Recipes

Thai cuisine is one of my favorite cuisine and Thai curry is one of the culinary delight for foodies. It is loaded with so many veggies and burst with Coconut milk flavor. This curry is so creamy and scrumptiously delicious and very easy to assemble with many nutritious vegetables and Tofu. Needless to say its a soul satisfying food. You can customize the vegetable as per your choice/ the availability of the veggies in hand. Zucchini, Green beans, Corn and water chestnut can also be added in the curry. Aroma of the curry wafts throughout the kitchen when you cook it. It is best served hot with Jasmine rice but you can use any Basmati rice of your choice.
Veggies and Tofu in the curry are cooked and simmered in Coconut milk. Cauliflower and Carrot can be parboiled in microwave as theses veggies take longer to cook. Bell Peppers(Red & Green), Green beans should be added at last minutes. I like the pop of color in the curry and like to keep a bite/crunch in them so I add them(Bell peppers, green beans and Broccoli) in last minute. Chopping and cutting of the vegetables take longer and in less than 20 minutes Thai Curry comes together on your plate.
Extra firm Tofu goes best in the curry as silken/medium firm is too soft to handle. Thai curry paste can be found in asian aisle of any super market. But if you don't want to use the store bought, then you can make your own. If you use Concentrated paste then 1½-2 Tbsp. is enough for this serving as it is pretty potent, Whereas if you use the diluted curry paste then you add ½ cup of curry paste.

RAJASTHANI THALI Rajasthani Thali has elaborated dishes and consists at least 20-25 dishes all together.Dal, Bati, Churma is an essential part of the thali with more accompaniment like Mint-Coriander Chutney,Garlic Chutney, Bundi, Raita, Papad, Lemon pickle, Mango-pickle, Gatta curry, Ker Sangri, Bajra ki roti and Poori, Kadhi, Launji, Roti, Rice, Chach or Mattha are name of some favorite items.Thali's main incentive is that you have so many dishes altogether.Dal,Baati and Churma itself is a signature dish and can be eaten with or without Thali. Needless to say that it is most relished dish of Rajasthan.Every dish in Thali depicts the taste and geography of Rajasthan as it is an arid state.Here in my Thali, I tried making some of the famous dishes which are irreplaceable.

MOONG DAL GATTA CURRY(TAKA-PAISA KI SABJI) Gatta Curry is famous traditional Rajasthani dish which is prepared with Gram flour or widely known as 'Besan'.The base of the Gravy is Onion-Tomato and Yoghurt. In this recipe I use Moong Dal flour instead. As Moong Dal is light to tummy and very easy to digest. Gattas are boiled in water first and then fried in oil. Later Gattas are simmered in Yoghurt base garvy.Traditionally Gatta Curry doesn't have any filling inside, but sometime you can have filling inside.There is one very renowned restaurant in Gurgaon named "Kingdom of Dream". They are very famous for their regional delicacies of every state of India.Rajasthan is one of them and they serve stuffed Gatta curry.Stuffed Gatta Curry is more rich and succulent than the normal Gatta Curry. This curry is served with Roti,Nan,Rice and some other accompaniments.

Panner Tikka masala is just a variation of Paneer Tikka.It needs no introduction and is very renowned dish in all over India. It is served as an entree while Paneer Tikka is an appetizer. The gravy base is thick tomato-onion paste. It is richly marinated dish in which first, a Yoghurt base marination is prepared with many spices. Many vegetable including but not limited to Paneer, Capsicum (Green, Red,Yellow), Onion, Baby Potato, and Mushroom can be added to the marination.Marinated veggies are then roasted in the oven or on the grilled pan.Then charred Paneer and Veggie chunks are simmered in thick Tomato-onion gravy. I used both Oven and Grilled Pan to cook it.You can directly cook it on stove top on high flame as well.When it's simmered in thick gravy which makes the dish scrumptiously delicious.

This sabji is very well served with "Khasta-Kachori" or "Dal ki kachori".This delicacy has the taste of both Aloo Curry and Kadhi but neither its pure Aloo curry nor Kadhi. Its Spicy, pungent and has prominent taste of Potato. As Potato is the main ingredient here hence Besan and Yoghurt are subsided and Poatao gives full flavor to the dish. Curry is tempered in mustard oil with crushed Coriander seeds. Then watery Yoghurt-Gram flour mixture is added and seasoned with all the other spices.

  POTATO(ALOO) CURRY
Aloo curry is the key dish of Ashtami Thali as is served with Poori in the prasad. This curry is pretty simple yet very delicious.Gravy of the curry is just tomato based and tempered in whole Garam-Masala with all the essential spices.Curry goes very well with Puri and can be eaten with Roti as well.

Rajasthani dishes have very important role of Besan and Yoghurt as it is arid zone and green vegetables are not easily available. Pitod is one of them which is made of Gram flour.
It is traditional, very popular and delicious recipe which is liked by all. It is also known as Rajasthani Paneer ki sabji as when it is cooked with Gravy it tastes as well as looks like Paneer.
Besan/ Gram flour is main ingredient which is mixed with just water and some other spices and then cooked on slow heat. I add yoghurt as well for more rich taste. Unlike Khandvi which is very thin sheet of Besan rolled in shape of cylinder, Pitod is thick square pieces of Besan. Later on you can add gravy in it and make curry as well.

