Oil Less Indian Curry Paste ( Onion-Ginger-Garlic-Tomato Masala)

Oil Less Curry Paste

In my earlier blog I had written how to make onion-ginger-garlic paste and storing it for posterity. I always make it a point to make these masalas and store as cubes in freezer when onion and tomatoes are less expensive. This serves double purpose,

One saving money

Two having masala ready in fridge so when I am busy or suddenly guests come I do not feel hassled.

Curries are integral part of Indian cooking. Normally when onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes.. are used to make curries, lots of oil is used. This blog today will tell how to circumvent that and make yummy curries with least amount of oil.

The curry paste can be stored in freezer for months together. I store it by freezing it in ice tray. Storing and using cubes of curry paste becomes very easy, because every time one want to use it the whole lot need not to be thawed. Just pick up the required cubes, add it to oil tempered with spices along with the vegetable/rajma/chole/ chicken /fish…..add required amount of water and give a boil. Curry is ready.

Ingredients Required For Making Oil Less Curry Paste:

• 500 gm. Onion
• 500 gm. Tomato
• 100 gm. Ginger
• 100 gm. Garlic
• 2 Teaspoon Salt
• 8-10 Whole Red Kashmiri Mirch (Dry Red chili which has color but is less hot)

Direction For Making Curry Paste:

• Peel and cut onion to thin long slices. Keep aside.
• Wash and cut the tomatoes .
• Peel and grate ginger. Keep aside.
• Peel the garlic. Keep aside.
• Make pieces of whole red kashmiri mirch and remove the seeds. Keep aside.
• Take a thick bottom wok, preferably nonstick or anodized wok. Put
• Chopped Onions
• Chopped tomatoes
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Salt.
• Mix and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes stirring and turning in between.

Onion-Ginger-Garlic cooking in wok

• Tomatoes and onions will start losing their juices.

Whole red Kshmiri Mirch Added

• Add the pieces of red chilies and mix. Cover and cook on medium flame for 15-20 minutes with occasional stirring and turning the contents of the wok. By now the liquid in the wok will start reducing and the onions will turn translucent, Tomatoes will be completely cooked.

After 20 minutes of cooking

• Now all ingredients are completely cooked, we just need to reduce the liquid. Thus bring the heat to high and cook with constant stirring and turning the contents in the wok. It will take 3-5 minutes.

Ready to be made to paste

• Switch off the heat and let it cool without covering.
• Grind the cooked, cooled contents to fine paste. No water will be required.
• Freeze the curry paste in an ice tray. Store the cubes in freezer. Use as per requirement of the dish you are preparing. Just add the cubes to oil tempered with spices. Add water as required.
• Add salt, chili powder, garam masala as you please. Add water, give it a boil and your curry is ready.
• Curry paste can be stored in any container also. Thaw it before taking out required amount for use and freeze rest.

Oil less Curry Paste

Tips:

• Mix the ingredients nicely before heating.
• Put the ingredients in wok at room temperature.
• Do not heat wok before putting ingredients in it.
• Reduce the amount of chilies if they are too hot. Chilies are added basically to give a good red color to it.
• The time required depends upon the juiciness of onions and tomatoes.
• In the last leg of cooking when the heat is on high and liquid content is reducing it is must that the contents be stirred and turned constantly. Else the danger of the cooked masala to stick to the bottom and get burnt is very high.

Suggested Variations:

• Only onion and tomatoes can be made to curry paste and garlic-ginger can be added to tempered oil while making curry. Garlic ginger paste can be made at home and stored.

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/11/home-made-ginger-garlic-paste.html

Oil Less Green Chili Pickle/हरी मिर्च अदरक का अचार बिना तेल

Oilless Green Chili Pickle

This is one pickle which vanishes fast from the bottle as my whole family is very fond of it. I do not mind as it is very easy to, make and is very healthy. Green chilies have lots of vitamin C, Garlic, caraway seeds(Ajwain) are good for digestion and flatulence and again lemon is rich in Vitamin C and micro nutrients. The sour, hot and tangy taste makes it irresistible.

Preparation Time: 45 min

Maturing time: 7 days in summers

Serving: Makes 400gm. (approx.) pickle.

