Atta Halwa

When I was a kid, my neighbors who are originally from North India, would make this dessert for festivals or as an offering to God during puja. I never knew the name of the dish, but this dish had captured my heart. Recently my mom mentioned about a brown sheera that she had eaten during a community Ganesh Chaturthi festival and I was overcome with nostalgia. In my attempt to find the name of the dish, I searched the internet and found recipes for a brown sheera called "Atta Halwa". I gave it a shot and the result - I rediscovered a long forgotten sweet from my childhood.

Atta Halwa or Wheat Halwa or Brown Sheera is a dessert that just melts in your mouth. Here is the recipe I found on the internet.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Ghee - 0.5 cup

Wheat Flour (Atta) - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Water - 2 cup

Dry Fruits (Cashew and Almonds) - 5 each (sliced)

Preparation:

1.) In a pan, heat ghee and add the dry fruits to it. Once the dry fruit turns slightly brown, add the atta and let it cook until it turns brown color.

2.) Meanwhile in another vessel, take water and sugar and heat it till it bubbles (boils). We are not making sugar syrup, so make sure you switch off the gas once the sugar water bubbles.

3.) Once the atta mixture turns brown and starts to ooze a bit of ghee, add this hot bubbling water slowly. Mix well so that there are no lumps formed.

Atta Halwa is ready to be served hot!

Banana Mulka

Mulka is popular dish in Konkan cuisine. Its traditionally made with Jackfruit, but you can also use Banana to make this yummy dessert. This is usually prepared during Ganesh Chaturthi and is also called Banana Modak. It looks like a fritter and is a healthy snack for kids. Here is the recipe from my mom in law and I hope you enjoy making this awesome dessert.

 

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Banana - 3

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Jaggery - 1 small ball (or a small cup)

Salt - 0.5 tsp

Semolina (Sooji/Rava) - 1 cup (or as much required to thicken the batter)

Oil for deep frying

Preparation:

1.) Mash some banana in a bowl and mix it with grated coconut, crushed jaggery and salt. Make it into a fine paste by mixing well with hand.

2.) Next add rava to the above mix and mix well till it thickens.

3.) Heat oil for deep frying. Then take small portions of the batter and drop it in hot oil. Cook till they turn brown.

Hot hot Banana Mulka is ready to be served.

KhatKhata

 Khatkhata is a Maharastrian specialty made from 21 or more vegetables. This curry is made on the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi and is very nutritious and healthy. My mom in law shared this recipe with me and we love it so much that its now made frequently at home. My kid especially loves eating corn cobs from the curry. Here goes the recipe for this amazing dish.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Green Chilies - 7

Fresh Coriander Leaves - 1 small cup

Toor Dal - 3 tsp or 1/2 vati*

Peanuts - 3 tsp

Grated Coconut - 1 small cup

Tamarind - a small marble sized ball

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Hing - pinch

Vegetables: Take 21 or more vegetables of your choice. Take small portion for each vegetable.

Slow Cooking Vegetables: To be Pressure cooked

Raw Banana

Raw Papaya

Elephant Yam (Suran)

Chayote Squash

Ivy Gourd (Tindora)

Snake Gourd (Padwal)

Round Cucumber (Dosakai)

Turnip 

Radish (Mooli)

Sweet Potato

Corn

Carrot

Green Peas (or black dry peas)

Cluster Beans (Chitmitki)

Taro Root (Arbi)

Fast Cooking Vegetables: To be boiled in vessel separately so that they don't get mashed in the pressure cooker.

Drumstick

Red Pumpkin

Brinjal (White, purple, long green or any variety or a combination)

Ridge Gourd (Ghosale)

Bottle Gourd (Dudhi)

Green Beans

Cucumber

Potato

Green Tomato (Optional)

Preparation:

1.) Take toor dal, peanuts, the slow cooking vegetables and water and pressure cook them.

2.) Heat oil in a vessel, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add hing to this and the fast cooking vegetables and water and cover it with lid to boil them.

3.) After it boils, add the pressure cooked vegetables to it.

4.) In a mixer, take some coconut, tamarind, green chilies, coriander leaves, salt and water and grind it into a smooth paste.

5.) Put this paste in the vegetable mix and let it boil well.

Khatkhata is ready to be served with rice.

