Vegetarian Kheema

Ideas kick in when there is a necessity and at the same time, lack of certain resources. In this case, it was a fine evening and I entered the kitchen to make dinner. I opened the fridge and voila! No veggies. I hardly had a couple of tomatoes and an onion. Just then, these beautiful small protein rocks caught my attention. And I thought; let’s make something out of them.

I started making preparations and the rest is below! Hope you’ll enjoy this delicious recipe.

Ingredients

Soya Chunks – 1 cup

Onion – 2 cups, finely chopped

Cashews - 8 - 10, cut in to pieces

Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tsp.

Green Chilies – 3, slit vertically

Cumin Seeds – ¼ tsp.

Chili Powder – ½ tsp.

Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp.

Dhanya Jeera Powder – ½ tsp.

Tandoori Chicken Masala (optional) – ½ tsp.

Garam Masala – ½ tsp.

Vinegar – 1 tsp.

Mustard Oil – 2 tbsp.

Water – 5 cups

Salt – to taste

Servings – Serves 2 to 3

Note – I added the tandoori chicken masala just to add more flavor. It can totally be omitted in this recipe.

  

Method

1. In a saucepan, pour 5 cups of water with a pinch of salt and bring it to a boil.

2. Add soya chunks in to the boiling water and let them stay in till they become double in size (about 7 – 8 minutes).

3. Turn off the flame, drain the water and squeeze excess water from the chunks.

4. Chop the soya chunks in to very small pieces.

5. Take a pan and heat the oil. Add cumin seeds. Upon spluttering, add cashews. Once the cashews get roasted, add chopped onion and cook until it becomes golden brown in color.

6. Add ginger garlic paste and saute for about a minute. Add the chopped soya chunks and put in turmeric powder, dhanya jeera powder, chili powder, garam masala and tandoori chicken masala.

7. Mix all the ingredients well and after about a minute, add vinegar.

8. Cook covered until all the masalas mix properly with soya.

     Note: If the mixture seems to be too dry, then pour in quarter cup of water to make it a little moist.

9. Turn off the flame and serve hot with rice and tomato rasam. The combo is out this world. :)

Semolina Pudding/ Sooji ka Halwa

This dish is to new place, new life and new challenges. We shifted to Maryland about a week back. We moved in to our apartment a couple of days back and our stuff hasn’t arrived yet. With no internet and nothing else to do I decided to cook something. With minimal vessels and ingredients and an urge to eat something sweet, I decided to make sooji ka halwa.

Ingredients

Semolina/ Sooji – 1/2 Cup

Water – 1 Cup

Sugar – 1 Cup

Ghee – 2 tbsp.

Cardamom Powder – ¼ tsp

Dry Fruits (Cashews/ Sliced almonds/ Pistachios/ Raisins) – 1 to 2 tbsp.

Serves 2 - 3

Note – Pudding shown in the above picture does not have any dry fruits or cardamom powder. Trust me, it came out just fine. In fact it was delicious.

Moral of the story – Don’t let the lack of ingredients stop you from cooking. The motto of “Cooking Away to Glory” is to make delicious dishes with the least available resources/ ingredients.

Method

1. Take a saucepan and heat the ghee. Add the dry fruits and roast them for about a minute or till they become golden brown in color. If adding raisins, roast till they puff up.

2. Strain the ghee off the dry fruits and place them aside.

3. In the same pan, add semolina/ sooji and roast for about 2 to 3 minutes on low flame. It’ll give out a fine aroma.

4. In the meanwhile, heat water in another pan and bring it to a boil.

5. Once the semolina/ sooji starts giving out an aroma, add water in to it.

6. Stir the mixture until semolina/ sooji loses all the water and it starts sticking together. At this point, the semolina/ sooji should be fully cooked. You can find it out by touching it. It should be soft.

7. Now add the sugar in to the mixture. Make sure to add sugar only after the semolina is fully cooked.

8. As the sugar melts, keep stirring the mixture until it loses all its moisture and attains the consistency of a thick pudding. It should become a mass that sticks together.

9. Turn of the flame. Add the roasted dry fruits; mix well and serve hot.