Authentic Vegetarian Recipes

Farari Chevdo/Chewdo (Hign Energy Potato Crisps and Nuts Mixture)

2012-02-27T12:44:00.001Z

There are lots of Indian dry snacks available in most supermarkets these days. Snacks such as Bombay Mix, Gujarat mix etc... Most of them have a variation of nuts and crisps as a base. Chevdo/chewdo is a Gujarati snack made usually during celebrations such as Diwali. There are lots of variations of chevdo/chewdo. One of my favourites is the Kenya chevdo has it's own unique taste.

Farari Chevdo/chewdo is mainly eaten(by hindus) during the days and months of fasting. On the days Hindus fast, there is a list of foods that they are “allowed” to eat. The list - often referred to as farari food - includes all the fruits and nuts, milk and milk products including yogurt. It also includes potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, tapiaco, ragigara flour etc…. In fact, the sumptuous delicacies you can eat in place of everyday food makes you feel that you are having a feast because of the variety you can make.

I like to make this Chevdo/chewdo for the fasting months but also all the year round as it has so many high energy nuts in it. It makes a nice snack to serve with drink too.

I have listed the ingredients I used. You can adjust them to your own taste and add more nuts or even raisins if you like them. I have also suggested some cheat ingredients - there is nothing wrong in accepting a bit of help at time!! The cheat ingredients will have salt in them so I suggest that you add no more salt to the chevdo if you are planning to adding these readycooked products to the chevdo/chewdo.

Ingredients ( this will make about a kilo of chevdo/chewdo)

Preparation required (about 30 minutes).
Cooking time 60 minutes.

6 Medium sized new potatoes (I used locally grown Charlotte potatoes)
1 cup peanuts
½ cup almond
½ cup cashews

The following cheat ingredients are optional:
1 large bag of ready cooked crisps( I used Kettle hand cooked crisps)
1 small bag ready chip sticks (I used a supermarket's own brand)
1 small bag of ready fried jumbo peanuts (I used a supermarket's own brand)
1 small bag of ready fried cashews. (I used a supermarket's own brand)

1-2 teaspoons ground sugar or sugar substitute such as Splenda/canderal etc...
2 teaspoons cloves and cinnamon powder (I ground it fresh using 1 part cloves to 2 parts cinnamon)
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
4-5 small sticks of cinnamon
5-6 cloves
3-4 chopped green chillies ( you can use more or less)
5-6 curry leaves (limdo)
2 tablespoons oil for tempering
1 litre oil for frying.

Method:

1. Peel and wash the potatoes. Grate them and soak them in cold water for as long as you can. if possible soak them overnight or at least but a minimum of 30 minutes. In my opinion the best potatoes to use for making crisps are new potatoes as they do not have too much starch.

2. Wash the grated potatoes two more times with cold water and then drain them using a colander and spread them on a clean dish cloth. Washing the grated potatoes removes the starch and the crisps won't go dark when frying them.

3. Heat the oil in a wok or karai.

4. To check if it's hot, drop a potato chip in the oil. If it rises quickly, then the oil is ready.

5. Pat the grated potatoes with the dishcloth and then drop a handful of the potatoes in the oil. Reduce the heat and allow them to cook. The potato crisps will float to the top when cooked. Allow them to cook until crispy. Once cooked, keep them in a dry bowl. I find it easier to cook a few crisps at a time in a metal sieve.

6. Once cooked, keep them in a dry bowl.

7. Next fry the peanuts, cashews and almonds. These cook very fast so don't leave for too long in the hot oil. Again- I fry them in the sieve so that it's easy to take them out quickly. In fact, they don't taste too bad if undercooked so just put them in the oil, turn once and remove them.

7. Now mix all the ingredients together. All the crisps and nuts you have fried together with the half ready made crisps and nuts. If you feel it needs more nuts or crisps - add more. This is all a matter of personal taste.

8. Now add spices to the mixture. My suggestion is to use the spices you enjoy. I didn't add any salt but added 1 teaspoon of white pepper, 2 teaspoons of the clove and cinnamon powder plus 1 tablespoon of sugar substitute. Taste the chevdo/chewdo and adjust it to how you like it.

9. Finally temper the chevdo (vaghar as the Gujarati's like to call it).

10. Take 2 tablespoons of oil and heat it in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon and cloves to the hot oil. Once the cloves pop, add the green chillies and curry leaves and allow them to cook for just a minute. Switch off the heat and spread this on to the chevdo mix.

11. Mix well and store it in an airtight cupboard. This should be fine for a couple of weeks.

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Rich and creamy vegetarian lasagna

2012-02-24T00:33:00.001Z

Lasagna is a dish I make regularly as it's a nice change from curry and rice. I usually make two small dishes of lasagna - one with vegetables and one with a mixture of Quorn mince and vegetables. My children love lasagna made with Quorn

Ingredients for 6 servings

Lasagna sheets - 9-10 lasagna sheets
2 cups of any frozen vegetables
1 onion
2 cups of passata
4 cloves of garlic -peeled and crushed
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
salt and pepper to taste
chopped green chillies -optional
3-4 cups of grated cheddar cheese
1 cup of ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon of dry herbs such as oregano or basil

For the White sauce:

1 oz butter
1 oz plain flour
1 pint milk
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1.   Warm up the olive oil and add the onions to the oil and cook for 2 -3 minutes.

2.    Add the frozen vegetables to the mixture and stir well so that they are coated with the oil

3.   Add the salt, pepper, garlic, green chillies to the sauce.

4.   Add the passata sauce to the onions.

5.   Lower the heat and let the mixture simmer.

6. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the ricotta cheese to the mixture and stir well.

Now prepare the White sauce:

7. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

8.    Add the flour and cook to form a roux.

9.    Add the nutmeg to the roux.

10. Take the saucepan off the heat and gradually stir in some of the milk. Whisk it to get a smooth sauce
.
11. Add in all the milk and return the saucepan to heat until it starts to boil

12. Add in the salt and pepper and half the cheese and stir.

13. Remove from heat.

Now prepare the lasagne sheets.

14. Boil some water in a large saucepan.

15. Put in the lasagna sheets a few at a time and allow them to cook for at least 3 minutes. I tend to par cook all lasagna  sheets even if the instructions on the box say that they don't need to be precooked.

Now prepare the lasagne:

16. Add a single layer of lasagna sheets at the bottom of a greased lasagne dish.

17. Cover this with a layer of the cooked vegetables.

18. Cover the vegetables with a layer of white sauce.

19. Repeat the layering again ending with the white sauce at the top.

20. Sprinkle the top layer with grated cheese.

21. Sprinkle the herbs on top of the cheese.

22. Cook this in the middle of the oven at 190 degrees for 25 -30 minutes. Check that the lasagna has cooked by pricking the middle with a knife.

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Cordia obliqua or clammy berries pickle (Gunda Keri nu Athanu)

2012-02-10T16:17:00.000Z

Indian Food is never complete unless it is accompanies by the extras like chatni, raita, papad, lassi etc. It’s believed that these foods help to balance the taste of food on your plate.

I often make fresh pickle by adding basic spice mixture to fresh chillies, carrots, mangoes or gunda (called Bird Lime, Cordia obliqua or clammy berries in English.

This Gunda and Mango (keri) pickle is quick to make and tastes great with any meal. Gundas are sold at most Indian grocers and are seasonal so only available at certain times of the year. When buying gunda, make sure you pick the fresh green ones which are not bruised. For mangoes too – buy the raw mangoes sold specifically for making pickles. Gunda is a kind of a berry with a very sticky stone in the middle.

You can buy ready made spice mixture in the Indian grocery stores. However, I feel that mixing and grinding your own spice mixture always tastes great as it’s freshly made.

