Rice Paper Wraps- Veggie Rolls

Vegetable Roll - Rice Paper Wrap

I was keen to try the Rolls Recipe, here long ago. I was thrilled to have found Blue Dragon brand of Rice Paper Wraps! I bought them, searched for video help on usage of the paper wraps, here and proceeded with my recipe which my family liked. Many Indian variations can be tried out on these rolls!

This is a good recipe for kids, mess free, their fave sabji and rice or any variation can be wrapped in and they can relish on it! :) It took me only half an hour, to put this together! Time saver and filling!

Serving Size : 8 wraps

Ingredients :

Rice Paper Wraps : 8 pcs

One dish of warm water

Boiled Rice Noodles - 200 gms package

Steamed Veggies - Carrot, Peas, Capsicum,Beans - 1 1/2 cup

Red Onion - 1 small minced

Garlic minced - 3-4 cloves

Olive Oil - 2 tsp

Pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Sauce of your choice (We had with sweet chili sauce)

Method :

Boil 500 ml of water, with bit of salt, add the noodles and lower the flame. Once its done, drain and keep aside.

Pass the veggies through food processor, grate mode, transfer to a mw safe bowl, sprinkle some water (maybe around 2-3 Tbspn) and on high, for 5-6 mins till wilted.

In a kadhai, take olive oil, warm it and sweat the onion garlic, followed with the veggies and on a medium high flame, sauté it . Put off the flame, add salt and pepper to taste.

Assemble the rolls :

Do this step when you are ready to eat.

Take a shallow pan with around a cup of water and let it get warm. Put the flame off. Dip the paper wrap each at a time till wet and take it on a clean surface or dish. Pat it with fingers so it gets wet evenly. Take some noodles on the damp wrap, place around a tablespoon or more of the sautééd veggies atop the noodles,wrap as per the video help. Framing the wrapping part in words, naaah .

Serve with sauce of choice, eat immediately! Enjoy!

Omelette (As In a Fatayer ), Dabeli N Milkmaid Sweet

Egg Omelette (Moz Cheese) Served With Rainbow Toast Bread for Kids.

Moz Cheese gets cooked inside and crisp on the outside.

Eating out is pleasure when kids start loving the 'healthy' food served there. One such Mid-eastern dish / form of pie is an Egg Fatayer. (Varieties of Fatayer such as Spinach, Cheese etc are available to choose from! ) Egg is beaten along with salt and pepper as we usually do for our simple omelettes and one lovely addition is made in the beaten egg, which is then poured over a pizza like base and baked in traditional oven for around ten minutes.

I thought of trying out the same at home, various times, having used sliced cheese, then the triangles and even the cream cheese :( ALL resulted in burnt omelette on a pan!

Then it struck..it should have been mozzarella! Tried it out, VOILA! ..and here goes the easy-peasy kiddo type of omelette , made on gas top, minus the base. Its filling and healthy for kids! Has to be served hot!

Egg Omelette-Fatayer Style.

Ingredients :

1 large egg

Salt as per taste

Pepper powder

1 Tbspn Mozzarella Shreds

1 Tbspn Vegetable Oil

Method :

Beat the egg along with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a pan-medium flame. When the egg is well beaten, add the shreds directly from the freezer around 1 Tbspn, and fold in well with the egg mix, do not beat, pour in the hot pan. One side done, flip and cook the other side, serve hot along with bread as a sandwich or with rotis. (Once it cools , the cheese becomes chewy, hence serve hot.)

One more variation is not to mix the cheese shreds in the egg mix, pour the egg mix in pan. When one side is done, sprinkle the frozen shreds on surface, and flip it carefully. When the omelette is done, the bottom side up, will have beautifully crisp cheese on top and soft omelette below. I do not have a photo of it. Children will scrape and eat the crisp cheese first :D

(Shall try to post picture of EGG FATAYER in few days time. )

Any other variation, do try it out, it is very filling any style you make !

More omelette details are here.

Treasure the sight of child eating with love! :D

Dabeli

Very popular street food of Mumbai, loved by one and all. Its available in two ways, the filling is sandwiched and given in a round bread or the bread is lightly toasted in butter and the filling is sandwiched. The tantalizing part is the crunch from nuts or dryfruits and sev. I love the toast version.

