Peach Jam Biscuits

Peaches can be red, pink, yellow, white, or a combination of those colors. On one side of the fruit is a distinctive vertical indentation. Peaches and nectarines look very similar, but they can be told apart by their skin texture: peaches are fuzzy and dull, while nectarines are smooth and shiny. In the peach fruit, the stone is covered with a fleshy substance that is juicy, melting, and of fine flavor when matured and mellowed.


Nutritional Facts: Fat-free, Saturated fat-free· Sodium-free, Cholesterol-free, High in vitamin A and A good source of vitamin C.


For more details visit the following sites:

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/fruits/peach1.htm and http://www.bouquetoffruits.com/fruit-facts/peach-facts.html

This is my entry for AFAM Peach hosted by http://funnfud.blogspot.com

Peach jam made in microwave…very simple and very fast…



Ingredients for Biscuits :

Wheat flour-1 cup
Butter-2 spoons
Salt-a pinch
Baking powder-a pinch
Milk-sufficient to make dough

Ingredients for Peach Jam:

Peach pulp-1 cup
Sugar-3/4 cup
Ghee-1tablespoon

Method:

1. Mix the wheat flour, salt, baking powder, butter and milk and make tight dough.

2. Roll into a thick circle and cut into desired shapes using moulds or circular shaped lid.

3. Make patterns on them using fork. Bake for three minutes in pre heated oven toaster. Biscuits are ready now…

4. Boil five cups of water in a vessel for five minutes on medium flame and turn off the stove.

5. Place the peach in boiling water and leave it for two minutes. Then take out the peach and place in cold water.

6. Peel off the peach, take out the pulp and put it into a microwave safe bowl.

7. Add the sugar with the pulp and cook for three minutes on high speed.

8. Take out the bowl, add the ghee and stir the contents well and place it in the oven again for three minutes.

9. Stir again and keep it in the oven for one more minute to get a jam consistency.

10. Spread the jam on the baked biscuits and cover them with the remaining biscuits on top. Peach jam biscuits are ready…really delicious…the jam goes well with bread too.

Pistachio Oatmeal made in Microwave

This is my submission to Think Spice... "Saffron” hosted by Sunitha of http://sunitabhuyan.blogspot.com/ and “WYF-Diet food" hosted by Hima of http://snackorama.blogspot.com/

I prefer to have oatmeal for breakfast at least twice in a week. Initially I found it difficult to eat this but its nutritional value appealed to me. Oatmeal is the only whole grain foods recognized by the FDA to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. Oats contain a variety of vitamins, minerals and unique antioxidants. Oatmeal can aid in maintaining a healthy weight as part of a diet rich in fiber. Oatmeal can be used in preparing biscuits, cereals and even in soaps.

Over 40 studies show that eating oatmeal may help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. According to Quaker, all it takes is 3/4 cup of oatmeal each day to help lower cholesterol. The soluble fiber in oats helps remove LDL or "bad" cholesterol, while maintaining the good cholesterol that your body needs. The soluble fiber in oatmeal absorbs a considerable amount of water which significantly slows down your digestive process. This result is that you'll feel full longer, i.e. oatmeal can help you control your weight. In fact, the American Diabetes Association already recommends that people with diabetes eat grains like oats. The soluble fiber in these foods helps to control blood glucose levels.

According to recent studies, a diet that includes oatmeal may help reduce high blood pressure. The reduction is linked to the increase in soluble fiber provided by oatmeal. Oats contain more soluble fiber than whole wheat, rice or corn. Oatmeal contains a wide array of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and is a good source of protein, complex carbohydrates and iron. The fiber and other nutrients found in oatmeal may actually reduce the risk for certain cancers. Oatmeal is quick and convenient. Every type of oatmeal can be prepared in a microwave oven. For more details visit the following website…
http://www.mrbreakfast.com/

I hope you will add oatmeal to your breakfast menu...






Ingredients:

Quick cook oat meal-1/2 cup (I have used Quaker Quickcook oatmeal)
Milk-1/2 cup
Water-1/2 cup
Honey or sugar-1 tablespoon
Cardamom powder-a pinch
Sliced pistachios-1 tablespoon
Saffron-2or3 strands

Sliced pistachios, saffron and oatmeal…



Method:

1. Soak saffron strands in a tablespoon of milk.

2. Take a microwave safe bowl and add oatmeal, milk and water.

3. Mix sugar, cardamom powder and saffron and microwave for two minutes.

4. Remove the bowl from the microwave. Leave it to set into desired consistency.

5. Garnish with slices of pistachios and serve hot.

Note: We can also use almonds, cashews, hazel nuts instead of pistachios and dry fruits like apricot, raisins, dates etc. And also fresh fruits like straberry, banana etc...

