Orange Flavoured Marble Cookies

When i saw marble cake in some website i thought why  not make a cookie like that this time, so just tried it out and was just so delicious with flavour of orange in it...was very easy as well...
Ingredients
1 tsp orange rind grated
1 cup Maida
1/2 cup butter 
1/2 cup Demerara sugar
Juice of 1 orange
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cocoa powder
Method

• Mix maida, butter(softened at room temperature) , add sugar, juice of 1 orange, vanilla essence and sugar and mix well till u get a smooth dough 
• Divide the dough into half , in one part of the dough mix cocoa powder mixed with little water and mix till u get a smooth chocolate dough 

• Now mix both dough together to get a marbled effect (dont mix too much as the dough will look the same )

• 
  Then roll it and cut it in a round shape with the help of a cookie cutter or any shape of your choice
  
  Then garnish with flakes of almond and bake it at 180 C for 10-12 minutes till brown or till done

• Cool it on a wire rack and then serve 

Spinach Dal Fry

This is a traditional dal which is my mamama's (granny 's fav).....she just loves this a lot, so I remembered her today when I saw palak lying in my fridge ...this has a very good aroma as it has garlic in it .....this is very simple nutritious dal which goes very well with rice and papad  :)

Ingredients
2 bunches of spinach chopped
1/2 cup Toor dal
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
For Tempering

4-5 Dry red chilli broken into halves
10 -12 big flakes of garlic peeled and sliced
1 tbsp oil
Method

• Wash Toor dal, drain it and pressure cook with enough water and with Turmeric powder and then keep aside.
• Wash and finely chop spinach and keep aside.
• In the pan, add the cooked dal and add the chopped spinach,salt and cook this for 10-12 min till spinach gets cooked well .
• For tempering, In another pan add oil , then add broken red chillies and garlic and fry till garlic turns brown and then add this to the dal and serve hot with rice and Papad.

Strawberry - Banana Smoothie

Try this delicious Smoothie , which has got a very smooth texture and sure that ur kids will love it :) especially for those who are fussy about eating fruits this is the best way to give it to them :)

Ingredients
1 Banana

6-7 Strawberry Sliced

2 tbsp Honey
1 1/2 cup Milk 

Few strawberries for garnishing 

Method

• Peel the Banana and cut into cubes.
• Cut Strawberry into cubes, and now Grind this with honey and milk in juicer and blender.

• Serve it chilled and garnish with strawberry.

Tofu Chilli Gravy

Ingredients

For the batter

1/4 cup maida

a pinch of baking powder

1/4 cup cornflour

2 tsp gramflour

a pinch of ajinomoto

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste 

1/2 tsp chilli powder

salt to taste

For the gravy

10-12 cubed tofu pieces

1 capsicum cut into cubes

1/2 cup spring onion greens

1 tsp dark soya sauce

1 tbsp tomato sauce

1/2 tsp white pepper powder

5-6 roughly chopped green chillies

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp chilli sauce or chilli powder

a pinch of ajinomoto

6-7 garlic cloves finely chopped

1 tsp cornflour mixed in 1/2 cup water

2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

salt to taste

3 tsp oil + oil for deep frying

Method

• Make a batter of the above mentioned ingredients under batter with enough water to a semi-thick and a fine paste
• Heat oil in a pan, dip the cubed tofu one by one in the batter and deep fry it till golden brown and crisp, drain on a kitchen towel and then keep aside
• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, fry capsicum cubes for 1-2 minutes or till tender yet crunchy and then keep it aside

For the gravy

• Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add garlic, green chillies and fry till light brown
• Add half of the spring onion greens,white pepper powder,sugar,ajinomoto, salt and fry for 1 minute
• Switch off the gas, then add soya sauce,vinegar,tomato sauce, chilli sauce, and mix well
• Switch on the gas then fry it for 3-4 minutes 
• Add capsicum, 1/4 cup water, cornflour mixed in water and mix well, and allow it to come to a boil, add coriander leaves and mix well
• Keep it aside and allow it gravy to cool and at the time of serving, add fried tofu pieces, garnish with spring onion greens and then serve immediately with steamed rice or fried rice

Tawa Vegetable Rice & Scrumptious Blog Award

This is a very special rice as this is my own recipe very dear to me which was the result of my own kitchen experiments, well my family loved it actually and its very nice with mild Indian flavours in it ........goes very well with Kurma and raita.

