Rak's Kitchen

LACHHA PARATHA RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:44:41 PST

The first experience I had Lachha paratha was not a good one. I had in SB and it was tasting terrible. I thought it is really like that. So never ordered this if I see Lachha paratha in menu. Me and Vj both love the ‘Maida parotta’ and kurma. I used to eat many times before, but now a days due to health and weight constraints, we avoid having maida parotta.

But 2 weeks back when I met Jey and Nags for lunch at Mayura, we ordered lachha paratha. When I tasted it, it was really awesome! It just melted in my mouth and crisp here and there too. I loved it and even at the same instant, I decided to try at home. And today I tried just 2 and it tasted great. Then I remembered, when I was a kid, my mom and grandma used to try this way when they roll chapati and I used to like the process of making :) I can now make this often for my lunch!

Ingredients (makes 3 parathas)

Wheat flour	1 cup
Ghee	1 tblsp
Salt	1/2 tsp
Water	As needed

Method

Mix flour,a tsp of ghee,salt well and then sprinkle water enough to make a smooth dough.
Divide into 3 equal balls. Roll into big circle,as big as our tawa. Then apply a tsp of ghee evenly on the top. either use your hands to spread or a brush [like I did ;) ]
Sprinkle a tsp of flour and again spread evenly and start making fleets.
After fully done, twist and coil (roll) to make a flat round.
Roll carefully, without applying too much pressure to ensure the layers are still there. Heat tawa and drizzle oil and cook in medium flame(with oil drizzled) both sides until golden brown. Use the spatula and gently press while cooking to ensure even cooking.

Pat gently the sides of the paratha with kitchen towel to highlight the layers. You can again smear ghee or butter when it is hot. Enjoy hot with simply dal or dahi and pickle!

Notes

You can use even oil in the place of ghee, but ghee is recommended.
The finer the fleets, you get more layers. Since this is the first time I made, I made bigger fleets.
Always cook in medium flame with constant pressing with the laddle to ensure even cooking.

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RED BEAN QUESADILLA RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:38:16 PST

I tasted Quesadillas only two times, and both the times I tasted only this red bean quesadillas. I had this once when we went to Raj restaurant, with my in-laws when they visited here. I loved it and again tasted and wanted to try it out at home. I could almost recreate the taste and am so happy with the result. They served it with Tomato Salsa and sour cream dip, it was yummy and tasting great with a buttery smell! Let me share the recipe straight away! Refer here for tortillas recipe.

Ingredients(filling enough for stuffing 5-6 tortillas)

Red kidney bean	1 can
Yellow onion	1
Tomato	1
Chopped coriander leaves	2 tblsp
Lemon juice	1 tsp
Pepper powder	1/2 tsp
Green chilli	1
Grated mozzarella	1/4 cup
Salt	as needed
Tortillas	5-6
Butter/ clarified butter	As needed

Method

Drain the bean in the can and wash it. Take it in a bowl and mash it coarsely. Add salt and pepper and mix well. Chop onion and tomato(deseeded), chilli very finely. Mix onion with lemon juice.
Take a tortilla and spread 3 to 4 tblsp mashed bean and top it with onion, tomato, green chilli, coriander and lastly cheese as shown in the picture. Spread only half of the tortilla.
Fold it exactly into half to cover the spread completely. Heat a pan and grease with butter/ ghee and arrange the tortilla stuffed with bean. I toasted two at a time. Cook in low flame on both sides until golden brown and crispy. By that time, the cheese will also melt.

Cut each in to two quarters and serve hot with tomato salsa and sour cream or a cheesy dip!

Notes

You can also spread over fully on a tortilla and close the filling with another tortilla, toast both sides and cut into quarters.
While flipping, do carefully. Especially when you do by the above method. I found my method easy, i.e; use a tortilla and fold into a half as shown in the picture.
Cheese can be increased or decreased as per your choice. More the cheese, more tasty, but watch out for the calories.
One tortilla make 2 quesadillas, it depends also how big you roll and how big you want.

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TOMATO SALSA RECIPE (FRESH)

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:37:49 PST

I love this salsa, because its simple to make, yet delicious! This goes perfect with tortilla chips, or bruschetta or even our papad! Try it and sure you would love it. This may not be an authentic Mexican salsa because, I have my own tweaks in this recipe :) But I can assure you will taste great!

Ingredients

Tomato	2
Yellow onion	1
Green chilli	1
Black or white pepper powder	1/2 tsp
Sugar/honey	1 tsp
Coriander leaves, finely chopped	2 tblsp
Lemon juice	1 tsp
Red chilli powder(optional)	1/4 tsp
Chilli tomato sauce(optional)	1 tsp
Salt	As needed

Method

Deseed the tomatoes and chop finely also onion,green chilli and mix it with the other ingredients.

That’s it! Ready to serve tomato salsa. Enjoy with any chips, bruschetta or with papad! Make it when ever you want it freshly and finish it off, as it tends to leave water.

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HOMEMADE TORTILLAS RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:32:51 PST

Tortillas are nothing but our Roti, made with all purpose flour. We can also make this with wheat flour. I have never tasted any wraps using tortillas, but I happened to taste a Quesadilla in a restaurant last month. Vj suggested to taste it and I instantly loved it. For past 2 weeks, I was craving for the quesadillas again and Vj took me to the restaurant and bought me the same on Valentines day… hehe. Then yesterday I thought why not try the same at home… I just googled for the info and successfully made today! Stay tuned for the salsa and quesadilla recipe coming up next!

And for those who are hearing these things for first time, do not think its not our kind of recipe, stay tuned and try the recipes, you are sure going to love it! The ingredients are also pretty ‘available’ only, no fancy things!

Ingredients ( makes 5-6)

All purpose flour/ maida	3/4 cup, heaped
Wheat flour	1/4 cup, heaped
Olive oil	3 tblsp
Baking powder	1/4 tsp
Salt	As needed
Warm water	As need

Method

Mix both the flours, salt, baking powder well in a bowl. Add olive oil and rub well. Gradually add required warm water and knead to a smooth dough. You can rest the dough for 15 minutes. Divide into 5 or 6 equal sized balls.
Roll into thin discs, dust when ever needed with all purpose flour. Heat a pan and toast the rolled tortillas on both sides in medium flame until slight golden dots starts to appear,also take care its evenly cooked.

You can make these tortillas in bulk, you can even properly layer this and freeze it and use when ever we want and and make wraps or quesadillas with this.

