Beetroot fry

 A famous side dish from the southern states of India. Beetroot fry goes very well with daal and rice. A very healthy and nutritious vegetable. If you have put a slice into your burger and are wondering what to do with the rest of the veggie, prepare this and put it to good use.

Ingredients:

- Beetroot - 1 thinly sliced

- Peanuts - 2 tbsp

- Mustard oil -  1 tbsp

- Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

- Curry leaves - 1 sprig

- Dry red chillies - 2

- Salt - according to taste

- Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Method:

- Heat oil in a wok.

- Add mustard seeds and dry red chillies.

- Add in peanuts and fry till golden brown.

- Add rest of the ingredients.

- Fry on medium flame till beetroot is soft.

- Serve hot with daal and rice.

Paneer and Cheese Pakora

It is amazing the way cooking dawns on you. The very first day you are so reluctant to cook your first dish. Then finally after loads and loads of dishes and many appreciations from your near and dear ones you realize that you have actually started to enjoy cooking. I still remember my very first day in the kitchen. It was the first day after me and my husband had shifted to Hyderabad after marriage. I do not know why I decided to prepare Korolar jhol (bitter gourd curry) for him. And when he tasted it I know what would have gone through his mind. He not being the bollywood style husbands who would eat anything that wife prepares after marriage said after the first bite "Okhaddo hoyeche". It is a bengali term which means "It is not edible and why on earth did you prepare this". So like many other days during those times, we ended up having dinner at a nearby restaurant.

That day and today 3 and a half years have passed, he enjoys what I cook and loves eating food prepared by me. His encouragement and support always makes me try new dishes. Like the one given below which I tried just a few days back:

Ingredients:
- Paneer (100 gms)
- Onion (1 finely chopped)
- Green Chilli (1 chopped)
- Besan (2 tbsp)
- Salt (1/2 tsp)
- Coriander leaves (1/2 cup chopped finely)
- Mozarella Cheese (shredded 1/2 cup)
- Oil (for deep frying)
Preparation:
- Cut the paneer into small cubes.
- In a bowl mix all the ingredients. Mix them well.
Note: Do not add water. There is enough water in the onion to bind the besan to the other ingredients.
- Let the mixture rest for half an hour.
- Then take some mixture in your hands and shape them into rounds or flats.
- Deep fry till brown.
- Serve piping hot with salad and sauce of your choice.
Can be served as a starter for your party or as an evening snack.
Note: Can also be baked at 150 degrees celcius for 10 min instead of deep frying for a healthier version.

This is my entry for Krithis Kitchen , Cook Starters and Soups Contest,2^nd Blog-ivrsary Event & Giveaway announced by Simply Tadka, WTML

Vegetable Manchurian

So how many times have you made mistakes in your life?? This question is a pretty difficult one and most of us would choose not to answer it. But according to me its good to make mistakes sometimes in life. That is how we learn. Mistakes make us stronger. They give us the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. Life without mistakes is a life not enjoyed. Mistakes are life's own way of teaching us some impoortant lessons. So why is it that all of a sudden I am talking so much about mistakes today. Keep reading if you wanna know.....

Yesterday I had a strong craving for Chinese and prepared some Veg Manchurian for dinner. Vegetable manchurian is an Indo Chinese dish that is nothing but fried vegetable balls in Soy Sauce.

So here is the recipe for all of you :

Ingredients :
For the vegetable balls :
- Finely chopped Cabbage, capsicum, carrots, onions, green chilli ( 2 cups)
- Maida/All purpose Flour ( 3 tbsp)
- Cornflour ( 1 tbsp)
- Salt (Acc to taste)
- Garlic (2 pods finely chopped)
                                                      - Ginger (1/2 tbsp grated)
                                                      - Oil (for deep frying)

For the sauce:
- Garlic finely chopped (3 pods)
- Ginger grated (2 tsp)
- Green chilli (2)
- Capsicum (1 cut into squares)
- Sugar (1 tsp)
- Maida(1 tbsp)
- Soy sauce (2 tbsp)
- Tomato Sauce (1 tbsp)
- Water (2 cups)