Ingredients

For rice

1 tsp oil

2 green cardamom

3 cloves

1 stick cinnamon

1 bay leaf

2 tbsp melted butter

salt to taste

For the masala

200 gms fresh mushroom cut into quarter

1 capsicum cut into small cubes

1 onion finely chopped

1 tomato finely chopped

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

2 dry red chillies

1 tsp whole coriander seeds

5-6 methi seeds

1 tsp crushed kasoori methi

salt to taste

2 tbsp oil or butter

Method

• Heat water in a pan, when it starts boiling add green cardamom,cinnamon,bay leaf,cloves,salt and 1 tsp oil and rice and cook it till 3/4th done


• Drain it and allow it to cool, then mix 2 tbsp melted butter and salt and then keep it aside


• Soak dry red chillies in water for 10 minutes,drain it and grind it along with coriander seeds with little water to a fine paste


• In a pan, add oil or butter, add methi seeds, fry it for 1 minute and then add ginger-garlic paste,chilli-coriander seeds paste and fry for 2-3 minutes till the raw smell goes off


• Add onion and fry till translucent and golden brown, and then add tomato and fry till it gets mashed, remove it from the gas and then keep aside


• In another pan add 2 tsp oil, add capsicum and fry for 1-2 minutes and then add mushrooms and fry for 2-3 minutes till tender and then add the tomato maslala , kasoori methi,salt and fry for 1-2 minutes


• Switch off the gas and allow it to cool, then add the rice and mix it well


• Switch on the gas again and cook it on a low flame for 10-15 minutes till all flavours get mixed well with the rice and then serve hot .

And now awards time !!!!

Sireesha of Mom's recipes has passed on this lovely award, thanks once again for this lovely award.

It is the Scrumptious Blog Award -a blog award given to sites who:

Inspire you Encourage You

May give Fabulous information

A great read

Has Scrumptious recipes

Any other reasons you can think of that make them Scrumptious!

The rules are:

Put the logo on your blog or post.

Nominate at least 7 blogs Let them know that they have received this Scrumptious award by commenting on their blog.

Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.I would like to give this award to my following blogger friends

Padma of Padma's recipes

Vrinda of Sankeerthanam

Rajeshwari of Raks Kitchen

Parita of Parita's World

Suparna of Food Fascination

Priti of Indian khana

Varsha of Will 'O Wisp

Ann of A Delighted foodie

Shri of Tasty Touch

Sangi of Simply Delicious

Priya of Priya's Tasty Recipes

Nitya of 4th sense Samayal

Keerthna of Kitchen Vibes

Pooja of My experience in the kitchen

Sanghi of sanghi's food delights

Prathiba of chef and her kitchen

Chitra of Ratatouille -Any one can cook

Crispy Spicy Veggie 65

I had got this recipe from vah re vah chef .com and wanted to try it out immediately as just by looking at it, it was looking really good and tasty with all those colourful vegetables in it ..and it really turned out to be delicious as i thought it to be....really a lip smacking starter and a perfect one during any get together...A must try and a worth trying starter for sure!!!!

