Corriander Chutney

Ingredients

1 bunch of coriander leaves
4 chopped green chillies
1 inch peeled and chopped ginger
Few curry leaves
Teaspoon of cumin seeds
Salt to taste
1/2 a cup of lemon juice or vinegar.

Steps to follow:

1. Grind all the above ingredients in a blender to a smooth past, you may add a little bit of water to help with the mixing.  
2.  Store in a air tight jar and refrigerate

Cleaning Cloudy Glassware

I found this link really helpful and thought I’d share it with you all.

Dates Chutney

Ingredients

1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup tamarind pulp
1/2  cup jaggery
1.5 cups water
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp chaat masala
salt to taste

Steps to follow:

1. Soak the dates, tamarind pulp and jaggery in 1.5 cups of water for an hour.
2. Boil the mixture for half an hour on a low flame.
3. Once cooled, blend in a mixie. Add extra water to get it to desired consistency.
4. Sieve into an air tight container.
5. Add salt, red chilli powder and chaat masala.
6. Mix well and refrigerate.

Bhindi Paratha

Ingredients

1 lb bhindi (okra)
4 cups whole wheat flour
salt to tast
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
5 tbsp vegetable oil

Steps to follow:

1. Start by chopping bhindi(okra) as fine as possible, you can also chop it in a food processor though that makes it pretty slimy.
2. In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil, add chopped bhindi, salt and red chilli powder, mix well and cook for 10 minutes. Keep mixing it ever so often to cook it evenly.
3. While the bhindi is cooking, knead the wheat flour with water, a pinch of salt, turmeric and a tablespoon of oil. Make sure it is not too soft that makes it difficult to roll into a roti.
4. Let the bhindi mixture cool for 5-7 minutes.
5. Now take a small ball of the dough and roll to a small sized roti, stuff it with the bhindi mixture, seal completely,  cover it with dry wheat flour and roll gently.
6. Shallow fry with a atleast a teaspoon of oil for each paratha.
7. Serve piping hot with ketchup, pappad or pickles.

Beetroot Borscht

 
Ingredients

2 medium beetroots
1 carton organic vegetable broth
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp all purpose flour
salt to taste
1 tspn ground black pepper

For Garnishing

Heavy  cream mixed with a drop or two of lemon juice

Steps to follow:

1. Start by peeling the beetroot and cooking it in a covered pot with little water till its tender but not mushy.
2. Once cooked, grate the beetroot and set aside. 
3. In a heavy bottom pan, take a table-spoon of butter and add a table-spoon of all purpose flour. Keep stirring for about a minute or so.
4.  Add the broth and grated beet root and cook till the broth boils. Add salt and pepper. (Please note that the broth usually has salt so you may want to taste and then add salt accordingly. )
5. While serving, top the soup with a little bit of heavy cream mixed with lemon.

Indian Chai

Ingredients

1/4 cup water
3/4 cup milk
2 green cardamoms
1/2 inch ginger
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp tea powder

Steps to follow:

1. Start by boiling water with cardamoms and chopped ginger
2. Add milk, once the milk starts boiling add sugar and tea powder
   and turn off the flame in 30 seconds.
3. Stir well and sieve in a cup. Your hot cup of tea is ready. 

Pesto Pasta

Ingredients:

For the Pesto sauce

1 cup of basil, cilantro or spinach
1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
Salt and black pepper to taste

For the Pasta

1 head of broccoli cut in florets
1 sliced green bell pepper
1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes
1 small chopped tomato
1 pound pasta of your choice
Salt and black pepper to taste

For Garnishing

A handful of pine nuts

Steps to follow:

1. Grind all the ingredients for the pesto sauce in a blender to a smooth paste.
2. Boil water with a little bit of salt and extra virgin olive oil. Once it starts boiling, add the pasta and cook for about 12-15 minutes.
3. While the pasta is boiling, take a table spoon of oil in a large skillet and saute the broccoli, bell peppers, sundried tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes so that the vegetables remain crisp.
4. Towards the end, add the chopped tomatoes and turn the flame off making sure the veggies don’t get mushy.
5. Add the cooked pasta, 1 cup of pasta water and the pesto sauce and mix well. Adjust salt and pepper to your taste.
6. Serve steaming hot with pine nuts sprinkled on top. 

Eggless Walnut Brownies

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
8ozs dark chocolate
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp milk powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
walnuts as per choice

Steps to follow:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients like Flour, Salt, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and set aside.
2. Melt Butter for a minute or so, add Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Dark Chocolate and mix well.
3. Now add Milk powder and the dry ingredients from step 1 and mix again.
4. Lastly, add Water mix thoroughly, and fold in the walnuts.
5. Pour the mixture in a greased baking pan and cook for about 30 minutes at 300 degrees.
6. Let the brownies cool completely before cutting and serving them, or else they will crumble.