Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Fried Noodles (Chinese)




No matter what age you are noodles are everyone's favourite. It taste yummy with great aroma of sauces, garlic and lots of crunchy vegetables. I like my noodles with lots of colourful veggies so atleast i can eat guilt free. Traditionally Chinese cabbage, capsicums and bell peppers are added but i add green peas, sweet corn, carrot and few veggies like Chinese greens and you can add beans sprouts too just to make it little healthy combination over restaurant one. For great colour and for flavour i have added pinch of paprika powder too. If you crave for Chinese food like me here is healthy, yummy, colourful recipe for you. Hope you enjoy my creation.

Ingredients:

2 pack of instant noodles (like maggi each 85 gms)
1/4 cup mixed vegetables (sweet corn, green peas, carrots)
1/4 cup mixed capsicum/bell pepper cut length wise (green, red yellow)
1/4 cup shredded cabbage
6-8 small florets cauliflower
1/4 teaspoon paprika powder
1/2 teaspoon dark soya sauce (you can add as per taste too)
2 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon green chilli sauce
1 tablespoon tomato sauce (optional)
3-4 garlic cloves minced and chopped
2 tablespoon cooking oil
3-4 button mushroom chopped lenghtwise
handful of beans sprouts (optional)
1/4 teaspoon MSG (optional)
Salt to taste

Method:

Cook noodles as per packet description. Drain, apply oil and  keep aside. Now in a non stick pan   heat oil add all the vegetables and stir fry for few minutes on high flame, than add all the sauce and vinegar and stir well. Add paprika powder, salt mix. Add Noodles and mix thoroughly but lightly, stir fry, toss on high flame for few minutes, add beans sprouts and serve hot.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Soft Crunchy "Coconut Cookies-Ladoo"




I feel like late though but i have developed sweet tooth :) This was for my hubby, from long he was telling to make Coconut Burfi, i too like coconut sweet flavour but i still feel coconut burfi have chewy texture. And after a long wait and search this is the best recipe i got. This is from Chef Alia. This is real Yummy, Soft and Crunchy and just perfect for coconut dessert with very few ingredients and amazing texture inside out. This recipe call for 1 extra large egg and being vegetarian i am using egg substitute (egg replacer) here, you can use Egg instead of egg substitute. Within 4 hours i finished eating 3-4 ladoo (No wait gain please this time :D) and here i found new dish for my breakfast-snacks list. You can give cookie shape, my baking tray is small so i did ladoo to put more at one time. Hope you enjoy this with your family and friends.


Serving 15 cookies approx

Ingredients:
  • Dessicated Coconut 150gms (Finer texture)
  • Semolina (Sooji) 50gms (approx 1/3 cup)
  • Unsalted Butter 2 and 1/2 tablespoon melted or vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon egg replacer with 2 teaspoon of water (as per packet instruction)
  • Powdered Sugar 50gms (approx 1/2 cup) + 3 tablespoon for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract or Almond Extract
  • Pinch of Salt 
  • 1 teaspoon of Baking Powder

Method:

Preheat oven at 180 degree. In a bowl beat egg replacer and sugar untill you get a whitish mixture. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and beat again for 30 seconds. Mix remaining all the dry ingredients in another bowl and add egg replacer and sugar mix, mix lightly with hands and than add butter and mix again evenly. Cover the mixture and let it rest for 30 minutes. Now take walnut size ball mix in your hand and give it a shape very lightly, roll it in powdered sugar and place it on baking tray. Bake it for 10 minutes, let it cool down completely for atleast 30 minutes and dust it with powdered sugar. Put in air tight container at room temperature or you can refrigerate it. Serve and indulge yourself.





Tips*
Don't press mix very hard while giving shape, if you feel your cookie mix is wet after resting too than you can add little semolina to it and mix again. If dessicated coconut is long grain place it in food processor or mixture to give it finer texture. Don't over bake cookies it may turn hard after cooling down.






Keep Rocking and Keep Cooking with Gangnam Style..
Pragati..!!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Boiled Onion Paste


Many royal, mild, creamy and Mughlai recipes called for Boiled Onion paste. It's very simple and easy to prepare and you can preserve this in refrigerator for atleast a week.


For 1/2 cup

Ingredients:
  • 5-6 medium size Onions 
  • 4 Black Pepper Corn 
  • 1 Cinnamon 1" inch 
  • 1 Bay leaf 
  • 2 Cloves 

Method:

Combine all the ingredient in 1 and 1/2 cup of water and cook on medium flame, till onion turn soft.
Remove from water, cool down and make a paste of boiled onions.
Use as required.  


Keep Rocking and Keep Cooking with Gangnam Style
Pragati..!!

Navratan Korma..(Mughal Cuisine, Restaurant Style)




Navratan means Nine Jewel, as name says this recipe contain mix of nine vegetables, fruits, nuts. This is Indian Mughal/Mughlai (Emperor) Cuisine and when i imagine Mughal Cuisine, i feel it should be rich in texture, creamy, mild, colourful, royal taste with great aroma, and Navratan Korma by look itself defines it completely. On a lighter note i can say this was clean up for my refrigerator as i was expecting few guests at home, so i searched lot on internet and found few recipes and this is combination of 2-3 recipes i liked most with some of my own innovations. It's so Filling, Splendid with great sweet aroma and trust me we were just lost in each and every bite of it.

We both don't like white gravy so i made it colourful, you may too prepare this as per you likings. This dish also call for raisins too and thankfully it was out of stock too as i don't like raisins but my hubby just loved it so i kept this ingredient as a secret in front of him. I must say Give it a try for Bestest Vegetarian Curry with Yummiest Royal Taste on your plate.


Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30-35 minutes 
Serving: 3-4


Ingredients:

  • 15-20 Cashew nuts
  • 1/4 cup Carrots cut  into 1/2"inch cubes
  • 1 Potato cut into 1/2" inch cubes
  • 1 tablespoon Tomato Purée
  • 1/4 cup Green Capsicum
  • 6-7 cubes of Red Bell Pepper (Capsicum)
  • 1/4 cup Cauliflower florets (medium size)
  • 1/4 cup French Beans
  • 2 Baby Corn cut into 1/2" inch cubes
  • 1/2 cup Green Peas
  • 2 Cloves
  • 3-4 Black Peppercorn
  • 1, 1" inch Cinnamon stick
  • 2 Green Cardamoms
  • 1 cup boiled Onion paste (*for recipe check blog Archive)
  • 3 tablespoon Oil
  • 1 teaspoon Ginger paste
  • 1/3 cup Yoghurt
  • 1-2 Green Chillies chopped (optional)
  • 8-10 cubes of Paneer (Cottage Cheese)
  • 1/3 cup Fresh Cream (more-less as per your taste)
  • 8-10 Raisins (i have not used)
  • 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder
  • 1/2 Red Chilli powder (Kashmiri lal for colour)
  • Salt to taste



Method:



Reserve 4-5 cashew nuts and soak remaining all in warm water for atleast 10-15 minutes, drain and make a fine paste of it. Cut remaining cashew into half piece each. Boil potatoes for 5 minutes in salted waster than add carrots, cauliflower, beans and boil till it become slightly soft, drain and keep side. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in pan and stir fry all the vegetables and paneer on high flame for 2-3 minutes, drain onto absorbent paper and keep aside.  Now heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan add cloves, cardamom, black pepper corn, and cinnamon stick and wait till it start cracking than add  boiled onion paste and cook it for 6-8 minutes till it look slightly pink in colour. Add cashew nut and ginger paste and cook till oil separates. Add turmeric and red chilli powder mix, and add tomato purée, cook few minutes than add yoghurt, mix well and let it cook till gravy gets its  original colour again. Add all the vegetables and reserved cashew nuts into gravy mix well, cover with lid and cook for 5 minutes, add salt and 3/4 cup to 1 cup of water to vegetables, once it start simmering add paneer and bring it to boil.




Finish it with fresh cream. Garnish with Raisins and serve hot with Chapatis or Rice. 






Keep Rocking and Keep Cooking with Gangnam Style..!!
Pragati !!



Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Chatpat Masala Corn

Corn is my all time favourite food, i can eat with anything and in any form, like Salad, with Vegetables, or Rice. Here the recipe i am sharing with you is my favourite, bestest snack dish ever, i am very fond of sweet corn because of its sweet taste and now when i know its great source of energy and nutritions (like Dietary fibre, Carbohydrates, Protein, Iron and many more)   i love it more. Masala Corn is what i use to eat with each and every movie at Nagpur's multiplex, what a great taste it has, and every time i try to prepare the same way they do. This is twist to your normal butter corn dish with sweet, sour and spicy flavour. Try this i am sure you will love it..!!





Serving 1 Cup

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Sweet Corn (or as per serving cup measurement) (i use frozen)
2 teaspoon Chaat Masala 
2 tablespoon fresh Coriander 
1 teaspoon Black Salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin 
1 Green Chilli finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon Red Chiili powder
1 tablespoon Lime Juice
1 tablespoon Butter (i add lot more than this so you can take as per ur taste)
Salt to taste (adding chaat masala and black salt so add normal salt accordingly)


Method:

Add frozen corn in boiling water for 30 seconds, rinse and wash wish cold water. In a pan heat butter and add sweet corn and cook for 2-3 minutes on medium flame. In a bowl add all the ingredients with corn and mix well. Serve hot Masala Corn in Serving Cup.  



Monday, March 4, 2013

Falafel Wrap..!!






Falafel is very popular in Middle East as a fast food. I had this for the first time in Singapore though now its very common and famous in India too. This is a great way of getting your protein in without the meat. It's kind of Mediterranean cuisine and promote Veganism. Falafel is a crunchy ball or patty-burger which taste delicious made from ground chickpeas and/or fava beans. Falafel is usually served in a pita, which acts as a pocket, or wrap. The falafel balls are topped with salads, pickled vegetables, and drizzled with sauces. This great veggie patty is healthy and filling. It is great as an appetizer or main dish. We enjoy this with a wrap and lots of veggies, hope you will like it too.



Ingredients:



For Falafel


1 cup soaked (overnight) Chickpeas (or 1 can of Chickpeas-
Garbanzo Beans )
5 Garlic cloves chopped 
1 small Onion finely chopped
1 teaspoon Red Chilli flakes 
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin 
1 tablespoon Sesame Seeds
1 chopped Green Chilli
1/4 teaspoon Ginger paste
1 teaspoon Black Pepper powder
1/2 cup freshly chopped Parsley leaves 
1/2 cup freshly chopped Coriander leaves 
1/2 teaspoon Paprika powder 
 4 Wraps (original)
Oil for frying
1/4 teaspoon Cooking Soda
2-3 tablespoon Bread Crumbs 
2 tablespoon Plain Flour
Oil for frying
Salt to taste

Stuffing:
2 tablespoon Mayonnaise
sliced Tomatoes 
Spring Onion 
mix pickled vegetables
Green-Red Capsicum cut into julienne (Optional)(long slice) 
Red Cabbage shredded
2 Jalapeño slices (seed-less)
few baby Lettuce leaves
Green-Black Olives
Parsley Leaves
Alfalfa Leaves (optional) 
Coriander leaves
Tomato sauce (optional)

Method:

Falafel:
Wash soaked chickpeas. Chop and blend chickpeas in food processor until the beans are the consistency of fine bread crumbs. Now add garlic, parsley, coriander and make it to paste consistency. Take out in bowl add onion, green chilli, chilli flakes, pepper powder, paprika, salt, ground cumin, ginger paste, sesame seeds,  and plain flour and mix well.  Heat oil in deep pan for frying falafel on medium flame, add soda to paste just before frying. Mold the mixture with both hands to give desire shape (ball, tikki or long), cover with bread crumbs and  drop slowly into oil for frying. Keep turning falafel to keep the colour even brown on all side. When turn golden brown colour take out on absorbent paper
For Wrap: 
Heat tortilla wrap as per packet direction. Spread mayonnaise on tortilla add vegetables, falafel, drizzle some tomato sauce, roll up firmly, make a wrap and serve hot or at room temperature with avocado dip.




Keep Rocking and Keep Cooking with Gangnam Style
Pragati.!!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Pulse Appe..!!




Appe or paddu is another traditional south indian food element, and its very popular breakfast dish from the konkan region. Pulse appe is special variety made from four pulses and rice. This is one of most awaited item in my kitchen but finally i bought appe mould from India so now i am going to make this often. Here is recipe what my mom made, its simply delicious. I made with few vegetables, you can add any vegetables like cabbage, onion, corn or handful of spinach and roasted peanuts as per your choice. These been always one of my favourite dish with tomato chutney. Hope you will like too.

Serving 35 Appe


Ingredients:

For Batter:

Rice 100 gms
Urad Dal 50 gms
Chana Dal 50 gms
Moong Dal 20-25 gms
Toor Dal 1 tablespoon

Other:

1/2 cup Cabbage finely chopped
1 Onion Chopped
1 tablespoon chopped Green Chilli
1/4 cup Chopped Capsicum
1/2 teaspoon Ginger Gaarlic Paste
1/4 teaspoon Cooking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Cooking Soda
Fresh Coriander
1 teaspoon Roasted Cumin
1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder (Chilli Flakes)
1/2 teaspoon Black Salt
Salt to taste

For the Tempering:

2 tablespoon Oil
few Curry Leaves
1/2 tablespoon Mustard Seeds


Method:

Soak Rice and all dal atleast for 2-3 hours. Grind it to smooth thick paste with little water. Cover and keep aside overnight for fermentation. Next day add water to make dropping constancy batter (like Idli). Add all the vegetables, and all dry ingredients, mix well. Heat oil for tempering and this tempering to batter mix evenly. Heat the appe mould on medium flame for few minutes (grease little oil if required, not required if using non-stick mould). Pour spoonful of batter to each mould, cover with lid and cook till outer surface turn golden brown, than turn each appe using fork or wooden stick so as to cook the other side. Remove and repeat with remaining batter. Serve with Chutney.






Keep Rocking and Keep Cooking  with Gangnam Style
Pragati..!!

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Veg Upma..!!


Upma is traditional South Indian breakfast dish. First and best thing you can do to yourself with loaded veggies and tea for kick start a morning. Semolina ( Rawa, Sooji) is main ingredients, fresh green veggies, onion,  curry leaves give nice colour and flavour to dish but anything you can add as per availability and taste, Its simple, yet tasteful and healthy food. This recipe i learnt during my days in Hyderabad, hope you like it.




Ingredients:

1/2 cup Rawa
1 chopped Onion
1 chopped Tomatoes 
1 Green Chilli chopped
6-7 Curry Leaves
1/4 cup Cabbage finely chopped
1/4 cup Mix Veggies (Carrot, Green Peas, Sweet Corn)
1 teaspoon Tuar Dal
1 teaspoon Urad Dal
1/4 teaspoon Chana Dal
1-2 Dry Red Chillies 
1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds
1/4 teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder (optional)
1/4 teaspoon Fennel Seeds
1/4 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
2 tablespoon Oil
Fresh Coriander
Salt to taste
Lime Juice

Method:

Heat oil in a pan, add urad, chana and tuar daal, on slow flame wait till it turn light brown in colour. Add mustard seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds wait till it start cracking, than turmeric powder add green chillies, red dry chillies, curry leaves and chopped onions, saute for few minutes. Now Add all the veggies  (except tomatoes) stir fry on high flame for 2 minutes, than add tomatoes and cook till become slightly soft. add 1 or 1/2 cup of water and cover with lead. Now in hot water add rawa gradually and stir continuesly to avoid any lumps. Sprinkle few drops of lime juice and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot. 






Keep Rocking and Keep Cooking with Gangnam Style
Pragati..!!