dal dhokli

Daal dhokli/dhokri ,is one of the very famous gujarati cuisine and a very common dish in our family,we all luv dal dhokli very much specially my daughter,she is crazy for dal dhokli but she is just like her grandparents (dada and dadi ) she dosent like any kind of sweetness in it,yes actually dal dhokli is meant to be khata meeta types,it is little sweet and sour in taste but since my inlaws are diabetic we completely avoid any kind of sweetness in our food and more over my father in law is very chilli friendly so he takes it with more of red chilli pwd and hot cut mango pickle in the dal dhokli,my mother inlaw makes excellent dal dhokli ,she makes it the same way i have mentioned just that she skips jaggery/sugar completely but trust me even though it tastes awesomely delicious where as my mom in mumbai makes like a typical gujarati flavoured dal dhokli with jaggery and lots of fresh lemon juice in it,therefore i am fond of both the tastes and cherish both kind of daal dhoklis,my daughter loves with a dollop of ghee in it with an extra squeeze of lemon juice :-).This dish is like a one pot meal very filling and completely flavourful.Sending this to nayna for her event flavours of gujrat.

serves approx 3-4 ppl
ingredients for dal :
11/2 cup tuvar daal /tur dal
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
2 tsp red chilli pwd
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 curry leaves
1/4 tsp hing/asafoetida pwd
2 tbsp grated jaggery or can use sugar instead (add more or less according to ur sweetness)
2-3 tbsp lemon juice or 1 tbsp tamarind pulp ( i always add lemon juice )
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste
corriander leaves to garnish
a tsp of ghee for taste (optional )
3-4 cups of water
ingredients for dhokli(dough) :
1 cup aata/wheat flour
2 tbsp ghee
1/4 tsp turmeric pwd
1/4 tsp red chilli pwd
1/4 tsp carom seeds/ajwain
salt to taste
water as required
method :
Mix flour,ghee,ajwain,turmeric,red chilli pwd and salt together,add little water and make a stiff dough,cover and keep aside,meanwhile pressure cook dal with enough water till tender and mushy,mash it completely with a masher and add  water to make a thinner consistency.Heat oil,add cumin,mustard,hing,curry leaves,add turmeric pwd,red chilli pwd,grated jaggery,cooked tuvar daal and salt,mix well,let it simmer,meanwhile take mandarin size dough and roll out thin (say abt 1cm in thickness )round,disc size,cut in diamond or square shapes and drop it into daal.Similarly roll out all the dough and cut into pieces and drop it in the dal.Let the dal and dhokli simmer for 8-10 mins or till the dhoklis are soft enough,keep stirring at intervals or else it might stick to each other.Turn of the heat,add lemon juice and corriander leaves ,mix well ,add dollop of ghee and serve immediately.
pls note :
1.As the dal dhokli boils/simmers together it gets thickened and so take care of adding enough water and if it is more thick ,you can add some more water and boil again.
2.You can use lemon juice/kokum/tamarind pulp anything for the sour taste.
3.The dhoklis should be thin in thickness so that it will cook completely and will be soft enough and will cook quickly in dal or else thick dhoklis wont cook properly and might be raw in taste.
4.Serve immediately once you prepare this dish or else it will get more thick after it turns cools down,best served when still sizzling hot.

vegetable sandwhich

I simply luv these veg sandwhich and can have any time in a day,healthy,nutritious,easy to make and simply calorie free,this time i didnt use any butter or any type of fat still maintaining the taste,you can add any of your favourite veggies and stuff the sandwhich,sending this no cal/no oil to priya for hosting this month's only-low oil/low cal event ,started by pari.

makes 2 sandwhich

ingredients :

4 whole wheat sandhwich size bread

1/4 cup shredded carrot

1 bolied and sliced potato

1 small cucumber washed thoroughly and thinly sliced

1 tomato thinly sliced

1/4 cup washed and chopped fresh spinach leaves

chaat masala to taste

salt and black pepper pwd to taste

green corriander/mint chutney

method :

Spread a tea-spoonful of chutney on one side of the breads,arrange all the veggies accordingly on that side,sprinkle some salt,pepper pwd,chat masala and cover with another slice of bread with the chutney side in,cut into equal squares or cut into cross  and Njoy eating.

besan ke ladoo

Besan ladoos/gram flour sweet balls are one of the very famous ,easiest ,taditional and common indian sweets,my sisters and brother loves them like anything,my mom makes very yum besan ladoos occassionally, specially on diwali or any festivals but she doesnt add rava/suji and any dry fruits in it so when i went through manjula's kitchen ,i saw the ladoos with same procedure and same ingredients what my mom makes but the only addition was semolina which i thought was a very new and unique idea to make ladoos with and so immediately i boomarked it,a couple of days back my friend invited me on tea-party for the first time at her place, so i made these ladoos for her and she loved them,thank you so much manjula aunty for these lip-smacking ,delicious and yummilicious ladoos.

ingredients :
2 cups besan/gram flour
4 tbsp rava/semolina/suji
1/2-3/4th cup ghee + 1 tbsp extra
3/4th cup-1 cup sugar (i used raw sugar ) (adjust acc to your taste )
cardomom pwd to taste (optional )
rasins/almonds/pistachios for taste/garnish (optional)
method :
Heat a deep ,heavy bottomed pan,add ghee, besan and fry on a low -medium flame for 7-8 mins,add suji/rava and fry again till the besan is  brown in colour and all the raw smell is gone,keep roasting continously or else the besan wll get burnt and stick to the pan.Turn off the heat,add cardomom pwd,suar and mix well.Add the sliced almonds and let the besan mixture cools down a bit,but still should be warm enough to bind into ladoos.Make the desired size ladoos taking little mixture at a time,dip one side of laddoos in 1 tbsp extra ghee and stick a raisin or unsalted sliced pistachios for garnishing.Store this ladoos in air tight containers for a week .
Sending this besan ladoos to
1. nithu,for hosting celeberate sweets- ladoo  ,an event started by nivedita.
2.aipi for co-hosting  bookmarked recipes-every tuesday ,an event by priya mitharwal.
3.akila for her event DNSW : B .
.

broccolli rice

Few days back one of my friend had given me brown basmati rice ,she didnt like the taste and she gave the whole 1- 1/2 kg pack to me saying that she was sure i would make good use of it ..thanks to my blogging :-) ,and since then i was planning to use that in my meal,also i had a whole head of broccoli lying in my fridge since long and to be very frank it was turning little yellow as it was a week before i bought it and never used it so i wanted to use it immediately or else i would have ended up throwing it into my trash bin which i hate to do so.This is how the broccoli rice was invented ,overall it came out as an easy ,simple recipe and was quite healthy and nutritious and a low calorie dish,this rice goes very well with any curry or dal.Sending this to torview toronto for her festive rice event,akila's event dish name starts with :B and to priya for guest hosting low oil/low cal event,an "only" series started by pari.

ingredients :

2 cups brown basmati rice ( any rice can be used if u dont have brown )

1 broccolli,florets seperated

1 large onion chopped finely

2-3 colves of garlic,grated

1 clove and 1 cardomom pod

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp garam masala 

salt to taste

1 tbsp oil

chopped corriander leaves for garnishing

method :

Wash and cook rice till tender.Boil broccoli florets in a pan using very little water (i dont throw that water instead i use it while making my chapati dough or in soups),strain the water.Heat oil in pan,add cumin seeds,let it splutter ,add clove and cardomom,add garlic and onions,fry onions till transluscent ,add broccolli florets and toss well.Add  rice ,salt and garam masala ,mix well ,garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot.

 

Mango mania ..

MANGO LASSI :-
Mango,the king of indian fruit is entering now in aussie land when the spring is digging in and winters are out ,mango is our family favourite fruit and we luv mago lassi with our heavy and caloriefull of north indian meal in indian restaurants and to add some more calories  with sipping this lassi over here on a lazy weekend,mango lassi was really new to me when i came here in melbourne and i was amused as here it was so common in all indian restaurants and when i read DK's post on mango lassi at CHEFINYOU i immediately bookmarked it and it reminded me the same feelings and thoughts which she had ,so here it goes the yummiest and sexiest mango lassi ;) ....SLURP..SLURP..thank you so much dk for this wonderful and delicious lassi.

ingredients :

11/2 cup mango pulp (i used fresh mangoes but store bought pulp can also be used )

1 cup yoghurt

cardomon pwd to taste

sugar/honey to taste ( i used 1 tbsp raw sugar )

milk/water to adjust the thickness ( i used 1-2 tbsp water )

method :

Add mango pulp,yoghurt and sugar togther and blend it till its smooth enough,add water/milk if its too thick or depends on your consistency,sprinkle cardomom pwd and mix well,refrigrate if required chilled lassi or serve immediately.

COCONUT-MANGO BURFI : -

The second new recipe i came across was coconut burfi using mango pulp which was very unique and flavoured burfi ,coconut burfi is very common at my mom's place as every fasting day she makes it for her self but adding mango was a wondeful idea according to me and something different so may be next time i go to my mom's place i can make this when she is fasting to collect all her blessings ;).This fantastic combo of mango and coconut is been adapted by REDCHILLIES.US,thanx a bunch redchillies for this gorgeous burfi.

ingredients :

1 tbsp ghee

11/2 cup shredded coconut ( i used frozen,after thawing it or can use fresh grated coconut also. )

1/3rd cup of mango pulp ( i used fresh mangoes but store bought pulp can also be used. )

1/2 cup milk

3/4th cup sugar (adjust more or less acc to the taste )

handful of blanched almonds for garnishing

cardomom pwd to taste

method :

Heat a pan,add coconut and roast for a while (till it slightly changes its colour ) on a low flame taking care of not burning the coconut,add sugar, milk and mango pulp and mix well and keep stirring on a medium heat till it gets little thick.Sprinkle cardomom pwd and mix well.Pour this coconut mixture in a greased plate/dish and set it evenly using back of spoon or pressing with a spatula.After it cools down,cut into square /burfi/or desired shapes ,top it with blanched almonds and serve.You can store it for a couple of days in refrigerator.

Sending my first season mango mania recipes to BB7-THE IRONCHEF EDITION event by nupur,here i have used mangoes as a common ingredient and made mango lassi and coconut-mango burfi out of it.

Kutchi Dabeli

Dabeli is basically a KUTCHI ( a place from gujrat,india )dish,very famous on mumbai streets and one of my personal favourite street food.The other day one of my friend brought this dinner rolls from costco and she shared some with me and immediately my hubby wanted to have dabeli as it was long i made them here ( in australia ) .I wasnt able to find these small paav's /dinner rolls but when i came to know abt these wonderful dinner rolls from costco i was really very excited and i  used them for dabeli, now a days pomegrantes arent available in melbourne so i used finely chopped strawberries ,which i had that day on my hands and it was quite a good replacement .Thanx sonali (bagad) for sharing ur dinner rolls with me :-).In my7 years of my marraige ,  i made this dabeli recipe many a times and everytime my hubby ( AJ ) cherishes like anything, i had adapted this recipe from my favourite cook shobha indani's "swadh sugandh "recipe book ( she is pune based and have her own cookery and personality developement classes and hostels for gals ),this was the first dish i remember making from tht book which was gifted by my cousin meena di during my wedding.Thanx meena di for this wonderful gift which was a very useful and helpful book in my life .Unfortunately i didnt bring this book here in melbourne as i never thought i would blog one day and now that i have started blogging i really miss my this book very much as i had tried many of the dishes from this book right after my marraige to impress my big time foodie hubby AJ ;).

ingredients for dabeli masala pwd :

1/4 tsp anardana pwd (ifu dont get anardana pwd,u can skip it )

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 -2 dry red chilliies

1 tsp corriander seeds

1/4 tsp hing/asafoetida pwd

1 small pc cinnamon stick

method :

Dry roast cumin,corriander,cinnamon and red chillies for a while,switch off the flame,add hing and anardana pwd.Let this cool down and grind them together into a powder form,you can store this pwd and use as and when required.

ingredients for potato mix :

2 big potatoes

a pinch of turmeric

1 tsp red chilli pwd

2 tsp dabeli masala pwd ( home made/store bought )

salt to taste

1/2 tsp amchur pwd OR 1/4 tsp citric acid

1 tsp tamarind sweet chutney

2 tsp oil

2-3 tbsp water

method :

Heat oil ,add boiled mashed potatoes,add red chilli pwd,turmeric pwd,dabeli pwd,salt,amchur pwd,tamarind chutney and mix well.Sprinkle water and mash the potato mix well,cover and cook for few seconds.You can store this potato mix for a day or 2 in refrigerator.

ingredients for peanut masala :

2 tbsp roasted deskinned and halved peanuts

salt to taste

2 pinches of red chilli pwd

1/2 tsp oil

method :

Heat oil in pan,add peanuts,red chilli pwd and salt and mix well,switch off the flame,masala peanuts are ready to use.

ingredients for dabeli :

7-8 small size dinner rolls/laadi paavs/small round plain buns

2 tbsp pomogranates ( i used finely chopped strawberries as i didnt had pomogranates )

2 tbsp masala peanuts

1 cup potato mix

butter to taste

barik sev/nylon sev to taste

2 tbsp finely chopped onions

1-2 tbsp chopped corriander leaves

1-2 tbsp shredded/grated fresh coconut

tamarind  chutney to taste

garlic chutney to taste

method  1 :

Slit buns/dinner rolls/paav's from centre(horizontally ),apply garlic chutney and tamarind chutney both the sides according to your taste,stuff a tbsp of potato mix on the lower side of the bun,top it with few masala peanuts,chopped onions,pomograntes,grated coconut and corriander leaves.Sprinkle some nylon sev all over and toast the buns with little butter on a preheated pan/tava/griddle ,both the sides and serve hot. 

