Wednesday, June 15, 2011

IYENGAR BAKERY KHARA BISCUITs for ICC May

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
Every month,  is getting more interesting, I am enjoying it and wait for the announcement every month. Sometimes, I will finish the challenge soon and its really difficult to wait for 15th of that month.
I prepared these biscuits which Srivalli has choosen from Champa's Savory Shortbread cookies / Iyengar bakery Khara Biscuit for Indian Cooking Challenge.
The very next day I prepared these and was waiting for the 15th. Here I am with my version. 


I remember mom making biscuits like these. But she had that old round, big oven like a round tiffin box. She always tried biscuits, buns, breads and cake in that. I never tried with her :-(, but here I am getting very challenging and fare chances of learning many new foods. When you are in challenge, you will do it.
That holds good with me..


Ingredients :(I used half the qty from the original recipe, it gave me more than 30 biscuits)
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Butter - 1/2 of 1/3 cup(I had fresh home made butter :-))  )
Green chilly - 1
Yogurt or curds - 2 TBSP
Sugar - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Fresh coriander, Curry leaves and Fresh mint - 1/4 cup, finely chopped




Method:
Line the baking tray with baking sheets.
Preheat the oven at 160C
In a bowl, mix nicely the APF and salt. 
In another vessel, beat the butter and sugar till creamy. Add the yogurt and continue the beating.Add the dry ingredients. Keep on mixing without much pressure on your hands.
Add the green chilly, and green leaves chopped. Mix well. the dough will be dry. Don't add more curds or water to make it wet.
THE DOUGH SHOULD BE CRUMBLY.

Take half the portion and make into a ball. Roll into 1/4" thick chapati.
Use the Cookie cutter if you have to give the desired shapes or you can use some steel bowl with sharp edges, or bottle cap or even the normal knife to cut these to give any shape.
Transfer these on baking sheet slowly.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Keep checking of getting burnt. My biscuits took 15 minutes to bake. 
They will be soft when hot. But will turn into crispy once cool.
Store in a air tight jar.
This is the last portion left out after cutting with the cookie cutter ;-)
My daughters enjoyed the biscuits with their friends. Planning to bake it again.

Keep Smiling,

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Chinese Menu in my kitchen

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
What ever happens is always for the good, the most famous lines from Geeta. And I believe in it very much.
It happens with me always. Thats the reason many times I don't get panic if something goes wrong. The same thing happened with me last week. One of my best friend came to meet me. It was first time she was coming to our Hubli house. Our friendship is almost 18 yrs old. We were meeting after 4 years. It was natural for me to get excited and was planning for some special menu. When I asked her in the phone What she wants to have, she preferred our North Karnataka food but her daughter wanted Chinese when I gave her the option. Thats why I planned for Chinese menu for my friend and her daughter. Now to plan a menu was not difficult. I thought of making Chinese fried rice, Schezwan noodles and Chilli Paneer.
Thought of bringing fresh paneer(was lazy to make paneer).
   And morning I went to the near by store (MORE) and the store was closed for stock checking :-(((
I had the ready masala packet for chilli paneer, so thought of making veg balls instead of Paneer.
This is what I served to my friend and her daughter :


So here goes the recipe For Veg Chilly:


Ingredients:
Cabbage - 1 cup, cleaned and shredded
Carrot - 1 medium, cleaned and grated
Cornflour - 3 to 4 tbsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Ginger and garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Oil to fry the balls.

for Gravy
Oil - 1 tsp
Onion  - 1, sliced
Cabbage - handful, shredded
Capsicum - 1 small, sliced(optional as the Schezwan powder is very spicy)
Ginger and garlic -1 tbsp  finely cubed,
Spring onion - handful, finely chopped( I did not had)
Ching's Chilli Paneer Miracle Powder - 10 gm
Salt to taste.
Water - 2 cups
OR
JUST FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTION GIVEN ON THE PACKET.

Method:
To make Veg. Balls,
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, except the oil to fry.
Keep oil in a frying pat on stove.
Till the oil becomes hot,
Divide the mix into equal small lime size balls.
Fry in a batch till golden brown.
Keep it aside.

For gravy:
Heat oil in a kadai. When its very hot, add ginger and garlic, saute for few seconds. 
Add onion and fry till the color is changed. Add Cabbage and capsicum. Fry for a minute more.
Add the water and bring to boil. 
Adjust the seasoning. Add the veg. balls and spring onions. 
Cook for 2 minutes,
Serve hot with Rice or Noodles.

