ROSES MADE OUT OF DELICIOUS DOUGH WITH SAVOURY FILLING

Posted on August 5, 2012 by nituchugani

This recipe and method is from Fauzias Fun Kitchen and i learnt the step by step method from her page
the braid i also learnt from Foodilicious and also Fauzias Fun Kitchen so thank you both for the inspiration
I have altered the recipe for the dough and you can use the eggless honeycomb bread recipe and video on youtube
This dough i have made as the following but you can use that eggless dough also
You can use any filling…i just used some chicken and mushroom in white sauce
DOUGH:
1 envelope or 7 grams of dry yeast
1 small cup of warm water
100 grams of butter
1 egg
500 grams of white flour (maida)
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of sugar
room temperature milk as needed
METHOD:
put the yeast in a bowl and add the warm water, salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar and let the yeast rise for about 10 minutes. Please see the video.
Once its risen and bubbly add the flour, butter, egg and the rest of the sugar. Make a soft dough using the room temperature milk. Leave it to rise covered in a warm place for 2 hours.
The video tutorial shows you how the dough should look like and how to proceed to make the roses 🙂
Good luck and thank you Fauzia and the foodilicious team!!!

Posted in Chicken, Crack an egg???, Floury Matter, Low Cost, Recipes with videos, Sandwiches, Step by Step, Veg Starters | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

EGGLESS CUPCAKES FILLED WITH CARAMEL (DULCE DE LECHE)

Posted on August 5, 2012 by nituchugani

I love dulce de leche (caramel) and i feel its so useful for sandwiching cakes and compliments the chocolate or vanilla flavor so well.
These cupcakes were something i wanted to do for an indian festive day where eating non vegetarian wasnt allowed.
Here is the simple recipe!
Dulce de leche (caramel) can be bought or made at home. To make it at home just take a can of condensed milk and put it in a pot and cover the pot with water till the can is totally immersed.
Bring the pot to boil with the can in for two hours and then remove from the flame and cool the can COMPLETELY. When its cooled open it and you will see brown , sweety smelling, sticky caramel………delicious…If using a pressure cooker you can pressure cook it for half an hour.
INGREDIENTS FOR THE BUTTERY CUPCAKES:
125 grams of soft butter
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of milk
2.5 cups of white flour(maida)
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of a good vanilla essence
2.5 teaspoons (1 envelope) of baking powder
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
Beat the butter till fluffy and then add the sugar and beat till its really fluffy. Add the milk slowly and continue beating. Add the flour , salt, baking powder and vanilla essence.
Mix it well. Pour the batter into a muffin case or tray till half way… Add a spoonful of dulce de leche (caramel) and then add some more batter. Do not fill the cases till more than 3/4th capacity as it needs to rise.
Bake for about 10-15 mintues til done.
You can also use this batter for cake batter. Its delicious!!!! You can also fill this with any jam or marmalade of your choice
NITU DIDI TIP: I feel using butter for cakes and cupcakes makes them softer and they have a different flavor. I will only use butter from now on!!!
NITU DIDI DISASTER: I tried making this in my amazing bullet and guess what?????? I forgot to screw the it tightly and when i tried to remove it the whole batter fell all over!!
I wish i had a pic to show you all….i managed to save most of the batter and bake my cakes after an hour of cleaning up!!! I was soo scared my amazing bullet would not work and it would die on me……….but its still working!!!!!!!

Posted in A Piece of Cake???, Cooking Disasters!!, Eggless Sweet Temptations, Everything Vegetarian, Floury Matter, Magic Bullet, Quick Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

