Caramel Custard Pudding / Creme Caramel / Flan Recipe

Caramel Custard Pudding / Creme Caramel / Flan Recipe:Such a classic elegant looking dessert that tastes really great. The great thing about custard pudding recipe is that it only requires  basic ingredients like milk, egg, sugar and vanilla. A spoon full of egg custard pudding with the perfect caramel sauce is just divine.

Preparation Time:10 min
Cooking time:45 min
Serves: 4

Ingredients needed:

• Egg - 2
• Milk - 2 cup
• Powdered Sugar - 2 tbsp
• Sugar for caramelizing - 4 tbsp 
• Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Preparations:

For making caramel:

Add 4 tbsp of castor sugar or granulated sugar to a pan with 1 tbsp of water and heat on medium flame.
Do not stir with spoon just swirl the pan if needed.
Once the mixture turns golden brown immediately spread it on the mold or ramekin evenly and let it cool down.

For making custard:

Beat Egg, powdered sugar, and vanilla essence together until egg is fluffy and sugar dissolves completely.
Heat milk and add it to the egg mixture while whisking continuously so that the custard will not curdled.
Also make sure that milk is not too hot otherwise the egg mixture will be scrambled.
Strain the mixture so that the pudding will get a smooth texture.
Pour this custard on to the prepared molds.
Prepare a waterbath by pouring watering to a large tray and placing the molds to this tray.
Bake it in the pre-heated oven with temperature 375F for 30-40 minutes .
Allow it to cool down completely and refrigerate for hours before demolding.

Before demolding 

At the time of serving caramel custard pudding run a knife around the pudding to loosen and place a plate over it and turn upside down.

Notes:

• While making caramel always increase or reduce heat as required to make sure not burned the caramel. If you burned the caramel then the whole pudding will taste bitter.
• Check the cook of the pudding while baking by inserting a knife or toothpick to it and came out clean.
• Refrigerate the pudding for a few hours or overnight before demolding.

Banana Nuts Bread / How to make Banana Bread - Easy Banana Nuts Bread Recipe

Banana Nuts Bread:If you have any leftover overripe bananas,do not throw it away. you can make very delicious banana bread. This is a very easy recipe that calls for only basic ingredients. Easy to make and very tasty bread, which can be used as a breakfast or tea time snack.

Preparation Time:5 min
Baking time:60 min
Recipe Source:Joy Of Baking

Ingredients needed:  
All-purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups

Granulated white sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Eggs, large, lightly beaten - 2
Unsalted butter, melted and cooled - 1/2 cup
Ripe large bananas, mashed well - 3
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Walnuts or any nuts of your choice, toasted and coarsely chopped - 3/4 cup

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Grease the baking pan with butter and dust with flour and set aside.
Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Or you can also dry roast nuts in the stove top. But it needs continuous stirring. Let it cool and then chop coarsely.
Sieve or mix together the dry ingredients -  flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nuts. Set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky. Do not over mix the batter.
Bake this in a preheated oven for about 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let it cool down before removing from the pan.

Makes 1 - 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

Baked Vegetable Cutlet / Vegetable Cutlet in oven without oil - How to make vegetable cutlet or vegetable patties

Vegetable cutlets: Cutlets are all time favorites of everyone, also a kid favorite snack. Whether they are vegetarian or non-veg, cutlets are a good evening snack or appetizer course.

Preparation Time:20 min
Cooking time:25 min
Yields:20

Ingredients needed:  

• Potato - 2 medium sized
• Mixed Vegetables(Carrots,peas,cauliflower,cabage etc) - 1 cup
• Onion, finely chopped - 1/2 cup
• Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 2 tsp or to taste
• Garam masala - 1 Tbsp
• Curry leaves. finely chopped - 2 tbsp (Optipnal)
• Oil - For sauteing
• Salt - To taste

For Breading:

• Egg, Beaten
• Breadcrumbs - As needed
• Oil - For drizzling on top

Preparation:
Pressure cook vegetables for 3-4 whistle and drain the water completely.
Mash the vegetables with a potato masher and set aside.
Preheat the oven at 350 F.
Prepare a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Cook the potatoes, drain and pat dry it to avoid any water. Peel and mash the potatoes and set aside.

Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add curry leaves.
After few seconds add onion and fry till translucent.
Then add ginger garlic paste and saute for few minutes.
Add the dry masala powders, turmeric, red chilli, garam masala,salt and cook for few minutes till raw smell goes.
Add the mashed veggies and salt to it and mix well.
Allow it to cool down.
Then add the mashed potato to it and mix well without large lumps.
Make balls out of the mixture and make it to your desired shape.
Dip each cutlet in the egg and coat it with breadcrumbs.
Arrange them in a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Drizzle drops of oil on top of each cutlet.
Bake it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.
Then turn over the cutlets, again drizzles drops of oil on top of each cutlet and bake again for another 10 minutes or til well done.

Serve hot with ketchup...

Notes:If you want to keep it as complete vegetarian, instead of egg, you can also use all purpose flour paste(flour mixed in water) or corn starch for coating.
Drizzling oil before baking prevents drying of the crusts.
You can use any veggies of your choice, but make sure there is no water in the mixture you made. Otherwise the cutlets will break while cooking.
Instead of baking, you can also shallow fry cutlets in the stove top.

Besan Cookies / Besan Nankhatai

Besan Cookies/Besan Nankhatai : After started baking, I'm always searching for easy bake recipes and recipes without all purpose flour. Here is a nankhatai/besan cookies recipe without all purpose flour. Freshly baked cookie with Indian flavor is just heaven.

Baking time:20 min
Yields: 20

Ingredients needed: 
Gram Flour / Besan  - 1 cup
Granulated Sugar - ½ cup
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Butter - 1/4 cup
Baking Powder  - ½ tsp
Cardamom - 2
Pistachio nuts(Optional), thinly sliced - 5
Salt - A pinch


Procedure:
Powder the sugar with cardamom and keep it aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining parchment paper.
Mix the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
In a wide bowl, add butter, ghee and powdered sugar. Cream them with a whisk till it becomes soft and fluffy.
Then add the dry flour mixture and knead them into a soft and pliable dough. Instead of ghee, you can also use butter. But the aroma of ghee in the cookie goes very well with the cardamom flavor.
Divide the dough into gooseberry size balls. Press them between your palm. So they become slightly flatten. Arrange them on the prepared baking tray.
Now place few pieces of pistachio nuts at the center of the cookies.
Bake them at 350F for 15-18 mins or till they turns into brown.
Take it out from the oven and allow it to completely cool down on a wire rack.

Notes:

You can save this in air-tight container for upto 2 weeks.
The baking time varies from oven to oven.
 Instead of ghee, you can also use butter. But the aroma of ghee in the cookie goes very well with the cardamom flavor.

Click here for more Cookies Recipes....

Easy Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Cocoa Frosting / How to make easy Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting: Easiest chocolate cake recipe. Great taste and looks great.  Remember to serve this cake in room temperature.

Yields:12 servings
Recipe source: cacaoweb


Ingredients needed:  

For the cake:

All-purpose flour – 1 ½ cup
Unsweetened cocoa powder (dutched/dark)- 3 tbsps
Baking powder – 2 tsp
Sugar – 1 cup

Salt – 1 pinch
Vanilla essence – 2 tsp
Milk – 3/4 cup
Butter – 3/4 cup
Eggs – 2

For the frosting:

Powdered sugar – 2 cups
Cocoa powder – 2 tbsp
Butter,soften – 6 tbsp
Vanilla essence – 2 tsp

Preparation:

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Grease a 9 inch cake tin.
Mix the dry ingredients,that is flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.
Melt the butter at low heat and add to the dry ingredients. Also add milk and eggs.
Mix everything together until smooth, either by hand or by using an electric mixer at slow speed.

Add the vanilla essence and mix well.
Transfer to bake tin and bake at 350 degrees until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, approximately 35 to 45 minutes.

Frosting:

Cream the softened butter with powdered sugar in a bowl. Add cocoa and vanilla  mix until smooth. Do not over-mix. If the mix feel too thick add few tablespoon milk and mix well.

Assembly:

Cover the cake with the frosting. You can also cut the cake into half and fill the frosting in the middle and cover with frosting.

Notes:
This cake must be served in room temperature. When it is cold I feel it is little dense.

Aloo Matar Curry - How to make aloo-matar gravy/potato-peas gravy

Aloo Matar gravy - Aloo matar curry is a simple curry with potatoes and peas. It goes very well, not only with parathas, roti,naan but also with jeera rice,ghee rice etc.

Preparation Time:15 min
Cooking time:20 min
Serves:4

Ingredients needed:  

• Potatoes,cubed - 2 medium
• Green peas(fresh or frozen) - 1 cup
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp
• Garam masala - 1 tsp
• Cashew nut/almond paste - 1 tbsp (Optional)
• Salt - To tast

For grinding:

• Onion - 1, small
• Tomato - 2 large

For tempering:

• Oil 
• Cumin - 1 tsp

Preparation:

Wash,peel and cut potatoes to bite sized cubes.
Grind onion and tomato to fine paste and set aside.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add cumin and allow it to crackle.
Then add ginger garlic paste saute for a few minutes then add onion tomato paste  and saute until raw smell goes and oil leaves from it.

