Nice and creamy yogurt from low fat milk

To have a nice and creamy yougurt from reduced fat milk follow the yougurt recipe (click here) but replace the full fat milk with 2% reduced fat milk. and just before adding the starter yougurt culture take 2 tbsp of non fat milk powder and about 2 tbsp of milk going to used for making yougurt. Mix them well until the milk powder dissolves in the milk and add it to the rest of the milk and then follow the rest of the yogurt recipe as given in the original recipe.

My Style Pizza

I think all of us love pizza every now and then. Most of the time we order them from pizza hut, domino's, papa johns etc. Though I sort of like these pizzas I cringe a little every time I take a bite. The a gal who likes eating and put on weight rather quickly and has a hard time losing it. Thus my control freaky brain devised this new method of making my own pizzas. I think it is loaded with veggies (I hope u guys have figured by now that I am vegetarian...the dairy eating kind). It allows me to control the amount of cheese goes into my pizza and also u control how it tastes and miraculously it takes only about 30-40 mins of preparation time.

Ingredients:

1. 8 inch Pizza crust (smaller the size better it is for ur waist :-))
2. 1/2 of green capsicum chopped coarsely
3. 1 medium sized tomatoes diced or cut in round shape.
4. 1/2 zucchini cut in round shape.
5. 1/2 medium sized onion chopped coarsely
6. 1-2 medium sized serrano pepper chopped finely.
7. 4-5 basil leaved chopped coarsely
8. 1 bowl full-fresh baby spinach.
9. 2 cups of skimmed milk mozzeralle cheese.
10. 2 cups of pasta sauce (one that u like).

Equipment Required:

1. Pizza stone.
2. Oven
3. pizza cutter.

Method:

Before you start anything preheat your oven at 450 degrees.

1. Place the pizza crust on a clean pizza stone.
2. Spread a 1 cup full of pasta or pizza sauce on the crust evenly.
3. spread about 1/2 cup of cheese on top.
4. Add the spinach evenly on top, also spread the chopped pepper, basil.
5. Now add another 1/2 cup of cheese on top.
6. Add the rest of the pasta or pizza sauce on top.
   
7. now add rest of the veggies and finally top the pizza with the rest of the cheese.
8. Place the pizza stone with the pizza in the pre-heated oven.
9. Cook for about 10-15 mins. Remove the pizza when the cheese on the top has melted.
10. Cut the pizza into wedges using the pizza cutter. 8 inch pizza yields 5 large and 8 small wedges.
11. Serve Hot!!

Garma Garam Samose

Samosa reminds me of Rajasthan. I have special memory of rawatbhata market where amma, appa used to buy us samaosas and pyaz kachori during our weekend subzi buying. I think it might have been the prologue of my love with food. Though I have had samosas many times after that through out india after that I rarely satisfied with the quality of samosas. So I have had this urge to learn to make my own samosas of supereme quality....!!!! AND NOW I KNOW HOW TO MAKE THEM!!!!!

Shell Ingredients:

1. 1 Cup all purpose flour.
2. 1 tsp samolina/sooji.
3. 1/2 tsp ajwain/carrom seeds
4. salt according to taste.
5. 1/4 cup of luke warm water.
6. 1 tbsp+ 1tsp oil.
   

Stuffing Ingredients:

1. 2 medium sized potatoes boiled and coarsely mashed.
2. 2 medium sized green chillies finely chopped.
3. 1/4 cup fresh or frozen green peas.
4. 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds.
5. salt to taste.
6. 1/2 tsp of turmeric (optional).
   
7. 1 tsp of coriander seed powder
8. 1 tsp of garam masala.

Equipment Required:

1. Medium size deep wok/ kadai.
2. Spider frying strainer/Kalchi with holes.
   
3. Medium size pan to fry potatoes.
4. Rolling pin and flat smooth board to roll the dough/ Chakla-Belan.
5. Plate with paper towels to drain the fried samosas.
6. Bowl to make the samosa dough.
   

Other Ingredients:

1. Oil for frying.
   

Stuffing Preparation:

1. Heat the pan on a medium heat. Add 2-4 tbsps of oil in the heated pan and allow it smoke lightly.
2. Add tumeric, cummin seeds and salt to taste in the oil. Allow the cummin seeds to become light brown in color.
   
