Navaratan Korma

I bought these cute looking baby carrots from the store the other day. I wanted to try a special recipe using these baby carrots. This is one of the most healthiest recipe that I have tried so far and most importantly delicious too. It still hard for me to believe that a dish can both be tasty and healthy at the same time. But, this recipe proved it to be true. It goes great with any type of rice or roti.

Ingredient:

Baby carrots - 200 gms
Mixed frozen vegetables - 300 gms
Cashew nuts - 1/2 cup
Oil - 2 tbsp
Cloves - 4
Black peppercorns - 4
Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
Cardamom pods - 2
Onion - 4 medium
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Yogur - 1/2 cup
Green chilly paste - 2 tsp (or to taste)
Salt - to taste
Fresh cream - 1/2 cup

Procedure:

1. Soak 1/4 cashew nuts in warm water for 10 mins. Remove them from water and blend in to a fine paste. 
2. Boil the baby carrots till they are done. Defrost the frozen mixed vegetable and keep them aside.
3. Boil onions in water for few mins and then blend them in to smooth paste.
4. Heat oil in a pan and add cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods. Add boiled onion paste once the spices start to crackle. 
5. Cook the onion paste for about 10 mins.
6. Add ginger garlic paste, yogurt and stir well. 
7. Add green chilli paste and cashew nut paste and cook on low heat for about 5 mins. 
8. Add in the defrosted vegetables and baby carrots and cook for about 5 mins. 
9. Add salt and about a cup of water to the above till you get the required consistency. 
10. Bring the above mixture to a boil and add in the fresh cream. 
11. Garnish with remaining cashews and serve.

Enjoy with some hot rice or roti on the side!!!

Spiced Carrot Fry

Very very quick, easy and tasty recipe ever. I had a ton of carrots in my refrigerator and dint know what to do with them. I was particularly not in the mood to make any fancy recipe and so went ahead and tried this simple and easy recipe. Goes very well with rice, roti, bread or even just yogurt. In fact it tastes wonderful as it is with out any side dish. It requires a little prep work. Carrots have to be sliced in to thin strips as shown in the picture.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2
Oil - 1.5 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Red chilli powder - to taste
Curry masala - 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Peel and chop the carrots as shown in the picture. 
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped carrots. Let the carrots cook on high flame for a few minutes. 
3. Keep tossing the carrots in between till they turn golden brown as shown in the picture.
4. Sprinkle salt and chilli powder to the above and mix well. 
5. Sprinkle curry masala and mix well and serve. 

Enjoy with some hot rice on the side!!!!

Note: Cook the carrots a little longer till they turn in to golden brown color. Feel free to add in any spice powder [like garam masala etc.] instead of curry masala.

Bisibelebath

Bisibelabath stands for Bisi (hot) Bele (Lentil) Bath (Rice). Very famous dish from the southern part of India. This is the first time I tried this dish and I knew from then on that I will make this dish at least once every 15 days. Very healthy and delicious too. Lot of ingredients go in to this dish. Yet, its easy to prepare this dish if you have all the ingredients readily available at home. 

Ingredients:

Precooked rice - 1 cup
Pre cooked lentils - 1/2 cup (toor dal)
Carrots - 1/4 cup
Hing - 1 pinch
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Chilli powder - to taste
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Sambar powder - 1 tsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Tamarind paste - 3 tsp
curry leaves - 2 springs
Green chillies - 2
Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Procedure:

1. Heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add mustard seed, cumin seeds, chana dal and urad dal and fry them for few seconds.
2. Add green chillies and curry leaves and fry them for few seconds. Add hing powder and cook.
3. Add grated carrots and cook for few mins. 
4. Add salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and mix. 
5. Add in the tamarind paste along with some water and bring it to boil. 
6. Add pre cooked and pureed lentil paste, and sambar powder to the above and mix well.
7. Add precooked rice to the above and mix well and bring it to boil. 
8. Add 1 tbsp butter and cook it for few seconds. 
9. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Enjoy while it is hot with some crispy papad on the side!!!!

Note: You can use ghee instead of butter. Also, this dish tastes great with lots of veggies like beans, potatoes, cauliflower etc...

Spring Onion pancakes (Indian version of pancakes)

It took me a long time to get back to my blog and I am happy to start over again with this special recipe. Since this is my comeback recipe, I wanted to make some thing with fewer ingredients and at the same time tastes delicious. In simple words I wanted to make something that is very very easy to prepare. Well, I found one. I made like 10 of these for two people and believe me they are not sufficient. Takes less then 10 mins to prepare and less than 1 min to be gone. So.. with out any further delay here comes my special recipe.

Ingredients:

Chickpea flour - 1 cup

Semolina - 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Rice flour - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Salt - to taste

Yogurt - 1/4 cup

Water - 1 cup

Ginger (grated) - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 2 

Spring onions - 4 

Cilantro - 1/4 cup

Baking powder - 1 pinch

Oil - 1 tsp for each pancake

Preparation:

1. Mix chickpea flour, semolina, cumin seeds, rice flour, turmeric powder, salt, yogurt, grated ginger, chopped green chillies in a bowl.
2. Add water to the above and keep mixing till it forms in to a light batter. 
3. Add chopped spring onions and chopped cilantro to the above and mix well.
4. Add in the baking powder just before making the pancakes and mix well. 
5. Heat a nonstick pan and drizzle few drops of oil. Add about a quarter cup of the above batter on the pan and spread it evenly. Add few more drop of oil on the surface of the pancake. 
6. Cook till the pancake turns golden brown [as shown in the pic] on the bottom side and then flip it to the other side. Let it cook on the other side for about a min and then remove from the pan. 

Enjoy with some ketchup on the side..!!!!