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Thaen Mittai / Sugar Candy

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ThaenMittai-9This dainty sweet just melts in your mouth.

 Thaen is honey and Mittai is sweet. But these were not made with honey. They are called so because they are as sweet as honey.  :tounge:

These are popular in petty shops (Potti kadai) in India. These are finger licking desserts that anyone will love when they have it. My dad never gets me any food items from road side shops. He would have had this many times but he never wants to get these for me 😉 because he believes that these are not healthy for me 😀 . But I had them once 😀 Sadly only once 🙁  . My close friend Jo when she came back from vacation got me these. And I loved it. We finished one packet of these delicious ones in an hour. 😀

When I asked her about what sweets to make 😉 she gave me a list and I picked this from that! 😀 She was as excited as me when I told her that I will make these. :O Surely will make these ones when she visits me!! 😉

5.0 from 2 reviews
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Thaen Mittai / Sugar Candy
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 20
 
Ingredients
  • Rice – ½ cup ( I used idli rice)
  • Whole Urad dal – 2 tbsp
  • Food Colour – 1 tsp, Orange red colour
  • Oil – for Deep frying
  • Sugar Syrup:
  • Sugar – ½ cup
  • Water – 2 tbsp
  • Cardamom powder – 1tsp
  • baking powder - a pinch
  • Sugar – 2tsp (to coat)
Instructions
  1. Soak rice and whole urad dal in water for three hours.
  2. Blend them into a smooth paste. Add food color, baking powder to the batter. Mix well and set aside.
  3. Boil the water in a large bottom pot and add the sugar and cardamom powder to it. Boil them till they reach one thread consistency or thicker consistency. Switch off and set aside.
  4. Heat oil in a pan. Take some dough in your hands and slowly drop the dough in small batches.
  5. When it gets fried, remove them and drain them in a kitchen towel. And after a minute add it to the sugar syrup and let them soak. The sugar balls will drink up all the syrup .
  6. Coat them in sugar crystals
  7. Store them in an airtight container and enjoy it for a week.
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Beetroot Poriyal / Beetroot Stir Fry

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BeetrootPoriyal-2-2Steamed Beetroot is seasoned with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves and finally garnished with fresh coconut in this classic south Indian stir fry. This is an easy and south Indian vegan beetroot stir fry. This post is a comfort food from my home. You can make this in few minutes.

This red color vegetable is linked up with lot of health benefits like better stamina, improved blood flow and lower blood pressure. The beetroot has a sweet taste and is earthy and tender to eat. 
Poriyal is a preparation where the chopped or grated vegetables are sautéed in spices and topped with grated coconut sometimes. You can make poriyal with almost all veggies like beans, carrot,cabbage,beetroot,okra,potato, broccoli and so on. These can be served with sambar or rasam or kuzhmabu. They can even served as side dish to chapatis.
I have made some poriyal / stirfry before and they are carrot poriyal, potato fry, beans stir fry, bitter gourd stir fry.
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Beetroot Poriyal / Beetroot Stir Fry
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Mustard seeds – ½ tsp.
  • Urad dal – 1 tsp
  • Asafetida – ¼ tsp
  • Red chilli - 1 broken
  • Onions – 1 small / ½ cup, chopped
  • Green chilli – 1, chopped
  • Curry leaves – 1 spring
  • Beetroot - 3 medium sized, finely chopped
  • Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
  • Sambhar powder – ½ tbsp
  • Salt – to taste
  • Fresh coconut – 1 tbsp
  • Coriander – 1tbsp, chopped
  • Oil - ½ tbsp
  • Coconut oil – 1 tsp
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, urad dal, red chilli and let it splutter. Add curry leaves and fry for a min. Now add chopped onions and green chillies and salt and sauté well till onions gets slightly browned.
  2. Now add the chopped beetroot, sauté for a minute. Add the turmeric powder and sambhar powder. Mix it well. Add water till it is almost covered. Close the lid and let it turn soft and raw smell leaves.
  3. Once all the water gets evaporated, add dry coconut and chopped coriander and give a quick stir fry. Finish off by adding 1 tsp of coconut oil and switch off.
Notes
1. You can mix few more veggies like carrot to the same recipe and use it.
2. You can substitute this with any veggie you fancy and make this same stir-fry.
3. You can use 1 tsp of coconut oil to garnish. It gives extra flavor.
4. You can use frozen veggies also, then you have to just 1 tbsp of water, add the coconut and switch off.
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 BeetrootPoriyalstirfry

Vengaya Kuzhambu / Onion Garlic Curry

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Kuzhambu-2-3An authentic south Indian, tamarind based tangy curry with onions and garlic.