My Chinese recipes from my kitchen :(These are not actually for the event, as the rule of the event says NO archived or reposted recipes, its just for people who wants to get all the three Chinese recipes from my blog, I hope this will not violate the event rules)
Chinese Fried Rice(Restaurant STyle)                        Hakka Veg. Noodles with Ching's SECRET



Sending the Veg Chilli to Radhika's event

Keep Smiling,

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Plain Toor dal(ಖಾರ್ ಬ್ಯಾಳಿ), reposting

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
A very easy, quick and tastiest dal for a dinner, reposting it for the event..

Click here  for the recipe.

Sending it to Suma's ongoing  event

Keep Smiling,

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Spinach and Garlic Pickled Rice.

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
Those were the years  when I was scared to try anything new in rice dishes. Every time I was a failure when ever I tried some pulao, biryani, or something like that.
But now....... I am very happy that I am confident and can cook more than 30 types of  rice varieties. Thanks to many bloggers. I am again happy to enter the blog world..
Last week, when I saw Palak Tulsi Chawal - पालक तुलसी चावल (Spinach and Basil Rice) in 's blog, I wanted to make this. 
Two days back, when I saw palak in the fridge, thought of making her rice. But as usual I was out of the ingredients and this time it was tulsi ;-), I wanted to pluck some leaves from the temple, but the ajjiri at home did not allow me to do saying that one should not pluck the tulsi leaves in the night. I did not wanted to hurt her feelings,
So thought of cooking plain spinach rice which is very common in my kitchen. This time I thought of adding more garlic.
Here is my version of Spinach rice in which I gave a last minute TWIST by adding GARLIC PICKLE to get that extra Garlic flavor. 
The rice was just superb and was over within no time (And I came to know later that Rajul kept a bowl of rice in the fridge to eat the next day:-))


Ingredients: (for 4 people)
Rice - 2 cups(normal, or basmati, but make sure the rice should come out dry not soft)
Oil - 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Onion - 1 small, chopped into slices
Spinach - 1 small bunch, cleaned, washed and chopped finely
Garlic - 10- 12 cloves
Tomato - 1 big, chopped finely
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Fresh cream - 1 tbsp(optional)
Salt to taste(little less, as there will be salt in the pickle also)
Sugar - 1 tsp
Water to cook the rice(warm water will be fine, I keep a mug of water in a micro wave to get quick warm water)
Garlic pickle(Readymade, I used MTR brand) - 2 tbsp


Method:
Wash the rice and soak it for 10 minutes. Drain and keep it to dry.
Heat oil in a cooker.
Add cumin seeds.
Add onion and fry till the color changes.
Add the garlic and fry for a minute.
Add the palak and tomato. Fry till the tomato becomes soft.
Add all the dry masala powders and PICKLE.
Mix well and add the rice. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes, till the masala get mixed with the rice.
Add the fresh cream and fry again for few seconds.
Add the water just to cover the rice. 
Cover the cooker and give one whistle. 
Allow to cool.
Serve hot with some more garlic pickle.... Or
The best food to take  for a lunch. When I was working I used to make the masala fry ready in the night only and used to keep in the fridge. So in the morning it was just to add water and give one whistle. And my lunch box would have been ready to take :-)

Keep Smiling,

Friday, June 3, 2011

Cocoa Cups - stuff it with any dessert..

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
I was seriously  thinking of some stuffed sweet ideas, and I saw this Baked and filled khakhra cups from , Thank you so much Lataji for giving me this superb idea of Cocoa cups. Stuff any dessert in this and serve.... I am sure kids will not stop eating these cups with whatever you fill in the cups and give them.
I turned her Khakra cups into COCOA cups. Her Khakra cups are for stuffing spicy food, and mine are for stuffing sweet food.

Here is the recipe for making these lovely cups.
Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour(normal chapati flour is also fine) - 1 cup
All Purpose flour - 1/8 cup
Chiroti rawa or fine semolina - 1 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Cocoa Powder - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Pinch of salt
Water to make the dough.


Method :
(I have followed Lataji for the method)

  • Take all the ingredients in a large vessel, except water.
  • Mix well and go on adding water to make soft but stiff dough.
  • Keep it covered with damp cloth for 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Grease the muffin tray.
  • Preheat the oven at 180C
  •  Now the time comes to make the very thin puri size discs.
  • What I did was, first I rolled medium thick discs. 
  • Cut it with bottle top to get the circle shape.
  • And again rolled each circle into a very thin puris. These should be very thin, otherwise cups will not come crispy.
  • Keep all the puris ready.
  • Take one puri and keep in in a mould to give a cup shape. Don't worry about the shape or curls you get in the cup.
  • Repeat with other puris.
  • Bake at 200C for 6 minutes.(Yes, thanks Lataji, the time was just perfect :-) )
  • Remove and spread the cups on mat or paper to cool.
  • Store in an airtight jar.

