A beautiful baby and a new recipe!

Our friends' little bundle of joy arrived last week! I went to spend the day with them yesterday and had a lovely time. It's such a joy to watch a beautiful baby asleep and when he smiles in his drifting, flowery dreams, my heart does a little dance! Babies are God's most beautiful creation ever :-) Seeing the little baby and his mother yesterday made me realise, no matter where in the world, a mother's love for her baby is the same, selfless and pure.















Another treat for me yesterday was the delicious lunch my friend's mother cooked. While it rained outside, Aunty served hot and heavenly home cooked food, it was bliss!
She had made soft rotis, flavoursome rajma, tava (griddle/frying pan) roasted aloo-baingan (potatoes-eggplant) and fluffy basmati rice, yumm :-) I came back home and tried the roast veggies and it turned out quite well...not as good as Aunty's though...

Here's what I did -

Tava fried veggies -

I made this for M & myself. Simply increase the quantity of the ingredients if you're cooking for more.

• 1 potato
• 1/2 eggplant (the big, round ones work well)
• 1/2 green capsicum
• these flavours are according to individual taste and depend on the quantity of the veggies - turmeric powder, red chilli powder, jeera powder (cumin), dhania powder (coriander), amchur powder (dry mango), salt and a pinch of hing (asafoteida)
• oil (I use olive oil)

Next -

1. Wash and peel the potatoes. (You could keep the skin on if you wish as I've heard it is healthier that way.) Slice the potatoes into medium thick discs.
2. Cut the capsicum into medium sized squares.
3. Slice the eggplant into medium thick discs and then into quarters. (if you're using the small, long ones, you could just cut into strips)
4. Put all these into a large, wide bowl and sprinkle all the dry masala powders. Drizzle some oil over it and toss well until all the veggies are well coated with the masalas.
   
5. Leave it aside for about 5 mins.
6. Meanwhile, heat a griddle or a large frying pan and coat it with some oil (you could use spray oil). A non-stick pan works well.
7. Arrange the veggies, separately, all over the griddle/pan. Cover with a lid and let cook on medium flame.
8. Flip the veggies over after a while to cook the other side.
9. Continue to do this till the potatoes are soft and well cooked.
10. Spray more oil, if necessary.
11. Finally, sprinkle some fresh coriander before you serve.

M was working from home today and he turned around to me in the kitchen and asked 'what's cooking?'. There was a whiff of appetising flavours while the veggies cooked slowly on the hot griddle, the way an Indian kitchen should smell :-) M is inspired by it and is trying the same recipe with paneer for dinner.

Thanks Aunty for this simple 'n' yummy recipe!