Rajma, Chawal, Aloo Gobhi! Need I say more??

A must have North Indian delight - Rajma, Chawal and Aloo Gobhi . These are the most common dishes in most of the get-together's and parties at my home in india. Awesome food, cooked by my mom! She sometime replaces Rajma ( Made with Red kidney beans) with 'Dal Makhani' ( made with Black Gram and Red Kidney Beans ). An exact explanation of dal is given at wikipedia at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal

1. Rajma:

Rajma is a very famous North Indian cuisine. It is made from red Kidney Beans and Indian spices (of course!) I tried cooking it the way my mom does. I learned the recipe from her when I went to India last which is in January this year. Rajma and Rice tastes really good, but some people also have it with Paranthas ( North Indian bread). So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 Cups Red Kidney Beans
1 Pinch Turmeric Powder
1-2 Tablespoon Ginger Garlic Powder
2 Onions Chopped
3 Tomatoes Chopped
1-2 Green Chillies Chopped
1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
Garam Masala
1 or 2 Whole Red Chili
1 Cinnamon Sticks
1-2 Cloves
1-2 Black Cardamom
2 Tablespoons Oil

Method:

1. Soak Red Kidney beans overnight.

2. Boil the Beans in 4 times more water in a pressure cooker with about 1 tablespoon of added salt.

3. Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan and saute chopped onions until they turn golden brown in color.

4. Now add chopped tomatoes to the pan and saute for 2-3 minutes. After that put the onion and tomatoes in a blender and puree.

5. Heat oil in pan, add cinnamon sticks, Black cardamom, cloves, whole red chili, till all these spices sputter ( it will take about 1.5 minutes). Now add the pureed onion and tomato mixture to this pan and mix well for about 15 minutes on low fire until you see oil separating out from tomatoes.

6. Now add this to the boiled Kidney beans in the cooker and mix well, and keep on low fire and mash some of the beans from your spatula so that the curry gets thicker ( Keep on low fore for about 15-20 minutes).

Done!

2. Aloo Gobhi

Aloo gobhi ( Potato and cauliflower cooked in Indian spices) is again a North Indian recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Large Cauliflower cut evenly ( I used 1 packet of frozen cauliflower :D)
2-3 Potatoes cut in cubes
2 large onions chopped
1-2 Chopped Green Chili's
1 Tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
1 Teaspoon Garam Masala ( Indian spice)
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 Teaspoon turmeric powder
Fresh Coriander chopped
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1) Heat oil in a wok, add cumin seeds

2) When cumin seeds splutter, add chopped onions and saute till onions get light brown.

3) Add cut green chilli, and ginger-garlic paste, garam masala, turmeric powder, salt according to your taste ( I would add about 1.5 tablespoon) and mix and saute for about 1-2 minutes.

4) Now add potatoes and cauliflower to this mixture , mix thoroughly and cook covered on low flame. Keep stirring in between ( after every 5 or 10 minutes to ensure that it is not burning! and add water if it is sticking to the wok).

6) When its cooked, add the coriander leaves and mix and its ready!

Hope you all enjoy this food and for that you have to stop being lazy which means stop eating out all week, be a little enthusiastic and start cooking ! Home cooked food is always a healthy option according to my opinion. Eating out all the time is no fun. I read an article called '8 Sneaky things That Could be Making You fat' by Kathleen M. ZelMan which tells you about the factors that tigger you to overeat. It says that only if people eat when they are hungry and stop when they were full, there would be no obesity problem! To read the full article follow the link below:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/8-sneaky-things-that-could-be-making-you-fat

Now time for the picture of my hardwork :D!! Tada!!!