Homemade Chocolate Rakhi

Today is 'Rakshabandhan', a special day for all Brothers and sisters.  This year I wanted to make something very special for  Rakhi. I was watching an advertise of Dairy-Milk chocolate…."Kuch Mitha Ho Jaye…" and suddenly thought of making Edible Rakhi, that is chocolate Rakhi. I had bookmarked recipe from Padhuskitchen…..so tried accordingly and see Edible Rakhi for All my Brothers is looking so nice :-).

Ingredients

Condensed Milk - 400 Gms

Unsalted butter - 100 Gms

Sugar - 6 teaspoons

Cocoa Powder - 6 Teaspoons

Liquid Glucose - 1/4 Teaspoon

Milk - 6 tablespoons

Procedure

Mix cocoa Powder and milk nicely. No lumps should be exist. Dissolve liquid glucose in cold water neatly.   Mix all above given ingredients  with liquid glucose and cocoa and milk mixture in a Non-stick Kadai. Now keep the kadai on flame. Keep the flame low.  Stir it continuously till it leaves the sides of pan.  It should not stick to your hand. Transfer it to a greased plate. When it get slightly cool, take one chocolate mould (any shape or size of your choice) and feel  1/4 of it. Now take one Satin ribbon, place it on the chocolate horizontally. Again on ribbon put chocolate and completely fill the mould. Keep it aside for an hour.  Flip the mould to opposite side and the chocolate will automatically come out of mould. Chocolate Rakhi is Ready.

Daal-Baati (baked Baati)

In my first version of Dal Bati, I shared Khandeshi style Dal bati recipe which is very common in our house. As it is deep fried I tried typical Rajasthan style baked bati and dal . It tastes awesome. A complete whole meal off course with lots of ghee.

Ingredients 

For Dal

Chana dal- 1/2 cup

Moong dal - 1/2 cup

Urad Dal - 1 cup

Tomato - 3

Green chilli - 5-6

Ginger - 2 inch piece

Garam Masala- 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

Pure ghee - 2 tablespoon

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Asafetida - 1/8 teaspoon

Salt as per taste

Chopped fresh Coriander for Garnishing

For Bati

Whole wheat flour - 3 cups

Semolina - 1 cup

Pure ghee - 5 tablespoon

Ajwain - 1 teaspoon

Baking Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt as per  taste

Procedure

For Dal

Soak all dal for an hour. After that cook it in a pressure cooker. Make a paste of tomato, green chilli and ginger. Now heat a kadai  and put ghee into it.  Then add cumin seeds and asafetida. After that add  turmeric powder and coriander powder.  Now add tomato paste and sauté it neatly.  Then add red chilli powder and salt. Mix it neatly. Sauté it for 2 minutes.  Now add cooked daal.  Add water as per require for desired consistency.   Boil it for a minute or so. Garnish it with chopped  fresh coriander. Dal is ready. 

For Bati

Take all ingredients of Bati in a bowl and mix wel. Now knead a very hard dough with warm water. The dough should not be smooth at all. Cover it with damp cloth. Now preheat  oven on 180 degree Celsius. Meanwhile make small balls of the dough. Press each ball slightly and press with a finger in the centre. So that bati will get cooked properly from inside in oven.  Arrange baatis in oven tray. Brush it with ghee. Bake it for 20 minutes. Turn batis when it gets golden brown colour on one side. 

Serving

While serving deep hot baatis in melted pure ghee and serve it with dal. Crush bati and pour dal on bati, mix it and enjoy it.

Vade Saguti OR Kombdi Vade

Vade sguti or Komdi vade is a staple dish of Malvan. Malvan is a town located in Sindhudurg District - southernmost district of Maharashtra. This is a coastal area. By name you must have thought that it must be some snacks or type of crispy Vada. But here Vada is multigrain  puris. We had our Potluck party on last weekend, so my friend Vaishali made vade and solkadhi, and Manasi made special Malvani Chicken curry. I prepared 'kaju curry' for vegetarian people. Vade is a must try dish and vegetarian can also eat it with kaju curry or any other sprout curry.

Ingredients

Rice -  3 kg.

Jowar(sorghum) - 500 gms

Urad daal (Black gram)- 500Gms

Chana Daal (Bengal gram) - 250 Gms

Dhane (Coriander seeds) - 100 Gms

Methi dana (Fenugreek seeds) - 1 tablespoon

Whole wheat flour - 1tablespoon

Salt as per taste

Oil as require

Procedure

For Vade flour

Wash rice neatly. Drain water from it and allow it to get dry overnight. Now dry roast urad daal, chana daal, coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds one by one till it becomes slightly brown. Cool it and mix it with rice and jowar. Grind together in flour mill. Vade flour is ready. Store it in a airtight container.