Couldn't resist making it from MEERA @ ENJOY INDIAN FOOD, link from Tarala Dalal, just perfect measure and too good in taste. Follow the exact recipe and enjoy the praises! :D

Thanks Meera!

MOM'S DELIGHT- Condensed Milk, Biscuit,Cocoa Treat!

Mom's Delight is a dessert that comes from Edible Garden by Nags.

Thanks to you and your mom for sharing such a wonderful dessert, flavored best on the next day! (Made it in a 9" sqaure pan. Used 10 Digestives rest all being same! )

Would post on a weekly basis atleast from now on! :D Thanks for your support dear friends!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO YOU ALL IN ADVANCE!

Beetroot Puris, Paratha & Koshimbir! Yummy Mousse!

     Beetroot Puris

This recipe is  a simple adaptation from  'Palak Puris' recipe. I have boiled beets, blended them with spices and added the puree derived thereby only as a source to bind the dough for poori. 

Ingredients :

1 big beet, chopped and boiled (pressure cooked in 2 cups water for 2 whistles)

1 tsp red chili powder

table salt (around 1 tsp or as per taste)

1 tsp cooking / vegetable oil

1/4 tsp ajwain

1 1/2 C whole wheat flour 

Method :

In a grinder, blend the boiled and cooled beet pieces to make a paste, use a tablespoon of beet boiled water if needed. It should not be watery but just sauce consistency. 

Take atta in a wide bowl, add salt, chili powder, oil and mix well. Add the ground paste of beetroot and knead well. Make balls, roll out to 2 inch discs and deep fry in hot oil. (I got 18

 puris) Serve hot with accompaniment of your choice, I served alongside Aloo Matar- Red Aloo Matar, the water used for boiling beet was used up in this curry, making it a good red match with the RED pooris! :)

Kids liked it as 'Red Puris' there was no beet taste at all making it a hit with kids and adults. 

Beet-Paneer Parathas

Ingredients :

Filling :

1 big beet ( grated-raw)

150 gms crumbled paneer

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt (as per taste)

1/4 tsp ajwain

1/2 tsp jeera powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 -1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp oil

Dough :

For 10 balls

3 cup atta/whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp oil

Method : 

Make the dough and cover and keep for 30 minutes. 

Filling :-

In a kadhai, heat oil, add the grated beetroot and saute for 2-3 minutes on high flame, reduce the flame, cover and cook without water for 5 more minutes. Uncover, add paneer, mix well ginger garlic paste, ajwain, jeera- coriander and chili powders mix well add sugar and salt, let it  combine well, check for dry consistency and put off the flame. Check the flavour.

Let the filling cool completely.

Make 10 portions from the dough and roll out each to 3 inch discs, spoon a tablespoon of filling as in the picture above, seal the edges and roll out with minimum dredging into parathas. Heat tava, brush some oil, fry this on both sides till done.

Serve with plain curds or any veggie of your choice!

The filling if excess can be stored in an airtight container and refridgerated. My hubby loved this a lot, a rare thing ...:D He wanted me to make parathas next day as well. So from the leftover filling, I made 3 parathas, had around half cup of filling left, which I turned to bhaaji/subzi by heating a tsp oil, adding half a tsp rai, few curry leaves and sauteeing this filling , packed it as subzi with chapatis. 

The next one is a dish from http://konkanworld.blogspot.com/. Her tasty koshimbeer from beetroot was liked instantly! Thanks for this lovely Beetroot Koshimbeer recipe ....simple and tasty! THANK YOU MAYA!!

Kuch Meetha??? :D  Deeba, whose droololicious dishes n desserts and lovely writeup which extracts equal amounts of drools too, has an array to choose from! This lovely Strawberry Choco dessert comes from her!  I use hung yogurt to make my fave Shrikhand, but going one level up with that Shrikhand, as yogurt cheese appealed a lot to me! Glad it did! 

Thanks Deeba! I would truly take ages to do things you dish out with such grace and ease! Day after day, post after post! Oh yum!

CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY HUNG-YOGURT MINI MOUSSE!

Ending March on this sweet note as  new  academic year begins for my preschoolers! :D 

Mumbai Style Pav Making... I Am Getting There! Matkichi Usal N Malai Cookies

I have been craving for the pav that tastes exactly like the ones we get in Mumbai but in vain..so started baking from my fellow bloggers, as addictive as baking can be, I was no stranger to this bakodiction, got my measures to suit our tastes after several attempts! 

