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Recipe: A Nice Diwali Savoury – Namakpara

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The re:store kitchen has been abuzz with orders this festive season and amidst all the delight of preparing your favourites for you, I’ve been taking some time to make some goodies for my family too. Among these is namakpara, a snack that is a type of Indian biscuit. The sweet version is called shakarpara (“shakar” means “jaggery” and “namak” means “salt”). I thought I would share the savoury version with you as it deliciously counterbalances the taste of the many desserts that you’ll no doubt also be enjoying during this indulgent month!

My absolute fondest memories from childhood have to do with the big festival of Diwali. All of us kids looked forward to it, not only for the special treats and new clothes but also because there was such a cheerful atmosphere around us. For me, the essential memory is all about fragrance: of waking up in the days preceding Diwali and on the day itself to the tantalising smell of the yummy savouries and sweets being fried at home.

Our mother would be busy making them early in the mornings, and the culinary preparations would happen over the course of several sessions. As I have mentioned in earlier festive posts, she and a few friends of hers would get together and cook communally. They would help each other out, making enough for everyone’s families and sharing recipes and techniques. There was a great sense of camaraderie in our homes, as well as mouth-watering anticipation among us kids. Of course, our mother would keep everything she fried in tins up on a high shelf out of our reach!

Each day, we looked forward to her giving us our share of those goodies. It would be a small portion every day. We relished the whole experience so much.

These days there’s such abundance and such accessibility – just make a call, open an app, pay online, have it home-delivered. That didn’t happen back in those days. Everyone had to make their treats on their own. Even gifting consisted of homemade goodies. We would send something made in our kitchen, and they would send something made in theirs. It was all unlike festive celebrations of today, when we can take things for granted.

There was a simplicity to our lives, and I miss it. I don’t know if it’s possible today, but I want my children to experience it too. So I do the next best thing: I continue to make the sweets and savouries I learned to make from my mom. And we observe a rule at home that no matter where they are in the world or how busy they are in their own lives, all of my kids must come home for certain occasions. Diwali, naturally, is one of them. I really believe that we must take a pause sometimes and understand the importance of family, and make time for friends who are like family. This is a great time to do that.

I hope this namakpara will be relished at your gatherings this Diwali too. If you’re looking for more recipes that are perfect for the festive season, I hope you’ll explore my blog archives. There are six years’ worth of wonderful sweets and savouries here, as well as a host of other dishes – from nutritious to decadent. Here’s to many more to come! Thank you for being with me on this journey.

Namakpara

 

1 cup maida

2 tablespoon ghee

1 teaspoon rawa

Salt to taste

¼ teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ginger green chili paste

1 teaspoon kasuri methi powder (or fresh fenugreek leaves)

Water as required

Oil for deep frying

 

In a bowl, add the maida, ghee, rawa, kasuri methi powder (or fresh fenugreek leaves, if you have access to them), turmeric and ginger chili paste, along with salt to taste. Mix with your fingertips.

Add water as required, using a tablespoon so that it’s not over saturated. It needs to be sufficient to make a tight dough.

Mix well. Grease your palms and knead the dough until it is smooth.

Now, roll out the dough. Using a knife, cut it into diamond shapes or any shape you desire. The number of pieces in the yield quantity will depend on the size you choose (I have made mine small, as they look pretty). Meanwhile, heat the oil.

Deep fry the cut namakpara on a slow flame, occasionally turning up the heat for a few seconds or so. Fry until golden brown. Drain onto a paper. Once cooled, store in an airtight tin.

You may have noticed the unusual green tinge of this snack in the photographs. That shade comes from the use of fenugreek (methi). I like to add fresh leaves. They are supposed to be in season now, but the rain has made the supply irregular where I live. So what I do is dry the leaves when I can get them, then powder and use them. You can also purchase this powder, known as kasuri methi.

It will also add a slight hint of bitterness to the flavour of the namakpara, which I personally like as it balances the intense sweetness of festive desserts that may be consumed at the same time. I also sprinkle my fenugreek powder into dough, batter, salads and more, so that I can incorporate its benefits into more meals. I’m a fan, but you can skip it altogether if you prefer.

Isn’t it funny how fenugreek is in season right now – during a time of indulgent feasting? Balance is clearly one of the laws of nature. It’s a good law to observe when it comes to food too.

Enjoy this with anything else sweet, savoury or festive – or just make it as a teatime snack at another time of year, to add some pep to an ordinary day.

Tell me: what are you preparing for the festive season this year? As always, I love hearing from you!

