Indian Cooking

Kalakand

2012-02-13T12:54:00.001-05:00

This is another recipe from Hema (Cousin). I tried it yesterday at lalitha puja at my co-sister home and it came out well. Except for the quantity was small... I am happy that it all got finished. So here goes the recipe I did and mostly from Hema.

Ingredients
Milk - 1/2 gallon (for making Channa/Paneer)
Milk - 1/2 gallon [I used half and half for making my life easy. Use less milk if you are using half and half or thick milk(from my experience). If you are using regular milk, then use 1/2 gallon].
Sugar - Equal amount as paneer made from step 1.
Cardamom powder - 1/2 spoon or depends on your choice

Method of preparation
1) First step is to prepare channa or paneer. To do that, take a deep vessel and bring the milk to boil. Add little lemon/vinegar for milk to break. Do not turn off heat, but keep stirring for few more seconds. This will make the fat content of milk and water to seperate out. Drain the water and squeeze the extra water. I strained it using a thin strainer and made it stay for few more minutes and that let the excess water also out.

2) Now take the milk (or half and half) and put it on the stove, let the milk become half in quantity. Keep stirring at very regular intervals because you do not want to have the milk stick to bottom.

3) Once the milk is thick enough or reduced to half, add the paneer made in step 1 to it. Now keep mixing and stirring until it is kind of solid or thick enough for making it as a pieces. Make sure you have the stove on high heat and stir rigorously to avoid the lumps falling on you.

4) Once the milk is almost ready , now add the sugar to it and mix it. This will be again a couple more minutes of mixing and once it is closely ready, turn off heat, add little rose water (optional) and cardamom powder to it. spread it in a dish and after few minutes, cut it into shapes you like. You can also make it into round shapes as laddoo and serve them in cup cake wrapper (Suggested by Hema).

Hope you try the recipe and enjoy the delicious taste....

(will post pics when I make next time, as I could not take some this time)

Happy Sankranthi

2012-01-16T09:22:00.001-05:00

Happy Sankrathi to all the viewers of this Blog....

My first ever Bommala koluvu at my home.

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-03T11:19:00.000-05:00

Many more wishes for a new, joyous and happy new year. This is the first time I made the cake with frosting/decoration. Decoration was simple and light from my side. I have added whipped cream and had melted little chocolate to write "Happy New Year: and the lines in between. Cherries and chocolate chips made the rest of the decoration. Hope you all have a wonderful new year.

Mysore Pak

2011-12-14T11:33:00.002-05:00

My husband loves the Mysore Pak which my MIL does. He used to always praise it a lot. Frankly the first time I tried out of frustration, it turned out hard like rock. But eventually I tried to learn from her on how to do them and the second attempt it was much much better and it even tasted like the Mysore pak which she does (better than the sweet shop version). She told me some tricks and tips which might help do it. Thank you to my MIL for this great recipe. I took pictures while she was making it and I tried to follow them when I forgot.

Ingredients

Besan - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 and 1/2 cup

Ghee - 2 cups (you might not use it that much, but better to get extra)

Method of preparation

Take besan and add a little ghee to it (around 1-2 spoons). Mix it up with hand as much as you can.

Take a bowl with high edges and add sugar to it. Add very little water (2-3 spoons,may be little more). Mix it with spatula (in between) until the sugar dissolves. ( This will take approximately 1 minute)

Once the sugar dissolves and is ready, you will see bubbles forming in the sugar syrup.

This is the stage you should add the Besan to it. If they form small rounds also, please do not worry about it. Just keep stirring and the besan and sugar syrup will mix like a paste. (This should take less than a minute)

At this point, add hot ghee to it. Little by little and keep stirring.

The mixture will rise up in the heating bowl. Add Ghee slowly little by little and keep stirring.

keep stirring continuously. Once the mixture starts leaving the ghee.Stop adding ghee and transfer everything into a greased plate or cake pan.

After a minute or two, make the markings for the shapes with knife(or butter knife).

After the mysore pak is cooled down, remove the pieces and store them in a air tight container. You can also serve them immediately while they are warm too. The warm pieces melt in mouth like butter/cream. Enjoy !!

