Vegetable Soup

VEGETABLE SOUP

Ingredients:

1/2 cup carrots (chopped)
1/4 cup french beans (chopped)
1 cup chopped cabbage

1 Capsicum finely chopped
3-4 tsp butter
3 glasses of water
salt (namak) and pepper to taste

1-2 tsp cornflour

How to make mix vegetable soup:

 Add all finely chopped vegetables into boiling water and cook until they becomes little soft. Now add salt, Black Pepper and corn flour to make your soup little thick.Finely add butter before serving

MALAI KOFTA

MALAI KOFTA

Ingredients

 

For Kofta

·         Paneer - 1 cup (100 grams) grated

·         Corn flour - 1/3 cup

·         Cashew nuts – 5-6

·         Almond – 3-4

·         Raisins - 1 tbsp

·         Green cardamom powder

·         Salt - ½ tsp

·         Black pepper - ¼ tsp

·         Oil - to fry kofta

For White Gravy

·         Oil- 2 tbsp

·         Cashew nuts paste - 1/3 cup (50 grams)

·         Cream - 1 cup (200 grams)

·         Garam masala - 2 brown cardamom, 6 black pepper, 2 cloves, ½ inch cinnamon stick)

·         Ginger paste – 1 tsp

·         Garlic Paste – 1 tsp

·         Green chilly – 3-4 (finely chopped)

·         Salt - 1 tsp

·         Butter - 1 tbsp

·         Onion – 3-4 ( Chopped and boiled)

How to make Malai Kofta

 

Mix all ingredients listed above for koftas except oil and dry fruits and make smooth dough.

How to prepare stuffing for the kofta balls:

Finely chopped Almond. Cashews and raisins and stir fry in little oil .Let it cool

How to make kofta balls:

Take little amount of mixture (lemon size) and make round shape. Flatten it, make a dent in center and place 3-4 pieces of cashew nuts, almond and 2-3 pcs of raisins. Seal it from all sides nicely so that they do not splatter while frying. Give it a round shape. Coat the ball with corn flour nicely and place on the plate. Like wise prepare all balls.

 

How to fry kofta balls:

Heat oil in a pan. Make sure the oil doesn’t get heated up or is too cool. In medium hot oil place 2-3 balls. Cook until they get light brown color. Fry all balls like wise.

How to make white Gravy for Malai Kofta Curry

Firstly make paste of cashew nuts and onion separately. Before making paste soak cashew nuts  in warm water for ½ hour or in normal water for 2 hours then finely grind the soaked cashew nuts.

Heat oil in a wok add all whole spices then add onion paste fry till it separates oil now add cashew paste cook until oil starts separating masala.

Now add green chillies and add water cook for 10- 15 minutes Stir continuously. Add salt, sugar, butter and cream and cook for 2 minutes more. Gravy is ready. Before serving add kofta balls in gravy 2 minutes before and cover it.

You can also strain the gravy for smooth texture.

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CL TIPS

Use milk instead of water. Add milk with normal temperature in the gravy and stir continuously.

Potato Patties | Aloo Tikki

Potato patties is a quick and easy recipe made with grated potatoes and some mild spices commonly used in our food can be tried out when you are in hurry :)

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes, grated

1 pinch asafoetida 
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 to 2 tbsp besan / bengal gram powder
Fresh coriander chopped
1 tsp jeera
2 green chillies, chopped
Salt to taste

Method:

Grate the potatoes and add the other ingredients in. Mix well. Make into flat patty shapes on palm of hand and shallow fry in a wide pan until golden brown on both sides.

Serve hot with green coriander chutney/tomato ketchup . 

Rava dosa

Instant Rava Dosa

Rava dosa is a popular south Indian thin and crispy recipe Rava dosas are quick to make as compare to normal dosa as no fermentation is required in this recipe.

Ingredients

Rava/ Sooji – 1 cup Fine quality

Rice flour – ½ Cup

Maida – ½ cup

Onion – ¼ finely chopped

Coriander leaves – finely chopped

Green Chilli – 1 finely chopped

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

 Hing – A pinch

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil – 1 tsp

Desi  ghee – To drizzle

Method

Mix all the ingredients except mustard seeds. Now heat little oil in a wok spulletr mustard seeds now add into the mixture. Add more water if needed to max mixture thin. Set aside for 15 minutes Heat non stick tava till on medium flame till it become very hot use a ladder and drizzle the mixture on tava see you don’t pour lot of batter in one spot now let it cook for 1 minute now sprinkle desi ghee and cook it for 3-4 minutes till it turns to golden brown in colour. No need to cook other side as these dosas are really thin.