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Recipe: Memories & Many Learnings – Mixed Veg Cutlet

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I recently visited my very dear friend Girija, whom I’ve talked about before. Her stew is famous. I hope you’ve experienced why; I shared the recipe a while ago so that its delightfulness could spread even further. Whenever I visit her, it feels like I’m going home. She spoils me, looks after me, cooks everything that I like to eat, and I have to admit that she is a way better cook than I ever can be.

In my previous recipe, for beetroot cutlets, I mentioned that the dish had been popping up in various conversations around the same time. Girija was one of the people I discussed the dish with, and I recall telling her that what I usually make is a mixed vegetable cutlet. I enjoy talking to Girija about culinary innovations because there is a lot I learn from her. Through her, I know about cooking meat dishes that I wouldn’t otherwise have a familiarity with, along with details like spice usages and the reasons behind them. I often say that my mother was my first teacher in the kitchen, and that subsequently studying Macrobiotics at the Kushi Institute enhanced my outlook and the way I see and treat food. I feel Girija is among these teachers of mine too.

I share all this with gratitude, which is connected of course to the Indian belief that food must be treated with respect and should never be wasted, and to the practice of saying grace before meals in some cultures. As I share my mixed vegetable cutlet today, during this festive month and incidentally the month in which this blog of mine turns six years old, I want to say that am so happy to have such lovely people in my life. Between you and me, I am even grateful to have the not so lovely ones as well, for they teach us too. Life is all about learning and growing. Over the last few years, I’ve learned and grown so much in the culinary field and beyond. It all begins with the food we cook, the food we eat, and the food we learn to cook – together.

 

Mixed Veg Cutlet

(Yield: 6 pieces)

 

2 cups finely chopped vegetables (beans, carrots, peas)

1 boiled potato

1 slice of bread made into bread crumbs

1 teaspoon oil + oil for shallow frying

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon aamchur (raw mango powder)

1 teaspoon garam masala

 

In a kadai, add the 1 teaspoon of oil. Once it has heated, add the vegetables. Stir and allow to cook until tender.

Transfer the vegetables onto a shallow dish and add the potato, bread crumbs, salt, aamchur and garam masala. Mash all the ingredients together well until combined. Add the coriander leaves.

Make the mixture into palm sized discs. Set aside.

In a flat pan, add some oil. Once it has heated, gently place the cutlets onto the hot oil. Lower the flame to low-medium. Allow the cutlets to turn golden and then flip. Allow to cook on both sides.

Your mixed veg cutlets are now ready to serve. I hope you’ll try them out, and that you’ll also explore my beetroot cutlet, sweet potato tikki and harra bhara kebab recipes, which are in a similar vein. All go well with an assortment of dips, chutneys and sauces. Let me know what you think, and if there are any other cutlet recipes you’d like me to try out and share with you in future. As I said earlier – we just keep learning, and for me I find that sharing is a way of learning too.

 

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Recipe: Benefits Big And Small – Beetroot Tikki

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Staying fit and staying healthy have always been important to me, and these are my mantras when it comes to cooking and eating. Especially today, when the importance of being very careful about what we put into our mouths has become widely understood. It all affects our bodies, and our health should always be our top priority. I have many friends who are still recovering from long COVID. It’s not that they were unhealthy to begin with, but this crisis has made us all more conscious about taking steps to boost our immune system. In my case, this has meant choosing to consume less sugar, while consuming more fibre and more protein.

Any dietary website you consult, whether you agree with it or not, will tell you that overdoing anything is the big risk. It is only vegetables that are exempt from this rule, which is why I put as much of them as I can into my cooking. Specifically, for today’s recipe, into my cutlets. I’ll share another variety soon, but to begin with, here are beetroot cutlets, also known as beetroot tikkis.

A tikki is essentially a sort of Indian cutlet. If you make these in a smaller size, they become great starters when accompanied with a green chutney, which always peps things up. In order to make it more filling, some paneer, potato or spinach are great additions. I have used paneer and potato in this version.

There are various ways to prepare the beetroot. You could grate the raw beet, then cook it or deep fry it. Or you could boil or steam it instead. Either way, it’s really delicious. Beets contain a lot of natural sugars, which help fulfil your body’s sugar cravings. This vegetable is also rich in fibre, potassium, folate, manganese and iron.

