Refreshing Jaljeera / Mint Lassi/ Buttermilk

Life has been very busy in last couple of months. We moved from Bangalore to San Jose, California. With all this shifting and new job I could not find time to write any new post. Here I am back in action again :)

Yesterday, while shopping veggies I saw fresh mint and I could not stop myself from buying it. I was avoiding to buy mint from quite sometime now because I feel very tired to make that mint chutney with my busy job and 2.5 years old daughter. Those inviting mint leaves made me forget my busy schedule.

Anyways, after reaching home I decided not to make that mint chutney again. If not chutney, then what? Here comes the idea of making quick jaljeera.


Ingredients :

1 bunch of mint leaves (Some coriander leaves optional)
1 tea spoon roasted cumin seeds (you can easily roast cumin seeds on tawa or any pan)
1 inch ginger
1 tea spoon salt
1 tea spoon black salt
1-2 green chilli
1 liter water
1 Lemon


Method :

Grind everything coarsely and mix water into it. Seev it and serve chilled. Jaljeera made with jaljeera powder available in market is not even close to this jaljeera made with fresh mint leaves.

You can even mix this jaljeera with buttermilk. Just give it a try and I am sure you will love that new version of refreshing buttermilk.

Gajar Ka Halwa

Not a new name for any of you but I made it after a long time today so thought of sharing this recipe with you all. Many people call it as gajrela as well. My mom used to make it in winters and we all specially my dad is a big fan of gajar ka halwa. So I thought of making it for Aashna. May be she will remember this halwa and her mom after 20-30 years from now ;)

Tip : Please do not make it in a pressure cooker. Gajar halwa cooked in a pan without any lid and on sim flame gives the real taste of it :)

Ingredients :

1. 750 grams carrots grated
2. 2 tablespoon ghee
3. 200 grams khoya grated
4. 1 liter milk
5. 4 table spoon sugar
6. 3-4 green cardamom crushed
7. 100 grams mixed dry fruits (almonds, cashew, pistachios etc.) chopped

Method :

• Take a nonstick pan and heat ghee in it. 

• Add carrots to it and cooking them. Cook them on low flame for about 30 minutes and keep stirring it every two minutes. 

• Add sugar, green cardamons and milk to it and let it boil till its dried up.

• Add half of the khoya and mix well. Switch off the flame and add half of the dry fruits. Many people add dry fruits during cooking but I like dry fruits not to loose their crunch so I add them at the end.

• Put halwa in a bowl and garnish with leftover khoya and dry fruits.

Try this recipe and let me know your reviews :)

Vegetable Khichdi

I am sure there are many people who consider khichdi to be food for sick people only but a few are like me as well ;) I just love khichdi anyday to replace my main course. Today, I found a small brinjal, peas, half cauliflower (tastes really good in khichdi) in my fridge so thought of making this veggie khichdi and sharing this recipe with you all.

You can add many other vegetables also like carrot, beans etc.

So here we go :

Ingredients :

1. 2 tablespoon ghee (you can use refined oil also but khichdi tastes great with ghee)
2. 1 cup masoor daal
3. 1 cup rice
4. 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
5. 1/2 cauliflower cut into small pieces
6. 1 cup peace
7. 1 small brinjal cut into small pices
8. 1 onion sliced
9. 2 medium tomatoes
10. salt to taste (It takes enough of salt)
11. 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
12. 1 teaspoon turmeric

Method :

• In a pressure cooker heat ghee and cumin seeds. Let it splutter.

• Add onions and cook till they are translucent.

• Add tomatoes, cauliflower, peas, brinjal, salt, turmeric and red chilli powder and mix. 

• Add rice and daal with 5 cups of water and cover pressure cooker with its lid.

• Wait for 4 whistles and turn off the flame and let it cook in its steam and dont't open cooker for another 10 minutes.
• Serve hot with butter, ghee, raita, papad, pickle whatever you like :)

Try this recipe ad let me know your reviews :)

Aaloo paneer bhurji

I am not sure if this paneer bhurji is my mom's invention or others also make it :P but I have never seen any other friend making it. So thought of sharing this recipe with you all. This is also a good option if you have less paneer and more people to eat it :)

Let's start...

Ingredients :

1. 200 gms paneer
2. 2 medium potatoes cut into small pieces
3. 2 tablespoon refined oil
4. 1 large onion chopped
5. 2 medium tomatoes chopped
6. 1 green chilli chopped
7. fresh green coriander chopped
8. salt to taste
9. 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
10. 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
11. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Method :

• Heat oil in a pan. Add onions and cook till they are translucent.

