anzac biscuits

Anzac biscuits are tried and tasted by palate corner from aparna's blog,they are  traditional biscuits of australia and newzealand,you can find the history of these biscuits over here.I love the baking goodies made my aparna ,my diverse kitchen and as soon as i went through her recipe list i knew im going to make these biscuits as i had tasted them here in melbourne many a times but never baked them at home and this was wonderful oppurtunity to try on my own in my kitchen and i was very excited as my biscuits turned out crisp from outside and chewy from inside,which anyone could have asked for,just perfect,thanx aparna for sharing such wonderful recipe,it was simple and u made it quite easy with the basic ingredients which are usually in our pantry.

 

makes approx 28-30 biscuits/cookies
dry ingredients :
3/4th cup plain flour
3/4th cup brown sugar ( i used white sugar)
1 cup oats
1/4th tsp salt
3/4th cup dessicated coconut
wet ingredients :
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp soda bi-carb
3 tbsp hot water
method :
Mix all the dry ingredients together.Melt the butter in pan ,switch off the flame and add honey,mix hot water and soda together ,add this to butter  and honey mixture and mix well.Add this wet ingredients in the dry ingredients and make a soft dough.If the dough is little hard then add little water and if soft then add little flour
( mine was perfect ,i didnt had to add anything ).Take a heaped tablespoon of dough and make balls and flatten them slightly,make the same with the remaining dough.Grease a baking tray,preheat oven to 160c and bake the biscuits for 12-15 mins or till brown in colour,let it cool down completely as they might be still soft ,after it cools down it will turn little harder and store in airtight containers.
sending this to the following events :
1. srivalli for hosting this mths T & T ,an event by lakshmi.
2.me and my kitchen for EFM cakes and bakes series !
3.versatile kitchen for her weekly bake-off event.
4.pari for "only" kids delight event.
5.akila for her event dish name starts with letter A .

spicy veg kothu roti using leftover tortillas

I had few leftover store bought tortillas which i ended up in making kothu roti,  those tortillas were actually not properly sealed  after using them ,ofcourse becoz of my laziness ;) ...they turned little crisp and i also had some leftover frozen veggies which i wanted to use before their expiry date so this dish took birth ,also this is actually not the authentic kerala style kothu roti ,as those are made up of chopped strips of fresh homemade kerala parothas,but since i used the tits -bits of rotis and it turned out quite chilli friendly i thought of naming it as kothu roti ,it turned out quite hot and we had them with a glass of water :-) but the taste was simply delicious,so beware before trying and adjust the masalas/spices according to your taste buds.I really thought it was somewhat near to kothu roti style.Sending this to pj for her scrumptious  delights from left overs event.

serves for 2-3 ppl
ingredients :
3-4 big size store bought tortillas,roughly torn into small pcs or cut into thin strips
1 cup chopped mix veggies  ( carrot,beans,cauliflower,peas,corn,broccolli,etc )
2 tbsp cubed paneer
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
1-2 chopped green chillies
2-3 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 tsp red chilli pwd (adjust acc to taste)
1/4 tsp turmeric pwd
12 tsp garam masala
1-2 tsp sambhar pwd ( adjust acc to your taste )
salt to taste
lemon juice to taste
chopped corriander leaves to garnish
method :
Heat oil,splutter mustard seeds,cumin seeds,add broken curry leaves,saute onions,add green chillies,add rest of the veggies and paneer and fry till veggies are tender.Add chilli pwd,turmeric pwd and sambhar pwd and mix well ,add the tits bits of tortillas and mix well,sprinkle some drops of water,cover and cook for few mins on a low flame so that the tortillas are well flavoured,drizzle some lemon juice and garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot.