Note:A visual picture will help out make a good mysore pak.

(1) Make sure the besan is of good quality, otherwise mysore pak taste will not be good. I am not sure of how to test the besan quality but will post any help which I know soon.

(2) You can also add vegetable oil instead of Ghee in this. Taste might differ a little.

(3) Ghee should be warm/hot in the whole prcess. So you will be having two stoves on, one for ghee and other for the sugar syrup.

(4) Stirring continuously is the trick to make a good mysore pak. Also you need to know the exact timing on when to add the ingredients.

Coming up: Rava laddoo recipe from my counsin's aunt. This recipe will have the sugar syrup usage and consistency of sugar syrup and its testing on the level of it. The sugar syrup consistency made is really useful to make any kind of laddoo.

Spring onion Cheese Dosa

2011-12-12T16:10:00.000-05:00

Bored of doing same old regular dosas or masala dosa, I tried this new one for my kids. For my surprise they loved it so much that they ate for two days as their lunch in the weekend.

All you need to have for making this dosa is, dosa batter, shredded cheese, spring onions chopped. Make the dosa as usual and then add cheese and spring onions to it. Once you have one side cooked, it is upto you to turn the dosa to other side and cook it. If you want the color and taste of cheese like below (brown), then I would suggest turn it other side too. It tastes good, even if you did just like regular dosa.

Try this out and let me know if you like it......

Tricolor Capsicum Rice

2011-12-12T16:03:00.000-05:00

Ingredients
Capsicum (Green, Orange/yellow, Red) - 1 of green color, and 1/2 of other colors.
Red onions - 1 chopped lengthwise
Biryani masala - 1 spoon
Cashews - fried , a fistful (Optional)
Rice - Uncooked 2 cups
Bay leaves - 2 no.
Cinnamon sticks - 2 small
Oil - 3-4 spoons

Method of preparation
1) Take a kadai and add oil to it. Fry the cashews and keep aside.
2) Add bay leaves and Cinnamon sticks. Now add the red onions and fry. Add capsicum to the above also.
3) Add biryani masala and salt to it.Stir up the ingredients.
4) Add rice to it. If you are adding cooked rice, then let the capsicum cook completely before adding rice. If you are planning to add raw rice, then transfer the mixture to the rice cooker and add enough water, until rice is cooked. You can enjoy either way. Your yummy tri-capsicum rice is reay.

Carrot Moong dal

2011-11-18T12:57:00.000-05:00

Ingredients
Carrot - 2 no. grated
Red onion - 1/2 finely chopped
Tomato - 1/2 finely chopped
Moong dal - 1/2 cup
Water - sufficiant to cook moong dal (I use almost 2 cups)
Green chillies
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds - 1/4 spoon
Coriander powder (optional) - 1/2 spoon
Turmeric - 1/4 spoon

Method of preparation
Soak moong dal before. If you do not have that much time, then soak moong dal in water and microwave it for a minute or two. Take a kadai and add oil to it. Add mustard seeds and after they splutter add jeera(cumin seeds to it). Now add green chillies, asafoetida ( a pinch), curry leaves (optional) and then red onions. Once onions are slightly done add the grated carrot and then moong dal and add sufficiant water. Cover and cook for couple of minutes only. Remove the cover and let the moong dal cook completely. Add turmeric, salt and coriander powder to it and mix. Add coriander leaves and your dish is ready to serve.

Green Vankaya Curry (Green Eggplant)

2011-11-13T14:11:00.000-05:00

Ingredients
Green eggplant - chopped lengthwise into 2 inch pieces
Red onions - 1 chopped lengthwise
Tomato (Optional) - 1/2 chopped into big pieces
Oil - 2 spoons
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder
Jeera - 1/2 spoon

Method of preparation:
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once it is hot add jeera to it. As I used red onions, I added both onions and eggplant at the same time to the oil and cook it for 2 minutes. Add salt, turmeric, red chilli powder to it. Once everything is cooked, turn off stove and serve it hot with rice or roti.

Note:

Green eggplants cook very fast. so be careful and not let it cook too much.

