Vinaya's Culinary Delights - Authentic Vegetarian Cuisine

Pineapple Sheera Recipe

Posted on November 15, 2017July 29, 2018 by vinaya

Sheera is a quick and easy dessert which is made with semolina roasted in ghee and flavoured with Cardamom. You can add fresh fruit of your choice or essence too to enhance the taste. Here I have used fresh Pineapple since the family is partial to it.

Ingredients:

250 gms rava/ cream of wheat
200 gms pineapple
250 gms sugar
100 gms ghee/ clarified butter
Kesar/ saffron
Elaichi/ cardamom
Cashewnuts
Kishmish/ raisins
600 ml water

Method :
Chop the pineapple into tiny pieces and puree the centre portion. Boil both the pieces and the pulp in 600 ml of water. Roast the cashews and Kishmish in a tbsp of ghee till they change colour.
Roast the Rava in 4 tbsps of ghee till it changes colour and gives an aroma. Soak the kesar in a little water and crush it. Add the boiled pineapple along with the water and cook the sheera till it is done. Add the sugar and keep stirring till it forms a mass. Add the remaining ghee, elaichi powder and half of the the cashews and Kishmish. Tip the sheera into a mould greased with ghee and allow to cool. Invert and garnish with the remaining cashews and Kishmish. Alternatively it can be emptied into a greased plate and cut into pieces.

Vegetable Wonton Soup Recipe

Posted on November 14, 2017March 21, 2018 by vinaya

This hearty soup is ideal as a meal by itself on a wintery evening. I have used vegetables as the stuffing in the wontons and instead of using a vegetable broth, have used finely chopped vegetables. The recipe for making the wontons is shared under the recipe of Crispy fried Wantons of this Website. The Wontons are not fried nor steamed when being added to the soup. They are added directly to the boiling soup and allowed to cook for a couple of minutes. Served with a dash of white vinegar or soya sauce as per one’s preference.

Ingredients :

Equal quantities of the following vegetables :

Carrot
French Beans
Spring onions
Spring onion greens
Sweet corn
Spinach
Noodles
1 tbsp white Vinegar
1 green chilly
Salt
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp of sugar

Here I chopped half a small carrot and used the same to measure the quantity of the remaining vegetables.

Method :

Chop the vegetables very fine and cook along with the noodles, minced green chilly, sugar and salt in a litre of water. When the vegetables are half cooked, drop in the Wontons and cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from flame, add the vinegar and serve sprinkled with spring onion greens.

Crispy Fried Wanton Recipe

Posted on November 14, 2017October 27, 2020 by vinaya

Wantons are a Chinese delight. Steamed, fried or used in a soup, they can be enjoyed without any accompaniment, though a Schezwan sauce or a hot and sweet ketchup add zing to it. Here is a mixed vegetable Wanton which is super crisp and delicious.

For the outer covering:

Ingredients

250 gms Maida/ All purpose flour
2 tbsps oil
Salt

Method :

Mix the salt and oil with the maida. Crumble it. Add enough water to bind a semi soft dough. Knead well and rest it for about 15 mnts.

For the stuffing:

1 medium sized carrot
Cabbage
Purple cabbage
French Beans
Spring onion greens
Spring onions
Boiled Sweet Corn
The remaining vegetables to be chopped are in the same proportion as the quantity of the chopped carrot.
Salt
1 tsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp pepper powder
10 flakes garlic
2 inch piece of ginger
1 tbsp Amul butter
Oil for frying the Wantons

Method:

Chop all the vegetables fine and keep them aside. Mince the garlic and grate the ginger. Heat the butter in a pan. Drop in the ginger and garlic and roast till they give out an aroma. Drop in the chopped vegetables and salt. Sauté on a high flame for a couple of minutes. Add the soya sauce and pepper powder. Mix well and keep aside.

Preparing the Wantons:

Knead the dough for a couple of minutes and divide it into 12 portions. Take a portion and make a ball. Roll it out into a circle of six inch diameter. Cut it into a four inch square piece. Place the filling in the centre and fold it into a triangle. Seal the edges and bring the two ends of the triangle together. Pinch them together. Finish off similarly with the rest of the dough. Heat the oil. Gently slide in a wanton and deep fry till crisp and golden brown. Serve hot with sauce of your choice.

Guava Curry Recipe

Posted on November 13, 2017 by vinaya

Guavas are in season and after gorging on them, decided to turn some of them into a curry. Allahabad is the home to some of the best Guavas in India. This is a tangy, sweet and spicy curry which borders on to a chutney or a semi pickle. One can enjoy it with Roti or rice. Serves well as a dip too.

