Spice your Life

Homemade Chocolate Recipe 3 | How to make Chocolate at home with Step by Step Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:16:00 +0000

I had something ready for today but then I was so tempted to make those Chocolates I used to make during my college days. I remember saying I should check out the recipe and make them again. So when I got a day off middle of the week, what do you expect me to do. I went in search of the old recipe book, while flipping through the handwritten book I was hit with nostalgia on the number of times Amma and I would have sat with it and discussed recipes. The dairy has all hand written recipes that we have collected over years. There were infact three different recipes for homemade chocolates, I remember making with Milk powder and so selected this recipe.

I am sure I will always get another chance to try out the other two recipes. This recipe again is very quick to make and you won't go wrong. I was so glad when Chinnu tasted a tiny bit and said he loves this. I am sure one can't go wrong in making a dish following the recipe, but I realized I can. Instead of getting a sugar syrup, I was in haste to remove some impurities I found in the sugar and completely forgot about cooking the sugar to a thread consistency. Result was, I was chatting with Athamma and before I could even realize I poured the sugar into the milk powder. Anyway I rescued it by cooking it till I felt the consistency was right.

Homemade Chocolate 1 in Microwave
Homemade Chocolate 2 on stove top

After setting it for over almost 24 hr, I think the chocolate is set in the correct texture. I made this on Thursday late evening and thought overnight refrigeration would be enough. But it took the entire day and this morning to get to the shape. If you followed the sugar thread method, I am sure it will come out quicker. Otherwise it will taste like a fudge.

Step by Step Pictures

Homemade Chocolate Recipe 3

Ingredients Needed:

Milk Powder - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 & 3/4 cups
Unsweetened Butter - 1 cup
Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup
Water - 1/4 cup

How to Make Chocolate

In a bowl, mix milk powder, cocoa powder.

Heat a thick bottom pan with sugar and water. Remove impurities if any. Continue cooking till you get a thick sugar syrup.

Then add the milk powder, cocoa powder mix and butter. Mix well and keep blending it till you find the sides leaving.

Have a greased aluminum foil coated square pan, pour the hot chocolate and tap on the floor for air to be removed

Refrigerate till done. It took me about 24 hrs for it to be set.

Note:

First time round I made the mistake of straining the sugar directly into the milk-cocoa powder mix and then cooking it. This will also work well. But best will be to get the sugar syrup well and then add the mix.

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet and my own Chocolate Mela

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Apple Halwa ~ Two ways!

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:16:00 +0000

If you ever followed my Halwa series, you would know that I almost want to reach 101! Yes I have a section which lists 101 Halwas, I have reached only about 30 or so varieties till date. So I am only very glad that I could add another one to the series.

Athamma is very innovative when it comes to making a new dish out of the regular. If you can imagine her making banana peel halwa, you can accept that fact. She made this halwa the first time when we had too much of apples and both of us were also in an experimentation mood. First made it regular method, then she tried with flour. Both came out very well that it become a favorite for us.

I had a day off on account of Republic day and Konda went for Flag hosting. Boys are still small to miss these occasions. Then entire day was spent with them asking for something chocolate. I ended up making about different chocolate dishes that they were so eager for today, so that they can enjoy it. Just knowing that some goodies are awaiting them, was enough to pacify them for the moment.

Coming to the Apple Halwa that's made in two ways. You can either puree the apple or grate it for making this. We have tried both and it works out perfectly fine either ways. With puree the halwa with be very soft, while with grated you can find some tiny bits to munch on.

Apple Halwa ~ Two ways!

Red apple - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup (increase if you want more sweeter taste)
Milk - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsps
Cardamom Powder - a pinch
Cashew nuts - few
Orange red colour - a pinch

How to make Apple Halwa

Wash the apples and wipe it dry. Peel and remove the apple core. Chop roughly into pieces and pulse it to a fine puree.

In a non stick kadai, heat the ghee, fry the cashew nuts to golden colour. Remove and keep it aside.

Then add the apple puree, fry on low flame till the water content gets evaporated and the apple is well cooked. Add the milk, sugar, food colour and cook on high flame, keep stirring for 5 mins. Then simmer to low flame and continue cooking for 10 mins.

When the mix starts leaving on the sides, it's cooked. Add the cardamom powder, fried cashew nuts. Mix everything well and transfer it to a greased bowl.

If you cook for longer time, you will be able to cut into squares, somehow I like the loose texture.

Apple Halwa With All purpose flour / Cashew powder

Another method we liked was adding maida and or cashew powder along with apple puree. Cook well and then add milk. Continue as the previous method.

Sending this to:

Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Nuvullu Kajjikayalu or Nuvulla Karjikayalu

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:39:00 +0000

Kajjikayalu or Karjikayalu is one of my favorite festival sweet. We stuff it with different fillings mostly like copra with fried gram filling, sometime with channa dal filling. With whatever it is, I used to love biting into it. The crispy outer later was always a delight to munch on.

We normally make Nuvullu Laddo and also stuff it for Modak. Amma then stuffed these laddos within these Karjikayalu and they just disappeared. Konda loved these so much that I was surprised she never showed interest before. It always happens, either we are too early in introducing the food to the children that they may not be ready for it. The last time when I had made she never touched but this time she almost accused saying that I never made. Well I was happy that she at least liked eating it now.

Ingredients Needed:

For the cover:

All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup

Ghee - 2 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Water to knead

For the filling:

Black Sesame Seeds - 1 cup

Jaggary - 1 cup

Oil for Deep frying

How to make Kajjikayalu

To make the dough, take the flour, salt and ghee in a bowl. Mix well. Then slowly add water to knead into a stiff dough. If you want to get a crispy cover, the dough has to be stiff. When you allow it to rest, it will get soft again. So either you mix some more flour before rolling out. Or you knead and roll out immediately

To make the fillings, wash the sesame seeds, shade dry till dry, dry roast on a hot kadai. Once it starts spluttering, remove and allow to cool.

Grate the jaggary and grind to a fine powder along with the sesame seeds. Try making balls with the mixture, the stuff should almost hold it's shape.

Making the kajjikaya on the rolling board.

Once you are ready to roll out, divide the dough into small equal balls. Using the rolling pin, dust the balls, flatten them into small circles, like the puris.

Scoop a spoonful of the sesame filling and place on the middle. Lift one side of the dough, bring to the other side and press well. You can dab some more flour and press well so that the filling doesn't come out.

Making it in your palm.

Once you roll out the cover, take it on to your left palm. Hold it while you scoop in the fillings. Now gently cover both open sides. You will end up having a half moon.

In all shapes, to get the design, you have to turn the sides like tuck in and then press. Then again tuck in.

Check the Kajjikaya post for more details

Sending this to:

Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Maida Rolls | Maida Balls with coated Sugar

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:54:00 +0000

Last night just before going to bed, my boys said they wanted chocolate. Peddu even kept the butter out from the fridge hoping I will make some chocolate dish for them. They both looked so expectantly that I could only chuckle over how sweet and innocent they looked while asking for chocolate. I didn't find time to make anything and this morning, the first thing both of them asked was about this chocolate. One asked with a hope, while the other just stated that I didn't do it.

I know I will have to make something for them tonight. So this non chocolate dessert was not something they liked, but Konda liked it and enjoyed munching on it. Well I happy that this atleast met some approval for it to be featured here. These are very similar to your regular maida based sweets, like Badusha or Kaja, even the method turns out similar. But the end product is quite different.

Also you got to make it as a ball, even though you pleat it. That's how you will get that flaky texture after you bite into it.