Add the spice powders chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and salt and saute well.
Then add cashew nut paste and cook for few minutes. Cashew nut paste is added only to thicken the gravy. You can also skip this step if you want.
Then add potatoes and peas and mix well. Add a cup of water and Close the lid of pressure cooker and cook for 2-3 whistles on low flame or till potatoes and peas are cooked well.

Serve hot with roti, chappathi or pulao.

Notes:

• You can also pre-cook vegetables but cooing those in the gravy add more flavors to the vegetables.
• To make cashew nut/almond paste, soak 5-6 nuts in warm water for 30 minutes and grind that in the mixer.
• Instead of cashew nut paste you can also use fresh cream at the end to get that creaminess.

Kerala Style Egg puffs - How to make Egg Puffs

Egg Puffs: My husband's all time favorite snack. Missed this kerala style puffs when relocated to U.S. But once I found out that puff pastry sheets are available frozen here, realized that how easy it was to make any sweet or savory  puffs. 

Preparation Time:10 min
Baking time:20 min
Yields:10

Ingredients needed:  

• Puff pastry sheets, square (Readymade) - 1 packet (Have 10 sheets)
• Hard boiled egg - 5nos
• Onion, sliced - 3 cups
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
• garam masala - 1 tsp
• tomato ketch up - 3 tbsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Salt - To taste
• Egg white, beaten - for brushing ( Optional)

Preparation:

Thaw the pastry sheets as per the instructions in the packet.
Peel the hard boiled eggs and cut in half.
Preheat the oven to 400F.

How to make the filling:

Heat oil in a pan and add onion.
Saute til translucents and then add ginger garlic paste.
Saute til the raw smell gone.
Reduce the heat to low flame and the add turmeric, chilli, black pepper, garam masala powders.
Cook for a minute.
Add tomato ketchup ,mix well and switch off the stove.
You can also add egg and mix well with this filling or keep it separate as per your taste.

Egg Filling

How to assemble the egg puffs:

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Take each pastry square and roll a little using rolling pin.
Spoon the prepared filling to its center and place one half of the hard boiled egg on top of it.
Fold the opposite corners to the center and gently press with your finger to hold it tight.
Brush the top with egg wash.
Repeat the steps for every pastry squares.
Line the prepared puffs in baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Notes:

• Instead of egg wash you can also use milk for brushing.
• Use the amount of filling as per your taste.

Aloo Paratha / How to make Aloo paratha

Aloo Paratha - Another favorite stuffed paratha. A north Indian dish but everyone's favorite - Paratha stuffed with potato mixture. The key to make stuffed paratha is to roll the paratha with stuffing. Once you mastered the art of rolling you can make paratha with any kind of stuffing like potato, paneer, carrot, cauliflower, peas or any vegetable with your favourite spice mixture.

Preparation Time:15 min
Cooking time:10 min
Makes: 6 Parathas

Ingredients needed:  
For the dough:

• Wheat flour(Atta) - 1 cup
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Salt - To taste
• Water - As needed

For the filling:

• Potato - 2 large
• Onion(Finely chopped) - 1 small
• Coriander leaves(Finely chopped) - 2 Tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Green chilli(Finely chopped ) - Optional, As per your taste
• Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - To taste

To toast:

• Oil/Ghee/Butter

More wheat flour for dusting

Preparation:

Mix Wheat and salt in a wide mixing bowl and add water little by little to make a soft dough and add oil to make it non sticky. The Dough must be nicely firm but not too tight and non sticky. Cover the dough and allow it to rest.
Cook potatoes until soft. After potatoes cool down then peel and mash the
Make 6 equal portions of potato mix.
Pinch a lemon sized ball from the dough and make it a smooth ball.
Flatten the smooth ball to a thicker medium circle with a rolling pin on a floured surface.
Place a portion of the potato mixture to the center of the flatten dough and seal the edges by gathering the edges to the top and flip over.
Press it with your hands and roll it to a thick paratha.
Heat a non stick skillet and transfer the paratha to it.
Drizzle some ghee or butter.
Flip over and gently press with your spatula for even cooking.
Cook well on both sides in medium flame.

