Masoor dhal

Hi i prepared masoor dhal by refering to another cooking blog. It has really come very well. So i thought i will share it in my blog, so as to preserve it.

Wash the red lentils (masoor dhal) and add water to it. Now cut a tomato and add to the dhal and water along with salt, chilli powder and turmeric powder. Let it soak.

Meanwhile, chop onions, green chillis, ginger and keep ready coriander powder and aseofotida powder.

Heat the pan, add oil, cumin and mustard seeds. Let them start splittering. Then add g chilli and ginger pieces, wait for a minute and add the onion. Saute for few mins and then add coriander powder and aseofotida powder and add this whole preparation into the soaking dhal and put it on the stove in a pressure cooker. Leave for 5-6 whistles till it becomes thick yellow liquid and the dhal is done!!

Pepper chicken

I boiled 1/2 kg boneless chicken with salt, water and turmeric powder in a cooker for 2 whistles. Kept aside to cool down. Slice onions, tomatoes, g chillies and keep ginger garlic paste and all masalas ready including the main ingredient - pepper powder.

Heat kadai, add oil, mustard and cumin seeds as usual, g chilli, onions, ginger garlic paste and saute well until it turnes brown. I do add little water when the ginger garlic paste sticks to the kadai and starts getting burnt. Add turmeric powder, salt and garam masala. Also chilli powder if necessary. Mix well along with cumin powder, coriander powder and mainly the pepper powder. If you wish, can also add chicken masala. After adding all the masalas add tomatoes and let it boil for few mins. Now, at last, add boiled chicken pieces, coriander leaves, required quantity water and let it boil for 5 mins before you turn it off. 

Chilli Paneer (dry)

I prepared this 2 days ago and dint find time to blog it. So it comes today...

To begin with, mix 2 tbsp of maida(all-purpose flour) and cornflour alog with little salt. Add little water and mix it to make thick batter. Now take paneer(cottage cheese) cubes and coat all sides with the batter. Then deep fry the paneer pieces in oil. Keep them aside.

Heat kadai, add oil, add crushed garlic pieces, green chilli, sliced onions, capsicum, soya sauce, tomato sauce, chilli sauce, pepper powder,salt and mix well.

Then add the fried paneer pieces, lemon juice and coriander leaves. Saute for few mins and its done!!

Beans and potato sabji

Make small pieces of beans and potatoes. We can also add carrots, cauliflower or any other vegetable along. Also chop onions, slit green chillies and keep it ready. Now add oil in the kadai, mustard and cumin seeds as usual and then onions, green chillies and curry leaves. saute for a min and add the vegetables, add salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder(if u want it spicy), khandha lesoon masala and water. Let it boil untill the vegetables are cooked well.

Serve hot with chapatis and rotis. Can also be mixed with rice.

Rasam

Soak tamarind for 10-15 mins. Squeeze the juice out and keep the plain tamarind water. Mash a medium sized tomato into the tamarind water. Add pepper and cumin powder (2-3 tbs each) and salt. keep it aside.

Heat the pan, add oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, crushed garlic flakes, curry leaves, red chillis, few pieces of crushed small onions. After sauting it for few mins add the tamarind juice in it and add asafoetida powder for th aroma and keep watching the rasam, so as to not let it boil. The moment you see it starts boiling switch off the burner. Simple rasam is now ready!

Cauliflower and Soya chunks Gravy

Hi.. I tried this for the first time today as i dint had any other vegetable at home and i m too lazy to go shopping for vegetables in the morning. And thus goes the simple recipe... which tasted good and different from usual.

Cut cauliflower into small pieces, add water and boil it along with soya chunks (10 mins).

Remove that and heat the pan, add oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds first. When they start bursting add chopped onions and green chilli. saute for a while.
Add boiled cauliflower and soya chunks, along with turmeric powder and salt and mix well along with needed quantity of water.
Add 2 tbp Khandha-lesoon masala (Onion-garlic powder) and i always add little cumin powder and coriander powder along because i like the flavour in their mixture. But if you dont have khandha-lesoon masala you can simply just add cumin powder and coriander powder, along with chilli powder, according to your taste levels.
Mix well, cover and let it boil for 5-10 mins.
Add little garam masala and switch off the burner after 2 mins.

The gravy is ready to taste! Serve hot with rice or chapathis, if you prepare it dry.

Chole with Soya gravy

I prepared Chole (Chick peas) with Soya (Meal maker) today, as i had soaked chole the previous day itself.

I just had one onion and few green chillis, as i dint had time for shopping. So I pressure cooker boiled both chole and soya with salt and turmeric powder. I had chopped onions and green chillies and few dry curry leaves ready when it was done. So heated the oil in the pan, mustard and cumin seeds as usual, onions, g chilli, curry leaves, saute for a while till onions turn brownish. Then add the boiled stuff along with its water, chole masala, little chilli powder, cumin powder, corainder powder, mix well and let it boil well for 5 mins. At last, add garam masala and switch off the burner after 2 mins. Thats it, the gravy is done and it tasted so good with rice. My friend S, who said "not hungry now", was having lunch along with me, saying wow it smells and tastes so good that i had to eat. Lol.

Dhal(lentils) with carrot

I was kinda confused what to prepare when i woke up at 10:30 am. I have to reach office by 2 pm. I searched my kitchen and found one carrot and onions. So only choice was dhal and carrot.

I boiled dhal (masoor dhal) with chopped carrot and turmeric powder.
Heat pan, add oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, sliced onions, green chillies and curry leaves. 2 flakes of garlic(optional). saute till brown.
Add the boiled dhal and carrot, salt and chilli powder.
Let it boil well for few mins and its done! Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Can add little coriander powder for flavour, if you like.
I dont mention the quantity coz it depends of you, how much quantity you like to prepare and in what consistency and taste you like.

This was my second recipe in the blog and i would like to type the recipies for everything i prepare daily. That will be first helpful for my further reference and also others sometime. Tomorrow is Sunday so would try something new. C ya.......

Jeera Rice

I am sure many people dont know about this simple yet yummy rice variety, coz i hadn't even heard about it before coming to Pune. So here goes my first recipe in the blog.

Boil the rice as usual. I use 1:1 ratio of rice and water to boil the rice. Let it cool down or we can also use leftover rice from the previous cooking. Heat the kadai (Pan). Add 2 tbs cooking oil, 1 tsp ghee (clarified butter). Add  Jeera (Cumin seeds), green chilli, fried onions and curry leaves (optional), salt and saute for few seconds. Add the rice and keep mixing the rice, so as to avoid sticking of rice to the pan. Do this till you find all the ingredients have mixed properly with the rice and also you can smell the favour now.

Can serve Jeera rice with dhal (boiled cereals), any gravy and also few like to have it with tomato ketup.

I Welcome... myself

I finally started blogging today, which was in my mind since more then an year now. And today i suddenly decided to do it right away, after getting inspired by a movie related to blogging (I dont even know the movie's name).

I work and live with my friend S, in Pune, far away from my home town. Well, to tell about myself, i am ambitious, independent, love travelling, adventure, photography, cooking, trying new things, etc etc., and wish to enjoy every moment of my life. Apart from our wishes, worries and problems are also parts of everyone's life. And i wish to write everything that i encounter each day in my life and share it with friends.