The idea of making beetroot tikkis came about because the concept kept popping up in different conversations. A few different friends I’d been visiting all talked about it. This was what inspired me to try out and share a recipe for myself. You know how it is sometimes – something keeps coming up repeatedly in one’s life, and once you notice the pattern you are almost compelled to explore it. Whether it’s something small, literally, like a cutlet, or something bigger – a question, a person, a place… There’s always some learning there, if we choose to find it. In this case, adding this recipe into my repertoire has been an enjoyable little learning indeed.

Beetroot Tikki

(Yield: 6 pieces)

 

1 cup raw grated beetroot

½ cup grated paneer

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon garam masala

½ teaspoon aamchur (mango powder)

½ teaspoon roasted cumin powder

1 teaspoon ginger-green chili paste

1 boiled potato

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

2-4 tablespoons oil for shallow frying

1 tablespoon extra bread crumbs for shallow frying

 

In a pan, sauté the grated beetroot on a medium to high flame until the water is cooked. Boil and mash the potato.

In a bowl, add sautéed beetroot, boiled and mashed potato, paneer and spices. Add the crumbs too.

Mix these ingredients together well with your hands and shape them into tikkis.

On a flat pan, add sufficient oil. Dip the cutlets into the extra bread crumbs and then place them on the pan. Allow to cook until golden, then flip over to the other side.

Your beetroot cutlets / tikkis are now ready to serve. They are usually eaten as a snack, with any dip of your choice. If you’re a fan of dishes like these, my sweet potato tikki and harra bhara kebab recipes may be fun to try out too. I have another cutlet recipe coming up soon on my blog. Stay tuned, and as always, I love hearing from you!

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Recipe: A No-Guilt Street Snack – Sweet Potato Chaat

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I have mentioned before that I go through phases when I binge on particular dishes, and right now, I can’t get enough of sweet potato chaat. Chaats are a category of Indian street food, and while it may be true that authentic street food is only found at roadside stalls, I love the healthier versions I make at home just as much. This one is especially so because it replaces the standard puri (a kind of crispy, round cracker) that is the base of many chaats with cubes of sweet potato. Sometimes I even pile on some extra roasted vegetables and this really boosts the nutrition quotient of this fun snack.

My version is made so that it is essentially the equivalent of an Indian salad, and I have a full plate’s serving of it. When I have it around 6.30pm, it is so filling that it can become my dinner.  It’s a no-guilt chaat, and is pretty good for you, not just good to eat. The sweet potatoes are boiled then roasted with very little oil, made as crispy as possible. These are layered with mung beans, vegetables, dry masalas and the delicious chutneys that I always have around the house. Date and tamarind and green chutneys are kitchen staples in my home and lift up the flavour of any Indian dish. I use just a little of the date and tamarind chutney – the date contains jaggery and sugar, and the tamarind has a particular tang – but the green chutney is more neutral and works with a wider range of ingredients, so I use a higher quantity of it.

I’m always looking for innovative ways to play with the chaat category, and the idea of using sweet potato in lieu of puri came about one day just because I had excess sweet potato on hand. It was in season, and the thought occurred to me that regular boiled potatoes are often used in chaats, so why not sweet potatoes? That’s when I came up with the idea of using this ingredient as a puri substitute, not just a potato substitute.

When we were kids, I would often have my friends over for chaat at home as my mom was famous for them. Since I grew up right here in Chennai, I am still connected to many of my childhood friends who are also born-and-bred natives who remained. So whenever they come over for a meal today, there is always some chaat served, as a reminiscence from days long ago. It’s a given, and pretty much expected when they dine at mine. I either prepare the chaat as a main course, or else I serve a variety as a starter. This sukha bhel and this green moong bhel may be on the menu too.

This sweet potato chaat has become a favourite in my social group because it hits all the right spots: nourishing, full of vegetable goodness, not unhealthy, and still scrumptious. It’s like the memory of our childhood chaat has been adapted for our adult palates and dietary needs, and the result is a fabulous mix of nostalgia and taste!

Sweet Potato Chaat

(Yield: Serves 2)

 

1 cup sweet potato (boiled)

½ cup finely chopped onions

¼ cup finely chopped coriander leaves

1 cup boiled mung beans

1 teaspoon oil

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon chaat masala

½ teaspoon roasted cumin powder

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon green chutney

1 tablespoon date and tamarind chutneys

2 tablespoons sev or any crispy topping

 

Chop the boiled sweet potato into cubes.

In a pan, add the oil and sauté the sweet potato cubes until they are crispy and golden on all sides.

Take two serving plates. Divide the sweet potato into both. Sprinkle the mung beans over the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle the onions. Next, add the two chutneys. Then, sprinkle the coriander leaves, followed by the spices. Finally, add the crispy topping. You can use sev, which is standard in many Indian chaats, or substitute it for something else that adds texture.

