Healthy Non - Fried Veg Manchurian

Last night I wanted to experiment with my Takoyaki pan and this is what I tried - Veg Manchurian. Of course a very healthy and surprisingly very tasty result was what I got. So sharing the recipe with you all. 

The flavors are like manchurian but it looks different and can be served as delicious snack along with a cheezy dip or a spicy tomato chilli sauce. Your guests will love it!

Takoyaki Pan 

Ingredients:

• Carrots, cabbage and green chillies - finely chopped 
• All purpose Flour 
• Corn Flour 2-3 table spoons 
• Salt 
• Soya Sauce - 3 table spoons 
• Vinegar - 1 tea spoon 
• Chilli Flakes 
• Red chilli powder 
• Water
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 table spoon 

Method: 

1. In a bowl, take chopped veggies, salt to taste, soya sauce, vinegar, chilli flakes, red chilli powder, ginger garlic paste, corn flour and give it a mix. 
2. Now start adding 3 table spoons all purpose flour and water and mix. Keep adding and mixing the flour and water till you get your desired consistency. The pic below shows the consistency of the batter I made  - 

• Now heat the Takoyaki pan, add one drop of cooking oil in each hollow pocket and drop 1 table spoon full of the batter into it and top it with a drop of oil again. Let it cook from one side and flip it over to cook the other side. Keep the lid covered and cook on medium high/ high flame. 

Hope you will like it. Happy Eating :)

Veg Keema with Soya Flakes

Ingredients:

• Soya Flakes - Soaked on water for an hour 
• Onions - finely chopped 
• Tomatoes - finely chopped 
• Green Peas 
• Fresh meethi leaves - washed and chopped
• Cooking oil 
• Ginger - garlic paste 
• Salt
• Red chilli powder
• Turmeric powder 
• Coriander powder 
• Chicken Masala 
• Garam Masala 
• Milk cream/ milk - 4-5 spoons 

Gravy Paste: for this paste grind the following ingredients into a fine paste

• Cashew - 4 , Almonds
• Almonds  - 4 
• Cinammon stick - 1 inch 
• Cloves - 2 
• Khuskhus- 1 teaspoon 
• very little water -few table spoons 

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add onions and ginger garlic paste until onions are translucent pink and then add in 1 tea spoon coriander powder, tomatoes and salt and saute. 
2. Now add in the gravy paste, soaked soya flakes, meethi leaves, green peas, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and chicken masala. DO NOT add any water to this... you do not want to over cook this. Close the lid and let it cook on medium - high flame.  Keep in mind to put the flame off as soon as you know the pressure cooker is about to release the pressure. 
3. After all the pressure is released, remove the lid and stir the veg on high for 2 mins. 

Hope you will like it. Happy Eating :) 

Cabbage Salad

This one is my mother's recipe and my fav salad. It is a quick and easy bet to please your guests. 

Ingredients:

• Small cabbage finely cut 
• 1 large onion finely cut 
• Handful of green peas 
• Mustard Oil/ any cooking oil - 2 table spoons
• Mustard seeds - 1 tea spoon  
• Mustard seeds powder - 1-1.5 tablespoons 
• Salt to taste 

Method: 

In a pan, heat 2 table spoons mustard oil (preferably)/ cooking oil and add  mustard seeds and let them sputter. To it add cabbage, onions, green peas, mustard seeds powder, salt mix well and let is cook for 2 mins on medium - low flame without covering the lid. Let this mix cool and serve it. 

Hope you will like it. Happy Eating :) 

Majjige Charu/ Buttermilk with Tadka

Majjige Charu/ Buttermilk with Tadka 

A very common form of consuming buttermilk in South India is to have it with tadka. Every household will have its own version, but this recipe is what I like the most. You may like to add ginger/ garlic to this based on your preference. 


Ingredients:

• Buttermilk (preferably sour for best results)
• Finely chopped onions
• Chopped green chillis 
• Curry Leaves
• Chopped coriander leaves 
• Dry red chillis 
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tea spoon 
• Salt
• Red chilli powder
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon 
• Pinch of methi seeds 
• Asafoetida (hing)
• Oil
• Chana Dal - 1 table spoon 
• Whole urad dal 1/2 table spoon 

Method:

1. In the buttermilk, add salt to taste, little bit of turmeric and red chilli powder
2. For the tadka - heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan and add Chana dal and fry it till it starts changing its colour and then add urad dal to it. Once they are almost done add asafoetida (hing), dry red chilies (broken into two halves), curry leaves, cumin, methi and mustard seeds, onions and green chillis and fry for few minutes. 
3. Once the tadka is ready, let it cool down for a bit and then add it to the buttermilk, add chopped fresh coriander leaves and serve.  