rai aur tamatarwali sandwhich/tomato and seasoned mustard seeds sandwhich

This rai and tamatar wali sandwhich is one of my favourite and the oldest sandwhich of all,it brings back all my good old childhood memories ,when i was a school going kid i use to go and stay at my cousin's place in vacation as her daughters were very close to me and i use to love playing with them and whenever i use to go this sandwhich was fixed and had to be made ,even that time i was small but i would cherish this flavour with (only) tomatoes and seasoned by mustard seeds on top,i still miss her food,after  my mom if i liked somebody's food was then her's only,i still remember few of her famous dishes which i liked very much ,to name are pachmeli ki sabzi,thin and soft white dhoklas,small garma garam mathris fried and served instantly in the early morning during breakfast with  pickle,her kheer churma which she use to make every month for shyaam baba's ( our god krishna ) prasad,i also loved her chapan bhog prasad which she use to offer god and ofcourse how could i forget her homemade pedas,she was very famous in whole house for making them at home everytime on every occassion,the vaieties she use to make were just incredible and i still miss her food,thanx rekha di for this lovely simple and healthy sandwhich,i still njoy eating them :-)

makes 2 sandwhich

ingredients :

1 tbsp mustard seeds/rai

1 tomato thin slices

4 bread slices

salt to taste

black pepper pwd to taste

black salt to taste

oil as required

method :

Place few of the tomato slices between the two breads,sprinkle salt,pepper pwd and black salt .Heat tawa/pan/griddle,put abt half a teaspoon of oil in centre,heat the oil,splutter 1/2 a tsp mustard seeds and put the tomato stuffed sandwhich on the mustard seeds,toast it for few seconds on high flame ,remove the sandwhich and again heat oil and splutter mustard and flip over the sandwhich and toast the other side too,repeat the same with other slices of sandwhich and serve immediately with ketch up or green chutney or just njoy with tea/coffee.

Sending this my fav sandwhich to apy for her my favourite recipe event.

no cook strawberry (funny) bunny shape sandwhich for kids

My daughter is crazy for strawberries and last weekend when i forcefully took my hubby to victoria vegetable and fruit market here...he hates going to vegetable mkt  :(...we found the new season (spring is about to start ) starwberries which were too good looking and fresh and above all quite reasonable :P,i immediately picked up 4 boxes and  we 3 finished 2 boxes instantly,how crazy we 3 r ...actually not only my daughter but i would confess we all three like this fruit very much and those were very tasty also so we ended up eating more but the other 2 dabbas i kept away from my daughter as this time i wanted to make something out of this fruit as always we finish having only the fruit alone,so next morning i made strawberry pancakes which i already posted and today i made strawberry sandwhich for my daughter with her favourite bunny shape and she was jumping with joy after she saw me making them,she immediately wanted to have the whole bunny :),its a very simple ,easy,no cook sandwhich which iam sure all kids will njoy eating,also you can try making their fav shape which attracts them easily.Needless to say im sending this bunny to pari for her event kids delight and sana for her a visual treat event.

makes 1 sandwhich
ingredients :

4 sandwhich size bread slices ( i used white as my daughter likes white bread )

1/2 cup sliced strawberries

mayonnaise or any of your fav bread spread 

butter

for decoration i used -

$ sweets

m & m's

few julienne of baby carrots

mayonnaise

method :

Cut the centre white portion of the bread with circular sharp edged utensil ( i used my indian steel sharp edged katori ) or any biscuit cutter,spread mayonnaise on one side of the bread,place the strawberry slices and sprinkle some chat masala,cover with another slice of round bread with mayonnaise spread and serve.

for bunny shape : cut the bunny ear shape with your cooking scissors or a knife ,spread mayonnaise in centre and place a strawberry slice on it.For whiskers,first put some mayonnaise in centre and then place the carrot sticks ,for tongue use strawberry slice and some mayonnaise for teeth.For eyes i used m&m's and i sprinkles some dollar sweets for furry hair and on ears.

chickpea curry with spinach/chole palak

On this special occassion of raksha bandhan ,i made this choley as it is one of my brother's favourite dish,infact on his every birthday chole bhature was the fixed menu made by my mom...miss u bro.:((.  and today i gave it a small twist by adding spinach to it,yesterday night i finished all my work ,soaked chole and as usual was browsing before going to bed,suddenly i landed on jaya wagle's blog,it was my first visit at desi soccer mom and i read her chole palak,not an authentic punjabi recipe and immediately it struck my mind that i have some frozen spinach and have already soaked chole so what a fantastic idea and i bookmarked it and next day i.e today for my lunch i made this chole palak and trust me it was awesomely yummy, adding spinach was an extra thing otherwise rest all the ingredients are more or less in my regular chole,this was the first recipe i made it so quickly after bookmarking ,as till now i have bookmarked hundreds of recipes but only few of them i was able to make ..wanna make many more but damn im such a lazy bum :P