QUICK MALAI KOFTA ALA NITU DIDI

Posted on August 4, 2012 by nituchugani

This has to be one of the most soughted out desi vegetarian recipes !
I have been asked for this recipe soo many times but i dreaded to make it. I can write the recipe but i need to make it in my kitchen and take out a pic. I do not use any pics from the internet.. what  i post are my creations in my own kitchen.
Malai Koftas are actually balls filled with paneer(home made cottage cheese) and then deep fried and put into a rich gravy.
The whole process is tiring and cumbersome…boil vegetables, mash them, season them with spices, make the paneer, stuff it in the vegetables, make a ball…deep fry and then make the sauce
I am tired just typing it! Imagine making it! I told myself there has to be a simpler way to make this…why go through soo much hassle?
I sat n used my thinking cap (yes i do have one!!!) and i said there has to be a shortcut without compromising on taste and why does one have to use cream? Why cant one create the restaurant taste without the calories????
And i came up with my very own recipe!!!! So…. lets make malai kofta ok??????
INGREDIENTS FOR 11 SMALL KOFTAS (BALLS).
1 litre of whole milk
1 cup of yogurt
200 ml of cream
This is for the paneer…please follow my paneer video on how to make paneer.
Once the paneer is made let it drain and cool completely
Meantime lets make the gravy?
INGREDIENTS:
1 spanish onion chopped roughly
2 flakes of garlic
1 small piece ginger
1 green chilli or more
2 teaspoons of Nitu Didi Garam masala powder
2 teaspoons of Nitu Didi coriander powder
4-5 tablespoons of tomato paste (not to be confused with tomato puree)
100 grams of yogurt, put in a strainer to get rid of all the water content for 2 hours
4-5 tablespoons of oil , you can use ghee or butter
3 tablespoons of milk or as needed or cream if you wish
dry fruit as cashewnuts or almonds if you want it richer, i did not have so did not put
coriander leaves chopped for garnish
chopped green chillies if you wish
1 cup of water
METHOD:
Make the paneer as my recipe and video and then let it drain and cool completely in the strainer without any weight. Meantime we can make the gravy, Once the paneer is well drained put it into the kitchen blender ( i used my amazing bullet) and blend it till smooth. Add salt , some chopped coriander leaves, alittle chopped green chilli and 1 teaspoon each of garam masala and coriander powder. Mix well. It should be very smooth and refrigerate in a plastic container covered.
Make a paste of the onions, ginger and garlic without any water. I used my amazing bullet. Heat the oil in a non stick pan and fry the paste till browned. The paste will stick to the bottom, please dont panic, add some water and continue browning. Please fry this paste well till all the raw onion and garlic smell disappears. If you dont do this well the gravy wont taste nice. If you need to buy good pans i have some amazing spider pans for sale. I added water twice to this paste and kept on frying it. Once you feel the raw smell has disappeared, add the yogurt and cook till the yogurt is cooked and you can see a bit of oil on the sides, i say a bit of oil coz we havent put in much oil anyways. Then add the tomato paste and the spices. Cook till well blended. Add coriander leaves and green chillies and salt. Add the milk and water and bring it to a boil. Let it cook for 2 minutes. This is your amazing gravy! To enrichen it : you can add some crushed nuts, some raisins, some rose petals etc.
FOR THE KOFTAS:
Take out the paneer from the fridge and shape into small balls using a bit of pressure. Now comes the tricky part. You can either dip these balls in a batter of white flour or gram flour made with sparkling water or you can fry them without the coating. I fried them without the coating.. Its tricky but POSSIBLE. Heat up oil in a deep fryer till quite hot and then just add one or two balls at a time and fry them for 10 seconds and remove. Dont fry them for too long and i suggest you try one ball first. If it breaks then please coat in a batter and then fry.
Heat the gravy well and pour on top of the paneer balls
PHEW!!!! Complicated????? Well its easier than it sounds…Do try this out and let me know 🙂
This is how the paneer should look like
the lightly fried balls
to buy my amazing bullet do contact me at cookingwithnitu@gmail.com

 

Posted in Everything Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Indian Restaurant Dishes, Magic Bullet, Paneer, Recipes with videos, Spices, Step by Step | 2 Comments

