Ingredients
Peanuts - 1 cup (roasted)
Sugar/Jaggery/Brown sugar - 3/4 cup
Cardomon Powder - 1/4 tsp
Method1. Melt the sugar/brown sugar in a non-stick pan till it turns honey brown in colour.
2. Crush the peanuts and add it to the melted sugar with a pinch of cardomon powder.
3. Put this mixture immediately into a greased plate or tray.
4. Spread it to the desired thickness using a rolling pin.
5. Immedietly cut it with a greased knife.
6. After it cools, separate the pieces and store in air tight containers.
Tips
- You can make the same chikkis with sesame seeds, cashews and other nuts too.
Ingredients
Oats - 1 cup
Onion - 1/2 (finely chopped)
Green Chilly - 1 (finely chopped)
Garlic - 1 clove (minced)
Salt - to taste
Pepper powder - a pinch
Water- 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Oil - 2 tsp
Cilantro - for garnish
Method
1. Heat oil in a pan and sauté onions, green chilly and garlic till they begin to sweat.
2. Now add the oats and fry along with it for few 2 minutes.
3. Add salt and water and let it come to a boil.
4. Now add the milk and pepper powder to it and bring to a boil.
5. Garnish the rich and creamy oats soup with cilantro and serve hot.
Layered Rotis also called as Lachha Parathas are made in many parts of India. It can be made in triangular, round or square shapes. After the parathas are cooked, you can see several distinct layers. The outer layers are crisp while the inner layers are soft. Some people like to fill the layers with some stuffing like chutney or sabzi. There are many different ways to create the layers in the paratha. Here are a few ways of doing it.
IngredientsWheat flour - 1.5 cups
Salt - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Warm Water - as needed (app. 1/2 cup)
For layering
Oil/Ghee - 3-4 tblsp
Dry Flour
Method 1
1. Mix the flour, salt and oil. Add the warm water little by little and knead the dough.
2. Knead the dough nicely till it becomes soft and pliable.
3. Cover it with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for atleast 15 minutes.
4. Knead the dough again and make lemon sized balls.
5. Dip each ball into dry flour and roll it out into a small disc using a rolling pin.
6. Spread 2-3 drops of oil on this rolled out roti. Sprinkle little dry flour on it.
7. Fold the roti in half to form a semi circle. Spread 2 dops of oil/ghee and sprinkle little dry flour on this.
8. Fold the semi circle into half so that it forms a triangle.
9. Roll out this into a bigger trangular roti. If you are not able to maintain the triangular shape, then roll it out like as a circle. Either way the layers will be there.
10. Heat a tawa on meium high heat and place the triangular roti on it.
11. When light brown spots appear, flip the roti. Drizzle/Spray few drops of oil/ghee.
12. After both the sides are cooked, remove from the tawa and transfer to a hot pack or a closed container to maintain its softness.
13. When you break the roti, you can see the layers distinctly. Serve with raita or any curry.
Method 2
- You can also make round multiple layered parathas using a slightly different method. For this, first roll out the roti and spread some oil. Then beginning with one side, fold it over and under alternatively just like making a paper fan or saree pleets. Roll the pleated dough lengthwise to form a ball of dough with layers. Now roll it out again with a rolling pin and roast it. These rotis will have multiple layers.
IngredientsFor pizza dough (for 2 medium sized pizza)
All purpose flour(Maida) - 2 3/4
Water - 1 cup (luke warm)
Yeast - 1 tblsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Olive Oil - 3 tblsp
For pizza sauce (for 2 pizza)
Tomato puree - 1 cup (made with blanched,peeled and cooked tomatoes)
Tomato sauce - 1/2 cup
Red Chilly sauce/ Chilly flakes - 1 tblsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Garlic - 1 clove (minced)
Oregano/ Carom seeds - 1/2 tsp
For Topping(Topping is individual choice. Any vegetables or meat can be thinly scliced and added as topping. The toppings commonly used are shredded chicken, shrimp, thinly scliced mushroom, green onions, thinly scliced red onions, tomatoes, capsicum, pineapple pieces, shredded cabbage etc)
Vegetables/ Meat - 1 cup
Cheese - 1 cup or as needed (I use a combination of Mozarella and Cheddar Cheeses)
Method
To make pizza dough
1. Mix the yeast with 1 cup of luke warm water and sugar and let it proof for 5 minutes. This ia to activate the yeast.
2. Take a mixing bowl, add the flour, salt and oil and mix everything together.
3. Next add the water with the activated yeast. Knead and make a dough.
4. Let the dough ball sit for 4-5 hours until it doubles in size.
To make pizza sauce1. Mix all the ingredients under 'pizza sauce' and keep aside.
(If you use fresh tomatoes instead of tomato puree, blanch and peel the tomatoes, chop and cook it thoroughly. Next add the other ingredients.)
To make pizza
1. After the pizza dough doubles in volume, divide it into 2 equal parts.
2. Take one part and roll it out using a rolling pin. You can press with fingers and roll out too.
3. The dough will be quite sticky. Use little maida to prevent sticking. Do not make the pizza base too thick as it will puff up while baking.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F and keep the pizza stone these there for a while.If you do not have pizza stone, you can very well use a cookie sheet.
5. Apply few drop of olive oil on the rolled out pizza base. This is to prevent the sauce from making the base soggy.
6. Prick the base with fork at different place. This helps it to cook uniformly.
7. (Optional)At this stage you can bake the base for just 2-3 minutes.
8. Spread on some pizza sauce. Next add your choice topping. (I usually add some shredded vegetables and some shrimp or pineapple).
9. Spread the cheese on top.
10. Bake it in a oven preheated to 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until the cheese melts and the pizza is done.
Ingredients
Turkey/Chicken - 1 lb (boneless, skinless)
Onion - 1 (chopped)
Tomato - 3-4 (chopped)
Cashews/Almonds - 5-6
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Green chilly - 1 (chopped)
Kasoori Methi - 1 tsp
Heavy cream - 1/4 cup
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Corriander cumin powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cilantro - for garnish
Butter - 2 tblsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tblsp
- In restaurants one spoon of sugar is usually added to the butter chicken gravy. I prefer without the sugar. You can add it to get the restaurant flavour.
Method1. Wash the turkey/chicken and cut it into 1 inch thick cubes.
2. Apply little salt, chillipowder, corriander powder, kasoori methi and ginger garlic paste. Shallow fry in little oil and keep it aside. You can also put it in skewers and bake it in the oven.
3. Heat some oil/butter in a pan and saute the onions followed by ginger garlic paste, green chilly and tomatoes.
4. When all these are nicely sauteed, remove from stove and let it cool a bit.
5. After it is cool enough to handle, grind everything in a blender/ mixie with the cashew nuts to make a paste.
6. Melt the butter in a pan, splutter some cumin seeds. Add this groud mixture and cook it for few minutes until the nuts gets cooked.
7. Next add the fried turkey/chicken pieces, with all the dry spices like chilly powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder, kasoori methi, garam masala and salt.
8. Cover and let it cook for 10-15 minutes in medium low flame so the flavours combine nicely.
9. Add the heavy cream, mix everything and let it simmer for few minutes.
10. Garnish with chopped cilantro or some cream and serve with pulav, naan, roti. It goes well with anything.
Tips- If you do not have heavy cream on hand, substitute with whole milk and butter/cheese.
