Double ka Meetha Recipe

         Double ka meetha is a simple to make eggless bread pudding that hails form the Hyderabadi Nawabis . Its one of the two main desserts of Hyderabad , the other being Kurbani ka Meeta . Do try this ... You'll not regret :-) 

Ingredients :

• Milk - 1/4 ltr
• Sugar 100 gms 
• Saffron - a pinch
• Dry fruits - to garnish
• Cardamom - 3
• Milk or wheat bread loaf - 1 ( medium )

Method :

• Make sugar syrup by heating sugar in about 1/4 ltr of water .
• Add cardamom  to this to add flavor. Keep the syrup aside.
• Make rabdi of the milk . To do this , boil the milk in low heat till it gets half in quantity .
• Add a pinch of saffron to 1 tbsp of milk and mix well . Add this mixture to the rabdi and stir . This gives good color to the milk . Keep this milk aside .
• Heat ghee in a pan . 
• Shallow fry the bread pieces in the ghee until light brown. 
• Dip each of these bread pieces in the pre-prepared sugar syrup. Keep them until all the syrup is completely  absorbed by the bread . This should take only a couple of minutes .
• Take these bread pieces into a serving bowl . 
• Now pour the rabdi ( thick milk ) over the bread pieces. 
• Garnish with some dry fruits .

Serve cool . Tastes best that way  ;-)

You can also add some condensed milk on the top (if you can handle heavy food :p) 

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Vegetable Momo

Ingredients :

• Maida - 1/4 kg
• Salt to taste 
• Oil - 3 tbsp
• Grated Cabbage - 1 cup
• Grated carrot - 1/2 cup
• Finely chopped baby corn - 1/2 cup
• Pepper powder - 1/2 spoon
• Grated ginger - 1/2 spoon
• Soya sauce - 2 tspns 

Method :

• Heat oil in a pan .
• Add the finely chopped vegetables to the oil and saute for two minutes . Keep them aside for later use.
• Make a dough of maida by adding enough water , 1 tbsp of oil and salt as per taste.
• Make small parts of this dough and press the balls flat like we do to make rotis .
• Stuff these rotis with the fried vegetables .
• Cook these on steam for ten minutes . 

The momos are ready to eat . Serve hot with any spicy chutney.

Cook the momos on steam only . Do not fry them or cook them in any other way . 

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Paneer Fried Rice

         
Paneer fried rice is an easy to make fast food style dish which can be made even with left over rice and very little veggies.Try out the lip smacking paneer fried rice recipe and do let me know your experience in the comment box below. Bon appetite !

Ingredients:

• Basmati rice - 1 cup
• Paneer - 100 gms ( diced into small pieces )
• Onions - 2
• Capsicum - 1
• Grated cabbage - 1 cup
• Ajina moto ( China salt ) -  a pinch
• Pepper powder - 1 tbsp
• Salt- to taste
• Butter - 2 tbps
• Chopped spring onions - to garnish
• Garlic flakes - 2 tbsp

Method :

• Cook the rice and keep it aside . 
• Heat butter in a pan.
• Add onions,garlic falkes, capsicum , cabbage and paneer pieces.
• Saute for about three minutes.
• Add the cooked rice to this along with pepper powder , ajino moto and salt.
• Mix it well. Take it into a serving bowl and garnish with spring onions.

Can also be garnished with roasted cashew nuts .

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Mango Rasam ( Mamidikaya rasam )

            

Raw mangoes are  found during summer and most of us like to make something nice and innovative with the mangoes rather than always having them directly. Hear is a Raw Mango Rasam recipe my mom makes for us during summers .This dish is known for its cooling effect , while consuming mango directly brings heat to the body.

Ingredients :

• Raw mango - 1 (big)
• Dhanaya seeds - 2 tbsp
• Cumin seeds ( jeera )  - 1 tbsp
• Roasted til ( Seasame seeds)  - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste 
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp
• Hing - a pinch
• Finely chopped onion - 1 cup
• Green chilies - 4
• Curry leaves
• Coriander - to garnish

Method :

• Boil the mango. Squeeze to make pulp out of it.
• Take mango pulp into a bowl .
• Add salt and six cups of water and mix it well.
• To this add finely chopped onions, sliced green chilies and coriander leaves.
• Make a smooth paste of dhaniya seeds , cumin seeds and til .
• Add this paste to the mango rasam.
• Take this into a serving bowl.
• Heat 2 tbsps of oil in a pan.
• Add two red chilies , mustard , cumin seeds  and a pinch hing.
• Add this to the mango rasam and garnish with fresh coriander leaves .

You may also want to check the most prepared rasam - Tomato rasam

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Make your own Rasam Powder

Making Rasam powder is always a better choice if you have rasam regularly . This recipe was shared by my mother. Its quite simple and hardly takes any time . If you are making it for the first time I suggest you make a small quantity of it , try it, make the required changes as per your taste and then make lots of it later (as it can be preserved far a long ... long time) . Some people use dried coriander in the powder . But I prefer using fresh coriander at the time of making rasam instead. You can add it in the ingredient list if you want to . It comes handy when there is no fresh coriander available at the right time.

