Where we twist a little

Tags

breakfast, Friday Feast, idly, indian, oats, recipe, sandwich, snacks, uthapam

recipes that is 🙂 I love to experiment in my kitchen and regular readers know it by mostly… So when I read this post by Roop, which says that she finds desi cooking boring. This is what she has to say

No matter what cookbook I read, it’s the same recipe one after another. A combination of various spices to be tempered, onions to be browned, garlic/ginger to be added if liked, and the rest. True, you can add in new flavors, play with ingredients – example, adding chickpeas to your standard fare of baingan ka bhartha – but really, the base of all cooking remains similar. How much can one ignore the mundane?

Well I for one couldnt disagree more 🙂 I started to type a looooooong comment to her and than thoought of giving a couple of recipes to prove otherwise 😀 😀 roop I hope these are good enough to make it intersting for u 😛

Uttapam Sandwich

Yes you heard it right, I had first read about it long long ago in a magazine somewhere and since than I have been making it at home regularly and I can’t tell you what a hit it is at home… I make it with various stuffings and turns out well with every one of them… this one is my favourite though, something about combining the chinese and the indian flavours

What I used

• Dosa batter
• Mix vegetables I used yellow and red peppers, onions and carrots
• Soya sauce – 2 tsp
• Vinegar – 1 tsp
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive Oil for stir frying

How I made it

• Heat oil in a pan, add onions and fry till pink
• Add the cut and grated veggies and stir fry on high flame till just about tender
• Add salt, pepper and sauces fry for another 1 minute
• Keep it away to cool down

• Now heat the dosa tawa/pan and spread the batter on it a little thick to make a utthapam
• Flip when cooked and cook the other side
• Cut from the center and spread the veggies on one half

• Cover with second half and grill it, I use the sandwich maker and griller that I have at home

And gulp them down 🙂

Oats Idly

There is no limit to what can we done with the humble idly, the variations that I make with idlies are so many that when I wanted to choose one for here I was totally confused, I make pumpkin idly, cucumber idly, spinach and cheese idly and ofcourse the good old rava idly… What is my favorite here is the oats idly… I have said that on the blog before that I love oats and a cereal but unfortunately no one in my house eats it… hence I keep discovering recipes that contains oats in forms other than porridge and that is when I chanced upon oats idlies and trust me they are worth the try… totally nutritous and give the regular idly such a nice facelift

What I used

• Oats – 1 1/2 cups
• Semolina/Rawa – 1/2cup
• Mix veggies – 1 cup (I used grated carrots, capsicum, chopped onions and boiled peas)
• Sour Curds – 2 cup
• Green chilli – 2 chopped
• Corainder leaves – a handful
• Curry leaves – 6-7
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Chana dal – 1 tsp
• Urad dal – 1 tsp
• Oil – 1 tsp
• Eno Fruit Salt – 1 tsp

How I made it

• Mix oats, rawa and curds and keep aside for 30 minutes
• Heat oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds
• when they crack add curry leaves, channa dal and urad dal
• fry till it turns light brown in color
• Add the tempering to the oats mixture.
• Add the veggies and salt to taste and mix well
• Grease the idly mould and keep them ready
• Add the eno fruit salt and pour in moulds immediately
• Steam for about 15 minutes and your idlies and ready to be demolished

Dunk in a bowl of sambhar and relish

or if u like my little one who just wants to touch sambhar and eat, ur loss 😉

So roop does this excite u enough 🙂

Power ingredients in a parantha

Tags

besan, breads, breakfast, fengureek, Friday Feast, gram flour, indian, methi, palak, ragi, recipe, soya, soya flour, spinach, whole wheat

I absolutely heart one pot or rather one dish meals… yes I love cooking and there are times when I have made a 5-course meal for many people but there are times when I dont want to do anything and make one item which will be a complete balance meal… pulaos, khichdis, pastas are the usual that come to mind when we talk about one dish meal but what about paranthas? There are so many things we can do to a parantha and come up with a yummy and fully balanced meal in itself.

