Malai Sooji Toast

Malai sooji toast is the recipe which i had learnt in my school days.We used to have cooking class in our extra curricular activities and this was the one recipe which i liked it from my heart so keep on cooking it whenever i want. Its just like cheese veg toast but with home made malai and sooji.

Lets check out the ingredients required for it.

Ingredients :

6 slices of white bread

3-4 tbsp of thick home made malai (extracted from full cream milk)

3-4 tbsp of semolina/sooji

1-2 tbsp milk

1 small sized finely chopped onion

1 small sized finely chopped capsicum

1 small sized finely chopped tomato(without seeds)

Salt to taste

1-2 tsp red chilli flakes

Method : Take malai in bowl and mix with spoon to form smooth paste,add sooji in it and mix well.

Now add onion,capsicum and tomato and spices and mix it so that it form smooth mixture.Add milk in it if the mixture is too thick.

Take one slice of bread and spread mixture on one side of bread with spoon and press it evenly.Repeat the process on remaining slices of bread and now heat non stick pan/tawa on medium flame and put the bread on tawa in such a way  that the side with mixture touch the tawa initially (refer picture for better understanding).Cook bread from both sides till it is golden brown in color.

Cut it into required shapes and serve hot with ur choice of dip.

Its a healthier version of toast and that too without processed cheese.

Apply drop of oil if using normal tawa instead of non stick tawa and add any veggies of ur choice like corn,beans etc

Sabudana Vada - Maharashtrain Snack

Sabudana Vada is a type of deep fried snack most commonly eaten in the state of Maharashtra.One can eat it during fasting also as it is cooked with potato and sabudana without onion, garlic and other grains.I tried the healthier version of it by cooking it in appam pan to avoid more oil intake.Lets gather its ingredients now..

Ingredients :

1/2 cup sabudana ( soak it overnight in water)

2 -3 medium sized boiled potatoes.

1 green chilli finely chopped

2 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped

Salt to taste

2 tsp oil for greasing appam pan.

Method:  Take soaked sabudana in one bowl by straining water and add boiled potatoes,green chilli,coriander leaves and salt to taste in it.Mash all the ingredients together and mix it well with your hands.Now make small balls of this mixture ,size of balls should be in accordance with the each cavity of appam pan u r using.

Heat appam pan on medium flame and put drop of oil in each cavity , i prefer greasing it with silicon brush. Now when its hot put one ball in each cavity and cover it with lid .Cook on medium low flame for about 2-3 mins or till they appear golden brown in color.Once they are cooked from one side flip them with spoon to other side and cook till they are golden brown from this side too.

Take them out and cook all vada in the same way.Serve them hot with tomato ketchup or green chutney.

You can add roasted peanuts in crushed form and grated ginger too (optional).

Happy and healthy eating :)

Spinach cheese kababs

Kababs are generally made from non veg but as we are vegetarian so want to try healthier version of it.So i tried it with spinach, rich source of iron.These kababs are crispy from outside and cheesy from inside.

Ingredients :

1/4 cup spinach puree
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tbsp cornflour
Salt to taste
2-3 tbsp oil for shallow frying kababs

Method: Take 1 cup of spinach leaves wash them with cold water for 3-4 times and microwave for 1-2 mins.Let it cool down and blend it in blender into puree form.Now take this puree in one bowl and add cornflour, salt and bread crumbs.Mix it well with your hands and form dough.

For stuffing take mozzarella cheese ,red chilli flakes,salt and chopped onion.Mix it well with hands.
Make small round balls of this mixture , it is to be used as stuffing for kababs.

Apply oil on palms and make medium sized ball of spinach dough and flatten it and stuff it with cheese stuffing and shape it like round ball and than flatten it like kababs.Heat non stick tawa,drizzle oil on it and put kababs on it for shallow frying on medium low flame.Fry from both sides till they are light brown in color .

Serve hot with tomato ketchup or dip of ur choice :)

You can make spinach puree on gas burner too , its same like we use for palak paneer.

White chickpeas/white chane with tandoori naan - Punjabi Cuisine

White chickpeas/white chane is type of grain which is rich in protein.They are usually cooked with gravy and eaten with chapati, rice, pooris, paranthas and naan. Here we are cooking chickpeas with tandoori naan. Naan are usually made in tandoor but we can cook it on our normal tawa too.So lets see what all we need for this recipe.

