Khandvi

Khandvi , a popular dish from Gujarat is something that just melts in the mouth. It can simply be gulped down. Its that tasty !

I made this today, under my mother's supervision & control.I had made it earlier sans her supervision.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup besan , 3 cups chaas ( yoghurt diluted with water ) , 2 tbsp oil, 1/4 tsp haldi, 1/4 tsp  hing,1/4 cup ( loosely packed ) cleaned &  chopped fresh coriander, 1/4 cup ( loosely packed ) fresh dessicated coconut, 2/3 finely chopped green chillies , 1 tsp grated ginger, a few curry leaves, 1tsp white unpolished til seeds, 1/2 tsp jeera,1/2 tsp mustard ,salt to taste.

Method : Mix the besan & chaas slowly in a vessel so that no lumps remain. .Add oil, grated ginger, chillies,haldi , hing, 1 tbsp oil & salt to taste. Mix all ingredients nicely.

Put this mixture into a kadhai & put it on gas stove. My mom told me ,gas stove must be on high flame. Start stirring with a spoon immediately as soon as the kadhai with the khandvi mix is on the gas. Keep stirring continuously till it starts thickening. Now, lower the faklme & cook on slow flame. Keep stirring till it gets real thick & starts sticking to sides.Cover the kadahai & let it cook for 4-5 minutes on low gas. Put off gas.Immediately , spread the khandvi mix on plates.4-5 plates were needed today to spread the cooked mixture. Spread over the whole plate in a very thin layer. Let all the plates cool. Take a knife & make vertical  strip cuts on the spread khandvi mix on the plates. Take one end of the cut strip & start rolling with hand till the other end of the strip gets rolled. Make similar rolls of the remaining strips from all the plates.

Take a small kadhai or vagar vessel & make vagar. Add oil.Heat it up.Add mustard.After they pop up add jeera.Add til seeds. Then add curry leaves. Put off gas.Pour this vagar mixture over the rolled strips.Mix the freshly chopped dhania & fresh dessicated coconut. Garnish with fresh dessicated coconut & dhania mix.

Serve. And watch it disappear in minutes !

Tip : I use powdered hing always in all dishes unless specified .

The rolls were not evenly spread out. Some rolls were thick strips.With practice, thin strips can be made. And remember, to spread the mix when it is hot on to the plate.That helps in spreading it thinly.

Step by step method can be seen at Veg recipes of India.That recipe is somewhat different though basics remain the same.

Seasonal fruit parfait

Sangeeta Khanna's food blog banaras ka khana  introduced me to the fact that just milk & rajgir ladoos can make a wonderful cereal .And to a lazy  person like me ,this was too yummy .I loved the flavour ! Moreover,rajgir ladoos have no oil and or ghee.Rajgir danas bound by jaggery ! Then through her blog post on healthfooddesivideshi,I learnt to add fruits & dahi to rajgir  laddoos to make morning breakfast cereal !

And here is my recipe...actually it is Sangeeta Khanna's recipe just tweaked a little, by me  !

Ingredients : 2 Rajgir laddoos,1 orange desseded & peeled & cut ,3-4  strawberries cut, 1 chikoo deeseeded ,peeled &  cut & 1 apple deeseded & cut , & peeled,1 banana peeled & cut into thin slices, 3-4 tbsp dahi or milk  ,1 tbsp crumbled cookie or crumbled cake ( optional ) .this quantity is enough for 1 person.

Method : Take a glass tumbler ( so that one can look at the parfait & start oogling at it ) .Drop 2 rajgir laddoos inside it.Add the seasonal fruits like bananas,apple,oranges,strawberries even black & green grapes,etal In fact any seasonal fruit can be added .Moreover,in any quantity.Add yoghurt ( I prefer yoghurt....alternatively milk can be added or maybe a mix of both  ) ..... on top of the fruit mix.Now add crumbled cookies or cake.Let it stand for 10 -15 minutes.

Now take a spoon & try to mix all the ingredients reaching upto the bottom.And just eat it spoon by spoon ! It is just heavenly !

Instead of cookie or cake ,dry fruit can be added for the crunch like almonds,cashews,walnuts.etc.Even kismis can be added for extra sweetness.Though the jaggery in the laddoos will impart the needed sweetness !

Marble cake :1st attempt.

I have been baking a cake for my kid & her classmates since I learnt baking some time ago.Every Valentine day ,I bake a chocolate cake for them as chocolate is a flavour which is a hit with kids & teens.

I searched & got this marble cake recipe here.I omitted bananas & made this cake.

Ingredients :1 cup multigrain atta ( I used Pillsbury ) ,3/4 cup brown mineral sugar, 1/2 tsp baking soda,1/2 tsp baking powder, 2-3 tbsp cocoa powder or Bournvita powder ( I used 1 tbsp milk chocolate powder which I had at home & 1.5 tbsp Bournvita powder ) ,1tsp vanilla essence, 1 cup yoghurt,2tbsp oil,salt a pinch.

Method : Mix atta, baking soda,baking powder,salt  & sugar with a fork or whisk many times so that all dry ingredients are finely mixed with each other.Keep aside.

Mix liquid ingredients :oil,vanilla essence & yoghurt with whisk.Now make a well in dry ingredient mix & pour the wet ingredient mix.Mix nicely.Add water if needed.It must have drop down consistency.Divide this batter into 2 equal parts.In one part add the chocolate.I added chocolate just like that.I should have boiled  a little water & dissolved  chocolate in that hot water & then added to batter.I was afraid that batter may get runny.Hence some Bournvita chunks can be seen in cake pieces as dark blobs.

Line a microwaveable vessel with butter paper.Pour a layer of plain batter ( without chocolate ) into it.Put some spoons of chocolate batter next.Repeat with plain & chocolate batter till both batters get over.With a  fork or knife ,make a swirl pattern in the batter.

Bake in microwave for 8-10 minutes.Let it cool.Take out from microwave.Test with knife.If it comes out clean ,cake is done.Otherwise bake for 1-2 minutes more Repeat knife test.

Let it cool inside microwave for 10 minutes.After 10 minutes,let it cool for 20 minutes outside microwave.Then put the vessel upside down on plate.The cake will drop down on plate or can be gently loosened from sides.Let it cool for 10-15 more minutes.Cut into desired pieces & serve.

The cake had a crumbly texture.It just melts in the mouth ! My teen's friends gobbled up all pieces which she packed to school.

It is so healthy - multigrain atta ( wholegrains ) ,yoghurt,brown sugar,low fat ! What more is needed ? !

Pineapple raita

I love raitas.They rarely need cooking .So ,they are ready in a jiffy ! I cam across pineapple raita  in restaurants & was hooked.

Nowadays as I have become lazy & tend to stay at home,I try recipes to bring in variety.So I got pineapple slices available at a street fruit seller.It is priced at Rs 10/ only for 5 slices & decided to make this raita.

Ingredients : 5-10  pineapple slices roundly cut,1/2 tsp  cumin seeds ,1/2 tsp red chilli powder,1/2 cup yoghurt,salt to taste.

Method : Roughly chop the pineapple slices into chunks.Keep aside.Take yoghurt & whip so that it becomes like cream.Add salt & mix nicely.

Add the chopped pineapple chunks into the dahi.Mix nicely.Keep aside.

Dry roast cumin seeds on tawa on low flame for 1-2 minutes.Let it cool.Roughly powder them with a pestle.Sprinkle this powder on the pineapple dahi mix.Sprinkle red chilli powder on the raita as well.Enjoy with pulav,roti Or just by itself !

This is a sweet-tangy raita ! And immensely popular !

Bhari hui mirchi

I spotted big  green chillies in the vegetable market during the weekend shopping & brought some.I knew that they are not spicy.They can be made into chilli fritters by deep frying them.My mom on seeing them said that we can make ahealthier alternative...bhari hui mirchi.I agreed.I have looked up the recipe from @http://mharorajasthanrecipes.blogspot.in/2010/05/besan-bhari-hari-mirch-green-chillies.html
I have omitted some ingredients like onions as it is Tuesday & I keep Tuesdays onion free at home.

Ingredients : 10-12 green chillies, 1/3 cup besan,1 tsp red chilli powder, 2 tsp dahi,1 tsp til,1/2 tsp ajwain,1/2 tsp haldi,1/2 tsp hing,1-2 tbsp oil,salt to taste.

Method : Dry roast the besan.Keep aside.Let it cool.

Wash the green chillies & slit them in the middle vertically.Keep aside.

Add 1 tsp oil,til,haldi ,hing,red chilli powder,ajwain,til & salt to besan.Mix nicely.Add dahi .Mix nicely to get a dry dough type consistency.Fill this mixture into the slit mrchis through the slits.Take care ,not to break the chillies.

Take a pan.Put 1 tbsp oil.Put the stuffed mirchis on the pan .Put the remaining oil on the mirchis. Cover with a lid & cook them on slow gas.Uncover lid after 5 minutes.Turn the chillies on the sides.Cover with lid.Cook for 5 minutes.Uncover lid.They would have browned & become shiny & mushy.Turn again & cover with lid.Cook for 5 mniutes.Put off gas.Bharwan mirchi is ready.Serve with rotis or parathas.

Eggless carrot orange cake

I wanted to try a cake recipe with carrots & oranges as ingredients as the winter season is going to end soon.I googled & came across this cake recipe @http://vegweb.com/recipes/orange-carrot-cake.I made some changes & got a superbly textured cake -of orange colour.

Ingredients : 1 cup multigrain atta ( I used Pillsburry ),1/2 tsp baking soda,1/2 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt,1 tbsp orange zest,1/4-1/3 cup orange juice,1/2 cup dahi,3/4 cup carrot,1/4 cup oil,1/3 cup brown sugar.

Method : Grate carrot .Squeeze orange juice in a blender after removing seeds.This si the most tedious step.Next time around,I am going to just clean orange by removing seeds & all skin & cut up & put the orange strands into the cake batter.Better still would be adding Minute maid orange drink in place of orange juice as it contains orange pulp.

Mix oil,dahi,orange zest ( grate  orange peel or finely chop orange peel & use it ) ,grated carrot & orange juice.Add brown  sugar to this liquid mixture.Mix nicely.Keep aside.If regaulr sugar is being used,it can be added to liquid mix or to dry mix of atta, baking soda etc.

Mix all dry ingredients - atta,baking soda,baking powder & salt.Make a well.Into this well pour ,the liquid mix & nicely make a batter so that no lumps remain.Batter  must have drop down consistency.Keep aside.

Take a microwaveable vessel.Line it with butter paper.Pour the cake batter into it.Microwave for 8-10 minutes.Let it cool.Poke a knife to check if cake is done.If knife is clean,cake is done.If not ,bake for 1-2 minutes more.Cool.

Remove cake vessel from microwave .Let it cool for 10 more minutes.Take a plate & put the cake vessel upside down on the plate.After a few minutes,the cake will drop down on plate.

Cut the cake into desired shapes & serve.The cake was moderately sweet -so apt.This is the best cake by me so far- it had a texture which is found in cakes sold in markets !

More sugar can be added if so desired.