Vegetable Biryani

Dear Readers,
Among different varieties of recipes on rice, vegetable biryani is the first on my blog. There are many different ways of cooking vegetable biryani and as a result some beginners in cooking do get confused as which is the right way to cook vegetable biryani. I have tried my level best to make it simpler but tasty for all the readers.
                                       
                                                           Serves 4 to 5
Ingredients:-

1 1/2 cup - basmati rice 
1 chopped - onion, tomato, carrot, beans, potato, chilli (each)
1/2 cup - green peas (mutter)
 2 cooking spoon - Butter/ ghee
2 tbs - chilli powder, turmeric, coriander powder, salt (each)
2tbs - Garam masala
1 cup - curd
A pinch - saffron
1tbs - rose essence 
4 to 5 -  Cashew nut / golden raisin(kishmish) 


For tempering:-
2tbs - cumin seeds (jeera0
1tbs - garlic and ginger paste
4 to 5 - Neem leaves/ kadhi patta
1tbs - black peeper powder
1/2 tbs - asafoetida (hing)
1tbs - Fenugreek seeds (meethi)


How to:-

1. Boil basmati rice with salt added in pressure cooker.
2. Heat in pan ghee or butter and temper with cumin seeds, when it crackles add fenugreek seeds, asafoetida (hing) , garlic and ginger paste, neem leaves/kadhi patta. 
3. Now add chopped vegetables , onion, tomato, carrot, beans,potato and green peas to it.
4. Add black pepper powder and dry fruits - cashew nut and golden raisin along with chopped vegetables.
5. Add 1 cup water and close the lid of the pan and let it cook for 15min.
6. Meanwhile add saffron and rose water/essence to the curd. Rose water/essence is optional.
7. Now add the curd to the basmati rice in a bowl.
8. Once the curry is ready after 15min, in a empty bowl put 1 layer of rice and on it spread the layer of curry, again on the layer of curry put layer of rest of rice and then on it remaining curry.
9. Put this in oven for 10min at 150 degree C
10. Now mix well the  layers of rice and curry in the bowl and garnish with coriander and serve hot.

Enjoy the vegetable biryani with curd or raita.

Coconut Halwa

Greetings to all my readers,


Among the varieties of halwa , this time its coconut halwa. A better option to serve as desert . This is my own recipe and tried at home several times.  kindly go through the recipe below.

Ingredients:-


1 - grated fresh coconut
1/2 litre - milk
5 cooking spoon - condensed milk
Ghee - 2 cooking spoon
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Almonds - 5 to 6 pieces
Cashew nut - 5 to 6 pieces
Golden raisin ( kishmish) -  5 to 6 pieces
Cardamom powder (elaichi) - 2tbs




How to:

• Heat the ghee in deep pan and add grated fresh coconut to it. Mix it well and let it cook till the coconut is light pink in colour. If required add more ghee to it. Keep stirring the mixture.
• Add milk and condensed milk and sugar. If condensed milk is sweet then add sugar according to taste.
• Cook it for 10 min and stir it
• Add cardamom powder and golden raisin to it. Stir till the mixture soaks all the milk and its thick.
• Garnish it with dry fruits and serve it hot.

Cassava Vada

Dear readers,


I  always try to cook varities of vadas. This time its cassava, a substitute to potato while cooking. It is one of the staple diet of kerala state of India. Cassava vada is easy to cook and tasty as well.

Ingredients:-


Cassava - 400gms 
Boiled potato - 3
Salt, chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder - as per taste
Lemon juice - 1 tbs
Sugar - 1/2 tbs
Green chilli chopped - 1
Cooking oil - for deep fry.


Preparation:-

• Mash boiled potatoes and add salt, chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder , lemon juice and sugar with chopped green chilli to form mixture.
• Grate the cassava and add it to the above mixture . Now make equal ball shape vadas.
• Heat the cooking oil in pan for deep fry, and fry the vadas till it turns light brown .

Serve it hot with coconut chatni or tomato ketchup. 