I stick to the measures below . 

Makes 15 pav ... Total time taken.. (15 mins for yeast + 15 mins kneading+ 2 hours rising time+ 25mins rising time + 12 mins baking)

Please adjust time 3 hrs ahead,  the time you  wish to have pav ready on table! 
Ingredients..
Active dry yeast : 1 1/2 tsp
250 ml warm water (mw on high for 40-50 secs)1 tbsp sugar (any would do..white granulated / brown demerara etc)
4 cups maida (all purpose flour) divided into 3 1/2 cups + 1/2 cup
2 tbspn extr.virgin olive oil
1-2 tsp salt (as per ur liking -this will turn out like mumbai pav in saltiness)

Method :

 Step 1. In a double sized bowl(capacity 500ml ) , combine sugar and yeast- pour the warm water over it, mix well with a spoon. Keep aside till it doubles up in volume, happens in around 10 mins -the more it foams, the better.

Step 2. In a big bowl, add 3 cups flour, add salt, extra virgin olive oil, combine well. Make a well in center, pour the yeast mixture, take some flour frm the sides n make a pasty mix with spoon. Then mix in the rest of the 3 cups flour along the sides into the paste and keep kneading, add the balance 1/2 cup, knead, then the rest 1/2C add little water if needed or even

 a tbspn of milk would do.

Step 3. Knead for ten mins till the dough is soft, smooth and pliable. Shape it round, apply some olive oil to the base n sides of the bowl, place this dough in center, apply little oil on surface of dough, cover with a kitchen towel or cling wrap..leave to rise in a warm area for 2 hours

Step 4. Once the dough has risen n is doubled up in size, hit it down, keep kneading till the bubbles n air has been punched out. Apply little oil on palms for this. Then divide into 14-15 round portions, golf ball sized.

 Step 5. Line a 12x5 tray, wth parchment paper, place the rounded dough touching each other, in a row, cover with towl n let it rest for approx 15-25 mins till it doubles up in volume. 

Step 6. Preheat the oven to 200C for 10 mins, (do this along with Step 5. to save on time)  reduce the temp to 180C and place this tray in for 10-12 mins, keep checking towards the end as oven temp varies. If you find the surface golden brown, its ready, or bake until it is.  

Step 7. Take it out, apply butter on top for glaze. Remove to wire rack and eat hot or cool it.
TIP : THE MORE THE DOUGH RISES IN STEP 5, THE BETTER IT BAKES GIVING A
SOFT N COTTON LIKE TEXTURE, PLUS IT MELTS IN MOUTH! SERVE WITH ANY OF YOUR FAVE CURRIES!

 These pavs got  a lovely height of almost 2" plus, as it rose for around 30 mins. Remember to keep it covered though.

This time it was with Matkichi Usal- Gravy Form, (needed for bread) from here.  

(Jayashree Mudaliar's@Sinful Indulgence)

I hv grown up with Usal as staple in breakfast for weekends, hence carrying forward the  tradition of weekend brunch with home made pav and usal!  Here is another variety of Usal with Whole Moong.

Try it with chapatis for dinner, gives a different taste altogether!  Thanks for sharing this simple and yet aromatic usal Jayashree.

Finally a sweet, this time around, MALAI COOKIES, the Oooh so yum n flavorsome from Divya's /Easy Cooking blog, inspired by Nita Mehta's book, which she made with home made collection of malai, and I lazily used the store tetra pack malai/Thick Cream.

Thanks Divu! Its best treat for kids!

Have a lovely weekend!! 

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Pav Bhaaji - Bombay Style, Rasmalai

Pav Bhaaji is one special dish which was devoured as a teenager on parties. Birthday parties, especially, were incomplete without the 'Shiv Sagar' Pav Bhaaji served in Borivili West. :D
Commenting behind a seated group, in a bid to procure seats for our group, was another recreation! :)

My mom and mil are thee thee best in making this yummy dish, recreating the magic at home!

This is the very first time I attempted making 'Pav' at home as well.
I yet have to bake Anjali's/Annaparabramha MUMBAI pav recipe.
(the links that I followed are Jugalbandi- here, A Whirl of Aromas -here ) .
From Vini, got a link to breadworld dot com, the recipe is here. Thats what I followed, the glaze I followed Vini's butter glaze tip.

So here is the recipe for Pao / Pav.