 This is one of my favorite curry/kuzhambu recipes. I can live with just this kuzhambu without having anything else for a week. I love this so much 🙂 My mom came to Montreal before a month for three days and she made this for me. I clicked this when she made it. I did not take great pictures as I was waiting to have it. 😀 Whatever my mom cooks I love 🙂 I guess it’s the same with all of you. But I love her tomato dal kurma, potato masala and channa masala a lot. And last month when i went to visit her at my sister place in Toronto, she brought me a suitcase full of cooking props, utensils and dresses and what not…You heard it right!! One full check in luggage! I just loved it 🙂 I was surprised. It was a 30 KG bag full of stuffs 🙂 ! Who will get me all that if not my Mom. 🙂 I was amazed 🙂 below is the picture with my Mom 🙂 Felt like sharing :)!

suganya&Mom

 Kuzhambu is a tangy curry. And you can make lots of different curries with veggeis or meat. Like Chicken curry, fish kuzhambu, okra curry, milagu kuzhambu and so on. Each gives different taste but the base curry is almost the same with onion, garlic and tomato.

Kuzhambu is different from sambhar, we don’t use much veggies like sambhar and no use of cooked dal. And kuzhambu will last for 3-4 days or even a week under refrigeration due to its high tamarind content.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Vengaya Kuzhambu / Onion Garlic Curry
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Sesame Oil - 2 tbsp
  • Mustard seeds - ½ tsp
  • urad dal – ¼ tsp
  • Channa dal - ¼ tsp
  • Vendayam / Fenugreek - ¼ tsp
  • Curry Leaves - few
  • Red Chilli - 1
  • Shallots/ Small onions - 10-12, skin peeled
  • Red onion - ½ cup, chopped finely
  • Garlic - 10 pods
  • Tomato - ¼ cup, chopped
  • Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
  • Sambar powder - 3 tbsp
  • Tamarind water - 4 cups
  • Jaggery - 1tsp
  • Salt - as needed
Instructions
  1. Soak a big lemon sized tamarind in hot water for 5 minutes. Take the extract out this and set aside.
  2. Heat oil and throw in the mustard seeds, Fenugreek, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves and red chilli. When the dal turns golden brown add the shallots and onions and garlic and fry them on a low flame till it turns brown. Do not burn it.
  3. Now add the tomato and turmeric powder and sauté till they are mushy.
  4. Now add the sambhar powder to the oil and sauté for few seconds and add the tamarind water.
  5. Let this boil in a medium low flame for 15 minutes or till it reaches a thick consistency.
  6. Add the required salt, switch off the flame, add jaggery and add few curry leaves.
  7. You can garnish with a tsp of sesame oil and coriander leaves if you like.
Notes
1. You can replace shallots with just sliced big onions. But shallots give better taste.
2. Frying sambar powder is a must step I would say. It gives great aroma to this recipe.
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Serve this delicious kuzhambu with rice, papad and carrot poriyal/beans stir fry.

Kuzhambu-12

Arachuvitta Sambar/ Indian Lentil Stew

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Sambar-12Healthy and traditional south Indian style lentil stew made with freshly ground spices.

It is a traditional south Indian recipe made with freshly ground spices, very common in many households as a part of everyday cooking. Whenever we have guests at home for lunch or for many festival days, my mom will prepare this sambhar but with different veggie which we have at home that day. My mom makes this recipe so well, and she will make sure she does vada for me that day and in the evening she will prepare sambhar vada for me with some chopped onions and coriander leaves on top. OMG! Memories 🙂

Sambar-13

The secret to make this sambhar perfect is by grinding these masalas fresh and use them. This sambhar recipe is a bit tedious compared to normal sambhar recipe because of the “roasting & grinding” part. But it’s worth doing on a special day :). I have made this sambhar many times and I have never met anyone who doesn’t love this sambhar.

