Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Hi, our long awaited vacation is starting in just a while.  I hope it is fun-filled and memorable, see you all sometime in new year. 
Till then, wish you all Merry Christmas and a very happy, healthy & wealthy new year.

Chegodilu/Chekodilu for ICC

I heard and made this crispy crunchy irresistable snack for the first time.  I followed the recipe given by Srivalli for Indian Cooking Challenge.  So go ahead and give a try.  I am sure you will enjoy it.

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 3/4 cupAll purpose flour/ Maida - 1/4 cup

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Ajwain - 1/4 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

Turmeric really a pinch

Salt as per taste

Oil to deep fry

Method:

Boil 1 cup water in a bowl, add salt to it.  When the water starts boiling, remove from stove, add ajwain, red chilli powder, turmeric and flours. Stir with a ladle to make sure it is mixed well. Pour ghee on it and cover.

Once it cools, knead it to form smooth dough.  Grease your fingers with oil and pinch out a small lemon size ball and roll between your palms to form a thick rope. Bring the two ends to together and press to form a rope. Ensure the ends are firmed pressed as not to give out during frying.

Continue with the rest of the dough until you are done with the entire batch. You can either cover it with a plate or a cloth to prevent the dough from getting dried.

Check if the oil is in the correct temperature, by dropping a tiny bit into the oil. Then gently slide the rings or the chakodis in batches of 4 -5. The flame has to be on high until the chakodis come up to the surface, then lower the flame to medium and cook till you get a golden colour on the chakodis.

When the chakodis are golden all over, using a slotted ladle, remove to a kitchen towel and cool. Store in an air tight container for longer shelf life. 

Dahi Batata Sev Puri

I am from Mumbai and I love chaat. I love chaat items and I am lucky that my hubby enjoys it too, my elder son can eat pani-puri for breakfast, lunch & dinner and this he can do for n no. of days.  So as we all love Chaat we often make it and sometime its our dinner...:) Unlimited chaat. 

Dahi batata sev puri is made rarely in my home since my picky elder one doesn't enjoy them much.  Sev is the thin noodles kind of snack made with gram flour. You can easily get it in any Indian grocery store. Batata means Potato in Mumbai local language, dahi is curd/yogurt and Puri is puri.

I think enough of my chaat puraan, lets go to the recipe.

What you need:

20-30 Puffed deep fried Puris (store bought or home made)
½ - ¾ cups Sev
1 Red Onion, finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1/4 cup coriander leaves chopped finely
1 tbsp Red chilli powder (optional)
Potato Filling:
1 large Potato, boiled, cooked and mashed
Black salt
Chaat Masala
Table Salt to taste

Sweet Tamaring-Dates Chutney
Spicy Green coriander-mint chutney

Curd/Yogurt Filling:
2 cups Yogurt, beaten till smooth
1 tsp roasted Jeera/Cumin Powder
A pinch of Black salt
Table Salt to taste

How to assemble:
First boil the potato, peel and then mash it.  Add black salt, chaat masala and the salt to taste.

Beat the curd well if you feel it is too thick add little water.  Add the roasted jeera powder, the black salt and the table salt.

To Assemble the Dahi Batata Sev Puri:

Arrange puris in a plate, making small opening on top of each puri with the thum, big enough to add the fillings.

First fill each puri with a tsp of Potato filling. Add the chopped onion, and then the tomato.  Then fill it with ¼-½ tsp of both the chutneys.  Now start filling the puris with the yogurt mixture.  Then sprinkle some coriander and sev on each puri.  Sprinkle some more chilli powder if you like it hot like us.

Serve this delicious plate of Dahi Batata Sev Puri immediately as if kept for long it will become soggy. Remember to use your finger to eat it no spoon please.  Enjoy this finger-licking delicious Chaat.

Very soon I will post the recipes of the sweet tamarind dates chutney and the spicy green coriander-mint chutney.  But for now you can buy these from any Indian grocery store. 

No-Egg, No Butter Carrot Cake

Today I wanted to make something very simple, and was in the mood to bake.  I had some carrots and bananas which I wanted to finish.  Decided to make this cake from here. 

What I used :

2 Cups Maida/All Purpose Flour
2 Cups carrots finely chopped/grated
1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup dessicated dry coconut unsweetened

1/2 cup golden raisins

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

2 ripe bananas peeled and mashed

1/2 cup oil

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

What I did:
Instead of grating the carrots I used mini food processor and chopped the carrots.  I chopped 5 carrots for the 2 cups of gratings.  I pulsed the walnuts before chopping the carrots.  In a big bowl, sieve the all purpose flour and the baking soda.  Mix together the carrots, coconut, walnuts raisin and the flour.

In another bowl, mash and beat the banana till fluffy.  Add 1 cup Sugar, 1/2 cup oil, cardamom powder and mix with a hand mixie.  Add the flour mixture to this mix and run the hand mixie on the speed of 1.  Add the milk and run the mixie. 

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.  I poured the batter in a 8x8 tray and a 1 quart pyrex glass bowl.  Bake it for 25-30 minutes and a delicious with no egg or butter cake is ready to serve.   Since today's baking was unplanned I could  not do any kind of  toppings but surely next time I am going to do it.

