Steamed vegetarian Momos

Hi Readers,

I tried steamed Momos for the first time. It turned out delicious.Whenever I go out to dine in any Chinese restaurant, this is one my favorite dish to have for sure. I tried this out of curiosity and  believe me its super easy and takes very less time to prepare.This makes a interesting yet healthy snack option with evening tea.    

Ingredients

Refined flour (maida) 1 cup

Oil 2 tablespoons

Spring onions finely chopped2

Ginger finely chopped 1 inch piece

Green chilli finely chopped1

Fresh button mushrooms finely chopped4-5(optional)

French beans finely chopped10

Carrot finely chopped1 medium

Spring onion greens chopped1 stalk

Bean sprouts 1/4 cup

Salt to taste

Black peppercorns crushed8-10

Light soy sauce 1/2 tablespoon

Cornflour/ corn starch 1 tablespoon

Sesame oil (til oil) 1 teaspoon

Method

Mix refined flour with 5 tbsps of water and knead into a soft dough. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside for15 minutes.Heat oil in a non stick wok. Add spring onions, ginger and green chilli and sauté.  And mushrooms, beans, carrot, spring onion greens, bean sprouts, salt, pepper powder, soy sauce and mix well.Mix cornflour in ¼ cup water and add. Cook till thick, take the wok off the heat and cool.Divide the dough into small balls. Roll in dry flour and roll into small puris keeping the edges thin and the centre thick. Place a portion of stuffing in the centre, fold one end over the other and give it a half moon shape. For another gather the edges and seal together. Make another momo in triangle shape.Heat water in a deep non stick pan. Line a bamboo basket with cabbage leaves. apply a little sesame oil on the momos and place them over the cabbage leaves.Cover and place the basket over the hot water, cover the pan and steam for 8-10 minutes or till done.Uncover the pan, take the basket out and open it. Serve the momos hot.

Dhingri Dolma

Hi,

When I first read this name Dhingri at a restaurant, I was confused as to whether this means Mushroom or Kunduri(Ivy Gourd). I did confirm before ordering this dish that its actually Mushroom. Then while searching this unusual name, I got an interesting Awadhi recipe, that used both Paneer and Mushroom. Awadhi cuisine developed during the reign of Mughul ruler's in Lucknow.

Now, this dish Dhingri Dolma, is basically Mushroom prepared in Paneer based gravy. Now, lets get to the recipe.

Ingredients:- 
200 gms of button mushrooms
175 gms paneer (cottage cheese)
½ tsp shahjeera (black cumin seeds/caraway seeds)
1 onion
1 tomato
½ inch ginger (adrak)
1 or 2 tsp ginger garlic paste (adrak lahsun ka paste)
½ tsp white pepper powder ( as an alternative you can use black pepper powder as I have done)
¼ tsp red chili powder (lal mirch powder)
¼ tsp garam masala powder
¼ cup coriander leaves/cilantro leaves
2 tbsp ghee or oil
salt

Method:-
Wash the mushrooms and slice them.
Dice the onions, dice the tomatoes. You can even see garlic in the pic. Thats for making the ginger garlic paste.
Grate the paneer coarsely.
Crush both ginger and garlic freshly in a mortar pestle to make the paste.
Chop the coriander and julienne the ginger.
Heat ghee or oil in a kadhai. Add the black cumin and fry till till it crackles.
Add onions.
Saute the onions until light brown.
Add the ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell of the paste disappears.
Add mushrooms and stir. Saute for 2 minutes.
Add the red chili powder, pepper powder and salt. Saute for 2-3 minutes more till the mushrooms are cooked.
Now add the paneer. Mix the paneer with the rest of the mixture and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring in between.
Add the tomatoes and saute for 4-5 minutes more. You just want to cook the tomatoes and not make it mushy.
Towards the end sprinkle garam masala and stir.
Add some chopped coriander leaves and julienned ginger keep the remaining to be used for garnish later.Adjust the seasoning. Remove in a bowl or a dish and garnish with the remaining ginger and coriander.
Serve Dhingri Dolma hot or warm with phulkas. This Dhingri Dolma recipe even goes well with breads.

