Tindora / Tondali with Coconut & Cilantro coarse paste (Green Masala)

Today made Tindora/Todli subzi for dinner with little variation to routine stir-fry method. I used ginger+garlic+green chilies for zest and coated tindora with thick coarse gravy of fresh coconut and cilantro.This method retained light green color of tindora and subzi tasted delicious.

Ingredients:

• Tindora - 25-30, Cut each tindora lengthwise into 4 pieces.
• 1 medium size onion finely chopped.
• 1 inch piece ginger - finely crushed.
• 3-4 fresh garlic cloves - finely crushed.
• 4-5 green chilies - finely chopped.
• 8-10 curry leaves.
• 1 1/2 cup fresh cilantro - finely chopped.
• 1 Cup fresh grated coconut.
• 1 Tb.spoon cooking oil.
  

Method Of Cooking :-

1. Combine 1 Cup fresh chopped cilantro and grated coconut in blender jar, add half cup warm water and make coarse paste.Keep it aside.
   
2. Heat 1tb.spoon oil in thick bottom pot.Add chopped onions and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes on medium heat.
   
3. Add Crushed ginger,garlic, green chilies . - saute for 1 minute.
4. Add Tindora ,curry leaves and stir-fry with wooden spoon for 2-3 minutes on high heat.
5. Reduce heat to medium . Add 1 cup water and little salt. Cook tindora for 7-8 minutes with covered lid. Make sure all water gets evaporated and tindora is enough tender.
   
6. Add coarsely ground paste of coconut and cilantro. Adjust salt and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with rice or roti.
   

Tomatillo Stir-Fry with Lima beans.

Tomatillos look like raw green Tomatoes. It is popularly used in Mexican cuisine for making salsa and sauces.They are covered with thin paper like skin and has sweet and sour taste. I made this simple Tomatillo stir-fry by adding some lima beans.This is quick and yummy recipe for routine cooking.

Ingredients :-

• 5-6 Tomatillos cut in 1/2 inch pieces. (2 cups)
• 1/2 cup frozen lima beans.
  
• 1 medium size onion - finely chopped.
  
• 1 inch piece of ginger - finely crushed.
• 2-3 Garlic cloves - finely crushed.
• 2-3 Green chilies - finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro - finely chopped
• 1/2 T.spoon turmeric.
• 1 Tb.spoon oil.

Method Of Cooking :-

1. Heat 1 tb.spoon oil in open pan/skillet. Add chopped onion and stir-fry till they turn soft and translucent.
2. Add crushed garlic,ginger ,chopped chilies and turmeric powder - saute for a minute.
3. Add Tomatillos , Lima beans - Mix all well , add some salt and let it cook uncovered for 5-6 minutes on medium heat. Tomatillos have very high water content so you will notice increased liquid while cooking. Increase heat and stir-fry little more till liquid evaporates.
4. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with rice/roti.
   

Sesame Walnut Brittles / Chikki for Makar Sankranti.

Wishing all my readers/visitors a Very Happy Makar Sankranti....May the rays of Sun fill your life with Good fortune, Happiness and Health.

Ingredients:-

• 1 cup Sesame seeds.
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts.
• 1 cup grated jaggery.
• 2 Tb.spoon honey.
• 1 Tb.spoon butter/ghee.

Method of making chikki :-

1. Heat heavy bottom pot. Add 1/2 tb.spoon butter..as butter melts add Sesame seeds and walnut.. roast on medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Spread it on paper towel and let it cool.
2. Add jaggery in the same pot and stir..as it melts and bubble, quickly add roasted sesame, walnut and 2 tb.spoon honey. Maintain low heat. Mix well with wooden spoon. You may have to apply good pressure to stir and mix sesame and jaggery well, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Take any rectangle shape tray/baking sheet (I used griddle - see picture). Coat it with butter. Quickly pour and spread mixture on to tray. Take greased rolling pin, roll with good pressure and flatten mixture to one centimeter thickness. For final fineness I took greased stainless steel measuring cup, pressed it over mixture surface and leveled it evenly.
4. Mark square cuts with knife and let it cool for some time... separate them before they completely cool down. Store them in Jar or zip lock bag.
   

Mushroom & Matar in Spicy-Creamy Gravy.

Mushrooms have great nutritional value, they are rich in vitamins,minerals and protein.I enjoy them lot because of juicy texture and an earthy taste.Mushrooms adapt very well with different Indian dishes.Matar (green peas) and mushoom is very popular combination in Indian cooking. This mushroom curry has nice blend of Masala and Cream.

