Raghda Pattice

So it has been a long long while that I am writing this post. I really have no excuse for being absent from this space. It’s just life happens at times and you tend to give importance to your regular day stuff than your hobby like this blog. I am still cooking (as it is the regular day stuff) and eating delicious food but just am not able to take pictures, store it, write about it, and then post it. I wish I can take breaks in my regular life for the regular stuff, just like I do for this hobby of mine J… complicated I know, but so is LIFE!

Enough of philosophy, let’s go to the recipe of this delicious snack that is healthy and loved by all you serve.

Ingredients:

1. Two cups dry vatanas (available at any Indian grocery store) – soaked overnight
2. Two medium sized potatoes
3. One medium sized tomato
4. Three tblsp cooking oil
5. One tsp cumin and mustard seeds
6. One tsp asafetida powder
7. 6-7 curry leaves
8. 4-5 green chilies
9. One tblsp lemon juice
10. Salt and turmeric powder, per taste
11. Tamarind chutney as desired (available at Indian grocery store)
12. For garnishing – chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped coriander leaves, aloo bhujiyas (available at Indian grocery store)

Process:

1. In a pressure cooker boil vatanas, one potato, and tomato for 6-7 whistles (or till you think that the vatanas are cooked, this step depends on the type of cooker you use).
2. In a separate bowl, boil the second potato till fully cooked.
3. Mash this potato and add salt and turmeric powder, mix well.
4. Shape the potato mixture into tikki style (like patties).
5. On a frying pan, heat one tblsp of oil and fry tikkis till golden brown on both sides.
6. Dish out on a paper napkin and keep aside.
7. Mash up the vatanas, potato and tomato that you boiled in step 1 above.
8. In a wok, heat oil add cumin and mustard seeds, let it splutter.
9.  Add curry leaves, green chilies, and asafetida powder.
10.  Add mashed vatanas, potato, and tomato from step 7 above.
11.  Mix well; add lemon juice, salt and turmeric powder.
12.  Turn off the stove and serve.
13. To serve: place the patties  in #6, place a dollop of raghda, garnish with chopped onions, tomatoes, and coriander leaves. Sprinkle aloo bhujiya and tamarind sauce and serve.
14. This tastes best when it is warm.

ENJOY!!!

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Aloo Gobhi (Cauliflower curry)

As a kid, I was not very fond of this veggie. Every time my mom would cook it I would try to get away eating it. Replacing the curry (sabzi) with achar (pickle) or honey or sweetened yogurt. Oh, there were many ways I could avoid eating this. However, all of this kinda changed in 2003. This was the year when my paternal grandparents came over to United States to be with us for a period of 5 months. It was the bestest time ever! My grand father is no more, but my grand mother (Dadima) is still around and quite healthy as well, alhamdolillah!

When they visited us in 2003, I was a Junior in UMass Boston. My classes were early in the morning from 8 to 12 or 8-1. I would be home by 2 at most and be with them for the rest of the day. Everyone else (except younger brother, who was in school and would be home by 2:30) were working so they would be home much later, like 5 or 6 or sometimes at 7. I would normally get home at 2, make some fresh rotis and a quick veggie and me, younger brother and my grandparents would do our lunch together.

One day I had to work on a group presentation, so I knew I was going to be late. I told Dadima that I will be late today but should be home by 3 at most. I forgot to tell my mom, otherwise she would have made sure to cook something before she leaves for work :). However, the work took longer and I couldn't get home till 4. Obviously she wasn't going to wait for me to come and cook lunch for us. So she made aloo gobhi and rotis and they had their lunch at a regular time. I go home and Dadima tells me that she made aloo gobhi - I literally frowned and told her that I hate this dish!

Dadima is very good at convincing people, she convinced me to finish at least one roti and then I can have whatever I want. I am so glad she did that 'cause it changed everything. She makes the best aloo-gobhi EVER! That was the first and last time I had aloo-gobhi made from her hand. Till this date, I have been trying to make this dish just like hers but it's no way near it. I guess I missing the ingredient called "LOVE & CARING". Maybe when I become a grandma mine would taste just like hers  :) :)

So this recipe is no way near hers but it surely is a truely delicious serving that you can have on a regular work day!!

