BIRIYANI CHAMMANTHI (Grated coconut with coriander and mint leaves)

Biriyani Chammanthi

Ingredients:
Grated Coconut - 1 cup
Coriander leaves - 4 - 5 tbsp
Mint Leaves - 2 tbsp
Ginger - a small piece
Green Chilli - 2-3
Yogurt - 2 tbsp
Salt

Preparation:
In a grinder except yogurt grind rest of the ingredients. Then add in the yogurt and grind to a smooth thick paste. If you want in a thick liquid form you can add more curd or else round it to a ball form.
Best side dish for biriyanis.

Cheers,
Neetz ;)

NO BAKE CHEESECAKE!!! X'MAS SPECIAL

No Bake Cheeeeeeessssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeee Cakeeeee!!!

 
Ingredients:
 
For the Base :
Marie Biscuits - 15 nos
Butter - 40 grams
 
 
For the Middle part:
Whipping Cream - 1 sachet of dream whip (total of 500 ml of whipped cream)
Sugar - 1/4 cup powdered
Cream Cheese - 300 ml (any brand will do)
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
Mango Puree / mango pieces - see notes
 
For the Top part:
Mango - 3 big
Gelatin - 1 tbsp

Preparation:
 
Powder the biscuits using chopper. Then add in the butter and again run the chopper in three pulses. Transfer equally to the glasses you plan to serve as base layer. Press lightly with spoon and place the glasses in the fridge to set.
 
Meawhile peel and chop mangoes roughly. Puree them in a grinder.
 
In a bowl beat the whipping cream tiff. Add in vanilla essence and sugar. Beat cream cheese in a seperate bowl till soft and fluffy. Add to the whipped cream and mix properly. Add in half of the mango puree to the mix and stir till all is mixed well.
 
Take the glasses out of the fridge. Now on the top of the biscuit layer, layer the cream based mixture on top (almost 3/4 of the glass) and keep it fridge to set for atleast 2-3 hours.

 
After 3 hours, prepare the gelatin as per instructions written (Boil required amount of water and add gelatin to it). Once the gelatin had cooled a bit, add rest of half  of the mango puree to the prepared gelatin. Pour over top of the set cream part filling all the glasses till top (every glass will have 1/4th of this mango part). Keep again fridge to set for about 4 hours. It would be best if kept overnight. Garnish with chocolate shavings, pista or almonds. (refer pics for layering)
 
Except for the setting time, this dessert is very delicious and easy to make. I can bet you will be a star in front of guests ;)
 
Cheers,
Neetz ;)
 
Notes:
The amount ingredients mostly depends on the amount of serving glass and its quantity. So adjust accordingly.
Add required amount of powdered sugar to the gelatin mix if mango is not sweet.
China grass can also be used in place of gelatin.
For the cream base, instead of mango puree you can even add roughly chopped mango pieces.

(The mix of ingredients i have found in many of my fellow bloggers and otherwise. So I really cant pin point the recpe from so and so :) )

Cherupayar Koombu Thoran (Lentil with banana flower)

Cherupayar Koombu Thoran

Ingredients:

Green moong dal - 100 gms
Banana Flower - 150 - 200 gms
Shallots - 7 nos
Green chilli - 2
Coconut grated - 1/2 cup
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 1 spring
Coconut Oil - 2 tbsp

Preparation:
Remove out few leaves of the flower from the outer part. Then chop the rest of the flower finely( I used a chopper). Rub 1 tbsp coconut oil into the chopped flower and keep aside for atleast 20 mins.

Soak moong dal overnight and wash and boil the dal till done.

Grind roughly shallots, coconut, green chilli and turmeric powder.

Now in a pan, add rest of the coconut oil and once hot add in the mustard seeds. Once seeds splutter, add in the curry leaves. Then add in the chopped banana flower and saute till its done. Then add in the boiled moong dal and cocnut mixture with salt and mix nicely. Cover and cook over low flame for about 10 mins. Check for salt, if needed add more.

Easy and fast isnt it :) ? Very high in protein and goes excellent with rice.

Cheers,
Neetz ;)


 

PALAK PANEER

Palak Paneer

Ingredients:

Palak - 2 bunch
Paneer - 8-9 cubes
Green Chilli - 3 nos
Onion - 1 medium chopped finely
Tomato - 1 medium
Garlic - 2 cloves
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
Methi Leaves dry - 1 tbsp
Milk/Cream - 3 tbsp
Salt

Preparation:

Clean palak well and discard stems. Now chop the leaves roughly and boil with just 3-4 tbsp water till leaves are cooked. Then drain and wash them in cold water to retain color. Once cool blend them to a puree with green chillies and keep aside.

Add butter/oil in a pan ad fry the paneer pieces slighly brown. Roughly about 2 mins on each side of paneer.

