INDIAN HONEY BREAD - SHAHED KI ROTI

This is it!!!

I got no long introduction to share, but as I said in my earlier post, when I try something new and it turns out gud i cannot resist myself from sharing it here :)

I was seeing this post in vahrevah.com fb page from long, but dint bother to watch the video, Today morning I was just scrolling down and tot lets watch it!! and all I got was filled with excitement to try it. Waited till evening though and this was the result lolz!!

So all credit to Sanjay Thumba for this!!

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour (Heaped)
1/2 cup Honey
1 tsp sauf powder heaped
1 tsp crushed black pepper 
1/2 tsp onion seeds/ kalaunji
Salt 1/4th tsp
Soda 1/4th tsp
Ghee 1tsp + while roasting
Water Little for binding

Method:
- Mix in all the above ingredients and knead it into a soft dough!!
- Keep it to rest for 15 mins or till the time your ready to cook
- Heat a tava in medium. Roll this dough into thin sheets of  paratha thickness.
- Put it in the tava and roast it both the sides till nice golden brown. Apply ghee while cooking. Serve It hot or cold
- Eat it as it is or along with any gravy u desire :)

Notes:

- Keep tava in low flame while cooking as it may get dark brown spots too quick due to honey
- original recipe calls for crushed fennel seeds, but since seeds were not available I used powder form.
- All the spices are important as everything combines and brings out nice flavor.
- After it cools down it may show stiff fragile texture which is gud sign!! 
- Makes 6 small ones and 4 big ones
- Press hard and try to roll thin, as It might tend to get thicker when we cook :)

Impression:

Mild Sweet, With perfect blend of spices!! Soft and detectable in taste!! well roasted both the sides using ghee and It was just yumm yumm :)

If u got honey at home do not wait to give it a try. Usually im not the person who likes honey!! to me It gives a smell when consumed but this was something different and additional combo of flavors made my taste buds accept it :)
Im sure you'll like and enjoy the same way I did :)

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TANDOORI FRENCH TOAST

A unique flavored french toast!! Dont look like tandoori though but flavors of tandoori are fused in... Call it Indian style or my  personal inventory It is quiet detectable In taste and different than normal french toast flavor. In my previous posts of french toast I spoke about coming up with varieties of french toast and here is another one I present to you all.

I truely got fed up with daily deep fried goodies though I have pics of my daily cooking I dont have much time to sit and type my long stories as usual, Its almost 15 days Ive posted very less and short simple recipes only. And when I make something interesting I cant stop posting it the same day :)

I simply said mom no fried today pls, mom asked then what? I recalled a pack of bread lying around and said french toast? She nodded Ok!! Though I had planned to make something little different but the final twist came around when I started Adding Masala's

Ingredients

12 - 14 Bread Slices (Cut into 2 each)

Egg Mixture:

Eggs - 5
Chilli Powder 1/3rd tsp
Cumin Powder 1/2 tsp heaped
Coriander powder 1/3rd tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1tsp
Tandoori Masala - 1 to 2 tsp
Curd - 2 tsp
If curd not available add 1-2 tsp of lemon juice
Milk- 2 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves chopped- 2 tablespoons
Salt 2 fat pinch
Oil to shallow fry

Method

- Mix in everything under egg mixture and whisk it up nicely. Allow it to rest for sometime so that all the flavors get infused well.
- When your ready to cook and serve, just dip in the bread slices in to the egg mixture and shallow fry as you would do for normal french toast!!
- Flip the sides and cook in medium flame till well colored in both the sides
- Serve it hot with ketchup


Notes:

- Level of spices is according to my taste, Please adjust according to your family preference. But spice level should be more coz bread is a bland base where we are applying coating for. May be make one slice for yourself 1st and taste it on what more or less alteration you would like to make.
- Serve it hot, as this taste more flavorful when hot rather cold.
- In case you dont have tandoori masala use any other garam masala for a difference in taste. eg. chole masala, garam masala, chicken masala, curry masala :) Go wild with ur flavorings you wont disappoint yourself for sure
- I saw the coriander leaves hardly stick to the bread mixture when we do the coating, so when u place the bread slices in pan, with help of spoon or hand place the coriander leaves on top manually for a better impression 
- Also mix the whole mixture each time bfr dipping in the bread slices. As the masala particles tend to settle down.
- I dint wanted to add red food color to make it look tandoori if you wish feel free to add a thin pinch of food color and whisk it!!

