With the busy world of ours its tough to get the groceries, vegetables on time & you end up feeling I am such a poor manager of house. Even if you have not tried the e-bill option, you might have met a few spasms of phone line & power getting disconnected. But trust me its very common. Especially with my husband & me both busy with office we could never manage anything in time. There were so many days when we were left with no proper vegetables & guests were knocking on the door. So I thought to share some quickies here to save the embarrassment. Here are some quick recipes which don’t need much resources.
1. Peyaj Posto (Onion cooked in a paste of poppy seeds)/ Alu Posto (Finely diced potatoes cooked in a paste of poppy seeds) – A Bengali delicacy
Peyaj Posto:
Ingredients – finely sliced onions, chopped green chilli (optional), turmeric (optional), Poppy seed paste, salt to taste, cooking oil (best cooked in mustard oil)
Procedure – heat oil in cooking pan, add the sliced onions, green chillies, turmeric & fry till the onions gets cooked (don’t deep fry) . Add poppy seed paste & salt to taste. Mix the ingredients well & simmer for a minute or two before taking off.
Alu Posto :
Same as the above recipe just replace onions with diced potatoes
2. All time SOS Chhola Masala
Ingredients:
Kabuli Channas/Garbanzo Beans, Water, Black Cardamom, Bay Leaf, Cinnamon Stick, Salt to taste, Oil, Hing/Asafoetida, Crushed Tomatoes, Channa/Chole Masala, Red Chili Powder, Chhole Masala, Onions & Green Chilles – for garnishing
Method:
1. Soak the Channas overnight. If not soak it in warm water for half an hour.
2. Transfer the Channas and the Water it has been soaking in into the pressure cooker.
3. Add in Cinnamon Stick, Bay Leaf, Black Cardamom & Salt. Mix
4. Close pressure cooker and allow it to whistle thrice, lower heat and cook for another 20 min. If the channas were not soaked overnight, wait till 11 – 12 whistles.
5. Once done, allow the pressure to go down and then open.
6. Seperate the water and the Channas, do not discard the water.
7. In a pan, heat Oil on medium heat.
8. Once hot, add in the Asafoetida and right after that add in the Crushed Tomatoes.
9. Cook till the Tomatoes seperate from the Oil.
10. Add in the Channa Masala & Red Chilli Powder.
11. Mix well.
12. Add in the Channas/Chole and mix again.
13. Add in the Water that had been set aside, little at a time.
14. Mix occasionaly and cover and allow the channas to cook.
15. Repeat the process till the water is all consumed and the consistency of the gravy looks good.
16. Garnish with Onions and Green Chillies.
17. Serve hot with Puris, Bhaturas, Bread, Chapati, Parathas or Naan.
3. Urad dal Pakoda
Ingredients:
Urad dal, Besan (gram flour), green chillies finely chopped (optional), Coriander seeds, salt, cooking oil for deep frying
Procedure:
Soak urad dal in warm water for an hour. Make a paste of it. Add the green chillies, few coriander seeds, salt & besan to the paste. Mix well add water if necessary. Heat cooking oil to frying pan. Make medium sized balls of the paste & deep fry it. Serve with mint chutney or sauce.
4. Chilly Nutrela
Ingredients:-
nutrela, onions, capsicum, garlic, green chilli finely chopped, vinegar-2-3 tbsp (depends upon one’s taste), cornflower- 2 tbsp, chilli sauce-3 tbsp, tomato sauce-4 tbsp, soy sauce-3 tsp. Chopped spring onions & Red chillies for garnishing.
Process:-
Soak the nutrela in hot water till soft. Squeeze and put nutrelas in a bowl. Put some oil in the wok( 3 to 4 tbsp). Put the chopped garlic & onions. Fry properly. Add the finely sliced capsicum & cook for 2 mins. Add chilli sauce, soya sauce, tomato sauce & vinegar. Cook for some time. Add salt to taste. Add little water & cornflour & boil for 2-3 minutes. Add the nutrela & cook till the gravy gets thickened. Garnish with chopped spring onions & fried red chillies. You can serve it with fried rice, chapatti, noodles.
5. Beguni (Brinjal Pakoda) – A Bengali Junky
Ingredients:
Brinjal, gram flour, salt, water, cooking oil for deep frying.
Procedure:
Finely slice/grate the Brinjals like potatoes in potato chips. Mix gram flour, salt & water well till a smooth paste is formed. Heat oil in frying pan. Soak the grated brinjals in the paste & deep fry them in the pan. Serve hot.
6. Shortcut Kheer
Ingredients:
Rice, Milk, Sugar, Cashew, Raisins, Cardamom seeds.
Procedure:
To prepare kheer in a few seconds add boiled milk, rice, Sugar, cashew, raisins & cardamom seeds in a pressure cooker. Quatity of milk should be twice the amount of water needed to cook rice in pressure cooker. Wait for 2 whistles & your kheer is ready!
7. Bread Poha
Ingredients:
Onion (medium sized), Tomato (medium sized), few kadi patta’s (curry leaves), green chilli (medium), rai (mustard seeds), Cooking oil to fry, sliced bread, salt to taste, red chilli powder, amchur powder, jeera powder, garam masala, Coriander leaves to garnish
Procedure:
Finely chop onion, tomato & green chili. Sprinkle bread pieces with water (do not soak in water as the breads should not be too wet) so as to make the breads soft enough to be made pieces of. Now rub each bread piece between your palms to make small flakes (chooraa) & keep aside. Heat oil in a pan & add mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add curry leaves, chopped green chili & onion. Fry till the onions are golden & then add chopped tomato & add all the spices. When the masala is cooked add the bread to the pan & fry for about 5 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.
8. Chana Chaat
Shortcut Mocktails:
1. Cinderella
2. Robin Hood
3. Masala Cola
More recipes on the way… so keep a check!
P.S. Pictures taken from google search.
In the Amazing World of Diya 