Relish The Bite

Taste of happiness

You are here: Home / Archives for 2015

Archives for 2015

Vazhakkai Fry/ Raw Banana Fry

by 6 Comments

VazhakaiFry_namePerfectly roasted plantain with curry leaves and spices.

I usually prepare the raw banana in two other different styles. One is by chopping them in circles, marinate in the masala and pan roasting them. Other is by grinding few masala with coconut and cooking raw banana with the masalas. And the one I am doing now is a classic recipe at my house 🙂 My mom does this for some rice and rasam. Because this one is crispy, it tastes great with any rice. My dad actually makes this at my place. My mom makes raw banana podimas by boiling it and mixing with few masalas. OMG! I am drooling! Even if I cook the best recipe of mine or have my favorite food in my favorite restaurant, my vote and my option is for my Moms food at any day. I guess it is the same for most of us. 🙂 I was raised having this comfort food and I love them.

I noticed that there are no raw banana recipes in my site. I noted 😉 in my list to add few more.

VazhakaiFry-3

VazhakaiFry-2

5.0 from 1 reviews
Print
Vazhakkai Fry/ Raw Banana Fry
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • • Raw banana/ vazhakkai – 2 medium sized( 2 cups), thinly sliced into circles
  • • Oil - 2 tbsp
  • • Mustard seeds - ¾ tbsp
  • • Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1 tsp
  • • Urad dal - 2 tsp
  • • Curry leaves - 5
  • • Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
  • • Sambhar powder - 1 tbsp
  • • Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp
  • • Sugar - 1 tsp
Instructions
  1. Wash raw banana and peel the outer layer. Chop them finely into small cubes. Soak them in water till you use them.

  2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan in medium heat, add mustard, after it crackles, add urad dal,curry leaves and jeera.
  3. Bring the heat to low, and add turmeric powder, sambar powder, chilli powder,salt and asafetida Stir well. But make sure not to burn them, so keep it in low heat.
  4. Now add the chopped raw banana and bring the heat to medium. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of water, close the lid and cook for 5-7 minutes.

  5. Add 1 tsp of sugar and keep frying until the raw banana gets roasted here and there in color. Takes around 5-7 minutes again. Switch off the flame.
Notes
Adding sugar makes retain the color and turns it crispy.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Taste great with rice and sambar or rasam or milagu kuzhambu or vengaya kuzhambu or dal fry. You can have them plain as snacks 🙂

VazhakaiFry-4

Mushroom Biryani

by 7 Comments

Mushroom Biryani-7

A plate full of hot, fragrant rice and mushroom cooked with crispy onions and spiced yoghurt sauce.

I have already 5 Biryani recipes 🙂 which means you would have known by now that I love cooking Biryani. Many find it difficult but it is not and it is worth the time it takes. I am not saying this 😉 Just like that! Trust me! I remember when I first tried to cook biryani before 3 years I would always make the rice mushy so I never liked to do Biryani after it. I will motivate again myself to do it and tried. I somehow found the tricks after a first few times 🙂 Now I am sure a pro 😀 proudly would say that! Never failed 🙂 And I still love to get comments even I know that it is good 😀 Like today when I received a comment for my sambar 😉 I went all blushing! 😀 May be I got the comment to see me blush 😉 whatever..:)heart It is always that comments and love heartwhich makes me cook next time!

mushroomBiryani

To be honest, it does take time to cook biryani than many easy 10 minutes food. I even don’t like to post time consuming recipes but it is so tasty that I could not resist myself not posting it. The best thing about biryani is that it tastes great even the next day and the day after. It will save you from cooking for next three days and it will never be like you are tasting leftover food! Awesome right?

Mushroom Biryani-5

Biryani is one of the most favorite dishes. My mom has never cooked mushroom when I was a kid, so I used to be hesitant to eat or cook them. Then had it when I went out with friends and I found it tasty and no harm cooking them 🙂 . May be I will cook this for her sometime 🙂 and also I realized that I don’t have a lot of mushroom recipes somehow. I always add them to noodles and pastas but I don’t tend to make them on weekends 🙂 somehow and here is the mushroom Recipes that I have – Mushroom Pepper Mini Quesadilla, Malai Pepper Mushroom with some colourful mushrooms.

I have some good biryani collection recipes. 🙂 If you would like to view it – Restaurant style vegetable Biryani, Paneer Biryani, Hyderabadi Egg Biryani, Restaurant style Lamb Biryani, Prawn Biryani.

To make it vegan, skin the yogurt or replace with vegan yogurt. And also replace ghee with oil.

