Masaman Vegetable Curry

This my post for Blog Hop Wednesday and am  late for posting this due to some technical issues… My partner for this month is Priya Sreeram and she has one of the best blog ‘ve come across till now. I liked so many recipes from her space  but finally decided to make this curry as I wanted try some THAI dish since many days so it was a good chance…

I have made it with little changes considering  the taste and availability of ingredients at home, hope u’ll like it… and this quantity will serve 1-2 people…

INGREDIENTS:-

Masaman Curry Paste: 2-3 Tbsp Sweet Corn: 1/4 Cup Red Bell Pepper: 1/2 Medium Yellow Bell Pepper: 1/2 Medium Zucchini: 1 Small Onion: 1 Small Oil: 2 Tbsp Thick Coconut Milk: 1/2 Cup Thin Coconut Milk: 1 1/2 Cup

Lemon Grass: 1/2 Tbsp Chopped Sugar/Jaggery : 1/2 Tsp Tamrind Juice: 2-3 Tbsp Black Cardamom: 1 Piece Cinnamon Stick: 1 inch Salt: to taste Turmeric Pwder: 1/4 Tsp (optional) Crushed Roasted Peanuts: 1/4 Cup (Optional)

METHOD:-

• Dice all the vegetables and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan add curry paste + turmeric and roast for 2 mins,add  zucchini and cook till soft add some water if required.

• Add rest of the vegetables and stir fry for a 1-2 mins.

• Chop Lemon Grass: Discard 1 inch from bottom of stalk and peel some outer leaves, only stalk in edible not the upper grass like portion.

• Add coconut milk and chopped lemon grass to the curry.
• Except roasted peanuts add all other ingredients and cook 3-4 mins on slow flame.

• Add roasted peanuts and cook for 2-3 mins..
• Serve hot with steamed rice.

*Note: Veggies can be substituted as per one’s liking and 1 Stalk of lemon grass can be substituted by rind of 2 lemons.

Masaman Curry Paste

Helloo everyone… this is my first attempt to cook THAI (and to taste as well) m sooooooooooo happy that I got all the ingredients required.. lemon grass, galangal coconut milk .. so all in all a good start.. now lets hope the dish come out good as well… I cooked the curry paste a day before & cooked the curry next day so posting the recipe for the paste ad of now…..

This quantity will serve 2-3 people…

INGREDIENTS:-

Dried Red Chilies: 5 Lemon Rind*: 1 Lemon Onion Chopped: 1 Medium Garlic Cloves: 6-7 Galangal**: 2 Tsp Chopped Cumin Seeds: 1 Tbsp Fennel Seeds: 1 Tsp

Cinnamon Stick: 1 Inch Big Cardamom Seeds: 2 Cloves: 2-3 Black Pepper: 4-5 Coriander Seeds: 1 Tbsp Grated Nutmeg: a generous pinch Water: 2-3 Tbsp

METHOD:-

• Have a look at the  ingredients required in the picture below .

• Dry roast all the ingredients in a pan for 4-5 mins till fragrant.

• Let it cool, then grind to coarse paste using water.

• Paste is ready to be used, it can be used as & when required and can be stored in fridge for a week.

* Grate the upper yellow layer of lemon very lightly taking care that you don’t grate the white portion(its very bitter) just under the yellow skin.

** If Galangal is not available it can be substituted with the normal ginger that we use.

Homemade Nachos

by Neetu

 

GAAAWWWDDDDD I hate these winters yaar…. puta nahi kub khatam hogi…. don’t feel like doing nethin at all…  well I crib this all the tymm… in evry winter season hoping that it will end after 13th Jan (after Lohri)….despite of that I made nachos… I have made these earlier as well but added Keya’s all purpose seasoning this time to give it some more flavors… it came out good but that’s definitely optional it tastes good w/o that as well…. I served it with store bought Salsa as of now but will its easy to make at home as well..

INGREDIENTS:-

Maze Flour(Makke Ka Atta): 3/4 Cup Plain Flour(Maida): 1/2 Cup Carom Seeds(Ajwain): 1/4 tsp Salt: to taste

Oil: 1/2 Tbsp + to fry All Purpose Seasoning: 1 Tbsp Warm water: to knead

METHOD:-

• Mix all the ingredients (except water) well using both the hands it will make a crumbly texture.

• Knead a hard dough using the warm water.

• Make a small ball lemon sized and roll into thin chapati using dry flour, (if edges crack don’t worry you can trim later) cut into small triangles as in picture below.
• Prick it with a knife or fork so that it doesn’t puff up while frying.