BRAISED CHINESE RICE WITH CHICKEN

Posted on August 3, 2012 by nituchugani

I am feeling soo odd writing this easy peasy recipe and i am sure all of you are going to make fun of me.
I am so busy trying to sell spices and kitchenware plus doing the housechores that sometimes i actually forget to make lunch.
Come lunchhour and my tummy starts rumbling…and what do i do? I have no time to cut veggies, no time to bother…so i make do with what i have.
Adela my dear friend and camera woman has taught me how to buy the whole chicken to save costs and to make soup out of the chicken skeleton (carcass)
This morning i bought a whole chicken and decided to make some chinese style stock. What i like about chinese style chicken stock is that it has a mild flavor and can be used for many dishes.
So once the stock was made…. came lunchtime and i was hungry…and this is what i created!!!
INGREDIENTS FOR ONE PERSON
Chinese chicken stock : made by boiling chicken bones in 1.5 litres of water with 1 peeled onion , a leek, a small piece of smashed ginger and some celery. I did not add salt ( i forgot!!)
1 bowl of left over cooked white rice, refrigerated
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 small piece of ginger, chopped
dark soya sauce as needed
green chilies chopped
you can also add vegetables of your choice as cabbage, mushrooms, brocolli, bamboo shoots, carrots, etc…i did not have time to even search for the vegetables in the fridge let alone chop them!!!
a splash of sesame oil and chinese vinegar (white vinegar)
4-6 chicken wings, halved
1 teaspoon of cooking oil
METHOD:
Chicken stock chinese style : put the water to boil and when it comes to a boil add a bit of salt (i forgot but you please dont!!) and then add the chicken bones and once you do that all the scum will start coming up…take a small strainer and remove it all. Once that is done please add the onion, leek and ginger and celery and boil it for 30 minutes till half the amount of water has evaporated. Cool and strain the stock. Remove whatever chicken flesh you can from the bones and keep it aside for salad or to feed your pets.
RICE :
Heat the teaspoon of oil in a frying pan and then add the chopped garlic and once it starts changing color add the ginger and then the vegetables you want to add ( i told u i didnt add any as i had no time) Add the rice and then add 1 cup of chicken stock and let the rice absorb all the stock on  high fire. Add the dark soya sauce, green chillies, and once the stock has evaporated splash with sesame oil and vinegar. Serve hot.
CHICKEN WINGS:
Before starting with the rice put the chicken wings in the oven and bake till golden brown without salt. Once they are browning add some soya sauce, some green chillies, grated ginger , sesame oil and vinegar. Toss the wings so they get coated well and return to the hot oven for a few mintues till well browned.
Serve with the rice………..

Posted in Chicken, Fusion, Gluten Free, Healthy Options, Low Cost, Made in China, Rice is Nice | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

ACHARI ALOO (SPICED DESI STYLE POTATOES)

Posted on August 2, 2012 by nituchugani

This easy potato dish can be made in a jiffy and tastes sooo amazing!
You can serve them with almost anything or even as a side dish…i served them with puris…puris are just like rotis but deep fried ( need to do a video!!!)
Honestly if only i had someone to film me everyday in my kitchen or cud afford some fancy equipment which i could set up…any volunteers??
Back to the recipe….its soo easy!!! and so flavorful…if you try it you will love it
INGREDIENTS FOR 3 (more or less)
500 grams of boiled potatoes,. peeled and chopped
1 large onion chopped
1/4 cup or more of green bell pepper (capsicum) cubed
1 inch piece of ginger, chopped
a few green chillies chopped
1 teaspoon each of cumin, fennel(saunf) and nigella seeds(kalonji or onion seeds)
1/2 cup of chopped fresh coriander leaves
1/2 teaspoon of Nitu Didi pure turmeric powder
salt to taste
juice of 1/2 juicy lime or to taste
3 tablespoons of oil
METHOD:
Heat the oil in a  pan and add the cumin seeds and let them splutter for a few seconds and then add the chopped onion and ginger with salt. Let the onions soften and then add the nigella seeds (kalonji/onion seeds) and then the fennel seeds(saunf) and let it cook for 30 seconds. Add the green chillies and the bell peppers (capsicum) and then the boiled and chopped potatoes. Add the chopped coriander and lemon juice,and cover and cook till heated thoroughly.
Thats it!! Serve with naan, rotis or puris or parathas… good enough to eat on its own or as a side dish, combined with meat or daal or even as a different tasting samosa filling!!

NITU DIDI TIP: for a jain recipe just omit the ginger and garlic!!

Posted in Everything Vegetarian, Fusion, Gluten Free, Healthy Options, Indian Restaurant Dishes, Jain recipes, Low Cost, Nitu´s Spicy Delights, Quick Recipes, Veg Starters, Vegan | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

SAFFRON YOGURT DELIGHT (KESRI SRIKAND) BY HARKIRAT OBEROI

Posted on August 1, 2012 by nituchugani

For the auspicious festival of Rakhsha Bandhan i bring you this lovely recipe sent to me by Harkirat Oberoi. Sorry for the quality of the pic.