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Arachuvitta Sambar/ Indian Lentil Stew
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
  • Urad dal - ½ tsp
  • Fenugreek seeds - ¼ tsp
  • Hung - a pinch
  • Curry leaves - few
  • Red Chilli - 1
  • Shallots - 7
  • Onion - ¼ cup , chopped finely
  • Tomato -1
  • Okra / Ladys finger - ¾ cup, chopped 1 inch size
  • Carrot - ½ cup, chopped 1 inch size
  • Tamarind - 1 lemon sized ball
  • Toor dal - 1 cup
  • jaggery - a pinch
  • Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp chopped

    To Roast and Grind:
  • Chana Dal / kadala paruppu - 1 tsp
  • Fenugreek/ Vendhayam - ¼ tsp
  • Dry red chilli - 2
  • Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
  • Coriander seeds / Dhania - 1 tsp
  • Ginger – ½ inch
  • Green chilli – 1
  • Shallots - 4
  • Rice – 1 tsp
Instructions
  1. Soak tamarind in one cup of water.
  2. Pressure cook toor dal with turmeric powder and enough water for 4-5 whistles till its cooked, mash it with a ladle and keep it aside.
  3. Dry roasts the ingredients under 'to roast and grind' until golden brown and grind it to a semi fine powder. Not coarse or smooth. Keep it aside.
  4. Heat a pan, add oil, when it is hot, and add mustard seeds, urad dal, fenugreek, red chillies, hing and few curry leaves. Now add the onions and shallots, sauté them are cooked half.
  5. Add chopped tomato and sauté it well. Add the veggie of your choice, i used okra and carrot. Sauté till raw smell leaves.
  6. Then add the tamarind and allow it to boil for 3-5 minutes till the okras are cooked and are soft.

  8. Add the freshly ground powder and mashed dal, salt and mix well. Add some water and boil for 5-8 minutes till the sambhar is thick and of desired consistency. Add a pinch of jaggery and Add chopped coriander leaves and switch it off.
Notes
1. If you pan fry okra with little oil before adding in sambhar, it gives more taste.
2. You can replace with any veggie you want. I used okra.
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It taste great with potato sukka/fry or beans masala stir fry or Carrot stir fry or mutton roast and rice.

Sambar-14

Beans Masala Stir Fry

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BeansStirFryFinalThis crunchy 30 minute beans stir fry is simple and flavor-packed.

Green beans are very healthy and one can make quick dishes with them. You can also add them in pulavs, biryani, salads, Chinese recipes, kurma and also some beans rice. Green beans are very healthy I should say. They give good antioxidant support and cardiovascular benefits. If possible, purchase green beans at a store or farmer’s market that sells them loose so that you can sort through them to choose the beans of best quality. They should have a firm texture and “snap” when broken. Purchase them if they have vibrant green color and smooth feel and also free from brown spots.

BeansStirFryFinal1

I always tend to cook potato, okra, brinjal. I somehow don’t make beans, carrot or cabbage much. But when I make them, I cook them special by entertaining myself with some alteration each time to make it tasty and inviting for me to eat. It’s not I don’t like them, it’s just I am sooper lazy to chop carrots and beans. That’s the reason for this masala beans. It tasted really good and very out of ordinary. 🙂

This is a steamed vegetable dish made with coconut. This is called poriyal in tamil. Generally at home we make poriyal with French beans, cauliflower, caroor, cabbage, cluster beans and so on. I have already posted carrot poriyal. Whenever I add lots of spices like this, I add a bit of sugar. But this recipe already has a subtle sweet taste coming from beans, onions and coconut. I make this one, normal coconut (thoran) recipe with this beans and also one nice punjabi aloo beans curry. I will surely share that one day. Its one drooling beans recipe I have in mind to share for quite a long time. I have chopped them little long, you can chop anyways. But this looks attractive 😉 what do you think? 😉

5.0 from 3 reviews
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Beans Masala Stir Fry
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Mustard – 1 tsp
  • Urad dal – 2 tsp
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • French Beans – 2 cup
  • Onion – ½ cup
  • Turmeric – ⅛ tsp
  • Salt – as needed
  • Oil – 1 tbsp

