Leftover Turkey Wontons

So...it is the day after Thanksgiving and time to search for recipes for leftover turkey. Even though I only got a 13 lb turkey about 1/3 of it remained. I guess there were just too many other dishes and even when you are just having only a little of all the dishes you still fill up. But I am proud to say most of my dishes were gone and you know what they say "the proof of the pudding is in the eating"
                  Anyway, here is one recipe with left over turkey. And instead of frying the wontons I baked them and they turned out pretty yummy but with lot fewer calories.

Left Over Turkey Wontons (Turkey stuffed wontons baked to perfection)

Baked Turkey wontons with Thai Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:

1. 1 package ready made wontons wrappers (I have round 50 count)
2. 2 cups cooked turkey chopped fine
3. 1/4 cup onion
4. 1/4 cup finely shredded carrot
5. 2 tablespoons sweet and spicy sauce
6. 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
7. 1 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds

Mix all the ingredients except wonton wrappers in a boil. Lay one wonton on a clean surface and place 1 teaspoon of stuffing in the center. Wet the wonton around with a finger dipped in water. Lay over with another wonton on top of the filling. Press all around and lay on a greaced baking sheet. Brush the top of the wontons with canola oil or butter

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and put the wontons into the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn the wontons and leave it in the oven (after shutting it down) for 5 more minutes. Let them cool a bit before serving with sauce of your choice 

Sweet Potato Pie

Today being Thanksgiving I made a delicious assorment of dishes for the family and friends to enjoy. And ofcourse no meal is complete without a dessert. And thr dessert for today is the all time favourite Sweet Potato Pie.
                   This was a alternate choice for me, as my first choise for today's pie was pumpkin but I went shopping a bit late and by that time, the store I went to was completely empty of any canned pumpkins as well as fresh pumpkins. I know...UNBELIEVABLE. But, its true and luckily I had some sweet potatoes at hand. And they make a sweeeeeet Sweet Potato Pie

Sweet Potato Pie (Sweet potato mix baked in a home made pie crust)

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients for Pie Crust:

1. 1 cup all purpose flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon salt
3. 2 tablespoons brown sugar
4. 1/2 cup chilled butter (put the butter in the freezer for 15 minutes before use)
5. 1/4 cup chilled water

Mix the flour with salt and sugar and stir in chilled butter. Add 1 teaspoon water at a time and mix the dough till it comes together. make it into a ball and wrap in a plactic sheet and refridgerate for 30-60 minutes. Add some flour on a clean counter top and roll the dough into 1/4 inch thick pie crust. Add this to a pie pan.

The recipe is for one 9 inch pie crust
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Pie:

1. 1 lb sweet potatoes boiled in a cooker for 3 whistles.
2. 2 eggs
3. 1/2 cup milk
4. 2/3 cup sugar
5. 1/2 cup butter
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, ground nutmeg, vanilla essence

peel the sweet potato and mash them with a fork and let it cool. After it comes to room temperature add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Add it to the pic crust and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until a tooth pick or a knife inserted into the pie comes out clean.
Serve warm or at room temperature or cold with ice cream or whipped cream

Bharwan Baingan aur Khatti dal maat ki bhaji

 The dishes I made today are among my most favourite dishes. They  say anybody you meet will either love eggplant or hate it. Its true!!! There are hardly any people I know who are just 'ok' with eggplant. And whoever loves eggplant loooooves this dish. Make it and see for yourself. This is a stuffed eggplant recipe called bharahuva baingan or bharwan baingan or masala baingan.
                       I am serving the above dish with fluffy white rice and Amaranth leaves and lentils...thotakura pappu pulusu. This is a different recipe from the regular Thotakoora Pappu

Bharwan Baingan (Indian eggplant stuffed with spiced onion paste and shallow fried)

Stuffed eggplant

Ingredients:

1. 6 Indian purple eggplants
2. 1 medium onion
3. 1/2 -1 inch fresh ginger
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of roasted cumin, salt, chilly powder, turmeric, coriander powder
5. 1 teaspoon dry roasted sesame seeds
6. 2 tablespoons dry roasted peanuts
7. 1/2 teaspoon salt
8. 2 tablespoons oil