Ingredients Required For making Oil less Green Chili Pickle:

• 250 gm. Fresh Green Chilies
• 10 Lemons
• 10 Pods of Garlic (optional)
• 100 gm. Ginger
• 2-3 Teaspoons Mustard seeds (I use yellow mustard but any other will do)
• 2-3 Teaspoons Ajwain
• 2 Teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 2-3 Teaspoons Vinegar/apple cider
• Salt to taste

Directions for making Oil less Green Chili Pickle:

• Grind mustard seeds to coarse powder.
• Wash green chilies and remove the stalks. Dry them with a cloth and cut to small pieces.
• Wash and peel ginger. Dry under the sun to ensure all top moisture has evaporated.
• Cut the peeled ginger to small size pieces.
• Wash and dry the lemons. Squeeze the juice of lemons leaving two lemons for later use, and cut the lemon rind to long strips.
• Cut the remaining lemons to small pieces.
• Peel garlic and cut to long strips.
• In a stainless container take
• Green chili pieces
• Ginger pieces
• Garlic pieces
• Lemon and lemon rind pieces
• Ajwain
• Mustard seeds powder
• Salt
• Turmeric and mix nicely.
• Vinegar 
• Cover the container with the pickle mixture with a muslin cloth and keep under the sun for one day in summers and 2-3 days in winter.
• Transfer the mixture to a clean dry bottle and cover with the lid tightly.

Pickle mauring under the Sun

• Keep the bottle with the pickle mixture under the sun for 4-5 days and by the end of the week the pickle is ready.

Oilless Green Chili Pickle

Tips:

• All ingredients should be dry before pickling.
• Check for any rotten or stained part in garlic, chilies and ginger. It should be removed else the pickle will go bad.

Suggested Variations:

• If you wish to make this pickle in rainy weather then 20 ml. of vinegar should be added to the mixture along with other ingredients. (I use apple cider).
• 20-30 gm, Jaggery can be added to get the sweet, sour tangy and hot flavors.

16 Tips To Make Your Kitchen Work Easy.

Despite of being a regular hand in the kitchen some times practical difficulties are faced. This blog has taken shape from the experience of my elders passed on to me when i was a new bee in the kitchen and saved me from many difficulties. I dedicate this blog to my granny, mother and all those ladies who taught me the finer points of kitchen.

• Make puree of tomatoes when less expensive and store in fridge as cubes. Handy and easy to use for one and all.

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.in/2013/11/onion-masala.html

•  While making the gravy for any vegetable, chicken, mutton, Rajama, Chana .

• Do not make paste of onion, garlic, ginger and then fry.

•   Instead, first cut the onions, garlic and ginger to pieces.

•  Shallow fry them using little oil in a nonstick thick bottom wok.

• Once the mix of onion, garlic, ginger is golden brown allow it to cool and then grind.

               You will save time, energy and of course the oil required will   also be reduced. Thus making the food less oily!!!

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.in/2013/11/onion-masala.html

• Instead of buying garlic, ginger pastes from market make it at home.

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/11/home-made-ginger-garlic-paste.html

Home Made Ginger-Garlic Paste

•     For working ladies and mothers with very small children it is really helpful to store the cooked paste of onion, garlic and ginger in the fridge

          The cooked paste can be stored in deep freeze for a month without   

           getting  spoilt. Just take the required amount, thaw it and use.!!!!!!!!!:)

• If by mistake salt is added in excess then

• Take a medium size potato.

• Wash, peel and cut it to 4 big pieces,

• Add it to the vegetable along with little water and cook the vegetable gravy to required thickness.

• Remove the potato.

• Potato will absorb the salt and save you from trouble.

This can be done for vegetables with gravy, not to dry vegetables.

• If during cooking food gets stuck to the bottom of the container and starts getting burnt,

• Do not scrape it immediately.

• Remove it from gas.

• Remove the lid and allow it to cool so that the burnt smell escapes.

•  Once cooled remove the food layer by layer without disturbing the burnt part.

• Old bread from the fridge should not be discarded but can be cut to 2 cm. pieces and added to Poha.

• Old bread can be dried and powdered to use as crust for making cutlets/ fish fry.

• To maintain green color of spinach in Palak Paneer,

• Dunk the cleaned and washed spinach in salted boiling water and remove after 2-3 min.

• Grind it to thick and added the paste to the paneer masala and cook for just 2 min.

• Added 1 tea spoon of coriander leaves paste just before removing from gas

                  Vegetable will come out of beautiful green color.

