sesame brittle / til ki chikki

Ingredients

200 gm til (white sesame seeds)
500 gm jaggery
1 cup water
1 greased dish to set the chikki

Directions-
Dissolve the jaggery in water. Let it come to a boil.
In the meanwhile, roast the til in a kadai.
Check the syrup now. Let the syrup thicken so that when a drop of it is dropped in a bowl of cold water, it forms a lump.
To this syrup, add til and stir well. Cook for a minute and remove from heat.
Pour in the prepared dish to set. Let it cool. Once it cools down, cut into desired shapes. Let it cool further so that it hardens.
This is a Makar Sankranti recipe :)

This is going to-
Kiran's CWF- Sesame seeds

Amla Jam

Ingredients-
Amlas - 10
Clean, wash and pressure cook for one whistle with 1/4 cup water. Keep aside
Jaggery - 3 tbsps
1" stick cinnamon, 3 cloves, 1 cardamom

Directions-

Once the amlas have cooled down, deseed them and mash them roughly with a potato masher. Meantime, get about 1/4 cup water to boil and add the jaggery and amlas to it along with the spices you are using. Simmer and keep stirring the mixture till it turns thick. Let it cool. The mixture thickens further and becomes sticky on cooling.  Store in fridge, it stays for upto a week.

Cucumber Sambar

Ingredients-
4 tbsps dal / Toor dal
1 tsp Turmeric
salt to taste
1 tsp Ginger garlic paste
Tomato -1 chopped
Tamarind- Small lemon size
Onion-1 chopped
pepper - 1 tsp
sambar powder- 1 tsp
1 chopped cucumber, 1 carrot

For tadka-
Oil - 1 tsp

Jeera- 1tsp
Mustard seeds -1tsp
Curry leaves- 5-6 (I didn't have them!)
Hing- pinch

Method-
Pressure cook dal with salt and turmeric.
In the meantime, prepare the veggies- cut the cucumer, carrot and onion. Add veggies,  ginger garlic paste, tomato to the dal. Pressure cook this again.
Make the tamarind pulp.
Tip- to make the pulp quickly, microwave it for a minute in a bowl of water. Let it cool and squeeze the pulp.
When the pressure is off, take the lid, add the tamarind to dal and let the sambar boil for few more minutes. Turn off flame.

Now it's time for tadka. In a tadka pan, heat oil, add the ingredients for tadka and add it to sambar.

This is going to my event- Veggie / fruit of the month- Cucumber. 

Cardamom and lemongrass tea

Masala Chai
Ingredients-
1/2 cup milk

2 cups of water
2 whole cardamom pods

2 tsps lemongrass
Optional-1tsp crushed fresh ginger
3 tsps black tea

Directions-
Lightly crush the cardamom. Boil the milk and water together. Add tea, cardamom, ginger , lemongrass and sugar in the pot. Add the boiled contents to the pot. Allow to steep to desired strength.

Strain in cups and serve.

This is going to sizzle your food and health with spices- Cardamom at Anu's Kitchen-

Paneer roti roll

Ingredients-
wheat flour and water

(Make a dough, like you would for chappatis, keep aside)

For the filling-

Crushed or grated paneer
1 chopped onion, 1 chopped tomato , 1 boiled potato- chopped

Can also add - 1 capsicum, 1/2 cup cabbage

salt to taste
1/2 turmeric powder

Directions-
Prepare the filling-
In a pan,  fry chopped onion, potato and tomato. Add the other veggies if using them.
Add turmeric powder and salt. Add paneer and cook till the veggies and paneer is done and combined together.

Prepare paranthas with the flour for as many number of rolls you would need to make.
To prepare and serve the roll-

Place the paneer mixture over the parantha, can also add tomato sauce and some chaat masala and also some coriander chutney for added spiciness.
Serve hot!

Filling and the roll

This is going to Srivalli's Snacks mela.

Cucumber carrot soup

Ingredients-
1 cucumber
1 carrot
1 tbsp coriander
2 garlic cloves
1 chopped onion
1 tsp butter / olive oil
Water or borth for soup - 3 cups

Method-
Heat a  deep pan, add olive oil. Fry the onion and garlic, add veggies. Add water and bring to boil, simmer and let the veggies cook. This will take about 20 mins on medium flame.
Turn off flame, in a blender, puree the soup. Return to pot, heat and serve.