Notes

You can add softened butter/any cooking oil in place of olive oil.
You can try with wheat flour as well fully.
The dough has to be smooth, not too sticky or too tight.

Technorati Tags: tortillas recipe,homemade tortilla,tortillas,how to make tortillas at home,step by step pictures

NUTELLA TRUFFLES | NUTELLA RECIPES

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:00:08 PST

I had no idea about nutella , that it would be so yummy and tasty until I bought it for the first time last week. And only now I know that there is a day called ‘Nutella day” even! I am not not big fan of peanut butter and I had a thought that this could also taste similar to that. But it was not. To all who doesn't know about nutella taste, it tastes just like yummy (nut) chocolate and the its simply divine and tastes out of this world!

Thanks to Jeyashri for letting me know this recipe from Deesha’s blog, that it is so simple and yummy too. And also I saw so many recipes through foodgawker and tastespotting, cant wait to try them one by one!

Ingredients ( makes 8-10 truffles)

Nutella	4 tblsp
Cookies (I used milk biscuits)	6
Corn flakes	2 fist full
Butter	1 tsp
Coco powder	for rolling

Method

In a microwave-able glass bowl, take nutella and butter and melt it for 1 and 1/2 minutes to 2 minutes. Add crushed biscuits and corn flakes to it and mix well.
Let it cool down. Make desired sized balls and arrange in grease paper.
Roll in coco powder to coat it well and arrange it.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving. Pop in your mouth and its just crunchy, chocolaty and more over easy to make! Try this for your Valentine, sure would love this!

Notes

Adjust the timing for melting according to your microwave oven.
If you do not have microwave oven, then you can melt by double boiling method. i.e; heat a flat bottomed pan with water and keep this thing to be melted in a bowl and keep the bowl over the boiling water to melt it.
I reduced cornflakes amount and added a hand full of muesli, with more of nuts and raisins to it, so feel free to experiment with the ingredients.

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RAW BANANA DRY CURRY (WITH FRESHLY GROUND SPICES)

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:51:12 PST

Most of the time I buy raw banana/ vazhakkai, I make this raw banana dry curry, other than the simple vazhakkai poriyal. Vj loves it this way. Aj also eats silently, so I stick to this recipe. The curry is so flavourful, that I bet you would be wanting to eat it soon while you cook. The freshly ground masala is such a flavourful masala! It has the fine selected spices that even nullifies the gastric problem we usually get when we cook vazhakkai.I always wonder and appreciate how they incorporate the spices to balance all these in our cooking! Because the pepper,jeera,coriander seeds and mainly garlic does this job. This can be a perfect combo for more kuzhambu or even with any simple rasam. Again, this is a recipe I learnt from my MIL. We do even potato curry this way. I have already posted it.

Ingredients

Raw banana / vazhakkai	1 big
Onion	1
Turmeric	1/4 tsp
Salt	As needed
Coconut oil	1 tsp

To temper

Oil	1 tblsp
Mustard	3/4 tsp
Urad dal	1 tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig

To grind to a paste

Coconut	2-3 tblsp
Coriander seeds	1 & 1/2 tblsp
pepper	1& 1/2 tsp
Jeera	1 tsp
Red chilli	2
Garlic	2

Method

Cut onion length wise, peel the skin of raw banana, slit length wise, slice them and keep immersed in water. Grind the ingredients under ‘To grind to a paste’ with little water to a little bit coarse paste.
Season with mustard, urad dal and curry leaves and add onions to fry till transparent. Add the cur vazhakkai along with the ground masala, 1/4 cup water, salt and turmeric.
Mix well and cook covered for 4 minutes in medium flame. When the water evaporates completely, then keep frying until the masala turns golden in colour. Say about 3-4 minutes in medium flame. Lastly add coconut oil and mix well.

Transfer to the serving bowl, flavourful curry is ready for accompanying your rice.

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EASY FRIED RICE RECIPE (INDIAN STYLE)

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:41:31 PST

For me fried rice means Chinese style, until last week when we visited Kailash Parbat for a dinner treat. Though Kailash Parbat is famous for chaats, that day, more than that I loved this Fried rice which was not the Chinese style one, but it was Indian style.It had only vegetables, but was so flavourful! It was so simple that, I could really guess the ingredients and very tempted to try at home. The very next day (Since I only had fried rice the before day), I made for lunch with Gobi Manchurian. The recipe is so so so simple. Only thing to do is cut the veggie finely. Its very flavour but a quick fix, you can try for lunch box too with any rich gravy…

INGREDIENTS

Basmati rice	1 cup
Carrot	1
Beans ( I used baby beans)	10-12
Baby corn	5-6
Pepper ( white preferred)	1 tsp
Spring onion	3 – 4 sprig
Olive oil	3 tblsp
Sugar	1/2 tsp

Method

Cook rice with 1 & 1/2 cup water and separate the grains. Cut the veggies very finely so that it will get cooked easily in short period of time. Heat a broad pan with olive oil. When its hot, add the veggies with sugar and fry for 2 minutes or until its cooked,but retains its crunchiness.
Lastly add pepper, spring onion and fry for a minute. Add cooked, rice and stir till it gets heated up.

It is simple yet packed with flavours! The basmati rice will dominate and makes an awesome combo with the pepper and veggies flavor...The crunchy veggies compliments this well. I never thought it would turn out so good… Try yourself to believe it!

Notes

You can add ajinomotto and soya sauce in this same recipe.
I added black pepper, but white pepper is recommended as it gives a colourful result!
Adding sugar to retain colour.

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KEERAI MASIYAL (WITH GARLIC)

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:26:06 PST

One of the easiest and simplest, yet yummy and flavourful keerai masiyal recipe! (Keerai = greens, Indian spinach). This is the way both my mom and mom in law do. We do not add anything for spiciness in this. Actually my mom adds a lots of garlic and the hotness from garlic will be enough in this. But my MIL adds only less, still it tastes great. Hot steamed rice , with ghee and keerai masiyal is mostly everyone's favourite. Its good for kids too and almost my mom makes twice or thrice in a week when we were kids. Such healthy one, so try and see if you haven't before. I will share another recipe for keerai masiyal here in future, which has no garlic in it.

