Potato in yogurt gravy

Today was one of those super hot spring days... It was 95 degrees. On top of it I was pretty much up and about the whole day. And when I came back home in the evening I didn't want to spend loads of time in front of the hot stove. So I made a refreshing yogurt based gravy for potato and I served it with plain basmati rice. Yum yum super hit dinner ready

Potato curry in yogurt gravy

Ingredients

1.  2 medium potatoes boiled , peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2.  1 cup plain yogurt beaten
3. 1 tablespoon besan ( chick pea flour)
4. 1 table spoon oil
5. 1/2 tea spoon each of cumin, grated ginger, asafetida, turmeric, chopped green chillies
6. 1 teaspoon salt
7. Few curry leaves and 2 red chillies broken

In a heavy bottomed pan heat the oil ands fry the cumin till they start to splutter. Add curry leaves, red and green chillies and for 30 secs. Add ginger and fry half more minute. Add asafetida and fry for 30 seconds. Add besan and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the Ingredients along with 3 cups water, stir well to combine and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes, garnish with cilantro and enjoy with plain rice

Mixed veg curry for poori

After along time I made poori but this time I made it using the pillsbury mixed grain wheat flour. And frankly I expected them to come out hard and not so good. But they turned out nice and all airy

I made a mixed vegetable curry to go with it instead of the regular aloo Chana , all yummy and nutritious

Mixed vegetable curry
Ingredients
1. 1 large potato cut into 1 inch cubes
2. 1 large carrot cut into cubes
3. Half bunch or about 2 cups packed fresh spinach
4. 1/2 cup peas
5. 1/2 cup chopped onions
6.
1 tablespoon oil
7.1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, chilly powder, turmeric, ginger garlic paste
8. 3/4 teaspoon salt

In a pan heat the oil and add cumin and fry till they start spluttering. Add onions and fry till they start turning brown. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the rest of the ingredients stir to combine cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water and simmer for 5 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with roti or poori

Mint Idli

Mint Idli (Mint flavored steamed Lentil Dumplings)

Mint Idli

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup urad dal (peeled black gram)
2. 2 cups rice (If possible do not use Basmati)
3. 1 teaspoon salt
4. 2 cup mint leaves
5. 1/2 teaspoon oil, cumin
6. 1 green chilly
7. 1 inch ginger (optional)

Soak the Urad dal and rice in separate containers for atleast 6 hours (The morning before your intended day of eating Idlis works best). In the evening grind the rice and dal (separately....else the rice won't get ground) into a smooth and thick paste with as little water as possible. Add salt and mix the batter well and set on the counter overnight
Mom's tip: Add 1/4 cup of cooked rice while grinding. This enhances the fermentation process and Idlis turn out fluffier

In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin till they splutter. Add the green chilly and ginger and the mint leaves and fry covered  for 5-7 minutes. Let it cool and grind it to a smooth paste. Add it to the batter


In the morning of your special idli day, take the idli patra (this is a special dish to make idlis) if you don't have it, get some banana leaves add some batter to it and close them and steam them. I am assuming you have an idli patra. Greece the individual idli things and drop some batter in it and steam cook idlis for 20 minutes. After the steam escapes from the cooker. Open and let the patras cool a bit. With a big spoon scoop up the idlis and serve warm with ghee on top, and chutneys or plain if you are serving them to kids. 

Konkani chicken with mirchi ka salan

I was thinking of a friend of mine who is Konkani. Once when I went to lunch at her home she made the most unique dishes I ever ate. It was a curry made of fruits. She gave me the recipe but I never made it.
              But thinking of her made me think of Konkani chicken curry and I found it at the vah  re vah website. I made it and it was fantastic. It turned out even better in the evening. I served it with white rice and a very different kind of a mirchi ka Salan . If you want the authentic Hyderabadi mirchi ka Salan Click Here

Konkani chicken curry (chicken in coconut based gravy)
Ingredients

1. 1 lb chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
2. 1 inch cinnamon broken
3. 2 cloves
4. Few curry leaves
5. 1 heaped teaspoon ginger garlic paste
6. 1 medium large onion chopped
7. 3 tablespoons oil
8. 1 teaspoon or more salt divided
9. 2 green chillies chopped
10. 1/2 cur desiccated coconut dry roasted
11. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
12. 2 tablespoons Konkani masala
13. 1 tableSpoon tomato paste (optional)

Konkani masala

Ingredients

1. Coriander Seeds - 1 tbsp
   Bengal Gram - 2 tbslp
   Rice - 2 teaspoon
   Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon
   Aniseed or fennel seeds (saunf) -1 teaspoon 
   6 dried red chillies
   
   
   
   For Konkani masala:
   1. Dry Roast each ingredients, individually
   2. Cool and grind.
   3. Store in an airtight jar and use as required.
   
   In a flat pan heat the oil and fry the cinnamon, cloves and curry leaves for a minute. Add the onions and 1/2 teaspoon salt and fry till they become crispy. Add green chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add tomato paste if using and fry for a couple of minutes. Add turmeric and 

For the Konkani Curry

In a non stick pan heat the oil and add the cinnamon, cloves and curry leaves and fry for a minute. 