Impression:

It tasted best when hot along with tomato ketchup. Everyone liked it too!! Adding of tandoori masala seem to be a gud idea for a different treat :)

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Gulgule & ABC

 Gulgule/ Gulgula is the name for a fried delicacy which is round and soft delicious. When the proverb proves right about " Dont Judge The Book By Its Cover" I will say the same for few of edible all of us make " Dont Judge the taste Of Food By Its Looks Alone" I cannot talk much about the origin except that my Nani (Grandma) Makes it often. 

If one could ask Y often? Then the answer is Its so simple to prepare, make and serve!!! I always used to think this delicacy comes from orrisa as my nani used to make it. But I found this to be part of many Indian occasions specially from north India. Many are unaware of this until they know the name to look around in google!! so let me take a step to make it all famous :)

Though it was a simple make, my mom never made an effort to try out at home, I love to eat gulgulas and wanted to try at home 2yrs back in Ramdhan!! It became an utter mess, Technical faults i can say lolz :) I'll talk about it in notes.

If you have lots of banana's at home and dont know what to do with it? Making Gulgule is the right choice for a perfect evening snacks. I had a very Large Red banana with me I dint knew how to make use of, Then finally tot of making gulgula's and here it goes with my own twist and tricks :)

Basically my nani uses only wheat flour, banana sugar and soda. Here im presenting a little twist of my own hope you guys like it and try it out too :) Much enjoyed and eaten when we were kids

Level: Easy
Preparation Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 5-7 mins Each Batch
Makes: 22- 25 Gulgule

1 cup - whole wheat flour
2 tbsp - Suji/ Semolina
2 tbsp- Curd
2tbsp- Sugar
1/4th tsp - Cooking soda
1tsp Heap- Saunf Powder
1 large or 2 medium size banana
1/2 cup grated coconut
Water as needed
Oil for frying


Method:

- In a large mixing bowl, 1st puree the banana add in suji, sugar, curd, soda, saunf powder and mix by adding little water at a time to get nice thick batter of dropping consistency 

- Allow it to rest for 1/2 hr minimum, Maximum can be kept till any time desired (see notes)
- When you are ready to fry heat up oil in a pan in medium flame and drop the batter with help of spoon into the oil. It will come up floating to the surface like egg balls, keep rotating and flipping the sides. When its golden brown, drain it and remove to tissue paper or kitchen towel.
- Serve It warm with mint chutney :)

These fritters are Like soft bubbles :) and when we break to see thru inside, it has beautiful bubbly designs of its own :) My bro tore apart the fritters and saw me with a broad smile on how nicely it looks.




Notes:
- You can omit curd/ coconut / sauf if you like and just stay with banana and flour combination, In that case make sure flavors of banana is dominating. Other ingredients are more inviting to these fritters.
- Leaving the batter to rest is required because wheat flour absorbs water so as suji. Allowing it to rest will allow suji to absorb water content and become soft
- Do not use maida instead of wheat flour at it will make gulgulas soft but rubbery. This is not desired!!! (mistakes' done before)
- I had use less sugar just to give mild sweet taste you can add more if you like. 
- Sugar can be replaced by jaggery and it will taste different though but gud.
- When you fry the gulgulas will start floating on top unlike pakoras, make sure to flip sides for even golden coloring. 
- We eat as it is, but if one needs a dip, Mint chutney would go best!!!

Sending this to:
Taste Of Tropics - Banana

Guru's Cooking - Kids Special

My 2nd award :)

This ABC (Awesome Blog Content award) passed on to me by +Harini M of Cook Click n Devour 

Thank you harini for considering my blog and passing on this award to me. 

According to the rules I should describe myself with one word which describes me that begins with a, b, c etc

One word which describes me most is S For Sweet :)

The rules are simple:

• Add the ABC logo to your new blog post.
• Write one word or a phrase about yourself that begins with A, B, C, etc.
• Nominate some blogs.
• Leave a comment on those blogs to let them know!

