Hot-sweet vegetable curry

This recipe was a sort of off-the-cuff, make-it-up-as-you-go-along creation – and it tasted really nice. It wasn’t so much sweet as it was hot, because I used a Scotch bonnet pepper, and hot is how I like things... but the sweetness was there, all the same.

And that, it would appear, is all I have to say about it. I've been trying to come up with some kind of spin to eke out this post, but I believe I've run out of imagination. I need a ghost-writer with a sense of humour and endless creativity. Any takers?
Recipe for: Hot-sweet vegetable curry

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fingerling or salad potatoes, sliced in 1cm rounds
1/2 cup ripe mango,cubed
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup green beans, sliced on the diagonal
1/4 cup carrots, sliced in thin sticks
1/4 cup bottlegourd, sliced in thin sticks

1/2 cup onions, chopped fine
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp Kitchen King masala (or your favourite garam masala)
Green chillies to taste
5-6 cashewnuts
2 tbsp oil
A generous handful of chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Toss the sliced potatoes with 1 tbsp oil and roast in the oven at 180C/350F, stirring them after 15 minutes, until they are golden and cooked - about 30 minutes or so. Reserve.

2. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan and add the ginger and cinnamon powder.

3. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes, or till they start to break up.

4. Add the chopped mangoes and the chillies, if using. Cook them on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until they become soft.

Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool.

Once it's cool, puree along with the cashewnuts and reserve.
5. Now heat the remaining 1/2 tbsp oil and fry the chopped onions.

6. When the onions are soft and pale brown, add the sliced carrots, beans and bottlegourd.

Add one cup water, cover the pan and let the vegetables cook till just done.
7. Stir in one cup milk and bring the mixture to a gentle boil on medium heat.

8. Add the pureed tomato-mango mixture and mix it in along with the Kitchen King masala powder..

9. Bring to a gentle boil, then add the oven-fried potatoes and stir them in.

10. Let the curry simmer for 6-7 minutes on medium heat. I like the gravy to be fairly thick, but if you prefer it more runny, add water or milk as required and simmer for a few minutes longer. Add salt to taste. Then garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice.


RECIPE: HOT-SWEET VEGETABLE CURRY
Ingredients:

1/2 cup fingerling or salad potatoes, sliced in 1cm rounds
1/2 cup ripe mango,cubed
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup green beans, sliced on the diagonal
1/4 cup carrots, sliced in thin sticks
1/4 cup bottlegourd, sliced in thin sticks
1/2 cup onions, chopped fine
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp Kitchen King masala (or your favourite garam masala)
Green chillies to taste
5-6 cashewnuts
2 tbsp oil
A generous handful of chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Toss the sliced potatoes with 1 tbsp oil and roast in the oven at 180C/350F, stirring them after 15 minutes, until they are golden and cooked - about 30 minutes or so. Reserve.
2. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan and add the ginger and cinnamon powder.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes, or till they start to break up.
4. Add the chopped mangoes and the chillies, if using. Cook them on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until they become soft.
Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool.
Once it's cool, puree along with the cashewnuts and reserve.
5. Now heat the remaining 1/2 tbsp oil and fry the chopped onions.
6. When the onions are soft and pale brown, add the sliced carrots, beans and bottlegourd.
Add one cup water, cover the pan and let the vegetables cook till just done.
7. Stir in one cup milk and bring the mixture to a gentle boil on medium heat.
8. Add the pureed tomato-mango mixture and mix it in along with the Kitchen King masala powder..
9. Bring to a gentle boil, then add the oven-fried potatoes and stir them in.
10. Let the curry simmer for 6-7 minutes on medium heat. I like the gravy to be fairly thick, but if you prefer it more runny, add water or milk as required and simmer for a few minutes longer.Add salt to taste. Then garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice.

Eggless banana almond fruitcake

My husband loves fruitcake in all forms – heavy and dense, light and fluffy, dry and crumbly, with exotic dried fruit or just with currants, with nuts or without, egg-free or eggful, fancy or homely, buzzing with alcohol or completely teetotal… you name it, he’ll eat it. Of course it goes without saying that he prefers fruitcake that's well-made to one that's second-rate... but in a pinch he'll eat the second-rate one too. In general he can be as nutty as a – pardon me for this – fruitcake when it comes to this variety of cake. Me, on the other hand… I can take fruitcake or leave it. It’s marginally more “take it” if it’s got nuts in it that cut the sweetness of all the dried fruit, so I usually add some to most fruitcakes I make.

And because Pete mostly doesn’t mind how his fruitcake turns out, as long as it’s not turned to coal, I feel free to experiment without worrying about “what ifs” like “what if the cake’s heavy like a brick”, or “what if it’s so crumbly that you choke on fruitcake dust”, and so on. (I’ve even made fruitcake with dark chocolate that needs to see the light of day at some point.)

