Onion Zhunkas or is it Kanda Zunka?
Call it by any name, this is one seemingly simple but very tasty Maharashtrian dish. And if you are not from Maharashtra, I am sure you haven’t tasted it. Oh! Why did i write seemingly simple, well it is not as simple as it sound, though it is prepared with the least of ingredients and is very quick to cook. And, how I love Quickies!!
It takes some experience to cook the perfect Zhunka, I guess. When that colleague told me the recipe, I thought i could do it in a ziffy, the first attempt ended in a semi burnt Zhunka, the second in a semi cooked one. This was almost perfect, but then I added crushed peanuts, and it soaked up all the oil. This was tastty nevertheless.
Oh! But other Zhunkas like Capsicum Zhunka, Tindla Zhunkas that I had blogged earlier are much easier to prepare. Somehow they turned out perfect in the first try, but not this authentic onion Zhunka.
Ingredients:
3-4 Onions finely Chopped.
1 tbs Mustard seed
Vegetable Oil
Besan or Chick Pea Flour
Steps:
Heat 2 TBS of oil in a pan.
Sputter some mustard seeds and Add the onions.
Fry till onions start to get limp.
Add Oil, lower heat to minimum and add 2 cups of Besan.
Now this is the difficult part.
You have to sprinkle the besan slowly and keep stirring/sauteing.
Otherwise the besan will form small lumps, which is not advisable.
HEY!!! I guess a Sieve would be great Idea.
Now you have to keep stirring till the besan won’t smell raw.
it should take about 5 minutes of continuous before the zhunka can be served.
Little Water can be sprinkled while sauteing.
I added crushed peanut.
Don’t add.
It is better without than with 
Enjoy!!
I will be hosting the next week’s Weekend Herb Blogging, originally started by Kalyn. Send me you entries by sunday next week at anthonysmirror[at]Gmail[dot]com. You have blog about a Herb, rare herbs and informative posts are much welcome but any post on any herb should do.
Dig for Herbs and start thinking!!!!
Mutton Khichdi
Amazing, no?
Will write up the recipe soon…
Am just a wee bit bizzy now.
Happy Friendship Day Dear Friends!!
A very Happy friendship Day to all of you Dear Friends!
UPDATED Sunday 12:30 PM: I guess Today is the Friendship, so Happy Friendship day to you all, AGAIN!!
One more Announcement- I am working this weekend, sunday Included, so I will not be able to post the Curry Mela, this weekend!
Bachelor’s Mutton Tikka Masala
This is another dish I love, very meaty and very spicy!
Made in a simple way, a Bachelor Recipe. This is Bachelor’s MTM or Mutton Tikka Masala. I am not sure if I have blogged about mutton Tikka Masala earlier, but I wanted to blog this. And this dish is Masaledaar and very Tikha, so whether or not this is the conventional way of cooking Mutton Tikka Masala, but this sure is my way of Cooking Mutton Tikka Masala for today. I might cook it differently, another day.
That is the beauty of cooking Nobody can patent a recipe, and whatever be the name, I can still cook it my way. Anyway there is a story behind the Chicken Tikka masala or CTM and it’s cousin, the Mutton Tikka Masala. CTM and MTM doesn’t have any Authentic Indian Root, Mughlai or Punjabi. Both dishes evolved over time to suit the taste buds of the British, so said some expert. Let us take is word for the truth. What matters, is that, we love this recipe however we cook it.
By the way, Chicken Tikka masala is cooked with Chicken Tikka kabab or Chicken Tandoori. Muttom Tikka can also be cooked with Mutton Kababs, I will try a different version soon, but pot roasting Mutton or rather pan roasting it first..
Anyway I have cook out Mutton Tikka Masala in a simple way.. Hope you will enjoy making it..
No marination, No complex Masala Mix, just plain Saute and Shimmer.
I used Packet Meat Masala for the Masala Powder. MDH or MTR or whatever.
750 grams of Mutton meat, cut into medium pieces.
2 medium size onions, roughly chopped.
2 large Tomatoes, roughly chopped.
10-15 cloves of garlic crushed.
1 inch ginger, crushed.
Meat Masala and Jeera powder, dhania powder, Chilli powder.
1 tsp Methi,2 Bayleaves and 3 green chillis sliced in halves.
Heat 2 TBS oil in a Kadhai and add the Methi, bayleaves and 3 green chillis.
Add Onions and fry till limp.
Add the Meat and mix well.
Add salt to taste.
Let the meat fry for 15 minutes in medium heat.
Keep stirring all the while.
When meat tightens and separates from oil, add the ginger garlic paste.
saute for 5 minutes and add the tomatoes. Heat 3 cups of water in separate burner.
Add 1 tsp each of Jeera powder and Dhania powder.
Add 1 tsp of Red chilli powder or more if you want it very Tikha.
Add half a tsp of turmeric powder or Haldi.
Mix well and keep stirring, heat in medium.
After 5 minutes, add the 3 cups of hot water.