CL Tips

1. After making few dosas if the batter looks thick do add water to it to make it  thin.
2. It should be thicker than water. Not as thick as our normal dosa batter.
3. The flour tends to settle at the bottom so always mix it with a ladle before making dosas. Do this each time u make dosas.
4. If you want the dosas not so crispy, take them when it is lightly golden.
5. You can add a little more maida if the dosas are not coming proper. I do with this proportion and never did that.

No oil Pakoda's

Special Recipe by Cooking Lovers

I know you all must be aware about Gatte ki sabji a Rajasthani meal. My recipe is little similar to that keep reading for the recipe I don’t know whether anyone else also cook this or not anyways do let me know if you also cook this no oil pakodas J

Ingredients

Besan flour / Bengal gram flour - 2 cups
Green chillies – 2 finely chopped

Green coriander – Finely chopped

Hing / Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Garam Masala Powder – ½ tsp

Coriander Powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder – A pinch

Salt – As per taste

Oil – 3-4 tbsp

Ajwain/ Carom seeds – ¼ tsp

Red chilli Powder – As per taste

Method

First in a large bowl mix besan and salt now slowly add water and mix it well for consistency of this mixture see picture.

Better consistency

 In wide large bowl/kadai add 5-6 cups of water let it boil, then add 1 tbsp of oil, take small portion of mixture and put it into water same as we make pakodas.

Let the pakodas cook for about 15 minutes on high flame in water.

Once the pakodas are cooked, remove from the water and let it cool down.

Now heat a pan, add 2-3 tbsp of mustard oil , add cumin seeds, hing, salt, red chilli powder, garam masala ,a pinch of turmeric powder, green chilli, coriander powder and pakodas sauté for 3-4 minutes on high keep stirring else it will stick to the pan.

 Now add green coriander finely serve hot J

Anyone interested to know the recipe of Gatte ki sabji ?????

Cooking Lover’s Tip

To check whether your pakodas are cooked or not insert toothpick or knife into it if comes out clean means pakodas are cooked.

Green Tea - Recipe with Facts

I am a green tea drinker not because I love the taste but I am told that it’s good for me but recently I decided to look into with deeper sense after my visit to Kerala there we went to Tata Tea museum and I learned the correct way to make it. Yeah, I know now curiosity is killing the cat for the recipe J

Why Green Tea

Green tea has been used as a medicine as a medicine for thousands of years, originated in china but widely used throughout Asia The main reason which I got to know in my trip to Kerala is that this is more beneficial than black tea due to processing. Black tea is processed in a way that allows for fermentation whereas green tea’s processing avoids the fermentation process. As a result Green tea retains maximum amount of antioxidants and polyphenols.

Here is the list of amazing benefits:

Anti-aging: Green tea contains an antioxidant known as polyphenols which fight against free radicals. What this means it helps you fight against aging and promotes longevity.

Weight loss: Green tea helps with your body weight loss. Green tea burns fat and boosts your metabolism rate naturally. It can help you burn up to 70 calories in just one day. That translates to 7 pounds in one year.

Cancer: Green tea helps reduce the risk of cancer. The antioxidant in green tea is 100 times more effective than vitamin C and 24 times better than vitamin E. This helps your body at protecting cells from damage believed to be linked to cancer. 

Skin: The antioxidant in green tea protects the skin from the harmful effects of free radicals, which cause wrinkling and skin aging. Green tea also helps fight against skin cancer.

Arthritis: Green tea can help prevent and reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Green tea has benefit for your health as it protects the cartilage by blocking the enzyme that destroys cartilage.

Bones: The very key to this is high fluoride content found in green tea. It helps keep your bones strong. If you drink green tea every day, this will help you preserve your bone density.

Obesity: Green tea prevents obesity by stopping the movement of glucose in fat cells. If you are on a healthy diet, exercise regularly and drink green tea, it is unlikely you'll be obese.

Diabetes: Green tea improves lipid and glucose metabolism, prevents sharp increases in blood sugar level and balances your metabolism rate.

High blood pressure: Green tea helps prevent high blood pressure. Drinking green tea helps keep your blood pressure down by repressing angiotensin, which leads to high blood pressure.

Food poisoning: Catechin found in green tea can kill bacteria which causes food poisoning and kills the toxins produced by those bacteria.

Blood sugar: Blood sugar tends to increase with age, but polyphenols and polysaccharides in green tea help lower your blood sugar level.

Cold and flu: Green tea prevents you from getting a cold or flu. Vitamin C in green tea helps you treat the flu and the common cold.

Ear infection: Green tea helps with ear infection problem. For natural ear cleaning soak a cotton ball in green tea and clean the infected ear.

Tooth decay: Green tea destroys bacteria and viruses that cause many dental diseases. It also slows the growth of bacteria which leads to bad breath.

Allergies: EGCG found in green tea relieves allergies. So if you have allergies, you should really consider drinking green tea.

Caution ….

Another thing to point out is that there is caffeine in green tea — so if you are sensitive to caffeine then one cup should be your limit. Green tea also contains tannins (which can decrease the absorption of iron and folic acid), so if you are pregnant or trying to conceive then green tea may not be ideal for you. 

Perfect way of cooking green tea

Method
Heat four cups water in a pan till it almost reaches the boiling point but does not boil. Place the tea leaves in a tea strainer and place the strainer over a tea pot. Pour a little hot water and when it strains through discard it. This washes the tea leaves. Now pour the rest of the hot water and let it steep for one minute. Pour into individual cups and serve hot.

Cooking Lover’s Tip

The tea should not remain in the water for too long otherwise the tea will taste bitter. The ratio of tea leaves to water is two grams per hundred milliliters of water.

Bread bharta

Bread Bharta

Best recipe when you are in hurry easy to make and taste yummmm too ..

Ingredients

Bread Slices – 8 (I used brown breads)

Tomatoes – Finely chopped 3 medium

Green chilli – 1 finely chopped

Onion – 1 medium finely chopped

Lemon – 1

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – a pinch

Garam masala powder – a pinch

Salt – As per taste

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Coriander leaves – finely chopped

Oil – 1 tbsp

  

Bread crumbs

Method

Heat oil in a kadai/wok now put onion and fry till it becomes golden brown add tomatoes and green chilly cook for about 5 minutes on medium flame till they becomes soft now add coriander powder, turmeric, red chilli powder, garam masala powder and salt saute for 2 minutes then add bread crumbs (Make crumbs of bread slices) mix and cover it for 2 minutes.

Bread Bharta is ready serve hot for garnish sprinkle coriander leaves and lemon juice.

Note:

Don’t cook for more time after adding bread crumbs otherwise they will become very soft.

Puliyogare/Tamarind Rice

Puliyogare/Tamarind Rice

As I am in Bangalore so thought to try something from south first time I had this tangy rice In my office and really liked it.

Ingredients

Rice - 2cups

Oil – 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Peanuts – 2 tbsp

Dried red chillies – 1 or 2

Chana Dal – ½ tsp

Tamarind Paste – 2 tsp

Jaggery (gur)– 1 tsp

Curry leaves – 8

Salt – As per taste

Sesame seeds – 1 tsp

Chilli powder – 1tsp

For Powder

Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

Chana Dal – 2 tsp

Coriander seeds – 2 tsp

White sesame seeds – 2 tsp

Dried red chilly – 1

Asafoetida – a pinch

Dry coconut grated – 2 tbsp

Method

For the puliyogare powder

Dry roast mustard seeds, chana dal, coriander seeds and sesame seeds lightly in a non-stick pan. Add red chillies, asafoetida and dry coconut and roast till lightly coloured. Cool and grind to a powder.

Rice

Heat 2 tbsps oil in a deep non-stick pan. Add mustard seeds, red chillies, chana dal and peanuts and sauté for a few minutes. Dilute tamarind paste in ¼ cup water. Add curry leaves and tamarind water to the pan and mix well. When it comes to a boil, add jaggery and red chilli powder and mix. Cook on medium heat till the raw smells disappear and the mixture thickens. Add 1½ tsps puliyogare powder, mix and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add rice and mix gently till the rice gets heated through. Add salt and mix well.

Serve hot.

Tbsp. – tablespoon

Tsp -  Teaspoon

Bread Roll

Bread Roll Recipe

Fried rolls

Rolls

Stuffing

Ingredients

Fresh Breads - 6

Boiled Potatoes – 3 medium

Onion – 1 finely chopped

Green Chillies – 1 finely chopped

Ginger – 1 inch pc finely chopped

Cheese – 2 cubes grated

Salt – As per taste

Red chilli Powder – As per taste

Green coriander – Finely chopped

Chat Masala – 1 tsp

Oil – To fry

Method

• Mix all the above ingredients except oil and bread for filling.
• Now Take some water in a bowl and dip a bread slice only for few seconds. Don’t dip whole slice only one wet side is enough.
• Squeeze the water from the bread by pressing between palms gently.
• Place a tbsp potato mixture over the damp bread and roll and seal the edges of the bread in such a way that the filling does not come out from any part of the bread.
• Repeat the same process for making more rolls.
• Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry on medium flame till golden brown.
• Serve bread rolls hot with green chutney and tomato sauce.

 Note

Adding cheese is optional.

Dry fruits can also be added.