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Elephant Yam Roast- South Indian Special

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Its been a rough few months so far. But my holiday did pep up my mood and i came back in a sprightly fashion despite the fact that i had to travel 14 grueling hours on a train that was as crowded as a sheep pen, sitting on the foot board near a leaky wash basin.The only thing that kept my spirits lifted was all those blogging plans and cooking plans that i had in mind. I have every intention to make every one of those plans a reality and i have vowed that i shall blog like i used to before. So with that said and done, i set to cooking with fervor and then when i began pondering on what my blog lacks, i realised that its authentic south indian dishes that it doesnt show. To fill up that void and also to make a light delicious meal, i bring to you this rustic looking yam roast.

Now yams are not everyone s favorite. Having said that, that statement extends a mile more when it comes to elephant yams or chenai kizhangu as it is called in tamil. This vegetable or rather tuber is not sought after as it can give you an itchy tongue. The trick is to boil them in tamarind water before cooking them further. Try this recipe and you will definitely be hooked to it in the future. And itching. Fear no more.

Recipe for Elephant Yam Roast
( Elephant yam slices mildly spiced and roasted on a girdle.)

Prep Time: Under 10 mins
Cook Time: Under 30 mins
Serves 3

What You Need?

Elephant yam or chenai kizhangu 1/2 kilo
Tamarind extract from a small lime size tamarind
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Chili powder 1 tsp
Sambhar powder 1 tbsp
Besan or kadala maavu or gram flour 1.5 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil 2 tbsp

How To Make It?

Peel and clean the yam under running water thoroughly.
Slice them into slightly thick slices.
In a large pan, combine the turmeric powder, tamarind extract and about 3 cups with some salt.
Place the yam in this water and parboil the yam. Takes about 8 to 10 mins.
Once done, drain the yam in a colander completely.
In a mixing bowl, place the yam slices.
Combine chili powder, sambhar powder, besan and salt and mix well.
Now, add this to the yam slices and combine gently ensuring that all the slices are coated evenly.
Heat a cast iron tawa or girdle.
Place the yam slices on the heated tawa and drizzle some oil on the edges.
Cook on a medium flame until golden brown spots appear. Repeat for the other side.

Once done, remove from the flame and serve hot with rasam, rice and any kuzhambu of your choice.

Thattai Murukku Recipe

By 8 Comments

HOW TO MAKE THATTAI?

Thattai – Also called as Thattai Murukku is a crispy snack made with rice and gram flour.

What s diwali without sweets, munchies and bang bang crackers? What s diwali without watching grandma or mom rolling ladoos or frying crunchy murukkus? Diwali doesnt exist for me without all of the above.

And ever since i ve been married, Diwali is incomplete for me without making a sweet or two and frying a murukku. I went on a murukku spree last year. But this year, i m keeping it simple with just this thattai murukku recipe and may be some ladoos.

I dont need the excuse of Diwali to munch on Thattais but then, the kick of making them for a special occasion is simply too hard to resist.I began making these yesterday on a whim and i was at the stove from 11 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon.

But i must say, my efforts paid off well with Mr.P munching away with all those karak murak sounds this evening. You must excuse me for the pictures because i m extremely tired and lazy and sleep deprived. I m definitely not in the chirpy shutterbird mode myself, let alone think about aperture and lights. Just enjoy the murukku this once. Alright?

Recipe for Thattai Murukku
( Crunchy snacks made of rice flour and roasted gram flour)

Prep Time: 20 mins for prepping the dough
10 mins for rolling and shaping the dough for a batch       of 7
Cook Time: About 5 mins for a batch of 7
Yields 50 4″ murukkus

What You Need?

Rice flour 2 cups
Urad dal flour 2 tbsp
Roasted gram 1/2 cup
Butter 2 tbsp softened
Hot oil 1 tbsp
Red chili powder 1 tsp
Hing 1/2 tsp
Bengal gram dal 2 tbsp soaked in water for 30 mins
Sesame seeds 2 tbsp
Curry leaves 10 to 12 torn into little pieces
Water as needed
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

How To Make It?

Dry roast the rice flour and urad dal flour separately. Set aside.
Dry roast the roasted gram separately, let it cool and grind to a fine powder in a blender.
In a large mixing bowl, place all the flours and the other dry ingredients and combine.
Now, sieve the mixture once thoroughly to get rid of any impurities and to combine the ingredients well.
Transfer this mixture to the mixing bowl and make a well in the middle.
Add the butter, oil and water and start mixing the dough. While you add water, make sure you add little by little at a time.
Once you are done kneading, you must have a smooth dough without cracks.
Now lets make the thattais. Heat the oil for deep frying.

In the meanwhile, grease a ziplock cover or any plastic sheet.
Divide the dough into 4 parts and take one part and place it on the greased sheet.

Now using a rolling pin, start rolling out the dough as thinly as possible.

Once you are done, take any round brimmed cup or tumbler, press into the rolled out dough and make circles.
Once you got the circles, transfer to another greased sheet and continue to do the same with the remaining dough. But dont repeat this with all the dough as it tends to dry up. Make circles as you finish frying a batch.
Once you finish making about 6 to 7 circles, fry them in hot oil. The correct heat for frying the discs are when you drop a small ball of dough into the oil, it should float up immediately.
Once the oil is hot enough, drop the discs in batches of 6 to 7 and fry them on low medium flame until the shhhuushh sound of the oil subsides.
Repeat with the remaining batches.
Once done,drain on a kitchen towel and let cool.
Store in an airtight container.

Munch along whenever you pop in and out of the kitchen.

P.S Alternate method of making thattais would be making small balls of the dough and flatten them using your greased fingers on a greased ziplock cover.

Cauliflower Masala Dosa

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Sigh!  I had Cauliflower Masala Dosa dreams last night. I know i ve said it before. I know i m obsessed about it. But i m going to obsess one more time. I m from Coimbatore and Annapoorna Hotel chain makes the best dosas aka roast in the world. Sorry if you beg to differ. Lets just that keep it that way. My world of dosas is a tiny tiny world and i would like to keep it that way. I ve a million memories of eating the different varieties of stuffed dosas on their menu. While the authentic potato stuffing dosa was an all time favorite, i always used to opt for a paneer masala dosa or this cauliflower masala dosa. I love cauliflowers and i love my dosas. So when the two of them come together, do you think i ll pass up the opportunity?

The recipe is just my attempt at recreating the dosa served at the hotel. I dont know if its made this way there but it almost tasted that way. It tasted heavenly with coconut chutney. And this makes a fabulous dinner idea.

Recipe For Cauliflower Masala Dosa

Prep Time: Under 20 mins
Cook Time: Under 20 mins
Yields 5 dosas

For The Dosa recipe, refer my previous post on Capsicum Paneer Masala Dosa.

For The Stuffing:

Cauliflower florets 2 cups cleaned,blanched and drained
Onion 1 large chopped finely
Tomatoes 2 large chopped finely
Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
Dhania powder 1 tsp
Chili powder 1.5 tsp
Cumin powder 1/2 tsp
Garam masala 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Fennel seeds 1 tsp
Oil 2 tbsp

To Grind To A Paste:

Cashews 10 soaked for 10 mins in hot water

Garnish:

Cilantro leaves chopped finely 2 tbsp

How To Make It?

In a pan, heat the oil and add the fennel seeds.
Once they splutter, add the onions and saute till light brown.
Add the ginger garlic paste next and saute for 30 secs.
Next add in all the spice powders and the turmeric powder and saute on low medium flame for 30 secs.
Next toss in the tomatoes and cook till they turn mushy.
In the meanwhile, grind the cashews to a smooth paste by adding little water.
Once the tomatoes are done, add the cashew paste, cauliflower florets and salt.
Add about 1/2 cup water and cook till the water is evaporated and the mixture is thick.
Once done, garnish with cilantro leaves.

To make the dosa, spread a ladle of dosa batter on a heated tawa and cook until golden brown.
Drizzle oil and flip over and cook for about 30 to 45 secs.
Once done, spread about 3 to 4 tbsp of the stuffing on the dosa, roll and serve with coconut chutney.

Peanut Sesame Ladoos – After School Snack Ideas

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When i actually posted the Aloo Bonda recipe, i dint think i would get hooked onto quick snack ideas so much. But then, i did start obsessing about how children these days dont get to eat much home cooked food and it s always that pizza or a random burger. And my aunt dutifully added to my obsessing but delivering the news that my 18 year old college going cousin actually fainted in college cos she went without eating. I mean, imagine a 18 year old fainting. Not good. And good for my obsessing. So that s how it all began. We are not snack people. And definitely not quick snack people. Let alone after snack people. We rarely snack and when we do, we snack heavy. So technically, its not snacking but having a huge meal.

 
But somehow, i got smitten with quick snack ideas and this peanut sesame ladoos happened as an aftermath. While they are yummy and delectable, they are also healthy and super easy to whip up. Plus its perfect for the coming up winter. The pictures are not great cos i was too lazy setting up the props and everything but dont let the pictures fool you.

Recipe For Peanut Sesame Ladoos
( Sweet balls made with peanuts, sesame seeds and jaggery.)

Prep Time: Under 5 mins
Cook Time: Under 10 mins
Source:Adapted from Cooks Joy
Yields 15 medium size ladoos
What You Need?

Sesame Seeds 1.5 cups
Peanuts 1 cup
Jaggery 1.5 cups
Cardamom 2 pods shelled

How To Make It?

Dry roast the sesame seeds until light brown and aromatic in a skillet.
Similarly, roast the peanuts on a low flame until crunchy.
Once done, let them cool.
Grind the peanuts along with the jaggery in a blender to a smooth powder.
Add the roasted sesame seeds and cardamom pods to this and blend again.
Once done, start shaping them into round balls by greasing your hand a little.
You dont need milk or ghee for this as the oil in the peanuts and sesame will work as a binding agent.
In case you mixture doesnt come together, add about 2 tbsp of milk and then  roll them into ladoos.

And if you use milk, refrigerate them in an air tight container.
Once done with all the ladoos, start devouring. What are you waiting for??

Aloo Bonda- Mashed Potatoes In Chickpea Flour Batter- After School Snacks

By 8 Comments

If you are raising an eyebrow at me after you read the After School part in the post title, i ll only tell you, Oh! come one, cut the kid some slack. If you can have a day for pizza, a day for McDonalds and one more for pasta, then you can have one day for tucking into these potato bondas too. This is probably the oldest snack idea that s existed since time immemorial.I ve literally known 4 generations of women making it every time some one comes to see a girl and decide if she s prospective marriage material. They call the whole fiasco,”Ponn Parthal” in tamil. And i disapprove of the practice heartily. Atleast in this age and time. But then, it happened to me too and when it happened to me, there were butterflies in my stomach. Imagine that with the lawyer tag. Duh! Anyway, my point is, whatever the tradition, whatever the age, a woman is a woman and a man can make her stomach churn especially when it comes to choosing your soul mate between a conversation that typically lasts for only like, what? 5 mins.To put it succinctly, its only the practice i disapprove off and not the snacks that come along with it. See, what i mean? I hope i ve put across my point. Haa… enough of meandering.

     
Coming back to the bonda, i dont care if it s made when a guy comes or if its the guys’ family. What i care about is that i get to gorge on these bondas everytime they get made. And i look forward to it like an eager beaver because A. Its yummy and B. Its yummy. 😀 And when i make them, which is seldom, i like them even more because they are super photogenic. And that s the reason why this post is overloaded with pictures. Now,before i bore you all to that point when you start yawning on my face, let me tell you all how i made it. Oh by the way, i couldnt resist myself from sharing this totally irrelevant and random piece of information. When ever i visit my In laws, this bonda is a must do. One more reason to enjoy  the trip back home. Just saying!

Recipe For Aloo Bondas
( Mashed potato mixture coated in chickpea and rice flour mixture and deep fried.)

Prep Time: Under 15 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Yields 12 to 15 depending on the size

What You Need?

For The Filling:

Potatoes 4 large
Onion 1 large chopped finely
Green chilies 8 chopped finely
Oil 1 tbsp
Grated ginger 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder a large pinch
Salt to taste
Cilantro leaves chopped finely 3 tbsp

For The Batter:

Chickpea flour/Besan 1 cup
Rice flour 1.5 tbsp
Cooking soda a small pinch
Red chili powder 1 to 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Water to mix

For The Bondas:

Oil for deep frying

How To Make It?

Lets make the filling first. Pressure cook the potatoes until soft. Peel and set aside.
In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil and add the green chilies, onion and turmeric powder and saute till the onions turn a light brown.
Once done, transfer to a large mixing bowl.Now, add the cooked potatoes to this bowl.
Add salt and coriander leaves to the mixture.
Now, knead the mixture to a fine dough like consistency.You must be able to make balls out of the mixture. Once done,divide the dough into 12 equal portions and set aside.

That s the filling all ready and rolled!
Now, heat the oil for deep frying.
In the meanwhile, prep the batter.
In another deep mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients for the batter except the water and combine well.
Now, make the batter by adding water gradually. The batter must be like that of dosa batter.
Once done, check if the oil is hot by dropping a small drop of the batter into the oil. If it floats up immediately, then the oil is ready.
Once ready, dip the potato balls into the batter and drop them in the oil gently.
Deep fry them until golden brown on low medium flame.
Once done, drain on a kitchen towel.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup or any chutney of your choice.

Pomegranate Spritzer – Mocktail Recipes

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This is one more in the spirits of Pinktober. I mean, if the cause is that close to my heart, how can i stop with one recipe? This is not even a recipe. You dont need a stove. Of course, you may say that making a mock tail does not involve the active participation of a stove. But then,this one is super easy and super delicious. Plus, it super healthy. So one more for Pinktober. In all the pink shades of nature.


Recipe For Pomegranate Spritzer
(Mock tail with pomegranate and lemon.)

Prep Time: Under 10 mins
Chill Time: 2 hours
Cook Time: Nil
Yields about 600 ml

What You Need?

Pomegranate pearls 3/4 cup
Lemons 2 juicy ones
Sugar 1/4 cup powdered
Black salt 1/4 tsp
Water 3 cups

How To Make It?

Powder sugar and set aside.
In a blender, add the pomegranate pearls and about 2 tbsp water and grind to a thick pulp.
Strain the pomegranate pulp and extract the juice.
Now in a mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar, pomegranate juice and squeeze in the lemon juice.
Mix well.
Add the water and black salt.Mix well.
Chill in the fridge for about 2 hours.

Serve alongside paneer vegetable balls or some vegetable nuggets
P.S. You can substitute sugar with honey for a healthier version. Want to make it into a cock tail? Spike it with vodka and voila! you have a cocktail. 

Beetroot Raitha – Going Pink For October

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If you all think i m sort of off beat here with all that going pink for October because October is at its fag end, i must explain. I may be late in going pink. But then,this concept is close to my heart. I know so many women who have succumbed to breast cancer sometime or the other in their life. I know a few who are fighting like a lioness against the demon who has reared her head at a totally unexpected point in their lives. I know a few more whose lives had been picture perfect before the venture of this very ugly demon. Breast cancer has at some point changed women s lives. And it s always been for the worst. It s not going to stop devastating people. But i think as women, we must all transform into lionesses when the time comes and give the cancer one big kick in its ass. ( Pardon the language.) For we may all be women who are soft handed and delicate. We may all be people who love our stilettos and cherish our first dates. But beneath all the vulnerability, we have our guts and spirit. We are the people who hold our homes together. We are the people who make people happy in so many ways than anyone else put together. So we cant let cancer deter us. And men must learn to live with the fact that women are also susceptible and just like women rise up amidst a gush of strong waves, they must also rise up to the occassion.

