La Gourmet Chef

Soya Chilli Manchuria

2009-02-04T21:53:00.001-05:00

Yum, Yum, Yum ....oh this is so yummy...that is what my taste buds said when I ate this.

Usually for any Manchurian, you need to deep fry the item, but this one I shallow fried and the taste remained the same...that Manchurian taste you die for.

Very easy recipe, can be made in minutes...I don't have the exact measurements I used, since I made this long long time ago...so just use your own measurements. I will make this again sometime to add the ingredients with exact measurements.

Ingredients you need to make this are:

Soya nuggets
Maida
Cornflour
Chilli powder
Salt
Onions
Garlic
Green Chillies
Capsicum
Soy Sauce
Vinegar
Spring Onions
Coriander

Initially put soya nuggets in hot water and soak for a while. Remove and squeeze away water after they become soft. Add salt, chilli power, maida and cornflour to them and mix them until the mixture coats well to all the soya nuggets. But, don't add any water to it. Deep fry or shallow fry in oil and keep aside.

Now, heat the oil in a pan, add crushed garlic, chopped onions, chopped green chillies, chopped capsicum and stir fry for about 2-3 minutes. Add some water and bring it to a boil. Add soy sauce, vinegar, salt and chilli powder and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix corn flour with water and add it to the above sauce for thickening the sauce. Just before the sauce begins to thicken, add crunchy fried soya nuggets, chopped coriander and chopped spring onions.

Remove in a serving plate, garnish with chopped coriander and spring onions.

Enjoy...

Paneer Tikka Pizza

2009-02-03T22:31:00.005-05:00

Pizza is the most famous fast food known to Americans. Every Friday evening when I drive
back home, I find at least 20 delivery vans passing by. Now the times have changed due to
the recession/depression, people are cutting down on ordering food from outside and finding comfort on home cooked meals.

It is the same case with us, we are just trying to save our money in this bad economy and
this made me make Pizza from scratch. I did make Pizzas at home before but by buying
crust from outside. But, this time I made crust too at home. Couple of years back I tried
Tarla Dalal's crust recipe, but somehow that crust came out very hard after baking, so
this time I followed my friend Sharmi's recipe and the crust was as good as it can be.

Here is the link for making Pizza crust. Pizza Crust

And for the Paneer Tikka, just follow any Paneer Tikka recipe. On the crust, put a layer of Paneer Tikka masala and top it with Cheese. That is why my picture doesn't look so Paneery...as it is more cheezy. To avoid that put Cheese on the bottom and top it with Paneer masala.

The way I made Paneer Tikka Masala was..

I marinated paneer with yogurt, ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, cilantro chutney aka green chutney, salt and marinated for more than 4 hours. Later, I heated a pan with oil, added onions,
sliced into big pieces and stir fried for a minute. Then added tomatoes (boiled in microwave for 3-4 mins, removed the skin and mashed the tomatoes, my idea initially was to add make these into sauce, but I avoided that step and added directly to the curry. Along with Tomatoes, added some Pineapple pieces as Pizza without Pineapple is a no-no in our household. At the end added the marinated mixture, stir-fried for 3-4 mins on high. Removed and added on top of Pizza crust and baked for 15 mins.

The Cheese that I got from the store is a mixture of Mozzarella and Cheddar, called Pizza on Kraft brand.

Enjoy your Pizza..

Chatpata Salad ~ Moong and Veggie

2009-02-02T22:08:00.005-05:00

This crunchy & crispy salad was so so crunchy and chatpata. I might incorporate this into our daily meals.
I am not a big salad fan when it comes to mixing all kinds of veggies since I prefer eating them separately any time of the day. But, one salad I love the most is the one that is served in Thai restaurant near my house. Basically the dressing is what that lets you enjoy the salad and they use some kind of sweet cilantro dressing. We go there atleast once in a month and enjoy eating that salad.

