Tambdi Bhaji or Red Amaranth Leaves Stir-fry

by Trisha Vaz
This post is a shout out to another one of my favorite vegetables – Red amaranth leaves. Have you tried it before? If you haven’t, do try and get your hands on some. It is such a fun vegetable with its beautiful, naturally red color. It is super easy to put together and uses just a few, easy to find ingredients and you have yourself a mildly spiced, flavorful stir fried vegetable. My take on it, uses some grated coconut. Don’t leave the coconut out. It absolutely makes this dish. The name ‘tambdi bhaji’ literally translates to Red Vegetable (in Konkani, Tambdi=red and bhaji=vegetable)
 
The sad part is, as much as I love this vegetable, I haven’t been able to find these gorgeous leaves in Sydney. When I was back home in Mumbai a month ago, I knew we were going to make a few trips to the local fresh food market. Now, I haven’t spoken about this before, but back when I lived in Mumbai, my first stop to the market was at a little stall run by a local lady (from the Gorai – Manori stretch). There are a couple of such stalls and these ladies bring a gorgeous bounty of produce that they grow on their properties. And this is as close to fresh, chemical free and organic food as you can get (make sure you chat with your vendor to confirm their growing practices). So on one of these trips to the market, my favorite vendor had some gorgeous bunches of red amaranth leaves. Needless to say, I grabbed a couple of massive bunches and ran home to whip it up for lunch. 
 
So without any further rambling, let’s move on to the recipe.
 
Tambdi Bhaji or Red Amaranth Leaves Stir-fry
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Tambdi Bhaji or Red Amaranth Leaves Stir-fry

Recipe by Trisha VazCourse: SidesCuisine: GoanDifficulty: Easy
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

20

minutes
Cooking time

15

minutes

Vibrant and full of flavour, this red amaranth vegetable dish is sure to stand out at your dinner table.

Ingredients

  • 2 large bunches of red amaranth leaves

  • 2 tbsp oil

  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds

  • 2-3 green chillies, slit 

  • 1 onion, chopped

  • 2 heaped tbsp grated coconut

  • Salt, to taste

Directions

  • To prep the vegetable, break off the roots and the woody part of the stems and discard. Wash the leaves under cold, running water and drain. Wash it out a couple of times or till clean. Roughly chop the vegetable and keep aside. 
  • Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat. Carefully tip in the mustard seeds. 
  • When the seeds splutter, add the chillies and let them fry till fragrant.
  • Add the onions and saute till they soften and turn slightly pinkish.
  • Add the chopped vegetable and stir well to coat it in the oil and onion mix. Let the vegetable stir fry for a couple of minutes. You will notice it wilting already.
  • Add some salt, to taste and stir well to mix. 
  • Add a couple of tablespoons of water and mix through.
  • Cover the pot and cook on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes or till the vegetable is tender and most of the water has evaporated. 
  • Add the grated coconut and stir through. Check for seasoning and add more salt, if needed. 
  • Cover the pot and let it cook for about another minute to let the coconut heat through. 
     
    Serve hot. Enjoy!

Recipe Video

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Goan Recipes, Recipes, Sides, Vegan

Aloo Bhaji

by Trisha Vaz
UPDATE: Over the years, I’ve made one little addition to this recipe, that I think makes this recipe even more delicious. After the mustard seeds sputter, add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and let it release its aroma, should take a few seconds. Then continue with the recipe. Nothing else changes. Keep a close eye on the cumin seeds and don’t let it burn.
Also, I have come to realise that there is a difference in the size of sour limes found in India and other countries. You need just a few drops, maybe a teaspoon of it for a mild change in flavours.

I’ve been having such crazy days of late, I just don’t know where all the 24 hours off the day go. Things such seem to be happening at such a frenzied pace, and that too for no reason in particular. I wonder what brought this on. Since I haven’t been able to devote much time to this space, I decided I was going to make up for it by posting one of my all time favorites – the humble aloo bhaji (A mildly spiced potato stir fry.) I do love my fries and mashed potatoes, but sometimes I find myself longing for a portion of this stir fry.

Making this stir fry can be super quick, not to mention easy, if you have a few boiled potatoes at hand. Make sure that when you’re boiling potatoes for this stir fry, you don’t overcook them, else they will not hold their shape and get all mushy. It’ll still taste great, but just won’t be as much of a visual treat. I usually wash the potatoes and pressure cook them with some water and salt for about 10 minutes after the first whistle. Remember to turn your gas to low after the whistle. If you don’t want to use a pressure cooker, peel and cube the potatoes and cover them in water, add a little salt and boil them on the stovetop till tender.
This stir fry is a versatile side dish. In India, every region tweaks it a little and uses it in loads of different ways.  It can be served with some hot chapatis (Whole wheat flat bread), pooris (savory deep fried flat bread), used as stuffing for masala dosas (savory crispy crepes filled with this potato mix) and so on. I’m going to try to post each of these in the future. Oh! and by the way, this potato mix makes for a lovely topping on a slice of toasted bread or can also be used as a filling for a grilled sandwich. How about that!

