Food glorious food

Groundnut Chutney on Toasted Rotis

2011-08-13T14:21:00.025+05:30

I don't even know if this is my granny's concoction or a common leftover breakfast/snack item in many households but I simply love having this 'toasted' roti with chilled curd for breakfast. And the best thing is that it is easy, quick and involves no planning! :) The only difference in this recipe is that I have avoided layers of home-made butter and instead used curd for the mix. For the non-calorie-conscious people, use homemade butter for the authentic taste of groundnut chutney on toasted rotis!

Servings for 2

Ingredients:

4 Leftover rotis
1 cup curd
Finely chopped onions, coriander, capsicum
2 tbsps groundnut chutney (shenga chutney)

Mix curd, groundnut chutney and the finely chopped ingredients. Mix well

Spread homemade butter on the rotis, you can skip this if you want to avoid butter

Evenly spread the mix on the rotis

Toast the rotis on a griddle, as shown in pictures 1 and 2

Make sure that you toast the rotis on a low flame till they are crisp

Enjoy with a cup of chilled curd!

Quick Spaghetti With Garlic Bagquette

2011-07-24T10:00:00.007+05:30

Jamie Oliver is my new love :) I used to follow his TV shows regularly when I was in Finland, but never really tried out any of his recipes. A few weeks back I tried out one of Jamie Oliver's recipes, actually I used his recipe and made some modifications. But I must say he is a fabulous cook, has some amazingly simple recipes and the best part is that the final outcome is ravishing!

I tried one of the spaghetti recipes for the sis-in-law's birthday, although she wasn't around :). Well she is a darling and a really good cook. She loves to feed people, and does the same every time she visits us (I hope she is reading this and continues the same when she is visiting Bangalore the next time ;) ) And hmm she doesn't really have an option because she is married to my bro, who is the guru of gourmandism!

For her birthday, she had made a lavish spread of Indian food - dint I say that she loves to cook! Well, she has sent some interesting recipe, will post that shortly, but lets talk about quick spaghetti for now....

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients:

1/2 packet spaghetti

2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped

2 large onions, finely chopped

bunch of fresh basil

8-10 olives

1/2 cup olive oil

2 cubes grated parmesan cheese

3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed

3 pepper balls, coarsely grounded

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp thyme

pinch of sea salt

1 tsp sugar or honey

Boil the spaghetti, drain water and set aside. Drizzle oil on the boiled spaghetti so that it does not stick.

Heat /12 cup olive oil. Add garlic and onions, allow to cook till onions turn golden brown. Add tomatoes, and lightly crush the tomatoes with a potato masher. Cook on medium flame for 5-8 minutes.

In a separate bowl, add 2 tsps olive oil, red wine vinegar, olives, torn basil leaves, pinch of sea salt, dried rosemary and thyme. Set aside for a few minutes.

Add the basil-vinegar mix to the tomato mix, add crushed pepper and grated cheese. Cook for a few minutes.

Mix well with boiled spaghetti, garnish with cheese. Serve with garlic bagquette.

Semiyaan Kheer With A Dash Of Mango

2011-07-23T12:02:00.001+05:30

This was one of my experiments on a dear friend and her family :) I have known this friend since over 10 years now. Since we graduated, I think we must have met only a handful number of times and yet it doesn't matter, the connection still remains. And luckily the respective spouses also got along well, or atleast that's what both of them said :)

Meeting friends from school / college is definitely very special. I really miss my school/college days, it was gooooood fun.

Semiyaan kheer is a very traditional and common dish, especially in South part of India. I relish the kheer in a semi-solid form, rather than the kheer being completely liquid with lots of milk.

Servings: 8 people

Ingredients:

Semiya: 1/2 cup

Milk: 3/4 litre

Sugar: 1/2 cup

Ghee: 1 tbsp

Cashewnuts, raisins, almonds: 1 cup

Cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp

Pinch of salt

Pinch of saffron

1/2 Alphonso mango sliced

4 tbsps of khoya (optional)

Coarsely chop the dry fruits

Soak the saffron strands in a few tbsps of warm milk

Heat ghee in a pan, add the semiyan and roast it till the semiyan turns golden brown in color. Ensure that you dont let the semiyan stick to the pan. Once the semiyan is roasted, let it allow to cool.

Heat the milk, add sugar. Allow the milk to boil for 10-15 mins at low flame, and stir occasionally. Add cardamom powder and a pinch of salt. Add khoya if you want to thicken the milk further. Let it boil for another 5 mins.

Add roasted semiyan and dry fruits. Cook till the semiyan is well done. Add saffron+milk mix

For a stronger flavor of mango, you can serve kheer with alternate layers of coarsely chopped mangoes and kheer

Healthy Dessert - A Myth?

2011-05-22T13:00:00.015+05:30

I am not aware of any dessert, atleast any Indian dessert, which can be termed 'healthy'. All the sweets that I know of are loaded with sugar and ghee. And as my granny and one of Pranav's aunts claims some amount of ghee is essential for human body. Just like any machine needs good oiling for smooth functioning of its parts, human body needs ghee for smooth functioning of the bones :)

I dont buy into the argument, but have never dared to argue with them...

However, ghee or no ghee, I know of one dessert which is amazingly healthy. Even without ghee, this dish tastes really good! My great granny made this amazingly well...I remember she used to always make this with puran-poli, and used to manage the entire cooking on her own, even when she was really old! And when I make this one dish, it is an achievement for me although I have the mixie and other gadgets, she actually used the old style pestle to grind the wheat grains!

Ingredients: (serves 4 people)

1 cup whole wheat grain

2 cups grated jaggery

1/2 cup grated dry coconut

pinch of salt

3 tsps cardamom powder

2 Cloves

Coarsely chopped dry fruits (cashewnuts, almonds, raisins)

4-5 cashewnuts grated for garnishing

3 cups of water

Soak the wheat grains in water, such that the water level just covers the grains. Soak for 4-5 hours. Coarsely grind the soaked grains in a mixer.

You can also get broken whole wheat grains, and keep them soaked for an hour or so.

Grate jaggery

For ghee lovers you can heat some ghee in a pan and add cloves and the broken wheat grains and stir for a few minutes

If you dont plan to use ghee, just mix all the ingredients - broken wheat, jaggery, pinch of salt, water in a cooker

Cook for 2 whistles

Let out the steam from the cooker and mix roasted dry fruits, dry coconut and cardamom powder

Check water levels, there should be enough water to cook for one more whistle. A ratio of 1 cup of wheat to 3 cups of water makes this dish less 'watery'; however the authentic dish is exactly like porridge. So you will need to add atleast 1 more cup of water.

Garnish with grated cashewnuts

Serve hot; drizzle with ghee for the 'Indian' taste.

Cucumber Summer Salad

2011-05-22T11:34:00.000+05:30

A quick and healthy salad, perfect to beat the summer heat!

Ingredients:

2 medium sized Cucumbers

1/2 cup curd

4 tbsps roasted gram powder ( this has lesser calories compared to peanuts, if you are not too conscious, then use peanut powder instead of gram powder...tastes better)

olive oil for tempering

mustard seeds

1 green chilli chopped

1 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp jeera (cumin) powder

1 tbsp fresh grated coconut

Grate cucumbers, drain the water and set aside. Dont throw the water, you can use it to make dough or can use it in one of the vegetables.

Heat olive oil, once heated add mustard seeds. Let the seeds crackle. Add green chillies, let the chillies cook for a few seconds.

Remove from heat.

Mix with grated cucumber.

In a bowl mix curd, sugar, salt and coconut. Beat to a consistent finish.

Mix cucumber and curd mix.

Sprinkle jeera powder and gram powder.

Serve chilled.

This salad can also be used as a dip with taco chips. If you use it as a dip, make sure you use thickened curd

Noodle Pizza!

2011-04-22T17:10:00.016+05:30

Cooking is an art, and I am on a mission to explore my creativity :) The plan is to find a publisher to publish my recipes of 'East meets West' by the time I hit 40. If I don't find anyone, then the family has promised to do so for me ;) The dreamer that I am, more such abstract wishes will evolve.