Anyway, this cake combines the best of what Pete likes (dried fruit) with the best of what I like (banana) with some dried sour cherries (bought in the YewYessYay, naturally) thrown in for that “exotic” touch. The addition of mashed overripe bananas was a touch of genius if I do say so myself, because the flavour it gave the fruitcake – helped by the addition of cardamom powder – was luvverly. It was almost like an Indian fruitcake, if there is such a thing. If there isn’t, there is now.

The cake keeps well and stays moist at room temperature (under cover, that is, not left open to the elements) for at least a week that I can vouch for. We both think it tastes gorgeous too – let me put it this way, we’re all three made for each other because if he’s nutty about banana fruitcake, I’m bananas about nutty fruitcake, and the fruitcake is bananas and nuts anyway. See what I mean?

Recipe for: Banana almond fruitcake



Ingredients:

2 medium overripe bananas, mashed well
1-1/2 cups plain flour or wholewheat cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup Splenda 1/4 cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit (I used currants, dried sour cherries, chopped mixed citrus peel)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or as needed)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Sift the flour and spices together with the Splenda, sugar and salt. 2. Add the dried fruit



and the dried cherries, mix them into the flour.



3. Make a well in the flour-fruit mix, then add the almond slivers and the mashed banana.



Mix again.

4. Add milk little by little, mixing as you go.



The batter should be thick. It is the correct consistency when it drips slowly off the back of a spoon. Mix in more milk if it's too thick, to get it to the right consistency,



5. Pour the batter into an 8" square or round pan sprayed with Pam or greased with butter.



Bake at 180C for about an hour, or till the cake tests done. Start checking at the 45-minute mark as different ovens work differently. 6. Remove the cake tin from the oven, and let the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes.



7. Unmould the cake onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. This cake stays good at room temperature for a few days.

RECIPE: EGGLESS BANANA ALMOND FRUITCAKE

Ingredients:

2 overripe bananas, mashed
1-1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup Splenda
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit (currants, dried sour cherries, chopped mixed citrus peel)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or as needed)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Sift the flour and spices together with the Splenda, sugar and salt.
2. Add the dried fruit and the dried cherries, mix them into the flour.
3. Make a well in the flour-fruit mix, then add the almond slivers and the mashed banana. Mix again.
4. Add milk little by little, mixing as you go. The batter should be thick. It is the correct consistency when it drips slowly off the back of a spoon. Mix in more milk if it's too thick, to get it to the right consistency,
5. Pour the batter into an 8" square or round pan sprayed with Pam or greased well with butter. Bake at 180C for about an hour, or till the cake tests done. Start checking at the 45-minute mark as different ovens work differently.
6. Remove the cake tin from the oven, and let the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes.
7. Unmould the cake onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. This cake stays good at room temperature for a few days.

Browned butter apple cake

I have baked a good number of cakes in the years since I started this blog, and a good few of them are based around fruits, fresh or dried. Apples, oranges and bananas feature a lot among those, simply because I usually have those fruits around the house. Bananas figure a lot because they tend to go overripe before we can eat them (they have to be slightly underripe for Pete, and perfectly ripe for me – which doesn’t leave a big window of opportunity for the poor bananas!) Some overripe bananas can be sliced into cereal but beyond that, they get turned into cakes. Oranges I use a lot of because I love their flavour in cakes. As for apples, again, those with blemishes caused by mishandling or old age find their way into baked goods.

The apples I used in this cake fell into the latter category – they were beginning to shrivel with age, and needed to be used. Conveniently enough, I came across an eggless apple cake recipe that incorporated flaxseed and was so completely decadent (all that butter...!) that I felt I just HAD to make it. Boy, it sure didn’t tell a lie, that recipe... the texture of the cake was excellent, and the taste – oh my!

The blogger from whom I got this recipe said in her blog that the cake was just as nice cold, but I have to say that it was okay cold, but when served hot with vanilla ice-cream, the cake was absolutely spectacular! I don’t use the word “spectacular” often, but this cake totally deserves the accolade. Especially as we ate it over 4-5 days, and it lost nothing in the way of taste when it was reheated in the microwave oven.

Let me say that this is not a cake to be made everyday, or every week, or once a month, or even once in two months... but when you DO make it, be sure to enjoy it down to the last crumb and don’t skimp on the quality of the ice-cream either.

PS. The cake would probably look better with sliced apples arranged prettily, but for some reason I had decided to chop up the apples, so that was that.

Recipe for: Browned butter apple cake



Ingredients:

For the brown butter:

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 medium apples, peeled and chopped into 1-cm cubes



1. Heat the butter in a medium pan over medium heat until melted and bubbly,



then add the brown sugar



and stir till the sugar caramelises and turns golden brown. Be careful not to burn it.



