Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Yellow Curry for Poori / Poori Koora / Aloo Koora

Ingredients:

Boiled Potatoes – 4

Onion – 1

Green chillies – 4

For the Thadka:

Olive Oil – 3 tbsp

Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
Urad dal ¼ tsp
Channa dal – ½ tsp
Asafoetida – A pinch
Curry leaves – 6
Coriander leaves – A few
Water – ½ cup
Turmeric – ¼ teaspoon

Procedure:

• Add Olive oil to a pot and add all the ingredients mentioned in the thadka.


• Add the chopped green chilli's and onions and saute them until they are transparent


• Mash the boiled potatoes add a pinch of turmeric and salt


• Add this mashed potato mixer to the pot with thadka


• Add some water and allow it to cook for some time

Tips and tricks:

I love my curry spicy, hence I add a lil bit of Cumin and Coriander powder, a little bit of chili powder too for the color

Meal Maker Curry / Soya Bean Curry

Ingredients:

Soaked Soya Chunks : Soak them for at least 30 minutes before cooking

Chopped Onion - 2
Finely Diced Tomato's - 4 Roma

Finely Chopped Spinach - 1 Bunch
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
Kasoori Methi Powder - 1 tbsp
Olive Oil - 7 tbsp

Cinnamon Stick - 1/4
Crushed Cardamom Cloves - 2
Cilantro - 1 Bunch to garnish
Red Chili Powder- 1 tbsp
Kitchen King Masala - 1 tbsp

Whole Milk - 1/4 Cup

Procedure:

• Add crushed cardamom cloves and cinnamon stick in a skillet with 5 tbsp Olive oil.


• Add onions to the skillet and allow them to cook until transparent in color add a pinch of salt and turmeric.


• Add ginger garlic paste and saute the onions until they are light golden brown.


• Add finely diced tomatoes and saute them until the tomato's are finely cooked.


• Add chopped spinach and allow then to cook, add red chili powder, add kitchen king masala.


• Allow the onions and tomato-spinach to cook for some time add whole milk.


• Puree the mixture.


• Add the soaked soya chunks to the puree and allow then to cook.


• Pressure cook the whole curry (optional)


• Add crushed dried kassori methi powder.


• Garnish it with Cilantro and grated butter.

Paneer Butter Masala

Ingredients:

Chopped Onion - 2

Finely Diced Tomato's-6 Roma

Cashew Powder -1 tbsp

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp

Kasoori Methi Powder - 1 tbsp

Chopped Red and green Pepper - 2

Olive Oil - 7 tbsp

Unsalted Butter - 1/2 Cup

Cinnamon Stick - 1/4

Crushed Cardamom Cloves - 2

Whipping cream - 5 tbsp

Cilantro - 1 Bunch to garnish

Red Chili Powder- 1 tbsp

Shahi Paneer Masala - A pinch (To taste)

Kitchen King Masala - A pinch (To taste)

Home made Paneer - (See the previous blog posting for this)

Procedure:

• Add crushed cardamom cloves and cinnamon stick in a skillet with 5 tbsp Olive oil.


• Add onions to the skillet and allow them to cook until transparent in color add a pinch of salt and turmeric.


• Add ginger garlic paste and saute the onions until they are light golden brown.


• Add finely diced tomatoes and saute them until the tomato's are finely cooked, add red chili powder, shahi paneer masala and Kitchen king masala.


• Add whipping cream and allow the tomatoes to cook.


• Meanwhile microwave the diced red and green peppers until cooked partially.


• Add some unsalted butter to a skillet and fry the fresh home made paneer.


• Add the cashew powder to the onions and tomato's, puree half the quantity and leave the rest as is.


• Add the fried paneer and the microwaved pepper to the onion tomato puree, add the rest of the butter and allow then to cook.
• Pressure cook the whole curry (optional)


• Add crushed dried kassori methi powder.


• Garnish it with Cilantro and grated butter.

Tips for tasty Paneer Butter Masala:

• Take the whole curry and pressure cook it for about 5 minutes without a whistle, a nice red layer of butter and chili powder is formed on the top.