Grind ingredients 2 to 6 with one or two teaspoons of water into a smooth paste. Wash the eggplants and make two vertical slits in the eggplant reaching about 3/4 length. They would look like a + sign. Heat oil in a wide pan . Stuff the masala into both the slits in the eggplant and drop it in the hot oil. repeat with all the eggplants. Fry on all four sides for  two minutes on each side. Add the remaining masala to the pan and cover and fry for 5-7 minutes. Add the salt and 1/4 cup water and cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the eggplants are tender and oil separates. Garnish with cilantro and serve

Khatti Dal Maat ki Bhaji (Sour lentils and Amaranth leaves)

Khatti Dal Maat ki bhaji

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup toor dal
2. 1 cup maat ki bhaji chopped roughly
3. 1 big tomato chopped
4. 2 cups juice from a small lime sized tamarind
5. 1 green chilly
6. 3/4 teaspoon salt
7. 2 teaspoons oil
8. 1 garlic pod chopped
9. 1/2 teaspoon each cumin, mustard seeds, hing (ajinomoto) (asafetida), turmeric
10. 2 dried red chilies broken
11. few curry leaves

Pressure cook the dal with Amarand leaves and tomato and turmeric for 4 whistles. After all the steam escapes open the cooker and mash the dal. Add the tamarind water and green chillies and bring to a boil. Let it boil for about 10 minutes. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the cumin and mustard seeds and dried red chillies and fry for a couple of minutes. Add garlic, curry leaves and fry for a couple of more minutes. Add hing and fry for a minute. Add this to the dal and boil for 5 minutes. Serve

Kacchi imli Machli Khatta

The other day I went to the Indian stores and guess what I found? Probably you can't guess...or may be you did guess right, looking at the heading of this particular blog. I found "Kacchi Imli" i.e fresh Tamarind. I haven't had that in ages. My mom used to make this fish stew with fresh tamarind seldom cause it causes you to catch a cold.   And me and my mom had a tendency to caught cold very easily. But still I loved it.
                    And today for the first time in my life I made this fish stew with fresh tamarind and boy does it bring back memories of my mom's cooking. mmm...how I miss her!!!
                   Anyway, if ever you get a chance to to buy some fresh tamarind do make this recipe. Its terrific.

Kacchi Imli Machli Khatta ( Mini pomfret stew with fresh tamarind)

Chintakaaya Chapala Pulusu

Ingredients:

1. 6 mini pomfrets (heads off and cleaned)
2. 1 medium small red onion
3. 1 inch fresh ginger
4. 1 big or 2 small garlic
5. 2 tablespoons oil
6. 1/3-1/2 lb fresh tamarind (peeled and pitted)
7. 1/2 teaspoon salt, chilly powder, turmeric, coriander powder, cumin

Grind the onion along with ginger and garlic and cumin to a fine paste. 

In a pressure cooker, pressure cook the tamarind for 4-5 whistles with a cup of water and turmeric.

In a pan heat the oil and add the onion paste and fry for a couple of minutes. Add all the other ingredients and stir well. Add the fish and fry for a few minutes. Mash the tamarind a little and add this juice and pulp to the fish along with one more cup of water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add slit green chillies and chopped coriander (cilantro) and simmer further till oil separates. Serve with hot white rice

Murgh Mirch Masala

For some reason its been quite some time ago that I made chicken.  I guess I just got bored with it. For some reason you can get bored with boneless, skinless chicken breast soooo easily. There is really not enough flavor in it. Its great if you are feeding little kids but I guess for adults drumsticks or bone-in chicken thighs would be great.
         Anyway, my opinion aside, I made this chicken with capsicum or bell pepper gravy which turned out to be super delicious. This is a very yummy curry which goes very well with any kind of Indian roti or even with any kind of rice.

