Carrot balls

Carrot balls

February 21, 2014

Ingredients:

Carrot                      : 2
Condensed milk      : 2 tbsp
Sugar                       : 1cup
Besan                       : 1/4 cup
Ghee                        : 4 tbsp
Cardamom powder  : a pinch


Method:


Grate carrot and boil it with the condensed milk. Then grind it to a paste.
Boil sugar with little water and make a syrup.
Add the carrot paste to this, mix well. Add ghee, mix  and  seive the besan to this, stirring frequently. Cook it till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan completely. Then transfer this to a plate, let it cool for sometime. Then make small balls out of it.  Looks like bengali sweets!!!
  
       

Bhindi raita

Bhindi (ladies finger) raita

February 02, 2014











Ingredients:


Ladies finger               : 3 nos
Onion                          : 1 no
Green chilli                 : 1
Mustard seeds             : 1/2 tsp
Red chilli                    : 1 break into 2
Yoghurt                       : 1 cup
Curry leaves                : 1 sprig
Oil                               : 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds                : 1/4tsp


Method:

Slice the ladies finger thinly.
Chop onion and green chilli finely.
Roast the cumin seeds and powder it.
Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds. When it pops add chopped onion,green chillies and ladies finger and curry leaves. Saute it till the ladies finger becomes crispy.
Whisk the yoghurt,add salt and mix.
Add the  ladies finger to the yoghurt just before serving otherwise it will be soggy. Sprinkle cumin powder over it and serve.



              

Salads

Unnithandu salad

January 31, 2014





Ingredients:

Unnithandu pieces               :1/2 cup
Chickpeas(cooked)              :1/2 cup
Onion chopped                    : 1/4 cup
Green chillies                      : 2 chopped
Salt to taste
Lemon juice                         : 1 tsp



Method:

Cut unnithandu into small pieces. Mix all the ingredients together except lemon juice.
Transfer into a serving bowl and add the lemon juice only at the time of serving.

 

Side dishes

Vegetable kofta curry

January 23, 2014












Incredients:


Carrot                     : 1
Beans                      : 8 nos
Potato                     : 1 big
Cauliflower            : 1/4
Peas                        : 1/2 cup
Onion                     : 2 nos
Ginger                    : 1/2" pc
Garlic                     : 3 cloves
Chilli pdr                : 1 tbsp
Coriander pdr         : 1 tbsp
Turmeric pdr          : 1/4 tsp
Tomatoes                : 2 nos
Cinnamon               : 1/2"pc
Cloves                     : 4nos
Besan                      : 1 tbsp
Cashew                   : 8 nos
Oil for frying
Salt to taste
Coriander for garnishing


Method: 


Make a coarse paste with onion, garlic and ginger together in a mixie and keep aside. 
Make a puree with the tomato and keep aside.
Soak cashews in water for 10 mins and grind it to a smooth paste.

Chop all the vegetables.



Pressure cook the vegetables adding a little water, salt and turmeric pdr.
When it cooked open the cooker, strain if any extra liquid there and mash it. Mix besan, and one tablespoon of the onion paste and make small(lemon sized) balls with it.




Heat oil in a kadai for frying the balls. When the oil is hot, reduce the flame and add the balls one by one  and fry till golden brown, keep aside.




Heat 2 or 3 tbsp of oil(you can use the same oil used for frying the veggie balls), add cinnamon and cloves. Then add the remaining onion paste and fry it in a low flame till the colour changes. If  needed add oil little by little for frying onion paste.






 Reduce the flame and add chilli pdr, coriander pdr and turmeric pdr. When the raw smell goes add the tomato puree.
 Saute well till it got reduced and leaves the sides of the pan.
Now add 2 cups of water, some more salt for the gravy and let it boil for 2mins.  Add the cashew paste with 1/2 cup of water and boil again for 2 mins.  The gravy will become semi thick and it is almost done.




Finally add the fried balls to the gravy. Remove from fire and garnish with coriander leaves!




This curry is a good combination for nan, parotta or chappathi.


Rotis

Stuffed veg paratha

January 22, 2014


Incredients:


For paratha:

Wheat flour      : 2 cups
Salt to taste
Oil                    : 1tsp
Warm water as required


For stuffing:


Onion              : 1 small
Carrot              : 1medium
Potato              : 1 small
Beans              : 4 nos
Tomato            : 1small
Garlic              :2 cloves
Ginger             : a small pc
Chilli pdr         : 1/2 tsp
Turmeric pdr   :a pinch
Salt to taste
Garam masala  : a pinch
Oil                    : 1 tbsp


Method:

Mix wheat flour with salt and warm water and knead it to a soft dough adding 1 tsp of oil and keep aside.
Pressure cook the potato, carrot and beans in a pressure cooker adding little water.
Chop carrot, potato and beans into small pcs. Chop onion and tomatoes. Crush garlic, ginger and onion in the mixie to a coarse paste.
Take a non stick pan and heat  oil. Add the onion paste to this and fry for a minute. Then reduce the flame and add the turmeric pdr, chilli pdr and saute for a few seconds. Then add the tomato pieces and saute it. Then add the cooked vegetables , mash it  and add salt and garam masala to this. Mix well.



Take a portion of the the dough and roll it into a roti.  Place a lemon size ball of the mashed vegetables and fold the roti from all sides. Slowly roll it to a paratha.
Heat a tawa and cook the paratha till light brown spots appear, drizzling little oil on both sides.
Serve it hot with yoghurt and pickle of your choice.






Pot logo by Sma-Rtez , used under the Creative Commons license