Cha /Masala Tea

It took me a while to really make a GOOD cup of tea / cha. It was Sanjeev's Mum who had gifted me a packet of tea from Delhi and taught me how to make a perfect tea. I am so greatful to 'Didi" for teaching me how to make this perfect cup of tea and I even call it 'Diditea'.It may sound funny but thats how I call my cup of tea!


Ingredients:
1 tab.sp. of Assam Tea
1 piece of crushed fresh ginger
2 cloves
1 cup of full milk ( i use preserved milk)
1 cup of water.
Sugar

Method:
Bring to boil all the above ingredients .Let it simmer for a minute.

Switch off the gas and close the pan with its lid and let it rest for 5 minutes..

Sieve & serve hot ! This makes two cups of Cha.


Tips: If you do not have Assam tea use only English breakfast tea bags.Here you will need 2 bags .




Enjoy!

Kwark / Quark /Srikhand

This is a dessert I have been serving during lunches dinners ever since I came to the Netherlands. During one such dinner I heard someone say the Srikhand was tasty and in India it was served with poori (a kind of deep fried Indian bread) and this is when I started calling it 'Srikhand'. I had called it '"Kward met fruit/Quark with fruit."..... This is made with ready made Kwark freely available at the super market... try this out.


Ingredients:
400 Gms. of Kwark
4 to 6 tab. sp. of fine white sugar or Honey
Few pinches of Saffron threads
A pinch of cardamon powder


Method:

Empty the Kwark into a glass bowl & add all the above ingredients and mix well.

Place this in the fridge over night.

When serving give it a stir again& serve with fruit.

Banana & Mango goes very well with Kwark.


Enjoy!


Tips:
A perfect dessert made in no time and well appriciated by all!

Moong Dal Payasam / Kheer

(Cherupayar payasam)

Everyone who has had this payasam at my place just LOVED it!.

In my younger days when mum made this I never liked it as I hated anything made out of jaggery. I never tasted this payasam and on my Birthday I could choose and my Mum made special Pal / Milk payasam for me & I was happy!......

When I started making this payasam I found it very tasty and when I would tell my Mum how good it turned out to be she would ask me surprised if I had tried it. I love this payasam now and anything made out of Jaggery!!!..... and my explaination to all this is perhaps that I got some attention those days when she made special pal payasam for Papa (Papa is my pet name)

Now, everytime I make this payasam I am asked for its recipe and often I have told the guestsin a nut shell  how to make it.

Here is an easy way to make this delicious payasam which I am sure you will all try .....



Ingredients:
1 cup Moong dal
1 cup jaggery syrup( I use palm sugar syrup)
200 ml of coconut milk (I use Kara product)
400 mll water
1 tab. sp.Ghee
Handful halved raw cashewnut
A handful of raisins
4 cloves
Cardamom powder
1 tsp. dry ginger powder(chukku)
Pinch of Salt

This will serve 10 to 12

Method:
Using a heavy pan heat the Ghee and fry the Moongdal om a medium flame until they are all coated in Ghee and half the Moongdal turned dark brown(do not burn)You need to keep stirring as we do not want the entire Moongdal brown.

Then cook or pressure cook* this in water , cloves & salt for about 15 minutes or until they are 3/4 done.

Using a ladel mash half of the contents& stir the entire cooked moongdal well & add the jaggery syrup & the ginger powder & allow to simmer.

Then add the coconut milk give it a good stir and simmer for another 5 minutes. If the payasam / kheer is too thick add some milk or water to dilute.

Garnish with Cashewnuts & raisins &fresh coconut pieces fried in ghee. This garnish is what makes the payasam a big hit!




Garnish for payasam:
Heat another tab. sp of Ghee & fry the coconut pieces until they are almost dark brown but not burnt.

Then add the cashew nut and the raisins. Allow the cashewnuts to brown and the raisins to puff up.

Add this to the payasam & give it a stir.

Finally add the ground Cardamon powder & serve warm.


Enjoy!


Tips:
After you have fried the Moongdal I have seen my mum wash it in water. I have never done this.

I use palm sugar /Gula java available at the chineese or Indonesian stores.Mind you this is tastier than our Jaggery.

If I remember, asa kid when I travelled by train some place near Vadagara in Kerala we could get Ari chakkara / rice jaggery to buy.

This Ari Chakkara tasted very much like the Palm Sugar / Gula Java.

This payasam is at its best when served hot on a banana leaf!!!! the aroma of the leaf adds more flavor to this great payasam....

Onion Baje/ Pakora

First of all, I'd like to wish you all a happy New Year!

In 2014, I'll make sure to give you a new recipe every week so you can make it a year full of delicous food! Starting off  with: Pakora:)

This is a favourite during the lunches and dinners with all of us. I could say Onion at its best!. Very simple to make and done in no time.

