Home Made Recipes

Moong Dal Chakli

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 16:55:00 +0000

Moong Dal Chakli

Moong Dal Chakli- super easy, quick snack and the taste is simply awesome. Do try it to know better and let me know if you feel the same way as my family did.

Ingredients

1 cup Moong Dal

2 cup water

3 cups of Maida

green chilli paste (optional)

Salt to taste

Method

1.Put 3 cups of maida in a towel and tie it tight and steam it in a cooker for 20 mins.

2. When cooled, roll it with a rolling pin.

3. Sieve it and keep it aside to avoid lumps later.

4. Pressure cook 1 cup moong dal with 2 cups of water. Grind the moong dal to a fine paste and add salt to taste and green chilli paste .

5. Now mix moong dal puree with maida and make a dough.

6. Finally put it the Chakli mould and deep fry until golden brown on low/ medium flame.

Enjoy with your evening tea.

Corn Capsicum Sabzi

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 17:00:00 +0000

Corn Capsicum Sabzi, one of the simplest sabzi and the colorful one with more nutrition to our daily intakes. My son just hates to give a try on these veggies ,whereas, I try my level best to feed my kids the best. Well, it's always hide and seek which works out to me. Myself and hubby had this with our meals and I just grinded some in a blender and mixed with some boiled and mashed potates and prepared sandwich for my son. He couldn't guess the ingredients and finished it without any hassle. Mission accomplished!

Corn Capsicum Sabzi Recipe

Corn- Capsicum Sabzi

Ingredients

Sweet Corn - 1 cup boiled

Capsicum - 1/2 cup chopped

Ginger- garlic paste - 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Dhania (Coriander) powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Onion - 1 chopped

Salt to taste

Oil - 2-3 tsp

Few fresh coriander leaves chopped

Kasoori Methi - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Method

1. Take oil in a kadai and add chopped onions. Saute it till they turn slightly brown in colour.

2. Add ginger- garlic paste. Fry for few secs.

3. Add boiled sweet corn and mix well. Now add all the dry spice powder along with salt and very little water to combine all together. Close the lid and cook for 3-4 minutes.

4. Lastly add freshly chopped coriander leaves and some kasoori methi.

Serve hot.

Panakam by Paper Boat - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 17:48:00 +0000

Panakam - Paperboat

Happy Ram Navami to all the readers out there!

Last month, I got a mail from Paperboat asking me to give an honest review on their product. It didn't take much time for me to cross check as the brand Paperboat is very familiar and we have already tasted some of their beverages like Aamras, Jaljeera, AamPanna before. On approval, they sent me their newly launched limited edition of Sri Ram Navami Special drink - Panakam. Received the pack yesterday. My son was very excited to open the pack. He even helped me in clicking these pictures. He loves Aamras from Paperboat the most. Got a chance to tell him about this drink and rewind my childhood days. This drink surely captures the long forgotten drinks and the memories linked to it. I don't even remember when I tasted it last time exactly, maybe in some temples long back as prasad, I guess. As suggested by them, we had it chilled and it tasted awesome- The perfect blend of jaggery and ginger, as I recall.

Panakam - PaperBoat

What I like about Paperboat is that it's an Indian company which is always on a lookout to capture long- forgotten memories of our Indian drinks. They have many variants in their list such as Jaljeera, Aamras, Kokum, Jamun Kala Khatta, Aampanna, Golgappa ka Pani, Tulsi Iced Tea, Ginger Lemon Iced Tea, Rasam and now Panakam. It comes in a 250ml pack with no preservatives, no GMO and no added artificial colour. Price is also reasonable-Rs.30 per 250ml pack.

I also received a book by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book. Thanks Neha for the added treat.

Panakam - PaperBoat

Chicken Ghee Roast- Mangalore Cuisine

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 09:07:00 +0000

Chicken Ghee Roast

Chicken Ghee Roast, the most popular dish from Mangalore. Tasted this for the first time in Mangalore Abhiman Hotel, while on a visit to meet my college friend. It tasted so divine. Got to visit the place again last December and tasted it again. This pairs best with Neer Dosa or simple rasam- rice. Chicken is marinated first, ghee roasted and mixed with all the spices to get a perfect roasted yet soft and juicy chicken pieces. Taste the ghee in every bite. Diet conscious gals, once in a while, skip the diet ;). Read a whatsapp message, if no one sees you eating something with high calories, it means it contains no calories. How I wish it was true?

Here's my all time favorite chicken recipe - Chicken Ghee Roast.

Ingredients

Clarified Butter - 1/4 cup

Few strands of Curry leaves

To Marinate

Chicken pieces - 1/2 kg

Lime juice - 2 tsp

Curd - 2 tbsp

Salt

Turmeric powder / Haldi - 3/4 tsp

For Masala

Dhania/ Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp

Methi seeds/ Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp

Peppercorns - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds/ Jeera - 1/4 tsp

Garlic cloves - 12 to 15

Red chillies ( byadagi) - 10

Tamarind, a marble sized

Method

1. Marinate chicken pieces with the ingredients mentioned under 'to Marinate Section for 30 mins.

2. Meanwhile soak red chillies along with tamarind with little water (preferably warm water) for 15 mins.

3. Dry roast dhania, methi, peppercorns and jeera.

4. Make a fine paste of the dry roasted ingredients and soaked ingredients along with garlic cloves.

5. Heat ghee in a wok, add marinated chicken pieces to it. Preserve the marinated masala for later use. Cook chicken pieces in ghee till it's 3/4th cooked. Remove the chicken pieces on a plate.

