Ingredients:

• Turnip   1 medium (peel and cut into 1 inch pieces)
• Onion    1 medium Dice into small pieces
• Ginger-garlic paste  1 teaspoon
• Curd   – 2 tablespoon
• Salt -  To taste
• Red chili powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil – 2 tablespoon
• Rice flour  -1/4 teaspoon
• Cilantro to garnish
• To make paste:

• Cashews  -6
• Dry coconut  – 1 tablespoon
• poppy seeds  -1 teaspoon
• Coriander seeds  -1/4 teaspoon
• Cloves   – 2
• Dry roast all these and grind it to paste along with curd & rice flour and keep it aside.

Method:

1. Take a heavy bottom sauce pan and put oil in the pan, once it is hot add the onion fry till becomes soft.
2. Add ginger – garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes off.
3. Add the cut turnip pieces and saute for couple of minutes,now add the ground paste,red chili powder, Salt mix it well and add 1 cup of water and let it cook on medium heat.
4. The gravy should look like a medium gravy consistency.
5. Take it off from the heat and garnish it with cilantro.

Serve it with hot rotis or rice.

Pineapple Pastry

For Pineapple Cake:

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour – 1 Cup
• Sugar – 1 Cup
• Eggs – 3
• Vanilla Essence – 1 Tablespoon
• Baking Powder – 1 Teaspoon
• Butter  – 1 Teaspoon
• Water – 4 Tablespoons

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325 ⁰ degrees.
2. Grease the pan with butter, dust it with flour, and keep it aside.
3. Separate the egg yolks and whites. In a mixing bowl, put the egg yolks, vanilla essence and sugar, beat until they are light and fluffy. Add water and beat it once.
4. Sieve the baking powder and flour together and put this I n sugar mix and mix it until blended.
5. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff and fold them into the cake batter. Pour the cake batter into the greased pan and bake the cake for 30 minutes in the oven.
6. Allow the cake to cool completely on the wire rack over the cooking counter top.

For Pastry:

Ingredients:

• Crushed Pineapple pieces – ½ cup – drained.
• Heavy Whipping Cream – 1 pint
• Pineapple Essence – 1 Tablespoon
• Pineapple Pieces – 10 – to garnish
• Whole Cherries – 10 to garnish
• Sugar – ½ Cup
• Water – ¾ Cup

Method:

1. Take the cake and cut it into assemble the pastries.
2. In a bowl add the ¼ cup of sugar, pineapple essence and ¾ cup of water, mix it well, sprinkle on the cake evenly, and keep it aside.
3. In a bowl put the whipping cream, half of sugar and blend it till it forms soft peaks and keep it aside.
4. Take 1 part of the cake and spread the blended cream evenly, sprinkle the crushed pineapple pieces evenly and now another layer of cake and spread the blended cream all over the cake and decorate it with pineapple pieces and cherries.
5. If you don’t have pineapple essence, use pineapple juices from the crushed pineapple pieces.

Tags: Pineapple Pastry

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice – 1 Cup
• Carrot – 1 Cut into 1 inch pieces
• Potato – 1 Cut into 1 inch pieces
• French Cut Beans – ¼ Cup – Cut into 1 inch pieces
• Onion – 1 medium – Cut into 1 inch pieces
• Ginger-Garlic Paste – 2 Tablespoons
• Green Chillies – 6 – Cut into long lengths
• Garam Masala – 1 Teaspoon
• Ghee – 1 Tablespoon
• Oil – as needed
• Curd – ¼ Cup
• Mint Leaves – Handful
• Cilantro – Handful
• Salt to taste
• Saffron – ½ Teaspoon(Soak this in a tablespoon of milk)
• Poppy Seeds – 1 Tablespoons
• Red Chillies Powder – ½ Teaspoon
• Milk – ½ Cup
• Wheat Flour – 1 Cup – Mix these in little bit of water and make the dough and keep it aside.

Method:

1. Grind Poppy Seeds to fine paste.
2. Cook the rice with 1.5 cups of water, salt and keep it aside. Make sure Rice is only half cooked.
3. In a heavy bottom pan, put 3 tablespoons of oil and deep fry half the onion pieces and keep them aside.
4. In a heavy bottom pan, put 2 Tablespoons of oil and add the remaining onion pieces, green chillies and sauté them for couple of minutes and add the Ginger-Garlic Paste. Fry this until the raw smell goes off from the paste.
5. Add the curd and keep stirring until the water evaporates from the curd.
6. Add veggies, salt and ½ cup of milk and cover the pan and let it cook for 10 minutes.
7. Add the ground poppy seeds paste, Garam Masala, Chillie Powder, ½ of the mint leaves and cover this with the lid and let it cook for 5 minutes.
8. Preheat the Oven to 350 ^o degrees.
9. Take a baking bowl, which has a oven proof lid to make Dum Biryani. Grease the inside bottom of the bowl and put a layer of Rice and then the vegetable curry, cilantro and mint. Repeat this until you get the rice on top layer.
10. Drizzle the saffron milk on top layer and sprinkle ghee on the Rice.
11. Put the oven proof lid and seal the bowl with dough, so that steam won’t get out and place this in oven for 25 minutes.
12. Take the bowl out from the oven very carefully and serve the Dum Biryani hot after dressing it  with Fried onions. Homemade Raita goes well with it.

Tags: biryani, dum, Hyderabadi

Ingredients:

• Curd – 1 Cup
• Besan – 1 Cup and 1 Tablespoon
• Red Chilli Powder – 1 Teaspoon
• Turmeric – 1/2 Teaspoon
• Curry Leaves – 1 Stem
• Green Chillies – 4 cut into small pieces.
• Zeera – 1/4 Teaspoon
• Coriander Seeds – 1/4 Teaspoon
• Baking Powder – 1 pinch(optional)
• Salt to Taste
• Hing – 1 Pinch
• Ghee – 2 Teaspoons (optional)
• Coriander Leaves – 1 handful – chopped
• Oil – to deep fry.

Method:

1. Take a bowl and add 1 cup of besan, salt, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1/2 teaspoon red chillie powder and put some water and make a hard dough. Knead well and let it sit on counter for 5 minutes.
2. Divide into 3 portions and roll them into cylindrical shape and boil them in salted water for 7-8 minutes or until it is cooked.
3. Take the cooked basen rolls out and let it cool and then cut them into 1 inch pieces. Take a heavy bottom pan and put 1/2 cup of oil bring this to heat and fry these besan pieces till they turn into golden brown and keep them aside.
4. In a bowl add curd, 1 table spoon besan, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder, salt, 1 cup of water and mix it well, then keep the mix aside.
5. Put a sauce pan on the stove and put 2 teaspoons of ghee or oil and bring it to heat. Add the coriander seeds and zeera seeds. Let them crackle and add hing, green chillies and curry leaves to the pan and saute for a minute. Now add the curd mix gently and let it boil for 5 minutes(stir frequently).
6. The curd mix should look in medium thick consistency.
7. Add the fried gatte(besan  pieces) and let it cook for 5 minutes and garnish it  with coriander leaves.

* Serve it with hot roties or zeera rice.

Ingredients:

• French Baguette Bread Slices – 2
• Jalapenos – 1 Teaspoon
• Green Olives – 2
• Olive Oil – 1 Teaspoon

Method:

1. Grind the Jalapenos and green olives coarsely and keep it aside.
2. Drizzle the olive Oil on two sides of the bread slices and spread the olive mix on 2 sides of the bread and close it and put it on Panini maker and bake this till it gets the grill marks on.
3. This should approximately take 8 to 10 minutes.

Serve this with any Salad or Have it just like this.

Tags: French Baguette