Guacamole

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_guacamole/

Avocado Millkshake

http://moroccanfood.about.com/od/teacoffeebeverages/r/Avocado_Shake.htm

Lauki radish kofta

Ingredients:

For Kofta:

Shredded lauki/bottle gourd (chorakkai) and white radish(mullangi) - 1 cup 

Chick pea flour (besan, kadala maavu)                                                - 1 tbsp

Red Chilli powder                                                                                     - 1/2 tsp

turmeric powder                                                                                       - 1/2 tsp

Salt as per taste

For Gravy:

Moong dal ( split green gram with or without skin)                      - 1 cup

chopped tomato*                                                                            - 1 cup

ginger                                                                                               - 1 inch piece

green chillies                                                                                   - 2

garlic                                                                                                 - 4- 5 cloves

chopped onions                                                                              - 1 cup

turmeric powder                                                                              - 1 tsp

mustard seeds                                                                                - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds (Jeera)                                                                      - 1/2 tsp

Water                                                                                                - 1/2 to 1 cup

salt as per taste

* You could replace the chopped tomatoes with 1/2 cup of thick tomato paste.

Kofta

Squeeze the excess water from the shredded lauki and radish. Use the squeezed water for the gravy.Mix the flour, spices and salt with the shredded lauki/radish. Make them into small balls or flat patties.Bake them at 350- 400 F until brown or cooked well on a lightly greased aluminium foil. It may take about 30- 40 minutes. Flip them after about 15- 20 minutes so that they brown evenly on both sides.

Baked Koftas

Gravy:

Crush the garlic, ginger and green chilles into a paste. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter add chopped onions and saute it for a couple minutes and then add the ginger/garlic/green chilli paste to it.  Add the turmeric powder and saute for about five minutes and add the chopped tomatoes. In the meantime dry roast the green gram dal. Once the mixture in the pan is sauteed well add the roasted dal into it with water. Add the salt and cook on low to medium heat for about 20- 30 minutes or until the dal is cooked well. Part of the dal could be mashed to get a gravy consistency.

Add the baked koftas in the gravy just before serving. The gravy can be garnished with chopped coriander(cilantro) leaves.

The gravy goes well with rotis/chapathis(Indian bread) or rice.

Peach Preserve

A recipe which may come in handy if you have too many peaches.

Ingredients:

Peach - 2 large ones

Jaggery*- 1/2 cup(powdered)

turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

chilli powder/flakes - 1/2 tsp

salt a small pinch 

* could replace jaggery with brown sugar or regular sugar

Peel the skin off the peaches by placing them in a pot of boiling water for a minute and then placing them in a bowl of water with ice cubes - Alton Brown way :-) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZSHj0JooQk). His recipe videos are interesting to watch and easy to make.

Chop the peaches into small pieces and cook them in medium heat until softened. Add the jaggery to this along with the spices and salt. Close the container or pan and cook on medium heat until they blend together. Reduce heat and use a hand blender to puree it. Continue to cook it on low heat until it thickens.

Take off heat and store in a glass jar in the refrigerator once cool.

Recipe source from - http://litebite.in/recipe-healthy-fruit-preserves/

Peach Shortbread

I made fruit shortbread/ fruit cookie for the first time.

Recipe Source :

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/09/peach-shortbread/

Replaced the following ingredients in that recipe:

butter with ghee (since I already had ghee)

Flour  with a combination of whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and soy flour.

Egg with yogurt (curd)

Cinnamon with cardamom powder

Followed the steps of the recipe as in the link above.

On the baking tray I placed a layer of flour crumble, layer of peach, layer of crumble, layer of peach and layer of flour crumble and topped it with chopped almonds. 

before baking

Bake it at 375 F for 40 minutes or until the top browns a little. Once it cools down slice it into pieces.

Baked slices

Cauliflower verde

Ingredients

cauliflower florets and chopped stems  - 2 cups
turmeric powder                                   - 1 tsp

To grind:
Cilantro leaves(coriander)                   - 1 cup
green chillies                                        -  2 (chopped)
Ginger                                                  - 1/2 inch piece

For tempering

oil                                         - 1 tsp
mustard seeds                      - 1/2 tsp
urad dal( ulutham paruppu) - 1 tsp


Wash cauliflower florets and drain it to dry. Grind the cilantro, green chillies and ginger to a coarse paste.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, urad dal and let the mustard seeds splutter. Once it splutters add the cauliflower florets, turmeric powder and saute for a couple of minutes. Add a little water ( about 1/4 cup or less) and close the pan and cook for about 5 minutes.Then add the salt and the ground paste. Leave it open and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with rice.

Recipe source:  My mother :-)

Banana swirl

Banana swirl made by my 4 year old son with a little help from me.

Ripe banana            - 1

Honey.                      - 1 tsp

Chocolate powder - 1/4 tsp

Peel the banana and freeze for about 7-8 hours.

Then remove from freezer and use a hand blender and mash it. Scoop it and place in a bowl top it with the honey and chocolate powder.

You can top it with a couple of slices of banana.

Recipe source - PBSKids program "Daniel tiger's neighbourhood" :-) .

dhokla

Ingredients

Chickpea flour(besan/kadala maavu)        -1 cup

Curd (yogurt)                                             - 1/2 cup

Green chillies                                             - 2

Ginger                                                        - 1 inch piece

Water                                                         - 1/4 to 1/2 cup

Eno fruit salt *                                            -  1 tsp

Lime juice                                                  -  1 tsp

Carrots and celery( finely chopped)          - 1/4 cup

Turmeric powder                                        - 1 tsp

For ganishing:

Oil of choice                                               - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds                                            - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds(jeera)                                    - 1/2 tsp

Salt according to taste

* I used 1/2 sachet of antacid powder which contains sodium bicarbonate and citric acid.

Grind the green chillies and ginger with little water.Take a bowl and add the flour, chopped vegetables,salt, turmeric powder, curd ,lime juice and green chilli paste. Mix the ingredients to a thick batter.let it sit for ten minutes. Heat water in a steamer/idli cooker. Grease a deep dish or a plate with oil. Add the Eno salt just before you pour the batter in the plate and put it in the steamer. Steam cook for about 10 - 15 minutes or until done. Let it cool and turn it over. Heat 1/2 tsp oil and add mustard seeds, curry leaves and cumin seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter add it on top of the dhokla.

Slice it and serve with chutney of choice

Recipe source:

http://www.rakskitchen.net/2011/09/dhokla-recipe.html