Beetroot Halwa - Colorful Dessert for the Evening

I am always anxious to use beetroot in the most efficient way. I use it for salads, make curry or eat it boiled sprinkled with salt. Recently, I came to know from my friend Premalata that it can be made into halwa just like carrot halwa! That looks like a good idea. Here is the way I made this simple yet special beetroot halwa.

Ingredients:

• Beetroots - 3 medium
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Milk - 1 cup
• Dry Fruits like almonds, cashews, pistachios
• Cardomom powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Ghee - 1 tablespoon

Procedure:

Grate the beetroot coarsely. It comes up to one-and-half cup of grated beetroots. 

Take a cooker and add about half cup of water. Put in the grated beetroot and allow two or three whistle. 

Remove the cooker lid and allow the water to evaporate by putting on medium flame for 10 minutes. Add sugar and heat for another 5 minutes

Take a pan and add some ghee. Add dry fruits and fry till they get brown. Add it to the soften beetroot mixture.

Add milk and mix well. Cook for some time. Serve hot. 

Serves: 2 to 3

Chana Dhal with Zucchini

I was thinking of making some special soup for the day. Generally I make lentil soup of Toor dhal or Mung dhal or the mixed dhal. Today I thought I should make something with Chana dhal. I quickly found one: Chana dhal with Zucchini. Here it goes...

Ingredients: 

• Chana Dhal - 1 cup
• Zucchini - 1 sliced half inches
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Water - 2 cups
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida powder - pinch
• Green chilli paste - 1/2 tsp
• Ginger paste - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - 5 to 6
• Tomato - 1 medium sized
• Oil - tablespoon

Procedure:

1. Wash and soak Chana Dhal for one hour 
2. Soften the chana dhal in the cooker. Wash dhal and add salt turmeric powder. Add the cut Zucchini pieces in it and put on stove. Allow only 2 whistles and stop the stove. 
3. Now take a pan for sauteing. Put oil in the pan and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and pinch of asafoetida powder. Allow it to splutter for sometime.
4. Then add ginger paste, curry leaves and tomatoes. Let it get cooked for sometime. Add chili paste and mix properly. 
5. Open the cooker lid and mix it properly. Add the sauteing in the pan to the cooker. Mix well and heat till it comes to boil. Add cilantro to garnish.
6. It goes well with Chapati when thick and when you add sufficient water, it can be like any lentil soup that can be taken with rice. 
7. Offer to Lord and enjoy!!

Peanut Spice Blend - Simple and Tasty

Peanuts are used for varieties of chutneys. I generally use peanuts in any vegetable chutney I make such as tomato chutney, capsicum chutney, brinjal chutney and also in coconut chutney. Today, I made a special blend of peanut powder which is also called chutney but specifically it is spice blend of peanut powder. 

Ingredients:

Peanuts - 1 cup
Ghee or salted butter - 2 table spoon

Cumin seeds - 3/4 teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Chilli powder - 3/4 teaspoon

Procedure:

Roast peanuts in a frying pan under the low flame. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes for the peanuts to get roasted properly....It is the time when the warm, pleasant aroma of peanuts is around the stove. Take out the pan and keep in a separate place. Allow it to cool down to the room temperature

There is no need to remove the skin of the peanut, but some do take it off. Either way it tastes great. 

When they are cool enough take a grinder and grind in small installments. Do not grind very fine. Let it be little coarse otherwise the oil in the mixture comes out and makes it a paste. 

Now put a pan under low flame and heat some ghee or butter in it. Add cumin seeds, when crackles add chilli powder in the ghee. 

Add the powdered peanut and salt in it. Mix it properly and take out in a plate. When cold store in an air tight container. This blend can be stored for about a week. 

Aloo Paratha – Stuffed Indian Flatbread

Parathas are Indian flatbread with spicy stuff inside. The stuff can be made with many different fillings such as spinach curry (Palak paratha), radish curry (Muli paratha) etc. The most popular filling however are aloo or potatoes. Aloo parathas are perfect for breakfast or brunch. In northern parts of India they take them for dinner as well.

Ingredients: 

Dough:

·         2 cups whole-wheat flour

·         1 cup water (Use more as needed)

·         Pinch of salt

·         Oil –2 tsp

Potato Filling

·         2 medium potatoes (boiled and mashed) makes about one and half cup of boiled, mashed potatoes

·         ½ teaspoon turmeric powder

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         ½ teaspoon cumin seeds

·         2 chopped green chili or ½ spoon red chilli powder

·         2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (green coriander)

·         ½ teaspoon garam masala, powder of cloves, cinnamon and black pepper and  (optional)

·         ½ teaspoon amchoor powder, dry mango powder (optional)

Also needed

·         1/4 cup whole-wheat flour for rolling

·         Ghee or Clarified butter to cook

Procedure:

Method:

Dough

1.  Mix flour, oil, salt and water together to make soft dough (if the dough is hard, add a little more water).
2. Knead the dough for a few minutes on a lightly greased surface to make smooth and pliable dough.
3. Set the dough aside and cover it with a damp cloth. Let the dough rest for at least ten minutes.

