Channa pulao

 

 Making this pulao has always been tricky for me as I did not have any idea on how to cook the garbanzo beans. that is, whether to cook along with rice, or separately.  After a lot of trial and errors, now I can make a good channa pulao. Today I made this for lunch and I can't wait to post the recipe here. It is so easy to prepare. Only thing, you have to pre plan and soak your channa over night. 

Long back, I had it from my friend's house and I am completely in love with this dish, from that day. After marriage, I tried a lot of times, but it was just recently I came to know how to make a perfect one. So easy, yet so delicious.

Ingredients

• Channa/ garbanzo beans - 1 cup
• Ghee - 1 tblspn
• Bay leaf - 1, broken
• Cinnamom- 1 inch piece
• Cloves - 3 nos
• Cardamom - 2 nos
• Star anise- 1 no
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
• Onion - 2 , thinly sliced
• Tomato - 1 small, chopped
• Ginger garlic paste- 1 tblspn
• Green chillies - 3, slit
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Mint leaves - 6 - 8 big leaves
• Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn, chopped
• Curd - 1 tblspn
• Basmati  rice - 2 cups
• Coriander leaves for garnish

Spice powders

• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Channa masala powder - 1 tsp (Optional)
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Biriyani masala powder - 2 tsp (Optional)

Method

• Soak channa for atleast 6 hours or preferably over night in water. Pressure cook for 5 whistles until done. It should not be over cooked. Because you are going to Pressure cook this again.
• Wash the basmati rice well and soak in water for 20 minutes. This is a very important step.
• In a pressure cooker, heat ghee and add bay leaf, Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, star anise and fennel seeds. Fry for few seconds until u get a nice aroma from the spices
• Add onion, ginger garlic paste and green chillies. Sprinkle some salt and turmeric powder and cook until onions become translucent.
• Add tomatoes, and all spice powders mentioned.
• Allow it to cook for a minute while stirring continuously.
• Add the rice, boiled channa, yoghurt, mint leaves and coriander leaves.
• Give it a good mix until everything is combined. Do not break the rice
• Add 2 cups of water ( 1 cup rice = 1 cup water) and mix well. Check salt by tasting the water in the pressure cooker. Add accordingly.
• Close the pressure cooker lid without the weight on it
• Once you see the smoke escaping, put on the pressure cooker  weight.
• Allow it to whistle just once and then switch off the heat
• Let the pressure get released by itself. Open the pressure cooker lid.
• Do not mix it immediately. Fluff it with a fork and let it cool for 10 mins before transferring to a different vessel.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Eggless Molten Lava Cake

If you are looking to impress your loved one, then just go ahead and bake this for him/ her. The door of their heart will automatically open for you ;). Yes!! Who will not be impressed with a soft, chocolaty, melt in mouth molten lava cake?? Serve this topped with any fresh berries, along with some whipped cream or vanila icecream!! it will taste heavenly. 
You can prepare the cake batter and store this in the refrigerator for up to 2 days before baking it.
Speacially dedicated to chocolate lovers, I am going to show you a simple way to prepare the eggless molten lava cake which can be enjoyed by vegetarians as well. I am sure you will love this. 

Ingredients

• Maida/ All purpose flour - 3/8th cup
• Cocoa Powder - 1/8th cup
• Baking soda - 1 tsp
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Butter - 1/4 cup (room temperature)
• Yoghurt/ Curd - 1/2 cup
• Vanila essence - 1 tsp
• Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
• Chocolate cubes (semi sweet / Sweet)- 1/2 cup (or as required)

Method

• Sift together Maida, Cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Keep it aside
• Mix together butter and sugar until it is creamy in consistency, about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add vanilla essence and give it a quick mix.
• Add 1/2 of the cocoa maida mixture and 1/2 of the yoghurt. Mix well until everything is combined.
• Once everything is combined add the remaining yoghurt and cocoa maida mixture. Mix well again until everything is combined. Your cake batter is now ready
• Take your muffin cups or any oven proof small sized cups and grease them with butter.
• Fill half of  your muffin cup with the prepared cake batter.
• Place a cube of chocolate and cover it again with the batter. Repeat the same for all.
• Keep them in the refrigerator for half an hour.
• Bake in a preheated oven @ 220 deg C, for about 10 - 12 minutes, until you see the top part is cooked. Do not cook it too longer.
• Once done, remove from the oven and keep aside for a minute.
• Flip them on a plate and dust some powdered sugar.
• Top them with any berries of your choice and serve.
• It tastes great along with heavy whipped cream or ice cream.