OR 

method 2 : 

Like the ready made street stall sellers,you can set the potato mix flat on a plate like one layer,top it with some grated coconut,corriander leaves,masala peanuts,sprinkle some nylon sev and onions,so this mixture you can divide into the required number of buns an stuff into the buns and toast with butter and serve so it would be little easy and handy, i personally do this as have seen in mumbai selling dabelis in this style .

Sending this to nayna of simply.food for her event,"flavours of gujrat".

Beetroot ,rocket and feta cheese bruschetta

Beetroot ,rocket leaves and feta cheese,this unique combination and topping on italian bruschetta was very wonderful and the best appetizer i ever had till date,trust me,you may definately not try at once hearing the wierd combo,but one should definately go for this,you will surely ask for some more,also if you dont have french/italian bread slices for your bruschetta ,try using this topping on your normal sandwhich bread slice or can have it on its own as a salad,beetroot and rocket leaves combination is so fresh and healthy.I would like to thank my friend Ramya for sharing this healthy,beautiful and gorgeous appetizer ,its been more then a month now,when she made for our family potluck as an appetizer and that day itself i took the recipe from her and since then i wanted to make it immediately.

makes 4 slices of bruschetta (2 ppl)
ingredients :
4 baguette slices
1 large beetrrot ,peeled and chopped into small cubes
1/4 th cup of roughly broken feta cheese ( i used lemnos brand )
handful of fresh rocket leaves
2 tsp garlic paste mix in 2-3 tsps of olive oil
salt to taste
black pepper pwd to taste
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
method :
Heat olive oil,add beetroot cubes and saute repeatedly by jerking the pan till tender(it may take some time ).Brush the baguette slices with garlic and olive oil mix and toast in hot oven for 5-6 mins.Once the beetroot are sauteed,add rocket leaves,pepper pwd and salt .Spread some beetroot mix on toasted baguette slices and top it with some crumpled feta cheese and serve immediately.
pls note :
pls take care when using salt as feta cheese is very salty and u may need to add  less salt accordingly in beetroot.
Sending this to the following events :
1.priya for her event bookmarked recipes-every tuesday ,now co-hosting aipi of usmasala.
2.akila for her event the dish name starts with : B
3.priya for hosting this month's healing foods-beetroot ,an event by siri.

chinese fried rice

:

This chinese fried rice is in my continuation post of chilli paneer,it was to be posted long before but some other important drafts were posted in between,anyways have so many due incompleted drafts ,i really wonder when will post them :P, few of my friends wanted this recipe since long and so finally i am posting it today,hope u gals like it !This rice is off to akheela's festive rice event.

2 cups basmati rice/long grain rice soaked for half an hr.

1 cup cabbage,finely sliced

1 carrot julienne

1/2 capsicum thinly sliced

handful of french beans,cut diagonally

2-3 spring onions,finely sliced

2-3 cloves of garlic,finely chopped

2 tbsp chilli sauce (adjust acc to taste )

1 tbsp soya sauce

1-2 tsp vinegar

salt to taste

black pepper to taste

2 tbsp oil

method :

Cook rice in an open pan with 10 times more extra water,add little salt and oil in the pan.After the rice is done ,strain the water completely and pass through cold running water for few seconds,drain completely and keep aside.(dont overcook the rice and make sure you stir at intervals when cooking the rice,the rice grains should be seperated ).Heat oil in wok ,on high flame ,add garlic and all the vegetables,stir fry for 3-5 mins,add all the sauces,salt and pepper,mix well,add cooked rice and toss well.Serve hot with manchurian or on its own.

gud ke modak for ganpati bappa in my mom's style !

Ganpati bappa morya,mangal murti morya ...morya re bappa morya re..morya re bappa morya re..ganpati bappa morya..mangal murti morya...just luv these lines, today i am missing amchi mumbai soooo much..cant forget the entire nostalgic ganesh chaturthi day ,which was crazily spent ,at my mom's place we get the ganesha idol ,before hand we all family members together use to decorate the whole place for ganeshji and after that we use to go and sing the above lines and buy our ganeshji and then do the staphana,we do the puja/aarti both the times and my mom se to make prasad daily both the times ,morning and evening times for all 11 days and on the last day we use to go for visarjan and i always literally use to feel like crying and felt bad after coming home as that place was now empty ,and ganesha has gone from our house ,we use to keep the decoration like that only for 2-3 days and then remove,i just cant express my feeling now..feeling too bad,those old childhood memories,every year my dad use to take us all around mumbai for ganpati darshan,the famous big idols ,we use to stand in long queues but the waiting time was worth watching the themes and shapes of attractive ganeshas..missing all those beautiful days ..:(((,newayz coming to this recipe,this is my mom's speciality i would say,not only for ganesh chaturthi ,even on daily basis she makes this modak and stores and everyday morning while her puja she offers this modak to her ganesha and after some time that modak will be in my tummy ;) i simply freak on these modaks,now also whenever i go to mumbai at my mom's place my mom will give me daily that modak in prasad..luv u and miss u so much mom :( ,the recipe is simple yet unique as it is my and my mom's luv towards ganeshji,i have to confess this today,lord ganesha is my favourite god,once a week i keep fast for him and every year i make this modaks on this day :)

ingredients :

1 cup wheat flour /regular aatta

1/2 cup -3/4th cup ghee

3/4th-1cup shredded/grated jaggery or finely scraped (add more or less acc to u r sweetness )

method :

Heat ghee in a deep pan/kadhai,add flour,stir continuosly and roast till dark brown on medium flame,take care not to burn the flour.Take off from the flame,add jaggery and mix well.Wait till it cools down a little and shape them into modaks taking a tablespoon of mixture,keeping on your palms and using other hand fingers,shape them nicely and yum modaks are ready to eat.

pls note:

1. add first 1/2 cup ghee and if required add more,dont add too much ghee ,while roasting the aatta should not be running consistency 

2.add jaggery only after switching off the flame or else it will melt and get liquidy

3.wait till it cool down a little otherwise u may burn your hands/fingers,but at the same time it should not be completely cold otherwise it will be difficult in binding them.

4.you can add almonds/nuts,cardomon pwd but i like it as it is since my mom doesnt add anything else.

participation awards

 i recieved this participation award for sending my rasmalai recipe to sara of sara's corner for her monthly mingle party treats event,thank you so much sara for hosting such beautiful event ,im glad that i was a part of it....oops !..sorry for posting it so late :-)

This participation certificate is given by akila of learning -to-cook for participating in her event a dish name starts with A ,i had sent my two recipes to her beautiful event.Thank you so much akila for this gorgeous certificate.The recipes are as follows :-
1.akki roti.
2.anzac biscuits.

garlic rolls

Exactly two weeks back i was  blogging as usual and suddenly i revcd a comment on one of my posts by ayeesha of taste of pearl city ,  she also became my blog's follower,i immediately  landed up on her blog to thank her and that day itself she had posted these garlic rolls recipe , i was just amazed to see the pics and i immediately bookmarked it.A couple of days back i had made them (but posting now ,had some problems with uploading my pics....finally :D) and to my surprise it came out very good,i always thought iam very bad at baking...but i guess im improving day by day :)..and credit definately goes to all my fellow bloggers,whose recipes im trying and tasting .I was very happy to see the outcome,it looked beautiful and tasted divine,we three luv garlic bread very much and often we get it from super markets and bake them at home for our dinner and from now on i can make them at home ..yay !  !Thank you so much Umm Mymoonah for sharing such gorgeous recipe.

approx makes 8-9 (pcs)garlic rolls
ingredients for dough :

3 cups plain flour

1 tbsp active dried yeast

1tsp salt to taste

2tbsp sugar to taste

1 cup warm water ( i used little more )

2 tbsp olive oil

ingredients for garlic spread :

2 tbsp butter

3-4 grated garlic cloves

1/4 tsp salt 

2 tbsp chopped corriander leaves or any italian herb ( i used dried chopped chives and oregeno )

1-2 tbsp sesame seeds

method :

Mix flour,yeast,sugar and salt all together,add water and make a soft dough,add oil and knead till elastic.Cover and keep aside to prove it for 30-40 mins or till double in size.Punch down the dough to remove air and knead again for few mins,divide the dough into 2 ,roll out the one portion of dough into a rectangle shape keeping approx 1/2 inch thick with the help of dry flour.Mix all the ingredients under garlic spread together.Spread around a table spoon of garlic spread all over evenly,start rolling it from one end to other ,cut the roll into 4 equal portions and place into a greased cake tin/loaf tin ,brush the garlic rolls with some milk and spread some more garlic spread on top and sprinkle sesame seeds all over,repeat the same with the other portion of the dough too.Cover the garlic rolls while they are in cake tin / loaf tin and let it rest for 15-20 mins.Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 mins at 180c or till brown in colour .Remove from the oven and serve hot with soups or salads.
Since im posting it today,on my tuesday, im sending it to priya's bookmarked recipes-every tuesday  event.