• To increase the shelf life on Semolina (Suji), Ground nuts,and sesame seeds :, palak Paneer,

• Roast them before storing.

• While making vegetable of Okra (Bhindi),

• Do not add salt in the starting.

• Add all spices except salt, cover and cook on low flame.

• When all sliminess of bhindi disappears then add salt and mix gently and cook till done.

                   This way the okra vegetable will always come out nice and dry.

• As far as possible cook food in nonstick pans,

• This ensures less oil consumption.

• Least possibility if food sticking at the bottom.!

• For those who are weight conscious and so purchase toned milk,

• Instead get full cream milk.

• Heat it 10-12hrs. Before required time and keep in fridge.

• All cream (Malai) will get deposited at the top.

• Remove the cream and collect it in a bowl.

• After a week take it out and beat nicely using your fingers/fork/egg beater.

• Butter will separate.

• Remove the butter use it or heat it on low flame to convert it to Ghee.

• Add some curd to the left over milky liquid and keep it overnight, fat less butter milk is ready for consuming.

• Else heat the milky liquid, paneer will separate which can be used to make stuffed paratha/paneer bhujji.

Do not keep the cream in the fridge for more than 10 days else it will start getting rancid.

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/10/making-ghee-clarified-butter-at-home.html

• Try to dry and store Methi, Palak, during season when it is less expensive.

• Just clean (do not wash) and shade dry.

•  It comes handy when vegetables are either very expensive or leafy vegetables are not available in market.

• Just take handful of dried vegetable soak in water for 10min., sieve wash with running water in a sieve.

•  Cook with potato pieces and make tasty  vegetable/add it to dough of whole wheat flour and make tasty puri, parathas.
• Kasoori Methi is nothing but dried methi leaves and is very expensive in market, so you will have home made Kasoori methi !!

• While cleaning chicken rub it with lemon it will not smell.

• While making chicken biryani do not discard the skin. Boil it with 2-3 cloves, 1cm. cinnamon stick, and pinch of nutmeg powder. Filter and use the stalk for cooking the rice instead of water, it will enhance the flavor of biryani.

• To the marinade of mutton add 2 tea spoons of raw papaya paste.

• Mutton with cook better and fast.

• Do not add papaya paste to chicken

Green Chilly Sauce

Green Chilli Sauce

When the ever hungry teenage children demand fast food specially Noodles at the drop of hat there is a need of a healthy, pure and less expensive sauce which is ready at hand.What does one do! Well make them at home as I did, and the yummy taste made the sauce a hit not only with the kids but with their mothers also as they used it with Pakoras and other snacks.

Preparation Time: 30 min.(Soaking time not Included)

Servings: 300 ml of thick sauce

Ingredients required

• 50gm Dark Green chilies 

Green Chillies

• 8-10 Kashmiri Green Chilies(for beautiful green color)

Kashmiri Green Chillies

• 200 ml White Vinegar 
• 2 teaspoons Salt 
• 5-6 Garlic cloves 
• 2 Inch piece Ginger
• 2 Medium size Potatoes

Directions to prepare Green Chilly Sauce: 

• Wash, peel and cut ginger to small pieces.
• Peel and cut garlic.
• Cut both type chillies to pieces.
• Take Green chilli pieces, garlic, ginger in a bowl and soak them in 100 ml. vinegar for one day.

Green Chilli, garlic, ginger after soaking

•  Put the soaked mixture in a grinder mixer and grind to paste
• Add 50 ml. water during grinding.

Paste of chilli,garlic,ginger

• Boil the potatoes.
• Peel the boiled potatoes and crush to small pieces.
•  Add boiled crushed potatoes to the chilli paste and grind again till all ingredients are one soft homogeneous paste. 

Paste after adding Potato

• Take out the above mixture in a bowl and add vinegar till in turns into consistency of sauce.

Sauce ready for bottling

• Store in a glass bottle.

Green Chilli Sauce

 Tips:

• Plastic bottles should be avoided.
• If you do not like your sauce to be too sour with vinegar then instead 200 ml. vinegar you can take vinegar water mixture. (100 ml water + 100 ml. vinegar)

Suggested Variation:

• Those who do not like garlic or do not eat garlic can omit it.
• The sauce can be made of different flavor by adding more garlic and no ginger, or no garlic and more ginger.