Hyderabadi Baghare Baingan

Hyderabadi baghare baingan is unique in its taste made with freshly roasted spices, peanuts, coconut which are stuffed in the baby eggplants. Baghar means tempering or tadka and baingan is eggplant, hence the name loosely means 'Tempered Eggplants'.The dish was made to be served in royal court of Nizams of Hyderabad and now when there is no longer royalty in our country this dish is served in parties, gatherings and special occasions.

The dish is normally served with biryani but it tastes equally good with roti and paratha. Usually this dish is prepared by deep frying slit brinjals in hot oil but my husband was really not in a mood to eat anything so oily so I made it this way.

Ingredients:

For the stuffing and gravy:

Onion- 1 Big (Sliced thin)

Garlic- 2 Cloves (Chopped finely)

Ginger- 1 inch piece

Peanuts- 2 or 3 tbsp

White Sesame Seeds- 2 tbsp

Dessicated Coconut - 2 tbsp

Cumin- 1 tsp

Khus Khus( Poppy Seeds)- 2 tsp

Fenugreek Seeds- 1/2 tsp

Coriander Seeds- 1 tsp

To grind along with the stuffing mix:

Tamarind Paste- 2 tbsp

Red Chilli- 2

Turmeric- 1/2 tsp

Salt- According to taste

For Tempering:

Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp

Curry Leaves- 10- 12 leaves

Dry Red Chillies- 2

Purple Baby Brinjals- 10 or 12

Oil- 3 tbsp

Procedure:

• Start by dry roasting onions, ginger and garlic for few minutes till they start releasing little moisture.
• Follow by adding other ingredients of the stuffing mix and dry roast everything together for 7-10 mins till aroma of the roasted spices begin to arise.

The roasted mix will look like this.

• Grind this mixture along with tamarind paste, red chillies, turmeric and salt.

The resultant paste looks like this.

• Wash and dry the eggplants and make a '+'incision from the base to the top of each eggplant making sure that the stem remains intact.
• Stuff the ground paste in each eggplant. Keep remaining paste to be added as a gravy.
• Heat oil in a kadhai/wok and add mustard seed, red chillies and curry leaves and when they start spluttering place each eggplant in the wok and cook for sometime then add the remaining gravy paste and salt and about 2 cups of water and cook covered for some time in medium flame.
• Keep stirring in between as the gravy thickens and start to settle at the bottom.
• Cook till the eggplants are fully cooked through and all the flavours blend well.

Serve hot.

Flaxseed, Oats, Dates and Nuts Ladoo

Lately I have been seeing many innovative dishes in the blogosphere made of healthy ingredients...and I am always spellbound and speechless by seeing fellow bloggers creativity. Before coming in the blogosphere I never thought of cooking with healthy ingredients like flax seeds, oats and dates etc. To me the use of oats was limited to gooey porridge and dates packs were simply munched on and they used to vanish in no time. But now after seeing all the yummy and innovative dishes I too thought of making something with healthy ingredients and hence made these laddoos.

The laddoos turned out even more good than I had expected. Now I will be making these more often.

During my last supermarket trip I got these wonderful Tunisian dates which looked very good and were very soft, moist and sweet. So these dates were put to good use in these laddoos.

I also used makhana or fox nut in the laddoos. These fox nuts added a special crunch to the laddoos.

Ingredients:

Oats- 1 cup

Flax seeds- 2 tbsp

Peanuts- 1/4 cup

Dates- 15- 18

Almond meal- 2 tbsp

Cashews, Almonds, Pistachios- 1/4 cup mixed( all chopped)

Makhana- 1/4 cup

Powdered Sugar- 1/4 cup( increase or decrease according to the sweetness of the dates)

Cardamom Powder- 1/4 tsp

Milk- 2 tbsp

Ghee- 3 tbsp( divided)

Procedure:

• Dry roast oats for 5 minutes and cool down.
• Powder oats and flaxseeds together. Keep aside.
• Dry roast peanuts and remove skin when cooled. Grind nicely and mix with oats and flaxseed powder.
• Remove seeds of dates and grind it with 2 tbsp or little more of milk into a thick paste.
• Break each fox nut( makhana) in small pieces and roast all in 2 tsp of ghee till light golden in colour and crunchy in texture.
• Roast mixed nuts also in a part of ghee.
• Combine oats, flaxseed and peanuts mixture with almond meal, dates paste, makhana, nuts, cardamom powder and powdered sugar. Mix everything well.
• Heat remaining ghee and add in the mixture. Now make lemon sized small balls out of it. Add little more hot ghee if required.
• I got around 15 small lemon sized laddoos with this proportion.

After being photographed this loner went straight in my mouth to satisfy my craving.

Sending this to :

Akila's Dish name starts with F event.

CWS- Flax seeds event of Priya Suresh hosted by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan recipes.

Torview Toronto's Food Palette series- Brown event.