3. Add all the cut green chilles, also add coriander powder and garam masala. cook for about 1 minute.
   
4. Add the peas and allow it to cook for 2-4 min.
5. Now add the coarsly mashed potatoes to the pan and mix it to get all the ingredients the pan evenly distributed in the potato mix. Cover and cook for about 3-5 mins.
6. Allow it to cool for about 30 - 45 mins before stuffing.
   

Shell Preparation:

1. mix all the dry ingredients of the shell preparation and add salt according to taste.
2. add the 1 tbsp + 1 tsp of oil to the dry ingredients and mix throughly to mix the oil consistently.
3. add the 1/4 cup of luke warm water slowly (make sure the dough is tough and not watery) in this mix and knead continuously.
4. knead for 3-5 mins.
5. Cover the dough and allow it to rest for about 30 mins to allow it become soft and roll able.
   

Final Preparation:

1. Fill about 1/4 to 1/2 wok with oil and place the wok slowly and carefully on the cooking range and heat the wok and low medium heat.
2. For the making samosas divide the dough into 3-4 equal sized portions.
3. roll each portion using rolling pin into a disc of about 6-8 in diameter.

1. cut the disc into 2 equal halves . Take one half and and apply water lightly on its circumference. Fold the disc to make a cone making one half of the straight edge of the disc overlapping the other half. and press the overlapped part very lightly to seal them in place.
2. Use ur hand to hold this cone such that u can fill the stuffing.
   
3. Take about 2-3 tsps of the potato stuffing and fill in the cone slowly so that the cone doesn't rip.
4. seal the cone bu pulling circumference of cone and lightly pressing it (as u have already appiled water to it.)
5. use the other half of the disc to make another samosa.
6. fry both these samosas in medium heated oil for about 5-7 min till they turn lightly golden brown in color.

SERVE CRISPY AND CRUNCHY SAMOSAE WITH TAMARIND AND CORIANDER OR PUDINA CHUTNEY !!!!

NOTE: OIL SHOULD NOT BE VERY VERY HOT AS THIS DOES NOT ALLOW THE SMAOSA DOUGH TO COOK PROPERLY AND PRODUCE THE CRISPY TASTE. TO CHECK THE OIL TEMPERATURE ADD A SMALL PIECE OF DOUGH IN OIL IF THE DOUGH RISES VERY FAST TO THE SURFACE OF OIL , IT MEANS OIL IS VERY HOT FOR MAKING SAMOSAS and IF SITS IN THE BOTTOM THE OIL IS COOL AND IF RISES SLOWLY OIL IS AT RIGHT TEMPERATURE.

Cause of American Obesity

Yesterday I a small documentary on PBS made by two American students Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis. This documentary main focus was trying to find out what was causing the obesity in America. Soon to their amazement they find "CORN" is present in every processed food item in America. As result they go on a journey to the Midwest USA , to find out what CORN is ? , how is it produced and what kind of metamorphosis it goes through, before it reaches food shelves. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone and it is a must for any major fast foodie. Visit the page KING CORN to know more about the movie.


IMPORTANT FACTS FROM THE MOVIE:

1. 66 % of Americans are obese or over weight.
2. one can of soda a day double your chance of diabetes.
3. In 2007 92 million acres of corn was planed and about 13.1 billion bushels of corn was harvested in USA.
4. In 2007 92 million acres of corn was planed and about 13.1 billion bushels of corn was harvested in USA.
5. Beef from a corn fed cattle has 9 gms of saturated fat as compared to 1.5 gms from a grass fed cattle.
6. About 545 million bushels of corn goes towards making corn syrup.
7. An average American consumes about 79 pounds of corn sweetener over a years period.
8. Corn subsidy paid by USA government on 2005 was 9 billion.
9. Most of the corn farmers would not plant the crop if there was no subsidy from government to plant it.
   
10. Before 1970 there was no corn syrup in America foods.
11. Current American corn is genetically modified not for taste but to maximize the production.
    

Desi Sandwich

This sandwich reminds me of our first few years in baroda when we used flock to this Alkapuris small thela late in the evening to have this fresh sandwich. Eating food from thela was an experience of its own, which I miss very much in USA. Me and PKT !!!! Those were the best days of our life!!!




