Bhare Bhare Aloo

A lazy evening with iffy weather, you really don't feel like doing much. But you always feel in such weather you should have a nice fulsome snack. That's when mind starts thinking about something that may take zero effort but taste good and also make your tummy satisfied.
Some days back I had gone to Barnes and Nobles and with my daughter and was browsing a cook book, when I saw a recipe. After reading it I realized that only effort you would need is mixing the stuffing. Rest all is done by oven. I kept that in back of my mind that I may try it when I would be lazy and today was the day. I couldn't believe that such a simple arrangement can taste so heavenly.

So here it is how I made and all you need is

Potato. 4
For Stuffing
Avocado. 1 chopped

Tomato. 1 chopped
Onion. 1 small chopped
Corn. 1/2 cup
Lemon 1 spoon
Salt a pinch
Sugar. 1/2 spoon
Black pepper. a pinch
Chillies. 4-5 finely chopped

Pre heat oven at 415 F. And place potato directly in oven for about an hour.
Mix all ingredients for stuffing. Once potatoes are done , remove from oven slit it and fill it with stuffings. If you want you can put cheese or sour cream but I liked it as it is .

Scoop and eat in a nice cost blanket with a book in hand. Can't have better evening :)

Veg Grilled Sandwich

Veg. Grilled sandwich – whenever the thought strike, “Cool Joint” is the name that first rings in my mind. I loved those days in Bangalore when we would go to cool joint and have their veg grilled which would be triple layer filled with all the good taste. After coming here I always wished that that we could ever have such yummy grilled sandwiches.
Few days back my husband was on cooking spree (good for me). He had Veg grilled sandwich in his menu for yesterday. But after three days his enthusiasm for cooking was all watered down and it circled back to me.
I thought of searching a recipe on net of how cool joint sandwiches are made. But he insisted that just make whatever I could and not spend time over net. So I tried to think how the sandwich looked and tasted. It has been long time I have tasted those but I still have vague memory of how it looked and tasted so there started my experiment of Veg. grilled.


Bread – 12 slices

For grilled veggies
Carrot, Cabbage and Bell Pepper (shredded) – about a cup
A pinch of ginger shred
½ tea spoon oil
Dash of Salt and Black pepper

Rest of ingredients
Potato 2 boiled / peeled and cut in slices
Cucumber peeled and cut in slices
Butter to spread
Cheese slices – 4 (one for each sandwich)
Chutney – 8 to 10 spoons
(Grind mint (10-12 leaves), Cilantro ½ bunch, Chilies (5-6) and Salt without adding water. Add 3 to 4 spoon curd to give consistency)

Assembly:
1. Prepare grilled by putting oil in a pan and adding all shredded veggies and salt and pepper and sauté on high heat for 1-2 minutes.

2. Apply Chutney generously on two slices of bread.
3. Fill in the grilled veggies between the slices.
4. Apply butter on one (top) side of the filled bread.
5. Spread potato and cucumber slices
6. Place a cheese slice.

7. Apply butter on another slice and cover it over cheese.
8. Now heat a griddle/ pan apply butter on both sides of bread and grill it both sides for about a minute.

The experiment was a hit. It felt it tasted the same as cool joint but my hubby was sweet he commented it was even better. Thanks for the comment!!

I hope all those who are away from Bangalore and miss Cool Joint sandwiches will definitely love this :)

Gajar (Carrot) Halwa

A mouth watering sweet Carrot Halwa. It very healthy especially for kids who are very picky about the veggies.

Ingredients

Carrots - 1/2 kg

Milk - 1 and 1/2 cups

Sugar - 6 - 8 spoons

Ghee - 2 to 3 spoons.

Process

1. Peel the carrots and cut in big chunks

2. Grind the carrots with milk.

3. In a pan but the carrot and milk mixture.

4. Let it cook in slow flame till all water evaporates, stirring occasionally. This process make take about 2 hours. (I do all of my other work or watch a movie while making halwa).

5. Once done add sugar and stir for another 5 - 10 minutes ...again occasionally.

6. Now add ghee and stir for another 5-10 minutes.

7. Halwa is ready.

It tastes very good with Gulab Jamun, Ice Cream. I usually make Halwa in big batches as it stays fresh in refrigerator for weeks.

Rajasthani Gaate

Another in Rajasthani series is Gatte. It is made from most common ingredient used in this cuisine Gram Floor , Curd. It is a perfect dish for those lazy days when you don't want to go out to get some fresh vegetables. They can be served with Roti , Poori or Rice.