Filling

1. Boil 2 medium potatoes with 2 cups of water. After the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium. Let the potatoes cook until they are tender.
2. After the potatoes are cold enough to handle, peel the skin off and mash the potatoes.
3. Mix chilly, cilantro, cumin seeds and salt and amchur powder and garam masala to the mashed potatoes.
4. Make uniform balls and divide in equal parts.

Making paratha

1.  Divide the dough and potato mixture into 6 equal parts. The potato balls should be almost the same size of the dough balls.
2. Take the dough and spread with roller about 3 inch diameter. Now spread the dough with hands so that the circular ends of the dough are thin and middle part is little thick.
3. Place the potato balls in the center. Seal by pulling the edges of the rolled dough together to make a ball. This way the thickness of the dough is uniform. Proceed to make all the balls.
4. Let them settle for 3 to 4 minutes before rolling them.
5. Heat the skillet (non-stick one) on medium high. Note: An iron skillet works best. To check if the skillet is hot enough, sprinkle a couple of drops of water on it. If the water sizzles right away, the skillet is ready.
6. Roll the balls first in dry whole-wheat flour.
7. Lightly press the ball on the sealed side and keep it on the topside when rolling. Slowly Roll the ball light handed in to 6-inch circles. Whenever the dough sticks to the rolling pin or rolling surface, lightly sprinkle dry whole-wheat flour on both sides of the semi-rolled paratha.
8. Place the paratha over the skillet. After a few seconds you will see the paratha change color and puff in different place.
9. Then flip the paratha over. You should see some golden-brown spots on the topside. After a few seconds, spread 1 teaspoon of butter or oil on the paratha. Again, flip the paratha and lightly press the puffed areas with a spatula
10. Flip again and press with the spatula making sure the paratha is golden-brown on both sides. Remove the paratha and proceed to the next paratha.

Kadhi with Pakora - Perfect Recipe for a Winter Evening..

My mother used to make Kadhi for any special occasion or festivals. Kadhi is a compulsory recipe for Makar Sankaranthi which goes very well with mixed vegetable curry. The whipped yogurt with chickpea flour and good amount of spices added is called kadhi is Hindi (and most of the North Indian languages). There are umpteen ways of making kadhi. Here is a simple Gujarati style kadhi with pakora. 

Pakora is something that I like to take with kadhi always (my mother always made pakora with kadhi). I feel kadhi is incomplete with pakora. It can be any pakora but cabbage pakora goes best with kadhi. So lets start making it.

Kadhi:

Ingredients: 

• Yogurt - 2cups
• Chickpea flour (Besan) - 1/2 cup
• Ginger - 1 inch
• Green chillies - 3
• Coriander leaves chopped - 2 tablespoon
• Oil - 2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Cinnamon - 1 inch

For Seasoning: 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds, curry leaves, one pinch Asafoetida powder

Procedure for Kadhi:

1. Beat the curd and make it smooth. Add chickpea flour and beat it properly so that there are no lumps
2. Now add salt and turmeric powder and keep to boil over the low flame
3. In a mixer add green chillies, ginger, cinnamon and make a paste. Then add coriander leaves while adding sufficient water to it. Again grind it to fine paste.
4. Add this whatever there in the grinder to the beaten curd  and mix it well.
5. Take a small pan and get ready for sauteing. Add oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves. When the oil is hot enough add to the kadhi. 

Cabbage Pakora:

Ingredients: 

• Cabbage finely chopped - 1 cup
• Chickpea flour - 1 cup
• Corn flour - 1/2 cup
• Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Green chilli paste - 1 teaspoon or red chilli powder - 3/4 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt - 3/4 teaspoon
• Water - 3/4 cup
• Oil to deep fry

Procedure: 

1. Take a bowl and mix chickpea flour and corn flour. Add turmeric powder, chilli, garam masala, coriander powder, salt and make a fine paste by adding water
2. Now add cabbage and mix well so that it has good consistency.
3. Heat oil and add this mixture to the oil by a spoon. Take out pakoras when they look brownish red.
4. Put a few pakoras in the kadhi. They taste wonderful when they are wet with kadhi!!!

Tomato Rasam - Stimulating Thin Tomato Juice!

Generally ‘Rasam’ means the juice with flavor. In South India ‘Rasam’ means seasoned sour thin juice of tamarind. Tomato Rasam is made in the same way but with adding tomato juice with tamarind.  Lets make this simple yet zesty recipe for the pleasure of Krishna.

