Corn Chat | Healthy Snacks

Hi Friends, 

Sharing a simple and yummy appetizer. It is vary healthy with goodness of boiled corn and zero oil. Made this as a accompaniment for tea when few friends visited us. Well loved by all :)

Ingredients:
1 can tinned corn
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
1 green chili, finely chopped (optional)
finely chopped coriander leaves
1 or 2 tsp lemon juice
¼ tsp red chili powder or as required
1 tsp chaat masala powder or as required
black salt or rock salt as required
for garnish:
a few coriander leaves
sev
tamarind chutney
green chutney

INSTRUCTIONS
boil or pressure cook the corn till the kernels are cooked well.when the corn cools down, mix the corn kernels along rest of the ingredients in a bowl.check the taste and add more salt or chaat masala or lemon juice if required.serve the corn chaat immediately, in individual serving bowls or plates topped with sev and a garnish of coriander and chutneys.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 47.

Cheesy potato balls | Kids delight

Ingredients

4 boiled potatoes

1 cup grated processed cheese/or 2 cheese slices cut into small pieces

1 green chilies, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

2 teaspoon fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped

2 tablespoon bread crumbs

Oil for deep frying

Salt to taste

Instructions

Method:

Mash the boiled potatoes in a bowl.

Add finely chopped green chilies, red chili powder,turmeric powder, finely chopped fresh coriander leaves, bread crumbs and salt to taste.

Mix all the ingredients very well and keep aside. Now heat good amount of oil in a frying pan. Divide the potato mixture in small balls or portions. You can make about 12 balls from this quantity of mixture.

Take some oil in your palms, get one ball and smoothly round it, make a small hole in center and stuff good amount of grated cheese or small cheese piece in it. 

Now close the ball carefully from all the sides and in such way keep making all the balls and keep aside. Roll the ball in bread crumb.

When the oil is heated properly. Now drop 2-3 balls in hot oil and keep the flame from high to medium. It is very important to cook these balls on medium flame, so that you can enjoy the melted cheese and properly cooked potato mixture while eating. Keep frying and flipping for 2-4 minutes, till the balls turns out golden brown in color.

Drain on oil absorbent paper napkins.

Serve immediately with Dip, Sauce or Chutney of your choice.

Notes

If you do not want to deep fry these potato cheese balls, then you can bake them in oven at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Will try this next time around :)

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 47.

Bread besan toasties

Ingredients:

finely chopped onions, tomatoes, ginger, green chilies and coriander leaves

4 bread slices

oil for shallow frying

1 cup besan/chickpea flour

turmeric powder, red chili powder, asafoetida and salt

Method:

In a bowl or small pan, take finely chopped onions, tomatoes, ginger, green chilies and coriander leaves. everything has to be finely chopped. otherwise its difficult to manage medium pieces of onions and tomatoes while frying the toast. Add besan/gram flour, turmeric powder, red chili powder, asafoetida and salt.add water.whisk to a medium consistency batter.

there should be no lumps in the batter. avoid make thin batter. in case the batter makes thin, add a few tablespoons of besan and whisk again.Heat 1 tbsp oil for frying in a tava or frying pan.

Dip the bread slice in the batter. with your hands, coat the bread slice evenly with the batter. also place the chopped onions & tomatoes on the bread slices with your hands. don’t keep the bread too long in the batter as then the slice breaks. Place the batter coated bread slices on the tava.
When the base is cooked and browned, flip and fry the other side. Flip and fry a couple of times to get even browning and cooking. fry the remaining bread slices in the same way. you can add more oil if required while frying the remaining batch. Remove and serve the besan toasts immediately, plain or with tomato ketchup or coriander chutney.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 47.

Puff pastry vegetable pinwheel

Ingredients
◾2 sheets vegan puff pastry
◾1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
◾1/2 cup onion (finely chopped)
◾1/2 cup tomato(finely chopped)
◾1/2 cup mixed vegetables
◾1/2 teaspoon salt
◾1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

Begin by taking your puff pastry sheets out of the freezer and thaw them.Heat your olive oil in a pan on the stove on medium to medium/high heat, and saute onions until are they  soft. Add tomato and mixed vegetables and cook untill they begun to soften. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Spread about 1/2 of filling mixture evenly on to your puff pastry. Roll up your puff pastry as tightly as possible without losing any of your toppings out the sides. This part can get messy. That's okay. :)
Once you have created a nice log with your puff pastry, use a sharp serrated knife to slice 3/4 inch thick rolls off of your log. Place rolls cut side up on to a prepared baking sheet. These pinwheels do expand some while being baked, so you won't want to try to fit more than 12 on a standard-sized baking sheet.
Bake these puppies at 350 degrees F for about 22 minutes, or until the puff pastry is just barely starting to turn golden brown on the edges.
To store, you can place the pinwheels in an airtight container and leave at room temperature for up to 48 hours, or place in the refrigerator for up to a week. (They will probably be eaten long before then, though.)
Enjoy! :)

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 47.

Coconut mawa laddu | Coconut balls with ricotta cheese | Coconut fudge

Ingredients:

Ricotta cheese - 2 cups (500 gm)

Sugar - 1 cup

Unsweetened dry desiccated coconut
Ghee or butter - 2 TBSP

Cardamom powder or vanilla - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Method:

Grease a plate with ghee. I lined a 8" cake pan with parchment paper. Set aside. Take a thick bottomed vessel. Add butter or ghee and turn on the heat. Once the butter or ghee has melted, add ricotta cheese. Keep stirring on medium flame till it starts bubbling and spitting the water out(approx after 5-10 mins). Add the sugar and immediately add the coconut powder. Stir. They all come together in 3 - 5 minutes. When there is almost no liquid left and it makes a huge mass, add the flavoring if using and stir for the final time.Make them into balls when cool enough to handle. Garnish with some chopped nuts if desired or roll it over dry dessicated cocunut.

Alternately, you can pour it on to the grease plate or the parchment paper lined pan. The mixture won't fall like that of fudge. Take a wax paper and cover the entire surface with it. Flatten by pressing on the top of the wax paper. Let it set and cool. When completely cool, cut into desired shape and size.

Store in the refrigerator up to 1 week if it lasts that long!

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 47.

Christmas Card

Hi Friends

Sharing a quick christmas card which me and my friend made . You can see the tutorial for the christmas tree here.

Microwave Masala Peanut | Snacks on the go

Hi friends, 

Sharing a very simple and yummy snack which can be enjoyed with a cup of tea or can be munched on while on the go or just like that! I made this for the first time. Satisfied with the taste. Coating the peanuts completely with the flour was bit challenging. Any suggestions for accomplishing that are most welcome :)

Ingredients:

Cooking time - 15 mins; MW power - 900W

Raw Peanuts (shelled) - 1 1/2 cups

Besan/Kadalai Maavu/Chick Pea Flour - 2 tbsp heaped

Rice Flour - 1 tbsp - heaped

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Cumin powder - a big pinch

Salt - 1/2 tsp or to taste

Water - as required

Oil - 4 tbsp

Method:

In a wide bottomed glass (or any microwave-proof) bowl heat the oil in Microwave oven for 4 mins. Meanwhile, mix the peanuts, besan, rice flour, chilli powder, cumin powder and salt. Sprinkle water a teaspoon at a time and mix. Repeat until the mixture is coated all over the peanuts and resembles a crumble. Add the mixture to the hot oil and mix until the oil is coated all over. Microwave for 6 minutes stirring once in between. Allow 3 minutes of standing time (Leave in the microwave for 3 minutes undisturbed after it is done). Perfect snack with a cup of tea.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46.

Stuffed Broccoli and Paneer parathe | Kids lunch box recipe

For the day two Bogging marathon - car snacks theme sharing this yummy and healthy parathas. Tried the combination of broccoli and paneer for the first time..we just loved it..too good. Do try this out..enjoy these with yoghurt dip or with pickle.  These make an awesome picnic food while the family is on the go!


Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46.
Recipe source:  Here

Ingredients:

For Stuffing
1 large broccoli flower and stalk grated
200gms cottage cheese grated
4 garlic pods grated
1-1/2 inch piece ginger grated
8-9 green chillies finely chopped
4-5 tbsp. coriander finely chopped
2 tbsp. coriander pwd
1/2 tsp. garam masala
salt to taste

For the dough
3-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tsp. carom seeds
salt to taste

Method
Heat a tea spoon of oil in a non stick pan and sauté the broccoli with a pinch of salt on high flame and let the water disappear. Cool this and all the other ingredients for stuffing.
Knead a firm dough using the ingredients under the heading dough. Take two ping pong sized dough balls and roll them into a circle of 3 inches.Place double the volume of ping pong ball on one circle and seal it using another circle and roll it into a paratha. Roast it using oil on a griddle.
Serve hot with a dollop of fresh butter along with pickle and curds.

Bread poha cutlet | Bread and beaten rice fritters

Hi friends. .for the last week of bm 46 I am sharing this easy cutlet for breakfast on the go! .This dish is very simple with few everyday ingredients which makes it more easier and handy .you can pack it for the kids or whole family for munching in the car. No one can resist these crispy cutlets for sure...

method :
1 cup poha (beatened rice flakes, medium or thin variety )
2 boiled potatoes  OR 3-4 bread slices ( i used bread )
1-2 finely chopped green chillies
2 tbsp finely chopped onions
1/4 cup besan ( gram flour )
2 tsps red chilli pwd ( pls adjust to ur taste )
salt to taste
lemon juice to taste
handful of chopped cilantro
oil for deep frying
method :

Wash poha under cold running water ,strain and keep it aside for 10-15 mins.Meanwhile,chop onions ,green chillies and cilantro finely.Crumple and mash the poha with your hands,add mashed boiled potato ,besan ,chillies,ilantro,salt,red chilli pwd and lemon juice.If adding bread slices instead of potatoes,then just dip them in water and squeeze them completely and mash it with your hands .Mix everything together and make walnut size balls out of it and give desired shapes.Deep fry in hot oil on medium heat till golden brown in colour.Serve hot with ketchup or green corriander chutney.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46. 

Kids craft - Origami Christmas tree | Origami Pine tree | Step by step tutorial

Origami chirstmas tree

Hi dear crafty friends. Hope you are enjoying weekend with your loved ones. With christmas nearing, I am sharing a very easy origami christmas tree. It takes 10 mins to make it and brightens up the any corner of your house and the faces of young crafters! Enjoy this simple chirstmas craft with your kids. You can  use it as an ornament to jazz up the bigger christmas tree. 

This is my humble attempt at making a step by step tutorial. Hope you like it.

Origami chirstmas tree

Steps:
1. Take a square piece of paper. Fold the square paper horizontally and diagonally as shown in the picture










2. Bring the two diagonal corners of the paper together and then open it up. You will get a square shape after the diagonal ends are brought together.

3.Take right flap of the paper and bring to the center line and press it down to make the crease and then open it up again.

4. Put your thumb in the flap you had just folded and taking the crease you just made, press the paper like the picture below.

5. Fold back the paper in the middle and then repeat for the left flap.
Then flip it over and repeat for the other two flaps. After you are done folding all the four flaps, you will get  a folded paper like this.

6. Cut slits on four sides of the folded triangle paper.


7. Fold down all the slits like the picture below.

8. Cut off the small triangle below

9. Jazz up the tree with some glitter

10. Stick the star . 

Your own gorgeous paper pine tree is ready.


Origami Christmas tree

http://4craftychicks.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/challenge-221-make-it-sparkle.html?m=1
http://letkidsbekids.co.uk/let-kids-be-kids-linky/let-kids-kids-linky-181114

http://craftforthecraic.blogspot.in/2014/11/novembers-challenge-10-birthday.html?m=1

http://decoratetocelebrate.blogspot.in/2014/11/challenge-89-anything-goes.html?m=1


http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.in/2014/11/weekly-challenge-its-kids-world.html?m=1

Maa chole ki daal | Punjabi Cusine

Hi Friends 

Sharing with you a comfort food from punjabi cusine. It is a simple and rich daal without onion or garlic which can be enjoyed with roti or rice. Do check out the recipe.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46

Recipe source: Maayeka

Ingredients:

Split white lentil /Urad daal chilka - 3/ 4 cup

Bengal gram /chana daal- 3/4 cup

Tomato,chopped- 1.5 cup

Green chili, chopped- 1tsp

Ginger, chopped- 2 tsp

Butter - 1.5 tbsp

Ghee - 2.5 tbsp

Cumin /jeera-1 tsp

Asafoetida /hing - 1/4 tsp

Bay leaf /tej patta -1

Ginger, grated-1/2 tsp

Chili powder- 1tsp

Kasoori methi /dried fenugreek leaves - 1.5 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric/haldi  -1/2 tsp

Salt /namak - to taste

PROCEDURE-

Wash and soak both lentils together in enough water  for 1 hour.

After one hour slightly rub and then drain the water in which it is soaked.

Add the lentils in a pressure cooker and add grated ginger,chili, turmeric and 2 cups of water.

Pressure cook on medium heat for 2 whistles or till daal get cooked (dont overcook)

In a heavy bottom pan add ghee when become slightly hot then add cumin,hing and bay leaves

Now add chopped tomato,chopped ginger and salt and cook till tomato become soft.

Then add chili powder, turmeric and coriander powder and keep stirring till oil starts seperating.

Add cooked dal, 2 cups of water,kasoori methi and garam masala

Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Add butter,fresh chopped coriander and serve hot.

Serving suggestions-Can serve with roti,kulcha, steamed rice or jeera rice

Gatte ki sabji | Gatta Curry | Chickpea flour dumplings in yogurt gravy | Marwadi cusine

Hi Peeps

Gatte ki sabji

For the day two of blogging marathon, no onion no garlic theme, sharing my favorite gatte ki sabji. If you have not tasted this, you definitely have missed something. I had not made this for quiet a while, and DH thought i dont know how to make it. Maybe it was always MIL who prepared it..I thought i need to remind DH of my culinary skills..ha ha just kidding. But to tell you the truth, this came out so amazing, hubby could not stop complementing. And I was all happy happy :)

Roll the gatta dough 

Boil the gatta

Cut the boiled gatte

Shallow fry gatte

INGREDIENTS-

For making gatta-
Gram flour-1.5 cup
Yoghurt-2 tbsp
Oil-3 tbsp
Asafoetida- a pinch
Baking soda- a pinch
Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
Coriander seeds- 1 tsp
Carom seeds/ajwain- a pinch of
Chili powder- 1 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp

For the gravy-
Yoghurt- 1.5 cup
Green chilies- 2
Grated ginger-1 /2 tsp
Chili powder-1 tsp
Coriander powder-1 tsp
Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Garam masala- 1/4 tsp
Salt-1 tsp
Tempering-
Refined oil-3 tbsp
Cumin seeds- 1tsp
Fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tsp
Cloves -2
Bay leaf- 1
Asafoetida- 1/4 tsp

PROCEDURE-
For GATTA-
Coarsly crush coriander and  fennel seeds to add in the gatta dough (optional).
In a bowl add gram flour,crushed seeds and all the ingredients listed for making gattas.
Mix and make a tight dough,add some more yoghurt if needed.
Make 6 balls from the dough and roll them to make long and medium thick rolls.
Boil 2.5 glasses of water in a pan ,when it starts boiling then add the rolls in it.
Boil for around 5-7 minutes ,they will float on top of water when done.
Take out gatta from the pan and let them cool down for 5 minutes.don't throw the water, you will need this to add in the gravy.
Slice into medium size pieces and keep aside

For GRAVY-
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin,fenugreek,asafoetida and cloves .Add the gatta pieces. Stir fry them till it becomes little crispy. Add all the spices turmeric,coriander and chili powder. You can have these gatte like this..they taste awesome! You can store some in frizer and use later.
REMOVE the pan from heat and add whisked yoghurt and stir for a while ,now put the pan on fire and saute for a minute.
Now add approx. 1 cup water(in which you have boiled the gattas) and cook for some time,keep stirring the gravy
When gravy start boiling add the sliced gattas after 2 minutes.
Simmer for 3-5 minutes.add garam masala and fresh coriander. Serve hot.

Gatte ki sabji

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46

Also sending this to

http://www.simplysensationalfood.com/2014/11/announcing-eventlets-cook-with-yoghurt.html?m=1

Sabz Jaipuri | Vegetable Jaipuri | No Onion No Garlic

Hi friends. Sharing with you a very simple and yummy preparation without onion and garlic. 

Ingredients
Mixed Veggies - 3 cups chopped (You can use any blend of veggies here, there is no what to use and what not to - I used, peas, carrots, green beans, corn and potatos)
Haldi (Turmeric Powder) - 1/2 tsp
Lal Mirch (Red Chilli) Powder - 1 tsp
Laung (Cloves) - 3-4
Dalchini (Cinnamon Stick) - 1 inch piece
Salt - as per taste
Oil/Ghee - 1 tbsp
Dhaniya Patti (Cilantro) - few sprigs
To Grind
Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1 tbsp
Dhaniya (Coriander) Seeds - 1 tbsp
Kaju (Cashew Nuts) - 10-12
Tomato - 1 cup chopped
Preparation

Dry Roast dhaniya and jeera and then grind it to a paste (with little water) along with other ingredients under "To Grind".
Take a pan and add oil to it.
Add dalchini and laung and fry till nice aroma comes out of it.
Add chopped veggies and salt and saute for 5 minutes.
Now, add ground paste, haldi, lal mirch powder, 1 cup water and mix well.
Cover, reduce the heat and cook till veggies are cooked well.
Garnish with cilantro.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46

Zigby | Toilet paper roll Zibra Tutorial

Hi friends

Sharing with you a very simple and cute craft today which me and my little one did recently. As you may be aware of our love for tp rolls, we brought them to life again by making a zibra out of them.

You will need:
3 Toilet paper rolls
1 kitchen roll
Glue gun/ PVA glue
White and black acrylic paints
white paper
black pen

Steps:
1. Cut the rolls for body and head as shown.
2. Stick them as shown in the pic below.
3. Paint it with white acrylic paint.
4. Paint lines with black paint after the white paint dries.
5. Cut a white paper to make the eyes and ears.
6. You can make tail also with rolling the paper. I used a balck and white washi tape.
Your Zibra is ready to rock in the childs play sets!

Sending this to

http://lulupu.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/lulupu-challenge-41-childs-play.html?m=1

http://www.creativejewishmom.com

http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/whatever-strikes-your-cre8time-fancy.html?m=1

http://craft-roomchallenge.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/craft-room-challenge-89-anything-3d.html

http://crafterscafeblogchallenge.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/challenge-90-friendship.html

http://craftysentiments.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/anything-goes-challenge.html

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/week-285-anything-but-card.html

Birthday cake pop up card - For a kid by the kid!

Hi Peeps, Sharing with you a lovely card that me and my little one made for a dear friends Son. He is very good friend of my daughter and me and my friend love to see them playing together..

Children love (as well as most adults like me!) love to see a surprise element is a card like a pop up. Hence we decided to make a pop up cake card. You can find the tutorial here . Little miss painted the flower, we stuck some sequin and cute stickers to complete the garden on the front of the card.

Sending this to
http://lulupu.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/lulupu-challenge-41-childs-play.html