Category Archives: Indian

Green Chana Poori

Poori is a deep fried Indian bread which is famous all over India. There are many kind of pooris like a palak & beetroot poori, plain poori, bhatura, stuffed chana daal poori and so on. Delicious green chana poori is made using wheat flour, fresh green chana and palak(spinach) puree and deep fried in oil. Pooris are all time favorite of my kids and they love to eat as lunch in school so I make them very often. During the season when Green Chana is available I make pooris using it. You can find green chana in Indian store or use frozen green chana if not fresh one is not available. There are many recipes which can be prepared using fresh green chana like paratha, kabab, spiced daal, curry or so on. In this recipe I have added spinach to give a nice green color. You can skip spinach if you don’t like and make it only with chana. Green chana poori goes very well with any Indian curry, pickle or dry sabji.

Garlic Naan Without Yeast

Naan is a very famous Indian flat bread across India and now even in other part of the world. My kids are big fan of naan and kulcha. There are many type of naan you can find, like plain naan, butter naan, garlic naan, paneer naan and so on. The garlic naan is made using all purpose flour(maida), yogurt, baking powder, baking soda which is kneaded with warm milk. This recipe is without yeast but also you can make naan using yeast. The garlic naan is topped with chopped garlic, coriander leaves and Kalongi (nigella) seeds. You can also make it using normal wheat flour however the texture and taste would be different. Traditionally, naan is made in a clay tandoor however generally we won’t have it at home so we can use a stove or oven. This naan is prepared using iron tava and cooked on stove flame/heat. The texture and taste is very close to the clay tandoor. To make soft and fluffy naan leave the dough for overnight after preparing. You may have to try it few time before it starts coming up nice. Enjoy restaurant style naan at home with your favorite curry.

Bisi Bele Bath

Bisi bele bath is one of most popular dish in Karnataka. The recipe is very similar to north Indian khichdi. In Kannada, bisi means hot, bele means daal and bath means rice hence the name. Rice and daal cooked along with veggie, spices, and jaggery makes this dish delicious. I am very fond of south Indian food and this is one of my favorite dish. The aroma of bisi bele bath masala, curry leaves, ghee and tamarind creates a craving for the food. You can use home made Bisi bele bath masala which gives an awesome freshness and taste to this dish but if not available, you could use store bought MTR Bisi bele bath masala powder. Bisi bele bath tastes best when served hot, topped with ghee along with papad and kara boondi.

Tricolor Parfait

Wishing all my Indian friends a very Happy Republic Day!!

This Tricolor Parfait recipe is inspired by the beautiful colors of the Indian Flag. This day brings a lovely childhood memory when it was celebrated in schools with flag hosting, various cultural functions and at the end of celebration sweet especially Motichoor Ladoos were distributed to every one. The recipe is prepared using mainly three ingredients using lauki (bottle gourd), sweet yogurt and sweet fine boondi. The green cardamon, rose and kewra essence gives an amazing taste to the recipe. The three layers arranged in a fancy glass container make this recipe very soothing to the eyes and appealing. Some of the process are lengthy like getting hung curd so plan ahead for those. I have separately posted the recipe for Motichoor Ladoo which is required for this recipe. However I have mentioned the ingredient for boondi here for easy reference.

Motichoor Ladoo

Motichoor ladoo is a delicious mouthwatering sweet which is famous in Northern part of India. Ladoo is commonly offered to GOD during worship as well as served on festival or occasions. These ladoos are all time favorite of my kids favorite. The ladoos are made from batter made of besan flour and deep fried in oil/ghee, then simmered in sugar syrup to thicken for final preparation. The laddos are flavored with rose essences and cardamon powder. The most important part of the recipe is the batter consistency and temperature of oil/ghee. Batter consistency should be medium thin so that it easily pass through Jhara. The process is little complex as you need to tap Jhara over the heated oil/ghee pot at a consistent speed to get the boondi shape. To make fine boondi you need Jhara with fine holes.

Motichoor laddo and boondi ladoo are little different with each other as boondis for motichoor is much finer than boondis of boondi ladoo. Preparing these ladoos is a bit time consuming and involved process and requires little practice and patience to get it perfect. I was able to get it right in my second attempt. I prepared these for Diwali and it came out perfect.

Strawberry Chum Chum

Chum chum is delicious Bengali sweet similar to Rasogulla which is prepared using home made paneer balls soaked in to sugar syrup. Chum chum is little different as it has mawa filling and then rolled into desiccated coconut. Chum chums is generally made in oval shape. This recipe attempts to give a fruit flavored taste to Chum Chum using strawberry. If you don’t like strawberry, you can use any other fruit or skip that too. The recipe uses homemade mawa for chum chum filling. You can buy ready made mava from the store although homemade is always fresh and tastes better.

Rava Halva (Kesari)

Rava Halva (kesari) is a popular delicious Indian sweet made from semolina (rava or sooji) during the festive season or special occasions. Rava Halwa usually served as ‘prasad’ (offering to the GOD). During Navratri festival Halva along with chana fry (sundal) and poori is offered to Goddess Durga and then distributed to the kanya ( young girls). In Northern part of India, it is called as sooji ka halva and In southern India it is called as Rava Kesari. The method of cooking is same for both the recipes. This recipe uses milk however you can use water instead of milk for the halva. Rava Halva can be served as dessert and tastes awesome with mango or red chili pickle. This is super easy recipe with amazing taste.

Mango Angoori Rasmalai

Angoori Rasmalai is one of the most popular Bengali sweet dish which is very similar to Rasmalai and Rasogulla however the only difference is the size of the Rasmalai. Angoori Rasmalai is made exactly the same way as Rasogulla, rasmalai or Rajbhog. The tiny paneer ball soaked in milk syrup and flavored with cardamom powder and kewra & rose essence. This recipe is a slight twist to the original recipe as it uses mango puree to give a mango flavor to the Rasmalai. You can add your own fruit flavor to give it a different taste. When served chilled, and soaked in these flavors, it tastes heavenly! It’s very tempting due to it’s smaller size and awesome taste.