Achari Paneer

[Achar = pickle]

Featuring in the endless array of paneer gravies is this unique curry that melds in the flavors of a typical Indian pickle. The whole spices that make up the body of pickles are roasted and ground to an aromatic powder. This is added to the curry to make it take on the flavors of a pickle. 

However, the recipe below is just my take on achari paneer. I took a short-cut. Instead of roasting and grinding the whole spices, I plopped in a few tablespoons of  pre-made pickle into the gravy. I am not taking credit for thinking of this short-cut, though :). I have heard many people adding lemon pickle, or most commonly, mango pickle, in any given curry to easily amplify the flavor by several notches. I also  frequently add avakkkai/mango pickle to regular dal-tadka to flavor it - an inherited preference. So, adding mango pickle to a panneer gravy was a natural hop, not a leap, in my thinking.

I also earn brownie points if I make up "new" paneer dishes.

Bagara Baingan / Baingan Salna

A Hyderbadi specialty, Bagara Baingan is a delicious gravy made with Indian brinjals (eggplants). The body of the unique gravy is plumped with peanuts, coconut and sesame seeds in a spicy tamarind broth. Looking at the ingredients list might make some people dizzy - how can so many different spices and ingredients be forced into one dish, and what will happen to the poor brinjals swimming within all the spices? Worry not, everything will come together nicely and the intrinsic taste of brinjal will withstand all the spicy assault, and will actually complement the tanginess of the tamarind and the earthiness of the peanut-coconut paste. The whole spices (cloves, cinnamon and cardamom) will give a subtle aroma and tie everything together. 

This is a very different gravy and a versatile side dish that goes with most Indian rice and bread varieties.

Substitute brinjals with spicy peppers and you get Mirchi Ka Salan. For a spicier version, add whole black pepper corns to the whole masalas.

Hummus - Indianized Version

The Middle-Eastern dip made with chickpeas and tahini (sesame paste) is a healthy, flavorful, and a versatile dish. It is a very simple appetizer to prepare ahead of time or even in the nick of time, and goes great with chips, vegetables, and as a spread on toast.

Loaded with protein and bursting with the tangy and refreshing flavor of lemon, this Indianized version includes onion, garlic, cumin, coriander, and cilantro.

Two-Potato Vindaloo with Bell Peppers

All of us are hunting for different variations of curries and gravies. So when I came across a two-potato vindaloo recipe in this awesome book, thanks to my super wonderful friend, I had to try it.

I adapted the spice powder recommended in the book, removed a couple ingredients, substituted a couple more ingredients, etc. etc. and came up with this version.

The curry has a different variation of flavors (with a predominant note of curry leaves) and is sweet and spicy for a fulfilling meal.

Dal Korma - South-Indian Style

This is a South-Indian style Kurma/Korma with a healthy mix of lentils and beans. It makes a big batch, so adjust the spices accordingly. 

I love Chettinad style gravies and kurmas. There is a certain mix of whole spices that go into their gravies that I have been obsessively trying to decode and deconstruct for several years now. And I think I have finally figured out the whole spices that give that quintessential fragrance to their kurmas. The secret ingredient is stone flower - the innocuous looking, drab looking piece of lichen. Mix this with a healthy dose of fennel seeds, some cardamom and cloves, and I get a dish that takes me back to my favorite South-Indian restaurants. I have to warn that stone flower carries no aroma in its dry state, but a little goes a long way when it's simmered in the gravy.

Add this spice mix to a medley of vegetables instead of dal, and you get a nice South-Indian style vegetable Kurma that goes great with our parottas.

Kashmiri Dum Aloo

Kashmiri Style Dum Aloo is a uniquely flavorful potato gravy made with yogurt and a host of spices. It's simple to prepare and is different from the regular fare of onion-tomato-cream based gravies. 

My understanding is that the Kashmiri style of Dum Aloo has strong notes of fennel and cardamom, so that's what I considered as the fundamental requirement of the dish and then went along with a version that's probably not completely authentic, but still sort of close to it... I think!

Tomato Pickle with Oven Roasted Tomatoes

As I mentioned in my previous post, tomato pickle is usually prepared by first sun drying the tomatoes and then frying and coating them with spices. Since the availability of sunshine and heat is no longer a luxury in some places, I thought I would experiment by roasting/baking the tomatoes instead of sun drying. 

I was pleasantly surprised and satisfied with the results. If you have tasted sun-dried tomatoes, you must be familiar with the tangy,  concentrated flavor that comes through. So, tossing such intensely flavored tomatoes in spices, enhances the overall taste of the pickle - in a good way. And good news is, these tomatoes are not as chewy as sun-dried tomatoes. 

So, all in all, this was a successful experiment, and is way easier than the instant version I shared in my previous post.

Instant Tomato Pickle

Pickles are a nice way to preserve fruits and vegetables for a while. As Indians, we are almost always preparing pickles all throughout the year, but especially during the tail end of a harvest season, when we want to prolong and preserve the fruit or vegetable. 