Ingredients Needed:

All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup
Sugar, powdered - 1/4 cup
Powdered sugar - 2 tbsp for dusting
Salt a pinch
Oil hot - 2 tsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Oil for deep frying

How to make the Maida Rolls/ balls

In a bowl, take the flour, salt, sugar, butter, Maida and crumble well. Slowly add water and knead to a soft dough.
Cover with a wet muslin cloth for 30 mins, then knead again.
Pinch out small balls from the dough, dust well and roll out like a chapati.
Grease the top with soft butter all over. Start folding in towards the end and finally when you get a rope, circle it again to form a roll. Press the sides well to make sure it doesn't come out.
Finally press again to everything close well.
Heat a kadai with oil, deep fry these balls and cook on both sides.
Remove once they are cooked.
Cool the cooked balls in a plate, and dust the powdered sugar once the balls cool down. Take care not to dust right away, else the sugar will melt.

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Sajjala Laddu | Bajra Laddus

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:23:00 +0000

For the second day of Something Sweet for Kids, it's Sajjala Laddu or rather a sweet laddu made with Bajra. Since Bajra is not something you can get the kids as such, we found that making these laddos was a easier task.

I am not sure about other kids, but my 5 year old twins don't eat such sweets, while it's only now that Konda has started getting used to different taste and liking. These laddus are very easy to make and serve as a quick dish. This turns out to be a quick post but a tasty one at the same time..:)

This is one of those rustic dishes that are made typically in places where Bajra is grown more. Athamma says her mom used to make this so much during her childhood. So imagine how old this recipe is.

Sajjala Pelaalu Laddu | Bajra Laddus

Sajjalu / Whole Bajra - 1 cup
Jaggary - 1 cup or depending on sweetness
Cardamon a pinch
Fresh Coconut, grated - 2 tbsp
Ghee as required to make balls

How to prepare Sajjala Pelaalu Laddu

Dry roast the whole Bajra on a hot pan for couple minutes, until it is well done. Remove and allow to cool.

Once it's cooled, take the bajra along with jaggary and pulse in a mixer for couple of times till you get a fine crumbly like texture.

Remove and add 1 tsp of hot ghee and fresh coconut. Mix it again. This should get you a texture that will hold it together.

Make tight balls from the mixture and adjust the ghee to see if the balls are holding it together.

Store in a container, this stayed for a week and was most delicious!

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Butter Cookies | Eggless Butter Biscuits

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:54:00 +0000

We are starting the second group of Blogging Marathon. I was so confused on what to make, both Dals and Paneer were a major attraction. But I settled for Something Sweet for kids, seeing how much they enjoyed the chocolate overdose. Of course I am planning not to make another whole set of chocolate dishes and though my kids are not so high on sweets, they do like some of them. At least one of them likes something, all three love only one dish in common and that's chocolate.

This week of Blogging Marathon is going to be very interesting and hectic as it's about 27 bloggers doing this group.

I know when I was going to take Sweets for Kids, I shouldn't end up doing only chocolate recipes, even though that gets completed fast. These dishes are different and those that Konda liked eating. So basically it will be what she likes and not my boys like. I know I will have to make some chocolate based dishes for them soon.

When I baked those different cookies for my nephew and nieces, I wanted to make sure there were enough varities for them to enjoy. I had made the regular Butter Biscuits, Chocolate Butter Biscuits, plus I tried changing the recipe a bit and landed with a different texture that was very tasty. It was the basic recipe, just twisted a bit and added differently.

Chocolate Butter Cookies, Bakery Biscuits

Butter Biscuits in Microwave Convectional Oven.

Makes - 20 small ones

All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup

Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup

Vanaspati / Vegetable Shortening - 50 gms

Butter - 4 tbsp

Chocolate Chip for each

Method to prepare:

In a bowl, shift the flour with icing sugar well.

Melt the shortining and butter. Then slowly mix into the flour.

Pre heat the oven at 185 deg C.

Keep kneading in the dough and continue till you get a dough that is soft yet stays in shape. Pinch out small balls and press between your palms to form a small circles. Press a chocolate chip on each of the cookie.

Bake the cookies for 15 minutes at 185 Deg C. These will spread, so make sure you leave space when placing the balls.

After 15 minutes, you can let it rest for few minutes inside the oven. Then remove and allow it to cool before storing it in an air tight container.

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet
To Vardhini's Bake Fest, hosted by Pradnya this month

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Eggless Chocolate Cookies | Chocolate Butter Cookies | Step By Step Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:32:00 +0000

Today is the last day in group 1 Blogging Marathon and I was so totally unprepared. Though there are so many recipes on hand, being a Sunday it become impossible to get a dish done. Amma had guests and relatives coming over for lunch and I was busy helping Amma with that preparation. I was procrastinating to afternoon, it then got extended to evening.

When the boys saw the butter box outside, they wanted a cake right away. I was forced to postpone the cookie baking that I had finalized and set about making the Molten lava cake. This time the center piece was a cooking chocolate and true to that, it was oozing out.

Another pleasing thing was knowing from my colleague who tried out the Molten lava cake recipe the very day and was happy with it. Then it was another source to whom I had shared this post. She tried it out six times, it being just 30 secs, she went on making it for the entire family, then for the neighbor too. I was so happy hearing how pleased her daughter was.

Now coming to the recipe today, it's a chocolate cookie and melt in the mouth experience is what we are aiming at. I thought the dough might spread but it didn't and you can see it was more of a ball. Taste wise it was awesome. Next time I will spread it more and then it should be alright.

Step by Step Picture Recipe

Chocolate Cookies

All purpose flour - 1 cups
Milk powder - 1/4 cup
Icing sugar - 1 1/2 tbsp
Baking Soda - 2 pinches
Baking powder - 2 pinches
Unsweetned Butter - 1/2 cup
Condensed milk - 2 tbsp
Dark chocolate (cooking chocolate) - 75 gms

How to bake Chocolate Cookies

In a bowl, sieve flour, soda, baking powder, sugar & milk powder.

In another bowl, cream the butter & condensed milk till light & fluffy. The consistency should be smooth.

Melt the dark chocolate and cool.

Add the melted chocolate to the butter and cream again.

Now slowly fold the flour and mix all ingredients to make a dough.

Pre heat the oven at 185 deg C.

Grease a baking tray. Make balls, flatten & bake at 185 Deg C for 15 mts till crisp.

Leave it on the rack to cool. Store in a air tight container.

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet and my own Chocolate Mela

A recap of my BM first week, themed on Chocolate
Easy Fudge Recipe | How to make Fudge in Microwave
Eggless Microwave Brownie with Nutella
Eggless Chocolate Melting Moments
Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies with Yogurt and Brown Sugar
Eggless Chocolate Molten Lava Cake
Eggless Brownies
Eggless Chocolate Cookies

For the second group I will be making Something Sweet for Kids, I know it's going to be an overdose of sweets, though my kids don't eat the regular sweets that well. So I will be trying to make those sweets that they liked. Atleast the sweets that Konda likes..:)

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Eggless Brownies | Easy Eggless Chocolate Brownie | Step by Step Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:50:00 +0000

If you ever thought one can never make that crumbly, fluffy, soft, melt in the mouth cake version eggless, then you should just try this recipe! Just imagine, I must have tried so many combinations, so many different measurements. Finally I have the perfect measurement to get the perfect taste. Seriously!

I again wanted to see the different recipes that I have written over the many years of my recipe collection, I came across this recipe. I was actually looking for the Chocolate recipe that I was talking about. It was in Amma's old dairy, I went and browsed through it and later went through my own collection. I was amazed at the number of chocolate recipes I have stored. I thank all of those invisible recipe creators..:)..my eternal gratitude to them!

