Christmas Cake

"Jingle all the way" : Its the month of Santa, Christmas tree, candles, decorations with stars and lights and lots of ornaments. People even decorate the outside of their homes with snowmen, sleighs and other Christmas figures. And the age old tradition of hanging a stocking and waiting for Santa ( Saint Nicolas ) to get us the wanted gifts...

My brother who stays in US, always decorates his home with Christmas tree and lighting his backyard and home with candles and lights..Here is how he welcomed Christmas this year... It looks terrific, doesn't it?

Christmas celebrations are in full swing in India just as abroad. We see a lot of people hosting Christmas parties, markets selling Santa's red and white caps and even Christmas trees. This year, we got the tiny Santas and candy cane and some ornaments ( just to decorate my cake :))

And so not to forget, It is also the month to bake cakes, cookies and biscottis :)
Its such a pleasant feeling when your kitchen has aroma of the freshly baked super spongy cake...This year i wanted to try my hand at baking the Christmas plum cake, and hence i soaked in the dry fruits almost 15 days before in rum. I have added Cherries, different coloured tutty-fruity, cashews, raisins and black raisins. You can add any dry fruits of your choice like walnuts, almonds, prunes, dates, orange zest etc. but raisins are a must!!! After all it's rum and raisin cake :) For people, who like it without alcohol, you can just boil the dry fruits with water and little sugar for 5 minutes at the time of baking the cake. If you don't like rum, you can even soak the fruits in beer or red wine or a mixture of wine, rum and beer. Anything tastes just great.
Here is how my soaked fruits looked like :

Every day is an occasion : The cake turned out so yummy that it was finished by hubby and his friends ( who had come over for Christmas) within hours! I feel i shouldn't wait for Christmas to bake and eat this one...Any day is a celebration and i am surely going to bake this one again :)

Recipe adapted from : Swapna Mickey

Ingredients :

Mixed dry fruits : 350 gms ( i used cherries, different coloured tutty-fruity, cashews, raisins, and black raisins )
Rum - 1/2 cup ( Can also add brandy, wine or beer )
Butter - 3 tbsp ( heaped )
Ghee - 3 tbsp ( heaped )
Powdered sugar - 150 gms
Eggs - 2
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp ( to caramelize )
All purpose flour/ Maida - 120 gms
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Spice powder - 1/2 tsp ( i used my chai masala powder - Recipe uploaded earlier - You can also use mix of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg powder )
Milk - 1/8 cup
Lime juice - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp

Recipe :

Soak the chopped dry fruits in Rum as early as you can/want. I did it for 15 days, but some even do it for months or a year in advance.( the more u soak, the tastier it is). Soak it in a clean , dry glass bottle or air tight container. Make sure you stir the fruits once a day. Soak them for minimum 1 week in advance.

On the day of baking the cake, transfer these dry fruits into a steamer and steam them for 5 minutes. I did it in idli maker in microwave for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and allow the fruits to cool.

The most important thing to make a plum cake is to caramelize the sugar. It is not that tough at all ! Just take 2 tbsp sugar in a pan and heat it stirring continuously till it becomes dark brown. Meanwhile, boil 1/2 cup of water and keep. Now add this hot water to the sugar. Keep stirring till it becomes thick. Keep it aside.

Add 2 tbsp sugar to 1 tbsp lemon juice and keep aside.

Sieve together ( preferably twice ) maida, baking soda, baking powder and spice powder. Toss in the steamed and cooled dry fruits into this flour, so that the dry fruits are coated properly. This is just to avoid the dry fruits from falling to the bottom of the cake when baking.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees for minimum 15 minutes.

Beat Butter, Ghee and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add eggs one by one and keep beating. Now add the vanilla essence and caramel syrup and mix well. Now add the flour-dry fruit mixture and milk alternatively, finishing with the flour mixture. Mix it all well with a spatula. Lastly, add the lemon juice mixture.

Grease and Dust the cake tin with butter and flour respectively. Add in the cake mixture and bake the cake at 180 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Check after an hour if it's done and add more time if required.

Let it cool for 10 minutes in the tin after removing from the oven on a wire rack. Now remove from the cake tin and let it cool completely.

Store in an air tight container. You can also pour in rum on top while serving or inject rum inside the cake with a syringe :) Tastes yummm....

Happy Baking :)))

Paneer Mushroom Sandwich

In my last blog article of Mushroom Capsicum fry, I had mentioned all the benefits and details about Mushrooms. I anyways had mushrooms in the fridge and decided to make a filling from it to make sandwiches for my hubby's tiffin. I needed a fast- quick recipe and i saw one on Jyotsna-Pant's Blog. Though she has made the sandwich in a toaster, i decided to make it my way on the tawa ( just to save time too )...
So, just a few variations here and there from her recipe, here is how the sandwiches turned out...

