Rasamalai

Ingredients:
For Malai:
Milk - 1/2 litre (For best results use creamy milk)
Lemon juice - 3 tablespoons
Sugar - 1 cup
Milk powder / plain flour - 1-2 tablespoons
Water - 2 cups

For flavoured Milk:
Milk - 1/2 litre
Sugar - 1/2 cup or as required
Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon
Saffron - a pinch (soaked in warm water/milk)
Sliced Nuts for garnishing (Almonds, Cashew, Pistachios, etc)
Rose essence - 2-3 drops


Method:
For Malai:
Take a thick bottomed pan and heat milk. Allow it to boil well. Reduce the flame, add lemon juice slowly, stirring the milk.

Curd starts forming and keep stirring slowly, until all the milk turns solid and water separates out.

Put off the flame and strain the curd. Use a clean muslin/cotton cloth to collect the solid part. This is called paneer or cottage cheese.

Run the cloth with paneer in water, so that it gets washed and removes the smell of lemon.

Then twist cloth tightly, so that it lets out even the last drop of water.

Knead it to make a smooth dough. Add very little milk powder or plain flour, if you feel it watery.

Once it is smooth, make into small balls. Press the balls between hands so that it becomes flat and keep aside.

Heat 1 cup of sugar in 2 cups of water and allow it to boil.

Once it starts boiling, reduce the flame and add the flat balls one by one slowly into it.

Let it cook for 10-15 minutes. Balls will puff up and start floating on the surface, that indicates it is cooked.

Take them carefully one by one and keep aside.


For flavoured milk:
Heat milk in a heavy bottomed pan and allow it boil.

Stir it continuously until the volume reduces to half and becomes thick.

Add sugar, cardamom powder, saffron water/milk and stir well, until sugar dissolves (5-10 minutes).

Put off the flame and allow it to cool for some time. Once it is warm, add rose essence and mix well.

Then add the cheese balls one by one slowly.

Garnish it with nuts and allow it to cool completely.

Refrigerate and serve chilled.


Cooking time : 1 hour
Makes 6-8 balls.

Paneer & Capsicum Roll

Ingredients:

• 200 gm white flour
• 3-4 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Salt & sugar according to taste
• 2 cup Luke warm water
• 150 gm paneer ( cut in small cubes)
• 150 gm capsicum ( wash and cut in medium pieces)
• 2 tomato (chopped)
• 2 onion (chopped)
• 2-3 green chili (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon ginger paste
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste 
• Salt and sugar according to taste
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil

Preparation:

1. Heat the oil in a pan, sauté the onion and green chili.
2. Add capsicum, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt and sugar to taste.
3. Fry all the spices properly, then add paneer cubes and cook it well.
4. Turn of the gas and keep aside the paneer mixture.
5. Kneed soft dough and make some Paratha's.
6. Place the paratha and spread the paneer mixture lengthwise.
7. Roll the paratha's with paper napkin.
8. Serve Paneer roll with green salad.

Bread Upma

Ingredients:

• 6 pcs. slice bread 
• 1 big bowl mixed vegetables (carrot, bean, capsicum, potato, peas) (boiled)
• 2 tomato (chopped)
• 2 onion (chopped)
• 2-3 green chili (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon mustard seed
• A pinch of turmeric powder
• Salt & sugar according to taste
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of water (if needed)

Preparation:

1. Smash the bread and keep aside.
2. Heat the oil in a pan, sauté the curry leaves and mustard seeds.
3. Add onion, green chili and fry it properly.
4. Then add pre-boiled vegetables, tomato and fry it until light brown.
5. Add smashed bread, turmeric powder, salt and sugar to taste and stir it properly.
6. Serve hot with green salad.

bhaji pav recipe

Ingredients
8 pavs (squarish soft buns about 4" x 5" size)
butter to shallow fry.

For Bhaji
1 capsicum chopped fine
2 onions chopped fine
2 tomatoes chopped fine
2 1/2 cups chopped mixed vegetables (beans, carrots, cauliflower, potota, beans, bottle gourds, etc.) 1/2 cup shelled peas
2 tbsp. butter
2 tsp. pavbhaji masala
1 1/2 tsp. chilli powder
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt to taste
1 cup water (in which vegetables were boiled)
1/2 tsp. each ginger grated, garlic crushed
juice of 1/2 lemon.

