SABUDANA / SAGO KHEER

Ingredients :-

• 1 cup sago
• 500 ml milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 3-4 cardamom pods
• 1/2 cup cashews, raisins and almonds

Preparation:-

• Soak the sago in lukewarm water. Remove excess water and leave the sago aside to soften.
• Bring the milk to boil. Add sugar and after it dissolves, add the softened sago and all the cashews, raisins and almonds. 
• Crush the cardamom pods and add them to the kheer.
• Keep the kheer on a low flame till it thickens a little. 
• Serve hot as dessert. 

PALAK KE PARATHE / SPINACH PARATHAS

Ingredients :-

• around 200-300 gms of spinach leaves
• 2 1/2 bowls of wheat flour
• 1 cup of chickpea flour
• 4-5 garlic petals
• an inch long piece of ginger
• 3-4 green chillies
• salt
• coriander leaves
• coriander seed powder
• oil/ butter

Method :-

• Clean and remove the stalks from the spinach leaves. Blanch the leaves and puree them once they have cooled down.
• crush the garlic, ginger, coriander leaves and chilies together.
• In a large bowl, mix both the flours, the crushed ingredients, 1 tablespoon of coriander seed powder, salt, and the spinach puree.
• Knead it into a dough. Add water if needed.
• Roll out the parathas and roast on a hot skillet or a flat pan.
• Smear oil or butter on both sides of a paratha and serve hot with yogurt or pickles.

ONION PAKORAS/ KANDYACHI BHAJI

 Ingredients :-

• 2 large onions
• 1 & 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• 2 green chillies
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• salt
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• coriander
• 1 tablespoon carom / thymol seeds
• oil (to fry)

Preparation :-

• To the chick pea flour, add sliced onions, chopped coriander, paprika, turmeric, carom seeds, chopped green chillies, and salt to taste. Add a little water and mix it all together as a batter.
• Heat oil in a wok. Deep fry dollops of this batter until golden brown.
• Serve hot with hot n sweet ketchup or pudina chutney. 

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Ingredients:-

• 1 & 1/2  cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar

For Chocolate ganache frosting:-

• 1 cup Belgian dark chocolate
• 3-4 tablespoon fresh cream
• 1 tablespoon butter

Preparation:-

• Beat 2 eggs in a bowl until they are light and fluffy. Add the softened butter and sugar gradually while still beating the mixture together.
• Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into this mixture and fold it in. If the mixture is very thick then add a little water.
• Pour into cupcake molds and bake in a preheated oven for 30 mins at 180 degrees.
• After 30 mins check with a knife if they are done. If no batter sticks to the knife then the cupcakes are ready.
• Let them cool before decorating them.  
• For the ganache, melt the chocolate, cream and butter together in a double boiler. Let it cool and then spread it on the cupcakes.
• Decorate with sprinkles and serve. 

METHI KE PARATHE/ FENUGREEK PARATHAS

Ingredients :-

•  fresh methi/ fenugreek leaves
• 1 1/2 cup dahi/yogurt
• 2 - 3 cups wheat flour
• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 5-6 garlic petals
• salt
• paprika
• turmeric powder
• oil

Method :-

• Mix together the wheat flour and chickpea flour. Add a tablespoon of paprika, a pinch of turmeric and salt to taste. Add the yogurt, fenugreek leaves and crushed garlic. Then knead it into a firm dough. Add water if needed.
• Take small parts of this dough and roll out the parathas.
• Roast on a skillet or a tawa, smearing a tiny amount of oil on each side while doing so. 
• Serve hot with dahi or pickle or chchunda. 

ANDA BHURJI

 

Ingredients :-

• 4 eggs
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 2-3 green chillies
• turmeric powder
• salt
• oil

Preparation :-

• Heat oil in a pan. Saute chopped onions and green chillies till the onions change colour. 
• Add tomatoes and saute until they are completely cooked. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and salt to taste.
• Break the eggs into the pan and keep stirring and scrambling them till they are done.
• Serve hot with bread.

