Tahini Dip

Tahini is a sauce that is prepared by grinding toasted sesame seeds with garlic, olive oil and lemon.This is a major staple in the Mediterranean cuisine and has originated from Middle East. My close friend had made this on one occasion and it was absolute yum. This is a recipe that has been shared by her along with falafel wrap which I tried at home and became successful. This has got a creamy texture and a nutty flavor and can be paired with pita bread,falafel, hummus and can even be used as a salad dressing.

Serves: 3 dips as shown in the pic above

Ingredients

1. White sesame seeds - 1 cup
2. Roasted Garlic - 3 pods 
3. Lemon juice - 1/4 cup or more as per the taste
4. Salt - 2 tsp or more as per the taste
5. Fresh parsley chopped finely - 2 tsp (Optional)
6. Water - required to adjust the consistency
7. Extra virgin Olive oil - for dressing

Method

1. Dry roast the sesame seeds on a medium flame in a thick bottomed pan until it turns aromatic and slightly brown in color.

2. Cool it completely and blend it at high speed with roasted garlic, salt,lemon juice and needed water.

3. Adjust the consistency of water required and keep blending until you get a nice creamy texture and saucy consistency.

4. Transfer the contents to a container,drizzle some olive oil.

5. Rich creamy Tahini dip is ready to served with your favorite pita bread, hummus or falafel.

Aloo Capsicum Masala

Aloo or potato and capsicum is a common vegetable in every household. Aloo being the king of vegetables always makes a great choice for any gravy. This is also a commonly available gravy at any restaurant or dhaba. Let's see the preparation of this gravy.

Serves:4

Ingredients

1. Potatoes - 2 Big
2. Capsicum / Bell Pepper(Green/Yellow/Red) - 1 big or 2 small
3. Medium size tomatoes- 4
4. Almonds (Blanched)/ Cashews - 7
5. Big Onions -2 
6. Mustard Oil or any cooking oil - 3 tbsp
7. Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
8. Ginger garlic paste- 2 tbsp
9. Red chili powder- 2 tsp
10. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
11. Coriander powder- 2 tsp
12. Garam Masala powder- 2 tsp
13. Whisked thick Curd - 3 tbsp
14. Fresh Cream - 2 tbsp (Optional)
15. Cinnamon stick-1 piece
16. cloves-3
17. Bay Leaf - 1
18. Kasuri methi crushed- 1 tbsp
19. Coriander leaves - few for garnishing

Method

1. Boil the potatoes separately in a pressure cooker with pinch of salt.

2. In a separate pan, add oil and saute capsicum for 2 mins with a dash of salt and keep it aside.

3. Grind onion and ginger garlic paste together. In a pan, heat oil. Add cumin seeds,bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves and saute on a medium flame.

4. After cumin seeds crackle, add the onion + ginger garlic paste and saute well until the paste turns to golden brown color. The raw flavour of onion ginger garlic paste should completely go off.

5. Grind the tomatoes and (almonds/cashews) together and add it to the above pan.

6. Add turmeric, red chili, coriander powder and needed salt to the above pan, mix well and cover the pan and cook for about 5 mins.

7. Now add the whisked curd and garam masala and mix gently. Add the cooked potatoes and fried capsicum to the above gravy mixture. Allow it to simmer on low flame for another
5 mins.

8. Add some fresh cream and simmer for 2 mins.

9. Add crushed kasuri methi.

10. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with any Indian Breads.

Notes,Tips & Add-on's

1. If you are using cashews, soak them in warm water for 15 mins before grinding it. This ensures a smooth paste is formed.
2. You can either use almond or cashew, this is added to enhance the flavor,richness and provide a creamy texture to the gravy.
3. Fresh cream is added to balance the tanginess of tomato and curd and also to give a creamy taste and thickness.

Dhoodh/Milk Peda

Who doesn't love milk sweets....:):):)
This is one of the easiest milk sweets that can be made instantaneously. This sweet is usually made as prasadham(offering to god) . For a long time, I wanted to make Peda for my dear god Sai baba. I made this on a Thursday and offered as naivedhya/Offering to the god after doing pooja. Any offering that is made with pure devotion all by ourselves to god definitely gives us pleasure and immense happiness:). Now let's look at the preparation. 

Serves: 30 Pedas

Ingredients

1. Condensed milk - 1 tin / 400 gms(Milkmaid or any other brand)
2. Milk Powder - 200 gms( Amul or any other brand)
3. Ghee - 2 tbsp
4. Cardamom powder - 1 tbsp
5. Almonds for decoration

Method

1. In a thick non stick pan, add ghee and empty the condensed milk tin and milk powder.

2. Stir continuously on low flame until there are no lumps and powder gets mixed well with condensed milk.

3. Add cardamom powder and keep stirring until the mixture thickens and leaves the side of the pan. 

4. Stir till the mixture thickens and forms a soft dough texture.

5. Switch off the flame immediately and transfer the contents to a plate greased with ghee.

6. Grease your palms with ghee, make small balls out of the dough and slightly flatten them. Place an almond in the center.

7. Delicious Pedas ready to be served now:)

Notes,Tips & Add-on's

1. Instead of almonds, you can use pistachios or cashews for decoration.

Semiya Upma (Vermicelli Upma)

Be it an evening Tiffin or a light dinner, Semiya or Vermicelli Upma is a great choice.If you have guests coming up or very less time to prepare something for dinner, go ahead with this choice for it is damn easy to make and tastes yummy.