Now coming to the stuffing:
Stuff these cups with AAMRAS, OR CUSTARD, ICECREAM, SHRIKHAND, SWEET WHIPPED CREAM, FRUIT CUBES, OR JUST BRUSH WITH NUTELLA SPREAD BEFORE SERVING.
YUMMY COCOA CUPS FOR KIDS PARTY :-))))))
I am sure you all will love these cups...


Sending these cups to
 MY event which is guest hosted by Akila of  Learning-to-cook



Keep Smiling,

Oats, almond and dates granola bars

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
One more recipe followed from DEEBA'S blog.
Again the same problem of not getting few ingredients here. I think there is a plus point in that also. That brings more creativity in me.
The other day Suma Rowjee posted the recipe(.Eggless Chocolate Chip Oat & Whole Wheat Snack Bar..) which she has followed it from Deeba (recipe here) and Deeba has followed it from Megan(here) and everyone with their alterations.
I thought of combining all the ideas and creating my own granola bars :-)))), and hey it was a success, I could not stop munching these lovely bars. My younger daughter was so happy to have it, and I was satisfied of giving her some thing healthy. And I never never imagined even in my dream  that I will bake some bars like these...
And the best part of these bars is its made of wheat and oats added to it are almonds and dates. What a perfect breakfast with a glass of milk to start your day. It really keeps you energetic the whole day.
SO THANKS TO ALL THE LADIES FOR GIVING ME THIS WONDERFUL RECIPE.
Please click the above links for their original recipes,


Coming to my version:
Dry Ingredients:
Oats - 1 1/2 cups(I used Saffola Oats)
Whole Wheat Flour - 3/4 cup
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Flaked almonds - 1/2 cup
Diced fresh dates - 1/4 cup

Wet Ingredients:
Granulated Sugar - 1/4 cup
Brown or Demerara sugar - 1/4 cup
Oil - 1/4 cup
Milk - 2 tbsp
Corn flour - 2 tbsp
Warm water - 2tbsp
Vanilla extract or essence - 1 tsp

for the coating :
Nutella spread 
and toasted flaked almonds




Method:
Pre heat the oven at 180c
Grease and line a 7x11x2 inch tin with baking parchment leaving an overhang.
Take all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk. Keep aside.
Mix the warm water and cornflour in a bowl and keep it aside.
In a large bowl, add milk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Beat till the sugar is dissolved (it may take 3 to 4 minutes)
Add the cornflour mix. Beat again for a minute. 
Fold in the dry ingredients and mix well. The mixture will be very thick.
Spread it in a tin and level it.  
First time I baked it at 180 c for 30 minutes.
I removed and kept it to cool, but still the bars were soft.
So I cut it into bars and again baked at 200 c for 10 more minutes. And there I got crispy granola bars.
I used Nutella spread  and some flaked almonds to top it with. (I did not had dark chocolate).


My daughters enjoyed these bars.
You can store these crispy bars in an airtight box for a week or so.


(This event was started byzlamushka and is now taken care of by Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles)


Keep Smiling,


Monday, May 30, 2011

Whole wheat ,Oat & Chocolate Cookies(T&T)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
I always love to participate in the events. If you are regular visitor to my blog, you know it. I get inspired by the themes and I give my best to cook something new according to theme.
This time when I came to know about the T&T guest hosted by Jayasri, it was already late. And when I visited the blog which Jayasri has chosen I was in a world of baking. I browsed the blog for two days and I did not get any recipe for a newbie like me. 
Deeba of  Deeba's Passionate about Baking  is very very creative and I may take years to reach her level when it comes to baking. And the photography!!! no words to explain, I mean it, she is a wonderful blogger with so much passionate about baking. I loved all the recipes, but I had many problems to follow her recipes, 
The first thing was, I am still crawling when it comes to baking, I was not sure about my success in any of the recipes.
 The second thing is ingredients, many ingredients she has used are not available at my place. Even its difficult to get cherries or strawberry also.
When I was browsing for cookies I got this one:
In this recipe also, I did not had chocolate chips and walnuts. Walnuts were out of stock in nearby shop. And I could not afford the time to visit the city to bring walnuts. I replaced it with Almonds.
And getting Chocolate chips was out of question here in my place. I need to go almost 15 Km to get it and that too not sure about the availability.
I thought of skipping the chips and following the remaining ingredients.
When I was about to start, my daughter came and asked me what I am baking, I told her about the cookies, she made a face that she does not want white cookies. She would love to have Chocolate cookies.
So there was no way for me to keep the original recipe as it is. I thought of adding Cocoa powder instead of half the qty of oats. 
Here is the recipe for the cookies with some alterations(no option for me):


