Imli ki chutney for Bhel and Samosa (Sonth)

Ingredients -

Imli - 1 cup

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt - 1 tbsp

Sugar - 1 cup

Fenugreek seeds- Methi dana - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Coriander seeds - Dhaniya beej - 1 tsp

Fennel seeds - Saunf - 1 tsp
Dried ginger powder - 1/4 tsp

Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Process -

Wash and soak Imli in hot water for 30 minutes. Make a paste of soaked Imli in a blender. Now sieve the Imli paste in a saucepan, add 1/2 cup water in the paste to make this process quick and easy. Boil this paste on simmer for 5 minutes. Add all the ingredients and mix well.  Bring it to boil on high flame once. Add some more water if you do not want the consistency to be very thick. Let it simmer for 15 minutes on low flame. Imli chutney is ready to serve. You can keep it refrigerated for 6-7 weeks. 

Imli ki Daal

Ingredients-
Tuvar daal - 1 cup
Imli Paste (tamarind paste) - 2 tbsp if making fresh from raw imli- 1tsp of ready-made pulp
Onion - finely chopped - 1/3 cup
Curry leaves - 4-5 leaves
Red whole chilies - 2
Asafoetida - Hing - 1/4 tsp
Mustard  seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp, or according to your taste

Process-

Put 2 tsp oil in a pressure cooker and turn on the stove. We will make tadka before boiling the daal.
Once the oil is hot enough, put mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida, ginger-garlic paste, whole chilies, and curry leaves in hot oil. Now add chopped onion and let it cook for a minute. Add turmeric powder and red chili powder and mix well. Once the spices and onions are cooked well, add imli paste. Add some water and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Now add washed daal in the pressure cooker with 2 cups of water. Add salt and mix all the ingredients once before closing the lid. Now put the stove heat on med and wait for three whistles from the pressure cooker. Turn off the stove 2-3 minutes after third whistle. Let the pressure cooker cool down completely. Open the lid and give it a mix. Daal is ready to serve.

Pizza Sauce

Ingredients for two pizzas (6" )
Tomatoes - 4 med size
Garlic Cloves - 10-12 cloves ( approx finely chopped 4 tsp)
Fresh Basil Leaves - 10-12 leaves
Onion - 1 small finely chopped
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Olive oil - 4 tsp

Process -
Rub some olive oil on all the washed tomatoes. Now make a small cut on one side of tomatoes and hold the tomatoes with the help of a fork and fire roast tomatoes on stove flame directly for 2-3 minutes. Roast all the tomatoes and let them cool for 3-4 minutes. In a cooking pan, put some olive oil to heat and add finely chopped onions. Remove the skin of tomatoes and cut them roughly in small pieces. Add these chopped tomatoes and chopped garlic together in frying onions. Add some salt and cover the pan. Let it simmer for 5-7 minutes. Now you try and crush the tomatoes while cooking it. Add sugar and chili powder, mix well. When you see oil is separated and tomatoes are mashed and cooked, turn off the stove and add finely chopped basil leaves. Let it cool down completely before putting it on the pizza base.

Tip - You can add fresh spices and herbs of your choice once the sauce is cooled down. We can use the same sauce for pasta as well.

Pizza Bread

Ingredients -
All-purpose flour - 2 cups
Dry Active Yeast - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Milk - 1/4 cup
Oil/ Butter - 3 tbsp
Dried Oregano - 1/ tsp (optional)
Dried Basil Leaves - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Pizza Seasoning / Mixed Herbs - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Process -
Put lukewarm milk in a kneading bowl. Add active dry yeast and sugar in the milk and mix well. Cover the bowl and keep it aside for 10 minutes, this will activate the yeast, and you can see bubbles formed in the milk after 10 minutes. Add all-purpose flour, salt, and all the seasoning in the bowl. Knead a very soft dough with the help of water or milk. The dough will be very soft and sticky at the beginning, but as you continue to knead it, it will slowly become manageable. The dough should be very soft. Now put oil on the dough's surface and cover the bowl with a wet towel or airtight lid. Let it ferment for an hour. After an hour, the dough will be almost double in size. Knead it once again and then divide it into 2 pieces. You will be able to shape pizzas with your hands only, but if you find it difficult, use a rolling pin. Place this pizza base on a baking tray and prick the bread with a fork. Now spread some oil or butter on top of the bread and let it bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 10-15 mins.