6. In the same wok, add masala paste along with the remaining marinated masala( if any ) and saute it for few minutes. Add fried chicken pieces and mix well. Pour little water and cover the lid. Cook chicken till it's done. Check the salt, add more if needed. Lastly add curry leaves and mix well.

Mouthwatering, finger licking good Chicken Ghee Roast is ready to be served.

Chicken Ghee Roast

Avare- Chicken Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:45:00 +0000

Avare- Chicken Curry

Avarekalu (Hyancinth Beans), one of the Bangalorean's favorite beans and they prepare almost all yummy dishes from this seasonal beans. We had been to 'Avarekalu Mela' too which happens in Bangalore every year during this season. I was amazed to see the dishes they prepared from avarekalu including sweets like Gulab Jamoon, Mysore Pak, Son Papdi and many more. We tasted Akki Roti, Ragi Roti, Vada and Holige, all made with avarekalu. Hmmmm....Yummy. Avaekalu Akki Roti was in super demand ofcourse.

Coming back to my dish, I had tasted Mutton dish prepared with Avarekalu. Tried my hands on this dish, substituting Mutton with Chicken for dinner and I must say it was a hit. A must try dish who loves Avarekalu in any form. Even if you don't like the beans, avoid it and just keep it simple with just chicken.

Ingredients

Avarekalu (Hyancinth Beans) - 1/2 cup or more

Chicken - 750 g

Methi leaves chopped - 1/2 cup

Fresh coriander leaves - 1/4 cup

Tomato - 2 chopped

To grind

Coconut grated - 1/2 cup

Khus Khus - 1 and 1/2 tsp

Laung - 4

Dalchini - 1 inch

Green Cardamom - 2

Onion - 2 chopped

Green Chilli - 4

Red chilli - 5 to 6

Peppercorn - 5

Ginger - Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp

Dhania Powder - 3 tsp

Jeera/cumin seeds - 3/4 tsp

Method

1. Make a paste of all the ingredients mentioned under 'To grind'

2. Take a cooker, add 1 tbsp oil and add chicken pieces. Add in all the ingredients- masala paste, avarekalu, methi leaves, coriander leaves and tomato. Add salt to taste.

3. Add water to the required consistency, mix well. Close the cooker lid and cook it till 1 or 2 whistle. This is optional, you can cook it directly without the cooker too but make sure avarekalu is already cooked.

Serve it with chapati, dosa, idli or even with hot steamed rice.

Nippattu - Crispy snack - Diwali Easy Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 08:43:00 +0000

Nippattu - Easy Diwali snack

Nippattu is one of my favorite snack. Best tea time snack. I prepared this for this Diwali. It's a very easy recipe so no need to wait for any festival or for any occasion. Prepare it and munch it anytime.

Ingredients

Rice flour - 1 cup

Roasted Gram Flour (putani) - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Bengal gram - 2 tbsp

Red chilli powder - 1.5 tsp to 2 tsp

Hing -A pinch

Hot oil - 1 tbsp

Water for kneading

Curry leaves finely chopped

Oil for deep frying

Method

1. Soak bengal gram in water for atleast 30 mins. Drain the water and keep aside.

2. Take a mixing bowl, mix all the above mentioned ingredients including soaked and drained bengal gram. Add hot oil and mix well. Add water little by little and knead a firm dough.

3. To make nippattu, take a clean plastic cover, apply oil to it. Take a small ball of the dough, press with your fingers to flatten it. Take a fork and poke it 2-3 times to avoid puffing up while frying.

4. Gently remove the flatten dough from the plastic cover and gently drop it into hot oil and deep fry it in a medium flame till crisp and golden brown. Drain them on a tissue paper.

5. Repeat the process for the rest of the dough.You can flatten 4 to 5 small dough balls and fry them at a time. Store it in an air tight container when cooled.

Poha Ladoo/ Beaten Rice Ladoo/ Avalakki Laddu

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 17:05:00 +0000

Poha Ladoo

Hope everyone had a brightful and safe diwali. I wanted to post this recipe before diwali but got very busy with the preparations and the post got delayed. I actually prepared this Poha Ladoo thrice in 4 days for this diwali. One was just for a trial and after getting appreciation and approval went ahead with the second round. Again got shortage to distribute and had to prepare it once again. It's a very easy recipe and everyone after tasting it mistook as besan ladoo. I too was happy with the out come. My this year's homemade diwali snacks were all very easy recipes - Poha Ladoo, Rava Ladoo, Chakkali, Poha Chivda, spicy sev and Nipattu. Will be posting all the recipes soon. As of now sharing my easy Poha Ladoo recipe

Recipe Source: Sharmis Passion

Ingredients

Thick Poha (beaten rice) - 3/4 cup

Putani/ Fried Gram - 1/4 cup

Sugar - 1/3 cup

Melted ghee - 1/4 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Cashewnuts and raisins

Method

1. Dry roast the poha in a pan in a low to medium flame till poha turns crisp and turns slight brown in color. Spread this on a paper to cool.