DEEP FRIED CHICKEN

Ingredients:-

• 200 gms boneless chicken pieces
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• salt
• black pepper powder
• paprika
• flour
• bread crumbs 
• 1 egg
• oil

Preparation:-

• Beat an egg with some salt, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste, 1/2 cup yogurt and some black pepper powder. Let it marinate for a couple of hours.
• After marinating, remove any excess water from the chicken and dust it with plain flour.
• Mix a teaspoon of black pepper powder and salt to taste with the bread crumbs. Roll the pieces of chicken in these breadcrumbs and deep fry till golden brown.
• Serve hot with coleslaw and various kinds of dip.

DEAR READER..

Back online after a long time!! I can see many people have been visiting the blog even though it hasn't been updated for quit a while.To them i say thank you! :)
 I have been told that the recipes on my blog are way too simple and plain. Let me tell you the reason behind it.
First of all, i started this blog because a lot of my friends ask me to cook for them frequently. Most of them can hardly even boil an egg. This blog is for people like my friends. I do hope some of my readers have, in fact, found it useful.
Secondly, I'm a student and so, my kitchen has limited, bare minimum resources. Working on that! ;)
I do, however, promise regular updates of really good, tried and tasted recipes.
Keep coming back!
  

THAI-STYLE STIR FRIED CHICKEN

Ingredients:-

·        500gms boneless chicken

·        1 yellow bell pepper

·        1 red bell pepper

·        Fresh basil leaves

·        5-6 cloves of garlic

·        Olive oil

·        Soy sauce

·        1 tamarind

·        Jaggery

·         3 dates

·        Salt

·        Black pepper

·        Vegetable broth

Preparation:-

·        Soak tamarind and dates in half a cup water for 2 hours. When it softens, separate the pulp from the seeds. Crush it and mix a spoonful of jaggery and dissolve it in the water.

·        Heat olive oil in a pan and add finely chopped garlic to it. When the garlic begins changing colour add the chicken. Toss it around in the pan over a high flame for a good 5-6 minutes.

·        When the chicken has changed colour, add a tablespoon of the tamarind-date sauce, 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce, salt and ground black pepper. Toss it around and coat the chicken with all of it.

·        Add finely chopped bell peppers, crushed basil leaves and a ladle of vegetable broth. Let it bubble on a high flame for a minute.

·        Serve hot with steamed rice.

PANEER MOMOS

Ingredients:-

·        100-200gms all purpose flour

·        Salt

·        Ground pepper

·        100gms paneer

·        1 onion

·        Coriander

·        ginger-garlic paste

·        2-3 chillies

·        Soy sauce

Preparation:-

·        For the vegetable broth, boil ½ onions finely chopped, 2 chopped chillies, ½ tablespoon ginger-garlic paste, finely chopped coriander, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and some salt.

·        For the filling, grate the paneer

·        To the grated paneer, add 2 finely chopped chillies, finely chopped coriander, ½ tablespoon ginger-garlic paste, ½ onion finely chopped, a tablespoon of broth and salt. Mix it together.

·        For the outer covering, add salt and a pinch of ground pepper and with water knead it into dough.

·        Roll out the dough into small circles. Place the filling at the centre and press together the sides of the circle like a dumpling. Make as many of these as possible. Be generous with the filling.

·        Steam the momos for 5-7 minutes.

·        Serve with warm broth. Momos are dunked in the broth then eaten.

Note: - To make sure the momos don’t stick to the bottom of the steamer, lay down lettuce leaves in it and place the momos on these leaves.    

SABUDANA WADA/ FRIED SAGO CUTLETS

Ingredients:-

·        250gms sago

·        3-4 chillies

·        2-3 large potatoes

·        Coriander

·        ½ inch piece of ginger

·         Roasted peanuts

·        Salt

·        Oil

Preparation:-

·        Wash the sago and leave it aside for an hour or two. It will be softer at the end of it.

·        Boil the potatoes and grind the chillies and ginger together.

·         Add this to sago and mix it like dough.

