Fall

 

Gajar ka Halwa

hhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnn mooh mein pani aa gaya :)

You Need
10 healthy carrots
1/2 gallon milk
1.5 cups sugar
1 tbsp cardamom powder
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds,cashews
1/2 cup ghee

Here comes the mehnet wala part - grate carrots fine
Heat ghee in a deep pan.
Add grated carrots and saute for 5 mins.
Add milk and let cook till 80% of the milk solidifies.This may take about 45 mins.
Add Sugar,dry fruits and cook for 10 more mins.
Remove from heat and sprinkle cardamom powder. Serve it hot or chilled. Both ways tastes awesome.

South Indian Dinner/Lunch/Breakfast

yeah true, these can b had as any meal of the day..never get bored of 'em.Today's menu consists of Dosa, Idly, chutney and Sambar.

You Need-
For Dosa
3 cups Rice
1 cup urad dal
1 tbsp each poha,tur dal,chana dal,methi seeds
1 tbsp salt

For Idly
3 cups idly rava
1 cup urad dal
1 tbsp salt

Chutney
2 cups roasted peanuts
1/2 cup tamarind extract
2 garlic cloves
3 green chillies
2 tsp salt

Sambar
1 cup tur dal
1 cup mixed veggies cubed fine of your choice - i prefer - green beans, carrots, potatoes.
1 huge onion
2 tomatoes
2 tbsp sambar powder
2 tbsp GGP
1 tbsp salt
1/2 cup tamarind extract
1 tbsp grated coconut

If you want to prepare these for Saturday's breakfast, you need to do some home work on Friday.
In the morning, soak rice and dals for dosa and idly.You can mix all ingredients for dosa and keep idly urad dal separate.
Evening or 8 hours later,
Grind the mix for dosa.Add salt and mix well.
Grind urad dal for idly.Now mix idly rava to this paste and add salt.
Cover well and keep in a warm place.Let these ferment overnight.

Sambar :-
Come saturday morning, soak tur dal for sambar about 30 minutes.
Add mix veggies to dal and pressure cook.
In a deep pan, add 2 tbsp oil.
Splutter MC seed and add onions.Saute till golden brown.
Add GGP and few secs later add tomato puree.
Saute till oil leaves the mix.
Now add the cooked dal and veggies.
Add sambar powder,tamarind extract and salt.
Let cook well for 30 minutes on sim, add plenty of water to achieve desired consistency. I prefer it more towards the fluid side as dosa makes you feel very thirsty and sambar helps.

Peanut Chutney :-
Mix all ingredients and grind adding water to fine paste.Isn't that simple?
you could top some olive oil on it to give some flavor.

Idly :-
Heat water in idly cooker.
Place the batter in idly plates and steam cook in idly cooker.
If you have traditional idly cooker - it would take 20 mins.Remember not to place whistle.
Microwave version will take 4 mins for 2 plates.

Dosa :-
Heat tava and oil it properly.
Take a serving spoon full dosa batter and spread rapidly starting from the center towards the edges. Do not touch any area twice to get good crispy dosa.
Let cook till golden brown, optionally turn the sides.

Go Green Salad

With the whole world going green, i thot of some greenness too with an added top up of gr8 health

You Need
1 bunch spinach
1 yellow tomato
1/2 raddish
1 plum
8-10 almonds
4-5 prunes
4-5 apricots pitted
any dry fruits of ur choice like cranberries or raisins
1 tbsp panipuri or chat masala
1 tbsp garlic salt
1 tbsp lemon
1 tbsp black pepper ground

chop everything fine and mix together. thats it.. i had never imagined eating spinach raw..bt this salad taught me how to.. you could use spritzers or salad dressings too...

Baingan Methi

This one is a nice change and easy 2 prepare if u dont hv the general dislike for baingan or methi

You Need
1 huge eggplant/baigan
1 bunch of methi/fenugreek leaves
1 tbsp each turmeric,salt,red chilli powder
2 tbsp oil


Heat oil and add mustard n cumin seeds
Add methi and baingan together. They take equal times to cook
Add all the masalas and saute till done
Isn't tht simple?

BabyCorn by hubby

After a long long time.. Shirish's recipe inspired me back 2 blogging..

You Need
A bunch of BabyCorns
1 huge onion
1 huge potato
2 tbsp each chilli powder, coriander powder,turmeric
salt according to taste.
2 tbsp oil

Steam babycorns with minimal amount of water.
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard n cumin seeds.
Saute onion and potatoes together..I know you must b thinking "what????"... i think the same way when hubby gets into kitchen..bt thtz the way it is..and remm dont try giving directions unless asked..u vil lose the opportunity to have the tasty food made by him..
Add all available masalas in kitchen plus the above mentioned..
Add babycorns and let cook forever..
or until me says its done :)

Peas Paratha

You Need
For filling
2 cups peas
8 green chillies
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp GGP
1 tbsp amchur powder (dried mango powder)
1 tbsp dhaniya
1 tbsp cumin seeds

For cover
2 cups wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 cup oil

Wash peas,mix with all other ingredients except cumin seeds and grind.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a deep bottom pan.
Add cumin seeds and allow to splutter.
Now saute the paste for few mins.
Mix salt and 1 tbsp oil in wheat flour and knead into smooth dough using water.
Cover and let stay for 20 mins.
When the mix is cooled down, make ping pong size balls of the dough.
Roll slightly and stuff 1.5 tbsp of peas mix.
Close the ends properly and roll into parathas.
Shallow fry using oil.
Top with 1 tsp butter before serving with curds,pickle and thin onion slices.

My Tip- You could also make puris instead of parathas.