Ingredients:

1. 4-8 Bread Slices with edges trimmed.
2. 1 medium sized potato boiled, skinned and sliced.
3. 1 medium sized beetroot boiled, skinned and sliced.
4. 1 medium sized tomato thinly sliced.
5. 1/2 cup heinz ketchup or kissan's ketchup.
6. 1/2 cup pudina chutney.
7. thin shavings of Parmesan cheese.
   

Assembling the Sandwich:

1. spread a spoonful of mint chutney on one slice and ketchup on the other slice.
2. now arrange few slices of beet, potato, tomato and cheese shaving on one slice.
3. place the other slice on top and cut the sandwich into two triangles and Serve!!!!
   

Pudhina aur Dhania ki Chutney

Ingredients:

1. 2-3 cups of Mint/ Pudina.
2. 1 cup of Coriander/Cilantro/Dhania.
3. Olive oil.
4. 2-3 tbsp of lemon juice.
   
5. Salt to taste.
6. 1 Green Chili
7. 1 of garlic pod.
   
8. 2 -5 tbsp of water.
   

Method:

1. Add mint, coriander, garlic, chili into a blender.
2. add the few drops of water to the blender.
3. Blend the mixture into a spreadable chutney by adding olive oil to the blender. (Add slowly in small amounts in between two blending cycles).
4. Add lemon juice and salt according to your taste.
   

Penne Pasta tossed in Fresh Mint Pesto

Ingredients for Mint Pesto:
1. 2 cups Mint leaves .
2. Green Chillies (optional).
3. 10-15 almonds.
4. 50 gms of pine nuts.
5. 50-100 gms of grated Parmesan cheese.
6. 4-5 pods of garlic.
7. Salt to taste.
8. Olive oil.

Ingredients for Pasta Preparation:

1. 3 cups Penne Pasta
   
2. marinated artichokes hearts.
3. sundried tomatoes.
   

Method for Making Pesto:

1. Put all the ingredients (except salt) in the blender and grind it into a thick paste by adding olive oil little by little.
2. During the process keep stirring using a spoon so that nuts ground evenly.
3. add salt according to taste.
   

Making Pasta:

1. Boil 6-7 cups of water with salt in a big bowl.
2. Once the water starts boiling add penne pasta to the boiling water and cook till the pasta is almost done i.e when u eat the pasta it has a bite to it.
3. drain the pasta.

Assembling :

1. Add the pesto to the drained pasta and mix well.
2. Add the marinated artichoke hearts and chopped pieces of sun-dried tomatoes to the pasta.

Mango Rice.

Mangoes..Yellow juicy mangoes. It is the national fruit of my country. I always crave for its smell and taste in this country. When I was young a lot of friendships were made and broken over mangoes and mango kerri. I used to go with my friends on kerri (small green mangoes - before they fully ripe into big juicy yellow mangoes) stealing expeditions from our neighbors yard. There each one of us was given a job like keeping a watch on who is watching us, some of us were employed based on our aiming capabilities and how hard or high we can throw stones, to basically throw stones to hit the kerries so that they fall to ground, and the rest to collect the fallen kerries. Once we had collected enough number of kerries we used to sit and spilt our shares but we also used have this tradition of sitting together and relishing the sour and sweet tasting karries with salt. Kerries are used in india was variety of things. Small kerries are used to make fresh or everlasting pickles. Medium to large kerries are used to make fresh juice by boiling them, chutneys or to make mango rice. Today I am just penning down my mom's mango rice recipe which I have loved for years and never seem to get enough.

Ingredients:

1. One Medium sized green mango (I prefer mango that is not ripe.)
2. 1.5 cups of uncooked basmati rice.
3. 2 medium sized Serrano pepper or 3 small sized thai pepper finely chopped.
4. 2-3 garlic pods finely chopped.
5. 2 tbsp of finely chopped coriander.
6. pinch of hing or asafoetida.
   
7. 1/2 tsp of small black mustard seeds( also called nylon mustard in india) or 1/2 tsp of cummin seeds.
8. 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder.
9. 1 tbsp of ghee.
10. 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil.
11. Salt to taste.
    

