Bakshappalu

Every year I attempt to make bakshappalu. 

It's a challenge for me. 

Especially when you have mom and inlaws who are good cooks. 

Both do it with their talent and I struggle to get it right every time 

This time I took another approach. 

Undeterred the property of maida itself 

May be that's the trick

2 cups maida

Salt 1/2 tsp

1 tsp turmeric 

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup Confectioners sugar- optional

3/4 glass of warm water doesn't have to be hot

1/2 cup sesame oil

Mix dry ingredients and add water 

It will become little gooey dough 

That is good

Now take sesame oil in hand 

Mix for 5 more times until the dough is soft

Leave dough for 30 min to 1 hr

Poornam prep

1 cup toor dal 

1 tsp turmeric optional 

1 cup jaggery

1/2 cup coconut

1 tsp elaichi powder

Cook toot dak with 2 cups of water in instant pot for 20 min

After cooking mash it to a paste

Add grated jaggery , coconut and elaichi powder and mix well

Rest it till it cools down completely 

Now the preparation 

See this video

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B15qLpPdBoyUSnhFdDJlUHFnNEE

Rice Recipes

Sona Masoori Rice

·         Is thin and short grain rice ( compared to Basmati)

·         is good for Vegetarian recipes. Good as is – not need to add salt or oil to it.

·          Usually 1 unit of Rice cooks with 2 units of Water in Rice cooker.

Basmati Rice

·         Is thin long grained rice.

·         Good for Non-Veg recipes

·         Always cook with salt and oil- for best tasting. Usually 1 cup of rice cooks with 2 ¼ cups of water, ½ tsp salt and 1 tsp oil.

·         Fried rice – fast method – Add 1 tsp cinnamon powder, 2 cloves, 2 big bay leaves, with salt and oil as mentioned above.

·         More flavoured spicy rice – heat 1 tbsp oil, add 2 cloves , 1 inch cinnamon, 3 bay leaves, 1 tsp cumin seeds, after cumin seeds splutter , add  ¼ cup chopped onions, 3 chopped green chillies, ¼ cup mint leaves, 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp ginger paste, 1 tsp garlic paste. Stir well until onions brown. Add salt according to the rice cooking ( 4 cups rice – 2 tsp salt). Add this mixture to the Rice when cooking in Rice cooker.

Another use of kheema balls

This was the picture I sent to my friends and asked them what it is!!

Everyone could guess the egg part, but the brown pieces came as surprise to them. It's nothing but kheema muttilu👌👌

Not sure everyone knows what kheema muttilu is, but below is the link for the recipe

http://sap-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/06/ground-lamb-meat-balls-in-soup.html

So, why this version?

I added too much spice today and asked my 5 yr old to taste it. It couldn't put it or chew for that matter

I got an idea. Since my lil one likes omelettes, so made an omelette and crushed this spicy meat ball over the egg without any seasoning!! He loved it!!

Masala Matar Paneer

This measurements for large tray for parties 

onions - 6  (5 of them chopped into 4 large quarters, remaining 1 in small pieces)

Peppers - 4 ( 3 green , 1 red - chopped into big pieces)

Tomatoes - 3 ( large - chopped into pieces)

Kasuri Methi - 3 tbsp

Paneer - 4 blocks

chana masala - 2 tbsp

Deggi mirch - 1 tbsp

red Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

salt - 1 1/2 tbsp ( according to taste)

Elaichi powder  - 1 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Turmeric - 1 tsp

Oil - 4 tbsp

Matar / green peas 2 cups

heat 2 tbsp Oil in a large wide pan,  and add onions( 5 big chopped ones), peppers.

Saute them for 5 -10 min, until brown fried at the pieces corners

Add tomatoes and Methi - and saute for 10 more minutes , until tomatoes cooked

Now add powders ( turmeric, chana dal, red chilli, deggi mirch) with Ginger garlic paste

Note - no salt now

saute them for 5 min ... and remove from heat ... and let it cool down

Grind the whole mixture to a paste.

Chop the paneer into pieces as per your choice

Heat remaining oil and add Elaichi powder with finely chopped onions.

Saute until onions are translucent and pour in the paste.

Boil peas in microwave for 5 min

Add salt , boiled peas and keep stirring, until boils come and little oil separates.( take caution here using the Lid as shield)

Remove from heat and add paneer pieces and give a stir until the paneer is soaked into mixture and transfer it to tray.

Close the tray after the curry is cooled down totally.

Masala Matar Paneer ready !