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes – 4 if big or 6 medium
• Tamarind – Ball of a big lemon size
• Green chilly paste of about 8 to 10 chillies
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Salt – 1 ½ tsp
• Curry powder or Rasam powder – 1 tsp
• Cilantro – 5 twigs (grated finely)
• Oil, Mustard Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Asfedita powder (hing) and Curry leaves for sautéing

Procedure:

• Soak tamarind for 15 minutes before you begin to make the rasam
• Cut the tomatoes in big size in a heavy bottom pot and add about 2 cups of water. Let it boil for 10 minutes. Let it cool for some time.
• Take out pulp from tamarind and keep it ready to add.
• Now take a big sieve and try to filter out tomato juice in a bowl. Add more water to remove the juice properly.
• Now add tamarind juice and put on stove on the same pot and let it cook for some time.
• Add chilli paste, chopped cilantro, rasam powder, salt.
• Take a small pan to prepare sautéing. Add the above mentioned items and prepare the vok. Add this to the boiling rasam. Rasam is ready to serve. Serve hot with rice. You can drink it while the juice is warm.

Coconut Ladoos - Sweet and Delicious

Coconut Ladoos are my favorite! They go so well in the evening snacks. Love feast is incomplete without sweet. Also, sweet makes the menu complete. And for those who are lovers of sweet, they cannot resist these ladoos. They are ideal to offer to Lord on any auspicious occasion. 

There are so many ways to make coconut ladoos like with dry coconut, wet coconut, adding semolina etc. In this recipe I will show easy way of making the ladoos with wet coconut. Many times wet coconut remains in the fridge, especially after visiting temple, without proper utility. Making these ladoos out of the wet coconut is an easy way to use it.

Ingredients:

• One full coconut - break and remove the water 
• Sugar - 3 cups
• Cardamom power - 1/2 teaspoon
• Sweetened condensed milk - 2 tablespoon

Procedure:

1. Remove coconut from its hard shell and run it a couple of times in the blender or mixer. Grate it finer as it is done for coconut chutney. 
2. Take a non-stick pan and put the grated coconut in it and turn on the stove on medium heat.
3. Keep roasting the grated coconut in the pan till the water dries out and the coconut appears with brownish tinge.
4. Now add the sugar and let it melt completely in the heat. Again roast in the same way till water in the sugar goes away and the mixture gets good consistency. 
5. Add cardamom powder and sweetened condensed milk. Stir it well for 2 minutes and switch off the stove. Let it cool for 5 minutes. They should be warm enough to give them shape.
6. Grease your hand with ghee or oil and make laddos of the mixture. Make them into balls of uniform size and let them cool to room temperature. Store them in air-tight box. 

Time: 30 minutes

Yields: 15 to 18 ladoos

Note: When the same mixture is fried for long time, it increases its consistency, making it thick and hard. It can be spread over a greased plate and cut into barfis. So the procedure is same for coconut barfi as well!

Offer to Lord and have these delicious ladoos anytime!

Minestrone Soup - Italian Veggie Soup for the Winter

There is interesting event behind Minestrone soup. This is one of special recipes that I demonstrated in Stanford Cooking class. I came to know about this recipe from my friend Sundari Lila. My gratitude to her for showing me this recipe. She also cooked one day and it was just amazing! From that day I loved this soup and often make it during the weekends. 

Minestrone soup is quite simple to make. Just boiling all the vegetable in sufficient water. It is great recipe for the winter. Best when you have lots of, varieties of vegetable and like to eat something hot and tasty. Here is the recipe...

• 1 Tbsp olive oil 
• ½ Tsp yellow asafetida powder
•  ¾ Tsp Italian seasoning (containing basil, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, sage and oregano)
• 1 stalk of celery, diced
• 2 zucchinis, sliced about half inch thick
• 1 big carrot or 2 medium sized carrots, sliced
• 1 big potato, peeled and diced into 1.5 cm cubes
• 1 bell pepper (capsicum), diced into 1.5 cm cubes
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 3 tomatoes or 1 cup tomato puree
• 1 C cooked chickpeas
• 1 C cooked red kidney beans
• 6 to 8 C water 
• 1½ Tsp salt
• ¼ Tsp ground black pepper
• ¼ Tsp red chili flakes
• ¾ C uncooked pasta (any shape of your choice)

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over moderate heat, sprinkle asafetida powder, Italian seasoning. Do let it burn so add celery quickly and sauté for 30 seconds. Add all the vegetables one by one, stir fry for a while. Now add half the amount of water. Let it cook for 10 minutes over medium.

2. Pour the tomato puree and add the parsley. Add the chickpeas, kidney beans, water, salt, pepper and chili flakes. Add remaining water and cook covered partially over very low heat for 1½ hours (this soup tastes best when cooked slowly). If you want to cook fast add more water and cook on medium heat. It takes about half hour.