They taste heavenly and they are full of proteins, vitamins and minerals ( addition of paneer helps ). Makes a great evening snack too.

Ingredients : ( For 4 sandwiches )

Paneer - 100 gms

Mushrooms - 4 large

Bread - 8 slices ( makes 4 sandwiches ) I always use brown bread, but you can make it with white or multigrain bread too.)

Onion - 1 small

Garlic - 3 cloves

Green chilli - 1 ( we love spicy, adjust according to taste )

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Butter - to apply on the bread

Oil ( Olive oil ) - 1 tsp

Oregano - to  taste

Sweet basil - few leaves ( chopped finely ) - I have this plant in my kitchen garden, hence used it. This is optional.

And yes... Pepper - to taste
Cheese -  a little ( optional )

You can even add corriander leaves and/or cumin seeds for a different taste.

Recipe :

Wash the mushrooms and towel dry them ( see the earlier article of Mushroom Capsicum Fry to see how to clean the mushrooms )

Cut the mushrooms into small pieces.

Chop the onion, garlic and green chilli finely.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. Add the onions and saute for a minute till onions are translucent. Add garlic and saute for a minute more.

Mash the paneer and add to the pan.

Add the mushroom and put it on high flame. Don't cook for a long time after adding mushroom. And the high flame is must, as it will help in making the mixture dry. 

Now add the salt, green chilli, red chilli powder and pepper.

Cook for 1 more minute on high flame. Remove from flame and let it cool.
The filling looks like this :

Now heat tava and put some butter on it. Keep it on high flame and toast the bread slices on it, so they are brown. You can even toast the slices in a toaster, but make sure they are moist and soft and not dry and hard toast.

Now put the filling inside the slices, add the cheese (optional) and again put the sandwich on the tawa and press it slightly ( and gently) from top on both sides.

Your healthy sandwich is ready :)

Happy Cooking :))

Mushroom Capsicum Fry

Mushroom : The cap fruit?? - Mushroom is widely available in India. Also known as the cap fruit or cap vegetable, we have started getting it at even local vendors and at surprisingly affordable costs. Mushroom is not a household vegetable ( i don't remember my mother cooking mushroom ever ), and infact, many of the people in remote places of India would still not know what a mushroom is!!
I started eating mushrooms regularly only from last year. Till then it was only a topping on a pizza or a filling in a sandwich.

There are so many different varieties of edible mushrooms, but the most common ones that we get here in India are the white button mushrooms. Mushrooms stay upto a week in refrigerator, but its always best to have them fresh. Always look for firm mushrooms with a smooth appearance. You can use the stem of the mushroom too, depending on the dish you are making. But never use tough stems. Also, never soak mushrooms in water for cleaning or any other purpose. They easily absorb moisture. The best way to clean mushrooms is to wash them and then pat them dry. Or you can even remove the black stains on it with a wet cloth and then pat them dry with a normal kitchen napkin.

There is an interesting folk story surrounding mushroom ( mushroominfo.com ).The delicious flavour of mushrooms intrigued the Pharaohs of Egypt so much that they decreed mushrooms were food for royalty and that no commoner could ever touch them. This assured them the entire supply of mushrooms. Many believed that mushrooms had properties that could produce super-human strength, help in finding lost objects and lead the soul to the realm of the gods. 
I surely don't know about the super-human strength, but Mushroom does have a lot of nutrients and is full of minerals. Healthiest, because they are a low-calorie food, they are also a great source of B-vitamins.

Here is a quick recipe of mushroom, which can be used as a sabzi, eaten with parathas or rotis or even as a salad ( as all it contains is salt and pepper ). As simple as it may sound, it is one tasty dish and i recommend it to all the mushroom lovers !

Ingredients :

Mushrooms - 5 big 

Onion - 1 medium

Green capsicum - 1 medium

Salt - to taste

Ajwain - 1/2 tsp ( You can even add cumin seeds for a different taste or can add both ajwain and cumin seeds )

And of course our favourite:

Pepper : Use this with a free hand, as this is what adds taste to the dish

Oil - 1 tsp

Recipe :

Slice the onions and capsicum lengthwise. You can even use yellow or red capsicum for a different flavour.

Remove the stems of the mushroom and slice the buttons lengthwise, or in small cubes as you like.

Heat oil in a non stick pan or a kadhai.

Add ajwain seeds, add the onions.

Fry for about 30 seconds and add the capsicum.