My husband and I are fans of tomato based pickles and thokkus, and chutneys. So, it was natural for me to think of preparing some tomato pickle with some of the tomatoes from our garden. 

This version is a slightly different way of preparing tomato pickle. Usually, to extend shelf-life, the tomatoes are seeded and dried in the sun, and then pickled. But, in this version (which is more of an "instant", faster method), I just saute and cook the tomatoes really well and then add spices and seasonings. This pickle will not last as long as the sun-dried version, but is quite delicious, nonetheless.

Indian Vegetable Sides: Sauteed Cabbage with Coconut

The most simplest way of serving vegetables is to saute them with just a few seasonings; seasonings that truly bring out the flavor of the vegetable and showcase it boldly. 

Along those lines, the recipe I am sharing today is one of the simplest and most elegant forms of preparing Indian vegetable sides. This technique is popularly utilized in South-Indian cooking. There is minimal spice and flavorings, but the presence of coconut gratings and a small amount of green/red chillies and black gram are enough to make the dish tasty. 

This same approach can be used to prepare green beans, carrots, beets, cauliflower etc.

Indian Vegetable Sides: Swiss Chard Masiyal

Leafy greens are plenteous in any tropical place, and India is no exception. It teems with a mind-boggling array of herbs and greens, each of which has some medicinal and nutritious value. So, fresh greens are a common vegetable side that features in our meals. In this version, fresh leafy greens are pureed, cooked, and spiced with red chillies, coconut, cumin, and some black gram to make a delicious side that is extremely nutritious.

I have used chard to prepare this masiyal, but you can substitute it with any greens.

Olan

Olan is a simple coconut stew prepared with black-eyed beans and white pumpkin. It is a popular Kerala / Palakkad stew, that's prepared during festivals like Onam.

The simplicity of the dish belies its wonderful and lovely taste! It can be prepared in no time and is nutritious with vegetable/fruits, and protein from the black-eyed beans. And going from recent nutrition "research", coconut is great for you too! I wish some of my grand (and great grand) relatives were alive to hear this, because it's hard not to use coconut in our cuisine, and until recently, we were scorned for the same reason, and our food used to be labeled unhealthy. Of course, moderation (and a sensible head) is the key. No research will validate deep frying pastries in coconut oil... so, moving on ;)

Last month, when I visited one of my aunts, she generously gave us some ripe vegetables/fruits from her lush garden. Amongst those, she gave me an acorn squash and suggested that I make a nice pot of olan with it. Although olan is traditionally made with white pumpkin, any vegetable or squash can be added - we make up rules as we go along :). So I came back home to make a simple and delicious pot of olan with the fresh acorn squash and some carrots.

The lovely acorn squash from my aunt's vegetable patch

Here's how I prepare this simple stew. 

Indian Vegetable Sides: Spicy Roasted Potatoes

Every cuisine and culture has its version of crispy, roasted potatoes. Call it by whatever name, roasted potatoes exist everywhere on the planet! And it's amazing that every cuisine has its own little twist on how to roast and crisp potatoes.

Indian roasted potatoes have to be bundled in spices - it's a given! As it goes without saying, each family has its own unique twist on how to spice (and what spices to use) and roast potatoes. This is a version that I have settled on - it borrows my mom's version and combines a few lessons I have learned through my experiments over the years.

So, here's the simple method to spice and roast potatoes. Use the same procedure to roast any starchy vegetable!

Pressure Cooker Sambar

To those who are familiar with sambar, the title of this post perhaps makes little sense. This is basically an easier, one pot (well almost) version of making sambar - a vegetable and lentil gravy cooked in a tamarind broth. Usually, yellow lentils are cooked separately, the vegetables and spices are stewed in tamarind juice, and then the two are mixed together. In this version, everything is plopped into a pressure cooker and the sambar is ready within minutes. While the cooker is working, I usually saute some onion and tomatoes in spices and then add it to the sambar to make the dish a little more tastier. If you choose to not do this extra, then this is truly a one-pot-dish!

I must thank my cousin for introducing me to this version. It is one of my frequent go-to methods of making dinner. I rummage the fridge and throw in all the veggies I can get my hands on into the cooker, add the lentils, spices, and tamarind juice and after two whistles, sambar is ready, and surprisingly it's so much more tastier because the flavors of the vegetables truly seep in to the sambar. The only thing to do ahead of time is to soak the lentils for at least 30 minutes so that they cook in time with the vegetables in the cooker.

Tiffin Sambar / Hotel Sambar

Sambar, the most common South-Indian gravy/side dish has many avatars with slight variations. The most common form of sambar is made by stewing spiced vegetables in a tamarind broth and cooked yellow lentils. In this version of sambar that mirrors the version that's served in hotels, cooked mung beans (moong dal) is added instead of yellow lentils. Also, there's freshly ground spices such as coriander seeds, red chillies,  coconut, cumin, ginger, and garlic. Finally, as an irrevocable rule, there's ghee (clarified butter)! Un-apologetically so.

