Gobi Manchurian

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium. cauliflower clean and broken into big florettes.
• 1 small bunch spring onoin finely chopped
• 2 tsp. ginger finely chopped
• 1 tsp. garlic finely chopped
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 3 tbsp. cornflour
• 1/4 tsp. red chilli powder2 red chillies, dry
• 3 tbsp. oil1
• 1/2 cups water
• 1 tbsp. milk

METHOD:
Boil the florettes for 3-4 minutes in plenty of water, to which a tbsp. of milk has been added.Drain and pat dry on a clean cloth.Make thin batter out of flour and 2 tbsp.cornflour, adding 1/4 tsp. each of ginger and garlic and red chilli powder and saltto taste.Dip the florettes in the batter one by one and deep fry in hot oil. Keep aside.In the remaining oil, add remaining ginger, garlic and crushed red chilli and fry for a minute.Add the salt and spring onions.Stir fry for a minute. Add 1 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil.Add 1 tbsp. cornflour to 1/4 cup water and dissolve well.

Gradually add to the gravy and stir continuously till it resumes boiling.Boil till the gravy becomes transparent. Add florettes and soya sauce.Boil for two more minutes and remove.Serve hot with noodles or rice.Variations:Dry manchurian can be made by omitting the gravy.Make florettes as above and instead of adding water as above, add fried florettes, spring onions and soya ce at this stage.Sprinkle 1 tsp. cornflour on the florettes and stirfry for 2 minutes.Serve piping hot with toothpicks or miniforks and chilligarlic sauce or tomato sauce.Same procedure for veg. manchurian (with gravy or dry), but instead of using only cauliflower, use finely chopped mincedvegetables andbind with some cornflour or bread crumbs and make small lumps the size of a pingpong ball.

Fry as above and proceed as above.

Making time: 45 minutes

Makes for: 6

Shelf life: Best fresh

Semiya kheer

Semiya kheer is perfect for every occasion. It can be served at traditional events or at modern parties. Semiya kheer preparation is so easy and fast that it can be prepared any day to spruce up a simple meal.
Preparation Time - 20 mins
Servings - 4 people

Ingredients
Milk 1 kg
Vermicelli 1 cup
Sugar 1 ½ cups
Ghee 1 tblsp
Raisins 2 tblsp
10 Almonds
Powdered ilaichi
Rose petals to garnish

Roast the vermicelli in ghee. Simultaneously put the milk for boiling. Once the vermicelli is ready, add it to milk. After the milk boils, put it on low flame and let it simmer. Keep stirring at regular intervals to avoid burning. Roast the raisins in minimal ghee so they become round balls. Chop the almonds. Add sugar, raisins, almonds, ilaichi to the kheer. Some people like it thick while some people prefer it thin. So keep an eye on the kheer and take it off the gas once you reach desired consistency. Pour it into a dish and let it cool before serving. Garnish it with rose petals.

Dahi ke Aloo

If there is curd in the fridge that is not being used up, let it be there for a couple more days till it becomes sour for dahi ke aaloo is a perfect dish to use it up. If the curd if not sour, you can add mango powder to enhance the taste of the dish.
Preparation Time - 30 mins
Servings - 4 people

Ingredients
6 potatoes
1 cup curd
Oil 1 tblsp
Zeera (cumin) 1 tsp
Hing (asafetida) 1 pinch
Haldi (turmeric) 1 tsp
Mango powder (amchur) 2 tsp
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Salt 3 tblsp
Garam masala 1 tblsp
Water 2 cups

Boil the potatoes and peel off the jackets. Cut the potatoes into pieces and keep aside. In a pan, heat oil and add zeera and hing. Add the potatoes and fry them slightly. Mix the curd with water and blend properly. Add haldi, red chilli powder, mango powder and salt to it. Then pour this curd mix in the pan and bring it to boil. Simmer it on low flame for 5 minutes and take it off the flame. Add garam masala.

Tip: Instead of cutting the boiled potatoes, you can also mash them slightly with your hand to break them into small pieces.

Apple Cake - baked in cooker

Ingredients
3 eggs
2 1/2 cup flour (maida)
1 cup unsalted butter (or refined oil)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup fresh apples (chopped finely)
1 tsp vanilla essence
Edible green color
1/2 cup milk (optional)

Blend sugar and salt in a mixer so that sugar melts completely. Add the eggs one by one to it then. Pour the mix into a bowl and add flour, salt, soda, baking powder, vanilla essence and apples and keep rolling it with a spoon till it reaches a pouring consistency. Add some milk to the batter if it is too thick. Grease the baking dish and pour the batter in it. Preheat the cooker for 5 mins. Put the baking dish in it and leave the cooker on sim for 1 hour.

