Lime Pickle / Cheru naaranga Achar

This is the lemon you get in US. This is too big and the taste is also different.

This is what I use for this pickle. In US they call this Limes...

 

 

Ingredients:-

Cheru naranga / Yellow Lemon - 10 ( the grocery store here has lemon double the size of it back home, so I purchased the same lemons we get in India from the Global food market in Kirkwood)

Salt -  to taste + a pinch of sugar

Gingelly oil / Nallenna / Sesame oil - 2 table spoon + 2 table spoon

Mustard seeds - 1.5 tea spoon

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tea spoon

Garlic - 10 cloves ( you can add more if you love the bite of it in your pickle)

Ginger - a small piece

Green chilly - 2-3 sliced

Curry Leaves - a handful

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Red chili powder - 2 table spoon ( use as per your spice level , 2 tbsp is really spicy)

Kaayam ( asafoetida) -  1/4 tea spoon

Vinegar - 2 tea spoon

Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Clean , wash and pat dry the lemons .

2. Steam in a idlicooker or steamer for 5-8 minutes.

3. Let it cool and wipe it well with a kitchen towel and cut into 8 pieces.( if lemon is small make 4 pieces).

4. Take an air tight glass jar and add lemon and a table spoon of salt and a pinch of sugar and mix well.

5. Keep it for a couple of days.

 

On the day you are making the pickle

 

1. Heat 2 table spoons of gingelly oil/ nallenna in a pan and add mustard seeds.

2. When they pop up add fenugreek seeds and fry for 30 seconds.

3. Add garlic, ginger, green chilly and curry leaves and saute for a couple of minutes and add turmeric powder.

4. Add chili powder , and mix well. Add 1/4 cup of water and bring to boil.

5. Simmer for 5 minutes or till the water is reduced or it is thick.

6. Add  asafoetida ( kaayam) and fenugreek powder (if using) and mix well.

7. Remove from fire and let it cool.

8. Add Lemon pieces , salt to taste and vinegar mix well.

9. My mom usually leave it in the pan for 4-6 hours , but you can omit this step if you want.

10. Transfer that to a glass jar and add 2 table spoon of gingelly oil. 

11. Make sure the glass jar is airtight.

 

Read more »

Double Ka meetha

Double ka meetha is a dessert of Hyderabad and made from hot crisp fried roundels of bread, soaked in saffron and cardamom flavoured syrup, topped with cream. It is similar to of Shahi tukre.

It is a popular dessert of Hyderabadi cuisine. It is served at weddings and parties. More often than not, it is the double ka meetha that one encounters or, if a more elaborate banquet is being hosted, gille firdaus or badam ki jaali relegate this simple yet elegant sweet to the background

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Sugar           - 1 Cup
Condensed Milk  - 3 Tsp
Bread slices    - 4
saffron         - 2 small pieces
Milk            - 2 Cups
Almonds         - 4
Cashews         - 4
Dried Grapes    - 4
Ghee            - 1 tsp

Cut bread into halves of triangle and let them dry over night , fry in ghee till golden brown.
Make sugar syrup flavoured with cardamom and saffron color. Slowly boil milk till it is reduced to 1/4 of original.
soak bread in sugar syrup for few seconds and remove . put all nuts and dryfruits over the sweetened bread and pour over syrup.
You can add a little of Milk and serve chilled as well.

Read more »

Veggie Puffs

This infact is a desi version of American gourmet which is called a "turnover". We call it veg puffs or veggie puffs in India.

A turnover is a kind of pastry made by placing a filling on a piece of dough, folding the dough over, and sealing it. Turnovers can be sweet or savory and are often made as a sort of portable meal or dessert, similar to a sandwich.

Ingredients:
 •Pastry sheet – 1 pack
 •Medium size potato – 1 (cooked and mashed)
 •Green chilly -1
 •Green Peas – 3 tbsp
 •Onion – 1/2 cup
 •Coriander leaves – a few
 •Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
 •Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
 •Red chilly powder – 1/2 tsp
 •Garam masala – 1/4 tsp
 •Oil – 2 tsp
 •Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

Preparation of Masala:
1.Pastry sheets are available in any of the stores from the frozen section(Pepperidge farms pastry sheets are famous)
2.Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds
3.Once they splutter add onions and saute
4.Now add the ginger garlic paste, green chillies and keep tossing for a few seconds followed by red chilly powder and garam masala
5.Now add the mashed potato, peas and some salt
6.Combine them well. Sprinkle some coriander leaves and mix it
7.Remove from heat

Preparation of Puff:

1.Now cut the pastry sheets into square pieces. An easy way to do so is to cut them along the creases of the three folds and then cut each strip into three pieces horizontally.
2.Fill them with masala and fold it. Keep less masala to avoid them coming out of the pastry sheet while baking.
3. Keep them all in Aluminium trays (easily available in stores) after smearing a little oil or butter on it so that it that the puffs won't stick on to the tray.
4.Preheat oven at 350°F and keep the tray with puffs inside for 30 – 40 minutes
5.Keep checking it every 15 minutes
6.Once they become golden brown colour remove from oven

Read more »