Spinach & tomato curry

Spinach & tomato curry

Ingredients

Fresh Spinach – 1 bunch ( Chopped)

Chopped onions – 1 cup

Chopped green chillies / jalapeno – 1 ½ tbsp

Finely Chopped tomatoes( Roma tomatoes) – 2 cups

Fenugreek leaves (Indian name – Methi leaves) – chopped – 1 cup ( optional)

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Salt – ¾ tsp ( according to taste)

Garlic paste – ½ tsp

Ginger paste – ½ tsp

Oil – 1 tbsp

Method

Heat oil and add chopped onions and turmeric. Sauté them till golden brown and add chopped fenugreek leaves. Add green chillies, cumin powder, salt , ginger and garlic pastes. Sauté them for 2 minutes and add chopped spinach. Cook it with little water, lid closed and medium flame for 5 minutes. Stir the mixture and add chopped tomatoes, mix and cook the same again for 5 more minutes on medium flame. Add red chilli powder , coriander powder , mix well and cook until oil starts to separate a little with the gravy. Remove from heat and serve hot with Flour tortillas or Steamed white Rice.

Spinach & Indian cheese ( Palak Paneer) curry

Spinach & Indian cheese ( Palak Paneer) curry

Ingredients

Fresh Spinach – 1 bunch ( just leaves)

Paneer cubes – 2 cups

Chopped onions – 1 cup

Chopped green chillies / jalapeno – 1 ½ tbsp

Finely Chopped tomatoes( Roma tomatoes) – 1 cup

Fenugreek leaves (Indian name – Methi leaves) – chopped – ¼ cup ( optional)

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Cinnamon powder – ½ tsp

Crushed Cloves - 2

Salt – ¾ tsp ( according to taste)

Garlic paste – 1 tsp

Oil – 1 tbsp

Method

Boil spinach leaves in water for 3 minutes and transfer leaves to cold water immediately.

Grind the spinach leaves with green chillies to a paste. Do not add extra water

Heat oil in a wide sauce pan, add crushes cloves, garlic paste and onions. Sauté them till onions are golden brown and add the cumin, coriander and cinnamon powders. Add turmeric, fenugreek leaves and chilli powder and stir them for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt and cook them in medium flame, lid closed … sometimes stirring constantly till oil separates out in the paste. Now add the Spinach paste on low flame and stir constantly , until both pastes are blended well. It takes about 5 minutes. Make sure to stir constantly to avoid any sticking at bottom, add little water if needed. Add cheese cubes to this gravy and cook for 2 minutes with lid closed on medium flame. Remove from heat after two minutes.

Serve Hot with Heavy cream ( if you like it as is  ) . Also can serve hot with Flour Tortillas or Steamed white Rice.

Spinach curry

Spinach curry

Ingredients

Fresh Spinach – 1 bunch – finely chopped

Chopped onions – ½ cup

Chopped green chillies / jalapeno – 1 tbsp

Fenugreek leaves (Indian name – Methi leaves) – chopped - ½ cup ( optional)

Mustard seeds - ½ tsp (optional)

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp (optional)

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Salt – ¾ tsp ( according to taste)

Chopped Garlic (not minced) – 1 tsp

Oil – 1 tbsp

Method

Heat oil in a sauce pan and add mustard and cumin seeds (optional ingredients). When they start to splutter , add chopped garlic and chopped Onions. Sauté them for 2 minutes or till golden brown. Add turmeric, chopped green chillies, and fenugreek leaves. Stir them for 3 minutes and add chopped spinach. Stir it well till the oil is coated to all leaves. Reduce the flame to medium , close the lid and cook for 5 minutes. Spinach would be losing the water and cooking in its water. Add salt and red chilli powder, cook for 5 minutes and remove from heat.

Serve hot with Flour tortillas or White steamed rice. Add sour cream or heavy cream on top, if you like it.

Chicken Curry ( includes tomatoes)

I make different varieties of Chicken Curries. Luckily all turn out well. I do not prefer to go through one specific recipe, if you will. It depends mostly upon the ingrediants I have at home, the time I am about to cook, if I have the basic ingrediants then I can start off with. However, if I have some more ingrediants, I try to incorporate them in the curry according to the occasion or number of people or even how many times we would consume this dish. All it matters is, the curry should turn out tasty and everyone should relish.

Here is one such recipe, which I recently made and shared with my co-workers too.

Ingrediants

Whole Chicken cut - 2 lbs
Onions - 3 count - chopped
Green chillies -4 count chopped
Tomato paste - 2 tbsps
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Indian curd - 1 cup
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp - according to taste
Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch broken
Cloves - 4 count
Shahi Jeera - 1 tsp
Star Anise - 1 count
Mint Leaves - 1/2 bunch - finely chopped
Cilantro leaves - 1/2 bunch finely chopped
Oil - 3 tbsp

Method
Mix Curd, Salt, Red chilli powder, ginger paste, garlic paste and 1/2 of coriander powder in a large bowl.
Add Chicken to it and coat all pieces well, and marinate this for 30 - 60 minutes.

