This sabzi is usually prepared to take along while traveling. The masalas keep the bhindi pickled for 24 hours. I personally like it so much that often I made my mother make it even when we weren’t going anywhere.

The masalas in this case completely change the taste of bhindi. This is a must try, for those of you who dont like Bhindi or are bored of the usual style of cooking it.

Ingredients :

• 250 grams Bhindi
• 1 tablespoon Oil
• 1 teaspoon Tamarind paste
• 2 teaspoons Jaggery
• 4 teaspoons Tawa masala

Procedure :

1. Heat Oil. Add Tamarind paste. If you dont have tamarind paste you can add amchur powder.
2. Add Jaggery and mix well.
3. Put tawa masala in and turn off the heat. The consistency of the paste should be thick, like halwa.
4. Slit bhindi. Stuff the masala into it and shallow fry in hot oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the bindis (remember stuffing already has salt)
5. Once bhindi appears done, serve hot with rotis.

Please NOTE :

1. If you buy ready-made tawa masala you will need to taste and see if it contains salt or not. If it doesn’t, please add some to it.
2. If your tawa masala contains amchur or dry mango powder then please skip adding tamarind paste.

This is an age old favorite which has seen changes in its recipe over a period of time. Presenting to you the contemporary method as well as the original recipe of the famous Baigan ka bharta.

Ingredients :

• 1 large dark purple brinjal
• 6 garlic pods
• 1 onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 green chilly
• A small piece of ginger
• 2 teaspoons Dhania powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Mirchi powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Haldi powder
• 1/2 teaspoon jeera powder
• 1/2 teaspoon jeera seeds

Procedure :

1. Stuff garlic pods into the Brinjal. Place it directly over the flame and burn.
2. Turn the brinjal till its cooked from all sides. Once done, turn off the heat and allow the brinjal to cool.
3. Peel the skin and mash the inner pulp.
4. Heat oil. Add Jeera, green chillies, onions and fry for a minute.
5. Add grated ginger and fry for a few more minutes.
6. Add chopped tomatoes and continue to fry till the mixture leaves fat from the sides.
7. Add dhania powder, mirchi powder, haldi powder and jeera powder. Mix well.
8. Mix in the mashed brinjal and cook till the mixture comes together.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.

Variation

1. You can add 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala also but please be careful as the dish already contains green chillies and should not become too spicy.
2. You can burn a small piece of coal over the flame, keep few cloves on it and pour a tablespoon of ghee on it. Place this fuming coal in the middle of the bharta and cover the lid. This will lend an enchanting coal flavor to the bharta. You just have to try this one!

Original Bharta recipe

For some reason the Original Baigan ka Bharta recipe got tampered with, over time. The influence of methods used to cook other vegetables was probably the reason for this. In olden days the brinjal was burnt over coal, seasoned without any further cooking and consumed.

Procedure :

1. Follow first 3 steps in the procedure mentioned previously. This will give you the burnt brinjal pulp.
2. Roast jeera seeds and powder them with the help of a mortar-pestle.
3. Take a few teaspoons of mustard oil. Add finely chopped green chillies, onions and roasted jeera powder to it.
4. Mix in the burnt brinjal mash and some salt.

Please NOTE :

In the original recipe the mustard oil used is not heated. Yes, we are actually mixing in chillies and onions raw! Well, so much for the original recipe.

This is sabzi where baby brinjals are cooked with bharva or tawa masala. Of all the tava vegetables, Brinjals taste the best.

Even people who usually dont eat brinjals go for at least a couple of pieces. For one, the dressing completely complements its regular taste.

Ingredients :

• 6 baby brinjals
• 3 tablespoons of Tawa masala
• 1 teaspoon of Amchur powder
• 2 onions
• 2 teaspoons of ginger-garlic paste
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil (Phew!)
• 1 teaspoon dhania powder
• 1/2 teaspoon haldi powder

Procedure :

1. Make a cross – shaped incision on the head of the brinjals.
2. Stuff brinjals with Tawa masala using a knife.
3. Heat oil. Fry onions till they turn glossy. Add ginger-garlic paste and continue to saute.
4. Now add dhania powder, haldi powder and stir for a few seconds.
5. Gently drop in the baby brinjals into the masala.
6. Cover and cook until brinjals are done.