PAV/PAO

Ingredients :

2 1/2 cups maida /all-purpose flour 
2 tbspn sugar 
1 tsp salt 
1 sachet Instant Yeast (SAF-brand-11gms)
1/2 cup milk 
1/4 cup water 
2 tbsp soft butter 

soft butter for glazing

Method :
In the bowl with mixer attachment combine 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Heat the butter, milk, water until warm -temp 120-130F. Attach the hooks for kneading, add the liquid little by little and beat for 2 mintues on a medium speed, keep scraping the sides. (Donot skip the 'beat-4-2-mins' step-I found dough more elastic due to this step. ) Add the remaining flour (1 1/2 C) and knead for 8-10 minutes into soft dough. Cover with a damp cloth, resting time - 10-15 mins.
This would rise after the specified time. Line a sheet with parchment paper, divide the dough into 10 round balls, arrange with little space on the lined sheet, cover again with the damp cloth and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise. The dough balls should be double in size, if not leave for some more time, instant yeast works fast. I got mine ready in 40 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 400F for 10-12 minutes or till it browns lightly on top. (My setting, 180C/10 mins- then removed and brushed each of these with soft butter.)
Remove from baking sheet and IMMEDIATELY transfer to wire rack for cooling. (Anjali's tip - If you leave it on the baking sheet, the bread will sweat.)




We have lovely Pav here, mine got more tanned! :D But a very good experience and tasted good!

Served it with PAV BHAAJI- my mil's recipe.

Ingredients :

Vegetable Oil
3 medium onions
3 large tomatoes
2 green chillies
1 inch ginger chopped finely
2 large cloves of garlic chopped finely
2 Cups frozen mixed veggies(or 1/2 C peas, 1 big carrot, 100 gms french beans -topped,trimmed and broken to one inch length)
100 gm cauliflower
1 medium capsicum
2 large potatoes
2 tsp soft butter
salt
haldi/turmeric powder
1 tbspn Everest Pav Bhaaji Masala
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder (optional)
3 tbspn coriander leaves-garnishing
1 tsp butter per person (less or more for garnish/skip)

Method :
Wash and cook the potatoes, carrot, beans, peas,capsicum and cauliflower upto 3 whistles with quarter quantity of water, salt and haldi.
In a kadhai, heat oil, fry the sliced onions till transculent, cool, grind to paste, keep aside.
Add little oil, add chopped tomatoes, stir in between, till mushy and leaves the sides of pan. Cool, grind. Keep aside.
Take a heavy bottom kadhai, heat a tbspn of oil (or less) add the ginger garlic , saute till light brown, add green chilies, add the onion paste, saute for a minute or two, the tomato paste and mix in well. Add the pav bhaaji masala, red chili powder and garam masala and mix well. Allow to simmer. In the meanwhile, take the boiled veggies, drain excess water, they will be in shape, perfectly cooked. Mash them with the back of a spatula and add to the simmering paste, mix well. Let the entire mixture now simmer for around 4 -5 mins on a low flame. Add little soft Amul butter, salted version for that yum taste, garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with Amul butter roasted Pav. (Apply butter to the sliced pav, roast for around two minutes till it is bit crisp- Indulge n Enjooyyyyyy)

Mitha Ho Jaaye --

I had made Rasmalai from Namratha's blog - recipe here-- just love it every time I make it!

RASMALAI

This sweet and as I mentioned above the 'Birthday Party' treat is a "Special Birthday Wish" Post for a very very dear Food Blogger and friend of mine, MEERA-Enjoy Indian Food!

HAPPPPPPYYYY BIRTTTTHHHHHHDAYYYYYY MEEEEEEEEEERAAAAAAAAA!

HUGS, LUV N GOOD WISHES TO YOU N YOUR LOVELY BLOGS (480+ posts already in EIF and EWF -all healthy and nutritious!) WHICH TURNED ONE!!



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Baby Corn Manchurian, Veg Rice Chinese, Potato Bhajiyas, Coconut Laddoos

Baby Corn Manchurian (click on it for recipe)

Having picked up a lovely tray of cute little baby corn, got this wonderful recipe -easy and super delicious!! To go with it, made this rice, full of veggies on hand...truly complimented the dish! Made it from an old hand written stir fry recipe, and altered it a bit.



Vegetable Rice - Indo-Chinese style

Ingredients :
4 Cups boiled and cooled rice (any long grained white rice would do)
10 white button mushrooms sliced
4 spring onions, whites -chopped (save greens for garnishing)
1 carrot (cut lengthwise, thin, 2" long - 1/2 cup)
1 capsicum (de-seeded , chopped lengthwise-I used red bell pepper)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 tbspn olive oil (extra virgin)
pinch of pepper powder
2 tbspn tomato ketchup
1 tsp garlic chilli sauce (increase qty for more heat)
1 tbspn soy (mild sweet) sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce (optional)
Salt to taste


Method :
Heat olive oil in a wok/kadhai. Add the garlic, saute it for about a minute. Add the chopped whites (approx 1/4 cup) of spring onion, add carrot, capsicum saute each for a minute or two, brown the mushrooms, add little salt and pepper. (Till this stage its normal stir fried veggies, you can have it hot as it is ...or proceed further )
Add the cooled rice and mix well. Add the sauces and mix well with spatula. Garnish with the spring onion greens. Check salt..some sauces do have salt content in them.

Serve along with Baby Corn Manchurian! Its lipsmacking tasty!!



Snack time!!! The potato bhajias that I have often savoured as kid 'Batatya Bajjo' in Konkani is the way my mother prepares these. ( My only addition is the garam masala!)
We indulged in this after many months! :D

Ingredients :
2 potatoes, washed clean , wiped and sliced a bit thickly than wafers
1/2 Cup besan (gram flour)
salt
1 tsp red chili powder
pinch of haldi
big pinch garam masala powder
1 tsp ajwain
water
Oil to deep fry

Method :
Take besan in a wide-mouth bowl. Add chili powder, haldi, garam masala, ajwain, salt. Add water to it little by little make it lump free and of sauce consistency. DONOT add too much water. If the paste looks watery, add more beasan and make it sauce consistency.
Heat the oil on medium flame, leave a tiny drop of this batter into the oil, if it rises the oil is ready for pakoras/bhajias. Dip the slices one by one in batter, coat them evenly and slide them carefully in the hot oil. Do not over crowd the oil kadhai. Fry in batches. Serve hot with sauce.

Enjoyyyyy with a steaming hot beverage!

Ending without meetha...impossible. I used to love the milkmaid coconut laddoos ad as a kid, also used to finish off these in matter of minutes! Mom had to hide these or chide me for over-indulging! :) These below are made from freshly scraped coconut which I had to finish off.


Coconut Laddoos

Ingredients :
1 cup scraped coconut
5 tbspn sweetened condensed milk
Elaichi / cardamom powder -a big pinch
Saffron a tiny pinch
yellow color two drops
1/2 tsp ghee

Method :
Heat a heavy bottom kadhai, add the coconut and condensed milk and keep stirring on a medium flame for 10 minutes or till the mixture comes together. Add the saffron, elaichi powder and color and mix it enough to combine uniformly.
After it cools a bit, say in 5 minutes, apply ghee to fingers and palms, roll into balls.
Garnish with your choice of dry fruits. I didn't, but yet these were tasty and yes...nothing goes wrong with coconut and condensed milk ! :D

Heavenly Bites the taste lingering for a loooooooooong time ....

--Missed Crusts! ~Rajma, Kofta , Eggless Cookies and Jamuns

MOZ PUFFS

15 mins bake time@180C, rolled out the frozen n thawed pastry sheets , cut into squares filled with shred mozerella cheese, pepper and fresh coriander leaves and baked.

I 'Clicked' but I missed the date!!! Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! How C(rusty) my brains are!
Those are one of the puffs I tried with shred moz and pepper for filling for kids. They gobbled on it! Well with the amazing crisp taste and kid-friendly filling, its surprising if they wouldn't! :D
Sorry Bee -- on missing out !

RAJMA MASALA.

A yummy Rajma-masala made with simple recipe from Chef Sanjay Thumma - Vahrehvah.com.. which went on well with chapatis/rotis.


The next dish is also from the same Chef, MALAI KOFTA ...was very tasty indeed!

Step 1 : All boiled veggies to be rolled into balls - dipped in cornflour and deepfried.

Step 2 : Make gravy and add these to them.

Step 3 : HOOOGGGGGGGGG! :D
You truly can't stop, these are soooo tasteful!

** I used Moz shred cheese instead of paneer.




Thanks Mr. Sanjay Thumma, your techiques are surely bringing in better reviews from the better half n kids!









Few cookies which went wrong in shape but great to taste...if you can guess with a glance at them:


Eggless Walnut Cookies and Thumbprint (???) Jam Cookies with them!
I wish to rename mine as PAW print cookies! :D No one in the blog world must have goofed up on this lovely cookie, I let the butter go too soft and got this shape as a consequence!
Nevertheless, they tasted gooodddddddd!
The jam I used was from IKEA food, Blueberry extra jam. Recipe from our sweet Mansi - here.
Thanks Mansi@ Fun-n-Food!!

GULAB JAMUNS - WITH MILK POWDER

This one comes from Kamala @ Moms Recipes here, unique thing is I made GJ first time with milk powder instead of a mix! Thanks Kamala -these tasted too good, plus addition of rose water gives a lovely scent of 'GULAB' to jamuns!
The first time I made Gits GJ was way back in my 8th std, the insides being raw! :D This must be the only thing besides chapati making that I tried my hands at during my teenage.. I envy u Meera for trying out chicken! :D

HAPPY NAVARATRI TO ALL OF YOU --am missing my Mumbai Dandias!!!!!!!!

RV Cake - CC Frosting ~ Egg Puffs ~Vegetable Pulao

Constructed a Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting which was appealing to me since loooooong... the toppings are semi sweet chocolate chips frm Hershey's, few cherries and sprinkles on the sides.

Resource : From here.

Made some Egg Puffs for evening , which did a disappearing act the moment they were out of oven :D

Source : Vahrehvah dot com. Chef : Sanjay Thumma.



This simple recipe took only ten mins preparation time, baked at 180C / 13 mins.

Lastly our Dinner was from Sanjay Thumma's technique: Vegetable Pulao, was instantly over!!

Vegetable Pulao with Dahi Raita and Paapad.

The occassion -

Some days are simply special, especially if its the day you were born on! :D




Blogger Gal's B'day! Have a slice!!

A Festival and Few Other Dishes

Onam Special, Pookalam in my doorstep, two days ago! ( I must say, I am improving! :D )

Special breakfast, for special occassion.....knowing me, nothing special, but a new to me dosa ...
its made of rice and toor daal (1 : 3/4 ratio)




Dal and Rice dosa - As Seena/Simple & Delicious ! likes to call these, they look real crisp n thin and have been a beautiful round shape! Thanks for sharing this healthy dosa, I used toor or tuvar daal and also processed the onions, curry leaves, cumin seeds and green chillies coarsely for that extra crunch. Served with Ulli Chutney.

Ulli Chamanthi / chutney is what I learnt from hubby's grandmom. It tastes great!! Uses up lot of oil but I prefer this chutney over soaking the dosa podi in oil.

ULLI CHAMANTHI/CHUTNEY (Serves 2)
Ingredients : 2 onions, 3 byadgi chillies, 1/2 Cup vegetable oil, salt to taste.

Method : In a deep kadhai, heat a tbspn of oil and fry the thinly sliced onions till transculent, add the halved chillies and stir in. Put off the flame, cool it and grind to fine paste. While grinding to fine paste, do not use water but a teaspoon of oil every interval and check how fine the chutney has become. Add salt and pulse it. ( Tip.. if more onions are used, you may require less oil to grind it.) Serve with dosas ideally, would go along with idli , appams or any ricey-breakfast item too. Can store upto two days refrigerated.

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This lovely Capsicum Masala Rice from Sailu's Kitchen, was a great way to use up my cooked rice and bell peppers lying around, and the aromatic masala she prepared added magic to the rice and peppers taking the flavours to a whole new level.... thanks so much Sailu for sharing a lovely and tasteful recipe!!

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Shilpa posted a very tasty looking dish with her Goda masala, and the dish had me hooked.
Its Kale Vatanechi Amti, I used the white ones, tasted good with few ingredients, both my kids liked it too! Thankyou Shilpa.











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Ending the post without a treat, impossible...:D
Her kids love it, the Ginger powder n Cinnamon powder added a flavour n aroma to it and these are butter-free cookies! Though it was not as gorgeous and shapely as her's, yet the flavour was great ! My kids enjoyed the flavour!

Spiced Cookies or yummy GINGER SNAPS from Sunita/Sunita's World! Any time I visit her blog it feels like I am in a different world, as she rightly names it her world, its a deliciously sweet world you have created! Thanks so much Sunita!! ( The only change I did was substituted Maida-all purpose flour in place of whole wheat flour as I did not have it that time. :D )








Ginger Snaps - The first ever spiced cookies I tried. :D













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Zucchini Toor Daal Gravy - Cluster Beans Dry Subzi

Simple meal is what we all crave for.

This dal and subzi is one such meal full of simplicity, very quick to make and flavourful.

Ingredients for Zucchini-Dal :
1 Cup Toor daal (washed, boiled upto three whistles
2 medium sized Zucchinis (washed and diced)
1/2 tomato diced
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt

Tadka Ingredients :
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp urad daal
pinch hing(asafoetida)
2-3 red byadgi chillis

Method :
In a sauce pan, cook the diced zucchinis with salt and turmeric covered, until done.
Combine the daal and cooked zucchinis, cook over medium flame upto one boil, add tomato, simmer, put off the flame. In a tadka pan, heat oil, crackle rai, then splutter jeera, add urad and saute till light brown, add the hing, put off the flame, halve the red chillies and add to hot oil, mix the same with boiled daal mixture, cover and let the flavours seep.

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Ingredients for Gavar (Cluster beans) Dry Subzi :
250 gms cluster beans (washed, topped n tailed, broken to half inch pieces and steamed*)
1/2 of a medium tomato
1 medium onion -sliced
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp haldi
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 pinch garam masala (optional)
salt
oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
(* steam the broken beans for upto one whistle for tenderness)

Method :
In a deep bottom kadhai, heat oil, crackle the mustard and splutter jeera. Add the onions stir till transculent, add the tomatoes and stir till cooked but not mushy. Combine the ginger garlic paste and masala powders (except the garam masala) , add the steamed pieces of cluster beans and mix well. Cook for five minutes and sprinkle garam masala, cover and let the flavours mingle.


Thats done..you can serve with accompaniment (pickle or paapad) and have a Trupti-bhara meal!


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Stuffed Brinjal is from Ranji/Ranji's Kitchen Corner - Stuffed Baby Eggplant , I used medium purple brinjals and made it to gravy, followed her instructions and didn't otherwise alter anything!

Thanks for sharing, Ranji! (Not so Brinj-liker hubby too praised the dish!)







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A Zebra Striped Cake N Few Food Pics

Zebra Stripes Cake welcoming new month, September 2008, and a nice way to feed my blog what it loves the best...'FOOD' - has been pretty loooooooooong since I last posted an entry!

This cake comes from Farida, posted by her in Feb '08 and bookmarked and forgotten, until Deeba, Divya baked n blogged :) Its butter free, moist and tastes great, for people with liking towards bittersweet delicacies, its just right. For those who want it more sweet can add half-a cup of extra sugar.

Thanks Farida for sharing and updating minute details every time you bake it! Pretty useful for bake-lovers like us!

One Common Breakfast, Upma, turned into a Veggie Delight by combing Vermicellis with frozen veggies (corn+peas+carrot+beans)

The precious tiny hands, which demand macaroni with tomato sauce!

What to do with the excess boiled and cooled Elbow Macaronis??

Turn them to ' Mac-Pakoras' and Kissi Ko Pata Nahi Chalega!

Sanjay Thumma of Vahrehvah.com fame with his cookery videos on Youtube has simplified the dishes and I had prepared few of the common dishes with his techniques and must say that they tasted absolutely heavenly. The cooking time is reduced incredibly with the shortcuts that he advises.

I have no pictures, but made 'Paneer Butter Masala', ST's way, thrice in the same week on demand by family members! Its absolute must if you are a paneer lover!

Matar Paneer : Made from fresh - 'Melts in mouth' Paneer for lunch

Corn Pakodi : A fast snack, great treat!

And lastly to end the post, the very best of cakes that I keep baking over and over again-

Deeba's (Passionate About Baking)- Vanilla Muffins...this time topped with Whipped cream, decorated with M&M's..mmmmmm yummm

And also Shilpa (Aayis Recipes) Eggless Dates Cake topped with almonds.

(sorry, but displaying the only pic which shook...as much as the taste of this cake shook the family members! )

Both these cakes were absolutely loved by my folks back in my homeland, on my vacation.

Thanks Deeba and Shilpa for blogging about and sharing these absolute crazed over n always in demand recipe for cake!!

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