Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Flavorful No Onion No Garlic Meal


( Click image for enlarged view )

I had prepared this meal ( Mint Pulav, Paneer Makhani and Palak Raitha ) for my mom who visited me this weekend.

According to ayurveda our ancient traditional medicine system of India there are three formats of food rajasik, tamasik and saatvik, foods simple and wholesome in nature are saatvik by nature, onion and garlic have sharp flavors and they fall under the "tamasik" category.

The theory is based on the fact that "tamasik" food tends to excite the negative feelings such a anger, violence, and deceit and therefore should be avoided. It is a hindu custom to have saatvik food on sacred days. Also practised by the wonderful krishna conscious devotees ( ISKCON photogallery ) around the world. So here is the recipe for the complete meal.

Paneer Makhani (Adopted from Nita Mehta Recipe)

Ingredients
  • 200 gms paneer (cut into cubes)
  • 3 large tomatoes
  • 1 inch ginger
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 4-5 almonds or cashew
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tsp kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
  • 1 tsp tomato ketchup
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 2 green cardamoms crushed
  • 3 tbsp cream
  • salt to taste
Soak the almonds or cashew in 1/4 cup milk for a 1/2 hr and blend it a smooth paste.

Microwave tomato and ginger with a 1/2 cup water for 5 min.Blend it to a smooth paste.

Heat oil and butter in a pan, add salt,sugar,garam masala,crushed cardamom and chilli powder and stir for 30 seconds and add the prepared tomato paste and ketchup and mix well and cook till oil begins to separate.

Add the cashew paste and kasuri methi and stir well, add 1/2 cup water and cook on medium flame for 5 min.

Now add paneer and milk to get a nice gravy. Mix well and cook for another 5 min

Now add cream and serve hot.

Mint Pulav


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Ingredients
  • 1 cup rice
  • 1 tbsp clarified butter or ghee
  • 1 handfull of mint leaves
  • 1 handfull of coriander leaves
  • 1/2 green peas
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 inch cinnamon stick broken into pieces
  • 2 crushed cardamoms
  • 4 black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp pepper powder
  • 1 tsp chopped green chillies
  • salt to taste
Soak rice in water for 30 min and stain it and keep it aside.

Heat ghee in a pressure cooker, add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick , cardamom and black pepper and fry till cummin seeds splutter. Add the chopped cilantro, mint leaves and green chilli fry for a min. Then add green peas,salt and pepper powder and stir for 30 seconds. Now add the soaked rice and mix nicely.

Add 1.5 cup water, stir nicely and close the pressure cooker. Let it cook for three whistles and switch off and let it cool.

Once the pressure cooker cools , open the lid add 1 tbsp ghee on top of it and mix carefully and serve hot with your choice of side dish and raitha.

Palak Raitha


( Click image for enlarged view )

Ingredients
  • 1 cup curd
  • 1 cup chopped spinach
  • 1 green chilli
  • salt to taste
For tempering
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp oil
  • a pinch of hing (asafetida)
In a micowave safe bowl cook the spinach with some sprinkling of water for 2 min, when it cools blend it with the green chilli, then add curd and salt to this mixture and whisk nicely till it becomes really smooth.

Now prepare the tempering , heat oil in a tempering pan, add cummin seeds and asafetida , once cumin seeds splutter transfer this tempering on to the above curd raitha.

Your palak raitha is ready. Serve it with chappati and any other choice of your rice.


I am sending this recipe to two wonderful events :

Bookmarked recipe hosted by Priya and Aipi and to another wonderful event Hearth and Soul

43 comments:

  1. This is one yummy feast ....looks so gud n delicious ...I too get break frm onion, garlic, green chili etc

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  2. Paneer makhani n raitha looks to good.Can ginger be used for Jain foods?? My long time doubt??n raitha is completely healthy n a very innovative one..

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  3. wow..this is a nice array of healthy dishes.Looks yummy :)

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  4. Loved all d dishes...esp the gravy...Looks so delicious...!! The rice is flavorful too with & a healthy palak raita makes for a healthy & satisfying meal..;)
    Prathima Rao
    Prats Corner

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  5. What a post on Women's day! Your mother would have surely loved it..

    The meal looks absolutely divine just like the prasadam they serve in the ISKCON temples, simple yet so flavorful cooked for the Lord, yummmmm :)

    Have a wonderful day, Satya :-)

    My Yatra Diary...