I was badly looking for some Indian flavored kind of salads and just then I found some recipes on Hindu Site. There were four recipes all together made in restaurant style and since I had all the ingredients for this, I chose to make this first. I was so apprehensive about the taste but me and my family members enjoyed eating it..

Cabbage, carrot and moong dal salad

Printer Friendly: Moong and Veggie Salad

Ingredients

Cabbage, finely sliced: 1 cup grated
Red carrot, grated: 1 cup
Capsicum, finely sliced: 1/2 cup
Moong dal: 2 tbsp
Lime juice: 1 tbsp
Coriander, chopped: 1 tbsp
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Soak the moong dal in water for 2 hours. Immerse all the vegetables in ice cold water for sometime. This retains the crispness of the vegetables. Drain excess water. Mix the vegetables and the soaked moong dal. Add lime juice. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Serve garnished with chopped coriander.

Recipe Source:
www.thehindu.com

Some Nuts- Some Chips ~ Banana Muffins

2009-02-01T11:59:00.006-05:00

Category: Muffins
Type: American

Recently in one of my posts, I mentioned that only few of my friends read my blog. For that I got various emails from many of friends trying to tell me that they visit my site often and encouraged me to set some time aside to post my recipes. It really lifted me and I am working towards it. Sorry folks for saying that and thanks for visiting my site.

Raining Banana Recipes at my blog today. What to do, I had so many ripe bananas and Ravi wouldn't eat them, I had to figure out something. Sunday is mostly dedicated to baking at my place and since I love Baking, I try to collect as many recipes as possible and set something aside for Sunday.

The main speciality of this post is the combination of Banana and Chocolate Chips in one of the muffins, I wanted to try something different from regular banana-walnut combination. Ravi was surprised at the combination and he asked me hundred times why I wanted to try that. You know Ravi sometimes can't digest some different combinations but he did say he liked the muffin. To me the muffin was moist and the chocolate chips were creamy inside, it was heavenly combination.

Chocolate also goes very well with Rasberry and especially White Chocolate. There is also an icecream from Haagen Daaz that says White Chocolate with Rasberry Truffles, I think you should definitely try that or come to my place as I keep one box of it in my Freezer all the time.

I had this recipe written somewhere from a long time and this is totally eggless which is something special to me, otherwise I rarely find any without eggs.

To the below quantites, I used only half for my baking.

You need..

Printer Friendly Recipe: Banana Muffins

4 ripe bananas (I used 2)
3/4 cup sugar (I used half)
1/3 cup butter (I used half)
1 tsp soda (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp baking powder ( I used 1/2 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt (1/4 salt)
1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 cup flour)

For Banana Walnut Muffins, half cup of crushed walnuts.
For Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, half cup of chocolate chips, I used Ghiradellis.

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 F.
Mash bananas, add sugar and melted butter and whisk with hand blender for a minute.
Mix all dry ingredients in another bowl and slowly add them to the above blended mixture. Mix with hand blender again.
Divide the dough into 2 parts. Add chocolate chips to one half and chopped walnuts to the other half and mix lightly.
Fill muffin cups, I used Pyrex bowls to make into two big ones.
For decoration, sprinkle walnuts and chocolate chips on the respective ones.
Bake for 20-30 mins or until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Say Yes to Banana Milk Shake!!

2009-02-01T09:00:00.004-05:00

A life-saver when an unexpected guest arrives. This is the first basic milk-shake I learnt back in India when I was in 6th or 7th standard and have been making ever since. I know it is highly loaded with calories but in one way I save some calories by not adding any sugar to it. I make this usually when the banana goes very ripe and when Ravi hesitates to eat such ones.

To make this, put bananas in a blender with little milk and crumble them. Then add dry fruit masala, little ice cream, mostly we go with Vanilla but this time I added Kaju Draksh. (If you do not have any ice creams in hand, then add 1/2 cup of cream and if you do not have any dry fruit masala, add cardammom powder according to your taste). Add remaining milk and blend till the shake is uniform. Aerate it to get some bubbles and leave it for 2-3 minutes before serving.

