DEGCHI

Tutti frutti cookies

2011-07-06T09:45:00.001-07:00

Tutti frutti cookies are my all time favorite snack. we have 2 awesome bakery in my home town, Garib bakery and 15 AD whose cookies I have been eating from childhood. Whenever I go home my mom makes sure to fill the cookie jar with variety of cookies from my favorite bakery. Today I am so happy that I made the same tasting cookies or rather I can proudly say better because I ate hot from the oven.

Ingredients-

3/4th cup unsalted butter at room temperature.
3/4th cup sugar
1.5 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1.5 tea spoon baking powder
2 pinch salt
1/2 tea spoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup tutti frutti
1 tea spoon orange Zest

Method-

Whip together butter and sugar until fluffy.
Stir in vanilla essence.
Add tutti frutti and orange zest.
Sift together all purpose flour,baking powder and salt.
Gradually add maida to butter and sugar mix.
Make a dough with the help of hand.
refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven at 300F.
Make cookie from the dough of whatever shape you like.
Place the parchment paper or foil on the cookie sheet.
Arrange cookie on the baking sheet at lest 1 inch apart from each other from all sides.
Bake for 20- 25 minutes. Depending upon the temperature of your oven.
Cool them on the cooling rack.

Have them with Tea, coffee or just like that.
CRUNCH!!!! MUNCH !!!! YUM

Note-

You can add 1-2 teaspoon milk if you think that dough is not binding enough.
They will bake between 15-20 minutes depending upon the temperature of the oven. Although they might look like that they are not baked, soft but give them some standing time they will be just perfect.
I got little creative with the cookie dough. I set it in the empty aluminum foil wrap box so that I can cut nice square shape.
The cookies will get double of there original size after baking so cut small pieces.

I am sending this recipe to 'Only – Baked' Event hosted by Harini of Tamalapaku and the event started by Pari of foodelicious.

Sindhi Koki or Alu

2011-06-29T05:17:00.001-07:00

BM# 6 DAY 7

I have sweet memories attached with the koki. One of my dearest friend "D" is Sindhi. During the exams time whenever we used to do group study at her home, her mother treated us with Kokis at the tea time. I have had lunch many times at her home and I am a big fan of the Sindhi cuisine.
Today is the last day of the blogging marathon started by srivalli. I had fun blogging with all the seasoned bloggers. Hats off to your enthusiasm to blog daily. I am passionate about cooking but for blogging more frequently, I was in need of a catalyst like this marathon event.
As part of the last day of the blogging marathon we needed to prepare a recipe from our fellow marathon blogger. I am paired up with Vaishali and, I am glad that I have found another creative soul. Since many of my recipes for this blogging marathon have been wheat flour based I thought it would be a good idea to pick and prepare the Sindhi Roti - Koki and Alu on side from Vaishali’s blog.

KOKI

Ingredients

1 cup wheat flour
2tbsp oil / ghee
1 small onion finely chopped
1 green chilly finely chopped
¼ tsp. crushed anardana /pomegranate seeds (optional)
1/4th tea spoon turmeric powder (optional)
Coriander leaves
Mint leaves
Salt to taste

Method

Take the flour in a bowl.
Make a well in the center.
Sprinkle salt and pepper.
Pour oil / ghee. Add remaining ingredients.
Mix well with hands till the flour resembles crumbs.
Adding little water knead into a stiff dough.

Make two balls.
Roll into a thick chapatti.(do not use any flour for dusting)
Put criss cross lines with a knife.(make sure you don’t go deep to cut it off.)

Roast on slow flame ,smearing it with ghee on both sides till nice and crisp and a golden color.

Serve hot with Sindhi alu and curd or with a hot cup of tea.

Note

- The criss cross is to ensure cooking deep inside as these are rolled thick.

Sindhi Alu

Ingredients

4-5 potatoes
1/4 tsp.........turmeric powder
1/2 tsp..........chilly powder
1/4 tsp..........amchoor powder/sundried mango powder
1/4 tsp..........dhaniya powder/corainder seeds powder
oil for shallow frying
salt to taste

Method

Heat oil.
Add potatoes .
Sprinkle salt.
Fry for a few minutes.
Cover and cook on slow flame till soft.
Remove the excess oil.
Sprinkle spices.
Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Have a look what my fellow Blogging Marathoner's are doing.

Papad ki sabji

2011-06-28T06:37:00.001-07:00

BM#6 Day 6

Papad is known as Papadum in english. Papad is made from the various lentils. Papad recipes vary from region to region. I call it as a savior curry or 5 minutes curry. Whenever I come back home from a long trip and don't have any fresh vegetables in the home, and also bored of eating outside food and frozen food. This curry saves my day. I also like to make this curry when it is raining outside. Try it, its something different and easy to cook.

Ingredients

5 papad (papadum)
1/4 cup curd
2 cups water
1 tea spoon minced garlic
1/2 tea spoon minced ginger
1 green chilly
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon red chilly powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
pinch of hing (Asafoetida)
salt to taste(keep in mind,papad has already salt in it)
coriander(cilantro) for garnishing
2 tablespoon oil.

Method

Break the papad into small pieces.
Add all the spices except cumin seeds and asafetida in the curd. Beat them and make a paste.
Boil 2 cups of water.
Heat the oil in the pan. Add cumin seeds. Add asafetida , ginger, garlic and chilly. Fry it for a minute.
Add papad pieces. fry for 30 seconds.
Add curd paste. Fry for 1 minute.
Add warm water.Boil for 3-4 minute.

Garnish with cilantro.
Serve hot with roti (wheat tortilla).

Have a look what my fellow Blogging Marathoner's are doing.

Aakhi badia, kachri, gawar fali ki sabji

2011-06-27T11:47:00.001-07:00

BM#6 Day 5

One of the distinctive features of the Rajasthani cuisine is the use of the dried beans, berries, vegetables and the sun-dried eatables made from lentils and whole grain.This curry is made from sun-dried badi (dried lentil dumplings), kachri (vegetable from the cucumber family grown especially in desert region) and dried gawarfali(cluster beans). In Rajasthani language Akshya tritya is known as Aakha Teej, Akkha means whole in marwadi so on Akshay atritya, marwadi people like to cook every thing whole like this sabji . Read more about rajasthani cusine here.

