Happy Birthday Indulge—we turn Nine!

Hello sweeties,
I am sorry for not updating this space time and again but I truly appreciate that you all are always coming back for recipes from the past years and they have been helpful in creating classic traditional food memories for you and loved ones. These nine years have been a roller coaster ride of success and failures; learning and disappointment, but in all these years Indulge-ashscorner has been with me and I truly appreciate the love and support it has gathered along the years. It’s not like I have been away from creating just the ease of Facebook page has made the stream split but it’s still flowing.
I pray to God to help me focus and keep my energies to get back to regular posting in its tenth year!!,

Almond Butter Stuffed Baked Karanji

Hello Dearies!! Diwali came and left with us wanting the festivity more. In my effort to learn a new faral/Snack item every year, this year it was a healthy nut butter stuffed baked karanji.

You will need;(Makes about 10-12 karanji's)

2 Store bought Pastry sheets.

Stuffing

2 Tbspns Almond Butter

1 Cup Dry coconut

1/4th cup roasted sooji/Semolina

Elaichi as per taste

Almond powder/meal 2 tbspn

Sugar as per taste

 Little milk to seal the edges.

To make the stuffing

Roast the dry coconut  and sooji separately  on a  low flame for 3-5 mins each, remove it in  a bowl. Add the almond butter, Elaichi powder, almond meal and sugar and mix well. make small portions of this mix with a spoon for equal measure of stuffing

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Thaw and roll the pastry sheet into a dough. Make small balls out of this dough and make small poori. Stuff it with the above stuffing and apply little milk to seal the edges. Use fork to make design and press firmly. Remove the excess dough and use again. Similarly make the remaining karanjis. These can be made without the mold too. 

Place the karanjis on a parchment paper on a baking tray and bake at 350°C for twenty to twenty five minutes. Cool, store in an airtight container. These don't keep fresh for long, so eat it in 3-4 days.

Ratalyacha kees Waffle-Sweet Potato Hash Waffle

 


Hello Sweeties!! I have been making Sweet Potato Hash/Ratalyacha Kees for so many years, I fast for 9 days in Navratri and making Vrat or Fasting food for one person gets on my bones, so I am always looking for faster cooking processes and using Gadgets to cut my cooking time without compromising on taste and health.

The recipe for the Hash/Kees Mixture can be found here.

You will need;

2 large sweet potatoes, grated using a box grater

(**wash and dry with a dish towel before grating. It is advisable to soak the potatoes in cold water for few minutes and then brush it lightly with the potato brush and remove all the dirt hidden in the skin.)

1/2 cup roasted peanut powder

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp cumin seeds

Oil to spray the waffle maker

Salt and Sugar to taste

 

In a bowl, Mix all of the above and keep aside. 

Heat the waffle maker and make waffles as you please. Make thick Waffles as the hash will break down after cooking.

Shammi Kebab Parathe-- Kale Chane Ke Parathe

Hello Dearies!!! I had posted Shammi Kebab recipe last week, which was much liked and appreciated by my friends. I had leftover mixture of the kebabs, which I used as a stuffing in this recipe. This makes for a good Kids School Lunch option also.

For the Stuffing;
You will need;
1 cup soaked and boiled black chana
1 boiled potato
1 tspn cayenne pepper powder
1 tspn Garam masala powder
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn coriander powder
1 tspn chat masala
2-3 crushed cloves of garlic
1/2 inch ginger grated
1 tsp Turmeric
salt to taste

Wash and Soak the kala chana in water for 5-7 hours. Boil the potatoes and the chana for 2 whistles and then 5 mins on low flame in a pressure cooker. Cool for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, mash the potato. In a mixer grind the boiled chana and mix in the potato mixture and add all the spices and mix well. 

For the Paratha Cover;

You will need;
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tspn salt
1 tbspn oil
water as needed to knead into a soft dough

In a bowl, mix the oil and salt and water and knead into a soft pliable dough. 

Making the parathas,

1. Make equal size balls of the cover and stuffing

2. Roll a small round of the cover and put the stuffing in it and fold from all sides and roll that in some flour, dust the rolling surface with some flour and

3. Roll into a small round roti or paratha.

Heat a pan/skillet/tawa and roast it on both sides applying little oil or ghee on it . When it gets cooked, serve with yogurt/pickle/ketchup or sour cream., salad or just enjoy these with hot chai.

Shammi Kebab- Kale Chane ke kebab

Hello Sweet Peas!!! My kids love Indian Subway as in the sandwich chain. They love US style subways too, but Indian chains are more customized for Indian spices and tastes. They have a variety to choose from chatpata chana pattie to mexican pattie to paneer tikka.

