Idli Podi (With Chickpea and Groundnut)

             Making a little change in a dish leads to different taste. i tried this idli podi when i was out of some regular ingredients....woohoo alternatives work.



Ingredients: 

Urad dhal - 1/2 cup

Chickpea - 1/2 cup

Roasted Groundnut - 1/4 cup

Black sesame seeds - 1 tablespoon

Coconut oil - 1 tablespoon

Dry red chilli - 8 numbers

Asafoetida - 1/2 inch chunk or 1/2 teaspoon powder

Fresh Garlic pods -  6 pods

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Heat Coconut oil in a kadai.
• Reduce the flame to medium.
• Add 1/2 cup of urad dhal,1/2 cup of chickpea, 1/4 cup of groundnut and roast them to light brown(we can smell them roasting).
• Now add dry red chilli, sesame seeds, asafoetida and garlic pods to the same.
• Roast everything and keep stiring so that nothing gets burned.
• switch off the stove and move the kadai and let it cool down to room temperature.
• Add salt and grind them roughly (like rava or sooji granuels) in a mixer.
• All set side for your idli or dosa.                                                                              

Chickpea,Groundnut,Urad dhal

Coconut oil,Sesame seeds,Dry red chilli,Garlic pods,Asafoetida

Heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a kadai

Add 1/2 cup of Urad dhal

Add 1/2 cup of chickpea

Add 1/4 cup of ground nut and roast them to light brown(we can smell them roasting).

Add 6 pods of garlic,1 tbsp of sesame seeds, 8 dry red chilli, 1/2 tsp of asafoetida

Roast them without burning

Add required salt and grind them roughly(like rava granules) in a mixer

Add required ghee or oil while serving with idli or dosa

QUICK TAVA RICE

Recipe source:Tarladalal.com
You can find the recipe here
You can also watch the video( in hindi) here

Ingredients

1. Cooked basmati rice- 2 cups
2. Whole Kashmiri red chilies- 3 nos
3. Garlic- 3 cloves
4. Water-1 tsp
5. Onion(sliced finely)- 1/2 cup
6. Capsicum( sliced finely)-1/2 cup
7. Tomato(chopped)-1 cup
8. Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
9. Yogurt- 2 tbsp
10. Salt to taste

Method

• Combine whole red chilies ,garlic and 1 tsp water and grind to form a smooth paste.Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a non stick pan,add onion and saute for a minute.
• Now add the chili -garlic paste and saute for almost 30 seconds on a medium flame.
• Add capsicum,tomato,turmeric powder,salt, yogurt and mix well.Cook for a minute.
• Now add the rice and cook for another 2 minutes,mixing well in between.
• Serve with raitha.

Garlic Naan

Naan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread. Naan", a well-known name in Indian cooking, is a one kind of flatbread that is appreciated all around the world. Soft, tender and buttered, hot Tandoori Naan is a vital part of bread served in marriages. Naan can be made with several different variations, but I bet every one loves a bite of Garlic Naan! It pairs well with any kind of Indian curry.

A typical naan recipe involves mixing white flour with salt, a yeast culture, and enough yogurt to make a smooth, elastic dough. The dough is kneaded for a few minutes, and then set aside to rise for a few hours. Once risen, the dough is divided into balls,which are flattened and cooked in a tandoor, or clay oven but I make naan in my normal gas oven.

 

Ingredients :

Yeast - 1 tsp
Warm water - 2 tbsp
Sugar -  1 tsp

Mix sugar with warm water. Add yeast and keep aside for 25 minutes ( cover, keep in warm place ) until completely dissolves.

 For the dough ~

Plain flour ( maida ) - 1 and 1/2 cup
warm milk - 4 tbsp
Diluted yeast
Curd / yogurt - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves - 2 tsp chopped
Garlic - 4 tsp finely chopped

Method :

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl; add yeast mixture, sugar and curd. Make a soft and elastic dough with warm milk.

Place the dough in an airtight container for about 1-2 hours or until the dough is doubled in size.

Divide the dough into four equal portions. Roll them into balls and gently flatten each ball with a rolling pin to give a round chapati like shape. Then stretch on one side to form oval shaped naan ( or you can make round shape ). Spread 1/2 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves and finely chopped garlic and press lightly on top of each prepared naan.

Heat an iron tawa ( heavy based frying pan ) until hot.

Reduce heat to medium and cook naan on both sides, ( one naan at a time ) until change in the light brown color and nice aroma ). Do not fry on high heat.

Serve hot with Chicken chaap and salad...

