Food Corner

No cooking is required to make this recipe. It is a combination of bread, butter, salad and spices. It is very tasty and easy to digest. In Mumbai it is a street food.

INGREDIENTS

1 pack of fresh bread of good quality

100 g fresh butter

1 tsp black pepper powder

1 tsp cumin seed powder

Half cup coriander leaves chutney

Half cup tomato sauce

4 tomatoes of medium size - sliced

250 g fresh cucumber – peeled off and sliced

250 g potatoes – boiled, peeled and sliced

2 onion of medium size - sliced

50 g bhujiya sev for garnishing

PROCESS

Take 8 slices of bread. Cut outer edges with sharp knife. Paste little butter over one side of each. Also paste chutney over the butter. On four slices put 2 – 3 slices each of potato, tomato, onion and cucumber. Spread little salt over it. Now cover these with pasted bread slices from reverse side. Press each sandwich gently with your palm. Its height must be not over than 40 mm. Cut each sandwich with sharp knife in six pieces after placing it on a separate plate. Spread black pepper powder, cumin seed powder and tomato sauce over each. Garnish with bhujiya sev. Serve with a fork.

By serving these you can impress your guests of your cooking novelty. For some of those it may be a never before experience. Along with visible 3 colors it haves the benefits of vegetables- palak [spinach] and chukander [beet].

Serves: 4

Time required: 30 to 40 minutes

Ingredients required

400 g wheat flour

200 g chukander [beet]

200 g spinach [palak]

Pure ghee [clarified butter] or cooking oil for deep frying

Process to make tricolor pudi

Make juices of chukander and palak separately. Divide flour in 3 equal parts. Make hard dough of one part with chukander juice, another part with palak juice and rest with plain water. Now the dough in three colors is ready. Divide each color in 20 equal parts. Take one piece of each color simply join them and make a ball of it. Now make it flat in this way that from both sides three colors are visible. Repeat the process with all the dough. Using little ghee or oil flatten these with pastry roller[belan] in round or oval or any other shape to a thickness of about 3mm.

Deep fry each raw pudi separately until golden brown. Serve them hot with sabji, raita dal, kadhi, curd, chhole, pickles, salads, etc.

Saloni is a very popular salty recipe from ancient times. In old days while people traveling long distances carried large quantities of it with them. In all the halwai shops it is supposed to be available.

INGREDIENTS

250 g wheat flour (atta)

250 g very fine wheat flour (Maida)

2 tsp Kalonji

Salt as per taste

Pure ghee or cooking oil for deep frying and moyan

PROCESS

Mix well all items except ghee or oil. Mix very well using both hands 100 to 150 grams pure ghee or butter or cooking oil as moyan. Mix water as little as possible to make dough. Inflate the whole dough to a thickness of about half inch or 12mm. If you like, you can reduce thickness to a minimum of 2mm. It will give the same taste. Cut this dough into 150 to 300 pieces in designs and sizes of your choice. Deep fry these in low flame until golden brown.

Taste one it is very tasty. It is better than salty biscuits and cheap. While making dough you can also mix many items in it like— cumin seeds, coriander, black pepper, turmeric powder, ginger, cardamom, almond, onion, kasuri methi leaves etc.

Doctors of all the medical systems suggests this vegetable to stay healthy.

Ingredients

Half to one kg fresh palak

4 to 8 tbsp pure ghee or butter or cooking oil

1tbsp turmeric powder

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

A pinch of asafoetida

A pinch of saffron

1tsp cumin seeds

Half tsp mustard seeds

2 tsp coriander seeds

1tsp black pepper powder

4 to 8 black cardamom

4 to 8 green cardamom

2-3 small cinnamon

4 to 6 cinnamon leaves

4 green chilies

3 to 6 onion chopped

50 g coriander leaves

Process

Clean the palak by dipping it in water 2-3 times. Separate the roots from it. If any part of it seems not good separate it also. Make a paste of good quality palak, green chilies, onion, coriander leaves, cinnamon leaves, black pepper powder, saffron, asafoetida, coriander seeds and turmeric powder in a mixer. Heat ghee or butter or oil what you are using in a stew pan on medium heat add rest of the items in it except paste. When it splutters add paste and 100 ml water in it and mix. Keep stirring down to bottom. Avoid overheating, boil until cooked. Serve hot with chapattis or rice.

Shree khand is a popular sweet dish of India especially Maharashtra state. It is one of the items whom we Hindu’s offer to our Gods during worships. Shree khand is good for health, digestion and easy on pocket. No cooking is required to make it.

Ingredients

One kg fresh curd

100 to 150 g sugar

1 to 2 tsp cardamom powder

Half to one tsp mace powder

A pinch of saffron

Half tsp black pepper powder

Dry fruits for garnishing

Process

Put the curd on a sieve for one hour or more so that the extra water in curd may come out, and the curd may become thicker. Take four tbsp curd in a bowl, add saffron, cardamom powder, mace powder, black pepper powder and two tbsp sugar to it. Whisk it vigorously with spoon. When the sugar is dissolved stop spooning. Mix all of the curd and sugar in it. Mix and whisk it thoroughly with spoon in hand. When the sugar is dissolved ‘Shree Khand’ is ready. Taste it. It must be very tasty. Chill it for at least six hours. Garnish with dry fruits and serve. It is a falahary dish, most suitable in Hindu fasts.

