Baingan Ka Bharta

Baingan ka bharta..  a very popular punjabi cuisine.. As the main source of my cooking is my mommy, I've never heard about the recipe for baingan ka bharta from her.. She used to say "I'll prepare this one day,"  but she has not tried this so far.. And I was dying to prepare this authentic punjabi cuisine. One day, I was browsing through food blogs and came across Deesha's Vegetable Platter. She had a simple recipe for Baingan ka bharta.. Voila! there it is "Bookmarked".. And this recipe was served the same night for dinner...

The recipe is adapted from Vegetable Platter.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
2 red onions - finely chopped
2 tomatoes - chopped
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 chopped green chilli
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp kitchen king masala
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt as per taste
2 tbsp mustard oil
A handful of chopped cilantro

Method:

Make tiny slits around the eggplant, coat with mustard oil & roast the eggplant on the stove top, until the eggplant gets charred on all the sides.

Once the eggplant is roasted, allow it to cool. Later, peel off the skin & mash the eggplant with the back of a spatula. Add salt & lime juice, mix well & set it aside.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, Add cumin seeds, once the seeds pop & splutter, add green chillies & ginger garlic paste & saute

Add chopped onions & saute until they turn transparent. Add chopped tomatoes, add red chilli powder & saute till the tomatoes are cooked & oil separates

To this, add mashed eggplant. Mix well & cook for a while on low heat.

Add salt as per taste. Add garam masala & kitchen king masala, mix well. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve hot with roti or rice.

This recipe goes to Priya's Bookmarked Recipes Every Tuesday event.

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

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Fried Noodles with Purple Cabbage and Tofu Manchurian

Hello my dear fellow bloggers... Its been long time... I'm so sorry guys I was busy with my studies.. I missed u all so much.. But, now I'm back................ Yippie!! I will try to post regularly..
So I'm going to resume blogging with one of my new experiments, "Fried Noodles with Purple Cabbage and Tofu Manchurian."

Whenever it comes to noodles, it means I'm running out of time and I'm looking for easy, quick to make and delicious as well.. And "Fried Noodles" top the list.. Also, I've never tried with manchurian because I had an impression that it's time-taking and requires lots of patience, and I was ignoring it for a long time...

But, now I'm into it.. Noodles in any shape or form are my weakness. Stir-fried noodles are one of my favorite dishes because it's delicious and a cinch to make. Just throw some ingredients together, and it comes out so good every time that I can almost eat the whole pan myself.

This dish can be made with wheat or egg noodles. I have used egg noodles because they have a chewier texture and have a pleasant yellow color. This dish is very flexible, you can add whatever protein and veggies you wish to include. I would love to add carrots, cabbage, snow pea pods, celery, red bell pepper, sprouts, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms.. 

Ingredients (Fried Noodles with Purple Cabbage):

A package of egg noodles / wheat noodles
1 cup of purple cabbage, finely sliced
 Large handful fresh cilantro
½ onion, finely sliced
3 - 4 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 slices ginger
3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons rice vinegar 
1 Tbsp soy sauce
4 green onions, chopped

Method:

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to package instructions. Stop cooking the noodles when there's still a good chew. Drain, rinse in cold water, drain again, and set aside.

Heat a tablespoon of oil over high heat in a wok or skillet. First add the ginger slices and then garlic slices, stir fry until raw smell is gone. Now add onions and saute until onion turns translucent. Add purple cabbage, season with a little salt, and stir fry until the cabbage is cooked but still crisp/crunchy and definitely not mushy. Remove to a bowl and set aside.  

In another skillet heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium high heat and add your noodles. Toss them around, get them well coated in the oil, and break up any clumps. If it's too sticky and clumpy, go ahead and add more oil.

Pan fry the noodles, stirring and flipping them frequently until some of the noodles get a nice a crunchy golden brown exterior.  Season with soya sauce, toss the noodles freuqntly and make sure everything is evenly coated with the sauce. Taste and see if it needs additional seasoning. 

Add fried cabbage into the noodles and toss well until everything is mixed well.

Ingredients (Tofu Manchurian): 

1 package low-fat Tofu, cubed

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup corn flour/corn starch
salt to taste
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup tomato paste or ketchup
1.5 inch fresh young ginger, peeled and very finely grated
1 tablespoon garlic paste
water to make a thick batter
green onions, chopped, to garnish
oil to deep fry + 3 tbsp oil for making sauce
 
Method:
In a bowl, combine all purpose, cornflour, salt, ginger, garlic, red chilli powder, soy sauce and  just enough water to make a thick paste. Add tofu cubes into the paste and mix well so that tofu is evenly coated with the paste. Keep it aside for an hour.

Heat oil in a wok to deep fry tofu. Add tofu pieces into the oil and deep fry them. Remove and drain them on tissue paper and keep aside.

In a bowl, combine the tomato paste/ketchup, soy sauce, and salt with about 1 cup of water and set aside.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a wide base pan. Add the minced garlic and the grated ginger and stir fry on high heat for about 4 minutes. Add the chopped onions and green chili peppers.

Saute everything together for about 3-5 minutes till the onions turn clear. Add the paste/ketchup, soy sauce that you combined in a bowl earlier. Simmer for about 3 minutes. 

Mix the corn flour with 2 tablespoons of water add it to the pan and simmer for another minute.

Now add the fried tofu in the sauce and cook them at high heat while tossing them frequently till all the sauce coats all the tofu pieces. Switch off the heat a minute after you start hearing a sizzle.


Garnish with the chopped green onions.  Serve immediately with fried noodles.. Utterly delicious!!!

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

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