Jeera Chicken and Honey Sesame Potato Wedges

Its been a while since I've posted anything here. So here's a recipe mastered by my husband and daughter. Its easy to cook and yes, very tasty.

Jeera Chicken
Ingredients:
Chicken lollipop - 6
Jeera powder - 4 tspn
Lemon juice - 2 tspn
Green chillis - 2
Butter - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Marinade the lollipops in salt and lime juice for about half an hour. Heat a pan and let the butter melt. Add jeera powder and green chillis split in half. Add chicken and fry it till its perfectly cooked. Squeeze some lemon over the lollipops and serve with onion rings.

Honey Sesame Potato Wedges
Ingredients:
Frozen potato wedges - 1 packet
Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
Honey - 2 tbsp
Oil

Method:
Fry the wedges, roast sesame seeds and mix them together. Drizzle honey over the wedges and they are ready to be gobbled down.

Spicy mango pickle

This pickle got pretty famous when I made it for the first time. You have to brave enough to eat it cause the major ingredient here is red chilly powder. So go on, try it and have fun eating.

Ingredients
1 kg raw mangoes
250 gms whole red chillis (powdered)
1 tola (11.663 8038 gms) asafoetida (heeng)
100 gms salt


Method
Peel the mangoes and if there is no seed then cut them into small pieces or long slices. Mix the slices with chilly powder, heeng, salt and keep it in a jar. Let the jar lay in sun and dew for 10 days and nights. The pickle will be ready after 10 days.
Note - Make this pickle by the end of May.

Choti kairi (small raw mango) ka panbhara achaar

Its been a while since I've posted new recipes. So, after a long gap here are few North Indian mango pickles that you should try making at home while the kairis are still available in the market.

Ingredients
1 kg small raw mangoes
25 gms Fennel (saunf)
Black rock salt to taste
Salt to taste
A pinch of asafoetida (heeng) powder
10 gms mustard seeds (raai)
10 gms cumin seeds (jeera)
20 gms turmeric (haldi)
15 gms red chilli powder

Method
Peel the raw mangoes and remove the seeds. Grind fennel, mustard and cumin seeds together but keep them coarse. Mix with the mangoes with rest of the ingredients and keep it in a jar. Add one spoon mustard oil and half ltr water and keep it for a day. The pickle is ready to eat the next day but make sure you finish it before it is spoiled.

Mango Pana

This refreshing drink will keep you protected from all the heat.

Ingredients:
5 Raw mangoes
Mint leaves (pudina) 50 gms
Cumin seeds (roasted) - 1 tspn
Black pepper pods - 8
Black rock salt - 1 tspn
Salt - 2 tspn
Sugar - 4 tspn
Asofoetida (heeng) - 1 pinch

Recipe:
Pressure cook mangoes and let them cool down. Remove the skin and seed and keep the pulp. Add around 2 ltrs of water in the pulp. Take mint leaves, cumin seeds, black pepper, asofoetida and grind them together. Mix it in the mango pulp, add both salts and sugar and let it refrigerate for a while before drinking.

Mango Chutney

Ingredients:
5 raw mangoes
Mint leaves (pudina) - 100 gms
Green chillies - 6
salt - 1 tspn
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn

Recipe:
Peel the mangoes, wash and slice them. Mix rest of the ingredients, add half cup water and grind them. Tangy tomato chutney is ready to be eaten with tikkis, paranthas or kebabs.

Dry Mango Pickle

Ingredients:
100 raw mangoes
Turmeric powder - 1 small cup
Salt (weight equal to 5 mangoes)
Asofoetida - 1/2 tspn
Fennel (saunf) - 20 gms
Fenugreek seeds (methi) - 20 gms
Onion seeds (kalaunji or mangrael) - 10 gms
Whole dry red chillies - 50 gms
Carom seeds (ajwain) - 10 gms
Black pepper powder - 2 tspn

Recipe:
Wash and dry the mangoes, cut them to slices and remove the seed. Mix turmeric powder, asofoetida and salt with mango slices and keep them in a big vessel in sun and dew for two days and nights. Mango will leave all the water. On the third day take the mango pieces out and spread them on a cloth or newspaper. Let them dry in Sun for a day. Don't throw the residual water. Take rest of the spices except ajwain, roast them and ground the coarsely. Now mix the residual water, ground spices, ajwain and 200 gms mustard oil in the dried mango slices. Keep it in a glass vessel and leave it in sun and dew for atleast 4 days. Your pickle is ready. Its also called noncha in the North.

Khatti Kairi

The season of mangoes is starting and the raw ones or kairis will soon be available in the market. So, for coming days I'll be posting mango pickle and chutney recipes that I have learnt from my mother.

