DOSA

DOSA

Dosa is a popular South Indian thin crepe that is made of fermented rice and lentil batter. History of dosa says that they were made using only rice but with the passage of time, people started to add urad dal / black lentils to give texture and taste. Dosa is made by soaking and blending black gram lentils (urad dal) and rice to a batter. Then the fermented batter is spreaded like a crepe on a hot griddle or tawa.

And masala dosa is incomplete without aloo sabzi. aloo bhaji is prepared in different variety, today i am sharing the most easiest, quickest and tastiest potato curry prepared for masala dosa in South Indian.

We’re going to start by making the aloo sabzi and then the Dosa. So let’s begin.

Aloo filling:

Ingredients:
4 potatoes, boiled
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 inch ginger, finely chopped
1 dried red chilli
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds / rai
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp chana dal
½ tsp turmeric powder
pinch hing / asafoetida
1 stem curry leaves
2 tsp lemon juice
1 stem coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 tsp oil

salt to taste

Recipe:

1. Boil the potatoes well and peel off the skin.
2. Finely chop green chillies, ginger, coriander leaves. also thinly slice onion and keep ready.
3. In a pan heat a tablespoon of oil and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, urad dal, red chilli and channa dal. wait till mustard seeds splutter.
4. Then add curry leaves and hing. fry for a minute.
5. To this, add thinly sliced onion and fry till then turn translucent.
6. Add in finely chopped chilli and ginger. fry till the raw smell of ginger goes away.
7. Now finally add boiled potatoes and turmeric.
8. Mash the potatoes well and add in 3 tbsp of water to have a smooth gravy paste. Cook for 3 mins.
9. Squeeze some lemon juice and add chopped coriander leaves. Give it a good mix.
10. Keep it aside till we prepare the Dosas.

For Dosa:

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

1 cup urad dal

1 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons oil or clarified butter, ghee

Recipe: 

1. Wash rice and dal, changing water three to four times. Soak rice mix and fenugreek seeds in about 4 cups of water for at least six hours.
2. In a blender, blend the rice and dal mix to very creamy texture. Use only as little water as needed to blend (using too much water for blending will not give the desired creamy texture). 
3. Cover and ferment the batter in a warm place for about a day. Batter will be about one and half time in volume.
4. When ready to make dosa whip the batter for few seconds. Add salt and water as needed, batter should be of pourable consistency.
5. Place a non-stick- heavy skillet over medium heat. ( I applied 2 drops of oil in the pan, cleaned it with a paper towel and then sprinkled a few drops of water on it) The water sizzles right away.
6. Pour 1/2 cup of the batter mixture into the skillet and spread evenly with the back of a spoon. Starting from the center, spiral outward until evenly.
7. Pour about 2 tsp oil over it and along the edges and cook till the dosa turns brown in color and crisp.
8. Take 2 tbsp of the aloo filling and put it on the dosa in the middle. Flip the sides of the dosa onto this mixture filling to cover it.
9. Dosa is ready, repeat with remaining batter.
10. Every time wipe the pan or tawa you are using with wet towel that helps spreading the dosa.

Serve with coconut chutney, onion-tomato chutney and sambhar.

**You can find my sambhar and chutney recipes in another blog.

Enjoy and keep showering your love.

VANILLA MILKSHAKE

VANILLA MILKSHAKE

A milkshake is a drink that is usually made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup into a thick, sweet, cold mixture. Luckily, making one at home is extremely easy. People usually prepare and mix the shake from scoops of ice cream and milk in a blender. Milkshakes may be made from any flavor of ice cream; additional flavorings, such as chocolate syrup, strawberry or butterscotch are often added prior to mixing.

A vanilla milkshake is never more than a blend away and is a creamy drink that makes a great dessert.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

2 scoops vanilla ice cream

1tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp caramel sauce 

Recipe:

1. Place the milk, 1+1/2 scoops of ice cream and vanilla essence in a blender.
2. Blend until creamy/ smooth.
3. Decorate a glass with some chocolates and sprinkles.
4. Pour the milk in glass.
5. Top it off with some nuts or cream if you like.
6. I topped it off with 1/2 scoop ice cream and some caramel sauce.

Your easy and simple Vanilla milkshake is ready.

Enjoy and keep showering your love.

