Yes, It's A Feast

Yes, It's A Feast

A mini one, at that! But it's the 9th Day of Navratri. A confession - I'm tired with the non-stop cooking.. and tomorrow I have a trial demo cooking session at the clinic. This is a preparation for our cookery show on October15.

Anyway, coming back to our feast. I wanted to try out some of the vrat recipes I had been reading on various food sites. So I made Singhara Atte Ka Poori and Aloo Sabzi. Then made my favourite Sooji Ka Halwa. 

I had a bit of pumpkin. So I microwaved it for 10 minutes, added jaggery powder to the pulp and made dough with singhara atta and wheat flour. The idea was to make sweet pooris. It turned out yummy, a variation of the Mangalore Buns, which is made with ripe bananas. That's the big poori you see in the picture. 
Singhara atta cooks really quick and gets a nice dark brown colour. It gives a nice dark brown, burnt look. But be careful, if you fry it any longer, it will turn black.

The last item was Appe. 
Now hold your breath. I pureed sweet corn in the mixer, added sugar and jaggery and made a mixture with rawa and wheat flour. I had warned you about my fascination for buying sweet corn kernels.

So enough of this cooking details. Let's get on with our recipes. Except for these two vrat recipes, the rest have been prepared using approximation like an experienced chef.

Vratwale Aloo

Ingredients

Boiled Potato – 4

Ghee – 1 tbsp

Oil – 1 tbsp

Jeera – 1 tsp

Roasted Dhaniya powder  – 1 tbsp

Roasted Jeera Powder – 1 tsp

Red Chili Powder – 1 tsp

Amchur – 2 tsp

Salt

Method

Boil, peel and chop potatoes. 

Heat oil and ghee

Add Jeera and let it splutter

Add dhaniya powder and mix

Add chopped potatoes and sauté for 2 minutes

Add chili powder, Jeera powder, Amchur, salt and mix everything well

Serve hot with singhara puri 

Singhara Puri

Ingredients

 Singhara Atta – 1 cup

Boiled potato – 1

Green Chili Paste  – 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Salt

Method

Boil, peel and mash potatoes.

 In a bowl add singhara flour, mashed potatoes, green chili paste, salt,  oil

Add water to make dough

Roll out carefully to make small poories 

Dahi Wonders

Dahi Wonders

Yes, the 8^th Day of Navratri today. Dahi Kebabs, is something I had always wanted to try out but have been too busy to look for its recipe for (read that as little lazy and forgetful too).  So finally when I had run out of ideas, Dahi Kebabs came back to me in a flash. I came across a few recipes. This one seemed to be the quickest. Of course, I don’t have to point out that curds are protein-rich.

It’s no-fuss affair except that you have to hang the curds to take out all the water. The longer you hang it, the better it is. I kept it for almost 7 hours.. next time, I will keep it for at least 10 hours.  I guess, the lesser the moisture, lesser will be the amount of besan you will have to use.

Next, I was wondering how it would hold together, after all it is curd. But I managed to shape it into cutlets, with a little care (something I’m not very good at) and transfer it to the non-stick pan. I was sure it would break and become messy. But no, I was surprised at the way it stayed. I could even flip it over to cook the other side.

Don’t get put off by the colour of the kebabs. This is an experimental chef at work. I had not estimated the cooking time to be so less.. also, my non-stick heats up really fast and maintains the heat well. The kebabs taste good nonetheless. So let’s go!

Ingredients

Hung Curd - 250 grams

Roasted Besan – 4 to 6 tbs

Chilli powder - 2 tsp

Elaichi powder - 1 tsp

Cinnamon powder - ½ tsp

Black pepper powder - ½ tsp

Onion - 1 medium

Garlic – 2 cloves

Salt

Method

Roast besan. Cool

Slice onions thin

Add all the ingredients to hung curd

Divide into small portions and flatten with moist palms to form kebabs

Heat non-stick pan and spread ½ tbsp oil on it

Place the kebabs in it and fry on low flame

Flip over to other side and fry

Healthy Sweet Treat

Healthy Sweet Treat

The 7^th Day of Navratri and I am giving  you a healthy laddoo. It looked interesting when I came across the recipe. Its ingredients – oats and peanuts is full of health benefits. Jaggery, is a healthy alternative to sugar. So, much as I try not to, I end up trying out healthy recipes only. And yes, this is great as an in-between meal snack or just a tinge of meetha for those with a sweet tooth. It is extremely easy and quick to make. So let’s get on with it… 

Oats and peanuts laddoo

Ingredients

Peanuts - 2 cups

Oats - 2 cups

Powdered Jaggery - 1 ½ cups

Method

Dry roast the oats in a non-stick pan till it turns light brown

Dry roast peanuts till it turns light brown

Cool and remove the skin

Grind the oats and peanuts into a powder

Add powdered jaggery to it and grind again

Divide into equal portions and shape into small laddoos

 If the mixture becomes too hard, warm it slightly in a non-stick pan or microwave oven