Ingredients:
30 raw mangoes (kairi)
Asofoetida (to taste)
Salt (weight equal to 3 mangoes)
Cumin - 10 gms
Black pepper pods - 10
Clove - 10
Black cardamom - 10
Nutmeg (jaifal), mace (javitri), cinnamon (dalchini), and bay leaves (tej patta) according to taste
Sugar (weight equal to 5 mangoes)

Recipe:
Peel the mangoes and slice them. Mix the sugar, asofoetida and salt in mango slices and keep them in sun and dew for 10 days and nights. Cover the vessel in which you keep mango slices with a clean cloth. After 10 days take rest of the spices, ground them and mix them in the mongo slices. Keep in sun and dew for another day and night. The pickle will be ready to eat after that.

Indian nachos

As a mother I faced a lot of problems when it can came to feeding my kids, especially my eldest daughter. Sometimes it becomes hard to make kids eat the regular food, roti-sabzi. Here's a quick fix for all you mothers to make them eat what you want while they enjoy it too.

Ingredients
4 Chapatis
Any sabzi
2 tbspn green/red pesto
1 cube cheese
2 tomatoes (finely chopped)
1 onion (finely chopped)
1 cucumber (finely chopped)
2 tbspn oil

Recipe
Cut chapati into 4 pieces, heat oil in a pan and roast the chapatis till they turn crisp. Mix pesto in the sabzi and grate cheese in it. Spread the sabzi on roasted chapatis, top it with chopped tomatoes, onion and cucumber. You can garnish it with more cheese if you wish. serve it to the kids with a glass of milk shake. I am sure they'll love it. If your kid doesn't like pesto you can use salsa dip or plain tomato ketchup instead.

Nimboo, adrak, muli, hari mirch ka achaar (Lemon, ginger, raddish, chilly pickle)

Ingredients
Lemons10
Ginger 100 gms
Radish 3
Green chillies 100 gms
Mustard seeds 15 gms
Salt 2  tbspn

Recipe

• Wash and peel ginger and radish and cut them into thin and long slices. 
• Remove the cap of green chillies and make a lengthwise cut in them. 
• Cut lemons into 8 pieces. 
• Crush mustard seeds, mix all the ingredients in a glass jar and keep it sun for 2 to 3 days. 
• It's ready to eat after 3 days.

Note: This pickle should be consumed within 3-4 days or should be stored in refrigerator.

Nimboo ka khatta achaar (Lemon pickle - sour)

Ingredients
25 Ripe Lemons
Salt - Equal to the weight of 5 lemons
Hing 2gms
Garam masala 4 tbspn
Roasted ajwain powder 2 tbspn
Red chilly powder 4  tbspn
Sugar 2 tbspn

Recipe
wash lemons and let them dry. Cut them into 8 pieces. Take lemon pieces in a pressure cooker, add rest of the ingredients and cook them. remove from gas after two whistles. Let it cool and transfer in a glass jar. Pickle is ready.                                                                                                                                                    

Nimboo ka meetha achaar (Lemon pickle - sweet)

Ingredients
Ripe lemon 50   
Clove 20  
Black cardamom 15
Black pepper 20gm  
Cinnamon 5gm 
Mace(javitri) 5gm 
Bayleaf 5
Nutmeg (jaifal) 1/2 
Asafoetida (heeng) 1/2 tsp
salt - equal to 10 lemon (in weight)
Sugar - equal to 20 lemon (in weight)  

Recipe
Wash lemons and dry them. Cut each lemon into 4 pieces. Grind all the spices a bit rough (mota). Put all the lemon pieces in a glass Jar (martaban), add heeng, salt, sugar and ground spices.Cover the jar with a clean cloth and keep it in the open (under the sky) for 15 days (and nights). After 15 days Pickle will be ready to eat.

Note: for this pickle sun light (dhoop) and dew (oas, shabnam) are equally important.                                                                    

Sarson ka saag with Makke ki roti

The winters are here (well, almost here for Mumbaikars) and it's time to eat some sarson ka saag and makke ki roti. This recipe has become pretty famous in my family and among friends and every season I end up making it multiple times. Recently, my husband took help of a friend for train reservations (yes, it's a huge challenge in India to get last minute train tickets) and when he asked how can he return the favour, the friend asked for some sarson ka saag. So, here I am sharing the recipe with you. Try it, eat it and let me know how was it. You can also send me the pictures at kavitamehrotra05 (at) gmail (dot) com. I would love to see them.

