Groovy gnocchi and gravy

TOMATO, CHILLI AND CASHEW NUT NOODLE FRY

Serves 4-6

Noodles (200 g — cooked)

Sweet corn (100 g — cooked)

Hot tomato sauce (2 cups)

Cashew nuts (100 g)

Spring onions (4 — cut in julienne)

Garlic cloves (8 large — cut in julienne)

Ginger (1½” — fresh, cut in julienne)

Green chillies (6 — deseeded and cut in julienne)

Celery stems (3 — cut in julienne)

Red pepper (1 — cut in julienne)

Golden pepper (1 — cut in julienne)

Bean sprouts (50 g)

Soya bean sauce (2 tbsp)

Salt

Lightly fry the cashew nuts in a wok. Sprinkle fine salt on them and set aside in a large thali.

Place the onions and garlic cloves in the wok with a tablespoon of oil. Cook for three to four minutes and place in a large thali.

Fry the garlic, ginger, chillies, celery, red pepper and golden pepper for two minutes, stirring them up and down in the wok. Set aside in the thali.

Lastly, fry the bean sprouts for three to four minutes, and put in all the fried vegetables and cashew nuts. Stir in the wok for three minutes. Add the cooked drained noodles and top them with the soya bean sauce and shake the wok. Sprinkle the pepper powder on top. Pour the hot tomato sauce over the noodles. Stir and serve very hot at once.

INDIAN HOT TOMATO SAUCE SERVED WITH ITALIAN

POTATO GNOCCHI

Serves 4-6

For the Gnocchi

Potatoes (500 g — boiled, skinned and mashed)

Self-raising flour (2 cups)

Strong cheese (1 cup)

Melted butter (½ cup)

Paprika (1 tsp)

Parsley (2 tsp — finely chopped)

For the Tomato sauce

Large red tomatoes (800 g — skinned and pulped)

Tomato ketchup (1 cup)

Tabasco, capsico or chilli sauce (1 tbsp)

Cumin powder (½ tsp)

Garlic cloves (8 large — crushed )

Large onion (1 — finely chopped)

Black pepper powder (1 tsp)

Curry leaves (8 sprigs)

Peanut oil

Salt

Mash the potatoes until you have a very smooth textured vegetable. Place it in a large bowl. By this time it will have cooled down. Sprinkle the self-raising flour over the potatoes, as well the grated cheese, melted butter, paprika and parsley. Mix well to form a firm dough.

Place the dough on a thali and knead the dough as you do for chappatis — but lightly without placing much weight on it.

Take a large dekchi of water and place it on high heat. Allow it to come to a strong boil. Add coarse salt to it.

Make small balls of the dough. Form into oval shapes. Press the back of the fork onto one side of the oval piece till the indentations of the tines appear. Do the same to all the balls. Then drop six to eight at a time into the boiling salted water and allow to bob up and down for five to six minutes, till they begin to float on top of the water. Remove with a special spoon with holes in it and try and keep the balls warm in the oven at a very low temperature. Arrange in large soup plates and pour the hot sauce over them and serve at once.

For the hot sauce take a large vessel. Put in two tablespoons of oil and when hot, add the finely chopped onions, curry leaves and crushed garlic till they are golden brown. Lower the flame.

Add the pulped tomatoes, tabasco, pepper and cumin powder and salt and bring to a quick boil.

Pour over the gnocchi arranged in soup plates and serve at once.

KASHMIRI PALAK WITH

POTATOES

Serves 4-6

Palak (2 bunches large — plucked, washed and chopped fine)

Fenugreek leaves (½ bunch large – plucked, washed and chopped fine)

Potatoes (300 g – skinned, chopped into 1” chunks and deep fried)

Bari (1 — powdered)

Green chillies (3 — deseeded, chopped fine)

Ginger (1½” — skinned and grated)

Turmeric powder (¾ tsp)

Dried ginger powder (½ tsp)

Dried coriander seeds (½ tsp — broiled and ground)

Cumin seeds (½ tsp — broiled and ground)

Milk (¾ cup)

Salt

Peanut oil

Place two-and-a-half tablespoons of oil in a vessel on medium flame and when it heats up, add the grated ginger, cumin, coriander seeds and then the chopped palak and fenugreek leaves. Lower the flame, cover the vessel and allow to cook gently till the leaves soften. Add salt.

