Pyaaz Poha Kachori/Onion & Rice Flakes Kachori

Onion kachori is known as pyaaz ki kachori, and this dish is quite a fabulous snack dish. Though this stuffed snack supposed to have their origins from Uttar Pradesh or Rajasthan, now these kachoris are quite famous around India. Kachoris are often served with chutneys made with tamarind, mint or coriander. The most popular Kachori is made with yellow moongdal or urad dal spiced with red chilly powder and few more spices. Kachori stuffed with green peas is quite known in Bengali cuisine as well. However kachoris do exists in Sweet version also. Mawa kachori is one of the delightful sweet kachori which is very popular in Jodhpur and this kachori is dipped in sugar syrup. Do you know Kachoris are also known very much in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname.

Moongadi/Mogar Roti - Rajasthani Special

The cooking style followed in Rajasthan is based on the natural climatic conditions of this desert land. There is scarcity of water and fresh green veggies in the state of Rajasthan, which has an adverse impact on its cooking. In the desert belts of Rajasthan, it is preferred to use milk, butter milk and butter in larger quantities to minimize the amount of water while cooking food. Dried lentils and beans obtained from native plants like sangria are used extensively in the preparation of Rajasthani dishes. Gram flour is the major ingredient in the making of a couple of delicacies such as "pakodi" and "gatte ki sabzi". Powdered lentils are liberally used in the preparation of papad. Rajasthanis are quite fond of chutneys, which are prepared using different spices such as coriander, turmeric, garlic and mint.

Out of all the Rajasthani dishes, dal bati churma is perhaps the best known. For those who are in a lookout for variety, Rajasthan has a lot to offer. Infact, as you travel from one part of the state to another, you'll find that every region has something unique, which reflects in its food as well. After a simple comforting meal from Kashmiri cuisine, am taking you all to Rajasthani cuisine.

Badam Halwa - Rajasthani Special

Badam halwa or Indian almond fudge, which is highly delicious and definitely a quick sweet to make.This month's  Indian Cooking Challenge,a monthly event where we cook dishes from various regions of India, Srivalli challenged us with a simple and hasslefree badam halwa suggested by Vaishali.Seriously since am doing my internship i dont have much time to give a try to this halwa earlier until today, eventhough this halwa is super easy to make, apart from stirring. I soaked the almonds yesterday and finished making this halwa this morning. Loved the simplicity of this dish, we tried this sweet with quarter cup of almonds hence the quantity of other ingredients may sounds very easy to remember. Nothing much is needed to make this swet, obviously you can make this halwa easily within few minutes if you have sudden guests at home.

Mattar Kachori/Mattar Ki Kachori - Rajasthan Special

Rajasthan is in Northwestern part of India, its one the largest states which is rich in culture, colourful traditions famous for its grand forts,majestic temples, amazing landscape,splendid costumes and obviously for its delicious cuisines.The cuisine of Rajasthan had its uniqueness and you cant find it anywhere. Rajasthan is a desert and coz of this reason, this states has always faced a scarcity of water, the dearth of water results in the growth of fresh vegetables and fruits. Due to this conditions, the Rajasthani peoples prefer foods that can be preserved easily for days and could be eaten without reheating.They use less water and used milk,buttermilk and calrified butter to cook their dishes which takes the taste of this cuisine to an another level.Rajasthani cuisine is primarily vegetarian in nature and different regions of Rajasthan is famous for different kinds of cuisine.This cuisine is developed under the influence of Rajputs and Brahmins. The royal kitchens o Rajasthan have large number of unique dishes. The Vaishanava, Bishnois, Marwaris and Jains are strictly vegetarians and they developed innvovative vegetarin foods.

Rajasthan is a land where both kinds of dishes find equal prominence. While most Rajasthani families are strict vegetarian by nature, on the other hand the Rajputs or the royal families enjoyed meat in various styles. Popular dishes of Rajasthan is Dal Baati Churma,Dal shorba,Tamatar shorba, rotis, parathas,poori, kachoris etc. Lapsi is an another famous delicacy of Rajasthan made with dalia. Missi rotis, Tikadia are the rotis prepared quite often. Rajasthani people often substitute their wheat rotis with Jowar ki roti, Bajre ki roti, chane ki roti etc.Since Rajasthani heat is unbearable, people prefer homemade drinks, common drinks of Rajasthan are Jal jeera, Pudina Nimbu Pani, Kairi ka Pani. However the cuisine of Rajasthan is so rich in taste and flavor  that you cant describe it in words.Rajasthani sweets have many popular dishes like Firni, Kalakand, Kaju Katli, Mawa kachori,none can resist to these delicious sweets.Ghevar is a special sweet from Jaipur, famous for it unique taste.List of famous Rajasthani sweets are long, am sure one would have already enjoyed their dishes atleast once in their life.For Rajasthan special, i picked this crispy fritters aka Kachoris with spiced green peas. Mattar Kachori,these crispy spiced green peas mixture stuffed in a maida dough goes for a delicious preparation.This post also goes to Vegan Thursdays.

