La Gourmet Chef

Mango Delight Ice Cream

2008-07-14T13:43:00.002-04:00

Mom got a big basket of fresh Mangoes from the farmers market last saturday for just $3. I think they were around 11 or 12 in one basket. And these looked more like Rasalu type of Mangoes that we get in India and they were real sweet, not like the ones that we get in our Indian Stores.

This quickly reminded me of Mango Delight Ice Cream, the recipe that I noted down from a TV show recently. We made these creamy and heavenly ice creams in less than 10 mins and I just finished eating my second one.

This goes to the event Monthly Mingle 23-Mango Mania

Here is the Printer-Friendly Recipe: Mango Delight Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 fresh ripe Mangoes
50 g Cream

100 g Condensed Milk

half cup gelatin

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cardammom powder

food color, optional

Method

Puree mangoes in a blender.
Add fresh cream, sugar, condensed milk, elaichi powder and mix.
Add some milk, gelatin, food color (this is because the mango color gets reduced with the addition of all the dairy items, I avoided it and still they looked good)
Whisk again in the blender and put it moulds or cups and freeze for 10 mins.

Pudina Pooris

2008-07-14T09:02:00.003-04:00

Indian Bread: Poori

Pudina: Mint

Jeera: Cumin

Pudina Pooris are definitely a treat once in a while. I fell in love with these when I ate them first couple of years back. The event Herb Mania-Mint made me think about these again and I made these especially to post for that event. And we all enjoyed eating them too! Pooris can be eaten without any chutney, but you can serve with Tomato Chutney if you have it ready.

Ingredients

2 cups Maida

1/2 cup Pudina

1 tsp Cumin seeds

2 Green Chilies

1 tbsp Lemon juice

1/2 tsp Sugar

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method

Grind mint leaves, cumin seeds, green chilies, lemon juice, sugar and salt together to make paste.
Add this paste to the flour, add required water and knead into a firm dough. And keep the dough aside for 30 mins.
Roll the dough to make Pooris and deep fry them in oil.

Methi Chaman

2008-07-11T15:44:00.001-04:00

I heard that these days in India, everyone is going crazy over this curry and are ordering this whenever they go to any restaurant. I got this recipe from my sister and this tasted excellent with chapatis. Do not attempt to eat this with Rice as it didn't go well with Rice.

Heating Methi in oil removes its sour taste and grated paneer will help. I didn't have enough time, so I just crushed paneer and added to the dish. This fills you up pretty quickly and keeps you out of hunger for long.

Ingredients

1 cup Methi, chopped

1/2 cup paneer, grated

1 onion, chopped

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 green chillies, chopped

2 tbsp watermelon seeds

1 tbsp coconut

1 tsp coriander powder

red chilli powder, little

2 tbsp oil

salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in a pan, and fry in this order.
First add green chillies, fry for a minute.
Next add onions and fry till brown.
Add ginger garlic paste and fry again for a minute.
Add methi and fry again (can add little water if needed).
Add paneer and fry till it becomes light brown.
Then add salt, red chilli powder, dhania powder and coconut powder. Mix everything well.
Make paste wtih watermelon seeds and add to the above mixture.
Add butter at the end and garnish with fresh cream.

Cottage Cheese Bajji

2008-07-10T20:21:00.001-04:00

Was craving for something nice to eat, opened the refrigerator door, stood infront of it for a long time hoping to find something nice in some corner, but nope. Since my mom is here, she empties it and keeps things clean and tidy. I found cottage cheese box that we got from the store the other day and thought of making these bajjis. This is the second time I made them and my mom loved these instantly. They are crispy from outside and soft from inside and taste sour.

To make these you need..

Cottage Cheese

Maida

Green Chillies

Coriander

Curry Leaves

Jeera

Onion

Salt

Take Cottage Cheese in a bowl. Add chopped green chillies, coriander, curry leaves, jeera, onion, salt and keep adding maida until the dough come together and forms like a bajji dough.

Take little dough at a time and form into disc shapes and deep fry in oil. Remove and serve hot with Coffee or Tea.

