Mixed vegetable raitha

Ingredients :

• Grated carrot - 1 cup
• Grated cucumber - 1 cup
• Green chillies - 2 [ finely chopped ]
• Beaten curd - 2 cups
• Salt - as required
• Turmeric powder - 1 / 2 tsp
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Fenugreek powder - 1 / 4 tsp

For seasoning :

• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 / 2 tsp

Method :

Grate carrots and cucumber. Chop green chillies and coriander leaves. Beat curds with salt and little turmeric powder. Heat oil and fry mustard seeds, a pinch asafoetida powder and cumin seeds. Add it to curds with a pinch fenugreek powder. Mix in grated vegetables and serve. 

Orange Pulav

Ingredients :

• Basmathi rice - 1 cup
• Ripe oranges - 3 [ loose jacketed ]
• Green grapes - 1 / 4 cup [ seedless ]
• Cashewnuts - 1 handful
• Coconut milk - 1 cup
• Cardamoms - 2
• Cinamon - 1 inch piece
• Bay leaf - 1
• Orange colour - a pinch
• Onions - 2 [ cut in to lenth wise ]
• Green chillies - 4 to 5 [ slit ]
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 / 2 tsp
• Ghee or oil - 4 tbl sps
• Coriander leaves - little

Method :

Wash and soak rice for 30 minutes. Cut onions and green chillies lengthwise. Peel one orange and keep separately. Take juice from other two oranges and strain to remove seeds. Heat ghee or oil in pressure pan and fry gram masala spices, green chillies and then onion. Add ginger garlic paste and rice. Fry for 2 minutes. Mix orange juice with coconut milk and make it up as two cups with enough water. Boil this separately and pour over rice with enough salt, and colour. Mix gently, reduce flame, and pressure cook for 10 minutes. After removing from gas, mix fried cashewnuts, orange segments, grapes and cut coriander leaves. Serve with mixed vegetable raitha.

Vengaaya chutney

Ingredients :

• Peeled small onions - 1 cup
• Red tomato - 1 big [ cut into small pieces.
• Red chillies - 10
• Salt - as required
• Sugar or jaggery - 1 tsp
• Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
• Oil - 2 tbl. sps.

Method :

Heat oil in fry pan and  fry red chillies, onions, tomato till golden brown.  Then grind in mixer along
with tamarind, salt and sugar or jaggery. Your yummy gvengaaya chutney is ready.

Sponge dosai [ bun dosai )

  Ingredients :

• Raw rice - 3 cups
• Rice flakes [ aval ] - 1 cup
• Black gram [ whole ]  - 1 / 2 cup
• Fenugreek seeds - 1 tbl.sp
• Salt - as required
• Oil or ghee - enough for frying

Method :

Wash rice and rice flakes separately without mud and then soak them together for 4 to 5 hours. Soak dhal, fenugreek together. Then grind it  to smooth paste, with salt. Allow to ferment till next day morning. Heat  a tawa and pour thick dosa. [ do not spread ]. Put little ghee or oil  around and close with a lid. Cook in medium flame for few minutes till there is no raw batter on top of the dosa. Do not turn over, serve hot with coconut chutney or vengaaya chutney.

Dry jamun [ sweet ]

Ingredients:

• Maida - 1 1/2 cups [ heaped ]
• Fine rawa - 1 tbl spn
• Saffron - few
• Rose water - 1 tsp
• Resins [Kismis] - 1 tbl spn
• Milk powder - 1 tsp
• Fresh thick curds - 1/4 cup
• Ghee - for frying
• Small sweet  boondhi - little [ for garnishing ]

For syrup:

• Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
• Water - 3/4 cup

Method:

Mix maida, milk powder and rawa together. Heat saffron over a hot bowl and then crush it. Whip curds and mix with flour to form a dough. Keep it closed for 1/2 an hour. Then make small balls with kismis inside. Deep fry few balls at a time [in medium flame] in hot ghee till it becomes golden brown. Then prepare sugar syrup on one string consistency [ thick string ]. Add crushed saffron to this. Add fried jamuns to the hot syrup. Take out from syrup after an hour and keep on a flat plate. Sprinkle rose water on top. Garnish with sweet boondhi.

Carrot Sugian [Sweet Carrot fried in batter]

Ingredients :

• Dosa batter - 3 cups
• Jaggery or brown sugar - 1/2 cup
• Carrots  - 3 to 4 [ grated ]
• Cradamom powder - 1/2 tsp
• Fresh ghee - 3 tsp
• Oil - for deep frying

Method :

Add 1/2 cup of water to jaggery and melt over, in a low flame. Strain to remove dirt. Again keep  the jaggery syrup to the flame, add the grated carrot and cook in a medium flame stirring continuously for 5 minutes. Scrape on the sides and the bottom with landle. When it leaves the sides of the pan and becomes a sticky mass, add the cardamom powder and ghee. Mix well and remove from the gas. From that make small small balls. Dip these balls in the dosa batter and when coated well on all sides, deep fry in oil in a low flame. Turn gently until it turns light golden on all sides.