Pav Bhaji

Dear Readers,


Pav Bhaji is popular dish of Maharashtra state in India. Its availability and popularity is mainly in metro cities like mumbai and pune. The origin of this dish is traced to the hectic day of the textile mills in mumbai. The labourers used to have too short lunch break to have full lunch and light lunch was preferred. A vendor created this dish as a substitute to full meal, roti and other indian bread was replaced with Pav (bun) and rice and other meal item was replaced with bhaji ( curry made of mixed vegetables ). Initially it remained the meal of mill workers but with time its popularity spread among restaurants of city . Its popularity is world wide as mainly served as fast food in restaurants of Asian countries like Singapore , Hong kong and U.S.A and U.K. Now a days in most of the families Pav bhaji is common dish , its preparation is easy and mentioned below.
                          

                              Serves - 4 to 5 persons

Ingredients:


Boiled Vegetables - 500gms 
Preferably potatoes, brinjal, green peas (mutter), cauliflower, cabbage, carrot.
Butter - 2tbs
Chilli powder - 3tbs
Turmeric - 2tbs
Coriander powder - 3tbs
Salt 
Lemon juice - 1 tbs


For Gravy:-


Tomato - 2
Onion - 2
Garlic paste - 1 tbs
Ginger paste - 1tbs
Green chilli - 1


For Pav bhaji masala:-


Red chillis - 50gms
Coriander seeds - 50gms
Cumin seeds, Black pepper,cinamon,clove -25gms each
Black cardamom - 4 to 5
Dry mango powder - 25gms




How to:

1. Mash all the boiled vegetables.
2. For gravy, grind the tomato, onion green chilli, ginger and garlic paste in food processor.
3. For masala roast all the ingredients and grind in food processor.
4. Heat the butter in pan and add the gravy to it, let it cook for 5min.
5. Later on add the mashed boiled vegetables to the gravy and mix well.
6. Add the chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder , lemon juice and salt as per taste.
7. Add 4tbs of the pav bhaji masala or if required more spicy add accordingly.
8. Cook it for 15min at low flame , serve it hot by garnishing it with coriander leaves.
9. For Pav, slice pav into 2 piece from middle and  fry lightly on both the sides with ghee or butter on Tava.

Tip :-
The pav bhaji masala can be stored in air tight container and used when needed. Now a days pav bhaji masala is available ready made in the market.


At my home this dish is often cooked and preferred with salad, butter milk and pappadum.

Dal fry

Dear Readers,


Dal fry is often cooked at my home due to its nutritional value of protein and fast to cook and tasty as well. It can be substitute to main course . At home its usually with punjabi dishes and also at times in lunch with chapatti (indian bread). 
The entire taste of Dal fry is based on Tadka. Below is the recipe.


Ingredients:


Tur dal - 3 cup Boiled
Chopped onion - 1
Chopped tomato - 1
Chopped green chili - 1
Lemon juice - 1tbs
Salt 

For tempering:


Cooking oil - 4tbs
Black mustard seeds  (Rai) - 1tbs
Cumin Seeds (Jeera) - 1tbs
Clove - 4 to 5
Fenugreek Seeds (methi) - 1/2 tbs
Garlic Paste - 1 tbs
Neem leaves - 4 to 5
Chilli powder and turmeric - 1/2 spoon each
Asafoetida (hing) - 1/4 tbs


Preparation :

1. Heat cooking oil in deep pan and add black mustard seeds (rai) and cumin seeds (Jeera) to it.
2. When it starts crackling, add clove, fenugreek seeds (methi) , Neem leaves and garlic paste. Be careful while cooking as the crackling mustard seeds, cumin seeds and clove may pop out of the pan.
3. Add chilli powder and turmeric and asafoetida (hing) to it and quickly add the chopped onion and tomato and green chilli.
4. Let it cook for 5min and then add boiled dal to it.
5. Add 2 cup water and again add salt as per taste, lemon juice, chilli powder , turmeric and coriander powder.

Let it boil for 15min and keep stirring , garnish with coriander leaves and serve it hot.
                                     Serves 4 to 5 persons.