Murgh Mirch Masala (Chicken breast with bell pepper in a spicy tomato gravy)

Chicken Capsicum Gravy

Ingredients:

1. 2 chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin, turmeric
3. 2 inches ginger peeled
4. 1 medium red onion
5. 1 green chilly
6. 1 bell pepper (whatever color you have at hand...yellow or red would be great)
7. 2 tablespoons oil
8. 1/4 cup milk
9. 1 8oz can tomato sauce
10. 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves

Marinate the chicken with salt, chilly powder, turmeric and coriander powder for atleast 30 minutes.
Grind the onion along with ginger and cumin into a fine paste.
Heat oil in a pan and add the ground onion paste and fry till it turns light brown. Add the chicken and fry for 10 minutes until it starts getting brown. Add bay leaf and cloves and tomato sauce and stir to combine. Add 1/2 cup water and cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add milk and capsicum and simmer further for 5-7 minutes till oil separates. Garnish with cilantro and serve

Bengali Rasgulla from Scratch

When we wanted to eat Rasgulla in India we just go to any sweet stall and we get great rasgulla but here in the USA sometimes they are fresh sometimes not. I have been wanting to eat Rasgulla and I couldn't find them anywhere in the Indian sweet stores here and finally I got a canned Cham Cham (I am not sure what the difference is between chamcham and Rasgulla) but they were a dissapointment. They were so hard in the middle
                    So I want to http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/ and got the recipe for Rasgullas form scratch and they turned out to be great. So here is the recipe and if you want to watch the video of how to make it, click on the link above

Fresh Homemade Paneer (Home made Cottage Cheese)
Ingredients:

1. 5 cups whole or 2 percent milk
2. 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
3. 1 tablespoon water

Mix the water and lemon juice and set aside. Bring the milk to a boil and add the the lemon juice and keep boiling and stirring for a minute. Strain using a cheese cloth. Water the fat in the cloth with with running water to remove the lemon taste. Remove as much water a possible. Use it in your favourite recipes.


Bengali Rasgulla (Fresh cheese balls in sugar syrup)

Homemade Rasgulla

Ingredients:

1. Fresh Cheese or paneer (made above)
2. 4 cups water
3. 11/4-11/2 cups cane sugar
4. a pinch saffron (optional)

Knead the paneer on a clean surface for 5-7 minutes until all of it comes together. Mix the saffron if using. Divide it into 12-14 pieces. (Mind the size because when cooked these balls of cheese will double in size). Apply a little pressure and roll each piece into a ball between your palms
Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a pressure cooker. Add the paneer balls and cover the cooker and cook for 1 whistles. After one minute slowly remove the steam (but lifting the weight of the cooker very slowly...BE VERY CAREFUL). Transfer the rasgullas into a sereving bowl and chill in the refridgerator for atleast 2 hours. Serve your delicious home made Indian desert

Maharastrian Fish stew

I was seaching for some fish curry with lots of sauce or fish stew to go with the Roti cause I didn't want to make rice today and I found this "hirva" fish curry from Maharastra. And I also got the Kokum the recipe called for but I was not sure how tangy this kokum is. It is sour like tamarind and I am pretty sure you can substitute tamarind juice in this curry and it will taste just a little different.
                Anyway, the thing that I really liked about Kokum is its flowery smell. mmm something about that was good. I liked it. So here is the recipe

Maharastrian Fish Stew (Fish fillet stew in Coconut and Indian Spices)

Maharastrian Green Fish Stew

Ingredients:

1. 3 boneless skinless fillet of Tilapia or Swai fish cut into bite size pieces
2. 1/4 cup fresh coconut pieces
3. 1 jalapeno or 2 serrano chile
4. 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
5. 1 teaspoon turmeric
6. 4-6 dried kokum  soaked in 3/4 cup of  hot-warm water for atleast 20 minutes. Remove the seeds
7. 1/2 teaspoon salt
8. 1 medium onion finey chopped
9. 2 garlic pods
10. 2 tablespoons oil
11. 1 cup coconut milk (optional)

Grind the coconut, chile, cilantro, garlic and kokum and grind it to paste. In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till light brown. Add the paste and fry till oil separates. Add about 2 cups water or 1 cup water and 1 cup coconut milk if using. Add the fish and simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and give it a taste test. Stir and serve with warm roti . And this goes very well with hot steamed rice