Delicio Recipe List

As my father grew up in Nagpur, he loves eating more of dry sabzi or sukha bhajis. He is also a great cook and I learnt some easy and delicious recipes from him. This is a recipe for Sukha Bhaji or Sukki Bhaji (as my father calls it). I mentioned about Sukki Bhaji in my post on Chillah. Ingredients: 4 large potatoes 2 large onions, finely sliced 1 tsp mustard seeds (black / white) 1 tsp white oil salt to taste 1 green chiili, finely chopped 1 bunch coriander leaves, finely chopped Procedure: Wash the potatoes and cut into half. Retain the peel. Pressure cook potatoes with 2 whistles (Dont overcook otherwise potatoes will be too mushy). Remove from fire. Let the cooker come down to normal temparature. Strain water and kep the potatoes aside. Remove the outer skin of the potatoes and roughly smash / crush the potatoes with hand / backof a ladle (Ensure not to make a paste). Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add the sliced onions and saute till lig...

Another mouth watering North Indian recipe with cauliflower being the main ingredient. I prepared this recipe in the microwave where the cauliflower retains its natural flavour and taste. Ingredients: 1 cauliflower (250-300 gms) paste of 1 onion paste of 2 tomatoes 1 tsp ginger paste 1 tsp garlic paste 1/2 tsp garam masala powder 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera) 1 tbsp oil salt (to taste) 1 bunch coriander leaves, finely chopped (for garnishing) Preparation: Wash and cut cauliflower into small florets. Take a microwave safe bowl and microwave oil at 100% for 30 secs. Take a small bowl and make a paste by mixing onion, tomatoes and ginger & garlic paste with a little water. Keep aside. Add cumin seeds, salt and turmeric powder and the prepared paste and microwave at 100% power for 4-5 mins. Stir in between. Add cauliflower florets, garam masala. Add 1/2 cup water. Microwave covered for 5 mins. at 100% power. Again microwave for 4 more mins at 60% power. Allow to sta...

Curd is an essential item in our daily food which is also known as Tok Doi / Dahi. It is also a known fact that curd reduces the extra fat from our body. Making Curd at home is simple but you have to follow some basic instructions. I learnt the dahi (tok doi / sour curd) making process from my mother-in-law; though I have to prepare for 2-3 times, before I could set a perfect curd...... Ingredients: Milk: 500 ml (1/2 ltr) Sour Curd / Tok Doi: 1 tsp Procedure: Take a pan, add the milk and bring it to a boil. When the milk comes to a boiling point, reduce the flame and stir the milk with a ladle and again increase the flame. Repeat the process for 2-3 times. Turn off the flame and remove from fire. Keep aside and let the temperature come down to a lukewarm level. Take 1 tsp of firm curd (sieve curd to drain excess water), add 1 tsp of milk and mix well. Add the curd mixture to the milk and mix thoroughly with the ladle. (Ensure that the milk stays lukewarm while adding the curd or el...

Dhokla is a popular & delicious Gujarati (vegetarian) recipe. Dhokla can be of various types like Khaman Dhokla, Khatta Dhokla, Cheese Dhokla and Rasia Dhokla and even innovative Sandwich Dhokla (a combination of any 2 Dhoklas). Dhokla is a steamed food preparation, so it can be used as a healthy snack to other fast foods. Previously making Dhoklas for me was buying those ready made packs and preparing dhoklas by following the instructions. If the measurements written at the back of the pack was not followed properly, the dhoklas did not turn out to be fluffy. After I had a microwave, I tried making dhoklas with the proper ingredients and procedure. Believe me, the final dhokla did look nice and tasted delicious too (though I had to try a couple of times to get that perfect looking dhokla!) Ingredients: Dhokla: 1 cup curd 1/2 cup besan (gram flour) 1/2 tsp baking soda / soda-bi-carbonate 1/2 tsp turmeric powder a pinch of sugar 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 tsp eno fruit salt 1 cup water s...

Chillah is basically a type of pancake. In West Bengal, soru chakli / pati sapta are traditional pancakes and are taken as a sweet dish. My mother used to make soru chakli with wheat (atta) and she used to call it "gola roti", meaning wheat batter made with water. She used to add salt but not turmeric, spread the batter in a flat bottomed tawa and fry like a dosa. The final roti looked wheatish and was eaten with fried vegetables / curry. I changed the dish by adding some other ingredients like flour & besan with chopped vegetables (you can add vegetables as per your choice or prepare the Chillah with wheat, flour & besan only). I make Chillah in a non-stick flat botomed frying pan so that very little oil is required. Chillah is very nutritous and with the added vegetables it becomes a meal on its own. My mother used to serve this with Sukki Bhaji (Sukha Bhaji) which is my father's favourite dish from Nagpur. I'll state the recipe of Sukki Bhaji in the next po...