One more picture view from top:

Gulab Jamun for October challenge

For several days I was avoiding to make the Gulab Jamun because of all the efforts of making khova and all that.  But when Srivalli put it as Indian Cooking challenge I decided to make it and believe me its worth the efforts.  The gulab jamuns of home made khova are really heavenly and worth the efforts.  Actually, I wanted to take the step-by-step pictures, but my camera decided not to co-operate.

I followed the recipe from The Yum blog.

Ingredients

Milk – 8 cups

Maida – 1 cup

Sugar – 3 cups (if you want excess syrup i.e floating jamuns increase by a cup)
Water – 1 cup (increase if you’re increasing sugar)
Bakind Soda – 3 pinches
Cardamom – 4 pods
Saffron leaves – a few
Oil – 1 cup (for deep frying)

Method

Bring the milk to boil in the deep non stick pan. Reduce the flame to between low to medium and continue to heat the milk.  Stir occasionally in regular intervals until the milk completely thickens to form the khova.

8cups milk makes 1 & 1/2 cups of khova.

Combine sugar and water in a flat bottomed broad pan and simmer on a low heat until sugar dissolves. Add cardamom powder and saffron leaves and remove from fire.

Knead khova, maida and soda and quickly shape into balls.  Heat oil on a medium flame. Fry the jamuns till golden brown over a low to medium flame, keeping oil temperature uniform. Oil should not smoke.  Drain the jamuns and soak in the warm sugar syrup. 

I make gulab jamun a day before I want to serve.  While serving I just heat them a little in micro for 20-30 seconds.

These Gulab Jamuns are going to the Indian Cooking Challenge of Srivalli.

Ras Malai

I remember the golden olden days when every sunday we used to go to Jhama in the evenings.  Our fixed order will be Samosas, Pani puri and Ras malai.  After coming here we could not enjoy that.  Then I started buying the ras malai mix, but miserably failed all the attempts.  Then started buying ready to eat, but were expensive and getting only limited quantity.  So one fine day I thought of making my own Ras malai from scratch.  And voila, my first attempt gave me the desired result.  DH had the same happiness which I had seen in Jhama.

The procedure is a bit lengthy, but the end product is really worth of it.

Things you need:
4 cups Milk ( For discs)

Juice from one lemon almost 2tbsp

3 cups water
1 & 1/2 cups Sugar (for making syrup)

2 cups Milk (for Ras)
1/2 cup Heavy whipping cream(Optional)
1/2-3/4 cup Sugar (for Ras)
2 tbsp unsalted Pistachios coarsely ground
2 tsp Almonds sliced thinly
1 tsp cardamom powder
Few saffron strands

Preparing paneer:

Boil the milk ( I used whole milk but you can use 2% if you want low fat) in a heavy bottomed vessel about 8 minutes by stirring constantly and when it comes to boil add 2 tbsp of lemon juice slowly.  Now the milk gets seperated in the protein and whey water ( stir it slowly).  Now strain the curdled milk using a fine muslin cloth.  Add some cold water in the strainer so it takes out the flavor of lemon from the paneer.  Allow it drain completely for half an hour.  After that squeeze the muslin cloth in which paneer is strained so as much water in it comes out make sure there is no water in the paneer.  Then remove it and knead to a smooth dough if  you want to make sure if the paneer is ready just take a little bit in your palm and rub it using your thumb for few seconds and you should be able to make a small smooth ball.  Make a key lime size balls and flatten slightly. 

Boil water with two cups of sugar and when it comes to boil add the paneer balls in to it and pressure cook it for about 7-10 minutes.  Be sure not to make a crowd because they are going to expand.  When you pressure cook, the paneer balls will expand and it becomes double the size. Keep it aside.

For preparing malai boil milk with heavy cream.  The milk should get reduced in to 3 cups so the boiling will take about 20 minutes.

Now remove the pressure cooked paneer balls from the sugar syrup and press it gently to remove the water . keep it aside.  Once the milk is reduced add sugar and cardamom powder.  Add the paneer balls one by one slowly in to the boiling malai so the paneer balls absorb the milk and let it stand in the medium heat for about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Garnish it with ground pistachios, almond slices and saffron strands.

 

Serve chilled and enjoy the happiness.

Aloo Palak Paratha

We all love aloo paratha.  My elder son who is a picky eater also eats aloo paratha.  He is big fan for spinach.  When he was very young like 2-3 years he used to watch the Popeye and he started liking spinach.  Here is a simple recipe of aloo palak paratha.

For the outer cover

2 Cups Chapati flour
1 bunch spinach/Paalak
1-2 green chillies (Optional)
salt to taste
1-2 tsp oil

For the aloo stuffing

3-4 medium potatoes boiled and mashed

2 tsp chilli ginger garlic paste

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp Ajwain/ova seeds(Optional)

1/2 tsp Turmeric/haldi powder(Optional)
1 tsp oil
Salt to taste

What to do:
Blanch the paalak/spinach with green chillies, if using.  Drain and make a paste without adding any water.  In a bowl, take the chapati flour add salt and oil.  Mix the spinach puree in the flour.  Make a soft and pliable dough.  Use water if required.

Heat a kadhai/fry pan.  Pour oil, when hot add cumin seeds and ajwain when they pop add the ginger garlic chilli paste.  Add the turmeric powder if using.  Then add this to the mashed potatoes.  Add salt.  Set aside to cool.

Knead the dough again for a minute and make equal lemon sized balls.  Roll this dough ball in flour and roll them using a rolling pin into thick poories of 4 inch in diameter. 