Bitter gourd is a vegetable. As the name suggests it is bitter in taste. In India we call it ‘karelas’. Don’t misspell it with Kerala. Kerala is the name of a southern state of India, and it is karela the bitter gourd. It is also a very good medicine for diabetic patients. Drink the juice of karela for some days and the diabetes may go away.

Ingredients

2 to 6 karelas of medium size

150 to 300 g gram flour [besan]

1 tsp ajwain

Salt to taste

Pure ghee [clarified butter] or cooking oil for deep frying

Curd, onion and green chilies to accompany

Process

Add salt and ajwain in gram flour. Add little water in steps to make a thick paste of it and beat vigorously with spoon in hand. Clean bitter gourds in water and cut round pieces of it about three mm thick. Heat ghee or oil in a stew pan. Dip some pieces in paste to be covered by it from both sides. Drop these in stew pan one by one 6 to 8 in one batch. Deep fry till golden brown from both sides. Serve hot with curd, onion, fried green chilies, pickles, tomato ketchup etc.

Dishes prepared with custard powder are becoming increasingly popular in India. Children of all ages like it very much as well as the young generation. The sweet recipe we are making here is a combination of variety of fruits, dry fruit, custard powder, milk and sugar. Its combination with fruits enhances your taste and keeps your body fit. Let us prepare it.

Ingredients required

Half liter milk

4 tsp custard powder of your favorite flavor

4 tbsp sugar

A pinch of saffron

10 to 20 almonds flaked

2 apples

2 pomegranates

2 bananas

1 mango

2 chikus

2 oranges

20 grapes

How to make this recipe

Mix custard powder with sugar in a bowl. Add little milk and make a paste of it with the help of a spoon. Add little milk again and dilute the paste. Boil the milk in a stew pan; add saffron and this paste in boiling milk. Keep boiling and stirring for 10 minutes on low flame. Make small pieces of eatable parts of fruits. When the milk is at room temperature; mix fruit pieces and almond flakes in it. Taste it, it must be very tasty. Keep the preparation in fridge for 4 to 8 hours. Serve chilled.

Kulfi is a very famous word all over India. From early childhood almost all the generations are well acquainted with this recipe. It is the other form or simple form of ice cream. In summer season kulfi hawkers and kulfi shops can be seen every where in Indian cities and villages.

Ingredients for simple and pure kulfi

One liter milk

150 g sugar or to taste

Process

Add sugar in the milk, mix well and boil the milk. Now leave it to cool. Chill it over night in the fridge. By doing this a thick layer of cream shall be formed over milk. Separate this cream from milk in a bowl. Divide milk in two equal parts. Simply mix all the cream in one part of milk. Deep freeze both the parts separately in ice trays for at least 16 hours. Now we have two qualities of ‘Kulfi’ or say ice cream ready. Taste both the varieties separately and judge the difference. These were the simple and pure kulfis.

Many types of pakodas are available in Indian streets and hotels. But they hardly make this item. Let us cook it.

Ingredients

4 to 7 lady’s fingers

1 to 2 cups of gram flour [besan]

One tsp turmeric powder

Half tsp ajwain

A pinch of baking soda

A pinch of asafetida

A pinch of red chili powder

Salt to taste

Cooking oil or pure ghee for deep frying

To accompany – onion, green chili, mooly, tomato salad, pickles etc

Process

Clean the lady’s fingers with clean wet cloth. Remove both the ends of it and cut in 2 to 3 pieces. Mix turmeric powder, ajwain, soda, asafetida, red chilly powder and salt in besan. Add little water to make a semi thick paste of it. Leave it to set for 20 minutes. Heat the pure ghee or oil in a stew pan. Dip three pieces of lady’s fingers in besan paste. Drop each piece separately one by one in hot cooking medium, deep fry until golden brown. Now three pakodas are ready to eat. Taste one Pakoda, it must be tasty. In this way complete the cooking. Also make 4 pakodas of punctured green chilies to accompany. Serve hot with onion, curd, salad etc.

Kapoor kand’s main ingredient is vegetable of bottle gourd [louki / dudhi]. This recipe is also called halwa of louki / dudhi and it is easily digestible.

INGREDIENTS

1kg green louki

1.5 liter milk

200 g Sugar or as per taste

1 g saffron

3 tsp cardamom powder

Half to one tsp black pepper powder

25 g almonds cut into pieces

25 g pistachio cut into pieces

50 g cashew nuts

50 g dry fruit chironji

10 to 20 leaves of red rose for garnishing

Half tsp rose water or kewda water for flavour

PROCESS

Peel off and deseed louki. Grate it in small pieces. Put it in stew pan. Add milk, sugar, saffron, cardamom powder, black pepper powder and 50% of dry fruits. Put the stew pan on full flame for five minutes, afterwards on medium flame. Keep stirring from the beginning touching bottom of the stew pan. Avoid over heating. When the contents remain less than half and becomes a thick paste the process is over. Taste a little, if it tastes half cooked, then continue cooking until completion. Transfer the kapoor kand in a plate or bowl. Mix rose water or kewda water or both. Garnish with dry fruits and red rose leaves. Serve hot or cold.