CARAMEL SAUCE

CARAMEL

Caramel is a medium to dark-orange confectionery product made by heating a variety of sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, or as a topping for ice cream and custard. Rich and delicious, this easy caramel sauce is perfect for all sorts of recipes!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp salted butter, cubed, room temperature

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature

Pinch of salt

Recipe:

1. In a pan, pour sugar into an even layer.
2. Heat on medium-high heat, whisking the sugar until melted. This will take about 10 minutes.
3. Once the sugar has melted, stop whisking. You may notice a nutty aroma.
4. The change in color will happen quickly, so don’t let it go too long or get too dark or it’ll burn. Turn the caramel to low heat.
5. Add butter and whisk until combined. The mixture will bubble up, but keep whisking until all the butter has melted and combined.
6. Slowly pour the heavy cream into the caramel and whisk until incorporated. 
7. Cool for about 10-15 minutes before using. Store leftovers in a jar with a lid. You can easily refrigerate it up to 2 weeks.

Use it as a filling in a salted caramel cake, drizzle it over ice cream, or just eat the best caramel sauce by the spoonful!

Enjoy and keep showering your love.

SOOJI POTATO CROQUETTES

SOOJI POTATO CROQUETTES 

Easy to make crispy snacks of Potato Crispy fingers. Relish these with steaming hot cup of tea or coffee. A perfect crunchy snack that has melted in the mouth texture. Serve them with homemade green chutney and let your guest go gaga over your cooking skills. The use of semolina is what gives this snack excellent crisp and coriander gives a whiff of freshness.

A lip-smacking finger food prepared mainly from boiled potatoes, semolina, and coriander leaves. It is an ideal deep fried party starter which can be prepared within minutes without much hassle. Certainly, these crispy rava potato finger food, not only appeals to kids but also to adults and adolescents.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sooji/ semolina

3 boiled potatoes

1/2 cup coriander(finely chopped)

3-4 green chillies (finely chopped) 

Salt to taste 

Oil - for frying

Recipe:

1. Pour ½ cup water in the vessel heat it, add 1 tsp oil to it. When it starts boiling turn off flame and add ½ cup semolina to the water. Wait for 2 to 3 minutes, the semolina will puff up.
2. Take boiled potatoes, peel and grate them.
3. Put the puffed semolina in a big mixing bowl. Press to make soft. Add the grated potatoes, 1 tsp salt, add finely chopped green chili, coriander leaves. Mix all ingredients well. Prepare fine dough.
4. Meanwhile put the pan to heat, turn on flame.
5. Once dough is ready, take little oil in a small bowl, grease your hands with it and squash the dough.
6. To make crispy finger or any shape you like, grease your hand with oil. Lift a small lump from the dough. Firstly bind it a bit, and make a long log with hands. Check if the oil is medium high hot.
7. Put the crispy finger to fry. Keep the flame medium high. Keep making and frying them. Make sure you put them to fry one by one.
8. When fried and ready, take out the fried crispy finger on a kitchen towel.
9. Fry and prepare all crispy finger likewise.
10. Steaming hot and crispy Sooji crispy finger is ready to be relished.

Have as snacks during evenings. It can be served as a starter at any occasion.

Enjoy and keep showering your love.

MUG PIZZA

MUG PIZZA

A simple, easy and quick veg pizza recipe prepared with a coffee mug in microwave within 2 minutes. This is an ideal pizza for serving for an individual which can easily quench the thirst of cheese and pizza in minutes. basically a quick and cheat version which is prepared very similar to mug cakes within minutes. This veg pizza recipe does not involve any fancy toppings as the baking is quick and hence reduced to minimal. And we’ve all been there. We come home extremely hungry, or perhaps been busy working and then look up and an insatiable hunger fills you. You need something now, you need it tasty and you don't want to wait. Enter: the 2 minute pizza in a mug!

Ingredients:
1 bread slice or 1 pav
2 tsp pizza sauce / tomato sauce
handful of mozzarella cheese / any cheese of choice

2 tbsp onion, chopped

2 tbsp capsicum, chopped
pinch of chilli flakes
pinch of oregano

Recipe:

1. Firstly, take a small flat bottomed microwave safe coffee mug.
2. Add bread/pav pieces.
3. Top with generous amount of pizza sauce and spread uniformly.
4. Also garnish with handful of mozzarella cheese.
5. And decorate with few onions and capsicums.
6. Repeat this step once again.
7. At last sprinkle a few chilli flakes and oregano.
8. Microwave this for 2 minutes, or until it cheese melts and the base is cooked completely.

Serve straight away the mug pizza.

Enjoy and keep showering your love.