Ingredients

Keerai	1 bunch
Garlic	3-4 cloves
Salt	As needed
Sugar	2 pinches

Method

Remove the root part of the keerai and look for any other plants and wash the keerai well. Drain and chop it roughly. Boil water (very less) and add sugar and chopped greens. Cook until the stems get soft and drain the water. Reserve to use it in sambar or in some other gravy u prepare. First grind peeled garlic and salt in the mixer.
Then add the cooked, cooled keerai and grind well to make a puree consistency.

Serve with hot rice and ghee! Accompany with any curry and enjoy the healthy and tasty masiyal.

Notes

Adding sugar while cooking ensures to retain the green colour of the keerai.
I used mulai keerai, so used the stem as well. If any other keerai variety, use only the leaves.

Check out other keerai recipes here :

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GOBI MANCHURIAN DRY RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:09:52 PST

Gobi 65 and gobi manchurian dry, both are my family favourite. So where ever we go, we search for any on of the above in the menu card. Now a days Indian Wok is our favourite eat out, and the reason being they serve best gobi manchurian that is really dry. It will be crisp, still juicy and we all are now big fans of this one. Aj is just crazy about it. I tried my best to try it out at home, the only thing I could not get is to maintain the crispiness. But still my family enjoys my version of the dish.

Ingredients

Cauliflower	1 medium sized flower
Onion	1, very finely chopped
Garlic	6 cloves, very finely chopped
Spring onion	3-4 sprigs
Chilli tomato sauce	1 tblsp
Soy sauce	2 tsp
Pepper powder	1 tsp heaped
Salt	As needed
Sugar	1/2 tsp
Maida/all purpose flour	2 tblsp
Corn flour	2 tblsp
Sodium bi carbonate	2 pinches
Oil	As needed

Method

Clean the cauliflower by keeping it immersed in hot water with salt for 10 minutes. This way, its also being parboiled.Make a batter with corn flour, all purpose flour and cooking soda, thick enough to coat the cauliflowers. You can either dip the well drained florets one by one in the batter or just mix all of it with the drained florets and deep fry. Just make sure there is enough batter to coat the florets. Deep fry until crisp and light.Keep aside.
In a wide pan, add 3 tblsp oil and add chopped garlic. Give a quick stir and then add finely chopped white part of the spring onion and the chopped onion and fry till transparent. Add both sauces, salt, sugar, pepper and mix well.
Add the deep fried cauliflower florets and toss well to mix it evenly. Lastly add finely chopped green part of the spring onion and mix well for a minute.

Serve hot immediately as starter or with any Chinese style rice / noodles….!

Notes

Adding lots of garlic and pepper adds flavour to this dish.
You can also add some capsicum and chopped coriander leaves for extra flavour.
Finely chopped ginger can be replaced with garlic.

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CABBAGE VADA / VADAI (USING URAD DAL)

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:20:47 PST

Cabbage vada /vadai tastes similar to our medhu vadai. You may never know it has cabbage. Cabbage tastes similar to onion in this vadai. The preparation is also exactly same as the medhu vadai, but only that insteaad of onion, we add cabbage. My family likes it. There are many versions of cabbage vada. This is urad dal version, you can also make this like we make parruppu/masala vadai. Best to serve as snack with coffee/ tea when you host guests, they will be surprised with this unique ingredient…

Ingredients

Urad dal (white,whole)	1/2 cup
Finely chopped cabbage	1 cup
Green chilli	2
Ginger,chopped finely	1 tblsp
Coriander leaves, chopped	2 tblsp
Curry leaves	few
Asafoetida powder	a generous pinch
Salt	As needed

Method

Wash and soak urad dal for 2 – 3 hours. Drain water completely and grind it with 2 tblsp of water in a mixer. Do not grind for long time, just use juice/inch/pulse option and grind slowly, wipe the sides of the jar frequently. Add a tblsp of water each time when you open the lid. Grind to a smooth thick paste. Add all the ingredients to this and mix well in a bowl.
Wet your hands and make a smooth ball, make a hole in the middle using your thumb and drop carefully in hot oil in the kadai.
Cook both sides in medium flame until golden brown. Drain in paper towels.

Serve hot with sambar or any coconut chutney. Yummy with both or as it is…

Notes

Use less water while grinding. You can mix a tsp of rice flour in the batter to make the vada extra crisp!
Add salt only just before you are going to make.

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CHOCOLATE MUFFINS RECIPE (EGGLESS)

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:06:45 PST

Chocolate muffins are loved by almost every one of us. I wanted to try my hands on muffins for long time, but could not decide on a recipe. I bookmarked a recipe but it had complicated measurements, so at last minute, I got the recipe from here. And the recipe dint disappoint me. It came out good. It tasted similar to the eggless chocolate cake. With simple ingredients, it does comes out sinfully delicious. It is very easy too, that beginners in baking, like me, can try it out without giving a second thought. The muffins were soft and chocolaty, do try it out yourself to believe me!

Ingredients ( for 8 muffins)

All purpose flour	3/4 cup
Coco powder	2 & 1/2 tblsp
Sugar	1/2 cup
Baking soda( bicarbonate of soda)	1/2 tsp
Salt	1/4 tsp
Oil	1/4 cup
Cold water	1/2 cup
Vanilla essence	1 tsp
Lemon juice / vinegar	1 tsp

Method

Sieve flour, coco and baking soda together tice to ensure even mixing and then mix in the salt and sugar. In another bowl, mix oil, cold water and vanilla. Reserve the lemon juice.Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients well until sugar gets dissolved.
Pre heat oven to 190^o C .. Before you are just going to bake, mix in the lemon juice and stir well. Spoon the batter to the muffin liners in the baking tray. Fill just 3/4th.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Better keep checking after 20 minutes. Mine got baked after 23 minutes itself. Cool down the muffins in a wire rack, after carefully taking out from the baking tray.

Enjoy the chocolaty muffins. Give a day for the flavours to get incorporated well, though it tastes good immediately. So if you want to eat tomorrow, make today and keep!

Notes

I used fine grain sugar, better to use it as it gets dissolved easily.
You can use 1/2 tsp of orange zest to enhance the flavour.
Bake a day before you want to eat.

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VANILLA CARAMEL MILKSHAKE

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:00:01 PST

I am not a coffee/tea person and always order some cold drinks if I go to coffee shops. And I got addicted to this drink when we went to Phuket once. A restaurant inside the resort where we stayed had this in their menu and me and Aj ordered this thrice and shared. It was the best milkshake I have ever had. Tasted like heaven. Then I started making this at home with the sundae syrup, to finish the ice cream tub. I rarely make though to watch my weight.

