Saturday Night Dinner

Okra fry ( Suvir Saran's Style)

I saw Suvir Saran on PBS' show "How to cook everything" By Mark Bittman. He made this okra sald with deep fried okra, chaat masala, onions and tomatoes. Thought I would try it too without the chaat masala, onions and tomatoes.

Ingredients:

Okra ( Bhindi/bendakaya/vendakaya/ladies finger) - 1/2 lb julienned
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - Pinch
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp.
Oil - for deep frying.

Procedure:

Deep fry the okra in oil. Take it out in a medium mixing bowl. Make sure you don't fry the okra till it's dark brown. Add the salt, turmeric, chilli powder and coriander powder and toss. Serve with a lemon wedge.


And now, vegetarian look aside. The following curry might seem like it will take lot of time and too many ingredients but once you get everything together, it's very easy. Whenever I am cooking a dish with many ingredients or if it looks too complicated, I try to get everything on to the counter near the stove. That way I know what's going when into the pan.

Kheema Curry ( Suji's Style)

Ingredients:

Kheema - 1lb
Red onions - 2 cups minced
Tomato - 1 medium - minced
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - as needed
Water - 2.5 cups

Marinade:
Ginger and garlic paste - 1Tbsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Lemon Juice - 1Tbsp.

Marinate Kheema with above ingredients for 2 to 3 hours.

Dry grind:
Cardamom - 8
Cloves - 12
Cinnamon - Two 1" sticks

Grind to Paste:

Garlic - 4 cloves
Mint Leaves - 1/2 cup
Green chilli - 1
Red Onion - 1/4 cup


Procedure:
Heat oil in a pan. Add onions and saute them till they are translucent. Add salt just enough for the onions, turmeric and red chilli powder. Add the Kheema, tomatoes and 2 cups of water. Put the lid on and cook for 20 minutes mixing every 10 minutes. Make sure there are no lumps while stirring. That way meat cooks evenly. Add the masala paste and half of the dry masala. Stir for few minutes and half cup of water and let it cook on medium to low flame for 20 minutes or till meat is cooked. Add salt, rest of the dry msala and cook for another 10 minutes stirring in between on medium flame. Turn off and serve with rotis or rice.

You can also add sauted peas to this if you want. Also, I do not "garnish" most of my dishes with coriander leaves. That's because I cannot stand it:). However you are more than welcome to do so if you like it.

You can cook this dish a little gravyish if you like it curry style. I usually cook it till it's a little dry because that's just how mesa likes.

One last thing. Always add salt towards the end when you are cooking any kind of meat. If you add salt in the beginning meat tends to become tough.