Melt in mouth Dahi Ke Kabab

As the name says it all they just melts in mouth.Soft,delicious,tangy,sweet and what not. Dahi ke kebab is an Indian classic appetizer recipe which is the star of all parties.The kebabs are made of mainly with Greek yogurt or hung curd and are shallow fried so they are healthy too.

Serve them hot with green coriander chutney or ketchup or cream cheese dip along with onion rings.They are lip smacking all the way.........

Lip smacking Dahi ke Kebabs

                 

Ingredients

• Greek yogurt (Hung Curd) - 1 cup
• Roasted gram flour - 2-3 tablespoons
• Corn flour - 2-3 tablespoons 
• Oil or melted butter - 2-3 tablespoons
• Green coriander - finely chopped
• Green chilly - 1, seeds removed and finely chopped
• Ginger paste - ½ tsp
• Pepper - 1/4 tsp less
• some chopped nuts -cashews and raisins optional
• Salt - ½ teaspoon (to taste)
• 
  

                                      Method

1. In large bowl mix hung curd, roasted gram flour , coriander, green chilly, black pepper, ginger, salt and chopped nuts. 

2. Take Corn floor  in a wide plate.

3.Make  balls of the yogurt mix  using your palms and  slightly flatten it out pinching the edges if they tend to break. Coat them in corn flour. (if it gets difficult to work with the yogurt, grease your hands with  little oil)

4. Heat a non stick griddle and add little oil.

5.Place patties on the hot griddle and let them golden brown on medium heat on one side.Keep on adding more oil as required.

6.Flip them over very carefully as they tend to break because of yogurt,let them brown  from both the sides.serve them hot and enjoy......

I am dedicating this dish to my father as Father's Day is around the corner.I am sending it to Simply.food,s Lets Cook For DAD Event.

Thumbprint cookies (Jam Cookies)

Thumbprint Cookies

As I promised in my previous post,I am here with one more cookie recipe which was the part of my son's birthday goodies bag along with Chocolate Kisses Cookies.These are very versatile cookies ,you can fill them with anything of your choice or flavor.These Cookies are egg less and nut free too as some of the kids were allergic to nuts.Same goes with egg also if you are looking for an egg less and nut free cookies recipes,this is the one for you.

Delicious Thumbprint Cookies

                                              Ingredients

1/2 cup  unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup  all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

2-3 tablespoon milk(if needed)

1/4 - 1/2 cup  blueberry jam or any flavor  jam 

                                                                     Method

1.  beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).

2. Add  vanilla extract and beat until combined.

3.In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and salt 

4.Add the flour mixture to the batter (add 1-2 teaspoon of milk if its too dry)and beat just until combined. (If the batter is too soft to roll into balls, refrigerate for about 30 minutes.)

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line a  baking sheet with parchment paper.

6. Roll the dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) ball. Place on the baking sheet spacing about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. Using your thumb or end of a wooden spoon, make a indentation into the center of each cookie.

7.Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until cookies are set .

8. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool. 

9. Let them cool down fro about 15 minutes and then fill each cookies with one teaspoon full of blueberry jam or preserve.Enjoy.

Festive Cookies (Chocolate kisses Cookies)

These are famous chocolate cookies,crowd pleasing easy and appealing to the eyes too.These are  called as Holidays cookies too,as they are mostly the part of Christmas Goodies bags and gift packs. They are kind of oldies but goodies.......And yum...yumm...yummy for sure.

  I baked these for my son's birthday goodies bag and the comments, I received from the kids(my son's friends)  that they like the box of cookies more than other gifts which we gave.I baked Thumbprint jam cookies as well which I will post soon after this.

                                           Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup butter
• 2/3 Cup sugar
• 2 Egg yolks
• 2 Tablespoon chocolate liquor (optional)
• 1 Cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• a pinch  of salt
• 18 -20 caramel kisses chocolate or any kind of chocolate kisses
• 2 tablespoon Vanilla essence 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 raw sugar for coating

                                 

Look at  these tempting little guys,in all their melty,chocolaty topped goodness  and try not to eat one,just try doing that..........

                                                      Method

1. Line  baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or hand mixer, combine the butter, sugar and egg yolks. Beat until fluffy about 5 minutes. Mix in the chocolate liquor.(if using) and Vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder,baking soda and salt.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.
5. Keep this mixture in refrigerator for half an hour or in freezer for 10-15 minutes.
6.  Using a tablespoon scoop, drop cookies about an inch from one another onto prepared baking sheet.  and form each cookie into a ball shape. 
7. Roll each ball in raw sugar ,press into the center with your thumb. Bake for 10-12 minutes. 
8. While the cookies are baking, unwrap your kisses and get them ready.
9. Remove cookies from oven onto a wire rack. Wait 2 minutes.
10.  Now  gently press a kiss into the center of each cookie. Don’t touch them after this point – they will totally melt. Let cool completely.Little cracks are fine.

