Where's the party tonight??

At Anita’s…

She is celebrating the first birthday of her lovely, thought provoking blog, where she shares stories and recipes in a way that you never want the post to come to an end. And oh the gorgeous pictures! After every visit I am hungry…

Congratulations Anita! And wish you so many more…

Well you asked us to make Poori Bhaji for this occasion, and well how could I resist. It has been my mostest favouritest breakfast/brunch right since childhood. Batata Bhaji has always been a favourite and hot puffed up pooris to go with it on a lazy Sunday afternoon…Bliss!

Most satisfying meal...

Just last week I joined back the Gym to see if I can get back in shape after having my baby. But well so what, I can still have Poori Bhaji :)!

My new cook, made it yesterday, and honestly I had never had it better…She makes delicious stuff in such a short time, and works with whatever ingredients are around throwing in a bit of this and a bit of that. Making use of the pressure cooker, as I have never seen before. My 2 litre and 1.5 litre Hawkins have never been put to a better use before. She cooks all our daily veggies in it, super quick, very tasty, perfectly cooked and efficient of course!

I would just like to add here that when pressure cooking in the small cookers, cook good directly in the pan. Using containers does not give very good results. You can make the tadka, add the veggies and the masalas, stir fry to coat the veggies well and to cook the masalas a bit. Then add water, depending upon the veggie you are cooking and how much gravy you want. For stir fried type, very little, for gravy more. Believe me you can get perfectly cooked stir fried style subzi's using this method. And you know what, the veggies do taste a lot better, guess they retain their flavour more when cooked this way.I have learnt a whole knew meaning to pressure cooking because of her.

Well the bottom of the cooker does get a bit of a coating, especially for dry subzis, but we have a solution to that too.

Actually had never tried it before until recently. I had heard about using a piece of a lime/lemon to clean the cooker, but never knew that this tip is so damned good! Usually if using a large pressure cooker and stacking containers to cook food, you can add a quarter of a lime/lemon to the water at the bottom. When using a small pressure cooker for direct cooking in the pan, here is what you can do. Fill the cooker with water, try not to fill it with water more than the food level mark. And add just a quarter or two of a lime/lemon. Put on the stove on minimum heat. Heat it trhough till you get a couple of whistles.

That's it. When you open you will see a chakachak cooker!!

Hey! Sorry for this tip-a-tipi in between these celebrations, let's go on then :)...

Please note that I did not make this Poori Bhaji, nor was I anywhere near when it was being prepared so cannot be sure about the exact proportions :).

You would need :-

One big onion, 2 ripe tomatoes, some khada masala (I could taste some cinnamon, badi elaichi, lavang and black pepper in there), cumin and ginger – All ground together to a fine paste.

4-5 medium size potatoes peeled and cubed big.

Heat a pressure cooker, add oil.

Once heated, add the ground masala, and fry it till the oil separates, add turmeric, chilli powder, dhania jeera powder and salt.

Mix well, and add the potato cubes. Coat them well with the masala and add water to make a thin or thick gravy whichever you prefer. I think 1.5 cups should be sufficient for a thickish gravy. Again please adjust as necessary.

Put it on for 3-4 whistles on low heat. The cooking time I have noticed depends upon cooker to cooker, so will say you are the better judge of the cooking time :).

And for Pooris, check this. and this.

My cook added a big spoonful of suji when making the dough, said it makes it crispier.
The result! FANTASTIC! YUMMILICIOUS! Honestly the best Poori Bhaji ever and that too ready in flat 30 minutes, could have been even less.

Am sorry cannot post pictures as my camera is taking blank pictures! But the next time I make it I will surely update this space…

Thanks Anita for the Invitation :)