Tomato rice

Serves - 2

Ingredients needed

Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Onion - 2
Ginger and garlic paste- 1 tsp
tomatoes - 4 (medium size)

Carrot chopped- 1/2 cup

Beans chopped- 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2 slit (small ones)
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Chilli Powder - 3/4 tsp
Garam masala powder -1/2 tsp (optional)
Mint leaves - handful chopped finely
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp finely chopped
Salt as needed

For the seasoning

Oil - 3 tbsp
Bay leaf -1
Cloves -2
Cardamom -1
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece

Method:

Soak basmati rice for 20 minutes, drain the water completely and keep it aside.

Chop tomatoes and cut onions lengthwise.


Heat oil in a pan, add bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. Fry for a few seconds and then add thinly sliced onions.

Sauté till onions become slightly golden brown; add ginger garlic paste and sauté for a few more minutes.

Then add chopped tomatoes, carrot, beans, turmeric powder, chilli powder, green chillies, mint leaves, half of coriander leaves, salt (approximately 2 tsp and little more) needed and garam masala powder. Cook till tomatoes become mushy.

Add the drained rice, 2 cups of hot water,(check for salt now by tasting the water) and transfer it to a container and pressure cook for 3 whistles. When the pressure subsides, open it and fluff it with a fork. Garnish with the remaining coriander leaves.

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Palak Dal

Ingredients

•	Spinach, finely chopped	15-20 leaves
•	Split green gram skinless (dhuli moong dal)	3/4 cup
•	Turmeric powder	1/2 teaspoon
•	Asafoetida	a pinch
•	Oil	2 tablespoons
•	Cumin seeds	1 teaspoon
•	Garlic,chopped	6-8 cloves
•	Ginger,chopped	1 inch piece
•	Green chillies,seeded and chopped	2
•	Onion ,chopped	1 medium
•	Salt	to taste
•	Lemon juice	1 teaspoon

Method
Cook moong dal with half the turmeric powder and asafoetida till soft. Heat oil (or ghee) in a pan. Add cumin seeds, garlic, ginger, green chillies and sauté for one minute. Add onion and continue to sauté till onion gets lightly browned. Add spinach and sauté for half a minute. Add the remaining turmeric powder and stir. Add dal and mix well. Add one cup water and salt and stir. Add lemon juice just before serving.

For garnishing:

Heat ½ tsp of oil in a pan adds 1-2 whole red chill. Pour this over the palak dal. 

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Helathy - Oats Idly

Ingredients:

Oats -3/4 cup
Rava/Sooji - 1/2 cup
Curd - 1 cup

Eco (fruit salt)- 1/2 tsp
Salt as required

For the seasoning

Oil -2 tsp
Mustard -1 tsp
Jeera/cumin seeds -3/4 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Hing - a  pinch
Whole black pepper (crushed) -1/4 tsp
Ginger - 1 inch piece (finely chopped)
Green chilli - 1 (finely chopped)
Carrot -1 grated
Coriander leaves -little (finely chopped)
Curry leaves - few

Method:
Dry roast oats till it becomes slightly hot to touch. Powder it and keep it aside.

Dry roast rava also till it becomes slightly hot.

Heat 2 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add the rest of the ingredients mentioned under seasoning. Fry till the raw smell of the carrot goes.

In a bowl, mix powdered oats, rava, curd, salt,baking soda, the seasoning and needed water to make a batter similar to idli batter. Let it sit for 15 minutes.
(The batter should neither be thick nor thin but should be of dripping consistency.)

Bring water to boil, grease idli moulds with oil and pour a small ladle of batter into the idly mould. Steam for 15-20 minutes and serve hot with any chutney or sambar of your choice.

