Cook, Eat, Burrp!!!

Tomato Pickle

2015-02-24T00:23:00.002-08:00

This Tomato Pickle I am talking about is my Mom's specialty and I had always wanted to learn how to make it. So this weekend was the D-Day and I can't tell you how yummy the achaar has turned up. When we were cooking the aroma that encompassed the house transported me to my childhood days. Of how we used to polish off the achaar with Mathri's & aloo paratha's....sigh!!! *this reminds me to call up my bro to tease him*

So on special request of RM here is the recipe. Do note that my Mom works on approximation (like all people of her generation used to when cooking) but she has very sweetly given me the measurement for blog purpose. So here we go..

Tomato Pickle

Ingredients

Tomato: 1 kg (ensure that you pick up red stiff ones and not the desi ones)

Refined Oil: 1/2 Cup (more if you want)
Ginger: 1.5 Tbsp (finely chopped)

Green Chilly: 1 Tbsp (finely chopped) You can increase or decrease this as per the spice level you want

Methi Seeds: 15-20

Mustard Seeds: 1.5 teaspoon

Salt: To Taste

Turmeric Powder: 2 Tbsp

Red Chilly: 1 Teaspoon

Vinegar: 1/2 Cup

Spices to be powdered

Mustard Seeds: 1.5 Tbsp

Methi Seeds: 1/2 Tbsp

Cut the tomatoes as shown in below picture (choosing the right tomato makes your job easy coz the desi ones have more water content and will take more time for the pickle to get cooked) i.e. halve them and then slice it again in half and cut fine slices. Chop the Ginger & Chilly finely.

Heat oil in a big heavy base vessel. When the oil is heated add the whole Mustard and Methi Seeds. As they start spluttering add the Ginger & Chilly. After a minute add the powdered spices, Salt, Chilly & turmeric powder.

Cook it for half a minute and then dump in the tomatoes

Turn the flame on high and cover the vessel.Keep checking the mixture and keep stirring it every now & then so that the tomato doesn't stick. Once the water reduces, reduce the flame on medium and cook the tomatoes. You will see how it changes colour.

Don't multitask while cooking this because tomato has a tendency to stick. Keep cooking & stirring at regular intervals till the oil separates (should take anywhere between 20 mins to 1/2 hour). Once it reaches stage 4 of the photo above, add the vinegar and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn the gas off and your pickle is ready to be savored. This Pickle needs to be stored in refrigerator

Tandoori Aloo

2015-02-13T02:27:00.001-08:00

Tandoori Aloo Recipe

Ingredients

Baby Potatoes - 1/2 Kg

Hung Curd - 1 1/2 Cup

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 Tbsp

Tandoori Masala - 2 Tbsp (I used Hakim's tandoori Masala)

Salt to taste

Oil - A teaspoon

Cheese (optional)

Onion rings & Cilantro leaves for garnishing.

Clean the potatoes, poke them with a for and put them to boil. I had only par boiled them but realized that best would be put them in a pressure cooker and turn off the gas as soon as the first whistle blows so that the potatoes are neither too hard nor too tender.

Take 1.5 cup of curd and hang it in a muslin cloth for minimum 1/2 an hour.

When the potatoes are cold enough to handle peel the skin (which is actually optional), add the curd, Ginger Garlic paste, salt, oil & Tandoori Masala (you can increase or reduce the quantity as per your spice requirement level) to the potatoes & mix them well. Cover it air tight and let it marinate (in the refrigerator) for at least 2-3 hours (the more the better).

Marination Mix

Take it out an hour & half before it has to be served. Pre Heat the oven at 180 degree and grill the potatoes for 10 mins at same temperature. Take them out turn them around bake again for 10-15 minutes. As the Potatoes were already boiled you need to worry about them being cooked properly. Take it out again, grate the cheese on it & cook it for 3-4 minutes.

Take it out, garnish with onion & cilantro leaves and serve it with green chutney.

Mughlai Egg Paratha

2015-02-08T04:11:00.000-08:00

My Mom is an expert cook and she makes this awesome Egg Paratha which I wanted to learn badly. I always thought that it was some rocket science till the day I saw her making it. So here is the super simple recipe for you to try. I make them regularly now specially for my brat.

Ingredients Serves One

Egg I
Wheat Dough
Salt to Taste
Black Pepper to Taste
Onions/ Green Chilly/ Cilantro leaves (Optional)

Break the egg, add salt & black pepper. You can additionally add the optional items as well.

Take the dough that you normally take for making a Paratha and the divide it into two balls. Roll both of them a little ensuring that they are more or less of same size. Apply generous oil on one of the rolled dough and put the other rolled piece on it. (Refer Images)

Twin Sisters

Well Oiled to be Co Joined

Now roll this Roti to its full stretch and put it on the heated tawa. Cook it from one side for 30 sec, turn it around. Turn the gas on low flame, take a knife and gently nudge one of the roti's away. As we have applied generous oil separating them would be a cake walk.

Waiting to be separated

Decoupled

One gets egged

The other one waits

Keep that roti aside and pour the egg on the roti that is on the tawa. Spread the egg evenly and put the lonely roti back on this one to seal the deal.

Egg Holi!

Joined back and cooking away to glory

Now apply oil and turn the roti around, increase the flame, apply oil on this side as well and cook it like a normal paratha. Serve it with tomato sauce :D Its done!

Almost Ready

And served

Egg Biryani

2014-09-12T03:00:00.000-07:00

This one is for RM & my BFF who have been demanding the recipe after I posted some drool-worthy images of the said Biryani.

You know, I have always wanted to make this spicy-spicy Egg Biryani but never actually tried it because my In Laws don't eat egg and though they have no issues with us eating eggs I refrained from making it because I feel guilty that two of us are eating something special and rest are not. But with my parents here I decided to try the dish. I checked many recipes online and then ended up making my own version. Here is the detailed recipe

Egg Biryani

Ingredients - Serves three adults

250 Gms Rice - Basmati (preferable) soaked for 1/2 hour

4 Eggs - Hard Boiled (you can vary the number as per your requirement)

Akkha Garam Masala

Jeera - 1 Teaspoon
Tej Patta (Bay Leaves) - 2-3 l
Cloves - 5-6
Star Anise - 2
Cinnamon Stick - 1/2 inch piece
Big Black Cardamom - 1
Green Cardamom - 2
Kali Mirch (Black Peppercorns) - 5-6

Hakim's Biryani Masala - This one is a major find, if you can not find it look for some other brand but this is too good.

