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.

sorry reader!! beginner's mistake..in some posts I have written 'tablespoon' instead of 'teaspoon'...I do intend to correct it ASAP..bear with me!!! I hope if anyone of you did try my recipes, you used a fair amount of ingredients and it turned out well! 

MASALA BHINDI/ OKRA/ LADY'S FINGERS

Ingredients:-

·        500gms bhindi/okra/lady’s fingers

·        1 large onion

·        1-2 tomatoes

·        Garam masala

·        Oil

·        Salt

·        Turmeric powder

·        Paprika/ red chilli powder

·        Mustard seeds

·        Coriander

Preparation:-

·        Clean and cut the bhindi into long pieces of about 2-2 ½ inches. Make vertical cuts along these pieces but do not halve them.

·        Fry these pieces of bhindi in hot oil till they are cooked half way through. Keep them on a kitchen towel to drain off excess oil.

·        Heat 3-4 tablespoons of oil in a pot. Add mustard seeds and let them crackle.

·        Add chopped onion and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and sauté till they are completely cooked.

·        Put a pinch of turmeric powder, 1 tablespoon of garam masala and paprika each.

·        Add the fried bhindi/okra/lady’s fingers to the pot and add salt to taste.

·        Take the pot off the stove and add finely chopped coriander.

·        Serve hot with phulka/roti. 

PURI

Ingredients:-

·        Wheat flour

·        Salt

·        Oil

·        Ajwain/carom seeds

Preparation:-

·        To make the dough, take about two large bowls full of flour and make a well in the middle of it.

·        Warm 2-3 tablespoons of oil and pour it in the flour.

·         Add salt to taste and 1 tablespoon of ajwain/carom seeds.

·        Add enough water to mix it all together to make dough.

·        Take a small part of this dough and roll it out as thinly as possible (about 5 mm thickness or a little more should do it) into a circle the size of your palm.

·        Heat oil in a wok. Deep fry the puris until they are a deep golden brown. Make sure the oil is really hot before putting the puris in it. Otherwise the puris take longer to cook and do not stay soft.

·        Serve with curry.

MASALA RICE

In this recipe I have used plain rice from the night before.

Ingredients:-

       ·        100gms boiled/leftover rice

       ·        2-3 chillies/chilli powder/paprika

       ·        1 chopped onion

       ·        Oil

       ·        Mustard seeds

       ·        Salt

       ·        Turmeric powder

Preparation:-

            ·     Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let them crackle.

            ·     Add 1 chopped onion and sauté till it becomes translucent.

            ·  Add chopped chillies/paprika, turmeric powder and salt.

            ·  Add the boiled/leftover rice and stir till all of it turns yellow.

            ·   Serve hot.

SHIRA /SUJI KA HALWA

Ingredients:

• 50gms suji
• 50-60gms ghee(clarified butter)
• 40-50gms sugar
•  Milk
• Saffron
• 4-5 cashew nuts 

Preparation:-

•         Heat the ghee in a wok. When it is warm add suji, stirring continuously.
•         Cut the cashews in small pieces. When the suji turns golden brown, add them to the wok.
•         Little by little, add milk. The suji will cook in a matter of minutes and almost double in quantity(you can also use water instead of milk, esp. Diabetics)
•         Soak a few saffron twigs in 2-3 tablespoons of slightly warm milk or water for about 5 minutes. Add to the suji with milk.
•         When all the milk has been soaked into the suji, add sugar. Stir till it dissolves.
•         Serve hot as dessert.

KAIRICHI DAL

Ingredients:-

•         One large green/ raw mango(kairi)
•         50-100 gms of gram dal/chana dal
•         2-3 green chillies
•     coriander
•         A quarter inch of ginger
•         Salt
•         Sugar
•         Oil
•         1 teaspoon mustard seeds
•         1 teaspoon cumin seeds
•         2-3 curry leaves
•         Turmeric powder

Preparation:-

·        Soak the dal for at least 4 hours.

·        Peel the mango and grate it(you can leave the mango skin on if you like it)

·         Coarsely blend the soaked dal, grated kairi/mango, chillies, grated ginger, coriander, salt and a little sugar together. Make sure it does not become a paste.

·        In a small pot, heat oil. Add mustard, a pinch of turmeric and cumin seeds and let them crackle. Add curry leaves. Make sure the flame is low otherwise the tadka burns.

·        Pour this oil over the mixture and mix it properly.

·        Serve chilled with aam panna.

·        Kairichi dal is eaten 1 spoonful at a time. It can be served in a thali with chutneys. I also like to smear it on bread while making sandwiches like any other spread.

·        It has to be refrigerated. 

BATATYACHI BHAJI / ALU KI SABJI / SPICY POTATOES

Ingredients:-

·        4 large potatoes

·        3 roughly chopped red or green chillies

·        1 large chopped onion

·        Salt

·        1 tablespoon mustard seeds

·        1 tablespoon cumin seeds/jeera

·        Oil

·        Finely chopped coriander

·        Asafoetida

·        Turmeric powder

Preparation:-

·        Boil the potatoes until they are soft. Peel them and chop them roughly into pieces.

·        In a wok, heat oil. Add mustard and cumin seeds to it and let them crackle. Add a pinch of asafoetida. Make sure the flame is low otherwise asafoetida may burn.

·        Add the chopped onion and sauté till it changes colour.

·        Add chopped chillies and a pinch of turmeric powder.

·        Add the chopped potatoes and stir till they turn yellow.

·        Keep the lid on for about 2 minutes.

·        Garnish with the chopped coriander and serve hot with rotis or puris.