Few days back I was reading an article in paper and thats when I got this idea of this healthy drink.


Ingredients
1.5 cup Curd
1/2 cup Pudina Leaves
1 cup Corriander Leaves
1 Cucumber
1/4 cup Cabbage
A pinch of Black Salt
2 spoon Sugar

Method

• Grate the cucumber and cabbage
• Grind the curd, pudina leaves, corriander leaves, cucumer, cabbage, black salt, sugar and 5-6 ice cubes in a mixie for around 5 minutes
• Serve chilled.

Notes
I used full cream milk for preparing curd, but if you are using normal milk cut down on ice added to the lassi

This preparation is almost same as amrakhand especially since the main ingredient is 'Chakka'


Ingredients
1/2 Ltr Milk
3/4 cup Sugar
A pinch of Safron
1 spoon Milk powder
A pinch of Cardamom Powder
A pinch of Cinnamon Powder
2 pinch of Orange Colour
5-6 Almonds
10 Pistacho

Method

• Warm the milk
• Mix it with the curd properly and keep it in warm place for 6-8 hours so that it forms sweet curd
• Take a thin cotton cloth and put the curd in it and hang it so that water is drained completely
• After 8-10 hours the curd will not have remains of water and you can untie the cloth and take the material(we call it chakka) into a vessel
• Mix it with sugar and keep for atleast two hours
• Warm 1/4 cup of water and mix the milk powder, safron, cinnamon and cardamom powder with it.
• Mix this mixture with 'Chakka'and strain through Puran Yantra
• Mix few almonds and pistachos with it

Notes
Keeping the sugar mixed with chakka for couple of hours lets it mix properly. Otherwide the curd might get sour and separate out from sugar.
You can use 1/4 cup milk instead of 2 spoon milk powder and water but since i was out of stock for milk when i actually started the process of staining it i used milk powder.

When I want to cook some thing light for the breakfast yet tasty, this is the item that comes to my mind.


Ingredients
3.5 cup Thin Poha
1 Onion
2 Tomatoes
1 spoon Sugar
1.5 Lemon
1/2 cup Groundnuts
1/4 spoon Mustard
1/4 spoon Jeera
2 Green Chillies
1/4 spoon Turmeric Powder
1 spoon Oil
Salt to taste

Method

• In thin poha, mix the finely chopped tomatoes and onions
• Mix the sugar and salt to this
• Add lemon juice to it and mix well
• Heat the oil and fry the groundnuts till brown and add the groundnuts to the poha
• Add mustard, jeera, pieces of green chillies to remaining oil from the groundnuts and let them splutter. Add turmeric Powder
• Add this oil mixture to the poha and mix well

Notes
There is no need to wash / soak the poha, since they are thin, just lemon juice, and tomato are enough to make them soft.

Last time the biryani I made was on the suggestions of our maid. But today I read up in a book and found this recipe.. The biryani tastes awesome and it was quite spicy.


Ingredients
4 Chicken Leg Pieces
2 cup Rice
1 Cup Curd
4 Onions
2 Tomatoes
1/4 cup Milk
1 Potato
Handful of Cashews
5-6 Almonds
3/4 cup Ghee
2 spoon Oil
1 spoon Pudina Leaves
1 spoon Dry Coconut
2 Cardamom
2 Cloves
3 Cinnamon
1 spoon Jeera
1 spoon Corriander Seeds
1 spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/4 spoon Black Pepper Powder
1/2 spoon Poppy Seeds
1/4 spoon Saunf
1/2 Spoon Ginger Paste
1 spoon Garlic Paste
1 spoon Garam Masala
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
A pinch of Safron
Salt to taste

