Mini Uttapam Appetizer

I had a left over Idli batter and I thought of making something unique for my afternoon snack. I thought of adding cheese because it is one of my favorite ingredient. So I prepared mini uttapam appetizer. I made it very simple with the ingredients I have with me on hand.

To make Mini Uttapam Appetizer you will need :-

6-7 mini uttapam (already shared recipe of uttapam)

2-3 tablespoon ketchup

2-3 tablespoon coriander chutney

1 teaspoon garlic chutney ( easily available in Indian Grocery Store)

Cheese as required

Take a plate and place mini uttapam and apply on one uttapam ketchup about 1 tablespoon, on another uttapam 1 tablespoon coriander chutney. Apply garlic chutney on another uttapam as per your need. Shred cheese on all the uttapam and serve.

Vaghereli (Masala) Idli

Whenever I have leftover Idli's, I always make this vaghereli idli. It tastes just too good. So let me not just talk about it and share you recipe....

To make Vaghereli Idli you will need :-

8-10 idli cut into diced shaped

Salt to taste

2-3 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon red chilly powder

3-4 teaspoon chopped cilantro

Take a pot and add oil to it and heat up oil. Add mustard seeds to it and allow it to crackle. Add sesame seeds and be careful they will splutter. Add idli and all the spices and salt to it. Mix well. Add chopped cilantro before serving.

Peas Pulav

I like to make the traditional recipe with the twist and although the taste should remain the same. I tried with peas pulav and it turned out good.

To make Peas Pulav you will need :-

1 cup basmati rice

3-4 teaspoon chopped cilantro

Salt to taste

5-6 tablespoon frozen peas

1 teaspoon ghee

1-1/2 cups of water

Take a bowl and add rice to it and wash it 3-4 times. Now in the broad pan add washed rice and add 1-1/2 cup of water, frozen peas, ghee and salt. Allow it to cook on low flame. When the rice gets cooked add cilantro and mix well. Your peas pulav is ready to serve.

Dahi Wada

Summer has started and I wanted something which can go very well in dinner. I thought of making dahi wada. Wada are made from urad dal. I have already shared recipe of urad dal wada.

To make Dahi Wada you will need :-

4-5 urad dal wada

6-7 tablespoon of yogurt mix

2-3 tablespoon tamarind dates chutney

Pinch of red chilly powder

Pinch of cumin powder

Water for soaking

Salt to taste

1/4 tablespoon sugar

Take a bowl and add urad dal wada and soak in about 1-2 cups of water for about 1 hour. When you want to serve take out all wada out of water and squeeze all the water by pressing wada. Keep it in another bowl. Now for yogurt mix add yogurt, sugar and salt in a small bowl and mix well till it breaks all lumps and sugar and salt dissolves. Now take serving bowl and arrange wada, add yogurt mix on it and sprinkle red chilly powder and cumin powder and serve.

I generally keep yogurt mix in refrigerator when I want to serve in summer. It gives coolness in hot summer days.

Vegetable Bhajiya (Dumplings)

I am big fan of fried food. Even though fried food is not too healthy I enjoy a lot. Last week it was very cloudy and I thought of making something fried for my lunch. I thought of making Vegetable Bhajiya adding my favorite vegetables to gram flour. 

To make Vegetable Bhajiya you will need :-

1 cup gram flour

2 teaspoon yogurt

2-3 tablespoon frozen corn

2-3 tablespoon carrot chopped

5-6 tablespoon onion chopped

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Pinch of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon red chilly powder

Water as needed

Take a bowl and add gram flour, yogurt, carrot, corn, onion and salt. Mix well. Add water to make a batter not too thin just like you can make dumpling out of it. Add baking soda and mix well. In a frying pan add oil and when oil gets heat up add small dumplings with the help of spoon. Fry them at medium flame. When it gets cooked properly remove from the flame and serve hot with ketchup or chutney of your choice.

Ginger Chilly Paste

Hey guys I shared many recipes in which I mentioned about ginger chilly paste. Today I will share with you how to make ginger chilly paste and also to store it for long time.

To make Ginger Chilly paste you will need :-

1/4 cup ginger roughly chopped

12-13 medium size green chilies roughly chopped

2-3 tablespoon water

1/4 tablespoon salt

Wash ginger and chilies properly. Pat dry them. Remove the skin of ginger and roughly chop them. Take a grinder and add roughly chopped ginger and chilies and grind them to fine paste. Your ginger chilly paste is ready. 

If you want to store it for a month or so then add salt to it and mix well and freeze it in airtight container. When you want to use take out the container from freezer about 1-2 hours and you can use it then. Then freeze it again back.

