Shahjeera-Ajwain Square Parathas with Punjabi Egg Masala, Eggplant Galore: Rasavangi, Sampangi Pithlai and Kothsu with Okra-Yogurt Pachadi/salad

Hello friends, did you see the "Bollywood Ice Dancing" and in Winter Olympics on Monday by a US team, Meryl Davis and Charlie White who won silver? It was soooo cool and colorful! Jai Ho!! :)

Email scam alert to all of you:
I received an email last week saying that (with a fellow blogger's full name and her husband's name as well) they were robbed at gunpoint in UK while on vacation and they need money urgently to get back home. They asked me to help them sending about $1200 ASAP and they promised to return the money, I should trust them etc. Of course, I deleted it promptly. Then I contacted one of my blogger friends who advised me to change my password immediately and she told me that there is a big scam going on like this in India too! They hack an email address and sending the message to everybody this person knows using her name and her husband's name which is more shocking and confusing when you recognize this blogger's name. Some even collected the money to send it to help their friends in need only to realize that they have been scammed. I just wanted you to know this and be aware. Don't start sending money because somebody takes my name and send an email to you. Knowledge is power as they say! :)

Okay, back to business now:

Punjabi Egg Masala with buttered Shajeera, Ajwain and turmeric flavored square Parathas are at your service. A Punjabi fare today! :)
What more can I say? This is the easiest and yummiest Egg masala I have ever made to serve with Shahjeera and Ajwain flavored Parathas. What makes it special? I used "Punjabi Garam Masala" I made at home last month in this Egg masala. It really makes a difference, has lot flavor than just any regular old store bought Garam masala, you can make your own Punjabi Garam masala from here. I made the sauce in the Microwave (faster and less messy), but you can use stove top to make the masala too as I type in here. Vegetarians can use any mixed vegs or Veg Koftas to add to this masala instead of Eggs.

Hardboil 6 eggs, about 2 eggs per person for 15mins in lots of water on high heat. Drain all the water, fill the pot up again with cold water. This helps the shell to separate inside and makes it easy to peel the shell. If you put the boiled eggs with shell in the fridge overnight, peeling is even easier. Slice the Eggs halfway and keep them aside.

Punjabi Egg Masala:
1. Heat 1 tbsp Butter and 2 tsp oil, add 1 medium onion, finely chopped or ground, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, stir until onion paste is slightly reddish and soft.
2. Add 1 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste, 1/4 tsp Turmeric, 1 tsp Paprika or Kashmiri (for color and heat) chilli pd, stir for 1 minute.

3. Now add 1 cup Tomato sauce, 1tbsp Coriander seeds powder and 2 tsp Cumin seeds powder, let it simmer for 15-20mins until sauce is thicker or oil shows up on top.
4. Add few tbsps of water to cool it down and add 1 cup 2% milk or lower fat half and half, adjust the salt, sugar (to balance the tangy Tomatoes) and chilli pd to your taste. Mix well and simmer.
5. When the sauce is smooth and thickish, remove from the heat and add 2 tsp crushed Kasoori Methi and 1 1/2 to 2 tsp of Punjabi Garam Masala, 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves, mix well.
6. Add eggs to the sauce and let it sit for few hours or overnight in the fridge for best flavor.

All done! Slurp!! :)

My Shahjeera-Ajwain square Parathas with Punjabi Egg Masala goes to Srilekha's "EFM-Parathas and Gravies" event and also to Pari's "The combo event".

Shahjeera, Ajwain and Turmeric square Parathas: (Click to enlarge the pics)
As you know I keep on learning to make different kinds of folds to make Parathas, I just love the looks of them when they are done! Here, I added Shahjeera, Ajwain and turmeric to the dough and made the Parathas square. It's so much fun to eat them too! :)

To make square Parathas:
Mix 2 cups of Atta, 1 tsp Shajeera (Black Cumin seeds), 1 tsp Ajwain seeds and 1/2 tsp Turmeric, 2 tbsp of oil, mix well. Add about 1 cup of hot water slowly and knead the dough to a smooth and soft but not sticky dough. Divide into 8 or more portions, make balls, cover and let it rest for 1 hour or so.

