Cucumber curry

Ingredients
1/2 cup masoor dal (red lentils)
1.25 cups coconut milk, well stirred
500g cucumber (or cucumber and zucchini), cut crosswise into 2.5cm pieces
2 – 4 fresh green chillies, cut into half lengthwise
salt to taste

for tarka
8 – 10 curry leaves
2 tspn black mustard seeds
1 Tblspn ghee

methodWash the lentils in several changes of water, or place in a sieve and shake under a running tap until water runs clear.

Pour 1/2 cup of the coconut milk and 1.75 cups water into a medium sized pan. Add the lentils, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes. The lentils should be almost cooked at this stage.

Add the cucumber, chillies and salt. Cook over low heat for 5 – 10 minutes until the cucumber is tender.

Meanwhile, heat the ghee in a separate pan and add the black mustard seeds and curry leaves. Pop the mustard seeds and then empty the contents of the pan into the lentils and cucumber.

Add the remainder of the coconut milk, stir through and cook on a higher heat for 3 – 5 minutes until the sauce thickens.

Bharta with Capsicum

Ingredients

1.Brinjal - 1 no big size
2.Capsicum - 2nos
3.Onion - 1medium size
4.Ginger - 1inch
5.Garlic - 6cloves
6.Tomato - 1 no medium size
7.Coriander - 1bunch
8.Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
9.Coriander powder -1/2tsp
10.Cumin powder - 1tsp
11.Red chilly powder - 1/2tsp
12.Green chilly - 2nos
13.Garam masala powder - 1tsp
14.Mustard oil - 1tsp
15.Salt to taste

Method

Finely chop onion,ginger,garlic,tomato,chilly,coriander and keep aside.
Roast whole brinjal direcly without foil on a oven pan at 400F. Turn the brinjal every 15 minutes and cook for 35 minutes. Broil it for another 3 minutes. Take it out and let it cool. Then take the skin off.
Boil Capsicum in water for 15 minutes. Then roast it in the tava or roast in the oven for 5 minutes. Chop off its head and cut it in half and remove the insides. 
Heat oil in a wok and add onion.ginger,garlic,green chilly,tomato and stir fry til fat starts releasing.Next add all the turmeric powder,coriander powder,red chilly powder,cumin powder.Drop in the roasted brinjal into the wok and mash it with the help of a spatula.Mix well with spices.Lastly add salt and stir fry for one more minute.Add garam masala,coriander giving a final stir.Stuff this mixture in the roasted capsicum,garnish with cashew nuts and serve hot.

Punjabi Chole

Punjabi Chhole
(Chickpeas, the Punjabi way)
Serves 6

3 C Qabooli Chana (chickpeas/garbanzo beans), soaked overnight (or soak for 3-4 hours in hot water)
½ t soda-bi-carb

1” piece of ginger, peeled and grated
2 C chopped onion
1 C chopped tomatoes
2-3 T oil
2 t red chilli powder
1 t garam masala (optional)
salt

for the masala
2 T (heaped) coriander seeds
1 T anardana (seeds of wild pomegranate), omit if not available
1” piece dalchini or cassia bark
4-5 cloves
1 t black peppercorns
3-4 badi elaichi (black cardamom)
2 t cumin seeds
1 tejpatta (now that I have cleared all the confusion, I don’t need to use Italics, right?)
1 or 2 whole dry red chillies (optional)

to garnish
green chillies, slit down the middle
tomatoes, cut into thick wedges
lime, sectioned

Drain the chhole; some of what makes these beans hard to digest is water soluble and you will get rid of some of that this way. Rinse them out once more to make sure. Put them in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover them (by about an inch). If you like your chhole a bit on the softer side, add half a teaspoon of baking soda (more will make them mush) to the chhole. No salt at this point. Cook under pressure for 20 minutes, or cook covered in a heavy pan till tender.
While the chickpeas are cooking, heat a pan to roast your whole spices – I use my cast iron pan. On medium heat roast the spices, all together, shaking and tossing, till they have almost blackened. Cool and grind to a powder.
Heat oil in a heavy pan (or karahi). Add ginger and stir till just fragrant. Add chopped onions and cook till pink, when they are just getting tinged at the edges. Now add the tomatoes and fry (bhuno), stirring all the time, till the oil separates. There isn’t much oil to separate here, so it has to be done on medium heat and takes a long time (20-30 minutes). If there is some parallel kitchen activity going on, then this works very well. When cooking a larger quantity (or when short on time), I would suggest you increase the amount oil (one and half times or double) since you don’t want to be in the kitchen for the good part of a day.

Once the ginger-onion-tomato is fried well and almost dry, add the fresh ground spice blend, garam masala (optional), and red chilli powder. Add the slit green chillies and stir for a few minutes till your kitchen smells like heaven (I think this is an IFR original quote). Remove the green chillies and add this fragrant paste to the cooked chhole, and salt. Adjust water to your liking – I like mine really thick. Mix and cook (simmer) for 20 minutes, stirring every now and then, or cook in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes.
Serve hot with poori, bhature, or naan, garnished with the green chillies you have set aside, wedges of tomatoes (drizzled with oil and swirled around in a hot pan for a minute or two, if you like), and lime. Now, I love chhole.
Notes:

1. To save on washing up, I make the fried masala in the pressure cooker pot first, take it out, and then cook the chickpeas in it.
2. If you have garam masala already, and you are feeling lazy, or you have no faltoo time, use the garam masala + dhaniya powder, and roast a little longer when you add to the ginger-onion-tomato.
3. If you need to cook low-sodium, omit baking soda, and just cook the chhole a little longer till they are of desired tenderness.