Thursday 28 February 2013

Oreo milkshake

OREO... they claim it to be the world's number 1 biscuit.. it indeed is.. my 3.2 year old loves gulping them down anytime of the day.. he could even empty the entire pack if allowed.. I do restrict him to 2-3 in the evening after milk, but when my in laws or dad comes home he sneaks into the kitchen with them and has it whenever he feels like... so much so that i've started hiding them of late..

One fine evening i was just going through their page on Facebook and found this post about Oreo milkshake.. so i thought why don't i make it for him..


Preparation time: 2 minutes
Blending time: 3 minutes
Serves: 2


Ingredients: 

1. Oreo biscuits 3-4
2. Milk 200ml (1 glass)
3. Sugar 2tsp
4. Cocoa powder 1tsp
5. Ice cream (optional) i didnt use it coz i didnt have it at home..

Method: 

1. To milk break in the Oreo biscuits and add them.
2. Next add sugar, cocoa powder and blend them all well. (I used my hand blender, you can do it the regular mixer with a wet blade on)
3. Serve with Oreo broken into pieces or just like that.


In summer you can chill milk and make this or blend and then chill it..


Enjoy this delicious drink... it was soo delicious that i also could not stop myself from gulping it down... :)











Drumstick, Onion and potato sambar

I just love eating drumsticks, and when it blends with onions and potatoes.. the sambar smells and tastes soooo good...

My father in law loves this very much and so does my co sister and hubby's granny, so i could not avoid myself from sending some for them when my father in law went back home in the morning after staying with us for 3 days..

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves: 5-6 people

Ingredients: 

1. Drum sticks 2 nos
2. Onions 3 nos
3. Potatoes 2 nos
4. Toor dal 1 cup
5. Fenugreek (methi seeds) 1/2tsp
6. Cinnamon stick 1 inch
7. Clove pods 2-3
8. Pepper corns 5-6
9. Dry red chillies 8-9
10. Chana dal 1tbsp
11. Urad dal 1/2tbsp
12. Dhania seeds 1tbsp
13. Tamarind about a lemons size
14. Salt
15. Ghee 1tbsp
16. Curry leaves
17. Oil 1tbsp
18. Mustard seeds 1tsp
19. Grated fresh coconut 1/2 cup



Method: 

1. Heat 1tbsp ghee and roast methi seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves, pepper corns, chana dal, urad dal and dhania seeds till light brown. Also roast the dry red chillies and let them cool. 

2. Cook toor dal, keep aside. Soak the tamarind in a little water and keep aside. 

3. Once cooled grind the roasted ingredients with coconut to a fine paste, add water while grinding. 

4. Add the ground paste and cooked toor dal to cooked vegetables and boil for about 6-7 minutes. 

5. Add salt and squeeze tamarind juice into the boiling sambar. 

6. Add curry leaves and simmer. 

7. Heat oil in kadhai and make seasoning with mustard seeds and serve hot with rice...






Tuesday 26 February 2013

Palak dosa

Palak is a very nutritive green.. it has loads of benefits and its often advised to have green in your diet at least once a week.

When you run out of ideas to make breakfast everyday morning, try this new variant in Palak Dosa.. very tasty, healthy and i'm sure kids will love them (my 3 year old toddler did)

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 3-4 minutes per dosa


Ingredients:

1. Palak leaves 1 bunch
2. Rice 1/2kg (2 cups)
3. Salt
4. Oil
5. Dry red chillies 8-10
6. Tamarind a lemon's size
7. Dhania seeds 2-3tbsp
8. Jeera seeds 2tbsp
9. Coriander a little bit
10. jaggery (optional) 1tbsp
12. Grated fresh coconut 1/4 cup
13. Water
14. Onion 1nos

Method:

1. Soak the rice for about 3-4 hours.
2. Grind the rice along with jeera, dhania seeds, coconut, tamarind, coriander leaves, dry red chillies, onion  and jaggery to a paste to dosa batter consistency.
3. Wash the palak leaves and chop them as finely as possible.
4. Add it to the batter and mix well. Add salt also.
5. Mix well. Add water if required.
6. Heat tava and pour the batter evenly and cook on both sides.
7. Serve hot with ghee and coconut chutney/chutney powder.. (You can eat it just like tht)..




