VEGETARIAN RISOTTO WITH TOMATOES AND CHEESE

VEGETARIAN RISOTTO WITH TOMATOES AND CHEESE

It’s vacation time here in Singapore and the kids are at home demanding for interesting food. So I decided to make this Italian dish for them which is rich in proteins, calcium and carbohydrates essential for kids.

Risotto is an Italian dish and I recently had this at an Italian joint here in Singapore and kind of liked it a lot. I felt it tasted very much like our Rice Khichdi / Pongal. They usually make this with Arborio rice which is a special kind of Italian short grained rice, this rice is named after the town of Arborio, in the Po Valley, where it is grown. When cooked, the rounded grains are firm, creamy, and chewy, due to its higher amylopectin starch content thus it has a starchy taste but blends well with other flavours. It is used to make risotto. But in my recipe I used normal Indian short grained rice. I also used fresh tomatoes and cheese to make it interesting for my kids.

Ingredients

Arborio rice – 1 cup

Onion – 1

Tomatoes – 2 ripe ones

Garlic – 2 cloves (optional)

Olive oil – 2 tbsps

Italian seasoning – 1 -2 tsps

Salt as per taste

Pepper – 2 pinches or as per taste

Fresh basil – ¼ cup

Fresh parsley – 2 tsp

Parmesan cheese – 3 heaped tablespoons

Method

In a wok, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, don’t allow it to fume. When it’s mildly hot, add in the garlic and the finely chopped onion and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes. Once the onions are transparent, add in the finely chopped tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are squashy and soft. Add the risotto rice and cook, stirring constantly to avoid burning. Allow to cook for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until rice just starts to brown.

At this point add 1 cup of water and stir well to combine. Add a dash of salt and pepper. When most of the liquid has been absorbed, add one more cup of water, add in the   finely chopped fresh basil and parsley and stir well.

As the water gets absorbed into the rice, continue to add water one cup at a time, stirring frequently, until the rice is cooked. After this I lay this cooked Risotto in a glass bowl and

Sprinkled it with some parmesan cheese and some Italian seasoning (Italian seasoning is a dried mix of popular Italian herbs, this is easily available in the markets) and  put it in the microwave on a high until the cheese melted and became golden brown. After this I cut the Risotto like a cake and served it to my kids. The kids enjoyed it and asked for more helpings.

HARE CHANE AUR PANEER KI KARI / CHOLIYA AUR PANEER KI KARI/ HARBHARA AUR PANEER KI KARI / FRESH WHOLE GREEN CHICKPEAS WITH CRUMBLED COTTAGE CHEESE IN GRAVY

HARE CHANE AUR PANEER KI KARI / CHOLIYA AUR PANEER KI KARI/ HARBHARA AUR PANEER KI KARI / FRESH WHOLE GREEN CHICKPEAS WITH CRUMBLED COTTAGE CHEESE IN GRAVY

Sony TV airs one of my favorite serials, “Kuch tho log kahenge” in which the heroine makes hare chane ki kari methi muthia ke saath for the hero with love.

This spurted my search for the recipe of hare chane ki kari and I stumbled upon Tarla Dalalji’s site and found this recipe. But my recipe has a twist from the original recipe as it doesn’t follow the same ingredients and also because I added crumbled paneer to the dish.

Fresh green sorted whole chickpeas-Image courtesy Wikipedia

Now for many like me who didn’t know what’s hara chana, they are whole green chick peas packed with a lot of nutritional value. Typically, these are available only a few weeks a year.

Fresh green whole chickpeas-Image courtesy Wikipedia

Whenever I go to Pune, my husband always buys harbhara (choliya/ hara chana/ fresh whole green chick peas). It comes in a bunch and you have to split open the pea like thing and get the harbhara in it, he eats it raw.  I saw many people on the roads grabbing onto bunches of fresh harhara and eating it like peanuts.

Yo(my husband) asked me to try some, I somehow didn’t like the taste. I guess you need to develop a flair for it.

This dish is specially made for my dear husband and my little one who troubles me zillions to eat.

When you are using the fresh ones, you have to pick the peas, open them and sort them, after which you have to rinse them through a colander, it’s a very lengthy process and to get a decent quantity of chickpeas you have to pick a few bunches of the plant.  

Since the fresh chick peas are not available in Singapore, I used the frozen ones available in Mustafa (a shopping mall which has a lot of Indian products). It’s known as Choliya under the Greentech brand.

For those who are unable to get the frozen ones you can find the dry green chanas in any Indian store all through the year. When you are using the dry ones, you have to soak them overnight and pressure cook them up to 3 whistles before you follow my recipe.

Since I am not too fond of the taste of the green chickpeas I tried to lace it with as many spices as I could lay my hand on and also added some crumbled paneer and when the dish was done it was so yummy that I would never say that I don’t like the green chickpeas much and I am looking forward to making it and relishing it again and again.

Hare Chane ki kari

Ingredients

1 ½ cups hare chane (whole green chickpeas)

Spinach (Palak leaves) - 4-5 for color/alternatively use green food color-1-2 drops.

Onion - 1 Big

Tomatoes – 2 red and ripe ones

Green chillies – 2

Ginger – ½ inch

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Badi elaichi – 1

Cinnamon stick – 1

Star Anise – 1 tsp

Kasuri Methi powder – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – 1 tsp

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Garam Masala – 1 tsp

Chole Masala – 1 tsp

Chaat Masala – 1 tsp

Asafetida – a pinch

Paneer (Cottage Cheese) crumbled 3-4 heaped tablespoons

Salt as per taste

Oil – 2 tbsps

Fresh Green Coriander leaves for garnish

A close up of the dish

Method

Finely Chop the onion and tomatoes. Make a coarse paste of the ginger and green chillies in a blender. Soak the frozen paneer in some warm water. After a while crumble and keep it aside. Blend the spinach leaves with some water and keep aside.

