MUSHROOM SANDWICH

Ingredients

1. Sandwich rolls- 2 to 3 nos
2. Garlic-finely chopped- 2 cloves
3. Onion -sliced- 1 small
4. Mushrooms-sliced- 250 gms
5. Soya sauce-1/2 to 1 tsp
6. Black pepper powder-to taste
7. Salt to taste
8. Tomato sliced- 1 large
9. Oil -as required
10. Salad greens-as required

Method
To prepare mushroom filling

• Heat oil in a pan and add garlic and onion.Saute until onion turns translucent.
• Add sliced mushrooms and saute until it turns golden brown ,over a medium flame for about 10 to 15 minutes.
• When it is almost dry add soya sauce,black pepper powder and salt to taste.Cook for few more seconds and allow it to cool a bit.

To prepare grilled tomato

• Heat 1.2 tsp oil in a pan and place the tomato slices in the pan,Cook for about a minute until lightly browned.Flip and brown the other side also.Keep aside until required.

To prepare sandwich

• Heat a large pan and place the sandwich rolls ,cut side down and toast until it turns golden brown.
• Place grilled tomato slices on the bottom half of the rolls and top with salad greens and mushroom filling.(you can also add cheese slices if desired)Cover with the top half of the roll and serve immediately.

Doodhi Ka Halwa (Bottle Gourd Halwa)

Doodhi ka halwa is a variation of gajar ka halwa. Bottle gourd is a one of the favorite vegetable and have very much health benefit. Bottle gourd cooked with milk, sugar and flavor of cardamom powder. Thanks for my lovely mom for teaching me this yummy and irresistible dish. 

Ingredients :

Bottle gourd - 2 cups
Milk  - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Cashew nuts - 4-6
Raisin - a few
Crashed cardamom - a pinch
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method :

Peel and discard the seeds of bottle gourd. Grate the gourd.

Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a pan, fry cashew nut and raisin until they turn brown in colour. Keep them aside.

Now add grated bottle gourd, fry it until raw smell goes stirring continuously. 

Pour in the milk and bring to boil. Let the doodhi cook on medium till the milk is nearly absorbed. Now add sugar and cook it for 10 minutes on a medium flame.

When the halwa become thick then add crushed cardamom and nuts. Stir well. Turn off the gas.

Serve hot or chilled Doodhi Halwa.







Sending this to foodelicious's "Cook Like Mom" event, Jagruti's "Food She loved, I loathed" event, Nivedhanam's "Authentic Indian Sweets" event & "Kid delight - Sweet Treat" and viji's "SYS-W series 4" event

Authentic Indian Sweets & Giveaway @ Nivedhanam

Friends, Sowmya of Nivedhanam organised an event as well as giveaway for her first blog birthday. Do participate here  and win the giveaway.

Lauki Chana Daal Mix (Bottle Gourd Cooked with Bengal Gram)

Bottle gourd is also known as lauki or dudhi is found almost in every household. It is rich in B complex vitamin, minerals like calcium, iron and phosphorus. Lauki helps to lose weight, treatments of blood pressure, and heart diseases. 

Lauki chana daal is a very healthy and tasty dish. it is simple, easy to prepare and almost all ingredients readily available in home. This recipe was taken from my blogger friend Anjana of Maayeka..

Ingredients : 

Bottle gourd - 1/2 of medium size

Bengal gram (chana dal) - 1/2 cup

Tomato - 1, chopped

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Ginger - 1 inch

Sugar - a pinch

Salt to taste

Water as needed

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Tempering ~

Oil - 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Whole green chilli - 1

Curry leaves - 5 to 6

Method : 

Wash and soak the chana dal for 1 hour.

Peel and chopped bottle groud in small diced pieces.

Heat oil in pressure cooker and then add all tempering ingredients in low heat.

When seeds are splutter then add chopped tomato, cook till mushy. 

Now ginger paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt, sugar, chopped lauki, soaked chana dal, stir and mix it well. Add 1/2 cup water into it.

Close the lid and cook in slow flame for 5-6 whistles.

Now open the lid and add lemon juice.

Serve hot with roti, paratha or steamed rice.

Note :

If you need more gravy then add 1 cup of water.

Sending this to viji's "Sys-W Series-4" event, Kitchen Chronicle's "Tried and Tested - Maayeka" hosted by The Big Sweet Tooth

Mushroom Chukka / Chukka Mushroom

             I am a big fan of Mushrooms. I buy a pack and oven roast them with salt and pepper and eat them for my Lunch / Dinner. The recipe here is from my Dad's friend. She makes them whenever I visit her but she uses soya chunks and I made some little changes by cutting down Garammasala and tomatoes and substituting soya chunks with Mushrooms. 

             I was a bit anxious on how it will taste in the end but trust me this is really the best I did with mushrooms. This recipe takes a bit of time as we need to dry the water and get everything to a drier state. 

           The boost-up taste for this chukka is only one pinch of a common ingredient in the end - Guess? Pepper! The whole recipe got a big turn when I added that last pinch of pepper. We had this with curd rice - oh yummy! 

Ingredients:

Button Mushroom - 16oz (450 grams)
Onion - 1 cup (Finely chopped)
Garlic pods - 5 no's (chopped)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tablespoon
Chilli powder - 1-1/4 teaspoons
Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Pepper powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Dry Red chilli - 2 no's
Fennel seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Bay leaf - 2 no's
Curry leaves - 6 no's(I used dry curry leaves)
Oil - 4 Tablespoon
Salt - as needed

Method:

• Take a bowl and add 1 tablespoon of oil, chilli powder, coriander powder,  turmeric powder and mix together to form a paste. add chopped mushrooms and coat this paste completely.

