Mango / Gulab Jamun Kulfi

   

Inspired by Sanjeev Kapoor

Ingredients

1. 1 ½ cup of half and half

2. ½ cup of sweetened condensed milk

3. 2 – 3 cardamoms

4. 1 gulabjamun

5. ½ mango puree

6. 1 banana puree

7. ½ cup of sugar

8. Different fruits for garnish

9. Popsicles molds from any craft store/dollar store      

 

 Directions

1. Crush the cardamom seeds.

2. Heat half n half with sweetened condensed milk and cardamom seeds on medium heat, in a heavy pan.

3. Stir occasionally, boil and when it is quite thick, turn off the stove the keep it aside  to cool down.

4. Now carefully transfer the milk in equal parts in the fruit puree bowls and in a separate bowl cut the gulab jamun in pieces.

5. With a ladle or small cup transfer in popsicles molds.

6. Freeze them in freezer for at least 5-6 hours.

7. Garnish them with fruits and enjoy or just eat like that. 

 

 

-Enjoy Spring and Summers

Chitra

Baked Tandoori Shrimp

Ingredients

1. 1 pound of peeled and deveined shrimp

2. 1 tbsp olive oil

3. 2 tbsp of lime juice

4. 2 tbsp of tandoori chicken masala

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 450 F

2. In a bowl make marinating sauce with oil, lemon juice and 1 tbsp of tandoori masala.

3. Mix well and toss the shrimp and let it sit for 5 minutes.

4. Now place all the shrimp in foiled baking tray.

5. Bake it till golden brown, keep checking in between.

6. Take it out and sprinkle some dry tandoori masala on all of them.

7. Plate them on serving tray with some marinating sauce on top and garnish with some salad leaves.

8. Quick and easy appetizer is ready.

-Chitra

Cauliflower/Gobhi Tikka

Ingredients

1. 1 kg of cauliflower florets

2. ½ cup of hung curd

3. Salt and Red chili powder to taste

4. ½ tsp of cumin/jeera powder

5. ½ tsp of coriander/dhaniya powder

6. 2 tbsp of oil

7. ½ tsp of turmeric powder

8. ½ tsp of pomegranate/anardana powder

9. ½ tsp of mango/amchoor powder

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl add curd, oil and spices

2. Wash the florets and marinate them for at least 2-4 hours

3. Preheat the oven at 400 F or you can do this on grill

4. Take the skewers and dip into warm water for 10 minutes, by this way you will not burn the skewers. It’s fine if you are using iron skewers.

5. Put at least 3-4 florets in each skewer and bake them or grill them till they are golden brown.

6. Serve them hot with mango chutney or cucumber raita and pickled onions.

-Chitra

Achaari Tikki / Pickle Potatoes Cutlets

These spicy, homemade, easy to cook cutlets are so tempting, that you can fall in love with them. You can serve them as party snack instead of those frozen cutlets you buy from market. You don’t need any fancy item here and you can make them as wraps next morning if you have nay leftovers or make extra. Fill them in pita bread with salad leaves and hummus.. Hope you guys enjoy them with your family and friends.

Ingredients

1. 3 Potatoes

2. 1 tsp of anaardana / pomegranate seeds

3. Salt to taste

4. 1 tsp of red chili powder

5. Oil for shallow frying

6. 4 tbsp of dry flour (used whole wheat)

For Filing

7. 3 tbsp of your favorite pickle (used spicy mango pickle in this recipe)

8. 1 cup of roasted moong daal (used Haldriam Moong daal packet)

9. 2 tbsp of fresh cilantro / dhaniya leaves

Directions

1. Boil potatoes and peel them.

2. In one mixing bowl mash potatoes and mix salt, red chili powder, anaardana and mix it well. If you think that mixture is little wet you can add little bit of flour.

3. In another mixing bowl add pickle, cilantro leaves and moong daal and mix it well.

4. Heat oil in a non stick pan.

5. Now start making small balls of potato mixture and flatten them in center.

6. Add mixture of pickle in center and close the cutlet carefully.

7. Now press the cutlet carefully, so that it does not break open. Use dry flour on counter table for this, in this way it will not slip from your hands.

8. Keep making the cutlets and then shallow fry them 4-5 minutes each side or until golden brown.

9. Now in a serving plate place this cutlet in centre, sprinkle cilantro leaves on top and tomato ketchup around the cutlet. Serve hot.

