Recipes

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   Potato Salad


Ingredients:



   Pudla


Pudla are Indian version of pancakes. They could be either sweet or salty and are usually made as main dish for dinner.

Note: The measuring cup used here in these two pudla recipes is half the size of regular 8 oz. cup.

Ingredients:

3 cups rava flour
8 cups chana besan flour
2 cups yogurt
1 tea spoon green chillies' paste
1 tea spoon ginger paste
Salt per taste
Sugar per taste
Water to make batter
Oil

Optional ingredients:

cilantro
mint leaves
onions
tomatoes
chopped chillies

Method: Mix all the ingredients and add water to make it semi-liquid (sort of like dosa batter). If the optional ingredients are being added, then they are finely chopped first and then added in the batter right before pudla are made. Once the batter is ready, heat a non-stick pan and spread the batter to make pudla. Use oil as needed to make sure the pudla is cooked to perfection. Serve hot with chutney or sauce of choice or plain. I love them with jira chhas (buttermilk with cumin powder).

Ingredients:
Brown sugar (aka goL in Gujarati or guD in Hindi) per taste
6 cups wheat flour
2 cups rava flour
Water to make batter (boiled)

Method: For the sweet pudla, first the brown sugar is added to boiling water and once it melts, the wheat flour and rava flour are added to the warm water to make batter. Once the batter is ready, heat a non-stick pan and spread the batter to make pudla. Use oil as needed to make sure the pudla is cooked to perfection.



   Enchiladas & Taco Salad


Ingredients:

Chopped garlic (optional)
Chopped tomatoes
Corn tortillas
Finely chopped green onions (spring onions)
Jalapenos (optional)
Oil
Rosarita enchilada sauce
Rosarita refried beans
Salsa
Shredded Cheese
Shredded lettuce
Taco seasoning
Tortilla chips

Enchilada:

In one pan, cook refried beans, add little bit of oil, taco seasoning and other spices per taste.

In another pan, bring the enchilada sauce to boil. You can add chopped garlic to make it more tasty and spicy.

Warm the tortilla on hot pan, no oil is needed. Once they are soft, spread enchilada sauce on it, put beans and roll into an enchilada. Here cheese and spring onions can be added inside the enchilada roll along with beans.

Place the enchilada on a place and spread the sauce to cover it up. Sprinkle cheese and warm up in microwave at high level for 1.5 mins or until cheese melts. Sprinkle spring onions and finely chopped tomatoes on top to decorate.


Taco Salad:

In one pan, cook refried beans, add little bit of oil, taco seasoning and other spices per taste.

Spread the chips on a plate, spread beans, salsa, chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, cheese in that order. Warm up in microwave until cheese melts. Remove and sprinkle spring onions and salsa per taste.



   Greek Salad


4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 seedless European cucumber, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup pitted calamata black olives, chopped
1/2 pound feta cheese, diced
4 pepperoncini hot peppers, chopped, optional
Salt and pepper

Dressing
1 cup Dannon plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Warm pita or flat breabs, optional

Directions
Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl.
Season with salt and pepper.
Combine Dannon plain yogurt with lemon juice, red wine vinegar, oregano and ground cumin.
Stir to combine.
Add dressing to salad and toss.
Adjust seasoning.
Eat salad as is or piled in warm pita breads.


   Daal Dhokli

Daal:
Ingredients: Tuvar daal, Oil, Rai, Methi, Jeeru, Limbdi, Hing, Cloves, Water, Gol.
Boil daal well in cooker. Once cooked, add water and make liquid. In vaghar, put oil, rai, methi, jeeru, limbdi, hing, cloves. Add daal to vaghar once hot. Let it boil for a while. Add dhokli and let them cook. Once cooked, add gol into the daal.

Dhokli:
Ingredients: Wheat Flour, Haldar, Laal Marchu, Dhana Jeeru, Ajma, Salt, Water, Oil.
Make the dough like the one for thepla. Make big rotli like thepla and cut them in rectangles. Little rice flour could be used for making. Add them to boiling daal and let them cook well.


   Kadhi

KADHI:
Ingredients: Yogurt, Chana flour, Ghee, Jeeru, Methi, Hing, Salt, Green Peppers.
Add water to yogurt to make buttermilk. Add chana flour to buttermilk. Mix it really well. In vaghar, put ghee, jeeru, methi, hing. Once hot, add buttermilk-chana flour mix liquid. Add water to make it thin, or add more yogurt to make it thick. Once boiling, cut green peppers in small pieces and add to the kadhi. Fresh coriander could be added, if wanted.


   Poolau

POOLAU:
Ingredients: Rice, Mixed vegetables, Ghee, Jeeru, Hing, Salt, Sugar, Taj, kaju, raisins.
Wash rice twice in water. In vaghar, put ghee, jeeru, hing, taj, kahu, raisins. Once hot, add in the rice and let it cook for 2 mins. Add salt and a little sugar, if wanted. Add water, amount: double of the rice amount.


