Dahi vada

Dahi vada(Dahi means yogurt),it is an easy and fast way to make an indian snack if you already have the split black lentils(skinless)soaked .
South india has a variety of snacks called vada and dahi vada,is one of them which is also called medu vada(also tastes good without soking in yogurt).





Ingredients required for dahi vada are:

1. Urad dal(black lentils)soaked in water for more than 3 hrs.
2. 1/2 chopped onion.
3. 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds.
4. salt to taste.
5. 1 tablespoon of curry leaves.
6. 1 tsp of crushed black pepper.

Method:

• make a paste of urad dal with almost no water.
• beat the flour very well with your hand untill you see the flour is very fluffy and light when droped a little in waterand floats.
• then mix the remaining ingredients into it .
• Take olive oil in a deep pan and heat it in a medium flame.
• take the flour with wetted hands and make a ball (about 2 tblsp) ,pierce a hole with youthumb in it.
• add it to the hot oil and turn them over and cook until golden brown, or you feel they are cooked inside.
• drain them well on a tissue paper to absorb the oil .

Now you have the vada ready to make Dahi vada.
If you don't prefer to make the Dahi vada out of this(since many of you dont like yogurt), you can have it as it is.As a snack with your tea.

If you want to know how to turn it into Dahi vada,then you just have to make a mixture of yogurt with some ingredients and add it to the above vada.
Please,keep visiting my blog ,and I shall let you know the procedure for that in my upcoming blogs .
This vada can also be a compliment with the mint leaves sauce that i showed in my previous blogs.
Thanks a lot for visiting my blog,and happy cooking .Please feel free to leave a comment on my blog.

How to cook salmon?

Do you know how to cook salmon? well! I know a lot of ways to cook salmon.
Cooking salmon is something which I love and my whole family loves eating it.
Cooking fish recipes can be a challenge many a times b'cos many are repellent towards the fishy smell,but for my fish Recipes,everyone love the flavor in it.
There are various cooking recipes for cooking salmon and some of them are:
baked salmon.
grilled salmon.
broiled salmon.
salmon in gravy.
Fish and chips with salmon.
I shall write in my blogs on how to cook salmon in all the above salmon recipes and some more later on ,but today I shall write about the gravy of salmon,that I made for our dinner.

Ingredients for the salmon recipe in gravy:

1. Take skinless and boneless salmon fillets which are in the form of cubes(you can also cut them like cubes).
2. In a blender,add 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds.
3. tamarind(the size of 1 lemon),which is soaked in 1 glass of water.
4. 2 tomatoes(medium sized)chopped.
5. 1 big onion chopped.
6. 1 tsp of red chilly powder.
7. 2 tsp of coriander powder.
8. 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder.
9. salt to taste.
10. 2 tablespoon of coconut powder.
11. 1 tablespoon of curry leaves.

Except the salmon,grind everything in the blender into a fine paste.
Put it in a cooking pan and heat.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil.
when the mixture comes to a boil,add the salmon peices to the gravy.
I f you prefer to add some vegetables into it,you can go ahead and add egg plant or capsicum to it,this will improve the taste even more.

Now do you get how to cook salmon in an easy and fastest way,it is also a tasty,healthy and affordable thing to make in minutes .

This salmon gravy goes well with white rice or paratha(tortillas).I shall show the cooking rice the right way in my other blogs.But for now sit back and enjoy learning, how to cook salmon? and try it out when you are ready.

Also,please write to me some new tips and cooking recipes that you want to share and please tell others about my blog.
Thanks bunches.

Shrimp noodles made in Indian style

Let us cook something fast today!
Hello everyone,I just read the news that ,the tallest building in the western hemisphere,sears tower is getting a new name , Willis tower.So I thought let us have a different taste today with noodles and shrimps along with some eggs and vegetables and call it the Indian noodles.
You must be wondering how?
Let us find out how to do this art of cooking,I think it is an art which everyone who loves cooking, would try to experiment in their kitchen every now and then.


The ingredients involved are:

1. 1 pack of egg noodles or any noodles you can also use spaghetti(500gms) ,boil them and keep aside.
2. 1 cup of mixed vegetables.
   
