Russian Salad

Russian salad is an easy to make salad recipe and is quite popular. I love this salad very much. Whenever I see it being served in any party/weddings I always think of preparing this at home. But unfortunately it never happened. Yesterday only I finally made it as all the required ingredients were available at home.

I heard some one saying also that this is actually not the original Russian salad and its just an indian Russian salad. Fact is we have many other international dishes in our own indianised version. So as far as the taste matters, we foodies are always ready to experiment and give twists and turns to our food.
So here is the very simple recipe of this yummilicious salad...

Ingredients:

French Bean: 4-5 numbers chopped
Carrot: 1 medium sized peeled & chopped
Potato: 1 medium sized peeled & chopped
Peas: 1/4 cup
Apple: 1 small sized chopped
Pineapple: 3-4 slices chopped (I used the canned pineapple)
Mayonnaise: 2 tbsp.
Cream: 1 tbsp.
salt to taste
Black pepper: 1 tsp
Honey: 1 tsp (you can replace with sugar also)


Directions:

Pressure cook the chopped vegetables and the peas with some salt and keep aside (1 or 2 whistles should be enough). Chop the fruits almost of same size of the vegetables and keep aside.

Mix the fruits and vegetables in a bowl and keep aside.

In a mixing bowl, take the mayonnaise & cream and mix them well till they gets a smooth consistency, and not a runny one. Now into this sauce add all the cooked vegetables & fruits. Add some salt, black pepper powder and honey  & combine everything well.

Now your delicious salad is ready. Serve it chilled.

 

Very famous chicken Do-pyaza

Its been a week or so that I was just not in touch with my second baby- my blog. Had to share something here today. So when I was buying chicken today, thought to prepare chicken do-pyaza as its been like many months that I have not cooked this dish. This is a delicious Indian recipe served as curries is basically cooked with two types of onion  & two types of tangy agents. Little sweet and sour this dish goes well with rice/roti/nan.

Ingredients:

Chicken: 500 gms (you can use boneless as well)
Onion: 2 (1 medium sized finely chopped & 1 medium sized cut into cubes)
Tomato: 1 medium sized pureed
Ginger garlic paste: 3 tbsp.
Carmdamom/clove/cinnamon: 2-3 of each pitted
Curd: 2 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder: 2tsp
Red chilli powder: 2 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
Black pepper powder: 1 tsp
Green chilli : 1-2 for garnishing
Fresh Coriander & mint: for garnishing
Mustard oil: 3-4 tbsp

Method:

Cut the chicken pieces in equal size, wash properly. In a mixing bowl, marinate the chicken with 1 tbsp. of ginger garlic paste and 1 tsp chilli powder and keep aside for about half an hour.

Take the curd in a bowl and mix 1 tsp turmeric powder & 1 tsp chilli powder and beat well and keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadhai/pan. Add the pitted cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and remaining 2 tbsp. of ginger garlic paste and saute. Now add the finely chopped onions and fry till translucent. Add the tomato puree and cook till it cooks and release oil. Add the beaten curd into this and add salt. Add remaining 1 tsp turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, remaining 1/2 tsp chilli powder, black pepper powder.  Mix them all very well and fry for about a minute or two.

Add the sliced onions and combine well with all the ingredients. Now add the chicken and garam masala. Mix everything well and cover with a lid. Keep the flame low to medium. Add half cup of water and cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked properly.

Now your chicken do pyaza is ready. Transfer it to a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves, chopped green chillies and mint leaves. You can add fresh cream for garnishing as well.

Serve hot and enjoy with your rice or chapatti.

 

Ronga Lau pitika - Mashed pumpkin

In Assam, we love to eat smoked mashed dishes , whether it is mashed potato/tomato/sweet potato/egg plant/fish etc. One of the famous among them is ronga lau pitika (mashed pumpkin). Yesterday I made this dish for lunch but in a little different way. Instead of keeping the pumpkin raw boiled, I cooked it in oil with few spices to make this dish a bit interesting to eat. Very easy with few handy ingredients and very light to eat as well.

