Recipies From My Cook Book

Kulcha & Kofta Curry

2008-06-21T10:04:00.008-05:00

This is my entry to Roti Mela at Roti Mela

Ingredients:

Maida 2 cups

oil - 2 tsp

salt

baking powder 1/4 tsp

yogurt - 2 tsp

yeast - 1/2 tsp. I used active dry yeast

sesame seeds

coriander

Sugar - 1 tsp

In few spoons of warm water add yeast and sugar and keep it aside for few minutes Sieve in salt and flour and coriander/cilantro leaves.

Add yogurt and baking powder to the flour.

Now add in yeast mixture and knead into a soft dough adding warm water or warm milk( I used warm milk)

Keep aside for 2-3 hrs covered. The dough should raise and double in volume. During cold weather it may be kept aside for few more hrs to raise

Knead the dough thoroughly so that the air inside comes out and cover it with a damp towel and keep aside for 10 min

Now make small balls with the dough and flatten like a chapathi. While flattening sprinkle sesame seeds and roast it on a hot griddle.[ Using Tandoor is the preferred way of making kulchas but I dont have one :)]

Garlic can also be added to enhance the flavour although I didn't add it

Kofta Curry

Pulla gummadikaya or kaddu is a vegetable for making koftas but i used sorakaya or lauki instead in this recipe. Ingredients

For Kofta

Lauki/sorakaya - 1

Besan/senaga pindi - 5tsp

salt, garam masala and chilli powder according to taste

oil for deep frying

For Gravy

Tomotoes - 3

onions - 1

cream

ginger garlic paste

cashew nuts

salt, chilli powder and garam masala

dhaniya for garnish

Grate sorakaya and squeeze out all the water. Now add all other ingredients and deep fry the koftas in hot oil. set aside.

For gravy, grind tomotoes and half onion and some cashew nuts to a smooth paste. Slice the remaining onion, heat oil/butter in a kadai and fry sliced onions until they turn golden brown. Now add the tomoto-oinion paste, ginger garlic paste and fry until oil seperated from side. Add salt , garam masala and chilli powder. Let it cook for few minutes and now add fresh cream and bring it to boil. Add koftas to the gravy and cook on low flame for ten minutes. Garnish with dhaniya and serve hot with kulcha.

Mango Pie

2008-06-19T17:27:00.007-05:00

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup mango puree

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin

12 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 stick (1/4 pound) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons finely grated lime zest

2 cups cold heavy cream

2 firm-ripe mangos, peeled, seeded and sliced, garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper and set aside. In a bowl, combine the graham crackers with 1/4 cup of the mango puree and mix well. Press firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake until firm, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

In a small saucepan, heat the lime juice and gelatin over low heat until the gelatin dissolves, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

In the bowl cream together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and lime zest until light and fluffy. Add the softened gelatin and remaining 3/4 cup mango puree and mix to combine.

In a clean bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, fold into the mango mixture and pour over the crust, smoothing the top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours.

To serve, slice and garnish each serving with 2 mango slices.

Atukulu Uthappam

2008-06-09T22:00:00.010-05:00

Ingredients : Atukulu/poha - 1 cup rice - 2 cups Minapapappu/urad dal - 1/2 cup methi seeds - 1/2 tsp sour butter milk - 3 cups salt baking soda Chana dal onions green chilli/curry leaves

Soak all the ingredients in buttermilk overnite and grind into a batter of smooth consistency. Add salt while grinding the batter. Add a pinch of baking soda to the batter and let it ferment soak chana dal for 1 hr in water and drain water later on finely chop curry leaves, green chillies and onions

Heat the tawa and spread the batter into small utappams and sprinkle chana dal, onions, curry leaves and green chillies on each uthappam add sufficient oil and roast it until golden brown turn and roast the other side also After both sides are roasted yummy uthappam is ready. Serve with coconut chutney or any pickle.

My Garden

2008-06-09T20:08:00.006-05:00

Daisies and Hibiscus blooms from my garden.

Diwali

2007-11-15T17:09:00.000-06:00

We had a Diwali potluck at work. Here is the Rangoli I made at work. We used drawing sheets and sand colors.

Avial

2007-10-09T16:28:00.000-05:00

Avial can be prepared with any combination of boiled veggies. We generally eat it with plain dal and rice. Here is my version of avial. Here I am giving the veggies I used

Ingredients for Avial

---------------------

Fresh Curd - 3 cups

Fresh grated coconut

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 5

Budida Gummadikaya (white pumpkin) - 1 small piece

Tindora - 10

Egg plant/Brinjal small - 2

Carrots small - 2

Potato medium -1

Beans - 5

Curry leaves - few

mustard and cumin seeds

red chillies

coconut oil for tempering

Prepartion

-----------

Cut all the vegetables into medium pieces. Boil them with salt and turmeric until they are soft but not mushy.