Now in a pan add butter/oil and add in the onions. Saute till transparent and then add garlic. Saute for a min or 2 and then add in tomatoes and saute till tomatoes are smashed well. Puree this mix in grinder by addind minimal water ( this puree stage is purely optional). In the same pan add the pureed mixed and once boiled add in the powders. Saute till raw smell of powders are gone. Then add in the methi leaves and saute for a min, Next add in the pureed palak with chilli and mix. Add in salt, milk/cream. Once boiled switch off and add in the paneer. Serve warm with roti.

Cheers,
Neetz ;)

BESAN LADDOO (MICROWAVE) - DIWALI SPECIAL

Besan Laddoo

 

All credit goes to my SIL for teaching me this. I had no idea this can be so easy in microwave :). Thanks a lot sis.

Ingredients:
Besan - 1 cup
Rava - 1/4 cup
Ghee melted - 1 cup
Sugar powdered - 1/2 cup
Almonds and pistachios - garnish

Preparation:

In microwave safe bowl  make sure the bowl is a big deep one as the mixture when heated rises) heat the ghee for 1- 2 mins. Then add the besan and rava slowly and stir with spoon. Now keep this in microwave and heat for about 5 mins. Remove and stir. Again microwave for another 5 mins. Keep this going on every 5 mins till you get the aroma of besan (This is done to remove the raw taste of besan). Keep tasting the mix to see till the raw taste of besan is gone. You will see that the besan mix has changed in color to darker side than it was lighter initially. Once the raw taste of besan is gone, take the bowl out and then add in the powdered sugar and stir nicely. Add more powdered sugar if you need more sweetness. Keep aside to cool. Then keep it in fridge for about 20 mins. The mix will be firm. In a tray spread butter paper.  Now take small balls of the mix and make small balls and place on the tray. Garnish on top with sliced almonds and pistachios. Keep it in fridge for laddoos to be firm. Eat whole heart after 15-20 mins ;P.

Cheers,
Neetz ;)

Note:
1. You can add few strands of saffron too while heating the mix and also for garnish.
2. Keep checking the mix when you keep in microwave. Sometimes you wont need 5 mins for heating depending on the microwave you have as the mix can rise and overflow (the cleaning part is very tough). So keep checking every 2-3 mins.
3. The laddoos are soft and wont be hard.

 

Button Idli Sambar aka Mini idli dipped in sambar

Ingredients:

For Button idlis:
Idli rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1 cup

Preparation:
Soak the rice and urad dal in separate bowls for 6-8 hours. Grind them in a mixie or stone grinder with little water, The batter should be slightly thicker than dosa batter. Mix and keep them in warm place to ferment for a minimum of 8 hours. Add salt once fermented. Spoon them into idli moulds that is greased with oil. Steam them for 10 mins or till done. Spoon them out once little cold. Or you can dip spoon in cold water and take hot idles out :).

For Sambar:
Toor dal - 1.5 cup
Shallots/sambar onions - 10 nos sliced thinly
Tomato - 1large chopped finely
Tamarind -a small lemon size soaked in 1/4 cup water
Potato - 1 medium cut into small cubes
Carrot - 1medium cut  into small cubes
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Sambar powder - 2 tsp ( I used eastern)
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves - half handful
Salt to taste
Oil

To roast & grind:
Coconut grated - 2.25 tbsp
Chana dal - 2 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1.25 tsp
Red chilly - 3 nos
Curry leaves - 7 leaves
Asafoetida - a pinch

Preparation:

Roast all the ingredients on low flame (under the grind ingredients). Then grind them in grinder when cooled.

Meanwhile pressure toor dal in almost 3 cups water till done. Then mash them nicely with back of the spoon. Keeping the dal to further boil, add in the vegetables.

Meanwhile, in a pan add a tsp of oil and to this add mustard seeds. Once seeds splutter, add in the onions and sauté. Once light, add in tomato and add a bit salt for faster cooking. Cook till tomato gets smashed. Then add in the turmeric powder, sambar powder. Sauté till oil starts leaving sides.

Crush the tamarind in soaked water with fingers to remove the pulp from seeds. Then add the pulp paste to the dal mix. Now add the onion mix sautéd to the dal mixture. Stir. Finally add in the roasted powdered masala and stir nicely. Add salt per taste. The consistency of sambar should not be too thick. A little thin will be right. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serving:
Serve in a bowl with mini idlis soaked in hot sambar.

Cheers,
Neetz ;)

Look who is here!!!

 

These days you dont get to see my new recipes or rather say trial and tested recipes cz the above pic says it all :). Now a full time mommy job and sleeplees nights is making me too lazy and tiring to try out and post something.

 

We were blessed with a baby boy on Aug 4th and the arrival of this little king made our family complete.. Like the saying goes, "We 2, for us 2". My little girl is very excited to be with him these days ( though she was not at first) that I cant even leave him alone for a second. The bro - sis hungama is quite an entertaining to watch :)

 

I will be on a break for quite sometime. Definitely will be back and also drop into my fellow bloggers profile to comment. Its been quite a while and really have lost touch with updates.

 

Love u all and keep posting great recipes :).

 

Cheers,

Neetz ;)