What do you do when you have loads of baby spinach at home? Your options are salad, a spinach rice pilaf or why not try a Spinach Balls Curry for a change? The following recipe requires two preparations - one of the spinach balls and another of the curry where the spinach balls soak in. Serves 4-6.

I made this curry right after organising a very stressful event in Dec 2020. I needed to do something to clear my head of the stress. I would usually go for long walk but it was right in the middle of the day at 12 noon and it was 35 deg C in sunny Singapore. Hence, I attempted this recipe. Cooking can be quite therapeutic, especially if the final result is quite surprisingly delicious. 

Ingredients (Spinach Balls)

340gm (2 cups) potatoes, boiled and mashed
2 slices of bread (wholemeal preferred), soaked in water and squeezed
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
2 tbsps coriander leaves finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garam masala
1 cup chickpea flour (besan flour)
100gm baby spinach finely chopped
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​Canola oil for deep frying
 
Method
1) To prepare the spinach balls, combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.

2) Roll into small 2 cm balls.

3) Heat the oil and deep fry the balls until golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper and set aside.

Ingredients (Curry)
2 tbps Canola oil
2 tsps ginger garlic paste
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tsps coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 1/2 tsp salt 
100gm finely chopped baby spinach leaves
1 tsp sugar
2 tomatoes, chopped 
2-3 cups reduced fat coconut milk/almond milk

Method
1) Heat the canola oil in a medium pot and fry the onion, ginger garlic paste, spices and salt for 5-10 mins. Add the chopped spinach leaves and sugar and cook till the spinach has wilted. I added tomatoes later which is not obvious in this pic.

2) Add  1 cup of water and mix well. Cook till the tomato turns pulpy.

3) Blend to a smooth paste. The curry will have a greenish hue due to the spinach.

4) Add the fried spinach balls, reduced fat coconut milk and cook for a further 5 mins.

5) Serve the Spinach Balls Curry warm with rice/chapathi and a simple Kachumbar salad 

Kidney beans in the Indian cuisine are popularly known as Rajma. These unique beans are shaped like a kidney, has a strong nutty flavor with powdery texture and have a reddish brown color. 

Rajma is very popular in the Northern Indian cuisine. It goes extremely well with plain Basmati rice or what is popularly known as rajma chawal. Rajma beans are fully loaded with proteins, in addition to minerals like magnesium, molybdenum, potassium, sodium, copper, iron, phosphorous, and vitamins such as Vitamin B complex constituents, Vitamin K and other traces of essential vitamins.

In Indian market there are three types of rajma:

• Red kidney beans
• Kashmiri kidney beans
• Chitra kidney beans

Jammu Rajma or Kashmiri kidney beans refers to a type of kidney beans which hv originated from Jammu and Kashmir region. They are as famous as Kashmiri mirchi (chilli powder). These small red kidney beans are delicious and cook fast. These beans are famous all over Himalayas and it’s foothills for their aroma and subtle taste. Kashmiri rajma come out best when soaked for about 4-5 hours prior to cooking. They may look deceptively similar to the regular kidney beans but in fact they are a notch smaller (see pic below). It is said that some of the best rajma are said to hv grown in Jammu.

I usually cook regular Rajma curry on an occasional basis. But I was introduced to Jammu Rajma by a close friend NK who happened to bring this delicious curry for a potluck lunch at my place in December. She had apparently slow cooked it overnight which explained its ultimate heavenly taste! I refrigerated and enjoyed it for two days after the lunch gathering! Little did i know that there was a another type of kidney beans called Jammu kidney beans!! I was able to source for it locally in Singapore through our regular online grocery store Redmart, but life got in the way and I only got to today Feb 12th to cook and post the recipe here. Don't be alarmed by the number of ingredients. It is actually quite an easy dish to prepare and the final delicious taste definitely beats store bought rajma masala powders. You are sure to wow your family and friends!

