Homemade Chocolate Cups

100th recipe...so happy to share with you all my 100th recipe and it has to be something sweet... Chocolates :)

Ingredients:

Dark Cooking Chocolate block - 1/2 (250 gms)

Milk - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 2 tbsp

Butter - 50 gms

Method:

Brake the chocolate into small pieces and melt it using double boiler method. Add milk and sugar to it and mix well.

I have used silicon moulds. If you are using regular moulds apply a layer of butter to it.

After the chocolate mix is cooled, add butter to it and mix well. This gives rich taste and glaze to it.

Pour into the moulds and pat them to remove any air bubbles. Set them in refrigerator for around 30 mins. Do not set them in freezer. 

Once the chocolate is set, demould them and serve.

You can use your imagination and make different shapes, toppings to your chocolates. Also, you can use different nuts to it.

Enjoy cooking !! :)

Bombay Karachi Halva

     Though the history of this recipe is not known to me much as the name is rather a confusing one, but I am sure there is no confusion regarding the taste. Taste is always best and is loved by many..

Ingredients:

Corn flour - 1 cup

Water - 3 cups

Sugar - 2 cups

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Cashew chopped - 1 cup

Food colour - 1/4 tsp

Ghee - 4 tbsp

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Take a large bowl and put corn flour in it. Add 2 1/2 cups of water to it and mix well without forming lumps. 

Heat a non stick pan and add rest of water and sugar to it. Mix well. Once the sugar is dissolved and starts to boil, add this corn flour mix to it. Mix well and cook  on low flame. Keep stirring. The mixture forms a lump within few minutes. Add 2 tbsp ghee to it. Also add lemon juice and mix. 

After another minute, add the rest of the ghee and mix well.Add half of the chopped cashews, cardamom powder and food colour and mix well. Keep stirring until the mix becomes single lump and starts to leave ghee from sides. 

Grease a pan with little ghee and pour in the mixture. Decorate it with the rest of the cashew pieces. Allow it to set for an hour. Later cut it with knife into pieces and serve.

Note:

The longer you cook, the more the mixture becomes chewy, so adjust accordingly.

Enjoy Cooking :)

Curd Rice

   Always wondered whether you need a recipe for curd rice too, but when every ingredient is used correctly, you get a tasty dish. So here is the recipe for the most humble dish and very soothing for both mind and body..curd rice.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 1 bowl

Curd - 1 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

For tempering:

Ghee - 2 tsp

Oil - 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - around 10

Coriander chopped - for garnishing

Cashew nuts - 10 to 15

Raisins - 10 to 15

Fresh grapes - 1/2 cup chopped

Pomegranate seeds - 1/2 cup chopped

Red chillies - 3 to 4

Method:

Take cooked rice in a mixing bowl and allow it to cool. Add required amount of salt and mix well. Add curd and milk and mix. Add 1/2 cup of water according to desired consistency. 

Heat ghee and oil together in a pan. Once hot add mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add curry leaves and coriander chopped. Also add asafoetida. Mix well. Add cashew nuts and raisins to it. Once they turn golden, switch off the flame. Now add chopped red chillies and mix. Add this tempering to the curd rice bowl.

Add the pomegranate and grapes to it and mix. Enjoy it with mango pickle.

Note:

1. I have used both ghee and oil but oil is optional.

2. Frying coriander along with curry leaves gives it a good taste.

3. Fruits are optional.

4.Adding little water maintains the consistency.

Enjoy cooking .. :)

Coconut Barfi

          Whenever you visit lot of temples and you have fresh coconut as a result, the best way to consume it is making barfi. We even call it khobri mithai (khobri is coconut and mithai is sweet in kannada). This sweet is made only with three ingredients and the fourth is optional. So here is the recipe..

Ingredients:

Coconut (scraped) - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Milk - 4 tbsp

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Ghee - for smearing the plate

Method:

Mix both coconut and sugar and leave this mix for half an hour. The sugar leaves water and the mix turns out little watery.

Take this mixture in a heavy bottom pan and heat it on a low flame. Add milk to it and mix well. Let it cook in its own time. Keep stirring occasionally. Once the sugar dissolves and starts forming syrup, turn the heat to medium flame and mix continuously. Once the coconut mixture leaves oil from sides, add cardamom powder and mix. 

Grease a plate with ghee and pour onto it. Flatten it and cut into pieces when it is semi hot. 

Enjoy this whenever you have sweet cravings. This remains fresh for a week, but I promise it will be emptied within minutes. :)

Note:

1. Use only freshly scraped coconut for this.

2. Dip your knife in cold water before cutting into pieces. The pieces come out neat and clean.

Enjoy Cooking :)

Paneer Butter Masala

    The most sought after side dish in restaurants. Whenever you visit a new restaurant and are skeptical about ordering the dishes, you can always rely upon this one. I am sure this tastes good in any restaurant you visit.

Ingredients:

Paneer (cubes) - 1 bowl

Tomato - 3 to 4

Onion - 2

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Cashewnuts - 8 to 10

Honey - 2 tsp

Cardamom - 2

Cinnamon - 1" piece

Cloves - 2 to 3

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1tsp

Kashmiri Chilli powder - 2tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Kasuri methi - 2 tsp

Cream - 1 tbsp

Butter - 1tbsp

Oil - 2tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

        Heat oil in a pan. Add roughly chopped tomatoes, onion and ginger garlic paste to it. Fry till tomatoes turn soft and mushy. Add cashews to it. Now add chilli powder and turmeric to it. Mix well and turn off flame. Once cool blend the mix to smooth paste.

        Heat butter in a pan. Add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Now add paneer cubes to it and fry for a minute. 

        Add the gravy to the pan. And saute. As the gravy is already cooked it doesnt take much time. Add water according to consistency if required. 

        Now add all the dry masala powders cumin, coriander and garam masala. Mix well. Crush the kasoori methi between your palm and add to it. Add salt and honey to it. Mix well.

            Garnish with cream and serve hot.

Note:

1. Adding chilli powder and turmeric directly to oil gives gravy nice colour.

2. You can even deep fry the paneer and add to the gravy.

Enjoy Cooking !!

Lasooni Dal Palak

One of my favourite recipes and best compliments with jeera rice or chapathi. On a lazy cold winter day you will definitely relish this. That doesnt mean you cannot eat it now :) So, here are the ingredients...

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 1 cup

Palak (spinach) - 1 large bunch ( two cups chopped)

Garlic - 3 to 4 pods

Onion - 1 small

Jeera (cumin seeds) -  1 tsp

Green chillies - 3 to 4

Butter - 1 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon

Salt to taste

Method:

Pressure cook the toor dal for three whistles. Heat butter in a pan. Add oil to it.  When it is hot, add jeera. Once the jeera splutters, split the green chillies length wise and add to it. Now add garlic and and chopped onion to the pan.

Once the onion turns translucent, add palak to it. Fry for a minute, till the palak reduces in size. Add little water to it just enough to cover the palak. Cook for a minute or two.

Now add the cooked dal to it. Mix well. Add salt and all the dry masala powders to it. Mix well. 

Reduce the flame and cook for a minute. Switch off the flame and add lemon juice to it. 

Serve hot rice or chapathi..

Enjoy Cooking !!!!

Jeera Rice

     The most easiest dish made with basmati rice. U can make it with other rice varieties too, but i like it with basmati rice. On the days when you feel like eating basmati, but bored of cutting vegetables to make biryani or pulao, jeera rice comes to your rescue. Team it up with paneer curry that i posted earlier and you are ready for a delicious meal.

Ingredients:

Basmati rice (cooked) - 1 cup

Jeera - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 2 to 4 (slit length wise)

Onion - 1 (chopped)

Cashewnuts - 8 to 10

Curry leaves - 1 tbsp

Coriander chopped - for garnishing

Butter - 1 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method:

           Heat a tbsp of oil in a large pan and fry the cashewnuts. Keep it aside. In the same pan, add butter and let it heat. Now add jeera. Once it splutters, add curry leaves.

            Now add green chillies and onion and fry till onions are translucent. Add the cooked basmati rice and mix well.

            Add the fried cashews and salt. Mix well. Lower the flame. Close the lid and turn off the flame. Keep the lid closed for a minute or two. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with any side dish of your choice or dal.

Enjoy cooking.... :)

Simple Paneer Curry

   This is the recipe that you actually do when you are really bored to cook and want to make something very quick and tasty...

    Paneer curry will serve as a very good side dish for chapathi, roti and jeera rice.

Ingredients:

Paneer cubes - 1 cup

Tomato - 2

Onion - 1 large

Garlic - 2 to 3 pods

Turmeric - 1 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method:

   Chop onion, garlic and tomatoes finely. Heat oil in a pan and add the veggies. Fry them till they turn soft. 

    Add turmeric and chilli powder to it. Mix well. Take the mix into blender and grind well. 

     Heat another tsp oil in pan and add paneer cubes to it. Fry for minute. Add the tomato gravy to it. Add salt, sugar and garam masala. Cook well till gravy thickens and oil separates. 

         Serve hot with roti or rice.

Enjoy Cooking :)

Holige / Obbattu

   Finally, I am back to doing my favourite job of writing my blog. I was not able to update it for quite a long time since I was busy with my little one. Now i have decided to do some justice to my passion.

    Here is the recipe of one of the most loved sweet dishes of South Indian families and thats Holige. Its prepared on Ugadi (the new year of Kannadigas). We celebrated it just two days back with our families. People love to have it with milk and ghee. 

     There are various forms of Holige made with coconut, sugar etc. Here is the recipe for holige made with toor dal.

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 1 cup

Jaggery - 1 and 1/4 cup

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Maida - 1 cup

Wheat flour - 2 tbsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Oil -1/2 cup

Ghee - 1/2 cup

Method:

            Take  a bowl and mix maida, wheat flour, turmeric and salt. Add sufficient water and make very soft dough.  Pour oil over dough and allow it to rest in oil for around two hours.

             Now cook the toor dal in the cooker for around two whistles. Blend the toor dal after removing the extra water from it. 

             Heat a heavy bottom pan and add a tsp of ghee to it. Add the ground dal to it. Powder the jaggery and add to it. Cook on low flame till the mix thickens and forms a thick paste consistency. Reduce the flame and add the cardamom powder to it. Mix well and switch off the flame. Allow the mix to cool down.

        Make balls out of dal mixture and keep this aside. This forms the filling. Take small quantity of dough mix and flatten it in your hands. Place the filling in it and close properly. Roll the dough as thin as possible. Heat a flat pan. Place the flattened dough on it and roast on both sides. Apply little ghee on both sides. Serve hot with ghee and milk.

Note:

     You can also mix both channa and toor dal for the stuffing.

Enjoy Cooking :)