Legumes Biryani

Again this is a time for Blog Hop Wednesday and today The blog assigned to me is Typical Indian Cooking. Sangee Vijay has a very nice blog with lots of different recipes. Deciding on one was very difficult for me. At last I choose this protein pack Biriyani.

Ingredients
Mixed Legumes - 1/2 cup
Boiled Black Channa - 2 tbsp
Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Shahi Jeera - 1/4 tsp
Ginger paste - 1/2 tsp
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala -1/4 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/3 tsp
Thick Yoghurt - 1 tbsp
Salt as needed
Roasted peanut - handful

To Temper
Oil - 1 tbsp
Fennel Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Bay Leaf -1

To Grind
Almonds - 5
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1" stick

Method
Soak the legumes for 3 hrs.  Wash and soak rice for 30 minutes and drain. Pressure cook the legumes till 1 whistle and release the steam. Legumes should not be mushy.  I was having Boiled black channa, I added that too. If you are using that please soak and boil in advance. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, add shahi jeera, when splutter add drained rice and roast till all the moisture evaporates. Keep aside.  Heat oil in another pan and add the ingredients listed under tempering. Add the grounded masala to it and fry for few seconds. Add ginger paste and chopped onion. Fry onion till golden brown. Add tomatoes and saute then till soft. Add Cooked legumes and turmeric powder, salt and yogurt and mix well. Fry for 2 minutes.
Add water, when water starts boiling add rice. Cover it with a lid and cook.
Add Garam masala and garnish with roasted peanuts. Serve hot with rice.

Stuffed BellPepper with Potatoes and Oats

This month Archana is hosting LGSS_Stuffed Bell pepper and this platter goes to the event. I request you to send your entries too.

Ingredients
Bell pepper - 2
Boil and mashed Potatoes - 2
Oats - 1 cup
Oil - 2tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/8 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Redchilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Green chilli - 1
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Chopped Cilantro leaves -1 tbsp
White sesame seeds - 2 - 4 tsp
Lemon juice - 4 tsp
Method
Wash the bell pepper and pat it dry.  Cut the upper part and take the seeds out to make the space to stuff it. In a pan heat the oil  and add cumin seeds and asafoetida.. Add the potatoes and oats. Add all the masalas and mix well. Remove from the heat after 5 minutes. Add cilantro leaves. Fill this stuffing into the bell peppers. Heat a pan and add 1tsp oil. Add these stuffed peppers to the pan and cover it. Roast them til they are done. Once they are done cut them in half and sprinkle some oil on the griddle and place the bell pepper from the stuffed side down. Roast them for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the lemon juice on it. Garnish with roasted sesame seeds.

Mung Dal Wadiya and Aloo ki Sabji

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his is a north Indian dish. Wadiya are the sun dried spicy nuggets. These are either made by urad dal or mong dal. The dal is first soaked and then grinded with the spices. Then with the fingers  small ball size paste dropped on a cotton fabric, and then left under the hot sun to dry. After the balls of the dough dried, pull them from the cloth and store in a container. These Wadiyan can be cooked with potatoes or other vegetable. I like them with spinach. Refer the recipe here. These go well with chapati. Now a days ready made wadiya can be bought from Indian grocery stores.

Ingredients
Wadiya - 1/2 cup
Potato - 2 medium
Tomato - 2
Oil - 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 3/4 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/8 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Chopped Green chilli - 2
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Cilantro leaves for garnish
Method
Take the wadiya on a kitchen towel and wrap it. Break the wadiya in small pieces. Cut the potatoes in small pieces. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and fry the wadiya until golden. If there is any oil remaining, add cumin seeds in it otherwise add 2 tsp oil and then add cumin seeds and add asafoetida. Add the remaining ingredients and cover the cooker. And cook it until 2-3 whistles. Open the cooker add garam masala and garnish with cilantro leaves. It is ready to serve.