Onions - 4 Big Sized

Tomatoes - 2 Big ones

Ginger - 1 Inch piece

Garlic - 6-7 Pods

Green Chilly - 2 (optional)

Curd - 1/2 cup

Ghee - 4 Tbsp (yes I know its generous you can reduce if you want)

Milk - 3 Tbsp

Kesar 3-4 strands (optional)

Salt - To Taste

Method

In a big vessel put water (a lot extra than is usually needed) to boil. Drain the rice and once the water is boiling dunk it in it. Add one star anise, a little cinnamon & one tej patta in it and let it cook till the point it is 90% cooked. Drain the excess water out and spread the rice in a flat big vessel. Don't forget to add a little ghee before spreading it out.

Also boil the eggs and once they are cold cut them into slices.

Warm the milk and add the saffron strands in it.

Take one onion and cut it into fine slices. Heat the Ghee in a kadhai and deep fry these slices till they are golden brown. Remember to separate the slices before frying. Let it drain on a tissue paper and keep it aside.

Make a paste out of the ginger & garlic and finely chop the remaining onion & tomatoes.

In the ghee (left after frying the onions) add jeera, green chilly and the other garam masala. Once it starts spluttering add the ginger garlic paste, letting it cook for a minute. Now add the onion and let it cook. As it turns pinkish brown add the Biryani masala. I had dunked half of it because I wanted the biryani to be spicy. Let it cook for a minute or two and then add the chopped tomatoes. Cover it and let it cook. Once the ghee starts separating add the curd and bhunofy the masala. Turn the gas off when the ghee has separated.

The lovely simmering masala

Now comes assembling.

Keep the rice, cooked gravy, milk, eggs & fried onion at hand.

Now take a heavy based vessel, grease it with oil. Add a layer of rice, over it arrange the egg slices, then spread the gravy generously. Add a layer of rice over it pour a little milk on it and garnish with onions. Then repeat the process of layering, eggs go in first followed by gravy, rice, milk and fried Onions.

The Layering

Just before I covered it

Keep doing till the rice and gravy are finished. I had managed to make three layers. Finally at the top pour the remaining milk garnish with the fried onions and coriander leaves. Now cover the vessel with a plate and seal it either with roti ka aata or aluminium foil. Turn the gas onn and keep it on low flame, keep a tawa on it and put the vessel above it. Let it cook for 10-15 minutes (depending on how cooked your rice was). Turn the gas off.

Open the vessel, enjoy the heavenly aroma and serve it with Raita/ Salad / Papad.

Can you see the layers

In the Plate!

Notes

The amount of gravy that you need to spread depends on the total quantity you have in hand.
Same goes with rice, like in my case I had excess rice so I kept some aside because too much rice would have taken away the taste.
In case you don't find the Biryani Masala then all you need to add is turmeric powder, red chilly powder, Dhaniya Powder and a little more of the garam masala that I have suggested. But I would recommend that you some ready to use biryani masala.
When you put the rice to boil do add salt in it.
Instead of cutting the slices of eggs you can even half it and use it.

Corn Masala in my Style

2014-07-11T04:10:00.001-07:00

They say necessity is the mother of invention and this holds true for this recipe of mine. My In Laws love Corn but are unable to enjoy eating it as they want to because it gets stuck in their teeth's. I worked a way out and invented this dish. It tastes yum and is easy to make.

Ingredients

Medium Sized Corn / Maize - 2

Onions - 2 finely chopped

Ginger & Garlic Paste - 1/2 Tbsp

Tomato - 1 Finely Chopped

Jeera - 1 Teaspoon

Salt - To Taste

Chilli Powder - 1 Tsp or to taste

Dhaniya Powder - 1 & 1/2 Tbsp

Garam Masala - 1 Tsp

Cilantro Leaves

Oil - 1 & 1/2 Tbsp

How to

To begin with put the corn for boiling. I had used the normal corn, broken it into two two pieces, pressure cooked it and then removed the kernel. You can even buy the ready to use kernels and boil them.

While the corn gets boiled, we can start the gravy. Add oil in the kadhai, heat it & add jeera. Once it splutters add the ginger garlic paste and after a minute add the finely chopped onions. As they turn pinkish brown add all the spices besides garam masala. Cook it for 2-3 minutes and then add tomatoes. Cover them for 3-4 minutes and once the tomato is tender bhuno the masala till the oil seperates.

When your kernels are ready put them in a mixer and makes paste. How fine you want the paste to be depends entirely on you. You can leave it on a coarser side or you can make a fine paste like I have done. If you ask me a little coarser one tasted better.

Add this paste to the beaming masala and bhuno the whole thing. Add garam masala and garnish with Cilantro leaves and serve either with hot roti's or parathas.

Now I will let the images do the talking.

The Usual Suspects

I love the smell of onions being fried,

The masala has been dunked in

Tomatoes added & sizzling

The boiled beauties

The removed kernels

The Paste

Ready!

To be served..

Easy to make tasty to eat :)

Mix Pakode for the Monsoon season

2014-07-04T04:07:00.000-07:00

In my books not having pakodi's in monsoon is a cardinal sin. So here I am presenting my kind of Pakode's/ Bhajiya's. The kind which we make up North, the kind which I miss in Mumbai. Out here you get either onion bhajiya or an aloo bhajiya. You will never find Paneer/ Gobhi/ Brinjal/ Mix bhajiya's etc. So without much ado lets get on the recipe

Ingredients

Besan / Gram Flour: 2 Cups

Water: Less than a cup but honestly based on your judgement

Baking Soda: A pinch

Salt: To Taste

Ginger Garlic Paste: 1/2 Teaspoon

Ajwain: 1/2 Teaspoon

Red Chilly Powder: To Taste

Garam Masala Powder: 1/2 Tsp

Cilantro Leaves: 1 Tbsp

Green Chilly: Depending on your hotness intake capacity

Onions: 4 medium sized

Potatoes: 4 medium sized

Oil To Fry

Process

Take the besan in a big utensil, add a little water (it must be enough to move the besan around but ensure that you don't put too much water, so add little by little) and the baking soda. Start beating the besan either by hand or a whisker. The consistency of the batter is on a thicker side. Beat for at least 5-10 minutes and to check if its done there is a simple test. Take water in a glass and drop a small drop of besan in it, if the drop floats up your batter is ready. Keep it aside. It is advisable to first make the batter ready to give it some standing time.

Finely chop the Onions, green chilly, dhaniya leaves & potato. Heat sufficient oil in a kadhai in the meanwhile. Now add the ginger garlic paste, ajwain (it helps in digestion), garam masala powder, Salt, Chilly Powder & Salt in the besan batter and mix it well. Then add the onions & potatoes in the batter, mixing it well. If you feel that the batter is too thick add a little water but remember that onions & salts leave a little water after some time. If you feel the batter is runny add a little besan.