The 2.5+ years of studying really hogged up all my time, now weekends are blissful. The 27 odd hours that were freed up for studying suddenly seem to make me feel guilty if I don't utilize my time productively.

I am just settling down in the new house, and the new kitchen. But I soon need to equip the kitchen with all the needed appliances, have been on a look out whenever I go shopping - mesh fryer was a recent addition and was very handy in the noodle pizza preps. During my visit to China, I had come across a lot of starters which were noodle wrapped and deep fried. I was contemplating on trying out noodle wrapped aloo-tikkis or paneer-tikka but then ended up making noodle pizzas :)

Word of caution: This has to be eaten hot, so (deep / shallow) fry the noodles just before the starters are ready to be served.

Ingredients:

Noodles
Oil for frying
For the topping, you can choose your own favorite vegetables. I have used onions, carrots, beans and capsicum
Tomatoes
Oregano
Basil leaves
2-3 Garlic cloves
Pinch of salt
Sugar / Honey
Pepper
Olive oil
Mozzarella cheese

Fry the onions, tomatoes and vegetables to form the topping. Add generous amounts of olive oil to the mix. Keep aside.

Boil water in a large container, add salt and oil. Once water starts boiling, add the noodles. Cook for ten mins, make sure that the noodles are not overcooked.

Strain water immediately, and allow noodles to cool down. Sprinkle oil on the noodles so that they dont stick

Apply oil on your fingers, and take a few strands of noodles and coil them together in a spiral manner. Once all the strands are coiled together, lay out the coiled noodles to form a spiral base.

Repeat the same for the entire set. One packet of noodles makes about 5-6 such mini 'pizzas'

You can either deep fry or shallow fry the noodles

After the base is ready, spread the topping on the base, add mozzarella cheese. Microwave for a few minutes for the cheese to melt. Serve hot!

Noodle pizzas are really good starters for parties, but eating this can be a bit clumsy. One improvisation that I will try out next time is to coat the noodle base with a bit of cornflour and then deep-fry the base.

Now need to find some friends who are willing to be guinea pigs :)

Honey Glazed Muthia

2011-03-29T21:30:00.014+05:30

Muthia is a Gujarati dish, eaten with rotis as well as eaten as tea-time snacks. Generally this dish is made from bottle-gourd and chickpeas flour, but it is also made from leftover khichdi. I have taken this a step further, and I generally mix all the leftovers to make muthias, you can use leftover rice, vegetables, rotis (coarsely mixed in a mixer)!

Ingredients:

Leftovers (I have used pulao, ridge gourd vegetable and some daal)

Some fresh vegetables (optional) - grated carrot, onions, cabbage

Gram flour - 1/2 proportion of leftovers + vegetables

Rice flour - 1/4 proportion of gram flour

Ginger garlic paste

Cumin seeds

Sugar

Salt

4 tsps Cumin-Coriander powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

2 tsps lemon juice

For tempering

Oil

Mustard seeds

Sesame seeds

Honey

Mix all the ingredients

Make small balls, and steam in an idli container

Allow the steamed muthias to cool down

Heat oil in a kadai, generally muthias need three times more oil compared to any vegetable for tempering, otherwise they become very dry because of the flour. However, the health freak in me has found a way to prevent the muthias for being dry. You can use honey to make them less dry :)

Use about the same quantity of oil as you would use for cooking any vegetable

Once oil is heated, add mustard seeds and sesame seeds

After they start crackling, add the muthias and mix well

Serve hot with chutney

Macaroni with garlic bread

2011-03-19T18:59:00.022+05:30

Feels great to get back to cooking - I really missed it all this while! The husband has one more quarter of studies, and I need to make it up to him, so what better than cooking special lunch every Saturday for 9 more Saturdays! I wanted to start with something simple but special, and Macroni tops the list in simple-quick dishes.

Ingredients for Macaroni:

2 Cups of Macaroni

1/2 cup fine shredded cabbage

1 onion finely chopped

1 capsicum finely chopped

3 large tomatoes chopped (deseed the tomatoes)

1/2 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp thyme

7-8 fresh basil leaves

4 garlic cloves

1 tbsp honey

Olive oil for cooking

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Cook macaroni in salted boiling water with a few drops of olive oil.

Ensure that you dont over cook macaroni - 10 mins of cooking in boiling water is sufficient.

Saute all the vegetables - you can add mushrooms, grated carrot - basically any vegetable combo works well with macroni

Add a pinch of oregano to the sauted vegetables, set aside

In a separate pan, heat 2 tbsps of olive oil.

Add the crushed garlic and cook for a minute

Add the coarsely chopped tomatoes, thyme and parsley

Cook till the tomatoes look juicy, add a pinch of salt and honey

Grind the tomatoes mix, once it cools down.

Mix the sauted vegetables in the tomato-parsley sauce, add 1/4th of the cheddar cheese to the vegetables, mix well

Add the cooked macaroni to the vegetable mix, add half cup of water, if the mix is dry. Cook for a minute.

Coat the microwave-able container with olive oil, put alternate layers of macaroni and cheese, drizzle a bit of olive oil and cook in microwave for 8-10 mins. And it is good to go :)

Ingredients for garlic bread topping:

1 tsp butter

2 garlic cloves - finely chopped

1 tsp roasted sesame seeds

2-3 fresh basil leaves

1/2 tsp parsley

5 tsps olive oil

Melt the butter, mix all the ingredients

Spread the mix on the bread slices

Drizzle olive oil

Grill in oven for 7-8 mins till the bread turns brown

And the final result

Strawberry Lemonade

2011-03-19T18:35:00.008+05:30

Nothing more refreshing than a good lemonade drink to beat the summer heat!

Ingredients (Makes 2 glasses):

2 lemons

2 glasses of water

Pinch of salt

4 tsps sugar

Pinch of cardamom powder

2-3 fresh basil leaves

2 strawberry sliced

Mix sugar, salt, lemon juice, water and cardamom powder. Stir till sugar is completely dissolved. Half an hour before serving, add strawberry and coarsely cut basil leaves in each glass. Pour the lemonade. Serve chilled.

The lemonade gets the tinge of strawberry color - looks soothing and tastes too :)

2 Years, 8 months and 13 Days!

2011-01-30T19:25:00.003+05:30

I was in hiding for a lonnnng time - buried in books, 'trying' to be wiser, away from the normal world...actually I still am, just finishing the last lap of my 'never-ending' marathon! I have missed blogging so much in these last few years, and more still I have missed out on cooking!

I shall be back, in 4 weeks! Watch out for this space :-)

Papad methi shaak

2008-04-09T20:21:00.010+05:30

The first time I heard of papad methi sabzee (sabzee is called shaak in Gujju) was at my in-laws place! I was not very thrilled about even tasting the dish! After a lot of reluctance I did taste it a bit, and dint like the taste at all. Papads are meant to be roasted and fried, and not meant for making sabzees! But, well after a while I really started enjoying the taste. The taste grows on you, especially if you enjoy methi then you definitely cannot resist this dish. And what more this dish needs minimal effort

Effort: 30 mins

Serves: 2 persons

Ingredients:
* 6 papads
* 2 tbsps fenugreek seeds
* 1/2 cup jaggery
* 2 tsps dhania jeera powder
* 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
* pinch of turmeric and salt as per taste
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh methi or you could also use kasuri methi instead
* 2-1/2 cups of water

For tempering:
* Oil
* mustard seeds

- Break the papad into small pieces

- Boil 2 tablespoons of methi (fenugreek) seeds in a cooker - 3 whistles on high flame and 1 whistle on low flame is sufficient. If you plan to boil in microwave, then cook for roughly 15-20 minutes

- Let the boiled seeds cool down. Wash thoroughly with water, so that the bitter taste is reduced
- Heat oil, and add mustard seeds.
- Once the seeds start spluttering, add methi seeds stir for a few seconds, and immediately add 1 cup of water
- Add dhania jeera powder, red chilli powder and turmeric powder along with jaggery and salt
- Add one more cup of water, and let it boil well
- Add fresh methi and papad, stir well. At this point if you find the taste very bitter, then you can add some more jaggery
- Cook till papads become soft
- Serve hot with rotis or rice

Batata Vada

2008-04-05T11:04:00.008+05:30

Gujju cuisine would be the best way to start blogging in India, in order to impress the saasu-maa ;-) I have learnt quite a few traditional Gujju dishes from here, which are supposedly very oily but she does manage to use as less oil as possible!