Sprinkle the turmeric and ginger powders, powder the bari and sprinkle it on the leaves and mash the whole with a ladle. Add milk to the smashed, cooked leaves and stir non-stop till the mixture thickens.

Add the salted, deep fried potatoes and mix well and serve hot with rotis.

(Above) Coconut barfi (left) and Tomato, chilli and cashewnut noodle fry; (below) Kashmiri colocasia roots

KASHMIRI COLOCASIA ROOTS

Serves 8

Colocasia roots or arvi (750 g)

Fresh ginger (1½ tbsp — minced)

Fresh coriander (1 cup — finely chopped)

Green chillies (7 — deseeded and finely chopped)

Coriander powder (2 tsp)

Cumin seeds (2 tsp)

Amchur powder (2 tsp)

Turmeric powder (1½ tsp)

Dry ginger powder (1½ tsp)

Kashmiri chilli powder (1 tsp)

Cloves (4)

Mustard seeds (½ tsp)

Fenugreek seeds (½ tsp)

Asafoetida (¼ tsp)

Suchh bari (1 — powdered, optional)

Sugar (2 tsp)

Lime juice (4 tsp)

Mustard oil

Salt

The colocasia roots are always boiled and skinned and then cut and cooked because they are very sticky and astringent.

Cut the roots or arvi into fairly large pieces.

Heat ½ cup mustard oil in a large pan. Allow it to smoke on a medium flame and add the cumin and fenugreek seeds, cloves and the asafoetida. Lower the flame and add the green chillies and ginger and stir well for two minutes. Then add turmeric and chilli powders and dried ginger, stir and remove the vessel from the fire.

Heat some oil and lightly fry the arvi pieces and drop them into the prepared masala. Replace the vessel with the masala back onto a medium flame. Sprinkle fine salt over the arvi, add two cups of water and allow to simmer over a low flame for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes are up, sprinkle the amchur powder, coriander powder and suchh bari powder (if using it). Mix well and simmer for seven more minutes. The arvi should be soft and tender. Just before removing the vessel from the heat, sprinkle in the chopped coriander leaves and the lime juice and sugar.

Serve immediately with rotis.

BRINJALS COOKED WITH RAW TOMATOES

Serves 6-8

Brinjals (250 g— skinned and cut into pieces)

Raw tomatoes (200 g)

Onions (100 g — finely chopped)

Garlic (1 tbsp — sliced)

Coriander (2 tbsp — chopped)

Mint (1 tbsp — chopped)

Coriander seeds (1 tsp)

Cumin seeds (½ tsp — roasted)

Kashmiri chillies (3 whole)

Turmeric powder (½ tsp)

Sambhar masala (1 tsp)

Jaggery (2 tbsp — crushed)

Curry leaves (1 sprig)

Oil

Salt

Place brinjal pieces in salted water. Wash tomatoes and cut each into four pieces. Place onions with two tablespoons oil in a pan. Cook over a low fire till onions are pink. Add brinjal pieces, cover and cook for two minutes. Add tomatoes along with ½ cup water and allow to simmer till brinjals are cooked. This will take 25 minutes. Add water if necessary. Taste for salt.

Take a frying pan, add two tablespoons oil. Place on medium heat, add curry leaves, garlic and chillies. Fry for two minutes, lower flame, add coriander and cumin seeds. Cook for two minutes. Add jaggery, turmeric and sambhar powders and stir non-stop. Add three tablespoons water and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook for two minutes and add the mixture to the brinjals and tomatoes. Simmer for seven minutes. Serve garnished with mint and coriander.