After returning to US, both kids missed the Indian varieties of patties. Like any good mom, I decided to search the chatpata chana pattie recipe. I had seen Sanjeev Kapoor  make his famous rajma pattie. I substituted rajma to kala chana, they tasted way better and kids gave me a thumbs up.

You will need;
1 cup soaked and boiled black chana
1 boiled potato
1 tspn cayenne pepper powder
1 tspn Garam masala powder
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn coriander powder
1 tspn chat masala
2-3 crushed cloves of garlic
1/2 inch ginger grated
1 tsp Turmeric
salt to taste
oil or spray to shallow fry the kebabs

Wash and Soak the kala chana in water for 5-7 hours. Boil the potatoes and the chana for 2 whistles and then 5 mins on low flame in a pressure cooker. Cool for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, mash the potato. In a mixer grind the boiled chana and mix in the potato mixture and add all the spices and mix well. 

Heat a skillet and grease the base with oil and drop little coins  of this mixture and spray them with an oil spray and fry till they get cooked. The kebabs are ready to be eaten with some green chutney or in any sandwich as subway does it with the greens and dressings.

Rasmalai

Hello Sweeties!!! Yesterday I made herbed paneer, but the joy of being able to make paneer at home is addictive. So today I again made some chenna/paneer, but made it even better by making rasmalai. Rasmalai is melt n the mouth paneer balls dipped in a sweet cream/milk pudding.

You will need;

to make Paneer for Rasgullah 

1 ltrs Full Fat/Whole Milk

3 tbspn White Distilled vinegar

Cloth to strain and tie the milk

Boil 1 ltr milk. When it comes to a slow boil, reduce heat and start adding the vinegar tbspn by tbspn. I needed 3 tbsps to get the milk to tear and the whey to separate.When the whey and the milk solids separate, drain the solids in a cotton cloth and save the whey. 

This whey can be used for other recipes. I will post few as and how I use it.  Wash the milk solids to remove the sourness from the vinegar, squeeze the cloth with the milk solids and remove as much water out as possible. Tie it around the cotton cloth and keep weight over it to form a cheese ball. Once set for 2-3 hrs the paneer is ready to be used.

Making Rasgullah

You will need;

Paneer from 1 ltr Milk-As Above

5 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 tspn kewra Water-Optional

Take the paneer and crumble it and knead it. The paneer should be kneaded till there are no wrinkles in it and it is so soft that the balls are markfree. I kneaded the paneer for 3-5 mins. I got around 9 medium  balls.

In a wide mouth pan take 5 cups water and add 1 cup sugar to make syrup. When the syrup comes to a rapid boil, start adding the rolled paneer balls over the boil, take care that the pan is big enough and they have enough room to swim and not break. The balls will grow bigger a sand how they cook. Cover and let cook on low heat for 8-10 minutes. The ras gullahs are ready. Add in a tspn of kewra water to the syrup for essence.

Making Rabdi

3/4 ltr Whole Milk

1 cup Sugar

2tbspn rice flour

1 tspn Cardamom powder

Nuts Powdered, or Everest Milk masala.-Optional

In a pan take 1/2 ltr milk and boil it on slow heat. In anr bowl take the 1/4 ltr milk, add in the rice flour and the sugar and stir well, till the rice flour and the milk mixture are lumpfree. Add this to the 1/2 ltr milk and mix well. 

Stir continuously, burnt milk is a disaster to clean and make the rabdi smell bad. The rice flour is  a cheat to make the rabdi, but in this fast paced life, little cheat is doable. The Milk will thicken in about 10-12 mins. Switch off the flame and stir for another 5 mins. 

The Rabdi is ready. I flavored it with kewra water to tie the Rasgullah and the rabdi together.

Assembling

In a serving dish, take rasgullah; squeeze out as much sugar syrup out as possible, Pour the rabdi till the rasgullah are well coated. Chill for 2-3 hrs. The colder they get better they taste. Or Alternatively add in the rasgullahs to the rabdi and chill the entire bowl.

Homemade Herbed Paneer

Hello Sweeties!!! In this age of food contamination, nothing is safe anymore. I have started making yogurt and paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese) at home now days.

Few years ago, I had met master chef Vikas Khanna at a blogger meet in his  Junoon restaurant. He had shared his famous recipe of making herbed paneer and used it in his pakodas. I have been meaning to make it ever since. I know pondering over the thoughts for few years, but there I made it and kids loved it, so its all worth it now.