Ingredients (serves 4- 8 people)

Jammu Rajma Beans Preparation
2 cups of Jammu rajma beans, washed and soaked overnight or a minimum of 4hrs
4 dried bay leaves
4 stalks of coriander leaves with roots intact, washed well

Dry Spices
8 black peppercorns
6 cloves
1 cardamom
1 tsp cumin seeds
Pound or dry grind the above till you get a smooth powder

1 bay leave
1/2 inch cinnamon stick

Wet Ingredients
4 medium onion, cut into big pieces and blended
4 medium tomatoes, cut into big pieces and blended
2 tsps ginger garlic paste
2 green chillies each cut into 3 pieces
1 stalk coriander leaves, chop small

Wet Spices
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsps coriander powder
1/2 tsp asoefetida powder
Pour half cupwater in a small bowl and mix the above spices into a smooth paste

Canola Oil & Salt

Method
1) Wash and soak the rajma beans overnight. The next day, bruise the coriander leaves with roots slightly. Using a pressure cooker, boil the rajma beans in water with salt, 4 bayleaves and the bruised coriander leaves for 10 mins. Set aside to cool. Do not throw the boiled water away - its the stock of the beans and is full of flavour. You may need it to dilute the curry later.

3) Then add the 2 tsps of ginger garlic paste and fry for another 5 mins.

4) Next, add in the blended tomato and the masala powder paste. Add salt at this juncture.

5) Cover and simmer for 10 minutes

6) Next, pour the rajma beans without the stock and chcek if its thin enough. If its not, add some of the stock water.

7) Cover and simmer for another 10 mins.

8) Serve hot garnished with chopped coriander leaves and sliced green chilli.

Baby Eggplants in Tangy Tomato Gravy was a hit in my Diwali gatherings in Oct and Nov last year. It is my mom's quintessential dish and I must say it is quite a flavourful one After receiving several requests for her recipe, I decided to post it here. I have tried to make it numerous times but without success. Today's version, however, seemed close to what my mom churns out for us whenever we request for our gatherings and celebrations. Choose baby eggplants as they can be fried whole and they present well but other types of eggplants can also be used as well. If you are using other types of eggplants, please note that they should be cut into 2 inches. I have used coconut milk to give the gravy its thickness and also to keep it vegan but you can substitute with cooking cream.

Ingredients (serves 4 as a side dish)
500gm baby eggplants
​2bsp canola oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 large tomato, cut into medium sized chunks
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp chilli powder

Tamarind Tomato Mix
1 tsp tamarind paste dissolved in 2 cups of water
1 tsp coriander powder
3/4 (three quarters ) tsp cumin powder
1/2 (half) tsp black pepper powder
1/2 (half) tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp salt (or to your preference)
1 tsp brown sugar

2 tbsps coconut milk
coriander leaves for garnishing
​

Method
1) Wash and cut the eggplants but not all the way through so it still remains intact at the stem. Soak in salted water for 10 mins. Then, drain away and rinse twice in plain water. This is to remove any bitterness present in the eggplants.

2) Prepare the tamarind tomato mix while the egglants are soaking. Dissolve 1 tsp of tamarind paste in 2 cups of water. Throw away any seeds and skin residue and only keep the tamarind solution. In this solution, add all the masala powders, tomato chunks, salt and sugar.  

3) Deep fry the eggplants. This is not very healthy but I'm posting a very authentic recipe to show how it was orginally done. Please do try shallow frying or airfrying. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside. 

4) Take a skillet or a flat pan and heat 2 tbsp canola oil. Fry the onion and curry leaves for 2-3 minutes. Add in 1 tsp chilli powder and be careful it doesn't burn. 

5) At this point, add in the tamarind tomato mix and let the mix boil for 5- 10mins till the liquid is half in quantity.

6) Once the liquid has reduced in quantity, add in 2 tbsps coconut milk and stir. Followed by the fried eggplants. Its important you don't stir the eggplants too much as we are keeping them whole. Stirring them too much will dissolve them into the gravy.

7) Serve warm garnished with coriander leaves. Goes particularly well with Vegetable Korma and plain basmati rice.