Mushroom Biryani-2

Print
Mushroom Biryani
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3 cups
 
Ingredients
  • • Oil – 1tbsp
  • • Bay leaf – ½
  • • Cinnamon – 1 thin piece
  • • Cloves – 3
  • • Cardamom pods -2
  • • Yogurt – 2 tbsp
  • • Basmati Rice – 3 cups
  • • Biryani Masala – 1 tbsp
  • • Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
  • • Garlic – 4, chopped
  • • Green chilli – 2, slit into two

    for garnish:
  • • Saffron – ½ tsp dissolved in ½ cup warm milk
  • • Ghee – 2 tbsp (or oil)
  • • Mint – 2 tbsp finely chopped (to garnish)

    For fried onions:
  • • Onions – 2 small onions, ½ cup, sliced thinly
  • • Oil – to fry (3 - 4 tbsp)

    For rice masala:
  • • Cashew nuts – 6
  • • Khus khus (white poppy seeds) – ½ tbsp.
  • • Cumin seeds/ jeera – ½ tbsp
  • • Fennel seeds – 1 tbsp.
  • • Garlic – 4 pods
  • • Ginger – 1 inch
  • • Green chilli – 6
  • • Tomato – ½, medium sized, chopped
  • • Mint – ½ cup, chopped finely
  • • Coriander leaves – ½ cup, chopped finely.
Instructions
  1. Wash and soak rice for atleast 30 -40 minutes.

    For Fried onions:
  2. Heat a pan with oil, add the sliced onions and cook in medium heat till turn golden brown. Stir in the middle so that it does not stick to the bottom. Set aside.

    For masala:
  3. Grind the garlic, ginger, mint, coriander, cashews, poppy seeds, fennel seeds, tomatoes, cumin seeds, chillis with two tbsp. of water into a smooth paste.
  4. Now take a big pan, add oil or ghee in medium heat, add the spices (cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves), and add garlic and chillies and sauté for a minute. Now add the grinded paste and sauté them till the raw smell leaves and little oil oozes out.
  5. Now add the mushroom, yogurt, chilli powder, biryani powder and mix well. I always move the skillet away from the heat when adding yogurt which prevents it from curdling.
  6. Now after returning the skillet back to the stove, add the rice and salt and water. ( Quantity of water to be added is for one cup of rice , it is 1.5 cups of water). Mix well and close the lid tight and keep it in medium heat for 10 minutes. Now add the marinated fried onions and chopped mint for garnish and keep it in low for 5 minutes.
  7. Drizzle the saffron milk over the rice and Switch off, and keep it closed for another 5 minutes. They will help the rice to get the saffron flavors and vice versa.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

It taste great with a raita (Garlic Raita / Cucumber carrot Raita), or Mirchi ka salan or even plain biryani will taste delicious 🙂

Mushroom Biryani-3

Spicy Garlic Tofu in 10 minutes

by 45 Comments

TOFU-4

Truly fancy, delicious, restaurant style, vegan dish in 10 minutes. This is a recipe which will come to your rescue when you haven’t planned a meal on a week day.

It is a great vegetarian /vegan dish for any day,especially when it takes only 10 minutes to make. If we are given a choice of preparing a delicious dish in 10 minutes for dinner, we would choose it without thinking. 🙂 Will we not ;)! Or Is it just me 😀





TOFU-3

TOFU-2

It is a great dish to entertain with. You can either serve it as an appetizer with tooth picks, or serve it as main dish with plain or fried rice. You can press it between two slices of bread for a healthy quick breakfast.

I am usually very content eating humble food on the weekdays. It is more regional food that I grew up or sometimes salads (if I am lazy to stand up in the kitchen or if I am guilty having too much of junk foods 😉 which is most times!). But on the weekends, I tend to make and love to experiment in the kitchen. It is because I have more time on the weekends, and also I wanted to make myself occupied and busy the weekends.I really don’t want to get bored or else my mind would go wander about all thoughts. J And top of all this, I love to eat and I get to that all weekend :)! So, I made this for the weekend when I had some leftover rice from Friday evening and wanted to finish it up on Saturday. I wanted to make something quick to just eat with the rice which is tasty and filling. I did not want to stand in the kitchen for a long time 🙂 I knew I had some plans of going out for dinner. 😀

This was quick, flavorful and I love the addition of garlic with skin! You can serve this with some soy sesame sauce dip. You can even use the same method and do the recipe with paneer or baby corn. You can even fry the tofu and toss in this spice mixture.



