Mughalai Chicken

Ingredients

1/2 kg boneless chicken cut into med size pieces

For marinate

2 " piece ginger

8-10 garlic flakes

8 dry red chillies

4 cloves

1" piece cinnamon

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 cup hung curd

salt to taste

Other ingredients

2 large onions sliced

2-3 sprigs of curry leaves

2 tbsp oil

2 tsp ghee

coriander leaves for garnishing

Method

• Grind all the ingredients stated under marinate without adding water
• Marinate the chicken with ground paste and refrigerate for 30 minutes
• Heat oil and ghee in a pan and fry onion till dark brown,then add curry leaves
• Add the marinated chicken and fry till the ghee oozes out
• Add 1/2 cup water and cook till done,add salt if needed
• Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice

Coconut Burfi

This is one of the traditional recipe which I learnt from my mom , it's to good to taste and perfect for the festive season coming up....Do try this recipe and enjoy !

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 cup coconut scraped
1/4 cup cashews 
1 cup sugar
2-3 cardamom (deseeded and powdered )
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp ghee
1/4 cup desiccated coconut (for rolling the burfi (opt)


Method

• Grind the scraped coconut with cashew nut without adding water coarsely
• Mix sugar with 1/2 cup of water and heat till syrup is formed 
• Add the ground mixture to the syrup and stir constantly till the mixture thickens 
• Add 2 tbsp of ghee,cardamom powder and continue turning over till it forms a lump
• Grease a round small plate with ghee and spread the mixture on it evenly and it should be thick
• cut into squares or any shape u desire such as a diamond shape with a knife or a spatula
• Allow it to cool for 15 minutes and then separate the pieces and store in a air tight container and serve .
• Roll in desiccated coconut (this is optional and can be rolled only with desiccated coconut ) 
  

Peas Tikkis

Ingredients

1 cup boiled green peas

1 cup puffed lotus seeds(makhanas)

2 green chillies finely chopped

2 tbsp cashewnuts

1 tsp grated ginger

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp garam masala powder

2 tsp of crushed green cardamom

salt to taste

2 tbsp oil

Method

• Heat 2 tsp oil in a kadai, add lotus seeds and fry for 5 minutes
• Add cashews and fry till light brown in colour and keep aside
• In the same pan add boiled peas and fry for a couple of minutes and keep aside
• Grind lotus seeds and cashews to a fine powder
• Grind green peas and green chillies to a fine paste
• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan,add ginger and fry for a minute then add the paste,salt,pepper,garam masala powder and crushed green cardamom powder and fry for a couple of minutes 
• Take this out in a bowl and allow it to cool
• Make small balls of it and flatten them 
• Shallow fry these tikkis in remaining oil till golden brown and crisp on both the sides and serve hot with ketchup

Gobi Simla Mirch(Cauliflower with capsicum)

Ingredients

2 cups of cauliflower cut into med size florets

1 capsicum finely chopped

a pinch of turmeric powder

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste

2-3 green chillies slit

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp kasoori methi

2 tomatoes chopped

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

salt to taste

4 tsp oil

chopped coriander for garnishing

Method

• In a pan, put salt and turmeric and boil cauliflower in it till half done,Drain it and keep aside
• Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan and  shallow fry cauliflower till golden brown and then keep aside
• In the same pan shallow fry the capsicum till tender and keep aside
• Heat the remaining oil in the same pan, add cumin seeds and when it crackles add onion and fry till translucent 
• Add ginger-garlic paste and green chillies and fry till light brown
• Then add garam masala powder,chilli powder,kasoori methi and fry and then add chopped tomatoes and fry till it gets mashed
• Now add cauliflower,capsicum and salt and fry for 2 minutes 
• Lastly add tomato ketchup and fry for a while and garnish it with coriander leaves 
• Serve Hot with Roti

Nutty Choco-Vanilla Balls

Ingredients

1 cup milk powder

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 cup chopped cashews

1/2 cup finely chopped cashews

2 bars of white chocolate 

Method

• Heat water in a pan then add sugar and keep stirring it till sugar gets melted and becomes a thick sugar syrup
  
• switch off the flame and add butter and mix it well
  
  Sieve Milk powder and cocoa powder together
  
  Now mix milk-cocoa powder to the sugar syrup little by little and keep stirring it
  
  Now switch on the gas and stir well till the forms a lump as shown in the picture below and it leaves the sides
  
  Now add 1/4 cup chopped nuts,turn off the flame
  
  grease a small plate with butter and spread this mixture evenly
  
• Allow it to cool so that it sets well and then make small round shape balls of it
• For the outer covering, cut the white chocolate into small pieces
• Take a pan with 1/4 cup of water and boil it and lower the flame
• Take a slightly bigger metal bowl and put the white chocolate bits in it and place it on the pan of hot water in such a way that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water( double boiler)
• Stir it and the white chocolate will melt slowly, when almost melted and switch off the flame and keep aside
• Spread finely chopped cashews in a plate
• Dip the chocolate balls in melted white chocolate and then roll it in finely chopped cashewnuts and keep aside for half an hour and then serve or store it....

