Purple Gnocchi!!

    Its International Creativity and Innovation Day! So friends let's innovate something during this lockdown. Let's take the situation positively and continue to enhance our hidden talents in the kitchen lab! Dealing with the kids at this lockdown, I guess most of our moms have become an inventor of many unique recipes by now. As a tribute to all the inventors, my mom has come up with a unique recipe. Of course, this is not the first time my mom has come up with something new but since my childhood, I have seen her creating new dishes to bring a smile on everyone's face. Cheers to the moms who consistently on their toes for us! Let's appreciate their creativity and innovation to the fullest.

   The uniqueness of today's recipe is its main ingredient! My mom prepared Gnocchi {small dumplings made from rice) in a very innovative way. Now, what's innovative here? Let me reveal the creativity in the video further!

Ingredients:

• Sticky Purple rice 250 gm (soak for 2 hours)
• Condensed milk 200 gm
• Milk half a cup
• Salt a pinch
• Dry fruits as desire

Method:

• Grind the soaked rice to powder
• Now, make dough out of this rice powder with lukewarm water and a pinch of salt. It should not be too soft.
• Make small balls; elongate each ball to the size and shape of your tiny figure.
• Now, boil around 500ml water in a saucepan put half a teaspoon of salt to it and drop the gnocchi one by one to it.
• Let it boil for 2 - 3 minutes then drain the gnocchi in a colander.
• Now, take the condensed milk in a bowl, add half a cup of milk give a gravy texture.
• Garnish and serve the gnocchi with this thick sweet milk and dry fruits on top.
• Or you can have it with homemade tomato chutney 

             

                                                           
                                     Enjoy the sweet and delicious purple gnocchi!

Crunchy Pumpkin Chilla

       Hey everyone! It's a lockdown situation..trying to avoid the boredom. I guess this is the best time to do some experiments in my kitchen lab. Again, here, I need to take care of the limited stock while cooking.. It seems Corona is teaching a lot of lessons to mankind right from scratch!

Today's recipe I dedicate to the bachelors, as my sister who stays in hostel tried to make an Indian pancake or chilla and expertising her cooking skills at home during the lockdown. Here, I am sharing her recipe with some twists and innovations.

      Ingredients:

• Onion 1(finely chopped)
• Pumpkin 2 thin slices(and chopped)
• Tomato 2 (chopped)
• Carom seed 1 tsp
• Garam masala 1 tsp
• Chili powder 1tsp
• Gram flour 150 gm(approx.)
• Wheat flour 100gm
• Baking powder a pinch
• Egg 1 no.
• Black Mustard seed 1tsp
• Salt to taste 
• Oil for cooking
• Ghee for seasoning

       
                                                   Follow the method in this video. 
Methods: 

• Take the chopped pumpkin in a bowl and add a pinch of salt, half tsp sugar, carom seeds and water bath it to maintain its crunchy texture.
• Now in a bowl make the gram flour and wheat flour batter with water. Add egg, baking soda, and all the given spices. Mix it well. 
• Add tomato,onion and pumpkin into the batter.
• Heat and grease a pan. Pour and flatten a cup of this batter onto it. The veggies should be flattened evenly.
• Cook for a few minutes.Oil the corners and on the top. Flip it and cook the other side.
• Once it is cooked, season it with ghee and serve hot with curd or chutney.

Mini Bhel Puri!

        Hello viewers... It's a lockdown situation and sitting at home with a toddler is a quite challenging job! My little one wants to help me out in every part of my household work that I ultimately decide to sit back and play with her instead of creating a mess around.. Somewhere I feel very sorry for the kids spending inside the four walls instead of a playground. But still, we are struggling only to keep them safe! Friends..let's keep up the positivity and help our children to boost their fine motor skills with some easy activities in the kitchen... Here I am sharing my daughter's activity in the kitchen during the lockdown.

Stuffed Pumpkin leaf

     Here, I have come up with a change in our boring regular diet! This recipe is a kind of traditional but at the same time add a wow look to your platter too... The interesting thing about this dish is the stuffing, that you can change according to your desired taste. You can stuff it up with all your favorite veggies or minced meat and give a unique look to your lunch or dinner.

    

    My mom stuffed these pumpkin leaves with fish egg and pumpkin pieces as she just wanted to prepare with some different ingredients to bring a change to our taste. And this recipe turns out to be simply great! Definitely this recipe is going to attract your guest and family by its look as well as taste.

