Matar Kachori

Matar Kachori is a spicy green peas stuffed puris very popular in North India.

Ingredients:
For Outer Cover:-

2 Cups Ata
1/2 cup of Rava (semolina) soaked in little water.
1 tbsp hot oil
1 tsp Ajawain
1 pinch of Hing
1 pinch of baking soda
Salt to taste

For Stuffing:-

2 cups of Green Peas
1 tbsp Gram Flour
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Mastard seeds
1 tsp Jeera
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp Red Chili Powder
Pinch of Asafetida
1 tbsp Funnel seeds crushed
Oil

Procedure :-
For Dough:-
1. Mix all the ingredient for dough along with hot oil and kneed well to form a stiff dough.
2. Cover and Keep aside for around 30 mins.

For Stuffing:-
1. Grind the Green Peas to form coarse paste.
2. Heat a little oil in pan and add jeera and Mastard seeds. When they start to crackle add hing Ginger Garlic paste and turmeric powder. Mix.

3. Add the Green Peas Paste. Stir.

4. Add all the masalas except garam masala and mix well .

5. Sauté for around 5 minutes or until the rawness vanishes.

6. Add gram flour and sauté well. Till the mixture becomes non sticky .

7. Add Funnel seeds,Garam Masala and Salt. Mix well.

8. Mix Coriander Leaves.

Let the above mixture to cool at room temperature .

Making Kachori:-

1. Take a lemon sized dough and roll it to make orange sized roti and put 1 spoon of stuffing in it and pack well.

2. Gently Press with palm and slowly roll with rolling pin. Do it gently or else the mixture will come out.

3. Make orange sized kachoris.

4. Heat oil in frying pan . And fry the kachori one by one in uniform heat to golden brown in color. If the oil is too hot kachori will turn brown but the inner filling will be raw . So adjust the heat while frying.

Kachoris are ready.
Serve with Curd or green chutney.

Low Fat Besan Ke Laddoo

First of all HAPPY DIWALI to all of you.
After reading the title you must be thinking Besan ke Laddoo and that too low fat ?sounds unbelievable.. But it's true..Usually we make it using Ghee but I have usedOlive Oil instead of Ghee* and SugerFree to sweeten it. Here is the recipe how I made this Low Fat Besan Ke Laddoo On this Diwali :

    

Courtesy Masterchef Sanjeev Kapoor.
http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/besan-ke-laddoo---cooking-with-olive-oil.aspx

Preparation Time : 5-10 minutes
Cooking Time : 15-20 minutes
Servings : 4

INGREDIENTS
Gram flour (besan) 4 cups

Olive oil 1 cup

Green cardamom powder 1/2 teaspoon

Cashewnuts, coarsely ground 12-15

Almonds, coarsely ground 12-15

Powdered sugar 2 cup

METHOD
1.Sift besan through a fine sieve and set aside.
2.Heat olive oil in a kadai (wok) and add besan. Cook on low heat for ten to twelve minutes or till besan is well done and fragrant. Add green cardamom powder, cashewnuts and almonds. Mix thoroughly and remove from heat.
3.Let it cool for a while. Add powdered sugar and mix well.

4.Shape into walnut-sized round laddoos. Let them cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

I did some changes in this recipe...

1.While making this laddoos , the besan was coming out very sticky so I used my Mom's old trick and added 2 tablespoon of roasted semolina in it. After adding Semolina the texture of Besan was just perfect just like coarse Gram Flour.

2.Also I addd 2 tablespoon of Ghee to give the authentic Aroma.

3.Instead of Sugar I used 1 cup of sugerfree to reduce the calories.

I hope you liked this recipe as we can maintain our diet and enjoy the festival sweets at the same time.

Once again Happy Diwali and Happy Cooking... :)

Simple Vanilla Cake

This cake I made for my Son Ryan...and surprisingly he ate it with great interest.Here is the recipe how I made this simple cake.
Ingredients:-

• 2 cups of Self Raising Flour
• 1 Cup of Sugar
• 3/4 cup of Margarine or Unsalted Butter
  
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 a Cup of Milk
• 2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Essence

Vanilla Cake Recipe:-

1. Pre-heat over to 190 degrees celcius.
   
2. Place Cream sugar and butter in deep mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for 4-5 minutes.
3. Cream sugar and butter together completely.
   
4. Add egg yolks and beat together completely.
   
5. Add flour and milk blend well until no lumps, then add vanilla. Blend together well.
   
6. Then add in egg whites that have been stiffly beaten.
   
7. Pour complete mixture into well oiled and floured pans.
   
8. Bake on 190 C for 25 to 30 minutes. Then remove and cool .

10. Cut the round edge by knife.



**For Icing**

• 3 cups of Icing sugar
• 1/2 cups unsalted butter
• 5 Tbsp milk
• 1 Teaspoons of Vanilla Essence
• Pink Colour
  

1. Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl and beat well till desired consistency .
2. Spread over cake with the help of Icing Knife.

1. I have put a Rose Flower made up of sugar on the cake.Can get it in bakers shop.

Tiranga Kofta (Tricolour Kofta in white gravy)

Tiranga Kofta is a very old recipe of my loving mom.She used to make such occasional recipes on special occasions like Independence Day or Republic Day.There are lot more such amazing recipes from my Mothers cookbook.Which I have not tried yet.And after coming to Australia I am missing Mom's recipes.So on this Independence day I decided to try Tiranga Kofta in spite of spending a very busy day organizing an event in support of Anna Hazare.I am happy to say that both the events (Support to Anna Hazare and Making Of Tiranga Kofta) were successful :)
 

Here is the Most Awaited Recipe Of  Tiranga Kofta :-

Ingredients:-
ingredients I am mentioning are for making 4 Koftas which after cutting into two halves will become 8 koftas. Please vary ingredients as per your need.