Couple of weeks back in such a frame of mind… I made this…. it tasted absolutely divine and with a bowl of curd and some salad.. a meal in itself couldnt have been healthier

What I used

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ragi flour
• 1/2 soya flour
• 1/2 gram flour
• 1 bunch methi leaves pureed
• 1 bunch spinach leaves chopped finely
• 1 small onion chopped finely
• 1 tsp oil for kneading
• 1/2 tsp ajwain
• 1/2 cup curd (sigh how i missed it when i typed it first)
• salt and chilli powder (u can also use green chillies, I avoided because of ojas)

How I made

• Mix together all ingredients and knead to make a soft chapati dough
• Take a ball to make paranthas… roll into a chapathi size and then spread oil on top and roll in it a spiral
• Roll again and u will get enough lachas in the parantha 🙂 u can ofcourse make paranthas as u choose 🙂 and enjoy a power packed meal

Wheat and ragi provide the cereals, gram flour and soya the pulses and hence the protien… methi and spinach the veggies and that too green veggies… some curd added to the doufh and then a little curd to eat along for dairy products and its as balanced as it can get.

Ok swaram promise this is the last one and then in the weekend I will be quiet no posts 😉

Palak chutney

Tags

chutney, cocunut, complete my thali event, dosa, Friday Feast, idly, indian, palak, recipe, roasted gram

I love various forms of chutneys with dosas, idli and even paranthas 🙂 so I am always in search of good recipes plus due to the fact that I am dieting (atleast trying to eat sensible) and mil has high cholestrol, the standard cocunut and peanut chutneys are made very rarely in our house…

So when I chanced upon Palak chutney recipe in Sanjeev Kapoor’s Rice, Bread & Pickles, I was almost jumping with joy, the fact that I love spinach was just an added advantange 🙂

I did make a minor modification to the recipe though… The original recipe used grated cocunut and due to the reasons stated above I replaced the cocunut with roasted channa dal…

I also seasonsed the final chutney with little mustard seeds which was not mentioned in the original recipe somehow a chutney without that tempering seems incomplete for me specially if I am going to eat it with idly/dosa

So here is the final recipe, if u want to stick to the original recipe just replace the roasted gram with cocunut and skip the seasoning in the end and bingo…

What I used

• 1 tbsp skinless split black gram (urad dal)
• 1 tbsp spli bengal gram (channa dal)
• 4 dried red chilli (reduce it if u dont want it fiery)
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 medium tomato chopped
• 1 green chilli chopped
• 1 tbsp roasted gram
• 1 tsp tamarind pulp
• 1 bunch (roughly 250gm) spinach or palak, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp oil
• salt to taste

for the tempring/seasoning

• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds

How I made it

• Heat oil in a pan, add the burad dal and channa dal and roast to golden brown, take care not to burn it though
• Add the red chillies and onion. Fry for 2 mins
• Add the tomatoes and green chilli and saute for 5 mins
• Add the palak, roasted channa, tamarind pulp and salt  and mix well.
• Remove from heat and cool
• Grind to a fine paste
• Season with mustard seeds cracked in hot oil

We eat these with crisp dosas this morning and the taste is still lingering in my mouth

This is off to Complete my Thali – chutney event hosted at Joy Of Cooking

PS:I may post somemore chutneys as this event sounds very intersting and there is no limit on the no of entries so stay tuned and dont run away from the scare of getting drowned in chutneys 😉

Comfort Food – Post 25

Tags

channa dal, fengureek, Friday Feast, indian, indian main course, main course, methi, NaBloPoMo, palak, pulses, recipe, spinach

Everyone has a comfort food isnt it… The food you crave when u have nothing else to do, when u wee bit down… when may be your mood is not uptight or may be the health is not the best… For N its rasam-rice…. and for me its dal-roti… seriously when nothing works Dal-Roti does…

And hence I love experimenting with dal, mixing various dal’s together, adding some veggies to it… the variations give dal a face lift and make it an all new dish which is yummy and healthy too…