• By adding cashew powder and whipping cream, richness is added to the curry


• Add a pinch of sugar while you fry the onions to caramelize it for a better taste


• In order to retain the red color fry the Onions and tomato's and then puree them instead of using pured Onions and tomato's, this will help retain reddish orange color to the curry.

Spinach Mushroom Lasagna

Ingredients:

Chopped Spinach - 1 bunch

Sliced Mushroom -5 ounce

Lasagna Noodle - 10 ounce

Ricotta Cheese

Chopped Onion - 1

Chopped tomatoes - 4

Minced garlic - 1tbsp

Dried Oregano - 1tbsp

Fresh Parsley - 1/2 a bunch

Fresh Basil leaves - 1/2 a bunch

Olive Oil - 4 tbsp

Grated Parmesan Cheese - 1 cup

Salt- To taste

Procedure:

Cooking the pasta Sheets:

• Cook the lasagna noodle in a large pot, slightly salted.


• Each lasagna noodle has a particular cooking time check the carton for instructions. (I cooked mine for about 12 minutes).


• Rinse the pasta sheets with cool water and set them aside.

Stuffing:

• Add 4 tbsp of Oil and add the minced garlic.


• Add dried oregano leaves, basil leaves and parsley leaves, chopped onion.


• Allow the onions to cook until transparent add mushroom and the chopped tomatoes and allow them to cook until you see a layer of oil on the top.


• Microwave the spinach with a (open lid- so as to retain the fresh green color).


• Drain excess water from the spinach, this is a very important step which will help make the lasagna stand else it ends up being very soggy.


• Add ricotta cheese to the cooked spinach and mix it well, add a pinch of salt to taste.


• Meanwhile pre heat the oven to 375F


• Spread a layer of tomato puree that is cooked in order to avoid the pasta sheet sticking to the bottom


• Spread a layer of pasta sheet in an oven safe container


• Spread the cottage cheese and spinach mixer


• Spread the tomato puree


• Repeat this process, depending on how many layers you would like.


• I generally have 3 pasta sheets one in the bottom one in the middle and one on top


• Add another layer of tomato puree on the top layer of the pasta and sprinkle in the Parmesan cheese.


• Bake it for 50 minutes and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Tips and tricks for a yummy Lasagna:

• Drain all the excess water from spinach, it will avoid lasagna from being soggy.


• Cook the pasta noodle for the right time mentioned on the carton to avoid mushy sheets.


• Allow it to cool down before you serve.


• Slice the mushrooms thicker this will help then to retain their shape rather than melting away with heat.
• Spread a layer of tomato puree before you start layering the pasta sheets in order to avoid the pasta sticking to the base of the container.

Ullipaya Pakodi / Onion Pakodi

Onion pakodi is my all time faaaaaaav, so it is for Abhi. I am so glad that most of our tastes match. I guess major reason begin we are born and brought up in Hyderabad. Anyways the first thing that comes to our mind on a gloomy rainy day is ONION PAKODI.

As soon as we were engaged my BIL asked me very seriously "Do you know how to cook ullipaya poakodi" ... I was like why is he asking me this out of all the dishes. I said I love it and its my fav he asked me can you make it? I was like my mom makes it very good and I love what my mom makes....Apparently its his fav too and he wanted to rag me by making me sit in the kitchen and cooking Pakodis while everyone is enjoying the nice weather. ( Dint happen until now...he is still waiting meanwhile I am practicing :) )


Ingredients:

Gram flour - 1 Cup
Rice flour - 1/4 Cup
Onions - 1 big Chopped longitudinally
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Green Chillies- 3
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp
Dhanya- Jeera Powder- 1tsp
Water - 1 tbsp
Oil- 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Take a big bowl add finely chopped Onions, green chillies, salt, dhanya-jeera powder, baking powder, add little oil and leave it for few minutes
Now rice flour and gram flour and sprinkle little water if necessary ( Don't add too much of water)
Pour Oil in a pan for frying the pakodi

Tips for great Pakodi : Fry them with patience at medium heat until golden brown in color

Gummadikaya Koora / Pumpkin Curry

Ingredients :

Onion - 1 big
Tomato's- 2 Roma
Pumpkin - 1 Small
Green Chillies- 4
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Red Chilli Powder - 3tbsp



Thandka:

Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Chandal - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Curry leaves - 10
Hinge- A pinch
Oil - 3 tbsp
Red Mirchi - A few


Procedure:

• Finely Cut the Pumpkin into small pieces
• Steam cook them
• Add the thadka to a pan
• Add chopped onions to the same pan with thadka and cook them until they are transparent in color
• Add tomato's and cook them finely add some salt
• Add paprika, sugar
• Add the steam cooked pumpkin and allow them to cook for 10 minutes you will see a fine layer of oil on top and the curry is ready.

