Starter / Snack: Potato Cheese Ball

Fried snacks never fail in attracting me towards them. During one of our team lunch, I had these jalapeno cheese balls at Prost ( new restaurant in Kormangala). They were crispy from outside with melting cheese inside them...  mmmm...  it was yumm.

I wanted to try them at home and got the chance in the same week, as my younger sister was coming to our home. So, I did all the preparations in advance, so that I can spend more time with her and less in kitchen... sister's talk a lot .. you know.. :). I prepared same for evening snacks for kids during my home visit and it was an instant hit at home. I think all kids love potato and are never conscious or afraid of gaining weight.Love childhood!

Sorry, I do not have nay picture as before camera is ready to say cheese these cheese balls get disappear.

Ingredients:

• 6-7 boiled potatoes
• 5-6 white/brown bread slices
• Grated mozrella/ cheddar cheese
• salt as per taste
• 2 tsp chopped coriander( optional)
• 4 tsp sweet corns (optional)
• Oil for deep frying.

Step by step process:

• Take boiled potatoes, add bread slices in a bowl and mash them properly.
• Add salt as per taste and mix it well.
• Divide potato mix in equal portions and make small balls.
• Make a small hole in the potato ball and add some grated cheese.
• Roll it once again to make sure cheese is not coming out.
• Let them cool for an hour in refrigerator.
• Heat oil for deep frying.
• Deep fry until light brown and crispy.
• Serve them with cheese dip or mint chutney.
• 
  

Note:

• Roll potato ball in bread crumbs before frying this will make this extra crispy. 
• You can add boiled veggies like carrot, beans or sweet corn in the potato mix.

You can serve them as starter or enjoy them as evening snack with evening cup of tea. Also, you can make them in advance and can deep fry these potato cheese balls when your guests arrive. By doing this you not only save time  but get plenty of time to spend with your lovely guests and family during those special moments.

Keep cooking and enjoy life!

Khoya Sooji Ladoo

For Baisakhi I wanted to prepare some sweets to celebrate this festival. As, I have stopped buying sweets from market for any festival and I wanted to stick to my own policy and rule. By doing this not only I am learning new recipes, but the most important thing is that I am making sure that my family is eating healthy and there is no food adulteration. I want to stop outside food as much as I can.

For this  Baisakhi I prepared Khoya Sooji Ladoo's as they are very easy to prepare in fact you can prepare them in 10 -15 minutes. I found this easy recipe from Preety's Kitchen

So  let's get started and learn how to prepare khoya sooji ladoo at home.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Sooji/semolina
• 1 cup khoya
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup desi ghee
• 1 tsp eliachi powder
• 3 tsp chopped cashew nuts, almonds.

Step by step guide to prepare Khoya Sooji Ladoo:

•  Heat ghee in a pan.
• Add sooji and fry it until it turns light brown in colour. Remove it in a bowl.
• Take same pan and fry khoya until it becomes loose and soft.
• Mix Sooji and khoya in one bowl.Let it cool for some time but do not bring it to room temperature.
• Add sugar, elaichi, chopped nuts and mix it well.
• Take fist full mixture in your hand and make round balls from it. You may need to apply some pressure using your hands while making balls.
• Garnish with pistachio or chopped almonds.
• You can store then for 7 days in refrigerator.

                                                               Happy Basant Panchami
Note:

• Do not over fry sooji and khoya.
• Do not bring mixture to room temperature as it will be difficult to give it make round shape.
• Do not add sugar when mixture is very hot.

Sending it to participate in zestysouthindiankitchen giveaway and you may like checking out 27coupons .

Happy Cooking and be safe!


Other ladoo recipes:

Besan Ladoo

Maida Matar/ Namkeen Mathari/matthi

Happiness lies in small things. To make me happy you can give me a bowl full of maida matar or namkeen mathari with mango pickle. Few years back, during my home visit, which used  to be every three months from Bangalore to Ambala, I would buy namkeen mathari for office colleagues and for off course for myself from Ambala.  The best thing about mathari/matar is that you can store them in an air tight container for at least 15 days.

