My Kitchen Experiments

Chinese Scallion Pancake / Spring Onion Pancake

2012-02-22T02:57:00.000-05:00

Whenever I visit Indian shops, I find these scallion pancakes in the frozen section. Once, I bought them along with flaky paratha(which I used for making vegetable kothu paratto) and found the procedure for making it is almost similar to flaky paratha.

After knowing this, I prepared them at home using all purpose flour and wheat flour. The authentic recipe calls only all purpose flour. but, you can use only wheat flour for making it. The taste willbe more or less same.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 45 minutes
Idle Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Makes: 6

Ingredients:

All purpose flour/ Plain flour/ Maida - 1 cup
Wheat flour/ Atta - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Hot Water - 3/4 cup - 1 cup
Oil - 2-4 tablespoons
Spring onion - 1 cup, finely chopped

Method:

1) In a mixing bowl, mix all purpose flour, wheat flour and salt.

2) Add water little at a time and make a soft dough. Knead it for 10 minutes to make smooth dough. Cover and keep aside for 30 minutes.

3) After 30 minutes, divide the dough into equal size balls.

4) Take one ball in a floured kitchen surface and roll it to approx.20 CM wide. Make sure the dough is not sticking with the surface.

5) Apply a teaspoon or 2 in the rolled dough's surface using a brush.
6) Sprinkle a tablespoon of spring onion in the oiled surface.

7) Then, fold it in a zigzag manner(like a chinese fan) and as shown in the picture. You can also roll it like a cigar/rug.

8) At the end, make swirl/snail form as shown in the picture. Press down lightly using your fingers.

9) Gently roll it to 1/8th thickness with 10CM wide.

10) Heat the skillet. When it is hot, place the rolled pancake to it.

11) When one side is cooked, flip to cook other side. Make sure the flame is low to avoid burning outside. Use oil to cook if necessary.

12) When both the sides are cooked, cut into wedges and serve hot with any of your favourite sauce.

Potato Masala Gravy / Urulaikilangu Masala Kulambu

2012-02-16T12:28:00.001-05:00

This is one of the gravies which I learnt from my MIL, took many attempts for me to get the desired taste. As it is my family's favourite, I mostly prepare every week and learned to make the perfect one now. but still I feel her preparation gives some extra taste to the gravy. With the help of her, I am posting all the steps below.

The gravy is a best substitute for any non-veg recipes. You can also simply substitute the potato with chicken/ meat. Click here to see the chicken version. The non-veg version is easy and you can easily get the taste and it is not that difficult like this gravy. All the ingredients are very important, at the same time you can change the quantity as per taste.

Basic Information:
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For Gravy:

Baby potatoes - 15-20 nos, skin removed
Shallots - 1/2 cup, sliced (As I didn't get shallots here, I used Red Onion)
Tomato - 2 nos, small size, chopped
Ginger - a small piece
Garlic - 2 cloves, medium size
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Any vegetable oil - Tablespoon
Gingelly oil - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 1 string
Mustard seeds and urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Water - 1 cup 1/2 cup or as required

For Masala:

Coriander seeds - 1 and 1/2 tablespoons
Dry red chillies - 6 nos
Rice grains - 1 tablespoon
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
Poppy seeds - 1 teaspoon
Black pepper - 1/4 teaspoon

Method:

1) In a heavy bottom pan, dry roast the ingredients given for masala.

2) Allow it to cool to room temperature and make a fine powder of it. Keep it aside.

3) Using a mixer, make a paste of ginger and garlic and keep it aside.
4) Wipe off the same pan or in another pan, heat a tablespoon of oil.
5) Add mustard seeds and urid dal when it is hot. Allow it to splutter.

6) Add the onion and the curry leaves and saute till onion turns soft.

7) Add ginger garlic paste(as prepared in step 3) and continue sauteing for a minute or two.

8) Add chopped tomato and saute till it gets mushy.

9) Add the baby potatoes. Add water, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well.

10) Reduce the flame to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or till the potatoes get cooked well.

11) Once the potatoes are cooked, add the masala powder(as prepared in step 2) and water. Mix well without any lumps.

12) Cook for another 5-10 minutes in medium flame.
13) Pour in the gingelly oil and increase the flame for a minute and turn of the heat. We usually prepare gravy in slightly thick consistency.

14) Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed white rice.

Note:
1) You can add 1/2 teaspoon of fennel seeds and 1 inch cinnamon stick to the masala if you prefer.
2) Increase/ decrease the black pepper and dry red chilli as per your level of spiciness.
3) Instead of baby potato, you can use normal potato. Slice them into cubes and use in gravy.
4) Increase the water quantity as per the desired consistency. You can also mix the masala with water and add to the gravy to avoid lumps.
5) You can also use baby potato with skin if you prefer.

Strawberry Lemoncurd Tart

2012-02-14T08:44:00.001-05:00

Does celebrating/showing love to your loved one require a gift?

One of my friends quoted in face book,

"If you are with the right person, everyday is your valentine's day"

I find above words are absolutely true. However, I understand that the definition and celebration of love differs from person to person and it is nothing wrong to buy a gift according to their capabilities and make their loved one more happy on special days like today. At the same time, one need to understand that getting/giving gifts alone won't fulfil the heart. I will never stop if I start talking about it. Before that, let me go for today's recipe.

When I prepared Lemon curd, preparing a lemon curd tart from the scratch was also in my to-do list using it. My web search yielded many results among which I selected this as it used the strawberry coulis too (which I prepared for my breakfast bread) for filling of tart.

This is my first experience of making a sweet tart. My attempt gave me a proper results but the edges of the tarts were shrunk a little after baking. If you want to prepare it in a quick way, buy a ready roll shortcrust pastry, bake it and enjoy with your own creative filling.

As I used my leftover strawberry coulis for this recipe, I couldn't show stepwise pictures for it. I'll be posting a detail and separate post for strawberry couli for sure in upcoming days.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Idle Time: 45 minutes (30 minutes for shortcrust pastry and 15 minutes for final set)
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Makes: 12 mini tarts

Ingredients:

For Sweet Shortcrust Pastry:

All purpose flour/ Plain flour/ Maida - 2 cups
Caster sugar - 3 tablespoons
Cold butter - 1/2cup + 2 tablespoons
Iced water - 3 tablespoons

For Strawberry Coulis:

Strawberry - 1/2 cup, cut into small pieces
butter - 1 tablespoon
Sugar - 2 tablespoons
Cornstarch - 1/8 teaspoon
Water - 1 tablespoon
Strawberry - 3 nos, sliced, for decorating

For Lemon Curd:

Lemon curd - 12 tablespoons (Click here to see how to prepare lemon curd)

Method:

For Sweet Shortcrust Pastry:

1) In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and the butter.

2) Make a fine bread crumbs like flour mixture as shown in picture.

3) Add water little at a time and make a smooth dough. Sometimes, you can form smooth dough using 2 tablespoons of water itself.

4) Knead it lightly and keep inside the bowl covering with the cling film.

5) Keep this dough inside the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
6) Meanwhile, prepare strawberry coulis and lemon curd. Make them to cool to a room temperature.(Steps for these two are given below)
7) Preheat the oven to 350F/176C.
8) Roll the cold pastry on a floured kitchen surface until 1/8inch thick.

9) Place them inside the tart tins and form the proper shape as shown in the picture. Make sure the pastry is sticking with the tin.

10) Place the parchment paper over it and fill with the baking weights. If you don't have the baking weight, use dried chickpeas or uncooked rice or dried beans or coins. Bake it exactly for 10 minutes.

11) Remove the weights and bake again for another 10 minutes or until the crust slightly changes into golden brown in colour.
12) Allow it to cool for a while.

For Strawberry Coulis:

1) In a saucepan, melt butter and sugar. Heat till the butter melts.
2) Add strawberries and reduce the flame to low. Continue stirring till the strawberry becomes soft. Allow it to cool to a room temperature.
3) After cooling, blend it until smooth.
4) Pour the blended paste to a sauce pan again. Mix corn starch in a tablespoon of water and mix with strawberry paste. Heat it for sometime or until it becomes thick.
5) Strawberry couli is ready now. Cool and refrigerate.

