Kashi Halwa (Ash Gourd Halwa)

Halwaaaaaaa " Kashi Halwa" is an authentic Karnataka speciality sweet dish that is prepared from Ash Gourd. I previously thought that this halwa got tis name from the city Kashi but I was wrong!!! actually Kashi Phal is the name for Ash Gourd in hindi. Hence the name Kashi Halwa.

This is again a very time consuming dish, but you will forget the efforts put to prepare this as soon as you take a spoon full of Halwa. It just melts inside and our taste buds dance out of joy.

Ingredients:  

1. Ash Gourd(Grated, Squeezed) - 2 Cup
2. Milk - 1 Cup
3. Sugar - 1 Cup
4. Ghee - 3 tbsp
5. Saffron -2 to 3 strands
6. Orange food color - a pinch
7. Cashewnut - 1 tbsp
8. Raisins - 1 tbsp
9. Cardamom Powder - ½ tsp

Method:

• Pressure cook the grated and squeezed ash gourd with milk (1 whistle).
• Mix the saffron and food color in a little milk and  add to the cooked ash gourd. Keep aside.
• In a pan add 2 tbsp of ghee and saute the cooked ash gourd in it for 5 minutes.
• Add sugar and keep stirring untill all the sugar is absorbed and the mixture starts leaving sides of the pan.
• Now add 1 tbsp of ghee and mix well
• Add cardamom powder, Cashewnut, Raisins and remove from the stove.

P.S:

• Rememer it is only 1 whistle, if you keep more than one whistle ash gourd gets burnt. 

Serves: 2

Preparation Time:  45min

Benne Dosa(Butter Dosa)

Ingredients:  

1. Idli Rice/Dosa Rice - 1¼ Cup
2. Urad Dal - ½ Cup
3. Rice Flour - ¼ Cup
4. Beaten Rice/Poha - ½ Cup
5. Fenugreek seed/Methi Seeds - ¼ tsp
6. Butter
7. Salt as per taste

Method:

• Soak Urad Dal, Methi Seeds and Rice for 1 hour in water. Wash Poha in water.
• Grind altogether to a soft batter with minimum amount of water required to run the motor.
• Now add Rice Flour, Salt and grind again or mix well with a spoon.
• Ferment the grinded mixture for 4-5hours.
• Consistency of the batter should not be too thick nor too thin. It should be able to coat your spoon.
• Grease the non stick pan with butter. Pour a ladle full of batter and circle it out to form a thin circle with the help of the back of the ladle.
• Pour a teaspoon of Butter around the edges of the dosa and cook till it is light golden brown in colour. (If you prefer you could flip the dosa over and cook the other side also.)
• Serve hot with Potato Baji, chutney, Rasam.

P.S:

•  For a Cone Dosa/ Topi Dosa: 

• To make dosas very crispy, you need to spread them real thin.
• Fenugreek seeds make the dosa crisp.
• Beaten Rice/Poha can be replaced with cooked rice also. 
• For fermentation I kept the batter in a completely closed vessel inside Electric Oven with oven lights switched on throughout the night which makes the oven slightly hot and this helped me a lot for fermenting. I used this method of fermenting since my house is all time chilled with AC. So to create a hot surrounding for batter I placed the batter inside Electric Oven.

Serves: 3-4

Preparation Time:  
Soaking time:  1 hours
Preparation Time: 20 mins
Fermenting time:  4 hours
Cooking Time: 20 mins

Carrot Kosambari

Carrot Kosambari or Carrot Lentil salad,usually made with carrots or cucumbers is an easy healthy recipe and absolutely delicious. It does not involve any cooking, it is basically just mixing of lentils and grated carrots or any other vegetable. Recipe just goes on like this...

Ingredients:

1. Moong Dal - 1/4Cup
2. Carrot - 1 Big
3. Chopped Green Chilli - 1 small
4. Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
5. Corainder leaves
6. Salt as per taste

Method:

• Soak Moong Dal for 2 hour in water.
• After 2 hours of soaking, drain the water completely.
• Grate the carrot finely and mix soaked moong dal, green chilli, lemon, corainder leaves & salt.

