Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

• 3 tsp olive oil
• 2 no capsicum
• 3 clove garlic chopped
• 1/4 tsp crushed peppers
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 4 no tomatoes(grind to make to a puree)
• 4 no tomatoes
• 4 basil(tulasi) leaves
• 1 tsp oregano

Directions to Cook

• Saute garlic in olive oil.
• Add capsicum and saute for 1-2mins.
• Add blanched chopped tomatoes and leave it for 3 mins(to blanch tomatoes put the tomatoes in boiling water for 3-5mins, remove them and keep them in cold water.now peel the skin and chop them to small pieces).
• Add tomato puree,salt,sugar and cook till soft and juices evaporate to right consistency.
• Add crushed pepper,oregano and tulasi leaves and leave it for 2mins.
• Use this pizza sauce on the top of pizza base first and add different types of toppings on it as per your choice

Pizza Base

Ingredients to make Pizza base

• 250 ml water
• 7 cups maida/all purpose flour
• 5 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 7 gms yeast packet

Directions to Pizza base.

• Take the yeast,sugar,salt, one cup of maida, and mix it well in warm water.Leave the mixture aside for 10 mins .
• Mix the remaining flour in the mixture prepared in the previous step by first adding olive oil followed by water.
• Knead the dough till soft.
• Keep the dough in a bowl double its size and cover it with a wet cloth and leave it aside for 1 hr.
• Knead again to remove air pockets and cover it again for another 30 mins.
• Take a portion of dough and roll into a pizza base.
• Use dry flour if required to ensure that the dough does not stick to the base
• Add pizza sauce as required,add toppings.
• Bake in a hot(300c)oven,till base is crisp and light.

Ingredients to make basic Pizza

• 1 no bell pepper thinly sliced
• grated cheese to taste(use mozarilla cheese for better taste)
• 1 tomato thinly sliced
• 1 onion thinly sliced

Directions to cook basic Pizza

• Knead the dough and roll it out 6 inches diameter size 1/2 inch thick .
• Apply little butter to the oven tray roll out the pizza dough on it.
• Press lightly from all sides evenly leaving the surroundings more thick than the middle one.
• Spread the pizza sauce all over the pizza leaving the edges.
• Spread onions,capsicum and tomatoes all over the pizza.
• Sprinkle grated cheese on pizza.
• Bake in a oven at 350F for 10 mins.(if you feel it is not done well increase your time)
• Cut the pizza and serve warm.

Tip

For the same pizza base you can change the toppings as you wish in both veg(corn,paneer,mushroom,corn) and non-veg(meat).

Kalakand

Ingredients

• 2 litres milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• any type of dry fruits to garnish
• silver foil(optional)
• 1/2 tsp citric acid/1 tsp lime juice

Directions to Cook

• Boil half of the milk and add lime juice as the milk starts to boil and remove it from the stove.
• Once the chenna(paneer) settles down,sieve through muslin cloth and squeeze the excess water
• Put the remaining milk in a heavy pan and boil to half.
• Add chenna and boil till the mixture thickens.Stir continuously to avoid burning.
• Add sugar and continue to cook,stirring all the while till it softly thickens into a lump.
• Set in a plate and garnish with any dry fruits as per your choice.

Dondakaya/tindora Chutney

I never ate dondakaya pachadi,but my husband likes dondakaya chutney and I prepared this for the first time and I liked it.

Earlier I hated dondakaya and would never eat it whenever my mom would cook it.She would generally end up cooking a different curry just for me. Now that I am cooking, I do not feel like cooking separately for me so what ever I cook for my husband I have to eat it.

Ingredients

• 250 gms dondakaya
• 5 green chillies
• 2 red chillies
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp black gram
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• curry leaves
• salt to taste
• oil for frying and seasoning

Directions to Cook

• Chop tindora and green chillies into small pieces and keep them aside.
• Heat oil in a pan and fry green chillies first and keep them aside.
• Now fry the finely chopped tindora on a medium flame till they turn golden colour and allow them to cool down.
• Now put the fried tindora,green chillies,tamarind,garlic and salt to the mixer jar and grind them to a coarse paste and take it in a bowl.
• For seasoning,heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds,black gram,cumin seeds and stir them gently till they pop up.
• Now add red chillies and curry leaves and fry them till they turn to light brown.
• Add the above to the chutney and serve with hot rice and ghee.
• This will go well with dosas/idli also.