Dondakaya Kandipodi kura/Tindora Chutney powder Curry

2011-11-13T13:45:00.003-05:00

Ingredients
Tindora - 1 packet from frozen or lengthwise cut fresh tindora's
Red chilli powder - 1/2 spoon or depending upon your chilli powder and your spice levels
Salt to taste
Oil - 4 spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 spoon
Jeera - 1/2 spoon
Chutney powder - enough to cover all the tindora's or 4 spoons

Method of preparation
Add oil in kadai. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add jeera and then tindora. Add turmeric and salt to it and let it cook. Once it is almost cooked add red chilli powder to it. When it is almost time to turn off the stove, add the chutney powder and mix it thoroughly so that the tindora's are covered with chutney powder. Remove from stove and transfer to a serving bowl.

Spinach Carrot Rice

2011-11-13T09:31:00.001-05:00

I got this idea from my co-sister Gayatri. I loved it so much that I tried it in my own way and I make it almost whenever I can. This rice is healthy, yummy and fast to make. So here goes my recipe

Ingredients
Spinach - 1 bunch
Carrot - 2 peeled and grated
Red onions - 1 big Chopped finely
Biryani pulao masala - 1 spoon
Cinnamon Sticks - 2 no.s
Bay leaves - 3 no.s
Cooked rice - 2 cups
Oil - 2/3 spoons
Salt to taste
Method of preparation
Add oil to kadai and let it heat. Once it is hot, add cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Add onions to it until they turn translucent. Since I used red onions, I added grated carrot and spinach also at the same time. Once everything is cooked (it would not take much time, probably 2 minutes), add salt and biryani masala. Mix it thoroughly. Now add the rice to it and serve hot. You can add the fried onions on top as serving suggestion.
Enjoy ....

Aloo broccoli curry

2011-10-13T17:53:00.000-04:00

Ingredients
Potatos - 3 potatos
Broccoli - 2 cup
Tomato - 1/2 chopped
Oil - 2 spoons (Use olive oil for healthy reasons)
Mustard seeds - 1 spoon
Jeera /Cumin seeds - 1 spoon
Chana dal - 2 spoons
Turmeric - 1/4 spoon
Red chilli powder - 1 and 1/2 spoon (depending on the spice level of yours and your powder)
Salt - 1 spoon

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add jeera and chana dal after it. Add the chopped potato and broccoli to it. cover and cook for 5 minutes. Broccoli and potatos both cook fast so check in between so that they do not stick to the pan. When the potatos and broccoli are almost done add rest of the ingredients. Add dhania powder also (optional). Your simple curry is ready to serve.

Semiya Payasam/Kheer

2011-10-08T23:13:00.000-04:00

I have the photos and recipe ready since many days but because of my laziness I kept postponing adding it to the blog. But here it goes: I hope lot of people knows the recipe already.

Ingredients
Semiya/Vermicelli - 1/4 cup or a fistful
Milk - 2 cups
Ghee - 2-3 spoons
Sugar - 5 spoons (adjust sugar quantity depending on your sweet levels)
Dry fruits (Cashew/Raisins/Badam/charoli,chaarapappu) - a fistful or according to your taste.
Badam powder/Cashew powder - one spoon each (optional)
Elaichi powder - 1/4 spoon

Method of preparation:
Take ghee in a kadai. Roast the dry fruits and keep it aside.

Now add semiya to rest of the ghee. Roast the semiya (this will make it cook faster and taste nicer). Add milk after the semiya is roasted.

Keep stirring in between until the semiya is cooked. Now add sugar. If the milk is at a stage of boiling, add dry fruits, dry fruits powder and elaichi powder to the payasam. Your payasam is ready to serve. You can serve it hot or cold according to your taste and timing.

Note:
1)You can get roasted semiya from store. In that case, you do not need to wait until the semiya turns brown or roasted. You can add milk after few seconds of adding the semiya.
2) Do not worry about the semiya quantity being added. After payasam is done, the mixture will solidify and you will feel like you have added more semiya.

