Butter Beans with Spinach (Pavta-Palak)
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Each serving contains: Kcals: 170; g fat: 7; g saturated fat: 3
- 5cm piece of cinnamon stick (dalchinikidandi)
- 1 onion, finely chopped (bareekkate hue pyaaz)
- 1 teaspoon Ginger Puree (adrakki puree)
- 1-2 green chillies, seeded and finely chopped (chhile hue aurbareekkate hue harimirch)
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric (peesi hui haldi)
- ½ teaspoon chilli powder (mirch powder)
- ½ teaspoon Ground Roasted Cumin (bhune hue and peese hue jeere)
- 1 teaspoon Ground Roasted Coriander (bhune hue and peese hue dhaniyekebeej)
- 225g tomatoes, skinned and chopped, or canned chopped tomatoes with their juice (chhile hue, and bareekkate hue tamatar)
- 1 teaspoon salt to taste (namakswaadanusaar)
- 250g spinach, finely chopped, or frozen leaf spinach (bareekkate hue paalak)
- 400g can butter beans, drained and well rinsed (dhule hue beans)
- 75ml single cream substitute
- 75ml warm water (gungunapaani)
- In a non-stick saucepan, heat the oil over lowheat, then add the cinnamon stick and let itsizzle for 20-25 seconds. Add the onion, gingerpuree and green chillies. Increase the heatslightly and fry for 5-6 minutes, stirringregularly to ensure even cooking
- Stir in the turmeric, chilli powder, cuminand coriander. Cook for 30 seconds beforeadding the tomatoes. Continue to cook for4-5 minutes, stirring frequently
- Add the salt and spinach, and stir until thespinach wilts. Cover the pan and reduce theheat to low, then cook for 10 minutes
- Add the butter beans, cream substitute andwater. Re-cover and cook for a further 10minutes. Serve with any bread or Cumin-Coriander Rice
Spiced Pears (MasaledarNaspati)
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes, plus chilling
Each serving contains:Kcals: 200; g fat: 3; g saturated fat: 1.8
7.5cm piece of cinnamon stick, halved (dalchinikidandi)
2 star anise (chakra phool)
4 tablespoons sugar (chini)
250ml low-fat fromagefrais (cream cheese)
2 tablespoons roohafza or 3 tablespoons rose-flavoured syrup (gulab syrup)
A few crystallized rose petals, to decorate (gulabkepankhude)
- Peel, quarter and core the pears. Put them in saucepan and add the remaining ingredients,except the fromagefrais and roohafza. Cover and simmer gently until the pears are al dente
- Use a draining spoon to transfer the pears to a dish. Strain the strup into a small saucepanand boil until it is reduced to about 3 tablespoons. Spoon it over so the pears and allow to cool,then chill for 2 hours
- Mix the fromagefrais and roohafzatogether and spoon into a small serving dish so thatdiners can help themselves
- Arrange the pears in individual serving dishes and decorate with rose petals if wished