Your sweet potato chaat is now ready. As always, you can adjust any of the ingredients to your liking. Don’t forget that a big heaping of vegetables will also work well, and you may want to try some foreign vegetables so that it becomes a kind of fusion dish.

If you’re a big sweet potato fan like I am, sweet potato tikki and sweet potato and mango salad may also interest you. Enjoy!

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Recipe: Expanding The Veggie Oeuvre – Fried Okra Chips

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Okra, also known as lady’s finger, is a basic Indian vegetable that grows in any weather, any soil and any season. This means that it recurs as an ingredient in cuisines across the country, and there must surely be a hundred varieties or versions of cooking it. To give you some examples of its versatility: I’ve had it in a yoghurt raita and I’ve also had it in a tamarind sauce gravy, two very different concepts altogether. My most favourite way to eat okra, however, is in a dry stir fry that I make at home almost every other day as the sabzi part of our traditional Gujarati thaali. However, making a preparation attractive to the rest of my family, particularly the younger generation, has been a challenge. That was when I discovered that I could convince them to eat this vegetable by turning it into fried okra chips.

Initially, my plan was to simply introduce my kids to the wonders of a good okra dish and then have them develop enough of a liking for the vegetable that they also became interested in the regular stir-fry. I must confess this plan has backfired – we are all too addicted to this version! So it’s become more of a treat and less of a staple in my home.

Still, as I continue to find ways to increase the vegetable quotients in my kids’ diets, I’m glad to have figured out this simple yet delicious recipe. I have noticed that youngsters take some time to grow out of the feeling that brinjal or okra, vegetables that have a certain texture, are icky. Even though mine are now adults, they still have these dislikes. Preparing these vegetables they are picky about using a technique that makes the stickiness go away, such as frying, makes a difference. Do you have any such tips and tricks you’d like to share too?

Another great thing about these fried okra chips is that they require very little prep time, and as long as you have your usual spices and some fresh okra around, you can make them quite quickly. As with most vegetables, freshness is a key element when it comes to okra. When I was growing up, my mother taught me not only how to cook but also how to pick out the best vegetables when shopping for groceries. While you may not be able to do this at the market, when you’re about to cook, the secret to knowing how good your okra is this: snap the tiny piece of the tail end off. If it snaps immediately, it’s fresh. If it is tender, it’s losing its freshness.

When this happens, depending on the dish in question and the extent of the vegetable’s over-ripeness, I either use it in another preparation or else I discard it. By discard I mean that I go and feed it to the cows in the street. Most of the older vegetables amidst my groceries or in my fridge are “discarded” this way. In a sense, they are never wasted.

Fried Okra Chips

(Yield: Serves 4)

 

250 grams okra (sliced lengthwise)

Salt to taste

2 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

½ teaspoon garam masala

5 tablespoons chickpea flour

1 teaspoon chaat masala

Add all the spices and the chickpea flour to the okra slices, and massage well using your hands. Allow to sit for half an hour.

Then, heat the oil. Once the oil is heated, drop in the coated okra slices. Fry well until golden. Drain on a paper. Sprinkle with chaat masala for an additional boost of lovely flavouring. You can store the fried okra in a tin if consuming later.

These fried okra chips are a wonderful snack on their own, and also work as an accompaniment to a main course. I’d love to know what you think of them, and I’d especially love to know if you have more suggestions about how to sneak nutritious vegetables into the diets of the vegetable-averse!

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Recipe: An Amazing Accompaniment – Aloo Methi Sabzi

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In my previous post on bottle gourd thepla, a Gujarati flatbread variation, I mentioned that aloo methi sabzi is a perfect accompaniment. Aloo methi sabzi – or potato roast with fenugreek leaves – is very quick to make and tastes simply delicious. Besides – who doesn’t love potatoes?

I always seem to have some boiled potatoes ready in the kitchen, because I use them extensively. In Indian cuisine, this may be in the form of chaats, aloo tikkis, stuffed aloo parathas or more. They are just as useful for dishes from other cuisines, as potatoes really are enjoyed all around the world. Drop me a message or a comment if you’d like the recipes for any of the dishes I’ve named, or if there’s something more creative you’d like to explore together.

They really are such a versatile vegetable, and I like keeping them handy. When they are just lying around and I suspect they may go bad soon, I usually just boil them up and whip up some aloo methi sabzi. It’s the kind of dish that doesn’t ever go to waste in my house.