Atte Ke Sheera & Moong Dal Kachori

After dishing out some Italian foods, for this month's International Food Challenge ,a monthly event started by two wonderful food bloggers Sara and Shobana, the members of this food challenge group travelling towards Rajasthani cuisine of India.Rajasthani cuisine, the foods from this cuisne are prepared usually with milk, yogurt and buttermilk coz of the scarcity of water of the region of Rajasthan. Most of their foods last for several days coz of their traditional warrior lifestyles and depending upon the availability of the ingredients of this water starved ragion.This cuisine is a splendid array of unique,rich,colourful,spicy dishes and many more delectable sweets. Lentils and legumes like jowar, bajra are used very much in this cuisine and needless to say Gramflour is one of the main ingredient in this cuisine. The traditional Rajasthani dishes with vegetables can be eaten for many days and they dont need refrigeraton coz of the weather condition of this region.

This month's host was Manjula Bharath of Desi Fiesta, since she is from Rajasthani region she challenged the members with many delectable Rajasthani dishes, one among her challenge was her delectable Rajasthani Festive Platter. When i saw the spread i was awestruck, yes the platter she prepared was just mindblowing, can see her efforts and her love for her native. I chosed to cook a Halwa and a Kachori from the dishes she challenged coz of the lack of time coz i'll be in India while this post is up.Thanks Manjula for challenging us with delicious Rajasthani dishes, trust me i enjoyed making and having both halwa and kachori.

Jaipuri Mewa Pulao

When i chosed Regional foods for this week's theme of this month's long blogging marathon, immediately my mind went for Jal jeera or jeera pulao for the letter 'J', but since this both dishes are quite common in Indian cuisine i dont want to make them, while googling i find out an incredible sweet rice from Rajasthani cuisine. Yes,i got to know about this Jaipuri Mewa Pulao, which is quite unknown for me. I checked for the recipe and i landed to Priya's space, trust me its love at first sight. Seriously the recipe goes for simple ingredients and who else will miss a chance to give a try to this delicious nuts pilaf.

Jaipuri mewa pulao aka Jaipuri Nuts pilaf goes for rice,sugar,milk,ghee and mixed nuts with few strands of saffron. An easy, very nutty and an aromatic sweet rice which sounds much more like Zarda rice, eventhough this dish is quite different from it.If you want to make a different dessert in very less time for a get together,dont forget to give a try to this fantabulous pulao, am sure you will get more appreciations and applauses for serving this delicious pulao to your friends and relatives.Sending to my own event CWS-Rice guest hosted by Shruti Dhingra Wahi of Shurti Rasoi.

Rajasthani Thali ~~SN Challenge

When i opened my mail today i was surprised to see a Rajasthani Thali for this month's South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil,seriously i was very happy to make some Rajasthani foods for today's lunch. Every first of the month, i'll be posting a North Indian dish as am a part of the famous South vs North challenge. The motto of this event is to exchange an Indian recipe between two teams. One team is Southern team (bloggers  born and brought in South India) and the another one team is Northern team (food bloggers born and brought in North India). Every first of a month, a blogger from each team will challenge a recipe from their origin and the opposite team have to cook the recipe challenged by the other team.

For our this month's challenge, Manjula Bharath of Desi Fiesta challenged the southern team with her Rajasthani Thali while Sowmya of Nivedhanams challenged the Northern team with a fingerlicking delicious Vendhaya Keerai Paruppu Urundai Mor Kuzhambu.

As per Wiki, Rajasthani cooking was influenced by both the war-like lifestyles of its habitants and the availability of ingredients in this arid region. Food that could last for several days and could be eaten without heating was preferred by them. Their food cooked in pure ghee is famous for it's mouth- watering aroma. Rajasthan's tastiest curries are based on the use of pulses or gram flour. Dry fruits, spices and yogurt are used in many delicacies. Rajasthan can also boast of a vast array of savouries and sun-dried snacks. Be it dal baati and churma or missi roti , one always ends up licking his fingers.