Blueberry Lassi

2008-07-09T23:06:00.004-04:00

Drink: Lassi: Blueberry Lassi

It was very very hot on one saturday afternoon and we were badly looking for some cool drink to quench our thirst. That's how I tried Blueberry Lassi and it turned out so good that it has now become our weekend drink. You should definitely try this.

Blueberries are fresh in town now and I just saw an event that says Eating With The Seasons. Hence, this post is on its way to the event...

Fresh Blueberries

Wholefat buttermilk

Sugar

Dry fruit masala

Crush Blueberries first in the blender.
Add buttermilk, sugar and dry fruit masala and blend for a 1 minute.

Serve with Ice.

Jonna Payasam

2008-07-09T13:34:00.005-04:00

Dessert: Jonna Payasam

(Jonna: Jowar/Sorghum/Millet)

We've heard of various Payasams, but this one was completely new to me. When I saw it on TV, I immediately jotted down the recipe. Though this recipe calls for Whole Jowar (soaking it for a day and grinding it coarsely), I made this with the Jowar flour I already had in the pantry. Coconut powder certainly made a huge difference to the overall taste and I would definitely recommend this to everyone.

Jonna has good amount of calcium and phosphorus and is said to be very good for bones and teeth. Especially good for the people suffering with Osteoporosis. And this has good amounts of fiber too and that helps in controlling sugar levels. Coconut has all the essential vitamins and minerals needed for the body. Maida could be replaced with Jonna in certain recipes.

Printer Friendly Recipe: Jonna Payasam

This should be cooked on a low-medium flame.

1 cup Jonna Flour
1 cup Milk
1 cup Water
1 tsp Cardammom powder
1/3 cup Coconut powder
2/3 cup Sugar
1/2 cup khoya
4 tbsp Ghee (add generously if you don't mind calories)
Saffron, optional

In a cooking pan, add ghee and roast the Jowar flour till you smell nice aroma.
Add cardammom powder to it and mix.
Add coconut powder and mix again.
Add warm milk and water and keep stirring, mixture tends to thicken a bit. Cook for 5 mins.
Add khoya and mix, then add sugar at the end. You will see mixture loosening up at this stage. Add Saffron.Cook for 2-3 mins.

Remove and serve. Garnish with ghee and coconut powder.

Note: This pudding becomes hard after cooling, so it is better to serve it hot.

Aratikaya Vada

2008-07-08T12:18:00.001-04:00

South Indian: Raw Banana Vada/Plantain Vada/Aratikaya Vada

Plaintains are rich in fiber and they can be a good addition to our daily diet. Cilantro added in this recipe is very good for our digestive system and it tends to remove bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol. Turmeric removes bacteria from the digestive track. So, overall this is a healthy food and can be taken frequently.

Printer Friendly Version: Aratikaya Vada

2 plantains, grated

1/2 cup rice flour

1 cup besan flour

2 green chillies (more if like it hot)

1/2 bunch curry leaves

1/2 bunch coriander/cilantro

1/2 chana dal

red chilly powder to taste

a pinch of turmeric

oil for deep frying

salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and make them into disc shapes and deep fry them in oil.

Serve with ketchup or as it is.

Tip: Plantains tend to become dark after cutting, putting them in water after cutting will retain their color.

Aloo Manchuria

2008-07-04T15:02:00.006-04:00

Indo-Chinese: Aloo Manchuria (Aloo: Potato: Aloo Gadda)

Aloo/Potato Manchuria is my sister's favorite dish and she has been making this for quite sometime now and each time she tried she asked me to try and see how it tastes. I told my mom that we should make that and she immediately started cutting potatoes but let me tell you that she hates potatoes big time and she ate only one piece after making it. She says one piece once in a while is ok but not everyday. Btw, Ravi commented on this and said that he found Aloo Manchuria more tastier than any other Manchuria.

Sending this over to A.W.E.D Theme: Chinese

Anyways, coming to the Recipe, here it is..

