Godhi halwa / Wheat halwa / Aate ka halwa

Well, this happens to be the easiest indian sweet i have ever prepared. I would drop one of my coleagues on my two wheeler and all along the 25 mins ride in the now infamous Bangalore traffic, we would gossip about things at office and exchange loads of recipes , (the typical lady conversation :) ). This is the result of one such ride. I was so happy to learn about such an easy recipe that as soon as i reached home, i tried it and was thrilled with the outcome.After that day, when there were any sudden guests , i would prepare this in a jiffy and get appreciation :). As the maggie noodles ad in India goes.... "fast to cook, good to eat".

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup Wheat flour(aata)
2. 1 cup Sugar
3. 1 cup Milk
4. 3/4 cup Ghee( you could add 1 cup if you want it richer)
5. 1/2 tspn Cardamom powder
6. Dry grapes and cashew for garnishing
7. 1Tblspn ghee for frying cashews and grapes
   

Procedure:

• Heat a heavy bottom pan (kadai) , add the ghee and flour together.
• Fry on medium heat stirring continously until you get a strong aroma and the contents change to a little darker shade.
• At this point, lower the heat and add the milk . Stir the contents immediately ,as they thicken fast after adding milk.
• Now add the sugar and stir until the sugar melts.
• Add the cardamom powder, stir and remove from heat.
• In a seperate pan , heat a tblspn ghee and fry the dry grapes and cashew seperately .Add to the halwa, mix and serve.

Note:1.Be careful when you add the milk , because it splutters for a few seconds .

2.If the sugar granules are very large, you could run it in the mixie to powder it a bit so as to ease the melting.

Prep Time: approx 20 mins

Chilli Chicken

Chilli chicken is one of the first dishes i cooked for my hubby. It was a safe dish with not too complex ingredients and would always turn out well. This semi - dry side dish has the strong flavours of garlic and chillies combined to give a great taste.

Ingredients:

• 10-12 medium sized chicken pieces
• 2 large onions sliced thin and then cut widthwise once.
• 8 large garlic cloves crushed well(not a paste though)
• 1 tspn red chilli powder
• 1/2 tspn turmeric powder
• 2tspn Coriander (dhania) powder
• 15 green chillies slit
• 3/4 cup chopped coriander
• salt to taste
• oil 4tblspn

Procedure:

1. Heat the oil in a thick botton pan(kadai).
2. Add the garlic and fry until it begins to turn brown in colour.
3. Now add the onion and cook until the onions become real soft, stirring occasionally in between.
4. Add the chicken , red chilli powder, turmeric powder, dhania powder and salt.Mix all the ingredients well. Sprinkle a little water, cover the lid and allow to cook until the chicken is almost done.(Do not add more water as the chicken leaves water while cooking making it too watery.)
5. Now add the green chillies and coriander , Mix well, close the lid and simmer for 5 minutes.Adding the green chillies at this stage doesn't make the dish too spicy , yet at the same time imparts a nice chilli flavour to it.
6. Turn off heat and serve.

Toor dal Dosa

This is a dosa recipe which among our family circle is called as the 'Masala dosa' because of all the spices(masalas) that go into it.It needs no fermentation and can be done right away after the batter is ready. Somehow i didn't see this being prepared among any other families i knew, hence didn't know it's offcial name. One of my friends liked the recipe but didn't know what to name it, because Masala dosa otherwise is the name for the dosa with the potato curry inside. Hence she named it Thanu's dosa :).

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups Raw rice
2. 1 cup Toor dal
3. 1 tspn channa dal
4. 3 big garlic cloves
5. 1 inch ginger coarsely chopped
6. 6-7 green chillies
7. few sticks of fresh coriander
8. 1 medium sized onion coarsely chopped
9. 3 cloves
10. 1 small piece of cinnamon
11. 1 small bunch of Fenugreek greens
12. 1 small bunch of Dill greens(optional)
13. 1/2 tspn turmeric powder.
14. Salt to taste
15. Oil for making the dosas

Procedure:

• Soak the rice and dals together for 1-2 hours.
• Heat a tblspn of oil in a pan, add the onion, ginger , garlic, green chillies , cloves and cinnamon.
• Fry them to rid the raw smell of the ingredients. do not over do it, just until the onion turns transclusent.let it cool
• Grind the soaked rice and dal along with the fried ingredients and the coriander adding enough water to give it a dosa consistency.
• Pick the Methi leaves , wash and chop them coarsely .fine chopping would give a bitter taste to the dosa.
• Add the turmeric powder, chopped methi leaves and finely chopped Dill and salt.
• Heat a tava or a heavy griddle .Spread some oil .
• Take a ladle full of the dosa batter and pour onto it.spread it in a circular motion to make it as thin as possible. pour a little oil around the dosa and on it .
• Once it is cooked crsip on one side flip it over for few seconds.
• Fold in half and serve with the chutney of your choice. It can be had without any accompaniment too.
  

