Eggplant and Potato Curry/ Baigan ka bharta

My DH doesn’t like eggplant (AT ALL). I was never a hater of any vegetable, so it was surprising for me to know this. Initially whatever I tried to get him to eat failed. He would simply say thank you and NOT eat. So I stopped getting eggplant. But there are days when those shiny purple beauties call my name. So I went back to experimenting with them a year ago. I don’t tell DH that it’s eggplant. He simply cleans the plate. Then when I tell him what it was made of, he is sometimes surprised; sometimes he says he thought so. This is one of my ways that I make. Kids eat without a fuss too, so that’s an added bonus.

Prep Time: 10 min| Cooking Time: 20 min| Serves: 5

Ingredients

Eggplant – 1 big - Finely chopped
Potatoes – 3 medium - Cut into small cubes.
Bell pepper – 1 - Finely chopped
Onion – 1 medium - Finely chopped
Tomato – 2 or 3 medium sized
Garlic – 4 pods – crushed
Turmeric – ½ tsp.
Chili Powder – 1 tsp.
Garam masala – ½ tsp.
Chana masala – 1 tsp.
Salt to taste ~ 1 tsp.
Oil – 2 tsp.

Method of preparation

~Wash and Cut all the vegetables very fine
~ In a wide heavy bottomed pan, heat oil. Add onions, bell pepper and garlic and fry until onion is translucent.
~ Add potatoes and cover and cook for few minutes. (Since I cut them very small, few minutes is good enough for it to cook)
~ Now add the eggplant and the spices; turmeric, chili, chana masala. Mix them well and add salt to taste.
~ Lower the heat, cover and cook for about 10 minutes, mixing every now and then to avoid sticking to the bottom.
~ Once they are almost done, add tomatoes and garam masala. Give it all a mix and continue to cook until tomatoes are done.
~ Serve hot with roti or any kind of bread.

Sending this to SYF&HWS Series - Red Chili, brain child of Anu , guest hosted by me all this month.

Spicy Turkey Kheema Masala/ Ground Meat Dish

I never had tasted Turkey before I came to US. When everyone kept convincing me that it tastes just like chicken, and a lean meat too. So I did give it a try. Cooking with it was not an option coz hubby would turn up nose on it. But eventually since it's easy to get turkey kheema I convinced him one day to buy it. I promised that I would make it so good that he would ask me for seconds.

I kinda followed standard chicken kheema recipe, but with turkey it comes out nice with boiled water. So here is my way of doing kheema. BTW now it's a regular on our shopping list. :o)

Prep Time: 10 min| Cooking Time: 15 min| Serves: 6

Ingredients:

Minced/ Ground Meat/ Kheema – 1 lb.
Minced Onion – 2 cup
Tomato – 2 (finely cubed)
Frozen Green Peas – 1½ cup
Ginger – 6 cloves
Garlic – 1 lemon size, finely chopped.
Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp.
Chili Powder – 3 tsp.
Coriander Powder – 1 tsp.
Curry leaves - 1 sping
Water – 1½ cup
Oil – 2 tsp.
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

~ Place frozen peas in a microwaveable bowl, add a tsp of water and cook high for 3 minutes.
~ In a wide pan, heat oil and add onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic. Fry till onions are translucent.
~ Add turmeric, chili and coriander powder and fry for about half a minute.
~ Add water to the mix and bring it to boil.
~ Now add minced meat, mash with a spatula, or potato masher.
~ Add green peas and curry leaves. Add salt to taste. Cook until meat is done (in about 5 to 10 minutes)
~ Note that depending upon how thick or thin you want your gravy increase or decrease the quantity of water.

Sending this to SYF&HWS Series - Red Chili, brain child of Anu , guest hosted by me all this month.

Orange Fruit Dip

Here is one of the recipes that I learnt from a girl who had got this orange fruit dip for a party at my son's Tae Kwando class.  It's very common for fruits to be served with a dip as a starter around here. I hardly taste these dips that go along with the fruit trays. Why ruin a perfectly sweet fruit right?

