Vanilla and Sugar Cookies

Hello everyone! Its indeed been a real long while away from the blogging world! Missed it much. So back with this cookie recipe inspired from one of the cookery videos by Laura Vitale. My elder son loves cookies and I have always wished to prepare some for him at home rather than buy from the market. So here it is!

Ingredients:
Wheat flour: 2 cups
Sugar: 1 cup + 1/2 cup for rolling the cookie dough
Baking soda: 1/4 tsp
Baking powder: 1/4 tsp
Salt: A pinch
Unsalted butter: 1 cup
Milk: 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Then incorporate the butter into the flour mixture. Add milk slowly into the flour till you get a smooth batter. Make small balls and roll it on sugar till evenly coated. Place it on a baking tray lined with baking sheet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.
Relish the cookies and watch out for the top layer!

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Quantity yield: 15

Beetroot Pancakes / Beetroot Dosa

Yesterday we were bored of eating rice and chappathi/paratha for dinner. So decided to have something simple yet nutritious and tasty. My husband mentioned about beetroot cutlet at his office canteen. Based on that he came up with this quick recipe for beetroot pancakes/dosa. It tastes very good with onion-tomato raitha.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Beetroot - 3 Grated
Cornflour - 2 tbsp

Rice flour - 2 tbsp

Salt
Curry leaves - few finely chopped
Green Chilli - 2 finely chopped
Yogurt - 3 tbsp
Oil

Method:

Mix all the ingredients to form a thick batter (more like idli consistency).

Heat a tava (griddle).

Pour a spoon full of batter on the griddle and spread it as thin as possible. You can use your hand to spread the dosa.

Pour a tsp of oil and roast both sides.
Serve hot with raitha.

Serves: 2
Preparation Time: About 20-25 mins.

Note: Alternatively leftover dosa batter can be used instead of corn flour and rice flour.

Vegetable Gratin and Second Anniversary

Dear friends...its been really long since our last post. We have been so busy with a new addition to the family. Have missed you all so much. Good to be back. Since it is actually our 3rd anniversary today, thought I will post this dish.

When I was at our company meet, I had this dish for the first time and liked it very much. Unfortunately I didn't know the name of the dish When I googled I got confused between 2 different dishes vegetable casserole and vegetable gratin. The dish that I ate, looked more like vegetable gratin but the recipe required me to add egg. Since we do not eat egg, I substituted it with cream ( which is used in vegetable casserole).This recipe is adaptation from both the dishes. Hubby loves this dish a lot :)

Ingredients:

Brinjal (Sliced into rounds)- 1 medium sized

Zucchini (Sliced into rounds)- 1 medium sized

Potato (Sliced into rounds)- 1

Red Onion - 1 (Sliced into medium chunks)

Carrot - 2

Bell Peppers - 1 small

Cream - 1 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

Grated Garlic - 2 tsp

Grated Cheese - 2 tbsp

Salt

Pepper or Oregano to taste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200° C. Place the vegetables in a baking dish. Mix milk, cream, garlic and salt and pour it evenly over the vegetables. The vegetables should be fully covered with this mix. You can add more cream or milk if required. Bake this in the oven for about 10-15 mins. Remove and stir the contents once. Then bake again till it turns light brown. At this point add the grated cheese and bake again till the cheese turn brown.

Remove and add pepper and/or Oregano and enjoy.

Preparation time: About 45 mins.

Serves: 2

Pudina / Mint Rice

I had a bunch of mint leaves lying in my fridge for a long time. To finish the whole bunch at a shot, came up with this simple yet tasty pudina rice. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Vegetables like Potato, beans, peas, carrot etc cut into lengthwise (1 inch pieces)- 1 cup
Onion chopped - 1 big
Rice - 1.5 cups
Cinnamon - 1 small piece
Cardamom - 1
Cloves - 2
Mustard - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
Oil/butter
Salt

To Grind:
Pudina/ mint - 1 big bunch
Tomato -1
Garlic - 1 pod (big)
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Cinnamon - 1 small
Green chilli - 2 (can add more based on the hotness)

Grind the above ingredients to a fine paste without adding water and keep aside.

Method:
Roast cinnamon, cardamom and clove till you get a aroma. Add this to the rice and cook the rice with enough water and keep aside.
Heat oil/butter in a pan. Add mustard. When it splutters add cumin and fennel seeds. Then add the onion and fry for few minutes. Then add the vegetables and fry till they are cooked a little. At this stage add some salt and fry for some more time. Then add the ground pudina mixture and fry till the oil separates. Add 1/2 cup water (little less is also fine based on the quantity of vegetables) and cook the vegetables. When the vegetables are cooked add the cooked rice and mix well. Adjust salt. Serve hot with chutney or raitha.

