The pulav is usually made without Tadka. I tried to twist it a little without too many spice or ingredients. This is very light Pulav recipe. It is a combination of Jeera Rice and Pulav. This is the best way to use leftover rice, and its very different taste wise.
Ingredients:-
3 cups Rice, boiled
2 Shallots, thinly sliced
1 cup Mix Vegetables, boiled (Corn, Peas, Carrot, Green Beans etc)
3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp Ginger, grated
2 Green Chillies, chopped
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Dhania- Jeera powder
2 Cloves
1 Bay Leaf
2 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Ghee
Cilantro and Mint, chopped
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
Salt to taste
Method:-
1. Heat oil and ghee in the pan. Add cloves, bay leaf and roast them for minute.
2. Add cumin seeds. When they start to brown, add shallots, garlic, ginger, green chilli, vegetables, and salt.
3. Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add boiled rice and mix well. Cover pan with lid and cook for another 3-4 minutes on medium-low heat.
5. Add lemon juice, cilantro and mint. Mix well.
6. Serve hot with raita, dal or kadhi.
Enjoy...
My Dear friend Uma passed me this beautiful award. I am really happy to recieve this award. Thank you sa much Uma :))
The award states that-These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement (? big word, lol). Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.
Spring rolls were served in spring festival in China for the first time. These were vegetarian; and meat was added much later. Vegetarians can use oyster sauce made with mushrooms to have the meaty taste. Spring rolls can be savory or sweet. They are mostly deep fried until crispy and golden brown.
I love fried spring rolls but baked can be as much tasty and crispy, and to top it off they are healthy. I marinated vegetables with seasoning for 1 hour. This will control salt and oil, because stir-frying of vegetables won't be needed after that. To make it more healthy, shallow fry these rolls in pan until they crisp per you need. Shallow fried rolls, for just 1-2 minutes on each side, can be frozen for use afterwards. Don't forget to cool them down completely before freezing.
Ingredients:-
2 Carrots, grated
1 Oz cellophane noodles
1/2 cup Bean Sprouts
3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Ginger, grated
1 cup Cabbage, grated
3 Scallions, finely chopped
1 big Red Bell pepper, thinly Julian cut
1/8 cup Mushrooms, chopped
1 tsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Black Pepper, ground
1/2 tsp Red pepper Flakes
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Hot Schezuan Sauce
1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
2 tbsp Oil
2 tbsp Cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp Mint, chopped
12-15 Spring Roll Wrappers
Salt to taste
Method:-
1. In a large bowl, marinate carrot, cabbage, red bell pepper, mushroom, salt, scallions, soy sauce, schezuan sauce, sugar and oil for 1 hour.
2. Place the noodles in a bowl of boiling water and cover it. Let it stand for 4 minutes.
3. Drain noodles and then rinse them in cold water. Cut the noodles into 2-inch lengths.
4. Back to the marinated vegetables, squeeze access liquid from the vegetables.
5. Add noodles, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, cilantro, mint, and rice wine vinegar to the vegetables. Mix well, taste and adjust seasoning.
6. Preheat oven on 350 F.
7. Spread the spring roll wrappers on the flat surface diagonally.
8. Place spoonful of the filling onto the bottom corner of the wrapper.
9. Fold the wrapper from bottom corner towards the top corner. Halfway through the fold, wrap the side corners on the wrapped portion. Continue to roll until it is completely wrapped in to a cylindrical shape.
10. Seal the roll with cold water.
11. Brush rolls with oil on top and place them into the baking tray.
12. Bake them at 350F for about 30 minutes or until they are crispy and golden brown. Make sure to flip the spring rolls halfway through baking.
Its been three months since I asked to you guys to celebrate with me "The Childeren's Day Event." Thank you all for a good response to this event. I should have posted this round-up much earlier. I have gone on to explain reasons for not being regular blogger in past three months, so won't go in details again. Lets just say, there were some unavoidable personal circumstances.
Actually, I started this round-up on 14th Feb, and I think its only appropriate because of connection between 14th Feb and 14th Nov. wink, wink :) Without further ado, lets get to round-up as I received some mouth-watering recipes which made me feel like a kid again:
Vella Payaru is a completely new recipe for me but its unique in its own way because of combination of black eyed beans and jaggery and I haven't heard jaggery being used with beans before. I'd love to try this some time.
I am not a vegan myself and actually enjoy food made out of milk or milk products, but this vegan cookie makes me think, it must be nice to be vegan as well. Cookies look beautiful and tasty. This is also second tasty entry from Priya.
Paneer Roll from Purva reminds me of Paneer Kati Kabab, a very popular item in Artesia, California's Gujju restaurants. I can see kids drooling over these paneer rolls after their playing time in the evening.
The second entry from Purva comes in a form of Creamy strawberry and apple drizzle, which looks very tasty and a perfect dish for kids of any age. A great sweet and sour combination.
I have to admit, I have never heard of Apple Paneer toast. Looks like a great Indian reply to the French Toast. Chandni, invite me to enjoy this with you!!!!
