Recipe world

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ

After coming back from work, having a cup of hot tea blended with spices is my Hubby's daily routine. We all would like to have some snacks along with evening tea, with lot of talk and laughter since it is the relaxing time for us! Me and Hubby prefer home made snacks all the time and so, I maintain at least 2 - 3 varieties of snacks in my pantry most of the time. Just like every other kid, my daughter also loves the store bought biscuits and snacks. So, we buy her favorite snacks sometimes from the stores.

Cornflakes Mixture is one of the tea time snacks which I prepare. We do buy plain cornflakes to make breakfast on lazy days, but most of the time I will use it for making the Mixture. This mixture is easy to make and goes well with your cuppa tea!

Preparation time: 5 - 10 minutes

Servings: 15 approx

Difficulty level: Easy

Ingredients:

Plain Cornflakes (Breakfast cornflakes) - 5 cup (measured in big cup)
Groundnut - 1/2 cup
Almonds - 3 tbsp
Broken cashews - 1/8th cup or more
Raisins - 20
Dalia split - 3 tbsp
Urid dal - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Masala powder - 1 1/2 tsp or to taste
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Oil - 10 to 11 tbsp
Salt to taste
Powdered sugar - 1 1/2 tsp or for taste

Method:

Cornflakes can be used directly if its crispy. Else, you need to toast them on low flame or oven - roast them for few minutes till it becomes crispy.
Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add almonds and ground nuts and saute for 2 - 3 minutes.
Add the broken cashews and saute for a minute. Then add raisins, split dalia, urid dal and mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start crackling, add turmeric powder. Saute them till raisins puff up.
Then add curry leaves and saute for a minute. Add the Masala Powder and turn off the flame.
Add salt and sugar powder for taste.
Fold in the cornflakes and mix everything nicely. Check and adjust the taste, it required.
Transfer the Mixture onto an air tight container and use as required.
Cornflakes mixture is a perfect snack for tea time. This mixture goes well with Rava Upma and Seasoned Poha too!

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ

Shrikhand is one of the famous sweet dish from Indian cuisine. This delicious sweet is prepared using minimal and easily available ingredients. Adding of saffron, dry fruits and nuts makes it more rich in taste. Amrakhand is also a variation of Shrikhand, which contains the goodness of mangoes.

Shrikhand can be served as a dessert or side dish. It tastes good with Poori, Dosa and Tellevu. Try this easy dessert at home and let me know your feedback!

Preparation time: 15 - 20 minutes

Time to hung the curd: 7 - 8 hours

Serves: 5 - 6

Difficulty level: Easy

Ingredients:

Hung curd - 1 1/2 cup

Powdered sugar - 3/4 cup or to taste

Cardamom / Elachi powder - 1/2 tsp

Saffron strands - 10 to 12

Method:

Take the hung curd in a large vessel and beat it for few minutes without lumps.

To this, add the powdered sugar, saffron strands and cardamom powder. Beat it till everything is combined well.

Serve is as it is or refrigerated. Add few pieces of pista if you would like to.

It can be served as dessert or as side dish with Poori, Dosa and Tellevu.

Tips:

How to prepare hung curd: Pour the curd on a muslin cloth, tie it and hang it to a hook or a tap. Put a vessel below the hung curd to collect the excess water. Keep it overnight or 7 - 8 hours and then, take out the curd.

If not using saffron strands, add 3/4 tsp of cardamom powder instead of 1/2 tsp.

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ

Blueberries are one of among the Baker's favorite fruits. As the name indicates, these pretty fruits are blue in color and have a sweet and a bit sour taste. I had eaten fresh blueberries quite a few times, but never used them in baking. Last month, we bought the frozen ones to prepare smoothie and I thought of preparing Blueberry Muffins for the kiddo with the leftover fruits.

Whenever I plan to bake something, I need to think of the egg substitute first, since we wont eat eggs. This time, I decided to use milk to prepare my muffins. Experiment went on well and the muffins tasted good. But I felt like some more improvement is needed. Next time, I replaced milk with curd in the same recipe and yippee..muffins came out perfect!

I have tried this recipe several times and yes! now its the time to share the recipe with you all!! Here is the recipe of Egg less Blueberry Muffins..

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 23 - 25 minutes

Yield: 6 muffins

Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

All purpose flour / Maida - 2 1/2 cup (1 cup = 70 gm)
Sugar - 1 cup
Curd - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 1/4 tsp
Baking soda - 3/4 tsp
Cooking oil - 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - 3/4 tsp
Salt - pinch
Blueberries - 1/2 cup

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Sieve all purpose flour 2 - 3 times and keep aside.
Combine curd and sugar in a mixing bowl and dissolve the sugar completely.
To this, add baking powder, baking soda and mix it slowly. Leave it for 2 - 3 minutes to rise.
Add oil, pinch of salt and vanilla essence to the curd mixture and mix it lightly.
Fold in the all purpose flour in small batches and mix it slowly without lumps. This batter will be thicker than the regular cake batter. If you find it too hard to mix, you can add 1 - 2 spoon of milk. For me, it was fine and I didn't add any milk.
Finally add the blueberries to the muffin batter and mix it well.
Fill the batter in lined muffin cups up to 3/4th level and leave some space for them to rise. This batter would be sufficient to make 6 medium sized muffins.
Keep the muffin tray inside the oven and bake for 23 - 25 minutes or till done. Check the muffins after baking for 20 minutes. If the toothpick or knife inserted comes out clean, its the indication that the muffins are done.
Take out the muffins and keep them on a cooling rack.
Enjoy the home made Egg less Blueberry Muffins with your family!

