Grilled Paneer Tikka

Grilled Paneer Tikka

Just imagine, chatting with friends in an open garden, and enjoying the taste of Paneer Tikka on Tandoor in middle. We always want to have a wonderful time along with such a wonderful dish. I have tried this Paneer Tikka at home to give almost the same experience to my family members. Although, we don't have an open space and Tandoor, I prepared this dish on my grilling pan and believe me it was as good as Tandoor, and everyone in family enjoyed it. This dish is full of different flavors, it has a nice aroma of ginger-garlic paste along with sweet and sour flavor of Chaat Masala. It is hot, spicy and colorful dish. Here is the recipe of Paneer Tikka.

Khandvi Sev

Khandvi Sev

Evening snacks is a daily headache for all moms. They always have to search different snacks to fulfill their children demands. Generally, moms have to look for such snacks which are easily made and at the same time  they are healthy too. Khandvi sev is one of such option, it is a good combination of Besan and curd along with aromatic seasoning of cumin and mustard seeds. Once you have made the besan paste correctly, it is very simple after that. Here is the recipe to try this at home.

Chorafali Fafda

Chorafalli Fafda

Gujarat is famous for its number of snacks. But one of my favorite is 'Chorafali fafda'. Its the most common dish during festival at my home. In my family Diwali is totally incomplete without Chorafali fafda. It is the combination of all the healthy lentils. Its very crispy, sprinkled by spicy masala and  eaten along with mint flavor green chutney. Here is the recipe below to try them at home...

Shahi palak curry

Shahi Palak Curry

Everyone in the family avoids spinach, specially kids. Cooking same kind of curry every time will definitely not work. We have to think different ways of preparing these veggies. This time I have tried spinach by giving a flavor of cashew nuts. This curry  is little creamy with roughly chopped cashew nuts in each byte. Along with it, it has spicy and little tangy flavor too. Here is the recipe - shahi palak curry, and believe me no one is going to avoid this curry at home.

Preparation time : 15 mins
Cooking time : 25 mins
Servings :4

 

Ingredients(for 3-4 people)

Spinach(palak)(Boiled)	2 cups
Onion(chopped)	1
Tomato(chopped)	1
Cashew nuts(roughly chopped)	1/4 cup
Garlic(chopped)	1tbsp
Green chillies(roughly chopped)	2
Salt	as per taste
Turmeric powder	1/2tsp
Cashew nut(paste)	1/4 cup
Red chilly powder	as per taste
Oil	for frying
Cloves	2-3
Indian bay leaf	1

Method : How to prepare Shahi Palak Curry

• Boil spinach for about 15-20 mins in small amount of water.
• Saute cloves, bay leaf, garlic and green chillies in a pan.
• Now, add onions and tomatoes and saute for 4-5 mins more.
• Add cashew nut paste and all spices. Stir continuously for a minute.
• Add boiled spinach and cashew nuts and cook again for 3-4 minutes.
• Garnish with few cashew nuts and serve hot. 

It will create a great combination with Naan or Parathas.

Gujarati Chhavda

Gujarati chhavda

Kids always want to eat such food which looks good and attractive to them. Moms have to find new ways to make their food better, but at the same time healthy too. This snack is yet another option you can serve to kids and avoid 'fussy eating' at home. Chhavda can be prepared with a mixture of many ingredients, but best combination I like is with khichdi. It is little tangy, little spicy, little crispy in taste. I am sharing the recipe below, do try this at home. I am sure the whole bowl of batter, is going to be finished.

Preparation time : 15 mins
Cooking time : 30 mins
Servings : 4

Ingredients(for 3-4 people)

Rice	1/2 cup
Green gram split(green moong dal)	1/2 cup
Onions(chopped)	1
Potatoes(grated)	1
Tomatoes(chopped)	1
Green chilly paste	as per taste
Bengal gram flour(besan)	1 cup
Salt	as per taste
Red chilly powder	1/2 tbsp
Turmeric powder	1/2 tbsp
Oil	for frying

Method : How to prepare Gujarati chhavda

For khichdi

1. Mix rice, green moong dal, salt and water in a pressure cooker.
2. Cook it till 5-6 whistle and let it cool. 
3. Khichdi is ready.

