Cooking after a long and busy day sometimes can get overwhelming and for those days these recipes come so handy. This recipe here is super simple, easy and a nourishing happy meal.
Ingredients –
1 cup Rajma – soaked for at least 8 hours (or for 2 hours in hot water and cover the pot)
2 medium sized onions
4 medium sized tomatoes
1 inch ginger
7-8 garlic pearls
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp cooking oil
1 star anise
1 tej patta
2 green cardamom
1 black cardamom
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp black salt
1.5 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp home-made curd
2 tbsp coriander leaves – chopped
1/2 tsp Kasuri methi
3 cups water
Method –
In a pressure cooker, heat oil and butter. Add the whole spices and sauté until fragrant.
Make a purée of onions, garlic and ginger and add that in the pressure cooker. Sauté until the onions begin to change colour.
Churn the tomatoes into a purée too and add that to the cooked onion paste. Mix in salt and black salt to taste and let it cook until the mix releases oil.
Mix all the dry/powdered spices (except garam masala) in the curd and whisk it. Then add it into the cooked onion tomato paste. Whisk until the mix bubbles. Let it cook on medium low flame until it releases oil again.
Then add the soaked and drained rajma into it. Add water and pressure cook it to upto 4-5 whistles.Let the steam escape naturally.
Open the pressure cooker, add crushed Kasuri methi and garam masala. Let it simmer for 2-3 mins. Check and adjust seasoning. If the gravy tastes sour add 1/2 tsp sugar to balance it.
Then mix in the chopped coriander leaves.
Enjoy with rice and pickled onions.
If you like this pressure cooker rajma recipe, let me know your thoughts in the comments below. You can also connect with me on my Instagram and Facebook handle.
My go-to food is rasam rice when I have to cook only for self or when I need to clear my sinuses or just when I crave for a hot soupy meal!
Simplest food to cook and I suggest make your rasam powder at home when you make this. It just takes additional 3 minutes and the taste is unparalleled.
How I make this – Serves 2
Ingredients
2 large red tomatoes – chopped
2 cloves garlic – optional – crushed
1 green chilli – omit if your heat tolerance is low – chopped
1.5 – 2tbsp tbsp tamarind pulp – soak marble size tamarind ball in 2 tbsp boiling water
Salt to taste – approx 3/4 tsp
5-6 curry leaves
2 tbsp cold pressed groundnut oil or coconut oil
1.5 tsp rasam powder
1/3 tsp turmeric powder
1/8 tsp asafoetida
1/3 tsp mustard seeds – preferably fine mustard
2 cups water
Rasam powder –
8-10 whole black pepper
2 dry red chillies
1 tbsp whole coriander seeds
1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
Method –
Rasam powder – dry roast the rasam powder ingredients on medium low flame in a pan until they are light brown, nicely toasted and aromatic. Switch off the flame and let it cool. Grind it into desired consistency. I like it a bit coarse.
Rasam –
Heat oil in a pan and temper mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves. Then add in green chillies and garlic if using. Cook until the garlic begins to change colour.
Now tip in the tomatoes and salt. Cook until the tomatoes are mushy. I like them mushy but if you like a bite to it, cook them a bit less. Now add turmeric and mix.
Mix in the water and tamarind pulp. Let it come to a good boil and then lower the flame and add the rasam powder.
Give a good mix to it and let it cook for 30 secs on low flame. Don’t let it boil after the rasam spice went in it.
Serve fresh with rice.
Enjoy!
If you like this vegan creamy sprouts & coconut stew recipe, please let me know your thoughts in the comments below. You can also connect with me on my Instagram and Facebook handles.
A good soup is always like a warm hug in a bowl. I usually like my soups with lots of added interest. Something to mix, bite and have fun with. This one is my favourite!
Soak/cook noodles as per packet instructions. I used rice noodles so soaked it.
Sauté mushrooms and crushed garlic in olive oil on high heat until they caramelise from both sides. Add a little salt.
Warm a little more olive oil in a soup pot and sauté cinnamon and star anise if using. Sauté chopped green chillies, garlic and ginger. Now add onions and sauté for a min. Mix in the broth. Reduce the flame to lowest and let it simmer for 20 mins. Now mix in dash of soy sauce and sriracha. Taste and adjust salt if needed. Remove the
Assemble the bowl – pour in the broth, add the noodles, and the garnishes.
