Muthia(Steamed Dumplings)

Muthia is a very popular Gujarati dish, but its even made in south India with Toor Dal called "Nuchnunde"(will post this recipe sometime soon).Its a very healthy appetizer b'coz its steamed. Its so tasty that you can't resist by eating just one....you just keep eating. I found this recipe on Manjula's Kitchen an online website who has lot of video clips too.

Its a simple snack and doesn't take much of your time and most of the ingredients are available at home.The recipe calls for cabbage but i tried using Romaine Lettuce, as my Sister-in-law had tried and she said it tasted good. I guess this Muthia's can be done with any leafy vegetable, like Spinach or Cabbage(even Red cabbage).So its a must try snack.It can be served with green chutney or tamarind chutney but I did with a little hot and sweet Ketchup as I didn't have patience to make them.

Ingredients:

2 cups Finely chopped Romaine Lettuce(any lettuce with do)
1cup Besan/Gram flour
1tsp Cumin seeds
1tsp Turmeric powder
1tbsp Kasoori methi/dried fenugreek leaves
1tsp sugar
salt to taste
2tsp oil
1tsp Mustard seeds
Cilantro for garnishing.

Method:

Take a big bowl and add the shredded Lettuce,cumin seeds, turmeric powder, Kasoori methi , sugar, 1tsp oil, salt and mix well. Now add besan little by little and mix and make a soft dough, no need to add water as the lettuce is moist enough to make the dough.You can add a little more besan if the dough is too soft.Now grease the steaming plate with a little oil and divide the dough into 8 balls and place it on steaming plate ans steam it for 8-10 Min's.

For the tempering add the remaining oil to a kadai and add mustard seeds when they splutter add the cut muthia's and fry for 2 minutes and serve warm with chutney.

Chuda ( Flattened Rice Mix)

Last whole week i was busy as my Parents are here with me and i didn't even find time to post anything.But today somehow I made myself free to blog.Its so wonderful to have parents with us and show them around and to be with them the whole time. My mom is a perfect cook and i hope everybody agree that all mom's are great cook. I will try to learn some new dishes from my mom and post them here.This time i am posting one snack which my mom has prepared but I do it the same was as I learnt it from her.Its called "Chuda" a snack made with Flattened rice with a peanut tempering. Its one of the popular snack in South India.

Ingredients:
1 cup Thin Flattened/Beaten Rice
1tsp Oil
1tsp mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves
1tbsp Peanut
1 tbsp Roasted Channa Dal/Dalia
2-3 Dry Red chillies
1 tsp Cashew nut(optional)
1/2tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
sugar to taste

Method:
Put the oil in a pan and keep it on medium heat.Add mustard seeds, once they crackle add peanut, cashew nut and fry till golden brown and then add curry leaves, turmeric,red chillies and switch off the flame.Now add Dalia,flatten rice,salt 'n' sugar and mix well.Cool it and serve or store it in an air-tight container.

[Note: It serves for 2 people.It stays fresh for weeks and good snack with coffee or tea.To make the flatten rice crispier just roast it in microwave for couple of minutes.]

Chikki(Peanut Caramel Candy)

Chikki is a candy very well known in India. In my childhood we used to eat a lot and frankly speaking one of the favorite snack of my Husband.Its so yummy that you can't resist by eating just one. Its one of the easiest candies i have tried. My mom is a wonderful cook and i learnt it from her. There are several different varieties of chikki in addition to the most common groundnut chikki. Each chikki is named depending upon the ingredients used. Usually, ingredients such as puffed/roasted Bengal gram, sesame, puffed rice, beaten rice, and coconut are used.

It is also extremely popular in Brazil, where it is known as pé-de-moleque. Chikki is also made with either sugar, brown sugar or jaggery.My Son has loves this too.Its a safe candy to give kids as we know what exactly is inside this.

Ingredients:

1 cup Peanut

3/4 cup Sugar

Method:

First roast the peanuts till it gives a nice aroma and little brown in color.Now peel the skin and crush it break it into small pieces in a blender(for just couple of seconds)and keep aside.Now put the Sugar in a pan(preferably Non-stick) and keep it to a medium flame and keep stirring till the sugar turns into brown(caramel color) and liquid.Turn off the heat and pour the crushed peanuts and mix it well.Put the mixture on a plate and pat it flat to the desired thickness.Cut it into desired shape and cool it well. Break it into pieces once its completely cool.Chikki's are ready to be eaten.Store in an airtight container for weeks.

I am sending this post to "JFI:Peanuts " event organized by Pavani. Thanks to Paritha for letting me know about this event.

[Note: If you like bigger chunks of peanuts no need to crush just peel the skin and make into half pieces.That will also be good.Once the sugar turns into syrup switch off the flame, this is very important otherwise the caramel consistency changes]

Mango Kulfi

Summer time is always fun to enjoy some cool ice-cream in the hot weather.Kulfi's are my all time favourite, especially home made tastes wonderful and healthy.Here in Texas it is really hot from past couple of days and we are running a record highs in 103*F(which is almost 40*C).So to keep our body cool its good to have some cold ice cream. Here i have a very simple recipe and takes very less time.Thanks to my friend Chhaya Bhat who gave me this recipe. Bread is used to bind the ingredients and give the kulfi the consistency needed.

Ingredients:

1 can evaporated milk
1 can condensed milk
4 slices of slight toasted white bread(sides removed)
1 small box of cool whip
1 cup Mango pulp
a pinch of Cardamom powder
few strings Saffron(optional)
1 tsp Pistachio crushed(for decoration)
Method:
Put evaporated milk, condensed milk , toasted white bread, cardamom powder, saffron and Mango pulp in a blender and blend this thoroughly well and then add cool whip and blend it again not for too long ...just until the cool whip is mixed well. Freeze for about 5 - 6 hours and kulfi should be ready :).

