Grilled Eggplant Tikka Masala

As you know I love eggplant in any ways and style. so Why not give humble eggplant the recognition which it desired. We make tikka from paneer, Tofu, chicken , vegetables then why not Eggplant. I made eggplant with other vegetables and grilled it , if you want you can do it on gas too and for the gravy its simple but delicious, don't discard the leftover marinade , just use that in gravy and you all set. 

Ingredients for Marinade :

2  round eggplants , cut in big cubes
3 tbsp. thick curd

1 tbsp. chickpea flour
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 tsp.  cumin -coriander powder
1 tsp. red chili powder
pinch of cinnamon powder
pinch of clove  powder
1 tsp. garam masala
salt to taste

If you have ready made tikka masala powder  , you can use that too.

Ingredients for Gravy:

4 tbsp. oil /butter/ ghee ( I prefer oil only)
1 tsp. Jeera / cumin seeds

2 Dry red chili
1 onion chopped
4 tbsp. tomato puree
salt to taste
1 tbsp. ginger, chili, garlic paste
1 tsp. cumin coriander powder
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. red chili powder

4 tbsp. leftover marinade
chopped fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Method : 

Cut big chunks of eggplant and keep it in water.
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients under marinade and add those eggplants in it.
Marinade for good 2 hours.

The grilled it on the grill or if you don't have grill you can cook it in pan too. 

To make the gravy

Add oil in the pan, add cumin seeds and dry chilies in it and cook till cumin seeds change the color. 

Add finely chopped onion and cook till its brown. 

Add ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute or two till its raw smell disappear. 

Add tomato puree and powder masala and cook on low flame till tomato is cooking and oil leaves the pan. 

Add the leftover marinade and mix it and add water as per your liking , to make thick or thin gravy. 

Add cooked eggplant pieces and let it cook in the gravy for 10 minutes on low flame, so it cookes with masala.

When gravy reaches the thickness of your desire, shut it off and sprinkle with chopped coriander and sliced ginger and enjoy with hot paratha, roti, rice 

I had it with roti, dal fry , lachha onion and mirchi ke tipore. 

Restaurant style Gravy with Soy Chaap

If you know me I don't like watery gravy, I love to eat smooth and thick gravy with my paneer or vegetables or soya chunks or chaap. This is the perfect gravy to go with chicken and eggs too. For chicken follow everything as it is just need little more water and time to cook the gravy. For eggs, you can boiled it and then proceed with the rest of the recipe. Here I made it with my favorite soy chaap. Its quick and easy and just need minimum ingredients all available in our pantry. So do try and let me know. 

Ingredients : 

2 soy chaap cut in pieces

4 tbsp Ginger garlic paste

2 onions finely chopped

5 Dry chili whole

2 tomatoes diced

salt as per tasste

10 pieces of cashews

1 tbsp Turmeric Powder

2 tbsp Kashmiri chili powder

1 tbsp Garam masala powder

2 tbsp Cumin coriander powder

4 tbsp oil /butter combo

1/4 cup finely chopped coriander leaves

Method : 

Cut your chaap , first length wise and make pieces. 

Add  2 tbsp ginger garlic paste in it and leave it till you prep for gravy., or at-least for 15 minutes

In a pan roast cashew and dry chilies for two minutes. 

Take it out and grind it. 

then add tomatoes in chili and cashew  mix and grind it and make a smooth paste.

Add  2 oil in the pan cook soy chaap for 2-3 minutes. 

Take it out and keep it on side. 

Add rest of the oil and butter and add onions and cook till its brown. 

Add ginger garlic paste, cook for few minutes, add turmeric powder, cumin coriander powder, kashmiri chili powder and mix it and cook for a minute. 

add the puree and cook for 5 minutes on medium flame. 

Add garam masala powder and salt , Coriander leaves and mix it

Add soy chaap in it and add hot water (depend on how thick gravy you want ) and mix it and cover it and cook it till all masala cooked nicely and coated to chaap. 

shut off the flame, sprinkle more coriander leaves and enjoy it with naan, rice or both or paratha. 

Vegetable Meatballs in Butter Masala Sauce

Its very easy to make butter masala gravy at home, you just need some basic ingredients and mix well and you are done, I have used meatballs in it but you can use chicken, paneer, mix vegetables and its done, only time consuming in this recipe is when you have to sieve the gravy once its cold , but the outcome is awesome so its all worth it. I have take this recipe from Rohan Bhatt from Foodaholics groups in Facebook.



Ingredients : 

2 cups diced tomatoes
1 cup diced onions
1/2 cup cashews
4 whole dry red chilies (De seeded)
5 vegetarian meatballs
2 tbsp butter
1 bay leaf
4 cloves
4 green elichi pods
2 small sticks of cinnamon
1 tbsp each ginger and garlic paste
1 tbsp honey
Salt as per taste

Method :

Heat oil in pan, add tomatoes, onions, cashews and dry chilies and all whole masala in it.

Add glass of water and cook on low flame for 20-30 minutes.

Switch off the flames and take out , bay leaf, cinnamon.

When mixture is cool , make  a puree of it , no extra water needed.

In the same pan, add 2 tbsp butter, when its hot, add ginger garlic paste.

Either you can sieve the gravy and keep it in different container or you can directly sieve it in pan.

Add water and let the gravy boil for few minutes.

Add honey and salt.

Add meatballs  / paneer / chicken what ever you are adding and cook for few minutes.

In the end , add crushed kasoori methi and enjoy hot with home made tandori roti or paratha or rice.

I had it with home made tandori roti.

Taro Root in Curd Gravy - Arbi Masala

Some vegetables don't get the recognition which they deserve. We just stick to some vegetables and ignore some. I think Arbi which is known as Taro root in English comes in that category. People make chips of it but when it comes to making it fancier, we don't think about it.  Well nothing wrong in chips also, when it comes to healthier options, Arbi chips are much better than potato chips. It has 30% less fat and more fiber than potatoes. If you have a sufficient level of fiber which taro root provides, then you can manage your GI Level and lower your chances of developing diabetes. If you have diabetes then fiber-rich foods like taro root can help prevent the spikes and plunges in blood sugar that can be so dangerous.

So let's give this vegetable some value and use in our cooking more ofter by creating this nice gravy dish.

Ingredients : 

5 Arbi - Taro roots
1 Onion chopped
3 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp Red chili powder
2 tbsp Turmeric powder
1/2 cup whisked yogurt
1 tsp Cumin - jeera
1 tsp Carom seeds - Ajwain
1 tbsp dry fenugreek -
Salt as per taste
2 tbsp Cumin-coriander powder
1 tbsp Garam masala powder
2 tbsp oil
Chopped coriander leaves to garnish

Method : 

Wash and clean the arbi.

Boil the water and put the arbi in it.

Cook till its al dante. you don't have to cook all the way since it will be cooking in the gravy.



Take out the skin and cut it in big pieces.

Add one tbsp red chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin-coriander powder in those cut arbi pieces and mix it nicely.

Heat up one tbsp oil in the pan.

Add those masala coated arbi pieces in the pan and cook it till it is nice and crispy from all the sides.

Take it out.

Add one more tbsp oil in the same pan, add jeera and ajwain, when it changes the color, add onion and saute it till it becomes soft.

Add tomato puree, ginger garlic paste along with all powder masala and saute for a minute.

Add whisk yogurt and water to make it a thick gravy not runny gravy.

Add the arbi pieces in it and mix it very carefully.

Add salt and crushed kasoori methi and cover it.

Cook till you get nice thick gravy, 5-6 minutes.

Once its done, sprinkle coriander leaves on top and enjoy with rice, puri or plain rice.