LETZ COOK/CRAFT/MAKE

Iam sure the title of this blog seems weird as the combination doesnt match. I didn't make all of this together but these dishes are from recipes from my fellow bloggers. I usually experiment my dishes on my friends and they all loved these dishes. Rasmalai The only modification is that I didnt have a muffin pan handy to bake the ricotta cheese. So used a cake pan instead and then cut the cheese into squares before dropping it into the ras from priya b's dailygirlblog Onion Pakoda These are very common in chennai where they sell these in sweet shops and even in some tea shops. I used to love these back home. Have always tried to perfect this but was never succesful until now. The trick was to add the besan, all the masala stuff and sprinkle very less water to mix. It came out crispy and crunchy just like in chennai sweet shops. from sailusfood Red Bell Pepper Chutney This was a very innovative recipe. The minute I saw it I knew I had to try it. It tasted good with idli and dosa...

Most exciting news of the weekend is I bought a stainless steel cooking set. After much research on the net decided that this 100$ was a good investment. I used to love prawns in India. Coming from a coastal city we always got fresh prawns in the market. Somehow the shrimp that we get here dont have the same taste and flavor as the Indian ones. Decided to make a spicy shrimp fry with my new stainless steel set. Shrimp fry Ingredients: Shrimp (shell and tail removed and de-veined) – 1 cup Onions (chopped) – 2 Tomatoes (chopped) – 2 Ginger/garlic paste – 2 tsp Chilli powder – 1 tbsp Coriander powder – 1 tbsp Turmeric – 1 tsp Lime – ½ Cinnamon (broken into smaller pieces) – ¼ stick Clove – 4 Saunf (fennel) – 1 tsp Jeera (cumin) – 1 tsp Coriander leaves – for garnishing Oil – 2 tbsp Salt – as needed Method: Heat oil in a pan and add clove, cinnamon, jeera and saunf. Once the jeera turns color add chopped onions. Fry the onions till they turn translucent and then add tomatoes and ginger/ga...

This used to be my favorite dish when I was young. My dad never fancied it much but my mom would make it for me. This dish has a mild bitterness to it because of the kothavaranga but adding potato minimizes the bitterness a lot. Ingredients: Kothavaranga (gawar) (chopped) – 1 cup Potato (chopped) – 1 cup Onions (chopped) – 1 Tomato (chopped) – 1 Ginger-garlic (finely chopped) – 1 tbsp Mustard seeds – 1 tsp Jeera – 1 tsp Split urad dal – 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds (methi seeds) – ½ tsp Chilli powder – 1 tbsp Turmeric – a pinch Salt – as needed Oil – 2 tbsp Method: Heat oil in a pressure pan and add mustard seeds, split urad dal, jeera and fenugreek seeds. Once the mustard starts to splutter add onions and fry till they turn golden brown. Add the tomatoes and chopped ginger-garlic. After the tomatoes turn soft add chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Finally add the chopped vegetabes (potato and kothavaranga) and 1 cup of water and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Remove from heat, wait till the...

This is one of the dishes I first tried out when I started cooking. It is a very easy recipe for potlucks and for hosting a big group of friends at home. Ingredients: Paneer cubes – 1 cup Peas – ½ cup Onions - 2 Tomatoes – 2 Cloves – 3 Cinnamon – ½ stick Chilli powder – 1 tbsp Turmeric – 1 pinch Garam masala – 1 tbsp Coriander powder – 1 tbsp Salt – as needed Sugar – 1 tsp Jeera – tsp Oil – 2 tbsp Method: Grind onions, tomatoes, cloves and cinnamon to a fine paste. Heat oil in a pan and add jeera. Once they start to splutter add the ground paste. At this point turn the heat down a little as it starts to splash. Keep stirring often. Meanwhile heat oil for deep frying the paneer cubes, in another kadai. Deep fry the paneer till it turns golden brown and immediately transfer it to a bowl with lukewarm water. Remove the panner after 2 min into a plate. Continue for the rest of the paneer. Once the oil starts to separate from the onion-tomato paste add chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala,...

I was looking at my blog and realized that I dont have any desserts listed. People may think that I am not much of a sweet person but actually its the other way round. I simply love and adore almost anything sweet. So I decided to try out this dish that I have always loved but thought was very difficult to make. I followed the instructions on PuSiVa'S CuLiNarY StUdiO and it took me about an hr from start to finish as this was my first time trying this out. It also needs about 4hrs to set. I left it in the fridge overnight. It was actually very simple to make although the place can get very messy with all the whipping and folding. Anyway the end result was worth all the effort and it tasted very good. I packed some for my friends and they liked it a lot. The only variations that I made was I added rum instead of the wine. Also I used Indian filter coffee decoction instead of the espresso.    

I've been growing methi in my garden and as the summer is ending I decided to harvest some leaves. Yesterday we had a very cold spell here in Colorado and when I went home from work I wanted to have something hot with my coffee. Bajji or vada were the two things that came to my mind and decided to go with masala vada. I tried a variation by adding methi leaves to the vada and it came out pretty well. Ingredients: Channa dal (soaked for 1hr) - 1 cup Red chillies - 3 Garlic - 2 cloves Cinnamon - 1/4 stick Cloves - 3 Saunf (fennel seeds) - 1 tbsp Onion (finely chopped) - 1/2 Coriander leaves (finely chopped) - 1/4 cup Curry leaves - 2 sprigs Methi leaves (choopped) - 1/4 cup Salt - as needed Oil - for deep frying Method: Grind the soaked channa dal along with cinnamon, cloves, garlic, red chillies, saunf and salt to a thick coarse paste. Add very little water while grinding as this will make the vada's soak less oil. After grinding add chopped onion, coriander leaves, curry leaves...

There are about 100 recipes on the net to make the perfect idli. I use my mom's. I brought back a counter top wet grinder from India last year and its the most useful thing I own right now. I love idli and dosa and was grinding the batter once a week with my american blender. It would take forever to finish grinding the batter, the motor would heat up fast and sometimes the idlis were not soft enough. All these problems were solved with my wet grinder. So last weekend i had idli with 3 different chutneys for brunch (To be honest, i just made one kind that morning and the remaining were leftovers). Ingredients: Idli rice - 5 cups (can be substituted with long grain rice) Whole urad dal - 1.25 cups Methi seeds (fenugreedk) - 1 tbsp Salt - 2 tbsp Method: Soak rice and urad dal for 6hrs along with the methi seeds. Grind in a wet grinder. Add salt and let it ferment overnight. Aplly oil to idli plates to prevent idli's from sticking to the plates and steam idli's for about 15min...

I've been trying to add fiber to my diet but it is very difficult to consume it in its original form. Juices and soups always work better than just boiled/steamed vegetables or in salads. So I decided to use the yellow squash from my garden along with some store bought organic carrots for this soup. Soups generally need herbs and spices for flavoring. I decided to use basil and coriander as my main flavouring ingredients. Also I wanted to participate in the Spice Is Right event . So this will be my entry where the spice is basil. Even though basil (holy basil - called thulasi) can be found in India and has part of its origin there I have never used it in cooking. Probably because I have only seen my hindu friends worship it at home and I have known it only for its medicinal uses. Anyway below are some useful facts about basil. Basil is a bright green, leafy plant, Ocimum basilicum, which is in the mint family. Basil is widely used in Italian cuisine and is often paired with tomatoe...

This summer went by pretty fast. I planted a lot of new vegetables (squash, carrot, methi, eggplant) and was very happy with the harvest. Also this year I had so many flowers blooming in my garden and wanted to share these pics.