Sharu's Fundas: June 2015

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Mirchi cha Thecha

Mirchi cha Thecha is a Maharashtrian dish. It is served a accompaniment. If you want the food to be more spicy, you can have this along with your regular food to lift up the taste of your regular food.

Cooking Time: Less than 5 minutes

Ingredients:

7 - 8 Green chilies

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

Salt to Taste

1 tsp Oil

2 medium sized garlic Clove

Method:

Heat Oil in a pan.

Add cumin seeds to the oil. When they sizzle, add roughly chopped Garlic Cloves.

Saute them for 30 - 40 seconds.

Add Green Chilies to it. Stir fry them for 2 - 3 minutes till green chilies turn soft. Add salt to taste.

Let the mixture cool.

Grind the mixture coarsely in the mixer.

Mirchi cha thecha is ready !! Serve it as a side dish with your lunch / dinner.

Tips:

If possible use light green chilies for this recipe. They are less spicy.

You can also remove the seeds of the chilies.

Related Recipes:

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Mango Mousse

            I am sharing with you all a quick Mango Mousse recipe... Its very delicious & very quick with very few ingredients !!! No need for any jelly setting ingredients !!!

Ingredients:

Heavy Whipping Cream 1 cup

Sugar 2 tbsp

Mango Pulp 1 cup

Cardamom Powder 1/2 tsp

For Garnish - Chopped Dry fruits or Saffron or both

Method:

Place the bowl used for whipping & whisk attachment in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Remove the bowl & whisk attachment from freezer.

Add the chilled whipping cream & sugar to the frozen bowl.

Whisk the cream & sugar with frozen whisk attachment till soft peaks are formed.

Add cardamom powder & mango pulp to it.

Now with a spatula, just fold the mango pulp & cardamom powder in the whipped cream mixture. Do this very gently & not vigorously or else all your efforts will go in vain.

Add the mango mousse in wine glasses for individual servings.

Garnish it with chopped dry fruits or saffron strands or both.

Place the glasses in fridge & serve chilled.

Related Recipes:

Mango Tiramisu

Carrot Fudge

Home made Mawa

Instant Pizza Sauce

Aloo Sabzi for Masala Dosa

Kadhai Chicken

Paneer Makhanwala

Crab Curry !! (Khekdyacha Kalvan)

                 Me & my husband both just love crabs. But here in Netherlands we get giant crabs. But the shopkeeper won't clean it. We have to do the cleaning part our self. But both me & my husband don't know how to do it. & looking at those giant crabs we never felt of cleaning it by our self. So we just avoided crabs for almost 5 years. But recently in a Chinese shop we found frozen crabs which are cleaned nicely. & split into 2 parts. They were ready to use - just put directly in the curry. We grabbed a packet immediately & tried it in the weekend.

                   & Oh my God, Just couldn't believe it. The taste of the crabs was sooooo similar to ones we get in India. We both just went crazy for it. We now have crabs quite regularly.

                   Here is a nice spicy crab curry recipe.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

Whole Spices - 1 Bayleaf, 2 cloves, 5 Black peppercons, 1 javitri, 1 tsp Shahi jeera, 2 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 inch cinnamon stick, 1/2 tsp sesame seeds

2 large or 3 medium Onions chopped roughly

1 cup grated dry coconut

3 green chilies

1/3 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tbsp garam masala

Salt to taste

5 crabs (I used medium sized ones)

Coriander leaves

1 & 1/2 inch ginger

3 medium sized garlic cloves (or use 5 to 6 small garlic cloves)

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp Oil in a pan.

Add the whole spices to the oil & sauté on medium heat for a minute till you smell the aroma of the spices & they change its color.

Add roughly chopped garlic cloves & chopped ginger to this. Saute for a minute till the raw smell of garlic & ginger goes away.

Now add to this roughly chopped onions & green chilies. Cook till onion turns translucent.

Add turmeric powder & grated dry coconut to it.. Cook till coconut turns golden.

Let this mixture cool down completely. Then grind it along with lot of coriander leaves, red chili powder, garam masala & coriander powder to a smooth paste adding little water for grinding.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in the same pan.

Add the ground mixture to it. Stir well. Cover the pan with a lid. & let this gravy cook on medium heat stirring often in between.

Add little water if the gravy is sticking to the bottom of the pan.

After 5 minutes add 2 cups of water (or as per the thickness of the gravy desired by you). Let the gravy boil on medium heat with lid on the pan otherwise the boiling gravy will spoil your kitchen. Boil the gravy till oil separates from the gravy. This indicates the masala is cooked perfectly.

Add salt to taste.

Keep stirring in between.

Now add the crabs. & boil it for 10 - 15 minutes on medium heat. Crabs don't take long to cook. When you notice the shells of the crab change its color (the shells of the crab turns red when cooked for the variety which I used).

Serve hot with steamed rice !!!

Tips:

Cut down the amount of green chilies & red chili powder if you don't want it very spicy.

Related Recipes:

COPYRIGHTS BY SHARU'S KITCHEN FUNDAS !!

Friday, June 26, 2015

Healthy & Nutritious Dahi Sev Puri

Who doesn't love street food of India ??? Everyone does. One of them is Sev Puri. We all love it !! But we avoid it since it is not healthy. How about making it healthy ?? & enjoy it ???

Here is the healthy Dahi Sev Puri... This one is my aunt's recipe. This one contains lots of nutritious stuff. Let me share it with you all.

Ingredients:

Flat Crispy Puris 50 - 60

Coriander - Mint Chutney

Red Chili - Garlic Chutney

Tamarind Chutney

Stuffing

1 medium Potato Boiled

1/2 Beetroot

2 medium size Carrots

1/3 cup green sprouted moong

Black Salt to Taste

Peanut Powder 1 tbsp.

