Life 'n' Such

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Easy, breezy, delicious rice.. this is perfect with chicken curries, vegetables, lentils, or even plain yoghurt raita.

Ingredients:
Rice, (usually 1 cup is for 2 people)
whole cumin (jeera)
fried sliced onions, (almost dark brown in color)
oil (ghee preferable)
water (approx double of rice)
salt as per taste

Wash the rice and keep aside. In the mean time heat the water. In heated oil/ghee, add the cumin (rub the cumin in your palms to bring out the flavor). It will sizzle and then after almost a minute, add the washed rice (drain out as much water as you can). Sautee the rice for a few minutes, then add the fried onions and salt to this. Add the water to this. Let it come to a boil, then simmer and cover and cook, about 18-20 mins till the rice is done.

Thats it! Now wasnt that easy and quick!

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Golden, crispy, light (but really deep fried) Puris are a hot favorite in India. Eaten with simple aloo sabji (potato vegetable), halwa(our friends from Kashmir Fauzia makes the best halwa, I will get the recipe from her soon), or shrikhand, it is guaranteed to satisfy your taste buds.

Ingredients:
2 cups Flour (whole wheat)
1 tsp salt,
1 tsp ajwain seeds (optional)
oil for the dough and for frying
water for dough

This dough, unlike the dough for simple rotis, is a bit harder (so less water is to be used for making it). First put the salt, ajwain and little oil in the flour. Mix roughly. Then start adding the water little bit at a time. Knead the dough many times, until there is no loose flour left. Take a little oil in your palm, and then knead the dough few more times until you get a smooth ball.

Let it rest for few minutes, in the mean time start heating the oil on medium high.

To get round fluffy puris, its important for the oil to be nice and hot or else it wont fluff like a balloon.

Pinch out small balls and roll them out with a rolling pin to get approx 4 inches circles. Leave them gently in the kadhai or deep frying pan that has the heated oil. You may want to push the sides of the puri; when it rises, flip it gently to fry the other side. You should fry both sides just once until you get a nice gold red color.

Done. Just put them on paper towels to absorb the excess oil Enjoy !!!!!

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Can be eaten as dessert, or eaten with puris as a snack.

I never liked Shrikhand until I had it at someone’s house, what they had done was, they added fruits in it. It was delicious! Now I like Shrikhand anyway. I like it with hot puris; with fruits; just plain. Its great.

There are 2 ways to make it: from scratch or shortcut. This recipe will show the shortcut method.

Ingredients:
1 box Labna (called ‘Chakka’ in India) found in arabic/indian stores (its basically yoghurt, from which the excess water is taken out already)
sugar (as much as needed),
few pinches of cardomom, ground,
saffron (soaked in warm milk),
dry fruits for garnishing (chopped pistachios, almonds, raisins etc)

Mix the labna adding sugar gradually to it. This will take a few minutes, to achieve a smooth consistency. My dad tells me that if u seive this through a muslin cloth, it will be excellent.

Then finally add the cardomom and saffron to this. Mix again.

Garnish with the dry fruits, or server with fresh fruits, like grapes, pomegranate, etc. Or eat with hot puris.

Note: 1. Puris are a type of indian bread, where the dough is rolled out in small circles and then deep fried in hot oil. The next recipe is for puris, check it out.

2. To make the chakka from scratch, just take lots of yoghurt, and hang in a muslin cloth over your sink for a few hours. After all the excess water has drained out, follow the steps from start of this recipe.

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