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 :)

Nawabi Chicken Biriyani

Diwali is around the corner and everyone must be rushing into preparing menu's for the upcoming long weekend. For those who relish non-vegetarian, I am sharing a lip smacking recipe by Renowned Chef Puneet Mehta - Nawabi Chicken Biriyani. 

Ingredients - 

•          500 gms              Chicken (soaked for half an hour)
•          1 Cup                    Best Foods Rice
•          4 tbsp                   Oil
•          3 nos.                   Onions (Large)
•          2”                          Ginger
•          6-8 nos.               Garlic Cloves
•          ½ tsp                   Black peppercorns
•          03 nos.                 Black cardamoms
•          1 tsp                      Fennel seeds (saunf)
•          2 nos.                   Mace
•          2” Stick                Cinnamon
•          01 nos.                 Bay leaf
•          06                         Green cardamoms
•          ½ tsp                   Caraway seeds (shahi jeera)
•          06 nos.                 Cloves
•          Few strands        Saffron (kesar)
•          3 tbsp                   Milk
•          15-20                    Pistachios
•          1 cup                     Cashew Nuts (halved) 

·         Salt to taste and Silver warq to garnish

          

          For masala

•         ½ tsp                      Cumin seeds
•          ¼ tsp                      Nutmeg powder
•          05 nos.                   Cloves
•          06 nos.                   Green cardamoms
•          02 nos.                   Black cardamoms

    Recipe- 

• Clean, wash and cut chicken into one and half inch sized cubes.
• Wash rice twice and soak in two cups of water for fifteen minutes.
• Peel, wash and chop onions, ginger and garlic. Tie up some chopped onion, chopped ginger, chopped garlic with peppercorns, black cardamoms, fennel seeds, mace, cinnamon in a muslin cloth. Put this bundle with chicken, salt and three cups of water and let it cook till three-fourths done. Take out the chicken pieces and retain the stock to cook the rice.
• For the masala grind the remaining onions, ginger and garlic with cumin seeds, nutmeg, cloves, green cardamoms and black cardamoms.
• Heat oil and sauté the ground masala till fat begins to separate. Add semi cooked chicken pieces and salt and sauté for a while. Take it off the heat and keep aside.
• In another pan heat oil, add bay leaf, green cardamoms, caraway seeds and cloves. Sauté and then add the rice and sauté for a while. Add double the quantity of reserved chicken stock and salt. When it comes to a boil,  add cashew nuts, cover and let it cook till it is three fourth done.
• Now in another handi, put a layer of cooked rice, then put a layer of chicken and repeat the layering process. Add deep fried onions, ghee & little saffron induced milk over it. Cover the handi with the lid and weight it down with something heavy or seal with dough. Keep the vessel on hot tawa with low flame and cook for half an hour.
• Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with pistachios and silver warq and serve hot. 

This biriyani is best served with onion and chilli raita. 

Hope you will like it!!

Happy Eating :)

Review: Urban Asia

Image Courtesy: Zomato.com

Went to Urban Asia last Sunday afternoon for lunch. Usually on Sundays they serve Brunch but we opted a la carte. Placed an order for 2 beer, a sweet and salt lime soda and I specifically wanted to taste their Lamb Roast however, surprisingly they did not have any lamb preparations for that day (considering most crowd will pour in on weekend and they were out of their famous dish).

Anyhow, we so we went ahead and ordered 2 chicken starters - 

Tamang's Chili Chicken was my fav out of the only 2 dishes that we could order. Chicken was well cooked with perfect blend of sauces and had a slight crispiness on the outside.... My recommendation. 

The Devil's Chicken by Sneha was a good preparation again but was taken over by Tamang's chili chicken. 

My 2 cents - carefully order your starters cuz their quantities are huge (servings of the size of country side portions) and you will be left with no place for the main course. We were just 2 people and ordered 2 starters. Fortunately or unfortunately, we could not even finish the starters, leave alone the main course. 

Interiors are good, though the place was damn noisy and crowded on Sunday. I loved their live music and am looking forward to go there again for their lamb roast and other dishes :P

For 2 beers, 1 lime soda and 2 chicken starters, we paid just 1000 bucks... cool stuff haah!!

Ambiance: 2/5
Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Value for Money: Oh Yess!!

Review: Shadaab Hotel

Hotel Shadaab at Charminar (Image courtesy: Sanjay Borra)

I went to Shadaab again with a big group of friends last weekend. Since I am a member of Hyderabad Foodies Club, we all went there as one of our eating joints during our 'Food walkathon at Charminar'.

The Nawabs of Food at Shadaab Charminar (Image Courtesy: Sanjay Borra)

I would like to mention here that we occupied their 'Nawabi' style seating on the first floor. This has low level beds lined up side by side in a 'U' shape with big 'Chauki' or low level tables placed in the center of each bed. A group of 4 can easily sit and share the meal on 1 table. This arrangement is very comfortable and I personally loved it. It is a decently clean place however, you cannot expect exceptional neatness at restaurants in Charminar. 