Ingredients

15-20 fresh gunda
1 raw mango
3 tablespoons coarsely ground mustard seeds
1 tablespoon fenugreek (optional as some people find that it makes the pickle taste slightly bitter)

½ cup of cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)
2 teaspoons tumeric powder 1 teaspoons salt (you can add a bit more if you like more salt).
2 teaspoons of salt for cleaning your hands.

Method

1. Transfer the mustard seeds and (fenugreek if you are adding it) to a mixing bowl and add the salt and turmeric to the mixture.

2. Heat the oil in a saucepan , until it reaches a smoking point, and allow to cool. Once lukewarm, pour about 3-4 tablespoons over the mixture of spices. The texture of the pickle mixture should not be too runny.

3. Mix all the spices with a spoon and alow it to cool.

4. Whilst the oil is cooling, prepare the Gunda and mango.

5. Remove all the stalks and wash the gunda and keri.

6. Dry the Gunda and Mango using a kitchen paper.

7. Dice the mango into cubes and keep aside.

8. As mentioned above, Gunda is a kind of a berry with a very sticky stone in the middle.

Traditionally, gundas used to be cut by hitting a pestle on the gunda and splitting it halfway and removing the stone. I tend to cut the gunda in half and remove the stone using a knife dipped in salt. Salt helps to remove the stickiness so after cutting a few gundas, just dip your fingers in salt and rub them together before rinsing them under water. (You can use gloveswhen cutting the gundas if you like) Once all the Gundas are halved – add them to the pickle mixture and mix well.

9. Now add the diced raw mangoes to the pickle mixture and stir well.

10. Transfer this pickle to an airtight bottle and add the remaining oil to the pickle.

11. Leave this bottle in a cool place for a week. The salt in the pickle mixture may produce some liquid but that's fine. The salt will also have helped take away the stickiness of the gundas.

12. After a week, shake the pickle bottle so that the spices are all mixed with the gunda and mango.

13. You can start eating your pickle after a week. To keep it fresh, keep the pickle in the fridge and it should be fine up to a month.

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White Cabbage and fresh Green chillies Salad (sambharo)

2012-02-07T15:50:00.000Z

Sambharo is rather like a spicy cooked salad always served up as a condiment to a main meal. It's usually made with carrots, white cabbage, raw mangoes, raw papaya and hot green chillies - stir fried in oil, mustard seeds and turmeric. It can be served hot or cold. This kind of a salad is my favourite and any leftovers are used as sandwich fillers for my lunch. A lot of Indian takeaways serve a small portion of sambharo with ganthia. Most gujarati thali's will have a serving of sambharo. Sambharo is always made hot and spicy and served in a very small portion as it's usually served to give the main meal a hot spicy taste. This is a simple version of the sambharo and it tastes great too.

Ingredients

4 cups white Cabbage -shredded finely

8-10 small hot green chillies (you can use peppers or jalapenos)

1 tablespoon sunflower oil (or any cooking oil)

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teasppon salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)

1 tablespoon lemon

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan.

2. Add the Mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds stop popping, add the cabbage.

3. Stir fry the cabbage and allow it to be coated with the oil.

4. Add the salt, turmeric and sugar (or not).

5. Stir the cabbage and do not cover it with a lid as the cabbage should remine slightly el dante.

6. Add the lemon, stir and transfer the sambharo to a serving dish.

7 . You never add garlic or ginger or chilly powder to this dish. Nor do you serve it with any garnishings such as coriander.

8. You usually serve it as an extra with your main course or with certain Indian snacks such as lamba gathia.

9. It's such a tasty dish that you would be forgiven for eating it as a sandwich filling.

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Bateta Pawa (Potatoes and flaked rice snack)

2012-02-06T17:54:00.001Z

Bateta Pawa is a typical dish served in Gujarat India for breakfast. This is a great dish to make as a snack but also works a treat if you have unexpected guests. This one was made with potatoes, flaked rice and nuts. I have never seen this in a restaurant menu but I wouldn't be surprised if they served this dish in some Gujarati restaurants in India or UK.

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 medium potatoes washed and chopped in very small cubes

1 medium red onion chopped in small cubes

1 cups of pawa ( flaked rice)

2 small green chillies (chopped finely) (reduce to half or one if you are not keen on hot food.

1 cup of a mixture of cashew nuts, almonds and peanuts

1 teaspoon salt

half teasppon turmeric

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

some coriander and chilly powder for garnishing

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds or cumin seeds

a few curry leaves or coriander for garnishing (Optional)

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add mustard seeds to it. Add the curry leaves if you have some.

2. Once the popping stops, add the nuts and stir them in the oil.

3. Allow the nuts to be coated with the oil and cook for a minute or two. The fried nuts will taste great.

4. Now add the onions and green chillies.

4. Add the salt, turmeric and sugar.

5. Cook the onions for a couple of minutes.

6. Now add the diced potatoes.

5. Mix well, spinkle a couple of teaspoons of water and allow this to cook on a low heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until the potatoes feel fairly soft but not overcooked.

6. In the meantime, wash the flaked rice in cold water and drain them in a sieve.

7. Once the potatoes feel soft, add the flaked rice to the mixture.

8. Add the lemon juice, stir well and allow to cook gently for 5 to7 minutes. Taste and add more salt or lemon if desired.

9. Once cooked add the coriander and using a fork, fluff up the bateta pawa.

10. Remove into a serving dish. Sprinkle some chilly powder (or pepper) on top of the bateta pawa and serve hot with yoghurt.

11. You can add sweet corn to this dish and make bateta makai pawa too

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Khasta Kachori (lentil filled pastry topped with onions and chutney)

2012-01-12T21:49:00.000Z

This Christmas my sons gave me some really thoughtful gifts – some of which took me by surprise.

The gift I really enjoyed and am still enjoying is a cookery book called “Hansa’s –more than just a restaurant, it’s my life “- written by Hansa Dhabi the owner of Hansa’s restaurant in Leeds, UK. The book takes you through her life’s journey and also shares with the reader- some of her recipes. My sons said that they hoped that this book would inspire me to publish a book of my recipes. Only time will tell if I can achieve that ambition. At the moment, I am having fun trying out new recipes – one of which was for Khasta Kachoris.

I made these kachoris as a starter for my New Year’s party and served them in Hansa’s restaurant style. I made some changes to the recipe but I don’t think it made any changes to the taste of the dish. They went down a treat with everyone.

Hot and spicy kachoris are one of my favourite snacks. Kachoris can be made with lots of different fillings but I usually make them with mung dall. Hansa’s recipe uses mung dall which is soaked and ground but I decided to make them with a variety of mung dalls and frozen peas and not grind the filling.

Ingredients for making 15 large or 25 small kachoris:

Time 60 minutes.

½ cup of dehusked split mung beans

½ cup of a mixture split but husked mung beans

1 cup of frozen peas

1 medium onion

Fresh green coriander

A tablespoon of mixed garlic and ginger paste

2 to 3 green chillies – depends on how hot you like your food!

1.5 litres cooking oil: you will need some for the lentil mixture, some for the dough and some for frying.

2 cups of plain flour for making the kachori's outer covering

1 teaspoons of dry cumin

2 or 3 sticks of cinnamon

3 or 4 cloves

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon chilly powder or pepper if you like mild food.

1 -2 teaspoons sugar (optional) – I like my kachoris to have a sweet and sour type of taste.

1 -2 tablespoons lemon – again adjust this after tasting the kachori mixture.

1-2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon and cloves mixture (optional)

For serving:

2 cups of sev (recipe here) This is readily available in most supermarkets & Indian grocery stores

1 cup of chevdo (recipe here)(optional) This is readily available in most supermarkets & Indian grocery stores

1 medium onion cut finely

½ cup of green chutney (recipe here)

½ cup of tamarind sauce ( I used Maggie’s tamarind sauce which is available in most supermarkets & Indian grocery stores)

½ cup of Red chilly sauce( I used Maggie’s red chilly sauce which is available in most supermarkets & Indian grocery stores)

Method

1. Wash the two mung dalls and allow to soak for at least 30 minutes (or longer if possible).

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and add in the dry cumin, cloves and cinnamon

3. Strain the lentils and add them to the oil - I usually use a long slotted spoon to gently add the lentils to the hot oil. Whilst straining the dall, don’t worry if it’s not too dry as this will give some moisture to cook the lentil mixture.