Add 1 TBS of meat masala.
Shimmer till water is consistent and gravy becomes thick.
Garnish with Cilantro or Coriander or Dhania.
Serve with Hot Rice..
Try my Mutton Vindaloo also and Mutton Ribs Masala, and Mutton Chops here.
Omkara Review!
Read my review of Omkara, on the other blog.
Amazing movie, and amazing performance by Saif Ali Khan and Konkona Sen.
Simple Pork Curry!
Ban or whatever, we won’t stop blogging would we? I can still access the Dashboard, though I can’t access blogs… So, I thought I will blog… damn those bureaucrats, who don’t even know what a blog is. While you figure out what a blog really is, and if it can a medium of communication for the terrorist, as if….
Anyway we will enjoy some pork…
For for vegetarian visitors, scroll down for some kabuli Chana!!!!
Anyway, Pork curry is the king of all Bachelor foods.
Tastier than any meat around, goes well with any drinks ( even fanta believe me!)
And the recipe, can it get any simpler?? I doubt if you could cook a simpler dish, umm maybe boiling eggs would be slightly simpler, and cooking maggie noodles.
Daal tadka is more complex than Pork curry!!
It takes a long time though..
So how do I cook this simple pork curry?
Before you go on, promise yourself that you will try this out and come back to tell me how it turned out! If you do cook and eat pork…
Deal??
One kilo Pork, Choose meat with some skin with the fat underneath for cooking fat.
1) In a pot or a pressure cooker put the pork, and about 3 cups of water. Start boiling the water and pork.
2) When you have put the pork for boil, chop two onions roughly, and throw in.
3) Crush 15-16 cloves or one bulb of garlic and about 2 inch finger of ginger, and also throw that into pot.
4) Now add 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder ( use freshly ground cumin powder for best results**), half tsp red chilli powder, half tsp turmeric, 1 tsp meat masala and salt to taste.
5) Keep boiling and let shimmer. Add three tomatoes, roughly chopped. Now till the water dries and gravy becomes consistent and thick as in the picture..
Garnish with Coriander. The food is ready.. Could it have been simpler. I will cook another version and post soon…
This is also my entry to Meena’s FMR being hosted by Revathi here, FMR-7.
Aloo Chole/ Kabuli Chana Aloo
I like it with the potatoes. But then I love potatoes with everything, specially with meat though. But I like it with Chole/kabuli Chana as well. BTW, Chole or Kabuli Chana is a slightly larger species of Chick Peas, Chole Bhatura, (or deep fried Indian Bread with Chole Masala, similar to this curry for Non Indians) is a very common favorite.
I have come to become fond of this particular chick pea species since a very long time. I am sure I had posted similar recipes earlier, but then I suddenly wanted to eat it today, so I had prepared it today, even before I changed after work.
Since I didn’t plan it in the morning, and I was back not too early, I couldn’t soak it overnight. So I had to boil the Chole in a pressure cooker. It took more than 15 whistles to cook it.
I didn’t know when the chole must be cooked so i had to de-pressurise and check it about thrice. After the third whistle, I also added 2 potatoes largely cubed and 3 tomatoes thoroughly washed, whole, so that I can remove the skin. When chole was soft, I removed it and leave aside. Also peel the tomatoes, well remove the skin..
I heat 3 TBS of oil, in a Wok.
Added a Tbs of Mustard seed, 2 bayleaves and two red chillis ( preferably Kashmiri).
Also added two finely chopped green chilli.
Added a medium sized onion finely chopped, and when it was golden,
I added a TBS of ginger-garlic paste.
Sauteed a minute, and added:
Half a tsp Dhania Powder
Half a tsp Jeera Powder
Half a tsp Chilli Powder
Half a tsp haldi/turmeric Powder
Half a tsp meat masala Powder
Mix quickly and pour in the boiled Chole with the potatoes and Tomatoes.
Add salt to taste.
Shimmer for 5 minutes
Garnish with Coriander (Cilantro/dhania patte)!!!
The Original Bachelor Food - Maggi
The purpose of my blog, when I started it was to liberate bachelors from Maggi. But when I say liberate, it was not to liberate you totally, but to liberate you from having Maggi every other day for Breakfast, Lunch and dinner. Having occasionally, after a long day for dinner or having it for a quick breafast was not out of the liberation manifesto. For, how can one be a bachelor and not love maggi? We all, at least our generation, grew up on maggi, and attach some comfort feeling with a hot bowl of maggi.
Over the years, I have come to experiment with maggi, and have it a little twisted all the time, like cooking it with left over chicken curry :-), otherwise I like sauteed vegetables like peas and cauliflower with my maggi. Today I have a quick maggi for you, also as an entry for Nandita weekend Breakfast Blogging at saffron trail.
As I said I don’t like my maggi straight…. I like it twisted..
