Baingan ka Bharta

In continuation to my baingan escapade, as i already mentioned baingan ka bharta is my all time fav. Some fry it well, some make it raw, with kachcha onions and tomoto etc, but i like the fried version. Lets have a look at the bharta, my husbands favourite dry veggie.
Another treat for the BAINGAN-OLICS.

Lasooni Dal Palak

All you south indians would have surely heard of Keerai kootu or keere porchukoyumbu.. whichever way you call it... its the Dal Palak the southie style...well i used to call dal palak as the keerai kootu the northie style.. whichever way you prefer it. Well I first had dal palak in the most bland form and wondered how come keerai kootu one of my favorites taste so horrendous.. well then i experimented on it with a good sum of garlic and its yummy ... and lately read about it as a chefs dish from JW Marriot.. umm.. now you can believe me i guess[;)]... So lets savour the lasooni dal palak ...

To the veggies who simply love the GREENS...

"Baingan Bhaja" with a Tang

Baingan or brinjal or Eggplant or Aubergine might not be the favorite for all but is definitely the favorite for a few, and i call them baingan-olics. I was never too fond of baingan but due to 2 baingan-olics in my life, i just could not avoid it. My all time favourite(and the only..) baingan dish was baingan ka bharta.. but had to experiment on others also... my mom was the biggest baingan-olic i have ever seen ... she had this sparkle in her eye whenever she would see some fresh brinjal...could you beleive those days we used to go in a hand pulled rickshaw to purchase veggies and if we would have already bought 2 types of brinjals.. and on our way back if we see some fresh brinjals with some roadside hawker.. she would not think twice to say .. "waaah kya baingan hai.. thoda le lein kya..." [:)]

and to top it all ... now my FIL (father-in-law)... is supposedly a competitor to my mother in the contendors to the baingan-olics crown... he is the kinds.. when my MIL asks him to get 3 to 4 types of veggies as the stalk at home is completely khali ... he would end up getting 4 types of brinjals [:))].. coz all of them looked so irresistable... hahhaaa... all to the extent that papa d great has got warnings from the family that " ab agar ek hafte tak ghar mein baingan aaye to aap apna hisaab laga lena... "[:))]

Well hats off to all the BAINGAN-OLICS...
a tangy recipe dedicated to you all ...

Baingan Bhaja or Fried Brinjals..

Serves : 3-4

Preperation Time: 20 - 25 mins.

Ingredients

1 medium sized Brinjal (egg plant)
1 1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Red Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Amchur (Dry mango powder)
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
2 tsp finely chopped garlic (6-7 medium cloves)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
3-4 red chilles
Salt to taste
3 tbsp oil for frying (some prefer mustard oil)

Method:

1. Cut the brinjal into 1 cm round slices and soak it in water for 15 mins (this removes the
bitterness).
2. In the meanwhile, mix the chopped ginger and garlic and grind it just once.. so that ginger
and garlic blend well.
3. Take 2 tsp oil and mix the ginger garlic blend, and rest of the ingredients..and mix them well
to make a paste.
4. Drain the water completely and pat dry.
5. Apply the paste onto both sides of the slices and keep them aside.
6. Heat a non-stick frying pan and add oil to it (enough for shallow frying).
7. Add mustard seeds and red chilles and let them pop.
8. Dip the brinjal slices into it and then fry them in the pan for 3-4 min or until oil starts
separating from the mixture and the brinjals are brown and fried from both sides.
9. Serve it with Dal and Chapati or rice.. the brinjals are very tangy so dont make the dal
very spicy, you can even make dal palak with this.. we have tried it.. it tastes good.

Hope you enjoy this.

Welcome to Swati's Cookbook

Hello World...

Welcome to my cookbook. This is Swati Raman Garg. Feels good to call myself that, basically Swati Raman and now Swati Raman Garg since Dec 6th 2007. A S/w professional with Amdocs, Pune earlier, had to shift base to Bangalore, after getting married to Parvesh Garg, my hubby, my motivator, who really really wants that i shud write....

pondering over the thought whether to get back into the bad bad world of IT or try out something better in life. Currently being a homemaker (thanks to those who kept this term .. a way better term than housewife.. well well well, why not call myself the 'CEO of my household' :) ) iam getting the time to try some blogging which i always wanted to.
To pen down some of my experiments at my kitchen, and share it with you all, cooking just for the heck of it get boring right.

So lets kickstart, lets cook ;)... baigan bhaja with a tang coming up soon!