Badam Halwa - Rajasthani Special

Badam halwa or Indian almond fudge, which is highly delicious and definitely a quick sweet to make.This month's  Indian Cooking Challenge,a monthly event where we cook dishes from various regions of India, Srivalli challenged us with a simple and hasslefree badam halwa suggested by Vaishali.Seriously since am doing my internship i dont have much time to give a try to this halwa earlier until today, eventhough this halwa is super easy to make, apart from stirring. I soaked the almonds yesterday and finished making this halwa this morning. Loved the simplicity of this dish, we tried this sweet with quarter cup of almonds hence the quantity of other ingredients may sounds very easy to remember. Nothing much is needed to make this swet, obviously you can make this halwa easily within few minutes if you have sudden guests at home.

Bhakarwadi - Maharashtrian Crispy Fried Rolls

Bhakarwadi, this spicy Maharashtrian snack is a traditional snacks which can be stored for many days and can be enjoyed thoroughly for snacks as much as like South Indian savoury snacks like murukkus, thattais etc. This crispy fried rolls is prepared with spicy tangy mixture of poppyseeds, sesame seeds, dry coconut along with few more spice powders. Actually this is the first time am making bhakarwadis at home, this crispy snacks was in my to do list since a long, for some reason i couldnt able to make these dangerously addictive fried rolls earlier. Finally i made them this weekend at home, this Indian pinwheels are very addictive and one cant just stop munching them.Even its my first trial, i should say that i have completely fallen in love with this super crispy fried rolls. Needless to say this Bhakarwadis rocks, we loved it to the core.

Manapparai Murukku/Tamil Nadu Special Manapparai Murukku

Manapparai Murukku, its one of the popular deep fried snacks which is quite famous for its unique taste in Tamil Nadu. Murukku is a quite famous snacks you can find anywhere in South India especially in Tamil Nadu. But this Manapparai murukku is the best among the varieties of murukkus available anywhere. Murukku business is a cottage affair in Manaparai,like Tirunelveli halwa, Kancheepuram idli these murukkus are well known for its nativity. Actually this murukku was sold to the train passengers through refreshment stall at the Manapparai railway station earlier in 20th century. This murukku is prepared simply with rice flour, flavoured with sesame seeds, ajwain seeds, cumin seeds and asafoetida powder which gives a wonderful flavor to this deep fried snacks. The speciality of this murukkus is, they are deep fried twice to get a golden colour thus you can differentiate easily with the other murukkus from the original Manapparai murukku.

Matar Kulcha/Green Peas Kulcha

Initially when i started blogging, i dont know that much difference between the Naan and Kulchas. I was like both are same then later i came to know the difference, yes Thanks to blogging world.Kulchas is a cousin of Naan, made with baking soda/baking powder instead of Yeast as naan goes for Yeast. This Indian flat bread is made with leavening agents, sometimes they are stuffed with spiced vegetable stuffings.Kulchas is quite a typical Punjabi recipe and Amritsar, a city in Punjab is famous for its kulchas and Naans.Usually eaten with chole aka channa masala, Kulchas makes a filling breakfast or dinner. If they are stuffed, they doesnt even need any side dish to have with.

Vella Seedai/Vella Cheedai/Sweet Seedai

Seedai,these crispy balls are traditionally prepared during Gokulastami festival. Usually i make uppu seedai which goes for the savoury version and dunno why i never tried making sweet seedais. Making seedais at home is definitely a tricky one, the most freaky part is while frying these balls coz sometimes they can burst. Actually all depends upon the rice flour you go for making this crispy balls.Either homemade or store bought rice flour, you need to sieve and dry roast rice flour in simmer until a nice aroma comes from, then you can proceed making the balls which you need to dry a bit by spreading them over a paper towel or over a muslin cloth to remove the moisture of these balls, if you follow these both methods am sure your seedais wont burst at all. I learned everything by my experience, obviously after so many flops one can learn by themselves na.

