For this month’s contest, I am doing something a little different. I am selecting just a single vegetable (Califlower) and would like you to create a variation of any vegetable recipe on my website.  You can refer to my Aloo Gobi recipe for example as a start.

• Using Cauliflower, create any type of variation using one of my vegetable recipes. Be Creative!
• Search the web for ideas. There are many resources available.
• You will be judged mostly on creativity, since I cannot taste the outcome.
• Please send me a detailed recipe of the variation to contest@manjulaskitchen.com. Explain how you came up with the ideas for the variation.
• You must also send picture(s). Otherwise your recipe will not be considered for entry.
• The deadline is March 25th.
• The winner will be featured on the homepage with the new recipe and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $50 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

It was very encouraging to see so many great entries this time around and I really had a difficult time choosing the winners! I was doubtful when I started these monthly contests that enough people will participate, but I feel reassured now. I want to thank everyone for taking part in this one, and congratulate the winners, Rinku and Priya. I hope to see many more participants next month. I will announce the next contest for March very soon. Stay tuned.

FIRST PLACE:

• Rinku Parikh Sharma from the UK created a very colorful variation which she calls Rangeela Paratha. The full recipe is listed below.

“I have 2 kids. They are bored of eating same type of parathas so I keep making paratha with different things. Kneading the dough with Dal , tomato puree, spinach puree, left over rice and many more. So this time to make it little different and to give lots of color to it I thought why not put this three dough together and make paratha. With only one color the look of the paratha doesn’t make much difference. Then it came how to roll it that the colors should come evenly. After doing it in many ways I found out that the one which I have written here come very color full. So this is the way I came up with this recipe. Hopefully you will like it too.”

SECOND PLACE:

• Priya Suresh created another amazing version using carrots. Her Carrot Paratha recipe is also listed below.

“I am a big lover of carrots and I thought of making some special with carrots so that’s the idea of carrot parathas.”

I would also like to congratulate our other top contributors. Thank you so much for participating and I hope to see more for next contest:

• Rashmi Krishnappa
• Ankita Wakade
• Shina Goel
• Niti Sharma
• Pinky Hotwany
• Amulya Reddy
• Madhurya Karthik
• Shweta Pandiya
• Reetashukla
• Perna Das
• Adelina Moraru
• Peter Vielehr
• Swapna Balu
• Ruby-Rany Siddiq
• Genevieve
• Ajay
• Reeta Shukla
• Kolla Suneeta
• Viji Murali
• Bharatha Bhushana
• Shruthi Udupa
• Anu Krishnamoorthy
• Tanmaya Kulkarni
• Seema Kukanur
• kavya Naimish
• Ida Caroline Janby
• Forest Parks
• Smita Srivastava
• Matt Fadich
• Neena Bali
• Meeta Asarpota

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/4  tsp salt
• 1/4  tsp Carom seeds (Ajwain seeds)
• 1/4 tsp Red Chilli Powder
• 1 tsp oil
• 2 tbsp concentrated tomato puree
• 2 tbsp spinach puree
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2  cup lukewarm water (Use more as needed)
• 2 tsp ghee or butter
• 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour for rolling

Method:

1. Take flour, mix salt , red chilli  and oil and divide it in three parts (put it in three different bowl).
2. In the first portion put turmeric and carom seeds (ajwain). Put a little water to make a soft dough (add water as needed).
3. In the second portion put the tomato puree. Mix it well and then add very little water to make a soft dough.
4. In the third portion put the spinach puree. Mix it well and then if needed add very little water to make a soft dough.
5. Leave the dough for at least ten minutes or more.
6. Divide each coloured dough in 2 further parts and make balls. ( 2 with turmeric powder yellow colour, 2 with the tomato puree red colour and 2 with the spinach puree green colour)
7. Take 1 ball of red colour and press flat , on top of that put the yellow ball and press flat and at the end put the green ball and press flat. ( so top will be green then yellow and then red ball)
8. Put some dry flour on both the sides and roll in to a 3 inch circle.
9. Now put the green part on the top and apply 2 drop of ghee or butter and then fold it twice in length and then fold it inwards (it will become like a ball).
10. Then press it and put some dry flour and roll in to a 6-inch circle. ( use the dry flour just enough you need to roll the paratha, too much use of flour will make the paratha dry).
11. Heat the tava on medium high heat. (Iron tava works best)
12. Place the paratha over tava. After paratha start changing color and start puffing in different places flip the paratha over.
13. Apply some ghee/butter on the first side and then flip again and apply some ghee/oil on the other side.
14. Take a flat spatula and press lightly on the puffed parts of the paratha. This will help the paratha puff up .
15. Flip the paratha again. The paratha should have light golden-brown spots on both sides.
16. Now the Rangeela Paratha is ready to eat with Boondi Raita, Pickle and Chutney. And even kids can just roll it and eat like a wrap.

Ingredients:

Dough

• whole wheat flour – 1cup
• water – 1/2 cup
• salt – a pinch

For Filling

• carrots – 3 no.
• cumin powder – 1/2 spoon
• red chilli powder – 1/2 spoon
• salt – 1/4 spoon
• garam masala – 1/2 spoon

Also needed

• 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour for rolling
• Oil to cook

Method:

1. Mix flour, salt and water to make a soft dough.
2. Knead the dough by hand on a greased surface to make a smooth dough.
3. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and rest it for 10 min.
4. Now take carrots, Peel the carrots and grate it.
5. Add salt, red chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder to the grated carrots.
6. Mix well and Squeez this mixture and remove water from it and keep aside.
7. Divide the dough and carrot mixture into 6 equal parts.
8. Roll the dough into 3 inch diameter circles. Put the carrot filling in the center. Seal by pulling the edges of the rolled dough together to make a ball. Proceed to make all six balls.
9. Each ball needs to settle for two minutes before rolling.
10. Heat the skillet on medium high.
11. To make it easier to roll the balls, first roll them in dry whole-wheat flour.
12. Lightly press the ball with sealed side on the top when rolling. Roll the ball lightly into a circle. To reduce the stickiness on the rolling surface, sprinkle dry whole-wheat flour on both side of the paratha.
13. Take a pan, heat it and fry the parathas slowly. Fry them on both the sides with butter or ghee or oil.
14. serve hot with onion raitha or any pickle.

Click here to view the embedded video.

These whole wheat cookies are light and crispy. They are great with tea or coffee. This is an egg-less cookie recipe.

Recipe makes about 24.

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon green cardamom seed coarsely powder (ilaichi)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (8 tablespoons or 4oz)
• About 2 tablespoons of milk or as needed

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 360 degree F.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, sliced almonds and cardamom powder well.
3. Next add soft butter and milk to the flour mixture to make dough. Dough should be very soft.
4. Divide the dough into about 24 equal parts and make them into balls.
5. Press each ball between your palms lightly; every piece should be about 1/2” in thickness.
6. Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about inch a part.
7. Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes or until cookies are lightly gold brown.
8. After they become lightly golden brown remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Let the cookies cool down for two to three minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet.

Variations

1. Replace the almonds with walnuts or pistachios.

My grand daughter is visiting me and we decided to prepare this holi plate today.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pav is a soft bun bread. Vada is a spicy potato mixture coated with gram flour batter and deep fried. This is a very popular dish for people in Mumbai, it’s often sold by road side vendors.