Ingredients :

For Gaate

Gram Flour/ Besan 1 cup

Curd to knead

Salt to taste

Turmeric 1 spn

Ajwain Seeds 1 spn

Red Chilli powder 1 spn

Dhaniya powder 1 spn

Aamchur powder 1 spn

Oil 1 spn

For Curry

Curd 1 cup

Salt to taste

Turmeric 1 spn

Ajwain Seeds 1 spn

Red Chilli powder 1 spn

Dhaniya powder 1 spn

Oil 2 spn

Cumin seeds 1 spn

hing pinch

Process:

1. Mix all ingredients of gatte except curd in a bowl.

2. Add spoon by spoon to make a dough. It should take around 4 to 5 spoons to make dough.

3. Roll the dough in long fingers like below. The fingers shouldn't be very long . should be around 6 inches.

4. Boil lot of water in a big pan and let it come to rolling boil.

5. Add all the fingers and let it boil for 10 to 12 minutes.

6. Remove the gatte from Water and don't throw the water.

7. Cut the each finger in one inch pieces.

8. In another pan heat oil in medium flame.

9. after few seconds add cumin seeds and Hing.

10. Stir for few seconds and add all the dry masala and gatte and continuously stir for 2 mins.

11. Add Curd and keep sauteing till the mixture leaves oil..Should take about 2 minutes

12. Add the about 2 cups of water which was stored from boiling process.

13. Let it come to boil. You can made water to adjust the consistency.

14. Enjoy with your Rice or bread(Rooti/Poori)

Panchmel Daal Baati - Rajasthani Special

When it comes to Rajasthani food - Daal Baati comes first in the list. The Rajasthani cuisine adapts itself to the dryness and harshness of the local environment. There is scarcity of water so lot of green vegetation is not used in the cuisine. Very limited ingredients are used to prepare variety of dishes. The cuisine food is very rich as it uses lot of ghee (Clarified butter) and basic spices to enhance the taste. It is an experience to visit Choki Dhaani, Jaipur, Rajasthan. You enjoy the food and culture which is full of music and colorful dresses.

Daal Baati is all time favorite at my home. Simple to cook but it gives a nice satisfaction to your taste bud. Daal Baati is made in many ways, people uses various proportions of different flours .. and some times it is baked , steamed or fried. I usually make the baked ones as we like that type.

So here is my recepie to Panchmel Daal Baati.

Ingredients:

Baati ( For around 30 Baati)

Wheat Flour 2 cups

Semolina (Rawa) 1/4 cup

Gram Flour (Besan) 1/4 cup

Caraway Seeds (Ajwain) 1 tspn

Salt to Taste

Ghee 1/4 cup

Panchmel Daal

All the dry daal mixed in almost equal Proportions to make a total 2 cup

Toor Daal

Split Masoor Daal

Split Channa Daal

Split Udat Daal

Yellow Moon Daal

Turmeric 1 spn

Salt to taste

Onion 1 medium

Garlic 5 / 6 cloves

Tomato pate 1 big spoon

oil/Ghee 2 spn

Cumin seeds 1 small spoon

Hing a pinch

Garam masala 1 spn

Red pepper 1 spn

Process :

For Baati:

1. Knead the dough (not very hard) using all the ingredients of baati.

2. Pre heat oven to 450 F.

3. Divide the dough into equal parts.

4. Make small smooth balls of each part like below.

5. Place the baatis in oven for 10 minutes.

6. Open the oven and turn around all the baatis and bake for another 10 minutes

7. Turn off the oven and remove the baatis.

For Daal :

1. Wash all the daals together and soak for 30 minutes in water.

2. Put the daals, salt and Turmeric in a presasure cooker .

3. Add 3 times water and preasure cook it for 3 whistles.

4. In Another pan, heat oil on medium flame.

5. After few seconds add Cumin seeds, Hing.

6. Saute for 5 seconds and then add garlic and onion and saute for about 2- 3 minutes till translucent.

7. Add tomato paste , Garam Masal and red chilli powder.

8. After a minute add the cooked daal and about a cup of water and mix well.

9. Let it cook for 5-10 minutes till everything is nicely cooked and mixed.

10. Take it off the flame.

To serve:

Break the Baati slightly from top , add a little ghee and lots of daal and serve hot.

It feels so warm and cosy in a rainy day to have Daal Baati. Enjoy!!

