Titillating Tastebuds

* Avocado Sandwitch,,a healthy snack

2011-04-10T17:36:00.001-04:00

I'm still in my nostalgic moments of a month of pampering at home. I admit I'm spoiled and lazy now and watch out for every possible chance to skip my favorite time spent in my cozy kitchen. Today's post is definitely healthy and a quick snack/brunch/breakfast,,, :),Avocado sandwich, basically whenever you are hungry and want a quick healthy fix you can go for it. Avocado was pretty foreign food for me until Martha(my colleague) introduced me to avocado over our lunch table. From then I'm just hooked to avocados. Now I eat at least 2 avocados every week. So I have different ways to eat although I love to eat avocados with a dash of salt on it. So here comes the recipe of the avocado sandwich.

Ingredients:
1.Small avocado -1
2. Chopped tomatoes - 1 tsp
3. Chopped onion - 1 tsp
4. Green chilly - 1 (optional)
5. Coriander leaves/ Cilantro - 1 tsp
6. Salt - a pinch
7. Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
8. Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Procedure:

1. Cut the avocado in halves ,take out the pit and scoop out the flesh in a bowl.Take a fork and mash the avocado(if the avocado is perfectly ripen then it will get mashed easily).

2. Then Add the chopped onion,tomatoes,green chillies,cilantro ,salt,lemon juice and cumin powder and mix well. The filling is ready now.

3. Now cut the crust of the bread out(I just take them out for cosmetic purpose) and spread the avocado mixture evenly in a generously thick layer in one slice and top with the other slice.

4. Sandwich is ready at this point but if you want it as a finger food in party then cut into smaller cubes,makes a cute healthy appetizer.

* Ricotta Pound cake.....

2011-02-16T22:17:00.000-05:00

My big apologies to readers and followers of my blog for not posting anything for long time. But things at my personal end took front seat and kept me overly occupied.I'm just back from my long India trip and coping with the jet lag.I planned to post this Ricotta Pound Cake before I left for vacation but Anyone who reads or follows my blog must have known by now that I have a sweet sweet tooth. So experimenting cakes and various types of sweets are definitely more frequent than any other experiments in my kitchen. the other day I was browsing around and came across this wonderful cake in Parita's Blog ,she is amazing baker and I love to visit her space. As she vouched for this ricotta pound cake I thought I should give it a try and the result was something to 'die for' for a cake lover.Me and Shaan relished on this cake first time I made and I have made couple of times after that with some modifications every time and this is my favorite so far. I always like to tweak the recipe after first attempt. The addition of lemon zest,fresh blueberries and honey to the recipe made its even better. I'm so glad I tried it. So here you go.

This makes a small 8" round cake
Ingredients:

1. Ricotta Cheese                    : 3/4 cup(Ricotta can be replaced by fresh home made cheese or paneer)

2. All purpose flour                 : 3/4 cup
3. Baking powder                    : 1 1/2 tsp
4. Cornflour/Cornstarch           : 1 tbsp
5. Egg(at room temperature)    : 1
6. Salted butter (melted/softened)            :1/3 cup
7. Raw Sugar                           : 3/4 cup(I used raw sugar but white granulare sugar is just good)
8. Fresh lemon juice                 : 1 tbsp
9. Freshly crushed cardamon seeds    :1 tsp
10. Rose water                          :2 tbsp
11. Handful of raisins, soaked in water/rum for minimum 2hours, drained
12.Vanilla essence : 1 tsp

Procedure:

1. Shift All purpose flour,corn starch and baking powder together and keep them aside.

2. Beat the ricotta cheese and rose water for 5 minutes with an electric beater.Now time to pour the

melted butter kept at room temperature to the mixture along with raw sugar and beat until the sugar

dissolves.

3. Add pure vanilla extract, egg and cardamom powder and beat the mixture for 2 more minutes.

4. Now to the above mixture incorporate the shifted flour with a spatula.

5. Once the flour is fully mixed add lemon zest, lemon juice,golden raisins, blue berries and honey.

6. Grease and flour the cake baking pan.Pour the cake batter then bake it in a 350 degree

Fahrenheit preheated oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes or do a poke test until the knife comes out clean .

Enjoy this cake when warm.This also stays fresh for 2-3 weeks in refrigerator.

I would love to hear from you n Happy Cooking.

* Stuffed Bell Pepper

2010-11-14T01:31:00.000-05:00

These stuffed bell peppers were one of my long awaited dish.And one fine day in my experimental spree, I opened my refrigerator and gathered my favorite ingredients and wanted to make the stuffed bell peppers before these petite bell peppers are either spoiled or consumed in any other form(I always have 10 different ways to eat bell pepper,love them). Of course I searched in Internet and as expected I didn't find all the ingredients at home the recipes called for , then decided just listen to my instinct and voila the resulting dish won Shaan's heart. We enjoyed these beauties , they were wholesome dish. The stuffing are upto the individual taste .

here is what I used :

Ingredients :

Red or Orange or Yellow Bell peppers - 4(Smaller ones are good for this dish)
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Onion(finely chopped) - 2 tb sp
Zucchini(Shredded) - 1/2 cup
Mozzarella Cheese(Shredded) - 1/2 cup
Sweet corn - 1 cup
Cooked Rice - 1/2 cup
Garlic(Finely chopped) - 2 tb sp
Portobello mushrooms(Chopped) - 1 cup
Tomatoes(Chopped) - 3 tb sp
Green Onion(Chopped) - 3 tb sp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste

Procedure :

1. Wash and pat dry the bell peppers.Chop a thin section of the bell peppers so that they sit comfortably

while baking.

2. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove all the seeds from inside and toss them on the pan with a tea

spoon of vegetable oil for 3-4 minutes and keep them in aside in the baking dish.

3. Next step is to prepare the stuffing. The Stuffing has as may options as you can think of, you can do

with meat or vegetables.Here I tried with all the veggies.

4. Start with a a table spoon of vegetable oil in a pan, splutter cumin seeds then add chopped onions.

Once Onions are soft add Shredded Zucchini.Cook it for a minute then add the chopped tomatoes and

Mushrooms.

5. Cook them for 5 minutes add garlic, then add the shredded mozzarella,sweet corn and cooked rice.

Mix in and cook for another 2 minutes. then add the garam masala and chopped green onions to the

mixture and the stuffing is ready.

6. Now stuff the bell peppers, after the peppers are full, put the tops back on.

7. Cover the entire baking dish with aluminum foil and throw the dish into the over for 30 minutes in to

350F Preheated oven .

8. Remove the foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Make sure the peppers are tender, but not falling apart.

Thanks for visiting and I would love to hear from you if you liked your stay here.

Happy cooking and cheers.

* Tipsy Pudding......Truly Mouth watering desert

2010-11-02T07:49:00.001-04:00

'Tipsy Pudding' the name sounds really catchy....when I heard in the laptop where Shaan (My husband) is hooked up to all possible news websites. One weekend he was going through his stuff of world news and he stopped by in one channel where a show named 'secret kitchen- hosted by Bikramjit Ray' comes.This one is my favorite,,its like my dream job...he goes places and gets to eat all specialties and gets the secret recipes too.So this was on the occasion of Indian Independence day when he goes to the most prestigious place of Indian defense system,where they train the cadets(the future officers),,he goes to National Defense academy(NDA) and gets three very special recipes from the chief who is there for last 35 years and has served some very important people in the world. I have been there couple of times during R's study time (he is one of the tuff guys trained out there,he is my mom's best friend's son )and I was his local guardian (LOL,, I'm just two years older to him),I don't mind it as long as it let me visit this very well maintained beautiful place.Seeing his Graduation ceremony was a very special occasion, You feel for the nation all the more if you see the spirit of these young charged blood. My dad also works for Defense, so it was even emotional to watch the show. Now coming to the food part :-) The chef of NDA spills his secret recipe of tipsy pudding which is served at NDA on special occasions for special guests. The moment I saw it,my mouth started watering and I had to try out as soon as I saw.I had everything but the Whipping cream, So I got it and made when My daring friends(I said "Daring" coz, they are brave enough to try my experiments time to time) came over for a weekend chit chat. The 9X9 desert vanished within minutes.it was indeed a scrumptious desert.It is simple and a great make ahead desert.
I have made it couple of times after that and incorporated small little modification from the original recipe that I saw,The lemon zest added to the top whipping cream layer really makes it an exotic dessert.
Give it a try if you are a dessert person, I know people who are not very fond of dessert part still go crazy for this one.

Serves :8 - 10 people

The show didn't tell the proportions , so I had to come up with my proportions which worked well for a 9X9 baking dish or you can have individual portions in small desert blows for nice individual deserts.

Ingredients:

1. Plain Pound cake(Chopped to small cubes) : 2 cups(You can bake a ready cake mix in a cookie sheet

and once they are cool cube them or buy any pound cake

and can cube them)

2. Fresh Seasonal fruits : 2 cups- Chop to very small cubes (Any fruit will do,I have

used 1 Pears,1 golden kiwi and hand full of blueberries)

3. Dry fruits : 1 cup- chopped-I used Almonds,Cashews,raisins and

apricots.