Check if the oil is well heated by dropping a small ball of besan in it, if it springs up immediately the oil is ready. Drop small small balls of onions & potatoes in the oil at high flame, let them cook for a min and then reduce the flame to medium. Turn the pakoda's around after 2-3 mins and cook from other side. When the bhajiya's start turning a little golden in color increase the flame stir for a minute & take them out spreading them on a tissue paper to drain the excess oil. It takes anywhere between 10-15 mins for one batch of pakode's to cook.

Serve with green chutney and pipping hot tea/ coffee.

Alternatively you can even add small pieces of Cauliflower / slices of brinjal/ cubes of paneer/ slices of boiled egg in the besan batter and fry them. You can even make plain onion Bhajiyas by slicing them finely and similarly plain aloo bhajiyas by cutting them in slices.

Enjoy the Rainy season this weekend :)

Katori Chat

2014-06-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

I have now realised that there is no time better than now. I say so because I have been wanting to revive this space for long but I kept postponing it for next day but then today I thought, enough is enough lets do it now!

So let's begin with Katori Chaat! Last week I jad made Chaat at home and wrote about it here, Foodie Weekend. There few of my readers had requested for some recipes from the spread so here is how I made Aloo Katori/ tokri/ basket chaat

When I usually make chaat Aloo Tikki is constant i.e. besides golgappe. But this time I decided to make something new and googled about making this basket. The search was encouraging and thus this was made.

Ingredients (For the Basket)

Potatoes Grated - 4 Medium Sized

Cornflour - 2 Tbsp

Oil to Fry

Cold Water

Peel and grate the potatoes and put them in Cold water for 5 minutes. Drain the water out and pat it dry after 5 minutes. Add cornflour in it and a pinch of salt.

Side by side heat the oil in a deep kadhai ensuring that there is enough oil for dipping this chalni in it. Take a chalni like the above photo, take a portion of the grated potato and spread it in the chalni. Spread it in a way that it takes the form of the chalni. Just ensure that there the spread is neither too thin nor too thick. Ensure the oil is hot and put the chalni in it, be careful and put it in very slowly.

Turn the flame to medium and let the tokri get cooked. It takes anywhere between 8-10 minutes for the basket to get cooked. Keep twirling the chalni so that the potatoes get cooked evenly. Once it turns light golden in color it is ready to be taken out. Drain the oil out as in the photo below

Let the chalni rest for some time, over turn it and slowly tap it from below and extract the basket out. It requires a little gentle handling, patience & manoeuvring. I broke two tokri's and got two out intact, we live & we learn :-)

You can see the whole bunch in the right corner of the photo.

Once these baskets are ready & cool enough you can put a filling of curd, green chutney, imli chutney, anaar, boiled potato, sev, chana daal, bhujiya sev, onion and even sprouted daal. Serve it immediately before it turns soggy.

The Making of the Lightening McQueen Car

2013-08-19T03:11:00.002-07:00

Warning: Long Post Ahead

This cake was one of the biggest baking project that I have undertaken. When I had baked a rainbow cake for Arnav in 2012, I had decided that I will try something new at his every birthday. As per my plan I was planning to bake a train cake and I started researching on it in July. While I was checking out ideas and tips to make a train cake I realised I could also make a car cake. Arnav is such a big fan of cars that I cannot tell you and of all Cars Lightening McQueen is his favourite. So I decided to throw the ball in his court and asked him to choose between a car cake & a train cake. No prizes for guessing what he chose!

The major hurdle that I anticipated in making the cake was that of Fondant. I say hurdle because a) I had never handled it before and had heard many horror stories about it & b) It was not easily available where I live. I decided to worry about the former later and went out searching for the product. I was fortunate because I managed to find a shop which though was far but still in Navi Mumbai. I also did some Internet search and came across this Baker Smart. They are based out of Bangalore and have a wonderful variety of Baking Supplies. The rates that they were offering me were half the rate that I was getting here so I decided to take a risk and ordered the stuff from them. I say risk because I had never heard about them before I stumbled across their site and I did not even check for their reviews before transferring 1000+ bucks in their account. All in good faith. Thankfully they did not disappoint me but I will review them separately otherwise this will be one mammoth post (just like the cake :D).

Here I must add that I ordered the stuff in July end but all of the above was the part of research that I did beforehand.

Towards the end of July I started reading various blogs and tutorials about how to make a car cake. I started making notes, read about how to handle fondant and realised few thing

99% of the articles I was reading were from out of India
As soon as I had received the fondant (a week before his birthday) I had kept it in refrigerator. Guess what was the 1st line of all the “How to handle Fondant” articles? DO NOT REFRIGERATE THE FONDANT. We live & we learn
There is always an easy way out you just need to explore a lot.

Since his birthday was falling on Friday I decided to bake one cake on Wednesday & other on Thursday. I baked two cakes as backup also after I had measured my tin I had realised that ultimately my cake might turn out to be very small…which actually didn’t happen.

I used Gayathri’s recipe for egg less marble cake

For The Cake:

Vegetable Oil -1/2 cup

Granulated Sugar-1 1/4cups

Flour/ Maida- 2 1/4cups

Baking Powder-3/4tbs

Curd -1/2cup

Milk- 1 + 1/4cups

Vanilla Essence-1tsp

Cocoa Powder-1 1/2tbs

Preheat oven at 180C. Grease and dust a pan. In a bowl mix flour and baking powder and mix well. In another bowl beat Oil and sugar until fluffy, add vanilla essence and curd and beat again until fluffy. Add in 1 cup of milk and flour and mix with a wooden spatula.

Divide the batter into 2 equal portions. To one portion add cocoa powder and 1/4cup of milk and mix to combine. Add alternate layers of vanilla batter & chocolate batter and when that is done finally with a knife, make spiral motions inside the batter to obtain the marble effect.

Bake for 45-60 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. The baking time varies from oven to oven. I use LG Convection Microwave and it takes 60 mins at least to cook a cake in the convection mode.

After 5-10minutes, invert the pan on a wire rack and remove pan. Allow it to cool completely.

After the cake was ready I allowed it to cool overnight and then packed it in a cling film and stored it in refrigerator. I did so because it carving is a little easier that ways. I baked another cake on Thursday using this recipe. This cake however didn't turn out that well because I had used Blue Bird Baking Powder which spoiled my cake.

I knew that Friday would be loaded (I was making noodles for the party plus we also had to do decorations) so I decided to do some preliminary preparations. I took the fondant made three balls, big, small & smallest colouring them in red, yellow & black. This reduced my workload for next day.

Fondant - 1/2 kg

Colours used - Red, Black & Yellow

How to colour the Fondant

I would suggest you to visit this site- Working with fondant . It gives you enough tips to make you comfortable. You should use only gel colours with fondant because liquid colours bring in moisture which is not good for Fondants also gel colours are more vibrant. Initially take a little colour adding on a little at a time. After colouring the balls I covered them with cling film. You should ensure that you never leave the fondant out in open. It SHOULD always remain covered and remain in a dry place.