With that said and done, i m going pink this month. I am not making anything fancy pansy. I m not here to celebrate something. I m here to convey a message. A message for all us women to eat healthy and stay healthy. And so my recipe is also along those lines.This is a simple colorful raitha that you can eat with some biriyani or dunk your parathas in. Above all, its beetroot and it improves your blood. So here you go, beetroot raitha for Pink October.

Recipe for Beetroot Raitha
( Yogurt sauce with beets and coconut)

Prep Time: Under 10 mins
Cook Time: Nil
Serves 3

What You Need?

Beetroot 1 medium peeled and grated
Thick yogurt 3/4 cup
Salt to taste

To grind to a paste:

Grated coconut 4 tbsp
Green chilies 3 to 4

To Temper:

Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Hing a small pinch
Oil 1/2 tsp

To Garnish:

Cilantro leaves chopped finely 1 tbsp

How To Make It:

In a bowl, whisk the curds well and add the salt and grated beet to it. Combine well and set aside.
Grind the coconut and chilies to a fine paste using about 2 tbsp water.
Add the ground paste to the curds.
Temper the curd mixture with mustard seeds and hing.
Mix well.
Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Serve cold or as it is with mixed veg stuffed parathas or tomato rice

Tofu Bhurji

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Its only in the recent times that i ve been stocking on Tofu. We ( pardon me..) I am not a health freak. Where as Mr.P is a giant of a health freak. ( I hope you get the quirk here..) But sometime back, i did eat some tofu and i got hooked on to the taste. Although the first time i bought tofu, it was disastrous. I bought Mori Nu silken tofu back then and tried using it in a pulao. You can imagine the catastrophe. So for all those people experimenting with tofu for the first time, Silken Tofu is something that is used as an egg replacer or is sometimes used in puddings. But the firm tofu is used in place of indian cottage cheese or paneer in the recent times. Having cleared that, how can i not share this easy and yummy tofu bhurji recipe.

There are many versions of bhurji out there and it is usually made with paneer. But for vegans and the weight conscious, this is truly a blessing along with its added attractions of taste and flavor. And above everything, it s something that you can whip up on a night when every bone in your body is screaming at you to just snuggle up in your bed.

Recipe For Tofu Bhurji
( An easy side dish made with tofu and assorted veggies)

Prep Time: Under 15 mins
Cook Time: Under 15 mins
Serves 4

What You Need?

Tofu grated 3 cups ( I approximately used 300g of tofu)
Onions 2 medium chopped finely
Red bell pepper 1 chopped finely
Tomato 1 large chopped finely
Green peas fresh or frozen 1/4 cup
Coriander cumin powder 1 tsp
Punjabi garam masala 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder 1/2 tsp
Green chilies 4 minced finely
Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
Oil 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds or jeera 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Garnish:

Chopped cilantro leaves 2 tbsp
Lemon juice 1 tbsp

How To Make It?

In a large mixing bowl, place the tofu.Make sure the tofu doesnt have any water.
Add the spice powders to the tofu and combine well. Set aside.
In a pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds. Once they splutter, add the onions and green chilies and saute till the onions are light brown.
Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 secs.
Now add the bell pepper and saute till just wilted.
At this stage, add the chopped tomatoes and a pinch of salt and cook till tomatoes turn mushy.
Once done, add the grated tofu and salt.
Mix well.
Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves.
Squeeze lemon juice before serving.

Serve alongside chapathis or parathas.

Coriander Coconut Thogayal

By 4 Comments

This is one of those recipes which happened in my kitchen after my recent purchase of Chandra Padmanabhan s Dakshin. I must tell that i m not at all disappointed with the book. I mean can i be after my stunning success with the Mysore Pak? Its easy. Its simple and it has comfort food written all over its face. It was absolute heaven to mix the earthy flavored chutney with hot steamed rice and drizzle a generous amount of sesame oil over it. Hmmm… that s what i shall call unadulterated bliss. Haa..the joys of eating. And not to forget, the joys of cooking…

When i made this in the afternoon, amma fell in love with it. And i was surprised to see that the chutney vanished along with a dozen dosas in the evening too. It tasted divine with dosas and i hope you all try it too.

Recipe For Coriander Coconut Thogayal
( A chutney made with grated fresh coconut, cilantro and a few spices)
Prep Time: Under 10 mins
Cook Time: Under 10 mins
Serves 2
What You Need?
Freshly grated coconut 8 tbsp
Bengal gram dal or channa dal 1 tbsp
Urad dal or black gram dal 1 tbsp
Cilantro leaves a small bunch chopped finely
Green chilies 5
Dry red chilies 2 
Tamarind the size of a small marble
Salt to taste
Oil 1/2 tsp
To Temper:
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Curry leaves a sprig
Hing a small pinch 
Oil 1 tsp
How To Make It?
In a pan, heat 1/2 tsp oil.
Add the dals and chilies and saute the dals till light brown and aromatic.
Set aside to cool.
Place the coconut, cilantro, tamarind, salt, sauteed dals and chilies in a blender and grind to a coarse paste adding very little water at a time.
Heat 1 tsp of oil and add the mustard seeds. 
Once the seeds splutter, add the curry leaves and hing.
Now add the tempering to the ground chutney and combine well.
Serve hot with hot steamed rice and some poppadoms.

This is my entry to this month s Hush Hush Week for the Avant Garde Cookies. Priya Sreeram set me the secret ingredient as greens and i m keeping my fingers crossed that she accepts Cilantro as greens. 🙂 In the meanwhile, if you are wondering what the other cookies are cooking up, check out Roshni, Priya Sreeram, Radhika, Jayanthi,Priya Mahadevanand Veena.

Mysore Pak – Diwali Special

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As promised, i m here with my mysore pak. I must confess i m a tad bit proud of myself after my first fling with mysore pak resulted in me tying the knot with the finicky lil sweet. I must also admit that i ve never been a huge fan of mysore pak. Despite the fact that i hail from Coimbatore, the birth place of the famous Shree Krishna Sweets, a pioneer in mysore pak making. I grew up with tonnes and tonnes of mysore pak shoved down my throat by relatives and friends alike. Maybe its that that drove me away from the Mysore Pak. And this sweet has a wiki page if you all dint know. You can check it out here. Strange that i can say stranger things when i m in that cooking frame of mind. Anyway, this whole mysore pak episode happened on a whim.

I just happened to buy Chandra Padmanabhan s Dakshin recently. So like i do with every cook book that i buy, i became obsessively engrossed in reading it and then there was this mysore pak recipe which called out to me in all that ” Baby, call me when you need me” tone. So what else can i do but make it straight away. And i must tell you all that it got a straight A from people too. Make it and i ll tell you, you will make it every time you have to whip up a sweet.

  Ok starting from now, its only fair that i warn you of all the stirring that awaits you in the process of making it.If you intend to shed off the flab on your arms, its a good place to start with. Only you have to abstain from popping it into your mouth after having made it. Get the idea? So gear up and lets make some Mysore Pak.

Recipe For Mysore Pak
( Indian sweet made with gram flour, clarified butter and sugar)

Prep Time: Under 10 mins
Cook Time: Under 40 mins
Yields about 20 medium pieces

What You Need?

Gram flour or besan or kadala maavu 1 cup
Sugar 2 cups
Ghee 1.25 cups
Ghee 2 tbsp for greasing
A deep tray or a vessel with a flat bottom

How To Make It?

(I made a few adjustments to the original recipe. While the original recipe dint call for sieving the flour, i strongly recommend it if you are looking for soft mysore pak. The original recipe also calls for 2 cups of ghee but oh my conscience will never let me indulge so much for fear of a barrel staring at me when i look into the mirror in a few days. I just used about 1.25 cups of ghee and that s just about enough. It gave me delicious melt in the mouth mysore paks. So stick to mine and you will have a lil less guilt about making Mysore Pak.)

Grease the tray or the plate that you are going to use with ghee generously and set aside.
Sieve the gram flour well to get rid of any impurities. Set aside.
Heat a non stick pan with about 1 tbsp of ghee.
Saute the flour on low flame until just aromatic.
Set aside.
In the same pan, heat about 3/4 cup of ghee.
Add the gram flour to the heated ghee, stir quickly on low flame and set aside.
In another pan, place the sugar and add water to just cover it.
Boil the sugar syrup until it reaches one string consistency.You will know if it s that much when you touch the sugar syrup and there s one string that doesnt break off when you pull away your thumb and forefinger.
Strain the syrup and add the gram flour ghee mixture to the syrup. Mix well by placing it over a low flame.
Now, in another clean pan,( yes you are going to need 3 pans for this and i couldnt figure out a short cut for that!), add the reserved ghee and heat it up.
Now, add the gram flour sugar mixture to the reserved ghee and start stirring. Now s when you must hold your horses and prep yourself to some heavy duty stirring.
You must keep stirring the entire mixture on a low medium flame until the ghee separates and the mixture froths up.
Once the mixture froths up, pour this into the greased plate.
Lightly tap the plate onto the kitchen counter but be very careful while you do this. Remember the mixture is super scorching hot.
Now let it cool down considerably.

Once cool, cut into desired shapes and start eating right away like i did or be sweet enough to send some over to your neighbour.You can also store this in an air tight container and it keeps well for a week.

Churma

By 6 Comments

I know its awfully early for diwali but then the festive spirit is infectious and so i thought i might as well get a hands on over the entire festive scenario. Starting this week, you will have delicious diwali delights on my blog either posted by me or a wonderful guest blogger. On that note, let me introduce you to a splendid blogger with some amazing talents. She s Nupur of UK Rasoi and she takes away the credit of being my first guest blogger. Uhhh what can i say about Nupur? Calling her versatile or fabulous or a brilliant photographer wont suffice. She s one of those people who makes sensible food but blogs about it in an exceptional way with an extra ordinary sense of photography. All her pictures are drool worthy and she s one of those bloggers who will make you run into the kitchen and start cooking pronto. I wont say anything more. I ll let Nupur herself wow you all with her post. Over to the utta gal!


This Blogging world is amazing !! Only those who resides in can understand the thrill of posting something you have prepared and seeing the world appreciating your work. Meeting fellow Bloggers “virtually” and befriending them is one of those exciting bonuses it provides you. Participating in events and contests keep the fun going, and similarly the honor of writing Guest Posts for other Bloggers maintains the serenity and blooming relations. Hence when Anusha of Tomato Blues asked me to write a guest post for her Blog, I was more than glad to do that for her.  

Anusha has a wonderful Blog ( Of Course, now since you are here reading this, you already are aware of it by now :). I especially like the captivating name and fascinating layout. Anusha wanted some post related to the festive theme going around and I recently had prepared this Choorma as a dessert for my Husband’s birthday Party.  

Choorma is basically a Rajasthani/Marwari dessert traditionally eaten along with the Combination of Daal & Baati. Its a very fulfilling and heavy dessert honestly and requires a lot of Ghee to prepare. Usually eaten in the form of Laddoos, I enjoy it just as it is. This might be the second time in my life ever that I made this, first being the time when Mum showed me how to. Although it does take a little more time and effort than the usual list we have, but then once in awhile its worth. And yes, the list of Ingredients is short, if that helps 😉 Recipe For Churma

Ingredients:

  • 2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • ½ cup Milk
  • 2 cups Ghee
  • ½ cup of Oil
  • 2 cups Caster Sugar
  • 1 tsp Cardamom Powder
  • ½ cup chopped/ pound nuts (Almonds, Cashews, Pistachios)

How to make?
  • Sift flour in a bowl and mix ½ cup Ghee with fingers it till it gets all crumbly. Start kneading it in the form of a semi-soft dough with the help of milk. Avoid water if you can and use greased palms to knead for a soft dough. Keep aside for half an hour at least.
  • Now, make small balls or cylinders out of this dough. Heat 1 cup ghee along with oil in a Wok and start frying these cylinders into it until light brown. Fry them in 3-4 batches and keep on a paper towel to absorb extra oil. Allow them to cool a bit so that you can handle by naked hands.
  • When the chunks gets cooler, run them in a mixer to crush them in a powder, like semolina but courser. It should not be like a powder, its important.
  • Now heat the remaining ghee into the same wok and pour in this powder into it. Cook this mixture at low-medium flame for 10-12 minutes. This will turn further brown and will start giving nicer aroma.
  • At this point, add sugar and cardamom powder to it along with the chopped nuts and keep stirring till next 8-10 minutes till all sugar gets dissolved completely.
  • Turn off the heat and serve with a spoonful of Ghee on top…. And then run extra 15 minutes everyday for a month 
 
My Notes:
  • Although I have clicked the pictures with just the powdered Churma, I did mould it into Laddoos after the Party. For Laddoos, just grease the palm and use warm Churma Powder to make round balls. They will get harder when cool down hence take care and do not reduce the quantity of ghee in the preparation.
  • This can be preserved uptil 10 days in an airtight container and upto a month in the fridge. Do not forget to warm it up before eating, it tastes best like this

Nippat Chaat or Thattai Chaat – Quick Snack Recipe

By 5 Comments

Whenever i make chaats at home, a sense of nostalgia welcomes me warmly. Most of my college days were blissfully spent in tucking into a newspaper cone full of pineapple chaat or some tikki puris or nippat chaat. I dont even know whether these exist outside the periphery of Bangalore. I still feel my eyes welling up with tears when i reminisce of those days i spent lurking in the corner of our college library and rushing out to grab a bit of this and that when the stomach churned with hunger. I am a stickler for cleanliness but then there was this one tikki puri wala whom i exempted. He used to whip up newspaper cone after cone of deliciousness in a matter of minutes. And whats more, almost all of what he made was on the healthier side too. May it be his crunchy cucumber masala or congress or this nippat masala, there was no beating that guy. This recipe is just a recreation of those memories.


Now that amma is here, its usually only her and me in the evenings. While most of the evenings are spent reciting kandha sashti kavasam or screaming at the kids until my throat almost becomes hoarse, an evening of quiet visits us very rarely and this was just one of it. This recipe was made in a whim. Oh did i tell you how, everytime i decide to make chaat at home, i run out of one or more ingredients? But this time, fortunately, i had everything and so this got made in like what 5 mins? Real quick huh? Make this for the kids some day and wow them.

Recipe for Thattai Or Nippat Chaat
( A quick snack made with thattai murkku and an assortment of chutneys)

Prep Time: Under 10 mins
Cook Time: Nil
Serves 2

What You Need?

Thattai murukku 8 broken into tiny bits
Onion 1 medium chopped finely
Tomato 1 medium chopped finely
Carrot grated 1 tbsp
Cucumber 2 tbsp chopped finely
Pomegranate pearls 1/8 cup
Nylon sev 2 tbsp
Lemon juice 1 tbsp
Meeta chutney 2 tbsp
Pudina chutney 1 tbsp(Read The Recipe here)
Chaat masala 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

How To Make It?

Place all the ingredients except the pomegranate pearls, sev and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl.
Mix well.
Add the lemon juice and combine well once again.
Garnish with sev, pomegranate pearls and chopped coriander.

Serve with a cup of hot chaai.

