Kadai Paneer

 

Kadai Paneer is a  typical North-Indian dish made out of Paneer & Capsicum.

Ingredients:
Paneer (200 gms)
Onions,finely chopped ( 2 medium)
Tomatoes,Chopped ( 2 )
Green pepper ( 2 )
Red chilly powder ( 1tsp)
ginger garlic paste ( 1tsp)
kasoori methi( 1/2 tsp)
Coriander powder ( 1tsp)
Garam masala powder (1/2 tsp)
Cumin seeds ( 1/4 tsp)
cinnamon (1inch stick)
cloves (2)
cardamom (2)
Bay leaf (1)
Oil (2tsp)
Cilantro (10 leaves)


Preparation:

• Cut paneer and green peppers into cubes.
• Heat oil in a pan add cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf, cloves and cumin seeds. Saute for a min.
• Now add the chopped onion and fry till golden brown add ginger garlic paste and saute for a min.
• Add green pepper, tomatoes and salt, cover and cook for about 2-3 mins.
• Now add red chilly powder, coriander powder , kasoori methi and garam masala , mix well and cook for about a min.
• If necessary add some water , add the paneer cubes and mix it well. Cover and cook on low flame for about  3-4 minutes.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve hot with Naan or Roti.

Makara Sankranthi (Pongal)

 Makara Sankranthi is the harvest festival,which is all about doing things together as a family.
This festival is celebrated in various parts of India.
While the traditional Indian Calendar is based on lunar positions, Sankranti is a solar event. So while dates of all Hindu festivals keep changing as per the Gregorian Calendar, the date of Makar Sankranti remains constant over a long term.It is celebrated for 4 days.
First day(Jan13th): Bhogi Festival,Second day(Jan 14th): Sankranthi or Pongal Festival,
Third day(Jan15th): Kanuma Festival,Fourth day(Jan16th): Mukkanuma Festival

On Bhogi Panduga people wake up early and build a bonfire using old broomsticks, mats, paper and firewood signifying the end of evil. The courtyards are cleaned and beautiful muggulu/rangoli patterns are drawn ,coloured and decorated with marigold flower stuck on cowdung balls,Pasupu/Kumkuma,Navadhanyalu in the center of Rangoli/Muggu and that is called Sankranthi Gobbemalu.
People in Andhra Pradesh Invite Lord lakshmi by drawing these colorful rangolies/Muggulu. Ladies wake up early in the morning and participate actively in rangoli event and they take this as a competition. They wanted their Rangolies to be bigger than any others so they cover entire road in front part of their house.

The second day is Makara Sankranti , also called "Pedda Panduga" , which literally means "the big festival", in some places this festival is also called as Pongal. Pongal is a sweet dish prepared from the recent rice harvest.
Everyone wear new clothes, prays to god, and make offerings of traditional food.

Married women will perform Sankranthi nomulu ,they buy 13 new items such as silver items, steel plates, kumkumkaya ,steel boxes,spoons ...etc. They keep them infront of god and perform puja.After the pooja is done they keep one item for themselves and distribute the rest as vayanam to married women.In some parts of Andhra Pradesh this is very important nomu for the newly wed bride.

There is tradition of decorating cow with different coloured clothes it is called as Gangireddu , they come to every house and play music so that the house owners come and give their offerings such as clothes and food to the cow(Gangireddu).

Sankranthi is also called as festival of kites,the generic name for a kite is 'Patang' .These kites are made of special light-wt kite paper and bamboo and are mostly rhombus shaped with central spine and a single bow.
Now-a-days we see beautiful kites in the market.People offer thousands of their colorful oblations to the Sun in the form of beautiful kites .Many people fly kites on that day.Many kite competitions are held on the day of sankranthi.

The Third day of Sankranthi festival is Kanuma. Hindu Mythology says that Lord
Krishna lifted the Govardhana Giri on this day to protect the people of Gokhulam from strong rains and thunderstorms. This day is dedicated to Cows and Bulls. These animals are decorated with colors and flowers and they are worshipped.People in villages perform puja to their agriculture tools used for harvesting.

The Fourth Day of Sankranthi festival is Mukkanuma. It is a day of Get together where people socialize and go out on picnics.

Sweet Pongal ,Ariselu and Sakinalu are the traditional food items which we prepare for Sankranthi.

Sakinalu (Sankranthi Spl)

                      
Sakinalu are the traditional snacks made in Telangana Region of Andhra pradesh for sankrathi festival.They are made of rice flour and sesame seeds. 

Ingredients:

Raw Rice (4 cups) or Rice flour (2 Lb)
Ajwain seeds(Oma) (25gms)
Sesame seeds(Nuvvulu) (100gms)
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Preparation:

• Soak the rice with enough water for about 4-5 hrs,drain the water let the rice dry.
• When the rice is dried grind the rice in a grinder till it becomes fine powder.
• To Skip the first two steps you can buy Rice flour (ERAWAN BRAND,its a product of Thailand) from any Korean stores(Lotte Plaza,H-Mart)in US.
• Dry roast the sesame seeds lightly on a low flame and let them cool down.
• In a large dish add the rice flour,salt to taste,Sesame seeds,Ajwain and mix altogether.
• Now add water slowly to get proper consistence to the dough.
• The dough should be soft enough to spin neatly without sticking to your fingers.
• Take a bowl of water and dip your hands,take small quantity of the dough in hand and make circles with thin lines on a white cloth so that the cloth absorb the water in the flour and when sakinalu are deep fried in oil it will not absorb much oil.

