Recipe Challenge

Patidev is out of town, and I am invited to a Diwali potluck tomorrow. The host was to email me a dish to make, and forgot, and I forgot too. That is, until this evening. I called her hoping that I could get away with something easy. Pulav maybe?

It turned out that the person who was to make aloo gobhi backed out, and her need of the day was a vegetable. I did not want to take the brats and go shopping for veggies on a Friday evening. At the same time, I did not have large quantities of any veggie. Here is what I what I had to work with:

4 ripe tomatoes

1 head of brocolli

1/2 head of cabbage

Fresh french beans

1/2 onion

1/2 pack left over garden tomato soup

Sweet peppers

The last of some pine nuts

milk

yoghurt

chillies, cilantro, ginger

A slab of marinated tofu

A slab of paneer

1/2 pack of frozen peas (in freezer)

Couple of eggs

Bananas, persimmons, grapes

1 Acorn squash

With these constraints, I set out to cook, and made up this recipe:

1/2 Onion

4 large sweet peppers

Chop and sautee on low heat till it browns a bit and is caramelized. In the meanwhile, chop the following (do not forget to stir the onion-peppers a few times):

2 carrots in thin semi/quarter circles

1 head of brocolli - break into 1/2" florets (stem goes back into the fridge for some future use)

A large bunch of french beans cut small on the diagonal

1 slab of paneer into thin squares about 3/4"x3/4"

Grind the caramelized onion-peppers with the following:

1/3 pack soup

1 tsp roasted jeera powder

1 tsp roasted dhania powder

pine nuts (I used up what I had, which might be between 1/8 and 1/4 cup)

I added some milk - maybe a 1/4 cup - as I was grinding

Now, in the pot used to caramelize the onion-peppers, add some ghee and fry (low heat) 10 cloves and a stick of cinnamon till it smells good. Turn up the heat and add the chopped veggies. Add the remaining soup, salt and paprika. Add the ground gravy. Add paneer. Cook till the veggies are just cooked (not soft, and not crisp). Add cardamom powder and kasturi methi.

I am sure this recipe is a mix of various recipes floating in my brain with some clever beatmatching and phrasing. I am a DJ of food!

Are you a DJ too?