Method :
- Mix all the ingredients except oil  for the balls in a large bowl.
- Heat oil in a wok for deep frying.
- Make balls from the veg mixture and deep fry the balls till brown.
- Do not add water while making the balls. Water that comes out of the veggies is enough for binding the veggies together.
- Now for the sauce in a pan add the oil.
- When oil is hot add garlic, ginger and green chilli.
- Saute in medium flame for a minute and add sugar to it.
- Now mix the water to maida and add to the saucepan.
- Add little salt if required and let it come to a boil and let the sauce thicken.
- Add tomato sauce and soy sauce and add in the fried balls.
Serve hot with a bowl of rice.

Now coming to mistakes again. By mistake in this dish I had added an extra tbsp of soy sauce and that is the reason the colour is so dark. Although the taste was good the look of the dish was not that attractive. So when you are preparing the dish make sure you add just the required amount of soy sauce so that the veg manchurian looks good too... :)

Paneer Makhani in Microwave :)

 Shubho Nababarsha to all of you my friends. Today is bengali new year. According to traditions I should be making some sweets today but that did not happen. I am not keeping well and was admitted to the hospital entire night yesterday. I had prepared this easy paneer makhni dish few days back. So had no other choice but post this paneer dish to wish all of you a happy and prosperous new year. :)

As for today I could not celebrate with good food and only had to eat all boiled stuff due to my health conditions. :(

This recipe is from the recipe book which I have got with my microwave. I never thought of giving it a try as I was not pretty sure about how it would actually taste. It was awesome, even better than what is served in the restaurants and takes only half an hour to be ready to serve.

Ingredients:
- Paneer (200 grams cut into cubes)
- Tomatoes (5 chopped)
- Chopped Ginger (1 tsp)'
- Butter (2 tbsp)
- Oil (1 tbsp)
- Green cardamoms (2 crushed)
- Sugar (1/2 tsp)
- Salt (acc to taste)
- Garam Masala (1/2 tsp)
- Red chilli powder (1/2 tsp)
- Tomato Ketchup (1 tsp)
- Cashewnuts (5-6)
- Milk (1/2 cup)
- Kasoori Methi powder (2 tsp)
- Cream (1/2 cup)

Method:
- Soak the cashewnuts in milk for 30 mins and then grind to paste.
- In a deep dish cover and microwave tomatoes, ginger and 1/2 cup water for 5 mins.Let it cool and puree in a mixer.
- Microwave butter, oil and elaichi for 2 mins. Add salt, sugar and red chilli powder and garam masala.Mix.
- Add fresh tomato puree and tomato ketchup. Mix very well. Microwave covered for 4 mins. Stir once and microwave uncovered for 4 mins again.
- Add cashewnut paste and Kasoori methi. Mix well and add half cups of water. Microwave for 3 mins.
- Add paneer. Add enough cream to get a thick red gravy. Microwave 2 mins and serve.

This tastes superb when served with roti. :)

This goes off to :
Vegetarian side dishes at Zesty Pallette and Priya's easy and tasty recipes

 

 at Saras kitchen and Sizzling Tastebuds









Microwave Easy cooking event at Nalini's Kitchen

Egg Tadka - Roadside Stall

This dish is something that I remember from my childhood days. Whenever Ma would have lot of work from school and would not have time to cook, Dad would bring this and roti from a small roadside restaurant near our house at Kharagpur.
Those days restaurants and Cafes were not as common as they are today and Kharagpur being a very small place there is still scarcity of restaurants.
Today I don't know why I felt like preparing that and below is what I came up with:

It became a bit more watery than what I actually wanted. But thats fine coz I had prepared it for the first time and it tasted awesome.

Ingredients:

- Green Moong Dal(2 cups)
- Coriander(1/2 bunch finely chopped)
- Curry Leaves(optional)
- Egg(1)
- Turmeric powder (1 tsp)
- Corainder Powder(2 tsp)
- Cumin Powder(2 tsp)
- Cumin(1 tsp)
- Chhole masala(2 tsp)
- Onion(two large finely chopped)
- Tomato(1 diced)
- Green Chilli(2 slit)
- Salt(acc to taste)
- Sugar(1 tsp)
- Ginger Garlic Paste(2 tsp)
- Oil(2 tbsp)


Method Followed:

- Pressure cook green moong dal for 4 whistles.Make sure it is poperly cooked and has got sort of a slippery texture.
- Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and curry leaves.
- When they splutter add onion and green chillies.
- When the onions turn golden add ginger garlic paste and tomatoes.
- When it is fried then add the cooked moong dal to it along with turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, chhole masala.
- Mix it well and add half cup water.
- Close the lid and let it cook.
- In another pan heat 1 tsp oil and prepare scrambled eggs.
- Once the dal boils remove from heat. Add the scrambled eggs, garnish with coriander and serve hot whith roti.

This can also be had with bread toast as a snack. Happy eating :)

Gobi Tak-a-Tak

I really dont know why this dish has such a wierd name. It might be because of its tangy taste.
I wanted to make something new with cauliflower today and came across this recipe over the web.This recipe belongs to "Sanjeev Kapoor" - the magician. I am his blind follower. I simply love the way he cooks and potrays himself in his cookery shows.
Gobi or cauliflower is a versatile vegetable.It can be  used in yummy parathas, crunchy pakoras or just awesome vegetable side dishes.I like it because its fridge life is longer than other vegetables. :)

So heres the recipe for you:

Ingredients :

- Cauliflower(1)
- Green Chillies(2 split)
- Chilli Sauce(2 tbsp)
- Salt(acc to taste)
- Sugar(acc to taste)
- Capsicum(1)
- Onion(1 finely chopped)
- Tomato(1 diced)
- Coriander(for garnishing)
- Cumin seeds(1 tsp)
- Cumin powder(2 tsp)
- Turmeric Powder(1 tsp)
- Ginger paste(1 tbsp)
- Garlic paste(1 tsp)
- Oil (6 tbsp)

Method :

- Separate cauliflower in small florets and deep fry in oil.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in a non stick pan.
- Add cumin seeds to it.
- When cumin seeds change colour add onion and saute for a minute.
- Add ginger paste, garlic paste and tomato and saute for another minute.
- Add turmeric powder and cumin powder and mix well.
- Add cauliflower and mix well.
- Add chilli sauce and capsicum to it.Mix well.
- Garnish with coriander and serve hot.

This tastes best with roti. You can also try it with Parathas.. :) Happy Eating guys :)

Hate Brinjals???? Try this....

"Begun Basanti" or "Dahi Brinjal" is one of my favourite dishes....

I am sure you will love this dish even if you hate brinjals.

Ingredients:

- Small Brinjals(8 in number)
- Turmeric powder(3 tsp)
- Salt(According to taste)
- Oil(1/2 cup)
- Curd(1 cup)
- Red Chilli Powder(1/2 tsp)
- Green Chilli(1)
- Coriander Powder(1 tsp)
- Mustard Seeds(2tsp)
- Onion Paste(2 tbsp)
- Water(1 cup)
- Sugar(1 tsp)
- Salt(3 tsp)
- Cilantro / Coriander (for garnishing)

Method of Preparing Mustard Paste:

- Soak the mustard seeds in water for 1 hour. Grind it to paste along with 1 green chilli and salt.


Method of preparing the dish:

- Slit the small brinjals.
- Marinate brinjals with turmeric powder and salt.
- Heat 1/2 cup oil in a wok and deep fry the brinjals and keep aside (preferably on a kitchen tissue so that the extra oil is soaked).
- Beat the curd with 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp red chilli powder, and 1 tsp coriander powder.
- Add 3 tsp oil in a wok.
- Add green chilli and 1/4 tsp mustard seeds. Fry till the mustard seeds splatter then add the onion paste.
- Once the onion turns golden add the curd mix. Fry till the oil separates out and comes to the surface.
- Add mustard paste. Add 1/2 cup water.Bring to boil.
- Add fried brinjals.
- Simmer and cook till the brinjals are cooked and the gravy thickens. Add salt and sugar as per taste.
- Garnish with Cilantro or Coriander.

This goes well with hot rice. Happy Eating :)