Ingredients:

White chickpeas 2 cups (soaked overnight)
2 tsp salt , 2 tea bags and 2 cups water for boiling chickpeas
2 -3 onions
2-3 tomatoes
2 inch long ginger
2-3 green chillies
3-4 tbsp oil
1 pinch asafoetida
1 tsp garam masala
1 1/2 tsp dry mango powder/amchur powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste


Ingredients for Naan :

2 cup refined flour/maida
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup curd

Method: Boil soaked chickpeas by adding salt,tea bags and water in the cooker, quantity as mentioned above.Boil it till first whistle and simmer for ten mins and switch off flame.Now blend onions,tomatoes,ginger and green chillies in mixer grinder and form smooth paste.

Heat oil in karahi i prefer iron karahi to enhance black color and increase iron content in chickpeas.Add asafoetdia and paste of onion and tomatoes to it.Cook on medium low flame by stirring in between till masala leaves oil on sides,now add all spices including red chilli,coriander powder, mango powder and garam masala.Add salt to taste. Saute all the spices and add boiled chickpeas in it, mix well and add 4-5 cups of water to form gravy, let it boil on medium flame till water get mixed properly with chickpeas and spices.You can use same water also which was used to boil chickpeas. It will take around 15- 20 mins to get proper consistency of chickpeas now u can switch off the flame. Serve it hot with breads or rice of your choice.

For making naan without tandoor firstly we will prepare dough by mixing all the ingredients in big mixing bowl with the help of hands and knead dough with little warm water and knead very soft dough.Now we will apply oil on hands and knead dough till its very shiny and greasy.It will take around 5-7 mins to make it greasy.Almost 1/2 cup of water is used for kneading this dough.Put little oil on the dough and keep it covered for 2-3 hrs at a warm place.

After 2 hrs, dough will expand. Now we will take a little flour in our palms and make big ball from dough.Make all balls from the dough and cover it to avoid drying of it.Lets heat tawa and roll one ball with help of rolling pin on rolling board by applying dry flour on it.Roll it in round or oval shape according to ur own choice.Naan shouldn't be very thin ,keep it little thick like parantha.Apply little water on top surface on rolled naan.Now put naan on hot tawa, keep wet surface down in contact with the tawa. Once it starts showing darker color on above surface, we will turn the tawa over to cook the naan directly over the flame means ur naan remains intact to tawa from one side and cook it from other side by rotating tawa to get brown spots appear.Cook till it is done, remove from tawa using spatula and apply ghee/butter of ur choice. Serve hot with ur choice of dal or vegetable. Enjoy :)

Gur Pare - Traditional Sweet

Gur pare is a kind of traditional sweet cooked during occasions like Diwali, Holi and Wedding too.
It is made of whole wheat flour or all purpose flour and dipped in Gur/jaggery syrup afterwards.Today we are going to make healthier version of it with whole wheat flour and jaggery/gur added in dough itself.

Ingredients: 

2 cup wheat flour/atta
1/2 cup semolina/sooji
Jaggery/gur Slightly more than 1/2 cup
Ghee 1/4 cup
Saunf  3-4 tbsp
Oil for deep frying

Method: Put 1/2 cup water to boil in one open pan and add jaggery mix it till it get dissolved in water.Strain it and keep this gur syrup on side. Now mix wheat,sooji,ghee and saunf in one bowl with hand and add gur syrup slowly slowly ,knead dough and cover it and leave it aside for 15-20 mins.Dough should be hard not soft like we knead for chapatis.

After 15- 20 mins we will make a big ball from dough and press it flat with our hands and roll it on rolling board by applying dry wheat flour on board with help of rolling pin into 1/2 cm thick round.Cut it from edges and than cut into small pieces as per your choice.

Heat oil in kadhi/wok when its medium hot than start frying gur pare in oil.Fry them on low flame and side by side prepare gur pare from remaining dough.When they are brown in color turn them over and fry from other side too till they are golden brown from both sides.

Place them over kitchen towel to soak excessive oil and let them cool completely.Store them in air tight container and enjoy after your meal or with tea.

They are rich in iron and healthy too so eat it as much as you want :)

Idli sambar with coconut chutney - South Indian Cuisine

Idli sambar is whole some meal which was earlier eaten in southern states of India but now its eaten in every part of our country.Idli is a kind of steamed pancake made from batter of grinded urad dal and rice.Usually both dal and rice are soaked for 4-5 hrs and than batter is made and fermented overnight to achieve soft idlis. It is served with coconut chutney and sambar.Sambar is toor/arhar dal cooked with variety of vegetables and tempered with mustard seeds,curry leaves and spices.Sambar can be eaten with rice, vadas , appe, dosa and of course idli etc.

Today we are going to cook instant idli when u forgot to soak and ferment dal and rice.It is made from semolina and curd know as Rawa idli. Lets see ingredients required for it.

