Sweet Empanada

I have given a fancy name Empanada to my very Indian dish, you can call it karanji, gujiya whatever you know it as.We just celabrated Gudi Padwa which happens to be the first day of the new year, the month being Chaitra. On this day we worship the Gudi which you can see in the picture and make offerings of good food to please God and keep us happy and prosperous in the year ahead. I made sweet empanadas with a filling of dry fruits, mava and saffron. You can see them kept in the plate with rose petals for garnishing.

This dish takes me to my favourite hero Salman whose name I love in the movie Tere Naam, it is Radhe! He eats gujiya brought by the heroine, keeps asking her for more. From then I wanted to know what this was and wanted to eat it. I joined Ghar Ka Khana an amazing food group, from there I learnt that it is a variety of empanada made for the Holi festival in Northern parts of India. I learnt how to make it, this will be my version, may not be a perfect one! 

Ingredients

For the cover you need to make a nice soft dough which has 
1 cup of refined all purpose flour
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of semolina
A pinch of salt
3 tbspns of warm oil
Make a dough and keep to rest for about half an hour

Ingredients for the stuffing
1/2 cup of unsalted pistachios
1/2 a cup of cashews
1/2 cup of almonds
1/2 cup of thickened milk (Mava)
Sugar to taste 
Saffron strands

Method
To make the stuffing first amke a fine powder of all the dry fruits, take a little clarified butter in a pan, ad all the above ingredients, keep stirring till the sugar melts and it becomes into a nice semi dry mixture. Keep to cool. 

Now make small balls of the dough, rol into small flat breads, keep a spoonful of the mixture, fold and make a n empanada, make folds like you can see in the picture to seal it, and fry it on very low heat till it turns a crisp golden brown.They taste amazing.

                                       Brown Rice With Garlic Chives and Moringa Oleifera

This could easily be called a super health food, what with  Brown rice Garlic chives and the amazing Moringa leaves ( leaves of the drumstick tree) incorporated for the taste and deliciousness!! To top it all it is made in olive oil.

Ingredients to be pressure cooked with double the amount of water to three whistles
2 cups of brown rice (I used Kohinoor Basmati )
2 cups split green gram lentil
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
1/2 a tspn asafoetida
few curry leaves

Ingredients to be used later
1 bunch of moringa leaves cleaned and washed
1 bunch of garlic chives, cleaned and chopped, the garlic from it  separated and kept intact
Few coriander sprigs cleaned and chopped
4 green chillies chopped
Salt to taste
Lime juice as per taste

For tempering use olive oil

Method 

In a pan take olive oil, add the garlic cloves you got from the chives, let it turn golden, add chopped chillies, saute a bit, add the chives, coriander and the moringa leaves, saute till they change colour, now add the rice, salt, the lime juice and mix well. The porridge or khichdi is now ready to be served with either crispies or pickle or even as it is with a dash of clarified butter. Enjoy the amazing aroma and taste of the whole garlic and the greens. The pictures below show you the garlic chives and moringa leaves. 

                                                                Raw Mango Juice

A special thanks and a big hug here goes to my Bong beauty Debdutta Roy.

 This is the first of this season. Panha as it is commonly known in Maharashtra, an amazing way of cooling yourself during summers. Very tasty, tangy, sweet juice made with raw mangoes and some aromatics. Some people make it with sugar but I feel it tastes best with jaggery. i have used special jaggery brought to me by my special sweet Bong friend Debdutta Roy, straight from Kolkata. I read some information about how it is made and the first thought, in fact the first person  that came to my mind was Amitabh Bachchan in a raised lungi tying the pot on the palm tree to collect the Gur!! The movie was Saudagar with Nutan as the heroine. Here again the most famous song " sajna hai mujhe sajna ke liye" was sung by Padma Khanna who was not the heroine of the film!! I have wandered off the recipe now, me being a crazy Bollywood Movie buff!!

Ingredients

2 raw mangoes peeled and pressure cooked to two whistles
Nolen gur as per requirement, I used 3/4 cup
Salt as per taste
 Some black pepper powder
Few strands of saffron

You first need to remove the pulp of the mangoes, strain it well, add the grated nolen gur, salt and pepper powder and stir till the gur melts completely, mix well, strain if you feel the need or else, chill and transfer into glasses, serve garnished with saffron strands and fresh mint sprigs.

I would like to mention here that the colour of the juice is absolutely natural. I was lucky enough to get the pulp of this colour in a raw mango. The picture below shows you the Nolen Gur from Kolkata.

                      

                                          Curry made of Whole Green Gram and Whole Red Lentil

Ingredients 

Both the lentils 1/2 cup each mixed and pressure cooked to two whistles
Fresh coriander for garnishing

1 onion chopped into long thin pieces

Some lime juice

For the masala
1 onion chopped into thin long pieces
4 cloves of garlic
3 dry red chillies
1/4 cup grated dry coconut
1/4 inch piece of ginger
1 tspn  sesame seed

1 tspn cumin seeds

1/2 tspn coriander seeds
1/2 tsp
4 black peppercorns
2 cloves
1 small piece of cassia bark ( A little thicker version of cinnamon stick)

Method

In a pan take little oil and add the dry spices, roast them little till you get the aroma, transfer to a mixi jar,  roast the coconut add to the jar, roast the onion, garlic and ginger to a little brown colour and add this too. Grind to a dry dry coarse mixture without adding any water.

In the same pan  take a little oil and add the masala and a little turmeric powder, then add the ground mixture, saute a bit. Add the pressure cooked ingredients, mix well add water to make it into a curry consistency. Add the onion chopped into long pieces and then Add salt as required, bring it to a boil, garnish with coriander leaves, serve with phulkas, rice or roti. You can add a hint of lime juice if you wish to just before serving.

                                                   
                                                            Potato Yogurt Side Dish

  Super easy tasty, cooling side dish, eaten with meals. Tastes yummy with pooris, phulkas and rotis.

Ingredients

3 potatoes boiled peeled and chopped into small pieces
2 cups fresh yogurt
2 tspns of clarified butter
3 dry red bedgi chillies
1 tspn cumin seeds or mustard seeds, choice is yours 
Asafoetida
2 tspns of split black gram lentil
few curry leaves (optional, I have skipped them)
Salt as required
Coriander for garnishing

Method

Take the chopped potatoes in a mixing bowl, add yogurt, salt and mix well, make a tempering of clarified butter, cumin seeds or mustard seeds, let them splutter, add the lentil, let it turn golden, add the red chillies stir a bit and take off the fire, add this into the potatoes, mix well, garnish with coriander and serve.

      

                                                         Long Beans In Semi Dry Gravy

Long beans  is called chaulichi sheng in Marathi and Alsande in Kannada. It can be made in many ways and I have made my version of a semi dry gravy. Can be had with phulkas and rice too.

Ingredients
200 gms of long beans washed, ends chopped off and then chopped into medium sized pieces

Ingredients to be ground to a smooth paste

1/2 cup freshly scraped coconut
1 tspn cumin seeds
1 tspn mustard seeds
6 seeds of fenugreek
8 black peppercorns
1/2 tspn of fennel seeds
4 green chillies
1 onion roughly chopped
1 tomato roughly chopped
Juice of half a lime
Few sprigs of coriander
1 tspn of malvani masala

Method

Ina pan take oil, add little turmeric powder, add the chopped beans, little salt, a sprinkle of water and cook covered till half done, add the ground paste, salt as required, add water if necessary , adjusting the consistency as per your taste, and let it cook till the paste leaves the sides of the pan so the semi cooked beans get cooked too and the flavours get totally infused into them. Transfer into a serving bowl, garnish with coriander. your dish is ready.

                       
                                                             Vegetable Keema Roll

   A very yummy and colourful, satiating dish made with  ingredients easily available in one'e regular pantry. Can be had as a snack or a main course dish.

Ingredients

Phulkas made of normal whole wheat flour. Make them in the required number.

As a base spread I made chutney using  coriander, lime juice, onion, garlic, tomato, ginger and mint leaves, green chillies and salt as per taste.

For the garnishing 

Tomato roundels
Onion rings 

For the Keema rolls

2 onions finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
3 green chillies chopped 
1/2 cup cauliflower florets 
1/2 cup cabbage finely chopped
2 small potatoes
1/2 cup ivy gourd or tondli chopped into long pieces
1/2 cup carrots chopped into thin long pieces
1/2 cup french beans 
A handful of green peas
Salt as per taste
1 tbsp of kitchen king masala

Four slices of multigrain bread
1 tspn of amchur powder
1/2 cup freshly chopped coriander

Method

Ina pan take some oil, add mustard seeds, turmeric powder, asafoetida and now add the green chillies, ginger garlic paste, saute a bit, add the chopped onion, let it turn light brown, add the tomato, let it cook a bit, add all the vegetables, salt as required, kitchen king masala, sprinkle little water and cover and cook till the vegetables turn soft, let the water dry up but not burn the vegetables in the sense that the vegetables should be soft and moist.

Once cool, in a mixing bowl take the ready vegetable, add slices of bread, amchur powder, salt if required, mix well and make patties, I made them flat and longish in shape, shallow fry to a crisp golden brown on both sides with little oil.

Now for the role, on each phulka, spread the green chutney, keep two keema patties, onion rings, tomato roundels and pan roast with either clarified butter or normal butter. Serve as they are since they do not need any accompaniment.

 Green Bell pepper Made With Gram Flour

Ingredients

250 gms of capsicum washed and cut into small squares just before cooking
2 tablespoons of scraped fresh coconut 
3 tablespoons of besan
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon chilli powder or lesser if u like less heat
Salt to taste
Oil,  mustard seeds, turmeric powder and asafoetida for the tempering
Method 

Heat oil in a pan, splutter some mustard seeds, add turmeric powder and asafoetida .add the chopped bell pepper, stir a bit, add salt to taste, cover and cook till the vegetable changes colour and gets cooked, now add chilli powder, lime juice and mix well,  then sprinkle  gram flour or besan slowly and keep mixing, it should be just enough to coat each piece, so add per requirement slowly stirring and seeing that it does not look more than the capsicum or else the vegetable can become too dry. Now cover for a bit, open and see the flour is cooked and then it is ready to serve, with chapati or phulka.
Some ppl also put roasted groundnut powder or fried gram powder  in place of besan, it tastes good that way also. All other ingredients remain the same.

                               
                                                                  Bhuni  Sabz-e-Bahaar

 With the spring season around the corner,  sabz e bahaar is the name I have chosen for my dish which is vegetable bhuna masala, with  all the vegetables that are usually loved by majority of people. It is green and nutritious with the everybody's favourite potato, green peas, cottage cheese, spinach and fenugreek, easily made and a pleasure to have with simple phulkas or parathas.

Ingredients
1 bunch of fenugreek cleaned and chopped fine
1 bunch of spinach cleaned and chopped
200 gms of green peas
 2 peeled potatoes, chopped into small squares
200 gms of cottage cheese chopped into small squares
1 onion chopped fine
1 tomato chopped fine
2 tspns of ginger garlic crushed
Chilli powder as per taste
1 tspn of dry mango powder
1 tspn of garam masala
1 tspn lime juice
Salt to taste
Fresh coriander for garnishing

The potatoes and the peas need to be pressure cooked and kept ready.

Method

In a pan take some mustard oil, add the onion, saute till golden brown, add the ginger garlic, saute a bit, add the green vegetables and cook till it almost dries in the pan , this method is called bhuna, since we are roasting the vegetables in the pan till dry and the taste of this is awesome, now add tomatoes cook till mushy, add all the dry spice powders, add the potatoes, peas, cottage cheese, the lime juice, mix well, transfer into a serving bowl and serve garnished with fresh coriander. 

         
                                               Halwa on a Dubai date with a Goan cashew

Holi special

A dish that is definitely one of my experi- mental  innovations. Why should the halwa be made only of bottle gourd or only of carrots? Why not a mixture of both and trust me it tastes amazing that too with a generous mix of walnuts ground fine!! It is a treat to the palate where you will not know what has gone into the delicacy until the maker specifies the ingredients. A sure shot delightfully bite size dish that will keep you guessing!! Here goes the way I made it. 

Ingredients

1 cup  finely grated carrots
1 cup finely grated bottle gourd
1/2 cup  finely ground walnuts ( should be ground to a powder, not a paste)
6 strands of saffron
1/2 a litre of low fat milk
1 cup sugar
2 table spoons of clarified butter for roasting 
Cashews and dates for garnishing
Clarified butter for roasting

Method

In a pan take the clarified butter add the bottle gourd and the carrots, roast on a low flame till soft, add the saffron and the milk, again let everything cook well for about fifteen minutes, keep stirring, once half done add the ground walnut and let it thicken to a semi liquid consistency, add the sugar at this point and now wait for all the moisture to evaporate and let the dish get the halwa kind of texture. Remove from the flame, once cool, arrange one spoonful on a date and garnish with a cashew. And yessss... your dish is ready to be served. 

Dubai dates courtesy Sameer my son-in-law, Goan cashews courtesy my son Nidhi, walnuts courtesy  my lovely friend Rukaiya from Shrinagar.

                                             
                                                              Colourful Vegetable Patties

A very tasty, healthy and colourful vegetable patty. Welcome anytime of the day kind of a snack. 

Ingredients

1. 200 gms potatoes, peeled
2. 100 gms of french beans, deveined, roughly chopped
3. 100 gms of carrot peeled and chopped into big pieces
4. 100 gms of green peas

Salt to taste 
1 tspn amchur
1 tspn chilli powder

4 multigrain bread bread slices to be added later

 Method 
Boil ingredient 1, 2, 3, 4 together to two whistles, transfer to a bowl, let them cool, add the rest of the ingredients including the bread slices, mix well to make a pattie kind of a mix. Make equal sized balls, flatten them and shallow fry them till crisp on both sides with a little oil  as shown in the picture. Enjoy them with your tea, coffee or me too if you choose to come over! or as a side in your lunch, dinner.

                                                                   
                                                                      Healthy Pancake

Pancakes can be made in so many ways with various ingredients and variations, they most of the time turn out tasty. this too is a healthy pancake, can be had for breakfast or an evening supper. It has all healthy ingredients too.

Ingredients

2 cups of semolina
1/2 cup bengal gram flour
1/2 cup buck wheat flour
2 cups yogurt
1/2 cup flour made of corn , which is used for making make ki roti, not the packed fine corn flour
1/2 cup fenugreek leaves finely chopped
1 big onion finely chopped
1/2 cup coriander finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
5 green chillies finely chopped
juice of half a lime
Salt to taste

Method

Mix all the ingredients, leave it to soak for about half an hour, let all the ingredients release natural moisture, then while making the pancakes if you find it is too thick you can mix sour buttermilk to bring it to the pancake consistency. Sprinkle little oil on a pan, spread the batter with a ladle and cook covered, sprinkle some more oil, flip and cook as shown in the picture to a crisp golden brown. Savour them as they are or with any chutney or sauce.

                                                   Indian Flat Bread Made Of Green Peas

Indian flat breads have made a good place for themselves all over the world. Several varieties and variations can be made with this dish. The one made here is my version of it. We all relished it so here goes the recipe of the simple yummy parathas.

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup fresh green peas
4 green chillies
1/2 cup fresh green coriander
1 tspn of cumin powder
2 tspns oil
Salt to taste
Juice of half a lime

Method

In a mixer bowl make a coarse paste of peas and green chillies.transfer this in to a mixing bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well to see how much of moisture the ingredients release and then only add water as required to make a bread like firm dough. Drizzle oil and keep to rest for fifteen minutes.

Make equal sized balls of the dough, roll out each and roast with oil on a pan on both the sides to a light brown as shown in the picture. Relish with fried green chilli, yogurt, tomato sauce or as they are.

                                                       

                                                   Brown bread toasted with a potato filling.

Ingredients

Slices of  britannia multigrain bread
Amul lite butter or olive oil for applying on the bread slices
4  boiled potatoes peeled and mashed
2 tablespoons of oil for tempering
4 green chillies finely chopped
Small piece of grated ginger
1 spoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon haldi
1/4 teaspoon hing
Juice of half a lime
Some coriander leaves finely chopped

Method 

Take a small kadhai put oil in it, splutter the mustard seeds, add turmeric powder, asafoetida, green chillies and grated ginger, saute a bit, add this to the mashed potatoes mashed potatoes, add lime juice, salt to taste and mix well. Spread this mix on the bread according to your liking, less or more, make sandwiches and toast them to a crisp golden brown on the tava with amul lite butter or olive oil. Your sandwich is ready to be served with tomato sauce green chutney or any dip of your choice.

                                                           
                                                                Idli Chilli With Eggs

A very tasty spicy dish that can be eaten at any time of the day. Chinese flavours, basically  a fusion innovation.

Ingredients

4 idlis cut into medium sized diagonals
1 green capsicum chopped into into squares
1 red capsicum chopped into into squares
4 fresh thai red chillies cut diagonal
2 green chillies cut diagonal
1 onion chopped into small pieces
1 tbsp ginger garlic roughly crushed
1 cup chopped coriander
1 pinch ajinomoto (optional)
2 tbspns soya sauce
1 tspn white vinegar
Salt as per taste/ as required because soya sauce also has salt in it
2 eggs (u can add more if u like)

Method

Take oil in kadhai, add ginger garlic ,saute till light brown, add chillies, saut, add onion, cook till brown, .break the eggs directly into the masala, add salt, ajinomoto, soya sauce and mix well and cook till it becomes like scramble seeing that it does not get too dry, then add the idli pieces, add vinegar and salt if required, add in the chopped coriander, mix well and serve hot. Makes a tasty any time dish.

                                                         

                                                                   
                                                                       Bread Misal

              A tasty tangy, spicy, tongue tickling snack or a meal dish, healthy, nutritious and satiating!!.

There are some days when you actually are thoroughly bored to cook and eat the same old food, so why not convert a meal or a snack into something interesting for a change. 

Ingredients

 2 cups of sprouted matki or turkish gram. To make this you need to soak the gram for 4 hours, drain out all the water, tie it in a thick kitchen towel, keep for at least 12 hours in a dark corner. Open and yeah!! the beans come out sprouted and ready to use. I usually pressure cook them to two whistles, many people also cook them till soft, covered in a vessel.

Britannia multigrain bread slices as per requirement
2 onions chopped very fine
2 green chillies chopped fine
Lime pieces
Coriander for garnishing
Sev for topping


1/2 cup dry grated  coconut
1 inch ginger chopped
6 garlic cloves
1 small piece of cinnamon
8 black peppercorns
6 green chillies
1 big onion roughly chopped
1 tomato roughly chopped
1 medium sized ball of tamarind
All the above ingredients need to be ground into a smooth paste.

1 tbsp of saar masala to be added later
Salt to taste
Coriander for the garnish

Method for the curry

In a deep bottomed vessel take some oil make a tempering of mustard seeds, turmeric powder, asafoetida and then add the ground paste, cook till it leaves the side of the vessel, now add the saar masala, add the salt and then the cooked sprouts, add water to make a curry consistency and give it a nice boil till all the spices get infused in the sprouts. garnish with coriander.

For serving

In  a serving  plate take a slice of bread, spread the curry with the gravy, squeeze lemon, sprinkle chilli and onion pieces, decorate with sev and garnish with coriander. The pleasurable platter is ready to savour.