Sev di kadhi

This is a very traditional dish from my parent's family.. My mom makes it occasionally, and I tried it once at home to have some variety.. Now, its quite a fav at my home too..
Ingredients:
1/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 tsp Red chilli powder
1/4 tsp tumeric powder
1 tsp Coriander seeds powder
1/4 tsp Amchoor OR juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
6-8 curry leaves
1/2 cup sev

Heat some oil in a vessel, and add mustard seeds and curry leaves for the tempering. Add the flour and roast it till its light brown and gives a pleasant aroma. Add all the masalas except the amchoor / lemon juice. Add water slowly as per desired consistency of the kadhi, while stirring continuously to avoid lumps. Let it boil. Then add the amchoor / lemon juice. Simmer for 2 mins. While serving, add some sev to it!
Its an Indianised version of noodle soup :)
- Naina

Home Made Hazelnut Frappe

I just love the Hazelnut Frappe at Barista , but its way to pricey to have too often out there, so I decided to try it out at home..



I went looking for some Hazelnut syrup, again, its toooo expensive, so I bought Hazelnuts instead, some 100 Rs for double a plateful..
The pic is 1/2 the quantity of the nuts I bought..

Then I just roasted them, and powdered them in a mixie

Ingredients (for 1 cup):
3/4 Cup milk
1/4 Cup vanilla Icecream
1 tbsp sugar syrup
3/4 tsp coffee powder
2 tsp hazelnut powder

Blend all the ingredients in a mixie / shaker / blender. Strain and serve.
Alternatively, you could extract the milk of hazelnut, as we do for extracting coconut milk, and use that instead. I'll be trying that next, to avoid the powder at the end of the the mug.

-Naina

Kaadha (Cough Medicine)

This is an excellent tried and tested home remedy for cough and cold. Have it twice a day, and it really helps.

2 cups water
1/2 inch ginger (crushed)
1 dry anjeer (broken into pieces)
4-5 black peppers
1 small cardamom (elaichi)
1 big cardamom (elaichi)
small piece of cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves
1 tsp Honey

Crush all the spices, and add all the ingredients (except honey) to the water. Boil and reduce the water to almost half the quantity. Add honey and serve hot.

Medu Wada with Sambhar & Chutney

Though basic here's the receipe rather than getting the Instant packets

Medu wada
- 3 cups udad dal
- 3 Chopped green chillies
- 1 small cup Coconut ( coarsely grinded/chopped)
- Grated garlic (small piece)
- 1/2 small cup chopped curry leaves
- Baking soda
- salt

Procedure
1. Keep the udad dal soaked around an hr
2. Grind the soaked dal coarsely into thick batter ( do not add water while grinding)
3. Add ginger,coconut,green chillies curry leaves,pinch of baking soda & salt.Mix it well
4. Deep fry till golden brown -wada with a hole :) , need to be careful while frying

Tip - In case if you are not able to keep the batter consistency thick can add rice flour to it

Sambhar

- 1 & 1/2 small cup Boiled tur dal
- 1 bowl boiled diced Dudhi,Eggplant & Pumpkin ( can have your choice of vegetables)
- 1 big tomato chopped
- 2 Sliced onions
-3 tbsp thick tamarind pulp
-3 tbsp Sambhar powder ( preferably Everest)
- 2 tbsp Red chilli powder
- 1 & 1/2 tbsp garam masala
- 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
- Asafoetida powder ( Hing)
- 1 tbsp Sugar/grated Jaggery
- Oil

Tadka - Heat 1 tbsp of oil ,add mustard seeds let it pop later add Asafoetida

Procedure
- Take a big non-stick cookware,add boiled dal,veggies,tomato & onions. Add 1 cup of water & salt,
- Add Turmeric,red chilli ,sambhar, garam masala ,sugar/grated jaggery & pulp
- Boil the mixture for 5 mins , add the tadka
- Ready to serve

Coconut Chutney
-1 grated cocount
- 2 green chillies
- 1 tbsp plain baked Chana dal (available in mkt)
- 2-3 curry leaves
- salt

Tadka - Heat 1 tbsp of oil , 1 tbsp udad dal ,fry it till golden brown ,add mustard seeds let it pop later add Asafoetida & curry leaves

Procedure
- Grind the dal coarsely
- Add cocunut,green chillies,curry leaves,salt and grind it in paste
- add tadka in the chutney & heat it for a min

Enjoy!!!!!!

--- Palak

Instant Stuffed capsicum Pakoda

Finally got a chance to add in some of my tried recipes!! This one also goes to Simple Indian Food fried snacks event!



Since its Monsoon,why not try some different pakoda than the regular ones
Here's the Road map :)

- Sliced 2 -3 capsicum (cut a big slice)
- 2 small bowl Boiled groudnuts ( can swap it with potato)
- 2 Green chillies (mashed)
- Lemon juice
- Sugar
- 3 cups Gram flour (Besan )
- Red chilli powder
- Turmeric powder
- Baking soda
- Salt

Procedure
1. Marinate sliced capsicum with salt for half an hour
2. In besan add 1/2 tbsp turmeric,1 tbsp red chilli powder , pinch of baking soda & salt and prepare a thick batter
3. Grind coarsely the boiled groundnuts,add mashed green chilles,2-3 drops of lemon juice ,pinch of sugar & salt. Mix it well (Can add ginger garlic paste & choped onion also- not yet tried)
4. Stuff the groundnuts paste in sliced capsicum,dip it in besan & deep fry & ready to be served!

Can have with Tomate sauce/ green chutney
Note - do not overboil the groundnuts

---Palak :)

Yummy Salad!

Try some tasty salads from ‘Yummy Salad’ this is at Spencer’s….you can even order for it at office (just like I did yesterday) :) ….(sorry I have no pics….but you can see them on the menu card)

I had an amazing lunch of a bowl of salad made of exotic vegetables mixed with mint sauce….a mayo rich sandwich (brown bread) with corn & mushroom filling (I would say *over* filling)…. Trust me it was really good :) … If you are fond of salads/sandwiches you must try this once. [Menu card is with Palak]

-Akki!

Bhajiyas

What better in the rains, than this.. made it over the weekend :)



- Naina

Khopra Chutney

Here's a quick chutney, another fav of my mother in law ..
Ingredients:
1/4 Dry coconut
4 kashmiri chillies
5-6 cloves of garlic
Salt to taste

Roast the dry coconut on fire, and slice it as below
Grind it in a mixie. Roast the red chillies on fire too. Below are all the ingredients..

Mix all of this in a mixie, and add water as per the consistency you need.

Here's the chutney.. (P.S. You can add roasted til (sesame seeds) too)

- Naina