Ingredients

1 cup whole badi / dried lentil dumplings
2 cup dried gawar fali / cluster bean
8-10 dried kachri (a vegetable from cucumber family)
1/2 cup thick fresh beaten curd
1 tea spoon cumin seeds
1/4 + 1/4 tea spoon turmeric powder
1 tea spoon chilli powder
2 tea spoon dhania / coriander powder
1 pinch of asafetida
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1 handful chopped cilantro / coriander
1 tablespoon oil
salt to taste

Method

Soak the dried gavar fali/cluster beans for 2 hrs.
In a pot take 4 cups water and let it boil.
Add gawar fali,1/4th tea spoon turmeric powder and let it boil for 10 minutes.
Add badia and kachri to the same boiling pot along with the kachri.
Boil till the badia, falia and kachri gets cooked, approx.10-15 minutes.
In a curd add salt, turmeric powder,red chilli powder,dhania powder and beat it.Keep aside.
Heat oil in a separate pan.Add cumin seeds,asafetida and crushed garlic.

Add spices mixed beaten curd.
Cook till the curd leaves the oil.Approx.3-4 minutes.
Add boiled badi, kacheri and gawar falia.

Let it cook with curd gravy for 5 minutes.
Serve hot with kheech (wheat/millet porridge) or bajra (millet) roti.

Note

You can use fresh cluster beans and kachri also in this recipes. If you are using fresh vegetables,boil badia only for 10 minutes rest the process is same.

Have another look at kachri photo here and here .

Have a look what my fellow Blogging Marathoner's are doing.

Gahun ka kheech

2011-06-26T07:18:00.001-07:00

BM#6 DAY 4

Gahun ka kheech/wheat porridge is healthy and nutritious meal eaten by Rajasthani in North western India, also known as kheechda .It is often eaten during winter but it is also a festive dish to make on akshya tritya. Do not confuse Kheech with the dalia which is a simple porridge made out of cracked wheat, which is cooked in milk or water .The kheech is made from hulled wheat,the husk removed wheat.
Nowadays you can enjoy the rajasthani delicacy in the Dhanis (rajasthani resorts) which are mushrooming in every city. Back home in the winter, we prepare this kheech once a week along with other types of kheech like bajri (millet) ka kheech and khaat (corn porridge).

Ingredients

2 cups hulled broken wheat
1 tablespoon whole moong dal (green gram lentil)
1 tablespoon chana dal (split bengal gram lentil)
1/4th teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoon ghee/clarified butter
1 cup milk (optional)
salt to taste

Method

In a pressure cooker add ghee and slightly roast the wheat for 2 minutes.
Add the dals/lentil, turmeric powder,salt and 4-5 cups water.
Pressure cook it on low for 25-30 minutes.
*Take one whistle on medium heat and then lower down the temperature to low/sim and let it cook for 25 minutes.
When the pressure of the pressure cooker cools down open the cooker.
Add milk or water and stir it with spatula for 3-4 minutes
Serve hot with a dollop of ghee on it.
You can eat it just like porridge or with kadhi, badiyon ki sabji(lentil dumpling curry) and if you have sweet tooth with jaggery or galvani (jaggery soup).

How to remove the husk of the wheat?

Spread the whole wheat on a big tray.
Sprinkle the water over it.
Let it soak for 1/2 hour.
Then slightly crush it in the big mortar and a pastel or in food processor
Rub it between your hands and remove its outer layer.
Let it dry for sometime and then grind it coarsely like dalia / broken wheat.

Have a look what my fellow Blogging Marathoner's are doing.
Sending it to "Flavours of Rajasthan" event, guest hosted by Sonu, started by Nayna.

Moti Roti

2011-06-25T06:50:00.001-07:00

Moti roti/Jadi roti/Thick roti/ Pinched Roti- Call it by any name. It taste as heavenly like Dal Bati. If you are craving for Dal Bati and not in the mood of baking Bati, Make this Moti roti on the tava/griddle. This is so heavy and filling, quarter pie of the roti makes me full but just for the taste alone, I cannot resist myself to one pie. I always end up with a second serving which I top it with small pieces of jaggery.

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 cups wheat flour
1/4th cup gram flour(optional)
2 tablespoon melted ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds)
salt to taste
water as required.

Method

Add ghee in the wheat flour. Mix it with fork.
Add salt and ajwain.
Now knead the flour with the water and make a stiff dough.
Knead till smooth and make a round 1 or 2 ball out of it.*
Roll it to make 1- 1.5 cm thick roti.
Place it on the hot griddle on low heat.

When the color changes on the top and tiny bubbles appear, turn it over (approx. time 1 min).

Now pinch the roti on upper side in a circular motion.

Let the lower side get crisp. Once it get crisp use the mesh stand* to roast the pinched side over very low flame/coil/induction gas.

Smear the roti with lots of ghee and serve with the dal of your choice.

Note:

1-The griddle which I used was of 12 inch in diameter so I made 1 ball of whole dough.
2- If you don't have mesh to roast you can roast it on griddle.
3- Low flame or heat helps in making the roti crisp.
4- To enjoy it more, crumble the roti, mix with dal. Add 1 tablespoon ghee and eat with onion, garlic chutney, papad and pickle on the the side.

5- This crisp roti you can pack along with you when you travel. the shelf life is more than a week.

Have a look what my fellow Blogging Marathoner's are doing.
Sending it to "Flavours of Rajasthan" event, guest hosted by Sonu, created by Nayna.

Dal-Bati

2011-06-24T07:16:00.001-07:00

BM#6 Day 2

The first things comes in your mind if you think about Rajasthani cuisine is dal bati Churma. Bati is just like the whole wheat flour dinner roll or round bread. Traditional it was baked over the fire wood,coal and dried cow dungs. Nowadays people in the North India mostly bake it on gas tandoor and at other places batis are baked in the oven. The baked batis are dipped in the bowl of ghee and then served. Don’t think about calories when you are eating this Rajasthani delicacy else you will not enjoy the heavenly taste of it. A must seen dish in all the festivals, marriages, Marwari community picnics or if you have guest at home. There is an another steamed version of baked bati known as Bafla, will share it recipe some other time.

Ingredients:

4 cup wheat flour
1/4th cup table spoon sooji/rava/semolina
4 table spoon ghee
4 table spoon fresh curd
1/2tea spoon ajwain/carom seeds
1/2 tea spoon salt
1 tea spoon of baking soda (optional)
water as required
Ghee for dipping batis in it.

