A Quick Red Masala Puffed Rice.

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Each person comes in your life with a purpose! Some come to get their work done, and very few people come and serve without much expectation. I am always blessed to have people from second category. And I am grateful about it. You all might be surprised about this! Today's post or recipe is from a person like that who served us for 14 years with so much love, affection and care. I am talking about an old lady who stayed with mom when mom became alone after my father's death. She wanted someone to be with her as I was living in UAE and my brother was in Maharashtra. Then this lady Neelamma entered our life. She was from a good family, and had lost her husband during the same period.  She never wanted to be a burden on her sons. She was looking for a house where she will be safe and can earn money by taking care of the house. God listened the prayer from both and the wish was fulfilled. We used to call her "Ajjiri". when she came to our house she was around 50 years old. And she served us till she was 64. But! her tobacco chewing habit turned her into a cancer patient and she passed away just two years back. 

WE all really miss you ajjiri. Especially my younger daughter. Ajjiri loved her more than her own kids. It was in her hand that Phalguni was brought up. As she was under treatment, we could not meet her regularly in her last days. Though mom and me visited her but we were scared to take Phalguni. When doctor told she does not have more days, we took phalguni to meet her and I will never forget the way she loved her, hugged her and blessed her. And very third day she left this life. My daughter always miss her and cry a lot now also.

Now, coming to the recipe, 

This was Ajjiri's favorite snack which tasted heaven. I tried many times to make the way she did, but always failed. Whenever we used to feel hungry in the evenings, we used to tell her, ajjiri please make kemp churmuri(red kurmura). Now also my family tells me to make ajjiri churmuri, the name is changed now.  

I know it's a very simple dish, but could not stop sharing this recipe with you all as I felt I should show my gratitude to her. 

I took this recipe(sounds silly, to write down in a diary to save so easy one) over the phone from Abu Dhabi, when I wanted to make it. Though after returning to India, I learnt directly from her, but could never make many dishes the way she prepared. She was whole in charge of the kitchen. Many years I entered kitchen only during lunch time and dinner time and enjoy all the food. 

Ingredients :

Crispy Puffed rice(kurmura) - 3 cups  per head

Onion - 1 medium, finely chopped  

Fresh coriander - 1 tbsp, cleaned and finely chopped

Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp+1tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Granulated sugar - 1 tsp

Lime juice - 1 tsp(optional, but tastes good)

Salt to taste.

Method: 

Take all the ingredients excep puffed rice in a long vessel or even a wide big plate(Ajjiri always used Paraath, a very wide plate with sides.)

Mix well and add puffed rice. Puffed rice should be crispy. 

Mix well again with your hands or spatula. Ajjiri used her hands and I always felt her hand added more taste and love to the dish.

Serve it immediately topped with sev, some more onion and tomato(Again this is optional) 

This is part of July Week 1, Cooking from Cookbook Challenge Group.

Keep Smiling, 

Proso Idly(Kanchipuram style)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

South Indian's most favorite and most regular food! And the most healthiest breakfast anyone can have. Even while travelling, it is considered as the safest food as it is steamed. And here there is one more healthy addition to this traditional recipe. I have prepared these idlys using millet. Yes! I always use millet in one or the other way in my food. We call these millet as 'Siri Dhanya' also. Already everyone is talking or already written a lot about these millet and the benefits. So I am directly jumping to the recipe. 

Here I have used Baragu or Proso  with rice. Actually we can use any millet and the taste and texture comes out the same though the health benefit is different for each millet. But please keep in mind not to use millet daily or regularly as we all know too much is too bad, let it be any thing, right?

And what is this Kachipuram style?

I got the recipe from a TV show where Chef Rakesh Shethi was showing. I was surprised to see that curds goes into this idly. So thought of trying it. 