Cholar Dal

Hi Friends,

Last week I tried one Bengali Dal recipe. This one is very similar to the Dal Prasad or Abhada that is offered to Lord Jagannath at Puri Jagannath Temple. Slightly sweet and the aroma and flavorful dish is apt for religious ceremonies. Here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:- 

Split Bengal gram (chana dal) 1 cup

Ghee 3 tablespoons

Coconut 1/4 inch pieces

Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Sugar 1 teaspoon

Cloves 3

Cinnamon 1 inch stick

Black cardamom 1

Cumin seeds 1/2 teaspoon

Bay leaves 2

Whole dry red chillies 2

Ginger paste 1 teaspoon

Raisins 1 teaspoon

Roasted Cumin and red chilli powder 1/2 teaspoon

Method :-

Wash and soak the dal for an hour. Drain and pressure-cook with three cups of water till just done. Heat two tablespoons of ghee in a pan and fry coconut pieces till golden. Drain and set aside. Add turmeric powder, salt and sugar to the dal and simmer on low heat till most of its water gets absorbed and it becomes thick.Heat the remaining ghee in another pan. Add cloves, cinnamon, black cardamom, cumin seeds, bay leaves, whole dry red chillies  and sauté for two minutes. Add roasted cumin and red chilli powder . Then pour this seasoning into the simmering dal. Add ginger paste, fried coconut pieces and raisins and simmer for five more minutes. Serve hot with luchi's or puri's.

Mushroom Vindaloo

Hi All,

 I had tried this recipe some time back, but didnt get time to update at that time. Vindaloo masala is a typical Goan Masala. It has a very nice aroma. When i made it, my whole house was filled with this aroma. The aroma will instantly make your mouth watering. Try this once.Its easy, just needs to remember the spices for vindaloo masala paste.

Ingredients:-

250 gms mushrooms (khumbh)

1 potato diced

2 sliced onions

a few curry leaves (kadi patta)

4 to 5 garlic (lehsun) cloves

8 to 10 whole dry kashmiri red chillies

10 peppercorns (kalimirch)

1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

2 cardamoms

1/4 cup vinegar

1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

salt to taste

3 tbsp oil

1 tsp chopped coriander (dhania)

Method:-

Vindaloo masala :- Grind the peppercorns, dry red chillies, cardamoms, garlic and cummin seeds with the vinegar into a fine paste. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and saute the onions and curry leaves till light brown. Stir fry potato and mushroom one at a time till golden brown. Keep aside. Now add the ground paste and turmeric powder and saute till it leaves the sides of the pan. Add the mushroom, salt and 1 cup water and cook, covered till the moisture is reduced and done. Serve, garnished with coriander.

Hummus recipe

Hi All,

I tried Hummus dip recipe this week. I used lot of cilantro to make the paste, so the paste turned green in colour. Its easy and you can try without adding cilantro.

Ingredient :-

 1 cup chickpea boiled

2 to 3 cloves of garlic

salt to taste

paprika 1/2 tbsp

roasted cumin powder 1/2 tbsp

extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp

lemon juice 1/2 tbsp

cilantro (optional)

Tahini paste (optional)

Tahini paste :-  

Roast 1/2 cup sesame seeds, when it starts to turn brown remove from flame and make a paste with extra virgin olive oil.

Method :- 

In a food processor, take the boiled chickpeas, add garlic, salt, cumin powder, paprika, olive oil and I have added cilantro(optional). Grind the mixture with little water, olive oil . Now add lemon juice and more olive oil and serve as a dip.

Hi

Makkai Di Roti

Makkai Di Roti is a authentic Punjabi dish. It is quiet famous as a combination of Makkai di Roti and Sarso da saag. Well, getting Sarso Saag(mustard green leafs) in Hyderabad is bit difficult. But, yes getting Makkai ka aatta is bit easy. The first time, I had the wonderful combination of Punjabi cuisine is a popular Punjabi Restaurant in Bangalore. This weekend I tried making Makkai di Roti. Having different varieties of roti's & paratha's is something that my husband appreciates and I love experimenting for him. I had served this with corn and panneer gravy. Do give it a try.

Ingredients:-
•Cornmeal (makki ka atta) 1 1/2 cups
•Whole wheat flour (atta) optional 1/4 cup
•Salt to taste
•Unsalted butter as required

Method:- 
Add salt and whole-wheat flour to the cornmeal and mix well. Add warm water and knead to make a medium soft dough. Divide into eight equal portions and shape into balls. Pat each ball between dampened palms to make a roti of medium thickness. Alternatively, roll out each ball between the folds of a greased plastic sheet. Heat a tawa and place a roti on it. Cook on moderate heat till one side is half-done. Turn over and spread some white butter over the surface. Turn over and spread some more butter on the other side. Cook till both sides are golden brown. Serve hot with a dollop of white butter.

How to make chaat Masala at home?

How to make chaat masala at home?

Dry roast 4 tablespoons coriander seeds, 2 teaspoons cumin seeds and 1 teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain) separately. Cool and powder them with 2-3 dry red chillies, 3 tablespoons black salt and ½ teaspoon citric acid. Mix in 1 teaspoon dry mango powder (amchur), 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon white/black pepper powder. Store in an air-tight container.

Easy one right... try once.

Roti upma

Hi Friends,

This is another recipe that I try couple of months back, but could not post earlier. Its an innovative idea with left over chapati's. For Indian's its either rice or roti that is eaten as a main portion a night. Mostly, people of south have rice for dinner and people of north have roti's. Not just dinner but roti is a most for people of north in lunch as well. But, we people of Odisha, where do we lay? No idea, for most of the urban population of Odisha, it is rice in lunch and roti for dinner. This holds good for some of the rural population as well. So, we are a mixture right. We have breakfast as Chakuli Pitha, Chitau Pitha (similar to Dosa of south), however our curries resemble mostly north. But, yes our facial and figure resemble Bengali's and our tradition is almost similar to Bengali. I got distracted from the original topic a bit,lets now go back to main topic.
For people who prefer chapati or roti, it is common to have left over's. So, what do you do with these. Just warm them and have with curries, milk or chai or have you come up with something innovative.

I am sure, you must have tried something or the other at times. Here, is one such recipe that I prepared after being inspired by other foodie blogger's. Its a normal stir fry recipe with less oil and spices.Try it once, it is a makeover of the dull left over roti's.

Ingredients :- 

3 to 4 left over chapati's torn into small pieces.

1 green capsicum chopped

1 red pepper bell chopped

1 yellow pepper bell chopped

1 Onion chopped

1 green chili chopped

1/2 tbsp black pepper powder

salt as per taste

olive or canola oil 1 tbsp

1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:- 

Heat a pan. Add oil, when oil is hot add onions, stir fry till it turns pink. Add chopped vegetables and stir fry for 3 mins. Add roti peices. Mix in salt and pepper powder. And fry for another 2 mins. Now turn off the flame, add lemon juice and serve hot.

Chili Gobi

Hi Readers,

In Winter's when Cauliflower and Gobi is readily available in Indian market, and we like hot fried foods in chilly weather, this is a dish that would be liked by people of all ages, especially children as they like Chinese recipes more.Here is a recipe for you.

Ingredients:

250 gms fresh Gobi or Cauliflower florets half boiled

2 medium Capsicum or colored Bell peppers

1 large Onion

for the batter:

1/4 cup All purpose flour

2 tbsp. Corn flour

1/4 cup Water, approx

1/4 tsp Pepper powder

1 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste, optional

Salt to taste

2 tbsp All purpose flour, to dust

Oil, to deep fry

Other ingredients:

4-5 Garlic cloves, finely chopped

3/4" Ginger, finely chopped

2-3 Green(or red) chillies, finely chopped

1 tsp Celery(or thick Coriander stems), finely chopped

1 tbsp Vinegar

1 tbsp Soya sauce

2-3 tbsp Tomato Ketchup

1 tbsp Red Chili Sauce or 1-2 tsp Red Chili paste

1/4 tsp freshly ground Pepper

Salt to taste

2-3 tbsp Oil

Method:

Remove the stem and seeds and the white internal layer of capsicum (or bell peppers) and cut into 1" cubes and keep aside.

Cut a large onion into large 1" cubes and separate into layers.

Cut Cauliflower  into medium size. Boil it till it's half done & keep it aside. 

Take a bowl and add corn flour,all purpose four, ginger-garlic paste(if adding),pepper powder and salt and add 1/4 cup of water and mix it nicely to form a thick coating batter, beat the batter nicely with out any lumps. Do not make this batter thin as it will not hold the coating. So add the water in stages to get a thick coating consistency. And 1/2 tbsp soya sauce to it.

Heat oil in a deep curved pan for deep frying

Dip the Cauliflower in the maida batter and deep fry until they turn light golden brown in color. 

Heat oil in a deep wok and add finely chopped ginger, garlic,celery and green chillies and fry until light brown in color.

Add diced capsicum(or bell pepper) pieces and fry on high flame for 1-2 mins until the capsicum pieces slightly wilt. Add diced and separated onions and fry on high fame for a minute. Do not let them fry for long and loose the crunchiness of vegetables.

Reduce the flame or remove the wok from heat and add vinegar, soya sauce, tomato ketchup, red chili sauce(or paste), salt and pepper. Remember that all the sauces contain some salt, so do not add more salt. Return to heat and mix all the sauces nicely on low flame for a minute.

Add the fried Cauliflower pieces and increase the flame and stir fry for 1-2 minutes until they become piping hot.

Serve it hot. 

Bajra roti(pearl millet roti)

Hi Readers,

Bajra or pearl millet has high nutritious value and has many benefits.

Bajra is high in proteins with a good amount of amino acids

It is a good source of iron, which helps formation of hemoglobin in blood thus preventing anaemia.

It is a moderate source of vitamin B1, which is required for a healthy nervous system.

It is specially effective for bleeding piles, epilepsy, insomnia, impotency, high blood pressure, diabetes and tuberculosis.

It is easily digestible and has the lowest probability of causing allergic reactions.

Bajra, being gluten free, is a very good food choice for those suffering from celiac disease who cannot tolerate gluten.

It is highly effective and recommended for cases of severe constipation and stomach ulcers.

The presence of phytic acid and niacin in bajra helps in lowering the cholesterol.

Being rich in fiber content , bajra is good for diabetics, keeping the glucose levels normal.

Bajra Roti is common food of Rajasthan and Gujurat. And after knowing the many good qualities of this grain I am trying to accommodate this to my normal diet.

Ingredients :- 

3 cups Bajra flour

1 cup warm water

salt to taste

oil or ghee 

Method :- 

Bajra unlike Jowar has a bitter taste, so it needs special care while making roti's. The flour is not kneaded into batter at once, but the ladies knead flour for one Roti at a time and immediately make roti's. It tends to become bitter if you allow it to stay for a longer time. So, while kneading, take the flour in a large plate or flat bottomed bowl. Add little water in one side. Mix flour and knead to a small dough. Immediately give it a roti shape using hand. Or u might use the roller to make it into that shape but this dough is not sticky enough and tends to break so take special care. Heat a tawa and bake this bread it takes longer time as the roti's would be thicker than normal chapati. When brown spots appear on each sides, add oil or ghee spread all over and serve hot. This goes well with raw onion,green chili , garlic chutney and traditional baigan bharta or any traditional curry. 

I have added chopped onions, green chili to the batter before making roti's. This tends to weeken the bitter taste a little. I have served it with bottle gourd or lauki ki labji. 

Gobi Chana Masala

Hi Readers,

This recipe is a special one for me. It was prepared by my granny. After, long time I tried her dish. This one uses Gobi, aloo and Chana dal to make the curry. I do not know whether to call this a curry or a dal fry.

Lets now have a look at the recipe.

Ingredients :- 

1 cup chana dal soaked for 1 hr

10 to 15 florets of cauliflower into medium size pieces

1 medium sized potato cut into cubes

1 large onion chopped into thin slices

2 medium tomatoes chopped

1 inch ginger chopped 

4 flakes garlic chopped

few coriander leaves

1 tbsp cumin seeds 

salt to taste

1/2 tbsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp oil

1 green chili chopped

1/2 tbsp garam masala

Powdered masala - 

1/2 tbsp saha jeera

3 to 4 cloves

2 small cardamom

1/2 stick cinnamon

Method :- 

Pressure cook chana dal for two whistles . Add salt and turmeric to it before pressure cooking. Leave it aside. Dal should keep its shape intact. Heat a pan, add one tbsp oil and add potato and cauliflower. Add turmeric powder and salt as per taste and cook till cauliflower is half cooked. Keep aside and heat the pan. Add oil, when oil is hot add cumin seeds, when it starts to splutter add green chili, onion. When Onions turn pink, add chopped ginger and garlic. Cook till the raw smell is gone. Add chopped tomato, salt, turmeric powder and cook till oil starts to separate. Add in the cauliflower and potato. Add the cooked dal and water if needed. Add in powdered masala and 1/2 tbsp garam masala. Cook till cauliflower is done. Serve hot with steamed rice or hot chapati.