For our this month's Indian Cooking Challenge,a monthly event where we cook dishes from various regions of India.For this month's challenge, Srivalli gave us to cook both uppu seedai and vella seedai, but i picked the sweet seedai to cook for this month's challenge, finally i prepared these dangerously addictive sweet deep fried balls at home. They came out extremely prefect, we couldnt stop munching them.Thanks Valli for pulling me to make these sweet version.

Instant Green Apple Pickle ~~Maharashtrian Special

I dunno how many times i have repeated these sentence but cant ignore it am gonna repeat again today, coz i missed many food events in this blogsphere coz of my stay in India for three months. An another event i missed during my vacation is Indian Cooking Challenge,a monthly event where we cook dishes from various regions of India.For this month's challenge, Srivalli gave us an incredible instant pickle from Maharashtra. Trust me,this sweet,spicy and sour pickle tastes fantabulous, usually green raw mangoes are used for making this fingerlicking pickle, but since its not the season for mangoes here i tried this pickle with green granny smith.

This recipe was shared by Varada's Mom,this pickle gets ready very easily with simple ingredients. Once i get the raw mangoes, am sure i'll try this pickle again. Varada told to dice or grate the mangoes, since i used green apple i diced them instead of grating for making this fantastic pickle. Within three days, me and my H finished half of the bottle i prepared, yes we loved this pickle very much. You can have it with anything, somehow i enjoyed this pickle thoroughly with sambhar rice.

Chatti Pathiri/Kerala Sweet Lasagna/Crepes Layered With Sweet Filling

 Chatti Pathiri is a layered pastry made in Malabar region of Kerala. You can make both sweet and savoury version, this dish is quite similar like Italian Lasagna. Instead of paste, pancakes made with flour or pastry sheets prepared with all purpose flour are used. You can make any filling but somehow till know i crossed only non vegetarian filling, as the savoury ones are made traditionally with meat filling as like our samosas or puffs. Thank god Srivalli suggested us this sweet chatti pathiri for our this month's Indian Cooking Challenge,a monthly event where we cook dishes from various regions of India.

I skipped last month's challenge, coz of the sprouts eventhough i'll be making soon. But this time i dont want to miss as i seriously want to make these chatti pathiris since a long. For the today's sweet chatti pathiri, we went for a sweet filling with coconut,black sesame seeds,poppy seeds and nuts. Trust me this sweet chatti pathiri are just simply out of the world. The most important ingredient to enhance the authenticity of this dish is white poppy seeds, dont forget to add or skip them. These seeds are used extensively in Malabar cuisine. Chatti Pathiris are made during festivals, or either during a wedding event or else especially for Iftar. If you have a sweet tooth, these sweetened chatti pathiri will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth.

Sweet Kordois

After an authentic Hyderabadi dish, we are landing to Assam for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, actually Assamese cuisine is quite new for me which i seriously want to learn more. When  Srivalli chosed Kordois, a crispy evening snacks from Sunita's space i was really excited to try this snacks which ressembles quite like Andhra's panasa thonalu which means jackfruit buds in Telugu. Sunita shared two versions of kordois, but my choice went directly to the sweet version, since we are all sweet tooth at home. However i'll make some the savoury too very soon.

Definitely this challenge is seriously very interesting and easy, kordois is often made during a festival called Bihu in Assam. Do you know 'Kordoi' is star fruit in Assamese, this snacks tastes fabulous as an evening snacks with a cup of tea. We couldnt stop yourselves munching these beauties, i have already prepared twice at home, especially my kids are great fan of this kordois.

Meethay Ghoday - A Hyderabadi Special

If you get a chance to make a super old authentic aka traditional sweet from Hyderabadi cuisine, am sure you wont ever miss that opportunity to make them at home.When Srivalli announced this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, immediately i checked the link suggested by Mireille, i was shocked to see that this month's challenge was this Meethay Godhay from Zaiqa, a traditional sweet from Hyderbadi cuisine. When i checked through google to know more about this sweet,only Mona shares this sweet and its quite unique. Eventhough this sweets sounds unique, the method of making this sweet is super easy.

