Friday, December 14, 2012

Christmas Delicacies

Christmas is just one week away, and I am so busy and excited to prepare some goodies and distribute among our community members, that I totally forgot to update my blog.. Till now I have just made some cookies, rum balls and Traditional Fruit cake..Still to make 2 batches of Semolina and coconut cake, brownies, and boiled fruit cake(w/o alcohol..for my son) ...If time permits, which I highly doubt, I would also like to try my hands on Neuri or Karanji.



It is always a proud feeling, when you bake homemade cookies..I am not a professional baker and I did not even have anyone who could teach me.. so I learnt most of my baking from Internet.. Cookies baking are my weak point, I could never get them right.. but I learned some techniques and it helped me in getting good results.. As you can see, my cookies came out nice this time, and I realised that its not the dough that was a problem, the problem was not to have uniform size of cookies while baking.. so this time I rolled the cookies dough in a log and refrigerated it for sometime and then sliced it in 1/4 inch thick slices and baked it in preheated oven..and it was perfect.. I made two types of cookies, one is Nankhatai and another one the raisin cookies. Please check out my next post for the recipes..




Monday, November 26, 2012

Kadhi with Urdachi Vadi


This kadhi is made at my in laws place.. but I loved it the first time I tasted.. Its the same Kadhi like we make, except instead of putting pakoras, we put Wadi made of Urad dals..

Ingredients

- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- two sticks of curry leaves
- 1 inch ginger
- 4 -5 cloves of garlic(medium size)
- 5-6 green chillies (big size)
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 400 gms Curd
- 3-4 tsp gram flour (besan)
- one bowl Urad dal (soaked for one hour)
- few strands of Coriander leaves
- Salt
- pinch of hing

Method

For Making Wadis: Wash Urad dal for 3 times and soak it in enough water for around one hour. After an hour, drain the dal and grind it(adding very little water) till it becomes coarse. Then add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and few curry leaves(snip it with kitchen scissor) and grind again in a fine paste. If you find it difficult to grind, you can add few tsp of water and then grind. Remove the paste in a vessel and add salt, pinch of hing and pinch of turmeric powder and mix well.

Heat a frying pan with 2 tbsp oil and shallow fry the wadi by putting the batter using teaspoon in a small balls. Fry it both the sides till it turns brown and transfer them in a plate with kitchen paper..Keep aside

For Making Kadhi: Take all the curd in a big bowl and whisk it till it turns creamy. Add gram flour and beat again till there are no lumps left. Add enough water and whisk till water gets incorporated (more like buttermilk consistency) and keep aside.

Make fine paste of ginger, garlic and green chillies.

Take a heavy bottomed vessel and heat two tsp of oil. Add remaining cumin seeds and let it crackle. Add curry leaves and ginger,garlic and green chillies paste and let it fry for few seconds. Lower the flame and add the curd mixture and keep stirring. Add turmeric powder and salt and keep stirring till it comes to a boil ( its important to continuous stir till it boils on slow flame, so that it doesnt curdle).. Adjust the seasoning and simmer for few minutes till you dont taste the rawness of gram flour. Add chopped coriander leaves and the wadis and close the flame and cover the lid.

it can be served with rice or even with chapathis..


Enjoy!!!
 

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Mangalorean Chicken Curry

I learned most of my non veg cooking from my mother-in-law, and this recipe is one of them. This is one of the simplest recipe and yet very delicious.. I usually prefer this recipe when we have more number of guests..
October was the month of Rosary and the whole month we had prayers and dinner at our every community member's place, taking turns. It was fun.. When our turn came, we knew that the decoration part was to be done by my sweet hubby and son and the cooking part to be done by me...As you can see they did such a pretty job..

 
 
Well, as far as my part was concerned, I didnt wanted to stress too much, and so I decided on some simple stuff..
 
  - Chicken Curry( everybody feels good when thrs non veg as we all are pure non vegetarian)
  - Pav ( readymade from Bakery)
  - Cucumber Salad ( very simple - chopped onions, cucumbers, fresh coriander leaves, little hung curd, salt and pepper, little lemon juice.. thats it)
  - Some sweets ( Store brought Haldiram's Rasgullas)
 
I know you guys must be thinking, half of the stuffs are store brought, .. But hye.. there were 20 guests and it was the first time I was cooking for so many people... Neways at the end it was good, we felt so good... 
 