Ingredients:

1. One cauliflower - chopped in medium sized
2. One medium potato - cut in cubes
3. One medium onion - thinly sliced
4. Red spice mixture - 1 tblsp red chili powder, 1 tblsp coriander powder, 1 tblsp ginger-garlic paste, three tsp tamarind paste, a pinch of turmeric powder, salt per taste
5. One medium tomatoes - chopped
6. Handful of green peas - optional
7. Half a cup water
8. Three tblsp cooking oil
9. One tsp of cumin seeds

Process:

1. Heat oil in a wok, add in cumin seeds and onions.
2. Fry well till onion turns golden brown.
3. Add tomatoes, and red spice mixture (#4), mix well.
4. Fry till the oil separates.
5. Add in cauliflower, potatoes, and green peas.
6. Mix well, add water.
7. Cover and cook for 12-15 minutes on a medium heat.
8. Check to see if the potatoes are cooked well before turning off the stove.
9. Serve hot with roti or cilantro rice.

ENJOY!!!

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Moong Dal Dosa

I have been following Swathi's Indian Healthy Recipes for quiet a few months now and I absolutely love her blog, she not only posts healthy recipes but also have step by step instructions that helps you follow her footsteps :)

Thank you Swasthi for sharing all of your wonderful recipes!! Do check out her blog, you will love it!!

Here is my take on the Moong Dal Dosa - you can find the original recipe here. 

I had to change couple of things - I didn't had whole moong available so I used yellow split moong dal instead; and I skipped the sauteed onion part since I like to have my dosas with either sweet yogurt or tomato-garlic chutney. I was great, dear hubby loved it and it ended being a perfect breakfast for Sunday morning. You must try this recipe!! It's out of this world!! Specially if you are a dosa lovers like me :)

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Cilantro Rice

I first tried this at Chipotle. My brother took us out for a mini celebration two years ago and that is when I had this rice for the very first time in a veg bowl. It was so great! I wanted to try this out for so long but I never made anything interesting to partner up this delicious rice with. Recently I made grilled salmon and served it over cilantro rice. It tasted so good! Hopefully soon enough I will try to replicate the veg bowl at Chipotle, I just need to get a good recipe for Mexican hot sauce.

Ingredients:

1. Two cups basmati rice - washed and boiled
2. Three cloves of garlic - finely chopped
3. A bunch of cilantro - finely chopped
4. Three drops of lime juice
5. Salt per taste
6. Two tblsp cooking oil

Process:

1. Heat oil in a wok, add garlic.
2. Once the garlic turns golden brown add boiled rice.
3. Add cilantro, lime juice, and salt.
4. Mix well.
5. Serve hot!!!

ENJOY!!!

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Falooda

As we say our goodbyes to the month of Ramadan this year... it breaks my heart that this blessed month is already over and we have to wait for another long year for the next one to come back... Not only will I miss all the prayers and supplications and suhoor and iftaris, but I will also miss all these goodies that I have been sharing with you all for the entire month! One of them being Falooda... this is one of the best drink to serve at Iftrai. It's not only filling but also very flavorful and healthy!!

Ingredients:

1. One cup milk
2. One tblsp tukmurie seeds (available at Indian Stores)
3. Two tblsp Falooda sev (available at Indian Stores)
4. Three tblsp sugar (adjust according to your taste)
5. Chopped nuts - cashew, pistachio, raisins and almonds
6. One scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream
7. Pink food color (optional)

Process:

1. In a boiling water, boil falooda sev and tukmurie seeds for 4-5 minutes. Let it cool and drain all water out and keep aside. 
2. In a pan, heat milk and add sugar and food color (if using). Heat it just enough so that the sugar melts out. Let it cool. 
3. In a serving glass, place tukmurie and falooda sev at the bottom.
4. Pour milk over it. 
5. Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top
6. Garnish with chopped nuts (more the better :)). 
7. Serve immediately.

Sending this to Ramadan Friendly Recipes Event hosted by the Halal Foodie, Joy from Fasting to Feasting - V Event hosted by Yummy Food, and Only Recipes from the Royal Kitchen hosted by Divya's Culinary Journey started by Foodelicious. 

ENJOY!!!

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Mini Bread Pakora with a Twist & Award

And we twist, we twist, we twist
And we twist, we twist, we twist
(Song from Love Aaj Kal)...

Well first of all, sorry for being away for a while from the blogging world... this time round I have a pretty good reason for it. Last weekend I was trying to see how well I multi-task, so I was on the phone with my mother in law, washing potatoes on one side, and frying kheema (ground goat meat) on the other. Not a good idea to do when you MIL is giving you good tips on what to do for Eid, while you are working with hot water and hot OIL... guess what, as soon as I dropped the kheema in the wok where I had oil heating up.. all the oil splashed up to my hand, burning my right hand wrist... 

