fastindianrecipes.com

Stuffed tomato

Yesterday I cooked stuffed tomato or bharwa tamatar for dinner. I used paneer for stuffing tomato but you can also use paneer with boiled and mashed potato for this recipe. Stuffed tomato is a very delicious side with rotis. Try it to believe it. What’s more, it can be made quickly if you are entertaining some guests.

Recipe of stuffed tomato

5-6 medium tomatoes (tamatar)

100 gms paneer (cottage cheese) - crumbled

1 inch piece ginger- grated

1 onion- chopped

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves)

2+2 tsp oil

Chopped coriander leaves

1. Wash tomatoes and pat dry. Remove top of the tomato like a cap and keep aside.

2. Scoop out pulp of the tamatar and chop the edible portion of the caps. Set aside.

3. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. When they change color, add onion and ginger. Sauté till light brown.

4. Add pulp and chopped caps of tomato. Add salt, red chilli powder and garam masala. Cook till pulp turns dry.

5. Add paneer and kasoori methi. Cook, mixing, for 1 minute. Remove from fire and let the paneer masala cool.

6. Preheat oven at 180 degree C. Stuff this paneer mixture inside the hollow tomato. Arrange the stuffed tomato on a greased baking tray.

7. Pour 2 tsp oil mixed with 1/4 tsp salt on all the tomatoes. Bake at 180 degree C for 15 minutes or till tomato turn soft. Take out stuffed tomato in a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

Stuffed tomato in Microwave

Place stuffed tomato in a microsafe bowl and cover with a microsafe lid or a cling film with holes pierced. Before covering, Pour 2 tsp oil mixed with 1/4 tsp salt over the bharwan tamatar. Cook on a High for 5 minutes or till tomato turn soft.

Bharwa tamatar

coconut cookies

These coconut cookies are mine and my hubby’s favorite cookies. They are absolutely delicious and melt in the mouth. I baked coconut cookies yesterday and only few of them are left today.

Recipe of coconut cookies/ biscuits

1 1/2 cup maida (all purpose flour/refined flour)

1 cup desiccated coconut

3/4 cup grinded sugar

4-5 tbsp unsalted butter or ghee (clarified butter)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1. Mix sugar in butter or ghee. Beat it till it gets lighter in color and fluffy.

2. Mix coconut and baking soda in all purpose flour.

3. Mix flour mixture in sugar-butter mixture. Turn it into dough. The dough would be crumbly.

4. Preheat oven to 180 degree C for 10 minutes.

5. Make small balls from the dough and flatten them between your palms. Line a baking tray with cookie sheet and grease it. Place these raw cookies on baking tray with some distance apart.

6. Bake them in the oven at 180 degree C for approx. 15 minutes or till they turn light brownish from the base. When hot, they will be soft to touch. Cool the coconut cookies completely before storing them in an airtight jar.

coconut biscuits

Atta biscuits (whole wheat cookies)

I wanted to bake some really healthy, less sweet cookies. So I ended up baking these atta biscuits or whole wheat cookies. They are healthy since whole wheat flour and vegetable oil are used instead of refined flour and butter. They are not very sweet and soft to eat and not crunchy.

Recipe of atta biscuits/ whole wheat cookies

1 cup atta (whole wheat flour)

5 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

1 tsp baking powder

1. Mix oil and sugar in a bowl. Beat really well till it turns light and fluffy.

2. Sieve together atta and baking powder. Mix in cardamom powder.

3. Mix this in the oil-sugar mixture. Knead into soft dough. If the dough is difficult to knead, add some chilled milk. Keep it aside for a while.

3. Preheat oven to 180 degree C.

4. Form small balls from the dough and flatten them between your palms. Line a baking tray with cookie sheet and lightly grease it.

5. Place atta biscuits on the tray keeping a little distance between them. Bake them at 180 degree C for 10-12 minutes. Let the atta biscuits cool completely before sampling them. Store in an airtight container.

