Misal

Missal is a household dish in every Maharashtrian home. But this dish has slowly gained popularity with other masses also. My personal favourite but less spicy. Kolhapuri Missal is said to be authentic missal but one should be read the hotness that dish has. Whenever I bring sprouted matki from the market without another doubt the dish in my mind is always Missal. 
I have made this missal with just one tablespoon of oil whereas ideally missal is made with a good amount of oil to enhance the taste but believe me, one tablespoon of oil didn't make much of difference and we enjoyed it like every time we do.

Recipe for missal is here as follows:

INGREDIENTS:

1/4th cup matki (moth beans)
2 onion finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 tablespoon coconut grated
1 tablespoon Kashmiri red chilly powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon jeera
3-4 curry leaves
pinch of hing
1 packet of 10gm readymade missal masala
2 tablespoon jaggery (optional)
2 tablespoon tamarind paste (optional)
4 cups water (warm)
salt to taste
1 small packet of farsan of your choice
2-3 tablespoon curd

METHOD:

1. Dry roast the grated coconut and grind to a fine paste with a little water if required.
2. Heat oil and add mustard seeds,jeera, hing and curry leaves. Let them splutter.
3. When they splutter add onions and saute for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add coconut paste and ginger garlic paste. Saute on low flame for another 4-5 minute or until oil starts to ooze out.
5. Add tomatoes and keep sauteing for 2-3 minutes. Add readymade missal masala , kashmiri red chilly powder.
6. Add matki and saute for 1-2 minutes on low flame. Add water and bring to a boil.
7. Add jaggery, tamarind paste and salt as required. Cover and cook for another 10-12 minutes on very low flame.

SERVING:

While serving in a bowl first place missal over that add farsan,dahi and chopped onions and coriander and serve with pav.

TIP:
1. You can serve this missal with poha and potato subzi.

P.S. This is not an authentic recipe of Missal but I guarantee you flavours and a mouthwatering dish.

Brownsugar Wheat Cookies

Cookies who doesn't like them?? Have them in breakfast or give your child in tiffin or have them at teatime ya give to your child with a glass of milk. Anytime anywhere cookies are enjoyed by all. These days people don't prefer maida / All purpose flour much or you can say people prefer wheat flour over maida / All purpose flour. I personally feel if we are giving cookies to our kids why not make and give them a healthier version and make in wheat flour.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (250g) wheat flour (spoon & leveled)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornflour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (use 1 teaspoon if you love cinnamon)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 and 1/4 cups (250g) packed dark brown sugar (or light brown)
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

METHOD:

• 1. In a bowl take wheat flour,baking soda,cornflour, cinnamon and salt and mix.
• 2. In another bowl take melted butter and brown sugar and mix until no lumps remain. 
• 3. Whisk egg to this mixture and pour vanilla and mix again.
• 4. Mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients and mix together and form a dough.
• 5. Your dough should be soft and thick.
• 6. Cover your dough with a cling film and let it chill for 2 hours minimum up-to 24 hours. Please do not skip this step.
• 7. When you wish to bake cookies take the dough out and let it sit for minimum 10 minutes if you have chilled for 2 hours and if you a have chilled for longer time then let it sit out of fridge for 30 minutes maximum.
• 8. Preheat oven at 160 C for 10 minutes.
• 9. Make small balls out of dough and shape into cookies and bake for 10 minutes precisely and exactly after 10 minutes take them out and press with fork in center and bake for another 1-2 minutes.
• 10. Your cookies will be ready. They will be soft and chewy. Keep in air tight container and they remain fresh up-to 7 days.
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• TIPS:
• 1. You can use all purpose flour instead of wheat flour.
• 2. You can add 1/4th cup suji for crunchiness.
• 3. Do not skip step of keeping dough in fridge this is mandatory step.
• 4. You can use canola oil instead of butter, your cookies will be really light.
• 5. If you dont like cinnamon flavor, you can add cardamom powder in same quantity.
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Karachi Halwa

We all love sweets. For all those who have sweet tooth always ask for sweets after meals. I always wanted to make such a sweet which is easy to make, has less oil/ghee and can be made with minimum ingredients. Voila!!! Karachi Halwa nothing could have satisfied my all the above demands easily. For  all those who love Karachi Halwa here is easy and quick to make recipe for the same:

PREPARATION TIME: 5 minutes
COOKING TIME: 10 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 15 minutes
YIELDS : 10-12 pieces ( depending upon size one cuts)

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup cornflour
1 cup sugar
1 + 1 1/2 cup water
1/2-1 teaspoon ghee
1 teaspoon elachi powder / few drops of elachi essence
1/2 cup chopped cashews ( you can use almonds / walnuts also)
1/4th teaspoon of food color (I have used red and yellow) 

METHOD:

1. In a bowl take cornflour and 1 and a half cup water mix well and keep aside. 
2. Add water slowly little by little so that no lumps are formed.
3. Add food color to this mixture.
4. In a non-stick pan take sugar and 1 cup water and let it boil till sugar melts we do not need one string consistency. We just want the sugar to melt.
5. Once the sugar has melted add cornflour mixture into the pan and keep stirring continuously.
6. Keep the flame high and in between, you can lower the flame but you have to stir continuously to avoid the formation of lumps.
7. After few minutes you will observe the mixture has started to leave sides of pan and have started to come together this is when you have add ghee just 1/2-1 teaspoon ghee.
8. Throw in chopped cashews or dry fruits of your choice.
9. Meanwhile, keep a greased plate ready and once the mixture starts to come together pour it into greased thali and spread evenly and let it cool.
10. After 30-40 minutes of cooling cut it into desired shape and size and garnish with chopped dry fruits and serve.

NOTES:
1. If you are using 2 different food colors you will have to repeat the entire process for every different food color you use. You can also divide the cornflour mixture into half and then cook in two different saucepans.
2. If you are using powdered food color take little cornflour mixture in a small bowl just 2-3 tablespoon or so and dissolve food color in that otherwise, there are chances of food color not mixing evenly if just dropped like that in the mixture.
3. You can fry cashews for better enhanced and crunchy taste. I haven't fried here as I wanted to use minimum oil and ghee.
4. Do not skip ghee it will give nice glossy and shiny appearance to the halwa.
5. It's important to use a non-stick pan so that cornflour mixture doesn't stick and in case if ur using regular pan then you have to stir continuously to avoid burning and sticking to the bottom.
6. For red color add 1/2 teaspoon the more the better as red color is dissolved in water it becomes diluted and yields pink color a little more than 1/4 teaspoon or 1/2 teaspoon will yield proper red color.

Baked Dry (Farsan) Kachori

Kachoris are loved by everyone with any stuffing and in any form. Right from moong dal kachori to stuffed farsan kachoris they are an ideal snack. Dry farsan kachori is an ideal snack for picnics and long journeys. Ideally, these kachoris are fried but I opted for a healthier version baked it and everyone enjoyed it a lot.

Recipe for Baked Dry (Farsan ) Kachori is as follows:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes
Total Time: 25-30 minutes
Serves: 16 pieces

Ingredients:

For Crisp Outer Layer:
1½ cups Maida (all purpose flour)
3½ tablespoons Oil
Salt

For Dry Spicy Stuffing:
1/2 cup Papdi Gathiya or Sev, crushed like coarse powder or Roasted Gram Flour
1/4 cup moong dal (farsan)
1½ tablespoons Date Tamarind Chutney or Date Chutney (whichever is your preference)
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
1½ teaspoons Red Chilli Powder
1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper, crushed coarsely
1/2 teaspoon Dry Mango Powder
1 teaspoon Sesame Seeds (til)
1 tablespoon Coriander Seeds
1 tablespoon Fennel Seeds (saunf)
1/2 teaspoon Poppy Seeds (khuskhus)
1/4 cup Cashew nuts (roughly chopped)
10-12 pieces Raisins (kismis)
2 tablespoons Almonds, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons Powdered Sugar
Salt

Directions:
1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium size pan. Crush moong dal (farsan),gathiya or sev to medium coarse powder or roast the gram flour.
2. Add all stuffing ingredients except crushed moong dal, gathiya, date tamarind chutney, sugar, and salt; sauté over low flame for 30 seconds.
3. Add crushed moong dal and gathiya, date tamarind chutney, sugar, and salt. Mix properly and roast for a minute. Turn off flame and let it cool for
4­5 minutes. Dry and spicy stuffing for kachori is ready.
4. Mix maida, salt and 3½ tablespoons oil in a large bowl. Add warm water as needed and knead a smooth dough (like paratha dough).
5. Divide dough into 16 small lemon size portions and give them a shape of a ball. Roll out each ball into thick circular puri having approx. 4­inch diameter.
6. Put 1­-2 teaspoons stuffing mixture in the center of puri. Wrap stuffing with puri and seal its edges and again give it a shape of a ball.
7. Preheat oven at 180C for 10 mins. Bake kachoris for 15-20 mins (depending upon on your oven) at 180C
8. Crispy and spicy dry kachori is ready. Enjoy it on its own or serve it with green chutney. 
9. You can store it for 15 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

