Watermelon Juice...

I like the colour of watermelon juice and of course even taste also...In Bangalore we get the watermelon in almost all season but in my place(Bijapur) we will get it only in summer. If you are Bangalorian and into IT professional field I am sure you will always enjoy this fruit whole year.

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Serves for: 2 persons

Ingredients:

2 cup - Fresh Watermelon cubes

2 tbsp - Sugar (adjust according to the sweetness of the mangoes)

1 tsp - Lemon juice
a pinch of Salt
Cold Water - as required to mix if it is concentrate

Direction For dough Preparation:

1. Cut watermelon into cubes (Use fresh watermelon to enjoy fruit)

2. Grind Watermelon cubes (Keep some cubes for serving at the end),Sugar,Salt and Lemon juice together, until smooth watermelon juice is ready.(I usually separate seeds of watermelon before putting into processor, as my processor is not having option of separating seeds...:( ..)

3. Take Serving glass, pour the juice.

4. Decorate it with some fresh watermelon cubes.

5. As watermelon tastes/blend very well with salt, you can try applying bit of salt at edges of glass so that while drinking juice you can enjoy it.How to do that?? 
Tricks:  Take empty glass apply bit of water at the edges of glass and in plate take salt spread it . Now invert wet glass into plate so that the edges are applied with bit of salt.

Pepper Rasam...

After my marriage he always used to tell me about his mother recipes…J But I am not so lucky to taste my MIL recipe (She is no more…L)Whenever he gets cold he never fails to remember the “Menasin Saru (Pepper Rasam)” which is prepared by his mother. Once I thought to do it, searched all the recipes in net but never satisfied with any available once, than I listened his words carefully put some effort to bring out same taste as my MIL…it works out great…and even he praised saying “it taste just like my mom”..;) I felt like one more feathers in my hat…J

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Serves for: 2 persons

Ingredients: 

2 tbsp - Black Pepper

1inch – Cinnamon

2 – Cloves

1 tsp – Cumin Seeds

1 tsp – Mustard Seeds

11/2 tsp - Oil

2 Cups - Water

1 – Tomato

2 tbsp – Gram floor (Besan)

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

4 Cloves - Garlic
A pinch of Asafoetida

A pinch of Salt

Fresh finely chopped coriander

Fresh finely chopped curry leaves 

Direction for Preparation:

1. Boil Tomato and smash it, Chop garlic and Curry leaves, keep aside.

2. Roughly powder black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds in hand mil

3. Take bowl and put two cups of water for this add smashed tomato, besan, turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt mix well without lumps.

4. In pan add oil, when it is hot add chopped garlic and curry leaves. Let it splutter for few seconds.

5. Now add powdered mixture of black pepper and mix well.

6. Now add mixture of water with other ingredients and mix well.

7. Add fresh chopped coriander and boil the sambar to the desired consistency. This sambar is very thin watery consistency good for cough and cold as we are using pepper in it.

8. Serve hot Sambar with hot Rice.

Chocolate Truffle Cake....

Prepared this tasty and delicious cake for my hubby birthday…J. Struggled lot to get it done after my busy working hours. Fulfilled another dream of preparing delicious birthday cake, it tasted delicious even my husband liked it (Happy to see smile on his face, on his DAY..) . I wanted to have post in my blog of the cake on same day, spent almost 3 hours to post this recipe with correct measurements (awake till 2 am). Enjoy this post as I am enjoying the cake…

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 70 min

Serves for: 4 persons

Ingredients: 

1 ½ Cup - All purpose flour

½ Cup - Cocoa powder

1 tsp - Cooking soda

2 tsp - Baking powder

1 tin (400ml) - Sweetened condensed milk (I used Britania )

100 gms -Melted butter

180 ml – Water 

For Sugar Syrup:

½ Cup - Sugar

¼ Cup - Water

For Filling:

3/4  Cup - Chocochips

4 tbsp - Butter

½ Cup - Heavy Whipping Cream

1 tsp – Vanilla Essence 

For Ganache:

½ Cup – Semisweet chocolate

¼ Cup – Heavy whipping Cream

Direction for Preparation:

Cake Baking:

1. Sieve flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda together into the mixing bowl.

2. Take melted butter in bowl, mix condensed milk and water to it. Mix well using whisk.

3. Mix Flour mixture beat well until mixed. The batter should be in pouring consistency.

4. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease the cake tin with butter.

