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.