Ingredients :

Raw rice or idly rice - 1 cup

Porso - 1 cup

Urad dal - 3/4 cup

Methi seeds - 1 tsp

thick or medium poha - 1/4 cup

Fresh curd - 1/2 cup

Turmeric powder  - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 2 tbsp, washed and chopped finely

Green chilly - 2, washed and chopped finely

Dash of hing

Ginger - 1 tbsp, cleaned and finely chopped

Fresh coriander - handful, cleaned and finely chopped

Salt to taste

Oil to apply to the idly mould.

Method :

• Take the rice, methi seeds and urad dal  in a bowl and wash it twice. 
• Take Porso in another bowl and wash it twice. 
• Soak both in a separate bowls for 4-6 hours.
• Half an hour before grinding, add poha to the rice bowl and keep it ready.
• Grind both separately. 
• Add very less water to porso before grinding as more water will not allow the millet to turn into paste. 
• Mix both the batter properly  in one steel or glass vessel. 
• Allow it to ferment either over night or till it becomes double. It always depends on the weather also. If the batter doesn't come up or doubles, then the idlys will not be soft. 
• In the morning, or when you are ready to use the batter, 
• Add the curd, green chilli, ginger, curry leaves and fresh coriander.
• Add the salt and mix well. 
• Keep the cooker or idly steamer on a gas stove with one cup of water. 
• while the water becomes hot, grease the mould with oil and pour the batter in the mould. 
• Take the idly stand and keep in a steamer or cooker, close it and steam it without the whistle(if using cooker) on high flame for 5 minutes and 2-3 minutes on low flame. Switch off the gas stove. Allow it to cool. 
• Serve these softest idlys with your favorite chutney and sambhar or just like that with ghee. 
• You can get some more idly, sambhar and chutney recipes Idly,Sambhar and Chutney, Mangalore cucumber sambhar

Please let me know if you try this recipe.

Keep Smiling, 

Bisibele Bath Handi with Masala Powder

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I am  really a very very huge fan of Bisibele Bath. Whenever I visit Bangalore, I eat bisibele bath every day till I am there. Whenever I make at home, it's only me who eats it, as no one likes at home.

But this homemade powder is a hit in my house. I saw my kids and hubby fighting to have it. 

Thanks to Seema for sharing this recipe. 

Please visit her blog mildlyindian.com and the recipe   Bisibele Bath Masala Powder for detailed recipe. 

What I have changed is I added Guntur chilly with byadgi ones. 

To make bisibele bath,

Soak 1cup rice with one cup of mixed daals(toor dal, yellow moong dal, masoor daal) and handful of groundbuts.

Cut the vegetables almost 2 cups (beans, cauliflower, peas, potato and carrot) and keep ready.

Take the soaked rice, dal and all the vegetables in a cooker. Add the double the water and give two whistles on medium flame. 

Cool and open the lid, 

Add 2 tbsptbsp tama paste, 1 TSP haldi, salt to taste, red chilli powder 1tsp, 2tsp jaggery and our main ingredient 3tbsp of bisibele bath masala powder.

Mix well and add some more water to get water consistency. Close the lid and cook on low flame for 10 min(remove the weight). 

Take one tbsp ghee(must).

Heat it, add 1tsp mustard seeds, cashew nuts, handful of curry leaves, dry red chilly and a pinch of hing. 

Add this to the ready rice. Mix well. Serve hot with boondi.

Keep smiling,

Mix Vegetable Kheema Masala

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Again, another post from my kitchen following the restaurant style food.(Another recent post is restaurant-style-white-color-veg-pulao)My kids hate me most of the times when it comes to eating out. I avoid outside food unless I am out of station or the restaurant is having a very special menu and which I can not prepare at home. But at the end of the day, somehow I put my full effort to learn that dish and start making at home. My husband happy to save his money, I am satisfied that I can feed my family the fully homemade food. In between my kids give a dirty look. Hey, but not always. They love and enjoy each bite I serve.