3. 1 onion medium size chopped finely.
4. ginger garlic paste(1-2 tablespoonful).
5. 500 gms of shrimps.
6. 2 tomatoes medium size.
7. 2 eggs(you can omit them if you don't like eggs).
8. 2 tablespoon of chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves each.
9. 2 green chillies
10. 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder.
11. 1 tsp of red chilly powder.
12. 1 tsp of coriander powder.
13. 1 tsp of cumin powder.
14. 2 tablespoon of oil.

Method:

• Take a pan and add oil in it and heat.
• add chopped onions and fry them until golden yellow.
• add ginger garlic paste.
• add add ingredients 9-12 in it and fry (do not char)
• followed by adding chopped tomatoes.
• let the mixture cook in low flame until the tomatoes are tender.
• add the green ingredients.
• add salt according to your taste.
• Add the shrimps and the vegetables cook for some more time.
• cook eggs separately,along with some salt and black pepper and mix it to the above mixture.
• mix the noodles(previously boiled and strained),into the above mixture (mix well).

The shrimp noodle in Indian style is ready to be served.

Isn't this a fast way of cooking when you want to have tasty noodle?and yet you won't have to spend much and still a healthy meal with all the nutrition is there in front of you.

Tips:
You can hasten the onions to fry by adding a little salt to it (may be a pinch or 2)

Please,do try my cookings and do share it with others,b'cos it gives and immense pleasure to share knowledge.
AND PLEASE DO COMMENT ON MY COOKING and let me hear you.

A cup of spicy Ginger tea (adrak ki chai)

Today ,I was sipping on to my spicy ginger tea,in front of my computer,and was amazed to read about a Restaurant or a franchise,may be.It is called chick-fil-A which was offering a Grand prize for the whole year(per week) for first 100 customers on its Grand opening,I really liked the idea,I think many of you would surely want to try it out.May be you should go to their website at chick-fil-a.com and find out everything there.




As for me ,I would like to show how I make this hot tea,which I was enjoying today,while it was snowing and cold outside.

• For 2 cups of tea:
• Take 1 cup of water.
• 1 cup of milk.
• 1 tsp of sugar(according to your taste.
• grated Ginger(1 tsp).
• a pinch of cardamom powder.
• 1 pouch of Assam tea(an Indian tea of any brand).

put them all in a small pan and bring to boil ,let the tea boil for around 5 more mins and strain it with the help of a tea strainer into 2 cups .

Enjoy the hot tea,with the spice in it with some cookies to go with it and enjoy watching TV or computer.

Please,do comment on all my posts,that will help me make you happier.

Pepper water or Rasam

hello everyone,this is the time when everyone wants to stay warm inside ,while it is snowing outside and feast on hot soup, be it chicken or beef or lamb or even the vegetable soup.
But there is one thing that some of the south indians would love to have in this weather,and it is called Rasam.
they have a different way of making it depending upon which part of south India it is cooked in.
I am going to just let you all know the simple and fast way of making this sour and spicy water.


For the ingredients:

1. Take 1 -2 tsp of pepper corns.
2. 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds.
   
3. 2-3 tablespoon of curry leaves(add more for more aroma and flavour) keep some for seasoning.
4. 1/2 tsp of red chilly powder.
5. 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder.
6. salt to taste.
7. take tamarind(size of a lemon or less if you want less sourness) soaked in a glass of warm water.
8. tomatoes 1-2(medium sized) chopped finely.
9. 1/2 medium sized onion(chopped into medium size chunks) and have some very fine slices for the seasoning.
10. 1 tsp of sugar.
11. 5-6 peices of garlic(crushed).
12. Olive oil- 1 tablespoonful .
13. musturd seeds.
14. Asafoetida(1/2 tsp or add less if you don't wnt the flavour.)
    

Method:

• blend ingredients 1 to 5 together in a coffee grinder.
• in a pan take the oil and heat.
• when hot add the musturd seed and let them crackle.
• add the finely sliced onions and fry until brown in colour
• add the crushed garlic .
• add the curry leaves and fry .
• add hing(asafoetida)
• followed by the blended dy ingredients (which you blended in the coffee blender).
• don't let these dry ingredients char(immediately add the tomatoes and onions).
• followed by the tamarind juice(made by squishing them in the water and straining out the juice).
• let the mixture come to a boil.