You will need;

Milk 4 cups

Distilled White Vinegar- 2 Tbspn

Herbs--Powder the indian herbs like saunf, kalonji, cumin and coriander seeds, black pepper, few leaves of mint.

Boil milk  on low heat and add the vinegar. The whey will separate from milk and the milk solids will curdle. Add all the herbs powdered and mint leaves and drain the whey. Tie up paneer in a muslin cloth and hang it up a few hours to allow excess water to drain. 

Place the muslin with the paneer under a heavy weight to ensure that all the moisture is squeezed out. This will flatten the paneer into a flat round cake when removed from the muslin. 

Cut the paneer into strips or cubes. Save in an air tight glass bowl with lid and store in the fridge. I am not sure how long it stays as we use it in a day or so.

Eggless Beetroot Cake

Hello Sweeties!!! If you are wondering if you read the header correct, do not worry!! This is indeed a beetroot cake, but you can bet my last penny, no one can tell and hence, no one needs to know.

If I try and make my kids eat beets in traditional ways, I am inviting a huge fight with lots of tears( mine off-course) and lots of beets being cooked that I will eat over a period of time.

My kids love the date nutella cake all the time, they still don't know there is date in that cake, likewise they ate this cake never suspecting the beets in the cake. Munchkin even said I made the best red velvet cake.

You will need;

1 Cup Beetroot Pulp
* boil beetroot with 1/2 cup water in a pressure cooker and once cool, grind it into a pulp 

1 Cup Sugar

1/2  Cup Oil

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup Organic All Purpose Flour

2 Tbspn cocoa powder

1 tspn ENO-(Fruit Salt)

In a bowl , mix the beet pulp, sugar, cocoa powder and oil, and whisk well till sugar melts.Then add the flour  one big spoon at a time. Keep whisking it till all the flour and the wet mix gets incorporated, and lastly ENO. Stir the batter lightly.

In a well greased loaf pan, pour the mix and bake in a pre-heated oven @ 350.. for about 35-40 mins or till the knife comes out clean.

Sabudana Wada-Real Deal--Deep Fried Sago Fritters!!!!

 Hello sweeties, as you all know there are a few of my favorite things, one is deep fried treats and another is my Bhatukli(Traditional Indian kitchen set).

Although this is not the one I grew up playing, this is close to what I had sans the stand. My mom gifted the utensils to munchkin since he loves to help cook, prep veggies, clean after the job. The stand to display was a recent purchase. You cannot beat the cuteness of such treats.

Coming back to the recipe of the day, its sabudana wadas. They are good if your are fasting or feasting. I and my boys love sabudana wadas anytime of the day or night. It has been cold and rainy April in NJ last couple of days. Such weather calls for something spicy and something fried.

You will need;
1 Cup Soaked Sago/Sabudana--Soak the sago in water for 10 mins and drain all water out and keep covered for good 5-6 hours.
1 small boiled potato mashed

2 tbspn roasted peanut powder
1 tbspn Cayenne powder 
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn Cumin seeds
1 tbspn Chopped Cilantro
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste.
Water if needed to knead into  a pliable dough 

2 cups oil for frying

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and mix well. Use little water if needed to bind it into a ball. Make small balls and flatten them into discs. Keep aside after all such discs are ready.

In a wok, heat the oil, smoke it once and reduce heat to medium. Deep fry each disc till its golden brown. Enjoy these hot wadas with yogurt chutney and a spicy peanut crush.

Celebrating 400th post with Eggless Almond Butter Choc Cake

Hello Sweetpeas!!! This post is a thank you to all my dear readers and well wishers. This recipe is a gift for each and every one of you on the occasion of 400th post on indulge. 

I am as surprised as you are as we continue our journey through 400 recipes and 6 years. I wish for us to keep cooking and learning new recipes in future too.

As you might have noticed, I have changed my diet and started going Organic where I can afford and it does not rip my monthly budget,  also started baking eggless since some time. This is my old tried and tested nutella date cake minus the nutella and dates. 

I have been reading many controversial reviews about how bad nutella is; so instead of trashing the whole idea of not ever using my favorite nutella, I mixed in the dark cocoa powder with almond butter and almond milk. My New instant nutella with almonds was born. I might not buy a bottle again!!! Anyways, back to where I meant to be;

You will need;

3/4th cup Organic Almond milk

3 tbspn Organic Almond butter

Raw Sugar- 1 Cup

Oil- 1/2 Half Cup

4tsp Dark Cocoa powder

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 Cup Maida/Organic  All Purpose Flour

Vanilla-1tsp

1 tspn ENO-(Fruit Salt)

Make  a paste of sugar and oil, stir well till sugar dissolves. Raw sugar takes some time to dissolve. Then add in the almond milk, almond butter and dark cocoa powder. Mix well. 

