Apple cinnamon milkshake

This is the easy way of consuming apples for those who does not like the fruit like me :-) . I made this with few changes from the original recipe.

Source : Tarladalal
Serves : 2

Ingredients:

Apples : 1 cup (peeled and chopped)
Honey : 2 tbsp
Almonds : 4
Cinnamon powder : 1 tsp
Milk : 2 cups (Boiled and chilled)

Method:

1. Blend chopped apples, honey, almond with little milk.
2. Add cinnamon powder and rest of milk and blend to a smoothly.
3. Serve chilled.(If needed add few ice cubes)

Notes:

-You can replace honey with sugar.(I added honey to make it more healthier)
-Can even try with cardamom powder instead of cinnamon.

Black eyed peas(Alasande Kalu) curry

Black eyed pea (Alasande kalu) is high in proteins. Here is the recipe of black eyed pea side dish. It goes well with roti,chapathi or even steamed rice.

Ingredients:

Black eyed peas - 1 cup
Onion - 1 big, chopped
Tomato - 2 , chopped
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp or to taste
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
salt - to taste
Oil - 2tsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Coconut - 2tsp (optional)
Coriander leaves - few

Method:

• Soak black eyed pea for any hour and pressure cook it for 3 whistles(depends on cooker) or on stove top. Don't over cook. Peas should retain their shape.
•  Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, Jeera and allow them to splutter.
• Add Onion and cook till they are transparent and then add tomato and cook till they are done.
• Now add cooked black eyed peas. If u want gravy add little water and mash few peas. Cook for few mins
• Add salt, chilli powder,coriander powder and garam masala and grated coconut and cook for 2 mins.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Chocolate chip cookies with dry nuts

Whats better than a chocolate?? I love chocolate in any form.Be it a chocolate,cake or a cookie.I found this eggless chocolate chip cookie recipe from this site. I made it with few modifications. I added cocoa powder for rich color and also added almonds.

Ingredients:


All purpose flour - 1 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup
Cocoa - 1/4 cup
Walnuts - 1/2 cup chopped
Almonds - 1/4 cup chopped
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Chocolate chips - 1/4 cup

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 150 C. Sift all purpose flour,cocoa, baking powder and keep aside.
• In a bowl add softened butter and sugar and mix until it become creamy.
• Now add flour mixture, almonds, walnuts, choco chips and knead into a dough. If dough is dry add few drops of milk. 
• On the baking tray line a baking sheet or apply butter
• Now divide dough into small balls (roughly in the size of a lemon) and place them on tray and flatten a bit.(If you need a crunchy cookies flatten the dough more).
• Bake this in the pre-heated oven for 20 mins and after that allow it to cool completly on a wire rack.

Tomato tovve/pappu (tomato dal)

This is the one of the simplest and wholesome meal with minimal ingredients. Here is the recipe for tomato tovve/pappu.

Ingredients :

Tomato - 3
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Rasam powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander leaves(chopped) - 2 tablespoons
Salt  to taste

Tempering:
Oil - 1 table spoon
Jeera - 1/4 table spoon
Mustard seeds - 1/4 table spoon
Dry red chilli - 1
Hing - pinch

Method:
Cook the toordal in pressure cooker. In a thick bottomed pan cook tomatos.
Add cooked cooked toordal, rasam powder,salt and cook for 8-10 mins occasionally stirring.
Now add corriander leaves to above.

Tempering:
In a small pan add oil and allow it to get hot. Add red chilli,jeera and mustard seeds. After the spultter add hing to this.

Add the tempering to the tomato tovve. Enjoy this with hot rice and  ghee!!

Banana Walnut Bread

We usually have a banana  daily. But this weekend dis not eat them. When I saw them today after the weekend they were over ripen and almost non-eatable. So I browsed and found that many breads, caked can be baked using ripen bananas. Ripen bananas are good substitute for eggs. yuppie... This bread is from Chefinyou, which I found easy more importantly I had almost all the ingredients.

