Happy New Year 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

I wish all my Readers, Friends, And Relatives a very HAPPY, COLORFUL,FRUITFUL,PEACEFUL And SWEETEST Happy New Year.

I was away from blogging for past the past 6 months and every time I wanted to come back but some how I couldn't able to do active blogging. But now I want to do active blogging in 2011. So friends please wish me this new year with all Happiness, Health, Peace and also Active blogging :-) 

Potato Koorma for Pulav

I am Back in India and met all my friends and relatives. So now I can think about my things, blog and everything. I have few old recipes with detailed pictures with  me so I will post them one by one and in the mean time I will try to collect new recipes and I am not sure about the pictures.

Here is the Tangy Potato korma which goes well with Pulav/ Jeera rice/ Biryani or plain rice.  

Ingredients:

Potato – 2 (boiled, peeled and cubed)

Tomato – 1 (cubed)

Green peas – ¼ cup

Onion – 1 big (sliced)

Yogurt – 1 cup (well beaten)

Green chilli – 2

Red chilli powder – ¼ tsp

Turmeric – 1 pinch

Salt – to taste

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Ginger garlic paste – ½ tsp

Whole Garam masala – Clove, Cinnamon, Cardamom (one each)

Poppy seeds – 1 tsp (dry roasted and powdered) (optional)

Coconut powder – 1 tsp (optional)

Oil – 1 tbsp

Curry leaves – few

Garam masala – ¼ tsp (optional)

Procedure:

Take a kadai, add oil, when it is hot enough add whole garam masala and sauté for 30 sec and then add cumin seeds and let them splutter, then add curry leaves, green chilli and sauté for 30 sec and then add onions, add little salt, turmeric and fry till they turn soft.

Add ginger garlic paste and sauté till raw smell goes off, and then add tomato and cook till they are soft.

Now add boiled potato, green peas and mix well. Cook for 1 min then add 1 glass of water and bring it to boil.

Now add yogurt and mix well. Add red chilli powder, salt and bring it to boil.

Add Poppy seeds powder and coconut powder if using, and cook for another 2 min., and finish it off with chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Pulav.

1st Anniversary and Egg-less vanilla Cake

MY KITCHEN’s First Anniversary:

I have successfully completed one year of blogging. I never thought of writing a blog until I met a wonderful girl ‘Madhuri’. She was my neighbor in Irving, TX and we used to chit chat and play racquet ball everyday. Once she asked me “Why don’t you start a cooking website?” Then I immediately replied “What? Cooking website? No way.”  With out giving any thought. But later I came home and prepared my as usual dinner of every Tuesday “Undrallu” A traditional dish which we offer to Lord Ganesha. I just like that took some pictures while making the Prasadam on that Tuesday 14^th April 2009 and next day i.e. 15^th April I decided to start my cooking blog and ‘Undrallu’ was my First Post.

Just logging into a Google account and signing up for a blog is very easy…but what to name the blog and what to give the blog address are difficult. But some how I just started my blog on 15^th and later I named it as My Kitchen. I never expected that I will continue blogging for long time, but I usually write recipes in my mail drafts and in my dairy. Later I made my blog as my cooking dairy and took it serious.

I am always thankful to GOD for creating this environment and I would like to say special thanks to my Husband Mr.Ganapathi and My friend Mrs. Madhuri Sarma for their initial support and also to my Parents, my Mother-in-law and to my Sister-in-law for their moral support. I would like to extend my thanks to all my friends and fans :-) .

Finally Special Thanks to Mrs. Sweety Brigit for sharing The following Egg-less Cake recipe.

Egg-less Vanilla Cake:

Ingredients:

Butter – 2/3 cup
Sugar – 2 cups
Evaporated milk – 1 cup
Buttermilk – 1 cup

Self-raising cake flour – 3 cups
Salt – ½ tsp
Baking powder – 1 tbsp
Vanilla extract – 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the evaporated milk and thoroughly beat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is creamy. Sift in the flour with the salt and baking powder and add the buttermilk. Beat for 2 mins until thick and well combined.

