Sabudana khichdi

Sabudana khichdi was one of my childhood favourites. Not made too often in our house, I nonetheless looked forward to the times when it would be made. Not always, though- sometimes, what would emerge would be a gelatinous mass, that was difficult to stuff down your throat!
When I moved to Bombay after marriage, I discovered sabudana vada, which had all the taste of the sabudana khichdi, with the convenience of being available at practically every joint. But I still missed the khichdi, though I never had the guts to try it out for myself.
Then, I got a Maharashtrian maid, who taught me exactly how it should be done- wash the sabudana till the water runs clear, then keep it aside for a couple of hours before using. No soaking, no nothing- just washing and keeping wet. It works, and I can proudly say that this is one of the few things I make that comes out well consistently.

Ingredients:

1 cup sabudana or tapioca pearls
2 small to medium size potatoes, boiled
½ cup roasted peanuts
8-10 curry leaves (optional)

1/2 inch piece of ginger, cut fine
1 green chili

1 tsp cumin
¼ cup grated fresh coconut (optional)
½ to 1 tsp sugar or as required
2 tbsp oil
rock salt as required

Method:
Wash the sabudana well, then keep in wet condition (covered with a wet towel for 1 or 2 hours)
Boil, peel and chop the potatoes

Dry roast the peanuts. 

Put peanuts and green chili in a mixer and give it a single whiz, so it is coarsely powdered.

Mix the coarsely powdered peanuts, salt and sugar with the drained sabudana.
Heat oil, add jeera and wait for it to crackle. Add ginger, and stir till the raw smell of the ginger goes away.
Add potato and saute for 1-2 minutes.
Add the sabudana, and keep stirring the mixture till the sabudana becomes translucent. 

Turn off the fire, add grated coconut and mix well.

Serve hot, with curds mixed with sugar.

Almond Pea Soup

I saw a picture of Almond pea soup, and wanted to have it right away. Unfortunately, the recipe was not forthcoming, so I had to trawl the Internet to get ideas. This recipe is taken from here and there, but ultimately has been adapted to my taste.

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh peas
Onion chopped 1
Garlic chopped 2 cloves
Butter 2tbsp
Water 5 cups
Salt to taste
Black pepper 1tsp
Almond soaked and thinly sliced 14
Lemon juice. 1tsp
Fresh cream 1/4 cup
 
 Method:
Heat butter in a medium thick pan or in a pressure cooker. Add garlic and onion sauté till translucent.

Add peas and stir for 2 minutes and add water. Add peppercorns and almonds (keep 2 aside for garnish). Close the lid and pressure cook till 2 whistles. Let the pressure releases itself. 

Cool and after keeping a few peas aside for garnish, blend the mixture. Strain the mixture and put it back on fire and bring to a boil.

Add cream, salt and pepper to taste, and lemon juice and the peas that were kept aside. You can add a cup of milk if do not want to use cream. Cool till thick or the required consistency acquired.

Remove from fire and serve hot garnished with few almond slices. 

Basil hummus

I first made this last summer at the end of a memorable day when I ended up with a kilogram of cooked chickpeas, and nobody to eat kabuli channa. Some went into a disaster of a falafel (I have subsequently learnt how to make it, and am surprised at how easy it actually is), and the rest into this hummus who's recipe was given by Tadka-Pasta Girl, Ruchira Ramanujam.
I loved it, but since I was busy with thoughts of shifting houses, I didn't get down to actually clicking a picture. 
It took the passage of a few seasons before I made it again, and this time there is a picture too!

Ingredients:

1 Cup cooked chana
1 Cup basil leaves, washed
2 Garlic cloves, smashed
Juice of 1 Indian lemon
Salt and fresh ground pepper
1 t Red chilli flakes
1 T Peanut butter
About 1/4 C Extra virgin olive oil

Method:
Blanch the basil for a few seconds in boiling water and then plunge in ice water. Put everything in the FP and process till smooth.

Shepu Subji

I got this recipe from my mother, who recently learnt it from a friend, and thought I would like it. She was wrong- I loved it, and I can't wait till I try it out again.