I served this with Bhel Puri which is also a life-saver. And the recipe for Bhel Puri has been posted in my previous post.

Bhel Puri

2009-01-09T01:28:00.004-05:00

Bhel Puri is an all time snack at my place and sometimes becomes our dinner when we think of eating something light. I ate this first time in Calcutta when I was I think in my 4th standard. so, all my memories of Bhel Puri take me to that city whereas my Mumbai friends tell me that Bhel Puri is from Mumbai :-) For this wonderful snack, do you think place really matters?

My brother has been trying to make Bhel Puri for him and Ravi ever since I came to India and he didn't find any luck making a nice one. He has been trying to contact me at very odd hours and not getting any help, he really got frustrated. I thought I will go ahead and post the recipe without picture for this time.

Things you need are either bhel mix or murmura and sev and mix with the chutney recipe below.

To make chutney, you need..

green chutney
red chutney/sweet chutney
garlic chutney
onions, finely chopped
tomatoes, finely chopped
cucumber, finely chopped (optional)
potatoes, boiled and chopped
chaat masala
salt
chilli powder
lemon juice
sugar

mix all the chutney items well and combine either with Bhel Puri mix that we get in Indian stores and garnish with coriander. Serve Immediately.

or

mix with puffed rice and garnish with sev and coriander. Serve Immediately.

Happy New Year

2009-01-03T21:22:00.055-05:00

Wishing you a Happy and Joyous New Year to all my friends, family and dear readers.

2008 brought me many many happy memories and each one of those is special to me.

One good thing happened to me was the birth of my little Son Kinu, a little angel who made my days thereafter wonderfully joyous. More than me, he is Ravi's little buddy, they play together for endless hours and never get bored of each other. Looking at him makes me think of having more and more kids lol! He woke up as I type and he wants to write too...he is saying..
FV
FDDETETEE3 RJF6BHY, V GGFDF ER7EB vcc XS F ...

don't know what that means, I guess he is saying Happy New Year to you all too.

2008 was bad on blogging part, I have so many recipes in draft mode, all of them with wonderful pictures but with no content. I guess I need a second hand of help to put those together, I wish there was a copy of me somewhere whom I can call upon when needed :-) I do make recipes, try recipes but just lazy to put up any. Hoping to make those drafts into posts this new year and hoping I come out of my shell asap!

I even observed that there are many many new food bloggers around now and I feel that I have lost in touch with my old blogger buddies and even the traffic has slowed down to the site. And there are only 4 friends of mine who seriously visit this blog all the time and encourage me like day n night to blog whereas remaining 1000s of friends are not interested in cooking at all. And the blog is mostly used my brother, who again calls me hundred times for step by step preparation even after taking a printout :-)

Farewell 2008, Welcome 2009

Lazeez Lauki

2008-11-10T15:17:00.000-05:00

Name says it all for this dish. It was indeed Lazeez!!

I was wondering what other dishes we could make with Lauki, other than Lauki Dal or Lauki Kofta, but my mom mentioned about eating this at many places but she never got to make this one at home.

We followed Ayeesha Sireen's recipe but made changes at few places. We added only cashews and not the other nuts. Didn't add any meat or veggies but made Khoya from Happy Burp's recipe. In fact this recipe tasted well with the Khoya made from milk powder and not when used Khoya directly.

I think rest everything was done exactly as said. It is a 3 step easy process.

Hats Off to Obama

2008-11-05T10:16:00.000-05:00

His Charisma made him a President today.

It is indeed a historic moment for all of America. Very first African American to win the presidency. Isn't it amazing? Ravi and I were sititng infront of the TV the whole night to see the updates and could not be much happier than this.

I never paid attention to any political news before, but somehow was following this presidential campaign and when the D-day was coming near, I got more into it and I am very excited today.