RED VELVET CAKE POPS

RED VELVET CAKE POPS

A cake pop is a form of cake styled as a lollipop. Cake crumbs are mixed with icing or chocolate, and formed into small spheres or cubes in the same way as cake balls, before being given a coating of icing, chocolate or other decorations and attached to lollipop sticks. These fun cake pops are easy to make and great for parties. Although I'm not sure if Cake Pops should be thought of as a cake or a confection. But either way, they are so cute and so tasty. This Cake Pop combines Red Velvet Cake with cream and chocolate melt. Once made they are dipped in white chocolate candy melts which gives the Cake Pops a hard outer shell. To dress them up I like to sprinkle them with the cake crumbs. Kids love them as an adult, I love it. And for a party they make a unique centrepiece to give as party favors.

I usually make cake pops when I want to make a cake and it doesn’t come out right. Either good looking or cracked. And this is when I switch to cake pops.

We’ll start by making red velvet cake first.

Ingredients: 

For red velvet cake:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar
1+1/2 cup milk, warm
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tsp red food colour
1 tsp vinegar
1.5 cup maida /all purpose flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

For cream mixture:

1/2 cup fresh cream

2 cup white chocolate

Recipe:

1. Firstly, in a large mixing bowl take butter and sugar.
2. Beat smooth and fluffy till the butter and sugar combines well.
3. Further add milk, vanilla extract, red food colour and vinegar.
4. Beat and combine well.
5. To this, sieve in maida, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
6. Beat the batter on low speed or with hand whisk till everything combines well.
7. Bake the cake at 220C for 25 minutes.
8. Cool down the cake completely.
9. Crush the cake with firm hands and keep aside. Save 1/2 cup of this mixture for garnishing.
10. Now in a pan, heat some fresh cream.
11. Add this to 1 cup of white chocolate and wait till the chocolate melts and combines well with the cream.
12. Add this to the cake crumbs and mix well.
13. Now give it round shape with your hands.
14. Keep them to freeze for around 10-15 minutes.
15. Till the time melt 1 cup of white chocolate on a double boiler or in the oven for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
16. Take out the cake pops and dip in the white chocolate.
17. Drizzle some of the saved red velvet cake crumbs.
18. Freeze for 5 minutes and serve.

Kids and adults will love these colourful chocolate-covered bites.

Enjoy and keep showering your love.

TUTTI FRUTTI CAKE

TUTTI FRUTTI CAKE

This soft, moist and delicious eggless tutti frutti cake is one of the easiest I baked in the recent time. Tutti frutti cake is quite popular in the Indian bakeries. It is a favorite among kids and is loved for its colorful appearance & sweet flavor. This tutti frutti cake is very light, moist & is a fail proof recipe. This can be baked even by a beginner or a kid.

This recipe uses milk and vinegar which reacts with the soda and lends a very light & airy texture.

Tutti frutti cake can be made using any basic cake recipe with some tutti fruttis added to the batter. The tutti fruiti I have used was made by me at my home using watermelon peels. Do check it in my another post.

Ingredients:

1 + 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or maida (190 grams)

1 tbsp all-purpose flour or maida (10 grams)

1/2 cup tutti fruiti (including citrus peels)

1 +1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 pinch Salt

3/4 cup sugar (+ 2 tbsp optional)

1/2 cup oil or melted butter

1 cup + 2 tbsp (do not use cold milk)

1 + 1/4 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Recipe: 

Preparation for tutti frutti cake:

1. Grease a cake bowl with butter.
2. Dust with flour evenly or line a butter paper. Set this aside.
3. Add tutti frutti to a bowl and sprinkle 1 tbsp flour. 
4. Coat them well with flour. Set this aside.
5. Place a sieve over a mixing bowl. 
6. Measure flour and add it to the sieve. 
7. Add baking powder, baking soda and salt to the sieve.
8. Sieve it to the bowl. Sieve the flour again. 
9. Make a well in the center & Keep this aside.

Making batter for tutti frutti cake:

1. To a bowl, add milk, add sugar and vanilla extract. 
2. Pour melted butter or oil. Mix everything well until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Pour this to the flour.
4. Gently mix until the flour is just combined well. Do not over mix the batter.
5. The batter will be of ribbon consistency at this stage. 
6. Add in the tutti frutti. Gently stir in only a couple of times.
7. Do not over do this as the tutti fruttis will settle down.
8. Add vinegar to this batter and give it a mix.
9. Pour this to the pan. Knock it a few times to the counter. 
10. If desired you can sprinkle some more tutti fruttis on top. 
11. Brush with milk on top to get a golden top.

How to bake the tutti frutti cake:

1. Bake for 40 to 45 mins.
2. A skewer inserted comes out clean when it is baked completely.
3. Cool it for 15 mins and then invert it on a wire rack.
4. Cool completely before slicing.

Eggless tutti frutti cake is ready to serve.

Enjoy and keep showering your love.