To Garnish
1 tbsp. coriander chopped
1 onion chopped
small pieces of lemon

Method
Pressure cook mixed vegetables and peas till well done.
Mash them coarsely after draining.
Heat butter in a pan.
Add ginger-garlice, capsicum, onion, tomatoes.
Fry for 2-3 minutes till very soft.
Add pavbhaji masala , chilli powder, turmeric, salt, sugar and fry further 2-3 minutes.
Bring to boil.
Simmer till gravy is thick, stirring and mashing pieces with masala, in between.
Add lemon juice, stir.
Garnish with chopped coriander and a block of butter.

For Pavs
Slit pavs horizontally leaving one edge attached. (To open like a book).
Apply butter (as desired) and roast open on a griddle till hot and soft with the surface crisp on both sides.
Serve hot with bhaji, a piece of lemon and chopped onion.

Poondu satham / Garlic rice

This is a simple recipe but a very helpful postnatal diet. I had made this several times and found this as  the easiest, yet a tasty way to include garlic in my postnatal diet.  I found this recipe  in a supplement of a tamil magazine.

Ingredients:
Cooked rice – 2 cups
Small onion- 1/2 cup
Garlic pods – 1 cup
Ginger- 1/4 inch piece
Roasted and ground black pepper- 1/2  tsp
Raosted and ground cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Method:

An important thing in  making any mixed rice variety is that the rice has to be cooked well but  must be separate grains. Normally this can be achieved by  roasting the raw rice in little ghee before cooking or adding a little sesame oil while it is cooking. Once the rice is cooked, cool it well  in a wide pan/ plate.

Cut the onions, garlic and ginger into fine pieces. Heat oil or ghee in a wide skillet, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds , dried  chillies (3-4 numbers)  and curry leaves. Add the onion, garlic and ginger pieces and  fry them on low heat.Add pepper powder and cumin powder. Add salt to taste and mix the rice , turning off the heat.

Mutton Biriyani

Festival : Ramadan

Ingredients : Chopped Mutton - 1 kg Ground coriander - 1 1/2 tbs Ground paprika - 1 tsp Grounded cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp Powdered aniseeds, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, clove - 1/4 tsp each Crushed garlic - 2 cloves Grated fresh ginger - 2 tsp Fresh lime juice - 1 tsp Oil  - 3 tbs Finely chopped big onions - 4 Ground Almonds  - 3 tbs Plain Yoghurt - 6 tbs For Preparing Rice Washed and drained long grain rice  - 4 cups Ghee - 3 tbs Finely sliced onions - 2 Crushed garlic - 1 clove Water  - 6 cups Grounded turmeric, cinnamon,  cardamom, clove - 1/4 tsp each Bay leaf - 2 strangs Evaporated milk   - 4 tbs Salt - to taste

Method of Preparation : Preparing Mutton : Remove excess fat from the mutton and keep it in a bowl. In another bowl mix coriander, paprika, cumin, aniseed, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, garlic and lime juice. Add it to mutton and mix well. Marinate and keep it for 15 minutes. Heat oil in a large sauce pan. Saute onions until golden brown. Add marinated meat and cover the sauce pan and simmer the flame and cook for 40 minutes. Add almonds and yoghurt, mix it well and cook until the liquid has dried and oil rises. Remove the sauce pan from the fire. Preparing Rice : In a big pan melt ghee, saute onions until golden brown. Add ginger, garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Add the rice, water, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaf. Mix well and cook the rice until 3/4 cooked. Simmer the flame, add evaporated milk and continue to cook until the remaining liquid is absorbed. Stir the rice with the fork and transfer half of the rice into a serving dish. Spread the mutton dish over the rice and cover it with the remaining rice. Garnished with fried onion rings and cashew nuts.

Egg Dipped Pattiri

Region : Kerala            Festival : Ramalan

Pattiri's are soft breads usually made with rice flour, wheat flour etc. They are made as itself and served with any non vegetarian Curry or stuffed with fish, meat etc. Its a specialty of Muslims. Here's a variety of delicious pattiri's you can try out Ingredients : Wheat flour - 1 cup   Maida (refined flour) - 1 cup Ghee - 1/2 tsp Salt - to taste Oil - as required Egg - 3 no's Big onion chopped - 1 no's Green chilli chopped - 2 no's Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp Coriander leaves - 2 sprigs Method of preparation : Mix wheat flour, maida, oil and salt in water and make a dough. Then make small balls with the dough and flatten it into small rounds. Deep fry in oil till it puffs up as in the case of poori.  Break the eggs and pour it into a vessel. Beat well by adding chopped onions, chilli, coriander leaves, pepper power and salt. Dip the pattiri's in this mixture and cook them in a flat pan applied with oil and turn both sides till done.