For chhavda

• Mix all the ingredients: khichdi, potatoes, tomatoes, green chilly paste, besan, salt, red chilly and turmeric powder.

Chhavda Mixture

• Heat a pan and grease it with oil for shallow fry.

• Spread the mixture on pan as shown in picture.

Chhavda mixture on pan

 

• Fry on both the sides till they turn crispy on each side.
• Drain excess oil from it and keep them on paper napkins.
• Serve it with green chilly chutney or tomato sauce.

Whenever I cook khichdi at my home, I always prepare little more to make chhavda from this leftover khichdi. It can be a good option for kids breakfast or for their lunch box.

Baby Corn Chilly with twist of curry leaves!

Baby corn chilly

One day we went to a restaurant to celebrate my dad's birthday. After a long discussion, finally we ordered baby corn chilly. That was the first time I had baby corn chilly in my whole life. It had a complete blend of all the flavors, a bit spicy with lot of garlic aroma in it. Each byte will give you a crispy baby corn with onions and other stuff. The very next day, I thought of trying it, but by giving some twist to it. Then I chosen curry leaves and believe me it was not a bad idea. It was not less yummy than the baby corn chilly which I had in restaurant, but with extra flavor of curry leaves it was more tasty. Everyone in the family really enjoyed a lot.  So, here goes the recipe for baby corn chilly which I made that day...

Preparation time : 25 mins
Cooking time : 15 mins
Servings : 3

Ingredients(for 3-4 people)

Baby corns	7 to 8
Corn flour	for coating baby corns
Oil	for deep fry
Green chillies(sliced)	2
Green bell pepper(capsicum)(sliced)	1/2 cup
Red bell pepper(capsicum)(sliced)	1/2 cup
Onions(sliced)	1/2 cup
Ginger(chopped)	1/2 tbsp
Garlic(chopped)	1 tbsp
Soya sauce	1 tsp
Curry leaves	8-10 leaves
White pwpper	as per taste
Vinegar	3-4 drops
Red chilly sauce	1tsp
Green chilly sauce	1tsp
Salt	as per taste
Ajinomoto	as per taste
Spring onions(finely chopped)	for garnish

Method: How to prepare baby corn chilly

1. Cut baby corn diagonally into 2 pieces(keep the length of the baby corn according to your convenience).
2. Now, sprinkle corn flour on it and deep fry them till it turns golden brown.
3. Keep these fried baby corns over on paper napkin so that excessive oil is absorbed.
4. On another pan, heat oil. Saute ginger, garlic and green chillies.
5. Now, add green bell pepper, red bell pepper, onions and saute for 1 mins
6. Simmer the flame and add soya sauce, vinegar, red chilly sauce, green chilly sauce, salt, ajinomoto. Mix them well.
7. On high flame again, add fried baby corn and saute for 1 min.
8. Finally garnish it with spring onions and serve hot.

One of the easiest starter you can serve before dinner to your guests. Foodies, who enjoy hot spicy and garlicy dishes will definitely love this baby corn chilly. And, the added twist of curry leaves will bring a unique taste out of it.

Manchow Soup

Manchow Soup

Food blogging is a wonderful thing, and it becomes more interesting when you try all different types of cuisines at home and share it with friends and family. One day, we went to eat sizzlers, and for starters we ordered Man-chow soup. The taste was so awesome, and at that moment only, me and my hubby thought of trying this at home. And one fine weekend we tried this at home, believe me the taste of that soup made my evening that day, I think cooking together with my hubby made that soup more delicious.

