Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Recipe Watch 2: Indian Entrees

poppies
We meet again in the "Recipe Watch" segment, where I try out recipes from other bloggers and find some great new entries for my recipe file. This time, to celebrate the blossoming of so many great new Indian food blogs, I chose the theme Indian Entrees, and made a dish from each of my favorite main-course staples.

1.Eggs: Everyone seems to have a favorite recipe for egg curry. Me, I want to learn how to make 'em all! It is amazing how you tweak the spice mixture a little bit and change the curry base around somewhat, and end up with a whole new delicious curry. This time I tried Mangalorean Egg Curry, a family favorite kindly shared by Tina of the new blog Tina's Cooking. This turned out to be a fabulous Sunday lunch for us, the curry is aromatic and subtle, very flavorful indeed. I served this with brown rice and a simple salad of cucumber and tomatoes.

2. Vegetables: Cauliflower seems to have a bad reputation in the blogosphere ("Oh, that smell etc!), but I have to say that it is one of my favorite veggies! Courtney and her friends from Naughty Curry posted a recipe called 'Magical Peppercorn' Cauliflower Korma that sounded so tempting...and am I glad I tried it! The combination of peppercorns and cashewnuts was delicious and unusual. This recipe is a keeper.
Green peppers are humble and ubiquitous, but they usually play a supporting role in most dishes. Kay of the beautifully named blog Towards a Better Tomorrow posted her friend's recipe for Marathi-style Green Peppers dish that showcases this vegetable. This is a wonderful method of stir-frying veggies that I will be talking about again when we come to the "Z of Marathi food"...and this green pepper dish was simple and tasty in combination with some roti.

3. Beans: They are the very backbone of my diet, and I stock my pantry with a variety of beans, looking for new recipes to cook them. Recently, Priya of Priya's Kitchen posted a recipe using black "chana" or chickpeas...I had to run out and get these and add them to my "dal" collection. The resulting Kadala Curry was delicious with brown rice and yogurt, and the leftovers made for a tasty lunch the next day!

4. Soy: Bilbo from Smorgasbord and I have been friends for half a decade (before either of us knew what a blog was!) and now I love visiting her kitchen virtually. I enjoyed making her recipe for Kheema Mutter or (faux) minced meat with peas. Ground soy nuggets look startingly like meat! This curry was very tasty with some fresh crusty bread. It also calls for all pantry ingredients (I always have frozen peas on hand), which gets bonus points during winter.

5. Yogurt: Yogurt is something that completes and complements almost every Indian meal. Shammi from Food-In The Main made this amazing savory Yogurt Curry that is creamy and comforting! It goes well with plain rice or pilaf.

My theme for the next Recipe Watch is Salads!...I plan to find some great salad recipes from my fellow bloggers and try them out for myself. If you spot a great salad recipe on any blog, do give me a holler!

P.S: I know the photo of the hollyhocks (I thought they were poppies but stand corrected!) is irrelevant, but I like posts with pictures so I put it in :) It was taken by V last summer at the Cloisters, the medieval collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

14 comments:

  1. NOPE: hollyhocks!

    But my goodness, Nupur, you take "round-up" to a whole new level, actually COOKING those dishes! Amazing!

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  2. dear nupur, you're a full time cook .......or what ? ! ! !
    whenever do you find time for yr research ? , which is what in the 1st place i thought you went to the US for......you too are turning out to be a superwoman like yr mom , managing too many fronts at the same time , and managing them well at that ! grt going. keep it up.
    p.s. i've bought you bks on chutnya ani koshimbri and marathi paddhatichya bhajya, ..so wait only a few days till we meet next for some authentic tips on salads.
    all the best. luv, yoma.

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  3. hey nupur,
    Am glad you tried the soy keema and liked it . It was fun making it. And the virtual visits are mutual and more fun, though I do wish the real ones would resume soon. :)
    salads are fun, I think I saw some in the latest SHF round up.

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  4. What a round up! that was so well done.
    BTW I like flowers too ;)

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  5. hi nupur
    also try out priya's cauliflower curry(got the restaurant taste) from her blog its very yummy.my hubby who likes cauliflower only as manchurian loved it !i had paired it with her khuska biryani which was equally good.(yum yum -we wiped the rice cooker clean!!)but i am yet to try out her kadalai curry & now seeing your review will try it out tomorrow:)hers is another blog like yours & shammi where we can be sure that the recipes will turn out exactly as described in the blog:)
    kasturi

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  6. Nice round up Nupur. I have tried the faux kheema too, and agree it's ideal for a winter night's no fuss dinner. The kadala curry has been on my wish list too.

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  7. Hi Nupur ...

    Wow those flowers look good..But they do resemble a little bit of Hibiscus right? Well Its really great that you want to try so many dishes....Out of those dishes you have chosen I have tried Kay's 'Marathi Mirchi Bhaaji' 2 times and it has turned out great each time.I like your pick and I would also love to try them to make my hubby happy..He is a foodie and I have started a food blog just to become a better cook and try out all wonderful recipes from good chefs like you and others...Good luck with all the dishes you make...

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  8. Nupur,
    I wonder why you stick to veggie dishes in your blog.

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  9. Yayyyy! somebody tried my dish and liked it! :) Thanks Nupur, for trying and writing about it!

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  10. Hola, Was browsing through your recipe index and loved the Baked bread souffle and am gonna try it this weekend. Lovely recipe and idea. btw the flowers look like Hollyhock's. Reminds me of my mum's garden in India.

    Am looking forward to the Salad recipe watch ..... should be a tasty way to shed some of those xtra lbs :).

    Bye
    Shruti.

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  11. try avacados in your salad. they are creamy and tasty. too bad they are green and don't look too well in the salad, but they taste divine. am addicted to adding ripe avacado to my salads now!

    Megha

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  12. Hey Nupur,

    Try the "Pear and Arugula salad with caramalized walnuts" from Anu's blog- I tried it yesterday and it came out very well.

    Great blogging!

    Vineet.

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  13. Nupur - that is such a GORGEOUS photo of hollyhocks!

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  14. AK, I do choose everyday easy dishes...this way I am just increasing my repertoire.

    Yoma, thanks! can't wait to see you!

    Hey Bilbo, thanks for reminding me of the fruit salads...all the while I was thinking only of the savory veggie ones.

    Clare, I know you like gardening! me, I just looking at the fruit of others' labors so to speak :)

    Kasturi, ooh, thanks for letting me know about those other recipes...must try them!

    Garam Masala, thanks!

    BDSN, good luck with your new blog and thanks for stopping by!

    Shiva, I'll give you one guess.

    Kay, thanks for sharing it with us!

    Hi Shruti, hope the souffle works. I remember we loved it! Let me know!

    Megha, lets hope the salad recipes I choose have avocado. can't help loving avocado...that buttery taste :)

    Vineet, thanks for the idea! keep 'em coming :)

    Shammi, thanks...I'll tell V you said that!

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