Protein Packed Pleasures
It has been a cool overcast day in Tucson...the kind where steaming hot food is a pleasure like no other.
P has told me several times, about cold misty winter mornings in India, that are warmed by Garama-garam, chatpati Ghughni. I find the term 'ghughni' to be onomotopoeic. It immediately conjures up the image of small round entities clustered together.
Ghughni is also the name of a Bengali dish (Chholar Ghughni)...a spicy/tangy way of cooking chickpeas or chhola. The ghughni we tried making this morning was of petite green peas - Matar ki Ghughni. I could not find any recipes for this dish online...not on Bawarchi, not on NDTV cooks, not on Lokpriya...nowhere! There are still some delightful secrets that lie outside the world-wide-web, safe with mothers :) :)
This recipe made about 2 medium bowlfulls, and some more (just enough for the second helping you feel tempted to get!)
Ghughni
1 lb frozen petite peas
1 medium yellow onion diced
10-12 mini pearl tomatoes quartered (you can use 1 regular tomato diced...I just didnt have any)
3/4 tsp finely chopped/grated ginger
green chillies - to taste (I used about 1/5 of a jalapeno chilli)
salt - to taste
oil - 1 or 2 tsp
Thaw green peas. We used the "thaw frozen vegetable" function on the microwave (runs 2.5 minutes)
In a pan heat the oil, add green chillies and ginger. Add Onions and saute till they are translucent and starting to brown. Add tomatoes. Saute for another minute or so, until the skins start coming off the tomato pieces. Add green peas. Toss for a few more minutes...maybe 4-5 minutes... until peas turn soft and acquire a sheen (they shouldnt cook fully and go brownish)
Serve hot. With a dash of lemon juice if desired.
Where one meal was protein packed and healthy, I didn't realise a second would follow.
For dinner, we tried Masaledar Tofu Bhurji (Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe) with Pancakes.
For the Bhurji you need:
About 300 g. Tofu (we used extra firm organic sacramento tofu from our local co-op)
1 medium-large red onion chopped fine
7-10 mini pearl tomatoes quartered OR 1 medium tomato chopped fine
1" piece fresh ginger - grated or chopped fine
2 green chillies (I used 1/5 of a jalapeno)
1 small capsicum/green bell pepper chopped to the same size as onions and tomatoes
spices:
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder - adjust to taste, and by type of chilli powder
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp corainder powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup water
salt to taste
1 or 2 tsp oil to cook
Method:
Crumble the tofu into small bits.
Heat oil in pan, add cumin seeds and wait till they swell up a little, and come to the surface of the oil. Add onions, green chillies, ginger...saute till onions are translucent and start browning.
Mix the spices - turmeric, red chilli, cumin and coriander powders in half a cup of water and pour in with the onions...stir continuously on medium heat. Add tomatoes, and cook for 2 minutes on high heat stirring continuously.
Add the crumbled tofu and capsicum. Toss for 4-5 more minutes making sure the tofu doesnt stick to the bottom. Serve hot with hot pancakes. For the Pancakes, I used the older recipe with the Hodgeson Mill mix, without the veggies and fresh herbs.
P has told me several times, about cold misty winter mornings in India, that are warmed by Garama-garam, chatpati Ghughni. I find the term 'ghughni' to be onomotopoeic. It immediately conjures up the image of small round entities clustered together.
Ghughni is also the name of a Bengali dish (Chholar Ghughni)...a spicy/tangy way of cooking chickpeas or chhola. The ghughni we tried making this morning was of petite green peas - Matar ki Ghughni. I could not find any recipes for this dish online...not on Bawarchi, not on NDTV cooks, not on Lokpriya...nowhere! There are still some delightful secrets that lie outside the world-wide-web, safe with mothers :) :)
This recipe made about 2 medium bowlfulls, and some more (just enough for the second helping you feel tempted to get!)
Ghughni1 lb frozen petite peas
1 medium yellow onion diced
10-12 mini pearl tomatoes quartered (you can use 1 regular tomato diced...I just didnt have any)
3/4 tsp finely chopped/grated ginger
green chillies - to taste (I used about 1/5 of a jalapeno chilli)
salt - to taste
oil - 1 or 2 tsp
Thaw green peas. We used the "thaw frozen vegetable" function on the microwave (runs 2.5 minutes)
In a pan heat the oil, add green chillies and ginger. Add Onions and saute till they are translucent and starting to brown. Add tomatoes. Saute for another minute or so, until the skins start coming off the tomato pieces. Add green peas. Toss for a few more minutes...maybe 4-5 minutes... until peas turn soft and acquire a sheen (they shouldnt cook fully and go brownish)
Serve hot. With a dash of lemon juice if desired.
Where one meal was protein packed and healthy, I didn't realise a second would follow.
For dinner, we tried Masaledar Tofu Bhurji (Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe) with Pancakes.
For the Bhurji you need:
About 300 g. Tofu (we used extra firm organic sacramento tofu from our local co-op)
1 medium-large red onion chopped fine
7-10 mini pearl tomatoes quartered OR 1 medium tomato chopped fine
1" piece fresh ginger - grated or chopped fine
2 green chillies (I used 1/5 of a jalapeno)
1 small capsicum/green bell pepper chopped to the same size as onions and tomatoes
spices:
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder - adjust to taste, and by type of chilli powder
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp corainder powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup water
salt to taste
1 or 2 tsp oil to cook
Method:
Crumble the tofu into small bits.
Heat oil in pan, add cumin seeds and wait till they swell up a little, and come to the surface of the oil. Add onions, green chillies, ginger...saute till onions are translucent and start browning.
Mix the spices - turmeric, red chilli, cumin and coriander powders in half a cup of water and pour in with the onions...stir continuously on medium heat. Add tomatoes, and cook for 2 minutes on high heat stirring continuously.
Add the crumbled tofu and capsicum. Toss for 4-5 more minutes making sure the tofu doesnt stick to the bottom. Serve hot with hot pancakes. For the Pancakes, I used the older recipe with the Hodgeson Mill mix, without the veggies and fresh herbs.
posted by aspiring annapoorna at 5:44 PM
7 Comments:
The tofu bhurji is really interesting. I have to try this since it is much lighter than the paneer or egg version.
I make ghugni with white vatana peas (the gujju kind) but I will have to try your recipe too.
Great start AA! Like both recipes.
Love the idea of tofu with pancakes! I love big savory breakfasts so this is right up my alley.
Those are interesting recipes..:)esp the tofu burji.
i liked what you did with tofu:)
Thanks, Mika, Indira, Nupur, Sailu and Reshma.
I thought tofu bhurji was pretty commonplace :)...the thing I liked about Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe though was mixing the spices in water and then stirring the tofu around in the masal water...it really ensures that the tofu absorbs the flavours- much better than just adding the dry powders.
Another variation I like a lot is tofu-mattar ...a vegetarian/vegan version of kheema mattar!! Will post that soon.
Tofu bhurji sounds like a good vegetarian recipe. Thanks for sharing.
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