As it takes little time to prepare, as long as the potatoes have already been boiled, this is also my go-to recipe on days when my husband wakes up and says “Okay, I have to carry lunch to work today – it looks like I can’t come home in between”. With such short notice, sautéing this dish and putting some theplas in his tiffin box are the best way to make sure he gets a fulfilling lunch, made fast and fuss-free.

It’s so true that whatever one is most used to in the kitchen comes together effortlessly, and this recipe is in that category for me. The thepla part comes so easy too – I could make them blindfolded! But as a cook and as a person, I enjoy the challenge of learning new things. Right now, I am hungry for more skills that take me out of my comfort zone, or help me improve. I’m back to my sloka chanting classes after a break, and I am also restarting learning to speak Spanish. I mentioned recently how much I want to study Italian cuisine, and the thought of learning about authentic pasta and gelato has fired my imagination. I’d love to do an exchange programme with an Italian chef – perhaps they could teach me their recipes, and I could teach them some from my part of the world.

All that said, amidst such exciting pursuits, comfort food that doesn’t require thought and energy is much cherished. This aloo methi sabzi isn’t just an easy, tasty dish for me, but it also carries with it many childhood memories. Quite unusually for our generation, my brother was very interested in cooking. As the oldest child, he was put in charge of meals while our mother was travelling. I can still recall sitting on the kitchen floor with my sister, both of us literally and figuratively looking up at him as he worked, the smell of aloo methi sabzi wafting around us. This simple dish, paired with a standard thepla, was obviously his go-to as well. So my favourite memories of aloo methi sabzi are also memories of him.

When I think about it, I recognise just how much of a hub of activity the kitchen was when we were growing up. The boys and men did not keep out, as was the norm at the time. While my father didn’t cook, he chose to be in charge of groceries, not because he could go out more freely as a man, but because he was very interested in and wanted to contribute to the workings of a kitchen. It was quite wonderful, and very rare, for that time: a brother who cooked and a father who knew all about groceries.

 

Aloo Methi Sabzi

(Yield: Serves 2)

 

3 medium sized potatoes

1 cup finely chopped methi (fenugreek) leaves

Salt to taste

2 tablespoons oil

¼ teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 green chilli (split length-wise)

1½ teaspoons cumin-coriander powder

 

Heat the oil in a kadai. Once it is hot, add the cumin seeds. When they splutter, add the split green chilli. Then, add the chopped potatoes. I sometimes add spinach as well, to make it even healthier.

Following this, add the methi leaves and all the masala. Stir all the ingredients together well and allow to cook.

As I said – the method for aloo methi sabzi is quite simple. Once the dish has cooked, serve hot alongside theplas, other flatbreads or rice. Or put it in a lunch box, and enjoy a home-cooked meal a few hours later.

Here are a couple more of my favourite potato preparations: a Gujarati potato brinjal curry that is close to my heart and also evokes my childhood, and spicy patatas bravas from Spain that always inspire me to keep exploring the world. As I said before, everyone seems to love potatoes, so I’m curious to know: what are some of your own favourites?

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Recipe: Basically Tasty – Bottle Gourd Thepla

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Being Gujarati, I think it’s only fair that I give you another detailed description of and a special blog post for theplas, even though the standard recipe for them has already made an appearance in my comprehensive post on rotis of many kinds. After all, Gujaratiness goes hand-in-hand with theplas and dhoklas, as stereotypical jokes go – in which there is a kernel of truth, for these really are essential parts of our cuisine. The thepla is particular, in fact. You may also recall a khichdi thepla shared earlier, which is a nifty way to turn what’s left of lunch into dinner. This time, I’m sharing with you a particular recipe that I happened to mentioned in that post – dudhi thepla, which adds the goodness of bottle gourd to the basic bread.

We make all kinds of flatbreads and rotis in India. Each state and each community will have distinct versions. For instance, farmers and people who labour outdoors will tend towards breads that use bajra or pearl millets, or other kinds of seasonal millets. As millets are slower to digest than wheat, this ensures that the body has energy for longer. The roti itself will usually be thicker, larger and drier. A garlic chutney is often the preferred condiment for this dish.

Within the thepla category itself there is great variation. In terms of adding vegetables and herbs, methi or fenugreek leaves are commonly used, and spinach may also be used. Those are among my favourites too, and I’ve put some methi into this recipe as well. If you thought the khichdi thepla was innovative, how about a thepla taco? It’s a fun way to dress up a staple and make it even more appealing to a variety of palates.

