Masala Cook:: Indian Food, Indian Cooking, Indian Recipes & More

What is khandvi?

Khandvi is a Gujarati dish. It is favored by many as a tea time snack as well as for breakfast. It is now available all across India. Many people prefer to buy it from the sweet shop rather than preparing it at home. It is not difficult to prepare Khandvi in fact on the contrary it is quite simple. However it requires some fine culinary skills to roll out the perfect khandvis!

Khandvi is prepared from besan (better known as gram flour) and yoghurt. One needs to whisk yoghurt and gram flour on a pan along with a little ginger paste, turmeric, pinch of salt and a little water. If you like spicy then go for finely cut green chilies.  In 10 minutes a thick batter would be ready. Do ensure that the batter is very smooth. The next step in the process of making a khandvi is quite tricky. While the batter is still hot you take spoon full of it and spread it evenly on any greased plane surface. The thinner the spread is the better your khandvi will look and taste. After the spread cools down a bit, you carefully make Swiss rolls out of it. Khandvis are generally small in size. They are about an inch in length such that you can bite one entire piece at a go.
 
Khandvis are incomplete without a tempering of asafetida, sesame seed, mustard seed and some curry leaves along with a spoonful of oil. Traditional khandvi is garnished with coriander leaves and coconut. You can make it look colorful by adding some red chilies. Yoghurt gives the khandavi a slight sour taste but some people prefer it even sourer and they add lemon drops on top of their khandvi. The modern touch is added to khandvi by spreading some grated cheese over it.

What is rabdi?

Rabdi is a mouthwatering sweet dish. The Indian sweet platter has innumerable varieties to offer but nothing beats a well cooked rabdi. After any authentic north Indian or Rajasthani dinner, rabdi is the best option for dessert. You will cherish every spoonful of the cold rabdi that you consume.

Primarily rabdi requires only two ingredients to prepare it, namely, milk and sugar. The milk and sugar are put to boil in a deep pan. This requires constant stirring till the milk becomes thick or rather condensed and reduces to almost a fourth of its initial quantity. Add a little vetiver essence, cardamom seeds and pistachios and your rabdi is ready to eat!

However there is a simpler and quicker way of making rabdi than the above mentioned traditional style. This tested and tried method involves the use of dry milk, sugar powder and corn starch. The mixture is first sieved so as to avoid any lumps from occurring. Add butter and whipping cream to it and boil over low heat. The emphasis on low heat is because one tries to cook rabdi on a high flame there will be excessive boil over and the dish will be tasteless. You will notice clotted cream being formed on the top, keep mixing it inwards and in about 15-20 minutes a luscious rabdi will be ready. Rabdi should be garnished with almonds and pistachios and a pinch of saffron to make it look even better! The rabdi should be refrigerated a while before being served. The colder your rabdi the better it tastes.

Rabdi is also eaten with rose flavored vermicelli. Rabdi makes an amazing dessert in the summers. Once you have rabdi as a dessert item you can even avoid icecreams also!

Serve Rabdi in a bowl on an ethnic style decorative tray, such as one from Cultural Elements

What is salad in Indian cooking?

Salad in Indian cooking includes many varieties clubbed together. Indian cooking gives scope for fruit salad, yogurt salad, mixed vegetable salad, green salads and more. Indians are known to have an affinity for side dishes. In India people are not known to prefer seven course meals but they do have an affinity to have their platter full with a variety of vegetables, daals, breads and other side dishes like salads. Salads are an integral accompaniment for lunch as well as dinner.

The best part about salad in Indian cooking is the amount of flexibility and the chance to experiment that it offers. If you are having guests over for breakfast and aren’t sure what to serve them with, count on the sprout salad. Steam the sprouted lentils and add chopped tomatoes and onions. For flavor, Indians use salt, roasted cumin powder, and a little lemon along with red chilli powder. If you are wondering about which salad goes best with lunch then choose a yogurt salad or fruit salad. When making a yogurt salad one could add chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, radish or onions or all these mixed according to taste preferences. Within seconds a delicious yogurt salad would be ready.

When it comes to salads, Indian recipes give scope for mixing and mingling about anything that is edible! When aiming at a fruit salad get hold of a small banana, guava, few cherries, an apple, orange, a small bunch of grapes or any other fruit that is your favorite! Do not chop them too finely or else it will look very messy. Add a little salt, lemon and pepper.

During dinner Indians prefer plain onion salads along with their rich gravy vegetables. You can slice onions into very thin pieces and soak them in vinegar and water. Take it out after a while and add a pinch of salt and lemon. However, if you want to go ahead with an elaborate preparation then go ahead with a mixed vegetable salad. Just browse through your refrigerator and use whatever is at your disposal. Soon you will have a delicious salad ready!

What is Achari Mutton?

Achari mutton is an Indian dish whose roots can be traced to Awadh in Uttar Pradesh. The word "achari" means pickled, and "mutton" is a popular term for goat meat. When you plan an extravaganza at home then you can be certain that well prepared achari mutton will be appreciated by one and all who have it! However you should ensure to include some sweet side dishes alongside because achari mutton is known for its hot and tangy flavor.

When preparing any mutton dish remember to cut and wash the mutton first and put it aside before heating any pan. Achari mutton is quite simple and quick to prepare. So if you are expecting sudden guests at home and the clock is ticking fast then achari mutton will be your sure shot face saver of the day.  Onions and tomatoes along with garlic and ginger should be chopped. Roast onion seeds, mustard seeds, fennel seeds or any other whole spice from your kitchen that you think might add to its taste. In a deep dish pan, heat the oil; add all the roasted spices and sauté the onion along with the ginger garlic paste. Follow it up by adding mutton pieces. Basic ingredients like salt, turmeric, red chillies are now mixed. Once you think the oil has left the preparation you add a sufficient quantity of water and leave it to boil. While it is boiling you can easily go get ready for your guests!

Serve the achari mutton hot and decorate it with coriander leaves. Achari mutton allows you to use any bread along with it. So prepare your favorite bread and cook in some rice and you have the best possible dinner ready in no time at all!

What is Makai Ki Roti in Indian Cuisine?

Simply said, Makai ki roti is the Indian version of corn bread. Makai ki roti is quite popular in Northern India. Its origin can be traced to Punjab and is also consumed with great joy in Pakistan. Makai ki roti is eaten along with sarson ka saag (made of spinach and mustard greens) especially during the winters.

Preparing makai ki roti is not exactly an uphill task. However if you want to go in for a completely authentic style of making it then you might struggle a bit. Traditionally the dough was prepared and small dollops were extracted from it. These dollops were flattened with the hand, remember no rolling pins were used and then baked on a hot griddle. 

Don’t worry you don’t need to follow this process to the alphabet! Initially the dough is prepared from corn flour, a little salt and ghee. The dough is divided into small balls of equal size. Feel free to use a rolling pin to flatten out the dough balls to about 5inch in diameter. Bake it in a low flame griddle. Your makai ki roti is not ready unless you spread a little clarified butter on the warm roti or a spoonful of plain butter!

All the plans for dieting take a back seat when you plan to eat something like makai ki roti. A point to be noted is that most Punjabis were hardworking farmers and they got the requisite nutrition from such heavy diets of makai ki roti and sarson ka saag. Additional flavor is added to these amazing breads when served with a glass of butter milk. 

Once you have these makai ki roti, you will not be in a hurry to forget the experience and taste!

What is a shorba?

Shorba is soup, a spicy version of the somewhat bland concoction that precedes the main course at mealtimes. Its roots are in ancient Persia, a reference to the salted, boiling water in which meat was cooked.  Shorba arrived in India along with the sumptuous cuisine of the Mughals. Soon, vegetarian India reinvented it in a variety of avatars.

The best thing about shorba is the ease of preparation and its versatility. Typically, a non-vegetarian shorba (lamb, chicken) is Curry Lite, with minimal use of onion, a little cornflour for thickening, a dash of lemon juice, coriander leaves and the usual whole spices used in Indian cooking.

Vegetarian  recipes change according to regional cuisine. Western India likes a tinge of sweetness, so a dash of jaggery or sugar  may be added to a tomato shorba. Dal shorba ( red lentils or masoor dal) is mild tasting and packed with protein.

What are koftas?

Koftas are stuffed dumplings, deep-fried and served in rich gravy, among the many lavish dishes that came into India with the Muslim invaders. The original Persian word “koofteh” referred to spiced meatballs.

A rich vegetarian version is malai kofta, consisting of mashed potato balls with a stuffing of paneer, cream and perhaps raisins and cashew nut slivers in the centre. A light delicious substitute for summer is lauki kofta, made of bottle gourd.

What is kulfi?

Kulfi is a frozen, milk-based dessert, an exotic cousin to ice-cream. It’s possible that kulfi originated in the cold reaches of northern India, where people learned to freeze sweetened fluids in snow. The technique in fact, is the basis for one of the biggest differences between ice-cream and kulfi – while ice-cream is whipped and re-frozen to prevent crystallization, kulfi is hard and takes longer to melt. The flavors used for kulfi are those often found in other Indian desserts – pistachio, kesar or saffron, rose and cardamom.

Milk which is flavored, sweetened and reduced by slow boiling is poured into typically conical moulds and buried in a mud pot containing ice and salt. Salt speeds up the freezing, while the matka provides insulation. Kulfi is often eaten with falooda – rose flavored vermicelli with a gelatinous coating.

What is Halwa in Indian Cuisine?

Halwa, halava, helva, aluva – say it how you will, the various versions all refer to a sweet, dense preparation that’s popular across Turkey, the Arab world, among Jews and South Asians.

The ingredients for Indian halwa vary region wise. The common factor is ghee – lots of it!  Sooji (semolina) halwa is typically eaten with pooris in northern India. Flavored with saffron, it becomes rava kesari, an all India winner. Warm moong dal halwa, garnished with almond and pistachio slivers is a favorite north Indian dessert in winter. Gajar (carrot) halwa, cooked with khoya is another sumptuous dessert. There’s banana halwa from Kerala and a wheat based “jaw-breaker” from Tamil Nadu – Tirunelveli halwa!

What is tamarind rice?

Tamarind rice comes from South India, famous for its handy, time-saving  rice preparations that are ideally light, all-in-one meals during hot summers. Besides the two main ingredients, several spices valued for digestive properties go into this dish – fenugreek, coriander, sesame and mustard. Dry red chilies are used to spice it up while grated coconut balances the “heat”. A handful of peanuts add crunch and sesame (til) oil gives it a distinctive flavor. Great for picnic lunches or road trips!