Method

• Mix curd, turmeric powder, garam masala, 1/2 spoon garlic paste, 1/4 spoon ginger paste and salt to taste
• Marinate the chicken pieces with this mixture and store in fridge for 8 hours or more.
• Soak the rice in warm water for half an hour
• Soak the poppy seeds in 3-4 spoon of water
• Warm the milk and add the safron in it and keep aside.
• Boil the potato, let it cool down, cut it into slices and keep aside
• Cut the onions into thin and long pieces and fry them in oil till they are crispy and keep it aside
• Also fry all cashews except 5-6 and keep them aside.
• Cut remaining onions into small pieces and fry them in oil till it is golden brown. Keep aside
• Fry the 2 Cinnamons, Corriander seeds, Jeera, grated dry coconut, saunf, remaining cashews and almonds
• Add the red chilli powder, black pepper powder, poppy seeds, pudina leaves and golden brown fine pieces of onions fried earlier(not the crisp ones)
• Let the mixture cool down
• Grind it in mixer adding half tomato and little water to form fine paste
• Heat the ghee (keep aside 2 spoons of it) and add the masala paste and fry for a while.
• Mix the remaining garlic paste, ginger paste, remaining finely chopped tomatoes and salt to taste and fry for a while
• Add the marinated chicken and cook till chicken is completely cooked and gravy is dry as much as possible. Keep it aside
• There will be extra ghee separated from the chicken, separate it out and keep that also aside.
• While chicken is cooking, boil 7 cups of water, When water boils add the soaked rice without the water in which it was soaked.
• Cook the rice by putting lid on the vessel.
• When rice is almost done (not completely) strain it and keep it for cooling
• When rice cools down, heat 1/2 spoon of ghee and add remaming cardamoms, cloves, cinnamons to it. Add this to the rice and some salt to taste. Mix well
• Now in cooker apply remaining ghee all over and put a layer of potato slices to fully cover the cooker bottom.
• Add a layer of rice, then spread 1/3 of fried cashews, 1/3 of crisp onions and 1/2 of chicken with its paste.
• Add another layer of rice and then spread another 1/3 of fried cashews, 1/3 of crisp onion and remaining chicken with the masala
• Spread remaining rice. On top of it spread remaining cashews and crisp onion
• With the back side of the cooking spoon make 5-6 wholes in this layer biryani till bottom
• Spread the ghee separated out from chicken stored earlier evenly over here. Also spread the milk-safron mixture evenly.
• Close the cooker with the lid, heat tawa and put this cooker on top of it
• Cook on low flame for 15 minutes
• Serve hot with raita

Notes
This is little lengthy process, but believe me the output is quite tasty :)
Since we have spread the potato slices at the bottom, the rice doesn't get burnt while cooking.
Also since all the ingredients are already cooked before layering, there is no way that biryani will spoil because of uncooked rice or chicken.

I loved the lassi which i use to have in pune near ABC corner. And this one turned out exactly like that one.


Ingredients
1/2 Ltr Milk
2 Spoon Milk Powder
1 Spoon Corn Flour
1 Spoon Curd
3 Spoon Sugar
4-5 Ice Cubes

Method

• In half cup milk mix, milk powder and corn flour
• Boil remaining milk with constant stiring
• When the milk boils add the corn flour - milk powder mixture to it and boil for another 4 - 5 minutes
• Let the milk cool down a little
• When it is warm, milk the curd well and let the curd settle
• When curd is ready, grind it with sugar and ice-cubes for 4 - 5 minutes
• Serve chilled

Notes
Stir the milk continuously and do not let it form the malai. Also I used the full cream milk so that curd becomes thick.

Another cooling drink to beat the summer, this one i read from the magzine and did some modifications to get this to my taste.


Ingredients
1/2 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
3 cup Milk
2 Tomatoes
2 spoon Poppy Seeds
1/2 spoon Saunf
1/2 spoon Sugar
15 Almonds

Method

• Grind the tomatoes
• Starin the puree and keep it in the fridge
• Soak the poppy seeds in the 2 spoon of water for half an hour
• Grind poppy seeds, saunf and 1/2 cup milk to get the fine paste. Keep it in the fridge.
• Grind the remaining milk, condensed milk and sugar together. Store it in the fridge.
• While serving mix the tomato juice, poppy seed - suanf paste and milk-condensed milk mixture together and stir well.
• Serve with crushed ice.

Notes
Since I used sweetened condensed milk i used only half spoon of sugar. If the milk is not sweetened, you can adjust the sugar quantity to your taste.

With souring temparatures, I am trying out variety of fruit juices, and other cooling drinks that will help us beat the summer. This is one of them.


Ingredients
3 cup Watermelon
1.5 cup Curd
3 spoon Sugar
2 pinch Black pepper powder
Salt to taste

Method

• Remove the seeds from the watermelon
• Grind the watermelon, curdm sugar, black pepper powder and salt together in a mixie
• If mixture is too thick add few ice cubes and grind again
• Serve chilled

Notes
I used high fat milk to prepare the curd. Sweet curd is better for this recipe

Today when I saw 3 riped bananas, i got reminded about this recipe.. Sometime back I had read this in an article and was curious how exactly this will turn out. Believe me, this in did was quite nice recipe - a change from normal breakfast and healthy too..