Meanwhile dry roast cumin seeds and set aside

Grate fresh coconut. Grind grated coconut with roasted cumin seeds and cut green chillies into a smooth paste adding little water. The quantity of chillies can bevaried depending on how spicy you want.

Beat the curds and mix the blended coconut paste.

After veggies are cooked mix the curd and coconut mixture and let it boil on low flame.

In a pan heat coconut oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and red chillies. Wait until mustard splutters and add curry leaves. Add this tempering to the cooked avial.

Arati Puvvu Patoli

2007-09-26T17:27:00.002-05:00

This dish is prepared with arati puvvu(Banana blossom). This dish is bit tedious to prepare but the taste is well worth the effort. Serve with hot rice.

Ingredients

========

Arati Puvvu -1

Kandipappu(Toor dal) - 1 cup

senaga pappu(chana dal) - 1 cup

Red chillies - 5

Asafoetida - pinch

oil for frying

turmeric

tamarind juice - 2 tsp

mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves for tempering

Method of Preparation

-----------------------

Soak both the dals and red chillies for 4-6 hrs

Remove stalks from banana blossom. Cut it fine and put in buttermilk mixed with a pinch of turmeric.

Grind the dals adding salt and asafoetida with very little water possible

Pressure cook cut arati puvvu with some turmeric and tamarind juice

Heat oil in a non stick pan and add all the tempering ingredients. Once mustard seeds splutter add cooked arati puvvu and also the dal batter to the pan. Fry on a medium flame until you see dal batter cooked.

Banana Halwa

2007-09-26T17:01:00.000-05:00

Ingredients ========= Rava/sooji - 1 cup Ripe bananas - 2 Sugar - 1 1/2 cup Ghee Milk - 2 1/2 cup Dry fuits for garnishing Preparation ========= Fry sooji in ghee until it turns golden. Meanwhile cut the bananas in bite size pieces and mash them slightly with 1/2 cup milk. Add remaining 2 cups milk and sugar to the pan with sooji. Added the mashed bananas to it. Add more ghee if needed and cook until done Garnish with dry fruits fried in ghee.

Blackeyed peas(Alasandalu) vada

2007-09-08T21:47:00.001-05:00

These vadas can be deep fried or shallow fried. I am giving the shallow fried version here(low fat :-). Ingredients ======== Black eyed peas(Bobbarlu) - 2 cups green chillies - 4 ginger - small piece curry leaves Small onion -1 Procedure ======== Soak the black eyed peas for 6-8 hrs or overnight Chop onions into small peices Grind the peas adding ginger, chillies, salt into a smooth batter Mix onions and curry leaves to the batter Pressure cook the batter for a while until you get 2 whistles(This step can be skipped if deep frying) Make vadas with batter and shallow fry them

Chilled Orange Soup

2007-08-31T12:34:00.000-05:00

This soup is a good refresher during summer. Large oranges - 6 Lemon -1 Orange zest 1/4 tsp lemon zest 1/4 tsp cornflour 2 tbsp Sugar - 10-12 tbsp Fresh cream for garnish Method 1. Extract orange and lemon juice 2. Mix the juices, sugar, lemon and orange zest and cornflour 3 add 4 teacups of water. 4. Boil for 10 minutes. 5. Cool the soup for a while and chill the soup 6. Just before serving garnish the soup with fresh sweetened cream

Bhindi Masala / Stuffed Okra

2007-08-13T23:42:00.000-05:00

This is my first ever food blog. I love cooking and entertaining guests. This is the recipe i learnt from a friend of mine in Bombay.

Ingredients:

Okra/bhindi - 2 lbs Onions (big) -2 Peanuts - 1 small cup Oil for frying Masalas

====== dhaniya powder -2 tsp

jeera powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

salt - according to taste

amchur - 1/2 tsp

garam masala - 1/4 tsp

oil - 1tsp

Mix all the masala ingredients together with 1 tsp of oil. Slit bhindi length wise and stuff the bhindis with sufficient amount of masala.

. Cut onions lengthwise. Heat oil in a wok/kadai and fry onions till golden brown. Add peanuts to onions and fry for a while. Remove onions and peanuts into a bowl and keep them aside. Now add stuffed bhindis to the remaining oil. Stir bhindis occassionally until they are almost done. Take care not to break bhindis while stirring. When bhindis are cooked add fried peanuts and onions to this and sprinkle any left over masala powder on it. fry for 3-4 minutes. Garnish it with cilantro/coriander leaves.

This curry goes well with both roti and rice.