Place one aloo ball in the centre. Cover and seal the ends and roll again, dusting flour if necessary, into ½ cm thick roties using rolling pin.

Mean while, heat a griddle at high flame and lower it to low-medium flame.

Gently dust off the excess flour and place Stuffed Paratha on hot griddle and cook on both the sides till its cooked well and brown spots start to appear on top. Apply little ghee/oil if desired.

Serve hot Aloo Palak Parathas immediately with any curry or with plain yogurt and pickle of your choice and enjoy.

Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda

Kadhi is made differently in different regions in India. The Maharashtrian Kadhi is hot and spicy. The Gujrathi Kadhi is a little sweetish to taste. The famous Sindhi Kadhi has only the name Kadhi but no buttermilk.  South Indian Mor Kuzhambu is nothing but Kadhi with occasional addition of vada in it (I will blog it sometime later).

This is not an authentic recipe and I have made some changes to suite to my family's taste buds.

Ingredients

For Pakoda

3/4 Cup Besan / Gram flour

1 tbsp Rice flour

1 medium Onion chopped
1 tbsp fresh Coriander/cilantro leaves
1 Green chilly chopped
1/2 tsp Ajwain/Ova/Omam
1 tsp Chilly powder
Salt to taste

A pinch of Baking Soda(optional)

Water required

Oil to deep fry

For Kadhi-

3 Cups Curd beaten with 1/2-1 cup water

1/4 cup Besan/Gram flour
2 whole Dry red chili
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Chilly powder
A pinch of Hing
½ tsp ginger garlic paste
½ tsp methi (fenugreek) seeds
3-4 green chillies, chopped
1/2 tsp Jeera seeds
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
Few curry leaves
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
Dhania/Cilantro leaves for garnishing (Optional)
Method

For Pakoda :
Mix all the ingredients for the Pakora except the oil.  Heat oil in a kadai for frying the pakodas.  Add 1 tbsp of hot oil to the pakoda mixture.  Add water and mix nicely to make a thick batter.  Check if the oil is sufficiently hot by putting a drop of the batter in the oil.It sizzles right away and floats on the top.  Using a spoon (teaspoon) drop portions of the batter in the hot oil and fry till golden brown.  Drain on a paper napkin.

For the Kadhi :
Mix the buttermilk with the besan and blend it thoroughly, ensuring that no lumps are formed.  Add salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.  In a wok/kadai heat oil.  Add the mustard seeds and once they crackle add the cumin seeds and the dry red chillies.  Add the fenugreek seeds and then the ginger garlic paste and the chopped green chillies.  Now add the buttermilk- besan mixture heat the mixture on a medium.  Bring to a boil continuously stirring.  If you won't stir, the curd will split.  The Kadhi will thicken after a few minutes.  Switch off the gas and add the Pakodas.  Garnish with coriander leaves. 

Serve hot with Steamed Rice. 

Shankarpaali or Shakkarpaari

I made them for diwali.  I don't know from where this thing has got it's name "Shankarpaali" in Marathi, but let's not discuss about the name part.  Diwali won't be diwali if I don't make them.  Both my sons love them.  Even if its not diwali I keep making them since its a good finger food.  Kids and adults both equally love them.  Try them and let me know.  This is my Diwali platter.  Oops, I forgot to keep murukku.  I know, I know I am late but due to family sickness I could not do it.

From left corner clockwise : Kaju Katli, Chivda, Besal Laadoo, Rava Laadoo, Shankarpaali, Nankhatai.

Ingredients

1 Cup Ghee/Clarified butter

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Milk/Water

6-7 Cups Maida/All Purpose Flour

Oil for frying

Method:

Mix together the ghee, sugar and the milk/water.  I prefer to use milk.  Keep stirring till it turns creamy.  Keep adding maida little by little till the mixture turns out like chapati dough.  Soft but pliable.  Divide in tennis size balls.  Roll into a chapati.  Cut the chapati in squares or diamond shape of 1 inch.  Heat oil and fry on medium high heat.  Fry till they turn light brown.  Remove on paper towel.  Once cool store in the airtight container.  Serve with hot tea or coffee.  Tastes great.

Easy breezy Naarali Bhat

This is one of my simple recipe for Naarali Bhat.  Yes, accepted that its not the traditional way but can be prepared in jiffy without any hassle.

This is what I used:

1 cup Rice

2 cups water

1 cup Sugar

1 cup grated coconut

2 tbsp Ghee, sorry no butter or oil

5-7 Cloves

1 tbsp cashew pieces

1 tbsp golden raisins

Few saffron strands dissolved in 1 tbsp of warm milk
A pinch of Orange food colour (Optional)

This is what I did with the ingredients:

Cook the rice in 2 cups of water like we do normally.  The rice should not be too soft but fully cooked and grain seperated.  Reduce/increase the water quantity accrodingly.  I used 2 cups water.  When it is fully cooled add the sugar and the coconut.  Mix together.  Now the rice, sugar and coconut mixture will start leaving water.

In a kadhai or wok, heat the ghee.  Add the cloves in the ghee and fry till the colour is changed.  Then add the cashewnuts and then raisins, when the cashews turn light brown, add the rice mixture alongwith the water.

Pour the saffron milk and the food colour if using.  Mix everything together and put lid on the kadhai.  After all the water dries up, remove from heat.  Serve.