Batata vada is very well known in Maharashtra as well as Gujrat, I would say more so in Maharashtra. But, I am posting this recipe under Gujju cuisine because these batata vadas are made by my MIL in Gujju style - yes they have a sweetish tinge, but they taste amazing!

Ingredients:

For the vada:

* 4-5 potatoes
* 1 medium onion roughly chopped
* 3-4 green chillies finely chopped
* 1 lemon
* 2 spoons chopped coriander
* salt as per taste
* 1 spoon sugar

For tempering:

* 1 spoon oil
* 1/2 spoon mustard seeds
* 1/2 spoon urad daal

For the mix:

* 1 cup besan
* Salt as per taste
* 1 spoon red chilli powder
* 1/2 spoon turmeric powder
* 1.5 cups water
* Oil for frying

Effort: 45 mins
Makes: 10-12 vadas

- Boil the potatoes (take care that they are not over cooked), allow to cool, peel skin and set aside
- While the potatoes are being boiled, mix the paste for outer coating of vadas - sieve the besan, add red chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder. Add water gradually and mix throughly using your hand so that the consistency is even. Set aside.

- For the tempering, heat oil, add mustard seeds and once they start spluttering, add the urad daal. Let it cook for a few seconds
- Add the tempering to the boiled potatoes, add onions, lemon juice, sugar, chopper corainder, green chillies and salt. Mash properly and make small balls and set aside

- Heat oil in a kadai. Dip each vada in the besan mix such the mix is well coated on the vada, and fry. Keep the vadas on a tissue paper to drain out the excess oil.
- Enjoy the hot vadas with the green chutney

After a long sabbatical...

2008-01-22T17:20:00.002+05:30

It has been a long time, since I have been blogging. I had thought that settling down in Blore would be fairly easy and a quick thing - what with all the estate agents available for hunting a place and most of the items to be bought would be available in more than 10 different stores located 100 meters from each other. Well, it was an experience, which I hope I would not have to face ever again. Firstly to start with Blore, I am thoroughly disappointed to see the infrastructure of this city! It is in a very pathetic shape, and this is supposedly the Indian Silicon valley. Blore needs to change dramatically before things go out of control. The government, the IT biggies and perhaps even some of us, should really do some thing in this regard. The traffic is unmanageable, most of the people on the road have no value for their own life, nor do they value others lives! In our own office parking lot, people drive their vehicles at the speed of 50kmph, whereas there are huge hoardings in the parking lot showing the speed limit as 15kmph. And then there are those security and traffic policemen standing there "trying" to regulate the traffic! I must say that at least the first few months have been thoroughly disappointing in Blore in terms of the traffic and infrastructure. But, then on the positive side, I am now close to my family! Moreover, the feeling of being in India, amongst your people (although you crib and curse every other minute!) is really nice. All in all I have had a good time so far, minus the settling down period. Even with all the infrastructure and other problems, there is a sense of belonging in India. It feels nice to be here amongst your own people :-)

Having said that, I am now back to my blogging with a bang! The vegetables in Bangalore taste much better than Finland :) And there is such a wide range of sabzees and dishes that I can try out! Hopefully I will be able to post recipes on a regular basis from now on.....

So, hopefully from now on I will be able to post recipes regularly on my blog. One good thing about Bangalore is the food - the palak dosa at ShivSagar's, the south indian lunch buffet at SouthIndies, the sizzlers at IndiJoe's, the Kerala cuisine at Malgudi and the list continues....it has been a true gourmand affair for me!

Moi Moi Finland :-(

2007-09-25T23:44:00.001+05:30

Finland has been my second home, and I must say that since the day we made our decision to leave Finland, I have been feeling quite sad. There are a lot of things I will miss about Finland - the lovely lakes, the pullas, Finnish coffee, Tampere and most important the friends I have made in Tampere, and of course I will definitely miss hearing the multiple "Thank you"s and "Kiitos" during the day ;-) We are moving back to India - home sweet home! But, I hope that it won't be a rude shock for us, both work-wise and socially. I think the latter part should be OK after a few months of settling down, after all we have grown up and spent so many years in India.

Anyway, because of this move, I will not be regular with my posts for a few weeks. I have been making some Finnish recipes, so I will start posting those, whenever possible.

Coming back to what I love about Finland - the beautiful summer! After 3-4 months of cold winter with barely 2-3 hours of sunlight, the lovely summer is a welcome change! In Tampere, which is situated in southern Finland, there is sunlight for roughly 19 hours during summer. But, if you go further north to places like Kuusamo, Kilpisjarvi, you will get to see the midnight sun ;-) So, for the travel freaks, do visit Finland during summer. You can rent a summer cottage, and have a ball of a time! This summer we had been to Nordkapp (North Cape), we drove a total of 3000 odd kms, and what a drive it was! We were at the northernmost point in Europe on mid-summer day. It was an awesome trip! All those who stay in Scandic countries should make a road trip to Nordkapp, preferrably on a bike ;-) We took the less adventurous option of going by car. Norway is extremely beautiful, truly a paradise on earth. And then there are places like Kilpisjarvi, Muonio in Finland which are worth a visit during summer as well as winter. During the same summer, we had been to Kuusamo, with my brother and bhabhi. Kuusamo is very close to the Russian border and is very famous for both summer and winter sports.

Midnight Sun
One of the thousand lakes in Finland
Rapids in Kuusamo
Finnish Summer cottage
Sauna room
Driving in Finland during summer
Camping at Helvetinjarvi

Rovaniemi is another famous place in Finland. For those who do not know, Rovaniemi is the offical residence of Santa Claus, and it is a must-see place during winter time especially for kids. And the reindeer safari is definitely a must-do. There is also the husky dog safari, but unfortunately we could not take that. And then of course there is skiing, I tried to risk my life once by directly trying downhill skiing after a short course, but gravity did play a strong role in pulling me down in weird directions, so haven't tried skiing at all after that one experience!

Reindeer Safari in Rovaniemi
Our reindeer - Petteri
Tavi - the leader

And that's not all, there are so many other places even around Tampere that are superb - Pori for instance is a great place to spend a few days of summer. Pori has a really big (natural) sand beach, and it is the perfect place to stay for a few days. There are also a lot of camping places around Tampere, just drive out over the weekend during summer and have fun! And yes, the vast strawberry fields....

Autumn in Tampere
Beach at Pori
Frozen lake
Kilpisjarvi

I can go on and on about my love for Finland, but I think I will do that later in some other category of blogging, if I miss Finland too much in India :D But these are some of the things about Finland which I will definitely miss:
- Rye bread :-)
- Saunas (yeah yeah the sauna culture is catching up in India too, but nothing like the Finnish sauna!)
- Jenkki gum
- Frozen lakes
- Finnish coffee and pullas
- Peace and solitude especially when you go out for a quiet evening walk :-)
- Quality of life
- And last, but not the least, the Finns. By far, the most polite and non-judgemental people I have ever come across.

Cabbage Kofta curry

2007-09-10T22:30:00.001+05:30

The symmetric pakodas and the above pic is courtesy Smita, my s-i-l, an amazing cook!

