PottyPadre

Karela Bhaji

With a peeler take off some amount of the external skin of the Kerala bhaji. Make sure you don’t take off too much. Now slit the karela lengthwise and deseed the vegetable. If you don’t want the dish to be too bitter add some salt to the cut vegetable and leave it in a colander. The vegetable will now start dripping water and after 10 minutes you can squeeze some more water out of the vegetable with your hand.

In a pan heat oil to smoking point and add the karela stirring constantly on high heat for two to three minutes minutes. If you don’t cook this on high heat the bhaji will start sweating and you will be left with a pool of gravy which you don’t want.

Now lower the heat and add to approximately four large Karela a, 1 teaspoon chilli powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder, quarter teaspoon Haldi powder and half a teaspoon Jeera powder. At this point add 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste. Stir all this constantly on a medium flame. You might have to add a little more oil to the pan.

Do not add salt the dish unless you have tasted it becuase you have already slated the vegetable earlier. Depending upon how crisp you want this vegetable you can continue cooking it on low fire for a longer period of time but stirring constantly.

Just before serving squeeze some lime on the Kerala Bhaji

Fish curry

Half a coconut
Nine red Kashmiri chillies
One onion
Five cloves garlic
One ball( lime sized) tamarind
One teaspoon jeera seeds
Two teaspoons corriander seeds
Quarter teaspoon poppy seeds
Ten pepper corns

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder

Fish – whatever you have

Method
Dry all dry items first and then add the wet items with one glass of water. Grind this to a smooth paste.

In a pot add some oil and fry the masala for about three minutes on low fire. Then add about two cups of water. Go slow with the water and make sure you have a nice thick and juicy gravy and not some runny thing. At this stage add salt to taste.

I then added the fish and allowed this to cook for five minutes on a low flame. Add two green chillies and turn off the gas. Cover and let it rest.

Lenten breakfast – Missal Pav
Today was my version of Missal Pav. The ingredients are displayed in the picture with the exception of salt. It contains white chana 75 gms, curry leaves two sprigs, two green chilies, one large onion, one large tomato, one tea spoon of garlic and ginger paste,  one tea spoon red chilly powder, half tea spoon, one tea spoon turmeric powder, one tea spoon coriander powder, one tea spoon cumin powder, salt, a small ball of tamarind, fresh coriander and mint to be added last with the farsan.

Here are a few tips

1. I add some salt when I I add the dry powder masalas to the pan. This helps drop the temperature and prevents the powdered spices from burning
2. Two whistles in a pressure cooker and another ten minutes on slow fire does the trick.
3. When cooked, mash some of the cooked white chana with the back of a spoon. This helps you get a nice thick gravy.
4. Don’t forget to soak the white chana overnight in water.
5. A few sprigs of fresh mint along with fresh coriander gives it that final kick.
6. Soak your tamarind and then extract the pulp. Do not add all the tamarind pulp/juice but add a little at a time, taste and then add more.
7. Any farsan is good to top up. I prefer the mixed farsan.