The Filling and the dough

How to roll the paratha

Notes:

• Make sure there is no water in filling, otherwise it will stick while rolling.
• After boiling potato, remove it from water and allow to cool down on its own. Peel it after pat dry. Do not allow potatoes to absorb water.

Atta Kesari /Easy Atta Halwa / Easy Wheat flour kesari or halwa

Atta Kesari - I always make this whenever I had a craving for Indian sweets. Atta kesari is one of the easiest sweet which can be made in minutes. And the aroma of roasted wheat is amazing. 

                             Preparation Time:2 min
                           Cooking Time:10 min

Ingredients Needed:

• Wheat flour/Atta - 1 cup
• Sugar -3/4 cup 
• Salt - a pinch(Optional)
• Ghee - 2 tbsp
• Cardamom powder - a pinch
• Cashew nuts 5-10
• Water - 1 cup

Method:

 Add Ghee to a heated non-stick pan.
Then fry cashew nuts till golden brown and then add wheat flour to it.
Roast the flour in low or medium heat until color changes and nice aroma rises from it.
Now add water with salt to it and keep stirring to make sure no lumps form.
Then add sugar and keep stirring.
Add cardamom powder.
Keep stirring until kesari doesn't stick to the pan and ghee ooze out from it.
Delicious atta kesari is ready!!!

Notes:

• You can add more ghee if it required.
• Adjust amount of sugar as per ur taste.
• Adding salt is optional but it will give a nice punch to the sweet taste.
• You can also add raisins or badam as garnish.
• Whole process must be done in low or medium heat with continuous stirring.

Wheat Almond Cookies / Atta Badham Cookies - Eggless Cookies

Wheat flour almond cookies/Atta badam cookies - I got this recipe from another blog and decided to try it because of its simple ingredients. It has no maida, egg, baking powder or baking soda. Very easy to make and delicious. 

Preparation Time:5 min
Baking time:15 min
Yields:20 cookies

Ingredients needed:  

• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
• Almonds, sliced - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
• Unsalted butter, at room temperature - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 2 tbsp or as needed to knead the dough

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients, wheat flour, almonds, sugar, salt and cardamom powder together and mix well.
Add the soften butter and make a soft dough by adding enough milk to it.
Line a cookie tray with parchment paper.
Make about 20 balls from the dough. Press each ball between your palm and arrange then in the prepared baking tray.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or til well done.

Allow it to completely cool down on a wire rack.

Notes:

• You can use store bought sliced almonds or whole almonds that crushed in a mixer.
• You can also replace almonds by cashew nuts or pistachios.

Marble cake - Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cake / Zebra Cake

Marble cake - a cute cake that makes both chocolates lovers and vanilla lovers happy. A beautiful cake made by only basic ingredients and easy recipe and amuse everyone by its look and taste.

Preparation Time:15 min
Baking time:50 min
Serves:6-8



Ingredients needed:



All purpose flour - 2 cup
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - a pinch
Egg - 4
Granulated Sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla essence - 2 tsp
Milk - 1 cup
Oil - 1 cup
Cocoa powder - 3 Tbsp
All purpose flour and Cocoa powder mix - 1 Tbsp (For dusting the cake pan)
Butter - For greasing the pan




Preparation:



Preheat the oven to 350F.
Grease the baking pan with butter and dust with flour and cocoa mix and set aside.
Sieve or mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate mixing bowl, beat together egg and sugar until creamy using a whisk or hand mixer.
Add vanilla essence to it and mix well.
Add milk and oil to it and mix well.
Gently fold in the flour mixture to it.
Then divide the batter to two equal parts.
To one part add in the cocoa powder and mix well.
Both chocolate and vanilla cake batter is ready.


Now to bring the marble effect to the cake, take the greased pan and pour couple of tbsp of vanilla cake batter. Then pour the chocolate batter and repeat the process for the whole batter.


Bake this in a preheated oven for about 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let it cool down before removing from the pan.



Notes:

• You can use 9 inch round cake pan to make this cake.
• I have used 2 pans , the loaf pan and 4 cup round pan. So it take only 40 minute to bake.

Pasta in tomato sauce or Pasta marinara / Penne with marinara sauce

The pasta makes the easiest dinner after a tiresome whole day. If the sauce is precooked then the dinner is ready in minutes. You can also incorporate any veggies of your choice to this dish.

