Eggless Orange Cake

About the Recipe:

This soft and spongy orange cake can be prepared without eggs and with a very few ingredients. It is very easy to prepare and takes very less time too. Best enjoyed with a hot cup of tea or coffee. Now let us know how to prepare this yummy cake.

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 30-35 mins

Yields: 10-15 pieces

Ingredients needed:

All purpose flour/Maida: 1 ½ Cup

Sugar: ¾ Cup

Yogurt/Curd: ¾ Cup

Fresh Orange Juice: ½ Cup

Oil: ½ Cup

Baking Powder: 1 ½ tsp

Baking Soda: ½ tsp

Orange Zest: ½ tsp

Raisins: a few

Preparation:

1. Mix Maida, Baking powder, Baking soda and keep it aside

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350° F

3. Grease the baking tray with oil

Method:

1. In a bowl, add yogurt and sugar and whisk it well

2. Then add fresh orange juice, oil and orange zest and mix it well

3. Add the flour little by little to the above mixture also add a few chopped raisins and mix it nicely

4. Pour the cake batter into the greased baking tray and make sure the batter level inside the tray is even

5. Put the baking tray inside the oven and bake it for 30 to 35 mins at 180°C / 350° F till you nice golden brown color on the top

6. After 30 mins check by inserting a knife or a tookpick in the cake, if it comes out clean then it means the cake has been baked well

7. Allow it to cool down and place the cake in a cooling tray

8. Once it has cooled down completely cut the cake into pieces

9. Enjoy the cake with a hot cup of tea or coffee

Note:

1. Adding raisins to the cake is optional

Do not forget to Hit +1, if you like the recipe J J

Rava Idli

About the Recipe:

An easy and quick idli recipe using sooji or rava. Instead of preparing only upma with rava, we can prepare idli and make it more healthier by adding some vegetables into it.This dish can be prepared instantly and no fermentation is required. Enjoy this hot rava idli with any chutney of your choice

Preparation Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 5-7 mins

Yields: 10-12 idli

Ingredients needed:

Sooji/White rava: 1 Cup

Curd: 1 Cup

Carrot: 1

Ginger: 1 inch piece

Green Chilly: 1

Curry leaves: a few

Coriander leaves: a few

Oil: 1 tsp

Ghee: 1 tsp

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Channa Dal: 2 tsp

Urad Dal: 2 tsp

Cooking soda: ¼ tsp

Cashew nuts: a few

Water: as required

Salt: as required

Sugar: a pinch

Preparation:

1.Chop the carrot, ginger, green Chilly, coriander leaves and curry leaves

2.Heat ghee in a pan and fry the cashew nuts and keep it aside

Method:

1. In the same pan, heat oil add mustard seeds, after it splutters add Channa Dal and Urad Dal

2. Now add chopped ginger, green chilly, curry leaves, carrot and saute it for a few minutes( 2-3 mins)

3. Add the sooji in the pan and saute it for few minutes till it gets a slight color

4. Put off the flame and allow it to cool down

5. After the mixture is cooled down, add the chopped coriander, salt and a pinch of sugar and mix well

6. Keep a spoon of curd aside and add the remaining to the mixture and mix it good

7.  In the leftover curd add very little of cooking soda and beat it well with a spoon till you see few froth/bubbles on the curd

8. Add it to the mixture and mix it very well.

9. You can add little water to the batter if its too thick. The consistency of the batter should be like the one shown in the picture.The rava idli batter is now ready.

10. Grease the idli plates with a little oil, place a few cashews and gently fill in the plates with the batter

11. Steam it in a steamer/ pressure cooker without the weight for 5 to 7 minutes

12. Hot rava idli is ready to be served with any chutney of your choice

Note:

1. Adding carrots is optional. Adding them makes it healthier and gives a good color too

2. The consistency of the batter should not be too thin

3. Insert a fork after steaming the idlis for 5 mins, if the fork comes out clean then the idlis are ready. Make sure not to steam the idlis for a longer time because it gets harder.