This rice can be sered hot or cold.  No restrictions.  Even it can be made a day or two in advance for parties.  Tastes great.

  

Wish you all a very happy & healthy diwali.

Vegetable Fried Rice

This is a very simple dish to make and very healthy to eat.  It becomes healthy with all the variety of veggies in it.  This is how I make my veg. fried rice, it goes really well with my Veg. Manchurian gravy.

This is what I use to make it:
2 cups long-grained rice
1/2 cup french cut beans,
1/2 cup carrots cut in matchsticks,
1/4 cup red, green, yellow and orange capsicums, finely chopped

1 cup Cabbage,

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 spring onions, finely chopped, keep green part and white part seperately.

1-2 tsp soy sauce, I use dark soy sauce.

2 tbsp oil
1 green chilli finely chopped
1-2 Garlic cloves chopped finely
1 tbsp. Green chilli sauce

1/2 tsp. Red chilli sauce (Optional)

1/8 tsp Aji-no-moto

salt to taste

This is how I make it

Wash the rice properly with water to remove excess starch.  Then cook the rice till 3/4th done enther on stove top or in microwave.  Now take a pan, add the oil, saute the green chillies and garlic cloves, then add all the white part of spring onion, carrots, celery, beans and capsicums, salt and ajinomoto, green & red chilli sauce and cook for 5-7 min.  Now add the cabbage and cooked rice, salt and ajinomoto, soy sauce and keep mixing without breaking the rice. Remove from flame. Garnish with remaining spring onion greens and serve hot with Veg. Manchurian.

Jantikalu/Murukku for Indian Cooking Challenge

This is a very simple recipe Srivalli has given. I feel I am very lucky that I got included in this cooking challenge. I came to know about this event after 2 months it was started. Better late than never. Hence I missed the first two challenges but still Srivallt included me in this event from third month. For a budding blogger like me this is the best opportunity.

Ingredients:
Raw Rice - 4 cups
Urad Dal - 1 cup
Water - app 1/2 cup or more
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds- 1 tsp
Asafetida/ Hing - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter - 75 gms


Method to prepare:
Wash and drain the rice. Shade dry the Rice for 1/2 hr. Dry roast the Urad dal to light brown. Allow it to cool. First grind rice into a fine flour, keep it aside. then grind the urad dal to fine powder.

In a big wide vessel, take both the flours along with salt. Mix well. Add cumin, Sesame seeds to the flour, mix well. Mix hing in water, make sure it is dissolved before adding to the flour.
Mix in the hing to the flour and finally add the butter. Gather everything well and you will get more of a crumbling mixture. Now slowly add water and knead in a soft dough.
Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame.
Divide the dough into equal balls. Fill the greased Muruku maker with the dough.
Press over a paper and gently slide the murukku down the hot oil. You can press it directly over the kadai.
Cook over medium flame, using a slotted spoon, turn it over to other side to ensure both sides turn golden colour. Remove to a kitchen paper and store it in a air tight container.



This is my entry to the cooking challenge started by srivalli.

Pedhe

This is a very simple recipe. It's one such sweet everybody likes. I make this whenever I want something sweet to eat.

Makes about 35 pedhas of medium size.

This is what I used:

1 tin sweetened Condensed milk

2 cups Carnation Milk Powder

8 tbsp unsalted Butter

1 tbsp Almonds, roasted.

1-2 strands Saffron

1 tsp Milk.

This is what I did:

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter for 1 minute. Add the milk powder and condensed milk. Mix everything together.

Dilute the saffron strands in the milk and mix it with the above mixture.

Microwave for 2 minutes. Take out & stir. Again microwave for 2 minutes. Take care it may overflow. Stir.

Roast the almonds in micro for 1 minutes so that they become crunchy & halve them.

Grease hands with butter or ghee and make pedhas while the mixture is still warm. Take care not to burn your hand. Stick the almond halve to decorate.

Pedhas are ready.

Veg. Manchurian

This is also one such family favorite recipe. I make it atleast once a week. My elder son who is a poor eater loves this. He eats the manchurian balls without the sauce while I am still frying them. He says they are like pakodas. So I always make some extra batches of manchu balls.

For Manchurian balls
Cabbage- 2 cups finely chopped
Carrots- 2 grated
garlic-2 cloves chopped finely
green chilli- 1 chopped finely or Green Chilli sauce 1 tsp
spring onions(scallions)- 1/2 bunch chopped finely
cornstarch- 3 tbsp
Pinch of Aji-no-moto
salt to taste
chilli powder- 1 tsp
oil for deep frying

For Manchurian Sauce
Spring onions- 1/2 bunch chopped finely
ginger- 1/2" piece chopped finely
garlic - 2 cloves chopped finely
green chilli- 1 chopped finely
chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Soya sauce- 2-3 tsp
cornstarch- 1 tbsp
water- 1.5 cup
salt to taste
oil-4 tsp

This is how I make it-


Mix all the ingredients under the for manchurian balls except oil for deep frying in a bowl with hand and no need to add water as the water from vegetables are enough to bind.
Make small balls out of this mixture and deep fry in hot oil till golden brown.

For the manchurian sauce heat oil in a pan. You can use the same oil in which manchurian balls were fried. Add ginger, garlic and the spring onions. saute for a minute and add salt. Meanwhile make a mixture of chilli powder, corn flour and soya sauce. Add water to it and pour the paste in hot oil carefully. Boil till bubbles arise.

