Orange Flavoured Cake

Recently on Deepawali me and my hubby prepared the orange cake . It came out to be really awesome.
I  have been trying my hands on preparing the cake for so long time, i must say that orange cake is one that is appreciated by a large age group.

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour- 3cups
• Sugar- 2cups
• Egg- 2
• Butter/Refined oil- 1 cup
• vanila Essence-1 tsp
• Baking Powder- 1tbsp
• Baking Soda- 1tsp
• Cinnamom powder-1/2 t

For icing

• Orange juice- 1cup
• Whipping Cream -200ml should be very cold at the time 
• Hand mixer/Beater kept in freeze for 1 hour before whipping
• Vessel in which we will prepare the icing should also be kept in freezer for 1 hour before.
• Powdered sugar- 1 Tbsp

Baking :

• Grease the baking tray with butter
• preheat the oven at 180 Degree C.
• Beat all the ingredients until you can see some bubble inside the mixture.
• Place the mixture in the baking tray, give the tray some tap before placing it in the oven.
• Place the tray in the oven at 150 Degree C for 25 minutes to 30 minutes.
• Check the cake at 20-25 minutes, insert a toothpick inside the baked cake if it comes out clean take out the cake and let it cool off.
• Once the cake cools off, cut it into two layers, remove all uneven layers.

Icing:

• Whipp the cream and sugar until the milk ends up in a foam. With hand it will take around 1/2 hours and with electric beaters hardly 2-3 minutes.
• Pour evenly the orange juice on all the layers of the cake.
• With the help of the flat spatula start placing the whipping cream over the bottom most layer, spread evenly on the upper surface.
• Place the other layer of cake over the whipping cream And again place the half of the whipping cream, this time cover the upper surface as well as the side surface of the cake with whipping cream.
• Now place the left whipping cream in a cone, place a star tip at the mouth of the cone and make some good shapes at the edge of the cake or what so ever way you want it . 
• You can also place some choclate chips over them
• Kiwi, strawberry, and orange looks really good when thinly sliced and placed over the cake.
• Freeze  the cake for around 2 hours atleast before serving.

And thats how the Orange cake is Baked and dressed.

Thank you for reading my blog, Happy cooking, enjoy :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Jalebi

Happy Deepawali to all.
Make jalebis today and celebrate this Deepawali .
Such is the power of Jalebi. watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk8Z0WbSWV0&feature=colike just love it. Finger Licking, Mouth Watering Garma Garam Jalebiyaan....Whola. As soon as i hear the name jalebi , i start Craving for it.

So i prepared the batter and have kept in refrigerator ,Next time whenever i feel like having it i can prepare it in no time.

For perfect shape, Try preparing jalebi often :-)

Ingredients: Batter

• 1/2 cup of all Purpose flour
• oil- 1 tsp
• Sugar- 1 tsp
• 1 Tbsp yeast , activated in 2 Tbsp of lukewarm water
• luke warm water

Sugar syrup:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Frying and shaping:

• plastic cone bottle or any cone
• Oil for frying

Preparation:

Batter preparation-

mix all the ingredients by adding little amount of luke warm water unless paste kind of consistency is reached.

Let the mixture rise for atleast 30 min to 1 hour

Syrup preparation:

mix the sugar and water , heat until it becomes little thick, keep the heat at low

jalebi Preparation:

once the batter is ready, put the batter in the cone and adjust the nozzle size.

Heat oil in a skillet for deep frying, keep the heat at medium.

make swirling round shapes and fry until golden brown in color

Take out jalebis and put them in warm syrup for like 10 seconds and take them out.

Jalebi is ready to be served : serve it hot and enjoy Deepawali, it tastes awesome :-)

Enjoy and Happy cooking .
By: Sushmita Pandit

Khandvi

The khandvi is an awesome steamed food, Absolutely delicious and extremely Healthy. This Gujrati recipie is now one of the world wide famous dish and is being served in Cocktail partys where people are just loving it.

However the preparation of Khandvi needs whole lot of Patience and hell Lot of Strength.

Am writing this for those for whom the above two barriers are way far to be considered when it comes to making an Exceptional dish.

And Obama Wins the Election once again, Congratulations to America for successfully electing its President.

One more thing about Khandvi, babies will be loving it too, just like My baby Darsh do.

Ingredients:

• Chick Pea Flour - 2 Cups
• Yogurt- 2.5 cups
• Water - 6 to 7 cups
• Salt as per taste
• Ginger Chilli paste - 2 Tbs

For Tempering:

• Mustard seeds- 1tsp
• Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
• Dry Red Chillies 
• Curry leaves
• Grated coconut 

Preparation:

• Mix all the ingredients in a Bowl and beat them well so as to ensure the batter is lump Free
• Once the batter is ready heat a kadhai
• Pour the batter, keep the flame medium to low
• Keep on stirring until the batter thickens to a paste
• To check wheather the batter is ready , make a thin layer of rectangle over the Aluminium foil, let it cool of, try to peel the layer off from the Foil, if you are able , your batter is ready.
•  In a table spread the Aluminium foil and grease it with oil
• Spread the hot batter as quickly as possible over the foil, repeat until you are done with the whole batter. let all the layers cool off for 5 minutes,
• Take a knife and start cutting 1 inch long strips over the layers. gently peel and roll them as seen in the picture. Repeat with all.

Tempering

• Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a pan
• Add the mustard and cumin seeds, wait for them to splutter
• add the chillies and curry leaves
• pour this evenly on all over the rolled khandvis with them help of spoon.
• Finally spred some grated coconut over the khandvis

voila!!! Khandvi is now Ready to be served.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Prawn Chilly

Like me i know lots of u love Prawn. Its exceptional taste is what always draws my mind. In india i made a curry with the indigenous spices found in our land. This time i tried to experiment with the Paparika , pepper and the small size prawns and the results were just awesome.

I have heard that in Orissa we do get the Mouth watering Prawn chops, But to my hard luck i never got to taste any and that too after staying there for such a long span. Anyways if someone has the recipe of Prawn Chops please let me know, am dying to try them out.