·        Roughly crush the roasted peanuts, coriander and salt and fold them in the mixture.

·        If it seems like the potatoes are not binding the mixture together, then add a little flour.

·        Make bite sized patties and deep fry them in oil or vanaspati ghee till golden brown. Strain on a kitchen towel or dab with paper towels to remove excess oil.

·        Serve hot with yoghurt/dahi. 

TEA / CHAI

Chai or tea is an essential part of any Indian's day. India has many beautiful and picturesque tea gardens. Chai is very easy to make and can be made with various spices too. A steaming cup of tea and a hot plate of pakoras is heaven on a rainy evening.

Ingredients:-

·        Tea powder

·        Sugar

·        ½ cup milk

·        ½ cup water

Preparation:-

·        Boil the water with 1 ½ teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of tea powder.

·        When the water boils add ½ cup of milk.

·        Bring it to a boil and strain in a cup.

·        Serve hot.

To make ginger tea, add grated ginger to the water as it boils and add milk.

Same goes for cinnamon or cardamom tea.

BANANA CARAMEL SAUCE FOR PANCAKES

Ingredients:-

·        Three bananas

·        1 cup sugar

·        2/3 cup fresh cream

·        1/3 cup milk

Preparation:-

·        In a small pot, pour all the sugar and a little bit of water. The sugar should not be immersed in water but it should just be wet.

·        Heat it on a low flame till all the sugar melts and the mix starts boiling.

·        Boil this sugar syrup till it caramelizes or changes colour to dark golden brown.

·        Once it is brown, add the cream and milk to mixture.

·        The sugar will instantly crystallize but keep on stirring till it dissolves and the whole mixture is rich golden brown syrup.

·         Make sure to do all this on a low flame otherwise the sugar will burn.

·        Take the pot off the stove and add sliced bananas to it.

·        Fold in the bananas and serve this sauce on pancakes.

MASHED POTATOES WITH KALA MASALA

Ingredients:-

·        4 potatoes

·        1 onion

·        coriander

·        Kala masala

·        Salt

·        Oil

Preparation:-

·        Boil the potatoes till they are completely cooked.

·        Peel and mash them. It’s ok if they are a little lumpy.

·        Add 1 chopped onion, chopped coriander, 1 teaspoon kala masala and salt to taste.

·        Drizzle oil and mix it all together.

·        Serve with chapatti or dal-rice. 

ONION UTTAPA/ UTTAPPAM

Ingredients:-

·        Parboiled rice and urad dal batter (like idli batter)

·        Salt

·        1 onion

·        2-3 green chillies

·        Finely chopped coriander

·        Oil

Preparation:-

·        Mix salt to taste with a large bowl full of batter.

·        Add 1 chopped onion, 2-3 chopped chillies and finely chopped coriander to the batter and mix it.

·        On a hot skillet, pour 2 teaspoon oil. Ladle out the batter on this skillet in a circle. Cook on a medium flame for 3-4 minutes on each side.

·        Serve hot with chutney and sambar.

GREEN CHUTNEY

Ingredients:-

·        Green chillies

·        Coriander

·        Coconut

·        Salt

·        Cumin seeds

·        Sugar

·        Oil/ghee

·        Asafoetida

·        Yogurt

Preparation:-

·        Grind together 4-5 green chillies, a bunch of coriander, 8-9 2 inch pieces of coconut, salt, a little sugar and half teaspoon cumin seeds into a fine paste. Add water if needed.

·        Add 2 tablespoons of yogurt to this chutney.

·         In a small pot heat a couple of tablespoons of ghee or oil. Add half teaspoon cumin seeds and a pinch of asafoetida. Pour this tadka over the chutney and mix it.

·        Chutney is served with a variety of snacks like idli, dhokla, samosa, uttapa, etc.

IDLI

Ingredients:-

·        Parboiled rice

·        Black bean dal/urad dal

·        Salt

Preparation:-

·        The proportion of the rice and urad dal for idli batter should be 2:1.Take two large bowls full of the parboiled rice and 1 bowl full of urad dal.

