Nutty Dates Square / Khajoor ki Barfi

Contrary to other sweets,this one is really nutritious with great taste...Sweetness comes from dates..you can use some sugar if you like verry sweet.It is very soft in texture..some coconut can be added if your mixture is very soft.

INGREDIENTS
(12 pieces)

12-15 Dates(d-seeded)
1.5 Cup Mixed Dry Nuts
2 Green Cardamoms
1/2 Cup Coconut
1/4 Cup Water
1 tbsp Ghee


DIRECTIONS

• Soak dates in water for 1 hour.Rinse and make fine paste.
• Heat ghee in non stick pan.add date paste and cook for 10 minutes.It will become glossy and dough like.
• Mix in chopped nuts and cardamom powder.
• spread on greased plate.spread evenly coconut powder on top.
• Cut in desired shape.

# You can add coconut powder in date mixture too.it will make your mixture tighter.

Choco-Cherry Cake

Pankaj has brought a box full of preserved cherries some days back..and again m leaving home for quite sometime. :P I didn't want to make some fancy cake like black forest or something..but wanted to use all cherries.So,finally decided to try something new and here is my Choco -Cherry Cake !

It was very moist and dense chocolate cake. I also sprinkled some rum syrup over hot cake which made it even softer(which i loved it.) :P

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup All purpose Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Dark chocolate chunks
2tbsp Coco Powder
12 Cherries(de-seeded)
1/2 Cup Strong Coffee
1tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp Salt
3/4 Cup Oil
1 Egg
1tsp Vanila Essence


DIRECTIONS

• Take cherries with 2tbsp of sugar and half cup of water in a pan.Put on heat and let come to boil,simmer and let it cook for another 5 minutes.Let it cool down.
• Preheat oven on 180'C.
• Seive together flour,coco powder,salt,baking powder and soda in a bowl.
• Whisk together butter and suger untill light than add egg and whisk another 2-3 minutes.
• Melt the chocolate over hot water.Let it come on room temprature than mix it in egg-butter-sugar mixture.
• Now mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients properly.
• Mix in cherry sugar mixture,coffee and vanila essence.
• Transfer the batter in greesed 6inch pan.
• Bake it for around 30 minutes or untill skewer comes out clean from center.
• If you like you can spread some rum syrup* over hot cake.

# Cake batter must not be thin.Otherwise cherries will simply sink down to the bottom.
## For Rum syrup make sugar syrup of 2tbsp sugar and 2tbsp water than add 4-5 tbsp rum in it.

Karachi Halwa

This halwa is basically from mughal cuisine which used to be made for emperors ! This is quit different kind of indian sweet..texture wise its strechy shewy unlike other soft indian sweets,Also it is made of cornflour rather than milk.

Karachi Halwa(some call it Bombay halwa too) is my sister's favorite and she can have box full all alone !I never thought its that easy to make with just couple of ingredients..It could be made with arrowroot flour too but i haven't tried that yet.

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup Cornflour

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 tsp Lemon juice

2 tbsp Ghee

2 Cup Water

1/2 Cup Chopped Dry Nuts

2 Cardamom(powdered)

1tsp Red Colour

DIRECTIONS

• Mix cornflour with 1.5 Cup Water.
• Take sugar with remaining half cup of water in non deap stick pan.Put in on heat and make syrup.Switchoff the heat.
• Mix cornflour with sugar syrup.Place on medium heat again and keep stirring.

• it will get thicken gradually,add colour and In 8-10 minutes it will start become like dough.
• Now add 1tbsp of ghee and stirr..it will take few minutes to get absorbed.Now add remaining ghee and mix till it get absorbed fully.

• Finally add nuts and cardamom powder.Keep stirring untill you get shiny dough.

• Remove from heat.Spread it on greesed pan with wet spatuala. Let it set for an hour.
• Cut in desired shape and serve.

# You can mark pieces and press whole cashew/almond in each center of piece.

## DON'T add all ghee atonce otherwise you not be able to incorporate it with halwa.

### Instead of lemon juice tatri(pea size) or citric acid can also be used.

Firey Hot Fried Chicken

This one is another style of my fried chicken..simply delicious !!!! and so so easy to make...  and as always i burned fried chicken over flame for few seconds to get that crispy n burnt smell !! Also it can be bake  instead of frying.

U can see the juices oozing out ! 

Make sure u start frying on high heat..than cook on medium heat..by this way only you will seal the juices  inside as well as crispy skin.