4. Whipping Cream : 300 ml

5. Sugar : 5 tb sp

6. Custard powder : 3 tb sp ( I used Brown & Polson Custard Powder
Vanilla Alternatively you can use vanilla pudding mix )

7. Milk : 1 cup

8. Pure Vanilla essence : 1/2 tsp
9. Lemon and orange Zest : 1 tb sp

Procedure:

   First prepare the custard before you start to assemble rest of the ingredients for the pudding.This
   custard is not the traditional custard that is made from egg and milk mixture
   For preparing the custard, mix the custard powder in 4 tb sp of milk and add this mixture slowly to the
   boiling milk and stir for 5 minutes(if you want you can add 2 tb sp of sugar).it will get thick
   consistency.Take it out of heat and let it cool down and bring it to room temperature.
2.

Beat the whipping cream and 3 tb sp Sugar until stiff pick forms ,keep it aside.While beating the
Whipping cream be careful about not to over beat it,because if you over beat the butter starts to separate
which spoils the purpose of whipping cream in the dish.Divide the whipping cream in two parts,one
part for mixing the fruit mixture and second part for the top layer.

In a bowl, Mix cubed pound cake,Fresh Fruits,dry fruits.pour in the cooled down custard. then mix in
  one part of whipping cream.Add the vanilla extract to the mixture and mix well.Now the base of the desert is ready.Now pour this mix to your serving dish and spread evenly.Here you can use large dishes to make a big pudding or make small individual portions.

4. For top layer ,add lemon and orange zest to the whipping cream and just fold in,then spread the
   whipping cream evenly and keep in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Once chilled to your preference
   you can directly serve or decorate with some chopped dry fruits or fresh seasonal fruits.

Enjoy and happy cooking... :)

* My Mom's Vanilla Chiffon cake

2010-09-25T20:51:00.006-04:00

This is an amazing cake that my school n college friends can vouch for.I call it Vanilla Chiffon Cake for its texture. Baking this cake and eating ,,takes me back to my University days.When I used to go back to hostel after vacation,,all my friends invariably knew that I will have a box of cake in my side pocket of my bag and before I enter my room the cake box will be already open, sometime they try to be formal and wait until I open the box.I wanted everybody get a bite,,sometimes the box gets over before everyone come to my room for a bite.So later I used to hide some for those who didn't show up first and some for the evening chit chat in my room with friends,S,R and M,miss you guys.Same was the case in my younger brother's hostel :) so this was the favorite of all the friends.I gave this cake couple of tries,,but my husband always says its not like Mom's cake.So I kept trying and now I got it right after I jotted down step by step process from my Mom when I talked to her over our long weekend chats.It is a simple recipe,but I don't know what went wrong every time I gave it a try .Whenever I made in last couple of years she was always around,so I never went wrong so I was very confident, but I always messed up in all my attempts.Couple of months back I made this cake for our anniversary and we both loved it.When I was searching a box to keep the left over,,he said,,,don't bother about the box now,,you will need a box if something will be left at all..And he was right.we finished the whole cake in a day :)

So now comes the recipe.This will make one bunt cake ring.

Ingredients:
1. Eggs - 4

2. All purpose Flour - 1.5 cups

3. Granulated white Sugar - 3/4 cup

4. Vegetable Oil - 1/2 Cup

5. Vanilla Extract - 1 tb sp(Use the original vanilla extract for a better flavour)

6. Honey - 1 tb sp

7. Baking Powder -1 tsp

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit before you start the process.

2. Use eggs in room temperature for more volume in the batter.I used a hand blender here but you can use an egg beater and beat with your hand,,it takes a long time and you really need muscle power :) .Now to my relief I have a hand blender which is handy to use and doesn't take a lot of space.My mom uses the manual egg beater until now.I'm planning to gift her one on my next visit :)

3. Mix all purpose flour and baking powder and sieve this mixture couple of times.(You can use pre- sieved flour)

4. In a big bowl blend granulated sugar and 4 eggs very well,The texture should be something like shown in the picture and pale yellow in colour.

5. Pour 3/4 cup of Vegetable oil to the mixture and beat for 1 minute with the electric blender.

6. Then add the flour and baking powder mixture slowly and mix with a spatula until the flour is completely incorporated.If you feel at this point the mixture is thicker than required then add some milk and bring it to the consistency where you can smoothly pour the batter in the baking mold.

7.Add 1 tbsp honey and vanilla extract and mix well.Mom says while mixing do it in one direction don't change directions (May be that lets the air bubble to escape and the cake wont be as soft and fluffy)

8.Spray the mold with some cooking oil or you can spread some oil with your hand and dust some all purpose flour to completely coat the surface.

9. Pour the cake batter on the mold(I used a bunt cake mold ,but any cake mold would do) and slide in to the pre-heated oven.Bake for about 30 minutes in 350 degree Fahrenheit.

10. Now its time to test if the cake is done , Pierce a knife or a skewer. If it comes out clean then remove from the oven immediately and let it cool for 15 minutes.Once cool down it is easy to take the cake out of the mold after some time.

11.When I flip the cake in to a plate,,,,it just looks a nicely baked golden cake ring.the cake stays fresh outside for about a week.You can refrigerate. It becomes a little hard inside the refrigerator,but you can microwave for 5-10 secs and have a bite anytime,it stores up to a month.

Tips: You can add dry fruits or cocoa powder for variation.But this time I wanted to bake the original recipe that I have been eating for years.I will post some variation later point of time.For now happy reading and thanks for visiting my blog.

* Red Bean Flower Buns

2010-09-05T10:08:00.001-04:00

I had these red bean buns in one of the Chinese bakery.Chinese bakeries always have many variety of buns,breads,cookies.Buns are widely two types steamed and baked with as many types of fillings you can think of,,,beef pork,chicken,veggies,beans.As I love baking so I thought of making the baked variety.it came out good and is a nice breakfast,snacks option if you make it ahead of time,But nothing can beat any fresh baked good for sure.The filling stays good in refrigerator for a long time so you can make ahead and whenever you have time can make different stuffs,,After I made these buns I was left with some red bean paste and I had tried stuffed parathas(Indian stuffed flat bread) and they also came out well,,,tasted kind of puran poli.So you have endless options with the paste.

Here I'll divide the making process into two parts:

Red bean paste making
Bun making

This recipe makes 10 buns.

Red Bean Paste :

Ingredients for Red Bean paste:

1. Kidney beans - 1 cup (soaked overnight)

2. Sugar - As per your taste(I used approx 1/2 cup)

Procedure for Red Bean paste:

1. Once the kidney beans are nicely soaked in water over night you put in on a blender and make a

thick fine paste as shown in picture.

2. Heat a pan and pour the bean paste ,Keep stirring,I used a non-stick pan so was easy.Once the bean

paste thickens, add sugar and adjust to your taste.You will know Bean paste is ready, when you can

draw a line in the pan.

3. Let the bean paste cool down a little bit until you can form balls from the paste.Apply some oil in

your palms and make small balls. Keep them aside.

You can put the paste in a zip lock and keep in refrigerator for about 1-2 weeks and can use in any other recipes as well.

Bun making :

The Bun is made from the regular yeast dough.

Ingredients for the Bun :

1. All purpose flour : 1 cup

2. Milk Powder : 1/8 cup (Optional )

3. Yeast : 1 tsp

4. warm water : 1/2 cup (you can substitute milk)

5. Sugar : 1/2 tsp (for yeast to be active)

6. Salt : 1 pinch (for yeast to be active)

7. Egg : 1 (for egg wash--Can be replaced by milk if you want a complete vegan version)

8. Sesame seed : 1 tb sp(Optional for decoration)

Procedure for buns:

The entire process takes around 1hr 30 mins to 2 hrs.Plan so as to fit in your other chores in between so that you don't feel its a time consuming stuff.

1. In bowl of warm milk/ water mix in the yeast,sugar and salt and leave it for about 10 minutes.You should see frothy stuff,,if at the end of 10 minutes its not frothy then its no good.throw it and start all over again.The reason why the yeast wont react is may be the milk is too hot to kill the yeast .And sometimes the yeast is very old and not good to use any more then throw that and buy a new packet.

2.Make a dough using this yeast mixture to the flour.And keep it aside for 1 hour in a warm place.

3. After 1 hour the dough would have risen to double the original size. Punch the dough and keep another 10 mins.

4. Then make small balls with it and keep it covered with the kitchen towel so that they won't dry out.

5. Take a ball of the dough and put the red bean paste ball in it and wrap to make the bun and keep in the baking sheet with the seal side down.Repeat this with all the balls and let it sit for 10 more minutes.Now switch on your Oven ,so that it reaches the baking temperature when you slide in the buns.

6. Now the Flower part comes.To give the shape of a flower as the name says, cut the sides with a pair of scissors as shown in the picture.

7. Beat the egg and brush the bun top with a pastry brush and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

8. Slide the tray into the preheated oven and bake in 350 Degrees for about 30 minutes.You can see nice golden brown colour on top.

Now these beauties are ready to munch one.

Thanks for visiting and happy cooking.

* Garam Masala

2010-08-28T16:18:00.001-04:00

Garam masala is the basis of many of the Indian curries and gravies.Many think the store-bought verity is the best.but me tell ya,,there is nothing compared to freshly ground garam masala...mmmmmmmm,the smell is just heavenly.This fresh ground garam masala when added to any curry takes it to another level of ecstasy.