  

Kisses Cookies

Healthy & Filling Barley Khichdi

Khichdi is always a comforting food.When you are in hurry and want to make one pot meal khichdi always comes first in mind.It has nutritional values as well. Traditional khichdi is made of rice,dal (lentils) and vegetables.

 

 Here I substituted rice with barley and gave a whole new dimensions to traditional .khichdi. This way a one more recipe with whole grain which can be included in our diet ,Including whole grain in our diet is anyway is a very good habbit.According to Wiki

Barley contains eight essential amino acids.^[46] According to a 2006 study, eating whole-grain barley can regulate blood sugar (i.e. reduce blood glucose response to a meal) for up to 10 hours after consumption compared to white or even whole-grain wheat, which have similar glycemic indices.^[47] The effect was attributed to colonic fermentation of indigestible carbohydrates.

For more info on this Healthy grain visit the link below-
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=127


Hmmn.. So now comes the recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp butter or ghee
¼ tsp cumin seeds
1/8 teaspoon asafetida
2 dry red chili,  Optional
½ onion, minced
1 small tomato, chopped finely
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ cup pearled barley
¼  cup yellow moong dal or toor dal

 cilantro for garnishing

Papad,Pickle,Yogurt to serve along

Method

Soak barley in warm water for at least two hours ,the more the better.soak dal for at least half an hour too.

 Heat ghee in a pressure cooker Add the cumin seeds,  asafetida and  stir for 30 seconds.

 Then add onions. saute on medium heat till the onions are soft .

 Add  tomatoes, and cook till they are soft.

 Add turmeric,soaked and washed barley and moong  dal. Stir for a few seconds. Add 3 cups of water and salt.

 Bring the water to a boil.put lid on the pressure cooker,let two whistle come and Then reduce heat to low,, and let it simmer till the barley is cooked,about  15 minutes.  If you want the barley to be softer, cook it longer.But  add water if needed, 1/2 cup at a time.(check after 15 minutes if you want to further cook  your barley in khichdi)

7. Taste the khichdi and adjust salt if needed. Serve hot with papad ,pickle and yogurt on side.

Cream Cheese spread (dip) with Multigrain Crackers

Munch on these multigrain crackers with delicious cream cheese dip.This is ideal for any party as starter .Actually this cream cheese in a multipurpose dip or spread whatever you call it.Apply it on toast ,bagels ,crackers or serve it as a dip with raw vegetable or chips for a ideal party platter.You can even spread it on flat breads for a on the go snack roll,I always have a jar of this this in my refrigerator.Recently I even served it with Kebabs and they tasted yummy with it.

Now talk about crackers I added different kinds of flour in it but if you want only all purpose flour or wheat flour can be added.I baked them ,alternatively they can be fried too.

Cream Cheese Dip

Ingredients

1 package (8 Ounces) Cream Cheese, Slightly Softened

2 whole Green Onions, Sliced

1/4 whole Large Carrot, Peeled And Finely Diced

1/4 whole Red Bell Pepper(green bell pepper), Finely Diced 

1/4 cup Finely Diced Red Onion

1 Tablespoon Chopped Dill (more To Taste)

1 clove Garlic, Peeled

Black pepper , to taste

Salt ,to taste

Method

Combine the cream cheese with all the other ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture reaches the consistency you want: it can be chunky, with larger pieces of the veggies, or you can keep going until it's very mixed together or smooth as I like mine smooth,that's it.

Transfer the spread to a container and store, or in serving bowl, in the fridge. Serve cold with crackers or chips or bagels or veggies or use in cold vegetable sandwich as spread or serve with any flat breads OH! so many "OR".

             Multigrain Crakers

                                                        Ingredients 

                                            All purpose flour 1/2 cup

                                          wheat flour  1/4 cup

                                          Pearl millet flour 1/4 cup

                                         Maize Flour 1/4 cup

                                         oil 1/4 cup

                                       salt to taste

                                     Hot Water to knead the dough

                                    Italian seasoning 1/2 tbsp (optional)

                                                             Method

Preheat the oven at 350 degree F.

Mix all flours along with salt and seasoning ,mix well.

Now add oil and rub with hand so that the flour mixture absorb oil evenly.

Now add water slowly and knead it into a tight dough,keep aside for at least 15 minutes.

Roll the dough about 1/2 inch thick with the help of rolling pin and cut lengthwise or in  desired shape.

Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for about 12-15 minutes or untill it becomes little red and looks done. Let them cool for 10 minutes and enjoy.

   

Baked Yogurt (Bhapa Doi)

This baked yogurt or Bhapa doi needs no introduction ,specially in Bengali households.You can call it Bengali cheesecake.It is same in texture like cheesecake.Very tasty and very easy to put together too. Traditionally this recipe is a cake which is made by steaming sweetened thick yogurt.But in our modern kitchen to simplify the process we bake the yogurt in water to give the same taste and texture to this delicious dessert.