Preparation Time: 30 mins
Serves: 4 people

Jamun Burfi

This recipe is my mother's. 'Jamun' burfi gets its name from the ready made Gulab Jamun mix powder, which is being used along with other ingredients to make this awesome sweet dish. Just when, I've been having a bunch people hopping into our home to keep our spirits high, this winter, I asked Amma, what sweet may be prepared. Thats when she sprung up with recipe which calls for jamun mix...I had half a packet left in the fridge, which I had left untouched for few days now. Thought that this was the best way to surprise everybody instead of the same good old jamun!

Ingredients:
Instant Jamun Mix- 1 cup (I'm using MTR)
Milk- 1 cup
Ghee- 1 cup
Sugar- 2 cups
Cashew nuts and Almonds- Few
Cardamom powder- A pinch

Method:

In a heavy bottomed vessel, add half the quantity of ghee, milk, sugar and the jamun mix. Mix all the ingredients well so that there are no lumps at all. Now, on medium heat, bring this mixture to a boil and continue stirring it till it attains a thick consistency. The color of the mixture will turn roasted brown. Add the remaining half of the Ghee and mix well. Add thin slices of cashew nuts and almonds to it. Add the cardamom powder too. The mixture will leave the sides of the vessel. Transfer it onto a greased plate. You may run the knife on it when it has cooled for about 10 minutes. Absolutely delicious burfi is ready to be served!

Preparation Time: 45 Minutes
Quantity yield: 15

Roasted Brinjal Mosaru Bajji

This recipe has been passed on to me by my sister...who has learnt it from her MIL. It is indeed one of the tastiest 'avtar' of Brinjal! It doesnt require any cooking, except for roasting the Brinjal. Traditionally, this was done in the 'Chulha' where, they would just leave the Brinjals on the red hot coal. They would have, for example, cooked rice and put the fire off. Yet the heat present in the Chulha is sufficient enough to roast Brinjal! Well, in our gadget-savvy kitchen..we have the oven! We have to basically bake it for about an hour at 180 deg centigrade. Of course, in case you have a gas stove, you could just expose the Brinjal to the open flame and it would just take few minutes.

Ingredients:
Big Purple Brinjal- 1
Yogurt/curd- 1 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Green chillies- 2 chopped
Coriander leaves- Few
Oil- 2 tsp
Urad dal- 1 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2tsp
Red Chilly- 1 (Broken into pieces)
Curry leaves- few

Method:
Apply oil around the Brinjal and place in a tray covered with Aluminum foil. Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C. Once, the desired temperature is attained, place the tray inside the oven and leave it for about an hour.


After an hour, take the tray out and let the Brinjal cool for few minutes. You can easily peel off the skin and keep the pulp aside. To this add Yogurt, Salt, Green chillies and mix well. In a pan, heat oil. Add Urad dal, Mustard seeds and Red Chilly pieces. Once the mustard starts to splutter, add the Curry leaves and pour this seasoning to the Brinjal-Yogurt mixture. Mix well and garnish with Coriander leaves. Enjoy with Rice!

Preparation Time: 1h:15Minutes
Serves: 2 people

Green fritters

I have been thinking of posting this since a very long time. I love experimenting in the kitchen and this is one of the results of my experiments :). I have made a few changes (or added my own ingredients) to the usual bajji recipe and this is a hit with my family.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Thinly sliced onion - 1 big
Besan - 6 tbsp
Corn flour - 5 tbsp
Rice flour - 2 tbsp
Salt
Asafoetida (Hing) - 1/2 tsp
Oil - For deep frying

To grind:
Curry leaves - 5-6
Coriander leaves - A small bunch
Green chilli - 1
Tamarind - a small piece
Ginger - a small piece
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp


Method:
Grind the masala ingredients adding very little water to a fine paste.
Take the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix the ground paste and make a thick batter (bajji consistency) adding little water.
Heat oil in a frying pan.
Dip the thinly sliced onions in the batter so that it is thinly coated in batter, and put it in the hot oil. Fry till golden brown.
Serve hot with sauce or chutney.

Preparation Time: 25 mins
Serves: 2 people

Godi Unde/ Wheat Flour Laddu

I had thought of preparing this Godi unde/Wheatflour Laddu for our Krishna's Happy birthday (Krishna Janmashtami)...due to lack of time, it had not materialised. Nevertheless, I prepared it today...hope He accepts my offering! While I was preparing, my 2 year old son was just hovering around me asking a million questions about what I was doing! This wonder age is so full of energy. This sweet dish which I have prepared is just right for him as a snack after a hour's play in the park! Its Wheat, easily digestible and sugar which is a high energy yielding fuel for those tiny arms and legs to jump around.

