Jeera Rice or cumin rice

Jeera is one of my favorite spices, especially when combined with rice it imparts a very unique and delicious flavor. My mother used to prepare this rice very often, we used to have it with curd or boondi. Yes, my favorite combo with jeera rice is curd and boondi. Try it once and you will enjoy it for sure!
In India many marriages  take place during the month of May, and you all know in this month Sun becomes our best friend and he will not leave us all day. Yes! that is the feeling I used to have from my childhood, the heat from the sun is that high during this month that is the reason why we feel as if we are walking with the Sun. So, in marriages I used to have this jeera rice with cool curd and boondi/mixture, this is a kind of a relief in a hot summer. Now coming to the recipe

Ingredients
Basmati rice/any rice- 3cups
Jeera/Cumin seeds-1tbsp
Pudina/Mint leaves-1 bunch
coriander/cilantro leaves-10 springs chopped
Salt to taste
carrot finely chopped-1/4cup(Optional, I added just for color)
Oil-2tbsp
cloves-3
cinnamon stick-1
cardamom-2
bay leaf-2
Finely chopped green chili-2
Gingere-1/2tbsp
garlic paste-1/2tbsp

Method:
Wash rice and add 6cups of water and salt to taste. Soak for 20min for better results or you can start cooking immediately.  I cooked in a rice cooker, if you are cooking out side you can do the following procedure in the vessel you are cooking rice.
Heat 2tbsp of oil in a pan and add cumin, cinnamon, cardamon, bay leaf and clove. Saute them for 1min under medium flame and add ginger, garlic paste, green chili, carrot and saute till carrot are half done. Then add pudina/ mint leaves and cilantro. When mint leaves are done turnoff the stove and add this mixture to the rice soaked and mix well. Turn on the rice cooker and cook like a normal rice.
When it is cooking your house will be filled with all mint and jeera flavors. If you do not have pudina/mint it is OK you can cook without it!!!

Hope you enjoy!!!
cheers,
DD

Guacamole and How to test Avacados?

Guacamole, a dip made from avocados, is originally from Mexico. For the perfect guacamole use good, ripe avocados. You can check for ripeness by gently pressing the outside of the avocado. If there is no give, the avocado is not ripe yet and will not taste good. If there is a little give, the avocado is ripe. If there is a lot of give, the avocado may be past ripe and are not good.  You also have to taste test first before using.

Guacamole with mexican rice, yeyeyeyye!!!!!!!!

Ingredients:
3 avocados - peeled, pitted, and mashed

1 lime, juiced

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup diced onion

10 springs of fresh cilantro chopped

2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)

Method:

In a medium size bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and garlic. Stir in cayenne pepper. Refrigerate 1 hour for best flavor, or you can serve immediately.               

Puffed rice- Murmurala upma with celery and capsicum

Puffed rice( muramuralu) 6 cups
Green chili finely chopped 1/2 tbsp
Lemon juice 3 tbsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds 1-2 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1-2 tbsp
Red chili 1
Onion 1 cup divided
Salt to taste
Cilantro/ coriander enough for garnishing optional
Curry leaf optional
Roasted chana dal powder-2tbsp
Celery 1 stalk finely chopped
capsicum-chopped 1/4cup



Method
Soak puffed rice in a vessel with 10 cups of water for about 5 min. Mean while heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and allow them to splatter. Then add cumin seeds & curry leaf and wait till they pop up. Now add 1/2 cup onions, green chili, capsicum &celery and sauté till they are well cooked. Add turmeric powder and sauté till raw flavor goes away. Add lemon juice and salt. Then squeeze out water from puffed rice and add it to the pan and mix well. Cook fow 3 min under medium flame sauting in regular intervals. Add remaining 1/2 cup onions and mix well. You can add 2 tbsp of roasted gram dal powder( putanala podi) which enhances the taste. You can garnish with coriander and serve if you wish. Hope you like my recipe.

Double ka meeta- Special Hyderabadi Dessert

Double ka meeta is one of the famous Hyderabadi dessert that makes you irresistible to eat. It tastes like soft gulab jamun's with lots of nuts. The bread when caramelised with milk and sugar syrup acquires an amazing taste and the dry nuts fried in ghee gives a crunchy effect.This dessert is named so because in Hyderabad bread is called as "double roti" , meeta means "Sweet" and hence the name. This sweet is served as a main dessert in many of Hyderabadi marriages and other celebrations. No Hyderabadi function is complete with out double ka meeta. I was having a packet full of bread and the expiry date was just today, so I used the entire packet to prepare this recipe(Kind of Saving!!!!hahaha :)).

Ingredients:
Serves 2
Ghee(Clarified Butter)-enough for deep fry of bread
Large Bread slices-6 (I used oat meal bread, it is optional you can use any bread you have)
Milk-30ml(I used almond milk, you can use any milk)
For syrup:
5tbsp of milk and 10tbsp of water boiled for 5min on high flame.

Method:
If you are calorie conscious and you do not want to fry your bread in large amount of ghee, here is the great idea. Take your bread piece, spread the ghee(at room temperature) on to the bread, heat a pan and add 1tbsp of ghee and spread all over. Now place the bread that is spread with ghee and fry it on both sides till it is brown. Repeat the process for all bread pieces.

Boil milk. Now take the bread dip it in the sugar syrup on both sides and again dip in milk and place it in a serving bowl. Repeat the process for all bread slices and stack them on top of each other(like a stack of coins or pan cakes) by sprinkling nuts in between. After you are done with all slices, cut them in to 4 parts and serve them after chilling in refrigerator or serve as it is!!!

Hope you like my recipe!!!!!btw I made this recipe for my hubby on valentines day, you can also try this yummy recipe and surprise your loved ones!!!!! :)

semiya spring rolls-Great idea with leftovers

Semiya is Indian Vermicelli made of durum wheat, it is free of egg. Like upma this serves as an easy making breakfast in the busy mornings. You can make this in several variations. I made with mushroom and tofu. Now a days people are taking lot of care on their diet, I am sure that you will also check for the nutrition label before you eat anything. Cultivating these food habits in your daily life is very important, make sure that what ever you eat you know the consequences of it on your health. So, friends eat healthy and stay fit. But I also suggest you not be so strict on your diet, sometimes it is OK to have kind of unhealthy fatty foods. I would like to have jilabi, any time. My all sensory neurons will stop working and only olfactory (Smell) neurons will work at that time, if I'm in front of Jilebi. Don't worry if you skip your strict diet on one day. After all you should enjoy all the pleasures to your life.

Now this recipe is made from leftover semiya upma, seasoned and modified. I already posted the recipe of upma on this blog you can click here to find it.

Ingredients:
Spring roll sheets-6
Mushrooms chopped-1cup
Onion finely chopped-1/4cup
Lemon juice-2tbsp
oil-2tbsp and for deep fry.
Mix 2tbsp of all purpose flour with 2tbsp of water.

Method:

Heat 2tbsp of oil in a pan and add onions. When the onions are tender add mushrooms and keep sauteing them till they are well cooked. Then add leftover semiya/vermicelli. Mix well and turn off the stove. Now take the spring roll sheets, put one tbsp of semiyo on one corner and start rolling. stick the edge of the spring roll with maida/All purpose flour paste. Heat oil for deep fry in a pan and fry them under medium flame. Enjoy with tomato ketchup/green chutney.

Hope you like my recipe.

Vegetable Spring rolls with Indian Flavors

These are the delicious rolls, that are crisp out side and soft inside. The filling inside the spring rolls can be made to our taste. I like Indian flavors so I prepared it in Indian style.here re the few tips for making the perfect spring rolls. Adding more spices will destroy the taste of the spring roll. Less amount of spices including salt will make you to enjoy the beautiful and unique flavor of a spring roll. Do not stuff your spring roll with lots of stuffing mixture, just add a spoon full, it should be good. While rolling a spring roll, roll it tight so that no spaces are left inside the filling. While frying it try to fry it on a medium heat so that the inner part also gets cooked.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW CALORIE CHART

Ingredients:
Serves:2
Serving size:3
Spring roll sheets: 6
Cabbage finely chopped-1cup
Tofu shreaded-1/4cup(optional)
Carrot shredded-1/2cup
Onion finely chopped-1/2cup
Spring onion- chopped-5
Grated potato-3tbsp
Ginger paste-1tea spoon
garlic paste- tea spoon
Cumin powder-1/2tbsp
pepper powder to taste
Salt to taste
1tbsp of maida/all purpose flour mixed with 2tbsp of water-to stick edges(You can use egg wash if you wish)
oil-1tbsp
Oil for frying spring rolls

Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add all vegetables and cook by closing the pan, keep stirring them in between. when the vegetables are 80% done add ginger, garlic, cumin powder, salt and pepper powder. Addition of soy sauce is optional, if you would like to add 1tbsp should be enough. Mix all the ingredients well and cook in the open pan, allowing all the moisture to escape. The filling should look dry, if there is still any moisture left, keep stirring and cook it on medium flame till it becomes dry. Now take the curry and allow it to cool.

Take the spring roll sheets out of the refrigerator and cover them with a damp cloth, this will help them from drying out. Now take one sheet and put the filling on one corner as shown, roll it tightly and stick the final edge with all purpose flour.
Heat oil in  a skillet and fry them under medium heat and enjoy with ketchup/tomato sauce. Generally these spring rolls are deep fried, if you wish you can deep fry them either.
Hope you like my recipe.
I'll post several variations on this spring rolls soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!till then keep visiting my blog.

Tofu and French cut beans stir fry

This is the first time I experiment with tofu. I tried many times finding it in grocery stores like Walmart and Kroger, but never found it. Few days back I found it in the vegetable section at Walmart and with out a anther thought I just grabbed two packets. I recommend you use extra firm tofu for this preparation.

Ingredients
Tofu -cubed 1/2 cup
French cut beans 3 cups
Oil 1 tbsp
Fresh grated coconut /dry powder-2tbsp
Ginger garlic paste -1/2 tbsp
Red chili powder 1/2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Coriander powder 1/2tbsp
Curry leaf 1 rib optional
Onion chopped 1/2 cup
Green chili-1
Mustard seeds 1-2 tbsp
Cumin seeds 1/2 tbsp
Urad dal 1 tbsp
Chana dal 1 tbsp
Turmeric pinch

Method
Heat oil in a skillet and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal and Chana dal. When they turn golden brown add green chili, onion and curry leaf and sauté till onion is tender. Then add ginger garlic paste and turmeric and cook till raw flavor goes away. Add beans , some salt and cook it till they are well cooked by closing the pan with lid. Then add tofu and fry it well. Add fresh coconut, red chili powder and coriander powder, mix well. Cook under medium flame for 5 min with out closing the pan. Now the curry is ready to serve. It goes well with plain rice or roti.