miércoles, 30 de mayo de 2012

EASY BRINJAL CURRY|KATHRIKAI PORIYAL

I learnt this recipe from my neighbor. I am a big fan of brinjal but my hubby is just opposite to me. So i rarely buy this veggie and cook for me specially. I love my mom's brinjal stuffed poriyal very much. Next to that , this is the second best. It can be made in jiffy. It tastes best with dal , sambhar and morkuzhambu rice. I relished with keerai kuzhambu ..!!

 

brinjal curry

INGREDIENTS

  • Brinjal – 4 nos (medium size)
  • Sambhar powder – 1 – 1.5 tsp
  • Tamarind – small gooseberry size
  • Jaggery – Small piece (Add more if want sweetish)
  • Salt & water – As needed

To temper & saute

  • Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
  • Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
  • Jeera – 1/2 tsp
  • Channa dal – 1/2 tsp
  • Curry leaves – few
  • Big onion – 1 no (slice cut)
  • Oil – As needed.

METHOD

  • Slit cut each brinjal into 8 pieces .Make thin slices so that it cooks quickly.Immerse in water till use. Soak tamarind in little water.
  • Heat oil in a kadai and temper all the items given above in the same order.
  • Saute onions till it turns transparent.Add the brinjal slices and saute for a minute.
  • Add the sambhar powder ,saute for sometime.Then add the tamarind extract , jaggery ,required water & salt.
  • Cover and cook for sometime.Switch off the flame once the brinjal is cooked.

****If u want in semi gravy consistency , switch off the flame when little water remains.It can be mixed in plain rice topped with ghee !!

Yummy brinjal curry is ready is to serve with dal rice , sambhar & morkuzhambu rice!!

BRINJAL CURRY 1

NOTE

  1. Use long green brinjal variety. But i used the normal purple ones.
  2. When i made this curry , i had cut the brinjal into 4 pieces so it was big to eat. Then my neighbour told me cut into very small , thin slices the next time. I found the taste was blended well when brinjal is small.

KITCHEN CLINIC

BRINJAL

Commonly known as the eggplant, brinjal is one of the most easily available and affordable vegetables. In its unripe form, it is a large greenish-whitish vegetable and when ripe, it turns a deep violet. Brinjal can be cooked in many different ways and provides many essential nutrients that are needed for overall well-being of the body. In fact, one can even take brinjal soup to attain maximum benefits from this vegetable. It is a very good source of potassium and contains a high content of water and fiber. Check out the nutritional value and also the health benefits of eating brinjal.

Nutritional Value of Brinjal

Given here is the nutritional value of a serving of 100 grams of brinjal.

  • Calcium - 525 mg
  • Cholesterol - 16mg
  • Dietary Fiber - 4.9g
  • Iron - 6mg
  • Potassium - 618mg
  • Protein - 8g
  • Saturated Fat - 5.2g
  • Sodium - 62mg
  • Sugars - 11.4g
  • Total Carbohydrates - 17.8g
  • Total Fat - 27.5g
  • Vitamin A - 6.4 mg

Health & Nutrition Benefits of Eating Brinjal

  • Take brinjal in a mashed form or as a soup and add some garlic and asafetida to it. It will help you get rid of flatulence and adjust the wind humor of the body.
  • Brinjal can also be eaten after being roasted directly on fire. Just peel off the skin, mash it and add some salt in it for flavor and eat it. It will help cure phlegm, congestion and reduce the formation of gas.
  • In order to increase appetite and digestion, take soup made of mashed brinjal and tomato, along with some salt and pepper.
  • In case you are unable to fall asleep easily, eat a soft brinjal (along with some honey) after baking it directly over fire. If taken regularly, it may also cure insomnia.
  • In order to cure enlarged spleen caused due to malaria, eat soft baked brinjal along with raw sugar on empty stomach, preferably in the morning.


jueves, 24 de mayo de 2012

100 Perfect Pairings Main Dishes to Enjoy with Wines You Love

Developing new and enticing recipes that will bring out the best in a variety of wines is a challenge I relish. I have a huge collection of food and wine pairing books, not only because I am fascinated by it but also because for several years I developed recipes for MyWinesDirect, an online wine retailer. Coming up with new recipes to go with yet another Cabernet or Chardonnay required not only creativity but also a deeper understanding of how food and wine interact.

100 Perfect PairingsI have only written about a few of the books in my wine pairing collection because frankly, not very many of them are worth telling you about. The bible is of course What To Drink with What You Eat. It's where I go first for inspiration. But I also love the 100 Perfect Pairings books by Jill Silverman Hough. The first was 100 Perfect Pairings Small Plates to Enjoy with Wines You Love and the second out now is 100 Perfect Pairings Main Dishes to Enjoy with Wines You Love. She not only provides recipes, but really digs into how to pair and the tricks to making matches that sing.

The format of the two 100 Perfect Pairings books are the same, as is the general overview information about each wine. Each chapter features a different wine, and dishes that pair well with it. There are six white wines and six red wines (ok one is rose). They are the most common wine varieties you're likely to find. While the first book focused on small plates, the second in the series is all about main dishes. Each recipe has a tip, some insight into what makes it a good dish or a good pairing or even suggestions for how to round out the meal. On my list to try: Buttermilk Oven-Fried Chicken with Garlicky Ranch Sauce with Viognier, Chicken 'Cocoa' Vin with Merlot, and Steak and Radicchio Caesar with Cabernet Sauvignon. If you are new at pairing food and wine or do it all the time, these books will be welcome additions to your cookbook collection since they function as reference books too. Jill Silverman Hough makes pairing food and wine easy and fun.