Ingredients:

1 bunch dil chopped fine

1 bunch palak chopped fine

1 medium onion chopped 

4 cloves chopped

1 or 2 green chilliesslit lengthwise

oil 

1tsp zeera

hing

haldi pd

1/4 cup mung da soaked for 1/2 hr

1/4 cup groundnuts soaked for 1/2 hr

grated coconut optional

salt

 

Method:

Heat oil in a pressure pan.Add zeera,garlic,onion,chillies

fry a bit

Add hing and haldi

Drain water and add gnuts and dal

Add salt and greens

Add water and coconut

Mix well

Cover and cook for 1 whistle

Lower flame and cook 3 mins

 

 

 

Desi Calazones

What do you do when you have a little bit of aloo palya left over from the previous day's masala dosa, and you want to whip up something exciting for teatime? You can make samosas, or if you are a little more creative, you can whip up wholewheat desi calazones!

This is also my first attempt at baking wholewheat bread, and it was encouraging enough for me to try a standalone bread or bun next time.

2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 cup water
2 cups wholewheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil (and a little more for greasing)
Aloo palya for stuffing
Milk for brushing

Method
Dissolve the sugar in warm water, add the yeast, mix well and let it froath for 10 minutes
Add the flour and salt, and knead to a firm dough (you might need to add a little more water).
Pour the oil, knead a bit more, cover with a damp cloth, and leave it to rise for an hour.
Roll the dough into small balls (this quantity made six), roll them out, place a bit of the filling, fold and seal.
Place the calazones on a greased baking tray and let it rise again for about 45 minutes
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, brush the calazones with milk and bake for 20 minutes (keep checking after 15 minutes.
Enjoy.

Paneer Cutlets

My younger one ha now turned vegetarian, so when the father and the older one wanted roast chicken for dinner, I had to think of something with proteins for the younger one and myself. Since there was lots and lots of milk in the house, paneer cutlets it was for us! Recipe adapted from one taken from the Tarla Dalal site.

4 tbsp oil
2 tbsp cornflour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
200 gms grated paneer (cottage cheese)
1 cup boiled and mashed potatoes
bread crumbs/ sooji as required
salt to taste

MethodHeat the milk, add the cornflour, stirring continuously, till the mixture becomes thick.
Remove from the flame and add the grated paneer and mix well.
Add the mashed potatoes, mix well, add the salt, pepper and chilli powder.
Divide the batter into equal sized balls and flatten each ball into a pattice shape.
Roll each pattice in bread crumbs/rawa and chill for some time.
Heat a tava and cook the cutlets using little oil till they turn golden brown and crisp form both the sides.
Serve hot.

Birthday Cake for my Eight Year Old

"I don't really want a cake", my son tried to tell me on the morning of his birthday. Perhaps the memories of the disaster I had dished out on his brother's birthday was still fresh in his memory. Unfortunately, it was fresh in my memory too, and I really wanted not to mess up.
I took really great care while making the eggless cake, divided it into strawberry batter and chocolate batter to make a zebra cake, and was delighted with the result.

The frosting was not over ambitious-I adapted a panna cotta recipe, and topped it with fresh strawberries. Quite satisfied with the result!

Orange cheesecake

One never really knows what to do on our Anniversary. Since it is a day before the younger one's birthday, it doesn't really make sense to get a cake, and yet it seems almost sacrilegious to let an opportunity to indulge the sweet tooth pass by. Last year, I made gajar halwa. This year, I whipped up an orange cheesecake.
Unfortunately, I didn't incorporate the gelatin properly the first time round, so had to do it again, which meant I didn't have time to make the top layer. Better luck next time, I guess.

6 Marie biscuits
1 tbsp butter
200gms beaten fresh cream 

100gms beaten hung curds 

2 tablespoons castor sugar
1 1/2 tsp geletin 

1 orange, with the juicy part taken out

few drops orange essence

orange food colouring (very, very little)

Method
Crush the Marie biscuits into a fine powder (use a rolling pin), add the butter, and mix well. Spread at the bottom of the serving dish (line it with oil first), pat till it is smooth, and keep in the fridge for about 20 minutes to give it time to set.
Meanwhile, mix the cream and the hung curds well, with 2 tbsp sugar, orange essence and orange food colouring.
Dissolve geletin in 1 tbsp warm water, and mix it with the cream. Add a few pieces of peeled oranges (not too many, because we don't want it to release water- just enough for a bit of texture), pour it onto the base, and put it in the fridge to set for about an hour.
Serve garnished with the rest of the orange.

