Cheese Biscuits

I had some left over soft cheese with herbs which no one wants to have it. Quickly thought of making the cheese biscuits. So simple to make and it takes just few minutes .

Cheese biscuits in duckling and butterfly shapes for the little ones

Ingredients:

Plain flour – 1 cup 

Soft cheese – 3 tbsp 

Salt ( Make sure to add very little as cheese might contain traces of salt ) 

Baking soda – 1 large pinch

Method: 

Add salt and baking soda to the flour and mix thoroughly. Now fold the soft cheese into the flour and mix it well. Add 1 or 2 tbsp of water if required and make a soft dough. Cover the dough and keep it aside for 10 minutes . 

Pre-heat the oven Gas mark – 4 

Roll the dough into thin disc, poke it with fork and make desired shapes or simply cut into diamonds or squares. 

The rolled dough has been cut into diamonds

Spread them on a baking tray and bake for 7 to 10 minutes or till they change the colour and gets crispy. Turn them once in between.

Cheese biscuits

khadi Pakode

Khadis are smooth, yoghurt based dishes served with rice. Either yogurt or buttermilk is whisked with gram flour / basin and then simmered into a creamy sauce with the combination of fritters. I have prepared this with moong daal fritters Khadis are delicious and can be served warm or chilled. 

Fritters in creamy yoghurt sauce

Ingredients:

Yoghurt - 1 cup

Gram flour/Basin - 2 tbsp

Asafoetida / Hing - 1 pinch

Cumin, Mustard, Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp each

Dry chili - 1 or 2

Curry leaves - 1 string

Green chili paste - 1 tsp

Salt

Pakode / Fritters of any variety

Method:

Take a deep pan and pour yoghurt. Add gram flour and mix well with a whisk. Add salt and green chilli paste. Whisk well adding 2 cups of water. Cook on low heat,  stirring continuously for five minutes. Continue to boil for another five to eight minutes.

Heat oil in a small pan for seasoning. Add asafoetida, cumin seeds, red chilli, mustard, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. Sauté till cumin seeds start changing colour. Add the seasoning to the yoghurt mixture.

Add the pakodas just before serving, in order to retain the crispiness. Serve this warm rice.

Chicken Sheek Kebab

Relish the lip smacking Chicken seekh kebab prepared at home with this simple and quick kebab recipe. The chicken keema or minced chicken is blended with onion, ginger garlic paste, egg and few spice powders and then rolled on a seekh or skewer. Grill the chicken seekh kebabs and enjoy hot as starter or as a side dish.

Ingredients: 

·      Chicken, minced 1 kg 

        Egg 1

        Shah Jeera (Black cumin) 1 tsp 

        Pepper powder 1 tsp

        Garam Maasala  1/4 tsp

        Green chili chopped - 1 tbsp

        Salt to taste

        Vegetable oil 2 tsp 

        Cashew nuts (pounded) 4 tbsp 

        Ginger garlic  paste 2 tsp 

        Onions (chopped) 4 tsp 

        Green coriander (chopped)2 tbsp

  Oil for basting

 Method:

 Just to get rid of the raw smell, I have fried the ginger garlic paste,onion and chili, jeera in 1 tbsp of  hot oil for less than a minute. 

1. 

      Whisk the egg, add to the mince, fried ginger garlic, onion mixture, cashew nuts, coriander. Add  pepper powder, garam masala,salt, and oil. and mix well. Freeze it for 2 hours.

Minced chicken with the spices and the onion mixture

Mix well. Divide into 10 equal portions.

With wet hands, wrap the mixture along each skewer. Prepare the skewers like this.

 I have placed the skewers on a baking sheet as it is easy to clean the tray. I know many people will  use the alliminium foil. I don't want to use it as the kebabs will stick to it.

s    Roast in a preheated oven at 150°C (300°F) for 30-40 minutes until golden brown in colour by basting it just once.

