Strawberry Lemonade

Strawberry lemonade

Ingredients:
Fresh ripe strawberries - 20 pieces
Lemon juice - squeezed from one lemon
Water - 1 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3 tablespoon or according to your taste

Method:
Add ripe strawberries, lemon juice , sugar and 1/2 cup water in a blender and blend well.
Add remaining 1 cup of water and again blend well.
Voilà. Drop few ice cubes and serve.

Note: Add water according to the sourness of lemon juice.

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Strawberry salad

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, we're preparing for it with a strawberry mania. The strawberry salad you see below took a while for designing but thankfully, my daughter helped me design this.

Ingredients for Salad:

Fresh strawberries sliced - 1/2 cup

Fresh baby spinach - 1 cup (chopped)

Almonds - 2 tablespoon (sliced)

Cider vinegar - 1/2 tablespoon

Honey - 1/2 tablespoon

Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon

Salad preparation Method:

In a salad bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds.

Combine vinegar, honey and sugar in a jar with a tight lid.

Shake well.

Sprinkle over salad and toss.

Recipe source : internet

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Pudina Roti

Another variation of roti using mint leaves.

Ingredients:
Wheat flour - 2 cups
Mint leaves - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 teaspoon
Salt as required

Method:
In a mixing bowl, add wheat flour, ghee, salt and mix them well.
Chop half cup of mint leaves and include this to the flour mix.
Again mix well.
Add required water and knead into a dough.
Cover and keep it aside for 20 minutes.
While the dough is cooling off, fry the other half of mint leaves till it becomes dry. (no moisture in leaves)
Cool and crush this and keep this aside.

Pick up key lime size dough and flatten it as thin as possible.
Fold it in a zig-zag fashion.


Pack into a strip.
Roll tightly into a spiral shape and seal the edge.

Again flatten into circle.
Sprinkle the crushed mint leaves over the roti.
Roll the rolling pin over roti a couple of times so that the crushed mint leaves stay together with roti.
Lay the roti on a hot tawa in a medium flame.
Cook both sides of roti.
Serve hot with any side-dish if desired.

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Butter chicken or Murgh makhni

Ingredients:
Skinless, boneless chicken thighs - 1 lb (cut into bite sizes)

Ingredients for Marinating:
Ginger paste - 1 teaspoon
Garlic paste - 1 teaspoon
Curd - 1 tablespoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Garam masala - 1/4 teaspoon
Oil- 1teaspoon
Lemon juice - 1teaspoon
Orange or red colour - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt as required

Ingredients for makhni sauce:
Cardamom -4
Cinnamon - 1
Cloves-2
Tomato puree -from 3 medium tomatoes
Sugar -1teaspoon
Ginger paste - 1 teaspoon
Garlic paste - 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon
Butter - 2 tablespoon
Kasoori methi - 1/4 teaspoon
Cashewnuts-2 tabespoon
Salt as required
Fresh cream for garnishing
Red or orange colour - 1/4 teaspoon

Method:
Marinate the chicken with the given ingredients under marination for overnight or 4 hrs in the fridge.
Preheat the oven for 400degree F. Fix all the chicken in skewers and keep it in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
Baste it with oil in between.

Soak the casewnuts in hot water for 20 minutes. Grind the cashews with little water into thick paste.

Melt the butter in a kadai.
Fry the ginger-garlic paste till the raw smell goes off.
Add the tomato puree and sugar fry till it becomes thick without burning.
Then add the red chilli powder, garam masala, kasoori methi, salt and mix well.
After 2 minutes add the cashew paste and little water .
Stir continuously another 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the food colour and mix well.
Add the chicken pieces in the makni sauce and granish with cream.
Serve with any kind of roti.

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Carrot halwa

My culinary experiments started from high school times. Carrot halwa was the first dish I tried, and it came out very well.

Ingredients:

Grated carrot - 2 cups

Milk - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Ghee - 1 1/2 tablespoon

Cardamom powder - 2 pinch

Whole cashew nuts - 6

Golden raisins - 5

Almonds ( chopped) - 1 teaspoon

Method:

In a small kadai roast the cashews and golden raisins in 1/2 teaspoon of ghee and keep it separate.

Melt 2 teaspoon of ghee in a thick kadai.

Add the grated carrot and stir for 4 to 6 minutes.

Add 1 cup of milk in medium flame .

Stir occasionally.

When the milk is absorbed add sugar to the carrot.

Stir again.

When all water in the kadai is evaporated, carrot will get a nice texture and will not stick to kadai. Keep stirring.

Add the powdered cardamom, roasted cashews, golden raisins and remaining ghee.

Mix well and remove from fire.

Sprinkle the chopped almonds.

Tip: If required add 1 tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk to enhance the sweetness of halwa.

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Rava Kichidi

Ingredients:

Rava - 2 cups

Water - 4 cups

Beans (chopped), carrot (chopped), Green peas - 1 cup

Onion - 1/2 (chopped)

Ginger - 1 inch (grated)

Garlic - 1 clove (big-grated)

Green chillies - 3 (slit)

Tomato - 1 (medium-chopped)

Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 5

Cinnamon - 1 inch

Cloves - 2

Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

Urad dal - 1/4 teaspoon

Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

Asafoetida - 2 pinch

Oil as required

Ghee - 2 teaspoon

Salt as required

Coriander leaves

Method:

In a kadai, melt 1 teaspoon of ghee and fry the rava in medium flame.

After 2 to 3 minutes remove rava and place in another wide vessel.

In the same kadai, add 2 teaspoon of oil. Let it get heated.

Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, cloves, and cinnamon.

When the mustard seeds start to crackle, add onions and curry leaves. Stir for 2 minutes.

Add the grated ginger, garlic, slit green chillies and asafoetida. Stir for one minute.

Add the chopped tomatoes and fry well.

Add the chopped beans, chopped carrot, green peas and fry for 3 minutes.

Now add the 4 cups of water, required salt, turmeric powder and cover it.

Bring it to boil (at this stage vegetables will be cooked).

When the water starts to boil, add the rava in little quantities and mix simultaneously without any lumps.

Mix well till the water is gone.

Cover and cook in low flame for 3 to 4 minutes.

Finally, add the coriander leaves, 1 teaspoon of ghee, mix and serve with any chutney.

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