Lets come back to the prawn chilly and note its ingredients:

• Prawn washed and dried 150gms
• corn flour - 1 Tbsp
• Salt as per taste
• oil for cooking
• Onions - 1large diced into cubes
• Pepper - 1 large diced into cubes
• Garlic - 10 cloves chopped
• Ginger - 1/4 inch chopped
• Green chilly -3 chopped or slitted
• Soya sauce
• Tomato sauce
• oyster sauce
• water
• BellPepper finally crushed
• Spring Onions/Green onions
• Coriander leaves - finally shredded
• Cumin seeds

Preparation:

• Dust the prawn with corn flour and salt
• Heat 1 tsp of oil in a skillet
• Fry the dusted prawn until there colour turns orange.
• Take them out in paper towel
• In the same skillet add 1 more TSP of oil
• add cumin seeds, and let them splutter
• Add green chillies
• Add garlic and ginger dont fry for long just toss them
• Add the onions, fry until they are soft if you are using white onion, otherwise just toss them for 1/2 minutes
• Also add the bulbs of spring onion
• Time to add the Bell pepper, fry until soft
• Add salt as per taste
• By the time this vegetables gets cooked we can prepare the sauce solution(2TbSP tomato sauce+1 TbSP soya sauce +1TbSP oyster sauce+ 2 TbSP water) Mix well.
• Add the prawns and the sauce solution, mix them well. cover and cook for 1 min
• Take 1tsp of corn starch and mix it with 90ml of water.
• Add this solution to make the gravy
• Adjust the gravy by adding water
• Once you get the desired consistency of the gravy , turn off the heat
• Add 1 Tbsp of crushed pepper
• sprinkle coriander and green onion.

The prawn chilly is ready to be served. Serve it hot as snack or with white rice.

Enjoy and Happy cooking :-)

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By: Sushmita Pandit

Panner Bhurji

Hi in this post you will find the recipe to prepare paneer bhurji in just minutes.
Ingredients:

• Paneer/Cottage Cheese- 150 gms
• Onion- 1 large Chopped
• Bell Pepper - 1 large chopped
• Garlic - 8 -10 cloves chopped
• Green chilly- 2 chopped
• Salt as per taste
• Pepper powder- 1 Tea spoon
• Cumin seed- 1 TSP
• Oil for frying

Preparation:

• Heat 2 TSP of oil in a pan
• Add the cumin seed
• Once they crackle add green chilly and garlic
• wait until garlic softens add onion
• Saute for sometime and add bell pepper
• Fry until bell pepper is soft.
• Add paneer crush them while adding
• Add salt and pepper powder
• If you have coriander leaves sprinkle some of it
• Turn off the heat

Serve it hot with Nan or Chapati. enjoy :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Litty Chokha

This recipe makes me miss Ranchi a lot. Go to kacheri area sometime and please have this litty chokha there at the thelas, they are awesome. This Bihari delicacy is mouth watering and for Winter its the perfect meal.
When i was small and each time i would pass by the thelas Grilling the litty on wired racks over the Chullhas, my heart would fill with the desire to have atleast One. This recipe is dedicated to all my friends and family in INDIA.

For Preparing This type of litty chokha we need:
For the Litty:

• whole wheat Flour - 2 cups
• Sattu/ Bengal Gram/chick pea- Roasted and then Powdered - 1 CUP
• Chilly - 3
• Onion- 1 Finely Chopped
• Lime juice - 2 TSP
• Salt as per taste
• Ginger and Garlic-1 TBSP minced
• Ghee/Clarified Butter - 3 TSP for Brushing finally grilled Litties

For the Chokha:

• Potato - 2 Medium Boiled/Baked
• Brinjal/Egg plant -1 large
• Tomato - 2 Medium
• Chilly - 2/3 adjust as per your taste
• Garlic - 4 to 5 cloves minced
• Salt as per taste
• Coriander leaves

PREPARATION:

(LITTY)

• Prepare a dough with the Whole wheat flour and water ,add 1 TBSP of ghee and little salt.
• Prepare the sattu masala by adding all the other ingredients. Add little water to make it just  moist such that u can bind the mixture into balls.
• Prepare logs out of the wheat Dough and cut 1.5 inches of it.
• Roll it into ball at first. The keep your Right thumb in the middle and by pressing around it with all the other fingers rotate it with the help of the other hand. This will help you to make the BOWL shape.
• Fill the bowl with the sattu masala.
• Close the mouth . Repeat with other pieces.

Once Done either you can bake them at 200Degree C in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, Rotating each side from time to time and also brushing with ghee each time you rotate.

or else

Grill them in the same manner by rotating the ball from time to time and brushing them with ghee unless and until all the sides are cooked properly.

(CHOKHA PREPARATION) 

• Stab the Brinjal with the knife or fork as much as possible from all the sides , (Do not distort the shape)
• Grill it or bake it until  the skin becomes burnt.
• In a skillet heat 1 TSP of oil
• Chop the tomatoes and chillies
• Add the chillies to the oil
• Add the garlic, fry little
• Add the Boiled potatoes
• Peel off the burnt skin of  brinjal. Put the cooked and softened inside part in the pan. 
• Add salt and mash them all .
• Once everything is mashed, give them a stir  and finally turn off the heat.
• Sprinkle the shredded coriander leaves .

Serve both the Litty and chokha HOT. 

Enjoy  and Happy Cooking.

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By: Sushmita Pandit

Muthia / Vegan Sausage

This Gujarati Recipe is mouth watering ,healthy and filling dish. Muthia can be eaten as snacks or appetizer.  It can be prepared with bottle guard, cabbage or spinach. One that i prepared was using cabbage. same method can be used to prepare with bottleguard.

