Baingan ka Bharta (Brinjal Bharta)

It is a dry dish which you would love to have with hot roti and daal.

Ingredients :

1. Black brinjal- 1
2. Onion (chopped)- 1 medium
3. Tomato (chopped)- 1 medium
4. Garlic (chopped)- 5 to 6 cloves
5. Salt to taste
6. Oil
7. Green chilly (chopped)- 2
8. Cumin seed (jeera)- 1/2 tsp
9. Hing (asafoetida)- 1/2 tsp

Procedure :

First wash the brinjal well and soak the water with the help of napkin or towel. Make a long cut along the length of the brinjal. Also prick it well with fork/knife from all sides. Apply little oil all over the brinjal and place it on gas burner to roast it. While roasting it in this way you will get a nice aroma. Keep turning the brinjal after few minutes so that it gets roasted equally from all side. Now when the skin turns black and starts peeling off, turn off the heat and let the brinjal cool down to room temperature. Remove the skin of the brinjal and mash it properly. Now heat 2 tbs oil in a kadhai and add jeera, onion, green chilly and garlic to it. Fry it till onion turns translucent. Add tomato to it and the mashed brinjal. Mix well. Add hing and salt to it. Cook it for 6 to 8 minutes till the oil separates out. Serve it hot.

Paneer stuffed Brinjal

A very tasty vegetarian starter. But I am sure that 'pucca' non vegetarian will also love it.

Ingredients :

1. Brinjal (thick slices)- 4 slices
2. Oil
3. Salt to taste
4. Egg (beaten)- 2 large
5. All purpose flour (maida)- 1/2 cup
6. Bread crumb- 2 cup
7. Tomato (chopped)- 1 medium
8. Onion (chopped)- 1 medium
9. Garlic (chopped)- 4 to 5 cloves
10. Sugar- 2 to 3 tsp
11. Butter- 1 tbs
12. Beans (finely chopped)- 1/2 cup
13. Carrot (chopped)- 1/2 cup
14. Potato (boiled and chopped)- 1 cup
15. Green chilly (chopped)- 2
16. Paneer (grated)- 1 cup
17. Capsicum (chopped)- 1/2 cup
18. Vinegar- 2 tbs
19. Ajwain- 1/2 tsp
20. Black pepper powder- 1 tsp

Procedure :

First marinate the brinjal slices with salt for 15 minutes and then fry them in a flat surface pan till they turn dark brown from both the side. Remove them and keep on a paper napkin to remove excess oil. Next heat a pan and add butter to it. Now add capsicum,carrot, beans to it. Cook it for 5 minutes and add potato, paneer, ajwain, vinegar, pepper and salt to taste. Cook till the vegetables are a little tender. Now scoop (make a large hole so that you can stuff more paneer mixture) the middle portion of the brinjal slices carefully and stuff with the paneer mixture. Keep it aside for 10 minutes.Now prepare the chutney. Heat 1 tbs oil in kadhai and add onion, garlic, green chilly and tomato to it. Cover it. Cook for 5 minutes and add 1/4 tsp salt, one pinch of turmeric powder (optional) and sugar to it. Mix well and cook till it becomes thick. Now heat oil in a deep bottom pan to deep fry the brinjal. Dip the brinjal slices in maida first and then in the beaten egg and roll it in the bread crumbs. Deep fry them over low flame till they turn golden brown. Remove excess oil and keep it in a service plate. Decorate it with 1 tbs of tomato chutney on top of it.

Dal Makhni recipe (Maa ki Daal)

 Ingredients :

1. Whole urad daal- 1 cup
2. Chickpeas(Kabli chana)- 1/4 cup
3. Onion- 3
4. Tomato- 3
5. Green chilly- 2
6. Garlic- 10 cloves
7. Ginger- 1 inch
8. Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Cumin powder (jeera powder)- 1 tsp
11. Asafoetida (hing)- 1/2 tsp
12. Garam masala- 1/4 tsp
13. Butter- 2 tbs
14. Milk- 1 cup
15. Oil
16. Paneer- 1 cube

Procedure :

First soak urad and kabli chana in water for 3 to 4 hours. Next put them in a cooker and add 6 to 7 glasses of water to it. Cover the cooker and cook it over low flame for around 40 minutes. Meanwhile grind onion, tomato, green chilly, garlic and ginger together. Put 1 tbs oil in a deep bottom kadhai and add the mixer. Cook it for 5 minutes until the color of the paste turns a little dark and add the contents from the cooker. Mix well and add the masala, salt etc. Cover the kadhai and cook over low flame for 10 minutes. Now add butter and milk to it and mix well. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes so that the water dries up a little.

When the daal turns a little thick, pour it into serving bowl and decorate with the grated paneer.

Chakri paratha

Like the name sounds a bit unusual, same with the story of this recipe!! My husband was looking for some variation in the normal parathas that I make every time. He wanted a new shape in that (so kiddish)!! Hence this new paratha came to my mind (which he loved a lot).

