Make Cooking Fun and Easy

Vrat Vali Idli with Coconut Curry leaves Chutney  Do try this soft yummy and melt in mouth Idli during your fasting times. Its easy to make with only few ingredients and can help to try a new variety during fasting. The Idli was served with Coconut Curry leaves chutney since one cannot eat sambhar during fasting times. From the leftover Idli batter you can also try and make mini Uttapam or crispy dosa. Do check the recipe below and try it out  Ingredients: For the Idli: 1 cup samak rice or bhagar 1/2 cup Sabudana Sendha namak as per taste (Used in fasting if you don't have it use normal salt)  Groundnut oil or ghee for greasing the idli stand plates  1/2 cup dahi  1/2 cup water to adjust the batter consistency  1 pinch of baking soda (If you don't eat baking soda in fasting then ferment the batter overnight) or 1 small pouch of Eno For the chutney: 1/2 cup of grated coconut  1 tablespoon of groundnut  8 to 10 curry le...

Aloo Baingan Sem Phali Sabzi - A winter specialty cooked with coconut, spices and topped with raw garlic  Winters are blessed with good quality sabzi be it green peas, baingan, Sem Phali (lima beans) and green leafy vegetables. The market is flooded with different varieties of baingan or brinjal be it purple, green, white not to forget the bharte wala baingan as well. In winters - Undhiyo a Gujarati Dish is also frequently cooked. While Undhiyo needs lots of preparation and long process. Today I am going to share one of the specialty of my house which is Aloo Baingan Sem Phali Sabzi. The sabzi can be made in the cooker or can be cooked on a low flame with spices, coconut and topped with chopped raw garlic.  Why add raw garlic on top? Raw garlic gives amazing crunch and taste to the sabzi. Once you start getting green garlic you can also add the same.  But do try adding raw garlic finely chopped and you will surely enjoy it. The reci...

Gujarati Tuvar/Toor Dal  Dal is made differently in every household. Each house has a special and different way to make the Dal. Gujarati Dal traditionally is amalgamation of different flavors - spicy, sweet and sour.  Many believe it is sweet but no there is spicy touch to it.  Kokum, Tomato or lemon is added to make it sour or khatta.  Boiled Peanuts is another important ingredient added to the dal. For the sweetness you can add jaggery or sugar. Choice is yours we add both.  Soaking the Dal for 30 to 40 mins helps to reduce the gas element and cooks very well. Post adding the Tadka dal is cooked on a low flame for 25 to 30 mins. Boiling dal gives you great taste to the dal. Dal is ideally served with rice. But you can also enjoy it with roti or thepla or Puri. Yes Dal Puri or Thepla Puri is a unique combo.   Some of my previous post images with Dal:  Ingredients :   1 cup  Tuvar/Toor/Arhar Dal  2 tablespoons of gro...

Jeera Puri - Krispy Tea time snack  Tea time we all need something to munch. Since Diwali got over one of the most popular snack can be Jeera Puri. This crispy puri is filled with flavors of roasted jeera and can be made in big batch and store it at least for a week in a air tight container.  Enjoy these Puri with chai or coffee.  You can also spread Achaar, Lehsun chutney or Green chutney on top of these Puri. Please note the recipe uses some amount of Maida. In case you follow strict diet then avoid Maida. But addition of Maida and Rava makes it more khasta and yummy.  Ingredients:  1.5 teaspoon of roasted jeera  1/4th cup or 4 tablespoons each of:   Maida and  Wheat Flour 1  tablespoon of Rava or  Sooji  Salt to taste 1.5 tablespoon of ghee Oil for frying  Water to prepare dough  Recipe: On a Tawa put 1.5 teaspoon of jeera and roast for 3 to 4 mins till you get nice aroma  In a big bowl add 1/4th cup or 4...

Soulful meal -  Green moong dal khichdi with kadhi Easy to cook soulful meal are best in Winters. With the onset of winters do try this simple combo of  Green moong dal khichdi with kadhi. Lighter on stomach this meal can be perfect dinner option. You can serve it with Papad, achaar or even salad. Enjoy and let me know if you liked it.                                Green moong dal khichdi recipe Its a very easy recipe. You can cook the khichdi either on low flame in a pan or you can also make it in cooker. I prefer to make it in a pan as this khichdi is bit runny in texture    We are using green moong dal and not green moong. Green moong dal just like Yellow moong is easily available in any grocery store. Stores like Dmart also give readymade green moong dal and rice khichdi mix.  Take 1 cup rice and 3 tablespoon of green moong dal, wash it, add salt, water, hing and turmeric.....