Indian cooking

Easy Indian Starter Recipe – Stuffed Besan Chilla

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Besan Cheela or chilla is a savoury Indian Pancake made with Chickpea (garbanzo beans flour), here we are making cones out of this crepe and stuffing it with delicious mushroom filling. Enjoy it with sauce/chutney of your choice. These stuffed crepes are gluten free, vegan and quick to make. You can pack these in Kids lunch boxes or even quickly whip it for friends or family when they come over for a cup of tea. It is a great little snack to enjoy without any guilt as its quite healthy.

Ingredients/ Method

For Stuffing: Onions, mushrooms, Spinach, cilantro and spices (Salt, Red chilli powder, Turmeric)

For Pancake

1 cup Besan /Gram Flour
1/2 tsp ajwain (carom or caraway seeds)
1/2 tsp Black Pepper powder
Salt to taste
1 tsp pudina powder ( Dired ground mint leaves)
1 tsp Mango Powder
Oil for cooking

Prepare the stuffing and set aside.
Make Batter by adding water to gram flour and add in spices.
Cook on hot skillet with a little bit oil until brown on both sides.
Once pancakes are ready, make cones out of them and fill with the stuffing and serve with chutney of choice.

Traditional Style Besan Ka Puda recipe – Besan Chilla Recipe

Masala Pancake Recipes – Spicy Besan Ka Puda

Potato Corn Curry Recipe | Aloo Corn Curry Dinner

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Aloo (Potatoes) and Sweet Corn make a great combo in this simple yet delicious comforting curry

Ingredients/ Method

2 medium size potatoes
1 finely chopped onion
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
Salt per taste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup water
2 medium size tomatoes
1 cup corn
1 tsp curry powder
Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with Roti (Indian flatbread)

– Fry spices with onions and ginger garlic. Add corn and potatoes. Mix well. Add tomatoes and cook until tender. Add Curry powder. Water if required and cook until curry dish is ready.

Homemade Curry Powder Recipe
Homemade Ginger Garlic paste

How to make Ghiya Badiyan (Amritsari Vadi) – Squash Curry Recipe

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Squash Curry (Lauki or Ghiya) with Vadiyan ( Amristari Badi) is quite tasty and healthy. Here’s a simple recipe that you can prepare and enjoy with rice or roti.

Ingredients/Method

1-2 Vadiyan (Lentil crackers)
1-2 long Squash (Ghiya)
1 small onion chopped
2 tomatoes
Salt per taste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder and turmeric
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp curry powder or Kadai masala/ Garam masala
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
2-3 tbsp oil for cooking
cilantro/ coriander leaves for garnish

– Crush Vadi.
– Chop Squash
– Heat oil in pressure cooker and add cumin seeds. After a min, add onions, ginger garlic paste, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder. Mix well.
– After 2-3 mins, add Vadi. Fry for 2 mins.
– Add tomatoes and let them become tender.
– Next, add Squash. Mix well. Add curry powder and 1/2 cup water.
-Cover the pressure cooker and cook for a 1-2 whistles.
-Let the pressure cooker cool down before opening it.
– Add in dried fenugreek leaves and garnish with cilantro leaves then serve.

If you like Squash/ Ghiya or Lauki as a vegetable, also try our other Squash recipes:

1. Simple Squash curry
2. Ghiya Ka Halwa – Squash Pudding
3. Ghiya ka Raita – Yogurt Preparation
4. Easy Zucchini Curry Recipe
5. Chana Dal with Ghiya recipe

How to make Karahi Chicken | Chicken Curry Recipe Kadhai Chicken

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Chicken is my husbands favourite ingredient and he loves curry so its obvious that I make this Kadhai chicken for him often. Kadhai Chicken is a flavourful curry with a blend of various spices. You can enjoy this dish with naan, roti, rice or parantha. Kadhai dishes usually also include bell peppers. Although Kadhai referes to a kind of dish ( sort of Wok) in which the dish is made, you can prepare it in any pan/skillet that you have in your kitchen. Here is a recipe for Kadhai Masala Spice Mix.

Ingredients/ Method for the Recipe

400 gms boneless/skinless chicken
1 cup bell peppers of your choice chopped in bite size pieces
oil for cooking
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
Salt per taste ( 1 tsp worked for us)
2-3 tomatoes
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 onion chopped
Cilantro for garnish
1 tsp dried Fenugreek Leaves
2 tbsp greek yogurt/ Whipping cream or sour cream
optional- Green chillies (chopped)- your choice seeded or deseeded
To prepare Kadhai Masala/Spice blend
(masala would be enough to prepare 1-2 curry dishes)

12-15 Black peppercorn
5-6 green cardamom pods
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1.5 tbsp coriander seeds
5-6 cloves
You can also grind bay leaf and cinnamon stick or use them as such in your dish
Dry roast all your whole spices and then grind them to make a powder (masala) and you it in your dishes ( towards the end of the preparation method)

In a wok, add oil. Let oil become hot and Fry bay leaf and cinnamon stick for 30 secs.
Add ginger-garlic paste and onions. Mix well. Give a minute or two and add salt, turmeric and red chilli powder. Mix well. Cook until onions are no longer raw and change color. About 3-4 mins
Add chillies and tomatoes. Mix well. Cook until tomatoes reduce in volume and no longer raw. This will take 4-5 mins on med heat.
Add chicken. Let it cook for another 2-3 mins and then bell peppers. We dont want peppers to wilt completely. They should maintain some of their crunch. Add some water. Cover and cook until chicken is no longer raw.
Add kadhai masala, Yogurt and fenugreek leaves.
Garnish with cilantro leaves. Mix well and serve.

Simple Veg Biryani Recipe | Easy Indian Dinner Recipes

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Learn how to prepare simple Veg biryani at home. This tasty and easy rice dish is best enjoyed with plain yogurt, raita, pickles or chutney. Complete meal in itself, this biryani recipe is not only delicious but quick and super easy to make.

Ingredients:

1.5 cup rice
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp butter
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
2 green cardamom
1 black cardamom
4 cloves
4 peppercorns
1 small onion
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric
Salt per taste (may we recommend 1.5 tsp)
1 green chilli
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
Vegetables of your choice (2 cups)
2-3 stalks of cilantro leaves for garnish
1/2 cup well beaten plain yogurt

Method:

1. Soak rice in cold water for atleast 10 mins.
2. In a pot, heat 2 tbsp of oil and fry whole spices (Bay leaf, cardamoms, cinnamon stick, peppercorn and cloves) for atleasta minute.
3. Add double the quantity of water in the pot and bring it to boil. Once it starts boiling, add rice and cook until water evaporates and rice are done. (about 10 mins or so)
4. Set rice aside. While the rice is cooking, in a pan heat 2 tbsp butter and fry 1/4 tsp cumin seeds. After 30 secs, add onions, green chilli, turmeric, paprika, salt and ginger garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 mins.
5. Add vegetables of your choice and further fry for 4-5 mins. Add plain yogurt. Mix well and cook along with vegetables until they are done.
6. Layer rice and vegetables one after the other in a deep dish or casserole. Garnish with cilantro leaves and gently mix.
Serve hot with plain yogurt or raita, pickles or chutney.

Two Amazing Raita recipes

1. Aloo Ka Raita
2. Ghiya Ka Raita

Mint Lachha Paratha Recipe – Easy Indian Flatbread Recipe

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Lachha Parathas are yummy and we Punjabis surely love them. Here is one amazing recipe for delicious Punjabi mint flavoured Paranthas which you can enjoy with pickle or Raita.

Ingredients/ Method

Dough to make Parathas. It’s just combination of whole wheat flour and water and here’s how you prepare it: Preparing Dough for Parathas

Oil/ghee or Butter to cook Paranthas
Stuffing/Filling:
Dried Mint Powder
Optional- Salt and pepper

Method: Make Lachha parantha as shown in the video by using cone method and flatten it out. Roll it in mint powder and use rolling pin to flatten out the dough. Once the dough is flattened out and thin..cook on a hot skillet with tons of butter/ghee or oil until both sides have brown marks.. Enjoy with pickle, yogurt, chutney or with cup of hot Chai.

To View the Recipe in Hindi, please click here : Hindi Recipe Video Mint Lachha Paratha

Mini homemade veg Crepes – Easy snack ideas

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This is an easy recipe which shows how to prepare Instant Idli batter at home using Sooji/Rava ( Semolina/Cream of Wheat) and yogurt. You can then prepare these crepes instead of vegetable idlis to enjoy as a snack, for breakfast or for the road.

Ingredients/ Method
1 cup Sooji/ Cream of wheat
1 cup yogurt
1/2 to 1 cup water
Spices as per your taste. 1 tsp Salt/ 1 tsp red chilli pwd ( or for milder version- Paprika)/ 1 tsp dry mint powder (Pudina powder)
1 -2 cup of veggies of your choice. I add: Peppers, onions, carrots and spinach. Mushroom is a good one to add. My mom adds tomatoes which I am not too found of them in this batter.

Prepare the batter with Yogurt, sooji and water. Add veggies. Add spices and then cook for 5 mins on a skillet with a little bit of oil. Enjoy with tomato chutney.

Quick Lunch Ideas – 5 min Ricotta and Peas Sabji

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Do you like Ricotta? How about trying this delicious, flavourful Ricotta- Peas dish which goes well with any kind of flatbread or simply enjoy it on its own 🙂 This recipe is for 1- 2 people.

Ingredients/ Method

1/2 cup Peas
1/2 cup Ricotta
small piece of onion chopped
1/2 cup of tomatoes chopped
3-4 garlic cloves chopped
1-2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
Salt per taste
1/2 tsp red chilli pwd/Paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric (Haldi)
Optional- 1/4 tsp garam masala or seasoning pepper
Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves

– Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin and mustard seeds. Saute some onions/garlic/ Peas. Add spices. Add tomatoes. give few more mins for all flavours to mingle. Add ricotta. Mix well. Add pepper. Garnish with coriander/cilantro leaves and serve with roti or your fav flatbread.

Easy Vrat Ke Aloo Recipe – Quick lunch Ideas

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Navratre is an Indian/Hindu festival which lasts for 9 days and lot of people fast during these 9 days ( can fast 1 day or whole period) eating a special diet. This simple Potato dish is one simple recipe that is allowed to be had during these 9 days. Here is how we make it 🙂

Ingredients/ Method
2 tbsp oil
1 Large potato or 2-3 small/medium size potatoes
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ajwain/carom seeds
1/2 tsp rock salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried ginger ( Sund)
2-3 tbsp Yogurt

Method: Heat oil in a pan and add seeds. Add potatoes. Mix well and add spices. Cover and cook for 5-6 mins. When almost done, add yogurt and let cook further for 2 mins. Then turn the heat off and serve potatoes. They taste delicious on their own and make for a great side dish as well.

Another great recipe often made during fasting period is: Sabudana Kheer (Sago Dessert)

Kid Friendly Gluten Free, Vegan Pancakes – Mixed Lentils Dosa

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This is a super simple protein rich pancakes recipe which are not only healthy but taste good too. I make these plain for the kids and load them up/ make them a bit spicy for myself ( Check my spicy lentil pancakes recipe.) You can enjoy them with any chutney of your choice but my kids like them with Dahi 🙂

Ingredients/Method

1-2 cups of Mixed Dal/Lentils
Water for soaking the lentils and grinding them to make a coarse paste
Salt/Asafoetida/roasted cumin powder/paprika to add into the batter
desi ghee/oil/butter for cooking batter on a skillet.

Soak lentils overnight or at least 6-8 hrs. Grind to make a coarse paste. Then spice it up and cook on a hot skillet until both sides turn golden brown. Serve with Coconut Chutney (Recipe) or mint chutney ( Recipe).