Pani poori

INGREDIENTS: Serves 4

1. Maida/All purpose flour - 1 cup 
2. Rava - 2 to 3 teaspoons
3. Salt - to taste
4. Pudina/Mint leaves -  around  25 to 30 leaves
5. Coriander leaves- around 25 to 30 leaves
6. Chat Masala any brand - 2 spoons
7. Chilli powder - 1 spoon
8. Green chilli - 1 no 
9. Potatoes pressure cooked and mashed - 5 medium sized potatoes
10. Tamarind water - made from a small ball roughly 1 rupee coin size
11. Dates - 3 or 4

METHOD:

• For the pani: Wash the pudina.chilli,coriander leaves and grind to paste adding water.
• Add salt, 1 spoon chat masala and sufficient amount of water(around 2 tumblers or so according to taste)
• You can add boondis if available 
• For the sweet pani , take the tamarind water and grind it along with dates.
• For the pooris : Made a dough with maida,rava and salt.Dont add too much water.Let it be in chapati dough consistency.
• Make small pooris out of the dough and deep fry in oil.
• Add 1 spoon chilli powder,salt needed to the mashed aloo and mix it.

SERVING METHOD:

• Keep half spoon of the aloo in each poori, add sweet and the pudina pani and serve:)

Badam/Cashew burfi

INGREDIENTS: Makes around 25 pieces

1. Badam /Almonds - 25 pieces
2. Cashews - 15 pieces
3. Milk - one cup
4. Sugar - 1 and half to two times the paste from almonds and cashews
5. Ghee - 150g to 200g

METHOD:

• Soak the almonds in hot water for about 6 hours. 1 hour is also enough but soaking it more makes it more voluminous.
• Soak the cashews for an hour or 2 hours in hot milk.
• Peel the almond skin and make a paste out of the soaked cashews,almonds and the milk used for soaking.Add more milk if needed for grinding.
• Measure the paste and put it in a thick vessel.The proportion of sugar is 1:2 (paste:sugar) . If your not fond of too much sugar lessen the sugar to 1:1.5(one and a half times )
• Take a thick and wide plate and grease it with ghee and keep aside
• Add 3 to 4 spoons of ghee to the sugar and paste if needed and start stirring the mixture.
• Adding milk instead of water if needed makes the burfi more yummy.So if needed to make the mixture into a well blended paste before stirring the mixture.
• Keep the stove in medium flame and keep stirring without any break.Add ghee as and when required.
• As you keep stirring you will notice the mixture becoming darker in color from white to pinkish/light brown.
• After stirring for about half hour the burfi will stop giving out bubbles.
• You will notice hardly one bubble and the entire mixture will start coming out like a  big ball.
• Switch off the stove and pour the mixture in the greased plate and cut into pieces and cool it.Yummy burfies are ready.
• If the mixture is taken before this stage the sweet will turn out to HALWA and if it is taken after this stage the burfi will be very hard and you wont be able to cut the burfi.

Home made syrup for cough/cold/throat pain

When your really down with cough or common cold or throat pain, this concoction will do magic. Don't worry this will not be bitter but way too spicy.Don't panic if the throat passage has a burning feel after drinking this.Have it possibly 2 or 3 times a day for the cold to subside. Having half glass of this drink before sleep will help in having a sound sleep without nose block.

INGREDIENTS: Serves 1

1. Betel leaves/Vettrilai - 1
2. Tulsi/Basil leaves - 15 leaves
3. Black pepper - 7 or 8 grounded coarsely 
4. Cloves(Lavangam or krambu) - 3 
5. Ginger - 1/2 inch piece grated
6. Lemon or Honey

METHOD:

• Add all the ingredients except the lemon or honey and pour one cup water to this mixture.
• Bring to boil and wait until the mixture reduces to half and switch off the stove.
• Take a masher with which we mash vegetables/greens and mash the mixture along with the water so that the essence of the leaves comes out best.
• Strain the mixture and add few drops of lemon and/or honey . Lemon has vitamin C to fight the infection while honey has soothing properties to soothe the throat passage that has been damaged.Add more honey if you feel the mixture is too spicy.

Peas/Mutter Masala

INGREDIENTS : Serves 4

1. Peas - 1/4 kg fresh peas from pods or yellow/green dry peas(dry peas should be soaked for 7 to 8 hrs).
2. Onions - 3 large onions cut length wise
3. Coriander and curry leaves finely cut
4. Tomatoes - 2 nos
5. Elachi/cardomom - 1 piece
6. Cinnamon / Pattai in tamil - 1/2 inch
7. Ginger - 1/2 inch without peel
8. Garlic - 4 pods without peel
9. Coconut shredded - handful
10. Jeera /Cumin seeds - 1 spoon 
11. Cloves - 4 pieces
12. Green chillies - 1 or 2 according to the spiciness needed
13. Salt - according to taste
14. Oil - to fry the onions
15. Chilli powder - according to taste
16. Black pepper - around 10 seeds
17. Kasuri methi leaves - for seasoning(Optional)