Ingredients
For Saag
Sarson ka saag - 1kg
Spinach -1/2kg
Bathua saag - 1/4 kg
Chana saag - 1/4kg
Cauliflower - 1/2kg   

For Tadka
Red onion - 1
Green chillis -15
Ginger - 25 gms
Garlic - 1 pod
Mustard oil  - 4 tbsp
Salt to taste

For garnishing
White butter - 1 tsp                                   

For makke ki roti
Makke ka atta 1kg
boiled potatoes 2-3

For malida
Jaggery - 200 gms
Makke ki roti - 2
Desi ghee - 4 tbsp

Recipe:
Sarson ka saag

• Boil sarson, spinach, bathua and chana saag together and grind into paste. 
• Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onions, garlic, ginger, green chillies and 2 tbsp makke ka atta.
• Chop cauliflower and add that too. 
• When the onions are fried add the saag paste and salt and let it cook for 10-15 minutes.

Makke ki roti

• Make soft dough of makke ka atta with luke warm water. 
• Mix the boiled potatoes too so the dough binds well. 
• Make round rotis with hands and cook them on a pan.

Malida
It is a dessert enjoyed after the meal and helps digestion too.

• Take two makke ki rotis and break them into pieces. 
• Heat a pan and mix these pieces with jaggery and desi ghee and cook till jaggery melts.
• Serve hot

Garnish the saag with white butter and serve with makke ki roti. Enjoy this Punjabi speciality with buttermilk or mattha and sliced radish on the side.               

Spinach and mushroom pasta

My daughters love to experiment in kitchen. While I stick to Indian recipes they cook a lot of International  dishes. Here's one recipe from their kitchen.

Ingredients:
250 gms penne pasta
500 gms spinach (spinach)
200 gms mushroom (chopped)
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 inch piece of ginger
2 tbspns green pesto
Salt to taste
2 tbspn olive oil

Recipe:
Boil pasta in a big utensil with lots of water (don't add salt or oil). While it's boiling heat oil in a pan, crush ginger and garlic and put it in pan. Add mushrooms, saute them for a minute or two and them add spinach. Once the spinach is cooked add pasta and salt. Mix it well. Garnish it with green pesto and oregano before serving.

Cauliflower, carrot, turnip pickle

Winters have arrived and the vegetable market is stocked. This is the best time to make vegetable pickles. The one I am going to tell you here is very famous up North. It's also known as Punjabi achaar (pickle).

Ingredients:
3 kgs cauliflower
2 kgs carrot
1 kg turnip
1/2 kgs green peas
1/2 kg green chilies
250 gms ginger
500 gms salt
150 gms blackrock salt
100 gms red chilly powder
100 gms turmeric
100 gms garam masala
100 gms fennel (powdered)
50 gms kalaunji (onion seeds)
150 gms rai (mustard seeds)
2 gms heeng (asofoetida)
1 kg mustard oil
1/2 cup vinegar

Recipe:
Cut cauliflower, carrot and turnip into small pieces. Put a long incision in the chilies. Boil the vegetables (including peas) for 2-3 minutes, spread them on a cloth and keep them in the Sun for a day. Add salt once they dry up. Heat oil in a pan, add all the spices and vegetables and let them cook for few minutes. Add vinegar after it cools down. Preserve in a bottle.

North Indian kachori thali

The kachori thali is very famous across Uttar Pradesh. The meal consists of urad dal stuffed puris/kachoris, potato sabzi, kaddoo (pumpkin) sabzi, lauki (bottleguard) ka raita and methi (fenugreek) chutney. It's almost a compulsion to make it whenever my whole family is together. Here's the recipe for you. A little hard work is required but it'll pay off once you eat it.

Kachori
Ingredients:
4 cups wheat flour
Oil
Salt

For filling-
200 gms urad dal
2 tspns saunf (fennel)
1 tspn methi (fenugreek seeds)
3-4 dry red chillies
1/2 tspn heeng (asafoetida)
1 tspn corriander seeds
Salt to taste

Recipe:
Mix all the ingredients for the filling and grind them dry. Add water and make it like dough.
Add half tspn salt and 2 tbspns oil in flour, pour some water and knead it tightly. Take some dough, fill little stuffing and roll it flat like a puri. Heat oil in pan and fry these puris till they are crisp and brown.

Aloo ki sabzi
Ingredients:
5-6 medium sized potatoes (boiled and peeled)
1 tspn cumin seeds
1 tspn fennel
1 pinch of heeng
1 tspn coriander powder
1 tspn dry mango powder
Salt to taste
1 tbspn oil

Recipe:
Heat oil in a deep pan, add cumin seeds, fennel, heeng and let them split. Mash the potatoes with hand and them in the pan. Add salt, coriander powder and dry mango powder. Pour atleast 500 ml water and let it boil for 15 minutes.

