Besan Chilla

Quick and tasty chilla. Power packed easy recipe !

Ingredients

Spinach leaves – 1 cup
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Garlic – 2-3 cloves
Green Chilli– 3
Salt as per taste
Besan flour - 1 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp (optional)
Grated Paneer - 1 cup (optional)
Cumin seeds powder - 1 tbsp (optional)
Schezwan chutney - 2 tbsp (optional)

Recipe

1) First blend in the Spinach leaves, ginger, garlic, green chillis and salt required for taste into a smooth batter.

2) Heat the griddle so it is just hot, now reduce the flame to medium heat. Grease the tawa with few drops of oil and fill the ladle with batter. Gently pour the batter onto the center of the griddle and swirl the griddle around to spread the batter.

3) Grease the uncooked side and the edges with a few drops of oil.

4) If you like add the optional grated paneer, cumin seeds powder and required salt to taste in a bowl. Apply the schezwan chutney to the dosa and then add a portion of the panner while the dosa is cooking.

5) Allow to cook for a couple of minutes and fold the dosa to serve hot.

Papaya Salad

Papaya is an incredible healthy tropical fruit.  It's loaded with antioxidants that can reduce inflammation, fight disease.

Ingredients

Papaya chopped - 1 cup

Chopped onions - 1/4 cup

Coriander leaves - 20-25 sprigs

Pumpkin seeds - 2 tablespoons

Black pepper to taste

Salt as per taste

Recipe

1) In a large bowl add in the diced papaya, onions, pumpkin seeds and salt. Toss well.

2) Then sprinkle coriander, and pepper. Serve and enjoy!

Gavvalu - Indian Mini Donut

Gavvalu is a traditional sweet made in Andhra Pradesh.  Gavvalu is prepared with all purpose flour and jaggery/sugar.

Ingredients

All purpose flour/ Maida- 1 1/4 cups
Sooji/Rava - 3-4 tbsps
Salt - 1 pinch
Ghee - 2 tbsps
Water as needed (enough to make it into a soft dough)
Oil - For deep frying

Syrup for coating Gavvalu

Jaggery/Sugar - 1/4 cup
Water as needed (enough to immerse the jaggery/sugar)
Cardomom powder - 1/2 tsp

Recipe

1) Make a soft dough with all purpose flour, sooji, salt and ghee by adding enough water.
2) Keep the dough aside for 15 minutes.
3) To make the gavvalu, make small marble sized balls with the dough. Then with the back of the fork shape each ball like a shell. Use your thumb to press each ball gently onto the fork to roll into a shell shape. Prepare shells with all the balls.
4) Deep fry the gavvalu till they are crisp and light golden brown in color. Drain the oil and keep aside.
5) In a heavy bottomed vessel, add jaggery and water and let it boil in medium flame till the syrup thickens.
6) To check the correct syrup consistency, drop some syrup into a bowl of water and it should turn into a soft ball without the jaggery dissolving.
7) Once done switch off the stove, add the cardamom powder and then the gavvalu and mix for a good 2 minutes. Leave it to cool to room temperature and store in air tight containers.



Tips
1) Keep the flame in medium while frying all the gavvalu
2) Do not add too much water while make the syrup. The water should be just enough to immerse the jaggery/sugar.

Sweet Ragi Kali - Easy Method

These soft balls made from Finger-millet are very nutritious and very popular among the rural folks of Tamil Nadu. It is loaded with calcium and protein and also have good amount of iron, fiber, vitamin D and other minerals. It also helps cool the body. Here goes a very easy recipe with Ragi flour.

Ingredients

1. Ragi Flour - 4 cups
2. Water - 2 cups
3. Powdered jaggery / Karuppati - 2 cups (or as preferred)

Recipe

1. Heat a pan and dry fry the Ragi flour for a few minutes till the raw smell disappears.
2. In another deep bottomed pan, heat two cups of water with jaggery. Allow it to dissolve completely and come to a boil.
3. Then slowly add the Ragi flour and stir continuously till you get a dough consistency.
4. When the dough gets cool enough, make them into your preferred size circular balls, smearing the palm with oil. 

Tips

1. You can add dry roasted coconut power and sesame seeds to add more flavor.

Party Punch !!!!

Here goes an incredible and easy to make fruit punch. This is a sure hit and great for parties of all kinds. Enjoy !