3. Add the uncooked pasta and raise the heat to medium and cook until the pasta is tender. Reduce the heat again to very low and cook for another 8-10 minutes. 

Offer to the Lord and enjoy with bread, pav or toast. It goes well with chapati also!

Cook Time: Minimum 30 minutes

Serves: 6 to 8

Rasmalai - The Best Use of Extra Milk

When I just opened my fridge today, I found that there is lot of milk. Then thought came to me to make the best use of the milk. Rasmalai!!!! Then I reeled my memory those my days in India when my brother Sreenath used to make Rasmalai whenever he came home in holidays. Yes I remember. Let us start..

For Rasmalai you need:

1. One gallon of milk - approx 3.7 liters of milk
2. Lemon juice - 3 tablespoons 
3. Sugar 3 cups
4. Cardamon power - 1 teaspoon
5. Water - 2 cups
6. Dry fruits like almonds, cashews, pista, raisins etc - 1/2 cup each

Procedure:

• Take 2 pots and empty the milk in two equal halves. That means each pot has about 1.8 liters of milk (approx)
• Boil both the pots say A and B
• When the milk in pot A comes to boil add lemon juice. This breaks the milk and the paneer part of the milk separates out.
• Meanwhile continue boiling the milk in pot B till it is reduced to half. Keep it in simmer so that it takes good amount of time without burning the bottom of the pot.
• Let the pot A cool a little. Then filter the paneer from the pot A by using a kerchief or a cotton cloth. Wash the paneer with extra water so that sourness of lemon goes away. Let the water drain completely. It takes about one hour.
• Now spread some oil on the palm and make one-and-half inch long elliptical balls. You can get about 15 to 20 balls.
• Take a pressure cooker and boil 2 cups of water with 1 cup of sugar in it. Now place these balls slowly and close the lid.
• Let the pressure cooker give out 5 to 6 whistles. Off the cooker and let it cool by itself. Before opening the lid let some cold water run down the cooker.
• Put the cooked balls in the pot B when the milk has reduced to half. You can add the water remaining the cooker. Let it cook for 2 minutes in the mixture.
• Add 2 cups sugar and all the dry fruits.
• Add cardamon powder and let it cool. It is best when served chilled.

Radhastami Ahead!!!

On the occasion of Radhastami 2012, I am starting this blog for the pleasure of Vaishnavas and all those who love food. This blog contains about feasting love and loving feast!!! It contains the recipes that I enjoyed trying, the practical tips to keep the kitchen clean, my personal experiences in cooking,  the ingredient 'LOVE' in cooking, offering bhoga to the Lord, serving the food, and much more!!

Dear friends so let me start with with glorifying Srimati Radharani, who is the best cook in Goloka Vrindavan, who cooks for the pleasure of Lord Krishna. Let me post one interesting pastime about Srimati Radharami today...............

SRIMATI RADHARANI

rasa-lasya-gita-narma-sat-kalali-pandita

prema-ramya-rupa-vesa-sad-gunali-mandita

visva-navya-gopa-yosid-alito ‘pi yadhika

mahyam atma-pada-padma-dasya-dastu radhika  

(Sri Radhikastakam 5)

Sri Radhika is expert in all the most astonishing arts of the rasa-lila, such as dancing, singing and joking. She is adorned with prema, enchanting beauty, dresses and ornaments and decorated with all virtues. Sri Radhika is the foremost gopi in Vraja mandala. May Srimati Radhika always bestow upon me the service of her lotus feet.

Srimati Radharani is very artistic. She is expert in all the arts including cooking. In Vrindavan Srimati Radharani has the service of cooking for Krishna. It is Nandagram where Krishna and Balaram live with Mother Yashoda and Nanda Maharaj. She cooks everyday for Krishna.  Like to know how Radharani got this service? She got a benediction from Dusvasa muni.

One day sage Durvasa Muni came to Vrindavan. He was known for his anger and everyone use to flew away from him. When he saw Radharani, he at once felt divine love gushing out of his heart. Radharani reached him with great respect. She gave him all hospitality. Radharani cooked a wonderful feast for Durvasa muni and served him with great care and affection. Pleased with her service Durvasa muni gave her benediction that whatever Radharani will cook will taste like pure nectar and anyone who eats anything cooked by Radharani will never become sick. 

When Mother Yashoda came to know about this, she made Radharani to cook for Krishna. Actually Radharani cooked with so much love and affection that the ingredient 'LOVE' made everything taste nectar. She is so expert in cooking that she never repeat any recipe. Whatever she cooks is a new recipe! So variegated recipes that every recipes tastes excellent and yet very different than any recipe made before. 

I pray to Srimati Radharani for Her mercy upon me so that I could serve all Vaishnavas (devotees) in Her spirit and serve Her in the spirit of servant of the servant of the servant.....

Srimati Radharani Ki Jai!!