Banana smoothie with ice cream

Ingredients:

Bananas-2
Whole milk-1 cup
Vanilla icecream-1/2 cup
Peanut butter-1 tbsp

Method:

Blend ask the ingredients to smooth and enjoy the deliciousness!!

Millet pulihora

Ingredients:

Kodo millet-1 cup
Water-2 cups
Oil-2 tbsp
Peanuts-1/4 cup
Chana dal-1 tbsp
Urad dal-1 tbsp
Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Green chillies-3
Dried red chillies-4
Curry leaves-10
Ginger-1 inch
Hing-pinch
Turmeric-1/4 tsp
Cumin powder-1 tsp
Tamarind pulsu-2 tbsp (adjust according to your taste)
Salt-to taste

Method:

1. Pressure cook 1 cup of millets with 2 cups of water for 2 whistles. After the pressure is gone open the lid and let it cool down completely to avoid stickiness.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add peanuts. Roast on a small flame for a minute and add chana dal. Roast for 30 sec-1 min or till it just starts to change its color.
3. Add urad dal and roast for another minute. Add cumin, mustard seeds and saute for 30 sec.
4. Now add grated ginger, curry leaves, green chillies, dried red chillies, hing, salt and turmeric. Mix well and cook till ginger is cooked.
5. Add tamarind pulusu and cumin powder. Mix well.
6. Turn off the stove and add fluffy millets. Mix well. Adjust for salt and tamarind pulusu.
7. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes for the millets to absorb the flavor.
8. Enjoy healthy and delicious millet pulihora!!

Note: I used tamarind pulusu that my mom made. I will post the recipe soon.

Mixed vegetable curry

Ingredients:

Cauliflower-1/2 medium
Capsicum-1
Onion-1 small
Green beans-20
Baby Carrots-10
Potato-3 medium
Oil-2 tbsp
Tomato sauce-1 14 oz can
Salt-to taste
Turmeric-pinch
Red chilly powder-1 tsp
Cumin seeds-1 tsp
Cumin powder-1 tsp
Coriander powder-1 tbsp
Garam masala-1/2 tsp
Amchur-1 tsp
Lemon-1/2 small
Corriander-to garnish

Method:

1. Peel potatoes and cut them into small pieces.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Allow them to splutter.
3. Add chopped potatoes along with salt and turmeric. Mix well and cook with the lid closed till half cooked. Keep stirring occasionally.
4. While the potatoes are cooking, boil a pot of water with salt.
5. Cut cauliflower into bite size pieces and boil them in salt water till half cooked. Keep them aside.
6. Cut onion, capsicum, beans and carrots into small pieces and keep them aside.
7. Once the potato is done, add onion, capsicum, beans, carrots and cook for couple of minutes.
8. Now add boiled cauliflower and tomato sauce. Mix well.
9. Add salt, chilly powder, cumin powder, corriander powder, red chilly powder, garam masala and amchur. Mix well.
10. Finally add chopped tomato, cover the lid and cook for couple of minutes.
11. Open the lid and check of all the veggies are done. Otherwise continue o cook for few more minutes.
12. Adjust for spices and add lime juice. Garnish with corriander and serve with rotis.

Roast vegetables

Ingredients:


Oil-1 tsp
Favorite veggies
Salt, pepper, chat masala, honey etc as spice toppings

Method:


1. Heat oil in a pan and add your favorite vegetables.
2. Mix well, cover the lid and roast on a small flame until brown and soft.
3. Turn off the stove and sprinkle with spices. Mix well and enjoy!

Veggies I tried so far:

1. Brussel sprouts-cut into half lengthwise
2. Asparagus-cut into half
3. Green beans-u can use whole beans
4. Sugar snap peas
5. Carrots
6. Sweet potatoes
7. Potatoes

Chamagadda (arbi) pulsu

Ingredients:

Arbi-8 small
Onion-2 medium
Tamarind-big lemon size
Green chillies-3
Ginger garlic paste-1 tbsp
Turmeric-pinch
Corriander powder-1 tbsp
Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Methi seeds-1/4 tsp
Salt-to taste
Red chillies-3
Jaggery or sugar-1 tsp or to taste
Oil-3 tbsp
Curry leaves-15
Hing-pinch
Corriander-to garnish

Method:

1. Wash arbi and cut into half.
2. Pressure cook with a pinch of salt and enough water for 8 whistles. Pressure cook time depends on the arbi type and 8 whistles work for me.
3.Once the pressure is gone, drain water. Wash with cold water and peel the skin off. 4. Cut each arbi into four pieces and keep them aside.
5. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and allow them to splutter.
6. Add dried red chillies, hing and saute for few sec.
7. Add finely chopped onions, finely chopped green chillies, curry leaves, turmeric, salt and ginger garlic paste. Mix well and cook till onions are brown.
8. While the onion cooks, extract tamarind juice and keep it aside.
9. After the onion is cooked and brown, add tamarind juice and mix well.
10. Add enough water and adjust for salt and jaggery to taste.
11. Let the mixture boil for couple of minutes.
12. Add arbi pieces and mix well. Cook with a closed lid for 5 min.
13. Check for all spices and turn off the stove.
14. Garnish with corriander and serve with rice. Enjoy the delicious pulsu.