Do not forget to hit +1, if you like the recipe J J

Vada Pav

About the recipe:

Vada Pav is one of the best tea time chat. These vadas are made using potatoes  along with other spices and deep fried in oil and its served with hot chutneys and  pav buns. Enjoy the vada pavs with few chopped onions fried green chilly and a hot cup of tea

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients needed:

Pav buns: 4 to 5

Potatoes: 3

Green Chilly: 3 nos

Garlic: 3 nos

Ginger: ½ inch piece

Turmeric Powder: ½ tsp

Gram Flour/Chickpea flour: ½ Cup

Cooking soda: ¼ tsp (optional)

Hing: a pinch

Mustard seeds: ½ tsp

Cumin seeds: ½ tsp

Oil: 1 tsp

Salt: as required

Water: as required

Coriander leaves: a few

Curry leaves: a few

Preparation:

1.Boil the potatoes, peel off the skin , mash it and keep it aside

2.Add Chickpea flour, salt, hing, soda and turmeric powder into a bowl, add water little by little and make it into a paste without any lumps as shown in the picture

3.Chop green chillies, garlic, ginger, curry leaves and coriander leaves

Method:

1.Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds.

2.After the mustard seeds crackle, add cumin seeds

3.Add the chopped green chillies, garlic and ginger with a little turmeric powder and salt

4.Now transfer the mixture to the grated potatoes, mix it well along with chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves

5.Squeeze a tsp of fresh lime juice to the potato mixture

6.Make medium sized balls as shown in the picture

7.Dip the potato balls in the chick pea flour mixture and deep fry it in oil in a medium flame

8.Spilt the pav buns into half, apply hot coriander/mint chutney to one side and sweet chutney or sauce to the other side.

9.Place the fried potato balls inside the pav bun

10. Enjoy this vada pav with few chopped onions  hot masal tea or coffee

Do not forget to Hit +1, if you like the recipe J J

Spicy Tomato Rice

About the recipe:

Everyone likes tangy tomatoes, and this version of spicy tomato rice makes it even more tangy and yummy. Enjoy this tomato rice with onion raitha or papad. Let us know how to prepare this recipe

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients needed:

Rice: 1 Cup

Water: 3 Cups

Onion: 2

Tomato: 4

Turmeric Powder: ½ tsp

Curry leaves: a few

Coriander leaves: a few

Salt: as required

For Grinding:

Coconut: 2 tbsp

Ginger: 1 inch piece

Garlic: 3 nos

Cardamom: 2

Cinnamon: ½ inch piece

Cloves: 2

Fennel seeds:  ½ tsp

Green Chilly: 2

Red Chilly: 3-4

Tomato: 1

For seasoning:

Oil: 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Preparation:

1.Grind all the ingredients mentioned under grinding section with a little water to a smooth paste

2.Chop onions lengthwise

3.Chop the remaining 3 tomatoes into medium sized pieces

Method:

1.Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the ingredients mentioned under seasoning section

2.After they splutter, add chopped onions, turmeric powder and salt

3.Saute till the onions  become transparent, then add the chopped tomatoes

4.Once the tomatoes become soft, add the grounded paste and mix it well

5.Add water and rice, check for salt

5.Close the lid and turn to medium flame and cook for 3 whistles

6.When the pressure subsides, garnish with curry leaves and coriander leaves and serve hot with onion raitha or papad

Note:

1.Since there is water content in the tomatoes , be careful in adding water for cooking the rice

2.You can increase the number of green/red chilly according to your taste

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Apple Jam

About the recipe:

This is one of the recipe which is liked by everyone, especially kids. This goes well with bread, buns and chapati too. It is very simple to make at home which requires only a very few ingredients. Let us know how to prepare this yummy Apple Jam

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients needed:

Apple:  3 nos (small)

White Sugar: 2 cups (small)

Brown Sugar: 2 tbsp (optional)

Lime juice: 1 tsp

Water: 3 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Wash the apples, peel off the skin, discard the seeds and cut them into small pieces (as shown in the picture)

Method:

1. Cook the chopped apple in a pan with a little water

2. Close the pan with a lid and cook it till soft. This approximately takes 10 minutes

3. Now, mash the cooked apple nicely with a masher

4. Then add sugar and cook till all the sugar is dissolved and it gets to a thick consistency

5. Switch off the flame and let it cool down to room temperature

6. Add fresh lime juice and mix well

5. Yummy Apple jam is ready to enjoyed

Note:

1. Brown sugar is optional. I have added it, to give a good color

2. Make sure the apple is cooked well and mashed before you add sugar to it

3. You can increase or decrease the amount of sugar as per your taste

4. Make sure the jam is cooled down to room temperature before storing it in a container

5. You can store this jam upto a week or 10 days in a refrigerator

Do not forget to Hit +1, if you really like the recipe :) :)

Green Gram Dal

About the recipe:

This is a simple and easy Dal recipe which goes well with Rice and Chapati. Let us get to know how to prepare Green Gram Dal with the stepwise pictures.

