Kacche kele ki sabzi

Preparation time – 20 mins

Servings – 4 people

 

Ingredients

3 raw green bananas

2 large potatoes

½ cup curd

Sugar 1 tblsp

Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Haldi 2 tsp

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Mango powder 1 tsp

Salt 2 tblsp

1 Lemon

 

Boil raw bananas and potatoes together. Peel off the skin of potatoes and bananas and dice them. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they start to pop, add the cut bananas and potatoes, sugar, haldi, red chilli powder, mango powder and salt. Mix and then add curd. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it simmer on low flame for 7-10 minutes stirring it at regular intervals. Take it of the flame and add lemon juice.

 

Tip: The banana skin can be discarded or can be cut and used in the curry. Make sure the curd is not very thick. It should be of pouring consistency. If curd is thick, add adequate amount of water and mix properly.

Really Easy Breakfast Recipe – Pohe

If you want to whip up a breakfast in 10 minutes with absolutely no prior preparation, then pohe in your best bet. It is delicious, filling and makes a healthy snack. Pohe can be served as is or with tomato ketchup or pudina chutney. They can also be served with aloo bhujia/sev and dahi as per Marwari tradition. Pohe can also be served with pickle as per Telugu tradition.

Preparation Time – 15 mins

Servings – 6 people

Ingredients

Pohe 250 gms

1 large potato (optional)

½ cup groundnuts (optional)

1 large onion (optional)

Oil 2 tblsp

1 green chilli

Haldi 1 tblsp

Salt 2 tblsp

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Mustard seeds (rai) 1 tsp

Sugar 1 tblsp

1 large lemon

Delicious Pohe

Take the poha in a sieve and wash it with water while using a light hand. Heat oil in a pan and roast groundnuts in it. Remove and keep separately. Chop potato finely and fry in the same pan till slightly golden brown. Remove and keep separately. Add rai to the remaining oil and fry finely chopped onion and chopped green chilli next. Add the poha and the salt, sugar, red chilli powder and haldi to it and mix. Add the potato and the groundnuts and mix. Let the pohe cook for 5 minutes on low flame. Keep stirring at regular intervals. Take if off the gas and add lemon to it.

Tip: Add the lemon after taking pohe off the gas otherwise it will become bitter. Pohe can be prepared without potato, onion or groundnuts also. Optionally, a handful of green peas can also be added to pohe to bring color and flavor to it.

Gatte ki sabzi

Gatte ki sabzi is a traditional Indian dish hailing from Marwar or Rajasthan. It is very popular as main course and can be served with rice or chapatti.

Preparation Time – 20 mins

Servings – 4 people

 

Ingredients

–Gatte–

Besan 100 gms

Haldi powder (turmeric) 1 tsp

Salt 1 tblsp

Red chilli powder 1 tblsp

Hing 1 pinch

Oil 1 tblsp

Warm water – ½ cup

 

–Gravy –

1 large onion

2 tomatoes

1 small piece ginger

3 pieces of garlic

2 long

1 small piece cinnamon

1 badi ilaichi

1 green chilli

1 cup curd

Haldi 1 tsp

Salt 2 tblsp

Red chilli powder 1 tblsp

Oil 2 tblsp

Zeera 1 tblsp

Hing 1 pinch

Water 1 cup

 

Mix all the ingredients for gatte together and knead them with warm water till the dough loses its stickyness and becomes hard. Now make cylindrical rolls (5-6 inches long and 1 inch in diameter) of the dough and keep them aside. If the dough is still sticky, apply oil to hands and the make the rolls. The dough will come off easily. Boil 2 ltrs of water in a pot and then add the rolls to it one by one. Cover the pot. Take out the rolls once they start to float. Let them cool and then cut them into pieces 1 cm long with a knife. They can be fried till light golden brown or be used as is.

 

Grind onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, long, ilaichi, cinnamon and chilli together to make a puree. Heat oil in a pan and add zeera and hing to it. Then add the puree and keep cooking till it comes of the pan. Add the curd and simmer for 2 minutes. Add salt, chilli and haldi and water along with the prepared gatte. Bring it to a boil and then simmer it for a thick gravy.