When the sauce starts to thicken add the manchurian balls and remove from the stove immediately. If you like add some top green portion of the spring onions. Serve right away with Fried Rice.

If not serving immediately make the sauce when you have plans of servings as it thickens immediately.

Tomato Rice

This is a hit recipe in my home. From the youngest to the oldest everybody likes this rice. When I am bored to make an elaborate lunch or dinner I make this rice and with some raita and papad. Your meal is ready in a jiffy.

Ingredients:

1 Cup rice. Any rice can be used Basmati or Sona masoori. I use Sona masoori.

2 Tomatoes

1 medium onion

1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder

1 tsp Dhania Jeera Powder

1-2 Green Chillies

Few curry leaves

Jeera & Rai for tadka

1 Tbsp Oil

Pinch of hing/asafoetida

1 tsp Curry Powder (Optional)

Salt to taste

What to do:

Cook rice till soft but the grains should be separated.

Make two cross slits on the tomatoes. Boil tomatoes in enough water for 5-10 minutes. Bath the tomatoes in the cold water & remove the skin. Mash the tomatoes and to pulp.

Heat oil. Add rai-jeera, hing, curry leaves, green chillies. Add onion fry till soft. Add chilli powder, Dhaniya-Jeera powder, salt and the tomato pulp. Cook till the consistency of dosa batter. Sprinkle curry powder if using.

Mix with rice. Serve hot with raita & papad.

Modak for Ganesh Chaturthi

This is my first entry in Indian Cooking Challange. Modak is most favourite food for Lord Ganesha. My mom is expert in making modak. This is how I made them.

Ingredients:

For Stuffing:

2 Cups scrapped fresh/frozen Coconut

1.5 cup Jaggery

1 Tbsp dry roasted poppy seeds/Khaskhas

A pinch of Cardamom Powder

Few raisins(Optional)

For Covering:

1 Cup Rice flour

1 & 1/4 cup Water

1 tsp Oil

A pinch of Salt

Preparation of Stuffing:

Grate jaggery. Mix the jaggery with coconut gratings & keep aside. Roast the Khaskhas seeds & powder. In a heavy bottomed kadhai, transfer the coconut-jaggery mixture add the khaskhas powder & heat till the mixture is heated through & dries up. Add the cardamom powder & raisins if using. Remove from fire. Let it cool.

Preparation of outer shell:

Meanwhile, in a heavy bottomed pan take the water add the salt & oil. Let the water come to rolling boil. Once the water is boiled slowly add the rice flour stir & close the lid. Let the dough cook for 2-5 mintes. After a big steam, take the pan away from gas. Take out the dough in another bowl/plate. When it is warm enough to handle start kneading the dough. There should be no lumps in the dough. It should be soft & smooth like play dough.

Final stage:

Start boiling water in a large vessel that can fit a steamer. The water should not touch the steamer. Oil the steamer and set it aside. Make about 20 balls of the dough and 20 parts of the stuffing. Start making small bowl with the dough ball with oiled hands & fingers this really needs skill. Once the bowl is ready keep one part of stuffing in the bowl. Now make pleats around the bowl. Then collect all the pleats in the center of the bowl on the top. Alternatively, Start making small puri with the dough ball on a oiled paper/aluminum foil. Keep one part of stuffing in the middle of the puri and gather the puri gently to make shape like modak. You will have to handle the dough very gently. Follow the step to make remaining modaks. Now dip each modak in cold water and put it in the steamer. Put the steamer on boiling water and cover it. Let the modaks steam for 15-20 minutes on medium to high heat. Take the steamer off the vessel and let it sit for 5 minutes before removing modaks from steamer.

Serve the modak hot with ghee/sweetened coconut milk.

I had also prepared the Sesame seeds laadoo on the same day.

I roasted 100 gms of Sesame seeds. After the seeds are cool enough to handle, I added 3.5 - 4 tbsp of Jaggery to the seeds & ran everything in mixie.

Due to the oil in the sesame seeds you can make the laadoo. It also stays in the shape.

It is really simple & tasty recipe for sesame laadoos. It took only 5 minutes for me. Isn't it easy?

I followed Srivalli's recipe to make boorelu. This was first time I made them so I made a small batch. Everybody liked them, now I can make more also.

Ingredients:

For the cover :Black gram dal/ Urad dal - 50 gms

For the Stuffing :

Bengal gram/Channa dal - 1 cup

Grated Jaggery - 1 cup

Fresh/frozen grated Coconut - 1/4 cup (opt)

Cardamom powder - 3/4 tsp

salt to taste

oil for deep frying

Method: Wash and soak Urad dal. Drain water from the Urad dal and grind to fine paste adding very little water. The batter should be like the dosa batter before adding water or like the batter to dip batata wada. Add salt and leave it aside covered.

For the stuffing, pressure cook the channa dal with just enough water to cover it. Cook the jaggary to remove any scum. Then once the dal is well cooked, drain and cook it along with the jaggary. It should become very soft enough for you to mash well. You can either grind it to a smooth paste or mash it to fine consistency with a masher. If you find the puran is very loose, you can cook this in sim to get a thick paste. Add Cardamom powder and grated coconut. You will know its done when the dal starts to leave the sides. Remove and cool. Divide them into equal balls.

