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.

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.

Sabudana Khichdi

Sabudana khichdi is the staple diet of Indians when they are fasting. Here's my take on this delicious snack.

Ingredients:
1 cup sabudana (tapioca pearls)
4 tbspn roasted and coarsely powdered groundnuts
1 potato peeled and chopped
4 green chillies chopped
4 tbspn clarified butter or oil
Salt to taste (or rock salt if you are fasting)
1 tspn dry mango powder
1 tspn sugar
Green corriander for garnish

Recipe:
Wash sabudana and let it soak in the water for half an hour. Remove extra water and leave it overnight.

Heat oil/ghee in a pan and fry the potatoes, add green chiliies, groundnuts, dry mango powder and sugar and fry till the potatoes are cooked. Add sabudana and salt and mix it well. Garnish with green corriander and serve with curd. You can also add almonds and cashew-nuts to make it rich.

Chawal ki kheer

It's Ganesh Chaturthi today so I thought of sharing a dessert recipe. And what better dessert than chawal ki kheer, the most common in all Indian households.

Ingredients:
100 gms basmati rice
1 ltr buffalo milk
1 tspn raisins
8-10 chopped almonds
1/2 tspn cardamom powder
1 tbspn clarified butter or ghee
150 gms sugar

Recipe:
Wash the rice and drain out the water. Heat ghee in a pan and fry the rice on low flame. Add little water and when rice starts to cook add milk. Let it cook on slow flame. When it starts to thicken add sugar, raisins, almonds and cardamom powder. Let it cool for a while and refrigerate before serving. Enjoy with your family and friends.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi. Ganpati bappa Morya!

Moong dal kachori

A great brunch on a Sunday when the whole family is together.

Ingredients:

2 cups wheat flour

1 cup semolina (suji)

1 cup refined flour (maida)

1 cup milk

Oil for frying

For filling:

1 cup moong dal (split green gram)

4 tspn greeen corriander - finely chopped

1 tspn chopped ginger

1 tspn chopped green chilly

Salt to taste

1 tspn cumin powder

a pinch of asofoetida (hing)

Recipe:

Mix wheat flour, refined flour and semolina, add milk,water and a pinch of salt and knead the dough. Keep aside. Heat 1 spoon oil in a pressure cooker, add cumin powder and asofoetida and moong dal, puor some water and pressure cook for a while. Take it out once cooked, let it cool and grind it. Add rest of the spices to make a nice filling. Now make small balls from the dough, fill the mixture and make round, flat circles with a rolling pin. Heat oil in a pan and fry the kachoris. Serve hot with green chutney or aloo (potato) ki sabzi.

Green chutney (dip)

Here's the recipe to my favorite corriander chutney or dip. A perfect accompniment with corn patty, bread rolls or kebabs.

Ingredients:

100 gms fresh corriander

100 gms mint leaves

2 small onions

4-5 cloves

3-4 green chillies

1 inch ginger

1 lemon

Salt to taste

Recipe:

Take all the ingredients (except lemon) in a mixer jar and grind them well. Squeeze the lemon and mix it well. The dip is ready.

Corn Patty

After a lot of thinking over what should be my first recipe I though that since breakfast is the first and most important meal of the day, I should start with the same. So here's my quick recipe for corn patty or tikki as we call it in Hindi.

Ingredients:

250 gms boiled potatoes

100 gms grated cottage cheese

50 gms sweeet corn

1 tspn finely chopped greeen cilly

1 tspn finely chopped ginger

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Recipe:

Peel and mash the potatoes, add all the ingredients, mix well and make round patties. Heat oil in a pan and fry the patties till they turn golden. Serve hot with green chutney (recipe for that will follow).