Zzaika

Ingredients:

Whole Fat Yogurt: 2 gallons;
Confectioner's Sugar: 5 cups;

For garnishing:

Powdered green cardamom: 1/2 tsp;
Powdered Nutmeg: 3 pinches;
Some saffron strands;
Milk: 1/2 cup;
Blanched and finely chopped almonds, pistachios,cashews;
Raisin : 1/2 tsp.

Method:

• Tie the yogurt is a thin muslin cloth at a high point in your kitchen/house, such that the water will drip from it. 
• Let all the water drip out of the yogurt, so that you get hung yogurt. This the fairly dense part of the yogurt. This process may take over-night or may be some hours more than that.
• Next day, take the hung yogurt in a bowl, and add all the rest of the ingredients.
• Care must be taken ,not to add too much of nutmeg,because it causes drowsiness.
• Also Saffron, add a lot of heat to the body, so add it sparingly.
• Mix all the ingredients well.

                                                EGGLESS SPONGE CAKE

• In a bowl, add all the ingredients except water and mix well.
• Now slowly keep adding water, till the batter becomes slightly light.
• Beat this batter using a spatula or a a hand mixture till it becomes light and fluffy.
• Now take an 8-inch baking tray and dust it with some butter and flour .Pour the cake batter in the baking tray.
• Pre-heat the over at 425 degrees F. 
• Bake the cake for 10-12 minutes on the lower rack at 425 degrees F and then on the middle rack for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees F.
• Check if the cake is done,by putting a knife in the cake. If the knife comes out clean, the cake is done, else bake it for some more time.
• Enjoy this healthy cake at tea time!

Ingredients:

For the stuffing:
Cilantro ( finely chopped): 4 cups;
Green chillies ( chopped) :   3 ;
Poppy seeds :    1 tsp;
Oil                : 1 tsp;
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp;
Tumeric powder  : 1/2 tsp;
Salt to taste;

For the cover:
Bengal gram flour(Besan): 2 cups;
Regular Atta: 1/2 cup;
Cumin seed powder: 1/2 tsp;
Tumeric powder  : 1/2 tsp;
Salt to taste.

You will also need some more oil to deep fry the vadis.

Method:

• To prepare the stuffing, heat some oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and when they begin to crackle, add the cut green chillies. When the chillies change colour, it means that they have given off their flavour, then add the finely chopped cilantro.

• Cover the pan with a lid and let the mixture cook on medium to low heat. Do not cook at high heat,we have to preserve the flavour of cilantro.
• After sometime, if you remove the lid, the colour of mixture has become more dense. This means that the cilantro is well cooked.
• Now add the poppy seeds to the mixture and mix well. Again cover it with a lid and let it cook further for 1-2 minutes.
• Many people add raisins at this stage, but I do not like mixing sweet with cilantro. I feel they do not marry well. :(
• After 2 mins, remove this pan from heat and keep it aside to cool.
• By the time the mixture is cooling, knead the ingredients mentioned for the cover into a soft dough.
• Now make an oval shaped roti ,using a rolling pin and place the cooled cilantro mixture at the centre as shown.

• Join the long edges and press against each other so that they are sealed properly. 
• Deep-fry these vadis in oil till they turn golden brown in colour.
• Serve them warm with tomato ketchup or tomato chutney.
• One of the readers of my blog has asked me mention the shelf life of each recipe, so I would like to tell you all that since this recipe contains fresh cilantro, I would not recommend to eat it for more than 2 days ( if refrigerated).

Ingredients:

For the Bhallas/ Vadas:

2 cups Urad Dal (Split Indian Black Beans)
Cumin Seeds-1/2 Tsp.
Salt to taste

For the Flavoured Yogurt/ Dahi:

Non- sour Yogurt : Sufficient for Vadas,
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Sugar - 1 tsp
Cumin powder
Salt to taste

Method:

• Soak urad dal in sufficient water overnight.
• Grind the urad dal  next day to a paste like consistency . You might need to add some water to achieve the proper consistency. The consistency should be such that it is not too thin neither is too thick.
• While grinding , add cumin seeds and salt to taste.
• Fry balls out of this paste and let them cook well. Fry at medium flame so that the balls get cooked throughout and turn light golden in colour. 
• Once fried, place the balls on tissue paper. After the oil has been absorbed by the paper, put these balls in some water, so that they become slightly soft. Do not keep the balls in water for a long time, else they might start breaking. 

•  Now take the yogurt and add the grated ginger, salt, sugar and cumin powder.
• Take the balls soaked in water, andadd the yogurt prepared in the above step. 
• Add red-chilli powder , salt and cumin powder for taste. You may also add tamarind chutney for garnishing.