There is nothing like home food. It is safe, healthy, tasty and cheap. I think I learnt it from my mother to prepare everything at home, When I was a kid, we never had many hotels and they served only our local food like idly, dosa, upma or South Indian meals. It was rare for us to get North Indian dishes in the hotels. I remember we had only two hotels in Dharwad to have North Indian menu. But mom always felt it is costly and we can not have it. I don't know how and where she used to learn, but without oven, she used to bake the cake, cookies. She used to prepare Mughlai dishes also. My father was a great cook too. I always miss his food.

Coming to today's recipe, It is restaurant style Mix Vegetable Kheema Masala. Kheema is my favorite. But as my family don't like it, I do not make non-veg kheema. Last week, when I was struggling to decide what to make for the dinner, it flashed to me to try  this recipe. AS usual I browsed few blogs and websites. But was more confused. So I ended up with my own recipe. It may sound similar to other recipes, but it is different and taste is just perfect.

Here you are free to add any vegetable of your your choice. You can omit one or two if you don't have. But Cauliflower is a good vegetable to add. It gives that chicken kheema texture and even the nearly similar taste. And if you add Soya granules. I did not add as I was short of time to soak it and grind.

Coming to the recipe:

Vegetables:

Cauliflower - 1 cup, cleaned, washed and grated

Beans - 1/2 cup, cleaned and chopped finely.

Carrot - 1/4 cup, cleaned and finely chopped

Fresh peas or frozen peas -1/2 cup

Paneer -1/2 cup, crumbled. (I prefer using home made, you can use store bought)

For masala:

Oil - 2 tbsp

Onion - 1 big, finely chopped

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Tomato Puree - 1/2 cup

Green chilly - 2 finely chopped

Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Whole spice - 2 clove, 1/2" cinnamon, 1 cardamom and 1 bay leaf

Cashew nuts -8 to 10 soaked in little milk for 15-30 minutes

Fresh cream - 1/4 cup(Again, here I have used directly from the milk. Usually I collect the cream to make into butter)

Kasuri methi - 1 tsp(I make kasuri methi at home which really tastes good and aroma is very good)

Kesar - few strands, soaked in the milk(optional, it gives royal color and the taste. Actually I had kept it but forgot to add)

Fresh Butter to garnish

Fresh coriander - washed and chopped finely to garnish the dish.

Method :

1. If you have ready tomato puree, use it directly. I blanched the tomatoes and pureed it.
2. Boil the fresh peas and keep aside. If using frozen ones, you can use directly.
3. Keep Everything ready.
4. Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadai.
5. Add onions and cook till transparent.
6. Add Ginger-Garlic paste and green chilly, saute it.
7. Add all the vegetables except Paneer.
8. MIx it well and cook it for few minutes or till the raw smell of cauliflower goes off.
9. Add tomato puree, mix well. Cook for a minute.
10. Add the paneer and mix well.
11. Add red chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt.
12. Add 1/8 cup of water, and cook it for few minutes.
13. Till that, make the cashew paste ready and add it to the curry.
14. Now add the fresh cream, kasoori methi and kesar. cook for a minute and garnish with butter  and fresh coriander.

Here, I prepared Jeera rice and Dal fry and Naan without yeast and tandoor with papad, onion and lemon. Or you can try Dal Tadka from my old post Full meals.

I laugh at myself and feel proud also to see how I have improved in cooking when I see the old photos from my blog. Now I am much better cook than before. Thanks to you all, this blog world and my family. And of course the almighty super power who has blessed me this great life. 

Your comments and guidance will be highly appreciated. Waiting for your responses. 

Keep Smiling, 

PAV BHAJI MASALA POWDER AND BHAJI

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Not understanding how to start this post. Very happy to try this at home. In this busy life, we are depending more and more on store bought food or ready to make food and these masala powders. We get ready masala powders for every food  from each corner of the world. We have become lazy and it is taking our health into a crazy world. If you are my regular follower, you have seen me avoiding ready masalas. I always tried to make everything at home from the scratch except those Chinese food. There also I tried to make home make powders whenever possible. Now I have decided to make all the powders at home. So I browsed many blogs, websites to get the recipes and collected lot of recipes. 