4. Add the salt, sugar, chilly powder, ginger and garlic paste.

5. Stir and allow to cook gently for 5 to 6 minutes.

6. Add in the frozen peas and allow to cook for further 5 minutes.

7. As I didn’t want to add water to my mixture, I transferred my kachori mixture to the microwave for 6 minutes, checked it, stirred it and cooked it for a further 5 minutes.The lentils need to be cooked completely so do sprinkle a tablespoon or two of water if you feel it needs it.

8. Once the mixture is cooked, add the lemon juice to it, add the ground cinnamon and cloves mixture to it.

9. Cut the coriander, green chillies and onions finely and add to the kachori mixture together and mix well.

10. Cook it for a couple of minutes in the microwave and transfer it to a mixing bowl.

TIP: If for some reason, the lentils are cooked and you have added too much water - allow the water to evaporate. You can add a couple of tablespoon's of potato mash to soak up the extra moisture. Also taste the mixture and make adjustments.

11. Spread the mixture to enable it to cool.

12. In the meantime, prepare the dough.

13. Sieve the dough and add in 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. Adding the bit of extra oil to the dough helps to make the outer pastry crisp but nice and flaky too.

14. Using warm water ( I needed a little over half a cup), mix and prepare the dough.. The dough should be pliable and not be too firm.

15. Cover and allow the dough to rest.

16. Now back to the kachori filling- Divide the filling into 15 or 25 small balls. For parties, I would suggest making small kachoris.

17. Mix the dough and divide it into a similar number.

17. Now take a small amount of dough and roll it out in a small circle.

18. Flatten the kachori filling in the middle of the circle.

19. Picking the edge of the circle, try and join all the edges together to form a ball. I tend to go round the circle joining up small bits of the outer circle.

20. The ball should be sealed from all sides or the mixture will leak out when frying.

21. Now dust your work top with some plain flour and using your fingers press the kachori into a round puri shape. You can also use a rolling pin if you find this easier.

22. Heat the oil . Drop a small tiny piece of dough into the oil. If it rises up, the oil is ready for frying. Lower the heat and add the kachoris to the oil, and allow them to cook slowly. Tap them gently with a slotted spoon or a skimmer and they should puff up. Cook them until they are crispy and and golden brown.

23. To serve the khasta kachori, take one kachori at a time, open the top layer by cutting a square on the kachori.

24. Spread some green chutney on the kachori and sprinkle some sev on this.

25. Add some onions, topped up by tamarind sauce and chilly sauce and finishing with more onions and a chevda topping. The sweet and sour taste with all the crunchy toppings was perfect for us.

26. Our guests loved topping up their kachoris according to their taste. Some guests even added yogurt to their topping so I hope that you too will try different toppings to pick the best taste for you.

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Friends United (Meri Dosti Mera Pyar)

2011-12-22T10:02:00.000Z

Have you heard of the saying - You can choose your friends but not your relations? Well - I'll say no more. A number of my friends, who started off as colleagues are now part of my extended family. We enjoy each other's company so much that we usually get together once or twice a year.

We got together a couple of weeks at my place where they got to sample some of my cooking. At these parties we have fun catching up on any gossip, any new additions to the family and also talking about the “good old days”. I love meeting my friends and we never seem to tire of each other's company.

We have started referring to these events as “XXXX Magic” and one of them made and decorated this wonderful cake for the day.

I took a lot of photographs on the day but also forgot to take some as I got busy and distracted at time. Most recipes are on my blog and some need to be written.

I hope that the menu for the day will inspire some of you to try the recipes.

My menu was as follows:

Starters-

Papadums — with choice of Mango Dip, Raita, Green Chutney, Salsa

Punjabi Samosas made with peas and potatoes

Spring rolls — Made from moong sprouts, potatoes, carrots and capsicum

Curries

I made sweet corn curry with kidney beans and cooked it with peanuts in coconut milk.

At the suggestion of my younger son - I made mattar paneer in spicy punjabi style gravy.

I also made moglai potatoes in spicy yoghurt gravy with onions.

For the breads I made masala puris and Garlic & Herb Naans

For the rice dish I chose to make saffron rice garnished with Butter, cardamoms and saffron.

Desserts

We had Fulkhaja/Baklava (Ready made). These are very sweet puff pastries with honey nut fillings.

I made the carrot halwa.

Several friends brought various desserts too. Too much temptation here with music, masti and maja.

We finished the meal with Tea/Coffee & Cookies.

I really had fun planning the menu and then cooking the food. Most of all I loved entertaining my friends and can't wait for the next get together.

The food tasted delicious and I think my friends loved the food too as they were happy to take some of the leftovers home.

I wanted t capture that moment and also share the menu ideas hoping that some of you may like to copy my menu suggestions when entertaining over the Christmas holidays.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year friends. Have fun with your loved ones and be safe.

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Malai Kofta Curry (vegetable balls in thick gravy)

2011-12-18T16:28:00.000Z

Before I got interested in cooking, I used to order malai kofta curry whenever we ate out as I used to think that this must be a very complicated dish to make. But believe me it's not!! It's a fantastic dish to make as it's rich and spicy but also contains loads of vegetables. This recipe is dedicated to Tarlaben who emailed me to let me know that she liked following my recipes and asked me if I had a recipe for kofta curry. Tarlaben - thank you very much for your email and here's my easy to follow recipe for malai kofta curry.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

Ingredients for the koftas:

2 cups of any mixed vegetables - (I used frozen carrots, cauliflower, green beans and peas)

1 cup of diced potatoes ( I used small new potatoes)

small bunch of fenugreek or spinach (what ever is available)

1-2 cups of bread crumbs

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon chilly powder

½ teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon blended green chillies

1 teaspoon blended garlic

1 teaspoon blended ginger

1 teaspoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon garam masala
1 litre oil for frying (I used sunflower oil)

Ingredients for the gravy

2 cups of blended tomatoes ( I used Passata as it helps to make a thick gravy)
2-3 small onions
2-3 spoons of melted butter

½ teaspoon of cumin seeds

2-3 cloves

1-2 small sticks of cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon chilly powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon blended green chillies
1 teaspoon blended garlic
1 teaspoon blended ginger

½ teaspoon of garam masala

½ teaspoon of mixture of ground cinnamon and cloves

2 teaspoons of lemonjuice

2-3 teaspoons of jaggery (or sugar)

1 cup of cream - (I used double cream)

½ cup of cashew nuts

2 teaspoons of corn flour (or you can use chick pea flour)

Method:

1. Mix the frozen vegetables, fenugreek and potatoes and cook them until soft. I washed and drained the vegetables and microwaved them for 5 minutes and again 5 more minutes. The time would depend on the size of your microwave.

2. When the vegetables have softened, blend them either by using a masher or a food proccessor.

3. Add the spices - salt, chilly powder, turmeric, blended green chillies, ginger, garlic, garam masala, lemon juice and mix.

4. Now add the bread crumbs slowly until the mixture feels firm enough to make into small balls. You should get 15-16 kofta balls.

5. Deep fry the kofta balls. To stop the kofta balls from being stucky -the best way is to either coat your hands with some oil when forming the balls or you can dip your hands in some breadcrumbs. I tried both ways and it worked fine and the koftas fried well without breaking. In the picture below, the koftas on the left were coated with breadcrumbs and the ones on the right with oil.