As always I tried with just a cup of flour and ended up with perfect small serving brownies.

Eggless Brownies

Ingredients Needed:

Maida - 1 cup
Icing sugar - 3/4 cup
Cocoa - 1/4 cup
Milk - 5 tbsp
Melted butter - 5 tbsp
Curds - 6 tbsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Soda bicarb - 1/2 tsp
Salt a pinch

Dusting:
Icing Sugar
Chocolate Syrup for glace.

Preparation:

Prep small serving baking tin for baking. I greased with melted butter and dusted with icing Sugar. When you dust with flour you will have the flour taste on the outer side. so dusting with sugar makes it better.

Pre heat the oven at 230 C, then bake the brownie at 230 C for 10 mins, then at 185 for 2 -3 mins.

How to make Eggless Brownies

Sieve maida, cocoa, soda & baking powder in a bowl.

MW the butter to melt. Beat the curds to get uniform consistency.

Add all the wet ingredients to the flour and mix well with a spatula, making sure there are no lumps

Pour into the greased tins.

Bake 230 deg C for 10 mins, then reduce to 185 Deg C for 2 -3 mins.

Pour the syrup over the warm brownie and dust with sugar.

Notes:

Baking in the small tins, I felt if we bake in a bigger tray, it may not come out with the same porous texture.
If you like you can add chopped nuts to the batter.

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet
and my own Chocolate Mela

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Eggless Chocolate Molten Lava Cake | Molten Lava Cake in Microwave | Step by Step Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:59:00 +0000

There is nothing like wanting to dig into chocolate late at night! While I have been planning, thinking and thinking and planning on what else I should be making next. Imagine I had made a list of recipes that I must make during BM and then I see it's all either cakes or cookies. I actually wanted to make some ice creams also. Just got to wait and see if time permits, plus the fact if I can give the kids.

I had Chocolate Molten Lava cake on my to do list for a long time, I never actually came around reading up on the recipe. I had few bookmarked recipes, though some of them were with eggs. When I checked few recipes with eggs, I found it interesting that the same syrup was used, but the cake was baked at a lesser time and that results in that gooey texture in the center. That sounded interesting though I wasn't sure I could make the same measurement without eggs.

I looked up for some eggless versions, then decided that I could very well convert my basic cake recipe to a molten cake with chocolate placed in the middle as most of the eggless versions seems to be. I saw these two interesting versions of Molten Lava cakes, here and here.

Making it in the microwave was the best option if you were hit by this thought at 11 pm in the night. Hubby dear was surprised that I wanted to cook something at that time. I said I will be back by 30 secs. When I came back after 2 minutes, he was I was late. Well baking this cake in a microwave oven might take just 30 secs, but I got to assemble things right.

I baked in a mug and it came out so yummy. Next time I will try with 60% chocolate bars as the other recipe says. Also I thought I could get the same gooey effect by using frozen chocolate syrup. But that wouldn't just get solidified. So next time will attempt with chocolate bars other than dairy milk bar.

This is such a quick recipe just enough for a person, increase according to the number of serving. This is best for late night binge and chocolate attacks. So it's advisable that you make it in lesser quantity.

Eggless Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

Ingredients Needed:

All purpose flour / Maida - 1 tbsp
Powdered Sugar - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Cocoa Powder - 1 tsp
Milk - 3 tablespoons
A pinch of Salt
Baking Soda a pinch
Baking powder a pinch
Olive Oil / Butter - 1-2 teaspoons
Dairy Milk / Chocolate Syrup - a piece
Microwave safe bowl

How to bake Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

In a bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and Cocoa Powder.

Next add the oil, and blend well. Slowly add the milk one tsp at a time and mix well to make sure there are no lumps.

Grease a Microwave safe mug and pour half of the batter into the microwave mug.

Next place a piece of chocolate in the center and pour the remaining batter over the chocolate until it is completely covered.

Microwave the cake for 30 seconds. If you feel you need to increase, put it back for 10 more secs.

Let it rest for about a minute. And just dig in!

Notes:

Since the measurement is such a small amount you can just experiment until you get the right proportion.
Instead of using Dairy Milk bar, you can use cooking/baking chocolate for that flowing consistency. Dairy milk kind of become thick syrup. But you can always warm it again for few secs before eating.
Reduce the sugar amount and dust some over the cake for a completely different taste.
I tried freezing Hershey's Chocolate Syrup but that doesn't work out

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet
Kalyani who is hosting MEC, for the January Edition
and my own Chocolate Mela

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies with Yogurt and Brown sugar | Step by Step Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:03:00 +0000

For day 4 of BM, I thought a simple chocolate chip cookie will be best as I already had too much of chocolate based cookies. I know there is nothing like too much of chocolate still for a variety I thought this should be fine. I was taking this for my nephew and nieces. When I first baked it was soft to chew and after couple of days it turned out crispy and crunchy to bite.

During our last BM, I was so taken in by Gayathri's Cookies that I wanted to try them myself. I modified a bit to suit what I had on hand. As always she gives such wonderful step by step recipe that it works great to for anybody. I also had some pictures of cookies that I wanted to recreate and I tried out with this recipe, I know these didn't look so fetching as those, still I was happy with the way the pictures turned out.

We liked the fact that these were chewy and had that crunchy taste of sugar granules. And biting into those melted chocolate chunks and chips was a delight.

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies with Yogurt and Brown Sugar.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour/ Maida - 1 cup

Butter - 1/4 cup

White Granulated Sugar - 1/4 cup

Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup

Curds / Yogurt 2 tsp

Vanilla Essence few drops

Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp

Semi Sweet Chocolate Chunks 7 pieces, chopped into smaller bits.

Chocolate chips - 1/2 cup

How to Bake Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sieve the flour along with baking soda and a pinch of salt.

In a bowl, take the butter and sugars and cream together well till it peaks.

Next add the vanilla essence, curds and beat until creamy.

Then add the flour to the butter mixture and fold in well.

Next add the chocolate chunks and chips and mix well.

Refrigerate for 30 mins.Preheat oven to 185C.

Once done, remove the dough and make lemon sized balls out of the dough and place 2" apart on a greased baking tray.

Flatten each ball with a fork.

Bake for 20 minutes. Look out for browning at the bottom of the cookie.

Remove and let it cool on the tray.

Store in airtight jar and serve with milk. It made a wonderful combination.

Notes:

If you want to use buttermilk, then 2 tsp of curds and 2 tbsp water to get 1/3 cup.
The dough will be soft, so if you refrigerate it will be easy to handle. Even then the cookies tend to spread and become thin.

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet
To Vardhini's Bake Fest, hosted by Pradnya this month
and my own Chocolate Mela

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Eggless Chocolate Melting Moments | Melting Moments with Chocolate | Step by Step Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:51:00 +0000

After the brownie and fudge I thought I must make some cookies and was browsing some chocolate books that I have on hand. Then deciding that Internet must have some good eggless cookies, I landed in Joy of baking space to discover these melting moments. Then I realized that in recent times I have seen so many versions of this on many blogs. I liked the simple one that this recipe gave and I simply added cocoa to make it chocolate.

My boys refuse to eat anything that doesn't look like chocolate. On reading the description it is said that these melting moments are similar to yet another version of cookies called the Mexican wedding cakes. Both the cookies are round balls, dusted with confectioners sugar. And both are butter based that gives that melt in the mouth taste. The only difference between the both is that ground nuts are used in Mexican Wedding Cakes, while cornstarch is used in melting moments...how delicious. My next venture will surely be Mexican wedding cake, or maybe I have already made it without knowing the name.