Method:

1. Add 1.5 cups of basmati rice in a rice cooker add about 2 cups of water and cook (Takes about 15-20 mins to cook).
   
2. Take the medium sized mango wash it and peel off its skin using a peeler. Now grate the whole mango using a grater and keep aside.
   
3. Heat a the 2-3 tbsp oil in the wok on a medium heat. When the oil starts smoking lightly.
4. add the ghee and mustard or cummin seeds to this oil.Allow mustard seeds to spatter or cummin seeds to become golden brown in color.
5. Reduce the heat. Add the turmeric, salt, asafoetida, finely chopped green chilles, garlic and 1/2 of the freshly chopped coriander in the oil. Allow them to cook for a minute.
6. Now add the grated mango to the oil and cook it on a medium heat for about 5-7 mins.

Assembling and Serving:

1. Just before serving mix the rice and the cooked mango mixture.
2. garnish using the remaining half of the chopped coriander.
3. Serve with hot dal and fresh pudina raita.
   

हींनदी मे आब लिखना आसान हैं |

मैंंंंं अपने आप से यह अपेक्षा रखती हूँ , की मैं भिव्षय एकआत बार हीनदी मैं अपना ब्लॉग लिखूं |

Falafel Boats

Falafel is a middle eastern koftas made out of chickpeas or garbanzo beans. I don't have much insight into middle eastern dishes but I liked falafel even the first time I tasted it. I guess this is one of the few middle eastern dishes that veggies can eat.

This is my second attempt at making falafel. I tried it once before but I must admit it was a failure though my husband tried to fully support me by showing that he was relishing what he was eating. This is my second attempt and I must say I aced it this time. I hope the pic proves my point. It looks good and it tastes good as well.

Ingredients for Falafel or chickpeas dumplings:

1. 4 cups of dried chickpeas.
2. 3 tbsp of chopped coriander.
3. 3 tbsp of chopped parsley.
4. 3 green chillies finely chopped.
5. 1 small onion finely chopped.
   
6. 3-4 pods of garlic finely chopped.
7. 3-4 tbsp of cumin coriander seed powder. (or 2 tbsp of cummin powder and 2 tbsp of coriander seed powder).
8. 3-4 tbsp of all purpose flour.
   
9. salt (According to your taste).

Method to making Falafel or chickpeas dumplings:

1. Soak the dry chickpeas in 8-10 cups of water for about 6-8 hours.
2. Drain the soaked chickpeas and mix the chopped coriander , parsley, onion, garlic and chillies.
3. Grind this mixture to a coarse paste with adding as little water as possible. You may want to grind the chickpeas mixture in batches.
   
4. Now add the cummin-coriander seed powder to the coarse paste and mix well.
5. Add the all purpose flour to this mix.
6. Further add salt to the concoction according to your taste.
7. Now heat oil to a deep wok till the oil is really hot and u see little some coming from the heated oil. (Beware that if u let the oil too much heated ur smoke alarm might go off, so plz. take care). Further u can test the oil by dropping a small chickpeas mix ball and if the oil is hot enough u will see the ball jumping and floating at the top of the oil.
8. now using the palm of ur hand make small balls of chickpeas mixture and fry them in oil till they become golden brown in colour.
9. transfer the fried balls on to a tissue paper to strain oil.

Ingredients for Yogurt Tahini Sauce:

1. 2 cups of yogurt.
   
2. 2-3 tbsps of tahini paste(sesame seed paste found in middle eastern stores.)
   
3. lemon juice and salt.(According to your taste)

Method to making Yogurt Tahini Sauce:

1. Take the 3 cups of yogurt in a bowl add tahini paste and beat them together using a spoon into a smooth sauce.
2. Add salt and lemon juice according to your taste.
   

Ingredients for Salad:

1. 3-4 small radishes thinly sliced.
   
2. diced roma tomatoes or if u want to add more showiness add cherry tomatoes.
   
3. 75 gms of halloumi cheese crumbled.

Salad Dressing:

1. 1 tsp sugar.
2. 2 tbsp lemon juice.
3. 2 tbsp olive oil.
4. 1/4 tsp of black pepper.
   

