India trip

I am leaving for a month of India trip tomorrow Morning. I have couple of functions (parties) to attend at home. I am hopeful that I will be able to  share some of the variety or authentic recipes. Will update you all when I have some photos with me. Till then Enjoy the summer folks!!!

Mixed vegetable raita

Mixed veggies here means, all I added was grated carrot, onion, tomatos and american cucumber. I believe may be I can experiment by adding the deep fried bhendi and boondi  to the raita just before I serve. hmm.... will take that experimentation part later on and here is the recipe I used.

Ingredients
Onions - chopped finely - 1 small or can use even less too
Tomato's - Chopped finely - 1 or more depending on your love to it.
Cucumber - Chopped finely (similar to onions)
2 carrots grated
Yogurt - needed to make raita
Salt - can add from 1/2 - 1 spoon depending on sourness/sweetness of yogurt
For tadka
Oil - 1-2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tea spoon
Asafoetida/hing/Inguva - a pinch or more
urad dal - 1 tea spoon (can add more depending on your how crunchy you want)
Curry leaves - a handful (optional)
Crushed red chillies - 1-2 (lightly fry them either in a small amount of oil or without and crush them nicely in mortar with pestel or in blender if you do not have it). Add it carefully as it might increase the spiciness on how much you add.


Method of preparation
Mix all the raita ingredients. Make tadka by keeping a small bowl on stove and add oil to it. Add mustard seeds and after they splutter add the urad dal , asafoetida and curry leaves. Add the red chilie paste, tadka to the raita mixture and serve it chilled with any rice item like biryani, mint rice, or spinach rice. I would love to have it with roti or plain rice too. Its individual opinion or options... you can try out number of them.

Capsisum Paneer (No onion or No garlic)

I am trying to avoid onion or garlic or any garam masala's on Friday's (if I cook). Whenever I have guests that will be a problem (for me) on having that constraint. So last week when I had guests I experimented this dish and turned out to be good one. Hopefully you will like it too.....

Ingredients
Paneer (scrambled)
Green capsicum
Orange capsicum

Tomatos
Cumin powder
Coriander powder
Red chilli powder
Salt
Oil
Cumin seeds

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. once the oil is heated add cumin seeds. Add onions and stir until they become translucent. Add both capsicums, Tomato's and Salt and cook for couple of minutes until they are done. Add also the remaining masala's (coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder, tumeric - optional). Once the veggies are almost cooked add the scrambled paneer and mix properly. Transfer it to the serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

Grape Tomato Besan Curry

I love cooking with Tomatos. If tomatos are not at home then it is hard for me to decide what to cook. Although I do not use them daily, but I just need there for my personal satisfaction. This tomato's I am talking about are Grape tomato's (smaller version of tomato's). I made this curry as an experiment to go with the plain rice and dal and it came out tasty. This recipe sounds like pitlai but tastes yummy and sour because of the tomatos. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
Grape Tomatos - Chopped into half
Onions (I prefer red onions) - 2 chopped finely
Besan (senagapindi)
Red chilli powder
Salt to taste ( 1 and 1/2 spoon)
Oil - 2-3 spoons
Cumin seeds -  1/2 tea spoon
Chana dal - 1 spoon (can add more if you want crunchiness in between)

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and chana dal. Now add onion pieces. Once onion pieces are nicely fried add tomatos to it. Do not mix more because it can crush the small tomatos. Gently mix in between until you feel the tomatos are cooked (this might take 2-3 minutes). Now add turmeric, red chilli powder, salt to taste. Mix all of them. Add besan slowly to it. because of the water in the tomatos this will immediately become like the curry shown below. But if you feel that the water in tomatos has evoparated, then add 2-3 spoons of water also. Add coriander leaves at the end and transfer it to the serving bowl. Serve hot with rice and dal or just rice or roti too.

Strawberry Banana Milk Shake

Ingredients
Strawberry

Banana
Milk
Cashews (handful or less)
Ice-cream (preferably Vanilla or strawberry ) - optional
Sugar/Honey

Method of preparation

Grind all the above ingredients in a juicer/blender. Serve chilled.