Maharashtrian Gavachi Kheer/Maharashtrian Whole Wheat Jaggery Kheer

I have been participating in few challenging events going around this virtual blogging world since i started blogging. Some challenges are seriously very close to my heart obviously i cant miss a challenge at any cost. Participating in few challenges brings you wonderful bond among the other like minded bloggers who loves to take challenges. We make friends, at the same time we learn to cook traditional foods. One among the challenges i always love to be a part is  South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil, this incredible challenge is to going to take its end coz of no constant participation by the members of this challenge. I loved this challenge very much and learned so many traditional North Indian dishes through this event, seriously its very hard to accept the end of this event. Actually we dont want to give up but Divya have some valuable reason for ending up this event. Yes she is right, this challenge was amazing in earlier stages, there were more members and more participation, almost all of us were fighting to get the first place. But slowly this challenge started losing its charm, but however every happiest moment have an end. This month is going to be the final challenge and obviously i dont want to miss the chance to cook an another traditional dish from North India as the theme of this event is to exchange an Indian recipe between two teams. One team is Southern team (food 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.This month"s host of North Team Manjula of Desi Fiesta challenged the South team with a traditional Maharashtrian Kheer.

Kadhi Gole/Maharashtrian Channadal Balls in Kadhi

Kadhi is one of the famous North Indian yogurt based gravy and its almost like our South Indian Mor Kuzhambu  eventhough Kadhi goes for easy breezy preparation. I love making yogurt or curd based gravies often at home whenever i feel lazy to cook. That too Kadhi goes for quick preparation and they will take hardly less than half an hour to get ready, no chopping no sauting no frying just mix the gram flour to the curd, add water, spices, bring it to boil and temper it, see how easy is this. This Kadhi gole is different from the usual one, actually ground spiced channa dal shaped as small balls are dropped directly to the cooking Kadhi and later tempered with turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and with usual spices like mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and chopped green chillies. Sounds very tempting na, yes we loved this delicious and definitely a fingerlicking kadhi gole with rice for our Lunch. Obviously you can see some ressembles like our paruppu urundai mor kuzhambu eventhough the spices are almost the same. Trust me this Kadhi gole is a very easy gravy which gets ready very quickly apart from the soaking time of the channa dal.

Flaky Coriander Mathiri/Khasta Dhaniya Mathiri

Mathiri is one of most famous North Indian snacks, i always want to make at home. There are two varieties of Mathiris,one is the thin,flat and very crunchy mathiris prepared by rolling the dough as thin disc which is later shaped with a cookie cutter, the next one is the thick,spicy and flaky ones. Mathiris are in my to do list since a long, but i couldnt make them earlier for some reason. But today i got an opportunity to make this thick,spicy,flaky mathiris for a cook challenge, yes this mathiris are this month's challenge for the Southern team of the  South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil. This month's host for the Northern team is me and i have challenged our opposite team with my native's special Munthiri Pakodas/Cashew Pakodas while Nupur of Uk Rasoi challenged us with this thick flaky Mathiris as the theme for this month is Evening Snacks, yes we have themes from last month and seriously am enjoying this themed challenges, so that we can cook from each category as some foods are very unknown for both teams na.

Munthiri Pakoda/Cashew Pakoda

Cashew pakodas, this pakoda is quite a famous snacks in South India, especially in my native. Whenever my grandma visits us she never failed to get a kg of this pakoda and onion pakoda from a famous snack stall in Pondicherry, obviously this cashew pakoda is something very close to my heart.Actually i make this pakodas very rarely at home as i dont like deepfrying. But since few days the Paris weather is too nasty and my kids started bugging me for some crispy fritters for their snacks. As am the host of this month's  South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil i prepared this crunch munchy cashew pakodas to challenge our opposite Northern team as the theme of this month is Evening Snacks.The concept of this event is to exchange an Indian recipe between two teams. One team is Southern team (food 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.