Coming to today's Rajasthani thali, Manjula shared 10 dishes, i prepared 9 dishes out of 10 and left one coz of the sun dried moongdal wadis, yep i dont get these sun dried wadis here and the weather is too nasty to make some at home itself.Thank god, i picked yesterday goond aka edible gum, also prepared the dal with yellow split moong dal instead of the green split moong dal as Manjula suggested, apart from it i followed the original recipes as Manjula shared and we had a Rajasthani feast today.I prepared boondis, bajra flour and yellow corn flour at home itself, eventhough i get them easily in Indian groceries.Since the motto of this event is to releve the challenge every first of the month, sometime we dont know about the ingredients we must need for the challenge. Obviously i dont hesitate a second to make few ingredients we might need for the challenges at home itself.

Here are the recipes i made for our today's lunch:
1)Baati
2)Dal
3)Bajiri Ki Roti - Millet Flour Flat Bread
4)Makkai Ki Roti - Corn Flour Flat Bread
5)Panchmel Ki Sabzi - Five Vegetables Dry Curry
6)Gatte Ki Kadhi - Gramflour dumpling in Yogurt gravy
7)Matta/Boondi Chaas - Chilled yogurt drink with boondis
8)Goondi Ki ladoo - Wheat flour and edible gum balls
9)Kesar Malai lassi - Saffron Creamy lassi

 Baati:
1+1/2cup Wheat flour
Salt
3tbsp Ghee

Mix the wheat flour, salt and ghee, make a stiff dough (add water if need).

Divide the dough as equal balls,roll it.

Preheat the oven to 375F, bake the batter for 15-20minutes until they turns brown on the surface.

Take the baked baatis out and dip it in pure ghee if you are health nut like me, just brush them with ghee while baking.

Enjoy with Dal.

Moong dal:
1/2cup Dal (yellow moongdal/split green moong dal)
1/4tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
1tsp Ginger garlic paste
1/4tsp Garam masala
2/4tsp Asafoetida powder
1/4tsp Turmeric
Salt

Pressure cook the moongdal.

Heat the oil,let crack the cumin seeds; add the asafoetida powder, red chilly powder, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and cook for few minutes.

Add the cooked dal with enough water,bring it to boil.

Finally add the garam masala and let it cook in low flame for few more minutes. Sending this moongdal to my own event CWS-Yellow moongdal hosted by Manju.

Gatte Ki Kadhi:
For Gattas:
3/4cup Gram flour
1tsp Chilly powder
2pinch Carom seeds
1tbsp Curd
2tbsp Oil
Salt

For Kadhi:
2cups Beaten curd
1tbsp Gram flour
Few curry leaves
1tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp Chilly powder
2tbsp Oil
Salt
Chopped coriander leaves

Combine all the ingredients given for gattas and knead as a firm dough by adding enough water.

Divide them as 7-8equal balls and shape them as rolls, boil enough water in a pan, add the rolled gattas and cook for 8minutes.

Drain the water and keep aside the gattas.

Combine the beaten curd, gram flour,curry leaves with a cup of water, whisk well and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan, let splutters the mustard seeds,cumin seeds, asafoetida, once the seeds cracks add the turmeric powder, chilly powder and saute for few minutes.

Add now the curd mixture, again a cup of water ,salt and bring it to boil.

Keep stirring and cook until the kadhi starts thicken slightly, finally add the already prepared ghattas,bring it to boil,put off the stove.

Add the chopped coriander leaves for garnishing.

Bajiri Ki Roti:
1cup Bajra /Millet flour
Salt
Water
Ghee as per need

Take the flour,salt in a bowl,make a well in the center, pour slowly small amount of water and start kneading the millet flour, add water if needed to bring the flour together.

Make a smooth dough, dont add water else ur dough will turn sticky, take more attention while adding the water to the millet flour.

Heat the griddle in a medium flame. Divide the dough into equal balls, dust the balls with the millet flour and roll them gently as medium circle.

Transfer the rolled roti to the hot griddle, once you see the tiny bubbles on the surface of the rotis, flip it and drizzle ghee on the surface,spread well over the roti.

Flip the roti again and drizzle again the ghee and spread it over the roti.

Cook on both sides until the roti turns slightly crispy.

Makkai Ki Roti:
1cup Maize/Corn flour (yellow corn)
Salt
1+1/2cup Warm water
Ghee (for rotis)

Combine all the ingredients to form a smooth dough.

Cover and let it side for 10minutes, divide the dough as equal balls. Flatten them by using the fingers and palm.

Dust it with enough flour and press it between two plastic sheets as flat roti.

Heat a tawa, transfer it to the tawa,cook on both side until they get cooked.