Stir in the cinnamon and pour the mixure into an 8" pan that's been sprayed with Pam. Spread the apples evenly over the caramelised sugar.



For the cake:

1-1/4 cups AP flour
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter or margarine
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp flaxseed powder
2 tbsp cornstarch/cornflour
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup yogurt

Method:

1. Sift together the salt, flour, nutmeg and baking soda into a medium bowl.

2. Cream the butter and sugar with the vanilla extract till fluffy and light.



3. Beat in the cornstarch/cornflour and the milk, mixing well.



4. Add the flour mixture and yogurt a third at a time and beat till smooth.



5. Add the flaxseed powder and beat again. If the batter is very thick, beat in a bit more milk, tbsp by tbsp, until the batter is thick but of dropping consistency.

6. Spoon the batter evenly over the apples in the pan.



7. Bake the cake for 40-50 minutes at 180C or till a cake tester comes out dry.



8. While the cake is still hot, run a thin knife around the edges and place a plate over the cake, then carefully turn it upside down.





Serve the cake warm with best quality vanilla ice cream. The cake stays good for 3-4 days in a cool environment.

Sweet-sour roasted egg curry

This recipe came about because of something that we had eaten at a restaurant called “Saffron” in Shrewsbury. It’s slightly different from the run-of-the-mill takeaways because it offers different types of fish cooked in a sauce chosen by the customer and spiced as specified. It also had a couple of different vegetarian dishes on offer, one of which I tried because it seemed interesting – potatoes in tamarind sauce.

It was interesting – in fact, it was better than that. It was superb, the sauce a perfect balance of sweet and sour and spicy... but the chilli hit snuck in very quietly behind the tangy explosion on the tongue. The only thing that stopped the dish from being perfect was the amount of oil in it, but once I had spooned out the worst of the stuff, the sauce was delicious. In fact, Pete liked it so much that I declared I would try and replicate it at home.

A few weeks later, I had still not done anything about it (big surprise). But then circumstances butted in and forced my hand. I’ll list the circs because I’m sure y’all would want to know – hey, it’s interesting, allright?

Circ 1 - Nearly a dozen eggs that were very close to their use-by date

Circ 2 – Pete’s son’s friend who was staying over unexpectedly

Circ 3 - A nearly empty tin of Alphonso mango puree

Circ 4 – Some new potatoes... oh all right, potatoes that had been new awhile ago, but were now on the verge of parenthood right there in my potato bin.

Circ 5 – Pete, who had been persistently NOT forgetting to remind me to make “that tamarind thing” for the umptyninth time (and that was just counting that week).

(Told ya the circumstances would be interesting. Or perhaps not. But this post needed content, and one way or the other it's now got a decent amount of text in it.)

Anyway, given all that, what could I do but get down to making that tamarind thing. Which incidentally turned out very nicely, thank you for asking.

PS. I read on somebody's blog that making slits in the boiled eggs would allow the sauce to flavour the interior of the eggs while they were simmering in the sauce. I am here to say that the slits did nothing of the sort. But this didn't detract from the taste, so I didnt worry about the unreceptive eggs one bit.

And if unreceptive eggs should happen to happen to you too, neither should you. Not one bit.

Recipe for: Sweet-sour roasted egg curry



Ingredients:

8 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
3 tsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 onions - 1 chopped fine, 1 pureed
1 tomato, chopped fine
1/4 cup slow-roasted tomato puree (or just puree one tomato)
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm chunks
3 tbsp mango puree (if this isn't available, use 1 heaped tbsp jaggery or dark brown sugar)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp tamarind paste
3/4 cup milk
Water as required
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
Salt to taste

1. Heat 2 tsp oil in a large pan and add the 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder and turmeric powder. Let them sizzle for 20 seconds.


2. Make four deep vertical slits in the hard boiled eggs, being careful not to cut all the way through to the other side.


3. Fry the eggs in the tempered oil over medium heat, turning them over gently from time to time, till they are lightly golden all over and the surface is slightly blistered.

Remove the eggs from the oil and reserve.

4. Add the remaining 1 tsp oil to the pain now and fry the chopped onions for 2-3 minutes.


5. Then add the chopped tomatoes and let them cook till they begin to turn mushy.


6. Meanwhile, in a small jug or glass, put in the tamarind paste and 1 tbsp sugar, add 1/2 cup warm water and whisk to mix.


7. Then add the mango puree (or jaggery/brown sugar) and red chilli powder and whisk again.


8. Pour this into the pan over the tomato-onion mixture,


then add the peeled chopped potatoes


and the pureed tomato and onion.