Other Ingredients (Garnishing)

Nylon sev

Coriander leaves finely chopped

1 small onion finely chopped

1 small tomato finely chopped

Pomegranate seeds

Spice Mix: Red Chili Powder - Black Salt - Cumin seed Powder

Masala Chana Dal

Curd (Optional)

Method:

Stuffing:

Wash & peel the outer layer of carrots & beetroot.

Steam Carrot, beetroot & sprouted moong for 10 minutes on medium heat.

When carrot, beetroot & sprouted moong is cooled down to room temperature, grate them or mash them.

Add to carrot - beetroot - moong mixture, boiled mashed boiled potato, peanut powder & black salt to taste. Mix well.

Set aside.

Assembling:

In a plate, arrange the puris.

Place a spoonful of stuffing on each puri.

Then add coriander - mint chutney, Red Chili - Garlic Chutney & tamarind chutney on each puri.

Sprinkle on each puri finely chopped onions, finely chopped tomatoes, finely chopped coriander leaves & pomegranate seeds.

Add lots of nylon sev on each puri.

Sprinkle masala mix & masala chana dal on each.

Enjoy !!!

Try it now the healthy version of sev puri & leave your comments below....

Related Recipes:

COPYRIGHTS BY SHARU'S KITCHEN FUNDAS !!

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Dhaba style Chicken Curry (Highway Chicken Curry)

This is a very quick chicken recipe & really very tasty. No need for marinating chicken. By the way, Careful this is very very very spicy. But Chicken if not spicy can't be enjoyed. & this is dhaba style chicken curry. It has to be spicy. So here is the recipe for highway chicken curry.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

450 gms boneless Chicken

Whole spices - 1 Bayleaf, 2 green Cardamom, 4 black peppercons, 2 cloves, 1 tsp shahi jeera, 1 inch cinnamon stick

2 medium Onions

2 medium tomatoes

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 inch ginger cut into fine juliens

3 green chilies sliced

2 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp cumin seed powder

2 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp turmeric

Salt to taste

2 tbsp Oil

Chopped Coriander leaves

Method:

Wash & clean chicken & chop them into bite size pieces

Slice the onions thinly.

Chop tomatoes finely.

Heat oil in a wok.

Add whole spices - 1 Bayleaf, 2 green Cardamom, 4 black peppercons, 2 cloves, 1 tsp shahi jeera & 1 inch cinnamon stick.

When you smell the aroma of the spices, add thinly sliced onion.

Fry onions till translucent.

Add ginger garlic paste & turmeric powder.

Saute for a minute.

Add finely chopped tomatoes.

Cook till tomatoes turn mushy.

Now add all the dry spices red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder & 1 tsp garam masala powder (reserve 1 tsp garam masala to be put at the end).

Cook with the lid on the wok. Cook till oil separates from the gravy.

Now add chicken pieces, salt to taste & lots of chopped coriander leaves. Mix well so that the chicken pieces are coated well with the gravy.

Now add 2 cups of water & give it a boil or till chicken is cooked. It won't take more than 15 minutes.

Adjust the consistency of the gravy as you desire.

Add the remaining 1 tsp garam masala when chicken is cooked. Also add ginger juliens to it. Mix well.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with steamed rice or pav or chapati !!

Tips:

You can definitely cut down the spicyness of the chicken by reducing green chili & red chili powder.

Instead of boneless chicken you can use chicken drumsticks as well. But the cooking time will increase a bit.

Related Recipes:

Egg Curry - My Style

Crab Curry

Butter Chicken

Tandlachi Bhakri (Rice Flour Roti)

Home made Garlic Coriander Naans

Quick Jeera Rice

Chicken Biryani - Tandoori Style

Baingan Raita

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Mishti Doi

Mishti Doi is a popular Bengali dessert. It is basically setting the yoghurt using thick milk. Milk is flavored with caramelized sugar. I just love it. Here is the recipe for it. Do try it & leave your comments below in the comments section...

Ingredients:

Full Cream Milk 1 litre

Sugar 8 tbsp

Curd 2 tbsp

1 Earthen pot

Method:

Pour the milk in a thick bottom vessel and start heating over low flame.

As it starts boiling add 4 tbsp of sugar and keep on simmering till the volume is reduced to little less than half.

Take the remaining sugar with 2 tablespoons of water and heat till the sugar melts and attains a golden brown color. Do not stir in between. Basically you have to caramelize the remaining sugar.

Gradually add the caramelized sugar over the milk and boil for another 15 minutes over low flame.

Remove from flame and let it become lukewarm.

Pour the milk in the earthen pot (or any other oven proof bowl of your choice) and add the curd.

Let the milk rest overnight in the preheated oven to be set as curd (don't turn on the oven!).

Refrigerate the set curd and serve chilled.

Related Recipes:

Monday, June 22, 2015

Masala Papad

Masala Papad is a great starter to tickle your hunger & your taste buds. You generally order it in the restaurants while you are waiting for your main course. Why not make it at home & enjoy its crunch ?? Its very simple to make.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

Papad 4

1 onion finely chopped

1 tomato finely chopped

Coriander Leaves finely chopped

Fine Sev

Pomegranate seeds

Ghee

Chaat Masala

Method:

Brush the papad with ghee on both sides.

Cook each papad separately in microwave for 40 seconds.

Spread some finely chopped onion, some finely chopped tomato, finely chopped coriander leaves, fine sev, pomegranate seeds & chaat masala on each papad.

Serve immediately.

Tips:

Cooking Time for papad may vary for everyone depending on the microwave power.

I used spicy papads so didn't sprinkle red chilli powder on the papad. But if you are using normal non-spicy papad please do sprinkle some red chili powder on it.