My children, despite their greater exposure to other cuisines, still consider as a cherished comfort food a roti or a thepla made at home. It’s the same for my husband. Whenever any of them return for a visit or after a long journey, some delicious theplas are always waiting for them, and I’ve watched time and again as their exhaustion becomes happiness quickly as they tuck in to the meal.

As I have mentioned before, the plain theplas travel very well and last long. They are a very popular work and school lunchbox item, as you may have seen if you’ve had Gujarati colleagues or classmates. My mother would carry them whenever we took trips, and many years later, I do this myself too. Do note that the bottle gourd thepla does not keep for as long as the plain ones, because of the vegetable used. However, it is much softer, and this is once again attributed to the vegetable. Bottle gourd has a very high water content, so much so that I do not add water at all when making the dough. When you are preparing it, if you feel that you’ve added a bit more flour, a few sprinklings of water will help. Otherwise, with practice, the flour, spices and grated bottle gourd will come together easily in a dough.

Whenever I entertain at home, if I’m planning an Indian menu, you can be assured that thepla is the chosen bread. It’s comforting, delicious, versatile and funnily enough, both light and filling. I’ve noticed this: when you’re eating theplas, you feel kind of full, but you seldom feel bloated or heavy afterwards. Have you observed the same too?

Bottle Gourd Thepla

(Yield: 9-10 theplas)

 

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons yoghurt

A handful of methi (fenugreek) leaves

Salt to taste

1 cup bottle gourd (to grate)

½ teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 tablespoon ginger green chilli paste

1 tablespoon oil

2-3 tablespoons water (if required)

Clean and chop the methi leaves. Wash and set aside. Peel the bottle gourd and grate the flesh. Keep aside, but not for too long.

In a bowl, add the flour and then add all ingredients, except water. The grated bottle gourd releases water, as explained earlier. Hence, add water at the end, and only if required. Knead well and make a stiff yet smooth dough.

Now, make small balls with the dough. Dust a ball with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll it out into a circular shape.

Heat a pan, and place the rolled disc onto it. Allow to roast on one side and then flip the thepla. Allow a few seconds to roast again and then add a few drops of oil onto both sides. Allow to cook until golden.

Repeat the process for all the rolled dough balls. Collect each as it’s done in a box so that they remain soft.

Theplas go well with pickles or potato roast (i.e. aloo sabzi). I’ll be sharing the recipe for the latter in my next post, so do stay tuned!

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Recipe: Charmingly Green – Raw Mango Chutney

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As you probably know by now, I have mango trees in my garden. At home, we really do take these for granted. Sometimes, there are so many fruits ripening out there that we don’t even try to stop the monkeys in the neighbourhood from coming to make a meal of them. One of the varieties that we grow, known as the parrot beak or killimooku, is best enjoyed when it is still raw. It is not unbearably tangy, which makes it just perfect for condiments like this raw mango chutney. You may also remember it from this vegan raw mango dal and other raw mango recipes I’ve shared before.

Initially, the challenge for me was always about making it a green chutney, as I like the colour. Invariably, my many trials would result in a chutney that was blackish or another shade. While the taste remains the same, the visual effect differs. Both as a photographer and as a cook, I believe the eyes eat first. I wanted that beautiful, pure green of the fruit to be captured in the dish as well. So I persevered until I hit upon the perfect method to create a green raw mango chutney.

I have made and shared another green chutney before, a coriander one. I have also made and shared a raw mango thovayal, which is a coarse chutney from Tamil cuisine. But I have never shared a raw mango chutney itself so far, and this may be because it has taken me this long to figure out how to ensure it comes out green and stays that way!

I hope this will be the case when you try it out too, as that lovely green is such a delight to look at. I am not sure what the trick is exactly – whether it is the tiny pinch of turmeric, or the ice cool water. I am sure there’s a scientific reason, something about chemistry or temperature, that I just haven’t gotten to the bottom of. I do want to assure you again that if your chutney turns out anything other than green, it should still be fine to consume!

I somehow prefer this recipe to the coriander chutney, taste-wise. I enjoy it with dhoklas and other Gujarati savouries. It is absolutely delicious as a dollop of hot rice, in lieu of a pickle, along with some ghee. I also wonder whether it would work as a pesto replacement in a toastie. Since it’s the season, I may give this experiment a shot one of these days.