So here is the recipe for our Mangalorean Chicken Curry..(the chapathis were for my hubby as he prefers chapathis)

 
Ingredients
 
- 1 kilo chicken with bones(cleaned, washed and cut in medium size)
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
- 3/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 5-6 cloves of garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 3 big onion sliced
- 1/2 fresh coconut grated
- 5-6 Dry red chillies( assortment of Bedki and Kashmiri)
- few curry leaves
- 1/2 tsp raw rice
- Tamarind paste of small lemon size tamarind
 
Method
 
Crush all the ginger and 4 garlic together. Marinate the chicken with turmeric powder and crushed ginger and garlic overnight or for few hours.
 
Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds and mustard seeds and raw rice and keep aside. Heat little oil(around 1/2 tsp) in a pan and roast remaining garlic(sliced) and one onion (sliced) till it turns a little brown and keep aside. In the same pan, add curry leaves and dry roast till it becomes little crisp(dont burn) and keep it with roasted onion and garlic. At the end in the same pan add the dry red chillies and roast till it becomes crisp from both side(again make sure dont burn)... and let all the ingredients cool a little.
 
In a grinder or mixer add roasted coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, raw rice, red chillies, and coconut(not roasted) and grind it till its fine paste by adding little water now and then as required.. At the end add roasted onions, garlic and curry leaves and grind it again till all the ingredients are very fine and smooth..
 
Heat a big heavy bottomed vessel with 2-5 tsp oil. Add 2 sliced onions and fry till light brown. Now add the marinated chicken and fry it for few minutes till it becomes little brown as this process will seal all their juices in it. Once done add tamarind paste and salt and mix well. Let it boil and then lower the flame to slow, close the lid and cook till its just cooked( around 15-20 minutes). Make sure thers is liquid in the chicken while cooking, if you find it dry add some water. Once its cooked , add the prepared red paste and mix well.. Add more water depending on the consisitency you require( if making for chapathis, keep it thick, for rice little less thick, but dont make too watery, it will loose its taste). Let it boil and simmer for few minutes till you see the oil coming on top. Adust the seasoning. Close the flame and let it sit for some time before serving.. This will ensure all the flavours are diluted nicely in the curry.. Somehow I find the same curry taste much better in the evening than in afternoon..
 
This can be served with rice, chapathis or Bread.. or even used as Kori Rotti..
 
 
 
 

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Candied Orange Peels

Its already October and Christmas is just 2 months away.. Whenever I think of Christmas in terms of food.. all I can think about is my Mom in laws special chicken curry and chicken fry.. and Fruit Cake.. A traditional Fruit Cake requires quite a lot of preparation.. and this is the right time to start..

I am planning to make 2 types of Fruit cakes this time.. One for Adults and an another one for kids... Adult one is the special one and ofcourse the traditional one which is made some weeks in advance and is aged by brushing the cake with some brandy or rum once or twice a week.

I have a son now and he loves cake and so I would be making one more fruit cake but without alcohol and is loaded with dry fruits and candied peels ..

Traditional Fruit cake requires preparation some months in advance.. As the name suggest it is loaded with dry fruits.. walnuts, black currants, raisins, dates, prunes, candied peels, glace cherries, dried apricots, dried figs.. etc.. So the first part is to collect these ingredients... Dry fruits are easily available in the market, but candied peels can be bit difficult to find, but can be made at home like I did..
 

Very few ingredients are required to make candied peels..
 
- Peels of 3 Oranges
- 350 gms sugar
- 200 gms water
 
Candied peel making is a lengthy process though the ingredients are very few... Firstly clean the peels and cut it in strips and remove most of the soft fibre from it using a knife.. (I have used peels from two different kind of oranges, one is our Nagpur oranges and another one is the imported one and believe me our Nagpur orange's peels has lots of flavour compare to the other ones)
 
 
Take a big vessel and add sufficient water(to cover all the peels) and allow it to boil.. When it starts boiling, add the prepared peels and stir once to mix. Let it start boiling again.. and keep the flame on medium and cook it for 10 minutes..
 