When I was very young, every year before Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Birth day in December and before  Guru Gobin Singh ji's Jayanthi in January, sikh community in our locality would start prabhat feri's at least 10 days in advance and would go to different houses in wee hours of the morning. For prasad that we need to give to sangat  my parents and elder sisters would prepare small pink paper packets of balushai and namkeen mathari, so that they can serve it to sangat in the morning along with tea or milk. As prabaht feri goes to a number of houses in the morning and sangat obviously can not eat everything what is offered to them, so this small packet was an easy thing for them to take back home. Since, I have moved to Bangalore, till now  I  haven't got a single chance to see such prabhat feri and I miss it when ever these festivals come.

  Nameekn Mathari

OK, I told you a enough stories about my childhood, lets come to present :). Recently I came to know that B loves maida matar and this is his childhood favorite snack, as my MIL used to prepare it for him. The way to a man's heart is through his tummy :) so I thought why not prepare them at home . By doing this I will be sure about every thing that has been used for making this snack is healthy and of good quality...from flour to oil every thing.

I prepared a small batch of both maida matar and tinny namkeen  mathari as they are just different shapes and you can prepare then using same dough.

So here is the easy 30 minute recipe for madia matar and namkeen mathari:

Ingredients:

• 2 + 1/2 cup Maida/All purpose flour
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tsb carom seeds
• 4 tsp ghee/dalda/vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water
• Oil for deep drying

                                                           Nameekn Mathari

Step by step process for preparing namkeen matar/mathari:

• Mix maida, carom seeds, salt, ghee in a bowl.
• Add very little water at a time and make very stiff dough.  Cover it and keep it aside for 10-15 minutes.
• NOTE: Use very less water while making dough.
• Divide this dough in small lemon size balls.
• Dip one ball in little bit of the oil and roll in round, oval any shape you like using rolling pin. Then cut them in long strips using a knife.
• For making tinny mathari, make one peanut size ball and press it with your figures tips to give it mathari shape.
• Heat oil in a kadhai/wok on low heat and start frying matar strips and mathari's on low - medium heat, until they are light brown in color. 
• NOTE: Be patient and do not be tempted to increase heat to High. Frying process should take 10-15 minutes for each batch to get evenly cooked and crispy matar/ mathari.
• Take them out on the tissue paper to remove excess oil.
• let them cool and come to room temperature. You can store them in air tight container and enjoy them with your evening cup of  tea and coffee Try them with mango/lemon pickle, I can assure you that  you will love this combination.
• Sprinkle little bit chat masala  if you like and this will take it to another level.

                                                                       Maida Matar

Punjabi Samosa

I love and miss my childhood days so much, that some time I think why did I grow up. I know we all want to go back to older days if god grants our wish :).

I want to be kid once again and relive that time... any idea when will this time machine come :) ??

In Ambala ( my hometown), almost all sweet shops prepared samosa in the evening. Their workers will be sitting outside the shops with big thaal ( a very big plate) in front of them, in which they will be kneading dough for samosa and in another thaal  they will be preparing spicy potato filling. They generally start this process by 3.00 pm and around 4.00pm  ( tea time in most of the families) they will start frying then in a huge kadhai/wok in front of the shoppers, like us to attract towards their shops.

During those days samosa was a must snack for me and my sisters with our evening tea. We used to get  5 samosa's for mere 10 Rs. Isn't it cheap, but now time has changed and we get 1 for 15 Rs each, on top of it they are not so fresh, generally prepared in the morning or one day before. Sitting in glass shelves and trying hard to attract customers toward them. Writing about samosa has taken me back to older days and so many memories are now running in front of my eyes. Ahh.. I know you are also going through your memory lanes along with me while reading this... let's stop here and concentrate on Samosa recipe :)

So, let's get started and make this easy peasy Punjabi Samosa. It's so easy and simple that you can make it very easily at home. You can enjoy this evening snack with a hot cup of coffee/tea. Even you can make small samosa's and can use them as starter for your lunch/dinner party. In fact you can replace potato filling with some innovative filling of yours like paneer, matar ( green peas) etc..

But here, I  am talking about the basic aaloo ka samosa that has already won every one's heart and will keep on wining in future as well.

Ingredients:

For Samosa Dough:

• 2 and 1/2 cup Maida / All purpose flour
• 4 tsp desi ghee/dalda/ vegetable oil 
• 1 tsp carom seeds
• 1/2 cup water 
• 1 tsp salt
• Oil for deep frying

For Samosa Filling:

• 3-4 big boiled potatoes
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp amchur/ dry mango powder
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 3 tsp chopped coriander
• 1 tsp black pomogranate seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp dhaniya/coriander powder
• 2 tsp chopped green chilli/optional
• Salt as per taste

Step by Step process for Making Crispy Punjabi Samosa:

Steps for making dough:

• Mix maida, carom seeds, salt, ghee in a bowl.
• Add very little water at a time and make very tight dough.  Cover it and keep it aside for 10-15 minutes.
• NOTE: Use very less water as much you can while making dough

Steps for spicy potato filling:

• Mash boiled potatoes with your hands. We need few big chunks of boiled potato, so do not mash it finely.
• In a wok/kadhai heat 3 tsp oil, add cumin seeds and let them sputter.
• Add  mashed potatoes and mix well.
• Add salt, red chilli, amchur powder, coriander powder and mix it well.
• In another pan dry roast coriander seeds and pomegranate seeds. Turn off the heat and crush roasted seeds coarsely using rolling pin.
• Add crushed seeds to potato mix and mix it very well.
• Add chopped coriander and let this potato mixture cool for 10-20 minutes.

For making Samosa:

• Make small lemon size balls from the dough.
• Roll each portion of dough in oval shape using rolling pin and cut these oval shapes in 2 semi circle using a knife.
• Now take one semi circle and apply some water on the straight edge. Hold this semis circle in your hand and fold the straight edge by bringing together the watered edges.
• Seal the watered edges into a triangular pocket.
• Fold the joint side of the triangular pocket little bit to give shape or make back bone of samosa, so that it can sit on a flat surface.
• Fill potato mixture in the pocket and seal the upper edges.
• Repeat same process with the rest of the dough and potato filling.
• Heat oil in another wok/kadhai and deep dry samosas on low- medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Be patient , because samosa need to be deep fried on low heat so that they are properly cooked, cripsy and evenly browned. 
• NOTE: Do not excess heat oil and do not bring it to smoky consistency. By over heating oil you will burn your samosa and they will not be crispy and cooked from inside. In fact this will form bubbles on the outer surface.
• Fry them until they are evenly browned and then keep them on kitchen towel so that they can adsorb excess oil. 
• Server them hot with mint and Tamarind chutney.

You can make samosa's in advance and can store them in refrigerator for one day. Deep fry them in the evening for your family and guests.


You can make other items like maida matar using Samosa dough and can use potato filling for aaloo parantha, even you can make aaloo sandwich with this filling :)

There is always one questions that keeps on coming in my mind that why during my childhood never gained weight despite of eating all these spicy fried samosa's. While now  these days  I am gaining weight even after drinking water and by breathing air. Am I super lazy now or was super active then :)

Sending it to participate in zestysouthindiankitchen giveaway and you may like chekcign out 27coupons .

Happy cooking!!

Eggless whole wheat Tutti Frutti Cake

This Valentine B gifted me an Morphy Richards OTG and I am loving it :).This was on my wish list from last one year. Until now I used to bake cake in pressure cooker and was happy with the final outcome, but my OTG is making me even more happier when I am seeing the final outcome. The first thing that I baked in this was an egg-less tutti frutti cake, so that every one in the family can enjoy :) To make this cake extra healthy I used whole wheat flour along with multi purpose flour(maida).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup wholewheat flour
• 1 cup multipurpose flour / maida
• 1 cup milk powder
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup refined oil
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2tsp bakign soda.
• 3 tsp colored tutti frutti

Steps by step recipe for Tutti Frutti Cake:

• Sift wholewheat flour, maida, baking powder and baking soda together thrice.
• Mix milk, powdered sugar and refined oil well till light.
• Add mix flour to milk mix in three stages.
• Take care not to make batter too runny or thin.
• Add tutti frutti to batter.
• Note: Dust tutti frutti with little flour before adding it to the batter. So, that it doesn't get settled on the bottom of the cake
• Grease cake pan with oil and dust some flour to make sure cake comes out easily.
• Pre-heat the oven to 250 C.
• Put batter into the prepared cake pan and bake at 180 C for 35 to 40 minutes.
• Check if cake is ready by inserting a toothpick or knife into the cake. If it comes out clean the cake is done.
• Remove from the oven and let it cool.
• Once it's cool down you can easily remove it from the cake pan.
• Enjoy this soft, crumble cake.

Happy Cooking!

Lemon Rice using MTR Rice Sevai

In India variety of rice dishes are available and most of them belong to southern part of India. Since, my destiny has moved me to Bangalore, I am getting a chance to taste and learn these rice delicacies one by one.