I always prepare this in small amount and my obedient kitchen Gadget coffee grinder is a big Savior for me, which is now an absolute necessity in my kitchen . All the measures are approx,so if you like some flavor more than the other,then you can do some plus /minus accordingly.

Ingredients:

1. Star anise - 1.5 stars

2. Cloves -10-14 numbers

3. Cadamom - 10-12 numbers

4. Whole pepper - 15-20 numbers

5. Cumin - 1/2 tsp

6. Cinnamon - 2 inch stick

7. Mace - 1 tsp(optional,but gives a nice flavour)

Procedure :

Grind everything in a coffee grinder for about a minute and use as soon as possible.If you have some left overs then keep it in airtight container, but try to finish it soon, the nice aroma doesn't last longer.

Happy reading & thanks for visiting.

Tips:
You can dry roast the whole spices for enhanced flavour.

* Chicken Butter Masala.........

2010-08-14T23:06:00.002-04:00

Chicken Butter Masala is probably the most famous Indian dish abroad. I have been asked by many of my co-workers or friends who have at least once tasted Indian food in restaurants for this recipe,,I can understand why,Because every Indian Restaurant you go in Toronto,,the silky textured yellowish-red gravy with boneless chicken tikka pieces is the most ordered dish. Originally the chicken tikkas are done on clay oven which imparts a great aroma.The oven is a great alternative but that smokey flavor goes missing. It’ also has got this wonderfully distinct it the rich sauce. The incredible orange color appeals to the eyes and the thick creamy texture is just waiting for warm pieces of naan to be dunked and scooped up.

Here goes the recipe ...........

This dish has two steps :
1. Preparation of the chicken tikka
2. Preparation of the gravy.

Preparation the Chicken Tikka :

These tikkas can be enjoyed as an appetizer.You can grill or bake or barbecue them.This time I pan grilled them ,but any process is good enough for the tikkas.

Ingredients for Chicken Tikka:

1. Boneless chicken : 1 lb (cut in small cubes)

2. Ginger & garlic paste : 1 tb sp

3. Salt : to taste(Always taste the salt in your marinade before you add the chicken)

4. Garam Masala : 1/2 tsp

5. Coriander Powder : 1 tb sp

6. Cumin Powder : 1 tsp

7. Oil : 2 tsp

8. Turmeric : 1/2 tsp

9 .Yugurt : 2 tb sp
10.Lime juice 2 tb sp

Procedure for Chicken Tikka :

1. Mix all the marinade except chicken and adjust your salt level.Add chicken cubes and keep it for at least 1 hour.You can keep it for a day,if you have time or you plan ahead.Overnight maritation gives the best result.

2. In a pan add a tsp oil and pan fry the chicken cubes for 10 -15 minutes or until done.(Don't wash the pan if you are going to make butter chicken ,Use the same pan,the flavor will be really nice)

Chicken tikka is ready.if you are having as an appetizer then squeeze some lemon juice on top and it tastes awesome.I always munch on few tikkas in the process of cooking.just can't resist :)

Preparation of the gravy:

Ingredients for chicken Butter masala gravy :

1. Onion : 1 cup (Chopped)

2. Tomato : 1 cup (chopped, Use the bright red color tomato)
3. Dried Fenugreek Leaves (Kasuri Methi) : 1 tb sp
4. Sugar : 1 tsp
5. Tomato ketchup - 1-2 tb sp
6. Corriander powder : 1 tsp
7. Cumin Powder : 1/2 tsp
8. Garam masala : 1/2 tsp
9. Red chilly Powder : 1/4 - 1/2 tsp or green chillies : 2
10.Cashew : 10 numbers
11. Butter : 2 tb sp
12. Cream : Optional
13. Red Food Colour : Optional optional,if you want that resturant like look then go ahead and add(I did
not add colour)

Procedure for chicken Butter masala gravy :

1. In the same pan heat oil,add chopped onion.When onions are transparent add ginger garlic paste .When you get the nice smell of ginger garlic paste, then add the chopped tomato.
2. Saute the tomatos for 1 minute and add coriander powder,cumin powder,garam masala, red chilly
    powder and cashews. Cook these spices for   3-4 minutes or until cooked.(yo can add 1-2 tbsp water if
    you feel it is dry)you will know it is cooked by the texture and smell.Add some crushed Fenugreek
    leaves and mix well..It looks very mushy and the raw smell of the spices will go away.
3. Cool down this mixture for some time and blend it in a blender to a fine puree.
4. Don't wash the pan yet......we want the full flavor in our butter chicken.So in the same pan add 1
    tsp of butter and pour in the puree you just prepared. Bring it to boil.
5. Now time to add the chicken tikkas to the boiling gravy.The gravy is already cooked,so no need to
    cook for a very long time now.Just cook for 5-7 minutes.You can see the silky texture of the
    gravy.Add the tomato ketchup and adjust your seasoning now.Now is the time to add your optional
    ingredients: The red food colour and and cream.(I didn't add any).
6. While serving top it with the rest 1 tb sp of butter.

       Serve with hot naans or roti(Indian flat bread) and you will be licking your fingers.Enjoy and happy cooking.

* Date & Walnut Eggless Cake

2010-07-24T16:54:00.002-04:00

Since long I have been thinking of making a vegetarian cake,reason being my parent in-laws who are pure vegetarian. I love to bake,but it is disheartening when they can't have all the goodies that I love to make, so I have been thinking on it since long. The other day I went to grocery store alone(usually me and shaan go together) and as usual my temptation to buy the whole store tickled me.I love grocery shopping as much as I love shoes shopping :) I bought a whole bunch of dry fruits 4 founds of each. There was a big packet of walnuts, for which he was after me-'why you bought such a big packet,it may get spoiled if you don't finish soon'. Before I opened the walnut packet I bought another date packet.
As soon as I reach home in evening after work I start to munch on something... be it dry fruits or fresh fruits(whatever comes in front of my eyes).The other day I ate some dates and walnuts together and liked it and then googled for recipes.. I came across many and tried to tweak a few and the end result was just to die for . I was really skeptical about the cake(I was thinking how will the cake rise and get the fluffy texture without eggs), until I flipped the cake to the serving plate and oh,,it was so moist and fluffy too. It was FIFA finals day and our friends were coming over for the game and my new experiment of vegan cake was quality tested and recommended. Now I can't wait to go to India and make this cake for my in-laws, hence this post is dedicated to my loving parent -in -laws.

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. All Purpose Flour : 2.5 cups
2. Pitted dates : 20-25 numbers
3. Sweetened Condensed Milk : 300 ml
4. Melted butter : 1/3 cup -1/4 cup
5. Honey : 1 tb sp (optional)
6.Baking powder : 1 1/4 tsp\
7. Baking Soda : 1/2 tsp
8. Milk : 1 cup + if required to thin the cake batter

Procedure:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F.
2. Soak the date in hot milk for 20 mins and to make a puree blend it in a blender adding as little as milk needed.Keep thee rest of the milk for later use.

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

3. Sieve the Flour,baking powder,baking soda and keep it aside.
4. In a deep bowl pour sweetened condensed milk and melted butter and beat with a hand blender(or
manual beater) for about 7-8 minutes.The texture should be as shown in pictures.

                                                                                                                  (Click on the picture to enlarge)

5. While adding rest of the ingredients don't beat it vigourously just mix well with a spatula.
6. Add the date puree ,give it a mix.
7. Add flour,baking powder,baking soda mixture to the batter slowly incorporating the flour into the
   batter. If you feel the batter is too hard then add some milk.The consistency should be as shown in the picture.
8. Now coat the chopped walnuts in some flour and fold into the batter.
9. Pour the batter in to a greased and floured baking dish and slide into the oven for 40 minutes at 350
    degree F.As each oven works differently , test it by inserting a knife time to time, take the cake out as
    soon   as knife comes out clean.
10. Cool the cake for about 15 minutes before you serve. It tastes best warm and it can be stored in
    refrigerator for about 2 weeks and can be microwaved for 15 seconds and can be enjoyed at a later
     time.

          Thanks for stopping by and enjoy this moist   vegetarian cake and I would be more than happy to hear from you.

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

* Turkey Lasagna(my Italian quest)

2010-06-25T22:29:00.006-04:00

Turkey Lasagna is one of the dishes I love to make and eat. As I love to eat different verity of food, get bored of monotonous food very quickly.If I'm asked the best thing of being in Toronto,,then I would say the FOOD.The choice of food that I got here is just countless.You see the entire zona of food horizon....say Italian ,Mexican, Thai, Indian, Japanese,Caribbean,,,,I can just go on and on.I have one rule eat everything you like and have a regular work out schedule.It is very important to stay healthy,so I make sure I get all the nutrients in my food and never constrain myself of eating something.One of the things I love to eat is cheese.,,Now you know why I love this lasagna,,,,yes,,,it has lotsa cheese.

Here goes the recipe:
I have used a 9X9 baking dish,which is good enough for 4-5 people.

