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Coconut chutney

Remmember the dosas in India? the expert cook making crisp pancakes in the svelte ring heat of a udipi restaurant kitchen, bowls full of sambhar to dip dosas and eat like a soup when the dosa's no more, the spicy yet bland coconut chutney that proves to be the best accompaint to the mashed and spiced potatoes.
I'm not great at making dosas from scratch but can use a mix at its best, same goes for sambhar but chutney is a different ball game. So here goes a recipe for a simple coconut chutney south indian style.



Ingredients

Chutney
1 cup coconut ( you can use fresh coconut and grate it or unsweetened dry flakes, try and avoid frozen)
6-8 serrano / indian chillies
1 tiny red onion or shallot
1/3 cup coriander and mint chopped)
1 tablespoon coconut milk or yogurt
1/4 cup of tamarind extract ( imlee or tamarind soaked in water)
¼ tsp of salt
Salt to taste


Baghar,tadka,tempering

1 tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal, fresh curry leaves and few pieces of dried red chilli.


Method

Take all the ingredients under chutney and in a grinder and coarsely grind.

Taste and adjust spice level according to your taste

Take a small pan or kadhai heat two tablespoons of oil

Add the ingredients under tadka into the oil

Let them fry till dark, add to the chutney

Serve with dosa , idly ,upma , anything !

Gobi Manchurian

I got a few requests for desi chinese dishes. So here goes the first of the dishes. Please pardon my lack of pictures, I made this for a friend's dinner and was running late to click any pics.

1/2 pound frozen cauliflower florets
1 cup corn flour
5 Green serrano chillies
4-5 pods of garlic crushed
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 table spoon any hot sauce
1 teaspoon redchilli powder
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Oil for frying


Preparation
1) Thaw and pat dry the gobi with paper towel
2) Heat oil in a kadai/ deep pan/wok
3) Take cournflour add salt , pepper and red chilli powder
4) Mix with water to make a streaming consistency batter
5) Add cauliflower in batches and deep fry
6) In the same wok using about 1 tablespoon oil fry , chopped chillies , add crushed garlic shallow fry till done .
7) Add the fried gobi
8) Add soy sauce and hot sauce
9) Adjust the spices and serve hot

Frittata

Frittata is a finger licking good breakfast dish that won't make you slog till lunch time. Very simply put its a baked omelet ! I used mainly bell peppers,mushrooms and herbs to make this but you can practically anything potatoes, sausages, spinach or chicken.



Ingredients
4 eggs
3 tablespoon milk
butter for greasing
1/2 a bell pepper chopped into small cubes
1 tomato diced
1 cup mushroom (Any kind) chopped
2-4 serrano chillies slit
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 pinch oregano
2 springs thyme
1/4 cup chopped parsley + cilantro
(Any herb that you want to add)
A sprinkle of parmesan cheese



Method
1) Pre heat you oven ot 350 F
2) In a suitable dish whisk the eggs, add milk , salt pepper and all the herbs (parsley , cilantro,oregano, thyme )
3) OPTIONAL - you can lightly saute the vegetables in a pan if you are not a raw veggies person
4) Add all the vegetables ( bell pepper,tomato, mushroom and serrano chillies ),and mix in.
5) In a (preferrable round) baking dish, apply liberal greasing of butter
6) Add the egg mixture
7) Place it in the middle rack of the oven, let it cook for 5-7 minutes
8) Add the sprinkle of cheese ( if done earleir the cheese sinks )
9) Bake for an additional 8-10 mins
10) Remove, cool for 3-4 mins and cut out wedges to serve

So enjoy your next brunch with a hearty frittata !

White bread

Yipee this is my first bread !!! yes an actual bread that you make sandwich from .I got the recipe from the this website and here is the modified version. The bread turned out pretty decent for a first time albeit a little bland but who cares the dooras of bread baking are open!!!

Ingredients

* 2 1/2 cups water (105-115 F)
* 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 7 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 1/4-1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

Directions

1.Pour 1/2 cup of the water into a bowl and mix with yeast and sugar til foamy.
2.Let sit for 5 minutes until creamy.
3.Put the yeast mixture, rest of the water and 3 1/2 cups of the flour into the mixer with the dough hook.
4.Mix slowly until blended then add the rest of the flour.
5. Add salt and mix at medium speed for 10 minutes (or do half in mixer and half kneading) til dough is smooth and elastic. ( you can do all this by hand too
6. Back in mixer add butter 1 tbsp at a time (dough may come apart, but mixing will pull it back together).
8Turn dough out on lightly floured surface and shape it into a ball then place in a large buttered or oiled bowl.
7.Turn dough so it is completely coated in the fat, then cover in plastic for 45 minutes to an hour (I did an hour and half), til it has doubled in size at room temperature.
8. Roll out into a 9 x 12-inch rectangle.
9.With the short end facing you, fold the dough into thirds like a sheet of paper to go into an envelope, creating a roll.Place on a alumiium foil sheet.
10.Cover the loaves with buttered plastic wrap and allow to rise again in a warm place (80°F) for 45 minutes, until they double in size.
11.Preheat the oven to 375°F and put the rack in the center of the oven.
12.Bake for 35-45 minutes til they are honey brown.
13.Immediately turn out of pans onto a rack to cool.