Tips and Variations:
1. If gathiya is not available, then use 1/2 cup roasted gram flour (roast gram flour (coarse) using 1 teaspoon oil over low flame until light brown, stir constantly to avoid burning). However, its taste will be bit different.
2. Please remember that gathiya’s and moong dal are already salted. Hence, do not add too much salt in step 2 mentioned above.
3. Use 3 tablespoons jaggery dissolved in hot water instead of powdered sugar for variation in taste.

Armenian Nutmeg Cake

Armenian cuisine is as ancient as the history of Armenia, a combination of different tastes and aromas. The food often has quite a distinct aroma. Closely related to eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, various spices, vegetables, fish, and fruits combine to present unique dishes. The main characteristics of Armenian cuisine are a reliance on the quality of the ingredients rather than heavily spicing food, the use of herbs, the use of wheat in a variety of forms, of legumes, nuts, and fruit (as a main ingredient as well as to sour food), and the stuffing of a wide variety of leaves. Keeping in mind that Armenian cuisine had distinct aroma I have used nutmeg in my cake. Recipe for Armenian nutmeg cake is here as follows:

Preparation Time: 15minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes to 1 hour

Ingredients:
1 cup (240 ml) milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (280 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups (400 gm) brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 cup (170 gm) butter, preferably unsalted, cubed
1/2 cup (55 gm) walnut pieces, may need a little more 
1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg (try to grate it fresh yourself; the aroma is enchanting)
1 egg

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to moderate 175°C.
2. Mix the baking soda (not baking powder; that's for the next step) into the milk. Set it aside. 
3. Sift together the flour and the baking powder into a large bowl. One sift is fine.
4. Add the brown sugar. Go ahead and mix the flour and brown sugar together.
5. Toss  in the cubed butter. Mash the butter with a fork into the dry  ingredients (you can also use your fingers if you want). You'll want to  achieve a more-or-less uniform, tan-colored crumbly mixture. Take HALF  of this resulting crumbly mixture into your springform (9”/23cm) pan.  Press a crust out of it using your fingers and knuckles. It will be  easy.
6. Crack an egg into a mixer or  bowl. Toss the nutmeg in with the egg. Start mixing slowly with a whisk  attachment and then increase to medium speed, or mix with a hand whisk  if you're doing it manually. Once it's mixed well and frothy (about 1  minute using a standing mixer, or about 2-3 minutes of vigorous beating  with a whisk), pour in the milk and baking soda mixture. Continue to mix  until uniform.
7. Pour in the rest of  the crumbly mixture. Mix that well, with either a paddle attachment or a  spatula. Or continue to use the whisk; it won't make much of a  difference since the resulting batter is very runny.
8. Pour the batter over the base in the springform pan. Gently sprinkle the walnut pieces over the batter.
9. Bake  in a preheated moderate oven for about 30-40 minutes. You'll know it's  done when the top is a golden brown, and an inserted toothpick comes out  clean.
10. Allow to cool in the pan, and then release. Enjoy!

Coffee Cookies

Cookies.... Ummmm the smell,the fragrance,the crunchiness all this comes to one's mind when we think of cookies. Rains are here  and everyone loves piping hot cup of  and what if we get coffee cookies along with it. It is like icing on sugar. I baked coffee cookies easy to bake and believe me it gets over in no time.

Here is detailed recipe for the same

PREPARATION TIME: 10mins
COOKING TIME: 15mins
TOTAL TIME: 25mins

INGREDIENTS:
4 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp. instant coffee powder
1/3 c. milk
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt

METHOD:

1. Cream the butter and sugar until well mixed. Add the egg and stir.
2. Mix the coffee powder with the milk until powder dissolved and add to the mixture.
3. Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt and add to mixture and stir until smooth.
4. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Flatten onto a greased cookie sheet.