Printer-Friendly Recipe: Aloo Manchuria

Potatoes-2 (cut into any shape you want)
1 cup each of Maida and Corn flour
1 onion
1 capcisum/green bell pepper
2 tbsp chilli garlic sauce
2 green chillies, chopped (and increase according to your taste)
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp pepper
salt to taste
2 tbsp oil for shallow frying
oil for deep frying
ajinomoto, a pinch
half bunch cilantro
spring onions, optional for garnish

Add maida, corn flour, salt and pepper to the potatoes and mix well with very little water.

Deep fry potatoes in oil and keep aside.

Take a wide pan, pour 2 tbsp oil, add green chillies, ginger and garlic pieces and fry for a minute.

Increase heat and add onions and green peppers and fry them till until they turn light brown.

Add soy sauce, chilli garlic sauce, ajinomoto, pepper, salt and little water. Let that cook for a minute. Add cilantro and mix well.

Add fried potatoes and mix until the mixture coats well on all potatoes. Remove and garnish with cilantro or spring onions. Serve hot.

Rava Biscuits

2008-07-04T09:35:00.003-04:00

Its such a happy feeling to have Mom around with us, those never ending conversations about life in general, recipes, colony people, cousins etc..she is the first best friend for any girl, there is so much to learn, so much to accomplish, looking at her everyday around the kitchen makes me question over and over again, why am I not so like her, she takes care of every minute thing at home, from filling drinking bottles to even folding your bedsheets when you wake up.

For cooking, she is concerned of green leafy vegetables and if they are not fresh at one store, we make rounds to all the other stores around Raleigh but they are must on the table with any meal. She is just something that I want to have her around forever in my life. But, I know that it is just not possible.

While having coffee yesterday, we had this discussion on various biscuits/cookies that she makes at home and she mentioned to me about these Rava Biscuits and said we can make those in jiffy and the ingredients she mentioned in making those were all available in the kitchen, so I thought we should go ahead and make those immediately. We finally made these in less than 30 mins.

These biscuits were soft with the first batch and we made them crunchy in the next batch by leaving them in the oven for another 5 mins. I think these are also known as Nan Khatai as I recall seeing the ingredients but I have tried various versions of Nan Khatai and this is one of them.

This makes approximately 30 biscuits.

Printer-Friendly Recipe: Rava/Semolina Biscuits/Cookies

21/2 cups maida

3/4 cup rava

11 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tsp cardammom powder

4 drops vanilla extract

3 drops rose water (optional)

3/4 cup sugar (you can add more, as these were not so sweet)

milk if needed for kneading

Preheat oven to 375 F.
In a bowl, sift flour, add semolina to it and mix well.
In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add cardammom and vanilla extract, rose water to it and beat again.
Add the butter paste to the flour and knead for few mins. (add little milk if needed).
Roll the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Place them in the oven for 15 mins or more for crunchy biscuits.

Good News & Gum Laddu

2008-06-30T07:13:00.003-04:00

Dear All,

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our baby Boy Kireeti, born on May 8th, 08.

And I have been eating these Gum Laddus (for Lactating Mothers) as suggested by my Indian doctor and she gave me the recipe which was exactly same as the one posted on "The Cooks Cottage" site. I made slight changes and avoided adding Pista and made a new addition of crushed fenugreek seeds.

Boondi Laddu

2008-04-17T15:01:00.006-04:00

Posted this recipe in my Sweets site, Mithai-Bhandar!.

Please click on the picture and it will take you there!

Print this recipe: Boondi Laddu

Thotakura Fry

2008-04-15T08:11:00.006-04:00

We took our Mom to the Indian Store and the very first thing she wanted to buy was Tomatoes, those round Beefsteak ones as she didn't like Roma and she thinks they don't go well with Indian Vegetables. And the next important thing in her list was leafy vegetables. We came across Amaranth leaves and she said she can make fry with that and we took it.

Now that Mom is here, she is making sure we are eating enough greens and she stressed so many times that we should eat greens atleast 4 times a week. We ate this curry as a side dish with Dal and for the night we tasted it with Chapatis and Pita Bread and it tasted great with any combination. I think I will continue making this as recipe as long this is available in the market.