Mexican Feast

It was start of a long weekend and thought this is the best time to try something new. I have never tried Mexican but always use to think it is a cuisine which is so close to Indian food and could be made extra spice for my sweet husband. So thought of entering the world of Mexican cuisine.

Started searching recipes over net. But couldn't find very satisfying vegetarian version. May be I didn't do my research enough but it was Friday and I had to make something so thought let me try out and will see how the outcome would be. Also did a daring of calling a friend for dinner with a disclaimer trying out for the first time :)

Whenever I think of Mexican first thing comes is Guacamole. I had learnt this from a friend (Sangeeta) long time back and always wanted to make this but never got a chance . But today was the day to try my Guacamole. I love Quesadillas so that was one of my menu item. And if we talk about having spicy than what can be better choice than Enchiladas.

I started with Guacamole:

Avacado - 1

onion - small 1

lime - 1/2

salt and pepper

tomato - 1/2

I read it lot of places that for this we have to get a nice avocado which is not very ripe nor very raw.

1. Cut the Avocado in half .

2. From each half scoop the pull out of avocado with spoon.

3. Mash the pulp in a bowl and mix it with onion, lime , salt and pepper.

4. Just before serving add the tomatoes.

Guacamole is ready. That was not hard and came out pretty good. Next was preparing sauces for enchiladas and a veg mix for Quesedillas

Mix for Quesedillas/ Enchiladas:

Squash -1 cut in cubes

Zucchini - 1 cut in cubes

Onion - 1 small cut in cubes

ginger - 1/2 inch

green bell pepper (capsicum) - 1/2 small cut in cubes

oil - 1 tbspn

salt per taste

green chilies per taste cut

Zeera - 1/4 tspn

1. Heat oil in a wide mouth pan on medium flame

2. Once hot add zeera and stir for 3-4 seconds.

3. Add all the veggies and stir fry on low flame till they are cooked .

4. Add salt per taste and remove off the flame.

This made the mix. It was tasting good.

Now it was turn for sauce:

Onion - 1 small

Garlic - 3/4 cloves

Chilies - 3/4.

ginger

tomato paste - 2 Tbspoon

chili sauce - per taste

water - 1/2 cup

salt per taste

mix for above - 1/2 cup

oil - 1 spoon

1. Heat oil in a pan .

2. Add onion , garlic and saute for few minutes.

3. Once translucent, add tomato paste and cook for another 2 - 3 minutes.

4. Once done add salt and water and cook for about 2-3 minutes on low flame.

5. Now add the mix and chilli sauce and cook for another minute and remove from pan.

The sauce was already ready. Now it was turn for actual show that is putting everything together.

Quesedillas with my twist :) I can call it Dosadilla's

1. I used Dosa instead of Tortilla

2. Put the one ladle of Dosa batter on hot pan and spread to make dosa.

3. Spread Guacamole, the mix , little chili sauce and cheese on half side of Dosa.

4. Till then dosa would be cooked from bottom.

5. Fold the dosa into half and press.

6. Remove from pan and cut in 4 triangles.

7. Serve with Sour cream.

Enchiladas:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. In an oven pan, place 4 Tortillas such that each one can be folded in half.

3. In each tortilla spread the guacamole and mix (I skipped the cheese here other wise it would be too cheesy) and fold in half.

4. Cover all the tortillas with the sauce.

5. Sprinkle the cheese.

6. Once oven is preheated put the pan in oven and cook till cheese melts (will take about 10 minutes)

7. Remove from pad and serve each enchiladas with sour cream.

It turned out to be good. i was satisfied so was my family and friends. Complimented dinner with a nice masala sprite and a relaxing movie Kuck Kuch Hota Hai.

Besan Ladoo for Ganpati

It was Ganesh Chaturthi... Every year on Ganpati I will make Besan Ladoo. They are so simple but mouth watering and wouldn't need any special preparation or ingredients.

Ingredients

Besan 4 measures

Sugar 2 measures

Ghee (Clarified butter ) 1 measure

cardamom and any other dry fruits chopped) if interested.

Process:

1. Melt the Ghee is in a pan on medium flame.

2. Add Besan and saute it for 15 to 20 minutes. It should look like this.

3. You have to saute besan till your kitchen is filled with a nice Aroma.

4. Now remove the pan off the fire and add sugar and any dry fruits .

5. Let it cool for sometime and then make in shape of ladoos.