The heat is on and you all must be craving for some cool beverages. This cool and spicy mattha is one of them. This is also served in Indian marriages.
To make mattha, take 1 cup of yogurt, beat well and add water to it to form buttermilk. To this, add the blended mixture of green chillies, cumin seeds and ginger. Add little salt and garnish with cilantro. Chill for a couple of hours before serving. Try it out and i am sure this chilled Mattha would definitely soothe you from this scorching heat.
This simple, easy and a quick sandwich is everyone's favourite snack but do you guys know that these sandwiches are sold on the streets of Mumbai and is tremendously appreciated and pleased by the crowd. So, here is what you need -
Ingredients -
1) Bread slices
2) Sliced vegetables (Boiled potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions)
3) Butter
4) Black Pepper and
5) Green chutney
Method -
1) Create the sandwich by first applying a layer of butter followed by the green chutney on 2 bread slices.
2) Then simply spread the diced vegetables and sprinkle black pepper on 1 slice and cover it with the other slice.
Sandwich is ready!!! You can have your choice of mixed vegetables. Grated cauliflower with carrots and cheese would also make a good combination. So, Enjoy!!!
To make the green chutney just blend together a bunch of fresh cilantro, 8-10 mint leaves, 2-3 green chillies, 1 tspn cumin seeds with a little water. Add salt and lemon to taste and this superfast chutney is ready.
Spicy Potatoes or Masaledar Aloo, this recipe was created by a fluke. I was going to make the staple boiled potatoes sabzi and suddenly thought of trying something different. And yes, this was a big hit. I boiled the potatoes and cut them in large cubes. I opened up my spice box and mixed all the dry spice powders I had to the potatoes and there it was..A tempting appetizer!! Here is what you need -
Ingredients -
1) 3-4 large potatoes boiled
2) Spices
3) mustard seeds, asafoetida and turmeric powder for seasoning
4) 2-3 dry red chiliies
5) 1-2 green chillies finely chopped
6) 4-5 curry leaves
7) Lime juice and a bunch of coriander chopped finely
8) Oil for frying
Method -
1) Cut the potatoes in large cubes and let it cool down completely.
2) Now, open up your spice box and add as much dry spice powders you want to the potatoes. I added red chilli powder, cumin-coriander powder, amchur powder, chat masala, garam masala, sambar powder and Pav Bhaji Masala and lastly salt. Go a little easy on salt as all these powders contain some amount of salt in it.
3) Now heat some oil in a skillet and add the mustard seeds. Once they crackle add the asafoetida and turmeric powder, curry leaves, dry red chillies and green chillies. Saute and add the potatoes.
4) Mix well. Cover the lid and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the lime juice and cilantro and mix well. Spicy Potatoes are ready.
I served them with hot chapatis. You can even prick a toothpick in the aloos and it would work as a great appetizer too.
My aunt used to make these pancakes. Never ate them before. Just tried them this weekend and we both liked it. It was friday night and my pantry was empty. I was thinking what can be made for dinner. I had nice gourmet mini cucumbers that I had bought from Costco just a day before and suddenly this recipe came to my mind. I do not know the original recipe for this but just gave it a try and it came out to be great...So, here is what you need.
Ingredients -
1) 3 cucumbers grated
2) 1 cup rice flour
3) 3-4 green chillies finely chopped
4) 1 tspn cumin seeds
5) 2-3 tbspn sesame seeds
6) Salt to taste and Oil for frying
Method -
1) In a bowl mix all the ingredients except the sesame seeds with as much water required to form a batter of pancake consistency. A little thicker than the dosa batter.
2) Heat a pan and pour a laddleful of batter and apply little oil from the sides.
3) Sprinkle little sesame seeds on top. Fry from both the sides.
Cucumber pancakes are ready. Serve them hot with pickle or a dallop of butter.
I am not at all fond of sweets. But my husband is just the opposite. He loves SWEETS, any kind of sweets and is always craving to have sweets. And I am always thinking of what sweet can be made. So, i have made a list of sweet things and going to try them out atleast twice a week. Here is one of them i made yesterday. Very easy and quick to make. Here is what you need.
Ingredients -
1) 1 cup Vermicelli
2) 2 cups milk (I used 2%)
3) a pinch of cardamom powder
4) 1 cup sugar
5) dryfruits for garnishing
6) 1 tbspn pure ghee
Method -
1) Heat ghee in a skillet and roast the vermicelli until nice golden brown. Keep it aside.
2) Pour milk in the same skillet and bring it to boil. Add the roasted vermicelli and sugar and boil it stirring in between for around 8-10 minutes. Trun off the gas.
3) Kheer is ready. Mix the cardamom powder and garnish it with dryfruits.
It was awesome...Hubby dear liked it and he made complete justice to it. I liked it too.
I met an old friend of mine recently. Thanks to orkut for that. We met after almost 5-6 years. She was my next door childhood friend. We actually grew up together. And then we were so much busy in our own routine lives that we completely lost touch of each other. And now, when i met her after these long years, there was so much to talk and so much to share. Ohhh..I became nostalgic and went back to our childhood days. Remembered our old days, the laughter, the cries, the secrets.
Oops, I am sorry. You might be thinking why am I writing this on my food blog. Well, today when i was speaking to her, she said she made moong dal for lunch. I had not made this dal for a long long time and so thought of making it today.
Well, this is not something special. You all might be making moong dal in your own style. This is my version.
Ingredients -
1) 1 cup split moong dal pressure cooked
2) 1/2 tspn mustard and cumin seeds each
3) 1/2 tspn turmeric powder and a pinch of asafoetida
4) 1/2 onion finely chopped
5) 2-3 dry red chillies
6) 3-4 curry leaves
7) 1 inch ginger grated
8) Salt to taste and Oil
Method -
1) Heat oil in a kadhai and add the mustard seeds once its heated followed by the cumin seeds, asafoetida and turmeric powder.
2) Now add the red chillies and the curry leaves.
3) Once the curry leaves splutter add onion and ginger and saute nicely for about couple of minutes.
4) Now add the cooked dal with 1 cup of water. Mix well and add salt as per taste.
5) Let it boil for a couple of minutes and the delicious dal is ready.
6) Garnish with coriander and serve hot.
You can serve it with hot chapatis or rice. Its awesome. A simple yet delicious dal. I just love this. It good than the normal toor dal and its non acidic too.
The heat is on and you all must be craving for some cool beverages. This cool and spicy mattha is one of them. This is also served in Indian marriages. 