Gol Gappe/Pani Puri - Version 2

If God comes in front of me and says that i have an opportunity to have foods of my choice for a whole day without any limit, i'll chose immediately street foods especially pani puris, dairy milk and Bengali sweets. Yes i love pani puris that much, whenever i go to India i'll pamper myself with this droolworthy street food.Even when i went to Chennai for a blogger meet during January, i had these delicious pani puris with Kalpana and Preeti at Gongotree in Express Avenue, cant forget that beautiful moments. Today am posting this incredible pani puri for a cooking challenge. This is second version of Pani puri as i have already tried them earlier for an another cooking challenge. You can check it Here. Earlier post for pani puri went for a spiced water and tamarind chutney but this version goes for four different spiced waters and seriously i have completely fallen in love with this version. These pani puris are our this month's challenge for  South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil.The theme of this event is to exchange an Indian recipe between two teams. One team is Southern team (food 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 this month's challenge, Prachi of Prachi's Veg Kitchen challenged the Southern team with this Gol gappe and her version of this pani puri goes for a 4types of spiced waters to be relished with mini puris, no chutney is needed. Obviously if its pani puri for a cooking challenge, i dont want to give up by saying that i have already prepared Pani puris, also this version is different from the earlier one.Since we received the mail with this month's challenge bit late yesterday, i couldnt able to finish it yesterday itself, but i tried today and am having rite now my lunch with gol gappe.

Pani puri is a fried round puris stuffed with spicy potato mixture which is enjoyed with spiced water prepared with coriander,mint and tamarind paste,sugar, chilly powder and chaat masala. I have prepared everything from scratch, since we dont get dry mint powder and boondis here, i prepared myself at home.Since its raining here, i prepared my dry mint powder by slow dry roasting them in pan. They came out simply awesome.

To make dry mint powder:
Just clean the mint leaves, wash thoroughly, let them dry in a paper towel for few minutes.
Dry roast those mint leaves in a pan in low flame,until the leaves turns crisp.
Just crush them nicely and store it .
Your dry mint powder is ready to serve.

Paneer Tikka Kathi Rolls

April sounds bit hectic for me, i have few list of stuffs to do and still am lagging coz of lack of time, sometimes am running like headless chicken. Seriously i want a whole month of rest, i know its not going to happen never ever in my life. But its ok am happy with this busy days. Coming to today's post, this Paneer tikka Kathi rolls goes for this month South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil, which is landing towards this incredible Kolkatta famous street food. The theme of this event is to exchange an Indian recipe between two teams. One team is Southern team (food 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 this month's challenge, Minnie of The Lady 8 Home challenged the Southern team with Paneer tikka kathi rolls, while we the Southern team challenge them with a Kerala platter prepared by Lakshmi Vimala, hope the Northern team will definitely enjoy making this delicious Kerala breakfast dishes. Kathi rolls are wonderful street foods, which can be carried easily and can enjoy them without any mess. They are seriously very filling and am sure if you have them for breakfast you will definitely skip your lunch. Kathi rolls are prepared traditionally with kathi kababs which goes for chicken or mutton chunks but nowadays we can make kathi rolls with varieties of stuffing in it.I enjoyed thoroughly this paneer tikka stuffed kathi rolls for my lunch, trust me its soo filling, even am thinking to skip my evening snacks.Thanks Minnie for this beautiful challenge.

Mawa Gujiya

Mawa Gujiya is a very popular and common North Indian sweet prepared during festive season. Gujiya are also known as Puli Pitha, Karjikai,Kadubu, Somas or even as Indian Empanadas. Eventhough they look almost the same as half moon like shape, they are made with different stuffings. Mawa Gujiya goes for khoya stuffing,the famous milk solids usually prepared by slow cooking full fat milk in a pan for hours which involves constant stirring. If you dont have much patience to prepare khoya in the traditional way, you can easily get them from stores.

Coming to Gujiyas,this Indian empanadas is prepared with a maida dough, stuffed later by mawa stuffing.These deep fried beauties are quite addictive and the stuffing is just simply out of the world. When conserved in an airtightened jar, gujiyas can stay prefect for many days in room temperature. But trust me, these gujiyas are very much delicious and addictive to store them for a long time. After making a fingerlicking Malai Kofta Curry, this month's challenge for  South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil is landing towards Uttar Pradesh, Santosh Bangar the host of this month from Northern team challenged us Mawa Gujiya for this month's challenge.If you want to be a part of this challenge, dont forget to join us, just send a mail to the Divya and get ready to face the challenge every month.

Malai Kofta Curry/Malayi Kofta

Personally i think Malai kofta doesnt need any specific introduction, its a very rich curry prepared with paneer-potato combo fried balls dropped into a very rich creamy onion,tomato and cashew paste based gravy. Actually Malai kofta curry may sounds very complicated to make at home but its not that much difficult curry, they may go for a list of spices but trust me if you have everything at home, you can make this delectable dish within few minutes. Coming to today's dish, Malai kofta was our this month's challenge for  South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil. I missed the January month challenge and i dont want to miss this month's challenge, so yesterday i prepared this malai kofta dish challenged by Nupur of Uk Rasoi.

