Wheat Cookies ( Atta Cookies)

Thought of making a simple evening snack and googled . Found this Atta recipe on manjulas kitchen and its quite easy to make and tastes really good.

Ingredients :

Wheat flour - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Almonds - 7 finely chopped
Butter - 100 grams ( salted or unsalted)
Milk - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1 pinch if using unsalted butter

Directions :

In a big bowl mix all the dry ingredients (flour,sugar,cardamom,almonds) well.

Now add butter to the mix it well as a dough.

Then add milk and mix well to make roti like smooth dough.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C .

Make small balls with the portions of dough and slightly pat it or u can knead and cut into shapes with molds.

Place the cookies on the cookie sheet and oven cook it for 16 minutes or till light brown.

Then take it out and let it cool down for 5 minutes.

And the crunchy cookies are ready to eat :)

Garlic Cheese Bread (breakfast recipe)

First ever tried a bread recipe for breakfast. I love Garlic breads and whenever we order food online most of the time we add this to our menu. Thought of trying it @ home and yes!!! it came out really well. Here's the recipe for u :)

Ingredients :

Bread - 4 pieces
Butter - 1 tbsp (salted or unsalted)
Cheese - 2 slices (optional)
Oregano - 1/2 tsp
Chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 3 cloves (grated)

Directions :

Preheat the oven to 200°c.
Mix the butter, garlic, oregano and chilli flakes  together in a small bowl like a paste.
Spread it over the bread slices evenly.
Place cheese on one bread slice and put another slice on it.(can do without cheese)
Now place the breads on a cookie sheet and  oven cook it for 7 minutes.
Take it out and serve hot.

Millet Dosa (cholam dosa)

Traditional and healthy breakfast recipe, which will give you soft and spongy Idli and Crispy dosa. Nowadays, we are using more millets and this is one among them.Sorghum/Jowar is white millet and its one of the five top cereal crops in the world, along with wheat, oats, corn and barley. Its gluten-free.
Accidentaly I bought this jowar from supermarket. Browsed the net for the recipes related to it and found idli/dosa recipe. Tried it and came out really well.dosas and idlies are spongy.

INGREDIENTS

Cholam/Sorghum/Jowar – 2 Cup  

Whole black gram lentil, skinned/Urad dal  – ½ Cup

Fenugreek seeds – 1 Tsp

Salt – To taste

METHOD

• Wash and soak the urad dal and fenugreek together and soak cholam separately for one hour.
• First grind the urad dal and fenugreek together with spreads of water till the batter turns fluffy and smooth.
• Then transfer into the vessel, and then add drained cholam to the grinder.
• Grind it with spreads of water, till the batter become smooth.
• Now switch off the grinder, and transfer into the urad dal batter vessel, add enough salt and mix it well by your clean hands.

• Keep it in warm place 8-12 hours for fermentation.
• Then it’s ready to make idli or dosa.
• Pour batter in the idli plates and steam it for 8-10 minutes, check it whether it’s cooked or not.
• Make crispy dosa with drizzling oil.(preferably use nonstick)
• Serve it hot with your side dish.
• Then keep the batter in refrigeration for further use.
• I served it with hot kurma.

Veg samosa

From my childhood I love samosas but never tried this at home. After watchin venkatesh bhats program i had an idea to try @ home and it came out really well. folding with shape is really tought at first but can do it with practice. Samosas are probably the most popular Indian appetizer and are often served hot. This recipe is for traditional north Indian Samosa.
Ingredients :

For Cover:
1 cup all purpose flour (Maida) 
Water to Knead dough
2tbsp oil
Little salt
1/4th tsp. Ajwain (optional) - ஓமம் 
For Stuffing:
3  Potatoes (boiled, peeled & mashed)
1/2 cup Green Peas (boiled) - பச்சை பட்டாணி 
sambar powder -2tsp
1tbsp coriander finely chopped - கொத்தமல்லி 
1/2tsp Garam masala 
Salt to taste

How to make samosa:

For Cover:

• Mix all the ingredients  except water.
• Add a little water at a time.
• Pat and knead well for several times into a soft pliable dough.
• Cover it with moist Muslin cloth and keep aside for 15 minutes.

For Stuffing :

• In a bowl add mashed potatoes and all dry masalas (salt, chili powder, garam masala) and  Mix well.
• Add green peas and mix well.
• Add coriander and keep aside.

To Proceed :

• Make small rolls of dough and roll it into a 4"-5" diameter circle.
• Cut it into two parts like semi-circle.
• Now take one semi circle and fold it like a cone. Use water while doing so.
• Place a spoon of filling in the cone and seal the third side using a drop of water.
• Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry till golden brown (fry on a medium flame).
• Serve samosa hot with tomato sauce.

Rava idli

Rava Idli is a popular South Indian dish.  The traditional way of making idlis would take two days. This recipe is much quicker and easier, and tastes just as delicious!  Rava Idlis can be enjoyed as a snack or as a light meal Makes approximately 16-20 Idlis. 

