Vegetable Chowmein

My daughter loves Noodles. So Once in a while i like to make them in the Indo chinese style. Indo Chinese style is nothing but cooking in chinese stlye using indian ingredients. Try this Veg Chowmein recipe it came out really well..

INGREDIENTS

Noodles - 200gms

Green Pepper/Carrots/Cabbage-1cup(Julliened-slit into long and thin pieces)

Onion - 1Small sized cut into thin slices

Corn Pepper crushed-1tbsp

Garlic-2pods sliced finely

Soy Sauce - 1tsp

Chilli Sauce - 1tsp (I used 2 Green chillies chopped)

Vineger - 1tbsp (I used Lemon Juice for the Indian touch)

Spring Onions - 1tbps chopped(I used cilantro/coriander as i dint have spring onions)

Oil

Salt to taste

METHOD

1) Boil water in a pot. When the water is boiling add the noodles and close the lid for 3 or 4mns. Drain the water and wash the noodles in cool water. Add some oil to it so that the noodles dont stick to each other. Set them aside.

2)In a pan heat some oil. Saute the Green chillies, Garlic and stir them for few secs. Add the Onions and saute untli the raw smell goes off.

3)Make sure the flame is high. Now add the veggies and stir for a min. Dont over cook we need to maintain the crispiness of the veggies.

4)Now add the Soy sauce, salt and mix well. You can add the noodles now and blend it well.

5)Add the crused corn peppers and vinegar or lemon juice and garnish with spring onions or cilantro.

6)Serve Hot with Vegetable Manchurian. (will post the recipe soon)

Butter Naan

Whenever i go to restaurants i like to eat Butter Naan for the simple reason that we cant make it at home. But now i know to make it at home. So what are you waiting for? Try this recipe at home and get kudos from your loved ones.



INGREDIENTS



All Purpose flour -2 cups

Active Dry Yeast-2grams

Yoghurt-1tbsp

Butter

Sugar-1tsp

Salt-1tsp

Oil-1tbsp



METHOD



1) Mix the Dry Yeast in warm water. Add 1sp sugar and salt and a lil oil and set aside for 10mns

2)In a mixing bowl add the flour 1tsp salt, Oil, Yoghurt and mix it togeather add the frothy yeast mix to it and knead the dough.

3)Apply some oil in the bowl and place the kneaded dough in it and cover it with a damp cloth. Set aside for 1hr.

4)the dough would have doubled by now again knead the dough to take off the air molecules and set aside for 30 mns

5)Now divide the dough into equal parts and roll it into naan's.

6)Preheat ur oven at 500F. Apply some oil in the baking tray and place the naan on the tray and bake for 3mns

7) Remove the tray flip the naan onto other side bake for a couple of mns

8)Remove the Naan and brush it with butter on both sides. Your Butter naan is ready to be served. I sprinkle some chaat masala on top of the naan (Vah chef's idea thanks chef!) it tastes great.



Enjoy it with your favourite Veg/Non-Veg gravy.

Aloo Paratha

Do you know the difference between chapatti and Paratha? Chapatti's are made without oil (usually we apply some ghee or oil after taking it off the pan) whereas Paratha's are cooked with oil on the pan. Potatoes are all-time favourite vegetable. And we get it anytime anywhere. Aloo paratha is one of my favourite. So take a look at this fabulous paratha recipe...