Method:

Mix all the ingredients and make a stiff dough.
Keep it aside for 30 minutes.
Make 8-10 round balls.
Press gently in the center with thumb.
Pre heat the oven on 350F.
Keep the batis on the baking tray and bake the batis for 35-40 minutes.
Turn bati after every 10 min.
Dip the batis in the bowl of ghee.Let the bati soak the ghee.
Serve Hot with dal, of your choice.

10. Dal Bati also goes well with gatte ki sabji, lasan ki chutney, mirchi ka kuta and churma.

Panchmel Dal

Ingredient's

1 handful of toor dal (split pigeon peas lentil)
1 handful of yellow mung dal/mogar (split green gram lentil)
1 handful of chana dal (split Bengal gram lentil)
1 handful of masoor dal(split red lentils)
1 tbsp. urad dal (split black lentils)
1 tbsp. whole moong (whole green gram lentil)
5 green chillies
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 inch ginger
1/4th cup chopped cilantro/coriander
1 tsp. chilli powder
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
1/2 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. jeera/cumin seeds
2 dry red chilli
2 cloves
a pinch of hing/asafetida
2 +1 tbsp. ghee
salt to taste
lemon juice as per taste

Method

1.In a pressure cooker, add all the dal,4 cups of water and 1/4th tea spoon turmeric powder and pressure cook it.Take approx. 4-5 whistle.

2. In a mortar and pastel crush green chilli, garlic and ginger together.

3.In a pan add 2 tbsp.ghee when it gets hot add cumin seeds, asafetida, clove and whole red chilli.

4. Add crushed chilli-Ginger- garlic. Sauté it for a minute till it gives you the nice aroma.
* At this stage add 1 chopped onion if you prefer it in your dal and sauté it.

5. Add salt, red chilli and garam masala.
*At this stage if you like tomato taste in your dal add 1 chopped tomato and sauté it.

6. Add this seasoning/ tadka to the cooked dal.

7.If needed add water according to the desired consistency to the dal.

8. Bring it to the boil. Boil it for 4-5 minutes.

9. Add lemon juice and garnish it with the cilantro.

10. Add 1 tablespoon ghee and serve hot with the bati.

Note- You can stuff bati with alu /potato masala to make masala bati.
You can stuff bati with satu/roasted chana powder to make Bihari Litti.

Have a look what my fellow Blogging Marathoner's are doing.
Sending it to "Flavours of Rajasthan" event, guest hosted by Sonu, started by Nayna.

Rajasthani Cuisine

2011-06-23T05:38:00.001-07:00

Rajasthan is in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. It is located in the Thar Desert region. Rajasthan weather is typical hot & dry weather. In summer the temprature reaches up to 48 Celsius and in winter it drops to 0 Celsius. The scarcity of water and lack of fresh green vegetables farming has a significant impact on the rajasthani cuisine.

You can see the use of buttermilk and curd in the place of fresh tomato and tamarind for giving sourness in the gravies. The use of milk instead of water in gravies and also, the use of desi ghee(clarified butter) in most of the recipes. Fresh beans(sangri) and berries(kair, gunda), mango pieces(amchur), are dried for later use. The dried preparations like papad , badi and rabodi are made from lentils and whole grains as they could be conserved for long periods of time and proved themselves to be very useful in the early days when there was little produce in summers and transport was not so efficient. Use of bajra(millet), jawar(barley) , gram flour is prominent in the Rajasthani cuisine. Food that could last for several days and could be eaten without heating was preferred.

In my space here I will share several vegetarian Rajasthani delicacies with you which I have grown up eating. Thank you Dadisa (grandmom), nanisa and mummy for helping me learning all these recipes.
For the next seven days I am going to cook Rajasthani delicacy daily as I am taking part in blogging Marathon(BM) and I choose to blog under Seven Days of Regional Specials.

Churma ke ladoo

2011-06-23T05:37:00.001-07:00

"Blogging Marathon" BM#6 Day 1

Churma ke ladoo / Sweet wheat flour balls is a delicious wheat flour, desi ghee(clarified butter) sweet which just melts in your mouth.It is a festive sweet also. A Rajasthani will never make dal bati without churma. It is the default sweet with the dal bati. I have grown up seeing that whenever we have guests at home dal bati Churma is the fixed item on the menu. In Rajasthan it is a traditional custom to serve sweets in the beginning of the meal.

Ingredients

2 cup wheat flour
1.5 cup powdered sugar
1/4th cup sooji/rava/semolina
1 cup ghee
1/4th cup mix of dry fruits and mishri (tiny sugar cubes)
1/2 tea spoon cardamom powder
Ghee for frying

Method

In a big bowl mix wheat flour, sooji and 2 tablespoon full of ghee.
Knead well with the help of water and make a stiff dough.
Keep aside for half an hour and then make 8 balls from the dough.

Press the ball in between your palm and fingers to give a fist shape.
In a frying pan, fry the fist shaped dough in ghee on a slow flame till it reaches the golden brown colour.

Break the fried fists into the pieces and allow them to cool for 10-15 minutes.

In a food processor grind the pieces into the powder(churma) of coarse texture.
Sift the powder through the sieve so that coarse powder is separated from the fine powder.

Grind the coarse powder once again in the food processor and sift again.

In a big frying pan add 1/2 cup ghee and the powder (churma) and roast it slightly for 5 min on simmering heat. This will give a nice roasted smell to the powder and it will increase the shelf life of churma also.
Add sugar, cardamom and the dry fruit mix to the powder.
Add 2 tablespoon ghee + 1 tablespoon ghee (if required) and bind the powder into the ladoo (round shape).
Once the ladoos are ready, store them in an air tight container.

Note-

Some people don't roast the fine powder(churma), they directly add the ghee and sugar to the powder and bind them into the ladoo. However, from my experience, the slight roasting gives a nice aroma and delicious taste to the ladoo.
Some people like to make churma ladoo with the jaggery instead of sugar. For jaggery churma ladoo :

Take 2 cups powdered jaggery instead of sugar.
In a pan add 1 tablespoon ghee, jaggery and 1 tablespoon of water and cook till jaggery dissolve.
Let it cool slightly.Add this dissolved jaggery to the powder and bind the ladoos.

Have a look what my fellow Blogging Marathoner's are doing.
Sending to "Flavours of Rajasthan" event, guest hosted by Sonu, event by Nayna.