Sending this post to Srivalli's Kid's Delight.

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour- 1 cup
Sugar- 1 1/4 cup (To be powdered)
Ghee- 3/4 cup
Cashew nuts and Raisins- Few (You may add any other dry fruit of your choice)

Method:
In a mixie/blender, give a quick grind to the sugar to powder it. Keep it aside. In a pan, heat Ghee. When it is hot, add the flour and keep mixing it continuously on medium heat. Continue heating this mixture, till you get the aroma of roasted Wheat flour. The consistency of this mixture will be little thinner than the Dosa batter. Add the nuts and Raisins to the mixture. They will get roasted in the heat present in the mixture. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool for 10 minutes. Then add the powdered sugar and mix well. Make Unde (Balls) and serve....watch your loved ones pouncing on them over and over again!

Preparation Time: 20 Minutes
Yield: 10

Zucchini Aloo Gobi

What inspired me to try this dish is the creator of this dish, who is the new entrant to our family, my bro-in-law. Its nice to see how he pays attention to the minute details of cooking. This side dish is one of the simplest and requires just one main ingredient, Green chilly! Might sound like we are going to burn our taste buds away. Trust me, after tasting the bhaji, we were left wondering where all the chillies vanished. So...'The more the better'....

Ingredients:
Cooked and diced potatoes- 2 cups
Cauliflower- 2 cups
Zucchini- 1 cup
Onions chopped- 2 medium sized
Green chillies- 6 [Please be generous :) ]


Oil- 4 tsp
Urad dal- 1 tsp
Mustard- 1/2 tsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds- 1 tsp (Optional, added since we love its aroma and is good for digestion too)
Turmeric- 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves- Few (Optional)
Spring Onions- 8-10

Method:

In a pan, heat oil. Add Urad dal and Mustard seeds. When the Mustard seeds splutter, add Jeera. Now add the split Green chilles and saute for a minute. Add the Onions and saute till golden brown. Add the Cauliflower and sprinkle water. Cover with a lid for it to cook. Add Zucchini and cover the lid once again. Leave it for just about 5 minutes, while the Zucchini cooks. Add the cooked potatoes and mix well. Add Turmeric and salt. Mix well. Add finely chopped sprng onions and heat it for another 2 minutes. This gives the special taste and aroma to the dish. Garnish with Coriander leaves and enjoy with Rotis!

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 people

Khara Bun

Khara means spicy. These buns contain a mixture of onion , green chilli and coriander leaves (cilantro). Khara bun was one of our favorite snacks from the Iyengar bakery at Mysore's Ursu (DD Urs) road. After a busy morning of shopping we would hop into Iyengar bakery for these fresh buns which would be available in the afternoon ... hmmm so yummy. I miss them so much here.

Never really thought of baking them as I was a little apprehensive about the result. For me baking has always seemed like a difficult challenge.
Few days back when I was blog hopping, I saw a recipe of cumin bread here. I should say it was a real inspiration for me to bake as the instructions were very simple. I started to buy the ingredients thinking of baking the same bread but on the D-day I remembered the khara bun and thought why not change the recipe a bit and make the buns instead.

Here is the result of my first baking.

Ingredients:
Maida/All purpose flour - 1 cup
Wheat (I used the whole grain wheat) - 1 cup
Sugar - 2-3 tsp
Salt - 2-3 tsp
Dry yeast - 11/2 tsp
Unsalted butter - 1 tbsp
Olive oil
Water - 3/4 cup

For onion mixture:
Onion chopped - 1 big
Green chilli chopped - 1-2
Cumin seeds - 3 tsp
Coriander/cilantro leaves - 4-5 tbsp

Method:
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and add the cumin seeds. Then add the chilli and onion and fry till the onion turns golden. Add 1 tsp salt and mix well. Remove from the stove and add the coriander leaves and mix well. Keep this aside.

Heat water till it is lukewarm. To this add sugar, butter and little olive oil. Then add yeast to it. Leave it at a warm place for 10mins till yeast becomes active.
Then to this add the flour, onion mixture, remaining salt and knead it to a dough. Add more water if required. If water is more then you can add little flour to adjust the consistency. Knead the dough for 10 mins.


Leave this in a warm place for 1.5 hours till the dough doubles in size.
Take out the dough on to a flat surface and knead for a minute or two. Shape it up into buns and place on a greased baking tray. Leave it for another 45 mins.


Brush the buns with butter on top.
Preheat the oven to 260C or about 500F.
Bake them for about 15 mins till you get the nice brown colour.


Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee or tea.

Quantity: About 7 buns