6. Now to make the gravy - Blend the tomatoes, onions and cashews in a blender .

7. Heat the butter and add in the cumin seeds, cloves and cinnamon.

8. When the cumin seeds get darker - add in the blended tomatoes.

9. Add the spices, salt, chilly powder, turmeric, blended green chillies, garlic and ginger, garam masala, ground cinnamon and cloves, lemon juice and jaggery.

10. Add two cups of water to the gravy.

11. When this gravy starts to boil, lower the heat and add in the corn flour.

12. Allow the gravy to cook for 5-6 minutes and add in the double cream (saving a bit for the garnishing) and stir well.

13. Transfer the Koftas to a serving dish and pour the gravy over the koftas

14. Garnish the kofta curry with some cream and cashew nuts.

15. Allow the koftas to soak up all the gravy spices for half an hour and serve hot with rice. Be gentle when serving as you don't want to break any of the koftas.

My recipe has been simplified to make cooking easy but fun for people who are busy but like to eat at home without having to follow complicated recipes. Please experiment with different vegetables and your favourite spices to make your own version of kofta curry.

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Chilly Bhajia - March na bhajia

2011-11-17T15:59:00.001Z

These chilly bhajias (marcha na bhajia) can be as hot or as mild as you like them by choosing the right chillies. You can choose the Thai sweet chillies or the Indian hot chillies depending on your mood.

They are simple, easy and very quick to make. They make a great snack but also good for starters as long as you make a variety of bhajias. I tend to make a mixture of crispy potato bhajias, onion bhajias and chilly bhajias.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

10-12 large green chillies
2 cup chick pea flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ajwain (Carom seeds)
1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
Pinch of turmeric
Pinch of soda bicarbonate

Method:

1. Cut and slice the chillies. Deseed them and wash and dry them on a kitchen paper. You can leave them whole as long as you prick them or they may pop when frying. Also leaving the seeds in the chilly may make them too hot.

2. Mix the salt, pepper, ajwain and turmeric with the chick pea flour.

3. Add a quarter cup of water to this mixture and stir it well. The bhajia batter should be thick at this stage. You can always add more water if you feel that the batter is too thick.

4. Keep this mixture aside 30 minutes.

5. Start to heat some oil in a wok. Turn the heat high, once the oil has heated, lower the heat. Check that the oil is hot by dropping a couple of drops of the batter in oil. If the batter rises quickly, the oil is ready.

6. Add the bicarbonate of soda, together with a teaspoon of hot oil from the wok to the batter and stir well. If the batter feels too thick – you can add a couple of tablespoons of water to the batter.

7. Dip one chilly slice at a time into the bhajia batter and fry these bhajias at medium heat to allow them to cook until they are crispy and firm but taking care not to let them get too dark..

8. Serve them hot with some green chutney or tomato sauce.

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Chocolate Barfi - An Indian Sweet

2011-11-13T19:15:00.001Z

This sweet was a favourite of mine when I was a child and is now a favourite of my children. This is the first time I made these barfis so I was a bit apprehensive of how they would turn out as the recipe as taught to me by my father in law is really simple. How can something cooked so quickly and simply taste so great? But believe me they tasted better than any barfis I have ever eaten. I changed the original recipe given to me and reduced the sugar as the chocolate layer tends to be very sweet.

Ingredients for about 25-30 slices

3 cups of full cream milk powder
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
2-3 pinches of saffron
1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
½ cup of milk
300 grams cooking chocolate (I used 2 bars of Green & Black's Cooks Organic Milk chocolate)

Method

1. Add one cup of water to the sugar and slowly bring to boil until the sugar has melted.

2. Once the sugar and water mixture starts to feel sticky (Don't allow it to become stringy or stiff); add the milk powder to the sugar mixture, stir and add in the milk and ghee.

3. Mix well and once mixed, turn off the heat. Add the saffron and elaichi now. ( Soak the saffron in a tablespoon of milk for 5-0 miniutes as this gives the barfi the flavour and the colour).

4. Grease a dish with some oil and turn the barfi mixture onto the dish. Spread the mixture using the back of a spoon and smoothen it.

5. Allow this mixture to cool for a couple of hours.

6. Once the barfi has cooled, it's time to layer it with the cooking chocolate

7. Cooking chocolate is best melted by using indirect heat. Cut the chocolate into small pieces and put it in a heatproof bowl and place it in a shallow pan filled with hot water. Keep stirring the chocolate to avoid it scorching.

8. Once melted, spread it evenly over the barfi and let it cool for at least 6-8 hours.

9. Once cool, cut the barfi into bite size squares and store on an airtight container. Our barfi's turned out to be so delicious that they got eaten quite quickly by friends and family. If you manage to save any barfi - you can store thesm for a week in a cool place.

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Adadiya - Indian sweet dish and a surprise visit from the Fairy Hobmother

2011-11-10T20:34:00.001Z

Today is 11.11.11.which is considered a very auspicious day in some parts of the World. It certainly has been a wonderful day for me when I achieved everything I had planned to do.

The start of my weekend has also been made very special for me by a surprise visit from the Fairy Hobmother! I had read about this fairy in Biren's blog Roti and Rice. I had left comments on her blog wishing that she would also visit me and leave me some goodies. She granted me my wish and presented me with an Amazon gift card to get anything I want from Amazon. Please checkout the Fairy Hobmother's blog. She is always visiting blogs, granting wishes, and spreading joy. Please leave a comment on this post asking her to visit as the Fairy Hobmother told me that she would be visiting my blog soon to check for messages.

For this auspicious day and in honour of the fairy hobmother - I am sharing with you my recipe for Adadiya - an Indian sweet which is also considered to be a healthy dish to have during the winter months. It is believed that eating one adadiya for breakfast during the winter months helps to keep you warm throughout the day. This is the first time I made them and they turned out so great that all my friends and family who got them as gifts have been raving about them.

Ingredients for 30 small adadiyas.

Time 40 -60 minutes. The dish needs to be cooked gently with lots of love and attention.
2 and one third cups(500 grams) of coarse black gram flour now being referred to as adad flour - hence the sweet is called adadiya!!
½ cup milk
2 cups ghee
½ cup of edible gum (Gund)
1½ cup of sugar which should be ground using a grinder (you can add an extra ½ cup if you like it very sweet)
½ cup of finely sliced almonds
½ cup of cashew nuts

Method

1 Teaspoon of a mixture ground Elaichi and nutmeg (some recipes also mention ginger powder but I didnot include it in my recipe).
1. Take ¼ cup of ghee and ½ cup of milk and mix it with the adad flour and leave aside for 15 -20 minutes. (Some Gujaratis refer to this process as "Drabo devanu")

2. Heat ½ cup of ghee and when it's hot, add in a few bits of the edible gum to the ghee. As the ghee is hot, it will cook and pop the gum. Once cooked, lightly crush them using a pestle and mortar and leave aside.

3. Mix the adad flour and sieve it using a large hole sieve.

4. Add all the remaining ghee into a wok and let it heat on a medium flame.

5. Add in the adad flour and keep stirring. The following pictures will show you how the colour of the flour goes from light to dark golden - almost brown,

6. Once the mixture is golden -add in the edible gum.

7. Now add the sliced almonds and the spice mixture of ginger and nutmeg. (Some Gujaratis also add a teaspoon of ginger powder)

8. Stir well and turn off the heat.

9. Add in the ground sugar and mix.

10. The adadiyas need to be formed when they mixture is warm and manageable.

11. You can either make them small and bite-size - traditionally shaped like a mountain or spread them out on a greased dish, decorate them with cashews and cut them in diamonds. Both styles look nice and taste wonderful.

12. Once cool, they can be stored in an air tight container for a couple of weeks.

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Guvar (Cluster beans) and Potato Curry

2011-09-27T20:20:00.001+01:00

Guvar are also called cluster beans and available fresh in most Asian grocers. They also sell a ready prepared frozen version which is handy to keep in the freezer. I make this curry regularly but never thought to post the recipe until a phone call from a very close family member was asking me on how to cook guvar bateta nu shak (Guvar potato curry). As I explained the dish to this person – I decided to include the recipe in my blog. This one is for you – You know who you are!!