    To grind:
  • Shallots – 5
  • Garlic – 4
  • Coriander seeds – 1 tbsp
  • Coconut – 3 tbsp
  • Red chillies – 5
  • urad dal- 2 tsp
  • Black pepper whole – 2 tsp
  • Jeera – 1 tsp
  • Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Instructions
  1. Cut the beans diagonally to 1 inch piece. And keep it aside.
  2. Dry roast the ingredients under the “to grind” table. And Grind the ingredients , without adding water.
  3. Heat oil in kadai and add mustard, urad dal and then add curry leaves and onion, fry till onion turns out golden brown.
  4. Then add the beans, salt and turmeric and fry in medium flame for 2 minutes.
  5. Now add enough water to the beans to get cooked.Mix well and cook cover with a lid in a medium flame, till the beans gets cooked.
  6. Add the ground masala powder and add two tbsp of water. Keep turning in between to avoid burning.
  7. After beans get cooked, fry till water evaporates completely and curry should be dry.
Notes
If desired, add coconut oil at the end.
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Serve this with rasam and rice or roti.

BeansStirFry-10r

How to make Paneer or Cottage Cheese at home / Homemade Paneer Recipe

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 Homemade Paneer1

 Paneer is a type of fresh cheese that can be made easily at home.  Paneer has a milky flavor on its own, so it taste best when paired with strong spicy flavor like curries or tikka. This is a cheese that won’t melt like mozzarella or cheddar will. We can add them on any curry, or crumble them into flat breads like roti. Or even add them to kebabs and the cheese will keep its shape and chewy texture.

Homemade Paneer3

I like making paneer at home. But sometimes i do buy them outside if I am very indolent. But I am sure home-made paneer is more hygienic and it saves a lot of money as well.  Paneer is the star ingredient in some of my favourite north Indian dishes. Sometimes when i pan fry them in butter, i grab them and eat 🙂 I Love paneer 🙂 You need very few ingredients to make paneer at home. if you have milk, lemon juice, pan, strainer and some cheesecloth/normal cloth, you can have fresh paneer cheese at home.

I have made this using 2% milk, but i would say avoid skim or non-fat milk as there isn’t enough milk fat left to actually separate into curds.Place them in a zip lock and store in the freezer section for a week or so. But if you don’t use it right away, please make sure you have plans for it within a few days at least.

To see what you can make with paneer, here are some of my paneer recipes : Paneer Makhanwala, Malai Methi Paneer , Paneer peas masala,rasgulla and rasmalai.

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How to make Paneer or Cottage Cheese at home / Homemade Paneer Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 250gms paneer
 
Ingredients
  • Ingredients:
  • Milk – 6 cups
  • Lemon Juice – 2 tsp or yogurt - 1 tbsp or vinegar- 2 tsp
  • Ice cubes – 6
Instructions
  1. Mix lemon juice in half a cup of warm water and keep aside.
  2. Add 5 cups milk to a large pan over medium high heat. Constantly stir the milk at regular intervals to make sure the milk does not stick to the bottom.
  3. When it is boiling nicely, add the lemon juice/water mixture to the boiling milk. The milk will curdle in about a minute and most of the milk protein coagulates into lumps leaving very thin, slight cloudy water behind. When the water is clear, stop curdling by adding ice.
  4. Drain out the liquid using a muslin cloth or any clean thin cloth. Guess what you have in the cloth? Its cottage cheese! Squeeze out the excess water and hang the cloth with paneer for about 30-40minutes.
  5. Now rub the cloth that contains the paneer with another cloth. This removes the remaining water and helps us form the dough. Now remove the paneer from the cloth, knead it well.
  6. Cut them into desired shapes and store in freezer. Use it when you need it.
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 Homemade Paneer2

Veg Fried Rice (Indian Style)

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Friedrice-4

 I never used to like fried rice before coming to Canada. I remember my Mom used to order this for her always. And I never used to touch it. Then after coming here, I continued that by avoiding it till I tasted this one when my best friend Vincy cooked this for me for one of my birthday with paneer gravy. I loved it! And she is the one who makes it for me always after that in our home. We all used to enjoy it. She is very quick in cooking and she used to cut the veggies overnight , store it in the refrigerator and make it the next day in a jiff after coming from church visit on a Sunday. I miss that! After she left to India, all three of us learnt from her and we used to make it for special days 🙂 and all of us rocked in this recipe. It is so simple and it never lets anyone down. That is all you want when you are cooking lot of recipes on a special day. Right? 😉