Click here to print this recipe: Thotakura Fry (Amaranth Fry)

You need..

2 cups of Amaranth leaves, cut into small pieces
1 medium onion
2 small tomatoes
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 cloves of garlic, cut into big pieces
2 tsp red chilli powder
a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
2 tbsp oil

Add oil to the pan and when it gets hot, add onions and garlic and fry them till light brown.
Add greens and cook them lightly.
Add tomatoes, red chilli powder, turmeric and salt and cook until done (about 5-6 minutes).

Serve either with Rice alone, or as a side dish with Dal or eat with Chapatis.

All is Well

2008-04-11T07:32:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog Friends,

All is well with me except that I have Gestational Diabetes now. Since then, I just stayed away from food and food related things. It was very tough for me initially in choosing food but I got the hang of it now. I know what to eat, how much to eat and how to eat. In a way, this has helped me a lot in choosing the right kind and healthy food. I lost about 7 pounds so far and haven't gained a pound since Feb. My doctor was little concerned and ordered me to eat little extra food.

Now, I have everything under control and certain recipes I eat, don' t need any exercise too. I will compose a detailed post and add some recipes, hopefully soon to help others around with Gestational Diabetes.

My mom is coming tomorrow to help me with the baby and all and so, I started looking into blog and added a new magazine layout which I was dying for from long. I made this new, so that I can start posting mom's recipes from now until Aug.

See you all soon, thanks for leaving valuable comments, I have read them all and will contact you all one by one.

Happy Ugadi

2008-04-07T13:06:00.001-04:00

Mango Cake-Eggless

2008-01-28T16:05:00.000-05:00

My brother told me not to post this on the site by looking at the color and look of this cake, but don't go by the looks, this infact was much tastier than it looks. I tried for eggless cakes and I found this Mango version. The original recipe asked for real Mangoes but I didn't have any, so I used Mango Pulp instead.

1 cup diced fresh mango/mango pulp
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup skim milk powder
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup crushed pista
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Sift together the wheat flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.Add crushed Pista.
Put mango, water, sugar, milk powder, yogurt, and oil in a blender. Blend until smooth.
Pour the mango puree into flour mixture and mix well.
Put the whole mixture in a baking pan and bake until done (about 20-30 mins).

Pour some mango pulp and add some dry fruits on the top for decoration.

Note: I felt that the cake was lesssweeter, so you can increase the quantity of sugar or put some extra mango pulp in the plate and eat.

Baked Masala Puri

2008-01-26T13:02:00.000-05:00

I had a craving this morning to eat Savali, a kind of masala puri that my mom makes using Maida and other ingredients. When she listed the ingredients that goes into making Savali, I didn't have some at home, but I didn't give up and made this Masala puri instead. And I was so determined not to deep fry anything today that I ended up baking this. It satisfied my craving and gave me some sense of satisfaction of eating healthy.

1 cup whole wheat flour
½ tsp coarsely powdered cumin seeds
½ tsp coarsely powdered peppercorn
¼ tsp turmeric powder (optional)
2 tsp oil
¼ tsp salt

First add salt to the flour and mix well.
Add the remaining ingredients and knead.
Make puris into small and thin shape and prick with a fork.
Bake in an oven at 350F for 12 mins or until done.

Serve with any dip of your choice. I served it with a simple everday style dip.

Onion-Tomato Dip

Cut onion and tomato into small pieces. Add little chilli powder, salt, chat masala, lemon juice and garnish with coriander.

Strawberry Milkshake

2008-01-03T14:32:00.000-05:00

It is one of the easiest recipes on my blog I guess.

Add Strawberries in blender and make pulp. To this add required amount of sugar, milk and little bit of cardammon. Add few scoops of Vanilla ice cream and serve cold.

Though I added 2 scoops of ice cream for 3 glasses of shake, it was very light on the stomach. We wanted more :-)

Strawberry Shrikhand

2008-01-03T12:01:00.000-05:00

I got a big bag of strawberries from farmer's market and didn't realise that they were turning bad. And then I decided to make whatever I can from Strawberries, like Shrikhand and a Shake. I still have some left, let's see what other things I can make from them. Was thinking of making Pancakes this morning but somehow didn't find much time as I had prepare something for lunch at the same time.

Recipe is exactly the same as the regular shrikhand except you will add strawberry pulp to yogurt. This is the first time I tasted Shrikhand with Strawberry and the taste was tangy.

2 cups of non-yogurt
5 fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp honey
1/2 cardammon powder
few crushed dry fruits for garnish

Hang yogurt in a muslin cloth for 3-4 hours or until the liquid drains out.
Make pulp from strawberries.
Whisk together yogurt, strawberries, sugar, honey and cardammon.
Garnish with crushed dry fruits.

Serve cold with puris.

Special News w Bandaru Laddu

2007-12-31T16:42:00.000-05:00

Wishing all my friends and readers, a Happy and Joyous New Year!!

Along with this, I have some special news to announce and that is ..

We are expecting a baby in May (our first one)!! And we are so thrilled to bring this news to you. We have sent number of cards to all our well wishers and friends about this on this New Year and seeing their responses made our day terrific.

On this occasion, I bring you a dessert, which most of us cherish. I think it should be called Besan Laddu instead of Bandaru Laddu, but I got this recipe from a TV channel, E-Tv and the chef named it as Bandaru Laddu. The procedure for Bandaru Laddu is elaborate and demands a lot of time and attention, but this can be done in less than 30 mins. So, this is not an authentic Bandaru Laddu recipe instead a twisted one. The taste was close to Bandaru Laddu though.

2 cups Besan/Gram Flour
3T ghee
1 cup sugar
1t cardammon powder
1/2 cup milk

Heat ghee and fry Besan until golden brown.
Add sugar, cardammon powder and mix.
Add 1/2 cup warm milk and mix.
The whole mixture leaves the sides of the pan and the whole mixture becomes a ball.
Mix for a minute or two and remove.
Make laddus and let them cool down.

To decorate, garnish with dry fruits of your choice.

Palak Kadhi

2007-12-30T12:42:00.000-05:00

A simple and nutritious kadhi loaded with iron, protein and calcium. Very easy to make.

Heat oil, add cumin, rai and few red and green chillies. After they splutter, add Palak/Spinach and cook until done. Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric and cook for a minute. On the side, mix Besan/Gram flour with Dahi/Yogurt with enough water. Add that Dahi, Besan mixture to Palak/Spinach and cook until the curry becomes thick. Add salt before removing and eat hot with rice.

Forgot to add, this was made by my brother when I was busy doing other things in the kitchen.

Beerakaya/Ridge Gourd Rice

2007-12-21T10:00:00.000-05:00

Since I love Ridge gourd, I keep trying different ways to make dishes with this wonderful vegetable and each time I make something different, my love for it increases more and more. This is so versatile and goes with anything or everything anytime. This dish too, surprisingly turned out very tasty but eat it when it is hot to enjoy the right taste. Add a bit of ghee for that extra taste, but beware of extra calories too!

1 ridge gourd, peeled and cut into small pieces

1 cup cooked rice

1 onion, cut length-wise

3 tbsp sesame seeds

3-4 dried red chillies

3 green chillies, cut into small pieces

few curry leaves

1/2 tsp turmeric

salt to taste

3 tbsp oil

few cashews

coriander leaves for garnishing

Fry sesame seeds and red chillies without adding any oil until golden brown. Cool them and grind to powder.
Heat oil in a pan, add onion, green chillies, curry leaves and fry until onions turn brown.
Add ridge gourd, salt, turmeric and cook on low flame until ridge gourd pieces turn soft.
Add rice and the sesame, red chilli grounded powder.
Garnish with coriander leaves and friend cashews.

Serve hot with plain yogurt or raita.

Alternately: Without adding rice, you can use the same thing as curry and eat with Chapatis.