Curry made using fresh guvar is the best. Cooking time for guvar is difficult to judge as fresh tender guvar cooks a lot faster than older guvar. My tip would be to check and allow it to cook until it gets soft. If it takes too long to cook - you can add a pinch of soda bicarbonate to help with the cooking process. Several of my friends cook this in the pressure cooker but I prefer to cook them slowly on the cooker top. This may take a bit longer but it allows all the spices to blend in and doesn’t over-cook the guvar.

Ingredients for 4 servings

4 cups of cut and prepared guvar

1 cup of potatoes diced

2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)

1 teaspoon ajwain (also called ajma or carom seeds)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chilly powder

2 teaspoon of dhana jiru (mixture of cumin and coriander powder)

2-3 cloves of blended garlic

1 cup of blended tomatoes ( you can use fresh or tinned)

Pinch of soda bicarbonate (only use if the guvar isn’t tender)

1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 tablespoon jaggery – This is optional. If you like your curry sweet and sour, you can add this at the end of your cooking.

fresh coriander for garnishing (optional)

Method

To prepare the guvar, trim the top and bottom of the guvar and cut then into small pieces. Traditionally women just did this by hand but you can use a knife if you find it easier. If the guvar isn’t tender, you may have to remove the hard fibrous ends that come off when you chop the ends.

2. Heat the oil and add in the ajwain seeds. Ajwain adds a lovely fragrance to the guvar but it also helps with digestion.

3. Once the ajwain go dark, add the washed potatoes and guvar .

4. Add the garlic, salt, turmeric, chilly powder and dhana jiru.

5. Stir well and allow to cook for a minute.

6. Add 3 cups of warm water, cover the saucepan and allow this to cook for 10 minutes on medium heat.

7. Stir the curry and check that the guvar has softened. If not give it another 5-10 minutes.

8. Once the guvar softens, add the tomatoes and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes.

9. You can garnish the curry with coriander if you wish to. Adding potatoes to the guvar makes the gravy nice and smooth. Serve this curry hot with chappatis.

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Sweet Corn Curry with Nuts and Dessicated Coconut

2011-09-26T20:46:00.001+01:00

I have always loved sweet corn especially the canned version. I love eating it cold in salads and I'll often open a small can for my lunch and just eat it cold. This reminds me of my student days!!

My sister in law introduced me to this curry (makai nu shak) which I think is her signature dish. I have altered the recipe slightly by omitting the onions and adding cashews and coconut to the dish. If you like your curry to be rich and creamy and slightly sweet, you will like this sweet corn curry. If you use frozen or canned sweet corn, this is a quick and easy dish to make.

Ingredients for 4 servings

4 cups of frozen sweet corn (if using fresh sweet corn – boil it first. For canned sweet corn, drain the juices and wash the sweet corn with cold water)

1 cup any tomato mixture

½ cup mixed peanuts and cashews

¼ cup desiccated coconut

2-3 tablespoons cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)

1 teaspoon dry cumin seeds

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon chilly powder (use more if you like hot food)

2-3 cloves of blended garlic

Small bunch of coriander or some curry leaves for garnishing

1. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan and add in the cumin seeds.

2. Once the seeds go dark brown, add the sweet corn and stir.

3. Add the spices - salt, turmeric, chilly powder and stir.

4. Roast the nuts either on a non stick saucepan or for 2-3 minutes in a microwave.

5. Grind the nuts and mix them with the dessicated coconut and keep ready.

6. Add the garlic and once the sweet corn is cooked, add the tomato mixture together with half a coup of water.

7. Now add the ground nuts and desiccated coconut to the mixture.

8. Allow this to cook for 5-7 minutes and serve the curry hot with chappatis or Naan bread.

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Stuffed Romano Peppers and Capsicums

2011-09-23T17:03:00.001+01:00

I have always had Romano peppers chopped up either in a salad, pizza topping or rice. I got some large peppers and capsicums from the farmer's market and I wanted to see how they would taste stuffed with vegetables or rice. I decided to try stuffing them at the same time as stuffing the capsicums. The result was good and we enjoyed the dish very much.

Ingredients for 2 -4 servings:

2 large romano peppers

3 large capsicums

1 medium onion, chopped finely

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon of grated or blended ginger

1 teaspoon of blended fresh green chillies (can use more if you like hot food)

3 cups of cooked rice (any rice is fine. I used Basmati rice)

2 cups of any mixed vegetables chopped finely. ( I used carrots, peas, sweet corn, peppers and green beans)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese.

1 teaspoon salt

½ teasppon turmeric

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon any cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)

Method

1. Cut a slice off the top of each capsicum , remove centre core and seeds. Save the tops to cover the pepper during cooking.

2. Slice the romano peppers lengthwise and remove the seeds.

3. Brush the peppers and capsicums on the outside with the olive oil and then stand them upright in an ovenproof dish and allow them to cook in the oven for 3-4 minutes.

4. Heat one tablespoon of oil and add in the onions, ginger, garlic and green chilies.

5. Add the frozen vegetables stir fry the mixture. Now add the salt and turmeric as well.

6. When the vegetables soften, add the cooked rice to the mixture and allow the mixture to cool.

7. Transfer the mixture into the pepper and capsicum.

8. Add a cheese topping to the Romano peppers.

9. Cover the capsicums with the tops you had sliced off.

8. Bake for 20 -25 minutes in a pre-heated oven at Gas Mark 4 (350°F/180°C) until the peppers and capsicums are tender.

9. Serve this colourful dish hot with a salad or any sauce of your choice.

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Potato Curry - Student Style

2011-08-28T15:42:00.000+01:00

This month, lots of young boys and girls will be getting ready to leave home and go to University and staying in the Halls where they will have to cook for themselves. I am sharing some of the easy and simple recipes which are easy and cheap to cook.

Ingredients :

4-5 medium Potatoes
2 tablespoons cooking oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon chilly powder or pepper
1-2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup/sauce ( You can use tomatoes or tomato tins as well but students always seem to have a supply of tomato ketchup)

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes in their jackets and allow to cool by pouring cold water over them.

2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes.

3. Sprinkle all the spices on the potatoes - includng the tomato ketchup/sauce.

4. In a saucepan - heat the oil and add the mustard seeds.

5. As soon as the mustard seeds pop, add in the potato mixture.

6. Gently stir without breaking the potatoes and add one cup of water to the potato curry.

7. Allow this to cook for 5 -6 minutes and the curry is ready to eat with rice or any bread.

8. Left over curry can be eaten as a sandwich or wrap filling too.

9. My message to young and new chefs - No matter how simple, food cooked by your own hands always tastes nice and as you become more adventurous, you can start experimenting with more ingredients and spices.

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Varela poratha - Rolled porathas

2011-08-19T12:25:00.001+01:00

Most Indian food is accompanied by rice or Indian breads like chappatis, puris, naan, parathas etc. I learned how to make this version of parathas from my dad. He used to make these really lovely fluffy parathas for breakfast on a winter’s morning and we are all now addicted to these and love having them any time.

Ingredients for serving 4 people
Makes 8 parathas
Time 30-40 minutes

2 cups of chappati flour (often called Atta) to make the dough
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
2 tablespoons oil for the dough
1 tablespoon of butter
½ cup flour for dusting the parathas when rolling them.
2 cups oil for frying (I use sunflower oil)

Method:

1. Sieve the flour and add in the cumin seeds, garlic, salt and turmeric .

2. Add in the 2 tablespoons of oil and the butter and mix.

3. Using warm water mix the dough. When ready, knead it well so that it becomes nice and pliable. Keep this covered for 20 minutes.