 While making vade, take  2 cups of Vade flour, whole wheat flour and salt in a bowl and mix well.  Add 1 cup of  warm water and mix it ( don't knead it) , cover it and keep it aside. After an hour or so knead it with oil and little water and make a firm smooth dough. Now heat oil in kadai. Take a plastic sheet and grease it slightly with oil. Take a lemon size ball of a dough. Make a Puri of it by pressing with palm. Deep fry it on medium flame till it turn to golden brown. Vade is ready to serve.

 

Serve it with Malvani Chicken and Solkadhi.

Vegeterians serve it with kaju curry or any other sprout curry and Solkadhi.

Katchi Dabeli

'Katchi Dabeli' …..One more street food…….I think it's originally a Gujarat state's dish but got vey famous in Maharashtra.  It's a type of sandwich. Khatta mitha and very tasty. When we were in Pune , we used to eat it like anything.  But after becoming Bangalorean   it has become difficult to have one dabeli on any street in the rainy eve.  One of my friend Ruchi who used to stay in Pune in her college days wanted to  have Dabeli……so after loooooooong planning we met yesterday and enjoyed homemade Dabeli.  In Pune we used to get  Special Amul butter and cheese dabeli. So I tried making such type of Dabeli and it was yum.  I used readymade 'Siddhi' Dabeli masala. But I have masala recipe which one of my friend had given. I'm sharing that recipe for those who don't get readymade one. For Bangalore people…..you can get  Dabeli Masala in Total Mall.

Ingeredients

Pav - 10

Boiled and Mashed Potatoes - 2 cups

Dabeli Masala - 3 tablespoons

Salted Peanuts - 1/2 cup

Pomegranates - 1/3 cups

Finely chopped onion - 1/4 cup

Chopped fresh coriander - 2-3 tablespoon

Oil- 1 tablespoon

Amul Butter - 100 gms.

Amul Cheese cube - 2

Sev  - 1/2 cup

Imli ki chutney - 1/2 Cup

Pudina Chutney - 2-3 tablespoon

Dabeli Masal

Coriander seeds - 2 tablespoons

Cumin Seeds - 2 tablespoons

Fennel seeds - 1 tablespoon

Cloves- 7-8

Cinnamon  - 1 inch

Dry red chilli - 5-6

Sugar - 1 teaspoon

Amchur powder - 2 tablespoons

Ginger powder- 1/2 tablespoon

Salt as per taste

Procedure

For Masala

Dry roast corianderseeds, Cumin seeds, Feneel seeds, cloves, cinnamon, red chillies one by one in nonstick pan.  Let it get cool.  Now grind to a fine powder including all other ingredients.  Dabeli Masala is ready to use. Store it in a airtight container.

 

For Filling

Heat oil in kadai. Now add Dabeli Masala into it. Sauté for few seconds. Now add mashed potatoes and a teaspoon of imli ki chutney. Mix it properly and after minute or so take out of the flame.  Now spread  this mixture in a rectangular dish and top it with roasted peanuts then pomegranates then sev then chopped onion then chopped coriander.

Preparing  Dabeli

Slit one pav just like we do for pav bhaji or vada pav. Now put imli ki chutney on one side and pudina chutney on other side. Now put a spoonful potato filling  with  the topping.  Now close it with the upper portion of the pav. Deep three sides of pav in sev. Mean while heat a fry  pan. Put 1/2 teaspoon butter on it and roast Dabeli from both side with butter till it gets  golden brown color. Press Dabeli while roasting it. Garma Garam Dabeli is ready to serve.  Serve with a grated cheese on top of it. If you like you can add grated cheese in the feeling too.

Aamrakhand- Maharashtrian Mango dessert

'Aamrakhand' means Amra(mango)+ Shrikhand. Shikhand with mango puree into it is called aamrakand.  In most of the Maharashtrian family this sweet dish is prepared during Mango season. You can have this with Puri, it tastes awesome. Instead of Aamras-Puri or Shrikhand-Puri, we can combine both. We have one function at my Aatya's place so we (Usha Aunty, Shashi aaka, swati & myself) prepared almost 7-8 Kg. Aamrakhand. Oh it was really huge.   Now for coming 'AashadhiEkadashi' you must prepare this sweet.

Ingredients

Hung Curd(Chakka) - 250 Gms.

Powder Sugar - 200 Gms.

Mango puree- 1 cup

Warm milk -4-5 tablespoon

Nutmeg powder - 1/8th teaspoon

Chopped almond and charoli for garnishing (Optional).

Procedure

Most of the cities we don't get hung curd, so the simple way to prepare hung curd is- Take full cream milk's curd in thin cotton cloth. Squeeze it with hand and remove the water. Tie it tightly and hang it over night so all water in curd will drain out.