Paneer Vegetable Balls

By 12 Comments

Okay. This is going to be a rant post. When i say rant, i mean heavy duty ranting. So gear up and hold your horses until i come to the recipe itself. Recently, the ladies club in the township announced a cooking competition. For reasons aplenty, i couldnt participate. So, i went ahead and became a lil magnanimous and shared my recipe with a friend. And guess what, she won a prize. So that s technically, my recipe winning the prize. Can you even begin imagining how that feels like? I felt so stupid. Half the reason why i dint go was that i thought i would look like a baby cook in front of all the ladies there. And now when that happened, i was furious with myself albeit the fact that i was happy for my friend who has not stopped thanking me profusely till date while the competition was a week back. Well, i felt pretty dumb but then gone is gone. Moral of the story? If you are a food blogger, if there s a cookery competition happening at just a stone s throw away from your house and you have some pretty decent looking crockery, then please go and cook!Have i ranted and bored you all enough? Ok now the recipe.

This is truly a kid friendly recipe that s super quick on the stove. Plus its not deep fried. Take note my friends. I m heavily emphasizing the not deep fried part. I m sure that sounds like music to your ears. And its healthy enough if its got all veggies right? You can make them as a starter or a snack. Sadly, i couldnt get decent pictures cos i had like what? some 5 people hovering over me while i was trying to shoot. So please bear with the pictures and dont let them deceive you. This was a total hit. Remember the prize?

Recipe For Paneer Vegetable Balls:
———————————-
Prep Time: Under 20 mins
Cook Time: Under 10 mins
Yields 12
(In case, you dont want to bake them, you can cook them in a paniyaram pan(aebleskiver pan) by pouring little oil in each groove and placing each ball in a groove. Cook them till they turn golden and crisp all over. You can also deep fry them if you dont count your calories!For an extra crunch, roll the balls in bread crumbs before you cook them.)

What You Need?

Paneer cubes 1 cup
Carrot grated 1/8 cup
Sweet corn kernels minced roughly 1/8 cup
Onion 1 medium chopped finely
Bread slices 2
Potato 1 mashed and boiled
Roasted peanuts 2 tbsp
Tomato Ketchup 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Green chili 1 minced
Red chili powder 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves chopped finely 2 tbsp
Oil 2 tbsp

How To Make It?

Preheat an oven to 180 C.
Mash the paneer well and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add the carrot, corn, onions,coriander and the potato along with the peanuts, chili powder and salt.
Cut the edges in the bread and dip it slightly in water. Squeeze and add to the mixture.
Add the mashed paneer and tomato ketchup.
Now, mix well until everything comes together and the mixture resembles chapathi dough.
Divide the mixture into 12 equal parts and shape them into rounds.
Place the balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Brush them lightly with any vegetable oil.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 to 15 mins until golden and crisp.

Serve hot with any dip of your choice.

Dal – Mildly Spiced Lentil Stew

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My love affair with cooking dal began only after i got married. Mr.P loves dal. But the point to be noted is that he despises or rather used to despise dal cooked by me. Sigh! The affair intensified with the various dals i happened to taste in Baroda. While the traditional gujarati dal comes with a hint of sugar in it, my all time favorite version of dal is some creamy dal makhni. Recipe coming soon.But then i cant afford to make dal makhni everyday cos one Mr.P hates it ( call it non sequitur) and two because i cant remember soaking the legumes every now and then.

But this basic dal shows up on my table every now and then. Its easy, tasty and healthy. And gets made in a jiffy. Again this is a very versatile recipe. Each family in Baroda has its own version of this dal. And like wise, this is my version. Oh and yeah by the way, i just got a wake up call. People have been asking me why i dont post basic recipes. So for all those folks who gave me that much required nudge, thanks a million. Make this dal and prove me right!

Recipe For Basic Dal
——————–
Prep Time: Under 10 mins
Cook Time: Under 30 mins
Serves 2

What You Need?
Toor dal 1/2 cup
Tomatoes 2 small chopped finely
Onion 1 small chopped finely
Ginger grated 1 tsp
Garlic cloves 2 minced
Green chilies 4 minced 
Curry leaves a sprig
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Hing a large pinch
Jeera or cumin seeds 1 tsp
Ghee 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Garnish:
Cilantro chopped finely 2 tbsp
How To Make It?
Pressure cook the dal along with turmeric powder, chopped tomatoes and salt in 1.5 cups water until completely cooked and mushy.
Once done,drain the water and preserve it.Now, mash the dal well.Add the drained water and mix well. Set aside
Heat a pan with ghee. 
Add the cumin seeds and once they splutter, add the curry leaves and the hing.
Next, add the green chilies and saute till they turn a light brown.
Add the garlic and ginger next and saute for 30 secs.
Add the chopped onions next and saute till golden brown.
Now, add the mashed dal and mix well.
Bring to a boil.
Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with steamed rice or any rice dish of your choice.
Sending this to My Legume Love Affair hosted by Desi Soccer Mom Jaya this month for Susan and Radhi s Lets Cook Legumes And Lentils this month.
Let's Cook

Paneer Peas Pulao Recipe

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When you begin doing something, you do it with all your heart and help and guidance will find its way to you like magic. That s a mantra in my life and i strongly live by it. When i began blogging, i did not know that events existed. I did not have an inkling as to what a blog hop is. And i did not have a single food blogger friend. In that sense, i m incredibly fond of Radhika of Tickling Palates whom i call fondly as Radhi.She was the one who opened up a world of possibilities to me in food blogger terms. Credit goes to her for me to have learnt what blog hopping is. True to her blog s name, she tickles everyone s palates religiously almost on an everyday basis.

But for me, she s beyond the tickling. She s a wonderful person who is completely modest despite the fact that her blog receives over 1000 hits a day. Not a day has gone by when i ve not admired her for her modesty and practicality. She s a wonder woman who weaves magic in her kitchen with 3 men madly in love with her. Her 2 lovely sons and her husband of course. But i m not here to do a food blogger profile of Radhi. For me, she s one of the best friends and a loving elder sister figure. She s been there with me at almost all those times when i ve needed someone to put some sense into me. She s been there to tell me that it will be fine when i have been in neck deep misery. She s borne my age tantrums with pleasure and she s guided me through blogging. For me, she s the sister that i dont have. The friend who i ferociously guard and stand by.
This post was supposed to be up on 7th september, when Radhi came crying into this world and people around her said happy birthday or congratulations. But then i had too too much on my plate and i couldnt sit down to write a post that will justify the way i feel about her. Today it happened and even though, i m a week late, i have to tell you, Radhi, belated birthday wishes to you and a million hugs all the way from here.Knowing Radhi, i dint make something fancy for her. My paneer peas pulao  recipe is simple yet hearty and delicious. Something that typically reflects Radhi herself!

Recipe For Paneer Peas Pulao

Prep Time: Under 30 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Serves 2
( This pulao is really quick on the stove. I made this pulao on the stove top and it was my first time cooking rice on the stove top directly. Needless to say, i m super pleased with my efforts and will share that too with you all quickly.)

What You Need?

Basmati rice 1 cup
Green peas fresh or frozen 1/2 cup
Onion 1 large finely chopped
Paneer cubes 1/2 cup
Green chilies 3 slit lengthwise
Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
Bay leaf 1
Salt to taste
Ghee 3 tbsp divided

To dry roast and powder finely:

Cinnamon 1″
Cloves 4
Pepper corns 3/4 tsp
Cumin seeds 1 tsp

Garnish:

Roasted cashews broken 3 tbsp
Cilnatro chopped finely 2 tbsp

How To Make It?

Soak rice in about 2 cups water for 30 mins.
Meanwhile make the other prep.
Dry roast the cumin, pepper corns, cloves and cinnamon and powder finely. Set aside.
Once the rice is soaked, heat a heavy bottomed or a non stick  pan with 2 tbsp ghee.
Add the paneer cubes and shallow fry them until golden on all sides. Do this on low flame cos paneer burns quickly.Drain them on a kitchen towel. Now dunk the paneer in hot water not boiling hot but hot. Set aside. This helps the paneer to stay soft.
In the same pan, add the remaining ghee.
Now, add the green chilies and the onions and saute till the onions are a light brown.Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for about 30 secs.
Add the green peas next and saute for about 1 min.
Add the ground spice mix and salt.
Mix well.
Now add 2 to 2.25 cups of water to the pan and bring to a boil.
Drain the rice and add to the pan.
Cook closed with a lid that has a small opening for about 15 to 25 mins until the rice is cooked but not mushy.
Keep an eye after 20 mins cos the cooking of the rice depends on the quality of the rice too.
Once done, garnish with roasted cashews and cilantro.

Serve hot with potato fry and paneer tawa masala

Ennai Kathrikai Kuzhambu

By 7 Comments

Mybetter half detestsbrinjals like there s no tomorrow. That said and done, he loves this particularEnnaiKathrikaiKuzhambu to pieces. Why, this is my favorite too. Oh to pour that tangy sauceonto hot steaming rice and a ladle full of sesame oil and gulp it down is bliss that is beyond words. Wellits not likei m making this the first time. I ve probably made this on so manysundays for lunch thati ve nicknamedennaiKathrikaiKuzhambu as the sundaykuzhambu.

The reason why i dint post the recipe was that i dint have decent pictures. But i think i ve done a fair job pinching the shutterbugs today. Make this for lunch tomorrow or why wait that long! Make it today for dinner to dip rotis in them and you wont regret the decision at all. Now, lets jump into some unadulterated eggplant bliss, shall we?

Recipe  For  Ennai Kathrikai Kuzhambu
Prep Time: Under 20 mins
Cook Time: Under 20 mins
Serves 4
( This recipe has so many versions typical to that of south indian cuisine. I make a coconut less version of this too but nothing beats the flavor of dry coconut in this kuzhambu. This tastes best when eaten the next day. And never attempt this recipe without any other oil other than sesame oil.)
 Ingredients
Baby brinjals 10
Tamarind extract 2 cups from tamarind the size of a lemon
Sesame oil 1/2 cup
Jaggery grated 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Spice Powder:
Dhania or coriander seeds 3 tbsp
Channa dal or bengal gram 2 tbsp
Urad dal 1 tbsp
Kopra or dry coconut grated 4 tbsp
Dry red chilies 12
Hing a large pinch
Fenugreek seeds or methi 1 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Sesame oil 1/2 tsp
Tempering:
Curry leaves a sprig
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Hing a small pinch
Sesame oil 2 tsp
Directions
In a pan, add 1/2 tsp of oil and roast all the ingredients for the spice powder except the dry coconut. Allow it to cool. Blend to a not so coarse not so fine powder in a blender. Set aside.
Keeping the stalks intact, make a criss cross on the top of the brinjals carefully taking care not to halve them completely. The idea is to make the stuffing stay inside.
Now, stuff about 2 tsp of stuffing into each of the brinjals in the cut made. Set aside. You will have some of that spice powder left. Save it cos we are going to use it later.
Heat the 1/2 cup oil in a pan.
Drop the stuffed brinjals gently one by one and cook them until tender on medium low flame. Turn them gently so that they cook on all sides. Takes about 4 to 5 mins.
Once done, add the rest of the spice powder and mix gently.
Now add the tamarind extract, 1/2 cup of water, the grated jaggery and salt and mix well.
Let it simmer until oil separates from the mixture.
Once done, temper with curry leaves, mustard seeds and hing.
Serve hot with steamed rice and poppadoms.
Sending this to MLLA 50 hosted by Susan this month

Maa Laadu

By 6 Comments

I am not an authentic south indian for no reasons. The fact that i was born and brought up in one of the most hospitable cities in Tamil Nadu apart, i love tamil food. Or should i say anything that has the tag South Indian. This is mainly because most of the recipes from South India are versatile. Most of them being add a little of this and a little of that. But mind you each dish is a challenge for to achieve perfection in each is a mighty task. I ve seen people cooking just eyeballing ingredients. Why only the other day i was watching Menu Rani Chellam Aunty making these yummy maa laadus. Even though she told us the precise measurement and everything, making a south indian dessert is so unlike baking.It does not call for standard cup sizes and spoons. Its more like make it as it suits your palette. I got inspired by her and the last week of The Avant Garde Cookies where we picked authentic tamil cuisine was the perfect excuse to make these super delicious loaded with protein laadus.They are easy to make. People will definitely think you are some Julia Child of the south or something when you make these and serve them. Oh! believe me will ya all?

Prep Time: Under 30 mins

Cook Time: Nil
Makes 24 to 30 laadus
( I am not an expert when it comes to the circle shape. I cant make perfectly round laadus but do you care as long as they are yummy in the tummy? These laadus when eaten in excess will give an upset stomach. They are traditionally made for gokulashtami. Addition of cashews optionally. Melted warm ghee works best for shaping the laadus. Be careful when you add the ghee and mix the flour. I burnt my hands so learn from my careless self and save yourself from those burns.200 g of dharia yields about 2 cups of flour after sieving.)

What You Need?
Roasted channa dal or dharia or pori kadalai 200 g
Powdered sugar 1.75 cups
Ghee 3/4 cup 
Cashews 12 to 15 broken
Cardamom powder 1 tsp
How To Make It?
Place the dal in a blender little by little and blend to a fine powder. Make this in two batches and sieve. You must have 2 cups of flour at the end of the sieving.
In a large mixing bowl,add the channa dal flour, powdered sugar and cardamom powder and combine well using a whisk.
Now, melt the ghee and you must have about 1 cup of melted ghee. If not add a little more and if you are worrying about the flab, close your eyes!
Once the ghee is melted completely, add the broken cashews and wait until just light brown.
Let the ghee become warm a little so that you can handle the heat.
Now, make a well in the middle of the flour and pour the ghee along with the cashews.
Using a whisk, gently but quickly combine the entire mixture so that it resembles bread crumbs.
Now, start making small balls out of them.
Let them cool completely before you store them.
Once cool, store them in dry air tight containers and enjoy them!
Check out the other Avant Garde Cookies here. Also sending this to Susan s MLLA 50 this month

Vegetable Fried Rice

By 5 Comments

Did you think i got over my chinese frenzy with yesterday s recipe? Oh boy you are wrong. Dont you want to know what we ate the manchurian sauce with? Vegetable fried rice of course. If there s something like the easiest dish, then i m sure veg fried rice will figure in this list. You have the rice. You chop the veggies and your fried rice is 80% done. And what s more, it s a fabulous way to use up leftover rice.

Prep Time: Under 20 mins
Cook Time: Under 15 mins
Serves 2
( Short grain rice already cooked and cooled works best for fried rice. There are many people who add cauliflower too. So be my guest if you are fond of them florets.If you want a nice brown looking fried rice, add dark soy sauce. I prefer mine white so i just went along with the light one.)

What You Need?

Cooked rice 2 cups
Carrot 1 cubed
French beans chopped finely 1/4 cup
Capsicum 1 chopped finely
Cabbage shredded 1/3 cup
Onions 2 medium chopped finely
Celery chopped finely 1 tbsp
Spring onion whites chopped finely 2 tbsp
White pepper powder 1 tsp
Soy sauce 2 tsp
Oil 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

For Garnish:

Spring onion greens 2 tbsp

How To Make It?

In a wok, heat the oil.
Add chopped onions and saute till pink.
Now, add the chopped veggies and the celery and saute for about 4 to 5 mins.
Add the soy sauce and the white pepper next and saute for a minute.
Next, add salt and combine well.
Add cooked rice to this and combine gently.
Garnish with spring onion greens.

Serve hot with tomato sauce, chilies in vinegar and soy sauce.