My inspiration for this really comes from the region I live in and grew up in. Tamil cuisine is full of chutneys and thovayals, and I’ve not really encountered raw mango used this way in Gujarati cuisines. It is not only the flesh that is used. I have recently seen a chutney made only with the seed, from the beginning of the season when it is tender. Mango peel, as well as ridge gourd peel, are also turned into similar condiments. I may also experiment with this, perhaps by cooking the skin a bit.

Once again, despite so often taking it for granted, I am reminded of just how versatile the mango plant is. Not only are all parts of its fruit edible, but its leaves too are used in prayers, as they are considered auspicious. Those lush green trees, beautifully blossoming away in summers, bring much needed cool relief. Whatever we do, we go full circle and come back to the beauty of nature – don’t we?

Raw Mango Chutney

(Yield: 1½ cups)

2 tablespoons coconut

2 tablespoons roasted chickpeas

Salt to taste

1 cup coriander leaves (no stalks)

¼ cup mint leaves

2 pods garlic

1 cup raw mango

1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder

½ teaspoon sugar

2 green chillies

¼ cup cold water

A pinch of turmeric

 

Seasoning:

1 tablespoon sesame oil

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds

¼ teaspoon cumin seeds

A few curry leaves

 

Wash and peel the mangoes and cut them into pieces.

In a blender, add all the ingredients and blend until you have a smooth paste.

Prepare the seasoning. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the curry leaves. Immediately, pour the seasoning over the prepared chutney.

Your raw mango chutney is now ready to be enjoyed. If you are a fan of Indian dips like this one, I hope you’ll also explore my recipes for ginger chutney, plum chutney, wood-apple chutney and date chutney.

 

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Recipe: Prasan’s Favourite – Paneer Makhani

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Paneer makhani is a staple in North Indian cuisine, and is loved by people across the country, but not many know that it is a far cry from the original preparation that it is based on. From my understanding, the authentic Mughlai dish did not use tomatoes, which were not available or at least not widely cultivated in India till the last couple of centuries. Tomatoes are a major part of the recipe as it is widely made today. Another element is that the cooks who invented the dish did not use fat such as oil, butter or ghee. Instead, they splashed yoghurt, which would release natural fat. This is what the meats and the gravies of the Mughlai kitchen would be cooked in. Having a sense of the evolution of paneer makhani – a curry using paneer, or Indian cottage cheese – has made me quite happy to share the version that is made in my own kitchen.

While my version caters to my family’s likes and dislikes, it is really focused on one member in particular. Everyone who knows us knows how much my son Prasan loves his paneer makhani. If I talk about this love in detail, he will be furious with me for putting it out in public, so I’ll try not to divulge too much. Suffice to say: he has adored it since childhood. When he visits our relatives, like my aunt or my sister, they usually ring me up and ask me exactly how to make it in the way he prefers. They know that he will only be satisfied with their meal if there’s a serving of his favourite dish. If they’re unable to prepare it that day, they organise for it to be at the table anyway. So this recipe is for them also – next time, they can just find it right here on this blog, as can you.

When we get together as an extended family, a good paneer makhani is a mainstay at most meals. I’ve noticed this to be true at all sorts of gatherings and feasts across communities in India as well. It is also a dish that pleases people of all ages. Children seem to appreciate it as much as the elderly. Whether it was one of my kids when they were little or my mother-in-law as a senior citizen today, I’m never surprised to see anyone at all reach out for another helping.

Paneer Makhani

(Yield: Approximately 2 servings)

 

50 grams onion

180 grams tomato (roughly chopped)

2 cardamom pods

½ teaspoon cumin

2 cloves

1 piece cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon garlic-ginger paste

4-5 pieces broken cashewnut

1 tablespoon oil (to sauté)

 

1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon turmeric

¼ teaspoon dhaniya-jeera (coriander-cumin) powder

 

1 tablespoon ghee

½ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon garam masala

100 grams paneer

½ teaspoon kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

Add the oil to a kadai. Allow to heat, then add the cumin seeds. Immediately after, add the onions, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, cashew nuts, garlic-ginger paste and the bay leaf. Sauté for about 1 minute. Then, add the roughly chopped tomatoes.

Now, add the salt, turmeric, chilli powder and dhaniya-jeera powder. Stir, cover and allow to cook until the tomatoes are tender.

Allow to cool and blend well. Strain and set aside.

Heat a kadai, and add the ghee. Once it has melted, add the blended purée that had been set aside. If required, add a little water to make the gravy in the consistency you prefer. Other options are to add butter or 2 tablespoons of fresh cream. I have added neither. I sometimes do, but rarely, as Prasan and the rest of us prefer it with less of the same. If you choose to, remember to add the milk or cream finally, else it will split.