Panchmel Ki Sabzi:
4cups Cluster beans,long beans,capsicum,cucumber,french beans (chopped)
1no Tomato
1tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1tsp Chilly powder
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1tbsp Coriander powder
Oil
Salt

Heat the oil in a pan, let splutters the mustard seeds,cumin seeds.

Add the clusterbeans, long beans,capscium,cucumber, french beans,salt and tomato, cook the veggies covered until they are half done.

Add the turmeric,chilly powder,coriander and cumin powder,mix well and cook until veggies gets well cooked and coated with spice powders.

Dont overcook the veggies and serve with rotis.

Matta/Boondi Chaas
1cup Yogurt
2cup Water
1/4cup Boondi
1/2tsp Cumin powder
Salt
A pinch Red chilly powder

Take all the ingredients including boondhi and blend till smooth.

Finally add more boondis to the chaas and serve chilled.

Goond Ki Ladoo:
1+1/2cup Wheat flour
3tbsp Edible gum/goond
1/2cup Powdered sugar
1/4tsp Cardamom powder
2tbsp Ghee for frying edible gum
3tbsp Ghee for roasting wheat flour

Heat the ghee in a pan, add the wheat flour, roast it in slow flame until the flour turns golden brown,allow it to cool

Heat the ghee, fry the ediblegum until they gets puffs and transfer it to a paper towel.

Now add the fried edible gum,roasted wheat flour,cardamom powder, powdered sugar and mix well.

Make medium sized ladoos from the mixture, if its hard to make balls, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of melted ghee and make balls.

1cup Milk
1/2cup Whipping cream
Sugar
A pinch Salt
1/2cup Water
1/2tsp Saffron strands (soaked in warm milk)

Take the milk,whipping cream,salt,sugar as per need, water, soaked saffron milk and blend together until they turns smooht.

Pour it in a glass.

Serve chilled.

Enjoy the Rajasthani Thali!!!

Rajasthani Dahi Papad Ki Sabzi/Papad Yogurt Curry

We south Indians always love to have papads along with most of our dishes or else we rarely use them making a dal based gravy called kootu. But papads in yogurt curry, i crossed  here and seriously the name of this dish itself tempted me a lot and prepared this sabzi before few days. Trust me this dish is seriously very quick,within less than 10minutes your side dish for rotis will be ready and you can enjoy them very well immediately. This curry once gets cool turned out thick and you can also finish it as a snack, but seriously you cant keep urself away from this sabzi definitely.

I used usual papads for making this sabzi, you can go with any variety of papads and even the spiced variety papads works out wonder here. This sabzi is quite famous in Rajasthan cuisine and this side dish goes simply for papads,yogurt and few usual spices. No need of veggies or dals and a wonderful side dish to make very much quickly when compared to other sabzi.If you dont have any veggies or dont want to make a dal based side dish for your rotis, dont forget to give a try to this dish.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27.

6nos Papads (medium sized)
3tbsp Yogurt
2tsp Ghee
3/4tsp Chilly powder
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1/4tsp Mustard seeds
1/4tsp Cumin seeds
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
Salt
Water
Few chopped coriander leaves

Break the papads as medium sized pieces, dont break them too small and keep them aside.

Take the yogurt,chilly powder,turmeric powder in a bowl,mix well and keep aside.

In a pan, heat the ghee, lets splutter the mustard seeds,cumin seeds and add the asafoetida powder,fry.

Now add in the yogurt mixture and cook slowly until the oil separated from the yogurt.

Now add the papads,water and cook for 5minutes.

Check the salt,if needed add it, never add the salt while cooking, some papads will have enough salt, if more salt is added your sabzi will turn extremely salty.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serve with rotis.

Makhaniya Lassi/Malai Lassi/Rajasthani Sweet Lassi

Summer will be very hot in India and obviously our first most wanted summer drinks will be definitely fresh juices or body coolers prepared with buttermilk or yogurt.My all time favourite summer drink is always the India's famous buttermilk drink called 'The Lassi'. Obviously i do prepare variety of lassis and love to blend out different lassis from the usual ones, once a while.

When i chosed Rajasthani cuisine for the second week of blogging marathon,i know i'll be making an excellent,rich and very droolworthy lassi, then i checked with two of my fellow foodie bloggers. Finally i prepared this easy breezy,very tasty lassi with plenty of nuts,i combined both Priya's Lassi and Manjula's Lassi, i couldnt stop myself having it..Just love it and thanks to both Priya and Manju.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27.Sending to my own event CWS-Almonds guest hosted by Preeti of Simply Tadka.