PAV BHAJI :  Though it is from Maharashtra, specifically Mumbai, now a days Pav bhaji has become an essential and very common street food of India.Its tangy, spicy flavor attracts everyone. Pav Bhaji is very regular food in my house. We all love to eat Bhaji even without Pav. Many times I planned to make the masala powder at home but was scare that I may not get the same taste of what we get from the shop bought powder. 

But I was wrong, I can give 9/10 marks to my masala powder as it tasted exactly the street food. Why one marks less? Because of the color factor they add into it. And one new trial was I have used Guntoor dry red Chillies where as all the recipes asked for Kashmiri dry red chilli. 

When I searched the ingredients for this masala powder, most of the ingredients are basic and same, but few demanded to add black salt, chaat powder.

After going through all the recipes, I settled down with Hebbar's Kitchen homemade pav bhaji masala powder. But here also I added more amchur powder as I felt the quantity given in the recipe is less.

I have given the recipe for powder and the bhaji also.

First Let's start the recipe for the masala powder:

I am taking exactly from the site except red chilli and aamchur powder

Makes ONE CUP OR 220 ml 

Ingredients :

4 tbsp coriander seeds 

2 tbsp cumin seeds

2 bay leaf 

10 cloves 

2 cardamom

2 inch cinnamon stick( Please take care to use the real Cinnamon(Round and spiralled, as what we get those flat long ones are not real cinnamon and they are not good for health.)

1 tbsp pepper

¾ tbsp saunf 

10 dried Guntoor red chili (Please use Kashmiri dry red chilli, if available, it gives the color to the powder)

1 tsp turmeric powder 

2 tbsp  aamchur powder(How I wish I could make this dry mango powder at home!)

Procedure : 

Keep all the ingredients ready.

Take a thick bottomed pan and keep it on slow flame.

Be sure you are there till the roasting is done. As if any ingredient is over roasted or burnt, the flavor is a failure. 

First roast the coriander seeds and cumin seeds on a low flame, once you get the aroma, transfer it into a plate.

Next roast the peppers and saunf. After transferring this to the same plate, add bay leaf, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and roast for just half a minute. Take these out and add red dry chillies, roast till they you feel the aroma. Take all the roasted ingredients in the plate and allow it to cool. 

Once cool add the turmeric powder and aamchur powder,

Mix well and grind into a fine powder. 

Remove, mix well and store in a box, preferably glass one. You can store it for 3 months at least, But in my house this quantity is only for a month as i use this masala powder to make VAANGI BAATH, TAWA PULAO, EGG RICE and sometimes in the MASALA UPMA too. 

Actually, I have my old PAV BHAJI post here, but still thought of posting it once again as the vegetables used in that are different. But it is a pictorial post. Please do visit. 

Coming to this recipe, 

Serves 6 persons

Ingredients: 

To boil:

• Potato - 4 to 6 big
• Peas - 1 cup(I love to use dried peas, soaking it for few hours or over night and boiling them with other veggies, as I feel you get the taste of street food.)  You can use the frozen or fresh peas too. 
• Cauliflower - 1 cup (cut into florets) Again here I always hated to add this veggie into bhaji where as all my friends loved it. I was using beans and carrot, but once when I tried this combination, even I liked the taste. But if you don't like it or it is not available you can skip it and add one more potato or peas. But do not add Beans as it gives different flavor)
• Carrot - 1 big, cubed

To fry

• Oil  - 1 tbsp
• Onion - 2 big chopped
• Capsicum - 1 big, any color
• ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Tomatoes - 2 to 3 big
• Tamarind paste - 1 tsp(Optional)
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp or more if you want it spicy
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves - handful, cleaned and chopped finely to garnish
• Fresh butter or Amul butter - 1 tbsp to garnish