METHOD: 

• Pressure cook(3 whistles if the peas is fresh from the pods.8 to 9 whistles if its dry peas) the peas along with the salt needed for peas alone. Keep it aside.
• Make a paste out of the tomatoes,elachi,cinnamon,ginger,garlic,coconut,jerra,green chillies ,cloves and black pepper.
• Take a kadai and add 2 or 3 spoons of cooking oil. Add mustard seeds and allow it to crack.
• Add the coriander and curry leaves. Add the onions and add a pinch of salt needed for the onion alone.Allow the onions to get fried.
• Once the onions are done add the paste and allow the raw smell to subside.Make sure the stove is sim when frying the paste.Add 1/4 glass of water and allow it to boil if you find it very difficult to keep stirring or if your diet conscious for adding oil when frying the paste.
• After the paste's raw smell subsides add the cooked peas along with the water. After 5 mins taste the gravy and add salt/chilli powder according to taste.
• Allow the gravy to cook for 10 to 15 mins in medium flame with a lid.The lid allows the gravy to get cooked faster.
• If the peas is cooked well and the taste is good but if you have added extra water and the gravy is watery , add 1 spoon of besan flour(kadalai mavu) made into a paste with 3 spoons of water and stir well. You will notice that the gravy is getting thicker within 2 to 3 mins of adding this paste
• Check the taste and once it looks blended add few kasuri methi leaves and switch off the stove.
• .Yeah ! The tasty peas masala is ready to play with your taste buds!! mmmmmm :)

Aloo paratha

INGREDIENTS: Makes around 12 medium sized parathas

1. Potato 3/4 kg - pressure cooked with rock salt ,peeled and mashed.
2.Garam masala - 1 tea spoon
3.Coriander leaves - few
4.Chilli powder - 1 tea spoon (according to spiciness needed)
5.Turmeric powder - 1/4 tea spoon
6.Onions finely chopped - 2 or 3
7.Giner garlic paste or shredded - half spoon
8.Wheat flour and salt - for paratha dough

METHOD:

1.Take a kadai and add 3 spoons of oil.Fry the finely cut onions and coriander leaves along with salt needed for the onions.Add the mashed potatoes and add garam masala,turmeric powder and chilli powder and mix well with the onions.Make sure the stove is in low flame.Once mixed well switch off the stove and make lemon sized balls and keep aside.
2.Make dough with the Wheat flour,water and salt.Prepare it like you make for chapatis.
3.Roll the dough to a chapati like the way you do normal roti. apply gingelly oil on one side of the chapati and keep one potato ball in the center. Now seal by pulling the edges of the rolled dough together to make a ball.
4.Now make a thick paratha out of this ball . Don't press it to a very thin paratha. Let it be thick .
5.Take a tawa and place the paratha. Keep the flame in medium always. Let it be for a minute. Turn it the other side and allow to be for half a minute.Don't add ghee or oil until both sides get cooked.After half cooked add ghee on both sides and allow it to be for few more minutes until done.
6.If the potato balls remain , u can create small patties out of them. Put it on a tawa and add oil surrounding it and fry it. Yummy patties are ready from the leftover!!!:)

Me n Meri Maggi

You might wonder what's so great in making a maggi, but this is mere maggi with a twist:)try it out and lemme know your comments please!

INGREDIENTS:  This serves one person
1. Maggi plain(the one without veg) 1 packet
2.Carrot - 1 chopped
3.Beans - 4 or 5 chopped
4.Green peas few pods if available
5.Onion 1- chopped lengthwise
6.few mustard seeds
7.few bengal gram (kadalai paruppu) and urad dhal(ulutham paruppu) for seasoning
8.Any oil - to fry the vegetables
9.Curry leaves and coriander leaves - few for seasoning
10.Salt
11.turmeric powder and chilli power - half tea spoon each
12.Green chillin cut vertically - 1

METHOD:
1.Cook the carrot , beans and peas in a cooker separately along with salt needed for the vegetables and keep aside .
2. Take a kadai  and pour 2 spoons of oil. Put the mustard seeds and wait for them to crack. Then add the curry leaves,coriander leaves ,green chilli and the bengal and urad dal seeds.
3.Add the onion and salt needed for it.. Add chilli powder and turmeric powder and allow them to get fried along with the onion.Once its fried add the cooked vegetables along with the water.
4.Add more water if needed. For one packet add 2 cups of water and add the maggi masala and stir well. Then break the maggi and add it this water.Close the tawa with a lid and keep it in sim for 7 to 10 mins.
5.after u open the tawa u ll see that the noodles has become bigger in size. now keep the stove in high and keep stirring until the maggi becomes dry without the water.
6.The yummy maggi is ready to eat:)yipppieeee!!!!