2cups Yogurt
3/4cup Ice water
3tbsps Sugar
1/2tsp Rose water
4tbsp Heavy cream
Few almond nuts (sliced)
Few pistachios
Few melon seeds
Few saffron strands

Blend together the yogurt,ice water,heavy cream,sugar to a smooth consistency.

Add in the rose water and pour it in a glass.

Top its with saffron strands,nuts and melon seeds.

Serve immediately.

Rajasthani Lapsi/Broken Wheat Pudding

You might heard lot about Lapsi, a beautiful sweet prepared with wheat rava aka dalia, but my today's recipe is going to be an another lapsi from Rajasthan. Rajasthani lapsi are traditionally prepared with jaggery and with ghee along with nuts and raisins. They looks dark in colour and they tastes absolutely fabulous. I referred two blogs for this lapsi and got a better idea about this lapsi finally tried it. They turned out extremely delicious and i couldnt stop myself having it. But this recipe is from Priya's Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes instead of sugar i used jaggery apart from it, i followed Priya's recipes.

Since this week is going to be traditional foods for blogging marathon, am posting again a beautiful sweet from Rajasthan. Make some lapsi with jaggery next time if you are planning for,am sure you guys will love it.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27.Sending to my own event CWS-Almonds guest hosted by Preeti of Simply Tadka.

1cup Wheat rava/Broken wheat
3/4cup Ghee
3/4cup Grated Jaggery
3cups Water
1/4cup Almonds (sliced)& raisins

Heat the ghee in a pan, ghee makes this seriously super rich and flavourful.

Add the wheat rava/broken wheat to the ghee and roast it until a nice aroma comes out.

Add the water, jaggery to the roasted broken wheat and cook in simmer until the broken wheat gets well cooked.

Finally add the raisins and almonds, cook again for few more minutes.

Serve warm topped with more nuts.

Rajasthani Gatte KI Sabzi

Gatte ki Sabzi is an another interesting and a very famous side dish served along with rotis in Rajasthani houses. This dish doesnt need any veggies, no need of chopping, cutting,cleaning and all, just few garlic and grated ginger is needed and the whole recipe is prepared with simple spices,yogurt and gramflour/besan dough which is cooked and cut as medium sized thick pieces. Sounds seriously very new na, yep i had the same thought too when i saw this recipe for the first time. This Gatte ki sabzi was in my to do list  since a long and this week of blogging marathon pulled me to try this wonderful dish.

I picked this gatte ki subzi from Manjula's space and seriously i loved this fantastic dish, the ingredients and cooking process may sound bit long but once you starts cooking this dish,you will realize that this dish will go for easy cooking process. An incredible side dish for rotis, with a mild tangy taste this sabzi is one of my recent favourite from Rajasthani cuisine.Once this sabzi gets cool,it will turns thick and even i had the leftover sabzi  as a snacks. This is my second post for this week's blogging marathon with traditional as theme.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27.

For Gatte:

1cup Besan/gramflour

1/2tsp Turmeric powder

1/2tsp Chilly powder

1tsp Ajwain/Carom seeds

1/2tsp Coriander powder

Salt

1/4cup Yogurt

1/4tsp Oil

For Gravy:

1cup Yogurt

4nos Garlic cloves (crushed)

1tsp Ginger (grated)

1tsp Coriander powder

1tsp Cumin powder

1tsp Red chilly powder

1/2tsp Mango/Amchur powder

1/2tsp Garam masala powder

1tsp Mustard seeds

1tsp Cumin seeds

Salt

Oil

For making ghattee, mix the turmeric powder, chilly powder, carom seeds,coriander powder, salt and oil to the gram flour,mix it.

Slowly add the yogurt and knead as a firm dough.(firm enough to roll it as mini cylinders)

Take a small ball from the dough,roll it as thick cylinderical shape.

Bring boil water in a vessel, add the ghattes into the hot water.

Cook the ghattes for about 15minutes, check by inserting a skewer into the gatte, if the skewer inserted comes out clean, gatte is done.

Drain the water from the gatte rolls and keep the water beside for making the gravy.

Once the gatte gets cool, cut into medium size pieces.

Mix all the spice powder to the yogurt given for the gravy and mix it well until smooth.

Heat enough oil,let splutters the mustards,cumin seeds, add the grated ginger,crushed garlic and fry for a minute.

Now add the spiced yogurt and cook in simmer until the gravy starts boiling.

Add the already prepared gatte pieces in it,cover and cook again for few more minutes.

If the sabzi is thick,add the already saved cooked water as per need.

Finally add some chopped coriander leaves and serve with rotis.