Ingredients :

300 gms guava
2 large tomatoes
1 tsp tamarind paste
2 tbsps jaggery syrup
1 tbsp chilly powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
A large pinch of turmeric powder
Salt
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp jeera/ cumin seeds
1/4 tsp methi/ fenugreek seeds
2 tbsps ghee/ clarified butter

Method :

Slice the guava into bite sized pieces. Chop the tomatoes fine. Heat ghee. Add the mustard. After it splutters add the cumin followed by fenugreek seeds. After the fenugreek seeds turn golden brown add the tomatoes and salt. Roast till they are mushy. Add the coriander, chilly and turmeric powders. Toss. Add a large glass of water, the jaggery syrup, tamarind paste and the guava. Boil on a slow flame till the guava is cooked and the curry turns semi solid.

Copra, Curry Leaves and Peanut Chutneys Recipes

Posted on November 13, 2017November 13, 2017 by vinaya

These three Chutneys are life savers for bachelors and for working women. They can be used as a spread on buttered bread, sprinkled on rice with a drizzle of ghee/clarified butter or used as a side dish. Each has its own unique taste. The one with Copra/ dried coconut has roasted garlic added to it whereas raw garlic flavours the Peanut chutney. The Curry Leaf chutney is sans garlic.

Copra and Garlic Chutney
Ingredients :

250 gms copra/ dry coconut
100 gms garlic
2 tbsps chilly powder
Marble sized ball of tamarind
Salt
1 tbsp ghee/ clarified butter

Method :
Cut the Copra into tiny pieces. Peel the garlic. Heat the ghee and roast the garlic to a rich golden brown. Switch off. Tip in the chilly powder, toss and immediately drop it into the blender along with the Copra, salt and tamarind and powder it. Store in an air tight container.

Curry Leaves Chutney
Ingredients :

1 coconut grated
21 sprigs Curry leaves
A lemon sized ball of tamarind
3 tbsps coriander seeds
1 tbsp urad dal
50 gms roasted Bengal gram dal/ daalia
2 tbsps chilly powder
Salt

Method:
Dry roast the grated coconut along with the curry leaves to a rich brown. Roast the coriander seeds and the urad dal separately in a drop of oil to a rich golden brown. Tip the chilly powder into the roasted coconut and toss well. Powder together the above roasted ingredients along with the tamarind and salt. Store in an air tight container.

Peanut Chutney
Ingredients :

250 gms Peanuts
15 medium sized garlic cloves
1 tbsp chilly powder
Salt

Method :
Roast the peanuts and deskin them. Powder them along with the garlic, chilly powder and salt. Store in an air tight container.

Mini Potato Papad

Posted on November 13, 2017November 13, 2017 by vinaya

A favourite of young and old alike, these potato papads can be served as a tea time snack or as a side dish with Dal and rice. A variety of these papads can be made by changing the spice or the condiments according to one’s preference. Here I have kept it simple as the children would find the spicy ones a little too hot.

Ingredients

250 gms rice
500 gms potatoes
5 cups (1.250 Litres) of water
Salt

Method :
Wash and soak the rice for four hours. Pressure cook the potatoes, deskin and mash them thoroughly. Grind the rice to a very fine paste. Pour it into a pan, add salt and five cups of water. Cook it on a slow flame till it turns transparent and forms into a lump. Remove and keep aside. When it has cooled sufficiently enough to handle, add the mashed potatoes. Mix thoroughly. Make tiny pellets of the dough. Place a pellet on the back of a dish and press it down with a bowl to get a two inch diameter Papad. Finish off with the remaining pellets. Dry them on a plastic sheet in strong sunlight for two to three days. Store in an air tight container.

To serve:
Heat oil. Drop in four of the papads and deep fry them till crisp. Drain on tissue paper and sprinkle with chilly or pepper powder.

Note: A coarse paste of green chilly and hing or of red chilly powder and hing depending upon individual spice level can be added to the rice batter when it is being cooked. You can also keep it simple by adding some cumin seeds and omitting the spice.

Corn Flour Halva Recipe

Posted on November 13, 2017November 8, 2020 by vinaya

Corn flour halva is an instant, no fuss preparation which is delicious and easy to make. You can use any essence, food colouring and dried fruits of your choice. Here I have used Raspberry essence and roasted cashewnuts. It can be served both chilled or at room temperature.