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients needed:

Green Gram: ½ Cup

Onion: 1 Big

Tomato: 2

Red chillies: 3

Garlic: 4 nos

Coriander seeds: 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp

Sambar Powder: 2 tsp

Salt: as required

Water: 2 Cups

For the seasoning:

Oil: 1 tbsp

Mustard Seeds: 1 tsp

Cumin seeds: 2 tsp

For the garnishing:

Curry leaves: a few

Coriander leaves: a few

Preparation:

1. Chop the tomatoes into medium sized cubes

2. Chop onions and garlic finely

3. Pressure cook the green gram with tomatoes, coriander seeds, Red chillies, turmeric powder and water until soft as shown in the picture ( usually about 5 to 6 whistles)

4. After the pressure subsides, add  sambar powder and mash it gently with a masher or a ladle

Method:

1. Heat oil in pan, add mustard seeds

2. After the mustard seeds crackle, add cumin seeds

3. Add the chopped onions and  garlic, saute it till the onions become soft

4. Now, transfer the cooked dal mixture to the pan,

5. Add salt and water as required

6. Finally, granish the dal with chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves

7. The Green Gram Dal is ready to be served with Rice or Chapati or Phulka

Note:

1. Soaking the green gram for atleast 1-2 hours makes it to cook faster and also saves energy

2. Adjust the red chilles and sambar powder to your taste

3. Add the water according to the consistency u need

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Idli podi/Idli milagai podi

About the recipe:

It is an instant side dish for idli and dosa. Whenever we don’t have time to prepare chutney/sambar  this idli podi comes very handy. Be it a picnic with your family, idli with milagai podi tastes heavenly. Now let us know how to prepare this idli milagai podi

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

Urad Dal: 1 Cup

Channa Dal: ½ Cup

Red Chillies: 10-15

Asafoetida/Hing: 1 tsp

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Salt: as required

Oil: 1 tsp

Preparation:

1.Add few drops of oil, and roast the urad dal in a medium flame till it becomes golden brown and keep it aside

2.Again add a very few drops of oil and roast the channa dal till it becomes golden brown and keep oit aside

3.Dry roast the hing separately

4.Add a few drops oil oil and roast the red chillies for a few minutes only

5.Let all the ingredients cool down to room temperature

Method:

1.Put the roasted ingredients altogether  in a blender and blend it to a course powder.

2.Spread out the grounded powder in a paper and let it cool down .

3.After the powder is cooled down to room temperature, add salt as required

4.Store it in an air tight container and enjoy with idli or dosa

Note:

1.You can also add dried curry leaves to the podi. Which adds up a good smell and taste. Make sure the curry leaves are well dried and there is no moisture in it before adding it to the blender.

2.You can adjust the red chilles as per your taste.

3.In case if you find the podi to be hot after grinding it, just add 2tbsp of urad dal and 1 tsp of channa dal , dry roast them in the same way mentioned above, grind them separately and mix it to the previously grounded podi.

Do not forget to hit +1, if you really like the recipe J

Aloo Palak

About the recipe:

Dark leafy greens like spinach are important for skin and hair, bone health, and provide protein, iron, vitamins and minerals. We all love potatoes. Now let us learn to prepare a dish which has soft crispy potatoes and well cooked spinach. This dish goes excellent with phulka, chapathi and rice.

Preparation Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients needed:

Palak/Spinach: 2 Big Cups

Baby Potatoes : 10

Turmeric powder: ½ tsp

Salt: as required

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Oil: 1 tbsp

For grinding:

Onion: 1 Big

Tomato: ½

Ginger: 12 inch piece

Garlic: 2 nos

Green Chilly: 2

Coriander seeds: 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Boil the baby potatoes, peel off the skin and

2. Pour a little oil in a pan and fry the potatoes till golden brown as shown in the picture and keep it  aside

3. Chop the spinach roughly

4. Grind together all the ingredients mentioned under the grinding section

Method:

1. Add a tbsp of oil in a pan, add cumin seeds

2. Add the grounded paste ,turmeric powder and salt

3. Close the pan with a lid and cook till all the raw flavor is gone and the oil separates

4. Now, add the chopped spinach/palak and mix it well

5. Check for salt and add the fried potatoes

6. Serve the dish with phulka, chapathi or rice

Note:

1. The baby potatoes can also be substituted with the normal potatoes.Wash and boil the normal         potatoes and cut it into equal sized cubes, fry it and add it into the gravy

2. Be careful while adding salt since the spinach already contain salt in it

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