Category: vegetarian

Matar Mushroom (Peas and Mushrooms)

There are some people I know, who don’t like peas. Call them characterless. Whyyy guys, whyyyy???

I find peas amazing in every form! My sister and I used to eat them raw, fresh from the pods when we were kids. There is a common Bihari snack which is roasted flattened rice with pan fried masala peas (ghugni) on the side. It is key to one of my favourite breakfasts – poha. Peas also add this lovely sweetness and texture to many Indian main courses – with paneer, potatoes, minced meat and so on. This recipe is all about peas and mushrooms!

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Tawa Paneer

Growing up, there were a few standard paneer recipes that were made at our house. Being from the east of the country, paneer really wasn’t core to our food. The Delhi impact was not as high for paneer as it was for Rajma and Chole 🙂 Those we adopted with much more enthusiasm than we did paneer. I think it stemmed from the fact that we thought paneer was a bit bland.

However, all my friends ate paneer in many forms and quite often. That’s where I grew to develop a stronger taste for paneer and realized that while it is not spiced or bursting with flavour on its own, it provides a lovely canvas for a whole range of flavours. Now I am at a level where I can just eat paneer heated on a pan, dusted with some salt and garam masala; topped off with a squeeze of lime. Much proud, I say! 🙂

This recipe for tawa paneer is something I have tweaked and honed ever since I started living by myself, 4 years ago. Paneer was my quick fix dinner after a long day at work. It is easy to make, quick to cook and is really tasty!

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Aloo Gobi (Potato and Cauliflower)

How many of you have watched the film ‘ Bend it Like Beckham’? If you haven’t, please watch 🙂 It’s a fun film about a girl’s football club in England and an Indian girl trying to make football her career, facing some resistance along the way. It has some lovely music, some really funny lines and shines light on how girls in sport are not always looked upon favourably. Boo.

Anyway, enough about the film’s story. The reason I bring it up, is a line in the film. The Punjabi mother asks the girl whether or not she knows how to make aloo gobi. Aloo gobi is used as a symbol of basic, easy yet tasty home food that every girl must know, in order to be a good wife/mother/Indian girl etc etc. While that I don’t think is true (at all!), the way ‘aloo gobi’ was said in that line has stuck with me. It’s even cooler when the girl tells her friend  ‘Anyone can cook aloo gobi, but who can bend a ball like Beckham?’  YEAHHHH! Way to go! This movie made aloo gobi iconic! Who’d have thunk it? 😀

Whenever I cook this dish, I hear this line in my head. Sometimes I say it out loud too. Even though I have zero football skills.

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Shorshe Begun (Eggplant in Mustard Sauce)

Let me introduce you to the most iconic bengali flavour I grew up with – Kasundi. Kasundi is this sharp mustard paste typical to Bengal. I haven’t yet nailed how to make it, but I will get there.

There is normal mustard paste from a jar that you use for sandwiches, european dishes etc and then there is Kasundi. There is nothing quite like the taste – it is sharp, aromatic, pungent and altogether quite delicious. It takes the food to the next level! It is used as a dipping sauce with cutlets or as in this recipe, as the main ingredient in the dish itself. There will be quite a few kasundi led recipes on this blog, this is the first one 🙂

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