Cilantro Salsa

Sorry readers, I have been out almost all 2018. But here I am - promising myself to keep up and keep busy myself and update my recipes I try whether self learnt or from some other website to keep posting here.

One of the recipes I liked from my work cafeteria and I love making it whenever I have fresh cilantro and here it is and simple one

Ingredients
Cilantro
Jalepeno/green chillies
Tomato
Olive Oil
Salt

Method of preparation
- Blend the above ingredients together in a blender and enjoy it

Usage
- you can have it like chutney with white rice
- Have it as an appetizer along with chips or
- use it as a spread on sandwiches.

Note
- We need only 1/2 tea spoon or so of olive oil. Do not need much unless quantity is too much
- Jalepenos or green chillies vary on how much spiciness you would like to have. 

Veggie Kabobs (BBQ)

Remembering hot grilled kabobs on a winter day. This post was supposed to go during summer. but I got a little lazy but what better time it is than a chilled day and remembering about hot grilled healthy stuff.

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Now today the day is really going to be hot and humid and I felt that, today is the day this should be published. well simple to make and a healthy option too, especially for picky eaters also. This can be your main dish, side dish or just a snack too. So try it out when you get time. and be creative :). Thank you to my friend Sharmila, who make it at our home, Yumm.....

As you all might have observed that any BBQ or grilling takes hours of soaking veggies in the sauce/syrup. Well unlike that, this will take just few minutes. 

Ingredients

Green Pepper

Red pepper

Red onions

Zucchini

Paneer (make sure you get the firm paneer, otherwise they break easily while we slide). I will post the brand and the name of the paneer I used later. 

Yogurt

Shan Kabob Masala 

Method of preparation

Mix the yogurt with the kabob masala. Adjust the spices accordingly, you can add more red chilli powder, salt etc as you needed. Now chop the veggies almost same size, cubes/rectangles, so that when we grill them, everything is evenly cooked. Soak the veggies in the yogurt mixture and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes. You can leave it for some more time inside, or take them out and keep it.

Now take the skewers and arrange it according to you taste. Put it on the grill and turn it slowly when one side is done. Your veggie kabobs are ready to be yumm yumm in your tumm tumm :). 

Some more visual feast. Enjoy !!!!

Aloo Bajji's/ Potato Fritters

I am sure every kid will love it..... even  lot of elders too, except when they are watching their weight or trying to look for healthy stuff. I can be sure that once in a while it is ok to have some fun stuff. Especially food like bajjis. I remember that one of my husband's uncle make awesome potato bajji's. Although these are not that range.. but are definitely worth and try and easy and simple to use. When there's a party or somebody coming over for chai.... these are best company. So no more talking only reciping...... haha

Ingredients

Potato - Peeled and chopped into thin slices ( you can use a mandolin to do that, but I find it easier and thinner when done with hand and knife :) )

Besan (Chick pea flour)

Red chilli powder

Salt to taste

Ajwain/Jeera - little bit

Water  - to mix the batter

Oil to deep fry

Sooji (Semolina ) - 1-2 spoons (this brings the crispy nature of fritters)

Method of preparation

Mix besan, red chilli powder, salt and little jeera (I used jeera powder). Add water to it and mix it like a paste (the consistency should be little thin than the paste so that it sticks to the potato pieces when dipped but not too thick that it coats like a thick layer).

Dip the potato pieces in the besan mixture made above. make sure there is batter on both sides of the potato  and put it in the hot oil. 

Deep fry till it is lightly golden and drain it on a paper tissue. Serve hot with any sauce or ketchup. Enjoy !!!

Bread Pakoda

On a weekend, my husband was asking me to make break pakoda. He had some specifications in mind on how it should be. He studied in BITS pilani and he was remembering the bread pakoda's from there. So he was asking me not to dip the bread in water, but do it just like the regular pakoda. I made it and it came out really delicious that I had to try it one more time just for taking photos and sharing with you all. So here goes the recipe that I used for bread pakoda's.

Ingredients
Bread - cut corners of bread and cut them in half
Batter:
Besan (Senagapindi)
Salt to taste
Jeera powder - a pinch
Red chilli powder

Stuffing Curry:
Onion - 1 small, chopped finely
Potatos - Boiled, Peeled and chopped ( I used 5 potatos)
Turmeric - 1/2 tea spoon
Oil - 2 spoons
Jeera - 1/2 tea spoon
Ginger - very small piece - grated
Green chillies - depends on your taste - finely chopped (I used 3 very hot green chillies)
Salt to taste

Method of preparation
Stuffing preparation:
1. Once potato's are ready, take a kadai and add oil to it. Let it heat up and then add jeera to it. Adding Ginger to it is optional. But if you like to make aloo bonda with left over Aloo curry, then I would suggest add ginger. Add green chillies also at this time.
2. Add the onions and let it fry till translucent. Then add  turmeric, Salt to taste and lastly potatos. Mix them nicely. Potato's might look like they are mashed but it will still taste good. Your stuffing curry is ready.