Colored & readied!

Next day I took out the cake and followed the tips used in this video.

I measured my cake, mentally dividing it into three equal parts and finally carving out the third part. I then cut the carved part into two equal parts and loaded it on the remaining cake. Then I carved the remaining cake as depicted in the video. I then applied homemade butter cream frosting on the cake and refrigerated it (it helps the frosting to settle down).

Carved out!

Frosting applied

Tools that you will need for working with the fondant. I would suggest you to keep these ready beforehand because the next part needs loads of concentration and keeping everything handy helps

1. Icing Sugar/ corn flour for dusting

2. Thick rolling pin. Since I didn’t have one my FIL found the fat silver pipe that you can see me using in the pictures

3. A sharp cutter, scale, paint brush, pizza cutter and water in a small bowl.
4. Also keep the model of the car that you are making in front of you

Soften the red fondant by gently kneading it and then roll it out on a clean surface. Apply a little icing sugar or corn flour over a clean surface and roll the fondant. Thickness of the rolled out fondant should be ¼” (If it is too thin it might break while you are stretching it out). Once that is ready roll it over on the pin and spread it out on the car (which you should take out of the refrigerator). Let it lie there for couple of seconds before you start working on it. Once it is settled gently give the fondant a shape over the car by pulling and stretching it. Cut out the extra fondant from under the car.

Red Fondant rolled out.

The cake gets new clothes!

Work In Progress

Similarly you should roll the remaining fondants and cutting the required shapes (Front screen, headlights, windows, name on the top, finer details on the side body of the car etc.). To paste these individual items on to the car, all you need to do is apply a little water with a brush and pat it on the car. I made tyres by rolling out small black balls and red balls and pinned it to the car with a toothpick. For the finer details in the tyre I just carved the lines with a knife. And voila my car was ready.

Ready!

The problems or rather the lessons that I learned while making the car were

I felt that red fondant could have been a little thinner.
I didn’t know where to keep the cake after it was ready. The problem was that all the sites that I had referred to were from out of India where the temperatures are low. India however is a hot country so where I kept the cake it started sweating. I could not keep the cake in fridge because fondant & moisture don’t go together. When I kept it out it was sweating and I had no Indian site to refer to about solutions.
Getting the products. If you are planning to make this plan much in advance.
Keeping the child away from the car was a huge problem :D
You need to plan the whole thing properly. Like you should know which baking dish you plan to use because the car's size is dependant on that. The bigger the dish the bigger the car. I had done all the measurements well in advance and I had even cut out the small shapes like windows, windscreen etc on paper and that helped a lot.
Your heart will break when the cake is being cut. When Arnav was cutting through the cake I was like, it comes this? All me effort will be gone in one second? Poof!!

Sites I referred to for tips

Each of these sites carve the cake differently you can choose the method which looks easiest to you. I preferred the one shown in the video. It is super easy & quick.

If you ask me to rate myself I feel I fared well. I am not trained to decorate cakes and all this was done by learning via various sites so for an amateur I think I did well!!!

Fruit & Nut Cake with Hudson Canola Oil

2013-07-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

Last month I had received this request to try & review Hudson Canola Oil. I had never heard about it before I had seen the mail but before accepting the offer I wanted to know something about it. So I & Hubby searched around and like every dutiful Indian we also tried digging out the Hindi Name for it. Before you ask why were we searching so much let me tell you. Our family is a little finicky in these things and we (excluding me) are able to judge the difference in taste very quickly. So if the Oil would have been something strange getting a sample would have been more of a headache!

The search landed us here Hudson Canola Oil

Hudson Canola is a standard edible vegetable grade oil, a light oil with neutral taste and flavour. Hudson Canola can be used for all types, methods and varieties of Indian cooking: frying, roasting or grilling. Canola is neutral in flavour and aroma with no distinctive taste or smell. Canola Oil is extruded from the seeds of the yellow Canola flower. Canola Oil has the lowest saturated fat amongst all oils, very high monounsaturated fat, very high Omega-3 and rich Vitamin-E content. Canola is the best oil in terms of fat content, when looked at in totality: lowest saturated fat, very high MUFA, very high Omega-3, best balancing ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3, zero trans fats. No other oil offers this unique combination of fats!

Since we didn't find anything incrementing against the oil we decided to accept the reques. When we received it there were varied reactions but the most predominant one was "how will it taste". My Hubby was like "use it in your daily cooking and don't tell that you have used it that ways there would be no adverse reaction and we would also know that if it taste's like the oil we use daily". So, I very slyly started using it daily and guess what? The whole bottle is finished and nobody knew also. I made my daily food i.e. bhindi, badi ki subji, Paratha's, Poha & most importantly even baked a cake with it and there was no difference in the taste. As far as the benefits is concerned I don't think we had any side effects so I would trust what they say on their website.

Here I will share the recipe of my Eggless Fruit & Nut Cake made with Hudson Canola Oil. This cake was baked on Saturday when the brat saw a cake in a shop and asked for one. I promised that I will bake it for him and I had to because he remembered my promise.

Eggless Fruit & Nut Cake

Recipe Source: Various sites

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 1½ cup

Corn flour - 2 tablespoon

Powdered sugar - ¾ cup

Hudson Canola Oil -½ cup Alternatively you can use butter or any vegetable oil

Warm milk - 1 to 1¼ cup

Baking powder - 1½ tea spoon

Baking soda - 1 tea spoon

Salt - 1 pinch

Spices (clove, cinnamon and cardamom)1 table spoon to be grounded with sugar

Cherry - As per your wish (I never had them so never used them)

Tutti frutti - 3 tablespoon

Dry fruits: Qtty as per your wish

Raisins

Dried figs

Dates

Cashew nut

Pistachio

Almonds

Instructions

Chop the nuts, figs, dates & cherries into small pieces. Powder the Sugar along with the spices. Now sieve the flour, baking soda, salt, powdered sugar, corn flour and baking powder into it. Also add powdered spices and mix well; add chopped nuts, dry fruits and mix well.

The Dry Cake Mix

The chopped nuts

Now beat the Hudson Canola Oil in slightly warm milk till light, now slowly add the flour to it. You should first take just 1 cup of milk and if you feel that the mix is a little too thick add a little water but if you ask me 1 cup is sufficient. As is the batter should be on a little thick.

The Batter

Ready to be popped in

Grease a cake tin; spread some dry fruits in the bottom; put the cake-mix. Bake it at 180°C for 60 minutes. Check the readiness by inserting a knife in the center, if it comes clean the cake is ready.

The After

The cake is easy to make and is super yummy!!! I have already baked it twice thrice and it is a hit. This time I made it with Canola Oil and nobody even realise it :D

So do try the oil! It is good!!!

Baigan Ka Bharta!!!

2013-05-23T03:49:00.000-07:00

I have never been fond of Baigan per se and as a kid I used to hate Baigan Bharta! I never liked that burnt smell that came with the dish. Surprisingly my taste buds have changed and I have started liking the same dish now. Come to think of this, my taste buds changed a lot post my pregnancy. Hormonal changes I guess.

Now let’s get on with the recipe of Baigan ka Bharta which is made quite often in my kitchen.

Baigan Ka Bharta (serves four)

Baigan (Brinjal) – 2 Medium Sized
Garlic - 3 cloves for roasting & 6-7 for the bharta

Ginger – 1” piece

Oil - 2 Tbsp

Onion - 2 Medium sized, finely chopped
Tomato - 2 medium sized, finely chopped
Green Peas- 1/4 cup (optional)

Boiled Potato- 1 mashed (Optional)

Cilantro leaves- 2 Tbsp

Curd - 1 tbsp (optional)

Spices
Jeera - 1 teaspoon

Salt - To Taste

Red Chili Powder- To taste

Dhaniya Powder - 1 Tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 Teaspoon

How to make it
Wash the Brinjal’s, wipe them dry, apply a little oil and then make cross slits on each side of the brinjal. In those slits insert the garlic.

Then put them on medium flame. Keep turning them and cook till a knife goes through the baigan. Once they are roasted keep them aside to cool. The aroma which fills in the kitchen with the roasting is just so awesome that I cannot tell you. Once the brinjal cools down remove the skin and mash it into a paste.

Now pour the oil in a skillet, once it is hot add the Jeera and as it starts sputtering add the ginger garlic paste & then the green peas. Let it cook for a minute & then add the onions (don’t forget to add a pinch of salt in it; it helps in cooking the onions a little faster). Once the onion turn brown add all the spices.

Bhunofy it till the oil starts separating from the mix (in about 3-4 mins?) and then add the chopped tomatoes. Cover the whole thing and let the tomato cook. Once they are tender add the curd and bhunofy the masala for 5 mins. Now add the mashed Brinjal & the boiled potato.

Cook for 5 mins on high flame and then reduce the flame. Cook for 5-10 mins, garnish with cilantro leaves and serve it with hot roti’s, onion & green chilly.

Gujhiya - Part II

2013-03-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

Let's begin from where we ended yesterday. We will now make the Gujhiya's with the stuffing that we made but before I start that let me reminiscence a little about my childhood. We used to live in a township and during every festival all aunties of the same group would assemble at each other's place turn by turn and would help in making stuff like Gujhiya which is a tiresome & boring job. I remember how much fun we kid used to have then and would also blackmail our mothers into letting us make some Guhjiya's. My brat did a little of that today, he hijacked our main tool i.e. the spoon with which we shape the Gujhiya. I had to finally play The Car Story to get him off our back.

Sigh!! good old days!!! Anyways, let us get on with the job

Ingredients

Maida - 1/2 Kg

Water - For making the dough

Ghee/ Dalda - For frying

Ghee/ Dalda - 3-4 Tbsp for Moin

Stuffing - Ingredients & process is here

Melt the ghee/ dalda for moin. Take the maida in a parat and add the moin. The trick of adjudging the correctness of the moin is that when you mix it with the maida and take it in a hand a ladoo should form (like in the picture). Now slowly add the water and make a dough which is tight, quite like the way we make for poori. Cover the dough and leave it for 15-20 mins.

I forgot to melt the ghee! You shouldn't

See A ladoo/ lump to check the correctness of the moin

Done

Now, get yourself a chakla, belan, this spoon with which you can cut the ends or the Gujhiya cutter. I will now let the images talk

All Set!

The mold! We used a spoon cutter

This big a portion of the dough

Roll out the poori, remember it should neither be too thick nor too thin

Put the stuffing the center

Bring in the sides together to seal (you can apply a little water on one side to seal it). Remember to close it properly otherwise the stuffing can break out while frying. Also remember not to over stuff.

Now cut the corners

Like This

Ready!

1/2 Kg dough made 55 Gujhiya's for us, you can adjust the quantity accordingly.

Take a Kadhai, add the Ghee/ dalda (we used dalda because Ghee would have been too heavy) and let it get heated up. Points to note while frying the gujhiya's

When you are starting the oil should be warm. Check the heat by putting in a small ball, if it springs up immediately you are ready to fry.
Keep the flame at medium and put in 3 pieces of Gujhiya.
Within a minute the poori will swell up, turn the gujhiya.
Keep turning them till they turn pinkish and then take them out.
Maintain same heat all the time.
Be Patient!!! :D

Ready to be fried

Another view

In the oil

Done

The Bunch is ready!

Phew! Thank you Reema for making me do this, hope you make them!! And a bigger thanks to my Mother In Law for teaching me this and being there, without her I wouldn't have made this because she did the 60% mehnat here.

Have a great holi everybody :)

Gujhiya - The Stuffing - Part I

2013-03-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

Let us get on with the most important dish without which Holi is incomplete especially in all North Indian Homes. Gujhiya, is a time taking dish and you need to have patience while making it. Many of my Holi memories are associated with how I used to sit with my Mom while she maked them year on year. How I would request her to involve me and how she would graciously allow me to roll out one or two poori's for this. Sigh!!! Good old days!!!

We are making this in phases and since I have time & mood right now I decided I might as well put up the 1st part here.

Gujhiya

Ingredients for the stuffing

Khoya/ Mawa - 1/2 Kg

Powdered Sugar - 1/2 Kg

Sooji - 200 gms

Desi Ghee - 2 tbsp

Elaichi - 5-6

Dry Fruits - Raisins & Cashew nuts a handful each

The most crucial part of the stuffing is the mawa which is readily available at all dairies. However my MIL doesn't have a very good opinion about them so she makes her own Mawa religiously. Sadly for me I have never been a witness to it as she makes it when I am at work because she feels that if we make it when I come back it would be very late :-( but I owe it to her for doing all this mehnat for us.

MIL's efforts!! The Mawa!

In a skillet add the ghee and put the sooji in it. Fry it at low flame till it turns a light brown like in the picture.

Before!

After!

Now add the Khoya in it. Powder the Sugar along with the Cardamom and add it to the mixture along with the dry fruits. The stuffing, also known as kasar is now ready. Let it cool down & store it, to be used later for making the Gujhiya's.

Waiting to be sweetened

Ready to be Powdered

Added to the Khoya + Suji Mixture

Throw in the Dry Fruits!

Waiting to be stuffed!

Here is the Part II of this recipe.

Besan Ke Ladoo!

2013-03-23T11:38:00.001-07:00

This afternoon I updated my Personal blog and talked about how I was planning to make various dishes for Holi. After reading that post Reema commented, "Why don't you share recipes for these things pre-holi, so that the lesser ortals like me can also attempt making them at home. I say, try to post some tomorrow. But do it before Holi, otherwise it wil be too late."