It is very important to make the rice grainy for fried rice. If the rice turns sticky, we won’t get it perfectly. You can use different color capsicum to add more color to the rice. It is very simple, only thing to do is chop the veggies finely. Make sure to use nice good quality basmati rice, as it’s the star ingredient here. Even though the key ingredient is rice here, capsicum and spring onions elevates this recipe to a different level.  I made this before two weeks with paneer Manchurian and drafted the recipe to share. Thought of sharing it today and here it goes ! 🙂

To cook basmati rice perfectly, check the titbits ! 🙂

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Easy Fried Rice recipe (Indian Style)
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Cloves - 3
  • Beans - ½ cup, chopped finely
  • Carrots - ½ cup, chopped finely
  • Capsicum - ½ cup, chopped finely (used green and red capsicum)
  • Spring onions - ½ cup
  • Oil - 2 tbsp
  • Pepper powder - 1 tsp
  • Aginomoto - a pinch (optional)
  • Sugar - ½ tsp
  • Cooked rice – 2 cups
  • Salt - as required
Instructions
  1. Cook basmati rice perfectly and fluffy. And keep it aside. Cut the veggies very finely so that it will cook easily in short period of time.
  2. Heat a pan with oil, and when hot, add the clove and veggies with sugar and fry for two minutes or until its cooked. Make sure it is still crunchy. You don’t want mushy veggies.
  3. Add pepper and aginomoto, spring onions and fry for a minute. Add the cooked rice and stir well and switch off.
Notes
1. You can try the same with left over rice by keeping it overnight in the fridge.
2. I had only black pepper handy, but you can use white pepper, it gives, more flavor.
3. You are adding sugar to retain its color.
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Serve it with paneer gravy or manchurian or any gravy! 🙂

Vegfriedrice2name

Kozhi Milagu curry / Pepper Chicken Curry

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Chickencurry-11Made with freshly grounded whole black pepper and Fennel seeds with a hand full of curry leaves.

This is a famous south Indian recipe. I made this pepper chicken curry with mutton roast on one fine evening just like that. My whole house smelled with flavors. You can use chicken with bone or boneless too. It’s always good when the meat dishes are spicy. You will start liking it that way if you start having it that way. But if you are making it for the first time, try to taste as you make to adjust to your spice level. I would say do not skip any ingredient in this, each of it adds unique taste to this. I usually don’t insist so because I usually advise to cook with whatever we have at our house. But pepper, fennel seeds and curry leaves are star ingredients in this. So, if you skip any one of it, it will make a great difference.

Chickencurry1

Chickencurry-9

Pepper and chicken is a deadly combination. And also pepper helps to cure stomach related problems. Pepper should be dry roasted to remove moisture content. And also note that you don’t want to dry roast and store this powder. If you want good flavors, I am sure you want to! If so grind it fresh each time you make this recipe. This is a spicy curry. If you want it dry, leave it for another five to ten minutes to make it a roast.

Chickencurry-12

 

 

4.5 from 4 reviews
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Kozhi Milagu curry / Pepper Chicken Curry
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Chicken - 400gm
  • Cinnamon stick - ¼ inch piece
  • Onion - 1 cup, 1 finely chopped
  • Tomato - 1 cup, 1 finely chopped
  • Ginger garlic paste - 2tbsp
  • Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
  • Chili powder - 1 tbsp
  • Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
  • Oil - 3 tbsp
  • Salt - as needed
  • Curry leaves – 10

    To Roast and grind:
  • Pepper - 1 tbsp
  • Fennel seeds - 1 tbsp
Instructions
  1. Dry roast the ingredient under "to roast & grind" each one of it separately. i.e, Pepper separately and fennel seeds separately. Grind them together and keep it aside.
  2. In a pan, heat oil and add cinnamon stick and add onion and salt and sauté till golden brown. And then add ginger garlic paste and sauté for a minute.
  3. Now add tomato and fry till its mushy and raw smell leaves. Add the turmeric, red chili powder, coriander powder and sauté well.
  4. Now add chicken and stir well till the chicken is well blended with the spices.
  5. Now add water till immersing level say 1 cup along with salt and close the lid. It will take around ten minutes for it to cook well. Don’t add more water, it may make it rubbery. And Chicken will ooze some water already.
  6. Now add the powdered pepper fennel powder and saute for two minutes. Add curry leaves, taste and adjust salt and spice level. (Check spice level as you add it, your spice level may differ)
  7. Add chopped coriander leaves and switch it off.
Notes
1. This is a spicy curry. If you want it dry, leave it for another 5-10 minutes to make it a roast.
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Serve it with some rice and lamb roast.