   Daal

DAAL:
Ingredients: Daal, Water, Oil, Gol, Salt, Rai, Methi, Jeeru, Hing, Limbdi, Cloves, Tomato, Green Chillies.
Boil daal in cooker - 4 whistles. Put 2 tbsp. Oil for vaghar. Add rai, methi, jeeru, hing, limbdi, and cloves. Once hot, add some water. Cut tomato and chillies in small pieces, and add to the boiling water. Let is come to a boil. Add mixed daal to the boiling material. Let it come to a boil. Reduce the heat level. Add gol to daal. Let it cook at low heat level.


   Cabbage Sabzi

Cabbage Shaak:
Ingredients: Cabbage, Potato, Tomato, Green Bell Peppers, Oil, Rai, Hing, Salt, Haldar, Red Pepper powder, sugar.
Shred cabbage, cut potato, bell pepper, and tomato. Put oil for vaghar. Add rai and hing. Once hot, add haldar. Then add cabbage, potato, bell pepper. Add salt, red pepper powder, more halder if needed. Mix all the material well. Let it cook well with a plate full of water on top (the pot is covered with this plate). Let it cook well. Once cooked, add tomato to it and again let it cook. At the end add a pinch of sugar and remove from the stove.


   Dudhi Halwa

Dudhi Halwa:
Ingredients: Dudhi, Ghee, Milk, Sugar, Elaichi.
Peel and shred dudhi. Cook in a big pan with ghee added to it. Let it change the color slightly. Add milk - the amount could be upto all the dudhi is under milk. Let the dudhi cook well in that milk. After almost all the milk is used up, add sugar and let it cook. Keep the mixture stirring at all the times. A time will come when all the milk will be gone and the ghee will separate from the dudhi. Keep stirring until all is well cooked. Add elaichi powder and mix it well. Let the halwa cool down. Put it on thali and cut rectangular pieces.


   Gobi Manchurian


INGREDIENTS:
1 medium. cauliflower clean and broken into big florettes.
1 small bunch spring onoin finely chopped
2 tsp. ginger finely chopped
1 tsp. garlic finely chopped
1/4 cup plain flour
3 tbsp. cornflour
1/4 tsp. red chilli powder
2 red chillies, dry
3 tbsp. oil
1 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp. milk

METHOD:

Boil the florettes for 3-4 minutes in plenty of water, to which a tbsp. of milk has been added.
Drain and pat dry on a clean cloth.
Make thin batter out of flour and 2 tbsp.cornflour, adding 1/4 tsp. each of ginger and garlic and red chilli powder and salt to taste.
Dip the florettes in the batter one by one and deep fry in hot oil. Keep aside.

In the remaining oil, add remaining ginger, garlic and crushed red chilli and fry for a minute.
Add the salt and spring onions.
Stir fry for a minute. Add 1 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil.
Add 1 tbsp. cornflour to 1/4 cup water and dissolve well.
Gradually add to the gravy and stir continuously till it resumes boiling.
Boil till the gravy becomes transparent. Add florettes and soya sauce.
Boil for two more minutes and remove.
Serve hot with noodles or rice.

Variations:

Dry manchurian can be made by omitting the gravy.
Make florettes as above and instead of adding water as above, add fried florettes, spring onions and soya sauce at this stage.


Sprinkle 1 tsp. cornflour on the florettes and stirfry for 2 minutes.
Serve piping hot with toothpicks or miniforks and chilligarlic sauce or tomato sauce.
Same procedure for veg. manchurian (with gravy or dry), but instead of using only cauliflower, use finely chopped minced vegetables and bind with some cornflour or bread crumbs and make small lumps the size of a pingpong ball.
Fry as above and proceed as above.




   Undhiyu

Ingredients:
Beans (Papadi) - 2 lbs.
Globe Eggplants (the ones that are size of eggs) - count 5-6
Potatoes - count 5-6 medium sized
Sweet potatoes - count 2
Yam - count 1
Bananas - count 2

Sesame seeds - 1 cup
Peanuts - 1/2 cups ground
Grated coconut - 1 1/2 cups
Green chillies - count 6
Garlic cloves - count 8-10 chopped
Ginger - 2 tablespoon Chopped
Coriander leaves - 2 cups
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 2 cups
Carom Seeds (Ajwain) - two tablespoons
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Oil - 6 tablespoons
Salt - As per taste

Method:

Prepare veggies:

String the beans (papadi) and separate into parts.
Cut eggplants lengthwise into half leaving the top end attached.
Cut the potatoes in half.
Peel sweet potatoes and yam. Then cut them into size of the potato pieces.
Wash bananas. Cut them into three pieces after removing the edges. Dont peel them.
Wash the vegetables separately and drain well.

Stuffing:
Take a large bowl and add the following things and mix them well: Sesame seeds, Peanuts, Grated coconut, Green Chillis, Garlic, Ginger, Coriander leaves, Turmeric powder, Coriander powder, Red chilli powder, Sugar, Salt, and a tablespoon of oil.

