Rasgulla / Roshogulla / Chena

Ingredients:

Milk                                      - 4 cups whole/semi skimmed
Lemon Juice                         - 2 tblspoon
Saffron                                 - 4-5 strands
Cardamom Powder              - 1 tspoon
Sugar                                    - 2 cups
Water                                    - 4 cups

Method:

Bring the milk to boil, try to use heavy bottomed pan.
Add the lemon juice once milk starts to boil, keep stirring to mix it well.
Gradually all the milk-mass will be gathered separating the whey.
Strain the water through a colander. I used the tea-towel over the colander and drain the water.
Wash it well with plain water to rinse the lemon from the Chena / milk mass.
Knot the muslin/cheese/teat towel to get rid of all the water from the Chena.
You can hang it to let that drip or press with a heavy thing to squeeze it.
I left it hanging for about 5 hours like I do with yogurt to make hung curd.
Now is the time to knead to Chena, I knead it for around 8 minutes .
I sprinkle half tspoon of cardamom powder on Chena while kneading to give it a flavor.
Remember to knead it with your palm not fingers or fist like we do with chapati dough.
Once it's kneaded well it will come togather like soft ball and starts to leave grease on your palms.
Make small balls out of the kneaded Chena.
I made 12 balls out of half cup of chena.
Make syrup with 2 cups of sugar and 5 cups of water, sprinkle rest of 1/2 tspoon cardamom powder.
Use a big pot to make the sugar syrup, as we will be boiling the Chena Balls into it.
Let the syrup comes to boil.  When it's rolling boil, add the Chena balls into it.
Cook them covered for 12-15 minutes. Cover with glass lid to keep an eye on them.
Once they are boiled they will come to surface and fluff-up.
To check their doneness, drop one Rasgulla into a glass of plain water, if it sink in the water it's done.#
If it's not done, boil it again for few more minutes and check again.
Chill the Rasgullas for few hours in the fridge before eating.
You can add saffron and pistachio flakes for garnish.
My family love eating rasgullas and I'm glad I tried them.

Oats Hung Curd Kebab

Ingredients:

Hung curd                                        - 1 cup (2 cups of yogurt makes 1 cup of hung curd)
Oats Powder                                    - 4 tblspoon + 2 tblspoon to dust
Salt                                                   - to taste
Red Chili                                         - to taste
Cardamom Powder                          - 1/2 tspoon
Cinnamon Powder                           - 1/2 tspoon
Oil                                                    - 1 tblspoon to shallow fry

For filling:
Cashewnut                                        - 1/2 tblspoon flakes/finely chopped
Almonds                                           - 1/2 tblspoon flakes/finely chopped
Pistachio                                           - 1/2 tblspoon flakes/finely chopped
Ginger                                               - 1 tspoon finely chopped
Green Chili                                       - 1 tspoon finely chopped

Method:

In a deep mixing bowl ,add hung curd , Oats powder, red chili powder, cardamom powder, cinnamon powder and salt and mix well.
Prepare a dough kind of mixture.
In a separate bowl , add chopped Cashewnut Pistachio, Almond, Ginger, Green chili  and mix well. Keep aside.
Take small ping-pong ball size portions and fill each portion with the filling mixture.
Roll each Kebab in Oats powder, keep aside until all Kebabs are shaped.
Heat a non-stick pan, add few drops of oil into it.
Now shallow fry all prepared portions , till golden brown from both sides.
Serve these Kebabs with choice of condiments for breakfast or in a get together.

Instant Oats Jalebi

Ingredients:

Oats Powder                               - 1 cup
Plain Flour/Maida                      - 1/4 cup
Yeast                                          - 1 1/2 tspoon
Cardamom Powder                    - a pinch
Sugar                                          - 1/2 tespoon
Oil                                              - 1 tspoon + for frying
Orange Food Colour                  - 2 drops
Water                                         - Mixing the batter

Sugar Syrup:
Sugar / Sugarfree Powder         - 1 1/2 cup
Cardamom Powder                   - 2 pinch
Saffron Threads                        - 2-3 crushed
Lemon Juice                             - 1 tspoon
Rose/Kewra Essence                - for flavoring of syrup (Optional)
Water                                        - 1 cup



Method:

For Jalebi Batter:
In a deep mixing bowl, add Maida, Oats, Yeast,  Sugar, Cardamom Powder, and 1 tspoon oil. Mix it well,
Now add water to it and blend using a hand blender. Using a hand blender will give you a smooth lump free batter.
Add few drops of food colour.
Now keep this batter for 30 minutes for fermentation, as we are using yeast, it will be ready in 25-30 minutes. No need of overnight fermentation.
Adding the food colour is totally optional. I saw some Halwai and my mum doing that so is the reason I add it, that way Jalebis look vibrant.
It's great to keep your batter a bit on thicker side before fermentation, as after fermentation the consistency changes to be a bit runny.