                     

  

Ingredients:

      

       To cook the fish egg:

• Fish egg 250gm
• Onion 1 chopped
• Mustard oil 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
• Curry masala 1 tsp
• Chili powder 1 tsp
• Garlic ginger paste 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

     

    Method of cooking the fish egg:

• Clean and wash the fish egg.
• Add all the above spices and salt in a bowl with little water and mix it well.
• Now heat oil in a pan, fry the chopped onion till golden brown then add the mixture and let it release the oil.
• Add the fish egg and stir it occasionally.
• Cook it for 10 minutes in medium flame.
• Cool it and keep aside.

Other ingredients:

• Melon seed paste 1/2 tsp
• Poppy seed paste 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric 1/2 tsp
• Gram flour 2 tsp
• Pumpkin slices 15 flat pieces of the desired shape( smaller than the size of pumpkin leaf)
• Pumpkin leaf 15 big sizes ( clean it, as shown in the video)
• Salt to taste
• Frying oil 4 tbsp

Method:

• Make a batter with the melon seed paste, poppy seed paste, salt and turmeric.
• Now, coat the pumpkin slices with this batter.
• Shallow fry the pumpkin pieces and keep aside.
• Take a pumpkin leaf, place a  spoon of already prepared fish egg, on top of it keep a fried slice of pumpkin.
• Now, wrap the pumpkin leaf with the stuffing. If required tie with a thread gently.
• Repeat the same with the rest of the leaves and dip the stuffed leaves in the batter used for pumpkin slices(add gram flour in the batter)
• Take a frying pan, heat oil and place 2-3 pieces of wrapped pumpkin leaves and cook it in low flame. Turn upside down occasionally till it becomes slightly brown in color.

                                          Serve hot as a side dish with meals or snacks.

Catappa Pickle

   Pickle!! The name itself generates a feeling of spices, sweet and sour taste in our tongue and of course the strong smell of mustard oil... isn't it?  It's an inevitable part of Indian cuisine. We Indians have a weakness towards pickle. And that is quite obvious, as we are born in a country of spices! I am sure every Indian house has got at least a jar of pickle stored in a corner of their kitchen. My mom too cannot resist herself from preparing pickles out of all those vegetables or fruits available during the seasons. As every Indian woman habit, she loves to share a portion of the pickle with the relatives. It's like a great achievement when the pickle is being praised by people! She uses all the common spices available in her kitchen to prepare a spicy catappa pickle. And this pickle turns out a very interesting time pass when we all gather at home or meet childhood buddies. Just grab your catappa pickle jar and enjoy your best time with it! And instead of wasting the catappa stock she uses it to make delicious jelly.

     Ingredients:                                                                                                                            

• Terminalia catappa 250 gm
• Mustard oil 150 ml
• Garlic 20 cloves
• Turmeric powder 1tbsp
• Carrom seed 1tbsp
• Cumin seed 1tbsp
• Black cumin(kalonji) 1tsp 
• Cinnamon 1inch
• Cardamom crushed 3 to 4 no.
• Salt to taste

    

      Method:

•          Clean the catappa fruit and cut them in between
•         Boil them in a cooker and drain the water.
•         Heat oil in a pan and put all the spices one by one and saute
•        Now pour the boiled catappa into the pan
•        Mix it well, add salt and cook occasionally till the spices stick to the fruits
•        Turn off the flame once the fruits start releasing oil
•         Let it cool down and then store in an airtight container

                                     

Catappa Jelly!!

      While enjoying a walk on a bright and cheerful morning, a small maroon fruit on a tree caught my

attention. I became very curious to know about it. I picked one from the ground and brought it home. It was a new thing for us so thought to search about it on the internet. Finally, my sister helped me out that the tree is known as Terminalia catappa also known as Indian Almond. This variety of tree has a vast natural distribution in near coastal areas of the Indian Ocean. The fruit of T. catappa is considered to be a vital foodstuff and every part of this plant is filled with some medicinal values. It was truly amazing to find out something so valuable in and around me! The fruit has a pleasant aroma. It is best to eat raw when is young and sour. The fibrous shell of the fruit surrounds an

edible nut. People mostly enjoy it here as a good snack freshly plucked from the trees grown

everywhere.

     

       My mom got some handful of Indian almond fruit with her from the park and thought to prepare

something innovative out of it. The colour of the ripened fruits is so beautiful that she decided to

prepare jelly. Seriously, the jelly turned out an amazingly beautiful and delicious one. Here, I am

sharing this unique recipe...