Ingredients:

Pumpkin: 1 cup cut into medium sized cubes
Onion: 1 medium sized grated
Garlic paste of 3-4 cloves
Green chilli: 1 chopped
Panch phuron: 1tsp
salt to taste
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Fresh coriander for garnishing
Mustard Oil: 1 tsbp

Method:

Par boil the pumpkin pieces in a saucepan with sufficient quantity of water. Once cooked, keep under running tape water, strain. Take a fork or spoon and mash the pumpkin pieces and keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Add paanch  phuron and allow it to splutter. Add the chillies & onion and saute for about a minute or two or till translucent. Now add the garlic paste, coriander powder and fry. Time to add  the mashed pumpkin. Mix with all other ingredients , add salt and cook for about 4-5 minutes covering with a lid checking in between in low-medium flame. Once the pumpkin is cooked completely and takes a light brown colour, put the flame off.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice & dal.

 

Assam's popular sweet "Goja"

 

Goja is an Assamese sweetmeat, very popular among people. I personally love this sweet a lot. I have been growing up indulging on this. Sadly we do not get to taste it on a regular basis as we stay away here in Mumbai. Last time I had Goja was in Moran (Assam) while returning back from my cousin brother's wedding to my parents' place in the month of feb. And since then I was so desperate to have it again. And finally I got to know the recipe of this oh-so-delicious sweet and did not wait much to give it a try in my kitchen. A simple easy recipe but a finger-licking taste. Being the first timer in experimenting this at home, I made a small batch this time.


Ingredients:

For the goja
Flour/Maida: 200 gms
Ghee/refined oil: 7-8 tbsp.
Soda bicarbonate: 1 tsp
Baking powder: A pinch
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp roasted
Cloves: 3-4 finely chopped
Pinch of salt
Sufficient water to make the dough.

For sugar syrup
Sugar: 5 tbsp.
Water: 2 cups


Method:

In a bowl, sift the flour, baking powder. Mix rest of the ingredients mentioned above and make a very soft dough. Once its ready, spread the dough little less than an inch thick on a clean hard surface. I used the kitchen slab. Now with the help of a knife cut the dough in equal rectangular shapes.

Heat sufficient oil in a kadhai/deep bottomed pan for deep frying. Fry the gojas till it turns golden brown colour from all sides. Use a fork to check if the gojas are cooked properly from inside.

Prepare the sugar syrup in a saucepan with the water & sugar. It should not take more than 10-15 minutes. Sugar syrup should not be very thick.

Transfer the fried the gojas immediately to the hot sugar syrup , turn them & keep in the syrup for 5-7 minutes and remove. Keep them in refrigerator in air-tight containers and enjoy with your cup of tea.

 

Lamington - The Aussie classic: An Australian dessert

 

Baking was taking a back seat for last few months in my kitchen. Yesterday only I  thought of baking a cake for some guests but something different from the regular cakes. So it was lamington at home. Lamington which is a popular Australian dessert is basically sponge cake cut into squares, coat with chocolate sauce and roll onto coconut flakes. Heavenly delicious dessert I must say.. As I was having  some new oranges at home , so I baked an orange flavoured cake instead of the basic sponge cake. As all of us know that orange & chocolate is like match made in heaven, lamingtons tasted just awesome.

Ingredients:

For the orange cake:
Plain flour/maida: 2 cups
Butter: 1/2 cup melted at room temperature
Sugar: 1/2 cup (you can increase the sweetness as per your liking)
Egg: 2
Baking powder: 4 tsp
A pinch of salt
Vanilla Essence: 1 tsp
Orange juice: 1/4 cup
Orange zest: 1 tsp

For the chocolate sauce:

Butter: 2-3 tbsp. melted at room temperature
sugar: 1/2 cup powdered
Cocoa powder: 1/3 cup
Warm milk: 1/2 cup

&

Dry Coconut flakes: As required for rolling the cake pieces

Preparation:

Preheat the oven at 270 degree Celsius. Grease a cake tin with butter/oil and dust some plain flour and keep aside.

In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, salt, baking powder and mix the orange zests.  Mix the butter & sugar in another bowl nicely. You can use a hand blender or beater as well. I use a balloon beater. Now into this, beat the eggs one by one till fluffy. Into this add the orange juice, and vanilla essence and again beat all nicely. Now add in the flour mixture into this in batches and combine well with the cut & fold method.

Pour the batter into the greased tin and bake at 180 degree Celsius for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Mine took almost 35 minutes.

Once the cake is ready, allow it to cool down.

