Homemade Naan - made on a tawa

Homemade naans were on my 'to-do' list for a long time now. I had bookmarked this recipe from Manjula's Kitchen and it was hiding somewhere in the long list. One day while we were planning what to make for dinner, my mother asked if I  have made naans at home before.  Thats when I remembered this easy recipe .The naans were so soft, much better than the ones served in most restaurants. In the original recipe, the naan is cooked in an oven, even I wanted to try it the same way. While the oven was pre-heating, I just tried making one naan on a tawa. I made 2 of them in the oven and rest on the tawa. I must say that we found the tawa ones were much easier, softer and tastier.

So here comes the recipe, enjoy naans at home now !

Ingredients:

All purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups + extra for rolling the dough
Active dry yeast - 1 tsp + 3/4 cup of luke warm water
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Baking soda - a pinch
Oil - 2 tbsp
Yoghurt/Curd - 3 tbsp
Butter - to brush on naan

Note: I made butter naans and coriander jeera naans. To make coriander jeera naans, after rolling out the naan, top it with finely chopped coriander leaves and jeera and then cook.

Preparation:

1. Mix the yeast in luke warm water and keep aside for 10mins till it becomes frothy.
2. Add maida, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl and combine well.
3. Add oil and yoghurt to this mix and combine well to form a crumbly mix.
4. Add the yeast water and knead to form a very soft dough. Cover the bowl with a lid and keep it for 2-3 hours till the dough almost doubles.
5. Knead the dough a little more and make 6 equal portions. Roll out each portion to thin oval shape. I rolled them on a plastic sheet to make it easier.
6. Heat a non stick pan / tawa and when it is really hot, transfer the naan. When it starts puffing up, flip over. Cook on both sides till brown.Brush a little butter on top.

Serve hot.

Curries for naan
Palak Paneer
Paneer Butter masala
Matar Paneer
Egg curry
Butter chicken
Pepper chicken
Chicken sukka
Chettinad chicken
Spicy chicken masala

This post is dedicated to my mom.. When she comes to stay with me, she takes over the kitchen and I get some rest. So, this time I wanted to make something special for her. This post goes to Nupur's lovely event 'For U, Mum'

Spotlight: Colourful Holi hosted by Chandrani

Also sending this to Celebration of Indian Food by Lisa

Double Ka Meetha

Another Blog Hop Wednesday is here and this time I have a sweet treat from Vaishali's blog  - Ribbons to Pastas. Apart from recipes, Vaishali's blog has a lot of crafts which shows how creative she is. Vaishali has a unique range of Sindhi recipes in her blog which are very new to me. I wanted to try a traditional dish, but unfortunately I couldn't spend much time in the kitchen. My daughter is down with viral fever for more than a week now and she clings to me all day and night. This leaves me with very little time to cook and do other household chores. Regular visitors of my blog would have noticed my absence for a week. So I looked for an easy recipe in her blog and finalized on Double Ka Meetha, a Nawabi dessert which is similar to a bread pudding. I am so very glad that I tried this, it was a sweet treat to the taste buds. It is a tasty and easy dessert option when you have guests and can be made the previous day and refrigerate if you would like to serve chilled. We had half of it while still warm and I refrigerated the other half portion and relished it the next day. I liked the cold one more :-)

I had to make a few changes to Vaishali's recipe due to the unavailability of ingredients mainly Khoya. I used Nestle Coronation Evaporated Milk instead of boiling and thickening milk, which made it much easier. View the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

Bread Slices - 5
Evaporated Milk - a 400 gm tin
Sugar - 1/4 cup or to taste
Cardamom powdered - a pinch or two
Saffron - a pinch
MTR Badam Feast powder - 2 tbsp (Optional. I just added it for the badam flavour)
Nuts and raisins roasted in ghee - to garnish
Ghee or Oil - to deep fry

Preparation:

1. Cut out the edges of the bread and then cut each slice to four. Deep fry the bread pieces and keep aside.
2. Heat the evaporated milk in a pan or in microwave. Add sugar, cardamom, saffron and the badam feast powder and stir well.
3. Arrange the bread slices in an oven safe dish. I used a glass roasting tray for this. Pour the prepared milk and top it with the nuts and raisins roasted in ghee.
4. In an oven pre-heated at 180 C, bake it for 5-7 mins.

Serve warm or refrigerate and serve chilled.