Then add the flour  one big spoon at a time.. keep whisking it till all the flour and the wet mix gets incorporated....lastly add ENO. Stir gently.

In a well greased pan, pour the mix and bake in a pre-heated oven @ 350F.. for about 35-40 mins or till the knife comes out clean. I used my favorite rose muffin mould. 

There is something happy about roses for me. Enjoy the cake and don't forget to come back for some more easy recipes.

Peach Cobbler-Whole wheat Crumble

Hello Sweeties!!!!! I bring to you today a quick dessert. Peach Cobbler is so simple to make and it goes so fast, that I keep wondering why have I not made it yet!!!

The kids also love it, with ice cream or without it, the warm crispy cobbler with hints of sugar and freshness of the peaches will surely make your loved ones coming for more.

You will need;
1 14 oz can of peaches- washed and drained from the canned liquid
1 tbspn sugar 

For the crumble
1 cup wheat flour
3 tbspn melted butter
1 tspn baking powder
1 egg beaten with some milk
1 tbspn sugar for the sweetness- Optional but recommended

In a buttered baking dish, arrange the peach slices, sprinkle sugar and keep aside. In a bowl, take the flour, add sugar and the baking powder, stir well and keep aside. In a cup beat the egg and milk till it is well mixed. 

Mix the egg mixture and the dry flour mixture, and stir well to form a lumpy mixture. The mixture should be little gooey. Drop lumps of the flour  dough on the sliced peaches till all the peaches are well coated. Pour the melted butter over the dough.

In a 400 degree F preheated oven, bake the cobbler for 25-30 mins till the crumble is cooked. Enjoy the cobbler warm as is or with ice cream. Either ways its too good.

White Chocolate Maple cookies

Hello Sweeties!!! I whipped some home made butter last week, so thought of putting it to some good use. With the holidays coming up, we all need some foolproof cookie recipe up our sleeves. These are one of the most tasty and melt in your mouth cookies!!!! So ready to bake some white goodness!!!

You will need;

1.5 cups-gluten free baking Flour - 

3 tbspn cup Custard Powder -  I used the one I had from the Indian store.

1 stick Butter  

1/2 cup Organic Maple Syrup

1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 c mix of white chocolate chips.

Preheat your oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. 

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beat in the custard powder mix. Scrape the bowl again and add the egg and maple syrup. Add half of the pre-mixed dry ingredients to the batter and mix just to combine. Scrape down the bowl and add the remaining half, mixing until fully incorporated. Stir in the white chocolate chips. 

Using a tablespoon-size scoop, portion the cookies into balls. Place 2 1/2" apart on prepared baking sheets and bake 10-12 minutes, until slightly golden and set. Let cookies cool on sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool fully.

Homemade butter--Almost homemade

Hello Dearies!!!! I am in the phase with trying old classics which were a part of my growing up back home. Homemade White Butter pr loni was a everyday thing. Store brought butter was a thing of the new fads, the homemaker was actually looked down in her skills if she brought butter from the store.

Flash forward to new age where everything was OK as who has the time in the world, and I am so busy took over age old traditions and cultures changed.

Making butter and whipping cream gave me some peace as there was more joy than effort in the process. I cranked my stand mixer and made it work for me, enjoying the end results. I emptied a quart of Heavy whipping cream in the mixer bowl and let it whip on high for 7-9 mins, till the butter solids started leaving water. 

At this point I added 5 tbspn Ice water and let the whipper go for anr 2 mins. I emptied the solid in my trusted paneer maker as in the collage, squeezed out the milk(which is like buttermilk and can be used in your cooking/kneading or baking).

And just like that my almost homemade butter was done!!!!!

Upasache Bhajani Thalipeeth

 Hello Dearies!!! Happy navratri festival to you all. Navratri days are specially fasting days, where you eat only fasting foods for 9 days and break the fast on the 10th day which is Dasserra. 

This year my health is not permitting me any fasts, but I am aiming to complete fasts on important days like the fifth day and the eight and nine day, so I made these bhajani thalipeeth today for the fifth day for my lunch. Although , I don't allow my kids to fast, they are allowed to indulge in the special foods.