Preparation time : 20mins
Cooking time : 30mins
Servings : 4

Ingredients(for 3-4 people):

 

For vegetable stock:

Carrot(roughly chopped)	1cup
Spring onion(roughly chopped)	1/2cup
Cauliflower(roughly chopped)	1cup
Cabbage(roughly chopped)	1cup

For Soup:

Cabbage(finely chopped)	1/2 cup
Carrot(finely chopped)	1/2 cup
Capsicum(finely chopped)	1/2 cup
Cauliflower(finely chopped)	1/2 cup
Garlic(finely chopped)	2 tbsp
Ginger(grated)	1 tbsp
Spring onion	2 tbsp
Vegetable stock
Soya sauce	3 tbsp
Green chilly sauce	2 tbsp
Corn-flour	1 tbsp
Vinegar	1/2 tbsp
Salt	as per taste
Black pepper	as per taste
Ajinomoto	as per taste

 

For Noodles

Boiled noodles	3cups
Oil	for deep fry
All purpose flour/Maida	For sprinkling

Method : How to prepare Manchow Soup

For vegetable stock:

1. Boil all the vegetable mentioned in around 3 to 4 cups of water.
2. Let it boil for about 15-20 mins.
3. Remove vegetables from this, and we will use this water for vegetable stock in our soup. The remaining vegetable is not required for the soup, so you can use it elsewhere.

For Noodles:

1. Boil noodles for about 5 mins.
2. Drain water from it and sprinkle maida on it.
3. Now deep fry it till golden brown and keep it aside.

For soup:

1. Heat the oil on high flame. Now, saute ginger, garlic and green chilies.
2. Add cabbage, carrot, capsicum, cauliflower and spring onion and saute for 5 to 10 mins on high flame.
3. Now, add vegetable stock water and let it boil for 5mins.
4. Add salt, soya sauce, green chilly sauce, black pepper and ajinomoto and cook for 4-5 mins.
5. Add the prepared corn-flour water mixture and cook for 10 mins.
6. Soup is ready to be served with fried noodles.

This soup has all the healthy vegetables and the aroma of lots of garlic will make this soup more tempting.All these flavors make this soup very refreshing and famous among all soups.

Dal Pakwan

Dal Pakwan

Almost every mom have a common headache, of feeding their kids with a healthy and nutritional food for their better development. Every mom has to find new ways for their kids to make them eat healthy food. Kids always run away from vegetables, milk or all sort of nutritional food. Here is the possible solution which will attract kids and their friends to have more of pulses(dal) which contains lots of protein.

Preparation time : 10mins
Cooking time : 30mins
Servings : 3

Ingredients: (for 2-3 people)

All purpose flour/Maida	1cup
Sooji(Semoline)	1/2cup
Oil	for dry frying
Bengal gram spilt and skinned(Chana Dal)(Boiled)	2cups
Garlic(paste)	1tsp
Ginger(paste)	1tsp
Onions(chopped)	1
Green chilly (paste)	as required
Sev(or any namkeen)	for garnish
Salt	as required
Garam masala(Mixture of spices)	1/2tsp
Aamchur powder(Sour dried mango powder)	a pinch
Red chilly powder	as required

Method : How to prepare Dal Pakwan

For Pakwan:
Mix maida and sooji to form a stiff dough. Divide it into equal parts and roll it with the help of rolling pin. Prick them uniformly with the help of a fork, so that they do not swell up during deep fry.
It should be 2-3 mm thick and size as shown in picture.
Deep fry each sheet till it turns golden brown.

Pakwans

For Dal:
Saute garlic and ginger in a pan.
Now add onions and again saute for 3-4 mins.
Add dal, salt, garam masala, red chilly powder, aamchur powder and a half cup of water.
Cook for 5-6 mins.
Garnish with sev and green chilly chutney and serve hot with pakwan.

A proteinious spicy dal served with crunchy pakwans will definitely be a mouth-watering dish for all kids. They will enjoy this unique combination of dal and will ask you again and again for this dal pakwan.

