Aamsotto Tomato Chutney

This time my parents sent me few bars of aamsotto through courier. In Bengal aamsotto chutney is  a very famous chutney. It is a dried mango bar. It reminded me of my childhood. During summers , I used to steal aamsotto from the kitchen in the afternoon when my mom used to take her afternoon nap.

Ingredients :

1. Aamsotto bar- 1/2
2. Tomato- 1
3. Sugar- 2 tbs
4. Oil- 2 tbs
5. Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
6. Jeera (cumin seeds)- 1/2 tsp
7. Salt- one pinch
8. Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Procedure :

Cut the aamsotto into small cubes and keep them aside. Chop the tomato into small pieces. Now heat oil in a kadhayi and add jeera , mustard. When they will start spluttering , add salt , turmeric and tomato. Add the sugar and cover the kadhayi. Gradually tomato will leave water. After 5 minutes add the aamsotto pieces and half a glass of water. Cover and cook over low flame. If you want you can mash the aamsottos a little , this will add some thickness to the gravy. After 4 to 5 minutes of cooking check the sweetness of the chutney and remove it from the gas.

Golden Rawa Pomfret

Ingredients :

1. Silver Pomfret  fish- 2

2.Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tbs

3. Black pepper powder- 1/2 tsp

4. Red chilly powder- 1/2 tsp

5. Ajwain (carom seeds)- 1/4 tsp

6. Salt to taste

7. Lemon juice- 2 tbs

8. Hing (asafoetida)- 1/2 tsp

                                                        9. Semolina (sooji)- 1 cup

                                                       10. Oil

                                                       11. Parsley (chopped)- 1 tbs

Procedure :

Make few slits on both the sides of the fish and marinate the fish with all the ingredients except semolina and oil for 1 hour. Now heat oil in a flat large pan and coat the fishes with semolina and fry them on low flame. Do not turn the fish until it is completely done. Do not over fry the fish (it will ruin the texture). Just fry each side for 4 to 5 minutes.

Fish being a great source of protein , I am sending this to Sobha's Cook it healthy event.

Chickpeas (Kabli/ Kavli Chana) in Red Coconut Curry

 Here I have come back with one another Chickpeas (kabli chana) recipe. I have always kept a safe distance from the red chillies as my mom had told me that red chilly creates trouble for the stomach. But this recipe seems so tempting that I can't help but going against her...sorry Mom.

Without uttering a single word , lets start with the ingredients :

1. Scraped coconut- 3/4 cup
2. Coriander seed- 1 tsp
3. Dry red chilly- 4 to 5
4. Garlic- 5 to 7 cloves
5. Ginger- 1/2 inch
6. Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
7. Hing powder (asafoetida)- 1/4 tsp
8. Chickpeas- 1 bowl
9. Turmeric paste- 1/2 tsp
10. Lemon juice- 1/2 tsp
11. Salt to taste
12. Cumin powder (Jeera powder)- 1/4 tsp
13. Garam Masala- 1 pinch
14. Oil
15. Kasuri methi (dry)- 1 tsp
16. Curry leaf (fried)- 7 to 8


Procedure :

Soak the chickpeas in water for one night and next day cook it in a pressure cooker (add a little salt to the water) until 5 whistles. Meanwhile blend red chillies , coriander seed , garlic , ginger properly. If needed add a little water so that no large substance remains there. Mix this with the scrapped coconut.

Now heat 2 tbs oil in a non-stick kadhayi and add this coconut mixture. Let it cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. If it starts sticking to the base , add a little oil. When you will get a roasted aroma of the coconut and chilly , add very little water to it. This will collect all the spices that have been sticking to the kadhayi.

Add the kasuri methi and the garam masala. Now for garam masala I always prefer a freshly prepared one , because of its aroma. Add turmeric , cumin powder , hing and salt. Roast this for one more minute and add 1 cup of water to it. Add the boiled chickpeas , tamarind paste and fried curry leaves.

                                            

Cover the lid. Cook it over low flame. Before removing it from the flame add lemon juice , a green chilly and few coriander leaves. 

This post goes to Kerala Kitchen for this month's event which is hosted by Magpie of Magpie Recipes. As chickpeas are a great source of protein , hence I am sending this to Cook it healthy event organized by Sobha.

Lychee Sunrise Mocktail

Last weekend I stored lots of Lychees in my refrigerator to enjoy the seasonal fruit while relaxing and watching some movie. But time did not permit me to do this :( 

Instead I thought of making some cool refreshing mocktail out of these sweet Lychees. And here I present the Lychee Sunrise Mocktail.