aloo sabzi with kalonji

INGREDIENTS :
Potatoes - 500 gm.
Nigella seeds - a pinch.
Green chilies - 6 gm.
Sugar - 4 gm.
Poppy seeds - 20 gm.
(heaped)
Oil - 30 ml.
Ghee - 25 gm.
Red chili powder - 5 gm.
Salt to taste.
METHOD :
Heat oil and add nigella seeds. Add diced potatoes and fry lightly for 10 mins. Grind poppy seeds with a little water and add to the potatoes. Cover with lid, stirring occasionally and adding 2 tbspn. of water. When water dries and potatoes are done, add green chilies, sugar, salt and red chilly powder. Top with ghee and allow to cook for one minute. Serve hot with rice.

Happy Earth Day

Yesterday was world earth day. Over the past years 'saving our planet' and 'going green' has gained prominence but beyond the big words and fancy jargon is a simple concept of using your share of the earth. This link contains the bigger picture the ugly turn of events perpetuated by us, the dwellers of planet earth.

But question is how can we help, what can we do and how will it help ? Most people associate being environmentally friendly with fancy organic products at exclusive markets or high priced green products, but the problem can be tackled at an even more basic level than that. Take a look at this you tube video which simply demonstrates little changes we can make and also see what Oprah has to say on this.

Here are a few on my suggestions for being kind to the environment.

1) Use a tap fitted water filter, its so much better and cheaper than buying water jars at the grocery store. Trust me its really worth it, the cost and convenience aside the water is safe pure and available to you as desired.

2) Recycle plastic,metal,paper,fibre,cloth and anything reusable. Recycle jam and sauce jars to store spices, grocery bags to throw out trash, old worn out fabrics to wipe surfaces, aluminum foil can be used more than once, the list is endless.

3) Plan your grocery shopping is such a way that you don't end up wasting food. Have a good idea about your consumption to buy and cook only as much as you consume.

4) Do away with the extras while eating out, share meals to avoid wastage, do away with accompaints that you never eat ( like sticky rice in a Chinese restraunt). Use your disposable crockery with discretion ,you don't need 5 sets of plastic spoons for two people and why bother take those chopsticks when you are never going ot use them.

5) While doing laundry try to do a full load and try to be judicious with what goes for laundry (that scarf you wore for 2 hours need not be washed).

These are just a few of the little changes in our lifestyles that can go a long way in creating a better planet for tommorrow.We have been using up more than our share of resources so its time now to give back to the environment.

Chocolate cake for someone special

It was my darling husband's birthday three weeks back and I decided to bake him his favourite - chocolate cake. I went to the local grocery store and picked up all that I needed only to forget the main ingredient chocolate powder ! So there I was with roughly two hours to bake a chocolate cake with no chocolate. I turned to my food guide the food network website and found this cake recipe which used hersheys' syrup instead of powder. And since it was a paula deen recipe I took the liberty of using only half the original quantity of syrup. The cake turned out to be yummy, nice and moist but firm and the chcolate content was just right. I used store bought frosting to give it the birthday look.

Cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 ounce hershey's chocolate syrup (the original recipe asked for 16 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

Baking the cake
Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in another bowl. Add to creamed mixture, continuing to beat. Add vanilla and chocolate syrup to batter and mix well. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Just before cake is done, prepare frosting.

Chatpate Chicken kabab

This is a very simple dish that goes well as a snack as well in sandwiches. Its chicken kabab with a lot of khatte mithe masale. It does not require a lot of oil so I basically just added a few drops of oil and a good non stick pan to cook. Also its super quick to make.

Ingredients
1 pound minced chicken
1 tbl spoon chaat masala
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tblspoon lemon zest
2 tsp amchur
2 tsp anardana powder (pomogranate seeds powder)
4 Green chillies chopped finely
salt to taste
oil for frying




The kneaded chicken



The kababs after frying

Method
1 In a big mixing bowl mix all the ingredients except for oil
2 Mix it well to make a uniform 'dough'
3 Make out small kababs in your desired shape
4 Heat a flat non stick pan to high
5 Reduce the heat to medium and add a few drops of oil
6 Lightly fry your kababs in the oil
7 Serve hot

Fig and date halwa

This was a very middle eastern inspired halwa. It turned out to be super sweet and upet yummy like most middle eastern desserts. Next time I'm gonna try reducing the amount of sugar coz the figs as well as the dates are both laden with sweetness.


5 big dried figs (chopped)
8 medium dates (pitted and chopped)
1/2 a stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried shredded coconut
7-10 Elaichi




1) Add the frozen butter stick in a non stick pan to melt slowly on medium
2) Meanwhile make a corse wet paste of the dates , figs and half the coconut.
3) Add Sugar to the butter, take care not to burn it, cook for 3-4 mins
4) Add the paste and elaichi powder
5) Just when the butter gets incorporated in the halwa add the rest of the coconut
6) Serve warm or cold.


So this was my a fabulous meal> I hope to create something similar soon.