Ingredients:

                                                                                                                      (Click on the picture to enlarge)
1. Lasagna noodle(It is   flat verity of noodle specially used for lasagna,so is the name I guess) - 6
2. mozzarella cheese - 1 cup
3. ricotta cheese - 1 cup
4. Egg -1
5. Chopped Celery - 4 tb sp
6. Chopped garlic -2 tb sp
7. Chopped Red bell pepper - 1 tb sp
8. Dried Oregano - 1 tsp
9. Dried parsley - 1 tbsp
10. Mince Turkey - 1lb
11. Pasta sauce- 2 cups
12. Grated part skim Mozzarella - 1 cup
13. Grated cheddar cheese - 1/2 cup
14. Grated Parmesan cheese - 1 tb sp
15. Olive Oil - 2 tb sp

Preparation :

First   prepare the meat sauce and then assemble all the ingredients   to slip into the preheated oven.

Meat Sauce preparation:

1. Pour 1 tb sp Olive oil on a hot skillet and keep all the veggies ready.Toss in garlic,celery and red bell pepper(You can add veggies of your choice here like carrot,different coloured bell peppers,,but everything should be finely chopped,so that you don't any big bites of veggies while eating lasagna).

2. After a minute add the minced turkey breast(I like to use leaner meat and turkey breast is lean,You can do variation with any meat you prefer). Add salt to your taste.

3. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until the meat is done.Add the Classico pasta sauce to the meat. Here any sauce will do but I like Classico`s sauces as they are very flavourful. I have used here Tomato & Pesto flavoured one.

4.Add dried Oregano , parsley and mix well.Taste the sauce, isn't it yummy.Keep it aside.

Now we will cook lasagna pasta and then assemble the Lasagna:

The second step is cook the lasagna pasta:

1. Boil enough water for 4 pieces of lasagna noodles.Add some salt to the boiling water.Lasagna noodles are long but once you put them in water they will soften,,,so you really don't need a big big vessel to cook them. Cook for about 7 minutes.Drain them and brush little oil and keep aside.

The third step is to make the ricotta mixture:

1. Mix ricotta cheese, 1egg,1 tb sp Oregano and 1 tbsp Parsley ,Keep it aside.The herbs you use can be fresh or dry.I have used dry here,just because I had them handy in my pantry.

Now the last step, assemble the lasagna:

1.Preheat the oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes before you pop in the assembled Lasagna

2. Now you are ready with all the ingredients,

First layer: Spread the meat sauce evenly on the bottom of your baking dish.

Second layer: A layer of lasagna noodles.Layer the noodles evenly in a single layer,you can cut them short to fit your baking dish.

Third layer: The ricotta mixture.Try to spread each layer evenly and the ricotta layers adds a lot of flavour to the lasagna.

Fourth Layer: Another single layer of Lasagna noodles

Fifth Layer : Meat sauce

Sixth Layer: Ricotta mixture

Top Layer: Spread the grated Mozzarella cheese evenly on top.Here I added some cheddar cheese.But the cheddar cheese is absolutely optional.

3. Cover the baking dish with an aluminium foil

4. Bake for 30 minutes covered at 350 degree Fahrenheit .

5. Now uncover the aluminium foil and sprinkle some Parmesan on top and bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.

Now the Turkey Lasagna is ready and let it sit for 10 minutes and cut through to plate it

* Stuffed Mushroom

2010-05-24T00:49:00.008-04:00

Stuffed Mushroom is one great finger food to serve for any cocktail parties. It is tastes awesome and is good if you have some vegetarian guests around. One evening I just mixed all the ingredients together which I love such as bell peppers,celery(because of the health benefits I love to add this wherever I can specially my husband doesn't eat celery as such so I try to disguise it as much as possible and strangely he loves them :) ),Mozzarella cheese,garlic...etc and it came out real good.Got a great review from my extremely choosy husband.And we love to eat each mushroom in a bite so I specially love the smaller ones.

Here goes the recipe:

For this recipe all the veggies are finely chopped, so that you get each veggie in each bite which makes it very flavourful.

Ingredients:

1. Button mushrooms - 15 nos

2. Celery - 1 tb sp(finely chopped )

3. Garlic - 1 tb sp(finely chopped)

4. Green Bell Pepper - 2 tb sp (finely chopped)

5. Orange bell pepper - 2 tb sp (finely chopped)

6. Onion -4 tb sp (finely chopped )

7. Mozzarella cheese - 1/2 cup(Shredded)

8. Parmesan cheese - few pinches

9. Olive oil - 1.5 t sp

10. Dry Oregano -1/2 tsp(optional)

11. Salt - to taste

Procedure :

1. Clean and remove the stem from the mushrooms.Keep the stem for using them in for stuffing.

2. Chop the stem finely and keep all the finely veggies and preheat the oven.

3. Now heat the pan and add 1/ t sp Olive oil and place the de-stemmed mushrooms on the hot pan for 3-

4 minutes.Take them out and keep aside.

4. Add the rest 1 t sp Olive oil to the pan and throw in the onion,then celery's , when these ingredients

are little cooked(not browned) add the chopped mushroom stalks.When Mushrooms are cooked for

about 3 minutes,,add garlic and finally add the bell peppers at the end so that they remain crunchy.

5. Finally add 2 tb sp grated mozzarella cheese and turn off the heat.Give it a quick mix and now the

stuffing is ready.

6. Take the Mushrooms and fill in the Stuffing.(Here if you divide the stuffing as per your number of

mushrooms it will be easy )

7. Now these mushrooms go to the pre heated oven for 10 minutes on 350 degree Celsius.After 10 minutes

take them out and sprinkle some mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese on top of each

mushroom.And then goes back to oven for 5 more minutes in broil mode.

8. Now the tasty stuffed mushrooms are ready to serve.

The beauty of this dish is the stuffing options are numerous and just go by your instinct you will find something very new with every other option.

Thanks for visiting and I would be more than happy to hear from you.

* Chenna poda(Cheese cake from Eastern India)

2010-05-09T01:15:00.003-04:00

(Click on the picture to enlarge)
Chena poda is a delicious cheese cake from Orissa(a province in eastern part of India where cheese deserts are pretty famous and they are simply awesome,there are numerous types of deserts just made from home made cheese).I love this desert a lot,,in my last visit to India I had 250 gm to 500 gm of chena poda almost everyday.Now that's not very healthy,,but I have a sweet sweet tooth and with the company of my husband,,,we give each other good company is eating kilos of sweets like this.So the other day we had this BIG craving for chena poda and he bought a gallon of 3.25% milk.So I had no way but to make it.Even though I was tired when the process was over and had a bite of this virgin Chena poda, I forgot all the tiredness..it was yumm,,the caramel that I poured was not as good looking but definitely that is a `must` for a beautiful looking and tasting crust.Ok,,now without wasting a minute I should jot down the process.
So here you go.....

Now there is two parts to the process
First ,The cheese making process.(It is basis of many more sweets like rasgulla,rasmalai,chenna jhilly,,,etc.)
Second, The Chenna poda baking.

As I will be posting the other deserts made up of soft cheese so I will keep the cheese making process separate here.

For making Cheese:

Ingredients:

1. Milk- 4 Litres(I used 4 L this time coz I was baking in 9X9 inch dish,,this amount can varry as per your
requirements,if baking in a smaller dish you can reduce the amount or increase the amont,,the more the
better)
2. Vinegar --1/4 cup
3. Water -- 1 cup(for diluting the vinegar )
4. Ice cube --2-3 cups
5. cheese cloth (to filter the cheese)

Procedure:

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

1. Bring the milk to boil and let it boil for 2 minutes.
2. Dilute the vinegar with the 1 cup of water.
3. Pour the diluted vinegar over the boiling milk slowly....slowly because the cheese will be soft
this way,,,and when the milk cuddles and you can see the water and solid separated,,turn off the stove and pour the ice cubes so that the cuddling process stops immediately.
4. Filter through cheese cloth which will separate the solids from the liquid.
5. Hang the cheese for 15 minutes to let the water drain out.
Now the cheese is ready and this can be used for any purpose you want.I just eat few spoons at this time,,this fresh cheese tastes so good.

Now we will proceed to the Chenna poda making process:

Ingredients for Chenna poda:

1. Fresh made cheese - 1.5 lbs(may be you can use ricotta cheese,,if you don't want to go through the cheese making process.I personally never tried,but the ricotta making process looks very similar.So if any one tries this alternative,,I would be happy to hear how it came out)
2. Semolina - 2 tb sp (soaked in 3 tb sp water)
3. Sugar - 1.5 cups(1 cup of sugar for the cheese cake and 1/2 cup for caramel that we will spread at
the bottom of the baking dish )
4. Cardamom powder -1 tsp
5. Raisin --2-3 tb sp
6. Cashew -- 2-3 tb sp
7. Oil/Ghee -1/2 t sp (for sauteing the dry fruits)
8. water -1/2 cup for caramel
9. Aluminium Foil - for covering the 9X9 inch baking dish

Procedure for chenna poda :

                                                                                           (Click on the picture to enlarge)
1. Pre heat the oven at 350 degree celcius.
2. Start with making the caramel.Pour 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan and make the
    caramel(For detail you can refer the cream caramel recipe in my blog,,,
     http://titilating-tastebuds.blogspot.com/2010/03/caramel-flan-cream-caramel.html)
3.Once the caramel is ready,pour it on the baking dish .(just try to cover as much area you can spread
   quickly,because it will get hard very quickly.it might not be very looking at this point of time,but when
   you finish baking ,, this will impart the flavour to die for)
4. Fry the Cashew and raisin in oil/Ghee until they just get a light brown colour.
5. Now in a bowl, mix Fresh cheese,Sugar, Cardamom powder,soaked semolina very well and
    knead for 5-10 minutes.
6.Spread the cheese mixture on the baking tray where you already have spread the caramel.Level the
   cheese and cover the baking dish with aluminum foil ,make some slits on the foil with a knife.