Note: Make sure that the dosa batter is not too thick, it spoils the texture of the dosa.

7th Dec '07: Browsing through the net i just learnt about JFI Toordal hosted by Linda of Out of the Garden .Although this post of mine is a few days old, i guessed it would still qualify for the event since the key ingredient is Toordal and is such a nutritious recipe. I am sending it at the last minute, and i hope it gets entry into the event.

Spicy Methi Paratha

Methi Paratha is prepared in different ways in different corners of India with ofcourse different names, owing to different states speaking different languages. Too confused?!! Let me keep it simple for you.This recipe is one among the several varieties in Indian bread.It can be had as a snack along with Indian Chai.U could have it with tomato curry, curds, butter or even tomato ketch up.

Ingredients:

1: Ingredients for the dough

• 1cup Wheat flour(atta)
• 1/2 cup Bajra flour
• 1 bunch Methi greens
• 1/2 tspn Turmeric powder
• 1tspn Red chilli powder
• 4tspn Sugar
• 1tspn Cumin powder(optional)
• 1tspn Ajwain
• 1Tblspn Peanut oil
• 2tspn paste of green chillies, ginger and garlic
• 3tspn Tomato ketchup(optional)
• Salt to taste

2: Water to make the dough
3: Oil to make the Paratas

Procedure:

1. Pluck the Methis leaves from the stem , wash and coarsely chop them .
2. Mix all the ingredients along with the chopped methi leaves in a big bowl except water uniformly mix them.
3. Now add water in parts and mix the flour.Knead to make a soft dough similar to that of chapati.Cover and leave aside for one hour.
4. Make lemon sized balls out of the dough
5. Using a rolling pin roll out the balls into flat round parathas dusting some wheat flour .
6. Heat a heavy griddle/Tawa .
7. Put the paratha on it.Once the parathas get brown patches , flip it over and put some oil around and over it.
8. Repeat the same for the other side so that both sides have golden brown patches over them.
9. Remove and serve along with your preferred accompaniment .

Mushroom Fried Rice

This is one of those recipes which i usually prepare with leftover refrigerated rice.The refrigeration makes the end result very granular.Its not really authentic chinese food,but i love it just the same and it has always been liked by whoever i have served it to.

The best part is you can add what you like so as to enhance it's flavour as per your like.You can put in french cut beans, peas to make it more nutritious. I prefer it this way and it makes a quick and tasty meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked basmati rice cooked and refrigerated atleast for 2-3 hours.
• 1 cup mushroom sliced
• 1/4 cup shredded carrot
• 4 garlic finely chopped
• 1/2 inch ginger finely chopped
• 1Tblspn soysauce
• 3Tblspn cooking oil
• Salt and pepper powder to taste
  

Procedure:

1. Heat 1Tblspn of oil in a wide bottom pan or wok. Add the sliced mushroom and fry until tender adding a bit of salt towards the end.
2. Move the mushroom to a side in the pan. Add the remaining oil in the center of the pan. Add the chopped ginger and garlic and stir fry for about 20 seconds.
3. Add the rice,carrots and toss evrything together until it is uniformly hot.
4. Now add the seasoning salt, pepper powder and soysauce. Toss well to mix all the ingredients together.Remove from heat and serve.

Kadlekai(Groundnut) Chutney

This particular recipe has been a favorite among all of our cousins and to whoever it has been passed on to. It has a fairly simple procedure and is a good accompaniment for Dose, Idli or even Akki Rotti. Another variation would be to cook the chutney in a particular style which I will mention at the last and have it as an accompaniment for rice.(we call it Chutney Anna in Kannada). I have seen a few of the recipes for kadlekai chutney , here’s my version.I should dedicate this one for my princess daughter Jahnavi who eats dose only for this chutney:-)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Groundnuts
• 5-6 Green Chillies (you could add more or less depending upon your taste)
• 10 Curry Leaves
• 3 flakes of Garlic
• 4-5 strands of Coriander leaves.
• ½ inch piece Tamarind soaked in water for at least 5 minutes (optional)
• Salt as per taste

Procedure:

1. Dry fry the groundnuts along with the green chillies and garlic until the groundnuts are well roasted.
2. Set aside the green chillies and the garlic .
3. Dehusk the groundnuts .
4. Grind the groundnuts along with the chillies, garlic, curry leaves , coriander and salt adding just enough water to give the right chutney consistency.
5. You could also add the tamarind while grinding to give a tangy taste. I avoid it.

Variation:

Chutney Anna: Heat 2 Tbl spns of sunflower/groundnut oil in a pan. Add 1tspn of mustard seeds , once it is done spluttering, add a few broken red chillies followed by 1 cup of chopped onions.

Fry until the onions turn pink. Now add the chutney prepared as above to the pan along with a little water so as to give it a pouring consistency. Bring to a boil and simmer for a few more minutes. It tastes excellent with rice.