Pratheetha's 1st year birthday treat !

Celebrated my daughters 1 yr b'day at Kailash Parbat, Hyderabad - the food was awesome and so was the cake !

 Corn Cheese Balls & Hara-bara Kababs ! 

Eggless printed photo cake for Pratheetha !

Dal Bhati in a Jiffy !

My first attempt at the most authentic Rajasthani dish - Dal Bhati and Choorma (of course I did not attempt the Choorma this time). The Dal Bhati for breakfast was simply amazing. I chose the healthy route, avoiding excessive use of Ghee which  otherwise is the case with authentic Dal Bhati.

For the Dal:

• Toor Dal - 100 grams
• Moong Dal - 50 grams
• Urad Dal - 50 grams
• Channa Dal - 50 grams
• Coriender Leaves - 1 bunch finely chopped
• Tomatoes - 2 chopped
• Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
• Jeera - 1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Green Chillies - 2 finely chopped
• Ginger - 1/2 inch, finely grated
• Pulao Pattha (Bay Leaves) - 1 or 2
• Dalchini (Cinnamon) - 1-2 sticks (1/2 inch)
• Salt to taste
• Oil for tadka

For Bhati

• Whole Wheat flour (Chappati Flour) - 200 grams
• Besan flour - 50 grams (people add Rava instead of Besan, you can opt for that too)
• Hung curd (or normal thick yogurt will do) - 1 tbsp
• Milk - 1 tbsp
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Carom Seeds (Ajwain) - 1 tsp
• Sugar - a pinch
• Salt to taste
• Water for the dough
• Cooking Oil - 1 tsp

Preparation (time 40 mins)

Dal

1) Soak the Dals for about 20 mins and then pressure cook it for 3 whilstles and keep aside (you can also boil it a wok with water, but time consuming)

2) Take a kadai (wok) add Oil and then add Cumin (Jeera) till it splutters, add green chilles, ginger, Dalchini, Bay leaves, Turmeric powder and Red chilli powder and saute for 2 mins. Add tomatoes and garam masala and saute for another 2-3 mins on low flame.

3) Add cooked dal and mix well and bring to boil, add salt to taste and then sprinkle with chopped Coriender. Your dal is ready !

Bhati 1) Take Wheat and Besan flour in a bowl and add 1tsp of Ghee and oil, salt, sugar, ajwain and mix, now add Curd and mix well and slowly add milk until you get a consistency 'much thicker' than the Chappati dough. Knead for 5 mins and let it rest for 20 mins. (people add baking powder, but I generally don't use it at all)

2) Make small balls from the dough and dimple it in the middle. Keep the balls aside.

3) In a big vessel, big water to boil. Immerse the bhati balls you just made into the boiling water. Let the water keep boiling until the bhati's start rising to the top.

4) Strain all the water and keep the Bhati's aside.

5) If you have a oven, preheat to 180C and bake for 20 mins. If you have a microwave with the grill option, chose that and place the Bhati's on a plate and then grill for 20 mins until its fully done (it should get fully toasted form the outside and get cooked from the inside).

Your Bhati is now ready!!

Crack open the Bhati's, add a dash of Ghee and then serve with Dal ! Your Dal Bhati is now ready !

Ganesha Chaturthi 2013 lunch spread

Image from Top (Left to Right)

1) Salt
2) Sweet Kosambri (Made from Grated coconut, sugar, fried channa dal)
3) Kosambri (Salad of lentils, lemon, grated coconut)
4) Gorikai (Cluster Beans) palya
5) Bendekai (Bhindi) Palya
6) Towe
7) Palidya (Kadhi)
8) Steamed Modhaka
9) Kobbri Chitranna
10) Rice
11) Akki-Kadale-Bele paysa

Aaloo Samosa at home

Made some aaloo samosa's at home. Could not get the authentic 'Mithaiwala' taste - probably because did not use onions and garlic; but tasted very good otherwise - recipe to be posted shortly !