So when after marriage I first eat this dal which is the favorite of my mil too, I fell in love with it… a dal which has all my fav elements – dal, methi and palak… But unfortunately toor dal doesn’t suit me too much these days… gives me terrible gas so I came up with my own version of this dal which now everyone in the house enjoys totally………

Ingredients

• A cup channa dal (use toor dal if u want to)
• 2 bunches of fresh methi (fengureek)
• 3 bunches of fresh palak (spinach)
• 8-10 shallots or baby onions (I love their flavour and the crunch in the mouth they leave, however mil uses normal onions so feel free to use them if u don’t have baby onions)
• 1 large tomato chopped
• 1 tsp urad dal
• 1 tsp channa dal
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp jeera seeds
• 2-3 green chillies
• 2-3 dry red chillies
• 1 medium sized tamarind ball
• 7-8 curry leaves
• 1 tsp sambhar powder (optional)
• 1 tsp corriander powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp turmeric

Method

• Wash and chop methi and palak leaves finely.
• Boil together with dal, chopped tomato, slit green chillies, salt and turmeric in a pressure cooker
• Let the steam escape.
• Soak tamarind in warm water
• Heat oil in a pan and add mustard jeera seeds to it
• After they turn brown and start spluttering add the urad dal, channa dal, curry leaves and dry red chillies.
• Fry for 2-3 minutes till the dal browns a little
• Add onions to the same and fry them till golden brown
• Add all dry masalas, fry for another minute
• Add the dal, mash a bit along with the tamarind water.
• Let it simmer for about 5 minutes or so
• Serve hot with rotis or rice

Sluuurp

Green Chutney : Post 20

Tags

corriander, dhaniya, Friday Feast, green chutney, indian, mint, NaBloPoMo, pudina, recipe, side

Green Chutney is something I use very often and is almost always there is my house and quite a lot of meals pics I have on this blog have that too… I have got many mails and comments on people asking me how I make my green chutney…

There are many ways one can go about making a green chutney and me myself making it atleast 3 different ways…. So here I will try and give to main variations

Green Chutney – 1

• 1 Bunch of Mint leaves
• 2 Bunches of coriander leaves
• 1 onion chopped
• 2-3 green chillies (more if u want it spicy)
• 1/2 tsp cummin seeds powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• Something for the tang now here u have the following options
  • 1-2 tsp anardana
  • 2 tsp dry mango powder
  • 1/2 small raw mango chopped
  • 3 tbsp curd
  • 2 tomatoes
  • juice of 1 lemon
• salt to tastes

Method here is very simple, put everything in the grinder and using just enough water to mix grind them to a coarse paste.

The taste of the chutney totally varies along with the ingredient used to provide the tang… my personal favorite is raw mango and the one with anardana comes a second close… and N seems to love the one with curd followed by the one with raw mango. So try out all variations to see what suits your taste buds the best, but do keep in mind that when u use tomatoes or curd the shelf life of the chutney reduces a lot.

Sometime back I discovered another form of green chutney which at first totally amused me and I even refused to make it thinking it will be eeeks horrible because the mint and coriander in this were cooked before making the chutney…. but when one day I was indeed in a experimental mode and made this we were all in for a surprise… it was yummy beyond belief… there is a very different flavour to this one and we all loved it at home. So here it is…

Green Chutney 2

• 1 bunch of mint
• 2 big bunches of coriander
• 7-8 curry leaves
• 2 tsp cummin seeds
• 7-8 garlic cloves
• 4-5 green chillies
• juice of 2 lemon
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp oil

Method

• Dry roast the cummin seeds and garlic together
• Heat oil in a pan and add the pre roasted cummin seeds and garlic
• Add chopped onions. Fry till they start turning brown
• Add green chillies
• Add the coarsely chopped mint and coriander leaves.
• Fry for 3-4 minutes
• Add salt and lemon juice
• Let it cool and then coarsely grind