Fry for about the minute and then add the mushrooms. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes ( till the mushrooms are half cooked )

Now add the salt and pepper. Now cook uncovered till the water evaporates from the mushroom well.

Tasty- yummy-easy dish is ready :))) Add lemon juice if you like, but i like the taste of pepper. So just salt and pepper as seasoning. You can be as creative and add oregano, cilantro, corriander leaves or mint leaves, or red chilli powder or even green chillies...

Happy Cooking :))

Mutton Curry

Hubby's special : And it was one of those days when hubby says , "Why don't you rest and i will cook today"...Blissssss...
This weekend was one such bliss when hubby wanted to eat meat and decided to cook it himself, and for me he would make egg curry ( me being an eggetarian)...So, i just relaxed with a mug of coffee watching television, and hubby was in the kitchen enjoying the cooking :) Yes, Thankfully he loves to cook...And he does make some awesome curries :)

Coming from the home of die-hard non-vegetarians, he had always seen his mother and even father cook some really awesome dishes. And the ones he remembers and tells me stories about, are when they used to cook in the farms, with the age old stove of coal and mud vessels... Ahhaaa, am sure it would have tasted heaven ! I also remember him keenly watching his mother cook whenever she's making a special dish on the menu... So i guess, half of his work was done with observation and the other half practicing cooking living alone as a bachelor all the years away from home for work !!!

What we did was, when the gravy was cooked, we removed half in another pan and added boiled eggs to it. You can even add paneer or any other vegetables to the gravy if you like. So, the gravy ingredients quantity are according to meat curry and egg curry both together.

 My Twist :  My mother has given me this roasted dry coconut that i normally add to any gravy, curry, or vegetable. It tastes yumm. You can simply grate the coconut and dry roast it on tava/pan and store it in air tight container. It comes in handy to add taste to any dish. It looks like this :

Ingredients :

Meat pieces : 250 gms
For marination - Curd : 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp 
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

For gravy : Onions : 2 large
Dry coconut powder - 2 tbsp
Tomatoes - 2 medium
Green chillies - 2
Corriander powder - 1 tsp
Corriander seeds - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Garlic - 4 cloves
Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Amchur powder - 1/4 tsp
Bay Leaf - 1
Kasuri Methi - 1/2 tsp
Black pepper - 8-10
Cinamon - 1 stick
Cloves - 3-4
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Green cardamom - 3
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp
Corriander leaves - 1/2 cup

Recipe :

Wash the meat pieces well and marinate them with Ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and curd. Keep refrigerated as long as you can. We kept it for 3-4 hours.

Dry roast Corriander seeds, Kasuri Methi, Black Pepper, Cinamon, Cloves, Cumin seeds, Fennel seeds, Green cardamom, Mustard seeds and sesame seeds in a pan. Let it cool and then grind them in a mixer to fine powder. 

Slice the onions lengthwise. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in the same pan and saute the onions and ginger and garlic till brown. Let it cool.

Grind the onions-ginger-garlic to a smooth paste along with the coconut powder.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker. Add a pinch of Asafoetida, Bay leaf and the onion-coconut paste. Let it fry for 2 -3 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes in large pieces and make a paste along with corriander leaves and green chilli. Add this to the onion paste and mix well. Saute for a minute and now add the powder masala that we grinded, along with kashmiri red chilli powder, corriander powder and amchur powder.

Now let this cook on low flame until the masala starts to leave oil ( add water little by little if needed ). This will take around 10-15 minutes. The masala will start sticking to the sides of the vessel. This is when you know it's cooked.

Now is the time to separate the masala if you want to cook any other vegetarian dish or egg curry too. If not, add the meat pieces, salt and water ( as much as you want the gravy ). We added 2 cups for 250 gms of meat. Let it cook for 5-6 whistles.

Yummyliscious Mutton Curry is ready :)

Happy Cooking :)

Linking this recipe to Meat Lovers Month event at Recipes Passion and Haffa Bexi's Kitchen

Egg Biryani : Egg-Mint-o!!!