• Deep fry on medium flame.

• Drain excess oil by keeping nachos on a kitchen towel.

• Serve it with tomato salsa or cheesy dip or both…
• It can be stored in airtight containers…

Baingan Tawa Masala/ Pan fried Eggplant Curry

If you are ones who doesn’t like this vegetable then please please do try it m sure u’ll change your views… trust me guyzzz you won’t even realize that its baingan (Eggplant) and offcourse ones like me who likes it, it’s a super hit dish… I mentioned about this dish in my previous post of  Bharvan Baingan that I’ll post this recipe soon as well so here it is….

This quantity will serve 2-3 people…

INGREDIENTS:-

Round Bringal: 1/2 Small Chaat Masala: 2 Tbsp Gram Flour: 3 Tbsp Salt: To Taste Kasoori Methi: 1 Tsp Garam Masala: 1/4 Tsp + 1/2 Tsp Red Chilly Powder: To Taste Coriander Powder: 2 Tbsp

Dry Mango powder: 1/2 Tsp Oil: 3-4 Tbsp + to 2 Tbsp Cumin Seeds: 1/2 Tsp Asafetida: a pinch Onion: 2 Medium Chopped finely Tomato: 3 Medium Pureed Ginger Garlic Paste: 1 Tsp Water: 1/2 Cup

METHOD:-

• Cut brinjal into 1/4 inch slices and quarter them.
• Apply chaat masala generously on both sides and marinade it for 15-20 mins.

• In a bowl mix gram flour, Kasoori methi ( Dry fenugreek leaves), salt, red chilly powder, garam masala and water to make a paste. See the consistency in picture.

• Coat this paste on brinjal slices nicely and grill on a pan with some oil.

• When cooked properly from both sides take it off from gas and keep on kitchen towel.

 
• In the same pan heat 2-3 tbsp oil add cumin seeds when it crackles add ginger garlic paste and cook till brown, then add onions and cook till it turns brown.

• Add tomato puree, all spices accept kasoori methi and dry mango powder and cook till oil separates.

• Add water, dry mango powder and cook for 2 mins.

• Add the fried brinjal slices and sprinkle kasoori methi. Mix with very very light hands as slices will break easily.

• Its ready to be served hot with Indian breads like chapati, parathas, pooris, naans etc…

Sugar Dotted Choco Chip Cake

Or should I call it my husband's birthday cake… I really wanted to make cake for his b’day  since so many years and finally I did happy mee.. :) well as this area is new to us  so it was difficult to find the ingredients but he(Vikas) was really sweet to get every thing for me…

Well initially the plan was to make Chocolate Cake but we couldn’t find coco powder so I made Choco Chip cake using the cooking chocolate which my supeeeeerrrr  sweet brother-in law bought for me…. :)

INGREDIENTS:-

Cooking Butter: 125gms Flour: 1 1/2 Cups Condensed Milk: 100 ml Powdered Sugar: 3/4 cup + 4 tbsp Water: 1/2 cup

Baking Powder: 1 Tsp Coke: 300 ml Amul Cream: 400 ml Choco Chips: 1/2 cup Sugar Dots: to garnish

METHOD:-

• Mix condensed milk and sugar 3/4 cup properly then add cooking butter (butter should be soft) and whip till light and fluffy.
• Chop Chocolate into small pieces or one can use ready made choco chips.
• Add choco chips to the butter mixture.
  

• Swift flour and baking powder together and add this to the wet mixture and mix very slowly, add coke to it taking care that the cake batter is neither very thick nor very runny. 
• Meanwhile pre heat the oven at 250 c for 10 mins and grease a thin flat baking tray “because of using tray instead of mould, cake will be cooked in very less time”
• Pour the batter in the tray and bake this for 10 mins at 220 c and check if its cooked by inserting a knife into it or else cook for 5 mins more..
• Once the cake is cooked let it cool down and meanwhile whip the chilled cream till hard peaks in a bowl keeping ice under the bowl *other wise it will turn into butter.
• Slice the cake into 2-3 slices depending upon the shape of cake you want..