The theme of this event is to exchange an Indian recipe between two teams. One team is Southern team (food 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. If you want to be a part of this challenge, dont forget to join us, just send a mail to the Divya and get ready to face the challenge every month.Thanks Nupur, i got so many appreciation from my family coz of this utterly delicious malai kofta, i served this dish with phulkas since this dish is very much rich in calorie. If you are making Malai kofta for your dinner or lunch, dont forget to make low calorie dishes just to compensate calories in this fingerlicking rich curry.

Litti Chokha ~~SN Challenge

Litti Chokha is a traditional snack and a main course dish often eaten in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand region of India. But this the first time am trying my hands in making this fantastic dish. This dish is simply awesome and highly filling that you can have it for breakfast, lunch and for dinner. Actually Litti sounds almost like Rajasthani Baati but Litti is completely different dish in terms of taste,texture and prearation,its goes for stuffing with roasted gram flour with few spices.The stuffing makes the difference and the stuffing of the Litti is called Pitthi. Litti is served along with grilleded eggplants or mashed potatoes called Chokha.Chokha is a kind of accompaniment to enjoy thoroughly with Littis, today chokha is with just potatoes, eventhough some peoples may add both eggplants and potatoes in their chokha.

You may wonder why am posting this Litti Chokha today, coz Nupur of Uk Rasoi challenged the Southern team of  South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil with this fantastic combo while i challenged Northern team with popular Mangalorean snack Goli Baje. Honestly i always want to make some Litti at home but somehow i kept myself away from this incredible dish coz of the sattu, but Nupur helped us by giving the tips to prepare sattu at home and for me sattu sounds exactly like a dry roasted gram flour, then i pinged Nupur regarding sattu, she said to go with roasted gram flour. Thanks Nupur for giving me this much liberty to go for a simple roasted gram flour than the traditional one. However i'll be making Sattu at home coz am planning to make kachori with this sattu. Coming to this Litti Chokha, am gonna have this Litti Chokha for my dinner tonite and trust me the flavour of ghee coated Litti and delicious Chokha makes me hungry already. Atleast once,you guys have to make this oven cooked Litti eventhough the traditional one is boiled and shallowfried later.Loved this challenge and learned an another beautiful traditional dish today through this challenge.

Goli Baje|Mangalore Bajji|Goli Bajje - A Mangalore Special

When the weather is down or rainy, seriously i love to munch some fried beauties for my evening snacks with a cup of masala chai. When i came to know that am the host of this month's South Vs North Challenge, an event created by  Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook, i know i'll be preparing a deep fried evening snacks.  The motto of this event is to exchange an Indian recipe between two teams. One team is Southern team (food 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. Am very much happy to say that i got an immense opportunity to challenge again  the opposite Northern team for this month on behalf of Southern team. I have to say a big thanks to Divya for giving me this opportunity again after challenging the opposite team with one of my grandma's signature dish, the famous Chettinad Pakoda Kuzhambu few months back.

Coming to today's recipe, instead of making Tamilnadu foods i picked this addictive snack food from Mangalorean cuisine.Goli Baje or Goli Bajje, is a famous deep fried snacks which is quite popular in South Canara. This tea time snacks sound almost like Tamilian's Urad Dal bonda but this goli bajje are quite easier than urad dal bonda. With simple ingredients this deep fried beauties are prepared without any hassle.No grinding, no soaking and no onion or garlic, yes this Mangalore bajjis goes for an easy breezy preparation. Traditionally this bajjis are served with coconut chutney but somehow i love mine with ketchup, however this bajjis doesnt even need any side dish.

Hyderabadi Vegetable Dum Biriyani ~~ SN Challenge

Every first of the month, my followers know very well that i'll post the challenge of the month suggested by the Northern team under the event South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil. This month its a celebration time and its been a year this event is going around successfully.Since its a celebration month,Divya suggested to cook and post the challenges which we didnt able to do during this year. But i have already finished my all challenges challenged by the Northern team, i chosed to cook from the challenges suggested by the Southern team.