This is specially for Marijn ( my little jochie :-) now 18 I babysat :-) )
He is so fond of this that we made it almost every week.The only time he would not have this is when he had to go out with his bunch of GFs and BFs......& I could understand that.... nobody wants to smell after fried onions right? & mind you the entire house smells and I could not wait to keep all windows and doors wide open ...& often Hannie my neighbour would ask me "what are you cooking Hmmm"

But it's definitely worth it once in a while as it is a delicious and simple dish, so please try it and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:
1 large onion
2 green chillies sliced into fine rings
Pinch of whole cumin seed
Few pinches of Hing / asefetida
4 tab. spoons of Gram flour
1/4 tsp. of Turmeric powder /kurkuma
A handful of chopped coriander leaves
1 Tab. sp. of ground rice powder


Method:
Remove skin and halve the onion & slice the halves into fine semi circular rings

Add the salt & green chillies and give it a good squeeze and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Now add rest of the ingredients andmix well.

Take a tab. sp. of the baje dough flatten it a bit & drop them into hot oil and fry until golden grown on either side.

Remove & put  them on a kitchen paper and allow all oil to drain.

Serve with coconut chutney or tomato chutney!

Enjoy!

Thalaasaney / Beans stir fried

This is my favourite dish.....Mithil my friend in Bangalore makes sure she makes this every time we are with them. I made it here and sent her the foto to get her opinion and she mailed back saying it looked good & advicsed me to fry the Garlic a bit longer to get more brown. This dish is very easy to make .Whole crushed Garlic is used here and only when you taste the stir fried slow cooked garlic you realise how tasty garlic can be!

Ingredients:
500 gms. of fresh & tender beans
1 to 2 tab.sp. coconut oil
1 tsp. of Turmeric
8 to 10 fresh garlic crushed (dont remove the skin)
1 or two dry red chillies
Few curry leaves
Salt to taste


Method:
Heat the oil and fry the Garlic,red chillies & the curry leaves until the Garlic turnes golden brown.

Now add the beans cut into 1 inch length

Add the turmeric powder and salt.

Mix well and adding a few tab.sp. of water stir fry this on high flame for 5 minutes and then simmer on a low flame for another 5 minutes with the lid of the pan on.

Done!


Tips: 
You need to use coconut oil to get the great flavor. I have also used Groundnut oil / Archideolie to prepare this vegetable.
All you need here is hot white rice to go with it!
At the Hague Market you can buy fresh / tender /new Garlic and they are rose in color.

Thyme & Cucumber Salad in Yogurt Sauce

I love yogurt and I have tried almost every variety of them available at the super market.The yoghurt that reminds me of the home-made yogurt is the Turkish yogurt or even the Greek one.Have to mention these yogurts have high fat contents(10%) while the local ones have very low contents.So not always I would go for these yogurts with high fat contents. But to make this Salad I use one of them.

Its a great yogurt salad which goes well with vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes.



Ingredients:
200 ml of yogurt(Greek or Turkish)
1 large clove of garlic finely ground to a paste with 1/2 tea sp. of salt
1/4 a tab. sp.of fresh Thyme leaves.
2 cucumbers

Method:
Remove skin of the cucumbers grate and press out all the juice.

Add the garlic paste to the yogurt and give it a good stir.

Add now the fresh Thyme leaves slightly crushed to the yogurt .

Serve as a Salad with fried fish / meat or french fries.



Enjoy!

Broccoli Soup

This is a recipe I tried out after we returned from Ireland.
A country I have fallen in love with! It reminded me of my childhood days visiting Interier(country side) of North Malabar with green grass paddy fields and narrow lanes& roads & fences made out of wood and stone even though Ireland had multiple colors of green grass fields...
On our tour we had this soup in one of the restaurants and immediately after returning I made this for my husband who fully agreed it tasted better than the one we had ..:-)
It was one of the best soup I had ever tasted.I love broccoli , want you to try this easy & simple way of making it.

This is specially for Nandu my niece in Bangalore.She had tried this soup when she had visited us & wanted me to put in on my blog.

So Nandu and all of you try it!
Ingredients:

two heads of broccoli
200 ml of cream
3 vegetable soup cubes ( groente bullion)
3 cloves of garlic
600 ml water
Few twiggs of fresh thyme

Method:
Boil 10 to 15 minutes the broccoli & the soup cubes in 600 ml of water.

Then, using a blender puree the same to a fine texture.

Add now the cream , freshly pressed /ground garlic and the Thyme twigs and give it a good stir......

Soup is ready to be served.

I love this served for lunch with toasted brown bread ....Try it out!.

Tips:
I have used the long life cream called '' houdbare slagroom '
Thyme leaves are freely available at the super markts, u can dry the left over leaves for later use.
Get one plant from the garden center, U can keep them in yourindoor or outdoor as its a winter hard plant.
If you need more salt add an extra soup cube.You can even use Chicken soup cubes instead of the vegetable ones.
If its too thick add some water to dilute. However Broccoli soup should be
thick and not watery!