Saturday, October 29, 2011

Indian Style Corn Salad

Indian Style Corn Salad
Corn salads and salsas have been very popular as side dishes or summer favorites in western countries; and no doubt it is one of the most delicious and healthy snack. So, I thought let give it an Indian twist.
Ingredients
One can of corn or 2 corn ears steamed
1 small tomato
1 small red onion
1 small green pepper
6-7 stems of cilantro
2 stem of green onions
Croutons or chana chor garam (Indian snack found in Indian stores) or dry corn
Salt, pepper, olive oil, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1 teaspoon of roasted cumin powder, ½ teaspoon red chili powder

Method
·         If you are using the canned corn then drain it and pat dry it with paper towel when ready to mix it. If using fresh steamed corn then with a knife cut through and get all the corn.
·         Finely chop all the veggies, for tomatoes I recommend taking out the seeds and then cut it and pat dry with paper towel so it is not to watery.
·         Now take a bowl mix corn and all other veggies and season it with salt, pepper, splash of olive oil, lime juice, cumin powder and red chili powder
·         At the end add the chana chor garam preferably, but if you don’t have it add croutons
·         Garnish it with fresh cilantro………..mua mua this salad will smell so good and will taste even better.

Tips
Tips is that there is no big tip this time, but yes you can always add parsley instead of cilantro, but that will change a taste only a bit.
Next time…………one of the most favorite Indian fast food pav bhaji coming your way…………. :)



Sunday, October 23, 2011

MASALA KHICHADI



MASALA KHICHADI
It’s been a while I have updated on my blog, I started this blog to be consistent; but things are not always same in life. So now that I am back I would like to start from where I left. 
My recipe today is masala khichadi.
Ingredients
1 cup jasmine rice or any Chinese rice is fine
½ cup split moong daal green one
1 medium potato
½ cup any store bought frozen mix vegetable or any veggies of your choice like cauliflower, eggplant, carrots, French beans etc.
1 medium red onion
2 green chillies, 1/4th inch of ginger, 3 cloves of garlic, few curry leaves
Salt according to taste
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon of red chilli powder, garam masala and coriander powder.
½ jeera/ cumin seeds and rai/ mustard seeds
1 dry red chilli, 1 clove, 1/6 of cinnamon stick, 1 tej patta
½ tablespoon clarified butter or ghee and ½ tablespoon of oil
3 1/2  cups of water
Pressure cooker

Method
·         First cut all of the veggies except onion and soak them in fresh water.
·         Wash rice and moong dal and soak it in water.
·         Take a pressure cooker and heat it on the stove.
·         Add the oil and ghee in it.
·         After it heats up add all the dry spices clove, cinnamon, red chilli, tej patta, curry leaves and then jeera/ rai
·         Once they sizzle add onion, green chillies, ginger and garlic
·         Let the onions get a little golden brown color a then add all the other veggies.
·         Now add all the dry spices salt, turmeric, chili powder, and garam masala and coriander powder.
·         Mix everything and add ½ cup of water and let it come to a boil.
·         Now add the washed rice and moong daal  and rest of the 3 cups of water, or if u think u need more add some more.
·         Now mix it and close the pressure cooker, depending on the quality of your cooker it should take on average 3 whistles. So after three whistles turn off the stove and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then you can enjoy your masala khichadi with yogurt or buttermilk tempered with jeera, curry leaves and green chillies.

Tips
·         Normally the water ratio for rice and khichadi’s is one to one. One cup of water = one cup of water.
·         You can also add more water and make it a little water, a lot of people like it that way.


Next time nice Corn salad with an Indian twist………..:)

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Foodie Tadka: Plain Khichadi

Foodie Tadka: Plain Khichadi: "Khichdi Today, I will share my khichdi recipe. There are normally two type..."

Plain Khichadi

Khichdi
            Today, I will share my khichdi recipe. There are normally two types of khichadi that can be prepared one simple and the other one is spicy masala khichadi. Khichdi is a very common and favourite dish of many Gujarati families and now not only Gujarati families but it has started being popular all over the world. So, lets see how easy is to make the plain khichadi that can be spiced up with any vegetable recipe of your choice.
Ingredients
1 cup jasmine rice or any Chinese rice is fine
½ cup split moong daal green one
¼ tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ tablespoon clarified butter or ghee
Pressure cooker

Method
1)      Take the rice and split moong daal mix it and wash it properly for about 3 times with normal water.
2)      Place it in the pressure cooker and add all other ingredients salt, turmeric and ghee
3)      Make sure to add up to half of your index finger water on top of the rice and daal level.
4)      Place it on high flame and let the first whistle blow and then bring it down to medium for about 7-10 minutes while blowing two more whistle.
5)      Depending on the type of the pressure cooker you use when you turn the flame on medium you, might have to blow whistle by your self.
6)      After turn the stove off and wait for 15 minutes before you open the cover, it gives time to settle down.
7)      Open the cover and it’s ready to serve, next time depending on the consistency you like you can add more or less water.

Tips
1)      This is the plain khichadi and it can be accompanied by yogurt curry and cooked vegetables .
2)      Some of the vegetables that can be cooked with plain khichadi are potato and eggplant, onion and potato, green tuvar and potato etc.

Recipes for all these nice vegetables are coming soon………..so lease keep coming back to my blog and support it…….till next time enjoy this recipe.
Spicy masala khichadi will be the next recipe…………..:)

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Spicy Sooji (UPMA)

Spicy Sooji (UPMA)
Hello,
            First I want to wish everyone a Very Happy New Year, may this New Year bring new beginnings for you, lots of luck, happiness and stay healthy. Since it is a brand new beginning for all of us, I thought today I‘d give a nice healthy breakfast recipe. Though this once I eat for any time of the day, it feels me up for sure.
            There are many variations to this recipe as well, but today I will give a quick version as I know living away from our country and working full time it is hard for everyone to spare the time that they actually would wish to spend cooking. I will also add some other variations that can be done to this recipe in my tips section.

Ingredients
1-cup sooji (cream of wheat – coarse)
½ cup beated yogurt or ¾-cup buttermilk
½-cup water
1 small onion sliced or diced
1 green chili finely chopped
1-tablespoon urad dal (black gram without skin)
1-tablespoon chana dal (yellow split peas)
1-teaspoon mustard seeds
2 tablespoons peanuts
5-6 curry leaves
Pinch of turmeric

Pinch of hing (Asafoetida)

2 tablespoons of oil

Salt to taste


Method
1)      Take a pan to medium heat and put oil in it.
2)      Once the oil is heated, add ingredients in the increment of 5 seconds, urad dal, chana dal, mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing, and peanuts. Wait until tempered properly.
3)      Add green chilies, onion and sauté them till translucent. Then add turmeric.
4)      Add sooji, roast it, until turns light pink, and give nice aroma. At that point, add salt to it.
5)      Now turn the flame to low and add the yogurt or buttermilk while stirring it and then add water.
6)      Turn the flame back to medium and keep stirring until it starts getting thick. Turn the gas off right before you think you got the consistency you want. Its ready t serve hot.
Tips
1)      You can garnish it with cilantro
2)      You can always add other vegetables as per your liking. Some that are commonly used are green peas, carrots, green peppers, tomatoes etc. Add these vegetables after you sauté the onions usually.
3)   You can add rasins and cashews for garnishing.
Try and Enjoy until next time..........for Khichadi recipe...:)