*vati = idli vati

Hinddi (Konkani Style Mango Pickle)

Pickles are a very important accompaniment to every Indian meal. No meal is complete without a spoonful of this tangy, salty  and spicy goodness. Each household has their traditional recipes for making these amazing pickles. Here is one from my home - Hinddi or Hindi. Its a grated mango pickle infused with all the spices and very easy to make. I grew up eating this every year during the mango season and this recipe from my mom helped me relive those memories once again.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Raw Mango - 1 (Grated)
Chilly Powder - 1/4 small cup
Salt - 1/8th small cup
Oil - 1 tsp (for tempering)
Methi Seeds (Fenugreek seeds) - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/8 small cup
Hing - 2 tsp (powdered)

Preparation:

1. Grate one whole raw mango along with the skin and keep it aside.
2. In a pan, heat oil, ad mustard seeds and wait till it crackles, then add methi seeds and hing. Switch off the gas and let it cool down.
3. Next take this tempering into a mixer jar and grind it.
4. Add this to the grated raw mango, along with chilly powder and salt. Mix it well and store it in a airtight container in the refrigerator.

A spoonful of this pickle makes for a great accompaniment to your every day lunch or dinner.

DIY Cupcake Molds

Inspired by this video, I decided to make my own cupcake molds for baking the chocolava cake. Turns out, they were sturdy enough to hold my cake batter.

Here are the steps I followed:

1. Take an aluminium foil and fold it. I folded it just once.
2. Take a glass and trace the shape of the aluminium foil on it. Fold the edges and make it even. 
3. And there you go - you are all set for baking cupcake!

Choco Lava Cake

A cake with liquid chocolate in the center always made me curious on how one would bake such a thing. After having made this for the first time (and with success), I realized that it is the right baking technique that gives this cake the form. Although I must admit, this is a cake only for the special occasion as you can get your sugar levels very high!
Long long ago, when pizza was my favorite Wednesday dinner, I always used to order the chocolava cake as a side from dominos and would be in awe looking at the chocolate ooze from the cake. It somehow seemed very difficult to do. But having learnt the recipe, I must admit, this was definitely a "cake" walk 😊

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour (Maida) or Pancake Mix - 1 cup
Cocoa - 4 tbsp
Sugar - 0.5 cup (powdered)
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Milk - 1 cup
Chocolate squares - 6
Butter - 4 tsp

Oil - 1 tsp (for greasing the molds)


Preparation:

1. In a bowl, add the pancake mix, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and mix well.
2. Add half cup milk and mix it thoroughly.
3. Take the chocolate squares and butter in another bowl and microwave it. Add this liquefied mixture to the above cocoa mix and stir well. (If you don't want to liquefy the chocolate squares, you can also place them in the mold after pouring the mixture from step 2 - be sure to add butter to the mixture though).
4. Add the remaining milk and make it a smooth texture.
5. Grease the molds with oil and pour this mixture into each mold. I had 1 ceramic container at home and I handmade 4 aluminium molds using these steps which I found to be very creative and enjoyed making them.
6. Preheat the oven at 355 F for 10 mins. Once the oven preheats, place the filled molds into it.
7. Bake for 12 minutes. After that taken the molds out and let it cool down for 3 mins. Tear away the aluminium foil for the aluminium molds and keep the cake on a plate. For the ceramic one, slide a knife through the side so that the cake comes off easily and then invert it onto a plate, tap it gently and the cake should come off.

When you cut the cake, you should see the chocolate oozing out. Yum!!

Chocolava cake is ready to be served.

Bread Roll

Your choice of stuffing rolled inside a bread and pan fried and voila- you have the bread roll. A very simple snack that makes up for a great accompaniment to your Chai time, you can get very creative with the stuffing each time and never get bored of this dish. Here's a stuffing that I tried with paneer and it was a hit at the home.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Grated Paneer - 1/2 bowl
Coriander leaves - handful
Green Chilly - 1
Ginger - small piece
Garlic - 2 cloves
Salt - as per taste
Milk - 0.5 small cup
Bread - 5

Preparation:

1. In a mixer jar, take coriander leaves, green chilly, ginger, garlic and salt and grind it into a fine paste.
2. Add this paste to grated paneer and mix well.
3. Take half the milk quantity from the ingredients and add it to the paneer mixture. The mixture should not be too dry nor too wet.
4. Take a bread slice, roll it using the rolling pin to make it a very thin layer.
5. Take some mixture and spread it evenly on the thin bread layer.
6. Start rolling the bread and then apply some milk to the edge to seal it. 
7. Repeat this process for all the remaining bread slices
8. In a pan, heat some butter and place these rolls to fry. After each interval, keep changing the side so that the roll cooks evenly on all sides.

