Spicy Crispy Churmura

This is in all time favorite snack of our family made by my MoM in LaW.

Ingredients:

• Churmura
• Roasted groundnuts
• Dry coconut - Thinly sliced
• Garlic pods - Crushed (with skin)
• Zeera
• Mustard
• Dry red chilies - whole
• Split roasted gram dal
• Fresh curry leaves
• Spicy mixture (ready made)
• Red chili powder
• Turmeric powder
• Oil

Method:

1. In a thick bottom, deep and wide vessel, heat oil. 
   
2. Add the following ingredients one by one, crushed garlic pods,zeera, mustard, dry red chilies, curry leaves and dry coconut slices.
3. Turn off the stove and now add red chili powder and turmeric powder, mix well.
4. Once the above mixture has cooled down add roasted groundnuts, spicy mixture and finally add churmura and toss it well- do not mix it with spoon  - refer to the pic for mixing.
   
5. Now keep it back on the stove on low flame, keep stirring constantly until it gets crisp ( keep tasting to check the crispiness) be careful at this stage as it will get burnt easily. Enjoy with freshly chopped onions and coriander :)

Store it in a air tight container, this way you can keep it crisp for a week.

Bread Pizza

This is the by-product of the actual pizza i was making ;) ... was running short of dough and had lots of cheese and toppings left out .. then realized there is enough bread... used pizza sauce, veggies, kheema, cheese and some oregano..and voila here's presenting bread pizza ... must say it was gooood :) 

Dahi Kababs

Delicious Dahi Kababs can be enjoyed anytime n anywhere with a hot cup of tea, as starters, as a snack, side dish...etc Very easy and simple to make ..yet delicious .. i am sure you will love it :)

Ingredients:

• Hung curd - 2 cups
• Rice flour - half cup ( or a little more)
• Onion - 1 medium - finely chopped
• Coriander - 2 tbsp - finely chopped
• Cumin powder - half tsp
• Garam masala - half tsp
• Chat masala - half tsp
• Red chili powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - quarter tsp 
• Salt 

Method:

For hung curd: 

1. Take a clean muslin / cheese cloth.
2. Add fresh curd in the cloth and tie it .
3. Hang this somewhere and keep a bowl below it so that the water from the curd drips in the bowl.
4. Let it hang for 3 - 4 hours minimum. 
5. Hung curd is ready to use.

For the kababs:

1. Mix all the above mentioned ingredients with the hung curd.
2. You may need rice flour a little more or less than the quantity mentioned to make the dough manageable.
3. Dip your hands in water and give them the shape of kababs and deep fry them in hot oil on medium flame until nice and golden.
4. Serve them with mint chutney.

Recipe for green chutney: http://heenazubair.blogspot.in/2013/10/spicy-mint-chutney.html

Veg Tikki

Veg tikki for my little tiger :)

Ingredients:

• Potatoes
• Beetroot - grated
• Carrot - grated
• Beans
• Peas
• Onion 
• Coriander
• Cheese
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Breadcrumbs / egg
• Butter / Oil

Method:

1. Boil potatoes, carrot, beetroot, beans and peas (any veggies your kiddo likes)
2. Mix all these and add finely chopped onion, coriander, grated cheese, salt and pinch of black pepper. Mix and shape them into flat tikki roll them in beaten egg or bread crumbs and shallow fry them with butter or oil and serve with a biggg smile :)

Palak Paneer

Ingredients:

• Paneer / Cottage cheese - 200 gms
• Palak / Spinach  - 2 medium bunches
• Onions sliced - 2 
• Tomatoe paste - 3/4 cup
• Green chilies finely chopped - 3
• Cumin powder - half tsp
• Garam Masala - half tsp
• Coriander powder - half tsp
• Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Whole dry red chilies - 3
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp
• Oil - 5 tbsp 
• Butter - 1 tbsp
• Water - 1 big glass
• Salt

Method:

1. Wash and clean palak leaves thoroughly.
2. In a vessel blanch the spinach in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes. 
3. Drain and allow it to cool for sometime.
4. In a blender add the blanched spinach and make a smooth puree.
5. Heat oil in a pan, add whole dry red chilies, onions and saute them on medium flame until translucent, add ginger garlic paste and fry this for 2 minutes.
6. Add tomato puree, green chilies, salt, cumin powder, coriander powder and garam masala , mix well and cook this on medium to low flame for 2 - 3 minutes, add the spinach puree and continue to cook.
7. Heat butter in a non stick pan and gently fry the paneer cubes for 2 - 3 minutes.
8. Now add the paneer cubes to the spinach gravy and gently mix it and allow it to cook for 5 minutes on low flame , add lemon juice, mix well and turn off the stove.
9. Serve hot with phulkas, roti, naan..etc

Stuffed Braided Bread

Killed the yeast beast and finally nailed it.. yayyyyy!!!!!!

Baked bread for the first time and iam soooooo happy with the results :)

Cant wait to bake it again with different stuffing's, as this was the first time so made it simple and veg, will come up with different stuffing ideas soon , for now lets enjoy the veg Stuffed Braided Bread :)

For the stuffing:

Ingredients:

• Boiled potatoes - 2 - thinly sliced
• Capsicum - 1 - thinly sliced
• Onion - 1 - finely chopped
• Carrot - 1 - grated
• Red chili powder - 1 tsp
• Chat masala - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder - half tsp
• Salt as per taste
• Juice of one lemon
• Chopped coriander - 2 tbsp
• Oil - 2 tbsp

Method: 

Heat oil in a non stick pan and saute onions, capsicum, carrot and add rest of the ingredients one by one.
Cook this for about 5 minutes and allow it to cool.

For the bread:

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour / maida - 3 cups
• Instant dry yeast - 2 tsp
• Milk - half cup
• Water - 1/4 cup
• Melted butter - 100 gms
• Sugar - 2 tsp
• Salt - 1 n half tsp
• Egg - 1

Method: 

1. In a small bowl add Luke warm milk, yeast and sugar, mix well and allow the yeast to froth for 10 minutes.
2. In a wide bowl add flour, salt and mix well, make a well in between the flour and add the yeast mix and melted butter, knead this in to a soft dough using water (1/4 cup).
3. Cover this with a damp cloth and allow it to rest for an hour, after an hour the dough would have doubled in its size.
4. Dust a flat surface with flour and knead the dough thoroughly for 5 - 6 minutes. Cover this again with a damp cloth and keep it aside for 30 minutes.
5. After 30 minutes, knock out all the air from the risen dough, and divide it in to 5 equal parts and allow it to rest for another 30 minutes.
6. Take a dough ball and roll it out in to a big circle or rectangular shape, now place the stuffing in the center of it leaving 2 inches from top and 2 inches from bottom, make inclined cuts to form finger strips on each sides, fold the top and bottom gently on the filling (the 2 inches) and fold the strips over the filling to form a braid like structure. 
7. Repeat the process for the rest of the dough balls.
8. Place them on the baking tray and allow it to proof for an hour.
9. Brush them gently with egg wash (One egg beaten with 1 tbsp of water).
10. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
11. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C and bake them for around 45 mins (baking time may vary depending on the oven).
12. Take the bread out of the oven and allow it to cool down before serving.