2. Dry roast fried gram (putani) for about 2 mins and again spread this on a paper to cool down.

3. Meanwhile powder the sugar and melt the ghee.

4. Fry cashewnuts and raisins in ghee.

5. Powder the fried poha and fried gram together in a mixer. Transfer this mixture into a bowl.

6. Add all the ingredients together and make ladoo's.

Poha Ladoo

Quick Pillow Cake - How to bake cake in a sandwich maker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 06:41:00 +0000

After a long time, I am back to blogging. I was very much regular in my kitchen ,experimenting new dishes but been too lazy to write the detailed recipe note in my blog.

Pillow Cake in a Sandwich maker

Today's recipe is a very simple cake recipe which can be done within few minutes and that too in a sandwich maker. Sounds interesting, isn't it? I was glued to the recipe and the very next day I tried it out and surprisingly it came out very well. I tried both the vanilla and the chocolate cake at once. Vanilla cakes got vanished within minutes before I could grab my camera for the click. Finally managed with the chocolate cake. Loved the puffiness and hence the name "Pillow Cake". I found the name super cute. So now, if you don't have an oven or wanna try out a simple version of cake or just a try in a sandwich maker, what are you waiting for, go ahead and surprise your kids with this Pillow cake for the evening snack.

Recipe Source : cookingoodfood

Ingredients

Maida - 1 cup
Eggs - 2
Baking Powder - 1tsp
Vanilla essence- 1 tsp
Oil - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup
Cocoa Powder - 2 tbsp (for chocolate cake)

Method

1. Sieve maida and baking powder together.
2. Beat eggs and add vanilla essence, oil and powdered sugar. Beat for few mins till combined.
3. Add sieved flours( maida, baking powder, cocoa powder) to the egg mixture and mix well. Add milk and mix again.
4. Grease the sandwich maker and spread the batter in the sections with a spoon and close the lid.

Pillow Cake _Sandwich maker

5. Switch on the sandwich maker and bake till the light turns red. Check it with the toothpick, if it comes out clean then its done else cook for few more mins.

Serve it with evening tea.

Pillow Cake in a Sandwich maker

Mango Jam

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 07:12:00 +0000

Mango Jam - Preservative free - Home Made

Mango Jam - A very simple, quick and easy homemade jam. My mom introduced me to homemade jam's. She has been preparing this preservative free Pineapple Jam for me and my younger brother ever since our childhood. I have kept her trend going for my kids too now. This year, I gave a try on mango jam and it was a super hit at home. It's super easy to prepare at home and I bet you won't buy those branded products available in market. That was the actual feedback I got from my family. It was so delightful to watch my hubby and father to have it directly with a spoon without even waiting for a bread slice or chapati's. A must try recipe this Mango season.

Ingredients

Ripe mangoes - 2 ( I used Mallika mangoes from Bangalore)

Sugar - 1 and 1/2 cup

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Mango Jam - Preservative free - Home Made

Method

1. Puree the mango slices in the blender.

2. Take mango puree, sugar and lemon juice in a wide pan and cook it in medium to high flame. Once sugar dissolves, it starts to bubble up. Reduce the flame to low to medium flame and cook further with constant stirring.

3. Cook till the mixture starts to thicken and you get the right consistency. This takes about 10 minutes.

4 To test the right consistency. Take half bowl of water and drop some jam in it. If the jam settles down the bowl, it indicates the jam is ready else cook for another 3 - 4 minutes and check again.

5. Once done, switch off the flame and let it cool completely. Jam thickens more after cooling.

Mango Jam - Preservative free - Home Made

Transfer it to a clean air- tight container and store it in a refrigerator. Enjoy with bread slices or chapati's or even dosa's.

Note: You can also add in some cardamom powder if you like.

Lemon juice helps to crystallize the sugar.

Sugar quantity depends upon your tastebuds and the sweetness of the mangoes you are using to prepare this jam.

Also try easy preservative free, Home made Pineapple Jam

Watermelon Popsicles

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 09:45:00 +0000

Watermelon Popsicles

School has reopened and kids are back to school and so does my routine is back on track. There was so many demands from my son ever since his summer vacation started. One such every year will be the popsicles. I usually prepare the mango popsicles for him every summer and this year I added on the watermelon popsicles too. Wow! what a relief to have this on a hot summer day to have that Thanda Thanda Cool Cool effect. This is so easy to make and takes so less time. Kids excitement on hearing that mummy is gonna make something special for you today, is simply PRICELESS.

Ingredients

Watermelon pieces - 4 cups

Sugar 4-5 tsp

Method

Cut the watermelon into small pieces and deseed them. Take only the red middle part of the watermelon and blend it in a mixer. Add sugar and again blend it to get a smooth puree.

Pour this into the moulds and freeze it for about 6 to 8 hours or overnight.

Defrost it and have it immediately when needed.