Pour into your prepared pan and bake at 350F until well risen and golden. It will take approximately 40-45 min.

Check the cake by inserting a toothpick to the center of the cake and it should come out clean.

Whipped Cream Frosting:

Heavy Whipped Cream – 1 pint

Powdered Sugar – 3 or 4 tbsp

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine. Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.

Icing:

Let the cake cool down completely to the room temperature, and then start your icing according to your requirements.

I am not good at icing techniques and i don't know how to use the pastry bags or pipes. I just tried for the first time using some chocolate chips and cocoa powder.

Next week we are going back to my home Country India. So i need to pack lot of things here and again have to set up everything there in India. So i will not be able to blog for at least 2 months. But i will try to schedule some recipes which i have handy and will try to do active blogging ASAP. Don't forget me and please do come back to this blog and keep visiting. And Wish me and my Blog Successful and Colorful Future. 

Mango Chutney - 2

Ginger-Mango Chutney

Ingredients:

Mango – 1 ( Peel and Chop into small Pieces)

Chopped Ginger – 1or 2 tbsp

Red Chilli Whole – 3 or 4

Urad Split – 1 tsp

Chana Dal – ½ tsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Hing – Pinch

Sesame seeds – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Green Chilli – 4

Gur / Jaggery – 1 tsp

Turmeric – pinch

Salt – to taste

Procedure:

Take a pan, add oil, when it is hot enough add red chilli, chana dal and fry for 30 sec then add urad split and fry for another 20 sec., then add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let them splutter and then add sesame seeds and switch off the stove.

Take the mixture into a blender by draining the excess oil and let it cool down to room temperature. Now add Jaggery and make into a course powder and set aside.

Now in the same pan with little oil add green chilli and ginger and turmeric and fry for 30 sec. then add mango pieces mix well and fry for another 30 sec and switch off the stove.

Let it cool down completely and add it to the grinded mixture and make into a fine paste by adding very little water.

Finally add tampering with Urad split, Mustard seeds and curry leaves

Serve With Hot Rice or any other tiffin like idly/ dosa / upma etc.

Chekkalu / Appadalu

Ingredients:

Rice flour – 2 cups

Water – As required

Chana dal – ¼ cup

Salt – to taste

Chilli ginger paste – 1 tbsp

Butter – 1 tsp

Ajwain – 1 tsp

Oil – To deep fry

Procedure:

Soak chana dal for 30 min and drain the water and set side.

Sieve the flour in a bowl; add salt, ajwain, chilli ginger paste, butter and mix well.

Now add Luke warm water to the flour mixture and mix well to make soft dough. And set aside for 10 min.

Now make a small bowl out of the dough and take a foil paper or zip lock cover, grease your hands and foil paper with oil and using your fingers press the ball into a small disk.

Fry the disks till they turn golden brown and drain the excess oil.

Store them in an air tight container. They will be good for 15days.

Bagara Baingan / Gutti Vankaya - 3

Bagara Baingan:

 Baby Eggplant / Brinjal / Vankaya (వంకాయ) cooked with Onion, Tomato in mild Peanut sauce with other spices.

Bagara Baingan is very famous Hyderabadi vegetarian entry. We can make this curry mild/ medium hot / or even spicy. We can replace egg-plant with Long Green Mirchi to make Mirchi Ka Salan or Whole Tomato (with little variation) to make Tomato salan or even with Bell Pepper or capsicum to make Capsicum masala. And any of the above recipes goes extremely well with Pulav / Biryani or even with Regular White Rice.

Ingredients:

Baby Egg Plant (Pink) – 10

Peanuts – ½ sup

Sesame seeds – 1 tsp

Onion – 1 (Thinly Sliced)

Tomato – 1 (Thinly sliced)

Green chilli – 4 (Slit Vertically)

Ginger – Garlic paste – 1 tsp

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Red Chilli Powder – ½ tsp

Tamarind Juice – 1 cup (Diluted)

Or

Tamarind Paste – 2 tbsp

Oil – 4 tbsp

Cumin seeds / Black Cumin – ½ tsp

Procedure:

Dry Roast peanuts and set aside and let them come to room temperature.