So here it is 'Banana Walnut bread' with few changes from the original recipe. I added cardamom powder instead of cinnamon and also I did not have the wheat grem so replaced with all purpose flour itself.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups
Baking Powder - 2 table spoon
Banana (Ripen) - 3
Butter - 5 table spoons(Room temp)
cordammam powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Salt - 1/2 tea spoon
Sugar - 1/2 cup (I felt more may be because of banana's sweet)
Walnuts - 1/2 cup
Water - if needed

Method :

1. Pre-heat the oven at 200 c(400 F) for about 10 mins
2. Make the puree out of ripen bananas. (I put them into the mixer) and keep it aside.
3. In a bowl sift and mix all purpose flour, salt, baking powder. Into this add cardammom powder and mix well.
4. In a another bowl add butter and sugar and mix till it becomes nice foamy mixture.
5. Now add this butter,sugar mixture into banana puree and mix
6. Add the dry ingradients along with the walnuts and mix well.
7. Place this mixture into the loaf and bake for 45 mins- 50 mins. Mine was done by 45 mins

Allow the bread to cool completely (I could not wait till then) and cut into pieces. It tasted yum!!

Hesaru Kaalu Usli (A Spicy Moong snack)

Moong is known as hesaru kaalu in Kannada.We can make many dishes out of this. Here is recipe for usli. It is an easy and healthy snack.

Ingredients:

Moong (Green gram) - 1 cup
Onion - 1 medium
Green chilli - 1
Coriander (chopped) - 2 table spoons
Curry leaves - few
Coconut - 2 table spoons (optional)
Lemon juice - 1 table spoon
Salt - to taste

Tempering:
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tea spn
Urad dal (black gram) - 1/4 tea spoon
Oil - 2-3 table spoons

Method:

1.Soak moong for 7-8 hrs.
2.Cook it in pressure cooker (1-2 whistles) with little water and salt.
3.Chop onion, green chilli, coriander and keep aside.
4. Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan/vessel. Once oil is hot add mustard seeds.
5. After the mustard seeds splutter, add urad dal.
6. Add onion, green chillis, curry leaves and cook till onions become translucent.
7. Now add cooked moong, grated coconut and mix lightly (over mixing could make the moong  mushy). Turn off the stove.
8. Add lemon juice and mix once again.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot..

Veg Pizza

Who does not like a mouthwatering pizza?? But its completely made out of maida(All purpose flour). So I thought of giving a shot with wheat flour though I did not dare prepare it completely with wheat flour the first time. Result was amazing. So now I have the confidence to try out completely with whole wheat flour.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough:

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
All purpose flour (maida) - 1 cup
Active dry yeast - 7g or 1 packet
Water - 1 cup
Olive oil - 2 table spoons

Sauce:
Tomato - 2 big
Oregano, Basil leaves (dry) - little
Olive oil - 1 table spoon

For topping:
Onion - 1 medium
Tomato - 1 big
Capsicum (red, yellow, green) - 1 cup
Green chilli - 2-3
Olives - few
Basil, Oregano(I used dry)
Cheese

Method:


Dough preparation:
1. Warm the water and add the yeast and mix. Keep this mixture aside for some time till it becomes foamy.
2. Meanwhile add the sifted wheat flour, all purpose flour and salt in a mixing bowl and mix.
3. Make a well in mixing bowl and add yeast mixture, mix well and add oil.
4. Knead this mixture well for about 10-12 mins. By now the dough will be soft.
5. Place this dough in a greased bowl and set aside for 60-90 mins by covering with a wet towel.
6. After 60-90 mins, the dough would have doubled in size. Punch the dough to remove the air off it.
7. Let the dough rest for another 30-60 mins by covering with a wet towel.

Sauce preparation:
1. Heat 1 table spoon of oil in a thick base vessel.
2. After oil is hot, add tomato and fry it till it is completely soft.
3. Add little salt and dry basil and oregano leaves and allow it to cool.

