THE BIG BITE

Stuffed buns

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:11:00 +0000

Is there anything that makes your house smell better than a yeast bread? Baking a bread leaves me satisfied. There is nothing else that makes me happy.

To make a bread dough:
I followed my pizza dough recipe. But here, instead of whole wheat flour, I used bread flour.

To make the stuffing I used:
2 boiled potatoes
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
pinch of asafetida
pinch ofturmeric
1/2 tsp chat masala
1 tsp corriander powder
1 medium chopped onion
1 garlic clove chopped
2 tbsp chopped corriander leaves
2 chopped green chilis

Heat oil in a pan and add all the tempering items one by one. Then add garlic and onion and saute till they are cooked. Add boiled potatoes and mix well.

(This is how potato stuffed bread looked after it was done)

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Here is another type of filling:

(This is how spinach stuffed bread looked)

1/2 pack of Fresh spinach leaves
1 tsp corriander powder
1 garlic clove finely chopped
2 green chilis
salt to taste
a pinch of asafetida
1 tsp of oil

Wash and chop the spinach leaves. Heat oil in the pan, add asafetida, garlic, green chilis and saute. Add spinach and saute till its cooked. Spinach reduces in volume after its cooked ,so do not use too much oil, since stuffing needs to be dry.Let this stuffing cool down.

To fill the stuffing:
Spread the dough with your fingers and keep a portion of the stuffing at the centre and seal the dough on all sides. Grease the pizza pan and bake the bread at 400 F till the bread gets light brown color. Serve with tomato sauce.

Tofu Stir Fry

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:44:00 +0000

Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 large green bell pepper
1 pack firm tofu
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp olive oil

Method:
Chop onions and green bell pepper into 1 inch cubes. Cut tofu in cubes.Heat oil in a nonstick pan and saute onions for a minute. Add green bell peppers and saute them till they are half cooked. They should remain crispy. Add soy sauce, tomato sauce and vineger and tofu. Mix well till tofu is coated with the sauces.

Tawa Pulao- Mumbai Street Food

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:13:00 +0000

Hi to all the bloggers-old and new. I had been on a long vacation to India for 4 months. Trip was excellent. Mrinal was very happy to meet all our relatives in India. The good thing about this visit was she learnt to talk :). She talks more than me now. She is 2 years and 4 months. We celebrated her 2nd bday in Mumbai. I came back to Baltimore with Mrinal last month. I was not able to keep up with blogging since many days.. infact months....I am glad there are so many new bloggers with wonderful recipes. I missed all the amazing events which took place during my absence.

I wasnt ready with any new recipe. Now here is one without a picture :). I promise i will upload the picture soon.

Ingredients:

1 cup basmati rice
1 medium sized onion chopped in long thin pieces
1 large tomato chopped
1 small green pepper
1/2 cup green peas
1 small red pepper (optional)
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
2 tbsp pav bhaji masala
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera

Method:
1. Wash basmati rice 3-4 times and keep aside for 15 mins. Cook rice in pressure cooker and spread it on a large plate. Add butter on top of the rice and spread with your finger gently. This helps the grains to separate from each other.

2. In a medium size tawa/ pan, heat oil, add cumin seeds, onions, ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute. Add green and red pepper and saute till they are half cooked. Add tomatoes , green peas and saute.

3. Add pav bhaji masala and red chili powder.Add very little water and cook for a minute. Add salt and mix well.

4. Add cooked rice. Add lemon juice and then mix gently.

5. Garnish tawa pulao with coriander leaves.

Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:59:00 +0000

If you are trying cupcakes/ Muffins for the first time, here is the basic and easy recipe. The original recipe called for 2 eggs, I substituted flax seed meal for eggs.

Here is the recipe:

3 cups cake flour sifted
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter or margarine softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs (I used 2 Tbsp flax seed meal mixed in 6 tbsp water)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line pan with baking cups.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
4. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
5. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.
6. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute.
7. Pour into prepared cups.
8. Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean.
9. Cool 10 minutes.
10. Turn out onto cooling rack; cool completely.

