Indian-Style Eggplant Dish (Eggplant Sabzi)

Eggplant is prepared in many ways. It has many names, such as Brinjal, Baingan, Ringna and Waange. Eggplant comes in many varieties, shapes, sizes, and colors. Here I am going to describe how to prepare Japanese eggplant in an Indian style.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 2 Japanese eggplants (about 10 inches long, 1 inch diameter).
• 1 medium size red tomato
  
• 2 tsp Rajah Garam Masala
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (hing)
• 2 tsp subrus (haldi-dhania-mirch concoction)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• Chopped coriander leaves for garnish
  

Directions:

1. Dice eggplant into 1/2 inch thick discs.
   
2. Dice tomato into medium size pieces (about 18).
   
3. In a 2 quart pan, add oil. Heat on medium heat.
4. Add mustard seeds. When they begin to make noise, turn off the heat.
5. Add cumin followed by fenugreek, asafoetida, and subrus.
   
6. Add eggplant and toss so as to cover all pieces with oil and spices. Add 2-3 tbsp water. Put on medium heat with cover for 10 minutes.
7. Add tomato pieces and Rajah Garam Masala. Mix well. Cover and simmer for another 7 minutes.
8. Add coriander just before serving.

It can be made as a mixed vegetable by adding complementary vegetables such as potato, carrot, peas, or spinach.

Tehri

Tehri is the name given for rice preparation with thirteen ingredients. In fact, one can add many varieties of vegetables and dry fruits. The dish can be easily prepared in a crock pot.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 1 cup rice
  
• 1 potato
  
• 1 carrot
• 1 tbsp Cprriander seeds
  
• 1/2 cup chopped cabbage
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 15 split cashews
• 1/2 inch ginger finely chopped or paste
• 1 tsp Rajah Garam Masala
• 2 tsp subrus
• 1 tsp ghee
• 2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a 2 quart pot , add 2 cups of water and 2 tsp of salt.
   
2. Dice all vegetables and then add to pot along with corriander seeds.
   
3. When water starts to boil, add ghee and rice. Mix well, cover, and steam for 5 minutes at medium heat.
4. Add garam masala, subrus, and dry fruits. Mix well, cover, and steam for 10 minutes at medium heat
5. After 10 minutes, check that the tehri is well steamed, then lower the heat.
   
6. Cover and let it simmer for 5 minutes at low heat.

For easy preparation, put all the ingredients into the crock pot in the morning and set it to low heat. By the evening, it will be ready! Simple! You can't beat easy beginner crock pot recipes =)

One can alternatively use 1 cup of water and 1 cup of V8 Vegetable Juice (Low Sodium) to add more flavor. The tehri goes well with yogurt, raita, papad or simple diced tomato and cucumber mix.

Homemade Pizza

Pizza has become our favorite f00d 0n weekends. Also while out of town we typically eat pizza to replace a few meals. Pizza is simple, fresh, and appetizing when done right. Here is a pizza recipe that I have modified to suit our tastes.

Ingredients (Serves 4) : 15" pizza and 8 bread sticks OR two 12" pizza
for pizza dough (modified from booklet accompanying bread maker)

• 1-1/4 cup warm water
• 2 tbsp olive oil in dough + some to brush
• 4-1/4 cup whole wheat flour + dry flour to roll
• 2 cups chopped spinach
• 1 carrot coarsely grated
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 packet Fleischmann's RapidRise highly active yeast
  

Pizza sauce:

• 2 ripe tomatoes finely chopped
• 1 cup tomato paste
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp fresh basil leaves chopped
• 4 stems of celery chopped
• 2 tsp subrus
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp salt

Pizza toppings:

• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 large bell pepper seeded and diced into 1/4" square pieces
• 1 cup olives sliced
• 1 cup pineapple chunks from can or fresh

Directions:

1. In a bowl, put all the dry ingredients for dough and mix well.
2. Add spinach, carrot, and oil and mix well.
3. Add warm water and knead well for about 5 minutes to make a ball.
4. Cover bowl and set aside to rise for about 2 hours.
5. Get sauce and toppings ready meanwhile.
6. For sauce: in a pan, put oil, and add celery, diced tomato. Fry on medium heat till soft.
7. Add tomato paste, subrus, herbs, salt. Stir to mix, cover and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat. Cool it to room temperature.
8. When dough is raised enough, punch it down and take out dough to make eight 1/2" balls.
9. For bread sticks roll, balls into about 5" long strands. Arrange them on baking sheet and brush with oil.
10. Roll remaining dough in to a circle about 15" diameter. Put it on a lightly oiled pizza plate.
11. Keep 4 tbsp sauce aside for bread sticks. Spread the remaining sauce evenly on pizza base.
12. Arrange pizza toppings evenly and cover with cheese.
13. At this point, adjust time by refrigerating pizza and bread sticks. About 25 minutes before serving time, follow the remaining steps.
14. Bake pizza at 425 degrees Celsius on middle rack for 12-15 minutes. Start bread sticks at the same time but remove when they become brown in about 8-10 minutes.
15. Take out of the oven. After 5 minutes cut pizza into 8 slices. Serve hot
    

For making pizza pockets, divide dough in to 8 balls. Roll each ball in to 4-5" diameter circle . Mix sauce, toppings and cheese. Use it as a stuffing. Make 4" x 2" rectangles or half circles like calzones. Bake as in Step 14 above.

You can also prepare the dough using a breadmaker. If interested, check out the following products:

Kachumera ( Koshimbir )

Any vegetable that can be consumed raw can be used to make this dish "Kachumera". The vegetables used commonly, alone or in combination are carrot, cucumber, cabbage, radish, tomato. Below I will describe the cabbage carrot combination.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• Cabbage finely chopped 2 cups
• Carrots 2 coarsely shredded
• Olive oil 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
• crushed pepper 1/2 tsp
• Fresh lemon half or lemon juice 1 tbsp
  
• salt to taste 1tsp
• roasted peanuts powder 2 tbsp (optional, works as a binding agent)

Directions:

1. In a 1 quart pan add olive oil and heat on medium heat till a cumin seed added puffs up immediately.
   
2. Remove pan from the heat and add cumin seeds followed by crushed pepper immediately.
   
3. Add cabbage followed by carrot and cover the pan
4. After 10-15 minutes add salt, lemon juice and if desired peanut powder and mix well

It is ready to serve. One can add chopped cilantro for added flavour. Also lemon can be replaced by orange or grapefruit. If red pepper is too hot for you reduce the amount or replace it by black pepper. It can be used in sandwich also. Other favorite combinations are Cabbage Tomato, Cucumber Tomato, Carrott Cucumber, Spinach Tomato.

Sabzi

Sabzi is a general term for vegetable. Here I am going to describe a tri-color mix of fried vegetables, specifically carrot, potato, and bell pepper.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• 2 bell peppers
• 3 carrots
• 2 potatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp hing (asafoetida)
• 3 tsp subrus
• 2 tsp salt to taste
• 2 tsp amchur (dried mango powder)
• Sugar or jaggery to taste

Directions:

1. Peel potatoes and carrots, and cut into 1" julian strips.
2. Cut bell peppers in half, seed them, and cut into 1" julian strips.
3. In a nonstick pan, put oil on medium heat. Add 1-2 cumin seeds to the pan. When they puff up, the oil is sufficiently hot.
4. Add the remaining cumin seeds, asafoetida, and subrus. Fry it by moving the pan 2-3 times.
5. Immediately add the potato and carrot. Coat the vegetables by moving them to and fro with spatula (Chefs do this by tossing). Cover and let steam for 10 minutes.
6. Add cut bell pepper, mix them well, cover and let steam for another 7 minutes.
7. Sprinkle salt, amchur, and sugar. Mix well and cook for 3 more minutes.
8. Turn off the heat.

Most Indian fried vegetables follow the basic pattern laid out in this recipe. Similar tri color combinations can be made with cauliflower, peas and tomatoes, or with green beans, carrots and potatoes. Fried okra sabji can be made same way. For okra, one must add amchur, as it removes the strings that steamed okra will have. Enjoy!