This is my favorite Utrayan (Kite-Flying Day) snack/sweet. Gopi, thanks for reminding me of all the terrace activities from that day. A sort of classic item for which kids wait for days preceeding Utrayan.
Once again a recipe for the cookies which makes me crave for a glass of milk to dip the cookie and enjoy. I am sure sooji makes this cookies extra crisp, just the way I like it. I am sure to try this.
This is a great twist to a hearty, tasty chololate drink. It also very easy to make and not time consuming at all. I have made chocolate drinks before but never thought combining it with banana. Looks very good, Uma!
This is the third colorful entry from Uma. The cupcakes look wonderful. I feel if the lady from the following ad followed your recipe, she would have got it right the first time without using Pam!!! :)
This is one more chocolate cake which is eggless, which is very healthy and a good choice for vegans. You also don't have to worry about cholesterol!!!A Great Entry!!!
Second entry from Divya.This fruit cake looks delicious, and scrumptious. This is the must try recipe. I am practically your neighbor now, let's meet up sometime with this cake :))
Last but not the least, this apple fritters (bhajjis) look yummy. In Gujarat, they have this banana fritters but I have never heard or think of making fritters with apple and this looks equally tasty.
To sum it up, I have to admit these recipes are very creative. I had as much great time reading these as you guys must had making them. We now have wonderful and different collections of these great dishes that kids, small and big alike, would just love. I'll post the ones which I try later!! A good event for all. Thank you for participating!!!!!
How are you guys doing ? I am doing good finally. Finally, We are all set at new place, finally....We had some friends over for holidays, we had a loads of fun, so I could not post new recipes or round up for the event (Yes!!! I haven't forgot about it!!!) To make things worse, setting up internet connection also took long time, like a month. But now, I am back. I know I missed all the action and great posts, will try to keep up with that in next few days.
This recipe was ready, so I thought this would be a good warm up before I post Children's Day round up. So Let's get straight to it.
Mughlai cuisine is famous for the combination of ground masalas and unique texture of food. This cuisine is home to rich dishes like, hundred kinds of Pulavs, Kormas, tonnes of Paneer dishes, variety of Naans, and add all tasty meats like chicken, mutton, lamb, fish etc., you get one great collection. The gravy is heavy most of the time because use of dry fruits, ghee, butter and heavy cream. These ingredients give them a silky smooth texture.
This is very common and popular subji, Paneer Pasanda. I tweked a little to make it healthy. I used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream and use rajma beans for valvery texture. One would really enjoy this with naan and/or with steaming-hot jeera rice.
Ingredients:-
1-1/2 Cup Paneer, cubed
1 Big Red Onion, finely chopped
2 Tomatoes, finely chopped
3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp Ginger, grated
2 tbsp Cashew soak for 2-3 hours and make paste
1 tbsp Melon Seeds, soak for 2-3 hours and make paste
1-1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp Dhania-Jeera Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1 Cinnamon Stick
2 Dry Whole Red Chili
3 Green Cardamoms
3 Whole Cloves
2-3 bay Leaves
1 tsp Fennel Seeds
2 tbsp Ghee
3 tbsp Oil
1/4 cup Evaporated Milk
1/2 cup Rajma, canned and drained
1/2 tsp Kasuri Methi
Cilantro, chopped
Salt to taste
Method:-
1. Heat oil and ghee in deep vessel. Add cinnamon stick, whole red chili, cloves, cardamom, and bay leaves.
2. Roast them for 1-2 minutes and put on paper towel, leaving ghee and oil for cooking.
3. Add onion and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add ginger, tomato, cashew paste, melon seeds paste, salt, fennel seeds, dhania-jeera powder, red chili powder, turmeric, and 3-4 tbsp water.
4. Mix well. Cover with lid and cook on medium-low heat for 5 minutes or until onions are tender.
5. Add rajma to the gravy and let it heat for 2 more minutes. Now turn down the flame and let it cool for 3-4 minutes.
6. In the mean time heat little oil in wok and cook paneer cubes until golden brown. Set them aside on paper towel.
7. Blend the gravy until smooth.
8. Add some water for gravy consistency.
9. Put gravy on low heat. Add dry masalas and paneer. Cook for 5-6 more minutes.
10. Add evaporated milk and kasuri methi. Mix well. Heat for 2-3 minutes.
We are in the process of moving. The internet connection at new place won't be active until next 10 to 12 days. For the same reason, I would like to extend the date for 10 days to 10-Dec-2008. I am posting this from my hubby's Phone, so won't be to reply invidually, but I received recipes from Chandni, Athisaya Divya, Purva, Priya, Cham, Jayshree, and Shibani. Please do send your entries to vegetarianmedley@gmail.com. I would really appreciate your participation for this event.
Dear friends Purva and Priti have given me the opportunity to host Festive Food Event for this Children's day.
Children are the most innocent, sweet, cute, curious beings. They are the joy of life. Most would agree that the day they became parents was the happiest day of their life. Children don’t know caste, creed, color, or religion. They love you for who you are and don’t expect anything in return, other than a candy once in a while.
Children’s day is celebrated for their love. Most countries in the world celebrate children’s day but on different days. Our beloved country, India, celebrates it on November 14th every year. This is also birthday of Chacha Nehru. Children’s day in India is born out of his love for kids.