Spinach & Cottage Cheese Gravy is often referred to as Palak Paneer in Hindi  and is a very popular dish in the Indian cuisine.  It is a vegetarian dish consisting of pureed spinach cooked with tempered spices and either cottage cheese cubes or potato cubes (I used both!). Because as both butter and cream are involved in making this dish, it can be rather heart unhealthy and should only be enjoyed occasionally. By the way, I used canola oil instead of butter and a lowfat (31% fat) version of the cooking cream. So we can call this Skinny Palak Paneer.
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​I had avoided attempting to make this dish as firstly I wasn't getting access to the spinach used in the authentic Palak Paneer and secondly assuming wrongly that it would involve a long cooking process. I realised only yesterday that I could just as easily substitute baby spinach and it actually is an easy quick dish to whip up.​

Ingredients (2-3 servings)
100gm baby spinach
​2 cups of ice cold water
200gm cottage cheese cubes (paneer cubes) or boiled potato cubes

​2 tbsp canola oil
​1 tsp cumin seeds
1 large onion, chopped roughly
​1 heaped tsp ginger garlic paste  
1 medium tomato, cubed medium

​Tempered Seasoning 
​2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp chilli powder
​Salt per preference
1/3 cup low fat whipping/cooking cream  (extra for garnishing)

​Method
​1) Wash and drain the spinach. Cut the vegetables.

2) Steam the baby spinach in a covered pot instead of blanching them in hot water. This way you would retain the nutrients of the spinach. 

3) After 3-5 mins, the spinach would be cooked and wilted. Drain and immediately pour ice cold water over them to retain that gorgeous green hue. Set aside.

4) Take a medium sized pot, heat the 2 tbsp canola oil and fry the cumin seeds, chopped onions, sliced chilli and ginger garlic paste. When the onions are light brown, add in the chopped tomatoes and cook till soft. 

5) Blend this tomato onion mixture with the drained cooled spinach till you get a smooth paste.

6) Heat the same pan again, add another 2 tbsp canola oil and fry all the spice powders for 5mins.

7) Pour in the spinach blend and stir to mix well. 

8) Add in the salt and cream.

9) Mix well and simmer for 5 mins.

10) Add either potatoes or cubed cottage cheese in and simmer for a further 3 mins. 

11) Garnish with a swirl of cream. Serve hot with boiled Basmati Rice or wholewheat flatbreads called chapathis. 

The idea for this recipe came from a a combination of two very famous Indian recipes - Paneer Butter Masala and Butter Chicken. I marinated the cottage cheese cubes like in Butter Chicken where the chicken pieces are marinated and shallow fried and I followed basically the same steps (but not all  the ingredients) of Paneer Butter Masala. For those who may be in the dark, Paneer is cottage cheese in Hindi.

As the names imply, both the dishes mentioned above requires generous amounts of butter and cream. I try to avoid butter, ghee (clarified butter)  or cream  in my daily cooking for obvious health reasons. I used regular Canola Oil and  instead of cream, I only used cahewnuts to get the creamy texture. Cashews also gave a certain sweetness to this very yummy gravy dish.

If you don't have the time to make cottage cheese at home (yes, it can be made at home!), store bought cottage cheese cubes can be used and because they are rather tasteless, the marinating give a delicious infusion of the spice taste to the cubes.

Ingredients (Serves 4 as a side dish)
​3 tbsps Canola oil or any other good quality Veg oil (No palm oil please!)
300gm Cottage Cheese Cubes 

Marinating Ingredients
1 and 1/2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
​1 tsp salt

​Gravy Ingredients
2 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
12-14 cashew nuts, split
​3 medium tomatoes, roughly cubed
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 cup water
​Salt as required
​Coriander leaves for garnish

2) Leave aside to marinate for 20mins.

3) After the 20 mins, start shallow frying the marinated cottage cheese cubes in canola oil and turn over frequently so that all the sides are equally fried.

4) Drain the oil on kitchen towel paper.

5) In the same pot with the remaining oil, start frying the roughly chopped onions.

6) After 2-3 mins on medium heat, add the 2 tsps of ginger garlic paste.

7) Then add all the spice powders, salt, roughly cubed tomatoes and cahew nuts. The mix will become pulpy after around 10 mins..  

8) Blend this mix and return it to the pot.

9) Add the shallow fried marinated cottage cheese cubes into the pot, 1 cup water and cover. Let the gravy thicken over low heat for 5-10 mins.
​

10) Serve hot with Basmati Rice, Naans or  Wholewheat Flatbreads (Chapathis). You can now enjoy a Skinny version of Paneer Butter Masala and the best part ? You can have it guilt -free!!