Ingredients :

1 cup corn flour
2. 5 cups of sugar
4 cups water
Raspberry essence
6 drops of Pink food colour
3 tbsps ghee/ clarified butter
Juice of half a lime
A handful of broken cashew bits

Method :
Roast the cashew bits in a tsp of ghee. Keep them aside. Tip in the corn flour, sugar, water, lemon juice, food colouring and the essence into a non stick pan. Mix thoroughly and take care to see that it is free from lumps. Keep stirring on a medium flame. At one point, the mixture starts thickening and takes on a glaze. Add the ghee and keep stirring. Within a few minutes the halva starts leaving the sides of the pan. Drop in the roasted cashew bits, mix and pour the halva into a pre greased plate. Allow to cool thoroughly. Cut into desired shape.

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Sweet Appam Recipe

Posted on November 12, 2017November 13, 2017 by vinaya

Sweet Appam/ Godu Appo/ Unni Appam as it is known, is traditionally offered to Lord Ganesha. These sweet Appam are made either with rice or wheat flour and flavoured with Banana and Cardamom. Posting the wheat one today.

Ingredients :

125 gms wheat flour
125 gms rava/ semolina
200 gms jaggery
3 tbsps grated coconut
1/2 of a banana
1tsp Cardamom powder
Ghee/ clarified butter for roasting

Method :
Crush the jaggery. Chop the banana. Powder the Cardamom. Grind the coconut, banana, jaggery and Cardamom together. Remove and mix the rava and wheat flour in it. Wash the blender with half a glass of water and add the adhering paste into the rava n wheat flour mixture. Allow to stand for five minutes. Check the consistency. It should be of dropping consistency. If it is thick add some more water and allow to stand for ten minutes. Heat the Appam pan. Pour ghee into it. Drop in the batter and cook covered over a medium flame. When done flip over and roast the other side too. Fragrant sweet Appam are ready to serve.

Quesadilla Recipe

Posted on November 12, 2017November 12, 2017 by vinaya

Quesadilla is a popular Mexican dish using chicken, vegetables or even beans as stuffing, as per individual taste. I have adapted it to cater to the family’s taste by stuffing it with grated cottage cheese, vegetables and Indian seasoning. The tortillas have been made using a half and half mix of wheat flour and maize flour to keep them healthy.

Ingredients :

250 gms wheat flour
250 gms maize flour
Salt

Method :
Mix the wheat flour salt and the maize flour. Add a little water at a time to make a dough which is medium soft, so that it can be rolled easily. Pinch balls of this dough and roll out tortillas six inches in diameter. Gently roast them on a hot skillet on one side. Keep aside.

For the stuffing:

200 gms Paneer / cottage cheese crumbled fine
Half of each of the following finely chopped
Red bell pepper
Green bell pepper
Yellow bell pepper
1 large onion finely chopped
1 tsp mixed herbs
1 tbsp ginger, garlic and green chilly paste
100 gms peas boiled and coarsely crushed
Salt
1/2 tsp pepper powder
2 tbsps oil

Method :
Heat the oil and add the onions and green chilly and ginger garlic paste. Roast till translucent. Add the bell peppers and salt and sauté on high flame for a couple of minutes. Add the herb mix, paneer, crushed peas and pepper powder. Heat well. Keep aside.

For the Salsa:

5 large tomatoes blanched, peeled and chopped roughly
1 tbsp chilly powder
7 garlic cloves
2 tbsps tomato ketchup
1 tbsp oil
Salt

Method :
Grind the chilly powder and garlic with a little water to a thick paste. Heat oil. Add the paste and toss for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and salt. Heat for a couple of minutes. Transfer to the blender and puree. Add the tomato ketchup and salt. Mix well and keep, aside.

To serve:
Place the tortilla on a hot skillet with the roasted side up. Apply the salsa and pile the prepared stuffing on it. Place another tortilla, roasted side downwards on the stuffing. Gently press down so that the ends of both the tortillas touch each. Roast using butter on both sides till crisp. Remove. Serve cut into triangles with either a salad or with raw onion rings.

Carrot Kismuri /Salad Recipe

Posted on November 12, 2017November 12, 2017 by vinaya

This is a very popular salad which is part of the traditional lunch or part of the buffet during weddings in South India. A no onion garlic recipe, one can add boiled corn or pomegranate seeds as per one’s preference. Here I have posted the traditional one which is delicious and healthy too.

Ingredients :

3 medium sized carrots
1/4 of a medium sized coconut grated
Coriander leaves
3 green chillies
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Salt
2 sprigs Curry leaves
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp oil

Method:

Wash and deskin the carrots. Grate them. Add the grated coconut, finely chopped coriander leaves and lemon juice and mix well. Mince the green chillies and crush them with salt. Tip it into the salad. Heat oil. Add a tsp of mustard and after it splutters add the curry leaves. Toss and drop it into the salad. Mix and serve.