Wood apple rice

Wood apple rice

Ingredients: 

1 - wood apple/elephant apple
2 cups - cooked rice
1 tbsp - peanuts 
1 tsp - mustard seeds
1 tsp - chana dal 
1 tsp - urad dal
1/2 tsp - turmeric powder
3-4 - green chillies 
3 - dried red chillies 
1 sprig - curry leaves 
1/8 tsp - asafoetida
Salt to taste
2 tbsp - oil 

Method

Break the wood apple and scoop out the pulp.
In a pan, cover the wood apple pulp with water and cook for 5 minutes.
Switch off the heat and after it cools grind into a paste.
Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, chana dal, urad dal and peanuts.
Once they start to splutter, add the slit green chillies, red chillies, curry leaves and hing and fry for a minute.
Then add the turmeric powder and wood apple paste and fry for a couple of minutes.
Switch off the flame and add the cooked rice and salt.
Combine well and serve.

Thandai ice cream

Thandai ice cream


Ingredients: 

1 litre full fat milk
300g sugar
20g cornflour
300g cream
A few strands of saffron 

To be ground finely for the thandai flavouring
1/4 cup almonds
2 tbsp poppy seeds (khus khus)
2 tbsp Lucknowi saunf (fennel seeds)
1/2 tsp cardamom (elaichi) powder
20 white peppercorns

Method

Dissolve the cornflour in 1/4 cup of cold milk. Keep aside.
Dissolve the saffron in 2 tbsp of warm milk. Keep aside.
Place the rest of the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and bring it to a boil.
Add the sugar and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the dissolved cornflour and simmer for another 5 minutes while stirring continuously, till it is of a coating consistency.
Remove from the fire and allow it to cool completely.
Add the thandai flavouring to the milk.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.
Add the cream and dissolved saffron to the milk mixture. Mix well.
Pour the mixture into a shallow freezer-proof dish and freeze till slushy.
Remove and whisk until smooth and creamy.
Freeze again until firm for about 4 to 6 hours.

Khoya - Kala Jamuns

Khoya - Kala Jamuns

Ingredients: 

2 1/2 cups -sugar
2 cups - khoya (available in indian stores)
3/4 cups - paneer (indian cottage cheese)
2 to 3 tbsp - plain flour
1/2 tsp - cardamom powder
milk to bind, approx 1 to 2 tbsp
4 cups - water
pinch - saffron
few drops - rose essence (optional)

Method

Grate the Khoya and Paneer and mix well.
Add the flour,cardamom powder and mash them all together till everything gets combined well.
For the store bought varities, a potato masher would be a great idea(!!).
If dry, add few drop of milk to bind them together.
Meanwhile prepare the sugar syrup. Combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil.
Simmer till the syrup reaches a single thread consistancy.
Add the saffron and the essence and stor well.(Dip the spoon in the syrup, take it out carefully (it wud be HOT), touch it with the tip of your forefinger to pick a drop of syrup.
Touch your forefinger with your thumb and pull apart slowly, to see how many threads are stretched between your finger and thumb.
When you get a single thread, switch off the heat)
Now make small balls, about the size of ping pong balls making sure the surface is smooth.
You can shape it into an oblong or just a round.
Heat Ghee -for deep frying - ( it tastes much better than jus vegetable oil and this is the authentic preparation),
drop a pinch of dough in it, and if it comes up immedietely, then lower the heat to a minimum and drop the balls in the ghee.
The trick is to keep the heat minimum and cook the balls for a long time till it gets dark.
If on high heat, the outer layer gets cooked faster but the insides remain uncooked.
Drop them in the syrup immedietely.
Usually when the temp is v low, the syrup starts becoming a solid mass soon, so keep it inside a preheated Oven to keep it in a liquid state.
Soak it for a while and you are ready to feast a Bengali special!.
Decorate it with dessicated coconut or nuts :)

Pizza with Indian spices

Pizza with Indian spices

Ingredients: 

3 tomatoes, chopped
2 capsicums, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped 
1 tsp. ginger-garlic paste 
1 small tin baked beans 
1 tsp. garam masala powder 
1/2 tsp. chilli powder 
1 tsp. coriander leaves, chopped 
Oil as needed 
Salt to taste 
8 pizza base, readymade 
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated 
1/4 cup chilli garlic sauce

Method

Heat 3 tbsp. oil. Add onions. Stir fry.
Add capsicums and tomatoes and stir fry till tender.
Add powdered masalas and baked beans.
Add salt and coriander leaves.
Cover 8 pizza bases with the mixture.
Cover each with the cheese and dot with sauce.
Grill for 8 to 10 minutes and serve hot.

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Poha pakoda

Poha pakoda

Ingredients: 

2 cups - aval/poha 
3 - onions 
1 tsp - red chilli powder 
1 handful - coriander leaves, chopped 
4 - potatoes
Oil to deep fry
1 tbsp - maida/cornflour 
Salt as needed

Method

Cut the onions into fine pieces.
In a big bowl, add poha, onions, salt red chilli powder, maida and coriander leaves.
Mix it nicely.
Let this mixture sit for 1/2 an hour.
Meanwhile cook the potatoes in a pressure cooker up to 5-6 whistles.
When it is done, peel off the skin and allow it cool.
Now mash them nicely with the back of a fork and mix it well with the poha mixture.
Make it into small, tight balls.
Do not add any water to the mixture.
The water oozed out from the onions is enough to make balls.
Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying the pakoda balls.
When it is hot put the balls in batches and fry it till they turn golden brown.
Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Coconut Cashew Burfi

DIWALI RECIPES

Coconut Cashew Burfi


Ingredients: 

500 g - cashew nuts
750 g - jaggery
1 - coconut, grated finely
2 tbsp - ghee 
vanilla essence

Method

Soak cashew nuts in cold water for 1 hour.
Drain cashew nuts and grind with grated coconut to thin paste.
Melt jaggery in a glass of water and heat to form a syrup.
Stir in the ground paste, ghee and essence.
Stir till mixture is semi-solid.
Remove from heat and spread mixture evenly on a plate.
Cut into desired shapes.

Rava Dosa Recipe

Rava Dosa Recipe

Ingredients: 

1 cup - semolina (rava/sooji)
1 cup - rice flour
1/2 cup - all purpose flour (maida)
1 tsp - cumin seeds
1/4 tsp - asafoetida (hing)
2-3 - green chillies (finely chopped)
1 small piece - ginger (finely chopped)
1/2 cup - buttermilk
3-4 cups - water
1 big - red onion (finely chopped)
1/2 tbsp - pepper corn (crushed) 

Seasoning:
1 tsp - salt
1/2 tsp - pepper powder (optional)
1/4 tsp - sugar 

For Garnish:
Coriander, finely chopped
5-6 - curry leaves

Accompaniments:
Sambhar
Chutney

Method

In a bowl take maida, rice flour and semolina.
Add salt, sugar and pepper powder to it. Mix well.
To the dry ingredients add, buttermilk and water.
Add water gradually and use an egg beater to mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
Once mixed well without lumps add chopped ginger, chilly, pepper corn, asafoetida, cumin and onion.
You could add onion to the batter or sprinkle it on the ladled dosa on a tava or flat pan.
Unlike conventional dosa the consistency for this batter should be a bit a runny.
It is this consistency that will help yield thin, crispy and lacy dosa.
Take a flat frying pan or tawa and heat it.
Ensure the tava is extremely hot.
For crisp dosa reduce the gas to medium and spread a ladle of the batter on the tava.
Pour the batter in circles starting from outside and moving inwards.
It`s at this stage you could sprinkle the onion if it`s not added to the batter.
Glaze it with some oil or ghee.
Once browned and crisp, do not flip just fold and serve hot.
If you do not want crisp dosa just increase the heat and flip the dosa, cooking it on the other side too.

Notes:
1) To make buttermilk, take 1/2 cup of extremely sour curd; add 1-1/2 cups water and beat well or just whip in a juicer.
2) Addition of onion makes it onion rava dosa - You could be innovative and use any other ingredient you like. 3) The semolina should be of coarse variety and not fine for better results.
4) You could buy rice flour from stores or make your own by soaking 1 cup of rice in water for 5-6 hours. Remove from water and spread on a kitchen towel to absorb the water. Let it sit for half hour to an hour. Grind the rice in a mixer jar and remove. Sieve it 2-3 times to get fine flour.