Rinse the frozen choliya (whole green chick peas), drain and keep aside. For those who are using the fresh green chickpeas or the dried ones kindly read above the ingredients list, the method to cook it.

Heat oil in a wok(kadhai), add the cumin seeds, badi elaichi, cinnamon stick & star anise.

Once the cumin is fried, Add in the coarsely grounded ginger and chilly paste and fry, after a minute add the finely chopped onions and sauté, once the onions are transparent, add the finely chopped tomatoes and sauté until it is totally squashy and fried. Add in the Kasuri Methi powder, Coriander powder, Cumin powder, Garam Masala, Chole Masala and Chaat Masala, asafetida and salt and fry for a minute. The masala should get fried well, At this point add in the blended spinach leaves paste, sauté until the oil comes out of the puree. Now add the whole green chickpea without any water and mix well with all the masala. If you are not using spinach for color, you can add in 1-2 drops of green color just for the color (this is optional)

Cover and cook in a low flame. Let the green chana cook in its own juices. When you see the water is getting dried. Add in 2 teacups of water and let it cook on a slow flame. Keep adding water everytime you see that the chana is dry until you can see that the chickpeas are cooked. Once the chickpeas are cooked and can be mashed easily with the back of the spatula, add the crumbled paneer, cook covered for a while. While cooking, keep mashing a few chickpeas with the back of the spatula for a mushy thick gravy. Cook for about 10-15 minutes on a slow flame. Ensure that the mix has gravy by adding water and letting the mix boil. When you see that it is an even mix and has enough gravy to your heart’s desire. Put off the flame. Garnish with finely chopped fresh green coriander leaves and serve hot with fulkas or rice.

PANEER BURJI (SCRAMBLED COTTAGE CHEESE)

PANEER BURJI (SCRAMBLED COTTAGE CHEESE)

My kids absolutely love this dish, it’s not spicy and tastes yummy and the best part is it can be cooked in a jiffy. Bombay is very famous for its stalls selling bread and anda burji (scrambled eggs).

The way you cook Paneer burji is similar to the way anda burji is made is what my dear hubby says.

Since we don’t eat eggs we enjoy the richer version of the burji, “scrambled cottage cheese”. Anything which has cheese does sound luxurious doesn’t it? LOL!!!!!

Paneer Burji

Ingredients

Paneer – 500 gms

Onions – 2 small or 1 big

Tomatoes – 1 ripe and big

Green chillies – 2-3

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Salt as per taste

Oil – 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves 1-2 tbsps for garnish

Close up

Method

Soak the Paneer chunks/cubes in hot water for 15-20 minutes. Rinse well and crumble the paneer using your hand. Keep this aside. Meanwhile finely chop the onions, tomatoes, green chillies and coriander leaves.

In a wok(kadhai). Add 1 tbsp oil, add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and when they start to splutter, add in the green chillies and when they are fried add in the onions and sauté until transparent, now, add in the tomatoes and some salt and sauté until you see the oil comes out of the masala. Now add the crumbled paneer, add salt, turmeric powder and toss everything well till you see the masala is mixed well with the crumbled paneer. Now keep the flame of the gas low and cook it covered for about 5-7 minutes. The paneer gets further softened and the masala enters into it during this time. Garnish liberally with finely chopped fresh green coriander leaves. Toss well and serve hot with fulkas/ parathas.

Leftover specials

If Paneer burji remains until the next day.

• Just make a Frankie (Recipe coming soon) out of it or
• Make a paratha with the mix and it becomes Paneer paratha and a tastier version of Paneer paratha at that.

MUTTAKOSE PATTANI THUVARAN (CABBAGE AND GREEN PEAS DRY CURRY)

MUTTAKOSE PATTANI THUVARAN (CABBAGE AND GREEN PEAS DRY CURRY)

As I mentioned in my earlier post, after Diwali I am looking to cook foods that are bland, not so colorful and light. So I decided to make cabbage and green peas thuvaran with some molaghu rasam. I love the combo of cabbage and green peas. Its absolutely delightful.

Close up for Muttakose pattani thuvaran

Ingredients

Cabbage - 1 medium size

Green peas – 1 ½ cup (fresh or frozen)

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Udad dal - 1 tsp

Green chillies – 1-2

Grated ginger / ginger paste – 1 tsp

Asafetida (Hing) - a small pinch

Freshly grated Coconut – 1-2 tbsps

Cooking oil - 1 tbsp (Prefer coconut oil)

Salt as per taste.

CABBAGE AND GREEN PEAS DRY

Method

Chop the cabbage & rinse well under running water in a colander. Rinse the green peas as well and keep aside.

In a Kadhai (wok), Add 1 tbsp of coconut oil, when it is hot, Add the mustard seeds and udad dal, when it begins to crackle, when the udad dal becomes slightly pink, add the green chillies and grated ginger and fry well, Add the green peas and sauté for 2-3 minutes, after this add the chopped cabbage. Add asafetida and salt and stir well. Close with the lid and cook on low flame till it is cooked. Stir well, wait until the water drains completely and then add in the freshly grated coconut and stir fry till everything is mixed well. Serve hot with Rice and Rasam.

Tips :-

• You can add turmeric powder for some color, but after all the colors of Diwali I wanted it plain and bland.
• Instead  of green chilly you can add red chilly
• You can avoid coconut for health reasons.