So your green chutneys are ready to be served with whatever u want 😀

Chole Bhature : Post 18

Tags

bhatura, breakfast, chole, chole-bhature, food, Friday Feast, indian, indian main course, NaBloPoMo, punjabi, recipe, sinful food

chole bhature is my second most favorite food in the whole world… ofcourse nothing can beat kadhi-chawal, but I like this one too a lot but everything about this one qualifies as sinful… fully sinful so its made very very rarely at our household… The chole is made pretty often and I have been thinking of posting them for a long time but somehow chole without the bhature seemed incomplete, so last sunday the sin was done when guests were over, so this post had to be this Friday… it couldn’t wait any longer 😉

Now that you have drooled at the above picture, here is the recipe

Ingredients

For the chole

• 1 1/2 chick peas soaked overnight
• 5-6 dry gooseberries (dry black amla)
• 1 medium onion grated
• 1 large tomato pureed
• 1″ cinnamon stick
• 3-4 cloves
• 4-5 peppercons
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 big black cardamom
• 2 green chillies
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp dry mango powder
• 2-4 tsp channa masala (depending on how spicy and masaledar u like ur channa)
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp oil

for garnishing chole

• 2 onions cut in thin rings
• 1 tomato cut in thin rings
• a handful of coriander

For the side aalo

• 3 large potatoes
• 3 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp dry mango powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp channa masala
• 1 tsp tava fry masala (this is optional skip if u dont have)
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp oil

for the side mirchi

• 5-6 green chillies slit
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp dry mango powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder

for the bhatura

• 2 cups maida
• 1 cup curd
• 1/2 tsp ajwain
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• salt to taste
• water to knead

Method

the chole

• Boil the soaked cholas with some salt, dry gooseberries and a pinch of turmeric in pressure cooker. After one whistle lower the flame and let it cook for about 15 minutes
• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add cumin seeds to it
• After they turn brown add all the sabut masala (bay leaves, cloves, crushed black cardamom, cinnamon, peppercons). Fry for 2 minutes
• Add the green chillies and fry for 1 min
• Add grated onion and fry till golden brown
• Add the tomato puree and fry for about 5 minutes
• Add all the dry masalas and fry for another minute or so
• Take out some of the boiled channas and mash them well and roast for about 2 minutes or so
• Add the rest of the boiled channas (don’t add the water yet) and mash very little and roast for another 5 mins.
• Now add water and cook for another 5 mins
• Garnish with cut onion and tomato rings and top with some fresh corrainder

the aalu

• Boil the potatoes in pressure cooker
• Peel and cut them in cubes
• Heat oil in pan, add all dry masalas.Roast for 1 min
• Add potatoes and mix well
• Fry for 5 minutes or so

the chillies

• Slit the green chillies from the center, dont remove the stalk, If u dont like it very spicy remove the seeds else leave them.
• Mix all the dry masalas together and roll the green chillies in that
• Deep fry to 2 minutes in hot oil

bhature

• Mix all the ingredients together and using water and knead to form a soft dough.
• Cover with a damp cloth and leave aside for atleast 1 hour or so
• Make round balls and roll like chapatis and deep fry in hot oil

And now put them all together in a plate, add some green chutney and attack 😀

Also now that I have your full attention please read this too… Apu of the brilliant blog Apu’s World started a online magazine and online community called womensweb sometime back which I am sure you all are aware of. She is having this lovely contest out there on Mommy Guilt something which I am sure all of us mom’s relate to and those who are not mom’s and those lovely fathers that read my blog yet have seen their mom’s and spouse’s guilt…. have u got a story to share? some motivation or words for others dealing with mommy guilt… please go ahead and do the post… U might end up winning Rs 500/- gift voucher of another lovely site Flipkart.

So what are you waiting for? Go write your entry now… details here

Bread Kofta Biryani and more

Tags

baking, biryani, bread, curd, fahsion show, Friday Feast, indian, indian main course, main course, plus size, ramp, recipe, rice, soya, veggies

I love biryanis and I often claim that veg biryani is a term meant to make vegetarians happy and there is no such thing like that, its just a modified form of pulao but then once in a while a recipe like this comes and proves me wrong 😉

When I first saw this sometime ago in Tarala Dala’s book it excited me because I love both koftas and biryanis and a combination of that excellent isnt it 😉

As usual I tweaked the recipe a little to suit what I want and here is how I made it..