-Chitra

Oven Baked “No Oil” Onion Rings

These Crispy Onion Rings are my favorite. But whenever we order them from our favorite restaurants they are all fried or baked with oil. But these are low calorie, no fried, oven baked without oil Onion rings are so crispy delicious that you can have all without any guilt. Enjoy guys..

Ingredients

1. 1 large Onion sliced in rings ½ inch each

2. 1 cup of bread crumbs

3. 1 cup of baked pita chips or nacho chips

4. ½ tsp of red chili flakes

5. ½ tsp of cayenne pepper

6. Salt to taste

7. 1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour – 1/2 cup dry and 1 cup mixed with water to make a thick paste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 425 F.

2. Take the onion rings and separate they put them in brown grocery bag or ziplock bag.

3. Put the ½ cup of flour and little salt and cayenne pepper in the brown bag. Shake the bag very well so that onion rings are dusted/ coated with flour.

4. In another tray make the wet ingredient (flour and water) with no lumps.

5. In a chopper machine add bread crumbs, chips and cayenne pepper, salt and red chili flakes.

6. Run the machine so that it mixes well and turn into very smooth dry mixture. Put this in different tray.

7. Now take out the onion rings and dust the extra flour.

8. Keep them in baking sheet and pick them one by one now with tongs, dip them in the wet flour mixture and then dip at last in bread crumbs mixture.

9. Make sure all sides of onion rings are covered with bread crumbs.

10. In a baking sheet lay the aluminum foil so that onion rings do not stick to the sheet. Start layering the onion rings on it.

11. Bake them till golden brown. It took 20-25 minutes depending on different ovens and their temperature.

12. Serve them hot with mustard sauce and ketchup or lemon wedges. There is no oil, they are not fried so enjoy them without any guilt.

-Chitra

Potatoes Biscuits

Ingredients

1. 2 boiled Potatoes

2. 2 cups of all purpose flour / maida

3. 3 tsp of baking powder

4. ½ tsp of seasoned salt / ½ tsp of onion salt

5. 3 tbsp of butter

6. ½ cup of milk

7. ½ tsp of red pepper

8. ½ tsp of toasted cumin seeds

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 450 F

2. In a chopper mash the potatoes with butter

3. Mix Flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and cumin seeds.

4. Mash them well and make the dough by adding milk little by little.

5. Now flatten the dough upto ½ inch thick sheet.

6. After that cut the small biscuits with cookie cutter.

7. Now lay them on greased sheet.

8. Bake them until they turn golden brown in sides or till 20-25 minutes.

9. Serve these crispy cookies with tea or coffee.

10. You can also make it as a little snack like spread the hummus on biscuits.

11. Garnish with cilantro leaves and sliced black olives.

-Chitra

Mung Daal Pakoras/Green Gram fritters

Ingredients

1. 1 cup of mung daal / split green gram lentil soaked for 30 minutes – 1 hour

2. Salt to taste

3. A pinch of turmeric

4. 1 tsp of eno fruit salt (if you cannot find from any Indian store let the batter ferment overnight)

5. 5 green chilies

6. 1 grated reddish with its leaves / mooli

7. ½ cup of chopped fresh mint leaves

Directions

1. Grind the soaked daal and make it thick batter add water if it is really thick.

2. Add salt to taste, turmeric and eno while grinding so that it mixes well.

3. In the mean while in a deep dish pan add 3 cups of oil for frying the fritters.

4. Now when the oil is hot take a small ice cream scooper (1 tbsp size) and dip in warm water.

5. Keep on dropping the batter in oil. Do small batches. Keep dipping scooper in warm water in between so that batter does not stick so much.

6. Now dip green chilies in the batter and fry them too.

7. Serve them hot with grated reddish and chopped mint leaves on sides and spicy mint chutney and some sweet chutney.

-Chitra

Fried Olives

Ingredients

1. 15- 20 Cerignola green olives rinsed and dried

2. 4 tbsp of ricotta cheese

3. 2 tbsp of gorgonzola blue cheese

4. 1 tbsp of lemon zest

5. Pepper to taste

6. 1 tbsp of dried thyme

7. 1 ½ cup of all purpose flour

8. 1 egg beaten

9. 2 cups of panco bread crumbs

10. Vegetable oil for frying.

Directions

1. Make an assembly line of three bowls/ trays of all purpose flour, egg, panco bread.

2. In the mean time heat oil in a non stick deep dish pan or fryer.

3. Now in a bowl add ricotta cheese and gorgonzola blue cheese. Make sure you keep this cheese in room temperature before mixing other things.