Recipe will make 6

Ingredients

• 4 medium size boiled potatoes
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2  teaspoon black mustard seeds (rai)
• 1/4  teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 2 green chilies minced (hari mirch) adjust to taste
• About 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (hara dhania)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt adjust to taste

For Batter

• 3/4  cup gram flour (besan)
• About 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (hara dhania)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
• About 1/4 cup of water

Peanut Chutney

• 2 tablespoons of shelled peanuts
• 1 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoons dry coconut powder
• 4 whole dry red chilies adjust to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt adjust to taste

Also Needed

• Oil to fry
• 6 buns

For Garnishing

• 1/4 cup tamarind chutney
• 1/4 cup hari cilantro chutney
• 1 thinly sliced tomato
• Some lettuce leaves

Method

Peanut Chutney

1. Dry roast peanuts on medium heat until peanuts lightly change color. Add red chilies and roast for another minute until chili become dark. Reduce the heat to low, add sesame seeds and roast for another minute. Turn off the heat, add coconut powder and mix it well.
2. Transfer the peanut mix into a bowl.
3. Wait until the peanut mix cools off. Grind it to make it a coarse powder. Adjust salt to taste. This is a dry powder chutney.

Batter

1. Mix gram flour, salt and cilantro (hara dhania), and add water slowly to make a thick but smooth batter. Set aside.

Vada

1. Peel and mash the boiled potatoes keeping the crumbly in texture.
2. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan on medium heat.
3. Add mustard seeds and as the seeds crack add mashed potatoes, ginger paste, minced green chili, turmeric, and salt.
4. Stir fry for about 3 minutes over medium heat. Add cilantro mix it well. Turn of the heat.
5. After mixture cools off, divide the potato mix slightly bigger than a golf ball.
6. Make them into smooth ½ inch thick patties, rolling between slightly greased palms.
7. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium high heat.
8. The frying pan should have about 1 ½ inch of oil. To check if the oil is ready, put one drop of batter in oil. The batter should come up but not change color right away.
9. Dip the potato patties into the batter one at a time, making sure the patties are completely covered by the batter. Then, slowly drop them into the frying pan.
10. Vada will take about 4 to 5 minutes to cook.
11. Turn them occasionally. Fry the vada until both sides are golden-brown.

How to Serve Pav Vada

1. Take one pav bun, slit in half, spread the cilantro chutney and tamarind chutney to each pav as desired.
2. Next sprinkle the peanut chutney.
3. Place the potato vada, lettuce leave and sliced tomato on one half of the bun.

I am starting my preparations for Holi, which is the festival of colors and is celebrated with great enthusiasm by farmers. Holi is known as a harvest time. It is truly a beautiful site, with green farms and colorful flowers!

Holi is celebrated as a day when everyone comes together to celebrate. Social restrictions and gaps are forgotten as people of different backgrounds and economic status celebrates together. A bonfire is prepared the night before Holi. The next day friends and family play together with specially prepared colored powders. These powders are called gulal. Colored water is playfully splashed on each other as well.

I love the spirit of the holidays! The holidays bring back a lot of fun memories from my childhood. My parents loved celebrating any occasion which made them and people around them happy. On Holi, I remember my mother being up very early in the morning to make the preparations for playing with the colors. After all the preparations were done my father would come wake my brother and sisters up by putting gulal on our faces and screaming “Holi hai!” – Which translates into “Happy Holi!”.

On Holi, family, friends and neighbors visit each other throughout the day playing colors. Snacks are offered and a special drink known as thandai (milk and almond drink) is offered.

Holi is on February 28th and today is already 22nd. I am beginning my preparations as we speak! Unless the house is full of the sweet aromas from the dishes you cook, it doesn’t feel like Holi. I like to prepare some traditional holi snacks including gujia, shakkar para, one of the burfi, namak para, and khasta kachori. I will let you know what additional snacks I make. In the meantime, please let me know how you celebrate Holi and what snacks you made!

HAPPY HOLI!

For the past couple of weeks, I have been looking forward to a family trip (including grandkids) to Big Bear, which is a small ski resort near Los Angeles. The kids wanted to play in the snow, make snowmen, and go sledding. Last year was the first time they played in the snow and they had a blast. Especially my grandson!

Alex has been as excited as him and was looking forward to this trip. He is a very prepared person which is great because I tend to a last minute person. Maybe that’s because I know he is there to take care of things!

Unfortunately I had to miss this event, last few days I have came down with a bad cold and fever. I insisted they should go without me and take lot of photographs. Of course I called them often so I can hear their excitement and their screams on the phone.

