Couscous Salad (Indian Independence Day Special)

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Indian.
India completes 66 years of freedom since British left India. Since then India has come a long way. Countries across the globe have recognized it as a wealthy and rich country with a rich heritage culture and history that goes back more than some 10000 years. Although its a developing nation but aims to become developed by 2020.
On this special occasion i pay my respect to all the freedom fighters who led their lives in the path to attain freedom. Vande Mataram.
Today i prepared Couscous salad with a tricolor theme. This is a quick and super tasty salad. gets prepared in no time and tastes wonderful. I dedicate this recipe to Durga Shakti Nagpal ...A young and honest IAS officer who is fighting for justice in the country against Sand mafia.

aloo cheese paratha(Potato Cheese Stuffed Flat Bread)

Cheese and Paratha is a superb combination. These cheese inside the bread gives a good moisture and texture to the bread. The end product is  a tasty mouth watering paratha.
India is famous for several varities of flat bread. Since the popularity of cheese has grown up so much , we definitely needed to blend the cheese in Indian food in some or the other ways. Hence we have this cheese paratha.
Rakshabandhan is also coming up. Its the celebration of brotherhood where the sisters on full moon day in the month of Shravan (Buddh Purnima) ties a holy thread on the wrist of her brother which signifies the well being and prosperity of the brother. In return the brother takes a vow to protect his sister throughout his life.
I have already sent my Rakhi threads to my brother. Those who haven't may soon send their Rakhi love to their brothers.

Nariyal k ladoo(Coconut ladoo)- 2 Min recipe

Nariyal k ladoo are favourite ladoos of so many people. What if i let you know a quick Nariyal ladoo recipe. I found this recipe on food food by Rakesh Sethi. The way he explained this recipe and with so much humor. I am really impressed with his presentation.
Without wasting any time, let me take you straight to the recipe.

Yields- 10 medium size ladoos
Preparation time- 10 minutes
No cooking required

Ingredients:

• Dry Grated coconut or - 1 cup
• Milk powder- 3/4 cup
• Sugar- 3 Tbsp or as per taste
• Milk- 1/2 cup Luke warm
• Cardamom powder- 1/2 Tsp or crushed green cardamom- 5 to 6 pods
• Pistachios crushed for garnishing
• Saffron for Garnishing

Direction:

• Bring together coconut, Milk powder, sugar and cardamom powder. Mix well.
• Now add milk little by little just to make the mixture moist such that it can be combined together in a 1/2 inch ball.
• Prepare 1/2 inch ball out of the mixture.
• Garnish your ladoos with saffron and pistachios.

And your ladoos are ready to be served. Serve them immediately and the leftovers can be stored in refrigerator . Enjoy and happy cooking :-)

By- Sushmita pandit.

Chilly chicken with gravy

And once again am back with a Chinese cuisine. My love for Chinese dish will always remain the same.
Previously i posted Dry chicken chilly and here am posting it how to prepare it with gravy.
This dish tastes wonderful with rice and noodles as well. With gravy it is apt to serve as a main dish.

Ramadan Special- Eid Menu

The holy month of Ramadan is going on . On the 30th day of fasting with the appearance of moon in the sky Muslims all over the world celebrate Eid-ul-fitr.

India is all set to Celebrate it with pomp and show. The Eid markets all over India is flooded with eateries and new clothes. The special eateries being Dates, different varieties of sewai(Vermicelli), sweets , Bakery, falooda and Mughlai cuisines.

The celebration varies from region to region. However one thing that remains common amongst all is the celebration of brotherhood. This is marked by meeting of all the Muslims in either Eidgah or mosques(Masjid) early morning dawn for offering the Eid ki namaz (Special prayers for Eid).

However before Namaz(Prayers) one thing that is quite popular is the sacred bath. This is the usual bath however its significance is that the earlier you bath in the dawn the more you cleanse your soul with something pure like milk. The preparation  and drinking of "pyala" (Milk, sugar and coconut )  or (Milk with dry fruits) takes place just after bath.