Nan khatai (biscuits)

Nan khatai is a traditional Indian and Pakistani no egg biscuit or cookie. When I first tried them, they looked like chocolate biscuits due to over heating of oven. I got the exact formula after trying 2-3 times. These nan khatai vanish within no time. They just melt in the mouth.

Recipe of nan khatai/ biscuits

1 cup maida (all purpose flour/ refined flour)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp baking powder/ baking soda

4-5 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)

½ tsp cardamom (elaichi) powder

1. This is summer season so ghee remains in a semi- melted state. I took it as it is. In a bowl mix ghee and powdered sugar. Beat it well till it becomes lighter in color and fluffy.

2. Sieve together maida and baking powder and mix cardamom powder. Add ghee-sugar mixture to maida. Knead it into soft dough. Let it rest for a while.

3. Line a baking tray with cookie sheet. (I used aluminium foil as cookie sheet was not available and greased it with few drops of ghee.

4. Make small round balls from the dough and flatten them between your palms. Place these on a baking tray keeping a distance between them.

5. Preheat the oven at 170 degrees. Bake nan khatai at 170 degrees for 20 minutes or so. They will turn slightly brownish both from the upper side and at the bottom. Let them cool completely before digging your teeth in these scrumptious nankhatai.

masala peanuts in microwave

These masala peanuts are great guilt free munchies. There is another option of deep frying them but this one is healthier and has far less calories than fried ones. Besides microwave, these masala peanuts can also be made in OTG.

Recipe of masala peanuts in microwave

1 cup raw peanuts (moongphali)

1/2 cup besan (gram flour/ chickpea flour)

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp chaat masala

Oil to grease

1. In a bowl, mix together besan, salt, red chilli powder and chaat masala.

2. Add few teaspoons of water to besan mixture so that it forms a very thick paste which should not drip.

3. Add peanuts to this paste and mix with your hands so that each peanut is well coated with besan.

4. Spread peanuts on a microwave safe plate separating each peanut. The plate should be greased with oil before spreading peanuts. Drizzle few drops of oil on the peanuts.

5. Microwave them on a High for 4 minutes. Take out and let them stand for 5 minutes. Let the peanuts cool down completely. Store the masala peanuts in an airtight jar.

Homemade pizza

Everyone in my family prefers homemade pizza over readymade pizza. Not only it’s economical but far healthier and you can control how much cheese or butter goes in it. It doesn’t take much long to prepare pizza at home if you have ingredients at hand.

Recipe of homemade pizza

Makes 2 pizzas

2 ready made pizza bases

Tomato sauce

1/2 cup tomato puree

4 garlic flakes- chopped finely

3 tomatoes- chopped finely

1 tsp oil

1 tsp dried oregano

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper- to taste

Topping

1 onion- chopped

1 tomato- pulp removed and chopped

1 capsicum (bell pepper) - deseeded and chopped

A few slices of jalapenos

200 gms mozzarella cheese (pizza cheese) - grated

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1. To prepare the tomato sauce, heat oil in a pan and add garlic. Stir for a few seconds and add all the ingredients for sauce. Bring it to a boil. Lower heat and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook till sauce thickens and can be spread without being runny. Turn off the heat.

2. Spread olive oil or melted butter over each pizza base covering the edges.

3. Spread tomato sauce over pizza base.

4. Sprinkle some grated cheese over each base.

5. Sprinkle the vegetable topping.

6. Sprinkle left over cheese. Drizzle some olive oil.

7. Bake at 180 degree C OR 350 Degree F for 15 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve pizza hot.

shakarkandi ki chaat

If you don’t want to grill shakarkandi, you can just boil it till tender and prepare shakarkandi ki chaat by mixing the given ingredients to it. It’s really a mouth watering chaat and sweet potato is in season now. So, enjoy!