Now without further ado,here i present my firely hot fried chicken :

INGREDIENTS

1 Chicken (in 8 pieces)
2 Green chilies
1tbsp ginger garlic paste
1tbsp Green coriander leaves
1tsp chili powder
1tbsp Vineger
1Lemon juice
10-12 Black pepper
1/2tsp Garam Masala powder
Salt to taste
Refined Oil for deep frying

DIRECTIONS

• Clean and pat dry chicken.Make slits in chicken pieces.
• Take all ingredients in blender and make fine paste.
• Mix all marinade paste on chicken and rub over all pieces.Keep marinated chicken in fridge for at least 1 hour (more is better).
• Heat oil in heavy bottom pan.Drop 3 pieces at a time on high heat when oil is hot.
• After 2 minutes,when you get golden colour,turn heat to medium.
• Cook both side for 4-5 minutes.
• Remove from oil and place them over tissue paper.Sprinkle some chili flacks for extra kick if you like.
• Enjoy hot with lemon wedges and onion rings.

# Adjust chilies as per your taste buds.If like milder taste,remove seeds from them.
## You can use only chicken thighs instead of all pieces of chicken.

Kaju Katli

Kaju katli has always been one of the favorite and famous sweet in north India and you can always find it in our house specially during Rakhi festival as my brother only eat this sweet ! :P

This time i was totally out of time to buy sweet from market due to high load of work also it was tough to get pure kaju katli in Pune,where we live.So,i decided to make it at home..luckily i was having this recipe in my draft.

This sweet is surprisingly very easy to make ! Just getting sugar syrup right is bit crucial..it was exactly same like store brought.So,i strongly recommend to try this at-least once.

INGREDIENTS
(12 pieces)

1 Cup Cashew/Kaju(at room temprature)
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Cardamom pods
3tbsp Water
2tbsp Milk

Directions

• Make fine paste of cashew by grinding for 1 minutes.DON'T over grind otherwise it will become mushy..(If it happens dont worry much,u just have to use more strength while mixing it with sugar syrup).
• Heat sugar and water in nonstick pan and make 1string consistency syrup(very important).
• Add cashew paste and cardamom powder and keep stirring untill it become dough like consistency.Remove from heat and transfer this dough on flat surface/platform.
• As soon as its temprature comes down,start kneading it like dough.If dry add milk a little.
• Knead atleast for 5 minutes.
• Now take a greased surface and put the dough in center.Roll it like chapati into desired thickness and let it cool down completely.
• Cut in desired shape and store in dry place.

# Use milk only if dough is dry.
## Adding milk will reduce the shelf life of katli. 
### Kneading the dough is very important to get smooth texture.

Yakhni Pulao

This dish belongs to Awadhi cuisine,generated in Lucknow...Awadhi cuisine is very similar to Kashmiri and mughal one...From there 'Yakhni' means mutton stock..so this itself give the fair idea about this dish.Basically its rice cooked in spicy n rich mutton stock.

This Pulao was always in my mystry list during childhood time..but as time passed it kinda slipped from my memory :( ..Suddenly few days back i read this name while reading some celebrity interview..that time itself i become totally restless to try my hand into this..Finally yesterday i was able to made this..and the result ....OMG it was sooooooo gud !! the one n only dish which can stand firm with Biryani ! :P My personal Note : its a must have for any true mutton lover :D

This dish tend to be greasy as its mutton..So i used a trick to get rid of that mutton fat.After straining the stock i simply took a bread slice and slowly slip over the stock..by this way bread soaked all the fat from the surface. B-)

DIRECTIONS

2 Cup Basmati Rice
1/2 Kg Mutton(shoulder pieces with bone)
2 Onion
8 Garlic cloves
1" Ginger
3 Dried Red Chilies
3 Green Chilies
3 Black Cardamoms
4 Green Cardamoms
1tsp Cumin Seeds
1" Cinnamon Stick
10 Black Pepper
8 Cloves
1/8 part of Nutmeg
1/2 Flower of Mace
2 tbsp Ghee

INGREDIENTS

• Soak rice in water for atleast 2 hours.
• Heat 1tbsp ghee in heavy bottom pan/Pressure cooker.Fry mutton pieces till they turn whitish in colour.
• Add all whole spices and 1tsp salt,1 Onion(cut in four pieces),garlic(crushed),ginger(chopped) with 3 Cups of Water.Cook till mutton is cooked but not falling from bone.Now remove from heat and let it cool down a bit.
• Take mutton pieces from gravy carefully.Strain the stock and discard the spices and veggies.