Tomato Rice- One Pot Meal

By 8 Comments

My father in law calls this kind of stuff kadale pori which when translated means puffed rice and groundnuts.And my husband follows suit. He never says it but i know its running at the back of his head. In the sense, he doesnt consider this a meal but ends up licking his fingers anyway. I think i ve done enough damage to Mr.P s repute here. And God forbid he reads this post.
Now i know i ve really jumped the gun.

Coming down to the recipe, i love tomato rice. I love coconut rice. I love lemon rice. I love curd rice. Period. But no one else in my house does. Wondering who else? Of course Mr.P. All that jabber apart, this is a super easy one pot meal that can be put together in a jiffy. So make this when you are lazy or when you need a quick lunch recipe for your kids lunch box or when you are just lunching or dining alone at home.

Prep Time: Under 10 mins
Cook Time: Under 20 mins
Serves 2

( There are so many versions of tomato rice on the net. But this is my go to recipe cos its simple and more importantly, it has south indian written all over it. I hate rice recipes that use basmati rice. But this one s an exception. Make the whole thing in ghee to take the dish to another level.)

What You Need?

Cooked rice 2 cups
Tomatoes 4 large ripe ones
Cinnamon 1″ piece
Cloves 2
Bay leaf 1
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Fennel seeds 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder a large pinch
Garam masala 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste 1 tsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Cilantro for garnish

How To Make It?

Bring water to a boil in a large pan.
Drop the tomatoes in the water for about a minute.
Remove and transfer to an ice bath.
Now, peel the tomatoes and mash the tomatoes coarsely.Set aside.
Heat a pan with oil.
Add cumin seeds. Once they crackle,add fennel seeds.
Now, add bay leaf, cinnamon and cloves.
Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 secs.
Now, add the mashed tomatoes next and add all the spice powders.
Mix well and cook till oil separates from the mixture.
Add salt and mix well.
Now, add to the cooked rice and combine well.
Garnish with cilantro leaves.
Serve hot with any raitha of your choice.

Mumbai Pav Bhaji Recipe

By 8 Comments

Have i told you about my love for pav bhaji yet? I am bananas over the famous street food served up in almost the whole country. I mean, how can someone not like pav and bhaji? I ve been such a fool to not share my version of pav bhaji with you all. I ve probably made this like a 50 times by now. No, no , just dont jump into conclusions that i dont cook anything much other than pav bhaji.

I do cook everything else but this is one dish that can tickle my taste buds anytime. I am hungry, i can eat pav bhaji. I am angry, pav bhaji will lift my spirits. I am just craving for something nice, then its definitely pav bhaji. That much is how much i m addicted to pav bhaji. I wont write much on this post. Because that plate of hot bhaji and pav toasted in sizzling butter is beckoning me from the table. So i ll quickly tell you all how i made it and get down to tucking in. Now for the recipe!

Recipe For Pav Bhaji
( Learn how to make Pav Bhaji, dinner rolls served with vegetable gravy_

Ingredients

Pav or dinner rolls 16 pieces
Butter 4 tbsp ( see note)

For The Bhaji:

Potatoes 2 medium boiled and mashed
Cauliflower florets 1/2 cup
Cabbage shredded 1/4 cup
Green peas fresh or frozen 1/4 cup
Carrot 1 peeled and cubed
Green bell pepper 1 chopped finely
Tomatoes 2 large chopped finely
Onions 2 large chopped coarsely
Ginger 1/2″ piece
Garlic cloves 4
Green chili 1
Oil 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Spice Powders:

Pav bhaji masala 1.5 tbsp
Red chili powder 2 tsp
Turmeric powder a large pinch

To serve:

Onion rings
Lemon wedges
Butter
Cilantro chopped finely 1/8 cup

Note:

1. Replace the butter with any neutral flavored oil for a vegan version.

Directions

Pressure cook the carrot, cabbage, cauliflower and peas for 2 whistles.Once done, mash them well to a mushy consistency and set aside.
Grind together the onions, garlic, ginger and green chili to a fine paste without adding any water. Set aside.
Heat a pan with oil.
Add the bell pepper and saute for a minute.
Now add the onion paste and saute until light brown and fragrant. Takes about 3-4 mins on medium flame.
Now, add the tomatoes and saute till mushy.
At this stage, add the spice powders and combine well.
Cook until oil separates from the mixture.
Now, add the mashed potatoes and the mashed veggies.
Combine well.
Add salt and about 2 cups water and mix well.
Simmer for 5 to 7 mins on medium high flame.
Garnish with cilantro.

To Assemble and Serve

In a griddle, heat up a lil butter.
Slit the dinner rolls in the middle.
And toast them on the griddle.
In a plate, place the dinner rolls and bhaji.
Squeeze lemon juice over the bhaji.

Serve hot with onion rings and papads.

Chocolate Loaf Cake – Vegan

By 9 Comments

This Vegan Chocolate Loaf Cake is an incredibly soft and sinfully chocolatey cake that has the additional brownie points of being vegan. Today is chocolate cake day. For so many reasons. But the first is because i was supposed to have made something with chocolate and yeast but the weather guy is being very difficult here. With the mercury falling and rising like a charging bull, its very difficult to proof the dough. I failed four times in a row. That did little to inspire me but then, the better half soothingly suggested that i let it be and make something else with cocoa. After all, do we need a reason to gorge on chocolate or for that matter, any thing loaded with cocoa?
Ok now for the second part of the story. Why did i even want to make something with chocolate and yeast when i knew the weather guy was not in his friendly best. Well, its the hush hush week. Wondering what that is?? Let me tell y’all. The Avant Garde Cookies set each other a secret ingredient. At the end of the first week, we are supposed to make a dish featuring the ingredients. This time, i got paired with the vivacious Kavi and she did turn out to be a lil naughty gal. She gave me chocolate and yeast. Well, the rest of the story, i ve already told you all.

And now finally the cake. Let me tell you all how this cake happened. I was religiously scouring the fridge shelves when i happened to discover carton after carton of coconut milk. And i was loaded with guilt for having forgotten about it.I wanted to use up the milk and i was already craving for a sinful dessert. Not that i m a chocolate person. But i love my desserts. Anyway, so i went into the kitchen, hovered aimlessly over the counter for a while and then started working out as slow as an old donkey. And in the middle of it all, just when i set the beater to whip up the liquids, the bowl toppled over and all i was left with a counter that had a emulsified mixture of milk, oil and
vanilla all over without a sense of direction.

Phew! So, then i cleaned up, mopped up and set to work again. And in the mind,i was telling myself, this is not your cake day. Anyway, i went ahead and finished mixing up the batter, licked the bowl clean ( oh yeah i do that every time i bake a cake. You do that too and you ll understand why i do it!) and put the cake in the oven and waited for that ting sound. And out came a nice plump and healthy dark chocolate cake.

Recipe For Vegan Chocolate Loaf Cake
( Learn how to make Vegan Chocolate Loaf Cake, an easy chocolate dessert that is dairy free)


Ingredients

All Purpose Flour 1.5 cups
Cocoa 3 tbsp
Sugar 1 cup powdered
Thick coconut milk 1/2 cup
Cold water 1/2 cup
Vegetable oil 1/4 cup
Salt a tiny pinch
Baking powder 1 tsp
Baking soda 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract 1 tsp

Note:
1. You can replace coconut milk with any nut milk of your choice. In that case, skip the cold water and use 1 c of nut milk.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line a loaf tin with butter paper or parchment paper or grease with a tiny amount of oil on all sides. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, place the coconut milk, cold water, vegetable oil, vanilla and the sugar.
Whisk till combined well.
Now, in another bowl, sieve together the cocoa, flour, baking soda, baking powder and the salt.
Add this to the liquid mixture gradually and whisk until combined well.
Now, pour the batter into the loaf tin and gently drop the tin once or twice on the counter top.
Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 mins until a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean.
Cool completely on a wire rack.
Slice up and serve warm with some vanilla ice cream or eat as is.
Makes a super yummlicious dessert.

Also check out the other cookies Radhika, Jayanthy, Kavi,Priya,Veena and Roshni for their lip smacking hush hush hungama!!

Sending this to I Love Baking and Bake Fest Hosted By Kavi for Vardhini

Baby Corn Paneer Jalfrezi

By 10 Comments

How To Make Baby Corn Paneer Jalfrezi?

BABY CORN PANEER JALFREZI- BABY CORN & COTTAGE CHEESE COOKED IN A TANGY SAUCE. 

BABY CORN PANEER JALFREZI

Before i delve into Baby Corn Paneer Jalfrezi recipe, i have some things to share.Have you heard my diatribe on corn before?? If not please, i insist you read my post on corn katti rolls. I am not that gal who goes all oohing and aahing over a bowl of corn kernels. I m not even that person who is visited by sudden gung ho when i pass through fields where corn taller than me has grown. I admit they are beautiful but only grudgingly though.

No kind of corn appeals to me a great deal and baby corn is no exception. But the combinations of a meal platter that is possible with baby corn will leave anyone more than amazed. I have a list as long as the Hanuman s tail. What s the list about?? Oh its got baby corn recipes. I find the light yellow of the baby corn light on the eye and boy! am i addict to those crispy baby corn fritters. Probably a recipe that i ll write up soon. In the meanwhile, here s baby corn paneer jalfrezi.

BABY CORN PANEER JALFREZI

Recipe For Baby Corn Paneer Jalfrezi
( Learn how to make baby corn paneer jalfrezi, a simple curry with tender baby corns and cottage cheese)

Ingredients

Baby corn 8 cut length wise
Paneer cubes 1 cup
Bell pepper 1 sliced thinly
Spring onions chopped finely 1 cup divided
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Hing a pinch
Ginger green chili paste 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a large pinch
Chili powder 1/4 tsp
Tomato puree 1/4 cup
Oil 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Coriander for garnish

Directions

In a pan, heat oil.
Add cumin seeds. Once they crackle, add hing,ginger chili paste, spring onions and capsicum.
Saute until capsicum becomes just tender and the spring onions begins wilting. Let s say this takes about 30 secs.
Now, add the spice powders and saute for another 30 secs.
At this stage, add the baby corn and saute for a min.
Now, add the tomato puree and cook till oil separates.
Add salt to the mixture and combine well.
Add paneer cubes next and mix gently.
Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with any flat bread of your choice.
This is in memory of the wonderfully talented Barbara of Winos and Foodies who lost her battle to cancer recently. I dint have the chance to know her personally but then her blog is a testament by itself to her life and her willpower.This month s Monthly Mingle is all about A Taste Of Yellow and is being hosted at Cook Sister in memory of Barbara. We are all cooking something in yellow this month for Barbara, the brilliant blogger!
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Arisi Kadala Paruppu Payasam- Rice& Chana Dal Pudding

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August is the month of festivals and it is the time to make Payasam including this delicious and simple Arisi Kadala Paruppu Payasam.It starts off with the red letter amavasya and newly wed brides amidst the madhwas perform gouri pooja for five weeks on tuesdays. In that sense, every week brings in a festive day and the lunch menu almost always is a huge spread. The usual lunch accompanied by a koshimbir, kheer and lentil fritters, when the lunch is over, our tummies are begging us to let go and leave a little for the others to eat. Let not forget the tables that groan under the weight of all the food served.

We madhwas have a few restrictions on what to make on a festival day and along those lines, moong dal, yams, greens and such stuff are not to be cooked. And every festival has a predetermined menu. So what was the menu for the amavasya this thursday? Eggplant mor kuzhambu, fried okra, apple rasam, koshimbir, lentil fritters and then this delicious rice chana dal pudding.
I love Arisi Paruppu payasam for so many reasons but mainly because it uses jaggery and is loaded with proteins. A health package and a dessert too. Can it get healthier than that? Oh boy. Yes it can. Cos you can almost make this with as little ghee as possible. Of course, i wont deny that the taste element goes upto another level when there s oodles of ghee. But for the conscious, you know what i m talking about, dont you?? This recipe also doesnt require a gourmet chef in action. It s an easy sail and no one can get it wrong.

Prep Time: Under 10 mins
Cook Time: Under 30 mins
Serves 4 to 6



(The chana dal must be firm and cooked and not mushy. You can avoid the condensed milk and add more jaggery if you desire. Freshly pressed coconut milk takes this pudding to completely another level. The first pressed milk tastes best. In case of freshly pressed milk, use about 3/4 cup. In case of using packed coconut milk, dilute it with about 1/4 cup of water. You can also add bits of coconut to the pudding in the end. I used amul mithai mate for my condensed milk but you can use any brand you desire.)


Ingredients

Raw rice 1/2 cup
Channa dal 1/2 cup
Jaggery grated 1 cup
Condensed milk 1/2 cup
Coconut Milk 1/2 cup diluted
Green cardamom crushed about 3 pods
Cashews broken 15
Raisins a handful
Ghee 3 tbsp

How To Make It?

Wash the channa dal and rice and pressure cook for 3 whistles until the rice is cooked and the dal is cooked but firm.
Once done, add the jaggery to the rice dal mixture and mix well until the rice is mashed well and the mixture is well combined.
Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pan.
Add the crushed cardamom pods and the rice mixture.
Saute on medium flame for about 2 mins.
Now, add the coconut milk and the condensed milk and combine well.
Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 4 to 5 mins on medium flame.
Now, heat the remaining ghee in another pan.
Add the cashews. After about 30 secs, add the raisins.
Wait till the cashews become light brown and the raisins fluff up.
Add to the pudding.
Mix well.

Serve warm as dessert after a huge lunch.
Sending this to My Legume Love Affair hosted by Simona of Briciole 
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Simple Cabbage Saute Recipe| Side Dish for Flatbread

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In my vegetable likes list, there are ranges from frenzy to hatred. If you know, what i m talking about, then you also have a similar list. Coming to the list itself, while there are some veggies that can give me a heady feeling of euphoria, ( almost like the fragrance of petrol or even some varnish) there are some which i think are probably God s way of punishing the once excessively naughty and troublesome me. Well, you guessed it right and one such veggie is the Cabbage. The ubiquitous cabbage. The smelly cabbage. The cabbage in red. The cabbage in green. The cabbage in yellow. The cabbage that tastes bitter. The cabbage with the thick and lumpy leaves. Oh, i could go on and on.


If you allow me, i ll write a sonnet or an ode for the cabbage and will probably call it An Ode To The Vegetable That Needs A Body Spray sort of thing. Do you get my idea? Now that i ve actually started off, i might as well write a sonnet or rather an ode. It will probably go like this.

 The fat ole cabbage, 
stink full of leaves,
And some of greens.
In the lush green fields,
A place it has,
And people who tend to it,
But no matter what,
Its just stink that the cabbage leaves. 
So full of peeves.
The deep purple ones,
the creamy yellow tonnes,
And then the spring green fellas.
So much of color and yet all the same. 
No matter what color,
what shape.
The cabbage is just one big round 
which is lifeless and 
then of course, tasteless!

Now that s what happens when you get me started on cabbage. I cant believe i wrote a whole poem. Ok so now that i ve told you all about my intense dislike for cabbage, i also have to agree that its not as bad as it smells and then, there s the phosphorous in it. So i do eat it now and then but i make sure that i make it in a decent way. This is just one of my ways of making cabbage and is probably as easy as eating a cake. Try it on one of those days when you are not upto too much chopping or when you are running late for that pedicure appointment but yet to make lunch. Oh and yeah and by the way, i must accept,cabbage makes a fantastic photo subject. So its definitely not as bad as it stinks. I m just saying.