For sugar Syrup:
15 minutes before frying the Jalebi, take a medium size wide pan.
Add sugar and water to it and bring it to boil. Now reduce the heat to low and simmer.
Now add saffron thread, cardamom and lemon juice to it. Mix it well. Simmer for few minutes and switch off the flame.
You can add the rose/Kewra essence at this time.
All this will take approximately 10 minutes. By this time, when syrup will start to cool down you will have 1 sting syrup.
Now keep this pot just next to the pan, which you are going to fry Jalebis.
Adding lemon juice prevents the syrup in crystallization of sugar.

Frying Jalebis:
Take another wide Pan/Karahi. It should not be very deep but should be wide enough.
Take at-least 2.5 inch of oil in the pan for frying Jalebis. Let the oil heat up on medium flame.
Now lets check the batter of Jalebis. By this time you batter will be fluffy and airy. You can also smell the fermentation from the batter.
Now check the consistency of the batter. Mix it with the beater slowly and check if it very thick.
Take a spoon and pour the batter from height and it should pour like ribbon.
If your batter is thick, add little water to it and mix well. Do not add a lot of water, add little by little using a spoon.
Take a squeezable bottle with a nozzle. Fill the batter up in the bottle.
To test the oil temperature, drop a small quantity of batter to the oil. It should come up sizzling to the top of the oil taking 1-2 second without loosing their shape. Take more time in coming up means oil isn't hot enough. Coming to the top right away means the oil is too hot.
If oil is too hot keep the pan of away from heat for few minutes and let it's temperature go down a bit. If the oil isn't hot enough do the batter test again until you get the right amount of heat in the oil.
Now Squeeze the batter out of the nozzle, applying constant pressure and making 3-4 concentric circles in the oil and sealing them in the middle.
Work from inside to outside. It takes time and experience to get proper shape and it gets better and better batch after every batch.
Sometimes I make the Jalebis in a long joint shapes like Halwais.
Do not fry more than 3-4 Jalebis in a batch.
Once you have shaped the Jalebis in hot oil, in 2-3 seconds they will come up without loosing their shape, flip and let turn golden on the other side too.
Once golden, take out of from the hot oil, tilting the spider or frying spoon so that excess oil is drained.
Add the fried Jalebis to the lukewarm (not hot)syrup.
Let Jalebis soak for not more than few seconds (like 5-10) and take out again tilting the ladle to drain excess syrup else they will break and turn soggy.
Fry up all the Jalebis and soak in syrup. Serve warm Jalebis with yogurt or milk.
Store the ready Jalebis to the room temperature and consume them in 2 days, as they are instant and go bad very soon.
The right texture of the Jalebi will be crispy outside and when you bite them they are filled with syrup.
For the pictorial view of making Jalebi, pls refer my post of Classic Jalebis.

Masala Vermicelli

Ingredients:

Vermicelli                                                           - 2 cup
Onion                                                                  - 1 finely chopped
Green Chilies                                                      - 2 finely chopped
Ginger                                                                 - 1/2 inch julienne
Lemon Juice                                                       - 1 tblspoon
Mix Veggies                                                       - 2 cups in julienne/ small cubes
Mustard Seeds                                                    - 1/2 tspoon
Curry Leaves                                                      - 5-6
Turmeric Powder                                                - 1/4 tspoon
Garam Masala                                                     - 1/4 tspoon
Salt                                                                      - to taste
Oil                                                                       - 2 tbspoon
Water                                                                  - 2 cups
Coriander Leaves                                               - to garnish
Roasted Peanuts                                                 - to garnish (Optional)
Aloo Bhujia                                                        - to garnish (Optional)


Method:

