spicy biscuits

Biscuits are very addictives .The word  itself asks for the term baking.Biscuits cannot be made without baking them and what a wonderful idea to post one of these recipes for the "bake-off " event hosted and started by champa of versatilekitchen.blogspot.com.I am really not good at baking and have tried only few things till now but not biscuits till date and was really inspired by many of the bloggers who have great passion towards baking and when i landed on champas bake-off event page i thought why shouldnt i try my hand on baking,if it turns well will post the recipe and if not then will not post but still try hard to be perfect.So immediately i started hunting for some easy and palatable baked recipe so even if it dosent turn out good i wont regret much :P ,and there i suddenly remembered one of my friend in melbourne .Once i had been to her place and she gave me some spicy namkeen biscuits to eat which were quite different ,she made by herself and said that they were quite famous in bangalore bakeries .They were tasting just too good so i asked her to pass on the recipe,i must say ever since i met this young lady i get more enthusiasm for trying new dishes,whenever i go to her place i always land up eating something different at her place and immediately will ask for her recipes and will try them,i am a big fan of her cooking and have posted few of her recipes adding my own little variation in them.So these spicy biscuits recipe had been taken from my friend though i have made some variations in it.This is my first ever entry for some event ever since i started blogging so im equally excited ,here the recipe goes to the "Bake-Off" event hosted by champa..

ingredients :

1cup plain flour ( maida )

21/2 tbsp heaped soft butter

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp kasoori methi ( slightly crushed with ur fingers )

2 tbsp yogurt

2-3 finely chopped green chillies ( adjust according to your taste )

1 tsp grated ginger

2-3 curry leaves broken into small pieces

salt to taste

method :

Preheat the oven to 200 c.In a mixing bowl add all the above ingredients together and mix well and form a soft dough.Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with small biscuit cutter/cookie cutter or any sharp edged lid to the desired size.Place biscuits about 1 inch apart on a greased baking sheet. Gather the trimmings and repeat forming and cutting.Prick all over the biscuits with fork so it doesnt get puffed up.Bake for 10-15 min or until it gets brown in colour.Please keep checking and if required can flip over and bake till it browns all over ( i didnt had to do that though ).Allow it to stand for few minutes or let it cool down completely and then it can be stored in air tight jars/containers for days.

note : the actual recipie calls for dry chopped pudina ,or cumin seeds or any italian herb as a variation though today when i started making i dint had any of those ingrediant and so i thought of using kasoori methi which is in dry form and also have a great aroma and flavour and is mine personal favourite,the biscuits still turned out super kewl which was already half finished with our evening tea and coffee :).you can also double the quantity and store for days and can have as and when required.

mango milkshake

We all freak on mangoes...right ?? specially i love the alphanso ones which is quite famous in mumbai,maharashtra (india).Since childhood we have been having chilled mango juices and shakes during mango season in summers and here in australia too i have continued my mango shakes though without alphanso mango ,still having an awesome taste so just thought of posting this recipe .The mangoes here are quite different as in the taste as well as the size,they are quite large ones,so according to the sizes here we can make 4 glasses of shake with one single mango,also i have used the full cream milk which i specially use for my daughter and the other day she wanted to have the mango shake as soon as i bought them from the market and so i added some water as the shake was quite thick,if you are using fat free milk then you can avoid using water and make with the milk only.

ingredients :
1 mango
1-2 tbsp sugar ( adjust according to taste )
1 glass full cream milk
1/2 glass water
1-2 tsp cardomon powder
method :
peel mango and cut into pieces.add milk ,sugar,water and mango pieces into a blender and blend till smooth.strain the pulp and add cardomon ,mix and serve chilled .

phutane ki chutney

March,the third month of the year 2010 have started and i have not posted a single recipe, was actually in holiday mood still,had been to GoldCoast early in the month and had a fabulous holiday break ever :P,so i guess i am still having the hangover of it and kinda was lazying around,but now its high time and today early in the morning  my hubby dear wanted to have " susla " in his breakfast...yupp the name is surely very unknown ,different,weird and uncommon to most of the people and it was to me also when i first heard it immediately after my marraige,years back at my in law's place.Susla is the most filling ,easiest and yummiest snack i ever had in breakfast,which is made up of churmure ( puffed rice/kurmure) and phutane chutney
(dry daliya/roasted gram powder chutney ),this recipe cannot be made without this chutney hence i had to first look out for it which i found was out of stock in my kitchen.Fortunately i had all the ingredients and it hardly takes any time to make this chutney which is in a dry powdery form and can be stored in clean air tight containers/jars for months and can used in variety of dishes as and when required.So here is my version of recipe which is slightly different from the actual recipe taught by my mother in law,from whom i learnt this which was regularly made by her in quantity and used in daily basis just like pickles and any other chutneys by everyone at our home  .She actually uses fresh coconut after they are completely dried under the sun but as its difficult for me to break the whole coconut and dry them in sun ,which the weather in australia doesnt permit me ;) so i have used dessicated coconut instead still not affecting much of the taste.

ingredients :
1cup roasted gram ( daliya/phutane )
11/2 cup dessicated coconut
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
1-11/2 tbsp red chilli pwd
salt to taste
method :
mix phutane and coconut together and grind coarsely,add salt,chilli pwd and cumin powder and grind again into a powder .store into a jar for months.This chutney can even be used with upma ,with plain parathas adding yogurt to the chutney ,also you can fill this in regular aata ( wheat dough ) and make parathas out of it which can be served with yogurt and lastly but not the least this is the main key ingredient in susla,which i will post soon in my blog.

moong daal paratha

This paratha is simply perfect when you are not in mood to do much of cooking & also if you are  travelling around ,it stays for many days and we have been eating this since childhood,but this version of moong dal paratha is basically , picked up from my mother in law as i am a huge fan of her cooking and its been years now after my marraige i stick to her style of cooking so that my husband doesnt miss his mom's food too much :P.We are leaving for Gold Coast today for a short vacation and i made few of these parathas so that if we are tired hunting for a vegeterian indian restaurant over there we can simply munch them instead.This recipe goes to efm-parathas and gravies/curries ! hosted by sri of me and my kitchen.

ingredients :
1cup moong dal ( yellow split dal )
2 cups wheat flour
2tbsp gram flour ( besan )
2tsp red chilli pwd
1tsp garam masala
1tbsp coarsely crushed ground nuts pwd
1tbsp oil
1tsp cumin seeds
1tsp fennel seeds
salt to taste
1 tsp asafoetida pwd
2tbsp finely chopped fresh corrainder leaves
water
oil for frying
method :
wash & soak moong daal for 2-3 hrs.strain the water,in a mixing bowl add all the above ingredients and knead a dough with ltl water to make a medium soft dough ( it can b sticky so use ltl water at a time) .apply oil and keep it aside for 5-10 mins ,covered.roll out chapati  shape circular thin parathas using dry wheat flour and fry on the hot griddle/tawa using oil on both the sides on medium low flame and serve hot with pickles and yoghurt or any curry available in your kitchen.