Tag: indian

SPICY SWEET SQUASH/PUMPKIN-खट्टा मीठा सीताफ़ल

On By lavinamehraIn 10 minutes or more recipesLeave a comment


SERVES: 3-4

GLUTEN FREE- LOADED WITH VITAMIN A,C and FIBRE -QUICK TO MAKE

COOKING TIME: 8-10 Minutes

INGREDIENTS:

1 teaspoon oil
1 small squash/pumpkin (about 500 grams) cut into 2 inch pieces with skin
1 pinch hing (Asafoetida powder)
2 teaspoons jeera (Cumin)
2 teaspoons methi seeds (Fenugreek)
1 teaspoon crushed saunf (Fennel seeds)
1 teaspoon sugar
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons red chilli powder
¼ teaspoon garam masala

 

STEP 1.  Put hing (Asafoetida powder), methi seeds (Fenugreek seeds) and jeera (Cumin seeds) into heated oil, sauté for 20-30 seconds.

STEP 2.  Throw in the cut pieces of squash/pumpkin, sugar, salt, red chilli powder and ¾ cup of water.

STEP 3. Cover the pan and let everything cook until squash turns soft and turns a little dark in colour.

STEP 4.  Add garam masala and serve with coriander leaves garnish

HANDY TIP:thumb_IMG_0138_1024

Asafoetida has a very unique flavour, the recipe will still come out fine, even if you decide not to use it.

You do not have to take the skin off for most sitaphal/petha (in India)(squash/pumpkin in North America) for this recipe, however if you have already used a particular kind of pumpkin that is known for coarse skin, you may remove the skin.

 

Sarson Saag -Mustard/Rapini/Broccoli Medley – प॑जाबी शान-सरसो॑ का साग

On By lavinamehraIn 10 minutes or more recipesLeave a comment

SERVES: 4

GLUTEN FREE- LOADED WITH MINERALS AND FIBRE -QUICK TO MAKE

Why this recipe? How is it green and quick? How am I contributing to making this earth green by following this four steps or less recipe?

Using Pressure Cooker will take 10 minutes whereas it will take 15-30 minutes in a regular pan. 

Using frozen chopped spinach, fenugreek leaves, garlic, green chilli and ginger will save 10-12 minutes of your time.

By using this recipe you save: 50% of fuel energy and 15 minutes of your precious time that is about 5 to 8% of the total time you spend in kitchen on an average (assuming you spend a total of 2-3 hours in a day in the kitchen)

COOKING TIME: 10 Minutes

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 tablespoon oil
1 cinnamon stick (dal chini)
1 star anise (chakraphool)
1 big cardamom (elaichi)
2 bay leaf (tez patta)
1 bunch of mustard (sarson) / rapini leaves (half kilo) or Broccoli florets
10 frozen spinach (palak) pellets (100 grams)
3 frozen fenugreek (methi leaves) pellets (100 grams) or 50 grams of dried fenugreek (methi) leaves
1 large onion – chopped any size
1 large tomato -chopped any size
1 inch frozen crushed green chilli
2 inch frozen garlic or 4 crushed cloves
2 inch frozen ginger or 50 grams freshly grated ginger
1 tea spoon salt
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
2 tablespoons coriander powder
1.5 teaspoons all spice (garam masala)
Butter dollop or butter oil (ghee) for topping (optional).

STEP 1. Put cinnamon stick (dal chini), star anise (chakraphool), big cardamom (eliachi) and bay leaf (tez patta) into heated oil, let them get brown

STEP 2. Add rest of the ingredients except all spice (garam masala) and cook for 2 whistles in cooker or until everything is tender in a pan (about 10-15 minutes).

STEP 3. Remove whole spices and run the hand grinder for 1 to 2 minutes right into the cooker/pan to make it smooth. You can then put the whole spices back in.

Step 4. Add garam masala and let it simmer for 5 minutes until you see that water has evaporated. Add butter or ghee, if desired.

HANDY TIPS:thumb_IMG_0232_1024
As very little oil is used to prepare this recipe, you can add a dollop of butter or butter oil (ghee) when serving.
You can replace the mustard leaves with fresh or frozen broccoli florets or rapini if the mustard leaves are not available. It will give close to the same original sarson saag (Mustard) taste.

BUTTER CHICKEN-मख्खनी मुर्गा बिन मख्खन के

On By lavinamehraIn 10 minutes or more recipesLeave a comment

–
With ready grilled/sautéed/roasted chicken tikka

SERVES: 3-4

GLUTEN FREE- LOADED WITH PROTEINS -QUICK TO MAKE

Why this recipe? How is it green and quick? How am I contributing to making this earth green by following this four steps or less recipe?

Using Pressure Cooker will take 5-7- minutes whereas it will take 15-20 minutes in a regular pan. Using frozen chopped garlic and ginger will save 5-10 minutes of your time.

By using this recipe you save: 50% of fuel energy and 15-20 minutes of your precious time that is about 8 to 15% of the total time you spend in kitchen on an average (assuming you spend a total of 2-3 hours in a day in the kitchen)

Allows you to be creative.  For vegetarian option, you can choose to add cottage cheese, baby potatoes or veggies to substitute chicken.