At this particular party he came over to ask if I tried this dip and boy it was amanzing. I couldn't guess what was in it. Then I walked over to the girl who got it and asked her for the recipe. She gladly shared it. I made this for my party at home and it was an instant hit. Fruit dip was gone before the fruits. :o)

Here is a party stopper recipe for you.

Prep Time: 5 min| Makes: About 3 cups

Ingredients:

Marshmallow Creme - 7 oz
Whipped Cream cheese - 8 oz tub
Orange zest - of 1 orange.
Orange juice – 2 tbsp.

Method of Preparation:

~ Mix Marshmallow Creme and cream cheese together.
~ Add orange juice and it's zest to the mix.
~ Serve it along side of fruit tray. Goes best with Strawberries. Sending this to my event Bon Vivant #5 - Starters/ Appetizers

SYF&HWS Series - Cook With Spices - Red Chilli - Guest Hosting

This month I am guest hosting a wonderful event on "SYF&HWS - Cook With SPICES" Series. This event is a brain child of Anu from Anu’s Healthy Kitchen. She graciously offered to let me present you this event. This will run from June 5th to July 5th.

Now for the spice of the month. Drum rolls please... It's the spice of the spice “RED CHILLI”. 
  
This wonderful Spice – RED CHILLI needs little introduction. It's used in almost all households, especially in Indian kitchen. It makes dish spicy, colorful in red and full of flavor. It’s found that the world’s hottest chili peppers are the “Trinidad scorpion Butch T Pepper”.

In culinary uses the chili pepper pods, which are berries, are used fresh or dried. Chilies are dries to preserve them for long time or may also be done by pickling. Dried chilies are often ground into powders, although many Indian and Mexican dishes including variations use the entire chili. In India, most households always keep a stack of fresh hot green chilies at hand, and use them to favour most curries and dry dishes. Some states in India, such as Rajasthan, make entire dishes only by using spices and chilies.

Here is the Event Rules:

1. Bloggers and Non-Bloggers are welcome to send in any number of recipes using chillies, archived ones need to be re-posted and linked to this event announcement PAGE and Anu’s event announcement PAGE.
2. Use of LOGO is mandatory, which will help to spread the word.
3. Non-bloggers can send in the recipe to sumeesculinary@gmail.com
4. Event starts on June 5th and ends on July 5th.
5. Please send as many recipes as you want to sumeesculinary@gmail.com
with subject as "SYF&HWS - CHILLI" and following details -

• Name:
• Blog Name (if present):
• Recipe Name:
• Recipe Link:
• Picture of the recipe:

Looking forward to receive wonderful recipes…

Roundup - Bon Vivant #4 - Fruit Recipes

Another great turn up at my event. Fruits are one of my favorite things to eat. Raw, cooked or cut up, anyway you serve it. With summer comes many variety of fruits which we use it regularly. So I wanted an oppurtunity to check with blogger friends what they were cooking up.

Thanks to everyone who participated, cooked, whipped up, or just being a reader and encouraging fellow bloggers! Here I present to you the delicious fruity spread.

Bon Vivant #5 - Appetizers/ Starters

Hello everyone. Welcome to another addition of Bon Vivant Moments. This month we will indulge in the appetizers. They are the first dish you would serve at the meal. Appetizers start the tone for what's going to follow in the main course. So all this month of June we are honoring this humble starters.

Rules for the event :

~ Multiple entries are allowed. Usage of the logo is a must.
~ Linking back to this announcement page is mandatory to get the word out.
~ Vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes are allowed. No pork or beef ingredients please.
~ Blog post should be in month of June.
~ Two old posts are allowed, if re-posted again in June.
~ Please link up your post using the linkz below. In case of any problem linking please send me an email with your name, recipe name, recipe click and url to sumeesculinary@gmail.com
~ Non-bloggers can email the recipe along with a picture of the dish to the above email address.