Non onion garlic cooking Archives

Aaloo-Gobhi ki sabzi (potato and cauliflower) is loved by almost all my family members on all occasions. This sabzi is part of our regular food menu. If we have some guests at home, then aaloo-gobhi ki sabzi will be part of the spread. You will also find this in any elaborate wedding feast!

Generally, all age groups like this. I remember that whenever during winter season we used to have sudden guests at my parents’ house, my mother used to prepare this sabzi with little extra oil and spices. We were instructed that this sabzi is only for the guests as quantity used to be less due to their unexpected arrival. The taste of the dish prepared by her used to be so out-of-the-world that my siblings and I always wished that guests shouldn’t be very hungry so that we will get to enjoy in sufficient quantity once they have eaten😀.

Children can think of anything, isn’t it!!!😇

Sometimes, if cauliflower is sufficient in quantity, I don’t add potatoes. It tastes equally good. But kids are fond of potatoes so you can add them…

There are a few more vegetables dishes in the blog. If interested, can take a look…Vegetables (Curries)

Ingredients :

Cauliflower 500 gms
Potatoes 2 medium size
Oil 5 tbsp
Cumin seeds (jeera) 1/2 tsp
Small mustard seeds(rai) 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida powder (hing) 1/8 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tbsp
Salt as per your taste
Green chillies chopped 2 – 3
Grated ginger 1/4 tsp
Dry mango powder (amchur) 1tsp
Garam masala 1 tsp

Water 1/8 cup, if later sabzi is not cooked and yet sticking to the bottom add 1/8 cup more.
Chopped green coriander leaves for garnishing

Process :

Cut cauliflower florets in small to medium size along with potatoes and wash them nicely.

Heat oil in a wok and add rai, hing and jeera.

Add cut cauliflower and potatoes along with chopped green chilies and grated ginger.

Add red chilly powder, coriander powder, salt and turmeric powder.

Mix everything and add 1/8th or 1/4th cup of water and cover the wok. Reduce the heat to sim and let it cook till cauliflower and potatoes turn soft. In between, stir 2-3 times.

When it is nearly cooked, add garam masala and dry mango powder, mix it well and again cover and cook it for 2-3 minutes. If you don’t want to use dry mango powder, add chopped tomatoes.

Sabzi is ready.

Add chopped green coriander leaves just before serving.

Stuffed vegetables like Stuffed Capsicum (bharva shimla mirch) add charm to your dinning table! Though preparation takes slightly longer time, but the end result is really really good. Stuffed Capsicum (bharva shimla mirch) can be done with boiled potatoes, paneer, roasted gram flour or simply with some spices of your choice.

From my childhood, I had always liked boiled potatoes filled stuffed capsicum a lot. I have experienced that the taste of capsicum is not much appreciated by everyone, but if you serve it in stuffed form, people really like it. After our marriage, in Chennai Manish and I had invited some of his colleagues at home and I had cooked stuffed capsicum and I remember that everyone liked it a lot!
In Bangalore also my dear friend Padmaja had called me once to her house to cook stuffed capsicum, so that she can see the entire process.

Not exaggerating, but my mother-in-law also very much likes stuffed capsicum prepared by me. Once I packed for her when they were going back to Jaipur from Bangalore and got rave reviews.

So now you have enough reasons to give stuffed capsicum a try……

There is one more post in the blog in the category of stuffed vegetables, you can take a look at Stuffed chillies

Ingredients :

Green Capsicum

Potatoes

Finely chopped green chillies

Oil

Spices: salt, red chilli powder, dry mango powder(amchoor), garam masala, asafoetida(hing) and turmeric powder.

Process :

Boil potatoes in pressure cooker. Never let potatoes become over boiled where they get a big crack in between – this way water seeps in and they become soggy.

Keep boiled potatoes in a strainer so that all water seeps out.

Peel potatoes and once they cool down, add all spices, mash them and mix everything together.

Heat a pan and add 1-2 spoons of oil and add ready mix of boiled potatoes. Keep on turning them upside-down from time to time to avoid potatoes sticking to the pan. Don’t add too much oil here as we just have to roast them lightly for 10 minutes.

Potatoes will stick to the pan as we have added only couple of spoons of oil. To avoid this use small pan support – it’s very helpful in slow cooking.

Once they are done, let them cool down.

Wash and dry capsicum. Always buy vertically shaped small sized capsicum for preparing stuffed capsicum. With vertical shape, it’s easy to deseed them.