Enough of history and philosophy lesson, lets get to business. Lets all the food bloggers celebrate this wonderful day with recipes that children love. Lets be creative and have some fantastic recipes. You can put your favorite recipe as kid or your kids favorite dish.
Take it away girls. Let’s have some simple but wonderful recipes that blogging mothers, current and future, can make for their kids, easy to make delicious.
Rulezzzzzzzzz…………………..
Both email and link back to this post are mandatory. Thank you for your understanding.
1. Cook anything that kids love and post it on your blog from now till December 3rd More recipes the better!!!!
2. Add a link back to this event. Please include the logo!!!!
3. Please send me an e-mail to vegetarianmedley@gmail.com with the following info.
Subject : Children’s Day Recipe Event
1.Dish Name
2.Your post URL
3.Your Blog URL
4. A picture of the dish
5. Non bloggers can e-mail me the recipe and the picture and I will include it in the round up.
6. If you feel you want to participate but don’t have time for a new creation, I can accept previous entry but please create a new post and link it to this event.
7. If you want to submit multiple entries, please link all the old posts in one new post, link the post with logo and event announcement.
Looking forward to all your enthusiastic participation!!!!
Disclaimer: Images in the logo are courtesy of google.com. Though, I merged them to make the logo.
The Kalakand is a Bengali sweet dish. This is also very famous in Pakistan and Bangladesh. This is semi-homemade for two reasons. First, I use store-bought khoya. Second, I use powdered-sugar, which has corn-flour which serves as a thickening agent to milk so I don't have to boil it for hours. It serves the purpose well since it saves time and energy without affecting taste one bit. It comes out soft and sweet and it crumbles first and then melts in your mouth.
Ingredients:-
2 cups Khoya, crumbled
1-1/2 cup Whole Milk
5 tbsp Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom Powder
1/2 cup Water
Pinch of Nutmeg
Almonds, chopped
Method:-
1. Pour water in the pan. When it starts to boil, add milk.
2. Boil the milk once and turn down the heat and let milk simmer. Stir continuously.
3. After 10 minutes add powdered sugar.
4. Let it come to boil once with high on heat.
5. Add granulated sugar, nutmeg, and cardamom powder.
6. Let it simmer for 5 more minutes.
7. Add crumbled khoya and mix it up well with milk and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes only.
8. Grease deep dish or plate with ghee.
9. Pour Kalakand mixture and let it cool completely. Sprinkle chopped almond on top.
I am sure when you read, see, or hear this name; your mouth starts watering. Yes, Pav bhaji is everybody's favorite fast food or you can say favorite street food. It basically hails from great state of Maharatsra. It first started in Mumbai and then became famous in all over India. The most popular flavor is Butter pav bhaji. These days you can easily find cheese pav bhaji everywhere. There also other popular flavors like Paneer Pav Bhaji, Amchur Pav Bhaji, or Chinese Pav Bhaji, or Pulav-flavored. I love it, simple and classic. I deliberately did not add any twist in this one, after all its called 'Classic' for nothing.
Pav Bhaji is a mixture of potato-based curry with vegetables. The authentic pav-bhaji vegetables are potato, tomato, cauliflower, green bell pepper, and peas. Nowadays, many people use eggplants, carrot, cabbage, yam, pumpkin etc in bhaji. Somehow, I don't like it.
Pav-bhaji is served with masala pav with lemon and onion, and its perfect with pulav on side. I love mine with extra lemon juice on top, yummm. We eat pav-bhaji every Friday night, it is like our family tradition now. I just love it, love it, love it!!!!
Ingredients:-
3 Potatoes, peeled and cut into big wedges
1 Small Green Bell Pepper, cut into small pieces
8-9 Cauliflower Florets
1/2 cup Green Peas
2 Medium Onions, finally chopped
3 Tomatoes, finally chopped
6-7 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1-1/2 tsp Ginger, grated
1 tbsp Red Chili Powder or to taste
1-1/2 tsp Pav-Bhaji Masala or to taste
1 tsp Cumin Powder
3 tbsp Oil
1 tbsp Amul Butter
Salt to taste
Lemon Wedges
Cilantro
Pav
Method:-
1. Pressure cook potato, green bell pepper, cauliflower, and green peas together.
2. When they are completely cooked, mashed them all together. Make sure there are no lumps in the mixture.
4. Add ginger, garlic, and some salt. Cook for another 3-4 minutes.
5. Add tomato, red chili powder, and cumin powder. Cook until onion and tomato cooked completely.
6. Add pav-bhaji masala, mix well and cover pan with lid. Cook on low heat for 2-3 three minutes.
7. Add potato mixer with some water and mix well. Simmer for 1-2 minutes, taste and adjust seasoning. Cover with lid and simmer for 10-12 minutes on low heat.
8. Topped with chopped cilantro.
9. Serve bubbling hot with pav, lemon wedge and dollop with butter.
Enjoy...
Dear friends Shreya and Anjali J passed me Good Job Award. Thank you so much glas, you make my day very special :))
