Punjabi Kadhi (without pakoras)

Hi
My husband spent some years in Delhi and he had this kadhi there. He likes this very much and he would be happy to have this kadhi with any vegetable for lunch. Adding pakodas to the kadhi piles up the calories, so I usually do not add them. However, this tastes delicious with or without the pakodas. This should be served with hot steamed rice or jeera rice.

Serves - 3

Preparation time - 5 minutes
Cooking time - 10 minutes

Ingredients:
Besan - 1 1/2 Tbsp
Yoghurt - 1/4 cup (Use low fat if you are prone to occasional guilt flutters)
Methi leaves (Fenugreek) - 1 bunch, chopped
Salt for taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Water - 1 cup

For Tempering
Garlic - 1 clove ( finely chopped)
Red chili - 1-2
Jeera - 1 tsp ( I like a lot of jeera in the kadhi, you can reduce it to 1 tsp if you are not so in love with jeera)
Oil - 2 tsp + 1 tsp

How
- In a bowl, beat besan and curd together till there are no lumps and it forms a smooth paste. Add salt and turmeric powder and keep it aside
- Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan and when hot add the methi leaves to the pan and saute it for a minute.
- . Now add the besan mixture and keep stirring. Add water and stir together.
- Reduce the flame, cover the pan and cook the kadhi for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt now.
- Transfer the kadhi to a bowl.
- Heat 1 tsp oil in a tempering pan or a tadka pan and add jeera, garlic and red chili in that order and pour it over the kadhi.
- Serve hot with steamed rice or jeera rice.

Masala Coriander Pasta

I am sure most of you will think I am out of my mind to think of a pasta without cheese or the creaminess of milk and flour. But try this once and I am sure you will like it. As the name of the blog suggests, I like to mix and match. Its not that I do not like the traditional pasta with the cheese sauce, infact, I love it. But this is a variation to be savored once in a while without the guilt of cheese hanging on me. The flavor of coriander complements the tomato sauce quite well. My daughter loved this version of pasta and she had a full serving all by herself :) What more can a mother ask for. I found this was a convenient way to make her take some greens.

What I used:

Pasta - 150 grams ( I used macaroni, but any small variety like gnochhi, bowties could be used)

Tomato - 3(small to medium)

Coriander - a handful(finely chopped)

Garlic - 2-3 cloves chopped

Garam masala or curry powder - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 Tbsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp(Optional)

How:

- Cook the pasta al dente according to package instructions.

- Blend the tomatoes in a mixer or blender.

- Heat the oil in a non stick pan or a kadai and add the chopped garlic. Add the tomato paste once the garlic starts to turn golden.

- Fry the tomato paste till the raw smell of tomato disappears and the mixture changes color.

- Now add the garam masala and chilli powder (if using, I didnt use chili because my daughter doesnt take heat well ) and cook for 2 minutes.

- Add the finely chopped coriander(If I dont chop it fine, my daughter will take them out) and cook for 1- 2 minutes

- Now add the pasta and toss it so that all the pasta gets a coating of the sauce.

Serve hot. You can top it with cheese if desired, but it goes well without cheese as my daughter would say.

Easy onion chutney

Nowadays we try to eat more low calorie foods and coconut is one of the items we are reducing in our diet. Whenever we have idli / dosa, we are used to having coconut chutney, but now I was wanting to go with an alternative( My relatives back home say its all rubbish, they had coconut everyday and they are healthy and live to 90... hmm there is something wrong in the big cities). Anyways, I made the onion chutney inplace of coconut chutney and it went very well with the kuzhi paniyaram(Recipe for Kuzhi paniyaram some other time).

What I used

Onion - 1 medium coarsely chopped

Tomato - 1 medium coarsely chopped

Coconut - 1 Tbsp grated

Urad dal - 1/2 Tbsp

Channa dala - 1/2 Tbsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Red chilli - 2

Garlic - 1 clove

For Tempering

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard - 1 tsp

Curry leaf - few

How:

- Heat the oil in a pan and add urad dal and channa dal. As it turns golden add the red chilli, garlic, onion and saute for 3-4 minutes till the onion turns translucent. Then add the tomatoes and salt for taste.

Cook for 3 more minutes and then turn off the gas. Once the mixture cools down, transfer it to a electric mixer and grind it into a smooth paste along with the coconut.

Heat 1tsp oil and add mustard. Once mustard splutters, turn off the gas and add curry leaf and add the tempering to the chutney.

Suggestion : If you want to leave out the coconut totally, add 1 Tbsp of urad dal in place of 1/2 Tbsp.

Kulfi

I have been reading food blogs till my tummy screams no more reading, please feed me something. And thought it was time, I also started rumbling and bumbling my experiences. So, please hop in and enjoy your time here.

If I am feeling down for some reason, Once I think of food, I become a happy person. As I fry and bake, I feel a change, all my worries go down the drain or up the chimney, whatever you prefer. I do not understand when some of my friends say cooking is boring. All I want is somebody to eat the food(Not as a duty, but happily and passionately). I can cook, cook and cook. I thought a lot about what to blog first. There are so many things I am fond of. But I wanted my first post to be something special(in addition to having a picture). I had made some kulfi the other day and thought why not start with a sweet.

It is strange what you remember from your childhood. I would have been 5-6 yrs and around 10o clock in the night, a kulfi wala used to come to our street regularly. I would be in a deep trance by that time(Yes, 10 o clock was late night for me then, ooh, how I have changed now, that requires another post). Coming to the point, I do not remember anything else about the kulfi, but I do remember how all the kids atleast most of us queued up for that elusive little treat(My parents would buy us kulfi only as a treat), with eyes bulging to see the kulfi shine in the yellow street light as it emerged out of the mould like a shiny little rabbit pulled out of the magicians hat. Anyway here is the recipe that brought back a lot of memories(and bored you to sleep).

What I used:

Milk - 1/2 litre

Sugar - 1/4 cup

Corn flour - 1 heaped tsp

Cardamom - a pinch (according to taste)

Pistachios / Almonds / Dry Fruits - 2 Tbsp

Cold water or milk - 1/4 cup

White bread slice - 1(crusts removed)

That was what and here comes the how

- Bring the milk to boil in a thick bottomed saucepan. (Use the one with a thick bottom unless you want the kulfi to smell a little burnt)

- Reduce the heat to medium to low medium and let it simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. Scrape the sides of the saucepan every 5 minutes and add the scrapings back to the simmering milk. These skin scrapings will give a nice texture to the kulfi.

- While the milk is simmering, add the cornflour and the bread slice to the cold water or milk and make into a smooth paste

- Stir the milk once and then add the paste into the milk slowly. Keep stirring while adding the paste so that no lumps are formed.

- Simmer for 5 minutes more stirring frequently. Add the nuts or fruits of your choice and just before turning off the gas, add the cardamom powder. (You will lose the flavor of cardamom powder if added before)

- Now the kulfi is ready to be frozen. Pour it into popsicle moulds or into a bowl and push it into the freezer. Freeze for 5 - 7 hours, depends on your freezer. Mine took 5 hours.

- To serve, take the mould out of the freezer and place it in hot water for 15 seconds. Now tuck in and have fun.

Suggestions:

If you have thin rice noodles, you can use it as falooda. Just plate up the kulfi, throw some falooda on top, sprinkle with any Rose syrup or caramel or any other syrup of your choice and restaurant style Kulfi falooda is ready.