Pav bhaji (Whole wheat pav)

Pav Bhaji!! A lip smacking street food of Mumbai, has become very famous all over India. Myself and my hubby are the biggest fan of street foods. But the place where we are staying right now is not very famous for this and we hardly find any street food vendors. Or I can say we do not get any of such foods here.
I am totally in love with this dish, since the time I had it for the first time. It is more than a snack and of course increases your hunger as you eat it more and more. Ya!! Its like that for me. When I have something very delicious, my hunger keeps increasing!! 
Pav / Buns for this dish can be brought from store or you can easily prepare this at home. I usually make this using maida/ all purpose flour. But this time, for a healthier option, I used whole wheat flour to prepare this. I can say, they came out super soft, just as soft as you prepare them using maida
Bhaji is traditionally prepared using boiled and mashed potatoes and tomatoes, but today varieties of vegetables are added for this preparation. I use almost all vegetables like carrot, potato, beans, peas, cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, eggplants, etc in this. Then, these are served piping hot garnished with raw onions, coriander leaves, along with pav / bread toasted in butter.
Do try this recipe. I am sure, if there are any street food lovers like me and my hubby, you are definitely going to love this.

Ingredients

For the pav buns

• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
• Active dry yeast - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Sugar - 1 tblspn
• Warm water - to knead the dough, approx 1/2 cup
• Butter -1/2 cup

For Bhaji

• Butter - 1 tblspn
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• ginger-garlic paste - 1 tblspn
• Green chillies - 3, finely chopped
• Onion - 1, finely chopped
• Tomato - 2 cups, finely chopped
• All vegetables - Carrot, beans, potato(must), brinjal, peas, beans, cabbage, etc
• pav bhaji masala - 1 tblspn
  Fennel powder - 2 tsp
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn, finely chopped
• Lemon juice - 1 tblspn

Other Ingredients

• Onions- 1 cup, finely chopped
• Lemon wedges - 2 nos
• Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn, finely chopped

Method

For the pav

• In a bowl, combine wheat flour, salt, active dry yeast and sugar. Give it a good mix until everything is combined.
• Add warm water, slowly, and knead it i to a smooth dough. Make sure your water is warm and not hot. Around 70 deg is sufficient for this preparation.
• Pour 1 tsp of melted butter to it and knead again.
• Cover it with a damp cloth, inorder to avoid forming a layer on the dough. Let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hour.
• After 1 hour, the dough should have doubled in size, because of the yeast present i it. If it doesn't rise in its volume, it means either the temperature is too low or yeast was not active. You have to start the entire process again.
• Punch out the air pockets from the dough and knead it once again.
• divide the dough in to a big lemon sized balls. Make a perfect round balls and arrange everything on a baking tray.
• Cover again with the damp cloth and let it rest for another 1/2 hour to 1 hour.
• Preheat your oven @190 deg C before 10 minutes of baking
• brush some melted butter or milk on top of the buns and bake it for 30 - 35 minutes or until you see a golden brown crust on the top of the buns.
• Take your wheat buns out of the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes
• Brush some melted butter on top of your buns. 
• Your pav is now ready

For Bhaji

• Pressure cook all the vegetables for 6 or 7 whistles, or until it is mushy. Let the pressure release out completely. Open the cooker and mash the boiled veggies with a potato masher or back of a spatula.
• Heat butter in a pan and crackle cumin seeds. Add onion, ginger garlic paste, salt and sugar. Let it cook until onion becomes transparent and raw smell of the ginger and garlic vanishes away.
• Add the green chillies and tomatoes. Cook till tomatoes are mushy.
• Now add the boiled and mashed veggies. Mix well and mash it again.
• Check for salt and add accordingly.
• Add pav bhaji masala, fennel powder and garam masala. Cover the lid and let it cook on a slow flame for 5 minutes.
• Turn off the heat and  squeeze some lime juice.
• Sprinkle coriander leaves. Cover the lid again and keep for 10 minutes before serving

How to proceed

• Slit open your pav buns.
• Heat some butter in a tawa and toast the pav buns on both the sides. Transfer to a plate.
• in the same pan, heat 1 tsp butter and place 2 ladle full of bhaji. Let it cook for a minute. sprinkle some finely chopped onions and coriander leaves.Transfer it to the plate where you have your pav.
• Place few onion rings and onion rings on the plate and serve hot.