I have added radish, eggplant, onion and tomatoes. You can add any kind of vegetables, but try to always include onion and tomato. They make a difference to the flavor. 

This sambar goes great with dosas and idlis. It's simply a fantastic combination, which is why this is specifically called "tiffin" sambar (in South-Indian lingo, dosas and idlis are called tiffin items). 

Here's how it's done.

Indian Vegetable Sides: Spicy Tindora Stir-Fry

Tindora, also known as Ivy Gourd is commonly had in Indian cuisine. Until I read the wikipedia page, I had no idea that this fruit had so many medicinal properties! There's always something to learn in this wide world. 

In Indian cuisine, tindora is frequently cooked and stir-fried with a spicy curry powder such as sambar powder to make a vegetable side that goes well with rice or rotis. 

This style of cooking and stir-frying vegetables with spices is one of the most basic, simplest, and common ways of preparing Indian vegetable sides. This is almost like a formula. If you know this, you can pretty much prepare any vegetable by currying it!

(Side note: I know tindora is not exactly a vegetable per se, but we are used to regarding it as one because of its prominence in savory dishes. So, please look past the glaring term!)

Eggplant Masiyal / Brinjal Masiyal

This side dish is called as dosai masiyal, because it is prepared as a side dish for dosais. We don't make this dish often, because dosai is heavenly as it is, and all it needs is a simple sambar, chuntey, or milagai podi to dip into. But, when one has excess eggplants or brinjals in the kitchen and is bored out of their mind to make the same kinds of dishes, this is a nice dish to resort to. 

It is tangy, spicy, and very simple to make - a concentrated mixture of eggplant and tamarind to spice up dosais, idlis, and even rotis!

Mango Dal

Dal (Indian lentil stew) prepared with raw mango is an Andhra specialty. The mango takes the place of tomatoes, tamarind or lemon juice, and it imparts a delicate tartness and a wonderful raw mango flavor that goes really well with savory stews and dishes.

There are many ways to prepare this simple dish. As with most dals, you can either cook the lentils and then stir fry the other ingredients and then add them to the lentils, or you can take an easier, faster route and just cook most ingredients together, and then lightly season. This mango pappu makes an awesome comfort food at the end of a long day.

Indian Vegetable Sides: Plantain Podimas

Podimas is a classic and unique vegetable side prepared by South-Indians. I am sure it is called by different names, but Brahmins call it Podimas, perhaps because the cooked starchy vegetable is shredded and spiced with a simple combination of ginger, green chillies, turmeric, coconut, and lemon juice. 

Podimas can be prepared with potatoes as well (in the case of potatoes, instead of shredding, just gently crumble the cooked potatoes and follow the same procedure), and other starchy vegetables.

Podimas finds its way on plates and festive banana leaves during special occasions, but it's so easy to prepare that it can easily be a regular vegetable side to feature with simple home cooked food.

Spicy Potato Masala

Continuing with the potato fest from our home, here's a spicy potato gravy made with freshly ground aromatic whole spices and a smooth chickpea batter. This is a slight variation of the dish my grandma used to make.

Every once in a while, it's nice to turn up the volume of spices in classic dishes to make them bolder and different. So I just tried this to spice up a monotonous evening and get some brownie points from the husband.

Indian Vegetable Sides: Brinjal or Eggplant With Freshly Ground Spices

South-Indian cooking heavily uses four ingredients to prepare a common spice blend to season vegetables and lentil-based stews. The four ingredients are: bengal gram, coriander seeds, red chillies, and coconut. These ingredients are dry roasted (or roasted in a little oil) and ground to make a distinctly flavorful blend that elevates the taste of any simple dish.

So, it's no wonder that this blend is used to season and spice vegetables. In this version, brinjals (the small eggplant variety common in South-Asia) are stir-fried with turmeric and seasoned with this aromatic spice blend for a truly delicious vegetable side! This can also be mixed with rice for a really delicious brinjal-flavored rice called vaangi-bath. A small difference is that vaangi-bath is commonly prepared with green-colored eggplants that are first cooked by stewing in tamarind juice. Since it's next to impossible (currently) to find green eggplants in many places outside of India, regular brinjals are good enough substitutes. 

Commonly, really small brinjals are stuffed with this spice blend and then pan-fried for a crunchy and spicy dish called yenna kathirikkai. Since we don't get such small and tender brinjals here, I prepare this version, which is the deconstructed form of the former (plus this version takes way less oil)! My mom often prepares this at home.

This recipe can be used to prepare vegetables such as plantain, elephant yams, and other starchy but hardy vegetables. I know many people are not fond of eggplants/brinjals. But this dish might make them reconsider :)