Hyderabadi Masaledaar Baingan

Hyderabadi Masaledaar Baingan

If you know me then you know that I love all things eggplant and so when my dear Maasi – Saas (MIL’s sister) told me she had come up with a new eggplant recipe, I had to get the recipe and try it ASAP. I had intended on following the recipe to a T ; however, I thought in order to make it my own & personalize it according to my hubby and my tastes I had to make some changes (additions/ subtractions) to the recipe and thus the recipe I share today is my version of her Hyderabadi Masaledaar Baingan.

 

Ingredients:

Small sized Indian eggplants – 12 nos

Large onion – 1 nos

Turmeric powder – 1 ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – 3 tsp

Coriander powder – 2 ½ tsp

Dry mango powder (Amchoor) – 2 tsp

Brown sugar powder – 2 tsp

Finely crushed peanuts – 3 tsp

Black pepper powder – 1 tsp

Fennel seeds powder – 2 tsp

Green chilies – 3 nos

Fresh cilantro leaves – 1 tbsp

Salt – 1 ½ tsp (to taste)

 

Method:

1. Wash eggplants and trim the stems
2. Slit the eggplant in 4 till 3/4^th of length (do not slit all the way through)
3. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl
4. Finely slice the onion
5. Stuff each eggplant with 1 tsp of the dry masala powder
6. In a large shallow flat pan add oil and heat the oil
7. Place the eggplants one by one in a flat row
8. Add the finely sliced onion on top of the eggplants
9. Add the remaining dry masala to the pan
10. Cover with cover and cook on medium flame
11. After 10 mins open cover and turn the eggplant to the other side (to lay flat in the pan)
12. Cook covered until eggplant gets tender and well-cooked and onions are caramelized
13. Remove from flame after approx. 30 minutes
14. Serve hot with Biryani or Roti’s

 

Tip:

1. Use a pair of plastic tongs to turn the eggplants in the pan so that they don’t break / disintegrate
2. Garnish the dish with sliced green chilies & finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
3. Make sure to taste the dry masala mixture before stuffing the eggplants so as to add more of any ingredient if needed
4. The ideal taste should be a khatta-meetha-theekha (sweet n sour n spicy)

 

Cheese and Spinach Lasagna

I know it can often be intimidating to prepare a meal on Thanksgiving or Christmas for family & friends. There is a lot of pressure to come up with a menu which will be appreciated by the guests while also not being too much of a hassle to cook and serve. When it comes to me, I love making the complete holiday dinner for my family and friends every year which includes all the usual suspects such as Green bean casserole, Mashed potatoes, Stuffing, Apple pie, Pumpkin pie, Tomato and pumpkin soup, Grilled asparagus, Roasted root vegetables and Cranberry sauce. As the holiday season is around the corner, I share with you my recipes for a traditional American holiday meal. Today in Part 5 of my Holiday Celebration series, I give you a simple recipe for ‘Cheese & Spinach Lasagna’ which is sure to be a hit with the crowd. Happy Holidays!!

Cheese & Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients
2 Tbsp – Unsalted butter
1 cup shredded – Mozzarella cheese
4 cups – Ricotta cheese
350 gms chopped – Button mushrooms
½ cup grated – Parmesan cheese
¾ cup thinly sliced – Red onions
250 gms – No boil lasagna noodles
500 gms finely chopped – Spinach
2 cups – Heavy cream
1 tsp – Red chilli flakes
½ tsp – Ground nutmeg
1 cup – Water
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
   2. Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.
   3. Add the mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid and soften, about 5 minutes.
   4. Add the spinach and cook until it is soft and mushy, about 7-10 minutes.
   5. Add ½ tsp salt & pinch of pepper to spinach mixture and mix well and set aside.
   6. Break the lasagna noodle into 3 inch pieces
   7. Combine the lasagna noodle pieces with 1 cup water in a large bowl and stir with a rubber spatula.
   8. Add the heavy cream and stir to evenly coat all lasagna noodle pieces.
   9. Add the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, nutmeg powder, red chilli flakes and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the spinach mixture and stir to combine.
   10. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish (with butter or oil)
   11. Pour this mixture into the 9-by-13-inch baking dish and cover on top with the shredded mozzarella
   12. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes.
   13. Remove the foil and cook until the lasagna is bubbly and slightly browned on top, 15 to 20 minutes.
   14. Cool for 30 minutes and serve with salad, bread rolls, and soup

TIPS:

1. In place of spinach you can do Kale or a mix of mustard greens and spinach
2. If you wish you could add tofu as well to the mixture. You will need to cook it with the mushrooms in order to get it a little soft and absorb the flavor
3. If you don’t want to use all the different kinds of cheeses you can use just one kind or if you wish you can add more varieties of cheese to the mix as well

My journey from a trained chef to one with a passion

As a kid I was never interested in learning to cook, especially not Indian food and I always told my mom and grandma that once I grew up I would eat only pizzas, pastas, noodles, cakes, cookies and all things non-Indian. I did try my hand at cooking a few times and it was a disaster, whether it be the ‘Bhindi do pyaza’ made with water, or the ‘Mac n Cheese’ that turned out like a blob or the ‘Mutton Roganjosh’ that was undercooked ;-). And so I am sure it must have been a shock for my family when I announced that I wanted to study Hospitality Management. However, I soon realized I might be great at kitchen and excelling in the class ; however I felt I lacked the creativity and passion and after giving it much thought I decided not to pursue the option of becoming a chef and instead went into Food & Beverage Service.

Fast forward a few years and I had been completely out of touch with cooking thanks to living with my parents when I decided to move from India to USA. Being far away from home made me realize that all the Indian food I had turned my nose up at was what I craved for and all the Italian, Thai, Mediterranean, Chinese, Japanese food couldn’t satisfy me or make me happy. I realized that as there weren’t any good Indian restaurants in the area, the only way I would be able to satisfy my craving for Indian food was by cooking it myself. Thus began the cycle of calling Amma, Nani, Mami in India and getting recipes and then trying them out in the kitchen. I would love to tell you that I was like the perfect daughter from the Sooraj Barjatya movies who makes amazing finger-licking food from Day 1, however that didn’t happen and there were many occasions when I had to have undercooked, overcooked, burnt, salt less, too spicy, not spicy enough food for dinner. I guess I could have given up and just followed the route many people took which was to have frozen food. However, the encouragement I kept receiving from my parents and family from across the miles kept me going. And slowly and steadily I realized my dishes weren’t as bad as before, I could eat them and enjoy the meal instead of having to shove it down my throat in order to avoid tasting the dish :-).

A few more years passed and then I met my husband who became my biggest motivator, supporter, and cheerleader and of course guinea pig as I would try out all my new dishes on him first before serving it to friends and family. There were hits and misses and yet he was patient and kept egging me on even when I felt like giving up cooking completely as my last creation had been a disaster. It was because of his support and encouragement that I gained more confidence and continued my experiments in the kitchen and even though I am sure I looked like a mad scientist at work, he was patient and told me it would all be okay even when I had a meltdown 🙂

This endeavor of creating my Food blog and Facebook page is something that ignites the passion in me and so I hope you all will support me and make it a success .

Thanks n GOD bless.