Ingredients

1. Fruit punch chilled - One  64 fl oz bottle    
2. Unsweetened pineapple juice chilled - One  64 fl oz bottle    
3. Ginger ale chilled - One  2 Liter   bottle    
4. Orange sherbet - 16  Cups       

Recipe

1. In a punch bowl, mix together fruit punch, pineapple juice and ginger ale.
2. Add scoops of orange sherbet into the punch. 
3. Wait for the sherbet to begin melting (10 minutes). Stir gently. 
4. Add fresh strawberries/ orange slices cut into small pieces (optional)

Dates and Nut roll / Khajoor Katri / Dates Burfi / Khajur Roll / Khajoor Pak

It's been a long time since I have effectively blogged. Life was really busy....... I so much missed blogging and sharing with all of you the dishes from my kitchen. Now that I am back, will make sure we explore a more wonderful journey of delicious dishes. To start with, I would like to share the recipe of a simple but exotic sweet Dates and Nut roll. Dates are believed to have originated around Iraq and have been cultivated since ancient times, possibly as early as times, possibly as early as 4000 BC. Dates are rich in several vitamins, minerals and fiber too. These delicious fruits contain oil, calcium, sulfur, iron, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, copper and magnesium which are all beneficial for health.

Ingredients

Seedless Dates chopped (Khajoor) – 3/4 cup
Dry Figs chopped (Anjeer) – 1/4 cup
Cashew Nuts chopped (Kaju) – 1/4 cup
Almonds chopped (Badam) – 1/4 cup
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Pistachios chopped -  2 tbsp (optional)
Condensed milk - 1 tbsp (optional)
Poppy Seeds - 2 tbsp (optional)

Recipe

1. In a medium saucepan, heat ghee and then add the chopped Dates and stir for 5 minutes.
2. Then add in the Figs and incorporate into the Dates mixture and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Now add the Almonds, Cashew Nuts, and Walnuts and mix well keeping the heat to the lowest possible setting and continuously mixing the dry fruits till they are well incorporated.
4. Switch off the stove after couple minutes.
5. Allow the mixture to cool till warm. Divide into two parts, rub little ghee to your palm and shape to cylindrical rolls. while pressing it firmly. 
6. Spread poppy seeds/ Pistachios in a plate and roll the sweet rolls; so that the rolls get coated with poppy seeds (optional).
7. Then roll the mixture tightly in an aluminum foil or plastic wrap and secure both ends firmly.
8. Refrigerate this for 1-2 hours and then cut them into ½ inch pieces with a knife dipped in ghee or hot water.
9. Store them in air tight containers.
10. Dates roll stays fresh for almost 3 weeks in room temperature. 

    

    Dates Roll

Tips

1. If you find dates and nuts mixture a bit dry you can add a spoon of condensed milk and mix everything together.
2. Blend the Dates and Figs to make into finer pieces. 
3. For coating, you can also use you can use dry coconut scrapes.
4. Instead of making rolls you can shape them as balls or flatten and cut like burfi.

Cranberrry Jam

"Wishing all my dear blogger friends a very Happy and Prosperous New Year"

          

             Yes, it's been a long time, sorry friends was caught up with my daily chores. Now that I am back will try to be more regular. This is the most delicious and easiest recipe for cranberry jam or preserves you’ll ever encounter. This recipe is  easy that you’ll be able to rave, about how delicious this is. Trust me after you try this jam, you will never ever buy canned again. 

Ingredients 

Water – 1 cup

White Sugar - 1 cup

Fresh Cranberries - 1 (12 ounce) package

Orange, peeled and pureed - 1

Apple peeled, cored and diced - 1

Pear peeled, cored and diced - 1

Dried mixed fruit chopped - 1

Pecans chopped – 1 cup (optional)

Salt – ½ tsp

Cinnamon ground – 1 tsp

    Nutmeg ground – ½ tsp

Recipe

1. In a medium saucepan, boil water and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
2. Reduce the heat to simmer, and stir in cranberries, pureed orange, apple, pear, dried fruit, pecans, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries burst.
3. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature. Homemade cranberry jam is wonderful on toast or a sandwich too. 

  

Tips

   1.  Remember to keep the heat low to prevent the jam from burning. 

   2. The jam will keep for a couple months but, once open, keep it in the      fridge  and use fairly quickly.