Friday Potluck #5

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ear friends,
It is a time to meet again. The link for potluck party will be up every week on friday (according to Indian time) and it will be up till friday in USA. I'll request you to join and make it sucessful. There is a problem in the logo. I'm working on a new logo, so this week we will do the potluck without the logo.
Rules to link the post

• Click Enter Here on the Potluck post, and follow the directions. The post you enter must be published on your blog, before you join the potluck.This post shouldn't be older than one week.
• Please vegetarian dishes only. Eggs are not allowed.
• Include a link in your blog posting back to this page using my logo. This way, whoever visits your blog, will know about this event and will be encouraged to join it.
• Please become a follower of my blog, if you haven't done so already.
• Please like my facebook page, the button is in the right side.(not mandatory but I would love it)
• Visit at least one other link from the party and leave some comment love for that person. (Come on! We all love a nice comment!
• Only one blog post per person per party, please

Sweet Lassi

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assi is very popular and traditional drink of North India. It is a drink often served in summer. This is perfect in breakfast to boost your energy. This is the best way to beat the heat through out the day.

Ingredients
Yogurt - 1 cup
Sugar - 2-3 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp(optional)
Pistachios - 3
Ice cubes


Method
Blend all the ingredients till frothy. Pour it in a glass and garnish with pistachios.
I'm sharing it with FSF Janmashtami
Let’s Cook ~ Scrumptious Breakfasts


and Foods for Fasting

Maa Chole ki Dal

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hen I was young, daily my mom used to ask which dal would you like to eat today. We used to reply black dal, green dal, yellow dal, white dal. There is a big variety of dals and we were not knowing the names. This is what every kid do in childhood. Basically I belong to family who eats dal at least 5 days a week. Dals are the source of protein in a vegetarian family. Even though dal is a basic food for me, this recipe was new to me. I ate this dal first time at my friend's place. Thanks to her for introducing me a new recipe.

Ingredients
Split urad dal with skin(Maa) - 3/4 cup
Chana dal(chole dal - 1/4 cup
Water - 3 cups
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Chopped Green chilli - 2
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Chopped onion - 1
Chopped tomatoes - 2
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/8 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp

Method

• Wash dals and soak them in water for 30 minutes.
• Drain the water and cook dal in pressure cooker with salt and turmeric powder till done.
• Heat ghee. add cumin seeds and asafoetida. When seeds splutter add ginger garlic paste and green chillies. Add onion fry till transparent. Add tomatoes and fry them till tender. 
• Add this tempering to dal and mix well.
• Add garam masala and this creamy dal is ready to serve.
• Garnish with cilantro leaves and red ghee.

Red Ghee

         Heat 3 tsp ghee in a small pan. Add 1/4 tsp red chilli powder. When the ghee turn red turn off the                                               heat and remove the pan from hot surface otherwise the chilli powder will burn.

This goes to Food palette series

Gond ki Panjeeri

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oday I'm posting Gond Panjeeri which is a must to make on Janmashtami in north India. Gond is normally prepared for nursing mother as it is supposed to help in lactation. In my opinion this is made on Janmashtami in the memory of Krishna's mother. This recipe is loaded with nuts and calories. This is a recipe given to me by my dear ma.

Ingredients
Gond/edible gum - 2-3 tbsp
Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 cup firmly packed
Almonds - 1/2 cup
Water melon seeds - 1/3 cup
Sugar - 1 3/4 cup
Water - 1 1/4 cups
Green cardamom seeds powder - 1 tsp


Method

• Grease the tray and keep aside.
• My mom fry gond in ghee, I prefer to roast in microwave. Take microwave safe plate and sprinkle the gond in it.
• Keep the plate in microwave for approx 2 minutes.
• After every 30 sec stir the gond.
• It will fluff and become almost transparent when it is done. Take care as it burn fast.
• Dry roast the seeds.
• Chop the almonds and dry roast them.
• Roast the freshly roast coconut.
• Take a pan and add water, sugar and cardamom powder and cook it reaches one string consistency.
• Turn off the heat and mix all the dry fruits in it and transfer quickly to the greased tray.
• Let it cool and cut into square or diamond shape pieces.
• Store it in a airtight box.