Tip

If you want to have a different taste you can also add 1/4 cup of roasted ground nuts/chana dal/gingely seeds.

Apple Jam

Apple is a cholesterol and fat free fruit,it contains Vitamin C and many other nutrients.Apple keeps you away from heart diseases.Apple is also an excellent source of pectin,a fiber that helps to reduce blood cholesterol.

One apple equals one portion of the five fruit and vegetables required for daily intake.Apples contain dietary fiber.It is rich in potassium.Apple is a good weight loss supplement.

There are many more good things in apple so people who don't like to eat apple directly can take in the form of juice/jam or in any other form you like.

I like fruits and my husband doesn't eat fruits. To break the gridlock I got a idea. I prepared apple jam at home and surprisingly it came out very well.

Ingredients

• 1/2kg apple
• 350gms sugar
• 1 cup water
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp lemon juice or 1/2 tsp citric acid

Directions to Cook

• Peel the apple skin and cut into small pieces.
• Cook in water until tender.
• Add sugar,salt and lemon juice and stir it until the jam is thicken.
• Make sure it doesn't burn.
• Cool a little and pour into sterilized jars and cork tightly.

Aloo Methi Paratha

Paratha is an Indian flat-bread.It is one of the most popular dish in Indian cuisine and is made by whole-wheat flour on a tava.Parathas are usually stuffed with vegetables such as boiled potatoes,radishes,methi,gobi,paneer etc depending on the persons taste.Paratha can also be eaten simply with butter/yogurt or pickle,or thick spicy curries of meat and vegetables.

Paratha can be round,square or triangular.The stuffing can mixed with the kneaded flour and the paratha is prepared as roti or the stuffing can also keep inside seperately by kneading the flour seperately.The dough is flattened into a circle,the stuffing is kept in the middle and flatbread is closed by taking all edges together.

I prefer the second one to the first one becasue in the second one we can taste the dough and the stuff seperately and tastes good.

Ingredients

For Dough

• 4 cups wheat flour
• salt to taste
• water as required

Direction to Prepare

Mix the dough well and keep it aside for 20-30mins.

For stuff

• 2 cups of methi leaves finely chopped
• 2 cups of boiled and mashed potatoes
• 3 green chillies finely chopped
• coriander leaves finely chopped
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• salt to taste

Directions to Cook

• Boil the potatoes till done.
• Peel the skin,mash it well and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a pan.
• Add finely chopped methi leaves and green chilies and saute it till they become soft.
• Add mashed potatoes,chilli powder,turmeric powder,coriander powder,coriander leaves and mix it well and saute it for 15mins till moisture is completely evaporated.
• To make the paratha.Take the chapathi dough and make it into medium size dumplings.
• Roll the dough into round size.Ensure that the edges are thin while the middle portion is thick.
• Now take the stuffing and keep it in the middle of the roll and close the edge to make it into a dumpling.
• Roll the dumpling again to spread the stuff evenly.Similar to a thick pizza crust/roti.
• Put the roll/paratha on the pan and cook it.
• Add little ghee/butter on sides of paratha.
• Serve hot with any sour pickle and curd.

I some times make parathas with left overs of morning subji with little change of ingredients.I didnt post some of the dishes but luckily they came good.You try yourself and I feel you really like to have it.Enjoy different types of parathas.

Gulab Jamun

Gulab jamun is a dessert which is popular throughout the India.The dough consists mainly of milk solids often including double cream and flour in a sugar syrup flavored with cardamom seeds and rosewater or saffron.

Every one likes gulab jamuns.Gulab jamuns with ice-cream is a good combination to have.Actually my husband likes gulab jamuns very well and never made it before,and this is the first time I have made it and it came well with good taste.