Coconut Cake

I was sitting at home this weekend and there really was nothing to do…for a change…no chores, nothing! Suddenly I remembered all the coconuts lying in the house and I thought of trying out a new recipe. Now this is a cake I have designed myself. There is nothing fancy about it but I would suggest that you let it cool before digging in for best flavor.

Ingredients

1 cup maida

1 cup coconut, dessicated

1 tblsp baking powder

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup ghee

1 tblsp vanilla essence

Beat egg yplks, ghee and sugar together. Sieve maida and baking powder. In a bowl, mix in maida, baking powder, egg mixture. For pouring consistency, add a little milk. Add coconut powder and vanilla essence. Heat a cooker fro 5 mins. Grease a baking tin and pour the batter in it and bake for half an hour.

Vegetable Maggi

Ingredients
1 pack maggi
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1 onion, chopped
Oil

Salt and red chilli powder to taste.
Heat oil in a pan. Simultaneously, boil the maggi in another pan and add maggi masala to it. Fry onions in the oil till light pink. Now add cabbage and carrots to it and fry for 3-4 minutes till maggi is ready. Now add maggi to this veg mix and sprinkle salt and pepper over it and mix vigorously and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Serve with ketchup.

Tip: You can grate cheese into the maggi while it is being prepared to give it a subtle taste.

Dahi Vada

The thought of dahi vada conjures up images of soft cold vada in cold curd which melts when placed on the tongue. It was a favorite dish of my family with Mom looking for excuses to prepare it. The best part about dadi vada is that it can be prepared 2-3 days in advance of the occasion and keeps well for a couple of days later also.

Ingredients
200 gms urad dal
100 gms curd
Oil
Salt

Soak urad dal overnight. Drain the water and grind it in a mixer. Add a little salt to it. Since the curd will also have salt, make sure the salt added to vada compensates it. The consistency of the vada mixture should be such that it does not flow freely. Heat oil in a pan to fry the vada. Now comes the difficult part. Spread a wet muslin cloth on a rolling board. Wet the cloth with water. Place a small ball of vada mix on it and spread into a flat ball while making a hole in the middle. Lift the vada carefully and fry it in the oil till golden brown. Drop the fried vada into a pot of water till soft. Squeeze out the water and keep aside.
Lifting the vada off the cloth takes some practice. You can make the vada on your hand also. Wet the palm of your hand and prepare the vada on it for frying.
Mix curd with a little water to make it thin. Add a little salt and mix properly. Take a container with a flat base and pour a thin layer of curd in it. Put a layer of vada on it. Pour another layer of curd and then another layer of vada and so on till all the vadas are covered with curd. The vadas will soak the curd and become soft. Refrigerate. The left over curd can be used to garnish the dahi vada.
To serve, place 2 dahi vada on a plate. Pour a few spoonfuls of beaten curd over it. Add tamarind chutney and sprinkle white salt, black salt, red chilli powder and roasted zeera powder on it. Use aloo bhujia to top it off.

Tip: You can use ready-made vada mix also to directly prepare the vadas.

Pulav - Quick and Easy Recipe

Sometimes it gets late coming home and there is hardly any energy to cook. You just wanna fall asleep asap but what to do about the hunger? An easy alternative is Pulav. It is filling and quick to make. Here is how.

Ingredients

1 cup rice

1 potato, diced

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1/3 cup beans, chopped

1/3 cup green peas

Oil, Zeera and Hing to fry

Salt and Red chilli powder to taste

1 tblsp garam masala

Soak the rice in water for 20 mins. Heat oil in a cooker and add zeera and hing to it. When zeera starts to splutter, add onions to it and fry till light pink in color. Add the rest of the ingredients along with rice. Add 2 cups of water. Cook till three whistles and then let the steam escape from the cooker. Add a little garam masala and serve.

Coconut Chutney

Coconut Chutney or Nariyal Chutney is a South Indian delicacy that goes will with idli and dosa. The chief ingredients are coconut and curd which are good for health providing fibre and digestion rich enzymes. Coconut chutney keeps good for a few days when refridgerated.

Ingredients

½ cup coconut, dessicated

½ cup curd

2 tblsp chana dal

1 tblsp urad dal

1 tblsp rai

1 tblsp oil

1 green chilli

Salt to taste

Roast chana dal till light pink and grind it with coconut, curd and green chilli. Add water to obtain consistancy of your choice. Heat oil in a pan and add rai. When it starts to splutter, add urad dal to make tadka. Add this tadka to the coconut chutney along with salt to provide extra taste. Refridgerate the chutney till further use.



Tip: If the chutney solidifies on cooling, add water or even better, curd water, to obtain the consistancy of your choice.