Dry roast the vermicelli on medium heat till it turns light golden in color, stirring continuously.
Once done, boil them for 5 minutes, drain and keep aside.
Wash and cut the veggies in julienne or cubes. Parboil the veggies in microwave for 5 minutes.
I used carrots, peas, beans, peppers and corn, these are readily available in my kitchen.
Heat oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot, add mustard seeds and curry leaves.
Add green chilies, ginger and onion, saute for 2-3 minutes.
Add the veggies and mix well.
Now sprinkle the salt, turmeric powder, garam masala and lemon juice, Cover and let them cook for 2 minutes.
Add roasted and boiled vermicelli and mix gently.
After 2 minutes switch off the heat and allow it to sit covered for another 5-6 minutes.
Garnish with coriander, peanuts and bhujia, serve the vermicelli hot.
This dish is best served for breakfast or evening snack.

Whole-Wheat Veggie Bowl

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Bread Slices - 6
Grated Cheese                     - ½ cup
Mix Veggies                        - 1 cup (Corn kernels, peas, bell-pepper, spinach, mushroom)
Oregano                               - 1 tspoon
Chili Sauce                          - 2 tspoon
BBQ Sauce                          - 2 tspoon
Oil / Butter                          - 1 tblspoon to grease the muffin tray
Soft Cheese                         - 3 tblspoon (1/2 each slice)
Salt                                      - To taste
Olive / Jalapeno                  - 6 slices


Method:

Preheat the oven on 190c.
Microwave the veggies for 4-5 minutes in microwave safe container. Take the water out from veggies.

Add the BBQ sauce, Chili Sauce, salt, and oregano to the veggies, mix well. Keep the bowl aside to let it cool down.

With the help of rolling pin, roll the bread slices. Once rolled the will look flat and all the sponginess would be gone.

You can keep or remove the side crust from the slices. My kids do not like eating crust so I took it off.
Spread the soft cheese on each rolled slice.

Grease the muffin tray with some oil spray.
Put the bread slice in each muffin hole, making it like a small bowl with gentle hands.

Now spoon the veggies in each bread bowl, top it with grated cheese. Place one olive / jalapeno on top.

Bake these lovely bread bowls on 190c for 18-20 minutes. Once close to 18 minutes the crust will be golden brown. If you want them crisper and cheese to be golden brown, you can bake up to 20 minutes.

Mine were good to go after 20 minutes.

I serve these bowls for breakfast with some whole-wheat breakfast muffins and sometimes for evening tea with friends.

Banana Walnut Wholewheat Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients:

Whole-Wheat Flour                            - 1 cup
Mashed Banana                                  - 3/4 cup (2 banana makes this much)
Baking Soda                                       - 1/2 tspoon
Baking Powder                                   - 1 tspoon
Salt                                                      - 1/8 tspoon
Honey                                                  - 2 tblspoon
Walnuts                                               - 1/2 cup
Vegetable Oil                                      - 1/4 cup
Mixed Herbs grounded                       - 1 tspoon (Nutmeg, Cloves, Cardamom,Fennel, Black Pepper)
Vanilla Extract                                    - 1 tspoon
Nutella Hazelnut spread                      - 6 tblspoon (Half tblspoon each cup)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c , line a 12 muffin tray.
Blend together oil, herbs, salt, baking soda, baking powder and honey in a mixing bowl.
Once mixed well, add in the mashed banana, Vanilla extract and blend again.

Fold in the walnuts and flour.

Fill the muffin cups 1/2 way. Spoon in the Nutella spread into each cup.

Cover the muffins with rest of the batter.

Bake the muffins for 20-22 minutes or the toothpick comes out clean from the center of the muffin.

Let them cool for few minutes in the tray. Take them out from the muffin tray and keep them on the cooling rack to let them cool completely.

Dust with some icing sugar or they are already on sweeter side with those lovely ripe bananas.

Oats & Lentils Paniyaram / Appe/ Guliyappa

Ingredients:

Mix Lentil paste                   - 3 tblspoon (Moong, Urad, Chana, Masoor, Toor)
Oats Powder                         - 2 tblspoon    
Green Chili                           - 1
Fresh Coriander                    - 1 tblspoon
Ginger Paste                         - 1 tspoon
Curry leaves                          - 5-6 finely chopped
Asafetida                               - a pinch
Salt                                        - to taste
Garam Masala                       - ½ tspoon
Lemon Juice                          - 2 tspoon
Baking Soda                          - 1/8 tspoon  
Water                                     - as required to adjust the consistency

Method:

Wash and Soak 5 lentils, I used Moong, Masoor, Urad, Chana and Toor daal, overnight.
Drain the water and wash again the soaked lentils in the morning.
Grind them to a coarse/fine paste, as per your choice. Add the green chili while grinding the lentils.