Bread roll is ready to be served with ketchup.

Banana Bread with Pancake mix

Banana Bread needs no introduction. A nutty sweet bread which is quite popular American baking dish and I made my version from the leftover overripe bananas and leftover pancake mix. I have always eaten banana bread in a bakery, and it was pretty exciting to finally make it at home. A very simple process and I hope you enjoy baking this as much as I did.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Overripe Banana - 1
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Oil - 1/2 small cup
Milk - 1/2 small cup
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Sugar - 3/4 small cup (powdered)
Cashews (or any nuts of your choice) - handful
Pancake Mix - 2 small cup

Oil - 1 tsp (for coating)


Preparation:

1. Peel the overripe banana and mash it into a bowl.
2. Add lemon juice, oil, milk, baking powder, powdered sugar and mix well.
3. Add cashews (or any nuts of your choice), pancake mix and mix thoroughly.
4. Take a glass or ceramic container and coat it with oil. Transfer the banana bread mixture and put it in oven to bake at 350F for 45 mins.
5. After 45 mins, turn off baking and let it stay in the oven for another 10 mins (I do this because I don't preheat the oven).
6. Next, slowly trace the sides with a knife so that the bread is ready to come off into a serving plate once it cools down. Leave it for cooling and once it cools down flip it onto a plate and cut it into slices.

Banana Bread is ready to be served.

Kaccha Chivda

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Nylon Poha (Preferrable)/ Thin Poha - 1.25 lb
Oil - 6 tsp
Peanut - 0.5 cup
Green Chilly - 2 (slit and chopped big)
Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs (chopped)
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 3 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
Putani (Roasted Chana Dal) - 0.5 small cup*

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Add the peanuts and let it fry a bit.
3. Add the green chillies and curry leaves and switch off the gas and keep it aside.
4. Add the turmeric powder to the above mix.
5. Next take jira, salt and sugar in a mixer and grind it to a powder. Keep it aside.
6. Next take putani in a mixer and grind it to a fine powder.
7. Mix the jira powder and putani powder together.
8. In a separate pan, take poha and fry it for a few seconds.
9. Once done, put the poha and the ground powder mix to the peanut mix and put it back on stove.
10. Carefully mix it so that the flavors spread evenly and also do it gently so that the poha does not break.

Kaccha Chivda is ready. Once it cools down, you can store it in the jars and they last for weeks.

*small cup = idli vati

Veggie Pizza

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Warm Water - 0.5 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp
Dry Yeast - 1 tsp
Maida (All Purpose Flour) - 2 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Olive Oil - 5 tsp
Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce - 0.5 cup
Mozzarella Cheese - 1 cup
Oregano - 1 tsp

Toppings:
Your choice of veggies. Below combination tastes great!

• Mushrooms - 1 small box
• Capsicum - 1
• Onion - 1 (optional)
• Broccoli - 1 bowl

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, take warm water, sugar and dry yeast and leave it aside for 5 mins.
2. Then add maida, salt, 3 tsp of olive oil and knead it into a soft dough.
3. Add 2 tsp of olive oil on the side and leave it covered with a muslin cloth for 2 hrs. After 2 hrs, the dough fluffs up. 
4. We divided the dough into 2 equal portions since we had a medium sized pan. Onto the pan, spread aluminium foil, sprinkle some dry flour and slowly spread the dough evenly with the fingers, pushing the extra dough slowly to the outer rim.
5. Next make some fork shapes in the center and spread the pasta sauce. We used the tomato basil organic pasta sauce, but you can use any tomato sauce.
6. Next load it up with the toppings of your choice. We used lots of mushrooms, capsicum, onion and broccoli.
7. Top it with Mozzarella cheese. We love cheese, so we covered it up nicely.
8. Sprinkle some more pasta sauce on the top if you like it.
9. Sprinkle some oregano evenly. You can also sprinkle some chilly flakes if you like it.
10. Preheat the oven for 10 mins at 390 F
11. Now transfer the pizza onto an aluminium tray and put it in the oven to bake for 18 mins.
12. Once its baked, take it out. Use a pizza cutter to slice it. 