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Corn meal dosa and cabbage chutney

Corn meal Dosa

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup rice flour
• 1 green chilli chopped finely
• 1 cup  cornmeal
• ¼ cup sooji/rava/semolina
• Turmeric (a pinch)
• 1-2 tsp chopped coriander leaves (optional)
• Salt to taste  

Seasoning 

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• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds/ Jeera
• ¼ tsp mustard seeds
• 4-5 curry leaves chopped
• oil

Method:

• In a bowl mix together the cornmeal, turmeric, semolina, rice flour, salt, chopped green chilles and coriander leaves.
• Add water and make a smooth paste. The batter should be thin (unlike a regular dosa).
• Heat little oil in a pan, and then do a tadka/seasoning of add jeera, mustard seeds, curry leaves.
• Add this to the batter, stir and keep aside for 20-30 minutes.
• Heat a dosa tava/non-stick pan and grease it lightly.
• Mix the batter again well and add more water if needed.
• Take a ladle full of batter and pour starting from the center and then towards the edges. You will not be able to spread the batter like a regular dosa and also this dosa will not be round.
• Spread oil around the edges and through the holes. Cook until the bottom part gets lightly browned and then flip it over and cook on the other side. Spread little more oil.
• Fold the dosa and serve hot along with chutney.

Cabbage Chutney

Ingredients
Chopped purple cabbage – 2 Cups(loosely packed)
Pearl Onions – 1/3 Cup
Peanuts – 1/3 Cup
Green Chilies – 4 to 5 or to taste
Tamarind – 1 inch piece
Salt – 1 Tsp or to taste
Coconut Oil – 1 Tbsp
Mustard Seeds – 1 Tsp
Split Urad Dal – 1 Tbsp
Asafoetida – small pieces

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Method
1) Heat a pan and once hot add the coconut oil. Once the oil is warm add the peanuts and saute till they are slightly brown and remove them from the heat. Now in the same oil, add the mustard seeds and asafoetida piece. . After the mustard seeds stop spluttering add the urad dal and the tarmarind piece.
2) After the urad dal slightly browns , remove the tamarind piece along with some urad dal and mustard seeds. Add the green chilies(chopped) and pearl onions and saute till the onion turns translucent.
3) Now add the chopped cabbage and saute for 5-7 minutes on high heat and switch off. Let this cool for some time.
4) Now transfer the contents to a food processor, add the tamarind piece,salt, roasted peanuts and little bit of water and blend till a smooth paste. Add the reserved mustard seeds and urad dal back to this stir and serve along with Idli or Dosai.

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Kulcha

Ingredients:

• Maida - 400 gms. (3 cup)
• Baking soda - 1/3 tea spoon.
• Baking powder - 1/2 tea spoon.
• Sugar - 1 tea spoon.
• Oil - 1 table spoon.
• Curd - 2 table spoon.
• Salt - 3/4 tea spoon (according to the taste)
• Chopped coriander - 1 cup.

Method:

Sieve the maida in a bowl and add baking soda and baking powder into it. Mix the ingredients well.
Divide the maida in two portions making a space at the center. Now put curd, salt, sugar and oil at the center and mix them well with the flour. Now knead it with luke warm water to make a smooth dough. Flip, turn and punch the dough for 5 minutes to make it smooth and elastic. Apply oil on the dough with hands on all the corners and cover it with a clean towel. Keep the bowl at a warm place for 6-7 hours.
Withing 6 hours the dough will rise and double up. Take off the towel from the bowl and punch the dough once again with hands to fix it. The dough to make kulcha is ready. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts. If you making the kulcha on a pan (tawa), then grease it with little oil and keep on the flame so that it heats well. Meanwhile, take one portion of the dough and roll it into a flat disc of 5-7 inches. You can also increase the size of the kulcha by pressing it with greased hands. Sprinkle some coriander on the rolled out kulcha and press with hands to fix them with help of little water. Now put the kulcha on the pan facing it upwards. Flip the side of the kulcha once the bubbles starts to form at the upper surface or rises up. Apply some oil/ butter on the kulcha when the surface turns light brown in colour. Roast the kulcha till it turns brown from both the sides. Prepare all the kulchas in the same manner.

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Coconut ladoo

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cup shredded coconut (fresh/frozen)
• 1 cup sweetened condensed milk 
• ½ tsp cardamom powder
• ½ cup coconut for garnishing/rolling the laddoo
  If raisins to decorate the ladoos.
    