Jiggi Jikka Jikka : Recently i saw an advertisement of a mouth freshner candy "Mint-O" that is available in mint, eucalyptus and green mango flavours. The commercial is quite funny and claims you will be "Jiggi Jikka" ( LOVED this phrase!! :)) fresh after you pop in the mint!! Mint-o's tag line is "Jab laila ko karna ho impress, khao Mint-o fresh" which means " Eat Mint-o fresh if u want to impress Laila- the girl"....
The ad shows how a village boy after popping Mint-O is able to impress the village girl over a village brat who does everything possible to lure her earlier.
Here is the ad :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgLqutMZW7s

And yes, Mint-O is good :) Not to lure a girl, but just to get that fresh feeling in the mouth after you eat :) Food such as onions, garlic, eggs, meat always leave a foul smell in your mouth... Mouth freshners always work to the rescue... So, pop in a Mint-O after you eat Egg-Mint-O !!!! :))

Egg Biryani : Just the name makes me drool... Yes, am an eggetarian and i love eggs in any form...May it be boiled, scrambled, bhurji, omlette, half fry, egg curry...the list goes on....
I had made Veg biryani earlier, but never tried my hand at egg biryani...I was always under the impression that you only add eggs to the vegetable biryani and your egg biryani is ready!!! But i decided to make egg-biryani giving it a "hint of mint"... so this is mint rice with the egg biryani masala...It was the first time i cooked this and it turns out super delicious... i recommend everyone to try this recipe ( if you love mint )... If you don't like mint, you can make corriander rice or else leave the rice plain. The addition of mint also gives a nice green colour to the biryani. Make the Biryani only when you have time at hand because it does take a little time to cook, but trust me the patience is all worth it ...You can also make this in pressure cooker if you are in a hurry... but i always feel Biryani shouldn't be cooked in a pressure cooker, it should be cooked at its own pace and time. A mud-vessel is the best, but you can even cook it in non stick or any cooking vessel.

Ingredients :

Eggs - 3 ( Hard boiled, peeled and halved )

Basmati rice - 1 cup 

Cloves - 3

Cinnamon - 2 small sticks

Black peppercorns - 6-7

Cardamom - 3

Bay leaf - 1

Fresh corriander leaves - Around 1/2 cup

Fresh Mint leaves - Around 1/2 cup

Desi ghee - 3 tbsp + 1 tbsp

Green chillies - 2

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece

Garlic - 3-4 cloves

Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Onions - 2 medium ( sliced lengthwise )

Tomato - 1 big ( cubed )

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Corriander powder - 1 tsp

Curd - 1/2-3/4 cup ( thick )

Garam masala - 1 tsp ( you can even use readymade biryani masala available in market )

Saffron - a few strands soaked in milk

cashews - 7-8

Salt - to taste

Recipe :

Wash the Basmati rice and soak it in water for half an hour. Drain the water after half an hour.

In a mixer, grind together Garlic ( 1/2 inch piece ), Ginger ( 3-4 cloves ), Green chillies ( 2 chopped ), Mint leaves ( 1/2 cup ) and corriander leaves ( 1/2 cup ). Add little black salt to taste. Grind to a smooth paste( Add only 1 tbsp water if required )

Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan... fry the cashews till golden brown. Drain and remove on a kitchen tissue.

In the same pan, add half of the sliced onions and fry until they are dark brown...Drain and remove on a kitchen tissue.

In the same pan, ( add more ghee if required ), add the whole spices ( Cardamom, cinnamon, black peppercorns and cloves ). Fry them for 10 seconds and then add the mint-paste and fry for another 30 seconds. Remove from flame and keep aside.

Add this mixture to rice and cook the rice uncovered ( on low flame ) along with 1.5-2 cups of water. Cook till the rice is done. The rice should be fluffy and not sticky. So fluff it with a fork after its done.

Heat 1 tbsp ghee in the same pan and add cumin seeds, bay leaf and ginger garlic paste ( 1 tsp ).

Saute for 30 secs and then add the remaining sliced onions.

Saute for a minute more and then add the corriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and fennel seeds. Saute for a while till everything is mixed together well. 

Now add the chopped tomatoes and cook on low flame till the mixture starts to leave oil ( here ghee )...the tomatoes would turn soft and the mixture will leave aroma..Add little water ( spoon by spoon ) if required... Let it cook for about 10 minutes.

Now add the curd and little water ( 1/4 cup ). Let it cook on low flame till the masala becomes thick.

Now add the salt and garam masala. Mix well and cook till done.

Now, in a vessel( Mud or non stick ), make a layer of rice at the bottom, spread the masala on top of it, place the halved eggs on the masala and then again spread the remaining rice on top. Its like a sandwich. 3 layers - top and bottom of rice and in between the masala and eggs. Add a spoonful of ghee on top ( optional). Cover and keep it covered for about an hour ( not on flame ). This helps the Biryani to set and the flavours to blend.

Just before serving, add the saffron milk and fried onions on top and mix in the cashews.