Watermelon Carving

2011-03-28T19:56:00.001-07:00

Decorate your salad bar with this beautiful hand carved watermelon rose in this summer for your barbeque party or pool party.
I like to do vegetable and/or fruit carving during my leisure time. This one is my second attempt at watermelon carving. It is always fun doing it. It also took less time than my previous work, although it definitely requires lots of patience for the beginners. but with continuous practice , speed comes naturally.

Below are the step by step images to provide an idea of how to carve a watermelon rose.

Step- 1

Step – 2

Step – 3

Step – 4

Step – 5

Step – 6

This watermelon carving I am submitting for create and carve event hosted by Helen of fussfreeflavours.
The Create & Carve food blogging event was started by Nayna of Simply Food last year.

Rabdi–Thick milk dessert

2011-03-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

I am back with a new recipe after a long pause. As the summer approaches, Enjoy my favourite dessert – The chilled Rabdi this summer.

Rabdi is rich & creamy milk dessert popular especially in North India.There are many short cut versions of making instant rabdi using bread and corn starch/flour. The traditional method is rather elaborate and requires full attention, but trust me, the result is definitely worth the effort.

Ingredients:

1 gallon milk ( 3.78 liter )
1 can Condensed Milk
2 tablespoon Cardamom (Elaichi) powder
4 tablespoon of Chopped blanched Almonds
2 tablespoon of Chopped blanched Pistachio
2 pinch of saffron
1 tablespoon of Rose water
1 tablespoon of Ghee(clarified butter)

Method:

1-Grease the non stick pan with ghee.
2-Add milk. Keep the heat in between sim and medium.
3-After a boil. Keep stirring the milk continuously or stir after every 10 min.

4-When the milk is reduced to 1/4th of its original volume and you can see the texture like bread crumbs in the milk and on the spoon. your rabdi is ready. Add condensed milk, elaichi (cardamom) powder.

5. Add almonds, pistachio, few drops of rose water and saffron strands and allow it to cool down.
6. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Note

1It is very important to stir the milk and keep a constant watch on it to avoid any sticking on the bottom of pan.
If due to lack of attention milk sticks to the bottom don't scratch the bottom, immediately transfer the milk to another pan.
For 1 gallon milk it will take approximately 1- 2 hrs. to reduce to its 1/4th volume.

Panchkuta - An Entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging.

2008-08-23T20:11:00.001-07:00

I came to know about the weekend herb blogging from Srivalli's Cooking 4 All Seasons blog, which is an event started by Kalyan of kalynskitchen. Being from the state of Rajasthan, I took this opportunity to introduce the quintessential Rajasthani dish of all times - The Panchkuta.
This dish is essentially made up of 5 ingredients found widely across the Great Thar Desert. For ages, this has been the mainstay food of travellers across the desert. It has long shelf life after being cooked and does not require refrigeration unlike other foods. In case you are travelling through Rajasthan, don't be amused if you find your fellow traveller pulling up a box of Panchkuta with pooris/rotis and enjoying his lunch/dinner.

The five ingredients of Panchkuta are sangri, kair, Kumat, Goonda and dry red chillies.

Sangri ( Prosopis cineraria ) - Sangri ki phali (pods of the khejari tree) grows in Rajasthan. This is the protein powerhouse of the desert with 53 per cent protein. Linky

Kair ( Capparis decidua ) - This is a wild berry which grows on the shrubs in the Thar. Linky
Kumat ( Acacia Senegal ) - Seeds from the pods of this small deciduous tree. Linky

Other ingredient which form part of the Panchkuta is goonda (Cordia mixa) Linky. With the current place I am in, I couldn't get this.The taste of this dish is slightly different and has to be developed. If you taste it after soaking/boiling them, it might not be that agreeable, but once the dish is ready, the taste comes out really well.

Ingredients

1 cup sangri
1/4 cup kair
1/4 cup kumat
4 dry red chillies
1 tablespoon raisins
1 tea spoon haldi (turmeric) powder
2 tea spoon red chilli powder
2 tea spoon dhaniya (coriander) powder
2 tea spoon amchur(dry mango) powder
1/2 teas spoon cumin seeds
pinch of hing (afsofedia)
2 tablespoon oil
salt to taste.

Method

Soak sangri, kair and kumatia in water overnight.

Drain the water. Add 2 cups of fresh water,1 tea spoon salt and 1/2 tea spoon haldi and boil for 10 minutes.
Drain the water.
Heat oil in the pan. Add cumin seeds, hing and red chillies.
Add sangri, kair and kumat.
Add all spices and amchur powder. cook for 2 minutes.
Serve with poori or bajri (millet) roti.

Sattu

2008-08-23T17:33:00.001-07:00

I made sattu on the occasion of Festival Bade (Kajari) Teej, which is celebrated among us marwaris in Rajasthan on the third day after Raksha bandhan. On this day maidens keep fast for their prospective groom's and married ladies for their husband's long and prosperous life. Ladies decorate there hands with Henna & swings are put on trees. In the evening, women gather to perform pooja of the neem. Once the moon is sighted, then the wife breaks her fast by taking bite of the Sattu sweet offered by her husband. Read more about teej here.

Until the 20th century, Sattu was the staple food packed along with travelers proceeding on long journeys. Not only it has long shelf life, it also gives instant a filling feeling. Sattu can be made from various flours like rice flour, wheat flour and gram flour. I made it with roasted gram flour.

Ingredients

3 cup roasted dalia powder
1.5 cup ghee(clarified butter)
2.5 cup powdered sugar(confectionery sugar)
1/4 cup almond accents
1 tea spoon cardamom powder

Method

Warm the ghee.
Mix all the ingredients and make a soft dough.
Divide it into 15 portions.
Make a boll of each portion, slightly press between the palms and give the shape of patties or any other shape you like.

Paneer Manchurian with Gravy/Paneer chilli

2008-08-21T13:48:00.001-07:00

During my college days in Jodhpur, Rajasthan there was only one restaurant - Gypsy who served Chinese dishes. Earlier noodles were the only known Chinese food to me. I can say Gypsy introduced me to the Chinese cuisine. It was my favourite place to hangout with friends...now there are so many restaurants which serve Chinese dishes.. BUT still you will not see street vendors selling Chinese. After my marriage when I came to Hyderabad I was surprised to see many bandi's (street vendors) selling Chinese.... Some how I was hesitate to eat street side food...but so many friends of mine praised about one particular bandi (near Gandhi statue,MG Road Secunderabad) who dishes out delicious Chinese fast food. I tried and found it delicious...so whenever I go there for shopping I made sure to pay a visit to that Chinese food bandi. Besides street vendors there are some fine Chinese restaurants also, like Mainland china. I learnt making ghobi manchurian from my Urmila masiji. After that there was no looking back & I learnt many Chinese dishes from books and friends....Here is one of them.