Kheer(Milk rice ) Milch reis

Kheer is the most loved dish in India. It is often prepared during celebrations, poojas, wedding and any other special occasion. On birthdays Preparation of kheer is compulasory in my family.
However since my husband and my son love it i like preparing it often.
I was in supermarket and found a packet of rice called as milch reis. I got that this rice is special and can be used with milk. This was small flat broad rice unlike the usual one that we use for preparing the rice. To my surprise this rice tasted awesome in milk.
I am sure you will love this kheer recipe.

Meetha Pulao(Sweet Basmati Rice)

This is another lovely recipe. This has been shared to me by my mother. Its an awesome fragrant sweet basmati rice recipe. This can be served along with chana dal or Dal kaadu or any curry of your choice. It tastes great and i totally adore it.
Hope you too like this recipe.

Kaju Curry(Cashewnuts Curry)

Kaju curry has always been my all time favorite. For the first time i tasted this dish in a famous restaurant in my home town . Since then i fell in love with it. Usually am not able to eat more than 2 Tbsp of any rich curry  but when it comes to Kaju curry, am never full.

The long and large size cashew nuts are good for this curry but any type of cashew will also do.
The recipe is extremely easy and simple in preparation. It is rich, creamy and awesome in taste. It will go very well with bread, nan, chapati or rice.

French Beans Curry

French beans are universal and so are the diversity in the dishes made out of them. This french beans curry recipe has been passed on to me by my mother. Her cooking is nonparallel and so is her teachings. When it comes to cooking my mom is my teacher. She usually directed me to do one task while something was on stove. However each time the task was different. After some time she directed me to perform combination of tasks .Then came the time when she only asked  "Honey!! would u like to prepare the curry for the dinner tonight". That's how i leaned cooking. I was always ignorant of the fact that by performing single task i m learning how to do one, and it was a gradual ignorant process of me learning how to cook. I never realized that i unknowingly have learnt cooking until one day i prepared curry of my own version . I was always hopping around in kitchen when i was 11 years old and by 16 i knew how to prepare dinner, which usually served 4. Whenever i was at home during holidays i would cook for my family. My dad would always  love whatever i cooked.
And i carried this cooking legacy forward to my college where cooking was not allowed. But life is so dull unless and until you have never broken any rules. Sometimes my canteen food tasted yakky so i arranged for 1 small portable heater and a sauce pan. Whenever i didn't feel like turning to the canteen i Prepared quite a few things using the sauce pan. My friends would always praise me for what ever i cooked. There were two reasons they did that...1. Few genuinely found my cooking good while 2. others were only concerned with the their part ha ha(Hostel is a mixture of unique people). Oh i miss my college days, lots of fun and hungama.

Prawn butter masala curry

I love prawns, but i hate to devein them. I just not only find it complex but more of a tedious process. Being said that i love the butter curry that is prepared with prawns. My hubby is not a great fan of sea food as he is more sensitive to the sea food smell. So before i cook any of those i make sure that i have put in all the ingredients that removes that typical smell.
 This time i brought king prawns and before i started cooking it, i marinade it with little spices and with the curry leaves. Later i tossed it in butter before i introduced it to my final curry. The fried prawns were as awesome. The butter and the curry leaves left some enchanting flavors on the prawns and it was nice and crunchy by that moment. However i quickly jumped up for preparing the curry and then my house was filled with aroma of whole spices, butter and curry leaves. Once i hopped out of my house i could still smell it when i passed by my window, lovely.
I am enjoying the fact that it is summer at my place and the sun sets at 10:00pm . This is like the best time of the year and i adore this moment. I quickly finish my dinner in the evening and go out for walk near parks and garden. It is very beautiful to admire the setting sun and the fleet of birds taking their flight back home. I wish it would remain like this as long as possible.