Tips-
You can place baking paper on the baking tray and spread the dough with your hands on the tray directly. It will be less messy. Even if you are rolling it on counter, place a sheet of baking paper underneath, it will make it easier to shift the bread on the tray. 

Sweet And Salted Cookies / Jeera Cookies

Ingredients -
All-purpose flour - Maida - 1 cup
Corn flour - 1 tbsp
Gram flour - Besan - 1 tbsp
Semolina - Suji - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Melted Ghee - Approx - 1/2 cup
Sugar powder - 4 tbsp
Cumin - Jeera - 1/2 tbsp
Carom seeds - Ajwain - 1/4 tbsp
Milk - 1 tbsp

Process -
Mix all the ingredients in a kneading bowl. Add 1/4 cup of melted Ghee and mix all the ingredients very well so that sugar and salt are mixed properly. Now put 1 tbsp of milk and start making a dough. Keep adding melted ghee until you are able to make a very soft dough. Remember, we need to make this dough with ghee. Now take out a lemon sized dough ball and flatten it a bit. Place all these cookies in a lined baking tray. Bake these cookies in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for 15-18 mins. You can smell the goodness and check if the color is perfectly golden brown, turn off the oven.

Green Pav Bhaji

Ingredients -
Oil - 2 tbsp
Butter- 2 tbsp
Cabbage - roughly chopped - 1/2 cup
Lauki - Bootle Gaurd - roughly chopped - 1/2 cup
Eggplant - remove skin and chop roughly - 1/2 cup
Capsicum - finely chopped - 1/4 cup
Fresh Peas - optional - 1/4 cup
Corn - 1/4 cup
Potato - remove skin and chop roughly - 1 cup
Spring onion - finely chopped - 1/2 cup
onion - finely chopped - 1/4 cup
Tomato - finely chopped - 1/2 cup
Green chilies, ginger, and garlic - paste 1/2 tsp each or finely chopped 1/2 tsp each
Salt to taste
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Pav Bhaji Masala - 2 tsp
Chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Process -
Put oil in a pressure cooker and turn on the stove flame. Add green chili, ginger and garlic paste. Let it cook on a slow flame for 1 minute. Now add chopped onion and cook it for another 1 minute. Add red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and pav bhaji masala with tomatoes, saute tomatoes and onion with spices for 2-3 minutes. Add all the chopped vegetables and salt. Mix vegetables well and now add lemon juice and butter. Mix all the ingredients well and add 1 cup of water. Close the pressure cooker lid and let it cook on medium flame until you get three whistles. Turn off the stove after 3rd whistle and let it cool down for 5 minutes. Open the pressure cooker lid after 5 minutes, mix and mash all the cooked vegetables. You can continue cooking without the lid if you want a thicker consistency. Add chopped coriander leaves and serve with some butter on top.

Tomato Chutney for Dosa

Ingredients-
Tomatoes - 4 medium size
Garlic - 7-8 cloves or 2 tsp garlic paste
Sesame seeds - 2 tsp
Red whole chilies- 2 or red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil for tempering
Curry leaves- 5-6 leaves
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Process -
Take a frying pan and heat up 1tbsp oil in it. Once the oil is hot enough for tempering, add some mustard seeds and chili, then add whole garlic cloves and roughly chopped tomatoes. Cover the frying pan and let it cook until it becomes dry, keep stirring every 2-3 minutes to make sure it doesn't get burnt. Add some salt. Once the water is evaporated and tomatoes are cooked, turn off the stove and let it cool down completely. Meanwhile, dry roast sesame seed and grind into dry powder with the help of a mixer grinder. Now in the same jar, add cooked tomato and garlic mix. Make a smooth paste. chutney is ready now we have to make tempering for the same. Taste once, and if you need to add salt, add some at this stage. Now for tempering, take a small tadka pan and heat up 1 tbsp oil. Add curry leaves and mustard seed and pour this hot tadka on chutney. Tomato chutney is ready to serve. You can consume it for 3-4 days if you keep it refrigerated in an airtight jar.

