Beetroot Halwa

Ingredients:-

Beetroot 1 cup (grated)

Sugar 1/2 cup

Milk 1/2 cup

Elachi/Cardamom 2 crushed

Ghee 4 tbsp

Raisns few

Cashew nuts few

Almonds 3 grated

Method:-

Fry cashew and raisns in 1 tsp of ghee and keep aside.

Heat the rest of the ghee and fry beetroot for 5-7 minutes.

In a heavy bottom pan take milk and let it come to boil.Now add fried beetroot and mix well.

Stir occasionally until the milk dries off.Now add sugar and stir continuously.

Sugar melts and leaves the sides of the pan.Now add the dry fruits and stir until it is semi dry.

Serve hot or cold...

Panasa Thonalu with a twist

Panasa thonalu is a traditional sweet made in andhra during festivals.The dough is made into panasa thonalu (jackfruit) shape and dipped in the sugar syrup.But my granny used to make them hot rather than sweet.She used to add salt and chilly powder in place of sugar.

When ever she was at my place she used to make them for us with her weak hands (she was

70+ then).She is no more and we all forgot about this snack.One day suddenly i remembered this and made but i was not sure of the name.Then i checked with Rekha of plantain leaf and she in turn checked with her mom and told me the name.Thanks rekha....

Here goes my granny recipe with a twist...

Ingredients:-

Maida/All purpose flour/Plain flour 1 cup

Ghee 2 tbsp

Salt as per taste

Ajwain(vammu) 1 tsp

Red chilly powder 1 tsp

Oil for deep frying

Method:-

Take maida,ghee,salt,red chilly powder and ajwain.Add warm water and make a dough similar to puri dough.Let it rest for 1 hour.

Now take a lemon sized dough and make thin puri.

Then make vertical slits from end to other without cutting the edges of the puri.

Then slowly rotate the puri holding the edges.And slightly press the edges.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Take oil in deep bottom kadai and once the oil is hot,leave thonalu in batches and deep fry until light grown in colour.

Let it cool and store in a air tight container.

Papdi Chat

Papdi chat i was forced to do.It so happened one day i wanted to make muruku.I took the flour in a bowl,added ajwain,salt and butter.Poured warm water and started kneading the dough.Then to my horror i realised the flour is not rice flour but maida/plain flour.I never ate muruku made with maida.Then made the dough and kept it to rest for while and gave my brain some time to think what to do with the maida.

Googled for the idea and saw shailu's website where in she made papdi chat.So lifted the idea from there and made this chat.Luckly had the sev at home and the outcome was excellent.

Ingredients:-

Maida 1 cup

Ajwain 1 tbsp

Butter 2 tbsp

Salt as per taste

Oil for deep frying

For chat

Boiled potato

Sev

Curd

Finely chopped onions

Finely chopped coriander leaves

Tamarind chutney

Green chutney-- Check here for the recipe.

Method:-

For tamarind chutney

Jaggery 1 tbsp crushed

Tamarind size of small half lemon

Cumin seeds (roaster) 1tsp

Red chilly powder 1tsp

Salt as per taste

Grind cumin into fine powder,mix tamarind pulp,jaggery,red chilly powder and salt.Add little water and boil for 4-5 minutes.Let it cool and can be stored for long.

Make small puris with the dough.Poke the puris with a fork and deep fry until cripsy.Once cool store in a air tight container until use.

Arrange papdis in a plate.Put some boiled potato on that.Then add little green chutney and tamarind chutney.Then keep little of chopped onions and coriander leaves.

Lastly add curd and sev and serve immediately.

Rasgula cake

When i saw this cake in masterchef,i so wanted to this.Once i had much milk left and i made rasgullas.Then the idea of making black forest rasgula cake struck me.That day was my sister's marriage anniversary so i got a occasion to celebrate her marriage anniversary with the cake baked by me.

My brother-inlaw liked it a lot.But i was not able to take a proper picture of the cake.As there were quite a few people in their house at the time of cutting the cake and i was not able to take a proper picture of it.

The taste was awesome and everyone liked it,in particular my b-law,he just loved it.

The cake recipe was adopted from masterchef website here and rasgullas from my blog.The only change i did was i didn't use cream to cover the cake instead i made marzipan and used that to cover the cake.I added orange essence to the icing sugar and the taste was awesome.

Murukulu

This muruku too i did for sankranthi.This recipe is given by my neighbor.Myself and my sister did them at my sister's place.