• Now you will get about 2.5 Cup of stock.and cooked mutton pieces.
• Heat remaining 1tbsp ghee in deep heavy bottom pan.Fry cooked mutton pieces on high heat each side for a minute.Remove from pan.
• There will be plenty of oil in pan in that add finely slices onion and let it fry till it turns brown.Mix in soaked and drained rice and fry for another minute.
• Add the mutton stock in pan.Carefully mix in mutton pieces.Close the lid and let it cook for 15 minutes.
• Now switch off the heat remove lid and cover it with cotton cloth and press over the lid again.Let it steam for another 15 minutes.
• Serve hot with curd or gravy.

#You can adjust salt as per your taste buds.
## Steaming with cloth after cooking will give you very light and non sticky pulao.

Hara Murg / Green Chicken

Even if i am not able to update my recipe here often,i try to click some pictures when ever i cook something new for my team..  This dish i cooked some days back in our dinner.just tried to make something different and actually green dish 

The result was ultimate..i thoroughly loved it and gonna make it again n again n again.. !!Best part is its got green veggies with very less oil,which makes it healthy for us 

So here is my Hara Murg/Green chicken...

INGREDIENTS

1 Kg Chicken
1bowl Fenugreek/Methi leaves(finely chopped)
2 bowl Spinach/Palak Leaves
3tbsp Coriander leaves
4-5 Green Chilies
1 Onion(finely chopped)
1tbsp Ginger-Garlic Paste(fresh)
 1tsp Coriander Powder
1tsp Turmeric Powder
1tsp Cumin Seeds
1/2tsp Garam Masala
2tbsp Oil
Salt to taste


DIRECTIONS

• Boil Spinach in 1/2 Cup water. Make puree with green coriander,chilies.
• Heat oil in Heavy bottom pan.Saute cumin and onions for 3-4 minutes.
• Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for another 1 minutes.
• Add Chicken and fry on high heat till it gets white n brown.Mix in powdered spices(except salt) and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
• Mix in chopped fenugreek leaves,close the lid and let it cook for 5 minutes on low heat.
• Add half of spinach-coriander puree and salt.Close the lid again and let it cook for another 5 minutes(or till its tender)
• Add remaining puree and cook on high heat till you get gravy of desired consistency.

# You can use chopped spinach instead of puree..But puree gives a silky texture to gravy.
## DON'T puree Fenugreek leaves.
### Adding puree in batches will make gravy greener and thick.
#### Frying chicken on high heat will seal the moisture inside.

Til Modak / Ellu Kozukattai

After very long time i am hereagain ,posting something.. that means i am back at my home for some days again ! :) As i travel a lot now a days, i got another fever of buying different regional and traditional utensils from different part of our country...this time i was back with some bamboo, modak making mold and some bamboo spatula ! :)

Now coming to the point,this post is again the entry of SNC Challenge which need no introduction in our blogging world ! I simply love this event from core of my heart..but due to work load i was not able to participate last months..but this time i can't miss.


As soon as i got the mail of North team challenge i jumped with joy as i was about make Modak anyway( due to my newly brought modak mold ) :P and addition of sesame ( til ) has given me another reason to make it asap !

 

While making these dumplings i was thinking that in all our regions of India we make similar kind of sweets..like with same ingredients in North-East we make Pitha (which bytheway i simply adore :P ),in Maharashtra its Modak and in south same modak gets another name Kozukattai !

This month challenge is given by Viji as Ellu Poorna Kozukattai or Til Modak.For stuffing i followed her exact method but for cover i make as i make usually.

INGREDIENTS
(15 modaks)

For Stuffing:
 1/3 Cup Jaggery
1/4 Cup Coconut(shredded)
1/3 Cup Sesame (Black/White)
2 Pods Cardamoms
2 tbsp Water

For Cover:
1 Cup Rice Flour
1tsp Ghee/Oil
1/2+1/4 Cup Water
Pinch of salt


DIRECTIONS

For Cover:

• Mix flour with 1/4 cup of hot water and salt.
• Boil 1/2 cup of water with 1 tsp of oil.ghee.Add flour and keep whisking it will you get soft dough like consistency,
• Remove from heat and let it rest for 5 minutes.

For Filling:

• Roast sesame seeds for couple of minutes and grind it into a coarse powder.
• Melt jeggery with water and sieve it.Again bring it to boil than add coconut and cardamom.
• As soon as it start bubbling again switch off the heat and mix in the sesame.