Khandavi

Khandavi was another of those dishes that I thought could only be bought from a farsan shop. That belief, perhaps, dates back to the time when I was really young, and I saw my mother trying to make it. For some reason, she could just not get it to behave, and never made it again. If an expert cook like her couldn't make khandavi, what hope did I have to even attempt it?
And then I came across this really easy recipe by Uma Raghavan, and though I was certain I wouldn't be able to pull it off, I had to try, and the results were yummy. Even easier to make than mor kuzhu, and that's saying a lot!

1 cup yogurt
3 tablespoons of chana flour
Pinch hing
Pinch haldi powder
Salt to taste
half green chilli
Slither of fresh ginger cut up



2 tsp sugar

For tempering
Curry leaves
Mustard seeds
Green chilli
 
For garnish
Grated coconut
Chopped coriander leaves 
 
Method
Put above in a blender and mix/grind well.
Pour mixture in a heavy based pot and cook on low heat stirring constantly till mixture thickens and leaves the side of the pot.
Pour this on a largish flat ungreased plate and spread thinly using a spattula.
Leave to cool for couple minutes, then cut into long strips and roll. Arrange this in flat dish.
 
In small bowl dissolve two small teaspoon sugar in little water  and sprinkle this over the rolls.
Heat a little oil, and temper the ingredients listed under tempering. Pour over the rolls.
Garnish with grated coconut and coriander.

Chilla

Another childhood favourite, one which my mother used to make pretty often, and which I would gobble up unabashedly. It is only now that I am cooking regularly, that I realise my mother probably had it as a back-up dish for all those days when she didn't really feel like cooking, but there was a family to be fed!

2 cups whole wheat flour/ atta

1/2 large cauliflower

green chillies to taste

baking soda- optional (I don't use it)

cooking oil

salt, garam masala to taste

Method:

Grate the cauliflower, mix well with the flour, and add water to make a batter (of dosa consistency)

Add the salt, chillis and garam masala and incorporate well. You can add the baking soda at this point.

Heat a tawa, lower the temperature by drizzling water on it. Pour two spoonfulls of batter, and spread in a circle. Put oil around the circumference, and let it cook on a low flame.

Once the side is browned, flip over, and let the other side cook too. 

Serve with pickles and/ or curds.

Pizza from scratch

The kids love pizza, and ever since I started baking my own bread, I've been wanting to make pizza from scratch. Haven't been able to do so yet, because most of my kids' pizza cravings are last minute ones, and I really don't have enough time to make the base. But this time, I planned it advance, and pulled it off!
Recipe is essentially a combination of two old ones, but when you do something for the first time, it is time to celebrate!

The pizza base was made by following my recipe for basic bread. After knocking the dough down, I rolled it into bases 1/8th inch in thickness, and let them stand for a further 20 minutes. I baked them for 10 minutes, before taking them out for assembly.


For pizza sauce
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a kadhai. Add 4 garlic pots, and 1 medium onion (both chopped fine), and saute till the onion turns transparent. Add 4 medium tomatoes chopped into small bits, and cook on low with a cover on, till the tomatoes turn mushy. Add red chilli powder, salt and sugar to taste, and take off the fire. When cool, blend in the mixer till it gets a smooth consistency.

To assemble
Spread pizza sauce on a the partially baked pizza base, top with lots of grated cheese, and bake for a further 10 minutes.  Sprinkle oregano and chilli flakes before serving.

Fresh dill and potato soup

Fresh dill and potato was one of my favourite dishes during my teen years. In fact, if you press me, I'd probably say it was my most favourite dish of all. My mother had seen the recipe in a magazine, and saved it even though she never even knew what dill was. Then on a chance trip to the market, she sighted these different looking greens, and couldn't believe her luck when the vendor told her it was dill. What made the dish extra wonderful was the fact that one could never predict when one would get it, because even in season, you didn't always find dill!
Here then it is- the dish I had when I came home after taking my Maths Board Exams- a wholesome meal in a bowl- Dill Soup.

5 large potatoes, peeled and diced
2 medium onions , chopped
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
3tbs chopped dil
3tbs curds
2 tbs butter

Method
Cook potatoes and onions in 4 cups water with salt till just tender
Add milk,caraway seeds,diland salt and pepper to taste
Simmer for 15 mins till potatoes crumble a bit
Add curds and butter. Heat well. Do not boil
Serve hot.