 

Tip: Add a pinch of baking soda to the dough to make the gatte soft.

 

 

7 ways to make an omelet

7 ways to make an omelet

1.   Basic omelet – Beat the eggs together. Add salt and pepper. Heat a spoonful of oil in a pan and spread the egg mix on it. Flip the omelet once it is brown and let it cook for a minute.

 

2.   Onion omelet – Beat the eggs together. Add salt and pepper. Add finely chopped onion. Cook it in the pan as before.

 

3.   Variation of onion omelet – Instead of onions, you can add finely chopped tomatoes to the egg mix or you can mix both onions and tomatoes too.

 

4.   Veggie omelet – Chop finely some cabbage, carrots, onions and tomatoes and fry it in a pan. Mix this with the eggs and beat it together. Then make the omelet.

 

5.   Masala omelet – Beat the eggs together and add salt and pepper in it. Heat a spoonful of oil in a pan and spread the egg mix on it. Once the underside is brown, put fried cheese and veggie mixture on it and fold the omelet three ways to make a triangle.

 

6.   Healthy omelet – Separate the egg yolk from the egg white. Beat the egg whites together and add minimal salt and pepper. Prepare the omelet as a basic omelet in a pan. The removal of egg yolk reduces the fat content and leaves only proteins behind making this a very healthy preparation.

 

7.   Sunny side up/down – Heat a spoonful of oil in a pan. Break the egg directly on the pan. Let the egg white coagulate and take it off once the underside is brown. This omelet is called sunny side up as the appearance is of a sun against a white background. If you do not wish to eat a runny yolk, just flip the omelet and let it cook for a minute before taking if off the pan. This omelet is called sunny side down.

How to bake a cake in a pressure cooker

With the advent of new technology, people are forgetting the art of cooking. Everything is readily available, ready-to-eat or just order. I believe in the more traditional form of cooking. Like baking a cake in a pressure cooker. My mum always bakes it in a cooker. And I assure you, it is absolutely easy.

1. All you need to bake in a cooker is a pressure cooker….voila. But the cooker should be completely cylindrical so that the base of the baking dish touches the cooker perfectly. The cooker should be of preferably of 5 litres of capacity or more.

2. The cooker should be pre-heated at high flame for five minutes before putting in the baking dish.

3. Keep the dish straightaway in the cooker. Do not add water or place a plate / grill of any kind underneath the dish. Make sure there is no water in the cooker when you put in the dish.

4. Keep the gas on sim the whole time while baking to avoid burning.

5. Bake the cake for a minimum of 1 hour. After 40-45 minutes, open the cooker and insert a knife deep into the middle of the cake. If the cake comes out clean, the cake is ready otherwise let it cook for some more time.

6. If you feel the burner is providing uneven heating, place a pan on the stove and then the cooker on it. Keep the gas on sim the whole time.

Apple Cake Recipe – Baked in Cooker

My life took a sudden turn. It got me married and stirred up my interest in cooking. All I can think of now is trying new recipes. Every moment of my day passes in planning the menu for dinner. The last thought in my mind before I sleep is what to serve for breakfast. So much so that I don’t repeat a dish though the week. Suddenly it struck me, why not create a repository of all these recipes and cooking tips and all my experiences and what better way to do that then blog about it. In India, it is said that one should start any event with a sweet to make it auspicious. So here is a recipe of apple cake that I tried when my parents and brother had come over. Everyone enjoyed it immensely and it was gobbled up in minutes. Hope you enjoy it as much.

Preparation time – 1.5 hours

Servings – 6 people
Ingredients

3 eggs

2 1/2 cup flour (maida)

1 cup unsalted butter (or refined oil)

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cup fresh apples (chopped finely)

1 tsp vanilla essence

Edible green color

1/2 cup milk (optional)

Blend sugar and salt in a mixer so that sugar melts completely. Add the eggs one by one to it then. Pour the mix into a bowl and add flour, salt, soda, baking powder, vanilla essence and apples and keep rolling it with a spoon till it reaches a pouring consistency. Add some milk to the batter if it is too thick. Grease the baking dish and pour the batter in it. Preheat the cooker for 5 mins. Put the baking dish in it and leave the cooker on sim for 1 hour.