TOFU-6

TOFU-2-2

TOFU

4.5 from 10 reviews
Print
Spicy Garlic Soy Tofu in 10 minutes
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • Tofu – 500 Grams (Extra firm) (Chopped to bite size cube pieces)
  • Garlic – 7-8 cloves (don’t peel the skin)
  • Ginger – 2 inch
  • Dry red chillies – 8-10
  • White sesame seeds – 1 tbsp
  • Salt – 1 tsp
  • Soy sauce – 2 tsp
  • Sesame oil – 2 tbsp
  • Black Pepper powder (or crushed pepper) – 1 tsp
  • Chopped Green onions – to garnish
Instructions
  1. Place the chilis, Ginger, sesame seeds,salt and garlic (with skin) in a blender and pulse it for 3-4 times. It should not be a smooth paste and it should turn into a coarse paste.
  2. Heat oil in pan in medium to low heat, add the spice mix and fry for 30 seconds and add then add the soy sauce, pepper powder and tofu cubes.
  3. Toss well for the spices and soy sauce to coat the tofu well. Fry for 2 minutes or so, till the tofu turns slightly golden and crispy on the outside.
  4. Garnish with chopped green onions or sesame seeds.
Notes
1. You can even fry tofu and add this to the spice mixture if you want it very crispy.
2. You can skip the ginger if you do not like it.
3. You can use paneer, baby corn for the same recipe.
4. If you can’t take this spicy tofu, use 4-5 chillies.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

 TOFU-5

Kala Jamun/ Fried milk sweet dumplings

by 9 Comments

kalajamun-2-2


A double fried dark colored jamuns soaked in rose scented sugar syrup. This is a darker version of famous Indian dessert Gulab jamun. Gulab jamuns are fried milk dumplings in rose scented sugar syrup. These are larger in size when compared to the gulab jamuns and also much tastier.

It gets dark color from the sugar added in the dough. I have used color inside the jamun, you can even use nuts inside and make them. It takes more soaking time than normal gulab jamuns. SO do not try to taste them in 30 minutes.I have a normal gulab jamun recipe in my list. No one would say no to that as well. But if you have tasted kala jamuns from India, you would just go yum! They are beautiful sexy dark colored jamuns which is sweeter than normal jamuns.

kalajamun-3-2

 Tips to make them perfect: (almost similar to gulab jamun tips)

If you get the right consistency in the gulab jamun dough, you will never buy in the stores. I have mentioned some tips and suggestions, which might help.

  1. If you are making this with readymade mix, just mix it with milk till you get the right consistency, (not dry crumble but stickly soft)
  2. For sugar solution, on cooling if the sugar syrup crystallizes, then just add two or three tablespoons of water and warm the syrup again. It will be back to the syrup consistency.
  3. Apply some oil on your palms and make smalls balls from the dough. It may double the size after soaking in water, so be careful to make them small sized.
  4. There should be no cracks on the dough balls. They should be smooth, If there are cracks, then just add some 1 oe 2 tbsp of yogurt/milk and continue making the balls.
  5. Do cover them and keep aside for ten minutes before frying them. it makes a great difference.
  6. Do not make the jamun dough hard, it should be soft or else the syrup will not go inside after soaking.
  7. When you fry them, when the oil becomes medium hot, lower the flam, add a small in the oil, it should slowly rise to the top from bottom. If it rises instantly, then the oil is too hot to fry which is not good. One jamun should get fried for about 6 -8 mins, its that slow for a perfect jamun.
  8. If jamun cracks while frying, then add 1 or 2 tspof flour to the dough and form the balls again.
  9. Don’t crowd the pan when deep frying, it might make the oil totally zero hot.
  10. Fry the jamuns for 5-6 minutes, remove from heat. Drop the jamuns again after 10 minutes, and fry them for 3-4 minutes till they are dark brown colored jamuns.
  11. Use a wooden spatula to rotate the oil after adding the jamuns without touching them, so that they are evenly gold.

I have few other delicious sweet dessert recipes in my website. 

kalajamun-4-2

5.0 from 1 reviews
Print
Kala Jamun/ Fried milk sweet dumplings
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 20
 
Ingredients
  • Khoya (milk solid) – 2 cups, homemade or store bought
  • Crumbled Paneer – 1 cup, homemade or store bought
  • All-purpose flour – 5 tbsp
  • Baking powder – a pinch
  • (or)
  • Ready made gulab jamun mix - 3 cups


    For Inner jamuns:
  • Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
  • Sugar – 2 ½ tbsp.
  • Color – green/red (optional)
  • Ghee – 1 tbsp (to knead)
  • Ghee/oil – for deep frying


    For sugar syrup:
  • Sugar – 5 cups
  • Water – 2.5 cups
  • Rose essence – 1 tsp
  • Saffron – a pinch
  • Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Instructions
  1. To prepare the sugar syrup:
  2. Mix water, sugar, cardamom and saffron in a pan, heat it till you get a syrup consistency. There should not be any thread formation, as it might form crystals later. Usually it takes around 8 – 10 mins for that consistency in medium flame.
  3. Add the rose water and keep it aside.