I always want to cook the veritable vegetable Hyderabadi dum briyani and i chosed to cook it, this challenge was suggested by Swasthi of Swasthi's Indian Food Blog, this dum briyani was our today's Sunday lunch. Trust me this dum briyani is definitely everybody's favourite at home. As Swasthi told, even i was bit scared for the only reason that mostly the bottom part of this kind of layered biryani gets burnt and it will affect the taste of the entire dish. Swasthi did an incredible work by taking step by step pics and shared many notes to make this biryani easier, loved all her efforts. Seriously i enjoyed thoroughly making this prefectly cooked,flavourful famous Hyderabadi vegetable biryani.

Hyderabadi dum briyani are very famous among South Indians, i had a chance to taste the original dum briyani when i travelled last time to India and my chithi makes a wonderful dum briyani and my family is a great fan of her's dum briyani. I couldnt stop myself drooling here when i was typing about this biryani, yes i still remember the taste of the flavourful biryani i tasted in Hyderabad. If you have a get together, dont forget to make this fantastic biryani and am sure you will get many appreciations from your guest.

Falooda ~~SN Challenge

Yesterday i was eagerly waiting to see our this month's South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil, unfortunately we the South Indian Team came to know about our challenge very late in nite. Eventhough before leaving to bed, i checked the recipe and its our family favourite Falooda, this drink is in my  to do list since ages, but somehow i couldnt able to make them earlier. This time how can i skip this drink, whenever we go to Indian restaurant, my daughter will definitely order this chilled and sweet beverage and we love to have a sip from her's. Everytime she yells on us for finishing wat she ordered but who cares and everytime we do the same. Obviously when i prepared her favourite drink at home, she had this drink after her lunch and enjoyed finally a tall glass of this falooda completely by herself.

Do you know Falooda or Faluda is a cold and sweet beverage containing many ingredients which is very popular in South Asia. Traditionally it is made by mixing rose syrup with vermicelli, basil (sabza/takmaria) seeds, jelly pieces and tapioca pearls along with either milk or icecream.Falooda vermicelli are often made from arrowroot rather than wheat. The rose syrup may be substituted with another flavoured base like mango,chocolate, saffron or else with any other fruit syrup but my choice is always rose syrup.Nowadays faluda is a popular summer drink throughout Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and the Middle East and is readily available in restaurants and beach stalls.Thanks to this month's North team Minnie of The Lady8home for challenging the South team (which i belongs) with this incredible beverage while Vijayalakshmi of our South team challenged the opposite North team with Ellu Poorna Kuzhakattai, a must for the upcoming Ganesh chathurthi in every South Indian's home.Minnie suggested us two versions of falooda one with icecream and second one with malai kulfi, somehow i went for the icecream one.

Kesar Pista Kulfi~~SN Challenge

Anything from freezer makes everyone happy when the weather is super hot outside, as i told earlier we are running behind chilled fresh juices, icecreams coz of the super hot weather and am trying to avoid to buy from stores, nothing can beat the homemades na. Today is the 1st day of the month and obviously i'll posting my first recipe of the month for the famous South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil. After making an elaborated Rajasthani Thali challenged by Manjula, i was quite excited also anxious to know about this month's challenge for the Southern team, coz anything can happen in this SN Challenge. Thank god, this month's challenge was the famous Kesar pista kulfi, a very apt chilled dessert for us to enjoy while the North team have to prepare the most famous dal kheer aka pasiparuppu payasam challenged by Divya Pramil.

Once i went through the Kesar Pista Kulfi recipe challenged by Shruti of Shruthi Rasoi, i started immediately making this incredible nutty kulfi for our afternoon's dessert. Thanks Shruti,am just relishing the kulfi dear and loving it, its was so creamy,highly nutty with a superb saffron flavour. 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. If you want to be a part of this challenge, dont forget to join us, just send a mail to the Divya and get ready to face the challenge every month.Sending to Srivalli's Summer Special Mela.

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!!!

Bengali Chanar Jalebi /Paneer Jalebi~~ SN Challenge

Been a South Indian, Bengali sweets are quite famous in my hometown and if its a special day my dad never forget to bought some rasgullas from one of the Bengali sweet stall in Pondicherry. Obviously Bengali sweets are our family favourite.Apart from rasgullas and sandesh, i dont know much about  Bengali sweets before entering to this virtual world, slowly i came to know about many more Bengali sweets and tried some at home. This time i got an another wonderful chance to try out an incredible chanar jalebi for our this month's Southvs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil.

