Nutella Hot Chocolate

It was a lazy evening and getting bored of doing nothing. My little one was watching cartoon and my husband was on the way from office. For my small one's evening snack I prepared chapathi, but she likes it with Nutella. Now who doesn't like Nutella? Even elders are crazy about it, then if it comes to kids,they want it with everything.

I wanted to drink something, but not the regular tea,coffee. So when I was licking the spoon of Nutella,I thought why not try this Nutella hot chocolate which I saw in one of the blogs. Quickly I took a cup of hot milk and added Nutella, swirled it and took a sip into this heavenly drink. It tastes just like chocolate drink but a slight hint of hazelnut makes the difference.  It is an amazing drink which we can have any time of the day. When my husband came, this was a surprise for him from the regular tea, coffee. Hope you all will love this....

Ingredients:

1. Nutella- 1 tbsp
2. Milk- 1 Cup

Method:

1. Boil the milk in a saucepan. In this add a tbsp of nutella and mix well till it is dissolved well.
2. A cup of delicious nutella hot chocolate is ready. Serve it along with whipped cream or marshmallows.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Microwave Turkish Delight- a soft and scented delicacy...

This is a traditional sweet of middle east. I tasted this for the first time at K.C Das and I got attracted to the light pink coloured fragrant square cubes, that I wanted to see how it tastes. They are so delicate, light and scented with rose water.

Ever since I tasted this, I wanted to try this out and was searching for cream of tartar. This cream of tartar is an acid, which ensures that the baked goods are well rised. At last I got it and then I was waiting for an occasion to make this (just an excuse to try something sweet).
I wanted to try this on my husband’s birthday, but I made this two days before his birthday. He too loves this a lot and this sweet is the first choice when he wants to buy sweets for his friend because of its amazing flavors. It was a big surprise for him, when I showed him the prepared sweet. He never expected me to make this as I used to say that to make this is a big process. But this is not at all difficult. I made this in microwave. You can also make this on stove top.
I googled and got so many versions of this turkish delight and I ended up with this. This is an amazing dessert to gift someone and will be loved by all.

Ingredients:

1. Water- 3 Cups
2. Sugar- 2 Cups
3. Icing Sugar- 1 ¼ Cup
4. Corn Flour- ⅔ Cup
5. Gelatine- 4 Tbsp
6. Cream of Tartar- ¼ tsp
7. Red Food Colour- few drops
8. Rose Water- ½ tsp

Method:

1. Take a deep microwave safe bowl and pour water along with 2 cups of sugar and gelatine. Stir and microwave for about 7 minutes on high.
2. Take it out and mix well. Return to microwave and heat for another 7 minutes on high.
3. In this add the Icing sugar, corn flour and cream of tartar. Mix and again microwave for 6 more minutes.
4. Take it out and add the red food colour and rose water. Mix well. Pour this mixture in a greased tray and let it cool.
5. When it is cooled completely, refrigerate this for 4- 5 hours or overnight.
6. Take it out and cut into squares and dip them in icing sugar and arrange in a bowl as you wish.

Leftover Chapathi Spicy Crumble

This method is an easy and a clever way to finish all the leftover chapathis. A perfect snack for kids, which is very healthy and nutritious. To make it more healthy, we can add any vegetable like potatoes, carrot, cabbage and so on. But I was in a hurry in the mornings, I didn’t add any vegetable.

The thought of using a leftover chapathi in this delicious way came from my dear friend and colleague. When we have free time, we will be sharing what we bought and so my friend one day brought this which I tasted for the first time and fell in love with this. Quick demo of the recipe and the next day a lunch box snack was this wonderful dish. My dish was a little dry, for that you can sprinkle little water on the ground chapathi ( do not add too much of water, otherwise they will turn out mushy). Here is a lovely dish, hope you all will like it.

Ingredients:

1. Chapatis- 4-5 nos
2. Onions (chopped)- 2 nos
3. Oil- 1 tbsp
4. Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
5. Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
6. Curry leaves- few
7. Roasted Peanuts- 1 tbsp (optional)
8. Green Chillies- 2 nos
9. Asafoetida- a pinch
10. Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
11. Red chilli powder- ½ tsp
12. Coriander powder- ½ tsp
13. Lemon Juice- just to taste
14. Salt- as required
15. Coriander leaves (chopped)- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Grind the left over chapathis in a mixer coarsely.
2. Heat oil and splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds. Add the chopped onions, green chillies, roasted peanuts and stir well.
3. When the onions turn light pink colour, add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder, asafoetida and curry leaves.
4. Mix well till all the masala gets blended. In this add the coarsely ground chapathis and salt mix well.
5. Switch off the flame and sprinkle little lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves.

Rava Idli / Semolina Idli

On some holidays, when I feel lazy to cook breakfast, we go to a nearby hotel and my little one asks for the idli which has cashew on top. This she likes to dip in the coconut chutney and some mixed veg curry. She likes it a lot that she now asks me to make it at home and so I learnt this just for her.

I thought this is a time consuming breakfast, but when I made it the first time, I realized that this is the one of the easiest and definitely a delicious and nutritious breakfast.

This is a speciality of Karnataka. In this we can also add grated carrot and curry leaves.
One thing about this which I love the most is that, you don’t have to wait for the batter to ferment overnight like normal idli batter. As soon as we mix everything, its ready to get steamed. So what are you waiting for, just try this out …

Ingredients:
Adapted from rak’s kitchen

1. Sooji / Semolina- 1 cup
2. Curd- ½ cup
3. Ginger( grated)- 1 tsp
4. Green Chillies( chopped)- 2 nos
5. Lemon Juice- ½ tsp
6. Salt- as required
7. Eno salt- ½ tsp
8. Water- use as required

Tempering:

1. Oil- 1 tbsp
2. Mustard seeds- 1tsp
3. Urad dal- 1tbsp
4. Chana dal- 1 tbsp
5. Cashews- few

Method:

1. Grease the idli moulds with oil.
2. Heat a kadai with oil and add the ingredients required to temper. Add ginger and green chillies, mix well.
3. In the above kadai, add sooji and fry in a low flame till everything is mixed well.
4. Remove from stove and let it cool. After it is cooled, add curd, lemon juice and required amount of water. Stir well. The batter should be like idli batter. Meanwhile heat the idli cooker with water.
5. Add the eno salt to batter and mix well. Immediately pour this in the idli moulds and steam for about 8- 10 minutes.
6. Soft and moist idlis are ready to eat.