Ingredients

For the bread koftas

• 4 bread slices (I took the 5 grain bread)
• 2 tbsp finely chopped onions
• 2 green chillies finely chopped
• 2 tsp curds
• 1/2 carrot grated
• 1 tbsp soya flour
• salt to taste
• some oil

For the rice

• 1 cup long grained rice
• 1 bay leaf
• 1″ cinnamon stick
• 2 cardamom
• 2 cloves
• salt to taste

For the gravy

• 2 cloves
• 1″ cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup sliced onions
• 1 tsp chilli poweder
• 2 tsp coriander-cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 cup tomatoes sliced
• 1/2 cup curds
• 1/4 cup green peas
• 1/4 cup carrot grated
• 1/4 cup cabbage grated
• 2 tsp pil
• salt to taste

To be mixed together for curd mixture

• 4 tbsp curds
• 2 tbsp chopped mint
• 2 tbsp chopped corrainder
• 2 tbsp water

Method

For the bread koftas

• Combine all the ingredients except oil with some water and mix well
• Shape the mixture into 15-20 even sized rounds.
• Now u can deep fry the koftas or bake them at 180C for about 15 mins or till brown or fry them with a drop of oil in my fav paniyaram pan 😀

For the rice

• Clean, wash and soak rice for approx 15 mins
• Boil 2 cups of water, add the bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and salt and then add the rice
• Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pan and cook till the rice is done
• Seperate each grain of rice with a fork. Keep aside

For the gravy

• Heat oil in a pan and add the cloves and cinnamon
• Add the onions and saute till golden brown
• Add all the dry masalas and saute for 1 min
• Add the tomatoes and cook for 5-7 minutes till oil seperates
• Add the curds, mix well and simmer for further 5 minutes
• Add all the veggies and mix well. Keep aside

For the final assembly

• Spoon out the gravy at the bottom of a baking dish
• Top with bread koftas and cover with cooked rice
• Top with curds mixture
• Cover with a lid or aluminium foil and bake in a pre heated over at 200C for 15-20 mins. Serve hot

The changes I made to the recipe were basically that I added some veggies and soya flour to the koftas and lots of veggies to the gravy… makes it more healthier… and yes didnt deep fry the koftas as suggested and also used much less than what was suggested by the recipe.

What I absolutely loved about this recipe was the fact that this is a true one pot meal not even curd needs to be served along as the top layer is just that

Wanna have a bite with all the layers?

Apart from this so nice of u guys this time to ask where have I been missing since a week… life has been very busy, in the baking class, coming home and practising… It was also N’s birthday last week and we planned a party for him and another friend who had her birthday last saturday and did lots of rain dance 😉 and I baked two cakes for the same… they were yumm and were totally polished off 😀 😀

Mocha Black Forest

Chocolate Sacher Cake

Both the cakes were yummy and were polished off by a gang of 10 people….

What fun that party was and then for the day his actual birthday falls on I planned a surprise family dinner for him with his sister, cousin a few close friends… the higlight of that party was the cake too but this I didnt bake it… I ordered it and u have to see it to understand what I mean

A picture cake with a family collage

Apart from that I have been very busy in one more thing and that is the fashion show that I took part in…  About a month or so back a friend called me saying her friend who is a final year student in JD Institute of Tech is doing a collection for plus size women and will I be interested in walking the ramp for her…. I didn’t think of it much and said yes why not… a sweetheart of a girl came and took my measurements of the dress, showed me a couple of designs and I choose one and then all was forgotten about it till a week or so back when she called saying that we have to come for rehearsals and Rahul Dev Shetty is the one who is choreographing it and there are the likes of Jacky Shetty and Pashmina Barker along with a whole of lot of other models walking for the other segments that I started getting shivers…. 😉 The last time I had walked the ramp was when I was 15 yrs younger and 1/4 the current size…

But Rahul and others did everything to make us all (the plus size models who were all regular women) comfortable and confident and we did walk the ramp after all… It was so much fun… I totally enjoyed myself…

And these are the details for all of those have been asking after seeing the pic on FB, I hope I didnt disappoint those who were asking the designer name 😉

So how has life been with u?