Ingredients:

• Terminalia catappa - 500 gm
• Water - 1 litre
• Sugar - equivalent to the juice extracted from the boiled T. catappa
• Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Method:

• Boil the T. Catappa in water till it reduces to half of it.
• Now, drain the water to another vessel separate from the fruit.
• Let the juice boil then add an equivalent portion of sugar into it.
• Stir occasionally.
• Add lemon juice to it and boil.
• Check the two strings formation on your fingertip with a drop of the juice. T. catappa jelly is ready to be served then.

    Enjoy the yummy jelly as a topping on pudding, cupcakes or with bread.

Sweet and Sour Mango Pickle

Sweet and Sour Mango Pickle

Its Mango time...so why not grab some raw mangoes to munch it during the off-season? Crunchy Mango pickle with its sweet and sour taste feel like heaven during winter as we miss the raw one. This pickle is easy to prepare and simply great with all the available spices from my mom's kitchen cabinet. One can store it in the refrigerator for later use or have it instantly and enjoy the mango flavor as awesome as in season!

Ingredients:

• Raw mango 1kg ( cut into small pieces as required)
• Cumin powder 1tbsp
• Carrom (ajwain) powder 1tbsp
• Fenugreek powder 1tsp
• Chilli powder 1tbsp
• Fennel (Sauf) powder 1/2 tsp
• Cardamom 2 pods crushed
• Cinnamon 2 inch crushed
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
• Mustard oil 150 ml
• Jaggery 1 cup grated
• Ginger 1 inch grated
• Garlic 8-10 pods chopped

Method:

• Take a glass bowl. Put mango pieces, add salt and turmeric into it. Mix well and rest it overnight.
• Heat a pan, pour oil into it, put garlic into hot oil and stir for a minute.
• Now add cardamom and cinnamon in medium flame.
• Add the grated jaggery and stir. Put cumin, carrom, fenugreek, fennel and chili powder to it.
• Mix it well and stir till the jaggery dissolves.
• Finally, add the mango pieces to the mixture and stir continuously till the spices mix well.
• Turn off the flame when half cooked. It will give a crunchy bite. Do not overcook.
• Sprinkle cumin powder on it and let it cool down.
• Mango pickle is ready to serve. Store it in a glass bottle in the refrigerator.

Brinjal Pickle

Pickle lovers....you are going to love this recipe! This mouth-watering recipe, you will love to have it as a pickle and also it is like a backup for the lady of the house when she falls into a whirl of guests at home. A bottle of brinjal pickle is always hidden somewhere at home by my mom to relieve herself from running out of stock during the sudden visit of guests. She serves it as a side dish with paranthas and also as pickle with rice items. It has a sweet and tangy taste that you can't stop licking your fingers!

      

 Ingredients:

• Brinjal long shaped 1 kg (cut into 2-inch length)
• White vinegar 125 ml
• Garlic 15- 20pods 
   
• Ginger 2 inch chopped
• Dried chili 6 no.chopped
• Bay leaf 2
• Jaggery powder 100gm
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil 250ml
• Mustard seeds 2tsp
• Cumin powder 2tbsp
• Ajwain (carrom)powder 2tsp
• Fenugreek 1/2 tsp powder
• Cinnamon 2inch crushed
• Cloves 10 no.crushed
• Cardamom 5 no. crushed

     Method:

• Soak the brinjal pieces in saltwater for 5minutes
• Drain the saltwater and wash the brinjal in plain water
• Now Blanche the brinjal in boiled water
• Drain it and soak it in vinegar overnight
• Now heat a pan and pour oil into it
• Add mustard seeds, garlic, ginger, chili, bay leaf, cumin, ajwain, and fenugreek to it. Mix well
• Add jaggery and stir till it dissolves
• Now pour the vinegar-soaked brinjal into it and add salt
• Mix and stir well for 3-4 minutes till the pickle aroma start releasing from the dish
• Now turn off the flame and add clove, cinnamon and cardamom crush to it
• Mix it well and let it cool down
• Store it in an airtight glass bottle
• Keep it in the refrigerator or out in the sun.

EGG CUTLET

         Cutlets!....no one refuses to try one I am sure! This yummy cutlet goes well as a tea time snack and also as a side dish with meals. Healthy and delicious egg cutlets are wholesome in itself to fill the stomach, especially for fussy eaters. Here I am sharing the recipe...