After reading her comment I realized it wasn't a bad idea at all, though it would be a tight fight for me because I seldom blog from home but then I thought there is no harm in trying. I finally decided to give in to the challenge because I know that there are many people like me who would want to make these things but they either lack in motivation or guidance. In my case I have the benefit that my MIL lives with me and knows a lot about making sweets. She loves making them and is very sweetly passing on the tips to me. So what better way than jotting down the recipes here (along with the tips).

So lets begin without much ado the Besan ke Ladoo

Besan Ke Ladoo

Ingredients

Makes 30 pieces

Besan (Gram Flour) - 1/2 kg

Powdered Sugar/ Sugar Boora - 300 gms (400 gms if you like extra sweet)

Ghee - 300 gms

Dry Fruits - Raisin & Cashew nuts A Handful

Process

Heat the ghee on a high flame in a Kadhai (skillet) and add besan to it. Keep stirring on the high flame for 2-3 mins and then reduce the flame. Keep stirring the besan so that it doesn't get stuck and neither does it burn. This is a long process but you need to be patient.

Begining

You need to be careful while putting the ghee because if the quantity of same is in excess it will be very difficult to bind the ladoo's (I had committed this mistake during diwali and my ladoos were quite sticky) later. You can check the correctness of the quantity of ghee by checking the consistency of the besan in the kadhai. The consistency should be like a halwa. See the picture below.

Check the Consistency!

Keep turning the besan and turn off the gas went it turns light golden in colour. Also remember that you need to stir the mixture for some more time because the vessel is very hot and the besan can burn.

Stir like there is no tomorrow

Let the mixture rest for sometime and in the meanwhile you can powder the sugar. It is however preferable to use the boora as it gives a nice texture to the Ladoo. Out here the same is not available so my MIL made it at home and I will post a separate post for that, for now you can substitute that with the sugar.

See the change in the colour, It is ready!

15-20 mins later take the besan and add powdered sugar & dry fruits to it. The trick here is that the besan should be lukewarm when you add the remaining ingredients in it. The reason behind it is very simple, they are easier to bind then. Mix them well and the ladoo's are ready to be made. Take a small portion in your palms and very firmly smooth roll it into a ball.

Ready to be married!!

Sweetened!!

Merged!!!

Saas Bahu aur Ladoo!

Ready to be devoured

Enjoy!!!

Amla Murabba

2013-03-21T23:29:00.000-07:00

In January my MIL expressed a desire that we should make Amle ka Muraba, Tomato Sauce and Lemon Achar. Due to my tight schedule I knew that I won't have time to make them but I also knew that she really wanted to make them. When she was in Jabalpur she used to make these things besides Mirch ka Achar, Desi Ghee, Aam ka Achaar etc at home and I knew that she missed this part of her routine a lot. It is because of this very reason I agreed to her request and decided to bring in the required stuff.

Lemon Pickle!

To be honest I was also yearning to learn these things because there is a charm in making things at home. I remember that in our childhood days these things were common and we always had a benefit of eating homemade sauce and other stuff & in a way I want to pass on the memories or charm to Arnav. In fact during my diwali break I and MIL and had made Mangodi & Badi (if you are from North you will know what I am talking about). What works for us is that this house of ours gets ample sunshine (Which is must for making these items).

So she made the Murabba & the lemon pickle all alone. But I helped her in making the sauce. The Murabba as expected was a big hit and thus we decided to make another batch of it and I told my MIL that this time she will teach me how to make it. So, this Saturday the Murabba was made and here is the recipe, which is very simple.

Amla Murabba

Ingredients

Amla - 1 Kg

Sugar - 1 Kg

Water - 3-4 glasses (amlost double of Sugar + Amla)

Elaichi - 8-10 powdered (Cardamom)

Grate the Amla's leaving the seed aside. Just ensure that not a single spoilt piece is grated.

In a heavy based utensil add the water & sugar and put it to boil. Once the water starts bubbling add the grated Amla's. Initially you can cook it at high flame but reduce the flame after say 10 mins. Keep stirring in between so that the mixture doesn't stick at the bottom. In case you feel that the water is less you can add at a later stage but the quantity that I have given is more or less accurate.

You need to cook it for 45 mins to one hour. The colour of the Amla would change and the sugar will become more like chashni.

When the Amla gets cooked, mixes well with the water and the final consistency is such that liquid isn't running it is cooked. See it looks like this. Let it cook down and then add the powdered Cardamom. Once it is totally cool store it in an airtight vessel (preferably glass vessel). You can keep it in sun for a day so that it lasts long. This Murabba will last for 2-3 months without refrigeration. Just ensure that you do not handle it with wet hands i.e. not a drop of water should

Easy to make, this Murabba comes with loads of health benefits

Good for Skin
Good for digestion
Loads of Vitamin C and as my FIL says 1 Amla = 3 Oranges
Good for eye sight
Cools your body
Increases body resistance

etc etc....the best part here is that the benefits of Amla (which you can read here & here) do not get diluted even when it is cooked for a long time. So what is stopping you from making it? It will take 2 hours of your life and will add many more ;-). It is best had with Paratha's/ roti's or to be eaten as is.

Up Next Baigan Ka Bharta!

Lauki ke Kofte

2013-02-27T02:52:00.001-08:00

I hate Lauki (Bottlegourd ) and I know many more people who are like me. I remember my Mom would always make potato vegetable along with it so that I could eat it. But then there were days when she would serve it as kofta’s and trust me we wouldn’t even know that very slyly she was feeding us (though it is a different matter altogether that it loses its benefits after frying) the much hated lauki.

So here I present you the much hated Lauki in a version which makes it much loved ;-)

Lauki Ke Kofte

For Kofta’s

Lauki: 1 medium sized

Besan: 1 Tablespoon

Salt: 1 ½ teaspoon

Garam Masala: 1 teaspoon

Cilantro leaves: 1 tablespoon

Bread: Two slices

Boiled potato: 1 (optional)

Oil: For frying

For Gravy

Onions: 2 medium sized

Tomatoes: 2 medium sized

Garlic: 6 Cloves

Ginger: 1 inch piece

Red Chilli Powder: 1 Teaspoon (vary the quantity as per taste)

Dhaniya Powder: 1 & 1/2 Tablespoon

Turmeric Powder: 1 & ½ Tablespoon

Salt: To taste

Curd: 1 Tablespoon

Malai: 1 teaspoon (optional)

Garam Masala Powder: 1 & ½ teaspoon

Cilantro leaves: 1 Tablespoon (for garnishing)

Oil: 2 Tablespoon

Put 2-3 glasses of water to boil, peel the Lauki and grate it. Once the water starts boiling put the grated Lauki in it and let it boil for 3-4 minutes. Switch off the gas and let the Lauki lie in the hot water for 10 minutes. Later drain the Lauki out in a drainer and it let cool.

Kofta Stuff!

In the meanwhile you can start working on the gravy by adding Two Tbsp oil in a kadhai; add jeera, minced ginger & garlic. Let it fry for two minutes and then add the chopped onions.

Once the Lauki cools down take small-small quantities of Lauki in your palm & squeeze out the water. This step is very important because it decides how good your Kofta’s would be. Please ensure that you manage to squeeze out the maximum water. Once this is done add all the ingredients mentioned under the head “For Kofta’s” and knead this into soft dough. Keep stirring the onions in between.

Heat the oil for frying. Make small balls of the dough and fry it in batches and don’t forget to stir the onions in between. Key to perfectly fried Kofta’s? Remember that when you are putting them to Fry the oil should be hot, 2-3 mins after putting them in put the flame at medium, keep rotating the balls so that they don’t get overcooked from one side. Just before you are taking them out increase the flame, cook for 2-3 mins and take them out when they are golden brown.

Frying Away to Glory!

Ready to be thrown in the sea of gravy!

By the time you would be done with the Kofta’s the onions would have turned brown. Now add the masala’s i.e. Red Chilli Powder, Dhaniya Powder, Turmeric Powder & Salt. After 2 mins add the chopped tomatoes, cover the kadhai and let it cook at medium flame. Keep stirring in between and once the tomatoes’ are cooked add the curd & Malai.

Cook it at high flame and once the oil separates from the masala add approximately 2 cups of water, bring it to boil and then let it cook at low flame for approx. 10-15 minutes. Now add the Kofta’s slowly and turn off the gas.

Garnish it with cilantro leaves and serve it with hot roti’s/ rice.

There is an alternate way to make the gravy which you can find here. http://books-life-n-more.blogspot.in/2012/08/some-weight-updates-recipe.html. The only difference here is that we make a paste of the Onions + ginger + garlic + tomatoes and then cook it. Since this method takes more time I would advise you to start with this even before par boiling the Lauki. This will save you loads of time. I prefer using the second method on days when I have extra time or when I am expecting guests, it is however very important that the masala has to be cooked very well otherwise there would be this half cooked taste which can spoil all the efforts.

Here, this is the picture of the subji made with the second method. The difference is just in the texture of gravy.

Do you make this dish? Same way or some other version? Do share.

Matar Ke Parathe (Stuffed Green Peas Paratha)

2013-02-16T03:21:00.001-08:00

Matar aka Fresh Green Peas is a personal favourite and the main thing that I love about it is the numerous number of ways in which we can use it. I always wait for the winter season mainly for the fresh vegetables it offers and green peas always tops the list. I always stock up as much of it as possible for future use but manage to end it within a month and then I either keep buying it expensive or go & pick up the frozen ones which I personally feel are no patch over the fresh ones. Unfortunately this year I have not been able to enjoy them because in my diet plan they fall under the "strictly not allowed category" but that hasn't stopped me for using it for family.

This Thursaday I made Stuffed Green Peas Paratha for dinner (you can make them for breakfast too) and they turned out yummy. An anecdote related to this recipe is that whenever I used to tell my Hubby that I am planning to make Matar Ke Parathe he would turn his nose saying it would be bland but when I finally served him my Paratha's he was in for a surprise. So here is my recipe for you to try before the season ends. Also few initial pictures are missing as I forgot to click them.

Stuffed Green Peas Paratha

For Stuffing

Makes 10-12 big paratha's

Fresh Green Peas: 1 /2 Cups
Onion: 1 Medium size, finely chopped
Oil: 2 Tsp
Jeera (cumin seeds): 1 tsp
Red Chilli powder: To taste
Dhaniya Powder: 1 tbsp
Salt: To taste
Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp
Amchoor Powder: 2 Tsp
Pudina Powder: 2 Tsp
Garam Masala Powder: 1 tsp
Cilantro leaves: 1 tbsp

Boil the peas and as it turns tender drain the water out. As it cools down put it in a mixer making a paste of it.

In a pan add oil, once it heats up add the jeera. As it splutters add the onion. Once the onion turns transparent add the peas followed by all the spices, barring the last two ingredients. Cook this stuffing till the water evaporates and the Peas looks cooked (it will take approx. 15-20 mins to cook at medium flame). Add the Garam Masala Powde & Cilantro leaves, cook for 2-3 more mins and turn off the gas.

See how the color changes

Take it out in broad vessel so that it cools of quickly.

Now prepare the atta dough as you usually do, just add a little salt in it. Take out a small ball of the dough (we call It loi), make a small katori of it and put the stuffing in it. Now I will let the pictures do the talking.

If you keep a little loi in the center the stuffing will not spill out

Stuffing ball

In!

Fold it in from all side but keep more Aata on one side

Close it!

Ready to be rolled out :)

Once the ball is ready roll it like you usually make a roti and then put it on a hot tawa. Once one side is cooked turn it around, put approx. 1 tbsp oil it, spread it across and turn the paratha. Repeat the same process and with a ladel press the thing till it is cooked from all sides and serve it hot with green chutney.

And as usual I have after pictures!!! We are always too busy eating you see ;-)

Added later in response to the queries in the comments

When you are making stuffed paratha's a common thing that happens is that the stuffing spills out when you are rolling the loi. To avoid the same what you should do is, pull out the required atta in your hand, of it pull out a small portion, make a katori of the rest of it and then put the small portion in the center (depicted in the picture). Then put in the stuffing and close the loi. How it helps is that from the side where you closed the loi there is always enough covering but in the center the atta is less and that is the side from where the stuffing spills out but by keeping a little etc atta there you are giving extra protection to the stuffing. :-)

Meri Waali Dal Tadka!

2013-02-06T03:20:00.001-08:00

Most of my cooking skills come from my Mom and when it comes to basic dishes I have her on my beck & call. She is an awesome cook and her cooking style is simple yet there is something about the way she cooks that even the simplest dishes come to life under her and though I love everything that she cooks but her dal’s are out of the world.

Fortunately for me I have picked up right genes from her and learned the right way to make dal her way. Whenever I carry it to lunch not a single scrap is left and there are always queries as to how do it make it. I am not being immodest here but the truth is that there is something in the way that my dal comes out that it becomes finger licking tasty! So here I am to share with you a simple recipe of making dal my way!

Cast

Arhar daal - 1 cup

Water - 1.5 cup approx

Turmeric Powder- 1 teaspoon

Salt - To Taste

For Tadka

Ghee - One generous spoon

Jeera - 1 Teaspoon

Asafoetida - A pinch

Garlic - 3-5 cloves finely chopped

Ginger - ½ inch piece finely chopped

Onion - 1 finely chopped

Green Chilly - 1 finely chopped – (Optional)

Tomato - 1 finely chopped

Curd - 1 teaspoon

Malai - 1 teaspoon (Optional)

Garam Masala Pwder- 1 tsp

Red Chilly - To taste

Lemon Juice - 1 & ½ Tsp

Cilantro leaves for garnishing

Pressure cook the daal adding salt & turmeric powder to it.

Once that is ready take a vessel, add the ghee and once it is hot add the Asafoetida & jeera to it. Once that starts dancing away to glory add the chopped ginger garlic mix. Let it cook for 2- 3 minutes and then add the chopped onions & green chilly.

As the onion turns light brown add the tomato and then give them some moments of solitude together by covering the vessel. Once the tomato is all soft soft add the curd & malai and bhunofy the mix for 2-3 mins. As the ghee starts leaving the masala throw in the chilli powder & the garam masala powder.

Now pour the daal in it, add the lemon juice & cilantro leaves and your daal is ready to be served.

We serve this alongwith subji, roti & rice! You can also alternatively cook the tomato with the daal and skip adding it in the tadka, this is how I do it daily.

Strawberry Jam!

2013-01-21T22:29:00.003-08:00

I have always been a strawberry lover...I just love its smell because there is something magical about it. Surprisingly I got hold of real strawberries when I moved to Mumbai before that I had eaten it in various forms like Ice cream, Milkshake etc. During my pregnancy I had gorged upon many a glasses of fresh strawberry milkshake. Unfortunately Hubby has never been a fan of the lovely fruit & fortunately Arnav also loves them.

That is why when I saw this post from Revati I knew I had to try this Strawberry Jam for two reasons

Arnav is a jam fanatic
The recipe was so very simple that it is criminal to not try it.

Such was my excitement that I forgot my throat pain & tiredness. But as is said all is well that ends well because my brat loved the jam so much that he just couldn't keep his fingers off it.

Ingredients

Fresh Strawberry Approx 1.5 cup

Sugar In exactly the same proportion as Strawberries

Finely chop the Strawberries, measure it & take the same amount of sugar.

Put the both in a heavy pan and switch on the gas. Keeping it on a medium flame, stir till the sugar dissolves.

Put the gas on sim now and keep stirring the mixture. Keep stiring so that the sugar doesn't get burnt & it doesn't stick also. The Jam should be ready in 15-20 mins. Check the consistency of the jam, when it forms a neat unbroken string between your thumb and index finger consider it to be done.

Notes: My Jam was a little overcooked and getting it out is a little mehnat but for first time It was good! Thanks Revati for thuis lovely recipe. As you can see my brat cannot have enough of it.

Bathua Raita

2013-01-08T22:16:00.000-08:00

One thing that I love about winters is the plethora of vegetables it brings in with it. There is a huge array of colours & variety to choose from. I love the greenies and use them informatively (which I actually learned from my Mom). So here I am presenting to you a raita made of bathua which is also known as chenopodium in english.

Bathua Raita

Bathua 1 small bunch

Curd 300 Gms

Salt To Taste

Jeera 1 teaspoon

Heeng (asafoetida) 1 pinch

Red Chilli Powder To taste

Oil ½ teaspoon.

Bathua is a green leafy vegetable mostly eaten in Northern India but is now thankfully available everywhere. Here is a picture of it.

You need to wash & cut the veggie and par boil it i.e. put the leaves in boiling water and turn off the gas in 2-3 mins.

Let it sit in the hot water before taking it out after say 10 mins. Pour it out in a strainer and put it under water. Let it cool before making a paste of it in either in mixer/ blender. Mix the curd and the paste with a Rai/ mathani/ whisker. Add a little water if you feel the raita isn’t liquid enough.

Take the oil the ladle and put it on the flame, add the jeera & Heeng to the oil. Once the jeera catches flame take it off the gas, add the chilli and put it in the curd and cover it. Trust me when you open the utensil you will be treated with the most heavenly smell of heeng. Add salt to taste and the raita is ready to be served.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the final product but the last image is very near to what it looks like. The best part about this raita is that it is healthy giving you loads of fibre and most importantly it looks so beautiful all green green. My Mom used to make this specially when had guests at home and they used to be surprised with the color of the dish so despite this being something very simple & run of the mill it used to be the star of the evening.

Bharwan Baigan with a Twist!

2012-12-13T02:41:00.000-08:00

A lot of thought went into naming this blog and between I & Hubby we came up with the weirdest names.

Hum Aapke Hain Cook!
Main Cook Kiya!
Maine Cook kYUN Kiya!
Aaja Khaale!
Bana Le Khaa le!

We had a good laugh at it and ultimately were back to square one. I had initially named it as “In Love With Food” but were not happy with the insipid name. I wanted something quirky and thus came up with this. Hope you like and in case you don’t I am sure you will get used to it ;)

So here I am with the first recipe for this blog. Will try to move some old recipes lying in the other blog here as & when I get time. Also ignore the photo quality, I am hoping that the quality will improve with time and a little later the pictures themselves will tempt you to cook the dish immediately.

Bharwan Baigan with a twist (Stuffed Eggplants)

Twist here is that instead of stuffing the baigan I have tried a shortcut to it.

Serves 4

Small Baigan:                500 gms
Onions:                       4 medium sized
Tomatoes:                    2 medium sized
Garlic:                           6 Cloves
Ginger:                          1 inch piece
Red Chilli Powder:         1/2 Teaspoon (increase the qtty if you like your food spicy)
Dhaniya Powder:            2 Tablespoon
Turmeric Powder:          1 & ½ Teaspoon
Salt:                              To taste
Garam Masala Powder: 1 & ½ teaspoon
Cilantro leaves:             1 Tablespoon (for garnishing)
Oil:                              2 TablespoonPut the onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic & all the spices besides Garam Masala in the mixer grinder and make a fine paste. It is said that the finer the paste the faster it cooks.

Pour the oil in a kadhai and once it heats up put the Masala in it, cover the lid and leave the gas at high. Cook it that ways for 5-10 mins.

In the meanwhile wash the baigans and slit them in a manner that there is a cross at the end. See the picture for better understanding. Once they are ready open the lid of the kadhai, stir the masala and add the baigans in it.

Cover it again and put the gas at medium flame, keep stirring the masala every 5-20 minutes to ensure that it doesn’t stick to the vessel. Usually we first let the masala cook and then put the vegetables but in this case we put it all together because it speeds up the process. Add a little water if you feel that it is sticking to the vessel.

The baigans will take some 15-20 minutes to cook and by that time even the masala would be cooked. When the oil separates from the masala, it is deemed to be cooked. Add a little water, garam masala, garnish it with cilantro leaves and serves it hot paratha’s and green chutney.