Cashew Burfi

Ingredients:

• Cashew: 1 cup
• Sugar: 1 ¼ cup
• Milk: 150ml
• Ghee: As reqd

Method:

• Dry grind cashew to fine powder
• Add milk to the above and make a smooth paste
• Heat a kadai, pour some ghee and the above mixture into it
• Immediately add sugar and mix well
• Cook till the above mixture leaves from the sides of the kadai
• Pour it on a tray greased with ghee and cut into square or diamond shaped pieces

Mushroom Olarthiyathu

This one tastes yum with both rice and chappathi, though I enjoy it more with the latter!
A good recipe with a “thani nadan” taste for all you fellow mallus! :)

Ingredients:

• Mushroom: 200gms
• Onions: 3
• Set 1
  • Capsicum: 1 number
  • Green Chilly coarsely ground: ½ tsp
  • Ginger coarsely ground: 1 tsp
  • Garlic coarsely ground: 1 tsp
• Set 2
  • Garam Masala: ½ tsp
  • Coriander powder: 1 tsp
  • Chilli powder: ½ tsp
  • Pepper powder: ½ tsp
  • Salt, Oil: As reqd
  • Hot water: ½ cup
• Set 3
  • Coconut coarsely ground: ½ cup
  • Jeera: ½ tsp
  • Curry Leaves: A few sprigs
  • Mustard: 1 tsp
  • Jeera Powder: ½ tsp

Method:

• Burst mustard in hot oil
• Sauté Onions and Set 1 until they lose the raw taste
• Add Set 2 and sauté for some more time in oil
• Pour hot water and mushroom. Cover and cook.
• Once cooked, add curry leaves and toss for a while
• The dish is ready to serve when it has lost all water and is dry

Honey Chicken

This dish is mildly sweet and tangy, a deviation from the usual fare, yet easy to cook

Ingredients:

• Chicken cut into small pieces: 500gms
• Marinade:
  • Crushed Chilly: 1 tsp
  • Chilly Powder: 1 tsp
  • Ginger Garlic Paste : 1 tsp
  • Honey: 1tbsp appx ( according to taste)
  • Soya Sauce: 2 tbsp
  • Salt: As reqd
• Oil: As reqd

Method:

• Marinate chicken and set aside for half an hour
• Saute in oil and cook on low flame
• Easiest chicken dish is ready to eat once the chicken is cooked! :)

My Diary

These are some tips compiled by me. Usually I pen it down in my diary. From now on, I will be posting it here. Hope it will be of help to you all as well..

Cakes:

• Pre-heat the oven before you start preparing a cake
• Cake batter shouldn’t be too thick. A thick cake batter will make the cake dry.Add warm milk to loosen the batter
• Cover dry fruits, to be added in the cake, in self raising flour/maida. It will ensure that the cake rises properly and doesn’t go down due to the fruits.
• Use all ingredients at room temperature. Esp butter and eggs
• Always use fresh ingredients for the best cakes
• Do not open the oven to check on the cake until the baking finishes

Spicy Macaroni with Tomato and Cheese

This can make a quick lunch or an easy evening snack

Ingredients:

• Macaroni : 1 cup
• Water: 1.5 cups
• Chilly Powder: 1-1.5 tsp(depending on how spicy you like it)
• Garam Masala: ½ tsp
• Ginger Garlic Paste: 1 tsp
• Onions: 3
• Tomatoes: 2
• Grated Cheese, Coriander Leaves: For Seasoning
• Salt, Oil: As Reqd

Method:

• Add oil to pressure pan/cooker and heat it
• Saute onions in the hot oil
• Add tomatoes once the onions lose its colour, Saute Once you get a paste add chilli powder and garam masala. Saute
• Add Ginger Garlic paste and Saute till the raw taste is gone
• Now add water, enough salt and macaroni in that order
• Close the vessel. Once the steam comes, simmer it for 5-6 mins
• Open immediately and garnish with grated cheese and coriander leaves
• Serve Hot
  

Technorati Tags: Macaroni

Boiled Egg n Cheese Toast

Here’s another simple recipe for you all. Thanks to my dearest cousin, Ranichechi for introducing me to this yummy sandwich.

Ingredients:

• Boiled Egg: As many as required. One Egg can make atleast 2 sandwiches(Depending on your generosity!)
• Cheese Slices
• Bread Slices
• Ghee for toasting
• Salt and Pepper as reqd.

Method:

• Boil the eggs and let it cool
• Remove the shell and grate it ( like how you do it with carrots)
• Add salt and pepper as reqd to the grated egg
• Spread a dab of ghee on the bread slices(only on one side)
• Spread grated egg on each bread slice
• Top it up with a cheese slice and another piece of bread
• Toast it in a sandwich toaster and your sandwich is ready

Tips:

• You can use cheese spread or any other form of cheese instead of slices
• If you don’t have a toaster, you can roast the bread on a tawa as well.

Technorati Tags: Cheese Egg Toast

Wheat Puttu a.k.a Gothambu Puttu

Off late, my favourite b'fast is wheat puttu a.k.a gothambu puttu a.k.a steam cake. For all those who don't know about 'puttu', here's the wikipedia link to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puttu

I usually make wheat puttu with normal wheat powder available in super markets. The same 'Atta' which is used for chappathis as well. I have heard it's easier to prepare puttu with dry roasted atta, though I have never tried it. My puttu comes out well even otherwise! :)

Well, here's the recipe..

• Take as much atta as you need in a vessel
• Add a pinch of salt to it and mix well
• Now sprinkle water little by little to this, mixing well in between
• Steam the mixture layering it in between with grated coconut
• Puttu is ready once the steam comes out of the 'puttu kutti'

Tips for the best wheat puttu..

• Sprinkle very little water each time and incorporate it well
• Atta tends to be stickier than the usual rice flour, so the more time you take and the more neatly you do it, the better the end result
• The flour is 'wet enough' when you can take a little bit of it in your palm and make a small ball of it. The ball should be such that when you break it, it should go back to its previous state. Another tip to find out if the flour is wet enough is when you have 'small rubbery balls'(thats how my husband calls it!!) in the mixture
• When the flour is perfectly wet, run it once in the dry grinder of your mixie. It makes your puttu soft and extra tasty. Now, thats my lil tip for you all. But make sure the flour doesn't contain excess water...Else, you will end up eating chappathis instead of puttu!! ;)

Happy Eating! :)

Technorati Tags: Puttu Wheat