Enjoy!
If you like this Vegan Mushroom & Noodle soup recipe, please let me know in the comments below or chat with me on my Instagram or Facebook handle.
What could be better than slurping on saucy, tangy, sweet, spicy and hot noodles on a cold winter evening. This one is so moist and saucy and do not require any further accompaniments. Just top it up with freshly sautéed crunchy garlic and toasted sesame seeds and slurppp away! I used the thick and chewy udon noodles for this but feel free to use any noodles of choice.
How to make this?
Ingredients –
250 gms of udon noodles
1/3 cup spring onions
2.5 cups mixed veggies of choice – I used blanched baby corn, sliced mushrooms, blanched green beans, carrot juliennes, red bell pepper, capsicum and broccoli
Boil/cook noodles as per packet instructions with a little salt. Keep a watch as you want mushy noodles. Drain them. (I don’t rinse the noodles under water and rather add them to the wok from the boiling pot).
In a wok, heat sesame oil, add crushed ginger and garlic and sauté for a min. Then mix in the spring onions and sauté on high heat for another min.
Now mix in all the vegetables and continue to sauté on high heat until the veggies are cooked but maintain their crunch.
Then mix in the sauce mix and add the cooked noodles. Now taste and then add salt and black pepper as desired. Mix gently and well.
For the top up – heat oil again, add garlic and sauté until it begins to change colour. Mix in the sesame seeds and sauté for 30 secs. Top up the noodles with this and serve.
Enjoy!
If you try this vegetable chow mein recipe, please let me know in the comments below or chat with me on my Instagram or Facebook handle.
Saag aloo and my mom’s namak mirch ki puri (Marwaris call parathas as puris).
The fresh seasonal spinach is cooked in ghee, onion tomato gravy, seasoned with aromatic spices and finished off with the crunch garlic tadka on top. Oh my! I am still in food hibernation…this paired with my mom’s recipe of namak mirchi ki puri is a delight to savour. Of course, not to miss along was the teekha Marwari garlic chutney and dry mango pickle made by my mom.
Some of you suggested I share the recipe here in the Insta post too along with the blog so here you go –
Ingredients –
500 gms baby potatoes
4 cups chopped spinach
3 medium sized onions
1/3 cup tomato paste
3 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp cold pressed groundnut oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds & fine mustard seeds
1/2 inch ginger & 5-6 garlic cloves-crushed (I used mortar and pestle)
1.5 tsp garlic & red chilli paste
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp curd whisked with 3 tbsp water
For tempering –
2 tsp ghee
6-7 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
Method –
Pressure cook the baby potatoes to one whistle. Let the steam release naturally. Peel the potatoes.
In a stainless steel kadhai , heat 2 tsp ghee and mix in a pinch of Kashmiri red chilli powder, a pinch of turmeric powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix in the potatoes and sauté them until a brown coat appears. Keep aside.
In the same kadhai, heat the remaining ghee and oil and let the cumin seeds and mustard seeds sizzle.
Add in the garlic and ginger and sauté for about a min. Mix in the onions and let it cook until the onions turn soft.
Add the garlic red chilli paste, tomato paste and salt and let it cook for 8-9 mins in medium low flame or until the sides release oil.
Mix in whisked curd and stir until it comes to a boil. Let it cook on medium low flame until again the oil is released. Mix the curry powder, turmeric and black pepper.
Add in the spinach and water, cover and let it simmer on low flame for 6-7 mins.
Add the potatoes, mix well, cover and let it simmer on low flame for around 8-10 mins.
Taste to adjust the tang and add sugar as desired. Adjust salt and seasonings. Let it cook for another min or so.
For tempering – heat ghee in a tempering pan, and add crushed garlic. Sauté until the garlic turns light brown. Mix the red chilli powder and switch off the flame. Pour this on top of saag aloo.
Enjoy with puris or phulkas!
If you like this recipe of saag aloo, do let me know in the comments below. You can also connect with me on my Instagram and Facebook handles.
A food stylist, photographer, and blogger. After leading Human Resources for several years in India and the US, my inner calling prompted me to work on a dream and a vision envisaged by my younger self many years ago. Being creatively inclined and with an interest in food, I decided to embark on my journey towards endless and limitless possibilities.