Watermelon Popsicles

Kundapur Style Chicken Sukka - Restaurant Style

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 06:34:00 +0000

Kundapur Style Chicken Sukka

People from coastal Karnataka belt are very much aware of this popular chicken sukka dish. Today's post is the non-veg recipe from the most popular restaurant in Kundapur - Shetty's Hotel. I love Mangalorean chicken sukka, but this is something different and includes more ingredients for the sukka compared to mangalorean chicken sukka. Taste wise, no compromise, it's- delicious, spicy and mouth watering dish.

Ingredients

Ghee 2 tsp

Onion -2 medium - sliced

Haldi( turmeric powder) - 1/2 tsp

Tomato - 1 chopped

Salt to taste

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Freshly shredded coconut - 1/2 cup

Chicken - 500g

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Roast

Red Chillies 7-8

Dhania (coriander seeds) - 1 tbsp

Methi( fenugreek seeds) - 1/4 tsp

Dalchini 1 inch - 1 piece

Laung (cloves) - 6

Jeera( cumin) - 3/4 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Saunf - 1/4 tsp

Few curry leaves

Garlic cloves 15

Kundapur Style Chicken Sukka

Method

1. Dry roast or roast the ingredients mentioned in roast part with a teaspoon of oil one by one and powder it.

2. Heat 2tsp ghee + 2 tsp oil in a wide kadai and add curry leaves and chopped garlic pieces. Saute it for few secs.

3. Add sliced onions and fry it till it turns golden brown in colour. Add haldi and chopped tomatoes and cook till tomatoes become soft.

4. Add chicken pieces and mix all together. Cover the lid and allow the chicken to cook. No need of adding water as chicken itself oozes out the water content.

5. Once chicken pieces are cooked, add salt , chilli powder and powdered masala. Add few drops of water and mix all together. Add shredded coconut, mix and close the lid and cook the chicken for few more mins in a low to medium heat.

Lastly garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves

Kundapur Style Chicken Sukka

Hurigadale Dosa / Fried gram dal Dosa

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 07:45:00 +0000

Dosa is our favorite breakfast dish and I love to try different varieties of them. And hence, I am here with a new variety of dosa which I tried a month ago. I had bought a packet of this fried gram dal with an intention to make a sweet dish Mandige. Since that didn't happen, I wanted to finish this off. I add them to coconut chutney too to get that restaurant style chutney(click here for the chutney recipe) but this dosa was completely new to me.

Hurigadale Dosa/ Fried Gram Dosa

Ingredients

Recipe Source : Aps Kitchen

Urad Dal - 1/2 cup

Hurigadale/ Putani/ Fried Gram - 1/4 cup

Dosa Rice - 1 cup

Poha - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil for greasing the pan

Hurigadale Dosa/ Fried Gram Dosa

Method

1. Wash and soak all the ingredients except salt and oil for atleast 4 hours.

2. Blend the soaked ingredients in a blender to a smooth dosa batter consistency. Add salt and mix well. Leave it to ferment overnight.

3. Heat the dosa pan and grease it with little oil. Prepare the dosa's, flipping it and cooking it at both sides.

4. Serve it any chutney or sambar.

Fried Chicken Kabab - Restaurant Style

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 07:42:00 +0000

Fried Chicken Kabab - Restaurant Style

Fried Chicken Kababs can be counted into Bangaloorean Street food and also to the restaurant food. Since I never have the courage to try on streets which is very common everyday and much tempting, I would refer this to the one of famous Bangalore Restaurant- The Empire. I love their non-veg thali which comes with kerala Parata, chicken curry and this juicy fried chicken kababs. We even get chicken kabab powder in almost all the shops here. After trying with the ready made powder, I still didn't get that perfect taste. I noted down the ingredients and then altered it a bit and finally nailed the recipe. :)

Ingredients

Chicken pieces 500g

Maida 2 tbsp

Corn Flour - 1 tbsp

Egg -1

salt to taste

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder - 2 tsp

Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp

Red food color, a pinch

Lemon juice -2 tsp

Oil for deep frying

Method

1. Marinate the chicken with all the above ingredients except oil for atleast 2 hours.

2. Deep fry the marinated chicken( few at a time) in hot oil on a medium heat till it's cooked properly and looks crisp.

3. Drain on tissue paper to remove excess oil and serve hot with onion rings and lime piece.

Fried Chicken Kabab - Restaurant Style

Pesarattu / Green Gram Dosa

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 05:48:00 +0000

Pesarattu/ Green Gram Dosa

Pesarattu is nothing but whole green gram dosa which is a very popular breakfast dish in Andhra Pradesh. It's nutritious and very easy to make. This dosa doesnot need urad dal and since we add green gram to this, it becomes more healthier. You can also try this out with sprouted green gram.

Ingredients

Whole Green Gram - 1 cup

Dosa Rice - 1/4 cup

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Green chillies -3

Salt to taste

Method.

1. Soak Green gram for about 5-6 hours or over night.

2. Blend the soaked gram in a mixer along with ginger, dosa rice and green chillies to a smooth paste. Add water as required. Add salt and mix.

3. Heat the dosa pan, grease it with some oil and prepare the dosa's.

Best combination for this dosa is coconut chutney or Tomato-Onion Chutney or even the famous Andhra Style Ginger pickle.

