Onion Rings

Ingredients:

• Large Yellow Onion -1
• Pancake mix - 3 tbsps (i.e) all purpose flour+baking soda+ soy flour (optional)
• Corn Flour -2 tbsps
• Red chilli powder - 2 tsps
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Oil - 1 cup for frying

Preparation:

• Cut the onions such that the layers in the onion form a concentric circular shape.
• Now pull out each rings from the sliced onion.
• Make a paste out of the pancake mix,corn flour,red chilli powder,salt and a little water to form a slightly thick batter.
• Heat oil in a deep pan .
• Dip the onion rings into the batter and fry them until golden brown and crisp.
• Serve hot with ketchup.

Boondhi Laddu

Ingredients:

• Besan (gram flour) - 1 cup
• Sugar - 2 cups
• Water -1 cups
• Oil for frying - 1 1/2 cups
• Rice flour - 2 tsps
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
• Food colors - yellow, red,green (optional)
• Cashews broken -3 tsps
• Raisin - 2 tsps

Preparation:

• In a bowl, mix besan, rice flour,baking powder and add water little by little to make a thick batter.
• Divide it into 3 portions and add the three colors to one portion each.
• If you don't like color, skip step 2.
• Now heat oil in a deep pan .
• Pour the batter little by little through the vessel or broad spoon with holes and remove them before they turn brown.
• Collect all the boondhi by using the batter with three colors.
• In the meanwhile, heat water and sugar to form a syrup of just before thread like consistency.
• Now add powdered cardamom and turn of the heat.
• Add the boondhi to it and mix well.
• Now heat ghee in a pan and fry cashews and raisins in it and add to the mixture once done.
• Mix all the ingredients well.
• Allow the mix to cool a little but must be warm so that you can make small balls out of it.
• Otherwise the bondhi will not stick to each other properly.
• Serve with murukku,thattai and enjoy!!

Wish you a very

Happy Diwali !!!

Murukku

It is Diwali time and time to celebrate with lamps,sweets and savouries.This Diwali I made Thattai ,cookies,kadalai mittai and Ladoo.Today I made murukku.This is one of my favourite snack.Thought of sharing this...

Ingredients:

• Rice flour - 2 cups
• Black gram (urad) flour-3/4 cups
• Gram flour (kadalai mavu)- 1 tbsp - optional
• Butter - 3 tbsp
• Sesame seeds - 2 tsps
• Cumin seeds - 2 tsps
• Salt
• Chilli powder - 3 tsps
• Ajwain seeds - 1 tsp
• Oil for frying

Preparation:

• Dry roast the urad flour in a pan.(if you don't have urad flour,dry roast urad dal and grind it to a fine powder)
• Now cool it and add to a bowl.
• Add all the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix.
• Soften the butter and add to the bowl and mix.
• Add water little by little and fold the flour to make it soft.
• Heat oil in a fry pan.
• Take the murukku maker, fill it with the dough and pipe out the patterns(i have used the star pattern), forming circles on a greased plate or plastic sheet.
• Transfer the murukku from the plate to the hot oil.
• Fry until light golden brown color.
• Remove the murukku from oil and place on a paper towel to drain the surplus oil.
• Allow them to cool and store them in a tight container.

Chocolate chip cookie

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
• Hersheys Chocolate chips (or broken chocolate chips)
• Butter(unsalted) - 1 stick (8 tbsp)
• Eggs - 2
• Baking powder-1 tbs
• Salt - 2 pinches
• White sugar - 3/4 cups
• Brown sugar - 3/4 cups
• Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
• Almonds - 10

Preparation:

• In a blender, add almond and give chop on low.
• Add the butter and beat it.
• Then add both the sugars and blend it .
• Add the eggs one by one slowly and keep blending.
• Finally add the vanilla extract, and keep blending for 2 mins so that the mixture becomes soft and fluffy.
• Now in a bowl shift the flour and baking powder .
• Add the salt to it and mix well.
• Now add the blender mix to it and mix well until no air bubbles in it.
• At last add the chocolate chips to it.
• Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer for 30 mins.
• Preheat the oven to 350 C .
• Make small bowls out of the cookie mix and flatten it and place on cookie sheet and bake them for 12-15 mins.
• Store in a airtight container.
• Serve it with milk.