Ingredients
3 Bananas
2 Eggs
1 cup Maida
1 cup Milk
1 Spoon Baking Powder
2 spoon Sugar
4 spoon Honey
2 Spoon Oil
Salt to taste
Ghee

Method

• Sieve maida, baking powder and Salt couple of times to get uniform mixture.
• Beat eggs, sugar and oil together
• Add little maida and milk at a time to this mixture to form uniform batter
• Mash two bananas and mix it with the batter
• Heat the pan and spread little ghee
• Spread the batter to form small (thick) dosa, cook on low flame
• When there are bubles forming on the upper side, making the cake little fluffier and porous turn to the other side, cook till golden brown
• Sprinkle honey and spread the pieces of remaining banana over it.

Notes
Eggs make the cake quite fluffier and the cakes don't stick to the tawa.
This is quite nice breakfast once in a while, a different taste from our usual indian breakfast

When Mom had visited us few months back, she had prepared this pumkin puri and I had developed instant liking towards it.


Ingredients
2 cup Pumkin
3/4 cup Jaggery
3 cup Wheat flour
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Remove the cover from the pumpkin, and grate it
• Heat couple of spoon of oil and add grated pumpkin to it
• Cook on medium flame for 5 minutes
• Take it off from stove and add the grated jaggery to it
• When the mixture cools down add salt to taste to this and mix well
• Add the wheat flour to it to form stiff dough for the puris
• Roll the puris and fry in oil

Notes
The puris can be kept for few days and are good meal for journey. They can be eaten with pickel or just like that.

Earlier when I had tried preparing cookies it had turned out great but then instead of 10 small cookies it turned out into 1 large pizza size cookie. So today when I got it right, I am posting it here.


Ingredients
1 cup Butter
3/4 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
2.5 Cup Maida
3/4 spoon Baking Powder
1/4 Spoon Salt
200gm Cadboury

Method

• Mix butter, sugar, brown sugar and egg well
• Sieve Maida, Baking powder and salt couple of times to get uniformly mixed flour
• Add this flour couple of spoons at a time in the butter-egg mixture to form stiff batter
• Chop the cadboury into small pieces and mix it in the batter
• Preheat oven to 250C.
• Grease the tawa with butter and put the round shaped cookies from the batter onto it. Spread them around 2 inches apart
• Bake for 10 minutes at 250C
• Let the cookies cool down and then store in air tight container

Notes
The cookies spread little while baking so maintaining 2 inches distance between them is must. Otherwise, they will get mixed into each other.
Brown sugar gives the cookie light brown colour.

When I want to cook something quick and yet 'chatpat' that will make simple food delicious this is one thing that comes to my mind. One can eat it as it is or as a side dish with daal rice, in all combinations this tastes yummy :)


Ingredients
2 Raw Bananas
1 spoon Jeera
1 spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/4 spoon Jeera Powder
1/2 spoon Corriander Powder
1/4 spoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 spoon Castor Sugar
2 spoon Corriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil/Ghee

Method

• Remove the cover from the bananas and cut them into medium sized pieces
• Heat oil/ghee and add jeera to it.
• Once jeera sputters, add the chopped bananas
• Add red chilli powder, jeera powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder and castor sugar
• Mix well and cook till bananas are cooked completely
• Add Salt and finely chopped corriander leaves for garnishing

Notes
You can add little amchur powder as well to this to give it more tangy taste.
Also just before removing the pan from stove adding a drop of ghee saves it from becoming too dry.

Ok this is in not purely veg but then its not completely non veg dish as well. :) I had read about nargisi kabab in book and saw few pics as well and since then i wanted to try out this. Few months back I had tried the non veg version which is normally mentioned all around. But today I decided to try my muttor pattice kind of experience with this kabab and came up with this..


Ingredients
6 Eggs
5 Potatoes
1 spoon Corn flour
1 spoon Garam Masala
1/2 spoon Garlic paste
1/2 spoon Red Chilli powder
1/2 spoon Jeera powder
1/2 spoon Corriander powder
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Hard boil the eggs, remove the cover and keep aside
• Boil the potatoes
• When potatoes are little warm, grate them
• Heat a spoon of oil and add garam masala, garlic paste, red chilli powder, jeera powder and corriander powder
• Add the grated potato and cook for a minute
• Once mixture becomes warm mix salt and corn flour and knead.
• Divide this mixture into 6 round balls
• Press each ball to form cup shape, insert the boiled egg in it and complete the cover all alround the egg
• Fry these balls in oil till golden brown, divide them in half and serve with sauce or pudina chutney

Notes
While kneading the mixture, apply oil to your hands so that mixture isn't sticky.
You can add grated cauliflower in the potato mixture. I am going to try it some time.