Ingredients

• 1 cup khova/milk powder
• 1/2 cup maida
• 2 tsp butter/oil
• 2 cups sugar(if you want excess syrup increase by a cup)
• 1 cup water(if you increase sugar quantity increase water also)
• 1/4 tsp cooking soda/baking soda
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• oil for deep frying

Directions to Cook

For preparing gulab jamun

• Knead milk powder,butter,maida and soda and quickly shape into soft balls by applying little oil to your hands if needed.
• Heat oil on a medium flame.
• Fry the jamuns till golden brown over a low to medium flame.Dont over heat the oil,maintain a constant temperature.
• Drain the jamuns and soak in the warm sugar syrup.

For Sugar Syrup

• The syrup should be made little earlier and kept warm.
• Mix sugar,water and cardamom powder and mix it.
• Now keep it on the stove at medium flame for 10-15mins until sugar is all dissolved in water.Do not overheat.
• Soak the jamuns in the syrup and leave it for over night for better results.

Note

You can also buy directly the gulab jamun mix.

Senagapappu Payasam/Chana dal Payasam/Bengal gram Payasam

Ingredients

• 1 cup Bengal gram/sengapappu
• 1 cup jagerry/bellam
• 1/2 cup sabudhana
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tsp ghee
• Cashew nuts
• Kissmiss
• Badams
• Grated coconut/Cut coconut into small pieces
• Cardamom powder

Directions to cook

• Soak the bengal gram for atleast 30mins.Pressure cook the bengal gram till its cooked,do not over cook.
• Heat ghee in a kadai and toast sabudhana until light brown.
• Add milk to sabudhana and cook it well by stirring in between.
• Now add the bengal gram and jagerry to this mix and stir it slowly for 15mins without burning.
• Heat ghee in a pan and toast cashew nuts,kismiss,badam coconut pieces untill light brown.
• Add these to the payasam.
• Finally add cardamom powder,stir it and simmer another 5mins.
• Serve it hot/cold.
• Easy to make during festival times.

Tip

• In this we can also add semolina instead of sabudhana.

Pulihora/Tamarind Rice

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 cup tamarind paste(thick paste)
• 6 whole red chillies
• 6 green chillies
• 2 tsps urad dal
• 2 tsps chana dal
• 1/4 cup ground nut
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp hing
• curry leaves
• 1/4 cup oil
• salt to taste

Directions to cook

• Heat oil in a pan on medium flame,add mustard seeds and fry till it cracles.
• Add urad dal,chana dal,peanuts,red chillies and fry till light golden brown.
• Add green chillies,curry leaves,hing,turmeric,tamarind pulp,salt and cook it for 10mins on medium flame.
• When the mixture becomes thick,turn of the heat.
• Add rice,mix it well and serve with good curd.

Tip

The rice should not be too soft,each grain of the cooked rice should be seperate and rice should be cold.After cooking the rice remove the rice into a plate and let it cool,before adding the tamarind paste and other ingredients to the rice.

Pav Bhaji

Most of the time we see left over vegetables in our fridge and we dont know what to do some times with those vegetables.Most of the time we do mixed vegetable curry and to make it different or to have some snacks its easy to have pav bhaji. Pav bhaji is a fast food item for maharastrians and is mostly popular in all metropolitan cities in India.Pav in Marathi means bread.Bhaji is a term for curry and vegetable dish.Pav bhaji consists of the bhaji(a potato based curry)and the pav,garnished with coriander and chopped onions.

We can also prepare pav in our house only,but I never prepared pav in my house.I want to try it and surely I will post the receipe in my blog after trying.

Ingredients

• 8 pavs(we can buy pav from super markets)
• butter to fry it to light brown.

For Bhaji

• 1 capsicum
• 3 onions
• tomatoes
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 cup cauliflower
• 3-5 potatoes
• 1/2 cup beans
• 1/2 cup cabbage
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp pav bhaji masala
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• water
• small pieces of lemon
• coriander leaves

Directions to Cook

• Boil potatoes seperately till done.
• Peel the skin and mash the potatoes and keep it aside.
• Finely chop all the vegetables.
• Pressure cook the vegetables except onions,tomatoes and capsicum till well done.
• Mash them coarsely after draining.
• Heat butter in a kadai.
• Add ginger garlic paste,capsicum,onion,tomatoes and fry for 2-3 mins till very soft.
• Add pavbhaji masala,coriander powder,chilli powder,salt,sugar,turmeric powder and leave it for 2mins.
• Add mashed potatoes and other vegetables.
• Add water if needed and let it boil.
• Simmer till gravy is thick,stirring in between.
• Add lemon juice and mix it well.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

For pavs

• Slit pavs into two halves leaving one edge attached(it looks like an open book)
• Apply butter and roast open on a pan till hot and soft with surface crisp on both sides.
• Serve hot with bhaji,piece of lemon and chopped onions.