Cabbage Muthiya by Rupam

Ingredients
Muthiya -
Semolina 1/2 Cup (8 tbs)
Whole wheat flour 1/2 Cup (8 tbs)
Besan 1/2 Cup (8 tbs)
Salt To Taste
Turmeric powder 1/4 Teaspoon
Cumin and Coriander seed powder - Dhaniya jeera powder 1/2 Teaspoon each
Baking soda 1 Pinch
Cabbage 2 Cup finely chopped
Ginger paste 1/2 tsp
Garlic paste 1/2 tsp
Green chili paste To Taste
Curd - Dahi - 3 Tablespoon
Lemon juice 1 Tablespoon
Tempering -
Oil 6 Tablespoon
Mustard seeds 1/2 Teaspoon
Sesame seeds 1 Teaspoon
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Coriander 1 Teaspoon, finely chopped

Process -

Mix all the ingredients listed under Muthiya except the soda and leave it aside for about 10 minutes. The cabbage releases some water, which should be good enough to bind it all together. You can add more water if needed. Add the baking soda. Conversely, If the mixture becomes too watery, you can add more flour till it all comes together as a soft dough. You should be able to give it a log shape when you grip the mixture between your hands. That’s when you know it is done.

If you have a steamer, heat water in it. Or use idli stand in the pressure cooker to steam these. You will have to shape them smaller to be able to fit in the idli stand.

Remove the whistle from the pressure cooker and let it steam for about 25 minutes on medium heat. Check with a toothpick to make sure its cooked from inside.

Heat the oil in a broad non-stick pan and add the cumin seeds.When the seeds crackle, add ¼ tsp of asafoetida and curry leaves and sauté for a few seconds and add in the sliced Muthiya. The size and shape of the muthia is totally as per your preference.

Cook the Muthiya for a minute or two till all the tempering is well coated, and you see a pretty golden color. Drizzle some lemon juice on top, mix well and switch off the gas.
Finely garnish with chopped cilantro and/or grated coconut and enjoy your delicious and healthy snack.

Gujiya - Dry

Ingredients
DOUGH-
All-purpose flour - Maida - 1 cup
Powdered sugar - 1 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Melted Ghee - 2 tsp
Baking powder - a pinch

STUFFING -
Semolina - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
Grated dried coconut - 1/4 cup
Milk powder - 2 tbsp (optional)
Cashew nut - finely chopped - 1 tbsp
Almonds - finely diced - 1 tbsp
Raisins - 1 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Process -
Mix all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, cardamom powder, baking powder with Ghee. Mix these very well and now start binding them together with the help of putting in little water. Do not put too much water at once, try and do it slowly and make a dough. It should not be very soft, and it should not be very stiff also. Try to make it of medium consistency.
Now, for stuffing, take a frying pan and roast semolina with Ghee on slow to med flame until it turns golden brown, now keep the flame on low heat. Add milk powder and powdered sugar together. Add grated coconut and roast for a minute. Now add in all the dried fruits and cardamom powder, roast it for another minute or two and turn off the stove. Let it cool down completely.
Now making perfect gujiya with hands need some expertise, but gujiyas made with the help of some momo's mold or gujiya mold, taste equally delicious. Roll out a small portion of dough into a circle 5 inches in diameter. The width should be around 2 mm. Now you can put some stuffing in the middle and seal it with the help of some water or can use some molding utensils. Fry these sealed gujiyas in Ghee if possible. Keep the flame low to medium and let them cook for 5 mins from all the sides.
You can keep this in an airtight container for around 7-8 days at room temperature. If you keep them in the refrigerator, these can stay consumable for about 2 weeks or more.

Vegetable Momos by Rupam

Ingredients -

FOR DOUGH
1½ cup maida / all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
water for kneading
oil for greasing

FOR STUFFING:
3 tsp oil
2 finely chopped chili,
4 tbsp spring onion
1 cup carrot
2 cup cabbage finely chopped
1/2 cup Capsicum
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp salt

Process -

Firstly, prepare stuffing by heating 3 tsp oil and saute 2 chilies add 2 tbsp spring onion and saute on high flame.
Further, add 1 cup carrot and 2 cup cabbage, 1/2 cup Capsicum stir fry on high flame.
Now add ½ tsp pepper and ½ tsp salt.
The stuffing mixture is ready.
Now take out a small ball sized momos dough and flatten, dust with some maida and start to roll using a rolling pin.
Roll to an almost medium thin circle, Around 4 – 5 inches in diameter. Make sure you roll from sides and keep the center slightly thick.
Now place a tbsp of prepared stuffing in the center.
Start pleating the edges slowly and gather everything.
Press in the middle and seal the momos forming a bundle.
Heat a steamer and arrange the momos in the tray without touching each other.
Furthermore, steam momos for 10-12 minutes or till shiny sheen appears over it.
Finally, veg momos recipe is ready to enjoy with some spicy chutney.