Somehow somewhere change was needed and Obama is the change America is looking for. He surpassed all hurdles and crossed all racial barriers and got a name for himself. His name is now etched in history and he will be remembered forever. He has become the role model not just for African Americans but to all those others who think that they are low.

A great day in history!!

All the luck Obama!! for the new endeavor.

Carrot Balls

2008-08-06T13:54:00.002-04:00

Carrot Balls

Besan: Gram Flour

This one is a great dish to those who don't like to eat Carrots, esp kids. And an awesome appetizer for any day.
Printer-Friendly Recipe: Carrot Balls

Ingredients

2 Carrots, grated
1 Onion, chopped
1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
few Curry leaves, chopped
few coriander leaves, chopped
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 green chillies, chopped
a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
oil for deep frying
Besan, as needed for binding

Method

1. Heat oil for deep frying.
2. Take a bowl add the rest of the ingredients except Besan and mix well.
3. Keep adding besan little at a time to form a stiff dough.
4. Make small balls out of the dough and deep fry.

Serve hot as is or with Ketchup.

Mango Delight Ice Cream

2008-07-14T13:43:00.002-04:00

Mom got a big basket of fresh Mangoes from the farmers market last saturday for just $3. I think they were around 11 or 12 in one basket. And these looked more like Rasalu type of Mangoes that we get in India and they were real sweet, not like the ones that we get in our Indian Stores.

This quickly reminded me of Mango Delight Ice Cream, the recipe that I noted down from a TV show recently. We made these creamy and heavenly ice creams in less than 10 mins and I just finished eating my second one.

This goes to the event Monthly Mingle 23-Mango Mania

Here is the Printer-Friendly Recipe: Mango Delight Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 fresh ripe Mangoes
50 g Cream

100 g Condensed Milk

half cup gelatin

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cardammom powder

food color, optional

Method

Puree mangoes in a blender.
Add fresh cream, sugar, condensed milk, elaichi powder and mix.
Add some milk, gelatin, food color (this is because the mango color gets reduced with the addition of all the dairy items, I avoided it and still they looked good)
Whisk again in the blender and put it moulds or cups and freeze for 10 mins.

Pudina Pooris

2008-07-14T09:02:00.003-04:00

Indian Bread: Poori

Pudina: Mint

Jeera: Cumin

Pudina Pooris are definitely a treat once in a while. I fell in love with these when I ate them first couple of years back. The event Herb Mania-Mint made me think about these again and I made these especially to post for that event. And we all enjoyed eating them too! Pooris can be eaten without any chutney, but you can serve with Tomato Chutney if you have it ready.

Ingredients

2 cups Maida

1/2 cup Pudina

1 tsp Cumin seeds

2 Green Chilies

1 tbsp Lemon juice

1/2 tsp Sugar

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method

Grind mint leaves, cumin seeds, green chilies, lemon juice, sugar and salt together to make paste.
Add this paste to the flour, add required water and knead into a firm dough. And keep the dough aside for 30 mins.
Roll the dough to make Pooris and deep fry them in oil.

Methi Chaman

2008-07-11T15:44:00.001-04:00

I heard that these days in India, everyone is going crazy over this curry and are ordering this whenever they go to any restaurant. I got this recipe from my sister and this tasted excellent with chapatis. Do not attempt to eat this with Rice as it didn't go well with Rice.

Heating Methi in oil removes its sour taste and grated paneer will help. I didn't have enough time, so I just crushed paneer and added to the dish. This fills you up pretty quickly and keeps you out of hunger for long.

Ingredients

1 cup Methi, chopped

1/2 cup paneer, grated

1 onion, chopped

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 green chillies, chopped

2 tbsp watermelon seeds

1 tbsp coconut

1 tsp coriander powder

red chilli powder, little

2 tbsp oil

salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in a pan, and fry in this order.
First add green chillies, fry for a minute.
Next add onions and fry till brown.
Add ginger garlic paste and fry again for a minute.
Add methi and fry again (can add little water if needed).
Add paneer and fry till it becomes light brown.
Then add salt, red chilli powder, dhania powder and coconut powder. Mix everything well.
Make paste wtih watermelon seeds and add to the above mixture.
Add butter at the end and garnish with fresh cream.