I felt the hot and burning sensation throughout my hand, quickly lowered the flame and mistakenly put my hand under HOT water... Ouch!!! Now keep in mind all this while I was on the phone with MIL so I wanted to make sure that she doesn't know about it... so you can't technically scream... :). Quickly turned the water into cold and let it ran through my hand, and in two minutes or so I went back to cooking. All this time I was thinking well the oil can't be that hot, 'cause I had just turned on the stove.. but boy I was wrong. For next hour or so, I continued on working/cooking/cleaning and took a shower. After the shower my wrist was all red and burning so bad... Dear Hubby, being a Doctor he is, got super mad at me for not paying attention. I go, "it's not that bad, it will heal soon".. and he goes, "Yeah, but it's your right hand, and you won't be able to cook or work for next seven days!!!"... Uh-O... The burn is about two inches long and one and half inch wide... Now everyone who sees it, asks me what happened and I tell them the entire story, and they are like, "How can you not know that it burned that bad"... Hey I just didn't okay.. this is my first burn ever, how am I suppose to know?!?!?!?"

So, anyways, it hasn't healed yet but Hubby does the dressing twice a day so I am able to work and cook.. thank God for him being a doctor... :) (only in times like this :) )

Coming back to the recipe, I made this prior to the burning incident. It came out so good and everyone loved it. You can see my regular bread pakora recipe here. 

Ingredients:

1. Two medium potatoes - peeled, cubed, and boiled.
2. A bunch of fresh coriander leaves
3. Two-three green chilies - finely chopped.
4. 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
5. One tblsp lemon juice
6. Salt per taste
7. For tempering - half tblsp cumin seeds, half tblsp mustard seeds, and two tblsp oil.
8. For Batter - Half cup chickpea flour, 1/2 tblsp red chili powder, 1/2 tblsp dhaniya powder, a pinch of turmeric powder, salt per taste, half tsp lime juice and Half cup warm water.
9. Six breads - cut diagonally in both directions making four pieces out of one bread. 
10. Oil for deep frying
11. Here is the twist - Yellow American Cheese Slices - Cut diagonally in both directions and horizontally from the middle - this should give you eight mini triangles from one slice. 

Process:

1. Mash boiled potatoes, add in coriander leaves, lemon juice, green chilies, salt and turmeric powder. Mix well, add a little bit of water (only if needed).
2. Heat oil for tempering, add in cumin and mustard seeds, let it splutter, then sprinkle over potato mixture and mix well. Keep aside.
3. The potato mixture should look like this filing that I had previously made for Aloo Paratha.
   
   
   
4. Mix all ingredients for batter - make sure there are no lumps of chickpea flour and the batter should be more towards the thicker side. Adjust water quantity as needed. Lime juice is key to this batter, what it does is when you fry the pakoras it doesn't let it absorb so much oil. 
   
   
   
5. Spread some potato mixture on the one of the diagonally cut bread, place the second bread on top, place cheese slice, and press tightly. Repeat the process for rest of the breads.
   
   
   
6. Heat oil for frying.
7. Dip the potato filled breads into the batter and deep fry till golden brown. Repeat for the rest of the sandwiches.Serve hot with some tomato ketchup.

Sending this recipe over to Ramadan Friendly Recipes event hosted by The Halal Foodie and Joy from Fasting to Feasting - V event hosted by Yummy Food. 

I would also like to Thank R. Punitha and Asmath Nawaz for passing over this award to me. 

As per the rule says,

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.

2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you.

3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.

4. Create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer.

5. Go to their page and tell them.

6. Remember, no tag backs!

Question tagged by Asmath,

1.What was the inspiration behind your blog? - Nothing really, just wanted to get away from the regular routine hence started this blog. 
2.Which aspect of blogging do u find more interesting? - Comments. 
3.How many hours doyou spend on blogging in a week ? - 4 Hrs. - I would like to spend more but can't... :(
4.What is the craziest thing you've ever done? - Not that adventurous to do crazy stuff, I am pretty boring and routine... 
5. What quality do you most like in yourself and why? - Helping nature. 
6. If you were given a chance to undo one thing from your life what would it be and why?? - None, I would live the exact same way. 
7.Whats ur memorable moment/fav memory since you became a blogger? - When I got my first follower Cool Lassi(e). 
8.What is your idea of a perfect breakfast? - Warm aloo paratha with yogurt. 
9.What is your favourite pastime? - Bollywood Movies
10.Who is your favorite blogger? - Every single one of them... :)
11.If you had to describe yourself in 3 words.. what would they be?? - You tell me :)

Sending this award to: 

1. The Halal Foodie
2. A Taste of Madness
3. Amateur Perceptions
4. Creating Memories
5. Divya's Culinary Journey
6. Erivum Puliym
7. Flavours
8. Hamaree Rasoi
9. Kurry Leaves
10. Shabbu's Tasty Kitchen
11. Food For Thought

I am going to keep the same questions as Asamth... Enjoy everyone and have a great weekend!!!

ENJOY!!!

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