I had recently made cabbage kofta curry for our friends' parents. Our friends are from Kerala, so initially I was quite skeptical about making North Indian food for the parents, but luckily both aunty and uncle like North Indian food. BTW, I find it very intriguing that the moment we meet any Indian elderly couple, we address them as Indians do, whereas any "firang", no matter how old he or she is, is always addressed by his / her first name :-) I would love to address some elderly Finnish person as uncle / aunty some time, just to see his reaction ;-)) Anyway, coming back to my cabbage kofta curry recipe, this is one of those dishes which look very rich and are perfect for a party, and also do not need too many special ingredients, unlike other kofta curries. So, enjoy this dish for the next party that you plan!

Ingredients:
For koftas:
* 1 cup shredded cabbage
* 4-5 tsps besan (chana flour)
* 2 tsps rice flour
* Fresh grated ginger - 1 inch piece
* 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
* 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
* 1/4 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
* 2 green chillies finely chopped
* salt as per taste
* 2 tsps finely chopped coriander
* Oil for frying

For garam masala:
* 1 cardamom
* 2-3 cloves
* 1 small piece of cinnamon
* 1 tsp poppy seeds
* 1/4 tsp sesame seeds

For the gravy:
* 2 onions
* 2-3 tomatoes - pureed
* 2-3 tbsps cream
* 1/2 cup coriander
* 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
* salt as per taste
* few drops of honey

Effort: 45 mins

Serves: 6 persons

- Mix all the ingredients for koftas, make sure that the cabbage is predominant than the chana flour mix. Make small balls or pakodas, and deep fry in oil

- On a pan, roast all the spices for garam masala. Roast till you can smell the fragrance of the spices. Let it cool. Grind the spices to a fine powder in a grinder
- Heat a few spoons of oil, fry the finely chopped onions. Fry till the onions are golden brown, add coriander and fry for sometime. Let is cool. Grind the onion mix to a fine paste in a grinder
- Make tomato puree. Make a small cross cut on each of the tomatoes, immerse the tomatoes in boiling water
- Let the tomatoes cool, remove skin and grind to a fine paste
- Heat a small amount of butter in a pan, add the onions paste, fry for a minute, add garam masala, red chilli powder and salt. Add tomato puree, cook till oil separates from the gravy. The gravy should be slightly thick
- Add cream, and cook for 2-3 minutes on low heat

- For serving, place the koftas on a serving plate, pour the gravy on top of the kotas. Garnish with cream, mint leaves (optional) and coriander leaves

Jayshree-all-purpose-green-chutney

2007-09-05T16:06:00.000+05:30

As mentioned in my earlier post, we recently re-christened my mother-in-law's chutney :-) It is a very simple chutney and turns out superbly well, if you use the ingredients in the correct proportion. And this is truly an all purpose chutney, you can use it for sandwiches, for bhel and other chaats, as a plain accompaniment, with dhoklas and vadas, in short with almost everything!

Ingredients:

* 2 cups coriander leaves,
* 1 cup grated coconut,
* 1/2 cup sheng dana
* 1 tea spoon jeera
* 2 spoons lemon water
* 1 1/2 spoons sugar
* 1 1/2 spoons salt
* 1/2 spoon garlic paste
* 4 green chillies

Effort: 10 mins

Grind all these together in the mixer adding water as required to make a thick paste, and your chutney is ready :-)

Aloo Parathas

2007-09-04T17:00:00.000+05:30

I have never managed to make good aloo parathas before, I always ended up making them crisp and hard. I also used to add loads and loads of butter to make the parathas soft, but no more :-) Thanks to my s-i-l! She and my brother had visted us recently and she had made pooran polis (I will be posting the puranpoli recipe soon) in a very unique style. I adapted her style for making aloo parathas, and they turned out really well. So, I dedicate this recipe to my s-i-l, who, by the way, is a great cook!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup all purpose flour
- Olive oil (supposed to be better for health than normal oil)
- Homemade butter

For stuffing:
- 8-9 medium sized boiled and peeled potatoes
- 1 tsp dhania-jeera powder
- 1 tsp finely chopped green chillies
- 1/2 tsp aamchur powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- salt as per taste

Effort: 1 hour

Makes: 8 parathas

- Knead the dough in lukewarm water. The dough should be a little loose, add 3-4 tsps of oil to make the dough loose
- Keep aside for 2-3 hours
- Add all the masalas and chopped chillies to boiled potates and mash the potatoes to make a consistent mixture. Make sure that there are no big lumps
- Remember that once you add salt to potatoes, it is better to start making the parathas. If you leave the mix for a long time, potatoes will tend to leave water because of salt
- Heat the pan and start making small round balls from the dough. Parallely also make slightly bigger balls from the potato mix. The dough and potato balls should be 1:2 proportion

- Rub your fingers with oil, and flatten the dough, place the potato ball in the centre of the dough, and start covering the potato ball with the dough, using your fingers. Keep moving the ball in a circular fashion. If the dough starts sticking to your hand, use some oil. Once the potato ball is completely covered with the dough, flatten the ball

- Roll the combined ball generously in dry flour
- Start rolling the ball into a thick paratha, start rolling from the centre and gently work towards the edges. Remember to apply uniform pressure

- Roast the paratha on the hot pan, apply butter to both sides when each side is roasted

- Serve hot with Jayshree-green chutney :-) Jayshree is my mother-in-law's name, and her green chutney is very famous in our family. We relish the chutney with practically everything from bread to batata vadas. Recently, when I was asking her for the recipe, we decided to name it "Jayshree-chutney".

Paneer Makhmali Gravy

2007-07-31T16:35:00.000+05:30

I think, by far, this has been my best dish for a party :-) Its a painstakingly long process, but the taste and the presentation of the dish stands out. Believe me girls (& guys too :-) ) this dish is definitely worth a try. But a disclaimer for the health freaks, this dish is full of calories. I had made this recipe recently at a small dinner party, and it was an instant hit! And the best part about this dish is that you have to do something grossly wrong to mess up the taste.

Ingredients:

Stuffing:

Paneer 400 gms
Walnuts - 2 tablespoons
Raisins - 2 tablespoons
1/2 cup palak finely chopped
1 tablespoon grated cheese
1/4 tsp garam masala
pinch of salt

Gravy:

4 large tomatoes
2 medium sized onions
2 tbsps cream (optional)
2 tbsps kasoori methi
1/2 tsp red chilli powder

Masala for gravy:

2 cloves
2 cardamoms
small piece of cinnamon
3/4 tsp ajwain seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Oil for tempering and frying
Salt as per taste

Effort: 1 hour

Serves: 4 persons

Stuffing:

- Cut the paneer in thick slices - approx 4x6 cms sized pieces. If the paneer is hard, marinate the slices in thick curd-masala mix for approx 15 mins, but make sure that the marination is not watery
- Mix the remaining stuffiing well, and arrange the mix between two paneer slices. Press the paneer slices gently
- Shallow fry the paneer sandwiches. Paneer will melt and the two slices will stick together well

Gravy:
- Roast the spices and grind them well
- Make tomato puree and keep aside
- In a kadai, heat some oil and add finely chopped onions and fry till they are golden brown
- Add red chilli and ground masala and cook for a few minutes
- Grind the entire mix, once it is cool
- Heat some more oil and add the ground onion and masala paste and cook on low heat for a few mins
- Add tomato puree and cook till oil separates. Add salt as per taste. Add 4-5 tbsps of water, if the gravy is too thick
- Crush kasoori methi and sprinkle on top of the gravy

For serving:
Place the gravy in a baking dish, add the paneer slices on top of the gravy, and spread some cream. I made the mistake of arranging the paneer slices first and then pouring the gravy, so the picture doesn't really do justice to the dish :( Maybe I will take a better picture next time!

Punjabi dahi gobi

2007-07-29T17:53:00.000+05:30

One of my favorite items for a small dinner party. It is very easy to make, hardly takes any effort and it is very rich in taste.