7. Bake it for 30-40 minutes in 350degrees F.
8. Test the doneness by pricking a toothpick or knife.
9.Let it cool for sometime and you can munch on it,,It is also good when chilled.But i prefer warm so if i take it out of freeze then microwave for 10-15 secs and it melts in my mouth.

You liked or disliked.or a have a suggestion ...feel free to write back to me...

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

* Fish Curry in Coconut Gravy

2010-05-01T13:21:00.007-04:00

This is one excellent fish curry (my favourite) which my mom makes. And she learnt it long time back from my dad's best friend's wife. Thanks Tamilmani aunty for giving mom this excellent recipe. My mom often used to make this whenever I used to go home for vacation and I make sure I eat it in lunch as well as in dinner. It tastes nice in lunch but in dinner it is awesome..coz the gravy and flavour is infused in fish by night. I compare this dish with wine ,,as it gets better as it ages :).I feel nostalgic whenever I eat this dish,,reminds of the comfort and cosiness of my parent's home and the love of my Mom. Everybody has some special memories of home,,for me this is just one of the many fond memories and it is like carrying your heritage now :)

Here goes the recipe

Ingredients for the gravy:

1. Fresh grated coconut --1 cup

2. Chopped Onion --1/4 cup

3. Pepper corn -- 5-6

4. Whole Cumin -- 1 tsp

5. Garlic Cloves -- 1-2 cloves will do

6. Liquified Tamarind Pulp -- 8-10 cups(From 2 tb sp pulp)

7. Coriander powder -- 1 tb sp

8. Turmeric Powder -- 1 tsp

9. Red chili powder -- 1/2 tsp(adjust to your taste)

10. salt(to your teste)

Ingredients for Curry :

1. Fish - 1 lb(approx 450 gms,I use Tilapia steaks for this preparation)

2. Chopped Onion -- 1/2 cup

3. Fenugreek Seed -- 1/2 tsp

4. Mustard seeds -- 1 tsp

5. Whole red chilly -- 2

6. Curry leaves -- 10

7. Vegetable oil -- 7-8 tb sp

Preparation :

1. In a blender put the grated coconut,whole cumin, pepper corn,

garlic ,blend all ingredients to a fine paste.

2. Add the coconut paste to the tamarind water.(To make the tamarind

water soak the tamarind pulp in water water for 10-15 mins and squeeze

out all the juices and add 3-4 cups of water fro 2 tb sp pulp)

3. Mix the coriander powder,turmeric powder,red chilly powder salt to

the tamarind,coconut mixture.Taste the salt to perfection at this

stage,because then you wont be able to taste later as you will be

adding fish to it.

4. Clean the fish and keep it aside.

5. Now starts the curry making process.Pour the vegetable oil in a hot

pan,Splutter the mustard seeds and fenugreek seed.Add whole red

chillies,Curry leaves and onion to oil and saute for 5-7 minutes or

until the onion is soft and translucent.

6. Now time to add the tamarind and coconut mixture.

7.Bring this mixture to a boil(it may take around 5 mins) in high heat.Once

it comes to boil lower the heat.

8. Add the fish to the simmering gravy and cook in low heat for about 45

minutes.Don't stir in between,Fish in this curry is very soft so it will

break apart.You can stir very gently in between.

When the gravy reduces to almost half the original amount, the curry

is ready.

9. Serve the delicious curry with rice..I love it with chapati too.

* Sweet and sour shrimp

2010-04-19T19:37:00.001-04:00

This Sweet and Sour Shrimp, I got this dish from my dear husband. When we want some thing to be prepared quickly precisely within 10-15 mins of preparation time ,he always makes this one .Whether we have some fresh srimp or the pre-cooked one.. it always comes out to be titillating..I'm sure it would titillate your tastebuds aswell.This dish makes an amazing apetizer. This weekend I took the baton from him and prepared the dish ,,,ooooo gosh,,,when you eat,an explosion happens in your mouth for sure...so gotta try this one.It is a perfect balance of sweet, sour and hot,,pretty much little bit of every taste amalgamated to tickle your tastebud.....and the best part is it is very easy and quick with very few ingredients..

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Shrimp -- 1 lb

2. Turmeric powder -- 1/4 tsp

3. Tamarind pulp -- 1 tb sp

4. Cumin Powder --1 tbsp

5. Sugar --1 tbsp

6. Red chilly powder --1/4 tsp(if you like more hot you can add more)

7. Salt -- as per your taste

8. Oil -- 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. The first step is to clean and devein the shrimps. Best is to use the fresh shrimp than the commonly available cooked shrimps in the superstores.If you don't want to get into cleaning the fresh shrimps the cooked one will also not dissapoint you.

2.After cleaning the shrimp ,marinate them with turmeric and salt and keep it aside while you prepare the tamarind paste.

3. Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 10-15 minutes and then squueze the pulp and take out all the juice.

4. Add cumim powder,red chilly powder,sugar,salt to the tamarind juice and keep the mixture aside.Here do a quick taste of the mixture and adjust the salt,sugar accordingly.

5. Now in a non stick pan add oil,when the oil is hot add the marinated shrimp and cook for a minutes or so .When the shrimp changes colour(don't over cook the shrimp) pour in the tamarind spice mixture and saute for couple more minutes until it gets dry or thick gravy .

Now it is ready to serve and enjoy and yes dont forget to scrap me how it turned out.

*Caramel Flan / Cream caramel

2010-03-06T21:40:00.025-05:00

Call it Cream Caramel,Flan,pudding or anything,,it is one awesome desert just right amount of sweet (not too much not too less).This desert has different versions in different parts of world. Cream Caramel to the french, Flan to those in Spanish speaking countries and Leche flan in Philippines.I never tasted this desert until one potluck at my office from my co-worker with Philippine origin, thanks Gia for introducing me to this heavenly desert.When I say heavenly,I really mean it from bottom of my heart.So I tried this on Valentine's Day 2010.Until then,my only experience with them was salivating over them on foodie magazines and google images.To me, it always looked one of those desserts that were tricky and fiddly to make. I was always curious as to how the caramel didn’t stick to the moulds and how they managed to keep their shape after you popped them out. To my utter surprise both caramel and custard were very easy to make.I was nervous about removing them from the moulds.But after a mini hot water bath of 15 seconds,they easily inverted into the serving plate to swim in the pool of sticky caramel syrup.

So here is the recipe of this wonderful desert which I'm sure is simple enough for any one to make.

Ingredients for caramel:

Water -- 1/2 cup
Granular sugar --1 cup

Procedure for caramel:

Before you start making caramel, keep your baking dishes ready and set them aside.

Caramel is the most sensitive thing to do in the entire procedure,if you miss by few seconds the syrup becomes bitter. So watch out when you make the syrup.

Add 1/2 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a sauce pan and let it shimmer(watch carefully) until it just gets the amber colouring.

Take it out of heat and pour to cover the bottom of the baking dish with caramel.Remember the carammalization happens even the pan is off stove hence don't delay pouring.

Ingredients for Flan :
The following amount will be just enough to fill a small oval baking dish and three small tart moulds.

Egg Yolks - 5
Whole Egg -2
Evaporated milk - 1 can (370 ml)
Sweetened Condensed milk - 1 can (250 ml)
Vanilla essence - 1 tb sp

Procedure for Flan :

Pre heat the oven.
In a bowl pour 2 whole eggs, 5 egg yolks, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla essence and just give it a blend.I used electric hand blender. Be careful not to over beat, since we don't want a lots of air Incorporated in the egg mixture, just let the ingredients mix well with each other.
This was the easy thing :) now pour the egg mixture in the baking dishes which were previously coated with caramel.
And the next step is to bake the flan,we have to keep the baking dishes in a shallow pan with 1 inch deep hot water so that the flan doesn't bake hard and also gets the right texture.
Cover the pan with aluminium foil and make some slits on it for the steam to escape.

Flan in glass bake ware :

Flan in Aluminium moulds :

Bake it 250 degrees for half an hour.But you might need to check on them ,start after 15 minutes, peek into the foil (be very careful) and look in after 5 minutes.You shake the pan little bit and there should be no wimpling on the top,it should be settled but definitely not hard.
After they come out of the oven we need to refrigerate them. It is a must at least for 3-4 hours.
Take them out of the refrigerator, slide a knife around the edges to loosen the flan from the surface of the moulds and put it upside down in your serving platter. And you will be surprised to see the melted caramel on top of your flan making the sauce for your heavenly desert.

Note in the below pictures, how porous is the flan baked in aluminium moulds where as the flan baked in glass bake-ware has smooth outer surface.However the inside will be same in both cases.So doesn't matter if you bake in glass or aluminium mould.Just go ahead with whatever available at that moment.