Kaddoo ki sabzi
Ingredients:
1/2 kg kaddo (pumpkin) cut into small squared pieces
1 tspn methi
1 pinch of heeng
3 dry red chillies
1 tspn dry mango powder
1 tspn coriander powder
Salt to taste
50 gms jaggery
1 tbspn oil

Ingredients:
Heat oil in a pan. Split heeng, methi and red chillies in oil. Add kaddoo and rest of the ingredients and let it cook for 15 minutes on low flame.

Lauki ka raita
Ingredients:
1 medium sized lauki
1/2 kg curd
2 tspns sugar
Salt to taste
1 tspn red chilly powder
1 tspn cumin powder

Recipe:
Grate lauki and boil it in a pressure cooker adding two cups of water. Take it out once done. Drain out the water and mix the lauki with curd. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Methi ki chatni
Ingredients:
100 gms methi (soaked in water for 3 hours)
100 gms tamarind (soaked in water for 15 minutes)
5 green chillies finely chopped
1 pinch of heeng
1 tspn cumin seeds
1 tspn sugar
Salt to taste
1/2 tbspn oil

Recipe:
Heat oil in a pan, add heeng, cumin seeds and chillies and let them split. Drain out water and add methi too. Add rest of the ingredients and tamarind pulp and let it cook for 10 mins.

A typical North Indian kachori thali is ready. Now its time to get a taste of all your hard work.

Have fun and Happy Diwali.

Mutton Shami Kababs

This is something from my husband's kitchen. He makes it so yummy that even a vegetarian like me can not resist eating them.

Ingredients:
500 gms minced mutton
200 gms bengal gram (chana dal)
2 big onions (peeled and cut in two pieces)
10-12 cloves of garlic
4 green chillies
2 inch long piece of ginger
1 inch long cinnamon stick
4 big cardamoms
8 black pepper pods
5-6 cloves
Salt to taste
Oil

Recipe:
Take all the ingredients in a cooker and pressure cook them (3 whistles should be enough). Grind the mixture into a fine paste (Keep it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes if the consistency is not thick enough to make patty). Add salt. Heat some oil in a flat pan, make small round patties from the mixture and fry them till they turn brown and crisp from both the sides. Serve with onion rings, green chutney and paranthas.

Phirni (Rice Pudding)

Since Diwali is just around the corner, I am sharing the recipe for phirni which is a famous Kashmiri dessert. Its available in almost all the Punjabi and Kashmiri restaurants these days. I like to make it the traditional way with a little kewda water.

Ingredients:
200 gms basmati rice
1 ltr milk
2 cups Sugar
2 tbspns Kewda water
Chopped almonds
Chopped pistachios

Recipe:
Soak the rice for 2-3 hours. Drain the water and spread it on paper and let it dry overnight. Grind the rice next day, roast the powder in a pan till it turns pink. Add milk and sugar, let it simmer on low flame till the rice is cooked and the pudding becomes thick. Mix kewda water and let it cool. Pour the phirni in small earthen bowls, garnish with almonds and pistachios and refrigerate before serving.

Nariyal (Coconut) Laddoo

Here comes one more sweet dish from my kitchen. Very easy to make and a quick fix if you are out of dessert.

Ingredients:
250 gms Dry coconut powder
Half can of milkmaid or any sweetened condensed milk
Edible color (optional)

Recipe:
Mix the coconut powder and condensed milk. Add color. Make small equally sized balls from the mixture and roll them over some dry coconut powder. Ready to be served.

Muskmelon (Kharbooja) Seeds Barfi

The festive season in on in India so I decided to share a sweet dish recipe this time. Hope you have fun making it.

Ingredients:
200 gms Muskmelon seeds (kernel removed)
1 big bowl of Sugar
2 tbspn clarified butter/ghee

Recipe:
Clean the muskmelon seeds and roast them in a pan. Remove the seeds. Take a small cup of water in a pan, add sugar and heat it to make toffee (chashni). Add 1 spoon ghee in toffee. Drop some toffee in water, if it becomes solid that means its ready. Add roasted seeds in the toffee. Spread 1 spn ghee on a steel dishe. Pour the seed mixed toffee in the dish and spread it. Let it cool. Once its thickened cut into diamond shaped pieces. Its ready to be served.

Sauteed Green peas

Ingredients:
250 gms green peas
2 spns chopped coriander
1 finely chopped green chilly
1 tspn cumin
1 pinch asofoetida (heeng)
1 tspn chopped ginger
1 tspn sugar
Salt to taste
4 tspn lime juice
1 tbspn oil/ghee

Recipe:
Boil the peas till they are soft. Heat the oil in a pan, add asofoetida, cumin seeds, chilly and ginger. Saute the peas, add salt , sugar and garnish with coriander and lemon juice. ready to serve. YOu can also serve it with drinks.