Pasta Carrot kheer

Sounds interesting? Tastes interesting as well. Wanted to try something new with pasta, hence this yummy dessert. Here are the ingredients :
Pasta                 -  1 cup  [i used elbow pasta]
Carrot               -  1 and half cup  [grated]
Condensed milk -  1 can  [14 oz]
Milk                   -  1 and half cup  [i used  2%  milk]
Cashews & Raisins 
Butter to roast cashews and raisins.

Pasta Carrot Kheer

Recipe Source :  Rasoi blog
I have made some changes to the main recipe. 
Procedure :
--> Cook pasta according to instructions on the pack, strain away water and let cold water run through cooked pasta for couple of minutes and set it aside.
--> In a deep bowl, on a medium flame, add some butter and roast grated carrot until it makes crisp sound while stirring.
--> Add milk and bring it to boil; Add cooked pasta; Add condensed milk, keep stirring and let the kheer cook for couple of more minutes. 
--> Meanwhile, in a separate pan, roast cashews/raisins in 2 tbsp of butter.
--> Add these roasted cashews/raisins to kheer and switch off the flame.

Yummy yummy pasta carrot kheer is ready to serve.

Gobi Manchurian

An Indo-Chinese dish that suits Indian taste. Process involves 2 parts : including part 1 as deep frying cauliflower florets dipped in flour batter while the second part is preparing gravy.  Manchuria can be prepared either as dry or with gravy.

I have prepared it as semi gravy manchurian so that it can be served either as starter or with rotis.

These are the ingredients i used :

1  big cauliflower (Gobi)

¼  cup rice flour
¼  cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp corn startch1  tsp of red chilli powder
2  tsp corriander powder

1 big onion
2 bell peppers
4 green chillies
1/2  tsp of ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp of  hot & sweet sauce
1 tbsp of tomato chilli sauce
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Gobi Manchurian

Part 1 :

Wash and separate all the cauliflower florets.
Now, preparing batter for cauliflower coating :
1. Mix  rice flour, all-purpose flour, corn startch, salt to taste, red chilli powder, ginger garlic paste, 1 tsp corriander powder with water and make it as medium-to-thin paste.
2. Take oil to deep fry in a pan, dip each cauliflower floret into batter and place each dipped floret into oil. let it fry until golden brown and keep them aside.
3. Repeat the process, until all the florets are deep fried and keep them aside.

Part 2:
4. Chop onion, ¼  tsp of ginger garlic paste, green chillies, bell peppers and saute them.
5. Add 1 tsp corriander powder, salt to taste, cilantro to above mixture and switch off the flame.
6. Now, add hot & sweet sauce and tomato chilli sauce, mix all the manchurian together.
7. Now, slowly add all the deep fried cauliflower florets to the bell pepper gravy and stir altogether until well mixed.

Thats it, yummy yummy gobi manchurian ready to eat. This can be served either as snack/appetizer  or  can be served with rotis.

Shahi Paneer

Paneer (Indian cheese) is high in protein and the most lovable dish for kids especially.
I made this dish as part of a potluck party. My mother-in-law helped me in garnishing and decoration, and my co-sister helped me in preparation.

Ingredients :
8 oz (1 cup) paneer
2 big onions
4 big tomatoes
2 oz (about 1/4 cup)  cashews
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
Oil to saute
Salt to taste
1 and half tsp of red chilli powder/pepprica powder
few strands of Cilantro



Shahi Paneer

 --> Soak cashews and sesame seeds for atleast 30 mins.
--> Cut paneer into small cubes and shallow fry in 2 tbsp of oil until they turn golden brown.  Set paneer aside in a bowl.
--> Add some more oil to saute in the same pan.
--> Add chopped onions, tomatoes and saute. Let it cool down.
--> Now blend onion/tomato mixture and soaked cashews/sesame seeds - blend altogether into coarse paste.
--> Take the blended paste into the pan, add salt, red chilli powder, sauteed paneer, stir together, and let it cook for 5 mins with low-medium flame.
--> Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Yummy shahi paneer ready to serve with rotis or rice.