Yesterday you might have noticed thathave posted a chettinad style gravy to challenge our opposite aka Northern team and today am here with this Chanar jalebi as Chandrani of Cuisine Delights challenged the Southern team with this beautiful deep fried paneer jalebis. I heard lot about this paneer jalebis, Chandrani tempted me very much with her beautiful jalebis, finally tried them immediately with some homemade paneer.Everyone enjoyed thoroughly this pretzel like jalebis and this jalebis sounds very much easier than the usual jalebis.Thanks to Chandrani for challenging us with this beautiful chanar jalebis and we enjoyed this authentic paneer jalebis to the core.I served this jalebis with leftover sugar syrup eventhough those jalebis are well swelled in sugar syrup.

2litres Milk

Lemon juice per need

3tsp Maida

1tsp Milk

1tsp Baking powder

1/2tsp Cardamom powder

3nos Cardamom (crushed)

1cup Sugar

1/2cup Water

Oil for deep frying

Few saffron strands & nuts for serving

Boil the milk and add the lemon juice to make fresh paneer.

Now strain this curdled milk to strain the paneer, squeeze out the excess of water and keep aside for few minutes.

Meanwhile in a heavy bottom pan, bring boil the sugar and water,crushed cardamoms and stir until the sryup turns thick.

Now knead the cheese with cardamom powder,milk,maida for 15minutes to form a smooth dough.

Pinch a small ball from the prepared paneer dough and roll it as rope,twist the end of the rolled rope to form a pretzel like shape.

Heat the oil for deepfrying in medium flame, slowly drop the already prepared paneer jalebis into the oil and cook until they turns golden brown, dunno y mine didnt turned out dark brown.

Drop the cooked jalebis immediately to the warm syrup and let them sit for few hours.

Serve the paneer jalebis hot or chilled with some chopped nuts and saffron strands.

Chettinad Pakoda Kuzhambu

Most of my followers will know definitely about the famous South Vs North Challenge group, created by  Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook.  The motto of this event is to exchange an Indian recipe between two teams. One team is Southern team (food 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. Am very much happy to say that i got an immense opportunity to challenge the opposite Northern team for this month on behalf of Southern team. I have to say a big thanks to Divya for giving me this opportunity to share one of my grandma's signature dish, the famous chettinad pakoda kuzhambu for challenging my opposite team aka north team.

Chettinad cuisine doesnt need any introduction and this cuisine is quite famous for their authentic dishes. Been born and brought up in South India, i was pampered by chettinad style dishes and this cuisine is very much close to my heart. Coming to this pakoda kuzhambu, my paternal grandma is an expert in cooking and she makes excellent chettinad pakoda kuzhambu. When Divya asked me to be the host for this month's challenge, i immediately chosed Chettinad pakoda kuzhambu to challenge the opposite Northern team. This dish is quite easy when compared to other authentic chettinad dishes, apart from soaking dals the cooking time and cooking process goes for an easy breezy preparation.This fingerlicking pakoda kuzhambu makes a perfect pair with rice, you can serve this kuzhambu along with South Indian breakfast dishes like idlis or dosas.

 For Pakodas:
1/2cup Channadal/Kadala paruppu
3nos Dry red chillies
1tsp Fennel seeds
Salt
Oil for frying

Soak the channdal for two hours.

Take the soaked dals,dry red chillies,fennel seeds,salt together and grind as bit coarse paste with bit water.

Heat oil for frying, once the oil is hot.

Take a golf sized ball of grounded mixture and pinch gently a small quantity of this mixture as shapeless pakodas and drop into the hot oil and fry.

Fry the pakodas until they turns golden brown.

Drain the excess of oil with a paper towel and keep aside.

For Gravy:
2nos Onions (chopped finely)
2nos Tomatoes (chopped finely)
6nos Garlic pods (chopped)
2nos Green chillies (slit opened
1tbsp Coriander powder
1tsp Red chilly powder
Oil
Salt
Coriander leaves (chopped)

For seasoning:
1inch Cinnamon stick
2nos Cloves
2nos Green cardamoms
2nos Bay leaves
1tsp Fennel seeds
Few curry leaves

To grind:
1tsp Poppy seeds
4tbsp Grated coconut
6nos Cashew nuts
1tbsp Roasted channadal/Dalia/Pottukadalai

Grind all the ingredients given under the list 'to grind' as fine paste with enough water.

Heat enough oil in a kadai, add the spices given under 'for seasoning' and fry until they turns brown.

Add the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes,chopped garlic,slit opened green chillies and saute until the veggies gets well cooked.

