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This is a delicious and refreshing spinach and tomato salad. Adding walnuts and ginger dressing provides a creamy and tangy flavor.

This recipe will serve 4.

Ingredients:

• About 4 cups chopped spinach
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 apple
• 1/4  cup feta cheese (optional)

Dressing:

• 1/4  cup walnuts
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon ginger juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2  teaspoon black pepper
• About 2 tablespoons water adjust as needed

Method:

1. Wash the spinach and pat dry and chop them coarsely. Keep aside.
2. Cut the tomatoes in halves and remove the seeds, cut them in about half inch pieces.
3. Next peel and cut the apples in small pieces.
4. In a salad bowl toss the spinach, tomatoes and apples together. Keep aside.

Dressing:

1. Shred about 1 inch piece of ginger on fine side of shredder. Squeeze the shredded ginger between your fingers to make ginger juice.
2. Next blend all the dressing ingredients together. Add the water as needed otherwise dressing will be too thick.
3. Pour the dressing over salad, and sprinkle with feta cheese. Enjoy!

Suggested Variations:

1. Tomatoes can be replaced with strawberries.
2. Walnuts can be replaced with roasted peanuts

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Apple Jalebis can be best described as apple wafers dipped in the flavorful sugar syrup. This is a modified version of Jalebis. They taste best when served hot.

Recipe will make about 16.

Ingredients:

• 2 apples peeled and sliced them in thin rings
• 3/4  cup all purpose flour (plain flour, maida)
• 1/2  teaspoon dry yeast
• 1/2  teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon oil
• Oil to fry

For Syrup:

• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4  teaspoon cardamom powder

For Garnish:

• 1 tablespoon blenched and sliced pistachios

Method:

Batter:

1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in ¼ cup warm water, and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
2. Mix the flour and oil together.
3. Add the yeast solution to the flour and mix. Make a smooth batter. Add water as needed. Consistency should be like pancake mix.
4. Set the batter aside and let it sit in a warm place for half hour.
5. Make sure the batter is fermented, but do not over ferment. After fermenting batter will be little lacy.

Syrup:

Boil the sugar and water together. Add the lemon juice, and cardamom boil for about 8 minutes until syrup is about ½ thread. Lemon juice keeps the mixture from crystallizing

Making the jalebis:

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan about 1 inch deep. To check if the oil is ready, put one drop of batter in the oil. The batter should sizzle and come up without changing in color right away.
2. Dip the apple slices into the batter one at a time, making sure the slice is covered with the batter. Then, slowly drop the slices into the frying pan.
3. Fry the jalebi in small batches. The jalebi will take about 4 to 5 minutes to cook.
4. Turn them occasionally. Fry the jalebi until both sides are golden-brown.
5. Transfer them into the warm syrup.
6. Let jalebi soak in the hot syrup for a few seconds and take out over wire rack so excess syrup can be dripped from jalebi.
7. Garnish with sliced pistachios.
8. Serve hot.

Variations:

Try sprinkling cinnamon powder or drizzle melted chocolate over the Jalebis for a creative touch.

Beginning this month of November, I will be having a Monthly Contest. Each month will feature a different contest with great prizes!!

For November, your Objective:

• Take my recipe for Gulab Jamun and create a unique variation of it. Be Creative!
• There are many ways to adapt the Gulab Jamun recipe into something truly unique and different. You can search the web for ideas.
• 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 November 17th.
• The winner will be featured on the homepage with the new recipe and a link to their website (if available).

1st Prize: Gift basket courtesy of Manjula’s Kitchen (Manjula will personally cook a selection of her favorite desserts and  appetizers)
2nd Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

**Anyone can join this contest**

Halloween is here and I enjoy spending time with my grandchildren on this holiday! Today I carved pumpkins with my grandchildren, Mansi and Raghav. We do this every year and it’s become our tradition! Mansi, my 8 year old granddaughter, wanted to carve the pumpkin herself using a knife, but I, of course, did not let her handle the carving knife! She was a little upset about that! The pumpkins turned out great. We saved the pumpkin seeds and plan to wash them and roast them in the oven. Mansi reminded me that next year we have to carve another pumpkin for her 9 month old cousin (the newest grandchild of mine!) Rhea.

Keeping with tradition, the kids will go trick or treating with their Chacha (Uncle), Chachi (Aunt), and cousin sister Rhea. Alex and I will stay home to pass out candy to the kids. Maybe I will bake some Halloween cookies for the kids to enjoy.

