Kokum Rasam !

Hi ..here is one more variety of rasam recipe for you all…'Kokum Rasam' !

'Kokum' is a Tropical fruit…the dried kokum can replace the tamarind in the western ghats cuisine predominently  in various states of India like Karnataka, Kerala, Goa & Maharashtra. Kokum is a great source of Vitamin C & low in fats, calories and sugars.

You will love this recipe !

Kokum Rasam !

Ingredients :

Kokum - 5 to 6 pods
Jaggery - 1 to 2 table spoons
Tomato - 1 (optional)
Garlic cloves - 2 to 3
Cumin seeds / Jeera - 1 tea spoon
Curry Leaves - 3 to 5
Dry Red chili - 1 to 2
Oil - 1 table spoon
Chopped Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup
Black pepper powder - 1 tea spoon
Water - 2 to 3 cups
Salt - as per the taste

Preparation :

Dry Kokum

- Soak the kokum in a cup of water to extract the juice. Once extract from first round kokum juice, again we can soak the kokum in the water and get the extract.

Soaked Kokum !

- Heat oil in the sauce pan & add cumin seeds, curry leaves, garlic cloves & dry red chilli and fry.

- Now add the chopped tomato and fry for 5 minutes.

- Once the tomato is cooked little add coriander powder, cumin powder and give it a stir.

- Now add the kokum extract, water, salt & bring it to a boil.

- Add the Jaggery powder & black pepper powder to the rasam and adjust the salt.

Kokum Rasam !

- On a low heat, boil the rasam for 5 to 10 minutes. adjust the salt & jaggery. Once done switch off the heat. Add the chopped coriander leaves.

Kokum Rasam !

The sweet & sour kokum rasam tastes …..delicious !

Eggplant Fry !

I am posting a very simple yet mouth melting Eggplant / Brinjal Tawa fry recipe for you all !

Eggplant Fry !

Ingredients :

Eggplant / Brinjal - 1 Big sized

Red chili powder - 1 table spoon

Coriander / Dhaniya powder - 1 table spoon 

Jeera / Cumin powder - 1 tea spoon

Salt - As per the taste

Oil - for shallow fry 

Preparartion :

- Slice the eggplant / brinjal in to round shaped slices.

- In a bowl take red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder & salt.

- Add 1 to 2 table spoons of water & make the marination mix out of all the spices.

- Now, take each eggplant slice and coat with above marination on only one side.

- And heat oil in the frying pan and place the spices mix coated eggplant piece in the pan. Remember, keep the non-coated side of the eggplant slice intact with the pan.

- Once, fried on one side slowly flip on the second side..fry for 5 to 6 seconds and take it out on to a serving plate.

Garnish with chopped coriander & enjoy ! 

Pineapple Lassi / Pineapple & Yogurt Drink !

Bright & Sunny in the mid march ..out there 50 deg. fahrenheit … 30 minutes jog on treadmill and a trip to Costco left us so thirsty…& a bottle of water really wasn't helpful.

Times like these, to quench the thirst …the immediate coolers comes to our mind are Lemonade & Lassi / Yogurt drink :-) ! Yeah , I quickly inclined towards Lassi / Yogurt drink but with Pineapple !

Pineapple Lassi !

Ingredients :

Pineapple chunks - 1 cup

Yogurt - 3 table spoons

Sugar - 1 table spoon (optional)

Salt - 1 pinch

Ice cubes / Cold Water - 1/4 cup

Preparation :

Add pineapple chunks, yogurt, sugar, salt & ice cubes / cold water in mixer juicer / blender  and blend until pineapple chunks are finely blended.

And that is it, The chilled & yummy Pineapple Lassi / Pineapple Yogurt drink is ready !

Pineapple & yogurt smoothie !

Mango Custard !

The thought of the festival - UGADI making my thoughts go around mangoes & indian summer :-) !

Here, I come with a delicious & yummy Mango Custard recipe for you all !

Mango Custard !

Ingredients :

Milk - 1 1/2 cup

Custard powder - 2 table spoon (preferably mango flavored)

Sugar - 3 to 4 table spoons

Ripe Mango pieces - 1cup

Slice strawberries - 1/2 cup

Diced Pineapple - 1/2 cup

Sliced Banana - 1

Preparation :

1. Add custard powder to 1/2 cup cold milk (no need to boil).

2. Mix the custard powder with milk without any lumps & keep it aside.

Note : I bought the custard powder with mango flavor. Don't worry, If you don't have mango flavored

custard powder. You can use mango pulp, instead while 'mixing the fruits with custard'

3. Boil the remaining 1 cup milk on low heat & add sugar. Once milk is boiled, reduce the heat to lowest and add the custard powder - milk mix which we already prepared to the boiled milk. And, while adding keep stirring the milk..so that no lumps should form.

4. With in few seconds you can notice the thickening texture of custard. Turn off the heat and take the custard in to a bowl.

4. Let the custard come down to the room temperature.

5. Add all the cut fruits to the custard. At this point, As I said earlier if you are not using mango flavored custard powder, add 4 to 5 table spoons of mango pulp to the custard along with cut fruits.