4. Add thyme and lemon zest to the cheese and mix well.

5. Now in a zip lock bag put the cheese mixture. At the end of zip lock bag cut a slight hole for filling the olives.

6. Carefully fill the olives with cheese mixture and keep on dropping into the flour tray.

7. When all the olives are done dust the olives from flour and add to the egg tray one by one with help of spoon.

8. Then at last to the panco bread crumbs. Roll them well so that bread crumbs sticks well.

9. Take the olives out and keep in tray carefully. Wait till all the olives are done.

10. Now drop at least 4-5 olives in oil, it only takes 2-3 minutes.

11. When they turn golden brown remove from oil and keep in tray covered with tissue paper.

12. Enjoy hot fried olives appetizer with ketchup.

-Chitra

Chicken Manchurian

Ingredients

1. 2 Chicken breasts skinless chop in small cube size

2. ½ cup of all purpose flour

3. 4 tbsp of corn starch

4. Salt and pepper to taste

5. Water

6. 1 Onion grated or chopped finely

7. 3 cloves of Garlic minced

8. 1-2 Green Chilies chopped finely

9. 1 ½ tbsp of Soy Sauce

10. 3 tsp of red wine Vinegar

11. ¼ cup of Ketchup

12. 2 tbsp of hot Red Chili Sauce or more (optional)

13. 1 tsp of honey

14. 3 tsp of corn starch in ¼ cup of water mixed for sauce

15. Oil

16. Some green scallions / Green Onions for garnishing

Directions

1. Heat oil for frying in a deep dish pan.

2. In a medium bowl add all purpose flour salt and pepper to taste.

3. Now add corn starch and water and whish well till it turn to thick batter and no lumps.

4. Now add chicken to it and toss to coat all the chicken pieces.

5. Drop in one by one into the oil and deep fry them.

6. Keep on cooking all the chicken pieces and keep it aside on kitchen towel to get the excess oil.

7. In a non stick pan make the sauce for Manchurian.

8. Heat 2 tsp of oil and add onions.

9. Now add garlic and green chilies and cook till light brown.

10. Add soy sauce and Vinegar and mix it well.

11. Then add Ketchup and red chili sauce.

12. Add corn starch mixture and cook till sauce thickens.

13. Keep on stirring well and add 1 tsp of honey and whisk it well.

14. Now add the chicken pieces and toss it well till the chicken is covered in this yummy mixture.

Serve hot with tooth picks and sprinkle green onions.

-Chitra

Chat Pate Peanuts

 

Ingredients

1. 1 bag of unsalted peanuts

2. 1 tsp of kosher /sea salt

3. ½ tsp of red chili powder

4. 1 tsp of chaat masala

5. 1 tbsp of sugar

6. 1 tsp of oil

Directions

1. Roast the peanuts in oven on gas in a non stick pan until it is golden brown

2. In a plastic bag or a brown bag (you can use same bag in which peanuts were packed) add salt, chaat masala, sugar and red chili powder.

3. Now put the warm peanuts and 1 tsp of oil in the same plastic bag or a brown bag.

4. Shake it well until the mixture is stick with peanuts.

5. Serve these as a snack with tea, coffee or cocktail.

-Chitra

Simple Paneer Bhurji

Ingredients

1. 200 gms of crumbled Paneer / Indian Cottage Cheese

2. 2 Onions chopped

3. 1 tbsp of ginger minced

4. Salt and red chili powder to taste

5. ½ tsp of turmeric powder

6. 2 tbsp of oil

Directions

1. In a non stick pan add Oil

2. Add Onions and ginger and let them cook until golden brown

3. Now add Salt, turmeric powder and red chili powder.

4. Cook for 1 minute and then add crumbled paneer. Let it cook until Oil gets separated.

5. I made this as a picnic snack, to make a hot paneer wrap take a roti, spread pickle masala and add Paneer. Roll them and pack them in individual foil covers and serve.

6. Or you can serve as stuffed bread sandwich.

-Chitra