Aate ka halwa (Kadah Prasad)

The simplest and quickest sweet dish to make in my opinion. Plus it tastes yum.

You need:

1. Wheat flour - 1 cup
2. Ghee (clarified butter) - 1/2 cup
3. Water 2 cups
4. Sugar - 1/2 cup
5. A handful of raisins and cashew nuts (optional)

How to:

1. Put ghee and wheat flour in a pan over a medium flame. Stir continuously to cook the flour evenly
2. In another pan add water and sugar and leave to heat on a low flame
3. When the flour is a dark chocolate brown (not burnt!) quickly add the dry fruits and give a stir. 
4. Quickly add the water and sugar mix and stir furiously till its a smooth finish. Make sure there are no flour lumps.
5. Cook till the ghee leaves sides.
6. Ready to eat :) 

Bhindi Masala

Again a very simple recipe and my favorite dish.

You need:

• Bhindi (Ladyfinger) - 250 g
• One small onion - optional - cut into quarters
• Cooking oil - 4 tbsp (sorry folks - this is a high oil dish, you can use lesser oil, but then make sure to use a non-stick pan)
• Mustard seeds (rai) - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida (hing) - 1 pinch
• Salt - to taste
• Red chilly powder - 1 tsp (If you want it spicy, add another 1/2 tsp)
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Dry mango powder (amchur) - 1/2 tsp - option (i.e. if you like your food with a slight tang)
• A pan (preferably non stick) that can be covered

How to:

• Remove the top and tail of the ladyfinger and slice into 4 pieces vertically (lengthwise)
• In the pan, heat oil. Once hot add asafoetida, cumin seeds and mustard seeds. 
• When they start crackling, add the chopped ladyfinger. Mix well so that the oil coats all pieces and cook for a minute.
• Add all the spices except Amchur, cover and cook on a low flame for 15 minutes. Keep stirring well after every few minutes to avoid the masala burning or sticking to the pan
• Once the ladyfinger is cooked, add Amchur and stir well. Remove from flame, cover and keep aside. 
• After 5 minutes, move the ladyfinger to the serving dish. In the cooking pan there will be some oil and masala left over. Heat the pan again, add chopped onion and cook till it is nicely translucent.
• Use as a garnish on top of the Bhindi Masala
• Serve hot with rotis

Aloo Pyaz ki Subzi (Potato and Onion curry)

This Rajasthani delicacy is quite time consuming to make an exceptionally heavy on the tummy. But tastes divine with hot rotis. I'm not going with the original version but using my edited version that is simpler to make.

You need:

1. Potatoes - 2 large
2. Onions - 6-7 small onions and 2 medium onions
3. Tomatoes - 3-4
4. Garlic - 10-15 cloves (you can use less if you want less garlicky flavor)
5. Ginger - 1" piece
6. Green chillies - 1
7. Curd - 1 cup (preferably sour)
8. Black Cardamom (badi ilaichi) - 1
9. Cinnamon (Dalchini) - 1 stick
10. Peppercorns (kali mirch) - 2-3 corns
11. Cloves (laung) - 2-3
12. Salt - to taste
13. Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
14. Coriander powder - 2 tsp
15. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
16. Garam masala - 2 tsp
17. cumin seeds - 1 tsp
18. Asafoetida (hing) - 1 pinch
19. Oil to fry
20. Fresh coriander to garnish

How to:

1. Remove the peel of small onions and make a slit lengthwise
2. Peel potatoes and chop lengthwise in to thick slices (like french fries)
3. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the small onions and potatoes. Keep aside
4. Make fine paste of the medium onions, tomatoes, green chillies, garlic, and ginger in a mixer.
5. Heat 6 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add asafoetida and cumin seeds and temper
6. Add the tomato-onion paste. Cover and cook well for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally and add water if needed
7. Tie the cardamom, cinnamon sticks, peppercorns and cloves in a muslin cloth and add to the pan
8. Mix the remaining spices in the curd. Add this to the pan and mix well.
9. Cover and cook for another 30 minutes till the oil leaves sides. Stir occasionally and add water when needed.
10. Remove the muslin cloth of spices.
11. Add the fried potatoes and onions and cook for another 15-20 minutes.
12. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot with rotis.

Palak Tamatar ki sabzi - Spinach and tomato curry

Coming home after a hectic day and cooking can be quite a pain sometimes. So I mostly try quick fix stuff. This one cooks in a jiffy and is doable for the health buffs too. Just moderate the oil - 'cause I don't.

You need:

• 1 large bowl of washed and chopped spinach
• 1 large tomato - diced
• 1 large onion - finely chopped
• salt to taste
• red chilly powder - 1 tsp (if you like it spicy make it 1 1/2 tsp)
• turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• coriander powder - 1 tsp
• cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• asafoetida - 1 pinch
• Oil - 1 1/2 Tb sp (you can use lesser if you want)

How to:

• Heat oil in a pan. Add asafoetida and temper the cumin seeds
• Add onions and sautee till translucent
• Add chopped spinach and tomato and stir well
• Add all the spices - cover and cook till the spinach and tomatoes are soft and the curry leaves oil at the side. Stir occasionally to avoid it sticking to the pan
• Ready to eat - yummy with hot paranthas

Strawberry Coulis

We shifted to our new place this week and things are pretty much in a test mode; including the fridge. On a shopping spree drooled over some strawberries and bought a couple of packs. Came home to find out that the fridge had decided to go on a strike. So now I was stuck with more strawberries that we could possibly eat in one night and to waste them would be a shame! Decided to experiment a bit and came up with the following that we enjoyed with pancakes the next morning.

You need:

Strawberries - 2 cups - chopped
Sugar - 1/2 cup (will depend on how sweet the strawberries are)
Water - 1 cup
Juice of one lemon

How to:

In a non stick heavy bottomed pan put the strawberries, sugar and water. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the cover and cook till the coulis achieves pouring consistency. Remove from flame and stir in the lemon juice.

Easy peasey!

Quickfix chocolate icing

I did this for a friend's birthday cake. Turned out pretty decent.

You need:

1. Approx 60 g of milk chocolate ( I used Cadbury's)
2. 1 cup of cream ( I used the layer of cream on milk and churned it a bit in the mixer)

How to:
Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Add the cream and mix well. Should be of icing consitency. If you want add a capful of rum. All set to be put on the cake now :)

Pineapple Raita

A nice accompaniment to a heavy meal. Very simple to make.

You need:

• canned pineapple slices - 3
• Thick curd - 600 gms
• Black salt - 1 tsp
• Canned pineapple syrup - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1 tbsp
• Fresh coriander leaves

How to:

• Tie the curd in a muslin cloth and hang it to let excess water drip
• When the curd is really thick, sieve it through to remove any lumps
• Chop the pineapple slices finely
• Mix the salt, sugar, pineapple syrup, and pineapple slices in the curd
• Serve chilled garnished with fresh coriander