    To prepare the jamuns:
  4. In a wide bowl, add the crumbled khoya, all-purpose flour, paneer and baking powder. Mix it gently. Or you can use ready-made gulab jamun mix.
  5. Add little bit of water and make it into a smooth dough and knead the dough well. Use 1 tbsp of ghee and knead.
  6. Take ¼th of the dough, add cardamom powder, sugar, color and mix well.( you can even add chopped nuts to it). Make small balls.
  7. Divide the colored and white dough into equal portions.
  8. Take the white dough spread, spread it and then stuff the coloured dough into it and close. Make a round shape or bullet shape ball. Keep aside and repeat the same process for entire dough.
  9. Once the jamuns are ready, Heat oil. In a low flame, fry the jamuns till they are golden brown for 5-6 minutes.
  10. Remove (with no oil totally) and keep aside for ten minutes.
  11. And fry the jamuns again after ten minutes in low flame for 3- 4minutes; they will get a black color outside. But do not keep in high heat and burn them.
  12. Add these jamuns to hot sugar syrup soak for atleast 3 hours and serve.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

 kalajamun-5

Gujarati Surati Dal / Peanut Tomato Lentil Recipe

by 7 Comments

Dal-4Sweet, sour and crunchy lentil curry with peanuts and tomatoes – simple, flavorful and delicious!

I make dal always at least once in a week. But I really do not take pictures of it as it will be very late for me for have the food. I always feel it is delicious and comfort food. And also healthy 🙂 This dal recipe has sweet and sour taste together and still it is delicious. And that peanut gives the extra crunch to it. Sweet, sour, crunchy -this combo looks crazy but trust me, Its yum!!!

I have other lentil recipes: Garlic dal, Chana dal Paratha,tomato dal rasam and Sambar.

Dal-2 Dal-3

Print
Gujarati Surati Dal / Peanut Tomato Lentil Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3 cups
 
Ingredients
  • Pigeon Pea Lentils/ Tuvar Dal – 1 cup
  • Tomatoes – 2 medium sized, chopped
  • Onions – 1 medium sized, chopped
  • Green Chilli – 1, chopped
  • Ginger – ½ inch, finely chopped
  • Red chili powder – 1 tsp
  • Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
  • Cumin powder – ½ tsp
  • Garam Masala – 1 tsp
  • Jaggery – ½ tbsp
  • Unroasted raw peanuts – 2 tbsp
  • Lemon juice – ½ tbsp
  • Dry Methi leaves – 1 tsp
  • Salt – 2 tbsp

    For Tempering:
  • Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
  • Dry Red chillies – 3, broken
  • Asafoetida – a pinch
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Instructions
  1. rinse lentils and keep it in pressure cooker with tomatoes, onions, green chilles with 3.5 -4 cups of water for 7-8 whistles in medium heat.
  2. Mash the lentils using a wooden spoon or a masher to a smooth mixture.
  3. Add the peanuts, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala,ginger and salt to the dal.
  4. Bring the dal to boil in medium-low heat for 5 minutes and add jaggery and methi leaves to it in this step. If you find the consistency to the dal becomes thick, add more water. If you think its too liquidy, boil it for few more minutes.
  5. Its time to temper by heating oil or ghee in a pan, then add the mustard seeds and then when its pops, add the asafetida, curry leaves and red chillies. Fry for a few seconds but don’t burn it.
  6. Pour the tempering on top of dal. and squueze some lemon juice and stir with the seasonings. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Notes
1. If you think its too spicy, you can reduce the green chillies.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Dal

Serve the hot surati dal with parathas,rotis or rice and side dish like potato roast.

Rice Kheer / Milk & Rice Pudding:

by 6 Comments

Ricekheer-4_nameRich, creamy and delicious kheer infused with cardamom, garnished with almonds & pistachios & the addition of saffron makes it more flavorful.

This rice kheer is a simple Indian dessert made of rice and milk and can be made for any festival or celebration. This is very easy to make and does not need much cooking skills 😉 ! I don’t make them much but when I wanted something sweet, quick and easy to make, I tend to make these. If I wanted to make for any festivals in the mornings before I go to work, I make this rice kheer 🙂 Perfect! Sometimes I even make these with left over rice. But the one I have posted here was made from scratch. You can add any dry fruits of your choice to garnish 🙂

Ricekheer

Print
Rice Kheer / Milk & Rice Pudding:
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • Milk – 5 cups ( I used full fat 3.25% milk)
  • Rice – 3 tbsp (raw rice or basmati rice)
  • Ghee – 1 tsp
  • Sugar – ½ cup
  • Salt – a pinch

