Poha cutlets ( rice flakes fritters )

These poha cutlets are one of my hubby's favourite snacks and it has to be because this recipe is my mom in law's recipe ,this poha cutlets are very common tea-time snacks but this one is in my mom in law's method and ingredients.It is so very crispy,crunchy and delicious finger food,perfect for this freezing weather .I made them with my gulab jamuns to celeberate my blog's success .This dish is very simple with few everyday ingredients which makes it more easier and handy .

method :
1 cup poha (beatened rice flakes, medium or thin variety )
2 boiled potatoes  OR 3-4 bread slices ( i used potatoes )
1-2 finely chopped green chillies
2 tbsp finely chopped onions
1/4 cup besan ( gram flour )
2 tsps red chilli pwd ( pls adjust to ur taste )
salt to taste
lemon juice to taste
handful of chopped cilantro
oil for deep frying
method :
Wash poha under cold running water ,strain and keep it aside for 10-15 mins.Meanwhile,chop onions ,green chillies and cilantro finely.Crumple and mash the poha with your hands,add mashed boiled potato ,besan ,chillies,ilantro,salt,red chilli pwd and lemon juice.If adding bread slices instead of potatoes,then just dip them in water and squeeze them completely and mash it with your hands .Mix everything together and make walnut size balls out of it and give desired shapes.Deep fry in hot oil on medium heat till golden brown in colour.Serve hot with ketchup or green corriander chutney.

Gulab Jamuns ( Deep fried milk fudge balls in sugar syrup)

As i mentioned in my earlier post that i completed 200 posts in my blog,it was but obvious that i had to make some beautiful and yummy dish to celeberate so i decided to make gulab jamuns, though im not very fond of sweet dishes , my husband definately loves and is having a sweet tooth,my daughter is very selective in sweet dishes,she is fond of gulab jamuns and so i decided to make them.Its not that i have never tried gulab jamuns earlier,i have definately made a couple of times before but this time when i made it turned out so perfect and gorgeous that my hubby had to comment that it was sure shot a ready made sweet mart style and bingo !! that was the best comment i ever got from him,he usually never passes such comments even in his jokes ,he is my best critics i can say and his compliment was more than enough for me to post this gulab jamun's  here.These days i am going through a lot of cookery books and i picked this recipe from one of those books.The book is Kurma Dasa's Vegeterian World Food.

makes approx 20-22 balls
ingredients for jamuns ( balls ):
21/2 cups full cream milk powder
6 tsps self raising flour
3/4th cup warm milk ( or as required )
ingredients for syrup :
23/4 cups sugar ( actual recipe is 33/4 cup but i used less , pls adjust according to your sweetness )
4 cups water
cardamon pwd to taste
2 tbsps gulab jal ( pure distilled rose water )
other ingredients :
oil or ghee for deep frying
1-2 tsps of warm ghee ( unclarified butter )
method :
Combine water and sugar together in a huge deep pan on a medium heat and stir continuosly till sugar is completely dissolved.Boil the sugar syrup for 10 mins and turn off the heat.Add cardomon pwd and rose water and set the syrup aside.
Heat the oil / ghee for deep frying on a very low heat in a deep non stick pan.Sift the milk powder and selfraising flour together.Warm the milk and shift into a mixing bowl.Sprinkle the sifted milk powder and flour into the warm milk and knead a soft and pliable dough.At this stage the dough will be quite sticky but rub some warm ghee on your palms and rub it on the dough.Make equal walnut size balls and place them on a oiled / greased plate or a tray.
When the oil is hot enough drop few of the balls into it ,initially the balls should sink in the bottom .That very moment shake the pan carefully till the balls turn over and comes up to the surface.Do not put any kind of spoon to move the balls or u might break them apart.Once the balls start to rise and come up ,then carefully stir them with a slotted spoon and roll them over .Fry till it turns dark brown evenly on a very low heat all the time .The balls usually expand and gets bigger in size .
Remove the balls with slotted spoon,strain the oil completely and drop them carefully into the sugar syrup.Fry all the balls in the same manner on very low heat and then drop them into sugar syrup.Soak the balls in syrup for atleast 3-4 hours or for best results soak them overnight.Serve at room temperature or can be warmed in micro and also can be stored for a week in refrigerator.
Pls Note :
1.While making the dough ,it may b little sticky and soft so dont worry , just wash and dry your hands and rest the dough for 2-3 mins and then u can apply some warm ghee  over the dough and make balls.
2.While frying the balls,the heat should always be on a low flame ,instead of stirring the balls try and shake the deepfried pan instead for best results.You can use the handle one deep sauce pan for frying so that it wud be easier to hold and shake .
3.If the balls collapses in the syrup that means the balls are not well fried so do fry them again for 5 mins more .So initially drop 2-3 balls only for deep frying and in sugar syrup and then you can adjust accordingly.
Since i have adpated this recipe from a book and its Tuesday ,im linking it to Priya & Aipi's Every Tuesday - Bookmarked Recipes event.