Tomato and cheese salsa

Ingredients-
5 large tomatoes, cleaned and chopped

1 boiled potato cubed
2 cloves garlic minced
1 small onion chopped
1 capsicum / any other chile pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 tsp oregano
salt to taste

mozarella cheese - 1 tbsp cubed or grated

For garnish (optional)

Lime juice from half a lime

Chopped coriander


Directions-
In a medium micro safe dish, place tomatoes, potato, garlic, onion and green peppers. Drizzle with olive oil. Add salt, cheese and oregano. Mix well to combine. Microwave it for 6- 8 minutes, stirring in between. The tomatoes will turn a darker red and the raw smell will disappear.

Let it cool a bit. At this stage, you can coarsely blend the veggies. (I didn't do it cos I love it this way)

To serve, transfer to a serving bowl and add lime juice and coriander. Serve!

This is rushing to  Vardhini's Dish it Out hosted at Taste Junction.

 

This is also going to Microwave Easy Cooking at My Edibles, which is Srivalli's brainchild. 

choora dahi with aloo baingan bhujia

Ingredients:
2 cups poha  (I used red rice poha)
2 cups - thick curd
jaggery or sugar

Method
Wash poha, drain lightly, keep aside for 5-10 minutes. Fluff up the grains. Serve with curd on top and jaggery or sugar.

Aloo baingan bhujia
Ingredients-
3 green brinjals / aubergines, wash and cube
2 potatoes, wash and cube

Oil to fry
1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp coriander pwd
salt to taste
1 tsp panch phoran

1 tsp ginger garlic paste


Heat oil in apan. Add the tempering and as they splutter, onion and stir fry till they turn light brown.

Add the cubed potatoes, salt, ginger garlic paste and turmeric and combine. Cook on medium flame for  3-5 mins, stirring in between. Add the brinjals and cook for another 3-5 mins on low to medium flame. Stir fry in between. Add the rest of the dry spices and cook uncovered till the spices and veggies are mixed well. Serve warm.

Sprouts utthapam

Ingredients-
3 cups Dosa Batter
Green gram Sprouts - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 chopped

Tomato- 1 chopped

Coriander- 1 tbsp chopped

green chillies - as per taste, chopped

Oil to cook

Method
In the batter, mix all other ingredients except oil. 

Pour oil on a non-stick tawa, spread batter, it should be slightly thick. Cook both sides till slightly brown. Serve hot with any chutney or ketchup!

This is going to MLLA 42. Check Sumadhura's announcement page and also Susan's MLLA host line up.

Dahi aloo ki sabzi / Potatoes in curd gravy

What do you do when your curd turns sour, or you have too much of it left? I make kadhi if I am serving rice, or I make dahi -aloo ki sabzi which I can serve with chappatis.

Ingredients:

4 medium-size Potatoes (boiled, mashed roughly) 

1 tsp Turmeric Powder, coriander powder and garam masala/ all spice

1 tsp panch phoran / cumin for tempering
1 cup sour Curd beaten
1/2 cup Water 
Salt to taste 
1/2 tbsp Oil

1 onion chopped

1 tomato chopped

1 tsp ginger garlic

a pinch of asafoetida


Method-
Heat the oil in a pan and add panch phoran and asafoetida. Let the seeds splutter. Add onions and fry till lightly browned. Add ginger garlic paste, tomatoes, salt and spices.  Cook for a few minutes. Now add mashed potatoes and sauté for about 3-5 minutes. When the potatoes turn a bit crispy, add beaten curd mixed with water.
Simmer for about 2-3 minutes. Do not heat the curd mixture too long, else the curd splits!!

Dahi aloo ki sabzi is ready to be served!!

I am sending this to Frugal Fridays at Fussfree flavors. This is a blog hop event!!

Check out the links here.

Fruit Custard with Split milk

Do you sometimes feel bad when the milk splits but not completely? If it splits completely, you can make various things out of it, but if it doesn't, then we fret over how so much milk has to go waste.

My MIL told me that my bhabhi makes custard when she is faced with such a situation. Today I decided to give it a try :-)

Ingredients-

1 cup fruits (I used one banana and half an avocado!)
1/2 litre Milk
Sugar
2 tbsp Custard Powder (I used Brown and Polson)

Method-
Bring milk to boil. Take 3 tbsp of milk from the boiled milk and cool it down a bit to add custard powder. Make a fine paste and keeping milk on low flame, add custard paste, stirring continuously so that no lumps are formed. Turn off flame once desired consistency is achieved. Add sugar and mix well to dissolve it. 

Leave it to cool.

Just before serving, add fruits. If you like it chilled, then you should refrigerate it after adding fruits. 

Boondi Raita

Ingredients-

2 cups thick curd
2 handfuls of ready-made Boondi

1 tbsp chopped finely Coriander leaves

1 small chopped onion
1/2 tsp Roasted jeera powder
Black salt or kala namak to taste

pepper to taste

Method-
Beat yogurt , add onion, coriander, jeera powder, salt and pepper. Mix well to combine. 

