Fresh Tomato and Sweet Chili Sauce

Summer means that every weekend we get farmers market in our neighborhood. In the world of fertilizers and pesticides, shiny picture perfect vegetables have become the common sight. However, at these farmers market you get to see the real vegetables. Maybe a bit out of shape, but luscious and yummy nonetheless.

My little one loves her ketchup/sauce and uses them graciously. So I pickup those fresh pesticide free veges and make my own ketchup. They don’t look bright red as I don’t use strange numbered dyes. Also I get to avoid high fructose corn syrup and other equally strange stuff you get to read on the labels.

Sauce or ketchup whatever you call them, they rescue any bad meals and enhances the good ones.This can readily be used as a dip or could be added to pasta and make them ready to go straight away in the lunch box without much effort. This particular ketchup contains sweet peppers to impart a hot and spicy taste to otherwise sweet ketchup.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. fresh ripe red tomato cut into halves
• 8 – 10 yellow and red sweet pepper cored, seeded and chopped
• 3 – 4 Thai green chili
• 1 small red onion chopped
• 1’ ginger peeled and chopped
• 2 fat cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
• 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. paprika powder (Instead you can use Kashmiri red chili powder)
• 10 black pepper corns
• 1” cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup sugar
• salt to taste

Procedure

Place tomatoes along with all other ingredients over medium heat. Simmer for 1hour.  Skim off any foam floating on the  top. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Remove from heat and let it cool down. Now blend the mixture in a blender. Careful  don’t blend the hot liquid unless you want an explosion.

Strain the mixture through a strainer and discard the residues. Now transfer the strained ketchup in a heavy bottom pan and turn on the heat. Let it simmer on medium heat for another 15 minutes till it thickens.

Pour the ketchup when still warm in the hot sterilized bottle leaving 1/4 inch headroom.

NOTE:

We need to sterilize the bottle which we will use for storing the sauce since we are not adding any artificial preservatives. You want this bottle hot when you pour the ready sauce into it so do this process after you strain the sauce.  Wash the bottle in soap water and thoroughly rinse it. Take water in a sauce pan and bring it to a rolling boil. Place the bottle so that it is completely submerged in water. Don’t forget to put the lid as well.

Boil the jar for 10 to 15minutes and then remove it by using a clean tong. Dry thoroughly.

Homemade Tomato Ketchup

Summer means that every weekend we get farmers market in our neighborhood. In the world of fertilizers and pesticides, shiny picture perfect vegetables have become the common sight. However, at these farmers market you get to see the real vegetables. Maybe a bit out of shape, but luscious and yummy nonetheless.

My little one loves her ketchup and uses them graciously. So I pickup those fresh pesticide free veges and make my own ketchup. They don’t look bright red as I don’t use strange numbered dyes. Also I get to avoid high fructose corn syrup and other equally strange stuff you get to read on the labels.

Ingredients

• 2lb. red ripe tomatoes
• 1/2 onion chopped 
• 1 tsp. chopped garlic  
• 1 stick cinnamon broken
• 1/2 tsp. whole cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1tsp. black pepper corn
• 1/2tsp. paprika powder (Kashmiri red chili powder)
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 2tbsp. olive oil (Sunflower or Canola oil can be used instead)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Take a heavy bottom pan and add oil to it. Throw bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves and pepper corn into it. Allow them to crackle. Next to go in is chopped onion and garlic. Sauté for a while.

Now tomato halves to it. Add salt and mix well. Bring it to a boil. cook for 15 minutes stirring frequently. When the tomatoes are soft and mushy add sugar and vinegar. Cook till sugar melts. Turn off the heat and let it cool. Put this tomato mixture through a food strainer to discard skin and seeds.

Transfer the strained mixture to a pan and again bring it to a boil. Simmer on medium heat for 30 – 45 minutes until it is reduced by half. Pour in the hot bottle till the sauce is warm. Wait to cool down completely before you seal it. Keep it in the refrigerator.

NOTE:

We need to sterilize the bottle which we will use for storing the sauce since we are not adding any artificial preservatives. You want this bottle hot when you pour the ready sauce into it so do this process after you strain the sauce.  Wash the bottle in soap water and thoroughly rinse it. Take water in a sauce pan and bring it to a rolling boil. Place the bottle so that it is completely submerged in water. Don’t forget to put the lid as well.

Boil the jar for 10 to 15minutes and then remove it by using a clean tong. Dry thoroughly. 

Bread Upma

I learned to make this when I used to live in Hyderabad from a neighbor. It makes good use of bread when the expiry date comes knocking. We make it sometimes for breakfast and also for my daughter’s school lunchbox.

Ingredients

• 6 slices brown bread cut into small cubes (preferably stale bread) 
• 1 large onion chopped roughly
• 1/2 cup green peas 
• 1 tsp. finely chopped ginger
• 1 tomato finely chopped
• 2 green chilies finely chopped
• 1/2 cup coriander greens finely chopped
• 5-6 curry leaves 
• 1 tsp. Black gram
• 1 tsp. chaana dal  (Bengal gram)
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Add oil in a pan. Temper it with 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, mustard seeds, black gram and chaana dal. Allow them to splutter. Add chopped onion, green chilies and ginger. Fry till onion turns translucent. Add tomato and green peas followed by all dry spice powders, sugar and salt. Mix well.

Pour half a cup of water to it and add bread pieces. Toss them. Sprinkle chopped coriander and serve hot.

Red Snapper with Pyajkoli

Traditionally we make Maacher Jhol with sweet water fishes. Since here in US we have limited access to rui, katla in their frozen forms, I keep trying with various local fish. When I first found Red Snapper, instead of attempting light jhol I tried to put it into a tomato garlic based gravy with pyajkoli which I bought from the same Asian store. I was quite satisfied with the result.