1. Roll out a dough ball to a circle, brush with oil, sprinkle some flour. Fold as shown in the pics brushing oil and sprinkling flour to a square shaped folded dough ball.
2. Roll out gently again keeping the square shape, don't have to get a perfect square.
3. Cook on griddle both sides, take out on a plate, brush with little ghee or butter on top. Stack up the other Parathas on top. Serve ASAP with any gravy.

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Eggplant Galore II?!

Brinjal Rasavangi, Sampangi Pithlai and Kathirikkai Kothsu:
Yes! One of those "Galore" posts (Soup Galore, Idli Galore, Pumpkin pics, Brunch, Winter Munchies, XMAS treats, another, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Party snacks, Soupy week, JackFruit, Eggplants, Gourds, Plantains again. PHEW! :D), with loads of dishes but with delicious different tastes I have posted before! I have cooked all three of these dishes from a very authentic south Indian cookbook called "Dakshin Bhog" by Santhi Balaraman I have. It has really simple but traditional recipes. I had bought plenty of Eggplants last week, so I tried these 3 dishes from the book, LOVED the taste.

Rasavangi:
Here is another spicier Rasavangi I have posted before. Here is the simple but tasty version.
1. Cook 1/2 cup Tura dal with 1 1/2 cup water, keep aside. Soak small ball of Tamarind in 1 cup water and squeeze all the water, discard the solids. Cut slices of 3-4 Brinjals, wash in water.
2. Cook Tamarind water, Brinjals, 1/4 tsp Turmeric pd, salt, and cook until Brinjals are tender. Add cooked and mashed Tuar dal, chopped Cilantro, mix and simmer for 2 mins.
3. Heat 1tbsp oil+ghee, add 1 tsp Mustard seeds, 2 sliced Green chillies, 2 dry red chillies, few curry leaves, and add this to Rasavangi.

Sampangi Pithlai:
This dish supposed to be from Karnataka, probably a Iyengar or Iyer dish as Sampangi sounds Kannada and Pithlai is a Tamil word. This dal has little more spices than the other dals, taste great with rice.
1. Pressure cook 1/2 cup Tuar dal, 2 Drumsticks, 1 cup Green beans or Broad beans, 1/4tsp Turmeric with 2 cups of water.
2. Boil 1 cup Tamarind water, add 1 cubed Potato, 2 Eggplants and 1 Chow Chow,chopped, cook until soft. Add powdered masala, cook for 2 mins.
3. Add in dal mixture, salt, Chopped Cilantro, simmer and season with 1 tbsp oil+ghee, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, few curry leaves, pinch of Hing, 1 red chilly.
Spice Powder: Roast these lightly and powder without oil.
2 tbsp coconut, 3 red chillies, 2 tsp Urad dal, 1 tsp rice grains, 6 Peppercorns, 1 tbsp Coriander seeds, 2 tsp Chana dal.

Kathrikkai Kothsu:
Another tasty south Indian dal with Eggplants and Moong dal! Add water as needed to thin the dal or add less to thicker dal, up to your liking.
1. Cook 1/2 cup Moong dal with 1/4tsp turmeric and 1 cup water. Keep aside.
2. Heat 1tbsp oil+Ghee, add 1/2tsp Mustard seeds, 2 sliced green chillies, few curry leaves, pinch of Hing. Add 2 small onions, sliced lengthwise, saute until golden color.
3. Add 3 small round Brinjals, cut into slices, 1 cup Tamarind juice/water, salt and cook until soft.
4. Add powdered masala, cooked Moong dal, adjust the salt and heat, a small piece of Jaggary, chopped Cilantro, simmer for few minutes and serve.
Toast these lightly and powder without oil:
2 tbsp Coriander seeds, 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds, 1 tbsp Chana dal, 3 or more dry red chillies.
Serve with these plain rice, papad and a Okra-Yogurt salad.

My Eggplant Galore with Rasavangi, Pithlai and Kothsu goes to Anita's "Vegetable Marathon-Eggplants" event.