Variation

1. In the above recipe sometimes we skip adding amchur powder to the brinjals and instead fry tomatoes with onions in Step (3). This gives a slight change in taste.
2. This dish can be made in exactly the same way with baby potatoes

Please NOTE :

1. Taste your tawa masala and check if it contains salt. In case it its without salt, please add some before stuffing the brinjals.
2. At home we usually prefer low-oil cooking. So when we make this dish instead of frying the brinjals in too much oil we add 1/2 glass of water and pressure cook them. This is done in Step (6).

This is a simple recipe to enhance the taste of bitter gourd. Please try to use baby bitter gourds for this recipe.

Ingredients :

• 5 baby bitter gourds
• Pinch of Haldi powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Mirchi powder
• 1 teaspoon Dhania powder
• Pinch of hing
• Finely chopped Coriander leaves

Procedure :

1. Peal the skin of the bitter gourd to the extend you like. Slit and de seed the gourd, rub salt on the insides and let it rest for a few hours. In case you are using baby gourds then you need not marinate it for that long as they wont be very bitter.
2. Wash away the bitter saline water. Cut the gourd into semi-circular slices.
3. Heat oil and shallow fry the gourd slices.
4. Once done, take out the slices and in the remaining oil add haldi powder, mirch powder, dhania powder and hing. Stir for a minute and mix in the fried gourd pieces.
5. Mix well, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.

This is by nature one of the tastier gourds as compared to bottle gourd, bitter gourd and its other gourd counterparts. The natural taste of this vegetable is the best and hence it should not contain too many spices. Here is a simple recipe which gives you a delicious Snake Gourd sabzi.

Ingredients :

• 2 long, slim snake gourds
• 1 teaspoon rai
• 1 teaspoon jeera
• Pinch of Haldi powder
• 1 teaspoon dhania powder
• Pinch of hing
• Few curry leaves
• 1 green chilly
• Finely chopped Coriander leaves
• 1 tablespoon curds (optional)

Procedure :

1. Peal away the skin of the gourd well. Cut it into small cubes.
2. Heat oil. Add rai, jeera, curry leaves, slit green chilly and hing.
3. Add gourd cubes, haldi powder, dhania powder, salt and stir well. Cover and cook till done.
4. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Variation :

Once the sabzi is cool add a tablespoon of curds to get a delicious, semi-gravy dish to go with rice/rotis’.

This is for all those people who run away at the very thought of eating bottle gourd. Despite its nutritional value we tend to avoid it for its bland taste.

Lauki Ka Bharta is another dish invented by accident. About 6 years ago, I was cooking a meal for myself and my father when my mother was out of town. There was this bottle gourd at home and I simply didn’t know how to cook it. I remember mom telling me that it takes long to get done but I didnt have the patience to wait that long. So lauki ka bharta was created.

Surprisingly, it tasted well. My cook these days, makes it with a twist of his own which does justice to the original recipe.

Ingredients :

• 1 medium sized Lauki (Bottle Gourd)
• 1 teaspoon Rai
• 1-2 Green Chillies
• Few Curry leaves
• 2 Tomatoes
• 1 Onion
• 1 teaspoon Ginger-Garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon Haldi powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Mirchi powder (optional)
• 2 teaspoon Dhania powder

Procedure :

1. Pressure cook lauki. Mash and let it cool.
2. In a kadai heat oil. Add rai, chillies, curry leaves, onions and saute well.
3. Now add ginger-garlic paste and fry for a few minutes. Add tomatoes and fry till they go brown.
4. To this add haldi powder, mirchi powder, dhania powder, salt and the mashed lauki.
5. Mix well, beating the lauki with your cooking spoon (poor lauki!)
6. Since the lauki is already cooked this dish is ready quickly. After the mixture comes together, turn off the heat, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.

Every timeI find baby capsicums in the market I pick them up specially for this dish. If you don’t find baby capsicums you can try slitting medium-sized capsicums into two halves and filling them up. You can also try making this same dish with Big green chillies instead of capsicums.

Ingredients :

• 6 baby capsicums
• 1 large potato, boiled
• 3 onions
• 1/2 teaspoon Haldi powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Mirchi powder
• 1 teaspoon Dhania powder
• 2 tablespoons Besan
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Procedure :

1. Grate onions. Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil, fry onions well.
2. When onions turn glossy add haldi powder, mirchi powder, dhania powder, besan and salt. Fry further till onion turns completely brown.
3. Mash in the boiled potato, add a pinch of salt and mix well. Set this mixture aside to cool.
4. Remove stems of the baby capsicums and shell out the seeds from within.
5. Stuff the baby capsicums with previously prepared onion masala.
6. Fry the stuffed capsicums in about 2 tablespoons of oil. Once capsicum appears done, turn off the heat and serve hot with rotis.