Strawberry Lime Slush


Slush perfect for everyone in coming summer.

Ingredients required are :
2 Cups frozen strawberries
1 and half lime (squeezed lime juice)
3 Tbsp agave nectar (or 6-8 dates - purely my preference)
1 Cup water (or 1 cup ice cubes for thick texture)



Strawberry Lime Slush


Add all the ingredients to blender, blend it until smooth juice.



Source : Blendtec recipes. (I have made small changes to the original recipe as said in the ingredients).

Spinach dal (pappu)

I am back with regular curries. For making spinach dal, these are the required ingredients :

1 bag of spinach; 1 and half cup dal; 1 big onion; 3 medium tomatoes; 3 thai chillies;

Spinach dal

Cooking in open pot :
--> Cook dal in open pot until half done.
--> Add spinach, cook for 5 mins, add onions, tomatoes and green chillies. cook until done.
--> once the dal is almost done, add salt to taste, 1 tsp (or less) red chilli powder and halft tspn of sambar powder to taste.
--> Finally, garnish some cilantro.

Rainbow Jello Oranges

This colorful munching dessert(lets say ;) ), attracts everyone and mostly kids just love it ;)  Very easy to prepare. Summarizing briefly, the procedure i followed :

--> Prepare jello as per the packet instructions and let it be in a bowl.
--> Cut each orange into 2 halves.
--> Scrape out inside part of oranges. (you can make juice from insiders). Now you get the Orange shells.
--> Arrange these empty shells in a tray that can sit in your refrigerator.
--> Now pour jello liquid (prepared in first step) into each of the cut halves.
 --> Refrigerate jello oranges atleast for 5 hours.
--> Take out jello oranges and cut into desirable size.

Rainbow Jello Oranges

Instead of single color, i used different colors (which means different flavours) :
Color                        Jello Flavour
Blue                          Berry Blue
Green                        Lime
Red                           Strawberry
Yellow                      Peach

Tip : Ice-cream scoop can be used to scrape out the insides of oranges.
You can use as many colors as you want.

Vegetable Frittata

Made this as breakfast. It includes lot many healthy options. Easy to prepare, healthy to eat. I won second prize for this recipe as part of Savory Baking Competition held by an online group. I named so since i have used wide range of vegetables along with egg. If you don't like egg, you can use egg replacements (haven't tried it though with egg replacement :) ).
Ingredients :

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 small cucumbet [i used persian cucumber; zuccini can also be used]

2 green chillies finely chopped

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms [fresh or dried]

few beans, finely chopped

1/2 carrot thinly sliced

6 bok choy florets  nicely chopped

1 tablespoon butter

8 eggs (i used 6 egg whites and just 2 full eggs)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

small amount of Maggi Hot and Sweet sauce

Vegetable Frittata

Preparation

Pre-heat oven for 400 degrees F.

Spread butter inside [all around] 8 inch pan.

Place onion, green chillies,cucumber, mushrooms, beans, carrots, bok choy in 8 inch pan. [Arrange one by one as shown in the pics]

Cook the vegetables in oven for 3-5 mins or until they become half crunchy, half baked.

Step-by-step process of vegetable frittata

Now, in a bowl, beat eggs, pour milk, add salt, pepper, hot & sweet sauce, whist altogether until the mixture is little bit fluffy with bubbles.

Pour the mixture on to the vegetables evenly.

Let it cook for 25 to 35 minutes.

For checking, poke with a fork in the middle and see if the fork come out clearly without food sticking to it. That is the right consistency of baking.

Once it is well cooked, take out of oven and let it cool down for couple of minutes, slice it into pieces, and serve it hot with oranges on the side :)   [don't forget to switch off the oven ;) ]

Mango Cheese Cake

I have tried Mango cheese cake. Didn't do good part in garnishing - but the cake came out so delicious. Try it and enjoy.