Kanda Poha

Poha was another of those things that I could never get right, which made it take on the mantle of "exotic", even though it doesn't really deserve it. The trick is in the soaking part- you are not supposed to soak it, as much as being required to wash it well, and let the water seep in. Now that I have a lovely steel colander for that purpose, poha is something that can be rustled up in a jiffy.
This poha is special, because it formed a part of my "carbo-loading" before the Mumbai Marathon.

1.5 cups poha
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup peas shelled
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
Handful of peanuts
10-12 curry leaves
1 green chilli,chopped
1 tsp sugar or as required
1 or 1.5 tbsp oil
salt as required
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method
Rinse the poha in water till they soften. Put them in a colander, and let the water drain and the poha soak for about 15 minutes
Add sugar, salt and turmeric powder to the poha and gently mix.
Dry roast the peanuts in a pan till they become crunchy and keep aside.
Heat oil, temper with mustard seeds. Add curry leaves, green chilli, onions and peas and saute till onions turn translucent.
Add the roasted peanuts and the poha and stir. Cover and steam the poha for 2-3 minutes on a low flame.
Switch off the fire and let the poha remain covered for 1-2 minutes.
Add the lemon juice, stir well, and serve

Pongal spread

One of the advantages of a mixed marriage is that at festival time you can choose what you want to do. If you are in a mood, you can go all out to celebrate, and if you are not in a mood, you can just pretend the festival doesn't exist.
This year, I couldn't decide how I wanted to treat Pongal, so kept putting off making a decision. It was pretty late in the morning by the time I finally decided to make Shakarai Pongal and Korumbu, but they both came out really well, and that's all I really care about. So what if I ended up eating nothing else for the rest of the week- it was a pleasure.

Tomato soup

Can anything be more inviting on a cold winter day than a bowl of hot tomato soup? If there is, I am not aware of it. And this recipe is a winner!

Ingredients:

4 medium to large tomatoes
2-3 garlic cloves
1 small onion
1 bay leaf/tej patta
1 tsp cornflower + 2 tbsp water
1 or 1.5 tbsp butter
1 cup water
1 tbsp cream
1 tsp sugar
1 or 2 slices of bread – brown, whole wheat or white bread
freshly crushed or powdered black pepper as required
salt as required

Method:In a saucepan take enough water so that the tomatoes get immersed completely, add 1 tsp salt to the water and bring the water to a rolling boil. Add the tomatoes, switch off the fire and close the saucepan with the lid. Let the tomatoes be immersed in the hot water for 20-30 minutes.
In the meantime, finely chop the onion and garlic.
Heat a tava, place the bread on it, and toast on a low flame till the bread is browned and crisp from both sides. Slice into cubes and keep aside
Make a smooth paste of the 1 tsp cornflour with 2 tbsp water.
Drain the tomatoes, and after it is cooled, peel the tomatoes, and chop them above the blender jar so that the juices drop directly inside the blender jar. Blend to a smooth puree.
Melt butter in a pan, add the bay leaf and saute for a few seconds. Add garlic and chopped onion and saute till the onions become translucent.
Add the tomato puree, stir and add water, salt and pepper, and heat on a low flame till it comes to a boil.
Stir the corn starch paste and add it to the soup, stir well and simmer for 3-4 minutes till the soup thickens on a low flame.
Add sugar and stir.
Add the cream and bread croutons just before serving.

Alphabet soup

I loved alphabet soup as a child, and my kids love it just as much as I did. I make it pretty often, because the recipe is so easy.
This time, for no particular reason, I felt like taking a photograph of the much loved dish. Why not, this blog is not just for new recipes, is it?
Original recipe here.

Breadsticks

When I baked my first bread loaf a couple of months back, who knew a day would come when I will make bread whenever I choose, without even following a recipe? This is my first attempt at breadsticks- next time, I bake it a little less- but that apart, everything is perfect.

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp sugar
3 cups flour
2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp grated cheese

salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine yeast, warm water (only about 1/3 cup), and sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes, until foamy.  If the yeast doesn't become foamy, let it rise for 10 minutes more- unless it is foamy, you are better off throwing it out and starting afresh

Add in flour and salt and mix well. Add the olive oil, and mix till crumbly.

Add the yeast, and knead for about 2 minutes. Add cheese and pepper and mix well. Cover the bowl and let rise for 15 minutes in a warm place. 