We were off to our sis-in-laws place for pongal and just came back. I baked a huge batch of four different cookies for them. Everybody loved and were so amazed that those were homemade. These melt in the mouth cookies were so much of a hit and my kids loved it. Especially the sugar dusted on the top made these so delicious to munch on.

Eggless Chocolate Melting Moments Recipe

Ingredients Needed:

All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup
Cornstarch / Cornflour - 1/2 cup
Powdered Sugar / Icing Sugar - 3/4 cup
Butter - 3/4 cup(in room temperature)
Cocoa powder - 2 tsps
Icing Sugar for dusting - 2 tbsp

How to bake Melting Moments:

In a bowl, sieve the flour cornflour and cocoa powder together. In another bowl, cream the sugar and butter together well till it becomes soft and fluffy. Then add the flour the butter slowly and mix well. The dough will be soft and easy to handle.

Pre heat the oven at 185 Deg C, grease a baking tray and drop in balls of the dough on the greased tray.

Bake the cookies at 185 C for 15 mins. Once done check and make sure it's cooked. Bake for another 5 mins and allow to cool. Sometimes it may take another 10 more minutes.

Let it cool completely before removing from the tray and dusting with some icing sugar.

Once it's cooled the sugar gets into the cookies and you get that soft melt in the mouth taste.

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet
Vardhini's Bake Fest, hosted by Pradnya this month
Teena Mary's Valentine's Day Event
and my own Chocolate Mela

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Eggless Microwave Brownie with Nutella | Chocolate Recipes | Step by Step Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:31:00 +0000

When it comes to cakes or muffins, my kids love only chocolate base. It's such a thing that they will not even touch if it's not chocolate. I have made many versions of easy and quick Microwave Mug Cakes. These are so quick to make that you can for your kids in a jiffy.

For the second day I thought of making another version of 1 minute Eggless Cake in Microwave. This is inspired from so many other bookmarked recipes. The recent one that I loved was from Vardhini, who was inspired from Pages, who had originally adapted from Mons Chocolate Mug Cake. See how much a chocolate can pass on! For the all the chocolate lovers out there, this is a beautiful recipe. Thank you ladies..:) I have further tweaked to suit my own taste.

I made this along with the Chocolate Fudge, since it was taking time to set I thought I will make a cake meanwhile to pacify my boys. The moment I made this, it disappeared and there was more demands for more to be made. This was made again right away and that kind of set things alright.

This is surely another version that I am going to be making quite often.

Ingredients Needed:

All purpose flour / Maida - 2 tbsp
Icing Sugar - 3 tbsp
Cocoa powder - 3/4 tbsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda a pinch
Curds/ Yogurt - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Milk- 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Olive Oil- 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Nutella 1 tbsp

How to make Eggless Microwave Brownie

In a mixing bowl, shift the flour with baking soda, icing, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.

Next add yogurt, milk, oil. And finally add the nutella. Mix well.

Microwave this mixture in a microwave safe bowl.

Microwave for 1 minute, then followed by 30 secs. Let it stand for 30 secs if you feel.
.

Notes:
Since this rises while cooking, use either a tall cup or a bowl.
Serving Suggestions: Dazzle some chocolate syrup over it and serve warm

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet
Kalyani who is hosting MEC, for the January Edition
and my own Chocolate Mela

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Easy Fudge Recipe | How to make Fudge in Microwave | Chocolate Fudge with Condensed Milk ~ Step by Step Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:26:00 +0000

When I decided on the Blogging Marathon this month, it never struck me that we are going out of town during the Pongal holidays and that I might not be exactly at my desk to check it out. Once I was over my apprehension on that fact, I decided I should at least make these chocolate dishes ready ahead so that I can plan well. Athamma left for her home town a week ahead of us. The day being a Sunday, I decided to make my chocolate dishes in the evening.

First was this simple Fudge recipe where I used only the Semi Sweet Chocolate chunks with Condensed Milk. This is such a quick dish to make, though if you really want to eat it as a fudge you got to wait for at least an hour for it to get solid. Chinnu was restless and eat it much earlier and loved it every bit. I literally had to hide it for clicking some pictures. Then again I am always in a rush that my pictures these days are so hurried.

Today we are starting the 12th Edition of Blogging Marathon, and I decided on making Chocolates. Since I have Chocolate Mela going on, what other way to enjoy mine and my kid's favorite. So for the next seven days I will be sharing my most liked chocolate recipes.

There is no dearth of chocolate recipes that I have filed up to try. However inspiration for this comes from a glance at one of the cooking show that comes in Chutti TV that runs non stop at my place. I must have seen this recipe couple of times but both the times I was just passing by and I noticed chocolate chip and condensed milk was used. Since I wasn't up to using up my stock of chocolate chips, I thought I should make use of the cooking chocolate slabs that I have with me. I was just going on a hunch to make this and knew however it turns out, I will still have takers for chocolate at home.

Just as thought, my kids loved it. The fudge looked best, in the actual Fudge like after two days, when I tried my best to save up the stock and not let the kids complete it right then. Make very small pieces and stock, use very sparingly as it's highly addictive and you can't just stop with one!

Step by Step Picture Recipe

This is a super quick method to make Chocolate Fudge in Microwave.

Ingredients Needed:

Semi Sweet Chocolates - 1 cup
Condensed Milk - 1/4 cup

How make quick and easy Chocolate Fudge:

In a microwave safe bowl, take the semi sweets chocolate chunks and nuke for a min. Remove and whisk for couple of times. Then again put it back for 30 secs.

Depending on your microwave you may need to micro for another 30 secs. But be very cautious to confirm the chocolate is melted is not getting burnt.

Remove and whisk again for a smooth texture.

Add condensed milk and microwave for 1 min 30 secs. Whisk well to get a smooth sauce.

Prep a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Grease with butter/ ghee. Pour the chocolate sauce over the prepped plate and refrigerate for at least an hour. Cube into smaller pieces and indulge in this sinful temptations.

While I was making it Konda was restless to taste. When she did, she said it tastes so much like cadburys' dairy milk chocolate. And couldn't wait to eat it. I always think the best compliment she gives is when she says she wants to take it for her friends.

Sending this to:
Kavi, who is guest hosting Kid's Delight themed on Something Sweet
Kalyani who is hosting MEC, for the January Edition
and my own Chocolate Mela

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 12

Pathir Pheni ~ Karnataka Special | How to make Pathir Peni / Chiroti Step By Step Recipe | Indian Cooking Challenge for December

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:33:00 +0000

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, I was still undecided when the thought struck me that I could travel south this month. I was waiting to catch someone online to get them refer some recipe and just then Harini came online. So I immediately pinged her to share some recipe that she learnt from her Mom. She said her granny has been after her to make these Pheni.

Since I had to cite the state of origin, I pinged her again to verify and she this recipe could very well originated from Karnataka, as Harini says that her my grandma has origins from Bellary and could have come from that part of her heritage. However I have read about this recipe in Meenakshi Amma's Cook and See book. So this might have been a common sweet among the south states. As this is also called as chiroti.

Then I searched Pheni as a single word brings up something else. This recipe is called Pathir Pheni.

I want to begin the new year with a sweet tone!

I was discussing this with Amma. Just around the first weekend of every month I would discuss the ICC recipe with both Amma and Athamma. I mostly expect them to come out with some thought processes for me to proceed further. During Deepavali, Amma was mentioning that she got Chiroti Rava by mistake for making Rava Laddos and they simply won't hold their shape. So when I was saying that these Pathir Peni were also referred as Chirotis, she assumed that I would get that Chiroti rava for making.

