RAJMA TACOS.....

In order to make something with the letter “R” I made RAJMA TACOS which is a complete fusion recipe.



A few days back I was at the dollar shop near my house and saw this box of Tacos which I had never ever tasted or cooked. I and my son are always fascinated with food that has cheese in it and when I saw the picture and the recipe on the box I knew that I should try this dish out although I would have to make the beans in an Indian style. The ingredients mentioned on the box are not easily available in India so I made the indianized version of the beans, keeping the rest of the ingredients intact. I am glad that I tried this out which came out to be really really YUMLICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

So after tasting the final product I knew that food and cultures can mix and form an entirely new and delicious cuisine which one can actually enjoy and relish.
So here is my Indian RAJMA TACOS recipe.


INGREDIENTS

250gms Rajma beans soaked overnight
2 medium onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
1 tsp each ginger and garlic paste
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp chilli powder
½ tsp haldi powder
½ tsp sugar
salsa made of chopped tomatoes, onions and coriander.
Salt to taste and coriander to garnish
Cheese for spreading on top.


METHOD

Take a pressure cooker pan and heat oil
Add the finely chopped onions and stir till they become soft
Add the ginger garlic paste
Add the tomatoes and stir till the tomatoes are cooked and leave oil
Add soaked and washed rajma and all the masala’s.
Cook in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes.
Garnish with coriander after adjusting the seasonings.
Let it become a little dry

Take the taco shells and keep in the microwave for 1 minuteArrange the beans a mixture of tomatoes and onionsThen top with cheese.

RAJGIRA CHIKKI

As i was thinking of the different things that i could make under the letter R these were some of the dishes that i thought of RAS MALAI , RAGHAVDAS LADUU, RAVYACHE LADOO, RAWAS FRY , RAWAS AMTI, RAJASAHEB BATATA, RATALYACHYA NEVRYA .

This is my entry for NUPURS A to Z of indian vegetables

VENDORS ON F.C.ROAD PUNE...

Very little time and lots to do, those were my sentiments when I visited Pune this weekend. We had a packed schedule, but whatever the schedule it does not stop me from sneaking in a little special time for taking in the local life of the city that I visit.
For me walking around the place gives me the feel of the place, the pulse of the city. I cannot express the pleasure I get when I go to the locals and ask their permission to take a picture. Local food vendors are the heart and soul of a food loving country like India.
So here I share with you the pictures of the wonderful vendors who I saw at F C Road Pune.


JAMUN SELLER NEAR CHITALE'S

JUICY BLACK JAMUNS
FLOWER SELLER SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO THE JAMUN LADY

FRESH MORNING FLOWERS

CART SELLING FRUIT JUICE

PANI PURI WALA

Pune has a lot of educational institutions and so you will find college kids all around F C Road which stands for Fergusson college Road.

MARKET AT DECCAN PUNE.....

Back in Pune , this time i was in Pune for the weekend for a wedding in the family. I love to go to Pune and experience a feeling of warmth which i cannot explain.
Our schedule was packed as we had a wedding and two important functions to attend . I never miss an opportunity to visit the market place of the place i travel to. This time due to the shortage of time i just could give a passing visit to this little market which is in the center of the city.
The last time i was in Pune that was in October last year (you will find the details here) i could not visit this market as the place where we were staying was quite far away from this market .
So, i had planned not to give this market a miss what may come. I made time between the marraige reception and the wedding to go and visit this place click some photos and share them with you.


SWEET SUCCULENT CORN

THIS OLD LADY TOOK A POSE WHEN SHE SAW ME CLICKING.

FRESH MANGO JUICE BEING MADE IN THE MARKET , THIS COOL JUICE IS A REAL TREAT DURING HOT SUMMER AFTERNOONS.

MANGO SELLER SELLING ALL TYPES OF FRUIT




I love to visit markets selling food items and i love to see the smiles on their face.

PANEER JHALFREZI......