Usually here in Hyderabad, this is taken with rice however, I prefer taking it as a side dish (more like raita). 

Hope you will like it. Happy Eating :) 

Healthy Lentil Dumplings

Lentil Dumplings 

In an attempt to keep our oil consumption under check, my mother in-law bought a Takoyaki pan recently. We usually prepare lentil dumplings in it. I am sharing one of the lentil dumpling recipe here. This pan is a big help specially in the mornings or when we have guests over as it rolls out quick and healthy snacks that can be taken as breakfast or tea time snacks.

Ingredients:

• Green whole moong dal - soaked over night and roughly grind into a thick paste. Add water to adjust the thickness. It should be thicker than Dosa/ Idli batter.
• Ginder - finely shopped 
• Onions - finely chopped 
• Green chilli - finely chopped 
• Salt to taste
• Oil  

I have used a non - stick Takoyaki pan which is widely available in the markets these days. 

Takoyaki Pan 

Method: 

1. In a bowl, take the moog dal paste and add salt, chopped ginger, onions and green clillis and mix well. 
2. Heat the Takoyaki Pan with a drop of oil in each hollow pocket and add 1 table spoon of the dal mix you have prepared in each hollow pocket. Keep the flame on medium - high.  
3. Now add one drop of oil on the filled in pockets and close the lid. You can turn the dumplings in 7-8 mins and cover the lip again and let the dumplings cook. This time should take not more than 3-4 minutes. 
4. Your dumplings are ready. 

This is a very health and quick snack and goes well with coconut/ peanut chutney. 

Hope you will like it. Happy Eating :) 

Rajma

Rajma is predominantly a hot favorite dish from North India and is usually preferred with rice. This was not my usual favorite dish until I tasted my friend's recipe. This is my friend's mother's recipe from Delhi and since she is a Punjabi, there are no doubts about its Punjabi authenticity :). This one is for you Disha :)

Ingredients

• 250grms Rajma boiled (pressure cooked) with 1.5 inch grated ginger
• 7 Red tomatoes - pureed 
• 3 large onions, 6 garlic cloves, 4-5 green chillis - grind into fine paste 
• Vegetable oil
•  Black cardamoms - 2 
• Green cardamoms - 4
• Bay Leaf - 1
• Cinnamon stick - 1 inch 
• Cumin powder
• Red chilli powder
• Turmeric powder 
• Coriander powder 
• Garam masala (optional)

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add black and green cardamoms, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and let them cook. 
2. Add onion, garlic, chilli paste to it and let it cook until almost brown and then add tomato puree, salt to taste, red chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala, coriander powder and turmeric powder and let it cook. 
3. once the masala is cooked completely, add the rajma along with the water you had boiled it in and let it cook for a while and keep stirring it.
4. You can add 1-2 table spoons of ghee/ clarified butter to this for flavour. 

Hope you will like it. Happy Eating :) 

Vegetable cutlets

This Sunday, I tried a new vegetable cutlet recipe which came out really well. As opposed to the usual, these cutlets are made in less oil as I had used a grill pan. 

 Ingredients:

Boiled and mashed potatoes
Carrots - peeled and finely chopped
French beans- finely chopped
Green chilies - finely chopped
Boiled peas
Salt
Chilli flakes
Red chilli powder
Dry mango powder (amchoor)
Chaat masala
Maida
Bread crumbs
Oil
Butter
Milk- one cup

Grill Pan 

Method:

1. In a bowl take mashed potatoes, chopped carrots, beans, green chili, peas, salt to taste, red chili powder, chili flakes, chaat masala, dry mango powder and mix well.
2. Now in a pan, heat 1 tea spoon of butter and add two table spoons of maida and fry to it is pink in color. Once maida is slightly pink, add milk to it and keep stirring. Ensure there are no lumps in the batter. Once the maida is mixed well in the milk, turn the heat off and let this mix cool. Now add this mixture to the potato- veggie mix that you have prepared already. This will help in binding the cutlets. 
3. Now dab your palms with little oil and prepare cutlets in the shape you like. 
4. Cutlet quoting - Take some breadcrumbs in a plate and dry maida in another plate. Also in a bowl, mix some maida, little bit of salt, red chilli powder and some water and make it into a not too thin paste.
5. Now you can dip your cutlets in this maida paste, dust it on the dry maida, again into the maida paste and then finally dust them into the bread crumbs and keep them  in the refrigerator for some time. 4-6 hours is a good time to get crispier result.
6. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a grill pan and add your cutlets on to it and fry them at low flame for better and crispier result. 

You can serve these cutlets hot with a cheezy dip or tomato sauce. 

