Veg Chowmein|Chinese veg noodles

Veg. Chowmein... an Indo-chinese dish made with noodles and lot of veggies. Its one of the most popular street food in India.

Really the taste of the chowmein prepared by the street vendors is just amazing. The secret behind the superb taste of chowmein prepared by the street vendors is that they keep the veggies quite raw to add crunch, and also they add sauces in large quantities to make it so spicy and juicy. But its quite easy to get that taste in the noodles  at home...

Coconut ladoo| Fresh coconut Ladoo

Coconut ladoos made with fresh coconut and milk. An easy to prepare indian dessert ready in minutes...

When a person is living in South-India... you  just can't avoid this delicious fruit.... Coconut. Its such a versatile fruit... each part of the coconut is useful at different stages of it development. When its tender its water is used as drink... When its fully developed its used as a fruit to be eaten raw or used in different food preparations be it be savoury or sweet. And when the fruit is allowed to dry... the oil secreted from it used in different dishes, not to forget its medicinal and beauty benefits.

My son being a sweet lover just like me.... asked me one day that he wants to eat coconut ladoo. Earlier i made Coconut candies and Rava ladoo with dessicated coconut, you can find the recipe in my blog. As i always have a coconut in my house... so i decided to fulfill my son's wish and prepare the coconut ladoos. I prepared these ladoos with just 4 ingredients... Fresh coconut, milk, sugar and cardamom powder. The ladoos turned out to be so good... they actually lasted just a day... my kids finished it all.

So here is the simple recipe of Coconut ladoos:

Prep. time- 10 mins    Cooking time- 40 mins  Makes- 40 ladoos

Ingredients:

·         1.5 cups Fresh grated coconut

·         3 cups Milk

·         1/2 cup sugar

·         1 tsp cardamom powder

Method:

1.       In a heavy bottomed pan or kadai, mix the milk and fresh grated coconut and turn on the flame to high.

2.       Bring the milk and coconut mix to a boil. Once it boils reduce the flame to low and keep stirring the mix in intervals. It will take around 20-25 mins to reduce and get cooked completely.

3.       As all the moisture gets evaporated and the mixture becomes thick, add the sugar and cardamom powder.

4.       The sugar will start melting making the mixture watery. Keep stirring. It will take another 10 mins to make the mixture thick.

5.       As the mixture thickens turn off the flame and transfer the mixture to a plate.

6.       Now moisten your palms with few drops of ghee or clarified butter and make ladoos while the mixture is still warm.

7.       Coconut ladoos are ready. Store in a clean container.

Tips:

1.       Make the ladoos when the mixture is still warm to hot. Because if you try to make ladoos with cool mixture it won't hold its shape.

2.       These ladoos are made with fresh coconut and fresh milk... that's why they have a short shelf life. Consume them the same day or store in a refrigerator if you want to use it for 2-3 more days.

Crostini

CROSTINI 
Crostini is an italian appetizer consisting of small slices of grilled or toasted bread and toppings. The toppings may include a variety of vegetables and cheeses or may be presented just with a brush of olive oil, herbs and sauces. 

Sweet and Sour vegetables

Sweet and sour vegetables recipe- As i am a big fan of Chinese food i keep trying different Chinese dishes. So whenever i prepare either chinese fried rice,shezwan rice or chinese noodles i prepare the sweet and sour vegetables to go along with it.

The sweet and sour vegetables recipe is extremely easy and can be made in a jiffy... The choice of vegetables is also dependant on you. Apart from the basic veggies used in chinese cooking like capsicum, carrot and beans,...you can add mushrooms, sweet corn, babycorn as well.

Gobhi matar masala|Cauliflower masala

      Gobhi matar masala or cauliflower peas curry made with tomatoes and cashews. Indians just love cauliflowers... the most widely and easily available vegetable in any grocery store.
      As i got bored of the same old cauliflower sabji with onion tomato gravy, i thought of making this humble flower adding some richness to it. So i made this cauliflower sabji with a tomato-cashew gravy omitting the onions.

Paneer tikka masala|without oven or tandoor

     Paneer Tikka masala is a popular punjabi dish loved by all. Paneer tikka masala with step by step pics to understand better.
    Paneer tikka masala is a tangy gravy made with ripe tomatoes and is very rich due to the addition of cream. For the tikkas if you have an oven, the tikkas can be grilled in the oven. Here i am posting the pan fried paneer tikkas for the paneer tikka masala.

Tomato salsa

I made this salsa sauce as an accompanianment with the Wheat and corn crackers. The crackers were basically just salted. I made this salsa salsa sauce to add a punch to the crackers. The Tomato salsa can be served with any chips, nachos or crackers.

Coconut candies|coconut ladoos

    I just can't get over my love for coconut sweets.... i just keep luking for different recipes with coconut.  I made Rava coconut ladoo, then coconut mounds, and few more desserts with coconut. And to add to my love i recently saw a cookery show with a similar recipe of coconut candies. So i thought to try it...