Vanilla Teatime Cake

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour -1 cup
• Butter (softened) - 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks)
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Warm Milk - 4 tsp
• Eggs - 2
• Baking powder - 1tsp

Preparation:

• Sieve the flour along with the baking powder into a bowl.
• In a blender,blend the softened butter and sugar.
• Then add the eggs one by one,blending in between.
• Add the vanilla extract.
• Mix then until they become fluffy.
• Add the mixture to the flour little by little and mix.
• Add the warm milk to it and mix well until the air bubbles go.
• Preheat the oven to 350 C .
• Coat the pan with butter and then dust some flour on it and remove the excess.
• Pour the mixture into it.
• Heat it in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
• Turn off ,cool it and cut it into pieces.
• This is very soft for a day or two but then eventually becomes like bread in consistency.
• You could serve it during tea time or during breakfast with milk and maple syrup on it.

Egg puffs

Ingredients:

• Pastry sheet
• Eggs -2
• Onion -1 large
• Oil - 2 tsps
• Salt
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder -2 tsps
• Ginger paste 1 tsp
• Green chillies chopped-3
• Chilli powder 2 tsps
• Curry leaves-4-5

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds,curry leaves and green chillies.
• Add ginger paste and onion to it and saute for 2-3 mins.
• Add chilli powder,coriander powder,salt to it and mix well and turn of heat.
• Let it cool
• In the mean while boil the eggs and cut into halves lengthwise.
• Roll out the pastry sheets on a flour dusted surface and cut them into 3" by 5 " pieces.
• Now spread some onion fry on one half of each pastry piece and place one piece of egg with yellow side down in each.
• Fold the other end of the sheet and paste the edges with water and press with fork.
• The stuffing should be entirely closed inside the pastry pieces.
• Now heat the oven to 300 F
• Place the puffs on cookie tray and bake until the puff turns gold color and becomes fluffy.
• Serve hot with ketchup.

Thai Garlic and Basil Chicken

When you think of cooking with basil, Italian dishes like pasta or pesto sauce, would probably come to our mind first.But this recipe uses basil in a Thai style dish.If you like spicy food ,add a teaspoon of dices chili pepper or red pepper flakes, or a little chili-garlic paste when sauteing the chicken.This is a high protein,low fat dish and is only 200 calories per serving.I love Thai food and I hope you like it too.

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp
• Minced garlic - 2 tbsp
• Onion-1 large cut into 1" strips
• Red bell pepper - cut into 1 " pieces
• Chicken - 1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast-cut into 1" chunks
• Soy sauce - 7 tbsp
• Sugar -1 tbsp
• Fresh basil leaves,roughly chopped-1 to 1 1/2 cups

Preparation:

Heat oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat.

Add garlic,onion and pepper and toss for 2 mins

Add chicken pieces and saute,stirring frequently until it starts to brown on all sides but is not fully cooked , for about 3-5 mins.

Add soy sauce (use lower salt soy sauce if possible) and sugar.

Cook uncovered ,tossing occasionally,until chicken is just cooked through about 2-3 mins

Add basil and toss well and remove chicken from heat .

Cover until ready to serve to meld the flavors

Chilli Parotta - South Indian Style

Ingredients:

• Parotta-4 small sized
• Tomato paste of 1 large tomato
• Onion-1 large
• Ginger paste - 1 tbsp
• Mustard
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal -1 tsp
• Curry leaves-5-6 leaves
• Coriander leaves
• Chili powder - 1 tsps
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
• Green chillis -3-4
• Oil
• Salt
  

Preparation:

• Make small pieces out of the parottas which are ready to eat.If you have the frozen ones, heat them in a pan and when ready to eat,make them into small pieces.
• Heat 3-4 tsp of oil in a wok and fry the parotta pieces in it.once fried.remove them and keep it aside.
• Heat little oil in a pan ,season mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal and curry leaves .
• Add ginger paste ,coriander seeds , green chillies and onion in it and fry them until golden brown.
• Take half portion of this and grind it in the mixer and add it back to the pan.
• Now add the tomato paste to it and saute it until the raw smell of tomato is gone.
• Add chilli powder, coriander powder, salt to it and mix.(add food color,preferably red,to get the color like in hotels)
• Add parotta pieces and saute until all the pieces are coated with the spices.
• Remove from heat and garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with raitha.
• Enjoy!!!

Adai

Ingredients:

• Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
• Chana Dal - 1/2 cup
• Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
• Rice - 1 cup
• Red Chilies - 7
• Cumin - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida -1/4 tsp
• Grated coconut - 1 tbsp
• Red Pearl Onions(small) - 15
• Plantain flowers (optional)
• Drumstick leaves (optional)
• Curry Leaves
• Cilantro
• Ginger- finely chopped-1/4 inch (optional)
• Oil - for making dosa
• salt

Preparation:

• Soak Rice,Toor Dal, Chana Dal and urad Dal for 2 hours.
• Add 1/2 tsp salt,cumin seeds , red chillies, asafoetida ,curry leaves , cilantro and grind it coarsely.
• Add grated coconut,ginger , finely chopped onions, chopped drumstick leaves or chopped plantain flower to the flour.
• Heat the tawa and pour little batter and spread it like dosa and pour little oil around it and once cooked on one side, turn it upside down.
• Once done,serve it hot with avial or chutney and little butter on the top.
• You could also use jaggery along with the chutney.

Andhra Paruppu podi

Ingredients:

• Pottu kadali - 1/2 kg
• Red chillies-50 gms
• Garlic - 10 gms (donot remove the skin)
• Salt

Preparation:

• Roast all the above except salt in a pan without oil.
• Wait until it is golden brown.
• Remove from heat and cool it.
• Grind it with salt.
• Sieve it if you would like a fine powder.
• Serve with rice by adding ghee to the powder.

Malli (Cilantro) Masala

Ingredients:

• Cilantro - 2 bunch
• Onion- 2 chopped
• Garlic- 6 cloves
• Sesame oil-4tsp
• Salt
• Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida - little
• Tamarind-size of a small ball (soak and make a thick juice out of it)

For frying:

• Coriander seeds-1 tsp
• Red chillies-5
• Cumin seeds - 1/s tsp
• Gram dal - 2 tsp

Preparation:

• Fry the ingredients above without oil in a hot pan and grind it into a coarse powder.
• Clean and chop the cilantro.
• Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard.
• Once it starts to splutter, add onion and garlic and saute until golden brown.
• Now add salt and turmeric powder and saute.
• Add the cilantro, asafoetida and the tamarind water and stir for 2-3 minutes.
• Then add the ground powder and cook for 3-4 mins and remove from heat.
• Serve with hot rotis or with rice.

Peach Oats Crisp

This is a recipe I found on the food network and tried it at home and it turned out very good..This is a healthy snack too.

Ingredients:

Peaches, peeled and sliced -6 cups

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Honey -1/4 cup

All-purpose flour 1 cup

Rolled oats -1 cup

Brown sugar 1/3 cup

Cinnamon 1/2 tsp

Nutmeg 1/4 tsp

Soft butter (you could use the low fat ones) 1/2 cup

Preparation:

Place peaches in a 9 inch square pan.

Sprinkle with lemon juice and then drizzle with honey.

In medium bowl, mix together remaining ingredients .

Sprinkle mixture evenly over peaches.

Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Cut it into rectangles and serve.

Note: The peach can be a little sticky at the bottom.So when you take it out be a little carefull not to break the pieces.

Methi Paratha

Methi (Fenugreek) is mainly used as digestive aid. It is ideal for treating sinus, lung congestion, reduces inflammation and fights infection. Fenugreek seed is widely used by nursing mothers.

In india, methi is mixed with curd and applied on hair as a conditioner.Also methi seeds are soaked in water overnight,ground into a paste and applied on hair for conditioning and to have a cooling effect on body.

Ingredients:

• Methi (green fenugreek) - 1 bunch
• Wheat flour -2 cups
• Besan - 1/2 cup
• Green chillies -5 chopped
• Turmeric Powder-1/2 tsp
• Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
• Ginger -1/2 inch cut into small pieces
• Cumin seeds -1 tsp
• Ajwain - 1/4 tsp (optional)
• Oil
• Salt
• Curd-1 tbsp
• Water

Preparation:

• Separate Methi leaves from stem.
• Wash the Methi leaves and chop finely.
• Add all the other ingredients to the bowl.
• Knead to a smooth dough.
• Make lemon sized balls out of it .
• Flatten the ball and roll it out as any other paratha.
• Make parathas of medium thickness .
• Heat the tawa and fry the paratha on both sides using ghee.
• Serve with curd and pickles

Peas Masala

Ingredients:

• Green Peas - 1 cup
• Tomato (crushed) - 3/4 cup
• Onion -1
• Mustard-1tsp
• Ginger paste -1 tbsp
• Garlic paste -1 tbsp
• Coriander powder-1 tsp
• Chilli powder-1 tsp
• Salt
• Oil
• Amchur powder 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala -1/2 tsp
• Cilantro Leaves-hand full

Preparation:

• Soak Peas in water for about 1 hour.
• Heat oil in a pan and add mustard to it.
• Once it starts to splutter,add chopped onion,Ginger,garlic paste and saute.
• Add coriander powder,chilli powder,garam masala and salt to it and saute for another 2 mins.
• Now add crushed tomato to it and heat for 3-4 mins.
• Now add the peas to it and add a cup of water and amchur powder to it and cook until the peas are cooked.
• Once cooked,sprinkle cilantro on it and serve hot with roti or naan.