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Monday, September 25, 2006

Taking a leaf out of Mother-in-law's cook book

Peeth perleli bhaji (Vegetable made using (besan) flour)

Quick and very tasty.... yes that is what I'd like to call my Ma-in-law's cooking... even in the short time that I have stayed with her, I had the opportunity to pick up a few tips and tricks.
There was this time she had made bell pepper veg., simple recipe... chop the pepper in biggish chunks cook them with minimum fuss and spices, and once well cooked add gram flour (besan) mix well and cook for a few mins. Done! result, yummy vegetable that can be eaten with roti or better with a 'bhakri'. What Mom also mentioned was that , this particular recipe did not restrict itself to bell peppers... go on, try using it with cabbage... sounds good? Did to me, so last evening I gave it a try.. first I put up a silent prayer.... yes, I did.. M, is used to this cooked by Mom, I wanted to come close to how she prepares it.
All right then, with my trusted knife in hand I ....

Chopped cabbage ( about 1/4 kg.)
Chopped onion (1/2 large onion, and i mean large californian yellow onion)
Salt to taste
1/2 spn Corriander (Dhania) Powder
1/2 spn Cumin (Jeera) Powder
1 tsp Red chilly powder
1/4 spn Mustard seeds
1/4 sp Cumin seeds
3 tbspOil
1/4 spTurmeric
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup Besan
1/4 spn sugar (optional)
Cilantro to garnish

Please note, I have used my judgement in all the ingredients, never measured it so if you try this, use the measures as guidelines only.


Heat oil in a 'kadhai'. add mustard seeds, after they crackle , add cumin seeds, turmeric. Add chopped onion, stir fry a while, add cabbage, mix well, add 1/4 cup water , cover and cook.
After the onion and cabbage are soft, add salt, red chilly pwd., sugar,cumin and corriander powder, mix well, cook for a minute. Slowly add the besan, mixing well at the same time with one hand. Cover and cook for a few mins. so that the flour gets cooked. Do NOT add any water.Garnish with chopped cilantro.
I got a 100% rating on this one!!
Jai ho, Mom-in-law ki jai ho!!

P.S : I made the Parathas again (check the previous post) but this time in 'gheun ka atta' , they turned out just fine and the size was a normal paratha size too!


19 comments:

  1. Nice recipe. I like the idea of using bell peppers. thanks!

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  2. Hi Manasi,
    I ususally make cabbage poriyal which goes well with rice.. I wanted to cook in a different way which goes well with rotis and here is it.. thanks for the recipe.

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  3. Besan is such a versatile flour isnt it? I love this kind of preparation with lady fingers too

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  4. Hello, that dish soo colorful, I bet it tastes great too! Goog pics, thanks!!

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  5. hii manasi..this is the second dish that i tried from ur recipes..the first one was aalu palak..this dish is so tastyyy..thx so much for the recipe!!:)

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  6. Jai ho Manasi :-) Never tried besan with cabbage. Thanks for sharing

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  7. Hi Mansi, tried this recipe of yours for dinner yesterday...... and it was yyuuuuuummmmmmm........ I also added some bell peppers along with cabbage....... Will post the pictures soon. Thanks so much. :)

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  8. Hi Hema: Do ry with BP... tastes gr8!:)

    Hi Prema Sundar: Did u try this? how did it turn out? :)

    Hi Ashwini: Hmm, have okra...will try! cool ;)

    Hi Asha: It tasted good! :D

    Hi Kalpana: Glad it turned out well!!

    Hahahahaha Krithika! luv ur sense of humor!

    Hi Rooma: GR8 ! will chk out ur post on this!! :D

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  9. bhajiche nau aaikoon kalale ki tu marathi ahess mhanun.
    this is the first time i am reading your blog .nice and homely blog
    i would like to know how you got those smilie's there.
    and some of the pictures
    write to me
    my email is mahek_21@yahoo.com

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  10. Hi Mahek! Konitari Marathit lihile ki kitti kitti bara wat ta!! Thank u for ur kind words! I got the smilie's from smileycentral.com , but please be careful of any virus attacks! i had a slight problem (may not be because of this... but who knows?)

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  11. Hi Manasi, sounds like a super simple recipe. When you say 1/4 cup of cabbage how much are we talking about - 1 cup or 1/2? You have to bear with me, I'm a novice in the kitchen...yes, even though I've been at it for 7 years, Whoops!

    - Vee

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  12. Hi Vee, This is a simple recipe. Now I hv mentioned 1/4 KG. that is around .6 lb
    This is a small quantity (enough for 2 people) and I would roughly hazard 1 1/2 - 2 cups of chopped cabbage... but am not 100 % sure.

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  13. Hi Manasi...thanks for this recipe..i just tried it and it tastes great :-) But it did not turn out to be as dry as your preparation shown in the photo..mine turned out to be more gooey...is it coz of more water, i wonder !

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  14. HiSanthi!! Thanx fo rtrying out the recipe and giving me feed back! I really appreciate it...
    Now about the stickyness.. maybe the water...

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  15. yeah...maybe the water..but it turned out to be really fingerlicking yummmm..:-)...

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  16. Hey!! You made my day!! The recipe is good and I was bang on target!! (considering that I'm a lousy cook :P)
    thanks much.

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  17. I personally dont like cabbage that much may be bcoz of the smell... But I can eat it only when it is prepared this way. Besan adds flavor to it. My mom always makes cabbage like this. Reading your recipe reminded me of old days. I'll prepare it :)

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  18. hi
    i m going right now in the kitchen to try this recipe...........looking wonderful

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  19. hi
    this is chandni here...........this recipe is looking so wonderful that right now i m going in the kitchen to try it.....

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