1     Remove from the skewers, sprinkle some lemon juice and chat masala and serve hot by garnishing  with onion rings, Cucumber and carrot.

  

My son had this as main meal itself instead of having it as side dish......

 

Amaranth leaves curry (Thotakoora pullakura )

This is another variation of cooking greens. Instead of doing stir fry, we do cook the leaves along with tomato, onion, chili and tamarind. It will be tangy in taste and stays in between a curry and a side dish, means you can serve this either as the main dish or as a side dish along with any daal variety dishes. Adding peanuts will give you the crunchiness.

Ingredients:

Amaranthus leaves – 4 cups  or 2 small bunches
Tomato – 1 chopped into big chunks
Onion – 1 chopped into big chunks
Tamarind – ½ of the lemon size
Rock Salt
Soaked Ground nuts or fresh ground nuts – 2 tbsp
Oil

For thadka (Tampering):
Mustard seeds, Garlic flakes, curry leaves and Red chilli

Method:

 Boil the ground nuts with little water until they are semi soft (half boiled) using a pinch of salt. Drain and keep aside. Do not discard the water as we are going to use this to boil amaranthus leaves.

 Add 1 spoon oil to hot pan and fry onion and tomato together with a pinch of salt for a minute.

 Add washed amaranth leaves, tamarind, half boiled pea nuts, the left over water from boiling pea nuts (about 100 ml) and salt. Stir and close the lid for about 4 -5 minutes.

Stir occsionally and cook the contents until the amaranth leaves are soft. Do not over cook.

Remove from the fire and while it is still hot add rock salt and mash every thing using wooden pastel and keep it aside.

 For tampering, heat oil in a pan and add Mustard seeds, garlic cloves fry for a minute and then add curry leaves.

 Finally add the tampering to the curry / pullakoora

Children's day 2011

"Children Day" a sweet memory of every Indian's childhood. Children's day in India is celebrated on Pandit Nehru's birthday as a day of fun and frolic, a celebration of childhood.

These are the pictures taken at Nehru's centre in London on the occasion of children's day.

Bhaarat matha

Chaacha Nehru

A little Indira Gandhi 

Sardhar Vallabhai Patel

 Little Rama, Sita and hanuma

Anaarkali

Raani Rudrama devi 

 The great dancers

 I am so impressed to see India in UK

Pappulu allam chutney (Roasted chickpea with ginger)

This is an instant chutney with fewer ingredients. Roasted chikpea combined with ginger and green chili is a tasty combination that can be served with any Indian tiffins. Adding ginger will give the extra punch.

Ingredients:

Pappulu / putnalu (Roasted chick pea) – ½ cup

Green chilli – 4
Ginger – ½ inch
Salt

For Tampering:

Oil, Mustard, Cumin seeds, Urad dal, Curry leaves, Dry chilli

 Roasted chickpea, ginger and green chili

Method:

Grind roasted chickpea, green chillies, ginger and salt by adding water into paste like chutney consistency.

Heat a small pan with oil. When it is hot enough add Red chilli then urad dal, when they change colour, add mustard, cumin and curry leaves. Saute for less than a minute and pour on to the top of chutney.

Served with dosa

Pesara Idly / Moong Daal Idly

This is another variety of idly with green gram. As we are using the whole grains, this will be rich in B Vitamin. All my efforts are just not to prepare new recipes, but also do healthy meals for my family.

Pesara idly / Moongdaal idly with Sambar

Ingredients:
Whole Urad daal / Black gram – 1 cup

Rice Rava - 1 cup

Whole Green gram - 1 cup

Method:

Soak urad daal and green gram together for atleast 6 hours and grind them into into fine paste.

Add Rava and combine every thing without any lumps and allow to ferment for at least 8 hours.

When it is fully fermented , scoop the batter into idli moulds and steam for 15 – 20 minutes.

Serve them warm with your favourite chutney or sambar