Ingredients:

1 cup of cauliflower florets
1/2 cup thick curd
2 tbsps besan
1/2 cup green peas
1 finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt as per taste
1 tsp honey
oil for tempering
Wet paste:

2 green chillies
2 cloves garlic
1 small piece of ginger

Masala Powder:

2 cardamom seeds
1 clove
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp fennel seeds

Effort: 20 mins

Serves: 4 persons

- Roast the spices on a hot pan, and grind them to a fine powder once all spices cool down
- Grind the wet paste ingredients, add a few drops of water to make the wet paste into an even consistency
- Mix the dry masala powder, wet paste, turmeric powder and besan in curd. Marinate the cauliflower florets with this curd mix. Keep aside for 1 hour
- Heat oil, once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and onions. Fry till onions are golden brown in color
- Add green peas and cook for 5 minutes
- Add marinated mix and stir repeatedly for 5-10 minutes so that lumps are not formed
- Add honey and salt and cook till cauliflower florets are tender
- Garnish with corainder leaves

Paneer Mutter

2007-07-24T18:30:00.000+05:30

Paneer and Punjabi dishes are synonymous with each other. I love paneer in any form - simple fried paneer, a creamy rich paneer gravy or plain paneer pulao. All are equally palatable :-) I still remember the taste of the amazing punjabi khana we had at a dhaba, on our way back to Delhi from Manali. I had the best aloo parathas (with loads of makkhan) and paneer mutter. I have never had better paneer mutter in any restaurant!

Talking about dhabas, do visit Neivedyam for Sharmi's punjabi thali. Check out the paneer mutter malai, a rich dish very apt for a party, posted on her blog.

Ingredients:

Paneer 200 gms
1 cup fresh green peas
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
1 medium sized tomato finely chopped
2 tbsps thick curd for marination
2-3 tbsps fresh methi leaves (or 1 tsp kasuri methi)
salt to taste
home made butter or oil for tempering
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
Masala:

1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
3 cloves
3 cardamom seeds
1 small piece of cinnamon
3 black peppers
3-4 curry leaves

Effort: 30 mins (if you are using readymade paneer)

Serves: 2 persons

- Roast the whole spices for a while on low flame, once the spices start flavoring, remove the spices from the stove. Cool down, and grind the spices.
- Cut the paneer in 1 inch long slices. Mix 1/4 tsp red chilli powder, half of the ground spices mixture and 1/2 tsp cumin powder in curd. Marinate the paneer pieces in the curd mix for around 30 mins
- Heat oil/home made butter in a kadai. Homemade butter is fattening but it gives a very rich taste to the paneer mutter.
- Once the oil/butter is hot enough, add cumin seeds and ginger garlic paste. Stir for a while.
- Add finely chopped onions and cook till onions are golden brown. Add tomatoes, and add all the remaining masalas. Cook till tomatoes are well cooked, add green peas.
- Cover cook for around 10 mins. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water if the mixture starts sticking to the pan.
- Add marinated paneer and add salt to taste. Cook till paneer is soft.
- Most of the people prefer frying the paneer, but I like to use the paneer without frying.
- Add fenugreek leaves, and cook for 5 mins.
- To make the dish attractive, garnish with fresh cream and coriander leaves

New Approach

2007-07-06T17:14:00.000+05:30

I have been checking out some food blogs over the past few days, and I must say, I am astounded by the number of Indian cooking blogs. They all have a unique flavor to their blog and a very impressive collection of recipes. I always knew I loved cooking, but my passion seems nothing compared to the recipe bloggers around the world, and I am just talking about the Indian community :)

I have decided to take a plunge into the more 'sophisticated' world of recipe blogging, and to try to invent some recipes. I just need to rack my brain a bit, and nag my relatives and friends who have been sharing some really good recipes with me.

I have been thinking for a while now, about how I should improve the content organization, and I thought of taking a theme-based approach to my blog. I will now be blogging region-specific/country-specific cuisines for approx 6-8 weeks, and since Punjabi is the favorite cuisine for both my husband and me, I will start off with Punjabi recipes. And yes, I took my first steps into the cooking world with a paneer dish :)

Moong daal pakodas with coconut chutney

2007-06-20T17:58:00.000+05:30

Fried items have always been my favorites, but pakodas have been my all-time favorites. A cup of tea and a hot plate of pakodas is a perfect combination on a rainy day!

Ingredients for pakodas:

1 cup moong daal (green or yellow, I had used green split moong daal)
1/4 cup urad daal
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ajwain seeds
1/4 cup finely chopped corainder
2 tsps ginger-garlic-green chilli paste
salt to taste
oil for frying

Effort: 45 mins

Serves: 2 persons

- Soak the daals in water for about 5-6 hours
- Grind to a smooth paste with minimal amount of water
- Mix cumin seeds, ajwain seeds, corainder, ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and salt
- Heat oil in a frying pan, and make small pakodas and fry till golden brown

Ingredients for coconut chutney:

1 cup fresh coconut pieces
3 tsps cumin seeds
1 inch ginger piece
1/2 cup fresh groundnuts
1 cup coriander leaves
1/2 cup curd
4-5 green chillies
1/2 tsp sugar
salt to taste
few drops of lemon

Effort: 10 mins

- Grind all the above ingredients to a smooth paste
- You can vary the green chillies depending on your preference
- Store in fridge in an air tight container. The chutney lasts for 4-5 days

Grilled eggplant with fenugreek (Methi-Vangyachh bhareet)

2007-06-20T17:55:00.000+05:30

Baingan bharta dish, made from roasted eggplant on coal pieces, tastes superb. You get a half-burnt taste which is really unique. Try it next time you go for a barbeque, grill the eggplant, mash it and mix it in already cooked onion-tomato mixture.

Ingredients:

1 Eggplant
1 finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped tomato
1/2 cup fresh fenugreek leaves (do not chop fenugreek, it will make the bhartaa bitter. You can use 1 handsful of crushed kasuri methi if you cant get fresh fenugreek)
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp green chilli paste
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
4-5 curry leaves
oil for tempering
chopped coriander for garnishing
salt for taste

Effort: 45 mins

Serves: 2 persons

- Grill the eggplant in the oven at 150C for 30 mins
- Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds start crackling, add aestofotida, curry leaves, ginger-garlic paste and green chilli paste
- Stir fry for a minute, add onions and cook till onions are golden brown
- Add tomatoes and garam masala. Cook till the tomatoes are soft. If you are using fresh fenugreek, add them with tomatoes. If you use dried fenugreek, you can add those after the tomatoes are cooked
- Peel the grilled eggplant and mash it using a potato masher
- Add mashed eggplant to the onion tomato mix. Cook for a few minutes. Remember not to add salt at this stage because eggplant tends to become watery because of the salt
- Turn off the gas and then add salt and mix well
- Garnish with coriander and serve hot with bhakris (bhakri is a Maharastrian bread, staple diet in Maharashtra. Unfortunately, I dunno how to make bhakris, but I plan to learn from my granny next time I visit India!)

Thanks to my cousin who introduced me to the cooking blog - "One Hot Stove", which is hosting the Maharashtrian cuisine for the RCI contest

Kadhi with pasta

2007-06-19T17:17:00.000+05:30

Kadhi is a common Indian preparation, but I was amazed to taste 4-5 different versions of Kadhi. The Marathi and Gujju kadhi is very similar in taste, but the Sindhi, Punjabi and Marwari kadhi tastes very different. I haven't yet tasted the South Indian version of kadhi, but I have heard from one of my friends that in South Indian kadhi, besan is not used, instead rice powder is used. Change one ingredient and you can adapt the taste to suit a different Indian community :)

Coming back to kadhi business, kadhi with pasta sounds like a fusion, and most of my friends who have tasted my kadhi find the pasta in the kadhi very interesting. I dunno my Mom's source of kadhi-pasta combination. But all my life I have had home-made kadhi with pasta instead of pakodas.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups curd
2 tbsps besan
1/2 cup pasta -(I generally add rigate or riccioli)
1/2 tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin-coriander powder
2 tsps green chillies-ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 pepper balls
3-4 cloves
oil for tempering
freshly chopped coriander
pinch of sugar
salt to taste

Effort: 30 mins

Serves: 4 persons

- Boil the pasta with salt and a bit of olive oil, so that it doesn't stick
- Mix curd with equal amount of water, add besan and stir well such that there are no lumps
- Heat oil in a kadai, once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, pepper balls and cloves. When the mustard balls start crackling, add a pinch of asafoetida. Add ginger-garlic-green chillies paste and stir for a min
- Pour the curd-besan mixture, add turmeric powder, dhania-jeera powder and methi seeds
- After 5-10 mins, add pasta and salt and a pinch of sugar
- Let the mixture boil thoroughly till you can see water separating from the curd
- Garnish with lots of finely chopped coriander and serve hot with rice

Ridge gourd chutney (Dodkyachi chutney)

2007-05-28T22:42:00.000+05:30

This is a perfect accompaniment with ridge gourd vegetable, and most importantly it is extremely easy to make.