Sending this recipe to Divya's "Love Lock Series - Bread", Radhika's "Let's cook#17~ Bread" and Indrani's "Spotlight : Rice/Rotis/Pulao/Puri" event





Baked Vegetable & Vermicelli Spring Roll

Spring rolls is popular snack/appetizer in Chinese. Spring rolls are always a big hit at parties, but they are usually deep-fried and high in fat. These spring rolls are versatile as you can make them out of shrimps, crab, chicken or even veggies. Usually, spring rolls are deep fried but we tried baked version for the challenge "Fried to Fav" hosted by Nupur of UK Rasoi.The best thing about them is they are very healthy and crispy. They are crispy without the added calories of frying.

Ingredients :

For the wrapper:

Wheat flour ~ 1/2 cup
All purpose flour ~1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil 1 tsp
Baking soda a pinch
Water as per need

For the filling:

Vegetables ~ 1 cup (carrots, cabbage, beans, capsicum)
Vermicelli ~ 1/3 cup (cook it according to directions)
Salt to taste
Soya sauce ~1 tsp
Tomato sauce ~ 1 tsp
Oil 1 tbsp

Method :


Mix all the wrapper ingredients to make a nice soft dough and leave it aside for about 1 hour.

Chopped all the vegetables. Keep aside.

Heat the oil is a pan, add the beans,cabbage,carrots and capsicum, saute them until soft with salt to taste.

Add the cooked vermicelli and soya sauce and stir in with all the vegetables, leave this filling to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200C and grease a baking tray.

Pinch a small ball of dough and roll it as thin as you can (as for a chapati). Now place 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture in a spring roll sheet with any one of its corners facing you.

Place a wrapper with one of the corners facing you. Spread 2 tsp of the filling across the wrapper from left to right and fold the left and right corners toward the middle. Fold the front corner toward the back and roll up the spring roll firmly. Just before rolling up the last of the wrapper dip your fingers into the water and wet the last corner to seal the spring roll. Transfer to baking sheet. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.

Place rolls seam side down on tray and brush surface lightly with oil.

Bake the spring rolls at 200C for about 20 minutes on each side or until the spring rolls are golden brown.

Serve hot with tomato sauce....

Note :

You can freeze your spring rolls at this point if you wish to store them for later use. Place in a ziplock bag, label and date. Use within 1 week.


Sending this to Nupurs "Fried to Fav" event, The Pumpkin farm's "Bake Feast" and "Kids Delight", Surabhi's "Let's Party - Go Bake It", Radhika's "I Love Baking#6" and Srivalli's "Microwave Easy Cooking - Simple and Easy All Time Snacks" hosted by Smitha's



VEGAN DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES ( Eggless and fat free)

Recipe source: Gazing in
You can find the original recipe here

Ingredients

1. Pumpkin puree- 1 cup
2. Sugar-1/2 cup
3. Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
4. All purpose flour- 3/4 cup
5. Cocoa powder-1/3 cup
6. Baking powder- 1 1/2 tsp
7. Baking soda-1/2 tsp
8. Salt-1/4 tsp
9. Semi sweet chocolate chips- 1/2 cup

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 deg C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• In a mixing bowl add pumpkin puree,sugar and vanilla extract and mix well.
• In another bowl whisk together flour,cocoa powder,baking powder,baking soda and salt.
• Add pumpkin mixture to this and mix until combined.
• Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Pour this into the prepared baking tray and level it with a spatula ,bake for about 18 to 20 minutes.
• Let it cool completely before cutting
• Dust the brownie with icing sugar and serve.

Note: *For best results use within 24 hours.
          * This brownie is just moderately sweet ,you can add a few tablespoons more of sugar if required.
          *The original recipe calls for 2 tsp of baking powder,but i added only 1 1/2 tsp.

Lassiappi / Apple lassi

            I always make excuses when I needed to complete the fruits inside the fridge, but also feel guilty to throw them into the waste basket. Then I felt the best thing would be making juice and having them in no time... though I know I will be losing nutrients a bit.

Ingredients:

Fat free yogurt or home made or full fat - 2 cups
Cold Water - 1/2 cup
Apple(Cubed small) - 2 cups
Sugar - 1/4 cup

Method:

1. Add diced apple to a mixer and make a fine paste.
2. Take 2 cups of fat free yogurt, 1/2 cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar and blend them for 30 seconds(using seperate mixer to blend these contents helps to make the yogurt smooth and fluffy)
3. Add the yogurt mix to the apple paste and blend them for 30 seconds.
4. Lassiappi is ready to serve.

 

Add diced apple to the mixer and make a fine paste.

Add whisked yogurt to another mixer.

Add 1/2 cup of cold water to the yogurt.

Add 1/4 cup of sugar (Quantity increase depends on your sweet tooth) and run the mixer for 30 seconds.

Add the yogurt mix to the apple paste and run the mixer for 30 seconds.

The lassi appears thick with little red spots of apple skin...it adds texture so straining is not necessary.

Well here goes your final output :)