Sabudana/Tapioca Pudding

2007-12-18T21:16:00.000-05:00

Yes, I have finally come back to Blogosphere, I was gone missing for long :-)

We had been to California all of last week (almost 10 days trip) and we had a terrific time with a bunch of friends. It was so exciting to see them all after almost 4 or 6 years. We were wondering how our old friends would be now after all these years but we picked up where we left and we felt that the gap was not much. We all had similar thoughts as before and similar mode of enjoyment. Overall, it was a great trip and such overwhelming response definitely needs to be celebrated with some sweet.

Also today happens to be our friend Sreedhar's birthday, so wishing him happiness and joy for the coming year ahead. Now that he is married and has a wife beside him, I am sure the celebration would bring him extra fun.

This Sago pudding I made is very easy to make. Soak some half cup Sabudana in water for half hour. Remove and leave them for 2-3 hours. Heat 2 cups milk in microwave, add 1/2 cup condensed milk, 1/2 cup evaporated milk,little ghee and little sugar (according to your taste buds) and heat again for 2 mins. Add Sago and keep heating in microwave (in intervals of 1 minute or 30 seconds) until the pudding thickens a bit. Fry dry fruits in ghee and add to the pudding. Enjoy it hot or cold.

Finally, a birthday card for Sreedhar!

Trying to come back...

2007-11-13T17:28:00.000-05:00

Hi Friends,

It's been so long that I was away from Blogging. In fact, I am checking my blog after almost 3 months. Never guessed that so much time has passed and I really missed you, all my blogger buddies and your recipes.

Many things happened in between, some good some bad, that took away a lot of time but I am trying to come back to the blogging world pretty soon. I hope you all have enjoyed the great festival season that just passed, Navrathri, Dassera, Diwali. We had a blast on Diwali with all the great decorations and food but all others were quiet.

And thank you so much Richa and Tee for the Rocking girl award you gave me. It truly made me happy.

Aamir Khan's Blog

2007-08-24T09:40:00.000-04:00

Do you know Aamir Khan has started blogging on movies? I was trying to post this from long but atlast doing it now. Enjoy!

http://aamirkhan.com

Proud to be an Indian - Happy Independance Day!

2007-08-15T09:19:00.000-04:00

My friend Sudhakar from Singapore has forwarded me these pictures. I thought I will share these with you.

PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

JAI HIND

Aug. 15, 1947: Mountbatten swears Nehru in as Prime Minister of India

TRAIN TO PAKISTAN; India 1947. Trains packed with refugees - Hindus and Sikhs headed for India, and Muslims headed for Pakistan - were convenient targets for gangs of killers on both sides of the border. Inadequately protected 'Refugee Specials' were typically stopped, and the occupants butchered, several times in the course of the journey.

The dead - Punjab, 1947

1971: Indira Gandhi reviews the troops, in the context of military and diplomatic preparations for the Bangladesh War.

Ghandhiji Addressing people

Nehru and Gandhi at AICC meeting, July 1946

Mountbatten arrives at Delhi airport; received by Nehru and Liaquat Ali. March 25, 1947

1948: The news of Gandhi's assassination hits the streets. A stunned crowd gathers in Calcutta.

1948: Crowds in New Delhi wait for a glimpse of Gandhi's funeral procession.

A Library being divided at the time of partition. Heart trembles to see this sight and it is tough to imagine the state of the nation at the moment when people needed to hold hands.

This is our 60th Independence Day!
Freedom is not a Right but a Feeling!
Let's be proud to feel the Freedom!
Let's say loud we are INDIANS!!!
Let all of us get to-gather &
Let's Celebrate Our Freedom!

It is our duty to preserve this Freedom!
Carry this forward to the future!
We did, We do, We will do!!!

Set the celebration on Air, Share your Joy, You're Free to do it, Send this to every Indian, to say

Vande Mataram!

PS: Friends, I lost my Camera when we had gone to Virginia Tech's Alumni picnic. That is the reason for not posting any recipes, hopefully I will find it soon and start posting recipes again.