Preparation Time: 5 min
Cooking time:40 min
Serves:2

Ingredients needed:  

• Olive oil - 2 Tbsp
• Garlic cloves, minced - 5
• Tomato, finely chopped/pureed - 5 large
• Onion, finely chopped - 1 small
• Dried Oregano - 1/2 tsp
• Fresh parsley, finely chopped - 1 tbsp
• Fresh basil - 1 spring
• Paprika/red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - To taste
• Penne Pasta - 2 cup
• Shredded cheese (Optional)

Preparation:

Marinara sauce:

• Heat oil in a pan and add garlic to it.
• Then add onion and saute until translucent.
• Add tomatoes, bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes with closed lid.
• Check in between to make sure not to stick to the bottom.
• Again cook for 10 minutes with open lid and occasional stirring.
• Add spices and herbs and cook for few more minutes.
• Marinara sauce is ready.

Pasta:

• Cook Penne as per the package.
• Bring a pot of water to boil, add salt and  oil.
• Add pasta to it and cook uncovered until al dente, firm not mushy.
• Once pasta cooked, drain water using a colander.

Serving:

• Add cooked pasta to the marinara sauce and toss.
• Add shredded cheese and mix well on low heat.
• Serve hot. 

Notes:

1. The marinara sauce can be refrigerated up to 3-4 days or freezes up to 2 months.
2. You can also add cooked seasonal vegetables while mixing sauce and cooked pasta.
3. You can completely skip the use of cheese if you want.
4. You can use shredded Parmesan or mozzarella or any cheese of your taste.

Paneer Paratha Recipe - How to make paneer paratha / Punjabi Paneer Paratha Recipe

Paneer paratha is the favourite kind of stuffed paratha for everyone especially kids. Its star ingredient is the paneer, which makes complete meal for dinner with some yoghurt and salad.

Preparation Time:15 min
Cooking time:10 min
Makes: 6 Parathas


Ingredients needed:  

For the dough:

• Wheat flour(Atta) - 1 cup
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Salt - To taste
• Water - As needed

For the filling:

• Paneer(Crumbled) - 1 cup
• Coriander leaves(Finely chopped) - 2 Tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Green chilli(Finely chopped ) - Optional, As per your taste
• Garam masala - 1 tsp
• Salt - To taste

To toast:

• Oil/Ghee/Butter

Preparation:

1. Mix Wheat and salt in a wide mixing bowl and add water little by little to make a soft dough and add oil to make it non sticky. The Dough must be nicely firm but not too tight and non sticky. Cover the dough and allow it to rest.
2. Crumble the paneer, mix coriander leaves chilli , garam masala , salt and mix well with your hands. Make 6 equal portions of paneer mix.
3. Pinch a lemon sized ball from the dough and make it a smooth ball.
4. Flatten the smooth ball to a thicker medium circle with a rolling pin on a floured surface.
5. Scoop a portion of the paneer mixture to the centre of the flatten dough and seal the edges by gathering the edges to the top and flip over.
6. Press it with your hands and roll it to a thick paratha.
7. Heat a non stick skillet and transfer the paratha to it.
8. Drizzle some ghee or butter.
9. Flip over and gently press with your spatula for even cooking.
10. Cook well on both sides in medium flame.

Here is the step by step for rolling and stuffing paneer paratha:

Notes:

• I used home made paneer , it is easy to crumble. If you are using store bought frozen paneer first thaw it completely and then make crumble using a food processor.
• There should not be any water in paneer. If it is watery then rolling paratha with stuffing will be difficult.
• If you want, you can also add a tsp of amchur powder or dried mango powder to the paneer filling.

Pav bhaji - How to make pav bhaji / Pav bhaji recipe

The most favorite Mumbai street food is the pav bhaji. Very easy to make and loaded with goodness of a lot of vegetables. It makes a filling evening snack for both kids and adult.

Preparation Time:20 min
Cooking time:40 min
Serves:4-6


Ingredients needed:  

For bhaji:

• Potato, cubed - 1 cup
• Green peas - 1/2 cup
• Carrots, cubed - 1/2 cup
• Cauliflower, cut into florets - 1/2 cup
• Onion, finely chopped - 1 cup
• Tomato, finely chopped - 1 cup
• Capsicum, finely chopped - 1 number
• Ginger paste / finely chopped fresh ginger - 1tsp
• Garlic paste / finely chopped fresh garlic - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 2 tsp or to taste
• Pav bhaji masala - 1 Tbsp
• Sugar, To adjust the taste - 1tsp (Optional)
• Coriander leaves, finely chopped - 2 Tbsp
• Oil/Butter - For sauting
• Salt - To taste

For pav:

• Ladi pav / pav bun - As needed
• Butter - For toasting pav bun

Preparation:

