A Typical Indians Indian Recipe Book

Hello all!

My name is Peri. Some of you may know me, some may not. I am a Hindu, and more specifically a Gujarati. That may not mean a lot to most of you, but as a Gujarati, my family originate from a part of India called..no points for guessing..Gujarat. Most Gujaraties are vegetarians, however I eat meat too.. couldn't live without it. Being an Indian, I have been brought up to know how to cook pretty much most (Hindu popular) curries.

I recently posted a recipe on how to make authentic lamb/mutton curry (you can find it here: http://www.minimins.com/slimming-world-recipes/305782-homemade-authentic-lamb-mutton-curry.html) - a favourite in our house - and then it struck me, why not just make a recipe book on here with a whole bunch of my family's curry recipes, because we all know curry is loved by most people!

So here goes

My e-book of practically syn free curries, both vegetarian and non veg!

P.s I will try and post recipes as and when possible

Aubergine, Potato and Pea Curry

Firstly let me run you through the basics of indian cooking! Here are some pictures of essential spices you will need for ANY type of curry!


What we have here is my spice box (Left picture) On the left is the contents of the tin, and on the right is the lid that has a little section in it to put other spices in. Starting from the yellow spice I will go anti clockwise. We have Turmeric, Red chilli powder, Cumin and Corriander powder (mixed together), Fenugreek seeds, Cumin, Carom seeds and in the middle, black mustard seeds. In the lid we have star anise, large cinammon bark, cardamon seeds, black pepper corns, dried chillis and cloves
In the left hand picture we have blended green chillis and garlic and ginger paste. We home make these however you can also buy them in packets in the frozen section where this has already been preblended and frozen into cubes. The garlic and ginger will most likely be seperate, so you need to defrost a cube of each and then mix it together. Only defrost as much as you think you will use as this can go off fairly quickly if not used. The blended green chillis may have oil in it, but for the amount you use in ratio to how much is put in, it wouldnt even be 1/15th of a teaspoon, so i dont bother counting this!







This recipe serves approx 4 people (well it does in my house - may feed more ) is syn free and is packed with superfree and free

Ingredients:
Pinch of mustard seeds
1 dried chilli
Half a box of passata
Red chilli powder
Turmeric
Cumin and corriander powder
Blended green chilli
Garlic and ginger paste
Diced aubergine
3 new potatoes, quartered
3 generous handfuls of frozen peas
Fresh corriander
Garam masala
Water

1. In a dry saucepan, on a medium heat, add a pinch of mustard seeds and a dried chilli, and let this dry roast for about 2 minutes. Make sure they don't burn so keep a close eye on it. You just want it slightly roasted.
2. Add half a box of passata and stir.
3. Add 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder, 1 teaspoon of turmeric and 1 teaspoon of cumin and corriander powder (adjust this to personal taste - I like mine spicy, but if you don't, maybe reduce it down to half a teaspoon of each - you can always add more if you like)
4. Add a teaspoon of blended green chilli's and a teaspoon of garlic and ginger paste
5. Stir all this in and let it cook for around 2 minutes
6. Add the aubergine, potatoes and peas and cover with a lid to let it cook for 5 minutes
7. Add approximately 1/2 pint of water (this is dependant on how saucy you would like it - if unsure add less and then you can always add more later) and simmer until the potatoes are fully cooked, as are the aubergine
8. Garnish with freshly chopped corriander and a sprinkling of garam masala


You can serve this with plain rice, or like me, rice cooked in a bit of turmeric and lentils - will post the recipe for this later

Syn Free Lentil Rice

Ingredients

Basmati Rice (Use a handful per person)
Moong Ki Daal - Yellow Split Lentils (Use a handful per 2 people)
Salt
Turmeric




1. Soak the lentils and rice in water for a couple of hours
2. Boil the rice and lentils together in a saucepan with a pinch of salt and half a teaspoon of turmeric until the rice is fully cooked
3. Drain and serve



Simples!


See pic in above post

Thank you so much for these recipes. I am really looking forward to trying them. I have some but not all of the spices so will stock up tomorrow.

Tryed some of these very nice, thanks

Fab Peri! This is sure to be a popular thread!


SB

If anyone has any particular requests in regards to a curry with maybe a particular veg or meat, let me know and I will try my best to post a recipe or at the very least source one and adapt it to make it syn free.

Ohhhh have you a vegetable dhansak recipe please? X

i was going to say dhansak too

Hey Peri,

Just subscribing to this so I've got it handy when I want to make one of your yummy curries

Subscribing would love a tikka masala recipe, the ones I've tried in the past just didn't cut it for me. They tasted a bit bitter x

Syn Free Chicken Dhansak with Veggies and Lentils

There are a lot of ingredients for this recipe, but most of it just masala stuff to be honest! Remember you can tweek this recipe by using different types of meat (you could use lamb, beef or prawns, fish etc etc) or you could leave the meat out all together and make a veggie dish and maybe add some peas, cauliflower and so on.