Now add the grounded paste to the cooking veggies,cook  in simmer for 2 minutes in simmer.

Add 5cups of water, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt, give a stir and cook in medium flame.

Close the kadai, cook for 5 more minutes, keep the gravy watery.

Add the water if needed, once you add pakodas, they tends to absorb the gravy and finally no gravy will be left once the pakodas gets well cooked in gravy.

So keep the gravy enough watery.

Once the oil gets separates slightly from the gravy, add the pakodas immediately to the gravy.

Dont stir the gravy after adding the pakodas, bring boil the gravy once and switch off the stove.

Finally add the chopped coriander leaves to the gravy, give a stir.

Serve hot with rice and papads.

Dhokar Dalna/Bengali Lentils Cakes Curry~~SN Challenge

Dhokar dalna is a traditional Bengali lentil cakes curry which is served during pooja or as a part of a meal.This lentils cakes cooked in tomato, coconut milk and cashew raisin paste is a pure Sativk dish, that means this dish doesnt need neither onions nor garlic. This dish is also served during special occasions like weddings to the widows who are not allowed to intake onions and garlic. This dish in my to do list since a long, but somehow i wasnt able to do this dish and taste them.This dhokar dalna is a favourite dish of most of the Bengalis. Dhoka means' to cheat' in sanskirt and still is a mystery why this dish is named as though. Even Bengalis doesnt know the reason for it. Yea some dishes doesnt need the meaning of their name,wat we all need is the taste of this dish na. Am enjoying rite now this dish with rice as my lunch, trust me its seriously mindblowing,delicious,super flavourful and nutritious on the same time.

Every first of the month, i'll be posting a North Indian dish as am a part of the famous South vs North challenge, an event started by Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook. 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, Nabanita Das of Esho-Bosho-Aahare challenged the Southern team with this famous Bengalo Dhokar Dalna while Roha of Hyderbadi Cuisine challenged the Northern team with a rich and droolworthy Qubani Ka Meeta,the fmous Hyderbadi apricot dessert. Both challenges are mindblowing and love to make some Qubani ka meeta too soon.

Lentil cakes:
1cup Channadal/Bengal gram
1/2cup Dried green peas/Split peas dal/split yellow peas (since i dont have yellow peas,i used split green peas)
1/2cup Grated coconut
1tsp Ginger paste
1/2tsp Asafoetida powder
1tsp Onion seeds/Nigella seeds
2nos Green chillies (chopped)
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
1/4tsp Baking soda
2tbsp Oil for cooking the batter
Oil for frying

Soak the channa dal, split greenpeas or split yellow peas (not the toor dal neither fried gram dal) for 4hours.

Now grind the soaked dal as coarse paste with green chillies.

Add the onions seeds,ginger paste,turmeric powder,salt,grated coconut,baking soda to the grounded batter.

Mix well and keep aside.

In a kadai, heat the oil, fry the asafoetida powder, add the batter and stir continuouly in simmer until the batter turns thick and get off from the bottom of the kadai.

Transfer the cooked batter to a greased plate, flatten them and keep aside to cool.

With a knife,cut the cooled batter as any shape as u desire.

Deep fry now this sliced pieces until they turns light brown colour and keep aside.

For curry:
3nos Potatoes (medium & cubed)
1no Tomato (big & chopped)
3nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1tbsp Garam masala powder
1tsp Red chilly powder
1tsp Turmeric powder
1/4cup Cashew+raisin paste
2cup Coconut milk (thick milk)
1/2cup Grated coconut
1tbsp Ginger paste
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
2tsp Cumin seeds
Salt
Oil for cooking

Soak the raisins and cashew in hot water for half an hour, grind as fine paste and keep aside.

Heat 2tbsp oil, add half of the turmeric powder, salt to the cubed potatoes, fry it in the hot oil until they turns crispy,remove from the oil and keep aside.

Heat the remaining oil in a kadai, now add the asafoetida,cuminseeds, bay leaves, fry until they turns brown.

Add the slit opened green chillies,ginger paste and fry for few minutes.

Add now the chopped tomatoes and fry everything until the tomatoes turns mushy.

Now add the red chilly powder,cumin seed powder,garam masala powder,turmeric powder to the cooking tomatoes and cook for few more minutes,until the oil comes out.

Add the grated coconut,coconut milk to them and cook for few minutes.

Finally add the already prepared cashew raisins paste,fried potatoes,cook again everything in simmer until the gravy turns bit thick.