Ingredients:

• Cabbage shredded- 4 cups ( in case Using Bottleguard/Dudhi/Lauki: The only thing we need to take care of that once grated the bottleguard will release lots of water ,same should be use for mixing all the ingredients)
• wheat flour  2 TSP
• Gram Flour/Besan  1 Cup or more depending upon how moist is cabbage
• Sugar 1 TSP
• Lemon Salt/Citric acid 1/8 TSP
• Cumin Seeds/ Zeera 1 TSP
• Carom Seeds/Ajwain  1 TSP
• Salt as per taste
• Oil 1 Cup
• Fenugreek Leaves/Methi ka saag  Shredded 1 cup
• Fenugreek  1/4 TSP crushed
• Turmeric 1 Tea Spoon

For Tempering:

• Oil 2 TSP
• Mustard Seeds 1 TSP
• Curry Leaves
• Dry Red Chilli 3

Preparation:

• Mix all the ingredients to prepare tight paste.
• Now take 2 tsp of paste and make sausage shape out of it. Repeat .
• Heat 1 inch of water in a steaming vessel
• Place the steamer inside vessel and after brushing the steamer with oil , place all the muthias on it.

•  Steam it for next 15 to 20 min
• Do a knife test, place the knife inside the muthia ,once it comes out clean your muthia is done.
• Let them cool off. Cut each into 2 halves
• Heat oil in a pan
• Add mustard seeds, Allow them to crackle.
• Add chilly and curry leaves
• Add the muthias and fry until golden brown

Serve with chutneys :-)

Enjoy :-)
By: Sushmita Pandit

Potato omelet / Aloo omelet

Sometimes we need food that can be cooked in just minutes. Omelet is one such food ,easy and quick in preparation. So what if we put potatoes in the egg, nothing they are just great combination. They taste awesome, Gut :-).

I quite often prepare omelet in so many different manner. But then this potato omelet is kind of filling and hunger satisfying. Sandwich them in bread with cheese and vegetables. Its good everywhere and every time.

Its a great way to start your morning with a piece of toasted bread and this omelet.

 For preparing this omelet you need:

• Potato-1 small/medium (sliced very thinly)
• Eggs - 2
• oil- for cooking
• Salt as per taste
• Freshly grounded Pepper

Cooking

• Heat 1 TSP of oil in a skillet.
• Place the sliced Potato without overlapping
• Sprinkle salt and grounded pepper
• cover and cook for 1 minute. Turn and then cook the other side for 1 min more.
• Sprinkle 1.5 TSp of oil over them 
• Beat two eggs well in a bowl . Season with salt and pepper
• Pour the beaten egg on top of the potatoes
• Gently raise the sides of the omelet and allow the oil to slip in
• Cook for 1 min
• Carefully flip to other side without breaking
• Cook for 1 more minute

Turn off the heat. Your omelet is ready to be served. 

Guten Apetite :-)
By: Sushmita Pandit

kabuli Chana Chola Curry/Chick Pea Curry

Sunday breakfast All time Favorite Chola with puri . My good old days when my Mummy steaming the chola in the pressure cooker and the whistle of it would make us get up early from the bed to start the Sunday morning with this mouth watering dish.
My hubby's favorite breakfast which we love preparing occasionally on weekends. This mouth watering chola was accompanied by large number of puris. By the time you people will be reading this am sure nothing would be left back on my pan ;-)

For this chola curry we need:

• White Chick pea- 200 gm soaked overnight in water
• Potato peeled - 1 large size
• Tomato -1 large finely chopped
• Onion- 1/2 cup chopped
• Ginger-Garlic Paste- 2 Tea spoon
• Green Chilly- 3 Finely chopped ,depends how much hot you want your curry to be.
• Cumin powder- 1/2 TSP
• Coriander powder- 1.5 TSP
• Pepper Powder- 1 Tea spoon
• Turmeric Powder- 1 Tea spoon
• Salt as per taste
• Oil for cooking
• Cumin seeds-1/2 Tea spoon
• Mustard seeds-1/2 Tea spoon
• Mint leaves- shredded
• Sauce tomato, Cream (optional)

Cooking:

• Boil the soaked cheak pea and potato by adding some salt and water to either the boiling pot or pressure cooker .Boil until cheak pea turns soft but not mushy.In a pressure cooker for boiling(4 whistles would be enough).
• In a skillet heat 3 Tsp of oil and add mustard and cumin seeds. Allow them to crackle.
• Once they start crackling add green chilly and after 10 seconds add onions.
• Saute onion until they are soft.
• Add the ginger garlic paste to it.
• In a medium size bowl take all the masalas, salt and tomato mix them well by adding little water.
• Once ginger garlic paste gets fried,I.e the raw smell is over add the masala paste.
• Fry until oil separates from the masala.
• At this point of time add the boiled cheak pea and potato . To this add 1 cup of water(use the same water which was used for boiling the cheak pea and potato) and let the curry simmer for next 10 mins.
• Turn off the heat sprinkle mint leaves or coriander leaves.

Your Kabuli chana chola curry is ready to be served. serve it hot with Nan, Puri or chapatis.

Happy cooking.. enjoy :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Aloo Paratha/ Potato stuffed flat bread

I remember my mummy preparing aloo paratha during winter season and serving it with mango pickle which she had already prepared during the summer. Those hot parathas with pickle ,oh it was such a tasty treat for me and my brother. It makes me nostalgic.

well with time i have seen paratha getting customized with so many other vegetables, cheese and chicken. 

In North western India, the region of Punjab,Haryana and Delhi are specialized in parathas and now you can find these parathas being prepared everywhere in India. As you reach Bihar there is another very tasty and popular paratha dish called Sattu Paratha.

With time these parathas have crossed the borders and have reached to the dining plates of most of the countries on the globe.

My son has no teeth yet but he still loves them ,chewing the small bits with his tight gums. My hubby likes them too and i often pack them for his lunch. 

The type of aloo paratha that i prepare is very simple.

Ingredients:

• Wheat Flour -2 cup
• Water to knead the flour
• Boiled Potato - 2 large sizes
• Onion-1 finely chopped
• Garlic- 8 cloves finely chopped
• Ginger -1 TSP minced
• Green Chilly- 3 finely chopped
• Salt as per taste
• Ajwain -1 TSP
• Cumin seed- 1/2 TSP
• Coriander/Mint Leaves- shredded
• Unsalted butter/Ghee for cooking

Preparation of the dough:

Prepare the dough with wheat flour and water ,leave it aside.