Ingredients :

1. Lychee- 15 to 20
2. Banana (small)- 2
3. Orange- 1/4 th
4. Curd- 2 large tbs
5. Honey- 2 tbs
6. Vanilla essence- 1/2 tsp

Procedure :

Before I start telling you the procedure , let me tell you that it takes hardly 15 minutes to prepare this smoothie. And you can add as many varieties of fruits you want. Do not think about the taste , I  can assure you that at the end you will love the fruity mock tail.

So here we go. Remove the seeds from 15 to 16 Lychees and blend them for a minute or two. Pour the blended Lychee into the glass. Next mash one banana into the curd and add 1/2 tsp vanilla to it. Mix it well. Try to mash the banana as much as possible. 

Squeeze the orange over the Lychee juice. You can see the lovely color combination of off-white and orange. I just loved the smell and the color of the drink. Now slowly add the curd mixture with the help of a spoon to the glass. I added the curd from one side so that it does not hide the orange color of the drink. Slowly the level of the drink will rise. Now decorate few chopped banana and chopped Lychee on top of it. Pour the honey over the banana pieces and refrigerate it for an hour. Serve it chilled.

Sending this recipe to Serve It chilled and Kid's Delight events.
Sending to Krithi's kitchen :Healing Foods-Banana.

Raisins La Vanille Crème Fouettée

I still can not believe that today I am going to post the 100th post of my blog!!!!!......hurray.....that surely calls for a party...:)

I wanted to celebrate this milestone with something sweet....so here comes my dessert Raisins La Vanille Crème Fouettée.

Ingredients :

1. Fresh cream- 200 ml
2. Red grapes (de-seeded)- 12 to 14
3. Sugar- 4 tsp
4. Butter- 1 tbs
5. Milk- 1 tbs
6. Vanilla essence- 1 tsp
7. Icing sugar- 1 tbs


Procedure :

First blend the grapes with 4 tsp sugar. Add the cream to it. Now whip the mixture with a whisker. Whisk it for nearly half an hour so that the mixture turns fluffy (this will make the dessert extra smooth). 

In a bowl add butter , milk , vanilla and icing sugar and mix well. Refrigerate the vanilla icing. Keep the cream mixture in freezer for 4 hours. 

While serving take a scoop of the cream mixture and pour one tsp of the icing on it. Your Raisins La Vanille Crème Fouettée is now ready......come on ...enjoy it before it melts.

Sending this recipe to Serve It-Chilled event hosted by Denny and Kid's Delight Post.

Chicken Lollypops Coated with Gram Daal

I have always wondered that what is the secret ingredient that KFC uses which makes those chicken wings so delicious and crunchy. I have always thought of various coating which will make the surface of chicken wings crunchy. But this one recipe came out as the best of the lot. The chana daal coating makes this kebab truly delicious and when you will bite the kebab , you can hear a nice munching sound (which was my ultimate goal...to make it as crunchy as possible).

Ingredients :

1. Chicken wings or lollypops- 6 to 7
2. Curd (hung for 15 minutes)- 3 large tbs
3. Red chilly powder- 1/2 tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Black pepper powder- 1 tsp
6. Ginger-garlic paste- 1/2 tsp
7. Turmeric powder- one pinch
8. Cumin powder (Jeera powder)- 1/4 tsp
9. Olive oil
10. Beaten egg- 1
11. Parsley (finely chopped)- 1/2 tsp
12. Chana daal- 1 cup
13. Bread crumb- 1/2 cup


For decoration :

1. Curd- 2 tbs
2. Vinegar- 1 tsp
3. Black pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
4. Sweet corn , tomato- 1/4 cup

Procedure :

First grind the dry chana daal in mixer and keep it aside. Marinate the chicken pieces with curd , chilly , pepper , salt , garlic-ginger paste , turmeric and cumin powder. Keep the marinated chicken in refrigerator for 1 hour covered with a cling film. 

In a bowl mix the curd (kept for decoration) , vinegar and pepper and refrigerate it .

Mix the chopped parsley in the beaten egg and keep it aside.

Mix the powdered chana daal and bread crumb and add a little salt to it. Heat olive oil in a flat surface pan. Now dip the chicken pieces in the beaten egg and then roll in the chana daal mixture properly , so that the pieces evenly get coated with the chana mixture. 

Now shallow fry them in the pan over low flame (so that the chicken inside gets cooked properly). Let the chicken pieces turn brown in color.

After frying keep them on a paper napkin to remove excess oil. Meanwhile saute the tomato and sweet corn in the remaining oil of the pan. 

Now put the pieces in the plate and add the corn and tomato on top of it. You can also add a little green chutney and saunth to it. Serve it immediately with the curd mixture.

Thai Cheesy Baby Corn Recipe

Baby corn is one of the most important ingredients in Thai recipes. It has many nutritional value. I always prefer the fresh and small ones , as they are crunchy and a little more sweet than the older one. For this recipe I have used a lot of different sauces and ingredients to give the dish a nice aroma and taste. Hope you will like it.

Ingredients :

1. Baby corn- 6 to 7
2. Green capsicum (chopped)- 1/2
3. Red cherry tomato- 4 to 5
4. Onion (finely chopped)- 1/4 cup
5. Rosemary (chopped)- 1/2 tsp
6. Vinegar- 1 tbs
7. Black pepper powder- 1/2 tsp
8. Salt to taste
9. Tabasco garlic-chilly sauce- few drops
10. Worcestershire sauce- 1 tsp
11. Zest of lemon- a pinch
12. Cheese- 1 medium cube
13. Olive oil

Procedure :

First cut the baby corns into two thin medium pieces. Let them boil in water with little salt for 7 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile heat 2 tbs olive oil in a kadhayi and add chopped onion and fry them for 4 to 5 minutes. When the onion will turn little translucent , add capsicum to it. After 3 to 4 minutes add baby corn , rosemary , pepper , tomato , vinegar , Worcestershire , lemon zest and mix well. Cover the kadhayi  (as this will help the dish to retain its aroma of different spices) and let it cook over low flame. 

After 5 minutes add salt and Tabasco sauce and mix it well. Now add the cheese to it and cover the lid. This will help the cheese to melt and spread.

Bancake

There was a small tiff between me and my husband over the name of this recipe. Yes , the final outcome of this dish looked something like halwa...but I preferred to call it Bancake...after all I am the cook here!!

It is a simple dish yet too tasty. But this recipe needs constant attention of the cook , hence , I could not take pictures of every step as I generally do.

Ingredients :

1. Banana (Ripe)- 4
2. Sugar- 90 gms
3. Ghee- 1 & 1/2 large tbs
4. Cashew (broken)- 1 tsp

Procedure :

First mash the bananas in a bowl. Next heat 1 tsp ghee in a non-stick pan. Add the broken cashew to it and fry them for a minute. Next add the mashed banana to it. Stir the mixture well. Cook this over low flame. Add little amount of ghee as required. Keep on stirring the mixture well. Whenever the banana mixture will stick to the pan , add ghee. Use a spoon to mix it. After 10 minutes of cooking add the sugar and the remaining ghee to the pan. Now stir the mixture continuously. Gradually the mixture will turn little dark in color. After 15 minutes when the mixture will turn sticky , remove it from the oven. Grease a bowl with a little oil and pour the mixture into the bowl.

Let it cool down for few hours. Cut it into cubes and serve.

 Sending this to Krithi's Kitchen hosting Siri's Healing foods event.

Pulpy Mango Shake with Basil

In this season of mangoes how can I forget to make something of it!! Mango milkshakes are always my hot favorite in summers. I made the shakes this time also but with a little addition of basil and some other ingredients...and it turned out really tasty...check it out.

Ingredients :

1. Ripe mango- 1 large
2. Milk- 150 ml
3. Sugar- 4 tsp or according to your taste
4. Honey- 2 tbs
5. Basil leaf- 1/2 cup
6. Black pepper powder- 1/2 tsp
7. Jaljeera- 1 tbs

Procedure :

First heat the milk in a pan (do not boil the milk). Now peel the mango and cut it into pieces. Add the mango pieces , sugar , basil , pepper , little jaljeera and the milk in blender and blend well. Now pour the shake into serving glasses and sprinkle a little pepper , jaljeera on top of it. Finally add the honey and let it cool in the refrigerator for an hour. Serve chilled pulpy mango shake.

 

Sending this to Serve It-Chilled event hosted by Denny.

Sending it to Kid's Delight Post.

Sweetcorn in Curd-a Healthy Dietary Food

Whenever I hear the word 'dietary food' , the first thing that comes to my mind is something very tasteless. But trust me this one is not. I love the taste of sour curd complimenting the sweetness of corn. And the most interesting part is that you do not need any oil to cook this!!

Ingredients :

1. Curd (hung)- 4 large tbs
2. Sweetcorn- 1/2 cup
3. Onion (finely chopped)- 1 tbs
4. Black pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
5. Lemon juice- 1 tsp
6. Salt to taste

Procedure :

Heat a pan and add onion to it. Sprinkle the lemon juice and stir it for few seconds. Add sweetcorn , salt (very little...or you may even skip this...as the other ingredients will add lots of tastes to this dish) and pepper to it. Saute this for 2 to 3 minutes. The base of the pan will turn a little brown. Remove it from the gas. Serve the curd in a bowl and then on top of it add the corn mixture.

Honey Chicken Kebabs In Cheesy Curd

I just love this dish for the vibrant colors of its ingredients. The bright red cherry tomatoes... yellow sweet corn....green parsley and rosemary......its an awesome combination. The sweetness of tomato , corn and the secret ingredient , honey is complimented by the sourness of curd , lime juice and the mild taste of cheese

gives it a godly touch. The best part is I can make this recipe with the leftover chicken pieces too!!

For this you have to arrange the following ingredients:


1. Chicken boneless pieces- 8 small
2. Onion- 1/2
3. Green chilly- 1
4. Black pepper powder- 1 tsp
5. Salt to taste
6. Lime juice- 1 tsp
7. Honey- 1 tbs
8. Olive oil
9. Worcestershire sauce- 1 tsp
10. Cherry tomato , sweet corn , rosemary , red capsicum- 1/2 cup
11. Brown bread- 1 slice
12. Butter- 2 cubes

For the Cheesy Curd we need :

1. Curd- 3 tbs
2. Cheese- 1 cube
3. Salt to taste
4. Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
5. Olive (chopped)- 2
6. Vinegar- 1 tsp
7. Parsley- 1 tsp







Procedure :

First make a smooth paste of the onion and green chilly and marinate the chicken in this mixture. Add 1 tbs olive oil to it , salt and little pepper. Keep it in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Meanwhile chop the tomato , rosemary and capsicum and keep them aside. To make the sauce , mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Press the cheese and mash it properly so that it blends well into the curd. Keep this sauce in the refrigerator. Now heat  2 tbs olive oil in a flat surface pan and fry the chicken over low flame.

After 2 to 3 minutes of cooking sprinkle lemon juice , Worcestershire sauce and honey on the chicken pieces. Cook for another 5 minutes and turn the chicken. Fry the other side till it turns brown as shown in the picture:

After few minutes , add the chopped vegetables to the pan and let them get cooked in the same oil. Add a little salt and pepper to the vegetable mixture.

When its done , remove the pan from the gas. Heat the butter in another pan and add the bread cubes to it. Turn both the sides of the cubes so that they soak more butter and become crunchy.

Now place the chicken pieces on the serving plate and decorate it with the vegetables and put the bread cubes at one side. Spread the cheesy curd on top of the chicken pieces and serve it hot.

Potato Stuffed Sandwich

Sandwich is always my favorite breakfast as its preparation takes hardly a few minutes and it keeps me full for few hours. Today when I went to prepare the breakfast, my eyes got stuck into the vegetable basket.....gosh... my potatoes were rotting!!

So I decided to make something with the remaining potatoes and aloo paratha was the first thing to come to my mind. But for that oily part , I moved onto the next best option that is a potato stuffed sandwich. So here is the list of ingredients.

Ingredients :

1. Brown bread- 8 slices
2. Potato- 3
3. Salt to taste
4. Red chilly powder- 1/2 tsp
5. Cumin seed (Jeera)- 1/4 tsp
6. Oil





Procedure :

First cut the potatoes into two pieces and cook them in a pressure cooker until one whistle. Let the steam goes out of the cooker. Keep the potatoes under running cold water and peel the skin from them. Now mash the potatoes in a bowl and keep it aside. Heat 1 tbs oil in a kadhayi and add cumin , salt and chilly powder to it. Add the mashed potato to it and mix well. Cook over low flame and spread the mixture evenly. Let it get cooked for a little longer time as it will give a brown thin crunchy texture to the mixture. Remove the kadhayi after 8 to 10 minutes. Now spread one or 2 tbs of the potato mixture on a bread slice and cover it with another slice. Press it a little (don't press hard or else it will break). Cut the bread slices diagonally with a sharp knife.

Now heat 1/2 tsp oil in a flat surface pan and add the sandwiches to it. Turn after 1 minute and fry the other side for another minute. And its done!!

Sending this to Sandwich Mela event.