Stuffed Tomato

Hello All,

As it is Winter time and the right season for Ripe and Red Tomatoes, I often prepare this recipe - Stuffed Tomato at home. It is liked by one and all back home and hence thought of sharing with you all as well.
So lets get started...

Ingredients:

1 Kg Tomatoes - they should be on the harder side so that you can scoop them from inside.
2-3 Potato
4-5 Onions
Freshly cut Coriander
Freshly chopped Garlic
1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
½ teaspoon Asafoetida Powder
½ teaspoon Mustard seeds
½ teaspoon Jeera seeds (Cumin Seeds)
2 teaspoons Dhaniya powder (A blend of Cumin and Coriander seeds)
3 teaspoons Til (Sesame Seeds)
1 teaspoon Sugar
Salt to taste.

Oil - For Tadka

Ghee - For Tadka

Butter - For Tadka

Method :

Wash potatoes. Peel them and cut them into very small pieces. Peel Onions and cut them also into very small pieces.

Take a pan, add ghee, oil and butter in equal proportion for tadka. Once it comes to heat, add asafoetida powder, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and garlic to it. Stir it for 20-30 seconds and add potatoes and onion to it. Cook them without covering the lid till the potato is tender. Add dhaniya powder, sesame seeds, freshly cut coriander, salt and sugar to it. Stir it and cook it for some 3-4 mins till the entire mix has all the spices blended properly. Once done, remove from heat and put it aside.

Take tomatoes, wash them thoroughly. Cut them in a horizontal way from the top portion leaving some 0.5 to 1 cm top portion such that you have a cap kinda thing which can be used to cover the tomatoes in upright position.
With the help of a knife scoop out the seeds and pulp of tomatoes leaving its edges as they are. They should be thick enough to hold the filling which we just made.
Once the tomatoes are scooped out, filll them with the mixture of Potato and Onion which was prepared.
Cover them with their cap and put it in upright position in a nonstick pan.

You may put the remaining mixture of onion and potato next to filled tomatoes. It gives an added flavor to the tomatoes. :)
Cook them for 10-15 mins on low flame with intermediate stirring done carefully such that the tomatoes are not messed up.

Note: Add little more salt then normal so as to balance for the pulp removed tomatoes which are with no spices.

Gajar Halwa

Hello All,

Today I will share with everyone the recipe for Gajar ka Halwa. Popular all over India, especially in Bollywood and also in TV serials, this recipe needs no introduction. So without wasting much time let me get started with the ingredients needed to prepare yummy Gajar ka Halwa or Gajar No Halwa as it is referred in Gujarati.

Ingredients:

1 Kg Carrot

2 Litres Milk

150 gms Sugar

8 pieces of Cardamom

15 gms Ghee

¼ teaspoon Nutmeg

Dry Fruits like Raisin, Cashew and Almonds

Method:

Wash Carrots properly with water. Dry them with a hand napkin or cloth. Peel its skin and grate them with a hand grater.

Take a non-stick pan. Add ghee to it and heat it. Once heated add grated carrot to it. Cook it for 10-15 mins on low flame with regular stirring. Do not cover the lid of the pan. 

Once the color of the cooked carrot changes and you can see that its juice is no more there, add boiled milk to it. Cook it for 30 mins with regularly stirring in between so that it does not stick to the edges of the pan.

Add dry fruits, nutmeg, sugar and cardamom to it. Cook for 15 more mins till you can see that there is no milk in the Halwa and you can easily stir it in a way that it does not stick to the edges. 

Transfer it to a bowl and garnish with Dry fruits. Gajar ka halwa is ready to eat. :-)

Note : If you are not able to get fresh and seasonal juicy carrots, add 500 ml more milk while cooking Halwa.

Have a Gr8 time ahead!