Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Bhature wale Chole (Chickpeas for Deep Fried Bread)
If ever there was a Punjabi dish that took off all over India, it probably has to be chole bhature (chick peas and deep fried bread). It is a dish that is at once spicy, eaten with plenty of garnishes like raw onions, sprinkled with chopped coriander leaves, achaar (pickles) and with those long, spicy […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Saada Punjabi Parantha (Plain Punjabi Crispy Flatbread)
Punjabi paranthas (crispy flatbread) are famous and loved the world over and found in most Indian restaurants. Though most places will serve a version of the plain parantha, they are seldom in the style of the home made parantha that most Punjabis have come to expect. These days, it is even hard to find a […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Dahi Vadde (Lentil Balls In Yogurt)
Vaddas – which refers to all sorts of edible balls – are popular all across India, where they are cooked in a variety of ways. They can be eaten alone, dipped in a chutney as a snack or cooked in curries for a complete dinner dish. Or they can be soaked in yogurt and eaten […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Daliya Palao (Cracked Wheat Pilaf) Slow Cooker Recipe
Daliya is nothing more than cracked, roasted wheat, but it is not so easily available in many stores as compared to coarse wheat flour or even suji (semolina); though it is not very expensive. Cooking with daliya requires a little patience, since it takes longer to cook than regular rice; but unlike rice, it […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Mittha Daliya (Sweet Cracked Wheat Porridge) Slow Cooker Recipe
It’s a fact that Punjabis prefer roti over rice anytime; and mostly roti made from wheat flour. Since the Punjab is the heart of the wheat belt of India, and supplies the country with this healthy grain, this preference for wheat is but natural, though this has been an ancient tradition for Punjabis. Wheat is […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Punjabi Mitthi Matthi (Punjabi Sweet Fried Crackers)
The biscit wallah’s (snack confectioner) shop in the West Delhi enclave of Shiv Nagar is always jam packed with so many types of biscuits and snacks – mostly fried ones – that it is hard to leave without being tempted to buy small amounts of a variety of them. Unlike what we would […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Bharre Tinde (Spice Stuffed Round Gourd)
This is one vegetable that is fairly hard to find outside of north India and is especially popular in the Punjab, where it is found usually after the middle of April through the end of the summer. Although tinde are also found in Sindh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, they should not be confused […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Ghar di Dahin (Homemade Yogurt)
The very heart and soul of India is the spirituality that it offers to the people in the country and naturally it is tied into the main religion, Hinduism. One of the chief tenets of Hinduism is the relationship to cows and cow milk, both of which are intertwined with the […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Custard
India has been a destination for foreigners for many centuries, and especially Northwestern India which has been the place of many battles with invading hoards from ancient empires like the Greeks, Persians and Mongols and later by the Europeans: the British, French, Portuguese and Dutch. Each foreign culture left its mark on Indian cuisine, and […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Paneer Te Katti Sabziyan (Cheese & Mixed Vegetables)
All over India, and certainly in New Delhi, paneer (fresh milk soft cheese) is used in so many dishes served at restaurants that sometimes it’s frustrating making a decision on what other vegetarian item to order other than daal (lentils) or chole (chickpeas)! This just shows how much demand there is for the milk product: […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes:Tori te Wadiyan (Zucchini Squash & Dumplings)
In North India, the gourd or squash that is really widely available and used is the tauri, the short, thin and dark green variety that is commonly called zucchini in the US. The most used is the long, smooth and stout, leaf green squash which resembles a bottle, called ghia or kadoo and known as […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Khamiri Roti (Sourdough Wheat Flatbread)
In our ancestral home in Lyallpur, Punjab along the banks of the river Jhelum, during the summer months the temperatures would get so high that it wouldn’t be unusual if any atta (dough) left uncooked would naturally rise overnight. Though not frequent, the women folk wouldn’t panic, and instead would roll khamiri rotis (sourdough bread) […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Jalebi (Fried Sweet Flour Spirals)
Some dishes that originated in Northern India have been so widely accepted that they are available all around the country now, especially the sweet desserts. Gulab jamun (fried rose colored ball); rus gullas (syrup soaked sponge balls); burfi (evaporated milk wedges); ladoos (chickpea flour balls) are just some of these. To this list, you must […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Ghia te Wadiyan (Bottle Gourd Squash & Dumplings)
Although there are many types of gourd or squash, there are usually only two types that are readily available in most Indian marketplaces. One is the long, smooth and stout, leaf green type which resemble a bottle (hence its English name), which Punjabis call ghia or kadoo and others call doodhi or lauki. […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Bharre Hue Toast (Toast Sandwich)
Indians love to nibble and crave snacks that are just as spicy and crispy as the dishes that they regularly eat, but with a slight twist. This is what makes snacks like pakore (fried fritters), samosas (fried stuffed dumplings) and potato cutlets such sought after appetizers. But there is a category of mini-meals that is […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Bandh Gobi Te Wadiyan (Cabbage & Spicy Dumplings)
Some vegetables could be considered pretty drab if cooked by themselves, like gajjar (carrots), mutter (peas), tauri (zucchini) or bandh gobi (cabbage). These are generally quite inexpensive but to make them more tasty and desirable, they require the helping hand of some other ingredients, or sometimes be cooked together, like carrots and peas or cabbage […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Mitthi Seviyaan (Sweet Vermicelli)
This dessert is a variation of the seviyaan kheer and is also especially made at Hindu, Sikh and Muslim festivals, just as many other dishes that are associated with the Punjab. It is a fast, easy and tasty desert to make, and considerably less calories than the kheer which uses richer ingredients. These seviyaan are […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes- Mitthi Bread or Shahi Tukdre (Sweetened Fried Bread Pudding)
Most people think that Punjabis enjoy their paranthas the most of all types of breads, but the truth is that they enjoy breads cooked in many ways. And when they can’t get any kind of cooked roti, they will just as easily turn to regular bread with sabzi, toast with butter and jam or the […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Puri Aloo (Puffed Small Fried Bread & Curried Potatoes)
There are several types of fried breads in Punjabi cuisine that are very satisfying but not made at home everyday, like kulche or bature or puris. They have the same fluffy texture but are eaten with different types of dishes to complement their flavor, like channe with bature. Among them, puris are a favorite of […]
Mama’s Punjabi Recipes- Missi Roti (SPICY MIXED FLOUR FLATBREAD)
No, the name of this bread does not mean that you are “missing” the roti! It actually means a roti made of mixed flours and added spices and herbs like methi (fenugreek), dhania (coriander seeds) and even anaar danna (crushed pomegranate seeds). It’s a special flatbread that is served in many Indian restaurants with daal […]