Flan from Glass Bake-ware

Flan from Aluminium mould

Try this awesome desert and I would be more than happy to hear how it came out.Enjoy.... :)

* NewYork style Cheese cake

2010-03-06T10:49:00.002-05:00

This Cheese cake is pretty famous and this one is one of the basic basic cheesecakes.I got the recipe from a book which I borrowed from Library and made few modifications. The modification that I made to the original recipe was to add 1 part ricotta cheese to two parts cream cheese. I thank the lady on the subway who gave me this tip when she saw me carrying two ready made graham cracker pie crust and as always got into talking about food and recipes :) She told 'my family always mixes 1part ricotta cheese with cream cheese and it comes out wonderful' and I truly agreed with her this statement when I tried on my own cheese cake. I made this cheese cake on valentine day. We always celebrate Valentines day with our friends and I thought of making this cheese cake. Try this wonderful cheese cake with few careful tips and it will be well appreciated.

So here goes the recipe :

Ingredients for the crust:

1. Graham cracker powder - 2 cups (You can buy the graham cracker and ground them too.This time I bough the ground Graham cracker from Superstore)
2. Unsalted butter(Melted) -1/4 cup

Ingredients for the cake batter:

1. Cream cheese - 500 gm(I used Philadelphia brand cream cheese-2 bricks)

2. Ricotta Cheese - 250 Gms

3. All purpose flour - 2 tb sp

4. Eggs - 4 whole eggs and 1 yolk

5. Sugar -1 cup

6.Vanilla essence - 1 tb spoon

7. Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange - 1-2 Tb spoon(below is the picture how I get the citrus fruit zest)

Ingredients for garnishing :

You can use virtually any fruit.

I used Raspberries,but you can go for strawberries,kiwi or cherry filling.Endless options here.

Procedure for Crust:

1. Mix the ground graham crackers with melted butter well and press to the bottom of the cheese cake frame.For baking a cheese cake you either need a spring form pan or a frame that is available in market by the name cheese cake mould.Basically it is a frame where the cake can be lifted top side up words after .In case of a pound cake we usually flip the cake p side down for taking it out of the mould which won't work well for cheese cakes,,for the obvious reason.

2. After pressing the graham cracker mixture to the bottom of the frame freeze it for 30 minutes.You can just keep it in freeze and start working on the cake batter by the time your base sets in freeze your batter will be ready.

Procedure for cake batter:

1. Before you start the process bring your ingredients to room temp.If the cream cheese in frozen then just microwave for 15 secs and that should work.

2. pre heat the oven at 350 degrees.

3. In a bowl add the cream cheese bricks , ricotta cheese and sugar and beat well for 2-3 minutes.

4. Add the all purpose flour,orange zest, lemon zest and egg yolk to the cheese mixture and blend for 30

seconds.

5. Then pour in the three whole eggs to the mixture and blend well for about 1 minute and now add in the vanilla flavour and blend for about 3 more minutes or until you get a smooth batter as shown in the picture.

6. Now take out the crust from freeze and pour in the batter in to the cake frame and smoothing the top a little bit.

7. Bake for about 10 minutes at 250 degree C .Reduce the heat to 100 degree C until the top is golden brown and the centre is almost set .This may take around 40-50 minutes.

8.Let it cool at least for 2 hours in the pan.Run the spatula around the cake frame, so that it will come out of the frame easily when it cools down completely.

9.Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving.

10.Garnish with some raspberries or strawberries or which ever fruits you like...and voila,,,there is your newyork style cheese cake.

* Palak Paneer (Firm Cottage Cheese in spinach gravy )

2010-02-24T12:17:00.000-05:00

Poooof,,after a long time I could post this.I apologize for all my blog visitors for this long break.But there is a good reason,too many things happened in a short period of time,had vacation to India,lost my camera and move to the new place..Everything took a lot of my time.Well now I'm on track and I will try my best to post new recipes regularly.
Palak paneer,,one of the most exotic vegan India dishes,,pretty popular in north india,,but rest parts also its well known.I love this dish because of the nutrition value of it and the fact that I love Paneer( firm cottage cheese).Spinach is rich in vitamin C, fiber and flavonoid that functions as antioxidant and anti-cancer agent.Along with that spinach is also a nutritional powerhouse. And ladies,, Spinach is an anti-aging vegetable,,so I like eating more of the stuff than buying antioxidant bottles :)
Here goes the recipe for the ever green Palak Paneer :
Ingredients:

1. Spinach - 1 bunch
2. Paneer (Cottage Cheese) - 200 gms
3. Onion - 1 medium size chopped
4. Tomato - 1 medium size
5. Green chillies -1 or 2 (optional)
6. Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
7. Oil/Butter -1 tsp
8. Garlic - 1 clove(for blanching with spinach)
9. Ginger - 1/2 inch minced (for blanching with spinach)
10. Bay leaf - 1
11. Cloves -3
12. Cardamom -1
13. Cumin -1/2 Tsp
14. Nutmeg Powder -1/4 tsp
15. Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
16. Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
17. red chilly powder -1/4 tsp (optional)
18. sugar -1/2 tsp (optional,,you can ajust the hotness of red chillies with some sugar)
19. garam masala -1/4 tsp
20.Cream - 2 tb sp (optional for garnishing)

Preparation:

1. Cut paneer in to cubes(In toronto we get Nanak brand paneer in most south Asian stores. They are sold in 1 lb bricks so you need to cube them at home before cooking) and sauté in a non stick pan without adding any oil or butter,just saute it for a few minutes untill the paneer gets a a little browned.Keep it aside.

2. Wash the spinach bunch nicely and just blanch them with the garlic and ginger(The reason for adding some ginger and garlic,,My husband doesn't like the leafy smell in the palak paneer .That was one of the reason why he never used to like this dish).After 5 minutes of blanching the leaves with garlic and ginger.Bleand it very well and keep it aside.

3. Now you are ready to go,In a non-stick pan add 1 tsp Oil/butter.add the whole spices,cumin and green chillies.

4. Add chopped onion,sprinkle some salt.Once the onion is translucent add ginger garlic paste.

5. When you get the smell of cooked ginger garlic paste add chopped tomatoes.After tomatoes get a little softer add cumin powder,corriander powder,chilly powder.If required add a little water in order to avoid the spices to get burnt and cook for 3-4 minutes.

6. Now add the spinach paste you have blended before to the pan.Adjust the salt and if you like add some sugar.Taste and adjust to your taste and let it boil for 5-7 minutes.

7. Add the paneer(cubed and sauted cottage cheese) at this point.

8. Sprinkle soem garam masala,nutmeg powder and stirr in.

9. Garnish with some cream(optional,I didnt have cream today hence omitted that part) for richness and serve with roti/rice.

* Thanks-giving Chicken Roast with gravy

2010-02-20T10:02:00.000-05:00

Roasted Chicken is a simple dish.I wanted to make it for a long time and what can be a better occasion than a Thanksgivings.Well I love to try new food all the time,,Cooking is a big stress buster for me.I have to try new things with same or different ingredients.But really I get bored if I keep making the same things.So I always try to find a chance to make something new.As it was my first time roasting the whole chicken so was little skeptical about the taste and flavour ,so gave twist by marinating the whole chicken with yogurt and spices too along with thyme and basil.
This thanksgiving I prepared Roasted chicken with gravy and had a wonderful private dinner with my hubby.

Ingredients for roasted chicken:

1.Whole chicken(skin on)- 1-2 lb(keep the skin on the chicken ,so that the roasted chicken will
be moist and tender)
2. Fresh Thyme - 3 strands
3. Fresh Basil - 3 strands
4. Plain Yogurt - 2 tb sp
5. lemon juice - 2 tb sp
6. Freshly grounded pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
7. Salt -1/2 t sp
8.Olive Oil - 1 tb sp
9. Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
(Here you can add any spice like,coriander powder,garam masala etc to add flavour to the chicken)
10. Cubed potato - 1 large
11. Cubed Onion- 1 large
12. cubed carrot -1
(Roasting the chicken in vegetable bed makes the veggies nicely flavoured from the juice that comes from chicken while roasting, its optional)

Preparation:

0. Preheat the oven.
1. Make a paste of yogurt,lemon,pepper powder,salt,cumin powder,oil and taste the salt at
this point.
2. Clean and thaw the chicken completely before starting to marinate.
2. Soak the moisture from the chicken with a paper towel .
3. At this point rub the marinate on the chicken,,and pour some inside the cavity too.
4. Insert the fresh thyme and basil leaves under the skin in thigh and breast.
5. Drizzle some olive oil on top of chicken and sprinkle some salt and pepper
6. Spread the veggies on a baking tray and put the chicken on the vegetable bed.
7. Bake for 60 minutes(If your chicken is a different weight, you can work out the timings: allow
20 minutes per 500g, plus an extra 20 minutes.To keep the chicken moist baste at around 30
minutes)
8. Now roasted chicken is ready.Serve it with gravy .

Ingredients For gravy :

1.2 cup chicken broth or you can use the chicken bullion cubes(check the salt while using the
cubes)
2. Collect the Chicken drippings from your roasting pan.
3.Flour - 1- 1.5 tb sp
4. Ground pepper- 1-2 pinches
5. salt (as per taste,you may not need if you are using bullion cubes)

Gravy preparation:

1. In a pan or a sauce pan, heat the chicken drippings at medium high.

2. Add the 2 spoons of flour and keep stirring until blended. Add water, 1/4 at a time until you get the right consistency. Remember to always keep stirring all the way.
3. Add the chicken broth /chicken cube and crush it until it dissolves. Take it out of the fire and add a dash of ground black pepper.

