12th July 2009 - Dinner - Daal Dhokla

What?

We call it by various names, Daal Dhokla being one of them. It is a pretty quick dish, and is slightly non-conventional, so makes for a nice change from the normal routine. Also, it is quite filling as it functions like a complete meal.

How did it look?

Improvements?

• The daal got sligthly soggy and sort of made the whole thing look like yellow paste. Although the taste was fine, it would be better to cook it a bit less.

12th July 2009 - Lunch - Potatoes in Sunshine Gravy

What?

This was a repeat of the dish I had made last month. The gravy's made using yoghurt and is bright yellow in colour. This is a good choice if you are out of onions, as it tastes good even when plain.

How did it look?

Improvement

• The best thing about this gravy is that it is minimalistic, yet tasty. The yoghurt gives a nice sour and tangy flavour, which can be slightly accentuated by a few drops of lemon juice if your yoghurt is lame.
• If you make onion paste and add it to the yoghurt, you will get, more or less, the gravy they use in Gatte ki sabji

13th July 2009 - Dinner - PaaT Vadi

What?

This is a Maharashtrian dish, slightly similar to the Rajasthani gaTTe. You first make the vadi using besan and then mix it with gravy. I made the yoghurt gravy I make for gaTTe.

How did it look?

Before making the gravy

Finally

11th July 2009 - Dinner - Chhole

What?

Shantanu Saathe was going to stay over for the night, so I thought of making chhole, although I had just come back from Paris. It was a set recipe, and turned out well.

How did it look?

9th July 2009 - Dinner - Aloo Gravy

What?

Another round at potato gravy, only this time I added tomatoes and onions too, and made it sour and spicy. Accompanying this were paraathey.

How did it look?

10th July 2009 - Lunch - Paraatha-Bhurji

What?

For lunch, I made normal Paraathe and Egg bhurji, and then wrapped it in the paraathe so as to make a quick meal. You can just pick one of the rolls and start munching. Plus, the Paraathe stay soft!

How did it look?

Comme ça

8th July 2009 - Dinner - Cabbage Kofta

What?

I reckoned the best way to make the purple cabbage look good was to hide it with loads of gravy.

So I made this Cabbage Kofta, fried balls made of shredded cabbage and besan.

How did it look?

It still had the black remnants of the cabbage, but it tasted fine!

Improvement

• The problem was, the besan didn't get cooked quite well, so there was this taste and smell of raw besan, so I dunked the kofta in the gravy and boiled it along. Normally, that will make the whole thing soggy, which is did, but it was better than eating raw besan.
• Cabbage has a fundamental problem: it smells vile when partially cooked. Whatever you do, you just can't escape from the nauseating smell of half-cooked cabbage, which makes it a risky thing to attempt to make unless you are very sure of it.