Lemon rice is one of these rice delicacies that I know well and is good in taste and texture.The best thing about these variety of rice recipes is that you can prepare them in very less time once you have all the ingredients or I should say major ingredient called cool down boiled rice. In fact if  you have left over rice from lunch or dinner then that would be the BEST.

It's super easy to cook and tastes yummy, That I can guarantee :). So, lets get started and learn lemon rice using rice sevai.

Ingredients:

Cooking time: Less than 30 minutes

• 2 cup MTR rice Sevai / boiled rice on room temperature
• 2 tsp groundnut
• 1 tsp urad dal
• 1 tsp chana dal
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds/ rai
• 1/4 tsp or pinch of turmeric
• Salt as per taste
• 1 slit green chili
• hand full curry leaves
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• pinch of hing/asafoetida
• grated coconut /optional
• 1-2 tsp oil
• 5-6 slit cashews

Step by step guide for preparing lemon rice using MTR Rice Sevai:

• Soak chana dal in water for 5 minutes in advance and keep it aside.
• In a deep pan, boil water.
• Add one tsp oil, rice sevai and give it a quick stir. Let it cook on  low-medium heat for 7-10 minutes until cooked.
• Now drain excess water and run through cold water until water runs clear and keep them aside.
• In a kadhai/wok heat oil.
• Add hing/asofetida, mustard seeds and let then splutter.
• Add groundnut, urad dal, soaked chana dal, split green chili, cashew and cook for another 1-2 minute on low-medium heat until they turn light brown.
• Add curry leaves and salt .
• Now add boiled rice sevai/ boiled rice and mix it well, cook for another 2-3 minutes.
• Turn off the heat.
• Add lemon juice and mix it well.
• Garnish with chopped coriander and grated coconut.
• serve with coconut chutney.

You can serve it as a side dish during lunch/dinner or even take it in tiffin box for lunch. Isn't it easy... :)

Notes:

• Add lemon juice only after turning off heat.
• Rice sevai or rice should be cold.  Hot one can make it sticky.
• You can remove chilly if your kid can not take spicy food.

Do share your experience and let me know if you like it and love it as much I do :)

Cooking is fun!

Gujrati Khamman Dhokla

In evening, I was looking for some thing light and healthy for evening snack as morning breakfast of aaloo puri was very heavy on my tummy.  I searched my cook book and found this Dhokla recipe  ( recipe source neighbor aunt ). It's a very simple and easy to prepare and if you are calorie conscious then you are going to love it... :)

 From fellow bloggers only I learned that this is called khamman dhokla.

So let's get started and learn how to cook Gujrati Khamman Dhokla.. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup besan/ chickpea flour
• 1/2cup curd/yogurt
• 1 1/2 tsp sooji/semolina
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp sugar
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp ginger green chilli paste.
• 1 tsp eno fruit salt
•  1 1/2 cup water.
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

For Tampering:

• 1 tsp mustard seeds/ rai
• few curry leaves
• pinch of hing
• 2 tsp oil

Steps by step guide for preparing Dhokla:

• prepare lemon water by mixing 1 1/2 cup water, sugar, salt, lemon juice and keep it aside. We will need it twice :)
• Take another bowl and add besan, curd, turmeric, sooji, ginger chili paste ,1/2 cup lemon water and mix well.

Note: You will get thick batter, similar to idli batter.

• Grease idli plate/thali plate or you can use cake pan and keep it aside.
• Add Eno fruit salt to batter and mix well. Batter will become double in size.
• Pour this batter in greased pan and steam for 10 minute. 

Note: I use pressure cooker without weight/whistle for steaming

• For proofing insert toothpick or knife. If knife comes out clean and batter is not sticking to it, then it's done.
• Let it cool for some time.
• For tampering, in a pan heat oil .
• Add hing, mustard seeds, curry leaves, green chilies and cook for  2 minutes. 
• Add 1 cup lemon water to tampering.
• Pour this tampered water on cooked dhokla.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and grated coconut. Serve with mint chutney.

Tip: 

Sometime dhokla becomes dry. To make it moist and soft again  you can add more lemon water . 

Do you remember dholka that we get in restaurant is always soft and contains some amount of water. So always remember dhokla drinks lots of water :)

Happy Cooking!!