Enjoy your chicken gravy with the roasted chicken.

The best thing about the roasted chicken is , it is very healthy and easy to make without much hassle.

* Chicken curry

2010-02-20T09:51:00.000-05:00

Chicken Curry...this a quicky recipe that I make in weekdays when I'm really tired after work and don't want to chop veggies or we want to eat something yummy with less work.Now it explains it is an easy recipe and tastes awesome.This is one type of chicken curry recipe,,there are many variation of a chicken curry.For me this is the simplest of all and my husband loves it.
One more inspiration behind this post is my colleagues who always wanted to know the recipe.

This time I tried to make a movie from the pictures of the preparation steps,didn't have much time to do a good editing as we are busy with our moving to our new place , but still I hope the video will be more helpful .

So here is the recipe:

Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes with the following ingredients:

1.Chopped chicken (1 lb,here for this curry I prefer chicken thighs because the fat in the chicken
adds flavour to the curry)
2. 1 tsp ginger garlic paste(you can make it at home blending equal amount of ginger and garlic
or use the store bought verity-Indian stores in Toronto do have them)
3. 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
4. 1/2 tsp cumin powder
5. 1/2 tb sp coriander powder
6. 1/2 tsp salt

Mix well all the ingredients and keep it for at least 30 minutes.

Ingredients for Chicken Curry:

1. Marinated chicken
2. Vegetable oil - 3 tb sp
3. Chopped Onion - 1 cup
4. Chopped Tomato - 1 cup
5. Green Chillies - 2 (optional)
6. Chopped Cilantro
/Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
7. Clove - 4
8. Cardamom - 4
9. Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
10. Pepper Corns-8-10 (optional)
11. 1/2 Star anise (optional)
12. Mace - 1 floret (optional)
13. Red chilly powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
14. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
15. Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
16. Coriander powder - 1 tb sp
17. Ginger garlic paste - 1 tb sp
18. 1/4 tsp garam masala (very aromatic blend of all spices like cinnamon,cardamom,clove,star
anise, mace, need not make at home ,also you can find them in Indian stores,it adds that extra
flavour to the curry,You may find it in no-frills, walmart, if you don't have it still you do
without it)

Preparation of Chicken Curry:

Place your pot on stove top in medium flame.Once it is hot, pour 3 tb sp of vegetable oil and 1/2 t sp of sugar.Here, sugar is for caramelization which give the extra colour to the curry.It makes the gravy look pretty rich.

Once Sugar caramelizes(Don't over caramelize), add chopped onions and add a little pinch of salt(Salt help to absorb moisture from the onion and cooks quickly)

Stir well and when onion turns golden , add the whole spices and green chillies.

Add ginger garlic paste at this point and stir for 1-2 minutes (or until you can smell the flavour of cooked ginger garlic paste )

At this point,add the coriander powder,cumin powder,turmeric powder,red chilly powder(red chilly powder is optional) .

Pour in the chopped tomatoes immediately so that the spices don't get burnt.here keep stirring for 3-5 minutes until the spices get cooked(if it gets too dry then add 2 tb sp of water )

Now its time to add the marinated chicken.

Mix the chicken and the cooked spices well .At this point you can add chopped potatoes (adding potatoes is completely optional although I like the curry with potatoes)

Mix all the ingredients well and cover.Let it cook for 10-15 minutes .Do stir in every 5 minutes.

Once the required amount of gravy is left in the pot add garam masala and mix well.Stop the flame and sprinkle Chopped cilantro/coriander leaves.It goes very well with Steamed rice or paratha or naan.

Now enjoy the dish and I would be more than happy to get a feed back from you.

* Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani

2010-02-20T09:19:00.001-05:00

Hyderabadi Dum Biryani.............My husband is a die heart fan of Hyderabadi Chicken dum biryani.Wherever he goes he was chasing for dum biryani,,be it any place in world.And it is very difficult to get a A+ from him Regarding this dish.He is very particular about the smell & the taste.This post is lengthy but I would suggest it is worth it.It takes practice to master the art of biryani making.So if you don't get it right in your first attempt try try try,you will learn to get it right eventually.I will try my best to explain properly.I'm making this chicken biryani once a week from last 2 years now.And it took me many attempts to get it right.The biryani day is easy and less mess for me in kitchen and we get to eat this awesome biryani with less effort which makes a busy day easy.So here comes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Basmati rice(2 cups)-I like 'India gate' brand basmati rice,,but you are good to do with any Basmati rice you like.

1 lb chicken thigh

Shan Chicken biryani mix(If I don't have my biryani mix then I go for this stored bought spice,I will post the biryani masala in another post)

2 tb sp Ginger Garlic paste

5 green chillies(adjust to the hot level you can eat)

10 cloves

8 Green cardamom

1 Black cardamom

4 florets of mace

10 whole black pepper corns

2 inch cinnamon

3 star Annis

2 tb sp shahi zeera(1 type of cumin,you can replace with normal cumin too)

2 bay leaves

1 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp red chilly powder

1 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves

5 strands of fresh mint leaves

1 cup plain yogurt

3 tb sp lemon juice

1 pinch of saffron

5 tb spoon milk

3 tb sp Rose water(optional )

2 tb sp ghee(clarified butter)

2 tb sp vegetable oil

1 cubed Onion

Now here don't get scared of the long list of spices.some part I use for marinating the chicken and some for infusing the flavour to the rice.
There are three very important things to remember when you make Dum biryani

Marinate the chicken at least for 3-4 hours(What I do is marinate the chicken in the morning before leaving for work or the night before),which makes the chicken very tender and juicy.
While cooking the rice,constantly monitor,,few seconds of over-cooking can ruin the beauty of biryani.
While cooking the biryani monitor the time and heat(The entire time of cooking it will be closed so you can't see in between the cooking process)

There is three parts of the entire process

Marinate the chicken
prepare the rice
Assemble chicken and rice

So here is the first step--Marinate the chicken

In a bowl mix the below ingredients

yogurt
2 tb sp ginger & garlic paste
5 cloves
4 Green cardamom
3 florets of mace
5 whole black pepper corns
1 inch cinnamon

1 Black cardamom
1/2 star Annis
1 tb sp shahi zeera(1 type of cumin,you can replace with normal cumin too)
1 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp red chilly powder
3/4 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves
2 strands of fresh mint leaves
chopped green chillies
salt as per your taste
2 tb sp vegetable oil
Lemon juice
cubed onion
2 tb sp shan biryani mix
chopped chicken(taste the salt before you add chicken to the marinade)

Mix all these ingredients and cover the lid or seal with cling plastic, keep it in refrigerator overnight.

Now the second step : Cooking the rice

Soak the basmati rice for at least 30-40 minutes before cooking.
To infuse the aroma of spices into rice,In a cheese cloth tie rest of the whole spices or you can just add to the water.If you add to water then they may interfere you while eating.So here its your choice :)
In a pot heat water,add just the right amount of salt and the spices(in cheese cloth or loose).
When the water starts boiling add the soaked rice and monitor it carefully.
In few minutes it will start boiling and when its half cooked take it out of the heat and drain(when to know rice is half cooked: press the rice grain if should just break,). As the rice was already soaked it takes just 5 minitues to get the required consistency. a little overdone rice may result sticky biriyani..

Before you start assembling prepare the saffron milk mixture.For getting a very good colour of saffron roast it slightly on stove top for 2 minutes on a spoon and crush them and add to warm milk.This way actually the saffron flavour and colour comes wonderful in any dish.

The third step is Assembling the rice and chicken

Grease a heavy bottomed pan with some vegetable oil.
Pour the well marinated chicken at the bottom and spread evenly.
Add one layer of rice(use half of the cooked rice for this layer ). On top of rice layer and 1/2 tea sp shana biryani masala mix,mint leaves,coriander leaves,some rose water(optional),1 tbsp ghee(clarified butter).
Spread another layer of rice and pour the saffron milk mixture,1 tb sp rose water(optional) and rest 1 tb sp ghee(clarified butter)
Now cover the top of the vessel with either a silver foil wrap or a kitchen towel(purpose here is not to let the moisture evaporate)
On top of the kitchen towel place the lid(Note it here Just place the lid on top of the kitchen towel,don't tighten the lid)
keep the vessel on high heat for first 5 minutes,in medium flame for next 20 minutes and in very low for next 5 minutes.(if the vessel buttom is not heavy then the chicken may get burnt .you can use a benmerry or cook with less flame for longer time)
After the entire time of cooking let it stand for next 10 minutes and you can serve Biryani with kachumbar/raita(yogurt with cucumber onion ) or a gravy.

Enjoy this aromatic delicacy of Hyderabad.