• Heat remaining oil in a pan and add Fennel seeds, Red chilli, Bay leaf and saute.

• Add chopped garlic and saute to golden colour.

• Add onion and saute to golden brown. add ginger garlic paste and saute until the raw smell goes off.

• Add the mushrooms coated to this pan with required salt and let it cook (please do not sprinkle water as mushrooms tend to loose water by itself while getting cooked).

• When the mushrooms oozes water add curry leaves and pepper powder.

• Saute until it evaporates the water and becomes dry (Masala should get coated on mushrooms completely).

• Switch off and serve them as side for any rice or roti.

Lau Bori (Bottle Gourd with Fried Lentil Dumpling )

Lau bori is  simple easy to cook Bengali spicy vegetarian dish. It is one of the most common recipes of lau from Bengali cuisine. I made it simple, just the way my mom makes it and served with hot steamed rice. 

Ingredients :

Bottle Gourd - 1, peeled and cut into thin small pieces
Bori (dried lentil dumpling) - 1/2 cup
Green chilli  - 2, slit
Tomato - 1, chopped
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 tbsp, freshly crushed
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Bay leaves - 1 no.
Oil - 1 tbsp
Wheat flour - 1 tbsp, dissolved into 1/2 water
Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp for garnishing

Method :  

Heat oil in a kadai, fry the dried bori till brown and keep aside.

Add bay leave and cumin seeds to the oil. When the seeds are splutters add green chilli and chopped tomato, cook the tomato well till mushy.

Now add bottle gourd pieces, salt, sugar, turmeric, red chilli and cumin powder, stir well.

Bottle gourd should release enough water to cook if not then add a cup of water, cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes in low heat.

Check the vegetable, add wheat flour mix and stir well.

Check seasoning and adjust salt.

Finally add fried bori and fold well.

Transfer to a serving bowl and crumble the fried bori on top.

Garnishing with fresh coriander leaves..



Sending this to Viji's "SYS-W series-4" event, Jagruti's "Food She Loved, I loathed" event, Foodelicious's "Cook Like Mom" event

Classic Banana Bread

            

            After I baked Low fat Banana Muffins for my hubby's breakfast, he really started liking the idea of a 'quick' breakfast. He wants me to bake them and have them stored so he doesn't have to mix cereal and milk in a bowl....I don't mind as well because I can sleep with my daughter for a loooooonnngggg time ;).

           This time I did not have my paper liner's in stock so I baked banana bread with no compromises on butter and other ingredients. Fill them in a muffin pan with liners, then your classic banana muffins are ready too...Choice is our's.

           This version was more tasty, creamy and sweet. One thick slice with a cup of coffee was quite filling. I cant wait to try them in small muffin molds so that they are more easy and handy. We can store them for a week(I did this) in an air tight container. The outer crust might be a bit hard but it gets soft after cooling down. You will sure love them for a snack.

Ingredients:

Wet Ingredients:
Banana - 4 no's (over ripe)
Butter - 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup or 1 stick - in room temperature)
Egg - 2 no's (in room temperature)
Milk - 1/8 cup
Vanilla Extract / Almond Extract - 1 teaspoon

Dry Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour / Maida - 2 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1/4 teaspoon
Raisins or mixed nuts- 2 tablespoons (to decorate but if you wish to mix with batter then use 1/2 cup)


Method:

• In a bowl add all the dry ingredients(except raisins or nuts) and mix well.

• In another bowl beat egg with vanilla extract. Add butter (Melted and cooled is also accepted) and mix well.

• Mash the banana's and mix the egg mixture into it.

• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients bowl and mix. Add milk and bring everything together(if you prefer to add nuts/raisins to the batter then this is the time).

• Grease and flour your loaf pan and add the batter into it and pat the sides to get it set. Remember to fill only 3/4th of your baking pan(I did a mistake here by filling fully) so that bread raises up very well and remains soft. Spread raisins or nuts on top.

• Pre-heat oven to 350'F for 5 minutes and place the loaf pan in the middle and bake for 60-65 minutes or until the wooden toothpick comes out clean(it took 65 minutes exactly for me).

• Remove and cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes and then move to cooling rack.

• Slice and serve for your breakfast or teatime :).

Aam Panna (Raw Mango Refreshing Cooler)

Aam panna is a very healthy tangy summer cooler made with raw mango pulp and spices like roasted cumin seeds and rock salt which gives you great aroma to it. Pulp of raw mango usually extracted after the whole mango which gives wonderful smoky flavor to the drink. It is a very easy prepared perfect drink to beat the heat in summer.

Ingredients :

Mango - 3, medium
Sugar as per taste
Roasted cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Rock salt - 1 tsp

Method :

Roasted the whole green mango and cool it completely. Now peel off the skin and squeeze out the pulp from the seeds in a bowl.

Add mango pulp, 1/2 cup chilled water, sugar, rock salt, roasted cumin powder in a blender and blend it. 

Take it in a glass and add ice cube or crushed ice & Serve chilled.

Sending this to Indrani's "Spotlight : Summer Fruit" event, Guru's cooking giveaway Summer'13 Drinks & Desserts, Foodelicious's "Only chilled or frozen dessert" event