Indian for Mother's Day Dinner

Although not actually on Mother's Day, on Saturday I served my parents up an Indian feast to celebrate the occasion.
It was Dad's request for Aloo Gobhi (Potato & Cauliflower) that led me to cook Indian.
Aloo Gobhi had to be on the menu of course, plus there was Channa Masala (Chickpeas) in the freezer from the other week. I also made Kheema Matar (Lamb with Peas) because it was so delicious last time and Bindi (Okra).
To accompany the dishes and soothe Mum's sensitive palate, I made some Raita (yoghurt).

Aloo Gobhi
I was very careful not to let this burn itself to the bottom of the frying pan. It wasn't particularly strong in flavour which could be seen as a good or bad thing. The taste of the cauliflower and potatoes was still noticeable. I'd say it was average.

Channa Masala
When we ate this straight after it had been cooked, it wasn't very impressive. This time round, because the spices had plenty of time to strengthen I had higher hopes and I am thankful it was tastier than last time.

Kheema Matar
I followed the same recipe as last time, all apart from adding fresh chillies. The absence of the chillies meant it was unfortunately lacking a 'kick.' It was still tasty, just not as good as last time.

Bindi
I love bindi. I had never tried the ingredient before my mother in-law prepared it. It definitely isn't a common vegetable in Australian households. This was nice.

Raita
I just mixed natural yoghurt, fresh coriander, cucumber, garlic and lemon pepper together.

The spread:

Because the meal was rather heavy and filling, we had fruit and ice-cream (or yoghurt) for dessert.

Happy Mother's Day Mum!

Punjab Sweets

Punjab Sweets

Address: 2b Mason St, DandenongPhone: (03) 9792 1694 
Punjab Sweets is a modestly decked out Indian sweet shop in Dandenong. While the place is named after it's sweet treats, it is the Indian curries that keeps us coming back for more. This is probably where I got my first taste of Indian food many years ago.
They offer take-away or you can eat in at the humble dining section. While the presentation of the eating area leaves a lot to be desired, one must not forget they are there to enjoy the delicious, cheaply priced food, not critique the interior.

It is always fun to stand at the counter, look up at the large yellow menu and make the decision about which mouth watering dish to try that day.

Today we ordered 2 Vegetarian Samosas. At $1.50 each they are an amazing bargain! The samosas were totally delicious, fried to perfection and full of flavour. The second picture below shows all the tasty chunks of potatoes and peas.

We ordered two dishes, one of which was Chicken Curry ($8.50). This was simple but tasty. Unlike the similar flavoured Chicken Masala, this has no chunky pieces of onion or capsicum, it is just chicken and gravy. T loved it.

Palak Paneer ($7) was the vegetarian choice. We asked for extra paneer and there was plenty added. This was tasty too, although T mentioned that the colour wasn't quite right. He said it should be a deeper green colour and have a bit more flavour but I was happy with it.

We ordered 4 Naans ($1 each) to eat with the curries. They were cooked beautifully, spread with a little butter and were served nice and warm.

We have come to Punjab Sweets many times and always leave shaking our heads (happily) at the low price we payed for such a great meal. Today was just the same as usual; we left feeling full, satisfied and with plenty of change in our pockets.

Kheema Matar, Channa & Halwa

I spent today slaving over the stove, ok well not quite slaving, I enjoyed it. The bit I didn't enjoy was all the washing up!
I made an Indian feast and didn't cut any corners this time, hence the food was delicious (even if i do say so myself!).
The Kheema Matar recipe was from a book I have, A Taste of... India. The list of ingredients is rather long, but here is the recipe:

Kheema Matar
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
5 cm piece of ginger
4 green chillies (I only used 1 red one)
2/3 cup oil (I didn't use quite this much)
2 Indian bay leaves
500g minced lamb
2 tbs tomato puree
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2 tbs ground coriander
2 tbs ground cumin
2 tbs thick plain yoghurt
3 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 cup peas
1/4 tsp garam masala
5 tbs chopped coriander

Put onion, garlic, ginger and 2 chillies in food processor and process until finely chopped.
Heat the oil in frying pan over medium heat. Add onion mixture and bay leaves, fry for 4 minutes or until golden brown.
Add the lamb mince and fry for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up any lumps.
Add the turmeric, chilli powder, coriander and cumin, stir for 1 minute. Add the yoghurt, salt and pepper and continue frying for 5 minutes.
Add 3/4 cup of water a little at a time, stirring until it's well absorbed.
Add the two remaining chillies, stir then cover. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Add peas and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
Add garam masala and chopped coriander, stir for 1 minute before serving.

This was an absolute stand out dish. It was so good I ate so much I nearly had no room left for dessert!

The Channa Masala recipe I found online. I chose this recipe rather than my mother in-laws because I never seem to get her's quite right. Unfortunately this didn't turn out as good as I would have hoped either. The search continues for the perfect channa masala recipe......