Rajasthani Dal Dhokli

Finally yesterday,we are finished our 8days of occasional foods for this long month of blogging marathon, here starts from today onwards again, the second week of blogging marathon with traditional dishes as theme for this week.Seriously for the traditional week, i want to make a different cuisine and my choice went immediately to North Indian cuisines. Been born and brought up in South India, my love for North Indian foods pulled me to chose one of the fabulous cuisine, the famous Rajasthani cuisine. I cooked earlier from this cuisine,eventhough its quite not a familiar cuisine for me. Manjula of Desi Fiesta, one of my buddy pulled me to cook her native state cuisine, if she didnt motivated me dunno whether i would have chosed this cuisine, thanks Manjula seriously i loved cooking some famous rajasthani dishes and i enjoyed it thoroughly.

For the first day of this second week of blogging marathon, am posting this wonderful one pot meal called Dal Dhokli, this dish suits prefectly for anytime of the day, this is the first time i tried my hands in making dhoklis at home.This dal dhoklis goes for a spiced wheat flour dumplings, this dumplings are later cooked in dal, this dish tastes fabulous.If you want to make a healthy one pot meal, dont forget to give a try to this satisfying dal dhoklis.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27.Stay tuned for more Rajasthani traditional dishes.

For dhoklis:
1cup Wheat flour
1tsp Red chilly powder
Salt
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp  Garam masala powder
1tsp Ghee
Water

Take the wheat flour, red chilly powder, garam masala powder, salt,cumin seeds, add the ghee and water,knead everything as a smooth dough.

Make small balls from the dough,press those balls with your palm like a thick disc.

Make a center to the pressed wheat dough disc and keep aside,finish the remaining dough in the same way.

Keep aside the rolled dhoklis and cover it.

For Dal:
1/2cup Toor dal
1/2cup Moongdal
1tbsp Ghee
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/4tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp Garam masala
1no Onion (chopped)
1no Tomato (chopped)
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
Salt
Coriander leaves (chopped)

Wash and soak the dals together for 2 hours.

Drain the water and pressure cook the dals together with 4cups of water with turmeric powder and salt.

Keep aside until the dals gets cooked.

Take a heavy bottomed pan, heat the ghee,let crack the mustard seeds,cumin seeds.

Add the chopped onions,chopped tomatoes and saute for few minutes.

Now add the cooked dal, garam masala powder, red chilly powder,cook everything in simmer..

Add now the already prepared dhoklis to the cooking dal, cook for simmer for atleast 15-20minutes.

Finally add the coriander leaves and put off the stove.

I cooked my dal dhoklis in vessel itself,if you want to finish the cooking process easily,you can cook them in pressure cooker for a whistle.

Enjoy warm with more coriander leaves.

Dal Baati Churma~~IC Challenge

After a month break Indian cooking challenge is back with some beautiful Rajasthani traditional dishes, most of us may know very well  or atleast heard a bit about this Rajasthani traditional dal baati and churma.PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds suggested this fantastic foods for our this month's ICC, honestly i have to say a big thanks to PJ for pulling me to cook up this delicious and traditional food of Rajasthan.

Usually i'll prepare my challenge foods before a week,but unfortunately coz of my illness i couldnt able to prepare this wonderful dish earlier, but finally i prepared them today for my lunch as my kids and hubby wont come for lunch. I quickly prepared this authentic food of Rajasthan this morning and had them for lunch, its been a while i havent had this much satisfying lunch.Simply loved this dal baati and churma, eventhough my tastebuds fallen in love with the churma.

Recipe Source: Sanjeev Kapoor

Rajasthani Dal:

1/2cup Channadal

2tbsp Yellow moong dal

1tsp Ginger (grated)

1/4tsp Turmeric powder

2tbsp Ghee

1tsp Cumin seeds

1/4tsp Asafoetida powder

2nos Dry red chillies

1no Onion (small & chopped)

1tsp Red chilly powder

1/2tsp Dry mango powder/Amchur powder

Wash and cook the dals together with turmeric powder,enough water and ginger in a pressure cooked for upto 3whistles.

Meanwhile heat the ghee in a pan, add the cumin seeds,dry red chillies,asafoetida powder and fry until the cumins turns brown.

Add immediately the onions and cook for few minutes, add immediately the cooked dal and chilly powder.

Bring to boil and cook in simmer for few more minutes,finally add the dry mango powder,give a stir and put off the stove.

Recipe Source: Tarladalal

Baati:

1cup Wheat flour

1/2cup Rava

2tbsp Gram flour

1/2tsp Ajwain seeds

2tbsp Ghee

Salt

Oil for frying

Milk for kneading

Combine together the wheat flour,rava,gram flour,ajwain seeds,ghee and salt, mix well and add milk to knead to form a stiff dough.Knead well and divide the dough as 8-10equal balls.