Ingredients:

Peeled skin of ridge gourd
3-4 tsps of sesame seeds
5-6 tsps of dessicated coconut
Pinch of sugar and salt
1/4 tsp chilli powder and turmeric powder
4-5 drops of lemon

Effort: 15 mins

Serves: 4 meals

- Heat a non stick pan, and add the peeled ridge gourd skin. Stir occasionally. Once the color of the peeled skin turns to a brownish tinge, add the coconut and sesame.
- Add sugar, salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Heat till the sesame seeds turn brown. Add lemon drops, and stir fry for a few more minutes.
- Cool and store chutney in an air tight container.

Dodkyachi chutney, sabzee and plain daal (varan in Marathi) tastes great with rotis and lots of ghee :)

Thanks to my cousin who introduced me to the cooking blog - "One Hot Stove", which is hosting the Maharashtrian cuisine for the RCI contest

Stuffed ridge gourd veg (Bharleli dodkyachi bhaji)

2007-05-27T21:15:00.000+05:30

Another one of my mom's great preparations. This is a typical Maharashtrian preparation, and is best had with varan (simple daal with lots of ghee and lemon) and ridge gourd (dodka is the Marathi name) chutney.

As a kid, I never fancied this dish, instead I used to look forward to Mom's chole/rajma and those "special" dishes! Now after staying away from home for nearly 11 years, I literally crave these authentic Maharashtrian dishes. More so, after coming to Tampere because it is quite difficult to get such "exotic" vegetables in Tampere. I still haven't come across fresh bitter gourd, fenugreek, drumsticks, taro leaves - the closest resemblance of taro leaves that I have seen in Tampere is a starter made from similar leaves in a Greek restaurant. I was mad enough to even ask the waiter about the source of the leaves, unfortunately the waiter could barely manage to speak basic English (which is a common thing here) and he took nearly 15 minutes to explain what the leaves look like and where I could find them, but at the end of the talk I still had no clue whatsoever ;) But Friday turned out to be a lucky day. I spotted ridge gourd (finally!) in the asian market and the very next day, I made the vegetable and chutney, and the husband and I relished the meal.

Ingredients:

Ridge gourd (2 long)
1/4 cup grated fresh coconut (I add dessicated coconut in water for 5 mins, and it is as good as fresh coocnut)
4 tbsps ground peanut powder
2 medium sized onions finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 tsp kala tikhat, also called goda masala (This is a Maharastrian masala made of 21 spices. I will try to get hold of this recipe from my granny) For those who do not have goda masala, you can use MDH tava fry masala
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp tamrind paste
Oil for tempering, cumin and mustard seeds
Salt as per taste
Pinch of aestofotida
Finely chopped coriander

Effort: 30 mins

Serves: 2 persons

- Heat oil and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start popping, add aestofotida. Add onions and ginger-garlic paste and cook till onions turn brown. Once the onions turn reddish brown, add coconut and keep stirring continuously. Once you start getting the coconut fragrance, add tomatoes, goda masala, turmeric powder, peanut powder and tamrind paste.

- Cook for 2-3 mins. Do not add salt at this stage, otherwise the onions will leave water. This onion-tomato mixture will be the stuffing. Once the stuffing cools down, add coriander.

- Peel the ridge gourd, and retain the peeling. The peeled skin will be used for the chutney ( complete recycling mechanism ;) ) Cut the ridge gourd lengthwise into 4-5 cms long pieces. Make two cross sectional cuts on each of the pieces, such that the cuts are made on 3/4th of the piece.

- Gently add stuffing in each of the piece. Make sure that each piece is overstuffed because once you start cooking the stuffing tends to come out.

- Heat very small quantity oil and add mustard seeds. Once the seeds start popping, add curry leaves and gently slide in the stuffed pieces and add salt at this stage. Cover the vessel and cook on a low flame for 15-20 mins. Gently turn the pieces after sometime, so that the vegetables do not stick to the vessel. Garnish the dish with chopped coriander and grated coconut, you can sprinkle a few drops of lemon. This dish tastes very well with hot rotis, ridge gourd chutney and plain daal.

Thanks to my cousin who introduced me to the cooking blog - "One Hot Stove", which is hosting the Maharashtrian cuisine for the RCI contest

Quick rice

2007-05-26T21:19:00.000+05:30

Don't know what to do with leftover rice? No problem! This recipe is the easiest and quickest way to use leftover rice. I like to have this for breakfast, but you can serve this as part of lunch/dinner as well. Serve it with a glass of buttermilk or ragi drink

Ingredients:

1 cup Cooked rice
1 small onion finely chopped
2 tbsps peanuts
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 green chilli finely chopped
1/4 tsps ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp mustard and cumin seeds
2 tbsps olive oil
pinch of sugar
1/2 lemon
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander

Serves: 2 persons

Effort: 10 mins

Heat olive oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot enough, add cumin and mustard seeds. Add ginger garlic paste, green chillies and peanuts. Saute for a few minutes.

Add onions and turmeric and saute well. Add rice, sugar and lemon. Mix the ingredients well such that the rice is well coated with turmeric. You can add some garam masala as well. Garnish with coriander.

Ragi drink

2007-05-22T22:34:00.000+05:30

Ragi (finger millet) helps beat the heat, I had no idea about this. Thanks to my sis-in-law, who is such a sweetheart, for "enlightening" me on this :) She keeps sending me really nice recipes, which I plan to post on my blog soon.

Ingredients:

2 tbsps ragi flour
2 Butter milk
1/2 onion finely chopped
Salt to taste
pinch of cumin powder

Effort: 10 mins

Serves: 4 glasses

Mix ragi flour in a cup of water, such that no lumps are formed. Heat 2 glasses of water, and once the water starts boiling, slowly pour the ragi mix and keep stirring continuously so that ragi lumps are not formed. Continue heating till the mixture thickens, and starts boiling. Let the ragi+water mix cool, refrigerate till it is chilled.

Mix buttermilk and ragi mix in 1:1 proportion. Add salt, a pinch of cumin powder and onions.

You can also store the ragi+water mix in fridge for 2-3 days.

Handvo

2007-05-21T23:28:00.001+05:30

I am a Maharashtrian married to a Gujju boy, so I have been introduced to core Gujju food only after marriage. Earlier, I had tasted Gujarati food only in Gujarati-thali restaurants, so I haven't really had the chance to eat homemade Gujarati food, until after marriage.

Handvo is an Indian version of spicy cake and it is one of my favorite Gujju dishes. I have had authentic handvo made by my MIL twice and it tastes superb especially with chundo (chundo is a Gujarati sweet mango pickle). I plan to learn the proper way of making handvo from MIL, whenever I visit India next.

Effort: 45 mins

Serves: 3 persons

Ingredients:

3 cups rice
1 cup tur daal
3-4 cups sour buttermilk (thick in consistency)
2 1/2 cups of mixed vegetables - bottle gourd(grated), carrots, green peas, french beans
2 small onions
2 tsps ginger garlic paste
2 green chillies
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsps corainder-cumin powder
salt to taste
1/2 tsp baking powder
(For tempering)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsps sesame seeds
3 tbsps olive oil
pinch of aestofotida

- Soak rice and daal separately overnight. Grind the soaked rice and daal separately with as little water as possible. Add buttermilk and mix the ingredients well. Leave the batter for fermentation. I keep the batter in a warm place for about 6-8 hours.