Ingredients (serves-2)

200gm Paneer(cottage cheese) cubes, regular or marinated
Oil for frying

For Batter

3 tablespoon maida(all purpose flour)
2 tablespoon corn starch)
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
1 tea spoon tandoori powder
salt to taste

For gravy

1 onion cut into sguare pieces
1 cup capsicum cut into square pieces
of any colour
4 spring onions
1 green chilli chopped
2 tea spoon minced garlic
1 tea spoon minced ginger
2 cup water
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 tea spoon vinegar
2 tablespoon tomato chilly sauce
1 tablespoon chilly sauce
1 tea spoon black pepper powder.
1 tea spoon sugar
2 tea spoon corn starch
2 table spoon oil
salt to taste

Method

Mix all the batter ingredients and make thick batter by adding little water.

Heat the oil in the pan.
Dip the paneer cubes in the batter and fry them in oil till they become golden in colour.Spread them out on an absorbent paper and keep aside.

Make thin paste of corn starch by adding cold water. keep aside.
Heat the oil in the pan. Keep the gas on high. Add ginger, garlic and green chilly fry them for a min. Add remaining vegetables one by one and fry them.
Add salt, sugar, black pepper, , chilly sauce, tomato-chilly sauce, soya sauce, vinegar and 2 cup of water.Bring it to boil.
Add corn starch paste and boil for a minute.

Add paneer cubes and serve hot with noodles or rice.

Note:
Panner will get soggy if you keep it too long in the gravy ,if you are preparing well ahead of time add paneer in the gravy 10 min before serving.

Dry Paneer Manchurian
Some like Manchurian in dry form.The process is similar to wet Paneer Manchurian preparation. Don't add water and corn starch.

How to marinade Paneer?

Ingredients

1 cup curd
2tea spoon ginger garlic paste
2 tea spoon tandoori powder
1 tea spoon chat masala
1/2 tea spoon red chilly powder
salt to taste

Method

Hang the curd in a muslin cloth for 3-4 hours.

Take it in a bowl.It will look exactly like sour cream,mix other ingredients and make a thick paste.
Brush the panner cubes with the marinade mix and refrigerate it for 3-4 hours.

Short Cut

If marination seems to be a long process ,you can use masala paneer.
However the marinated paneer cubes are not required for the 'Wet Paneer Manchurian 'as wet gravy made with sauces, gives flavour to the paneer but if you are making 'Dry Paneer Manchurian', without gravy. I would suggest you to marinade paneer.

Almond Chocolate

2008-08-14T12:42:00.001-07:00

As Rakhi day approaches near, the feeling to be with my brother grows more and more. The festival of Rakhi, also known as Raksha Bandhan is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of August.
The Rakhi thread is a symbol of bond of love and care between brothers & sisters. On this day sisters tie Rakhi(beaded or normal thread) on the wrist of their brothers and pray for their well being and long life; the brothers promise to protect their sisters from harm. My brother is 12 years younger to me, and I love him like a small kid and after tying rakhi, instead of mithai (sweets), I offer him Dairy milk chocolate. I am not with him during this year and what should I do? I decided to make the chocolate bar at home because my brother loves it. This almond chocolate is my brother-in-law favourite too; the last time when he came to US, he took a big jar of these chocolate with him back home.

These videos are for you my beloved brother.

Ingredients

1 cup dark chocolate
1 cup milk chocolate
1 cup roasted almonds
1 tea spoon butter

Method

Mix milk and dark chocolate in a microwavable bowl.

Microwave on high for 30 sec and stir, again keep it for 30 sec and stir and then for another 30 sec and stir.

Mix roasted almonds into the liquid chocolate.
Grease the aluminum foil with butter and pour the mixture into it.

Keep it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Make the marks on the chocolate ,in the way you like to cut your chocolate.
Keep it in the refrigerator for 1 hour to set.
Take it out .break it into pieces and enjoy.....

How to roast almonds?

Keep it in the oven for 5-7 minutes on 350F.

Food Event

This is my entry for the -MEC: Potluck Party event being hosted by Srivalli of Cooking For All Season.

Bharva Karela /Stuffed Bitter Gourd

2008-08-14T12:14:00.001-07:00

This is my mom's recipe. She had learnt from someone that if we cut and immediately cook the karela with its tail, it is less bitter in taste. She tried and found it correct, She has shared this recipe with many of her friends and they also felt the difference in the taste. I never have had problem in eating karela since my childhood. I think that because of my mom only, I have always cherished the karela's sabji.
Ingredients

3-4 bitter gourd
2 onions chopped
2 tablespoon besan(gram flour)
2 tea spoon minced garlic
1 tea spoon minced ginger
1 tea spoon red chilly powder
2 teas spoon dhaniya(coriander) powder
1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder
1/2 tea spoon amchur (dry mango) powder
1/2 tea spoon cumin seeds
2 tablespoon oil
salt to taste

Method

Make stuffing mix by mixing all the ingredients in the bowl, except oil,cumin seeds and karelas.

Make a slit in each karela, scoop out the seeds.
Stuff the karelas with half of the stuffing mix. keep the remaining mix aside.
Heat the oil, add cumin seeds, when they pop add karela one by one.

Simmer the heat, keep it on the gas for about 20-25 minutes, keep turning them after every 5 minutes.

Now add remaining stuffing mix, cook for another 5 minutes.
Serve hot with chapatis.

Fruit Carving

2008-07-31T10:55:00.001-07:00

I've always enjoyed watching and creating fruit and vegetable carvings. After knowing the Vegetable carving event at Roma's blog. I was inspired to do something different, so I took up fruit carving based on the famous Thai style.

Thailand's fruit and vegetable carvings are one of the best in the world. The photo below is an attempt to do one of the designs on a watermelon.

Since I did not have any carving tools with me, I used the pairing knife found commonly in any kitchen. This was my first attempt at carving out a watermelon so it took some time but I really enjoyed carving this. Below are the step by step photos to provide an idea of how to create a watermelon carving.