Flatten them lightly and with your thumb make an indentation in the centre of the baati.

Boil enough water in a vessel,drop the already prepared baatis in the boiling water, cook for 20minutes on high flame.

Drain it and keep aside,let them cool completely.

Heat the oil for frying, now fry the baatis and cook in simmer until the crust turns golden brown,drain the fried baatis with a paper towel and keep aside.

While serving bread each baati into two pieces, pour the melted ghee over the baatis and enjoy along with the dal.

Recipe Source: Priya

Churma/Choorma:

1cup Wheat flour

2tbsp Rava

2tsp Gram flour

1/2cup Sugar

Milk as per need

3tbsp Ghee

Nuts like cashew,pistachios & almonds

Oil for frying

Combine together the wheat flour,rava,gramflour with a pinch of salt in a bowl,add slowly the milk and turn as stiff dough.

Make medium sized balls from the dough and keep aside.

Heat the ghee and fry the nuts until they turns brown,keep aside.

Now heat the oil for deepfrying, fry the balls until they turns golden brown,keep aside and let the balls gets cool completely.

Grind this fried balls as coarse powder in a mixer.

Transfer this coarse powder to a bowl,add the sugar, fried nuts,remaining melted ghee and give a stir.

Serve this delicious churma with dal and baati.

Notes:

Instead of frying the baatis,you can also bake them in oven at 200C for 15minutes eventhough i went for frying. 

I used oil for frying but traditionally baatis are fried in hot ghee.

Rajasthani Mini Ghevar Topped with Rabdi~~SNC Challenge

Ghevar, an incredible Rajasthani delicacy served during Teej festival, a fasting festival for Hindu women,i have already heard about this high caloric sweets. But never had chance to tasted or prepared them at home.Coming to this month's SNC challenge, an event Divya of You Too Ccan Cook, both Southern group members and Northern group members got their mail yesterday with their respective challenges.As am a part of Southern group, i have to make this famous Rajasthani ghevar for this month's challenge. This challenge was suggested by Manjula Bharath of Desi Fiesta from Northern team,while Southern team challenged them with Vadacurry by Ramya krishnamurthy of LemonKurry, vadacurry is one of my favourite and seriously i felt like making them too.

When i went through Manjula's recipe, i thought this ghevar will be quite tricky. But for my surprise, this sweet is quite easy to make eventhough this incredible sweet goes for frying ghevar,sugar syrup and rabdi. The cooking process may sounds long but its truly worth to try this fantastic sweets.Ghevar goes for maida,sugar,ghee,saffrons,cardamom powder,few nuts,milk and condensed milk. If you have everything at home, this ghevar gets ready very much easily. Batter consistency plays an important role for making ghevar, batter should be thin without any lumps.

Honestly i have fallen in love with this fabulous sweet, even served with rabdi this ghevar have a mild crispy texture and we loved it very much. My lil one just relished this sweet delight and asked me again to make me some.But only disadvantage of this dish is its truly very highly caloric as the maida batter is fried in ghee or oil and served with hot sugar syrup, finally with highly sweetened rabdi. Once a while, we can enjoy this ghevar. Fried ghevar can stay for more than 15days in air tightened box. Thanks to Manjula for sharing this traditional sweet with us, we seriously loved it.

For Batter:
1+1/2cups Maida
2tbsp Ghee
Few saffron strands
1/4cup Milk (room temperature)
Warm Water (for making thin batter)
Oil for frying

Sugar Syrup:
1+1/2cup Sugar
1cup Water

Kesari Rabdi:
3cups Whole milk
1cup Sweetened condensed milk
1/2tsp Cardamom powder
Crushed pistachios,almonds
1tsp Saffron strands

Whip both milk and ghee together for few minutes.  

Add the maida and mix well, gradually add the water and mix it well to get a thin batter consistency.

Heat enough oil in a round,deep,flat bottomed vessel in high flame.Once the oil is hot, take the batter in a ladle and pour in the middle of the vessel in a thin stream from 1 foot height.

Once you pour the batter, the hot oil will start bubbling. After pouring a whole ladle of batter, stop of few seconds and start pouring small ladle of batter.

I went for two small ladle full of batter to make mine.Make a space in the center of the frying ghevar with a skewer once the batter gets settled.

Let the ghevar gets fried on medium flame until they turns golden brown.

Take the ghevar out of the oil carefully with a skewer and keep over a paper towel to remove the excess of oil.