Ingredients:

Chana Dal (Split Bengal Gram) : 3 cups
Rice          :  1 cup
Urad Dal (Split Black Lentils)  :  1/4 cup
Sour Yogurt: 2 tbsp
Sugar         : 2 tsp
Eno fruit salt:  2 tsp
Oil : 2 tsp
Ginger-Chilli paste : 2 tsp or as per your choice
Salt for taste

For Garnishing:

Oil : 2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds: 1 tsp
Coriander Seeds: 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds
Few curry leaves
Fresh Coriander: half cup
Freshly grated coconut: half cup
Asafoetida: half tsp

Method:

• Soak chana dal overnight in sufficient quantity of water. Soak separately urad dal and rice together in water.
• Next day grind coarsely the soaked lentils together to a consistency slightly thick but not too thick. You may need to add a little bit of water to get the correct consistency while grinding.
• Now let this batter ferment for atleast 8 hours more.
• To check if the batter is rightly fermented, try moving a spatula in the batter and you might get a net like texture. This means that the batter is well fermented.
• Now take a pressure cooker, with almost 1/4 water and keep it for heating. 
• Till then add ginger- chilli paste, sugar, sour yogurt, salt and hot oil to the fermented batter.
• By the time the water gets heated up and you can see some vapour coming out, quickly add eno to the batter prepared in the previous step.
• The batter will start becoming frothy as you mix eno in it.
• Pour this batter in an oil greased container and keep it tightly covered in the pressure cooker. Do not put the whistle on the pressure cooker and let it steam at a high flame for 25-30 minutes.
• Now to prepare the garnishing, heat oil and add cumin seeds, coriander seeds and mustard seeds. Once they start cracking, add asafoetida and curry leaves and remove from heat.
• Now after 25-30 minutes, remove the pressure cooker from heat and let the steamed batter cool. 

• Cut the dhokla in squares and garnish it with coriander leaves, coconut and the tempering prepared with cumin seeds.
• Serve it with fried green chillies or with green coriander chutney.

Ingredients:

Shredded Carrots: 1 Lb
Sugar: 3/4 LB
Ghee ( Clarified Butter): 2 tbsp
Khoa (milk solids - you can get it at the Indian Store): 1 Tbsp
Cashews( whole) : 2 Tbsp
Raisins: 1 Tbsp

Method:

The following recipes are for all those bachelors and bachelorettes, who have to rush to their offices in the morning and end up having no breakfast .....c'mon...you can make these recipes in 10 mins flat....
NJOY COOKING!

Beetroot and Vegetable Cutlets
(for 2)




Ingredients:

2 Carrots,
1 Big Beetroot;
A fistful of French beans,
1 small onion,
a quarter cauliflower,
a quarter cabbage,
1 small capsicum(optional),
3 potatoes,
2 green chillies finely chopped,
2 inch piece of ginger grated,
2 tablespoons coriander leaves,
5 slices of bread,
salt( as per taste)

For coating the cutlets:
4 tablespoons of bread crumbs.

For Frying:
5 tablespoons cooking oil for shallow frying.

For Garnishing:
Everest chat masala for sprinkling.


Method:

Chop carrots,french beans,cabbage,cauliflower,capsicum and pressure cook them along with potatoes with 4 whistles.You can chop them in big pieces.
Once they are cooked,just mash all the ingredients together and add the finely chopped onion,
ginger and green chillies and mix them together.To bind this mixture well,take the bread pieces, dip it in water,squeeze out the water and add to the above mashed mixture.This will add body to the vegetables.Add corainder leaves and salt to taste.

• If it is frozen,keep the khoa packet to thaw prior to the night when you want to make the gulab jamuns.
• Once thawed, take half the quantity of khoa and knead it until it is really soft and doesn’t break if shaped into a ball.
• Once it is this soft, add half a teaspoon of maida ( all-purpose flour) and knead again for 10-15 minutes. Remember its not important to keep in mind the time for kneading. Rather keep a check on the texture of the khoa,sometimes, it might take more than 15 minutes to knead it to the right texture and sometimes if the khoa is fresh, it won’t take more than 7-8 minutes.
• The all-purpose flour added in the above step is used to bind the khoa and prevent it from disintegrating while frying.
• Keep taking more and more quantity of khoa,until the packet is completely used and keep adding all-purpose flour  ,half a tablespoon at a time, till you are able to get nice, smooth balls. There should be no crack in these balls, else they will surely break while frying.
• Also to get a smoother surface, add a very small quantity ( a teaspoon or more) of milk to the khoa - flour mixture. Do not add too much of milk, else it will be very tough to shape them into balls.
• Once the balls are ready, heat some ghee (clarified butter) / refined oil in a fry pan.
• Do not let the ghee/oil become to hot , else the balls will get burnt from outside without being cooked from inside.
• Fry the khoa balls, adding 2-3 at a time, till they are golden brown in colour. Keep them aside on a tissue paper. Sometimes, on frying ,the balls start disintegrating. This means that they did not bind well. So you will again have to knead them well adding some more flour, till they are really soft. Do not add too much flour, else the balls will become very hard.

• I prefer using ghee, instead of refined oil. Ghee gives it a very rich taste, but you may use whatever you feel like.

• Take the water in a double boiler and add the sugar to it.
• Let it cook for sometime till you get a 2-strand syrup. You can check the consistency of the syrup by dipping your finger and trying to feel the syrup between your index finger and your thumb. If while trying to separate your two fingers, the syrup is easily separating out, then it needs more cooking. If the syrup, just sticks hard to your fingers, then it is surely over-cooked and too hard for being called syrup. You can add some water in this case. Till you get the right consistency. The following picture shows you what ,syrup with two strand consistency looks like.