Daal Baati

I am midway my Featured Recipes on Friendship Week series and so glad to share this too awesome Daal Baati recipe today. This traditional Rajasthani recipe is the courtesy of my childhood/school/family friend Anurag's mom. As it happens, Anurag's dad is my dad's school friend and his mom is my mom's friend. Yeah, I know! too much friendship going on. That is why I knew what recipe I was going to ask aunty to teach me. Anurag's family hails from a Marwari background, so what could have been better than to learn the secrets of this very popular Rajasthani dish that is both served and eaten with much love.

And by love I mean ghee! More ghee = more love.

Aviyal

 "I am sorry for the things I said when I was hungry." That absolutely sums up my friend whose mom's Aviyal recipe I am sharing today in the Featured Recipes on Friendship Week series.  There are many upsides of having a South Indian friend one of them being able to move away from idli-dosa-sambhar in the name of South Indian cuisine. There's appam, rassam, pachdi and all sorts of rice dishes and many more. South Indians have a boatload of rice dishes and for me that's another upside of having Jyotsana as a friend. She is my eternal companion in ricevangilism (yes, that's totally a thing!). But more on that later.

Today's recipe Aviyal, is a pretty easy and adaptable recipe. The flavors are beautiful and it is perfect for summer meals.

Himachali Chana aur Aloo Madra

I am so glad to be able to share this Himachali Chana and Aloo Madra recipe on my blog today because a year ago I did not even know of any recipe by this name, that is before I became friends with my fair, slim mountain-girl room mate who shares the same interests as me, cooking and eating.

Funny thing, this former roommate of mine has the same name as me with just a little difference in the spelling. I am Apurva, she is Apoorva.

Sheer Khurma

Today's recipe, Sheer Khurma, is special in so many ways. It is the first in my Friendship Week Featured Recipes series and is most appropriate for the eve of Eid to be celebrated tomorrow. Another reason that makes this post so special is that this recipe comes straight from the kitchen of my childhood friend Khadija's mom.

It's been 20 years that we have been friends and not without our ups and downs. We were inseparable in school. We used to be a popular duo and our Principal called us Appu-Khatti, as did other teachers and many of our friends. She was the sane one of the two of us, I was totally crazy (psst...I still am!).

Spicy Pan Fried Brinjal

                                                                  
Picture this. Your mom is away and has left you in charge of 'her' kitchen for lunch. You let out a whistle and say to yourself, "Let's prepare something that will blow everyone's mind today!" You open the fridge to check out what's available and WHOA! The vegetable tray is empty except for a few tomatoes and boring brinjals. Now you feel sad about spending so much air whistling and wish you got it back somehow. A few dejected moments later you straighten up and give yourself a pep talk about how this is one of the testing times and blah blah and reluctantly set about preparing brinjals with a long face. A few minutes later, while carrying out other monotonous work in the kitchen, your mind wanders to a Ted  Talk you watched earlier that morning about never giving up and decide to apply it to your present situation. 

Spicy Pan Fried Brinjal

With that in mind, I decided to give brinjals a new flavor and texture and ended up with this recipe. I was skeptical at first but the dish turned out to be  a delight. My star ingredient in this recipe is clove. It adds flavor and heat simultaneously to this recipe. Another flavor enhancer that I have used is fenugreek seeds.

I am sure this recipe is going to be a frequently prepared one at my home. Hope you all like it too.

Creamy Pasta Salad with Cherry and Olives

Creamy Pasta Salad with Cherry and Olives

I love warm food, even gorgeous, smoking hot food like sizzlers; but it's summer time and need of the hour is forcing love to take a step back. Now, I am all for icecreams, desserts and smoothies but what I was really looking for was a 'food that filled'. Hence, this pasta salad. Pasta salads are a great way to have a filling meal and serve as lovely picnic entrees or a cozy lunch or dinner and are great on salad bars as party food. Since these salads incorporate beautiful, vibrant veggies and fruits with dressings of your choice, the creative possibilities are endless. Although, pasta salads can be had year round, to me they scream "summers"!

In this post, I am presenting a recipe for yogurt based creamy pasta salad complemented with fresh cherries and black olives.