Or Serve it with roti or parotta.

Chickencurry2name

Kerala Parotta / Layered Bread

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Parotta-15-2It is a layered soft and flaky bread made out of plain flour and oil. It is a popular Indian street food.

It is popular in the southern states of India – Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. It is a best seller of thattu kada(road side eatery) and also called as malabar parathas. Usually the parottas include egg. But I am making the eggless one and it surely taste good.

When I was in Chennai, I always used to see the guys working in the roadside small eatery places waving dough around till it gets stretched into what resembles mini flying saucers :D. seriously! You would understand only if you have seen it, you can even browse in youtube, there are so many videos showing that. This requires a lot of practice to master. I tried few times and yet to master it. 😉

Parotta-4-2

Whenever I go near a parotta place in Chennai, the smell of making them is just so good. I have heard it taste best with the salna. But I have never tried them at a road side shop sadly. My dad always stops me from having them at a road side shop. But I always wanted to have it once there ;)! He feels it’s not healthy 😉 I agree 😉 But just once just to taste them. My Boyfriend always used to say , the road side shops taste really good 😉 but also mentions that I would not have them if I get to see the way they make it there peek. May be I will still like it.. May be not 😀

You can make this using wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour considering the health values, though the all-purpose version tastes and looks a lot better. Wheat version is simply the lacha paratha. And for lacha paratha you just need less oil. But the texture of this parotta is lot more different and even taste differs. Trust me, it looks complex but it is very easy to make once you start making it. The tip is to roll the dough as thin as possible and then the layers would come nicely.

If you think this is going to taste like the frozen ones, NOno, it is not! It tastes lots better than the frozen ones. 🙂

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Kerala Parotta / layered Bread
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 10
 
Ingredients
  • All purpose flour / Maida – 2 cups
  • Baking soda - ¼ tsp
  • Hot water – ½ cup
  • Milk – ½ cup
  • Sugar – 2 tsp
  • Salt – 1 tsp
  • Oil
Instructions
  1. In a bowl or a clean surface, add all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda and sugar and mix well. Make a well in the middle and slowly add the water and milk and make soft dough. Add a tbsp. of oil and mix into the dough.
  2. Cover the dough with a lid or a damp cloth and allow to rest for fifteen minutes.
  3. Apply some oil in your hand and also grease your work surface with oil and pinch dough to make smooth round tennis sized balls. Rest it again for ten minutes covered.
  4. Take each ball and roll it thin. Thin here means it should be so thin that it’s almost transparent. You can also use palms and fingers to stretch out into a thin sheet. Shape is not important here. Even if there are very few tears its fine at this step. (as you work with each portion of dough, be sure to keep the rest covered so it doesn’t dry out)
  5. Slowly lift up one end of the sheet using fingers. And make pleats (like saree) moving towards the other end. (It’s like folding each fold on another).
  6. When this step is done, hold one end of the long strip and roll it towards the other end to create spiral balls something like a rosette. Roll the other ones similar way and grease them and cover it again for ten minutes.
  7. On a greased surface, place each spiral balls and roll into a thick parotta. Grease them again.
  8. Heat a non-stick pan on medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, place the thick parotta on the pan and cook on both sides till golden brown. You can drizzle oil as you roast them on the hot pan.
  9. Prepare other parottas similar way. Now arrange all parottas placing each one on top of another on the work surface. Now using both your hands, crush them together similar to clapping action and pull back. This helps to open up the layers of the parotta.
  10. Serve it hot with nice gravy.
Notes
1. Allow to rest for at least ten minutes at each stage of the parotta making process.
2. Crushing clapping process of the parottas after taking off from the hot stove is the essential step. But be careful.
3. You can add egg to the flour which will make the parottas even more rich and soft. But I wanted to do eggless.
4. You can use one cup of all-purpose flour and one cup wheat flour also.
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Serve parotta with any vegetable curry or chicken salna or even simple raita.