5. Fill the 3/4th of cake pan and bake it for 40-50 mins at 180°C.

6. Check if cooked by inserting a tooth pick at the middle of cake. The cake is done if the toothpick comes out clean.

7. Allow it to cool on a wire rack for about 15 to 20 min.

Sugar Syrup:

1. Put the sugar in a saucepan with the water and dissolve slowly over a low heat.

2. Allow to simmer till it thickens slightly.

3. Strain sugar syrup for impurities.

4. Cool and store in bottle. Use as required.

For Cream Filling:

1. Melt Butter add chocochips, leave them until the chocochips are soft.

2. Mix the chocolate mixture to heavy whipped cream by folding (gently mixing of cream and choco)

3. Now filling is ready for Truffle.

For Ganache:

1. Pour choco chips in large bowl.

2. Heat whipped cream in pan when it starts boiling (It takes hardly 3-4 min), remove from heat and pour on chocochips. Allow them stand for 2 min until chocochips become soft.

3. Stir well the cream and chocochips mixture until you get shiny silky smooth paste.

4. Add vanilla essence for flavour and mix well.

5. Cool in refrigerator, stirring occasionally, until ganache reaches a spreading consistency.

For assembling cake:

1. Cut down cake to layers of required thickness.

2. Take serving plate, place your first cake layer. Add sugar syrup to make cake moist.

3. Apply whipped chco and cream mixture of required quantity.

4. Now place your second layer of cake and follow same procedure until you finish the layers of cake ie cake layer --> Sugar Syrup --> Whipped choco cream -->

5. When all the layers are done, Pour Ganache on the top of cake let it spread naturally to get shiny look.

6. Decorate with Cherry and choco bars.

7. Serve chilled Chocolate Truffle Cake..

Curry Leaves dry Chutney...

Karabevinpalle chutney.. You can use it as alternate of curry leaves, use as mixture to your white rice just like Puliogare dry powder...And it is very good for health also...

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Serves for: more than 10 persons

Ingredients:

3cups - Fresh Curry leaves

1/4 cup - Urud dal

1/4 cup - Channa dal

1/4 tsp - Hing

4 - Red chillies

1tsp - Red Chilli powder

½  tsp - Coriander Seeds

1tbsp - Oil

Salt - to taste

Direction for Preparation:

1.  In pan fry fresh curry leaves using oil until they are crisp. When they are crisp remove from heat and keep aside let it cool down.

2.  In same pan add remaining oil and fry Urad dal, channa dal ,coriander seeds and red chillies until dal turns brown. Let it cool.

3.  In After completely cooling down curry leaves and dal, coarsely grind them by mixing together in mixer.  

4. Add required amount of salt and red chilli powder, mix well and store it in air tight container.  

5. Use this it with hot rice and ghee, or chapathi as side dish.

Apple Cinnamon Pie..

Till now not able to get my pie dish in bangalore..:( As I am always stuck with work hardly I get some weekends which are free enough,where I can do some trail and error. So yesterday I got it... thought to try my many days wish that is PIE..APPLE PIE...APPLE CINNAMON PIE...But my first worry was not having any pie dish. still managed to do it in my cake baking tray, which turned out very well, Second worry is how my pie crust turn out, trust me pie crust was very crispy and very tasty. Finally I was happy as I tried one of my favorite dish.

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Serves for: 4 persons

Another Click...of beautiful mouth watering Pie...

Ingredients

For Filling:

2 – Apple chopped lengthwise

1 tbsp – Butter

2 tbsp – powdered Sugar

½ tsp – Cinnamon powder

For Pie:

1 cup – plain floor

100 gm – frozen Butter

2 tbsp – ice cold water

2 tbsp – butter or vegetable oil (1 egg substitute)

For Garnishing:

1 tsp – Castor Sugar

1 tsp – Chocolate Syrup

Direction for Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven at convention mode at 190C. Sift flour and mix it with Butter. Add cold water and knead into dough.

2. Mix butter, cinnamon powder, apples and powdered sugar and microwave for 3-4 min, keep aside to cool.

3. Roll the dough and cut into two layers of the shape of the pie dish.

4. Now line the dish with 1 layer, stuff it with the prepared apple filling and cover with other layer, press the edges together.

5. Brush the butter on the pie (egg substitute).

6. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 min, at 190C on convention mode.

7. Sprinkle castor sugar and garnish it with chocolate syrup.

8. Cut into wedges and serve.

Avalakki Chivada....Dipawali Special snack...

These chivada are my all time favourite.. I tasted these from many people but I always loved to have special chivada prepared by my mom.I tried them in my home more than thrice but never got time to pen down and take picture... So today as Dipawali special I prepared them,try out recipe and let me know how it come out. Enjoy Safe Dipavali with kurkure avalakki chivada...