Heat Oil in a big pan, add Cinnamon, cloves, shahi jeera, star anise.
Add chopped Onions and green chillies. Saute them until onions are golden brown.
Add Garam Masala, Stir and cook for 3 minutes.
Add mint leaves and marinated chicken.
Stir and cook for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
Add tomato paste, stir and cook for 5 more minutes.
Remove from heat and add coriander powder and leaves at the end.
Serve hot with Fried rice or White Rice.

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients
1 cauli flower
1 tbsp corn starch( if not there replace with 1 tbsp corn flour mixed with 1 tbsp maida)
1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1tsp red colorin
For base curry:
1 tsp Ginger garlicpaste
2 onions big cut
1/4 green capsicum big cut
1/4 red capsicum big cut
1/4 yellow capsicum big cut
3 green chillies
1tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp red chilli paste
1 tsp sweet & sour sauce
2 tbsp green onion

Method
Mix salt, pepper, gg paste, redcolor, corn starch and coat to big cut & washed pieces of cauli flower
Deep fry gobi pieces and place on paper towel
In a hot skillet add 2 tbsp oil
Add onion and small cut green chillies and stir till light brown
Add all capsicum pieces
Add soya sauce, chilli paste, sweet& sour sauce
Cook till capsicum is lil soft and add fried gobi till all coated
Add green onions and cook for 2min

Lamb bone soup

Lamb leg bones 10 to 15
Onions 2
Salt - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1.5 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1.5 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method-
Clean bones with salt and water
Drain them well
Cook bones with big cut chopped onions and 2 glasses of water - all in pressure cooker for 10 min or 5 whistles
Remove from heat and add salt, red chilli powder , gg paste, turmeric, coriander powder and oil
Mix well and cook in pressure cooker for 5 min or 3 more whistles
Remove from heat and add chopped coriander leaves

Rava Laddu

Ingrediants
Rava (soji / upma rava / Indian wheat semolina) - 2 cups
Coconut powder - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 and half cup
Milk - half cup
Elaichi ( cardomon ) powder - 1 tsp
Ghee / Dalda - 1 tbsp
Kaju (cashew nuts) - chopped - half cup
Raisins -quarter cup

Method

1. Melt ghee or dalda in a wide pan, and add Rava.
2. stir constantly so it does not stick at the bottom, or form lumps... stir till it starts to change color to golden brown
3. Add Coconut powder and stir constantly for 5 minutes
4. Add Sugar and cardomon powder and stir till the sugar melts.
5. Add kaju and raisins and stir for 5 minutes
6. Remove from heat.
7. With little ghee in hand, take some rava mixture and make balls ....

Ravva Laddu Ready!!!
ENJOY !!


Note : make balls when the mixture is hot, otherwise the sugar gets hardened and becomes difficult to make balls.

All Indian States specialities

Well, my sister forwarded me an interesting email. It had the India map with states and their speciality recipes. It is hard to find such a map, let alone try to even do it. I am sure someone would have lots of research to put this together. I did not want to keep searching it again, so putting it my Blog :)

సాంభారు (Sambhar)

సాంభారు (Sambhar)
Sambhar is common dish on South India.
Preparation time ([days] hrs:min): 01:00
Cooking time ([days] hrs:min): 00:30
No. of servings: 6
List of ingredients:
200 grams toor dal (కంది పప్పు)
1 lemon size tamarind
2 onions
1 carrot
2 potatoes
2 tomatoes
2 brinjals
3 red chillies
3 green chilllies
1 tablespoon red chilli powder
2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon urad dal
1 teaspoon jeera
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1/2 teaspoon ginger paste
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon sambhar powder
1/2 cup curry leaf
1 tablespoon salt(according to taste)
1 bunch coriander leaves
Cooking procedure:
Boil the pulses , mash it and keep it aside. Heat oil in a vessel. Add mustard seeds, jeera and urad dal. After the mustard seeds splutter, add red chillies and curry leaf. stir and add onions. saute them till golden brown. Now add cubically cut potatoes and long cut carrots and brinjals. Stir constantly till they are semi cooked. In the meanwhile, make juice out of tamarind. now add ginger paste, garlic paste, turmeric and stir. Add finely chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes. Add Tamarind juice, salt, red chilli powder and sambhar powder. Cook until all vegetables become soft/ cooked very well. Then add mashed pulses paste and stir. cook for 2 minutes and add coriander leaves. Sambhar ready!!

ముద్ద పప్పు

ముద్ద పప్పు

అబ్బా ! ఈ వంటకం కూడా పెట్టాల ! అని అనుకోకండి , ఎందుకంటే నేను చాల మందికి ఇది రాదనీ చూసాను.

Preparation time ([days] hrs:min): 00:10
Cooking time ([days] hrs:min): 00:10
No. of servings: 6
List of ingredients:
250 gms toor dal/ kandi pappu
1 teaspoon jeera / gilakara
3 pieces garlic
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt(according to taste)
Cooking procedure:
clean dal and add jeera,turmeric and chopped garlic. Add water and cook(pressure cook preferably)it. remove from heat and mash it until it becomes paste. add salt and heat it till the paste thickens. Mudda Pappu ready!!
Additional Info:
goes well with miryala rasam

మిర్యాల రసం

మిర్యాల రసం
This is one my favourite rasam made by Mom. It goes well with many other dishes and it is good for health.
Preparation time ([days] hrs:min): 00:10
Cooking time ([days] hrs:min): 00:10
No. of servings: 6
List of ingredients:
1 lemon size tamarind
1 teaspoon జిలకర / cumin seeds
2 teaspoons మిర్యాలు / black pepper
1 teaspoon ఆవాలు / mustard seeds / sarson
5 pieces garlic
3 dry red chilli
10 leaves కరివేపాకు / curry leaf
1 teaspoon coriander
salt to taste
1 tablespoon oil
Cooking procedure:
Soak Tamarind till soft and make 3 juice adding 2 glasses of water.
Grind coarsely half quantities of cumin seeds and garlic and mix in the tamarind juice.
Grind Black pepper and add to the juice. Add Salt according to your taste.
Heat oil in a vessel and add remaining cumin seeds, mustard seeds, garlic (chopped into small pieces). Let garlic turn little brown and then add red chillies and curry leaf. Now add the tamarind juice and stir well. Add coriander and bring the rasam to a boil. Do not boil too much. See that bubbles comes up for two times and remove from heat and serve.
Storage Tips:
This Miryala Rasa can be stored in Refridgerator and heat it before using.
Additional Info:
This goes well with Mudda Pappu( Thiyya Pappu), Beerakaya Curry, or simply with the Rice.

ఖీమ ముట్టీలు (ground lamb meat balls in a soup)

ఖీమ ముట్టీలు (ground lamb meat balls in a soup)
This is one of my favourite recipe.
Preparation time ([days] hrs:min): 01:30
Cooking time ([days] hrs:min): 00:30
No. of servings: 6
List of ingredients:
For MeatBalls
500 gms ఖీమ/ ground lamb
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp putnala podi or chana flour
50 grams dry coconut
10 grams khas khas / గసాలు/ poppy seeds
10 grams coriander powder
1 full stick cinnamon
2 cloves/ lavangam
oil (for deep fry)
For Soup
1 pinch shah jeera/ thin jeera
1 stick cinnamon
3 onions
4 green chillies
3 tomatoes
3 tbsp coriander leaves
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp coconut & khas khas paste (from balls ingrediants)
1 tsp chana flour/ putnala podi
2 tbsp oil
Cooking procedure:
Make powder of the Cinnamon and cloves, coconut and poppy seeds and mix with other ingrediants. Make balls from the mixture. and deep fry in oil until done.
For soup, Take a vessel and heat oil. Add cinnamon and jeera. Add onions and green chillies and fry until brown. Add turmeric and ginger garlic paste. Then add tomatoes and meat balls. and coconut paste with poppy seeds.Then add some salt and red chilli powder and water until the balls are cooked till soft. Add coriander leaves before serving hot with white rice or fried rice.

నిమ్మకాయ అన్నం (Lemon rice)

Lemon Rice
Preparation time ([days] hrs:min): 00:30
Cooking time ([days] hrs:min): 00:30
No. of servings: 6
List of ingredients:
500 grams rice
1 onion
1 potato
2 brinjal (వంకాయ )
3 green chillies
2 red dry chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds (ఆవాలు)
1 tsp jeera
few curry leaves
2 lemon
2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 bunch coriander leaves
Cooking procedure:
Cook Rice and Keep aside. For tempering/ popu, heat oil in pan. Add mustard seeds, jeera and dry red chillies. after seeds splutter, add the finely chopped onions, green chillies and turmeric. cook until onions are brown and add curry leaves. Then add cubically cut potato and brinjal. saute until potato till tender. Add salt and mix well. Now add lemon juice and tempering into rice and mix well. Add coriander leaves before సర్వింగ్ hot. Happy Cooking!!!