Today when i wanted to cook something quick and yet something dellicious this was the option that came to my mind.


Ingredients
1 cup Muttor
4 Potatoes
2 spoon Corn Flour
1/4 Spoon Garlic paste
A pinch of Ginger paste
A pinch of Turmeric powder
1/4 spoon Red Chilli powder
1/2 Lemon
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Cook potatoes in the cooker
• When they are little warm, grate them
• Mix salt, corn flour in it and make dough out of it. Apply little oil when you are almost done with it
• Boil muttor for a while and drain the water
• Add the turmeric powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, red chilli powder, lemon juice and salt to taste
• Make lemon sized ball out of the potato dough and press the ball with fingers to give it a shape of the cup
• Add a spoon of muttor mixture in the cup and close it to form little bigger ball. Gently press the ball to form flat round pattice
• Fry the pattice in the oil in a pan on medium heat

Notes
Oil should be really hot when you put the pattice in the oil as otherwise the potato mixture will stick to the pan.
You can make a lighter version of this by frying it on tawa by sprinkling oil all over instead of deep frying in a pan.

Earlier when I used to make gulab jamoon with Gits packet the most problematic area for me was to prepare sugar syrup correctly.. Most of the time it use to be too sugary. So when i decided to make gulab jamoon with khoya instead of ready mix packet I did little R&D over sugar syrup and found that the cookery book i have received as a wedding gift has the best method.


Ingredients
1/4 Kg Khoya
1 cup Rava
1/2 cup milk
2 pinch of Cardamom Powder
A pinch of Eating soda
2 cup Sugar
3 cup water
Oil/Ghee

Method

• Make the dough from rava using milk exactly the same consistency we prepare for Rotis. Keep aside for 2 hours
• Mix this Rava mixture and Khoya well
• Strain the mixture through the Puran Yantra
• Mix a pinch of cardamom powder with this mixture and knead the dough
• Prepare small round balls out of this mixture
• Now in a pan mix sugar and water and bring it to boil. Cook on medium flame only
• When the mixture boils add a pinch of cardamom powder and boil for another minute. Keep aside
• Heat another pan with oil/ghee
• Fry the gulab jamoon balls in this on low flame 4-5 at a time
• When the Gulab Jamoon is brown in colour keep them aside to strain the oil and fry next batch
• When next batch is ready to come out of oil, add the first batch to the sugar syrup.
• Fry and dip all gulabjamoons same way
• When all gulab jamoons are in syrup, boil the syrup again on low flame. Keep aside for 5-6 hours
• Seve the gulab jamoons warm with ice-cream of your choice to make a delicious dessert

Notes
When you put the balls in oil for frying they should float in a minute, otherwise mix little more eating soda and knead the dough.
Also when the balls are dipped in the syrup they should float otherwise balls are not cooked properly.

This dish evolved after reading few recipies related to chaat in a book that mom has given me.


Ingredients
1/4 cup Maida
1/4 cup Rava
1/2 spoon Curd
Pinch of Baking Powder
2 Cup Corn
2 Tomatoes
2 Onions
1 Lemon
1 spoon Ginger Garlic paste
Pinch of Garam Masala
Corriander Leaves
Shev
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Mix rava, maida, baking powder and salt to taste
• Warm the curd and a spoon of oil
• Mix it with the rawa maida mixture and make the dough out of this.
• Roll small puris out of this dough - very thin ones and fry it in oil
• Heat oil and add 1/2 tomato grated, 1/2 onion grated and let it cook for a while
• Add ginger garlic paste, garam masala red chilli powder and salt to taste and stir well
• Add corn to this and cook the corns over medium heat
• Chop remaining onion and tomatoes into fine pieces
• While serving break the puris into medium sized pieces and spread them on the dish
• Spread the corn mixture on top of this
• Spread finely chopped onions and tomatoes over this
• Sprinkle few drops of lemon all over the dish
• Then spread corriander leaves and shev and serve

Notes
You can optionally add 1/2 spoon of grated raw mango as well in this. In that case reduce the lemon drop quantity accordingly otherwise chaat might turn too sour.
Optionally sprinkle little chaat masala over this if you like
After the rawa-maida dough is ready you can mix it in grinder for a while. This as well as warm Curd helps in making the puris very crispy.