Wheat n Corn crackers

         I and my kids always keep looking for something to munch in the kitchen. So i try to make some finger snacks and store them for the kids. I never cook very large quantities of such snacks as they become boring after eating 2-3 times. And as the kids don't like to eat same snacks everytime i keep looking for different snack recipes all the time.

Mint rice|Pudina rice

     Mint rice or Pudina rice are spiced pulav with the flavours of south-indian spices in addition to the mint or pudina in the rice. This pulav is cooked in a pressure cooker so making its preparation quite easy and the ingredients used are easily available in any Indian kitchen pantry.

Semiyan payasam|seviyan kheer|how to make seviyan/vermicelli payasam

Seviyan kheer is the most preferred dessert in my mom's place during any festival or on arrival of any guest. And my mom makes the world's best seviyan kheer. I don't know what she does... but even after trying so many times and following her recipe exactly, still my seviyan kheer never used to taste as good as her's.

Potato salad with cucumber and mint

  Salads... as we all know are packed with great nutrition and health. I personally prefer to have atleast 1 bowl of salad everyday atleast once. My 3 yr old daughter also just loves salads, may it be a fruit salad or a veggie one.
   This potato and cucumber salad is very refreshing coz of the cucumbers,lettuce and mint, at the same time its quite filling coz of the potatoes.

Methi paratha| Fenugreek flatbread

    If you ask any north indian that name one dish that they can eat at any time of the day... the very common answer would be PARATHAS or PAROTHA as they say in punjabi. Punjabi's can have parathas anytime like for breakfast or lunch or snack time and even for dinner. 
   There are a lot of things that can be experimented with parathas. They can be made with refined flour, wheat flour or multigrains aata. The choice of fillings is just endless, Aloo, paneer, green peas, radish, and so on.... The style of making parathas also has options like you can make stuff parathas with different fillings or you can mix the fillings with the flour and make dough of it...later being the easier option.

Onion fritters|pyaaz ke pakode

      Onion fritters or pyaaz ke pakode are the most common appetizers in any Indian household.... The most wanted snack for a rainy day with a cup of tea.... just heavenly.
       There are various versions of pakodas... A variety of ingredients can be added and substituted in different pakodas. Onion fritters are usually made with chickpea flour/besan for binding. The spice levels can be adjusted according to personal tolerance. But spicier the better

Paneer jalfrezi|Jhalfrezi

    I am amongst those people who enjoy cooking... but at times just feel like cooking somethng really fast but can't compromise on the taste.... i know a lot of people are like that. At times i really like to take time and prepare extensive dishes which require lot of efforts. But sometimes i am too lazy to cook. For such days i really look for ready in minutes recipes.

Amritsari aloo kulcha

                               
    Kulchas are soft leavened flatbreads usually served in punjabi dhabas. Aloo kulchas resemble the punjabi aloo paratha... but its not the same. Because the Kulchas are made with Maida or all purpose flour and are leavened using baking powder unlike the aloo parathas.
   The kulchas are soft from inside and lightly crisp from outside.

Daal makhani

     Have you ever been to a punjabi house for lunch or dinner? If yes then this daal is not a new term for you. Daal makhani or Makhani daal is a staple food in any punjabi household.
     Traditionally the daal used to be prepared in traditional stoves known as Chulha... which is a stove made with mud and lit with wood or coal. The daal was cooked in clay or mud pots giving the daal a unique taste which is difficult to achieve with the modern gas stove and pressure cookers.

Rajasthani Kadhi

    Kadhi is a spiced yogurt based sauce which is thickened with gram flour or besan... Kadhi has a cooling effect thats why its a most preffered currry during summers. The slight tangy taste of the kadhi just refreshes your pallette...
    Few days back i happened to visit a rajasthani neighbours house for lunch. They served this Rajasthani kadhi and i was just in love with it. I quite often prepare the Punjabi kadi which is loaded with Pakoras which take a bit of time to prepare it. Rajasthani Kadhi on the contrary is quite simple and easy to make and is just ready in minutes.

Palak paneer

  Palak paneer is a spinach gravy added with cottage cheese. Palak paneer is one of the most preferred dish in any north indian household.
  Knowing the benefits of Spinach/Palak i personally make sure that i cook atleast one palak dish in a week.... and Palak Paneer is my hubby's absolute favourite.
  Palak dishes are not very pleasing to everybody's eyes... especially to encourage kids to eat palak is really a tough task. But if this beautiful vegetable is cooked with respect it can do great wonders...

Paneer butter masala

Paneer Butter Masala is the most loved Indian curry which is surely available in the menus of all almost all Indian restaurants... Some recipes call for only a tomato based gravy.... but its a lil tangy for my pallate... so i make this gravy using onion tomato and usual indian spices.
            The recipe is easy to make and is ready in minutes...