INDIRA FOODS Wanwadi , Pune-------REVIEWED

I was looking for idli –dosa batter and happened to reach at INDIRA FOODS –WANWADI, ………(Pune)

On reaching found out that they also sell Mysore pak from Shree Krishna Sweets Coimbatore.

I have already had the opportunity to relish this sweet from Shree Krishna … twice before , once from my DH`s trip to Coimbatore, and second time was from a family friend……….and believe me…. It’s the best mysore pak I have ever had in my life!!!  …….Its a Melting Magic….

How could I not pick it up…………..

A little more about this traditional south indian sweet ….Mysore pak………………. 

Some say Mysore pak was first created in the kitchens of the Mysore Palace by a palace cook named Kakasura Madappa. The cook at the Mysore Palace kitchen simply made a concoction of besan, ghee and sugar. The sweet that was formed delighted the royalties so much that it became a "Royal Sweet". When asked its name, Madappa obviously didn't have its name, so he simply called it the ‘Mysore pak’, a delicacy from the Mysore Palace. The king relished the sweet so much that he got Madappa to set up shop outside the palace grounds so that it could be made available to common people

Shree Krishna Sweets in Coimbatore is very popular for its mysore pak …They make Mysore pak thats full of Ghee and just Melts in your mouth…. It is one of the South Indian delicacy and very famous in coimbatore…………..

Indira foods also sells south Indian snacks…………………….

Picked up a Packet of sarkara-varatti (banana chips jaggery coated)…..Looked just perfect…but things changed with the first bite……it had this puking smell !!! Not to mention ruined my taste totally !!!!

Also picked up idli dosa batter (this was what I was looking for)………….  but was totally disappointed, as I opened the pack…batter was stinking…….not the regular fermentation odour… but it had gone bad…rotten smell…...Totally Yucks!!!!!!!!

Plaintain chips… Regular salted and Masala ones… I had picked up both….they were crispy and crunchy and good to taste….!!!  Goes well with a cup of Hot-tea !!

Eggplant curry- Baingan ka Bharta

Ingredients-

Small green Baingan 6 ( since I do not like to use the hybrid variety)

A pinch asafetida

¼ tsp mustard seeds

¼ tsp fenugreek seeds powdered (dana methi powder)

2 finely chopped onions

2finely chopped tomatoes

2 green chillies finely chopped

5-6 garlic cloves chopped fine

3-4 curry leaves

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder

½ tsp coriander powder

¼ tsp turmeric

½ tsp garam masala powder

Coriander leaves finely chopped for garnish

3 tbsp mustard oil or sunflower oil

1) Wash and dry the brinjals. Apply little oil on them and one by one roast all of them on low flame by turning them all sides till they soften from inside and turn black on the outer side

2) Once done cool it and peel of the black skin

3) Mash the inner flesh and keep aside

4) Take oil in a pan, add asafetida and mustard seeds, after mustard seeds splutter add methi powder and then coriander powder, then add curry leaves green chillies and garlic,

5) Now add onions and sauté till it turns translucent,add chilli powder,turmeric  and tomatoes…cook until tender

6) Add the mashed baingan, add salt and cook for 7-10 minutes  on low,

7) Add garam masala , mix well, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.


Sending this Entry to...........Food palette series finale rainbow colours

Idli Dosa -- Confused

I allways get confused with the idli dosa batter when i keep it overnight to ferment...... since they look alike...and next morning my reaction is ..which is idli batter??????  and which one was dosa batter?????........But then i decided to keep them in different utensils...so that next morning i am not confused.....but that didn`t work for me...as usual i was confused....until i finally decided to label them.......
This time as i was looking forward to labelling....... with a little batter on my finger tip....i finally labelled them .
About the recipe.........that turned out to be a disaster !!!!!!!!!!

Coconut Fudge.....

Coconut Fudge .....

Ingredients-

1 cup fresh coconut (grated)

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp cardamon (elaichi) powder

1 tsp ghee

½ cup water

Method-

1) In one Pan Heat the Ghee and then add fresh grated coconut , Saute it for 2 minutes, and then add cardamom powder and again sauté it for a minute on medium flame. ,then keep it aside for few minutes,

2) Now take another pan and add the water and sugar , and bring to boil, Boil this syrup until you get 2 strings consistency

3) Now add the coconut mixture from Pan one to this sugar syrup, stirring continuosly, cook it for another minute till most of the moisture dries up, and then transfer it to greased tray and spread evenly, smoothen the top and cut into diamond shapes when its still hot and leave aside to cool and set.

