Apple & Orange Juice

serves: 2
Ingredients:
1 Apple
1 Orange

Method:
Peel & cut orange into slices. Slice apples. Push the fruits through the juicer. You can add salt & Pepper for taste. If the juice is too sour add a little sugar. Serve immediately.
If using blender blend with little water & strain.

Paneer Stuffed Potato curry

Ingredients:
2 large boiled potatoes
1/4 cup crumbled paneer+ a little for garnishing
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 green chilli chopped
few corrinander leaves chopped finely
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp corriander powder
2 pinches garam masala
1 tbsp +1 tsp oil
salt to taste

Method:
For the stuffing:
Heat 1 tsp oil in the pan. Add half the cumin seeds. Add 1 tbsp of onion & half of the green chilli & saute until the onions turn pink in colour. Add 1 tbsp of tomato & cook for 2 min. Add half of the remaining spices & Cook for 1 min. Add paneer, half of the corriander leaves & salt. Mix well.
Peel & cut potatoes into halves. Scoop out the cetral part & stuff the paneer stuffing into it.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in another pan & add remaining cumin seeds. Saute remaining onions , green chilli & when done add remaining tomatoes & cook for 2 min. Add the remaining spices & cook for another min. If you have some stuffing left over you can add it to the gravy. Add 1/2 cup water to it & bring to a boil. Add salt to taste. Now carefully put the stuffed potatoes into the gravy & simmer covered for 10 min.(until the gravy coats the outer part of the potatoes .

Garnish with chopped corriander leaves & crumbled paneer & Serve hot .

Pop Corn

Ingredients:
1/4 cup corn kernels
1 inch cube salted butter
salt

Method:
1. Heat butter in a heavy bottomed sauce pan on High. Add corn kernels to it and saute for about a min.
2. Cover the pan and after about another minute you can hear the sound of corn popping up.

3. Reduce the flame when popping sound slows down & switch off after a minute.

4. Sprinkle salt & serve.

Variations:

1. Instead of salt you can add honey and make sweet Popcorn.

2. Can add toasted seasame seeds to make saesamy Popcorn.

Mini Pizzas

1 Pizza Base
1 cup grated cheese
Sauce:
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
2 cloves garlic chopped finely
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp ajwain (caraway seeds) or oregano

Toppings: ( you can choose any combination of vegetables, I have used sweet corn & capsicums in this recipe)
Sweet corn, Capsicum slices, tomato slices, olives, baby corn slices, etc.

Method:
1. Cut rounds out of a pizza base using a round pastry cutter. In one pizza base you can cut 7 to 8 rounds. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.


2. Mix in all the ingrdients of the sauce and spread evenly on all pizza rounds.(If you are using home-made fresh puree then cook it for a few min. until it thickens then add all other ingredients of the sauce.)

3. sprinkle grated cheese liberally on the pizza bases. Arrange toppings and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degree C (for 10-12 min) until the cheese has melted & the pizza is slightly crisp.

Feena Roti

Feena Roti is a type of laccha paratha belonging to Rajasthani cuisine. Its mostly consumed during winter. My mom always made the roti very thick (almost 4 times the ones I have shown here) which used to be crispy outside & soft inside. My dad used to make a choorma out of it and he was very particular that only my mom should make the roti as when we made, it never was the same. I'll post the recipe for choorma very soon which is my father's speciality.

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp ghee

1/4 cup ghee for brushing

extra flour for dusting

1/2 tsp salt

1. Add 2 tbsp ghee to the flour and knead into a soft dough using about 1/2 cup of water. (quantity of water may vary depending on the obsorbing capacity of flour). Allow to stand for 5 min.

2. Divide the dough into six equal parts. Make small flat rounds. Using flour roll each round into a circle. Brush with 1 tsp ghee & sprinkle little flour on it.3. Make a hole in the centre bring the edges outwards as shown below.

4. Fold the outer edges as well. cut the loop at any point and make a roll.

5. Press the roll slightly & again roll out into a circle and put it on hot griddle(tava).

6. Cook slightly on both sides. Flip again and press with a kitchen towel on both sides to give it a crispy outer layer. (you can also put it over an open flame). The inner layer should be soft. Cook on high flame (as long it doesn't burn) to avoid chewy Roti.

Finally brush with ghee & serve hot with gravy vegetables or dal.

Repeat for rest of the dough balls.

my entry for

Spinach Dal

This is another healthy dish. Being a typical desi I like to use ghee in dals but all those calorie countious people can either reduce the amount of ghee or replace it with olive oil. In this dish I have used a mix of different lentils. you can also make it with only tuvar dal or mysore dal or use a mix of your choice.

1/2 cup tuvar dal
1 tbsp moong dal
1 tbsp chana dal
1 cup shredded spinach
1 tomato chopped
2 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp ghee
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 green chilli chopped (optional)
salt to taste


Wash & soak the dals for atleast half an hour. Heat ghee in a pr.cooker. Add cumin seeds. when they crackle add garlic and saute for 1 min. add chopped tomato, turmeric powder, chilli powder, chopped green chilli & salt. Fry for another min & add dals & shredded spinach with 1 1/2 cups of water. Pressure cook for 1 whistle on high. Reduce the flame & simmer for another 7 to 8 min or until the dals are cooked.
Mash the dals sightly and Serve hot garnished with lemon slices. In Rajasthan we eat with Feena roti (type of laccha paratha) but it tastes good with rice & parathas too.

Moong Dal Halwa

Wishing you a Happy and Colorful Holi.


I hope you all enjoyed the festival of colors. In Armenia its impossible for me to find any gulal but anyway we celebrated Holi in our own way. I invited some of our Indians friends & threw a party for them. We really missed the colours. A saffron tilak on the forehead was the only thing we did to our guests in the name of colors. But atleast I could make the traditional moong dal halwa (rajasthan special) which was enjoyed by everyone and I received many compliments. Its a real hard work but worth every effort.

Moong Dal Halwa (with khoya)
cooking time: 1 hr 30 min
shelf life: 15 days refridgirated

250g. moong dal (split green gram dal)
250g. khoya
250g. ghee

300g. sugar
25g cardamoms peeled & crushed
blanched almonds and pistachios for garnish



Soak moong dal for atleast two hrs. Drain and grind to a fine paste using as little water as possible. Mix together ghee & dal paste & cook on slow flame stirring continuously to avoid sticking to the pan. In the begining you will have to stir vigourously as its very sticky. You can add a little more ghee if difficult to handle. After some time it becomes easier as the water evaporates. you can increase the flame slightly to speed up the process at this stage. But if you can't handle then better to keep low heat. Keep on roasting (for about an hour or more) until the ghee oozes out & its light brown in colour.
Grate the khoya and add it to the dal. roast for another 2 to 3 min. Allow to cool.
By that time make a sugar syrup of two thread consistency. Dissolve sugar in equal quantity of water and heat. you can check the consistency by taking a drop of syrup in between your thumb & forefinger, press tightly and release you can see threads. when it reaches the desired consistency remove from fire and stir in one direction for about 3 to 5 min to cool slightly. Add cardamom to the syrup and then add the syrup to the dal mixture. Mix well. Ready to eat after 1 hr. Garnish with blanched nuts.
ghar ki rasoi Tip: In case the halwa becomes too hard add a little milk and warm before serving.

Moong dal Halwa (without khoya)

250g moong dal
250g. ghee
250g. sugar
25g. cardamoms peeled & crushed
blanched almonds & pistachios for garnish

Follow the same procedure as above to roast the dal. Dissolve sugar in 250 ml water. Bring to a few boils and add to the dal. Cook while stirring until the halwa thickens & leaves out ghee. Garnish with blanched nuts & cardamom.

Only Diwali Treat event hosted by Sowmya and announce by Pari