Pizza preparation:
1. Preheat the oven for about 180 C for about 10 mins.
2. Take the dough and roll into a round pizza base (Mine was not completly round but, who cares the shape?)using a rolling pin.
3. Spread the sauce on the top, sprinkle some oregano and basil leaves.
4. Place all the vegetables and sprinkle the cheese on top.
5. Place it in oven and bake till the cheese melts and the edges become golden brown.

Let it cool for 5-10 mins and cut into pieces and enjoy the hot pizzas !!

Indian Spicy bun (Khara bun)

One day one of friends had posted about the spicy buns that are available in Bangalore on Facebook. Though I have never tasted them in Bangalore, I had eaten them in my place as a child when my grandfather brought it for us. So I thought of giving it a try. To my surprise it came out well. So here I'm posting the receipe of the Indian spicy buns.

Spicy buns:
Ingredients:
1. All purpose flour - 4 cups
2. Active dry yeast - 2 table spoons
3. Milk - 1 cup
4. Butter - 3-4 table spoons
5. sugar - 1 table spoon
6. Salt  - 1 1/2 table spoons (or to taste)


For Masala:
1. Onion - 1 Medium size
2. Geen chillies - 2
3. ginger - 1 table spoon
4. Mustard seed - little
5. Coriander
6. Jeera - little
7. Oil

Method:
Preparing Masala:
1.Cut the onions, green chillies.
2.Heat one table spoon of oil and put mustard seeds and jeera and allow them to sizzle.
3.Add ginger,chopped green chillies, onion and fry till onions get transparent and add coriander.
 Keep this aside.

Preparing buns:
1. warm the milk (it has to be slightly warm. If its too hot would kill the yeast).
2. Add yeast, sugar into the milk and keep aside for 5 mins.
3. Take a large bowl and put the all purpose flour, salt, melted buttter into it and mix well.
4. Now add the yeast mix into the flour bowl and kneed well (for about 10-12 mins). The dough has to be soft.
5.Make well inside the dough and place the above prepared masala and mix well.
5. Place this dough into a bowl coated with butter and cover with a wet cloth and keep it aside for 1 hour.
 After an hour the dough would have doubled in size.
6.Punch the dough a little and make small round dumplings .
7.Keep these dumplings for another 30 mins by covering a wet cloth.
8. Now take a brush and apply little milk on the bun dumplings (this gives the buns a nice color).Its called milk wash.(you can also do same with egg).
9. Preheat the oven at 225 C  and bake these for 20 mins. (keep checking in between).
10. After 20 mins remove the buns from oven and allow them to cool for 20 mins.

Serve them with the evening tea and enjoy..

I know its a long procedure, but if you love cooking it gives a great pleasure in preparing.. Enjoy..

Adai dosa (Lentil Dosa)

This is my first post on cooking. I started cooking only 3 months back and now its my passion. 

Today I had prepared Adai dosa or Lentil dosa for breakfast and it came out pretty well. I thought of posting the recipe.

Adai dosa:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rice
1/2 cup toor dal
1/2 cup urad dal(black gram)
1/2 cup moong dal
1/2 cup bengal gram
Green chilli / redchillies - 2
Ginger - 1 table spoon
Jeera - 1 table spoon
Onion - one small (optional)
Salt - to taste
oil

Method:
1.Soak all the dals and rice for 3-4 hrs(I soaked it over night).
2. Remove the water and grind with greenchillis, ginger, onion and make a corse batter.
3.Add jeera and salt and mix well.
4.Heat the dosa tawa and make the dosa's.
5.Serve the hot dosa's with coconut chutney.

PS: If you are using red chillies soak them along with the dals  .

My first blog

Hello everyone,

I'm Madhu.Its been my dream to write a blog from many years,  I was not able to to write for many reasons(laziness!!!). Finally today I made my mind to start blogging.

I never thought I would love cooking so much, but just after 4 months I can say that one of my passion is cooking. I'm also interested in reading books, watching sports, movies etc..

Here you get my experiments in kitchen mostly Indian. But baking but has bitten me so,  may expect my experimentation on baking too. Since I'm new to kitchen mostly there will be basic recipes. Leave a comment . It means a lot to me!!

Hope to write my post on regular basis.

-Madhu