tried & tested recipes

I love gujarati food and always enjoy the thali served in the restaurants. There is a lot of similarity in taste with maharashtrian cuisine, mainly the sweetish taste . Pickles again are my favorites. Mango chunda is one of them .

After last years unsuccessful attempt at making chunda, I was on the look out for a good recipe.

Then I bumped into Tarla Dalal’s microwave recipe. I tried it, it was a success. So convenient yet tasty . Just the right taste. Making it in the microwave hardly took time. I want to share this recipe with you all .

Ingredients-

1 cup raw mangoes grated (140gms)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder ( haldi)

1 and 1/2 cup sugar

1 Table spoon Chili powder

1 teaspoon roasted jeera crushed

1 Tbsp water

Method-

In a large microwave safe bowl combine grated mangoes, salt and haldi. Leave aside for 5 min.

Add the sugar and 1 Tablespoon water to the mango mixture and mix well. Keep aside for 5 min.

Microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes .Remove and allow it to cool completely. The COOLED SYRUP should be of ONE THREAD consistency.

The mixture looks like a thin syrup when it is hot, but on cooling gets thicker.

Add the chili powder and cumin seeds and store in a sterilized glass jar.

You can make Chunda by cooking method too. The recipe is by Sanjeev Kapoor is here.

I also dried fresh mint leaves.

Washed mint ,

dried on a kitchen napkin. After microwave.

.

First wash the leaves drain the water and spread them on a kitchen napkin, so that the leaves do not have droplets of water on them.

Microwave a handful for 3 minutes on HIGH. Crush them and store them in bottle for later use.

I did not spare the poor rose and curry leaves too

All these years I have stayed in North India, but I never got a chance to taste the authentic recipe of Jeera Aloo.

I got to taste the adulterated versions of the recipe, with tomatoes , haldi ,garam masala ,etc.

But I was always curious to know how the real one is actually made. One Sunday Sanjeev Kapoor showed this recipe on his TV show. It was Mother’s Day and his Mother showed how to make it. So it had to be authentic, after all it came straight from a Punjabi kitchen.

It is such a simple recipe that, next day I made it for breakfast. Jeera aloo tastes yummy,try it some time.

The recipe goes like this-

INGREDIENTS-

4 large size aloo/potatoes (boiled peeled and diced to 1” pieces)

4Tbsp oil

1 tsp jeera/ cumin seeds

1 tsp red chili powder

1Tbsp Coriander seeds ( coarsely powdered)

1 Tbsp jeera/ cumin seeds ( roasted and crushed )

1/2 tsp dry mango powder

2 Tbsp fresh coriander leaves / cilantro chopped

salt to taste

METHOD-

Heat oil, add jeera in oil. Let it crackle. Then add salt / red chili powder /crushed jeera and coriander seeds / dry mango powder every thing in the oil. Stir for a second.

Then lastly add the potatoes and mix well. Cook for some time. Add fresh cilantro/ coriander leaves.

Mix well. The dry masala should coat the potatoes well.

Serve with parathas.

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It is raining mangoes every where , markets , malls and now blogs !!The weather forecast predicts there is going to be heavy rains of ….. you guessed MANGOES! and a bumper rain at the end of this month in Deepa’s blog.

I wanted to make some thing different with Mangoes this time . Heard of Mango salsa ? I vaguely remember having heard it on the TV show. So I started digging my diaries for the recipe. But no luck This was not going to stop me from making Salsa.

Then I googled, there I had a wide choice of recipes with the name of Mango Salsa. So this recipe did exist, I was not dreaming . After thoroughly scanning them I decided on this recipe here.

”It has garlic , and onions too oooohhh, omit omit or write optional” my hubby said. He could not imagine ripe mangoe’s sweet character being assasinated by the smelly onions and garlic too. Secretly even I felt the same

But determined I was. I had no choice. The dead line was 20May 07. The count down timer was ticking on Deepa’s blog. I had to post some thing.

So I made the recipe, substituting the red pepper for green one and the scallion for red onion. Then I added mint too.

The recipes goes like this-

INGREDIENTS-

1 to 2 mangoes ripe mangoes updated (to yield at least 1 cup chopped mangoes)

1/4 cup finely chopped red onions

1/4 cup green pepper finely chopped

1 Tbsp jalapeno peppers ( I used green chilis)

1 Tbsp chopped cilantro (coriander leaves)

1 small clove garlic finely chopped

1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp extra virgin   olive  oil.

Few mint leaves finely chopped

METHOD-Lightly toss all the ingredients.Chill for at least 1 hour .Then serve with Tortilla chips. I served it with Khakra !

Don’t get scared to try it out . The salsa was too yummy. We polished it off in no time. In fact I plan to include it in an Indian meal too.

Enjoy.