Garlic & Paneer Naan

Ingredients

For the dough

1/4 cup suji(rawa)

1/4 cup water

1 tsp sugar

2 cups maida

enough water for kneading

1 tsp baking powder

salt to taste

For the stuffing

3 tbsp garlic finely chopped

1 cup grated paneer

1 tsp pav bhaji masala powder

3-4 green chillies finely chopped

2 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped

salt to taste

2 tsp oil 

Method

For the dough

• Mix suji with 1/4 cup of water and sugar,mix it and keep aside for 10 minutes
• In another bowl,sieve maida with baking powder and salt
• Take the sieved Maida,suji mix,and enough water in a bowl to make a semi soft dough and keep aside for 10 minutes

For the stuffing

• Heat oil in a pan, add green chilli and 2 tbsp garlic and fry till light brown, then add 1 tbsp of coriander leaves,pav bhaji masala powder and fry for a minute
• Add grated paneer,salt and mix it well 
• Switch off the gas and allow it to cool 
• For the Naan
• Divide the dough into 8 equal portions

• Take one medium size portion of the dough and press it on the palm and flatten it 
  
  Now put stuffing on the dough and close it
  
  Flatten it again and roll it with the help of a rolling pin applying little flour to a semi-thick oblong shape or any desired shape, sprinkle chopped garlic and coriander leaves and sprinkle Maida on it evenly and roll it just once so that it sticks to the Naan
  
  Repeat the same procedure for the remaining Naan
  
  Heat oil in a pan , and shallow fry the Naan with oil till golden brown and crisp on both the sides 
  
  Serve Hot( u can even bake these Naan)
  
  

Mint Filled Chocolates

From a long time i wanted to try this type of chocolate as i love the flavour of mint a lot.....so the other day while going through some of nita metha's recipe i found this mint chocolate recipe and thought of trying it immediately and thought of sharing this yummy recipe with u all too.....i have done slight changes to her recipe by adding nuts to it to make it more yummy....well its a very easy home made chocolates yet very delicious and can be made within few minutes......so here goes the recipe

Ingredients

For the filling

1/2 cup icing sugar sifted

1/2 tsp mint essence or 2-3 polo sweets crushed to a powder and sifted

1/2 tsp lemon  juice

1-2 drops of green colour

1 tbsp milk for binding

a pinch of salt

Covering

200 gms of  dark chocolate cut into small pieces

1/4 cup chopped cashewnuts 

Few cashewnuts for garnishing

Method

• Mix all the ingredients of the filling except milk
• Add milk little by little,mixing well, the sugar leaves water and dough might become loose if the milk is not added carefully ...mix well to form a firm dough
• Make small flattened balls and chill for half an hour
• For the outer covering, cut the bitter chocolate into small pieces
• Take a pan with 1/4 cup of water and boil it and lower the flame
• Take a slightly bigger metal bowl and put the chocolate bits in it and place it on the pan of hot water in such a way that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water( double boiler)
• Stir it and the chocolate will melt slowly, when almost melted and switch off the flame
• Stir after removing from fire till fully melted and add chopped cashewnuts in it and mix well
• Immediately dip the small flattened mint balls in this melted chocolates with the help of a spoon and coat well as shown below
• 
• Lastly garnish it with nuts
• Place it on the greased aluminium foil and refrigerate it for 10 hours and serve whenever u want to have or when when u have guest at home 

Note: always keep the remaining ones refrigerated

( u can use Milk chocolate also if u dont prefer dark chocolates....but it will be very sweet if u use milk chocolates as the filling is also very sweet)

Corn & Capsicum Pleated Bread

Ingredients

For dough

2 cups maida

1/2 cup butter(cold) softened 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup Milk

salt to taste

For Stuffing

1 cup cooked corn

1 medium capsicum chopped

1 onion chopped

1 tsp garam masala

2-3 tbsp cream 

1/4 cup milk

2 green chilli slit

salt to taste

2 tsp oil

1/2 tsp ground pepper

other ingredients

white sesame seeds for sprinkling

Method

For the dough

• Sieve the Maida,baking powder and salt
• Add milk gradually and softened butter to the maida and knead to form a dough
• Cover and keep aside for 2 hours

For the stuffing

• Heat oil in a kadai add slit green chillies, now add chopped onion and fry till translucent now add capsicum and fry for a while.
• Add corn ,salt, garam masala, cream and milk and fry till milk dries up then add ground pepper and fry for a minute, then keep aside
• For the pleated bread
• Now make a round semi thick chapathi out of the dough
• Leaving the center portion intact,cut the outer parts diagonally into small and equal strips
• Place the prepared filling in the center portion lengthwise
• Lift the strips from the two sides alternately and lay them on top of the filling
• Brush with milk or water and sprinkle white sesame seeds on it 
• Now put little water on the cut edges and begin to join it till the end.
• Sprinkle white sesame seeds on it

• Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 30-40 mins or till golden brown on both the side.

Mango Dal

If you are bored of your usual dal try out this tangy dal and let me know how did you like it.......I am very sure that u will absolutely love it like the way I do ........

Ingredients

1/2 raw mango chopped

1/2 cup toor dal

1/2 tsp salt

10-12 peppercorn crushed

1/2 tsp haldi

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

6-7 Big cloves of garlic roughly chopped

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

5-6 green chillies

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Method

• Pressure cook toor dal along with chopped raw mango pieces and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, crushed peppercorn till done.
• Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds , cumin seeds when it starts to change colour and slit green chillies chopped garlic and fry till golden brown add this to the cooked dal . Add salt to taste and garnish with coriander leaves.

Manglorean style spicy potatoes

Ingredients

5-6 potatoes cut into long thick fingers

1 cup grated coconut

2 tsp coriander seeds

6-7 fried red chillies

lemon size tamarind

2 sprigs of curry leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 tbsp oil

salt to taste

Method

• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and fry coriander seeds for a while till it leaves nice aroma
• Now grind this coriander seeds along with grated coconut, fried red chillies,salt,tamarind with little water coarsely
• Heat remaining oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds and when it starts to splutter add curry leaves and potatoes and salt 
• Add 1/2 cup of water and cover and cook till the potatoes are parboiled and dry(without any water left)
• Then add the masala paste and mix well gently so that potatoes are not mashed
• Cover and cook for 10 minutes on a low flame, add salt if required 
• Serve Hot with chapathi or steamed rice