Add water if need to adjust the gravy consistency.

Finally add the fried lentil cakes, sprinkle the garam masala powder on the top,cover and put off the stove.

Serve dhokar dalna with rice topped with few drops of ghee

Notes:
Once the fried lentil cakes are added to the gravy, dont forget to the serve the dish, else the gravy will turns thick.

While frying the lentil cakes, be careful some make break,but dont worry.

Khandvi - Gujarati Farsan~~ SN Challenge

Khandvi is a simple,quick and fantastic snacks from Gujarat, i really love this snacks and i have already tried them at home for an another challenge.Khandvi goes for easy ingredients and you can prepare this snacks in a jiffy if you have all the ingredients in your hands. Just mix, the gram flour with curd and salt,sugar,cook in simmer until they gets well cooked and turn as thick mass, spread it over a greased surface,cut as strips and roll it, later temper it with some spices,your khandvi the famous Gujarati snacks is ready to enjoy. Heard that this khandvis have their important place in a Gujarathi thali and its a must.

If you are following my blog, you will definitely know about the wonderful South vs North challenge, an event started by Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook. 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.Very interesting event na, obviously even we are born and brought up in India, seriously we have loads of interesting foods to learn and taste. This event will definitely pull us to discover many interesting dishes been eaten quite usually in other parts of our country. So every first of the month, i'll be always thrilled to check my mails  and this morning, i was surprised to see two more beautiful dishes challenged by two members of this event, for the Southern team Hetal Acharya of Gujarati Zaika challenged us with this fabulous khandvis,while Shama challenged the Northern team with my favourite karupatti aapam.Thanks Hetal for challenging the southern team with this delicious khandvis, i loved it very much.

1cup Gram flour
1/2cup Sour curd
1+1/2cup Water
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp Sugar
Salt

For tempering:
1tbsp Oil
1tsp Mustard seeds
1tsp Sesame seeds
1tsp Asafoetida powder
10nos Curryleaves
1no Green chilly
1no Dry kashmiri red chilli
2tbsp Grated coconut
2tbsp Coriander (chopped)

Mix together the gram flour,curd,turmeric powder,sugar,salt and whisk together to make a smooth batter and without any lump.

Transfer this mixture to a non stick pan and cook in medium heat , stir continously.

Cook for 10minutes or until the batter turns thick, meanwhile grease a baking sheet or a plate and keep aside.

Spread a spoon of this mixture to the greased sheet,wait for few seconds and try to roll it, if you are able to roll,remove the cooking mixture from the heat.

Pour immediately the mixture to the greased surface and with the back of a spoon,spread it thinly.

Allow it to dry for 5 minutes.Cut it as strips,roll each strip into spirals.

Meanwhile heat the oil for tempering, add the mustard seeds,sesame seeds, once the seeds starts crackling, add the asafoetida,curryleaves, chopped green chilly,dry red chilly and fry until they get fried.

Sprinkle the tempered spices over the khandvi rolls and garnish with coriander and coconut.

Enjoy with a cup of tea.

Chickpea/Channa Dal Halwa~~SNC Challenge

First day of every month, i know most of us will check our mails just to know wat we guys have to cook for a fantabulous SNC challenge. I was super thrilled to check my mails this morning and i was surprised to see two beautiful dishes, for the Southern team Kirti challenged us with a droolworthy and irresistible channadal halwa while Swasthi challenged the opposite Northern team with flavourful Hyderabadi dum briyani.

I can talk for hours about this beautiful event started by Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook. 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.

I have tasted this channadal halwa long back at one of my friend's potluck party and i still remember the taste of this smooth and droolworthy halwa. Am damn sure you cant stop urself just with few spoons of this halwa. Thanks Kriti, we just love it and am just enjoying this halwa loaded with beautiful flavours.Sending to my own event Cooking with Seeds-Dals.

1cup Channadal

3/4cup Ghee

3/4cup Sugar

2+1/2cups Milk

1/2tsp Cardamom powder

Few Almonds and melon seeds

Wash and soak the dal atleast for 3-4hours.

Pressure cook the dal with a cup of water upto 3 hisses, remove the excess of water and let it cool.

Mash gently the cooked dal to make a bit coase paste.

Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan, add the mashed dal and fry on medium flame until the raw smell of the dal goes off and a nice aroma comes out.

Add the milk and cook in high flame and cook again.

Finally add the cardamom powder,sugar along with chopped almonds,melon seeds and cook again for few more minutes.