My elder son and daughter-in-law are back from their short trip to India. The house is so quiet! I got used to the sounds of the kids, especially Raghav, who used to love to wake me up in the mornings in his adorable way! I can’t wait until Rhea spends the night with us! She is very cute and extremely active. In fact, her boundless energy reminds me of my younger son (her father). He always kept me on my toes and so does she!

I am very blessed that my children and their families live close by to me. I get to spend a lot of time with them and enjoy my grandchildren growing up!

I will be coming up with some menu ideas for the upcoming holidays.

Until then…Happy Halloween!

I have been babysitting my grandkids for the past week as my son and daughter-in-law went on a short 9 day trip to India for a family wedding.

Because the kids are in school with many activities, they decided to leave the kids with Alex and me. My granddaughter Mansi is 8 and my grandson Raghav is 5. They have stayed with us before, but this is the longest they have been without their parents!

Alex and I have been responsible for getting the kids ready for school, taking them to their many after-school activities, and of course keeping them entertained! I have also enjoyed feeding them! Their schedules are so busy that we have to make sure they are prepared!

It’s definitely been challenging, but we are enjoying this quality time with our grandkids. Of course with two kids in the house there’s bound to be some challenges. For example, both Mansi and Raghav have certain television programs they enjoy watching…then there’s Alex, who hasn’t been watching his usual news programs. It was also been a challenge feeding Raghav as he is a very poor eater. Plus, both of the kids are missing their parents. We are doing our best to keep them entertained.

Today, Mansi and I made strawberry short cake. She was the chef and I was her helper. We had a great time doing that!

Mansi enjoys visits from her Chacha (uncle), Chachi (aunt) and their daughter, Rhea. Raghav, on the other hand, loves his chacha and Chachi, but he is still very jealous of Rhea!

Mansi has been a great help. Before sleeping, Mansi will take out both her and Raghav’s clothes for the next day. Before bed, both the kids love to jump in my bed and climb over me!

I was taking Mansi to her dance class the other day and she was being mischievous as usual. I jokingly told Mansi that her Mom’s friends always tell me how well behaved she is and why don’t I see that? She proudly informed me that with others she has to make a good impression. She then said “Dadi, (grandma in Hindi), that will never happen with you!”

 Now they are both asleep and the house is very peaceful. I can now enjoy a cup of tea with Alex!

I had a great time with my family. We all had fun. It was a hectic week. We took lots of photographs of our family but they all got deleted by mistake except a few.

My blunders for Diwali preparation! Three days before Diwali, I decided to make all my deserts and appetizers and do my laundry on the same day as I have an old bad habit to do multiple things. Not a good idea you are asking for disaster. Nothing came out as I planned by end of the day I was in tears. My husband smiled and said hopefully one day you will learn to do one thing at a time.

I was making boondi ladoo which I served just as boondi and served them in cup cakes cups. The same thing happened with coconut burfi. I had to shape them differently and again serve them in foil candy cups. Gulab jamuns turned out hard which I still have sitting in my refrigerator for next get together. I will cut them in pieces and before serving I will mix them with vanilla ice cream.

The end result was that every thing tasted well and every body enjoyed it.

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This is an exotic delicious main dish. Just the smell of aloo dum can make you hungry! To make this dish, potatoes are fried and then soaked in the spicy aromatic gravy. This is a perfect dish for any dinner party.

Recipe serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium size russet potatoes
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed (jeera)
• 1/8 teaspoon asafetida (hing)
• 1 tablespoon gram flour (basen)
• 6 whole red chili
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon coconut powder
• 1/4  inch of ginger
• 1 green chili adjust to taste
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder (dhania)
• 1 tablespoon funnel seed powder (saunf)
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder adjust to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika (dagi or kashmiri mirch)
• 1 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
• 1/2  garam masala
• about 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
• oil to fry

Method:

1. Peeled and cut the potatoes into ½” cubes.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat.
3. Frying pan should have at least 1inch of oil. To check if the oil is ready, put one piece of potato in the oil. The potato should sizzle right away. If potatoes are fried on low heat they will be very oily.
4. Fry the potatoes till they are cooked through; turn the potatoes few times while frying. Take out potatoes with a slotted spoon (this allows excess oil to drip back into the frying pan) and place on a paper towel. Keep aside.
5. Heat the pan on medium heat and stir-fry the sesame seeds for about a minute until seeds lightly change color. Take them out and keep aside.
6. Blend sesame seeds, coconut, ginger, green chili, and make it into a paste. Use water as needed to blend into paste.
7. In a small bowl mix, sesame paste, yogurt, ginger, green chili, coriander powder, funnels seed powder, paprika, red chili powder, and turmeric into a paste. Keep aside.
8. 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.
9. Add the cumin asafetida and cumin seeds. After the cumin seeds crack, add whole red chili and besan (gram flour). Stir-fry for about half a minute until the besan (gram flour) is golden-brown.
10. Add the spice paste and stir-fry for about 2 minutes on medium heat until the spices starts to separate from the oil.
11. Add the potatoes, mix it well and add about 1cup of water. After the gravy boils, let it cook on low-medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes. Adjust the water in gravy to your liking.
12. Add the cilantro and garam masala cover the pan and turn off the heat. Let it sit for few minutes before taking of the cover. This helps bringing the color on the top of the dish.
13. Serve with any bread.

This year Diwali falls on October 17th – which is conveniently on a Saturday!

Diwali is often referred to as the “Festival of Lights” and is a celebration of joy and happiness. Diwali signifies the victory of good versus evil. Hindus celebrate Diwali throughout the world with great enthusiasm.

There are many traditions that are followed when celebrating Diwali. Preparations for Diwali often include cleaning your home and opening the windows to welcome the Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi, into your home. Candles and lamps are lit as a greeting to Goddess Lakshmi, hence the name “Festival of Lights”. Gifts are exchanged and festive meals are prepared. Lively fireworks, and games of cards are enjoyed to celebrate Diwali!

This year I am especially excited for Diwali because I have a new granddaughter and this is her first Diwali.

I have been busy preparing some delicious desserts. The sweet smell of cardamom and saffron has infused the whole house! Gujias are typically prepared as a main sweet snack for Diwali. However, this year, I have decided to go a different route and prepare a variety of sweets such as coconut burfi, boondi ka ladoo, gulab jamun and shakkar para.

In celebration of Diwali, my family has helped decorating the house including the Christmas lights. I am hoping Mansi (my Granddaughter) will be able to help me to decorate the front entrance of the house with rangoli.

We will be kicking off the Diwali festivities with a family dinner at my house the day before actual Diwali. This celebration is called “Choti Diwali”. I will be preparing a traditional dinner for my family. The menu is puris filled with urad dal, spicy squash, Bhindi, matar paneer, dahi vada, and cumin rice. For dessert we will have gulab jamun and bondi ka ladoo.

 After dinner, keeping in tradition with Diwali celebrations, we will be playing cards. I plan to serve spicy peanuts, burfi and of course chai. My husband is an expert at preparing chai so he will take on that task!

Diwali day we will have family get together our son’s home. I will post photographs of our celebrations soon!

I hope you all have a very Happy Diwali!

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Baingan Bharta is mashed eggplant cooked with spiced tomato very flavorful dish. Traditionally bharta is made with charcoal roasted eggplant but I have adopted it to the modern kitchen. This is a very popular dish in Punjab usually served with roti.

Recipe will serve 2 to 3.

Ingredients:

• 1 Eggplant (should be big and fat)
• 2 medium size tomatoes
• 1/2 cup green chopped red bell pepper (capsicum)
• 1 green chili
• 1/4  inch piece of ginger
• 3 tablespoons oil
• Pinch of asafetida
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2  teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2  teaspoon red chili
• 1 teaspoon sat adjust to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
• 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro to garnish

Method:

1. Cook the whole eggplant (put it on a microwave safe dish) in microwave for 8 to 10 minutes until it is tender. If you are using an oven, preheat the oven at 400 degrees F and bake it for about 45 minutes turning the sides every fifteen minutes. Be sure to first put the eggplant in an oven safe shallow bowl or a cookie sheet.
2. Let it cool and peel off the skin then chop the eggplant in small pieces and keep aside.
3. Blend the tomatoes, ginger and green chili.
4. Heat the oil in a saucepan on medium high and stir fry the bell pepper for about a minute. Take out the bell pepper from pan and keep aside.
5. Use the same saucepan with remaining oil heat the oil little more. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if it cracks right away it is ready. Add asafetida and cumin seed.
6. After cumin seeds crack, add tomato puree, coriander powder, turmeric, red chili, and salt and let it cook for a few minutes until tomato puree has started leaving the oil.
7. Add eggplant let it cook on medium heat keep stirring the eggplant and mashing the eggplant as it cooks.
8. Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes.
9. Add bell pepper, fresh cilantro, and garam masala to the eggplant and mix it gently.
10. Bharta is ready serve hot with rotis, parathas, or naan. Enjoy!