I completely forgot that Harini had updated that if we should use the Chiroti rava if using Rava. I tried it out on a Sunday and let it resting for more than 2 hours. The dough was so stiff after the stipulated hour. I had to add more water and knead again to get a soft dough. Covered it again and forgot about it for almost more than an hour, as I was busy baking chocolate cakes for the kids.

It was such an exerting day and I sent across Amma's share. Since it was made at late night, I completely forgot to get Hubby dear taste this. So it was so funny when he got to taste this at Amma's place and asked from which shop she got it. Naturally you can imagine what that feedback means. I was really happy that though what started as tough, ended up so well!.

I would really want to thank Harini for sharing her granny's recipe for us to enjoy!

Pathir Pheni / Chiroti

How to Make Pathir Pheni Step by Step Picture

Measure 1 cup of rava, since I was using the regular rava, I tried running it in a mixer, still it was very grainy.

Add ghee

Crumble well together

Slowly add water and knead to a soft dough.

Cover with a wet muslin cloth and let it rest for at least an hour. I left it for more than 2 hrs because I used regular rava.

After 1 & 1/2 hours

Rice flour and ghee paste.

Knead well before rolling out.

Pinch out into small balls numbering to 5.

Keep them aside

Spread the paste on one side of the rolled out discs.

Place one over the other on a pile.

Pat well

Continue on the top also

Start folding from the end next to you towards opposite side.

Fold completely till you reach the end.

You will get a roll like the above. Roll again so that the layers stick to each other.

Cut into 1 inch pieces.

Gently press over the top of each piece. Keep them all ready for deep frying.

Second method of rolling in the sheets.

In the second method of folding, you can leave some space from the first disc and continue like the above.

In the end, roll very tightly again and pat on the sides. This method gave me a very even ends

Once the oil is hot, deep fry on both sides.

All fried and ready to be sprinkled with icing sugar/ powdered sugar!

Pathir Pheni | Chiroti

Ingredients Needed

For the dough

Pheni Rava / Fine semolina / Chiroti Rava - 1 cup

Ghee 2 tsp

Water to knead the dough

Salt a pinch

Oil for Deep frying

For the Rice Paste:

Rice Flour 2 tsp

Ghee 2 tsp

How to make Pathir Pheni

In a wide bowl, add the rava, salt ghee (in solid form) and crumble well. Then slowly add water and knead to a soft dough.

Note that the dough needs to be softer than the regular chapati/puri dough.

Cover with a muslin cloth and set aside for a minimum of 1 hour. The more the resting time the better the quality of the phenis.

In a smaller bowl, whisk the solid ghee and rice flour until they form a smooth paste.

Check in between and knead again to get a soft dough.

Knead again and pinch out 5 balls of the dough and roll out thin puris out of each of those and cover them until later.

On each rolled out puri, apply the rice flour-ghee paste and layer them one on top of another. Here the number of puris used for layering are 5. Use less or more depending on your preference keeping the minimum to atleast 3 puris.

Roll the layered puris into a tight log. Keep applying the rice flour-ghee paste as you keep rolling as well. Tuck the ends securely.

Cut the log into 1 inch pieces and roll out each piece into a thin puri and keep them covered until ready to be fried.

Meanwhile, heat oil on low-medium flame. Fry each of the puris taking care that they don't change color.

Drain on kitchen towel and sprinkle fine sugar over the top.

Notes

Since the rava I used was the regular one, I tried grinding it but it was of no use. So I kneaded as such. So it took me almost 2 + hrs for the dough to be soft.

Still if you are not able to find Chiroti rava and could grind the regular rava, you can go ahead. grind the normal rava and sieve to get a finer consistency)

Traditionally Ghee is used for frying. But regular cooking oil is also fine.

I suppose it's important to make sure the color of the puris remain as white as possible.

And Harini also says these can be stored in an air tight containers upon cooling.

Serving suggestion - Sprinkle powdered sugar and serve it along with Badam (Almond) milk.

Optionally they are dunked in sugar syrup and served as is.

I got about 10 puris exactly, making sure all are of equal size. we found the powdered sugar on top tasted great. I can imagine how the sugar dunked ones might taste.

This is yet another traditional recipe that came out well.

To all my ICC members, please link your Pathir Pheni post to Mr. Linky.

Blogging Marathon # 12 - 7 Day Marathon!

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:26:00 +0000

With the 12th Edition, Blogging Marathon completes a year and it would not have been possible if not for my friends who join me every edition. Thank you all!

With the year beginning, I thought I should give simpler themes for everybody to blog about. I am sure the themes I selected would be pretty easy to attempt.

Blogging Marathon helped us build a great community which makes sure we read and support each other. If you have been following us, then you know that not only do we support the other blogger by reading and commenting, we also have a private discussions which is an open forum. Being part of this group, I have insisted on everybody actively taking part in the discussions and to read the other participating bloggers. If you are not ready for this, then this is not for you.

Since the 6th edition, I have created a separate page for Blogging Marathon. Once I get all details I will be updating this page. Bloggers taking part in this marathon need to just link back to this page.

If you want to know how the Blogging Marathon started, read the first edition

So the 12th edition will 16th - 22nd January and the second group will start on 23rd - 29th January.

Please email me at spicingyourlife@gmail.com latest by 12th January along with your theme.

FYI: Requests to join after 12th January will not be accepted.

Mandatory rules for this Blogging Marathon are as below:

Will have to post on all 7 days without fail

Should follow the accepted theme all 7 days, meaning if you choose one topic like Rice, you should post all rice based recipes all 7 days.

Should link to the Blogging Marathon page.

Should actively give feedback on others post.

Other rules will be mailed to the individuals.

Themes for this edition are the following.

Kid's Delight - Something Sweet

Let's begin for the kids with "Something Sweet" that they will love for this season. Kid's Delight for Jan will be hosted by Kavi who wants us to send sweet dishes. The dish should be approved by a kid, or something that you loved as a kid! If you make them with Fresh produce you can also send them to Suma.

Seven days of Delicious Dals

We are fond of our Dals. So why not make seven different dals, each day feature one special dal and make it the dal the Star ingredient. The dish can be of any course. Sweet or savory your choice!

Seven days of Rajasthan Cuisine

This Edition, let's try and enjoy dishes from Rajasthan. Check out what dishes are cooked from the state of Rajasthan and make for all seven days.

Seven Days of Chocolate

Well you must be knowing about Chocolate Mela right! I wanted to give myself a reason to make more chocolates, so do join me in making something with chocolates all seven days. Between you can send these for Kid's delight also..:)

Seven Days of Festival Food

With Pongal / Sankranti being the main festival this month, you are welcome to feature special dishes made for Sankranti.

Seven days of Microwave dishes

As the theme says, cook the entire dish in Microwave oven. It can be of any course, only condition being cooked completely in Microwave. You can to participate in MEC, hosted by Kalyani

Seven Days of Paneer

Needless to say I love paneer. So what better way than cooking all seven days with Paneer.

Please spread the details if you want your friends to be part of this marathon.

Let's gear up for another non stop blogging!

Vegetable Dum Biryani | Soya Chunk Vegetable Dum Biryani Step By Step Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:04:00 +0000

Vegetable Dum Biryani was next on my list for our December Drizzle at my office. It was such a wonderful experience working with about 5 -6 colleagues, all helping out with chopping and stirring a 15 kilo vessel. We were cooking for almost 100 and it was a huge vessel that must have had measuring about 12 kilos of different ingredients.