Ingredients:

Crust

• 16 graham cracker squares, crushed (approx. 1 cup of crumbs)
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1/3 cup melted unsalted butter

Filling

• 12 oz cream cheese at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large ripe mango

For Garnish (optional)

• 8 thin mango slices
• 2 strawberries cut into 4 pieces each
• Few mint leaves

Mango Cheese cake. Well, needs colorful garnishing ;) 

Crust Preparation

1. 1. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F.

1. 1. 2. Add graham crackers, sugar and butter to a food processor. Mix well until the mixture looks crumbled; takes approx. 30 seconds.

1. 1. 3. Place graham cracker mix into a 9” pie plate, spread evenly and press down firmly with a spatula.

1. 1. 4.

1. 1. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes, on the medium rack.

Crust prepared from graham cracker

Filling

1. Prepare mango by peeling and chopping into chunks.
2. Add cut mango pieces, cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch to the food processor. Mix for 20 seconds, until it is smooth in texture. Do not over mix for too long.
3. Pour the mixture over the pie crust and bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees F. The surface should look dry and cooked.
4. Let the cheesecake cool down and then refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

mango pieces, cream cheese, sugar, corn starch - all ready to blend

yet need to be done. can't wait to taste ;)

Paneer Tikka Masala

My most awaiting dish. I always wanted to try these kind of special recipes from Paneer but keep on postponing thinking that would be a long process. When i made it yesterday, i tried to make it as easy as possible as i am lazy ;)  and it turned out delicious. My husband loved it very much :) I will be happy when he loves my recipes :)
Here, i would like to share the recipe for my wonderful audience...
Ingredients for this recipe :
Paneer  -   8 oz
2 medium onions
5 medium tomatoes
1 green bell pepper [capsicum]
Cumin seeds
few bay leaves
1 tbsp kasoori methi
3 green thai chillies
1 tsp Corn startch
Oil to saute
Handful of chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
Masala powders:
3/4 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp corriander powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
3/4 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp homemade peanut powder [optional]

Paneer Tikka Masala [Crown shape with napkin at the back]

Paneer Marination :
Cut paneer into small cubes.
Mix all these with paneer :
1 tbsp of yogurt
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste [u can make from fresh ginger garlic or can use store product]
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp corriander powder
1/2 tsp homemade peanut powder [optional]
Mix all the above marination ingredients with paneer, close the lid and let it marinate for an hour and half. you can refrigerate it.

Marinated Paneer. I marinated for 2 hours. but min 1 hour shld be fine.

Make tomato puree out of 5 medium tomatoes and set it aside. Mix little water to corn starch and make it as liquid without lumps, keep it aside.

Cooking Procedure :
Take a pan with oil to saute. Add the marinated paneer pieces to heated oil and let the paneer saute until golden brown on both the sides, take them into a bowl and set them aside.
In the same pan again take oil enough to saute.
Once the oil heat up, add the ingredients in the following order :
cumin seeds; bay leaves; kasoori methi;
add chopped bell pepper;  salt; close the lid and let the bell pepper cook for atleast 5 mins on medium flame.
Now, add thinly chopped onions, green chillies, ginger-garlic paste. Stir altogether and let it cook for 5 to 7 mins.
Once the onions become tender, add tomato puree, mix altogether, and let it cook until the tomato puree is almost done.
Itz time to add "Masala Powders [mentioned above along with other ingredients]". Stir altogether, cook for another couple of minutes.
Now, add the sauteed paneer pieces to the gravy, let it cook for 2 mins. Add Corn starch liquid, let the entire gravy get thick.
Finally, add cilantro and serve it hot with Rotis.

Tastes yumm with rotis

Tweaks of the day : 
1) Bell pepper takes time to cook. So, i cook bell pepper first and when it is almost done, then i will add onions to saute. If we add the onions first and then bell peppers, then by the time bell pepper is done, onions get burnt! so, to avoid that, i cook bell pepper first.
2) Kasoori methi gives nice flavour to gravy recipes like this.
3) Never add corn starch directly to any curry. Dilute it with little water and then add that liquid to curry.

Bok Choy Curry

Ingredients:
Bok  choy    -   half grocery bag [aka, about 20 florets]
1 onion and 1 tomato.
4 Green chillies
10 Soya chunks [optional]  --  i like it with soya chunks, hence always use them.
Oil to saute
Salt to taste
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp corriander powder
handful of chopped cilantro


To know more about bok choy, please refer to "Know your Ingredients" page.

Bok Choy Curry

Procedure :
Soak soya chunks in hot water for atleast 10 mins.
Meanwhile, chop bok choy, onion, tomato, green chillies and set them aside.
Now, drain away all the water from soya chunks, squeeze them thoroughly and set them aside.
In a pan, take oil to saute, put tempering, add green chillies, onions, salt, saute until onions are tender.
Saute tomatoes, add chopped bok choy, saute for 5-7 mins on medium flame with closed lid.
Now, add soaked soya chunks, add garam masala, corriander powder, stir altogether, cook for another 5 mins.
Finally add cilantro.

Consumption:
Bok choy curry can be served either with rotis/rice/quinoa.

Quinoa Pulav

Hah, finally, i made something out of quinoa, instead of  having it as a rice substitute!
Want to know about quinoa? Please refer to "Know your Ingredients" page.
My recipe has :

Quinoa Pulav

Ingredients
Quinoa              1  cup
Mixed Vegetables [Corn, Peas, Beans]    -    1 cup
1  medium potato
4 Green chillies
1 bunch of  Scallions [Green Onions]
few Cashews
Ginger and Garlic
Curry leaves
few mint leaves and cilantro
1 lime
Salt to taste
Oil to saute

whole spices
1/2  tsp  Kala Jeera [Black cumins]
1  cinnamon stick
Couple Bay leaves
2 tsp Kasoori Methi  [dry fenugreek leaves]

powdered spices
1  tsp Garam masala
1/2 tsp  Amchur powder [dry mango powder]
1/2  tsp cardomom powder
2 tsps  corriander powder
1 tsp homemade peanut powder [optional]


Procedure :
Wash quinoa and soak them in water for 30 mins.

Soak quinoa for 30 mins

After 30 mins, drain away all the water and keep the soaked quinoa aside.

In a pan, add some oil, let it heat up, add whole masalas, cashews.
Add scallions, ginger and garlic, Green Chillies, curry leaves, salt, let them cook for 5 mins or until onions turns tender.
Add potato, let it cook for 5 mins; Add vegetables [corn, peas, beans], cook for 5 mins.
Add soaked quinoa, roast for 5 mins.

soaked quinoa added to veggies

Add all powder masalas.
Add 1.5 [1 and half]  cups of water.
Close the lid and let it cook for 10 mins.
Once quinoa is cooked, open the lid, add mint, cilantro, stir altogether, switch off stove, give the punch of lime and serve it hot.

Quinoa pulav ready

Apple-Walnut Muffins

Ingredients :
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3  cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 egg
3/4  cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil [i used canola oil]
1 cup finely chopped, peeled apple
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Muffin batter with chopped apples and toasted/chopped walnuts  ready

Apple-Walnut Muffins

6-cup muffin pan with freshly made cashew-raisin muffins

Procedure :
Toast walnuts, let them cool down, chop them and set them aside.
Grease a 6-cup muffin pan, set aside.
In a bowl, beat an egg, whisk it thoroughly; add flour, sugar, baking powder, milk and oil.
Stir altogether until moistened.
Add apple pieces and stir in gently and add 1/4 cup of walnuts; stir altogether gently.
Now pre-heat oven for 350 degrees Fahreinheat.
Fill each cup of the muffin pan to 2/3 full. Do not completely fill the batter, as they need some room to raise; hence fill it only to 2/3.
Sprinkle with remaining walnuts.
Place the pan inside oven and cook them for 25 to 35 mins or until well cooked. [To know whether the baking is done or not, plz follow the tip mentioned in "Tips and Tweaks" page on my blog].
Once muffins are done, take out the pan, let them cool down for few mins, serve them fresh :)

Cashew-Raisin Muffins

Follow the same procedure for the batter as above but in the place of apple-walnuts, add, cashew-raisins.

Barely Bread

I made this barely bread from scratch at home. Am very happy to bake it fresh in the morning and have it for breakfast :)  This is an instant type bread, so easy to make it and enjoy the taste right away! Hope you all like my recipe...

Ingredients 

1 cup milk, 2 eggs, 3 tbsps sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup barley flour, pinch of salt, mustard seeds (optional)

Barely Bread

Method :

pre-heat oven for 350 degrees. meanwhile, prepare batter :
In a bowl, break eggs, add milk, sugar, baking powder - whisk altogether;
Now, add both the flours mix it without lumps. add mustard seeds.
Grease non-stick loaf bread pan or an 8 inch square pan with butter.
pour the batter into the pan and bake it in oven for 25 to 35 mins.

Basic baking done testing - poke with a fork, all the way thru the bottom of the pan and take it out; if u see liquid batter on the fork, then it still needs time to bake.
once bread is done, let it cool down, take it out from pan, cut into loafs and enjoy with the spread of your choice :)

Tofu-Beans Stir fry

Hi friends,
sooo sorry for being late in updating my blog. Here, i am coming with my recipes shower..
Ingredients required for tofu-beans stir fry :
Tofu is very high in protein and less in fat content.
1  Extra Firm Tofu
1/4 bag of beans [grocery bag]
Few leaves of Mint
1/2  tsp  Corriander powder
Oil  to saute
1/2  tsp [less/more] Red chilli powder according to spice
Salt, Cilantro to taste.

Tofu-Beans Stir Fry  with yummy omlette and rice on the side

Procedure:
Draining away excess water from Tofu :
Place tofu on a deep plate and place stack of  plates/bowls on top of tofu for atleast 15 minutes. This procedure removes all the absorbed water from tofu, thus making tofu perfect for stir fry.
Please do not allow tofu to break down during the process.
If tofu seems to break down, remove stack of plates and replace them again on the center of tofu.

Once all the water has been drained away from tofu, cut the tofu into smaller cubes as you see in the above picture and set them aside.
Chop beans into small piece and set them aside.

Take a pan with enough oil to saute;  Put tempering, add beans to the tempering, add salt, stir altogether, close lid and let it cook for 5 mins on medium flame.
Meanwhile, take another pan with some oil to saute, let it heat up and add the chopped tofu pieces, stir fry them until they turn golden brown.
Remove the stir-fried tofu from pan and set them aside.
Now, open the lid of beans and let the beans cook for another 10 mins.
Add stir-fried tofu to above cooked beans and let altogether cook for another 5 mins on simmer.
Finally add red chilli powder, corriander powder, cilantro, home made peanut powder [if you like], stir altogether, switch off the stove and serve it hot with yummy omlette and rice on the side :)

Asparagus Curry

Ingredients required
Asparagus             1 bunch       [find more about asparagus on my page - "Know your ingredients"]
Potato                   1 medium
Onion                    1 medium
Tomato (optional)  1 medium
If you do not add tomato, then curry will be like dry saute curry; if you want like gravy curry, add tomato, or else you can skip it. sometimes, i wouldn't use tomato; then it tastes almost like potato curry :) may be that is beauty of asparagus. clubs with rest of the ingredients.
Oil  to  saute
Salt, Red Chilli powder and Cilantro  to taste
Tempering ingredients - urad dal, chana dal, cumins, mustards, curry leaves

Making
--> Chop asparagus and potato into small pieces, set aside.
--> Take a pan with some oil to saute and heat it up.
--> meanwhile chop onion, tomato[if using], cilantro, set them aside.
--> Once the oil is heated up, add tempering ingredients and let the mustards splatter.
--> Add chopped asparagus, add salt, close the lid and cook for 5 mins.
--> Now, add potato, close lid and cook again for 5-7 mins.
--> Add onions, cook until they become tender; Finally add tomato, cook until everything is well done.
Final step, add handful of cilantro if you like. switch off flame, serve the curry hot with rice or roti.