Our tasty Rasam is ready to be attacked along with some white soft rice to go with it and you can have the beef with mint curry of mine in my previous blog as a side dish too.

I am still waiting for some comments on my blog.Please let me know how was this dish.

Pizza made at home

I use to wonder how people made Pizza so soon and so delicious ,it was when i viewed the videos of vahchef-a chef from India, i am very fond of his videos they inspired me to cook at the first place,and they are so easy to follow.This recipe includes some of my own ideas apart from what i learnt from vahchef .

Ingredients needed:

• 3 cups of all purpose flour.
  
• 1 tsp of fast rising yeast(any yeast that you have).
  
• 1 tsp of salt and sugar each.
  
• pasta sauce(or just tomato paste if you don't have the pasta sauce).
  
• mozzarella cheese(grated).
  
• bell pepper and onions,chopped into slices.
  
• mushroom slices.
  
• olive slices.
  
• sausages cut into slices.
  
• meat peaces(tiny bits,cooked with ginger and garlic paste,salt to taste and black pepper).
  
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
  

Method:

1. take the yeast into a glass and add warm water.
   
2. add sugar and salt to it and let it stand for 10-15 min (until dissolved completely).
   
3. add to the flour and add little more water if need to make on the softer side.
   
4. heat the oven to broil for 1 min and put it off(we need to keep the flour at this temperature for 1 hr or more.)
   
5. when the flour rises up,kneed it and place it back in the oven(for 30 mins).

Meanwhile,when the flour is rising
-chop the above mentioned veggies and get the meat ready.

-take the risen flour and and divide into 3 or 4 balls depending on the size of pizza you want to bake.

-apply oil over the pizza pan
-after rolling the flour spread them with your hands evenly on the pan.
-with the help of a fork, make slight insertions on the spread flour, to let the trapped air under the sheet of pizza to escape.
-apply the pasta sauce over it.
-then sprinkle the meat,followed by the veggies .
-spread the cheese on top and decorate with the slices of sausages and mushrooms of you want.
-apply oil with a brush on the corners.
-place the pan on the stove top on medium heat ,until you start hearing slight cooking sound.
-place it in an oven(preheated at 420 degree Fahrenheit) for 20 mins.or untill the pizza is cooked.
-remove it from the oven and let ie cool for 5-10 mins.
-cut them into slices and enjoy.

HOT AND CRISPY PIZZA MADE BY YOU IS READY.

Please let me know,how did your Pizza come out,don't worry if it does'nt come out right for the first time.PRACTICE MAKES MAN PERFECT.

Tips: You can use the same flour to make NAAN BREAD,i shall tell you, how?in my other blogs.

I shall post the Recepe of your choice too,so please let me know by the end of this month

I was thinking why not ask all of you, visiting my site to suggest too,isn't that a nice way to involve in building my site and give you guys some satisfaction,that, what you wanted has been done on this site.It is great to see so many of you visiting my site,but it would also be pleasing to see some comments on it,i will be happy that,I actually get to here some of you and that is more exciting.
Please take part in my contest by the end of this month and i shall list their names too on my site for having selected the recipe of their choice.

Mint leaves sauce OR pudina chutney

Hello every one!

there are some days when you just want something very different for your tongue ,which has a distinct and strong taste,This delicious item called pudina chutney or fresh mint sauce is one of those items which i prefer to make when i don't want to use the stove.







for this you will have to take following items :

• 1 bunch of pudina or mint leaves .
• 1 tablespoonful of cumin seeds.
• 2 tablespoonful of coconut powder
• 2 green chillies(you can add more or less depending upon your taste).
• add 1 tsp of salt or according to your taste.
• take tamarind about the size of a lemon(soaked in water).
• put all of the above ingredients in a blender and grind well(to a fine paste).

now chop 1/2 of a medium sized onion and add to the above mixture in the blender and just pulse it for 1 second(not a fine paste).

And wala! you have a delicious sauce ready for a lip smacking adventure.

Eat it with anything, like rice,bread,naan or even dip tortillas in it,which tastes marvelous.I usually eat it with the rice and lentil recipe, that i posted before.