Deflate the dough, divide it into three equal parts, and pat each part into a thickish rectangle. Cut 1 cm wide strips, twist a few times, place on a greased baking tray and let it rise for about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Brush the top with some oil, and bake for 20-25 minutes till well browned and crispy.

Remove to a wire rack, and let it cool before serving. Serve with any hot soup.

Creamy mushroom soup

A few times last year, I made soup and bread for dinner, and it worked much better than I'd anticipated it would. So this year, I am planning to make "soup and bread" once a week at home. This is my first attempt at making a soup which all of us love- mushroom soup- but which I have never been brave enough to try.

1 tsp cornflour mixed with ¼ cup milk

3/4 cup chopped mushrooms

1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt to taste

For the paste:
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup milk

Method:
For the paste:
Combine the mushrooms and milk and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
Cool and blend in a mixer to a coarse paste. Keep aside.


Heat a non-stick pan, add the ground paste, mushrooms and 2½ cups of water and simmer for a few minutes.
Add the cornflour-milk mixture, oregano and salt and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes or till the mixture thickens.
Serve hot, with breadsticks.

Roast Cauliflower

Roast cauliflower/ gobi massallum is a dish my mother often made, and which I have made a few times too. The masala for that used to be the standard "North Indian masala", with the grated cheese adding the appropriate taste of the exotic.
Since my older one has developed a liking for Worcestershire sauce, however, I decided to experiment with a very different masala this time, and I really liked the results. Next time, I am buying a much bigger cauliflower, because this got polished off in no time at all.

1 medium cauliflower
2 medium onions chopped fine
3 medium tomatoes chopped fine
1 green chilli (deseeded, if you don't want it too hot)
2 tbsp kasoori methi
2 tbsp walnuts
1 tbsp melon seeds
1 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
cooking oil

salt to taste

Method
Remove the leaves of the cauliflower, soak it in salt water for about 15 minutes, steam for 10 minutes and keep aside
Heat the oil, and fry the onions till they turn transparent
Add tomatoes and green chilli and fry till it starts releasing oil
Add kasoori methi, and give it a quick stir.
In a blender, blend the cooked masala and the nuts to get a smooth paste
Stir in the sauce, honey and salt.
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees
Turn the steamed cauliflower over, and push the masala in through the florets (use up about a third of the masala this way.
Lightly grease a baking dish, spread a thin layer of the masala on it, place the cauliflower on top, and cover with the masala.
Place in the oven, and bake for 15 minutes at 220 degrees.
Serve hot. Tastes best with hot rotis.

Baked frittata muffins

When it is just the kids and me for dinner, we tend to experiment a lot more than we would otherwise. This recipe was adapted from my mother's recipe for baked vegetables, and since it is so much like frittatas, I call it 'corn frittatas baked in muffin tin'.

2 packets of corn removed from the husk

1/2 each of red and yellow bell pepper

2 tbsp walnuts

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil for drizzling

Method

Roughly chop the bell peppers.

Sauté the bell peppers and corn till lightly browned.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees

Whisk the eggs, milk and salt and pepper till nicely aerated 

Grease the muffin tin, and divide the sautéed vegetables among them

Pour the egg mixture on top of the veggies, and bake for 20-25 minutes till done (you know it is done, when a skewer inserted into the frittata comes out clean)

Strawberry cheese cake

To say that we all like cheesecake is a bit of an understatement. We love it, we adore it, we more than adore it. But all the cheesecakes we've had have been store bought. I always knew it could be replicated at home, but never thought to do so, till I found this really easy recipe. When I actually started making it, however, I found a whole bunch of loopholes in what was supposed to be a "fool proof" recipe. So I just made the changes that common sense required. And the result was fairly good.

12 Marie biscuits
2 tbsp butter
200gms beaten fresh cream 

100gms beaten hung curds 

6 tablespoons castor sugar
1 1/2 tsp geletin 

1 1/2 cups strawberries, cut into small pieces

Method
Crush the Marie biscuits into a fine powder (use a rolling pin), add the butter, and mix well. Spread at the bottom of the serving dish (line it with oil first), pat till it is smooth, and keep in the fridge for about 20 minutes to give it time to set.
Meanwhile, mix the cream and the hung curds well, with 4 tbsp sugar.
Dissolve 1 tsp geletin in 1 tbsp warm water, and mix it with the cream. Add a few chopped strawberries, and pout it onto the base, and put it in the fridge to set for about an hour.
Heat the strawberries with a little water and 2 tbsp sugar. Lightly crush the strawberry with a spoon. Dissolve the gelatin, pour the mixture over the mixture, and leave it to set.
Serve garnished with strawberries.