Note :

If you need thick batter, then add a tablespoon of rice flour.

Keerai Dosai [ spinach pancakes ]

Ingredients :

• Dosa batter - 3 cups
• Spinach - 1 / 2 bunch [ washed and chopped with stem ]
• Onion - 1 big [ chopped ]
• Asafoetida - 1 / 2 tsp
• Salt - as required
•  Fresh coriander leaves - 2 table spoon
• Oil - 1 / 4 cup

Method :

Stir the spinach in a teaspoon of oil for 2 minutes, till it shrinks and become soft. Then add onions, asafoetida, and salt. When the onion is transparent and soft.  Grind this in mixer and mix with  batter along with coriander leaves.  Then heat a non- stick pan or an iron tawa , lightly grease with seasame oil. Keep the heat on medium throughout. Pour a ladle of batter.  Spread the batter thinly, pour oil around edges of dosai and top with light hand. When the bottom of the dosai is crisp and golden, turn it over and let the other side be done. Serve with sambhar and idli milagai podi mixed in seasame  oil.


Note :

This is a tasty and healthy variation and you will be left with wanting more.

Doodhi ka Muthiya [ gujarati dish ]

Ingredients :

• Wheat flour - 1 cup
• Gram flour [ besan ]  -1 cup
• Grated doodhi - 200 gms
• Oil - 6 tbsp.

Masala :

• Salt - as required
• Turmeric powder - 1 / 2 tsp
• Coriander cummin seed powder  -1 1 / 2 tsp
• Ginger chilli paste - 2 tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp

For tempering :

• Green chillies - 2 to 3
• Fenugreek seeds - 1 / 4 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 / 2 tsp
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• White seasame seeds - 1 / 2 tsp
• Chopped coriander leaves - little

Method :

Mix the wheat flour, besan, oil and masalas.Grate doodhi finely. Apply salt. Add this salted doodhi to the flour. Prepare a soft dough by adding water. Apply little water on the palm. Prepare three to four rolls from the dough. Place each roll on a greased thali or a metal seive. Steam the muthias till tender by placing the seive on a stand in a large vessel filled with water. When cool cut them in to small pieces. Then heat oil for tempering in a kadai, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, green chilli pieces. When the seeds splutter, add asafoetida and cuury leaves. When done, add muthias. Keep on a medium flame, stirring constantly till the muthias turn red and crisp.  Before serving sprinkle fried seasame seeds and chopped coriander leaves.

Carrot Hopper [ fresh juice ]

Ingredients :

• Fresh carrot - 1 / 2 kg.
• Beetroot - 100 gms.
• Ginger - 1 / 2 inch piece
• Honey - 1 / 2 tsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Palm sugar [ panam kalkandu ] - 2 tsps.

Method :
Wash carrots in warm water using a vegetable brush for cleaning. [ do not scrape the skin. More vitamins and minerals are present under the skin.] Remove top and tail portion and cut in to big pieces. Scrape thin skin from beetroot and cut in to big pieces. First put peeled ginger in to the juicer and follow with other vegetables. Mix salt, honey and palm sugar to the juice. Serve in small glass topped with crushed ice.

[ always use fresh carrots to obtain more juice.]

Aloo Bonda [ batada vada ]

Ingredients :

For stuffing :

• Cooked potatoes - 1 / 2 kg.
• Minced green chillies - 2 tsps.
• Chopped ginger - 1 tsp
• Chopped tomatoes - 1 / 4 cup
• Salt - as required
• Turmeric powder - 1 / 2 tsp
• Chopped coriander leaves - little
• Oil - for frying
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp

For seasoning :

• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Bengal gram dahl -1 / 2 tsp
• Curry leaves - little

For the batter :

• Bengal gram flour - 1 cup
• Rice flour - 1 / 3 cup
• Salt - as required
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Cooking soda - 2 pinches

[ mix all the ingredients as mentioned and prepare a thick batter by mixing  required water. ]

Method :

Peel outer skin from cooked potatoes. Mash well when it is still warm. Heat oil in a frying pan, add mustard seeds, when it pop add bengal gram dhal fry for few minutes and then add minched chillies, ginger and curry leaves. Then mix mashed potatoes with salt and turmeric. Stir in high flame till moisture is absorbed completely. Squeeze lemon and add coriander leaves and remove from fire. When cools  down make medium sized balls.  Dip the balls one by one in the batter and put in hot oil. [ few at a time ]  Deep fry till golden brown.