Cooking:

Put rest of oil on stove in a large pressure cooker. Once hot, add Asafoetida and Carom Seeds (Ajwain) to it. Stuff the eggplants with the stuffing and start putting them in the cooker. Do not put the beans first in the cooker. They will stick to the bottom and the dish will be ruined. After one layer of eggplants, sprinkle little bit of stuffing on top and make a layer of potatoes. Similarly, put in sweet potatoes, yam and beans one after the other with stuffing in between the layers of veggies. Also add in the banana pieces along with the vegetables.

After putting everything in the cooker, if possible toss everything in the cooker by taking it off of the stove. This way everything is mixed well. Else you can try strring everything with a large spatula. If you think you need more oil, you can add some after you put in all the vegetables. Remember, later on you can remove the excess oil but if you put in less oil it might not taste as good as it should. So add in oil if you think it is good idea. Let the cooker be on stove til three whistles.


Optional addition:

You can add the badaa thats made of methi leaves. For this you can take two cups of besan and two cups of washed methi leaves that are finely cut. Add the two and a tablespoon of Coriander powder, 1 teaspoon of Turmeric, 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder, 1 teaspoon of Sugar, salt (as desired) and 1 teaspoon of oil. Add Mix everything and make them into small balls. Deep fry these balls and let them cool down. After the veggies are cooked, add the fried badaa to it.


Undhiya is ready to eat. You can serve it with puris, and other side dishes that go with are kadhi and pulav rice and of course paapad.


A note to the expert cooks here: Please make appropriate changes to the amount of ingredients as you wish.



   Karela Sabzi

kaarelaa nu.n shaak:

sauthI pahelaa kaarelaa nI chhaal utaarI, 1 i.ncha la.nbaai naa.n samaaravaa.

kaDak bIyaa waaLaa kaarelaa maa.nthI bIyaa kaaDhI naa.nkhavaa. ku.nNaa hoy te raakhavaa.

samaaryaa pachhI tenI par mIThu.n chha.nTI ne 5-7 miniT sudhI raakhI mukavaa. eTale temaa.nthI paaNI chhuTu.n paDashe. aa paaNI kaarelaa ne dabaavI ne kaaDhI naa.nkhavu.n.

kaDaaI maa.n chaDhIyaatu.n tel mukI ne vaghaar mukavo. vaghaar maa.n raaI, hi.nga ane pachhI haLadar naa.nkhavaa.n. haLadar naa.nkhI ne tarat j kaarelaa temaa.n umerI devaanaa. mIThu.n farIthI naa.nkhavu.n nahI.

kaDaaI par thaaLI maa.n paaNI mukI, Dhaa.nkI ne kaarelaa ne chaDhavaa devaa. baraabar chaDhI jaay eTale temaa.n dhaaNaa.n-jIru.n, laal marachu.n, ane saaro evo goL umeravo. ane vadhu thoDI vaar ges par raakhI, saras bhaLI jaay eTale utaarI levu.n.





   Dhokla

Ingredients:

2 cups Chaawal (Rice)
1 1/2 cups Chana Daal (Split Gram Lentil)
1/4 cups Methi (Fenugreek)

Yogurt/Buttermilk
Ginger
Garlic
Fresh green chillis
Lauki/ghia/doodhi/Bottle gourd/Sweet gourd (optional)
Salt
Turmeric
1/2 teaspoon Soda/Eno (not Baking soda)


Method:

Soak Rice, and Chana daal in water overnight. They could be mixed before soaking.
Next morning blend the soaked Rice and Chana daal in blender. Use yogurt/buttermilk to make the mixture semi-liquid. Do use water a little if needed. Once blended, add methi to the mixture and let the mixture stay out at room temperature for another 8-10 hrs. (If room temperature is cooler, store the mixture in turned off oven since it will be warmer comparatively).

After 8-10 hrs of fermentation, the mixture will be ready to make dhokla. Stir the mixture with hand, if possible. This will make better dhokla.

Now adding shredded lauki is optional here. It makes dhokla taste much better with lauki added to the mixture. If wanted, add a cup of shredded lauki and stir the mixture well.

Add chopped ginger, garlic, green chillis and turmeric. Add desired amount of salt and stated amount of soda/eno.

To cook:

Dhokla are steam cooked. Boil water in huge vessel. Apply little bit of oil to the sides of deep dish thing being used to pour the dhokla mixture in. Pour the mixture into the dish. Put the dish in the vessel (with boiling water) little higher than the water level. Cover vessel. Dhokla will be cooked in about 10 mins. Since the stove temperature varies from one kitchen to the other, check occationally to see whether it is cooked.

Once cooked, remove the dish from vessel, cut the dhokla in rectangular blocks. Use a knife/sharp spatula like utensil to remove from the dish. Serve hot. Dhokla are served with garlic chutney and peanut oil on side.

One nice trick I like is to use red chilli powder to sprinkle on top of the dhokla. To do this, once the mixture is poured in the dish to cook, sprinkle little bit of red chilli powder on top of the mixture. Do not stir. Leave it the way it is. Once cooked, yellow dhokla look really attractively colorful with little bit of red color on top. Tastes delicious too.