Upma

Hello Reader,

Upma is one of the easiest and a healthy breakfast had in many parts of the country. It is a favorite in my family and thought of sharing it with all.

Ingredients: 

200 Gms Sooji (Rava)
1 medium Potato
1 medium Tomato
1 small Capsicum
1 Onion
½ Carrot
8-10 Curry Patta
¼ teaspoon Asafoetida Powder
1 teaspoon Udad Daal
¼ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
¼ teaspoon Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
½ teaspoon Coconut Powder
½ teaspoon Sesame Seeds (Til)
3 Cloves
8 whole Black Pepper
2 Green Chilies
Coriander leaves
1 tablespoon Oil
Some Cashew and Raisins
Salt to taste



Method :


Clean Sooji and microwave it for 3 mins on full power.
Take oil in a pan. Once it comes to heat add mustard seeds, asafetida powder, cumin seeds, udad daal, cloves, black pepper, curry patta and chilies to it.
Stir  it. Add potato, onion, carrot and capsicum to it. Stir it and cook for 5 mins.
Add Sooji to it. Cook for few more mins.

Take 400 ml water in a bowl and microwave it for 3 mins or till it is boiling hot.
Add all the cooked mix of Sooji and vegetables to it. Add cut tomatoes to it. Mix well. Add sesame seeds (til), coconut powder, coriander and salt to taste.
Mix well. Microwave on full power for 3 mins. Stir.
Again microwave on medium power for 5 mins. You may check if it is cooked properly or not by pressing a potato. If not cooked well, give it a standing time of 2 mins and again cook on medium power for 3 mins.

Your delicious, nutritious Upma is ready to eat with Dahi.

Decorative Cake

Apart from cooking I also like to do some art work. Recently it was my daughter's bday and I decided to gift her a chocolate cake. Yes, a chocolate cake.. but wait that is no art work... right???

A bouquet of chocolates is what we all might have seen, this is some what different. Have a look :)

Pick a Chocolate!!!

Apple Pear Raita

Hello Reader,

Vegetable Raita is what normally everyone has but some fruits added to it can give it some really good taste. One such combination which I tried was with Apple and Pear. Sharing  the recipe with you all.

Ingredients:

1 Apple

1 Pear

1 Tomato

1 Onion

1 Cucumber (Kakdi and not kheera)

200 gms Curd

1 Teaspoon Sugar

¼ Teaspoon Jeera (Cumin Seeds)

¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Powder

¼ Teaspoon Asafoetida Powder

¼ Teaspoon Ghee

Curry Patta

Salt to taste

Aloo Bhujia to garnish.

Method:

Wash and cut Onion, Tomato, Cucumber and Apple into small pieces. Wash and remove peel of Pear, cut into small pieces.

In a bowl, take 200 gms of curd. Add sugar to it. Mix well. Add salt to taste, black pepper powder and all cut vegetables and fruits to it.

Mix well.

For tadka, heat ghee. Add washed curry patta, asafetida powder and jeera (cumin seeds) to it. Mix well. Once it comes to heat add it to the bowl with all vegetables, fruits and curd. Mix well.

Garnish with Aloo bhujia.

Your Apple Pear Vegetable Raita is ready to eat with Roti/ Paratha. 

Gujarati Daal

Hello All,

Daal is a part of everyone's staple diet in India. However every region/state in India has its own of making it and hence today I am sharing with you all how to make Gujarati Daal.

Ingredients which you will need are :

100 gms Tuvar/Toor daal
200 ml Water
½ Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
½ Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
½ Teaspoon Dhaniya powder (A blend of Cumin and Coriander seeds)
Salt to Taste

1 Teaspoon Jaggery
1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
Chopped Coriander Leaves

For Tadka :

Oil
Mustard Seeds     
Fenugreek Seeds
Cumin Seeds 
Turmeric Powder
Red Chilli Powder
A pinch of Asafoetida Powder

Method :

Wash Tuvar/Toor Daal in water and soak it in water for 2 hours. Microwave on high for 5 mins. Remove and check if it is cooked properly. If not add some more water and microwave it again for 5 more mins. Once cooked, churn it well with a hand blender. Add Salt to taste, Jaggery, Red Chilli Powder, Turmeric Powder, Dhaniya Powder and Lemon Juice to it.

For tadka, take oil  and once it comes to heat add a pinch of Asafoetida, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric powder and red chilli powder to it. Once all these come to heat add it to the churned Daal with other spices already added to it.  Mix well and cook it for 10 mins on medium flame on cooking gas.
Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Namkeen Corn Halwa aka Makai no Chhin

Hello Reader,

Makai no Chhin as we call it in Gujarati is a very popular dish made specially during Monsoons. It is a favorite of most of  the Gujju families. So I thought of sharing this yummy recipe recipe with you all  as well :-)

Following are the ingredients which you will need and method of how to prepare it ...