Preparing the filling:

mash the boiled potatoes .Add onion,garlic ,chilly,ginger,ajwain,cumin seeds,coriander/mint leaves,salt. Mix well.

For the Bread:

make logs of the dough and simply tear them into balls of pamfull size.

Dust them with flour powder and then make bowls out of it.

For making bowls, hold the ball in left hand with the thumb at its center. With the thumb of the right hand finger start pressing around the left hand thumb.Keep rotating with the other fingers of left  hand.

Fill the bowls with the potatoes mix and close the mouth of the bowl and then roll them flat.

Heat the tawa . Place the flattened bread over the heated tawa. Turn on both sides until both the side becomes golden  brown in color. Once ,done grease the bread with ghee/butter on both sides. press with spatula on both sides once the bread seems to be cooked  take them off the tawa.

Serve them hot with tomato chutney , yogurt or pickle.

Enjoy and keep cooking :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Salmon Fried/Maach Bhaja!!!

Salmon!  Oh i love this fish, Its delicious, Awesome. One reason being it doesn't have many bones here and there except for the single rib line which is mostly taken out in one go before it comes to the market.
i like many other fish the usual Rohu, Katla and pomfret. I love Prawns too but Salmon is my favorite among st all.

This salmon had been prepared in the simple convetional way.

Recipie:

•  Marinating the fish with teaspoon of turmeric,1 TSP of oil and salt. 
• Leave the marinate for 1 hour 
• Heat 4 TSP of oil in a skillet
• take two to three piece at a time and shallow fry them, until all sides turn golden brown in color. 

Serve it hot with Mayonnaise. Enjoy :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Lemon Rice

Lemon rice!!
Once i was travelling on Dhanbad Allepy Express. This Train connects extreme of south India to east of Jharkhand and this journey takes more than 37 hrs on whole. We Indians often carry home made food for such a long journey. Sometimes its better to keep interacting with fellow travelers as it becomes easy to pass such long long hours. In the same coach a south Indian  family was travelling with me carrying a Tin packed with Lemon Rice for the whole journey. They were very friendly and during lunch hours they offered me a plate full of lemon rice. As a courtesy i accepted the food and to be honest it was mouth watering awesome dish.  Since then i fell in love with this simple and serene recipe.
In south India during Pongal they prepare this rice. Also in several other festivals i have received lemon rice and gram curry as prasadam.
Take a note of this recipe:

Ingredients

• Rice- 2 Cups (boiled)
• Curry Leaves/Mint Leaves/Coriander leaves- Finely Chopped
• Mustard seed- 1 Tea Spoon
• Roasted ground nuts- 1/4 Cup
• Whole gram/Chana Dal- 3 TSP (soaked in water for 1 hour)
• Lemon juice- 3 TSP
• Salt as per taste
• Green Chilly- 2
• Turmeric- 1 Tea Spoon
• Oil for cooking
• Onion- 1 Chopped

Method

• Heat 2 TSP of oil in a pan or skillet
• Add the mustard seeds
• Once they start crackling  add the gram and roast it. If u have Curry leaves ,at this point of time add some curry leaves. If you are adding curry leaves  then mint or coriander leaves are not require to be added further.
• Add the chilly and onion
• Fry until onion is soft
• Add the groundnuts ,salt and turmeric powder. Fry for 1 min
• Finally add the rice, Fry until every thing gets mixed up well.
• Add the Lime juice , Mix well.
• Turn off the heat and finally add Mint or coriander leaves to it. 

Serve Hot with Pickle or Yoghurt. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Cooking :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Pepper and garlic Paneer /Pepper and Garlic cottage cheese

Am kind of bored deep frying almost every chili preparation. So this time i decided to prepare something without deep frying .Moreover i wished that it mus taste equally as good as any Chinese chili item.

I have been reading many cook books and following many chefs. They always keep a check on the amount of fat that we use in the preparation of any recipie. Its always good to use fat as little as possible but then to give space to exception its okay to consume more than a little bit sometimes. For this paneer preparation i paid special attention to garlic and ginger because i wanted the flavours of Chinese chili items. Here's the recipe:

 Ingredients: 

• Paneer/Cottage Cheese- 250gms sliced into 1/2 inch cubes(how to make paneer-http://wahsushkitchen.blogspot.in/2012/09/paneercottage-cheese-how-to-prepare.html )
•  Bell pepper- 2 sliced into cubes
• Spring onions - 4 sticks chopped
• Green chilly - 2 sliced
• Pepper cons / Pepper powder- 1 Tea Spoon
• Ginger-1 TSP finely chopped
• Garlic- 4 large cloves , chopped
• Corn starch/ Corn flour- 1 TSP
• Oil- 3 TSP
• Tomato- 1 diced
• Onion-1 sliced
• Salt as per taste
• Tomato sauce
• Soy sauce

Method :

• Toss the paneer cubes over the corn flour powder and pinch of salt.
• Heat 2 TSP of oil in a pan, now toss the paneer until its  golden brown from all sides.
• Take out the cubes once they are golden brown.
• Now in the same pan add 1 more TSP of oil and add the chilly and onion
• Fry for 30 sec ,add garlic and ginger, fry until light soft
• Add bell peppers , fry for 1 min, and add tomatoes and salt.
• Fry for next 1 min and finally add the tossed paneer cubes
• At this point of time add all the sauces and fry for some more time
• Make a solution of cornflour by adding 1 tea spoon to 90ml of water.
• Add this solution and let it thicken.Turn off the heat
• Finally add freshly crushed pepper cons or pepper powder
• sprinkle the spring onions.

Pepper and Garlic Paneer is ready to be served. Serve it hot with Fresh steamed rice. 