Cottage Cheese Bajji

2008-07-10T20:21:00.001-04:00

Was craving for something nice to eat, opened the refrigerator door, stood infront of it for a long time hoping to find something nice in some corner, but nope. Since my mom is here, she empties it and keeps things clean and tidy. I found cottage cheese box that we got from the store the other day and thought of making these bajjis. This is the second time I made them and my mom loved these instantly. They are crispy from outside and soft from inside and taste sour.

To make these you need..

Cottage Cheese

Maida

Green Chillies

Coriander

Curry Leaves

Jeera

Onion

Salt

Take Cottage Cheese in a bowl. Add chopped green chillies, coriander, curry leaves, jeera, onion, salt and keep adding maida until the dough come together and forms like a bajji dough.

Take little dough at a time and form into disc shapes and deep fry in oil. Remove and serve hot with Coffee or Tea.

Blueberry Lassi

2008-07-09T23:06:00.004-04:00

Drink: Lassi: Blueberry Lassi

It was very very hot on one saturday afternoon and we were badly looking for some cool drink to quench our thirst. That's how I tried Blueberry Lassi and it turned out so good that it has now become our weekend drink. You should definitely try this.

Blueberries are fresh in town now and I just saw an event that says Eating With The Seasons. Hence, this post is on its way to the event...

Fresh Blueberries

Wholefat buttermilk

Sugar

Dry fruit masala

Crush Blueberries first in the blender.
Add buttermilk, sugar and dry fruit masala and blend for a 1 minute.

Serve with Ice.

Jonna Payasam

2008-07-09T13:34:00.005-04:00

Dessert: Jonna Payasam

(Jonna: Jowar/Sorghum/Millet)

We've heard of various Payasams, but this one was completely new to me. When I saw it on TV, I immediately jotted down the recipe. Though this recipe calls for Whole Jowar (soaking it for a day and grinding it coarsely), I made this with the Jowar flour I already had in the pantry. Coconut powder certainly made a huge difference to the overall taste and I would definitely recommend this to everyone.

Jonna has good amount of calcium and phosphorus and is said to be very good for bones and teeth. Especially good for the people suffering with Osteoporosis. And this has good amounts of fiber too and that helps in controlling sugar levels. Coconut has all the essential vitamins and minerals needed for the body. Maida could be replaced with Jonna in certain recipes.

Printer Friendly Recipe: Jonna Payasam

This should be cooked on a low-medium flame.

1 cup Jonna Flour
1 cup Milk
1 cup Water
1 tsp Cardammom powder
1/3 cup Coconut powder
2/3 cup Sugar
1/2 cup khoya
4 tbsp Ghee (add generously if you don't mind calories)
Saffron, optional

In a cooking pan, add ghee and roast the Jowar flour till you smell nice aroma.
Add cardammom powder to it and mix.
Add coconut powder and mix again.
Add warm milk and water and keep stirring, mixture tends to thicken a bit. Cook for 5 mins.
Add khoya and mix, then add sugar at the end. You will see mixture loosening up at this stage. Add Saffron.Cook for 2-3 mins.

Remove and serve. Garnish with ghee and coconut powder.

Note: This pudding becomes hard after cooling, so it is better to serve it hot.

Aratikaya Vada

2008-07-08T12:18:00.001-04:00

South Indian: Raw Banana Vada/Plantain Vada/Aratikaya Vada

Plaintains are rich in fiber and they can be a good addition to our daily diet. Cilantro added in this recipe is very good for our digestive system and it tends to remove bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol. Turmeric removes bacteria from the digestive track. So, overall this is a healthy food and can be taken frequently.

