Saturday, April 17, 2010

Whole Spices Veggie Pulav


I like black pepper a lot. Not powdered one but whole ones or the crunchy ones, like in papad. Since we moved here, I have been having only garlic papad instead of the spicy one that I normally like. Blame it to Ajoy ;-) for he likes that one or on me that I am bored to serve two different varieties to both of us. But then yesterday I said - that's about it. I have to have those black pepper by hook and crook and that's how this recipe came up :) It was huge hit and I am going to make it again sometime soon.

Whole Spices Veggie Pulav
Ingredients
2.5 Cup Rice
2 Cup Cauliflower florets
2 Raw Bananas
1 Medium sized Eggplant
1 Potato
1 Cup Mutter
1/2 Spoon Black Pepper
1/2 Spoon Jeera
4-5 Cloves
4-5 Cardamom
A pinch of Saffron
Salt to taste
Oil
Ghee

Method
  • In a pan bring water to boil and add rice. Cook the rice over high flame, with constant stirring till its done.
  • Strain remaining water from the rice and keep the rice aside.
  • In another pan, heat oil and fry cauliflower florets, egg plant pieces and raw banana slices. Keep aside.
  • Fry mutter for a second and keep them aside too.
  • Grate potato and fry them making in chunks to get crispy hash brown like chunks. Keep them aside too.
  • In another pan, heat ghee, add cloves, cardamoms, black pepper, jeera and let them splutter.
  • Add rice, fried cauliflower, eggplant and banana slices. Stir it and let is cook for couple of minutes.
  • Heat a spoon and add saffron crushing it a bit. After it starts sending nice aroma, mix in rice lightly.
  • Add in salt and stir for another minute. Serve by garnishing it with fried muttor and crispy potatoes.

NotesI wanted rice to be white and yet give that saffron filled rich aroma and hence I didnt put it while making rice but added it at last minute. I used black pepper in abundance as you already know the reason about it too :) but i didnt use much of cardmom or cloves, because I do add it to some of the vegetables or chicken/mutton dishes and also because I dont like them as much as black pepper :) So adjust spices according to your taste. The above portions worked wonders for me and right now enjoying even during lunch while writing this. yummy.

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Sunday, April 4, 2010

Rava Dosa


Rava dosa made into my favorite list the day I ate it opposite my college back in pune. The crispiness of the dosa along with the cashews spread on it made it so much more enjoyable. So when I saw my mom preparing it when I was in India in December and learnt that its so quick and simple, I had been meaning to make it like a long time. Today on Sunday I thought it would be a perfect way to make a tasty brunch that requires minimal efforts.

Rava Dosa
Ingredients
1 Cup Rava
1 Cup Rice Powder
1/4 Cup Maida
1/2 Spoon Jeera
1/4 Spoon Asafoetida
Finely chopped Roasted Cashews
2 Green Chillies
Salt to taste
Ghee

Method
  • Mix rava, rice powder, maida, finely chopped green chillies, jeera, asafoetida with salt.
  • Add in lots of water to make a thin batter.
  • Keep aside for 20 minutes
  • Add in more water so that it is thin consistency
  • Heat tawa on medium flame
  • Grease tawa with Ghee and pour the 1/2 cup batter at a time spreading it over the tawa.
  • Let it cook till the dosa gets light brown color.
  • Sprinkle couple of drops of ghee and flip the dosa and let the other side be cooked
  • Sprinkle some cashews and fold on either side and serve.

Notes
When I tried making it I didnt let the batter sit for those 20 minutes, because of which the batter kept on thickening - blaming it to the Rava. It made first two dosas thick and soggy. So I strongly suggest letting the batter sit for 20-30 minutes.
To spread the batter on the tawa I dropped the batter on tawa from a bit of distance and slowly over areas that didnt have batter, letting it form the mesh and yet avoiding forming layers, hence keeping it thin.

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Sunday, March 7, 2010

Dates and Chocochips Pan Cakes


I had been making pan cakes for quite some time. One of the easiest and tasty breakfast. I had made it with cranberries, mangoes, blue berries earlier. Today I didn't have any of the fruits that would go in it. So I decided to make it with what I had plenty - Dates and Chocochips. The pan cakes came out really nice and we had hearty breakfast on such a lovely bright day.

Dates And Chocochips Pan Cakes
Ingredients
1/2 Cup Dates
1/4 Cup Choco Chips
1/2 Cup Wheat Flour
1/2 Cup Maida
3/4 Cup Curd
1 Egg
3/4 Spoon Sugar
1/2 Spoon Vanilla Essense
1/4 Spoon Baking Powder
1/4 Spoon Baking Soda
2.5 Spoon Melted Butter
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Deseed the Dates and chop them into small pieces. Keep aside.
  • Sieve together wheat flour and maida
  • Add Sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda and mix well
  • Add egg, curd, melted butter and vanilla essence. Mix well.
  • Add 1/2 cup warm water and mix well to flowing consistency.
  • Heat a nonstick pan over medium flame.
  • Pour the pan cake batter 1/2 cup at a time on the non stick pan and top it with some choco-chips and dates
  • Over medium-low heat, cook the pan cakes till golden brown in color and bubbles up the top side. Flip and golden the other side too. Serve with honey and or maple syrup

Notes
The batter is so non sticky that I didnt have to grease the pan at all.
Ajoy felt that the sweetness from Dates was little too much, I guess using Dark choco chips might be good idea to balance the sweetness. I didnt have dark choco chips sot used semi sweet chips.

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