ingredients :
1 cup chole/chickpeas (soaked overnight )
1 onion finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped/pureed/paste
2 tsps ginger-garlic paste
1-2 green chillies finely chopped (adjust acc)
1/2 cup frozen spinach (after thawing or better using fresh spinach leaves )
2 tsps red chilli pwd (pls adjust acc to your taste )
1-2 tsp corriander pwd
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
1 tbsp chole masala (i used store bought everest chole masala)
salt to taste
2 tbsp oil
method :
Pressure cook chole with litttle salt and a pinch of turmeric pwd and cook till tender and soft.Heat oil,fry onions till transluscent,add tomatoes and spinach and fry till pulpy,add all the remaining spices and cover and cook till  it leaves little oil from the sides,lastly add cooked chole and some water and simmer for a while.Serve hot with bhature or bread or parathas.
sending this to the following events :-
1.nithu bala for hosting cwf-lb : chickpeas event started by kiran.
2.sanyukta for her color your  palate-a visual treat
3.priya for her bookmarked recipes-every tuesday.
4.divya for her show me your curry event.

chunky tomato rasam

A couple of days back my friend moved to india and she gave me her mom made rasam powder which is just fabulous and nothing can be better then a mom-made stuff and so these days im hooked upon to make rasams as my side dish which is also perfect for this windy/rainy/winter season of melbourne ;).You can also mash or blend the tomatoes while making this rasam but i like my tomato rasam with tomato chunks in it and hence the name i thought would be apt ,as this rasam is quite filled with tomato chunks it was also tasting palatable on its own ,it also gave the lovely dark colour to it.Sending this to pj for hosting this months healing foods-tomatoes event started by siri.Also sending this to suma for her event ,side dishes.

serves for approx 2 ppl
ingredients :
2-3 finely chopped ripened tomatoes
21/2-3 cups of hot water
1 tsp tamarind paste
1/4 tsp turmeric pwd
1-2 tsps rasam pwd
2-3 garlic cloves crushed
salt to taste
ingredients for tempering :
1 tsp ghee /oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp urad dal
1/4 tsp hing/asafoetida
3-4 broken curry leaves
method :
Chop the tomatoes finely or you can even mash them,mix them in hot water and keep it on low flame till it comes to boling point, add turmeric pwd,tamarind pulp,rasam pwd,salt and crushed garlic in it.Heat oil in another pan ,splutter mustard,cumin seeds,ural dal,curry leaves and hing and add this tempering to tomato rasam,simmer for atleast half an hr or till the tomatoes are pulpy and tender enough.Serve hot with rice.

strawberry pancakes with icecream

This is my 150th post , i am very excited as i never ever thought that  i would get so much of appreciation from people around the world,yes ,im feeling as if im on cloud nine today , trust me for me this was not an easy task,food blogging is ain't that easy,it requires lot of patience,time , concentration and above all interest in cooking,one should be creative and innovative at the same time and this is what im learning from my fellow bloggers and friends,cooking is an art and at times it is  fun too,the process of learning here is never ending and so i will keep learning more and more .Today it is a very special day as im writing my 150th recipe and  i never thought in my dreams also that i would every blog or rather i should say i could cook so many variety of indian as well as international dishes,i really want to thank you for all the support which i have been getting and encouragement from all my near and dear ones .Coming to this recipe ,this is quite simple and our family favourite,my daughter simply loves the pancake in combination with vanilla  icecream and ofcourse strawberries are her favourite fruit,so this time i added some chunks of strawberries in pancake batter ,any fruit and any flavoured icecream can be used according to your taste.
Sending this to pari for"only" -kids delight event and sanyukta for her color your palate- a visual treat event.

makes approx 6-8 pancakes
ingredients :
1 cup wheat flour (regular aata ,i used  annapurna )
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup strawberry (cut into small chunks)
maple syrup
any flavour icecream ( i used vanilla )
oil
method :
Mix flour,soda,sugar and salt all togther,add buttermilk (adjust more or less to make a thick yet pourable batter ) ,fold in strawberry chunks and mix well,keep aside for 10 mins.Heat pan/griddle/tava,spread a laddle full of batter in the centre,drizzle oil all around the sides of pancakes,flip over and cook for few seconds and remove from the pan,serve immediately with your favourite scoop of icecream and drizzle some maple syrup with loads of strawberries .