Best when served with : Rice/ Roti

Recipie comming Ragda Cutlet -- Comming Soon

Bread O Egg

This is one kind of breakfast you could prepare especially for kids who are fussy about eating the same thing every day. (example my very own hAbhi ).

• Toast the bread
• Cut a circle / any shape in the bread and pour the omelet solution in this hole
• Let it cook on a medium flame and close it with a lid on top
• Sprinkle pepper on top along with finely chopped cilantro leaves.
• You can use the circular portion to make french toast i.e Dip the circular bread in the egg solution and put it in the pan and toast it.

Chakra Banalu

Ingredients:

Maida / All purpose flour- 2 Cups
Bellam / Jaggery Powder - 1 Cup
Elachi Powder - A few cloves
Oil - To fry
Salt - A pinch



Procedure:

1. Make a dough of maida (add a pinch of salt and very little hot oil)
2. Flatten the dough and cut into pieces (Maida biscuits) as shown in picture
3. Fry the maida biscuits
4. Add bellam to a pan and little water and make pakam / syrup (add elachi powder here) as shown in picture
5. Add 3 to 4 and Chakra banalu are ready :)


Chitti Chitkalu / Tips :

-Fry the maida biscuits well, the crispy they are the yummier it is.

-How do know the bellam pakam (Jaggery syrup) is done: Take a steel plate with water add the pakam / syrup to it TEST: If it dissolves - Not done, if it forms a ball and you hear it fall on the steel plate(tung sound) -done

Homemade-Rasmalai

Ingredients:

Milk - 6 Cups for Malai / 6 Cups for Rabdi
Badam - 10
Pistachios - 10
Sugar - 2 Cups for Rabdi / 2 cups for pressure cooking the malai balls
Vinegar - 4 tbsp
Saffron
Cotton cloth / Cotton Cheese Cloth - You get this in walmart

Procedure:

How to curdle Milk?

Boil the milk in a huge container
When you see a bump in the milk ( palu poguthunapudu), simmer the flame and stir it with a ladle
Add vinegar to it
Within a few seconds you will observe the milk has curdled

Since we have used vinegar the curdled milk might have that odour. Take a cotton cheese cloth and transfer the curdled milk into this cloth allow cold tap water to run through for some time. Tie the edges of the cloth, let the water run from this cloth by running your fingers over it for a couple of time. Place a heavy weight on this for excess water to drain off.

Malai balls:

Kneed the curdled milk as soft as possible ( until oil oozes out onto your hands)
Make round balls and flatten them with your fingers
Pressure cook these balls in Sugar Syrup

Rabdi:

Boil milk until it reduces to half the quantity, constantly stir it so that it will not stick to the pan
Add sugar, grated badam, saffron, (whatever dry fruits that you like)

Rasmalai:

Once the rabdi is of good consistency add the malai balls to it and leave it in the burner for a few minutes so that the rabdi will sink in the malai balls.

Tips for curdling the Milk:

I love the malai ballas to be as soft as a sponge. For softer malai balls add ice cubes while curdling the milk.

When to add ice cubes? As soon as you are sure enough that the milk has curdled. How can you be sure? When you see a transparent liquid separating from milk. How many to add: As many as you have in a tray.

By adding ice cubes that will curb the milk from curdling further and forming hard lumps ( which is exactly what we want for making of paneer).

Semi- Home Made Cooking:

For all my friends who want a faster method. Try use ricotta cheese and pressure cook it in sugar syrup/ bake it in an oven in cupcake pans and add it to rabdi.

The Love Cake - Tiramisu

Want to know the easiest dessert ever possible? Tiramisu!! This is the fastest dish I ever made. No baking no cooking just assembling :). Anyone and everyone can make this Dish.

