Vegetable Spring Rolls

This is a very popular evening snack. My Mom used to make this often when I was a kid as this is so delicious and healthy. This won’t take much time to make. This can be done within minutes and is very nutritious for kids.

These spring rolls can also be made with non veg. I have this whenever I go to a chinese restaurant, but nothing tastes better that what we make at home. This is a perfect starter to serve in parties.

The filling inside can be made to our taste. We can add any vegetable as per the availability. After stuffing it with the filling, roll tightly and fry in a medium heat so that it frys well inside.

After coming back from the park, my kid loves to eat something. So nowadays I am making this often and she also likes this a lot. I am sure this will be a yummy snack to enjoy in the upcoming monsoon.
Ingredients:
For the stuffing:

1. Carrots- 2nos
2. Cabbage- 1 cup
3. Beans- 6-7 nos
4. Cauliflower- 1 cup
5. Salt- as required
6. Pepper powder- 1 tsp
7. Soy sauce- 1 tbsp
8. Oil- 1 tbsp

For the batter:

1. Maida / Wheat flour- 1 cup
2. Water- required for batter
3. Salt- a pinch
4. Oil- for deep frying

For sealing:

1. Cornflour- 1 tbsp
2. Water- 1 tbsp

Method:
For the rolls:

1. Mix maida / wheat flour, salt and required amount of water well it form a pouring consistency.
2. Heat a griddle and pour a spoonful of batter and make pancakes out of it. Repeat the process till the batter gets over.
3. Keep this aside.

For the filling:

1. Grate all the vegetables in a hand blender.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the grated vegetables and salt. Mix well till the raw smell disappears.
3. In this add the pepper powder and soya sauce and mix well till everything is well blended.
4. Keep this aside and let it cool.

For assembling:

1. Take a pancake and keep a spoonful of stuffing inside the pancakes and fold in the edges and roll tightly and seal with cornflour paste.
2. Complete the process with remaining pancakes and filling.
3. Heat oil for deep frying and gently slide the rolls in the oil. Deep fry them till it is golden and crisp.
4. Drain and serve hot along with tomato sauce.

Prawns Biryani made in pressure cooker- Spicy yet tasty

I love prawns in any form, like in pickle, prawns masala, prawns roast and in umpteen other preparations. Prawns biryani is the latest addition to the endless list of my prawns recipes.
If you are a seafood lover, I bet you will love this.

I had never made prawns biryani before till my SIL told me that she makes this often and is simple yet tasty. I thought of giving it a try and made this with the help of my SIL and other online tips. This is a super yummy and delicious one pot meal which can be made on all occasions.
This biryani actually takes less time to cook than other biryanis.
I made this in a pressure cooker as I had some guests at home and time was less. Usually the rice and gravy are done separately and then layered and sealed tight with a flour dough for some time. 

Ingredients:
For Marination:

1. Prawns- 200 gms
2. Red chilli powder- 1 tbsp
3. Coriander powder- 1/2 tbsp
4. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
5. Salt- as required
6. Oil- for shallow frying

For Gravy:

1. Onions (sliced)- 2 nos
2. Ginger and garlic paste- 2 tbsp
3. Green Chillies (crushed)- 2 nos
4. Tomatoes- 1no
5. Red chilli powder- 1 tbsp
6. Coriander powder- 1 tbsp
7. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
8. Coriander leaves (chopped)- ½ cup
9. Curd- ½ cup
10. Lime juice- 2 tsp
11. Oil- 2 tbsp

For rice:

1. Ghee- 1 tbsp
2. Basmati rice- 2 cups
3. Cloves- 2 nos
4. Cinnamon stick- 1 no
5. Cardamom- 2 pods
6. Star anise- 1no
7. Salt- as required
8. Water- 2 ½ cups

Method:

1. Pour ghee in a pan and fry cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and anise for a while. Add rice and mix well with salt till the rice is fried little and keep this aside.
2. Marinate the prawns with the ingredients to marinate and keep this for ½ an hour. Then shallow fry in oil for 5 minutes and drain.
3. In a cooker, heat oil (you can also use the same oil in which we fried the prawns) add the sliced onions and fry till golden brown in colour.
4. In this add the green chillies, ginger and garlic paste and stir well. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till it becomes soft.
5. Mix together the spices like red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and mix well.
6. Add the coriander powder, curd, salt and at last the fried prawns. Mix them well till everything is well blended.
7. In the above add the lightly fried basmati rice, salt and water. Close the cooker and bring to full pressure and after the first whistle, simmer the flame for exactly 4 minutes and switch off the flame.
8. When the cooker is cooled and all the pressure is gone, open and add the lime juice and mix with a fork lightly or else the rice will break.
9. Transfer to a serving bowl and then serve this along with a bowl of raita, salad and enjoy the yummy biryani.

Watermelon Mint coolers- A cool and refreshing drink

The temperature is soaring in Bangalore and in this hot and dry weather, I thought a juice recipe would be an ideal post. This is a perfect thirst quencher which flushes out the toxins from our body.

I have been thinking of buying a watermelon since quite a few days since I like eating it at leisure and I also like the juice. After a long wait, I finally  bought a watermelon and ate almost half of it within 2 days :-) Then I thought of making juice with whatever was remaining.

While making the juice, I added mint leaves to the watermelon pieces to get a mint flavor in the juice. Juices in one way keeps your body hydrated and they provide fluids as well as all the nutrients of the fruits.
Here I have added mint. We can also add ginger, lime and so on. I have removed the seeds from watermelon, so there is no need of straining. If you are making this in a hurry, just blend the watermelon pieces and strain. 

Ingredients:

1. Watermelon (Chopped)- 2cups
2. Mint leaves- handful
3. Sugar- 2tbsp (optional)

Method:

1. Blend the watermelon pieces, mint leaves and sugar together. If the watermelon is too sweet, then no need of adding sugar.
2. Serve with ice cubes.

Blueberry Cupcakes

Spring is at its best and even though the weather is hot, I am loving this climate as every morning you feel some new energy within. The streets are covered with carpet of flowers which is a feast to the eyes. I wake up to the pink, white, lavender and many more different colourful flowers which can be seen through my bedroom window.

In this mood I wanted to make something fresh and in the morning I baked some cupcakes with blueberries and they tasted amazing that I again made another batch because I know that these will get finished within seconds.

If you remember, I had used the pureed blueberries in my blueberry cheesecake and half of the bottle was lying idle in my fridge and whenever I see that I used to have a spoonful :) So instead of finishing all those blueberries, I decided to use those in cupcakes and these cute little cupcakes happened one day. My little one was enjoying each and every bite.

Ingredients:

Recipe Adapted from : Cate's world kitchen

1. All purpose flour / Maida- ¾ Cup
2. Sugar- ½ Cup
3. Butter- ¼ Cup
4. Blueberries (Puree)- 3 tbsp
5. Salt- a pinch
6. Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp
7. Baking Powder- 1 tsp
8. Egg- 1no
9. Milk- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Meanwhile sift flour, baking powder, salt and keep it aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy and creamy. Add egg, vanilla essence and mix well.
4. In the above bowl add the flour mixture and milk alternatively. Atlast add the pureed blueberries and mix well till everything is combined well.
5. Pour this in greased cupcake tins and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the topping:

• Melt the white chocolate in hot cream (amul) and mix well. Let it cool for some time. In this add the blueberry puree and mix well.
• Keep it in the refrigerator for half an hour and spread this on the cake.