Dry Roast Sesame seeds (optional)

Wash and wipe Egg-plant and make a ‘+’ shape slit and set aside.

Take a Heavy Bottomed deep cooking vessel, add 3 tbsp of oil when it is hot enough add brinjals and fry for 2 or 3 min and put lid if required and let them cook till half done. Take out egg plant in to a separate plate and set side.

In the same vessel, add 1 more tbsp of oil if required, add cumin seeds and let them splutter and add green chilli and onion and sprinkle little salt and cook for 3 min on medium heat, then add Ginger garlic paste and cook till raw smell goes off.

In the mean time, Add Peanuts and Sesame seeds to the blender add required amount of water and make into a fine paste (thick paste or thin liquid kind of paste)

Now add Tomato and cook till they are soft.

Now add Peanut paste, Turmeric and combine well and cook for 2 min and then add tamarind juice along with 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil.

Now add Egg-plant, adjust salt and cover it up with lid and cook on medium flame for approximately 20 min.

Check the spice level and Add Red Chilli Powder if you want and let it cook for another 5 min with out the lid. Check the Gravy Consistency. If you want you can add water or you can cook for another 5 min if it is too watery.

Finish it off with chopped coriander and cover it with lid and switch off the stove.

Serve Hot with Pulav / Biryani / White Rice.

Mirapakaya Bajji

Mirapakaya/ Mirchi / Chilli / Green Pepper Bajji

Mirapakaya Bajji (aka Chilli bajji or Mirchi bajji) my all time favorite evening snack. Long Green Peppers stuffed with masla/Powder, dipped in the batter and deep fried.

In my home town, usually we get these long green chillis only in some seasons. So my mom makes these bajjis quite often in the season. But we can go get them in chat shops almost through out the year. But here, We can get any kind of fruit/vegetable all through the year….so I make them when ever we feels like eating them and especially when it is raining outside. When we were in New Jersey, we used to eat them out side in an Andhra restaurant “Abhiruchi”. They serve them really good and tasty in Andhra style. In Oak tree Road also we can get them but they make these bajjis with Banana peppers and the stuffing with aloo. But in Andhra we make these bajji with Long Green chillis and the stuffing with Tamarind and other spices. Enjoy rainy days with Mirchi bajji….

Ingredients:

Long Green Chilli – 10

For stuffing:

Ajwain / vaamu – 1 tbsp

Tamarind Paste – 1 tsp or Tamarind – small ball

Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp

Salt – 1 Big Pinch

For Batter:

Besan / Gram Flour – 1 cup

Salt – to taste

Cooking Soda – ½ tsp

Ajwain / Vaamu – ¼ tsp

Oil – to deep fry

Procedure:

Wash and wipe green chilli and let them dry completely.

Take ajwain, cumin seeds, and tamarind in an electric blender or hand grinder and make into coarse powder or paste. And add little salt and mix it well.

Take a utility knife and make lengthwise slit and remove excess seeds (removing seeds is completely optional).

Now stuff the ajwain-tamarind mix to the Green chillis and set side.

Heat Oil in a kadai.

Sieve the flour in a bowl, add salt, baking soda, ajwain (optional) and mix well, and add sufficient amount of water and make into a thick paste.

Now dip the stuffed green chilli in the batter and put it in the hot oil carefully.

Let it fry for 2 or 3 min on one side and then take a spoon or fork and try to turn it carefully. If you are not able to turn it, you can use your ladle or spoon and just press the bajji with very little force.

Fry till they turn golden brown.

Serving Tips:                      

Sprinkle Little Chat masala and Serve them Hot with Onions.

Another serving method is, again make a length wise slit and set side.

Chop Onion and coriander leaves finely, and mix with lemon juice and chat masala and stuff this onion mixture.

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In some restaurants they cut this bajji into small pieces and again they will fry them in hot oil for few min and serve. This is called Cut Mirchi.    

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