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.

Cheese roasted vada pav

As I mentioned in my earlier post also, Vada Pav is a most most popular street food of Maharashtra. Last month   when I was at my parent's place my sister Sneha took me to one nice food joint to have fusion Vada pav. It is Cheese roasted Vada pav. Earlier I was not sure of the taste but when I took first bite, wow!!! A perfect blend of cheese and spicy hot Vada. Just love this fusion recipe. I have not made this home yet but clicked one snap there to post this recipe ASAP. I think Vada-Pav lover should try this once.

Ingredients

Laadi Pav - 6

Green chutney - 1/4 cup

Grated cheese - 1 cup

Potato - 6 medium

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Asafetida - A pinch

Fresh coriander leaves, chopped - 2 tablespoon

Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste



For Paste

Green chilli - 3-4

Garlic cloves - 6-7

Ginger - 1 inch

Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon



For cover

Bengal gram flour (Besan) - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Red chilli powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Ajwain - 1/4 teaspoon

Hot oil - 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste.

For sweet onion chutney

Finely chopped onion - 1

Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon

Coriender powder - 1 teaspoon

Chilli powder - 3 teaspoon

Sugar - 1/4 cup

Water 1/2 cup

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste.


Procedure
Boil, peel and mash potatoes. Make a paste of ingredients given under' for the paste'. Keep aside. Now heat oil in kadai. Add asafetida and turmeric powder. Then add paste and saute it for 1-2 minutes. Now add mashed potatoes, salt and chopped fresh coriander, lemon juice and mix well. Keep aside to cool. After that make small equal balls of potatoes mixture.

For Cover, mix all the ingredient. With water make a batter as we do for pakoda. Not too thick or not too watery.
Heat sufficient oil in kadai for deep fry. Oil should not be very hot. Now dip potato ball in the besan batter. It should get coated with batter from all the side. Deep fry it till golden brown. The cover will get crispy from outside. Drain on to paper towel.

For sweet onion chutney
Heat oil in a kadai . Add cumin, coriander and chilli powder and fry it little. Immediately add sugar and water. Mix it well. Reduced it to the consistency of syrup. Now add salt. Cool it completely and then add chopped onion. Mix well.


Serving Vada pav
Slit one pav, Spread onion chutney on one side and green chutney on another side as shown in picture. Spread grated cheese on both sides. (as much you like). Place Vada on it and press lightly. Close the pav. Now grill it in sandwich maker. Apply some butter on this sandwich. If you don't have sandwich maker you can roast it in pan. Cheese roasted Vada pav is ready. Can serve with fried green chilli.

Eggless orange-Carrot Cake

My first ever eggless cake. I had bookmarked this recipe since long but got Christmas 'Muhurat' to make this. It turned out very nice and spongy. My brother Sameer liked it. I was very much happy to listen his compliment. Special thanks to Rak's Kitchen, from her blog I had tried this cake. Only change or addition is I have added carrot to cake to enhance it's taste.

Ingredients

All purpose flour (APF) - 1 & 1/4 cup

Condensed Milk - 1 cup

Orange juice - 1/2 cup

Grated carrot - 1/4 cup

Sunflower Oil - 1/2 cup

Powdered sugar - 3 tablespoons

Baking powder - 1 teaspoon

Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon

Orange Zest - 1/2 teaspoon

Lemon Juice - 1 tsp

Orange essence - 1 teaspoon



Procedure

Preheat oven at 180 degree C. Sieve dry items, that is APF, Baking powder, Baking soda. Now in a deep bowl pour oil, orange juice, lime juice, essence, condense milk. Add powder sugar then whisk it nicely. It should be fluffy mixture. Now add grated carrot and orange zest and mix wel. Then add dry ingredient little by little and mix well. Take care that no lumps should form while mixing. Grease the baking pan with butter and dust it with APF. Now pour the batter in pan neatly. Bake it for 30 minutes. Let it cool down on wire rack. Lovely orange flavored spongy eggless cake is ready to serve. So now pure vegetarian people also can enjoy their Christmas with this cake:-)