Now take 3 tablespoon of lentils in a mixing bowl, add salt, garam masala, chopped coriander, Asafetida, curry leaves, ginger paste and mix well.
Now add 2 tablespoon of Oats powder, give it a good mix. The batter would be a bit on the thicker side.
Add few tablespoon of water into this thick batter, to make it pouring consistency. I added 3 tablespoon of water to do it.

Add a drop of oil in each hole of your Paniyaaram Pan. Keep the flame to low at all times.

Pour a tablespoon of batter into each hole of the pan. Cover with a lid and cook for few minutes.

After say 5-6 minutes open the lid and the batter would fluff up a bit.

Flip all the Paniyaamrams.  You will see a nice golden brown crust.

Cover it again and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Serve these lovely Oats & Lentils Paniyaarams with home-made coconut/peanut chutney.

3 Beans Rice

Ingredients:

Kidney Beans                    - 1 cup soaked and boiled
Quinoa Beans                    - 1 cup washed and soaked
adzuki beans                      - 1/2 cup soaked and boiled
Basmati Rice                     - 2 cups cooked
Onion                                - 1/2 cup finely chopped (Optional)
Garlic                                - 1 tspoon pureed
Ginger                               - 1/2 tspoon pureed
Oil                                     - 1 tblspoon
Cumin Seeds                     - 1/2 tspoon
Asafetida                           - a pinch
Salt                                    - to taste
Garam Masala                   - 1 tspoon
Lemon Juice                      - 1 tblspoon
Green Chili                        - 2 finely chopped (optional)
Fresh Coriander                 - 1 tblspoon or few leaves to garnish


Method:

Soak Kidney beans overnight and boil them, Soak Adzuki and Quinoa beans for 2 hours and boil. Keep all 3 beans aside.
In a wide heavy pan, heat oil. When Oil is hot add cumin and asafetida.
Once cumin starts to splutter add onion, saute for 2 minutes once translucent, add in the ginger and garlic puree. Cook for 2 minutes.
Now add salt, garam masala and green chilies into the pan. Mix well.
Add in the beans to the pan and mix well. Add the lemon juice and cook the beans for 2 minuets in medium flame with all other masalas.
Once mixed well, add in the the precooked rice, mix gently but well.
Put the flame to low and cover the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes and switch off the flame.
Garnish 3 beans Rice with some fresh coriander and serve with your choice of yogurt dip or drink.
This 3 beans rice is very healthy and easy to make dish. Also very good one for you when you are dieting.

Thali Menu - 4

Thali (Hindi: थाली) is an Indian meal made up of a selection of various dishes. Thali dishes vary from region to region in South, North East and west India and are usually served in small bowls, called katori, which are placed on a round tray, the actual thali; often a steel plat made with multiple compartments is used. Typical dishes include rice, dal, vegetables, roti, papad, yoghurt, small amounts of chutney or pickle, and a sweet dish to top it off.

Thalis are sometimes referred to by the regional characteristic of the dishes they contain. For example one may encounter Punjabi thali, Rajasthani thali, Gujarati thali and Maharashtrian thali. In many parts of India, the bread and the rice portions are not served together in the thali. Typically, the bread is offered first with rice being served afterwards, often in a separate bowl or dish. 

Nowadays I'm also working on menu/thali series for the blog. My kitchen starts smelling like dhaba when everything is getting cooked.

This Thali Menu -4  has Methi Moong Daal, Gawar Fali Sabzi, Achari Tindora, Meeth Dahi, Carrot, Mushroom & Mint Rice and Chapati.