Ingredients :-

• 12-15 white button mushrooms - cut each lengthwise in four pieces.
• 1 Cup frozen green peas
  
• 1 medium size onion - finely chopped ( little more than one cup yield)
• 4 roma tomatoes - diced
• 1 inch piece of ginger - finely crushed
• 5 garlic cloves - finely crushed
• 1/2 cup - fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 Tb.spoon red chili powder
• 1 Tb.spoon heavy cream
• 2 Tb.spoon sour cream ( In absence of sour cream use 2tb.spoon strained yogurt)

Spice Blend

• 1 Tb.spoon fennel seeds
• 1 Tb.spoon kasuri methi
• 1 Bay leaf - 2 inch long
• 6 cloves
• 2 cardamom
• 1 inch cinnamon stick

Make fine powder of above spices.

Cooking Method :-

1. Heat 2 tb.spoon oil in heavy gauge pot. Add chopped onions and saute for 3-4 minutes on medium heat.
2. Add finely crushed ginger and galic - Saute for 1 minute.
3. Add powdered spice-blend along with red chili powder - saute for 1 minute on low flame.
4. Add diced tomatoes - Mix with spices and onions. stir-fry for 2-3 minutes on medium heat.
5. Add mushrooms and 1/4 cup water. Mix well and let it cook with covered lid for 3-4 minutes on medium heat.
6. Add 1 cup frozen green peas and little chopped cilantro - cook it without lid for another 2-3 minutes.Increase heat to high and reduce excess liquid and create thick gravy.
   
7. Beat sour cream and heavy cream - pour it in the pot..Combine everything and after one minute shut off the heat. Garnish with remaining cilantro and enjoy with warm nan/roti/rice.
   

Sheera / Kesari with Coarse Wheat flour - Enriched with Golden Flax Seed Meal.

Godacha Sheera, also called as Kesari or Halwa... is one of the delicious Indian sweet dish. I gave slight twist to the recipe by using coarse ground wheat flour..added flax seed meal and used generous quantity of raisins and almonds...coarse texture of wheat flour and mild slimy texture of flax seed meal made this Sheera more rustic and yummy.

Ingredients :-

• 1 Cup coarse ground wheat flour. ( used Swad Bhakri flour)
• 1/4 cup Golden flax seed meal.
• 1 Unsalted Butter stick. ( 1/2 cup butter)
• 1 Cup Sugar.
• 1/4 Cup golden raisins.
• 20 Almonds - roughly crushed.
• 1 Tb.spoon melted Ghee.
• 7-8 Cardamom - finely powdered.
• 2 Cup Hot water ( Microwave for 3 minutes)

Method of Cooking :-

1. Heat heavy bottom pot (Anodized works best) and melt butter stick. Add wheat flour - mix well with butter. Maintain medium heat and keep stirring with wooden spoon for about 3-4 minutes.
2. Add golden flax seed meal and cardamom powder - Mix well. On medium low heat roast flour until it leaves nice aroma - at least for 10 minutes. Keep stirring at regular interval.
   
3. Now add golden raisins and crushed almonds. Mix well and stir constantly for 2-3 minutes on medium low heat.
4. Add one cup Sugar and Mix well. Set medium heat.Keep roasting by stirring with wooden spoon..after three four minutes sugar will create moisture in flour and slightly start sticking to the bottom..reduce heat to low.
5. Slowly add hot water in the pot..Be extra careful because as you pour hot water in pot ..it will sizzle,bubble and splash . After adding two cup hot water, mix all well with wooden spoon. Now flour consistency will turn like thick batter. Reduce heat to low. Keep stirring for 3-4 minutes.
6. Cover with lid and let it cook for 2-3 minutes on very low heat. Add 1 tb.spoon melted Ghee and mix well ..you will notice nice glaze on Sheera. Cover again with lid and allow it to cook for another 6-7 minutes...make sure heat is set to lowest temperature. Do stir at regular interval. Shut off the heat and keep it covered for another 7-8 minutes. Serve warm in bowl.
   

Notes :-

1. Coarse wheat flour can be substituted by regular wheat flour.
2. You may use regular flax seed meal instead of Golden flax seed meal.
3. If you prefer more sweetness then increase little sugar quantity.

Vegetable Paratha / Roti enriched with Flaxseed Meal.

I enjoy making different types of flavored, enriched rotis/Parathas. This time I used variety of veggies and made wholesome veggie packed parathas. They are quite easy to make and with good food processor you can save time and efforts, any variation of veggies work well for these parathas.

Ingredients :-

• 5 cup whole wheat flour.
• 1/2 Cup Bajra flour (Millet)
  
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal.
• 1 cup spinach
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1/2 cup edamame
• 1 cup cauliflower
• 1 cup mix of carrots + broccoli + snake gourd (you may use your choice of subzi combination)
• 1 T.spoon corriander powder.
• 1 T.spoon cumin powder.
• 1 T.spoon turmeric powder.
• 2-3 Tb.spoon oil.
  
