Milk Powder Peda

       This is a recipe which can be done quickly  and this also a healthy one. This will be a sure favourite among kids...

Ingredients:

Milk Powder - 1 1/2 cups

Sugar powder - 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Milk - 1/2 cup

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Pistachios - 1/4 cup (chopped)

Method:

Heat ghee in a pan. Add milk to it. Mix once. Now add milk powder to it and mix well without forming lumps. 

Now add sugar powder to it. Mix well.

Keep stirring continuously. Within five minutes it thickens. Now add cardamom powder and mix well.

Once the milk powder mix forms a lump and leaves the pan remove it from heat and allow it to cool down.

Once it is half cool, make small balls out of it and press slightly on one side. Place a pistachio on top of it.

Serve to your family and friends.

Enjoy Cooking !!!

Potato Quesadillas

     Quesadillas are Mexican delicacy made with either corn flour or whole wheat flour. The filling can be either meat, vegetables or beans and loads of cheese.

      Here I have made Potato Quesadillas with little bit of Indian twist to match our taste buds. Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 1 bowl

Oil - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

For the filling:

Potatoes - 4 medium size

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Dry mango powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Coriander chopped - 1/2 cup

Mozarella Cheese or Cheese slices

Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

Take wheat , oil and salt in a bowl and knead into a soft dough. Cover it with a cloth and allow it to rest for some time.

Boil potatoes in a pressure cooker for 2 to 3 whistles.

Once done peel their skin and mash them.  Heat oil in a pan and add chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala, cumin powder and dry mango powder.

Add mashed potato and mix well. Add coriander and salt and mix. Cook for two more minutes and remove from heat.

Now divide the dough into small parts. These make around 8 whole quesadillas.

Roll each dough and semi roast it on a pan on both sides.

Take a cooked roti and put the potato mix on half portion of it. Spread it well. Add some cheese on top of the filling. You can replace mozarella cheese with regular slices too.

Now fold it into half and cook on medium flame till it is crisp on both sides. You can add little oil if required.

Serve hot with Ketchup.

Enjoy Cooking !!!

Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes

       These are the easy ones with not much frosting and cream toppings. You can decorate them in any manner. I have kept it simple with just sugar powder topping.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Powdered sugar - 3/4 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Vanilla essence powder - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 1/4 cup

Curd - 1/2 cup

Milk - 3/4 cup (more or less)

Powdered sugar for decorating

Oil for greasing the cups

Method:

Take flour, baking powder and baking soda together. Sieve it and mix it well.

Add powdered sugar, Vanilla essence, oil, curd and milk and mix well. Adjust the quantity of milk according to get the batter into pouring consistency.

Mix everything well.

Now grease the cups well with oil. You can also use paper coffee cups.. 

Fill 2/3 of the cups with the batter and tap well.

Baking in oven:

Preheat oven to 180°c. Bake the cakes for around 20 to 25 mins.

On stove:

Heat a large aluminium pan. Place a stand inside it and a plate on top of it. Place the cups on it and close the aluminium pan with led. Let it cook on medium heat for around 25 mins.

Check if cake is done using a tooth pick. If it comes out clean then the cake is ready. 

Allow the cupcakes to cool down. Now decorate them with powdered sugar and serve.

Enjoy Cooking!!!

Steamed Sabudana Vada

       Sabudana or sabakki is very tasty and the vadas are always deep-fried and crispy. But I tried a variant in this to make it healthy yet to keep intact all the goodness of Sabudana...

Ingredients:

Sabudana - 1 cup

Potatoes - 2 to 3

Oil 2 tbsp

Dry mango powder - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 2

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander chopped - 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Method:

Wash sabudana properly and soak it in water for three hours. Water quantity should be just to the level of Sabudana.

Cook the potatoes in pressure cooker for two to three whistles.

Once done mash them well. To this add sabudana, finely chopped green chillies, coriander powder, cumin powder and dry mango powder. Also add coriander and salt.

Mix everything well and make small vadas or tikkis.

Use a steamer to steam them for around 3 to 4 minutes. As the sabudana cooks very fast it won't require much time. Don't overcook it as it may breakdown or soggy.

You can use a momo steamer or an idle plate to steam them.

Once done remove them. Heat a pan and add oil to it. Now place the vadas on the pan and shallow fry them just to make it slightly golden and crisp.

Serve them hot with some ketchup or mint chutney.. 

Enjoy Cooking!!

Uduru Palya

     This dish is a native of North Karnataka and is very frequently made in my house.. Uduru means grainy and dry in Kannada.

      Though it can be made with  other green leafy vegetable like methi, but that tastes good if it's made with broad beans. Here I have used Amaranthus leaves...

Ingredients:

Amaranthus leaves(rajguru/dantu) chopped - 2 cups

Toor dal - 1/2 cup

Sooji (Bombay rava) - 2 tbsp

Roasted channa dal - 2 tsp

Green chillies - 7 to 8

Oil - 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Channa dal - 1 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Salt to taste

Method:

Wash the Amaranthus leaves properly. 

Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and add the leaves in them. Fry for a minute. Now add little water enough for the leaves to get cooked. Close the lid and cook till the leaves are properly done.

Meanwhile pressure cook the toor dal with twice water for just one whistle. The dal should be just cooked.

Once the leaves are cooked , drain the water from dal and add only the dal to the pan. The water can be used to make sambar.

Mix both well. There should be no water absolutely. Keep frying. Add salt.

Now grind around 5 green chillies along with rava and gram flour coarsely and add it to the pan. Mix well.  

Now chop rest of the chillies. Heat rest of the  oil in another pan and add mustard seeds, chana dal,turmeric and asafoetida. Also add chopped chillies to it. Add tempering to the pan.

Mix everything well. It becomes very dry and in powdered form. Switch off the flame.

Serve hot with some rice and ghee.

Enjoy Cooking!!!

Masala Dahi Paratha

    A great breakfast or a tea time snack. It doesn't require any sides. Its great to pack it while you are travelling too..

Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 1 cup

Curd (dahi) - 3/4 cup

Coriander (chopped) - 1/4 cup

Mint (chopped) - 1/4 cup

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Dry mango powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil for roasting

Method:

Take wheat flour in a bowl. Add all the ingredients mentioned above except oil. Mix well and knead into a soft dough.

If required add little water while kneading.

Take a little dough and roll it a bit.. Apply little oil and fold it on four sides overlapping each other.

Now again roll it into paratha. 

Roast on both sides in medium flame till it is cooked properly.

Serve hot as it is or with ketchup, curd or little pickle.

Kids will love this recipe.

Enjoy Cooking!!!

Eggless Honey Cake

       Melt in mouth honey cake. I didn't myself knew that it was so easy to make until I tried it. The try is well worth it and what better can be that it is eggless.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cup

Sugar (powdered) - 3/4 cup

Curd - 1/2 cup

Oil - 1/4 cup

Milk - 1/4 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Dessicated dry coconut - 1/2 cup

For honey syrup:

Sugar (powdered) - 2 tbsp

Honey - 1/4 cup

Water 1/4 cup

For Icing:

Strawberry jam - 1/4 cup

Honey - 2 tbsp

Method:

Mix curd and oil and whisk well. Now add all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and milk and mix well.

Grease a cake tin with butter and add the batter to it. Bake it in a pre heated oven at 180°c for 20- 25 mins approx. Check whether it's done using a toothpick.

Allow the cake to cool down. Meanwhile heat a pan and add sugar and water to it. Once the sugar forms one string syrup, add honey to it and mix. 

Prick the cake with a fork. Now add the honey sugar syrup on top of it. Let the cake soak in the syrup.

Meanwhile heat the jam and  honey in a separate pan. Once it turns liquidy, switch off the flame.

Pour the jam syrup on top of the cake and spread well.

Sprinkle dry coconut on top of it.. Allow it to cool completely before serving..

Enjoy Cooking!!!

Dry Fruit Ladoo

   Healthy recipe to keep kids healthy and fit. Very easy to make and it doesn't require much effort.

Ingredients:

Dates - 1 cup

Cashewnuts - 1/2 cup

Almonds - 1/2 cup

Pistachios - 1/2 cup

Poppy seeds - 2 tbsp

Jaggery - 1/4 cup

Ghee - 1 tsp

Method:

Chop cashewnuts, almonds and pistachios coarsely. 

Dry roast them and keep aside. Also dry roast poppy seeds on low flame. Allow it to cool.

Deseed the dates and grind them to a paste.

Heat a pan. Add jaggery and a tsp of water. Let it melt. Once it's done add dates paste to it. Also add the roasted nuts to it and mix well.

Cook on low flame till all the ingredients come together and form dough like consistency.

Add a tsp of ghee to it and switch off the flame.

Now divide the mix into small portions once it is little cooled.

Roll it into laddoos and coat it with the poppy seeds.

Give these laddoo to your kids one each everyday. It will make them strong and healthy.

Enjoy Cooking!!!

Sada Dosa (Bangalore Special)

        Sada Dosa is a typical delicacy of Bangalore. You visit any hotel or darshini (food joint) in Bangalore, you are sure to find it there. Its actually plain dosa served with some chutney and sambar. They are very soft in texture.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 1/2 cups

Urad dal - 1/2 cup

Poha - 2 tbsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Cooking soda - 1 pinch (optional)

Oil for making dosas

Method:

Wash rice, urad dal, fenugreek seeds and poha and soak them together in three cups of water for atleast 5 to 6 hours.

Grind them to get a fine batter. The batter should be in flowing consistency. Add soda to it and mix well. Allow it to ferment for atleast 8 hours.

Add salt to the fermented batter and mix well. Heat a dosa pan and apply little oil to it.

Take some batter and spread it on the tava slowly and softly. The dosa should be spread such that it is thick in the centre and becomes thinner at the ends.

Add some oil on the ends. Let it roast on medium flame till it turns golden on the ends. Lift the dosa but don't flip it. Roast it only on one side.

Serve hot with some groundnut chutney or sagu..

Enjoy Cooking!!!

Poha Khichdi

  If you are bored of eating rice but want to have something that is stomach filling and quick to make, then Poha Khichdi is the one.

Ingredients:

Moong dal - 1 cup

Poha medium (avalakki) - 2 cups

Potato - 1 large

Green chillies - 2 to 3

Cashewnuts - 10 (optional)

Red chillies - 3

Oil - 1 tsp

Ghee - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Channa dal - 1 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Curry leaves - 8 to 10

Lemon - 1/2

Method:

Chop the potato in big chunks. Also chop cashews and green chillies.

Pressure cook moong dal, potato, green chillies and cashews with thrice water and enough salt for two whistles.

Meanwhile wash the poha and soak it with little water.

Take a thick bottom pan and add ghee and oil together. Once it's hot add mustard seeds. As they splutter, add channa dal, urad dal turmeric, asafoetida and curry leaves. Once they are done, add red chillies and fry for a minute.

Add the pressure cooked moong dal to it now. Mix well. Add poha to it and mix. Add water if required. The consistency should be watery as it is going to thicken later.

Cook for five minutes and switch off flame. The khichdi tends to thicken so keep it little liquidy when switched off too. Add a little lemon juice and cover the pan for five minutes.

Serve hot with some coconut chutney or pickle.

Enjoy Cooking!!

Veg Pulao (Karnataka Style)

This recipe is the typical style what we make in Karnataka. Its loaded with flavours from mint and coriander. If it's made just with mint and peas it tastes good too.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup

Potato - 1 large

Carrot - 1 large

Beans - 1/2 cup (chopped in long strips)

Sweet corn - 1/4 cup

Green peas - 1/2 cup (soaked dry peas also tastes good)

Onion - 1 large

Garlic - 4 to 5 cloves

Ginger - 1" piece

Green chillies - 3 to 4

Mint - 1/2 cup

Coriander - 1/2 cup

Cardamom - 2

Cinnamon - 1" stick

Clove - 2

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Bay leaf - 1

Salt to taste

Oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

Wash and keep the rice aside.

Cut all the vegetables length wise.

Now take a little oil in a pan and roast cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, green chillies, garlic and ginger.

Grind the roast mix along with mint and coriander. Add little water while grinding. 

Now heat the rest of the oil in a pressure cooker. Add cumin seeds and bay leaf. Saute a little and add onions. Saute till they are translucent. 

Now add the vegetables and the ground paste and mix everything well.

Add required amount of salt. Fry till the oil separates. Now add rice and mix. Add two cups of water and cook it for 2 to 3 whistles.

Serve hot with some raitha and papad. It tastes good without any sides too.

Enjoy Cooking !!!

Paneer and Corn Tikki

     Its not deep fried and trust me this is going to be your family's favourite once they taste this. This also helps to complete daily protein intake in a tasty way..

Ingredients:

Paneer - 80 gms ( 1 cup)

Potato - 1 large

Sweet corn - 1 cup

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder - 1tsp

Coriander chopped - 1/4 cup

Corn flour - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 1tbsp

Method:

Pressure cook the potato and sweet corn for 2 whistles.

Mash the potato well in a bowl. Grind half of the corn and add it to the bowl. Rest of the corn use as it is.

Now grate the paneer and add. Add garam masala, coriander, chilli powder and salt to it. Now add corn flour and mix well. 

Make tikkis out of the mix and roast them on a pan till they are golden on both sides. 

Serve hot with a little ketchup.

Enjoy Cooking!!

Pasta in White Sauce

     Very mild in flavours and it's an instant hit among children.

Ingredients:

Pasta (any shape) - 1 bowl

Salt to taste

Oil - 2 to 3 tsp

Italian seasoning - 1 tsp

Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Chilli flakes (optional ) - 1/4 tsp

Mixed chopped vegetables - 1 cup

Onion - 1 med chopped

Garlic - 2 cloves chopped

For white sauce

All purpose flour - 1/4 cup

Butter - 2 tbsp

Milk - 1/2 cup

Method:

First boil the vegetables in water with little salt. I have used carrot, beans, peas and sweet corn.

Heat a pan and add butter to it. Once it melts, add all purpose flour and saute it till it turns aromatic. Now add milk to it and mix. If required add little water to get the consistency of sauce.. add little pepper to it mix and switch off flame. White sauce is ready.

Now boil the pasta in water with a tsp of oil and little salt till it is cooked properly. Then strain it and wash it in cold water. Keep aside.

Now take a pan and heat it.. add little oil and then add garlic and then onion. Saute till they are translucent. Now add the boiled vegetables, pasta and mix well.. Now add the white sauce and mix.

Add all the seasoning, little salt and pepper according to your taste. Mix everything well and switch off flame.. Serve hot after garnishing with some chilli flakes.

Enjoy Cooking !!!