  Method: 
• Heat a heavy bottom flat pan (preferrable non-stick) on low flame. Add the shredded coconut first and gently stir it for about a minute. This is to remove any kind of moisture from the coconut and also to bring out its nutty flavor. Be very careful as it gets burnt very fast. The coconut should have a very pale brown color; the aroma from coconut is heavenly.
• Next add the condensed milk and stir. Make sure that the coconut mixture does not get stuck to the bottom.
• Depending on the quantity it takes about 20-25 minutes to thicken up. Add the cardamom powder at this stage and mix well.
• The mixture also thickens up after it is cooled. After it is sufficiently cooled, taken small pieces and roll into balls.
• Garnish or roll this over the remaining coconut shredding. This makes about 10-15 medium sized laddos.

 Once you have made the ladoo garish with raisins and keep in fridge for 2 hours.

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Appo/ Appe

Ingredients :

• 100gms - Urad dal
• 200gms -  uncooked Rice
• Cooking oil 
• Appe pan

Method :

1. The dal and rice is to be soaked in water for 2-3 hours.
2. Grind to a fine batter - batter should be thicker than dosa batter - about 25% thicker. After grinding, add salt. Keep this mixture overnight to allow fermentation.
3. Heat the appe pan - add a little oil to each of the little compartments - to get a thin layer of oil - fill the compartment with batter. Cover this pan on top.
4. After roasting to a slightly golden colour - turn over with a spoon - and roast.
5. Eat with coconut chutney.

Tip: You can keep the batter for 1-2 days in the fridge. On the second day - add finely chopped onions, green chillies. www.thboxes.com

Litti chokha

Ingredients :
For Dough 

Wheat flour (atta) - 2 cup Yogurt (dahi) - 4 tablespoon Water - 1/2 cup   For Filling: Sattu - 1 cup ( gram flour made by fried gram in hot sand) Garlic( chopped ) - 4 cloves Ginger( chopped ) - 1 tablespoon Green chilies ( chopped ) - 2 Coriander leaves ( chopped ) - 2 tablespoon Onion seeds ( Mangrella ) - 1/2 teaspoon Thyme ( Ajwain ) - 1/2 teaspoon Lemon juice - 2-3 teaspoon Pickle masala (achar) - 3 teaspoon Mustard oil - 2 tablespoon Salt to taste   Method: Mix all the filling ingredients with sattu. Add 1/4 cup water to make the stuffing moist and easy to fill. Keep aside. Add yoghurt , in flour. Mix lightly with finger tips with water knead it into stiff dough. Make balls out of dough of 2.5" to 3" diameter in size with hand. Stuff 2 to 3 teaspoon sattu filling in the center of each balls and close it from all sides. When all the littis are stuffed, pre-heat the oven to 375 F and put all the littis on a foil . Bake till one side is brown and black spots come on the litti surface. Then turn over the litti and bake for few more minutes until that side is brown as well. Take out and dip in pure ghee or butter and serve with baigan (Brinjal) ka bharta. If you enjoyed reading this article, consider sharing it. Thanks.

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Sattu Paratha

Ingredients  :

2 cups Roasted Chana dal
1 t-spoon roasted Cumin
1/2 onion, chopped
2 table-spoon coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 table-spoon, grated ginger
1 Green Chilly, finely chopped
1/2 t-spoon turmeric powder
1/4 t-spoon red chili powder
1/2 t-spoon amchur (dry mango powder)
1/4 t-spoon Ajwain
Salt to taste
oil for shallow frying
Wheat flour -2 cups
Water to knead the dough.

Method :

• Coarsely grind Chana dal and cumin to make a powder known as Sattu. Combine all the ingredients including sattu in a large bowl and mix properly.
• Knead dough with wheat flour and water.
• Now, take a small dough and roll it into a small chapati. Spread a bit of ghee on the surface of the chapati and place suitable amount of Sattu mixture.
• Now, gather all the edges of the chapati with Sattu mixture inside it to a round peda. Now, roll out the peda into suitable size Paratha in such a way that it should not get broken from anywhere.
• On a preheated griddle or tawa add sufficient amount of oil and roast paratha from both sides by turning it many times and spreading oil to its surface. Roast it on medium heat till both the sides gets brown patches and the paratha gets properly cooked from inside.
• Take it off from the griddle and serve Sattu ka Paratha hot.

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Vada Pav - Indian style burger

Vada Pav is a popular street food and perfect punch  recipe as evening snack.

Ingredients

•	Potatoes,boiled, peeled and mashed	6 large
•	Garlic	8-10 cloves
•	Green chillies	4
•	Turmeric powder	1/4 teaspoon
•	Asafoetida	a pinch
•	Lemon juice	1 tablespoon
•	Fresh coriander leaves,chopped	1/4 bunch
•	Salt	to taste
•	Oil	to deep fry
•	Pavs	8
•	FOR BATTER
•	Gram flour (besan)	1 1/4 cups
•	Soda bicarbonate	a small pinch
•	Turmeric powder	1/4 teaspoon
•	Red chilli powder	1/2 teaspoon
•	Salt	to taste
•	Oil	1 tablespoon
•	Red chutney
•	Dry coconut (khopra),grated	3 tablespoons
•	Red chilli powder	2 teaspoons
•	Garlic	4-6 cloves
•	Oil	1 tablespoon
•	Gram flour Crumbs (besan boondi)	1/2 cup
•	Salt	to taste

Method
For red chutney, grind together coconut, red chilli powder and garlic in a mixer. Heat oil in a non stick pan, add this mixture and sauté for a minute. Add the gram flour crumbs and mix well and remove from the heat. Season with salt. Set aside to cool. Grind together green chillies and garlic to a paste. Mix the potatoes, garlic-green chilli paste, turmeric powder, asafoetida, lemon juice, coriander leaves and salt in a bowl. Divide into eight equal portions and roll them into balls. Mix together gram flour, soda bicarbonate, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt in a bowl. Heat one-tablespoon oil and add it to the gram flour mixture. Add sufficient water and whisk to make a coating consistency batter. Heat sufficient oil in a kadai. Dip the potato mixture balls in the batter and deep fry in hot oil till golden brown in colour. Drain on an absorbent paper. Slit the pavs horizontally without cutting through, spread the red chutney on the inner sides of the pav and stuff it with hot vadas. Serve hot.

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Chicken achari- pickle.

http://tipsfromyuvika.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/chicken-achari-pickle.html www.thboxes.com

Paneer -ee-bhaar

http://askmerecipes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/paneer-ee-bhaar.html
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Egg and Mashroom Panini

http://askmerecipes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/egg-and-mashroom-panini.html





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Stawberry Milkshake

Ingredients:
2 pints strawberries, frozen or fresh
2 -3 cups milk (depending on desired thickness)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 -3 scoops vanilla ice cream (optional)

Method:

Put all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth.
Serve

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Crab Masala

Ingredients:


•3 tbsp Oil
•3 Cinnamon Sticks
•A sprinkling of Cloves
•A sprinkling of Cardamom Pods
•2 medium Onions
•1 1/2 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste
•1 tsp Turmeric powder
•1 tsp Red chilli powder
•1 1/2 tbsp Coriander powder
•3 tbsp Cumin powder
•3 Tomatoes
• A pinch or two of salt
•800 g Crab (with shell)
•A bunch of Fresh Coriander leaves
•1 tbsp Tomato paste

Method:
 Onions

Finely slice 2 medium sized onions.

 Fry

Warm the pan over a high heat before adding 3 tablespoons of oil. Add 3 sticks of cinnamon, a sprinkling of cardamom pods, and a sprinkling of cloves. Cook for about a minute. The oil will help extract the flavour of the spices. Add the chopped onions and cook for a further 10 minutes until golden brown. Keep stirring occasionally.

 Chop tomatoes

tomatoes into small pieces.

 Add ingredients

Now add 1 tablespoon and a half of ginger-garlic paste and stir well.

Then add 1 teaspoon of turmeric,

1 teaspoon of red chilli,

1 and a half large teaspoons of coriander,

and 3 large teaspoons of cumin powder.

Turn the heat down a little and stir well because dry ingredients can easily stick to the bottom of the pan.

Now add the tomatoes. Turn up to a high heat as there is now less risk of the ingredients sticking to the bottom and burning. Stir for a further 2-3 minutes.

Add a little water and keep stirring for another 2 to 3mins. If the ingredients stick at all, add a little more water.


Add a teaspoon of tomato paste to add some colour to the sauce. Stir for a further 2 minutes


Add half a teaspoon of salt and continue to stir


Now add the crab. Stir until all the pieces are smothered with sauce. Turn the stove down to a low heat, add a little water, and stir. Cover and simmer for about 6-8 minutes.

Add a little water after about 5 minutes

Chop up some coriander as a garnish.

Then garnish the crab masala with a sprinkle of coriander, and serve.

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Poha- perfect weekend breakfast/ evening snack

Ingredients:
 2 Cups poha
• 1 Green chillie
• 1 big Onion, chopped finely
• 1 Tomato, chopped finely
• 1 tsp Mustard seeds
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• Salt to taste
• Few curry leaves and few coriander leaves.

• Oil as required
 
Method:
• Soak poha in water.
• Wash and drain all the water.
• Heat oil in a pan.
• Add mustard, cumin, chilli and curry leaves.
• Fry onions until light brown.
• Add tomatoes, tumeric and salt. Fry it properly.
• Mix poha with it.
• Put it on low heat for 4 minutes.  Garnish with coriander leaves.

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Dal Makhani

Tasty dal  preparation made with a combination of rajma and urad dal.

Ingredients • Whole black gram (sabut urad)  1/2 cup

• Red kidney beans (rajma)  2 tablespoons

• Salt  to taste

• Red chilli powder  1 teaspoon

• Ginger, 1/4 cup greated

• Butter  3 tablespoons

• Oil  1 tablespoon

• Cumin seeds  1 teaspoon

• Green chillies,slit  2

• Tomatoes,chopped  3 medium

• Garam masala powder  1 teaspoon
1/4 cup chopped coriander.
1/2 cup fresh cream

 Method
Pick, wash and soak sabut urad and rajma overnight in three cups of water. Drain.
Pressure cook sabut urad and rajma in three cups of water with salt and half the red chilli powder (you can add half the greated ginger too if you wish) for three whistles.
Open the lid and see if the rajma is totally soft. If not cook on low heat till the rajma becomes totally soft. Heat butter and oil in a pan.
Add cumin seeds. When they begin to change colour, add ginger sauté till golden.
Add tomato and green chillies paste  sauté on medium heat. Add the remaining red chilli powder and sauté till the tomatoes are reduced to a pulp. Add the cooked dal and rajma along.
Add 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup warm milk (if the mixture is too thick).
Add garam masala powder and adjust salt. Simmer on low heat till the dals are totally soft and well blended. Serve hot with 1 tsp of butter. Garnish with coriander and 1/2 cup fresh cream.

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Avocado Coconut Ice-cream

Ingredients

2 ripe medium avocados (about 1 lb. total), chilled
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk

Method:
1. Pit avocados. Scoop flesh into a food processor, add sugar and lemon juice, and whirl until smooth. Add sweetened condensed milk and coconut milk and whirl to blend.
 2. Blend the ingredients together in a mixer. Freeze in a glass bowl.
 3. Cover and freeze until firm enough to scoop, about 2 hours.
4. Serve with honey and fresh greated coconut.




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Avocado Guacamole

Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 small tomato
1 1/2 Tbsp lime juice (or juice of 1 fresh lime)
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Peel avocados and remove the pit (see below for a neat idea on how to use the pits)

Peel and mince the onion and the garlic

Chop the tomato.

Mash the avocado in a bowl  and then stir in the remaining ingredients.
Serve cold with pasta or simply with tortillas. Its a perfect evening snack.

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Avocado Hummus

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado, cut in half, skin and stone removed
400 gms chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 garlic, peeled and chopped
1-2 lemons, juice only
1/2 tsp tabasco
1/2 tsp cumin powder
salt to taste

Method:
Blend all the above until smooth.
Transfer this into a bowl and cover with cling film.
Chill in fridge for 1 hour.
Serve with bread of your choice.

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Mashroom Rice

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter
6 mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped finely
450ml (16 fl oz) chicken stock
200g (7 oz) white rice
small handful chopped fresh parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:
1.Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook mushrooms, garlic and onion until mushrooms are cooked and liquid has evaporated. Stir in chicken stock and rice. Season with parsley, salt and pepper. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Serve hot. Serves four.

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Avocado Salsa

For Salsa
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp white wine vinegar (optional)
50 gms onion, chopped finelly, cooked in little oil to soft.
100 gm mango, peeled and chopped
1 ripe avocado, peeled, chopped and stone removed
salt to taste
1 tsp black pepper powder

Method:
In a bowl put olive oil and honey mix them. Them add onion, mango, avocado, salt and black pepper mash roughly. Cover the bowl with cling film and keep in fridge for half hour.To serve, spoon  the salsa into centre of a plate and place the bbq fish on top nd mashroom rice. (Mshroom rice recipe on my blog)

http://yuvikasrecipes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/mashroom-rice.html
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Avocado Milkshake

Ingredients:
•2 to 3 cups cold milk
•1 ripe avocado
•3 tablespoons sugar
•handful of ice (optional)

Method:

Peel the avocado and cut in half. Discard the pit.

Put the avocado and sugar in a blender with 1 cup of milk. Blend until very creamy and smooth.

Gradually add another cup or two of milk to make the shake as thin or as thick as you like. How much milk you need will depend on the size of the avocado.

Add a handful of ice to the blender if you like your shake well-chilled, and blend for another minute. Pour into glasses, and serve.

Makes 2 to 3 servings.

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Vermicelli Biryani

Ingredients:

• 250gms of Vermicelli
• One large Onion
• One Tomato
• One Carrot
• Half a cup shelled Peas
• Few florets of Cauliflower
• One small Potato
• Five Beans
• 1/4tsp of Turmeric powder
• 1/2tsp of Chilli powder
• One tsp of Garam masala powder
• Salt to taste

To Grind

• Two Green chillies
• One piece of Ginger
• Four pods of Garlic
• Half cup Mint leaves

To Temper

• Four tbs of Oil
• Four Cloves
• Three Cardamoms
• Two Cinnamon sticks
• One Tbs of Fennel seeds

Method:

Roast the vermicelli in unsalted butter or 3 tsp of ghee. Till golden brown. Chop all the vegetables. Heat oil in a pan and add the things given under To Temper. Fry Onions till translucent. Meanwhile grind the ingredients listed under To grind into a paste. Add Tomatoes to the frying onions and fry till it gets mushy.Add Turmeric powder. Add the other vegetables,salt,chilli powder and garam masala powder. Saute for a minute. Add water (supposing you take one cup of vermicelli take two cups of water ie. ratio 1:2 ) and allow it to boil. When it boils add the vermicelli and keep stirring to avoid any lumps. Garnish with Coriander leaves and enjoy when it is still warm.

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Sabudana (tapioca) Khichdi

Sabudana khichdi is great for breakfast or as a snack and it tastes delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups tapioca (sabudana)
• 1/2  cup broken raw peanuts (mungfali)
• 2 green chilies sliced long ways
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1/2  teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1/2  teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)
• 1/4  teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
• 1 teaspoon salt adjust to taste (during fast you can use sendha namak)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• About 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro (hara dhania)

Method:

1.        Gently wash then soak tapioca (sabudana) in about 1/2 cup of water for 6 to 8 hours.

2.        Roast the peanuts on medium heat, until they are lightly brown. Keep aside.

3.        Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if seed cracks right away then oil is ready.

4.        Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds after seeds crack add green chilies and stir for a few seconds.

5.        Add the soaked tapioca (sabudana) and stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes ,

6.        Add turmeric, and salt and stir fry on medium heat continuously until tapioca (sabudana) becomes translucence, looks like pearls. Stir gently and making sure tapioca doesn’t get sticky and stuck to each other. This should take about 6 to 7 minutes.

7.        Add peanuts, lemon juice and cilantro (hara dhania), stir gently.

8.        Serve hot and ENJOY!

Tips:

1.        If you don’t stir continuously tapioca will stick to each other.

 

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Tadkewali Rani dal

Ingedients:

• 1 cup masoor dal
• 1tsp Jeera
• 1tsp chilly powder
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2tbsp chopped coriander
• 3tbsp ghee (clarifyed butter)

• Salt to taste

For tempering:

• 2tbsp butter
• 1 chopped tomato
• ½ tsp Garam masala
• Lemon juice- 1 tsp
• Sliced 5-8 cashew nuts

Method:

• Wash the dal. Soak for an hour and then drain.

• Heat the ghee. Add cumin seeds and cook until they begin to crackle.

• Add onion and cook until light pink

• Again add the dal and cook for 4-5 minutes

• Add coriander powder, chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt.

• Cover and cook until 2/3rds of the water has evaporated

• Mash the dal lightly

• Prepare the tempering by melting the butter, adding the tomato, lemon juice, cashew nuts and garam masala. Cook on slow flame for 2 minutes.

• Add to the cooked dal and stir for 3-4 minutes.

• Sprinkle coriander on top and serve hot.

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Moong dal Halwa

Ingredients

•	Split green gram skinless (dhuli moong dal) ,soaked	1 cup
•	Sugar	1 cup
•	Saffron (kesar)	a generous pinch
•	Milk	1/2 cup
•	Ghee	1 cup
•	Mawa (khoya),crumbled (if you donot find khoya then add 3-4 tsp of milk powder)	3/4 cup
•	Almonds (chopped), Cashew nut (chopped) and Raisins	10 – 12

Method
Drain and grind the moong dal coarsely using very little water. Prepare one-string sugar syrup with sugar and one and half cups of water. Soak saffron in hot milk. Heat ghee in a thick-bottomed pan and add the ground moong dal and sauté, stirring continuously, over low heat till the dal turns golden brown. This needs time and patience. Do not rush through this step. Add the sugar syrup and saffron milk. Stir till they are thoroughly incorporated and the halwa is of dropping consistency. Add mawa and cook till it dissolves. Serve hot garnished with chopped nuts and raisins.

 Tip
Add one tablespoon of besan to melted ghee before putting the ground moong dal. It helps in even cooking of ground moong dal and also prevents formation of lumps during cooking. 

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Vegetable (veg) Biryani

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati Rice
1 cup Mixed Vgetable (cauliflower, potato, carrot, french beans)
150 gms Green Peas
3 Finely Sliced Onion
2 Finely Sliced Green Chillies
Salt to taste
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder

2 tsp Cumin seeds

Bay leaves-2

Cinnamon stick- ½ inch

4 Cloves
1/2 tsp Black Pepper Powder
2 Tomato
4 tbsp Oil
3 tbsp Dry Fruits (cashew nuts, raisin) –optional, for garnishing

How to make vegitable biryani :

• Wash the basmati rice well before cooking. Then take rice with 3-3/4 cup water. Soak for 15 minutes.
• Cook the rice in rice cooker or microwave with 1tsp oil and salt.
• Cut all the vegetables into small thin pieces and fry each one of it separately in oil. Fry the green peas also.
• Take 1 tblsp oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, green chilli, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves, black pepper powder and stir for about half minute. Then add onions and saute them for a minute or till they get pink in colour.
• Add salt and red chilli powder and stir.
• Add fine chopped tomatoes and fry till they are properly cooked.
• Add all the fried vegetables.
• Add the cooked rice and mix well with very light hands so that the rice grain doesn't break. Cook for about 2 minutes.
• Take this vegetable biryani out in a rice serving dish.
• Garnish with dry fruits and green coriander leaves.Serve hot with raita and mirchi ka salan.

(http://yuvikasrecipes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/mirchi-ka-salan.html)

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