This platter goes to FSF- Janmashtani and Ganesh Chaturthi 
orignali started by Sonia

FSF Janmashtami and Ganesh Chaturthi - Event Announcement

     
It is my pleasure to host FSF this time with the theme of Janmashtami.  This is a festival celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna.  It is celebrated in different names like Janmashtami, Krishnashtami, Gokulastami, Krishna Jayanti.  Today is this festival and and I want to see how all my friends celebrated this festival. I'm combining this with Ganesh Chaturthi too as it is near by. Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Vinayak Chaturthi is celebrated as a birthday of Lord Ganesh, The God of wisdom. 
The thought behind this announcement is to enjoy these festivals by sharing our rituals, customs and food with our blogger buddies and readers.
So get ready to enjoy.


                                                 
Guidelines for the event

1. Post a recipe especially made for the festival during the event dates.
2. The last date for the event is 5th sep 10th sep.
3. You can upload the pics to the festival celebrated at your home or vicinity, rangoli or anything related to the festival.
4. You can repost your old post’s and send in the entries during the event schedule dates.
5. Please link to the event announcement as well as the dinner recipes Sonia’s kitchen FSF event page. Please use the logo above as it helps spread the word.
6. Non Bloggers can send in their entry to below mentioned email ID.
7. Send an email to events_showandtell@yahoo.com with “FSF Event” in the subject line with the following information :
8. Your Name
9. Your Blog name and URL
10. Name of the recipe
11. Link to Your post
12. Picture of the Recipe. Please limit the size to 300×300

Microwave Mawa/Khoya

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hoya or mava is used in many sweet dishes and gravies. This is one of the main dairy products and very commonly used in almost every Indian kitchen. Khoya can be made at home by boiling and reducing the milk to a semi solid stage. It can be done on stove top but it takes a lot of time and efforts. Doing this in microwave is very easy. It takes 7-8 minutes and khoya is done. There are several methods for making Khoya in microwave. I'm listing here all the methods that I know.

Method 1
Ingredients
Milk powder - 2 cups
Butter - 1/2 cup
Condensed milk - 1 tin
Method
Mix all the ingredients in a big and microwave safe bowl. Keep it in the microwave for 7-8 minutes. Keep stirring in every 2 minutes. You can do it on stove top too.

Method 2
Ingredients
Milk powder - 2 cups
Heavy Cream - 1 cup
Method
Mix both the ingredients and boil it either on stove top or in microwave. Keep stirring.

Method 3
Ingredients
Unsalted ricotta cheese - 2 cups
Butter - 1/2 cup
Milk powder - 3 cups
Method
Mix every thing and cook. This can be done either stove top or microwave. In microwave it should take 7-8 minutes. Keep stirring.

Method 4
Ingredients
Milk powder - 1 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup
Milk to make a paste
Method
Mix every thing and cook. This can be done either stove top or microwave. In microwave it should take 7-8 minutes. Keep stirring.

LGSS_Potato

Dear Friends,

Today I'm posting the roundup for LGSS_Paneer. I know that I'm very late in posting it but I couldn't get time because I wanted to enjoy my daughter's summer break. Me and my kids were making frequent trips to park, swimming pool, kids concerts, kids movies and skating....., I hope you guys can understand my situation.

 Thanks dear friends for sending the entries. I'm so excited to post this roundup. I'm posting in random order.

Masala Obbattu / Poli Gayathri NG from G3 Food Spot

Twice baked herby Potatoes by Nuur from UK-Rasoi

Potato Stuffed Idli by Anu  from Anu's Healthy Kitchen

Papadh Roll by Deeksha from  Dee's kitchen

Stuffed Potato Rolls by Arathi from Yummy Tummy

Baked Stuffed Capsicum by Kalyani from What's cooking

Potato nests with channa chaat and .Microwave potato cups by Lata Raja from Flavours and Tastes

Dosa,  Stuffed Idly, Papad Samosa and BATHUA PRATHA by Santosh Bangar from santoshbangar.blogspot.com

Masala Dosa by Krithi from Krithi's Kitchen

Mushroom-aloo-tikkis-potato-stuffed by Kalva from Curyyinkadai

Chatpati Taco Chaat by R & R from Tadka Pasta

Potato Paneer Frankie by Nithya from  Fourth Sense Cooking

Bread Rolls  by Shobha from Food Mazaa

Stuffed Brinjal, Stuffed Tomato, Stuffed Bitter Gourd , Brown Rice Masala Dosa by Vatsala from

 Show and Tell

I enjoyed this round up, now it is your turn. Please let me know if any entry is missing.