Enjoy and Happy Cooking :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Paneer/Cottage Cheese-how to prepare from scratch

Am in Germany and am very bad in Deutsche but then i have not given up.Am trying to learn it as much as possible. Its a sea and am only trying take  few plunges down the water. Anyways Paneer what do they call it in Deutsche- googled and found Paneer- Paneer kaase but that was quite different from what we use, so Finally i have to learn the art of preparing paneer by myself. Previously i thought of it as tiresome difficult process but then its just a child play. So my search of paneer has finally settled with me preparing itself all the time. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Milk- 1 ltr
• lemon salt water/citric acid- 1.5 TSP or else lime juice- 2 TSP
• Large sieve
• Muslin cloth
• Cold water- 1 ltr
• Heavy weight

Method:

• Boil the milk
• As soon as it comes to boil add the lemon salt water and keep on stirring
• Once water separates turn off the heat
• Place the muslin cloth over the sieve and drain the milk over it
• Cheese will settle over the muslin cloth and water will drain off.
• Now pour the cold water so as to remove the sourness from it. squeeze to drain remaining water.
• Make a desired shape of the cheese say round or rectangular block and then tightly tie the muslin cloth squeezing out extra left water .
• Put a heavy weight over the tied cheese and keep it aside for 3 hours.

Paneer is now ready to use. Remove the cloth and you will get  soft spongy entact paneer block.

Have a happy cooking :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

  

Paw Bhaji/Bread and vegetable curry

Paw Bhaji, Stomach full , tasty Dish,Easily available at any corner of Mumbai and on high Demand not only in INDIA but also in other countries like UK ,China ,Switzerland and the travel is On. One of the famous Dish that tops the chart on the menu of street food in India. I would recommend to try this at least once at Juhu Beach. Its a food that especially originated to assist people in saving the cooking time and also providing filling meal. Its too easy to prepare. Please do not drop your jaws Down if you do not have paw bhaji masala. Am going to share a very simple recipe For this Maharashtrian cuisine.

This recipie will serve 4
cooking time -20 min
Ingredients:

• Paw ladi or Bread Buns- 8
• Cheese of your choice.(optional)
• Butter-1/2 stick
• Potatoes- 4 medium size
• Cauliflower- 1 cup
• Carrots - 3 large 
• peas- 1/2 cup
• Cottage cheese/Paneer- 2/4 cup (optional)
• Green Chilli- 3 finely Chopped
• Ginger garlic paste- 2 tea spoon
• Tomatoes- 1/2 cup chopped/ pureed
• Onion- 1 sliced, 2 finely chopped
• lemon
• Coriander leaves- shredded
• Turmeric powder- 1 tea spoon
• Coriander powder -2 tea spoon
• Zeera powder/cumin powder-1 tea spoon
• Pepper powder- 1/2 tea spoon
• Salt as per taste
• Black Salt

Recipie:

• Boil peeled Potatoes, Cauliflower and carrots. Do not throw away the water, keep it for future use as a vegetable stock.
• In a pan heat the butter/oil .
• Add green chillies and chopped onions. saute for 30 sec
• Now add the ginger garlic paste and saute it for next 30 sec
• At this point add all the masalas and fry for 1 minute.
• Add tomatoes/puree and fry till tomato and oil separates
• At this point of time add all the boiled vegetables ,peas and paneer . mash them thoroughly.
• Add salt and 1 cup of vegetable stock
• Let the bhaji simmer until we get a thin paste like consistency.
• Turn off the heat.

For the Paw:

• one conventional way is to apply butter on both sides, slit the paw from the middle and toast it on the tawa on both sides.
• European Touch: Apply Parmesan Cheese on the paws and toast them on a toaster until light brown colour appears. Or
• Apply the cheese paste on the paws Or
• Can bake the paws with mozerrela cheese/Gouda Cheese until cheese melts Or
• INVENT A NEW STYLE OF toasting PAW AND PLEASE LET ME KNOW. :-)

For Serving :

• In a plate serve the bhaji, sprikle onion,coriander, jest of lemon and a little balck salt over it
• Serve the bread and garnish with sliced onion.

Paw Bhaji is ready to be served.Serve it Hot !!!!!!! Enjoy and Happy cooking :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Vegetable Cutlet

Vegetable cutlet/vegetable Chop is the mouth watering Dish. When i was small ,my father use to get it from a restaurant, since it was one of my favorite snack so, i used to eat it with all heart and soul. Its healthy as it contains boiled vegetables and also lots of other micro nutrients.
They are so many versions of it. In some parts of India we get the very flat type with bhujia as the topping over it. In area nearby areas of  west Bengal,they will put peanuts, cashew nuts with a thin layer of bread crumbs, all rolled up..and many more versions. The one that i am going to share is the type prepared in West Bengal area.

Ingredients:

• Boiled potatoes- 2 large in size
• Boiled Beet root- 1 medium in size
• Carrots- 2 large in size
• All purpose flour
• Ginger garlic paste
• Peanuts and cashewnuts - Roasted
• Salt as per taste
• Green chillies
• Onion- 1 medium in size(finely chopped)
• Oil 
• Bread crumbs

Method of Preparation:

• Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan.
• if you do not have roasted cashew nuts or peanuts, you can roast them now.
• After the nuts have been roasted , add green chilies and onion. Saute it for some time.
• Add garlic-ginger paste,fry until the raw smell is over.
• Now add all the vegetables and fry. Mash them,add salt.
• Turn off the heat.

Preparation for frying the chops.

• Now prepare small balls out of the vegetable mixture.
• make a thin paste of all purpose flour and add salt to it.
• Dip the ball in the flour for a thin coating.
• Immediately roll the ball over the bread crumbs.
• Now deep fry them until golden color appears

Your Vegetable chop/Cutlet is ready to be served. Serve it with some chutney or sauce.

Enjoy :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Dalia khichri/ Wheat Rice Khichri

In this very fast life, on coming to food we often end up eating fast food ,just to save time. To bring in notice there are so many healthy food which are quick and easy to prepare, nutritious and tasty as well.  It save one from damage to health and time too. One of them is the wheat rice.It is easily digestible food, contains fibers and lots of other nutrients. It can be consumed by a wide range of age group, Say 8 months infant to 90 years old. One way to consume this item is to prepare its khichri .
Here's the recipe:This will serve four

Ingredients:

• Wheat rice -1/2 cup
• Tur Dal/lentil-1/2 cup
• Butter(unsalted)-2 TSP
• Cumin seeds- 1/2 TSP
• Salt As per taste
• Turmeric powder-1 tea spoon
• Tomato- 1
• Green Chillies- 1 (optional)

 Method:

• In a deep vessel such as cooker, heat the butter.
• Once the butter has melted,add cumin seeds and allow it to crackle.
• Now add wheat rice, and fry it for 1 min.
• wash the dal/lentil ,and add it.
• Add salt, tomato, turmeric and 2 cups of water.
• Cover the lid of the cooker and on medium flame ,wait for 5 whistles.
• let the steam of the cooker settle. 
• Serve it hot with/without curd.