Heat a thick bottom kadai for frying. Once the oil is hot, turn to sim. Then dip each ball in the Urad dal batter. Make sure its coated on all sides. Then drop them into the hot oil. Keep turning to cook on all sides. Once couple of batches are done, strain the oil to remove the scum. It takes only 2-3 mins to get cooked. Drain them on to a kitchen towel. Serve hot.

Godache Aappey

Wish you all a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi.
May the Vighnaharta remove all the obstacles from our life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a very simple recipe from my mom. I made these yesterday for naivedya for lord Ganesha. I am keeping Ganapati Bappa for 5 days and everyday I am making one sweet dish. For Sunday I made Modak & Sesame Laddu & today I made Appam & coconut milk. Today I will be making Naarali Bhat. I will post the recipe later. Now here is the recipe for Gode Aappey.


What you need:

1 Cup fresh/frozen Coconut,
1 Cup Jaggery
1.5 cups Coarse Rava/Sooji/Bombay Rava
1 Tbsp Roasted Peanuts
Ghee for frying


What to do:

Lightly dry roast rava. In a mixing bowl, take coconut & grated jaggery. Mash both of them together. Add the peanuts & rava. Soak everything together. If you feel this is of not dropping consistency add little milk to the mixture. Keep this aside for 3-4 hours.


After 3-4 hours, heat the appey patra and half fill the cavities with ghee. When the ghee is hot, add a spoonful of the above mixture and cover.

After 2-3 minutes remove the lid, if you see the sides of the appey has turned brown, turn them upside down with a knitting needle or a chopstick. Let the appey cook on the other side.


Once done remove from the patra & serve. You can keep these appey for 3-4 days also.

Lapsi - A healthy sweet dish

This friday was the last friday of Aadi & even kirthikai of aadi maasam. I wanted to make some sweet dish for naivedya at the same time feeling lazy to go to the kitchen. I was not in the mood to go & cook anything. Thought a lot to make something very simple yet healthy & quick recipe. I opened the pantry & found some lapsi rava. Immediately idea clicked in my mind to make Lapsi.

Ingredients :

1 Cup Lapsi Rava/Wheat rava/Fada/finely Broken wheat

1/3 Cup Ghee

1 Cup Brown Sugar

3 cups water/milk & water in 1:2 measure

10-15 broken Cashew,

5-6 Almonds/Badam,

1 Tbsp Raisins,

1 Tbsp dry/fresh grated coconut (Optional).

Method:

In a heavy bottomed kadhai/pan heat ghee. Add the lapsi rava & roast till it becomes aromatic or till it becomes 1 shade darker. Add the cashew, badam, raisins and water or the mixture of milk & water. Add sugar. Break all the lumps if any, add coconut if using fresh. Put the lid on the pan/kadhai. Let cook for min. 5 minutes of medium flame. Add coconut if using dry coconut at this stage. Serve hot.

Shahi Jackfruit Kofta

These kofta's I made for my son's birthday for the first time and was a major hit. It won't take long time to make these & very easy.

Ingredients required:

For Koftas

1 tin green jackfruit

2 Med Potatoes

4 Tbsp Besan/Chana dal flour

3-4 Green Chillies finely chopped

2 Tbsp Cilantro finely chopped

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

For gravy:

1/2 finely choppped onion

1 tomato finely chopped

10-15 Cashew nuts soaked in water

5-7 Almonds soaked in water

3-4 Tbsp Sour cream

3-4 Tbsp Heavy whipping cream

4-5 green chillies

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/2 tsp sugar

1 Tbsp Oil

1 Tbsp Ghee/clarified butter

Salt to taste

1 Tbsp chopped Cilantro (Optional)

How to make:

Koftas:

Boil potatoes & drained jackfruit pieces. Squize out the water from jackfruit even after boiling to the maximum possible extent. In a bowl, mash both of them together. Add the chillies, salt & cilantro. Sprinkle the besan & make soft golf-ball sized balls. Heat oil in a kadhai. Deep fry the Koftas/balls in the hot oil & remove on a tissue paper.

Gravy:

In another kadhai/pan, heat the oil & ghee. Add the cumin seeds, chillies, onion, sprinkle the sugar & keep stirring till onions are soft. Add tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt. When the onion & tomatoes become very soft almost like paste add sour cream. Meanwhile make a thick paste of cashew & almonds. Add the paste of cashews & almonds. Add a cup fo water cover & let boil. Now in a serving bowl, arrange the koftas, pour the gravy on the koftas. Decorate with the heavy cream & cilantro.

Serve with rice, roti or parathas. Goes well with anything.

Sabudana khichadi & JFI-Peanut

This is the most simple khichadi one can make with very few ingredients & very little time excluding soaking. For roasing peanuts, you can use stove top method if you have lot of time with you or the microwave method. I always keep roasted peanuts ready with me, hence I make this khichadi very frequently since everybody in my family likes it.

Ingredients:

1 C Sabudana/Tapioca/Sago soaked for 4-5 hours

3/4 C Peanuts Powder/ crushed peanuts

1/2 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds

2-3 Green Chillies cut into medium pieces

1 tsp Oil/Ghee

1/4 tsp Sugar

Salt to taste

1 Tbsp coconut fresh/frozen (Optional)

How to make it....

Heat oil/ghee in a deep kadhai. Mix the peanuts powder, salt & sugar in sabudana.

When the oil is hot enough add Jeera & green chillies, and then the sabudana mixture.

Give a nice stir. Add the coconut. Reduce the flame & put a lid on the kadhai.

