Rajma Chawal/Kidney Beans Rice

As the name says this takes "Red Kidney Beans" as the main ingredient. But unlike other rice/pulav varieties, this is served in a different way. A side dish of kidney beans is prepared with spices and then enjoyed with rice. The kidney beans gravy prepared also makes a perfect combination for Rotis and it tastes even more great the next day, if you have leftovers.

Ingredients

Rajma (Red kidney beans) - 1 cup (soak overnight)
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon stick - 1
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Jaggery - little
Oil- 2 tsp

To grind
Tomatoes -1
Ginger - 1 inch
Garlic - 4 pods


Proceudre:

Rajma

Keep the Rajma in Pressure cooker with 1 cup water and little salt. Cook for 1 whistle on high and reduce the flame and cook for 5 more whistles. It should be cooked soft.

Gravy

Heat oil in a pan and add the cloves and cinnamon

Add onions and fry till transparent.Then add grinded tomato puree and saute.

Add the chilly and coriander powder and mix well. To thia add the cooked Rajma with all water and check salt.

Let it cook for 4-5 mts till the gravy thickens. Add the jaggery and cook for 1 min and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with plain white rice or Jeera rice.

NanKhatai

This is a famous eggless Indian cookie made of all-purpose flour and sooji (rava). This is the perfect pair for teatime. Its excellent taste will never let you to stop with just one and will just melt away.

The given measurement makes 30 cookies.



Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour (maida)
1/4 cup semolina/sooji
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cardamom pwd
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup ghee or melted butter or oil
2 tbsps yogurt/curd

How to:

Sieve maida, baking soda and cardamom pwd.

Blend the sugar, ghee and yogurt till smooth. Its important you really combine well. Add the sieved ingredients and semolina to the sugar-ghee mixture. The dough should be kneaded well for at least 7-8 mts. If the dough is not stiff enough to roll out into balls, add a few tbsps of cold milk and chill for a few minutes.

Pinch dough and shape into small balls and slightly flatten. Remember we don't want flat biscuits. This will be slightly bulged than typical cookies.

Garnish with nuts by slightly pressing into the dough. Place on a greased tray with enough space between each ball as they spread out. Pre heat oven for 15 mts, bake at 350F for about 20-22 mts. Once baked, the cookie will feel soft on touch. Remove from oven and cool and the cookies will harden.

Cool on a wire rack and store in airtight container.

Palak Chicken

As the name says this has Chicken and spinach. I just gave it a try though I was wavery about the outcome because of adding spinach. But as you may know it came well and thats the reason I'm posting it here. The spinach gives an added flavor to chicken. I made it little dry, but this can be served as a gravy by taking off a little earlier.



Ingredients:

Chicken - 250 gms
Palak/spinach - 2 cups chopped
Onion - 1 chopped
small Tomato - 1 chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tsp
Clove - 2
Cinnamon sticks - 1
Oil - 2tsp
salt


Method:

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the whole garam masala

To this add ginger garlic paste, onions and tomatoes one by one after sauting each for a while

Now add chopped spinach, chilly powder and coriander powder and let it cook for 2 mins

Add Chicken to this and saute well. Add salt and some water and keep covered on medium heat. Let this cook for 10-15 mins. Keep stirring it every 2 mins to avoid burning

After chicken is cooked and turns tender turn the flame to high and fry well to remove any excess water (you may even have it with gravy than dry)

Serve hot with rice/roti when done

Vazhaipoo/Banana flower Vadai

Vazhaipoo is one of the most nutrious vegetable which comes from the Banana family. Although this has so much good stuffs in it, the taste doesn't make it a favorite for many. I think this dish serves for those who avoids this wonderful food just for taste.

This is one of the most common dish made with Vazhaipoo. Also we can make kootu and poriyal with added coconut for a healthy dish with a better taste. The tough part in this is the cleaning of the flower, where the semen has to be removed. This has to be done ahead of time and soaked in salted thin buttermilk for a couple of hours to remove the bitterness.

This is a forerunner for all vegetable vadais. As we can add any other vegetable like cabbage, cauliflower, tofu etc to make vegetable vadais.



Ingredients

Vazhaipoo florets-2 cups, chopped
Onions - 1 chopped
Curry & coriander leaves
salt
Oil - to deep fry

To coarsely grind
Chana Dal - 1 cup (soaked for min 2 hrs)
Red chilly - 2
Ginger - 1 inch
Garlic - 3 pods
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Procedure:

1. Coarsely grind the ingredients as mentioned with no water

2. To this mix with chipped florets, onions, curry leaves, cilantro and salt. The batter should be thick to make balls of it

3. Heat oil in a pan to deep fry

4. Make small balls of the batter, flatten them and drop them in oil

5. Fry on medium flame till golden brown on both sides

6. Remove from oil and place on tissue to absorb excess oil

7. serve hot

Namak paare

Namak paare is a crunchy snack great for teatime. This is also a healthy one as it has wheat flour. The wheat flour can also be replaced with Besan flour too.
This is great snack for the evening and can be served as appetizers for parties.

I would like to submit this for the January Contest 2011 in Manjula's Kitchen

Ingredients:

1/2 cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons Sooji fine (rava)
3/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds or ajwain
2 tablespoon oil
About 1/3 cup water as needed
Oil to fry


Procedure:

Mix flour, sooji, salt, carom seeds, and oil, and mix it with fingertips to get consistency of breadcrumb.

Add water as needed to make firm but smooth dough. Cover with damp cloth and set aside at least for ten minutes.

Knead the dough for another minute and divide in two equal parts.

Take each part of the dough and make a flat ball shape. Roll them into 9-inch circles and thickness of salted crackers.

Prick them with a fork all over the rolled dough, so they do not puff when frying.

Cut each of the rolled dough into desired shapes.

Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat.

The frying pan should have at least 1 ½ inch of oil. To check if the oil is ready, put a small piece of dough in the oil. The dough should make the oil sizzle and come up slowly.

Make sure to place just enough namak paras so you can turn them over easily when frying. Fry the namak paras until both sides are light golden-brown.

After namak paras come to room temperature they should become crisp. store them in air-tight containers. This will stay good for a couple of weeks.

Recipe source:www.manjulaskitchen.com