·        Wash the rice and dal separately and immerse in water completely. Soak overnight.

·        Grind the soaked parboiled rice and urad dal into a fine paste. Add water if needed. Mix them both and leave for 3-4 hours to ferment.

·        To make idlis, oil the bottom of idli moulds. Mix salt to taste in the fermented batter (add water if needed) and ladle out the batter into the moulds. Fill water in a boiler and place the moulds in it. Steam for 15 minutes.

·        To check if the idlis are done, sink the tip of a knife in one of them. If no batter sticks to the knife the idlis are ready.

·        Serve with chutney and sambar.

GULABJAMUN

Ingredients:-

·        250gms khoya/khawa

·        1 small bowl(wati) rawa/suji (50-70gms)

·        1 teaspoon baking soda

·        200gms ghee (clarified butter)

·        Sugar

·        Silver leaf/varkh

·        Almond shavings

Preparation:-

·        Mix together khoya/khawa, suji/rawa and baking soda. Leave to rest for 15-20 minutes.

·        Take small portions this dough at a time and rub it with the lower part of your palm on the counter or a plain surface to remove any lumps or grains. Repeat this process for all of the dough. It should feel lighter and fluffier when you are done.

·        Roll the dough into small round balls of 2 inch diameter.

·        Heat ghee in a wok. Fry the dough balls in the ghee till they turn dark brown.

·        For the sugar syrup, take 200-300gms of sugar and mix it with equal amount of water. Bring it to a boil and check with a spoon if forms strings. Add a few twigs of saffron if you like.

·        Immerse the fried gulabjamun in the sugar syrup for at least an hour.

·        Decorate with varkh/silver leaf and almond shavings.

·        Serve as dessert.

CAULIFLOWER RICE

Ingredients:-

·        250gms rice

·        250gms cauliflower

·        Garlic

·        Ginger

·        Dried coconut

·        Salt

·        Turmeric

·        Ghee (clarified butter)

·        Mustard seeds

·        Dahi/yogurt

·        coriander

Spices-

·        1 teaspoon black cumin seeds (shah jeera)

·        1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)

·        2-3 inch long pieces of dalchini/ cinnamon

·        2-3 black cardamom pods

·        2-3 green cardamom pods

·        2 teaspoon coriander seeds

·        4 cloves

·        1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Preparation:-

·        Clean and wash the rice grains. Heat 2-3 teaspoons of ghee in a pot. Add the rice grains to the pot and keep on stirring so that they don’t burn for stick to the bottom. Do this for 2-3 minutes, then add enough water to immerse the rice. Add salt to taste and bring it to boil and lower the flame. Add water if needed Cook with a lid on till the rice is just cooked. There should be a little resistance when you press a grain with your fingers.

·        Roast all the spices in a pan for a minute. Grind them into a fine powder.

·        Clean and cut the cauliflower into bite sized florets.

·        Use 3-4 cloves of garlic, 2 inch piece of ginger and 2 inch piece of dried coconut and make a paste.

·        Heat ghee in a pan. Add 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds and let them crackle.

·        Add the ginger-garlic-coconut paste to the hot ghee and stir till it turns golden brown. Put the cauliflower florets in and add 1 -1 ½ teaspoon of the powdered spices, ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder and salt to taste.

·        Add a half a cup of water so the cauliflower cooks nicely without burning. In the end put in finely chopped coriander and cook with a lid on. The cauliflower should be perfectly cooked. It takes about 10-15 minutes on a low flame.

·        Now, spread ghee at the bottom of a deep pot. Spoon in a layer of rice about an inch thick. On top of this layer spoon in the cauliflower and spread it evenly. Put some dollops of ghee and dahi/ yogurt over this layer. Again top the cauliflower with a layer of rice. Repeat this process to use all the rice and cauliflower. Put the pot on the stove with a lid on.

·        Keep for 3-4 minutes on a low flame.

·        Garnish with coriander and coconut and serve hot.