Knowing that Dum Biryani has a tendency of getting delayed, we started early. The team that was called in to help, was one enthusiatic group. They did a fantastic job of chopping and prepping vegetables. This Vegetable Dum Biryani is a signature dish of our office cook. Everytime she makes it, we could see a satisfied lot!

Since I was busy cooking, I requested my colleagues to get me step by step pictures. One took up the task of taking notes. Imagine everybody round the hug vessel, looking eagerly into the pan to see how it gets cooked.
We ushered in the new year with a wonderful tone.

Step by Step pictures.

1 Kg of Soya Chunks, 2 kgs of Onions, Tomatoes, 1 kg of Beans, Potatoes, and Carrots were used.

Heat 2 Kgs of oil

Add whole spices such as Bay leaf, Cloves, cinnamon, Cardamon, and few more spices that normally come along.

Then goes the chopped onions..once the onions brown, add ginger garlic paste, green chili paste.

Add about 6 bunches of Mint leaves, 3 bunch of Coriander leaves.

Then goes the chopped tomatoes

Now add boiled and marinated soya chunks. Soya chunks were marinated with salt and ginger garlic paste.

Now add carrots, beans, potatoes in stages.

Saute well and cook for 5 - 7 mins.

Now add the soaked rice and mix well.

Then goes the chilli powder.

And salt!

Cover with heavy lid and dum for 15 mins.

The rice was cooked by then. Simmer further and fluff

This is after 5 mins.

Different food colours were added to give that final touch.

All done and ready.

Onion, green chili, coriander with Curds - Raitha.

Notes taken by one enthu colleague for future reference!

Enjoy!

Wish you all a wonderful Year ahead!

Aloo Sandwich | Grilled Aloo Sandwich | How to Make Indian Stuffed Sandwiches with Potatoes Step by Step Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:22:00 +0000

Imagine riding against a wind strong enough to make your bike sway and chill drizzle hitting your face and all you could see were blurry images far off because you were busy trying not to get dust into your eyes. Well that's how I was coming back home from work this evening because the cyclone Thane was in full swing. This morning when I woke up, I almost thought it was midnight. It was pitch dark and I couldn't imagine why it was so. I went back to sleep and when I woke up again I understood the reason.

The whole day at work was almost cold and since we were doing the final snack of our December Drizzle at office, we were all busy not to notice the cyclone. We made Vegetable Soya chunks Biryani. I even made my colleagues take step by step pictures for the blog. And when it was all done, you could see some ten satisfied faces on job well done.

Coming to this Aloo Sandwich, it was such a delicious mix of spices and I can never say no for a sandwich. With the release due end of this month, my team has been working during the weekends and I thought I should appreciate their hard work with some homemade sandwiches. Since Aloo Sandwiches were already featured and knowing my team loves spicy food, I decided to make the masala more spicy and tangy. Surprising part was that both Konda and Peddu loved it.

Even though I can't technically tag this colourful palette, I still would want to send this to Veena, who is hosting this month's Kid's Delight event. When I opened the sandwiches, it was colourful with the coriander and aloo etc. Ok it might be hard to accept, let's just say I want other kiddos to enjoy this sandwiches!..:)

Saute onion julienne with Pav Bhaji Masala, Chat Masala, salt, Amchur, green chilies in oil

Add fresh coriander leaves.

Microwave potatoes for 8 mins, then mash well.

Add the mashed potatoes to the pan

Mix and adjust the spices.

Trim the bread and spread the stuffing.

Pre heat the sandwich maker and grill till done.

Aloo Sandwich with Pav Bhaji and Chat Masala:

Ingredients Needed:

Bread Slices - 8
Potatoes - 2 medium
Onions - 1 big
Green Chillies - 2 medium
Pav Bhaji Masala - 1/2 tsp
Chat Masala - 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Amchur powder a pinch
Salt to taste
Kala Namak a small pinch
Oil - 1 tsp
Butter for toasting

How to make Aloo Sandwich

Wash and mw potatoes for 6 - 7 mins, once done soak in water and peel. Then mash well, keep it aside.

Heat a non stick pan with oil. Saute onion julienne and green chilies till they turn colour, add all the masalas and mix well.

Then add the potato mash and combine everything well. Adjust spice if required.

Meanwhile pre heat the sandwich maker.

Trim the bread slices on all sides as required. Scoop out the masala over one bread, cover with the other and press well.

Grease the sandwich maker with butter, place the bread grease on the top slice and cover to grill. Grill till done.

Serve with sauce!

Sending this to Kid's Delight, hosted by Veena this month themed on colourful palette

With this we are done with the Blogging Marathon for this month. It's been a wonderful session with my friends. As always weeks seem to pass in a jiffy!

My recap of last 6 days!

With this post I will also be completing a year of starting Blogging Marathon. Something that I started to get myself motivated to post regularly as become a group and a community! I have enjoyed our sessions, discussions and reading each other's posts. Looking forward to see a new start with new goals and new recipes.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 11

Gobi Matar Masala | Gobi Matar Curry | Cauliflower Peas Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:37:00 +0000

Cauliflower is in season right now and one can see piles of cauliflowers on the road side hawkers selling these. It's such a beautiful sight seeing those huge flowers, all white and green, piled on each other. It literally begs to be bought. Many a time I think I should carry my camera just to capture the scene but fail to do that.

When I decided to make Bihari dishes, I checked if they have a gobi recipe listed. Though there were other recipes, none that suited me for making for lunch or for rotis. Then I came across this Aaloo Matar that I wanted to make and decided to replace the aloo with gobi, so we ended with Gobi matar.

Gobi Matar
Adapted from here

Ingredients Needed:

Gobi / Cauliflower, florets - 2 cups
Fresh Peas - 1 cup
Onions, finely chopped - 2 medium
Tomato, finely chopped - 2 medium
Ginger Garlic Paste - 3/4 tsp
Cooking Oil - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves for garnish
Turmeric powder a pinch
Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Bay leaf - 1
Salt to Taste
Ghee - 1 tsp

How to make Gobi Matar

Wash and soak cauliflower in hot water for 10 mins.

Heat oil in a non stick pan.

Add bay leaf and onion. Fry till onion turns colour.

Next add tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, drained cauliflower and peas. Saute well.

Add turmeric, salt, garam masala, chilli powder and jeera powder. mix well everything well and continue cooking.

Then add 1 cup of water and cover with lid and simmer till it gets cooked. Takes about 15 mins

Finally top with ghee and coriander leaves before serving.

Notes

If you are running short of time, you can pressure cook the dish.
Potatoes can be added along or just with matar.

Update: Sending this to Priya's Cooking with Seeds Event, featuring Peas

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 11

Chana Dal Bihari Style | Dal with Chana Dal Step by Step Recipe | Simple Bihari Thali

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:40:00 +0000

When I had zeroed on the rice recipe, I was back at square one trying to decide on a side dish that could go well for the rice. Knowing that the Rice was a bit spicy, at least for my taste I decided it should be a simple dal to enhance the taste and flovours. I was searching this site for ideas and saw the chana dal that sounded very mild and interesting. The use of ingredients in a different way always intrudes me. I was determined I was going to make this.

This dal is an interesting blend of spices used as a whole. I later asked my colleague and she told me that they mostly use the spices in their dals as a whole. Since I was running late, I couldn't simmer the dal as it was told, still the dal was thick and flavoursome. Along with the rice and dal I made this simple raitha with Keera, it's almost a very simple raitha but spiced with chat masala and kala namak. I saw this at Sia's space and she had also got the recipe from the site I was searching.