Next time I am going to try this with cauliflower and bori.

Ingredients

• 4 pieces of red snapper cut into steaks
• 2 ripe red tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup pyajkoli or green shallot cut into 2” pieces
• 1 medium potato cut into thick wedges
• 2-3 green chilies
• Few coriander greens chopped
• 1 tsp. kalonji seeds (Nigella)
• 1 tsp. red chili powder
• 1 tsp. + 1tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Clean the fish steaks and pat them dry. Rub them with 1tsp. turmeric powder and salt and keep aside.

Make a paste of garlic and tomatoes.

Heat oil in a wok and shallow fry the fishes till they are golden yellow. Remove and keep aside.

If the oil turned black discard them and use fresh oil. Temper with kalonji and green chilies. Once they stop sputtering add tomato garlic paste. Sprinkle turmeric and red chili powder. Add potato wedges to it. Sauté on medium heat till oil separates out.

Add half cup of water and bring it to a boil. Season with salt and sugar. Mix everything well. Cook it covered on medium heat till potato wedges are 3/4th done. Now add the fried fish pieces and pyajkoli to it. It will now stop boiling. Increase the heat and wait for it to come to a boil again. Add chopped coriander greens and turn off the heat.

Serve with white rice.

Goalondo steamer Curry

I see a lot of stories online around the origin of this famous Bangladeshi dish. I do not know which is the real story but I heard the same first hand version from both my mother and father who lived in Bangladesh.

Apparently a common route to come to India (Kolkata) from Bangladesh  at that time was to take a train from Goalondo. To reach Goalondo most folks relied on steamers and other modes of river travel. This chicken curry used to be made by the boatmen on these river routes. Since obviously there are limited resources on a boat/streamer this chicken curry is made with fresh basic un-ground spices. If you make it, you will see the amazing difference that comes with just the fact that the spices are used whole.

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized whole chicken cut on bones
• 4 big onions coarsely chopped
• 6-7 fat cloves of garlic coarsely chopped
• 1” ginger coarsely chopped
• 2 – 3 dry red chilies coarsely pound
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 5 – 6 tbsp. mustard oil
• 1 tsp. sugar (Optional)
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Mix the chicken with all above ingredients and keep it for an hour.

Transfer it into a heavy bottom pan and sauté over medium heat for 5 – 7 minutes. Cook it covered till the chicken is tender. The moisture of all the ingredients will be sufficient for cooking, so you really don’t have to add any.

Serve with fresh hot rice.

A similar recipe you might like is Dakbungalow Chicken

Cauliflower Pot Roast

I tend to trust scientists with caution. They summersault in their recommendations every couple of decades. One of our physicians used to tell us to never eat cauliflower because apparently it has zero nutritional value. Now I hear the exact opposite and they are touted to be a super food with cancer fighting abilities.

Whatever confusion science has, I am not in the least bit confused in calling out that cauliflower pot-roast is indeed yummy just as it was a decade back.

Ingredients

• 1 medium cauliflower cut into big florets
• 1 medium onion
• 1 tomato
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2” ginger
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp. red chili powder
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• 1/2tsp. Bengali garam masala
• 1tsp. ghee (Clarified butter)
• 5 – 6 tbsp. oil
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp. whole garam masala (Cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves)

Procedure

Make a fine paste of onion, ginger and garlic. Add turmeric and chili powder to it and mix well. Rub this paste on cauliflower florets so that they are well coated. Sprinkle salt over it and keep it marinated for 3-4 hours.

In a pan heat oil on medium heat and temper it with bay leaves and whole garam masala. Wait till it stops sizzling. If you want a vibrant red color you can add sugar at this point. The caramelized sugar will give it a gorgeous red color.

Add marinated cauliflower to it and sauté on medium heat for a minute. Cook it covered on medium heat for about ten minutes. The marinated cauliflower and the wet spices will release enough water for cooking so you really don’t have to add any.

Remove the lid and do the rest of cooking uncovered. This will help to retain the shape of the cauliflower florets. Once the cooking is done you will see the oil gets separated from the rest.

Add a spoonful of ghee and a pinch of Bengali garam masala over it and keep it covered till you serve.

It goes well with any kind of Indian bread. 

Sobji diye Chingri-r Jhal (Shrimp and Vegetable Medley)

This is made with prawns and a medley of vegetables. Based on individual choices, many of those vegetables could be replaced with others. For example traditionally, this is made with egg-plant, but since I do not like it so much, I used pumpkin instead.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. tiger prawns
• 1 large onion thinly sliced
• 3-4 green chilies slit lengthwise
• 1 ridge gourd (Jhinge) cut into medium cubes
• 6-7 ladies finger (Okra)
• 4 medium sized potatoes cut into quarters
• 4-5 big chunks of pumpkin
• 1 tbsp. kalonji (Nigella seeds)
• 1 tbsp. Kashmiri chili powder
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1/2tsp. red chili powder
• 5 tbsp. mustard oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

In a microwave safe bowl take potatoes and add quarter cup of water to it. Cook it in microwave for 2-3 minutes and remove.

Add a pinch of turmeric powder and salt to the prawns and rub it well.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the prawns till they turn pink. Remove and set aside.

In the same oil fry all other vegetables (Including the steamed potatoes) except ridge gourd. Remove and keep them aside.

Add nigella seeds to the same oil and allow them to sizzle. Add onion slices to it and fry them till they turn golden brown. Add Kashmiri chili powder, red chili powder, and turmeric powder to it. Mix well and pour a cup of water to it. Add fried vegetables other than the okra. Season with salt and sugar. Cook them covered till they are 3/4th done and now this is the time to add fried prawns, ridge gourd and okra followed by some green chilies. Remove the lid and cook it for another 3-4 minutes.

Serve with plain hot rice.