This is my entry for Deepa’s AFAM Event

This is the first time I am participating in Coffee’s MBP Event. Thanks Coffee for conducting such an interesting event. But there is one problem my weighing balance is not behaving . The needle says NO and turns to the right. All because of these sweets )

Sukhadi

I must say Trupti’s post on Sukhadi did have some magic on me. I saw her post at seven in the morning and within two minutes I was heading to the kitchen to make it.

This is a traditional Gujarati sweet made on special occasions, and also served as a Prasad at Mahudi in the temple of Lord Ghanatakarna Mahavir .

The ingredients are readily available and the recipe is quick to make yet tasty . Prasads are always tasty .

Trupti thanks for sharing such a lovely recipe .

Pedas

The second recipe which appealed me is Prema Sunder’s Pedas. As everyone by now knows I am a little lazy when cooking is concerned. I am on the look for easy to cook and quick recipes.

So Prema’s recipe caught my eye. I decided to make it. As luck would have it I stumbled on to Ramyas blog too. She had made ladoos with condensed milk and Mango puree.

Since Premas’s recipe also had condensed milk as an ingredient , I decided to add Mango puree to Prema’s recipe . So in a way I combined two recipes to make one.

Prema’s recipe was made in a microwave. Even I made the sweet in a microwave. It hardly took any time to make it. A very quick recipe indeed.

There are a few changes I made in the recipe. I added mango puree and also substituted the butter for ghee. I have not added any food colour.

INGREIENTS -

One tin Sweetened condensed milk

2 cups milk powder ( I used Every Day Dairy Whitener)

One cup mango puree ( fresh / canned)

1 tsp ghee (Prema used butter. )

2 green cardamom powdered.

Almonds for decoration.

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METHOD-Combine everything in microwave safe bowl.

Mix well.

Microwave everything at HIGH for 4 minutes stirring after every two minutes.

Microwave for 3 minutes on HIGH, stirring after every 1 minute.

Microwave further at shorter intervals of 30- 50 seconds till the mixture thickens .

Let the mixture cool. Shape it into a ladoos or pedas. Keep it in the fridge.

I want to thank Prema and Ramya for sharing such lovely recipes which inspired me to make it.

This is a typical dosa made in Maharashtra, but slightly different from the usual ones made in South India. The fermented sour taste is compensated by the addition of sour curd/buttermilk. It can be made instantly. Great for breakfast or snacks. You can make it into a meal too. No accompaniments required except for home made fresh butter .Use non stick tawa for better results.

Few days back I visited the mall the same place where I got the potato wafer (microwave) stand. That place has devoted one whole section for south Indian stuff,and bengali stuff( masalas etc). You name it, it is there. There I got this rice flour.I grabbed it because it was after good 2 years I found it in a shop.

So ghawan was the first thing I made next day.Try it . You will like the slight garlic taste and spicy dosa.It looks lacy like rawa dosa.

INGREDIENTS- For 1 cup Rice flour take 1/4 cup Besan ( bengal gram flour)

3/4 cup sour curd/butter milk

2 cloves garlic finely minced

1-2 green chillies minced

1/2 tsp chilli powder

salt to taste / a pinch of hing (asafoetida) / a pinch of turmeric powder.

some finely cut coriander leaves.

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METHOD-Mix every thing and add water to make a thin batter.The consistency of the batter should be thinner than the dosa batter.

The tawa should be hot .

Make the dosa by pouring the batter from the outer rim side to the inside.Fill in the gaps.

First cook on slow flame.Pour droplets of oil on the dosa. Increase the flame to high. Cook for 1-2 minutes so the lower side is golden in colour.Change the sides so that both sides are cooked and crisp. Serve hot with dollops of fresh butter.

I was really confused what to name this recipe. We just call it chocolate. This is my family’s favorite.

I generally don’t buy much of chocolate from the market . The only ones affordable are the Indian brands . Imported ones are costly.So making at home is the best option for me, keeps my family happy too.

Most of you have access to the best chocolate available abroad .But try making this recipe I am sure you will like it . But ple..ee..ase don’t end up calling it chocolate burfi ple.ease . :))))))))))))

This recipe was given to me by my friend Gi. By the way I made the chocolate yesterday and today only 1/4 is left…..

In fact this time the chocolates are looking much better than ever before. Probably the chocolates also knew they had to look their best after all the whole world was going to view them on the net .. hee……. hee …eee

INGREDIENTS:-

Sugar-300gms

1/2 cup water for syrup

150 gms Milk powder ( I used Everyday Dairy Whitener)

90 gms butter
40 gms cocoa

METHOD:-Sieve cocoa and milk powder in bowl .

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Make a sugar syrup of 2 strings consistency. As the sugar starts boiling put a drop of syrup on a plate. If the drop spreads it is still not done.The moment it retains a shape of a drop (a soft ball) it is ready.

Remove the vessel from fire ,add the milk powder mixture and butter in the syrup and beat well with a spoon, The mixture should turn glossy. Pour this chocolate on greased plate. Let it cool, and cut to pieces.