Pizza is ready to be served. Enjoy and relish it!

Methi che sukha jhunka (Methi Leaves Dry Jhunka)

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Methi Leaves - 2 bunch
Onion - 1
Grated Jaggery - 1 tsp
Oil - 8 tsp
Hing Powder - Pinch
Red Chilly Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp
Garam Masala - 0.5 tsp
Besan - 1 small cup*
Salt - to taste


Preparation:

1. First, clean the Methi leaves, chop it fine and keep it aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan.
3. Fry the chopped onions in oil until it cooks well.
4. Next put the chopped methi leaves. Cover this with lid.
5. Once this cooks well, it will shrink in size.
6. At that point, add hing powder, salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder. Mix well and close the lid. The steam will cause the water to form. 
7. Add besan and mix well. Close the lid for 3 mins. After that, again mix well.
8. Scrape anything stuck at the bottom of the vessel so it doesn't burn.
9. Finally add grated jaggery.
10. Keep it on low flame for 10 mins and then mix well.

Methi Leaves Jhunka is ready to be served with Chapathi or rice.

* 1 small cup = 1 idli vati

Kandhe Pathi Che Sukha Jhunka (Spring Onion Dry Jhunka)

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Oil - 8 tsp
Spring Onions - 5
Hing Powder - Pinch
Red Chilly Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp
Garam Masala - 0.5 tsp
Besan - 1 small cup*
Salt - to taste


Preparation:

1. First, lets get the spring onions ready. Separate the spring onion bulbs and the leaves. Chop them separately and keep both aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan.
3. Fry the chopped spring onion bulbs in oil until it cooks well.
4. Next put the chopped leaves portion of the spring onions. Cover this with lid.
5. Once this cooks well, it will shrink in size.
6. At that point, add hing powder, salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder. Mix well and close the lid. The steam will cause the water to form. 
7. Add besan and mix well. Close the lid for 3 mins. After that, again mix well.
8. Scrape anything stuck at the bottom of the vessel so it doesn't burn.
9. Keep it on low flame for 10 mins and then mix well.

Spring Onion Jhunka is ready to be served with Chapathi or rice.

* 1 small cup = 1 idli vati

Purna Che Saar

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Ghee - 2 tsp
Chana Dal - 1 small cup
Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp
Pepper Balls - 5
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Cloves - 5
Red Chilly - 3
Dry coconut powder - 4 tsp

For Tadka:
Ghee - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Red Chilly - 1
Curry Leaves - 6

Red Chilly Powder (optional)

Preparation:

1. Boil Chana Dal and keep aside.
2. In a pan, heat some ghee. 
3. Add coriander seeds, pepper balls, cumin seeds, cloves, red chilly and let it fry.
4. Then add dry coconut powder.
5. Grind it in a mixer once it cools down.
6. After it is ground to a fine powder, add the boiled dal (after it cools down) and grind it.
7. For tadka, heat ghee in a pan. Add mustard seeds, hing, red chilly and curry leaves. Add some water and the boiled dal paste.
8. Adjust the seasoning - add salt, jaggery, tamarind water. If you want it more spicy, then adjust with the red chilly powder accordingly.

Serve it with rice.

* 1 small cup = 1 idli vati

Pudina Tamboli

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

Ghee - 4 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Pepper balls- 4
Hing - pinch
Tamarind - small ball
Green Chilly - 1
Grated coconut - 1 small cupMint leaves (Pudina) - 1 bunch
Salt - to taste
Yogurt (Curd) - 1 small cup

Preparation:

1. Heat ghee in a pan
2. Add cumin seeds, pepper balls, hing, tamarind, green chilly, grated coconut, pudina and add salt as per taste.
3. Grind the above mix into a fine paste with some water.
4. Add yogurt and mix well.

Serve it with rice.

* 1 small cup = 1 idli vati

Mirchi Bajji

Mirchi Bajji (chilly fritters) is a very popular spicy Indian snack which is usually served with sweet and tamarind chutney. Prepared in a variety of ways, each recipe has its own unique taste. This is very famous in Rajasthan where they stuff the chillies with  mashed potato mix and deep fry them.