Watch the video here –

Aloo Bhaji
(Serves 4)
3-4 large potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed (about 1/2 kg)
1 large onion, chopped
2 birdseye / green chillies, sliced (or to taste)
8-10 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp (scant) turmeric powder
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt, to taste
1/2 tsp sugar

Heat the oil in a pan. 
On a medium flame, add the mustard seeds and let them sputter.

Add the curry leaves and the chopped chilly. Let it fry for a few seconds.

Add the cumin seeds and immediately after tip in the chopped onions and saute it for a few minutes till the onions have softened and turned a light brown.

Add the turmeric powder and stir well. Let it cook for about a minute. Stir to make sure it doesn’t stick to the pan and burn.

Tip in the potatoes and stir well till the potatoes are well coated with the spice mix. 
Add the lime juice and salt to taste and stir well. 

Add the sugar and stir well.

Check for seasoning and adjust, if needed.

Once the potatoes have heated through, sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves and toss lightly. Take the pan off the heat.
Serve hot.


This recipe is linked to –
Savory Sunday
Mangia Mondays
My Meatless Mondays
Just Another Meatless Monday
Hearth and Soul

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Goan Recipes, Mains, Recipes, Sides, Vegan, Vegetarian

Bombay Street Food Special #2 – Bhajiyas (Vegetable Fritters)

by Trisha Vaz
UPDATE: Edited to add a video recipe using the same great recipe.

For the second edition of the Bombay Street Food Special, I’ve chosen Bhajiyas. These are nothing but vegetable fritters. My mum used to make this for us as an after school snack and we always enjoyed it piping hot with some spicy tomato sauce. Today I’m going to share with you not one, but two, yes two types of bhajiyas and based on these, there’s a whole range of vegetables you can use to increase the variety. Have this with a piping hot cup of tea, there’s nothing better than this on a rainy day.

This one’s for all the potato lovers out there.

Aloo Bhajiyas (Potato Fritters)


2 potatoes, peeled and sliced and kept aside in salted water (Take some water in a bowl, drop in about 1/2 tsp. salt and stir.) till you’re ready to fry.
Oil, for deep frying


For the batter – 
1/2 cup besan (chickpea flour)
Salt, to taste
A pinch of turmeric powder
A pinch or two of red chilli powder
1/4 tsp. ajwain (carom seeds)
Water

Mix all the dry ingredients together and gradually add the water, a little bit at a time, till you get it to a dripping batter. It shouldn’t be too thin, it should coat the back of a spoon. (If its too thick, add a little water, if its too runny, add some more besan). Ensure you are left with a lump free batter.

Heat oil for deep frying.

When the oil is hot, pick up the potato slices from the salted water and drain off any excess water, dip well in batter till its coated and carefully drop it into the oil.

Fry on both sides till it gets a nice golden brown on a medium flame. Drain on some kitchen paper.

Serve hot with some spicy tomato ketchup.

If you have any excess batter, you can either slice up some more potatoes and make some more of these delicious fritters or you can use it for the next kind of fritters. You’ll see how in just a bit.

In the same manner, you can make fritters using cauliflower florets or spinach leaves (dip whole spinach leaves into the batter) instead of the potatoes and the same batter.

Kanda Bhajiyas (Spicy Onion Fritters)


2 onions, sliced
1-2 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 cup besan (chickpea flour)
Salt, to taste
A pinch of turmeric powder
A pinch or two of red chilli powder
1/4 tsp. ajwain (carom seeds)
Water 
Oil, for deep frying
Mix all the ingredients except the water in a bowl. 
Add water a little at a time to form a medium consistency batter. It shouldn’t be too thick or too thin. 
Heat the oil. Carefully, using a spoon, place spoonfuls of the batter into the oil. Leave to cook, untouched for a few seconds. Then turn them around to ensure even cooking on all sides using a medium flame. 
Once they’ve turned a nice brown, drain on some kitchen paper. Serve hot.
Make sure you don’t burn them, or you’ll be left with bitter-ish fritters.
Serve hot with some tomato ketchup.
You can also add some grated lauki (bottle gourd) to the mix and make some lauki bhajiyas. If using grated lauki or bottle gourd, peel and grate it in advance. Sprinkle some salt and keep aside for about half an hour. Squeeze out all the water from the grated vegetable and add it to the mix.
So there you go, using these two methods, you can make atleast five different types of fritters, using a variety of vegetables.
Go on then, give it a try and tell me what you think of it!
These recipes have been linked to – 

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Goan Recipes, Recipes, Snacks, Starters / Appetizers, Vegan