For the traditionally  baked yogurt they use earthen pots to serve it .In our kitchen we can use any ovenproof dish or ramekins to make single serve portions.Since i did not have ramekins and wanted to make mine in single serve portions ,I made these single serve aluminium foil cups.We Indians are always good in 'JUGAAD'.Although I was very much skeptical before using my foil cups but they really worked well and solved my purpose.

Ingredients

500 gms  Yogurt (hung yogurt or Greek yogurt)

 1 can or 394gms Condensed Milk

4 Green Cardamons (powdered)

Few strands of Saffron

1 -2 tbsp milk 

few pistachios and chirongi nuts to garnish

Method

• Preheat the oven to 190 C or 350 degree F.
• Soak saffron strands in warm milk and keep aside.
• Meantime, mix yogurt and condensed milk in a bowl and mix well with a whisk until smooth.
• Add cardamon powder in yogurt mixture along with saffron infused milk.
• Pour this yogurt mixture into 6 ramekins or an oven safe dish.I used my foil cups.
• In a big baking tray, place these ramekins and fill it with hot water until 2/3 of the ramekins are inserted in the water.
• Carefully place the baking tray with the ramekins in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes in a preheated oven.
• Bake it until the toothpick or knife inserted comes out clean.  Mine took 18  minutes,   Once done remove them from the oven.
• Let the Bhapa doi cool for 10 – 15 minutes.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve.  This dessert  should be chilled before serving.Garnish it with nuts when ready to serve.

Sweet & Salty Carom seed Cookies (Ajwain biscuits)

These sweet and salty cookies are melt in mouth.I love these because these are both sweet and salty in taste.There are so many sweet childhood memories are associated with these .These are very common in Indian Bakeries and known as ajwain cookies.The whole house smells divine while these are in oven,the smell of butter with carom seeds oh; so good.

Ingredients

All purpose Flour - 2 cup

Butter -  ½ cup

 Powdered sugar - ¼ cup

 Milk - ¼ cup

Carom seeds - 1 tsp

Salt - ½ tsp

Method

Preheat the oven at 350 degree f.(180 degree c).Place the baking rack at the middle of the oven.

Take all purpose flour,sugar,carom seeds,salt and melted butter in a big bowl and mix . Add 2-3 tbsp milk and mix well. If dough remains dry then add 1-2 tbsp more milk and keep binding the dough.

 Cover the dough and keep it aside for 20 minutes (For better result or can be make immediately too)

Spread some dry flour on the rolling board place the dough on top of the board, roll and flatten with hands,With help of rolling pin roll the dough in ½ cm thick  and cut with  cookies cutter.

 Cut cookies from entire sheet and place them on baking tray at some distance.

 Place the baking tray in oven and bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Check after 10 minutes. If cookies are light brown in color, bake for 2-5 more minutes.

Let them cool for 10-15 minutes after baking and enjoy.

Easy Corn Muffin without eggs

This is a very simple but delicious muffin recipe which can be made in no time. Usually everything is available at home which goes in this recipe.Easy to make and fun to eat.This good for them too who avoid eating cakes and muffins because they are made of all purpose flour,it has very less quantity of it. These muffins are yummy and less sweet which make them ask for more....And yes they are egg less too.

  There are two things corn  muffin and corn meal bread but people consider it to be one ,on the other hand they are totally different things.cornbread never has that much sugar in it and is savory in taste not sweet.(I will post the recipe of corn bread too later.)

You don't need to take out your mixer and all for this recipe just mix the ingredient in one bowl and you are ready to bake,its that easy ...

Ingredients

Maize flour(corn meal) - 1/2 cup

All purpose flour - 1/2 cup 

Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup 

Baking powder - 3/4 tsp

Baking soda -  1/4 tsp

 Curd or sour cream - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1/4 cup 

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Tutti fruity - 1/2 cup

Method

Preheat the oven at 350 degree f and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven.

Take maize flour, refined flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and baking soda in a big bowl and mix everything together.

Add curd or sour cream, butter (room temperature) and vanilla essence in another bowl and mix.

 Now add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix  well. add tutti-fruity  and mix.

Batter for making muffin is ready. Take muffin molds  and grease it with butter or line with muffin liners .

 Pour the mixture into it and tap it over to get the batter  even.

Bake it for 15- 20 minutes or untill the top becomes light brown and the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Place them on wire rack to cool or can have it warm as well,tastes great when warm.

Variation

Any kind of dry fruits such as chopped cashew nut ,raisins,almonds and pistachios

 goes very well with it in place of tutti fruity.

Drizzle them with some honey or maple syrup when they are still warm and serve ,they are divine.