5. Bake about 12 minutes in an 180°C oven. Makes 15-20 cookies.

Zebra Sponge Cake

One of the simplest, tastiest and family favourite cake of all times, Sponge Cake. A very sturdy butter cake to use under fondant, or you can serve the cake "as is" at tea time. I have added a twist to my cake by making it zebra cake by adding 2 different colors. This made my cake colorful and kids love it too!

Ingredients: 175 grams butter, room temperature 2cups caster sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 3 eggs, room temperature 3cups all purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 30 ml milk, room temperature 1 teaspoon red food color 1 teaspoon yellow food color 3/4th cup heavy cream Method: 1.Heat oven to 190 degree Celsius. Grease and flour one 8 inch round cake tin. 2.Place the butter, sugar, heavy cream and vanilla essence into a bowl and beat well to a creamy consistency (about 5 minutes). 3.Slowly beat in the eggs, one by one, then fold in the flour and baking powder,baking soda and mix well. Add the milk give it a nice stir. 4.Now divide the batter into 2 equal portions. In one portion add red color and in other portion add yellow color. 5.Now in greased tin first add 1tablespoon of red color batter and let it settle for 30seconds then 1 tablespoon of yellow color batter and again wait for 30seconds till it spreads evenly. In same way pour the entire batter putting alternatively both the batters till they get over. 6.Slowly place the cake tin into the oven and bake for about 20 mins until risen and golden brown. 7.The cakes should spring back when gently pushed in the middle. When ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 mins in the tin, before turning out onto a wire rack and cooling completely. For eggless version, Try using 1/2 cup curd (instead of eggs), add 1 teaspoon soda, increase milk to 50 ml (its 30 ml in the recipe) rest all remains same.

Khaman Dhokla

Khaman Dhokla whenever we hear this word Gujarati cuisine comes to our mind. Khaman Dhokla is one of the famous snacks options and is eaten in breakfast in many Gujarati households. Khaman Dhokla is personally my favourite snack. Sweet,spongy,melt in the mouth I love this delicacy. 

There are different methods to make this instant dhokla, microwave dhokla, rawa dhokla, n much more. I have made very basic and easy to make Khaman Dhokla.

Lets begin with the recipe

PREPARATION TIME: 2-2.30 Hrs (MINIMUM) TO OVERNIGHT (6-8 Hrs) 
COOKING TIME: 20-25 Mins
SERVES : 4

INGREDIENTS:

• Gram flour (besan) sieved 2 cups

• Yogurt beaten 1 cup

• Salt to taste

• Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon

• Green chili-ginger paste 1 teaspoon 

• Oil 2 tablespoons

• Lemon juice 1 tablespoon or citric acid 1 tablespoon or nimbuphool 1tsp

• Soda bicarbonate 1 teaspoon, or 1 sachet eno

• Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon

• White Til 1 teaspoon (Sesame seeds)
• Curry leaves 4-5 nos
• Sugar 2 tsp
• Green chilly 2 nos (optional)

• Fresh coriander leaves chopped 2 tablespoons

• Coconut scraped 1/2 cup (optional)

METHOD:

1.Take gram flour in a bowl. Add yogurt and approximately one cup of warm water and mix. Avoid lumps. Add salt and mix again.

2. Leave it aside to ferment for three to four hours. When gram flour mixture has fermented, add turmeric powder and green chilli-ginger paste. Mix Heat the steamer. Grease a thali.

3. In a small bowl take lemon juice, soda bicarbonate, one teaspoon of oil and mix. Add it to the batter and whisk briskly. Pour batter into the greased thali and place it in the steamer.

4. Cover with the lid and steam for ten minutes. When a little cool, cut into squares and keep in a serving bowl/plate

5. Meanwhile Dhokla is being steamed take a small pan and put half cup of water in it along with 2 tsp of sugar. Let is boil till sugar dissolves completely. Let it cool.

6.Heat remaining oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds,til,curry leaves,green chillies chopped. Once seeds begin to crackle. Mix the tadka in the sugar mixture and pour over dhoklas.

7.Serve, garnished with chopped coriander leaves and scraped coconut.

8. Enjoy with green chutney.

NOTES:

1. While keeping dhokla batter for fermentation ensure to keep it in a warm place.

2. Once ENO/ SODA is added in the batter dont not mix much and pour the batter into the greased thali.

3. When you pour water and tadka mixture over dhoklas cut it into pieces so that mixture spreads even giving moist dhoklas.