Sweet Potato Rings (Kids Special!)
Sweet Potato based rings with rice flour & Similac (Infant formula). Kids love to wear edible rings!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 sweet potato (tomato sized qty is required)
- 1/2 cup rice flour
- 1/2 cup Similac infant formula (or any other brand)
- salt
Method:
- pressure cook 1/2 sweet potato
- once done, peel its skin off, & mash it well
- To a bowl, add the mashed sweet potato, 1/2 cup rice flour, 1/2 cup Similac infant formula (or any other brand), salt for taste & get it to dough consistency (you might not require any additional water given that the pressure cooked sweet potato will already have sufficient amount)
- make tiny rings with the dough (like shown in the above pic) & steam cook them for like 15-20 minutes
- cool it down to room temperature & serve
Falafel Balls
Chickpeas based croquettes served with cucumber & lettuce.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup chickpeas
- 2 chopped garlics
- 1 chopped onion
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 1/2 cup corn flour
- 1 teaspoon cummin seeds
- 1/2 cup corn (optional)
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- cooking oil
- salt
- pepper
- water
Method:
- soak 1 cup chickpeas to a bowl of water, set aside for atleast 2 hours (READ NOTES below)
- then, add the chickpeas to a mixer/blender & grind partially (just about minced)
- separately, add 2 chopped garlics, 1 chopped onion, 1/4 cup parsley, 1 teaspoon cummin seeds, 1/2 cup corn (optional), 1/2 cup cilantro to a mixer/blender & grind partially
- add results of previous 2 steps to a bowl, add 1/2 cup corn flour, pepper & salt for taste and mix well
- make small balls out of this & deep fry them in cooking oil
- for salad, serve with chopped tomatoes, cucumber & lettuce
- as an alternate to tahini sauce, I served with ranch
Notes:
- the soaked chickpeas tends to absorb water & get enlarged. So the more you soak it, the better
- although I didn't try it, as an alternate, to avoid any wait time, you may want to directly pressure cook the chickpeas & possibly get a similar result
SJC Basundi
Milk based sweet blended with cardamon & cocoa.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups milk
- 1.5 cups white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon cardamon powder
- few cashews
- few raisins
Method:
- in low heat, boil 4 cups milk in a pan & keep stirring at frequent intervals
- add 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon baking powder (optional), 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, 1.5 cups white sugar & stir well (for atleast 45 mins or until you see the milk getting thicker. READ NOTES below)
- after getting condensed milk, add 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon cardamon powder, few cashews, few raisins & continue to simmer for 10 more mins
- transfer to another vessel & allow it to cool down
- serve hot/cold
Notes:
- just my 2 cents: Wider the pan, quicker the milk gets condensed (like 2" tall, around 4" radius)
- remember that you might get just a cup of condensed milk when you attempt to condense 4 cups of milk
Cucumber Lassi
Fresh cucumbers blended with yogurt and seasoned with cummins seeds & cilantro.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 chopped cucumber
- 1 cup plain yogurt (curd)
- 1 teaspoon cummin seeds
- few curry leaves
- few cilantro
- asafetida
- pepper
- salt
Method:
- mix all the ingredients in a mixer/blender & garnish with cilantro
- serve cold
Honey Lemon Chili Dip
Hot meets cold! Edible chillies topped with honey lemon syrup served along with homemade tomato sauce.