Yummyliscious Egg biryani is ready :)))

Happy Cooking :)

Idli chilli : Yenna Rascala

Indian- Chinese : A common cuisine in India, where chinese food is adapted according to Indian taste. Not only Chinese, but even pizzas and burgers at popular food-joints like Mcdonalds, Pizza Hut or Dominos are made in such a way that they suit the taste of us Indians...Yes, we like spicy food and yes, we love the way we are :))) I remember a lot of my relatives and friends staying abroad, on their visit to India, want to visit Mcdonalds once, to see how the Burger tastes here and are surprised to see the Maharaja Mac and Paneer Salsa wrap..!!! Though they find the burger too spicy, they would still want to eat it with water running down their nose, for the enjoyment of taking back home memories of eating at Indian-Mcdonalds :) 
Similar way, they are surprised to see the Chinese- thelas ( open-carts ) at every nook and corner, selling chinese noodles, manchurian and American Chopsuey. Indian chinese is definately spicy ( lot of spicy sauces ), more vegetables and i think, they add more of ajinomoto ( seasoning ). There are authentic chinese restaurants too which serve the perfect dishes as they should be ( Dimsums served in covered baskets keeping it warm and soft, Noodles served with the right amount of spice and correct seasonings, and always a green tea or a jasmine tea refill throughout your meal).. But just as we love dining here, we also love the thela-wala's taste :)))

South indian-chinese combo : How Indian can you get, that you think of making idli in a chinese style...It's just impossible to think about... we have heard about chilli chicken, paneer chilli or even veg chilli... but Idli chilli? The name itself sounds strange...
Just as Rajnikant ( the south Indian super star who is also THE "God" for many ) is capable of doing any action stunts (To name a few...his cigarette stunts are the most famous, he travels faster than light, he defies gravity and he doesn't need a bullet-proof jacket because he can stop bullets with his mind!). Rajnikant is known for all his unbelievable and impossible action sequences that he acts. So here is a humble tribute to Rajnikant ( Rajni-anna as we call him ), a terrific actor and full-on entertainer!!! Just as he makes impossible things possible, does fusion-acts and it always turns out to be a super combo, we tried making this south indian-chinese combo and turned out to be a hit!!!

My friend had made this recipe for her grandmother who was a strict vegetarian and didn't like paneer...She highly recommended it to me and i decided to give it a try.... Trust me, it turns out to be a great starter recipe or even as a snack... You can even pack this in a tiffin for breakfast or lunch... Its healthy, its yummy and its easy-to-cook :)))

Ingredients :

Idlis - 4

Capsicum - 1 small

Spring onions - 2 

Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 2 ( or according to taste ) - Chopped finely

Corn flour - 1 tbsp

Soya sauce - 1/2 tbsp 

Chilli sauce ( i used the thai chilli sauce, and because i like spicy i added 1 tbsp... You adjust according to taste )

Tomato ketchup - 1 tbsp

Salt - To taste

And of course....

Pepper - According to taste

Oil - to fry

Olive oil - 1 tbsp

Recipe :

Cut each idli into 4 parts and deep fry them till they are golden brown. Remove on a kitchen tissue that takes out excess oil.

Slice the capsicum and spring onions lengthwise. Also use the green leaves of the spring onions, they are healthy and add taste.

Mix 1 tbsp cornflour with 2 tbsp of water well and keep aside.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan. Add ginger garlic paste, and saute for 30 secs. Now add the green chillies and saute for 15 secs. Add the capsicum and spring onions and let them cook for 10 mins. Don't cover the pan. Let it cook in open, stirring occasionally. This maintains the crispiness of the vegetables.

Now add the cornflour- water mixture to this and immediately throw in salt, pepper and mix it all properly.

Now add the soya sauce, tomato ketchup and chilli sauce.

Mix all the ingredients well and let it cook for 1 minute.

Finally, add the idlis and mix well.

Happy Cooking :)

Chilli Chicken : Pan fried fritters

Chicken, hmmmmppphhhhh ??!!!! : Honestly, that is always my reaction when my husband ( who is a die-hard lover of meat) says he wants to eat chicken!!! I have made Palak Chicken( Recipe uploaded earlier ) and 1-2 gravies with chicken before, but i always get nervous when cooking meat... One, as i can never taste it( Being a vegetarian ) and two, as i don't know the recipes well.
I have learnt the marinating part well now... But i always end up thinking, what different should i make now??

So one such weekday, i decided to surprise my hubby by cooking chicken, as there were already some chicken pieces in the freezer. I was browsing through some food channels earlier , to see if they are showing any easy-to-cook chicken recipe... Didn't find any... Then i searched on the internet and found a terrific recipe by my favourite MasterChef Sanjeev Kapoor. This one is dedicated to him. 