My 11 yr old loves this mint sauce very much and it is a good way of letting you kids have raw greens go into them.

How did you find my recipes,did any one of you try any of these,please do comment and let me know if you guys liked it .You are also most welcome to add any of your recipes,in fact it would be great to share ideas,that will improve each others lives.

My version of KFC

I have 2 kids who love to have chicken when cooked this way,actually I instructed my 11 yr old son to cook this Recipe.I got some tips and Ideas from vahchef i am thankful to him for having shown such good recipes on his site .








Ingredients:

• Take 6 drumsticks(chicken legs) washed and drained.
• in a bowl take 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste.
• add 1 tsp red chilli,turmeric and coriander powder
• add salt to taste.

mix well and add the chicken to it.
add a little water and let the chicken soak in it and stand for about 4-5 hrs in refrigerator.

shaking mixture:

• take about 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 a cup of cornflakes(crushed)
• add a little salt to taste and some black pepper according to your taste.

dipping mixture:

take an egg add black pepper and salt in it and mix well.

Let's do the final step:

1. After 5 hrs take the chicken from the refrigerator and one by one take the pieces out of the liquid mixture
2. and dip it in the dipping mixture
3. followed by rolling in the shaking mixture.
4. keep them aside in a plate
5. while you heat oil in a pan for deep frying these chicken pieces .
6. when the oil is hot fry them untill golden brown( you can also check if the chicken is cooked with the help of a fork on a plate).

soak the extra oil on a tissue and serve hot with ketchup and fries baked in an oven.


Tips:

• if you want to remove extra oil from the chicken bake the chiken along with your fries.
• Soaking the chicken in the liquid mixture makes the chicken juicy .

Please post some new recipes and cooking tips if you would like to share with all.
I would like to recieve some comments on all my recipes so that i can have a better site for you.

RICE COOKED WITH SPLIT GREEN LENTILS (khichdi)

I call this as food for a child or food for a sick person,because it is quite mild to taste and also a person who has lost the taste after having a fever would like to have this nutritious yet delicious rice which is also soft(they also call it khichdi in south India)

It is quite easy and fast to cook,just follow the steps as below:

• take 2 cups of rice soaked in water for 30 min.
  
• 1/2 a cup of moong dal(split green lentils).
• 1 medium sized onion,chopped finely.
• ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp(1:1)ratio.
• 2 green chillies.
• 1/2 a bunch of cilantro and mint leaves.
• turmeric powder 1/4 tsp.
• olive oil 1 tablespoonful.
• Salt to taste.

Method:

1. Heat a pot on the stove and add the oil into it.
2. when oil is hot add the split lentils and fry until golden brown( do not char them)
3. then add chopped onions into it and fry until golden yellow.
4. then add the green chillies,mint and cilantro leaves.
5. next add ginger and garlic paste and fry a little.
6. add salt to taste .
7. Next add 6 cups of water(since this rice should be very soft)
8. Let the mixture cook and when only a little water is left cover the vessel and cook it in low flame for about 7-8 min.

mmmm Our rice tastes and smells good at the same time.
You can enjoy it with mint sauce(pudina chutney).
I shall share my recipe of mint chutney ot sauce with you in my next blog.
Until then have a happy eating and stay healthy may God help you all.
Do comment on my blog and add some tips if you have or share some interesting recipes with me.

Please help me improve my blog by leaving comments on my blogs and if you would like to share a recipe, new or old please do write.thanks a lot for visiting my blog.

lipsmacking Beef with mint leaves and cilantro

Today let me write about how the exotic tasty beef can be made fast and easy.

Let us take the ingredients:

1. take small and cut pieces of beef and wash well and drain them(about i kg),put them into a pot for cooking and keep it on the stove for cooking until all the water evaporates.
2. take a bunch of mint leaves and a bunch of cilantro leaves.
3. 2-3 green chillies(according to your taste)
4. about 10 -14 leaves of curry leaves.
5. 7-9 black peppers(1 teaspoon of black pepper powder can do too.).
6. 2 tablespoons of coconut powder.
7. 1 medium sized tomato.1 and 1/2 tablespoon of ginger- garlic paste(1:1 ratio).
8. 1 tablespoon fennel seeds.
9. salt to taste.