I got this recipe from wilton.com.

You can see various recipes for cakes, cupcakes, cookies in this website. And here is something which most of us know but never tried them.

Eggless Banana Blueberry Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:55:00 +0000

I have already posted Banana Walnut bread in my previous posts. Here is the another version of it. I followed the recipe from Mighty Foods.

Recipe is as follows:

2 cups white whole-wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup walnuts, chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup natural cane sugar
2 large organic eggs (I used 1 tbsp Ener-G replacer plus 4 tbsp water mixed thoroughly)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup mashed overripe bananas (about 2 bananas)
1 cup fresh blueberries, toss in a bit of flour to keep them from sinking while baking

Heat oven to 375 and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and 3/4 cup of the walnuts in a bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl using a mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar and egg replacer. Stir in vanilla, yogurt and mashed bananas, then gently mix in dry ingredients; over mixing will result in tough muffins. Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, top with remaining 1/4 cup walnuts, bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Fill cups two-thirds full for regular muffins or to brim for a big-topped version. Spinkle with a bit of sugar here for a nice bit of sweet crusted goodness. Cool for a couple minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Red chilis chutney/Ranjaka

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:06:00 +0000

Ranjaka is a hot red chili chutney usually served with bhakri/roti in karnataka. It can also be used as a red chutney for bhel or any other chaat dishes. It is made of fresh red chilies, however dry red chilies can also be used instead of fresh ones.

15 dry red chilies medium hot (Can use extra hot chilies instead)

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp lemon juice

water

Method:

Soak red chilies for 2 hours. Grind them into paste along with other ingredients adding very little water. Store in a air-tight container in refrigerator.

Ambode/Dal vada

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:04:00 +0000

I found this recipe here. I have written down my measurements below. I followed the procedure though.

Ingredients:
Chana dal: 1 cup
Green chillies: 1
Dry red chillies: 2
Pepper corns: 1/2 tsp
Jeera: 1tsp
Hing: a pinch
Curry leaves: 7-8 small
Coriander leaves: 1 cup chopped
Grated fresh coconut:1/2 cup
Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp powder
Ginger:1 and 1/2 inch
Salt to taste
Ghee: 2 tbsp
Raw rice flour: 1 tbsp
Oil for frying
Onions: 1 small Finely cut
Garlic: 1 small clove

Method:

Wash and soak the chanadal with hing, peppercorns, jeera, green chilies and red chilies for 1 hr. Crush the cinnamon and cloves separately (this will not get crushed with the other ingredients, if ground together in the mixer).

Drain the soaked chanadal with other ingredients to remove all water and grind coarsely with curry leaves ,ginger,crushed cinnamon and cloves and salt. Transfer to a bowl and mix the grated coconut, rice flour, finely cut coriander leaves and ghee. If using onion and garlic, add the finely cut onions and crushed garlic also. Mix well.

(Ambode mixture)

Make small balls of the ground mixture. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, reduce the heat, but retain the temperature of the oil. Take the prepared balls in your palm and pat lightly with the fingers and slide into the hot oil, one by one. Turn the ambodes once inside the oil, so that both sides get cooked evenly.

Remove from oil, when both sides are cooked, drain and serve the crispy ambodes with pudina chutney or tomato sauce.

The less experienced can pat the ambodes on a plastic sheet and gently slide them into oils, taking care not to splash the oil.