(for Kofta)

• 2 Big sizes Carrots
• 250 Paneer
• 500 grams Spinach
• 4 Boiled Potatoes
• 1 cup Bread Crumbs
• Gram Floor (optional)
• Salt.
• Oil to fry.

(for Gravy)

• 4 Big Size Onions
• 1 cup Cashew paste
• 2 Tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
• 1 Bay Leaf
• 4 Cloves
• 1 inch Cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp Kasoori Methi
• 1 Tbsp  Saunf
• 1 Tbsp Coriander Powder
• 1 tsp Cumin Powder
• 2 tsp Red Chili Powder
•  1 tsp Garam Masala
• 3 Cup Milk
• 1/2 Cup Cream(optional)
• Salt
• Oil.

Recipe For Tiranga Kofta :-

       We need to make balls out of carrot (orange/saffron) ,paneer(White) and spinach (Green) Colour.The innermost kofta ball will be carrot,middle one will be paneer and the outermost layer will be spinach. We are using other ingredients i.e. bread crumbs,potatoes and gram floor for binding purpose.

       While taking the quantities make sure that carrot balls are the smallest so will be required in least quantity,then paneer slightly more in quantity and spinach paste in large quantity.

       Lets see how I made these tricolor balls.

1. Boil potatoes and carrots.Drain and peel off.
2. Steam the spinach in a little water for 2 minutes.Take out of heat.Let it cool.Then grind into fine paste.
3. Grate paneer,carrots and potatoes individually.(wipe of ur hand before using different colour ingredient.)
4. Take grated boiled carrots and mix 1/4th of potatoes. Mash well. Add little salt to taste.(if the carrots are not Dark Orange color can add a little orange color to it)
5. Make a firm dough out of this mixture and make small balls of diameter around 1 inch.
6. Similarly make firm dough of Paneer , 2/4th potatoes,and bread crumbs. Make balls bigger than  carrot balls around 2.5 inch.
7. Flatten by pressing between palm and cover is around carrot balls. Can add little more Paneer dough to patch up the uncovered area.
8. Now for the outermost layer take th spinach paste and add remaining potatoes and make dough.It will be hardest to make dough out of spinach because of its watery texture. Slowly keep on adding bread crumbs and/or gram flour unless the mixture becomes thick enough to cover the paneer balls.
9. Now cover the Paneer layered ball with the spinach dough.
10. Take enough oil in a frying pan to fry these koftas.
11. Roll the kofta balls in gram flour and then deep fry until it becomes greenish golden in color.
12. Take out and let them cool.
13. After cooling cut the koftas by a sharp knife into two halves. Remember that cutting the koftas when they are warm may spoil its shape and texture.
14. Our Koftas are ready.Lets see the gravy recipe.

Recipe For Tiranga Kofta Gravy:-

1. Shallow fray onion , ginger garlic paste , bay leaf , cinnamon and cloves  in 1 tbsp oil till onion becomes light golden in color.
2. After cooling grind it with all the spices except garam masala to form a fine paste.Can add a little water or milk while grinding.
3. Now take 2 tbsp oil in a pan and heat it.
4. Add the entire masala paste and stir till oil comes out of it.
5. Add milk and boil.
6. Add Garam Masala and let it boil again to form a semi thick gravy.
7. Finally add salt and cream and stir again.
8. Remove from heat. Gravy is ready to serve.

While serving first pour the gravy and then put the koftas. Enjoy with Naan,Fulka or Paratha.

Matar Paneer

Today I had an awesome day with my friends.Been to Boronia Garden for a picnic cum potluck party and enjoyed Appam made by Swathi , Masala Biryani by Dipti , and soft soft chapatis by Kavita.Evryone liked my Matar Paner dish...and on their special request I m writing today's post...taking time from my extra busy life :)

Ingredients:

• 250 grams Paneer (cottage cheese)
• 200 grams Matar (Green Peas)
• 1 Big Onion
• 1/2 a Cup Tomato Puree
• 15 Cashews 
• 1 Cup Full Cream Milk
• Butter 1 Tbsp
• Oil to fry and cook
• Salt to taste.

Spices:-

• 1 Bay leaf
• 1/2 inch Cinnamon (dalchini)
• 4 Laung (Cloves)
• 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
• 1 tbsp Dhania Powder(coriander Powder)
• 1 tsp Jeera Powder(Cumin Powder)
• 2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
• 2 tsp Kasoori Methi
• 2 tsp Saunf
• 1 tsp Garam Masala 

Matar Paneer Recipe :-

1. Fry the Paneer cubes to golden color.
2. Cut the onion into rough slices and Saute with bay leaf ,cinnamon  and cloves in 1 tsp oil for 2-3 minutes.Rmove from heat and let it be cool.Then grind it with all the spices (except garam masala) metioned in the ingredients.
3. Grind tomatoes to fine puree or u can use ready made tomato puree.
4. Soak the cashews in little water and grind them to make fine paste.
5. Heat 1 tsp oil in cooking pan and add tomato puree and stir well unless oil starts to separate from the tomato puree.
6. Add onion masala paste.stir well for 3 minutes.
7. Add Cashew Paste and Milk.Stir.
8. Add Paneer and Matar.Stir well.
9. Add 1 cup of water and let it boil.
10. After it starts to boil add the garam masala and salt.Stir well.
11. Can add fresh cream to garnish.
12. Serve hot with fulka or naan.