My 401st dish - "Tandoori Jhinge" or Grilled Prawns (North Indian style)

Tandoori Jhinge or Grilled prawns is our favorite weekend starter...as its not just simple to make, but also takes very less grilling time and yet its yummy... I have used a gas barbeque to grill the prawns, but you can you use any kind of barbeque or grill. The ingredients however remain the same. I mostly make it as a late evening snack, rather than a meal starter.

Celebrating my 400th Recipe - "Tawa Aloo Chat" ---------- An Indian Street Food ----------

Indian Street Food at its best...."Tawa Aloo Chat"...

and my personal favorite after "Pani Puri"...

Ingredients:
Potato - 4 - boiled, peeled and cubed
Oil - 2 tbsp - for frying
Tomato - 1 - chopped
Onion - 1 - chopped
Thick curd/yoghurt - 1 cup
Chat masala - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Black salt - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - chopped - 1 handful
Sweet chutney
Coriander mint chutney

Method:
Take a large pan/tawa. Add oil, keep on medium heat and shallow fry the boiled potatoes till golden brown.

Once done, drain the fried potato cubes and put them in a bowl.

Now to assemble the chat.

Take 2 plates.

Spread equal portions of the potato and spread in the plate.
Top with tomatoes, onions, sweet and green chutney, curds and sprinkle chat masala, red chilly powder, black salt and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

*********Deepavali Festival Special ********* "Mohanthal" - A Gujrati/Rajasthani dessert

Wish you all a Happy and Prosperous Diwali....

Finally managed to make "Mohanthal" which turned out to be easier than I thought...
My first attempt at making this at home...
Have had this dessert several times in some Rajasthani restaurants, and managed to even get the recipe, but always thought it was tuff to make so postponed it...

A yummy Gujrati/Rajasthani dessert....you could even called it "Gram Flour Fudge"

Try making it...its easy and yummy too...

Diwali Celebrations Begin - Finger Food for your Diwali Party - Minty Crisp Baby Potatoes

My favorite festival "Deepavali" or "Diwali" is just 'round the corner.....and the weekend before Diwali is the most hectic one for me....Shopping for gifts for all my near and dear ones....cleaning and re-decorating my home....and then the most important and satisfying time.......making some yummy Indian Sweets....like Gajar Halwa....Coconut Burfi....and some yummy finger foods for the Diwali parties.....
This year I am planning to make "Mohan Thal" a Gujrathi sweet dish...got the recipe from a famed Gujrathi/Rajasthani restaurant here..probably will make it in a day or two...

But meanwhile here is a simple Finger Food....Minty Crisp Baby Potatoes....

Easy to make and yet finger lickin' good...

Ingredients:
Serves 4
Baby Potatoes - 500 gms - Boiled and peeled
Black Salt - 1 tbsp
Red Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Cumin powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Chat masala powder - 1 tbsp
Mint leaves - 2 handfuls - for frying
Mint leaves - 1 few for garnish
Oil - 2 tbsp - for shallow frying

Method:
Take a large shallow pan, keep on medium heat, add oil, allow to heat for about 1 min, then add the black salt, red chilly powder, cumin powder, salt, chat masala and the 2 handfuls of chopped mint leaves along with the boiled and peeled baby potatoes.
Stir fry until golden brown.
Garnish with a few mint leaves.
Serve hot.

'Prawn Koliwada' - A Mumbai Street seafood

"Prawn Koliwada", is a lovely prawn starter very famous in Mumbai.
During my childhood I used to love these made by my grand aunt but over the years I almost forgot about them.
Recently I went to this sea food restaurant in Bangalore which is a very famous Mumbai sea food restaurant chain. And there we ordered the day's special "Prawn Koliwada"
While eating these yummy prawns I was reminded of my childhood mumbai holidays....the way me and my dad used to gorge on these lovely prawns...is a memory i will cherish for a lifetime...
Back home after this dinner, I was going thru my granny's hand written cookbook once again, finally found this lovely recipe...
I know its been a while since I posted any dish, but the last month has really been hectic...office work, house work, exams, festivals, parties....

Am sure you will forget my long absence once you cook and eat this one...so here goes....

Chicken Butter Fry

My very own creation is this Chicken Butter fry.
Inspired by my Butter chicken recipe, this one will surely make you drooling for more....

