Saturday, May 24, 2008

Tawa Vegetables, clicking Beans n lentils & Mango Manthram :D

I loved "Tawa vegetables" in restaurants , and we had enough of that in Pune at a restaurant names"Atithya"( which literally mean the warm way to welcome guests). I loved the name ,service, cleanliness and food of that restaurant. Now ever since I moved out of NJ , I try those restaurant styled curries at home mainly. It is not easy to rush to nearest Indian restaurant now, as the nearest one is also not so near :)). But I must accept that it prompts me to try many innovative thing in my kitchen now. And over all my mind is working much on how to make such curries... and likely thoughts... to make it perfect with colors and tastes too. Here is something which I tried recently.
Tawa vegetable means vegetables cooked on flat styled pan (Tawa) adding some spices to it. They normally fry (shallow/deep ) each veggies and paneer.Then together cook it for a while adding all the spices and paneer cubes for a while. Tastes always too good, and who count the amount of fat you deposit when you eat out :)).

I rather chose to try another way to cook it with all the spice they might be using , and it was as I expected....When hubby came home I was editing the following pic and he asked what is this with his eyes wide open, I said this is what you gonna have in dinner tonight :).

Ingredients:
1 bell pepper Medium size(choose any variety you like)
6-7 tender Bhindi(okra),
1 medium sized Potato
1 medium sized carrot
1 cup Paneer cut into 2 inch length
2 tsp oil
2 tsp coriander-cumin powder
1/2 tsp Chaat masala
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
salt to taste

Method:
To avoid cooking this dish with plenty of use of Oil, I thought to give it a try little healthy way by roasting veggies first. I tried roasting Paneer before , but this is first time I choose to roast veggie before making its curry . And as I expected result was good too. Who would not like to cook healthy dishes :D ?

Peel carrot and potato. cut them like fries 2-3 inch in lengths. wash dry and cut the Okra in four pieces trimming from both ends. cut and bell pepper the same way removing stem and seeds.

Now heat a big flat non stick pan (Tawa) on stove and when it is little hot first add cut potatoes, roast it from both sides on medium heat and then remove. do the same for bell peppers a. and at last roast paneer cubes from 4 sides and 2 ends too. Keep all these roasted veggies aside.
Now in a same pan add 2 tsp oil and when hot add first chopped okra to it. As with all oil there will help to turn okra crispy without removing any stickiness. When done add chopped carrot into adding little turmeric and cook it till carrots are almost cooked. Next add bell peppers mix it well then add roasted potatoes to it . Mix all together well skillfully, taking care that it will not break the cooked veggies. Now sprinkle a little water to it and add salt, chaat masala and garam masala and coriander-cumin powder to it. spread it all evenly and mix in then add roasted paneer cubes and if its too dry sprinkle little bit of more water over that and cook it on low heat till water evaporates and spices start leaving its aroma . Turn off the heat and serve hot with Paratha and some pickle with Lassi on side ,make a perfect restaurant style food at home , that too not much oily :).
This is my own entry to "VoW-JFI-Bell Peppers " :) . What do you cook with bell peppers ? Send it soon , for details see here or click on the logo in sidebar.



And here is my entry for Mango Manthram , a new event to display the artist inside you , started by dear Indira.
I hope you would like it Indira :).
Check out my other henna designs here , 1 ,2 ,3 ,4 :z .

And now here is my entry for Click beans and lentils this month :L . Rather for my entry I should call it clicking a single Bean :O..I thought to tried clicking beans a little different way. I first grow Moth beans (matki or math) sprouts and placed them in ice try to freeze and here is my click . Do let me know how you like it :D.

Oops... before I forget to mention it again ...
Asha, Dhivya,Priya and Trupti are thinking that My blog is Yummy :~ . And passed on this nice award to me...
thank you buddies :) .
Almost all of you out there have received this from one ore more till date and I sincerely don't know if anyone out there is left still to mention a few whose blogs I really love visiting is
Trupti of The spice who loved me ,
Sandeepa of Bong Mom's cook book
Gattina of Kitchen Unplugged &
Viji of Vcuisine.
Enjoy the award , you deserve this and many more...

On a serious note I think that there is no award sufficient to appreciate the effort anyone is putting to share their recipes with picture on their blogs out there to keep Indian cooking alive around the world. Kudos to you all buddies... Keep cooking and keep sharing :)

Note: I am off to vacation for 10 day so If you don't get my reply to your entries then don't worry , just keep sending your Vegetarian entries... and leave a note in comment session here. I will cross check it with your emails. Well you can expect my response to your entries from Monday 2nd June onwards then. Thank you all keep cooking and keep rocking :) .Enjoy your summer and have fun filled sunny day ahead...

26 comments:

Medhaa said...

Hi Pooja, Nice mehendi.

Well I see you have been awarded teh yummy blog by so many and now you have one more, I love your recipes and had to pass it on to you. Thank you for sharing great recipes

bee said...

gorgeous mehendi and i just love your CLICK. thank you, dear pooja. you are really very creative, as your blog name suggests.

Viji said...

Thank you Pooja for your thoughtfulness. The curry and your henna design look great as usual. Very creative. Have a nice break and enjoy your time. Viji

Vani said...

The tawa veggie look yum! Congratulations on the award, Poo! And the mehndi design is so pretty! Will try to make something with bell peppers soon. Enjoy your vacation!

Sonia said...