Procedure : 

• Take potatoes in a  cooker vessel. Add water to cover the potatoes.
• Take the peas(if using soaked ones), carrot in another vessel. Add little water. 
• Keep it in a cooker and allow 3-4 whistles.
• Till it gets cool,
• chop the onions, tomatoes and capsicum or bell pepper
• Open the cooker and take out the potatoes. Peel and mash it with the potato masher.
• Mash the boiled peas also.
• Heat oil in a wide thick bottomed vessel. I use another cooker. 
• Add the onions when oil is hot, cook till it changes its color. 
• Add ginger-garlic paste and saute it. Add chopped tomatoes(even puree will be ok). Mix well and cook till the raw smell of tomato goes.
• Add the capsicum and florets, Mix well and allow it to cook till the capsicum turns soft. 
• Now add the fresh bhaji masala powder, salt, turmericpowder and red chilli powder , tamarind paste. Mix well. Cook for half a minute. 
• Now add mashed potatoes and peas. Add little water. Mix well. close the lid and cook for two minutes. 
• Add some more water( around 2 cups). Add sugar. Mix well again and cook for 3-4 minutes. Open the lid and check the taste. Adjust the seasoning. Cook for another few minutes. Sprinkle fresh coriander and a tbsp of fresh butter. Keep it aside to serve. 

AND THE TASTE WAS JUST AS PERFECT AS THE SHOP BOUGHT MASALA POWDER. 

To serve we need :

Per plate:

Pav - 2, toasted both the sides with little butter

Onion - 1 small

Fresh coriander - 1 tbsp

Lime - a quarter piece.

Butter - 1 to 2 tbsp

Take a serving bowl or plate.

Add the bhaji. Garnish with butter, onion and fresh coriander. 

Serve with pav and lime. 

Please check some more similar recipe from my blogging friends:

pav-bhaji from Sapana of  CookingWithSapana

Mumbai Pav Bhaji from Jayashree of Ever Green Dishes

Pav Bhaji from Nayna of simplysensationalfood and

Pav Bhaji from Avin of The Yellow daal

Keep smiling, 

Pundi palle(Gongura Leaves bhaji)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Today I am with one more North Karnataka's favorite dish. Easily available almost in all the months of the whole year, even it's safe to eat during monsoon where other green leafy vegetables take break. I am talking about Gongura leaves, Pundi palle in Kannada.

According to a source, these leaves are an excellent source of folate, riboflavin, iron, zinc, anti-oxidants and vitamins A, B6 and C.

These leaves are little bitter, sour and strong flavor in taste. Gongura chutney(coming soon in my blog), pachadi, rice recipes are common. 

Gongura leaves are of two types, one is the long leaves and another one is round thick leaves. Round one tastes less bitter and less sour than the long leaves. Long leaves gongura is good for chutney where as this round one is best for the bhaji or rice. 

There is a way to remove the sourness.(Check the recipe)

Here I am sharing the recipe which is commonly prepared in my town(especially Dharwad, Hubli, Bijapur, Belgaum)

Let's start.

Ingredients:

Gongura Leaves -2 bunches, small.

Peanuts - 1 tbsp or little more if you like boiled peanuts 

Thick rava or Dalia  or coarse powder of Jowar(jolada nucchu) - 2 tbsp

Chana dal - 1 tbsp

Green chilli - 3-4(depending on how spicy the chillies are), we need spicier ones

Garlic - 8-10 cloves

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Rock salt to taste(common salt also can be used)

Turmeric powder - a pinch+a pinch

Jaggery - 1 tsp(optional)

Oil - 2 tsp

Water to boil the leaves.

