Homemade Ricotta Cheese

I have started making ricotta cheese at home. The recipe is from David Lebovitz's guest post at Simply Recipes. I use this cheese in cookies, tarts, and pasta.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese (makes 2 cups)
(from David Lebovitz's guest post at Simply Recipes)

2 litres whole milk (in original recipe, 2 quarts milk is used)
1 cup whole-milk yogurt
2 tsps white vinegar
1 tsp salt

Boil the milk. Add yogurt, vinegar and salt and very gently boil for 1 or 2 minutes, until the milk is curdled.
Line a strainer with 2 layers of cheesecloth and keep it over a deep bowl.
Pour the milk mixture into the strainer and keep aside for 15 minutes. Then, gather the cheesecloth and squeeze gently to drain excess liquid. Use within 3 days.

Eggplant Kothsu

I made this kothsu for D the other day and she loved it. K also had some with rice and he said it was not bad. Considering he hates eggplant, that was high praise indeed! 

Eggplant Kothsu

1/4 eggplant, chopped (I used the long purple one)
1 tomato, chopped
2 green chillies, slit
1/3 tsp tamarind pulp
1 tsp sambar powder
curry leaves, 1 sprig
mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp
salt
hing
cilantro
oil

Heat oil and burst mustard seeds. Add eggplant and stir. When it is partially cooked, add tomatoes, curry leaves, green chillies and cilantro. After two minutes, add sambar powder and hing. Stir. Now add tamarind pulp, salt and 2 cups water and allow to boil well. Simmer till it reaches required consistency. This goes well with upma, ven pongal etc.

Panchmel dal

Last time V came to India she bought lot of cookery books. S had jotted down  few recipes that she found interesting and after much begging and pleading, she agreed to give me a copy. This Rajasthani dal recipe is a favorite of mine. As the name suggests, this is made with 5 dals. I did not have green moong dal so today I made the dal with just four lentils.

Panchmel Dal

1/4 cup split channa dal
1/4 cup toovar dal
1/4 cup green moong dal (split green gram)
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tbsp whole moong

1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp haldi
1 tsp coriander power
1/2 tsp garam masala

3 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 green chili slit
hing
2 tsp tamarind pulp
oil
salt
juice of 1/2 lime (optional)

Clean and wash the dals. Add 3 cups water and pressure cook for 3 whistles or till the dals are cooked. In a small bowl, combine the chili powder, turmeric powder, dhania powder and garam masala and 2-3 tbsps of water and mix. Heat oil in a pan and add the cloves, bayleaves, cumin seeds, green chili and hing. When the cumin seeds splutters, add the masala mix and saute for 1-2 minutes. If it gets too dry, add few tsps of water. Add the cooked dal, tamarind pulp and salt and simmer for 5-6 minutes. This dal is very thick. If you want thinner consistency, you can add more water. Finally, add lemon juice and mix well. Serve hot.

Healthy Chutney

Ma got this chutney recipe from some magazine.


Healthy Chutney

 
1/2 coconut, grated
4 tomatoes
5 garlic pods
10 small onions
1 sprig curry leaves
handful coriander leaves
small piece of ginger
1 green chili
1 carrot, peeled and grated
hing
1/2 cup roasted bengal gram (pottu kadalai)
salt
oil

Fry onion and garlic in little oil. Add green chili, ginger and carrot.  Once carrot is cooked, add tomato and hing and fry till tomato becomes soft. Add the roasted channa dal and fry until light brown. Add coconut, curry leaves and salt and mix well. Keep aside and cool. Grind to a smooth paste, adding little water.

Potato and bread kofta in spinach gravy

I have a non-stick paniyaram pan which I rarely use. Then after going through few blogs, I realized I could use it to make koftas. You need to use only few drops of oil and the koftas are quite tasty. Last night I made koftas with bread and potato and then cooked them in a spinach gravy. I got this recipe idea from Priyas's Recipes. I will be using the paniyaram pan more often now! Will make manchurian next time...

Banana Bread

I know I said I won't be baking for sometime but I was looking at David Lebovitz's food blog the other day when I found this wonderful recipe for banana bread that I just had to make. I also had ripe bananas at home that I had to use up and I did not want to make muffins again. You can find the original recipe here. I made few changes to the recipe and I baked the bread in a loaf pan. This is how I made it.

Banana Bread

1 cup all purpose flour and 1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsps melted and cooled butter
1 egg white
1 egg
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup hung curd
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Butter a loaf pan and keep aside. Preheat the oven to 180C.
Sift together flour, baking  powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add sugar and mix.
Puree the bananas. In a large bowl, mix together the egg white, egg, butter, banana puree, hung curd and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir with a spatula until just combined. There is no need to use blender as the mixture should not be over stirred. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes or until the center is done. Cool on a rack.

