Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Cold Coffee

Cold Coffee is a refreshing beverage,specially in the hot summer months when the temperatures soar to about 35C and having a cup of hot Coffee is just impossible.Its during this time ,that Cold Coffee comes to your rescue,specially for Coffee lovers.

This is a rich and creamy version of the cold coffee and ofcourse  its delicious...ENJOY!!!!!!!






Ingrediants:

  • 3 cups milk,
  •  2 tablespoons hot water,
  •  2 tablespoons sugar,
  • 2 tablespoons instant coffee,
  •  3 scoops vanilla ice cream
  • ice cubes.

 Method:
  •  Mix coffee in hot water
  • In a blender add milk,sugar,water,icecream, coffee mixture ,icecubes and blend for 30-40 seconds
  • Pour the mixture into glasses and serve 
  • Sprinkle some instant coffee powder or grated chocolate as topping.

Rajma Curry

Rajma is extremely popular party dish,specially in north India. Rajma tastes best when served  with plain boiled rice,Salad and pickle.
Kidney beans(Rajma) are a very good source of Protien,Folate,Zinc,Maganese,Iron,thiamin and riboflavin.

My recipe is not the traditional recipe,but this is how my mom used to prepare it.





Ingrediants:

  • 1 cup Rajma,cooked( soak overnight in water and pressure cook next morning with a tsp of salt until soft)
  • 2 Potatoes-cut into cubes-boiled
    Onions-2 finely chopped
  • 1 Tomato-chopped
  • Cooking Oil
  • Coriander leaves for garnishing




For the Masala


  • 6 Red Chillies ,add or reduce as per taste
  • 1/2 Scraped Coconut
  • 1/4 Teaspoon of Cloves
  • 1 Teaspoon Haldi Powder
  • 8 Pepper Corns
  • 1 Teaspoon Jeera
  • 1/4 Teaspoon Methi Seeds
  • 1 Tablespoon Khus Khus
  • 1 Teaspoon Badee Saunf (Moti Saunf)
  • 4 -5 Flakes Garlic
  • 1 Table Spoon Corriander Seeds
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Til
  • 1 Onion,chopped

Method:
For the masala:
  • Heat  a pan,with 1 tbsp of cooking oil
  • Add the 1/2 scraped coconut along with the other masala ingredient mentioned above and stir , so everything gets mixed well .
  • when the coconut turns golden and you start geting a fragnant aroma of the masala,remove from fire and cool
  • Blend all the above ingrediants with 1 cup water,till smooth.Keep aside.

For the Curry:
  •  Heat  pan with oil and when hot add the chopped onions and saute until golden
  • Now add the chopped tomato and cook till oil leaves the side of the pan
  • Now add the above masala and cook till you get a boil
  • Add the boiled Rajma and cook for another 8-10 minutes on slow fire.
  • Garnish with coriander leaves
  • Serve hot with Rice or chapati

Bolo de Bolacha Maria

This is a famous Portuguese  cake dessert,which my mom used to prepare since i was a little girl and one of my favourites .This cake is ideal for childrens parties or just any party and whoever takes a bite of this cake will not stop at one piece. I prepared it some days back and my Husband finished it in no time...so just go ahead n try out this mouthwatering dessert.


Ingredients

For the Custard

  • Milk – 3 cups
  • Strawberry flavoured Custard powder – 1 1/2 tbsp
  • Sugar – 3tbsp

For the Cake:

  • Marie Biscuits biscuit – 14-16  
  • Coffee decoction – 1/4 cup


Method:

For the Custard:

  • Dissolve the custard powder in 1/4 cup warm milk.
  • Heat the remaining to a boil.
  • Add sugar.
  • Add the custard milk.
  • Heat it on low flame stirring constantly for about  4-5 minutes,till it thickens and is cooked.
  • Take it off  from the gas and allow to cool to just warm.

Or Prepare the custard as instructed on the packet.
Arranging the Cake

  • Layer the base of the pudding bowl with biscuits soaked in the coffee decoction in a close circle with one biscuit at the centre.
  •  Over  each biscuit spread a  layer of strawberry custard .
  •  Top it again by a  layer of  biscuits  soaked in the coffee decoction and top it with another strawberry custard layer.
  • Continue with biscuit-custard for 3 layers.
  • Cover the top and sides of the cake with remaining custard,making sure the biscuits are invisible.
  • Give the cake a nice finish using a knife or a spatula.
  • Top with  Cashewnuts and chocolate  chips and set in the refrigerator to chill for 4 hours or until set.
  • Garnish with cashewnuts.
  • Remove about 10  minutes prior to serving and enjoy this yummy mouthwatering desert.


Goan Prawns Fry

Prawns and Goans are synonomous...just thinking of them makes my mouth water,coz here in Azerbaijan we do not get any...
Prawns are extremely low in fat and calories, yet packed with nutrition.Prawns  are an excellent source of protein, omega 3 fatty acids , iron, zinc ,selenium and vitamin E. Prawns are even lower in calories and fat than chicken yet with much more protein.





Ingrediants:
  • 10-12 king prawns,cleaned and deveined
  •  1 tbsp garlic paste
  •  3/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
  •  1/2 tsp red chilli powder
  •  1 tbsp lime juice
  •  Salt to taste
  •  cooking oil for frying

Method:
  • Clean the prawns, devein and wash. Keep the tail on. Pat dry.
  •  Mix the  garlic, pepper, chilli powder, lemon juice, salt  together and marinate the prawns in this mix for 1-2  hours or longer
  •  Heat oil in a pan and when oil is hot ,add the prawns 
  • Fry till golden on both sides
  • Serve hot with Goan Fish Curry.Enjoy

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Grilled Chicken



Ingrediants:
  • 8 chicken leg pieces or wings
  • 1 tsp red chili powder
  • 1 tbsp Pepper powder
  • 1/4tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
  • juice of half lemon
  • 1/2 tsp salt or according to taste
  • olive oil

Method:
  • Combine the spices  ginger-garlic paste and lemon juice.Mix well.
  • Clean wash and pat dry the chicken pieces. Using a knife make a few cuts on the pieces. Add the chicken pieces to the above marinade. Make sure the marinade fully covers the chicken pieces.
  • Cover the pot and marinate in fridge for  atleast 4-5hrs.The longer you keep the better.
  • After 4hrs, preheat the oven to 425F.Cover a grill with an aluminium foil.
  • Remove chicken pieces from fridge and place them on the grill, making sure the  marinade still covers them well (shake off any extra marinade).
  • Drizzle more olive oil on the chicken pieces.
  • Grill 10-12 minutes each side till done,spraying some cooking oil ater every 10 mins.
  • Serve with hot with some pulao or just as it is.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Sabhudana Khichdi

Sabhudana Khichdi is a Maharastrian dish.The first time i had Sabhudana khichdi was in my hostel mess.They would prepare it every Thursday as it was a fasting day and the girls could eat only this.Anyways it was my favourite dish among all the other dishes they would prepare in the hostel and i would wait for Thursdays to come ...so i could gorge on this delicious dish.After i was back home ,i forgot all about this dish and started to enjoy my Mom's Goan food.After about 2 years ,i  was at a  supermarket when  i saw sabhudhana and suddenly remembered this dish and my days in the hostel .So i picked up a packet of sabhudana and after googling for the recipe went straight to make it as all the other ingrediants were at home....and Viola...it turned out delicious...much better than the hostel one and from that day it has a weekly place in my kitchen,specially when  am home alone and in no mood to cook an elaborate meal or for braekfast.

Its a comfort food for me which i can have any time...m sure u guys wouldbe in love with this dish tooo...so go ahead and try it out....and do send in your valuable comments...


Ingrediants:
  • 1 cup  sabudana
  • 2 medium sized potato,boiled and cut into fine cubes
  • one handful groundnuts
  • 2 green chillies
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tsp  jeera seeds

Method:

  • Wash sabudana nicely and soak the sabhudana  for 4 hours in a little water(the water added to soak must not be more than 1/4 the quantity of sabhudana )
  • After 4 hours add salt, sugar and  mix well.Keep aside.
  • Heat oil, add jeera seeds, chopped green chillies, groundnuts and  potatoes and stir for 3-4 minutes
  • Now add sabudana and mix well. Keep  on simmer for 5 to 10 minutes till sabudana is cooked. Sabudana will change colour once it is cooked. Don't cover the pan ,at any point.
  • Sprinkle some lime juice.
  • Remove from fire and serve hot.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Chicken Cafrael

Chicken Cafrael a spicy chicken dish is one of the most famous Goan Dishes ,introduced into the Goan Cuisine by the portuguese.I don't want to say much about this dish...except just go ahead and try it out....m sure ul be in love with this dish!!!!




INGREDIANTS:

For the masala:
  •  6 Green Chillies
  • Coriander leaves,a bunch
  • 1 Tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste
  • 6-7 Peppercorns
  • 1 Big Piece Cinnamon
  • 1 Teaspoon Jeera
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Haldi


Others:   

  •  1 Kg Chicken,cut into pieces 
  • I large Onion,chopped  
  • 1 potato,cut into
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • A bunch of chopped Corainder leaves,garnishing


Method:
  • Cut clean and wash the chicken, and keep it aside.
  • Grind all the inrediants for the masala and coat the chicken with this masala and keep overnight in the fridge or atleast for 4 hours
  • Heat oil in a pan and when hot add the chopped onions
  • When the onions turn brown, add the marinated chicken pieces and cook on high flame for about 4 minutes.
  • Now reduce the flame to the lowest setting, add about 1/2 cup water,potatoes and cook till chicken is cooked.
  • Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with salad.