Add boondi and mix. You can chill it if you like your boondi soft. If you like it crunchy, like I do, serve immediately!

Tomato and Avocado salsa

Ingredients-

1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 avocado chopped
1 onion, chopped small
juice from 1 fresh lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

can also add- 1/2 cup chopped coriander

Method-

In a bowl, gently combine all the ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste. Combine well.

Salsa is ready!!

Serve with anything! I usually serve with Pasta or sandwiches.

This is going to Let's cook for Christmas - Red and Green event  at Nayna's blog-

French toast!

French toast with some fruits and coffee makes for an awesome Eggy breakfast on any day!

Recipe-

Ingredients-
2 eggs
salt to taste
1/2 cup milk
6-8 slices brown bread
butter (I used olive oil, you can use anything you prefer)

Method-
Break eggs into a wide bowl (to allow you to dip your bread),  beat the eggs. Add salt, milk and mix.

In a non-stick pan, add butter / oil. Do not overheat or make it smoky!

Dip the bread slices, one at a time, into the bowl  letting slices soak up egg mixture for a couple of seconds, then carefully turn to coat the other side. Transfer each slice immediately to the pan, let it turn brown on one side. Turn over and brown the other side as well.

Serve hot with coffee / tea.

If you like your French toast sweet, add sugar to the mix omitting the salt and serve with honey or maple syrup! 

I am sending this to Krithi's Kitchen and you should also check Helen's original event announcement page!

Cool Sattu drink

Enjoy a hot day the Bihari way! It has been really sunny in Bangalore for the past couple of days and I made this one day when I felt like snacking on Haldiram's bhujia!

Ingredients- for 1 glass

2 tbsps Sattu (roasted gram flour)
Water
1 tbsp Sugar
juice of half a lemon
Black salt according to taste

Roasted and powdered cumin and ajwain- 1 tsp

Chat Masala- optional

Steps:

Soak sattu in water, add sugar and stir well so that there are no lumps. Add everything else, mix well. Add crushed ice and enjoy!

I am sending this to back to the roots at Mad scientist's blog.

Fried Idlis

Ingredients:
Leftover Idlis - 6
2 tsps oil
Salt
Chilli powder and garam masala powder - a pinch
1 tsp chopped curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds

Method:
Cut the idlis into equal sized pieces.
Heat oil in a pan, add curry leaves and mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter. Add the idlis and mix. Sprinkle salt, chilli powder and garam masala powder. Combine well.

Serve with hot with ketchup or chutney.

I am sending this to Kid's delight series hosted by Srivalli for the theme Dressing up Leftovers.

Spring onions and sprouts stir fry

Ingredients-
1 cup moong sprouts

1 stalk spring onions chopped

salt to taste

Oil to cook

Directions-

In a wok, heat oil, add spring onions and fry for a couple of mins. Add sprouts and salt. I even added some chopped tomato and boiled potato cubes. Cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Spicy Sweet Potatoes

This is good as a snack or as an appetizer or as a side dish too.

Ingredients-

Sweet potatoes - cleaned and boiled
Lemon juice - to taste
Salt, pepper, chaat masala to taste

Method-
Peel the sweet potatoes, slice them lengthwise or small pieces the way you may prefer. Sprinkle salt, pepper, chaat masala and lemon juice. Combine well to coat all pieces evenly. Serve warm.

Apples and Pears baked together in the microwave

Ingredients

2 pears sliced
2 apples sliced
4 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tsp powdered nutmeg

Method-
In a micro-safe dish, add the sliced apples and pears. Add the melted butter, honey and nutmeg. Mix well to combine. In the microwave, cook for5-8 mins or until tender. At 180 degrees, bake for 10-12 mins till the slices turn a little brown. (When it cooks in the micro or oven, don't forget to baste with released juices and also do this just before serving)

Masala Chaas / buttermilk

Yummy yummy yummy!

Ingredients-
2 glasses curd

2 glasses water
1 tsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp curry leaves (chopped if you prefer)
1 tsp ginger paste

pinch of asafetida
2 green chillies - optional
Salt to taste / use kala namak / black salt
A handful of finely chopped corainder leaves - optional

Method-

Mix the water and the curd well. Use a hand mixer or blend it. I used the traditional mathani. Hehe.

Add salt, green chillies. Keep aside.

In a tadka pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds and before they begin to splutter like crazy, add the curry leaves, coriander leaves, ginger and asafoetida. All this in 30 secs flat!

Remove from fire, add to the buttermilk. Mix well. Serve in glasses.