Making the valley green

On 29th May night (2009) in Shopian in Kashmir, two girls Nilofer and Asiya were raped and murdered. The administration tried to prove that it was a case of death due to drowning. The valley erupted into severe protests. The favorite slogan of the protesters from last several years has been, Hamen Kya Chahiye-Azadi (what do we want-Freedom).

Read the entire article here!

Paw Bhaji Recipe

Me and one of my friends - Parth wanted me to make Paw Bhaji; He used this particular recipe making this entree. So I thought may be I should share it on the blog with you guys!

Here goes nothing:
Ingredients:
1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets (about 3-4 cups)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 tbsp oil
1 green bell pepper, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chili powder or red chili paste
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
salt to taste
2-3 cups tomato puree
1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)...optional
1 tbsp Everest pav-bhaji masala (or more to taste)
1 tbsp butter
Method:
1. Boil the cauliflower and potatoes till tender and set aside. I usually do this in a pressure cooker.
2. Heat oil in a deep saucepan and saute the pepper. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute some more.
3. Add turmeric powder, chili powder to taste and salt to taste. Saute for a few seconds.
4. Add tomato puree, peas, boiled potatoes and cauliflower, pav-bhaji masala and butter.
5. Keep sauteeing and mashing it together till it is a smooth mixture, adding water as required (you can use a potato masher to help you along). Be aware that the mixture can spurt up as it boils, so keep a lid on it while you are not actively stirring it. Simmer for 20-25 minutes to really get the flavors to meld together.
You have to keep tasting and adjusting salt, masala and tomato till you like the balance between the tomato-ey tang and the heat of the masala.

Serve with:
1. More pats of butter (as much as you can dare really, don't be chicken now),
2. Finely sliced/ chopped onions, minced cilantro and wedges of lemon.

3. The genuine pav-bhaji is served with real Bombay laadi pav...slabs of bread, so named because the rolls are sold as entire slabs and you break the rolls off as required. This bread is so yeasty and terrific! I serve it with any crusty bread that is chewy on the inside, like ciabatta or country boule or French rolls. I don't recommend burger buns at all...they are too soft and pasty. Try and find "real" bread in a bakery :)

Variations:
1. Fry the bread in some butter first. For an even spicier result, make masala pav...melt some butter in a skillet. Sprinkle pav bhaji masala in it, then fry the bread in this spicy butter until sizzling and golden.
2. To make cheese pav-bhaji, top the pav bhaji with some shredded cheese. In India, the brand used is Amul cheese...in the US, Monterey Jack cheese comes close to this. Or try Cheddar. (Thanks Anon, for reminding me of this variation)
3. Some readers have suggested frozen mixed vegetables to increase the veggie content of the pav bhaji. I think beans and carrots would work well.
4. A reader named Manasi suggests the addition of some garam masala to the bhaji to give it an even more authentic taste. She also recommends MDH brand pav bhaji masala.
5. Another anonymous reader suggests adding Priya's Tomato Garlic Pickle for added pizzazz.

I hope you enjoy this taste of Bombay ! I thank everyone who has tried this recipe, and takes the time to leave their valuable feedback, often with great suggestions and variations!

Mixed Vegetable - Recipe with pictures

Folks as promised in the previous post, I have here for you an ultimate delight - The recipe for an ultimate veggie entree made right at home without even having to take out your car to go to the local food store.
For your comfort, I have included photographs of my version of Mixed vegetable end product that I got after cooking. Match it up yours! :)

Without further ado, here is the recipe!! I hope you enjoy as much as I did making and eating it. :)

What are we making?
We are about to make what my mum used to call it "mixed vegetable" entree. It can be eaten alone, with bread ( wheat or maize) or with rice. It gives you the taste and vitamins of many vegetables in one entree. You dont have to like all of them to make it, you can just eat this entree because you will not find the part that you don't like!

Why are we making this?
Good question. Seriously I wanna stay healthy and I am of a thought from the perspective of growing population in Asia, IMHO vegetarianism is here to stay. No offenses to non-veggies. I am myself one.

What do you need to make this? That simply means ingredients!!
Now, before I start, here is my little two cents about cutting of vegetables :
Wash your vegetables first. It is important that you wash your vegetables first because after cutting them open all the vitamins will be washed with the water. It is because most commonly vegetable vitamins are water-soluble. So wash them first and then chop.
And it is needless to say that you have to make sure that you use clean utensils and clean knifes to chop them if you are going to use them if at all. Now what is small can be controversial for some of the people. So why don't I leave it to your discretion how much small you would like the meal to be, please chop and dice all the vegetables according to your taste and understanding.

After you have read my advisory about vegetables I wanted to emphasize that cooking Mixed vegetables is nothing of a skill and it is the most easiest thing to do. My refrigerator had all of these vegetables, so I used all of them in the appropriate quantities. So if you don't have a stock of them or just don't like it, just skip it!

Here is what you need ->

1. One cup of carrots
2. One cup of green peas
3. One cup of green beans
4. One cup of potatoes
5. Two cup of cauliflower
6. One cup of green pepper
7. Two table spoon of cooking oil
8. Salt and red chilli powder to taste
9. Any seasoning if you like
10. Cooking utensil, more like a pan but more like which can accommodate all of these vegetables for now.

Note: If I like cauliflower more, I would add more cauliflower and If I was short on something, I will try to add more veggies other than these, but it's just me. :)
Also, at first these vegetables will look like a lot of them, but as soon as they get heated, they will loose weight and limit themselves to a squeamish size.

(See the pictures below)

Cooking Method

After you have cut all the vegetables in the smallest size you like, put oil in the pan and let it become warm. Now add vegetables to the pan. You might have to use spatula to move the vegetables in and around the pan in order to provide all the vegetable pieces equal heat and frying time. As soon as you seen vegetables becoming cooked ( for example, cauliflower will start to turn brown), decrease the flame to a lower level. Add salt and red chilli powder and seasoning to taste. Move around again with spatula. Be careful because by now the vegetables might have become soft. Playing around with them, might break the vegetables and you will get a mashed mixture filling of all the vegetables, which obviously you don't want. For now don't worry too much, you are doing just great, just carry on with the slight movement of vegetables.



Cooking time?
It normally takes 30 minutes on medium flame after the oil has already become warm. Keep your options open. Depends on what burner you are using. An electric one or a regular gas ones. You are not new to cooking so don't worry about it.


Key to cooking it good!
Keep your eyes open for the first sign of burning the vegetables. Try to use a wooden spatula since it is softer on the vegetables than the metal ones. Add salt and seasoning after first 10 minutes of the cooking, but before it is brown.

Final outcome!

Yay! You have finally made what is called Mixed vegetable entree! Good for you! Go veggies!

However words can't give justice to what it looks like. I can only say it is so yum, that I wanna eat more.

See for yourself!! Check out the pictures of the entree that I made!!


I hope you like the pictures and the also the food that you made. I dig it ! Please note the bowl of food as shown is just a part of the entire entree prepared by me.


Stay tuned to more updates! If you liked this, you ll like our weekly recipes too! Dig it or just like it. We love to hear back from you! Just hit comment and that’s it

Innovating for the Future — Sustainably

Innovating for the Future — Sustainably

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