Aate and Gud ke laddu

Ingredients -
Wheat flour - 2 cup
Jaggery ( GUD) - finely choped or crushed - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 cup
Dry fruits - chopped cashew nuts, sliced almonds, raisins - 2 tbsp each
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Process -
Start roasting aata and ghee in a cooking pan, on slow to medium flame. Keep mixing and cooking the flour until it turns brown. Take another pan, put just a tbsp of ghee in it. Put jaggery and let it melt on a slow flame for 2-4 mins. Now immediately mix this with roasted flour. Mix all the ingredients well, put all the dried fruits and cardamom powder. Turn off the flame. Make sure Jaggery is mixed well with flour. Wait till this mixture cools down a bit and you can handle it, immediately start making ladus. Do not let it cool down completely if the jaggery is processed, it might get difficult to make ladus once it completely cools down. If you find it difficult to make ladus, you can spread the mix on a greased tray evenly and when the mixture is still a little warm, make square cuts. Take out the pieces once it completely cools down.

Lemon Cake

Ingredients -
Plain Flour - 1 cup
Corn Flour (optional) - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 4 tbsp
Condensed Milk - 1/2 cup
Lemon zest - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla Essence - 1/2 tsp
Sprite or any other lemon fizzy soda drink - 1/2 cup
6" cake tin or 6 cupcake molds

Process-
Take a mixing bowl and add all the wet ingredients other than soda- Ghee, condensed milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla essence and mix all these together until forms a smooth paste. Now sieve plain flour, corn flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Start putting this dry ingredient mix into your wet ingredients and keep whisking the batter. Add soda drink to make this batter of pouring consistency. Don't whisk it too much, just make sure all the ingredients are mixed well and there are no lumps in the batter. Now pour this in a greased cake tin and bake it in a preheated oven at 170 degree Celsius for 25-30 minutes.

Tip- You can add yellow food color in the batter. You can sprinkle some crystal sugar on top of the cake before baking, it'll make the top caramelized and crispy.

Kadhi Pakoda

Ingredients for Kadhi -
Gram Flour (besan) - 1 tbsp
Curd - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - 5-6 leaves
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Roughly sliced green chilies - 2
Ginger paste - 1/2 tsp
Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dried red chili whole (optional) - 2
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt -1 tsp ( As per taste )
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Ingredients For Pakoda -
Gram flour - 1 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Oil to fry

Process For Kadhi -

Put gram flour, curd in a mixing bowl and make a thin paste using water. Add a glass full of water in this paste and now add ginger- garlic paste and turmeric powder in this batter. Now heat up ghee in a cooking pan, once the ghee is hot enough for tadka, add curry leaves, mustard seeds, Fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida and dried red chili in ghee and saute it for 10-15 seconds. Now add chopped green chilies in this and slowly pour gram flour and curd mix in this tadka. Keep mixing and stirring until this kadhi mix comes to a boil. Once it is boiled, add salt. Keep the flame on simmer and let it cook for 15 mins.

Process For Pakoda -
Put gram flour, salt, turmeric powder and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Gradually add water to make batter of a pouring consistency. Heat up oil in a frying pan and once the oil is hot enough, put small quantities of this batter in oil with the help of a table spoon. Fry these pakodas on medium flame until they are cooked from all sides.

Add these pakodas in boiling kadhi and immediately turn of the flame. Cover the kadhi pan and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving it.

Tip- You can add some tadka on top of cooked kadhi to make it look richer. For this, in a tadka pan heat up some ghee. Add mustard seeds, pinch of asafoetida, red whole chili, and some curry leaves. Pour it on ready to serve kadhi to make it look drool worthy :)

Onion Bhajji

Ingredients-
Onion - Thin sliced - 2 cups
Gingers Paste - 1/3 tsp
Chili - Finely chopped - 1 tsp
Gram Flour - 1 cup
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp - as per taste
Oil to fry

Process-
Drain all the extra water from sliced onions, let it dry for a while. Take a deep bowl, mix sliced onions, ginger paste, chopped chilies, cumin powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt together, Now slowly start adding gram flour in this. Make sure you bind gram flour and onion mix together very well. We need not add any water as onions will become moist after adding salt and this will work as binder. Keep adding gram flour until you get dropping consistency. Now heat up oil in a deep frying pan. When the oil is hot put small-small balls of this mix in the oil. Fry until golden brown.