Navaratri Specials - Prasadams

2011-10-08T22:39:00.001-04:00

Devi Navaratri Specials:

Day 1 - Crached wheet seera/Cracked wheet halwa
Day 2 - Seera/Sooji Halwa
Day 3 - Carrot Halwa/Gajar ka halwa
Day 4 - Corn flour Halwa, Pesaru pindi Laddu
Day 5 - Besan Halwa
Day 6 - Maida Halwa
Day 7 - Kesar annam
Day 8 - Moong dal Payasam/kheer
Day 9 - Mysore Pak

I will try to post the rest of the sweet recipes soon. My MIL makes Mysore pak very good, tasty and crispy version just as store bought one (sometimes even better than that). I will present the recipe to you all. I need to make it too to get out of my trial fever of mysore pak. So next post Mysore pak, a photo tutorial... coming soon.

Carrot Halwa

2011-10-08T22:27:00.000-04:00

Ingredients
Carrot - 2 grated
Sugar - 5 spoons
Milk - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 2 spoons
Dry fruits - fried in ghee
Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add ghee to it. Once it is hot, add the cashews or dry fruits and keep them aside. In the same ghee add the grated carrot. Keep it on medium flame and keep stirring in between until the carrot in almost done. Because carrot is grated, it should be done much faster. Now add sugar to it. Mix it properly. Once the sugar is melted, add dry fruits and little milk. once the mixture thickens or at least if you see no more liquid then turn off heat and your Gajar ka halwa is ready to serve. I found this method to be fast, easy, yummy to do.

I have tried another recipe which is a little lengthier process (adding grated carrot in milk and then heat it until the carrot is totally cooked). We will get the same taste as compared to lengthier if we add Kowa at the end of the preparation. Good luck and let me know what you think of the shorter version of Gajar ka halwa.

Note
1) you can use khova instead of milk. Add it almost to the end.

Navaratri Day 1 - Cracked Wheet Halwa/Cracked Wheet Seera

2011-09-29T12:30:00.001-04:00

On the day one of navaratri I made this cracked wheet seera. I never got it right till now, although I used to add 1;3 water for it. This time as I was making it I was praying to god that it should turn out good as this is a prasad to devi. Luckily and by god's grace it turned out yummy.

Ingredients
Cracked Wheet - 1 cup
Water - 4 cups
Sugar - 1 cup (can adjust the sugar according to your taste)
Ghee - 2 spoons
Cashews, raisins - fried in little ghee
Cardammom powder - 1/4 spoon

Method of preparation
Take a kadai or regular bowl and add ghee to it. Fry the dry fruits and keep aside. Now add the cracked wheet to it and fry until its slightly golden color. Put the water in microwave to heat up for a minute or two. Add the hot water to the cracked wheet. Wait until the water is absorbed and stir in between. Once the water is totally absorbed, add sugar to it. cook for two to three minutes and then add cashews and cardammom powder.

Red Radish Perugu Pachadi

2011-08-20T17:16:00.000-04:00

I had this at my cousin's place and loved the taste. I never has muli perugu pachadi(yogurt chutney) before. This is very simple to make and yummy to eat and side kick is it is very healthy.

Ingredients
Red radish - Grate it with big sizes

Yogurt
Green chillies
Salt to taste
For tadka:
Oil
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Asafoetida
urad dal

Method of preparation
Mix the grated radish (muli/mullangi), yogurt, salt in a serving bowl.

Prepare for tadka by taking a small bowl and put it on stove. Add little oil (2-3 spoons). After oil is heated add mustard seeds. After mustard seeds splutter add the green chillies, urad dal and curry leaves (stay away from stove while adding curry leaves). Add asafoetida and turn off stove. Add the tadka to the radish pachadi prepared above. Red radish perugu pachadi is ready to serve. Enjoy!

Wet Grinder

2011-08-14T11:39:00.000-04:00

This is a new addition from my latest india trip. Wet grinder is especially useful for doing Idli's and Vada's. They come out so soft, smooth and tasty indian tiffins.

