Love that Guac!

Today was a home cooked Mexican cuisine day which is always a happy dinner day for all of us.
Biggest Reason- Mommy doesn't have to remind them to eat their dal or veggies and its an easy after dinner cleanup. so Happy Mommy, Happy Home!;))

Today everyone enjoyed a little more as our beloved Guacamole turned out extra delicious. A little googling and a little tweaking made it a super hit.

So without much delay, here it is:

Ingredients:
2-3 ripe Avocados
2 ripe tomatoes, de-seeded and chopped
Half (big) finely chopped onion.
A handful of chopped Coriander
1 lime/lemon juice
1 teaspoon Vinegar
Salt
Powdered roasted cumin
Black pepper/Cayenne pepper powder
1 Large clove of garlic- finely minced
Half, finely chopped Jalapeno pepper

How to:

Ok. First, depending on how ripe or unripe your avocados are, chop, crush, mash or hand blend your avocados in to a paste. Not like a tooth paste( hehe) but a coarse paste. Add everything to it except the lemon juice and mix well. Now add lemon juice a little at a time. Adjust sourness according to taste. If you like it hot, add a few drops of tabasco sauce to it.
TaDa! Serve right away or let it soak in all the flavors for a few hours before serving with your favorite chips or Mexican recipes.

My expert tip- my family loved corn with guacamole. so add a fed frozen but thawed corns to make it extra delicious.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
 

Dill Rice

Here is another favorite of our. I am not saying that this kind of dish never existed but I cooked it while trying to come up with something nice tasting for Fajitas. It tastes good with chinese too.

Ingredients:

I use Basmati Rice- Boiled, excess water strained.

Salt

Black Pepper

1 Lime Juice

Dill weed

Grated Ginger- About 1 tspn

Method:

Heat little oil in a non-stick pan and saute Ginger. Add rice, salt, pepper and dill weed(about 1 tpn for rice enough for 3-4 people).

Start tossing the rice gently- making sure the grains do not break and also, the spices are mixed well. sprinkle lime juice all over the rice and again mix well. When the rice looks well cooked, and doesnt look sticky or lumped, it is ready to be served.

Stir Fried Vegetables with Chinese Sauce

This has become a favorite for all 3 of us. Plus It is a very easy way to have Aanya finish her veggies and believe it or not, ask for more.

So here it goes:

Ingredients:

Broccoli Florets

Zucchini - Cubed

Beans- Cut into 1-2 inches pieces

Carrots -  Sliced/ cubed

Onions- Thickly Sliced

Mushrooms- Sliced

Spinach Leaves- About 10-15 - washed and broken into halves

Stir Fry all these veggies and spinkle a little salt to let the water get out of them fast.

Ingredients for Chinese Sauce:

Roasted Peanuts- About half a handful- remove the skin and crush slightly

Soy Sauce

Crushed or Chopped Garlic- about 4 big Cloves

Grated Ginger- About 1 inch cube

Ajino moto - 1/2 tspn

Black Pepper- 1/4 tspn

Salt - to taste

Sugar- 1 tspn

Corn Starch- 1 heap tspn

Method:

In little oil, saute ginger and garlic and add about 1 cup of water. add soy sauce, ajino moto, salt, pepper and sugar and let it come to a boil.

Dissolve Corn starch in about 2-3 tbspns of water and add to the sauce and turn off the flame. The sauce will start to thicken. After about 5 minutes turn on the flame and adjust thickness with water and add peanuts and stir fried vegetables. cook for about 4-5 minutes and serve with boiled rice or Dill Rice.

Veg Momos with Chilli Sauce

I love Momos! Simply love 'em.

Momos remind me of Noida days when Monu and I would go to sec.-37 market and hog on Momos.

I tried them at home for hygiene purpose and also, cannot eat outside because it is too hot for Aanya.

Here is my secret-

Ingredients:

For dough:

Maida-250 gms

Salt

Oil-1tbspn

Filling-

Grated cabbage

finely chopped green chillies(De-seeded), capsicum, mushroom(optional)

Salt

Pepper

Grated garlic- about 8 big cloves

ginger-1/2 inch-grated

For Sauce-

Dry whole red chillies(8) soaked in water for about 3 hrs.

Salt

Garlic-5 cloves

Method:

Knead maida with salt, oil and water and make a tight dough. Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside.

Now, in a non-stick wok, add little oil. When hot, add garlic, ginger paste and roast for a few seconds. add veggies, salt and pepper and keep cooking for a few minutes. The cabbage will squeeze a bit and the extra water should be gone.

Now, with the dough. make small balls and roll into small poori. Fill 1 spoon of the filling and make a soft potli(like a money bag) and nip off the extra maida from top.

in a big bhagona or pan, add about 1/2 ltr water and bring to boil. Keep a sieve or channi over it and spread momos over it. Momos should not be touching each other. they should be at least 1/2 inch apart.

steam for 8-10 mnts. and serve hot.

For the sauce- take off the cap of the chillies and put in a blender alongwith salt and garlic. Make a smooth paste and serve with momos.

Chat-pat, Swadisht Momos tayyar hain.

Paneer in White Gravy

I was looking for this recipe for some time but could not find the exact, right tasting kind of recipe.

So, decided to try it out myself as the stake was not very high- gunniea pig was Nishet only. ;)

Ingredients-

Paneer(Cottage Cheese)- 250 gms.

Onion-1 large or 2 small

Ginger-1 inch

Green chillies-2

Cashews-about 1/2 cup

Bay Leaf-2

Cinnamon powder-1/4 tspn

Cardomom Powder-1/4 tspn

Salt

Black pepper
Garam Masala-1/4 tspn

Sugar 

Milk-3/4 cup

Oil

Method-

Put onion, ginger and green chillies in a blender and make a very smooth paste. Keep aside. Now put Cashews to the blender and add about 1 tbspn. milk. If we pour the entire milk with cashews, the cashews will never become a paste and cashew pieces will remain. We don't need that. Make a very smooth paste

In a non stick wok or kadhai(take non-stick only because of cashews) heat about 1 tbspn oil and let onion, ginger, chilli paste cook a bit. Do not let it become brownish. We have to catch it at pinkish color and add Bay leaf, Cardomom and cinnamon powder and cook for a few seconds. Now add cashew paste and 1 cup water. After water add remaining milk, salt and 2 pinches of pepper, Garam Masala and 1tspn of sugar.

Now let it cook for about 15 mnts. BUT, you cannot move away. You have to keep stirring this curry else it will get burnt because of cashews in it. So keep scraping from the bottom and the sides with a spatula. 

Add Paneer cubes when ready to serve and cook again for about 5 mnts.

You can garnish it with tomato flower or fresh green chilli strands.

Coconut and Tomato Chutney

It is a slightly abridged version of regular coconut chutney.

Ingredients:

Fresh Coconut- 1/2- Shell peeled out but if the skin is soft, retain it

Tomatoes- 2- Quartered

Onion- 1- Quartered

Garlic- 6-8 cloves, peeled

Curry Leaves- 6

Mustard Seeds(Rai)-1/2 tspn

Red Dry chillies- 2, Soaked for about 1 hour. If you don;t like it too hot, take out the seeds before soaking

Ginger- about /2 inch piece of tender ginger

Salt

oil

Method: Pour about 2 tspn oil in a non stick pan and add mustard seeds. Wait till they splutter and add all other ingredients one by one. Including the coconut. roast it for about 5 minutes or till everything starts to look little cooked.

Put everything in a blender and add little water and salt and make a very smooth paste. Can be served with any South Indian preparations. Tastes great with paranthas as well.

Chana Dal Pakoras

This is one of my favorite snack items. It is suppossed to be deep fried. But to make it healthy, I am alternating it a bit.

Ingredients:

Chana Dal (Bengal Gram Dal)- 1 cup

Green Chillies- Choppes- 2-3

Cilantro/ Coriandar finely chopped- about 1/2 cup

Onlion, Very finely chopped- 1 big

Curry Leaves(not bay leaves)- 7-8- finely chopped

Salt

Red Chilli Powder

Oil

Mehtod: Soak Chana dal for 4-6 hours. One can accelerate it by soaking the dal in warm water.

Grind it without water or with water just enough to make the grinder move. Do not make a paste. the dal should be broken into small pieces. Takeout in a mixing bowl and add all other ingredients.

Now make balls half the size of a ping pong ball and flatten it with your palms. Apply oil on palms before starting to make balls. 

Now you can either deep fry it or follow my healthy detour. 

Grease* a tava and lay flattened balls on it. pour little oil from sides of each patty. Flip it and press it slightly to make it crispy from both sides.

Serve Hot with Mango and Mint chutney.

*Grease- This does not mean putting automobile grease on tava. It means speading little oil. Just Kidding!!