Shadaab was the third stop for us and by the time we landed there we didn't had much space left to push in more food. However, since the host wanted us all to taste their signature and famous dishes, we all got our share of Keema Khichdi, Bheja Fry, Nikaari Chicken and Lassi.

If you are a non - vegetarian, this is your place!! We were first served Keema Khichdi. While Khichdi was a usual mix of rice and mung dal, keema was decent though not great. My mother in law makes far tastier and better keema so I would not rate Shadaab's keema on it's taste. 

Keema Khichdi (Image Courtesy: Sanjay Borra)

Enjoying my meal at Shadaab (Image Courtesy: Sanjay Borra)

The moment I got the Bheja Fry, I was blown away by the looks of it. Though it was dripping in oil, it looked divine. One dig into the dish and I was right up there in the heaven. The gravy was a rich mix of onions, ginger garlic, whole and powdered spices, kasuri methi, herbs like coriander and soft and well cooked 'Brain' pieces. I would not shy away confessing that this was the best 'Bheja Fry' I have ever had. And I would wait to go there again for this. 

Next on the menu was 'Nihari Chicken', their signature and famous dish. It has a big fried piece of chicken dipped in paaya curry. I was expecting more out of this dish, but it turned out to be less spicy and low on flavors. Since I do not know much about this dish, I would be the wrong person to recommend/ not recommend this one. However, it did not suit my taste buds. Chicken piece was juicy and nice though. Nihari Chicken was served with a Square bread differently baked. 

Nihari Chicken (Image Courtesy: Sanjay Borra)

Bread served with Nihari Chicken (Image Courtesy: Sanjay Borra)

Then came the lassi in the end which was sweet, tangy, chilled and tasted good. My experience at Shadaab was good and I will go back to them for their 'Bheja Fry'. For our meal of around 20-25 people, we paid Rs. 2000 in total. Cheap isn't it ha!!

Ratings:

Food:3.5/5
Service: 3/5 
Ambiance: 3/5
Value for money: Absolutely yes

You can check out more interesting Food and Street Photography at:

Facebook.com/fotosanjay and Hyderabad Street Photography

Review: Flury's

Image Courtesy: Fury's Official Website  

I have been to Flury's thrice now and despite of the fact that it is one of the many food kiosks in Gvk One food court, it still stands apart for me. 

Flury's is a legendary tearoom started way back in 1927 by Mr. and Mrs. Flurys in Kolkata for the then elite British and affluent Indian visitors. It has since then served many generations in Kolkata and other cities.

Flury's entered in Hyderabad with their first outlet in GVK One mall in March 2013 and they have been serving a sumptuous variety of sweets and savories along with tea and coffee.

As of now I have tasted few of their stuff which includes Blue Berry Cheese Cake, Black Forest Pastry, Honey Nut Tart, Chocolate Cube, Chicken Puff and Spinach & Corn Quiche.

Blue Berry Cheese cake is my all- time favorite and Flury's blew me off completely with this one. Perfect sweetness, beautiful soft texture, addictive flavor, and just that slight tangy tinge of blue berry's leaves you with eternal yummmmmmmmmmm - iness :)

Black forest pastry was a usual good pastry, nothing different about it. Honey Nut tart was a let down though. The tart was hard and honey, nuts and almonds didn't taste too good. I find Vac's honey nut tart far better than Flury's.

Chocolate Cube is another very tasty, and interesting pastry. I particularly loved the balance of chocolate and sweetness. The pastry has layers of chocolate and chocolate bread topped with a thick chocolate slice. While it seems like too much of chocolate, you will be surprised with the right balance of the flavors and tastes. I would recommend this one if you like chocolate flavor.

Chicken Puff looks like an interesting bundle of flavors. The outside is softly crispy while the filling is sinfully pure chicken keema drenched in spicy flavors. One puff is quite filling to satisfy your taste buds. Spinach Corn Quiche is again another good option for those who like spinach and corn. The creaminess, cheesiness, and fluffiness of the quiche is addictive. I would specially like to mention that the pastry base of the quiche is absolutely fluffy and good that makes the quiche take away the brownie points.

So far my experience at Flury's has been great and I look forward to going there every time I visit GVK One Mall. I am waiting to taste their signature Strawberry Fraisier though. They always run out of it. Would request them to have some extra in stock.

I would also like to congratulate the main guy at the counter for his politeness and warm behavior that brings a smile to my face every time I walk-up to the Flury's counter.

Most of the items are reasonably priced between Rs. 40- Rs.70.

Ratings:
Food:4/5
Ambiance: Would not rate this as it is in a food court of a mall
Service: 3/5
Value for money: Yes!!