YAY !! My 200th post is the announcement of guest hosting an event - " Flavours Of Rajasthan "

I actually updated this post's title and these lines now when i realized this is my 200th post,trust me it was not intentionally ,organised and planned but  it was just perfect timing .Yay !! this is my 200th post and what a memorable post it is as im guest hosting my very first event in this blogosphere.My blog is 1 year 6mths old and i think im going little pathetic these days on my blog front as i am not very regular  but im glad  i posted 199 dishes in my blog,that sure is an achievement, for me atleast :)
Now coming towards this event, i would like to thank  Nayna of simplysensationalfood for giving me this oppurtunity to host her " Flavours Of  ...."  Series .This is the very first event on Palate Corner  and im super excited to guest host the Flavours Of  Rajasthan event , at the same time little nervous but i am sure my fellow bloggers and my non-blogger friends wont let me down and to be very frank they always encourage me and boosts my energy level way up high .
Well ,now let me start with a little background of Rajasthan and Rajasthani cuisine .Rajasthan is kinda a semi- desertic land , full of colourful and exotic natural and architectural beauty,it still holds its royal charm and is the most vibrant part of India.Famous for its majestic forts and magnificent palaces, it is a glorious land of courage and boldness. It is the most vibrant part of India and blessed with, stretches of sand dunes, serene lakes and natural surroundings.It doesn’t matter, wherever you travel Jaipur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer or Udaipur, you will come across some of the most unexpected mind-blowing architectural wonders, local fair or a bustling bazaar and ofcourse their traditional mind blowing cuisine . These are more or less vague sketches about the era, the history of Rajasthan is not something that could fit into a paragraph or two...
Last but ofcourse not the least the main and important section of all..Rajasthani food ..
Rajasthani cuisine is a splendid array of colorful, spicy and unique dishes. Rajasthani food is incomplete without the mention of the famed Dal-Baati-Churma, a distinctive and signature dish of the state. A delicious, rich, flavorful and a whole meal in itself. On the other hand, Besan or gram flour is a mainstay of Marwari food mainly because of paucity of vegetables in this arid land. Savor the esthetic gatte ki sabzi (curried gram-flour dumplings) kadhi (curried gram-flour in yoghurt),papad ki sabzi and mangodi / badi ki sabzi ( dried split mung lentils). Another exotic preparation is kair sangri, and is served with mango pickle. Kair is a camel's favorite, a small, round desert fruit which grows on a prickly shrub; whereas sangri is dried wild leaves. The seeds and leaves are soaked overnight in water, boiled and then fried in oil, to prepare a mouth-watering delicacy flavored with tints of dried dates, red chillies, turmeric powder, shredded dried mango, salt, coriander and cumin seeds.
There is no dearth of desserts in this desert state. The Rajasthani cuisine whole-heartedly offers a wide array of sweet dishes, that will indeed satiate your half-filled appetite.No matter it is Jaipuri ghevar ,dil jani from Udaipur,sohan halwa from Ajmer ,malpuas from Pushkar ,rasgullas from Bikaner ,jalebis,pedas,ladoos..etc..

