Category: STORE BOUGHT ALTERNATIVES

Nankhatai

Nankhatai are soft delicious cookies prepared in almost all homes in India. The aroma of ghee fills in as they are baked.

One does not need an occasion to bake these melt in the mouth desi Indian treat.

We donā€™t need an oven to make them. They can be baked over a thick bottomed pan and come out as good as the baked one.

Do try them as this is a simple and quick recipe.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour – 1 cup

Ghee – 1/2 cup

Semolina – 1/4 cup

Chick pea flour (Besan) – 1/2 cup

Powdered Brown Sugar – 3/4 cup

Slivered nuts – 1 table spoon(almond, pista and cashews)

Powdered Cardamom 1/4 spoon


Baking soda -1/4 spoon

Method:

In a deep bowl over a strainer add in the Besan, wheat flour and baking soda and strain them into the bowl.

Now add the powdered sugar, semolina, cardamom and the powdered sugar and mix well.

Finally add the ghee (liquid) and mix lightly with the fingers to make a soft dough.

Now divide the dough into even sized balls and flatter each ball lightly with the help of oneā€™s palms and garnish each cookie with the bits of the slivered nuts and press lightly.

Preheat the oven for ten minutes at 150 degrees.

Once the oven is ready place the Nankhatai leaving enough space between them so that they rise and do not stick to each other while they are baked.

Now bake them for 10 to 15 minutes at 150 degrees Celsius.

Do check them after 10 minutes as sometimes depending on your oven settings it can be ready after 10 minutes.

Once done allow to cool and the cookies are ready to be enjoyedšŸ˜‹

namithaskitchen

Peach šŸ‘ Crisp

Fresh Peaches when in season tempt you to try out a variety of desserts. Most of the ingredients are similar to Peach cobbler. The only variation is that in a cobbler the peaches are at the bottom and in the crisp the peach slices are spooned on the top of the crisp layer of l rusty base.

One can use fresh or canned peaches. I have used one big sized peach and since they were sweet I have reduced the sugar slightly.

This

Ingredients:

Oats – 1/4 cup

Brown Sugar -1 + 4 table spoons

Whole wheat flour – 1/2 cup

Vanilla essence – 1/4 spoon

Fresh Peach – 1 big one

Wheat crackers -2

Nutmeg powder – less than 1/4 spoon.

Lemon juice – 1 spoon

Butter – 2 table spoons

Pecans – 4 cut into bits

Method:

Preheat the oven for about ten minutes at 180Ā° Celsius.

Now add a table spoon of brown sugar granules to the sliced peach and keep aside .

Take a deep bowl and add 4 table spoons of brown sugar, butter and with the help of your fingers lightly mix it.

Add in the whole meal flour and the oats and oats and lightly run in with your fingers.

Add the nutmeg powder and the crushed wheat crackers and mix well.

Now coat the baking pan with a little butter and spoon in the mixture into the pan and pat them evenly.

Now pour the peach slices to which brown sugar and vanilla was added, into the baking pan.

Spread it evenly.

Add the pecan bits on the top.

Bake the Peach Crisp for about 25 to 30 mins.

Enjoy hot with some Vanilla ice cream.

namithaskitchen

Banana & Walnut Muffins


When you have ripe bananas in your fruit bowl and your neighbor gives you some more then you make the best use of those bananas by trying out new recipes.Have made muffins earlier too. These bananas ripened overnight and taste wise they were too sweet and that’s when I decided to bake these muffins.
I have added a bit of jaggery to get the right texture.They turned out awesome both in taste and texture.


Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour – 1 cup
Bananas – 5 ( small ellakki bananas)
Baking powder – 1/4 spoon
Baking soda – 1/4 spoon
Jaggery powder – 1/4 cup
Curd – 1/2 cup
Walnuts – 1/4 cup(bits)
Vanilla essence – 1/4 spoon
Oil – 1/4 cup
Method:
Preheat the oven for 10 minutes setting the temperature at 180 degrees Celsius.
Take a deep bowl and mash the peeled bananas one by one.
Add in the curd to which a few pinches of salt is added.
Add the oil and jaggery powder and mix well.
Now take a big bowl and pass the baking soda, baking powder and the whole wheat flour through a seive.
Slowly spoon in the mixture into the curd and jaggery mixture using the cut and fold method.
Add the vanilla essence and the walnut bits and then mix it lightly.
The batter should be of thick consistency.You may add a table spoon or so of milk if the mixture is too thick.
Lightly grease the muffin pan and spoon in the mixture into the moulds one by one.
Bake for about twenty minutes at 180 degree Celsius.
I could make 6 muffins from the above given measure.

namithaskitchen

Coconut and rose flavoured milk rolls.