9. Stir it all in, then pour in the milk, and mix.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and cover the pan and let the contents simmer for 10 minutes, or till the potatoes are nearly done.

Taste the sauce now for the sweet-sour-hot balance. Add some lemon juice if required (or amchur if you have it) if it needs to be a bit more sour.

10. Now add the garam masala and stir it in, then add salt to taste and finally the roasted boiled eggs. Simmer the eggs gently in the masala for 7-10 minutes, turning them over occasionally and being careful not to break them, until the potatoes are completely cooked.

Let the curry rest for 5 minutes, then garnish with chopped coriander and serve with any simple pulao or plain white rice.

Alu matar (curried peas and potatoes)

Aren’t these chillies gorgeous?



Fresh off (one of) my plants... but I only wish I knew what variety of chilli they are, the sun and rain having bleached the writing on the marker stick I’d used. I used these chillies (and added two more store-bought green chillies) to make alu matar (curried potatoes and peas) a couple of days back, but to my surprise, they didn’t seem to have any effect on the heat content at all.

I found that out only the next day, as I hadn’t bothered with tasting it after I’d made it in the evening (to use up odds and ends of tomatoes and green peas and a couple of boiled potatoes). Pete and his son Andy came back late that night after a deejaying stint at a club, and along with the lemon chicken (sauce sadly from a jar) that I’d made for them, they also demolished a good portion of my alu matar.

Which fact I discovered the next morning, to my great surprise.

Andy doesn’t shy away from chilli-hot food, but put Pete next to a green chilli and he starts sweating just from its proximity. So when he said, on being questioned, that he thought the alu matar was very tasty, I couldn’t believe my ears.

“You ate food with chillies in it?”, I asked. “YOU?”

“Yes, it tasted fantastic,” he said calmly.

“Okay..." I edged away from him warily. "Which planet are you from and when did you take over my husband’s body?”

“Look," he said, shrugging. "I stuck a finger in and tasted it, and when it didn’t burn my tongue off, I decided it was safe to eat."

"It wasn’t hot,” he added.

“It wasn’t HOT? It wasnt HOT?" I repeated, my voice rising to a squeak of outrage. "Right, bad enough that you’ve taken over my husband’s body, but to make five green chillies disappear as well... that’s too much! What have you done with my green chillies? Do you use them to fuel your space-machines?”

“It wasn’t hot,” he said again, absolutely radiating saintly patience. “Really. You try it.”

So I did.

He was right. It wasn't hot.

That was good news and bad news – good news in that apparently Pete hadn’t been possessed by chilli-neutralising aliens from outer space, but bad news (kind of) that my chillies were not hot. I was growing chillies that were *gasp* not hot? I might as well let the slugs and snails have the darned chilli plant – naaaah, just kidding! I wouldn’t let those nasty creatures have a go at my nastiest WEEDS if I could possibly help it, never mind relinquish something grown after so much difficulty, even if it was lacking in the one quality that defines a real chilli!

Anyway, my aim for next summer is to source a Bhut Jolokia chilli plant... and then we’ll see about chillies that aren’t hot. Ha.

For now, in any case, my recipe for alu matar. Yes, I know, it’s a basic recipe and one that can be found on practically everybody’s blog, and yes, I also know that I have another recipe on this very same blog for this preparation... but my point is, that’s another recipe (and those on other blogs are other recipes) - not this one.

And with that final triumphant flourish of logic, here goes...

Recipe for: Alu matar (curried peas and potatoes)



Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
2 cups ripe tomatoes chopped (I added a few baby plum tomatoes)
1-1/2 cups fresh garden peas
1 medium onion chopped
8-10 small shallots (I used sambar onions)
4-5 fresh green chillies (or to taste) halved vertically
7-8 cashew nuts
1 tsp grated ginger root
1/4 cup milk or cream
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 level tsp chana masala (or garam masala)
1 cup water
3 tsp oil
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan and fry the green chillies for 30 seconds.



2. Add the onions and the cashew nuts now and stir fry till they begin to soften and turn translucent.



3. Now add the chopped tomatoes and grated ginger,



stir and let them cook on med-high heat till the tomatoes begin to soften.



Let cool and grind to a smooth sauce.

4. Now heat the remaining 1 tsp oil and throw in the coriander powder, cumin seeds and garam masala. Stir fry for 10 seconds, then pour in the pureed sauce.



5. Add the green peas



along with 1 cup water and 1/4 cup milk,



bring to a brisk boil, then allow to simmer for 10 minutes, covered, till the peas are cooked to your liking.

6. Add the boiled potatoes and salt to taste, and let the masala reduce to a consistency you like (slightly runny if serving with rice, and thicker if accompanying rotis or parathas).



7. Sprinkle with chopped coriander and serve hot.