Serves approx 4-6 people

Ingredients

4 large chicken breasts cut into cubes
2 medium onions, chopped
2 teaspoons of garlic and ginger paste
200g butternut squash, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 aubergine, cut into small cubes
175g potatoes, peeled and small cubes
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
15g fresh dill (Large handful)
600ml water
5 or 6 sprigs of fresh mint leaves, chopped
Large handful of fresh coriander, chopped (save some for the garnish)
1 tin of cooked green lentils
Can of chopped tomatoes or 5 large tomatoes skinned and chopped
600ml OXO chicken stock made with boiling water
1 tablespoon of soft brown sugar
Juice of 1 small lime
1 tablespoon of tamarind paste


Spice mix for chicken
Frylight
2 teaspoons of corriander and cumin powder
2 teaspoons of red chilli powder
6 small green chillies finely chopped - or you can use 1 1/2 teaspoons of the blended green chillies.
1 teaspoon of garam masala
1 teaspoon of ground fenugreek


Before you start, spray your chicken generously with frylight, and add all of the spice mix in a bowl with the chicken and leave it to marinate for a few hours in the fridge.


1.Place onions, butternut squash, aubergine, potato, green lentils, dill and 600ml water into a large pan.
2. Stir in the turmeric, the garlic and ginger paste, coriander and mint leaves. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, place a lid on the pan and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
3. In the meantime, heat a pan gently, spray liberally with frylight and add the chicken. Seal off the chicken for about 5 mins. Use some chicken stock if needed to stop it from sticking.
4. When the veggies are cooked, mash up with a masher, or if you want a smoother consistancy use a blender.
5. Add the chicken to the veggie mix, and then add the chopped tomatoes, sugar and chicken stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and let it simmer for another 15 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked.
6. Just before it is finished cooking, add the tamarind paste and garnish with the rest of the corriander.
7. Serve with some freshly boiled basmati rice and a side salad.

mmmm.. yummy!!



This is my interpretation of this recipe. Experiment and tweet it if need be to suit your taste! Indian food is all about experimenting


Don't have a picture for this i'm afraid, but when I make it or mom makes it I will be sure to edit this post and add a picture

jc1976 said:

Subscribing would love a tikka masala recipe, the ones I've tried in the past just didn't cut it for me. They tasted a bit bitter x

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Will try and get a proper recipe for this off my mum this weekend!
Thing is with indian food, its not that common that we use yogurts and creams in our sauces, so sometimes what you may taste at a restaurant isn't actually a true representation of what it should really be like! However my mom makes an awesome chicken tikka, so will steal the recipe off her and hopefully post this weekend

MissPeriPeri said:

Will try and get a proper recipe for this off my mum this weekend!
Thing is with indian food, its not that common that we use yogurts and creams in our sauces, so sometimes what you may taste at a restaurant isn't actually a true representation of what it should really be like! However my mom makes an awesome chicken tikka, so will steal the recipe off her and hopefully post this weekend

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Thank you, I'll look forward to it x

Loving this so far.

When I was in South India (wow nearly 2 years ago!!) which I know is a long way from Gujarat, I had a warm rice & fruit dish, I've tried to replicate this at home, but it's not just the same. Do you have a receipe for something similar? it would be fab if you do

Hmmm cant say I know any rice and fruit dish?.. was it a sweet dish and was the rice yellow? It may have been something called Mithi Rice (Sweet Rice) Its like a pudding, but its just rice with saffron, sultanas, almonds, pistacios and its lovely!!

Syn Free Raita

This is a great cooling dip you can have with curries, onion bhajis (although we actually call them Bhajiyas!) and much more!


Serves as many people as you like!

Ingredients

Tub of fat free greek style yogurt
Carrots
Cucumber
Red Onion
Cumin Seeds
Salt
Sweetener (or you can use sugar if you would like to syn it!)


1. Grate as much cucumber, carrots, and red onion you like.
2. Mix it into the yogurt
3. Crush 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds and add to the yogurt mix
4. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of sweetener and mix well


You can even add a squeeze of lime! Tastes lovely and refreshing and has some nice amount of superfree in it too

Syn Free Spicy Chilli and Corriander Chutney

Another yummy dip perfect for pakoras and samosas and great for them spice lovers!


Ingredients:

Large bunch of fresh corriander
5-15 green chillies - this is dependant on how spicy you like things! I add around 15 green chillis to a batch and that comes out nice and spicy, if you prefer less, add 5-6 and taste, you can always add more!
Fresh tomato
Salt



1. Blend all the ingredients together!


This creates such a beautiful dip! I literally eat this with everything!!

MissPeriPeri said:

Will try and get a proper recipe for this off my mum this weekend!
Thing is with indian food, its not that common that we use yogurts and creams in our sauces, so sometimes what you may taste at a restaurant isn't actually a true representation of what it should really be like! However my mom makes an awesome chicken tikka, so will steal the recipe off her and hopefully post this weekend

Click to expand...

Oooh that would be fab if you could... I love authentic curries etc be nice to try some actual traditional recipes as oppose to the TV ones which taste nothing like they should do

MissPeriPeri said:

Hmmm cant say I know any rice and fruit dish?.. was it a sweet dish and was the rice yellow? It may have been something called Mithi Rice (Sweet Rice) Its like a pudding, but its just rice with saffron, sultanas, almonds, pistacios and its lovely!!

Click to expand...

No it wasn't sweet, it tasted of cardamon, it was white rice, but served warm with nuts, sultanas, oranges, & can't remember what else, I must admit I hadn't had it when we went to North India, so it must be a Kerela/Tamil Nadu dish. I love Indian deserts, so yummy, I've found a lovely asian shop near where I work it's huge & sells so much yummy food & desert mixes