    Garnish:
  • Ghee – 2 tsp
  • Cashews – 4 (broken)
  • Almonds – 4 (Blanched and sliced)
  • Pistachios – 2 ( broken)
  • Raisins – 4
  • Saffron – a pinch
  • Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Instructions
  1. Method:
  2. Heat a pan and add 1 tsp of ghee and roast the rice in medium flame. Keep it aside.You can break the rice (powder the rice). Optional.
  3. In the same pan, pour milk and bring to boil. When it is boiling, add the rice and cook in slow flame for 20 minutes or pressure cook for a whistle.
  4. When the rice is boiled, now add the sugar, pinch of salt and continue boiling in low flame for another 10 minutes until you a thick consistency.
  5. In a small pan, add the ghee for garnish, when it is hot, add the cashews, pistachios, almonds and when the cashews are golden brown, switch off and add the raisins.
  6. Top the rice kheer with the garnish nuts, saffron and cardamom.
  7. Can be served hot or chill
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

 Ricekheer-2

Vegetable Bread Toast Sandwich:

by Leave a Comment

BreadToast-3This is one of my favorite open faced sandwiches. Easy, Quick and tasty one. Takes about 10 minutes to get ready and are super fresh and delicious. Bored with your toast? Spread this delicious homemade vegetables sauce on your bread and enjoy!

BreadToast-4

I have had this bread toast in India in a bakery called “Iyengar bakery”.  If you have tried this in that bakery, you will surely say how tasty it is. I got a lot of request for sandwich recipes. It is just I try lot of sandwiches recipes in the morning but never take pictures as they have become a day to day morning routine. I mainly did this recipe as I wanted to make in pan rather than sandwich makers. You can keep this as open sandwiches or closed sandwiches. I left it as open sandwich to remind me the bakery sandwich. Do not add water to the vegetables and make it mushy, the vegetables should be crunchy in this. I still remember, my dad used to get this sandwich from a bakery when I was doing my third grade in Madurai. My sister was in sixth grade only, but still she used to get me this after school for me with her pocket money 🙂 ! This bread toast is easy to fix up with less effort for kids. I made this on a weekend with some avocado and banana coffee milkshake.

BreadToast-2

Print
Vegetable Bread Toast Sandwich:
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Indian
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • Bread slices – 4
  • Oil – 1 tsp
  • Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
  • Onion – 1, finely chopped
  • Green chilli – 1, finely chopped
  • Tomato – 1, finely chopped
  • Carrot – 1, finely chopped/ grated
  • Bell pepper/capsicum – 1 small, finely chopped
  • Salt – 2 tsp
  • Red chilli powder – ¼ tsp
  • Chaat masala – ¼ tsp
  • Tomato ketchup – ¾ tsp
  • Butter – to toast bread
  • Coriander leaves – 2 tsp, finely chopped to garnish
  • Lemon juice – 1 tsp, to garnish
Instructions
  1. In a pan, add oil and add in the cumin seeds and then add the chopped onions and green chillies. Sauté till the onions are light golden brown.
  2. Add in the carrots, bell pepper, chopped tomatoes,chaat masala, red chilli powder, salt and the tomato ketchup.
  3. Sauté in a low flame for 5 minutes and switch it off.
  4. Place a pan and when the pan is hot, toast the bread with little butter on both sides.
  5. Spread the filling on the top side and garnish with coriander leaves. Squeeze some lemon/lime juice to garnish.
Notes
1. You can leave it as open or closed sandwiches.

2. Do not add water and make the vegetables mushy. The vegetables should be crunchy here,

3. You can add any vegetables of your choice like potatoes, cabbage, peas or beans.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

 BreadToast

Aloo Rasedar Recipe

by 4 Comments

Aloorasedar1Easy spiced potato curry from Uttar Pradesh cuisine – Winter special.

The rice is also no onion no garlic recipe. You can also make this curry for fasting. This recipe is so quick and is very easy. You can even add tamarind sauce to it when you prefer, it gives great twist to the recipe. Some add peas and cauliflower to the curry, it’s a great way to have any veggies. This recipe is popular all over India. I made this with channa paratha. But it taste great with just plain rice or poori or parotta.

PotatoMasala-3

Print
Aloo Rasedar Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Potatoes – 3 medium
  • Tomato – 1 large
  • Ginger – 1 inch, finely chopped
  • Green chilli – 2, chopped finely
  • Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
  • Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
  • Cumin powder – 1 tsp
  • Fennel powder – 1 tsp
  • Coriander powder – 1 tsp
  • Dry mango powder – 1 tsp
  • Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
  • Asafetida/hing – ½ tsp
  • Water – 1.5 cups of water
  • Oil – 1 tbsp
  • Salt – 2 tbsp
Instructions
  1. Boil the potatoes in cooker for two whistles or just boil the potatoes for twenty minutes so that it can be easily crumbled. Now peel and crumble the potatoes and keep aside.
  2. Heat oil in a pan in a very low flame; add the spice powder – Cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, fennel powder, asafetida, Amchur powder, ginger, green chillies. Stir quickly so that they don’t burn.
  3. Add chopped tomatoes and stir. Saute the tomatoes till they soften, crush and you will see oil releasing from the sides.
  4. Add the crumbled potatoes, salt and stir well. Saute for a minute. You can also mash potatoes with a back of spoon if you think it’s too big.Add water and stir again. If you think this consistency is not good, you can add more or less water. Stir & mix well.
  5. Bring it for simmer for about 10 minutes so that the curry thickens slightly.
  6. Finally add chopped coriander leaves, methi powder and garam masala powder.
  7. Switch off and serve with rotis or parathas or with plain rice.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Taste great with just plain rice or poori or paratha or peas pulao.