Towards making a perfect yellow cake

I made the basic yellow cake quite a few different times with different recipes and I don't have a favorite one yet. I always forgot to take notes. So here I am starting again. This time was not too bad but I made some mistakes which I only realized after the cake is done :D

So here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

Land O lakes spreadable butter-1/2 cup (Prefer non-spreadable and unsalted butter)
Powdered sugar-1 1/2 cups (DON'T USE POWDERED SUGAR. See mistake 2)
Eggs-3 medium
Bread flour-2 cups (Preferably use 2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour)
Salt-1 tsp
Baking powder-3 1/2 tsp
Whole milk-1 1/4 cups
Vanilla extract-1 tsp

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Grease two 8 inch pans or one 9X13 pan (I think 9X13 will be too big. If you want a thick cake and use 9X13 pan, multiply the recipe by 1.5 times) with oil/butter and add 1 tsp of flour. Tap the pan so that flour spreads evenly and dust off the remaining flour. If you have parchment paper handy, line the bottom of the pan with it. In this case, dont add any flour. just greasing with oil is enough.
3. Add softened butter to a deep bowl and add powdered sugar to it.
Mistake 1: I was supposed to beat them both and make it fluffy but when I started beating with an electric mixer, powdered sugar was all up in the air and on myself. So decided to proceed to next step without making it fluffy.
4. Add eggs to the above mix and beat well at a low speed.
5. Now continuously add flour to the above mix and keep mixing with the mixer at low speed. Add salt and baking powder and mix well.
Again, the flour was all up in the air. So I decided to add entire flour at once and mixed by spoon. The end product was a thick batter.
6. Add milk and vanilla extract. Now beat with electric mixer at low speed until everything is properly mixed. Then beat at high speed for 3 min.
7. Distribute to the pan (s) and tap to spread the batter evenly.
8. Bake for 30-35 min. Turn off the oven when a fork comes out clean from the center. Remove and let it cool for 15 min.
9. Then turn the pan up-side down and tap to release the cake. Cool on a cooling rack or a plate lined with paper towel for 15-20 min.
10. Proceed to icing or make tres-leches cake or eat with ice cream.

Mistake 2: To my surprise, cake was not sweet enough. I then realized that powdered sugar tastes less sweet than granulated sugar. So never use powdered sugar.

Mistake 3?: You are not supposed to use bread flour for cakes. I didn't have all purpose flour so I used bread flour. May be the texture is little coarse because of this. Not sure.

Mistake 4?: Use non-spreadable unsalted butter for best results. The cake turned out alright but may be it will be more better with non-spreadable butter. 

Conclusion: Next try, use regular sugar, all purpose flour and non-spreadable butter.

Chana masala

Ingredients:

Chick peas dry-1 cup
Oil-3 tbsp+1 tsp
Onions-2 medium
Tomatoes-3 large
Green chillies-2
Salt-to taste
Ginger garlic paste-1 tbsp
Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp
Turmeric-1/4 tsp
Red chilly powder-1/2 tsp
Corriander powder-1 tbsp
Garam masala-1/2 tsp
Chole masala-1 tsp
Corriander-1/4 cup

Method:

1. Soak chickpeas in enough water overnight.
2. Next day pressure cook with enough water for 10 whistles. Chole should be soft and melt in your mouth.
3. In a non stick pan, heat 3 tbsp oil and add roughly chopped onions, ginger garlic paste and slit green chillies.
4. Sprinkle some salt and cook till brown.
5. Add roughly chopped tomatoes and cook till mushy. Turn off the stove.
6. Transfer the above mix along with 1/4 cup of cooked chickpeas and half cup of water to a blender and blend till smooth.
7. In the same pan, add 1 tsp of oil and add cumin seeds. Allow them to splutter.
8. Add the blended onion tomato paste and mix well.
9. Add turmeric, corriander powder, red chilly powder, garam masala and chole masala. Mix well.
10. Transfer remaining cooked chick peas along with the water to the pan. Add more water and adjust the consistency.
11. Add chopped corriander leaves and cook for 5 min.
12. Adjust for spices and consistency. Turn off the stove. Garnish with lemon and copied onion. Serve with roti or rice.

Note: Sometimes, I also add few paneer slices from my paneer stash stored in freezer and it becomes chana paneer. It tastes really good.

Honey roasted brussel sprouts

Ingredients:

Brussel sprouts-5
Salt-to taste
Pepper-to taste
Oil-2 tsp
Honey-1 tsp

Method:

1. Wash and cut brussel sprouts into two pieces lengthwise.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add brussel sprouts.
3. Sprinkle salt, cover with lid and cook till soft and slightly burnt on both sides.
4. Turn off the stove and add honey and pepper.
5. Mix well and serve as a side or a snack. Enjoy!

Potlakaya (snake gourd) perugu (curd) pachadi

Ingredients:

Potlakaya (snake gourd)-2 long
Yogurt-2 cups
Oil-1 tbsp+1 tsp
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds-1 tsp
Curry leaves-10
Dried red chillies-2
Green chillies-2
Ginger-2 in piece
Hing-pinch
Turmeric-pinch
Salt-to taste
Corriander-to garnish

Method:

1. Peel snake gourd and cut into very small pieces.
2. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and add snake good pieces. Sprinkle some salt and mix well.
3. Add 1 cup of water and cook with the lid closed. Stir in between and add more water if needed to prevent it from burning. Cook till soft and water is evaporated.
4. Turn off the stove.
5. In a separate small pan or tadka pan, add 1 tbsp of oil and add cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Allow them to splutter.
6. Add grated ginger, hing, turmeric, curry leaves, thinly cut green chillies, red chillies and cook for a minute. Turn off the stove.
7. Beat curd in a separate bowl.
8. Add tadka and beaten curd to the pan with cooked snake guard.
9. Check for salt,  add more curd if needed and garnish with corriander. Serve with rice or roti. Enjoy!