This is his recipe and i am copying it the way he sent it to me.

~ KESARI SHRIKHAND ~

Yoghurt, 1 kg – hung for 3 hours, nett yield was 450 grams. (the portion in the pic is about 100 grams)
Sugar powder – 80 grams
Cardamom powder – 1 gram
Nutmeg powder – 1 gram
Saffron (Nitu Didi sent me some) – 1/6 th gram [reserved few strands to garnish and dissolved the rest in warm milk for 20 mts.
Almond / Pistacchio slivers to sprinkle on top.

Except the garnishing ingredients, blended all the items in a large bowl on a bed of crushed ice.

I do this so that the body of the yoghurt remains firm and when we refrigerate, Shrikand does not crystallise, rather remain smooth.

Garnish to serve in individual bowls.

To buy my lovely saffron email me at cookingwithnitu@gmail.com

Posted in Eggless Sweet Temptations, Everything Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Indian Restaurant Dishes, Saffron | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

DESI CHICKEN IN SPINACH

Posted on July 31, 2012 by nituchugani

A healthy way to combine spinach with chicken. This is a popular dish in most desi restaurants and usually they make it with a whole load of cream,
I have created a simpler recipe, easy to digest and ofcoruse healthier.
INGREDIENTS: serves 2
350 grams of boneless chicken breast, cubed
100 grams of white yogurt (curd/dahi)
4 cloves of garlic
1 small piece of ginger
1 large onion chopped fine
2 cups of chopped washed spinach (i used fresh spinach)
1 tablespoon of dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) or 1 cup of fresh fenugreek leaves, washed and chopped
3 red tomatoes
4 green chillies chopped
1 cup of chopped coriander leaves
1/2 teaspoon of Nitu Didi pure turmeric powder
salt to taste
5 tablespoons of cooking or olive oil
METHOD
Put the yogurt with the ginger and garlic in a blender ( i use my amazing bullet) and blend it to a paste. Add the paste to the chicken and add some salt and marinate for an hour.
Heat the oil in a pan and add the chopped onions and sautee till the onions turn color. Add the chopped tomatoes and fenugreek leaves (dry or fresh) , chopped green chillies and the Nitu Didi Pure turmeric powder and cook till the tomatoes are soft. Add the chicken and sautee on high flame till the chicken cooks. Add the spinach and cook till the spinach leaves are soft. Add the chopped coriander leaves. Do not overcook as the chicken will get tough. Serve hot with rice or desi rotis or parathas.
Very healthy , nourishing and delicious. If you want you can add spices such as coriander , cumin and garam masala powder. I did not as i feel the fenugreek, spinach and coriander leaves give it a lovely flavor on its own. Not all desi food needs to be floating in spices, cream and oil!!
Agree or disagree????

To buy my amazing bullet or my spices do contact me on cookingwithnitu@gmail.com

Posted in Chicken, Gluten Free, Healthy Options, Indian Restaurant Dishes, Low Cost, Magic Bullet, Quick Recipes, Spices | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

CHANA DAAL WITH TURI (LENTILS WITH COURGETTE)

Posted on July 30, 2012 by nituchugani

This is an lovely desi style to make and eat yellow lentilsd (channa dal) without much spices.
I feel using spices in every dish gives it the same flavor so sometimes its nice to make our food in different ways.
INGREDIENTS:
1 medium sized courgette (turi)
1 small bowl of yellow lentils (channa daal) washed and soaked for a few hours
1 large spanish onion chopped
1 small piece ginger chopped
2 red tomatoes chopped
5-6 curry leaves
1-2 green chillies chopped
1/2 teaspoon of Nitu Didi turmeric powder
salt to taste
coriander leaves chopped
4 tablespoons of oil
1 bowl of water
METHOD:
Heat the oil in the pan or pressure cooker and add the curry leaves and let them cook for a few seconds. If you dont have curry leaves use a bay leaf instead.
Add the chopped onions and ginger and green chillies and cook till the onions start changing color. Add the chopped courgette and the tomatoes and cook till soft. Add the turmeric powder and salt and then add the lentils and the water and pressure cook it till its done. If you dont have a pressure cooker then just cook it normally till the lentils soften.
Serve hot with either naan bread, or parathas or rice.
Healthy and nourishing!!

