Aloo Gobhi - Simple Subji

Aloo Gobhi is a quite common dish. But, this version is made without any masala. My inlaws are here and they don't eat a lot of masala - like garam masala and stuff.

I was making this for dinner - and this was more of a vegetable to go with Rasam and rice.

Chop up some Onions, green chillies and tomato.


Chop up some potatoes into big bits and microwave for about 5 mins.

Chop up a cauliflower into big florets and again microwave for about 5 mins.


Add about a tsp of oil to a pan, add some jeera, green chillies and the chopped onions. Let is cook for a couple of mins. Then, add the chopped tomatoes.

Now, add salt, tumeric powder and red chilli powder. That's it - see I told you no masala version!


Mix up well and then add the semi cooked Aloo and Gobhi in here. Turn the flame to medium and let it cook. Add salt to taste.

You don't have to add extra oil for this to cook well. Also, don't overcook it too much and keep the cauliflowers crisp.


Add chopped cilantro on top to garnish. Enjoy it hot.
Here's a close up shot!


Enjoy!

"No Masala" Pulav

As my title suggests, here is one pulav I tried to make without all the spicy masala. My cousin was coming over for dinner and I had already made puri, chole and Bhindi masala. I wanted to make a mixed vegetable pulav but sinec all my other dishes had a lot of masala, I wanted to keep this simple.

I did make my own base mix to this for flavor but did not use any garam masala or pulav masala from the boxes!

Before you start the pulav, prepare this base mix/paste. You will need -

Ginger - about 1 inch chopped up
Green chilli - about 3-4 chopped up
Coconut - about 1 cup shredded

Grind them all together into a paste in a blender.


To begin the pulav, heat up a couple of tsp of oil in pan. Add bay leaves and cloves. Then add about a cup of chopped onions. Fry till the onions are almost done.


Here are my mixed vegetables - chopped and washes. I used carrots, beans and cauliflower. Add this to the pan along with the onions.

When the veggies are a little done, add the mix/paste to the pan and mix well with the veggies.

Add salt to taste. You don't have to add any other seasonings to this.

Mix cooked rice with this. I kept basmati rice - 2 cups of rice with 3 cups of water in total. Mix it well with the veggies - add salt if needed here.

There's your quick no-masala pulav! This is kind of a bland rice that goes with masalewale sabjis. But it still does have a good flavor to it all by itself. This creates a good balance on the dining table. Yin and Yang!

Here's a picture of everything for the evening dinner. Pulav, Chole. Bhindi Masala and Badam Kheer. I also had made raitha but that was shy for the picture - it was sitting in the fridge!!