In the mean while , prepare the sauce. In a mixing bowl , beat the sugar & butter till fluffy. Add the cocoa powder & mix. Finally add the milk and combine all nicely. The sauce should not be of running consistency. So if you feel your sauce becomes runny, you can put it on low-medium flame in a saucepan so that it thickens a little and is perfect for using. I had to do this to thicken my sauce.

In a bowl, take the coconut flakes.
Cut the cake into square sized shapes. Now dip one piece of cake into the chocolate sauce so that chocolate coats over the cake properly from all sides. Roll the cake piece on the coconut flakes and keep aside in a dish. Follow the same procedure for rest of the cake pieces.

So here s your lamingtons ready. Keep in refrigerator in air-tight container and enjoy with your cup of tea/coffee.

My guest  loved eating them for sure and that made me happy ..that I am sure of ..

Try this super delicious lamingtons and do share your feedback .

sojina aru xoriyohor bhaji - Drumstick with mustard

Do not we love this special preparation of Assam ? As a child I was not very fond of sojina (drumstick) . But with time passing by I have developed a liking for this particular vegetable. Most of the times I cook this with toor dal with lots of garlic & onion. Today I specifically bought these sojina for this preparation only. A simple recipe as most of our Assamese recipes are , with very minimum spices. A real delicious one. Do try in your kitchen and share your feedback too.

Ingredients:

Drumsticks: 3 tender drumsticks (you can increase the number as per your servings)
Yellow Mustard seeds: 2 tsp soaked in water for about 10-15 minutes
Onion: 1 medium sized
Garlic: 5-6 cloves
Tomato: 1 small sized cut into wedges
Green chilli: 1
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
Mustard oil: 1 tbsp.
Water as required

Method:

Scrap the out hard layers of sojina and wash properly. Cut the sojina (drumsticks) into 2 or 2 1/2 inches lengthwise.

Make a paste of mustard seeds, onion, garlic, chilli in a mixer.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the above paste and fry for a minute or two and add the tomato, salt & turmeric powder and mix them well and cook till the tomato gets tender and pulpy. Now add the sojina and mix with all the ingredients and cover with a lid in low to medium flame for 2-3 minutes checking in between. Add sufficient water say about half cup. Cover again with the lid and cook till the sojina cooks and the gravy becomes thick.

Now your sojina aru xoriyohor bhaji - drumstick with mustard is ready. Serve hot with rice.

 

Assamese sweet Paiyox -kheer

Paiyox or kheer is a very common & most liked dessert of Assam. Its a preparation of rice & milk. The rice which we use to make this dessert in Assam is Joha Saool - a small grained rice with a beautiful & delicious aroma. I never skip to cook paiyox at home on any special day . We offer this to god as Prasad as well. On birthdays in family its a must cooked dessert which I have inherited from my mother.

As I live in Mumbai , due to unavailability of the Joha saool, I use here the normal kheer making rice that is very easily available in any grocery store.

Ingredients:

Rice: 4 tbsp.
Milk: 1/2 litre
Jaggery: 3 tbsp. (you can use sugar as well)
Bay leaves: 3
Green Cardamom: 4-5
Cinnamon stick: 1 medium sized
Raisins: 7-8 nos. (I am using both black & normal ones)
Almonds: 4 nos. (you can use cashew nuts also- I was out of stock)

Method:

Wash the rice properly and soak in water for about an hour or so to fasten the cooking process of the rice while making the paiyox.

Grate the jiggery and keep aside.

Thinly slice the almonds into flakes

In a heavy bottom pan, add the milk and bring it to boil. Now keep the flame low and let the milk simmer till it thickens a little. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, raisins and keep it on the flame for about 2-3minutes stirring in between.

Now add the rice and give it a nice mix. Cover half of the pan with a lid in low to medium flame for about 5 minutes checking in between. This should take about 10 minutes to get cooked properly. Once the rice is cooked , put the flame off.

Do keep an eye on the consistency of the paiyox while cooking. After putting the flame off, if needed , add some more milk to it as the milk evaporates quickly.

Now you add the grated jiggery and keep mixing well till the jaggery get dissolves in the paiyox. Sprinkle the almond flakes.

 

 

And there your delicious paiyox is ready to be served. Serve hot or cold as per your liking & choice.