COOKING TIME: 15-20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons oil
1 cinnamon stick (small)
1 star anise
2 green cardamom
5 pieces of cloves
5 medium tomatoes (pureed)
1 inch frozen garlic or 2 fresh crushed cloves
2 inch frozen ginger or 25 grams fresh grated ginger
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
20 cashews or almonds (powdered)
200ml full cream milk
½ kilo grilled boneless chicken/chicken tikka

STEP 1. Put cinnamon stick, star anise, green cardamom, and cloves into heated oil until they get brown

STEP 2. Once spices are brown, add crushed tomato/puree, red chilli, ginger, garlic and sugar and cover the pot. Let it simmer for five minutes, then add powdered nuts with half a glass of water and cover the pressure cooker for 4-5 minutes (or if using a pan for 10-12 minutes).

STEP 3. Remove whole spices and run the hand grinder for 2 minutes right into the pan to make gravy smooth.

STEP 4. Add grilled chicken/chicken tikka (ready made or prepared using Four Steps or Less recipe of जला भुना मस्त मुर्गा (CHICKEN TIKKA) and 1/2 cup of milk to curry as it becomes thick. Let if boil for 5 minutes before you serve. If needed, keep adding milk to get the required density.

Handy Tips:thumb_IMG_0184_1024
1. The quick option is to use already grilled/roasted chicken tikka (or even raw boneless chicken) to add to the butter chicken curry.
2. If using raw chicken, smear cut chicken pieces with meat masala or curry powder, let it rest for 5 minutes and then add to the curry, let it boil for 15 minutes or until the chicken is tender.

 

 

 

What is a Pressure Cooker?

On By lavinamehraIn About4 Comments

A pressure cooker is the only saviour of earth! I am not joking.. the rate at which mankind is currently consuming fuel energy, it is only the pressure cooking that can make a significant difference over time on the carbon footprint that our beloved planet is taking on. One of the main elements of green cooking is using pressure cookers. Pressure cookers not only cook food quickly but also retain the vitamins and minerals that are otherwise lost using other cooking methods.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Pressure cookers have been in use in most parts of Asia, more so in India and Asia for decades now. Trust me, they are safe. You just need to understand how they work. There can however be a little bit of a learning curve if you’re using a pressure cooker for the first time. It’s important to know how to get started safely. If you know how the basic mechanism works it will be easy for you operate it with ease.

There are a wide variety of pressure cookers available in different shapes and sizes. All work on the same principle. When the pressure cooker is heated by the stove, the heat produces steam which cooks food faster by using the effects of pressure combined with heat.

A pressure cooker consists of the main pan, a lid, a rubber gasket that goes on the lid to seal pressure and a steam release system that includes a whistle and a safety valve. The whistle blows when steam reaches its maximum capacity. This is a way to time the cooking as well as a sign that the pressure cooker is working properly. The cooking time for many of my recipes is measured by the number of whistles that blow!

 

That’s me

On By lavinamehraIn About2 Comments

 

Four Steps or LessMy name is Lavina Masand Mehra. I am a Finance and Management professional and have been associated with international humanitarian work for the last 25 years. Since my childhood I have strived to learn new things and lived through my motto that “life is too short”. With my family, I have lived an interesting life in different parts of the world. Each country offered unique and exciting opportunities and challenges that made our family learn a lot of new things.

I have launched this website to share my ideas to make day to day routines quicker, easier, economical, and swift so that time and energy can be saved. Over the years, I have noticed so many of my friends, family and acquaintances spend enormous amount of time in the kitchen to lay a delicious and nutritious meal on the table. To add to this, it hurts when one considers the amount of fuel energy used in time consuming cooking methods like oven cooking where you may be simply roasting nuts for a minimum of 45 minutes. The carbon footprint these cooking methods and appliances leave on the environment seem sinful to me. I am starting the discussion with kitchen ideas that can save both time and energy in terms of oven use. I strongly believe that time saved can, and should, be translated into maximizing quality family time and the energy conserved can make the earth greener and a better place for our future generations.

To start off, I am primarily sharing some recipes and tips to lay a meal on the table that is cooked fast, nutritious, green and delicious. However, I don’t want to limit myself to the kitchen and write only recipes or cooking tips as I really don’t claim to be the best cook. I would rather love to be recognized as an efficient cook. I feel that having an extremely busy professional and personal life for all these years, there were so many things that I had to do swiftly to balance different priorities and at the same time maximize quality time to spend with the family. There might be some thoughts from these experiences that might be worth sharing and may be useful for friends and readers of this site. I would like to keep the option open of sharing those thoughts at some point of time. So, stay tuned.. more will be coming soon, maybe everyday on this website.

To find out more about my initial thoughts on setting up this project, read my post about finding myself.

Read this for an overview of my basic concepts of Quick Cooking, Healthy Eating.

Here are the posts about each of those four basic concepts:

Please provide any feedback, thoughts, comments, opinions, or advice about my project through my Facebook page Four Steps or Less!