dal-methi

This combination is one of our family(at my inlaws place) favourites ,tur dal with methi leaves is very healthy and nutritious and quite a simple dish but this combo is simply yummie.This recipe i have picked up from my mom in law ,she makes the same way but she never adds onion and i have tried adding onions and the taste is still great.Sending this to divya of dilse for her show me your curry event.

serves 2 ppl (approx)
ingredients :
1 cup tur dal
2 cups fresh chopped methi leaves ( or if using frozen then approx 150 gms )
1 onion finely chopped (optional )
1 tsp ginger paste
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp hing/asafoetida
2 tsp red chilli pwd ( adjust acc to your taste)
2 tsp corriander pwd
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
salt to taste
2 tsp oil
method :
Pressure cook tur dal with enough water,but just take care it should not be mushy,the dal should be tender yet seperated .Heat oil ,add mustard and cumin seeds,hing,onions and ginger garlic paste,fry till translucent,add methi leaves and cook till methi is tender,add chilli pwd,turmeric pwd,corriander pwd and mix well.Add dal  ,salt and mix well,simmer for a while.Serve hot with rice or phulkas.

basil peas and ricotta cheese spaghetti

Few days back i recieved an e-mail from NITHU asking me to do a guest post at her lovely space and i was like" huh", who me?i just coudnt believe ,thank u so much nithu for featuring my blog in ur guest post series,i was just so overwhelmed after i read nithu's lovely write up about me,never thought that i would ever give an interview like this to any one,nithu is having wonderful blog ,i sincerely request you all to please visit her blog,coming to this recipe ,it is quite easy and simple but just delish and i dedicate to all my wonderful , energetic and innovative fellow bloggers.Thanx a million nithu :-)

ingredients :

250 gms spaghetti

1/2 cup peas ( i used frozen )

handful of basil leaves

1/2 tub ricotta cheese ( approx 4 oz)

2-3 garlic cloves crushed

salt to taste

black pepper to taste

1 dry red chilli crushed/finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

lemon juice to taste

method :

Cook spaghetti as per the instructions given on pkt,last 2 mins before add the peas into the spaghetti ,drain and keep aside.Heat oil,add garlic,red chilli,pasta and peas.Add roughly torn basil leaves by your hand,add salt,pepper and lemon juice and toss well.Lastly crumble ricotta cheese over the pasta with your hands and serve hot.

potato and broccolli fry

As mentioned in my earlier post of roti basket ,i had told that we had a family potluck at my place few days back and that day all my friends dishes were equally wonderful and awesome ,one friend had made italian bruschetta with some unusual topping and one friend had made her typical andhra style dal (pappu) which i had tasted for the first time and was quite new for me and here comes the scrumptious potato and broccolli fry side dish which was just fantabulous ,it is a simple recipe yet gorgeous and colourful and tastes awesomely yummy,it is well said that anything deep fried will surely taste heaven and in this dish the main ingredients potato and brocolli are deep fried so it tasted beautiful,my friend had mailed me this recipe on 6th aug and eversince i got  this recipe from her i was so excited to make it  and finally few days back i made this dish and during frying itself i sprinkled little salt and pepper pwd to potato wedges and brocolli and i just cudnt resist to put them in my mouth,even before making the whole dish i loved having these broccollis...yum !thanx shruti for sharing such lovely recipe with us,we three liked it very much and im sure u all will like it too.Since i posted this today on my tuesday,17th aug i am sending this to priya's bookmarked recipes-every tuesday event.

approx serves for 2 ppl
ingredients :
2 small potatoes cut into wedges
1 onion cut itno thick slices
1 tomato cut into thick slices
1 small broccolli head ,florets to be seperated
2-3tsp red chilli pwd ( adjust more or less acc to ur taste )
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
salt to taste
oil for deep frying
method :
Heat oil,deep fry potato wedges and broccoli .Heat little oil in  a pan ( say about 2 tbsp ) saute onions,add tomatoes and cook till tender,add fried broccolli and potatoes and mix well,add chilli powder,turmeric pwd and salt and toss it well.Serve hot with phulkas or parathas or you can have it just like an appetizer.

