Chole Masala :

Now , this is one thing which I always wanted to learn in typical Marathi/ North Indian Style. And I finally made it. Thanks to Chetna for this recipe. All credit to her if you like it :-). I made it and loved it. Awesome !

Ingredients:
Chana/ Chick Peas
Sliced potatoes
Tea Powder
Chopped Onions
Chopped Tomatoes
Tomato and Onion Puree
Oil
Jeera and Mustard Seeds
Ginger Garlic Paste
Salt
Chilli Powder
Dhaniya Powder
Turmeric Powder
Chole Masala
Chopped Coriander

Soak the chana or chick peas overnight. Boil the chickpeas and potatoes in the pressure cooker. Add a small quantity of tea powder into a small handkerchief and make a pouch. Add this pouch into the water when you are boiling the chick peas. Remove it after it is cooked. Take a pan and add oil into it. Add the jeera and mustard seeds and when they crackle add the chopped onions. Add the ginger garlic paste when the onions are half done and let them fry completely till they are golden brown. Then add the tomatoes and let them cook. Once done , add the tomato and onion puree. Add sufficient amount of salt , turmeric powder , dhaniya powder , chilli powder and chole masala powder. Cook for 10 mins with the lid closed. Then mash small quantity of cooked chana and potato and add that to the gravy. Cook for another 5 to 10 mins. The finally add the chana and boiled potatoes. Finally cook till the chana and potato take in the flavour of the gravy.

Chole Masala is ready !

Pav Bhaji :

Ingredients :
Pav
Chopped Onions
Tomatoes cut into small slices
Potatoes cut into small cubes
Carrots cut into small pieces
Cauliflower cut into small pieces
Frozen green peas
Chopped coriander
Oil
Ginger Garlic Paste
Salt
Chilli Powder
Pav Bhaji Masala

Bhaji :
The best vessel to use would be our normal pressure cooker. Heat the bottom of the cooker and add oil to it. Then add the chopped onions and let them fry.When the onions are half done , add the ginger garlic paste and let it fry till the onions turn golden brown. Then add the sliced tomatoes and cook till they completely form a paste.Then finally add the sliced potatoes , carrots , cauliflower and the frozen green peas. Add sufficient salt , Pav Bhaji Masala and chilli powder and mix it well.Add water to this till all the vegetables are completely submerged. Place and lid along with the whistle and let it cook for 20 mins. The number of whistles vary depending on the size and type of the cooker.Hence see that it is cooked at least for 20 mins. Once done , using a masher , mash the entire vegetable mix into a fine paste. Be patient as it might take some time. In the mean time , you can adjust the salt and spice if required.

Finally garnish with chopped coriander and the bhaji is ready.
Cut the Pav horizontally into two pieces. Apply butter on them and roast them on a flat dos pan.
Pav Bhaji is ready to be served !

Semiya Upma :

I made this long back but could not post it. Finally here it is !

Ingredients :
Semiya – 1 cup
Water – 2 cups
Chopped Onions
Chpped Green Chillies
Curry Leaves
Cashew Nuts
Chana Dal , Uradh Dal , Jeera and Mustard Seeds
Oil
Salt

Pour some oil and fry the semiya in a pan until they turn slightly golden brown. Keep it aside.Take a fresh pan and pour in some oil ( which is sufficient to fry onions ). Add the cashew nuts , chana dal , uradh dal , jeera and mustard seeds. When they crackle , add the curry leaves and chopped green chillies. Let the chillies fry.Then add the chopped onions and fry till they turn golden brown. Add the water ( which is exactly double the quantity of semiya ). Add the adequate amount of salt and close it with a lid and bring the water to boil.Finally , add the fried semiya and cook till all the water evaporates.

Semiya Upma is hot and ready !

Carrot Halwa :

Yesterday night , Madhu called us for dinner at their house. I didn’t want to go empty handed. So made some sweet for all of us. Carrot Halwa !! :-)

Ingredients :
Carrots – Grated
Milk
Sugar
Ghee
Elaichi ( cardamom ) Powder
Cashew Nuts

Grate the carrots and keep them ready. Powder the elaichi ( cardamom ) and keep them ready. Fry the cashew nuts in ghee and keep them ready. Heat small quantity of ghee in a vessel and add the grated carrots into it. Cook on a low flame till they become a little soft. Then add milk (which is sufficient to immerse the carrots into it ) and cook on a low flame. The carrots will have completely absorb the milk and cook with it. Keep stirring it so that it does not get burnt. Finally , when the entire milk evaporates , then add sufficient quantity of sugar and keep stirring it. The quantity of sugar depends on your taste on how much sweet you like it :-). The sugar will melt and again the carrot mixture will dilute. Keep stirring till all the water evaporates and it condenses into one lump. Switch off the stove and add the elaichi powder and cashew nuts.

Carrot Halwa is ready !!!! Carrot is very very good for eye sight and has Vitmain A. So , for people who don’t eat fresh carrot , you can force them to take it as a sweet and they might as well love it :-).

Ladies Finger Curry/ Bendakaaya Kura/ Bhindi Sabji :

Yesterday night , we prepared R’s one of the favourite curries..... Ladies Finger.
Got it from Laudium last weekend.... and I specifically chose each and every one of it.It came out really well. Nothing special , just the usual day-to-day way of cooking it.

Ingredients :
Ladies Finger cut into small equal size circles.
Curry Leaves
Chana Dal , Uradh dhal , Jeera and Mustard Seeds
Oil
Salt
Mirchi Powder

Heat oil ( which is sufficient to fry them ) in a pan. Add the Chana dal , Uradh dal , Jeera and Mustard seeds. When they plutter , add the curry leaves. You can add as many curry leaves as you want. The more the better as this is the main source of flavour for the curry (I am not adding any other kind of masala or curry powders ). After adding the curry leaves , add the ladies finger pieces and fry. I didn’t let them fry too much as I wanted the curry to be soft. I let it fry for 10 mins and then added the required amount of salt. Stir it again and close it with a lid. Lower the flame in order for them not to get burnt. Leave until you know that it is nicely cooked and becomes soft. Lastly , add mirchi powder , stir it and switch off the stove.

Bendakaaya Kura is ready. You can have it with rice as well as chapatis.
Ladies finger is supposed to be very very good for our brain and it increases sharpness. Curry leaves are very good for our hair.

Tea :

Just imagine….. it raining outside and you can hear the rain drops clearly. You can also smell the sand. What would you think of at that moment. I would immediately think of a hot cup of tea :-). Sitting alongside the window with a cup of tea and enjoying the nature.

There are hundred of ways to prepare tea and it just depends on how you like it.
Ingredients :
Milk
Water
Tea Powder
Sugar

Take equal quantities of milk and water. First heat the water and bring it to boil. Then add sufficient tea powder and let it form a decaution. Then add the milk and bring it to boil. You can checkout to colour to see if the tea is nicely boiled. Switch off the stove and then add sufficient sugar.

This is the simplest of the Tea that you can prepare. But if you have time , then you can try out hundreds of variations.

1. Ginger Tea : When you bring the water to boil and add the tea powder , you can crush a small quantity of ginger and put that in to boil. Apart from that , everything else is the same. Ginger tea is very very good if you have cold or cough. It soothes your throat.
2. Masala Chai : Take 1 small piece of cinnamon , 1 clove and 2-3 elaichis and make a powder of it.
Add this powder after you add the milk and let them boil together. It’s a good one to make when you are bored of the normal tea flavour.
3. Green Tea : Basically , if you don’t add milk , then you can call it as a Green Tea or Black Tea. You can just boil water with the tea powder and add sugar at the last. Else , you have specific green tea powder or green tea bags in the market. You can use them instead of the normal tea powder. Else , you can make Herbal Tea by using Pudina Leaves , Thulasi Leaves and finally add honey instead of sugar. It is very very good for health.