4. Divide the dough into 8 equal balls.

5. Take one ball and roll out the paratha and brush some oil on one side and dust it with some flour.

6. Try and make a pile by stacking the paratha as shown below and twist it back into a circle and roll it out again.

7. The oil helps to separate the poratha into layers.

8. Par cook the paratha finish off - by brushing it lightly with some oil on both sides of the paratha.

9. Serve these hot with any curry.

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Bundi/Boondi and bundi na Ladu/Ladoo plus chocolate chip bundi ladu/ladoo

2011-08-04T13:27:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I am now a featured writer for the an online City Connect magazine under the Taste of India Series. My recipe for Ladoo has also been published on the City Connect website at http://www.city-connect.org/boondi-ladoo-recipe/

Ladoos/ladus are a name for a lot of ball shaped Indian sweets. Most ladoos are made from either a mixture of flours such as chick pea flour, wheat flour or semolina , sugar and nuts. Boondi/Bundi na ladoo (ladu) or besan ke ladoo(ladu) are one of the most popular sweets in UK. These ladoos are popular at most celebrations and can be eaten warm or cold. Boond/bund means a droplet. Bundi na ladoo or Besan ke ladu is made by dropping little droplets of chick pea flour batter onto hot oil. These step by step recipe will enable you to make them easily.

Ingredients for 20 small ladoos:

Preparation time 20 minutes before and after cooking

Cooking time 40 minutes

2 cups chick pea flour

3 cups sugar

Handful or more of Almonds and pistachio

1 teaspoon of cardomon seed

2-3 pinches of saffron

½ teaspoon of nutmeg powder

2-3 drops of yellow and red food colour

Oil to fry

Method:

Please note that you will need a skimmer or perforated spoon (Often called Jaro) for making the boondi.

1. Crush the cardamom seeds coarsely using a pestle and mortar

2. Cut the almonds and pistachio into slices. If you like, you can use food colour to colour some almond slices to decorate your ladoos.

3. Keep the sliced nuts, cardamom seeds, saffron and nutmeg ready on a small plate.

4. For the sugar syrup – Put the sugar in a saucepan and add 2 cups of water to 3 cups of sugar. Mix the sugar and water and put it to boil. The sugar syrup needs to be half thread consistency. Once the syrup is ready, switch off the heat.

5. Whilst the sugar syrup is warming up, sieve the chick pea flour and add 1 cup of water to it.

6. Stir well and to test if the batter is right, take a spoon or ladle and try dropping the batter on the ladle on top of a dry plate. The batter needs to flow through at just the right rate to achieve the round droplets. If the batter is thick – add one tablespoon of water to thin it. If it’s too runny – you may have to add a tablespoon of chick pea flour to the batter.

7. Heat the oil. To test if it’s hot enough, just drop a tiny amount of batter in the oil. If it rises quickly, the oil is ready.

8. Lower the oil and hold your skimmer above the oil. Best position is about an inch to inch and a half over the oil.

9. Pour the batter on the skimmer. Just allow it to pour drop by drop into the oil. You will see tiny droplets of bundi forming.

10. Remove the skimmer and fry the bundis. Once fried, remove them using a different skimmer and transfer them straight into the sugar syrup.

11. Wash the skimmer you used for the batter and pour some more batter on to it and finish making the bundis. (Using a clean skimmer before pouring the batter stops the skimmer holes being clogged up).

12. Let the bundis soak up the sugar syrup for 10 to 15 minutes and remove them (using a skimmer or slotted spoon) on to a mixing bowl.

14. Now add the nuts (save a small amount of sliced almonds to decorate your ladoo), nutmeg, saffron and cardamom to the mixture. Mix this well with the bundis.

15. Some people like to eat the loose sweet bundi and it’s perfectly fine to serve it this way.

16. To make it in ladoo - try and make them as soon as you are able to handle the bundi. Take a small amount of bundi between your hands and compact them to form a tight ball.

17. Sprinkle some sliced almonds on it and lay in on a tray and start with the next ladoo.

18. To make these ladoos attractive to children try adding some chocolate chips to the Bundis before forming the ladoos.

18. I like to keep mine in little cake cases as it stops them sticking together and it’s easy to serve.

19. Your ladoos are ready to eat. You can have them hot or cold. They can be stored in an air tight container for a week. You can warm these for 20 seconds in the microwave if you like to eat warm ladoo.

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Spicy Parathas with tomato, onion, garlic, ginger & coriander

2011-07-15T19:59:00.006+01:00

Recently, I have noticed so many breads, biscuits, tortillas etc. all being sold on the market with various flavours. In fact everything seems to be flavoured starting from milk, bread, crisps etc. The flovoured tortilla got me to thinking whether I should flavour the humble chappati we eat nearly every day. Now how does garlic flavoured chappatis sound to you? In fact – I discussed quite a few flavours with my family but they all felt that the simple chappati should remain without flavours BUT they did not mind me experimenting with parathas!! And this is how my Spicy tomato, onion, garlic, ginger, green chillies paratha got created. I did not want to use any artificial flavours to my parathas so I made them using natural ingredients. This dish is also perfect to make when entertaining as you can par cook the parathas and fry them to serve hot to your guests. I made these as an experiment for a friend of mine who was looking for quick and easy recipes to use for a "Come Dine With Me" event he was hosting. Some of you may have seen "Come Dine with me" on the television where 4 people host each other and cook dishes to impress each other and give marks for the food. These parathas were a hit with my family and his guests too. We also made a slightly different variety of parathas using green chutney and I will post that recipe soon.

Ingredients for serving 4 people
Time 40-50 minutes

½ cup of passata or blended tomatoes
1 small piece of ginger
2 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
1-2 green chillies (use less if you don't want to make them too hot)
Small bunch of finely cut coriander
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons oil for the dough
3 cups of chappati flour to make the dough
½ cup flour for dusting the parathas when rolling them.
2 cups oil for frying (I use sunflower oil)

Method:

1. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and green chillies to the tomato mixture and grind it all in a blender.

2. Sieve the flour and add in the salt and turmeric and the coriander. I didn't blend in the coriander with the passata as I wanted the porathas to have some green specks.

3. Add in the 2 tablespoons of oil and mix.

4. Using the tomato mixture, mix the dough. If you don’t have enough tomato mixture, you can use some warm water to finish off . The dough should be nice and pliable. Keep this covered for 20 minutes.

5. Divide the dough into 10 or 12 equal balls.

6. You can either make your parathas, round or triangle.

7. To make an impression here are two styles I like to use:

Roll out the paratha and brush some oil on one side and dust it with some flour.

Roll down the paratha as shown below and twist it back into a circle and roll it out again.

The oil helps to separate the poratha into layers.

8. Now you can just par cook it in a dry frying pan and finish off - by heating it with some oil brushed on both sides of the paratha - when your guests arrive.

9. The second style is to make it in a triangle shape :

Roll out the paratha and brush some oil on one side and dust it with some flour.

Fold it in half.

Fold it in quarter

Dust it with some flour.

Roll it into a triangle paratha

10. Like the round one, par cook it in a frying pan.

11. Brush some oil and heat it when ready to serve.

These parathas are spicy so they taste great on their own or with any curries or raita.

The above recipe was also published in the City Connect website: http://www.city-connect.org/spicy-parathas/

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Traditional Gujarati Lapsi for the Celebrate Sweets Event focusing on "Gujarati Sweets"

2011-07-14T21:31:00.003+01:00

Lapsi is a traditional Gujarati sweet often served up on auspicious occasions. I was looking for a partcular lapsi recipe that I had often been heard my dad mention. He used to tell us how when he was a young boy, he used to walk miles to see his sister on Veer Pasali day. Veer Pasali Day is very similar to Rakshabandhan Day. On this brothers visit their sisters with presents and the sister cooks a nice meal for him. I remember my dad mentioning that his sister would always make lapsi for him and serve it to him with lots of ghee. Even today in Gujarat, when Lapsi is served to guests, it is served hot and lots of ghee is drizzled over it.

I have to thank my very good friends Pareshbhai and Jayshreeben Joshi for today's recipe. I had often seen on their Facebook page, pictures of the lovely dishes being made on their household so I asked Pareshbhai if he could ask Jayshreeben to make this traditional lapsi and send in the recipe for my Celebrate Sweets event. Not only did Jayshreeben make the dish but she also wrote the recipe and provided me with lots and lots of pictures. Thank you very much for your recipe. I would like to think that in years to come, lots of young newly married sister's will be looking at it and making for their brothers on Veer Pasali Day.

My message to my other Gujarati friends - Jagrutiben, Manjuben, Bhanuben and Mayuri : Please make some nice Gujarati dish and send me the recipe so I can include it in my Celebrate Sweets Event

Traditional Gujarati Lapsi for 4 servings
Cooking time 30-40 minutes
Ingredients

1 bowl of wheat flour (course)
1 and a half bowls of water
Half a bowl of Gor (jaggery)
Half a bowl of ghee
2 table-spoons of oil (vegetable or sunflower)
2 table-spoons of fennel seed powder
Half a teaspoon of turmeric powder
¼ tea-spoon of saffron

Equipment/Utensils required:

1 large mixing bowl
1 measuring bowl
1 frying pan,
1 wooden spoon
1 tab-spoon
1 tea-spoon

Method:

1. In a large/medium mixing bowl, put 1 bowl of flour. In this flour rub in 2 tablespoons of oil. Mix the flour and oil until all the lumps break up.

2. Empty contents of the mixing bowl into a warm non-stick frying pan, heat the mixture at low heat roast the flour until golden brown, and be careful not to burn the mixture.

3. Empty frying pan contents back into the mixing bowl.

4. Pour one and a half bowls of water into the frying pan and begin heating, to this add the turmeric powder and the saffron. Heat until water boils.

5. Add the roasted mix to the boiling water, distribute it evenly and do not mix, let the flour absorb the water. Finally cover the frying pan with a tight lid for 15 minutes at medium heat.

6. Switch off the heat and mix the contents of the frying pan. Cover the frying pan again and leave it to cool for 5-10 minutes with no heat so that all the moisture is absorbed. The mixture should not be lumpy.

7. Now add 2 tab-spoons of finely crushed (powdered) funnel seeds, add half a bowl of grated jaggery. Now mix the contents of the frying pan until the jaggery has melted.

8. Now add half a bowl of melted ghee to the mixture and stir it well so the ghee coats all the flour evenly to give a shinny look. (note. More ghee and jiggery can be added to taste.)

9. Now place the mixture in a serving bowl and eat warm.

This recipe was written and created by Jayshree and Paresh Joshi and I am sending it to the Celebrate Sweets - Gujarati Sweets event which was started by Nivedita from Nivedita's Kitchen and is hosted by me this month.

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Kenya Chevdo/chewdo ( Gujarat snack mix with rice flakes, potato crisps, lentils and nuts)

2011-07-10T22:04:00.004+01:00

I had a lovely email from my blog follower Sangeeta who told me that although she had a lot of recipe books, she mainly uses my blog to find her dishes as it is so much more convenient. She also told me that she has made several dishes from my blog and really enjoyed them as they turned out great. Fans like Sangeeta really motivate me into making sure that every recipe I write is correct as well as easy to follow. I spend a lot of time trying out my dishes and spend even more time in writing the recipe. Anyway - I digress. Sangeeta asked me if I had a recipe for Chevdo so Sangeeta -thanks for your email and your request. This recipe is especially for you. I had great fun making it and will be enjoying chevdo with my tea for a few days now.

Chevdo/chewdo is a gujarati snack made usually at celebrations like Diwali. There are lots of variations of chevdo and Kenya chevdo has it's own unique taste. Kenyan's like to eat the chevdo with onions and lemon or with the Kenyan tomato sauce which again is an acquired taste. I have listed the ingredients I used. You can adjust them to your own taste and add more nuts or even raisins if you like them.

Ingredients ( this will make about a kilo of chevdo)

Preparation required (about 30 minutes).
Cooking time 60 minutes.

6 Medium sized new potatoes (I used locally grown Charlotte potatoes)
1 cup split chickpeas (Chana dall)
½ cup whole mung (mug)
3 cups rice flakes (often called Poha or pawa)
1 cup peanuts
½ cup almond
½ cup cashews
2-3 teaspoons sugar (I ground my sugar in a coffee grinder)
2 teaspoons salt
1-2 tablespoons of turmeric
½ teaspoon chilly powder
2 teaspoons cloves and cinnamon mixture (I ground it fresh using 1 part cloves to 2 parts cinnamon)
1 teaspoon white pepper
4-5 small sticks of cinnamon
5-6 cloves
3-4 chopped green chillies ( you can use more or less)
5-6 curry leaves (limdo)
2 tablespoons oil for tempering
1 litre oil for frying.

Method:

This recipe requires some overnight preparation:

1. Wash and soak the chana dall in cold water.

2. Wash and soak the whole mung.

3. Peel and wash the potatoes. Grate them and soak them in cold water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the grated potatoes. Best potatoes to use for making crisps are new potatoes as they do not have too much starch. By soaking them in salted water, it adds flavour to the potatoes plus helps to make the crisps crispy.

Next morning:

4. Wash the grated potatoes two more times with cold water and then drain them using a colander and spread them on a clean dish cloth. Washing the grated potatoes removes the starch and the crisps don't go dark when frying them.

5. Drain the chana dall and mug using a sieve if your colander has big holes.

6. Heat the oil in a wok or karai.

7. To check if it's hot drop a potato chip in the oil. If it rises quickly, then the oil is ready.

8. Pat the grated potatoes with a dry dishcloth and then drop a handful of the potatoes in the oil. Reduce the heat and allow them to cook. The potato crisps will float to the top. Allow them to cook until crispy. Once cooked, keep them in a dry bowl.

9. Next transfer the chana dall to the tea towel and pat it dry. Then fry the chana dall.

10. The dall too will float up as it cooks. Fry it until it's crispy.

11. Next pat the whole mung dry using a tea towel and fry them until crispy.

12. Next fry the peanuts, cashews and almonds. These cook very fast so don't leave for too long in the hot oil. In fact, they don't taste too bad if undercooked so just put them in the oil, turn once and remove them.

13. Last but not least - cook the flaked rice. I tend to cook the flaked rice using a big sieve as they cook very fast. Take half a cup of flaked rice in a large sieve and transfer this straight in the oil; use a streamer of stir it a bit and the flaked rice will start to puff up. Once cooked, transfer them to a mixing tray.

14. As soon as you take out the fried pawa, sprinkle and mix some turmeric to it.

15. Transfer the pawa (flaked rice) to a big mixing bowl or tray.

16. Now add the fried crisps, fried lentils and nuts to the pawa (flaked rice) and mix well.

17. Now is the time to add spices to the mixture. My suggestion is to use the spices you enjoy. I added 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of white pepper, ½ teaspoon chilly powder, 2 teaspoons of the clove and cinnamon powder plus 1 tablespoon of sugar. The real Kenya chevdo has more sugar and if you like it sweet then you can add more sugar. The fun is in the tasting of the chevdo and adjusting the taste to how you like it.

18. Finally the tempering (or vaghar as the Gujarati's like to call it).

19. Take 2 tablespoons of oil and heat it in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon and cloves to the hot oil. Once the cloves pop, add the green chillies and curry leaves and allow them to cook for just a minute. Switch off the heat and spread this on to the chevdo mix. (you can also use a teaspoon of mustard seeds and fennel seeds to the tempering but I didn't).

20. Once cooled, you can store the chevdo in an airtight container and enjoy the chevdo for a couple of weeks.

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Jalebi a spiral shaped Indian sweet dish

2011-07-07T20:43:00.003+01:00

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I am now a featured writer for the an online City Connect magazine under the Taste of India Series. My recipe for Jalebi has now been published on the City Connect website at http://www.city-connect.org/2011/07/07/jalebi/.

Please take a look at the online magazine for all my recipes and other interesting information.

The full recipe for Jalebi can also be found here in my blog.

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Announcing the Celebrate Sweets Event focusing on "Gujarati Sweets"

2011-07-06T12:09:00.003+01:00

Some of you will recall that Nivedita from Nivedita’s kitchen started an event called Celebrate Sweets. It’s hosted each month by a new blogger.

I have the pleasure of hosting this wonderful event from 7 July 2011 until 7 August 2011 and I am looking forward to your wonderful recipes.

The focus of the Celebrate sweets event will be on “ Gujarati sweets” so I am looking forward learning about some good old fashioned traditional “Gujarati Sweets”. Please talk to your grannies and discover the hidden gems of Gujarati sweets. I am keen that all recipes are collected in one place for generations to refer to.

Rules for participating in this event are:

1. Create any Gujarati Sweet dish.

2. Multiple recipes are permitted. The more the better.

3. Recipes submitted to other events are also permitted.

4. Recipes from archives will be accepted but ONLY if updated as current posts.

5. Only Vegetarian recipes will be accepted. (Eggs are not acceptable).

6. Non bloggers can participate by emailing me their recipes to me at mycelebrationsweets@gmail.com

7. You must link your entry to my event on this page as well as to Nivedita’s Kitchen

8. Please use the logo as it helps to promote the event.

9. Post your entry on your blog and email the information to my email address: mycelebrationsweets@gmail.com with the subject line CELEBRATE SWEETS with the following details:

1. Your Name: ………………………………

2. Your Blog name:……………………..

3. Your Post Name:……………………….

4. Your Post URL:.........................

5. Picture of your Recipe:…………………

Please use the following logo:

I look forward to receiving your wonderful recipes.

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Falafels - Time to add an Indian touch to BBQ's

2011-06-26T17:47:00.003+01:00

It’s lovely and hot here and lots of people are organising barbeque parties. Being a vegetarian, I get bored with just vege burgers and salad so I decided to make falafels to make a change. Falafels are made from fried chickpeas and are a very popular filling for pita bread. Traditionally, it's a Mediterranean dish but the recipe is very similar to the Dall bhajias I make but don't tell that to my son. His challenge was that they should taste like the ready made we can get from the chilled counter in the supermarket. Falafels are healthy and really easy to make. Served in a pitta or tortilla or on their own, they are just perfect for BBQ’s, snacks or a light lunch. You can make a big batch of falafels and freeze them to use as you need them.

Falafel Recipe

Timing 1 hour

Preparation required

Ingredients for 20-25 falafels

3 cups of dried white chick peas (kabuli chana) or 4 cups of boiled chickpeas . (you can also use canned chick peas)

2 medium potaoes

1 onion

3-4 cloves of garlic

3-4 green chillies

1-2 teaspoons of grated garlic

2 tablespoons plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 litre cooking oil

For serving:

6-8 pitta bread

A variation of Salad – I tend to use white and red cabbage, carrots, red peppers, lettuce and tomatoes
Plus a variety of condiments such as sour cream, tahini, chilly sauce etc

Method

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight.

2. Once soaked, boil them with lots of water in a pressure cooker if possible. Boiling them in a saucepan could take longer.

3. At the same time, peel and boil the two potatoes.

4. Add the boiled chick peas, potatoes, onions,garlic, garlic, green chillies into a food processor.

5. Add the spices – salt and pepper.

6. Blend the mixture.

7. Remove the mixture and add the plain flour as that helps to bind the mixture.

8. Divide the mixture into 20-25 small balls.

9. You can keep them on a round shape or flatten them slightly.

10. Heat the oil and fry the falafels in a medium heat, turning them occasionally to ensure that they are cooked thoroughly.

To serve:

11. Warm the tortillas in the grill or BBQ.

12. Cut them in half and fill them with falafels, salad and any condiments you like. This is the time to be adventurous and try out a variation.

My son loved them and had them for his lunch for two days. His verdict was that they tasted better than the shop bought ones!! Now - that is a compliment indeed from my fussy eater.

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Pigeon Peas/ Gunga Peas or Lilva Tuvar Curry

2011-06-13T22:01:00.000+01:00

Pigeon Peas is also called Gunga peas or Lilva tuvar gungo and come in various forms. When they are fresh and green, they can be peeled like fresh peas. You can get fresh, frozen or tinned varieties of pigeon peas in most Asian supermarkets.

Ingredients (serves 2):

Cooking time : 20 minutes

2 cups of boiled pigeon peas
½ a can of crushed tomatoes ( you can used fresh tomatoes or passata too)
2 tablespoon cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)
1 teaspoon dry cumin seeds,
2 small pieces of cinnamon,
3 cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chilly powder
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
½ teaspoon of garam masala
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoons jaggery or brown sugar (optional)
1 small bunch of coriander and some curry leaves.
1 tablespoon dessicated coconut
2 fresh green chillies

Method:

1 Heat the 2 tablespoons cooking oil and add the cumin seeds, cloves and cinnamon. The cloves will pop and the cumin needs to cook until it goes dark.

3. Add the garlic, curry leaves and tomatoes to the mixture and stir.

4. Add all the spices, lemon and jaggery to the tomato mixture.

5. Cook all the ingredients until the tomatoes go soft and homogenous.

6. Add the boiled pigeon peas to the mixture and cook for a further 10 minutes on a medium heat.

7. Add the garam masala and remove the pigeon peas curry to a serving dish and sprinkle it with some chopped green chillies, desiccated coconut and coriander.

8. This curry should be served hot with rice or any of the Indian breads.

I served this with coriander and green chilly flavoured parathas (recipe to follow)..

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Potato and mixed vegetable curry

2011-06-09T20:09:00.002+01:00

The following recipe for Potato and mixed vegetable has been published on the City Connect website at http://www.city-connect.org/2011/06/07/potato-mixed-vegetable-curry. Please take a look at the website for my recipe and interesting other information. I hope to be a regular contributor to this website.

The main reason for choosing such an easy and simple recipe for the City Connections Website was to convince people who are not familiar with Indian cooking that they can make nice curries at home, using ingredients available in most supermarkets. This potato and mixed vegetable curry is perfect dish to serve with rice and naan bread. The mixed vegetables make it a healthy curries choice for lunch or dinner.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients for 4 servings

1 teaspoon cumin seeds or mustard seeds
½ teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of chilly powder
½ teaspoon of turmeric
½ teaspoon of a mixture of cumin and coriander powder
2-3 cloves of crushed garlic
2 tablespoons of sunflower cooking oil
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (optional)
1 tablespoon of brown sugar (optional)
2 medium sized boiled potatoes
3 cups of any frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup of passata ( or crushed tinned tomatoes)
Small bunch of coriander (for garnishing)
2-3 green chillies (optional)

Method:

1. Soak your frozen vegetables in hot water and once they soften, chop them into smaller pieces.

2. Heat the oil in saucepan and add the cumin and mustard seeds to the oil.

3. The mustard will pop when the oil gets hot and the cumin will start to get darker. This means that the oil is ready.

4. Rinse the frozen vegetables and add them to the heated oil.

5. Add the salt, turmeric, chilly powder, crushed garlic and cumin coriander to the mixture and stir well so that all the vegetables get coated with the spices.

6. Cook this for a minute and add the passata to this mixture with one cup of hot water.

7. Allow this to simmer gently for 6-7 minutes.

8. Chop the boiled potato into small cubes and add it to the mixed vegetables.

9. Stir well and allow to cook for 5 minutes.

10. Add the lemon juice and brown sugar if you like a sweet and sour taste.

11. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with green chillies or coriander

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