Ingredients:

Mascarpone cheese - 3 Cups
Heavy whipping Cream - 1 Pint
Confectioners Sugar - 5 tbsp
Cocoa - 4 tbsp
Espresso - 2 Cups
Lady Fingers- 2 Packs
Egg yellow- 3
Marsala Wine - 3 tbsp **Optional**
Coffee bean- To garnish

Procedure:


Preparation of the Cream:

• Whip the heaving cream in an electric mixture until it forms stiff peaks
• Add mascarpone cheese to it and whip it
• Add 5 tbsp sugar
• Beat the three egg yellows and place them on a double boiler and whisk as rigorously as possible or else you will end up eating scrambled eggs **For the double boiler I got a couple with the non stick set that we purchased if you don't have one just use 2 dishes with different sizes and also make sure the water is boiling before you place the dish with eggs**
• When the color changes from bright yellow to faint one its cooked
• Add this to the cream mixture and fold it in
• Add chocolate/vanilla essence /elachi powder

Espresso:

• I prepared espresso using the percolator / Use can also go the instant route
• Add Marsala wine (optional)

Assembly:

• Dip the ladyfingers in espresso and lay them in the container you want
• Add a layer of cream and top if with cocoa using a tea strainer
• Add another layer of dipped ladyfinger's and repeat the same i.e Add a layer of cream and top if with cocoa using a tea strainer
• Top it off with coffee beans for a perfect garnishing
• Set it in the fridge for at least an hour before you serve

Where to buy lady fingers / mascarpone cheese: Best place to buy ladyfingers would be in a bakery / Deli section (Safeway /Wholefoods), as its very fresh and tasty. You can substitute it with normal yellow cake / Cake rusk that you have it with tea

Mascarpone cheese - Try it in places like Wholefoods / Fry's / Sprouts. I have seen people make mascarpone cheese, if you are really keen about making everything from the scratch then you can try it that way but before you try that route, I suggest you should do it with store brought ones which gives you an inspiration to cook rather than disappointment that you can never cook good. This is more Semi-home made dessert but for people like my husband who prefer eating at home than outside. It works great!

Tips and Tricks for thick Home-Made Yougurt

You must be wondering aaahhh what is she up to. But many a times we do fail in doing simple stuff, this when we need tips on how to make them better. To tell you very frankly I did fail to do it when I initially started it too. We live in PHX this is one of the points why I like to live in a warmer place. My husband loves homemade yogurt unlike me, Hence I ended up learning it rather doing it :). I love the Mountain -High full fat yogurt. But I learnt how to make that kind of thick cake like yogurt eventually, let me share it with you. Heat the milk on the stove instead of the microwave leave it twice longer on the stove than you generally do. This will give you a very yummy yogurt which I fell in love with.

Ingredients:

Vitamin D Milk
Red Chilli's - 2

Culture

Procedure:

Boil the milk on stove and leave it up to 3-5 bumps
Add the preexisting Cultured milk after the Milk is Lukewarm

Tips:

Add as much as culture as you want but not less ( I generally add like 5 tbps)
Whisk it once you add it with a coffee whisker to ensure its mixed in well
Place this container in a dish with uncooked rice
Try adding a couple of red chilli's to the milk when you add the culture
Try keeping this container in the oven with the light on
If yo don't have a light preheat the oven until it is warm and switch it off and place this container
If you don't have an oven place it on a wooden plank / wooden dining table to a cozy corner
Never forget to cover it
Try to keep it refrigerated before serving it helps to thicken it
Obviously do not disturb the container

Semi-Homemade Breakfast - Croissant sandwich

Wanted to share the most easiest breakfast that you can ever make but still get sky high points for it. Abhi loves this Sandwich. We generally get freshly baked Butter Croissants either from Whole foods or from Costco. All I do is slightly toasted the Croissants, slice them and place on Omelet in between and topped it of with a slice of cheese. For chocolate lovers like me slice the croissant and spread Nutella's hazelnut cream and you will have a yummy chocolate croissant ready.