 Batter preparation:
Mix all the ingredients of batter like a thick one. The batter should be as though you are preparing for bonda. Loosely mixed batter may not stick to the bread properly and may result in soaking up excessive oil, which in turn might change its taste.

Pakoda preparation:
Take two bread slices. Apply water with finger to the edges. Add some curry in the middle of bread. Now take another slice of bread and apply water to the edges again. Put the water applied bread on the top of stuffed bread. press gently with your fingers on the edges. Make sure the curry is not popping out or the bread is not wide open .

Now take the bread sandwiched and dip it in the besan mixture. Make sure the besan mixture is on all the sides and slowly drop it in hot oil (on medium flame). Fry it till it turns slightly golden brown

 Take the pakoda's out from the oil and drain it on a paper towel, to loose the excessive oil. Serve it with your favorite sause. I tried it with both green chilli as well as hot sause and it tasted good.

Note/Suggestions:
1: I tried to make it in triagle shape, but frankly speaking it did not turn out well as in triangle shaped pakoda's it was hard to stuff good amount of sabji and then closing it on corners was a big task. I believe it will require a little effort or little practice at least. So for starters, I would suggest stick with rectangular pakoda's.
2: If Curry is left over, then you can have it either with roti or poori or you can do some aloo bonda with same curry. I tried twice and they came out wonderful.
3: You can also add grated carrot to it. I did not get a chance to try it yet. but it will be healthy and tasty too. But make sure the carrot is properly cooked, before adding the final step of potato's.
4:If you want a bigger version of pakoda's with more stuffing then use the big slices instead of cutting the bread slices to half. I can guarantee, one or two will definitely fill your tummy.
5: If you want even more crunchier top layer, then I would suggest add a spoon of sooji or a pinch of baking powder to besan mixture. Adding either of above will make the top layer crunchy.

Try this and let me know, how it came out. Good Luck and hope you like it.

cottage cheese bajjis/fritters

I literally mean cottage cheese for this recipe. On the thanks giving long weekend I got a small pack of cottage cheese assuming it to be similar to our paneer(Indian version of cottage cheese). I wanted to try out some paneer recipe that weekend. But as I opened the box I was disappointed to see how the cottage cheese is. It was a little liquid and probably a version of yogurt I felt. Not knowing on what to do with it, I left it in the refridgerator for it to expire and then I can throw it away. Luckily on one weekend, one of our friends/relatives prepared cottage cheese fritters, whose taste is very good. Out of excitement I asked about how she made it. As it was snowing this weekend and nothing else to do while kids were sleeping, I said to myself that I would give it a try. My elder son who is 22 months old loved them and ate them very nicely along with chutney. The taste of the bajjis/fritters was extremely good yummy and I can guarantee that kids are going to love it ofcourse your whole family also. So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients
Cottage cheese
All purpose flour
Sooji also called bombai ravva
green chillies
coriander
Oil for deep fry
Salt to taste

Method of preparation
1) Mix cottage cheese green chillies, coriander, salt and slowly add all purpose flour(maida) to it so that it becomes slightly dough type. Also add sooji little bit while mixing.

2) Take a kadai/wok and add oil to it. Let it heat and then slowly drop small parts of above mixture. Deep fry them till golden yellow.



3) Drain them on a paper towel so that any extra oil is squeezed away from top and serve it with any chutney. Here I served it with Coriander, Peanut, Chana dalia chutney.



INFO:
1)Sooji gives crispy taste to the bajjis, but beware do not add more of it as it might ruin the taste of total bajjis. Just add enough so that the bajjis crispy. I used 5 spoons of sooji for a small container of cottage cheese. So use your judgement on using it.
2) Make sure you add less salt than needed. these bajjis can easily have good taste with less salt. taste the bajji by deep frying one and then add any extra salt needed.
3) Remove the cottage cheese out before 1/2 - 1 hour of preparation so that any ice in it will be turned to water.
4) I can guarantee that you can even try these with regular paneer also but for paneer since all the water is removed, you might have to add good amount of water and make it like pakodi bajji mix.

Pesaru pappu garelu/Moong dal fritters

We made this for our girl's first batukamma. It is easy tasty to make it. So here goes the recipe:
Ingredients
Pesaru pappu (Moong dal)
Onions chopped small
Ginger, garlic, Green chillies grinded
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry
Method of preparation
1. Soak moong dal for an hour or two. and then coarsely grind it.
2. Once it is grinded coarsely add ginger, garlic and green chilli paste along with salt to taste.
3. Take a cover (plastic or polythene) and wet it a little bit with water. Take small amount of mixture and press it to make it round shape with hand. Then leave that round shape slowly in hot oil and deep fry them.
4. Remove it and serve them along with any chutney or ketchup. Sprinkle chat masala if required for added taste.


Note:Sorry about the confusion on using minapa pappu in title instead of pesaru pappu. Thank you for identifying the wrong wording.

Pav Bhaji

This is a very famous, healthy and lovely item of India. I love this item and do it quite often at home. Ofcourse, the mazaa of eating it on the chat place is totally different experiance. Now-a-days they also do serve this as an appetizer at marriages. So here goes the recipe I use.