My mom prepares yet another version of this dish without any stuffing and this one is my all time favorite. It has this tinge of tangy sweetness that makes you want to eat more of this while keeping them really light in your tummy.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:
Pakoda Mirchi - 12
Chat Masala - optional

For Frying batter:
Oil
Besan - 1 cup
Water - 1/4 cup (or as necessary for a thick consistency
Salt - to taste

For Stuffing:
Tamarind paste - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Curd - 1/4 cup
Lemon - 1/2
Hing - a pinch
Ajwain - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Water - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Mix the ingredients under the stuffing section well (tamarind paste, jaggery, curd, lemon juice, hing, ajwain, salt and a bit of water.
2. Take the pakoda mirchi and slit it.
3. Stuff the tamarind mixture into each chilly and keep aside for 1 hr.
4. Make the batter for dipping the chilly. For this, mix the besan, water and salt into a thick consistency.
5. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.
6. Dust each pakoda with some dry besan and then dip it in the batter. The dusting helps the batter to evenly coat the chillies when frying.
7. Deep fry the chillies till they are well cooked. Once cooked, remove them and serve.
8. Optionally, you can sprinkle some chat masala powder while you serve it.

You can serve this with rice or eat it just like that as a snack.

Thoushe Koshimbir (with Moong Dal)

Thoushe Koshimbir, which is an Indian Cucumber Salad is one of the healthy side dishes served at every meal in Indian households. I got this recipe from my mom-in-law and it tastes great with Chapathi or rice.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:
Moong Dal - 1/2 cup (~ 1 small idli vati) - Soaked for 30 mins
Cucumber - 4 small
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - 1 handful
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup
Green Chillies - 1
Lemon - 1/2

For Tadka:
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Hing - Pinch
Ghee - 1 tsp
Red Chilly - 1

Preparation:

1. Soak moong dal for 30 mins.
2. Chop cucumber into small pieces.
3. Take grated coconut, coriander leaves, green chilly, salt, a pinch of sugar and make a paste (without water).
4. Put this into the chopped cucumber.
5. Squeeze lime juice to this.
6. For tadka, heat ghee and add mustard seeds, hing and red chilly.
7. Put the tadka to the cucumber mix.

Kurma Bhaji

Kurma Bhaji, a dish I fell in love with the first time I tasted it and I instantly got my notes ready to take this recipe down from my mom-in-law. The green color bhaji was so flavorful and infused with all the spice and goodness. Here is the recipe for this amazing dish.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:
Oil - 4 tbsp
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Potato - 1
Peas - 1 bowl
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Ginger - small piece
Garlic - 4
Green Chilly - 2
Coriander leaves - 1 small cup
Salt - to taste
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Add onion and fry till the raw smell goes away.
3. Add tomato and let it fry for 5 mins.
4. Add chopped potato and let it cook well.
5. Then add peas.
6. In a mixer, take coconut, ginger, garlic, green chilly, coriander leaves and grind it well with some water.
7. Put this ground mix to the potato-peas mixture and season with some salt as per your taste.
8. Mix well and let all of this cook well until the bubbles come.
9. Finally add garam masala, turmeric powder and salt to this mixter. Mix well and serve.

Kurma Bhaji is ready to be served along with Puri or Chapathi. It goes great with rice too.

Cabbage Koshimbir

Not a big fan of eating raw vegetables, but when you make salads the way its done in India, then no doubt any raw vegetable tastes great! Koshimbir or salads are a mandatory accompaniment to meals at many households in India. I got this recipe from my mom-in-law and Kaku and it tastes great with Chapathi or rice.

Recipe: 

Ingredients:
Cabbage - Half (1 bowl)
Onion - 1
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - 1 handful
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup
Green Chillies - 1
Lemon - 1/2

For Tadka:
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Hing - Pinch
Ghee - 1 tsp
Red Chilly - 1

Preparation:

1. Finely chop or grate cabbage and onion and mix them together.
2. In a mixer, grind coriander leaves, coconut and green chillies together. Add it to the mix above.
3. Now we can give tadka to this - To do this, heat ghee in a pan, add mustard seeds, hing and cut red chillies. Add this to the above mixture.
4. Add salt, sugar and lemon juice to the above and mix well.

Cabbage Koshimbir is ready to be served as a side for Chapathi or rice.