This year during Deepavali , a Festival of Lights, I tried this new recipe which turned out delicious. The roasted desiccated coconut gave a lovely flavour to the roll.The rose syrup and the glazed cherry bits gave the love polish hue to the roll.

Ingredients:

Desiccated Coconut roasted – 1 cup

Milk powder – 1.5 cups

Glazed cherries -5-6 pieces.

Cashew powder – 2 table spoons.

Milk – 1/2 cup

Ghee – 3 table spoons

Rose syrup – 1 spoon.

Method:

Iā€™m a bowl add the milk powder and a spoon of melted ghee and rub the mixture lightly with your finger tips. Add about 2 to 3 table spoons of milk and rub them all together with light finger movements.

Now add the rest of the milk, roasted desiccated coconut and cashew powder and prepare the dough kneading lightly.

Heat a non stick pan and add a spoon of ghee and the dough. Keep moving your hands quickly for 5-6 minutes until the dough begins to form a ball.

Now add in the cherry bits and the rose syrup and mix well.

Take an aluminium foil and apply some ghee to it.

Put the mixture on rhe aluminium foil and try to make a thin roll along with the foil. Tuck the edges and refrigerate it for 40 minutes.

Open the foil and slice the roll into thin slices. The knife may get sticky so wife it every time you slice it in order to get perfect slices. Now lightly press the pistachio slivers over each slice lightly and enjoy them.

Since both the dessicated coconut, milk powder and rose flavour are sweet in nature., I have not used any sugar or sweetener .

If you wish it to be sweeter then you may add in a table spoon of icing sugar.

namithaskitchen

Home Made Sambhar Powder

Home made Sambhar is the best as all the spices are roasted to perfection.

I prefer using mung dal or tuvar( split pigeon peas) instead of chana dal as its lighter on the stomach and digestion.

Well itā€™s a matter of choice and taste!

Also I use more dal in the powder so that the Sambhar is thicker.

Itā€™s always better to spread the ingredients in several plates and keep it under direct sunlight.

This way the spices remain crisp.

Ingredients:

Red chillies.

1.5 cups.

3/4+3/4 – Guntur and Bedgi chillies.(for the spice and colour)

Pepper corns-1 table spoon

Tuvar dal -3/4 cup

Urad dal-1/4 cup

Coriander seeds-1 cup

Jeera/cumin-1/2 cup

Fenugreek/Methi seeds-3 table spoons

Asafoetida/Hing-1 table spoon

Turmeric/Haldi- 1 table spoon

Mustard-1/2 table spoon

Coconut oil-1 spoon.

Method:

1.Just rub some oil to your palms and move your hands amongst the crisp sun dry chillies so that they are coated lightly with oil.

Now in a heavy bottomed pan roast the red chillies on medium flame until they turn crisp.

2.Now one by one roast the coriander,cumin, Methi and pepper corns until you get a nice aroma.

3.Take care to see that they are roasted uniformly on medium flame and donā€™t get burnt.

4.Finally roast the dal followed by urad dal.

Allow tocool and dry grind them to not so smooth or coarse texture.

5.Mix in the turmeric and asafoetida powder and store in an air tight container.

Cook sambhar with love and Enjoy home made Sambhar with family…

namithaskitchen

Pulikoddel Masala

This is a traditional Konkani cuisine made from spices which are roasted along with sesame, dals and coconut.

Puli meaning sour and Koddel in Amchi means gravy based curry.

This curry is usually made during festivals and traditional functions.

The aroma of the masalas just fills the home. Most of the ingredients are roasted individually in ghee or oil and then powdered coarsely or ground adding water little by little.(that is if you are cooking it by preparing the fresh masala)

Then the masala is added to the cooked ash Gourd along with tamarind pulp and jaggery and after a proper boil it’s seasoned like the usual Konkani curries .

To make the cooking process easier I thought it best to roast all the ingredients and prepare the pulikoddel masala.

Here is the recipe for the Masala.

Ingredients:

Chana dal-9 spoons

Urad dal-9 spoons

Rice-3 spoons

Red chillies-Around 24.(12+12ie Bedgi and Guntur chillies)

GratedCoconut-6 table spoons

Sesame seeds-9 spoons( you could ad 6 white sesame and 3 spoons of black sesame)

Curry leaves–2 sprigs

Asafoetida-1 small spoon

Coriander seeds-9 spoons

Fenugreek/Methi seeds-3/4 spoon.

1 to 2 spoons of oil(preferably coconut oil)to dry roast the ingredients one by one until it lets out an aroma.

1.Now roast all the above ingredients except asafoetida, using very little oil until they let out a pleasant aroma.

2.Cool the roasted masala and dry grind them to a slightly coarse masala.

Store in air tight container.

namithaskitchen