Printer Friendly Version: Aratikaya Vada

2 plantains, grated

1/2 cup rice flour

1 cup besan flour

2 green chillies (more if like it hot)

1/2 bunch curry leaves

1/2 bunch coriander/cilantro

1/2 chana dal

red chilly powder to taste

a pinch of turmeric

oil for deep frying

salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and make them into disc shapes and deep fry them in oil.

Serve with ketchup or as it is.

Tip: Plantains tend to become dark after cutting, putting them in water after cutting will retain their color.

Aloo Manchuria

2008-07-04T15:02:00.006-04:00

Indo-Chinese: Aloo Manchuria (Aloo: Potato: Aloo Gadda)

Aloo/Potato Manchuria is my sister's favorite dish and she has been making this for quite sometime now and each time she tried she asked me to try and see how it tastes. I told my mom that we should make that and she immediately started cutting potatoes but let me tell you that she hates potatoes big time and she ate only one piece after making it. She says one piece once in a while is ok but not everyday. Btw, Ravi commented on this and said that he found Aloo Manchuria more tastier than any other Manchuria.

Sending this over to A.W.E.D Theme: Chinese

Anyways, coming to the Recipe, here it is..

Printer-Friendly Recipe: Aloo Manchuria

Potatoes-2 (cut into any shape you want)
1 cup each of Maida and Corn flour
1 onion
1 capcisum/green bell pepper
2 tbsp chilli garlic sauce
2 green chillies, chopped (and increase according to your taste)
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp pepper
salt to taste
2 tbsp oil for shallow frying
oil for deep frying
ajinomoto, a pinch
half bunch cilantro
spring onions, optional for garnish

Add maida, corn flour, salt and pepper to the potatoes and mix well with very little water.

Deep fry potatoes in oil and keep aside.

Take a wide pan, pour 2 tbsp oil, add green chillies, ginger and garlic pieces and fry for a minute.

Increase heat and add onions and green peppers and fry them till until they turn light brown.

Add soy sauce, chilli garlic sauce, ajinomoto, pepper, salt and little water. Let that cook for a minute. Add cilantro and mix well.

Add fried potatoes and mix until the mixture coats well on all potatoes. Remove and garnish with cilantro or spring onions. Serve hot.

Rava Biscuits

2008-07-04T09:35:00.003-04:00

Its such a happy feeling to have Mom around with us, those never ending conversations about life in general, recipes, colony people, cousins etc..she is the first best friend for any girl, there is so much to learn, so much to accomplish, looking at her everyday around the kitchen makes me question over and over again, why am I not so like her, she takes care of every minute thing at home, from filling drinking bottles to even folding your bedsheets when you wake up.

For cooking, she is concerned of green leafy vegetables and if they are not fresh at one store, we make rounds to all the other stores around Raleigh but they are must on the table with any meal. She is just something that I want to have her around forever in my life. But, I know that it is just not possible.

While having coffee yesterday, we had this discussion on various biscuits/cookies that she makes at home and she mentioned to me about these Rava Biscuits and said we can make those in jiffy and the ingredients she mentioned in making those were all available in the kitchen, so I thought we should go ahead and make those immediately. We finally made these in less than 30 mins.

These biscuits were soft with the first batch and we made them crunchy in the next batch by leaving them in the oven for another 5 mins. I think these are also known as Nan Khatai as I recall seeing the ingredients but I have tried various versions of Nan Khatai and this is one of them.

This makes approximately 30 biscuits.

Printer-Friendly Recipe: Rava/Semolina Biscuits/Cookies

21/2 cups maida

3/4 cup rava

11 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tsp cardammom powder

4 drops vanilla extract

3 drops rose water (optional)

3/4 cup sugar (you can add more, as these were not so sweet)

milk if needed for kneading

Preheat oven to 375 F.
In a bowl, sift flour, add semolina to it and mix well.
In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add cardammom and vanilla extract, rose water to it and beat again.
Add the butter paste to the flour and knead for few mins. (add little milk if needed).
Roll the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Place them in the oven for 15 mins or more for crunchy biscuits.