Poori is deep fried bread and much smaller in size than Roti. Poori is "Pride" of every important occasion in indian household. It is made of wheat flour and Carom seed(Ajwain) is added to increase digestive quotient of it as it is deep fried. Dry Potato curry complements Poori very well but it can be eaten with any gravy curry or sometimes with sweet dish as well. Poori-Halwa specially in Navratri, Poori-Rabdi, Poori -Chana(Kala-Chana), Poori-Choley  are some classic combinations.

 KADHI-PAKODA
Kadhi-Rice is famous soul food of North-Indian delicacy. Kadhi  is made of Gram flour and  yoghurt mixture which is cooked with lots of spices. Pakodas are deep fried Gram flour dumplings which are seasoned little bit  and then added later on in the Kadhi and then cooked in the sour  mixture of thick gravy of chick pea flour and yoghurt mixture.Succulent Pakoda add burst of flavors into the Kadhi. Pakoda in the Kadhi are as soft as Cotton Candy. They just melt in your mouth. Kadhi is best served with Rice only but you can have it with Roti, accompanies with Potato curry/ vegetables as well.

BATHUA/BATUWA KI KADHI
Kadhi-Rice is famous soul food of North-Indian delicacy. Bathua Kadhi is prepared in winter and more specifically it is winter delicacy only. Adding Bathua takes it to the different flavor profile and enhance the health quotient of the dish. Bathua Kadhi is made of Gram flour,Bathua and yoghurt mixture which is cooked in lots of spices. Kadhi is best served with Rice only but you can have it with Roti, accompanies with some cooked vegetables as well.

Idli is very famous breakfast as well as main course item in South India and traditionally prepared by using some ratio of fermented rice and pulse mixture. Fermentation process is long and tedious. On the other hand Rava idli is very easy to make and does not require any fermentation process. Fruit salt is used to speed up the process and then the end result is pure white like glacires and soft like Ice-cream IDLIES are ready to serve with some chutneys and Sambar.This kind of plate is just sheer bliss on Earth.

Sambhar is lentil base curry in which lots of vegetables are added.You can choose any of the seasonal vegetable like Bottle Gourd,Carrot,Pumpkin,Brinjal,Drumstick are name of few. What makes it different from other curries is Tamarind pulp and aroma of Sambhar powder. Sambhar powder is mix of different spices which are coarsely ground.Tamarind pulp is used in the curry to give it sourness, but I have used Lemon Juice instead. All veggies are cooked with Dal and then it is tempered with Mustard seeds and Curry Leaves. Sambhar is served with Idli,Dosa,Vada or just simple white rice.

Rajma is widely known as Red Kidney Bean and one of the most relished comfort food in North Indian households.Most of the time it is complemented with Rice but you can definitely have it with Roti or Phulka accompanies with some Salad,Pickle and Boondi Raita.Boiled Rajma is simmered with whole Garam-Masala and Tomato-Onion gravy.In this recipe i used Kashmiri Rajma which is much smaller in size and more shinier than the regular Raj

Bhature is very good companion of Chana or ChickPea curry.Traditionally, it is made of all-purpose flour and is deep fried. But, you can use any combination of 2-3 different flour to make it more healthy and to escape the guilt of eating it. In this recipe I used Whole Wheat flour Semolina and All purpose flour.You can use multigrain flour or Bajra and Jowar flour as well. Just mix together any combination and then deep fried and served with its best friend Chole or Chick-Pea curry with some other good companion. I have used one more combination in which I used AP flour and Semolina, both half and half and the end result was bit crunchy texture of Bhatura. You can always play around with combination of flour and can choose which works best for you and your health.

Chole-bhature is a breakfast item and a very famous street food from northern part of India.It is
  served with raw salad or pickle or yoghurt Raita.Traditionally Bhature is made of AP flour and is
  much bigger than puri but you can always use combination of different flours to make it more
  healthy.Then it is served with Chole(Chick-Pea curry) the best match made in heaven.
 Choley(ChickPea) curry is thick gravy base curry. Boiled Chana are simmered in good amount of  
 Tomato-Onion gravy and then serve with Bhature. This dish is so wholesome that though it is
 meant to eat in breakfast but can be eaten any time of the day as snack or dinner or lunch.
 Recipe for Bature:BHATURE
 Recipe for Chole:CHOLE

Choley is a north indian curry dish and best complement with Bhature but it goes very well with Puri,Roti,Naan and Rice.White kabuli-Chana or Chick-Pea is used for the curry.Kabuli-Chana is soaked overnight and then simmered in generous amount of onion-tomato gravy.Chana Masala add distinctive flavor to the dish.This popular curry is pride of every festivities or function.No occasion is complete without Choley with Bhature or Choley with Puri or Choley with Naan.

1.Wash Chick Pea in running water and soak them overnight.Strain the water and add 
   fresh water.Add salt and pressure cook them.Keep them aside.  

Gravy recipe:

  ARBI/TARO (DRY CURRY)