Make this was a little challenging, but had to learn it the hard way and used semi-circles to make cones

Maa ki Dal (Dal Makhni)

Attempted making Dal Makhni ... (also called Maa Ki Dal)

Served with Pulao and Curd

Stuffed Bhindi and Pulao

Stuffed Bhindi and Pulao

Served here with Pulao and curds.

Bikanervala Special Thali @ Home

Bikanervala takeaway Thali is one of the best vegetarian take away I have ever eaten. We have always been used to the usual pizza / subway stuff, but this Thali is something extraordinary. They have a Jain version without the Onions and Garlic thrown in. Got it home for me and my wife y'day. It saved us from the trouble of taking our Son and our little girl (6 months old) to the hotel and end up taking care of the little ones instead of eating !

The Thali had the following:

1) Raitha - 1 cup
2) Paratha - 2 triangle parathas (was a little oily)
3) Rolled Roasted papad - 1 nos.
4) Pickle packet.
5) Paneer Butter Masala
6) Dal Makhni
7) Carrot Peas Sabzi (Tasted like Veg Jaipuri)
8) Fried rice (Peas and Panner)
9) Cucumber Salad
10) Shahi Gulab Jamoon

It was a delightful experience and served fresh. It survived well the 40 mins journey back home.

Spicing up the usual idly with Carrot and Sapsige Leaves

It was time to spice up the usual and dull Idly the unusual way with interesting additions. All we did was added some grated Carrots, Salt and some Garam Masala to the idly batter. Similarly made Green idly using Sapsige soppu (Soa-Kura it Telugu and Sada Kuppi in Tamil) - they both came out awesome. Adding a cashew on top made it look great. Served it with Chutney pudi and Sugar.

Cool Dahi Puri on a hot summer day !

Simple Dahi puri right here at home. Actually my Dad from Mysore sent some Panipoori's which we can fry right here at home just like any other fryums. It definitely is a sure shot way to ensure quality oil is used at home.

Its rather simple activity:

Ingredients
Puris - Fried & ready : about 20 nos.
Dahi (Curd / Yogurt) : 300 grams (ideally chilled)
Boiled Potato: 200 grams (mixed with a little salt)
Tomatoes, Finely chopped: 100 grams
Coriander, Finely chopped: A bunch
Nylon Sev (Fine Sev readily available from Halirams or the likes) - 200 grams
Garam Masala 1 tsp
Chaat Masala 2 tsp
Amchur Powder 1 tsp (Dried Mango power - Everest is the brand I trust)
Red Chilly Powder 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 3 tsp 
Salt to Taste

Preparation (5 mins if Puris are ready, else 15 mins)
- Fry the puris and keep them on a kitchen tissue until they cool down (You get ready made puris in most grocery shops, but really not sure on the quality of oil used therein)
- Beat Dahi with Sugar for about 10 mins (add a little water if the dahi is not with pouring consistency)
- Break the Puris on the top and keep on the plate you want to serve
- Put a small quantity of Boiled potato and finely chopped tomatoes in each puri.
- Add a pinch of Garam Masala, Chaat Masala, Amchur Powder, Red Chilly Powder (careful here!) and salt into each puri.
- Sprinkle gracious amounts of chopped Coriander on each puri
- Now take the cold Dahi and fill each puri until it overflows
- Sprinkle Sev all over
- Sprinkle some Chilly powder and Amchur powder along with some Coriander.

Note: You can add some sweet chutney if you have it ready - makes it great.

Server immediately !

You can just cannot eat enough !

Mango Milkshake with Anjeer (Dry figs) Icecream and Chocolate Syrup

Fantastic combination of Mango milkshake  (made out of Banganapalli Mango), good scoop of Anjeer Ice Cream and Dash of Hersleys Choco syrup - the combination tasted great ! Calorie bomb you can avoid during the season of Mangoes and esp Summers !!

Extra Large Badami Mango Variety from Andhra Pradesh

Extra large Badami Mango available in Andhra Pradesh region. This is an offshoot of the Banganapalli variety - depends on your luck really - each fruit is different. One was divine, the rest were just ok.

Dahi puri and Pav Bhaji at Hypercity Mall, Hyderabad

Pradyumna (my son) enjoying his Pav Bhaji and Dahi Puri at Hyper City mall at Hyderabad on May Day.