Ingredients :

• Dhaniya (coriander ) seeds - 5 tspn
• Methi seeds ( Fenugreek )  - 1 tbsp
• Black Pepper - 5 tbsp
• Red chilies - 5 
• Cumin seeds ( jeera ) - 3 tbsp
• Garlic flakes - 10
• Asafetida ( Hing) -  1/2 tspn

Method :

• Dry roast all the mentioned ingredients .
• Grind the ingredients to make  a  smooth  powder .

Easy ! Isn't it ?
This Rasam powder can be preserved for around  one year when kept in an air tight container away from moisture.

It can be used in any kind of rasam. You may want to try one of these Rasam recipes - Raw mango rasam , Tomato rasam .

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Tomato Rasam

           
The Tomato Rasam is the most basic kind of rasam . Its simple to make with pureed tomatoes simmered with rasam powder which adds the main tang to the dish.

Ingredients :

• Tomatoes - 6
• Garlic flakes - 2
• Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
• Curry leaves 
• Coriander leaves
• Salt - to taste
• Rasam Powder - 3 tbsp

Method :

• Boil the tomatoes and make a puree of it .
• Add salt, coconut , rasam powder to it.
• Boil it  for 3 -5 minutes . 
• Take it into a serving bowl.
• Heat two tbsp of oil in a pan .
• Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds , curry leaves and two red chilies to it.
• Once it starts to splutter, take off from the fire and add it to the rasam.
• Serve hot by garnishing with coriander leaves .

Make your own  Rasam Powder with this simple recipe - Make your own Rasam Powder 

You may want to try this rasam too -  Raw Mango Rasam

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What is a Kootu ?

                 
                                           
Kootu is a native Tamil Nadu dish that can accompany both rice and roti . Its a semi dry and semi liquid (less aqueous than sambar or rasam ) . A Kootu basically is rich in vegetables . Its a part of a typical Tamil meal.

There are numerous kinds of kootus that one can prepare like the vegetable kootu that has all your favorite veggies in equal quantities. This dish comes handy when there are many vegetables with you but in small quantities. You can check out the recipe here. 

                         
There are many more kinds of kootu like the carrot kootu , cabbage kootu , french beans kootu. These are different from the vegetable kootu in the sense that one of these veggies dominate the dish while there still are other vegetables in the dish.
                                         

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Kurbani ka meeta / Khubani ka meeta

Kurbani ka meeta also known as Khubani ka meeta  is an authentic Hyderabadi delicacy made with dried apricots ( Karjoor) . Generally consumed after dum ka biriyani , kurbani ka meeta is a must try.

Ingredients :

• Dried Kajoor - 100 gm
• Sugar - 200 gm
• Milk - 1 ltr
• Custard powder - 2 tbsp 
• Fresh cream - 50 gms
• Dried fruits - to garnish

Method :

• Soak the kajoor in water for two hrs .
• Boil it for ten minutes.
• Discard the seeds for the fruit and grind to fine paste . Keep few apricots aside to garnish.
• Add sugar to this paste. 
• Keep on fire for five minutes and remove to cool.
• Heat milk in another  vessel.
• Mix two spoons of custard powder in  five spoons water and make a paste.
• Add the custard paste to the boiling milk and stir continuously, not letting lumps form.
• Cool this custard sauce . 
• Add the kajoor paste to the custard sauce . Stir well.
• Garnish with fresh cream , dry fruits and some apricots that were kept aside.

Tastes best when served chill. You can also top it with some vanilla ice cream .

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Palak Dosa ( Spinach Dosa )

We can not find the Palak dosa in many restaurants but many home makers prefer making palak dosa as it is a  rich-in-iron breakfast. Just a little more work with the easy-to-make plain dosa would give us this incredibly healthy alternative. Check out how ....

Ingredients:

• Palak / Spinach - 5 bunches
• Moong dal - 1 cup
• Rice - 1 cup
• Green chilies - 8
• Onions - finely chopped 1 cup
• Tomatoes - 3
• Coriander - 1 bunch
• Curry leaves 
• Butter - 1 cup
• Salt - to taste

Method :

• Wash and soak the moong dal and rice together for four hours.
• Finely chop the coriander and spinach. Keep aside.
• Add green chilies , salt , curry leaves , chopped tomatoes to the soaked rice and moong daal . ( Do not forget to drain the water.)
• Grind this to a smooth paste. This makes the batter for our dosa.
• Add half of the chopped onions and the chopped coriander (the remaining for garnishing ) and spinach to the batter.
• Heat a pan . 
• Pour one big table spoon of the batter on the pan.
• Quickly spread the batter (clockwise) outwards to the edge of the pan.
• Add little oil to the edge of the dosa and few drops on the top to enable it to fry.
• Keep this on high flame for about two minutes till the corners of the dosa  leave surface of the pan.
• Now remove the dosa from the pan and place it on a serving plate.
• Garnish the dosa with a teaspoon of butter and the remaining onions and coriander.    

This dosa can be served with any pickle or chutney.

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