Note: You can also skip using dosa rice as traditionally this is not added to make this kind of dosa. I am somewhat used to making this with dosa rice.

You can also try your hands on variations with Pesarattu dosa. Sprinkle some finely chopped onions on top of the dosa while making it and then flip and cook. Call it Onion Pesarattu.

I have heard that restaurants in Andhra Pradesh serve Pesarattu with upma and they call it as MLA Pesarattu.

Pesarattu/ Green Gram Dosa

Heart Shaped Fried Eggs - Valentine's Day Special

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 09:28:00 +0000

Heart Shaped Fried eggs or Egg Omelette .

Heart Shaped Fried Eggs

Ever since I saw this on youtube, I was tempted to try this. But never attempted it. Today being a Valentine's Day, I thought of giving this a try and voylla ! such a cute little hearts for the breakfast. It was so fun to cook this today and maybe this is the quickest recipe I am uploading after a trial in my kitchen. Loved every bit of this. Hubby and son were excited too and loved it. I had to hurry up clicking some for my blog here. So without wasting much time, let's head straight to the recipe.

Ingredients

Eggs - 5

Oil - 2 tsp

Haldi/ Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chilli flakes - 1 tsp

Few Coriander leaves chopped

Salt to taste

Onion -1, finely chopped

Carrots- 1 fined chopped (Optional)

Heart Shaped Fried Eggs

Method

1. Beat 5 eggs in a bowl. Add salt to taste and remove appx 2 tbsp of the egg mixture separately in a small bowl.

2. Add finely chopped onions, coriander leaves and chilli flakes to it. Mix well .

3. Pour a small amount of the egg mixture on a greased non-stick pan and spread it to cover the pan base.. Cook for a minute on a low to medium flame. Start rolling the egg from one end to another.

4. Again pour some egg mixture to the pan and spread. When its half done, start rolling it from the rolled end to another end. Keep on repeating this process(appx 3 times) with the remaining egg mixture.

Heart Shaped Fried Eggs

5. Once you are done with this process, you will get a big rectangular bar shaped egg omelette. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes and then start cutting leaving a gap of appx 1/2 inch.

6.To get the heart shape, just cut the pieces diagonally and turn it upside down, you will get the HEAT SHAPED EGG. Now to fix the parts, carefully place the heart pieces on the frying pan and pour in the remaining egg mixture( which we had kept it seperately) on the top on the heart shaped eggs and flip it. Do the same the other side too.

Surprise it to your loved ones for the breakfast.

Heart Shaped Fried Eggs

Home made Butter Recipe using mixer

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 06:58:00 +0000

Butter-HomeMade

Have you ever thought of preparing butter at home? I know, butter is easily available everywhere but still preparing fresh at home is something different and a must try. Butter being a basic ingredient to most of our cooking especially in baking, doesn't even require much ingredients to prepare at home. I have grown up seeing my granny and mom, shaking a bottle of curds to extract butter and buttermilk. I used to wonder why so much of an effort to do that and I am surely not gonna do that in future. Now my mom, no more continues that process and she does make fresh butter at home within minutes using a mixer. I learnt this from my mom and now I collect the fresh cream (malai) from the boiled milk in a bottle, ferment it and then make this fresh butter at home.

Ingredients

Malai- Fresh cream - 1 bottle

Curds - 1 tbsp

Salt- 1/3 (Optional)

Method

1. Start collecting the cream from the boiled and cooled milk everyday in a bottle and store it in a refrigerator.

2. When you have collected enough cream, add in 1 tbsp of curd and mix well. Allow it to ferment for atleast 6 hours. (make sure the bottle is 3/4 filled with cream allowing the rest to ferment).

3. Tranfer the whole content into a mixer jar. Pour in a cup of water and run the mixer. Yo will first reach soft creamy texture then at a later stage a sort of chunky texture. Run the mixer until cream seperates into yellow chunky parts and a white buttermilk.

Butter - stages

4. Now separate the butter from the buttermilk using a sieve or just remove with your hands or a spatula. Take the butter in a wide bowl and pour some water into that. Try to remove as much of buttermilk as possible by working on the butter and water with a spatula. Drain the water and continue the process again by adding the water till the water runs clear i.e no more buttermilk or white water left in the butter. This way the butter remains fresh for a longer period and doesn't get a foul smell. Drain the clear water and store in an air-tight container in a fridge.

5. You can also add salt to the prepared butter and store it in a refrigerator to get a salted butter.

Enjoy it as and when required.

HomeMade Butter

Note: Work on the butter and water very carefully discarding and again adding fresh water to the butter and make sure the water runs clear after that.(you will have to repeat this for atleast 10 times or more). If there are some traces of buttermilk left, your butter won't taste good and will get a foul smell.

You can't use the buttermilk obtained from this process for cooking or drinking, please discard that.

Goan Recheado Fish Fry

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 05:55:00 +0000

Goan Recheado Fish Fry

I have already posted the most popular Goan Fish masala ,i.e Recheado Masala in my blog. Check out the recipe here. Once the masala is ready, you can always relish on this fry as and when you want. I have tried this recipe on different fishes like Bangda (Mackerel), Pomfret and King Fish. It tastes awesome as side starter and needless to say that it can be teamed up with hard drinks as most goan people prefer.