Methi Mutter Malai Sabji

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Hello everyone,

Today's recipe is of punjabi sabji. The story behind this recipe is interesting , we been to restaurant and read this in menu card, but it did not attract me much to order as combination of methi (fenugreek leaves) and mutter ( Green Peas) sound odd to me . Later on we were invited for dinner by one of my friend and had the same sabji. Really it was so delicious that i was convienced to cook on my own. There after i tried this at home twice and ready to share the recipe. The uniqueness of this sabji is it has all the ingredients like dry fruits, green vegetable, malai, along with different spices. No doubt easy and fast to cook, so here we go with the ingredients list and its method.

Ingredients:

Fenugreek Leaves  (Methi )- 400 gms

Green Peas ( mutter) - 200 gms

Malai - 1/2 cup 

Salt - 1tbs

Chilli powder , turmeric and coriander powder - 2tbs each

For  Gravy:

Cashew Nuts - 16 pieces

Green Chilli - 2

Mint ( Phudina leaves) - 50 gms

Clove - 2 to 3

Ginger paste - 2tbs

Garlic paste - 2tbs

Onion Chopped - 1

Salt, chilli powder, turmeric, and coriander powder - 1tbs each

Cooking oil - 3 tbs

How To:

1. For gravy, grind in food processor the cashew nuts, green chilli, mint clove along with ginger paste, garlic paste and chopped onion in addition to salt, chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder as mentioned above.
2. If the green peas ( mutter) are frozen , boil it for a while before adding to the gravy.
3. Heat the cooking oil in a pan , add the gravy and 1/2 cup water to it and cook for 5min.
4. Add the fenugreek leaves ( methi) and the green peas ( mutter) to it and add 1 cup water.
5. Add 1tbs salt and 2tbs each of chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder.
6. Let it cook for 10 min and the sabji is ready.
7. Malai if thick  or frozen then turn it into semi liquid and with spoon garnish it in round shape on the top of the sabji in the serving bowl.

Tip:

 Garnish malai on the hot sabji just before serving. 

Must say that while cooking this sabji, the smell of it did spread in the whole house  due to the gravy of cashew nut along with mint and fenugreek leaves ( methi). One can easily make out that some delicious dish is cooked. I am sure while reading itself feeling tempted , so don't wait and cook it as soon as possible . I had it with paratha, dal fry and jeera rice.  Serves 4 to 5 persons.

Medu vada

Medu vada is the south indian dish. During my school days i been on trip to south india with my parents, and that was the first time i had medu vada. Honestly, i was excited to have it because of its shape , big round with hole in it. I was always wondering how is it possible to make?  And today am sharing the recipe with my readers. Please read below.



Ingredients:
Udad dal - 11/2 cup
Rice - 2 cup
Chopped chilli - 3
Chopped onion - 1
Salt  as per taste
Whole Black pepper - 4 to 5
Cooking oil for deep fry.

How to:

1. Soak the udad dal and rice for atleast 5hrs in water before cooking.
2. Remove all the water content and grind the soaked udad dal and rice in food processor. Add salt while grinding the batter.
3. Add chopped onion  and whole black pepper to it and divide the batter in equal portion.
4. Take a plastic sheet and wipe it with water. Now put the equal portion of the batter on it and make round hole in between with your first finger.
5. Heat the cooking oil in pan for deep fry.
6. Fry the vada in oil till it is light brown in colour.

Enjoy eating medu vada with coconut chatni and sambhar.

Coconut chatni Ingredients:

Chopped coconut - 1/2
Curd - 1/2 cup
Green chilli - 2
Salt - 1/2 tbs

How to:
Grind in food processor the above ingredients and coconut chatni is ready.

Sabudana vada

Sabudana vada are the best option to have when fasting. Before also i have shared with my readers the recipe of sabudana kheer. Sabudana vada is very common on mumbai  city streets and restaurants. One can easily have it as breakfast or as snack. For my family we do not need any reason of fasting, but we cook anytime when we feel like eating sabudana vada.