*Jalebi(deep fried spiral shaped desert deeped in syrup )

2010-02-20T09:11:00.001-05:00

Jalebis are one of festive sweets in India.In northern part of India it is served in breakfast also, but rest of India it is a desert.My husband loves this a lot,Today while talking with my in-laws,,jalebi topic came so i though of posting this recipe.It is easy but little tricky.Traditionally they ferment the dough over-night,but here I use yeast for doing the same thing but save some time.It can se served hot or cold.
Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:

Batter:
1/2 cup All Purpose flour

1 tsp besan (gram flour)

1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp sugar
About 1/3 cup of lukewarm water (as needed)

Syrup:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Pinch of cardamom powder

Few strands of saffron(optional)

1 teaspoon of lemon juice(to control the cristalization)

Oil for frying

Squeeze bottle

Prparation:

batter:

1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in luke warm water and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

2. Mix the al purpose flour,gram flour(besan),oil.

3. Pour the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and make a smooth paste.

4. Let the batter sit for 1 hour.Don't let it over ferment.

Syrup:

1. Boil the water and sugar together 10 minutes.

2. Add cadamom and safron to the water and switch off the flame.

Jalebi making procedure:

1. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.Test the oil putting a drop of batter.if it floats immediately then the oil is ready for fryingJalebis.

2. Pour the batter in a squeeze bottle as shown in the picture.You can replace the zip lock with a hole in it.But I always use the squeeze bottle.

3. When oil is ready squeeze the batter on hot oil making a spiral shape of 2-3 inch diameter.

4. When the Jalebis are brown on both sides then take it out of oil and deep in syrup for few seconds and serve hot.

Tips: If you like crispy jalebis then add 1 tbsp rice flour to the batter

*Kachori(lentil stuffed puff pastries)

2010-02-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

Kachori is one snack that goes very well with tea or any time you can munch on them.They are delicious.I started making it going through Internet 2 years back.Now I love Kachoris a lot,,specially with tamarind chutney It tastes awesome.I'm not a very big fan of deep frying,,and that always stays in the last option for me.But only for this savory snack I'm always more than willing to do some frying :).In any potluck if I have to bring the appetizer most of the time I choose to bring kachori.

To Make 10-12 Kachoris.

Ingredients for crust:

1 cup All Purpose flour ( maida)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup tbsp chilled water

Ingredients for filling:

1/4 cup yellow moong dal (Skinned mung beans )
1 teaspoon coarsely ground fennel seeds (saunf)
1 teaspoon coarsely ground coriander seeds (dhania)
1 teaspoon red chilly flakes
2 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor or you can add chat masala)

1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
Pinch of Asafoetida (hing)
1/2 teaspoon salt (as per your taste)
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons water
Oil to deep fry

Preparation:

To make crust:

1.Mix the flour, salt and oil very well.
2.Add the chilled water slowly, mixing with your hand as you pour. Make a very soft dough.
3.Cover the dough and let it sit for at least 15-20 minutes.

To make filling:

1.Dry grind the moong dal (Don't make it fine powder)
2.Mix 1 tbsp of oil and moong dal powder in a frying pan and roast on medium heat for about two to three minutes or dal changes color lightly, stirring constantly.
3.Turn off the heat. Add all the spices and mix it well and let the mixture cool off.
4.Add two tablespoons of warm water and mix it well.
5.Let it sit for 10 minutes and keep it covered.

To make the Kachoris:

1. Take the dough and knead it for a few minutes, and make 10-12 balls of equal size.
2. Take one part of the dough and with your fingers flatten the edges and make into 3-inch circle. Leaving center little thicker then edges around.
3. Place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center. Pull the edges of the dough to wrap the dal filling. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
4. Let the filled ball sit for 3 to 4 minutes before rolling. keep them covered the entire time.
5. Set the kachoris on a surface with the seams facing up. Using the base of your palm, slowly flatten them into about 3 inch circle.
6. Heat about 1 1/2 inch of oil in a frying pan on medium heat. To check if oil is ready put a little piece of dough in the oil, it should sizzle and come up slow.
7. Fry them on medium-low heat. After they start to puff, slowly turn them over.
8. Fry until golden-brown on both sides. If the kachoris are fried on high heat, they will be soft and will not be crispy.

*Bhapa Pomfret(Steamed pomfret fish with mustard )

2010-02-20T08:57:00.000-05:00

This dish is originally made with Hilsa fish and is a truly authentic Bengali dish and very close to all Bengali's heart.I'm not bengali but I have always lived in a multi cultural environment which let me try dishes from different places and pick my own choice.I love to try out new things in my kitchen always.Other wise life would be so boring.It adds a hint of spice to our life.As here in Toronto,I couldn't find Hilsa I tried this recipe with pomfret.I usually make pomfret with mustard sauce(curry style) but last week end I wanted a change and after hearing from my cousin that his wife makes awesome bhapa hilsa,I was even more inclined to make this dish.

So here goes the recipe......

Ingredients:

1.1 pomfret( I used 1-1.5lb size)

2.2 Pinch of Turmeric

3.2 tb sp Black mustard powder

4.1 tbsp white mustard powder(if you don't have white then you can just use black mustard powder,traditionally they use mustard paste.But I replaced it with powder as it is easy to get and use here in Toronto)

5.2 tb sp fresh grated coconut

6.4 green chillies(or as hot as you want)

7.salt

8.1 tsp mustard oil(Mustard oil has a distinct flavour which goes very well in this dish),if you don't have you can manage with vegetable oil too.

Preparation:

1.Wash the fish well and rub salt and turmeric.keep it aside for 30 minutes.

2.In a blender blend the coconut,green chillies,both types of mustard powders with very little water.So that the texture remains like a paste(not very runny)

3.Spread the fish in a box(I used the round baking dish) in a single layer.

4.Mix a pinch of turmeric in the coconut,mustard,chilly paste and pour over the fish so that the fish is coated well with the paste.

5.Pour 1 tsp of mustard oil on the fish and paste.

6.Now fill the pressure cooker with 1.5 inch depth water(make sure your fish box is taller than water level) and place the fish box inside the cooker.

7.Close the cooker with the whistle on top and cook for 2-3 whistles which may take around 30-35 minutes.

And it is done,,serve with steamed rice and it is a true smell of being at home away from home.I made it with bringal fry and some salad.Weekend lunches are all about relishing memories back home and relax.

*Gajar ka Halwa(carrot pudding-indian mouth watering desert)

2010-02-20T08:55:00.000-05:00

Now it is that time of the year when kids enjoys the treats and 'trick or treat' is a buzz word:) and you can see costumes and black and orange colour all over.Frankly I'm not a big fan of Halloween.But I have been busy decorating for Halloween today at office,,teamwork also means something and it is some fun time at work too.My husband has a potluck in his office ,so though of making some Halloween colour food for his potluck and 'gajar ka halwa' looked just perfect for it.This awesome desert is definitely makes one of the top rated deserts amongst Indians. So here comes the recipe......

Ingredients:

1.Shredded carrots(4 cups-use the manual shredder)
2.milk(3 cups)
3.sugar(1 cup or as per your taste)
4.Khoya(dry whole milk)
4.dry fruits(3/4 cup,I used cashew,pistachio,raisins,almonds)
5.Ghee/ clarified butter(3 tbsp)
6.cardamom powder (1/2 tsp)

preparation:

1.Pressure cook carrot and milk for 1 whistle.
2.In a non-stick pan, heat 2 tb sp ghee and fry the dry fruits till light brown make sure to add the raisin in the end so that tehy don't get burnt.
3 Then add the cooked carrot and milk mixture from the cooker to the pan and saute till the milk completely evaporates
4.Add khoya and cook for another 5 minutes in medium flame.
5.Add remaining 1 tb sp ghee and fold it in .
6.sprinkle the cardamom powder and turn the heat off.
You can serve it hot or cold.
I prefer chilled.
Tips: I pressure cook the carrot because it makes the cooking process faster and the mixture smoother.

*Zafrani Pulav...........

2010-02-20T08:53:00.001-05:00

Here is another main dish that I made for diwali party--> Zafrani pulav.It is also known as saffron rice.Initially I thought of making plain rice but got some extra time and though of making this elegant looking aromatic saffron rice. It is festive delicacy of north India. Zafrani Pulav basically belongs to the Nawabi delicacies of India.

Ingredients:

2 cup Basmati Rice (long, grained,I used India gate basmati rice)
1 tsp biryani masala
1/2 tsp shahi zeera
4 tsp butter/ghee
15 Chopped Cashew nuts
10 Chopped almonds
20 raisins
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
3/4 cup yogurt
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 Chopped onion
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds ripe
1 pinch Saffron
1/4 cup milk for safron
1tsp salt/as per taste

Preparation:

1.Wash rice and soak in just enough water to cover it for half an hour. Drain excess water.
2.To get a wonderful saffron colour:warm up the saffron strands on a spoon on stove top for few seconds, then crush them and add to warm milk ,mix well.Keep it aside.
3.In a pan heat oil , add cumin,fry dry fruits(except the raisins )

4.Once the dry fruits are golden brown ,add onions ,sprinkle some salt and raisins ,saute for few min.

5.Add ginger garlic paste when it leaves good smell then add chopped coriander,mint leaves,yogurt and biryani masala,cook for 2 minutes.
6.Add water to the pan (for each cup of rice add 1.5 cup of water)and when water starts boiling add rice, mix once(don't mix rice often this way the rice will remain whole) and cook covered till the water is almost absorbed and small holes appear on top.Then slow down the flames.
7.Now it is time to add saffron milk mix and pomegranate seeds to add nice colour and aroma to the pulav.Also add little butter cubes on top.
8. Let it steam for another 5 min in low flame and keep it covered for next 5 minutes with the gas switched off.
serve with curries like paneer pasanda which I will post some other time.