This pic goes to Black and White Wednesday

Off this goes to Blog Hop Wednesday - Week 5,  Diwali Special - Sweets& Savouries at Tickling Palates and Diwali - Festival of lights at Anu's healthy kitchen

Also goes to Khushi's My Diwali My Way

Easy Bread Pakoda

 

Bread Pakodas are usually made with a potato stuffing and/or green chutney. This is an easy version which can be done within few minutes. For me it is the easiest way to use left-over bread. I keep buying bread every week though we don't like it much. Finally when it gets close to the expiry date, I have to find some interesting recipe to pep it up. This pakoda was enjoyed by my little girl which made me very happy. She has these words 'Supaa'(Super) or Nummee(Yummy) when she enjoys food and this is the best appreciation I can  get.

Ingredients:

Bread slices - 4 or 5

Gram flour/Besan - 1 cup

Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Hing/Asafoetida powder - a pinch

Green chillies - 2, finely chopped OR Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Chopped coriander leaves 

Salt to taste

Water

Oil to deep fry

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, add besan, jeera, hing, chilly powder or green chillies, salt  and enough water to make a thick batter. Add coriander leaves and mix well.

2. Cut out the brown sides of the bread and discard. Cut the bread slices to rectangles or triangles. 

3. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Dip the bread peices in batter and then slowly drop to the oil. Deep fry on both sides till gloden.

 

Serve hot with tomato ketchup or green chutney.

Linking to Anyone Can Cook: Series 31 , Monsoon Medley and Serve it - Fried hosted at OhTasteNSee and Krithi's Kitchen

Cheese flowers for my little girl

This is a yummy bite for kids who love cheese. My little girl is very choosy about food, and I have to try new snacks or dishes to please her...The idea of this recipe is from Priya's Cheesy Discs. 

I have not mentioned the exact quantities here as the recipe is very simple and you can make it the way you like.

Ingredients:

Bread slices
Butter
Grated Cheese
Italian seasoning - you may use any seasoning of your choice
Pepper powder

Preparation:

1. Cut the bread slices into desired shapes using a cutter. Spread butter on both sides. I tried it with oil too, and that also tasted good.
2. Add seasoning and pepper powder to grated cheese and gently combine with a spoon.
3. Heat a pan and place the buttered bread. Sprinkle cheese on top and wait till cheese melts and turns light brown. You may also do it in an oven as Priya did in her recipe.

Linking to Anyone can cook: Series 28 at Taste of Pearl City

Please do visit and send your entries for my Ongoing event - Fusion Food:Pasta

Carrot and Egg Sandwich

Looking for a healthy and filling sandwich? Then, try this...

Ingredients:

Bread slices - 8 

Carrots - 3 medium, grated

Onion - 1 small sized, chopped fine

Green chillies - 3 or 4, slit

Eggs - 3

Mustard seeds or Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Salt

Oil

Preparation:

1. Heat about 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and add mustard or jeera whichever you like. Add onions, green chillies and salt and saute till onion starts turning brown.

2. Add grated carrots and saute for a few minutes. Add eggs one by one, mixing well with the carrots. You may also beat eggs separately with a little salt and then add to the carrots as I did. The filling is ready. Remove the green chillies before spreading on bread. 

3. Take a slice of bread and top it with the filling. Cover with another slice and then toast in a sandwich maker/toaster. 

Liinking this to  Healthy Snacks event and Quick & Easy recipes event

Linking to Anyone can cook: Series 27

Mushrooms and Egg on Toast

I am very lazy to cook breakfast on weekends. So, toast with jam or marmalade,eggs etc are the usual items. Today I just added some mushrooms to egg and the result was a filling sandwich. The unusual thing is that my little girl who is not fond of mushrooms had  lots of  it today and told me it is supaa(her word for super)...I am not happy with the picture above as it was a gloomy morning with no sunlight  and I had no time to take something better. Will try to post a better pic next time when I make this..

Ingredients:

Closed cup or button mushrooms of medium size - 5 to 6, finely sliced
Onion - 1/2 chopped
Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped
Pepper powder - 1 tsp (adjust)
Eggs - 3
Bread slices - 6 to 8
Mayonnaise - for bread spread
Salt
Oil

Preparation:

1. Heat about 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and add mushrooms, onion, garlic and salt.Saute for a few minutes. Mushroom releases water while getting cooked.
2. Add pepper powder and saute till water has evaporated. Break the eggs and scramble well. (You may beat the egg with a little salt before adding to mushrooms if you like it that way). Saute till egg is cooked.
3. Toast the bread slices on  electric toaster or tava. Spread mayonnaise and then top with the mushroom egg mix. Cover with another bread slice. Yummy sandwich is ready.