For Assembling:

1) Take a tart, pour a teaspoon of strawberry couli into it. Keep this as a bottom layer.

2) Next top with the one or two tablespoons of lemon curd. Decorate it with sliced strawberries.

3) Keep inside the refrigerator for sometime to set the curd.

4) Repeat this with remaining tarts and enjoy!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!!!

Stuffed Braided Bread

2012-02-10T10:10:00.000-05:00

Hi All, Hope you all are doing good. I am back with braided bread. I bookmarked this recipe from Sangee's Spicy treats. I tried it twice and the results were awesome. They were really easy to prepare except the factor of time.

When I was about to try it for the first time, I thought of preparing a tomato, basil and cheese stuffing to make the bread pure Italian. But the recipe called for cheese in larger quantity. So, I decided to change the stuffing. I tried first time with mixed vegetables for dinner. Next time, I used basic samosa stuffing. Both the versions came out good. I am planning to prepare minced meat next time for the stuffing.

This is the advantage of using the stuffing bread. They allow customisation easily. Substitute ingredients according to your wish for the stuffing and enjoy!

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Idle Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 10-20 minutes
Makes: 2 medium size breads

Ingredients:

For Bread:

All purpose flour/Plain flour/Maida - 1 and 1/2 cup
Wheat flour / Atta - 1/2 cup
Active dry yeast - 1 packet/7g
Olive Oil - 2 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Milk - 1/2 cup + extra for making soft dough and for brushing.

For Stuffing:

Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Oil - 2 teaspoons
Potato - 3 large nos, boiled, roughly chopped
Fresh green peas - 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Garam masala - a pinch
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Amchoor powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Chat masala - 1/2 teaspoon

Method:

For Stuffing:

1) Heat Oil in a wide pan and add cumin seeds when it is hot.

2) Add potato and peas to the pan. Mix well and cook till the peas cook well.(You can also cook peas separately and then add to the pan).

3) Add salt, turmeric powder, garam masala, red chilli powder, coriander powder, amchoor powder and chat masala. Mix well and cook until the raw smell of masala goes off.

4) The stuffing is ready and keep aside until you prepare the dough.

For Dough:

1) In a small bowl, mix yeast and 1/2 cup of warm milk. Set it aside for 5-7 minutes for proving. Keep aside.
2) In a large mixing bowl, add all purpose flour and wheat flour. Mix well.
3) Add salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix again roughly.

4) Add the yeast and milk mixture to the flour mixture. Add the remaining milk slowly using one hand and simultaneously mix the flour using the other hand. Make a smooth dough. Take care to add only sufficient milk to make soft dough.

5) Knead it for 10-15 minutes in kitchen surface. The dough should spring back when you touch the surface of the dough at the end of kneading.
6) Grease the bowl and coat the dough using 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil. Place the dough inside the bowl and cover using a cling sheet.

7) Keep near the warm place for an hour or till the dough raises double in size.
8) Meanwhile, prepare stuffing as prescribed above of the these steps and line the parchment paper in the baking tray. Sprinkle some cornmeal or semolina over it for rolling the bread(Optional). Set aside.

9) After an hour, push back the dough and knead again for 5 minutes. Then, divide it into 2 equal portions.

10) Take one ball and roll it in a kitchen surface into a oval shape. Use flour to help the rolling.

11) Place the potato masala in the center of the oval shaped dough leaving space around it.

12) Using a sharp knife, make inclined cuts of about an inch wide as shown in the picture. Make sure there is an equal number of slices on each side and to make proper strips/fringed ribbons which helps for braiding.

13) Start braiding now. Fold the bottom and top of the dough towards filling and begin folding the strips over the filling, lapping them alternately as shown in the picture. Finish the folding and transfer the loaf into the prepared baking tray.

14) Repeat the same procedure for other dough ball and place it in the baking tray. Cover the tray using cling wrap.

15) Let it sit for 30 minutes for second rise.

16) Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
17) After 30 minutes, brush it with milk and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of it. Keep inside the oven.

18) Bake it for 10-12 minutes or until the top of the bread changes into golden brown.
19) Once the bread is ready, remove from oven and sprinkle some grated cheese on top(optional) of it and cool for 5 minutes.
20) Slice into pieces and serve warm or hot.

Note:
1) Stuffing can be varied as per your personal preference.
2) You can also roll the dough into rectangle shape instead of oval and proceed with the remaning steps. In this case, cup the ends of the bread after braiding with your palms and compress the bread into an oblong, well shaped loaf. Prefer as per your comfortability.
3) The baking time vary with respect to oven. It might sometimes take 30 minutes to get the breads done.
4) You can refrigerate/freeze this bread for future use.

Sandesh / Cottage Cheese Fudge

2012-01-22T20:27:00.001-05:00

Sandesh is for my last day of Blogging marathon. I thought, I already have 7 recipes for 7 days but today when I sat for blogging, I found that the recipe for last day was missing in my drafts. Immediately, I prepared this easy sweet dish. It is easy too if you have fresh paneer at home. It became around 6 PM in the evening by the time I finished this recipe and the natural light had vanished. So, I was forced to take pictures under the florescent light. Hope you like the pictures and enjoy the dish as well. Here you go...

Basic Information:
Preparation & Cooking time: 45 - 50 minutes
Makes: 8 nos

Ingredients:

Paneer - 1 cup, crumbled
Granulated sugar - 1/4 cup
Cardamom - 2 nos
Saffron streaks - a small pinch
Pistachio nuts - 1 tablespoon, roughly crushed

Method:

1) Mix sugar and cardamom together and make a powder of it using a coffee grinder or mixer. Keep it aside.
2) Knead the crumbled paneer for 5-10 minutes.

3) Towards the end of kneading, add sugar, cardamom mixture and saffron. Try to make a small ball now using a pinch of paneer. If you are able to make a smooth ball, then you can proceed with the next step. Otherwise, continue kneading.

4) Heat a pan in a medium heat. Add the kneaded paneer.

5) Cook it on low heat by constantly stirring it. Initially the paneer looks like thick dough and doesn't form a shape as shown in the picture.

6) After 15-20 minutes, you can see the paneer becomes thick, starts coming together and doesn't stick to the pan. At this time, remove from heat.

7) Allow it to cool for a while. After some time, knead it again for 5 minutes.
8) Divide them into equal balls and make desired shapes.

9) Garnish it with pistachio nuts. Keep in refrigerator for some time and serve chill.

10) When it is cooling down, it will become hard a bit.

Note:
1) Try to prepare sandesh using fresh paneer. If you don't have paneer, try replace it with ricotta cheese. It will also work out.
2) Do not heat after the paneer forms a thick dough. Otherwise, you will ended up with paneer crumbles which you can't use for making shapes.
3) At the same time, do not allow the sauteed/cooked paneer to sit for long time. Make shapes when it is slightly warm. This helps making perfect shapes.
4) You can also add milk powder/corn starch before cooking the paneer in pan. But I felt adding corn starch made the Sandesh litter harder than usual. So, I skipped adding it this time while preparing it.

I'm linking this recipe to Srivalli's Blogging Marathon #12 under the theme of paneer. Check out what others are cooking by clicking it here.

Paneer Bhurji / Scrambled Cottage Cheese

2012-01-21T19:34:00.000-05:00

Here comes another paneer recipe from me. The recipe was sleeping in the draft section for a long time. Finally, it has come out today to be published for the blogging marathon event. Thanks to the event.

This is one of the easiest paneer recipes, which can be prepared in a jiffy and at the same time gives a delicious taste. You will find a big list of serving suggestions for this recipe. It can be used as a stuffing for sandwich, side dish for roti/rice, stuffing for tortilla roll, can be used as a topping for bruschetta or can be eaten directly with spoon. I prefer the last option :-)

As TH and I like capsicum a lot, I added them with this dish. You can add any vegetables available at hand or simply go only with paneer. Everything goes out well with this dish.

Basic Information:

Preparation Time: <15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 3

Ingredients:

Paneer - 1 cup, crumbled
Capsicum - 1/2 cup, cubed, any colour
Peas - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1/4 cup, finely chopped
Tomato - 1/4 cup, finely chopped
Green chilli - 2 no, slice vertically
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 teaspoons
Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Method:

1) Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and sliced green chillies. Allow it to crackle.
2) Add onion and saute well till it turns translucent.
3) Add tomato saute till it get completely mashes.
4) Add red chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. Mix well.
5) Add capsicums and peas. Stir fry for 5 minutes.
6) Add crumbled paneer and continue frying for another 2-3 minutes. Initially paneer forms a sticky texture but after few minutes, it will again get the crumble texture.
7) Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/rice. We enjoyed it as stuffing for tortilla.

Note:
1) If you are making paneer at home, use the excess, shapeless corners while cutting into cubes for preparing this bhurji.
2) Store bought paneer also gives a best result for this dish.
3) Add any vegetables as per your choice.

Check out what others are cooking for Blogging Marathon by clicking it here.

Paneer Jalfrezi

2012-01-20T21:07:00.000-05:00

I had been thinking kadai paneer and paneer jalfrezi are one and the same untill I visited an Indian restaurant here. The reason behind my assumption is that the ingredients required for making both the dishes were common. But after seeing the menu card at the curry house here, I was little curious to know what's the difference.

So, once I returned home, after few searches, my conclusion is here.

The dish grabs the name from its cooking method rather than the recipe of it. During the period of British rule, the dish was named as it involved cooking / reheating the left-over roasted meat through stir-frying by adding extra chillies/sauces.

Over a period of time, Indian restaurants have adopted this cooking method, however the meat is not the left-over, instead they use fresh meat/vegetables to make this jalfrezi.

As it is stir fried, the ingredients like onion and other vegetables are clearly visible in this dish.

I hope these details are sufficient to understand what is paneer jalfrezi and how it differs from kadai paneer. Now, off to the recipe.
(Minimised adopted from Indiacurry)

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Paneer - 1 cup, 1 inch cubes
Capsicum - 1 cup, any colour, thinly sliced
Onion - 1 no, medium size, sliced
Tomato - 1 no, large size, sliced
Ginger garlic paste - 2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon (see notes)
Coriander seeds - 1 teaspoon (see notes)
Dry red chilli - 2 nos, crushed
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Amchoor powder/Lemon juice- 1/4 -1/2 teaspoon
Garam Masala - a big pinch
Turmeric powder - a big pinch
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 teaspoons
Coriander leaves - 1 tablespoon, for garnishing

Method:

1) Dry roast cumin seeds, coriander powder and dry red chilli. Pound coarsely. You can you mortal and pestle for this.
2) Heat oil in a pan and add ground ingredients once it is hot. Fry it well. Make sure not to burn the masala here.
3) Add onion and fry till it gets cooked and retains its shape.

4) Add ginger garlic paste and stir fry for a minute.

5) Add tomato and fry it for another 2-3 minutes.

6) Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, amchoor powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and salt. Cook until the raw smell of masala goes off.

7) Add capsicum followed by paneer and stir fry it till both cook well.

8) Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with roti or pulao.

Note:
1) I used both coriander powder and seeds as family preference. you can go for any one for preparing this dish.
2) You can also add the ground ingredients (as said in step 1) with masalas instead of adding them initially.
3) Increase the lemon juice/amchoor powder as per taste. If you are using lemon juice add it at the end of preparation.

I'm linking this recipe to Srivalli's Blogging Marathon #12 under the theme of paneer. Check out what others are cooking by clicking it here.

Chilli Paneer

2012-01-19T20:31:00.001-05:00

Today's special is Chilli Paneer - dry version. I love Indo-Chinese cuisine simply because of its sweet-sour-hot and spicy taste. I prefer preparing this dry version over the normal chilli paneer.

The preparation procedure is almost similar to Gobi Manchurian. A great dish with a very minimal effort. With no further stories, here I go...

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30-40 minutes
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

For Frying:

Paneer - 2 cups, 1 inch size cubes
All purpose flour/Maida/Plain flour - 2 tablespoons
Corn flour - 2 tablespoons
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Oil - for shallow frying

For Prepareing Chilli Paneer:

Oil - 3 teaspoons
Green chillies - 2 nos, finely chopped
Onion - 1/4 cup, finely chopped
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 teaspoon
Capsicum - 1 no, cubed, any colour
Tomato sauce/Tomato ketchup - 1-2 tablespoons
Red chilli Sauce - 1 teaspoon (see notes)
Dark soy sauce - 2 teaspoons (see notes)
Salt - to taste
Black pepper powder - to sprinkle
Spring onion - for garnishing

Method:

For Frying:

1) Mix all the ingredients (except paneer and oil) mentioned under the category "For Frying" in a mixing bowl.

2) Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of water and make a thick paste out of the mixture. The paste should be thick and not watery. Taste it and adjust the salt and spice as it suits you.

3) Add paneer and toss it well to allow the paste to be coated well.

4) Heat oil in a wide pan. Once it is hot, shallow fry the paneer until its skin turn golden brown. You can also deep fry paneer or bake it in a preheated oven for 200C for 15-20 minutes or until paneer turns golden brown.

5) Transfer it to a plate and keep it aside.

For Preparing Chilli Paneer:

1) In the same pan, drain out the leftover oil and add 3 teaspoons of oil. Add green chillies once it is hot.

2) After a minute, add onion and fry it till it turns translucent. If you are using spring onion, add the base part it with the onion and fry it.

3) Add ginger garlic paste. Fry for a minute.

4) Add capsicums and toss it well in high heat for 2-3 minutes. Make sure not to overheat the mixture and prevent it from getting burnt.

5) Capsicum has to be crisp and well cooked. Add soy sauce, tomato sauce and red chilli sauce (if you're using one). Quickly toss these well again. Add salt to this mixture.

6) Add fried paneer to this. Toss again for few minutes until the sauce coats the paneer well.

7) Cook for few minutes and turn the flame off. Sprinkle pepper powder.

8) Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve it hot.

Note:
1) I feel if you bake paneer it will made it slightly hard. Hence I am prefer shallow frying. However it differs based on the brand of paneer bought. I never tried this recipe with home made paneer.
2) The taste of the soy sauce differ from one brand to another brand. So start with a teaspoon and adjust according the quantity as it suits you.
3) Some brands of soy sauce give a salty taste. So add salt accordingly.
4) Once the dish is ready, keep it well covered until you serve. Otherwise, the paneer would become hard.
5) If you are going to add red chilli sauce, you can skip green chilli.

I'm linking this recipe to Srivalli's Blogging Marathon #12 under the theme of paneer. Check out what others are cooking by clicking it here.

Kadai Paneer

2012-01-18T18:27:00.001-05:00

If you ask me the most comfortable and frequently used equipment in my kitchen, my answer would be the kadai. It can be easily handled and helps for cooking recipes quickly and evenly. Wait! you aren't familiar with the name 'Kadai'? Go ahead to know about it.

Kadai/kadhai/karahi is nothing but a thick, deep, bowl shaped cooking pan with two curved handles, which is widely used in Indian cookery. It is made up of cast iron. Few traditional recipes like Kadai chicken, Kadai Paneer and Kadai Vegetables take the name from the kadai as the recipes were cooked in it. The kadai cooking is quick as there is no water used in it. Because of this, the kadai recipes are mostly dry but sometimes it is cooked in tomato based gravy.

Since a long time, dishes prepared in this way are served in a miniature kadai/karahi with hot coal underneath it. This symbolically represents that the dish is fresh from kadai. Also it is important that one need to consume the dish immediately to enjoy its complete taste.
(Info from book, Prasad-Cooking with Indian Masters)

Here, I am blogging my version of Kadai Paneer which I love to have anytime a day.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3

Ingredients:

Paneer cubes - 1 and 1/2 cups
Capsicum - 1 cup, cubed, any colour
Onion - 1 no, medium size, finely chopped
Tomato - 1 no, large size,
Ginger garlic paste - 2 teaspoons
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Garam masala - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Dry fenugreek leaves/ kasoori methi - a big pinch
Oil - 1 tablespoon

Method:

1) Blend tomato with red chilli powder and coriander powder. Keep this paste aside. Using roasted coriander seeds instead of coriander powder will give best results.
2) In a wok, heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil and fry paneer till all the sides are golden brown. Transfer them to a plate.

3) In the same pan, add remaining oil. When the oil is hot, take cumin seeds and crush these seeds with your palm and add them to the hot oil. Allow the seeds to crackle and burst.
4) Add onions and fry till they are soft and translucent.

5) Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute.

6) Add the tomato paste (as said in step 1) along with salt, garam masala and turmeric powder. Cook the sauce till the raw smell of tomato disappears. When it starts to thicken, you can see the oil separating from the dish on the walls of wok.

7) Now, add the cubed capsicums and paneer. Mix well.

8) Cook for 5-7 minutes by stirring occasionally. Make sure to avoid burning the sauce.

9) Crush kasoori methi with your palm and add them to the gravy. Mix well and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Ensure that capsicums are crisp so as to retain its shape without changing colour. Taste and adjust the spice level.

10) Garnish with coriander and serve hot with roti. We usually have it with a spicy roti.

Note:
1) To get a gravy kind of kadai paneer, increase the tomato quantity.
2) I usually fry capsicum by adding them when paneer turns slightly brown colour(mostly at the end of frying paneer) and toss them for two minutes. This helps to maintain a crispy and shiny capsicums for the recipe. If you do so, reduce the cooking time after adding to the tomato sauce/gravy.

I'm linking this recipe to Srivalli's Blogging Marathon #12 under the theme of paneer. Check out what others are cooking by clicking it here.

Paneer Paratha / Cottage Cheese Stuffed Flat Bread

2012-01-17T21:44:00.001-05:00

My recipe for the second day of Blogging Marathon is "Paneer Paratha". Although the methods for making stuffed paratha are similar to each other, some find it a bit difficult to make a perfect paratha.

One of my readers told me that though she followed all the steps mentioned, she still faced difficulty while rolling, as the filling often kept leaking out from the dough. So, I have decided to post another method of making stuffed paratha. This method is easier than the previous one. However, it is up to you to decide your comfort level and choose the method accordingly.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Makes: 8 parathas

Ingredients:

For Dough:

Wheat flour/ Atta - 2 cups + extra for dusting
Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Water - 1/2 - 3/4 cup or as required to make dough
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 2 tablespoons or as required for cooking parathas.

For Stuffing:

Paneer - 2 cups
Green chilli - 2 nos, finely chopped
Coriander leaves - 2 tablespoons, finely chopped
Amchoor powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - to taste

Method:

For Dough:

1) Take flour, red chilli powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Add water little by litlle and make a soft dough.

2) Coat it with oil. Cover and keep aside.

3) Meanwhile prepare the stuffing.

For Stuffing:

1) In another mixing bowl or wide plate, crumble paneer.

2) Add green chillies, coriander leaves, amchoor powder and salt. Mix well. Remember to add correct amount of salt as we already added it to dough.

3) Taste and adjust the amchur powder and salt. Keep it aside.

For Making Parathas:

1) Divide the dough into 16 small sized lemon balls. Make sure the size of the balls are identical.

2) Take two identical balls and roll them to approximately 15 CM round disc as we roll for chapathi. Please refer the picture below.

3) In one rolled chapthi, spread a generous tablespoon or more of paneer mixture. Leave little space around the edges.

4) place another rolled chapthi over it and seal the corners. If required, seal it with the help of water.

5) Sligtly roll it using rolling pin. Repeat the steps for making other parathas.

6) Heat the skillet. Cook the paratha with the help of oil.

7) Serve with raita or pickle.

Note:

1) With the given measurement, I prepared 8 medium size parathas as shown in picture. However, you may vary this as per your preference. Make it smaller or bigger.
2) Try to use fresh paneer for best results.

Paneer Bruschetta

2012-01-16T16:22:00.000-05:00

I have started loving various international cuisines. I am trying to prepare a fusion dish by blending the Indian vegetables in different recipes around the world. In simple words, an international cuisine fit for an Indian family. A few samples from my stable are the Chickpea Burger, Spinach Pasta and Quick Pizza etc.

Now in a similar manner, I have prepared Paneer (Cottage Cheese) Bruschetta from Anjum Anand's "I Love Curry". This fusion dish came out very well and everyone in my family liked it. Next time, I am planning to make my own Indian version of topping thereby trying to experiment more on fusion dishes.

Bruschetta is an Italian Snack or Appetizer which consists of a toasted bread slice topped with meat or any vegetables. It is very easy to prepare and only the topping differs from one variety to another. You can be creative with the selection of the topping so as to make your own version.

Basic Information:
Preparation and Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4 (Makes 8 slices)

Ingredients:

Baguette/Ciabatta/Any Italian loaf - 1 no, cut into 1 inch thinkness diagonally
Paneer - 1/2 cup, crumbled
Capsicum - 2 tablespoons, finely chopped
Onion - 2 tablespoons, finely chopped
Coriander leaves - 2 tablespoons , finely chopped
Cherry/Plum tomatoes - 4 nos, quartered
Olive oil - 1 teaspoon + extra for toasting the bread
Pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon / as required
Salt - to taste

Method:

1) Take the crumbled panner in the mixing bowl.

2) Add onion, capsicum, coriander leaves and cherry tomatoes. Toss it well.

3) Season with salt and pepper. Add olive oil and toss well again. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Keep it aside.

4) Coat both the sides of bread slice with olive oil and toast it in the pan/skillet untill crisp and slightly turns brown.

5) Place generous a or two tablespoon of mixture on the bread slice and serve.

Note:
1) Instead of toasting the bread, you can also bake them. Place the bread slices in the 180C preheated oven and bake it for 5 minutes or until crisp.
2) Try to use fresh paneer for best results.

I'm linking this recipe to Srivalli's Blogging Marathon #12 under the theme of paneer. Check out what others are cooking by clicking it here.

Vegetable Pasta

2012-01-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

I love Pasta! but I have posted just one Pasta recipe in these 8 months since I started blogging. I will try to post more pasta recipes in the future. Now, I have made a vegetable pasta recipe to start with.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes + 20 minutes for cooking pasta
Serves: 3

Ingredients:

For Pasta:

Uncooked fusilli Pasta - 1 and 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 no, small size, finely sliced
Carrot - 1no, medium size, sliced
Capsicum/Bell pepper - 1 no, any colour, cubed
Eggplant - 1 no, small size, cubed
Potato - 1 no, small size, cubed
Salt - to taste
Black pepper - 1 teaspoon
Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon

For Sauce:

Milk - 1/2 cup
Cream cheese/Soft cheese - 1/4cup -1/2 cup
Dry herbs - 1 teaspoon (oregano, thyme)

Method:

1) Cook pasta as per instructions given in the pack. I cook it by adding water with a teaspoon of oil for 20 minutes in microwave. The time differs depending on your microwave and type of pasta.
2) Once it is cooked, drain the excess water. Keep it aside.
3) Take a pan and heat oil in it. Add onion and saute it well.
4) Add vegetables and salt. Sprinkle little water. Cover and cook it for 3-5 minutes, until soft. Make sure not to overcook the vegetables.
5) While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the sauce for pasta.
6) Heat milk in a saucepan. Add cream cheese. Stir it well to avoid any lumps and continue stirring till you get a creamy texture.
7) Reduce the flame and add dried herbs. Mix well. Let the sauce be in low flame.
8) Now, check the vegetables. If they are done, add the sauce followed by pasta and mix it well on high flame just for a minute.
9) Sprinkle black pepper to taste and mix well.

10) Garnish with mint leaves and serve hot.

Note:
1) Add vegetables as per your choice.
2) I used less milk and cream cheese as per my family taste. It is absolutely your choice, to adjust the milk and cream cheese. Add more to get more creaminess in the pasta.
3) If you don't have cream cheese, use only milk. I have prepared many times only with milk and sometimes substituted with single/heavycream. Still it tasted good.

Baingan Bharta / Mashed Smoked Eggplant Curry

2012-01-09T19:45:00.004-05:00

Baingan Bharta/ Baigan Bharta/ Baingan ka Bharta is one of the first North Indian recipes I had learnt. I could still remember those days when I first learnt to make this dish with the help of a cookbook bought from Landmark, Chennai. It was nearly seven years ago. Even after these many years, I am not bored of this dish and believe it or not, it has become a part and parcel of my cooking. I use to cook it at least once in a week. I prefer to eat this dish with rice rather than having it with chapathi. It also goes well with steamed rice. Try at your home and I'm sure you would go crazy.

The Hindi word Baingan Bharta means, "A dish prepared using mashed/pureed eggplant and spices"

Baingan/Baigan - Eggplant
Bharta - roughly mashed/pureed vegetable

In India, the eggplant is mostly roasted in tandoor oven. This type of roasting can now be done in several ways as it suits our modern lifestyle. Some households use gas stove for roasting while some use conventional oven or microwave. A point to remember is, "roasting the eggplant under the direct flame will give exactly the same result as roasted in tandoor". I don't have a gas stove hence I have used my microwave to mash the eggplant. The smoky flavor of eggplant would be absent in this method, but still the taste is good. Some folks would prepare this dish using raw ingredients just like a salad(but baingan has to be roasted), however I prefer the baingan with cooked ingredients as said below.

Basic Information:
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

Eggplant/Aubergine/Brinjal - 1 no, large size
Oil - 2 tablespoons
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger garlic paste - 1 teaspoon
Green chillies - 2 nos, finely chopped
Onion - 1 no, large size, finely chopped
Tomato - 2 nos, medium size, finely chopped
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
Garam masala - 1/8 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Water - 1/4 cup (Optional)

Method:

1) Wash and wipe the eggplant. Slightly coat it with oil.

2) Keep inside the microwave for 8 minutes.(If you have Gas stove, roast it directly over flame for few minutes turning all the sides). Meanwhile, chop onion and tomato.

3) After 8 minutes, Allow the eggplant to cool and peel the skin of it and roughly mash it well. Keep aside.

4) Heat oil in pan and add cumin seeds once it is hot.

5) When cumin seeds splutter, add ginger garlic paste and green chillies. Saute it for few minutes. Make sure not to burn the paste.

6) Add onion and saute till it becomes soft and translucent.

7) Add tomato and saute till it completely mashes.

8) Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, salt and turmeric powder. Continue sauteing till the raw smell of masala goes off.

9) Add mashed eggplant (as said in step 3) and give a stir.

10) Add water if using. Mix well. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes. Give a stir in between to avoid burning.

11) Now, open the lid and cook for 5 minutes or till the oil separated from the sides of the pan.

12) Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with roti/chapthi or rice.

Note:
1) I like the gravy with less oil and hence added water. If you prefer, you can add extra oil and skip the step of adding water.

Linking this recipe to Dish it Out- Brinjal N Garlic event guest hosted by Sangee.

Paruppu Podi / Kandi Podi / Toor Dal Powder

2012-01-03T15:28:00.000-05:00

Paruppu podi is very often used with rice and ghee at every south Indian household especially in andhra cuisine. It is also one of the podi which is usually available at our home. My MIL usually prepares it in large quantity and grind it in mill near our home. This time, I have prepared it in a small quantity only for me and my husband.

Kandipappu podi or any kind of dal podi is very well known with vegetarian andhra meal. It is said to be that an andhra meal never completes without dal and pulusu. Sometimes, this dal is replaced by a ready to use dal powder with a dollop of ghee due to time starving (It is my guess). Thus, andhra cuisine has many podi varieties and now also you can find andhra thali is served with some dal powder.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 1 and 1/2 cup

Ingredients:

Toor Dal - 1 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon
Black pepper - 1 tablespoon
Dry red chilli - 6 nos / adjust according to your spice level
Curry leaves - 2 strings
Asafoetida - a big pinch
Garlic - 1 clove (optional)
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 teaspoons

Method:

1) Take a wide pan and dry roast toor dal till it releases nice aroma and turns slight brown colour.

2) Transfer to a dry plate and keep aside.
3) In the same pan, add oil. when it is hot, add cumin seeds, blackpepper seeds, dry red chillies and curry leaves. Roast till they are crisp.

4) Allow all the roasted ingredients to cool completely.

5) In a mixer/food processor/coffee grinder, put all the cooled ingredients with salt and asafoetida. Make a powder.

6) Towards the end of the grinding, add garlic(if using) and finsh the grinding. The texture should be fine coarse powder.

7) Store it in a air tight container and serve with hot steamed rice and ghee.

Simple Salmon Fish Curry

2012-01-02T19:36:00.000-05:00

I had prepared a salmon curry which was patiently waiting to enter into my blog. I prepared it along with this fry. I am in the mood of clearing my drafts today and gave a way to this simple Indian style curry. With no further stories, you can go to the recipe.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: <15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Salmon fillets - 300 grams, cut into 3 inch length pieces
Onion - 1 small no, finely chopped
Tomato - 2 large nos, finely chopped
Ginger and Garlic paste - 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 2 teaspoons
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - a big pinch
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 1 string

Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Oil - 1 tablespoon

Method:

1) Wash and clean the salmon fillets.
2) In a frying pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds when it is hot.
3) Add onion and curry leaves. Fry till onions are translucent.
4) Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute or till the raw smell of garlic goes off.
5) Add tomato and fry till they completely mashes.
6) Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and turmeric powder. Fry till the raw smell of masala goes off.
7) Add a cup of water and mix well. Allow this mixture to boil and then turn down the flame to medium.
8) When the gravy starts to thicken, add fish fillets. Give a very gentle stir.
9) Cover and cook for 5 minutes in low flame. Then, open the lid and cook for another 5 minutes or till the salmon gets cooked and the oil oozes out from the corners of the gravy. Usually it takes 10-15 minutes to cook salmon for this curry.
10) Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice and lemon wedges.

Note:
1) Increase or decrease the spice and salt according to your taste buds before you add fish fillets.
2) you can also add additional spice powder like fish masala powder to this curry. I do not prefer store bought masala, hence I didn't add them.
3) Ten minutes after adding fish, keep an eye on the curry. Once the fish is cooked remove it from heat as they tend to break easily when overcooked.

Basic White Bread

2012-01-01T20:32:00.000-05:00

Baking with yeast is something which I didn't like initially, but now I feel that I am addicted to it. Initially, without anyone's help(obviously with only Internet) I baked pizza crust, which was my first baking experience with yeast. The result was not as expected and they ended up in bin. However, after continuous efforts involving wastage of some ingredients, I have now gained some level of mastery and now I'm brave enough to post this baking recipe with yeast.

Yes! After baking this white bread and seeing the final outcome, I couldn't believe myself that it was me who baked it!!! I was pleased and excited!

It is simple white bread with stepwise kneading instructions (If you own a kneading machine, kindly skip) for beginners who are absolutely new to yeast baking. Please refer here about yeast before you step into the recipe. I referred Rachel Allen's Baking for the kneading instructions and I have blogged the same here.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Idle Time: 2 hours
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients:
All purpose flour/ Plain flour/ Maida - 2 cups + extra for dusting
Warm water - 1/2 cup + extra to make soft dough
Active dry yeast - 1 envelope (7g)
Sugar - 2 teaspoons
Olive Oil/ Butter - 1 tablespoon + extra for greasing
Salt - 1/8 teaspoon

Method:

1) In a small bowl, mix sugar, yeast, 1/2 cup warm water and keep aside for 5-7 minutes till the water is frothy.

2) Meanwhile, sift the all purpose flour and add salt. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour olive oil or butter. Start mixing using your hand which results flour mixture similar to breadcrumbs.

3) Add proved yeast to the flour mixture little at a time till you make a soft dough. Add extra warm water if required.

4) Now the kneading part. Knead it for 10 minutes by pushing the front of the dough away with the heel of your hand while holding the back of the dough as shown in picture.

5) Then, fold the stretched part back on itself. Give a quarter turn and repeat the steps. If you own an electric mixer, you just require 3-5 minutes to do this job.

6) At the end, you get a smooth and soft elastic dough ball.

7) Coat it with oil and keep in a bowl greased with oil. Cover using a damp cloth/ cling wrap for an hour until the dough has doubled in its size. (Keep near warm stove/preheated oven/ inside the switched off the oven with turning the light on).

8) When the dough has risen, punch it back using your fist. Transfer the dough to the lightly floured surface.

9) Knead it for 2-3 minutes then allow to rest again for 10 minutes. Use cling wrap to cover this.

10) Preheat the oven for 220C(425F).
11) Shape the dough into oval and place inside the loaf tin(2lb, 25CM X 12CM). Cover using the damp cloth/cling wrap and keep near the warm place.

12) Allow it for final raising say about for 30-40 minutes. (It might differ based on the place where you keep the loaf tin for rising. Most of the time, it is less than an hour. but make sure not to over prove, otherwise the bread will deflate.)

13) Slightly touch the bread surface using your finger. It should be soft and spring back slowly.If so, the dough is ready for baking.
14) Dust the top with flour or give a light coating of butter/oil/milk.
15) Bake it for 20-25 minutes or until the bread is well risen. After 15 minutes from the starting time, turn the oven temperature down to 200C(400F).

16) Turn out immediately after cooking. Otherwise the base part will be soggy.
17) Cool on a wire rock. Once done, cover using a clean towel and store it.
18) Serve with butter or jam or nutella.

Note:
1) Use tray with water/ ice cubes to provide steaming for breads to get soft brown outside crust.
2) The raising time might differ and depends on the temperature on the room.
3) Yeast proofing is optional for active dry yeast. However spending an extra 5 minutes will help you to avoid using old/expired yeast in bread baking.

Instant Lemon Pickle

2011-12-30T19:39:00.000-05:00

I love pickle and I used to have it daily along with my meal. Now being here, I solely depend on pickles that are bought off-shelf. I find these pickles as too salty and most of the time, I don't eat and it ends up in my bin. When I came across Instant lemon pickle recipe at sashiga's space, I felt very happy and talked about this to my mom over phone. She told that she also prepares it sometimes and described me the method. I found both the methods are same except the way the lemons are cooked. Here I take you through both the methods. You can choose whichever method as it suits you.

Basic Information:
Preparation and cooking time: 10 minutes + 20 minutes for cooling

Makes: 1 and 1/2 cup approx.

Ingredients:

Yellow Lemons - 5 large nos
Red chilli powder - 2 teaspoons/ as per taste
Roasted fenugreek powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Sesame oil - 2 tablespoons / as per preference
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a pinch

Method:

1a) Take whole lemons in sauce pan and pour boiling water until the lemons are fully immersed. Cover and keep it aside for 20 minutes. then, drain the water and cut the lemons to desired size.
or
1b) Slice the lemon according to your desired size. Put the sliced pieces in saucepan and add little water. say about <1/4 cup. Cook just enough to soften the lemon pieces. Make sure not to over cook as they taste bitter. Once it is done, keep aside with water. (Picture shown for this method)

2) Prefer any of the above method to cook lemons and bring them to room temperature.
3) Add red chilli powder, roasted fenugreek powder, asafoetida and salt. Toss it well.

4) Heat oil in kadai/seasoning pan. Add mustard seeds when it is hot and remove from heat. Allow this seasoning to cool to room temperature and add to lemon mixture. Toss well.

5) Store in sterilised bottle and serve with this rice.

Note:
1) Do not cook lemons for long time. It might taste bitter if you do so.
2) Try to use sesame oil for authentic taste.
3) I prepared it last week and it has stayed good till now. Do not forget to refrigerate.

Avial / Aviyal

2011-12-29T18:14:00.000-05:00

Getting fresh Indian vegetables/fresh coconut in the place where I stay is once in a blue moon. Right from the time I started this blog, I wanted to post traditional recipes, but they were getting postponed due to lack of ingredients at my place.

So, when I find and buy fresh coconut or any other native vegetables I try to cook some traditional dishes as soon as possible before they lose it's freshness. This time, I have prepared Avial with limited ingredients what I had.

Avial is nothing but an assortment of vegetables cooked with coconut, curd and seasoned with aromatic coconut oil. Avail can also be prepared in thin gravy consistency or thick consistency. It is a popular recipe often related to Onam sadya and can be traditionally served with steamed rice or with adai.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For Avial:

Mixed Vegetables - 3 cups - Any vegetables like Carrot, Beans, Potato, Drumstick, Eggplants, Yam, Plantain (Vazhaikkai), Peas, White pumpkin(Vellai Poosanikkai), Raw mango, Cucumber, Snake gourd(Pudalangai), Bottle gourd(Suraikkai)

Turmeric powder - a big pinch
Salt - to taste
Thick sour curd/ Yogurt - 1/2 cup

For Grinding:
Fresh coconut - 1 half shell of medium size coconut , shredded or finely chopped
Green chillies - 3 nos
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

For Seasoning:
Coconut Oil / Vegetable Oil - 1 tablespoon
Fresh Curry leaves - 2 strings

Method:

1) Chop vegetables into 2 inch length pieces.
2) In a saucepan, mix vegetables, turmeric powder, salt and 3/4 cup of water.(If you need thick avial, add water just enough to cook vegetables) Cover and cook it for 5 minutes in medium to high flame or till the vegetables are 3/4 th cooked.

3) When vegetables are cooking, grind the ingredients given for grinding with water just required for grinding. Do not add too much of water.

4) Add the ground ingredients to the vegetable mixer. Mix well. Cook till it boils.

5) Meanwhile, In a seasoning pan, heat coconut oil and add half of curry leaves when it is hot.
6) Pour this seasoning to the avial. Add remaining curry leaves and turn the flame off. Mix well.

7) Now, add sour curd and mix well. The heat in the pan itself enough for the curd.

8) Avial is eady and serve with steamed rice or Adai.

Note:
1) You can use any vegetables available at hand. For quick cooking of vegetables, use pressure cooker. However, the time taken for preparing the avial is almost same.
2) Make sure to chop quick cooking vegetables into bigger sizes and slow cooking ingredients into slightly smaller sizes, if your are going to cook in one bowl.
3) I used one large carrot, 5 beans, 2 small potatoes, 2 eggplants, 1/4 cup of peas for this recipe.
4) If you are using raw mango, reduce the sour curd quantity to half. If you do not have curd or don't want to use curd, add a big pinch of tamarind extract along with ground coconut paste.

Coffee and Chocolate Pudding

2011-12-28T19:37:00.000-05:00

When I saw coffee and chocolate pudding first time at Priya's site (Priya's Feast), I bookmarked it right away to try it. After quick checking of ingredients, I baked it and I need to say the time taken to taste this pudding was just below 30 minutes. I couldn't control myself eating this pudding before I click a picture. It was very gooey, tasty and sinfully delicious. I halved the recipe and served with a tablespoon of whipped cream and a raspberry.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: <10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

All purpose flour/ Plain Flour/ Maida - 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1 teaspoon
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup
Butter - 1 tablespoon, melted, cooled to room temperature
Egg - 1/2 well beaten egg
Walnuts - 2 tablespoons, chopped

For Topping:

Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup
Cocoa powder - 1 tablespoon
Strong black coffee - 1/2 cup

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease 2 medium size or 3 mini ramekins with butter or cooking spray.
2) Sift flour,baking powder and cocoa powder together. Add brown sugar and mix well. Keep aside.

3) Mix melted butter, milk, egg and walnut in another bowl.
4) Pour this wet ingredients to dry ingredients.

5) Mix until all the ingredients are well combined.
6) Spoon the batter into the greased ramekins. Make sure to maintain the batter level between 1/2 to 3/4 of the ramekins.

7) Sprinkle over the ramakins evenly with brown sugar and then with cocoa powder.
8) Then, pour over the coffee on top of cocoa powder. Do not stir.

9) Bake it for 15-20 minutes.
10) Once done, serve with whipped cream or sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar or serve with vanilla ice cream.

Note:
1) I used only 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of black coffee for topping and still it tasted very good.
2) I prepared black coffee using Nescafe instant coffee powder. I think BRU can also workout.

Suji Crystal Cookies

2011-12-24T20:18:00.000-05:00

I fell in love with these suji cookies after tasting semolina cookies. I bookmarked this from Easy Cook when I saw at first moment. Suji cookies are nothing but Malaysian cookies(Biskut Suji Kristal - I am really addicted to these cookies) and I guess they got the name as we coat it with castor sugar at the end. The procedure is almost same as semolina cookies but we are adding ground almond here. It gives an exotic taste with an aroma of ghee. They also melt in your mouth like semolina cookies.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Idle Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes
Makes: 15-20 cookies

Ingredients:

All purpose flour/ Plain flour/ Maida - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon
Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup
Roasted ground almond - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/8 teaspoon
Ghee/Clarified butter - 1/2 cup, melted and cooled to room temperature
Vanilla extract - 1/2 teaspoon
Edible food colours - pink, yellow and blue (change with the colour you have)
Caster sugar - for coating the cookies

Method:

1) Combine all purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda. Sift it for even mixing.
2) Add Icing sugar, roasted ground almond, ghee, salt and vanilla extract one by one.
3) Make smooth dough. Final dough will be soft and tight. Keep aside for 20 minutes.

4) Preheat the oven to 150C for 15 minutes. Line the baking tray with parchment paper and keep aside.
5) Divide the dough into 3 equal parts.
6) Add enough food colour and knead well for 5 minutes so that the colour spreads out all over the dough.

7) Pinch approx 3g from each colour dough and combine them into one small ball. (I took more than 3g for time saving :-))
8) When you combine 3 colour, you get a marbled shape ball. Repeat the step and make marbled balls for the remaining dough.

9) Arrange them in a baking tray with 2 inches apart.
10) Bake it for 15-20 minutes.

11) Once done, cool the cookies completely. Then, coat the cookies with caster sugar.

12) Cookies are ready.

Note:
1) Cookies enlarge when they are baked. so make sure to make <10g for each cookie to make perfect shaped cookie balls.
2) Measure ghee after melting. Add ghee little at a time till you make a soft dough.
3) You can use ready to use store bought ground almond or roast and grind the skinless almonds at home.

No Bake Choco Pinwheels

2011-12-23T18:42:00.002-05:00

Easy and very easy recipes are my choice and if it comes with choco flavor, I am the first person stands in the queue to prepare and enjoy it. I bookmarked such an easy choco recipe from Priya of Bon-Appetit a month ago. When I prepared at home, it disappeared immediately just after my preparation. Try it, you and your kids like them much and you can see them disappeared in no minute.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Idle Time: 30-60 minutes
Makes: 20-25 pinwheels

Ingredients:

For outer layer:
Marie/Mcvities/Tea Biscuits - 20 nos (half packet approx)
Cocoa Powder - 1 and 1/2 teaspoon
Sugar - 1 tablespoon
Milk - As required to make dough

For inner layer:
Dessicated coconut/Dry coconut - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup (+/- according to your taste)
Butter - 2 tablespoons
Cardamom powder - 1/8 teaspoon

Method:

1) Using the mixer/coffee grinder/food processor, powder the biscuits first and towards the end, add cocoa powder and sugar. Make a smooth powder. Sift it so that it makes the rolling process easy.

2) Add little quantity of milk at a time and make soft dough. Knead it for 3 minutes and keep aside.

3) Combine all the ingredients given for the inner layer and mix well. Keep it aside.

4) Now divide the dough(as said in step 2) into two and roll one divided dough into a round shape like chapathi using the rolling pin.

5) Spread the dry coconut mix evenly (as said in step 3) over the rolled dough. Leave some space at the ends.
6) Roll tightly like a cylindrical shape and seal the cracks if any.

7) Cover it using a cling wrap/aluminium foil and repeat the above steps with remaining dough. Keep both the rolls in freezer for 30-60 minutes to set.
8) After 30-60 minutes, cut them into small pinwheels with the width of half inch.

9) Serve chill.

Note:
1) If you do not have dessicated coconut, cream the sugar and butter and use as inside layer. In fact, this gives very perfect shape than pinwheels using dessicated coconut.
2) Mix some coffee powder to the milk to get some coffee flavor.
3) You can store it for 2 days but I bet it can not stay at your home for 2 days.

Red Capsicum Chutney

2011-12-15T18:11:00.000-05:00

The vegetable which you can see anytime at my refrigerator is capsicum. TH and I love capsicum a lot and I used to incorporate it in all possible ways in my cooking. One day, I simply substituted the red capsicum in place of carrot in Carrot chutney and the result was very good than expected. After that I tried this chutney with all the other colours of capsicum. All were good with very slight change in taste. I am blogging red one here, substitute with your favourite colour capsicum instead of red one and enjoy!

Basic Information:
Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 minutes + 10 minutes for cooling
Serves: 3-5

Ingredients:
Red capsicum - 2 nos, big size
Urid dal - 2 tablespoons
Dry red chilli - 6-7 nos or adjust to your spice level
Salt - to taste
Tamarind - 1 small pinch
Oil - 5 teaspoons
Mustard seeds and urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 1 string
Asafoetida - a pinch, optional

Method:

1) Remove the seeds from red capsicum and cut into cubes. Soak tamarind in 3 tablespoons of warm water.
2) In a Kadai/Pan, Dry roast urid dal and dry red chillies in low flame. When urid dal releases nice aroma and turns light brown colour, transfer it to a dry plate.
3) In the same pan, add 3 teaspoons of oil and fry cubed capsicums till they are tender and well cooked. Allow it to cool completely.
4) Combine urid dal, dry red chillies, capsicum, salt and tamarind and grind using a mixer/coffee grinder till you get a smooth or coarse texture (texture is absolutely your preference and also add water as per requirements). Transfer the ground ingredients to a bowl.
5) Heat the remaining oil in tempering/same pan. When it is hot, add mustard seeds and urid dal.
6) When mustard seeds splutter, turn the flame off and add curry leaves and asafoetida.
7) Pour this seasoning to the chutney and mix well.
8) Serve with Dosa or Idly.

Note:
1) Add channa dal with urid dal if you prefer. Add 1or 2 garlic clove(s) for flavor if you prefer.
2) Make sure to remove the seeds, it might burst while frying.

Eggless Bluberry Boy Bait / Eggless Blueberry Cake

2011-12-14T12:11:00.001-05:00

Just two days before when I was reading something, I came across 'Baking Boy-Bait' and I googled it to know more about it resulted few cake recipes. Among them, I inspired by this egg less blueberry boy bait from Chef In You and immediately the next day I prepared it and today I posted it.

Now, you want to know what is 'Bluberry boy-bait' right? From my understanding, it started with a teen-age girl who participated in Pillsbury's baking competition. Simply, here you go with the story behind this cake and the name.

"In 1954, a 15-year old girl participated in the junior level Pillsbury baking competition and won second prize with moist, tender, soft blueberry cake. The cake created a wonderful effect on teenage boys just with a bite, made her named the cake as 'boy bait'"

It is really a soft, spongy and yummy cake. you will really like it!

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 45-50 minutes
Serves: 8-12

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cups , divided
Baking powder - 1 tablespoon
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Unsalted butter - 1 cup, room temperature
Granulated Sugar - 1 cup (plus 1/4 cup, if you need more sweet)
Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
Milk - 3/4 cup
Yogurt - 1 cup
Fresh Blueberries - 1 cup, divided
Granulated Sugar - 4 tablespoons, for top decorating

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 175C(350F). Grease the 8" round cake tin or 8"X8" square cake tin or 9"x13" cake tin with butter and then flour.
2) In a mixing bowl, mix well the flour, baking powder and salt. Keep it aside.

3) In an another bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla extract and mix well.
4) Add one third of the flour mixture to butter mixture and mix just until incorporated.

5) Add half of yogurt and half of milk. Mix until all incorporated.
6) Add half of the remaining flour. Mix it until incorporated. Continue with remaining yogurt and milk and then finish with flour. Make sure not to over beat.(flour, milk and yogurt, flour, milk and yogurt, flour - follow this order)

7) Now in a small bowl, take blueberries and toss with a teaspoon of flour.
8) Add the tossed blueberry to the batter and using the rubber spatula, gently fold in.

9) Spread evenly in the baking tin prepared(as said in step1).
10) Scatter the remaining blueberries over the top of batter. Sprinkle granulated sugar followed by it.

11) Bake it for 45-50 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool it for 15-20 minutes and transfer to serving plate with top of the cake facing up.
12) Serve warm or cold.

Note:
1) I halved the recipe to occupy enough with my baking dish. However, I have given the original recipe for easy understanding.
2) I stored the cake in an airtight container for 2 days and it was good.
3) Tossing of blueberry in the flour keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
4) Though I have not tried with frozen berries in this recipe concerned, you can use frozen berries too but do not defrost as they tend to muddle with batter.

Instant Jalebi

2011-12-13T12:56:00.001-05:00

Last month, we celebrated TH's birthday and I prepared methu vada, kheer and Jalebi for him. Preparing a chocolate cake was in my To-Do list, but surprisingly, he asked me to prepare some traditional sweets this time. With the blank mind, searched some sweet recipes from my mom's recipe collections and found this Jalebi. She had given a title as Jilebi(This is how we call in Tamil).With her notes and ingredients, I prepared around 25 jalebis so that I can send to TH's friends.

Jalebi is an Indian sweet which can be served warm or cold. Many of us will get confuse with Jalebi and Jangiri as they both sometimes look similar. They both look like sugar coated funnel cake. But they differ in taste and jalebi is more crisp than jangiri. Jalebi is prepared using maida(all purpose flour) and it needs fermentation time whereas jangiri is prepared using urid dal and it can be prepared immediately after grinding the batter. Hope these differences are enough to avoid the confusion.

I am here showing you the instant version of Jalebi which reduces the fermentation time of 12 hours by adding yeast to it.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Idle Time: 1 hour
Cooking Time: 30-40 minutes
Makes: 25 medium size jalebis
Ingredients:

For Jalebi:

All purpose flour/Plain Flour/ Maida - 1 cup
Besan flour/gram flour - 1 tablespoon
Cornflour - 1 tablespoon
Yogurt - 4 tablespoons
Active dry yeast - 1 teaspoon
Ghee - 1 teaspoon, melted
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Salt - a pinch
Warm water - 3/4 cup or as required
Yellow food colour - 2 pinch or as required
Oil - for deep frying

For Sugar Syrup:

Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Green cardamom - 2 nos, crushed
Saffron - 3 strands
Lemon Juice - 1 teaspoon

Method:

For Jalebi:

1) In a mixing bowl, add sifted all purpose flour, gram flour and corn flour. Mix well and add yogurt, melted ghee, sugar, salt and food colour. Mix well without forming lumps.

2) Make a small well in the centre of the flour mixture and add active dry yeast and warm water.
3) Mix well till you find NO lumps. There should not be lumps and the batter should be smooth.

4) Cover using cling wrap and keel the mixing bowl in warm place for an hour.
5) After one hour, mix the batter again. If it is very thick, add very little water and make the batter to correct consistency. i.e., the batter should be thick at the same time in pouring consistency.
6) Spoon the batter into the ziploc bag/Icing bag/ketchup bottle/Jalebi bottle. Make sure the hole made in the ziploc bag or nozzle in the icing bag is small. I used Icing bag with small nozzle.

7) Now, the batter is ready for making jalebi.

For Sugar Syrup:

1) In a saucepan, add sugar and water. Allow it to boil.
2) Add crushed cardamom, saffron and lemon juice. Mix well.
3) After 5-10 minutes turn the flame off when the sugar syrup came to the sticky consistency.

4) Try to keep this syrup in low temperature. OR you can reduce the flame to very low instead of turning off the flame. It is absolutely your choice.

For Making Jalebi:

1) Heat oil in wide pan. Make sure the flame is in between low to medium for easy preparation.
2) To check the temperature of oil, drop a tiny drop of batter into the oil. It should immediately come to the surface of the oil without changing the colour.
3) Take icing bag, squeeze out the batter into close concentric circle motion from inside to outside at same speed.
4) Deep fry till both the sides of Jalebi becomes golden and crisp. They became crisp easily in this instant version.

5) Take out the jalebi's from oil and keep them in plate covering with kitchen tissue for 10 seconds.
6) After 10 seconds, put them into the sugar syrup. Keep them in sugar syrup for a minute. In between flip the jabeli so that sugar syrup coats well on both the side.
7) Transfer to a plate and Serve hot or warm.

Note:
1) You can also use rapid rise yeast in place of active dry yeast. You can also make the yeast by dissolving in 3/4 cup of warm water for 10 minutes or until creamy and bubbly for proving before preparing the batter.
2) Instead of crushed green cardamom, ground cardamom can be used. Instead of Oil, Ghee can also be used for frying the jalebi.
3) Make sure to maintain the correct temperature to get crispy Jalebi. Otherwise the jalebi becomes soggy. If you feel the oil becomes more hot, then reduce the flame, wait for some time to bring the oil to the required temperature.
4) You can get Jalebi bottles in shops which helps you more than icing/ziploc bag.

Sending this cake to Vardhini's Sinful Delights event.

Spinach Paratha / Spinach Stuffed Flat Bread

2011-12-12T13:57:00.002-05:00

I have been trying to post this recipe for two months and finally I am done today! As this spinach stuffed paratha is not everyone favourite at home, I prepare only when I have big bunch of spinach and nothing to prepare anything else. but I prepared it quite a few times in last month itself for the purpose of blog.

First time, I took the stepwise picture and hungriness of mine pushed out the feelings of taking the final paratha picture. Second time, I took the final picture but it didn't match well with the stepwise pictures. Finally, I decided to make everything from start to end and clicked all. I counted the number of photos and they are 54 including the stepwise pictures. Even then, It took 2 hours for me to select good looking picture. I was little bit got irritated and asked the husband for help. but, he simply replied me to prepare one more time (!?) and take a picture of all again. I know it might take one more month to post this and I can not make this post to sit so long in my draft.

If you wonder what could be the white particles on the paratha, yes, it was flour which I used to roll the parathas. As my kitchen was little dark, I noticed them only when I brought them out to click a picture of it. This was the reason which delayed me to choose good picture. I thought not to do this again after seeing my gobi paratha post. but somehow, it was repeated. :-( When you are preparing, make sure to wipe off the excess flour in the rolled paratha.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 7-8 parathas

Ingredients:

For Dough:

Wheat flour / atta - 2 cups
Wheat flour for dusting - 2 tablespoons or as required
Salt - to taste
Water - 3/4 -1 cup
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Butter/Oil - 2 tablespoons / as required

For Stuffing:

Baby spinach - 4 cups, correctly packed
Potato - 1 no, large size, boiled and mashed
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Oil - 3 teaspoons

Method:

For dough:

1) In a mixing bowl, add wheat flour and salt. Make a dough by adding water little at a time.
2) When the flour is not sticking to your hand, add oil.
3) Knead it for 5 to 10 minutes.
4) The final dough should be very firm and soft.
5) Cover using wet towel and keep aside.

For stuffing:

1) Wash spinach and pat dry them well using kitchen towel. Alternatively, you can wash in advance and dry them by spreading in newspaper. Once they are dry,chop them roughly.
2) Take pan and heat oil in it. Add cumin seeds when it is hot and allow it to crackle.

3) Add chopped spinach and stir fry them. In 2 minutes, you can see the water comes out from spinach leaves. Cook it till the water evaporates.
4) Add red chilli powder and salt now. Continue frying till the raw smell of red chilli powder goes off.

5) Turn off the flame and add the potato. Mix them well.

For making paratha:

1) Divide the dough into equal size balls.
2) According to the dough count, divide the stuffing into balls.
3) Take one ball and roll into small circle. Place one stuffing ball in center of it and using the corner of dough cover the stuffing ball.

4) Pinch of the excess dough and gently press the stuffed dough using your fingers.

5) Roll it to a round shape. Repeat the steps to other dough balls.

6) Heat a tawa/skillet and coat the surface with butter or oil.
7) Put the stuffed paratha and cook it.
8) Once the bottom side is cooked, turn the paratha using spatula to cook other side.

9) Repeat the above step for remaining parathas. Make sure to cover the cooked paratha with foil or dry plate to keep it soft.
10) Serve hot with curd and pickle.

Note:
1) Add 1/4 cup of cooked and mashed peas with this spinach stuffing to get other variation.
2) You can skip potato. I have added it to make the rolling process easy.