BAIGAN [AUBERGINES] – 3 STYLES

1. Bharwa (East UP style)
Roast saunf, methi seeds, dhaniya seeds, kalaunji, jeera and grind into a powder.
Make paste with lehsun, green chilli, amchur and salt.
Slit baigan (look out for any larva/insect), fill up with above paste.
Take little oil in karhai/pan, heat and put cook the stuffed baigan on a slow heat turning them over so that they are cooked all over.

2. West UP style
Make paste of lehsun, dhania powder, haldi powder, amchur and salt.
Baigan to be either slit or cut into four pieces.
In heated oil put filled baigan. (You can add pieces of mooli in it if you like it)

3. Baghara (South) style
Take small baigan and slit into four, leaving joined at base.
Roast groundnut, till, dry coconut grated and grind into powder.
Add powder of dhania, mirch, haldi, garam masala and roast it further.
Add imli juice to this, put some water and boil whole mixture.
Add split baigan to this mixture and cook some more.

Quick Vegetable recipes

Continuing our tips on different kinds of chhaunkas for different vegetables:

Potato-Methi leaves
Heeng and green chilli

Katahal (raw Jackfruit) with Potato
Fry katahal aloo in oil and take it out. In same oil add chhaunka of tejpatta,
heeng and methi seeds.
** Variation Kanpur style
First do a chhaunka of heeng, jeera, whole red chilli and to this then add the
fried katahal/aloo.

Soya Alu (Tariwala) Khandwa style
Lehsun chopped and green chilly chhaunka. (To steam cook - put in same cooker
with chopped tomato, enough to make Tari)

Lotus Stem(Kamal Kakri)
Heeng ,Jeera and whole red chilli.
To cook
Fry the kamal kakdi and aloo. Add dhaniya powder, haldi powder, chilli, garam
masala powder, salt, 1-2 spoonfuls of besan and fry. Add a little water, cover
with the cooker lid and cook.

These are some initial suggestions to get you going. I will keep on posting some more suggestions and recipes. If there any particular dishes or recipes you want me to cover then do let me know and I will try my best to oblige.

Indian Cookery for Beginners

When abroad and fed up with eating out, every Indian/Pakistani craves tasty home food. Most of us will fumble at the beginning if we’ve never done any cooking at home. That first step is always the most difficult.

However, if you learn some basic principles of Indian cooking you will find you are able to prepare a wide range of dishes.

First, start by preparing your ingredients and setting them all out ready for the cooking. Most Indian cooking starts with a ‘Chhaunka’ of ‘tempering’ i.e. heating oil in a pan and adding the spices that will usually crackle and splutter and release its flavours and aroma. The prepared vegetables are then added to this ‘chhaunka’ or ‘tempering’ and cooked, either dry or with a little water, until the vegetables are tender and cooked.

For various vegetables some of the ‘chhaunkas’ popular in north India are:

Potato Raw:
Methi seeds, Whole red chillis (two or three- broken in two/three pieces), Heeng( just a wee bit). This is for both dry or with ‘tari’ preparations.

Potato Boiled
Heeng, Jeera, Whole Red Chilli

Pumpkin( Yellow Kaddu)
Methi seeds ,Heeng, Whole red chilli

Brinjal (Baigan)
Methi ,Heeng

Kunderoo
Methi ,Heeng, Red chilli whole

French Beans
(a) Either Jeera or Methi
(b) South Indian style –Rai(Sarson), Chanadaal, whole Red Chilli, Curry Patta (add fresh coconut grated towards end of cooking)

More easy recipes coming soon, come back soon.