Nominating few blogs for this award are

• Ria of Ria's Collection
• Saigeetha of Geeths Dawath
• Priya of Priya Rao's Recipe
• Kiran Of Kiran's Kitchen Corner
• Febina Of Febi's Cook Book
• Femi's Kitchen
• +Gheza e shiriin  Of Gheza -e- Shiriin
• +Sona S  Of Spill the Spices
• +Amila Wickramarachchi  Of Food Corner
• +Amallia Eka Widyastuti  Of Physalis Fruit
• +Farrukh Shadab Ansari  Of Cubes N Juliennes
• +Ruxana Gafoor  Of From My Own Kitchen 
• +Ambreen A.  Of Simply Sweets 'n' Savory
• Lisha  Of Nandoos Kitchen 
• Preeti Jaipal Of Kitchen Delicacies 
• Sangeetha Of Pujita Cookeries
• Rubymit  Of Me & My Oven
• Tisa Of Blessings From My Kitchen
• Neha Of Everyday Musing
• Sona of Quick Picks

Congratulations Ladies :) Please Collect Your Award and Pass on to the fellow bloggers Who you think deserve the best :) 

Keep the chain Connected

Also visit the other blogs mentioned above all of them are outstanding :)

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Sweet Tamrind Chutney

My T- Sauce (Tamarind Sauce/ Chutney) This is simple Chutney Which I tried last year made it 2 more times and again making it For Ramdhan!! Taking this opportunity to share this recipe  with all you guys.

I tried to locate and make various methods of this chutney but nothing satisfied the taste buds as store brought rich thick sauce. Seen from vah chef It was so very simple!! I couldnt believe the result was like what I wanted. My 1st try was with tamrind, dates, Jaggery and Sugar I used everything But dosent makes difference!!! Its the masala's which give u the taste. The base of tamrind remains unchanged.  Made this chutney/ sauce few times now and It could be stored in fridge for 2-3 months  I basically dont know the shelf life of this chutney but I remember storing it in fridge for upto 4 months!! Crazyyy???? 
          Naah not really but I actually forgot I had this chutney with me, and As its main purpose is used with chaat items It brings out wonderful taste to it, In other words key ingredient for Chaat recipes is Tamarind Chutney!! So I was not able to make chaat items I dont usually until there is a strong carving to make something sweet n spicy. Until I made Ragda Patties and finished up my T- sauce. The taste was still perfect no changes found It all tasted as it was made fresh. I goggled and found It can be stored for long time in fridge till you use but make sure its boiled and impurities are removed!! This had been my experience If anyone has idea about shelf life of this chutney pls do let me know!!!

Back to The recipe...
Very very simple thing to have it as a keeper in every indian house hold. I had seen tamarind chutney from vah chef  he adds some spices and make, If not he suggested add lots of chat masala's and your done!!! My 1st attempt was with only chaat masala and I was done but no It wasnt just chaat masala, Im always a little crooked until I can try things on my own. This is how I went about................

Ingredients:

2.5 cups of tamarind juice extract out of 2 lemon size tamarind balls
1 cup sugar
1/4th cup jaggery
Chat masala - 1  table spoon
Rock salt - 2 tsp
Red food color 1 fat pinch (optional)
Soanf powder / Fennel seeds Powder - 1/2 tsp if available
Ginger powder 1/2 - 1 tsp 
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Roasted Cumin Powder - 1/2tsp heaped

Method:

- Add in all the ingredients into a pot and let the mixture come to boil.
- Once it comes to boil reduce the flame to medium heat and let it cook for 15-20 mins till it reduces a little in its quantity (say 1/4th)
- Switch of the flame and allow it to cool.
- Serve it with Samosa / Snacks / Indian Chaats

Wooooo I was really troubled to click pic, I wanted gud brightness and lightening and these 2 were highly reflecting light and objects around huh Sometimes I feel Clicking Pic is such a techo work until you have a proper space and a great quality cam lens to adjust everything on your behalf lolzz (chuckles)

Notes:

- You can use extra 1/2 cup sugar incase jaggery is not available.
- You can substitute Sugar with fully Jaggery/ Dates
- Reduce the consistency of chutney to just 1/4th to make sugar cook well enough and get little bit of thick consistency.
- As we cook and reduce by cooking this tamarind chutney will still look watery even after 15-20 mins of cooking. Once cooled It will become thick on its own.
- In case you want a very thick sauce you can use whole pulp instead without adding so much water and extracting. But a perfect sweet sauce is one which is runny enough yet thick and can coat up the spoon thinly.
- I dint had Dry Ginger powder so I used fresh crushed ginger 1/2 inch and then strained the sauce when it was still hot.
- Adding color is optional but it gives a rich look to this chutney.
- Incase you want to avoid red food color, you can use Kashmiri mirch which is less hot but rich in color.

I Served It along with Dahi Vada And this Gave a wonderful taste to it.
Everyone enjoyed it and said it was very nice.

Impression:

Sweet & spicy, Tangy and Flavorful.
 I can bet once you make this you wont opt for store brought. 

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Cottage Cheese Onion Flat Breads

In other words Paneer Onion Paratha, Simple delicious flat breads when you dont know what to do with little quantity of paneer or chenna with you :)

Many a times at home it happens that We R left with little milk which curdles because of unpaid attention, Humid climate plays a gud role during summer in curdling of milk need to be very careful after all milk is getting expensive day by day. To talk about 3-4 yrs back when we 1st shifted our house in 1999 we got located near a cow shed!! oh my what a stinky smell at times, And there next to it was Aavin milk depot just opposite to my house. We used to put money in a bag can shout to the aunty of the the shop. she would bring milk packets and take money also give back change. This was a pleasure thing to get milk so quickly and easily when ever needed how can one be so lucky lol!!! leave apart the cow shed smell It got better by time :) We used to consume lots of milk and milk product due to this convenience and biggest thing was IT WAS CHEAP!!! 7rs was blue pack, 8rs was green with little cream milk and Orange pack Full cream was Rs 9 - 10 dont really remember now. And now??? I cant think of wasting milk nor spilling, We shifted again 2yrs back and it became a little difficult to get access with milk but still dad makes sure to get more packs when needed!!!

Coming back to the recipe!!
So such cases with little amount of curdled milk serves nothing. Sometimes mom leaves it as it as and asks me to do what ever I feel like and there I am clueless on what to do until this idea of paratha came up to me

Level: Simple
Preparation Time - 10- 15 mins
Resting Time - Depends as you like
Cooking Time - 3 - 5 minutes each!!

I wanted to make onion paratha since long so I wanted to club up paneer with onion and check out how it turns. Ideal For Breakfast / Light Lunch / Tiffin Boxes / Dinner / Dawat too :)

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour - 2-3 cups as needed
Onion - 1 Large or 2 medium size Roughly / Finely Chopped your wish
Green chillies - 3-4 finely chopped
Coriander Leaves - 1 tablespoon
Paneer / Chenna - 2-3 tablespoon (Thats it I Had)
Salt to taste
Water for Kneading as per needed
Oil  as per needed while cooking on Tava

Method:

- In a Large bowl take flour, chopped onion, coriander leaves, paneer, green chillies and salt. 
- Slowly mix in the whole ingredients using your hands and crumble it giving pressure to all the ingredients. This process is important and onion and paneer will have its own moisture. 
- Add water slowly and as needed and prepare Stiff yet soft dough. 
- Keep it to rest for sometime with closed lid to the container kept till your ready to use.
- Before using it, knead the dough again and divide it into medium balls and roll it using rolling pin in a flat board.
- Heat a skillet/ tawa and cook on both sides in medium flame adding little oil on both the sides till cooked and nice aroma is released. 
- Finish up with the whole dough and pile up for yummy treat.
- Serve Hot / Warm With and Kind of side dish as desired!! Also Pickles

Notes:

- Adjust the Spice level according to your taste. Its always gud to have a spicy version of paratha coz flat breads are usually bland to taste. Increase the amount of green chillies if desired
- Use butter Instead of Oil for Rich taste if you like.
- Coriander leaves are used for flavoring.
- While kneading no need to add oil for softness. As paneer will leave its own oil while kneading and give a wonderful finishing to the dough
- Adding extra water as we do normally for wheat flour dough to make it soft is not advisable here because Onion might tend to leave its own juices when kept for resting.
- Parathas might be crooked at sides ignore if ur using big chunks of onion. If you have finely chopped onions then parathas will be round and well finished
- You can also add nigella seeds / ajwain for flavoring also chopped ginger or garlic or Ginger garlic paste too. Depends on you. Lots of options are available Go by your mood and taste :)

I served this with Boondi Raita / Savory Raita It was just delicious :)

Impression:

Paneer had no taste ( thats a regular opinion of mine that paneer is bland with no taste ) But It helped paratha stay really soft
Little Crunchiness from onion was there. 
Green chillies gave spicy effect
Mild Flavoring from coriander was good enough
Over all It is a good treat worth to try again n again :)

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Instant Rava Idli In 30 minutes

This was my 1st try and I fell in love with the results :)

My Dad is sick with stomach infection he had outside food few days back, beware dont just eat roadside food until hygiene is taken in account in that place. He is slowly recovering his health ofcourse high fever and loose motions making me all weak. We are busy simultaneously for Ramdhan and our timings have changed. What can be a better light food in sickness other than idlies? Being born in family coming down from North east India We eat more n more of Phulkas. Dosa batter is in the stock but idlies are very rare as Ive mentioned earlier in other post of my Rava idli. This version is very different than other recipe already posted. 

As my dad wanted to eat idly I made up my mind to make instant idlies, Though I had something else in my mind, I landed up making something else, but it turned out what exactly I had assumed a picture frame in my mind. 

I googled up some recipes but all of them had tempering added to the idli, I just wanted to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) lolz :P and I also had an idea to use eno fruit salt, which suddenly went missing, I was little disappointed at 1st then went with the basic method of using soda and it worked out well enough to make me all happy happy!!!!

So sharing my Simple Recipe with you

Time Taken - 30 mins

Yields - 16 idlies

Preparation Time - 2 mins

Fermenting Time - 15- 20 mins

Cooking Time - 8-10 mins
Level - Super Easy

Ingredients:

1 and half cup - Suji/ Rawa/ Semolina

Curd - 1/2 cup or less

Water little

Salt 1 tsp or more

Oil - 1 tsp (optional)

Soda bi carbonate - half of 1/4th tsp or 1 fat pinch

Method

- Wash and rinse Rawa for 3-4 times, so that the dusty starchy particles get removed and gives some whiteness to idly. This is what I learnt from my previous idly version.

- There will be some water remaining add curd to it, salt and soda bicarbonate. The batter should be in flowing consistency. In case its thick, add little water to adjust!!

- Let it rest for 15-20 mins it will be kind of short fermentation.

- After 20 mins set the idlies to steam in well greased mould and steam it for 8- 10 mins.

And Your Done!!! Remove it from mould once little cooled

and enjoy it warm, With side dishes

See the porous soft idly texture from inside :) 

When I tasted myself I couldnt believe It would taste so gud :)Whitness was lacking, idlies turned pale yellow kind. Rawa Idlies wont give much whiter result until urad daal is added along. otherwise Generally Rawa has its own starchy effect which gives a dull finish to any end product of it. At 1st i was tensed about the color but after eating it, what I felt was, why bother abt a pale finish?? when the result is excellent ;)

Only thing went missing for me with this delicious result was Sambar and coconut chutney :)

Impression:

When I 1st remove idly moulds from steamer I was skeptical but when my mom unmoulded and kept in a bowl, I saw it later and just said wow with a surprise. I couldnt resist to taste it and found it super soft in hands to break it with 3 fingers. And taste was more surprising I couldnt believe how I missed trying out these idlies before :) 

My mom 1st said it gives a kind of smell, I asked what? No I just had 1 its tastes good no smell at all, then she tasted and Helped herself with 2 more idlies and enjoyed it too :)

My brother came poked idly with his one finger found it soft enough, nodded his head and went as he is under bathini diet and still 10 more days to go he is eagerly dying to have normal foods lolz.

If you have less time to cook go for these im sure you will never be disappointed :)

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