Aloo Sarson-Posta(Potato mustard&poppyseed curry)

It had been nearly more than six months since i had tasted poppy seeds. It was only in this Christmas time that i could get some of it at cheaper price at an Indian store in Brussels. So i grabbed a few packets just to make my traditional Aloo posta . The best thing about this dish is that you do not need many ingredients and its just too quick and fast in preparation. However i customized this dish by adding some mustard to it as i love the taste of mustard too. Some like it with purely poppy seed paste while others just like me incorporate almond and cashew nuts too.

This recipe serves four
Preparation & Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:

• Potatoes - 4 Large sized, sliced into 1/2 inches
• Onion -1 medium size ,sliced thinly
• Chilly- 1 chopped
• (optional)Paanch Foren(mixture of Fenugreek seed, cumin seed, mustard seed,fennel seed ,kalongi seeds ) 1 tsp each, mix them well and keep it in a closed container for future use.
• Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
• Pepper powder- 1 tsp
• Salt as per taste
• oil for cooking
• Paste- (Add 1 tbsp poppy seeds+1 tbsp crushed almonds + 3/4tbsp mustard+ green chilly 1 in a grinder jar. Add little water and then grind to make a consistent paste)
• water for cooking

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a kadai or pan
• Add 1 tsp of Paanch foren, allow it to crackle
• Now add green chillies and sliced onion, fry until onion turns tender
• Add the sliced potatoes
• Add salt ,stir and cover, wait until potatoes are half cooked
• Now add turmeric powder and pepper powder
• cook until turmeric gets fried.
• At this point add the paste, Add water to adjust the consistency of the gravy and then stir.
• Simmer in low heat for 5 mins.
• Turn off the heat once you see gravy of desired consistency .

The Aloo sarson-posta is now ready to be served. Serve it hot with hot rice or chapati.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Prawn curry

In my last post i told you about how to prepare prawn chilly, in this post we will see how to prepare Indian prawn curry. This is a spicy curry yet not hot. This can be well served along with rice, nan or chapati or any other flat bread.

This recipe was given to me by my landlord where i used to stay during my school days. At one point of time our mess was close and i had still some days left to go home, thats wen she prepared this and also shared its secret recipe , i absolutely love this prawn curry,  Here is its RECPIE:
This will serve Three
Cooking time - 30 mins

Ingredients:

• Prawn - 250Grams(washed, deveined and dried)
• Boiled Potato-5(cut into cubes) (optional)
• Lemon juice - 1 TBSP
• Onion- 1 large chopped
• Spice mix(Turmeric- 1 Tsp, pepper powder- 1 Tsp, cumin powder-1/2 Tbsp, Coriander Powder- 1 Tbsp)
• Green chilli- 2
• Ginger garlic paste- 1/2 Tbsp
•  Salt as per taste
• Oil for cooking
• Tomato puree - 1 medium sized tomato
• Garam masala(cloves, cinnamon, cardamom )
• Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan.
• Add all the garam masala.
• Add chillies and onions.
• saute onion until golden brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes.
• Prepare a paste with tomato puree+ spice mix+ Salt.
• Add this paste and fry until oil gets separated from the fried masala.
• Add the boiled potatoes.
• Add the prawns .
• Add lemon juice. Mix well.
• And then add 1/2 cup of water. Adjust the amount of water as per the consistency of the gravy
• Cover the pan and let the dish simmer for 5 minutes at low heat.
• Turn off the heat and sprinkle coriander leaves all over.

Serve hot with rice or chapati.... enjoy!!!!

Happy cooking :-)
For the chapati: http://wahsushkitchen.blogspot.de/2013/01/chapati.html
By: Sushmita Pandit

Carrot & Potato Puree (Baby food)

With the teething of my baby i had to cook up many dishes for my baby.My primary concern was that the food should be nutritious. So i picked up carrot and  potato. 
My experiment was successful in the sense that my baby really enjoyed eating the puree, Here is the recipe that suits kids of 1 year age.

Ingredients:

• Potato -1 boiled
• Carrot -1 boiled
• quarter of medium sized onion - chopped thinly
• salt
• pepper
• butter or ghee- 1 TBSP

Recipe:

• Heat ghee or butter in a pan
• saute onions until they turn golden brown. Add little pepper if your kid likes little spicy food.Turn off the heat once done.
• Using a mixer grinder or blender make a puree of potato,sauted onions and carrot.Add little water to adjust the consistency.
• Take the puree in a bowl and add salt to adjust taste.

The puree is now ready to be served.

By: Sushmita Pandit

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