Recipe For Simple Cabbage Saute 
( Learn how to make a simple cabbage saute with spices and cabbage)


Ingredients

Cabbage chopped finely 2 cups
Onion 1 large chopped finely
Tomatoes 2 small chopped finely
Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Carom seeds 1/2 tsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Spice Powders:

Red chili powder 1/2 tsp
Cumin Coriander powder 1/2 tsp

Garnish:

Chopped coriander leaves 2 tbsp


Directions

Heat oil in a pan.
Add cumin seeds and caraway seeds.
Once they crackle, add the onions and saute until pink.
At this stage, add the ginger garlic paste and saute for another 30 secs.
Next add in the spice powders and saute for 30 secs.
At this stage, add the chopped tomatoes and cook till oil separates.
Now, add the cabbage and salt and cook on a low flame for about 7 to 8 mins until the cabbage is cooked.

Once done,garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Sending this to Kalyani s Kitchen Chronicles Only Vegan hosted by Vardhini this month.

Bitter Gourd Chips

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Let me be honest here. I m not a fan of bitter gourd. Mr.P eats it though but not with much fervor. But then, when i amble along the farmer s market and my eyes chance upon them, i do feel that sudden upsurge of guilt in me. Amma s voice admonishing in the back of my head for not eating my veggies right. And then, i ll go all in a frenzy and buy half a kilo of them. Only to regret the decision later and give away the gourds to the maid. That s my love hate relationship with bitter gourds.
                        
 There s one exception to the vegetable though. Bitter gourd chips are my favorite.Maybe because i can munch on them guilt free. Whatever the reason, i ve been in love with these chips since the time i got to taste them at Adyar Anand Bhavan some years back. The chips were forgotten for a while until i saw them at the store on my last trip home. From then on, i wanted to make them at home and finally here they are. I m sure you will enjoy them. Even the bitter gourd haters out there.


(This recipe requires an enormous amount of patience. Dont drop the coated bitter gourds in a cluster. Make sure each one of them is separate. I wanted to add sesame seeds to the batter but then forgot at the last minute. In case you experiment, let me know. Dont remove  the chips from the oil until the hissing sound subsides. Or you ll land up with soggy chips. More like bitter gourd bajji. Get my point? In case you want to make a large batch, then after you fry them completely at 200 C for about 10 mins. And dont add more liquid than mentioned in the recipe. The amount of liquid is the key factor in getting the chips crunchy munchy.)
Prep Time: Under 15 mins
Cook Time: Under 20 mins
Yields about 2 cups


What You Need?

Bitter Gourds 3 sliced thinly but not deseeded
Corn Flour 1/8 cup
Chickpea flour 1/8 cup
Rice flour 1/8 cup
Cumin powder 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder 3/4 tsp
Red chili powder 2 tsp
Fennel powder 1/8 tsp ( optional)
Curd 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying 

How To Make It?

In a large mixing bowl, place the bitter gourds and all the other ingredients except the curd and the oil.
Combine well.
Now, add the curd and mix well ensuring that the batter coats the gourd slices evenly and generously.
Heat oil in a pan.
Wait until it reaches the right heat. Make sure the oil is hot enough but not smoking.
Now, drop the bitter gourd slices one by one.
Reduce the flame to a low medium and fry till golden brown and the hissing sound from the oil subsides.
The whole quantity will get done in 2 to 3 batches but a lot of patience is required.
Once golden brown, transfer the chips onto kitchen towels and store in an airtight container.

Snack on them while you enjoy a cup of hot coffee or a mug of chocolate.

Flax Seed Curry Leaves Spice Powder

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I m not a big fan of spice powders. Strange for that statement to come from a person who s a south indian at her very core. We southies eat a variety of these spiced powders. Called as podi, no south indian household is complete without a generous stock of this stashed away in the pantry. Why i m not a fan is something i m yet to discover.But then after making this powder, i ve changed my mind. I m in love with the concept of eating dosas with spice powders mixed with copious amounts of sesame oil.Or better yet. Mix a heaped tablespoon of this along with some ghee, hot steamed rice and some salt and gorge on this for breakfast.

 I m salivating now. And the brownie point is that this s so healthy!Flax and curry leaf! Can you beat the duo? No.On second thought, there are two brownie points. The other being this s such a breeze to make in the kitchen. So get your blenders ready. We are all set to go!

Prep Time: Under 20 mins
Cook Time: Under 20 mins
Makes about 200 g



What You Need?

Flax seeds 1/2 cup
Curry leaves fresh ones preferably 1 cup packed
Bengal gram or kadala paruppu or channa dal 1/2 cup
Urad dal or black gram or ulundhu paruppu 2 tbsp
Coriander seeds 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Sesame seeds 2 tsp
Dry red chilies 15
Hing 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil 1.5 tbsp

How To Make It?

In a kadai, dry roast the curry leaves until aromatic. Takes about 3 to 4 mins. The leaves must not have any moisture left.
Then in the same kadai, heat 1 tbsp oil.
Now, add the channa dal and urad dal and roast till they turn a light brown.
Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
In the same kadai, add the coriander seeds, hing,cumin seeds and the flax seeds and roast till aromatic.
Now, finally, add the dry red chilies and saute for 2 mins.
Let all this cool down completely.
Once cool, add salt and grind to a coarse mixture or a fine powder.That option s purely yours.

Store in an airtight container and relish your idlies, dosas or rice with this delicious yet healthy spice mix.

Corn Flakes Cookies~ Vegan

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I was a butter person. Note the tense. Was. That s the grammar gal in me talking. But i am now a convert. No, its not that i m crazily becoming a vegan or something.Its just that the prospects of me sweating it out in a gym seems scary to me. So we go easy on the butter these days.And i try and veganise cookies. Mind you only cookies. Why? Because i like cookies with less mess and butter means a lot of measuring, calculating and cleaning up. The others. The cakes, the breads and everything else, we eat oodles of butter. Am i sounding self contradictory? Yes i m. I just dint want to tell the whole world that i m a lazy bag on bones who hates softening butter and cookies means i ve to soften butter.Or i dont get the texture right. Did you even think that i ll worry about work outs? Come on.. are you kidding me?

    Anyway, i made these cornflakes cookies for two reasons. One, they are chewy and i absolutely love chewy cookies. And two because, Mr.P in the name of dieting picks up about half a dozen boxes of cereal and never bother to open them. He always manages to eat dosas or poha.Anyway that s another story.But these cookies are gone now.Not even a crumb left to feed the poor squirrels who rummage about for food in my trash. So, will you bake these?

Prep Time: Under 20 mins
             Chilling Time: 1 hour to 12 hours max( refer notes)
Cook Time: 12 mins 
Yields 16 cookies



(Let me warn you! these cookies are not quickies.In my opinion no cookie s a cookie. Because you have to chill the dough to have fabulous cookies. And you must chill the dough atleast 10 hours. I baked 2 batches of cookies. One with dough chilled for an hour. And the other chilled for 10 hours.And i must say there was a phenomenal difference in both. You can make this a normal cookie by using 1/2 cup butter instead of oil and cow s milk or full fat milk instead of soy milk. The baking powder acts as a brilliant leavening agent in this cookie and hence no eggs.) 


What You Need?

Flour 1 cup
Corn flakes 1 cup
Corn flakes coarsely crushed 1/2 cup
Sugar 1/2 cup powdered
Canola or any flavorless vegetable oil 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract 1/2 tsp
Baking powder 1/4 tsp
Salt 1/8 tsp
Soy milk about 2 tbsp
16 cashew halves to top the cookies

How To Make It?

In a medium mixing bowl, sieve together the flour, salt and baking powder.
Add the sugar and combine well.
Now, in another large mixing bowl, place the oil and the vanilla extract.
Add in the sieved flour slowly until just combined.
Use your hands and gently bring the dough together until it forms a mass.
The dough should be a teeny weeny bit crumbly at this stage.
Wrap with cling film and let it sit in the fridge for about 10 hours at least.
At the end of the chilling time, preheat the oven to 180C.
Line a baking tray with tin foil.

Take out the dough and if you find it too hard to mix, add about 1 tbsp of the milk and try and bring together the dough.Add the remaining only if required.
Now, add the corn flakes to the dough and mix gently.
Its ok if they break a lil in the process.The idea is to get those lovely crunchy flakes as you eat the cookie.
Once you are done, divide the dough into 16 equal portions.
Shape each portion into a small ball and coat them with the crushed corn flakes.
Gently flatten the cookies into flat discs and place them on the baking tray atleast 1/2 inch apart.Place a cashew half on each cookie in the middle.
Bake for 12 mins until you get a light golden crust on the top.
I must tell you that at the 8th min, the house was enveloped in a heavenly smell of vanilla along with that comforting aroma of a cookie baking.
The cookies will be a lil soft when you take them out.
They harden once they cool down.If you bake for longer, then the cookies become very hard. Mine were perfectly done and chewy.
Transfer to an air tight container.

Enjoy with a glass of cold milk or hot chocolate. 
Can there be a better meal?
Sending these cookies to I love Baking 5, Lets Cook Kids Special and Vardhini s Bake Fest 8 hosted byReshmi

Peerkangai Thugayal Recipe| Easy Chutney Recipes

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My fancy for gourds s unrelenting. Especially my love for ridge gourds. Its something like the ice cream love that you have when you are a kid. Everytime the ridge gourds make an appearance at the market, i ve to buy them. Many a times, i even turn my head away from the vendor who has beautifully arranged the gourds on his wicker basket. But no. I know i ll walk back to that guy and without a second thought buy 2 or 3 of those fleshy gourds no matter what the price. If you ask me why, i really dont know except that my love for these gourds is something special. If you ask me how i cook it, then i only have 3 ways of making it. One in a dal and the other this chutney. And then fritters. I dont know any other recipes. Nor do i want to know. Because i want to keep the memory of eating tender ridge gourd chutney unadulterated.


  I make this chutney in 2 or 3 ways. This way is just one of them. Actually this s technically a Thuvayal or Thugayal as the tamilians back home call it. There s a lot of difference between chutney and thugayal.While a chutney s traditionally served with idlies, dosa or upma, the thugayals are made with some vegetable and are eaten along side rice.Or some people, i call them the thugayal devotees mix them with the rice itself and devour it like there s no tomorrow. I m proud to say i m one of those. These thugayals are a God send when you are short on veggies or when you really dont have the mood to whip up pot after pot of rasam and sambhar and curry. Its a terrific God send when you are just back from a tiresome day punctuated with an arm load of shopping and eating too much road side food. Try this with a cup of hot rice and generous spoonfuls of ghee and you wont be disappointed.
( You can add more coconut if you desire.You can even substitute the green chilies with dry red chilies. Saute all the ingredients separately.Use the stalks of the coriander leaves too for a nice flavor.In case you dont have tamarind, then add about 2 tsp of tamarind paste that you get ready made.)

Recipe For Peerkangai Thugayal
( Learn to make peerkangai thugayal, an easy chutney or dip with ridge gourds)
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Serves 2 generously
Allergy Info: Vegan, Nut And Soy Free
Course: Side
Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients

Tender ridge gourd 1 large one peeled and cubed
Tamarind the size of a marble
Coconut grated 1/4 cup
Urad dal 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves a small bunch
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Green chilies 4 to 5
Oil 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

To Temper:

Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Oil 1 tbsp
Hing a large pinch
Curry leaves a sprig

Directions

Heat a kadai with 1 tbsp oil.
Saute the gourd and the green chilies until the gourds are tender and have wilted. Takes about 5 mins.
Now, transfer this to a bowl and set aside to cool.
In the same kadai, add the urad dal and cumin seeds and roast for about 1 min until the dal is a light brown. Set aside to cool.
Once cool, place the gourd, chilies, tamarind, urad dal, cumin, salt, coriander leaves and coconut in the blender and grind to a thick paste without adding any water. The water in the gourd is sufficient to grind this.
Transfer to a bowl and temper with mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves.
Serve alongside rice and rasam or mix it up with hot rice, add a spoonful of ghee or sesame oil and devour it with papadams or chips.

Chocolate Bark

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In the midst of all that was loaded onto my plate, the fact that i completed a year of blogging went by just like any other day. I  completed a year of Tomato Blues on the 14th June. Little did i know a year back, that i would get so hooked on to writing about food and more so ever, making food with a fervor unbeknownst to my folks back home and here. The kitchen s all i need. A skillet s all i want. I was a girl who loved shopping for her clothes.There was a time when not a month had gone by without me splurging on a new t shirt or that stylish jacket. Funnily now, times have undergone a drastic change. I dont want to buy colorful tshirts or sassy jackets anymore. All i want to buy is table linen and white crockery and cutlery. Like i said, the kitchen s all i need.
I was married a year before i began blogging. As a new bride who dint know her lentils and spices, i did find the time spent in the kitchen annoying and sometimes frightening in the beginning. I really dont know when my perspective on food changed or how it changed. But then, that change has sort of changed my whole way of life. And it s given me so much of hope and love from around the world. A year of marriage, some experimentally successful cooking and Mr.P was gently urging to me begin telling the world how to cook. I was apprehensive but once i began, there was no looking back. I ve not stopped since and i doubt if i will.
The beginning of a food blog was not very exciting for me. I had too many inspirations.But still, to get the aesthetics of food blogging right took me about 6 months. And then, a whole new world opened up to me. Bloggers i met through virtual events went on to become great friends. And now they have all transcended to being my best friends. I know it s been a while since i have been here on the blogosphere. But to this date, any new comment still leaves me with a wide grin just like my first comment on my first post did.
I must thank a few people for helping me come so far. First, Mr.P of course. Its not easy living with a food blogger. Mind you. But he does and i m really thankful to him for that. It can be very irritating when your stomach is growling with hunger, the food s readily sitting on the table looking all pretty but then your wife has to click that picture or she wont have a post to do. He s put up with my experiments( some were real nasty) and my constant urge to click anything food for the past 1 year. And whats more! He s been there with me when i ve talked to him about how much i long for some ramekins in white. He s borne all this with abundant patience and for that i m terribly grateful to him.
And after Mr.P, its definitely Amma and Daddy who take the time out to look into my blog and tell me what they think. I couldnt have asked for better critiques. While Amma calls me often to tell how much she liked one picture or the other, Daddy, just like Dads are, tells me that all my posts are lovely and that each recipe s simply mouth watering.
Now that we are done with family, i ve some more people who i must say, have made a great impact on the way i blog. Lets start with all you beautiful beautiful people who cook from my blog. I value all your comments and even though i dont respond to each comment, believe me they are all incredibly inspirational to me. Thanks a million for your unwavering and growing support for Tomato Blues.And then there are my lovely friends.Co bloggers who ve become chuddy buddy sorts now. The entire Gourmet Seven is like extended family to me. I resort to them when all else fails in my kitchen and they ve never let me down until today. Thank you beautifuls for making my blogging experience such a delight.
Having said all this, no one finishes a year of something without something to celebrate the memory with. Mr.P became very generous last month and bought me a Nikon D55 to commemorate the occasion of my first blogoversary. Thanks to Mr.P for such a loving and thoughtful gift again. I ve been meddling with the camera for sometime now and that s the reason i ve such good pics at times and then i ve some real dirty ones. Please bear with me until i get the hang of it. I m experimenting a lot with colors, whites and focus. So until i m there, the pics are going to be this way. A lil nice and a lot bad.

