - Pancitos de Quinoa

Hi friends back again ! Surprise, I had to do this or I will miss to post it again like the last T and T of Alka of Sindhi Rasoi, I made, I ate (rather we ate), but I never posted! ha.., I know I am always like this, so I thought however late it is today I am going to do this...
So here come my Quinoa Dinner Rolls which I made from Chefinyou of DK's as the T and T of this month hosted by Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes, which was started by Zlamushka of spicy kitchen, which is being taken care of by Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles.
I have this love for Quinoa, which I use in most of my cooking, after I came to know as it is rich in proteins which is good for my growing children, I try to add it in different ways in my world of cuisine. I had this mood to bake as my daughter insisted on me making some soup for her when she saw these pumpkin around. But I made her this Sweet potato soup to go with these Dinner rolls, The kids and H enjoyed both, but they wished I could have baked some savoury bread as both were kind of sweet!, well, it did not go to my head then when I made the soup, it was just I thought of attending the AWED event!. well, however it was great and we did enjoy it. Here goes my recipe..., I have tried to include just like DK step-by-step pictures.., DK has taken this recipe from here.., you can check out this recipe in both these blogs....

QUINOA DINNER ROLLS

Do not ask me why I have a photo like this, first time I made a egg wash and this was how it turned out! very shiny!! :))
coming back to the recipe..

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup Quinoa
2 Cups water
3 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 tbsp Active dried yeast
1 cup water
1/2 cup honey + 1 tbsp
1 Cup vegetable oil
2 Egg whites
2 Cups whole wheat flour
4 Cups Bread flour ( I used 2 cups bread flour and 2 cups Oats flour)

METHOD:

Here is how I made them.....

First of all cook the Quinoa seed with 2 cups of water, and drain the water if remaining and keep the cooked Quinoa aside.
Next in a bowl take the active yeast and a 2 tbsp of warm water, mix well, and leave it in a warm place, I usually keep it in my MW for 10 -15 min with the light on you can see the yeast bubbling up, this tells me that the yeast is still active and is in good condition, then I start mixing all the ingredients to it.
So, once the yeast is working its way, I added honey, oil, egg whites salt a tsp of sugar and mixed well with a whisk with 1 cup of warm water . until well combined.
Then I added 2 cups of wheat flour, mixed it well then added cooked quinoa and well combined, then I added 2 cups of Bread flour and 2 cups of oats flour.
I had to use all the flour (not adding the last cup of flour as needed instructed by DK),  I do not know why my  dough was quite sticky, and I had a hard time to handle it, but I did not use any extra flour, I dipped my hand in oil once and in the flour once (that is I just floured my fingers but did not take any extra flour to knead) and tried to handle  the dough and knead it until it was quite smooth and soft, then covered it with a cling film oiling the dough and left it to raise, Once it rose, punched it down again and handling carefully gave it a slight flowery knead to it and shaped them into 11 balls as you can see in the picture and allowed it to raise again.
My dinner rolls were not small as you can see!
I gave the rolls an egg wash, I did not add any quinoa on top as DK did.., just left it to bake.
Meanwhile I had preheated the oven to 425 degrees and pushed the tray into bake for 10 to 15 minutes then lowered the temperature to 375 degrees and left it to bake for an other 10 minutes.

As you can see the rolls were well done, they had a soft interior and a fine crust on the exterior, they had a sweetness to taste, My little girl enjoyed it with Mixed fruit jam and said it was really good. The other ten rolls were consumed by all of us with our soup.
Thanks to Priya, DK, Zlamushka and Lakshmi for this lovely event.., which I do really enjoy....
soon I will post my Tried and tasted from Alka of sindhi Rasoi, which all of us enjoyed in our family.....

Event - Cooking with Seeds - Anardana seeds

Hi friends,
Hope you all had a wonderful Diwali celebrations, Hope everything is back to normal routine life.., I have been quite tired from past 2 weeks with lot of things going on apart from the festive mood. Long back when I saw Priya announcing cooking with seeds event I got tempted and thought I would also like to host an event and wrote to her, she immediately was happy to give this month's  slab, I never thought about it then, that I had lot of things to do this month, few days back I wrote to priya rather she wrote to me to remind me of my event hosting, I felt very bad for not communicating to her, I wrote back to her and told her about the seed I had chosen already and told her that I wanted to wait until November 10th till the festive and holiday mood calms down, she agreed that it was perfect. So, here I am with my announcement, and my apologise to the next month's event holder Niloufer of Kitchen Samraj... Check out her blog for next month's event announcement....
Coming back to the CWS - Event which was started by Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes..., I don't have to introduce priya, she is a blogger who dares to try out , venture into lots of cuisines and does lot of  innovative cooking, She is the brain child of this event and I have chosen Anardana seeds for this wonderful ongoing event...........

This is my first venture in my blogging world, where I have made new friends, new ventures in my cooking world, different cuisines, different spices, and lots of new different ideas in baking and lots of things I have learnt with not just cooking but different things... This is my new step to this lovely world of blogging..., Even though as always I have repeatedly told you I have cooked, baked for different events, I have never been able to post things on time, and miss it so much because of lot of things in my life basically my health, keeps me on a roller coaster ride, as right now I am suffering from a headache, but I just decided whatever it is I am going to do this post, as tomorrow is November 10th and I feel so guilty if I don't do it now, betraying priya, as she had faith in me that I wouldn't let her down :).
I chose Pomegranate seeds as I have not used it in my cooking, I had seen some recipes related to this seeds in some blogs I had bookmarked them too.., I do not know much about this seed so I was curious to know the uses and the value, I mean health benefits of this seeds, I did some googling but really couldn't find much about this seed but lot about Pomegranate fruit.
I have come to know that this fruit derives from the Latin word Pomum (apple) and granates means seeds, It is said its origin is from the region of Persia and Himalayan ranges, In Persia Anar + Dana means Pomegranate seeds. These seeds are said to be made from Dark wild Poms they are too sour to eat fresh and are sticky spice, gives tartness to dishes..., So give me all your old, new and innovative recipes in cooking or baking from this seed....
Here is what you need to do...

1. Prepare any recipe/remedy with this seed.
2. Only vegetarian/vegan  please as my blog features only vegetarian/vegan  recipes.
3. Post your dishes from 10th November to 10th December
4. Multiple entries are welcome
5. Link back entry to CWS - Event announcement page and to Priya's Event Announcement page.
6. Using Logo is your choice
7. Will accept old entries if you just link the recipe to the event announcement page, no need of reposting.
8. You are welcome to post anything useful you know about this seed.
9. If you do not have a blog no problem Please e-mail your recipe to my mail and I am glad to include it in my round-up.

Please E-mail these details to cookingisdivine@gmail.com

Your Name
Your Blog Name
Recipe Name
Recipe URL/Link
Picture

Hoping that you would all participate in this event and make my first event a great success....
Loving to see all the dishes created by this seed.....

Thanks and cheers
Jayasri

HAPPY DIWALI

Wishing you all a very Happy Deepawali, Let those wonderful lights, lighten your moods and bring you all the joy and happiness through out the year....

To all my Dear Friends, Family and all the wonderful visitors a very Happy Diwali Greetings from

Samayal arai - cooking is divine......................

with lots of love and Best wishes

from 

Jayasri