Ingredients :

1. Flour- 2 cup
2. Water
3. Oil (1 tbs for dough and rest for frying parathas)
4. Jeera powder- 1/2 tsp
5. Salt- 1 pinch
6. Ghee- 2 tbs


Procedure :

Make a dough mixing all the above ingredients (except ghee). Keep the dough covered for 5 minutes in a wet cloth. Now make large balls from the dough and roll them such that they become long like a rope. Apply ghee on one side of the long strip. Start rolling the strip so that the side with ghee remains inside. The entire thing should look like a coil. Now start rolling these coils very softly so that the rings formed do not get separated from each other. Press the parathas with hand a little softly. Now heat oil in a flat surfaced tawa and fry the parathas. For more fun fry the parathas till they turn crunchy.

Spicy Jave (Vermicelli) recipe

You can prepare this breakfast dish within few minutes.

Ingredients :

1. Jave (vermicelli)- 1 cup
2. Carrot (chopped)- 1/2 cup
3. Potato (1/2 inch pieces)- 1 medium
4. Green chilly (chopped)- 2
5. Green peas- 1/2 cup
6. Onion (finely chopped)- 1 small
7. Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
8. Jeera (cumin seeds)- 1 tsp
9. Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
10. Salt to taste
11. Water- 3/4 cup
12. Oil- 4 tbs
13. Curry leaf- 10

Procedure :

First heat 2 tbs oil in a kadhai and add the jave to it. Stir and fry the jave till it turns brown. Now remove the jave and heat 2 tbs oil in a deep bottom pan and add cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves to it. Let the seeds start spluttering. Add onion to it and fry till onion turns little brown in color. Now add the chilly, carrot, potato and peas and mix well. Also add the turmeric powder and salt and add the water. Cover the pan till the vegetables are cooked. Add the jave to it and mix softly with the help of a spoon. Add a little water if the jave is not properly under water (jave must be at the same level of the water). Cover the pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Your jave is done. Serve it hot with tomato ketchup sauce.

Chicken Noodles

A very popular Chinese dish.

Ingredients :

1. Noodles- 1/2 packet
2. Boneless chicken (small pieces)- 1 cup
3. Carrot (sliced)- 1
4. Capsicum (sliced)- 1/2
5. Green chilly (chopped)- 1
6. Black pepper powder- 2 tsp
7. Vinegar- 1/4 cup
8. Salt to taste
9. Soya sauce- 1 tsp
10. Tomato ketchup- 2 tbs
11. Oil

Procedure :

First boil water in a deep bottom kadhai. Add 1/2 tsp salt and the noodles to it and cover it. In another kadhai heat 2 tsp oil and fry chicken pieces, all the vegetables one by one. Stir the noodles so that they do not stick to the kadhai. When noodles are almost done ( a little hardness should be there), drain them and keep under cold running water for 2 minutes. Now add a little oil to the noodles so that they do not stick to each other and then add to the fried chicken and vegetables. Add vinegar, pepper, soya, ketchup and salt to it. Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve it hot.

Rabri

A delicious desert.

Ingredients :

1. Milk- 250 ml
2. Milkmaid (condensed milk)- 1/2 tin
3. Cardamom powder- 1 pinch
4. Saffron (kesar)- few strings


Procedure :

Boil the milk in a deep bottom pan over low flame. When it starts boiling, add milkmaid to it and stir it continuously so that no lump is formed. Keep cooking the mixture until the milk turns thick and the mixture turns a little dark cream color. Add cardamom powder to it. Pour the rabri in a bowl and decorate it with the saffron strands and refrigerate it for few hours before serving it.

Upma recipe

Upma is less time consuming but a healthy recipe for breakfast menu.

Ingredients :

1. Sooji (semolina)- 1/2 cup
2. Oil
3. Roasted cumin seed- 1/2 tsp
4. Mustard seed- 1/2 tsp
5. Water- 1 cup
6. Pea- 1/4 cup
7. Carrot (grated)- 1/4 cup
                                                      8. Lemon juice- 2 tbs
                                                      9. Gram daal (soaked in water for half a
                                                      hour)- 1 tsp
                                                      10. Green chilly (chopped)- 1
                                                      11. Salt to taste
                                                      12. Curry leaves





Procedure :

First boil water and peas in a pan and keep it aside. Now heat 2 tsp oil in a kadhai and fry curry leaves, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and gram daal till they turn a little brown. Add carrot, green chilly and fry for few minutes. Now add sooji and mix it well. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes till the sooji gets fried properly. Now add salt and the boiled water to it carefully as it will splutter. Mix well and add lemon juice to it. Serve it hot. 

P.S. you can also replace peas by fried peanuts.                                                

Sooji ka Halwa

It is one of the easiest Indian desert. It is a very hassle free procedure. Hence you can prepare this desert within just 15 minutes.

Ingredients :

1. Sooji (semolina)- 1 cup
2. Water- 1 cup
3. Almond- 8 to 10
4. Ghee- 1/2 cup
5. Sugar- 3/4 cup
6. Cardamom powder- 1 pinch


Procedure :

First grind the almonds in mixer roughly and keep it aside. Now heat the water and sugar in a pan and when sugar dissolves in the water completely, turn the gas off. Meanwhile heat sooji, ghee and almond in a kadhai. Stir it occasionally so that it does not stick to the pan. After 8 to 10 minutes when the sooji will turn a little dark in color and a nice aroma will come out from it, remove it from flame and add the warm water and cardamom powder to it. Mix well. You can garnish it with a little almond or cashew nut.

Chicken Tikki

A non-veg tikki for all the tikki lovers.

Ingredients :

1. Chicken (boneless)- 1 cup
2. Onion(finely chopped)- 1 small
3. Green chilly (chopped)- 2
4. Garlic (finely chopped and crushed)- 3 to 4 cloves
5. Bread crumb
6. Potato (boiled and mashed)- 2 medium
7. Black pepper powder- 1 tsp
8. Jeera (cumin) powder- 1 tsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Vinegar- 1 tbs
11. Curd- 2 tbs
12. Mustard sauce- 1 tsp
13. Cornflour- 4 to 5 tsp
14. Carrot (finely chopped)- 1
15. Oil

Procedure : 

First fry the chicken pieces in 1 tsp oil till they turn brownish. Now mash them properly. Fry onion, green chilly and garlic till onion turns translucent. Add mashed chicken, vinegar, pepper, salt, jeera powder and 3 tbs bread crumb to it. Cook for 5 minutes. Keep it aside. Now mash boiled potato, salt and add cornflour to it. Mix well this mixture. Now make medium size balls of the potato mixture and fill them with the chicken stuffing. Cover the stuffing properly and press the balls gently to make a flat surface. Heat 3 to 4 tbs oil in a flat surface pan and add the tikkis one by one to it. Fry them over low flame for 5 to 8 minutes till the side turns dark brown. Turn the other side and fry again. When done, remove them and keep on paper napkin to remove excess oil.

Now mix curd and mustard sauce properly and put it on top of the chicken tikki. Put some tomato ketchup sauce and some of the chopped carrot, onion. Serve hot.

Choco Mousse

Here comes a delicious desert- Chocolate mousse.

Ingredients :

1. Cooking chocolate (small pieces)- 1 cup (150 gm)
2. Gelatin- 2 tsp
3. Custard powder- 3 tbs
4. Cream- 200 gm
5. Sugar- 1/4 cup
6. Water- 1 cup
                                                     7. Chocolate pieces



Procedure :

Shift custard powder, sugar in a bowl and add water. Mix well. Now cook it over low flame and stir till it turns a little thick. Add the cooking chocolate pieces to it and mix well so that the chocolate melts well. Now sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup water and cook it over low flame without stirring it for 1 to 2 minutes (do not boil it). Pour it in the chocolate mixture and keep it aside to cool it down. Now beat the cream with the help of hand blender till it turns fluffy. Add cream to the cooled chocolate mixture and mix it  well . Put  it in a glass bowl and keep it in refrigerator to settle down. Decorate it with the chocolate pieces.

Papdi chaat

It is a mouth watering spicy snack that almost every Indian love. The more spices you add, the more delicious it becomes!! 

Ingredients :

1. Maida (all purpose flour)- 1 cup

2. Sooji (rawa/ semolina)- 1/4 cup

3. Oil- 1 to 2 tsp

4. Salt to taste

5. Water- 1/3 cup

6. Curd (beaten)- 1/2 cup

7. Tamarind pulp- 2 tbs

8. Sugar- 3 tsp

9. Aamchur powder  (dry mango powder)- 1 tsp

10. Roasted jeera (cumin)- 1 tsp

 11. Namkeen- 1/2 cup

Procedure (For papdi) :

First mix maida, sooji , oil, salt and make a stiff dough with the help of the water. Keep the dough aside for 15 minutes covered in a wet cloth. Next heat oil in a deep bottom kadhai to deep fry the papdis. Make very small balls of the dough and roll them into small 1.5 " diameter of  rotis. Prick them with a fork (this is done to avoid papdis getting inflated and obtain a perfect crisp flat papdi). Keep them covered in a wet cloth. When the oil is hot, add one by one papdis and keep the flame at the lowest. Fry papdis for 7 to 8 minutes from both the side and remove them from oil and keep on a paper napkin to soak excess oil.

Procedure (For Saunth/Sawnth) :

Add roasted jeera, tamarind pulp and water in a bowl. Mix the pulp well. Next add sugar and dry mango powder  to it. Cook it till the water dries up a little and the saunth becomes thick.

For potato mixture and green chutney preparation check my pani puri recipe.

Papdi chaat preparation :

Keep one papdi and on top of that add one tbs of beaten curd, then the potato mixture, saunth, namkeen and green chutney. And serve!!