Watermelon milk shake

 

 

I am having busy time these days and so couldn't post any. Just thought of setting me back onto my posts with this simple Watermelon milk shake perfect for a hot summer day!!

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Watermelon flesh - 1 cup (seedless)

Milk - 1 cup

Sugar - 2 tbsp.

Vanilla icecream - a scoop (optional)

 

 

Method:

 

Put watermelon and sugar in a blender and grind it to a smooth paste (relatively...)

Add milk and icecream to this and run the blender again.

Pour in a glass with some cold ice chips on top.

 

I served it with breakfast along with a bread toast topped with red kidney bean/rajma gravy and some fresh vegetables.

Tofu vegetable Kofta

Koftas, as we all know are cooked veggie balls fried in oil. These are then dropped in gravy which makes a great accopaniment for rotis. This time I made healthy koftas by adding tofu and these are cooked without deep frying. It turned out well and everyone in my family enjoyed.

Ingredients

Kofta
Medium Tofu (mashed and squeezed) - 1/2 cup
Boiled and mashed potatoes - 1 small one
Boiled and mashed plantain - 1/2
Chopped Carrot, cabbage  - 1/2 cup
Salt
Chilli powder
oil

Gravy
Onion - 1
Tomatoes - 1
Ginger & garlic
Chilli powder
salt
oil

Procedure

Kofta:
Boil and mash potatoes and plantain together
Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped vegeables. Saute them till they get cooked. Sprinkle little water if needed. Add required salt and chilli powder. After it get cooked, add the mashed potatoes and pantain and tofu and mix everything together.
Turn off the flame when the mix is dried without water
Make kofta balls out of this and cook them in 'kuzhi paniyaram' pans with little oil.

Gravy
Heat oil in a pan and add garam masala, ginger garlic and onions to it. Saute them well and grind this to a paste
Grind the tomatoes to a paste.
Heat oil in the pan and add the ground onion paste. Then add the tomato paste and saute well. To this add salt and chilli powder and mix till it gets blended well
Add 2 tbsp of tomato ketchup to this and add 1 cup of water. Let it boil until you get a gravy consistency. Add water according the consistency you prefer
Turn of the flame

Arrange the koftas in serving dish. On top of this pour the prepared gravy. Decorate with chopped coriander leaves.





 

Vegetable Sevai

Sevai is a traditional south indian rice noodles. This is usually made with steamed rice flour using idiyappam press. But I got some instant rice noodles from a chinese store and it tastes the same as sevai and its easy to prepare too (just have to soak it in warm water for 10 mts). This time I added some vegetables to this and made a nice breakfast. This is great for evening snack too.

Ingredients:

Instant Rice noodles - 2 cups
Finely chopped onions - 1 tbsp
Chopped vegetables (carrot, beans, peas) - 1/4 cup
Red/Green chilli - 1
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Curry and Coriander leaves
Salt

Method

1. Cook and keep the instant noodles ready as per the instructions in the packet. Or you can use homemade sevai

2. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, urad dal, chilli and curry leaves.

3. To this add onions and saute till light pink. To this add chopped vegeables and saute on a low flame till half cooked. Add salt and mix well.

4. To this add the cooked sevai/noodles and mix gently and thoroughly. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve warm.

Pumpkin cake

Pumpkin desserts are especially popular during the fall and winter months. Of course, pumpkin pie is America's favorite pumpkin dessert, but this lovely orange colored Pumpkin Cake, is sure to please. I made it with home made pumpkin puree. You can always go for store brought cans to make this delightful desert for a sweet surprise.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups (270 grams) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup (240 ml) fresh or canned pure pumpkin (about 1/2 of a 15 ounce can)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups (200 grams) sifted all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes for an electric mixer). 
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin batter.

Pour the batter into the greased pans.  Bake for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then invert and remove the cakes from their pans

Alternatively you can fill this batter in cupcake pans to make pumpkin cupcakes.

Enjoy the lovely desert with your family and friends.

Masala Bread Toast

Bread is always a super easy fix for breakfast. It also an quick fix for the lunch box. The masala version adds some spice to our Indian taste. Give this a try and you will love it. Egg does makes it filling and remains soft even for lunch box.

Ingredients:

• Egg – 4
• Bread – 6
• Garam masala powder- 1/4 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste – 1/4 tsp
• Chili powder – 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric – a pinch
• Garlic – 2 cloves
• Onion – 2 tbsp
• Salt – to taste
• Oil – to toast

Recipe:

1. Grind Onion and Garlic as paste.
2. Apart from Bread and Oil, mix all the ingredients with Egg and beat it well.
3. Heat Oil in a pan, dip the bread slices in egg mix and place it on pan, apply oil on all sides of bread.
4. Toast the Bread on both sides and remove from heat.