I have stuffed the mackerel with the Recheado masala. You can just make some deep cuts on the fish and stuff the masala.This Fish fry has all sorts of flavors in it - tangy, spicy and also a tinge of sweet flavor. I am also a big fan of seafood dishes especially Goan dishes. Rava Fry is my all time favorite dish. Do try it out.

Ingredients

Mackerel Fish - 2

Recheado Masala 2 tbsp

Rice flour , for coating

Oil for shallow fry

Salt to taste.

Goan Recheado Fish Fry

Method

1. Clean the fish and make some deep cuts on the fish.

2. Apply the Recheado Masala and salt to the fish and marinate it for a minimum of 30 mins or so.

3. Coat the marinated fish with the rice flour and shallow fry on both sides till the fish is cooked properly.

4. Place the fried fish on tissue napkins to remove excess oil and then serve hot with some onions and lime pieces.

Chicken Bhuna Masala

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 06:22:00 +0000

Chicken Bhuna Masala

Today's special dish is a very simple and delicious Chicken Bhuna Masala. Bhuna means saute or browning. You get bhuna masala mix in supermarkets too but I prefer preparing it fresh at home and believe me, it won't consume lot of time and tastes better than the store bought ones. Do try this out and I bet your loved ones with love this dish just like mine.

Ingredients

Chicken Bhuna Masala

Recipe Source : VahRehVah.com

Chicken - 1/2 kg

Dry Red Chillies -6-8

Garlic - 10-12 cloves

Cinnamon - 2 pieces (of 1" inch each)

Cloves - 5

Yogurt - 1/2 cup

Oil - 1 and 1/2 tbsp

Salt to taste.

Fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Method

1. Soak red chillies in water for about 15 to 20 mins and then prepare a fine paste of this along with spices( mentioned above) and garlic. Transfer the paste to a wide bowl.

2. Add yogurt and salt to the above masala and mix well. Drop in the cleaned chicken pieces and mix well till the pieces are nicely coated with the masala. Marinate this for about 2 hours in a refrigerator.( I marinated it for an hour)

3. Heat oil in a wok or a pan. Add only the chicken pieces to this without the extra masala and cook it till the chicken pieces are cooked and the masala dries off.

4. Now pour in the extra remaining masala which was leftover and mix well. Cover the lid and cook for few more mins. Then keep sauteing the chicken till the bhuna masala reduces or dried off or to the consistency you like to have.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with Chapati or rice or even with Akki Roti (Bakri)

Chicken Bhuna Masala

Pomegranate Raita

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 05:23:00 +0000

Pomegranate Raita

Pomegranate Raita is one of my favorite raita. I just love the colour. Red seeds with white yogurt...hmmm..lovely! My son had to prepare a dish at his school regarding "Cooking without FIRE". He had to carry all the ingredients in a separate box and just mix it in front of the teacher and serve. Cool! Isn't it ? I didn't want him to carry too many boxes, so I made him to do this raita. After the trial round at home, I got to click some pictures. It's really fun to cook with kids. He enjoys decorating or garnishing the dish.

So coming back to the recipe, this dish is any eye catchy on a dinner table. I like to keep it simple or say more simple. I have tried the raita with chopped cucumber and onions too before. You too can add those if you like, but in this dish I have skipped those and included just pomegranate seeds, yogurt and some spice powders. Serve it with any pulao or biryani.

Ingredients

Yogurt - 1 and 1/2 cup

Pomegranate seeds - 1/4 cup

Fresh Coriander leaves

Chopped Green Chillies

Black Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Cumin Powder - 1/4 tsp

Chaat Masala - 1/4 tsp

Pomegranate Raita

Method

1. Whisk yogurt in a bowl.

2. Add in all the ingredients to the yogurt and mix. Save some pomegranate seeds for garnishing.

3. Garnish with some pomegranate seeds and freshly chopped Coriander leaves.

Serve Chilled.

Custard Halwa

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 07:46:00 +0000

Custard Halwa

Welcoming 2015 year with a sweet recipe Custard Halwa. This halwa is a very quick and easy sweet recipe with less ingredients made from Custard Powder, ghee and sugar. This jelly kind of a halwa was my latest addition for my Diwali last year. Bit late in posting here.

Ingredients

Custard Powder - 1 cup (vanilla flavoured)

Water - 4 cups

Sugar - 2 and 1/2 cup

Ghee - 4 to 5 tsp

Cashewnutes

Green Food Colour

Cardamom powder/ Elachi powder - 1/4 tsp

Method

1. Take a wide pan. Mix custard powder in water and make sure no lumps are formed. Add sugar to this and then switch on the flame.

2. Keep stirring till the mixture starts to thicken up.

3. Reduce the flame and keep stirring. Add in 5 tsp ghee and keep stirring. Mixture statrs to become glossy and translucent. It will start to form like a jelly.

4. Add in cardamom powder and nuts. You will have to keep stirring appx 10 - 12 minutes on a very low flame. Halwa will start to leave the sides of the pan and ghee starts to ooze out. Switch off the flame and pour this on a greased plate. When cooled completely , cut it into a desired shape and serve.