Coconut Almond Cake

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:01:00 +0000

Recipe adapted from WWW.indobase.com

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups Unsweetened Desiccated Coconut
• 1 cup Unsalted Butter, softened (I used 4/5th cup)
• 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
• 1-1/3 cups Sugar
• 1 cup Whole Milk
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3 Eggs (I used Ener-G egg re placer: See notes)

How to make Coconut Cake:

•	Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C.
•	Now grease a 10 by 2 inch round cake pan and line bottom with a round of wax paper or parchment.
•	Grease paper and dust pan with flour.
•	Combine flour, baking powder and salt, mix well.
•	Beat butter with mixer till creamy.
•	Gradually beat in sugar on medium speed till pale and smooth.
•	Add vanilla essence to it, keep stirring.
•	Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, mixture may look curdled at this time.
•	Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk in 3 batches over low speed.
•	Raise the speed to medium and beat batter 1-1/2 minutes till soft, now fold in coconut.
•	Spoon batter into the cake pan and spread uniformly.
•	Bake cake in the middle of the oven till golden brown for about 45 to 50 minutes at the temp of 175 C.
•	Cool cake in the pan on a rack for about 1 hour, then invert onto the rack.
•	Remove paper and invert again onto another rack to cool completely.
•	Coconut Cake is ready to serve.

Notes:
1. Instead of eggs, I used egg replacer. I followed the instructions on the carton. For 1 egg substitute 1 and 1/2 tsp egg replacer mixed in 2 tbsp water. Mix well before adding to the cake batter.

2. The batter shouldn't be kept waiting for too long after adding the replacer. The effect of the replacer reduces if not baked immediately.

3. I didnt not use mixer or food processor as mentioned in the recipe. I did it manually.

Peanut and Raisins Clusters

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:36:00 +0000

I found this recipe in a cookbook called Sinfully Vegan. Its a very simple recipe for the beginners. I made few changes in the recipe. I have written down my version of the recipe.

You will need:
1 cup semisweet chocolate-chopped (I used semisweet chocolate morsels)
1/4 cup roasted peanuts (w/o skin)
1/4 cup raisins

Procedure:

Heat the chocolate in the pan.

After its fully melted, add peanuts and raisins and mix well. Take a spoonful of this mixture and drop it on a greased plate and freeze until hard.

Remove and store in the refrigerator in a airtight container.

Eggless Zebra Cake and Smiling Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:06:00 +0000

I hunted for eggless zebra cake recipes on web, but there were very few of them. I had flax seed powder on hand, so wanted to use that as egg substitute. Since I did not want to use soda or any other substitutes, I decided to take chances. I had no hopes for fluffy and soft cake, since a few cakes before this (using flax seed powder) didnt come out too well.

But surprisingly, this time, zebra cake was amazingly soft. I followed the recipe from Sailus food. She has used eggs in her recipes. Her cake looks very fluffy. Initially I wasn't sure about my cake, so I made a small cake measuring half of the quantity of whatever she used.

So, here is her recipe (and my measurements):

1/2 cup sugar (See my notes)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup oil (corn, vegetable or canola)
1 cups maida/all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
2 tbsps dark cocoa powder
2 eggs (I used 2 tbsp flax seed powder mixed in 6 tbsp of water)

I followed the same procedure:

1. Combine eggs(flax seed mixture)and sugar in a bowl till light and creamy. Add milk, oil and vanilla essence and beat till smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, combine maida and baking pwd. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are completely incorporated. Do not overbeat.
3. Divide the batter into two. Add the cocoa pwd to one portion and combine well.
4. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease the baking pan. The most important part is assembling the cake batter in a baking pan. Pour 3 heaped tablespoons of plain batter into the middle of the baking pan. Then pour 3 tablespoons of cocoa batter in the center on top of the plain batter. Continue alternating with plain and cocoa batter without pausing for the batter to spread.

5. Bake for 40 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake it should come out clean when ready. Remove from the oven. Run a small thin knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake. Leave aside for 15 mts and invert the cake onto a cooling rack. Turn the cake back over and cool further.

My notes:

1. I felt sweetness of the cake was bit less. So I think instead of 1/2 cup sugar, I should have added 2/3 cup sugar.

I also tried muffins with the same batter. But I couldnt make the decoration properly as on the cake.

Instead of Zebra muffins, I would rather call them as "Smiling muffins" Look how they are smiling at you.

Mango Semolina Cake

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:51:00 +0000

My 16 months old daughter, Mrinal, just couldn't stop eating this cake. It is indeed very delicious. It tastes just like Mango Rava kesari. But in the cake form. I found this recipe at redchillies.us. Oh my, I just couldn't take my eyes off the cake. Especially the color of the cake drives me crazy. It looks so tempting. Original recipe is from here.

Ingredients:
1 cup and 1 teaspoon of Rawa/Sooji
1 cup Mango pulp
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking powder
Some ground Elaichi (I used 1 tsp vanilla extract instead)

Method

Mix all the ingredients and bake at 375 degrees for 25/30 minutes. Check with a fork to see if properly baked. Cut and Serve.

Optional:

Arrange cashew nuts on the mixture (before baking) so that it forms a grid for cutting. One cashew should be at the centre of every piece.

Creamy Celery Soup

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:57:00 +0000

Celery and Potato teamed together make an interesting duo. Adding potato gives it a nice creamy texture to the soup.

3 stalks of celery chopped
1 large potato peeled and chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1 tsp ground pepper
1 cup vegetable stock/water
salt to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

How to make soup: Heat oil and saute onion till they are tender.. Add celery and potatoes and saute. Add vegetable stock and let it cook on medium flame. Once the vegetables are tender, keep it aside and let it cool down.I saved few cooked veggies for later. Blend the mixture in the food processor until creamy. Add the saved veggies to the soup if you want chunky soup. Add pepper and salt. Garnish the soup with celery leaves on top.

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I am sending my Flax seed and Apple Muffins to Bangalore Baker's Bake Off event

Flax seeds and Apple Muffins (Eggless)

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:40:00 +0000

Also known as Agasi/Akshi in Kannada, Jawas/Javas (जवस) or Alashi (अळशी) in Marathi. Flax seeds are good source of fiber and Omega-3 fatty acids. It is gluten free and contains no cholesterol and sugar. Milled flax seed can replace butter, oil and eggs.

I found this wonderful recipe on 'Hodgson Mill's Milled Flax seed' carton.

The original recipe was as follows:
1/4 cup Milled flax seed
3/4 cup whole wheat graham flour
3/4 cup white flour (I used whole wheat flour instead)
1/2 cup sugar (I used light brown sugar)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten (I used 1 tbsp extra milled flax seed mixed in 3 tbsp of water, instead of egg)
1-1/2 cups finely chopped apples (I used apples and sugar pears)
3 tbsp vegetable oil (I used peanut oil)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Blend dry ingredients in a bowl. In a seperate bowl, combine egg (flax seed mixture, here), veg oil and milk. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture (flax seed mixture) and stir until just blended. Fold in apples and nuts. Batter will be thick. Fill well greased muffins cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degree F for 18-20 mins or top springs back when touched.
Yield: 12 muffins

Notes:
The recipe says the batter will be thick, but i added 1/4 cup milk in the end since I added wheat flour, my batter was just like cookie dough after i added apples and nuts. Since i was unable to mix it well, I had to add milk to make it bit thin. Well, this is optional. Of course, I added extra sugar to make it more sweet since adding milk reduces the sweetness.

Eggless Banana Walnut Bread with Chocolate Chips

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:21:00 +0000

Banana bread is a cake-like bread. Banana bread is usually a quick bread which uses baking soda as the leavening agent instead of yeast.

Here is what you need:
1 cup Flour
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted melted butter
1 cup Sugar (I used 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar)
2 tbsp flax seed meal (mixed in 6 tbsp water)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (I used 2 and 1/2 large bananas)
1/3 cup Milk
1/2 cup walnuts chopped
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Here is how I made it:
Blend together butter and sugar till the mixture is creamy. Add banana, vanilla extract and flax seed meal mixture.In a seperate mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients and mix.

Add flour mixture to the butter mixture in parts. Add milk in alternate with flour mixture.

Blend everything well untill the batter becomes thick. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips, and pour into a greased loaf pan. I used 10" x 5" size loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven at 325 degrees for 80 mins. Insert a toothpick to check whether its done.

Bananas make the cake very moist and you will definately not miss the eggs :)

Tips:
You can also use this batter for banana muffins.

Chunky Pineapple Jam

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:34:00 +0000

You will need:
2 cups chopped pineapple
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
2 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4th cup sugar or according to taste. You might have to may require more sugar if the pineapple is sour.

Heat butter in a thick bottomed pan,add pineapples cubes and saute till they are tender. Add sugar and mix well. Cook till the pineapple oozes out its juice and thickens. Add cardamom and nutmeg powder. Turn off the gas when the pineapple jam gets sticky and thread like consistency. Let it cool down before serving.

Tips:

If you dont want the jam to be chunky, You can blend the pineapple cubes in the food processor and use it instead of the pineapple cubes in this recipe.
Stays good for 5-7 days at room temperature. For longer shelf life, refrigerate it.

Matar Paneer

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:22:00 +0000

Ingredients:
1 cup Frozen or fresh green peas
1 chopped onion
2 chopped tomatoes
1 cup fried paneer cubes
1 tsp ginger garlic finely chopped
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp red chili powder
salt to taste
sugar to taste
1 tbsp oil
3/4 cup milk

Procedure:
Heat oil in a pan, add ginger garlic, onions and saute till onions are cooked. Add chopped tomatoes and saute till tomatoes are tender. Let this mixture cool down. Add garam masala, red chili powder, salt and sugar. Grind the mixture in the blender by adding very little milk. Cook this paste in the pan. Add frozen or fresh peas. Add the remaining milk and cook for 6-8 mins on medium flame till the peas are cooked.

Fry paneer cubes in another pan till they are light brown in color. Remove excess oil with the paper towel. Add these cubes to the gravy and enjoy the dish with Naan or Parathas.

Thai Cuisine- Vegetarian Pad Thai

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:50:00 +0000

This is simplest Thai dish made with rice noodles. The original recipe calls for fish sauce, shrimp, egg and other non vegetarian ingredients but here is the vegetarian version of this dish.

You will need:
Chopped vegetables (i used baby corn, carrots, cauliflower, green pepper, green peas, handful of Beans spourts, onion)
Rice noodles (I used 1/3 of the noodles)
Tamarind paste/ lemon juice
Chopped garlic 1 clove)
Soy sauce (2 tsp)
Chili sauce (I used 2 tbsp)
Sugar (to set off tanginess)
Salt to taste
Olive oil (2 tbsp)
Corriander leaves finely chopped
Firm tofu (cut into small cubes)
Coarsely ground peanuts (optional)

Here is the method:
Soak rice noodles in hot water till they are tender.It will take about half an hour.Heat oil in a wide bottomed pan, saute onion, beans and other vegetables till they are half done. Beans tend to reduce in quantity after they are cooked. Now, add tamarind paste, soy sauce, chili sauce, salt and mix well. Drain water from noodles and add it to the pan and stir. Do not over mix. Add tofu while serving. Garnish with corriander leaves and peanuts.

Fruit Salad With Custard

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:59:00 +0000

I prefer custard with almost all my desserts... sounds crazy right??? its always been my favourite.. i usually prepare this way..I add 2 tsps of custard in 1/4 cup of cold milk. In seperate pan, i heat milk bring it to boil, i add this custard mixture to the milk while boiling and boil for another couple of mins till custard is cooked. I then add sugar (according to ur taste). Keep stirring this mixture untill u turn off the gas or else it will burn at the bottom.. It should be a thick liquid.
I add chopped fruits like apple, banana , blueberries, kiwi, strawberries, pineapple once the custard cools down. It usually thickens after it cools down. So make it bit watery so that it will get the right consistency after its cooled. Top it with ice cream.

Most of the times i make very thick custard and pour it into a container and keep it in the refrigerator for half an hour. I then invert the container on a plate and enjoy the custard as it is. I love this form. It looks like jelly :)

Guacamole

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:55:00 +0000

Gaucamole is a Mexican dip made from fresh avocadoes and other seasonings. Its is generally served along with corn chips.

Here is what you need:
5 Avocadoes
1 medium sized Red Onion
1 plum Tomato
1 cup chopped Cilantro leaves
2-3 hot Green chilies
salt
1 tsp Lemon juice

Mash the avocados with fork. I prefer guacamole to be chunky. So fork will do a better job. Add finely chopped onions and tomatoes. Add chopped cilantro, green chilies and lemon juice. Add salt in the end. You can add pepper powder if you like and you are done. This is the easiest recipe ever.

Tips:
Always keep this dip covered. It tends to change its color when exposed to air for a long time.

Whole wheat cups

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:30:00 +0000

THE BIG BITE

I tried them using leftover atta on gunpongalu mold. Take small balls of atta and press them over the mold. Heat them on low flame. toss them over and heat them on other side. They will look like small bowls.I made 4 of them. I added some of the common ingredients to each of the bowls i.e. chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, cilantro leaves. Then i added 4 different toppings on each of them. I used toamato ketchup on one, mozerella cheese on other, italian seasoning on the 3rd bowl and vanilla flavour yogurt on the last one.

You can try different variations in topping. Mint chutney, mango chutney, guacamole or any orher of your choice. They taste really good. Kids will love them as chaat.

Papaya Halwa

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:47:00 +0000

Here s what you need:
1 medium ripe papaya chopped
1/2 cup cashews
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder (optional)
1 and 1/2 cup sugar or to taste
1 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 cup milk

Procedure:
Heat butter in a pan, fry cashews till they are light brown in color. To this, add chopped papaya cubes and cook for few mins. Then add milk and let the mixture cook until papaya turns soft and is easily mashable with the spoon.Add sugar and cook for a while. Once the halwa gets oily texture, add cardamon powder and nutmeg powder and mix well.

All Parathas

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:02:00 +0000

Hi friends, I am back with new recipes. Hope you all had a good year. Its been 1 year since i quit blogging. My daughter Mrinal is will be 1 year this month. She has been so far a good baby :)
But will see if she lets me blog for atleast couple of hours in a week, since she gets mad at me whenever i sit in front of the comp.....lolz.

Veg cheese parathas

For dough:
Add salt and oil to 1 cup whole wheat flour and knead into a medium hard dough using water.
Keep it aside for 15 to 20 mins.

Cook 1 cup of chopped vegetables in cooker adding very little water.I used potatoes, carrots, green peas. Mash them and add salt, 1 tsp chaat masala/garam masala, 1 tsp red chili powder, 1/2 tsp roated cumin powder, tsp roasted corriander powder, chopped corriander leaves, few drops of lemon juice.Heat a pan and saute the above mixture till its completely dry. Add grated mozarella cheese and mix well.

Now, make small balls of dough and flatten each ball using the rolling pin. Take a small portion of the vegetable mixture and keep it on the flattened dough. Seal the vegetable mixture and roll it. Thichness should be medium. If too thin, it will stick to the surface while rolling, if too thick it will be too heavy in weight. You wouldnt want someone throwing them back at you :)

Bake parathas on both sides on preheated pan till small brown spots appear. Serve them with Raita and paneer jalfrezi.

Moong Dal Parathas

F0r dough:
You can follow the dough recipe which i mentioned above.

Moong dal stuffing:
Cook moong dal in cooker. Dont add too much of water while cooking. Even if you add too much, you can correct it by heating the dal in a round bottom pan, untill its dry. Add green chilis, cumin powder, corriander powder, salt, ginger. Mix and mash everything. Make small balls of dal and stuff in the paratha dough like the way i did for veg cheese parathas(see above). Flatten each paratha and bake on both sides. Serve moong dal parathas with pickle and paneer side dish.

Mooli paratha

For dough:Please follow my dough recipe which i have mention in above recipe.

For mooli stuffing:
Grate raddishes. I used small red raddishes. The color of paratha looks really good when the parathas are done. Add chopped green chilis, salt, few drops of lemon juice, cumin powder, coriander powder. Saute this raddish mixture on a pan till all the water is evaporated.Dont add oil while doing this. Take small portion of this mixture and stuff into the paratha dough and flatten it.Flatten each into paratha and bake on both sides. Serve mooli parathas with chutney and eggplant gravy.

Green peas parathas

i follow the same method which i did for mooli parathas. I cooked green peas in cooker. I added same ingredients. Mashed the peas and sauted them in pan. I then added coriander leaves and chaat masala. Again followed the remaining method as above.

Mango Chatni

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Ingredients:
1 Medium sized raw mango grated
Jaggery (Equal to grated mango quantity if mango too sour)
1/4 cup dry coconut powder
2 tsp red chili powder
salt

For tempering:
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
A pinch of asafetida

How to make:
1. Peel mango and grate it.
2.Heat oil, add urad dal, fenugreek seeds and asafetida and fry them.
3. In a bowl, mix grated mango, jaggery, red chili powder, salt and coconut.
4. Add tadka to this above mixture and grind it into chutney.Do not add water while grinding.
This chutney can be stored upto 3 days at room temperature.

Charote-Sweet Dish

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:51:00 +0000

This is a sweet dish prepared in Karnataka especially during Diwali festival. My mom prepared this dish during the festival. I want to share it with you all. It made of Sooji Rava and All purpose flour. I bought All purpose flour specially for preparing this dish (I had not bought this flour before, as I had mentioned in my Whole Wheat veg pizza ;)).

For charote:
1 cup Charote Rava/fine sooji rava
1/4 cup All purpose flour
Ghee/clarified butter for frying
1 tbsp or according to requirement- Rice flour and clarified butter paste (Mix both together to form paste)

For syrup:
few strands of Saffron
3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cardamom powder

How to make:
1. Mix rava , all purpose flour, a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp hot clarified butter and mix well. Knead this mixture into a dough. It should be like chapati dough. Keep this dough aside for 2 hours. Cover it with damp cloth.
2. Take 2 small portions of the dough and flatten them into thin chapatis with a rolling pin. Apply the rice flour and butter paste (See above) on 1 chapati and keep another chapati over it.
3. Now roll these chapatis (Like spring rolls). Apply rice flour paste on each layer and then cut this roll into 1 inch pieces. Repeat this step for the remaining portions of the dough.
4. Now flatten each piece in desired shape and deep fry them into hot clarified butter. These are your charotes.
5. Meanwhile prepare syrup. Heat water and sugar in a pan and boil it till it becomes bit thick and sticky. Add saffron and cardamom powder to this mixture.
6. Drop each fried charotes into this syrup and keep them soaked in it for 2 mins.
Serve them hot.

Here are more clear pictures of how to make charotes. Click here.

Eggplant Coconut Gravy

noreply@blogger.com (ANJALI J.) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:09:00 +0000

1 large Eggplant chopped in 1 inch chunks

For gravy:
1/4 cup coconut
3-4 green chilis
1 tbsp coriander
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 clove garlic
1 tsp ginger
salt
1 tbsp coarsely ground peanuts
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
water

For tempering:
oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
A pinch of asafetida

How to make:
1. Heat oil in a pan, add all tempering items one by one.
2. Add chopped eggplant chunks and saute them till they are cooked.
3. Meanwhile grind all the gravy items together in a ginder. Ad water according to requirement. The gravy shouldnt be too watery.
4. Add this gravy to the eggplant and let it cook for a while.
5. Add salt and mix well.

Serve this gravy with hot parathas/rotis.