Vj doesn't like cold milkshakes except Sharjah shake. I have to soon post that too here. Its one of my favourite too. For this milk shake, its very flexible, you can increase or decrease the ice cream quantity,use low fat options and you may also make your own caramel if you want. Refer this post to see how to make caramel syrup. And be creative in choosing the sundae syrup too for different flavours, like strawberry, butterscotch, chocolate… Kids would love it and it will be filling for them if you give after their un finished breakfast.

Ingredients for 1 serving

Milk	1 cup
Caramel syrup	3 –4 tblsp
Vanilla ice cream	2 scoops

Method

Place everything in the blender, and whip until everything blends well. Serve immediately.

Pour into the serving glass and you can top with your favourite toppings like nuts or bit of the caramel syrup or even a scoop of ice cream.

I topped with the coloured sprinkles to make it colourful and I am sure your kid will also love it as its colourful and catchy to eyes.

Notes

Adjust the caramel syrup and ice cream to balance the sweetness of the milkshake and depending on which flavour you want more.

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PANEER BHURJI | EASY PANEER RECIPES

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:19:23 PST

Paneer bhurji is one of the easiest paneer recipes that can be made with less effort and time. This is the first time I am making this in spite of that its so easy. I had this at my friend Sangeeta’s place when she was here. Now its almost 3-4 years, but this is the first time I am making this at home. I loved it a lot and its simple way to make too! This can be a perfect lunch box idea, you can even wrap the paneer bhurji in roti for your kids. They would love it.

I made this with store bought frozen paneer, you can even try making this with homemade paneer. If you have curdled milk, just try drain the milk and make paneer and try paneer bhurji, you can utilize the curdled milk in this way! You can be creative with this recipe, try adding peas or carrot, it will be nice.

Ingerdients

Paneer cubes	2 cups
Onion	2
Capsicum	1
Red chilli powder/ pepper powder	1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder	1/2 tsp
Dhaniya/ coriander seeds powder	1 tsp
Lemon juice	1 tsp
Milk	2 tblsp
Ginger, finely chopped	1 tblsp
Green chillies	2
Coriander leaves, finely chopped	2 tblsp
Jeera	1 tsp
Oil	1 tblsp

Method

If you are using frozen paneer, either thaw it until room temperature or boil water and keep immersed for 10 minutes. Drain the water completely and crumble it in a mixer(just add in two batches and give it a run)
Heat a pan with oil and splutter jeera, add finely chopped ginger and green chillies, followed by finely chopped onion. Fry till transparent and add the chopped capsicum.
Fry for a minute without changing its crispiness and add coriander leaves, all the powders and give it a quick stir without burning them. Add milk, salt and cook for 2 minutes until the milk evaporates.
Now lastly add crumbled paneer and mix well. Fry for 2 minutes or until dry and add the lemon juice and mix well.

Serve hot with roti or naan or any stuffed parathas too…Wrap it or just have it as a side dish, you can even eat its as such! Tastes awesome and damn easy to make!

Notes

If you want to add frozen peas, cook it in microwave and add it in the end of step 2. For carrots, just add it after onion and fry along.
You can omit lemon juice and add a tomato chopped along with capsicum.
I used tri coloured capsicum.
You can skip ginger too!

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PIZZA BUNS/ BITES

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:38:52 PST

Wishing you all friends and readers a very Happy and Prosperous New Year! Life is a bit busy these days, so taking a short break, see you guys with more exciting recipes next year, meanwhile enjoy this recipe I posted as guest post at Sandhya's kitchen...This recipe idea flashed,when I saw a pamphlet I got from 7 eleven introducing Pizza bites. I loved the idea and thought it would be easy to make at home. As I have been making pizza from the scratch for quite a while now and have tried several buns, I was pretty confident in try these and enjoyed making these. This could be an easy party snack idea, kids would be super excited to have it and sure we can also enjoy this. The stuffing is flexible so you can experiment it with your favourite topping,let it be simple like what I have used or add on your favourites like black olives,mushrooms…it’s your choice!

Ingredients (Makes around 8 buns)

For the Dough

All purpose flour	1 & 1/2 cup
Milk	1/2 cup
olive oil	1/8 cup
Salt	1 tsp
Sugar	1 & 1/2 tsp
Active dry yeast	1 tblsp

For the filling

Capsicum,chopped	1
Onion	1
Tomato(optional)	1
Grated mozzarella cheese	1/2 cup
Pizza sauce or any tomato based sauce	2 tsp
Italian herb of ur choice	1 tsp
Red chilli flakes	1 tsp
Salt	2 pinches
oil	2 tsp

Method

Heat milk until lukewarm,dissolve sugar and yeast. Let it rest for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the mixture would have been raised to frothy, proving that the yeast is active. If not,your yeast is not active and use active yeast.
Meanwhile, take flour in a large bow and make a dent in the middle. Add salt, oil and the yeast mixture in the dent and make a smooth pliable dough. If sticky sprinkle little more flour,if too dry sprinkle some water. The dough should be smooth and pliable.
Let it rest for 1 hour, wrap the bowl with cling wrap. After an hour the dough should have been raised. Punch it down and knead to make it smooth.
Make equal sized balls and arrange in a greased baking tray.Meanwhile prepare the filling. Heat a pan with oil and fry capsicums,tomato and onion for just a minute. Cool down and add sauce, cheese, Italian seasoning, salt and chilli flakes . Mix well.
Flatten the prepared dough balls and keep a small lemon sized ball of the filling.
Pinch the edges towards centre to cover the filling as shown in the picture. Arrange in the baking tray with the sealed side down. Make sure you have sealed properly,otherwise, the cheese will ooze out.
Pre heat the oven to 190^o C and till then brush the buns with milk little and bake it for 18-20 minutes or until the buns start becoming golden brown on the top. Brush generously with butter after done.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup or chilly sauce! Enjoy it with your favourite drink!

Notes

While sealing the buns, you can use water if you find it difficult to do so.
Adjust the baking time accordingly. Keep an eye on the buns after 15 minutes.
You can sprinkle white sesame seeds or even chilli flakes on the top before baking the buns.

