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.