Maat ki Phalli Khatta

Maat ki Phalli or cluster beans...I have a love hate relationship with them. I really crave them sometimes and sometimes I do not want to even see them. Right now I am going through the "loving it" phase and this is one of my fav recipes.

Maat Ki Phalli Khatta (Cluster beans in tamarind gravy)

Maat ki phalli khatta

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of cluster beans cut into 1 inch pieces
2. 2 cups of juice from a lime sized tamarind
3. 2 tablespoons rice flour
4. 1 tablespoon each of oil, roasted peanuts powder
5. 1/2 cup chopped red onion
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, turmeric, chopped garlic
7. 2 green chillies
8. few curry leaves

In a pressure cooker add the oil and heat it. Add cumin, urad dal, mustard seeds and curry leaves and fry till they start to splutter. Add onions and fry for 5 minutes. Add garlic and fry for a minute. Add cluster beans and fry for 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and close the cooker and cook for 3 whistles.

If you are not using cooker then cover and cook for 20 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with white rice and shrimp

Amaranth Shrimp fry (Dry peanut based leafy vegetable and Shrimp fry)

Thota kura Shrimp fry

Ingredients:

1. 2-3 cups chopped Amaranth leaves (Thota kura)
2. 12 oz medium shrimp peeled and deveined
3. 1 cup chopped onions
4. 2 tablespoon oil
5. ½ teaspoon each of salt, turmeric, urad dal, mustard seeds, chopped ginger, chopped garlic
6. 1 heaped teaspoon coriander powder
7. 2 dried red chillies

Dry roast

1. 2 tablespoons peanuts
2. 2 dried red chillies (reduce if you like less spicy)
3. Few curry leaves
4. 1 tablespoon dried coconut
5. 1 teaspoon cumin

Dry roast the ingredients under dry roast and let cool. Grind to a fine paste

In a pan heat the oil and add urad dal and mustard seeds along with broken chillies and curry leave. Fry for a minute. Add chopped onions and fry till they start turning brown. Add ginger and garlic pieces and fry for a minute. Add chopped thota kura and add salt and turmeric and cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add shrimp and all the other spices and cook for 10 minutes. Add ground peanut powder and mix well. Garnish with cilantro and serve with hot steamy rice

Pasta with Lamb and Mushroom

I started by thinking I will make Cheese steak pasta i.e pasta in white sauce along with lamb but what I ended by making was much more delicious and not as much cheesy. It just flew off the table

Pasta with Lamb and Mushroom

Pasta with Mushroom and Lamb

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb lamb cut into 1 cm pieces
2. 1 tablespoon each of olive oil, butter
3. 8 oz mushrooms sliced
4. 1 cup chopped fresh spinach
5. 1/2 cup chopped onions
6. 2-3 garlic pods chopped fine
7. 1 heaped table spoon flour
8. 1/4 tomato sauce
9. 1 cup each of water, milk
10. 1 chicken bouillon
11. 1/2 teaspoon each of cayenne pepper, salt, fresh ground black pepper, oregano, tarragon
12. 2.5 cups of your fav pasta cooked to al dente

Marinate the lamb with 1 little oil, salt and pepper for 20 minutes.

Heat a pan and fry the lamb for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. In the same pan add the rest of the oil and butter and fry the onions till 5 minutes. Add garlic and fry for a minute. Add mushrooms and spinach and fry for 6-7 minutes. Scoop them to one side of the pot and add the flour and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the tomato paste and all the rest of the ingredients and and simmer until the pasta is done. Add the drained pasta simmer for 5 more minutes. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese

Amaranth Mushroom fry

Happy new year every one...It has been one heck of an year 2017. I hope 2018 brings the best of everything for everyone and above all may there be world peace and less people getting dislocated from their homes, no matter what the cause.

Anyway, I got my favorite leafy vegetable when I went to the Indian stores and I wanted to make something which the kids will also eat without fussing because mushroom is their fav. And this dry curry is so delicious, I had to blog it fast before I would forget it. You should try and if possible please let me know.

Amaranth Mushroom fry (Dry peanut based leafy vegetable and mushroom fry)

Thota kura Mushroom fry

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups chopped Amaranth leaves (Thota kura)
2. 8 oz button mushrooms sliced
3. 1/3 cup chopped onions
4. 1 tablespoon oil
5. ½ teaspoon each of salt, turmeric, urad dal, mustard seeds, chopped ginger, chopped garlic
6. 1 heaped teaspoon coriander powder
7. 2 dried red chillies

Dry roast

1. 2 tablespoons peanuts
2. 2 dried red chillies (reduce if you like less spicy)
3. Few curry leaves
4. 1 tablespoon dried coconut
5. 1 teaspoon cumin

Dry roast the ingredients under dry roast and let cool. Grind to a fine paste

In a pan heat the oil and add urad dal and mustard seeds along with broken chillies and curry leave. Fry for a minute. Add chopped onions and fry till they start turning brown. Add ginger and garlic pieces and fry for a minute. Add chopped thota kura and add salt and turmeric and cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add mushrooms and all the other spices and cook for 10 minutes. Add ground peanut powder and mix well. Garnish with cilantro and serve with hot steamy rice

