Green Moong Dal Rice Bath/Hesaru kalina bath

Yet another rice bath which is very simple, tasty and very very healthy. You can sprout the moong dal to make it even more healthy. 

This rice bath is bland compared to pulavs and biriyanis, but tasty nevertheless. 

It’s great for potlucks and lunch boxes too.. 

Enjoy!!

Mango CheeseCake

Sometime back I saw this video on Euphoric Delights(a FB group) about this easy dessert made for a potluck. The picture and presentation was so enticing that I couldn’t wait to have one for myself. Then I started looking out for the ‘setting’ ingredient agar agar(as a substitute for Gelatin) in local stores, only to realize that it’s not easily available. After months of searching, I found one in an Indian store and finally got to making it..

This recipe is very easy once you get the hang of it. It is also a good potluck item. It looks very fancy and classy served in individual portions, in clear shot glasses. 

Do try!

Puliyogare(Or Chitranna) Gojju/Paste

My mom makes awesome Puliyogare powder from scratch, which I am too lazy to learn. In one of our conversations she told me that the major difference between puliyogare powder and rasam powder is indeed the addition of sesame seeds.. then it suddenly occurred to me why not put some sesame seeds to the rasam powder and make my own puliyogare gojju..

..and that’s what I did here.. 

The trick in bringing puliyogare gojju to a gravy consistency is addition of water, which lot of people miss out on. Even when I am making puliyogare from MTR dry powder, I put some water and boil it to a gravy consistency. Puliyogare comes out better this way and mixing also becomes easy. 

This gojju can be used as chutney with dosa, chapathi and also like pickle with curd rice. My mom used to take chapathi with this gojju for long travels. It has a pretty good shelf life... and can be stored even longer when kept in the fridge.. I’ve never stored this long enough to know exactly how many days it stays :)

When I proudly told mom about my “invention”, she said what I just did was chitranna and not puliyogare.. hehe.. 

It tastes awesome, whatever you call it :)

Do try!

Indian Fried Rice

My Ode to Maggi

Whenever I needed you

you came to my rescue

Mornings, afternoons, nights

even midnights too

You were loved by 

kids and adults alike

Why did they make you

take a hike :((

I was acting over-smart, sneaking in vegetables too

Turns out you yourself were unhealthy, aakhir kyon??    

My mom said one time,

she made you in an old pot of mine 

The vessel turned sparkling new

She swore that’s the last time she’d make you!!

Maggi O Maggi

it’s hard to say good bye!

Good bye, my beloved,

come back healthy and alive!!! 

bye bye Maagi! 

bye bye...

*sob sob*

Coming to the recipe,

This is yet another version of Indian fried rice, which is very easy and tasty. My friend’s mom gave me this recipe. 

It uses only clove and garlic for masala which differentiates this from other rice baths.

Do try!

Navratan Kurma

Navaratan Kurma is a rich, popular North Indian curry. I like the rich, creamy, sweet taste of this curry. But this particular recipe tasted more like Thai red curry.. may be because I didn’t use any sweet-giving ingredients, such as pineapple/raisins, as I didn’t have any.. 

Otherwise, I followed the recipe as it is...

Tomato Bath - Version 1

I always look for recipes...

I always collect recipes...

If anybody makes anything interesting, I ask them for recipe..

I watch cooking episodes tirelessly online...

and yet I claim that I’m least interested in cooking...

So why do I do all the above? 

The answer is that I’m an enthusiastic eater, not an enthusiastic cook! My main motivation behind experimenting in the kitchen is eating good food..  or rather the lack of having good restaurants around.. My cooking drive diminishes the moment I set foot in India..

I shouldn’t complain living in the Bay area.. but c’mon how can a street vendor in India make better chats than here..? how come nobody gets that THE Masala Dosa flavor from India...? bakery items.. no where close!! Does any restaurant owner care to learn what they are missing? seriously I can make better dosas at home...  where is THAT Dosa which would slide off a plate with so much grease in it and where is this Dosa, which wouldn’t even come off the plate... *sigh* 

So until those kind of restaurants open up, I’ll be a trooper and experiment in my kitchen...

Coming to the recipe.. 

This particular recipe I got from the Oggarane Dabbi cooking series which is on youtube. 

It is a healthy one pot meal which is very very simple and very very tasty, close to the ones you’d get in restaurants in India. One of the restaurant owners made it at the show.. 

Veg Palya for Sandwich/Paratha - Mixed Veg Stuffing

Sandwich is a staple in our house. My daughter loves them and I love them too. I can stuff any kind of vegetable and she wouldn’t even notice..  

I generally make mixed vegetable palya with potato, carrot, beans and peas. Nothing fancy just regular potato palya with added vegetables...
  

Then I came across this mix veg paratha at Indian Stores which had crushed vegetables in them; which gave me an idea to crush the frozen mixed vegetables, instead of cutting all the vegetables from scratch. 

Result?
..
Tada!

I got an easy and a better tasting Playa. 

I coarsely ground frozen vegetables. And when they are ground together the individual taste of each vegetable is blended together to give an unique taste in every bite. 

This stuffing could be used for Parathas as well... you can make cutlets.. or tikkis.. or mix veg bonda.. basically anything which requires stuffing..

Do try!