Now, add the sugar and allow the gravy to cook well. Finally, add the paneer pieces. I occasionally sneak in some green peas, but my kids don’t like them in this dish. But they do go well with paneer in general, so you may want to try them out. Garnish with a sprinkle of kasoori methi. The gravy can be used as a base for other dishes, such as chicken or vegetable curries, and I’d love to know how you decide to use it.

Serve with flatbread, such as naan or rotis, or rice. Now that I have the hang of sourdough naan, that’s what I tend to serve my Prasan-style paneer makhani with.

There you have it: one of the top dishes at my dining table, made with love every single time. On that note… I’ve mentioned my son quite a number of times in this post, which means I may just have to head to the kitchen and whip up a fresh bowl of paneer makhani. You see, it’s become a bit of a running joke that whenever he is annoyed or upset, a little bit of his beloved gravy will calm him down! Having said this, I’d better get to making it right away, I suspect!

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Recipe: Take Some More – Sweet Potato Tikki

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India has a wide variety of snacks that you could call tikkis, kebabs, tikkas and by other names. They are made with different key ingredients, and may be fried, grilled, skewered or served intact. All kinds are delicious, and usually quite filling too. I enjoy a range of vegetable-based tikkis and make them with sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, paneer, kidney beans, green peas and so on. The spices as well as the binding agent remain consistent, while the core vegetable can change. I also occasionally use a mix of vegetables. Among these many options, sweet potato tikkis have been a favourite at snack time in my house of late, so I thought that I’d share the recipe with you.

Do remember that you can use this recipe as a base, as mentioned, for other tikkis as well. While breadcrumbs work well, I have personally gone for either tapioca flour or oat flour as a binding agent when I make these. They are healthier options and taste very good too.

Sweet potato itself is of course the healthier version of the regular potato, though arguably just as delicious. Sweet potato is extremely nutritious, and is rich in antioxidants, beta-carotenes, fibre and vitamins. Did you know that just one sweet potato can boost your system with between 400% and 800% of your recommended daily intake of Vitamin A? True to its name, this is also a delicious vegetable with a hint of sweetness, and one that works in versatile ways. Just talking about it jogs my inspiration, and I think I’ll be using it as the star of some recipes I’ll share in the near future too.

Coming back to today’s recipe, the sweet potato tikki, I would like to add here that the dish itself is quite versatile. It is a healthy choice when you need a fast but satisfying snack, and is great as finger food to serve to guests. How you serve it can also be in a number of ways. You can make it in a chaat or street food-style, serving it plain with a nice dip or sauce. You can make it as part of a meal, accompanied by a salad. You can make it in a longish roll shape, which you then roll within a chapati or roti and tuck away in your tiffin box for a spill-free lunch at the office. One of my favourite methods is to make it as a patty, thus letting you turn a tikki into a vegetable burger. I learned this method while studying Macrobiotics, when a kidney bean patty that I found very similar to our Indian tikkis and kebabs was often used in burgers. In terms of the actual preparation itself, you may choose to deep fry the tikki. I have pan-fried it, to keep it healthier. I have not yet experimented with air-frying, but perhaps you could try that and let me know?

Sweet Potato Tikki

(Yield: Approximately 8 pieces)

 

2 cups sweet potato (mashed)

2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves

1 heaped teaspoon garam masala

1 heaped teaspoon aamchur powder (or: a dash of lemon juice)

Salt to taste

¼ teaspoon black salt

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1 teaspoon ginger/green chili paste

3 tablespoons oats flour (or: tapioca flour)

¼ cup oil

Mash the sweet potato well. Add the coriander leaves and onion. Next, add all the spices and mix well with your fingers until they all come together.

Make small discs with the palm of your hand. Keep the tikkis in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Once they have cooled, heat a pan. Add oil, then place the tikkis on a medium flame. Watch that they don’t singe at the bottom. Lower the flame if necessary. Flip the tikkis gently and allow them to turn golden on both sides.

Your tikkis are now ready. Serve with green chutney or ketchup if they’re going to be a snack, or with a salad for a hearty meal. In fact, that reminds me of another way to kick up the sweet potato quotient in your diet, with this sweet potato and mango salad, especially with the fruit soon to be in season!

If you enjoy this recipe, you may also be a fan of the harra barra kebab, which uses green peas. That one lends itself especially well to being used as a burger patty. As always, I’d love to know what you think after you try these recipes out. Do leave a comment and let me know!

 

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