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Serves for: 4 persons

Ingredients:

2 cup – Avalakki (medium thin poha)

4 tbsp – Ground nuts

4 tbsp – Fried gram

1 tbsp – Coconut pieces

3 tbsp – Oil

1 tbsp – Sesame seeds

1 tsp – Coriander seeds

4-5 – Green Chilly

1 tsp – Termeric Powder

1 tsp – Chilly Powder

Salt - to taste

Fresh Curry leaves

Fresh Coriander leaves

Direction for Preparation:

1. Heat Avalakki in Microwave for about 5 min or until they are crisp, stirring in between to avoid burning. (Get medium thin poha, you can get it from megastores. For crispyness of avalakki my mom used to dry them in sunlight, as modern technology utilization I used microwave for this process…J)

2. Slit the green chillies length wise and keep aside. (Adjust these according to taste)

3. In Kadai, put oil and add ground nuts first and stir continuously.

4. When Ground nuts are started to brown in colour, add fried gram , green chilly, Coconut pieces,coriander seeds,curry leaves.Let them splitter.

5. Add turmeric powder,salt and red chilly powder according to taste.

6. Now add coriander seeds,sesame seeds and stir well.

7. Switch off the gas and let it cool the mixture completely (to maintain crispiness of avalakki)

8. After cooling completely add fresh and finely chopped coriander.

9. Add crispy avalakki and stir well. Store in air tight container, can store more than 15 days.

10. Serve them with cup of coffee to you Diwali guests.

Hoolige... Diwali Special....

Enjoying Diwali with traditional food Hoolige / Obbattu...:) Happy Diwali to my readers..:)

Ingredients

1 cup - Channa Dal

1 cup - Jaggery

1/2 tsp - Cardemom powder

4 tbsp - Oil

A Pinch of Salt

For dough (Kanak):

1 ½ Cup - Maida

2tbsp - Sooji

Direction for Preparation:
1. Pressure cook channa dal for 5-6 whistel.

2. After boiling, drain all the excess water

3. Mix boiled channa dal with, powdered jaggery and boil about 10 min.

4. Smash the mixture using hand blender or in mixer (Hooran) (If you find extra water in mixture, remove it by squeezing it using muslin cloth)

5.Make dough with maida,sooji,salt and oil using required amount of water. Cover and keep the dought aside for 1 hour (Kanak)

6. Stuff dal mixture(Hooran) in douhh(kanak),use oil to palm to avoid sticking.

7. Roll stuffed dough on Plastic paper by using oil, just like chapati.

8. Fry on hot tava using oil.

9. Serve Hoolige with Ghee.

Chocolate Trifle...

My week has ended with satisfaction of completing my work on time, enjoying my Friday evening with cup of coffee. As weekend special I am not in mood to prepare any fully fledged dinner like roti, dal, rice tired of eating it…Today I wanted to have something different, while surfing through internet I came across an idea of preparing simple desert… THIS IS THE RESULT OF MY WEEKEND SPECIAL DESSERT…CHOCOLATE TRIFLE…

Ingredients
2 piece – Chocolate cake

3-4 tbsp – Fresh Cream

1 tbsp – Choco Chips

2  -  Choice of butter biscuit(I used Britania Goodday biscuit)

1 tbsp – Chocolate sauce

Direction for Preparation:

1.Take glass(I used wine glass) to arrange triffle.

2. Apply Chocolate sauce to the walls of glass. 

3. Roughly crush the biscuits, and crumble the chocolate cake keep aside.
4. First start with filling 1/4 of glass with crushed biscuits.
5. Next fill the glass with crumbled cake followed by a tbsp of fresh cream.
6. Follow this arrangement of biscuits,cake and cream until you reach end or 3/4 of glass.
7. Finally garnish with some extra cream,choco chips and chocolate sauce.
8. Chill it in freezer to maintain consistency of cream.
9. You can even use ice cream  as one more layer, arrangements and garnishing are left to your own imagination.