Omelet:

Ingredients:

Eggs - 2

Green Chillies - 4

Salt - A pinch

Milk- 3 tbsp (Optional)

Cooked Spinach - A bunch (Optional)

Procedure:

• Cook the spinach with an open lid and a pinch of salt for 5 miutes
• Whisk all the ingredients mentioned above and add some milk if needed
• Pour it in a pan
• All it to cook slowly with a medium flame

Sorakaya Pala Pindi Mirayam

This is a Andhra special curry. My Mom was born and brought up in Hyderabad so she is not too much into Andhra dishes. I got this recipe from my MIL, as Abhi wanted to eat it. It was indeed tasty it had jaggery which gave a slight sweet taste (kammani), pepper added the spice, the powder gave a nice gravy to the curry.

Ingredients:

Sorakaya /lauki- 1
Milk - 1/2 Cup
Salt - To taste
Jaggery- 2 tbsp


Powder:
Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
Rice-2 tsp
Dhanya- 1tsp
Chana Dal - 2 tsp
Red Chilli - 2
Dry Coconut - 1 tsp
Menthulu-1/4 tsp

Thandka:
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Chandal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 10
Hinge- A pinch
Oil - 3 tbsp

Procedure:

Take all the ingredients mentioned under the powder heading and dry roast them and make a very fine powder
Steam cook the sorakaya/Lauki
Add the thadka and add in the steam cooked sorakaya, and jaggery
Add in the powder and allow it to cook
Pour boiled milk and remove it, but I allow it to cook for some time

Also called: Pindi Miriyam / Sorakaya pindi miriyam/ Pala pindi miriyam

Pitla

Poori and Pitla go together. Whenever I heard the word pita it always used to have a tag poori. This was one of my favorites that my mom used to make. The only thing with pitla is it has to be served HOT. This reminds me of Sunday morning when my mom used to wake me up saying "Pita challarithey bagodu, levandi lechi thinandi" (Get up pitla dosnt taste good when its cold). I used to have n number of pooris and my mom used to get worried and she used to stop serving, She was always worried my sister and me might put on weight :). This is one of the fastest cooking dishes once the onions and tomato's are done it hardly takes any time for the basin to cook. Try it out and let me know how it works!



Ingredients:

Basin - 1 cup
Onions- 3
Tomato's - 4
Oil - 1 tbsp
Paprika - 1 tea spoon
Green Mirchi - 3
Cilantro - To garnish
Cashew - To garnish
Milk / Water- 1/4 cup

Thadka:
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 dried red chilli's
10-12 curry leaves




Procedure:

• Add oil to a pan and put the thadka
  
• Add onions in a pan and allow them to cook until transparent .
• Add tomatoes and allow them to cook until you find traces of oil oozing out
• Add salt, paprika to this onion and tomato mixture
• Take a bowl and add cold milk and basin and blend it well to ensure no lumps of basin are left
• Pour this mixture into the pan and allow it to cook
• Garnish it with cilantro and Cashews
  

Pudina Rice

Pudina rice is one of the best variety of rice that I love because of its aroma.

Ingredients:

Mint - 2 Bunches

Onions - 1

Tomatoes - 1

Oil- 2 tbsp

Cilantro - To garnish

Cashew- To garnish

Garlic- 3 cloves

Basmati Rice-2 cups

Salt- To taste

Green Chillies- 5 small

Procedure:

• Add finely chopped onions to the pan with some oil


• Once the onions are transparent, add mashed garlic, green chills and tomatoes along with a pinch salt and allow them to cook


• Add finely chopped mint and stir occasionally


• Grind the entire mixer by adding some water if need be and pour the paste into a cooker


• Add rice to this mixture check for salt and allow it to cook for 25 minutes on medium flame.


• Garnish it with cashews and cilantro

Best when served with Raita

Veggie Pizza

Pizza is one of the fastest dish that I ever made. I used a pre-made base from whole foods, made the tomato sauce and rest was just spreading and adding the toppings over the pizza. Baking is alot easier you need not stand near the stove and stir it, all you have to do is set the timer run all your errands and come back and serve dinner :) . I got two pizza bases in the same pack so I made the tomato spread sufficient for two bases the second time all I had to do is spread and put it in the oven. Works when you are lazy :)

Ingredients:

Base :
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - A pinch
Sugar - A pinch
Yeast - 2tsp

Tomato Paste:
Tomato's - 5
Onions - 1 Large
Basil Leaves - 1 tbsp
Garam Masala - 1tsp
Raagu sauce : 2 tbsp
Dhanya- Jeera Powder- 1 tsp

Toppings :
Green Pepper
Red Pepper
Mushrooms
Red onions (dipped in vinegar)
Jalapenos
Mozzarella Cheese (grated)
Cheddar Cheese (grated)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil spray (EVOO)

Procedure:

Base preparation :

• Take the flour in a broad container so that it is easy to kneed it, add a salt and a pinch of sugar to it along with little oil.


