Whats Cooking!!!!

Here is another breakfast item that can be prepared ahead of time and cooked when you are ready to eat.  Ingredients: Dough: Whole Wheat flour: 1 cup Water : 1/2 cup (more as needed) Salt: pinch Filling: Paneer : 1 cub grated onion: 1 small finely chopped Salt : to taste Red Chilli powder : 1/2 tsp (more depending on how spicy you like) Green Chilli: 2-3 finely chopped Coriander powder: 1/2 tsp Cumin powder: 1/2 tsp Coriander Leaves : 1 tsp (finely Chopped) We would also need: Dry flour and some extra oil for roiling and making the paratha. Procedure For the dough mix flour, salt and water together and knit into a nice soft dough. Cover it with a damp cloth and keep for 10-15 mins before using for parathas. For the stuffing Mix all the ingredients well. At this point we can taste for flavor and add salt if required. Making the Paratha: Divide the dough and stuffing into 6 equal parts. The stuffing balls should be about 1 1/2 times larger than the...

We normally cook with onion and garlic and relish it a lot as well. On an auspicious occasion like sankratri, ganesh caturthi and many more when eating onion garlic is prohibited, you start wondering what to cook. So here is a version of mixed vegetable curry prepared without onion and garlic. Ingredients: Potatoes:2 medium cut into small cubes and soaked in water Carrot:1 medium cut into small cubes French beans: 1/2 a cup (Cut into 1/2 inch ) Corn kernel : 1/4 cup Shelled green peas:1/4 cup Oil:2 tablespoons Cumin seeds:1/2 teaspoon Salt to taste Turmeric powder:1/4 teaspoon Paneer (cottage cheese):50 grams Brown bread slices:3 Coriander powder:1 tablespoon Red chilli powder:1/2 teaspoon Ginger paste:1 tablespoon Tomato puree:1/4 cup Fresh coriander leaves,chopped:1 tablespoon Procedure: Heat oil in a non stick pan, add cumin seeds.  When the seeds begin to change colour, add potatoes, carrot, salt and turmeric powder and mix well. Cover and cook. Cut...

Here is another variation of simple banana bread, that was a real hit with my friends. Ingredients: All purpose flour: 2 cups Sugar: 2/3 cup Baking powder: 2tsp Salt: 3/4 tsp Egg: 1 large Milk: 3/4 cup Vegetable oil: 1/3 cup Vanilla Extract: 1 tsp Ripe Banana: 1 cup mashed  Walnuts: 1 1/3 cup chopped Procedure: Preheat the oven at 350F In a bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl combine egg, milk, oil and vanilla and blend well. Add the the dry mixture to the wet ingredients stirring just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Flod in mashed banana and 1 cup walnuts. pour the batter into the greased pan. Sprinkle with rest of the walnuts. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let in cook in the pan for 10 mins. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack. Slice and serve it with a hot cup of tea or coffee and enjoy. Till then happy blogging Rakhee

After a long time it rained here and this was this seasons first heavy rain. What's better than a plate full of hot vada with ghuguni and a hot cup of tea / coffee. Ingredients: Urad Dal : 1 cup Onion: 1 medium thinly siced Green Chilli: 2-3 finely chopped Ginger: 1/2 inch finely chopped Salt: 1tbsp Suji: 1/4 cup Oil for deep frying Procedure: Soak the dal in water for 4-6 hrs. Drain and grind the dal into a smooth paste using little water.  Don't use lot of water else the mix would be very runny. Add the sliced onion, chopped green chilli, ginger, suji and salt to the paste.  With a spoon mix it nicely in circular motion.  This way the batter would become fluffy. Heat oil in a kadhai. Take some oil in palm, take small balls of dough in hand, flatten it little bit and  with a small hole in the center add the vadas one by one .   Fry till golden all around. Technically this should give you perfect donut shaped vadas but i...

Baigan Bharta is a popular punjabi dish. It takes on a lot of prep work and cooking. I should say all the work is worth it. Its really delicious. But in Orissa there we prepare a different version of it, that is quick and easy. Its very popular in every household and is enjoyed a lot. Ingredients: Baigana ( brinjal/eggplant ):  1 large Onion :   1 medium finely chopped Garlic: 4  cloves finely chopped. Green chilies:  2 Mustard oil -2 tbsp Salt to taste Procedure: Brush Baigana(eggplant) with oil and roast it on a medium flame. Frequently turn the eggplant upside down, until fully roasted. Once done , hold it under running cold water or in a bowl of water. Cool it and peel off the blackened skin. Mash the flesh. Add the finely chopped onion, garlic, green chilies, sorisa tela(mustard oil) ,salt and mix it well and serve.  In another version you can roast so dry red chili and use it instead of green chilli. It makes for a g...

I have always prepared mutton the same way, the only way I know Tanmaya would love it. Using the traditional Oriya procedure. But one day he complained saying you don't try any other recipe with mutton only keep talking about it. So this time I decided to try my hands on mutton rogan josh, a kashmiri recipe. I did so internet research and figured out that there are so many different ways to make this rich and delicious recipe. So I mixed and matched steps from various recipes and the result was good. So here is my take on mutton rogan josh. Ingredients:  Mutton:2 lbs onion :2 large finely chopped ginger-garlic paste:4 tbsp Cumin powder - 1 tsp Coriander Powder - 2 tsp Kashmiri Degi Mirch - 2 tbsp Turmeric :1 tbsp Asafoetida: 1tsp Green cardamom: 2 pods Cnnamon : 1-inch stick Cloves: 4 bay leaf: 1 peppercorns: 10 whole red chills: 2  yogurt :1/2 cup Oil: 4 tbsp salt as per taste Preparation:  Wash and clean the mutton pieces.  Drain all ...

As I have mentioned earlier, besara is a very common and relished dish in Orissa. Here is another item that uses besara, is easy to make and delicious to eat. It makes a great side dish for pakhala and even rice dal or roti. Ingredients: Bhindi (okra): 1/2 pound cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Onion: 1 small finely chopped Tomato: 1 medium finely chopped Mustard seeds: 3 tbsp Garlic: 5-6 cloves Dry Red chili: 2 Pancha Phutana: 1 tsp Green Chilli: 2 whole Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp Oil: 1 tbsp Salt as per taste coriander leaves: 1 tbsp chopped for garnish. Procedure: Soak the mustard seeds & dry red chilli in warm water for 30 mins. Make a fine paste of mustard seeds, dry red chilli and garlic using little water. Heat oil in a kadhai add pancha phutana to it and as it stops spluttering add the chopped onion along with a pinch of salt. Mix well and cook till onions turn translucent. Add the garlic mustard paste and cook for 2 mins but don't let it burn. A...