chuda-chola

Chuda chola (chola stands for kala chana and chuda means poha ),is popular cusine of bihar,basically its a combination of black chickpea and flattened rice flakes which is normally a staple breakfast for the localites.This is the yummiest breakfast i ever had at my in laws place long back,my co-sister's native is from bihar and she makes this wonderful bihari vegeterian cuisine with grounding all fresh masalas in the pestle everytime and even she makes chokha,litti,sattu ka paratha and many more to name and that too in mustard oil ,still cant forget this flavour and unique combo of poha and kala chana gravy,it surely tastes beautiful.Here in australia i dont have pestle at my home but in bangalore i use to pound the spices whenever i made this dish as it gave a gorgeous aroma and fresh flavour to the chana.It is quite healthy and nutritious and definately a must try dish friends.I usually make more roasted poha and keep in airtight containers,it even tastes good as a snack with a cup of coffee and also i make more chana so that we can have it with rice/roti in our lunch :P.Sending this to pari for her kids delight event.

serves for 2 ppl
ingredients for chuda :
250 gms poha (medium/thin )
2 tbsp ghee
black pepper to taste
salt to taste
method :
Heat ghee in a wide deep bottom pan /kadai,add poha and continuosly roast on high flame till crisp or till light brown in colour.Switch off the flame ,sprinkle pepper and salt and mix well.This can be cooled down and stored in air tight containers for a couple of days.
ingredients for chola :
1 cup kala chana/black chickpea
1 onion finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
2 tsp ginger-garlic green chilli pounded in pestle or paste
1-2 tsp red chilli pwd ( adjust acc to your taste )
1/4 tsp turmeric pwd
2 tsp corriander pwd
1-2 cloves,1 cardomon,2-3 black pepper corns,a small stick of cinamon to be pounded in pestle (if not pestle can be pwd in mixer too )
1/2 tsp amchur pwd
salt to taste
2-3 tsps oil
chopped cilantro
method :
Soak chana overnight,pressure cook with little salt and turmeric the next day.Heat oil,saute onions,add ground ginger,garlic,green chilli paste,fry for a while,add tomatoes and cook till pulpy.Add spices,salt,amchur pwd  and cooked chana.Mix well ,add some water and adjust according to the gravy (it should be little thin ,so that can be easily mixed with poha ) and simmer for a while.Garnish with cilantro.Serve hot with chuda (roasted poha )or also can be served with hot phulkas or steamed rice.

akki roti

 Akki roti is quite famous in karnataka and is very different from other indian flat breads,it is very thin,crisp and very difficult to make as we have to pat this directly on tava/pan and and cannot be rolled by roller like any other flat breads.This akki roti is more or less a bangalore style and is very nutritious ,you can add carrots/methi leaves/cabbage as per your taste,here i have added carrots as i had only these on my hand  when i made ,i have taken this recipe from my friend who is a bangalorean and a kannadigar,this method of making akki rotis are taught by her and according to me its one of the simplest form ,there are many ways of making these rotis and once you get a hang of  it,it is kinda easy to make.Sending this to akilas kitchen for her event DNSW:A

 

ingredients :

2 cups rice flour

1 finely chopped onion

1/2 cup grated/shredded carrots

1-2 tbsp finely chopped green chillies ( adjust acc to taste )

handful of chopped corriander leaves

salt to taste

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp oil

oil for frying

hot water  as required

method :

Mix flour,onions,carrots,corriander leaves,green chillies,salt,oil and cumin seeds all together .Add around half cup of hot water and cover the flour mix and keep aside for 10 mins ( dont mix,just add water and keep it ).Add some more hot water and make a soft dough.Take a tennis size ball dough and place it in a centre of tawa/pan,keep some cold water in another vessel (say abt 1/2 a cup ) wet your hands with this water and pat the dough and spread with your palms in a circular way to make a thin roti.( keep wetting your hands frequently as the dough with stick to your hands and may break in between,so with the help of your wet hands it will be easy to pat and spread the rotis.)Drizzle some oil all over the roti and cover the roti for a min,remove the lid and let it cook till it gets seperated from tava/pan and you get some brown spots,flip over and drizzle some more oil and cook till crisp and evenly brown.Serve hot with toor dal chutney.