Perugu Vadalu

Dahi Vada

Ingredients:

Minapa pappu or urad dal-2 cups
Green chillis-3
Cumin seeds or jeera-1 teaspoon
Curry leaves-few
Ginger-small piece (optional)
Onion-1 (optional)
Salt-1 teaspoon
Oil for deep fry

Yogurt-4 cups
Fenugreek leaves (fresh or dry)-few
Chopped green chilli-1
Chopped coriander leaves-few
Turmeric powder-a pinch (optional)
Salt to taste
Oil-1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds-1/4 teaspoon

Method:

1. Soak the urad dal over night or at least for three hours.

2. Wash the dal and grind it into paste along with the green chillies, curry leaves, cumin seeds and a little salt.

3. Do not use too much water otherwise the batter will become loose and absorb more oil.

4. Heat oil for deep fry in a kadai or wok on medium flame.

5. Apply some oil on a plastic sheet and take a lemon sized batter and pat it on the sheet into a circle.

6. Make a hole in the center and deep fry the vadas until they turn brown.

7. Dip the vadas in water and immediately put them into the yogurt.

8. Heat one spoon of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds,chopped green chilli and dry fenugreek leaves.

9. Let them splutter and add a pinch of salt and turmeric powder. Now add this to the yogurt with vadas and mix them well.

10. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and let them soak for one hour either in the fridge or outside. Delicious perugu vadalu are ready...

Happy Vijaya Dashami!

Happy Dasara to all of you! If you want to help the needy children, please go through the following web site. I have played my part to help them.

http://feedahungrychild.org/

Laddoo and Boondi

Laddoo and Boondi for Dasara

Dasara, also called "Navaratri", is among the most important festivals celebrated in India. The Festival of Dasara is celebrated on the occasion of Navaratri. Celebrations are unique ranging from worshipping goddess Chamundeshwari (Durga) to exhibiting colorful toys on the day of ‘kolu’ in Tamil, 'bombe habba' in Kannada or 'Bommala Koluvu' in Telugu. In telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, people celebrate Bathukamma Panduga during Navaratri days. Dussehra is celebrated in various ways in different parts of South Asia. In Bengal, the festival is celebrated as Kali Puja or Durga Puja, while in Tamil Nadu, the festival incorporates worship of the goddesses Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Shakti. Some people feel that Dussehra and Dasara are not simply different transliterations of the same word, but two different festivals. Dasara is the festival marking end of Navratri and the immersion of Durga idols which are worshipped for nine days prior to Dussehra. Dussehra is also the day when many families start formal education of their kids. The Dasara celebrations in Mysore are popular with tourists, and are conducted with great pomp. Dasara is celebrated in Nepal by the name of Dashain.
In our childhood, my mother used to make laddoo and boondi and we love them a lot. Since I am staying abroad, I am missing my mother’s laddoo and boondi. So nowadays, I started making them on my own following my mother's recipe.

Laddoo and boondi for Dasara...

This is my entry for RCI Tamil Festivals hosted by http://vcuisine.blogspot.com

Laddoo

Ingredients for Making Laddoo:

Gram flour or besan-2 cups
Sugar-2 cups
Salt-a pinch
Cashew nuts-10
Raisins-10
Pacha karpooram-a pinch
Cardamom powder-1 teaspoon
Saffron-optional (I haven’t used)
Ghee-1 teaspoon
Oil for deep fry

Boondi for making laddoo...

Method:

1. Add salt to the gram flour and make thick batter using sufficient water.


2. Heat oil in a wok or kadai and make the boondi using the boondi making ladle (ladle with small holes). Do not over fry them and take out when they are still soft.


3. Boil the water and sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and make syrup with one string consistency.


4. Add pacha karpooram and cardamom powder to the syrup. Fry the cashew nuts and raisins with a teaspoon of ghee in a pan.

5. Mix the boondi, cashew nuts and raisins with the syrup and make round balls or laddoos. Allow them to dry and store in an air tight container.

Boondi

Ingredients for Making Boondi:

Gram flour or besan-1 ½ cups
Rice flour-1/2 cup
Baking soda or sodium bi carbonate-1 teaspoon
Salt-1 tablespoon
Dry chilly powder-1 tablespoon
Cumin or jeera powder-1 teaspoon
Garlic-3 pods (optional, I haven’t used)
Ground nuts-1 tablespoon
Fried gram dal-1 tablespoon
Curry leaves-few
Oil for deep fry

Method:

1. Sieve the besan and rice flours in a big bowl and add a pinch of salt and baking powder.


2. Mix the flour with sufficient water to make thick batter adding one spoon hot oil.


3. Heat oil in a wok and make boondi, using the boondi ladle and fry them until brown.


4. Heat one spoonful of oil in a pan and add the ground nuts, fried gram dal, curry leaves, chilli powder, cumin powder and the remaining salt.


5. Fry them for 1-2 minutes on low flame and turn of the stove. Add the boondi and mix well and store in an air tight container. Serve with the Laddoo...

Raddish Gojju

Radish Gojju from RCI-Karnataka hosted by Asha of Foddies Hope...

I saw this recipe in Asha’s blog (Foodies Hope). I usually make sambar and chutney with Raddish. For a change I tried to make gojju by adding ginger and cumin seeds. It was excellent. Thank you Asha, for sharing this recipe. I didn’t have the raagi (red millet) flour to make raagi mudda so I had this gojju with pulagam along with ghee, tamarind pickle and papads. It was very nice. Now I will tell you that how I made raddish gojju….


Ingredients for grinding:

Grated raddish-2 cups
Fresh coconut-1/2 cup
Yogurt-1 cup
Green chillies-2
Fried gram dal-1tablespoon
Curry leaves-few
Coriander leaves-few
A small piece of ginger
Salt to taste

For seasoning: ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds, ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds and ¼ teaspoon urad dal, one splitted dry chilly and two garlic cloves(optional).
Ghee-1 tablespoon

Method:

1. Grind the grated raddish, fresh coconut, fried gram dal, curry leaves, coriander leaves, ginger and green chilly using a little water.

2. Now add the curd and salt and grind for a while and transfer to a bowl.

3. Heat the oil in a pan and add the red chilly pieces, garlic cloves, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and urad dal (Bengal gram).

4. Fry them until light brown and add to the grinded paste. I already added the curry leaves in the grinded paste so I did not add them in the seasoning.

5. Mix well and serve with raagi mudda, plain rice or pulagam.

Lemon Rice

The lemon is a hybrid in cultivated wild plants. The fruit is used primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind (zest) are also used, primarily in cooking and baking. Lemons are used to make lemonade, and as a garnish for drinks. Iced tea, soft drinks and water are often served with a wedge or slice of lemon in the glass or on the rim. The average lemon contains approximately 3 tablespoons of juice. Allowing lemons to come to room temperature before squeezing (or heating briefly in a microwave) makes the juice easier to extract. Lemons left unrefrigerated for long periods of time are susceptible to mold. They contain Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) which is essential for human health. 100 milliliters of lemon juice contains approximately 50 milligrams of Vitamin C and 5 grams of citric acid. Because of its high Vitamin C content, lemon has been touted in alternative medicine as a tonic for the digestive system, immune system, and skin. There is a belief in Ayurvedic medicine that a cup of hot water with lemon juice in it tonifies and purifies the liver. For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon.











Ingredients:

Ponni or samba masoora rice-2 cups
Lemon juice-4 tablespoons
Ground nuts-1 tablespoon
Curry leaves-few
Green chillies-5
Red dry chillies-2 splitted into pieces
Seasoning ingredients-2 tablespoons (mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, chenna dal, fenugreek seeds)
Asafetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder-1/2 teaspoon
Salt-1 tablespoon or to taste
Oil-2 tablespoons

Method:

1. Cook the rice with water (not too soft) and allow it to cool in a broad vessel.

2. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the red dry chilli pieces, ground nuts, asafetida and the seasoning ingredients.

3. Fry them until brown and turn off the stove. Mix the rice with the remaining oil, salt, turmeric powder, curry leaves and lemon juice.

4. Add the fried ingredients to rice and mix well.

5. Cover with a lid and leave the rice for ten minutes. This will help the rice to absorb all the spices.

Note: You can use cashew nuts instead of ground nuts.

Badusha

Badushas for Deepavali

This is my entry for RCI Tamil Festivals hosted by Viji of http://vcuisine.blogspot.com/

Ingredients:

Maida-2 cups
Ghee-1cup
Yogurt-1cup
Sugar-2 cups
Baking powder-1 teaspoon
Cardamom powder-1 teaspoon
Oil for deep fry

Method:

1. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a broad bowl and add two tablespoons of sugar to it.

2. Knead the flour into pliable dough using the ghee and yogurt. If necessary, sprinkle some water and make sure that the dough is softer than chapathi dough.

3. Leave the dough for about thirty minutes and boil a cup of water with the remaining sugar in a heavy-bottomed vessel.

4. When the syrup forms into one string consistency, add the cardamom powder and turn off the stove.

5. Divide the dough into lemon sized balls. Flatten them and press in the centre using your fore finger.

6. Heat the oil in a frying pan. When the oil is hot, place four or five badshas and immediately lower the flame.

7. The badushas will then become brown outside and at the same time, will be cooked nicely inside.

8. Complete frying all the badushas in batches and keep them in the syrup for a while to absorb the syrup.

9. Take them out from the syrup and let them dry.

10. Garnish the badushas in the centre with the dry sugar syrup. Delicious badushas are ready…..

Note: Do not fry the badushas on high flame; they will not be cooked properly inside.

Cumin Rice

Jeera Rice

Ingredients:

Basmati rice-2 cups
Cumin seeds-2 tablespoons
Cinnamon stick-small piece
Cardamom-2
Cloves-4
Cashew nuts-8
Ghee-2 tablespoons
Salt-1/2 tablespoon

Method:

1. Wash and add four cups of water to the rice, in the rice cooker container. Heat ghee in a pan and add the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, cashew nuts and cumin seeds.

2. Fry them until brown and add salt. Mix the fried ingredients to the washed rice and cook.

3. If you want to cook directly in one pot, heat the ghee in a big heavy bottomed vessel and add all the ingredients.

4. After frying them, add 4 and ½ cups of water and salt and boil on medium flame. When it starts bubbling, add the rice and lower the flame.

5. Turn off the stove after the rice cooked and serve hot with dal or palak paneer.

Spicy Andhra Chicken

Spicy Andhra Chicken For Non-veg Lovers...

I made this for my daughter and husband. I seldom cook non-veg at home since my son and I stopped eating non-veg (except egg).


Ingredients:

Chicken-250 grams
Chopped onions-2
Tomato-1
Chillis-4
Turmeric powder-1 teaspoon
Red chilly powder-1 teaspoon
Salt-1 tablespoon
Ginger-garlic paste-1tablespoon

For masala powder:
(Grind the following ingredients into powder)

Coriander seeds-1tablespoon
Poppy seeds (gasagasalu)-1tablespoon or cashew nuts-5
Dry coconut-a small piece
Cloves-4
Cinnamon-1 small stick
Cardomam-1
Coriander or mint leaves-few
Oil-3 tablespoons



Method:

1. Wash and mix the chicken with salt and turmeric powder and keep it aside.

2. Grind the onions, chillies and tomato into small pieces, not into paste.

3. Heat the oil in a pan or vessel and fry the onion, chilli and tomato mixture until it turns brown.

4. Wash the chicken pieces one more time and drain the water. Add the chicken and fry for five minutes on medium flame.

5. Add the ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and a cup of water and let it cook.

6. Once the chicken is cooked, add the masala powder and lower the flame.

7. Let it cook for five more minutes; turn off the stove when oil separates from the gravy.

8. Garnish with coriander leaves or mint and serve hot with plain rice or pulav or jeera rice, chapathi or pesara garelu.

Click here to see my pesara garelu or green moong dal vada recipe.

Note: Vegetarians, we can follow the same recipe with potatoes or cauliflower or soy nuggets.

Nune Gongura

Sorrel Leaves Fry

Gongura.... (Hibiscus Cannabinus) or Sorrel leaves are very popular in Andhra. It is called ‘Andhra Mata Gongura’ (Gongura-The Mother of Andhra). The most popular recipe with gongura is the gongura pickle. It will be served in most of the restaurants, hotels and marriages or occations. We should take it limitedly. There are two types of gongura-one is green stemmed and the other one is red stemmed. Red stemmed is more sour than green stemmed one. In my in laws house, gongura is used atleast once in a week, sometimes it is gongura pachchadi with green chillis, gongura pachchadi with red chillis, gongura pappu and nune gongura. Nune gongura is new version to me. I only came to know about this after my marriage. It is very simple to make with less ingredients and very tasty with a nice aroma. I am going to share this recipe with you…..


Ingredients:

Gongura-1 bunch
Green chillies-5
Chopped onions-3
Seasoning ingredients-1 tablespoon (mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, chenna dal, fenugreek seeds)
Asafoetida-a pinch (optional)
Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon
Chilli powder-1teaspoon
Salt-1 tablespoon
Oil-1/2 cup

A bunch of gongura...

After drying under sun or fan...

Method:

1. Pluck and wash the gongura leaves. Dry them until the moisture evaporates. Make sure that leaves are not wet.

2. Heat oil in a pan and season it. Then add onions and green chilli and fry them until they become light brown.

3. Mix gongura and fry it on medium flame while stirring.

4. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt and fry for a while.

5. Turn off the stove and store it in a jar. Serve with hot rice.

Note: This recipe needs more oil that’s why it is called nune gongura (nune means oil) and it keeps for 3-4 days if don’t use a wet spoon.