- Cut onions and other vegetables, mix them properly in the batter. Add finely chopped green chillies, turmeric powder, dhania-jeera powder, salt and baking powder.

- Heat oil for tempering, add 3-4 tbsps of oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and sesame seeds, once the seeds start popping, add aestofotida. Mix the oil and seeds mixture in the batter.

- Bake the mixture at 200C in a pre-heated oven for approx 55 mins. The top and sides should be dark brown and a bit crusty.

- In handvo you can add any variety of vegetables. Handvo is also made from chana daal and moong daal combination.

CCC - Carrot cup cakes

2007-05-17T20:15:00.000+05:30

Carrot cakes are amazingly simple to make, and commonly found in Finnish bakeries. The best part about these cakes is that margarine or butter is not used at all! Me being a dutiful wife ;) I had made the carrot cakes for our 4th wedding anniversary (Yes, its been 4 years already, but doesn't feel long at all!)

Ingredients:

2 carrots, finely grated
100 ml oil
100 gms powdered sugar
75 gms brown sugar
1 egg (or 1 cup warm milk)
175 gms all purpose baking flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp potato powder
Cup cake containers

Effort: 20 mins

Serves: 9 cup large cakes

- Sieve the flour along with baking powder, cinnamon powder and potato powder.

- In a separate bowl, mix oil and sugar, such that there are no sugar lumps, and the mixture is consistent. Beat in the egg, till the mixture is a bit fluffy as shown in the picture. If you are using milk, instead of egg, use milk which is very creamy.

- Mix grated carrots, and keep adding the sieved mixture in small proportions and continue stirring gently. If the consistency of the batter is very thick, add 1-2 tbsps of milk. Pre-heat the oven at 50C for 10 mins.

- Pour the batter into the cup cake containers, till the containers are 3/4th full. Bake at 175C for about 30-35 mins.

- The cake tastes real yum with some whipped cream and strawberries. And for the ice cream lovers, this cake is perfect with butterscotch or plain vanilla ice cream.

- One general tip: Cinnamon gives the cakes/pies a spicy and unique taste. I don't know if cinnamon is extensively used in a lot of cakes/pies, but it is commonly used in puddings, pies and cakes in Finland. And it does taste good!

Indian Bruschetta

2007-05-14T23:50:00.000+05:30

Bruschetta is an Italian snack, and it is extremely easy to make. In Tampere (the place where I live) there are two Italian restaurants - Rosso and Bella Roma and both these places serve real good bruschetta. I guess it must be because of some secret ingredient in the olive oil.

Bruschetta is nothing but bread greased with olive oil and garlic and topped with sun dried tomatoes and other vegetables and/or cheese.

I only had olive oil and garlic, so I made an Indian version of bruschetta :)

Ingredients:

Bread (preferrably Baguette bread)
Olive oil
Red pesto
Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
1 onion finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 capsicum cut into small pieces
Pickled cucumber (optional! we get this in plenty in Finland, so I tend to use it a lot)
Grated cheese
6-8 black olives
pepper

Effort: 20 mins

Serves: 2 persons

Cut the bread into small pieces. Apply olive oil, garlic paste and/or red pesto. Sprinkle cut onions, capsicum, tomatoes, pickled cucumber over the cut pieces. Sprinkle grated cheese and some freshly ground pepper. Cut black olives in small circular pieces and arrange them on each slice of bread.

You can add whatever comes to your mind on the bread slices, use your innovation :)

Bake the dish for about 15-20 mins at 100C.

You can keep this for starters in a party. Top each slice with a basil leaf.
This is a popular dish with the kids :)

5.5 kms in 55 mins!

2007-05-14T16:22:00.000+05:30

After living in Finland for 3-4 years, I have realized the importance of staying fit. Most of the Finns are amazingly fit. I remember the "Dabur-chawanpraash" experience that me and my husband had encountered during our first month in Finland. Those who do not know about "Dabur-chawanpraash", here is a brief background. Dabur chawanpraash is an ayurvedic multi-vitamin medicine, which is supposed to be very good for the health. There used to be an ad on Indian television, which showed an old man and a young man climbing stairs. After climbing a few flights of stairs, the young man is panting and puffing but the old man is moving up effortlessly.

Well, we experienced a similar thing. My husband and I were climbing stairs in our office, and our senior-most manager, a Finnish lady in her late 50s or early 60s, went past us and she reached the top in a matter of a few seconds, and there we were panting as if we had run a marathon! Unlike Indians, Finns make it a point to dedicate some amount of time for their fitness. And they lead a really healthy and fit life! I think every Indian, especially Indian women, should dedicate some time for physical exercise everyday.

Inspired by the Finns, my husband and I started gyming/playing badminton, and we have been doing this regularly since we have come to Finland. Of late we have even started jogging/walking. On Saturday, we decided to cover the walking trail around a lake, called Suolijarvi, close to our place. (Finland has a lot of lakes, it is said that there is a lake for every 2.5 people in Finland :) ) We had been planning to do the entire trail, just dint know how long the trail was. Finally we mustered some courage on Saturday, and started walking around the lake. It was not very strenuous, the lake was approx 5.5kms in circumference and it took us 55 mins to complete the entire trail. Now our target is to do this every weekend and reduce our time ;)

This was an off-track post on my cooking blog, but I found it apt to post this one, because since I have started blogging, the cook inside me has suddenly surfaced, and I have started baking cakes and other dishes, which will easily increase my calorie count. So, the walking and cooking have to be done in parallel :)

Potato Roll Sandwiches

2007-05-11T16:50:00.000+05:30

Have you ever wondered why mother's food always tastes the best? I find it very intriguing that a simple dish cooked by mommy is always preferred over any other dish cooked by someone. I agree that sometimes we like some neighbour auntie's cooking more than mummy's cooking, but it is only for one or two meals. I dont know if it is applicable for all, but it is very true in my case - I like some dishes which are cooked only by my mom! Even if someone makes the same dish better than my mom, I still love the taste of mom's dish :) And here is one such quick recipe. My mom's friend makes really good potato roll sandwiches, but I have always loved what mom used to make! (Not that there is some major expertise needed to make these sandwiches ;)

This is a very simple recipe, easy to make and tastes great especially during summer for breakfast. You can have it with a glass of cold milk or orange juice!

Ingredients:

Big sandwich bread slices - 6
3 mashed potatoes
6 tbsps finely chopped spinach
2 tsps grated cheese
1 tsp butter
1/2 tsp pepper
salt to taste
tomato ketchup

Effort: 10 mins

Serves: 2 persons

- Mash the potatoes well such that there are no lumps. Mix spinach, cheese, butter, pepper, sauce and salt. Cut the edges of the bread slices. Sprinkle some water on the slices and roll out each slice. Arrange three slices of bread such that the edges overlap a bit. Wet fingers with water, and press the overlapped region, you could also roll out the overlapped region.

- Spread the mixture consistently over the large combined slice of bread. Add some sauce on top, if you like the taste to be predominant that of tomato sauce.

- Now roll in the slice gently in a spiral fashion. Take care that the bread does not crumble, wet your hands if the bread starts crumbling

- Keep the rolled sandwiches in an air-tight container
and refrigerate for 30 mins. After half an hour, cut the sandwiches into smaller pieces. Enjoy your breakfast :)
For variations, you can add some other stuffing instead of potato.

Ripe Banana Sabzee

2007-05-08T23:50:00.000+05:30

Very few people would know about ripe banana sabzee and very few people would actually relish this sabzee, and one such is my husband :) I learnt this sabzee from my MIL and it is extremely easy to make. So, for the non-cooking people, this could be a boon, if you like the taste of cooked bananas. Earlier I could not eat the sabzee at all (I am not fond of bananas in any form!) but over time, the taste grows on you. So, whenever I don't feel like cooking, there is always banana sabzee in our house :)

One thing to remember is that you need to consume the sabzee immediately after it is cooked. In a few minutes, the bananas will leave water and the sabzee will become watery.

Ingredients:

4 ripe bananas cut into circular pieces
2 tsps oil
mustard seeds
3/4 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp dhania and jeera powder
salt as per taste

Effort: 5 mins

Serves: 2 persons

Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. Once the seeds start crackling, add the cut banana pieces. Immediately add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, dhania-jeera powder and salt. Stir well for 2 mins, such that the powders blend well with bananas. Once the banana pieces have blended well with the powder, stop cooking.

The sabzee is ready to eat in 2 mins :) Add extra chilli powder so that the sweetness of the bananas is supressed

Microwave Rawa Idlis

2007-05-06T22:32:00.000+05:30

The microwave idli maker container is very convenient to use, and you need to use very little oil for coating. The microwave idlis taste almost as good as the authentic steamed idlis, but of course nothing beats the taste of the authentic idlis served on a banana leaf.

I learnt this recipe from a south indian friend, and it is a very common breakfast item in the south.

Ingredients:

1 cup semolina
1/4th cup grated fresh coconut
1/4th cup grated carrot
1 tbsp chana daal
2 tbsps cashewnut pieces
1 tsp chopped green chillies
1/2 tsp chopped curry leaves
1/4th spoon ginger garlic paste
salt, as per taste
1/4th spoon sugar
pinch of baking powder, if you are making microwave idlis
1 tbsp ghee/butter for roasting the semolina
Mustard seeds
Aestofotida
2 cups sour thin curd

Effort: 30 mins

Serves: 4 persons

Heat the ghee/white butter, once it is hot, add 1/4th spoon mustard seeds. Once the seeds start popping, add a pinch of Aestofotida. Add the chana daal and cashewnuts, roast till chana daal and chasewnuts turn brown. Add ginger garlic paste, green chillies, curry leaves.

Add semolina and roast the semolina on a low flame. Keep stirring regularly. Once the semolina has roasted, you will get the fragrance of semolina. Add coconut, carrots, salt, sugar. Roast for a min. Remove from the flame.

Once the mix has cooled down, add curd and if needed some water. The mix should not be very thin. Add only a pinch of baking powder. Add the mix in the idli container and cook in microwave for 5 mins.

Generally these idlis are eaten with south indian style potato curry and coconut chutney, but I prefer these idlis with sambaar, and my husband with chutney, so I always end up making both chutney and sambaar. Perfect breakfast for a Sunday :)

Double layered cake

2007-04-29T02:27:00.000+05:30

I picked up this idea from my aunt. She used to make amazing triple layered cake of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. I could not get strawberry flavor, so I just made a double layer of chocolate and vanilla.

This is a fairly simple cake, and hardly takes any preparation time.

Ingredients:

Eggs - 3
250 gms all purpose flour
225 gms powdered sugar
50 gms margarine
1/4th cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp potato powder/flour
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and raisins
2 tsps choco powder
1/4 tsp vanilla flavor

Effort: 30 mins

Serves: 20 pieces

- Beat the eggs till the mixture is fluffy, care should be taken that the eggs are not beaten till they are stiff. You can use a blender, but I prefer beating with a fork.

- Sieve powdered sugar and mix the margarine with the sieved powdered sugar. There should not be any lumps in the mixture. Add the beaten eggs to this mixture.

- Sieve together potato powder, baking powder and flour. Potato powder makes the cake very soft and fluffy. I learnt this from the Finns, they extensively use potato powder/flour which is called peruna jauhe in Finnish. I am not sure if this is even available in India/elsewhere.

- Fold in the sieved mixture in the beaten eggs/sugar mixture, and keep stirring the mixture with a spatula or with your hand. Add warm milk to the mixture, and stir properly to make sure there are no lumps. You can add more milk if the mixture is very thick. Add the dry fruits.

- Divide the mixture into half. To one half, add vanilla flavor, and to the other half add choco powder.

- Grease the baking tray. Fold the vanilla mixture into the baking tray and spread the mixture evenly. On top of the vanilla mixture, add the cake mixture and spread it.

- Bake at 175-200C in a pre-heated oven (pre-heating should be done at 50C for about 10 mins), it generally takes about 25 minutes to bake this cake. Keep checking every 10 mins. After around 25 minutes, remove the cake from the oven, and insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake to check whether the cake is well baked. If the toothpick comes out clean, then the cake is done.

- Remove the tray from the oven and let the cake cool. Once the cake is cool enough, you can cut it. The layers are unevenly formed and that looks superb ;)

Enjoy the cake with a cup of coffee!

NOTE: The temperatures are in celcius, many thanks to my cousin for pointing out my mistake. I had gotten confused between celcius and fahrenheit :)

Momos - Tibetan delicacy

2007-04-25T19:37:00.000+05:30

This is one of my favorite starters! It is a Tibetan dish but it is also very popular in Nepal and some North-East India. I have tasted the best momos in Manali, a small hill station in North India. And mind you, you should go to a local roadside eating joint if you really want to taste authentic momos.

For those who have never tasted momos or even heard about them, momos are basically steamed dumplings dipped in soup.

I tried out this recipe sometime back and it turned out really good.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

All purpose flour 1 cup (you could also use wheat flour)
pinch of salt
pinch of dried yeast
1 cup warm milk
2 tablespoons of olive oil
You could also add some finely chopped herbs for variation in the dough

For stuffing:

One small onion
2 tsps of finely chopped garlic
1 cup of finely chopped spinach, cabbage, carrots
5-6 leaves of basil
5-6 plum tomatoes

For the soup:

Vegetable stock
Olive oil
Finely chopped spring onions
1/2 tsp garlic paste
Sauces
1/4 tsp pepper

Effort: 45 mins

Serves: 4 persons

- Knead the dough into a soft mixture, using warm milk. Place the dough in a covered container and keep it aside for approx half an hour. Keep the container in a warm place.

- In the meantime, saute the above stuffing ingredients in olive oil, add balsamic vinegar, pepper, some finely chopped green chillies. Ensure that the vegetables are not over cooked, they should retain some crispness.

- Roll out small circular pieces from the dough, these wraps should be rolled out such that they are thinner along the edges and thicker in the middle. Place a small portion of the filling in the middle of the rolled dough and close all sides and taper the sides at the centre. It should look like a circular cone. Spread small quantity of butter or olive oil over the momos, preferably use a brush to do so.

- Steam the momos in a pressure cooker, or if you have the steaming microwave container, you can steam the momos in the microwave. I had used the microwave idli container to steam the momos. To get the authentic taste, you should steam the momos using a proper pressure cooker.

- After the momos are steamed properly, keep them in a greased plate, so that they do not stick. To make the soup, heat 1 spoon olive oil in a container, add spring onions, garlic. Saute for 1 min. Add the vegetable stock, vinegar, soya sauce and one tsp of tomato sauce. Bring it to a boil. You can also add some freshly grounded black pepper.

You can relish the momos by dipping them in the soup, or by consuming them separately with soup

The first one!

2007-04-25T12:56:00.000+05:30

Well, I have been planning to start my own blog since a long time now, just could not get myself to do it.

Why a food blog? I not only love cooking but I love eating and trying out all possible recipes. My love for food is endless, any new place we visit, I have to try out the local cuisine, and if time permits I also try out the recipe at home. Most of the time, the husband is the guinea pig but there have been a lot of occasions when some of my friends had to be guinea pigs :)

I love all kinds of food and that's genetic. My brother and some of my cousins are true gourmands! I remember this one time when we had gone to Sukhsagar (an amazing thali place in Blore) and my cousin hogged on so many rotis that the frustrated waiter finally asked whether he should serve rice ;) This was years back, I hope that Sukhsagar has maintained its standard, would love to visit the restaurant again. Anyway, there are many such incidents to quote, but I will keep those for later posts.

Since I come from a family of hoggers and great cooks, my plan is to blog all the recipes I have learnt from my mom, grannies, aunts, my MIL and also to blog all the experiments that I try out on the husband and friends :) So watch out!