Say hello to Sneha, our Kitchen Commander for September. Call it therapeutic or a passion, this girl checks all the boxes to be called a foodie. She is an enthusiastic cook with a knack for coming up with cross-cuisine food. Read to know more about her experiments in the kitchen.
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I’m a singer and a voice over artist by profession and a foodie by passion. You could catch me at any time in the day, thinking about food. When not in the studios, I’d be found in one of the by-lanes of Khar/Bandra hunting for my next food target. At home, I love to unwind by snuggling up with a book or stirring up something in the kitchen. Besides the thought of my next meal, another thing that keeps me going is dreaming about the next escapade. My love for travel nearly competes with my love for food .
I can’t particularly remember why, but it all started with my love for food. Also, my mother happens to be a painstakingly good cook. Growing up around her, I began to take interest in ingredients, measurements and recipes. Also because we only cook vegetarian food at home, I would often find the need to and look for ways to replicate my chicken favourites and convert them into their vegetarian counterparts. Besides, I find it hard to stick to recipes, something my mother is really good with. The need to experiment with flavours and challenge mom, would get me into the kitchen, in front of the stove.
Cooking for me is therapeutic. I’m not a stickler for recipes or methods. I love to experiment and try to make things not very complicated. For me it’s more about the taste, than it is about the elaboration or the presentation. Cooking makes me happy, but what makes me happier is feeding loved ones with the food I cook and getting some sort of approval on my fake recipes.
I love to cook anything vegetarian. Italian pastas are my favourite, so are Indian curries and Chinese stir fries. I try to mix and match cuisines and ingredients to come up with distinct flavours. I also refrain from using preserved or bottled produce unless absolutely unavoidable. I believe, one rather make it simple but make it absolutely fresh and from scratch, than make it fancy and complicated out of a bottle .
This is a recipe that may seem long but is really easy to make. You can alter it in one too many ways to suit tastes and available ingredients. Preparation time is bout 25 to 35 minutes.
Sabji Makhani
Ingredients
6 Teaspoons Oil
4-5 Black pepper corns
Black pepper powder
Handful Cumin seeds (Jeera)
Cumin Powder (Jeera Powder)
Handful Coriander seeds (Dhaniya)
Bunch Coriander Leaves
Coriander Powder (Dhaniya Powder)
1-3 Green Chillies (slit)
1 and Half Onions
2 Tomatoes (roughly chopped)
5-6 Cloves Garlic
Handful Cashews
1 Teaspoon Honey
Diced Vegetables of your choice – potatoes, cauliflower florets, beans , peas , carrot , babycorn, corn kernels, capsicum (all chopped to equal length, about 2 cups)
1 Cup Water (or as requires)
1 Teaspoon Kasturi Methi
1/2 Cup Fresh Cream
1/2 Cup Yoghurt
1/2 Lemon
Salt
Method
1. In a wok, add 2 teaspoons of oil. In it add black peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, 2-3 cloves of garlic, green chillies, 1 onion roughly chopped, tomatoes, coriander leaves and cashew nuts along with a pinch of salt.
2. Sweat them out in the oil for about 5 mins and take them out of the wok to cool.
3. Once cooled , grind them in a mixer to a smooth paste .
4. In the same wok, add 2 teaspoons of oil, 1/2 onion sliced, 2-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped. Fry till they start turning brown.
5. Add the paste prepared earler. Add a spoon of corriander and cumin powder each and fry till the oil surfaces to the top. Sprinkle water to deglaze the wok if required.
6. Add a tsp of honey and stir.
7. Simultaneously in a saucepan, add 1 teaspoon of oil. To it add 1 tsp of pepper powder. Add the diced uncooked vegetables and salt to taste. Add 2 teaspoons of corriander powder and cumin powder to this as well. Sauté the vegetables for 5 minutes.
8. Then transfer to the curry pan and mix well. Add 1/4th cup of water in the wok and place a plate over the wok on low flame, and add another half cup of water on the plate so that the vegetables cook well.
9. After about 7-8 mins , take off the plate and stir well.
10. Turn off the gas, add 1/2 cup fresh cream and stir carefully. The 1/2 cup of well beaten yogurt and stir again.
11. Make sure the gas is turned off such that the cream and curd don’t split.
12. Sprinkle some kasturi methi on top and squeeze a dash of lemon juice and your Sabzi Makhani is ready to serve .
13. You can replace the diced vegetables with paneer as well.
14. This is a relatively healthier recipe. The yogurt can be replaced by another 1/2 cup of cream and 2 spoons of butter can be added to make the gravy richer.
What's For Lunch? 