Aloo Gobhi for GMT

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Aloo gobhi | The Novice Housewife

When I got married, my mom gave me a small diary with a few handwritten Indian recipes she thought I would find useful. I had never cooked indian food before I got married, so when I did start cooking once I came to the US, these recipes came very handy. One of the recipes in the diary was for aloo gobhi- a spiced potato and cauliflower indian dish. A favorite of many and a relatively easy and no hassle dish to prepare.

My mom is in Canada these days. She came to Canada to spend some time with my grandparents, since they were both very ill. She could not meet my grandmother before she passed away but was able to spend some time with my grandfather. She stayed on to spend time with her brother and his family in Canada and tomorrow she comes to visit and stay with me for a month. The other day when I was talking to her she mentioned that she had made aloo gobhi for lunch and since I had not cooked this dish in a while I thought of making it today. It also gave me an opportunity to click pictures and post a recipe for Garam Masala Tuesdays.

I have tweaked the original recipe a little after making it several times to suit my liking. In the original recipe, my mom did not mention kasoori methi, but I like the added flavor that it brings to the dish. You can leave out the kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) if you cant find them but they are easily available at any indian grocery store. So is amchoor powder (dried mango powder), but if you can’t find it, use lemon juice.

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Vegan, sugar free, gluten free Date Truffles

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Gluten Free, sugar free, vegan, raw Date Truffles } | The Novice Housewife Diwali, one of India’s biggest festivals, is right around the corner. Known as the festivals of lights, Diwali celebrations generally last 5 days, with Indians all over the world celebrating it in their own special way. Diwali signifies the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness.

Diwali is kind of like the Indian Christmas, with the days preceding Diwali marked by people cleaning their houses, lighting it, shopping new clothes and buying gifts/sweets for friends and family.

I had read somewhere that there is actually a scientific reason behind the cleaning of houses before Diwali. Since Diwali is celebrated somewhere between mid-October to mid-November, right after monsoons end, the cleaning makes sure all the germs and infestation that monsoons brought with them get eradicated with the whitewashing, and other pre Diwali cleaning activities. In fact a lot of Hindu traditions that we follow blindly these days are backed with a very logical reasoning that we are not aware of. Gluten Free, sugar free, vegan, raw Date Truffles } | The Novice Housewife Growing up, Diwali for me meant new clothes, lighting candles and diyas, putting lights up, cleaning every nook and corner of our rooms because else the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi won’t pay our house a visit, going to the Gurudwara to light candles and then bursting crackers at home.

I, being terrified of crackers, would just just burn the sparklers and be happy while my dad and brother would burst the more scary crackers. As we grew up and realized how terrifying the noise is for animals (we had a dog who had the toughest time during Diwali), besides the air pollution that crackers cause, we stopped bursting crackers altogether. Just to continue a little tradition we celebrate Diwali now by lighting a sparkler or two, and maybe an anar for fun. Besides that we just light the house and distribute sweets to our loved ones. And eat good food and lots of sweets!

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Thai Glass Noodle Salad

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Gluten free, Vegan Thai Glass Noodle Salad | The Novice Housewife Things have been a little busy at my end and I will be updating you soon about that, but lets talk about this Thai glass noodle salad first.

Trying to lose weight? Trying to eat healthier? Looking for salads that don’t include mayo based dressings but still taste as great? Then look no further my dear lovely faithful readers, this glass noodle salad will answer all your woes. Well, most of them anyway!

Its light, refreshing and its gluten free, fat free, nut free, vegan and thus every reason why you should be making this. Gluten free, Vegan Thai Glass Noodle Salad | The Novice Housewife Made from mung bean starch, glass noodles (or cellophane noodles) are rich in iron and zinc. But lets be clear they are not a low carb option. They have their share of carbs, but its not white carbs and they have almost zero fat. Plus, if you have your glass noodles with a good serving of the veggies (like in this salad), I think this dish pretty healthy and fresh to include in your meals.

The salad is easy to make and pretty quick to put together. The only technique required is the cooking of the glass noodles, rest is chopping and mixing.

To cook glass noodles, soak the stiff mung bean noodles for about 15 minutes in hot water. Drain and wash it with cold water and cut the noodles to a smaller size. Then boil them for 30s- 1 min and drain again. If using in soups you can skip the second step. But if using noodles for this salad, you will need to boil them till tender. Read More →