I have prepared it several times. Most of my friends and family members love it. Hope you enjoy it too. :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Chicken Chaw Mein

Browsing through the picture gallery on my phone I saw this image of chaw mein, that I prepared some evening last week. I always had an affinity towards these kind of Chinese fast food. To admit I love eating Junk food ocassionally, Especially Chinese Fast Food. Their texture ,aroma and the hotness appeals me a lot, i cannot resist ,in short they drive me Crazy.

For those who love chaw chaw like me can land up on one ultimate Chinese Restaurant called Kyra,Indira Nagar ,Bangalore. Oh I will never forget the taste of Chinese fried Rice, a soup that was a mixture with bamboos ,lemon grass,other herbs and baked chicken sticks. Mouth watering. Please visit the restaurant some time . For those at Ranchi can try the chaw mein Served at Kaveri restaurant Ranchi, GEL church complex. There are many more to name, but once I start listing the list will go too long....Those who had very good experience at other places can help me, by naming those restaurants.

For this quality of Chaw mein preparation ,

following ingredients are required: This will serve two.

• Egg noodles- 250 gms
• Oil
• Chicken Breast pieces- chopped into small size
• French Beans- 1 cup,Sliced in length
• Carrots-1 cup, sliced in length
• Cauliflower/Broccoli- ½ cup
• Onion- 1 large, sliced
• Green chillies- 2,chopped
• Salt as per taste
• freshly crushed pepper
• Tomato Sauce
• Vinegar
• Chilly Sauce
• Oyster Sauce
• Soy Sauce
• Ginger Garlic- minced(optional)

For the preparation,

First we need to boil the noodles . There is a way to boil them or otherwise you will end up with sticky noodleesss.

• Heat the water in a pan by adding salt and oil.
• Once the water is hot then add the noodles and boil them until they turn soft.
• Drain the water, and put 2 TSP of oil in the noodles, such that they retain moisture.

Now for Add Ons

• Heat oil in a pan.
• Add green chillies
• Tuen the flame high, and add onion, sauté it and then add the Chicken pieces and salt. If you like ginger and galic , then this is the right time to add them.
• Fry for some time,until chicken gets cooked.Pour soy sauce and tomato sauce.
• Now add all the other vegetables, sprinkle salt for them and finally add crushed pepper.
• Once all the vegetables are cooked, then add the noodles.
• Fry for some time and then sprinkle all the sauces. Mix well and turn off the heat.(optional- you can take sauces of your own choices while serving ,and can leave the chawmein as it is at this point of time.)
  Your chicken chaw mein is ready to be served.Serve it Hottt!!!!,

Enjoy!!! :-)

some may like to add ajino- moto too. Thats all your choice. Keep Cooking and keep updating me with your experiments :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Egg Curry!!! Inspired by my Senior

Yesterday my husband was not so happy with what i packed for his lunch. So,in the morning i was pretty confused as what to prepare such that even if it gets cold after 4-5hrs of preparation ,it must not loose its tatse , and furthermore i wished that each bite of food must remind him of me....
                     Yestrday on a social website i saw a post by my favourite senior Shivpriya,where she had prepared egg curry and posted the pic on wall with the punch line"Dear Hubby, This is to bribe you to come home early" and Within moment Hubby replied "am on the way to home" :-). Amazing !!!!!! :-) This whole thing inspired me to prepare egg curry, But then one thing was very much clear to me, that am not gone do it in usual way . I kinda experimented with the egss, and guesss what!!!  Ladies and Gentlemen -- I came out with colourful results. Hope my hubby would be very happy with his lunch today :-)........ Fot this preparation i used

• Eggs- 4
• Tomato-1 finelly chopped
• Onion-1 finelly Diced
• cumin seeds-1 tea spoon
• Ginger Garlic Paste- 1 Tea spoon 
• Hunk Curd/yoghurt- 4 TSP
• Salt as per taste
• Turmeric Powder- 1.5 Tea spoon 
• Pepper Powder-1/2 Tea Spoon
• Cumin Powder-1/2 TSP
• Coriander Powder-1 TSP
• Garam Masala Powder- 1 Tea spoon
• Oil -3 TSP
• Coriander Leaves- shredded
• Green chillies- finelly chopped

At first I Boiled the eggs and then after removing the outer shell i Marinted it for 10 minutes.

For the marinade i used:

•  Salt
• Turmeric 1/2 teaspoon
• yoghurt-1 TSP

In a pan i heated the oil and then sauted the eggs until the skin became light brown on most of its part.

Once they turned brown i took them off on a kitchen towel.

For the gravy

• Added some more oil in the same pan.
• To this i added 1 tea spoon of cumin seeds and fried them until they started crackling 
• To this i added green chillies followed by onions, sauted the onions until they turned tender but not brown.
• At this point i added ginger garlic paste and sauted till the raw flavour was gone.
• Added tomato.
• By the time tomatoes turned tender, i made a paste of all the masalas by adding the remaining curd .and then fried them along with the tomatoes.
• Stopped frying until i could smell some rich aroma coming out of the masalas.
• Added  1 and half cup of water to it  and then the eggs finally. Covered the pan and allowed it simmer for next 10 minutes.

Whoa!!!!!! Done ,,,, the egg curry was ready to be packed followed by coriander leaves on top of it.....with some normal parathas. :-) Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyy :-)


Feel free to Improvize your egg curry. You can enhance the taste by adding a paste of cashewnuts and poppy seeds or you can also add some cream to this. 

By: Sushmita Pandit

Baked Potatoes,Nice and Crunchy

Hi ,In this Post i will tell you how to prepare mouth watering Crunchy baked Potatoes. This recipie will serve Four.