Rajasthani food in its various mouth-watering dishes, served sizzling hot, and you cannot forget the sublime intricacy of taste that will whirl around your tongue for the rest of your life.

SO come on lovely people ,wear your thinking aprons on & get started with delicious rajasthani delicacies ....


pls.note : the source of information has been googled and picked up from various sites .

LOGO OF THE EVENT

Following are the rules of the event :

1.Cook any dish which belongs to the state of Rajasthan between 1st jun to 31st jul 2011.
2. Since this blog is a vegeterian & " eggfree " blog so please all the entries( recipes/ dishes) should be vegeterian and eggless .No eggs in the baking goodies too :))
3. Multiple entries are more then welcomed.Archieved entires are also allowed but please do repost them with the link backs and logo.
4.Please try and put the logo in your post as it helps to spread a word about the ongoing event.
5.Please link back ur entries to nayna's event post as well this event annoucement post .
6.Bloggers do mail me all your entries with "Flavours Of Rajasthan " as a subject on creativesonu@gmail.com with the following details : -
Your name
Name of your blog
Name of the dish
Recipe link
Picture of the dish not more then 300 px.
7.Non- bloggers can just mail me the recipe name,recipe and a picture (not larger then 300px)  please on creativesonu@gmail.com.

THANK YOU SO MUCH NAYNA FOR THIS WONDERFUL EVENT & LOGO !

HAPPY COOKING.....CHEERS ,
SONAL.

cannelloni pasta stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese

Winter is upon us so are coughs and colds ,in such colder months we are now craving for some warming comfort food,so today i made some piping hot cannelloni pasta ,which was quite filling and cheesy .Here i have used the regular and common riccotta cheese and spinach combination but you can wear your thinking aprons on and make some delicious and healthy stuffing to warm yourselves up. Our love for italian food is rustic ,after my luscious,lip-smacking italian dessert tiramisu ,my adventure in cooking is heating up and this cannelloni pasta dish invention turned out wonderfully good too. I used store bought pasta sauce but next time im gonna make my own pasta sauce :P.Also i would luv to add some bechemel ( white ) sauce on top ,im sure it wuold be divine.  

approx for 2 ppl
ingredients :

6-8 cannelloni pasta tubes
150 grms frozen spinach ,thawed 
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
500gms of pasta sauce ( store bought or home made ,i used store bought creamy tomato and mozarella pasta sauce)
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1-2 cloves of grated garlic
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil  + 1 tbsp to drizzle on top
1/2 cup shredded mozerella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt to taste
black pepper pwd to taste
method :
Boil the dry cannelloni tubes for 8-10 mins with enough water  , wash under cold water to get rid of extra starch.Strain and keep aside.Heat olive oil,add chopped onions and grated garlic.Saute onions for a while,add spinach and cook for 8-10 mins.Turn of the heat,add riccotta cheese and mix well.Sprinkle some salt and pepper in spinach and cheese mixture.Preheat the oven at 180c ,spread 1/2 the pasta sauce first on the ovenproof deep baking dish. Spoon the spinach and riccotta mixture in the boiled cannelloni tubes generously and place on the layer of the paste sauce in the baking tray.Cover the cannelloni's with the remaining pasta sauce and top it with shredded mozerella and parmesan cheese.Bake it for 15-20 mins or untill the cheese melts and gets crisp.
pls note  :
1. You can try using instant cannelloni tubes which can be directly filled and baked ,no need to boil them .And if boiling then take care not to over cook them otherwise they make break and loose their shape.
2.I had actually little less pasta sauce in hands then then given measurements above which  u can notice in my first pic,it looks a bit dry but nevertheless the taste was awesome.
3. You should cover the tubes generouslly with pasta sauce or else ur tubes will get hard and it might get little burnt taste after baking.
Sending this over to reshmi of rasoithekitchen for guest hosting veggie/fruit of the month event,brainchild of priya.