You will need;
1 big boiled  and mashed potato 
Approx 1 cup  Upasachi Bhajani/ alternatively use shindaga atta/kuttu aata
2 tbspn roasted peanut powder
1 tbspn Cayenne powder 
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn Cumin seeds
1 tsp sugar
Chopped Cilantro
Salt to taste.
Water if needed to knead into  a pliable dough 
Oil for greasing the pan.

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and mix well. Use little water if needed to bind it into a ball. Heat the pan and spray it with a non stick spray or use oil whichever you prefer. Alternatively pat the dough ball on a ziplock bag and then cook on the heated pan. 

Press the dough ball into a flat roti and cover with a lid and cook it for about 2-3 minutes. Flip the thalipeeth and repeat the process of covering and cooking.  Enjoy as is or with any sauce/ketchup, yogurt, lime pickle or green chutney.

Minty Palak Panner Aloo Puri-- School Lunch/Leftover magic

Hello Sweeties!! What do you do with leftovers??? Do you keep eating them till they are done with or transform them into something the whole family will love. I try and transform things around my menu so as to reuse them keeping the interest factor alive.

Indian food and recipes are  full of such leftover magic mingles, we use leftover rice and bread in number of ways, curries get transformed into poori's or parathas and rice into different types of tadkas or pulav's.

I make aloo parathas and palak paneer roughly once in 10 days. These dishes are my kids favorites and they have no complaints and eat these with no grins or groans. There is no nagging required to eat faster or finish whats on the plate. Happy kids equals Happy moms. 

But these dishes are not so favorite with me and Mr. Ash anymore with our dietary restrictions, I end up with few leftovers. So I combined these two dishes and added some mint to freshen up the taste and made puri's for kids lunch boxes. 

My kids are like chalk and cheese, one likes slightly less fired puri's while other likes slightly burnt and browned puris. so the picture has both in respective choices.

Aloo Paratha.

Palak Paneer Recipe.

You will need;
1 to 1.5 cups leftover palak paneer
** Mash and break the paneer cubes as fine as possible
3 cups Wheat Flour 

3/4th cup potato stuffing leftover from Aloo Parathas. 

2 tbspn Dry mint powder

1 tspn red chili powder

1 tspn turmeric powder

1 tspn cumin and coriander powder

1 tsp salt or as per taste

1/2 tspn sugar-optional

2 cups Oil for deep frying--Approx

water to knead the dough

**this dough is slightly hard and not like chapati so use less water to knead the dough, only if needed as the palak paneer will also be wet enough.

In a bowl, take the flour and add the dry powders, salt and sugar, add the palak paneer paste, aloo stuffing, mint powder and knead into a hard dough . Keep aside for 10 mins.

In a wok, take oil for frying, take only as much as the pooris will immerse, I would say about 2 cups of oil, and heat it till it smokes once and then reduce the heat to medium.

Make small round balls of the dough and roll each one out (try rolling like thin cookies). 

If making for school lunches I like rolling and saving the rolled puri's in a ziplock bag in a fridge, so my mornings are better managed. Store these packs in a fridge not the freezer.

Fry each one of them in the hot oil, one at a time. Do not rush and be extremely careful when frying. The ideal way to fry poori's is to slide the poori from one side of the wok. Do Not throw the poori's in the hot oil, the oil will splutter and splash and burn your hands.

Once you slide in the poori in the hot oil, let it puff up from one side, once it puffs up, turn it and let the other side puff up.. once both sides are puffed , drain them on some paper towels to remove excess oil and enjoyy them hot or cold, either ways they are delish.

 

These make for a quick kids lunch box or picnic food item along the way.

Eggless Mawa Cake

 Hello Sweeties!!!  I had made mawa/Dry Milk Khoya a few days back, Since then I am hooked on to making Indian sweets and Mithais at home.

I make date cake often using Aayis Recipes Recipe. This time I tried using my homemade mawa and it worked great. Thanks Shilpa for this great recipe. I have added many different fruits and ingredients and made this eggless cake. I keep the liquid and dry ratios constant and change the wet ingredients and it has worked every single time. So Thanks again.

You will need;

1 Cup Mawa/Khoya mixed in  3/4 cup  almond milk

1 Cup Sugar

1/2  Cup Oil

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 Tspn Cardamom Powder

1 tspn ENO-(Fruit Salt)

 

In a bowl , mix the khoya mixed in almond milk, sugar, cardamom powder and oil, and whisk well till sugar melts.Then add the flour  one big spoon at a time.. keep whisking it till all the flour and the wet mix gets incorporated, and lastly ENO...

In a well greased pan, pour the mix and bake in a pre-heated oven @ 350.. for about 35-40 mins or till the knife comes out clean.