Til and Valiyari Mukhwas (Sesame Seeds and Fennel Seeds)

Hey guys I like to make many combination using the same ingredients. I have already shared recipe of Fennel seeds mukhwas and Sesame seeds mukhwas in my earlier post.

To make Til and Valiyari Mukhwas you will need :-

1 cup Sesame seeds mukhwas

1 cup Fennel seeds mukhwas

Take a bowl and mix sesame seeds and fennel seeds mukhwas and store in airtight container. It stays good for 2-3 months. You can adjust quantity of sesame seeds and fennel seeds as per your taste.

Tip of the day (How to quickly ferment Idli Batter)

I had guest over weekend and I forgot to check weather and I was so confused because I was planning to make Idli and how it will get ferment in 6-8 hours on a rainy day!!!

I thought of adding salt immediately after I churned my dal and rice. I added a 1 teaspoon of salt in around 3-4 cups of batter and to my surprise it got fermented so fast that I was able to make fluffy idli after around 6 hours. So do try this in cool weather and it will surely works. 

Keep your batter in warm place like oven or microwave without turning it on. Even if the oven or microwave is not on with the help of salt it will ferment fast.

Til (Sesame Seeds) Mukhwas

In India different types of mukhwas are made at home. My mother always makes fennel seeds, sesame seeds mukhwas at home. I am not too fan of such mukhwas but I like the one available in market. My husband likes homemade mukhwas, so I started making it at home and now even I eat often such homemade mukhwas.

To make Sesame Seeds Mukhwas you will need :-

2 cups sesame seeds (available in Indian Grocery Store)

2 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Take a bowl and wash sesame seeds very well with water 2-3 times because sometimes it may have dirt in it. Drain out all the water from it. Keep it to dry by spreading on cloth or paper napkin. Make sure that all the seeds are dry. Now take this dry sesame seeds and put in bowl. Add lemon juice, turmeric powder and salt to it and mix well. Keep it aside for about 2-3 hours. Then take a heavy bottom pan and roast these sesame seeds on very low flame. Stir it continuously till it get crispy. Be careful while doing this, because sesame seeds splutter a lot and these hot seeds might burn you. Now after all the seeds are properly roasted keep it aside to cool down completely. After it gets cooled down then store in airtight container. It stays good for about 2-3 months.

Khajur (Dates) Bite

I had guest on this weekend and I thought of making something sweet but in bite size. I go on thinking so much and I just looked at the ingredients which I have. I combined 3 of them together and it turned out in to bite size dessert which was loved by everyone so much that it just gone away all!!!!

To make Khajur Bite you will need :-

10-12 khajur/dates

1 tablespoon nutella hazelnut spread

4 tablespoon peanuts without skin

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Take khajur and wash them properly and pat dry them. Make a slit from one side. In another bowl add peanuts and nutella and mix well. With the help of spoon fill in the khajur. After all the khajur gets filled up then dust powder sugar and keep in refrigerator in airtight container. Serve chilled.

You can make this day before and keep in refrigerator.

Urad Dal wada (Black lentil dumplings)

Past two days it rained and I thought of making something crunchy which also matches with the weather. I thought of making Urad Dal wada. My mother makes this often and I have watched her making wada and the whole procedure but never made it on my own. This was the first time I made it on my own and it came really good.

To make Urad Dal wada you will need :-

2 cups of urad dal without skin/ with skin (available in Indian Grocery Store)

Salt to taste

2-3 tablespoon ginger chilly paste (adjust to your choice)

Oil for frying

4 cups of water

Pinch of baking soda

Take a bowl and add urad dal to it. I was not having urad dal without skin with me so I soaked dal for 1-2 hours and washed it more than 10 times each time removing its skin as much as possible. After that almost 90% of skin was removed. If you have urad dal without skin than it would be better option. Then wash dal(without skin) 2-3 times and soak it for atleast 4-5 hours till all dal gets covered and above that little water. Keep adding water if dal absorbs all water. After 4-5 hours remove all the water from dal. Now grind dal in mixture. Add water about 5-6 tablespoon if required. Batter should not be too liquidy. Add ginger chilly paste and salt and mix well. Add baking soda and mix well. Heat up oil in frying pan and when oil gets moderately hot, then with the help of spoon add small dumplings carefully to oil and allow it to fry till golden brown. Remove from the flame and serve hot with coriander chutney or tamarind and date chutney.

Guacamole

I am big fan of avocado and I like to add in my sandwich, burrito and I can just eat it with chips. Among all of them I like to make guacamole out of it. 