Once its boiled for 10 minutes, discard the water and add fresh water to the peels and heat it again and let it start boiling.. After it start boiling, lower the flame to medium and cook again for 10 more minutes.. ( this process removes the bitterness from the peels and make it soft)... Do this process the third time as well.. and then drain the water and cover the vessel and keep it aside for a while...
 
After its cooled, Heat a pan and add 350gms sugar and 200 gms water and mix..Keep stirring till the sugar disolves.. then lower the flame and add the cooked peels... Mix well and let it simmer for 10 minutes...The mixture will appear foamy which means the peels has been cooked to the right consistency.. Switch off the flame and leave it to cool for 10 minutes.
 
After 10 minutes transfer the peels along with the syrup in a clean bowl and cover it and leave it overnight..
 
 
 
In the morning heat a vessel and add the soaked oranged peels along with the syrup and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling reduce flame to low and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes... Make sure it doesnt burn.. Switch off the flame..and strain the peels and drain all the syrups...Spread the prepared peels on a tray or a plate,  making sure it doesnt overlap and let it cool completely...
 

Once its cooled completely ( in few hours) cut them in small cubes using kitchen scissor and store in an airtight container in the fridge...and it will stay for many months...
 
So next time, whenever you buy oranges.. make sure you reserve the peels.. and make candy at home....Hows that....Give it a try and let me know...Enjoy!!!
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, September 17, 2012

Mocha Almond Cookies


I have been struggling to get cookies right.. I have no problem in making Nankhatai.. its very easy, but making proper cookies does take time.. After so many attempts.. my cookies started getting better.. This cookie has a subtle flavour of coffee and surprise element of Almonds...Freshly baked cookies with hot chai is heavenly.. You can make this cookies in batches.. keep the remaining dough wrapped in aluminium foil in the fridge and use as and when required...

Ingredients:

100 gms butter
100 gms light brown sugar
30 gms caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water(take mild ones)
1 egg
175 gms plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
90 gms Almonds( toasted and chopped or ground in small pieces)

Method:

Put the butter and both the sugar in a bowl and beat till its light and fluffy. Put the vanilla extract, coffee, and egg in a seperate bowl and whisk with fork lightly, and add this mixture to the butter and sugar mixture in two batches and beat till fuffy.
Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix properly so that soda and baking powder is well combined with the flour.. Now add this flour mixture in the butter mixture and fold in carefully. Also add almonds and fold in to the mixture. If the dough is too sticky, you can chill it in the fridge for half an hour.

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C. Grease the baking sheet and spoon small teaspoonfuls of the mixture on it allowing space for the cookies to spread. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the sides turn slightly brown. Leave to cook on the sheet for few minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.. Store this cookies in an airtight container for later use..


Friday, September 14, 2012

About me and the blog...

Hi,

This post is all about myself and my blog.
About Me

I love food.. and never miss any party whatsoever... I love to try different kind of food.. I was born in a Brahmin family and all my neighbours were Gujratis..Our family was lower middle class.. There are pros and cons of living in a lower middle class- middle class family and even surrounded by them.. Pros are we know all our neighbours, .. we exchange foods.. our doors are open most of the time.. All the kids in the building are our friends.. We even know their relatives.. Its a very friendly environment.. We help each other on every possible basis... Its fun..
The most dangerous cons i can think is.. GOSSIPS...healthy gossips are fine.. but not the unhealthy ones..Neways here my liking for Gujrati foods started...

My mom still stays in the same building... on the 4th floor of the building(which is the last floor) and thrs no lift... We still have some of our Old neighbours there.. and even now you will see ,their doors are open.. and everytime I go to visit mom I have to spend sometime at each our neighbour's place before I reach 4th floor...But I dont mind..its just brings back my old memories.. Infact I make sure I visit there everytime I travel Mumbai..