Sago Pachadi

I got this recipe from Meenakshi Ammal's Cook and See. I added chili powder instead of green chilies and I seasoned the pachadi with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Sago Pachadi
(from Meenakshi Ammal's Cook and See)

1 tbsp sago
1 cup curd
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
chili powder, pinch
salt
oil

Fry sago in 1 tsp oil till reddish brown in color. Keep aside. In a bowl, add curd and salt and whisk well. Add the fried sago, and chili powder. In a small kadai, heat oil. Add mustard seeds. When it starts bursting, add curry leaves and then turn off the gas. Season the pachadi with this. Chill.

Mango Ice Cream

I had couple of baking disasters last week. I tried to make baked samosas at home. They were really really bad! Some things should just be had fried :-). Then I made buns but it came out rock hard. I hate throwing food but it was either that or a visit to the dentist. No more baking for some time! Mango season has started and it is a good time to make some mango ice cream. I followed this recipe from jugalbandi and the ice cream was delicious. You do not need an ice cream machine to make this. The ice cream was too hard to scoop though so I just kept it out for few minutes before serving.

Baby Potatoes in creamy yogurt sauce

D was not well last week and her diet consisted of dal chawal and potatoes. She was not allowed to drink milk also. So, we had lot of baby potatoes and curd at home. To finish them off, I made this curry. I was thinking of the dum aloo that Mom makes when I started making it but I did not have her recipe so I just came up with my own recipe. K did not like it too much but I thought it was quite nice. Maybe it would have been better if I had roasted the potatoes and then added it to the gravy.

Baby Potatoes in Creamy Yogurt Sauce

12 baby potaotes, boiled and peeled
4-5 cashews (optional)
1 big onion
1 cup yogurt, whisked well
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
chilli powder, to taste
salt, to taste
coriander leaves, for garnishing

Boil the potatoes and peel. Once cool, prick with a fork and keep aside. Grind onion and cashews to a paste. Heat oil in a pan. Add the onion paste and fry till raw smell goes. Meanwhile, mix all the powders including salt with 2 tbsps water and add to the fried ground paste. Stir well for 2 minutes. If it gets too dry, add little water. Reduce heat, add the yogurt and potatoes and cook until potatoes absorb the masala. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with rice or rotis.

Vegetable curry with coconut milk

I was watching a Madhur Jaffrey show once where she made a simple shrimp curry. She just boiled tamarind water, added some spices and coconut milk, and cooked the shrimp in that sauce. This is a modified version of that recipe. I forgot what spices she used but I flavored the curry with just two spices - cumin and coriander powder.   

Vegetable Curry with Coconut Milk

1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 capsicum, cut into cubes
1 onion, sliced
1/4 cup peas
1/2 cup coconut milk (I used 4 tbsps maggi coconut powder mixed in 1 cup water)
1 sprig curry leaves
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
chilli powder, to taste
salt
oil

Boil potato, carrot and peas until just tender, drain and keep aside. Heat oil. Add curry leaves and onions and fry the onions till transparent. Add 2 cups water and boil. Add tamarind paste, cumin powder, coriander powder and chilli powder and let it simmer till liquid reduces in half. Add capsicum and once capsicum is cooked, add rest of the boiled vegetables and coconut milk. Simmer for few minutes. Serve hot with rice.

Stuffed Bhindi

Another recipe with no measurements which is most unlike how I cook usually. I got this recipe from my aunt when I lived with her in Mumbai.

Mix dhania pwdr, jeera pwdr, salt, turmeric pwdr, red chilli pwdr, amchur and a little pepper. Slit the bhindi such that they are still attached at the bottom. Stuff and saute.

Karela subzi

I got this recipe from my mom-in-law. I don't have any measurements for it - all by andaaz:-)) It usually comes out very well. Unfortunately, no pics.

Cut karela into half and then slice them. Rub some salt into the karela and leave for a couple of hours. Squeeze hard to remove water. Slice one large onion long and fine. Heat oil in a pan, then add the onion. Once the onion browns, add the karela and cook on slow fire until the karela browns/cooks. Then add dhania pwdr, jeera pwdr, red chilli pwdr and anardana pwdr. Can substitute amchur if anardana powder is not available (very important to add something sour) - it comes out better with the anardana. Add more salt if necessary. Can also saute potato fingers separately and add them at the end (I usually do). Sprinkle garam masala on top.

Rasam (without dal)

This is Mom's favorite rasam now. It is very easy and simple to make. V used to make a similar kind of rasam with a can of diced tomatoes. Here, the tomatoes are ground with a few other ingredients and then boiled.

Rasam (without dal)

 3 fresh tomatoes
1 tsp cumin seeds
handful of coriander leaves
1 sprig curry leaves
3-4 whole black pepper
ghee
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
salt

Grind first 5 ingredients. Heat ghee in a pan. Burst mustard seeds. Add the ground tomato paste and 1-2 cups water, salt and allow to boil well. Serve hot with rice. Had this for lunch today with roasted baby potatoes.