Ingredients

6-7 cubed paneer pieces

1 capsicum cut into cubes

1 carrot cut into cubes

1 babycorn chopped diagonally

6-7 Med size cauliflower florets

4-5 mushroom cut into halves

Oil for deep drying

For the batter

1 cup boiled rice

1/4 cup maida

1/4 cup cornflour

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp red chilli powder

A pinch of cooking soda

a pinch of Ajinomoto(optional)

Salt to taste

OR

1 cup gramflour

1 tsp rice flour

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tsp red chilli powder

a pinch of cooking soda

salt to taste

For the sauce

1 tsp cumin seeds

5-6 garlic cloves finely chopped

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

4-5 green chillies roughly chopped

2 sprig of curry leaves

1/2 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp red chilli-garlic paste

1/2 onion finely chopped

2 tsp tomato sauce( in the original recipe he hasnt added this)

1 tsp chilli powder

a pinch of ajinomoto(optional)

1 tsp soya sauce

a pinch of red food colour dissolved in 1/4 cup water

3 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves for garnishing

salt to taste

2 tsp oil

Method

• In the mixer grinder, add boiled rice,maida,cornflour,cumin seeds,chilli powder,salt and enough water and grind it to fine semi-thick and smooth paste
• or
  
• Or in a bowl, mix gramflour , riceflour, cornflour, chilli powder,soda,salt and enough water to make a semi-thick smooth paste( u can use any of these 2 mentioned batter for frying vegetables)
  


• Take out this paste or batter in a bowl, add cooking soda,ajinomoto & all the chopped vegetables and mix it well Or coat all the vegetables in gramflour batter
  


• Heat oil in a deep frying pan and fry all the vegetables in small batches of 6-8 till golden brown and very crispy and then drain onto an kitchen towel and then keep it aside


• For the gravy heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, when it starts to crackle add garlic,ginger and green chillies, and fry till golden brown, then add curry leaves,chopped onion and fry till translucent


• Add red chilli garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes off


• Then add salt, coriander powder,chilli powder,ajinomoto and fry for 1-2 minutes, add soya sauce,food colour,tomato sauce and fry for 1-2 minutes, then add 1/2 cup of water and allow it to boil for few minutes till the sauce becomes semi-thick


• Switch off the gas and allow it to cool


• Just before serving mix all the fried vegetables to the sauce and garnish it with coriander leaves and serve immediately

( Note 1 - for chilli-garlic paste, soak 4-5 dry red chillies in water for 10 minutes and then drain it and grind it along with 6 garlic cloves and enough water to a semi-thick and a fine paste)

(Note 2 - For Fried vegetables to remain crisp just add it to the sauce just before serving)

(Note 3- Gramflour batter is recommended as it turns out to be more crispier than the 1st one)

Chinese Sesame Triangles

If you are bored of regular sandwich try these for a change you will surely love these crisp sandwich and I bet you would try it again too.........and am also sending this to the event sunday snacks with bread hosted by priya of priya's easy and tasty recipes

Ingredients

5-6 slices of bread

oil/butter to shallow fry

For the topping

1 carrot finely chopped

1/2 cup cabbage finely shredded

5-6 mushrooms finely chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped spring onion greens

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp white pepper powder

1 tsp soya sauce

salt to taste

2 tsp oil

Other ingredients

1/2 cup white sesame seeds

3-4 tbsp maida

Method

• Mix maida with enough water to make a paste(not very watery nor too thick) and then keep aside

For the topping

• Heat oil in a pan, add ginger garlic paste and then fry till its raw smell goes off


• Add half of the spring onion greens and fry for 1-2 minutes, then add all the vegetables and fry for 2-3 minutes till tender


• Add white pepper powder,chilli powder,soya sauce and salt and then mix it well


• Add the remaining spring onion greens and fry for another couple of minutes and then switch off the gas and allow it to cool
  

For the triangles

• Take one slice of bread, spread the topping evenly on it, then with the help of a spoon spread the maida paste on it evenly & then sprinkle white seasame seeds all over it


• Repeat the same procedure for remaining slices of bread and then keep aside


• Heat tawa, add oil/ butter and then shallow fry the bread with the coated side down, turn over after 1-2 minutes and shallow fry the other sides till golden brown and crisp


• Cut into triangle and then serve immediately with ketchup

Vegetable & Spring onion Spirals

Try these spirals, sure makes a very good tea time snack . I had prepared the masala the other day was thinking what to do...... was even having a puff pastry sheet which i had to use so did spirals with it and used sping onion as a topping (just love them)....well it tasted great with all those flavours mixed too.