Tip- Serve them hot with tea and mint chutney. Don't keep the batter for resting otherwise it'll become thinner and you might not get desired texture.

Onion Rice

Ingredients-
Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Onion - Thin long slices - 1 1/2 cup
Desi Ghee - 3 tbsp
Black pepper - Freshly grounded - 1 tsp
Cumin seed - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp (according to your taste)

Process-
Soak rice in water for one hour after washing it well. Heat a pan and put ghee in it. Put cumin seeds in hot ghee and add onion slices now. Cook onion on slow to med heat until the color changes and onion becomes brown and dried. Once the onions are properly cooked add 2 cups of water and bring it to boil. Now add soaked rice, salt and pepper in boiling water. Let it cook on med flame until you see rice is cooked properly.

Tip- You can add handful of fresh corn in this recipe.

Mint Chutney

Ingredients-
Mint leaves - 1 cup
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Green whole chilies - 3
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Roasted gram (roasted chana daal ) - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Process -
Wash mint leaves and coriander leaves and put it in a mixing jar. Put all the remaining ingredients in the jar and add 2-3 tbsp water. Now make a very smooth paste and your chutney is ready to eat. You can preserve it in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days.

Tip - During summer time you can add 1/2 tsp of this paste in fresh lemonade or fresh buttermilk to give it a minty twist :)

Suji Halwa

Ingredients-
Suji (semolina) - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Ghee (Purified Butter) - 3 tbsp
Dried fruits-   chopped cashew nuts/ chopped almonds/ raisin - optional
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Boiling water - 2 cups

Process -
Put suji and ghee in a pan and roast it on slow to medium flame until it changes color and turns brown. Now turn off the stove and add sugar and boiling water. Quickly mix it all well and turn on the stove again, keep it on medium flame. Keep mixing until it starts to come together and becomes non sticky. Turn off the flame, add all the dried fruits and cardamom powder and give it a mix.

Garlic Chutney

Ingredients:-
Peeled Garlic cloves - 1/2 cup
Curd - 1 tbsp
Red chili powder - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds -1/2 tsp
Ghee(Purified Butter) or Oil - 3 tbsp
Salt - 3/4 tsp ( according to your taste )


Process -
After washing and cleaning garlic, put it in a mixing jar. Add curd, cumin seeds, salt and chili. Add 1 tsp of oil or ghee and 2-3 tsp of water. Make a coarse paste. Now heat up a pan and add remaining oil into it. Put this paste in the oil, add 2-3 tbsp water and mix well. Cover the pan and let it cook on simmer flame for 5-7 mins. Keep checking and mixing the chutney. Let it stay covered for 5 mins after turning off the flame.

Tips- Put ghee and chutney paste together in the pan and cover it before turning on the stove, this makes it less messy and the aroma also will not be too strong in the kitchen. The consistency will change once this chutney cools down, It gets little dried if enough moisture is not there. It will not affect the taste though. I like to make this in desi ghee but it tastes equally delicious if cooked with any other cooking oil. Mustard oil can enhance the flavors too. This can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week.

Chocolate Brownie

Ingredients:-
Plain Flour - 1 cup
Cocoa Powder - 3 tbsp
Baking Powder - 1/3 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/3 tsp
Powdered Sugar - 3 tsp
Condensed Milk - 4 tbsp
Milk - To make the batter
Any Milk chocolate/ Dark chocolate - 20 gm
Ghee (Purified butter) - 3 tbsp
Vanilla Essence - 1/2 tsp

Process :-
Put Ghee and chocolate in a microwavable bowl and microwave theses two for 30 sec., mix these two and if you see any chocolate lumps, you can microwave it again for 30 seconds. Once these two are mixed well, add condensed milk, vanilla essence and sugar into this and mix well. Now we take another bowl and sieve plain flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder together. Add these dry ingredients into wet ingredients and add milk to make batter. Batter should be little thicker than pouring consistency. Meanwhile you keep your oven on preheating setting. Now you can pour this mixture into a greased baking tray and bake it at 170 degree Celsius for 20-25 mins.

Tips- You can add chocolate chunks in the batter to make it little more chocolaty. We can add 1 spoon of curd or 1/2 spoon lemon juice to make it little lighter, these ingredients can activate soda in the batter easily. I personally like to add handful grounded walnut in the batter to give it an extra nutty flavor. If you like dark chocolate taste, you can add 1/2 tsp coffee dissolved with some water or milk in wet ingredients.