Try this recipe next time you have a dinner party at home. Its high on calories but whats wrong with a little indulgence on festivals or when you meet friends after ages? Pamper yourself to this sabzi which gives paneer an exotic dressing.

Ingredients :

• 2 Tomatoes
• one onion
• few cloves of garlic
• Small piece of ginger
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Few laung
• Few Eliachi
• 1 teaspoon Black pepper cloves
• 1 teaspoon Dhania powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Haldi powder
• 1 teaspoon Jeera powder
• 3 large capsicums
• 1 cup paneer cubes
• 1/4 cup of peas
• Few teaspoons of Soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Vinegar
• 3 tablespoons of milk
• 1 tablespoon of fresh cream
• Pinch of Sugar

Procedure :

Grind the following into a paste :

• Tomatoes
• onion
• garlic cloves
• ginger
• dalchini
• laung
• eliachi
• black pepper cloves

1. Fry the paste in oil till it releases fat from the sides. Fry for long on low flame for a better taste.
2. Heat oil in a separate kadai. Add some dhania powder, haldi powder, jeera powder and let the masalas go brown. Add the fried paste to this.
3. Add cut paneer cubes, capsicum and peas. Add salt and mix well.
4. After few minutes of stirring, add milk to thicken the gravy. Cover and let it cook on sim. Once the veggies are cooked add some soya sauce, vinegar, pinch of sugar and stir well.
5. Your Paneer capsicum masala is ready to be served. Add a spoon of fresh cream to the dish at the end.

Please NOTE :

After the paste is fried (refer step 1) you can store it in the fridge for upto few days. Whenever you want to make Capsicum Paneer Masala just leave the fried paste out of the refrigerator for like 1/2 hr.

Baby Potatoes

Baby potatoes are much tastier than their adult counterparts. When coupled with some spicy, tangy ingredients they can render a very classic taste. Spicy potatoes, can either be had like a side dish or can be served like a chaat.

Ingredients :

• 10 baby potatoes
• 1 cup pudina leaves
• 1 green chilly
• A small piece of ginger
• 2 teaspoon dhania seeds
• 1 teaspoon jeera seeds
• Pinch of white salt, black salt and black pepper
• 1/2 lemon
• Finely chopped Coriander leaves to garnish

Procedure :

1. Grind the following ingredients into a paste :

• Pudina leaves
• Green Chilly
• Ginger piece

1. Dry roast jeera and dhania seeds. Crush them into a powder.
2. Boil baby potatoes. Cool and peel off their skin.
3. Heat oil. Add pudina paste and saute. Now add the boiled baby potatoes and mix well.
4. Add the roasted jeera-dhania powder, black pepper, black salt and salt. Stir till masala coats the potatoes.
5. Now turn off the heat and squeeze some lime juice on the potatoes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Please NOTE :

Its important to allow boiled potatoes to cool off naturally. If you place them under running water they tend to get soggy.

This is a dish I whisk up every time I have little or no time to make a sabzi. Back in school, I had a Maharashtrian friend whose mom used to make it with only onions and gram flour. Was one of the most delicious dishes I have had. I used to wait for veggies to exhaust at her home so I would get the besan onion delight.

Lore has come up with an excellent idea of hosting and event of original recipes. This one is one of my very own creations and I would like to send it as an entry to the Original Recipe event. Thanks Lore, I think its a great concept!

Ingredients :

• 10 Big chillies
• 1 Big onion
• 1/2 teaspoon Jeera
• 1/4 teaspoon ajwain
• 1/2 teaspoon dhania seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon saunf seeds
• 3 tablespoons of Besan or Gram flour
• Amchur or dry mango powder

Procedure :

1. The Chillies are basically the big light green pakoda chillies. You need to cut off the head of the chillie. Then slit it in the side and cut it into 2 halves.
2. Separately dry roast the besan till it turns brown.
3. Heat the oil. Add jeera, ajwain, dhania, saunf seeds. When seeds begin to crackle, add the sliced onions.
4. Once onions turn glossy, add the chillies and salt. Cook till chillies are done.
5. Add roasted besan, amchur and continue to cook till besan coats the chillies.

Please NOTE :

1. The good part about this dish is that it takes less time to cook, so if you want you can substitute the chillies with capsicum or anything else which has cooking time equal to chillies/onions.
2. Amchur should be added towards the end else it delays the process of cooking.