Fry scrambled eggs and keep aside. ( in a pan, heat a tbs of oil and fry one chopped onion till limp, add salt to taste and break three eggs over it. Then scramble it)
Boil two cups of water. Add a cup of peas, chopped carrots and one finely chopped onion.
Add the maggi masala and continue to boil till peas are cooked.
Add the maggi noodles.. Sprinkle a little salt.. The maggi masala already has salt, but a little more won’t harm 
Now add the scrambled eggs and let shimmer for one minute.
Serve in a bowl have right from the pan, like I do lol….
Sauteed Spinach-Palak
Just learnt that Spinach, besides pumping up the muscle and adrenaline of Popye, also helps in the digestion of normal human beings. Good for us, no?
I love spinach, though not the crushed one that we find in palak paneer or Sarsong da saag. I prefer it chopped and cooked. Another palak/spinach dish I prefer is simply boiling it with Tomatoes and potaoes and seasoned with Ginger and green Chilli.
My latest crush is nothing of such sorts. I have been in love with the sautéed variety for some weeks now. As a side dish, give you the necessary roughage and damn healthy, but then all leafy greens are healthy.
Simple as simple can be, the perfect side dish for a bachelor.
It would make a fine side dish with steak, or other meaty dishes. You can have with with rice also, why not?
You need:
2 bunch of Spinach (Spinach has a very nasty habit of shrinking after cooking leaving you with water and a few stem lol), PROPERLY washed and Chopped roughly, hold the bunch and cut into 4 portions
small piece of ginger and 3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine.
Half tsp of Cumin seed (jeera).
2 Green Chilli cliced in half.
Heat half a TBS vegetable oil or Ghee or Butter in a Pan or Wok.
Add the jeera and let sputter.
Add Ginger, garlic and chilli, and saute for 1-2 minutes.
Add the Spinach, and sautee for 5 minutes or till the water that comes out almost dries ( not all).
Salt to taste.
Relish the healthiest food on earth….
Be strong as Popeye….
Dear Friends I will return all the Tags..just gimme sometime…
Bachelor Quickie Egg Curry
After a long time, a pure play bachelor recipe.
One of the first curries I learnt, and loved.
Still my favorite, and the easiest.
Not quite bland, not quite strong..
Light on the stomach too.
When I was a kid, I used to like Boiled Potatoes mashed and then lightly fried in onions, much like Dosa Masala, but with only onions.
When I started living away from home and learnt to feed myself, that was one of the first dishes I prepared.
I never got bored of it.
One fine day, I thought I would add eggs to it, just for the sake of it, and the taste left me surprised and wanting for more. Perhaps I cooked the same dish for the next few weeks when one fine day, tired of cooking another gravy accompaniment, I decided to add water, and Bingo! Here was the simplest and one of the yummier Bachelor Dish.
Then I learnt more complex dishes like Mutton Korma, Pork Vindaloo, Sarson da Saag and palak paneer, and I completely forgot my old time favorite. Till a few days back I longed for that old dish, I used to savor, spoonful by spoonful.
This is no secret.
It is only so simple nobody thought of trying it, perhaps.
For the Bachelor Egg Curry, you need:
4 eggs
3 large potatoes
2 Tomatoes
1 onion
1 Tbs Ginger-Garlic ( I later added this to the original recipe of onions only to add to the flavor)
2 green Chilli Sliced
1 red Kashmiri Chili ( for Style lol, optional)
1 bayleaf
1 tsp jeera ( Cumin)
1/2 tsp each jeera (Cumin) and dhania (coriander seed) powder.
Some red chilli powder and turmeric.
Salt to taste
Peel and boil or boil and peel potatoes.
I usually peel add potatoes to rice.
Shortcut you see, it is suppose to be a bachelor Recipe, no?
And potato boiled in rice taste better it seems.
If you had added in rice, wash off the rice..(the potato, that is)
Otherwise remove from boiling pan, peel if it was not peeled.
Roughly mash and keep aside.
Heat water in a separate pan..
Heat oil, 2Tbs . More if you don’t care much about oil Add bayleaves, Red Chili, Jeera (not the powder), green chilli, onions and the ginger garlic.
Saute till onion is limp and add a lil turmeric ( little less than half tsp) and red chilli powder.
Add the Tomatoes.
Add the mashed potatoes and mix well.
Lower heat and keep mixing or scrapping the bottom with the skillet.
Boiled potatoes have tendency to stick.
Break the eggs into the mixture and keep mixing till eggs coagulates properly.
The mixture should not be wet and sticky.
Add 1 and half cups of boiling water.
Add salt, You may add some dhania jeera powder mix now. (This is optional)
Shimmer for 5 minutes.
Garnish with Dhania.
Serve Hot with rice.
PS: I have been very busy past few weeks, and thus the infrequent post. I haven’t been cooking kuch, and if I did it has mostly been chicken and mutton but then I had written about chicken and mutton many times, and I cook it only the way I always do. Habits you see.
I will be more regular I promise you all!
Technorati tag:: Curry : Egg : Bachelor Recipe