• 2-3 pinches of asafoetida (hing)
• 3 inch piece of ginger - finely crushed
  
• 10-12 fresh garlic cloves - finely crushed
  
• 8-10 green chilies - finely crushed
  

Boiled veggies

All ingredients ready to make paratha dough

Method of making Paratha :-

1. Pre-Boil all veggies in microwave separately. Aoid over cooking. Drain all water and use the same for making dough.
2. Finely Crush ginger, garlic, green chilies together in grinder.
   
3. In food processor add Wheat flour, Bajra flour, flaxseed meal topped with all boiled veggies and rest ingredients with crushed ginger, garlic and green chilies. Add only 1 tb.spoon oil. Add salt. Slowly start food processor on low speed. As it start to combine everything together, increase the speed to high. This will take about 1-2 minutes.
   
4. Slowly start adding water. After adding one cup water, keep running food processor. Now slowly dough will start to merge into ball. Maintain speed at high and now slowly add remaining 1 tb.spoon oil. Pause and feel the dough for softness. Add some more water if you find it too tight. Run food processor for 1-2 minutes. Once dough reaches your desirable softness, remove from food processor and cover with plastic cling wrap and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
5. Make 20 dough balls and keep them covered with plastic sheet.
6. Roll them thick to 5-6 inch diameter size.
   
7. Heat griddle and fry rolled paratha on both sides. You may spray some oil at center and over the edges. Maintain medium heat and fry for at least 20-25 seconds on each side.
8. Enjoy parathas with yogurt/pickle/cream cheese/sour cream. (I enjoyed parathas with Tofu raita. check in the picture.)
   

Note :-

• You may split the quantity of dough based on size of your food processor.
• In absence of food processor you will have to coarsely crush all boiled veggies and make dough with hands.
  

Truvia Sweetened Indian sweet Sheera / Halva / Kesari.

Few days back I had one guest coming over for dinner who had sugar restrictions in diet.I don't wanted to skip dessert so made Sheera/Kesari with Truvia .This is zero calorie natural sweetener recently emerged in market.I tried to enhance this recipe by adding wheat flour, flax seed meal and good amount of nuts ,raisins .Sheera tasted delicious without sugar. Once in a while this can be enjoyed as good diabetic friendly sweets recipe.

Ingredients :-

• 1/2 cup Rava
• 1/2 cup Wheat flour
• 2 Tb.spoon Golden flax seed meal.
• 20 packets of Truvia
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter.
• 20 Almonds - roughly chopped.
• 7-8 cashews - roughly chopped.
• 2 Tb.spoon - golden raisins.
• 1 Tb.spoon grated jaggery. (optional)
• 2 1/2 cup hot water.
• 8-10 cardamom - finely powdered
  

Method Of Making Sheera :-

1. Heat heavy bottom pot (Anodized works best) and melt half butter stick. Add Rava and wheat flour - mix well with butter. Maintain medium heat and keep stirring with wooden spoon for about 3-4 minutes.Add golden flax seed meal and cardamom powder - Mix well. On medium low heat roast rava and flour until it leaves nice aroma - about 8 minutes. Keep stirring at regular interval.Make sure heat is low and rava is not burnt.
   
2. Now add golden raisins, crushed cashews and almonds. Mix well and stir constantly for 2-3 minutes on medium low heat.Add 20 packets of Truvia and Mix well. Set medium heat.Keep stirring with wooden spoon..after 2-3 minutes Truvia will create little moisture in flour , reduce heat to low.
3. Now slowly add hot water in the pot.Be extra careful because as you pour hot water in the pot, it will sizzle,bubble and splash . After adding two and half cup of hot water, mix all well. Now flour consistency will turn like thick batter. Reduce heat to low. Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes.Cover with lid and let it cook for 2-3 minutes on very low heat.
4. Add 1 tb.spoon crushed jaggery and mix well . Cover with lid and allow it to cook for another 7-8 minutes...make sure heat is set to lowest temperature. Do stir at regular interval. Shut off the heat and keep it covered for another 7-8 minutes. Serve warm in bowl.

Note :-

• I used only half stick butter to comply with dietary restriction. In absence of dietary restriction.. increase it to 1 full butter stick and add little melted ghee at end stage for nice glaze and flavor.
  
• It is very hard to avoid after taste sensations of such sweeteners but adding little grated jaggery helped to take away that un-natural sugar taste.
  

Cheerful 2010.....

Thanks to all of my readers and visitors
You all have a great cooking and relishing moments....