Aloo Kababs

Ingredients :

• Potatoes - 1 / 2  kg.
• Bread - 5 slices.
• Minced green chillies - 1 1 / 2 tsp.
• Chopped coriander and mint
• leaves - 2 tbl. sps.
• Garam masala powder - 1 / 2 tsp.
• Dhania powder - 1 tsp.
• Turmeric powder - 1 / 2 tsp
• Rice flour - 3 to 4 tbl.sps.
• Am chur - 1 / 2 tsp.
• [ dry mango powder ]
• Salt - as required
• Oil - enough to fry.

Method :

Pressure cook potatoes. Peel and mash thoroughly  when it is still warm. Then soak bread slices one by one in water and lift out immediately. Then squeeze extra moisture and add to mashed potatoes with all other dry ingredients. Make balls and shape in to kababs. Deep fry in hot oil till crisp and brown.
Serve hot with sauce or chutney.

Melon Quench

Ingredients :

• Water melon - 300 gms. [ cut into pieces ]
• Mint leaves - few leaves
• Ginger - 1 / 2 inch piece
• Salt - a pinch
• Lemon juice - 1 tbl. sps.
• Kala namak - a pinch
• Honey - 2 tsps.

Method :

Use blender 

Remove seeds and outer skin from water melon, cut into pieces. Crush peeled ginger along with mint leaves in blender. Add water melon pieces and blend well. Strain through large eyed strainer. Then mix salt, lemon juice, honey and kala namak. Pour in a decorative glass with crushed ice on top. Serve immediately.

Spinach Pulao

Ingredients:

• Spinach [palak] - 2 bundles washed and chopped
• Potatoes - 2 big [peeled and cubed small]
• Carrot - 2 [scraped and cubed]
• Tomatoes - 2 small [cut into thin strips pulp removed]
• Basmati rice - 1 cup [soaked for 40 -50 minutes]
• Water - 2 cups [for cooking]  
• Ghee - 5 to 6 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Black pepper - 1tbsp
• Salt - as required
• Cashew nuts - little [fry in little ghee and keep aside]

Method:

Take one pressure pan and heat ghee for 2 minutes. Add cumin seeds, chopped spinach, potatoes, carrot and stir them in high flame for 5 minutes. Then add rice, black pepper, salt and water. Then close the pressure pan and wait for 2 whistles to come. Then remove from the gas. After the pressure comes out, open the lid and garnish with fried cashew nuts. When done, serve hot with tomato strips / waffers.                        

Vegetable Medley

Ingredients :

• French beans - 1/2 cup [cut into small pieces]
• Carrots - 1/2 cup [cut into small pieces]
• Cauliflower florets - 1 cup
• Peas - 1/4 cup shelled
• Potatoes -2 [peeled and cubed]
• Capsicum - 1 [chopped]
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Salt - as required
• Red chillie powder - 1 1/2 tsp
• Dhaniya powder - 1 tsp
• Amchur powder - 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - 2 tbl sps.
• Sugar - 1/2 tsp
• Fresh cream - 1/4 cup
• Fresh coriander leaves - little

Method :

Heat oil in a kadai and add cumin seeds. When it pop ups, add all the (cut) vegetables. Add salt, turmeric, red chillie powder, dhaniya powder, amchur powder and little sugar. Add 1/4th cup of water. Cover and cook on high flame for 15 minutes till all the vegetables are well cooked. Before removing from the gas, add the fresh cream and mix well. Remove from the gas and garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Serve with hot roti or parathas.

Chocolate almond cake

Ingredients:

• Sift together :
• Maida - 250 gms.
• Cocoa - 3 tbl. sps. [ level ]
• Baking powder - 2 tsps. [ level ]
• Cooking soda - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - a pinch

Blend together:

• Condensed milk - 1 tin
• Melted butter - 100 gms.
• Luke warm water - 1 glass
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Other ingredients :

• Almonds - 1/2 cup [ sliced and chopped ]

Method :

Sift the mentioned ingredients together twice. Blend mentioned ingredients together in a bowl. [ other wise you can use mixie also ] Then add sifted ingredients and mix well in clock wise direction. Mix half the sliced almonds to the batter. Then transfer to a greased baking dish. Arrange rest of the almonds on top. Bake in a pre- heated moderate oven approximately for 45 minutes in 170˚C / 375˚F


Note :

While arranging nuts on top before baking, dip the nuts in milk and then arrange, so that it doesn't sink into the cake after baking.

Chocolate Flavoured Rice Pudding

Ingredients :

• Un cooked rice - 1 / 2 cup
• Milk - 4 to 5 cups
• Cocoa powder - 4 tsps
• Butter - 1 tsp
• Sugar - 6 tsps
• Salt - 1 / 4 tsp
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
• Cream [ whipped ] - to serve

Method :

Boil the milk well. Then add all the other things and simmer the gas on a low flame for about 2 hours, till the rice gets cooked nicely and the pudding become thick. Remove from the gas and serve with whipped cream. Enjoy your hot pudding or keep it in fridge and have chilled pudding.