Method to making Salad: (make this just before you assemble the falafel boats)

1. To make salad dressing add sugar to lemon juice and beat it to dissolve the sugar in juice. Now add pepper and olive oil and beat about 30-40 seconds with spoon to make the dressing.
2. Mix all the veggies and cheese in a bowl and drizzle the dressing on top.
3. Toss the veggies to mix it well in the salad.
   

Ingredients for Falafel Boats:

1. 3-4 small size whole wheat pita bread sliced in half's to form boats.
2. 6-8 whole romaine lettuce leaves washed and dried.
   

Assembling Falafel Boats:

1. lightly heat the pita bread on a wok to make them soft.
2. open the pita halves to form a boat.
3. spread the one roamine lettuce leaf in it.
4. add one or 2 balls of falafel in the boat.
5. spread 2- 3 tbsps of tahini sauce evenly.
6. now add 2-3 tbsps of the salad in the boat evenly .

ENJOY YOUR HEARTY FALAFEL BOATS !!!!!!

Note: Don't use the pressure cooked or canned chickpeas or garbanzo beans to make falafel, as it spreads in the oil while frying. Learnt it from failing the first time.

Yogurt - What Yogurt ?????? YUCKKKKK!!!!

This past week something drastic happened in my kitchen. My husband :-( eat our yogurt sample that I always religious used save to carry on the yogurt legacy in my home. So I had no fresh sample of yogurt remaining to produce a new batch of yogurt almost every day....If you are a south indian you get me by now...We are yogurt monsters as all others call us. As result of this mishap I had to revisit or should I say had to use my own described recipe to make yogurt where I had preached Dannon!!!! 's yogurt with live culture is a great thing to have if you want to start making homemade yogurt. Haa haa haa...what a joke I tried it and it was misery.... the yogurt i got was very thin and touch was like mucous...if u understand what i mean . I am very very finicky person so I could not swallow my own recipe and went on the crazy hunt for making perfect dahi. So finially I found this freeze dried yogurt sample on amazon by euro cuisine (others brands are yogourmet, rolmex) which put the life back into my curd.... So The MORAL OF THE STORY IS: if you are a starter don't use Dannon to make your yogurt but use the freeze dried yogurt starter.

Homemade Garlic Bread

The first time I tried garlic bread was when we arrived in USA. Before this I had no exposure to any foreign cuisines except the indian version of chinese we used to eat at larries (I used to love it I must say). We used to eat garlic bread generally as a snack whenever we were hungry...but the ones we used to buy from Walmart had a huge amount of butter in it. So I wanted to try making some of my own as I liked its taste.

Ingredients:

1. Unsalted Butter
2. Fresh garlic pods.
3. 2 green chillies ( optional).
4. Parsley , oregano , dill or any other herb.
5. Fresh French Bread Slices.
6. Pestle.
7. foil Tray.
8. Oven.

Method:

Herb Butter:

1. Crush the garlic pods , chillies and few strands of parsley or dill or oregano using a pestle.
2. mix this paste with the room temperature butter to make herb butter.
3. Add salt if you want.(optional)
   

Garlic Bread:

1. Preheat the oven at 450 degrees .
2. Spread the herb butter on one side of each slice of french bread.
3. arrange it on buttered bread slice on the foil tray.
4. heat it in the oven for about 5 - 10 min .
5. if you want to get the browning on the top fast just keep the oven in the broil mode just for 30 -45 secs otherwise the slices will burn.
6. Take out and serve with soup or pasta.
   

Double Treat- Rasgulla and Rasmallai

Rasgullas when I hear this word my mouth waters and it always bring back my memories with bengalis during my childhood days. I have only eaten this sweet in either bengali homes or in homes where my friends parents had east indian origin. Rasgullas literally means juicy balls....I know it sounds corny...but if u can excuse the people who named this sweetmeat I guess it is one of the delicious sweets you will ever eat. My mom who is a superb cook has never made it herself. This led me to the belief that it very difficult to make. But as I tried it a few times to figure out the correct recipe it is one of the simplest recipes I have ever made. Rasmalai is simple variation of normal rasgullas. The only difference is that in rasgullas the cheese balls dipped sugar syrup but in rasmalai it is dipped in sweetened milk.