Now take the hung curd (in Marathi we call it as Chakka) in a big bowl. Add Powdered sugar and mix it neatly. Now add warm milk and beat it for 2 minutes. Then add mango puree mix it very nicely. You can adjust quantity of sugar according to the sweetness of mango. Add nutmeg powder and mix it.  If you want you can add chopped nuts or Charoli. But I usually like it without any nuts. Chill it in fridge and serve it with hot Puris. 

This one goes to Pari's event ‘Only’ Mango, Guest hosted by Anu's Healthy Kitchen.

Gulamba

An authentic recipe specially in Mango season. 'Gulamba' means Gul is Jaggery and Amba is mango. It's a Jam of raw mango. My Aai makes it every year for me. But this year I tried Gulamba for the first time (offcourse under her guidance) and look it is looking just yummmmmm:-) This can be prepared with Sugar (it's called 'Sakharamba') but I specially like with Jaggery.  So a must try recipe…tastes good with bread slice or Roti or any Paratha or Thepla. My  grandfather used to eat this with a dollop of pure ghee on it.

Ingredients

Grated Raw Mango - 2 cups

Jaggery - 2-2,1/2 cups

Cardamom Powder - 1 teaspoon

 

Procedure

Peel raw Mangoes. (Mangoes should be big in size) Grate it neatly.Now shift it in a heavy bottom vessel. Add jaggery into it. Quantity of jaggery depends upon the sourness of a mango. Mix it well and keep aside for one hour.After one hour jaggery will completely get dissolved. Put this vessel on medium flame. Cook it till this syrup gets thicker(one string consistancy).But have to stir in between. Now turn off the flame. Now add cardamom powder and mix well. Gulamba is ready. Cool it and store it in a glass jar.You can store it for 5-6 months in fridge.

Dal Pakwan

OMG!!!! I did it. From last 2 years I wanted to make this dish. When I first time saw this recipe in Alka's Blog. But some or other thing took me away from trying this recipe. Thanks a lot Alka it was really yummy and now it will be in our regular weekend menu list.  Dal Pakwan is a traditional Sindhi breakfast  recipe.  Though it is full of calories but some time you can try out this yaar. The only thing I did to reduce  my guilt is I used half a quantity Maida and half wheat flour;-)

Ingredients

For Dal

Chana Dal - 1 cup

Tomato -1 (finely chopped)

Green Chillies - 3-4

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry Leaves - 4-5

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

For Pakwan

All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Ajwain - 1 teaspoon

Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Tamarind extract - 1 teaspoon

Hot Oil - 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Oil for Deep Frying

For Serving

Chopped onion - 1 medium

Chopped coriander - 2-3 teaspoon

Chopped tomatoes - 1 small

Sweet Tamarind chutney - As required

Chilli powder -  - As required

Procedure

For Dal

Wash and soak dal for one hour.  Now Pour oil in pressure cooker. When it becomes hot add cumin seeds, curry leaves and green chilies. Fry it for a minute.  Now add chopped tomatoes and cook it properly. Then add dal, turmeric powder and salt. Mix it properly.  Add little water and close the lid of cooker.  Cook till two whistles.  When the pressure got released open the lead. Cooked dal should  not  get mushy completely.  Add tamarind extract and mix well.  Again cook for a minute.  Dal is ready.

For Pakwan

Mix all ingredients of Pakwan. Except oil for  frying ;-).  Add little water at a time and kneed a stiff dough.  Cover it and rest it for 20 minutes. Then Make small balls of dough (approximately 10-11) .   Heat oil in Kadai for frying. Roll each ball like puri. Prick puri with knife so that it will not get puffed while frying. Now fry this Puri (pakwan) on medium flame till it turns golden brown and crisp.   Drain the  excess  oil on kitchen towel.

For Serving

While serving take  dal in a bowl.  Sprinkle chilli powder. Some sweet tamarind chutney. Then chopped coriander, onion and tomatoes. Serve it with hot and crispy pakwan

Italian summer salad

Heat is showing it's effect in March itself. Eating regular meal twice a day is real hard these days. So salad , juice, buttermilk are some good options.  Here is the nice and healthy option in Summer.

Ingredients
Brown Bread  - 2-3 slices
Boneless chicken - 100 gms
Tomato - 1
Cucumber -1
Lettuce leaves - 3-4
Green olives - 8-9

For DressingOlive Oil - 3 tablespoon

Garlic cloves - 3-4
Basil leaves - 1/2 cup
Vinegar - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Procedure

Preheat oven on 180 C. Make small cubes of bread slices.  Bake this cubes in oven for 10 minutes.   Cut chicken into small cubes and boil with little salt into it.  Remove seeds of tomato and cucumber and cut in small cubes. Now take all the ingredients of dressing  in mixer pot and grind to coarse paste.   Now take this in a salad bowl.  Add olives, bread cubes, chicken cubes, tomato & cucumber cubes and cut lettuce leaves with your hands and put it in bowl.  Toss well .  Transfer it in salad plate and serve it.