Muruku conquered : ICC

Tags

indian, indian cooking challenge, muruku, recipe, snacks

Yeah I made the yummy snack muruku first time in my life… thanks to Srivalli and Indian Cooking Challenge... and that too Sago muruku no less 😉 it was yummy and I think it came out decently well… though I was not very happy with the first one I made… the thick one in the photo below, the inside of it was not as crisp as it should have been. Then I changed the mold and made the thick sev like ones, they came out perfect. Wondering why? Anyone has a clue?

so here is the recipe I followed given by Srivalli… my comments as usual in blue 🙂

Sagu Biyyam Muruku / Sago Muruku
Ingredients

• Rice Flour  2 cups
• Besan flour  1/2 cup
• Fried gram flour – 1/2 cup
• Sago – 1/2 cup
• Salt to taste
• Curd – 50 gms (half of half cup) I used the store bought amul butter milk rather than making butter milk at home
• Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp or as per taste

Special Utensil

Muruku Achu

Method

• Soak Sago in Butter milk for 3 hrs, please ensure that you soak it enough else you may risk having the sago burst. (I soaked it overnight but somehow the stupid sago I had was not softening at all so I grinded it a little along with the butter milk)

• Mix all the flour together, heat 50 gms oil (u know I forgot this 😦 may be that was the reason the thick ones were not as crisp?), mix to the flour along with salt and chili powder. Then add the buttermilk soaked sago slowly and knead to a chapati dough consistency

• Heat oil for deep frying.In the muruku achu, add the dough. When the oil is hot, press down directly as as murukus. (I tried doing this though it was happening, I was feeling the direct oil heat too much to bear, so I made them on the polythene and then transferred them to the oil)

• Cook on medium flame to ensure the muruku is cooked well.

Notes:

Ensure sago soaks in buttermilk well and is soft or else it will burst when you press it down in hot oil.
Cook on medium to ensure even cooking.
Fried Gram flour is fried channa dal that is available commercially. It is general sold as the dal, we have to powder it at home. This is also referred as chutney dal as it is used in making coconut chutney.

And they were enjoyed with tea for 2 days before they got fully over

This post is off to ICC and to drool over everyone else’s Muruku go here

Ariselu : Indian Cooking Challenge

Tags

dessert, Friday Feast, indian, indian cooking challenge, jaggery, recipe, rice

Couple of months while blog hopping food blog so something interesting to make,I stumbled upon the Indian Cooking Challenge and I really liked the concept…If we can have a Daring Bakers we can have a ICC too 😉 and I promptly mailed Srivalli that I want to participate but then my neck gave me dhoka and I couldn’t take part last month but this month I was very sure I will do it…

So here is my first entry for the ICC

The rules just as Daring bakers are to follow the recipe given there exactly and make the dish and post it on ur blog on 15th of every month

This is the recpie I followed (my comments in Blue)

This method yeilds about 8.

Ingredients Needed

Rice Flour – 1 glass (standard measurement)
Jaggary – 1/2 glass (I used the dark brown one)
Coconut grated – 2 tsp
Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
Water – 1/2 glass
Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp

Oil for deep frying.

Method to prepare:

I had the Paku (a kind of jaggery the dark brown one, see pic by Srivalli to understand), so grated and added water just enough to cover them. Cooked on high and removed the scum. Then added the cardamom powder. Once it starts boiling, add the grated coconut. You will see lot of bubbles coming out.

At this stage, add the Rice flour slowly and stir it together well. You will know when the consistency is correct, so till then you got to keep adding the flour, but I used up the entire glass of flour I used a little more than 3/4 glass of flour.

