Sweet Kesariya rice

Hello friends! This time I am sharing with you sweet kesariya rice or as we call it in Sindhi language tahiri. Its a common dish in our house. I used to make it on stove top but somehow something never set it right till I made this in my oven. We have it with spicy dal since the rice is sweet. Let me share with you all how I made in oven. And needless to say oven settings would vary from oven to oven.

Ingredients

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp kishmish (raisins)
• 1 tbsp blanched almonds 
•  1tbsp chopped cashew nuts
• 2 small cardamoms
• A pinch of saffron
• A pinch of edible yellow color

Method

• Clean and wash rice. Soak for  15-20mins.
• In a microwave safe bowl, add soaked rice, 2 cups of water, sugar, ghee , cardamom and edible yellow color. Mix and microwave covered at  100 % power  for 11 mins. Stir in between.
• Add saffron, almonds, cashewnuts  and raisins. Microwave covered at 60% power for 10mins. Stir in between.
• Allow to stand for 5mins.
• Garnish with fresh fruits or dry fruits of your choice. Serve hot.

Hope you all like it. Over to you for feedback.

 

Linking this to Minnie' s weekend gala extravaganza  

Linked to  60 days to christmas 

Event hosted by  Divya from You too can cook and  Priya from Cook Like priya

This is a re post. 

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Microwave Besan laddoo

Hello friends! Today is janmashtmi, birth of Lord Krishna. I thought why not share one of my favourite recipes now on this occasion. I have always loved Besan Laddoo and one of my friend knew my craving or weakness for this and she would make full tin and give it to me.

I had made this recipe on stove top also and it came out good except I could not give it laddoo shape. Recently I bought a microwave convection oven and  kept experimenting and trying out things. I have made few dishes with it already which I would share with you all soon but today I want to share with you this yummy sweet dish. Its really pretty easy one.

Temperature and settings would vary from oven to oven.

Ingredients:

1 cup besan

3/4 cup castor sugar

6-7 tbsp ghee

1/4tsp cardomom powder

Method:

Heat ghee in a microwave safe bowl at 100% power for 1 min.

Carefully remove the bowl and add besan  and mix it well. Microwave at 100% power for 4min, stirring it after every 1min.

Then again microwave at 50% power  for 3mins stirring continuously after every 1 min.

Remove from oven and add castor sugar and  cardomom powder and mix it thoroughly.

Let it cool and then divide into small portions and shape them in  form of laddoos. Store it in airtight container.

Laddoos are ready and  I am sure no one would stop and it would finish in no time.

This recipe was written with the book I got with oven.  Hope you enjoy this yummy sweet.

Notes: I did not have castor sugar with me so I just used my mixie to grind sugar and for extra flavour I added few cashewnuts along with green cardamom.

You can have them as it is or decorate with pistachio or  cashewnuts.

I have made this few times already. so tip is initially use less ghee and later if the laddos are not forming add a little melted ghee to hold them. If there is too much ghee it wont form shape.

For stove top method: Make it same way. Roast besan with little ghee till aromatic smell comes out and make sure not to over cook the besan. Remove from gas and add sugar and cardomom powder. Let it cool and then form laddos.

So what do you think of my attempts with this. Waiting to hear from you all and HAPPY JANMASHTMI  to everyone..

My blogger friend Divya had organised a massive master chef contest on her blog and very recently she announced the winners. Divya gave participation certificates plus nomination certificates to everyone. Thank you Divya for this wonderful opportunity.

My recipe was grilled paneer bhurji sandwich  and you can read about it HERE

This is a repost.
Linking this to 60 days to christmas

Event hosted by Divya from You too can cook and Priya from Cook like Priya

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Baked vegetables

Hello everyone! Before I begin I want to give you a news. A week or so back I got a sudden shock as all of sudden my blog plus my gmail id associated with this blog just vanished. On trying to find blog it kept saying  blog is removed and my gmail id kept giving me error for some unusual activity and my account was suspended. I was close to tears and panicked not knowing what to do. I tried everything to get it back and I finally recalled that some weeks back Hema also faced same problem and so I put it in google help forum as well as help with email id. Thankfully my id plus  my blog was restored after aprox 1hour and till then I was restless. I am not sure if back ups do work but it can happen to anyone. I have no clue what happened but hope this doesnt happen to anyone. If by mistake it does happen, please use help button on google email id and hope it sorts out. 

Now over to this recipe baked vegetables I always wanted to try out and when I got the oven this dish was the earliest ones I had made. It was yummy filling and didn't need anything else. So shall we start now?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup semi boiled mix vegetables of your choice ( I used cauliflower,peas, carrot,potatoes and capsicum)
• 4-5 tbsp grated cheese
•  butter to dot
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• chilli flakes to taste ( I wanted bit spicier than bland vegetables)

For the white sauce:

• 2 cups  Milk
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp plain flour.
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

The original recipe appeared bland to me so I added more pepper and chilli flakes.
Take butter in microwave safe glass bowl and microwave at 100% power for 30 seconds.
Add plain flour and mix well. Microwave at 100% power for 1min.
Add milk and stir immediately  so that no lumps are formed.
Microwave the sauce for  2-3mins or till it thickens. Remove it from microwave and add salt and pepper.


(Alternatively you can make it on stove top too)


Add the mixed vegetables to the prepared sauce and mix well.
Transfer the mixture to greased microwave safe glass bowl and sprinke grated cheese and dot with butter.
Bake on convection mode at 200degree C for 10 minutes or till cheese turns golden brown.


Serve it hot  and add tomato ketchup to enhance the dish. I had added chilli flakes also in the dish to increase the spice level. We ate it just like that and we were full.  Its simple but yummy dish. Hope you like it and over to you for your lovely comments.

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Eggless Chocolate brownies..

Hello all! Today  I would share with you something which was my very first attempt at any real baking. Chocolate brownies recipe is taken ,inspired and learnt fine details from Kavi @ Foodomania.

Ever since I bought my microwave oven I was inspired and tempted to try out things and this was the first in list to bake a cake. Brownies to me is almost a cake. I am copying the ingredients which Kavi has showed in her post  Nutty chocolate brownies.  Her oven and mine is same so I could try it out and if stuck can seek her help in exact settings. So this post is dedicated to Kavi and well since its my birthday so Happy Birthday to me and sharing the brownies with all of you. My first attempt came out good but not exact good yet it was finished in  10mins flat. I mailed Kavi and showed her the pic and asked her the correct settings again and this again was my second attempt in another 1hour and believe me the second lot came out yummy soft and delicious. This lot also finished fast and now I am tempted to make a third one again.

Ingredients copied from Kavi post:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar (adjust according to taste)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder (more or less depending upon how dark you want your brownies to be)
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 4 TBsp oil
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts ( I used cashewnuts here)

Method from Kavi post:


PREHEAT the oven to 150 C / 300 F

•   Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda & salt together.
•  Add in oil, yogurt
•  Mix well (with a spoon or electric hand mixer) If the mixture is too thick add a few drops of water
•  Add in chopped nuts & mix well. (Save about 1 TBSP for topping)
•  Butter and line a baking tin
•  Pour in the batter
•  Sprinkle the chopped nuts all over
• Bake at 150 C / 300 F for 35 – 40 min or until the brownies are done (Test: insert a toothpick / dry spaghetti in the center. If it comes out clean without any wet batter, it is done)
•  Let it rest for around 10-20 minutes in the tin. Loosen the edges of the tin with a knife and transfer to a plate.
• Cut and serve once it is completely cool.

 The first attempt at brownies came like this.  

 Not bad for a first timer though and my son couldn't wait so he took some bite before I could take pics. 

Final product from second lot which I made was soft and spongy brownies with perfect sugar and cocoa.

No body wanted to wait and it was finished in flat 10mins. 

Hope you like this and yes oven settings would vary from oven to oven. Recipe credit goes to Kavi and pics and attempts here are mine. 

For me I tasted the batter before putting in oven and first attempt cocoa was more so for second i reduced cocoa and increased sugar.

Though Kavi writes it takes time to bake these but perhaps I had messed with settings or the quantity was still less and my brownies got done in 10 mins.  But the taste was yummy and home made and eggless. In second lot  I did not add any nuts.

Over to you for your lovely comments. And yes I am still learning basics of baking but seeing this recipe I couldn't resist at all. 

Sending this to  Indian vegetarian recipes 

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Bhindi masala.. Microwave version

Hello  all! I had told  in my  besan ladoo post that I had bought a microwave convection oven some time back and had experimented with it.  My eyes caught this Bhindi  masala dish and I gave it a  try. I am lousy when it comes to cooking bhindi on stove top and it never comes out good. But in oven it was the best and hubby insists I make bhindi in oven only.  Trust me you would love it.

Ingredients:

½ kg Bhindi/okra

½ tsp red chilli powder
1/2tsp haldi powder

2green chillies chopped

1 tsp coriander powder

½ tsp  amchoor/dry mango powder

Salt to taste

¼ tsp jeera/cumin seeds

3 tbsp oil

Method:

Wash an wipe bhindi dry.  Cut the tip head and tail of each bhindi. Chop  bhindi into medium size or as desired.

In a microwave safe glass bowl, put 1tbsp oil, add jeera and  chopped green chillies.  Microwave at 100% power  for  2 mins.  Remove and add bhindi and other dry masalas. Mix well and add the remaining 2tbsp oil.  Set the combination mode of microwave and grill  for 10 mins or till bhindi is cooked.  I kept it at 70% power  for  8mins.  I stopped the timer in between to check on bhindis and they were done.

Remove and  serve it hot with rotis.

(temperature and oven settings would vary from oven to oven)

Notes:

You can add potato too here but time has to increase for potato  to be cooked too.

Adjust  masala as per your taste.

Trial and error with timings  works best.

Hope  you all liked it and over to you for your feed back.

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