I decided to make Carrot Halwa because I bought a bag of carrots and wanted to use some of them. Plus I love carrot halwa and this is a low fat recipe!
The recipe I was following is supposed to be cooked in the microwave but I chose to cook it on the stove instead, I also added sultanas and omitted the powdered milk. I'm a bit weary about microwave cooking but I guess I shouldn't really knock it until I try it. Anyway, it took a long time for the milk to evaporate but thankfully the halwa didn't stick to the base of the saucepan so in that regard this was a success. It was also very tasty but the texture wasn't quite right, the milk had separated so that affected the final product. However, it was still a nice way to finish off a tasty meal

Once served up, this is what T's plate looked like.

Clockwise; kheema matar, prantas, raita, channa masala, pickles.

And here is dessert.

The day spent cooking was worth the effort. Overall, we both really enjoyed our dinner.

Cheat's Indian

Last night I wanted to cook a vegetarian meal so decided to make a few Indian dishes. I have plenty of beautiful spices in the cupboard but I was after some quick options so decided on the following convenient dishes :
* mushrooms marinated in tandoori paste and yoghurt
* biryani mix from the jar without added chicken
* egg and bean curry

The biryani was nothing without the chicken.
I cooked the mushrooms without watching closely so the yoghurt separated (I still liked the taste though).

The egg and bean curry was T's favourite, probably because he disliked it the least :-)

I set my self up for disappointment though. I should know by now, if I want to cook Indian, I should do it right!

Biryani, Beans Aloo & Raita

Biryani is always a winner and oh so easy to make using the jar mix. I also made beans aloo (beans and potato) and raita. Unfortunately the beans aloo didn't go to plan. I cooked the potatoes in curry sauce at too high a temperature and wasn't watching carefully so it burnt onto the bottom of the pan. I salvaged what I could then added some heated beans. It was still nice but I was quite disappointed in myself.

 

The raita was a real winner. I mixed together some finely diced cucumber, natural yogurt, coriander and lemon pepper. It was a nice cooling balance to the spicy biryani.

Biryani and Veg Madras Curry

Easy Indian is never as good as slow cooked, freshly spiced, authentic dishes but can still be quite enjoyable. Tonight I made Chicken Biryani and Veg (Eggplant & Sweet Potato) Madras. The Biryani is from a jar I find at my local Indian grocery store and the vegetable curry recipe is from the Fast, Fresh & Healthy 4 Ingredient cook book (this recipe also requires a jar of sauce).

The  store bought biryani mix.

The main meal.

The biryani rice wasn't quite as dry as it should've been and the Madras curry base was from a jar, but hey, if a meal is quick, easy and tastes this good, I can hardly complain!

Half Home Made Indian

I had no meat in the fridge and some wraps left over from a previous Mexican meal, so I decided to serve Indian for dinner. I grabbed a can of dahl from the pantry (as dodgy as that sounds, it is actually really tasty & super convenient) and a couple of potatoes. I cooked up the simplest Indian dish I know, Aloo Jeera (Potato with Cumin).

All I did was boil some potatoes, easy. Fried some cumin seeds, chilli powder, garam masala and tumeric in my new frying pan. Then added the potatoes to the spice mix with some salt. Nice and easy.

I quickly made some raita too. I chopped up a little cucumber and added it to Greek yoghurt along with some coriander, garlic and a little pepper.

While it was not a beautiful Indian meal made from scratch, it was a quick, convenient and tasty mid week meal.

Dinner at Maharani, Bentleigh

Maharani

Address: 65 Patterson Road, Bentleigh
Phone: 9557 1030

Last night I didn’t feel like cooking so we went out for Indian. I chose the restaurant because I found a 2-4-1 meal deal coupon. We had visited this place some time back and I don’t remember the meal being anything special. Last night’s experience was much the same. To quote T, the meal was “Okay but nothing special.”

On the table when we arrived there were two sauces; a mint and a tamarind one and we were promptly given some Pappadums to eat while we decided what to order. I had looked at the on-line menu for the restaurant before arriving and was disappointed to see a price difference of $2 for all menu items.

T ordered a Mango Lassi ($4 I think) which he really enjoyed. When it arrived I was very impressed to see the design on top, it was a nice little touch.

 While we were waiting for our meal we took the time to look at the décor. Let’s say, it leaves a lot to be desired. Wall paint was peeling in at least one area and there were many scuff marks from chairs. I also noticed a tea light candle holder with an old candle and we had no offer to light a new one.

When our dinner plates were brought out they were warm, which is always good to see, and our food came out within a reasonable time. 

We had Lamb Masala ($12.90). Which I thought was nice enough; no gristly bits but not a memorable dish.

We also had Kabuli Channa ($11.90).

The Naans ($2.50 each) were tasty, they were my favourite part of the meal.

The waitress who tended to us most of the time was very nice and did a good job, however the other waitress seemed unsure of how to deal comfortably with customers.

Even with the 2-4-1 voucher, our meal cost a little over $26. Not as cheap as I was expecting after looking at the web prices. Maharani is probably not somewhere we will visit again but with a facelift it would have greater potential.