Ingredients
Pav/Bread - Toasted in butter or Ghee
Onions
Oil
Tomatos
Pav Bhaji Masala (I love everest masala, but if not available then I use Badshah)
Salt to taste
Red Chilli Powder

Vegetables I used:
Cabbage (Very less)
Cauliflower
Potato
Peas
Carrot
Green Beans (if possible)

Things to add from top or garnish
Tamarind chutney
Curd
Onions Chopped (very small)
Lime/Lime Juice
Kothimeeru (Coriander)

Method of preparation
1. Heat all the vegetables in a pressure cooker/ or any other way you like by adding water.

2. Strain the water and keep vegetables aside. (you can save some water for later use in the pav bhaji. The water from which is from this is very healthy, since it has all the healthy content like proteins and vitamins.)



3. Put a bowl or kadai on stove top and add a little oil to it.

4. Add Onions and after they turn golden brown add tomato's to it.


5. Add the Pav bhaji masala, Salt and red chilli powder according to your taste. (Add extra even for the vegetables that you are going to mix). Spices can be adjusted to your taste at any point from here, until you switch off the stove.


6. Add the cooked vegetables to above and mash them with masher.


7. After the ingredients are mixed up well, adjust the spices.


Toasting the bread:





Serve in a plate with a little curd and tamarind chutney on it. Also spread little lime juice and onions and garnish with coriander before serving. Serve with Pav that is toasted with butter or ghee.



Have it when it is hot. It tastes superb.... almost equal to tela taste

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients
All purpose floor(Maida)
Corn Floor
Cauliflower(Gobi)
Onions
Ginger Garlic and Green Chilli Paste
Tomato Ketchup
Soy Sauce
Capsicum - chopped lengthwise(optional)
Garlic Slices (Optional)

Method of preparation
1. Make the cauliflower into small florets. put the florets in water and Microwave it, until they are half cooked.

2. Mix the all purpose floor, corn floor(very less quantity), Ginger Garlic and chilli paste and Salt in a bowl
(Note: More quantity of the corn floor makes it much crispy).

3. Make the above mixture a batter by adding water.

4.Heat Oil in a deep pan. Dip the Cauliflower in the above batter and deep fry until they are golden brown.



5. Take another vessel/pan. Put a small quantity of oil and let it heat.

6. Add the onions(long cut slices), capcicum(long cut slices),Garlic (long cut) and Chilli(long cut) and fry it for some time.



7. Add Soyasause and Tomato Ketchup to the above. Mix it well.




8. Add the Florets to the above, and toss. Garnish it with the Spring onions.

Tasty Gobi Manchurian is ready. Serve hot as appetizer along with your favourite red or green sause.

Onion Pakodi/Pakora

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR....


Onion Pakora is my potluck item for the New Year Party. Simple to make and some tips to make it real good. Add a little bit of soda when making for a slightly big number of people.



Ingredients

Onions - Chopped lengthwise
chickpea floor- (Besan, Senagapindi(Telugu))
Curry Leaves- (Kadipatta, Karivepaku(Telugu)
Green Chillies - (depending upon your spice taste)
Red Chilli Powder
Salt to Taste
Soda - (optional, a pinch of it)


Method of Preparation
1. Chop the onions and add salt to it. Keep aside for 10-15 minutes.

2. Then make the onions seperate by mixing it with hand. (Since we added salt at the first step, the onions will have some water in it).

3. Now add the green chillies, Curry Leaves, red chilli powder. Mix it. Also add besan to it by spreading the floor. (Do not mix more besan). If required add very little water.

4.In the meanwhile take a kadai/pan and pour oil in it. Let the oil become heat.

5. After the oil is hot, then start adding the mixture prepared at step 3 slowly. Spread it in the oil so that the mixture is as thin as possible. This gives crispy as well as good taste to it.

6. The mixture will turn a little brown, then remove it from the oil and put it on a paper towel.
7. Arrange it in a plate or tray and serve hot.




Tips
Before serving, spread amchur powder/chat powder on the top pakoras. You can also spread (arrange) the deep fried green chillies and peanuts on top.

Time to cook: Depends on Quantity and varies from 10-15 minutes to 1 hour for large quantities.

Cabbage Pakora (Pakodi)

Ingredients:
Cabbage - cut into small pieces
Besan(Chick Pea floor)
Turmeric
Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
Chilli Powder
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Method of Preparation:
Add all the above ingredients thoroughly and make it a thick paste with little bit of water. Keep a deep vessel on stove and pour oil in it. Let the oil heat. Put the above mixture in small chuncks in the oil. Deep fry them, you will see color changing then turn it around. let the color change on the other side too. Take it out from the oil and place it on the kichen tissue paper, to absorb the extra oil. You can serve this with ketchup or any chutney.

Note: To know if the oil is heat or not, just put a pinch of the above mixture in it. If the oil is heated then it will immediately come up with color changing slowly.