My grand daughter tried to make me feel better by saying how much they missed me and reassured me that we will make the trip to Big Bear again next year and that we can also bring along my other granddaughter, Rhea, who just turned one. With that type of promise, I can’t help but look forward to next year!

For this month’s recipe, I am choosing the classic Roti (chapati) or Paratha flat breads. You can make lots of varieties like Spinach Paratha, Aloo Paratha, Gobhi Paratha and Tandoori Roti. If you’ve never made Indian flat breads before, this is a great chance to try it. I’m eager to see what you all come up with. Sorry again for the delay this month. The deadline is extended.

• Take my recipe for Roti or Paratha and create a unique variation of it. Be Creative!
• Search the web for ideas. Here’s a start: Wikipedia on Roti, Wikipedia on Paratha
• You will be judged mostly on creativity, since I cannot taste the outcome.
• Please send me a detailed recipe of the variation to contest@manjulaskitchen.com. Explain how you came up with the ideas for the variation.
• You must also send picture(s). Otherwise your recipe will not be considered for entry.
• The deadline is February 27th.
• The winner will be featured on the homepage with the new recipe and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: $50 gift certificate from Amazon.com
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

Click here to view the embedded video.

Laucki chana dal is a healthy main dish and has both vegetable and lentil making a wholesome meal.

Ingredients

• 1 medium bottle gourd (laucki, ghiya, doodhi)
• 1/2 cup yellow split gram (chana dal)
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• A pinch of asafetida (hing)
• 2 whole red chilies
• 1 teaspoon shredded ginger (adrak)
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder adjust to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala (optional)
• 1 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor) adjust to taste
• About 2 tablespoon finally chopped cilantro (hara dhania)
• 1 cup of water adjust as needed

Method

1. Wash and soak chana dal for 1 hour or more.
2. Peel, wash and cut bottle gourd into ½ inch cubes.
3. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if seed cracks right away oil is ready.
4. Add the cumin seeds as they crack add asafetida, and whole red chilies stir for few seconds.
5. Next add ginger, turmeric, and chili powder and stir for few seconds.
6. Add gram (chana dal), bottle gourd, salt and 1cup of water. Water can be adjusted as needed as some time bottle guard will have more or less moisture and depends how much gravy one prefers.
7. Cook till gram dal (chana dal) gets soft.
8. Turn off the heat and add mango powder, garam masala, and cilantro. Stir and cover the pan for few minutes before serving.

Serving suggestion

Serve with roti or paratha or with plain rice.

Variations

1. Mango powder can be replaced with lemon juice.
2. Add 2 tablespoon of dry fenugreek leaves or 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped fenugreek leaves same time adding the bottle gourd.

This past weekend was a busy one for me as it was my granddaughter’s FIRST birthday!! The party was very fun and every one had a great time. I planned the menu and prepared a variety of dishes for this special occasion. We also decided to cater some dishes.

The menu included the following dishes: mattra chaat served with toppings including tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, chopped ginger, and chutneys, mini peanut butter jelly and cream cheese cucumber sandwiches shaped like hearts and butterflies, warm gulab jamun, fresh fruit and cheese skewers decoratively placed in oranges for presentation, and a chocolate fountain, which were all prepared by us. We had pesto and tomato cream pastas and fresh vegetable and cheese panini sandwiches catered. My daughter in law’s co-worker prepared the fresh chocolate and pumpkin spice cupcakes with animal designs. We also got a two -tiered bundt cake catered. We truly had a wide variety of food and everyone ate to their heart’s content. We received a lot of compliments about the dishes prepared! The kids especially loved the desserts and had a ball dipping strawberries and marshmallows in the chocolate fountain.

I think the beauty in these dishes was in the presentation. I decided to serve the mattra chaat toppings on big collard green leaves and fruits on skewers looked really nice. You can see this in the pictures posted.

This was a very special event and I’m glad I had a big part in planning in!