Note - Vegetarians can replace chicken with Paneer  or boiled Rajma.



Kaju Curry

From last 2-3 months I didn't try any new dish. Don't know why but was not feeling very enthusiastic about cooking anything new. My husband suggested me to do some variety dish for Sunday lunch. Then after a looooooooooooooooooong discussion we decided to make kaju curry and neer dosa. Since I was trying the kaju curry for the first time so he was my guide in making it. Finally it turned out very good. Even my in-laws liked it :-)

Ingredients
Cashew Nuts (Kaju) - 1 cup

Onion - 2 medium

Tomatoes - 1 big

Garlic - 7-8 cloves

Ginger- 1 inch

Khoya - 1 tablespoon

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon

Sugar - 1 teaspoon (optional)

Pure ghee- 2 tablespoon

Cashew nuts - 7-8

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup

Salt as per taste.

Procedure
Soak cashew nuts in a warm water. Slice onion vertically. Chop tomatoes. Now heat 1 teaspoon of ghee in kadai and fry onion till it turns to golden brown. Then add garlic and ginger fry it. Then add tomatoes and cook it. Let this get cool for some time. Fry 7-8 cashew separately in ghee. Now make a fine paste of all this fried ingredients. Now heat one tablespoon ghee in kadai. Add turmeric powder. Now add this paste and fry till the Ghee separates out from rest of the mixture. Then add khoya, chilli powder, garam masala, sugar and salt. Mix wel. Now add water little by little to get the desired consistency of the gravy. Boil it for five minutes. Then add soaked cashew nuts. Again cook it for 2-3 minutes. In the end add coconut milk , mix wel and switch off the flame. Thick creamy kaju curry is ready. Tastes good with roti, neer dosa or rice.

Maa ki daal ya Paa ke chawal......Phodanicha Bhaat

I think you must have got confused with the name. I have purposely given this name to this post because my father had prepared this bhaat for the first time in his life. For some reason my mother was not there in the house so he asked the recipe on phone and prepared the dish with leftover rice. I immediately asked him to click the picture. Aai (my mom) was so happy to see my Baba started cooking something other than tea :-) Love you Baba……

Phodanicha bhat is very famous and easy to make recipe with leftover rice.

 
IngredientsLeftover rice - 2 cups

Finely chopped onion - 1 medium

Chopped green chilies - 4-5

Peanuts - handful

Oil - 2 tablespoons

Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Asafetida - 1/4 teaspoon

Sugar - 1/4 teaspoon

Lime juice - 1 teaspoon

Salt as per taste

Chopped fresh coriander for garnishing.

Procedure
Heat oil in Kadai. Add mustard seeds. When it starts spluttering then add peanuts. After the peanuts turns to golden brown, add green chilies and sauté it. Then add onion. Cook it properly till onion turn translucent. Now add asafetida and turmeric powder. Now add leftover rice, salt and sugar and mix it properly. Cover it for 2-3 minutes. Now switch off the flame and add lime juice and mix wel. Garnish it with chopped coriander. It tastes good with curd.

This goes to simplysensationalfood's "Lets cook with Leftover" event.

Aachari Tamatar

Wish you all a very happy 2012!!!  Actually I was thinking of posting some sweet recipe to begin 2012 but as usual I'm starting this new year with Spicy & Tangy dish from Tomato. It's a a very tasty side dish, a pickle of Tomato. So once again wish you a tangy, spicy & sweet 2012!!!

Ingredients
Red Tomatoes - 500 Gms.

Garlic - 8-10 cloves

Ginger (Chopped) - 1 inches

Red chilli powder - 4 teaspoons

Mustard seeds powder - 1 teaspoon

Vinegar - 2 teaspoons

Sugar -1 teaspoon (Optional)

Salt as per taste

Tor Tadka
Sesame Oil - 1/2 cup

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Turmeric Powder - 1 teaspoon

Asafetida - 1/2 teaspoon


Procedure
Cut tomatoes in small cubes. Cut garlic cloves vertically. In a heavy bottom kadai heat oil and make a tadka using given ingredients. Then add chopped garlic and ginger. Sauté it. Then add tomatoes and cook it till it gets smooth. When oil separates completely from cooked tomatoes, add chilli powder, mustard powder, salt and sugar. Mix it nicely. Now switch off the flame. When it cool down , add vinegar and mix it. If you want you can give one more tadka of oil, turmeric powder and asafetida on this pickle. Store it in an air tight bottle.