                         

•  Repeat this process to make all the sakinalu and let them dry.

•  Now heat a frying pan with oil to deep fry.
• Take the sakinalu slowly with help of a flat plate and fry them in the oil till light brown in colour.
• This snack is long lasting will last for a month or two when it is stored in an air tight container.

*If you don't have flat plate take a paper plate and cut the edges in round shape and its ready to use as flat plate to remove the sakinalu.

Sweet Pongal

Ingredients:
Raw rice ( 1 cup )
Moong dal (1/2 cup)(optional)
Jaggery grated ( 1 cup )
cashews (10)
Raisins (10)
Ghee ( 2-3 tbsp)
4 cardamom pods (skinless & crushed)
Milk ( 3 cups)


Preparation:

• Take a pan add one tsp of ghee and roast the moongdal on medium heat for abt 2 mins.Remove from the pan and let it cool down.
• In the same pan add two teaspoons of ghee and fry the cashews and raisins till they turn to light gold. Remove and keep them aside.
• Take a pressure cooker add rice and roasted moong dal and milk. Mix it well and cover with the lid and cook the rice and dal to tender soft.
• While the rice is cooking,take another pan, melt jaggery. Add the shredded jaggery and one cup of water.Stir and cook till jaggery melts.When the syrup starts boiling switch off the stove and let the jaggery syrup cool a bit.
• Now add the cooked rice and dal to jaggery syrup,add the roasted cashews, raisins and cardamom powder.
• Stir well to combine all together. Cover and cook on medium heat until the whole mixture becomes sticky. Turn off the heat.Sweet pongal thickens further on cooling.Add some ghee just before serving.

Vegetable-Pinwheels

 

Ingredients:
Pepperidge farm puff pastry sheets ( 1 Box )
Chopped Onion ( 1/2 )
Chopped carrot ( 2 )
Chopped Green beans (5-6)
Chopped potato ( 2 )
Chopped cabbage ( 1/4 )
Green Peas (1/2 cup)
Amchur powder ( 1 tsp)
Salt to taste
Red Chilly powder (1 tsp)
Cooking Oil (1 tsp)


Preparation:

• Take a pan add oil ,Chopped Onion,Chopped carrot,Chopped Cabbage,Chopped Green beans,Chopped potato,Green Peas.
• Cook for 2-3 mins and add Amchur powder,Salt to taste and Red Chilly powder.
• Cook it for 8-10 mins and Keep the curry aside.
• Allow to thaw the frozen Pepperidgefarm puff pastry sheets for about 20 mins.
• On a board Sprinkle all purpose flour Open the sheet and using rolling pin roll the sheet little bit.
• Place the curry on the Sheet and spread it evenly.Roll the sheet tightly and seal it with water or egg white.
• Using a bread knife cut 1/2 inch rolls.Repeat the same process with the other sheet.
• Preheat the oven at 400 degrees for 5 mins and place the Veg Pinwheels on the Aluminium foil with enough space in between the Veg pinwheels.
• Bake the Veg pinwheels for 15-20 mins in the oven at 350 degrees and take out from the oven,Its ready to serve.

Contributed by
Smitha

Pomegranate-Blueberry Smoothie

Ingredients
Pomegranate Seeds ( 1 cup )
Blueberry yogurt ( 1 )
Blueberries ( 1/2 cup)
Ice cubes ( 4-5)
Sugar ( 2 tsp)

Preparation

Take a blending jar add Pomegranate seeds , Blueberry yogurt , Ice cubes, Blueberries , Sugar , process all ingredients until smooth.If required add milk.

* You can substitute Pomegranate seeds with Pomegranate juice.

Veg Chilly Soup

Ingredients:
Chopped Onion ( 1/2 )
Chopped Carrot ( 1 )
Chopped Green Capsicum ( 1 )
Chopped Yellow Capsicum ( 1 )
Chopped Zucchini ( 1 )
Finely chopped Garlic (2 cloves)
Red Kidney beans ( 1 can)
Garbanzo beans (1 can)
Tomato Puree ( 1 can )
Chopped Tomatoes (2)
Dry basil (1 tsp)
Salt to taste
Red chilly powder ( 1 tsp)
Roasted cumin powder ( 1 tsp)
Oregano (1/2 tsp)
Water ( 1 cup )
Olive Oil - 2 tsp
Chopped Cilantro ( 1 tbsp)
Lime (1/2)


To garnish :

Sour Cream
Shredded Cheese

Preparation:

• Heat the soup pot add olive oil,onion,garlic,Carrot,zucchini,Green and yellow capsicum fry for 2-3 mins.
• Then add red chilly powder,cumin powder,dry basil and Oregano cook for 2 mins.
• Add tomato puree cook for 2 mins then add red kidney beans,garbanzo beans,chopped tomatoes,salt to taste.
• Add water and cook for 20-25 mins on low flame mix well for every 4-5 mins.
• Add cilantro and lime juice and mix it well.
• Serve the soup with sour cream and shredded cheese.