You can also keep it in fridge to set it faster.

Enjoy !

Custard Halwa

Once again Happy New Year to All

Recheado Masala (Goan Fish Masala)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 07:31:00 +0000

Recheado Masala

Those who have visited Goa might be familiar with this famous Goan Recheado Masala. It's a typical Goan food especially used for fish fry. This is completely different from another the most popular Goan Rava Fish Fry recipe. On our recent visit to Goa, I got to meet one of my friend there and she prepared this Goan Recheado Mackerel fry for us. Though I was familiar with this dish, my hubby and son got to taste this for the first time. I was surprised to see my son finishing off two fish without any tantrums. Even my husband liked it. She was generous enough to lend me a bottle of freshly made Recheado Masala which she had to send it her Restaurant .She shared her recipe too even though I told her I would be further sharing it here in my blog. Love you my friend and thanks a ton for the recipe.

Recheado Masala is a sweet and tangy, fiery red colour fish masala used to fry fish. Since we add vinegar to this, masala stays longer. You can use it for months when stored in a refrigerator.

Ingredients

Kashmiri Red Chillies - 50g

Jeera - 3 g

Ginger - 10g

Garlic - 15g

Laung/ Cloves - 5 g

Cinnamon - 5 g

Black peppercorn - 5 g

Sugar - 5 g

Toddy Vinegar (Coconut Vinegar) - 50 ml

Method

Soak all these ingredients in vinegar for about 30 mins and grind it to a smooth paste.

Make sure not to add water and also the mixer jar in which you grind the paste should be clean. Store this in a clean jar and use a dry spoon while using it.

Note: Usually Toddy vinegar is used to make this Recheado Masala. You can substitute this with regular white vinegar too.

Recheado Masala

Easy Christmas Cake/ Plum Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 06:58:00 +0000

Easy Christmas Cake

I am bit late to post this delicious Christmas Special cake also known as Fruit Cake or Plum Cake. With the note "It's Better late than never", I am posting this Easy Christmas Cake today. Merry Christmas to all.

This easy cake doesn't require any soaking of nuts months ahead. The best part of this cake is that its alcohol free and its a substitute for the last minute bakers like me. Because of it's simplicity in baking, it's also called as "Boiled Fruit Cake" or "Bachelor's Cake". Ever since I happened to find this recipe here, I wanted to bake this cake desperately. Last year ,since I was expecting my baby by this time, I couldn't bake one. This year, with no excuses, I tried this one a couple of days back and it was super hit at home. I and my son liked the taste better the next day it was baked though my hubby liked it the same day it was baked. I love the plum cakes but the sad part was that we used to get it only during Christmas seasons. So now, on this cake surely begs to be baked throughout the year at our home.

Ingredients

Light Brown Sugar - 1 cup (210g)

Maida/ All purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cup ( 195 g)

Water - 1 cup (240 ml)

Unsalted butter - 1/4 cup (55g)

Cinnamon powder - 1tsp

Clove powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda - 1tsp

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Eggs - 2 (room temperature)

Raisins

Walnuts

Tutti Fruitti

Broken Cashewnuts

Method

1. Take a large sauce pan. Add in sugar , water, butter, spice powder and raisins. Mix all these and bring these to a boil on a medium flame. Boil for 5 minutes and then remove from heat and let it cool down to lukewarm.

2. Pour in the lightly beaten eggs to the mixture in sauce pan. Add the sifted flour, baking soda, salt to it and mix.

3. Add in some vanilla extract and other nuts. Mix all together till combined.

4. Pour this into your greased baking tray or pan and bake it in a preheated oven for 45 mins( at 180C) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

5. Once done, remove it from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack.

Cover and store if possible for a day before serving as it tastes better the next day.

Easy Christmas Cake/ Plum Cake

Note: I have used the regular golden raisins to this. You can combine both dark and golden raisins for this cake.

Spices can be adjusted to your taste, adding more or less of each.

Taste gets better the next day after it's baked. So have some patience to store some for a day. You can eat it right away too but that's my personally opinion as I liked it the next day.

Instead of brown sugar, you can use the regular white sugar too but the color will differ. You can even caramelize the sugar and add. I have not tried this but heard it from my friends who have given that a try.

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to All

Thatte Idli / Plate Idli

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 06:56:00 +0000

Thatte Idli

Thatte Idli is one of the famous Breakfast dish from Karnataka. Surprisingly, we find very few hotels in Bangalore which serves this form of Idli. It's entirely different from the regular idli's which we make out of idli rava. I have already posted the simple and basic method of make soft idli's with Idli Rava. If you wanna try it, click here.