5. Cover the custard with a lid or cling wrap & keep it in the refrigerator to serve the chilled Mango custard.

While serving the custard, you can serve topping it with honey, roasted almonds & nuts or a scoop of vanilla or any of your favorite flavor of ice cream on the side.

Enjoy the chilled Mango Custard !

Crispy Chicken Pakora (Pakodi) !

The crispy chicken pakora recipe that I am sharing today….would win any Non-vegetarian / Chicken lover's heart !

The spicy & crispy chicken pakora recipe for you all…

Chicken Pakora !

Ingredients :

Boneless chicken - 1 lb ( or ) 500 gm

Corn flour - 1 table spoon

Red chili powder - 1 table spoon

Coriander / Dhaniya powder - 1 tea spoon

Ginger & Garlic paste - 1 tea spoon

Garam malasa powder - 1 tea spoon

Oil - to shallow fry

Salt - As per the taste

Preparation :

- Cut the chicken into small pieces & wash thoroughly in the running water and strain all the water using a colander. 

- Take the cleaned chicken into mixing bowl and start adding corn flour, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala, ginger & garlic paste and salt.

- Mix well the chicken with all the spices & no need to add any extra  water while mixing.

- Keep the marinated chicken aside, for 1/2 hour so that, chicken will be settled & absorbs all the spices.

- Take a shallow , thick bottomed frying pan and heat the oil on a medium heat.

- Slowly start adding the marinated chicken to the oil & fry well until turns into deeper color.

- Once done take the fried chicken pakora in to a bowl & coat with lemon juice (optional)

& serve with a carrot & kheera (cucumber) salad on the side.

I am sure, you love this spicy & crispy chicken pakora recipe !

Chicken pakodi!

Malpua !

As Ugadi is around the corner..I decided to share some dessert recipes with you all. So, here I am sharing the recipe of MALPUA…many of you have heard & eaten this sweet delicacy many a times. There are many variations of this Malpua recipe. If you are looking for a simple & easy recipe please do  try this recipe.

Malpua

Ingredients :

Wheat Flour - 1 cup

Jaggery powder - 1 to 2 table spoon

Cardamom powder - 1 pinch

Ghee - 1 table spoon

Oil - 1 cup

Water - As needed

Preparartion :

- Soak the jaggery in some water, to get the jaggery syrup.

Jaggery syrup

- Add the melted ghee to the wheat flour and mix thoroughly.

- Using a strainer, add the melted jaggery to the wheat flour & mix well.

- Now slowly keep adding water to the wheat flour & mix rigorously to get the batter of pour consistency. You can use a electric hand blender or mixer. Make the batter without any lumps.

- Add pinch of cardamom powder for a nice flavor but this is optional.

- Keep the batter aside for 2 hours to settle well.

- Now add the oil to the shallow pan and heat on low to medium heat / flame.

- Now with a medium size spoon start pouring batter in the pan (one at a time).

- Once done on one side , carefully flip the malpua on to the other side. (make sure you don't burn the malpua, since this is wheat flour doesn't take more than 1 minute to fry ).

- After frying both sides the soft malpua with crunchy ends is ready to enjoy !

Wheat Malpua !

While serving you can garnish Malpua with roasted sesame or khoya milk / mawa depends on how sweet you want to enjoy your SWEET :-) !

Egg Fried Rice !

I am back with one more quick rice recipe..Egg Fried Rice ! I know, by looking at the 'fried rice' makes you feel like this is going to be some chinese or thai….or of those recipes. But the recipe which I am going to share is purely Indian version of Egg fried rice which tastes great in par with any of those fried rice recipes with soy sauce / vinegar ….

The ingredients are very indian & preparation doesn't take much time…This is a quick fix recipe :-)

Egg Fried Rice !

Ingredients :

Cooked rice - 2 cups

Eggs - 2 

Chopped onion - 1/2 cup

Chopped green chili - 1 to 2

Chopped Mint / Pudina Leaves - 1/2 cup

Chopped Coriander / Cilantro - 1/2 cup

Curry Leaves - 3 to 4

Chopped Garlic - 1/2 table spoon

Roasted Cashew - 5 to 6 (optional)

Coriander powder - 1 tea spoon

Garam masala powder - 1 tea spoon

Oil - 2 table spoon

Ground pepper powder - 1/2 tea spoon

Salt - As per the taste

Ingredients 

Preparation :

- Heat some oil in the pan & break the eggs and add to the pan and scramble them..and add pinch of salt & ground pepper. Once done takeout the scrambled egg and keep it aside.

- Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add roasted cashew, curry leaves, chopped garlic, chopped onions, green chili and fry for 2 to 3 minutes.

- Add Coriander powder & garam masala powder and fry for 5 minutes.

- Once the onions turned to golden brow, turn off the heat and add salt & add this seasoning to the cooked rice.

- Add the scrambled egg which was prepared and kept aside,  earlier to the rice.

- Add chopped mint & coriander leaves to the rice & mix well, gently.

& The Egg fried rice is all yours to enjoy !