The recipe will follow shortly, just posting the pictures of our latest experiment! We tried a Vegetable Salad with a delicious dressing complemented with Garlic bread and Mashed Potatoes… Have a look at the stages here:

This dish is a simple and easy to cook item that is also my father’s and Mitali’s favorite.  There are also a number of variations that we do , typically some are from my moms side and some from my fathers.

Jheenge Posto

Serving : 4 people
Ingredients:

• Jhinge- 200 gms
• Green Chili – 4
• Poppy seed (Posto) Ground to paste – 5 tbsp
• Oil – 4 tbsp
• Salt- to taste
• Sugar – to taste
• Kalo Jeera – 1tsp

Method:

• Wash and cut Jhinge (about 1/2 ” size). Marinate with salt and sugar for 15 mins. Heat the oil in a pan and add Kalo Jeera. Add the Jhinge and stir. Add green chillies, posto paste and salt. Cook on a medium flame. Add water as required. Cover the pan till Jhinge is cooked.

Variations:

• You can add finely chopped onions to the oil and fry it for some time before adding the jheenge.
• You can use mustard and red chilli powder inplace of kala jeera/kalo jeere.

Following is the recipe for a mild and delicious paneer dish with makhana (also known as Fox Nut or Gorgon Nut). You need very basic ingredients for this and it takes hardly 15-20 mins prepare.

Ingredients are:

1. Makhana (Fox Nut): 2 cups
2. Paneer (Cottage Cheese): 200 gms
3. Milk: 2 small cups
4. Malai / Cream: half cup
5. Tomato: minced , 2
6. Onion paste: 2 in number
7. Garlic and Ginger Paste
8. Ghee
9. Oil
10. Cashew Nuts (Optional)

Masala / Spices:

1. Lal mirch / Red Pepper
2. Haldi / turmeric Powder
3. Dhania Powder
4. Freshly ground Garam Masala (Dal chini, javitri, cloves, kali mirch etc. or you can use the ready made garam masal powder)
5. Salt to taste
6. Sugar

Prerequisites:

Roast the makhana for few minutes in miminum ghee by continuously stirring it. This is important to propoerly cook the makhana which otherwise would taste uncooked. Meanwhile, prepare the following pastes separately: Ginger Garlic paste, Onions (2), Tomato and Green Chillies (2 each). Also, cut the panner in small cubes. There is no need to fry these. If the panner is not spft enough, the best option is to boil the cubes in salt water for a few minutes.

Gravy:

Heat the oil in a pan or kadhai (Just 2 table spoons of oil). Add garam masala to the oil, then add Ginger-garlic paste and cook it till iy becomes mild brown. Now add the onion paste and cook the same till it becomes golden brown. The main trick is not to add too much of onion as that would make the gravy pungent. 2 small onions should be enough. Now add the spices to this paste as mentioned above and allow it to cook for 2 mins till the oil comes up. Now add the tomato and chilli paste and cook it for a few minutes.

This is followed by adding malai / cream and two cups of milk. Add salt to taste and a pinch of sugar. Cook the gravy to a boil and then add panner cubes and roasted makhanas to the gravy. Add water just enough to make the gravy a bit lucid. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5-8 mins till the makhanas become soft.

Garnish the dish with coriander leaves and some malai / fresh cream.

Your sabji is ready to serve!!

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Posto/Khuskhus/Poppy seeds: 30-40 gms

Green chilli: 1-2

Red Chilli powder: 1/2 teaspoon

Salt: to taste

Mustard oil: 1 1/2 teaspoon

Procedure:

1. Soak the posto in water for 15-20 mins. (just wash it if you’re running out of time.) Strain the same by a tea strainer.

2. Grind the posto along with the green chilli with a pestle ( sil batta) or just use the wet grinder small jar in a food processor.( the food proc works only on a slightly larger quantity of posto).

3. Mix posto paste, salt, red chilli powder, mustard oil and 2 table spoon of water in a small katori/ dish and heat it on a electric heater/very low flame till the mixture bubbles slightly. 2-3 mins at the most and you’re done.

Yipee enjoy this pungent and crunchy side dish with boiled rice or by itself.

Ingredients:

Karela/Bitter Gourd – 1 small, cut into rings

Alu/Potatoes – 1 medium, cut into1 inch cubes

Sojne data/ Drumsticks – 1 inch long pieces

Kancha Kola/Green Banana – 1 small, 1 inch cubes

Begun/Egg plant – 1 small, 1 inch long pieces

Pepe/Papaya – Quarter of a whole papaya, 1 inch cubes from a

Sheem/Broad Beans – 8-10, cut edges only

Potol/Parwal – 4, slit into quarters longitudinally

Ginger – 1 tsp, paste

Mustard Seeds – 1tsp

Mustard + Poppy seed paste (shorshe + posto bata) – 1 tbsp

Bori/Vadi – 8-10; How to make bori (vadi)?

Sugar – 1/2 tsp

Salt – To taste

Oil – 2 tbsp

Note: It is not mandatory to have all vegetables listed here except karela (bitter gourd) which is an integral part of this dish.

Note: Please do ignore the above note…both mitali and yours truly hate karela. Sorry mom…i never put karela in my shukto.

Cooking procedure:

1. Heat oil in pan and fry the bori till they are crunchy. Keep aside and fry the cut karela pieces in the same oil till brownish. Set the fried karela aside.

2. Leave 1 tbsp oil in kadhai and heat. Add mustard seeds and fry till seeds splutter.

3. Add all vegetables and salt. Cover and cook on medium low heat. The vegetables will be cooked in the water that is derived from the vegetables.

4. When the water dries up add ginger paste, sugar and 1/4th cup water or as much as is desired to cook the vegetables and also that leaves some gravy. Shukto is not a dry preparation.

5. Cover the kadhai and simmer till vegetables are cooked.

6. Add fried karela, and mustard + poppy seed paste. Stir and cook for a minute. Remove from heat.

7. Crush and sprinkle the bori (vadis) on the dish.

Serving Suggestions: