Home made Paneer / Cottage cheese

Ingredients:

Milk - 8 cups
Lemon juice - 1/4 cup
Cheese cloth / Regular cloth

Method:

1) Boil milk.
2) Add lemon juice to the boiling milk.
3) After few seconds the milk starts to cuddle and water gets seperated.
4) At this stage turn off the stove and drain the water using cheese cloth.
5) After draining the water keep it for 30 mins by adding some weight on it.
6) Store it in fridge before use to make it bit hard, so that you can easily cut them into pieces for various recipes.

veggie omlet

Ingredients:

Besan / Gram flour- 1/2 cup
Rava - 1/4 cup
Chilly powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1tsp
Salt - as per taste
Capsicum , Onion, Carrot, Mushroom - 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves
Oil

Method:

1) Mix all dry ingredients with water to make thinner batter(to get chrisp) / thick batter by adding very less water (to get soft).
2) Now add finely chopped veggies to the batter. Mix well.
3) Heat the tawa and add some oil followed by batter to make omlet.

Crispy okra

Ingredients:

Bendi / okra - 5
Salt - as required
Ajwayen - 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriender powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Venegar / lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
Besan / Gram flour- 3/4 tbsp (just to sprinkle)
Oil - to fry

Method:

1) Cut thin strips of bendi.
2) Mix all the ingredients.
3) Heat oil and fry bendi until chrisp.

Badam Burfi

Ingredients:

Badam / almonds - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Elaichi / Cardamom 
Ghee - 1tbsp
Cream or Milk - 1/2 cup

Method:

1) Coarsely make powder of badam
2) Melt ghee and  add the powdered badam. Stir for 2-3 mins until chrisp.
3) Now add sugar and immediately add milk. Keep stirring until it leaves ghee on sides and entire content comes at once to the spatula (its of burfi consistency).
4) Apply some ghee on a tray. Spread the mixture into thin layer. 
5) When its just warm , cut them into pieces and enjoy yummy burfi.

Kashi / winter melon / ash gourd / white pumpkin halwa

Ingredients:

Kashi / winter melon / ash gourd / white pumpkin  - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Ghee  / clarified butter- 1tbsp
Cardamom / Elaichi powder - 1/2 tsp
Cashew, Pistachio, Almond - As you wish :-)

Method:

1) Grate Winter melon.
2) Add ghee in a pan and fry winter melon until the moisture in it evaporates. Keep stirring frequently.
3) Now add Sugar and stir well. Sugar starts melting. Frequent stirring is required.
4) Add cardamom powder when sugar is half evaporated.
5) Add Cashew, Pistachio, Almond before you turn off stove.

Note: 

1) You can add color / Original Saffron when u add sugar. I like the natural color of it, so i have not added.
2) Adding refined Camphor / Paccha karpura is optional. It enhances the taste
3) Another option is to squeze the water from ash gourd and then u can bring it to boil then add grated ash gourd and fry until dry.

Venn Pongal

Ingredients:

Moong dal - 1/2 cup 
Rice - 1/ 2 cup
Ghee / Clarified butter - 2 tbsp
Pepper - crushed 1tsp
Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Asafoetida / hing - 1/4 tsp
Dry ginger - 1tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Curry leaves - few
Green chillies - 4 medium
Water - as required
Cashew nuts - as required (Optional)

Method: 

1) Dry roast dal and rice  in slow flame for 3 mins and then add 1 tbsp ghee to roast them further until golden brown.
2)   Now cook roasted dal and rice in cooker.  I have added 6 cups of water for cooking.
3) Once its cooked prepare tampering using ghee and add to it along with cashew nuts. 


Note: 1) 1 cup rice and 1/2 cup moong dal can also be taken
           2) Water must be 5-6 times more than the quantity of rice and dal mixture.
           3)  More amount of water is required to make sure rice and dal gets fully mashed.

Kiwi Milk shake

Ingredients:

Kiwi - 4 
Sugar - 8 tbsp
Salt - pinch
Milk - 1 cup
Vanilla Ice cream - 1 scoop (Optional)

Method:

1) Blend kiwi with milk, sugar, salt in blender.
2) when its blended well, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and blend again.

Yummy milk shake is ready to serve.

Note: You can add more sugar if your kiwi's are sour.

Guthi vankayi koora / Egg plant gravy

Ingredients:

Oil
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 2 cloves
Garam masala - 1 tbsp
Red Chillies - 4
Curry leaves - few
Hing / Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Onion - 1 medium 
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
tomato - 2 medium
Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Dhaniya powder / coriander  powder- 1tbsp
Tamarind pulp - as per taste
Water - as required
Brinjal / Egg plant- 4-5 medium
Coriander leaves / cilantro - as required

For making paste/ powder:

Coconut - 1/4 cup
Groundnut - 1/4 cup
Nuvvulu / sesame seeds- 1/4 cup

Method:

1) Divide the brinjal to 3/4 of it and then fry them in oil or boil them in water and keep it aside. (i prefer boiling)
2) Dry roast coconut, grountnut, Sesame seeds separately and grind them to make paste.
3) Heat oil , add mustard, jeera, red chillies, curry leaves, hing, ginger, garlic. Then add onion and fry until golden brown.
4) Now add tomato and fry until soft. 
5) Add sesame seeds paste and fry for 2-3 mins. Then add chilly powder, Garam masala, Turmeric powder, dhaniya powder, tamarind pulp, salt and water.
6) Now add boiled  brinjal to the masala mixture and cook for a min. Add water if required.
7) Add garam masala again, only if necessary. i prefer not to add too much of garam masala powder.
8) Garnish with coriender leaves.

Guthi vankayi koora is ready to eat. It tastes good with chapathi, naan, roti, and my favorite puri too.

Note: You can also bake egg plant / brinjal in oven. 

 

Dates roll / Khajur burfi

Ingredients:

Khajur / Dates - 350 gm
shredded coconut - 4 tbsp
poppy seeds - 1 tsp (optional)
Ghee/ Clarified butter - 2 tbsp
Almonds, Pistachio, cashew nuts - Chopped as required
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp (Optional)

Method:

1) Add ghee and roast dry shredded coconut until golden brown
2) Now add seedless dates in to the same pan.
3) Cook until it becomes soft. It hardly takes about 5 mins
4) when it takes the form of dough, turn off the stove.
5) kneed the mixture well with chopped Almonds, Pistachio, cashew nuts and sprinkle some shredded coconut and poppy seeds on them. I have used sliced almonds and shredded coconut only.
6) wrap them in cling film in desired shape.
7) Freeze them for 15-30 mins. (freezing for more time doesn't harm. But, minimum 15 min is required)
8) Remove them from freezer and then cut in desired shape.

Home made paneer

Ingredients:

Milk - 8 cups
Lemon juice - 1/4 cup
cheese cloth / regular cloth - 1

Method:

1) Boil the milk.
2) Add the lemon juice when it starts to boil.
3) Turn off the stove when it starts to separate the hard and water part.
4) Drain the water using cheese cloth / use regular cloth.
5) After draining the water. Keep it for 30 mins adding some weight on it.

Falafel

Ingredients:

Dried chickpeas or 16 oz. can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans - 1 cup
onion - 1 large chopped 
Garlic - 2 cloves chopped 
Fresh parsley chopped - 3 tablespoons 
Coriander - 1 tsp
Cumin - 1tsp
Flour - 2tsp
Salt - as required
Pepper - as required
Oil for frying

Method:

1) Place dried chickpeas in a bowl, covering with cold water. Allow to soak overnight. Omit this step if using canned beans.
2) Drain chickpeas, and place in pan with fresh water, and bring to a boil.
3) Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then let simmer on low for about an hour.
4) Drain and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
5) Combine chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper (to taste) in medium bowl. Add flour.
6) Mash chickpeas, ensuring to mix ingredients together. You can also combine ingredients in a food processor. You want the result to be a thick paste.
7) Form the mixture into small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. Slightly flatten.
8) Fry in 2 inches of oil at 350 degrees until golden brown (5-7 minutes).