Serve hot in a small bowl or spread this halwa in a greased plate and slice it you desire.

Greenpeas Kachori with Spicy Dum Aloo /Koraishutir Kochuti R Aloor Dam~~SNC Challenge

Do i need to talk about the successful monthly event called 'SNC challenge', i can talk about this event for a whole day, actually this event is started by one of the most sweetest blogger of this virtual world,she is none other than Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook. 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. If you are like me,a South Indian by birth obviously you wont have any idea of many traditional dishes from North India, obviously this event will definitely motivate you to cook and taste those unknown famous North Indian foods.

Today morning, the first thing i did is to check my mail to know wat was our this month's SNC challenge, thank god Sonali challenged us with my favourite deep fried fritters called 'Greenpeas Kachori with Dum Aloo', i have already tasted kachori with green peas and dum aloo apart but never together, definitely this kachori with dum aloo is a wonderful chance for us to taste this fabulous Bengali delicacy challenged by the wonderful Sanoli while Southern team challenged the northern team with Paal Kozhukattai, a recipe challenged by Tamilarasi, every South Indians would have definitely tasted this lil rice dumplings in sweet coconut milk atleast once in a while, its quite a traditional sweet we do quite often during Ganesh Chathurthi or else sometime for our evening snacks.

Thanks to both Sanoli and Tamilarasi for being this month's hosts and am sure both teams will have definitely a wonderful time in cooking these both challenges. Since i have all the ingredients for the greenpeas kachori and dum aloo, just finished making them and enjoying while writing this post. I just skipped my lunch as i could resist tasting this yummy food,enjoying this beautiful kachoris with flavourful and fingerlicking dum aloo. Sanoli, am loving this combo dear, if you would havent challenged us with this recipe,i would have never thought of combining this both together. Thanks a ton. 

For Green Peas Filling:

3cups Green Peas (frozen)

4nos Green Chillies

1/4tsp Asafoetida

1tsp Ginger paste

1tsp Sugar

1tspCumin powder

1tbsp Clarified Butter/ghee

Salt to taste

For Kachoris:

3cups All Purpose Flour /maida

1/2 tsp Salt

4 tbsps Oil 

Oil for Deepfrying

Grind the green peas with green chillies with few drops of water as coarse paste.

Heat the ghee, add the asafoetida powder,fry and add the grounded green peas paste in it, add now the ginger paste and mix everything nicely.

Now add the cumin powder, salt and sugar to the paste and stir continously until the excess water evaporates.

Once the mixture is almost dry,put off the stove and keep aside to cool completely.

Take the maida,salt and oil in a bowl, knead to a smooth and stiff dough with enough water and keep for half an hour aside.

Divide the dough and the already prepared green peas paste as equal balls.

Roll a dough ball as a small disc, place a green peas ball and seal the edges tightly, roll it gently as a circle with a rolling pin, be careful not to press much so that the filling will come out.

Meanwhile heat the oil for deep frying, once the oil is hot, drop gently the already rolled kachoris and fry until the oil stops bubbling.

Drain the excess of oil with a paper towel and repeat the same process until the dough and filling gets finished.

For Dum Aloo:

10nos Baby Potatoes

1/4 tsp Asafoetida powder

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds

1 Bay leaf

1/2cup Green Peas

4nos Green Chillies (chopped)

1no Tomato (big & chopped)

1/2tsp Turmeric powder

1/2tsp Cumin powder

1tbsp Ginger paste

1tsp Coriander powder

1tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli powder

1/2tsp Sugar

1/2tsp Garam Masala

2tbsps Coriander Leaves(chopped)

3/4cup Plain Yogurt (thick)

Oil

Salt

Wash and pressure cook the baby potatoes, once they get cool,peel the potatoes.

Heat oil in a pan,fry the baby potatoes until they turns brown, remove from the oil and keep aside.

To the same pan, fry the bay leaf,asafoetida powder,cumin seeds,fennel seeds until they turns brown;

Add in the green peas and fry for few minutes, add now the chopped tomatoes,green chillies and fry for few more minutes.

Finally add the turmeric powder,coriander powder, ginger paste,chilly powder and salt, cook until the oil separates from the spices.

Now add the sugar,already fried potatoes and cook for 3minutes, add the thick yogurt to the potatoes,cook everything for 5minutes and put of the stove,finally add the coriander leaves.

Serve hot the green peas kachori along with spicy fingerlicking dum aloo..