• Kneed the flour by adding warm water as needed and spread the dough flat, if you want a thinner crust spread it until the base is thin enough.

Tomato Sauce and Pizza assembly:

• Take a pan add oil and the add in the finely chopped onions let them cook until they are transparent.


• After the onions are cooked add finely diced tomato's and salt, close the lid and let them cook


• After the onions and tomato's are cooked add paprika, dhanya-jeera powder, garam masala and basil leaves


• Add in the raagu sauce this is optional and I prefer doing it as it adds nice red color to the paste


• Now the tomato paste is ready, Preheat the oven for 20 minutes at 350F.


• Take the base spray some EVOO and spread the tomato paste on the base


• Layer the two types of cheese that we grated


• Add in all the vegetable toppings that we have and place it in the oven for about 25 minutes and the pizza is ready!

Veggie tart / curry puff

Vegetable tart reminds me of Universal Bakers in Secunderabad. It was one of my must order appetizer when ever I visit that place. I used Pillsbury crescent roll dough which made my things easier. You must be wondering how different it is from the puff pastry sheet. This is indeed something different to try. Abhi and me hate some vegetables so I try to use such vegetables here as it will taste yummy in the end no matter what.

Ingredients:

Filling for the tart:

Mixed Vegetables ( with all the vegetables you want)

Onion

Oil

Salt

Paprika

Dhanya-Jeera powder

Base for the tart:

Pillsbury Crescent roll

Procedure:

Filling:

• Fry Onions in a pan with very little Oil and add a pinch of salt for the onions to sweat.
• After the onions are done add dhanya-jeera powder.
• Add the chopped mixed veggies to the pan and cook them with a lid closed.
• Add salt and paprika as per taste.

Making of the tart:

• If crescent roll sheets are frozen remove them 15 minutes in advance and place it on all purpose flour to avoid the roll to become mushy.
• Spread the sheets and slightly press them with your fingers and make the base to the thickness that you want.
• Fill the sheets with the filling prepared and close them on all sides as seen in the picture
• Spray some oil and put the uncooked tarts in the oven which has been preheated for 25 minutes at a temperature of 325F
• Set the alarm for 20 minutes and the veggie tarts are ready.

Homemade Sambar Powder

I used to get it from India initially and later started loving MTR sambar powder and never attempted to make powder at home. Recently I was done with powder that my MIL made during her last visit to phx. So I decided on making some powder. Trust me the effort is worth it. Especially when the powder is fresh the sambar would taste Yumm!! Do give it a shot its not rocket science.


Ingredients:

Chana Dal - 1 Cup
Urad Dal -1 Cup
Dhaniya - 1 Cup
Red Mirchi - 8-10
Paparika - 1/4 Cup
Jeera - 3 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp



Procedure:

Fry the above ingredients with a medium flame until they are golden brown in color.
Blend them in a Mixy (Preferably Indian with four blades in it) until it turns out into a very fine powder.
Precedence of what to fry first is the next question that might pop up in your brain-- Initially fry Chana Dal until its semi done add Urad dal then dhanya jeera and last would be red chillies.

You can also add dry coconut powder but I was afarid it wouldnt last long, if you feel missed out on that flavor you can add it while making Sambar also.