Serves 4
Ingredients:
Chicken drumsticks - 1/2 kg
For marination:
Curds - 6 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Dry mango powder or Amchoor - 1 tsp ( Optional)
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Tomato puree - 2 tbsp
Cashewnut paste - 2 tbsp ( make paste my soaking 10 cashewnuts in warm water for 15 minutes, then blending to a paste in a mixer)Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
For frying:
Butter - 2 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Cream - 4 tbsp

Method:
Preparing the chicken:
Mix all the ingredients under "for marination" , and apply to the chicken pieces and allow to sit in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Frying the chicken:
Take a heavy bottomed pan, keep on medium heat, add the butter, oil and cream and fry the marinated chicken legs till done. Make sure all the marination is also added to the pan, and chicken is fried until all the marination evaporates and sticks to the chicken.
If you have tandoor or barbeque, you could fry the chicken drumsticks in the tandoor or barbeque.

Serve hot with onion rings garnish with mint leaves.

Sukkal sungta kosambari/dry prawn salad

Dry prawn salad or "sukkal sungta kosambari" is a Mangalorean konkani side-dish...
this dish is not as popular like the Goan version of Dry prawn Kismur but i love it equally...

Ready in a jiffy...is the ideal side-dish when there is less time to cook but you still cannot manage without seafood...

"Nasheeli Champe" or Drunken Lamb Chops

"Nasheeli Champe" or Drunken Lamb chops is a starter that is totally my own creation...in terms of the recipe...
the name maybe used by some restaurants or on the net, but I just used this name as i thought it fitted well with the ingredients in the recipe....
Easy to make...have used "red wine" in the recipe so am calling it Drunken or nasheeli.

Achaari Fish Tikka

"Achari Fish Tikka" is another  lovely seafood starter which is easy to make, tasty and almost fat free (if you do not use any butter during grilling).
This is an enhanced version of the "Fish Tikka" which I have published earlier..its just that the marination/masala is more punjabi pickle based.
This is a spicier version of the fish tikka.You could use fillets of any fish, but the best fish fillet chunks can be got from fish like Salmon, Sea Bass and Basa since they are firm and can stand well on the grill/tandoor especially during baking/grilling.
You could even deep fry these fillets if you do not have an OTG/Grill, but "Fish Tikkas" are normally grilled on open fire/tandoor. I have used an electric oven (OTG) and grilled the fish.

Chilly Butter Prawns

Chilly Butter prawns...my very own creation...you could call it another of my Signature dishes....not just looks yummy but is truly lip smacking....
Do not go by the fiery red color...its not as hot/spicy as it looks...
the butter complements the spice to such an extent...that you are left wishing there were more prawns in your plate....I promise you a truly out of this world experience...
Any type of prawns will do...but I always prefer fresh white medium prawns...but you could use Tiger prawns or Scampi fresh or frozen...whatever you like...
Serve this with any type of Bread (Indian or English), you will love it....

Puliyogare or Tamarind Rice

'Puliogare' is simple "tamarind rice"....
Its a south Indian delicacy and a meal in itself...

The easiest way to make "Puliyogare" is to make the "gojju" or paste before hand and store in the refrigerator and use it whenever required.

"Pandi curry" or Coorgi Pork curry

Coorg is like 2nd home for me...two of my close friends are from coorg...
we drive to Coorg every year...
I love everything about Coorg, the weather, the hospitality of the folks there and most of all the food.
Love the cuisine especially the non-vegetarian. 
During my last trip to coorg I learnt to make the famous "Pandi curry" or Coorgi prok curry.

Chilly Fried crab sticks

Chilly fried crab sticks, a starter which I have eaten abroad and loved it but never really ate anywhere in India.
Recently I found frozen crab sticks (brand Gadre') in one of the supermarkets in Bangalore, and I bought them.
Made this simple lip smacking Chilly fried crab sticks....and we loved it...
serve it with my modified version of chilly sauce and am sure you will love it too.

Cream fried baby potatoes

A very easy side-dish or starter I made recently from baby potatoes.
My daughter loves baby potatoes in any form, so thought of making this, a bit of an experiment which tasted really yummy ....