Open it after 5-7 minutes, give a stir again. Switch off the cooking range & seve hot with some curd. Tastes the best with curd. Normally,we make it for every fastings i.e. upwaas.

I am sending this to Pavani's JFI-Peanuts which is brainchild of Indira.

Stuffed brinjal

This is the most easiest & a fat free recipe for stuffed brinjal. I ate this for the first time at one of my friend's house. It is fat free because doesn't have any peanuts or coconut or sesame seeds in it. And one most important feature is it will be ready in jiffy. It takes hardly any time to cook these brinjals.

I dedicate these to my hubby dear "S". He never used to eat brinjals One day we ate these at one of my friends's house and now he is in love. He asks me to make it atleast once a week. If for some reason I don't make it he reminds me to make these.

What you need:

6-7 Small round brinjals, available in all Indian grocery stores
5-6 garlic cloves
1 Tbls Coarinder/Dhania Powder
1 tsp Cumin/Jeera Powder
1-2 tsp red chilli powder depending on how hot you want it
2 tsp Amchur Powder
Salt to taste
2 Tbsp Oil
1/2 tsp Rai/Mustard Seeds
Few curry leaves

How to proceed :

In a mortar, take the garlic cloves and crush them with the pastel. Add the coriander & cumin powder, chilli powder, salt, amchur powder and make a rough paste adding 1-2 tsp oil. Make cross slits on the brinjals. Don't take off the stem. The stem has to remain intact. Stuff the brinjals with small amount of the paste. Repeat for all the brinjals.

In a fry pan, hear oil. Add mustard seeds, when they cracle add curry leaves. Throw in the brinjals one by one. Sprinkle some salt on the brinjals, reduce the heat now. Cover the pan.

After some time say 3-5 minutes open the pan & turn the brinjals carefully not to allow the stuffing to fall out. Once the brinjals are cooked switch off the heat. If you like sprinkle some fresh dhania leaves on the brinjals. Serve with chapati or daal-rice.

I am sending this dish to Sanghi's FIL Season 3.

Appam with coconut milk

We all love appam for breakfast. Yes, yes I know it becomes heavy with the sweetened coconut milk, but who cares? Normally on weekends we eat this as breakfast and again go to sleep. Its the magical effect of hot appams & the coconut milk. Here is the recipe,

You will need
1 Cup any rice like Sona masoori never take basamati rice
1/2 Cup Idli rice
1/4 Cup Urad Dal
1/2 tsp Methi(Fenugreek seeds)
Salt
Pinch of Baking Soda
Coconut/Coconut Milk
Sugar

What will you do

Soak both the rice varieties, dal & methi for 4-5 hours. Grind to a fine paste. Add salt. Set aside for fermenting.

Next morning, add a pinch of baking soda some water so that the water will be little runny. Apply a drop of ghee to the appam chatti. Heat the appam chatti. Pour the batter in centre & rotate the kadhai. If you do not have appam chatti, you can use small kadhai. The appam should be soft in the center & paper thin on the sides.

Grind the coconut & extract milk. Add sugar to sweeten the milk according to your taste.

Serve the hot appam with the sweet coconut milk. Eat and go back to sleep.



I am sending this to Padma's "Dosa Corner" and Srilekha's "EFM Theme - Breakfast Series".

Vada Paav & RCI-Mumbai Street Food

When I saw the announcement of this event, I had made Batata Vada, since it was readily available, I decided to participate in this Laksmi's RCI event hosted by Acquadaze. Here is the recipe for this all time all age favorite street food.

Ingredients for Vada:

4 Boiled Potatoes peeled & cubed

1 Onion chopped

1/2" Ginger

1-2 Garlic cloves

3-4 Green chillies

6-8 Curry leaves

1 Tbsp Chopped Coriander leaves

1 tsp Mustard & Cumin Seeds

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

Salt to taste

2 tsp Oil for tempering

Oil for deep frying

For Cover :

4-5 Tbsp Besan/Chana flour

1 tsp Rice flour

1/2 tsp Red chilli Powder

Salt

a pinch Soda

Few Carom (Ajawain)Seeds

Water

Mumbai Laadi paav/Burger buns

Garlic Chutney

Green Chutney

Tamaring dates chutney

Finely chopped onion (Optional).

What to do:

Mix all the ingredients of cover together except oil for deep frying. Make batter adding water slowly. Not too thick not too this. Just perfect. No lumps should be there. Set it aside.

Grind Ginger Garlic & Chillies without adding any water.

Heat 2 tsp oil in a kadhai, for tempering. Add Mustard-Jeera Seeds, curry leaves, onion and the ginger garlic chilli paste. Saute till the onion softened. Add Turmeric powder salt & the boiled potato cubes. Mix together sprinkle the chopped corinder leaves. Take off from gas & let it cool down. After the mixture cools down to handle, make small balls of table tennis ball size or flattern the balls like pattice.

In a frying pan heat oil. To check if the oil is hot enough test is drop little covering batter in the hot oil. It is springs on top of the oil, then the batter is hot enough to fry the vada. Deep the potato ball/pattice in the batter & carefully drop it in oil. Deep fry till light brown. Drain on paper towel.

Cut the bombay laadi paav in the middle vertically just like we cut it for burger but not all the way. Leave the bottom attached. If using burger buns you don't have to do this. Spread the green chutney, tamaring date chutney & garlic chutney. Sprinkle some chopped onion if you like on both the halves of paav. Place the Vada in between & then attack.