Pineapple Halwa

Ingredients:

Fine Sooji - 1 cup
Powdered Sugar - 2 Cups
Water - 3 Cups
Pineapple Essene - 1 tbsp
Yellow color- Pinch
Pineapple Chunks - 1/4 cup
Elachi - A few
Cashew- To garnish
Raisins- To garnish
Ghee- 5 tbsp +

Procedure:

• Fry the sooji until its golden brown and it smells good which is an indication its done. (This can be either dry fry / in Ghee)
• Add water to a pan and add powdered elachi, pineapple Essence, sugar, color and boil.
• On a slow flame add fine sooji that is fried and stir it while adding to avoid lumps.
• After the sooji is semi cooked add pineapple chunks, I prefer using tin as they are generally sweeter than fresh fruit there are high chances that the fresh pineapple might be a little tangy, which I try to avoid
• Add ghee, I mentioned 5+tbsp as the more you add the tastier it is ;)
• Garnish it will all the dry fruits and cut it into desired size and serve.

Tips: I add saffron in milk and add it to the mixer which will naturally give a very nice color and I use milk instead of water to make it rich and tastier.

Dosa

Initially when I was at school Sravanthi used to soak the dal and we used to make Dosa's so I never bothered to soak the Dal nor did I take the pain to know what she did. When I made it for the very first time after marriage I dint know what are the ingredients and one fine Saturday I call my mom and told her both Abhi and me feel like eating Dosa, ell me how to make the batter, she was like you mean NOW?? Immediately my mom gave the phone to my dad and said your little chef's calling lolz. We ended up going to Einstein bagels that day.

So the best thing to do is Soak the Dal on Friday morning before work grind it in the evening and let it ferment that night and you will have the batter ready for the weekend :).

Ingredients:

2 Cups: Long grained Rice
1 Cup : Urad Dal
1 tsp : Fenugreek Seeds
1tsp : Sabudana

Procedure:

Making of the batter: Soak the Ural dal and rice along with fenugreek seeds and Sabudana at least for 6 hours. Grind this mixture by adding the right amount if water each time, adding too much of water will make the paste watery. Set this batter aside for about 12 hours for fermenting, make sure you place it in a bigger container as it will double its quantity. In colder places place the container in the oven with lights on, if you don't have a light, pre heat the oven for a few minutes and place the batter in the oven.


Dosa Preparation: Heat the non stick griddle to 350F. pour a ladle full batter on the griddle and give it a circular motion starting from inside to out.

Spray some oil on the edges and turn over once it turns brown. For Masala Dosa you cook it on a relatively low flame as you will not turn the dosa. Once the Dosa is brown add Koora Podi / Curry Powder and Aloo Curry and Curl the Dosa.

Serve it with Coconut chutney/ Peanut Chutney + Sambar.

Tofu Curry

Mushroom Curry

Sabudana Payasam

Ingredients:

Milk - 4 cups

Evaporated Milk /Condensed Milk - 1 Tin

Soaked Sabudana - 2 cups

Rasins- To garnish

Cashews - To garnish

Jaggary- 2 cups

Elachi Powder - 1 tea spoon

Procedure:

-Soak the sabudana prefereably over night (atleast 3 hrs), wash them and drain the water

-Boil the milk along with the evaporated milk.

-Add sabudana to the boiled milk and allow it to cook, untill the sagubudana turns transparent in color.

-Add jaggary and allow it to cook for another 5-10 minutes, garnish it with elachi powder and dry fruits.

Red Capsicum Chutney

Abhi is very fond of pachadis. Hence I will be posting all sorts of chutneys that we can make with various veggies that are available. This chutney is best when served with Dosa's. When you make masala dosa you can brush the dosa with this chutney before you stuff it with aloo curry.

**Generally we donot add paprika to chutneys but I do add a pinch to this paticular chutney as it turns out to be sweeter than what you expect a chutney to be**

Ingredients:

Red capsicum - 3

Garlic- 4 cloves

Oil - 3 tbsp

Ghee 1 tea spoon

Mustard Seeds - 1 tbsp spoon

Ural dal - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves - 5

Channadal - 1tbsp

Red mirchi - 5

Green mirchi - 5 small

Cashew nuts Powder- 1 tbsp

Paprika -*Optional*

Procedure:

-Add oil to a skillet and add in a part (1/2) of the thadka ingredients along with powdered cashew garlic and green / red mirchis.

-Add cut capsicum and saute until its cooked and starts sweating.

-Blend this cooked capsicum into a fine paste.

-You add the rest of the thadka on top of the chutney and by using ghee for this will make the capsicum pachadi very tasty.