Mushroom rolls

Ingredients

For the stuffing

• Mushrooms - 200 gms
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn, finely chopped
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tblspn
• Green chillies - 2, finely chopped
• Onions - 1, finely chopped
• Capsicum - 1/2, finely chopped
• Tomato puree / Tomato - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder / Kitchen king masala - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Coriander leaves - to garnish

Other Ingredients

• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Water - to make dough
• Coriander chutney - 1 cup
• Onions - 1, thinly sliced
• Tomato ketch up - 1 cup

Method

For the stuffing

• Heat oil in a pan and crackle cumin seeds. Add ginger garlic paste, green chillies, onions, salt, and coriander leaves. Saute till onions become transparent.

• Add tomato puree, chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder. Fry for a minute

 

• Add the mushrooms

 

• Now add the capsicum. We like the capsicum to be crunchy. So added at this point. If you want them to cook really well, add after the onion becomes transparent (After step 1).

 

• Mushroom will release out the water while cooking, which is enough to cook the capsicum. Let it become dry completely and turn off the heat. 

 

• Your stuffing is now ready.

 

How to proceed?

• Take wheat flour in a bowl. Add salt and oil. Mix well with hands. Pour water and make in to a smooth dough. Let it rest for 15 minutes.
• Divide the portion in to equal lemon sized portions. Roll them out to make thin chapathis. Heat a tawa and cook them on both the sides. You need not add any additional oil while cooking these chapathis
• In a bowl, combine 1 tblspn of wheat flour and 1 tblspn of water. Mix well to form a batter. This is to seal the chapathis after stuffing them.

 

• Take 1 chapathy. Apply coriander chutney.

 

• Place a portion of mushroom stuffing on a corner of the chapathi.

 

• Place 2 or 3 slices of onions and tomato ketch up

 

• Start rolling. Roll till 3/4th. Apply the batter on the remaining portion. 

 

• Roll again to seal it.

 

• Brush some oil all over the roll.

 

• Place on a baking tray

 

• Repeat the same for all.

 

• Bake them in a pre-heated oven of 200 deg C for about 15 - 20 minutes or you see its slighly crispy. 

 

 

Schezwan Chilli Baby Potatoes

It was a lazy weekend and I wanted to finish off my cooking work really soon to spend time with my hubby. So, I prepared vegetable fried rice. My hubby told he would like to have something very spicy to accompany the rice, hence this amazing dish came to my mind.
This has got a lovely colour and texture and goes well with fried rice, noodles, etc. The actual recipe calls for deep frying the baby potatoes. But, I just shallow fried it in less oil. It is up to you to deep fry or shallow fry them.

 

Ingredients

• Baby Potatoes10 - 12 nos
• Oil - 2 tsp , for shallow frying
• Corn flour - 1 tblspn
• Oil - 2 tsp, for tempering
• Red chillies -
• Onion - 1 cup , roughly chopped
• Spring onions - 1 tblspn, chopped
• Tomato - 1 no, chopped
• Ginger - 1 inch, minced
• Garlic - 6 cloves, Roughly chopped
• Capsicum - 1, diced (Green)
• Corn flour - 1 tblspn
• Pepper powder - 2 tsp
• Water - 1 tblspn
• Red Chilli sauce - 1 tblspn
• Soya Sauce - 1 tblspn
• Tomato Sauce - 1 tblspn
• Salt - to taste
• Sugar - 2 tsp
• Coriander leaves - to garnish

Method

• Soak red chillies in hot water for 15 minutes and grind them to a smooth paste.
• Pressure cook the baby potatoes for 3 - 4 whistles. It should be over cooked. Peel off the skin. Add the corn flour and mix well until everything is combined.

 

• Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the potatoes until its crisp from all the sides. Keep it aside.

 

• In the same pan, heat some more oil and add the broken red chillies, ginger and garlic and fry for few seconds.

  

• Add onion, salt, sugar and fry till it becomes translucent.

 

• Now add the capsicum and fry for a minute.

 

• Pour the red chilli paste, mix well and let it cook for 2 minutes.

 

• Now add the tomatoes and spring onion

 

• Add soya sauce, chilli sauce and tomato sauce and pepper powder, and give it a good mix.

 

• Combine corn flour and 1 tblspn of water in a bowl and add it to the gravy. Add enough water and bring this to boil

 

• The mixture will start thickening. Add the fried potatoes. Cover and cook for a minute. Turn off the heat.

  

• Transfer to a serving dish garnished with spring onion greens and coriander leaves.