Vada

2011-08-08T21:42:00.000-04:00

After coming back from India this time, I tried this vada in the new kitchen gadget wet grinder. Before when I made vada, I used to drop the batter with spoon as it used to be a little thin than it should be. This time it came good in the wet grinder that I was able to make hole in the middle and have the actual vada's with the vada shape. Recipe is simple and here it goes:

Ingredients:
Urad dal - 2 cups
Salt to taste (little more than 1 spoon)
Green chillies chopped finely (depending on the spice level of chillies and your taste bud level)
Onions (Optional)
Oil for deep frying

Method of preparation
1) Soak the urad dal over night or at least for 4 hours minimum. Grind the urad dal by using very little water in the wet grinder/regular grinde.
2) Add salt to it and other items as neccessary. Mix thoroughly.

3) Take a ziplock or a plastic sheet. Apply oil to it and take a small amount of the vada batter. press it lightly to make a round shape and create a small hole in between.

4) Take out the shaped batter into hand and hold your hand above the oil so that the batter slowly drops into hot oil.

5) fry it until it becomes golden or a little dark as you wish to have the colour. Have it with your favourite chutney or sauce.

India trip

2011-06-10T09:54:00.000-04:00

I am leaving for a month of India trip tomorrow Morning. I have couple of functions (parties) to attend at home. I am hopeful that I will be able to share some of the variety or authentic recipes. Will update you all when I have some photos with me. Till then Enjoy the summer folks!!!

Mixed vegetable raita

2011-06-08T11:28:00.001-04:00

Mixed veggies here means, all I added was grated carrot, onion, tomatos and american cucumber. I believe may be I can experiment by adding the deep fried bhendi and boondi to the raita just before I serve. hmm.... will take that experimentation part later on and here is the recipe I used.

Ingredients
Onions - chopped finely - 1 small or can use even less too
Tomato's - Chopped finely - 1 or more depending on your love to it.
Cucumber - Chopped finely (similar to onions)
2 carrots grated
Yogurt - needed to make raita
Salt - can add from 1/2 - 1 spoon depending on sourness/sweetness of yogurt
For tadka
Oil - 1-2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tea spoon
Asafoetida/hing/Inguva - a pinch or more
urad dal - 1 tea spoon (can add more depending on your how crunchy you want)
Curry leaves - a handful (optional)
Crushed red chillies - 1-2 (lightly fry them either in a small amount of oil or without and crush them nicely in mortar with pestel or in blender if you do not have it). Add it carefully as it might increase the spiciness on how much you add.

Method of preparation
Mix all the raita ingredients. Make tadka by keeping a small bowl on stove and add oil to it. Add mustard seeds and after they splutter add the urad dal , asafoetida and curry leaves. Add the red chilie paste, tadka to the raita mixture and serve it chilled with any rice item like biryani, mint rice, or spinach rice. I would love to have it with roti or plain rice too. Its individual opinion or options... you can try out number of them.

Capsisum Paneer (No onion or No garlic)

2011-06-08T11:16:00.002-04:00

I am trying to avoid onion or garlic or any garam masala's on Friday's (if I cook). Whenever I have guests that will be a problem (for me) on having that constraint. So last week when I had guests I experimented this dish and turned out to be good one. Hopefully you will like it too.....

Ingredients
Paneer (scrambled)
Green capsicum
Orange capsicum

Tomatos
Cumin powder
Coriander powder
Red chilli powder
Salt
Oil
Cumin seeds

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. once the oil is heated add cumin seeds. Add onions and stir until they become translucent. Add both capsicums, Tomato's and Salt and cook for couple of minutes until they are done. Add also the remaining masala's (coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder, tumeric - optional). Once the veggies are almost cooked add the scrambled paneer and mix properly. Transfer it to the serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

Grape Tomato Besan Curry

2011-06-03T09:35:00.000-04:00

I love cooking with Tomatos. If tomatos are not at home then it is hard for me to decide what to cook. Although I do not use them daily, but I just need there for my personal satisfaction. This tomato's I am talking about are Grape tomato's (smaller version of tomato's). I made this curry as an experiment to go with the plain rice and dal and it came out tasty. This recipe sounds like pitlai but tastes yummy and sour because of the tomatos. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
Grape Tomatos - Chopped into half
Onions (I prefer red onions) - 2 chopped finely
Besan (senagapindi)
Red chilli powder
Salt to taste ( 1 and 1/2 spoon)
Oil - 2-3 spoons
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Chana dal - 1 spoon (can add more if you want crunchiness in between)

