Bihari Style Aloo Baingan

Bihari cuisine is a lot similar to North Indian cuisine,but also has a great influence from other eastern states of India like West Bengal and Orissa. Cooking with fish is very popuar in Bihar, the river fish. Cooking with mustard and mustard oil is a norm. I like to learn about various regional cuisines and try them out. A good friend of mine introduced me to Bihari style cooking. I'm not a big fan of mustard oil. I substitute it with olive oil. Today I made aloo baingan, Bihari style. It is basically, potato and eggplant cooked in mustard and garlic paste. dinner was awesome. I must thank my friend for the recipe. I made a few changes to it.

Ingredinets:

12 baby potatoes, quartered

12 round eggplant, quarterd

4 green chili, slit

6-8 cloves of garlic,peeled

4 Tablespoon yellow mustard or 2 Tablespoon mustard powder

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds(methi)

1 Tablespoon coriander powder

2 teaspoon red chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon garam masala

salt to taste

Method:

1. Shallow fry potatoes and eggplant separately in 2 Tbsp oil until 3/4 cooked. Keep aside. Leave the oil in the pan.

2. If using whole mustard, blend to a coarse powder; add garlic and pulse until smooth. 

3. Heat pan with left over oil over medium heat. Add  cumin and fenugreek. Turn the heat to low and saute for a minute. Add the garlic paste and cook for 4 minutes or until oil separates.Mix coriander powder, chili powder, turmeric powder and garam masala with little water to make a paste. Stir this paste into the pan. Add 2 cups of water and salt. Turn the heat up to mediun and cook for 7 minutes or until oil separates.

4. Gently stir in potato and eggplant. Add more water if required.

 Remove from stove. Serve warm with phulka roti.

Notes:
Any kind of eggplant could be used in this recipe. I prefer to use the small Indian purple eggplant. In this recipe I used Thai green eggplant. 

I use red and yellow baby potato. Any potato can be used  

Burmese Samosa Soup

Living in California gives my sister the opportunity  to try out food from various cusines. When she told me about the famous Burmese Samosa Soup I wanted to try it too. It is hard to find too many ethnic cusines here in New Jersey.  I usually look for the best recipes online and try making them myself. I am fortunate to have a family that loves to try out new things.
Burmese food is influenced by various Asian cusines like Indian, Chinese, Thai and Korean. Their food is spicy and tangy. Different kinds of lentils are used in Burmese cooking. Chickpeas is an important part of their food. Chickpea tofu is very popular in Burma. So is tea leaf salad. Samosa soup is a spicy tangy lentil soup with cabbage and sprouts. I used the recipe given by my sister, who found it online. It is delicious spicy and tangy soup that is dinner by itself.

Ingredients:

1 Cup toor dal, soaked in warm water
1 Cup black chickpeas, soaked in water
4 teaspoon oil
1 Cup sliced onion
2-3 green chili, slit
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorn
2 tablespoon ancho chili
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon red chili powder(Kashmiri red chili)
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
6 Cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon garam masala
salt to taste
2 Cups shredded cabbage
2 Cups bean sprouts
6 samosas
12 falafel
chopped cilantro, for garnish
chopped green onion, for garnish
lemon, for garnish

Method:

1. Cook toor dal in a pot filled with water over medium heat until it is soft. Drain and keep aside.
2. Cook black chickpeas in pressure cooker until soft. Remove from stove and set aside.
3. Dry roast peppercorn, cumin and coriander seeds. Cool and grind in a spice grinder along with chili powder and turmeric. Set aside.

4. Heat oil in a stock pot over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and as it splutters add onion
and cook for 6 minutes. Add slit chili.  Stir in spice powder. Add ancho chili and cook for 5 minutes.

5. Add tamarind paste, stock, cooked lentils,and chickpeas. Add more stock or water as needed. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.

6. Add garam masala and salt. Add cabbage. cook for 5 minutes and remove from stove.

To serve:
Place one samosa, cut ito half,in each bowl.
Place 2 falafel, cut into half in each bowl.
Ladle soup into each bowl. Garnish with cilantro and sprout.
Serve the soup along with lemon wedges.

Note: Fresh samosas are the best to use. I used frozen ones. I used channa dal vada(masala vadai) instead of falafel.

Vegetarian Taquitos

Taquitos means little tacos. These are tacos filled with meat, beans and cheese, then rolled up like a cigar and baked. I filled mine with black bean, vegetarian Mexican ground and roasted corn. The filling can be made ahead and refrigerated. Taquitos can be assembled when required and baked.

Ingredients:

16(6inch)tortillas

Filling:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 Cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 habernaro pepper, chopped
5-6 mushroom, cleaned and chopped

1 Cup Mexican Vegetarian ground
1 Cup Black beans(15.5 oz)
1 Cup roasted Corn(2 corn on cob)
3 teaspoon taco seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream

Method:

1. For the filling  heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; cook onion, garlic, habernaro till  translucent. Add mushroom and cook till moisture leaves(3-5 minutes).

2. Add Vegetarian ground to the skillet. Add 2 teaspoon taco seasoning and salt. Cook for 3 minutes. Remove from stove.

3. If using canned black beans, rinse and drain beans. Microwave for a minute. Stir in 1 teaspoon of taco seasoning and mash well.

4. Place tortilla on flat surface. Spreasd taco sauce across the tortilla. Spoon mashed beans over it. Spread filling. Top with 1 teaspoon of roasted corn. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoon shredded cheese.

Roll up tightly; place tortilla on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.

Lightly spray tortilla with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas with filling and cheese.

5. Bake at 425 deg.F for 15 minutes or until rolls are crisp.
Serve with sour cream

Note: Taco seasoning can be substituted with 1 teaspoon coriander powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 teaspoon red chili powder, 1/2 tesaspoon salt.