Ingredients:

For Gullas:

1. 1/2 liter full fat milk( to make cheena or cottage cheese).
2. 2 tbsp white vinegar.

For Sugar Syrup:

1. 2 cups of Sugar.
2. 4 cups of water.
3. 2-3 drops of rose essence(may exclude this if you don't like the smell).

For Sweetened Milk:

1. 2 cups of Milk.
2. 1 tin (14 oz.) condensed milk.

Preparing Gullas or Cheese Balls:

1. boil the 1/2 liter full fat milk.
2. when the milk comes to boil , remove from flame and add the 2 tbsp of white vinegar to the milk to curdle it.
3. Cook for about 15 minutes maintaining the temperature at 185ºF. Higher temperature will make it cheese hard and rubbery like Paneer. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool for five minutes.
   
4. Line a colander with fine cheesecloth or I use a large handkerchief (clean one). Transfer the contents into the lined colander. Now use the four ends of the handkerchief to make knots and hand it some place to drain the liquid for an hour.
5. now open the knotts and remove the drained cheese lump.
6. kneed this lump in a wok for five minutes into a smoother and finer lump.
7. Make balls of cheese of the desired size of rasgullas.

Preparing Sugar Syrup:

1. Mix 4 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar in a bowl.
2. Bring it boil and keep boilling for 15 min to make a thin sugar syrup.

Finishing Touches to Rasgullas:

1. Add the cheese balls to the boilling sugar syrup.
2. Cover the bowl with a perforated plate and allow the cheese balls to pressure cook at this same temperature in the boiling syrup for 10-15 minutes.
3. Remove the bowl from fire and allow it to cool for 10 mintues. Add the 2-3 drops of rose essence to the syrup.
4. Refrigerate and serve the dessert on any occasion.
   

For sweetened milk :

1. Mix the milk and condensed milk together.
2. Boil the mixture for about 5 minutes.
   

Finishing Touches to Rasmalai:

1. Bring about 4 cups water to boil .
2. Add the cheese balls to the boilling water.
3. Cover the bowl with a perforated plate and allow the cheese balls to pressure cook at this same temperature in the boiling water for 10-15 minutes.
4. Remove the bowl from fire and allow it to cool for 10 mintues.
   
5. Remove the cooked cheese balls from the water and squeeze them to remove water in them.
6. Now add these cooked cheese balls to the sweetened milk and cook them for about 10 minutes.
7. allow the mixture to cool and Refrigerate the rasmalai before serving.
   
8. To decorate you can add chopped up almonds and pistachios.
   

Besan Ke Laddu /kadala maavu orandai / farina de pois chiche boule

I Like these laddus for their crunchiness. Hope u would enjoy them too...on ur big and small occasions.

Ingredients:

1. 200 gms Besan/ Gramflour/ chichpeak flour .
2. 2 cups of sugar .
3. 100 gms of ghee/nayyi/clarified butter.
4. 50 gms of oil.
5. 2-3 pods of ilaichi/elakai/cardamom.
6. 10 - 15 kaju/ mundri /cashews halves.
7. 10-15 dried grapes/ draksh.

Method:

1. Take the seed out from the cardamom pods and grind them to powder using pestle. Keep aside.
2. Take a wok or pan, heat it on a low-medium heat.
3. Add ghee and oil mixture to pan/wok.
4. When u can smell the ghee, add cashew halves to it.
5. now keep stirring and observe the color of the cashews.
6. Add besan when the cashews turn light golden brown.
7. mix besan, dried grapes, ghee+oil and cashew mixture well.
8. cook this mixure till the besan changes its color and u see the ghee separating from the besan slightly.
9. Take the pan/wok off the flame and allow it to cool till the mixture cools down(warm to touch).
10. now add the cardamom powder and sugar to the mixture .
11. mix everything well so that cardamom and other things are uniformly distributed.
12. Take some amount of this mixture in ur palm and form balls.
13. place them in a small plate and allow it to cool completely.
14. store in a dry and air tight container.
15. Enjoy!!!!!!!