• Add tomatoes, salt, red chilli powder and turmeric. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

• Add potatoes, mix well and cover the lid. Cook till potatoes are completely cooked. Keep stirring in between. If it starts sticking at the bottom you can sprinkle some water as well.

• Once potatoes are cooked, add mashed paneer and garam masala to potatoes. I dont prefer to cook a lot after adding paneer. So once its mixed well and heated remove it from heat.

• Add green coriander, garam masala and serve hot with chapati.

Try this recipe and let me know your reviews :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNXlEAKQ48s&feature=em-upload_owner

Yummy kulfi from leftover sweets

Whenever I go to Delhi to my mum's place, for one reason or the other I end up getting so many sweets that I have to bring to Bangalore. I am not a big fan of sweets so is Rakesh. I figured out what to do with these sweets now :D Rakesh loves kulfi and kulfi made with this leftover mithai is always awesome.

So this time I got a big box of Haldiram's peda. There are a few things that you will have to see before making kulfi with leftover mithai that can change ingredients for this kulfi. First and very important point to note here is the leftover sweet has to be made from khoya and dry fruits only for instance khoya burfi, kaju burfi, pista burfi, peda etc. Mostly all kinds of burfi can be used.

Ingredients :

1. 1/2 kg any khoya mithai.
2. 2 table spoon of pista (you can use almonds or cashews as well or if there is enough dry fruits in your sweets you can skip it)
3. 2 green cardamom
4. few strings of saffron (you can skip this also if there is kesar in your sweets)
5. 1 liter milk

Method :

• Soak saffron in two tablespoon of milk.
• Take a heavy bottom pan and add milk to it. Bring it to a boil.
• Crush green cardamoms and add them to milk. Reduce milk till it's half of the original quantity.
• Mash all the sweets and put it into milk. Keep stirring because there are more chances that it will start sticking on the bottom because of sweets.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Boil it for another 7-10 minutes on low flame.

• Switch off heat and add chopped pistachios. We add them after switching off heat so that they will remain crunchy.

• Let it cool down on room temperature. After that we fill this mixture into kulfi molds and refrigerate.

Try this recipe and share your reviews :) 

Tamatari aaloo

I was lazy today to make lunch so I while checking out my fridge I found some boiled potatoes(that I boiled last night). I wanted to be quick so thought of making aalloo tamatar ki sabji :)

When I was young I see elders fasting in navratras and eating some special food during these fasts. I never missed this gravy since then :P

So here we go :

Ingredients :

1. 2 tablespoon refined oil
2. 3 medium potatoes cut into 1 inch pieces
3. 3 medium tomatoes
4. 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
5. 1 green chilli cut into small pieces
6. 1 1/2 inch ginger grated
7. salt to taste
8. red chilli powder
9. pinch of hing
10. Fresh green coriander chopped
11. pinch of turmeric (optional. I don't use it though)

Method :

• Heat oil in a kadai. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter.
• Add ginger and hing and let it cook for two minutes. (Add turmeric at this stage if you want to add it)
• Puree tomatoes with a hand blender or mixer grinder and add them too. Cook tomatoes for 4-5 minutes or till oil separates.
• Add two potatoes cut into 1 inch pieces and leftover 1 potato should be mashed and then added. It makes gravy thicker and gives good texture.
• Add 1 1/2 glass of water and let it come to boil.
• Add green chillies and let the boil continue for another two minutes.
• Switch off the flame and add fresh green coriander.
• Serve hot with puri, chapati or rice.

Try this recipe and let me know your reviews :)

Gobhi Aaloo

After a long vacation to my parent's place I came back today and my empty fridge forced me to go buy some veggies right away. There I see a single beautiful inviting cauliflower left on the counter. There are many recipes one can find for Gobi aaloo on web. Still I thought of posting my version of gobi aalloo for all you to try. This is originally from my mother's kitchen.

So here we go :

Ingredients :

1. 1 Cauliflower
2. 3 medium potatoes
3. 2 tablespoon refined oil
4. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
5. 1 Onion
6. 2 medium tomatoes
7. 1 green chilli
8. salt to taste
9. 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
10. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
11. 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
12. Some fresh green coriander leaves.