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and chana dal. Now add onion pieces. Once onion pieces are nicely fried add tomatos to it. Do not mix more because it can crush the small tomatos. Gently mix in between until you feel the tomatos are cooked (this might take 2-3 minutes). Now add turmeric, red chilli powder, salt to taste. Mix all of them. Add besan slowly to it. because of the water in the tomatos this will immediately become like the curry shown below. But if you feel that the water in tomatos has evoparated, then add 2-3 spoons of water also. Add coriander leaves at the end and transfer it to the serving bowl. Serve hot with rice and dal or just rice or roti too.

Strawberry Banana Milk Shake

2011-06-01T18:40:00.000-04:00

Ingredients
Strawberry

Banana
Milk
Cashews (handful or less)
Ice-cream (preferably Vanilla or strawberry ) - optional
Sugar/Honey

Method of preparation

Grind all the above ingredients in a juicer/blender. Serve chilled.

Paneer Bhurji/ Crumbled Paneer

2011-05-15T15:56:00.000-04:00

After an unsucessful attempt to get this, I attempted it this week and it was successful. It was too tempting that I made this for two days (first day - just small quantity along with regular menu and next day with roti's). When I made this the first time, it came out too dry and the paneer was almost coming out like dried coconut (flaky) kind of. So this time I added tomatos and a couple of spoons of water and that made all the difference and tasted good. I have added this to both the simple and special curries because it does not take much effort to cook it as a regular cooking to be part of simple cooking and even for special occasions it tastes good too. I want to try this recipe with grated potatos and see how it turns out. So wait and see for that trial of mine. I know most of you already know the recipe of paneer bhurji but here is how I did it:

Ingredients
Paneer - I bought store one and grated almost 3/4 of it
Onions - 1 or 2 chopped finely (depends on your liking on onions)
Tomatos - 1 big chopped finely
Red chilli powder - 1 table spoon
Garam Masala - 1 table spoon
Salt - 1 and 1/2 table spoon
Oil - 3 table spoons
Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1/2 tea spoon
Coriander leaves (kothimeeru, hara dhania) - small cup - Optional

Method of preparation
1) Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once the oil is heated add jeera and then add chopped onions to it.
2) After onions turns translucent or pink then add the tomatos and rest of ingredients except paneer and kothimeeru (Coriander leaves).
3) After the mixture is cooked well add a couple of table spoons of water to it, for not drying out paneer. This step is optional if you feel that paneer is good or if you want the curry to be dry.
4) Add the crumbled/grated paneer to it and coriander leaves too. Mix thoroughly and then turn off stove after couple of minutes.

As mentioned you can have this with rice or roti.

Onion Tomato Salad

2011-05-06T12:00:00.000-04:00

I am so tempted so try this at home that I made it twice in a span of two weeks. Well very easy to make, tasty and yet another side dish ready in few seconds. My grandfather used to make this when I was staying with him while studying my bachelor's. So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients

Onion - 1/2 chopped finely

Tomatos - 2 chopped finely

Oil - 1-2 table spoons

Salt to taste (I used 1 and 1/2 spoon)

Red chilli powder - 1 table spoon (you can adjust this according to your taste buds)

Jeera powder - 1/2 tea spoon (optional)

Coriander leaves - as many as you like (finely chopped)

Method of preparation

1) Mix onions and tomatos finely chopped. Add red chilli powder, salt (Jeera powder) to above along with coriander leaves and mix thoroughly either with hand or spatula.

2) Do tadka in a bowl. Add oil to it. Once oil is heated add mustard seeds and then urad dal to it. You can add some red chillis to this if needed. Add asafoetida and turn off the heat. Cool it and add it to the onion tomato mixture. Your side dish is ready. This goes well with rice but can have it with roti also if you are like me. Enjoy !!