Ingredients:-

Rice flour 3 cups

Udat dal flour 1/3 rd cup

Salt to taste

Seasame/nuvulu seeds 1 tbsp

Ajwain/Caraway/vamu seeds 1 tbsp

Butter 3 tbsp

Warm water to make dough

Red chilly powder 1 tbsp

Oil for deep frying

Method:-

With all the above ingredients except oil,make hard dough using the warm water.

Take the star design attachment of the muruku maker and apply oil and fix it into the maker.

Grease the inside part of the muruku maker.Take small amount of the dough and close the muruku maker.

Take a big plate or a plastic paper and rub little oil on that.Now press the muruku maker and form small spirals.

Heat oil until piping hot and slowly leave muruku in small batches.

Fry until light brown colour.

Once all are done,let it cool and store in a air tight container.

Gavvalu

Gavalu (shell) is a famous sweet which is made during the festivals.I made this for sankranthi.Gavalu can be sweet and hot.I have done both but i prefer sweet than hot.

The ingredients are very few but to make this you need gavalu chaka ie a wood piece which has small horizontal slits.And the dough is made into small marble size balls and rubbed on the slits and they form a shape similar to shells which in telugu called gavalu.

This is the shape of gavalu chakka (wood piece)

What is needed to make gavalu :-

Plain flour/maida 2 cups

Samolina/suji/bombay rava 1/4th cup

Milk 1/2 cup

Ghee 4 tbsp (optional)

Jaggery 1 cup grated

Elachi 1

Oil for deep frying

How to make gavvalu :-

Make a soft dough with maida,rava,milk and ghee.Let is rest for 1/2 an hour.

Apply little oil to the mould (gavvalu chakka)

Make small marble size balls and rub each ball on the mould.You will get shell shape.Do with entire dough.

Heat oil and add gavvalu in batches and fry till golden colour.Take them on a kitchen tissue.

In a thick bottom pot take jaggery and add water till the jaggery immerse in the water.

Let it cook till you get thick syrup.To check if it is done or not,take water in a small plate and add a spoon of the syrup to the water.With your fingers if you can make a ball then the syrup is ready.Add elachi powder to it.

Now add the fried gavvalu and mix well and spread them in a big plate.If you

found gavalu are attached to each other,slowly try to detach them and spread them.

Let it come to room temp and store in a air tight box.

Now the recipe for salted gavvalu

Maida 2 cups

Semolina/suji/bombay rava 1/4 cup

Carway seeds/Ajwain 1 tbsp

Red chilly powder 1 tbsp

Salt as per taste

Method:-

Same as sweet gavvalu but with this there is no need of adding jaggery.

Cauliflower and Spring Onion paratha

I blogged about paratha many times before,this is just similar to my earlier parathas but just change in the main ingredients ie is using cauliflower and spring onions as stuffing in the paratha.

Ingredients:-

Wheat flour 2 cups

Porridge oats 1/2 cup

Salt

Oil

Stuffing:-

Cauliflower 8-9 florets,finely grated

Spring onions finely 1 cup

Green chillies grated 2

Amchur powder 1 tbsp

Salt

Oil for frying the paratha

Method:-

1. Make soft dough with wheat flour,oats and salt.
2. Mix grated cauliflower,spring onions,green chillies,salt and amchur powder
3. Roll out a thick roti.Place 2tbsp of the stuffing and close the edges.
4. Flatten it and dust it with more flour and roll out until the stuffing is not seen.
5. Fry both sides with oil.Serve hot with curd and chat masala

Guddu Pulusu (Egg in tamarind gravy)

Ingredients:-

Eggs 4 boiled

Tomatoes 1 chopped

Onions 1 chopped

Green chillies 2 silted

Tamarind a size of small lemon

Coriander powder 1/4tsp

Turmeric powder 1/4tsp

Oil 2 tbsp

Coriander leaves few

For tempering

Mustards seeds 1/4tsp

Fenugreek/methi seeds 1/4tsp

Cumin seeds 1/4tsp

Garlic crushed 4

Curry leaves few

Method:-

Boil eggs and remove the shell.Make few long slits on the egg.Take a pan and add 1 tbsp of oil and fry these whole eggs.Fry till light brown in colour and keep aside.

Take another pot with the remaining oil.Add all the seasonings and when they crackle add onions and green chillies.

Saute for a while and add tomatoes,red chilly powder,turmeric powder,salt and coriander powder.

Saute for 2-3minutes until the tomatoes and mashed up and cooked well.

Now add tamarind juice and 1 glass of water.

Let it boil for 5 minutes and then add boiled and fried eggs.

Add coriander leaves and let it boil for another 2-3 minutes.

Serve hot with rice.Jaggery can also be added.

Goduma rava masala upma (wheat rava upma)

Ingredients:-

Wheat Rava 1 cup
Water 3-3 1/2 cups
Tomatoes 1 chopped
Onions 1 chopped
Green chillies 2 choppedGinger 1'' pc finely chopped
Garam masala powder 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Red chilly powder 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

For seasoning/tempering/tadka

Oil 3 tbspMustard/Rai 1/2 tsp
Udat dal 1/4 tsp
Channa dal 1/2 tsp

Cloves 1

Cinnamon small pc
Curry leaves few

How to make goduma rava/wheat rava masala upma

In a skillet take oil and add all the seasonings .When they splutter add onion and green chillies.
Saute till onion are fried.Then add ginger pcs.
Saute for another 2 minutes.
Now add tomatoes.
Cook till tomatoes are mashed and fried well.
Then add garam masala and red chilly powder.Saute for another 2 minutes.
Add rava.Saute till rava changes colour.
Then add water slowly,continously stirring with one hand,this avoids formation of lumps.
Cover and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Serve hot with any pickle of your choice.

Schewan fried rice

Ingredients:-

Rice 500 gms

Carrot chopped 1 cup

Beans chopped 1 cup

Schewan sauce 1 tbsp

Black pepper 1/4 tbsp

Ajinimotto pinch

Ginger chopped 1/2 tbsp

Garlic chopped 1/2 tbsp

Soya sauce 1 tbsp

Oil 3 tbsp

Salt as per taste

Schezwan Sauce:-

Dry red chillies 10
Vinegar (white) 3 tbsp
Garlic 4
Cloves 2
Sugar 2tsp
Oil 1 tbsp
Salt 1tsp

Soak dry chillies for 10 minutes in water.Grind all the ingredients except oil into a fine paste.Heat oil and add the paste and saute once and keep aside to cool.Store in a air tight container in the refrigerator. Use as and when required.

Method:-

1. Cook rice with 1tbsp of oil.


2. Heat oil in a pan add ginger and garlic pieces.


3. Add vegetables and stir fry for 2-3 min on high until veggies are cooked.


4. Now add schewan sauce,soya sauce and ajinimoto.Cook for 2 min, add salt.


5. Then add rice and mix thoroughly,sprinkle pepper powder.

6. Serve hot with tomato sauce

Grilled Vegetable Tikkis

What are required

Cauliflower 4-5 florets

Potatoes 4 medium-sized

Carrot 3

Green peas 1/2 cup

French beans 5-6

Any other veggies of your choice

Green chutney 2 tbsp

Oats 1/2 cup

Salt as per taste

Oil 3 tbsp

For green chutney

Mint leaves 2 cups

Coriander leaves 1 cup

Amchur powder 2 tbsp

Green chillies 3-4

Cumin seeds roasted 1 tbsp

Grind all the above ingredients for green chutney.Green chutney can be stored for long in fridge

Now how to do the tikkis/cutlets

Boil all the veggies and drain water.

Dry roast oats and cool it.

Mix all the veggies,oats,green chutney and salt.

Heat the grill and brush it with oil.Make small patties and place them on the grill.

My grill is powered by electricity so the tikkis were done quite quickly.So the grilling time depends on the type of grill used.Once they are browned on both sides,sprinkle chat masala and serve hot.

This can be served with green chutney mixed with curd.

Gobi Musallam

I love cauliflower be it a curry or paratha i just love this curry apart from brinjal.

This recipe i got it from Master chef which was aired on Star plus few days back.I loved the colour and taste was awesome.Here goes the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Cauliflower florets 2 cups

Onions 1 chopped and 1 chopped and grind into smooth paste

Ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder 1/2tsp

Red chilly powder 2tsp

Coriander powder 2 tsp

Pepper 7-8nos

Green cardamom 2

Black cardamom 1

Cinnamon 1/2' pc

Cloves 2

Mace 1 small pc

Tomato puree 1/2 cup

Salt as per taste

Oil 2tbsp

Green chillies 2

Oil for deep frying florets

Method:-

1.Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry cauliflower florets till golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper and keep aside.

2. Mix onion paste with ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder. Keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan and saute chopped onion with whole spices till onion is golden and spices release flavour. Cool and grind to a paste. Keep aside.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and saute the onion-ginger-garlic paste. Mix in tomato puree.
5. Mix in onion-spice paste, add cauliflower and water and cook till cauliflower absorbs the flavour and gravy thickens. Heat oil in a tadka spoon and fry the green chilli whole.
6. To serve, arrange florets in a plate and pour gravy around them and place fried green chilli on top.

Serve hot.