Tips:

I have used frozen blueberries here; fresh blueberries also goes well for this recipe.
Don't add more blueberries than mentioned above. Once I had added 3/4th cup of blueberries instead of 1/2 cup. It was too moist and the texture was not to good.

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ

Ash gourd, also known as winter melon or white pumpkin, is used for preparing various dishes in Indian cuisine. Apart from regular dishes like Sambar, Majjige Huli, Palya and so on, delicious sweets like Petha and Halwa can also be prepared with this vegetable. Ash gourd is a good source of various nutrients like iron and calcium. Due to its nutritional facts, I love to use it in my cooking frequently.

Kashi Halwa is a well known sweet dish prepared using Ash Gourd. Its a traditional sweet in Indian cuisine, I had tried it this time with slight variation. It was delicious and my family liked this sweet. I am sharing the recipe of Kashi Hawa / Ash Gourd Halwa here..try it and enjoy with your family!

Time required: 30 - 35 minutes

Servings: 6

Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

Grated ash gourd (after squeezing the water content) - 1 cup (1 cup = 300 gm approx)
Khova - 100 gm (yield from 1/2 ltr milk)
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup or to taste
Ghee / clarified butter - 1/4 cup
Chiroti rava - 1/4 cup
Salt - pinch
Elachi / Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Saffron strands (optional) - 10 to 12
Broken cashews - 3 tbsp

Method:

Pressure cook the ash gourd for 2 whistles on medium flame.
Melt the ghee in a heavy bottom pan. Fold in the chiroti rava and roast it till aromatic.
To this, add the cooked ash gourd and saute it for 2 - 3 minutes.
Add sugar, saffron strands, pinch of salt to the mixture. Cook it on low flame till it becomes thick.
Add Khova and cook it for 5 more minutes and switch off the flame and add the cardamom powder.
Roast the cashew pieces in 1 tsp ghee till golden brown and mix it with Halwa.
Thats all, delicious Halwa is ready to serve!

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ

At many rural places like my native, various fruits and vegetables are grown in their own estate. Rarely they buy veggies from the markets. Home grown vegetables are always healthy, tasty and are free from harmful chemicals and pesticides.

Here in Australia, we will grow few veggies like fenugreek leaves, tomato, chillies, etc. in our balcony garden. I love to use various leafy vegetables in my cooking. Few days back, we had got a big bunch of drumstick leaves from the grocery store. I remembered my Mom's way of preparing the Stir Fry and tried the same. It was so tasty and I prepared it one more time! Some recipes like this are always a hit at my home.
Try out this recipe of Drumstick Leaves Stir Fry and enjoy with hot rice!

Preparation time: 25 - 30 minutes
Servings: 6 - 7
Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

Drumstick leaves - 1 big bunch
Amchur powder - 3/4 tsp or to taste
Sugar - 1 1/2 tsp or to taste
Salt - for taste

- For Masala Powder:

Cinnamon stick - 1 inch
Cloves - 3 or 4
Dry red chillies - 7 (adjust according to taste)
Shredded coconut or fresh grated coconut - 3/4 cup
Chana dal (split) - 4 tbsp
Urad dal - 2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 3/4 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 3/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida / hing - pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1 1/2 tsp

- For seasoning:

Oil - 3 tbsp
Urid dal - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch

Method:

Separate the drumstick leaves from the stems and wash them thoroughly.
Next thing is to prepare the Masala Powder. Roast all the ingredients under the heading Masala Powder except shredded coconut in oil. Powder them coarsely. Finally add the shredded coconut and run the mixie for few seconds to make it a course powder.
Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a heavy bottom pan. Do the seasoning with urid dal, mustard seeds and pinch of turmeric powder.
Addthe drumstick leaves to the seasoning and fry them on low flame for 8 - 10 minutes or till it gets cooked and changes the color.
Add the Masala Powder, salt, sugar and amchur powder and mix it well. Cook it on low flame till it gets nicely hot and switch off the flame.
Serve this stir fry as a side dish with Rice or Roti.

Tips:

Add chopped onion for this stir fry if you would like to. Add it to the stir fry along with Masala Powder and cook it till the raw smell is gone.
You can prepare Capsicum Stir Fry in the same way. Just replace the drumstick leaves with capsicum.
I have used shredded coconut for this stir fry. Fresh grated coconut also goes well for this recipe.