PotatoMasala-7

Chana Dal Paratha/ Stuffed Lentil Paratha

by 7 Comments

ChanaParatha-5Popular Indian Whole wheat Flatbread stuffed with Chana dal. Healthy, delicious & vegan!

It is one of the best and popular breakfasts of India. It is stuffed with chana dal, cooked in a tawa and served with a knob of butter. It is even delicious with a bowl of plain curd or yogurt. I usually like to have rotis,phulkas,parathas for dinner only. But I really don’t like to cook something for dinner and then something else for lunch. Because I usually prepare something for dinner and pack the left over’s for the lunch. But these parathas are even good for breakfast. Many have them for breakfast, as they are healthy and filling.

ChanaParatha-2

These parathas are very filling than the usual parathas. I couldn’t even finish 1 ½ parathas. I usually like to prepare parathas once in a while and each time I would like to prepare a new filling variation J And also if you have don’t have vegetables at home, these chana dal parathas are the best! J Did I tell you that I prepared this because I did not have vegetables at home ;)!

ChanaParatha-6

Print
Chana Dal Paratha/ Stuffed Lentil Paratha
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8-10 parathas
 
Ingredients
  • Wheat Flour – 2 cups
  • Salt – 2 tsp
  • Oil – 2 tsp
  • Water – to Mix
    For Filling:
  • Chana dal – 1 cup, (soaked for 3 hrs)
  • Green chillies – 4
  • Coriander – 2 tbsp, chopped
  • Amchur Powder – 1 tsp
  • Coriander powder – 1 tsp
  • Ginger – 1 inch
  • Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
  • Garam Masala – ¼ tsp
  • Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
  • Salt – 2 tsp
  • Ghee/oil to roast parathas.
  • Whole wheat to roll parathas
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, mix the flour with salt. Add the oil and add water little by little ( I added around ¾ cup of water) and knead everything till they begin to form as a soft and pliable dough.
  2. If the dough becomes sticky then add some flour. If it looks dry and crumbly, add some water and knead well.
  3. Cover the dough and let it rest for 20-30 mins.


    Preparing the chana dal stuffing:
  4. Wash and soak chana dal for 3-4 hours. Drain the excess water and grind it in two pulses (coarse mixture). Do not grind it to a fine paste. You can even grind the chillies and ginger with the mixture.
  5. Add amchur powder, Chopped coriander leaves, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, coriander powder, green chillies, ginger and turmeric powder. Mix well and keep it aside.



    For parathas:
  6. Pinch the dough and take big lemon sized dough and roll in between your palms.
  7. Then on dusted flour, roll it out to a small circle with a rolling pin.
  8. Now add the chana dal filling in the center of the rolled out dough. Bring the edges together and join them in the center.
  9. Just tap the center and it would look like a neat stuffed ball.
  10. In a dusted rolling board, use a rolling pin to roll the stuffed dough ball gently to a 6" disc of ½" thickness Make sure not to break them. If some chana dal pieces come out, it is fine. But it should not totally come out.
  11. Heat a tawa or a pan, put the rolled chana dal paratha. When you see some bubbles on paratha, Apply some oil or ghee and flip it. And apply some oil and ghee and fry the other side also. You would see some brown spots. It is perfect and try following the same procedure and do the rest of the parathas.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Serve with some raita, pickle or some cashew paneer or some gravy side dishes.

ChanaParatha-3

Hyderabadi Egg Biryani

by 36 Comments

EGgBiryani-5_nameGot some rice and eggs? Turn them into famous scrumptious one pot meal – Egg Biryani.

One of the famous Indian one pot meal biryani using hard boiled eggs. It has amazing flavors. Biryani has become one of my all time Sunday recipes. I guess I have posted 4 biryani recipes – Lamb Biryani, Shrimp Biryani, Paneer Biryani and Vegetable Biryani. Now this is the fifth one! We can make the Biryani and just have it with no Eggs also. It still tastes great.