The beauty of this dough is, you can store and use whenever you want. If it becomes too hard, just add about 2 tsp of water along with 2 tsp of sugar. Get it to boil, while you keep stirring it. The mix should become soft again. When you handle it, it should come together as a soft dough. Divide it to equal balls.

Heat a kadai with oil to deep fry these. In a greased plastic sheet, pat them down to equal sized discs. Press down the sesame seeds over the top. Once the oil is hot, gently drop these into them. Fry on both sides. Since the sesame seeds are just pressed over the top, they will get into the oil. If you want to avoid this, try adding to the dough (I added it to the flour)

Once they are golden brown, remove and drain them on a kitchen towel.They will be soft when you remove them, will become crunchy once they are cooled.

The regular ones are normally soft and oily, but these were crunchy and no oil at all!

It came out well but somehow I think something is a miss here… I haven’t really eaten the original ever doesn’t help either… N says its good and as Srivalli’s recipe says this one is supposed to be crisp so I guess I was able to make what was supposed to get back though I broke the first one while frying… but the rest came out pretty decently

Its also her 100th post so lets congratulate her on this 🙂

Gajar Ka Halwa

Tags

carrot, dessert, Friday Feast, gajar, halwa, holi, indian, recipe, winter food

I had to start this post with that pic… I know I am a little late and summer is almost here but I somehow absolutely forgot about it but guys you are still getting those red carrots… make it one last time before they vanish from the market… I surely will and then how can I not have something sweet for holi 🙂

Gajar Ka Halwa (and I refuse to call it carrot halwa it just sounds something different also I am reminded of the carrot halwa that u get here made out of those orange carrots and that is just not my cup of tea 🙂 ) is one of my all time favorite desserts. I remember how we would start waiting for red (those orange carrots were not available in delhi in those days.. carrot used to be only red and available only in winters) carrots to come right from October so that we get to eat halwa 😀 😀 😀 and that patterns continues still

Hope you too enjoy the recpie

Ingredients

• 2 kg red carrots
• 500 ml cold milk
• 250 gms khoya (if u dont have khoya available which is usually the case in Bangalore u this recpie to quickly make it. Its microwave recpie for palkhoa, just be careful to reduce the sugar u add later)
• sugar to taste (i usually like it less sweet so I put about 3 tbsp)
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 cup mixed dry fruits

Method

• Shred the carrots (take care to not make them too fine they become too soggy if u do that)
• Put the carrots and cold milk together on the stove in a big kadai (putting it together and the milk being cold is very important else there is a tendency for the milk to curdle)
• Simmer stirring often and let it cook till the carrots are about half done…
• Add sugar and ghee to it… this point of time carrots will leave a lot of water, let it dry. By the time water dries the carrot will be almost cooked
• Let it simmer for another 10 mins or so
• Add the khoya and dry fruits to it and roast for about 10 mins on low heat
• Serve hot

My mouth is watering seeing the picture and I so want to make it again… Also I was thinking of making gujiya for this holi I have never made them before so if any of you have a fool proof recipe or tips please to send 🙂

On the other hand gosh will  u all mommy bloggers specially the ones in US tell me how the hell do you manage the house, cooking, kid and a blog single handedly??? I have just been doing it since 2 days and I think I am dead, the brat is sleeping right now so I squeezed some time to write a post, I still haven’t opened the reader and replied to the comments…. and here atleast I have a housekeeping maid who comes and go.. I bow to u all 🙂 apart from the work load we three are really enjoying this phase… this is the first time ever we have had as a family alone…. mil lives with us and the sometimes that she has gone visiting to sil’s house the maid has been there… It suddenly feels so nice to have the whole house to ourselves… (Disclaimer : My mil is nice I am not saying anything against her 😉 its just that the feeling of three as a family is very nice..)

and holi is here too… so here is wishing all u guys a very happy holi… keep the spirit of the festival and play sensibly… drink a lot of bhang 😉 Happy Holi

PS: the above pic is taken somewhere on the highway during our Delhi-Bangalore Drive