Friday Potluck #4

D
ear friends,
It is a time to meet again. The link for potluck party will be up every week on friday (according to Indian time) and it will be up till friday in USA. I'll request you to join and make it sucessful.
Rules to link the post

• Click Enter Here on the Potluck post, and follow the directions. The post you enter must be published on your blog, before you join the potluck.This post shouldn't be older than one week.
• Include a link in your blog posting back to this page using my logo. This way, whoever visits your blog, will know about this event and will be encouraged to join it.
• Please become a follower of my blog, if you haven't done so already.
• Please like my facebook page, the button is in the right side.(not mandatory but I would love it)
• Visit at least one other link from the party and leave some comment love for that person. (Come on! We all love a nice comment!
• Only one blog post per person per party, please!

<div style="text-align: center;"><br /> <a href="http://showandtell-vatsala.blogspot.com/2011/08/friday-potluck-4.html"><br /> <img height="225" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-020-UspQCF0/TjA9xugGplI/AAAAAAAAGCo/k7W9bfvXTp4/s144/Potluck1.png" width="175" /> </a> <br /></div>

Logo courtesy - Hoover web design

Roasted Carrot Hummus

This is the second week for Blog Hop Wednesday and this time I'm Paired with Priya Sreeram. She is having a lovely collection of recipes at her blog, Bon Appetit.  Today I've selected Roasted Carrot Hummus as it is easy to make and full of protein.  Feeling very satisfied to feed this to the kids. Hummus is a dip or spread made from chickpea/Garbanzo beans. The addition of carrots made this recipe different.

Except Blog Hop Wednesday I'm sharing this lip smacking dip with Potluck Party. The link will be up in another few hours. Hope to see your recipes too on Potluck Table.

I'm sharing this with

and Potluck Party.

Ghevar

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hevar is a North Indian delicacy especially prepared during the festivals of Teej & Rakhi. I enjoyed ghevar before my marriage every year but after my marriage, we were in Bangalore and I was sad every Teej as I was missing my favorite sweet. After comming to United States it was just a dream to eat it some day. I was happy to see the recipe when Priya posted it and I was sure that I'm going to give it a try. Priya got this recipe from Nisha, this is how a good recipe travel. I'm thankful to both of them that I enjoyed the Ghevar on this Rakhi. This  is made of flour, milk ghee and sugar.  

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup

Milk(cold or room temprature) - 1/2 cup

Ghee - 1/2 cup + 3-4 cup

Water - 2 cup

For Sugar syrup 

Sugar - 1 1/2 cup

Water - 1 cup

Method

In a mixing bowl mix Milk and 1/2 cup ghee nicely for 2-3 minutes. Add all purpose flour and mix well, make sure that there are no lumps. You can use your mixer too for mixing. Add water little by little and mix it well into a running consistency. ( Check Nisha's vedio)

Take a cylindrical container of the size of the ghevar you want to make and fill it half with ghee and heat it. Meanwhile make the sugar syrup and let it cool. To check if ghee is hot or not, drop little batter in ghee and immediately it should come on the top. Now take a big spoonful(about 1/3 cup sized) of batter and slowly pour it in the middle of the pan in a continuous threadlike stream. You will see the bubbles, let them subside. When bubbles subside add another spoonful right in the middle of the pan and let bubbles come and subside. The middle of the pan will be crowded by this time, push the batter from the middle of the pan to the sides with the back of a  thin spoon. Repeat the process till you reach the desired thickness of ghevar. I did 4 spoonfull for one ghevar. Reduce the heat to medium and cook ghevar till nice golden color. It will take around 2-3 minutes.

As you see golden brown spoton the top, drain it on the papper. Keep it slanted to get rid of extra ghee.
Keep syrup in a wide flatbottomed container to fit in ghevar. Dip ghevar in it and remove, keep aside on mesh to drain excess syrup. Alternatively, pour some syrup evenly all over, keeping ghevar in a mesh placed over a container. Let it cool and serve. 

You can serve it with rabri too. Refer here for rabri recipe.
This goes to Bookmarked Recipes.

Iftar Nights