Pav bhaaji- a light version for winter

The kids and I love pav bhaaji and I make it pretty often with the hubby is traveling. This time, since the vegetables were so fresh and colourful, I made a slightly lighter version than normal, which we all loved just as much as we do the more conventional version. Will make this more often at least in winter.

3 medium size potatoes
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 cup peas
1 large onion – finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 each of red and yellow bell pepper
1 tbsp pav bhaji masala
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp vinegar
salt
Butter

Method
Boil all the vegetables except onions and capsicum in a pressure cooker. Mash lightly and keep aside (I boiled the peas and carrots separately, so I could keep them more chunky)
In a pan, heat some butter, add cumin seeds. When they sizzle, add the chopped onions and fry till transparent.
Add chopped bell peppers, and fry for a minute or two.
Add the pav bhaji masala, and tomato puree, and fry for few minutes till the peppers become a little soft.
Add the mashed vegetables.
Combine the mashed vegetables well with the masala. Add the vinegar.
Add some water. Keep on stirring and let the vegetable simmer for 7-8 minutes.
If the vegetable becomes too dry and then add some more water.
Serve with ladi pavs fried in butter, or home made pull apart bread rolls.

Pull apart bread rolls

One of the things I have been wanting to make ever since my first successful attempt at baking bread has been the "ladi pav" for pav bhaji. I've had some truly disastrous attempts, with me attempting to salvage most of them by converting them into something else. This time too, I nearly ended up with a disaster, but at the last moment, I added an additional cup of flour and got something that looked and tasted the way I wanted it to. When it comes to bread, I now realise, you either stick to what you do best, or be prepared to innovate if you need to.

4 cups flour
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp honey
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped fine
4-5 pods garlic, chopped very fine
2 tbsp grated cheese

Method
Dissolve the honey in about 1/2 cup warm water, add the yeast and leave it for 10 minutes to froth (if it doesn't do so, leave it for another 10 minutes, and if it still doesn't, just throw it away and start with a fresh batch of yeast).
Sift the flour and salt together, add the olive oil and the yeast, and knead into a dough, adding excess water as required.
When it is nice and smooth, roll it into a ball, cover with cling film and leave it to rise for 20-30 minutes.
When the dough has risen to about double its size, punch it down, then add the chopped onions and garlic, and mix well.
Divide the dough into ping-pong ball sized balls, and place on a greased baking tray, leaving a 1 cm gap between them. Cover and leave it for about 20 minutes
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 degrees
Garnish the bread balls with cheese, and bake for about 20 minutes.
Tastes yummy with pav-bhaji subji.

Rawa dosa

Though he hates South Indian food, the hubby is a big fan of rava dosa. That's his default order when we are ordering dosas, but for some strange reason, I haven't made rava dosas myself. Decided to rectify it this weekend, and they got polished off in no time at all. The recipe I followed is not the traditional one, but till I get the authentic one from my mother, this will have to do!
These dosas are the first meal that I cooked in the New Year!

1 measure rawa/ sooji

2 tbsp sour curds

Whey to make batter

Salt to taste

Cooking oil

Method

Make a thick batter with the rawa and curds and keep aside for 30 minutes

Add the whey gradually, stirring constantly till you get a thickish batter. Add salt to taste.

Heat the tawas and make the dosas. Serve hot.

Chilkewali moong dal ki khichdi

I love khichdi. I really do. But however much you love something, sometimes, you crave the same thing, but different. I wanted khichdi, but not the yellow, runny stuff that I was used to. I wanted the essence of khichdi in something different.
This chilkewali moong dal ki khichdi fitted the bill perfectly.

1 measure chilkewali moong dal

1 measure rice

2 tbsp ghee

1 tsp jeera

3-4 cloves

1 green chilli slit

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 medium carrot grated

Salt to taste

Soak dal and rice in four cups of water for one hour. Drain. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker. Add cumin seeds, cinnamon, green chillies, carrot and sauté for two minutes. Add dal and rice and mix well. Add salt, peppercorns and four cups of water. Cover the cooker with the lid and pressure cook till one whistle. Serve hot, may be with hot ghee.