This sweet goes for a simple dough which is rolled as a thin disc, then cut it as squares and make those squares as flower shaped pieces. Once done with the dough,let them dry for more than 6 hours or overnite. Once they gets well dried, those flower shaped doughs are deep fried. Finally cook those deep fried flowers in milk and sugar, later they are served at room temperature. Trust me, if you make this sweet, am sure you wont stop yourself with one serving. Thanks Srivalli and Mireille for suggesting this incredible sweet and Mona for sharing this traditional sweet she learned from her Mil..

Kuzhalappam~~IC Challenge

After Gujarat Dapka Kadhi, now we are landing to God's own country aka Kerala for our this month's  Indian Cooking Challenge, a monthly event by Srivalli. Once we finished with our last month's challenge, i was waiting eagerly for this month's challenge but somehow i could stop myself mailing Valli to know about this month's challenge,for my surprise Srivalli asked me to suggest a dish and i suggested this tubular snacks aka kuzhalappams from Julie's space which i bookmarked long back and thank god Valli accepted it immediately. Actually i was planning to make this tubular crispy snacks during the summer vacation with my kids and finally i could make some for this month's IC challenge.

Dont compare mine with Julie's kuzhalappams, they were extremely fantabulous when compared to mine and i struggled much to get as like her's. Eventhough my kuzhalappams dont looks as like Julie's, tastewise they turned out extremely incredible and obviously they are quite addictive. I followed exactly the same measurements as like Julie and we couldnt stop munching with one, am gonna make this crispy snacks quite often and even my lil one enjoyed helping me in rolling and shaping this tubular snacks.

1+1/4cup Rice flour
1/2cup Grated coconut
1/2tsp Cumin seeds (for grinding)
1/4tsp Cumin seeds
4nos Shallots
1no Garlic clove
1tsp Black sesame seeds
Salt
Oil for deep frying

Dry roast the rice flour in medium flame until a nice aroma comes out.

Meanwhile grind the coconut,cumin seeds,garlic clove,shallots with some water as thick smooth paste.

Bring boil 1 cup water with enough salt in a pan, add the grounded mix in the roasted rice flour, cumin seeds,sesame seeds.

Gradually add the hot water to the flour and knead when warm into a stiff dough.

Divide the dough into gooseberry size balls.

Grease a ziploc bag,place a ball and cover it with an another greased ziploc bag, then roll using a rolling pin into thin round shaped circles.

With a round cutter, cut the rolled circle and wrap the disc on the index finger, stick the both ends to seal it.

Place it in a tray and continue the same process with the remaining dough.

Heat the oil for deep frying in medium flame, drop gently the kuzhalappams, fry them in small batches, dont overcrowd them.

Drain the excess oil with a paper towel.

Conserve it in an air tightened box and enjoy.

Gujarati Dapka Kadhi~~IC Challenge

For some personnal reason, i couldnt able to participate in our last month's Indian cooking Challenge, but this time i dont want to miss this and today's post is my 39th post for Indian cooking challenge.Do you know what is the main motto of this challenge??, this challenge is a monthly challenge where the members of this group cooks different dishes from different regions of India.Been born and brought up in South India, its truly an immense chance for me to try and taste the foods cooked in other parts of India. Today's post is from Gujarat region and this recipe is called as Dapka Kadhi, gujaratis makes different kadhis and its quite a staple food for them. Kadhis sounds almost like the younger sister of our South Indian Mor Kuzhambu which is basically prepared with sour curd and a spice paste. But Kadhi is quite easier and simple to prepare when compared to our mor kuzhambu.

Srivalli challenged this dapka kadhi for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge and this dish is suggested by Vaishali.Thanks to both, seriously i loved this fingerlicking nutritious kadhi and relished it with a bowl of rice. With simple ingredients and quick cooking process, this kadhi makes a wonderful pair even with rotis.If you are planning to make kadhis, i'll definitely suggest you to give a try to this quick dapka kadhi.I followed the original as per letter but i couldnt resist to add some turmeric powder, coz for me kadhis looks mild yellow in colour.Sending to  Rafeeda's Mission Explore Foods: Lentils event by Sheelu and Pallavi.

Recipe Source: Tarla Dalal
For Dapkas:
1cup Yellow moongdal
1tbsp Oil
1tsp Ginger-green chilly paste
1/2tsp Sugar
A pinch Baking soda
Salt

For Kadhi:
2cups Curd
3tbsp Gram flour
1tsp Ginger-chilly paste
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
Few curry leaves
1tbsp Sugar
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/4tsp Cumin seeds
2nos Dry red chillies
Few coriander leaves (chopped)
Ghee for tempering

Soak the yellow moongdal in water for 2hours.

Drain the water completely and grind it as smooth paste, transfer the paste to a bowl and add the ginger-chilly paste,sugar,baking soda,salt,oil and mix well.

Combine the curd,gram flour and add 2cup of water,whisk well to avoid the lumps.

Add the ginger-chilly paste,turmeric powder,sugar and salt,mix well and cook in medium flame.

Once the mixture starts boiling, make small balls from the moongdal aka dapka batter and drop them gently to the boiling kadhi.

Cook in simmer until the dapkas starts floating on the top.

Heat the ghee for tempering, let splutters the mustard seeds,add the cumin seeds, dry red chillies,curry leaves and fry until they turns brown.

Add this tempering immediately to the dapka kadhi, finally add the chopped coriander leaves and put off the stove.

Serve hot with rice,rotis.

Notes:
While adding the dapkas, first add one dapka to check whether the batter consistency is correct, if the dapka doesnt float the batter is too thin.

Add some gramfloour to the dapka batter and try again.

Else you can make small balls from dapka batter and cook them in microwave oven for few seconds and then add it to the kadhi.

Zarda - Sweet Saffron Rice

I need to give a break to my traditional Rajasthani dishes i have been showcasing since a week in my space for  blogging marathon. For the last day of blogging marathon with traditional dishes as theme, am posting here a delicious traditional Kashmiri sweet dish with rice. This Zarda is a sweet saffron rice dessert in which rice is cooked with sugar syrup,milk,saffron and nuts. Muslim community named it as Zarda eventhough this dish is well known as Meethe chawal in North India.

Obviously this dish is a fantabulous and royal treat for peoples whoever loves sweet rice.Srivalli challenged this Zarda for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge and this dish is suggested by Vaishali.Thanks to both, seriously i loved this flavourful dessert and a prefect feast for my sweet tooth. If you are bored of usual sweet rice, dont forget to give a trial to this rich Zarda, am sure you will definitely love this.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27.

2cup Basmati rice (even long grain rice works wonder)
1cup Sugar
1/2cup Milk
3nos Cloves
2inch Cinnamon stick
3nos Green cardamoms
3tsp Ghee
6nos Pistachios
6nos Almonds
Saffron strands (few)
Pinch yellow food colour
Handful of tutti fruity (i skipped it)

Wash and soak the rice for 15minutes..

In a pan,make a sugar syrup with sugar covered with enough water.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the ghee, add the cinnamon,cloves and cardamom, fry for few minutes.

Add immediately the drained rice and 2cups of water..

Once the water starts drying add the sugar syrup,milk,yellow food colour and saffron strands, cover and cook in simmer.

Heat a tsp of ghee and roast half of the nuts, add it to the cooking rice.

Once the rice is cooked, put off the stove.

Garnish it with remaining nuts and serve.

Pazham Varatti/Pazhavaratti/Kerala Plantain Halwa~~IC Challenge

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Srivalli challenged us with a  God's own country aka Kerala's plantain halwa. Initially i was waiting something savoury for this month's challenge. But finally am very happy to try my hands in making this delicious plantain halwa.Jayashree shared her mom's recipe of this pazham varatti. This halwa ressembles quite like a jam but tastewise they were very much like halwa.

Since i dont get Kerala variety of plantains here, i got some overripen plantains from nearby African store, to try this halwa.Finally i got two plantains and prepared this halwa last weekend.Trust me, you guys should give a try to this halwa,they were fantabulous,super tasty. This halwa is my H's recent favourite, actually he is pestering me when am gonna make this halwa again. A big thanks to Valli and Jay for suggesting this wonderful halwa, we just loved it.

Before making the halwa,peel two plantains and cut them as rounds, pressure cook it for 3hisses.Once the steam gets released,let it gets cool completely. Grind the cooked plantains as smooth paste. Measure this pulp to make a cup of plantain pulp.Now you can proceed to prepare this delicious halwa.

1cup Cooked plantain pulp
1+1/2cup Sugar
3tbsp Ghee

Transfer the cooked plantain pulp to a heavy bottomed pan, add the sugar and cook everything in medium flame.

Add the ghee little by little while cooking, once the mixture gets thickens and the halwa gets off from the vessel.

Transfer the halwa to a bowl.

Enjoy when they were still warm,we loved it when they were still warm.

Notes:
In case if you dont have plantains, you can prepare the same halwa with normal bananas.

If you are using bananas,just peel and grind them directly in a mixer and prepare the halwa directly,no need to cook the bananas as we do for the plantains.

Chose well ripen plantains for making this halwa, else your halwa wont get this dark brown colour.

Dal Baati Churma~~IC Challenge

After a month break Indian cooking challenge is back with some beautiful Rajasthani traditional dishes, most of us may know very well  or atleast heard a bit about this Rajasthani traditional dal baati and churma.PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds suggested this fantastic foods for our this month's ICC, honestly i have to say a big thanks to PJ for pulling me to cook up this delicious and traditional food of Rajasthan.

Usually i'll prepare my challenge foods before a week,but unfortunately coz of my illness i couldnt able to prepare this wonderful dish earlier, but finally i prepared them today for my lunch as my kids and hubby wont come for lunch. I quickly prepared this authentic food of Rajasthan this morning and had them for lunch, its been a while i havent had this much satisfying lunch.Simply loved this dal baati and churma, eventhough my tastebuds fallen in love with the churma.

Recipe Source: Sanjeev Kapoor

Rajasthani Dal:

1/2cup Channadal

2tbsp Yellow moong dal

1tsp Ginger (grated)

1/4tsp Turmeric powder

2tbsp Ghee

1tsp Cumin seeds

1/4tsp Asafoetida powder

2nos Dry red chillies

1no Onion (small & chopped)

1tsp Red chilly powder

1/2tsp Dry mango powder/Amchur powder

Wash and cook the dals together with turmeric powder,enough water and ginger in a pressure cooked for upto 3whistles.

Meanwhile heat the ghee in a pan, add the cumin seeds,dry red chillies,asafoetida powder and fry until the cumins turns brown.

Add immediately the onions and cook for few minutes, add immediately the cooked dal and chilly powder.

Bring to boil and cook in simmer for few more minutes,finally add the dry mango powder,give a stir and put off the stove.

Recipe Source: Tarladalal

Baati:

1cup Wheat flour

1/2cup Rava

2tbsp Gram flour

1/2tsp Ajwain seeds

2tbsp Ghee

Salt

Oil for frying

Milk for kneading

Combine together the wheat flour,rava,gram flour,ajwain seeds,ghee and salt, mix well and add milk to knead to form a stiff dough.Knead well and divide the dough as 8-10equal balls.

Flatten them lightly and with your thumb make an indentation in the centre of the baati.

Boil enough water in a vessel,drop the already prepared baatis in the boiling water, cook for 20minutes on high flame.

Drain it and keep aside,let them cool completely.

Heat the oil for frying, now fry the baatis and cook in simmer until the crust turns golden brown,drain the fried baatis with a paper towel and keep aside.

While serving bread each baati into two pieces, pour the melted ghee over the baatis and enjoy along with the dal.

Recipe Source: Priya

Churma/Choorma:

1cup Wheat flour

2tbsp Rava

2tsp Gram flour

1/2cup Sugar

Milk as per need

3tbsp Ghee

Nuts like cashew,pistachios & almonds

Oil for frying

Combine together the wheat flour,rava,gramflour with a pinch of salt in a bowl,add slowly the milk and turn as stiff dough.

Make medium sized balls from the dough and keep aside.

Heat the ghee and fry the nuts until they turns brown,keep aside.

Now heat the oil for deepfrying, fry the balls until they turns golden brown,keep aside and let the balls gets cool completely.

Grind this fried balls as coarse powder in a mixer.

Transfer this coarse powder to a bowl,add the sugar, fried nuts,remaining melted ghee and give a stir.

Serve this delicious churma with dal and baati.

Notes:

Instead of frying the baatis,you can also bake them in oven at 200C for 15minutes eventhough i went for frying. 

I used oil for frying but traditionally baatis are fried in hot ghee.

Kodubale~~IC Challenge

Kodubale, the famous ring murukku this is how we call it. Kodubale is our this month's Indian Cooking Challenge and Valli shared two recipes of this kodubale, one is from Suma's space and the another one from Latha's space. I chosed Lathamma's recipe coz of peanuts, as i ran out of them i couldnt able to do Suma's version. I'll making her version soon as everyone at home enjoyed munching these cuties.Coming to this kodubale, this is a quite famous snacks in Karnataka eventhough Andhralites shared almost a same murukkus called chegodilu, we have already tried for Indian cooking challenge and you can see them here.

While am rolling the dough, my lil one was very curious and helped me to roll some, he just loved it and very much proud of rolling these kodubale. He couldnt stop himself calling his grandparents saying that he rolled perfectly these ring murukkus.Yep kids will definitely have fun and those lil hands will help you very much while making this murukkus. Dont forget to ask them to help you, that too if you are preparing kodubale in huge quantity.With a wonderful coconut flavour and crispiness, these kodubale are quite addictive.

2cups Rice flour
1/2cup All purpose flour
1/2cup Wheat flour
1/2cup Roasted gram flour/pottukadalai maavu
1/2cup Dessicated coconut or kopra
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
1tbsp Ghee
Salt
1tsp Chilly powder
Oil for frying

Dry roast the dessicated coconut and grind as fine powder.

Also dry roast both the all purpose flour and wheat flour in simmer until they turns slightly golden brown.

Now take the flours, coconut powder, asafoetida powder,ghee,salt and chilly powder in a large bowl.

Gradually add the water and turn as a soft dough.

Take a small ball from the dough and roll as a log. Join both the ends to form a ring.Continue the same process until the dough gets finished.

Heat the oil for frying in medium flame,dont put the flame in high.

Gently drop the rolled kodubale to the oil, fry them in small batches until the kodubale gets well fried.

Drain the excess of oil with a paper towel and store in an air tightened box.

Enjoy with a cup of masala tea.

Khakhra~~IC Challenge

Khakhras are crispy flat Indian bread quite famous in Gujarat, actually i came to know about this roti once i entered this wonderful blogsphere. To be honest without any knowledge about this crispy bread i have already prepared them when i was kid. Yep when i cooked my first chappathi, it turned out super crispy rotis as i overcooked it. Unfortunately i dont know about this Khakhras else i would have managed myself saying that i prepared the Gujarati famous bread when my mom scolded me for my overcooked almost burned rotis.These Khakhras can be prepared with variety of spices,greens and simply just with wheat flour.

Obivously i choosed simple,quick,easy breezy wheat khakhras. Vaishali of Ribbon's to Pasta's shared her friend's recipe for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge. Thanks Valli and Vaishali, we had our khakhras with spicy Andhra gongura pickle  prepared by my aunt who lives in Hyderabad. Both together tastes simply awesome, just loved this crispy khakhras with gongure pickle.

1cup Wheat flour
Salt
4tbsp Oil
Rice flour for dusting
Ghee (per need)

Take the wheat flour,salt and oil in a bowl,gradually add the water and knead as a soft dough.Keep aside for half an hour.

Heat a tawa in low flame while rolling your rotis.

Dust a medium sized ball of dough with rice flour and roll it as thin possible with a rolling pin.

Now cook the rotis one by one to the warm tawa and gently brush them with ghee.

Stack them one over an another and let them cool completely.

Heat again the tawa, gently place a roti with a towel press it from the sides to the centre,cook them slowly until they turns crisp.

Repeat the same process with the remaining rotis.

Once the khakhras gets cool completely,store them in air tight box and enjoy.

Muttar Ki Kachori~~IC Challenge

Kachoris, the word itself makes me drool, i have already tried few varieties of kachoris. For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Srivalli aked us to choose any of the recipe from our earlier challenges. Since most of our challenges were very much related to Indian festivals and many of us didnt had a chance to make some challenges till now, its quite a fabulous opportunity to give a try to the challenges we havent finished yet.

So i choosed to make some muttar ki kachori she shared during our 2010th January challenge, actually i cooked Pyaz ki Kachori for that challenge eventhough i wanted to make some muttar ki kachori since a long. Obviously i used this opportunity to cook some yummy muttar ki kachori two days back for our snacks. They came out extremely yummy,flaky and super crispy, we simply enjoyed these crispy beauties for our snacks with a cup of coffee while its raining outside.

For Dough:
2cups All purpose flour
1/4cup Ghee
Salt

Mix the flour and salt, gradually add the ghee and turn the the flour as bread crumbs like texture, slowly add the water and make a soft dough, knead well.

Cover and keep aside for atleast half an hour..

For GreenPeas Filling:
2cups Greenpeas
1tsp Grated ginger
1tsp Nigella seeds
2tsp Fennel seeds
2nos Bay leaves
1no Green chillies (chopped finely)
1tsp Chilly powder
1tsp Garam masala
2tbsp Chopped coriander
2tsbsp Oil
Salt

Coarsely grind the green peas,green chillies and ginger and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan,add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves and fry.

Add the greenpeas mixture and saute in low flame few minutes.

Now add  the chilli powder, garam masala and salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.Add the chopped coriander and mix well.

Remove the bay leaves and discard.

Allow the mixture to cool completely and divide into 12 equal portions and keep aside.


To make Kachoris:

Make a small ball from the dough...flatten the ball using your fingers having the center thick and sides little thin.

Place about 2 tsps of the greenpeas filling in the center of the rolled dough.

Cover the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling. Seal the ends and remove excess dough.

Repeat with all the balls and keep aside for 5 -7 mins.

Then using your palm, flatten the balls by lightly pressing it,keep aside covered.

Repeat with the remaining dough,meanwhile heat some oil for deep frying. The oil should not become smoking hot.

Fry the kachoris in small batches gently into the oil. It should rise up slowly.Cook for about 6 to 10 minutes till the side down gets a golden brown color.

Turn and cook the other side for another 6 minutes or till its golden brown in color.

Remove when done, cool and store in airtight container.

Enjoy with coriander or tamarind chutney.

Besan Ki Masala Roti~~IC Challenge

Every part of India have their own style of flat breads with their authentic touch. I was eagerly waiting to try this besan ki masala rotis for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge choosed by Srivalli and finally prepared them last week for our dinner. Thanks to Valli for proposing this super interesting,flavourful and very delicious masala roti with gram flour and wheat flour for this month challenge eventhough i wanted to try the bajra aloo roti she choosed along with this masala roti. Valli choosed this fantastic besan ki masala roti from the famous Indian chef Sanjeev kapoor's space, obviously i know that this rotis will definitely tastes fabulous and its gonna be our favourite. I wasnt wrong, i prepared almost 6 rotis and they vanished super quickly, since this roti goes for a simple masala filling they dont even need any side dish to enjoy with. We simply loved these rotis.

2cups Gram flour

1cup Wheat flour

Salt

2tbsp Ghee

For masala filling:

2tsp Cumin powder

1tsp Coriander powder

1/2tsp Turmeric powder

1no Green chilli (chopped)

1/2tsp Dry mango powder

2tbsp Ghee

Salt

Combine all the spice powders given under the list 'masala filling' in a bowl with the ghee and salt as a paste.

Now take the gram flour,wheat flour,salt and ghee in a bowl, with enough water knead everything as a soft and stiff dough, keep aside for half an hour.

Divide the dough as eight portions and make a balls, roll them as a disc, spread the already prepared masala over the rolled disc.

Fold into half and then again in half to make a triangle. Roll out gently as a triangular roti, finish the remaining balls.

Heat a tawa, drop gently the roti,drizzle the ghee and cook on both side until they turns golden brown.

Apply little ghee and press it gently between your plams, serve immediately.

Urad Dal Halwa/Ulundhu Kali~~IC Challenge

Our this month's Indian Cooking Challenge is this most famous Tamilian ulunthu kali.Most of the young gals from Tamilnadu would have tasted this healthy,nutritious kali once they attain their puberty,this healthy dish is quite a must. I still remember my grandma came from her village with a box of this kali with loads of gingelly oil and fresh eggs to feed me on that particular day.This kali is also very good for women to get rid of their back pain. Seriously i didnt prepared or heard about this kali after that, when i checked the Srivalli's mail with this month's challenge, i was quite happy to try out a traditional recipe after a long.

I prepared this halwa last week and carried with us when we went for a weekend trip,an excellent dish to enjoy anytime of the day either warm or chilled. I have already seen this kali prepared at home, so i wasnt that much hard for me to cook them up.

1/4cup Rice(roasted)
1/4cup Urad dal(roasted)
1+1/2cups Water
1/4cup Grated jaggery
1/2tsp Cardamom powder
3tbsp Gingelly oil

Dry roast the rice and urad daal separately until they turn slightly brown.

Grind them as a coarse powder.

Heat the water to boil,add the jaggery and cook until it melts.

Now strain the jaggery syrup and bring it to boil.

Slowly start adding the flours and cardamom powder, stir continously,take cake not to form lumps.

Add oil slowly and stir continously.

Cook on slow fire for a few minutes until they turns as a thick paste.

Enjoy warm.

Patishapta - A Bengali Sweet Crepe

Indian cuisine have varieties of foods, each and every part of India have their traditional,authentic dishes. Since even i joined Indian Cooking Challenge a monthly event by Srivalli,am learning truly variety of foods from India.We already cooked from many parts of India, for this month's challenge she choosed this addictive,super delicious patishapta, an incredible sweet crepes prepared in Bengal during the festival of sankranti. I have already had many varieties of crepes,but this bengali sweet crepe was quite different from the others, the filling used in this crepe goes for a lovely coconut,palmsugar and khoya mixture.

These crepes were super soft and with this coconut-khoya filling, these crepes tastes fabulously awesome when we enjoyed this. Usually this crepes are served with sweetened milk but i served them with condensed milk which gives more sweetness to this wonderful sweet crepe, if you are an ardent fan of Bengali sweets like me you will definitely fallen in love with this crepes.Thanks to Sandeepa for sharing this yummy crepes.Sending to Ramadan Friendly Recipes by Halal Foodie.

For Batter:
1cup Maida
4tsp Rawa
2tsp Rice flour
1+3/4cups Milk

For Filling:
1cup Grated fresh coconut
1/2cup Khoya
1/4cup Palm sugar/Regular sugar

Sweetened condensed milk (for serving)

Heat a pan, take the coconut and sugar together,mix it well with a spatula, once the sugar melts add the khoya and cook until the mixture turns thick.

Meanwhile mix all the ingredients given for the batter in a bowl and makes a smooth batter.

Heat a tawa, pour a ladle of this prepared batter and spread it as round thin circle, if needed drizzle melted butter or ghee.

Once it gets cooked, flip it and cook the other side.

Place the prepared filling in the middle and bring the edges of the crepe to the center.

Serve immediately drizzled with sweetened condensed milk.