Mixed Vegetable Sabzi

A simple easy to cook dish with all the basic vegetables available at home. This receipe is perfect  for lunch boxes and goes well with chapatti . Its a dry Sabji and there wont be any spill .

Preparation Time: 15 min                       Cooking Time: 20 min

Catogery : Sabji

Ingredients:

Vegetables Needed

Potato -1

Carrot -1

Beans  - 5 – 6

Baby corn -  5-6

Mushroom  - 1 pkt

Broccoli – little

Capsicum - ½

Boiled Corn – little

To Temper:

Oil – 3 tbsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Chilli powder – ½ tbsp.

Coriander powder – 1 tbsp

Jeera powder – ½ tsp

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Salt – As per requirement

Cooking method:

       1.       Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan .
       2.       First add potatoes . half cook it and then add all the other vegetables .
       3.       Add salt,turmeric, coriander,chilli , jeera powder .
       4.       Simmer the stove and Stir the vegetables at regular intervals.
       5.       Once all vegetables are cooked add garam masala.
      6.       Leave it for 2 to 3 min and turn off

 Tips

       1.       Heavy Bottomed vessel needed
       2.       Can use any vegetables as per your convenience
      3.       You can Increase or Decrease the quantity of vegetables as per your choice

Onion Chutney

Onion Chutney is an all time favourite and simply goes well with idli , dosa, Raji dosa etc…One can store this chutney for a long time when refrigerated and good for travel .

Preparation Time: 10 min              Cooking Time : 20 mins

Ingerdients:

Onion Big – 5 – 6 nos
Red Chilli – 10 -12 Nos
Tamarind -little
Salt – as per requirement
Oil – 50 g

Method:

      1.       Cut the Onions and keep it separately
      2.       Pour little oil and fry the red chilli and onion separately

3.       In a mixie jar take the fried red chilli, tamarind and salt and powder it.

4.       Add onions in the mixie . grind  it to make it coarse . don’t make it smooth

       5.       Add all the remaining oil in the  heavy bottomed pan .
       6.       Once oil gets heated add the mustard seeds , curry leaves and the coarse mixier.

7.       Adjust the salt . stir it in regular intervals. Once oil oozes out switch off.

8.       Once it cools down you can refrigerate it.

Tips:

1. You can Increase or decrease the amount of chilli .

2. Its taste better if grinded coarsely.

Tamarind Rice / Puliyodarai & Pulikachal

Tamarind Rice (Puliyodarai) & Pulikachal 

An easy to cook, store & take away south Indian favorite dish. Suits best for Travel & Quick Meal.

The key stays with the preparation of  Pulikaichal  an aromatic, tangy and spicy semi solid gravy which when mixed with steamed rice its named Tamarind rice. Tamarind in the gravy makes it stay good for few days & refrigeration ensures for a life of 2-3 weeks.

The Tamarind Rice  is one of the preferred Prasadam in temples of South India.

Preparation time: 10 mins   Cooking time : 30 mins

Category :Variety Rice        Dish : South Indian

Ingredients:

Sesame Oil -50 grams

Tamarind - 1 big lemon sized

Tumeric-1/4 tsp

Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

Salt - as needed

Curry Leaves – 3 sprigs

Channa dal / Bengal Gram -3 tbsp

Urud dal - 3 tbsp

Peanut - 100 grams

        To Roast and Grind :

Red chilli - 4 nos

Channa dal/Bengal gram- 1/2 tsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp.

Pepper -1/2tsp

Fenugreek seeds-1/2 tsp

Jeera -1/4 tsp

        To Temper:

Mustard seeds - 1tbsp

Red chilli - 10 nos

Curry leaves - 2 or 3 sprigs

          Asafoetida -1/4 tsps  

Cooking Method: 

1. Soak the Tamarind in water for an hour, squeeze & extract the pulp.

2. Dry roast all the Ingredients to golden brown the Roast and ground list, grind in mixer & transfer to a bowl . 

3. Dry roast Channa dal / Bengal gram, Urud dal, Peanut individually.

4. In a Heavy Bottomed pan pour oil  & start adding the ingredients to Temper in sequence.

5. Add the tamarind extract and  turmeric powder to the kadai , add enough water and boil for 20 minutes until the volume reduces to half.

6. Add the Roast and ground  powder, roasted dal and peanut and bring it to boil  for 3- 4 minutes until the mixture gets thick. Pulikachal is ready to be used.

7. Tamarind Rice -Mix the Rice , oil and  portions of gravy (Pulikaichal) uniformly .

Tips:

1. Jaggery in little can be added to enhance the taste

2. When mixing with rice make sure you adjust the salt level and add sesame oil.

3. Avoid usage of Wet Spoons or hands for longer storage of the dish.

4. Dal and Peanut to be added in the last to bring crunchiness.
5. Avoid mixing the gravy when rice is hot.  

 

Strawberry Jam

Bread is the most fundamental, ready to eat food of all times & ages throughout the world which turns out to be the greatest of feasts with fresh butter & Jam. 

Market is flooded with varieties of Jam but homemade Jam is fresh & free of preservatives.

Presenting you the simpler, healthier & tastier Jam recipe with Strawberry - an aromatic,  bright red  colored, delicious, sweet berry.

Preparation time: 10 mins.                      Cooking time: 15 mins.

Category : appetizer

Ingredients:

Strawberries - 500 g

Sugar - 1¼ cup

Fresh Lime Extract - 1½ tbsp.

Cooking Method: 

1. Wash the strawberries and crush them with blender.

2. Transfer the crushed puree to heavy bottomed pan, add little water,once it starts to boil, add sugar.

3. Stir under low flame until the sugar is completely dissolved.

4. Add lime juice & stir until consistency of Jam is achieved

5. Cool & Refrigerate in an air tight container. 

Tips:

1. Follow the same procedure with any other pulpy fruits to prepare Jam of your choice.

2. Chunks of the fruits in the crush will nourish your taste buds

3. Subjective to citric content of the fruits Increase or decrease the amount of sugar

Carrot Halwa/Gajar ka Halwa

Making this as my first dish is just that my family loves sweets. The carrots available in the market belongs to the juicy variety which are prefect to make  halwa..This dish needs patience as the cooking process  is slow , cut short methods are also available using Koya/ mawa are available which are equally good. I am preparing this dish by using  the Slow cooking process.


Preparation Time :15 min           Cooking time : 1 hour.
Dish : North Indian.                    Category : Dessert

Ingredients:
Carrots - 1/2 kg
Sugar -1/2 cup
Milk - 1/2 l
Cashewnut - 5
Pista, Raisin ,Almond -(optional)
Ghee - 4 tbsp
Cardamom -  2

Method:

1. Wash  carrots ,cut the ends ,peel skin and grate it

 2. Pour little ghee in a heavy bottomed vessel ,roast the nuts and raisins and keep it separately
 3 . Add the grated carrot in the left over ghee and stir until carrot gets cooked till the raw smell leaves which takes around 5 mins

4. Now add the milk and let it boil until all milk is absorbed.

5. Add Sugar .After a few minutes sugar will melt and become watery, keep stirring it at regular intervals. Sugar can be adjusted if need be.
6. Once it starts thickening , simmer it and add the remaining ghee , cashwenut ,Pista, and cardamom

7. Once the ghee oozes out in the sides u can turn off

Tips:

1. Milk can be replaced with Mawa.
2. Speeding the process can be done by cooking carrot in Microwave/Cooker.
3. Adding pistachios taste better and  looks rich
4.  Milk / Mawa  can be skipped by directly adding sugar after carrot cooks well
5. Heavy bottomed vessel is a must.