1. Pressure cook potato, carrots, cauliflower, green peas with enough water for 3-4 whistle.
2. Drain leftover water if any and mash all the vegetables using a potato masher.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion to it. Saute until translucent.
4. Add ginger garlic paste to it and saute until raw smell of ginger garlic gone.
5. Add Capsicum to it and saute for 2-3 minutes.
6. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, pav bhaji masala, and salt and saute for a minute.
7. Then add tomatoes to it and saute until mushy.
8. Then add the mashed vegetables to it and mix well.
9. Add water or strained vegetable stock as per your desired consistency.
10. Simmer for 5-10 minutes and add a Tbsp of butter and sugar to it.
11. Switch off the stove and add coriander leaves and mix well.
12. Toast the pav bun with little butter in a pan and serve hot with bhaji.

Notes:

• You can use any combination of vegetables to it.
• Potato is the base of the bhaji, so make sure to take enough potatoes compared to other vegetables.
• Mashed vegetables should be lumpy in consistency. Do not make it a smooth mash.

Shortbread cookies / Basic Shortbread Cookies Recipe / Easy Eggless Vanilla Cookies

The easiest type of cookies with only basic ingredients - Shortbread cookies. This is the type of cookie that I learned to bake first and it came out perfect at the first time itself.

Preparation Time:25 min
Cooking time:30 min
Yields:15-20 cookies

Ingredients needed:  

• All Purpose flour - 1 cup 
• Granulated Sugar - 1/4 cup
• Butter, soften - 1/2 cup (1 stick)
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
• Salt - a small pinch

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, mix all purpose flour and salt whisk it together. Or swift both together to mix well.
2. In a separate bowl cream butter and sugar well using a whisk or hand mixer.
3. Add Vanilla to it and mix well.
4. Gradually add flour and salt mixture and beat until blended.
5. Combine it to form a soft dough and wrap it in a cling wrap.
6. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.
7. Roll dough into 1/2 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface or on a butter paper.
8. Cut it into your favorite shape using cookie cutters or roll small balls and press with your hands.
9. Then refrigerate the cookies for 10 minutes while preheating the oven.
10. Preheat the oven at 325F.
11. Line the refrigerated cookies on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper. Bake it in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes or until firm in the centre and just changing color at the edges.
12. Let it cool dowm completely on a wire rack.

Notes:

• Shortbread cookies will look soft right after baking, and will be crisp after cooling down.

Apple pie with Home made crust / Double crust Apple pie

Preparation Time:30 min
Cooking time:1 hour
Serves:6-8

Ingredients needed:

For the crust:

• All purpose flour - 2 and half cup
• Cold Butter - 2 sticks or 1 cup
• Sugar - 1tbsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Ice water as needed

For the filling:

• Apple - 5 to 6 
• Sugar - 3 tbsp or as per your taste
• Cinnamon powder or nutmeg powder - to taste

Preparation:

1. You can make the dough in two ways: By hand or Using a food processor.
• Hand made dough:
• In a bowl combine flour, sugar, salt and mix well.
• Add cold butter cut in to pieces into it.
• Crush or squash  butter pieces along with some flour using only your fingertips.
• Repeat the process until all the butter pieces are crushed and the whole mixture resembles breadcrumb.
• Then add cold water only required to clump the dough together.
• Make it a smooth ball. Do not over work on the dough.
• Food processor:
• If you are using a food processor the whole process will be a lot easier.
• Add flour ,sugar , salt in a food processor and pulse to combile it together.
• Add cold butter to it and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Sprinkle just enough water to clump the dough together.
• Make it a smooth ball with your hand. Do not overwork on tne dough.
2. Divide the dough into two halves(2/3 for the base and 1/3 for the top) ,cover with a cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
3. Filling:
• Peel the apple and cut it into small cubes or thin wedges.
• Discard the seeds.
• Add sugar and cinnamon powder, mix well.
• Keep it aside.
4. Take the 2/3 half dough from the refrigerator.
5. Dust hand and working surface with little flour.
6. Roll the dough into a 12 inch circle using a rolling pin. If any crack is form around the edges, set it with your hand.
7. Grease a 9 inch pie plate and grease it with little butter.
8. Carefully roll the circled dough into this pie plate.
9. Preheat the oven into 375F.
10. Place the base of the pie in the centre rack of the oven and bake for 10 minutes. 
11. Meanwhile take the other half of the dough from the refrigerator and roll into 9 inch circle using rolling pin.
12. Take the half baked base from the oven and fill it with apple filling.
13. Roll the 9inch circle over it and seal the sides with a fork.
14. Using a knife make small slits on top.
15. Place it again in the oven bake it for 40-50 minutes or until top turns golden brown and juices bubbling from the filling.
16. Delicious apple pie is ready. Serve Apple pie with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.