WOW THE LETTER “P” IS SO VERSATILE.
I realized this only after I started thinking of recipes starting with P and I saw that there were so many.
Last week I had to think a lot, of recipes from the letter “O”. This time I was just over flooded with recipes with letter “P”. I was cooking so many P’s in a week without even realizing that I was doing so, and every time I did something I said WOW, HERE’S ONE MORE ‘P’ FOR ME.
The best of the spontaneously made recipes for the week was
“PRAWNS PULAO WITH PEAS AND PAPAD”, I had not planned cooking it but after cooking and serving it I realized that it would be called so and so, and lo and behold it has so many foodie’s P in it.
PANEER JHALFREZI

INGREDIENTS

250 gms paneer.
2 large onions roughly sliced
2 large tomatoes roughly sliced
2 medium capsicums sliced.
1tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp haldi powder
1 tsp dhania jeera powder
1 tsp Garam masala powder
Finely chopped dhania or coriander for garnishing
Salt and a pinch of sugar.


METHOD

Take oil in a thick bottom pan and heat.
Add onion and stir till soft then add the ginger garlic paste
Stir and add the tomatoes.
After sometime (you need not wait for them to turn soggy or leave oil) you can add the capsicum and stir and cook till they change colour and turn a bit soft.
Add all the masalas and stir
Add the paneer pieces at the end. I never fry the paneer but some people do.
Garnish with coriander and serve with hot phulkas.

This is my contribution to nupur’s “ A to Z of vegetables”

ALL THE OTHER RECIPES THAT I TRIED THE WHOLE WEEK WITHOUT REALISING THAT THEY WERE "p"

POTATO - TOMATO RASSA

PRAWN PULAO WITH PEAS AND PAPAD

PIZZA

THIS IS PIZZA BEFORE GOING INTO THE OVEN

OATMEAL SQUARES.......

Thanks to Nupur of one hot stove, I get very inspired when I take part in her event
“A to Z of Indian vegetables”.
This time her letter is ‘O’ and I racked my brain for something with that letter, I tried to involve my husband and son to come up with something that had a letter ‘O’. To this my hubby who has never cooked anything other than a cup of tea, came up with OATMEAL.
WOW!!!!! That’s great I should do something with oatmeal which I had, off course never tried before and to tell you the truth had never ever bought, nor tasted before today.
But then I said to myself why not? This gives me an opportunity to try something that I had never tasted before and that’s what I like doing something new, cooking the same type of food day in day out gets me frustrated I get all charged when I try new recipes.
So here I was sitting at my computer as late as 12.30 at night to find out something to be made with oatmeal.





After going through a lot of recipes of oatmeal cookies which are quite elaborate and made a huge batch I came up with this recipe which I made in a small batch and was surprised that it tasted yummy and sooooo crispy!!!!. It made my day when everyone appreciated my first effort. Off course the first piece went to my dear hubby for providing me with his valuable tip. And the next would have probably gone to Nupur if I had known her. So Nupur pls try this recipe and let me know.

I do not know how the original (about a dozen recipes) which I read , would taste like and what would be the texture but my recipe was good and was well loved by my sons friends who all got to taste a piece.


OATMEAL SQUARES

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cup quick cooking oats.½ cup plain flour1 egg or a little less11/2 – 2 cups powdered sugar50 gms butter.1 tbsp vanilla essence½ cup chocolate chips (optional)1tsp baking powder.

METHOD

Beat butter till quite soft.Add sugar and beat again.Add the egg and beat.You can add the rest of the ingredients and give it a stir with a spoon.Grease a tray or a shallow oven proof pan.The mixture will be of a semi solid consistency, so spread it with a spoon in a pan.Bake it for about 30 mins at 180 C.It will be a little soft when it comes out of the pan, but turns hard and crispy once you let it cool.Cut into squares when hot so that you get neat little squares.

THIS IS MY ENTRY FOR NUPURS " A to Z of vegetables "