Photo Cakes - stunning quality

Got this cake made for my son Pradyumna's 4th Birthday - it was an eggless chocolate cake with vanilla icing and a photo print of Spiderman ! Excellent quality print. This was from Almond House, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.

Tried Chicago Deep Pan

Chicago Deep Pan is the only so called vegetarian dish I could get hold of at the Dallas Fortworth (DFW) on my way to Austin. Its unhealthy, overloaded and sinful cheese treat !

Fried Crispy Cauliflower

Its the simple fried cauliflower. Its very simple to make snack.

Take some Maida and mix it with some water to make it a little lighter than ketchup consistency. A some a Salt, Chilly powder and little Garam masala to the flour mixture. Roll this immediately over bread crumbs and deep fry it in oil till brown. Tastes best with tomato ketchup

Paneer based Hot Dog

Aloo Patty and toasted paneer inside a hot dog bread. Came out really well.

Fried Baingan and Pulao

Interesting combination of Fried Brinjal's, Pulao, Tomato Dal and Dahi. The Fried Brinjal is from the large Brinjals cut in to big circles and deep fired with Besan batter with a dash of Jeera and Garam masala to make it a little spicy. You can also marinate the cut Brinjal  in Dahi and Lemon juice with salt and pepper to add that extra dash of taste !

Lauki (Bottle Gourd) Kofta

Ingredients

For the Kofta (makes 15-20 koftas)

1) 1 medium size Louki (bottle gourd)
2) 200 grams Besan flour
3) 200 grams potato
4) Coriander leaves - 1 bunch chopped
5) 1 inch ginger
6) 2 small Green Chilies
7) Salt to taste
8) Pinch of Garam Masala
9) Jeera - 1tsp

For the gravy

1) 2-3 large ripe tomatoes for puree
2) Cashews - 50 grams
3) Badams - 4 to 6
4) 1 cup milk
5) Coriander leaves - 1 small bunch
6) 2 small Green Chilies
7) Elachi - 4-5 pods
8) Cloves - 3 to 4
9) Dalchini (optional) - 1/2 inch
10) Pepper - 7 to 8
11) Jeera 1-tsp
12) Ginger - 1 inch
13) Corn Flour - 1 tsp
14) Salt to taste
15) Garam Masala

Method - For the kofta

1) Skin the Bottle Gourd and cut in small chunks (you can remove the seeds if you wish to), taste for bitterness before using.

2) Add the cut pieces, coriander leaves, ginger, green chilies, salt and garam masala into a blender and make it into a fine paste.

3) Take bowl and add the above paste, potatoes and mix with Besan making sure no lumps are left.

4) Heat this mixture in a non-stick pan with jeera until it hardens and you think you can make kofta balls firmly. Ensure that most moisture is gone to ensure that the kofta does not break up when cooking it in the gravy. Make the koftas and keep aside.

For the gravy:

5) Add all the ingredients except milk, jeera and corn flour into a blender and bring it to a puree consistency.

6) Take a large pan; add 1 tbsp oil and then Jeera until it splutters.

7) To this mixture add the puree and cook until the gravy does not stick to the sides of the pan.

8) Add the above prepared koftas slows and continue to cook on low to medium heat.

9) Mix corn flour with the milk ensuring no lumps and slowly add this to the gravy; this process helps thicken the gravy.

10) Add freshly chopped coriander and serve hot.

Veggi Pizza

Attempted a veggi pizza with Olives, Tomatoes, Paneer and Capsicum toppings along with fine mozzarella cheese. Whole wheat Pizza base is from Hypercity in Hyderabad.

For the sauce, I blended Fresh tomatoes, Oregano and Red chilli flakes and got it into a pan for about 10 mins to apply on the pizza base.

The Sunday Vegetable market at Yusufguda Hyderabad

Here in Hyderabad where I stay, there is a weekly vegetable market on Sunday. Farmers and retailers bring loads of fresh vegetables and fruits and sell it right here. I have been going to this market for years and really love the shopping experience. Some pics from this fantastic market !