INGREDIENTS (measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml)

ingredients for rava idli

• 1 cup sooji/rava/semolina/cream of wheat
• ½ cup dahi/curd/yogurt, fresh or sour
• a pinch of baking soda
• 2.5 to 3 tbsp water or more - add accordingly & as required to get a medium consistency batter, which is neither thick nor thin.
• 1 green chili/hari mirch, chopped
• ½ inch ginger/adrak, finely chopped
• 10-12 cashews/kaju, chopped
• 2 to 3 tsp ghee or oil for roasting the rava
• 1 tsp oil for frying the cashews
• salt as required
• carrot (optional)

tempering:

• 1-2 tsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds/rai
• 1 tsp chana dal/split and husked bengal gram
• 10-12 curry leaves/kadi patta, chopped
• a pinch of asafoetida/hing

INSTRUCTIONS

1. heat 2 tsp ghee or oil in a pan. add the rava/sooji and roast in the ghee or oil till they become aromatic and change color.
2. keep on stirring often when roasting them. remove the roasted rava in a mixing bowl and keep aside.
3. in the same pan, heat 1 tsp oil again and fry the cashews in the ghee.
4. remove and add the fried cashews to the rava in the mixing bowl.
5. in the same pan, add 1 tsp oil more and heat it.
6. splutter mustard seeds. then add chana dal, curry leaves & asafoetida. fry till the chana dal become golden.
7. then add this whole mixture to the roasted rava. add curd/yogurt along with chopped ginger, green chilies and salt.
8. add water as required and make a batter which is neither thin nor thick.
9. keep aside covered for 20-30 mins.
10. heat water in a steamer, electric cooker or pressure cooker.
11. just before steaming, add baking soda in the batter and mix well.
12. pour the rava idli batter in greased idli moulds.
13. place the idli stand in the electric cooker, steamer or pressure cooker steam the rava idlis for 10-12 mins or more till a tooth pick inserted in the idlis come out clean.
14. remove the rava idlis from the mould and serve the steaming hot rava idlis hot with idli podi or with your favorite coconut chutney and sambar.

Poorana Kozhukattai (verkadalai- peanuts)

 It’s typically prepared on special occasions on Ganesh chaturti. It is also known as  modak.  It can be prepared in many ways. Some recipes use jaggery instead of sugar.
Ingredients:

1. Rice flour - 1 cup
2. Water - as needed ( might need from 1 1/4 cups to 2 cups, depends on the rice flour)
3. Salt - to taste
4. Oil - 1 tsp + to grease the palm

For the filling / Poornam :

1. Peanuts / Verkadalai (dry) - 1/2 cup
2. Shredded fresh coconut - 1/4 cup
3. Jaggery - 1/2 cup, powdered , add acc to taste
4. Cardamom powder - a pinch
5. Salt - a pinch

Method:

For the filling :

• Dry roast the peanuts on a low flame until it turns golden and crispy, about 5 minutes. Rest the peanuts on a plate to cool for 2 to 3 minutes. Then remove the skin.
• Add the peanuts to a mixer jar and give a whip . Now add the powdered jaggery, a pinch of salt and again give a whip. Throw in the fresh coconut , grind the whole mixture for few seconds so that it grinds and becomes slightly coarse. Remove the jar and transfer the peanut mixture to a bowl. 
• Add the cardamom powder, mix well with the poornam. The filling will be slightly wet. Keep aside and get ready with the outer cover preparations.

For the outer layer :

•  Take the rice flour in a wide bowl. In a sauce pan boil the water (as needed) with enough salt, oil and bring them to a boil.
• Add this boiling water little by little to the rice flour and using a back side of a wooden ladle, mix it thoroughly. Add the water until u feel it's enough to get a soft dough.
• Cover the bowl for a minute. Later grease ur palm and start kneading the dough , forming a soft dough. Cover the dough with the damp cloth else the dough son becomes dry on it's outside.

Corn Flour halwa (Instant halwa)

I just saw this in a Tv show and Tried it. And it came out very well. Now whenever I want halwa I use 2 do this Instant one which takes only 15 mins. And can make it with favourite flavours.

Ingredients :
 

CORN FLOUR	1/4 CUP
SUGAR	3/4 CUP
GHEE	1-2 TBLSP
WATER	1 CUP
CASHEW NUTS	FEW
Yellow FOOD COLOUR and Elaichi powder	2 PINCHES

Optional- Pineapple essence or anyother essence

Directions :

• In a pan add a tsp of ghee and fry the chopped cashew  nuts till golden brown and keep it aside.
• Grease a plate with ghee and keep aside.
• In a bowl. mix the corn flour with 1/2  cup of water ,elaichi and  food colour without any lumps.
• In a heavy bottomed pan or non stick pan add sugar and add 1/2 cup of water.
• Let the sugar gets dissolved , no need to check for string consistency.
• Simmer the flame and mix the corn flour mixture once nicely with a spoon and add it to the sugar syrup and Pineapple essence.
• Add 1 tblsp of ghee and stir continuously to avoid forming lumps, this will give a glossy texture and the halwa starts getting transparent.
• Add the roasted cashew nuts when the mixture becomes thick.
• Transfer it to the greased plate. Either you can leave it for 2 hours to cool down and cut into pieces or you can serve it in a bowl too. :)