 

Oven roasted Chana Dal

Chana dal that is deep fried was a great snack for me when I was little. That too the added spice and garlic flavor really enticed me. I wanted to try that recipe for a ling time but was hesitant to deep fry. Luckily I got this recipe of oven roasting the dal which is a healthy alternative to that. And believe me you still get the crunchy and crispy texture of deep fried ones. As this greatly impressed me, I'm planing to oven roast some soy nuts too for a healthy protein rich snack. Now on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

Chana Dal - 1 cup
Olive oil - 1tbsp
Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Garlic cloves - 2-3

Preparation:

• Wash the dal and soak it for at least 4 hours.
• Drain the water and transfer the dal to a sauce pan. Fill the pan with water, about ½ – 1” above the dal. Cook it on high for 3 minutes. You will see foam forming on the top. We don’t want to cook the dal for too long. Turn of the heat, drain it and run the dal under cold water to bring it back to room temperature. 
• Transfer dal to a paper towels or a kitchen towel and pat dry it. Leave it on the towel to dry, for about 5 minutes until the oven is preheated.
• Preheat the oven to 350F. 
• Line a baking tray or cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
• Transfer chana dal to bowl and mix it well with oil, ½ tsp. salt, ½ tsp. chili powder & turmeric. You can also do this directly on the lined baking sheet.
• Spread seasoned chana dal on the baking sheet and bake it for 10 minutes in a preheated oven.
• Remove from the over, shake the tray properly or with a spoon mix the dal and spread it evenly on the tray. Put it back in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Pull it out and repeat the above step. Bake for another 5 minutes or until chana dal turns brown. The total bake time is 20 minutes. However, I felt I should have pulled it out of the oven a minute earlier. Do keep an eye on the dal after 18 minutes into baking.
• Crush together garlic, ¼ tsp. salt & 1 tsp. of chili powder. Sprinkle it on the baked dal and mix it well. Add the garlic immediately after removing the dal from the over. 
• Once the dal is cooled, store in an air tight container

 

Parotta

Mom: What shall I order for you?
Me: (spontaneously..without looking thru menu card) Parotta
Mom: Want to try something else today
Me: No. I am fine with Parotta
Mom: smiling.. ok.

This was a usual converstation between me and my mom wenever we eat out. That much I loved it when I was little. One reason for that is its a food which was not made frequently at home like idly, dosa, poori, rice etc., And another one being the tast and flaky nature of parotta thats so inviting for the taste buds.

I have treid to make it so many times, but I would be missing something. Especially the flaky and still soft nature of the parotta. When I wanted to try this time, I was searching for some different recipes and I got this one from ifood.tv with some nice video, though quite a lengthy one. But its worth checking it if you want to try out. And the results were really good too.

 

Ingredients
Maida / All purpose flour - 3 cups
Salt - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Water - approx 1 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup for kneading
Oil - 1/4 cup for toasting


Method:
Dough making and kneading:

Heap 3 cups of maida on a wide bowl. Make a dent or well inside.

Slowly add the water inside. To this water add salt and sugar and mix it slowly with the flour on the sides. Check out for water and be careful not to add too much water.

After all mixing up add oil and knead well well. This is the most important part and it has to be beaten up so the dough gets mixed/kneaded very well. This has to be done for almost 15-20 minutes to get the nice soft texture. Apply some oil on top and keep it closed aside for 30 mts.

After 30 minutes the dough will have rised a little. Make small balls out of it and apply oil on top of it again and let it rest for 10 minutes keeping it covered with moist kitchen towels. If you could notice, it will rise a little.

Spreading and coiling:

Take the balls one by one and roll it as much as you can with a rolling pin, the funny part is, you can watch as you stretch, it rolls back, so apply oil say about a tsp for each parotta and stretch it to paper thin size. It might tear in some areas… thats ok. Stretch using your hands or use the rolling pin, oil makes the work easier.

Hold any one corner of the rolled dough and lift it up. Slowly spiral the dough and make it a ball again. Note that this may need more oil.  Repeat this for all the balls and make them spiral coils and keep them covered under a moist cloth again.

Rolling and toasting:

Take the spirals one by one and start stetching with a rolling pin slightly without applying too much pressure.
Roll them on one side only and don't flip them to roll on the other side. This makes the layers to merge and we won't get the flaky layered texture of parottas. Note parottas will not be too thin like chapatis. So roll them like the size of a pancake.

Heat a griddle/ tawa and keep it on medium flame. Take the rolled parottas one by one and let them cook slightly on both sides. After seeing some spots add about 1 tsp oil/ghee and toast.

You will see it becoming fluffy, flip one more time and then put it back on the counter. Using both hands, try to beat it once, just like clapping, to seperate the layers. Serve hot with your favorite side dish.