When we had the meal I knew I was going to be making this combo regularly. We loved how well that dal tasted and it didn't taste much the taste of the Rice but rather enhanced it so much. To go with the Rice and dal I also made the Cucumber Raitha. This was different as this has Kala Namak. After my experiment with Chola Fali, I have fallen in love with Kala namak. It surely takes the dish to the next level!

Chana Daal Bihari Style
Adapted from here

Ingredients Needed:

To be boiled:

Chana Daal - 3/4 cup
Yellow Split Moong Daal - handful
Ginger Paste - 2"
Tomato, finely chopped - 1 medium
Turmeric powder a pinch
Caraway / Shah Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Bay Leaf / Tejpatta - 1
Whole Peppercorns / Kaali Mirch - 6
Black Cardamon / Bari Elaichi - 1
Cardamon / Chhoti Elaichi - 1
Salt to Taste
Green chilies - 2 small
Coriander Leaves, finely chopped - 2 tsp

Onion, juliennes - 1 large fried golden in 1 tbsp butter.

Seasoning:

Ghee - 1 tbsp
Hing - 1 pinch
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

How to make Chana Dal
In a pressure cooker take the chana dal and moong dal. Wash thoroughly and add about 4 times of water
To the dal add ginger paste, coconut, tomato, turmeric, salt, bay leaf, peppercorns and both the cardamons
Pressure cook for 3 -4 whistles
Once the pressure falls, heat a small pan wiht ghee and add hing and jeera. When the jeera pops, pour over the simmering dal
Finally garnish with butter, coriander leaves and fried onions.

Notes:

The recipe calls for chopped coconut to be added, that I completely forgot in the last moment.
I added Shah Jeera instead of Cumin while boiling the dal.
In the original recipe there was no mention of red chili or green chilies, I added to suit our taste.

Kheera Raitha / Cucumber Salad

Ingredients Needed

Cucumber, grated - 1 cup
Curds / Yogurt, beaten - 2 cups
Roasted Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder a pinch
Chat Masala - 1/4 tsp
Chilli Powder a pinch
Kaala Namak/Black Salt - a pinch
Garam Masala (optional) a pinch
Coriander Leaves, finely chopped - 2 tsp
Salt to taste

How to make Kheera Raita

Wash, peel and grate the cucumber.

Add the grated cucumber to the beaten curds and mix in all the ingredients.

Combine everything well and refrigerate.

Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves if required.

Serve with the thali.

Sending this Keera Raitha to Richa, who is hosting Veggie/Fruit of the Month started by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 11

Saffron Vegetable Biryani | Zafrani Sabzi Biryani | Step by Step Recipe | Simple Bihari Thali

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:25:00 +0000

For the second week of Blogging Marathon, I chose Mix n Match as I wanted to try out all the themes I had listed. Best was trying out the Bihari recipes. I know when you mention Bihari dishes, the most frequently listed out will be Thekua, Litti, Chokha, Pau etc. Though I wanted to try these too, I was looking more in the other types of dishes and browsed through lot of Bihari sites. I finally settled to make these dishes from this site and I must say we loved our meal.

For the Rice dish I made Saffron Vegetable Biryani - Zafrani Sabzi Biryani. I adapated few ingredients like adding Shah Jeera instead of Cumin Seeds. I liked the way it ended up finally, though you might think it your regular vegetable biryani, it surely gave a different touch to the dish. Plus I like that fact that it gets done quickly for you to make this for your lunch box too.

With the kids at home enjoying their holidays, it becomes a big task to get things to make them be occupied. Most times they make sure they occupy by themselves, only they end up having a tiff every other second. And they have made sure I dish out chocolate cakes for them on daily basis. Now I am in the process of selecting only chocolate base cake. So look out for more chocolate cakes to make it's appearance!

I made this for a Saturday lunch and we thoroughly enjoyed the entire thali. I have planning to make an entire thali from each state, if not the entire 12 course meal, a simple 3 -4 course meal would surely be great. In that effort I made these three dishes and it was so filling!

Step by Step Picture Recipes

In a non stick pan, heat the butter, add all the whole spices, saute well.

Drain the rice and add to the pan. Saute well for couple of minutes.

Add water, salt and turmeric powder.

Mix everything well and cook with lid covered till done. When it's done, switch off and keep it aside.

Heat a non stick pan with butter, add shah jeera, then onions. Saute the onions till it turns colour, add ginger garlic paste. Cook till the raw smell leaves.

Add the cubed vegetables, salt and cover with lid. Keep sauteing till the vegetables are done.

If required sprinkle little water. When the vegetables are done, add the chili powder, turmeric powder and mint leaves. Cook for 5 mins in sim.

Finally add the curds. Simmer for 5 mins.

The curds will start letting out moisture, so keep cooking till it almost becomes dry but not very dry.

You should have some liquid left.

Remove half of the rice.

On the base rice, add the cooked vegetable curry. spread it well.

Then on top add rest of the rice. Sprinkle the saffron milk. coriander leaves. Cover with lid and cook in simmer for 10 mins.

Saffron Vegetable Biryani - Zafrani Sabzi Biryani

Adapted from here

Ingredients Needed:

For the Rice

Basmati Rice - 1 & 1/2 cups
Butter - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Shah Jeera / Caraway Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Bay Leaf - 2
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 2"
Cardamon - 1
Water - 2 & 1/2 cups

For the Vegetable Curry

Butter - 1 tbsp
Onion sliced 1 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Potatoes, 1 medium
Carrots, 1 long
French beans, chopped - 1/2 cup
Peas - 1/2 cup
Mint leaves - 1 tbsp
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Shah Jeera - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder a pinch

For assembling
Hot milk 1/4 cup
Saffron few strands
Coriander leaves handful

How to make Saffron Vegetable Biryani

Soak saffron in hot milk.

Making the Rice

Wash and soak the basmati rice for 15 mins.

In a non stick pan, heat the butter, add all the whole spices, saute well. Drain the rice and add to the pan. Saute well for couple of minutes.

Add water, salt and turmeric powder. Mix everything well and cook with lid covered till done. When it's done, switch off and keep it aside.

Making the Vegetable gravy

Heat a non stick pan with butter, add shah jeera, then onions. Saute the onions till it turns colour, add ginger garlic paste. Cook till the raw smell leaves.

Add the cubed vegetables, salt and cover with lid. Keep sauteing till the vegetables are done. If required sprinkle little water. When the vegetables are done, add the chili powder, turmeric powder and mint leaves. Cook for 5 mins in sim.

Finally add the curds. Simmer for 5 mins. The curds will start letting out moisture, so keep cooking till it almost becomes dry but not very dry. You should have some liquid left.

How to assemble the rice.

Remove half of the rice. On the base rice, add the cooked vegetable curry. spread it well. Then on top add rest of the rice. Sprinkle the saffron milk. coriander leaves. Cover with lid and cook in simmer for 10 mins.

Normally this can be done in two three layers of rice, if you take a smaller pan. Since I used the same big non stick pan, I got only two layers.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 11

How to Blanch Tomatoes | Prepping Tomatoes in Different ways

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 08:31:00 +0000

When I think of gravies made without tomatoes I really wonder how one can make gravies without tomatoes. For me onions and tomatoes are something that are mandatory for a gravy. When it comes to using tomatoes, there are couple of methods used to make the best use of it.

Sometime back when we make any kurma or even a simple curry, I simply used to chop it finely and add. These days when the boys not wanting to have the tomato skin in the gravy, I have resorted to making a puree and adding to the gravy. This makes sure that you have a thicker and more gravy.

Blanching Tomatoes:

When you want to blanch tomatoes, take ripe tomatoes, wash and keep it aside.