Assembling:

• Take small size of dough in your hand,make a flat circular shape.Put 1/2 tsp of stuffing in center and pinch all edges together on top of it covering from all sides.
• Prepare all Modaks similarly.
• Stream them for 7-8 minutes on high heat.They will become translucent after getting cooked.
• Serve hot !

# Cover each Modak by moist napkin while making it to avoid cracks.
## Keep stirring rice flour while cooking to avoid lumps.
### I used white sesame seeds but you can use black one too.

Mango Kulfi

As it high time for mangoes..The other evening i was roaming in my gallery and wondering what could i make other then smoothie,shake and suddenly heard bell ringing on the street of our kulfiwala..So,suddenly strikes in my mind why not mango Kulfi !! So,searched and tried which is way too easy to make..It was so easy that It can be my quick fix for some sudden dinner party in future

It was really silky in texture and was really milt in your mouth kulfi !! I was not having molds but who cares  i simple freezed it in plastic box and scooped from it at the time of serving....So without further ado,here is my Mango Kulfi...

INGREDIENTS
(3 Servings)

2 Mangoes (pureed)
1/2 Cup Condensed Milk
1.5 Cup Milk(Whole fat)
2 Cardamom (powdered)
1/8 tsp Saffron Strands
2tbsp Crushed Dryfruits (roasted)


DIRECTIONS

• Heat milk in heavy bottom pan.Simmer on medium heat till it gets half .
• Remove milk from heat.Mix in all other ingredients.
• You can blend it in a blender.
• Sieve the mixture in a bowl and let it cool down completely.
• Pour in bow or Ice-cream mold.Freeze it for 6-7  hours or untill its hard enough.
• While serving you can top it with some fresh mangoes or nuts.

# Condensed milk was enough sweet for us...You can add some sugar for sweeter Kulfi or in case mangoes are not very much sweet.

Chettinad Pakoda Kuzhambu

Well as of now maximum of all bloggers know about SNC Challenge where with every month we get a dish to prepare team wise..as North team we got this very dish as challenge this very month from Priya from priyaeasytastyrecipe.

You can check out the recipe here

This dish is very similar to our Shahi Kofte,main difference is coconut in pakodas  .. Anyway i liked this and ll definitely gonna make it again.Thanks Priya for such challenge ! 

I am not writing the recipe here as i haven't changed much in hers.. just reduced the spices as per my tastebuds..

# Keep pakoda batter bit rough otherwise it will become hard afterwards.
## I garnished my gravy with some chopped tomatoes.

Oats Cake with coconut glaze

 

Well if you got giant sweet tooth like me and a baking bug in your head than you got to keep eye on what you do in kitchen ..Now a days i try to experiment with healthier ingredients..Right now my total attention os on Oats  ( as i need to finish packet full before leaving home for another trip )

Some days back i prepared savory oats now it time for some baking with them... Over internet i found some idea about cake with coconut topping...I changed many things in it and came up with my very own cake totally healthy as it contain oats,whole wheat flour,brown/white sugar,milk with no butter !

A warm slice !

The cake was really moist,light and crumbly..I made it very light sweet as glaze compensate the sweetness..But you can adjust the sweetness as per your buds.

INGREDIENTS
(6' Cake)

3/4 Cup Oats(quick)
1 Cup Whole Wheat flour
1/2 Cup Sugar(white/brown)
1tsp Vanila essence
1tsp Baking powder
1/8 tsp Baking Soda
1 Egg
2tbsp Oil
1/2 Cup Milk

For Coconut Glaze
1tbsp Butter
2tbsp Cream
1tbsp Milk
2-3 Tbsp Roast coconut flacks
2tbsp Sugar


DIRECTIONS

• Preheat the oven on 180'C.
• Mix oats and oil together in a bowl and add boiled milk in it.Let it rest for 10 minutes untill its cooled down.
• Add eggs,vanila essence in it and mix properly.
• Sift flour with baking powder and soda in another bowl.Mix them into oats mixture.
• Mix properly,you can add 1/4 cup water if batter is too thick.
• Line the baking dish with paper and transfer the batter into it.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes.untill toothpick comes out clean from center.
• Meanwhile for glaze,heat butter on low heat in a pan.Add cream,sugar and milk,mix well and remove from heat.
• Now mix coconut flacks mix for 2-3 minutes.
• Let the cake rest for 5 minutes.Poke the top with toothpick.
• Now spread the coconut glaze all over the cake evenly.Let it cool down for 2 hours.
• Serve warm !

# If you want sweeter cake,use 3/4 cup of sugar.
## Its crumbly cake so,lining baking tray is must.also d mold only after cake get cool down.