Recipe in my words:
I used half the qty from original recipe(more than a dozen cookies came out with this qty)
Ingredients:
Dry Ingredients:
Whole Wheat flour - 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp
Oats - 1 cup(I used Saffola rolled oats)
Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup
(Original recipe does not have cocoa powder and she has used 1 1/2 cups of oats)
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Baking powder - 1/8 tsp
half a pinch of salt
Finely chopped  almonds - 1/4 cup(original recipe had walnuts and choco chips)


Wet Ingredients:
Butter - 1/4 cup(I used fresh home made at room temperature)
Egg - 1/2
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
Demerara Sugar - 3/8 cup(3 times of 1/8 cup)

Method:
  • Take all the dry ingredients in one bowl. Whisk them and keep aside.
  • In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar till fluffy.
  • Add the egg and vanilla essence. Beat for some more minutes.
  • Add the dry ingredients and mix well. 
  • My dough became dry. It was like a normal chapati dough(little softer)

  • Preheat the oven.
  • Grease the baking tray or  use the baking sheets.
  • Take a tbsp of dough and press to give round shape. You won't get nice shape, but don't worry about the shape. The taste won't differ.
  • Bake at 180C for 12 to 15 minutes. I baked it for 13 minutes.
  • Remove from the tray, remove to cooling racks.
  • Store in a airtight jar.

My both the daughters enjoyed the cookies with their favorite song and dance. Thanks to Deeba for such a lovely recipe and thanks to Jayasri for selecting this blog.
(This event was started byzlamushka and is now taken care of by Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles)




Keep Smiling,

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Mango Palu or Mango rasa

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
I am really sorry for not posting this recipe soon. I know mango season is getting over and we need raw mangoes for this recipe. I don't know the name for this recipe but it has a mixed taste of pickle, jam, gulumb...
Its the best with anything, roti, chapati, rice, idly, dosa, bread.....
The best part is you can make and store in the fridge for months together and enjoy the mango even when there is no mango season.
I will come directly to the recipe.
Actually there are two ways I prepare. One is you can not keep as we add onion in it.
The second one is told by my best friend Aunradha. 
I love this version and can go on nibbling again.

Ingredients:
Mangoes - 10 to 12, (raw or half raw is fine, I used half raw, the mangoes were almost yellow)
Oil - 1/4 cup
Mustard seeds - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 2 tbsp
Methi seeds - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 3 to 4 tbsp (adjust according to your taste)
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Hing - 1 tsp or 
if using stoned hing, use just a pepper size.
Salt to taste
Jaggery - 1/4 cup or more(Again check with your taste)
Water - 2 cups or little more to make thick paste


Method:
  1. Wash the mangoes, wipe to dry full.
  2. Cut in to small pieces, keep it aside.
  3. Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadai.
  4. When hot, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. 
  5. Add cumin seeds, methi seeds and hing.
  6. Saute for few seconds.
  7. Add the red chilly powder, jaggery, salt and turmeric powder.
  8. Saute for a minute.
  9. Add the mangoes. Fry for 2 minutes.
  10. Add the water. Mix well.
  11. Cover and cook till the mangoes are cooked.
  12. Keep checking for the water. add if you feel its getting dry.
  13. Adjust the seasoning and cook till the oil starts leaving the sides.
  14. Cool it and store it in a glass jar or Plastic jar.
  15. It can be stored in refrigerator for months.

Keep Smiling,

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Stuffed Sweets together (Rereposted)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
I don't know who is playing around! some times is G. chrome or sometimes its with the blogger. I am not able to post regularly. 
When I think about stuffed sweets, I am not getting many ideas. Still I have time to try new recipes. Hope I will come out with something different stuffed sweet :-)

Here are few stuffed sweet recipes from the archived posts for the event.

The first sweets is on healthier side as we don't fry the dumplings but cook in the water. I love this one when its hot and served with more ghee :-), Usually its prepared on Nagapanchami.


The second one is my invention and was so happy with it. I just loved the taste, even my kids loved it. Need to make it again soon. Wait for new addition in coming posts.
A Perfect sweet for winter which is prepared in North Karnataka. I love this. You can store these for a week and enjoy it.

Again another favorite sweet dish.
 

Sending these sweets to
 MY event which is guest hosted by Akila of  Learning-to-cook

Keep Smiling,

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