Hara Pulao - Rice dish

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 1 cup
Cauliflower (cut into small pieces) - 250 grams
Green peas - 150 grams
Thinly sliced potatoes - 200 grams
Cinnamon - 2 sticks
Cloves - 4 to 5
Black pepper - 7 to 8
Bay leaves - 2 to 3
Green cardamom - 2
Thinly sliced onions - 2
Thinly sliced green chilli - 2
Vegetable oil - 4 tbsp.
Paste of green Coriander leaves, green chillies, ginger
Salt to taste
Garam Masala Powder - 2 tsp

Method:

• Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a pan. Fry bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper for 1/2 minute on medium heat.
• Add thinly sliced onions, green chillies and fry till pink. Keep this aside.
• Take rest of the oil and fry all the vegetables for 4-5 minutes. This adds taste to pulao.
• Add paste of coriander leaves, green chilli and ginger to it.
• Add the fried onions, garam masala and salt. Stir and then fry it for 5 minutes.
• Add washed rice and water (slightly more than 2 cups). Cook on medium heat. Stir rice once while its getting cooked.
• Green spicy pulao is ready to serve. Decorate with chopped green coriander leaves.

Kadhai Bhindi - Curry

Ingredients:

Lady finger (okra / bhindi) - 250 gms.
Gram flour - 1 tbsp.
Thinly sliced onion - 1
Thinly sliced green chilli - 1
Mango powder - 1/2 tsp.
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp.
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp.
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp.
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp.
Vegetable oil as required
Salt to taste

Method:

• Cut lady finger into thin long slices.
• Heat oil in a kadhai. Deep fry lady finger until crisp and light golden brown.
• Keep the fried lady finger aside. Just leave 2 tbsp oil in kadhai, remove the rest.
• Add cumin seeds and green chilli and fry for 30 seconds. Add sliced onion and fry until golden brown.
• Add gram flour, mango powder and saute for 3-4 minutes. Add lady finger and the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Heat for a few seconds and then remove from heat.
  

Garnish with green coriander leaves and serve hot (if possible in a copper base thick bottomed pan ).

Nargisi Kofta - Curry

Ingredients:

For Kofta:
Boiled vegetables (carrot, green peas, bottle gourd, potato, cauliflower) - 2 cups
Ginger paste - 3/4 tsp.
Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp.
Maida (refined flour) - 2 tbsp.
Vegetable oil - 8 to 10 tbsp.
Salt to taste

For Gravy:
Boiled onions (paste) - 1 cup
Finely chopped tomatoes - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 4 tbsp.
Bay leaves - 3 to 4
Ginger paste - 1 tsp.
Garlic paste - 1 tsp.
Green chilli paste - 1/2 tsp.
Coriander powder - 1 tsp.
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp.
Turmeric Powder - 3/4 tsp.
Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp.
Cream - 4 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for decoration

Method:
For Kofta:

• Mash all the boiled vegetables. Add ginger paste, pepper powder, maida and salt.
• Make into small kofta balls.
• Heat oil on 'high'.
• Reduce heat to 'medium' and then fry kofta balls so that they cook properly. First try with one ball. Check if the oil is heated properly and ball comes out well. If you find that the balls are splattering, then add little more maida to the mixture.
  

For Gravy:

• Heat oil in pan .
• Fry bay leaves for 30 seconds.
• Add onion paste, ginger-garlic paste and green chilli paste. Fry the mixture till it becomes golden brown and starts separating from oil.
• Add garam masala, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, dhania powder, salt to the mixture and heat for about 3-4 minutes on 'medium'.
• Add appropriate water to the mixture to make thick gravy.
• Bring the gravy to boil and then cover it. Let it cook for 4-5 minutes.
• Add 2 tbsp. of cream so that the cream flavor blends with gravy.
  

5-10 minutes prior to serving, add kofta balls to the gravy. Heat on 'medium' to 2-3 minutes.

Decorate with the remaining cream and finely chopped coriander leaves.