Methi Paratha

Ingredients

For dough

• 4 cups wheat flour
• salt to taste
• water

Directions to Prepare

Mix the dough well and keep it aside for 20mins -30mins.

For making the stuff

• bunch of methi/fenugreek leaves(finely chopped)
• 2 green chillies(finely chopped)
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1tsp oil
• salt to taste
• butter/ghee(optional)

Directions to Cook

• Wash the methi leaves thoroughly with water.
• Chop the leaves finely.
• Heat oil in kadai,add mustard seeds,cumin seeds and leave it till the mustard seeds cracle.
• Add the chopped methi leaves,ginger garlic paste,green chillies and saute.
• Cover with a lid and allow it to cook in their own water for 10 mins till it becomes soft.Stir in between.
• Add salt,coriander powder,chilli powder,turmeric powder and mix well.
• Allow it to cook for some more time until the water is completely evaporated.
• To make the paratha.Take the chapathi dough and make it into medium size dumplings.
• Roll the dough into round size.Ensure that the edges are thin while the middle portion is thick.
• Now take the stuffing and keep it in the middle of the roll and close the edge to make it into a dumpling.
• Roll the dumpling again to spread the stuff evenly.Similar to a thick pizza crust/roti.
• Put the roll/paratha on the pan and cook it.
• Add little ghee/butter on both sides of paratha.
• Serve hot with any sour pickle and curd.

Tip

If you don't feel like having time/if you feel you are not good in making a stuffes paratha,then knead all the raw ingredients along with the wheat flour and make it to a paratha.

But,trust me stuffed parathas tastes good compared to the paratha that is made by mixing the methi in the dough.

Paneer Butter Masala

Ingredients

• 250 gms paneer
• 2 onion(puree)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tomatoes(puree)
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tsp cashew nut paste
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• fresh cream
• salt to taste
• coriander leaves

Directions to cook

• Cut paneer in cubes and fry.Soak them in warm water so that they become soft.
• Heat oil/butter in a kadai and add the onion puree and saute till they turn light brown in color.
• Add ginger garlic paste to the above paste and saute it for sometime.
• Add chilli powder,coriander powder,turmeric powder,salt,cashew nut paste,garam masala powder,tomato puree and leave it for sometime.
• Add the soaked paneer cubes,little water and allow it to cook till the gravy becomes semi-solid.
• Finally garnish it with fresh cream and coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with plain rice/roti/fried rice/biryani.

Chana Masala

Ingredients

• 3 cups of chana/chickpeas
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 green chillies
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 red chilli
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp chana masala/pav bhaji masala powder
• oil
• salt to taste
• water as required
• coriander leaves - for garnish

Directions to Cook

• Soak chickpeas in water overnight or atleast for 6hrs.
• Take them in a pressure cooker,add little salt and water and pressure cook them until they are just tender.Take care not to overcook.
• Drain the water and seperate one cup of cooked chickpeas.Blend these seperated ones into thick,smooth paste with little water.
• Heat oil in a kadai,add and toast cumin and mustard seeds and red chillies.
• When seeds start to pop,add chopped onions,and cook until translucent.
• Add green chillies,turmeric powder,chilli powder,salt,coriander powder to the onions and leave it for 2mins.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until thne tomatoes turn to soft.
• Press with spatula and mash them.
• To this tomato puree,add the cooked chana,pureed chickpeas paste,chana masala powder and required water,stir to combine.
• Leave it on a low flame until the curry thickened.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with rice/roti/puri.

Tip

We can also add little lime juice before eating to have a good taste.

Half-Fried eggs

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 slices of bread
• salt
• butter

Directions to Cook

• Toast the bread using butter.
• Break the eggs on the preheated pan(do not beat the eggs).
• Apply butter around the eggs and sprinkle salt for taste.
• Fry the eggs spread only on one side.
• Serve hot with coffee.