P.S:

• For extra taste this salad can be given a sesoning with oil,mustard seeds, red chilli.
• Adding grated coconut gives an extra taste too.

Serves: 2
Preparation Time: 10min

Sev

Ingredients:

1. Basen/Gram Flour - 1 Cup
2. Asafoetida - A Pinch
3. Oil - 4tbsp
4. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
5. Water as required to make a dough
6. Oil for deep frying
7. Salt to taste(approx 3/4tsp)
   

Method:

• Combine all the above ingredients except water.
• Gradually add water to make a stiff dough.
• Grease the Sev press with oil.
• Heat Oil for deep frying.
• Fill in the dough into the press and place the plate with many tiny holes into the press.
• Press out thin strands of the dough into the hot oil. 
• Once the Sev starts to turn golden, using a slotted spoon to drain excess oil out and place it on a plate to cool.
• Press the remaining batches of the dough in the similar manner.
• Cool the Sev and store it in air tight containers. 

P.S:

• Sev cooks and turns dark quickly.

Serves: 2
Preparation Time: 10min

Vermicelli Kheer using Thin Roasted Vermicelli

Ingredients: 

1. Thin Roasted Vermicelli - ½ Cup
2. Sugar - ½ Cup
3. Milk - 2 Cup
4. Cardamom Powder - a pinch
5. Ghee - to roast Cashews and Raisins
6. Cashewnuts, Raisins, Pistachio.
7. Yellow color(optional)

Method:

• Boil milk first.
• Now add the roasted Vermicelli and cook till Vermicelli is soft.
• Switch off the stove and add Sugar, Cardamom, Cashew, Pistachio & Raisins.
• Mix well and serve hot or cold.

P.S:

• Sugar quantity can be increased or decreased according to your taste.
• Switching off the gas before mixing in the sugar prevents Kheer from curdling.

Serves: 2
Preparation Time: 10min

Rice Balls( Pundi)

Ingredients: 

1. Boiled Rice/ Kuchhulaki/ Brown Rice - 2 Cup
2. Coconut(optional) - 2 to 3 tbsp
3. Water
4. Salt as per the taste.

Method:

• Soak the rice overnight in water.
• Wash the rice 3 times in water after soaking.
• Half Grind the soaked rice (grind till you find slightly sticky, thick batter but there should be small rice pieces but not big rice pieces)
• Transfer this half grinded mixture to a non stick vessel.
• Cook this grinded mixture for 5 minutes over a medium flame stirring continuously till solid enough to be rolled into balls(If the dough becomes hard then even the rice balls becomes hard.)
• Make medium size balls by wetting your hands in cold water (make balls when the dough is hot itself to get a perfect round shape or what ever shape you want).
• Arrange the balls in a steamer and steam cook for about 10-15 minutes in medium heat.
• Let it cool down a bit before you serve them.
• Serve them with any Chutney.

P.S:

•  Boil the water nicely then keep this rice balls for steaming.
•  Left over balls need not be kept inside the fridge we can place it in steamer itself by keeping the steamer lid slightly open for the air to enter.
• Addition of Coconut gives you a flavor. 
• Can make upto 11-17 Pundis.

 
Serves: 2
Preparation Time: 25 min

Banana Milk Shake

 

"Banana Milkshake" is so delicious and nutritious and it is a very good recipe to empty your banana sitting in your fridge. You can even add Vanilla essence or chocolate syrup to make the shake slightly different. It becomes so thick and frothy that u feel like drinking it again and again.


Ingredients: 

1. Ripe Banana - 2
2. Sugar - ½ Cup
3. Milk - 2 Cups
4. Vanilla Essence - 2 drops
5. Yellow Color - 1 drop(optional)
6. Ice Cubes

Method:

•  Blend together all the ingredients till the milk shake becomes frothy.
• Pour into 2 tall glasses.

Serves: 2
Preparation Time: 10 min