Recipe of shakarkandi ki chaat

1/2 kg shakarkandi (sweet potato)

1 tsp chaat masala

Black salt to taste

Lemon juice to taste

1. Wash shakarkand and pat dry. Smear some oil on shakarkandi. Pressure cook shakarkandi to 1 whistle.

2. Peel and cube shakarkandi. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil. Grease it. Place shakarkandi cubes on tray.

3. Grill them in a preheated oven till edges of shakarkandi becomes brownish.

4. Take out in a bowl and add black salt, chaat masala and lemon juice. Mix well and serve hot. You can also garnish shakarkandi chaat with coriander leaves.

Aloo naan

Naan itself is delicious bread and when you stuff it with aloo or gobi (cauliflower) mixture, its taste increases manifold. Be it aloo naan or plain naan, tastes best when served hot. With aloo naan, you don’t even need a side. You can enjoy it all by itself.

Recipe of aloo naan

Dough

3 cups maida (all purpose flour)

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp baking powder

Filling

3 medium potatoes- boiled, peeled and mashed

3 green chillies- chopped finely

1/4 tsp garam masala powder

Salt to taste

Chopped coriander leaves

1. Take a bowl and mix flour, salt and baking powder in it. Make a well in the center.

2. Mix milk, sugar, 1 tbsp oil and baking powder in another bowl. Pour this mixture in the centre of bowl containing flour.

3. Knead it into soft dough adding warm water if needed..

4. Add 1 tablespoon oil and knead again. Keep it in a warm place for 2-3 hours.

5. Mix all the ingredients of the filling to make potato mixture.

6. Take a ball out of the dough and roll out on a floured surface into a 2 inch round dusting with dry flour.

7. Place a lemon sized potato filling in the center and gather the edges. Reshape into a ball. Again roll out into a disk. Similarly make other naan from rest of the dough.

8. Preheat oven and bake these aloo naan till they puff up and become golden brown with brown-black specks here and there. Grease them with butter and serve hot.

You can also make aloo naan in electric or gas tandoor which is a much faster way to cook naan.

aloo naan with butter

Baked potato

The first time I made these baked potato wedges, I was surprised how easy they are to put together and how deliciously crunchy they are. If you love potato, then this dish is a must try and what my strong belief is that it can turn even a non-believer into a fan.

Recipe of baked potato wedges

4-5 medium potatoes- washed and cut into wedges

3 tbsp olive oil

4-5 garlic cloves- crushed

1 tsp salt or to taste

1/2 tsp red chilli flakes

1 tsp mixed herbs like dried parsley, dried basil, and rosemary

1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 375 degree F.

2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and add potato wedges to it. Toss so that potatoes are well coated with the seasoning.

3. Spread potato wedges on a greased baking tray. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 35-40 minutes. Bake till edges turn brown and potato is fork tender. Serve hot.

Naan

Naan is one of the popular breads of India which is also known abroad. It is more popular in Northern states of India where it is on the menu of most hotels and restaurants.

Recipe of naan bread

4 cups all purpose flour (maida)

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

1 egg (beaten) - optional

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp oil

Nigella seeds (kalaunji) - 1 tsp

1. Take a bowl and place flour, salt and baking powder in it. Make a well in the center.

2. In another bowl, mix milk, sugar, egg and 2 tbsp oil. Pour this mixture in the center of the flour.

3. Knead this flour into soft dough adding warm water if necessary.

4. Add remaining 2 tbsp oil and knead again. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside for 15 minutes. Knead again.

5. Keep it in a warm place for 2-3 hours.

6. Divide the dough into 8 equal balls. Roll out each ball on a floured surface in thin oval shape. You can dust them in flour while rolling out if they are sticking.

7. Sprinkle nigella seeds in each and press lightly with rolling pin (belan).

8. Bake them in a preheated oven till they puff up and become golden brown. You can also butter them to have butter naan. We enjoy them with dal makhani and shahi paneer.

Alternatively you can also cook them in an electrtic tandoor or gas tandoor if own one.

Naan bread