   Now, all this definitely calls for some kind of a toast. I decided i ll toast all the lovely people in my life, Mr.P, Amma, Daddy, my precious readers and the whole of G7 with this chocolate bark. After all finishing up a year sure does make one feel festive. Before i begin, here are some recipes that won many hearts in my one year of blogging.

Masala Biscuits
Curry Leaves And Garlic Kuzhambu
 Recipe For Chocolate Bark
( Learn how to make chocolate bark at home. Loaded with nuts and dried fruit, its an easy and great edible gift choice)
Prep Time: Under 20 mins

Cook Time: Under 20 mins
             Setting Time: 1 hour
Yields about 12 medium size pieces

( This chocolate bark cant get easier. You can make this using dark chocolate or milk chocolate or white chocolate. You can add about any kind of topping or stick to one particular combination like maybe craisins and pistachios or you can even make some that are nutty and minty. You must be very very careful when you are melting the chocolate. Even a teeny weeny bit of water can spoil your chocolate and then you will be terribly disappointed.If you are melting your chocolate in a double boiler, then make sure you dont let the steam escape or the moisture from the steam will spoil the chocolate. Line your tray with butter paper before you begin the entire process.)


What You Need?

Cooking chocolate ( dark or white or milk) 250 g chopped roughly
Mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachios) 1/4 cup slivered
Mixed dried fruits ( candied peel, figs quartered, raisins, sultanas)1/4 cup

Other Things That You Must Have:

A tray that is 1/2″ deep
Butter paper 1 sheet
Rubber spatula
Two steel bowls.One that will fit in snugly into the other and will have a gap of about 10 to 15 cms between the both to use as a double boiler.For more details on how to melt chocolate read my posts on
chocolate fudge cake and home made mint filled chocolates

How To Make It?

Line a tray with the butter paper and keep ready.
Place the chocolate in a double boiler and let it melt completely stirring occasionally.
Once the chocolate s completed melted and glossy, pour the chocolate onto the lined tray evenly.
This step entirely depends on how thick you want the bark to be.In case you want thick barks, then you need not spread the chocolate to the whole tray.

Once you are done pouring the chocolate, drop the tray gently on the kitchen counter.
Spread the nuts and fruit on the chocolate while its hot evenly.
Now, let it come to room temperature.
Once it comes to room temperature, let it set in the fridge for about an hour.
Once set, chop into pieces and pack them up into cute gifts.

Or start devouring them like we did.You cant resist home made chocolate bark, can you?

Cherry And Banana Smoothie

By 9 Comments

Cherries. For some reason they cheer me up.May be its got to do with the name. And the color too. Yeah color definitely. And then that sweet sour zing that you get when you bite into one of them. Well, isnt it obvious that i m a cherry lover. I eat them by the boxes. Everytime i open the fridge, i pop a few of them into my mouth. There was a time when i ate 3 boxes of them in a day. That much s how much i love them.

    Cherries having become ubiquitous in Baroda, Mr.P picked up a huge box for me the other day. And immediately i was delving myself into a world of gastronomical utopia. Cherry cobbler, cherry pie, cherry smoothie. What not? So here comes cherry and banana smoothie.Quick recipe. Breakfast menu. And will be gone in a shot.

Prep Time: Under 20 mins
Cook Time: Nil
Makes 2 tall glasses



( This s a versatile smoothie. You can skip the ice cream and add condensed milk. Replace about 1/2 cup of the milk with 1/2 cup of yoghurt. You can even add a mango instead of a banana. See what i mean?)


What You Need?

Cherries pitted about 15
Banana 1 large
Milk 2 cups
Vanilla ice cream 1 scoop or about 1/2 cup
Sugar 2 tbsp

Ice cubes to serve

How To Make It?

Place the cherries, banana and ice cream in a blender and blend to a smooth puree.
To this, add the milk and the sugar and blend again.

Serve chilled with ice cubes.

Methi Soya Curry Recipe| Side Dish For Flatbreads

By 7 Comments

It has been a while since i posted some curries. Easy to make that is. After all, you cant make restaurant style food everyday at home. I have to tell you all something now that i ve started on restaurant food anyway. The other day, Mr.P and i visited a new restaurant. After much deliberation on where to go and what to eat, we had zeroed in on this one with practically a lot of difficulty. Anyway. We found the place nice. Great ambience. Great music. Heck! We even had a maitre’D.Plus the service crew was flashing bright smiles. Nothing could have gone wrong at all. Until the menu appeared. When the very handsome and cherubic waiter presented the menu, i was like a cat which had swollen a canary. Its in my making you know.

   
I look forward to seeing a hotel s menu just so that i can learn new dishes, grill the poor waiter guy about what goes into what and all that. So, it was that familiar feeling kicking in. But then, when i opened the menu, i felt like a deflated meringue. I mean everything seemed familiar. And at the back of my head was a voice which said “you can make this at home” So i just decided not to complicate the dinner further and looked up at Mr.P. Mr.P now gave me a sheepish smile and told me very succinctly, “You know you should stop making everything at home.” That kinda summarised the entire menu for me. From that night till today, i ve not made a single gourmet dish with the exception of that tomato and corn pie. Luckily for me, there are no good pies available in Baroda. So no fear of overdoing them. Well, this curry is just one of those attempts in making finger licking good old home food which only has love and comfort written all over it.

Recipe For Methi Soya Curry
( Learn how to make Methi soya curry, a medley with fenugreek leaves and textured veg protein)

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Serves 2
Allergy Info: Vegan, Gluten free
Course: Accompaniment
Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Soya chunks or textured vegetable protein 1 cup
Methi or fenugreek leaves 3/4 cup chopped finely
Oil 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Tomato Puree 3/4 cup or 2 medium tomatoes pureed

To Be Ground To A Paste:

Onion 1 large
Garlic cloves 3
Ginger 1/2″ bit
Green chili 1

Spice Powders:

Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Coriander cumin powder 1/2 tsp
Punjabi garam masala 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Directions

Bring 4 cups of water to boil in a large pan.
Add some salt and the soya chunks and cook them for about 5 mins.
Drain, let cool and squeeze all excess water out.Keep aside.
In a pan, heat the oil. Add cumin seeds.
Once they splutter, add the ground onion paste, bring down the flame to the lowest and saute till the paste turns a light brown.
At this stage, add the spice powders and saute for about 30 secs.
Now, add the methi leaves and saute till they wilt.
Add the tomato puree next and cook till oil separates.
Now,add the soya chunks along with salt and cook for about 6 to 7 mins.
After this, if you want a semi dry curry, then you can remove it off the flame. In case you desire a gravy like curry, then add about 1/4 cup of water and bring the whole mixture to a boil.

Serve hot with phulkas or rotis or rice.

No Bake Brownies

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I ve been gone for a long time now. I know that i ve not been a star blogger these few weeks. Too many things on my plate and then there s the scorching heat which makes any chore to be done in the kitchen a daunting task. Added to all the mayhem was the AC which failed us dutifully. Which only made us crankier than ever. Sleepless, sweaty as pigs and scorning was how we were this weekend. I couldnt stand that status much. I mean, crankiness and sweating are not my best friends and i dont appreciate the situation if it goes on for a long time. So this time around, i decided that i ll try and better the situation a little. And that s why these brownies got made in my kitchen. Despite the fact that the AC did not work. And the fridge was acting up.

I know that a lot of things on this blog has been on a standstill. FBTE and Cook Book Tuesdays havent been happening much. I ve been ignoring the kitchen for a long time now. And that includes my book shelf too. I decided to make a comeback today with these brownies. I hope these brownies work as my good luck charm in the coming week. I hope i will be able to do a few posts in the coming days. And the next post s extra extra special. Its a guest post. A very special guest and a simple post. But then the guest s who that matters. So stay tuned for the next post too. And if you are bored like me or if you feel that you simply cant stand the heat, then make these brownies, cut them up and down them in as many goes as possible alongside a glass of chilled milk. Believe me, then, your day will look way better.

Prep Time: Under 20 mins
Cook Time: Nil
Makes a 9″ brownie



( These brownies require atleast 3 hours of setting time in the fridge. You can add any nuts of your choice. You can even try a combination of nuts. Make sure you crush your biscuits coarsely for a beautiful texture in the brownies.You can use granulated sugar too.)


What You Need?

Digestive biscuits 20 to 25
Condensed milk 1/2 tin or 200 ml
Castor sugar 2 tbsp
White chocolate chips 1/4 cup
Unsweetened Cocoa powder 3 tbsp
Walnuts roasted and chopped coarsely 1/4 cup

How To Make It?

Crush the biscuits into a coarse powder using a rolling pin. Make the whole job less messy by placing the biscuits in a zip pouch and then rolling the pin over it. Do not use a processor to do this as you will land up with a fine biscuit powder and that s simply not the brownie way.
Now, add the cocoa, sugar, nuts, chocolate chips and combine the mixture well.
Add the condensed milk to this mixture and start mixing. The mixture will be very thick and will not make it a delightful experience. But cheer yourself up by licking the batter now and then continue to mix anyways.
Now, line a pie dish 9″ in size with butter paper or parchment paper if you are one of those fancy bees.
Transfer the biscuit mixture to the pie dish and cover the pie dish with cling wrap.
Now, start evening out the mixture using your hands making sure the mixture is evenly spread on the dish.
Leave it in the fridge to set for atleast 3 to 4 hours.
Once done, remove the brownie from the pie dish and chop into squares.

What are you waiting for? Start gobbling them brownies and dont forget to get a glass of milk to go with them.

Chocolate Cupcakes

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Chocolate and cupcakes. No one can beat that. I mean, chocolate cupcakes!! Cant get any better, right? Anyway, coming to the point, I somehow do not believe in Mother s day or Father s day or husband s day. I mean if that exists. I m not sure. But i mean do we really need a day to celebrate our loved ones. Especially your mom. Every individual thinks the world of her mom.Correct me if i am wrong. Oh! but i m doubly sure here. In fact more than doubly sure!! For me every single day of my life is Mother s day, Father s day and Husband s day. I think of them every moment. And i thank God everyday for blessing me with an abundance of love. I ve never felt love lost in my life. Oh.. its not like i dint have my teenage tantrums or something. I was stubborn as a mule and as rebellious as an army of soldiers when my mom did tell me something. Those telling me off occassions were rare. And i ve had my share of duels with my mom over a pink frock or a sleeveless top. But at the end of all that, my mom still manages to be a beautiful soul who touches my life in every way possible. In spite of the zillion rows we have, we still talk on the phone for hours on end. With my father in the background reminding us that the phone service provider may get annoyed and disconnect our connections. Fat chance of that happening! She was a working mom but that did not stop her from teaching me to do the right things or bringing me up as a good human being who respects others’ feelings. Sure, i dont have a fat pay check. But like amma says, every one s special in some way and you neednt bring home a hefty pay check to be special. I am widely admired by a lot of people in the circle of my friends and family. While my mom stands back and watches me with a smile, i know that its my mom who deserves all that oohing and aahing. I may not tell her that she s the bestest mom everyday. But i love her and i am grateful beyond words to her for her timely bits of wisdom, for holding on to the rocky boat,for her thoughtfulness to pick up a bundt pan for me and then some more scrunchies and earrings. Even though she knows i have a treasure chest full of them.And for letting me wail and cry!! I am proud of my mom and i admire her for bringing me up as a decent human being. Above all that, i m thankful to God for giving me a mom who manages to be there for me all the time. No matter i want to cry or laugh.

My mom doesnt go gaga over cakes and cookies. Not that i do. But then, i made them because my mom s like this cake. A lil sweet, a lil sour, a lil bitter and a lil salty. All in the right amounts. That you simply cant ignore any of the bits and yet you will get a taste of every bit of flavor there s in the cake. All moms are like that in their own way. And we dont need a day to celebrate motherhood. We just need to make the time.

Recipe For Chocolate Cupcake

( Learn how to make Chocolate cupcake, a flavor loaded easy cupcake recipe)

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Yields 12 to 14



( The original recipe calls for buttermilk. But i replaced it with yoghurt and it worked like a charm. The cakes were moist, soft and lovely. They rose beautifully too.In case you want to use buttermilk, use 6 tbsp of it instead of the yoghurt. You can frost these with whipped cream or cream cheese or even some dulce de leche.)


What You Need?

Flour 3/4 cup spooned and levelled
Sugar 3/4 cup powdered
Butter 3 tbsp melted
Egg white from a large egg
Egg 1
Thick fresh yoghurt whisked 6 tbsp
Baking powder 1 tsp
Baking soda 1/2 tsp
Cocoa powder 6 tbsp
Hot water 3 tbsp
Salt 1/4 tsp

Muffin cups for lining the tray

How To Make It?

Preheat the oven to 180 c.
In a mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder along with the sugar and combine well. I sieved this twice. Set aside.
Now, combine the cocoa and hot water to make a thick paste.
In another bowl, add the melted butter, cocoa paste, yoghurt, egg white and egg and whisk until just combined.
Now add the flour mixture to this cocoa mixture and slowly combine until well incorporated. You can do this in an electric mixer on low speed for about 2 mins.
Spoon about 2 tbsp of batter in to each muffin cup.
Bake for 20 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Let it cool on a wire rack completely before removing them.

Once cooled, enjoy them with a scoop of ice cream or eat them up as they are.
Sending a bite of these to I Love Baking 4

Baby Corn Pulao Recipe| Rice Recipes

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I can see my interest in the blog dwindling. With other things on my mind, i am not able to click much. Lets say i m not feeling very pally with the shutterbugs now. I m cooking a lot though. And what a duffer am i to miss the FBTE yesterday. Well, yesterday was a different story with a runny nose and a hoarse voice. I simply cant click. No focus. And the mind is blank. I cant summon the energy to assemble the food, adjust the lights and click. And then edit. Seems like a herculean task all of a sudden. Maybe it s the heat that s bringing about this lack of spirits.

 After some lengthy introspection yesterday morning, i decided that this attitude simply wont do. It s not taking me anywhere and it wont either. I have to snap out of that lethargic phase where anything and everything seems too much work for me. And i did get back my spirits when i decided to make this pulao.
       Albeit the fact that i did have some doubts in making pulao with corn, i knew i was terribly wrong when i had finished chopping up the tender and sweet baby corn ears. I certified myself that i was wrong when i ground the masala. And when the pulao was cooking, i admonished myself for presuming too much about some simple yet wonderful things in life.


Recipe For Baby Corn Pulao
( Learn how to make baby corn pulao, an easy rice dish with baby corns and coconut milk.Vegan option included)

Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Serves 2 
Allergy Info: Can be made vegan, Gluten free, Soy free
Course: Mains
Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Basmati rice 1 cup
Thin coconut milk 2 cups
Onion 1 thinly sliced
Baby corn 10 halved
Bay leaf 1
Cloves 3
Cardamom 1
Cinnamon 1″ piece
Ghee or oil 3 tbsp
Salt to taste

To Be Ground Into A Paste:

Coriander leaves 1/2 cup firmly packed
Green chilies 4
Garlic cloves 4
Garam masala 1/4 tsp
Ginger 1/4″ bit

For Garnish

Onion 1 thinly sliced
Cashews a handful
Oil 2 tbsp

Notes:

1.Use vegetable oil for a vegan version.
2. I found that using freshly extracted coconut milk lends a beautiful flavor to the rice as opposed to canned coconut milk.
3. This recipe calls for coconut milk and not coconut cream

Directions

Wash the rice well with water and soak in the coconut milk for about 15 mins.
In the meanwhile, grind the masala, adding water little by little, to a fine paste.
Heat oil in a pan and add the bay leaf, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon.
Now, add the onions and fry them till pink.
Add the baby corns next and fry them for about 3 to 4 mins.
Now, add the ground masala and bring the flame to the lowest.
Simmer the masala and the corns for about 1 min.
Add the rice and coconut milk to this mixture along with some salt. Mix well.
Cook until done or transfer to an electric rice cooker and cook till done.
Alternatively, you can make the whole thing in a pressure cooker and cook the pulao without the pressure valve on low flame for about 10 mins.
Finally, heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and fry cashews till golden.
Drain and in the same pan, add sliced onions and fry till golden.
Now add fried onions and cashews to the rice and mix well.