Ingredients

1. Vermicelli/Semiya - 2 Cups (Roasted) 
2. Water - 4 cups 
3. Onion - 1 big or 2 small 
4. Tomato - 1 big or 2 small 
5. Green Chili - 2 slit lengthwise 
6. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp 
7. Uradh dhal- 1 tsp 
8. Chana Dhal - 1 tsp 
9. Curry Leaves- 4-5 
10. Asafoetida - a pinch 
11. Carrot - 1 (Chopped) 
12. Beans - 4 (Chopped) 
13. Oil - 2 tbsp 
14. Salt to taste

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. After they crackle, add urad dhal, chana dhal, green chili, curry leaves, hing and saute for a minute.

2. Add onions, saute until translucent. Now add tomatoes and saute well for 2 mins.

3. Add other veggies and saute for a min. 

4. Add water,required salt and bring it to boil.

5. Now add the roasted vermicelli and cook on low flame until all water is absorbed and the vermicelli is cooked.

6. Vermicelli Upma is already to be served hot:)

Notes,Tips & Add-on's

1. Veggies like carrot, beans are optional. You can add Peas, Potato or any veggies of your choice or just make it with tomato and onion. It tastes great either ways.
2. If you don't get a roasted vermicelli, roast it separately on a low flame until it turns light golden brown.

Restaurant Series #4

I had prepared this dinner exclusively for my mom and dad. So this was predominantly rice as the main meal. They prefer curd rice always for dinner and hence I didn't make any Indian Breads because it might become too heavy.

The following are the items which was made

1. Carrot Coriander Soup
2. Kaju Moti Pulao
3. Baby Corn Manchurian
4. Curd Rice
5. Assorted Salad Platter

Pudhin Ki Roti

Mint is one of the most flavorful and aromatic greens packed with loads of goodness. I had once stocked some fresh pudhina/Mint leaves from market and was wondering what I can do with them apart from making rice. Just then an idea stuck, why not minty flavorful rotis instead of boring plain rotis:) Here is the recipe to a delicious minty Chapati that can make your dinner healthy and interesting.

serves: 6 rotis

Ingredients

1. Whole Wheat Flour - 1 Cup
2. Fresh Mint leaves- 1 Cup
3. Green chilies-1
4. Salt to taste
5. Ghee for spreading on roti
6. Oil for kneading- 1 tbsp
7. Water as required for kneading

Method

1. Grind Pudhina/mint leaves and chilies together.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add wheat flour, needed salt and the ground paste and knead well by adding water little by little until it forms a soft dough. Coat the dough with some oil so that moisture is retained. Cover the dough with a moist cloth or store it in an air tight container.

3. Let the dough set for 20 mins.

4. Divide the dough into equal parts and roll them into flat circular shapes.

5. Heat a tawa and place the roti on it and cook both sides until brown spots appear.

6. Spread a tsp of ghee and serve hot with any curry bowls from our menu card.:)

How to cook Basmati Rice

During my initial days of cooking, one of the most hardest thing was to get the basmati rice cooked perfectly. I was not at all sure why I was not getting it perfect and what is the real trick. It took lots of trial and error to crack the secret behind cooking the rice perfectly. When you under cook the basmati rice, they are raw when you bite and you can very well find that they are under cooked. If you overcook your basmati rice, they will breakdown and stick together and will no longer look like a basmati rice. A perfectly cooked bamati rice is where, the rice is long and does not stick together and yet remain very soft when you eat it. The flavor and aroma that comes when you cook basmathi rice is just too appetizing. I love it:):) Yum Yum.. So let me share the secret of cooking the basmati rice in perfect way for your pulao, fried rice etc which I have tried, tested and mastered after 3 years of attempt:) There are 2 ways of cooking a basmati rice. one with closed lid and other with open lid. I am here going to discuss the closed lid method of cooking basmati rice which is easier to adopt in our kitchen. It is always best to get a good brand basmati rice to yield the best results.

Cooking Basmati Rice in Electric Cooker/ Non stick Pan with lid

• Rinse Basmati rice 2 times nicely to get rid of excess starch This help the basmati rice to be cooked individually and not sticking to each other.
• Soak the basmati rice for about half hour in lukewarm water.
• Drain the soaked basmati rice and add it to Pan or electric rice cooker.
• The Rice to water ratio is 1:2 if you are not adding vegetables or if you have already kept your veggies cooked separately.
• If in case you are using combination of milk and water, you need to count water and milk together. Eg: if you take 1 cup rice, you can take 2 cups of liquid(milk+ water) together.
• If you are going to cook your rice with vegetables, then add 1/2 cup of water extra.
• Add salt such that the water tastes salty. It becomes fine when the rice and veggies absorb water after getting cooked. This salt again depends on whether you are cooking with veggies or not. Add 2 tsp more if you are going to add veggies as well.
• In electric cooker, once the rice is done, it comes to keep warm mode. This is the Indication that it is done.Close the lid and keep it in warm mode for 5 mins and later switch off.
• In Non stick pan, keep the flame in low or medium. You need to check if all the rice is cooked and water is evaporated at regular intervals. I suggest you keep the flame in low so that the rice at the bottom does not get burnt.If your Rice to water proportion is correct and you cook on a constant low flame, the rice is sure shot to be cooked properly. 
• Do not mix the basmati rice immediately after they are cooked, as they start sticking together and becomes mushy. Wait for it to cool down a bit and then gently mix it for a perfect mixing and texture in case of making Pulao/Fried rice etc.

Cooking Basmati Rice in Pressure Cooker

• Same steps as above. The Rice to water proportion is all the same.
• Transfer the rice to cooker and pressure cook for exactly 2 whistles on a medium flame and switch it off.
• Don't take off the whistle immediately. Allow the pressure to settle on its own.
• Now open the cooker and basmati rice is just cooked perfectly :)