Ingredients :

Idli : 
1+ 1/2 cup semolina/sooji/rawa
1+1/2 cup thick curd
3/4 tbsp eno salt (regular/ no flavour)
Salt to taste
Oil for greasing idli stand

Sambar :
1/2 cup arhar dal (soaked in water for 1/2 hour before)
2 medium sized tomatoes chopped
2 medium sized onions chopped
1 tbsp ginger finely chopped
1 cup bottle gourd (cut into medium sized pieces)
10- 12 beans cut into long pieces
2 cups veggies(potato, capsicum and cauliflower)
9- 10 curry leaves
2 tbsp tamarind pulp/ lemon juice
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1-2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
3-4 dried red chill whole (optional)
3-4 tbsp oil
Water as required

Coconut chutney :
1 fresh coconut (chopped into small pieces)
1 tbsp ginger
1-2 green chillies
Water as required
Salt to taste
1 tbsp soaked channa dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
5-6 curry leaves
1 tbsp oil for tempering

Method:  For making idli beat the curd with hand whisker till it is smooth and add sooji into it and form smooth batter without any lumps.Add salt to taste and whisk it properly.Add water if required.Add eno salt and mix it well.Apply oil on idli maker with brush and fill it with batter upto 3/4 level and microwave it for 4-5 mins.Check by inserting toothpick in it  and you have to add water in microwave safe bowl to the level marked in it before putting idli stand in it for steam formation inside microwave. You can steam at gas burner too by putting idli maker stand in cooker and covering it lid without whistle , on gas it will take 10-15 mins.

For Sambar heat oil in cooker add chopped onions, saute till they are golden brown,add ginger and cook for 1-2 mins.Add chopped tomatoes and cook till they are soft, now add all the vegetables including potato,cauliflower,capsicum,beans and bottle gourd and cook on medium low flame for 5-6 mins by mixing in between , add salt,red chilli powder,turmeric powder and coriander powder and cook for 1-2 mins till all spices leaves it's flavour, add soaked dal and add water 6-7 cups and mix it and cover the lid.Let it cook on medium low flame till 2-3 whistles come now reduce the flame to simmer and cook for 15 - 20 mins.Grains of dal shouldn't be visible when your sambar is cooked properly check it and cook further by removing lid if required. For tempering heat oil 1-2 tbsp add mustard seeds,curry leaves and dried red chillies and pour it over cooked sambar.Finally add lemon juice/tamarind pulp and give final mix .Serve it hot with idlis.

Coconut chutney: grind coconut,ginger ,green chilli ,soaked channa dal and salt in mixer grinder by adding small amount of water till its smooth paste.Now for tempering heat oil add mustard seeds and curry leaves switch off the flame when it will leaves aroma in oil. Pour it over grinded coconut chutney and serve with idli sambar.

Everyone has different style of cooking this wholesome meal so u can change according to your taste.

It can be eaten at any time of day and best menu option for guests if you don't want to remain in ur kitchen while they want to gossip with u.

Happy eating:)

Solkadhi - Konkan Drink

Solkadhi..their is story behind this drink, i was coming home with my family from somewhere and my brother in law ordered this drink at one Vada pav centre and i liked it so much that i explored it on youtube and finally made it at home. Its a mixture of coconut milk and kokam water. Kokam is type of spice used for enhancing sourness in food like v use tamarind/imli. Kokam is blackish red in color.
Kokam is used for making curries and sherbet too. Lets collect all the ingredients now..

Ingredients: 

9-10 kokam leaves (available at grocery store)
2 cups freshly grated coconut
Salt to taste
2 green chillies (use spicy chillies)
2 tbsp ginger grated form
Few coriander leaves for garnishing(optional)
Water as required.

Method: Soak kokam leaves in 1 cup warm water for 2- 3 hrs, sieve it and extract all juice from kokam leaves,water will look like blackish red in color.

Now grate coconut in mixer grinder by adding small amount of water and add salt ,green chilies,ginger in it. Grind it for 2-3 mins till all coconut milk is extracted from grated coconut.Sieve the coconut milk from strainer and keep it aside.

Now mix the kokam water and coconut milk together and taste it, add more water and salt according to your taste. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and keep it in fridge for 2- 3 hrs before serving.

It is served cold as drink and to be consumed on same day or other option is to keep kokam water and coconut milk separately in fridge and mix it when you want to drink it.

Its is tempered with mustard seeds and asafoetida (hing) and served as curry with steamed rice too.

Health benefits it helps in aiding digestion of food.

And, you can use store brought coconut milk tetra pack too for it.

Enjoy it and do let me know ur comments on same in comment section :)