Hope you will like it. Happy Eating :)

Egg Fry

Tried my hands on this new Egg Fry recipe last night and it came out really well. Again something from my Mother - in - law's secret treasure :). You can also try this recipe with boiled potato, paneer and brinjal. 

By the looks of it, it may seem to be too oily, but there's only little oil that has gone into this preparation. You can try this quick recipe for a nice meal or to please your guests. 
 

Ingredients:

1. Hard boiled eggs - I took 6 eggs 
2. 5 big Onions - cut into small pieces (take the quantity as per the amount of masala you want in the dish as we do not add water to this preparation)
3. Curry leaves - hand full
4. Coriander powder 
5. Red chilli powder 
6. Salt to taste 
7. Turmeric powder 
8. Cooking oil 
9. Cumin seeds  

Method:

• Heat 2 table spoons oil in a pan and add diced onions to it and cook until they are translucent pink and turn off the heat. Let the onions cool and then grind them into fine paste. Do not add water to this. 
• Now heat 2 table spoons oil again in the pan, add cumin seeds and curry leaves to it and let the them sputter. 
• Now add the onion paste, 1.5 tea- spoon coriander powder, 1 tea-spoon red chilli powder, 1/4th tea-spoon turmeric powder and salt to taste. Also add peeled, boiled eggs to this. Cover the lid of the pan and let it cook at medium - high flame. 
• Keep stirring the masala every 2-3 minutes. A good 10-15 minutes fry for this masala will give a yummy tasty dish.   

Hope you will like it. 

Happy Eating :) 

Andhra Chicken Fry

 I am a die - heart non-veg fan and I have always enjoyed Andhra chicken fry. This preparation is dry, spicy and has lot of masala to it. It goes best with rice and will also be good with plain parathas. 

Ingredients: 

1. Chicken - 1.5kgs
2. 5 large onions - julienne strips
3. Hand full of curry leaves 
4. Fresh coriander leaves - a bunch 
5. Ginger garlic paste- 4 table spoons 
6. Salt 
7. Red chilli powder (usually cthis is put in more quantity for andhra recipes)
8. Garam masala powder
9. Turmeric powder
10. Eastern chicken masala 
11. Tomato ketchup
12. Curd - 1 cup 
13. Cooking oil & Ghee (clarified butter) 

Dry Spices 

1. Black cardamom - 3
2. Green cardamom - 7-8
3. Bay Leafs - 2 full leaves 
4. Star anise - 2 
5. Cinnamon - 2 big sticks 

Method:

• For marination, take the chicken in a big bowl. To it add 1.5 tablespoon salt, red chilli powder, 1/2 table spoon turmeric powder, 2 table spoons ginger garlic paste, 1 table spoon Eastern chicken masala and curd. Mix the ingredients well and keep it aside for at least 2 hours for best results. 
• After the chicken has rested for 2-3 hours, heat oil in a big pan and add few spoons of ghee to it. You would need more oil for this preparation for best results. 
• Once the oil and ghee mix is hot enough, add dry spices to it and let them swell. Once done, add onions, curry leaves and 2 table spoons ginger garlic paste to it and let the onions cook till they they turn light brown in colour. Cook this on medium high flame. 
• Now add marinated chicken to this and cover it with a lid and let it cook on high flame till the chicken is little tender.
• When the chicken becomes slightly tender, add required spices - salt, red chilli, chicken powder, garam masala and tomato ketchup and let it cook with the lid on at medium high flame. 
• After all the water has evaporated, add coriander leaves and remove the lid and cook the chicken and keep stirring it. The more you cook it till it turns dark brown (as in the image) in colour, the better the taste.      

Your yummy andhra chicken fry is ready to serve. 

Happy Eating :)

Sambar Powder

Home Made Sambar Powder 

Being married in a South Indian family always gives an edge as you tend to get those legendary secret family recipes of sambar, rasam and chutneys and much more. In my efforts to get my hands on the South Indian kitchen, I started with my mom- in - law's Sambar recipe which is to die for and I certainly vouch for it.

The most essential ingredient for sambar is sambar powder that brings all the difference. There is no better option than a perfectly blended home made sambar powder which is very easy to make. The recipe below is my mom - in - law's and gives a wonderful taste to sambar. This quantity will serve  4-5 people.

Ingredients: (quantity shown in the image)

1. Black pepper corns 
2. Dry Red Chilli 
3. Coriander seeds 
4. Tuar Dal 
5. Cumin Seeds 
6. Methi seeds 

Ingredients 

Method:

• In a pan, dry roast tuar dal first. As it turns pink, add in all the other ingredients and roast them till they are properly roasted. 
• Put this mix aside to come to normal temperature and then run it in a grinder until it becomes a fine powder.

This powder is now ready to be added to your sambar. I will share sambar recipe in my next post. Until then.. Happy Eating :)