Ingredients:

• Potato - 4 Medium in size ( Slice as shown in the Image)
• Olive oil 
• Garlic cloves- 3(Chopped minutely)
• Green Chilli- 1(Chopped minutely)
• Pepper powder or freshly crushed Pepper
• Salt As per taste

Method:

• Wash and cut the potatoes.
• Place these potatoes in the baking tray and bake it for two minutes.
• By this time in a bowl mix all the other ingredients .
• Now take out the potatoes and mix it well in the mixture, keep it aside for 1 minute
• again pour the whole thing on the baking tray, separate all the potato slices such that they dont overlap.
• Bake them for next 5 to 8 minutes at 180Degree C

Baked Potatoes are ready to be served. Garnish it with mint leaves and Tomamto ketchup.

Enjoy ...And keep cooking :-)

Baked Potatoes/wahsushkitchen.blogspot.in

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By: Sushmita Pandit

Chicken Chilli

Hi, in this post we will learn how to prepare Chicken chilli. This recipie will serve four.


Ingredients:

• Chicken/Heinschen breast pieces-200gms Chop it into small pieces.
• All purpose flour- 2Tsp
• Oil for frying
• salt-As per taste
• Corn flour-1Tsp
• Ginger Garlic paste- 1 Tsp
• Egg- 1
• Ginger -1 Tsp finely chopped
• Garlic- 1 Tsp finely chopped
• Capsicum -1 cup chopped
• Mushroom -1 cup chopped
• Onion-1/2 Cup Chopped 
• Spring Onion-1/2 cup
• Coriander leaves
• Green chillies
• oyster Sauce
• Chilli sauce
• Tomato sauce
• Soy sauce
• Pepper Powder-1 Tea spoon

Method:

• Prepare a paste of All purpose flour,corn flour,ginger garlic paste,Pepper,egg and salt
• Heat oil in a pan for deep frying
• Take pieces of chicken dip it into the paste such that it each pieces gets well coated.
• Fry them in oil, until chicken turns golden brown in color
• Now in another pan heat 2 Tsp of oil
• To this add Chili, onion,Garlic and Ginger, saute it for some time in high flame
• To this Capsicum,Mushroom and salt. saute it for 1 min
• To this add the fried chicken
• Fry for 30 sec at high flame
• Now add all the sauces, fry for 1 min
• Prepare a solution by adding 1teaspoon of cornflour to 1/2 cup of water
• Pour this solution finally and turn off the heat
• For garnishing  add spring onions and coriander leaves

Your Chicken Chili is ready to be served........Enjoy and Happy Cooking !!!!!! :-)

If you have some interesting recipe, feel free to share with me. Mailto:Sushmita.pandit1@gmail.com

 By: Sushmita Pandit

Lamb curry or simple Mutton curry

Hi guys, in this post i will tell you easiest way of preparing Lamb Curry.
This recipe will serve 4.

Ingredients:

• Lamb or Mutton: 500gms
• Turmeric powder-1 Tsp
• Chillies-4
• Onion-3 medium sizes sliced
• Garam Masala- Cinnamon stick,bay leaf
• zeera
• cumin powder-1Tsp
• Coriander powder-2Tsp
• Pepper Powder-1Tsp
• Ginger Garlic paste
• Coriander leaves
• Salt-As per taste
• Oil for cooking
• Red chilli powder-1 TSP(optional)
• Papaya-1 slice(optional)
• Curd-2 Tsp(optional)

Method:

Marinate:

• Wash mutton thoroughly - add salt ,oil ,curd or yoghurt and turmeric
• Keep it aside for 1/2 hour

Frying:

• Heat Oil in a pan
• Add cumin seeds and garam masalas
• once pooping sound comes add green chilies and onion
• Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes
• Once the raw smell of garlic-ginger disappears , add marinated mutton
• fry for 3 minutes
• Now make a paste of coriander powder,zeera powder,turmeric powder and pepper powder
• add this paste and fry until you can smell the flavours of fried mutton
•  if cooking in a cooker ,to this add 1/2 cup of water and wait for next 5 whistles in low flame
• If cooking in a pan add 2 cups of water and let it boil for  next 20-30 minutes

Once the lamb becomes tender...garnish it with coriander leaves and the Dish is ready to be served.

Enjoy cooking........

Note: Lamb already consists of lots of Fat(oil) so do not add to much oil ....use optimum amount only.

By: Sushmita Pandit

Chana dal Vada

Hi, in this post we will learn how to prepare chana dal vada. It is an Indian snack that's often prepared during various festival . Its mouth watering and i love it. Hope you will enjoy it too. :-)

Ingredients:

• Chana Dal or Bengal Gram -200gms
• Onion- 2 Medium Size, Finely Chopped
• Green Chillies- 3, Finely Chopped
• Turmeric Powder- 1/2 TSP
• Pepper Powder-1 tea spoon
• Oil for frying
• Salt as per taste
• celery leaves or coriander leaves- finely chopped

Method:

• Soak the dal overnight
• Grind the dal as coarsely as possible along with the green chilies
• To this add salt ,turmeric,pepper,onion and celery leaves.
• Carefully make flat round shapes
• Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the mixture
• Take it out until vada's turn golden in color 

Chana dal Vada is ready to be served :-).

serve it hot with green chutney, preferably coriander chutney.

Enjoy and happy cooking :-)

Feel free to share your recipies with me.  Mailto:sushmita.pandit1@gmail.com

By: Sushmita Pandit

Vegetable Pasta Noodle-Indian Style

Hi, in this post we will learn how to prepare  Linguine Pasta Noodles. It s easy to prepare and quite good in taste.

