Pinneapple gojju.

In our religious mutts & temples ,especially mutts in particular, Pinreapple gojju is one of the items in the prasadam feast. I love the sweet tangy taste of the gooju . So I thought of trying out this recipe which I googled.

I had brought four slices of pineapple from the market. Its in  season now & one can see many handcarts selling 4 slices of pineapple in packet for the price of 20 bucks ! I used up 2 pineapple slices for making pineapple sheera .The remaining two sices I used up while making this gojju. I wanted to try & see how the rcie turns out in my hands .So just two slices.

Ingrdients : 2 slices of pineapple ( peeled ) , 1 tbsp jaggery, 1 tbsp fresh dessicated coconut, 1/8 Methi seeds, 1 tsp urad dal, 2 tsp Sesame seeds ( used white unpolished ), 4 dry red chillies ( used 2 byadgi & 2 lavangi chillies ) , 1/ 2tsp mustard seeds,  1/4 tsp hing, 1/4 tsp haldi, 1 tsp oil,5-6 curry leaves , 1 tsp lemon juice, salt to taste.

Method : Roughly chop the pineapple piece & let them be cooked in a little water & hing.  Add jaggery to the pineapple pieces as they are getting cooked

Meanwhile dry roast methi seeeds, sesame seeds, dry red chillies & urad dal all separately. Alternatively  little bit of oil can be used to fry sesame seeds & methi seeds ...both separately. Keep aside all roasted ingredients. Take all the roasted ingredients & add fresh desiccated coconut to it. Make a paste of all these items with some little water .Pour the paste into the pinapple water jaggery mix. It must be boiling now.

Prepare vagar by popping mustard seeds & curry leaves. Pour this vagar over the coconut curried pineapple mix. Add lemon juice. Mix nicely. The pineapple gojju is ready .Serve with rice and or rotis !

I used both lavangi & byadgi mirchis as byadgi mirchi are hardly pungent & lavangi mirchis are pungent. If you don't want pungency, you can use all byadgi mirchis .If you want gojju to be pungent, you can use all lavangi mirchis.

The gojju tasted great. Even my parents said that ! 

Beet root halwa in microwave.

I had made beetroot halwa once earlier a kadhai on gas stove once.I had not posted it then. This time in Navratri, I decided to make this halwa in the microwave.

A few words about malai or cream. I remove malai daily from the milk which has been heated up & cooled as I don't like malai in tea, coffee , chaas etc.I cannot use this malai for making butter or ghee as it is low fat .I get low fat milk . .Every once in the month, when malai has accumalated to nearly 1 cup or more, I make some sweet dish using malai like carrot halwa, doodhi halwa etc.

Ingredients : 1.5 cups peeled & grated beetroot, 1 cup malai, 1/2 cup sugar,1/2 tsp elaichi powder, 1 tbsp ghee, assorted dry fruits for garnsihing.

Method : Take a microwaveable vessel.Add ghee to it & grated beetroot to it. Mix gheee with beetroot .Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove the vessel .Stir the beetroot nicely.Add the malai to it & mix with the beetrroot. Microwave on high for two minutes. Remove vessel from microwave. Give the ingredients a good stir. Microwave on high again for 2 minutes .Give one more good stir to the ingredients of the vessel & once gain microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Add sugar to the vessel.Mix all the ingredients in the vessel nicely so that sugar is evenly distributed. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Give the ingredients astir & repeat heating in microwave on high. Repeat process one or two  times.Add cardamom powder to the vessel. Mix all ingredients nicely. Microwave on hih for one minute. Put off microwave.

Let the vessel cool in microwave for 15-20 minutes. Remove the vessel from microwave. Add thinly sliced dry fruits as garnish. Serve beetroot halwa hot with assorted dry fruits as garnish.

I used thinly sliced pistas as garnish & the green colour of pistas perfectly compliments the rich red hue of the beetoot halwa ! I read that beetroot halwa will taste divine with ice cream, ! Next time, I make this halwa, I will get ice cream to go with it ! 

Whole wheat flour halwa in Microwave.

I was craving for atte ka sheera. I thought why not make it in microwave. I googled & came caross this Tarla Dalal recipe.

I tried it by mixing whole wheat flour with ghee & microwaving on high for 3 minutes at one go. Obviously , some part got burnt. So I discarded it & made gain. It turned out yumm !

Ingredients : 1/ 2 cup atta, 1/ 4 cup ghee, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp cardamom powder, dry fruits of choice for garnish.

Method : Take ghee in a microwaveable vessel & microwave on high for 10 seconds. The ghee should be in  clear liquid form. Then only it will mix properly with the flour. If ghee has not melted properly, microwave more for 5-10 seconds. Add the atta or flour to the ghee & mix  both nicely.

Microwave on high for 1 minute. Put off microwave. Remove the vessel & stir the atta ghee mixture .Keep vessel with mix in microwave. Microwave on high for 1 more minute. Again remove, stir & microwave on high for 1 more minute. Repeat one more time .

Take out vessel.Add  1 cup water. Mix nicely so that no lump remain. While adding water, be careful as the atta ghee. mix is extremely hot .Water will give bubbles when it is added to atta ghee mix.Add sugar. Mix all ingredients nicely.

Microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove vessel.Stir the ingredient mix in vessel.Again microwave for 1 more minute. Repeat one more time. Add cardamom powder. Mix properly with the halwa.

Serve attae ka halwa garnished with dry fruits of choice.

Since I had walnuts, I toasted walnut bits  in microwave for 30 seconds.I used these walnut bits as the garnish .

Adai lapsi dhokla

I had made adai during  the weekend.Some batter was left over And then I saw this Daliya dhokla using lapsi rava. I knew that I had to try making dhokla with leftover adai batter & lapsi rava.

So I set about making the batter for this new fusion dhokla .And well, it turned out yumm !

Ingredients : 1 cup leftover adai batter, 1 cup lapsi rava ( thin variety or if it is thick, then make it thin by grinding it in mixer three to four times. It will be not be uniformly thin. It does not matter ) , 1/ 2 - 1 cup dahi or chaas, 1/2  tsp  hing, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp unpolished til , 2-3 tbsp oil, 1 packet eno fruit salt, 1 green chilly finely chopped, 1 tsp grated ginger, some finely chopped coriander for garnish.

Method : Add lapsi rava to leftover adai batter. Mix so that no lumps remain. Curds or chaas will hve to be added to get idli batter type consistency. Add curds or chaas little by little as batter needs to be thick with no lumps.Add 1 tbsp oil to this batter. Mix nicely.Keep it overnight to soak.

Next morning, add grated ginger, finely chopped green chillies,,hing , haldi & salt to taste to batter. MIx nicely .

Get a steamr ready. Even acooker can be used. Let the water already be boiling in the steamer or cooker. Grease the inside of vessel with oil .Keep aside.

Add eno slt to batter. Mix nicely & pour batter into greased vessel/ vessels. Steam in steamer or cooker for 15-20 minutes.Check if dhokla is cooked by inserting a toothpik or fork. If not, steam for 5 more minutes.

Prepare tempering by heating oil in a kadhai .Add mustard seeds. After they splutter, put off gas. Add til seeds to kadahi. Pour this tadka over steamed dhokla. Cut dhokla into desired shapes after it cools off. Garish with chopped corainder & serve.

Chutni pudi poha.

Whenever we have to go to attend any function in temple or whenever we have a puja at home or any socio religious function like gruh pravesh etc in the mornings,in our community ( Madhva Brahmin community), it is preferred, to eat fruits or a no cook snack.The most common item is any snack of poha. Poha dahi or chutni pudi poha, or banana poha is common. We can eat poha any time, ...actually, all the time !

Cooked poha  like the batata poha & upma is allowed for upvaas as well.

Even for ekadashi upvaas, poha cooked as also uncooked versions are allowed. Even upma is fine for ekadashi.

Ingredients : 1 cup thin poha, 2-3 tsp chutni pudi, 2-3 tsp kachha tel (raw oil without warming or heating even ) , 1 small cucumber peeled & grated, 1 small carrot peeled & grated,1/2 capsicum finely chopped, 1 tsp lemon juice, finely chopped coriander for garnish, salt to taste.

Method : Mix poha, oil & chutni pudi in bowl.Sprinkle salt.Salt must be added very carefully. This is because, poha has salt & chutni pudi has salt as well.Add grated carrot, grated cucumber, chopped capsicum .Mix all nicely. Add lemon  juice .Mix Garnish with finely chopped coriander.

Enjoy the taste as you tuck into it !

Vegetables are optional....one can add any raw vegetable except onion & garlic as that will make it unsatvic.Cucumber is most common. Carrots, capsicum , coriander are optional.For tangy poha, add lemon juice.

Cabbage Pulao

I had made cabbage sabzi early in the week.Half of the 400 gm cabbage was leftover. I thought of making cabbage pulao. I googled & got many recipes of cabbage rice. I choose this recipe of Veg Recipes of India. I made a few changes. And of course, I made it in the cooker.

Ingredients : 1 cup basmati tukda rice, 1 tbsp oil, 200 gm finely shredded cabbage, 10-12 curry leaves , 1-2 green chillies roughly chopped, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 bay leaf, 1 inch cinnamon stick, 5-6 peppercorns slightly pounded, 1 tsp cumin or jeera, 1 tsp dhania powder, 1/4 tsp red chilli powder, 1/4 tsp haldi, 1/4 tsp hing,juice of half lemon , salt to taste.

Method : Take oil in the pressure cooker pan. Heat the oil .Add ginger to it.Let it be nicely fried in oil.Add pounded peppercorns, cinnamon stick & cumin .After they turn fragrant, add shredded cabbage, curry leaves &  green chillies. Let it be nicely sauteed. Add haldi & hing. Mix nicely with cabbage & spices. Add bay leaf. Give all ingredients a good stir. Add rice. Mix all things nicely in the pressure pan. Add dhania powder & red chilli powder. Mix nicely with the ingredients in the vessel.Add salt. Mix nicely once again so that salt gets distributed all over. Add 2 cups water. Put on the lid of the pressure pan.Put on the whistle.Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles on high flame. Put off gas.Aftr it cools, put off whistle.After 10-15 minutes after whistle has been removed, open the lid. The cabbage pulao is ready. Sprinkle juice of half a lemon & mix with the fluffed up rice.

Serve cabbage pulao with roasted papad & raita.

My family were all praise for this mildly spiced pulao !

Vegan Upside Down Apple Cake

I avoid eating apples as I feel they constipate. Since,   I had some apples at home , I decided to make this  upside down apple cake.I have borrowed generously from recipe of Apple cinnamon coffee cake & upside down wholewheat apple cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup atta + 1/ 4 cup maida, 1/2 cup sugar + 2 tbsp sugar , 2 medium apples peeled , de seeded & thinly sliced after 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tbsp coffee powder,1 tsp cinnmon powder, 1/4 tsp clove powder, 1/4 tsp cardamom powder, 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, 2 tbsp oil, a pinch of salt.

Method : Take a baking vessel.Line it with butter paper. Arrange the wedges on the bottom of the vessel over the butter paper.Mix clove powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, cardamom powder & sugar nicely with a fork.Sprinkle this powder on the apple slices so that all slices are covered with this powder. Bake these apple slices at 180 degrees  centigrade  for 8-10 minutes.Keep aside.

In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients namely atta, maida, sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, baking powder, baking soda & alt.Mix with a whisk or fork or spoon many times over, so that, ll dry ingredients are nicely mixed.Keep aside.

Add 3-4 tbsp water to 1 tbsp coffee powder. Mix nicely so that no lumps of coffee remain undissolved. This is the coffee decoction. Keep aside.

In another bowl, mix wet ingredients....applesauce, oil, coffee decoction nicely with spoon or whisk.

Pour this wet ingredient mix into a well made in the dry ingredient mix. Mix all nicely so that a batter is formed. It must have just drop down consistency like idli batter.

Pour this batter over the apple slices which have sprinkled with sugar-clove-cardamom-cinnamon powder. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade or till a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

I always bake in microwave mode for 2-4 minutes, even 5 minutes. after this convection baking to make sure that all batter has got cooked.

Put off oven. Let it cool in the oven for half an hour. Remove cake from oven after half am hour. Cool the cake outside oven for another half an hour.

Take a plate & invert the baking vessel on the plate. The cake will drop down. I felt the apple slices were too moist . So I put the cake in vessel & baked in microwave mode for 2.5 minutes.Let it cool for 5 more minutes. Take out the cake on the plate.Cut it into desired shapes & serve.

Tips : I sliced apples into very thin pieces. Apple wedges can be cut instead of slicing apple.After cutting apples into slices or wedges, sprinkle lemon juice to prevent darkening of apple pieces.

The coffee powder used is Nescafe classic. The coffee powder that was remaining in bottle was less than 1 tbsp. Maybe 3/4 tbsp.I used up the whole thing. Since it was less than 1 tbsp, the coffee flavour was there & yet, not pronounced.

I used white granulated sugar to sprinkle on apple slices. In the cake batter, I used nearly 1/4 cup white sugar & the remaining 1/4 cup jaggery sugar. Simply because jaggery sugar that remained to be used was just 1/4 cup.