My Recommendations:

1. Keep a close watch on the besan while cooking.
2. Keep stirring to avoid burning besan.
3. Buy a coarse variety of besan for these laddus (I have tried these laddus with both smooth and coarse besan ..I like coarse besan better ...as it gives more depth to laddus)

Chatpate Dahi Vadas

Dahi Vada or Yogurt Dumpling (sounds funny and absurd) is one of the most common chaats made in any north indian household. I have very fond memories of eating dahi vadas in my friends' birthdays.. it is one of the most ubiquitous items in kids' birthdays other than chhole puri , cake and gulab jamuns. One obvious reason for its popularity is it is very easy to make and store.
Ingredients:

1. Dhania/Coriander/ Cilantro.
2. Tamarind-Date Chutney.
3. Dahi/Yogurt (beaten).
4. Vadas(soak them in normal water when hot).
   
5. 1/2 Teaspoon Red chillies Powder.
6. 1/2 Teaspoon of Toasted Jeera/Cumin seeds powder*.

Assembling:

1. Squeeze water out of 2 vadas into a bowl.
2. Mix yogurt , salt (as per your taste), sugar (as per your taste).
   
3. Add generous amount of yogurt and 2-3 tablespoons of tamarind- date chutney.
4. sprinkle some red chillies powder and jeera powder in the bowl.
5. garnish with dhania.

(*) - take a skillet and heat it . When it is hot, add jeera and toast it till it is golden brown in color. grind it using a pestle or by crushing it with the back of a table spoon.

My Recommendation:
- mix the yogurt, jeera powder, chillies powder, salt , sugar to sort of make yogurt chutney.

Vada

Ingredients:

1. 1 .5 cup Urad dal (split and without husk).
2. salt.
3. black or white pepper powder.
4. 500 gms oil.
5. coriander/ cilantro/dhania leaves.
   

Equipment:

1. Blender.

Method:

1. soak dal in water for about 5-6 hours.
2. separate the soaked dal and water .
3. grind the dal in blender, also add coriander leaves. Add as less water as u can add to get a thick paste.
4. add the salt and pepper powder as per ur taste to the dal paste.
   
5. heat the oil in wok.
   
6. when u see slight smoke coming out the heated oil..then add small portions (golf ball) of this paste into the oil.
7. remove when golden brown in color.
   

Tamarind-Date Chutney

Ingredients:

1. Base ball size amount seedless tamarind.
2. Base ball size amount date-palm paste .
3. 1/4 teaspoon red chillies powder.
4. 1/2 teaspoon sugar.
5. pinch of salt.
   

Method:

1. Soak the tamarind in about 4-5 cups of warm water for about 15 min.
2. Squeeze out the pulp in the water using the hands till u feel all the pulp is in the water and only tamarind skeletons are left in water.
   
3. filter out the skeleton using hands.
4. now transfer the water with tamarind pulp in a bowl and put it on the stove over medium heat.
5. add to this tamarind water the date paste, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1/4 teaspoon chillies powder.
6. allow it to boil for about 20 mins (but keep stirring continuously).
7. remove from heat when it has reached a consistency of beaten yogurt or thick consistency.
   
8. stain the little by little this whole liquid using a medium sized strainer by using a spoon into a new bowl.
9. see the bottom of the stainer it would have a lot of pulp ...do not discard this swipe this using the spoon and add to the strained liquid.
10. taste it and if u feel that u need any thing like chillies powder , salt or sugar add according to ur taste.
    

Party Recommendation: Add little amount of cinammon and clove powder to make it smell good and different.

Chocolate Brownies with Almonds..Yummm!!!!!

Mummmm.....Brownies...I think a good part my adult life has been spent being a chocolate addict..I can eat almost anything that has chocolate in them. Whenever and wherever I have a craving for eating or buying something to eat I usually end up buying chocolate. Chocolate brownies are a big part of this spiritual saga. As I have been splurging good part of my money on brownies, I thought of trying to make some of my own. So guys lets get going .......

Ingredients:

1. 12 oz. Hershey's semisweet chocolate.
   
2. 1 stick butter (unsalted).
3. 2 eggs.
   
4. pinch of salt.
5. 1 cup of all purpose flour.
6. about half cup of chopped almonds.
7. 1 tea spoon of vanilla extract.
   