Method: 

• Clean the leaves with lot of clean water and drain the water. 
• Chop the leaves.
• Take peanuts, rava, chana dal in a cooker vessel(if using cooker) or in a thick bottomed vessel if you are preparing directly. Wash it once. Add the chopped leaves, a pinch of turmeric powder and water to cover the leaves. Mix well and cook it in a cooker for two whistles or boil it till the leaves become tender. 
• Allow it to cool and drain the water fully. This removes the sourness of the leaves. Taste it, if you still feel the sour taste, wash with clean water again. 
• Mix well and mash it. 
• Till it becomes cold, Make the paste of green chilli, garlic, cumin seeds and salt. (It tastes good when we use hand pastel to paste it) 
• Heat oil in a kadai. 
• When hot, add the paste and saute it for a minute. 
• Add turmeric powder and boiled gongura. Mix very well.
• Add little water. Adjust the seasoning. 
• Close the lid and boil for few minutes. 

This pundi palle is served with Jowar roti, Flax seed chutney powder, red-chilly-chutney and oil with raw onion. 

Enjoy Gongura leaves chutney by Jayashree of  evergreendishes


Keep Smiling, 

Mix Vegetable Curry in Fresh Coconut Milk

Tried and tasted by Nivedita,Hi All,I remember the game we used to play in our childhood. "color, color which color do you want?" One kid will ask the other kids to guess the color by asking for the hints. It was not only colors, it might be fruits, vegetables, flowers etc. Why am I talking about  this game now? Because you have to guess the vegetables and colors put in this gravy. of course without looking at the picture. And if you ask me, which vegetable do you want, my answer is all the vegetables with all the vibrant colors. Yes! I love all the vibrant color vegetables(except ridge gourd).

My younger daughter is very choosy about the food she eats. So I have to do a research(☺) on how to mix and match the vegetables so that she gets attracted towards the food and eat happily or how I can hide these vegetables in any form to feed her.

So, this is why this curry came in my kitchen. The other day she was hungry and was not in a mood to eat our regular sabji, roti. When I opened the fridge, I saw these colorful bell peppers which I bought it to make Paneer dish. It is difficult here to get colored bell peppers. We get it sometimes in the market. So whenever I I see them, I bring and store. I thought of making fried rice, there was a big no from both the kids. Suddenly I thought of making Thai curry, but when I checked the time, it was 9 in the night. No chance of any supermarket to be opened that time to get ready Thai curry paste, I thought of giving a try without curry paste. And here is the result. I was really very tasty and they both had it happily, even my husband too. Only sad part was it was not enough for four of us! :-( .

And that's why I have not given the title as THAI CURRY.

Thai and Mexican food is my favorite. But, do I hate food from any part of the world!! hehehe! NO way!

Notes :

• Before I start the recipe, You can use any vegetable you have or you like. Bamboo shoot is mainly used in Thai food. Broccoli gives the unique taste. But I do not get bamboo shoot here and was not having broccoli at home.  
• It's always best to use fresh home made coconut milk. The taste always differs with the ready made one. But, if you don't have time to make the milk at home, you can use the ready pack. It takes just 10 minutes to make the coconut milk. Soon I will post the detailed recipe for the same.
• I have used the Ching's secret Red chilly paste and Green chilly paste. You can replace it with any other brand or home made  chilly paste also.
• You can parboil the vegetables if you don't like the crunchy taste. But I have used directly. 

Serves 4

Coming to the recipe,

Ingredients :

Oil - 1 tbsp(I have used olive oil, you can use the normal oil)

Onion - 1 big, sliced

Cabbage - 1 cup chopped

Beans - 1 cup, cut diagonally

Carrot - 1/2 cup, cut diagonally

Green, Red and Yellow bell peppers - 1 1/2 cup, sliced

Fresh green peas - 1/2 cup

Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Green chilly paste - 1 tbsp

Red chilly paste - 1 tbsp + little more if you want it spicy

Fresh coconut milk - 1 1/2 cup

Water to add.