Mango Mousse

This is a dish which kids would love to have. My neighbour has two lovely kids and I made this for them and since then she loves to come to our house. You can try this in diffrent shapes. I used heart shape.

Ingredients :

-Fresh mango Juice / Mango Pulp -1 tin
-Freshly whipped cream - 1/2 cup
-Strawberries - A few
-Grapes - A few
-Kewi - A few
-Pectin - 2 packets

Procedure:

-Pour the mango pulp into a pan and bring it to a boiling temperature.
-Add pectin to the pulp and stir well.

-Add freshly whipped cream to the mixture and eyeball.
-Slice all the fruits and add them to a container in which you would like to set your Mango Mousse.

-Pour the mixture into your fruit bowl and freeze it for a couple of hours for it to set well.

Tomato Pappu

Back in my Masters and even while I was working in VA I used to add Dal, tomatoes, mirchi, turmeric and pressure cook it and then add the thadka to it. But trust me cooking the Dal and tomatoes separately will definitely give the dal a very special taste, which is worth the effort. If you feel who on earth will have so much time? Try doing this -freeze the pressure cooked dal and when ever you wanna make dal remove a portion of it you can add it to spinach, squash, sambar.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 5 +* roma

Toor dal- 1/2 Cup

Water- 1 Cup

Salt

Paprika - 1/2 tbsp **Not many ppl prefer this but I just love the color that it adds to the dal**

Green Chilli - 2 small

Turmeric- 1 tea spoon

Garlic- 3 whole cloves

Tamarind paste- 1/2 tea spoon ** Optional**

Curry Leaves - 5

Jeera- A few

Urad Dal - A few

Mustard Seeds- A few

Red Chill - 2

Hinge- A pinch

Procedure:

-Pressure cook the dal, until you hear a minimum of 3 whistles

-Meanwhile add some oil for the thadka after the oil is hot add chopped garlic cloves, mustard seeds, jeera, urad dal, green mirchi, red mirchi, curry leaves and once you here the chit pat sound then add hinge.

-In the same pan add tomato's, salt and tamarind paste and close the lid and allow them to cook.

-Mash the dal that it pressure cooked, Abhi prefers it when the dal is silky smooth so I prefer grinding the dal for a couple of minutes before I add the tomatoes in it.

-Add paprika and let it cook for some time and garnish it with cilantro.

P.S: My mom always used to say add more tomato's less dal, eat more curry less rice. Its always better to have more veggies and less carbs, just a thought I would like to share.

Bread Pakoda

My mom used to make different kinds of pakodas with the same batter like pakoda, aratikaya bajji, aloo bajji, tomato bajji, and my fav was always bread bajji.

It was raining in Chandler the other day, yeah you heard me right in Arizona. Abhi said he would like to have some pakodas in the rain. I was very skeptical if I will be done with cooking before it stops raining but to my utter surprise pakodas hardly take any time. I made some pakodas and along with some Masala tea we went to the balcony and spent the whole of evening out there watching it rain. Bread bajjis are one of those snacks that hardly take any preparation time - Try it out! Are you wondering how many calories it has in it?? Dont worry as I am sure its better than large beer battered french fries / onion rings often fried in Corn-oil and dipped in ranch ;).

Ingredients:

Besan - 1 cup

Water

Bread - 2 slices

Cilantro - 1/2 bunch

Mirchi - 4

Paprika - 1 tbsp

Chat Masala - 1 tea spoon

Baadshah Kitchen King Masala - 1 tea spoon

Dhanya jeera - 1 tea spoon

Salt - As per taste

Procedure:

- Cut the bread into desired size, preferably the smaller the better as we generally tend to count the number of pakodas we had and stop eating, therefore I prefer cutting the bread into 4 slices.

-Add besan, paparika, chopped mirchi, dhanya jeera powder, Chaat masala, Baadshah kitchen King masala, paparika, salt to a bowl and eyeball it perfectly.

-Add water to the above flour in such a way that its not too soggy.

-Heat the oil and make sure the oil is hot enough, you don't want the oil to be too hot as it will burn the bread fast and it will not cook to the desired amount.

-Once the oil is heated dip the bread in the batter and immediately add it in oil to fry them, place the fried bread pakoda / bread bajji onto a fresh tissue paper so that it will absorb excess oil on the surface.