Brinjal Sambhar - Recipe Artist

Ingredients: To make Sambhar powder….

• Coriander seeds ½ tbs 
• Jeera 1 tsp 
• Chana dal 1tsp 
• Fenugreek ½ tsp 
• Pepper corns ½ tsp 
• Kashmiri Red chillies -2 
• Pinch of turmeric, asafetida, curry leaves

Method:

Roast red chillies, coriander, jeera, chana dal, fenugreek, pepper, curry leaves till nice aroma comes.
Powder when it turns in to room temperature.
Add asafetida powder and mix well keep aside.

Ingredients: To make Sambar… 

• Brinjal-3 to 4 
• Toor dal-1/2 cup 
• Tamarind pulp-2tsp 
• Green chilli-2 
• Oil, urad dal,mustard seeds for seasoning. 
• Salt, curry leaves, coriander leaves. 
• Turmeric powder a pinch. 

Method….

Cut the brinjal into cubical pieces, and immerse in water for 15 minutes then drain the water.
Pressure cook toor dal till mushy.
In a cooking pan, add brinjal pieces, green chilli, tamarind juice, and water just to immerse the pieces.
Bring this to boil and lower the flame.
Add turmeric powder, salt, and few curry leaves and cook till soft.
Now add cooked toor dal and water till you get right consistency which you prefer.
Bring this to boil by adding sambar powder.
Adjust the quantity of sambar powder according to the spices you need.
Now heat the tempering pan, add oil, when heat, season with urad dal, mustard seeds, and curry.
Hot brinjal curry goes well with rice, dosa, idli…..!

Note: 

To increase the aroma add Drumstics along with brinjal. This sambar powder can also be used in mixed vegetable sambar. Sambar powder lasts for a month in a air tight container. Om shanti leaves. Pour this seasoning over the sambar. Garnish with coriander leaves. Hot brinjal curry goes well with rice, dosa, idli…..! 

Besan ki burfi - Recipe Artist

Ingredients:

• Besan/chickpea flour-1/2cup 
•  Grated carrot-1/2cup 
•  Milk-1/2cup 
•  Ghee 3/4cup 
•  Sugar-3/4-cup 
•  Cashew nuts and dry fruits of your choice-few

Method:

 Heat kadai/pan and roast chickpea flour till the raw smell goes and slightly changes its color. Keep it aside. In the same pan, add grated carrot and stir till it shrinks down and the raw smell goes. Take 2tsp of ghee and fry the dry fruits and keep it aside.

Mix all the above ingredients in such a way that no lumps are formed as well as sugar is dissolved completely. In a low flame, stir this burfi mixture till it thickens and leaves the side with porous texture. Transfer it to the greased tray and cut it into the desired shape.

Rice noodles Payasam - Recipe Artist

Ingredients: 

•  Raw rice – 1 cup 
•  Jaggery – 2 cups 
•  Coconut milk – 3cups 
•  Cardamom powder, cashews, raisins 

Method: 

 Soak raw rice in water for 2hours and grind into very smooth paste by adding water. Transfer the batter to a heavy bottom pan and add 2cups of water and make it thin batter( like buttermilk ), add pinch of salt and stir well and bring to boil till it turns into thick single lump. Press these hot dumplings in a Sev presser (the disc which have bigger holes) on a plate and allow cooling completely.

 Take a bowl add jaggery and 2 cups of water and bring it to boil. Now transfer the noodles gently into this syrup. Let it to boil for 10 minutes stirring very gently in order to keep the noodles in good shape. You can adjust the sweetness as per your choice. Add Coconut milk and boil for 2-3 minutes. Add cardamom powder and fried cashews and Raisins. Serve hot.

Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 
• 1 tsp. baking soda, 
• 1/2 tsp. salt, 
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 
• 1 tsp. cinnamon 
• 3 bananas, mashed, 
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, 
• 1/3 cup agave nectar or any liquid sweetener 
• 1/3 cup oil, 
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds Crumb Topping 
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds 
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 
• 2 Tbsp. oil 
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar 

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. In a small bowl, with a blender blend in bananas, oil, and sugars.

3. Sieve together 1 ½ cups flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.

4. With a large fork mix the dry and wet ingredients. Fold in almonds

5. For the crumb topping, mix together flour, brown sugar, oil, cinnamon and sliced almonds until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

6. Line 18 muffin cups with paper and lightly grease.

7. With an ice cream scoop evenly distribute the batter to the 18 muffin cups.

8. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the muffins.

9. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. 

Orange Cake Recipe

Cake Ingredients 

• 1 large orange, 
• 1 cup raisins, 
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 cup white sugar, 
• 1 tsp. baking soda, 
• 1 tsp. salt, 
• 3/4 cup soy milk (or any milk) 
• 1/2 cup oil, 
• 1/4 soy yogurt (or any yogurt) 

Topping Ingredients

• 1 orange, 
• 1/3 cup sugar, 
• 1 tsp. corn starch (also called corn flour in some countries) 
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts 

Method 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2. Zest the orange, take the white skin off, take seeds out (if any), and put the whole inside of the orange (this includes pulp) with the zest in a food processor.

3. Now add 1/3 cup of walnuts, 1 cup of raisins, 3/4 cup of soy milk, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of oil, and 1/4 cup of soy yogurt to the food processor and pulse till a fine paste like batter forms. These are the wet ingredients.

4. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. These are the dry ingredients. 5. Now add the wet ingredients mixture to the dry ingredients.

5. Now add the wet ingredients mixture to the dry ingredients.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

7. For the topping: Zest the other orange, juice it (this time remove all the pulp) and set aside.

8. Add the 1 tsp. corn starch to the orange juice and blend well till no lumps form.

9. In a small sauce pan, heat the orange, corn starch mixture, add the 1/3 cup of sugar, and the zest and stir till the mixture is bubbly, then switch off the heat. This is the topping mixture

10. Drizzle the topping mixture over warm cake. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnuts over the topping on the cake

Blueberry Muffins Recipe

Ingredients 1

• 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 
• 2/3 cup sugar, 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder, 
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 
• 1/4 cup soy yogurt 
• 1/3 cup soy milk, 
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice , 
• 1 Tbsp. lemon zest 
• 1 cup fresh blueberries For topping 
• 2 Tbsp. flour, 
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil, 
• 3 Tbsp. sugar, 1 Tbsp. lemon zest,
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice 

Directions 

Preheat oven at 175 degrees centigrade
1. In a mixing bowl, wisk together oil, milk, yogurt and 1 tbsp. lemon juice. Wisk in until well blended, then blend in sugar and 1 tbsp. lemon zest.

2. Sieve flour, baking powder, and salt over wet ingredients.

3. Use wisk to mix all ingredients together.

4. Coat blueberries with 1 tbsp. of flour and gently fold them into batter

5. Spray 12 muffin cups with cooking oil and evenly distribute batter among them.

6. For topping, mix flour, lemon zest, and sugar, then stir in lemon juice and oil. Evenly distribute over unbaked muffins

Bake approx. 20 min. 

Lemon Pickle Recipe

Ingredients: 

Big sized Lemon- 2
Salt-5 to 6tsp
Fenugreek/Methi-1/2tsp
Red chillie powder-1tbsp
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds-1/2tsp
Curry leaves- few
Red chillie-1
Asafetida/hing-a pinch
Gingelly/Mustard oil-1/2tbsp

Method:

Wash and pat dry the lemon and cut it into 8 pieces. Keep it in a dry container after mixing salt and rest it for 1 week to marinate. Dry roast Methi and make it a fine powder. Take awok, add1/2tbsp oil, when hot add mustard seeds, broken dry chillie, and curry leaves. When mustard splutters, switch off the flame. Now add methi powder, red chillie powder, turmeric powder, and hing. Add the marinated lemon and mix well. Adjust the salt and chillie powder as per your choice.

Note: In all these steps of preparation, keep the water at away. Use Spoon, vessel, and container dry throughout. Shelf life of this pickle is 1to1 1/2month.You can also use lime instead of lemon.

Mango Pickle Recipe

Ingredients 

Raw mango, cut into small cubes-2cups
Mustard seeds-1tbsp
Turmeric powder-2tsp
Kashmiri chillie-20
Asafetida-chickpea sized
Salt -½ cup
Water -1cup

Method

Take a wide bowl add 1cup of water and ½ cup of salt. Bring it to rolling boil and cool down completely. Ensure the mixer jar wiped completely to remove any moisture. Grind the red chillie, mustard seeds, turmeric powder, and asafetida into a fine paste by adding boiled and cooled down salt water. Mix well this paste with diced mango pieces.

In all these steps contact of water will spoil the pickle. You can adjust the salt and chillie according to your taste.

Shelf life of this pickle is 2 weeks. You can refrigerate it for longer use.