7-Layer Bean Dip

Here is a quick, easy and delicious vegetarian bean dip to be served as snack or appetizer. The variety of beans I used is Rajma aka Red Kidney beans.

Ingredients

Rajma

Onions

Sour cream

Pace Picante Sauce

Tomatoes

Shredded Cheese

Lettuce

Avacados or store-bought Guacamole

Lime juice

Preparation

1. Soak Rajma with water overnight and pressure cook with a pinch of salt for upto 7 whistles. Mash Rajma into a soft paste. Mix diced onions with it.

2. Mash and mix avacados with lemon juice, salt and pepper (optional, you can skip guacamole if you wish to)

3. Take a casserole dish. Layer the ingredients in the following order: Rajma, guacamole, sour cream, picante sauce, tomatoes, cheese, lettuce.

You can add green onions or olives in lieu of picante sauce.

Veggie Pasta

I found this recipe in my attempt to pack a smart lunch box for my daughter. She asked me to make 'pasta'. The first thing that crossed my mind was Pasta with Marinara sauce and Macaroni & Cheese. This time I wanted to make something different with a healthy choice of veggies and gave a shot at making this delicious pasta.

Ingredients
Pasta of your choice - 1 1/2 cups
( I used Barilla's Penne Pasta)
Chopped Onion - 3/4 cup
Tomato diced - 1 cup
Mushrooms sliced - 1/2 cup
Spinach chopped - 1 cup
Chopped garlic - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
All purpose flour - 2 tsp
Milk - 1 cup
Grated cheese - 3 tbsp
Dried Oregano - 1/2 tsp
Dried Parsley - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste

Preparation
1. Cook pasta by adding 3 cups of water. The pasta should boil in 8 - 12 min on high flame. Add some salt while boiling. Drain and keep aside
2. Melt butter in a pan and add onions to it. Saute for few minutes and stir in garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and salt and saute again.
3. Mix flour and fry for sometime. Add milk and pepper powder and allow it to boil till it reaches a thick consistency.
4. Throw in pasta, cheese and herbs - oregano and parsley, simmer for few more minutes and remove.

Sajjappalu (Stuffed sweet poori)

Ingredients
For dough:
Maida - 1 cup
Wheat flour - 1/2 cup
1 tsp ghee
A pinch of salt
Water for making dough

Take a bowl, mix all above ingredients to make a soft dough and leave for 1/2 hr.

For sweet filling:
Sooji/Bombay Rava - 1cup
Water - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp

Method
1. Heat ghee in a pan and fry sooji till it becomes golden brown.
2. Add sugar and water and mix well. Keep stirring and add cardamom powder as the mix thickens into halwa
3. Remove from heat and let it cool. Make small lemon size balls and keep aside
4. Take the dough. Make small balls and press into small puri. Place halwa ball in the middle of this puri and cover on all sides. Roll it back into small puris.
5. Deep fry the puris in oil. If you are watching your oil intake fry them on tava with 1 tsp ghee on both sides.

Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer features the wholesome flavor of cooked spinach (palak) with fresh Indian cottage cheese (paneer). I inherited the recipe from my mom. Here is how we make it.


















Ingredients
Spinach (fresh or frozen) - 2 bunches
Green chillies - 3
Paneer - 1 1/2 cup
Chole masala - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Butter - 2 tsp
Whipped cream - 2 tsp
Salt

Preparation
1. Wash spinach with water thoroughly and place in a vessel. Cut paneer into cubes and keep aside.
2. Add whole green chillies and 1/2 tsp salt to the spinach and boil on slow-medium flame with lid on. For fresh spinach no need to add water. Any extra water will dilute the consistency of palak in the curry.
3. Let it boil for 10 - 15 min, turn off stove and cool the boiled mixture for a few minutes
4. Grind the mixture to a pulp.
5. Heat a pan, add 2 tbsp oil and add paneer cubes. Fry until they turn slightly brown. Remove them into a plate.
6. In the leftover oil fry cumin seeds and ginger-garlic paste. Stir and add chole masala and turmeric and fry for few seconds.
7. Add the spinach pulp and cook for few min until the gravy starts boiling. To this add coriander and cumin powders and chilli powder. Check for salt.
8. Add the previously fried paneer cubes and mix to coat the pieces.
9. For creamy consistency you can add some whipped cream as you turn off the flame.
10. Garnish with butter and serve hot with chapatis.

Bengali Kaja

This is another one of the recipes from Maa TV that clicked. My kids loved it and kept asking for more! The sweet tastes like the traditional 'kaja' sweet, only difference is the shape. It is made by cutting diamond-shaped pieces from maida dough, frying them in ghee and coating with sugary syrup.

Ingredients
Maida flour - 1 cup
Ghee(for frying) - 1 1/2 cup
Oil - 1 tsp

For sugar syrup
Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Preparation
1. Add some water and 1 tsp oil to the maida and mix well to form a dough like chapathi dough. Let the dough sit aside for 10 min.
2. Roll the dough into flat circles using a rollpin. Using a knife cut the curved edges out first. Then cut diagonally across in straight lines so as to make diamond shapes. In the same way use rest of the dough and collect all the diamond shaped pieces in a plate.
3. Prepare the sugar syrup. Add 2 cups water to 1 cup sugar and let boil until the syrup consistency is just like that of Gulab Jamun's. Turn off the stove before the consistency reaches 1 string, we don't want the syrup too thick.
4. Heat ghee is a vessel, not to the point of smoking, but just hot enough for frying. Fry the diamond pieces on both sides and drain excess ghee on a paper towel. Now dip them in the sugar syrup for a minute, turning them on both sides and place them aside on a plate.