Ingredients 

• Linguina pasta noodles-200gms
• oil
• carrot-2 finely sliced
• bell pepper- 1 finely chopped
• onion- 1 sliced into quarters
• ginger- 1 TSP finely chopped
• garlic - 1 TSP finely chopped
• french beans- sliced in length
• spring onion
• broccoli-1/2 cup
• Fried eggs,optional
• soy sauce, tomato sauce, oyster sauce
• Green Chillies-3
• Pepper powder-1 TSP
• Salt As per tatse

Method

• Boil pasta in water .(heat the water, add oil and salt to it, followed by adding pasta)
• In a pan heat oil,add green chillies,onion and fry for 1 min at high flame .
• Add all other vegetables fry for 2 minutes until vegetables get cooked.
• Add salt and pepper powder
• Add pasta and fry for 1 min 
• to this add all the sauce
• lastly add fried eggs and sprinkle spring onions.

Your pasta is ready to serve,

Enjoy and keep cooking :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Aloo Chop/Potato Dumplings

Hi, in this post i will tell u how to prepare Aloo Chop. Its a famous fry usually found in Eastern part of india with the name chop while in Maharashtra they call it vada yes you are right it is the one that we find in the vada paw. For many its the day meal while for others its a satisfying evening refreshment. And for people like my mummy and my hubby its time for joy cooking and eating chops. In west bengal people will smash and mix the chop with puffed rice locally known as Mudhi again it becomes a stomach filling dish. And as a street food it helps thousands of people to keep on running who does not have time to prepare food. My father always use to tease me whenever i used to cry with a bengoli song that meant duaghter dont cry i will buy u a chop "Chela kandish nai chop kine dibo". I have so many memorable moments associated with this chop. Lets have the recipie.

Ingredients:

• Potato- 5 medium size(boiled)
• onion- 2 medium size(finely chopped)
• celery/coriander leaves- (finely chopped)
• Zeera/cumin-1 tea spoon
• Turmeric powder- 1 tea spoon
• Besan/gram powder- 1/2 cup
• Ajwain-1 tea spoon
• green chilies- finely chopped
• Pea nuts- fried
• oil for frying
• Salt as per taste

Method:

• Mash the boiled potatoes
• Add salt, green chilies,zeera, ajwain,peanuts, celery,onion to the mashed potatoes.
• Now make small balls out of this
• heat oil in a pan for frying
• Take besan in a bowl .To this add salt and water. Prepare paste such that its neither too thin nor too thick.
• to this paste dip the potato balls and deep fry them.

Serve hot with green chutney,sauce or with any chutney...

Happy cooking :-)

Thanks and keep cooking and enjoying :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

cheesy Macroni soyabean fry salad

Hi in this post we will learn to how to prepare chessy macroni soyabean salad.

Ingredients:

• Macroni
• soyabean granules
• chillies -2
• oil for frying
• salt as per taste
• onion- sliced
• jeera
• turmeric
• pepper
• tomato sauce
• cheese
• cucumber
• bell pepper
• carrots
• cabaage- finely chopped
• Tomato- finely chopped
• Lemon Juice

Method:

• Boil macroni (Add salt and oil in the water used for boiling)
• boil soya bean granules(Add salt and oil in the water used for boiling)
• In a pan heat oil,add cumin seeds let them crackle,add chopped green chillies
• to this add chopped onions,fry them until they turn white
• Add finely chopped tomatoes, fry until it softens
• now add soyabeans granules, fry until it looses its moisture 
• Add turmeric and pepper to this
• now add bolied macroni 
• Add tomato sauce, chilli sauce and soy sauce
• Finally add cheese let it melt.

For The Salad

• Chop bell pepper,onion, carrot, cabbage,cucumber. to this add salt.
• To this add fried macroni and 1 tea spoon lemon juice
• Now add sauces of your choice.

Enjoy.......

Happy cooking :-)

Fried Macroni Soybean Salad.

http://www.facebook.com/Wahsushkitchenblogspotin like it :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Biryani(Lucknowi Style)

Biryani(Lucknowi Style)

Hi in this post we will learn how to prepare lucknowi biryani. In this style of preparation chicken and rice are prepared separetly and then mixed together.

Ingredients(For Chicken)

• Chicken- 500gms
• Turmeric- 1 tea spoon
• Salt- As per taste
• Coriander Powder- 1 table spoon
• Ginger garlic paste- 2 tea spoon
• pepper- 1 tea spoon
• Garam masala- 1 tea spoon
• cumin powder- 1 tea spoon
• Onion- 200 gms
• Oil
• Tomato puree- 100 gms
• Green Chillies

Ingredients(For Rice)

• Basmati Rice- 250gms
• Salt
• Cinnamom sticks
• Cloves
• Oil
• Cumin seeds
• Pepper Corns

Ingredients(For Garnishing)

• Keshar or Saffron
• Fresh Mint Leaves
• Fried onions
• Milk
• Dry Fruits
• Ghee or clarified butter

Marinating Chicken:

• Wash the chicken add salt, turmeric, oil, yoghurt, Coriander pwd,Cumin powder, Pepper pwd, Garam masala.
• Referigerate this marinate for 1 hour

Cooking Chicken:

• In a frying pan heat Oil
• To the oil Add green chillies and Chopped onions, fry it until the onion turns tender.
• To this add the marinated chicken
• Cook until the Masala gets fried and the chicken turns tender.

Preparing Rice:

• Soak the rice for 1/2 hour
• drain the water
• In a pan heat water
• To the water Add all the ingredients mentioned
• When the water comes to boil, Add rice
• IMPORTANT: we have to take out rice when its 3/4^th cooked( Check: when the rice starts Dancing take a piece of it , if it breaks easily this means your rice is done)

The Dum:

• For the dum Choose a vessel such that the lid is tight such that the steam wont escape much out of it. To captivate the steam is called DUM
• Layer the bottom of the vessel with the cooked chicken
• On it layer the Rice, also use the water in which the Rice was cooked(This well help to captivate the moisture, which will help in the cooking the rice and chicken)
• On the rice put the fried onion, soaked saffrons in milk , little milk, mint leaves, ghee, dry fruits
• Repeat the process for each layer.
• Cover the Vessel tighltly
• Cook For 20 mins
• Serve it with Raita.

I would suggest first to prepare the chicken first followed by rice then the Dum.

At the end of cooking, be ready for your nieghbours to ring your Door bell. Since the aroma of biryani is irresistingg...

Enjoy :-) Happy Cooking. Thanks

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By: Sushmita Pandit