Method :

• Cut potatoes and cauliflower in small pieces.
• Heat refined oil in a heavy bottom pan or kadai. Add cumin seeds in it.
• Add chopped onions to it and cook till it becomes translucent.
• Grate ginger and add to it.
• Chop tomatoes into small pieces and add to it.
• Add salt, red chilli powder and turmeric and mix well. Let it cook for 3-4 minutes.
• Add potatoes and cauliflower into it and mix well. Cook it on low flame for 20-25 minutes.
• Keep mixing it every 5-7 minutes so that it won't burn. Sprinkle a few drops of water if needed. Cook till its tender.
• Add garam masala and fresh chopped green coriander and serve hot with chapati.

Try this recipe and share your reviews :)

Rabdi Faluda

I tried rabdi a few days back and it turns out to be really really good. Rakesh loved it so I make it whenever he wants now :)

Would love to share this recipe with you all.

Ingredients :

For Rabadi :

2 liter milk (preferably full cream)
3-4 green caradomn
8-10 strings of saffron
handful of pistachios (you can use almonds or cashews also)
2 tablespoon sugar

For Faluda :

1 liter milk
Ruh Afza

Luckily I found instant faluda mix which contains

Faluda
Basil seeds
Dry fruits
Sugar

Method :

• Take a heavy bottom pan and put milk into it and start reducing it on a medium or low flame.
• Mix and soak saffron in 2-3 table spoon of milk (milk should be on room temperature or cold) for a few minutes.
• Add saffron mix into milk.
• Crush green cardamons and add it to milk.
• Reduce milk till it is 1/3rd of original quantity.
• Chop pistachios to small pieces. Remove milk pan from heat and add pistachios into it.
• Let it cool on room temperature. Pour it into in an aluminum bowl or kulfi molds for freezing.

Tip : If milk is not reduced to 1/3rd or lesser quantity the kulfi might result like an ice candy with ice in it. Boiling reduces water quantity in milk which makes final output to be more creamier than icy.

To prepare faluda :

• Boil milk with 500 ml of water in it. Add faluda mix and cook it for 7-8 minutes. 
• Turn off heat and let it cool down to room temperature before we chill it in fridge.

In a serving glass add some pieces of kulfi. Pour faluda mix on it and pour 1 tablespoon of ruhafza on top and serve.

Let me know your reviews for this recipe :)

Punjabi Rajma

This is something I grew up eating. I just love rajma rice any day. Whenever I make it at home, you can find me with a bowl full of rajma rice almost every alternate hour :P
My friends love the way I make rajma. The recipe belongs to my mom :)
Therefore this post is dedicated to my mom.

Ingredients :

1. 350g of red rajma (I prefer to use kahmiri rajma which is shown in the image)
2. Pinch of asafoetida (hing)
3. 4-5 table spoon refined oil
4. 1 tea spoon cumin seeds
5. 1 big onion
6. 5 medium tomatoes
7. 1 green chilli
8. 1 1/2 inch long piece of ginger
9.  5-6 pieces of garlic
10. salt to taste
11. 1/2 tea spoon red chilli powder
12. 1/2 tea spoon garam masala
13. fresh green coriander for garnishing

Method :

• Soak rajma overnight or atleast 2-3 hours.
• Pressure cook rajma with hing and a tea spoon of salt for 25-30 minutes.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter.
• Grind onion in a grinder and make a paste. Add that paste into pan and let them cook till they become golden brown.
• Make a paste of ginger and garlic and add that to pan and cook for another two minutes.
• Make paste of tomatoes and green chilli and add that to pan.
• Add salt (don't forget we added salt to rajma as well) and red chilli powder and stir it well. Let it cook for 10-12 minutes now or till oil separates from this onion tomato mix.
• Add rajma to this mix and let it boil for 4-5 minutes.
• Add garam masala and mix it.
• Garnish with green coriander and serve hot.

Try this recipe and let me know how you like it :)

Mango Shake with a twist

I love mangoes and mango shake is something I am crazy about. I don't like to miss even a day in summers without mango shake. I am going to share my version of mango shake here which I always crave for. So here we go :

Ingredients :

1. 1 ripe mango
2. 500ml chilled milk
3. 2 table spoon sugar
4. 2 table spoon ruh afza (my secret)
5. some almonds and walnuts for garnishing
6. Ice cubes

Method :

• Add pealed and deseeded  mango in a jar.
• Add sugar and ruh afza and grind it to a smooth paste.
• Add milk and grind again.
• Add ice cubes and grind.
• Pour it into glass and garnish with almond flakes and small pieces of walnuts.

Try it and let me know your reviews on this version of mango shake.