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Spiced up Okra-Yogurt Salad/Raita/Pachadi:
I love this salad or Bendekai Pachadi as we call it. You can eat this by itself at lunchtime, Summer days are the best to have this cooling salad or serve this as a side dish with nutritious dal. Great with Parathas too since it's spicy, has a vegetable and tangy Yogurt. It has all the goodness of Okra, Ginger, Garlic and Yogurt. Enjoy.

Whenever you use Okras, make sure you fry or saute them in oil first before you make a any Okra dish, nothing horrible like eating slimy Okras. Take 4 cups cut Okras for this dish. Whole Okras are washed first, dried and cut into 1" pieces. Add about 3 tbsp of oil in a non-stick wok, add Okra and saute until Okra pieces loses it's sliminess and looks reddish and separate from each other. If you have many, saute them in batches. Cool and set aside.

To make salad:
1. Heat 1 tsp oil, add 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, 2 tsp Urad dal, few curry leaves, 2 green chillies sliced, 1 red chilly, broken. Saute until Urad dal is reddish.
2. Add 2-3 tbsp chopped Cilantro, take it off of the heat. Add to a serving bowl, cool. Add 1/2 to 1 cup thick Yogurt, 1 tsp roasted Cumin seeds powder and sauteed Okra to the bowl with enough salt and mix.
3. Take 2 tbsp water, add 2 cloves of Garlic and 1/2" Ginger in a pestle-Mortar and pound until they are mashed and squeeze the juice out into the Salad, discard the Ginger-Garlic solids.
4. Mix the salad well and serve at room temperature.

My very south Indian traditional Okra and Yogurt spiced up Salad/Pachadi goes to Divya's "Show me your salad" event.

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Movies I watched:

"Paa":

Well....I watched Paa last weekend (alone this time). I have mixed feelings about this movie. It reminded me of "The curious case of Benjamin Button" although story line is totally different. I thought AB Junior looked very handsome and mature in the movie. Vidya Balan looks beautiful and great actress as usual. I thought movie is bit of a drag, same thing stretched to a 2 hours unnecessarily. I still don't know where the name "Auro" comes from or what it means! I hated the "Potty" jokes, "bastard" "round round round" dialogues and calling his grandma "Bum" because she has a big behind and all this is from a 13yrs old! I can understand a 4-5yr old making potty jokes and also I hope kids in India don't start calling their ajjis and Paatis "bum" after watching this movie! :D
But I did enjoy the movie, did feel the sadness when the boy dies in the end. It's hard for me imagine that scenario as a mother of a (almost 15yr old) son myself. Movie is well made and I can say I liked it except few scenes, worth the time.

Everybody's Fine:
Heartwarming movie. An old and lonely widower, played by Robert De Niro, tries to get all his 4 adult children together at his home for Thanksgiving but none of them have the time or inclination to visit him. So he decides to surprise his kids by visiting them instead but each one make excuses that they are busy and can't spend much time with him, guides him on to the next child. They tell him that when they were kids he was too strict, pushy, expected too much out of them and that's why they preferred to talk to their mom than him. He says he didn't realize it but he just wanted the best for them.
When he gets robbed in the city on the way to his daughter's home and loses his heart medicine, he calls his empty home just to listen to his dead wife's voice on the answering machine which gives him some comfort and made me so sad. He has a heart attack on the way back to his own home, then his kids gather around him in the hospital, they talk but also tell him that one of his sons has died. He goes home and what happens after that is for you to watch! All IZ well in the end I should say, everybody's fine! :)

Book:
I am still reading or listening to David Sedaris's "Me talk pretty one day" , a collection of short stories which are autobiographical mostly,which are absolutely hilarious. I bought a collection of audio cd books of all David Sedaris's books and recordings of his live shows from Carnegie Hall. I am enjoying listening those cds now which is narrated by David Sedaris himself by his high pitched voice which makes you smile, some stories are "laugh out loud" funny and few uses lot of crude language too but supposedly a normal everyday southern vocabulary for his (NC born) youngest brother! :D
These are some samples of stories from "Me talk pretty one day".
Here are some funny but bit R rated quotes by him from all of his books.

Have a great weekend, hopefully we will see the Spring sooner than later! :)