It can be served as breakfast or a snack. Also suitable for packing kid's lunchbox.

Sending this to Healthy Snacks event hosted by Deepthi

This recipe also goes to Sandwich Mela hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all seasons

Linking to Anyone can cook - Series 26

Paneer Burji Sandwich

Paneer burji is a good recipe idea if you have some left over paneer. This burji can be used in a variety of ways: can be served with rice or roti as a side dish, as a sandwich filling or as a wrap filling. You may substitute paneer with soya chunks and follow the same recipe. I used this for a sandwich and it was really good and quite filling. Paneer is rich in proteins and kids will also love this sandwich.

Ingredients:

Paneer cubes - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Onion - 1, finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Chilly powder - 3/4 to 1 tsp
Tomato - 1, finely chopped
Salt
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp (Check cooking tips for the recipe)
Coriander leaves - chopped for garnishing
Bread slices - 6 to 8

Preparation:

1. If you are using store bought paneer cubes, soak it in hot water for 5-10 mins to make it soft. Drain to kitchen towel. Crumble the cubes with your fingers and keep  it aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan and splutter cumin seeds.
3. Add onion and saute till it starts turning light brown.
4. Add ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute.
5. Add turmeric,chilly powder, salt and mix well.
6. Add tomatoes and saute till they are soft.
7. Add paneer cubes and combine well. Add garam masala. Stir fry for about 5 mins till paneer is cooked and the mix becomes dry.
8. Add coriander leaves and mix well.
9. Take a slice of bread and spread the filling. Cover with another slice of bread. You may toast or grill the sandwich if you like it that way.

Sending this to Proteinicious hosted by Sobha of Good Food, Quick and Easy Recipe Mela hosted by SpicyTasty and to Sandwich Mela hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all seasons

Garlic Toast

We love garlic bread from Pizza Hut. I wanted to try it at home, but had forgotten to buy baguettes. Decided to make with slices of bread and named it as Garlic Toast. It tasted almost as good as garlic baguette.

A super easy experiment with bread...

Ingredients:
Bread slices - 4 to 6
Softened butter - 2 tbsp or more
Garlic paste - 1 tsp (adjust as per your taste)
Mixed herbs/Italian seasoning - as you like
Red chilly flakes - if you want it a little spicy
Salt - Only if you are using unsalted butter

Preparation:

1. Mix butter, garlic paste, chilly flakes and herbs in a small bowl and keep aside.
2. Grease a tava or pan with a little butter and slightly toast both sides of the bread.
3. Apply the garlic mix on one side of the bread and toast till light brown.
4. Repeat with all the bread slices.

Serve hot with ketchup. Also goes well with soup.

Aloo Bread Packets

Looking for a healthy evening snack  for kids? Try this one...Mashed potatoes filled in bread slices and toasted with a dash of butter. The filling is very similar to Aloo Bonda, but this one is much more healthier as there is no deep frying involved. This is also an interesting way to use left over bread.

Ingredients:

Bread slices -  6-8 (depends on the quantity of filling)
For the filling
Potato -  1 large
Onion -  1 small, chopped finely
Green chillies -  2 chopped finely (I used 1 tsp of green chilly paste as I didn't want my little one to bite on green chillies and get a center shock :-) )
Turmeric powder -  1/4 tsp
Lemon juice - a few drops (optional)
Cumin seeds -  1/4 tsp
Oil
Salt
Spreadable Butter - to toast the bread

Preparation

1. Cook the potato with skin. Peel off the skin and lightly mash it. Keep aside.
2. Heat some oil and add cumin seeds.
3. Add the chopped chillies and onions. If you are using chilly paste, add it only after the onion becomes soft.
4. Saute till the onions are transparent.
5. Add turmeric powder and salt and mix well.
6. Add the mashed potato and combine well. Add few drops of lemon juice. You may add a little  pepper powder if you want it spicier. The filling is ready, let it cool.
7. Take a bread slice and cut out the sides. Place the bread on a work surface and flatten it by using a rolling pan(like you roll a chappathi/roti).
8. Place a spoonful of the filling at the center, and seal the edges by slightly moistening the ends. Spread butter on both sides.
9. Follow the same for all the bread slices till the filling is over.
10. Heat a tava or pan, and toast the bread on both sides, till it turns light brown.

Serve hot...

Sending this to Potato Mania hosted by Siri