Cooked rice to serve with the curry. The curry  tastes best with rice than roti or chapati. I love to have it just like that ;-)

Method:

• Keep all the ingredients ready. So that you will not miss anything to add. 
• Heat the oil in a thick pan or kadai.
• Add onion and allow it to brown, Mix it in between. 
• Add the ginger-garlic paste, saute it.
• Add the peas and beans first(they take more time to cook) cook on a slow flame.
• After two minutes, add the bell peppers and saute for a minute. Now add carrots and cabbage at the end.
• Mix it properly and allow to cook for two- three minutes. 
• Add salt, green and red chilly paste. Mix well. 
• Add the fresh coconut milk. mix well and close the lid. Cook for few more minutes. 
• If you feel the curry is thick, add some water to adjust the consistency. 
• Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves(optional)

Off the stove and keep it for few more minutes.

Curry is ready to serve. 

I have a few recipe links from my friends from other blogs. Please do check and enjoy these curries.

* Pongal Kootu by Seema

* Perfect Thai curry from Jagruti.

* Chickpea dumplings gravy by Nayna Kanabar

* Spinach Kofta Curry from Jayashree

* Mushroom matar masala from Avin

Keep Smiling, 

Stuffed tomato in rich gravy

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Is tomato a vegetable or a fruit? Debate continues. Who cares! Aap Aam khao, pedh kyoun gin na? Tomato is used in many recipes for its sour taste and its color also. Tomatoes are used to make rasam, sambhar, salad, chutney, juice and even the  face pack. And it comes handy when we are out of vegetables in the fridge. But only thing is the tomatoes should be ripe and firm. Normally hybrid (salad) tomatoes are used to make this stuffed style. As these tomatoes are firm and don't have juicy pulp inside and they taste sweet also.

I avoid tomatoes as much as possible as my hubby has kidney stone problem. I replace tomato with kokam, lemon, tamarind, curds or dry mango. But tomato is tomato, it has its own texture, color and taste.

A very easy and rich food which looks great on dining table and tastes great too. Let's start the recipe.

SERVES 3

Ingredients:

Fully ripe red hybrid tomatoes - 6

Onion - 1 big or two medium

Red dry chilly - 4 to 6

Almond powder - 1/4 cup or less

ginger - 1/2" piece

garlic cloves - 3-4

or ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp

(you can drop garlic and use only ginger also)

Fresh coriander - handful

Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

Rock salt - as per taste(use the normal salt also if you don't have the rock salt)

Whenever possible I use rock salt as it's better than the table salt and tastes great)

Haldi or turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

dry methi or kasuri methi - 1 tsp

Fresh cream - 1/4 cup

Oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp to roast the onions

Water to grind into paste

Method:

• Clean, peel and chop the onions.
• Fry onion and dry red chilly with a tsp of oil till brown, add ginger and garlic also before you take it off the stove.
• Keep it to cool in a plate.
• Wash and wipe the tomatoes.
• Trim the stem end of tomatoes carefully to get a flat opening. With a small round spoon take out the pulp slowly without disturbing Its firmness. If pulp is not very watery you can use it in the masala.

• Take the fried stuff, salt, chilly powder, haldi and grind into a little coarse paste.
• Remove in a plate. Check the taste and adjust accordingly.
• Now, stuff the tomatoes with this masala. Once all are stuffed, some more masala will be left out.
• Take non stick kadai (I use pans from Sanjeev Kapoor's wonderchef product which was gifted by my brother. The pans are magical) or a normal one.
• Heat oil in the kadai. Once hot, add the stuffed tomatoes slowly and close with the lid for few minutes. Cook on a slow flame. Open the lid and add the remaining masala. Mix slowly. Close the lid again and cook for 3-4minutes.

• Till that take the fresh cream and beat it with the beater or fork or small blender. Add the cream, garam masala and kasuri methi. Mix gently and cook for a minute. Remove from the stove. Serve hot with phulka, chapati or naan. 
• Note: You can add fresh scrambled paneer in masala. 

Keep Smiling,