Ingredients

1 Puff Pastry sheet

1 cup Paneer grated

1 cup Mushroom finely sliced

1 onion finely chopped

1/2 cup Peas

1/4 tsp Jeera

2 tbsp Tomato Sauce

1/4 tsp Haldi

1 Big Tomato (chopped)

1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder

3-4 Green Chilli (roughly chopped)

1/4 cup Milk

2 tbsp chopped coriender leaves

1/2 tsp white seasame seeds

Method

Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, when it splutters add onion and fry till golden brown, add green chillies and fry again for 1-2 minutes

Add chopped tomato and fry tomato gets mashed and leaves out oil then add haldi , chilli powder and cook for a min then add sauce and fry .

Now add the grated paneer, mushroom , peas , milk and bring to a boil and cook till gravy is semi dry and then Garnish with chopped coriender leaves

take a puff pastry sheet and spread the mixture evenly thoughout the sheet. Sprinkle spring onion on it evenly as shown below

Now roll it tightly . Now baste it with oil /butter and sprinkle white sesame seeds evenly .

Now Cut them evenly into 1' pieces like shown below.Bake at 180'c for 20-25 mins till golden brown.

Arrange these sprials on the baking sheet and bake it at 180 C for 20 min or till golden brown

Serve hot with Tomato ketchup

Parle-G Biscuit Cake

I love to experiment with all types  of cake  and this is made just with parle-g biscuits found the idea very innovative and interesting...so thought of making it right away,  it not only came out perfect but it was very easy to make as well.  Do try this easy cake if your a Parle- g biscuit fan like me then do try this cake recipe :) 

Ingredients

2 and  1/2 Packets Parle-g biscuits( each containing 10-15 biscuits approx)

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cooking soda

1/2 - 1 cup milk( required as per consistency)

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips

few cashews for garnishing + chocochips 

Method

• Grind the biscuits into the mixer very finely and sieve it with baking powder and cooking soda and then keep aside.
• Take a bowl, add sieved biscuit mixture,sugar and mix well
• Add milk gradually and keep beating it well till you get the right consistency(as that of a cake) for 10 minutes with the help of an electric beater.
• Add vanilla essence,chopped walnuts,or chocolate chips as per your choice and then beat well for a minute. 
• Arrange the paper cups in the cake moulds and put 1-2 tsp batter in each cups,garnish it with cashews on the center
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 15-20 minutes or till done and then allow it to cool for 5 minutes and then serve.
• My Variation : If you fancy orange flavour cakes give a good squirt of Orange juice (fresh) .

Paneer and Corn Rice

Whenever I have invited guest around I usually look out for preparing a very nice and yet a less time consuming rice which is simple yet good to taste and doesn't take much of your effort .Well this is definitely that type of rice which fits perfectly in any type of party menus and my son Amit just loves this a lot...... so sure that kids will just love this .

Ingredients

1 cup Sweet corn

1 cup Paneer cubed

2 cups Basmati Rice

3 tbsp Butter

3-4 flakes of garlic roughly chopped

3 tbsp coriander leaves

2 tbsp spring onion greens for garnishing

Juice of 1 med sized lemon

salt to taste

2 green chilli roughly chopped

Lemon rings for garnishing

Method

• Boil the sweet corn and keep aside.


• Shallow fry Paneer cubes and keep aside.


• Boil the basmati rice in 3 cups water till 3/4th done, drain it and keep aside to cool.


• Mix salt and oil to the rice so that it doesn't stick to each other.


• Heat oil/butter in a pan add green chilli and chopped garlic and fry till garlic turns brown and nice aroma comes out, now add chopped coriander leaves fry now add corn, lemon juice and fry.


• Now add salt, fried paneer and mix.


• Now switch off the gas and stir in the rice and simmer and cook for about 10 -12 mins till all flavours mix well.


• Now serve with spring greens and lemon wedges.