Fun Time during Tea Time

2008-07-30T19:17:00.001-07:00

A couple of friends had come over during evening and we were having tea. Suddenly my husband engaged others in rural Indian style of tea drinking, which is using your saucer to drink tea . To make it funny they started making a slurping noises. This snap captures one of those moments. I like the way the ripples are forming in this photo.

This is my entry for the Coffee and Tea Click Event

Sweet Corn Veg Soup

2008-07-29T15:07:00.001-07:00

This recipe was a great hit among my friends in Rochester. I miss Rochester a lot. All of our friends and their families used to live inside the same community. It was a great fun. How to spend 6 long months of winter? We used to have frequent potluck parties. We started our parties with this soup and bread sticks. Generally we don't get this soup in restaurants here as compared to India, so people used to enjoy this soup a lot whenever I prepared it for the parties. Its very simple in cooking and appetizing.

Ingredients
(serves 2)

1/2 cup corn kernels
4 cup water
2 green chilles
1 tablespoon butter
1 table spoon finely chopped carrot
1 table spoon finely chopped beans
1 table spoon finely chopped capsicum
1 table spoon finely chopped spring onion
1 tea spoon minced garlic
1/2 tea spoon minced ginger
1 tea spoon vinegar
4 tea spoon corn starch
black pepper powder to sprinkle
salt to taste

Microwavable Method

In a microwavable container, pour water,add corn kernels and chillies.

Microwave on high for 8-10 minutes, remove chillies, keep aside.
Take butter a microwavable bowl, microwave it for 30 sec.

Add ginger and garlic in the butter and microwave it for 1 min.
Add all vegetables in the above butter mixture and microwave it for 2 minutes.

Mix these vegetables and salt in the soup.Microwave it for 2 minutes.
Dissolve corn starch in cold 1/2 cup water. Add to the soup.

Microwave it for 2 minutes or till it gets thickened.
Add vinegar, sprinkle black pepper powder.
Serve hot with garlic bread or any appetizer of your choice.

This recipe I am submitting for MEC: Soups / Stews

Microwave Ovens and Food Safety

Normal Method

In a pressure cooker pour water,add corn kernels and chillies. Take 1 whistle.Remove chillies and keep aside.
Heat butter in a pan add ginger and garlic. Fry it for 30 seconds.
Add all vegetables. Fry for 1 min.
Add salt and soup.Boil it for 2 -3 minutes.
Dissolve corn starch in cold 1/2 cup water. Add to the soup.
Boil for 2 minutes or till it gets thickened.
Add vinegar, sprinkle black pepper powder.
Serve hot.

Garlic Bread

2008-07-29T12:30:00.001-07:00

A nice appetizer, quick to make and goes well with any type of soup.

Ingredients
(4 pieces)

2 hot dog rolls
2 table spoon crushed or minced garlic
2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup shredded cheese

Method

Mix butter and garlic in the bowl.
Separate the hod dog roll.

Apply the garlic butter on the top of the roll.
Sprinkle shredded cheese on the top of the roll.

Keep it in the pre heated oven(350F) for 8-10 min, depending upon the crispiness you want.
Serve hot.

Khaman Dhokla

2008-07-28T12:02:00.001-07:00

Khaman Dhokla is a famous dish from Gujarat. You can say Khaman is to Gujarat is as Idly & Dosa to south India, Poha to M.P, Vada Pav to Maharashtra, parathas to Punjab. Many of my friends, complain that their Khaman Dhoklas are not spongy as mine so I thought to put its recipe step by step, with photos. Whenever I have unexpected guests at home I use the Khaman Dhokla ready mix. It's quick and easy to make with instant mix but whenever I have time I make mix at home.

Ingredients

1 cup khaman dhokla mix
2 table spoon oil
2 green chillies
8 curry leaves
1 tea spoon mustard seeds
1 tea spoon til (sesame seeds)
pinch of hing (afsofedia)
water as required
coriander for garnishing

Method

In a large vessel,pour 3 cups of water and keep it on the gas to boil.

In a khaman dhokla mix, add water to make a thick paste like very thick ice cream shake, start with half cup of water then slowly add more as required.
Add one tablespoon of oil to the paste.
Pour batter into greased round container.

Keep a steel ring in the center of a vessel as shown in the picture. Now put the round container on it. Idea is to keep the container above the water so that water doesn't get inside the container, containing dhokla paste. Cover the vessel with the lid.

If you are using Dhokla maker then it is fine. If you are making in pressure cooker don't put the whistle.
Steam on high flame for 15 minutes.
Remove and allow to cool for 5 min and cut it into square pieces.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds,when it splutters add hing,til, curry leaves and green chilles. Fry for 30 seconds. Add 2 table spoon of water and immediately put the lid on the pan. Turn off the gas and pour this seasoning over dhoklas.
Garnish with coriander chutney and serve hot.

How to test dhoklas are ready?

Test it with knife or toothpick, poke the dhokla in the middle if it comes up with some wet batter, keep it on the gas for another 5 minutes.
If it comes out clean and dry dhoklas are ready.There should be a nice sponge in the dhokla.

khaman dhokla mix at home

If you want to make khaman dhokla mix at home, ingredients are
1 cup besan (gram flour)
1 tea spoon salt
1 tea spoon sugar
2 table spoon lemon juice or 1 tea spoon nimbu ka sat(citric acid)
1 tea spoon fruit salt (eno)

Mix besan, salt, sugar, lemon juice, and oil and then add water enough to make a thick paste.Then add soda or eno and stir it well. then follow the stemming and seasoning process as written above.

STUFFED BREAD PAKORA

2008-07-15T22:06:00.001-07:00

It is my favourite tea time snack. Its very filling and tempting. While drafting this recipe I was pondering what is the difference between pakora, vada,bonda and kofta, I searched on the net and came across some definition which I would like to share with everyone.

PAKORA-A piece of vegetable deep fried in a batter flavoured with spices.

VADA-A vada (also vadai, wada, vade), pronounced 'vah-daa' or 'vah-die', is a savoury snack from South India, shaped like a doughnut and made from lentils.

Bonda is a typical South Indian snack. Bonda comes in two major varieties: Sweet and Spicy. Keralites prefer the sweet one and follow a completely different recipe than the majority of Indians. The spicy version is called as Batada vada in Maharashtra.

Koftas consist of balls of minced or ground meat, mixed with spices and onions. The vegetarian varieties like lauki kofta, shahi aloo kofta, and malai kofta are popular in India.