Serve hot with any raitha of your choice.
Sending this to Love Lock Rice

Peanut Butter Cookies

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I got immensely lucky today. Not because i went shopping. But because i found cream of tartar. No let me think. Is it the tartar? Not really. Its because i baked a decent batch of cookies today. And i baked one of my favorites. If you ask my what my favorite flavor of ice cream is, i wont tell chocolate. You see, i m a lil abnormal in that sense but still my favorite is a banana split concocted with flavors of mint, coffee and peach. I m a lil abnormal when it comes to cookies too. My favorite cookies are not stuffed with chocolate to the brim. They are full of nuts but peanut butter has a soft spot in my heart. I m in love with peanut butter all the time. Eating it from the jar directly s a vice that i have had ever since i turned 18. And this s a complete secret. Not a soul knows. Well, it s no longer that way. Now that i ve told the whole world.
        Anyway, i love cookies but buying them is so not my style. And buying them from Cookie Man is definitely not me. I hate cookie man. Any cookie from their oven puts me off instantly. I ll go from all chirpy to sour faced if you give me a cookie from cookie man. I ll tell you one more secret. The reason is i envy them. I can bake cakes, bake breads. but cookies. No. They evade me like the elusive sages in the forest who dont appear at all. So when i take a look at the row of cookies in a Cookie Man, i become jealous. So green. And then i become a sour chick from a chirpy duck. That s the end of Cookie Man story.
       Coming to today s cookie, shall i tell that i wont be jealous anymore when i see those discs of brown crispy cookies at Cookie Man. Because this batch came out from the oven as beautifully as they could. They did crack a little on the top but then they were brilliant to munch on. It s very difficult to stop with one. And i regret making a small batch. Let me just say, bake them and you will love them.

Prep Time: Under 30 mins
Cook Time: 12 mins
Makes 18 cookies



(This s truly a one bowl cookie. You can substitute regular sugar with dark brown sugar. And use olive oil or melted butter instead of canola oil. Use any vegetable oil too. Dont over bake the cookies as i did bake them for 15 mins and i burnt a whole batch. The cookies are soft when you take them out but harden as they cool. So 12 mins s the ideal baking time.)

What You Need?

Flour 1 cup
Peanut butter 1/2 cup
Milk 4 tbsp
Canola oil 3.5 tbsp
Sugar powdered 1/2 cup
Baking soda 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract 3/4 tsp

How To Make It?

In a mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients and combine well.
In another mixing bowl, add the peanut butter, canola oil, vanilla and the milk and combine well.
Now, add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix until just combined.
Set aside for five mins.
After five mins, give it a nice stir making sure that the dough comes together in one big lump.
Refrigerate the dough for about 20 mins.
Towards the end of the 20 mins, preheat the oven to 180 C.
Line a baking tray with tin foil and grease the foil generously
Using a tbsp, scoop out the dough, shape the dough into small balls and place on the tray.
Now, give it a gentle press to flatten it into discs.
Using a fork, make criss crosses on the discs.
Pop them in the oven and bake for 12 mins.
Remove once they are set and a light brown in color.
Let cool completely and then store in an air tight container.

Enjoy with a glass of cold milk or better yet, have one for breakfast. Who s to know anyway?

Paneer Tawa Masala Recipe

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Tawa Paneer or Paneer Tawa Masala – no matter how you choose to call it, is a delectable mélange of soft and succulent pieces of cottage cheese marinated and cooked in a rich gravy.

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paneer tawa masala served in a beautiful Balti style serving bowl
Tawa Paneer is complete Party dish that will make everyone happy!
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What is Tawa Paneer?

Paneer tawa masala, as the name suggests is a gravy in which paneer is marinated in spices and shallow fried on a tawa and then added to a onion tomato based gravy.

In some restaurants, this is served as a semi dry dish along with rice and another juicy curry or a dal.

 

paneer tawa masala
After having concluded thati ve after all not been civil to my blog,i decided thati must do something about it. And quickly too. And then there are these bunch of recipes thati ve tagged andretagged but have not made. The fun which lasts as you go on tagging fizzles out when you plan on trying one of them. I mean, it s easier to read about chopped onions but doing the very act is you know alil tearful and alil smelly. See whati mean?
 

I m out of my lazy phase. And to celebrate that, i made paneer tawa masala, a recipe that i tagged 3 months back but got around to making it only today. Oh the curry was simply brilliant. It was divine to dunk a piece of phulka into the gravy along with a chunk of paneer. This Paneer Tawa Masala is a  party recipe that you can indulge in again and again. Something that doesnt involve all the cashews and grinding but flavorsome and filling. This Paneer Tawa Masala is also my entry to  Healthy Diet~ Veg Side Dishes by Priya

paneer tawa masala

 

Recipe For Paneer Tawa Masala
( Learn how to make Paneer Tawa Masala, spicy curry with marinated cottage cheese cubes)

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Paneer Tawa Masala Recipe

Paneer Tawa Masala is a lip smacking gravy made by dunking marinated and shallow fried paneer in a mild gravy.
Prep Time1 hour 10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
Course: Paratha, Side Dish for Roti
Cuisine: North Indian
Servings: 2
Calories: 856kcal
Author: Anusha Praveen

Equipment

  • 1 cast iron Griddle
  • 1 Blender
  • 1 Saute pan

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cup Paneer cubed
  • 1 cup finely chopped onions white or pink both work
  • 1/2 cup Tomato puree
  • 4 tbsp Oil
  • 1 tbsp Fresh cream
  • 1 tbsp Garlic paste
  • 1 Green chili minced
  • 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
  • Spices:
  • 1/8 tsp Shah jeera caraway seeds
  • 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp Ajwain bishops weed
  • 1 tbsp Kasoori methi or dried fenugreek leaves crushed
  • Spice Powders:
  • 1 tsp Coriander powder
  • 1/2 tsp Chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp Punjabi garam masala
  • 1 tsp Chaat masala
  • Garnish:
  • 2 tbsp Coriander leaves finely chopped

Instructions

  • In a mixing bowl, add the chaat masala, kasoori methi, chili powder and the turmeric powder and combine well.
  • Add the paneer cubes to the this and mix well ensuring the paneer is coated well with the mixture. Keep aside for 30 mins.
  • Heat 1.5 tbsp oil in a kadai.
  • Add the cumin seeds and ajwain.
  • Once they crackle, add the onions and saute till light brown.
  • Now, add the garlic paste, green chilies and coriander powder and saute for a minute.
  • Add the tomato puree next and combine well.
  • Cook till oil separates from the mixture.
  • At this stage, add the cream,caraway seeds, punjabi garam masala and salt and mix well. Saute on  medium flame for about 2 mins.
  • Add about 1/2 cup of water to this mixture and mix well.
  • Bring to a boil. Switch off the flame and keep aside.
  • Now, heat another pan with the remaining oil and shallow fry the paneer cubes till light brown on all sides. Takes about 8 to 10 mins on medium low flame.
  • Now, add the gravy to the paneer and combine well.
  • If the gravy is thick, dilute with a lil water and cook for about 5 mins until it begins boiling.
  • Once it begins boiling, switch off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves.

For Instant Pot & Air Fryer Recipes

Instant Pot timings may vary based on your geographic location. Air fryer settings and timings may vary based on the capacity and the model of the Air fryer.

Disclaimer

Nutrition values are provided here as a courtesy and are only a rough guide. Please consult a health care provider if you have any concerns.

Nutrition

Calories: 856kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 74g | Saturated Fat: 29g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 120mg | Sodium: 153mg | Potassium: 489mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 629IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 874mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @tomatoblues or tag #tomatoblues!

Carrot Kosambari Recipe ( Shredded Carrot Salad)| Salad Recipes

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I ve been wanting to post some easy peasy recipes that may look like you slogged out in the kitchen but in fact, it dint take 10 mins to put together. The kosambari or the koshimbir is an eternal part of any festive meal in India across most of the cuisines. In madhwa tradition, we have 2 kosambaris for any auspicious meal.    
           The concept of a traditional thali has never failed to intrigue and amaze me at the same time. If you observe keenly, it can be made out that the whole thali is such a balance of indulgence and health. While the koshimbirs are indian salads traditionally made with soaked and uncooked lentils combined with carrots or coconuts and lemon juice ocassionally, the poriyals or the subzis are always one boiled vegetable stir fried and the other a root veggie that s roasted or any veggie that s shallow fried.Brilliant thought. While the shallow fries are for the young and the bubbly, the stir fries are a boon to the old people who have difficulties in digesting the food.

     
While the first course is dal and rice served with a big dollop of ghee, some where mid way through, we have tangy rasam to ease digestion. Once your stomach has made some more space, they follow with the second serving of the sweets and then comes some yoghurt and rice. To help speed digestion. This way, no one suffers dyspepsia and everyone is content. Young or old. Man or woman. Child or adult. And there s a treat for everyone. To soak up the indulgence in a beautiful way, we have the paans that are handed out. I mean, what an amazing way of thinking. You indulge and the same time, your body is taken care of too.
The kosambaris are my favorites. In fact i remember, as a child, i used to have only those things that were served in addition to the rice. I used to explain the concept to amma saying that rice was an everyday affair but the goodies came only once in a while. And amma as always, let me indulge. Not once minding but making sure that i finished with yogurt and rice. Even this day, i never fail to be wide eyed at the huge spread at a family get together or at a wedding and i go for a grab of only those extra extra goodies that they serve.

Carrot kosambari is something that i make when i m simply cross with the skillets and the knives in my kitchen. Quick,easy and healthy option and tastes simply divine with rasam and rice. But my best bet is with sambar and rice of course.

Recipe For Carrot Kosambari
( Learn how to make carrot kosambari, a shredded carrot salad with coconut.)

Ingredients

Carrots peeled and grated 1.5 cups
Coconut grated 3 tbsp
Juice of a lemon or 2 tbsp lemon juice
Sugar 3/4 tsp
Salt to taste

To Temper:

Oil 1.5 tsp
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Green chili 1 chopped finely
Hing a large pinch

To Garnish:

Coriander leaves chopped finely 2 tbsp

Directions

In a mixing bowl, place grated carrots, coconut, salt, sugar and lemon juice and combine well.
Heat a wok with oil and add all the ingredients to temper in the same order.
Add this to the carrot mixture.
Mix well.
Garnish with cilantro.

Serve with rice and sambar.

Stuffed Buns

By 12 Comments

Having lived in a hostel for 5 years, i must say i had become quite an expert in discovering alternatives for boring food. Well boring is an understatement. Can i say drab? I m not sure whether even that fits the bill. Food was not food. That was all i can say. And the most gruelling meal time was dinner. Rice, some sambhar and some chutney. Rice, some curry and some raitha. Rice, sambhar and some chutney. That was how the menu was. And i am a person who cant eat the same thing twice in a month. Call me pampered. But i simply cant bring myself to eat the same thing again and again like a cow who chews her cud. I m fond of food. And i m more fond of variety in food. I am a person who eats a 3 course lunch, a healthy breakfast and some delicious dinner. Not rice definitely for me for dinner.

   What do you think kept me alive on all those nights when it was chickpea and eggplant sambhar for dinner? Or worse yet bottle gourd chutney? The matron feels compelled to make chutney out of anything that grows on a plant. I said feels because she s still that way. I lived on food from sandwich joints and iyengar bakeries that dot the landscape of Bangalore. When i had company, it was a ballyhoo of a dinner. But when i was alone, it was always a sandwich from Oven Fresh or stuffed buns from Iyengar Bakery.
     I can still remember the fragrance of freshly baked goodies wafting through the lane as i walked by towards the bus stand. I ve been found standing undecided in front of the bakery. The potpourri of baked goodies always muddled me. I was always thinking whether to buy that crunchy paneer puffs or some soft and spicy stuffed buns. The buns always won hands down. No matter what i picked up, my packet always had 2 of these. They would last me the next morning in case they decided to make concrete for breakfast. Oh.. concrete is upma which you have to pry with a spoon before you put some into your mouth.
      Then things changed. Mr. P my knight in shining armor arrived and whisked me off to Baroda. I began baking. And from the time i began baking, there has been this incessant itch to recreate those sinfully soft and spicy buns. Stuffed with boiled potatoes and roasted peanuts. They had varieties too. Paneer and capsicum. Mixed veggies. All of them were favorites. Finally, i got around to baking them yesterday and i must say, it was an incredible experience baking them. The aroma of those buns lingered long after i stored them.

Prep Time: 20 mins to mix and knead the dough
             10 mins for preparing the stuffing 
             1 to 1.5 hours for the first rise
             20 mins for the second rise
Cook Time: Under 20 mins for the stuffing
             15 mins to bake the buns        
Yields 8 buns

( These buns make a great starter. They taste amazing with a bowl of soup. Or makes a good snack after school too. You can make the whole thing with only wheat flour. But then, you will need a lil more fluid. May be 1/4 cup more of either milk or water. Or make the whole thing with maida. But reduce the fluid accordingly. Feel free to make any kind of stuffing. Maybe some chickpeas and other lentils. Or even cottage cheese and onions. Or even spiced up scrambled eggs and cheese.It s ok if the veggies for the stuffing s under cooked. They ll get cooked during the baking.I baked 4 at a time because of a small baking tray. You can bake all of them at once too.In case you eat eggs, you can coat the buns before baking with beaten egg white.)


What You Need?

For The Dough:

Maida 1 cup
Whole wheat flour 1/2 cup
Yeast 1.5 tbsp
Sugar 1 tbsp
Salt 1 tsp
Milk 1/4 cup
Warm water 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Chili powder 1/2 tsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves chopped finely 1/2 cup

For The Filling:

Potato 1 large peeled and cubed
Capsicum 1 chopped finely
Beans chopped finely 2 tbsp
Carrot grated 2 tbsp
Onion 1 large chopped finely
Oil 2 tbsp
Red chili powder 3/4 tsp
Coriander cumin powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Flour for dusting
Milk for milk wash

Sesame seeds for topping 3 to 4 tbsp

How To Make It?