Make a one string consistency sugar syrup with the sugar and water and keep aside.

Meanwhile in an another vessel, boil the milk and cook in low flame until the milk gets reduced to half of the quantity,now add the saffron strands, cardamom powder and curshed nuts,mix it well.

Add finally the condensed milk and bring it to boil again and remove from the stove once the milk turns thick,keep aside.

While serving, spoon the sugar syrup over the crispy ghevar and tilt the plate to remove the sugar syrup. Top it with the rabdi and nuts and serve it immediately.

Jaisalmeri Chana

Jaisalmeri chana is a traditional dish made in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, i crossed this wonderful and nutritious chana dish from here, i got hooked to this quick,easy and delicious masala immediately which i bookmarked few days back..Yesterday i prepared this chana dish to serve along with some rotis, both together turned out our dinner super filling,satisfying and super delicious...This masala goes for a quick preparation and its quite a fabulous dish to enjoy even along with rice, i enjoyed having the leftover simply for my snacks,everyone at home loved this delicious Jaisalmeri chana..

2cups Black channa (soaked & pressurecooked)
2cups Curd
2tbsp Besan flour
1tbsp Coriander powder
1tsp Amchoor powder
1tsp Chilly powder
1tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp Garam masala powder
1tsp Chaat masala
2nos Green chillies (chopped)
2nos Cloves
1no Cardamom
1no Cinnamon stick
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
1tsp Cumin seeds
Oil
Chopped coriander leaves

Heat enough oil in a pan, fry the cumin seeds, cinnamon stick,cloves, cardamom until they turns brown,meanwhile mix the curd,besan flour,coriander powder, amchoor powder, chilly powder,turmeric powder, garam masala powder, chaat masala,salt and keep aside with a cup of water..Add the asafoetida powder and green chillies to the fried spices and fry until the chillies gets well fried..

Now add the already prepared curd mixture and cook until its starts boiling, add the already cooked chana to the cooking gravy, add water in needed and cook in simmer for 15minutes, finally add the chopped coriander leaves and put off the stove, serve hot with rotis..

Kale Chane Ki Chhole - Black Chickpeas Curry

As i told earlier in my Missi roti post, this wonderful looking black chickpeas curry is from Priya's space, we enjoyed having this curry very much, while i was searching something as curry with black chickpeas immediately this curry tempted me a lot and  pulled me to try out, i got hooked to the simplicity of the curry with wonderful spices and flavours..Thanks a lot to Priya for sharing her kale chane ki chhole, seriously this dish is a keeper and i gonna make quite often in future as they suits prefectly to any sort of parathas, fried bread and y not with rice..

2cups Cooked black chickpeas
1no Onion (big & chopped)
1no Tomato (big & chopped)
5nos Garlic cloves (minced)
1tbsp Ginger (grated)
1tbsp Channa masala powder
1tsp Cumin seed powder
1tsp Chaat masala
1tbsp Kasuri methi
Salt
Oil

Heat oil in a pan, add the garlic and ginger, fry for few seconds, add immediately the onions and fry them until they turns transculent..add the tomatoes,salt, channa masala powder, cumin seed powder, chaat masala,crushed kasuri methi and cook in simmer for few minutes..

Add the cooked black chickpeas with their cooked water and cook until it gets thickens..garnish with some chopped coriander leaves and serve warm with flat breads..

Missi Roti

Missi roti is a Rajasthani speciality flat bread, its a type of paratha prepared with wheat flour and besan flour along with some variety of spices..Its a staple food of many  Rajasthani homes and its an excellent way to enjoy proteins in your diet, these missi rotis are high in taste and definitely healthy..While googling i came to know that this parathas can be prepared in many ways, seems some prepared with onions,garlic or either finely chopped or crushed palak or methi leaves, also its spiced up with red chilly powder along with ajwain and jeera seeds,obviously i went for red chilly powder, jeera seeds and methi leaves.. I served this healthy  paratha with black chickpeas curry which i prepared the same from Priya's Kale chane ki chhole, both turned out dinner simply filling, prefect and super delicious...

1cup Wheat flour
1cup Besan flour/Gram flour
1tsp Cumin seeds
2tbsp Methi leaves (chopped finely) or kasuir methi
1tsp Red chilly powder
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
Salt
Oil for roti

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, add little water at a time and make a soft and stiff dough, cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it sit for half an hour..Make medium sized balls from the dough, roll its a thick circle disc using flour while rolling..

Heat a pan, add the rolled roti,drizzle oil to the cooking roti, cook on both sides until they get cooked, serve with any sort of side dishs or simply with pickles..