Raw Banana Curry

I am sure not a lot of people are familiar with this use of raw bananas. To those, I want to say, "you are in for   a delight!" And those who are familiar know what I am talking about.

There are numerous health benefits of eating raw bananas as they hide within them a wealth of nutrients. But I am not going to get into those here. I am going to focus on taste. This curry is one of my favorites for 2 reasons. First, it is a welcome change in taste to the everyday vegetables that sometimes bore me to death. Second, it is such a darling when it comes to washing, peeling and cutting. Yeah! I can be lazy sometimes.

Raw Banana Curry

I also posted a Raw Banana Chips recipe a while back. Check it out too while you are here.

So the next time you see raw bananas in the market, grab a few and try out these recipes. I am sure you will always be looking for raw bananas in the market after that.

Peach and Fig Sandwich with Lemon Glaze

Every time I hear 'peach', I hear Ross saying, "I bruise like peach." While I was working on this sandwich I couldn't resist, found this particular episode on Friends and watched it. Hilarious!

Anyway, I myself am not a peach-fan and I simply ignored them when I saw them sitting in the fruit bowl at home. But as the day progressed, those peaches would just stare at me every time I passed by as if asking me, "What have we done to deserve this cold attitude?'' My heart melted! I set about thinking a recipe that would be agreeable to both them and me. The outcome was this lovely peach and fig sandwich. The next time you get peaches, spare at least 1 to try out this recipe.

Peach and Fig Sandwich with Lemon Glaze

I have used dried figs in this recipe. Since I have never worked with fresh figs, I am not sure how they would taste in this recipe. Please let me know if you happen to use fresh figs for this sandwich.

Ingredients:

Peaches- 3 nos
Sandwich bread slices- 4
Dried figs- 3-4 nos
Grated cheese- 4 tbsp
Granulated sugar- 2 tbsp
Confectioner's sugar- 2 tbsp
Lemon juice- 1 tbsp

Recipe:

Peel and chop peaches. Add granulated sugar, mix and set aside for 15-20 minutes. Sugar will melt in juice released by peaches.

In a pan, add these sugary peaches and let the mixture thicken on medium flame. Add a pinch of cornflour if needed. Turn off heat when no liquid remains.

Chop figs.

Take bread slices.

Spread a layer of peach. Then add a few pieces of figs. Top with grated cheese.

Place another slice of bread on top.

Grill.

To prepare lemon glaze, in a small bowl mix together confectioner's sugar and lemon juice.

Drizzle on sandwiches.

Enjoy!

Roasted Peanut and Lemon Pasta

Do you know what I think of pasta? I think that with a little creativity, you never have to eat the same pasta twice! This is one of the many reasons I am a big time pasta lover. It's like adding a little twist here, a head bob there to your dance routine and you have got yourself a brand new show to perform.

So this time I added a peanutty twist and a lemony bob to my penne.

This is an easy pasta recipe that does not ask for too much of your time or effort. I actually prepared it a couple of weeks ago when I was craving pasta but was too busy in my studies to go through the whole sauce based pasta routine. Just then I caught a whiff of peanuts my mom was roasting in the kitchen, which triggered a chain of thoughts and here I am sharing this recipe with you all.

Roasted Peanut and Lemon Pasta

Ingredients:

Penne- 200 gm

Peanuts- 1/4 cup

Onion, cut into bite size pieces- 2, medium

Garlic, crushed- 3-4 cloves

Juice of 1 medium lemon

Salt to taste

Crushed pepper and chilly flakes for seasoning

Olive oil- 3 tbsp

Recipe:

Keep pasta to cook according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, dry roast peanuts. Let cool, remove cover and grind peanuts to a coarse powder.

Heat olive oil in a pan. 

Add crushed garlic and fry till fragrant, about 15 seconds.

Add onions and saute on high heat for 2-3 minutes, until they soften and start turning brown, still retaining their crunch.

Add cooked pasta.

Add salt, crushed pepper, chilly flakes and peanut powder.

Mix well.

When pasta is sufficiently warmed, turn off heat and add lemon juice. Give a stir to mix.

Enjoy your meal.

Roasted Peanut and Lemon Pasta