INGREDIENTS

For Stuffing
Potato - 3 medium sized
Onions- 1 medium sized (chopped finely)
Green Chilli- 2 (chopped finely)
Cilantro - 2tbsp (chopped finely)
Fennel seeds-1tbsp
Turmeric Pwdr-1tbsp
Red chilli Pwdr-1tbsp
Coriander pwdr-1tbsp
Garam Masala-1tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil

For Paratha
Wheat Flour - 3cups
Oil- 1tbsp
Salt to taste

METHOD

1)Prepare the Paratha dough as we make it for chapatti and set aside
2)Boil the potatoes. peel off the skin, mash it and set aside
3)Heat Oil in the pan and splutter fennel seeds. Add the green chilli and onions and fry them until the onions become translucent.
4)Now add the turmeric, red chilli, garam masala, coriander pwdr and mix them well.
5)Let all the powders for a min in heat then add the mashed potatoes to the mixture and mix it all up.
6)Add salt to the stuffing and finish it off with the cilantro. Stuffing is ready.
7)Now divide the dough into equal parts as we do for chapatti. Similarly divide the stuffing into equal parts.
8)Roll the dough into a small chapatti place the potato stuffing ball into it close all the ends by folding the chapatti. Roll it again into nice thin paratha by dusting some wheat flour all over.
9)Toss it on the pan. apply some oil on both sides and toss until the paratha turn into a nice golden colour.
10)Serve it hot with any curry or raita.

My First Cake

Hi all I always wanted to try baking a cake at home. This was my first cake. Its a plain Vanilla cake. It was not a bad attempt at all. Because i was scared how it will turn out to be. One of my friend by name sheeja said that i can tell that it is a pudding if its too soft and biscuit if its too hard. But it turned out right. Thanks Ramya akka (she was my senior in college) for the recipe.

My First Pizza

I am a pizza lover. My hubby doesnt like it much. But still i like it so wanted to make it at home. Long time wish came true yesterday. I made my own pizza. I dint have cheese though. But nothing can stop me. Mission started so noway i can think of stepping back. So i made a veggie pizza without cheese. Healthy one right he he....

INGREDIENTS

All Purpose Flour - 2cups

Dry Yeast -2grams

Sugar-1tsp

Salt-2tsp

Olive Oil-2tsp

Pizza Sauce

Veggies for topping

Mozzarella Cheese (preferably)-1cup or even more if u like 'em

METHOD

1)In a bowl take some "luke warm" water and add dry yeast, 1tsp sugar and salt and mix it well. i have highlighted luke warm bcoz dry yeast will die in hot water. Close it and set it aside for 10 mins.

2)Take the all purpose flour in a mixing bowl add 1tsp salt and 2tsp olive oil. Mix it well.

3)Add the frothy yeast mix to it and make a dough. You can add some water if desired.

4)The dough shud be in our roti dough consistency. apply some oil on top of it and set it aside for 1hr.

5)After 1hr the dough would have become double in volume now punch the dough nicely to take any air molecules from it and set it aside agian for another 30mns

6)Now the dough is ready for pizza making

7)On the baking tray set a aluminum foil paper.Spray some nonstick spray or u can even apply some oil. roll the pizza in the shape u want it to be. no hard and fast rule it shud round right.

8)Apply some pizza sauce over it. I made tomato/pepper/onion topping. You can try diffferent toppings with or without cheese

9)Preheat oven at 450 degree and bake ur favourite pizza.

10)When the colour of the cheese at the sides changes to brown its done. Usually it takes 10 to 15 mns. There you are done with your excellent pizza.

PS: I like to add chaat masala and corn peppers on top for that spicy taste.. YUM YUM..... cant resist.......... Foodie lovers try to make your own pizza and relish the taste...

Simple Sambhar/Hogranae Huli

Always sambhar with sambhar powder is boring right. So try something without the powder like this recipe.... I got this recipe from my neighbour Divya... thanks Divya....

INGREDIENTS

Toor Dal-1cup

Onions- 1/2 chopped

Tomato- 1medium sized chopped

Veggies-Beans/carrot/peppers/potato/pumpkin(watever u get ur hands on)

Green chillis-3 to 4 nos as per ur taste

Red chilli-1or2

Mustard seeds-1tsp

Urad dal-1tsp

Fenugreek seeds-1/2 tsp

Chana dal-1/2tsp

Asafotida pwder-1/2tsp

Turmeric pwdr-1tsp

Curry leaves - few

Oil

METHOD

1) Boil the Veggies and toor dal as we do regularly

2) Heat Oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds,urad dal, chana dal, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, Redchilli and green chilli.

3) Add some asafoetida powder and then fry onions. Wait till they turn golden and then add the tomatoes.

3) Add some salt and turmeric powder to the mixture and let it fry for few seconds

4) Now add the veggies and let it absorb the mixture. Wait for a couple of mins for the veggies to

mix well.

5) Now you can add the mashed toor dal and let it boil. Add salt and chilli powder to your taste.

Let it boil for sometime and adjust the sambhar consistency as per your requirement.

6) Garnish with some cilantro and Serve hot. This sambhar tastes great with the real flavour of spices... mmmmm...... The smell talks about the taste................ Have a good lunch

Sprouts Pepper Rice

Wat for lunch? Wat for Dinner? This confusion is running in every womens mind everyday. So like that one day i was so confused and finally came up with this one. I always have sprouts at home bcoz my husband like them and they can be used in many dishes. Nutritious and Healthy one too. This is how i make sprouts pepper rice.

INGREDIENTS

Whole Moong Dal sprouts - cup

Green Pepper- 1/2 cup

Onions(medium sized)-1 chopped
Green chilli- 2nos

Crushed Corn pepper pwdr-1tsp

Ginger Garlic-thinly sliced 1tbsp

Cilantro/Coriander-chopped finely

Jeera-1tsp

Saunf-1tsp

Salt to taste

Oil

METHOD

1)Heat Oil in a pan. Splutter jeera and saunf.

2)Now add ginger garlic to this and saute until the raw smell goes off. Add chopped green chillies as well

3)Now add Chopped Onions and saute unil they become tender and translucent then add the green pepper and toss it for 2mns

4)Finally add the sprouts and toss it for a couple of mins

5)Finish it off with salt and crushed pepper and garnish it with coriander.

Add it with Rice. U have amazing sprout rice. A healthy and tasty food.

PS:You can microwave the sprouts for 2mns so that it is not too cruchy but easy to chew. If u like the rice to be very spicy you can add garam masala as well which add the extra flavour to your rice. Try it with different sprouts all tastes good.

Sweet Appam - Indian Banana Muffin

My daughter's favourite evening snack. When ever i find ripe bananas i easily finish it off by making sweet appam. My daughter calls it banana muffins. So this is how u make the yummy sweet appam. For which u might need kuzhi panayarakal which we get in india.

INGREDIENTS

Wheat flour - 1cup

Banana - 1/2

Elachi-1/2tsp

Coconut- 3tbsp

Jaggery- 1cup or to ur taste

METHOD

1)Mix all the above and prepare a batter as thick as the idli batter

2)Set it aside for 10 to 15 mns

3)Apply ghee in the paniyara kal before making ur appams

4)Pour it into the panaiyara kal and let it bake for 1min

5)Toss it the other side and pour a few drops of ghee

6)Once both sides are golden brown its done and ur ready to serve them

PS:U can add cashews in the batter which gives a richer taste.

MoreKozhambu/Majigae Palidha/Kadi

This is one of my favourtie kozhambu. Vegetarians dont have much options other than trying different kozhambu with different veggie's available. Usually in India when mom is left with lots of curds she makes morekozhambu.. So this is how u make the delicious morekozhambu

INGREDIENTS

To Grind:

Coconut - 4tbsp

Jeera - 1tbsp

Green Chilli - 3nos

Gram Flour - 1tbsp

Vegetable can be Lady's finger, white pumpkin or even raw planitain

Curds - 1cup (blend it in a liquid form)

To Saute:

Jeera

Curry Leaves

Oil

Red Chilli -1 or 2

Asafoetida a pinch

Turmeric

Salt to taste

METHOD

1)In a pan heat Oil and splutter jeera, curry leaves and redchilli. Add asafoetida pwder and turmeric to it.

2)Now Add the vegetable that u have taken and saute in low flame for a couple of mns

3)Grind all the ingredients given above for grinding with a lil water so that u make it a paste

3)Add the ground paste to the vegetables and let it boil for 2 mns

4)Add water to the mixture so that u get the consistency right.

5)When the mixture is boiling add the blended curd to it and let it boil.

6)Switch off the flame once the mixture starts boiling.

PS:Dont let it boil too much bcoz the morekozhambu might become watery.

Indo-Chinese Fried Rice

Everyone likes chinese food. Especially the fried rice they are so delicious that u cant resist from eating. So here goes the recipe of Indo Chinese Fried Rice.

INGREDIENTS

Rice-200gms

Carrots,Beans,Peas,Cabbage,Peppers -1 cup(Diced/Cut all put togeather)

Onions - 1(chopped finely)

Eggs - 2 (Optional i dint use them )

Soy Sauce - 2tbsp

Vinegar - 1tbsp (alternatively u can use lemon juice)

Salt - to taste

Green chilli/Chilli sauce - 2tbsp (i add them for a lil spicy taste)

Ginger Garlic- 2tbsp(thinly sliced)

Crushed Pepper corns- 1tbsp

Spring Onions or Cilantro/coriander-chopped

Oil - 2tbsp

METHOD

1)Soak the Rice for 30mns and cook them in 1:1 ratio and keep it aside

2)Heat Oil in a pan and saute Ginger Garlic,Onions one by one. Wait till the onions becomes translucent.

3)Then add the vegetables and stir them for 2mns

4)Now add the soy sauce,chilli sauce to the vegetables and stir again

5)Finally if u use eggs break them into this mixture and stir it so that the vegetables and eggs combine well.

6)Add some crushed pepper corns, salt and simmer it for a couple of mns

7)Finally add the boiled rice squeeze in some lemon juice and garnish it with cilantro and serve it hot.

P.S. Make sure u dont over cook the vegetables coz it shud be a lil crunchy to get the proper chinese style.

Sense the joy of becoming a Mother

Being a woman is a Gift of God. Every woman should be gifted to become a mother. Nothing can bring more happiness to her in this world than the moment she gives birth to a baby. Every woman under goes lots of mental and physical stress when she is undergoing the period of pregnancy. She equips herself by all means for the new arrival. Whenever you talk about being pregnant all women talk about vomiting, sleepless nights, and delivery pain etc. But apart from that there are some good moments to remember. This is the period when a woman should keep herself happy with good thoughts and deed turning out to be the blissful personality in this universe. I am a 23 year old young lady awaiting my new arrival next month. This is my first issue, and all these 8 months I have sensed several happy moments which I thought is worth putting down in words because I have heard my mother and aunties say “I don’t remember how I felt when I was carrying my child”.
The day I realized and doubted about having conceived I felt I was too young to give birth to a kid. My head was tossing with doubts, confusions, fear and expectations too. It was the happiest moment in my life when my pregnancy was confirmed. I was feeling embarrassed at the same time proud to know that I will be a mother very soon.
Suddenly everything around me became lovable and delightful. My better-half took special care not to pick up any fights or arguments with me. The first four months I never used to remember that I was carrying. At the end of the fifth month I started feeling small pinches here and there. Then I longed to go the clinic to listen to the heart beat of the baby and hear the doctor say “the baby is fine”, I will come back with great sense of contentment.
I realized my tummy is no longer flat as it was before. My slim figure was growing fatter day by day. I enjoyed watching my physical changes in front of the mirror. In the sixth month the baby started kicking. I could feel something hard pushing inside my stomach. I started noticing its movements all day.
In the seventh month the baby started moving inside the stomach. Wow!!!!! This is the most exciting thing any mother would like to feel. I was overwhelmed with joy when I tried to explain the baby’s movements to my husband. Poor thing they can only feel happy for their wives who enjoy carrying a baby. They can never carry one.
It’s my eighth month now and I can feel my tummy has become very heavy. I fear if my baby will have enough space to move inside. Now the baby’s movements are visible, suddenly I find a lump to the right of my stomach and suddenly it moves to the left. It keeps moving all night and I have lost my sleep.
There, one more month to go and then the day will come when I will have my kid in my hands. I am sure every mom would have had this experience. I suggest all future mothers to enjoy their period of pregnancy setting aside the troubles, fear and pains. Write down your feelings and thoughts in your personal dairy. You can refresh your thoughts by reading it in future. Let nice feelings linger throughout our life.

Today my daughter is 2 1/2 yrs old i still relish those moments when i read my words.

Jangiri

I always had a fascination to this jangiri. It looks like jalebi's but lil thick and tastes different. When we feel like eating jangiri usually we buy them from shops as mom used to say "we cant make it at home" . After coming to US i cant think of buying any indian sweets as we used to buy india. One fine day i was so tempted to eat these jangiri's i decided to try it at home. So here goes the recipe for jangiri

INGREDIENTS

Urad Dal - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1 tbsp -

Sugar-1 1/2 cup for making syrup

lime juice - 1tsp

water - 3/4 cup

Safron food color

Method

1)Wash and soak the dal for atleast 3 hrs

2)In a heavy bottom pan boil the water and add sugar to it and stir well till the sugar dissolves in water and once it start boil well add some lime juice. This prevents from forming crystals in the sugar syrup

3)Drain the water from the urad dal and grind to a very fine paste without adding much water and add safron color. If u think the dal mix is a lil thin add rice flour to get the right consistency.

4)Make a small hole in the zip lock bag so that u can pipe the jangiri.

5)Pour the mix to zip lock bag and pipe it into oil, if oil is too hot u will not get the jangiri in the right shape. So make sure the oil is at the right temperature.

6)Put the fried jangiri into sugar syrup for not more than few min coz they will turn soft.

7)Serve hot. Jangiri looks and taste great.

Vegetable Navratna Korma

When we think about making a sidedish for our roti's/chappati/naan we often end up with a onion base/tomato base/ coconut base gravies. It was so boring. I was hunting for something new and came across this recipe. he Veggie version of Navratna korma.... It is a rich and healthy mix of vegetables cooked in milk. here goes the recipe

INGREDIENTS
Carrots-1cup(chopped)
Beans-1cup(chopped)
Peppers-1cup (if u have diff colours it looks colourful)
Cauliflower-1cup(chopped)
Peas-1/2cup
Potatoes - 1cup(chopped)
Tomato-1cup(chopped)
Ginger Garlic - 1tbsp (i prefer to add thinly sliced)
Green chillies - 3nos (chopped finely)
Coriander-for garnish
Milk-2 cups
Corn flour-1tsp
Red chilli pwdr - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 1tsp
Coriander Pwdr - 1tsp
Turmeric Pwdr - 1tsp
Saunf-1tsp
Jeera-1tsp
Bay leaves-2nos
Oil - 2tsp
Salt to taste

METHOD
1)Heat Oil in the pan. Splutter saunf,jeera and bayleaves.
2)Now add the chopped chillies,ginger garlic and let fry for sometime till the raw smell goes off.
3)Mix turmeric,chilli,coriander in a lil water and add it in the pan this will avoid the pwders from burning
4)Mix it all well wait till the oil seperates and then add all the vegetables except pepper and tomatoes
5)Once all the vegetables are half done add peppers and tomatoes and allow it to boil for another few mns
6)Add the garam masala now. Mix the corn flour in the milk and add it to the veggie mix.
7)Let it to boil for sometime add salt to taste
8)Garnish it with some chopped coriander leaves.

You can add fried panner if u like them. I dont add it for health reasons. But once in a while its okay to have real richie food... hmm... smells good ... ready to eat....