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  6. A very healthy as well as tasty meal. Very innovative way of preparing meal without onion and garlic.

    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

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  7. Loved the wonderful spread!!! Especially the paneer makhani...so very yum!!

    ISKCON meals are so very delicious..m reminded of th elast meal i had over there!!

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  8. got a great lesson here and the dishes are soo good..
    ammaandbaby.blogspot.com/

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  9. AM a person who run always behind onions, u proved that we can make delicious meal without onion and garlic, thanks for this delicious spread, awesome Work Satya..

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  10. A great series of healthy dishes...
    u have given us a full course meal...

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  11. Most of my mom's everyday cooking is without onion and garlic. Onions are used very rarely at my parent's place. And Garlic is strictly prohibited :)

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  12. Healthy and perfect meal..yum yum

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  13. This is wonderful, thank you - my best friend is intolerant of onions.

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  14. Satya, I liked how you described why taamsik food was avoided on religious days.
    Mint pulav had been on my list to make. Thanks for that and palak raita..will try.

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  15. Very nice recipes satya....If time permitts do visit my space...

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  16. That's very interesting facts about food. All recipes looks very yummy, perfect combo.

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  17. That's a wonderful looking meal Satya..everything looks so tasty n appetizing! Your mom must be very proud n happy :)

    Thanks a lot for linking this to bookmark event :)

    US Masala

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  18. HI Satya! I am always so interested in the different philosophies behind the recipes in various cultures. It is so interesting to know! This dinner, even without onion and garlic I am sure is spicy good. Glad your mom got to visit and thanks for sharing this on the hearth and soul hop! All the best, Alex

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  19. Slurp,mouthwatering here, wat a delicious meal.....

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  20. @kalpana
    jain food considers all roots to be living so i guess ginger as a root is a no no for them...however as i dont have any jain friends I cannot confirm for sure...however this meal is saatvik and very ideal for hindu custom

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  21. Nice and yummy ..food can be so tasty even without onion and garlic.

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  22. wonderful and complete meal.Sometimes we really want to have food without onion and garlic

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  23. wow ! looks awesomely delicious...luved all 3 dishes without onion-garlic...i have few relatives who dont eat onion-garlic..will surely try for them someday !

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  24. wow ! looks awesomely delicious...luved all 3 dishes without onion-garlic...i have few relatives who dont eat onion-garlic..will surely try for them someday !

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  25. Love the spread out there, Satya!

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  26. Hi sathya,

    lovely ost there and i loved the palak raitha...nice way to imbibe the palak in raitha too...Hay Women`s Day to you..

    Shobha

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  27. how interesting, i had no idea that there were different categories like this.. i love learning about food traditions. And the recipe sounds great too.

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  28. Loved all the dishes Satya..looks healthy and super yummy!

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  29. Yum! All of these dishes look wonderful:)

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  30. I don't use garlic at all, and onion sometimes. Food tastes good despite that. Will try out your recipes (don't let srikant know that. His q will be - When?)

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  31. Looks delicious satya, No oion no garlic recs are so handy esp when we are fasting :)

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  32. I actually have a friend whose kids are allergic to onions and garlic who will be so happy for this recipe. Thanks for sharing with the Hearth and Soul hop.

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  33. I also dont use garlic in my recipes... love this combo of paneer,raita and Rice... perfecto!!!

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  34. All the dishes look fabulously appetizing - will refer back when my sister visits - she too is a no pyaaz no lassan lady :)

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  35. my God.. this meal is fantastic. it was so nice of u to make this for ur mom. am sure u had good time with her. :-)

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  36. Firstly, thanks for the wonderful recipe. I would certainly try it soon.

    And yes, another example of great tasting dishes without Onion and Garlic.

    Regarding : 'onion and garlic have sharp flavors and they fall under the "tamasik" category.'
    I would say this description would make Onion and Garlic Rajasik [Bhagvad Gita 17:9].

    Many people in spiritual path categorize Onion and Garlic as Tamasik [some have invented a category called maha-tamasik]. Looking at the physical characteristics, and the effect they have on mind, I would say these foods have more of Rajasik characteristics, and ofcourse, not good for Meditation or Bhakti. And a regular and prolonged use may induce some Tamasik effect.

    Not particularly related to this topic but, so often have I seen [im-mature] proponants of Sattvic foods eating spicy [rajas], fried [tamas] and stale food [tamas], and consuming ingredients like red pepper [rajas], eggplant/aubergine [rajas] in handsome quantities.

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