I didn't have all the ingredients he mentioned there, so i did a few modifications and it turned out great ( according to hubby dearest )...:)


So, i really love this Mantra " Try and you will always succeed " :).... The fear of not cooking it right gets you nowhere, unless you try, make mistakes, improve on them and try again... And well, it's all worth it to get that contempt look on hubby's face:)))

Ingredients :

( Adjust the quantities according to the chicken pieces you have )

Chicken pieces - 6 small ( Preferred boneless, but i took what i had, so these are with bones )

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Garlic - 3-4 cloves

Salt - to taste

Rice - 1 tbsp

Whole dry red chillies - 6 ( or according to taste )

Curry leaves - 5-6

Oil - 2 tbsp

Yogurt - 3 tbsp

Maida or cornflour - to roll the pieces

Corriander leaves - a few chopped finely and pepper ( to garnish)

Recipe :

Wash the Chicken pieces thoroughly and make slits all over in the pieces ( not too deep ).

Apply salt and 1 tbsp of lemon to the pieces and set aside.

Make a smooth paste of ginger, garlic, curry leaves, red chillies, rice and remaining lemon juice in a grinder.

Add this paste to the yogurt and mix very well.

Apply this yogurt mixture to all the chicken pieces , so it's coated properly.

Now, leave this for marination as long as you can in the fridge. I kept it for 3 hours, but you can even keep it for 4-5 hours.

Remove from the fridge 15 minutes before you are about to cook them.

Heat oil in a pan. Take the maida or cornflour in a plate.

Roll the chicken pieces in maida or cornflour ( so it's coated properly on all sides ) and put them in the pan.

Shallow fry for a minute, roll the pieces over and fry for 7-8 minutes, turning them frequently, so they are browned ( cooked ) on both sides.

Now add a tbsp of water ( or just sprinkle a few drops on top), cover with a tight lid, and cook on low flame till chicken is cooked completely ,(Takes about 4-5 minutes, keep sprinkling water if needed )

Garnish with corriander leaves and don't forget to sprinkle some pepper on top!!! Serve with tomato ketchup or green chutney :) Or they taste great just plain too :)

Happy Cooking :)

Thalipeeth : Maharashtrian Delicacy

A pancake is not a cake??? : I remember an incident when one of my very good friends, who is not much of an experimental foodie ( prefers to stick to the regular diet and cuisine), came out for lunch with me at a popular food-joint in Mumbai. Not understanding half of the ingredients that were mentioned as toppings and fillings in sandwiches and pizzas listed in the menu card, he asked me to order the simplest pizza for him! Pizza Margherita it was !!! After finishing our meal, i asked for the menu card to order some Crepes, that the place was famous for !!! "What's a Crepe?", he asked me... And i said, "They are thin pancakes"...He said ok, and liked the idea of ordering a Hazelnut Crepe with Honey...

And when the Crepe was on the table, his reaction was a "Click" moment... He was surprised/shocked to see a flat, thin batter based cake....

"This looks like an omlette,i thought it was a cake", was his reaction and i almost died there laughing!!! 

I sooo remember this incident that its glued to my memory and everytime i think of it, i can't stop laughing... 

As for my friend, well, now he surely knows what pancakes are, and even tasted a few (banana, chocolate to start with ) and relished them :))

Thalipeeth is a pancake : So Thalipeeth is a typical Maharashtrian dish, often eaten for breakfast or even for dinner. It is a pancake made from a dough. The dough can be prepared in different ways. Besan ( Gram Flour ), Jowar flour, Urad daal powder, wheat flour, rice flour, poha ( puffed rice ).... any 3 or all combinations can be mixed together and it just tastes great and healthy!!! The combination flour is called Bhajani mix which is readily available in market these days or you can get all the flours and mix it yourself. Thalipeeth is a good substitute to the normal poha, upma and bread butter that we have for breakfast! We normally make this for dinner and just 2 each makes our tummy's full due to it's rich nutrients.

Thalipeeth is best served with "Loni" ( White butter, that too homemade ), but if you don't have that, you can serve it with butter on top or even Ghee!! Curd tastes best with Thalipeeth too, some even have it with Tomato Ketchup :)

So here's a quick -to-make recipe of traditional Maharashtrian dish : ( My mom makes her own Bhajani, getting all the grains grinded together from a local flour mill... so i have used that Bhajani mix to make this . It has wheat, jowar and chana daal ). The additions can be done according to personal likings, such as onions, cumin seeds and/or cumin powder, sesame seeds, fennel seeds, corriander powder, green chillies or red chilli powder, black salt or normal salt, pepper, chaat masala, ajwain, ginger-garlic or paste, turmeric powder, garam masala, corriander leaves or even mint leaves or basil....You can make it as you like !!!!

Ingredients :

Bhajani mix : 2 cups

Ajwain : 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds : 1/2 tsp

Green chillies - 2 ( chopped finely )

Corriander powder - 1 tsp

Black salt - to taste

Onion - 2 small ( You can chop finely, but i grated it- Gives a nice and different taste...)

And yes,....

Pepper - Our Favourite!!!! ( Add according to taste )

I normally add 1 tsp sesame seeds and 1/2 tsp saunf ( fennel seeds ), but this one i made in a hurry to pack tiffin for hubby...so forgot to add them both...

Recipe :

Mix together all the ingredients and knead to form a dough. The grated onions will leave water, so dont add water at first as adding too much water will make the dough sticky... First knead all the ingredients and add water slowly ( spoon by spoon ), just enough to knead it all together. It might not form a tough firm dough...

Take around 1/2 tsp of oil now on your palm and knead the dough again applying the oil all over...

Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

Now take a thin plastic sheet or aluminium foil and place a small ball from the dough on it.

Start to flatten it with hand ( if it sticks to your hand, wet your hand with water and flatten again, it wont stick ).

Make it in a round flat bread ( not too thick, not too thin ).

Make 4 small circles in the flattened bread with your finger.

Heat a tava and grease it with oil... 

Gently hold one end of the foil, and take the thalipeeth in your hand by turning it over and remove the foil and place it on the tawa.( You can even place the Thalipeeth , gently place the edges on the tava and then separate the foil.)

Put little oil in each of the circle made and around. 

Cover the Thalipeeth and keep on low flame.

After about 2-3 minutes , remove the lid... If it has started browning from the sides, means it is cooked. Or else put the lid back again and cook on low flame for another minute.

Now, turn it so it gets cooked on the other side too. This time, don't cover it...

Keep turning it over till both sides are brown and cooked.

Serve hot with Ghee, Curd or White Butter :)

If You are Fasting, you can even make these with Sabudana ( Tapioca Pearls )... I will post that recipe sometime later.

Happy Cooking :)

Eggless Chocolate nut cake : Cake-mania

Cakes, Cakes and more cakes : One of the reasons we got microwave this Diwali was to bake!!! Me and Hubby both love homemade cakes... we are not much fans of icing and creamy layered cakes but the spongy fluffy ones, just which can be eaten with tea or coffee or as a snack... Or can even be a dessert with an addition of ice cream.... :)
I had learnt cake making in my college days of Home-Science, and also taken one baking lesson ( on insistence of my friend Ayuushi Agarwal, and thoroughly enjoyed it too ), but that was long back ! Since almost a year i had not baked any cake, and making one was making me nervous... I hope i get all the ingredients right... I hope i don't make it too buttery... I hope i don't make it too powdery... With all these questions in mind, i still got all the ingredients ready and decided to give it a go with a simple egg-less chocolate spongy cake topped with dry fruits and nuts !
And this is how it turned out....

Yes, as much as it looks yummy, it tasted great too... why don't you make one and give it a try??

Ingredients :

All purpose flour ( maida ) - 100 gms 

Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp

Butter - 2 tbsp ( heaped )

Soda water - 1/2 cup

Condensed milk ( milkmaid ) - 1/2 tin ( 1 tin is 200 gms available in market, so calculate accordingly and keep the rest in freezer for future use )

Powdered sugar - 1 tsp

Soda bicarb ( Baking soda ) - 1/2 tsp ( store in fridge when opened )

Baking powder - 1/2 tsp ( store in fridge when opened )

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp ( powder or liquid )

Method :

Preheat oven at 180 degrees. 

Grease a cake tin or any baking dish with butter and dust it with flour ( make sure to remove the extra flour while dusting, otherwise the cake tends to get dry)

Sieve flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder together for 2-3 times so it is very fine.

Beat Butter and condensed milk together... Add sugar and beat again till its fluffy.

Add soda water and dry ingredients ( flour mixture ) alternatively and keep mixing.

After adding soda water , don't keep the mixture out for too long. Put it immediately in the oven.

Pour the batter into the greased cake tin and add the nuts on top. You can even mix the nuts in the batter, but they tend to sink in. Adding them on top gives it an aesthetic appeal too :)

Bake at 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes approx or till it's done. Check with putting a knife in the cake , if it comes out clean it's done. or else bake for some more time :)

Your yummyliscious chocolate delight is ready !!!!

Happy Baking :)

Punjabi Kadhi Pakoras : Kadhi Kadhi???

Kadhi Kadhi ?? : Kadhi in Marathi language means "When"....And this was exactly my state of mind... I wanted to have "Kadhi" since a long time ( It's a thick gravy made out of thinning curd with water, and adding chickpea flour to it ). This is a very popular dish in North India ( it is said that this is a must-have dish in proceedings of a marraige !!!) In Gujrat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, this is a popular dish too but the preparation varies from place to place. In North India, thick gravy is made and pakoras ( fried dumplings ) are added. In Gujrat and Rajasthan, jaggery is added in the preparation and hence the taste is little sweet. Also the consistency is thin compared to the one made in North. It is soup-like consistency and served with rice.

It had been ages i had Kadhi... This is one dish which i didn't know how to make and thought it to be very dificult ( always afraid i wont get the consistency right ). Also not many Restaurants offer this dish, and if they do they don't have the right taste! I enjoyed Kadhi 6 months back when i had gone to the Jaipur city of Rajasthan. That was a nice typical Kadhi served in a thali ( without the pakoras ). Here is what the Thali ( Plate ) looked like at Suraj Restaurant :

But i wanted to have the Kadhi- Gole ( As is known in Maharashtra, gole means GOL- round... so the gole's are round balls dumplings of gram flour ) and as my mom cooked it... I still haven't got a chance to cook or eat it... When i went home in Diwali festival, i had demanded to my mother that i wanted to eat Kadhi- Gole, but she mentioned that Kadhi is not prepared during festival or auspicious occasions. I still don't know the reason for it... Maybe it's superstition that onions and garlic was not eaten during festivals in earlier days. Or maybe Kadhi is known as a dish that is made when no one wants to cook, its that easy!! And during festives, a lot of dishes are supposed to be prepared and eaten....well, if any of you find the real reason behind this, please let me know....

So, recently i saw a post on a Food Forum by a friend Ranii Kaur about Palak Pakoras in Palak Kadhi cooked in typical Punjabi style !!! I had Palak in my fridge anyway and decided to give it a try. I took the pakora recipe from her and made the Kadhi in traditional way as my mother makes it :)) And it turned out super delicious....Served with rice, peanut chutney ( recipe uploaded earlier ) and Kelyachi koshimbir ( Traditional salad recipe of banana ), this tasted heavenly and made our tummy's full :))))

Well, i got to know, that this recipe was taught by her mother, to Ranii. So lets dedicate this article to Ranii's mother... special Thanks to her !!!!

Ingredients :

For Pakoras :

Palak ( Spinach) - 1/2 cup ( Remove the stems, wash and chop finely )

Besan ( Gram flour ) - 3/4 cup

Garlic - 1-2 ( crushed  or grated )

Salt - to taste

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp ( Or you can add green chillies and 1/2 tsp red chilli powder. Adjust according to taste )

Hing ( Asofoetida ) - a pinch

Onions - 1 ( finely chopped or u can grate too. Adding onions is optional )

Ajwain - 1/2 tsp ( optional but i love to add this to pakoras )

Oil - to fry to pakoras

For Kadhi :

Yogurt ( Dahi ) - 1 cup

Besan ( Gram Flour ) -1/4 cup

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds ( Methi ) - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Spinach - 1 cup ( washed and finely chopped )

Dried red chillies - 2

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Ginger - 1 inch ( Grated )

Onion - 1 small ( chopped ) Optional.

Salt - to taste

Recipe :

Mix all the pakora ingredients together in a bowl ( except the oil ). Heat oil in a kadhai and when the oil is hot enough, add small tea spoonful or round balls of the pakora batter and fry till golden brown. Remove the pakoras on a Kitchen tissue to drain out excess oil. Keep them aside.

Take the yogurt in a bowl and whisk it well... Add besan to it and mix well so that no lumps are formed. Now add about 3 cups of water to this...Always remember the ratio of curd:water is 1:3.

Add turmeric powder and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds. When they splutter, add fenugreek seeds and red chillies ( break them into 2 ). Fry for half a minute and then add ginger. When it starts to turn brown, add the onions and fry for about a minute more. Now add the palak and fry on high flame till all the water oozes out from palak ( just for about 1-2 minutes and keep stirring continuosly otherwise it will burn ).

Now add the yogurt mixture to this, let it come to boil...then put the flame to low and let it simmer for 10-15 mins... keep stirring in between.

Lastly, add the red chilli powder... stir well and then add the fried pakoras to this.

Let it simmer ( uncovered ) for another 5-10 minutes. 

Yummy Kadhi -pakoras in Punjabi style are ready... And addition of palak makes it healthy too :)

Happy Cooking :)