Dhaba Style - Chicken curry, Buttermilk, Alu Paratha

Day before yesterday, my hubby was craving for Punjabi food served in Dhabas. And to his luck, our neighbor who is a North Indian had invited us for a surprise dinner on the same night. He got Punjabi food but I still wanted to cook Dhaba style non veg food for him. So yesterday, I themed our dinner as Dhaba style and prepared - Alu Paratha, Dhaba style chicken curry and salted chaas (Buttermilk).

For the Dhaba style chicken curry, I followed this recipe given in the link below:

http://www.jopreetskitchen.com/2013/10/dhaba-style-chicken-curry.html

I substituted jeera(cumin seeds) for fennel seeds as I dint have them.

For the Chaas/buttermilk, I followed the recipe below:

Ingredients:

4 tbsps curds

1/2 cup water

salt

chaat masala

cumin seeds

Method:

Blend it in a mixer for 2 minutes and buttermilk is done. Garnish with coriander leaves if available.

Brinjal Fry

Brinjal Fry is a delicious side dish for rice and curry. I was tempted to make this today.

Recipe below:

1. Marinate the brinjal slices with chilli powder, salt, tamarind juice, turmeric powder for half an hour.

2. Then shallow fry the marinated pieces in a little oil.Brinjal Fry done. :)

Orange Julius

We had some sour oranges at home and wanted to do something out of it. So I thought of making a smoothie out of it.

I read about a drink called Orange Julius and based on some recipes on the net decided to try it. The recipe is as below:

Ingredients:

2 Oranges
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar(add more if required)
1 packet vanilla sugar(add vanilla essence if available)

Method:

Blend the above ingredients together. Adjust sugar according to taste. Smoothie is done. I have skipped adding ice as it is coooooooooooold here already :)

Veg Pulav

Today I felt tempted to eat Mummy's Veg Pulav. It is so tasty and she makes it for special occasions. I finally got the recipe from her and tried it:

Ingredients:

1. 1 Chakke(cinnamon), 3 Lavanga, 3 Elakki, 1 Bay Leaf

2. Onion - 1 (chopped finely)

3. Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tsp

4. 1 Tomato (diced)

5. Vegetables - Potato, Carrot, Peas, Beans

6. Salt (to taste)

7, Green Chillies - 5 (I used 2 tsp red chilly powder)

8. Turmeric powder (optional)

9. Rice ( 1 cup)

10. Water - 1 cup

11. Coconut milk (1 cup)

12. Coriander leaves (handful)

13. Pudina leaves (handful)

14. Oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in cooker, add chakke, lavanga, elakki and bayleaf and wait till it splutters.

2. Add chopped onions and saute it till its golden brown in colour.

3. Add ginger garlic paste and saute for 2minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes and saute till it becomes tender

5. Add chillies and turmeric powder and saute it.

6. Add the vegetables, rice, water, coconut milk and salt.

7. At the end add pudina and coriander leaves and close the lid.

8. Wait for 1 whistle and check if the rice is cooked.

9. If not, cook till you get a second whistle.

10. Pulav is ready.

Benne Biscuit Finally!

Staying so far off from Bangalore and being inaccessible to the bakery products makes it very hard to not miss them. Yesterday was one such day when I wanted to eat the benne biscuit.

I searched for many recipes and finally figured out that it can be made using four ingredients only. And it was not time consuming also. But it is not good to eat more of these biscuits as these are made of maida. I made around ten biscuits yesterday using this recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Maida ( 1 and half cup)

2. Powdered Suger ( half cup)

3. Ghee ( 4 tablespoons)

4. Baking powder ( 1/4 teaspoon)

Method:

1. Mix the maida, sugar and the baking powder.

2. Add the ghee slowly and mix it to form a dough.

3. Make small round balls using your palm.

4. Arrange the biscuits on a baking tray lined with baking sheet.

5. Keep it in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees.

6. Cool it after removing from the oven and store in airtight container.

Mushroom Pepper Fry

Hello all,

I tried this recipe of Mushroom Pepper Fry recipe yesterday night. I adapted this recipe from my friend and added little soya sauce and pepper  to it. It tasted nice :) Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Frozen mushrooms, 1 Tomato chopped, 1 Onion chopped finely, Jeera, oil, salt, Pepper powder, soya sauce

Method:

1. Heat 2 to 3 tsp of oil in pan. Add little jeera and wait till it splutters.

2. Add the chopped onions and saute it.

3. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute it till it becomes soft.

4. Add the mushrooms and then saute it. Add salt, pepper powder and soya sauce and fry it. 

5. Mushroom leaves water. Cook the mushrooms till they become soft.

6. Mushroom pepper fry is ready.

5 minute Choco Cappucino cake

Hello all,

Its been about two months in Germany now and am getting adapted to the new culture, language and of course the weather. Its getting colder here and I am struggling to keep up with it. Having nothing much to do, I am experimenting with food and spices out of interest and also mainly for our survival. This is my first post for this blog and I thought of starting it with something sweet - the 5 minute choco cappucino cake. This has a nice coffee and chocolate taste.

I read this recipe somewhere and adapted it to my tastes and it always does the job for me.

Ingredients: (Dry) : 3 tablespoon flour, 3 tablespoon sugar, 3 tablespoon choco cappucino/kakao powder, 1/8th teaspoon of baking powder, a pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients: 3 tablespoon milk, 3 tablespoon oil (But I add 2 teaspoon of oil and 4 tablespoon of milk)

Method: Mix all the dry ingredients ina  microwave safe bowl. Add the milk and oil and mix well to get a smooth paste. If necessary, add a little more milk to make the paste. Taste the batter and check if it is fine. Keep in a microwave for 1 minute. Remove and check with a fork. If its still not done, microwave for another 30 seconds and then remove. Top it with chocolate sauce. Serve Immediately..

Note: Since the cake will become hard if not eaten quickly, prepare the cake batter and keep it in the fridge. Microwave just before you want to eat it.