Katori Shots

Katori's Shots

One day, few of my friends decided to have dinner at my place. In any country, dinner is incomplete without starters. So, for starter I decided to have something which can be easily served in minutes. In India, chaat is all time favorite snacks for everyone, so I thought lets make it in a different form. These 'Katori shots' are small eatable cups filled with traditional chaat ingredients, we can eat this in one shot, this reminded me of 'Tequila Shots' so I named it as 'Katori Shots'. It is very easy to prepare and can also be stored for a week.

Preparation time : 10mins
Cooking time : 30mins
Servings : 4

Ingredients:(for 6 Katori shots)

For Katori's (Base):

All purpose flour/Maida	1 cup
Oil	for deep fry
Green Peas paste	3/4cup
Salt	as per taste
Semolina(sooji)	1/2cup

Katori's sample

For Filling's:

Boiled potatoes	1(chopped)
Black chickpeas(kala chana)	1/2cups(soaked and boiled)
Onions	1(chopped)
Curd	1 cup
Red chilly powder	as required
Green chilli paste(green chutney)	1 tbsp
Sweet Tamarind paste(Imli chutney)	1 tbsp
Sev(namkeen)	for garnish
Salt	as required
Coriander leaves	for garnish

Method : How to prepare Katori Shots

1. Mix maida, sooji, green peas pasta, oil and salt to form a stiff dough.
2. Divide the dough into small pieces. Roll each part with the help of rolling pin for about 5 mm thick sheet.
3. Take one very small bowl/cup(deep round utensil) and grease its outer surface with butter.
4. Now, cover the outer surface of the bowl with this sheet, gently giving it the same shape as the bowl(make sure you prick the sheet all over with the fork).
5. In a deep frying pan, heat oil and slide the bowl(which has the maida sheet sticking around it). Once it is fried, the sheet will leave the bowl surface, and will take shape of the bowl. Now, remove the bowl from oil and let these katori's fry till they are golden brown in color.

To make is easy, fry one Katori at a time.

For Filling:

Mix curd, potatoes, black chickpeas, onions, red chilly powder and salt in a bowl.

Fill each katori with this filling.

Top it with green chilli chutney and sweet imli chutney.

Finally, garnish this 'Katori Shots' with sev and coriander leaves.

Give it a try, you will definitely get a unique eating experience, than traditional chaats. Twist it the way you like, make it spicy, sweet or sour according to your taste!

Pesto Pasta

Pesto Pasta

One afternoon, I was watching a cookery show and got an idea to make something with Pasta. Generally, I prepare white sauce pasta, but that day I thought, lets try some different flavor and give surprise to my hubby. I went to grocery shop and found Pesto Sauce in one of the shelves. I bought that, came home and prepared this delicious pesto pasta before 6pm. As soon as my hubby came home I serve this hot and creamy pesto pasta with tea. We enjoyed this evening snack a lot.

Spring onions with Boondi

Spring onions with boondi

Generally Spring Onions are used for garnishing, specially in all Chinese cuisines. One day I thought, I should use these spring onions in some different way rather than just garnishing. Everyday, I have to think of some different curry for my hubby's lunch box. So, I decide to make this spring onions curry with boondi. Believe me, it was so delicious and yummy that everyone in my family loved it.

Shahi Paneer Rolls

Shahi Paneer Rolls

In India, any feast or any special lunch/dinner is incomplete without paneer(cottage cheese). Generally vegetarians replace chicken, mutton, fish with paneer in most of the curries. In my family, we have a habit of having evening snacks, so one day I found the left over paneer in my refrigerator. With this paneer, I thought of making something which can be served within 15-20mins. These 'Shahi Paneer Rolls' are very delicious and easy to cook in minutes.

Baingan Gujia

Baigan Gujia

Me and my family are very fond of quick food. Every time we prefer to have spicy or fast food. One day I thought of cooking something which can be categorized under 'Saatvik food'. It is one of the healthiest snacks you can have.