PEAS MASALA | GREEN PEAS RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:34:54 PST

I had no idea that peas masala could be so delicious if made at home, until I tried on my own. Before that, I always had tasted in restaurants, as an add on along with other gravies and never liked it that much. This is an easy recipe except the frying part, as it splutters a lot while frying, but I cover and fry the masala and overcome the spills. It goes well with roti or naan , even I eat it with steamed basmati rice or mild pulao 's side dish. I use frozen peas, we can also use fresh green peas and the dried ones for the same recipe.

I think the addition of roasted & powdered jeera and fenugreek/methi seeds adds on a great flavour to this masala. I love it. Thanks to the SIL who introduced this recipe. I just tweaked the method a bit for my convenience, otherwise no big changes. So here goes the recipe, I am sure you would love it!

Ingredients

Green peas, fresh or frozen or dried*	1 & 1/4 cups
Onion	3
Tomato	5
Ginger garlic paste	1 & 1/2 tsp
Jeera & methi/fenugreek seeds	1/4 tsp each
Red chilli powder	1 & 1/2 tsp – 2 tsp
Dhaniya powder	2 tsp
Garam masala powder	1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves, chopped	2 tblsp
Sugar	A pinch
Salt	as needed

*Soak over night and 1 cup is enough…

To temper

Oil	2 tblsp
Cinnamon	1 inch piece
Elachi	1
Cloves	2

Method

Golden roast methi and jeera in few drops of oil in a pan. Powder it using hand mortar and pestle or you can simply crush it using a rolling pin. Chop onion and tomato roughly, fry them with a tsp of oil until the the tomatoes turn mushy. Cool and grind.I dint had GG paste, so I added 3 cloves of garlic and a piece of ginger along this frying.
Heat a small pressure cooker/pressure pan with the oil and temper with the items given under ‘to temper’ table. Add the ground onion tomato and fry covered in medium flame until it reduces in volume. Say 4-6 minutes. Add the masala powders and turmeric. Fry till oil separates.
Add the peas and add enough water (1 & 1/2 to 2 cups) and add salt and sugar. pressure cook for 2 whistles.
Open once pressure is released and add the powdered jeera and methi( I had methi powder already) and just give it a boil, garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with butter or cream topped on the masala, with roti or rice/pulavs, yummy!

Notes

Better cover the masala while it is frying as it splutters a lot.

Technorati Tags: Peas masala,peas masala recipe,green peas masala,green peas recipe,gravies with green peas

VEG KEEMA PARATHA / SOYA KEEMA PARATHA

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:10:58 PST

After my soya chunks curry, I try to cook few other soya chunks recipes and this is one of the try. This is not soya chunks but its smaller than that, tiny bits called Soya Chura. I bought the MDH soyatein brand, if you want to know. I got this inspiration of making parata when I saw thisin Ananda bhavan menu. They had made it with maida and it was square in shape too. I made it just like any other stuffed parathas. Used atta for making dough.

I just made this with lots of masala powders to overcome the usual soya smell. And since the size of this soya chura is really tiny, I think it blends well with the masalas coz of that. You can even try this soya keema masala as such as accompaniment or simply wrap in roti as well.

Ingredients(makes 4-5 parathas)

Soya ‘chura’	3/4 cup
Onion	1
Tomato	2
Turmeric	1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder	1 tsp
Garam masala powder	1 tsp
Dhaniya powder	2 tsp
Coriander leaves,chopped	4 tblsp
Ginger garlic paste	1 & 1/2 tsp
Salt	As needed

To temper

Oil	1 tblsp
Fennel seeds/ Soambu	1 & 1/2 tsp

For the dough

Atta	1 & 1/4 cup
Oil	1 tblsp
Warm water	as needed
Salt	As needed

Method

Prepare dough and let it rest while we prepare the soya keema. Boil enough water and soak the soya chura for 10 minutes. Drain,wash it and squeeze the water. Repeat the process once again but with salt this time.
Heat a pan with oil and season with fennel, add onion and fry for 2 minutes. Add ginger garlic paste and fry till raw smell goes off. Add chopped tomatoes and salt. Fry till soft.
Add all the powders and fry till the masala turns mushy. Add the squeezed soya churas.
Add 1/4 cup water to blend the masala well with the soya and cook for 8 minutes (or until water evaporates)in low to medium flame to make a dry soya keema.
Roll a thick roti and spoon generous amount of the keema and roll into parathas carefully. Cook both sides until golden brown in medium flame with oil drizzled over.

Serve hot with onion raita, the best combo. Tastes great if eaten as such too, but best with the raita!

Notes

Soaking and squeezing out twice is a very important step to overcome the soya smell. so follow the step.

Technorati Tags: veg keema paratha recipe,veg keema paratha,MDH soyatein recipes,soyatein recipe,soya chura recipe,soya keema paratha recipe,soya keema recipes

GOBI MASALA RESTAURANT STYLE RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:24:55 PST

I usually make cauliflower curry for Aj who loves cauliflower a lot, that he would even eat it every day as accompaniment for his lunch. He is that much crazy about cauliflower. Even I like cauliflower, there is a fair reason behind it. My mom never buys cauliflower or cooks cauliflower at home. That’s coz, they hate the small worms inside the cauliflower,which is used to be a common thing those days. So she treats that veggie as ‘Non-veg’. So only very few times I had tasted cauliflower in restaurants, when I am with my friends.

Then after marriage, things changed, thankfully they do buy and cook cauliflower. And when I started cooking, I enjoyed cooking cauliflower in different forms : gobi paratha, aloo gobi, cauliflower kurma, curry, fries, gobi 65 or add it in briyani or kurma. Hope this is enough to prove. But the only thing what I don’t like is the cauliflower we get here is so very different from the ones we get in India. Here it gets cooked so quick and becomes very soft and turns mushy easily. I like it more on firm and crunchy side. Still nothing stops. This gobi masala recipe is one of Aj’s recent favourite cauliflower recipe. Once when we ordered lunch, this one came as an accompaniment and I was wondering, why I have not tried this way so far. And very soon I tried and it came out even better than what we tasted. My kid just loved it and I too loved it. It goes very well with roti or naan, even kara kuzhambu too or mild pulaos too. With all these masalas, it tastes awesome..!won’t it?