PINEAPPLE GRAVY

This gravy can be made with fresh or canned pineapple

Serves 4-6

Pineapple (1 large — fresh, skinned and cut into pieces)

Onions (2 — medium sized, cut fine)

Coconut milk (½ fresh)

Green chillies (4-6 — deseeded and cut into 1” pieces)

Peppercorns (8)

Cloves (3)

Cinnamon (2” piece)

Mustard seeds (½ tsp)

Curry leaves (2 sprigs)

Coriander (2 tbsp — freshly chopped)

Salt

Peanut oil

Place three tablespoons oil in a vessel. Allow to heat and add the mustard seeds, onions and the curry leaves. When crisp, add the coconut juice, green chillies, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon piece and bring to a boil. Add the pineapple pieces and cook till soft. Add a little more water if necessary. Simmer for five minutes and remove from heat.

Heat one teaspoon oil in a small karahi. Place on medium heat and add the chopped coriander. Stir for two minutes and add to the pineapple gravy. Add salt.

Serve with hot ghee-rice.

BITTER GOURD CURRY

Serves 4-6

Small onions (2)

Small bitter gourds (4)

Freshly grated coconut (½ cup)

Freshly chopped coriander leaves (¼ cup)

Fenugreek seeds (1 tsp)

Black gram (1 tsp)

Kashmiri chillies, dried (4)

Mustard seeds (½ tsp)

Jaggery (¼ cup)

Tamarind pulp (¼ cup)

Curry leaves (2 sprigs)

Oil (coconut or sunflower)

Salt

Clean the bitter gourds and chop them into fine pieces. Sprinkle with salt and allow them to stand for half an hour.

Chop the onions very fine and put them in a vessel with two tablespoons coconut oil and the curry leaves and place over a low flame. Allow to cook till soft.

Heat two teaspoons coconut oil in a small frying pan and gently fry the fenugreek seeds, black gram dal and the Kashmiri chillies. Remove from the fire within two minutes and wet grind with the fresh coconut and the freshly chopped coriander.

Squeeze all the water out of the bitter gourds.

Put the ground masala into the softened onions and fry over a low heat till well-cooked and red. Then add the cut bitter gourd and mix well. Add the jaggery and tamarind and half a cup of water. Cover and cook till the ground spices have softened. Taste for salt.

In one teaspoon of oil, heat the mustard seeds and the curry leaves for one minute. Add to the bitter gourds, cover the pan and keep aside for a few minutes before serving.

SCRAMBLED BANANAS, KERALA STYLE

Serves 6

Raw bananas (5 large)

Cocunut (1 cup — freshly grated)

Coriander leaves (1 cup — finely chopped)

Green chillies (5 — deseeded)

Ginger (1” piece — fresh)

Chana dal (1 tsp)

Mustard seeds (½ tsp)

Asafoetida (pinch)

Curry leaves (2 sprigs)

Oil

Salt

Boil the bananas whole in hot water. Peel and grate them.

Chop the chillies and ginger finely.

Heat two tablespoons of oil along with the curry leaves and add the mustard seeds. Allow them to crackle and then add the chana dal and stir for two minutes. Add the finely chopped chillies, ginger and the grated bananas and stir gently. Add the grated coconut and gently mix for five to eight minutes.

Sprinkle with the freshly chopped coriander and serve along with lunch.

COCONUT BARFI

Serves 15

Coconuts (2 medium sized — grated)

Creamy milk (2 l)

Sugar (2 cups)

Mava (200 g)

Pure ghee (2 tbsp)

Ice cream essence (2 tsp)

Almond and pistachio flakes (50 g — each)

Boil the milk well. Then add the sugar and the coconut and boil for well over an hour till the mixture starts thickening.

Crumble the mava and add it to the coconut milk. Allow it to thicken well. When the mixture stops turning easily, and is sticky to the touch, remove from the fire. Add the essence and mix well and pour it into a greased glass dish.

Cover with the almond and pistachio flakes.