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Pudina Chaas / Mint Spiced Buttermilk

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Pudinachaas-6A refreshing drink made with yogurt, bursting punch of mint leaves and roasted cumin seeds.

Chaas is nothing but buttermilk.  It is very popular thirst quencher in summer in India. It is mostly had during summers and also many times after meals. When I was younger I have seen in many Indian cities vendors selling this spiced buttermilk, especially in hot summers. It is not only summer, I always crave for thirst quenching drinks to keep my body hydrated and cool.

Both yogurt and mint are body coolants. Mint calms stomach when there is stomach pain and indigestion. It also helps headaches. And buttermilk is good to have if you have acidity problem. So, if you are having more junk oily spicy foods, always good to have buttermilk. My parents mostly make buttermilk for me thrice in a week as it is a great coolant and helps to glow the skin away staying away from heat acnes. Sometime I just make with coriander and no mint. If I have some leftover mint from biryani, I surely make buttermilk with mint. It is low in fat and high in calcium and probiotics.

When heat becomes unbearable in India, we always try to beat the heat by having this buttermilk, fresh lime soda and so on. There are lots of ways to prepare this, some don’t like to make it without mint and have it as masala chaas, some with sugar as sweet lassi and some add fruits or vegetables to make it tastier like mango lassi. I wanted to show the simple version.lookdown

I remember my Mom never fails to leave anyone from home without giving them something to eat when they come to visit us. Let it be anyone. She will do it. She says it is a custom in India. “Tamizhar panpadu!” to be more specific.  I try to follow that till now. Those days there won’t be food always or even snacks like these days. So, she will make sure to at least make some quick buttermilk and give. It’s great for all ages. 🙂

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Pudina Chaas / Mint Spiced Buttermilk
Author: 
Recipe type: Drinks
Cuisine: Indian
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 glasses
 
Ingredients
  • Yogurt – 1 cup
  • Fresh mint leaves – 7-8, chopped
  • Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp
  • Coriander leaves – Few, chopped
  • Hing – 1 pinch
  • Water – 1.5 cups
  • Salt – as needed
Instructions
  1. Dry roast jeera until it turns slightly browned. It gives nice aroma. Then powder it using mortar and pestle or just grind it in a blender. I roasted more and saved them in a box.
  2. In a blender add all the ingredients including the mint leaves and blend till smooth.
  3. Serve mint chaas in glasses with some ice cubes. You can also chill and serve later.
Notes
1. You can double or triple easily.
2. You can add dry mint leaves instead of fresh mint leaves.
3. You can also add black salt instead of normal salt.( if you did not know 😉 black salt looks pink in color)
4. You can also add ginger when grinding.
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Saag Aloo Capsicum / Spinach Potato Pepper

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Indian spiced potatoes with spinach and capsicum — a perfect side dish.

There are many ways of making aloo palak or potato spinach recipe and here is my favourite version from my kitchen. This is a dry version and this curry ought not be too soupy, as you want the potatoes to absorb all the flavors in the dish. The potatoes should be juicy from the spinach flavors but not mushy. Saag means spinach and aloo means potato. Saag is a term also used to describe other greens, such as mustard leaves. Capsicum is optional here and I just wanted to add it for more flavors.

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This will take some time but you don’t have any job in the kitchen, just simmer the spinach to the point where there is moisture left in the pan for the consistency that you find is signature to this dish. The thought of cooking curry from scratch probably scares many of us, but it’s really easy when you know the flavor combinations of the different spices. For instance, spinach goes really well with potato. And potato goes great with bell pepper. Saag aloo isn’t tricky to make at the best of times. You just need one pan and one spoon to make this and you may as well have cooked the whole meal on your one stovetop. This recipe is for those days where you literally want to dump everything on the pot and return to your dent in the sofa.

vegan Note: replace Milk with coconut milk.