This is also my entry to Hot and Spicy Pakora Contest

INGREDIENTS

for batter-

2 cup besan (gram flour)
1/2 tea spoon ajwain (seeds of carom plant)
1/2 tea spoon chilly powder
1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder
1/4 tea spoon baking soda
salt to taste
water as needed

others-

1 boiled potato

2 table spoon tomato ketchup 2 table spoon coriander chutney 1/2 tea spoon minced garlic

1/4 tea spoon minced ginger

1/4 tea spoon cumin seeds

1/4 tea spoon turmeric powder

1/4 tea spoon garam masala

1/4 tea spoon dried pudina (mint) leaves

1 green chilly chopped

salt to taste

oil for frying

METHOD
For Pakora Batter:

Mix all the ingredients and make a thick paste.Keep aside.

For Potato Masala(Stuffing):

Mash the potato.
Heat 1 table spoon oil in the pan. Add cumin seeds.
Add ginger, garlic and green chilles.
Add spices.
Add mash potato, mix well. Fry for 2 minutes and keep aside.

For pakora:

Heat the oil in deep pan.
Spread potato masala on first bread slice,corinader chutney on second and ketchup on third.

Now put the bread slices one upon other in such a way that bread slice with potato masala comes in the center.

Repeat the procedure for remaining three bread.
Dip the layered breads in batter.

Fry the battered dip bread slices in the oil.

Serve hot with chutney of your choice or without chutney as it already has chutney inside it.

CORIANDER CHUTNEY

2008-07-15T20:29:00.001-07:00

This is an excellent dip for all varieties of pakoras.

Ingredients

2 cups chopped coriander with stem
2 green chillies
1 clove of garlic
1/2 inch ginger
1/2 tea spoon cumin seeds
2 tablespoon lemon juice
salt to taste.

Method

Put all the ingredients in the mixer and grind along with water.

Add water according to your desired consistency.

ALU PALAK

2008-07-12T19:01:00.001-07:00

Alu Palak is my husband's favourite dish. He can eat it any time with roti or rice. He likes it in nice green color.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb spinach
2 potatoes
1 onion chopped
2 green chilles long,if small take 4
tea spoon minced ginger
tea spoon minced garlic
tea spoons lemon juice
1 tea spoon maida(all purpose flour)
/2 tea spoon cumin seeds
/4 tea spoon turmeric powder
/2 tea spoon red chilly powder
/2 tea spoon garam masala
table spoon oil for tampering and frying
salt to taste

METHOD

Boil 3 cups water in a pan. Add washed spinach in boiling water. Take out spinach after 2 minutes in a colander,now pour some cold water on it.
Make a coarse paste of spinach and green chillies in a mixer.
Half boil the potatoes. If you are boiling in the pressure cooker, take 3 whistle. Peel the potatoes and cut into big pieces.
Take 2 table spoon oil in pan, heat it and fry the potatoes from both the side. Keep aside the fried potatoes.

Heat 2 tablespoon oil in the pan. Add cumin seeds, ginger,garlic and onion.Saute it.(those who like tomato taste with palak at this point they can add 1 chopped tomato and fry for 2 min)
Add spices.
Add spinach paste.boil it for 2 minutes.Make paste of maida with one tablespoon of cold water and add into the spinach. Boil more for 2 minutes.
Add potatoes, mix well.

Add lemon juice.
Serve hot with roti, naan ,parathas or rice.

NOTE

You can replace potatoes with paneer and here is your recipe for palak paneer.

Those who like creamy taste, in the end before adding lemon juice they can add fresh thick cream. I would suggest you to make alu palak without cream and palak paner with cream.

Food Event:
This is my entry for the -

Curry Mela event being hosted by Srivalli of Cooking For All Season.

WYF:Colour In Food event being hosted by EC of Simple Indian Food.

MALPUA - SWEET PAN CAKES

2008-07-12T19:00:00.001-07:00

The famous malpua of pushkar is the signature of Rajasthani sweet dish. The delicious dish made of maida (refined flour) and milk melts in the mouth satisfying your sweet cravings.

INGREDIENTS

1 litre milk or 250 ml evaporated milk
4 table spoon maida (refined flour)
2 cup sugar
Saffron-few strands
Ghee for frying

METHOD

Boil milk in heavy bottomed broad pan on medium flame,stir continuously till it reduced to 1/4 quantity.
Add refined flour once the milk gets cool.Mix well and make a batter of pouring consistency like the thick ice cream shake. Keep it aside for 2-3 hours.
Dissolve saffron in a teaspoon of warm milk or you can put saffron in one table spoon of water and microwave it for 30 seconds, see the result strands will be double of there original size. Later add it to the sugar syrup.
In a pan add sugar and take enough water to soak sugar,boil it and make the sugar syrup of one string.To achieve this, keep boiling the syrup until a drop of syrup leaves one string between your thumb and finger.
Add saffron to the sugar syrup
Heat ghee in the shallow small frying pan.

Now pour some batter with the ladle to form a malpua.(approximately of the size of small pancake or poori) When you pore the batter in the center of pan, automatically it will take the shape of circle. Fry both the sides till it becomes light golden brown in color.
Soak the malpua in sugar syrup for 1 min,drain and serve hot.
you can serve malpua with some rabri and dry fruits on the top.

NOTE:

you can serve malpua with some rabri (thickened sweet cream) and dry fruits on the top.
Do not confuse evaporated milk with condensed milk its different.
If you are using evaporated milk add refined flour directly to the milk,no need of boiling.
If u reheat the malpua in microwave,do it for only 10 seconds.

AAL KE GATTE- Bottle Gourd Dumplings

2008-07-12T18:59:00.001-07:00

This recipe is known as muthia in Gujrat and in Rajasthan it is known as Aal Ke Gatte. Bottle Gourd is known as Aal in Rajasthan. My husband named it rajasthani manchurian. whats there in the name as long as it is yummy.

Ingredients:

For Dough

2 cup grated bottle guard
4 tablespoons whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta)
2 tablespoons Bengal gram flour (besan)
2 tablespoons semolina (rawa)
1/3 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon chilly powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 teaspoon soda-bi-carbonate
3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon ginger chopped
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
2 green chilly fine chopped
salt to taste

others-

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon chilly powder
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 onion chopped
1 small capsicum chopped /2 big green chilly
1 tomato chopped
coriander for garnishing
ghee or oil for tempering
salt to taste

METHOD

Squeeze the water out from bottle guard.
Mix all the ingredients to make a dough.
Apply little oil to hand and make cylindrical rolls.

Take some water in the pan, bring it to boiling point and immerse these rolls(gatte) in boiling water and boil for 10 minutes or steam them.

Cut the rolls into small pieces & keep aside.
Take little ghee or oil in the pan and heat it; add mustard seeds, When they start to crackle add ginger,garlic,onion .Fry it till it gets slight brown.
Add capsicum fry it for 2 min ,add tomato,fry one min add the small pieces of rolls. mix them well.
Garnish with coriander and serve hot.

NOTE-
To check whether the rolls are properly boiled or steamed, cut the roll if you see net like formation it is ready.

this is my entry to pooja's VoW-bottle gourd

Gatte ki Sabji

2008-06-26T11:59:00.001-07:00

Rajasthan Food is an experience to be cherished....

Rajasthan is a desert region. The use of milk, curd and buttermilk instead of the water in the gravy is the distinguished feature of Rajasthani cuisine. Due to the less cultivation of leafy green vegetables, lentils, and legumes, Gram flour,bajra ,corn and dried lentils, beans like ker and sangri are the major ingredients here.

The famous Rajasthani food is dal, bati and churma ( dal is lentils; bati is baked wheat ball; and churma is powdered sweetened cereal) and gatte ki sabji. Besides, each region is distinguished by its popular sweet like Mawa Kachori from Jodhpur, Malpuas from Pushkar, Rasagullas from Bikaner, Ghevar from Jaipur, Sohan Halwa from Ajmer, Mawa from Alwar and tilpapadi from Beawar etc. etc.

It is always a pleasure to present a recipe from your native place. The food which you relish the most. Will come up soon with more Rajasthani dishes.

Gatte Ki Sabji

(serves 2)

For Gatte

1 cup Besan (gram flour)
1/4 cup water or as required
1/2 tea spoon chilly powder
1/2 tea spoon salt
1/4 tea spoon turmeric powder
1/2 tea spoon ajwin (oregano)
1 tea spoon ginger garlic paste
1 table spoon oil

OTHERS:

3 cup water
1/2 cup curd
2 tea spoon Dhaniya powder
1 tea spoon red chilly powder
1/4 turmeric powder
salt as per taste
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 small onion chopped
2 tea spoon ginger garlic paste
1 green chilly chopped
1 stem curry leaves
cilantro/coriander for garnishing
2 table spoon oil

METHOD

For gatte,mix all the ingredients and make a stiff dough.
Make cylindrical rolls of the dough as shown in picture.
boil the water in pan. Put the rolls in the boiling water for 8-10 min.

Meanwhile in the curd add dhaniya,chilly,turmeric powder and salt.Beat it and keep aside.

Cut the rolls into small pieces. Keep the water aside.

For tempering. Heat the oil in a pan .Add cumin seeds, curry leaves, ginger garlic paste and green chilly.
Add onions,saute it.
Add curd.Cook for 4-5 min or till the curd leaves the oil.
Add gatte pieces and water.bring a boil and simmer the gas and cook for 5 more min.
Garnish it with cilantro.

Note:
In place of curd you can use 2 small size chopped tomatoes.
For garnishing you can use fresh or dried mint leaves too.

PAINTING

2008-06-22T19:29:00.001-07:00

Drawing and Painting are my hobbies. I like to try out my hand on various paintings.This was my first glass painting. I got this design pattern along with my glass painting color kit. For outlines, I used a liquid black colored lead. Nice news is, nowadays the lead comes in silver, gold and transparent hues. I will try to use one of these hues in one of my next paintings.

This is a glass painting done on 2mm thick glass sheet, inspired by a water color based painting in a magazine. What I like most in this painting is how the bold colors blend into each other like music coming out from different instruments.

Thai Vegetarian Red Curry

2008-06-22T18:39:00.001-07:00

Bored with routine dal chawal menu!! Try this to refresh your taste buds.

Ingredients:

1 lb Asian stir fry vegetables
1 can coconut milk
1 cup water
1 onion chopped
1 tea spoon garlic minced
1 tea spoon ginger minced
2 tablespoon Thai red curry powder
salt as per taste
2 tablespoon oil
Basil(Tulsi) leaves for garnishing.

Note:

In place of stir fry vegetables , you can use assorted 1 lb vegetables of your choice (capsicum, carrot, onion, broccoli, mushroom, snow pea, water chestnut & potato)

Method:

Heat the oil in the pan.
Add ginger, garlic and onion.Fry for 2 min.Add the vegetables.Fry it for 2-3 minutes.Keep it tender.
Add red curry paste.
Add coconut milk and one cup water
Bring to boil and simmer for 3-4 min.Cook it till you get the desired thick consistency.
Garnish it with basil leaves.
Serve hot with steamed rice.

Cooking in a Jiffy - Bread Poha

2008-06-21T20:09:00.001-07:00

Poha is a very well known snack from the Western part of India. Here I present a variation of it with bread. Read ahead for your taste buds !!

The following recipe serves 1.

Ingredients :

4 bread slices of any variety
1 potato medium size
1 onion medium size
1 tomato medium size
1 green chilly
1 tea spoon minced garlic
1/2 tea spoon minced ginger

For tempering :

2 table spoon oil
1/4 tea spoon mustard seeds
1/4 tea spoon turmeric
1/4 tea spoon red chilly powder(optional)
salt as per taste(keep in mind there is already salt in the bread)
coriander/cilantro for garnishing
Bhujia / Sev for garnishing.

Method

Cut bread into small square pieces.
Cut potato,tomato,onion,green chilly into small pieces.
Heat oil in the pan,add mustard seeds.
Add onion,potato, green chilly,ginger and garlic saute it for for 2-3 min.
Add spices and tomato stir it for minute.
Add bread pieces,mix it with vegetables for a minute.
Take it in serving dish and garnish with cilantro and bhujia.

NOTE
U can make Upma wth the same recipe. For upma in the end add 1/2 cup water,mix it well,put the lid of pan and cook more for 2 min.

Go ahead and feast to a tasty snack !!

First Post !!

2008-06-21T19:53:00.001-07:00

As I step into the world of blogging, I would like to take this opportunity and wish that whoever stumbles upon my blog leaves with a happy thought or a recipe in their minds. . . .

Manisha