Ingredients:
- 6-8 jalapeños (or other hot peppers/chillies)
- 2 chopped tomatoes
- 2-3 chopped green chillies
- ranch sauce
- sugar
- honey
- pepper
- salt
- water
Method:
- heat up a pan, pour 1 cup water & add 2 chopped tomatoes
- once the water gets evaporated & you get a squashy consistency, add it along with 2-3 chopped green chillies (depending upon your hotness endurance), pepper & salt for taste and 1 teaspoon ranch sauce to a mixer/blender & grind well
- in a bowl, add 3 teaspoons honey, a teaspoon sugar & a teaspoon water & mix well and set aside
- cut the jalapeños into half as shown in the above picture & remove all the seeds (or atleast most of them)
- boil them in hot water for a short duration
- remove from heat & pour the honey syrup on top of these jalapeños
- serve alongside the tomato sauce
Notes:
- Caution: this recipe is quite on the hotter side
- to decrease the hotness:
- use lesser green chillies
- remove maximum seeds from jalapeños
- boil in hot water for a longer duration (to an extent you don't lose its shape)
Oats Laddu
Here's presenting an oats, brown sugar version of this traditional Indian sweet.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup oats
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cardamon powder
- 3/4 cup ghee
- few cashewnuts
- ice cream essence (optional)
Method:
- saute cashews, set aside
- partially roast the oats in a pan/bowl adding like 1/2 cup ghee, stir nicely to mix ghee evenly throughout
- remove the oats, add it to a mixer/blender & grind partially (to an extent where oats are not completely powdered)
- add it back to the pan/bowl & heat it in low
- add 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cardamon powder, a spoon of ice cream essence, the sauted cashewnuts, remaining ghee & stir well
- Remove from heat, make round balls (please read notes below) & serve
Notes:
- If you are unable to get it ball shaped, don't give up :).. as the temperature goes down, the mixture will help better in shaping, but don't wait until it gets too cold, then it might become to hard
- After making the balls, set aside for a few minutes while it gets harder & then erve
Pineapple Mudding
Pineapple M.. N.. O.. Pudding. Close but not there yet!
Ingredients:
- 1-inch pineapple slice
- 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon caramel sauce
- 1 teaspoon milkmaid
- 1/2 teaspoon honey
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1/2 cup milk
- few raisins
- sugar
- few red cherries
- whipped cream
Method:
- chop the pineapple slice into smaller pieces
- add the chopped pineapples, 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon caramel sauce, 1 teaspoon milkmaid, 1/2 teaspoon honey, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence, 1/2 cup milk, few raisins, sugar for taste & few red cherries into a mixer/blender & grind them thoroughly
- decorate it with whipped cream & red cherries
- serve cold/room temperature
Pineapple & Potato Curry
A spicy blend of potato & pineapple, served with rice.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup chopped pineapples
- 1 finely chopped potato
- 1/4 cup chopped onions
- 1/4 cup minced spring onions
- 1/4 cup corn
- 1/2 tomato, chopped
- 2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons cooking oil
- masala powder
- turmeric powder
- chilly powder
- salt
- water
- ghee
Method:
- add 2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, 1 finely chopped tomato & water in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.
- saute 1/4 cup chopped onions and 1 finely chopped potato in cooking oil
- add the spice mixture prepared in the first step, 1/4 cup corn & required amount of water to soak the pan contents
- add masala powder, chilly powder, pinch of turmeric powder, salt & ghee for taste
- add 1 cup chopped pineapples & 1/4 cup minced spring onions
- cook until all the water gets evaporated
- Serve with rice.
Notes:
- modified this recipe that I found in http://vegetarian.about.com/od/maindishentreerecipes/r/pinepotatocurry.htm
Black meets Red!
A blend of black beans, red peppadew peppers, millet, parsley & chives.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup black beans
- 6-8 red peppadew peppers (I got them from whole foods)
- 1/2 cup millet
- 1/2 cup minced parsley
- 1/2 cup minced chives
- 2-3 minced garlics
- cooking oil
- black pepper powder
- salt
- water
- few cilantro
Method:
- pressure cook 1/2 cup millet & 1 cup black beans separately
- once cooked, in a pan, pour 1/2 cup minced parsley, 1/2 cup minced chives, 2-3 minced garlics, 4-6 red peppadew peppers & saute in 2-3 teaspoons of cooking oil
- add black pepper powder & salt for taste
- add the cooked black beans & millet & mix nicely
- garnish with cilantro & leftover red peppadew peppers
- serve hot
Khaman Dhokla
Gujju, here I come... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhokla
Ingredients:
- 1 cup gram flour
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- green chilly paste
- sugar
- salt
- turmeric powder
- water
- mustard seeds
- cooking oil
- curry leaves
- cilantro
- seasame seeds
Method:
- to a bowl, add 1 cup gram flour, 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice & desired amount of water to get it to batter consistency & set it aside for an hour
- then add turmeric powder, sugar, salt & green chilly paste for taste and mix thoroughly
- steam cook this for like 20 minutes or until the batter has hardened up well enough with no existence of raw batter
- separately, heat up a pan, add 2 teaspoons cooking oil, add mustard seeds & wait until it pops
- then add curry leaves, cilantro, seasame seeds & pour it on top of the cooked batter
- cut it into square/diamond shaped pieces (just the way you'd cut a birthday cake) before serving
