Rajma Curry

Rajma is extremely popular party dish,specially in north India. Rajma tastes best when served  with plain boiled rice,Salad and pickle.
Kidney beans(Rajma) are a very good source of Protien,Folate,Zinc,Maganese,Iron,thiamin and riboflavin.

My recipe is not the traditional recipe,but this is how my mom used to prepare it.

Ingrediants:

• 1 cup Rajma,cooked( soak overnight in water and pressure cook next morning with a tsp of salt until soft)
• 2 Potatoes-cut into cubes-boiled
  Onions-2 finely chopped
• 1 Tomato-chopped
• Cooking Oil
• Coriander leaves for garnishing

For the Masala

• 6 Red Chillies ,add or reduce as per taste
• 1/2 Scraped Coconut
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Cloves
• 1 Teaspoon Haldi Powder
• 8 Pepper Corns
• 1 Teaspoon Jeera
• 1/4 Teaspoon Methi Seeds
• 1 Tablespoon Khus Khus
• 1 Teaspoon Badee Saunf (Moti Saunf)
• 4 -5 Flakes Garlic
• 1 Table Spoon Corriander Seeds
• 1/2 Teaspoon Til
• 1 Onion,chopped

Method:
For the masala:

• Heat  a pan,with 1 tbsp of cooking oil
• Add the 1/2 scraped coconut along with the other masala ingredient mentioned above and stir , so everything gets mixed well .
• when the coconut turns golden and you start geting a fragnant aroma of the masala,remove from fire and cool
• Blend all the above ingrediants with 1 cup water,till smooth.Keep aside.

For the Curry:

•  Heat  pan with oil and when hot add the chopped onions and saute until golden
• Now add the chopped tomato and cook till oil leaves the side of the pan
• Now add the above masala and cook till you get a boil
• Add the boiled Rajma and cook for another 8-10 minutes on slow fire.
• Garnish with coriander leaves
• Serve hot with Rice or chapati

Chicken Cafrael

Chicken Cafrael a spicy chicken dish is one of the most famous Goan Dishes ,introduced into the Goan Cuisine by the portuguese.I don't want to say much about this dish...except just go ahead and try it out....m sure ul be in love with this dish!!!!

INGREDIANTS:

For the masala:

•  6 Green Chillies
• Coriander leaves,a bunch
• 1 Tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste
• 6-7 Peppercorns
• 1 Big Piece Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Jeera
• 1/2 Teaspoon Haldi

Others:   

•  1 Kg Chicken,cut into pieces 
• I large Onion,chopped  
• 1 potato,cut into
• 2 tbsp oil
• A bunch of chopped Corainder leaves,garnishing

Method:

• Cut clean and wash the chicken, and keep it aside.
• Grind all the inrediants for the masala and coat the chicken with this masala and keep overnight in the fridge or atleast for 4 hours
• Heat oil in a pan and when hot add the chopped onions
• When the onions turn brown, add the marinated chicken pieces and cook on high flame for about 4 minutes.
• Now reduce the flame to the lowest setting, add about 1/2 cup water,potatoes and cook till chicken is cooked.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with salad.

Goan Fish Curry

Goan Fish Curry along with boiled Rice,is the staple food in any Goan home,whether rich or poor.Goans just can't seem to eat their food without their fish Curry.This is a slightly spicy-tangy dish.So guys go ahead and try this amazing dish ....am sure that you all will be in love with this dish,just like us Goanese:)

Ingrediants:

• 2 Pomfrets,large-Clean,cut and apply salt,keep aside
• 1 medium size onion,chopped
• 1 medium sized tomato,chopped finely
• 1 Green Chilli ,slit
• 1tbsp,coconut Vinegar
• 2 tbsp oil
•  Salt,to taste
• A bunch of finely chopped coriander leaves, for garnishing

Ingrediants for Masala:

• 6 Kashmiri Chillies
• 1/2 Scraped Coconut
• A Small Piece of Ginger
• 3 Flakes Garlic
• 1 Tea spoon Corriander seeds 
•  1/2 Tea spoon Haldi Powder
• 1/2 Tea spoon Jeera seeds

Grind all the ingrediants for the masala  with water or a little vinegar and keep aside.


Method:

• Heat a deep pan on a medium flame, add the oil and heat. 
• Add the onions,green chilli and fry till golden brown
• Add the chopped tomato and cook till the mixture leaves the side of the pan.
• Now add the  masala paste you just ground to the oil and fry for 5 minutes.
• Now add the 2 cups of water (add more water if you would like more gravy) and bring the gravy to a boil. Reduce the flame to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Add salt to taste.
• Gently add the pieces of fish to the gravy and cook for 10 more minutes. Do not cover the pan at any time during the cooking. 
• Incase this dish turns out a little too spicy for your taste ,you can add a tablespoon of coconut vinegar.
• Turn off the fire and garnish with corainder leaves
•  Serve immediately with plain boiled rice.

Palak Paneer

Palak paneer  is a famous  Indian dish consisting of spinach and paneer cheese in a curry sauce.
Since i am a goan catholic,we do not prepare a lot of vegetarian dishes at home.In Goa its only fish and fish.
After my marriage when i moved to the UK,i could'nt get fish every day,so i started experimenting with other dishes .My husband is a hard core non vegetarian, he can never eat his food without a non vegetarain item,but this is one dish he eats without asking for other non-veg dishes :) ,so all you ladies  who are stuck in my kind of situation should definately give this delicious dish a try.

   Ingrediants:

• one bunch of spinach( fresh ones)
• paneer 10-15 cubes
• one medium sized ripe tomato
• green chillies -5
• 1 onion chopped finely
• ginger-garlic paste-1/2 tsp
• coriander paste-1/2 tsp
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• quarter cup cashew nuts

Method:

• Add 1 tsp oil in a pan.Add the green chillies to the hot oil and than add the palak leaves and saute until leaves are wilted.Turn off the heat and cool
• add a pinch of salt,blend them and keep aside.
• Boil tomato in hot water till the skin breaks down,remove the skin,mash the tomato to a pulp
• Roast cashews lightly and make a powder
• lightly saute paneer in 1 tsp of ghee till golden brown
• Now in another pan,add 1 tsp of ghee or oil.when hot ,add onions and fry till translucent
• Add ginger-garlic -cilantro paste and coriander-jeera pwdr,mix them and saute for 2-3 minutes
• Now add the pureed spinach, tomato,cashewpowder,along with a pinch of turmeric and salt to taste.
• Mix thorougly and cook for another 2 minutes.
• Add the paneer cubes  and serve hot with rice,chapatis or parathas.