EGgBiryani-3

I used to frown to prepare biryani before 4 years. I thought it was a big thing, and it is best had only in restaurants. But now 🙂 it has become a part of my Sunday lunch. It took about an hour to prepare. But on weekends, it is fine and also we don’t need to prepare side dish for this. It is great to have with any raita 😉 and especially with garlic raita. I blended the masala and all ingredients and then cooked the rice and masala together and topped the fried masala egg on it.

EGgBiryani-2

4.7 from 3 reviews
Print
Hyderabadi Egg Biryani
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3 cups
 
Ingredients
  • • Oil – 1tbsp
  • • Bay leaf – ½
  • • Cinnamon – 1 thin piece
  • • Cloves – 3
  • • Cardamom pods -2
  • • Tomato - 1, small, chopped
  • • Yogurt – 2 tbsp
  • • Basmati Rice – 3 cups
  • • Biryani Masala – 1 tbsp
  • • Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
  • for garnish:
  • • Saffron – ½ tsp dissolved in ½ cup warm milk
  • • Ghee – 2 tbsp
  • • Mint – 2 tbsp finely chopped (to garnish)
  • For the Egg masala:
  • • Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
  • • Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
  • • Black pepper powder – 1 tsp
  • • Besan flour- 2 tbsp
  • • Salt – 2 tsp
  • • Boiled eggs - 4
  • For fried onions:
  • • Onions – 2 small onions, ½ cup, sliced thinly
  • • Cashewnuts – 6
  • • Oil – to fry (3 - 4 tbsp)
  • For rice masala:
  • • Cashew nuts – 6
  • • Khus khus (white poppy seeds) – ½ tbsp.
  • • Cumin seeds/ jeera – ½ tbsp
  • • Fennel seeds – ½ tbsp.
  • • Coconut – 2 tbsp
  • • Garlic – 4 pods
  • • Ginger – 1 inch
  • • Green chilli – 4
  • • Mint – ½ cup, chopped finely
  • • Coriander leaves – ½ cup, chopped finely.
Instructions
  1. Wash and soak rice for at least 30 -40 minutes.


    For Fried onions:
  2. Heat a pan with oil, add the sliced onions and cook in medium heat till turn golden brown. Add cashews in the end and fry too. Stir in the middle so that it does not stick to the bottom. Set aside.



    For Egg masala:
  3. Mix all the ingredients under “Egg masala” with little water and add the Eggs. Heat a pan with 1 tbsp of butter. Now add the marinated eggs and coat till the eggs gets golden brown.




    For masala:
  4. Grind the garlic, ginger, mint, coriander, cashews, coconut (optional), poppy seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, chillis with two tbsp. of water into a smooth paste.
  5. Now take a big pan, add oil or ghee in medium heat, add the spices (cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves), and then add the tomatoes and grinded paste and sauté them till the tomatoes are not raw and little mushy.
  6. Now add the yogurt, chilli powder, biryani powder and mix well. I always move the skillet away from the heat when adding yogurt which prevents it from curdling.
  7. Now after returning the skillet back to the stove, add the rice and salt and water. (Quantity of water to be added is for one cup of rice, it is 1.5 cups of water). Mix well and close the lid tight and keep it in medium heat for 10 minutes.
  8. Now add the marinated eggs, fried onions and chopped mint for garnish and keep it in low for 5 minutes.
  9. Drizzle the saffron and milk over the rice and Switch off, and keep it closed for another 5 minutes. They will help the eggs get the masala flavors from rice and vice versa.
Notes
You can skip coconut while grinding and add coconut instead of water while boiling.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Taste perfect with raita or mirchi ka salan. Even having it plain is delicious.

 EGgBiryani-9

Masal Vadai/ Masala Vada/ Paruppu Vada recipe:

by 4 Comments

MasalVada3NameCrunchy and delicious deep fried lentil fritters. Perfect snack on this cold winter day!

It is a popular snack in southern India. It is super addictive snack. Perfect party snack and also it taste best with tea time snack. And if you make these for parties, it is a great hit. Whenever there is a tea time here, people tend to have biscuits or cakes. But I guess in India, It is always spicy crunchy snacks with tea. Whenever I walk in streets in Chennai, I used to have this masala vada aroma near the road side shops. It smells so good! I have never got the chance to taste them. It is been in my drafts for a long time to post, so I am posting it today.

MasalVada

The tips to make these vada tasty are by adding the shallots, mint and fennel seeds. And also people think it’s hard to make these. If you make them once, you will know how easy it is to make them. But make sure to not add water when you grind them. I have mentioned some tips in the notes. Do look at it.

