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.