Hi Pooja,
Nice recipe for Tawa vege...and mahendi design too...
Have a nice holiday...!!!
here, in Australia, it's winter...so m enjoyin winter days...:)
bye, tc,
Sonu:)

notyet100 said...

tawa vegiies,,,looks crispy..and yummy...henna art is really good and click thing rocks,..;-)

Uma said...

wow, the henna design is marvellous, Pooja! the curry looks delicious and the click is beautiful too.

Jaya M said...

Dear Pooja,
I really liked reading hte post ,
henna design looks superb..
and the pic for click event is so innovative ..
hugs and smiles
jaya

delhibelle said...

Tawa vegetables look delicious..my old favourite.As a kid, they were what made the prospect of attending weddings bearable as almost all delhi weddings were bound to include these. Thanks for sharing:)

Finla said...

I love the click picture.
Not to mention the henna design

indosungod said...

Love the look of the Tawa vegetables, colorful and makes me want to dash of and make some soon.

FH said...

Have a great vacation, relax and enjoy. Tawa veggies are my fave too, simple and enjoyable. Beautiful Henna design, I don't have like those. Hugs to you, see you in June.We will be off for Summer vaca in July!:))

Cynthia said...

You are an awesome artist - in and out of the kitchen.

We cook our vegetables all the time in your version of the tawa (shown in your pic) but we call it a karahi. And the tawah we use to toast things and to cook roti :)

Congrats on the deserved award.

Hetal said...

Hey congrats for the award and tawa vegetables look gr8...nice idea!!

Bong Mom said...

That is super duper Mehendi and I loved your CLICK idea. I always thought you were in NY-NJ area, you moved to some place else ?

Thanks for the award dearie

TNL said...

bahuj mast che tari tawa sabzi ni recipe...and thanks so much for the award! you're awesome!


have a wonderful vacation,
trupti

Anonymous said...

Hi Pooja, I have a surprise for you at my blog - at http://foodwithapinchoflove.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/one-more-award/ ! :)

Nice recipe and beautiful mehendi design!

Swamy VKN said...

What a colorful blog it has become Pooja? Truly creative ideas. Full of action and positivities.

I have come here to personally tag you and invite you to spearhead the Maha Meme taste-testing theme. Let me know what you think. More later Pooja. Cheers!

Gattina Cheung said...

Pooja, ha, very cute shot for click! And I got your e-mail, you are the best!!! Really thank you for the award, you made my day Pooja! Wish I knew you earlier when I lived in NJ so you'd recommend good restaurants to me.

FH said...

Happy Wedding Anniversary to you and Deepak Pooja! Just read about it at Viji's blg. Have a wonderful celebration. Hugs!:))

Veda said...

congrats on the award! pooja lovely mehendi!!!!!!!

Sia said...

r u bk from ur hols girl??? hope u had gr8 time... will mail u shortly:)

EC said...

Tava veg is on my to do list since long...thanks for sharing the recipe, nice mehendi design

Pooja said...

Medhaa
Thank you for passing on award to me :) . I am so touched to read your comment .

bee,
I feel like a winner already to hear that you love my idea of click :) .

Viji,
thank you for always being there :) . Hearing from you means a lot to me always.

Vani,
Look he is in the picture there... sweet M with Mommy :) . thank you for your entry :) .

Sonu,
hope you are enjoying winter there :D. We are just now lucky enough to get out of those cold days...

notyet100,
the first confusion is how to call you :( ... well no options I have. So have to call you not yet 100 :D.... Well, I am glad that you liked it all.. check out more henna designs i have posted earlier too..

Uma
thank you buddy :) .

Jaya ,
and a big hug to you too... :)

delhibelle,
Sometimes something is so attached to our memories that the name is enough to recall those lovely memories, Isn't it ? :)

Pooja said...

happy cook
thank you :).

Indosungod,
that yello bowl actually makes it more colorful in all... I am glad you liked it :) .

Asha,
Yupe, we had really a nice vacation. had lot of fun and D got good break from his job too , so do I :) .

Thank you buddy for your wishes... we had a nice celebration on that day just being just 2 of us and yeah had dinner at a nice Indian restaurant too :) >

Cynthia,
oh , you are so sweet dear :) . I still feel like a little baby in all aspects of cooking ,henna desiganing and photography, a lot to learn yet. his blog is providing me a good platform to show the things I like to do.
Well, most of the curries we cook in karahi -which we call Kadhai- actually. this is being exception to cook little different way as its name suggests - on Tawa.

Hetal
Tawa veggie is actually a regular dish on hotel menu in India I think .Somehow Indian restaurants in USA still dont have it much.

Sandeepa,
I am in NY, not new york city exactly but in Long Island. We moved to USA just a year before.

And you deserve that award very well buddy.

Trupti,
me jara healthy rite banavavani try kari tawa sabzi , and it turned out well so thought to share here .
hope things r fine with you . hugs to you.

food with a pich of love
oh you are so nice to think of me to pass on that award :) . thank you .

VKN,
I will surely take up the tag and post some tried and tested recipes here fro mthe list there. just need some time to do that.thank you for leaving a note here , so that I can be aware of this nice idea .

Gattina,
Oh , you were living in NJ ? now its my turn to regret that we didnt meet earlier :( . ...

Veda
thank you and welcome to my blog :) .

Sia,
I am waiting for your email buddy. I am back and now almost done with post vacation tasks :D.

Easy crafts,
Do let me know if you try it. there is nothing whic hcan go wrong when you make this curry.

AG said...

Wow! I gonna try Potato Parantha

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