[Note: Don't use more Mango pulp if you don't get the color you need , it will change the taste of the kulfi.]

Dhoodh Peda

This Dhoodh peda is so simple and delicious that you can't wait to eat. Its simple because its made in microwave and it just takes couple of minutes and mess free too.This recipe i got it from my good friend Arathi's Blog.Thanks Arathi for such an easy dessert. I haven't made any changes to the recipe.


Note: Don't let the Peda cool too much otherwise it will be too hard to make the shape.You can use cookie cutter to make desired shape.

Chocolate Hazelnut Pie

There are couple of recipes i have tried last couple of weeks and haven't been able to put them on this blog.This week I had some time so I am blogging each dish for the day.Pie is something I am not so fond of but this particular pie made be do it, as it is a no bake pie and ingredients in this is simple and fat free too.So who on Earth would not like to have a fat free pie?no one i guess.I saw this recipe on Food network, a show I like a lot..."Semi-home made cooking by Sandra lee".She made a peanut butter pie, but we're not that fan of Peanut butter when compared to Chocolae Hazelnut..Best part is the hazelnut with chocolate combination its Heaven.I love chocolate in any form but hazelnut and chocolate combination is wonderful. The chocolate-hazelnut spread available is very famous in Europe as its like peanut-butter spread for them.This time when i visited my brother in Europe I picked one "Nutrella" brand Chocolate Hazelnut spread.Now a days we're so much hooked up for this that we no more use jam/jelly's for bread toast.

This pie is like an ice-cream cake, need to be cut an eaten fast once its out of the freezer.In summer time its the best dessert you can serve.Kids love it as its filled with chocolate.It demanded more chocolate topping(according to the recipe) but i skipped it.It really tastes yummy and i recommend to everyone who is a chocolate fan.

Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup Chocolate Hazelnut spread
1 Chocolate Pie base
8oz Fat free cream cheese
8oz Fat free cool Whip
1tsp Vanilla extract
1tbsp Chocolate syrup(I skipped this)



Method:

Take Powdered sugar and chocolate-hazelnut spread in a bowl and mix it well , then add vanilla and cream cheese and mix it with a hand blender for few minutes.Add the whipping cream and mix it lightly with a spoon.Pour this mixture on the pie base and refrigerate for 30 minutes.Spray chocolate syrup(which i did not use) on top and cover it with an aluminium foil and freeze it for 2-3 hours or till it is set and serve.

[Note:I freezed it over night so it was completely set.]

Baked Nippattu

Nipattu is a popular snack in Karnataka(India) which goes well with a cup of coffee.It has 2 forms, one is baking and the other is deep fried.I have done the baking version which is so popular in Bakeries(Srinivasa Bakery) of Bangalore that they sell within few hours of baking. If you haven't eaten it before you really need to try it....I was very much inspired to do this when I visited my Sister-in-law this summer and she had baked this for us.I even found a recipe in Madhuram's blog and Redchillies blog too.

Ingredients:

1cup All purpose flour
1/2cup Onions finely chopped
1-2 Green chillies chopped
1 bunch Cilantro leaves finely chopped
1tsp Baking powder
1tsp Baking soda
1tbsp Melted butter
salt to taste
water for making the dough(warm)



Method:

Preheat the oven to 325* F.Mix all the ingredients and make a soft dough.Divide into 15 balls and pat a little and make it like cracker thickness and bake them for 10-12minutes. [Bake for 2-5 minutes more if you need it crispier]

[Note: Don't make the crackers too thin keep it a little thick.You can even add a little rice flour and rava(sooji) to make it crispier]

Carrot Rotti

Akki rotti is a popular breakfast dish in South India.Akki means Rice, but here we use Rice flour to make them.Usually its made with lots of onions but can be used any vegetable and it tastes wonderful. Akki rotti must be prepared with fresh grated coconut otherwise the rotti will become hard and doesn't taste as rich as it has to be. Some prefer gravy with it and some don't , its all individual preferences. In my In-law's house they serve with sambar but my Mom's house its eaten with a dollop of butter on top.I like both the ways.I have used carrot in the recipe so it tastes a little sweet, to make it spicy i have added more green chillies again its an optional.

Each person can eat 2 rotti at a time.When you want to prepare more rotti's you can use a Holige paper which you get in India or else alumium foil.Grease it well and pat it and turn it over on the tava and peel it off.It saves time.Another way to do is turn the tava backwards and run cold water on it so it cools the tava and grease the tava with a little oil and continue the same procedure.
Ingredients:

1 cup Rice flour
1/2cup Fresh grated Coconut
1tsp Cumin seeds
3-4 Green chillies
2 Carrots grated
Salt to taste
oil for frying(1-2tsp)
2tbsp Finely chopped coriander leaves



Method:

In a bowl mix all the ingredients except oil using 1/2 cup or less/more of water and make a soft dough.Put some oil on the tava and grease it well and take a ball of dough and pat/spread it evenly on tava and make few holes in the middle and add a spoon oil on the top and roast it on a medium high flame for about 3 minutes and turn it and taost it again.Serve hot with 1tsp of unsalted butter on top or with a cup of Mango puree(Rasayana).

[Note:Don't make the dough too hard nor too soft it will be hard to spread on the tava and it doesn't bake well too.If you dont want to use so much of oil u can dip u hands in the water while patting the rotti on tava and avoid the oil.]