Good News & Gum Laddu

2008-06-30T07:13:00.003-04:00

Dear All,

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our baby Boy Kireeti, born on May 8th, 08.

And I have been eating these Gum Laddus (for Lactating Mothers) as suggested by my Indian doctor and she gave me the recipe which was exactly same as the one posted on "The Cooks Cottage" site. I made slight changes and avoided adding Pista and made a new addition of crushed fenugreek seeds.

Boondi Laddu

2008-04-17T15:01:00.006-04:00

Posted this recipe in my Sweets site, Mithai-Bhandar!.

Please click on the picture and it will take you there!

Print this recipe: Boondi Laddu

Thotakura Fry

2008-04-15T08:11:00.006-04:00

We took our Mom to the Indian Store and the very first thing she wanted to buy was Tomatoes, those round Beefsteak ones as she didn't like Roma and she thinks they don't go well with Indian Vegetables. And the next important thing in her list was leafy vegetables. We came across Amaranth leaves and she said she can make fry with that and we took it.

Now that Mom is here, she is making sure we are eating enough greens and she stressed so many times that we should eat greens atleast 4 times a week. We ate this curry as a side dish with Dal and for the night we tasted it with Chapatis and Pita Bread and it tasted great with any combination. I think I will continue making this as recipe as long this is available in the market.

Click here to print this recipe: Thotakura Fry (Amaranth Fry)

You need..

2 cups of Amaranth leaves, cut into small pieces
1 medium onion
2 small tomatoes
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 cloves of garlic, cut into big pieces
2 tsp red chilli powder
a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
2 tbsp oil

Add oil to the pan and when it gets hot, add onions and garlic and fry them till light brown.
Add greens and cook them lightly.
Add tomatoes, red chilli powder, turmeric and salt and cook until done (about 5-6 minutes).

Serve either with Rice alone, or as a side dish with Dal or eat with Chapatis.

All is Well

2008-04-11T07:32:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog Friends,

All is well with me except that I have Gestational Diabetes now. Since then, I just stayed away from food and food related things. It was very tough for me initially in choosing food but I got the hang of it now. I know what to eat, how much to eat and how to eat. In a way, this has helped me a lot in choosing the right kind and healthy food. I lost about 7 pounds so far and haven't gained a pound since Feb. My doctor was little concerned and ordered me to eat little extra food.

Now, I have everything under control and certain recipes I eat, don' t need any exercise too. I will compose a detailed post and add some recipes, hopefully soon to help others around with Gestational Diabetes.

My mom is coming tomorrow to help me with the baby and all and so, I started looking into blog and added a new magazine layout which I was dying for from long. I made this new, so that I can start posting mom's recipes from now until Aug.

See you all soon, thanks for leaving valuable comments, I have read them all and will contact you all one by one.

Happy Ugadi

2008-04-07T13:06:00.001-04:00

Mango Cake-Eggless

2008-01-28T16:05:00.000-05:00

My brother told me not to post this on the site by looking at the color and look of this cake, but don't go by the looks, this infact was much tastier than it looks. I tried for eggless cakes and I found this Mango version. The original recipe asked for real Mangoes but I didn't have any, so I used Mango Pulp instead.

1 cup diced fresh mango/mango pulp
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup skim milk powder
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup crushed pista
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Sift together the wheat flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.Add crushed Pista.
Put mango, water, sugar, milk powder, yogurt, and oil in a blender. Blend until smooth.
Pour the mango puree into flour mixture and mix well.
Put the whole mixture in a baking pan and bake until done (about 20-30 mins).

Pour some mango pulp and add some dry fruits on the top for decoration.

Note: I felt that the cake was lesssweeter, so you can increase the quantity of sugar or put some extra mango pulp in the plate and eat.