Sprouted Beans in Coconut Gravy(Kirlayle Mooga Ambat)

Source: Sanjeev Kapoor's Konkan cookbook

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup whole green gram(sabut moong)
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds(methi dana)
• 4 whole red chillies(bedgi)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• one and a half cups scraped coconut
• 1 tbsp tamarind pulp
• salt to taste

For tempering:

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 small sized onion finely chopped 
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds and a few curry leaves

Method:

1. Soak moong in half a cup of water for 3 to 4 hours. Drain and tie it up in a muslin cloth. Leave it in a warm, dark place for a day to sprout.
2. Boil moong sprouts in one and a half cups of water till it is cooked but still firm and crunchy. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan. Add fenugreek seeds and sauté till light brown. Stir in whole red chillies and turmeric powder and remove from heat.
4. Add to it freshly scraped coconut and grind with tamarind pulp to a fine paste. Add little water while grinding.
5. Combine the ground paste, boiled sprouts, salt and half a cup of water and bring it to a boil. Add more water if the gravy is too thick. Keep aside.
6. For tempering, heat oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle add curry leaves. Add chopped onion and sauté till the onion turns golden brown(I was in a hurry and so the onion   is not golden in the pic).
7. Pour the seasoning over the curry and cover immediately to trap the flavors.
8. Serve hot with rice.

Note: I like to add a potato cut into cubes to the above preparation. You can boil it along with the sprouts in step 2.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Source: Home Cooking with Sonya(with slight variations to suit us)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and finely diced
• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 deg celsius.
2. Grease a muffin tray or use cupcake liners as I have did.
3. In a small bowl beat milk, oil and egg. Stir in diced apples.
4. In a larger bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix well and stir it until well combined.
5. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and carefully pour the wet ingredients into the well.
6. Stir slowly just until flour is moistened and mixed well. Batter will be lumpy, but that's okay(Thank goodness Sonya mentioned it, otherwise I would have worried about it).
7. Pour the batter into the cups until 2/3rd full. Bake 18-20 minutes until golden brown.
8. Allow to sit for a minute and then remove from pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

Dahi Kadhi/ Hot Yoghurt soup

The first time I was introduced to this Kadhi was about 12 years ago during one of my visits to my in laws place in Vadodara. The only difference being Kadhi was always got from Baroda dairy.  All that was required to be done was warm it up and serve. Being the mangy that I was, at that point of time my palette was not used to either yoghurt or a yogurt based preparation. Since then, I have come a long way.

Ingredients:

For the Kadhi:

• Yoghurt - 1 cup beaten
• Buttermilk - 1 cup
• water - 2 cups
• Chickpea flour(besan) - 4 Tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
• Ginger - 1/2 tsp grated
• Green chillies - 2 finely chopped
• Sugar - 1 tsp or to taste(optional)

For the seasoning:

• Oil - 3 tsp
• Ghee - 1 tsp
• Whole red chilly(dry) - 1
• Cumin seeds/ Jeera - 1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds/ Methi - 10 seeds
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

1. In a pot mix curd, buttermilk, water and chickpea flour well. Stir until there are no more lumps.
2. Add salt, sugar, turmeric powder, grated ginger and chopped green chillies.
3. Bring mixture to a boil on a medium flame, stirring continuously.
4. Reduce flame to low.
5. In another small vessel/seasoning pan heat oil and ghee together.
6. Add the red chilly, cumin, mustard and fenugreek seeds and allow them to splutter.
7. Turn off flame, add curry leaves and mix well.
8. Add the seasoning into the boiled yoghurt mixture and allow it to boil once more.
9. Switch off and serve it in a bowl as a soup or as an accompaniment with some rice and veggies.

Chicken Ghee Roast

Spring has officially arrived and I cannot tell you how good it feels to cook in a bright sunny kitchen. It's strange how something as simple as sunshine can perk you up and get you charged. While the flowers are just about popping up here and there, we are still waiting for the riot of green and all the color.

I have been motivated sufficiently enough to whip up new dishes for the family. This particular recipe had been bookmarked a long time ago, but I definitely lacked the mojo to prepare it..:D By the time I was done with the photo shoot, I promptly sat down with a chicken piece, the yummylicious dry gravy and some brown bread to go along and it wasn't even lunch time!!!! So there, I hope I have tempted you enough to try this out.

Source: Ruchik Randhap

Ingredients:

• 1 kilogram chicken washed and cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 cup ghee/clarified butter
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves and a few curry leaves(I didn't have any)

For the marinade:

• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 cup thick curds or yoghurt
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste

For the masala:

• 15 Kashmiri chillies *
• 8 Bedgi chillies *
• 12 peppercorns
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 12 garlic flakes with skin
• 1 marble sized tamarind soaked in 2 tbsps water

Method:

1. Marinade the chicken pieces with the ingredients mentioned For the Marinade and refrigerate anywhere between 1 to 4 hours.
2. Heat a tawa a or a non stick pan and dry roast the chillies, peppercorns, coriander, cumin and fenugreek seeds. Using a little water grind this along with the garlic and tamarind paste. 
3. Heat 1/4 cup of ghee in a wide thick bottomed pan, add the marinated chicken pieces and cook over an open flame till the pieces are almost cooked. Transfer the pieces to another vessel and the liquid/gravy to another bowl(I had only half a small bowl of gravy).
4. In the same pan add the remaining ghee and fry the masala for 5-6 minutes or till the oil leaves the sides of the pan.
5. Add the cooked chicken, the reserved gravy and salt to taste(If added in sufficient quantity before, then omit). Cook on a medium high flame till the masala dries up. Add the sugar and mix.
6. Garnish with curry and coriander leaves. Turn off the flame.
7. Serve hot with neer dosa, roti or plain hot rice with some tomato saar as accompaniment!

* To know about the chillies used, click on this link.

* Since I didn't have bedgi chillies, I ended up using the shorter variety. It did turn out spicy, but then I LOVE spice..:D

Poached pears in spiced red wine

One thing we miss big time here in Germany is Indian food and going out to eat. It's not that we have no restaurants out here. Oh, there are with lots of beer overflowing. To me, eating out is not just about taking leave from the kitchen and relaxing, it's also about feeding my taste buds with delicious delights. Somehow, we have not been able to achieve the latter. The best restaurants that we have come across have been during our travels. So, while in Lohr we rarely venture out to eat. While I do have one particular restaurant in town which is my favorite, thats about it! This means that I need to get that eating out feel at home...:-)

For the past month, lots of Birnen(pears) are being sold in the market. The kids especially sonny loves having a pear daily after dinner. Hubby had picked up the Feb issue of Good Food India during his unexpected trip back home which featured this recipe. The tingling wine soaked in the juicy pear turned out to be one royal dessert for me.

Ingredients:

• vanilla pod 
• red wine 750 ml
• caster sugar 225g
• cinnamon 1 stick halved
• fresh thyme 1 sprig 
• pears 4, peeled but kept whole with stalk intact
• sprigs of thyme or mint for garnishing.

Method:

1. Halve the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out the black seeds and put in a large saucepan with the wine, sugar, cinnamon and thyme. Cut each piece of pod into three long thin strips, add to pan, then lower in the pears. 
2. Poach the pears, covered, for 20-30 minutes, making sure they are covered in the wine. The cooking time will vary much depending on the ripeness of the pears. They should be tender all the way through when pierced with a cocktail stick. You can make these up to 2 days ahead and chill.
3. Take the pears from the pan, then boil the liquid to reduce it by half so that its syrupy. Serve each pear with the cooled syrup, a stir of vanilla, a piece of cinnamon and a small thyme or mint sprig.(I used only the mint)