Vada Paav is poor people's burger in India or u can say its Indian burger.

Simla Mirchicha JhuNakaa

When I saw Priya's AFAM:Bell Peppers announcement, that spurt of second I decided to make this my favorite Simla Mirchicha JhuNaka. Its very simple to make. This is my Aai's recipe.



Ingredients:
1 Green Bell Pepper i.e. Simla Mirchi chop finely
1 Medium sized Onion finely chopped
4-5 Tbsp. Besan/Chana dal flour
1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds/Rai
1 tsp Cumin Seeds/Jeera
1 tsp Red Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Dhania & Jeera Powder
2 Tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

This is how I made it:
In a deep Kadhai, heat oil.
Once the oil is hot add the rai & jeera, add onion & the simla mirachi. At this point of time, reduce the gas to low. Hence forth all throughout keep gas on low.
When the capscicum is cooked sprinkle the besan flour give a stir. Put the lid on.

Cook till done on a very low flame.
Tastes great with phulka/chapati.

Cantaloup Raita

1 C Cantaloup chunks

2 Chopped green chillies

3 Tbsp Curd/Yogurt

A pinch Chaat Masala

Salt (Optional)

It's very simple. In a bowl, mix everything together except Chaat masala.

Sprinkle chaat masala & Serve chilled.

This raita can be eaten even on Vrat/fasting day if salt & chaat masala is not used.

Tastes very yummy.

And now it goes to Maheswari's AFAM:Melon.

Protein packed Puris

Generally during weekends we take light dinner. But this saturday my son wanted to eat puris. I had some daal from lunch leftover. I wanted to use it up. This is how I used it.

Daal Puri


Ingredients:

1 Cup Whole wheat flour/Chapati flour, I used Nature Fresh
1/4 Cup Soya Flour,
1/2 Cup Chana Flour/Besan
1/2 Cup leftover cooked dal (any dal), I used masoor dal.
Salt to taste,
Oil for deep frying.


Method:

Mix together all the flours, salt & dal.
With minimum water knead into a semi-soft or chapati like dough.
Divide the dough in golf size balls.
Roll the puris.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan.
Fry the puris.
The puris turned out extremely crispy.
Maintained the same crisp till next day.
Serve with any curries or anything u like.
I served mine with Shrikhand & Aloo Gobhi, I will give the recipe some other time.



The Puris soaked very less oil as compared to the normal puris we make.
U can use any dal that's leftover with u even tadka dal.
I have not tried it with Makhani Dal yet if any one has tried pls. let me know how it tastes.

Fruit Custard

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL OF U.

My Mother's day special is Fruit Custard. Here is the simple recipe:

Ingredients:
1 Apple,
12 grapes each colour, green, red & black,
5 Strawberries
1 cup papaya & pineapple chunks,
4 cups Milk,
6 tsp Custard Powder,
Mango Pulp (Optional)
4 tbsp Sugar


Method:

Wash & cut all the fruits.
Prepare the custard according to the package directions.
Once the custard is cooled pour it on the fruits.
Refrigerate & serve chilled.

Note :
U can add jelly chunks also in the on the fruit custard.
If u like u can add mango pulp also in the custard once it is cold.

Ragda Pattice - Mumbai Street Chaat

Interesting....me too !!! started with blog. Many many thanks to my DH S who made this happen. Anyways lets start with the aamchi mumbai's favourite street chat Ragda Pattice.

Here comes the recipe so that you can still enjoy Mumbai favourite at your home outside Mumbai the Mumbai way still healthy & hygienic.





What u need:

For Ragda:
1 Cup Dried White/Yellow/Green Peas or Kaabuli Chana/Garbanzo Beans
Baking Soda (Optional)
1 Tbsp Cooking oil
1 Medium Onion
1 Small Tomato
1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Coriander/Dhania Powder
1/4 tsp Cumin/Jeera powder
1 tsp Chaat Masala
1 tsp Sabzi Masala (Optional)
Salt to taste

How to prepare:
Soak the peas/beans for 5-7 hours. Wash the soaked beans in 3-4 changes of water.
I used the white/yellow peas as the street hawkers of Mumbai use the peas. Take the peas in a pressure cooker add salt, haldi powder & soda if using and water.
Pressure cook the peas till soft.
In a pan heat oil, add ginger garlic paste, onion. Saute till onion turns pink.
Add tomato and saute till they turn soft. Add some salt. Make a thick paste of Haldi powder, chilli powder, Dhania-Jeera Powder, Chaat Masala and Sabzi Masala if using.
Add a cup of water and then the cooked peas. Cover & boil for a minute. Check for salt.
Ragda is ready.

Now comes the pattice:

Ingredients:
3 Medium Potatoes boiled
2 Bread slices or 1/2 cup bread crumbs
Salt to taste
Cilantro/Coriander Leaves
Oil for shallow frying.

Method:

Mash together all the ingredients. Make small balls of the mixture flatten the balls & shallow fry till golden brown.

Assembling:
In a plate/bowl, keep two pattice, top the ragda on it.
Sprinkle some green chutney & tamarind dates chutney.
Sprinkle some finely chopped onion & coriander leaves.
Some fine sev(available in indian store) & serve hot. ENJOY!!!!!!!!

Note: U can top it with some beaten curd/yogurt.