Green Mango and Mint Chutney

Green mango and mint chutney or आम पुदीना चटनी as we call it is another special chutney made by my mom..this chutney is very tangy and sweet also.. perfect as a sandwich spread or with parathas or even for dahi vada topping this chutney adds so much of flavour to any thing. This chutney has found a special place in my kitchen and is a regular..I usually make a bottle full of it and store it in the refrigerator to be used for 3-4 days.

Ingredients:

Raw Mango- 1/2 of a big mango cut in big chunks ( add more or less according to the tanginess of the mango)

Fresh Mint Leaves- 1 cup

Green Chillies- 2 or more depending on your taste buds

Sugar- 1 tsp

Black Salt- 1/4 tsp

Salt- According to taste

Procedure:

Put all the ingredients together in mixie jar and grind to a fine consistency. Add water if required.

Sending this to PJ's Herbs and Flowers in My Platter- Mint event.

Ayeesha's Any One Can Cook Series- 17

Priya and Aipi's Bookmarked Event- Every Tuesday

Nutella Palmiers

This is one of the easiest thing I have ever baked. My lil one is so fond of nutella that she can start her day with nutella bread and end her day with nutella paratha. She has caught flu and was at home today so I though of making these cute palmiers to cheer her up. Well..needless to say she enjoyed these a lot and is now demanding me to make some more to take to school tomorrow.

Palmiers is a french cookie also known as elephant ear cookie. These were very cute and delicious. To get good elephant ear shaped goodies the puff pastry sheets should be rolled out rectangular in shape but I had square sheets so got not so perfect palmiers.

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry Sheets

Nutella

Procedure:

Thaw the puff pastry sheets according to the instructions given in the package. Spread nutella on the sheet. Take longer side of the sheet and start rolling inward and stop in the middle then roll inwards from the other side. Apply little water to join where the rolls are meeting in the middle.

With knife cut the dough in approximately 1/2 inch thick slices.

Place the palmiers in baking sheet leaving enough space in between. Bake the palmiers in pre heated oven at 200 deg C for 10-15 minutes or till the puff pastry turns golden.

Sending this to Ayeesha's Any One Can Cook Series 17 and to Torview's Food Palette Series Brown

Pani Popo

I fell in love instantly when I saw this name "Pani Popo"...I knew that I have to make this. This recipe was lying in my bookmarked folder from the time I saw this in Roxana's blog. Roxana adapted this from Dionne's blog...and did some changes in the original recipe. I also did some changes in roxana's recipe and made these pani popo's ...these were hit in my house. I had halved the recipe but after seeing the buns vanish I have decided to double the recipe next time.

Check out roxana's blog for mouthwatering pictures of pani popo and many other lovely recipes. Lots of thanks to Dionne for creating the recipe and to Roxana for clicking beautiful pictures which inspired me to make them.

Ingredients:

APF- 2 Cups

Instant yeast - Half package

Full Cream Milk - 1/2 Cup (Lukewarm)

Coconut Milk - 1/4 Cup (Lukewarm)

Unsalted Butter- 1/2 tbsp + extra for brushing

Coconut Milk- 1 full can ( for pouring on the buns)

Sugar- 1/2 cup

Since my daughter has got sweet tooth I have used 1/2 cup sugar ...you can reduce according to your taste.

Procedure:

• Combine APF, Yeast, melted butter and both lukewarm milks.
• Knead into a dough for 7-10 minutes..till dough becomes soft.
• Place in a buttered bowl, and leave to double in volume, it took mine around 1 hour to double.
• Punch back the dough and form dough into little balls ...i got around 8 balls....and place them little apart in buttered baking dish.
• Leave the buns to rise again.
• Meanwhile mix coconut milk and sugar and pour it over the risen buns.
• Bake the buns in preheated oven at around 190 degrees C for about 25 to 30 mins or till they are done.

Pani popos were very delicious...with very gooey and milky and sweet bottoms.

Sending this to Champa's Bake Off

Also sending this to pari's Only- Cooking with Bread Event.

Spicy Coconut Pooris

I made this poori when my mom was here. She was really impressed and liked this a lot. I saw this recipe in Sanjeev Kapoor's show. The dough is made of semolina ... initially I was sceptical as I have never made dough out of rava, but the end result was delicious tasting poori.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

Rava(Semolina)- 1 cup

Salt- to taste

For the filling:

Fresh Grated Coconut- 1/2 cup

Grated Carrot- 2 tbsp

Green Chillies- 2 finely chopped

Coriander leaves- 2 tbsp finely chopped

Gram Flour( Besan)- 1/4 cup

Salt - to taste

Whole Wheat Flour - for dusting

Oil - 1 tbsp for the dough + extra for frying

Procedure:

• Make a soft but firm dough out of semolina by adding salt, 1 tbsp oil and required amount of water.
• Cover with damp cloth and rest for 2 hours.
• Make the filling by mixing coconut,carrot, besan, green chillies and coriander leaves. Add little salt to taste.
• Take a lemon sized portion of the dough and dust it with flour and roll into small poori, place a tablespoon of filling mixture in the centre and close it.
• Roll it back in small poori's using little flour for dusting.
• Deep fry in hot oil in medium heat till light golden in colour.

Serve with curd/ raita or any sabji of choice.

Sending this to Priya and Aipi's Bookmarked recipes- every tuesday event.

Also sending this to Ayeesha's Any One Can Cook weekly event .

ICC for February - Gujarati Daal

Daal is frequently made in my house. I like to make various varieties of daals but have never tried gujarati daal. I want to thank Srivalli for joining me in the ICC and giving me an opportunity to try this daal. Srivalli selected authentic gujarati daal from the cookbook Sukham Ayu co authored by Jigyasa giri and Pratibha jain.

This daal turned out great and was loved by everyone including my lil one who is otherwise not very fond of daals. We had this daal with hot rotis.

Ingredients:

Toor Daal - 1/2 cup (soaked for 1/2 hour)

Haldi (Turmeric)- 1/2 tsp

Tamarind pulp - 2 tbsp

Jaggery - 2 tsp

Hard dry dates( kharak) - 4 halved

Drumsticks - 2 (cut in 2 inch pieces)

Groundnuts - 1 tbsp

Green Chillies - 2 slit

Ginger - 1 inch piece ( finely chopped)

Coriander powder- 2 tsp

Cumin Powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp ( For garnishing)

Coriander Leaves - for garnishing

Salt - to taste

Tadka :

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek Seeds- 1/4 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Dry Red Chillies - 2

Heeng - 1/4 tsp

Curry Leaves - few

Procedure :

• Pressure cook soaked daal with turmeric in 2 cups of water for 3 whistles or till it turns soft. Churn well.
• Transfer the cooked daal in a kadhai and add all the ingredients except tempering ingredients and garam masala and coriander leaves.
• Add 1 cup of water and allow the daal to simmer for 15-20 mins. The more the daal simmers the better the taste.
• In a pan prepare the tempering by adding ghee and heating it then add mustard, fenugreek, cumin , red chillies, heeng and curry leaves. Add tempering to the daal.
• Boil the daal for another 5- 10 mins then switch off the gas.
• Add garam masala and coriander leaves for garnishing.
• Serve hot and fresh.

I have kept the original recipe only excluding Yam.

Awards

It feels good to be back in the blogosphere after a short break. After so much of sight seeing I am loving blog seeing. I am enjoying tasty food cooked by my mother... It feels so nice to just sit and enjoy a cup of tea in the evening made by mom... yes yes I am definitely taking advantage of her but I too try to make something nice for her and make her feel special. And my daughter is so much enjoying her granny's company.... pampered all the time.

After so many days I checked my blog and was thrilled to see kankana's comment. She passed me the Stylish Blogger Award... I was so thrilled..then I saw priyanka's comment, she passed me the kreative blog award..and I was more happier to see tahmeem's comment..she passed me the..One lovely blog award...being just in infancy stages of blogging it feels good to get awards and being appreciated by fellow bloggers. It's always nice to read comments..good comments encourage me.

My heartfelt thanks to kankana,priyanka and tahmeem..All these girls have got lovely blog with so many mouthwatering recipes.

The awards have nearly the same requirements so I have summarized them.

The requirements of accepting the award :

1. Make a post linking back to the blogger who awarded you and thank them.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 great bloggers with this award.
4. Contact the bloggers informing them of their awards.

7 things about me:

1. I am a tamilian but lived in central India till I got married. So I very well know hindi and tamil and love both north and south cuisine.
2. I am a doting mother to my 4 yr old daughter...and a loving sister to my younger brother.
3. I am a bollywood freak.. love all the masala movies... one of my all time fav movie is 3 Idiots.
4. I cannot live without my laptop. I am always hooked on to the net...and of course facebook too.
   
5. I love to read books... and some of my fav books are jhumpa lahiri's Namesake and Khaled Hosseini's The kite Runner.
6. I like window shopping..... well who doesnt ?
7. I like surprises. Would love to have lots of them.
   

Next step is very difficult. How to choose 15 bloggers? I love all my fellow bloggers blogs.. always get to learn something or the another from them. I admire all the bloggers and would like to pass the award to each and every one...but as I had limited choice I pass all the three awards to-

1. Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot
   
2. Mehnaaz of Chef Naaz
3. Aipi Of US Masala
4. Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
5. Sayantani of A Homemaker's Diary
6. Tahmeem of Not so Gourment
7. Nisa of Cooking is Easy
8. Priya Srinivasan of Enveetu Kitchen
9. Pari of Foodelicious
10. Deepa of Hamaree Rasoi
11. Kurinji of Kurinji Kathambam
12. Sharmi of Sharmi's Passions
13. Priya of Mharo Rajasthan Recipes
    
14. Kankana of Sunshine and smile
15. Priyanka of Buon Appetito