• Notes:
• While mixing the dough if the butter started to melt place the mixture in refrigerator for few minutes and star over.
• If you overwork the dough it will become chewy instead of flaky and crisp.
• This is the basic pie dough recepe and you can use this for any kind of pie.
• This recipe is for making making 1 double crusted pie.
• You can add a little lemon juice to the apple filling to avoid discoloration.
• The reason for baking the base before filling the apple mixture is to avoid sogginess of the base.

Home made paneer recipe - How to make paneer / Indian Cottage Cheese

Ingredients needed:

• Milk - 8 cups
• Curd - 1 cup

Preparation:

1. Boil milk until rolling boiling.
2. Add curd to it and keep stirring.
3. You can see milk started curdling.
4. Continue heating until milk completely curdled and completely separate the whey liquid.
5. Now strain it through a cheesecloth or cotton cloth.You can use a colander lined by cheese cloth placed in a large bowl to collect the whey liquid.
6. Squeeze the excess water and and let it hang on somewhere to drain water completely without opening the cloth.
7. Or you can place it over a colander and place some weight over it to drain the excess water for a few hours.
8. Then take the paneer out of the cloth and cut it into desired shape.

Notes:

• Instead of curd you can also use lemon juice to curdle the milk.But it will reduce the amount of paneer.
• Always use whole milk for making paneer.
• You can also add more curd to speed up the whole process.
• If the cloth is not tied properly then you will not get the perfectly shaped paneer block.

Uses Of Whey:

• Whey is the clear greenish liquid you after separating paneer.
• It can be used to knead roti instead of water. It is highly nutritious and makes chappati soft and tasty.
• It can be used in curries instead of water.
• It can be used to make beverages like juices or smoothies where the recipes do not call for milk.

Coconut Chutney

Preparation Time:15 min
Cooking time:2 min

Ingredients needed:

• Grated coconut - 1 cup
• Green chilli - 2-3
• Curry leaves - 3 springs
• Salt - to taste
• Mustard - 1tsp
• Oil - for tempering
• Dry red chillies - 1

Preparation:

1. Grind together grated coconut , green chillies, 2 springs of curry leaves ans salt until smooth and desired consistency.
2. Heat oil in a pan.
3. Splutter mustard and then add dry red chilli and curry leaves.
4. Pour this over the chutney and mix well.

Notes:

• You can also add roasted gram dhal while grinding for better taste and texture.

Ghee Rice

Among variety of rice items in India,this is the simplest and easiest one. It can be prepared very easily and very tasty also. It can be served with any vegetarian or non vegetarian spiced curry or simply raita and papad.


Preparation Time:5 min
Cooking time:30 min

• Basmati rice - 1 cup
• Ghee - 
• Onion(finely sliced) - half
• Cashew Nuts - 10
• Raisins - 5-6
• Cardamom - 1 inch stick
• Cloves - 2-3
• Bay leaf - 1
• Crushed Pepper or Green chillies (Optional) 
• Salt -  To taste

Preparations:

1. Wash and soak the rice for 20 min and set aside.
2. Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan and add Cashew nuts. Fry till golden brown.
3. Fry raisins until it puffs up. Keep both aside.
4. Now add onion to the same ghee and fry till caramelized. It will take 10-12 mins. Keep it aside.
5. Then add cardamom,cloves,cinnamon and bay leaf to the same pan and allow it to splutter.
6. Now add the drained rice to it and fry for 2-3 mins.
7. Add 1 and 3/4  cup of hot water to it and allow it to boil.
8. Don't forget to add salt.
9. When rice is done fluff it with a fork and mix it with fried cashew nuts,raisins and caramelized onion.
10. Garnish with some fresh coriander leaves if you like.

Notes:

• If you want it spicy add crushed pepper or green chilli as per your spice level. I always omit this step.

Mango Salsa

Preparation Time:15 min
Cooking time:2 min

Ingredients needed:

• Ripe mango (Diced) -1 cup
• Bell peppers(Chopped) -1/2 cup
• Onion(Chopped) - 4 tbsp
• Jalapeno pepper(Chopped) - 2 tbsp or as per your taste
• Cilantro or coriander leaves (Chopped finely) - 2 tbsp or as per your taste
• Salt - to taste
• lime (juiced) - 1
• Tomato(Optional - chopped)  -1/2 cup

Preparation:

1. Mix and toss all the above ingredients together.
2. Let it stand for 10 min in refrigerator before serving.
3. Serve with tortilla chips or fried fish or chicken.