8. 1 1/3 cup of sugar.
9. 2-3 toothpicks.
10. one 8x8 cake pan.
11. 2 medium sized bowl for mixing ingredients.

Method:

1. Start the oven to heat to about 350 degrees F.
   
2. Fill some water in a medium sized vessel.
3. heat this water almost to boil.
4. take it off the fire.
5. put the stick of butter( leave some small portion to butter the pan) and about 6 oz of chocolate pieces in a small china bowl.
6. place this bowl in the bath of water. (Make sure the water is low enough and would not get mixed with the butter and chocolate. keep stirring the contents in the bowl occasionally & till the whole chocolate and butter mixture melts down.
7. Now add all the sugar to the chocolate and butter mixture but keep mixing the sugar...to form a uniform smooth liquid.
   
8. add vanilla extract to this mix.
9. now add eggs one by one into this chocolate butter mix...but beat the eggs into this mixture before adding the next one.
   
10. in another bowl sieve 1 cup of all purpose flour and the pinch of salt.
11. now add this flour to the chocolate and butter mix slowly and keep folding the flour to mix it in with the chocolate and butter evenly.
12. Grease the 8x8 cake pan with the left over butter evenly.
13. pour the whole batter into it and place it in the preheated 350 degree oven ...medium rack for about 25 min.
14. add the remaining chocolate pieces and chopped almonds into the mixture and mix well.
    
15. After 25 min check the brownies by inserting the toothpick in the middle to see if the brownies are almost done* ...
16. take the pan out and let it cool for about 1 hour .
17. take out the brownie and cut it into pieces to eat.
    

(*) - if u see chocolate liquid on ur toothpick-NOT DONE
- if u see moist lumps of chocolate on ur toothpick-ALMOST DONE
- if u see a clean tooth pick -OVER DONE

NOTE: Keep the brownies outside the refrigerator to keep them soft and moist.
Variation: add walnuts or pecans or pistachios....

Yummy Malpua's

Malpua is one of the very popular north indian sweet during holi "Festival of Colour". This was the first time I tried making it. I got the recipe from my mother in law and They turned out to be yummy and very easy to make.

INGREDIENTS:

1. 1 cup sooji/ semolina/rava.
2. 1.5 cups maida/all purpose flour.
3. Milk .
4. 250 gms Oil or ghee.
5. 600 gms of sugar .
6. 2.5 cups of water.
7. pinch of baking powder.
8. 1 teaspoon ilaichi/cardamom (powdered).
   

METHOD FOR PUA'S:

1. Mix sooji, maida, milk, cardamom and baking powder into a batter of beaten yogurt consistency.
2. Place it in a warm area to let it rise for about 6-8 hours.
   
3. Heat oil or ghee or mix of both in the pan.
   
4. When oil is starts lightly smoking take a spoon ful of batter and put it in the oil to form disks.
5. Remove when golden brown.
6. Soak them immediately in the sugar syrup for about 5 minutes.
   
7. Remove and place them on a mesh to drain the excess syrup.
   

METHOD FOR SUGAR SYRUP:

1. In a large vessel mix sugar and water.
2. Keep heating and stirring it using a spoon.
3. Keep testing the sugar syrup's consistency using the syrup sticking to the back of your spoon.
4. When the syrup from the spoon makes a strand between ur fingers remove from fire.
   

Decorate the Malpua's with sliced almonds and pistas.

Note: If you want to add a special taste to your malpua add few fennel seeds to it while making the batter... they taste superb.

Strawberry Lassi/Smoothie

Strawberry Smoothie is a nice filler food. When ever I am hungry and have to make something to quench my hunger in a jiffy I make this. But in case if u do not have a ready supply of yogurt then try replacing the yogurt with milk and u get Strawberry Milkshake....

INGREDIENTS:

1. Strawberries 4-5 in number.
2. 1 cup of Yogurt / Dahi.
3. 3 -5 tablespoons of sugar.
   

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED:

1. Blender.

METHOD OF PREPARATION:

1. Add strawberries, yougurt and the sugar in the blender .
2. Blend all the ingredients in the blender at high speed or smoothie setting for about a minute repeat if required.

Note:
I would recommend buying frozen strawberries and keeping them in ur freezer to enjoy smoothies all year round.