Potato Bhaji

Ingredients
Potatoes: 3-4
Chopped onion: ½ cup
Chopped green chilies: 1 tsp
Split Bengal gram (chana dal): 1 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Asafoetida: A pinch
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Turmeric powder: ½ tsp
Chopped coriander leaves: 2-3 tsp
Lemon juice: 1 tsp
Salt: To taste
Oil: 1 tsp

Method
Boil potatoes, peel and chop them. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, when they splutter, add asafoetida and split Bengal gram and sauté till golden brown. Add green chilies, curry leaves and onion and sauté till onion is translucent. Add potatoes, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well. Sprinkle a tablespoon of water and cook till the potatoes are heated through. Add coriander leaves and lemon juice and mix well. Serve with chapati or dosa.

Crispy Masala Dosa

Ingredients
Parboiled rice: 3 cups
Rice: ½ cup
Urad dal: 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds: 1 tsp
Salt: To taste
Oil or butter: As required

Method
Wash both the rice well and soak in water for four to five hours. Wash and soak split black gram with fenugreek seeds in water separately for four to five hours.

Drain and grind the rice and split black gram separately to a smooth texture. Add salt and mix both the batters thoroughly. Keep the batter in a large vessel and close the lid tightly and allow the batter to ferment overnight.

Mix the batter well and adjust to pouring consistency. Heat a non-stick tava and grease with a little oil. Pour a ladle full of batter and spread as thin as possible. Sprinkle oil around the dosa and cook till it becomes crisp on the edges and turns golden brown. Apply Red Chili Chutney on the dosa and place about four tablespoons of Potato Bhaji in the centre. Fold the dosa to the desired shape and serve hot with coconut chutney.

Chicken Dum Biryani

Ingredients

Basmati rice: 4 cups

Chicken pieces: 1 kg

Mint leaves (Pudina): 1 cup

Coriander leaves: 1 cup

Chopped onion: 2 cups

Yogurt: 2 cups

Ghee: 6-7 tsp

Ginger Garlic paste: 2-3 tsp

Lemon juice: 4-5 tsp

Coriander powder: 2 tsp

Garam masala powder: 1 tsp

Chili powder: 2-3 tsp

Bay leaves: 5

Cinnamon: 5-6 medium sized

Cloves: 8-10

Caraway seeds (Shah Jeera): 1 tsp  

Black cardamom: 2-3

Green cardamom: 2-3

Star Anise: 2-3

Mace: 2-3

Nutmeg: ¼th piece

Salt: To taste

Method

Grind mint and coriander leaves. And the grinded paste, ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, garam masala, lemon juice, chili powder and salt to yogurt and mix well. Marinade chicken in this paste for 5-6 hours.  

Heat 2-3 tsp of oil in a vessel and add onion, sauté till golden brown, remove from the heat and keep aside. Heat another 2-3 tsp of oil and add bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, black cardamoms, green cardamoms, star anise, mace, nutmeg and caraway seeds. Sauté well and remove the spices from heat and keep aside.

Wash basmati rice, add the fried spices and cook the rice and keep aside.

Heat ghee in a vessel and add the marinated chicken pieces. Cover the lid and cook till the chicken is tender. Remove lid and cook till water evaporates and chicken is left with a thick gravy. Keep aside.

Take a large vessel and spread a layer of chicken with gravy and top it with some fried onion. Spread some cooked rice on this layer. Again spread a layer of the remaining chicken with gravy and top it with some more fried onion and spread the remaining cooked rice over this layer. Top it with the remaining fried onion. Cover tightly with the lid so that the steam does not escape (I use flour dough to seal the lid tightly around the vessel). Cook on a very low flame for 10 minutes (I keep the vessel on a hot tava and cook it for 15 minutes. When cooked on indirect heat, the rice and chicken does not get burnt). Remove from the flame and serve with cucumber raita.

Rasgulla

Ingredients

Milk: 1 litre

Lemon juice: ¼ cup

Sugar: 2 cups

Water: 4 cups

Cardamom powder: ½ tsp

Cooked Rasgullas

Paneer

Method

First prepare the paneer. For that boil milk in a thick bottomed pan and bring it to a boil. Mix lemon juice in half cup of water and add it to the boiling milk stirring the milk gently. The milk curdles and will start separating from the whey. Once the milk water looks pale green, remove from the heat and drain it using a strainer with muslin cloth. 

Wrap the muslin cloth and rinse well in cold water so that the lemon smell goes out from the paneer. Squeeze the cloth thoroughly to remove excess water. You can keep the wrapped paneer under a heavy object for about an hour, but this can remove all water and paneer can become little hard. 

After removing water from the paneer, take a pinch of it on your palm and rub with your finger for about 10 seconds and see if you are able to make a firm, but a smooth ball. After removing all the excess water, place the paneer on a dry clean surface and knead it well for 5-6 minutes. This helps to smoothen the paneer like soft dough. If the paneer is too crumbly, you can add half a tablespoon of water. Now the paneer is ready for rasgullas.

Prepare small and smooth balls of equal size. I prepare 15 balls of equal size. While preparing these balls apply some pressure in the beginning and release the pressure when forming the balls. The size can be of desired ones as the cooked rasgullas will double in size.

Mix sugar and water in a large pressure cooker and bring it to a boil on a medium high flame. Add the paneer balls and close the lid. Do not cover the whistle. When the cooker starts steaming, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 7-8 minutes. 

Remove from the flame and wait for 4-5 minutes before opening the lid. Add cardamom powder and stir gently before transferring them to a bowl. Cooked rasgullas should be spongy. Refrigerate them before serving. Chilled rasgullas will have soft texture and be less spongy.

Rava Dosa

Ingredients

Rice flour: 2 cups
Rava/ Semolina: 1 cup
All-purpose flour: ½ cup
Salt: To taste

Chopped onion: ¼ cup

Mustard seeds: ½ tsp

Chopped green chili: ½ tsp

Pepper corn: 5-6

Cumin seeds: ½ tsp

Chopped curry leaves: 1 tsp

Chopped ginger: ½ tsp

Chopped coriander leaves: 2-3 tsp

Oil and ghee 

Method

Mix the rice flour, all-purpose flour, semolina and salt well. Add water and prepare a very thin batter, thinner than the normal dosa batter. 

 

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add curry leaves, chopped onion, chopped green chili, chopped ginger, pepper corn and chopped coriander. Saute till the onion turns translucent and then add this seasoning to the batter.

Heat the tawa well.  Rava dosa cannot be spread like ordinary dosa from the middle to the sides, so take one ladle full of batter and spread it on the hot tawa starting from the sides and finishing off in the middle. Sprinkle ½ tsp of oil and ½ tsp of ghee on the sides. When it becomes golden brown turn it over. Serve hot with coconut chutney.