Ingredients

Cauliflower	1 medium flower
Onion	2 , finely chopped
Tomato	2 , Finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste	1-2 tsp
Garam masala	1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder	1 tsp
Dhaniya powder	2 tsp
Turmeric	1/8 tsp
Tandoori or biryani masala powder (optional)	1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves, chopped	2 tblsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Salt	As needed

To Temper

Oil	2-3 tblsp
Fennel	1 tsp
Cinnamon	1 inch piece
Elachi	1
Clove	1

Method

Heat a pan/kadai with oil and temper with the items given under ‘To temper’ table. Add curry leaves,chopped onions and fry till transparent. Add Ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes in medium flame. Add the chopped tomatoes, salt and fry till it becomes soft and mushy.
Add all the masala powders and fry in medium flame for 3 minutes or until raw smell goes off.
Add the cleaned cauliflower florets, cut into bite sized pieces and add 1/4 cup water and mix well.
Cook covered in medium flame until cauliflower is done. Add coriander leaves and fry for 3-5 more minutes. Add more oil if needed.

Transfer to the serving bowl. Serve with roti or any other rice, as accompaniment for it.

Notes

Clean cauliflower properly before cooking it by immersing it in hot water with salt for 10 minutes.
Do not over cook as it will turn the cauliflower mushy.
Add more oil while frying at the last if it gets stuck to the kadai.

Technorati Tags: gobi masala recipe,gobi masala dry,cailiflower masala curry,cauliflower masala restaurant style,cauliflower recipes,gobi recipes

CARROT SOUP RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:36:07 PST

I am adding a ‘Soup’ category in my blog first time now. Coz, this is my first ‘Soup’ post. Yes, I am not a soup person, no body in home either. The reason is I am very lazy to make soup, but can have it if someone makes for me and will be more than happy to have it. Good for my weight and health too… My mom makes some soups back home, in which carrot soup will be more in frequence. She adds tomato and wont add butter in her soup. But I tried this way from a cookbook.

I love sweet corn soup and tomato soup more than carrot soup, sure will try those and post in recent future. And the best thing I love in soup is the crouton. Also I would love to pair soup with a bread toast. Wish I could make soups more often and develop a love with it, for my health sake at least. If only I have this habit, Aj would consider having soup. I have tough times in making him drink a soup even if he has cold and a hot bowl of soup with pepper will be comforting him.

Ingredients

Carrots	3
butter	1 tblsp
pepper	1 tsp
salt	As needed
Bay leaf	1

Method

Wash carrots and cube them roughly. Heat a pan with butter and add the bay leaf and fry carrots in medium-low flame for 3-4 minutes. Add salt and pepper.Give it a stir.
Add 3/4 cup of water and cook in medium flame until the water reduces(3-4 minutes).
Cool down and blend it into a smooth paste. ( save the bay leaf before grinding)
Add 1 & 1/2 cups of water to it and boil along with the bay leaf until you get the desired consistency.

Adjust the salt and pepper and garnish with bread croutons and serve piping hot!!

Technorati Tags: carrot soup,carrot soup recipe,soup recipes,easy soups,easy soup recipe,easy carrot soup,easy starter recipes

Posted using FotoBlogr.

My guest post at Sandhya's Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:32:48 PST

Hi everyone! Check out my guest post Pizza Buns at Sandhya's Kitchen....

VENDAKKAI PORIYAL, DAL TADKA RECIPE

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:54:03 PST

Vendakkai poriyal/ ladies finger poriyal is the one I love to mix and eat with rice and sesame oil/ghee. It needs some time and patience for cutting and sautéing the ladies finger/okra. But I love it so much to do and as well as eat. When I was new for cooking, it used to mess up with this without knowing the technique. Now I think I can make it easily and wonder how I messed up with this easy recipe.
I used to be a very bad eater until I finished my school. And when it comes to vegetables, my mom sure had a tough time making me eat . I never touch the accompaniment vegetable in my plate. My mom do all the possible things to make me eat, like she always mixes the vegetable accompaniment like poriyals, kootu and all those with a small portion of rice and ghee and before sambar or any gravy with rice, I have to eat that. Now also after I came here and left alone, I rarely eat veggies since no one is there to question me. And now a days I tell myself that I should take care of my health only myself and try do the same what my mom used to do and hope to continue this .

Ingredients

Ladies finger/vendakkai	1/2 kg
Sambar powder	1 tsp
Turmeric	1/8 tsp
Coconut, grated	1/8 cup
Salt	as needed
Sesame oil	2 tblsp

To temper

Oil	1 tsp
Mustard	3/4 tsp
Urad dal	1 tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig

Method

1. Heat the pan/kadai with oil and temper with the items given under the ‘To temper’ table. Add the finely cut ladies finger(refer notes) and keep frying for 6-8 minutes in medium flame, stirring in between. Add sesame oil generously to reduce the stickiness. At a point the volume will reduce and the colour changes to transparent green.

2. Now add salt, turmeric, sambar powder and mix well. Lastly add the coconut and fry for a minute. Transfer to the serving bowl.

Serve as an accompaniment for rice with sambar or any gravy. I had with brinjal/drumstick kuzhambu. Yum yum!

Notes

Wash the ladies finger and pat dry them well before you cut. No water should be there in the ladies finger. It is better to wash and dry them prior so that no moisture is there. Check for old ones by breaking the tail end of the ladies finger. If it breaks crisp, then you can use it. Otherwise discard. Cut the head and then slice them in to thin circles.
When you start frying, the ladies finger will be sticky for a while, so do not panic,just add sesame oil and fry. Sesame oil is good for health so don’t bother adding it generously.
Once the ladies finger gets cooked by adding frying it with oil the stickiness will be almost reduced and then too after adding sambar powder it will completely go off.
Just make sure you fry the vendakkai properly in oil and cook it until colour changes to a transparent green.

SIMPLE DAL TADKA RECIPE WITH MOONG DAL

This is a simple tadka dal recipe which you can make in jiffy for a comfort meal. Goes well with steamed rice and a North Indian subzi. Me and my kid eat this very often. I love it with basmati rice the best! The garlic adds a great flavour to the dal. Do try you will simply love it! Being a south Indian, our festive meal will always have paruppu, which we cook moong dal or toor dal with turmeric and temper with mustard urad dal, asafoetida, green chillies and curry leaves. It is the simple and best dal which has completely different flavour. But I love that too with rice and ghee. But this one is quite different and flavourful.

Ingredients

Moong dal/ paasi paruppu	1/2 cup
Tomato	1
Red chilli	1
Turmeric	1/8 tsp
Salt	As needed

To temper

Ghee	2 tsp
Jeera/cumin seeds	1 tsp
Red chilli	2
Garlic	4 pods, crushed
Coriander leaves, finely chopped	1-2 tblsp

Method

1. Pressure cook moong dal with chopped tomato, turmeric and one red chilli for 3 whistles. Once done, mix salt to it and temper with the items given under to temper table in order. Make sure you fry the garlic until golden brown for a nice flavour.

Serve with hot steaming rice with any vegetable sabzi!

Technorati Tags: Ladies finger poriyal,ladies finger stir fry with coconut,venadakkai poriyal,no onion no garlic,okra recipe,recpes,Indian curry recipes,dal tadka recipe,simple tadka dal recipe,dal tadka with moong dal,dal tadka with garlic.

INSTANT RAGI DOSA WITH RED CHILLI CHUTNEY

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:10:44 PST

My paati being diabetic, my mom always prepares special diabetic diet recipes for her dinner. Other than roti, she makes tiffin items with ragi. She makes sweet adai, savoury adai, idiyappam, puttu, kanji(porridge) both sweet and salted and these dosas. Those days, I was not so fond of those tiffin items. My mom will remind me that I used to drink sweet kanji when I was a baby and used to be chubby then.During my teens I was so so lean and weak and she used to struggle a lot to make me eat nutritious food and I used to escape in all ways!

But after I started cooking, I buy ragi flour and make at least dosa with it once in a while. But now, my kid wont even touch it, my hubby also is a big enemy to healthy food items like ragi, oats! So I make this only for myself. Its easy to make in morning times also we will feel full tummy to kick start the day. I simply eat with buttermilk and idli podi. I have given the best combo chutney how ever, goes well with this dosa. The ingredients given makes 5-6 dosas.

Ingredients

Ragi flour/Finger millet flour	1/2 cup
Wheat flour	1/4 cup
Onion	1
Green chilli	1
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Cumin/jeera	1tsp
Salt	as needed
Butter milk(optional) or water	As needed

Method

1. Take ragi,wheat flour, chopped onions,green chilli, torn curry leaves, cumin,salt in a bowl and add enough butter milk or water to make thin batter.

2. Heat dosa pan, drizzle with oil and pour as we do for rava dosa,drizzle some more oil and cook both sides in medium flame.

Serve hot with your favourite chutney! Tangy,hot or simply coconut chutney or milagai podi!

RED CHILLI CHUTNEY RECIPE FOR RAGI DOSA

This chutney is very nice combo for ragi dosa. Easy to make too! My mom makes this with even idli / dosa. The chutney requires simplest ingredients in your pantry and the key is to balance all the three – chilli-salt-tamarind. Its perfect for the bland ragi dosa.

Ingredients

Red chillies	5-6
Tamarind	1 tblsp tightly packed
Salt	as needed
Onion,chopped	2 tblsp

To temper

Oil	2 tsp
Mustard	3/4 tsp
Urad dal	1 tsp
Curry leaves	few

Method

1. Grind red chillies, tamarind and salt with 1/4 cup water until very smooth. transfer to a bowl.

2. Temper with the items given under ‘To temper’ table and add onion and fry till golden brown and mix it to the chutney we ground.

That’s it! Mix well and enjoy as an accompaniment with any dosa or idly…

Notes

For Ragi dosa, adding water or buttermilk is your choice. I usually mix with water as I don’t like to mix with butter milk. But my mom always uses butter milk, atleast a little.
If you have left over sour idly/dosa batter, you can add a laddle full of that to this batter.
You can replace wheat flour with rice flour too. But wheat flour is recommended if you make for diabetic.
For the chilly chutney, its very important to balance the hotness,tanginess and salt to get the perfect taste. If its too hot, add more tamarind or salt to tally the heat.

Technorati Tags: Ragi dosa,Ragi dosa recipe,ragi dosa chutney,chutney recipes for ragi dosa,red chilli chutney,red chilli chutney recipe,diabetic recipes,diabetic diet recipes,Instant ragi dosa recipe

BEETROOT PORIYAL | BEETROOT RECIPES

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:51:06 PST

I am making this beetroot poriyal only second time in my life. That’s because Vj hates beets. I had no thoughts about it,but its been ages since I had this veggie. I really got bored of my cooking with the few veggies in routine,which will be Aj’s favourite mostly. The veggies I like both dad and son wont like. So I will be mostly lazy to cook for my taste, and also I eat anything and everything. So no problem . And so I picked beets to bring a change in my cooking and made both of them eat this veggie the other day. I hope once in a while it IS OK for them.

Ingredients

Beetroot	2
Onion	1
Coconut grated	1/4 cup
Sambar powder	1 & 1/2 tsp
Salt	As needed
Sugar	A pinch

To temper

Oil	2 tsp
Mustard	3/4 tsp
Urad dal	1 tsp
Curry leaves	A sprig

Method

1. Peel the skin of beets,wash it and cut into tiny cubes. Chop onion finely. Heat kadai with oil and temper with the items given under ‘To temper’ table. Add the cut beet root,sugar and fry for 2 minutes in medium flame.

2. Add 1/4 cup water,salt and cook covered for 4-6 minutes or until done. Add the sambar powder and give a quick stir and then lastly the grated coconut. Stir for a minute and transfer to the serving bowl.

Serve as an accompaniment for rice or you can also mix with rice and sesame oil/ghee and enjoy this poriyal!

Notes

Adding sambar powder lastly helps to retain the colour of the beets.
You can skip sambar powder and temper with 2 red chillies while tempering.

Technorati Tags: Beetroot poriyal recipe,beetroot poriyal,beetroot stir fry with coconut,beetroot recipes

GOBI 65 RECIPE | CAULIFLOWER RECIPES

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 20:42:00 PST

Gobi 65 is Aj’s most favourite in this whole universe.Yeah,that’s how he says. I usually make crispy cauliflowers with simply sambar powder and corn flour.It’s best accompaniment as varuval for our south Indian meals. But if he wants as a snack for eating alone, then I have to make this way. I have adapted the recipe from Pavi’s space, but tweaked a bit according to my convenience and taste. I must thank her for sharing the recipe, both Aj & Vj loves this way. For Aj, I cook cauliflower at least twice a week as curry,korma or in biryani. May be because of that I got bored of this veggie and I wont even touch this veggie.

Ingredients

Cauliflower	1 medium
Corn flour	4 tblsp,heaped
Thick curd	2 tblsp
Cooking soda	a very small pinch
Salt	As needed
Red chilli powder	1 – 2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste	1/2 tsp
Curry leaves	A sprig

Method

1. Separate the cauliflower into small florets, boil water with salt and keep the florets inside this water covered until it is parboiled. Drain water completely.

2. Mix curd,corn flour,cooking soda,salt,red chilli powder and ginger garlic paste. Heat kadai with oil enough to deep fry.

3. Dip and deep fry the cauliflower florets untill golden brown and crisp in hot oil in medium flame. Add the curry leaves a sprig per batch. Drain in paper towel and enjoy hot!

Serve with lemon wedges and chaat masala sprinkled over. Enjoy hot!

Notes

Parboiling is optional but it ensures the outer layer coats well,otherwise while deep frying the cauliflower and outer layer may separate.
I don’t add ginger garlic paste some times, still we love it.
Do not add cooking soda more.

Happy to send in my entries to Priya of Easy 'N' Tasty recipes event - CWS event, this month with Mung beans.

SPROUTED WHOLE GREEN GRAM FRIED RICE

WHOLE GREEN GRAM DAL FRY

WHOLE GREEN MOONG DOSA

PAASI PAYARU SWEET SUNDAL

Technorati Tags: gobi 65,gobi 65 recipe,gobi 65 dry,gobi 65 Indian recipe,cauliflower Indian recipes

CARAMEL BREAD PUDDING (EGGLESS) | PUDDING RECIPES

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:09:01 PST

I remember I ate pudding for the first time in a wedding feast,when I was studying in my lower primary. Of course it was an Indianized version and mostly puddings will be pineapple puddings those days. One of my uncles used to make fun by adding pudding to each and every thing we eat. But truly speaking I had no idea about puddings. Now though blogging world, I am now very happy to try a pudding recipe on my own and that too with my favourite caramel flavour!
I love caramel flavour for no reasons from my childhood. The Nutrine caramello was my favourite toffee then, among all the toffees from nutrine my dad used to buy for us. Other than that,till date I love 5 star like anything. It tastes out-of-the-world for me, may be the chewy texture is what I like along with its flavour. And coming to this pudding recipe, I bookmarked this from Tasty Treats few months back. At last I made this and loved it a lot. Simple ingredients and exotic pudding recipe .

Ingredients

Bread slices	8
Milk	1 & 1/2 cups
Sugar	2/3 cup (11 tblsp approx)
Sugar for caramel	2 tblsp
Vanilla essence	1 tsp
Nuts(optional)	for garnishing

Method

1. Tear the bread into pieces and add milk to it. Mash it well with potato masher. Mix vanilla and sugar and keep aside.

2. keep ready the vessel(flat 6 inch bowl or any other similar) and heat a pan with sugar and 2 tsp water. Tilt the pan frequently for even heating and take care not to burn the sugar. At one stage the sugar starts turning deep golden yellow.

3. Pour the caramel in the vessel and tilt to coat the bottom and a bit in the sides as well. Let it set for two minutes and pour the bread mixture to it.

4. Steam cook it by covering the vessel with aluminium foil with holes pricked for the steam to escape. Steam for 20-25 minutes.

5. After that,cool down and keep it in refrigerator for 2 hours minimum and then invert it to a plate. You can cut it to desired shape before serving.

You can enjoy it cold as such or you can drizzle some caramel /butterscotch syrup as I did. I used Hershey’s store bought syrup . You can also serve it with Vanilla ice cream along with it.

Notes

Be sure you dont over heat the sugar syrup after it turns golden in colour, otherwise it may taste bitter. Also take care not to burn it in the sides of the pan,tilt it frequently to avoid this.
You can top with nuts if you like.
Don’t add more milk or sugar than mentioned. The pudding by itself is gooey and sticky, so adding more of any one of the above may not set properly.
Give at least a day for setting, before serving/eating to enjoy the fullest flavour!
I used my pressure cooker for steaming,without the pressure regulator(valve/weight)

Technorati Tags: bread pudding recipe,pudding recipes,eggless pudding recipes,eggless bread pudding recipe,caramel bread pudding recipe,recipe for caramel bread pudding,recipes for bread pudding,easy bread pudding recipe

TRIANGLE PARATHA & VEGETABLE RAITA | LUNCH BOX IDEAS

noreply@blogger.com (Raks) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:52:33 PST

I got this recipe through mail from my friend Sangeeta along with the aloo bhindi recipe, she wanted me to post a wide North-Indian spread, so she sent all the recipes for the spread, but I am so lazy to make all together and post, so posting one by one. This is sure a nice lunch box idea for kids and for us too. Kids will be delighted to have it for lunch box to have triangle, square parathas instead of our regular parathas. This is simpler than stuffed parathas to make in morning hours.

Ingredients

Wheat flour/ Atta	1 cup
Red chilli powder	1 & 1/2 tsp
Oil	1 tblsp
Ghee	2 tsp
Salt	As needed
Ajwain(optional)	1 tsp

Method

1. Mix everything in a bowl except ghee well and add water to make a smooth pliable dough. Keep aside for 1/2 hour and again knead and make 6-7 equal balls.

2. Roll out first into a thin circle as we roll for usual roti and then apply ghee and fold into half,then again apply ghee and fold into quarter.

3. Then roll it carefully to a triangle shaped paratha to desired thickness.Cook on both sides until brown spots starts to appear in medium flame. After finishing making all the parathas, give a gentle tap to define the layers.

Serve simply with boondi raita or vegetable raita and pickle.

Vegetable Raita

This one goes well with the above paratha or any sort of paratha. Simple yet healthy.

Ingredients

Cucumber	1
Tomato	1
Capsicum	1/2
Carrot	1/2
Salt and pepper	As needed
Coriander leaves,chopped	1 tblsp
Curd	1/2 cup
Milk or sour cream	3 tblsp

Method

Finely cut cucumber,tomato(deseeded),capsicum and carrot. Mix curd,milk/sour cream,salt/pepper well smoothly. Mix in all the other ingredients.

This goes well with all parathas and even pulav/biryani.

Notes

Adding sour cream or milk gives a richness and the sourness will be lesser.
You can add the vegetables like cabbage,boiled potato or any of you favourite vegetables.

Technorati Tags: triangle paratha recipe,easy lunch box ideas,how to make triangle paratha,triangle paratha step by step pictures,vegetable raita recipe,paratha side dish,raita recipes for parathas.