To make Guacamole you will need :-

1 avocado

1 tablespoon chopped onion

1 tablespoon chopped tomato

Salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Take out pulp from the avocado. Slightly mash it. Add chopped onion, tomatoes, salt, black pepper and lemon juice and mix well.

You can also add coriander leaves and green chillies if you like.

Masala Mirch (Spiced Pepper)

I went to purchase vegetables and to my surprise I found big green peppers which are mild and I immediately took some for preparing masala mirch. My mother makes this often and everybody loves it. 

To make Masala Mirch you will need :-

2-3  peppers (big green peppers which are mild)

5 teaspoon oil

Salt to taste

Pinch of garam masala

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon coriander cumin powder

1-1/2 teaspoon red chilly powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Water as needed

Wash peppers properly and pat dry them. Remove all the seeds by making a slit. Keep them aside. Take a bowl and add coriander cumin powder, sugar, salt, garam masala, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and 2 teaspoon oil and mix well. Now heat up 3 teaspoon oil in the pan. While oil is heating up fill some of the masala in the peppers and keep some masala for garnishing. When oil is hot add peppers in pan and allow them to cook. Add 4-5 tablespoon water if needed. Cook on all the sides. When the masala gets cooked and when the peppers get tender add rest of masala and cover with lid. Allow all the masala and peppers to cook well. Serve with roti or paratha.

Onion Rings

On sunday afternoon, I thought of making something crunchy and tried with the onion rings and it turned out good.

To make Onion Rings you will need :-

1 big red/white onion rings

3-4 tablespoon all purpose flour

3-4 tablespoon corn flour

Salt to taste

Pinch of turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon chilly flakes

1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder

1/2 teaspoon dry basil leaves (crushed)

Pinch of baking soda

1/2 cup water

Oil for frying

Take onion and cut into slices and separate all the rings out of it and keep aside. Take a bowl and add all purpose flour, corn flour, salt, black pepper, chilly flakes and basil. Mix well. Add baking soda and mix well. Add little water at time and make a thick paste, but it should be such that onion rings can be dipped into it. Heat up oil in kadai and when oil gets hot, dip one onion ring at time and then carefully put in oil for frying. Fry till it gets cooked and crispy.

Enjoy with ketchup or a cup of coffee or tea.

Garlic Sev

Sev is very traditional Indian snack. It is made from chickpea flour and it is fried in oil. It is basically crispy fried noodles.

To make Garlic Sev you will need:-

1-1/2 cup chickpea flour

1 tablespoon garlic powder

Salt to taste

Pinch of red chilly powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 tablespoon oil

Pinch of cumin powder

1/2 cup water

Oil for frying

Take a bowl and add all the ingredients except water. Add water slowly and make a not too soft not too hard dough. Apply oil to it and allow it to rest for about 15 minutes. Then grease the sev making jar with butter spray all over and then put the chickpea dough in it. Allow to heat oil on medium flame. Make sev in circular form in the oil. Be careful while making it. Turn it over and cook it. Take out of oil and then store in airtight container after it gets cool off completely.

It can stay good for about 20-25 days.

Strawberry Lemonade

Anything which is combined with lemon in a drink gives very refreshing feeling. I have tasted at many places strawberry lemonade and its one of my favorite drink. I have today made my version of Strawberry Lemonade.

To make Strawberry Lemonade you will need :-

4-5 strawberry roughly chopped

1 big lemon juice

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt to taste

Pinch of Black Pepper

1 cup of water

Take all the things to a mixer and churn it well. If you want to make it chilled then add few pieces of ice cubes to it. You can even strain it from strainer and serve. I like to have some chunks of strawberry in my drink so I don't prefer to strain it. It is very easy to make and it taste too yummy.

Red Bell Pepper and Carrot Handvo

Handvo is one of the favorite dish of my husband so I go and try new ingredients and combinations. Today I thought of making it on little orange-red side, so thought of carrot and red bell peppers.

I have already shared recipe in my earlier post of Handvo how to make basic batter. Then just add 1 cup of diced carrot and red bell pepper. Mix it well. Tadka, roasting and cooking of handvo is same as my other handvo recipe.

You can check my other recipes of Handva, they are also too good in taste.

How to store Spinach (Palak) Puree

I always make small batches of spinach puree and freeze it. It can stay good for a month or so. It is made easily and comes out handy when you need it quickly.

Wash Spinach were well with water. Take a big pot filled with water and add spinach leaves to it and boil it. It is done very quickly. After it gets boiled remove all the hot water carefully and then transfer spinach leaves to cold water for a minute or so. Then take out leaves and puree in mixer. Store in airtight container for a month in freezer.