Add the onions and 1/2 teaspoon salt and fry till it becomes crispy. Add the green chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the Konkani masala and turmeric and stir to combine and fry for a minute. Add tomato paste if using and fry for a couple of minutes. Add chicken and stir to combine and cover and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the rest of the salt and 1/2 cup of water and simmer 10 more minutes. Add the roasted coconut and stir and simmer for Couple more minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy

Mirchi Ka Salan (Bell pepper in a creamy coconut gravy)

Shimla Mirchi ka Sallan

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 of each of 2 or 3 different colored bellpepper cut at an angle
2. 2 tablespoons groundnuts/peanuts dry roasted
3. 1 teaspoon melon or sun flower seeds or almonds dry roasted
4. 1 tablespoon thick juice of tamarind
5. 1/2 cup thick coconut milk, plain yogurt beaten
6. few curry leaves
7. 2 bay leaves
8. 1/2 teaspoon cumin, mustard seeds
9. 1 tablespoon oil
10. 1 inch cinnamon
11. 1 teaspoon garam masala
12. 3 dried red chillies
13. 1/2 teaspoon chilly powder, turmeric
14. 1 teaspoon salt

In a deep bottomed pan heat the oil and fry the curry leaves and bay leaves for a minute. Add the cinnamon, cumin, dried red chillies  and mustard seeds and fry till they splutter. Add garam masala, chilly powder and turmeric and ground peanuts and the other seeds (almonds or sun flower or melon). Add bell pepper and fry for 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Mix the yogurt and coconut milk and add to the pot and simmer for 5-7 more minutes. Serve it with white rice

Flying Lemon Hearts Cookies

I love Shortbread cookies. These are so great and so easy and super fast to make. I made a different flavor of these cookies and since my kids were at home I made them my Sous Chefs. Needless to say these lemon flavored shortbread cookies I made just flew off the cookie sheet and I had no chance to even put it into a plate or a storage container

Lemon Shortbread Cookies (Lemon Flavored Eggless cookies)

lemon shortbread cookies

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups all purpose flour
2. 3/4 cup each of white sugar, butter
3. 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
4. 1 heaped teaspoon orange Tang (Optional)
5. A pinch of salt

Cream the butter and sugar . Add the other ingredients and mix well into a dough. Roll the dough on a floured surface into about 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick sheet. Cut it into your favorite cookie shape.

Pre heat oven to 325 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes on the middle rack. Let cool a little bit and enjoy

Cajun grilled Tilapia

The last couple of times I made fish it didn't taste good. My brother The Cook thinks it may be because the market people may be thawing frozen fish and selling it as fresh. So I stopped buying fish from that particular store. I got Tilapia fillets from Costco today and I wanted to make Cajun seasoned grilled tilapia. Since I did not have any store bought seasoning hence I searched for the recipe and made the Cajun seasoning myself and it turned out pretty good. The original recipe is from Allrecipes website . I did not add salt to the mix and also the red pepper flakes. So that I CBS make my fish/ chicken with how much salt and spice I want

Cajun seasoning mix

Cajun Seasoning

Ingredients:

1. 2 teaspoons garlic powder
2. 21/2 teaspoons paprika
3. 1 teaspoon each of black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper
4. 11/4 teaspoon each of fried oregano, dried Thyme

Mix all the ingredients together and store in an air tight container


Cajun Grilled Tilapia (Tilapia grilled with homemade Cajun seasoning)

Cajun Seasoned Tilapia

Ingredients:

1. 4 Tilapia fillets washed and wiped dry
2. 1 heaped tablespoon Cajun Seasoning
3. 3/4 teaspoon salt
4. 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Divide the seasoning, salt and red pepper flakes among the fish fillets for both sides. Let me marinate for 30 minutes. Heat a stove top grill and spray it with cooking spray. Grill for 5 minutes on each side. Serve with brown rice and steamed broccoli

Cajun Tilapia Dinner

Focaccia with Bisquick

The first time at came across Focaccia , I didn't know what to make of it. I found it in Trader Joe's store and I got it. Pretty expensive but I loved it. Last night  we went out for dinner and guess what I had. A Focaccia sandwich with Steak. It was delicious.

I have been thinking of making Focaccia for a long time now and today I found a recipe using Bisquick. Since I already have a big box of Bisquick which I am not using for pancakes cause the pancakes with bisquick are too dry for my taste, I have to somehow use the mix. I tried the recipe and its super easy and fast and super delicious. I think I found a way to use up my Original Bisquick Mix

Focaccia with Bisquick (Pizza like bread with original Bisquick Mix)

Unbaked Focaccia

Olive and Sundried Bisquick Focaccia

Focaccia with Bisquick

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups original Bisquick mix
2. 2 teaspoons garlic powder
3. 1/2 cup hot water
4. 2 tablespoons spicy burgundy olives (or any color you like/have)
5. 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary crushed
6. 1 heaped teaspoon sun-dried tomatoes chopped fine
7. 2 teaspoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°F.

 In medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix, garlic powder and sun-dried tomatoes and water until stiff dough forms. Let stand 5 minutes.

Knead the dough for 60 times

Press or roll dough into a 10X7 inch oval or 8 inch circle. Press the olive pieces into the dough and sprinkle with rosemary. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes. 

Brush with olive oil and serve as an appetizer or with a soup for a hearty dinner