Bring to boil 1 -2 cups of water as required. When the water is boiling, make sharp slits on the tomatoes and add to the boiling water. Switch off the flame and keep it covered. This takes about 5 mins for the skin to loosen up.

Typical blanching would require the tomatoes immersed in hot water to be immediately immersed in cold water. But I have seen that it works just fine, if I leave it in hot water and cool and puree to use in gravy.

Remove the skin with a knife and allow to cool. Puree the tomatoes and use in the gravies.

Used in kurmas, gravies where you want more gravies.

Smoking the tomatoes:

Wash and pat dry the tomatoes. Using a fork, insert into the tomatoes. Show over flame and roll over the tomatoes so that the tomatoes get burnt. When the tomatoes are done all over, remove from the fork and allow it to cool. Remove the skin when the tomatoes cool.

This gives a wonderful tastes for foods like Paneer Tikka, Baigan ka barta etc.

Freezing Tomato Puree:

When you have excess tomatoes on hand, you can puree as many as you want either by blanching or my simply pulsing it and storing it in ice trays. Once the tomatoes are frozen you can break and store them in zip lock covers and use when required.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 11

How to Freeze or Store Pre cooked food | How to Freeze Cutlet

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:26:00 +0000

One of the interesting aspect of cooking that I have been always interested in would be in storing and checking out how to use different techniques in cooking. Freezing and storing food in the right way would surely fall under that category.

Though to be frank, when all the hassles that's involved in prepping and storing food for later usage, I find cooking on daily basis was much easier for me. Still I wanted to experiment on that. That was the reason why I had the theme to have prepped food for later cooking. Though I wanted to take up that theme, I was not able to. So the next best was to see how one would store and use for later times.

One of that was making those vegetable cutlets and freezing them. Having these ready would make our job so easy when we have unexpected guests coming over and you can quickly fry these cutlets for a quick snack.

I made this and tried when I made the Vegetable Cutlets. Though I was able to store them only for a day as the demand for the cutlet was so much that they just disappeared the same day!

Follow the recipe and get all of them shaped and place them on a plate.

Get the outer dipping sauce ready and dip the cutlets into the mix and make sure it covers all over.

Get the bread crumbs ready and roll the dipped cutlets over the crumbs. Allow to dry for 10 to 15 mins.

Take a dry box, plastic sheet, grease with oil. Cover the bottom of the box with the plastic.

When the cutlets are dry, place them on the sheet and continue placing other cutlets. Make sure each has space and not crowded.

I had packed about three on each layer.

Cover with the lid and freeze. When you need to make them, simply take them out, I felt there was no need to thaw too. I deep fried these on low flame for initial 5 mins, then increased the flame to medium, making sure the cutlet is cooked all over.

Drain on kitchen towel.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 11

How to make Rusk | How To Make Bread Crumbs | Microwave Method

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:59:00 +0000

We are starting the second group in the Blogging Marathon edition 11. It's been one exciting week in the first part and hoping it will continue the same.

For the second week, I chose the Mix n Match theme wit Preps and Preserves with Bihari special dishes. I must say I have enjoyed making Thekua and so Bihari dishes are great to make and enjoy a new cuisine.

Coming to today's post it's all about making rusk and Bread crumbs at home. Rusk is great to simply eat and coming to bread crumbs, you will surely need it when you got to make cutlets and Tikkis.

Though normally one gets to making the bread crumbs from stale bread, it is advisable not to use a very stale bread. At the most it can be a day's old or best is to use fresh bread.

How to make Rusk:

Rusk is double baked bread. For this you can bake your own bread and again bake the baked bread or you can use store bought bread. Anything works fine.

If you like the sides as I do, simply microwave the slices for 1 min and the turn and again microwave for 1 min. Slices that are little thick needs a little longer, but the bread tends to get crispy after cooling down. So don't fear seeing that the bread is still soft after removing from microwave.

How to make Bread Crumbs:

As I said for the Rusk, stale bread is not usually advisable, though the best way to use one day old bread is to make it into crumbs for coating cutlets etc.

I basically make two ways of bread crumbs, one for binding, another for coating or breading.

When you need something to bind your food like cutlet, patties, or even ground meat, you can opt for potatoes or fresh bread crumbs. In such situations, you simply pulse the bread in your food processor or mixer and you get a fine crumb, though very soft to touch.

This helps in binding the food to be shallow fried or deep fried.

The other process that requires bread crumbs, is to coat or breading the food such as fish fingers, cutlet outer layer etc.

In this process you will need a crisp crumbs and for this you can microwave the bread and grind it to get small pieces.

Cutlets are dipped in eggs or all purpose flour and then pressed over crispy bread crumbs for an overall coating and then fried.

Sending this to Kavi, who is hosting my MEC this month and she is accepting all dishes made in microwave.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 11

Chayote with Moong Dal | Chow Chow Pesara pappu | Bengaluru Vankaya Pappu

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:16:00 +0000

Days have a tendency to simply disappear and this week was no doubt was the fastest! With December soon coming to closer, we have hectic work at office with deadlines looming over us. Funny part is for some departments it's a lean time and we decided to have fun events at office. Part of the fun event was me cooking for a day. Seeing the Snack mela going on, my colleagues decided we would have a snack mela at offie. Will write about it in leisure, though result being I have been busy with that and couldn't do much in terms for this BM.

Today is the last day in the BM's first week and I enjoyed doing it with the lunch box dishes which really helps me plan for a variety in my box.

Chayote with Moong Dal

Ingredients Needed:

Chow Chow / Bengalore Vankaya - 1 medium
Moong Dal - 3/4 cup
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Onions - 2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves few
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder a pinch
Green Chilies - 2 long
Oil - 1 tsp

How to make Bengaluru Vankaya Pappu

Wash and peel the outer skin on chow chow. Chop into 1 inch cubes. Microwave in just enough water for 10 mins.

Wash and microwave the moong dal for 10 mins. Both chow chow and moong dal can be microwave together.

Heat a pan with oil, season with cumin seeds, mustard and curry leaves. Saute with onions and chopped green chilies. When the onions turn colour, add the chow chow and moong dal. To get little thickness to the dal, add 1/2 water and salt. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 mins.

Serve with rotis

Today being the last day of BM 11, here's a recap of the posts.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 11

Sprouted Navaratna dal with Paneer Curry | Paneer Navaratna Lentil Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:19:00 +0000

Today's lunch box recipe is about sprouted Navaratna dal which also featured Paneer. This makes a great side dish along with Chapatis for carrying to work and is really hassle free. Adding sprouted dals makes this even more healthy.

Here's for a quick post today as it's been a hectic day and couldn't find time to do anything else.

Sprouted Navaratna dal with Paneer Curry | Paneer Navaratna Lentil Curry

Ingredients Needed:

Paneer, cubed and roasted in ghee - 100 gms
Sprouted Navarathna dals - 1 cups
Onions, puree - 1 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Tomato, blanched - 2 medium
Red Chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves for garnish.

How to make Sprouted Navarathna dal with Paneer Curry

Make paneer, cube and roast in ghee. Keep it aside.

Wash and sprout the navaratna dals. Once ready to cook, wash again. Pressure cook for couple of whistles and keep it aside.

Heat a non stick pan, saute with onion puree, when it turns colour add ginger garlic paste and saute well.

Blanch the tomatoes, remove skin, crush or puree depending on your style.

When the onions are done, add the tomatoes, simmer for 5 mins. Add all the spice powders, salt mix everything well.

Then add the cooked dals, saute well. Finally add the paneer and simmer for 5 mins. Add water as required. Bring to boil and simmer till thick, which might take about 5 -7 mins.

When ready garnish with coriander leaves.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 11