MasalVada-2

Print
Masal Vadai/ Masala Vada/ Paruppu Vada recipe:
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 15 Vada
 
Ingredients
  • Channa Dal – 1 cup
  • Shallots/Small onions – 1 cup, chopped
  • Corainder leaves – 2 tbsp, chopped
  • Mint leaves – 2 tbsp, chopped
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Green Chillies – 4
  • Fennel seeds/ Soambu – 1 tsp
  • Ginger – 1 inch piece
  • Garlic – 6 cloves
  • Rice flour – 1 tbsp
  • Salt – 1 ½ tbsp
Instructions
  1. Soak channa dal for 4 hours.
  2. First grind ginger, chillies, garlic and fennel coarsely in a blender jar.
  3. Drain channa dal completely and add it to the same jar of the ginger paste and grind coarsely. 4-5 channa dal pieces can be whole.
  4. Mix finely chopped onion, mint, coriander, salt, rice flour and curry leaves.
  5. Heat oil in pan/kadai.
  6. Meanwhile Keep a bowl with water and wet both hands. Make equal sized balls first for uniform sized vadas. Shape each ball to flat patties of medium thickness.
  7. The oil should be hot and when it is hot, Drop the vadas. Simmer the heat and deep fry them in hot oil until golden brown in color, flipping once in between. It is always good to cook in medium flame to ensure even cooking and golden colour.
Notes
1. Make sure not to add water while grinding.
2. Make sure to soak vada for three to four hours. It is hard to grind them otherwise and also if it is not soaked well, it may turn hard and too crisp.
3. Rice flour helps to make it crispier. It is optional. You can soak 1 spoon for rice with the dal and grind instead.
4. Garlic is optional too.
5. Shallots can be replaced with normal red/white onions. But shallots give great texture and flavor.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

MasalVada-4

5 Minute Nutella Mug Cake

by 10 Comments

ChocMugcake-4Happy Valentine’s Day to all!!! Love! Beautiful feeling!!! No words to say how it feels to be loved. Where there is love, there is life!!! heart

And Guess what? This is my 100th post! 🙂 I have posted 100 recipes baloon and it’s been 6 months! Wow! clap I am proud of myself! I am so happy that I started a food blog 🙂  and I am not regretting it at any minute! It keeps me busy and of course Happy :)! Many have asked me how I get time to cook so much each day and post. To be frank, weekdays it is more of quick dinner and quick lunch and not such heavy meals. I cook them on weekends and I post it that week or later. I type recipes when I get some time and I schedule it for later to post. Some days used to be so busy that I just doze off staring at my laptop after all the work at company and at home.  (Only some days) But I am still happy about blogging! I can’t complain!

Mug cakes are always awesome to do. The idea is pretty neat. You combine all the ingredients in a large mug, cook it in the microwave for a minute or so and there comes the steaming chocolate cake. When I want to make solely for me, I prepare the mug cake. Many a times I feel like doing cakes, but I don’t want the entire cake to sit on the counter. And If I prepare the cake, I just have only one serving and not feel guilty having a whole cake. The cleanup and preparation time is so minimal 🙂 And top of all this, mug cakes can be prepared, cooked and in your mouth in 5 minutes. What else can you ask for in a lazy weekend morning?

ChocMugcake-5

And if you make it with right ingredients quantity, it will not be dry and rubbery. Egg is really optional in this recipe. You can skip it if you want it eggless. Cake is rich, moist and also chocalatey or nutelly!!! 😀 You can even add mashed bananas or peanut butter to this recipe.

I have tried lemon mug cake once, and it’s perfect! 😀 I don’t have many sweets, so, I did not try many. But I may say NO to chocolates if you offer me one but surely not to Nutella 😀 I love nutella! The hazelnuts and dark cocoa combo in that is just heaven!

Other favorite similar recipes: Breakfast recipes under 20 Minutes collection!

ChocMugcake-3

5.0 from 2 reviews
Print
5 Minute Nutella Mug Cake
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • Flour – 4 tbsp
  • Sugar – 2 tbsp
  • Unsweetened cocoa powder – 2 tbsp
  • Salt – a pinch
  • Milk – 3 tbsps
  • Vanilla extract – ¼ tsp
  • Nutella – 2 tbsp
  • Baking Powder – ¼ tsp
  • Egg – 1
  • Espresso powder – 1 tsp
  • Oil – 2 tbsp. (vegetable or coconut oil)
Instructions
  1. In a mug, break the egg and whisk a little with a fork. Add milk, oil and mix it together.
  2. Now add all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, salt).
  3. Finally add nutella. Mix it well but do not over mix or else it may become rubbery.
  4. Microwave for 2 minutes on high. Start checking from 1 minute 20 seconds. Mine was done exactly at 2 minutes.Even keeping in microwave for long can turn it rubbery.
  5. Let cook for 5 minutes. Drizzle some icing sugar and serve when it is warm.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

 ChocMugcake-6

Page 7 of 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9

STAY CONNECTED

SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL