Vegetable Daliya ( Cracked wheat)

After going out for lunch for past two days..I got fed up of eating out, so thought of this quick recipe in the morning. I did not want to eat rice so I just replaces rice with daliya (cracked wheat).

Serves 2 people
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cup daliya
1Green pepper- chopped
1 Small Onion- chopped
1 cup peas
1 Small Potato - chopped
few curry leaves
2 green chillies- chopped
Cilantro to garnish
Ghee

Spices:
Hing (Asafoetida)
Cumin seeds
Mustard seeds
3/4 tspn - Red chilli powder
1/2 tspn - Turmeric powder
1 tspn - Coriander powder
Salt - to taste

Method:
Heat the pressure cooker and put ghee in it. When ghee is hot enough, add hing to it followed by mustard seeds. When seeds start to crackle add cumin seeds and then curry leaves and green chillies. Then add potatoes to it and let potatoes cook for 5 mins on medium flame. When potatoes are half done add onions, peas and green pepper to it. Then add the daliya to it and let it roast for 5 mins on medium to slow flame and keep stirring it.
(You can also cook daliya separately and then mix it with the veggies at the end).
Then add all the spices to it. Add 4-1/2 to 5 cup of water to it.  Then cover the cooker and get 2 whistles on medium to high flame and then cook for 12-15 mins on slow flame. Add cilantro once its ready!

PS: You can add veggies as per your liking!

Orange and fruit Trifle

I had a Orange cake mix packet and I wanted to make a quick dessert to take to a friend's place. So I took this recipe and just replaced the chocolate cake with the orange cake in this recipe.

Also I did not have the orange juice, so I just added the orange extract to the pudding.

Original source of recipe:
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chocolate-and-Fruit-Trifle

ra.. ra.. rasssaammmm!!! (pepper rasam)

rasam is soo eassy too make and needs such few ingredients...
anyone can make it :))

Basically, the main ingredients you need are tomatoes, tamarind and rasam powder.
In the recipe, she actually gives the recipe for the rasam powder too. I didn't make it since I had the rasam powder from India. So, I just used that and added some pepper on top of it because I wanted the pepper effect.

The only thing I really had to buy for this recipe were the tomatoes.
I already had the other needed ingredients stocked at home.

I guess tamarind and rasam powder may be not be regular ingredients at someone's home based on how regularly/irregularly you use them.

Maybe, we should create another post where we list all the ingredients (that have good shelf/refrigerator life) someone should keep at home needed for most of the easy recipes.. so, we don't have to go to the indian store on the day of cooking..
don't know about the rest of you all.. but, for me a trip to indian store is a 1 hr deal..so, it will work well for me to have such a list :)

Here's the recipe I followed:
(btw, this works as a really good cure for clearing throat/runny nose).

http://www.sailusfood.com/2010/12/03/miriyala-charu-andhra-pepper-flavored-rasam/


and here's a picture of what I made

Dahi Bhendi

When I come across recipes like this, life seems beautiful ...:p

seriously, though, this recipe is simple (no onion cutting), tasty and healthy..

Here's the recipe that I followed...
vahchef is the man... I tried quite a few of his recipes and they all come out pretty great...
Love his enthusiasm and passion for cooking..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQhcI3sRPtM&feature=g-all-u


Here's a picture of what I made:

tamarind rice - simple yet tasty

Yesterday, I left work after 7pm. There were no veggies at home and I didn't want to go to the grocery store and then go home and then chop them and then cook....blaaah..
But I had to cook something.. so, I wondered what I could easily make from what I had at home...
and then I thought of tamarind rice..its soo simple... and soo tasty...there was no looking back from there... :) (the best part is you don't have to cut any vegetables except chillies and ginger)


Here's the recipe... I followed all her instructions except I didn't add roasted sesame powder (since I didn't have that at home) and jaggery/brown sugar (cause I dont like the sweet taste).

http://www.sailusfood.com/2008/10/30/pulihora-andhra-tamarind-rice/

Here's a picture of what I made... was delicious!

Yummy Chicken 65 :D

Well, I always tot that this would be a really tough thing to make but its actualy v easy tho its a little time consuming.Here goes the steps to this delicious recipe

Preparation time:10 mins
Cooking time : 40 mins

Ingredient required for Marination:
500gms Chicken cut into small cubes
lemon juice
Ginger Garlic Paste
1/2 Spoon Salt
1 spoon Chilli Powder
3/4 spoon All purpose flour
1.5-2 spoons Corn Flour
1 egg.

Ingridients for Talimpu
4 Spoons Oil
1 spoon mustard and cumin seeds
1 spoon Ginger Garlic paste
Lots of chillies to taste
4-5 tbsp Chinese Chilli Sauce
Red colour
Little Spic powder
Pinch of Tumeric powder

Preparation:

Marinate the chicken for atleast 1 hour with all the ingridents mentioned for marination.There is no particular order required.and the more time you marinate the better it is. Heat the oil sufficiently. Put your hand over the pan to see if you can feel slightly hot heat waves. Once done , Start putting chicken into the oil. Dont overcrowd it. For each batch it takes around 15 mins. Keep a plate with tissue spread on it so that you can put the chicken pieces taken off the stove immediatly on the plate and the excess oil would be absorbed. Use a spoon which has holes to take the chicken from the oil pan so that excess oil gets dropped there itself.Repeat till you finish the chicken pieces.

Now heat 4 spoons oil and put cumin and mustard seeds in it and once they start dancing , immediatly put spice powder , pinch of tumeric powder, one spoon ginger garlic paste and chillies split into half from center. and fry them and now put in the 4-5 tbsp chinese chilli sauce ( which I dint in my recipe as I dint have it but it definatly increases the taste) and  a spoon of colour and wait for 30 seconds and add in the fried chicken and mix it well and put off the stove and let it rest for 2 mins and then have a blast with it.

To make this a quick snack you can just fry the chicken pieces over the weekend and store them in the fridge.. everyday or whenever you would like to eat during that week ... just toss them in the talimpu and munch ..... it would hardly take 5 mins but v tasty. :)

Pasta Salad loaded with veggies

Ingredients:
1 red Bell Pepper (optional, you can also add other color peppers)
1 green Pepper
1 zuchini
5-6 florets broccoli
1 cup corn
1 cucumber
2 cups grape tomatoes
3 cups pasta( any pasta, i used Ronzoni's vegetable delight trio-shell, penne and rottini)

Kraft's zest Italian dressing
Olive Oil

Seasonings:
1/2 tspn garlic powder
1/2 tspn ginger powder
1/2 tspn onion powder
1/2 tspn italian seasoning
1/2 tspn chaat masala
1/2 tspn black pepper
Salt to taste

All these seasonings are optional as per taste. I had all of them, so just took a little of each :)

Method:
I had this salad at a baby shower recently and I loved it. So I took the recipe from my friend Preethi.

Boil the pasta.
Take a pan and put very little olive oil and saute the veggies(peppers + zucchini) on medium flame so they don't leave water and they get smoky flavor. You can also grill them in oven. Then saute corn and broccoli separately.
Take the pasta and add veggies. I added 1  Tblspn of Italian dressing you can adjust it as per taste. Finally add the powders. Because of my love for chaat masala(thanks to Preethi my friend), I add it to pretty much everything :)
Enjoy the healthy meal :)!
PS: Also you can pretty much add subtract whatever veggies you want.

Peanut sauce

Quick and easy to make at home and comes out just like the one served in restaurants!

Required:
- Oil
- Peanuts
- Spices
- Honey :: The secret ingredient

Pour some oil in the pan. Roast the peanuts on a light flame and make sure they are golden brown. Make sure they dont burn to prevent the burning flavor (because that would dominate the whole flavor).
Now, add some water and grind them to make a fine puree. Pour this mixture back into the pan and heat for a little more time. At this point, you can add any spices that you would like. I added black pepper and red chilli powder. Also, add salt.
Make sure the consistency is as required by you. If its too thick, add some water and bring to boil. If its too watery, leave it in a pan uncovered for a while until the extra water evaporates on a slow flame. When done, switch off the stove.
Now, add appropriate amount of honey. This is kinda the secret ingredient in the recipe so dont forget it!
Ready to be served!

PS: Pictures would come in later :D

Rice Rolls

A fresh and crunchy snack

Please see the ingredients listed in Italic font below:

The veggies I used were:
any greens- spinach/lettuce- give a nice crunch and freshness
mushrooms - sauteed - improves the texture and taste
onions- sauteed- improves the texture and taste
avocado- always good to have!
Red pepper- sauteed- good taste and crunchiness
Cucumbers- give that nice crunch and freshness
Sprouts- crunch crunch


Good additions:
Chicken/Tofu - You can add these in any form: marinated/grilled/fried

You can basically add whatever you want in here. Make sure to not add any moistness in this mixture, keep it dry.

Add any spices you would like to. I added black pepper only. Make sure to enjoy this with peanut sauce, without any kind of sauce, not sure how it would taste.

Rice sheets- Can be found in the Asian section. The instructions on how to use these are on the back of this packet. All you want to do is, get a flat pan and warm up the water so that its lukewarm. Quickly dip the sheet in and pull it out and place it on a dry surface to put the stuffing in. Once you have the stuffing placed at the center, fold the rest into whatever shape you want.

Best served fresh! Enjoy!!

PS: Picture will come in later :D

Pan cake mix uttapam - An easy way to fullfill our Indian Taste buds :)

Pan cake mix uttapam - An easy way to fullfill our Indian Taste buds :)

Prepartation time:5 min

Cooking time:10 min

Ingredients

Pancake mix

Vegetables of your choice - carrots, onions, cashew nuts broken into small pieces corn peas chillies (tomatoes not prefereed as they spoil the crispiness of the dosa)

Method

Mix the pancake mix with water to a flowing liquid state so that you can spread it on the pan easily.Now add vegetables to it. Take a small cup of this mix and put it on the pan and spread it.After it becomes brownish on one side flip it to the other side and keep it for 1 min and take it off.

Put the uttapam mix on the pan only after the pan gets sufficently heated.Else it wil get stuck to the pan.

This tastes delicous and is a quick recipe.

You can eat it with any pickle or chutney.

Bombay Sandwich

Yesterday I reached home and was not in the mood to cook anything :(. One of those days when I don't feel like turning on the gas. But since we ate out whole weekend so had to eat something at home.

I started searching in my fridge for all the veggies and I found beet root, lots of cilantro, tomatoes and cucumber. So I thought of making this quick and easy bombay sandwich.

Servings: 4 Sandwiches

Ingredients:

2 Beet roots- boiled and sliced( I boiled in microwaves for 5 mins)

2 Potatoes-boiled and sliced

1 Cucumber-sliced

1 Tomato - thin slices

1 Onion - sliced

1 Green pepper - sliced (optional)

Chat masala

Amul butter

Salt

Pepper

Multi Grain wheat bread (you can use any type of bread)

For Cilantro Chutney

2 bunches Cilantro

2-3 green chillies

handful of peanuts

salt

Method:

Cilantro Chutney- Put all the ingredients in Magic bullet and make chutney. I usually make this extra and freeze it.

Sandwich:

Take a slice of bread and apply butter on one side. Then add cilantro chutney on it and put all the veggies on it. Sprinkle chat masala, salt and pepper. Take another slice of bread and add green chutney on one side and make a sandwich.

You can grate more butter if you like(optional).

Also, you can grill this sandwich in the panini maker(optional).

I forgot to take a picture.. next time!

Spicy Potato Curry

This is a perfect recipe if you want something quick, hot and spicy! With fall just around the corner, I know I will make more of this. Goes well with rice, chapatis (or bread).

You will need:
1 large onion, diced
1/2 inch ginger, julienne
4-5 cloves garlic, rough chop (optional)
2 sprigs curry leaves
2  med tomatoes, diced
2 medium potatoes, cut in 2 inch cubes
1-2 green chillies, rough chop
asafoetida (hing) to taste
mustard seeds (rai) to taste
cumin seeds (jeera) to taste
red chili powder to taste
garam masala to taste (optional)
1/2 tsp tumeric
1-2 tbsp oil
coriander for garnish
Pressure cooker

Cooking instructions:
- Over medium heat, heat oil. Once hot add asafoetida powder, mustard and cumin seeds. Let crackle. Add curry leaves.

- Add ginger, garlic, onions and green chilies. Saute until onions are golden brown.

- Add tomatoes, tumeric powder, red chili powder and garam masala, mix well. Saute till oil starts to seperate from the solid ingredients (2-3 mins). this indicates that spices are cooked well.

- Add potatoes and cover with water. Add salt to taste.

- Cover pressure cooker with lid and let cook (2-4 whistles, depending on quantity and your experience).

- Garnish with coriander. Serve hot over rice or with chapatis.

If you dont have a pressure cooker, you can boil potatoes seperately in microwave (usually takes 5 mins) then add to the masala/ curry base at the end. I usually make mine without garlic, and it tastes just as good. To me this is almost like potatoes in rasam.

Disclaimer: The quantities listed are just a guess-timate (Usually I just add stuff as I go without paying attention to qty :)


~~Cook, Share, Enjoy!~~

the red pulav

Red pulav is nothing but radish pulav (radish leaves its red color).

I had radish in the refrigerator and so I cut it up and added it while making the pulav and I really enjoyed the color and taste.

Pulav is an easy dish but tasty and healthy (based on what veggies go into it).

Recipe

Rice: 1.5 cups
Water: 3 cups (i.e 1:2 ratio with rice)
Radish: 2 (cut it into cubes)
Beans, corn, carrots and peas (you can get a mixed frozen bag of these in most grocery stores): add as desired
onion: 1 (sliced)
chillies: 2 long (sliced) (so, it leaves its flavor)
ginger garlic paste: 1.5 tbs
garam masala powder 2 tbs
cashew nuts
garam masala: cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, pulav leaf
cashew nuts
curry leaves
cilantro
turmeric
salt to taste


Wash the rice and keep it aside.

Heat oil+ghee in a pan.
After the oil heats up, add cashew nuts, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and pulav leaf.
Fry them for a minute and then add all the veggies (i.e. onions, chillies, frozen bag mix of beans, corn, carrots and peas, radish and curry leaves.
Add some turmeric to this mix.
Let it cook for 2-3 minutes (keep mixing the ingredients).
Now, add the ginger garlic paste
Let it cook for another 3 minutes.
Now add the washed rice to this mixture.
Add some garam masala powder to it and mix in.
After 2 minutes, turn off the stove.
Add 3 cups of water to the rice cooker and all this mixture to it.
Turn on the rice cooker.

and that's it, the dish should be cooked in about 20-25 minutes after that :).
Attached is the picture of what I made today :).

Veg Manchow Soup

This may not be an "easy" recipe but it definitely is a happy one! Just takes a lot of prep work before cooking, so I cheated and used my food processor to pulse all vegetables which makes it not as pretty as this video, call me lazy :)

So here is the recipe, good old Sanjeev Kapoor :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xhald5AiM8

Couple variations to this recipe:
1) Instead of tofu and fried noodles I added crispy fried chicken strips. I made these quickly by marinating thinly cut strips of chicken with salt, pepper and lime juice while prepping for the soup. Lightly dust them with flour and shallow fry in oil.

2) You could substitute any meat in this soup. Just adjust the seasonings accordingly.

3) For vegetarians, adding beans or meatball/ chicken strips soy substitutes would also work great.

4) This could also be a great noodle soup if you add some boiled noodles instead of fried.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

~~Cook, Share, Enjoy!~~

Varan bath-quick, easy and healthy lunch :)

http://potoba.blogspot.com/2007/07/varan-bhat-dal-and-rice.html

Ragda Pattis - Quick and easy

http://www.aayisrecipes.com/2007/02/25/ragda-patis/

Loaded vegetarian quesadillas

http://fooddoodles.com/2011/06/14/loaded-vegetarian-quesadillas/

Aloo Pyaas masala

Time taken to cook this recipe : 15 mins.

1 big Onion :cut into small pieces
3 medium Potatoes :cut into medium size pieces
3 medium Chillies
2tbsp Salt
1 tsp Curry Spice powder
pinch ofTumeric powder
1tbsp ginger garlic paste

First step is to Microwave the potatoes.Dont forget to add 1tbsp salt to the water before starting the microwave. If salt is not added potatoes taste bland and will not be able to take any flaour from the curry spices. Most of the microwaves have an option of vegetables in which we can select potatoes .Meanwhile, When the potatoes are getting cooked in the microwave,heat two tbsp oil and add curry spice powder , tumeric powder , ginger garlic paste and chillis and put the onions and fry them. Once onions are fried sufficiently add chilli powder to taste and 1tbsp corriander powder. Dont add salt now to this masala as we have added salt to the potatoes being cooked in the microwave. So Adding the salt after mixing the masala with potatoes would be better.

Once the potatoes are microwaved, take a piece of potato with a fork and eat it.If its is cooked i.e. if the potato is soft to bite and you can eat it v easily , potatos are now ready. Take the potatos from the microwave and add it your onion masala and mix it completely. And now check if the salt is enough or add to taste. keep the lid closed and put the stove on for 5 more mins and then put it off.

Tasty Alu pyaas masala curry is now ready to be served

make your own fruit on the bottom yogurt cup

Just came across this and absolutely love it. Can see myself doing this many a times in the future.

http://www.thekitchn.com/make-your-own-fruitonthebottom-125467

Few other related ideas:
(in the order of interesting to boring):

http://creatingahouseofgrace.blogspot.com/2011/09/fruit-and-yogurt-parfait-how-to-make.html
http://www.annies-eats.com/2011/01/20/fruit-yogurt-granola-parfaits/
http://www.ehow.com/how_4678944_easy-yogurt-fruit-granola-treat.html
http://www.manicmommies.com/index.php/2011/05/04/recipe-of-the-week-yogurt-parfaits-for-a-group/

I haven't gotten around to making this myself..but plan to do so soon and will post a picture here then.

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Assorted ideas

http://showmethecurry.com/category/quickfixes/

http://www.bestofkanchan.com/indian-recipes/a-collection-of-indian-recipes-for-school-lunch/

scrambled eggs

http://www.vahrehvah.com/Akoori+(Masala+Scrambled+Eggs):495

Quick yogurt rice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R2O21fcfMg

Easy fried rice recipe

http://www.rakskitchen.net/2012/02/easy-fried-rice-recipe-indian-style.html

Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Method

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Yield: Makes one loaf.

Papad ki Sabji

IngredientsPapads
Onions, finely chopped
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1 tsp coriander (dhania) powder
salt to taste
oil
cumin seeds (jeera) and mustard seeds for temperingFenugreek seeds
Directions

Make papad in midium pieces. and chop onions.

In a skillet, add some oil, and let cumin seeds, mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds pop.

Saute finely chopped onions for 2-3 minutes.

Add papad and saute it 2,3 minute then add 1 small glass of water and add all spices and cook it for 5 minute and serve it hot.

Garnish with cilantro.

Vodka Melon!

Ingredients

1 Watermelon

Sugar

Ice

2 tsp Lemon juice

Directions:

In a food processor, crush the seedless watermelon and ice together. Do not add water.

Add 3-4 spoons sugar per glass, Add the watermelon slush in a glass.

Add tiny pinch of lemon juice in glass. Add one shot of Vodka in one glass.

Mix well. Garnish with mint/basil leaves!