Dahi Puri

As every Indian girl I too like chats. After spending and tasting chats more than year in Pune… I couldn't like to have chats here in Bangalore (at some places we will get really very tasty chats like Laddos in Indiranagar). So I learnt preparing these chats in home whenever I get time and company to me to have…J Today I tried Dahi puri….turned out very spicy and tangy..Waiting for another day to have them again..:) 

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 0 min

Serves for: 2 - 3 persons

Ingredients

Puri (1 packet which contains 20 pieces)

1 cup Curd

1 cup - Sev

1 cup -Boiled and smashed potatoes

½ cup - Green Chutney 

½ cup - Dates Chutney

1 medium - Onion chopped

4 tbsp - Coriander chopped finely

1 tbsp - Chat masala powder

1 tbsp - Red Chilli powder

Salt - as required

How to plate Dahi Puri:

Direction for Preparation:

1. Take required count of puris in plate and for each puri crack in the middle.

2. Mix Curd and Smashed potatoes with required amount of salt.

3. Add mashed potatoes inside each puri(about 1tsp)

4. Add Onion, according to your taste.

5. Add green chutney and Date (sweet) chutney

6. Add Curd

7. Sprinkle red chilli powder, Chat masala powder and bit salt if required, according to your taste.

8. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Serve immediately otherwise puri become soft due to wet ingredients.

Modak-Ganesh Chaturthi special

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 20 min

Serves for: 2 - 4 persons

Ingredients

2 cup - Rice flour
2 and 1/4 cup - Water
3 tsp - Oil
1 cup - fresh Coconut, grated
1 cup - Jaggery
2 tbsp - Poppy seeds,roasted
1/2 cup – Milk

½ tsp - cardamom powder
¼ tsp – Saffron strands

Direction for Preparation: 

For the Rice Dough:
1. Boil the water & oil and remove from heat.
2. Now add the rice flour, cover and allow it to cool.
3. Later, knead well dough using dry flour if required and keep aside.

For the Stuffing:
1.Keep milk for boiling, when it starts boiling add cardamom powder, saffron strands and mix well.

2. Now add jaggery and stir it continuously until it dissolves.

3. Add grated fresh coconut and stir until the mixture become dry thick of stuffing consistency.

4. At last add roasted poopy seeds. Mix all the ingredients.

5. By applying ghee to your palm make small balls of stuff and keep aside.

Preparation:
1. Make balls of the rice dough.
2. Roll them using rolling pin of small puri size by applying oil if it sticks.

3. Place the stuffing ball in the middle.
4. Now join the open edges together and give it a shape like a whole garlic.
5. Steam these modaks for 10 minutes in Idli maker or steamer, take off, cool it and serve them for Habbad oota.

Channa Sundal - Ganesh Chaturthi special

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Serves for: 2 persons

Ingredients
1 cup - Channa 

2 tbsp - Coconut

1 tsp - Mustard seeds

1/4 tsp - Urad dhal

2 - Chilly

Fresh Coriander

Curry leaves

Salt to taste

Hing a pinch

Direction for Preparation:

1. Soak channa overnight at least for 8 hours. 

2. Pressure cook until soft for at least 5 to 6 whistles and set aside.

3. Heat oil in a pan - add Mustard seeds, Urad dhal, chilly, Curry leaves, Hing and allow it to splutter.

4. Now add salt mix well.

5. Then add the cooked channa and mix well.

6. Add coconut, fresh and finely chopped coriander, stir well quickly and switch off.

7. You can have this as evening chat or as side dish.

Soft -Crunchy Ragi Cookies

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 40 min

Serves for: 2-3 persons (12-14 cookies)

Ingredients: 

1 cup - Ragi flour

1 tbsp - cornflour powder

1 tbsp - All purpose flour (maida)

1 tbsp - cocoa powder

1/2 cup - sugar

1/2 cup – butter

1 tsp – cardamom powder

1 tsp - baking powder

1 tsp - curd

Chocolate chips 

Direction for Preparation:

1. Dry fry the Ragi flour for a few minutes in kadai, untill the raw smell disappear.

2. Take a large vessel and add Ragi flour, cornflour, all purpose flour, baking powder and cardamom powder into it. Mix all the dry ingredients.

3. Heat butter bit say about 30 – 60 seconds or until it starts melting.

4. Take another vessel and add melted butter, sugar and the curd into it. Mix the wet ingredients till the sugar melts.

5. To the above wet mixture add the dry flour mix slowly (1 tbsp at a time).

6. Once done just mix the mixture with hand to avoid if any lumps are left out.

7. Grease the baking tray with butter.

8. Heat oven to 190°C for 10 minutes.

9. Make small balls from the dough in hand by applying butter to your hand

10. Arrange them on the baking tray. Do not flatten the balls too much.

11. Add the chocolate chips on each cookie.

12. Bake the cookies at 190 °C for 12-15 minutes or till done.

13. Remove from oven, let it cool down for about 10 min. Ragi cookies are very soft so handle them with care. They taste wonderful with a cup of hot Coffee.