                                                              

                                                      

         Ingredients

• Potato- 6-7 no.
• Egg- 5
• Onion - 1 large chopped
• Chilli- 2 chopped
• Coriander- half cup chopped
• Cumin powder- 1\2 tsp
• Ginger paste- 1\2 tsp
• Garlic paste- 1 tsp
• Mango powder- 1 tsp
• Chaat masala- 1 tsp
• Tumeric- 1\2 tsp
• Flour- 2 tsp
• Water- a cup
• Breadcrumbs- 200 gm
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying

         Method

• Boil and cook the potatoes with turmeric.
• Drain the water immediately once it is cooked.
• Now, hard boil the eggs, peel and cut it into two halves each vertically.
• Take the boiled potatoes in a bowl, smash it, add chili, coriander, cumin powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, mango powder, and chaat masala. Mix it well.
• Fry the onions till it turns brown. Add this fried onion into the potato mixture.
• Now apply oil in your palm and take a handful of potato mixture. Make a ball and flatten it, put a piece of egg on it and then coat with the potato mixture and give a cylindrical cutlet shape to it. Likewise, make all egg cutlets and keep aside.
• Now make a batter of flour and water. Dip a cutlet into it and coat with breadcrumbs. Continue with the rest of the cutlets one by one.
• Now heat oil in a pan, fry the cutlets in medium flame till it turns golden.
• Serve it hot with green chutney or tomato sauce.

Chicken with Pickled Ash Gourd

Pickled ash gourd can be made by storing the pieces of ash gourd dipped in vinegar with few herbs of one's choice to make it flavourful as required for the recipe. Refrigerate it for a week or two. Chicken curry or chicken stew made with pickled ash gourd is a unique recipe that my mom has innovated. It gives a taste of pickle and the addition of chicken along with all the spices to it enhances the flavor of the curry to heaven! Here are two recipes of chicken made with pickled ash gourd.

  Ingredients:

• Ash gourd- 1kg (deseed it and cut into medium sized square shape)
• White vinegar- 2 tbsp
• Clove- 10 no. grounded
• Cinnamon- 4 inches grounded
• Cardamom- 7 no. crushed
• Bay leaf- 2
• Chicken- 1kg
• Refined oil- 7tbsp
• Chilli powder- 1 Tsp
• Meat masala- 2 tbsp
• Turmeric- 2 tsp
• Onion- 3 no. chopped
• Ginger- 1-inch paste
• Garlic- 10-12 cloves paste
• Sugar- 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

  Method for ash gourd pickle:

• Take a glass bowl, put the ash gourd pieces, vinegar, 1inch grounded cinnamon, 4 cardamoms crush, 3 cloves crush and half teaspoon of garlic ginger paste. Mix it well and store overnight.

  Chicken Stew with Pickled Ash Gourd

  Method:

• Take the chicken bones and put it into a pressure cooker, add a liter of water, bay leaves and salt.
• Close the lid and cook it till 6 to 7 whistles.
• Then add half of the stored ash gourd pickle to the chicken and close the lid to get two more whistles.
• Garnish with chilies and onion. Serve it hot.

 Chicken Curry with Pickled Ash Gourd

 Method:

• Take the boneless chicken (optional) and add sugar to it.
• Now heat refined oil in a pan and put the chicken into it.
• Add chopped onion and stir.
• Add ginger garlic paste, meat masala, chili powder, turmeric, and salt to it.
• When the chicken is half cooked then add the pickled ash gourd into it.
• Add water as required for the curry and cook till it is tender.
• Serve it with rice or paranthas.

Summer Salad Mix

     Summer season comes with a change in our taste buds too. Staying away from too much spicy food and switching to a cool and refreshing diet is what we opt for in this scorching heat. This Summer Salad Mix is simply great to soothe yourself in summer. Mom uses all the important ingredients in the salad to cool and refresh ourselves. At the same time, it's a healthy salad that one can have it all throughout the year. Here, I am sharing the healthy salad which you will love to have on your plate this Summer.

     

          Ingredients:

          

•  Green gram: 250 gm
•  Chilli: 2 no.
•  Tomato: 3 no.
•  Spinach: a handful
•  Curd: 8 tbsp
•  Cream: 2 tbsp
•  Cherry: 5- 6 no.
•  Raisin: 10- 12 no.
•  Cashew: 8- 10 no.
•  Sugar: 1tsp
•  Salt to taste

          Methods:

•   Soak the green gram overnight. Later on, wash and drain it to dry.
•   Finely chop chilies, tomatoes, and spinach.
•   Take a bowl, beat the curd and cream to smooth. Add sugar and pinch of salt to it.
•   Now, mix the finely chopped salad with the mixture.
•   Add cherries, raisins and cashew nuts.
•  The salad is ready. You can chill it in refrigerator
•  Garnish with spinach leaves and stay cool.

PoP PoP (Summer Pancake Sandwich)

Pop Pop📣! Isn’t it sound a bit funny? This is an interesting one, with a story from where my mom named the recipe as Pop Pop. During childhood days, almost every child develops a craze towards street food. Finally, the mothers at home struggle to present in front of their children something that tastes similar to that, to divert them from roadside food. The vendor that visited our street every evening with the sound POP POP, was as tempting as his food! So ultimately mom has innovated a yummy pancake sandwich and named this tempting sound Pop Pop. Indeed, this pancake sandwich is a pack of nutrition and tasty too.

       

       Ingredients:

       

       Preparation of rice pancakes:

•  Rice flour: 2 cups
•   Baking soda: ¼ tsp
•  Water as required for a thick batter
•   Salt to taste

       Preparation of salad:

•  Radish: 1medium size (grated)
•  Knol khol: 1medium size (grated)
•  Carrot: 1(grated)
•  Green Cabbage: 1cup grated
•  Purple Cabbage: ½ cup grated
•  Ginger: 1inch grated
•  Curd: 300gm
•  Jaggery: 3 tbsp
•  Chaat masala: 1 Tsp
•  Cumin powder: 1 Tsp
•  Salt to taste

            

    

Method:

•  Mix all the ingredients for rice pancakes and make a thick batter.
•  Heat a pan and pour half a cup of the batter on it, flatten it in a medium-sized pancake. Cover it to cook for a few minutes.
• Similarly, make 10 pancakes of the same size. Wipe the pan with little oil if the batter sticks to the pan.
• Now, blanch all the grated salad items together and keep aside.
• Take a bowl, beat the curd to smooth, add jaggery, chaat masala, cumin powder, and salt.
• Mix well the blanched salad with the curd mixture.
• Now, to serve, take a plate, place a pancake, spread a layer of the salad curd mixture on top of it and again cover it with another pancake on top.
• Likewise, for every serving, prepare this pancake sandwich on a plate.
• Pour sweet curd on top and garnish it with fruits.

Spicy Radish Chicken Curry

      Now, this is one of my most favorites! Chicken is almost favorite amongst the non-vegetarians but when it comes to curry then only reminds me of mom made chicken curry. This finger licking mom’s recipe cooked with veggies and spices drives me home, no matter whatever restaurants I come across. Spicy Radish Chicken Curry can be replaced with any other vegetables you like to, the taste will be great! The aroma of this spicy curry retains when you sauté the ingredients step by step and cover the lid after every stir. Here I am sharing the recipe with details.

         Ingredients: 

• Chicken: 2 kg
• Potato: 1 kg (cut into 4pcs each)
• Radish: 6 – 7 no. (cut into 4pcs each)
• Onion: 4 no. (2 chopped & 2 paste)
• Garlic: 20 pods (paste)
• Ginger: 2 inches (paste)
• Tomato: 5 (paste)
• Turmeric: 2 ½  tbsp
• Meat masala: 2 ½ tsp
• Mustard oil: 6 tbs  
• Refined oil: 2 tbsp
• Kashmiri chili powder: ½  tsp
• Black pepper powder: ½  tsp
• Clove: ½  tsp powdered
• Cardamom: ½  tsp crushed
• Cinnamon: ½ tsp powder
• Salt to taste
• Warm water as required for  the curry

         Methods:

• Boil the potatoes adding salt and a pinch of turmeric.
• Make a mixture of ginger- garlic paste, turmeric, meat masala, Kashmiri chili, black pepper, clove, cinnamon, cardamom and salt to taste.
• Add a cup of water and mix well.
• Now heat a pan and add mustard oil. Then add refined oil.
• Add the chopped onion and stir till golden.
• Pour the chicken pieces and sauté for 5 minutes in low flame.
• Add the masala mixture, stir and cover the pan.
• Add a cup of water and onion paste into it. Stir and cover.
• After 6- 7 minutes open the lid and add radish to it. Stir and cover.
• After 5 minutes, add the tomato paste and cook.
• Then add the boiled potatoes along with its stock.
•  Now cook in low flame till the chicken is tender.
• Add water as required for the curry.
• Garnish with coriander and serve with rice or paranthas.