• Dissolve 4 Tbsp sugar in water and sprinkle it over one slice of cake to make it soft the spread whipped cream over it generously, keep the other layer over it and repeat the procedure till last layer of cake.
• Once you have kept the final layer cover the whole cake with cream and garnish with sugar dots.
• And your cake is ready… hufffff… :)

Sending this recipe to Bake Fest , CC Holiday Baking, Bake with your heart, Food Blog Events: Recipe Index

 

Rabri/ Reduced Milk Dessert

Hey everyone… just got my laptop formatted so with this new(2011) version of Windows live writer m finding it so very difficult to post.. as have to locate the options, fonts, sizes… etc etc etc..  Neways leave it, will get use to it… Ok Now lets get to the topic this is the last post of 2011 for Blog Hop Wednesday and my partner for this week is Madhusmita from Red Spice.in n guyzz she has a very colorful and eye appealing space.. I chose to make Rabri from her blog as  winter is the season of hot yummy desserts… and this  goes great with hot hot Jalebis, Malpuras, Gulabjamuns.. etc etc…  my mouth is watering already…

INGREDIENTS:-

Milk: 2 Cups Cardamom: 3 Pieces

Almonds & Cashew nuts: Few Condensed Milk: 1 1/2 – 2 Tbsp

METHOD:-

• Heat milk in a heavy bottom pan, bring it to a boil then let it simmer on slow flame.

• Add whole cardamoms and roughly chopped nuts and let it cook for 15-20 mins (stirring in between  so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom) until the milk is reduced to 1/4th quantity.

• Add condensed milk, mix properly and take it from the gas.
• Serve hot or cold as desired.

Note: If you are serving rabri with other sweets like Jalebi, Malpuras etc.. then don’t add condensed milk or sugar to it.

Chocolate Fruit & Nut Rocks

I don’t really indulge in chocolates as women are known to be but yes I enjoy eating chocolates, specially when  ‘m feeling a li’l  low it does wonders for me… Chocolate most commonly comes in dark, milk, and white varieties, with cocoa solids contributing to the brown coloration but according to me the best chocolate to cook at home is dark one, therefore I have used the same to make these yummy chocolate Rocks..One can also use different combinations of these three and develop a flavor as per their own preference..

INGREDIENTS:-

Dark Cooking Chocolate: 1/2 Cup

Mixed Nuts: 1/4 Cup (Almond,Cashew nuts,Walnuts, Raisins.. etc)

METHOD:-

• Roughly Chop nuts (except raisins).

• Dry roast nuts in a pan.

• Roughly chop chocolate into small pieces so that its easy to melt.

• Melt chocolate in a double boiler ( heat water in a pan,  keep the bowl of chocolate over it take care that the bowl should perfectly fit over the pan so that steam doesn’t escape at all from sides.)

• Once the chocolate melts remove it from heat and stir it with spoon to  make the chocolate glossy. (Don’t heat the chocolate for long remove as soon as it melts)

• Add roasted nuts to it and mix well.

• Drop a spoonful of this mixture on flat base with the help of two spoons.
• Garnish this with nuts & keep  in fridge for 5 mins to set.

• You can wrap them in colorful wrapping papers and gift them to family & friends.

Note: Do take care that not a single drop of steam or water goes into chocolate as it will spoil the texture…
Sending this recipe to Kavi’s Jingle all the way

Mix Vegetable Kadhi (Vegetables with Tangy Curd Sauce)

Whatever goes into making this dish is super duper good for health… curd, gram flour and lotssss of veggieess… and it tastes so good with steamed rice.. The basic version of this in north India is Kadhi Pakori (Gram Flour fritters) which tastes really good but  not so health so this is the best way to enjoy this yummy tangy dish…

This quantity will serve 4-5 people..

INGREDIENTS:-

Sour* Curd: 1 Cup Besan/Gram flour: little less than 1/4 Cup Water: 2 1/2 Cup Oil: 3 Tbsp Mustard seeds: 1/2 Tsp Whole Red Chillies: 2-3 nos. Ghee: 1 Tbsp

Salt: to taste Dry Mango Pwdr: 1/4 Tsp Red Chilly Pwdr: to taste Coriander Powder: 2 Tbsp Turmeric: 1/2 tsp Diced Vegetables: 1 1/2 Cup (Cauliflower,Potatoes,Beans etc.) Frozen Peas: 1/4 Cup

METHOD:-

• Beat curd till smooth add besan & mix properly, there should not be any lumps.
• Add all the spices & mix properly.

• Add water & mix well.

• Heat oil in a wok add mustard seeds and 2 whole red chillies, when it splutters add curd mixture and veggies.
• Bring this to a boil on high flame, stirring continuously.

• After 1st boil turn the flame slow and let it simmer for 20 mins. stirring in between.

• For Tempering: In a Tadka pan/Big serving spoon heat ghee add mustard seeds & 2 Whole red chillies and pour over kadhi.
• Serve hot with steamed rice and chapati.

* If the curd is not sour add more dry mango powder.