Ingredients :

    3 Kg       Sweet Corn
750 ml        Milk
25 gms       Coriander
       4-5      Green Chilies
          1       Lemon
         5       Whole Cloves
         5       Dry Black Pepper
25 gms       Ghee
25 gms       Oil
25 gms       Kishmish/Raisin
25 gms       Cashew
1 Teaspoon   Sugar
½ Teaspoon  Turmeric Powder
½ teaspoon   Mustard Seeds
A piece of Cinnamon
A pinch of Asafoetida Powder


Method :

Grate sweet corn using a hand grater. Make sure you dont grate the cob.
Using a food processor does not help over here but the end result is worth all the efforts. ;-)

Grated Corn

For the 'tadka', take oil and ghee in a Nonstick Pan.
Add Asafoetida, pieces of Chillies, Turmeric,  Mustard Seeds, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Cloves to it. Once it comes to heat, add Grated Corn to it.
Keep stirring it continuously and cook it till the time it does not stick to the Pan.
Now take a Microwave Bowl, add a spoon of ghee to it.
Add cooked mix of Corn from pan to it.
Add boiled 750 ml of milk to it.
Cook it for 5 mins on 600/ Medium power based on the convention used in your Microwave.
Once done stir it.
Repeat this for 3 more times such that the total microwave cooking time is 20 mins.
Add Cashew and Kishmish/Raisin to it.
Give it a standing time of 5 mins in Microwave.
Shift it to the Pan once again.
Add 1 teaspoon of Sugar, Coriander leaves and Salt to taste.
Cook it for 5-7 mins on low flame. Stir it continuously.
Add lemon juice to it.

Shift in Serving Bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

Makai no Chhin (Namkeen Corn Halwa)

Rim Zim Tava Sabji

Hello Reader,

Presenting my first ever recipe on this blog. I call it Rim Zim Tava Sabji. I also call it Rim Zim "Ravaiya" where Ravaiya is a Gujarati term for any sabji made by filling. :-)

Happy Reading and Happy cooking!!!

To start with, you will need the following Ingredients :

3-4 Tomatoes (Make sure they are not soft)
2-3 Capsicums
4-5 Small sized Eggplants
8-9 Tindora
1-2 Raw Banana
2-3 Potatoes
   1 Grated Onion
   3 tablespoons Grated Paneer (Cottage Cheese)
25gms Grated Coconut
100gms Freshly cut Coriander Leaves
25gms Butter
10gms Oil
   3 teaspoons Garlic paste
   1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
   1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
  ½ teaspoon Asafoetida Powder
  ½ teaspoon Mustard seeds
  ½ teaspoon Jeera seeds (Cumin Seeds)
  ½ teaspoon Ajwain seeds / Oregano
   4 teaspoons Dhaniya powder (A blend of Cumin and Coriander seeds)
   1 teaspoon Garam masala
   3 teaspoons Til (Sesame Seeds)
   1 teaspoon Lemon juice
   2 teaspoons Sugar
      Salt to taste.
      Grated Cheese to garnish

Method : 

Wash all vegetables with water.
Peel potatoes and cut them into big sized pieces.
Remove stem of eggplants/brinjals and capsicum.
Make an ‘X’  shaped cut into Eggplants/brinjals  such that it looks like a flower with its petal open and you can put filling into it.
Cut the top part of tomatoes such that you can remove its pulp. Remove the pulp.
Similarly remove seeds from capsicum by cutting off its top portion.
Cut raw banana into 3 pieces and make a cut on the pieces from its top side such that you can put filling into it. Make a similar cut into Tindora.
Keep all these vegetables aside.

To prepare the filling for these vegetables, take a bowl.
Add grated paneer/cottage cheese, grated onion, grated coconut, coriander leaves, til (sesame seeds), garam masala, chilli powder, turmeric powder, ajwain/ oregano, dhaniya powder, lemon juice, sugar, salt to it.
Mix well.

Take a microwaveable bowl.
Add some butter, oil and 2 tablespoons of water to it.

 Fill all vegetables except potatoes carefully with this filling such that they don’t break into pieces.

Put them in a microwaveable Bowl. Add potato pieces to it and sprinkle remaining filling on it.
Cover lid and microwave it for 5 minutes on high power.

Again 2 tablespoons of water to it and microwave for 5 more minutes.

Check if vegetables are cooked enough by piercing a knife into potato or banana. It should be soft enough or cooked enough to eat. 

If not cooked add 1 more tablespoon of  water and microwave for 2 more minutes. Repeat this till sabzi is cooked properly.

 Once done with this, take a flat nonstick pan. Add oil and butter to it. Add asafetida, jeera (cumin seeds), mustard seeds and garlic paste. As these come to heat, carefully add micro waved vegetables to it.
Cook them for 5 minutes.
 

Once cooked transfer it to a serving bowl.
Garnish with coriander leaves and grated cheese.

Serve with Roti or Paratha.

 

Rim Zim Tava Sabji

Welcome to All!!

Hello Reader,

This is my first stint of compiling different recipes which I have tried in these years. I plan to cover Indian Recipes which will mainly focus on Microwave cooking.
An initiative to help all those working professional who are away from their homes and miss Mom's food. Although nobody can replace Mom, but at least you can tell her next time she calls up that Mom I am trying this recipe and I am sure that will definitely light up her face miles away and yeah u will also satiate your hunger!! :-)

Happy Reading and have a great time cooking.
Your comments are always welcome in making this a better blog.

Nita.