 

 

 

Posted in Everything Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Healthy Options, Indian Restaurant Dishes, Low Cost, Quick Recipes, Recipes with videos, Typical Sindhi Dishes, Vegan | 2 Comments

VEGETABLE BIRYANI WITHOUT GINGER/GARLIC/ONIONS BY RHEA SAPRA

Posted on July 29, 2012 by nituchugani

shravan is the month of fasting for many indians
raksha bandhan(2nd august), gokul ashtami(10th august) thadri(9th august) and teejri(4th august)(fast for sindhi womens like karva choth) comes in this month . people enjoy playing cards during this festive season

This has been sent to me by Rhea Sapra saying that i am posting recipes for ramadan which is lovely but what about the shravan month? So she soo sweetly sent me this onion/ginger/garlic free pure veg biryani recipe with her pic…I love it when you all send me your pics and recipes…so do enjoy and happy fasting…happy religious days:):)

2 cups basmati rice soaked for 15 min
3 green chillies
11/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 carrots, 2 potatoes(optional)
1/2 cup frozen green peas
lil cauliflower florets fried
2 tbsp cashwenuts fried
8 french beans
3 tomatoes
briyani masala 3 tsp
4 cloves
2 cardamoms
2 bay leaves
1 ” cinammom stick
2 tsp desi ghee
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp butter
salt as per taste
saffron soaked in little wam 1/2 cup milk
mint and coriander leaves for garnish

bring 5 cups of water to boil, strain the soaked rice and put it in the boiling water, add, bay leaves, cinammom stick, cardammom, salt, cloves, ghee and lime juice. when the rice s almost done, strain the rice and put in a tray and run wid a fork with light hands for the steam to escape

for the vegetable layer

grind the green chillies  and cumin seeds to a paste
grind the tomatoes to a puree

Take butter in a pan, add the green chillie mixture, add all the vegetables, saute the vegetables for some timethen add the tomato puree and keep on low flame covered till all the vegetable are cooked, add briyani masala, salt and red chilli powder and 1 tsp garam masala (optional). A little water is added if the vegetables are not cooked properly and also little gravy is needed

to assemble the briyani

take a deep pan, put one layer of rice, top it with the vegetable layer, repeat till all the gravy and rice s used, top layer is of white rice, pour the saffron milk on top and garnish it with mint and coriander leaves, fried cauliflower and cashewnuts
For best results use Nitu Didi pure spanish saffron

 

Posted in Everything Vegetarian, Healthy Options, Jain recipes, Rice is Nice, Saffron | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

GARLIC LEMON PEPPER BUTTER

Posted on July 29, 2012 by nituchugani

We just love garlic bread at home… I like to make my own garlic butter…you can flavor it in so many ways! Once you make it you can keep it in the refrigerator and use it even to grill meat, fish, chicken, put it on top of steamed vegetables . Smear it on toast, fill it into baguettes , gosh there are soo many ways to use up garlic butter…oh yes toss it in hot pasta!
So lets see how do we make this? You can make it with herbs, with spices etc. I had some coarsley ground lemon pepper in my spice rack and decided to make a butter with a difference. If you want to make your own homemade butter do go to my video tutorial on how to make butter. Once the butter is made just follow the recipe 🙂
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1 tablespoon of coarsley ground lemon pepper
5 flakes of garlic (or less) if you dont like it too strong
salt to taste
METHOD:
Grind the garlic with the lemon pepper in a small blender. I used my amazing bullet and add it to the softened butter. Mix well and add some salt. Refrigerate till needed.
Its that simple 🙂
NITU DIDI TIP: to make herbed butter just take the herbs you want like parsely, oregano, rosemary etc and wash and wipe out the moisture using a kitchen towel. Chop them and put into the blender and follow the recipe
Hope you enjoy your flavored butter!!!
To buy the amazing bullet do contact me cookingwithnitu@gmail.com

Posted in Gluten Free, Low Cost, Magic Bullet, Recipes with videos, Sandwiches, Sauces and Chutneys | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments