Paneer Sandwich

Quick, easy and tasty sandwich for kids as well as for anyone. It is a yummy, nutritious snack and great for breakfast, brunch and even school lunch boxes.

Ingredients:

8-10 bread slices
1 cup paneer, grated
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 tsp oil
1 tsp red chilli powder
salt to taste

Masala to grind:

1/2 cup coriander leaves
2-3 green chillies
salt

Method:

1: Grind coriander, green chillies and salt with very little water and keep aside.

2: Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions till they become soft.

3: Then add tomatoes, red chilli powder, salt and fry till the tomatoes become soft.

4: Then add the paneer, mix well, stir for 2-3 minutes and turn off the fire.

5: Take a bread slice and spread the coriander chutney and keep the stuffing and cover it with another bread.

6: Repeat the same for other slices and toast the sandwich till crispy and golden.

7: Serve with tomato sauce.

Note:

1: If you want to skip the grinding masala (coriander, green chillies, salt), then add finely chopped green chillies in the oil before frying onions.

Sending this recipe to Snacks Mela by Cooking4allseasons 

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Indian Vegetable Pasta

This is a simple Indian style pasta made with vegetables and tomato puree which makes a delicious and colorful dish. I was looking for a simple pasta recipe from many days and got this recipe from sravs blog. I made some changes in the recipe and presented here. Before coming to Usa, i dont know about pasta, and now it is one of my favourite dish.

Ingredients:

3 cups pasta
3 tbsps tomato puree
1 tbsp oil
1 tomato, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green chilli, slit lenghtwise
1/2 cup mixed vegetables (green peas, beans, carrot)
2 tbsps spring onions, chopped
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
salt to taste
1 tsp garam masala
coriander leaves, for garnishing

Method:

1: Cook pasta in boiling water with some salt in it.

2: After pasta gets soft remove from heat and strain the water completely.

3: Heat oil in a pan, add onions, green chillies, tomato and fry till onions turn soft.

4: Now add tomato puree and cook for 5 minutes.

5: Add vegetables, spring onions, garam masala, chilli powder, salt and mix well. Cook till vegetables turn soft.

6: Add cooked pasta and mix well. Saute for few minutes and turn off the heat.

7: Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Aloo Bread Toast

Bread Toast is a simple and delicious breakfast or tea time snack.You can make stuff with potato or paneer or vegetables etc. It depends on your creativity. Today am making stuff with potato. You can use leftover potato curry also for this recipe. Enjoy your creation with tomato ketchup or green chutney in these cold days with your family and kids!

Ingredients:

6 bread slices
oil as required
tomato ketchup

For Potato Stuff:

4 medium potatoes,  boiled, peeled and mashed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
pinch of hing
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste

2 tsps lemon juice
coriander leaves, finely chopped

For Green Chutney:

1 bunch coriander leaves
2 green chillies (adjust to your taste)
salt as per taste

Method:

1: Grind all the ingredients of green chutney to a smooth paste adding little water if required. Keep aside.

2: Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing, turmeric powder and saute for few seconds. Then add onions and saute till they becomes soft.

3: Now add mashed potato, salt, red chilli powder and mix well. Saute for few seconds, then add lemon juice, coriander leaves  and mix thoroughly. Now aloo or potato stuff is ready. Adjust salt and spices to your taste.

4: In a small bowl take tomato ketchup, add little water and make it little thin. It should not be thick.

Now all the ingredients tomato ketchup, green chutney, potato or aloo stuff is ready. Lets start making delicious aloo bread toast.

5: Apply green chutney on 1 slice and on another slice apply tomato ketchup and then aloo stuff. You can see the pics.

6: Cover the aloo stuff bread slice with green chutney bread slice and fry it on tawa with few drops of oil on both sides till golden brown or you can toast in a sandwich maker.

7: Cut the toast in 2 or 4 pieces and serve hot with green chutney or tomato ketchup.

Note:

 You can use any kind of bread, i used wheat bread.

You can add peas, carrot or any vegetable of your choice.

Sending this recipe to  Radhika's, Winter Carnival

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

White Dhokla

Dhoklas made out of rice and urad dal - A nice tea time snack or served as a side dish. Apart from the khaman dhokla recipe this white dhokla is delicious and healthy too. Hope you all like it.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup urad dal
1 cup rice
salt to taste
1/2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsps lemon juice
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
red chilli powder, for garnishing
coriander leaves, finely chopped

Method:

1: Add urad dal and rice, wash them well and soak in water for 6-8 hrs.

2: Grind it to fine paste. Batter should have a consistency of utappam batter—neither too thick like vada batter nor too thin like a dosa batter.

3: Add salt in a batter, mix well and keep the bowl in a warm place to ferment. When the batter is fermented place this bowl in refrigerator till use.

4: Grease the plate or thali and keep aside.

5: Take the batter from refrigerator and mix well. If the batter appears thick add water and mix well to get the desired consistency.

6: Fill water in the steamer and allow to boil.

7: Just before steaming dhoklas, add baking soda to oil and mix well. To the baking soda mixture add lemon juice. Immediately after adding lemon juice the mixture appears foamy. Add the foamy mixture to batter and mix well. Now spread the batter evenly in the plate.

8: Tap the plates to spread the batter evenly. Sprinkle pepper powder, red chilli powder and steam it in a pressure cooker (without whistle) or steamer for 7-10 minutes.

9: Open the lid and touch the dhokla with wet fingers. If batter sticks to the finger, it indicates the dhokla is not ready—hence steam for few more minutes. If batter doesn’t stick to wet finger, it indicates dhokla is ready.

10: Switch off the flame, remove the plates and allow them to cool a bit.

11: Cut into desired shapes, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with coriander chutney.

Note:

You can add tadka of mustard seeds, sesame seeds, curry leaves and green chillies. It is optional.

Sending this recipe to 

Cooking without Onion & Garlic event hosted by Sreevalli of Ammaji Recipes
Fast Food NOT Fat Food by Priya of Now Serving.

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Sarva Pindi / Tapala Chekka

Sarva Pindi is a traditional dish from TELANGANA, famous as a evening snack, easy to make and healthy for kids and adults. Sarva means pan and pindi means flour, so it means flour cooked on the pan.In simple words it is spicy rice flour pancake. It tastes good when hot and even better the next day too. Thanks to my mother-in-law for this yummy, wonderful and tasty recipe. Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Ingredients:

2 cups rice flour
2 tbsps chana dal, soak for 2 hrs in water
1onion, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp white sesame seeds
few curry leaves, finely chopped
3-4 green chillies, finely chopped
salt as per taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
few coriander leaves, finely chopped
oil
water as needed

Method:

1: In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients, mix well. Now add soaked chana dal and then add water slowly and knead it into a chapati dough consistency. Do not make it too watery.

2: Take a flat  deep non-stick pan, add 1 tbsp oil, spread all over the pan with your fingers.

3: Take a portion of dough (cricket ball size), put it in the middle of the pan and keep pressing flat thin like pan cake with your fingers, dipping your fingers in oil if needed. Once finished make holes on it with your finger as shown in the pic so that it gets evenly cooked.

4: Take this pan on stove top. Cook on med-low for 15 minutess or until lightly brown underneath. check in every five minutes and make sure it doesn't get burned. Turn over carefully with spatula and cook away for couple of minutes more. Switch off the flame and serve as it is on a plate. Leave it on stove top for 5 more minutes to get crispy sarva pindi.

Look how thin it is......

5: Yummy sarva pindi is ready. Serve it with peanut chutney or with any pickle.

Note:

1: Do not put lid on top while cooking, it will get soggy. If you want to put then, the water which sits on top of the lid wipe it off with cloth and cover again. If you want to do this way then check and adjust your cooking timings.

2: You can also make it with red chilli powder instead of the green chilli, it has a different taste but I like this one better.

3: You can add garlic, peanuts (roast these in microwave plate for 2 minutes,remove skin and separate in half or coarsely grind them with few bits and pieces), spring onion (finely chopped) to the dough.

4: I didn't use peanuts in this recipe.


Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Palak-Besan Chilla

Chilla is vegetarian omlette prepared with besan (gram flour). It can be prepared in less time with few ingredients and at the same time its tasty as well as nutritious. Other day i was thinking what to make for evening snack and i got this idea of using spinach for making chilla. Though this was first time i made chilla with spinach, they turned out very well and tastes asusual yummy.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh spinach, washed and finely chopped
1 cup gram flour (besan)
1 onion, finely chopped (optional)
salt to taste
2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
pinch of hing
few coriander leaves, finely chopped
oil

Method:

1: In a large bowl, mix gram flour, salt, cumin seeds, hing, red chilli powder, green chillies, onions well.

2: Make a smooth batter by adding appropriate amount of water. Mix well with a spatula and take care that no lumps are formed.  Batter should be consistency of dosa batter. Now add spinach, coriander leaves and mix well.

3: Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and coat it with little oil.

4: Next pour about 1/2 cup of the mixture on the skillet and spread evenly with a back of spoon. Starting from the center, spread in circular motion outwards until it is evenly spread, but don't make it too thin.

5: Pour little oil around its edges. when the lower side turns golden brown turnover the chilla. Remove from the tawa when both the sides are done.

6: Serve hot palak besan chilla with curd or pickle. 

Note:

1: If you don’t have green chilies, you may replace with red chilly powder.

2: Spread the batter quick, otherwise batter start drying and cannot be spread.

Sending this to Winter Carnival hosted by Radhika of Tickling palates..

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Vada

Vada is a very popular South Indian snack. Any festival meal will not be complete without this Vada in ANDHRA homes. It is a part of perfect South Indian breakfast. It will make you so full that you will not feel hungry till your dinner time.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Urad Daal (Black Gram)
1 Onion, finely chopped
1/4 ts chopped ginger
1 or 2 Green Chilies, finely chopped
Salt to taste
1/4 cup spinach, finely chopped
Oil for frying

Method:

1: Pick, wash and soak urad dal for 5-6 hours.

2: Make a smooth paste of the dal by grinding it in wet grinder. Make sure that you do not add too much water, because it should be a thick paste.

3: Add onions, ginger, green chilies, salt and spinach to the paste, mix well and set aside for 5 minutes.

4: Heat oil in a kadai. Wet your palms and take batter into the palms. Shape into balls and make a hole with the thumb in the centre like a doughnut.

5: Deep-fry this in medium hot oil until golden brown and crisp.

6: Serve with coconut chutney or onion chutney or groundnut chutney or sambhar as a snack. It can also serve as meal.

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Sabudana Khichdi

Sabudana also known as Tapioca makes a traditional Indian khichdi, famous with Gujaratis and Maharashtrians and is mostly used during fasting. Sabudana khichdi is low fat, healthy, great for breakfast and also a snack and it tastes delicious.

Sabudana / Tapioca

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup sabudana
1/2 cup peanuts, roast, peel and ground into coarse powder
2-3 green chillies, slit lenghtwise
1 whole red chilli, break into pieces
1 tsp cumin seeds
few curry leaves
3 tbsps oil
salt to taste
1 tbsp lemon juice
coriander leaves, for garnishing

Method:

1: Gently wash then soak sabudana in about 1/2 cup of water for 6 to 8 hours. keep mixing it from time to time and sprinkle some water so sabudana is not completely dry.

2: Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, green chillies, red chillies, curry leaves and stir for few seconds.

3: Add the soaked sabudana and stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes.

4: Add salt and stir fry on medium heat continuously until sabudana becomes translucence, looks like pearls. Stir gently and making sure sabudana doesn’t get sticky and stuck to each other. This should take about 6 to 7 minutes.

5: Add peanut powder, lemon juice and stir gently.

6: Garnish with coriander leaves and Serve hot!!!!!

Note:

1: While making khichdi, do not cover the pan, else it will turn into an elastic ball. Khichdi tastes excellent if tossed continuously while cooking.

2: To save time soak the sabudana in warm water for about 2 to 3 hours.

3: In last pic, instead of green chillies, i used red chilli powder.


Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Spicy Puffed Rice / Vagrani / Susheela

"Spicy Puffed Rice / Vagrani / Susheela" is a quick breakfast /snacks dish - a Maharashtrian recipie which is quite uncommon on the internet !  It can be served as breakfast or as afternoon snacks with tea.

Ingredients:

4 cups puffed rice / murmura
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 tbsps oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves
pinch of hing
2-3 green chillies, slit lenghtwise
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp lemon juice
salt to taste
2 tsps dalia powder
coriander leaves, for garnishing

Method:

1: Take the puffed rice in a large bowl and add water to it. Leave it for about 2-3 minutes, then squeeze the water out of it and keep aside.

2: Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, green chillies, hing, turmeric powder, onions and saute for few minutes.

3: Now add tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.

4: Then add soaked puffed rice, salt, red chilli powder, lemon juice, dalia powder and mix thoroughly. Cook it on a medium flame for about 2 minutes.

5: Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Puffed rice....

Note:

1: You can use vegetables like green peas, grated carrot or finely chopped potato also......

2: Sprinkle aloo bhujia or any sev on it and serve, it tastes good.

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Rawa Dosa

Rawa dosa is popular south Indian, crispy and is one of the breakfast recipe. It is very easy to make and it takes less time to make batter. Whenever i feel hungry, i prepare this wouth watering rawa dosas as this is my all time favourite recipe....

Ingredients:

1 cup rava (sooji)
1 cup rice flour
1/4 cup maida
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt as per taste
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
2 -3 green chillies, finely chopped
coriander leaves, finely chopped
oil as required
water

Method:

1: Combine all the ingredients except oil and make a thin batter.

2: Heat the tawa, when hot, spill the mix all over, note the word, just spill them in any shape, make sure you don’t spread them out like you make ordinary Dosa. Don’t drop batter like a thick lump but pour all over, evenly, filling the gaps.

3: Pour 1-2 tsps of oil like drops along the edge of the dosa and the gaps in the middle and allow it to cook  till they turn to golden brown and then flip them to other side. Cook for 1 minute and then take it in a plate.

4: Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Cauliflower Masala Dosa

I love dosas. Masala dosas have many fillings, Cauliflower masala is one among them. It makes the dosa light and tasty.

 Ingredients:

2 cups dosa batter
oil

For Masala:

1 cup cauliflower cut into small florets
1 onion, chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, 1 garlic clove,(make into a paste)
salt as per taste
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsps oil
coriander leaves, finely chopped

Method:

1: Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, green chillies, ginger garlic paste, onions and saute for few minutes.

2: Now add turmeric powder, cauliflower florets, salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, cover with lid and cook for 7-9 minutes or till they becomes tender.

3:Remove the lid and stir fry, garnish with coriander leaves and keep aside.

4: Make plain dosa, spread the masala in the center and serve hot with chutney or sambhar.

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Noodle - Spring Dosa

I love dosas. I just love this noodle - spring dosa as i was tired of eating potato filling everytime. It was too good and just melts in mouth and this filling was really mouth-watering. Let me know how did you like it:-)

Ingredients:

2 cups dosa batter
oil as required

For filling:

1/2 cup shredded cabbage
2 carrots, cut in long thin strips
1 small capsicum, cut in long thin strips
1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
1 cup boiled noodles
2 tsp soya sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp chilli sauce
1/2 cup spring onions, finely chopped
salt to taste
2tsp oil

Method:
1: Heat oil in a pan, add green chillies,onions and fry for 3-4 minutes.

2: Add all the vegetables, salt and fry for 3-4 minutes.

3: Now add soya sauce, tomato sauce, chilli sauce, vinegar and fry for another 2 minutes.

4:Lastly add noodles, mix well and fry for 1 more minute, then add spring onions and keep aside.

5: Heat a tawa, when its hot, pour a ladleful of batter and spread it evenly and thinly.


6: Apply little oil round the edges, put the filling at one side of dosa and cook until the dosa is golden brown in colour.


7: Roll the dosa into a cylindrical shape and cut into small pieces. If you like, serve with sambar and chutney.

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.

Fried Toast

Fried toast is  yummy, delicious, easy recipe, great for breakfast and kids lunch box too....

Fried Toast

Ingredients:
For Topping:
1 cup besan (gram flour)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup carrot, grated
1/4 cup cabbage, finely chopped
1/4 cup palak (spinach), finely chopped
2 tsp green chilli paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp oil
salt as per taste

For Toast:
bread slices
oil for frying toast

Method:
1: Add all the ingredients of topping in a bowl and make a thick paste using little water.

2: Take 1 tbsp of topping paste and spread on the one side of bread slice.

3: Heat non-stick tawa and keep the bread in such a way that the topping side should be down on the tawa.

4:Spread little oil on the sides and fry till the topping turns to reddish.
5: Now turn and fry again.

6: Make 6-9 pieces of each fried toast and serve hot with green chutney or tomato sauce.

Vegetable Uthappam

Uthappam is a variety of dosa which is slightly thicker than dosa. It is usually made with left over dosa batter. There are varieties of uthappams like onion uthappam, tomato uthappam,  vegetable uthappam etc. It is very simple, tasty, easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

2 cups dosa batter

For topping

1 onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped
3 tbsp carrot, grated
2 tbsp capsicum, finely grated
1 tbsp beetroot, grated (optional)
4 green chillies, finely chopped
coriander leaves, finely chopped

Method:

1: Mix all the ingredients of topping in a bowl.

2: Heat the tawa, take a ladle of batter and spread it on the tawa in a circle. Uthappam should be thick as seen in the picture.

3: Drizzle a tsp of oil around the uthappam. Small holes will appear on the top as it gets cooked.

4: Sprinkle the finely chopped vegetables (topping mixture) evenly on the top .

5: After the base is cooked (it will become golden brown in colour) flip it over to the other side.


6: Let the other side also get cooked.

7: Serve it hot with chutney or sambar.

Meet you all again with another interesting recipe, till then it is bye from Archana.