Rasgulla

Ingredients:

• Milk - 4 1/2 cups
• Lemon juice -2 tbsp
• Water - 4 1/2 cups
• Sugar - 1 1/2 cups

Preparation:

• Bring milk to boil and add the lemon juice diluted with 1 tbsp water into it little by little stirring continuously.
• Wait for the cheese to separate from the milk.
• Drain it through the muslin cloth and show it under cold water to remove the taste of lemon juice from it .
• Then bundle it up and squeeze the water out it until no water is left in it.
• In the meanwhile,add the water and sugar in a pressure cooker and boil it uncovered.
• To check if the cheese is just right, rub a little on the palm and form a ball out of it.
• It comes out perfect,then the cheese is in right consistency.
• Split it into equal parts of small balls (they double in size after cooked).
• Make sure you press it hard while rolling it so that it doesn't break while cooking.
• Add these balls to the cooker and close it with the lid and add weight .
• Wait for the pressure to form and then allow it to cook on medium flame for 7-8 mins and turn off.
• Once the pressure is released, transform it to a container (take care not to break it).
• Refrigerate and serve cold.
• Add a little shaved pistachios on it. Enjoy !!!

Chocolate frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup Cocoa powder(do not add more as it will make it a little bitter)
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

• Melt butter.
• Stir in cocoa.
• Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
• Add small amount additional milk, if required.
• Stir in vanilla.
• About 2 cups frosting is ready.

Chocolate cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Preparation:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
• Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
• Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
• Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
• Pour batter into prepared pans.
• Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks.
• Cool completely.
• Frost with CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe given above).
• Serve with whipped cream ,wafers and vanilla ice cream.

Pitlai kuzhambu

Ingredients:

• Tamarind - lemon size
• Salt
• Coconut oil - 1 tsp
• Mustard -1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida - 2 pinches
• Curry leaves -3-4
• Brinjal(small) -2 , cut lengthwise
• Drumstick -2
• Toor dal - 25 gms

For frying:

• Coconut - 1/2 grated
• Cilantro leaves - 3 tsps
• Coriander seeds - 3 tsp
• Gram dal -1 tsp
• Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp
• Rice - 1/2 tsp
• Peppercorns -4-5
• Red chillies- 6-7

Preparation:

• Fry all the ingredients listed above.
• Grind it nicely.
• In a deep pan,add coconut oil,mustard seeds,curry leaves, asafoetida and season it.
• Then add brinjal to it and saute until tender.
• Now add tamarind juice to it .
• Then add the ground powder.
• Add salt,drumsticks to it and allow it to cook.
• In the meanwhile pressure cook toor dal and add to the pan and mix well.
• Allow the kulambu to become a little thick and turn of the heat.
• Serve hot with rice.

Chicken Chettinad

Ingredients:

Marination:

• Boneless skinless chicken-1 kg cut into small pieces
• Ginger paste -2 tsps
• Garlic paste - 2 tsps
• Curd - 6 tbsp
• Pepper powder 2 tsps
• Cumin powder 1 tsp
• Fennel seed powder 2 tsps
• Turmeric powder 1tsp
• Coriander powder 1 tsp
• Chili powder 1 tsp
• Lime juice - optional

Other Ingredients:

• Ginger paste - 2 tsp
• Garlic paste -2 tsp
• Red chilies - 4
• Onion - 3 large chopped
• Tomatoes -4 large
• Cinnamon stick -1 broken
• Cloves - 2-3
• Bay Leaves - 2
• Coriander leaves
• Oil
• Salt
  

Preparation:

• Marinate the chicken pieces with all the ingredients under marination and keep aside for 1 hour.
• In a deep pan heat oil and add cloves,bay leaves,Cinnamon and saute.
• Add onion,red chillies and saute until golden brown .
• Add ginger and garlic paste to it.
• After a minute add dices tomatoes and fry until the oil floats on the top .
• Add the marinated chicken with contents and salt and coriander leaves.
• Cover with a lid and cook under medium heat.
• Cook for a few minutes until chicken is done and the gravy is thick.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and little butter on the top.
• Serve hot with rotis,dosa or rice.

Banana Split - Semi Homemade

This is the easiest of any recipe and makes a gud dessert when u don't have time to make one for parties.This is also easy for bachelors who do not cook.

Ingredients:

• French Vanilla Ice cream- 2 scoops
• Banana -1
• Vanilla wafers-optional-1
• Hershey's chocolate syrup -2 tsps
• Pistachios-4

Preparation:

• In a bowl,add the ice cream and banana pieces(split into two or three)
• Now drizzle the chocolate syrup on it.
• Top it with pistachios and wafer pieces.
• Serve cold.

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!!!