Cheesy Nachos

Cheesy Nachos

There are no barriers left between the countries specially when we talk of food. We are fond of all types of cuisines apart from our own. For starters, we have so many options to go with such as Chinese, Italian, continental. Here is one of the easiest starter from the Mexican cuisines, 'Cheesy Nachos'. Its so cheesy and yummy, that you can't keep yourself away from it.

Chocolaty Tart

Chocolaty Tart

In any religion, celebration is incomplete without sweets and desserts. And every time we look for some different types of desserts to make our celebration more special. Here I have tried a different type of cake or you can call it cookies. This is a combination of vanilla tart with the filling of chocolaty sauce and hence the name 'Chocolaty Tart'.

Ghee Rice

Ghee Rice

As we all know rice is the staple food in South India. They generally cook rice in various forms by giving different twists/flavors to the rice. Normally, with rice we have recipes like Puloa, Veg Biryani or Fried rice. Here is one more variant of rice which is 'Ghee Rice'.

Katori chaat

Katori Chaat

In India, 'Chaat' is all time favorite snacks for everyone, especially for kids. One of my and my hubby's favorite is Katori Chaat. I bring you the most famous recipe from the North India called 'Katori Chaat'.

Farra

Farra

Gujarati recipes are always in talk among people for their variety of snacks. Here is the most simple and tasty recipe 'Farra' which is a good option for hi-tea. 

Veg Paneer Quiche

Veg Paneer Quiche

One day, I was simply watching cookery show and thought of making a new recipe for dinner. I got some ideas from that show and I already had few ingredients in my fridge. From all of that I tried this Vegetable Paneer Quiche. Me and my hubby found it tasty and a wonderful recipe, so thought of sharing with you all.

Grilled Tomato Curry

There are several ways to prepare tomato chutney, and there is no standard procedure to follow. Different cook prepare it differently. Here, I have tried to give a different flavor to it. Basically, this was my hubby's idea to grill tomatoes before making the general tomato curry.

Italian Open Sandwich

Italian Open Sandwich

Do you go to Dominos, Pizza-Hut to have pizzas? Do you like burgers and you look for Mc-Donalds? We all love fast-foods :), because they are readily available, mouth-watering and looks very tempting!

Today, I am sharing a similar recipe with you all, for which you do not need to go to any restaurant.

Try this quick and easy home made sandwich known as 'Italian Open sandwich'. It is the most simple recipe and will take only few minutes to prepare. Its my guarantee that each and every member of your family will love it. And, if you have kids at home, they will enjoy it to the fullest !!!

Choco Chip Cookies

Chocolate & Vanilla cookies

One of the all time favorite recipe is now here. Complete your evening snacks with this wonderful Homemade chocolate/vanilla cookies. Most simple and easy recipe to try at home.

Flat Schezwan Noodles

Flat Schezwan noodles

One of the most popular dish from the Chinese cuisines is Chowmein. So, lets make the same Chowmein with some little twist by preparing the noddles at home.Both Homemade Flat Noodles and Schezwan Sauce will surely give a unique Flavor to this dish.

Mint and Peas Soup

Mint & Peas Soup

Whenever we think of soup, we think it should be healthy and tasty. So here is one of the healthiest soup which has peas, mint and biscuits. As it has Nutri choice biscuits (or Oats meal Biscuits) which is full of fibre makes the soup tasty and fat free. I have seen this recipe in Food Food channel and thought of sharing with you all.

Malpua Pizza

Malpua Pizza

I like desserts and I have a soft corner for all sweet dishes. So, here goes my first dessert recipe - 'Malpua Pizza'.

Hello World!!!

Today, I am writing my very first blog post, on my very first blog 'Apna Tadka'.

Its almost one year now, that I started cooking for me and my family. I have come across various recipes over internet and learnt many unique recipes from my family, friends & relatives. Being a foodie, I always try to alter/modify recipes according to my taste and device a new recipe out of it. 

With this inspiration, I am starting a blog- Apna Tadka, where I will be sharing all my favorite recipes with all of you.

Do try these recipes at home and please give your feedback/suggestions for improvement.