Deep fried baby sardines or "tharu bhuthai fry"

"Tharu bhuthai" is a tulu word which means "baby sardines".
Sardines are normally a bit more fishy in smell compared to other sea fish, but baby sardines are an exception to this...
Normally available in the months of Nov Dec Jan in Mangalore and surrounding areas, but now some restaurants around Mangalore have their own fish farms where they rear these sardines thru the year...
These sardines when deep fried with our traditionall konkani masala...are really yummy to taste..
the perfect starter for a fishy food party...
Easy to make....and delicious...

Mutton Chilly

Sorry but its been a while since I posted this picture, but somehow was so caught up with work...that I forgot to post the recipe...

Here it goes...

Mutton Yakhni - Kashmiri Mutton curry (prepared in Curd/yoghurt)

Yakhni is a traditional Kashmiri dish. Yakhni means 'prepared in curds'. 
This curry is made from mutton but you could use chicken too instead.A mouth watering dish and goes perfectly well with steaming white rice.I learnt this dish from my Kashmiri friend....and its really easy to make.Try making it and am sure you will love it....

Holi Special - Dry fruit Gujiya

"Holi" is the festival of colors....
The best part of Holi is eating sweets... and my favorite being "Gujiyas", a deep fried stuffed Indian pastry ....

"Pav Bhaji"- Mumbai/Indian Street Meal

One of Mumbai's main street meal is the humble Pav Bhaji.
This dish is supposed to be an innovation that arose out of necessity of providing a nice hot meal to the hurried man on the streets of busy Mumbai. A complete meal in itself...
Pav is a type of bread, high in carbohydrates and fats (if served with butter) while bhaji is the vegetable-based curry portion, high in carbohydrates and proteins. 
This recipe uses the standard famous "Pav bhaji masala" which is a blend of spices like red chilli, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, black cardamom, dry mango powder, Fennel seeds, turmeric powder that took Mumbai by storm. 
I have tried making the "Pav Bhaji" masala at home but you never get the perfect Mumbai taste, for that you need to use MDH or Everest Brand of the "Pav Bhaji" masala.
Today this dish is not just available on the streets of Mumbai but all over India and even some countries abroad, and now served in 5 star restaurants as well as weddings/functions.
I often make this at home and infact I learnt this dish from my grandmother who had it written in her hand written cook book and the source she mentioned was the famous tarla dalal. My grandmom would travel often to Mumbai to see her sister and in one of those trips she got hold of this recipe.

Kasi Halwa/ Ash Gourd dessert/sweet dish - Celebrating 2 yrs of Shilpa's CookBook

Today is my blog's 2nd anniversary...
Managed to somehow find time and made this sweet dish just now, to celebrate my blog's 2nd anniversary.. this sweet dish which is very popular in Mangalore and coastal regions surrounding it.
My dad loves it, and today I realized that my husband and daughter too love it...
Easy to make dish... cannot use the word "healthy" here... cause there are reasonable amounts of sugar and ghee added to this sweet dish/dessert..
But during celebrations ..we do not count the calories....Do we ?

Shahi Mutton Curry or Royal Lamb curry

Shahi Mutton curry or Royal lamb curry...a lovely rich mutton dish...
I have made this dish somedays back, and even clicked the pic, but never got down to actually putting it up due to lack of time..Today after posting a dish I was really overwhelmed with the response I got, hence I decided to take out some time and blog this rightaway...

"Moonga Ghashi" - Whole green gram curry - A Konkani dish

Its been a while since I posted a new dish. Life is pretty hectic after having got back to work. Its fun at the new workplace, making new friends, learning a new/different work culture, learning my new job, juggling between home and an office which is 26 kms/1.5 hrs one way drive from home...but am enjoying every bit of my new life...
Now that its been 4 months am slowly getting back to the groove...of being the same old super-woman who used to manage home, office work and my lil kitchen life all so well..
In the last 3 months cooking for my family is been an integral part of my life just like everything else, but I must admit I have not tried cooking any new dish in the last 3 months.
The easiest and most liked dish is what I have been cooking...the obvious reason being time...
but now I have settled down and decided that whatever it may be, cooking is a passion for me, like I always say "When I am in the kitchen, I am happy"...
Last night I made this simple traditional curry called "Moonga Ghashi' in Konkani.
Its a very easy dish to make, and does not require any pre-preparation, perfect for working men/women. When served with steaming white rice, your meal is complete.