Sending this entry to........  Diwali Sweet Recipes, Diwali-Festival of lights,  Healing foods coconut, Healing foods Events ,Diwali Special Sweets and Savories

Milk Cake (KalaKand)

This time on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan i tried Milkcake(Kalakand)....

Ingredients-

Full Cream Buffalo Milk- 2 Litres

Sugar – ½ cup

Cardamon powder- ½ tsp

Lemon Juice- 1 Tb spoon

5-Pistachio and 5 almond flakes for garnishing

Method-

1) Take a Heavy Bottomed pan and Boil 1 litre of milk over medium heat, stirring occasionally, making sure not to burn milk.

2) As soon as the milk comes to Boil start adding lemon juice gradually and keep stirring, the milk will curdle and start separating from whey, Now once all the milk fat is separated turn of the heat.

3) Now drain the whey using a strainer (chalni) which is lined with muslin cloth, after this you will have all the milk fat in the muslin cloth,discard the whey.

4) Wrap the milk fat in the same muslin cloth,and rinse under cold water,or dip it in a vessel full of cold water and squeeze well to take out excess water. This helps to take out the sourness from the lemon juice which we had added. Do not skip this step as we don’t want sour taste.

5) Now take out the milk fat from muslin cloth and keep it aside, Do not Knead it, let it stay grainy

6) Now we still have one litre of milk which we haven’t used, Boil this milk in heavy bottomed pan over low heat , stirring frequently so that it dosent get burnt until it reduces to half litre, By the end of this stage you will be left with half litre of thick milk.

7) Now Add the milk fat which you had kept aside to this thick milk and keep stirring on low heat till the mixture thickens and all the water has evaporated.

8) Finally add sugar and continue to cook and stirring until the mixture become soft lump and start leaving the pan from sides.

9) Pour it over greased plate keeping about half inch thick and garnish with pistachio and almond flakes, Let it cool for about one hour. Cut the Kalakand (milk Cake ) in squares.

Sending this to .... Dish name starts with K, Diwali Sweet Recipes,Diwali-Festival of Lights, and Diwali Special- Sweets and Savouries

Frankie

Frankie- Aloo tikki Wrap

Ingredients-

4 chapatis/ roti / whole wheat tortillas

2 cups boiled and mashed potatoes

½ cup grated paneer (Optional- I haven`t used here)

3 tsp chaat masala

Red chilli powder- 1 ½ tsp

Salt- As per taste

Amchur Powder- 1 ½ tsp

Finely chopped onions- 4 tbsp

Chutney- Any chutney of choice, I used sonth chutney

Method-

1) First take the mashed potatoes in the bowl, add red chilli powder, salt and amchur powder, mix well to form a smooth dough

2) Divide it into 4 equal portions as we have to make four tikkis, take each portion and give a cylindrical shape to it,

3) Heat 2 tsp oil on a non-stick pan, and shallow fry the tikkis on all the sides till slightly brown and then drain on a kitchen towel and keep aside,

4) Take one chapatti and place one tikki on it, spread the sonth chutney over tikki and over this spread some finely chopped onions, sprinkle chaat masala, and roll it like you would do for wraps

5) Again put it over non-stick pan and cook for a minute on both sides until slightly crisp

6)Serve warm with chutneys/ tomato ketchup/chilli sauce etc.

Whole wheat pancakes with rabdi (Malpua with rabdi)....

I made this on the occasion of Teej....this is without any ghee/oil ....!!!The Malpua in this recipe is actually made from Wheatflour... not maida(refined flour)...and instead of sugar i have used jaggery for malpua...
Actually the batter for this malpua is the same that is used for Gulgule recipe i have posted... But still i will write it down again for you :-)

Ingredients;

For Malpua(wheatflour pancakes)-
1)Wheat Flour-1 cup
2)Jaggery-1/2 Cup
3)Water-1/2cup
4) fennel seeds 1/2 tsp

For Rabri-
1) 1 litre milk
2) 1 tsp cardamom powder
3) sugar powder 4 tbsp or as per taste

Method-
For Malpua-
1)Well soak jaggery in water, until all jaggery melts in it, u can also use hot water so that jaggery melts fast, when the jaggery has melted then strain the water and then add wheat flour in it,and fennel seed powder and mix it well, there should be no lumps,The consistency should be little thicker then dosa(pancake) batter consistency, !!
Keep this batter for 45 mins atleast ....after that again whisk the batter well,

2) Heat a non-stick pan and make small pancakes out of this batter...make thin pancakes,golden brown, and cook on both sides....

3)I did not use any ghee/oil etc for making pancakes... as it was not required...came out well on nonstick pan! malpuas are ready



For Rabri-
1) Boil the milk in heavy bottom pan.....to this add cardamom powder and then reduce the milk on medium flame to one quarter.,it will take time ...atleast 30 mins

2)Now to the reduced milk add sugar powder and mix well

3)Leave it to cool and it will set.... when it set it becomes thicker...

4) Rabri is ready



Now to serve Malpua with Rabri, all you need to do is take a plate and on it arrange one hot malpua(pancake), on top of it spread the rabri, (rabri can be either chilled or hot ..whatever way you like it), and on top of rabri garnish with sliced pistachio and almonds...and few strands of saffron...!!! All set to eat!!

With the leftover batter of malpua you can make gulgule and viceversa.....

Sending this entry to Diwali Sweet Recipes, Diwali Special- Sweets and Savouries, Diwali-Festival of Lights,

Aloo methi Paratha......

Ingredients-
1) 4-5 boiled and mashed medium sized aloo(Potatoes)
2)salt as per taste
3)red chilli powder 1/2 tbsp
4)amchoor powder 1/2 tbsp
5)turmeric 1 tsp
6)Half bunch of Methi(fenugreek leaves) washed and chopped finely
7)1 and half cups of wheat flour
8)jeera(cumin) powder
9)2 green chillies finely chopped
10) Oil as required

Method-
1) Mix all the spices in wheat flour...and also add chopped methi leaves...and knead little tight dough with little water
2)Now take the mashed Potatoes and mix it with spices of your choice(like salt red chilli powder,amchoor powder)...you can leave it plain also....since already spices are added to dough....But i would suggest to add little spices for potatoes also.... if you like more chatpata paratha
3)Make small Balls out of kneaded dough.... and roll them over in small thick circles
4) Apply oil over the surface and then stuff mashed potatoes..seal the edges together
5) now roll it slowly ....just like the size of rotis
6)Place the paratha on preheated griddle
7) Brush with oil and flip over....on the other side also brush with oil..and cook till golden brown patches appear on both the sides...
8)Cook till it is well done.
9) Hot paratha is ready...you can have it with curd and Pickle

** Sometimes the edges seem to crack.... It happens with me too...like you see in the above pic...But No worries... as long as it tastes good.....ALL IS WELL !

Sending this recipe to Cooking Concepts- Whats for Friday Dinner???  by  Sravani

BhelPuriiiiiiiii

This is a Quick One, and our Favourite too :-),
Ingredients-
1)Haldiram Bhelpuri(sookhi bhel)
2)Green chutney
3)khatti chutney(amchoor chutney)
4) 2 diced tomatoes
5) 2 diced onions
6) little salt, and red chilli powder
7) 1 tbsp lemon juice
8)little green corriander chopped
9) 2 green chillies chopped finely

Mix all the above ingredients and bhel is ready to munch on when you are hit by hunger pangs.
Well, in Haldiram bhelpuri pck you will also find sachet of three different type of chutney, green chutney, khatti chutney, and spicy chutney,..........You can use that if you want to.............. But since i do not like to use those packed chutneys ...i allways make my own!!!! A must-have, low fat indian snack!!!!!!!!!

Sugarcane Juice

I had this Sugarcane Juice at My Mom`s Place during summer....
This is Freshly Pressed Sugarcane Juice, bought from sugarcane juice wala...
All that needs to be done is.....carry a clean STEEL CAN (or TIN CAN....or any other container) ...to the Sugarcane Juice wala, ASk him to extract fresh sugarcane juice.... and collect the juice directly in your container........(since most of the times their containers are not clean and hygenic)... Also do not use their ice, lemon etc.....Bring the juice home , transfer to glass container, and have it immediately with Lemon, blacksalt, ice, etc
Do not store the juice, as it ferments!!

AND ya ..... if you have sugarcane juice extractor at home then .......VOILA!!!!