Ingredients:

Sabudana soaked  - 1 cup (soak for atleast 2hrs in water)
Boiled potato - 3
Green chilli  chopped - 2
Peanut powder - 5 tbs
Chilli powder - 3tbs
Turmeric and coriander powder - 1 tbs
Salt - as per taste
Cooking oil for deep fry

How to:

1. Mash the boiled potato and add the soaked sabudana to it.
2. Add chopped green chilli, peanut powder , chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder and salt to it and mix well. 
3. Divide the bater in equal portions and make flat round vada. 
4. Heat oil in the pan for deep fry and fry the equally divided portions till they are light brown. Be careful while frying as the sabudana might crackle  and pop out .
5. Let it cool down and can have with coconut chatni or tomato ketchup or tea.

The above recipe can make 20 to 25 sabudana vada . I love to have it with tea and tomato ketchup or even coconut chatni.

Coconut Laddu

For my readers i am sharing recipe of coconut laddu. Today morning i saw chopped coconut was left in my refrigerator and i wanted to use it as soon as possible and also saw have condensed milk in refrigerator. The idea of coconut laddu was the best according to me. So below is the ingredients and the preparation i did to make coconut laddu.

Ingredients:

Coconut Chopped - 1
Condensed milk - 4 cooking spoon
Ghee - 4tbs
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Dry fruits - Cashew nut, pista, golden raisin (kismish) and almonds
Cardamom (Elaichi) powder - 2 tbs

How To :

1.  Grind the chopped coconut in the food processor.
2. Now heat ghee in pan and add the grinded coconut to it. If needed add ghee and stir it well till the coconut is mixed well with ghee and it turns light brown.
3. Add Condensed milk to it and stir well and cook till whole mixture is dry. If condensed milk is sweet in taste then no need to add sugar, other wise add sugar along with condensed milk.
4. While cooking the mixture , it can be seen that the milk portion is been sucked by coconut and its becoming like  thick batter. Add the cardamom (elaichi) powder to it and let it cool.
5. Grind the dry fruits in fine powder and add to the batter.
6. Divide the batter in equal portions and make round laddu. For enhancing , i used pista to garnish.

Tips :

1. Coconut laddu should be stored in refrigerator. 
2. Before serving let it be in refrigerator , serve it cold.

Enjoy eating laddu till i come with new laddu recipe. "New laddu recipe"!!!!!!!!!!!! yes you all guessing right , there will be different varieties of laddu recipe i will share with you. Till then bye. :-)

Churma laddu

Dear readers,
I am going to share recipe of churma laddu which is most favourite in my family. Whenever there is any traditional occassion or festival in Gujarat and Rajasthan, churma laddu are made. But for my family no need of any such special occassion, all are all time eager to have it. Churma is a traditional rajasthani sweet, made during festivals. Let me share the ingredients and preparation instead of more introduction.

Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour (coarsely ground) - 1 1/2 cup
3/4 jaggery grated
Ghee - 2tbs
Poppy seeds (khus khus)
Dry fruits powder - almonds, cahew nut and pistachio - 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder - 3 tbs
Nutmeg (jaifhal)powder - 1 tbs
Golden Raisin - 1/4 cup
Ghee for frying.

How to:

• Make dough of wheat flour using half cup water and 2tbs ghee, dough  should be tough.
• Make 8 equal portions of dough, make dough in the shape of your first finger (pointer finger).
• Heat ghee in kadhai and fry 8 equal portions in ghee , deep fry on slow flame for approx 25 to 30 min until golden brown in colour.
• Allow them to cool. 
• Pound in mortar and pestle to coarse pieces. To get churma, grind the pieces further in food processor into fine powder.
• Heat 1tbs ghee and add grated jaggery and let the jaggery melt down. Do not heat too much.
• Add Churma to the melted jaggery , allow the mixture to cool slightly.
• Add Dry fruit powder of almonds, cashew nut and pistachio along with cardamom(elaichi) powder and nutmeg (jaiphal powder) and golden raisin.
• Divide into 10 portions and make round shape. Roll each laddu in poppy seeds (khus khus).

Optionally grated dry coconut (kopra) and sesame seeds (til) can be added to churma along with grated jaggery. The cooking time is more and this recipe is little bit tough. The above recipe can make 10 laddus.