4.7 from 3 reviews
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Saag Aloo Capsicum / Spinach Potato Pepper
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Potato – 3
  • Cumin seeds (jeera) – 2 tsp
  • Garlic – 3, chopped finely
  • Onion – 1, chopped finely
  • Green chilli – 1, chopped finely
  • Capsicum/ Pepper – 1 chopped into cubes
  • Spinach – 1 cup, chopped or whole
  • Chilli powder – 1 tbsp
  • Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
  • Cumin powder – 1 tbsp
  • Milk – 2 tbsp
  • Oil – 2 tbsp
  • Salt – as needed
  • Lime- for garnishing
  • Corainder leaves – For garnish
Instructions
  1. Remove the skin from the potatoes and cut into small wedges,
  2. Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed non-stick skillet over medium heat, add jeera, garlic and add the onions and chillies and fry until they are golden brown.
  3. Now add the potatoes, capsicum. Salt and turmeric and fry until golden brown.
  4. Now add the chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. Add 2 tbsp of water and simmer it for few minutes.
  5. Now stir in the chopped spinach to this, and add two tbsp. of milk and close it.
  6. Stir in the mixture a few handfuls at a time, until each potato is coated with the spinach.
  7. The potatoes should be little roasted and coated with spinach and have the flavors of capsicum in it.
  8. Garnish with coriander leaves and squeeze in some lime.
Notes
1. Don’t add more water, it may make the potatoes mushy.
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Perfect side dish for with rasam and rice or roti or plain rice.

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Matar Paneer/ Paneer Peas Masala

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PaneerMatarMasalafinal1

Pan fried paneer with peas and spices in rich cashewnut gravy.

This healthy and delicious vegetarian curry can be on your plate in less than half an hour. Popular recipe amongst the north Indian recipes prepared with paneer and peas. Anything with paneer is a definite win. The texture of paneer is similar to greek feta which is prepared in a similar manner. I used the frozen peas instead of boiling some. I have seen that it’s a part of most restaurants menu. Goes well with steamed rice, Pulao, naan or roti. Paneer can be replaced with tofu also. Don’t add lots of cashews to make it rich, it will spoil the originality of the taste. I cut my paneer in this manner, but you can always cut in the way you fancy.

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I am getting busy these days at work, so when I am back home, I am so tired that I just cook something quick and I could not click any pictures. And also I have to tell you, its getting dark so I don’t feel like clicking pictures without natural light. So, this whole week it was more like quick cooking after diwali. I just made simple very comforting home food.

Yesterday the weekend started and I finally got some chance to click pictures with natural light. So, here it is. I made matar paneer and butter naan. I will post the recipe of butter naan soon. I have similar paneer recipes like malai methi paneer and paneer makhanwala.

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Matar Paneer/ Paneer Peas Masala
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • For the gravy:
  • Onion – 1 cup, Chopped
  • Tomato – 1 cup, Chopped
  • Green Chilli – 1 , chopped finely
  • Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tbsp
  • Cashews - 7 whole
  • Turmeric – 1 tsp
  • Oil – 1tbsp
  • Salt - As needed
    [other]
  • Unsalted Butter - 2 Tbsp
  • Paneer - 250gms
  • Chilli Powder - 1 Tbsp
  • Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
  • Cumin Powder – 1 tbsp
  • Kasturi Methi - 1 tbsp
  • Sugar - ½ tsp
  • Water – ½ cup
  • Cream - 2 Tbsp

  • [Garnish]
  • Coriander – 1 tbsp, chopped finely
Instructions
  1. Take 1 tbsp of butter in a pan, place the paneer cubes and fry for a minute in each side till they become crispy golden. Keep it aside. (Optional step)
  2. Take 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add the cashews and fry till it is golden brown. Add the chopped onions and green chillies and sauté till they become transculent. Now add the tomatoes, garlic ginger paste and salt.
  3. Cook for about 10 minutes on a medium flame till everything gets cooked. Allow this to cool.
  4. Then add everything in a blender. Blend them into a smooth paste with not even small pieces of cashews on it.
  5. Heat butter in the same pan. Add the jeera, blended paste and stir well.
  6. Add chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. (If you want rich color, you can add kashmiri chilli powder. I used normal one)
  7. Stir well &sauté the masala on a medium flame till and add the water and mix well. It has to be sauted really well till butter ooze out.
  8. Add washed boiled peas, dry methi leaves, cream,sugar, water and boil for five minutes and switch off.
  9. Garnish with chopped coriander or paneer, ginger or cream.
Notes
1. Frying the paneer is an optional step.
2. Its better to close the vessel with a lid when we add the blended gravy as it may spilt up some outside as it boils
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