A Ramchandani Special Subru Uncles Traditional Sindhi Curry Mo Food

A RAMCHANDANI SPECIAL: SUBRU UNCLE'S TRADITIONAL SINDHI CURRY MO

Steps:

• Boil the potatoes in plenty of water until tender, drain and keep aside.
• In the meantime, heat oil in a pot.
• Add fenugreek (methi) seeds and allow it to crackle.
• Once it stops crackling and turns lightly golden brown, add cumin seeds and allow to crackle.
• Once it stops crackling, add 10-15 fresh curry leaves, green chillies and ginger.
• Mix well and stir-fry until the raw smell of ginger is gone.
• This takes about 5 minutes.
• Then add gramflour and stir-fry it for 20 minutes, mixing it continuously, on low flame, until it is no longer raw taste-wise.
• (Note: Use 5 tsps. heaped of gramflour).
• Add the remaining 10 fresh curry leaves alongwith asafoetida powder.
• Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes on high flame.
• Stir in water, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.
• Add tomatoes, yam and flat Indian beans (guavar).
• Bring to a boil.
• Lower flame, add 4 tsps.
• of salt and mix well.
• Allow the curry to come to a boil twice (two times) again.
• In the meantime, soak the ladyfinger with 1 tsp.
• of salt in 1 cup of tamarind water (see the following steps to know how to make it).
• Bring this to a boil.
• This step is done so as to ensure that the ladyfinger will not break while cooking in the curry.
• (This is a special tip passed on to me from Subru uncle!).
• Add all the chopped vegetables now alongwith the ladyfinger mixture (add the water as well in which you boiled the ladyfinger), mix well and boil for 30 minutes.
• In the meantime, soak about 3 inches of tamarind in 1 cup of hot water and squeeze out the pulp from the tamarind as nicely as you can.
• Measure out 1 cup of this pulp.
• This pulp is what I call'tamarind water'.
• Note that the consistency of this tamarind water should be such that it consists more of tamarind and less of water.
• Now add this tamarind water to the curry.
• Boil for 30 minutes.
• Remove from flame, garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot with cooked long-grain Basmati rice and/or low-fat plain yogurt for a complete meal in Asian-Indian curry and veggie food heaven!
• Please note: When we prepare this curry at home (every Friday for lunch this is a staple in my home!), we do not use carrots and white pumpkin, that's why I have mentioned these as optional ingredients.
• You can use them if you wish to.
• ENJOY!

SUBRU UNCLE'S DELICIOUS SPICY S.INDIAN RASAM CURRY WE LOVE

Steps:

• With the help of a pestle, pound ginger, garlic and whole black peppercorns in a mortar as nicely as you can until the peppercorns are completely crushed and the ginger and garlic are completely softened.
• Keep aside.
• Extract tamarind pulp out of tamarind by soaking 4-5 one-inch sized pieces in 1 1/2 cups of hot water.
• Press these tamarind pieces to squeeze out the juice/pulp out of the tamarind.
• Transfer the tamarind pulp in a clean bowl.
• Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pot on medium-high flame.
• When its hot, add mustard seeds, methi seeds and cumin seeds.
• Allow to splutter and crackle.
• Once it stops spluttering and crackling, add curry leaves and green chillies.
• Stir-fry for a minute or two.
• Then add the whole red chillies and stir-fry for another minute.
• Add the above prepared ginger-garlic-black peppercorns mixture to the pot.
• Mix well.
• Then add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and corriander powder.
• Mix well and continue to stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
• Put the chopped tomatoes in a bowl and crush them as tightly as you can between the palms of your hands.
• Squeeze them as well as you can to extract the juice/pulp out of them.
• Now add the crushed tomatoes alongwith the juice squeezed out.
• Mix well, add 1/4 cup of water and cook on high flame so as to allow the tomatoes to soften quickly.
• Add salt and mix well.
• Then add the boiled toor dal water (or 3 cups of plain water if you are using that).
• Stir well and bring to a boil.
• Lower flame, then add about 7 cups more of water.
• You can add upto 3-4 cups more also, if required.
• Mix well and allow it to boil for 15 minutes.
• Then add tamarind pulp and stir well.
• Boil for 10-15 more minutes.
• Garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot as a soup on its own or as a lentil curry to serve over rice with/without plain low-fat yogurt on the side.

SUBRU UNCLE'S CHANNA MASALA(DELICIOUS CHICKPEA CURRY WE ALL LOVE

Steps:

• Soak the chickpeas overnight in a large pot in lots of water.
• The next day, throw out the water in which the chickpeas were soaked, wash them well, and then add fresh water to the pot.
• Bring to a boil.
• If the chickpeas were not soaked overnight in water, then it will be hard to bring them to a boil and to cook them soon. In that case, add the baking powder to the pot of chickpeas and water, and, then bring to a boil. The chickpeas will boil quickly with the addition of baking powder.
• Boil until the chickpeas are tender.
• Remove from heat and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a large pot on high flame.
• Once its hot, toss in the cumin seeds.
• Allow to crackle.
• Tear the bay leaves into 2 parts, add to the pot and saute for 10 seconds. {Chef's Tip: If the bay leaves are torn and then added to the pot, it brings out the aroma better}.
• Once they stop crackling, toss in the ginger, garlic, onions and green chilli.
• Stir-fry on medium flame until the raw smell of the ginger and garlic is gone and the onions are browned.
• Add turmeric, red chilli and corriander powders.
• Mix well and stir-fry for 5 minutes on medium flame.
• Then add the tomatoes, mix well and cook on medium flame for 5 minutes.
• Add 1/4 cup water, stir well and cook on high flame until the tomatoes are extremely softened.
• The consistency of the tomato mixture should be mushy and in simpler words, really soft.
• Add 3 tsps.
• of salt.
• Mix well.
• Add a little shy of 1/2 cup tamarind juice.
• Stir in garam masala powder.
• Mix well, then add the cooked chickpeas, 1 1/2 cups of water and about 1 1/4 cups of water in which the chickpeas were cooking.
• Mix well and boil on high flame for 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat, garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot with parathas/rice/rotis/white bead with yogurt on the side.

SUBRU UNCLE'S DELICIOUS S. INDIAN SAMBAR VEG CURRY WE ALL LOVE

Steps:

• Prepare the tamarind pulp by first soaking a few pieces of tamarind in 1-1/2 cups of hot water.
• Squeeze the tamarind pieces as well as you can and allow the tamarind pulp (juice) to mix into the hot water.
• Once you have squeezed out half a cup, transfer this to a pot.
• Note that the consistency of the tamarind pulp should be such that you have more tamarind pulp and less water.
• Add the chopped ladyfinger to the pot.
• Allow to boil for 5 minutes.
• This is a neat trick Subru uncle's taught me.
• By doing this, the sticky fluid that comes out of the ladyfinger will not come out.
• Remove from heat and keep aside.
• Now, take a large pot in which you will be preparing the sambar.
• Heat the pot on medium-high flame.
• Once its hot, pour 3 cups of water in it.
• Add the drained toor dal (yellow lentils) and mix well.
• Add garlic and mix well.
• Allow it to boil well (for about 15 minutes).
• Lower flame and add all the chopped and diced vegetables to the boiling lentils (toor dal).
• Mix in turmeric powder, asafoetida powder, salt and Sambar masala powder.
• Fold in the chopped tomatoes.
• Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook until the tomatoes are softened and the veggies are tender.
• In the meantime, prepare the seasoning.
• For this, heat oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium-high flame.
• Once it's hot, add mustard seeds, methi seeds and cumin seeds.
• Allow to crackle and splutter.
• Once this stops, add curry leaves, green chillies and whole red chillies to the pan.
• Mix well and stir-fry for 2 minutes on medium flame.
• Remove the pan from heat.
• Add this seasoning to the sambar.
• Mix well, cook on simmer for 5 minutes and serve this wonderful curry immediately (hot) with cooked long-grain Basmati white rice and low-fat plain yogurt, if required.

SUBRU UNCLE'S TOOR KI DAL(SINDHI STYLE) DAD, MOM AND I LOVE AND

Steps:

• Pressure cook the lentils (toor dal) in a pressure cooker alongwith 6 cups of water until the lentils are tender.
• Heat oil in a pot on medium-high flame.
• Once its hot, add mustard seeds, methi seeds and cumin seeds.
• Allow to splutter and crackle.
• Once they stop doing so, add in the curry leaves and ginger.
• Stir-fry for 5 minutes until the raw smell of ginger is gone.
• Add asafoetida powder and continue to stir-fry for another 5-7 minutes.
• Toss in the green chillies, mix well and continue to stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes.
• Then add in the tomatoes and 1/4 cup of water to cook the tomatoes.
• Mix well and cook on high flame until the tomatoes are softened.
• Add salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder.
• Mix well.
• Extract tamarind pulp from tamarind to use as tamarind water.
• To do this, soak about 3 inches piece of tamarind in 1 cup of hot water.
• Squeeze to extract the tamarind pulp and let it mix with the water to form'tamarind water' (that's what I call it).
• There is no need to pass this through a strainer- use it directly!
• Measure out 2/3 cup of tamarind water in a cup and add this tamarind water to the tomato mixture.
• Mix well and allow it to cook on medium-high flame for 5 minutes.
• In the meantime, open the pressure cooker (by this time the lentils will be tender and the whistle would have blown) and with the help of a beater/mashing tool (we use what we call a'mandira' in Hindi. This is a long wooden spoon with a round base that we use for mashing lentils, bananas, etc), in round circular motions, mash the lentils completely, until they mix with the water in which they were being cooked.
• Now add 5 cups of water alongwith the lentil and water mixture that was used to cook the lentils. Add the tamarind-tomato mixture, mixing gracefully, as you sing your favourite kitchen song side-by-side!
• Allow this to come to a boil.
• Lower flame and cook for 10 more minutes on a simmer.
• Remove from flame and serve immediately with cooked long-grain white Basmati rice.
• Serve hot (we serve it immediately because it doesn't taste very good once it gets cold) alongwith low-fat plain yogurt on the side for a complete wonderful Asian-Indian meal in rice and lentil curry heaven!
• My brother, Manav, says that my wud-be hubby is a lucky man cos I'll cook this for him and oh my, my bro adores this curry!
• Please note: If you have a sore throat, a running nose, fever, cough and cold, then PLEASE omit the tamarind altogether because using tamarind juice in this recipe when you have a bad throat, will only make your throat worse. This curry cooks awesome even without the tamarind juice. Enjoy!

SUBRU UNCLE'S SAI BHAJI (SPINACH THE SINDHI WAY)

Steps:

• 1. Buy 1 kg of spinach leaves and wash them thoroughly. Separate the leaves from the stalks. Chop the leaves finely to make 7 1/2 cups approximately of chopped spinach leaves.
• 2. Take channa dal in a bowl. Clean it to remove stones, dirt, etc. Wash it thoroughly and then soak it in plenty of water for 20 minutes. Drain before using for preparation.
• 3. Heat oil in a pot/pressure cooker.
• 4. Once it is hot, add cumin seeds and allow to crackle.
• 5. Once the cumin seeds stop crackling, add chopped ginger and garlic. Stir-fry for a few minutes or until the raw smell of ginger and garlic is gone.
• 6. Fold in chopped onions and chopped green chillies. Stir-fry until browned.
• 7. Add all the spice powders i.e. turmeric, red chilli and corriander powders.
• 8. Now add the drained channa dal. Mix well and stir-fry for five minutes on medium heat.
• 9. Fold in the cubed potatoes. Mix well and allow them to cook for 5 minutes.
• 10. Next add the chopped tomatoes and mix well. Cook on medium-high flame until softened.
• 11. Fold in the chopped spinach leaves, ambut chukka and fresh dill leaves. Mix thoroughly.
• 12. Add salt to taste and a cup of water. Mix well.
• 13. Cover and allow to pressure cook for upto 4 whistles. If you are cooking this in a pot, then cover the pot and allow to cook on medium-high flame for about 45 minutes or until this appears to be very mushy.
• 14. Remove from heat and mash well. A good way to do this is to mash from all sides to the center gradually.
• 15. Mix in 1/2 cup of water.
• 16. Remove from flame and serve hot with Brown rice pulao.