Veggie (cabbage and carrot) parantha

Want ur kid to eat up the veggies... here's a tasty and simple way to do it, healthy as well... All mom wud be very happy i'm sure to see the sight when a toddler finishes up his lunch without any fuss..


Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: depends on the number of paranthas ur making..


Ingredients:

1. veggies (1/2 small cabbage and 2 carrots) finely chopped.. you can use any other vegetables of ur choice
2. Wheat flour 2 cups
3. Water
4. Oil
5. Salt
6. Ghee
7. red chilli powder 1 tsp
8. Garam masala (optional) 1 tsp
9. Jeera powder 1tsp
10. Turmeric powder 1tsp

Method:

1. Heat about 1tbsp of oil and saute the veggies till raw smell disappears. Let it cool.
2. Once cooled mix this to the wheat flour and make a dough similar to chapathi dough.







3. Now make balls from the dough and roll them and spread a little oil and fold in this manner..








4. Now roll it into thick paranthas this way and cook on tava with a litlle more oil or ghee..









Monday 25 February 2013

pizaaa ma ma miaaa

Well after i bought an OTG, 1st thing i baked was Cookies, which was my last post and after that i wanted to make Pizza's.. well researched the internet on methods, followed bits and pieces from a lot of blogs and of course took help from my friend who has an OTG and her hubby does bake yummy cakes and breads in them.. Well there was nothing more to stop me from making a pizza, but my hubby was out in The US of A from office and it was just me and my 3 year old son at home to enjoy it.. guess what both of us had a pizza party.. he loved every bit of it.. of course with lots of tomato sauce...

My previous efforts to make pizza on the tava and in the grill microwave weren't so successful, but that didn't deter me from making them..

Preparation time: 15 min
Cooking time: 12-15 minutes (depending upon the oven)
Serves: 1 (small base)

Ingredients:

1. Pizza base 1 nos.
2. Vegetables finely chopped of your choice (i used tomatoes, capsicum, cabbage and carrot)
3. Pizza sauce available readily in stores






4. Pizza cheese (i used Britannia, Amul is also good)
5. Tomato sauce

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 220 degrees for about 5-7 min
2. Spread the pizza sauce over the base evenly




3. Heat oil in a kadhai and saute the veggies (optinal).. you can omit this step and just spread it evenly.

4. Grate the cheese (as much as you require).








5. Bake at 220 degrees for 12-15 minutes (till cheese melts and the base turns light brown)











6. Cut them .. and enjoyy with tomato sauce/ketchup.







Saturday 16 February 2013

Cookiessss

After a lot of yes and no and lot of research on the internet i finally bought an OTG (Oven, toaster and griller) from Prestige... And the love of baking made me buy it, my hubby was a little against it in the beginning since he thought its of not much use and since i was already using my mom's round oven he thought it would not be right to have 2 of them in the kitchen.. i had to convince him (it was easy though)..









So i was all excited to bake... and i decided let me start with cookies/biscuits 1st.. and also i had bought cookie cutters recently so there began the experimentation..

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 20-25 minutes (depending upon the oven)
Yield: About 35-40

Ingredients: 

1. Maida 1.5 cups
2. Sugar (powdered) 2 cups
3. Pineapple/vanilla essence 1tsp
4. Baking powder 1.5tsp
5. Butter 100gms
6. Milk if required

Method: 

1. Sieve the maida and baking powder and keep aside.
2. Mix butter and sugar and beat till light and fluffy.
3. Add vanilla/pineapple essence to the mixture.
4. Now slowly add in the maida mixture and knead it to a dough.
5. Add milk while making dough if you find it too dry.
6. Now roll the dough into 1/4" thickness.
7. Using a cookie cutter cut them into shapes and arrange them on a greased baking tray.













9. Bake them at 175 degrees for about 10-15 minutes or till they turn light brown, depending upon the oven.

10. Let them cool and they're ready to serve..




the finished product