I strongly believe in Love.. I love romantic movies.. I strongly favor Love Marriages.. If you know that you really love someone.. just go ahead and tell him/her.. dont worry about rejection, atleast you wont regret later... In my case..
My interest in cooking started after marriage.. I learned Mangalorean style cooking from my Mother in Law.. My love for Mahrashtrian food started after I tasted my Sis in law's home food... I dont restrain myself from trying any kind of food.. I had been to Hongkong with my husband, and one of our local friend took us to Lama Island and there we tried different varieties of sea food.. I tasted duck for the first time in HK.. and it was delicious with crispy skin.. I somehow didnt like their desserts.. its little strange and you need to develop the taste to like it.. Whenever I visit any place, my only interest is to taste their local food.. Ohh How I love Food...

In my Free time,  I read novels like Nancy drew(during college days), John Grisham(legal thrillers), Michael Crichton(science fiction), etc.. I never liked Sidney Sheldon novels.. dont know why.. I watch Mentalist, Castle, Criminal Minds,  (Mystery TV series)... Masterchef Australia, Greys Anatomy, or any good movies... I dont like any of those Ekta serials.. I dont like sad stories..

I love shopping.. shopping for clothes.. for shoes....junk jewellery(I even started making beads jewellery).. I am totally a Shopaholic...I am learning to control this habbit.. its difficult.. but am trying.. Wish me luck..

Will post some of my jewellery creation in this blog later..
About My Blog

This blog is about food I learned at different stages of my life and hence the name Shweys Food Journey..

During my initial learning phase I used to read lot of blogs, watch all cookery shows.. even read all the cookbooks(gifted by my friends).. I learned some of the cooking from my Mom and some from my Mother in law.. I also learned some from my gujrati friends... So many recipes I even learned in my office during lunch break.. We had a big group of girls.. and we used to taste everybodys's food.. and share recipes.. They all were like me.. newly married and learning to cook.. When I left the job, they even gifted me with so many cookbooks.. and that too amazing cookbooks.....All these people have contributed in my learning process... and hence now when I know I can cook good food.. I decided to make this blog and dedicate it to all the people who contributed in some ways in making me good cook..  It is also dedicated to my husband and my son who taste my food everyday and give their comments which helps me in becoming a better cook...Thank you guys.. and Love u... :)

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Mixed flour Thalipeet



This idea of mixed flour bhakri came to me when I had no wheat flour left. I was so bored of eating rice..and wanted to eat chapathi or roti or anything healthy.. At the same time I didnt wanted to go for shopping as was feeling too lazy.. One month back I had brought some 3 -4 types of flour.. just to add little with wheat flour while making Rotis.. to add some more nutritional value to  it.. I usually do that.. I sometime add little Nachni flour, or Maize flour, Jowar flour, Rajgira flour or even Bhajra flour to my Wheat flour while making the dough and make Rotis.. Started thinking of all this nutrition stuff after my kid started eating solids..

Its those stages in life.. where when you first learn to cook.. you want to make tasty food, want ppl to praise your food.. but then theres a stage where you see the effects of food on health.. and start becoming more conscious about the amount of fat that can be reduced and nutritional value that can be increased in your daily food. Well I am in that second stage now.. and always keep searching and reading about healthy recipes wherever I can find and this recipe is the result of that..

Not only its healthy and delicious.. its also very easy and quick to make..This may not be the traditional Maharashtrian Thalipeet, but its my version of Thalipeet..

Ingredients:

1 cup maize flour
1/2 cup bajra flour
1 cup rajgira flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/4 tsp roasted coriander powder
1/4 tsp chilly powder
1 small onion chopped finely
few stalks of coriander leaves chopped finely
salt as per taste
2 tbsp thick curd
water as required

Method:

Mix all the ingredients by adding little little water as required to make a thick sticky dough. Keep aside covered for 5 to 10 minutes. Now take a cling film sheet and put drops of oil on it and grease the sheet. Put a medium size ball of dough on the sheet and keep tapping in circular motion to make a thin bhakri. Heat a flat griddle and add 1 tsp oil on it. Now very carefully put the prepared bhakri and cook it covered for few minutes till it turns light brown. Now turn over and cook covered till the other side too gets light brown. Add little oil on sides and cook for few seconds. Serve hot with curd and pickle.