In a bowl, mix together the yeast, water and sugar. Keep aside for 10 mins until frothy.
Now, in a mixing bowl, add the flours, turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander leaves and salt. Combine well with a whisk.
Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the oil.
Once the yeast is proofed, add the milk to the yeast mixture and add this to the flour.
Combine until well incorporated.
Transfer to a floured surface and start kneading until you get a smooth supple dough.
Coat the dough with some oil on all the sides and place in a greased bowl in which you can make out if the dough has doubled.
Cover with a damp and clean kitchen towel and set aside until doubled.
In the meanwhile, lets make the filling.
In a pan, heat the oil. Add the onions and saute till pink.
Now add all the spice powders and mix well.
Saute on a low flame for 30 secs.
Add all the veggies, combine well and cook for 10 mins.
Add salt and mix well.
Set aside.
Once the dough has doubled, remove the bowl and punch the dough to flatten. Now, knead the dough for 2 mins.
Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and shape them into small balls.
Transfer each ball into a floured surface and flatten a little using a rolling pin just like how you would do for rotis. But no thinly. Make a thick round.
Place 1.5 tbsp of filling in the middle of the flattened dough ball.
Bring together the sides, seal and pinch the dough.
Repeat for the entire dough.
Now brush the top with milk.
Spread the sesame seeds on a tray and roll the top of the stuffed balls gently on the sesame seeds.
Line a tray with tin foil and grease it generously.
Place the dough balls on the tray 4 at a time.
Cover with a dampl kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled.Takes about 30 to 45 mins.
Towards the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 200 c.
Once the dough has risen the second time, bake in the oven for about 12 to 15 mins.
Keep an eye after 12 mins or you will get a burnt bottom on all the buns.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

Serve with ketchup as an evening snack or have it with a bowl of soup.
Sending these to I Love Baking and Vardhini s Bake Fest hosted by Sumee
 

Banoffee Cupcakes For Blog Hop #16

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Haa.. one more wednesday and that brings us to another Blog Hop. I must agree that wednesdays excite me way too much. In fact i feel such excitement is illegal. Come Wednesday, i start counting the days for the weekend to come. I know that sunday s just another day for me. But still the yearning comes because of that extravagance you get. To sleep in late. Not that i m a heavy sleeper. But then, once in a while the body feels fantastic after a long sleep. Punctuated by some early morning door bell ringers of course. But all that doesnt deter me in getting my dose of snooze on a sunday.

     Well, other things which make me whistle on a Wednesday are blog hops and the fact that the kitchen will definitely get spruced up. This involves tidying the pantry, transforming into a generous Mata Hari and giving away stuff that i bought thinking i ll need them but dint use them anyway. Ooohh.. what a whirl wind of a sentence. I have just discovered that after 2 years of teaching grammar scrupulously, i m not enjoying teaching nouns after all. Yuck. Nouns are not fancy. I love prepositions. And clauses. Even reported speech. But not nouns. They make me stifle a yawn. I feel i could write a whole book. Just on nouns. That much is how much i ve taught nouns. And the best part about a wednesday is i sit down to make my own notes for any recipes that i ve tagged. I love doing this. It s like a session with a shrink for me and i enjoy it so thoroughly that i m springy as an easter bunny all day afterward. If i get around to making those recipes is another story totally.
   This week i got paired with Sweatha of Tasty Curry Leaf. And my note making session began way too early in the week. I was smitten by her space. It seemed like a chic multi cuisine restaurant. She has not left food from any corner of the world unexperimented. Bravo for that. I fell in love with all her bakes Properly like how a person who likes to bake should. And i made the famous banoffee cupcakes. Well the cupcakes are not famous. It s only the pie that is. I ve been wanting to make some but of course laziness kicks in when i want to just open the can of condensed milk to make some luscious dulce de leche. But this version seemed a smooth sail. I made it. We ate it. We licked our lips. And i think that will suffice. For you all to make it on your own.

Prep Time: Under 20 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Yields 7 cupcakes
Source: Tasty Curry Leaf

( The sauce is incredible. You can save it for later and use it on your fruit salad or even dunk in your rotis. Yumm.. You can replace the egg with 1 tbsp flax seeds ground along with 3 tbsp water to a creamy mixture. You wont have much of a difference as flax lends a nutty flavor. Because bananas in baroda are abnormally bland, like every other thing that grows on a plant,i used 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar. Other wise 1/2 cup and a tbsp less would suffice. In case you dont want to add that much butter, substitute 2 tbsp butter with 2 tbsp banana puree. And the vanilla s a must.)

All Purpose Flour 1 cup
Butter 4 tbsp softened
Brown Sugar powdered 1/2 cup
Banana Puree 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
Baking powder 1.5 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract 1/2tsp
Egg 1

For The Toffee Sauce:
Butter 3 tbsp
Condensed Milk 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar 1 tbsp

For Topping:(optional)
Whipped cream
Sprinkles or chocolate shavings
Banana slices from a banana

How To Make It?

Preheat oven to 180 c.
Sieve together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light.
Add the egg and the vanilla to this and whisk till fluffy.
Now, add the banana puree and whisk again until combined.
Add in the flour mixture slowly and combine until well incorporated. Feel free to use a whisk. But dont overbeat.
Line a muffin tray with paper cups and fill in the batter until each groove is half full.
Bake in a preheated oven for 12 to 15 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Let it cool on a wire rack. In the meanwhile lets make the toffee sauce.
Heat a pan and add the sugar and wait just until it becomes sticky.
At this stage, add the butter.
Once the butter melts, add the condensed milk, stir continously to avoid hardening. Keep your flame level to medium while you do all this.
Once the mixture starts boiling, remove from fire and let it cool.
By now, the cakes must have cooled unless you live in a desert( read Baroda. Mine took an hour to cool down)
Once the cakes have cooled down, scoop out a lil from the middle of the cake by inserting a knife at a 45deg angle and cutting out a round disc. Repeat for all the cakes. Set aside.
Now comes the thrilling part. To fill in the cake with the sauce.
Transfer your sauce to a zip loc bag and seal it.
Make a small cut in the one corner of the bottom of the bag.
Place the cut corner of the bag into the cake s middle and gently squeeze in the sauce.
Once you are done piping the sauce, place 3 slices of banana on each cake.
Top them with whipped cream and sprinkles. Of course this is completely optional. You can pour excess sauce instead of all this rococo cream et al.

Serve them for dessert and i m sure you will get too many smiles your way. You will even have people waiting with a notebook  in hand to write down the recipe.
Off this goes to Blog Hop 16, I love Baking and Bake Fest 6 hosted by Sumee

Creamy Pasta With Bell Peppers

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Mr.P did not come home for lunch. So there was not much fanfare. It s a hot day and it s been that way for the past 15 days. Hot is an understatement. It s scorching here. Mercury is not sparing the whip and all i feel like eating is sorbets and ice creams. I gulp down a glass or two of spiced buttermilk too. Today was a different story though. I did feel like eating and cos Mr. P whose hatred for pasta is almost pontifical. I had a bag of bow ties waiting to be cooked in my pantry. So, i decided that today shall be the day for the pasta mania.
       What i love about pasta is that it tastes yummy how ever you make it. You can make it the authentic Italian way or indianise it a lil with some sprigs of cilantro.Or make it any way you like. A friend even makes it with cumin powder and garam masala and the pasta tastes delicious. This recipe is something that i ve created on a whim. No references or adaptations. Give it a try and let me know if you all enjoyed it.

Prep Time: Under 15mins
Cook Time: Under 45 mins
Serves 1

( This tastes good only with penne or bow ties. You can add a tomato too if you desire. I ve made it both the ways and both taste equally heavenly.You can adjust the spice level as you wish. And dont attempt any pasta with any other oil other than olive oil.) 


What You Need?

Pasta Bow ties or penne 1.5cups
Bell peppers(red, green&yellow)
-finely chopped 1 cup
Onions 2 medium chopped finely
Garlic minced 1 tbsp
Italian seasoning 2 tsp
Red chili flakes 1 tsp
Fresh cream 1/4 cup
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

How To Make It?

Bring to boil about 2 litres of water with salt and once the water begins bubbling up, add the pasta and cook for 25 mins.
Check if the pasta has cooked and then drain the water and set aside.
Heat a wok and add the garlic and onions. Saute till light brown.
Now, add the bell peppers and saute till the skin on the bell peppers wilts.
Now, add the chili flakes, salt and italian seasoning.
Saute for about 3 mins. This is to incorporate the flavors into the veggies well.
Now, turn the flame to the lowest possible and add the cream.
Cook on a low flame for 3 mins.
Add the drained pasta to this and gently combine.

Serve hot with your choice of sauces or a crunchy salad or even a slice of tomato bread

Carrot Ginger Elixir for The Gourmet Seven

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This is the 3 rd month! Yipee.. before you all think i m preggers or something… let me tell ya all that the excitement is all about Gourmet Seven completing 3 months with this round. A successful 3 months for us with all hall of fame recipes. We ve learnt a plenty and are ready to learn more. This month, it was all about guzzling down. And that too from Epicurious. Boy! what fun we had.. absolute hoopla.. 🙂

I wouldnt have done justice to my flamboyant self if i begin the recipe, would i? I am basically rooted in Coimbatore. I m so in love with the place even now. After having spent 2 years in Baroda and 5 years in Bangalore, no place has been able to floor me as much as Coimbatore. And i must say, i grew up with the indulgence of fresh vegetables which tasted like heaven. Potatoes never were sweet. Peas were lush green with the right crunch. Cauliflowers were always a pristine off white. Cabbage was crunchy and carrots were very sweet and orange. Having grown up like this, Baroda came to me as a gastronomic shock in terms of veggies. No matter how you cook them, they always are bland. No offence to the farmers wonderful of Baroda though. In particular are carrots which are a light scarlet in color with a long white stem protruding from the middle of them.You take one bite of them long white tubes, you will think a thousand times before you buy carrots here. As a matter of fact, i always have this urge to nibble one of them before i pick them up. Just to make sure, you know, that the white guy s not there and it atleast has a shadow of a resemblence to carrots back home. Alas.. i ve never succeeded. My carrot woes began right after i got married. When it struck my mom s fancy to make carrot juice out of these from these very wishy washy carrots. That s it.. mom left and i ve not sipped a carrot juice until this post. I must say, i did pick up decent ones this time cos it s almost the end of winter and they still have some decent ones left from the winter stock.Had i discovered this recipe when my mom was there, i would have been in a much better state.

Prep Time: 10 mins for the syrup
             2 hours to chill the syrup
             Under 15 mins for the rest


Cook Time: Under 10 mins
Makes 3 medium size glasses
Source: Epicurious



(This is a very serious drink.Have it for breakfast or lunch. And it tastes fabulous with baby carrots. How i know? Let s just say i got lucky second time.You can use the juice of a sweet lime instead of the lemon juice for a healthier and different twist)


What You Need?
Carrots 2
Ginger 1/2″ peeled and grated
Sugar 3 to 4tbsp
Water 1.5cups
Lemon juice 3tbsp

Serving:
Ice cubes

How To Make It?

Boil 1/2 cup water, sugar and ginger in a pan for about 5 mins.
Strain, cool and then chill for about 2 hours.
In a blender, add the carrots and 1 cup water and blend until very smoothly pureed.
Strain this mixture.
Now, add the lemon juice and ginger syrup to the carrot juice and mix well.
Top it up with ice cubes and serve cold.

Seems like a breeze to make right?? So why wait? Make some tomorrow and let me know how it turns out 🙂
This is my post for this month s round of Gourmet Seven. Head on over here and check our other gourmet recipes. They are all one of a kind.

Moist Marble Cake

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Considering that i m very fond of baking, i feel i ve done injustice to the marble cake. You know, if it had a life, then it would probably threaten me at gun point. I ve been baking for the past 2 years. Oh yeah.. i did dabble in baking back in college. Which was always pandemonium and disaster. That s a different story. But somehow, in the past 2 years, it was never the era or an ocassion for the marble cake. I know what many of you all are thinking. I mean what a loser i am. I know..i know. Anyway, i finally did get around to baking the swirly cute marble cake day before yesterday. And it was a runaway success. I made the cake in the morning and it was gone before the evening even set in. If you want me to be a lil technical, then i can say the plate or rather the cake pan was clean during lunch. A dutiful thanks to Mr.P. Mind you, just dutiful and nothing more than that. I dont believe in thanking husbands. I only believe in making marble cakes for them to attain that effect.

    Okie now, that i made the cake, i ve been having weird dreams all night long. I mean i ve been dreaming of cakes with pink ribbons engraved in them. I even saw a cake in the shape of an owl. Does someone know if its good omen to see cakes in dreams. I did google and dint get great answers. Oh! i do such baseless web loitering at times. That s like indulgence to me. Like only the last week, i was reading an article on names that ve been copyrighted. Ha… in true spirits of an inactive advocate. I mean now, i ve reached the point where i dont advocate law but i do advocate food. How fancy is that!! I wish we had food laws. But again that s wishful thinking. Back to the marble cake now. I ve seen some fantastic marble cakes in my life. For real and for virtual. Cant say i ve been lucky to eat all of them but looking would suffice for me. It still suffices for me to look and wonder what would have gone into making the cake. 
        Putting  this cake together is as easy as a pie. No sweat cake is probably how the cake can be called in case someone wants to change the name. It s one of those recipes where you neednt keep track of anything from the eggs to the flour. Very little detail and a great cake. Now that s what i would call a trophy recipe. I mean seriously, arent we past the era of trophy wives? We should think more on cakes and bakes. Now, for the recipe. I mean finally… well i needed to ramble some 🙂

( I did not use a loaf pan. I had the audacity to use a square cake pan which was like 9″X9″ and what i had was a cake which had risen and cracked in the middle. That s what happens to cakes which are baked in too large pans. You get worse cakes when you bake them in too small ones too!! So please use a loaf pan or use a smaller pan any shape but smaller. You can experiment with colors and flavors for the marble effect. Try a dash of mint with a shade of green or probably some fragrant rose with the lovely pink instead of the cocoa. I m going to try anyway. In case you have sour cream, use that volume by volume for the yogurt. The original recipe calls for sour cream but i experimented with yogurt. Kept my fingers crossed all along the baking but it worked like a charm. Feel free to use any yogurt, greek, low fat. just about any version.)

Prep Time: Under 20 mins
Cook Time: 38 to 40 mins
Makes one 9″X5″ inch loaf


Source:Adapted from Martha Stewart S Marble Cake

What You Need?

Flour 1 and 3/4 cups
Butter 8 tbsp
Fresh Curd or yogurt 2/3 cup
Eggs 3
Sugar powdered 1 cup + 2 tbsp
Baking powder 2 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract 1 tsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 cup+1 tbsp

Butter for greasing

How To Make It?

Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Take a mixing bowl and place all the dry ingredients except the sugar and cocoa. Combine well.
In another mixing bowl,cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Takes about 2 to 3 mins on high speed in an electric mixer.
Add the eggs one by one to the butter and whisk just until combined.
Add the vanilla and whisk for about 3 mins.
Now,mix in the flour and yogurt alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour.Do this by dividing the cake flour equally.
At this stage, you will have some flour or the batter around the bowl.
Scrape down and then whisk the batter for about 2 mins until well combined and free of lumps, scraping the batter if required at the same time.
Now divide the batter into 2/3 and 1/3 proportions.
Depending on your preferences, add the cocoa to either of the divided batter. In case you want more cocoa, add it to the larger portion or otherwise.
Combine well using the whisk.
Now is the fun part.
Grease your cake pan well.
Start adding the batter by the tablespoon or a ladle( who would know if you do it with a ladle or a tbsp?)
Alternate with the two batters until you ve finished up with the whole lot.
Using a knife, draw a cross through the middle of the cake pan.
Dont overdo this or you will land up with a not very marble cake.
Once done, drop the cake tin on the counter top gently once or twice.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 35 to 40 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let it cool in the pan for about 10 mins.
Invert and slice the cake as you desire.

And voila!! you have a marble cake all ready to be gobbled up with a glass of chilled milk. That s what i did anyway.
Sending this to Bake fest hosted by Sumee forVardhini