Enjoy...Until next time, Meri Rasoi

Recipe Links:

Methi Monng Daal

Gawar Fali Sabzi

Achari Tindora

Carrot,Mushroom & Mint Rice

Carrot, Mushroom and Mint Rice

Ingredients:

Basmati rice               -2 cup cooked
Carrots                       -1/2 cup cut into thin sticks/small cubes
Mushrooms                -1/2 cup cut roughly / small cubes
Ghee/oil                     -1 tblspoon
Fresh Mint                 -2 tblspoon chopped + few leaves for garnish
Mustard Seeds           -1/4 tspoon
Asafetida                    -1 pinch
Curry Leaves             -5-7
Green Chilli               - 2 chopped finely
Garam Masala           -1/2 tspoon
Lemon Juice              -1/2 tspoon
Salt                            -to taste

Method:

Wash and Par boil the Carrot sticks until tender.
Wash and cut the mushrooms.
Heat the oil into a heavy bottom pan.
Add in the mustard seeds, asafetida, curry leaves and chopped green chilies.
Add in the mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes, add in the carrots as well. Mix well.
Add in the garam masala, salt and give it a good mix.
Now add cooked basmati rice and give it a good mix. Keep the flame to medium.
Add in the lemon juice and cook for another 5 minutes.
Now switch off the flame, sprinkle some fresh mint leaves and mix again.
Garnish with some more mint.
Serve the rice as a breakfast or as a side dish in your dinner and lunch parties.

Gawar Fali Sabzi

Ingredients:

Gawar Fali / Cluster Beans                                   - 2 cups chopped/cut
Onion                                                                     - 1 cup finely chopped
Ginger-Garlic Puree                                               - 1 tblspoon
Turmeric powder/haldi                                           - 1/4 tspoon
Kashmiri red chilli powder                                     - 1/4 tspoon
Coriander powder/dhania powder                          - 1/2 tspoon
Garam masala powder                                            - 1/2 tspoon
Amchoor Powder                                                    - 1/4 tspoon
Cumin seeds/jeera                                                   - 1/4 tspoon
Asafetida                                                                 - a pinch
Salt                                                                          - to taste
Oil                                                                           - 2 tblspoon
Fresh Coriander                                                      - 1 tblspoon finely chopped

Method:

Wash and finely chop the Gawar Fali, keep aside.
Finely chop the onion.
Take a iron Karahi/Non-Stick Karahi/Heavy Bottom pan.
Heat some oil in Karahi, Add cumin seeds and hing.
Once they start crackling lower the heat and add finely chopped onion. Saute for 2 minutes.
Now add ginger garlic paste/puree. Saute for 1 minute.
Add all the dry masalas i.e. Haldi, Dhania, Salt, Amchoor, Red Chili and Garam masala. Mix well.
Now sprinkle some water, say 1 tblspoon, so that spices do not get burned or stick to pan.
Now add the chopped Gawar Fali and Mix well.
Now cover the pan/karahi with a lid and let it cook for 10-15 minutes. In between remove the lid couple of times carefully and mix the sabzi. Sprinkle some water if it starts to stick to the pan.
Cover and continue to cook till the falis become soft. If you do not want to cook for long time in the pan, parboil them in the microwave for 5-7 minutes and it will take just 5 minutes in the pan.
Garnish the sabzi with Coriander leaves and serve with Daal, Chapati and Rice.
This sabzi can a good addition to your thali for lunch or dinner menu.

Methi Moong Daal

Ingredients:

Moong Daal                    - 1 cup
Fenugreek Leaves/Methi- 1/2 cup
Tomato                            - 1 large finely chopped
Turmeric Powder - 1 tspoon
Amchoor - 1 tspoon
Cumin Seeds - 1 tspoon
Asafetida - 1 pinch
Green Chilies - 2 slit/chopped
Salt                               - to taste
Fresh Coriander - 2 tblspoon chopped
Water                              - 2 cups
Oil/ghee                          - 1 tblspoon

Method :

Wash methi leaves thoroughly in cold running water. Then roughly shred/chop them.
Wash and pressure cook Moong dal and Methi leaves with salt, turmeric, and amchoor with 2 cups of water. Pressure Cook it for 3-4 whistle.
Wash green chilies, deseed and cut them finely or just slit in four.
Heat oil/ghee in a deep pan. Add in the asafetida and cumin seeds.
When cumin seeds start to get golden, add in the green chilies.
Now add in the chopped tomatoes, mix well. Cook until tomatoes are soft, mushy and mixed completely.
Mix in the boiled daal and methi.
Simmer for 2 minutes, Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Rice and Chapati.
This Daal can be a part of your Thali for lunch and dinner menu.
You can use any kind of Moong beans (washed, split, with skin or without skin), whichever is available to you. I use washed, just becoz of my kids choice .....