Notes:

• To give it an Indian touch you can also add a pinch of grounded cumin or chaat masala.
• Let it stands for at least 10 minutes to get the best flavours.

Vanilla Sponge Cake

Preparation Time:15 min
Cooking time:35 min

Ingredients needed:

• All Purpose Flour - 1 and 1/2 cup
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• salt - a pinch
• Butter -1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Eggs - 2
• Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
• Milk - 1 cup

Method:

1. Mix the dry ingredients(flour,baking powder and salt) and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar together in a separate bowl using a hand mixer or whisk.
3. Add eggs to it and mix well.
4. Now add vanilla extract  and milk and mix well.
5. Now gradually add the flour to it and mix well.
6. Our cake batter is ready.
7. Take a baking tray and grease the tray with butter and dust with flour.
8. Pour the prepared batter to the greased tray .
9. Place it in the preheated oven at 375F
10. Bake it for 35 minutes or until top turns golden brown.

Notes:

• U can sieve together the dry ingredients to give a better mix.
• I used only a whisk , u can also use a hand mixer to make the job better.
• Add eggs 1 at a time.
• Greasing the baking tray is important to unmold the cake.
• Unmold and cut the cake only after it cool down.

Cabbage Thoran or Cabbage stir fry

Cabbage thoran is the easiest dry accompany for rice in Kerala. It is very less spicy and easy to make.

Ingredients needed:

• Cabbage - 2 cup Finely chopped
• Shallots - 2 to 3
• Mustard - 1/2
• Dry red chilli - 1 for seasoning
• Curry leaves
• green chilli - 2 or as per taste
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Grated coconut - 3 tbsp(Optional)
• Salt - To taste
• Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Finely chop shallots and green chilli and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard. .when it splits add dry red chilli and curry leaves.
3. Then add Cabbage, turmeric powder ,green chilli and salt and mix well.
4. sprinkle with little water and cook with closed lid on low flame with stirring occasionally until cabbage become soft.
5. Add grated coconut mix well and switch off the flame.

Cabbage thoran is ready.

Potato Bajji - How to make potato bajji

Bajji is the easiest snack which can be prepared under 15 minutes. When its raining, watching rain with bajji and tea is such a nostalgic thing for each and everyone. Bajji can be prepared with plantain(vazhakka), potato, onion or any vegetable you like. So here is my recipe for potato bajji.

Preparation Time:10 min
Cooking time:10 min

Ingredients Needed:

• Potato - 1 large
• Gram flour or besan - 1 cup
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - a pinch
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - for deep frying

Preparation:

Wash and pat dry the potatoes to remove water from it.
Then peel off the skin of potatoes.
Cut potatoes into thin slices. Set aside.

Method:

In a bowl mix all the ingredients above except potato and oil and make it a thick batter without any lumps.
Heat oil in a kadai.
Dip each potato slice in the batter, coat well with the batter on both sides.
Carefully transfer the battered potato slices to the heated oil.
Fry the bajjis until golden brown on both sides.
Remove from oil and put it in a paper towel to drain excess oil.

Serve hot with coconut chutney and tea....

Notes:

• If the potato slices are too thick then it will not get cooked properly inside the batter. So make sure to cut thin slices.
• If the batter become runny then it will not get well coated on the potato slices,
• You can also add cooking soda to the batter to make the bajji more fluffy.

Semiya Payasam

I would like to start my blog with the easiest payasam(pudding), semiya or vermicelli payasam.
It is one of my favourite payasam which can be prepared with very few ingredients.

Ingredients Needed:

• Vermicelli - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 cup or as per your taste
• Milk - 3 cups
• Cashew Nuts - 6 to 8
• Raisins - 8 to 10
• Cardamom powder - a pinch
• Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method:

Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan and add Cashew nuts. Fry till golden brown.
Fry raisins until it puffs up. Keep both aside.
Roast vermicelli in the same ghee until golden brown in color and keep it aside.
Then boil the milk and add roasted vermicelli to the boiling milk and cook well.
Keep stirring until the vermicelli become soften.
Add sugar and stir until it dissolve.
Then add cardamom powder ,cashew nuts and raisins.
semiya payasam is ready to be served.

Notes:

• Semiya payasam can be served hot or chilled. Both way it tastes good.
• As it cools down the payasam will get little thick.
• You can add milk or water before serving to adjust the consistency.