గుడ్డు పులుసు (boiled eggs in tamarind soup)

గుడ్డు పులుసు
Preparation time ([days] hrs:min): 00:30
Cooking time ([days] hrs:min): 00:30
No. of servings: 6
List of ingredients:
8 eggs ( గుడ్లు )
3 onions ( ఉల్లి గడ్డలు)
1 tablespoon sesame seeds/ til ( నువ్వులు )
2 teaspoons cumin seeds / jeera (జిలకర)
1 teaspoon coriander powder (ధనియాలు)
1 bunch curry leaves (కరివేపాకు)
1 teaspoon salt(according to taste) (ఉప్పు)
2 teaspoons red chilli powder (కారం)
20 gms tamarind (చింత పండు)
2 tablespoons oil (నూనె)
1 teaspoon turmeric (పసుపు)
Cooking procedure:
Boil the Eggs and remove the shell. take a knife and make small slits on the eggs.
Make juice from the tamarind. Chop the onions. Saute the sesame seeds, cumin seeds till brown and grind them into a powder. Add coriander powder to it and mix it.
Now heat oil and add chopped onions. Cook until tender and brown. Add the curry leaves. Add turmeric and stir. Add the eggs and stir. Now add the salt, redchillli powder and the masala powder. Now stir and add tamarind juice. Cook till the onions are cooked in the juice. That's it.. Egg pulusu ready!! Serve with hot white rice.Happy Cooking!!

ఇడ్లీ (Idli)

ఇడ్లీ (Idli)
Preparation time ([days] hrs:min): [1] 00:00
Cooking time ([days] hrs:min): 00:15
No. of servings: 6
List of ingredients:
3 cups urad dal
6 cups idli rawa
1 pinch soda bi carbonate
1 teaspoon salt(according to taste)
Cooking procedure:
Soak Urad dal for 3-4 hours. And Idli rawa for 15 minutes. Grind the urad dal into a fine paste and mix it with soaked idli rawa, soda bicarb and salt. Mix well. Pour the batter in big vessel in a warm place overnight for atleast 5 - 7 hrs to ferment and it may expand. Morning, after fermentation, mix well the expanded batter to release the air bubbles.
Now for making idlis, coat the idli plates with little oil/ PAM and pour the idli mix in the plates and cook them in steam. Idlis ready!!!!!!!!!
Additional Info:
Idli goes very well with tomato chutney, coconut chutney, ginger chutney, peanut chutney and above all the great yummy Sambhar...
Storage Tips:
You can store this in refridgerator for 4-5 days.

హైదరాబాది చికెన్ బిర్యాని (hyderbadi chicken biryani)

హైదరాబాది చికెన్ బిర్యాని (hyderbadi chicken biryani)
My Mother-in-law is an expert in this. Though my preparations are near to hers... hope you relish this great and popular hyderabadi recipe of South India.
Preparation time ([days] hrs:min): 00:40
Cooking time ([days] hrs:min): 00:45
No. of servings: 6
List of ingredients:
1 cup oil
1 kg chicken
11/2 kg rice
500 gms curd
750 gms onions
10 green chillies
2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste
10 gms coriander leaves
10 gms mint leaves
1 full cinnamon
14 cloves
10 cardomon
1 teaspoon shahjeera
2 tablespoons red chilli powder
1 tablespoon salt(according to taste)
1 teaspoon orange color
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
5 bayleaves
Cooking procedure:
Take half quantity of cinnamon, cloves and cardomons. Saute them and grind them to masala powder.
Marinate chicken with ginger garlic paste, salt, curd for 30 minutes.
Cut onions horizontally into round thin slices. Fry them in heated oil( for more flavour, heat oil with 1 tsp ghee) till reddish brown and remove from oil and dry them in a paper napkin to remove excess oil. Remove half of the oil and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil and add cinnamon, bayleaves, cloves,cardomon and shahjeera. then add the marinated chicken. Stir till chicken is half cooked and add red chilli powder, turmeric and cook them.
Meanwhile cook rice till 3/4th cooked.
Now Take a big vessel, add one layer of the chicken. add a layer of rice, then a layer if fried onions, a layer of finely slices green chillies, a layer of mint leaves, then a layer of the masala powder. Then another layer of chicken , another layer of rice and orange color mixed in milk. then remaining, onions, chillies and a layer of mint leaves and coriander leaves.
Close the vessel tightly and cook for 10 minutes on simmer flame.
Chicken Biryani Ready!!!