Grind the ingredients 2 to9 with 1/2 a glass of water into a nice paste in a blender and add them to the beef on the stove.Let the mixture cook on a medium flame until the beef is soft.
Add a tablespoon of lemon juice if you prefer.
serve hot beef curry with rice or Naan bread.

Tip for today:Soak the meat very well in water for atleast 30 min so that all the blood comes out and the meat is clean before cooking.This will not have the usual smell which some people don't like.

HYDERABADI BIRYANI

Biryani, is one of the delicious dishes of India and it has different ways of cooking procedure depending on which part of India it comes from.
The main ingredient for this recipe is rice and meat(chicken,mutton or lamb,beaf,egg,shrimp etc)
today let me tell you about the hyderabadi biryani,which originated from the city-hyderabad ,which is in the southern part of India.





The Ingredients are as follows:

• Let us take 4 cups of rice(250ml) soaked in water.
• take about 1 kg of any meat(marinated for 4 hrs ).
• chopped mint leaves and cilantro leaves(1/2 a bunch each).
• Fried onions.
• Oil(4 tablespoonful olive oil or canola oil).

Ingredients for marination:

• Take cinnamon pods(3-4 small peices)
• green chilly
• cushed black pepper(1 teaspoonful)
• red chilli powder(1 teaspoonful)
• turmeric powder (1/2 tablespoonful)
• Meat tenderiser(1 tablespoonful)-you can also use raw papaya or raw pineapple instead.
• ginger garlic paste.
• 1 and 1/2 cup yogurt.
• salt to taste and 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice

1.Wash the meat well and drain well,apply the tenderiser on it and let it stand for 30 mins.
2.Next add the remaining part of the marination mixture to it and let it stand for 3-4 hrs.
3.take a pot which will fit in the oven and hold your biryani in it,add the meat which is marinated into it and pour the oil over it followed by 1/4 of the chopped mint leaves and coriander leaves over it along withhalf of the onions(fried) over it.
4.In a seperate pot heat about 10 -11 cups of water(250 ml cup),and add the rice (previously soaked for at least 30 mins) into it and let the rice cook upto 40 %
5.with the help of a strainer take about 1/2 the rice and spread the strained rice over the meat mixture in the other pot,and let the remaning rice still cook(about 5 mins only)
6. meanwhile add some more fried onions and the chopped mint and coriander leaves over the layer of rice
7.when the remaining rice is 50% cooked take half of the remaining rice in the strainer and spread over the onion and mint layer again.
8.repeat the layers untill all the rice is place in layers.
9.on top of the last layer of rice spread the remaining fried onion,chopped mint and coriander leaves and a pinch of dried safron and pour a mixture of yellow food clour(about 1/2 teaspoon in 1 tablespoonful water ) .
10. place this mixture on high heat for not more than 10 mins(well covered).
11.preheat the oven to 425 degree farenheit and after heating the above mixture for 10 mins place it in the oven for 40 minutes .
12. after 40 mins take it out of the oven and mix it well from the bottom of the vessel.

steaming hot biryani full of flavours is ready to be served

Fried Fish in a healthy way

Hi, everyone today I am cooking the fried fish- the Indian way and the recipe is Quite easy to follow.
First of all let us take the slices of any fish(1 kg) that you have,I am taking white fish slices.
clean them well with water and drain them well.

• add salt to your taste
• add 1/2 tsp of red pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp of coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
• 1 tablespoon full of ginger garlic paste
• 1 tablespoon full of lemon juice

mix them well and apply them on the slices of fish and let stand for about an hour in the refrigerator.

• take a cup of all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup of bread crumbs
• a little salt to taste

mix them well and dip the above slices of fish in this mixture.
Take a nonstick pan and add 2-3 tablespoonful of olive oil or canola oil in it and heat it on high heat.
Place the slices of fish on this oil and cook the fish until golden brown on both sides adjusting the flame to prevent the fish from burning.
serve it on a white plate with some garnishing with cilantro and mint leaves and enjoy your crisp ,hot and delicious fish.
Please do come back to learn a new and delicious recipe tomorrow and everyday.