Pumpkin spice snowballs

I was searching for recipes for Christmas and I stumbled across this and the recipe is great. The taste is super delicious but the only issue I had is, my snow won't stick to the balls. Next time I will do more research and update the blog


Pumpkin spice snowballs 

Pumpkin spice snow balls

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
1/2 teaspoon each of nutmeg, ground or fresh grated ginger and allspice, salt

Preaheat oven to 375°.
Mix the butter with 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and vanilla  until fluffy. Add flour, salt, and all the spices.
Scoop 1 heaped teaspoon dough and make it into a ball and place on prepared cookie sheet.
Bake cookies for 7-8 minutes until bottoms are just slightly brown. Remove from oven and cool for just a few minutes, until you can handle them.
Fill a small bowl with the remaining 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and roll each cookie in the sugar until coated. Place on a rack to cool.  (Once cookies are cooled, you may want to re-roll them in more powdered sugar.)
Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to one month. (If you freeze them you’ll need to re-roll them in powdered sugar after defrosting.)

Coconut beet root chutney

My dear hubby really like coconut chutney. For the longest time after marriage I did not make it because I was more of a Peanut chutney . Then once I started making the coconut chutney, I keep mixing it with different things and they are all super yummy

Coconut Beet Root Chutney (Coconut and beet root dipping sauce for Idli)

Coconut Beet root chutney

Ingredients:

1. 1 cups fresh coconut pieces
2. 1-11/2 cup juice from a small lemon sized tamarind
3. 1 jalapeno or Serrano chilli chopped
4. 1 cup canned beet root drained
5. 1 teaspoon cumin divided
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of urad dal, chana dal (soaked in water for 10 minutes),  salt
7. 1/2 tablespoon oil
8. 1-2 dried red chillies broken
9. few curry leaves
10. 1 garlic pod chopped
11. 1 tablespoon oil divided

Heat 1/2 the oil in a pan and add the cumin, urad dal and chana dal and fry for a minute. Add the garlic pod and fry for a minute. Add the beet root and green chillies and fry for 5 minutes. Let it cool and grind together with coconut and salt with tamarind water into almost a smooth paste.

Optional:

 In a pan heat the oil and fry all the remaining things (for tempering) until they start to splutter. Add asafoetida at the end and fry for one more minute. Add this to the top of the coconut chutney. Enjoy with hot fluffy rice or idli or carrot idli or  dosa or Ravva Dosa or Gaarelu 

Black bean rice

Its a quick and delicious Sunday lunch and its super delicious. It is great for any cold evening and can be served with any kinds of meat you have on hand

Black Bean Rice (Spicy rice with black beans and corn)

Black bean and corn rice

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups long grain rice
2. 1 can black beans rinsed and drained
3. 1 cup corn (preferably from canned south western corn and bell pepper mix) drained
4. 1 tablespoon oil
5. 1/2 cup chopped onions
6. 1 large or 2 medium garlic chopped fine
7. 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
8. 1 chicken bouillion
9. 1 teaspoon cumin powder, coriander powder
10. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, fresh ground black pepper, cayenne pepper

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till they become translucent. Add garlic and fry for a minute. Add well drained corn and fry for a few minutes. Add beans and all the spices and mix well. Add 4-5 cups of water and bring to a rolling boil. Add rice and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is done. Garnish with a generous portion of chopped cilantro and lemon juice and enjoy

Eggless buns

I have been making these Tuna Buns for quite some time now and they are amazing. One weekend having no eggs on hand I had to look for recipe which would make buns without eggs and this recipe is great. And it makes such soft buns. So, if you have/eat eggs make the recipe with eggs otherwise go for eggless. They both are great

Eggless Buns

Eggless buns

Ingredients:

1 package dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup each of milk,
1/4 cup oil and sugar
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat flour

Tuna Filling Ingredients:

2 can tuna drained
1/4 cup each of sweet relish, mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
Mix all the ingredients for the tuna filling and set aside until ready to use

Add the yeast to the warm water and 2 teaspoon sugar and set aside for 10 minutes.
Heat the milk to warm and add sugar oil and salt and mix till sugar dissolves. Add 1 cup all purpose flour and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add the yeast mixture and the remaining flour and the wheat flour and mix well with your hands. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Oil and bowl and leave the kneaded dough in it covered with a kitchen towel in a warm place for about and 2 hours or until the dough more than doubles.

Once it doubles punch the dough down and knead for 2-3 minutes. Divide it into 12 equal parts. Flatten them into about 5 inch discs, add a heaped teaspoon of tuna filling and reshape them into balls. (My tuna filling was enough for 8 buns) (The rest I filled it up with a teaspoon each of strawberry jam in 2 and peach jam in 2). Leave the buns aside for 20 minutes

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the buns for 20-25 minutes. After 20 minutes brush the buns with oil and sprinkle with dried oregano and bake for 2-3 more minutes until golden brown. Let it cool for atleast 5 minutes before serving