Coming back to Thatte Idli recipe, Thatte in Kannada means Plate. I used to think before that Thatte idli is nothing but idli batter cooked in plates (thatte) and then served. I was completed wrong until I tasted it for the first time on our trip to Mysore a couple of years back. Though the taste and texture was good, may be because of the combination the hotel served didn't appeal to me. Again, I got to taste it on our way back to Bangalore from a different hotel and that was awesome. It was served hot with red tomato chutney and hot sambar. Recently, I came across this recipe on a TV channel and noted it down. I tried it the next morning with Tomato-Onion Chutney and phew! It was super soft, spongy and exactly the same as I tasted it from the restaurant the second time. I didn't have the Thatte idli stand, so I placed two small greased steel plates for the picture for my blog and the rest of the batter went into the rice cooker plate for steaming. That's the action behind the screen ;)

Ingredients for Thatte Idli

Dosa Rice - 2 cups

Raw Rice ( regular rice used for cooking) - 1 cup

Sabudana - 1/2 cup

Urad dal - 3/4 cup

Thick Beaten Rice (Avalakki/ Poha ) - 1/2 cup

Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Ghee or Veg Oil for greasing the plates

Method

1. Wash and Soak all the ingredients mentioned above except Salt, soda and ghee for atleast 4 hours.

2. Blend these in a mixer one by one to get a smooth thick batter.

3. Transfer it into a wide bowl and allow it to ferment overnight.

4. Next day, just before preparing idli, add salt and baking soda to the batter and mix well.

5. Grease the idli plates/ thatte's with ghee and pour in the idli batter to about 1/2 inch in the plate and place it in and idli steamer. Steam for about 10- 15 mins.

Once done, remove it from the idli steamer and allow it to stand for 2 mins.

Run the knife around the edges and flip the mould on a serving plate. Serve hot with sagu, sambar or with the hot and tangy Tomato- Onion Chutney.

Tomato-Onion Chutney

Tomato-Onion- Chutney

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 09:15:00 +0000

There was a time when we used to prepare just two varieties of chutney's at my home. One was coconut chutney and the other was red chutney. After my marriage, when I myself had to cook for the family who loves to have chutney in almost all the breakfast items, I kept on experimenting with chutney's. There are different varieties of chutney's in my space already. Do check them out.

Tomato-Onion Chutney

Tomato- Onion Chutney is one my trials which everyone loved to have it with my recent trial on South Indian Special- Thatte Idli. Recipe will soon follow. One thing I loved about this chutney was that it had all the spice and tangy flavors except coconut. Sometimes its such a big headache for me to grate the coconut early in the busy mornings for the breakfast. Though I try to plan ahead, I just feel lazy to do that sometimes, yet, I somehow manage to keep a delicious chutney for my family :)

So, here comes the recipe of Onion-Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

Oil - 1 tsp

Chana Dal( bengal gram) - 1 tbsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Red Chillies - 3 or 4

Onion - 1 Sliced

Tomatoes - 2 Chopped

Salt to taste

Seasoning

Oil

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

A pinch of Hing,(Asafoetida)

Few Curry leaves

Method.

1. Heat 1 or 2 tsp of oil in a pan. Add Chana dal to it and roast till light brown and crisp.

2. Add jeera and saute it for few secs.

3. Drop in some red chillies and just toss it. Take this out in a mixer jar and allow it to cool.

4. Meanwhile, in the same pan add onions and fry till its translucent.

5. Add chopped tomatoes to it and cook till they turn soft. Switch off the flame.

6. When all the above sauted ingredients are cooled, blend it in a mixer to a smooth paste. Add salt to taste and transfer the mixture to a serving bowl.

7. Prepare the seasoning mentioned above and mix it with the chutney.

Delicious Onion- Tomato chutney is ready to be served with hot idli's or dosa's.

Tomato-Onion Chutney

Try out more Chutney recipes here.

Coconut Chutney - Restaurant style

Coconut chutney

Tomato chutney (with coconut)

Curry leaves chutney

Peanut chutney

Tomato- Garlic chutney (without coconut)

Garlic Fish Fry

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 06:33:00 +0000

Garlic Fish Fry

Garlic Fish Fry- A very easy and quick recipe for all the seafood lovers. This was my experiment with fish a couple of months back and the result was awesome. We all just loved it. After that, its on our menu once in a month or sometimes more. The garlic flavors and the spiciness of chillies gives an aromatic and excellent taste to this fry.

The main ingredient here is offcourse the Garlic. The more you marinate, the tastier the fish fry gets. I marinated it for an hour. Pick any fish you like. I tried this dish out with Mackerel Fish, also known as Bangda fish.

Ingredients

Fish (Mackerel)- 2

Garlic - 3 whole (with or without skin)

Few Fresh Coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Green Chillies - 3 to 4

Tamarind paste or Amchur Powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil for Pan frying the fish

Rice flour for coating (Optional)

Method

1. Clean the fish and make cuts on it with a knife. I slit the fish by just running the knife from the sides till the other end just above the bone and then opening it. This was just to give more flavors to the fish. You can skip doing this.

2. Make a paste of garlic, green chillies, salt, coriander leaves and tamarind(paste)to a smooth paste.

3. Apply this to fish and marinate it for atleast 30 to 45 mins.

4. Heat some oil in a pan. Coat the fish with some rice flour and carefully place it on a frying pan.

5. Cook on both sides till done.

Garlic Fish Fry

Notes:

You can use any fish you like.

Tamarind paste or amchur powder can be replaced by few drops of lemon juice.

Rice flour is optional. Again, if you like, go ahead with semolina (rava) for coating to give extra crispiness to the fish fry.

Need more varieties of fish fry ...click here.

Goan Style Fish Fry