Constipation is a disturbance of the digestive tract and referes to infrequent bowel movement including hard / dry bowel movements, which don't remove toxins from our body. Constipation if not cured may cause Appendicitis, Rheumatism, Arthritis and High Blood Pressure and sometimes Cancer too..... Regular drinking of 6-8 glasses of water is advised to flush out the toxins from the body. Chapati / roti made with wheat (2 parts) and roasted black gram powder (1 part) is beneficial to cure constipation. Spinach juice, Cabbage juice, carrot juice, figs (dipped in water), dates mixed in milk if eaten in the morning cures constipation. Fruits like oranges, pear, guava, raw papaya & grapes are beneficial to cure constipation. Another effective remedy is sipping hot water ((it works wonders for me till date...) Squeeze half a lime in a glass of hot water and add a pinch of salt.

Panch phoron is a Bengal (or rather Bengali and Oriya) classic mixture of dry whole five spices mixed in equal proportions. In previous days, all the spices came separate and they were mixed in equal proportions to make "panch phoron". These days readymade panch phoron is available in shops / groceries. The five spices that make up the Panch Phoron are: Fennel seed (saunf / mouri): the greenish, puffy & sweet type Fenugreek (methi): the golden coloured bitter type Cumin seed (jeera): the buff colored type Nigella seed (kalonji / kalo jeera): the jet black tiny one Mustard seed or (rai or shorshe): the black or brown flavored type Somtimes a spice called radhuni is used in place of mustard seed. Panch Phoran is used as whole spices for athentic Bengali Cuisine, first sauted in hot oil before adding rest of the ingredients. In several dishes, Panch phoron is roasted (dry, without oil) on a tawa and ground to make a powder which is sprinkled on top of the dishes (like raw ...

Poppy seeds (also known as posto and khus khus) are widely used in various Indian Cuisines like Andhra cuisine, Malabar Cuisine - Northern Kerala, Bengali cuisine and Oriya cuisine) and also in cuisines from across the globe like German cuisine, Ukrainian cuisine, Romanian cuisine, Hungarian cuisine and the Cuisine of Austria. Poppy seeds are used whole or ground as an ingredient in many foods and also as a filling, especially in various baked dishes. All time favourite for the Bengalis, white poppy seeds are known as Posto in West Bengal & Bangladesh. They are very popular and used as the main ingredient in a variety of dishes. One of the most popular dishes is Aloo Posto (a dish cooked with potatoes and ground poppy seeds paste) and eaten with steamed rice. There can be several variants to this basic dish like onions (pyaj posto), ridge gourd (jhinge posto), chicken (murgi posto) including prawns (chingri posto). Another popular dish is posto bora (ground posto made into ro...

A bit of a change here. This is not food, but a way to save money! I made a batch of this over the weekend, and was very pleased with the results on my husbands' work clothes as well as on all our clothes. The soap takes all of about 5 minutes to mix up. There are many and varied recipes online for making your own laundry soap. Some are for dry powder type, some for liquid. I prefer the dry powder, so that is what I made. Supposedly, about any bar soap will work. I bought 2 bars of ZOTE, but I think next time I will use Ivory, simply because its carried at the store I regularly shop at, and ZOTE is not. Most people recommended zote, fels-naptha, Kirks Castile, or Ivory, but several people said they save up their left-over soap bits and use them, using whatever type soap they had on hand. I used a food processor to quickly grate a bar of ZOTE, then used the knife blade to further pulverize the soap. The whole process too under 5 minutes. So here's thye recipe! to 1 cup of the p...

Put an 8 oz package of softened cream cheese into your potatoes as you mash them, and you will be suprised at the results. You will not taste the cream cheese, but will just notice that the potatoes are creamier and richer than usual. To about 5 pounds, more or less, of potatoes, use 1- 8 oz package cream cheese. Then of course use a stick or so of real butter and then add milk or heavy cream, salt, pepper. Fresh chives would be excellent in these, too.

I love green tea, its a great thirst quencher, not to mention its many health benefits. Brewing iced green tea is about as easy as filling a pitcher with water. To make a good green tea to be drank cold, there is no need to heat the water or allow a steeping time. With hot green tea, steeping time can be pretty tricky. Too long of steeping time, and instead of a smooth drink you end up with something bitter. And I don't know this for a fact, but I believe that the cold brew method might actually preserve more of the delicate good-for-you things in the tea, as opposed to subjecting them to heat. So, here's how to brew a gallon of delicious, thirst quenching, good for you, green tea! Simply put tea bags into cool water in a jar or pitcher! I use 4 tea bags to a gallon, but depending on your tastes and the size of your container, you may want more or less. Set this in the refrigerator, and it will brew on its own. In 45 minutes to an hour, its ready! I leave the tea bags in there ...

This is my most requested "birthday supper" for the girls. We LOVE lasagne around here. And, it fits pretty well into the heart-healthy mediterranean diet, especially if you use whole wheat pasta! Lasagne: Meat sauce 1 pound ground beef (or more, I have made it with 2 pounds) 1 clove garlic minced (or more, its hard to get too much garlic, right?) 1 tsp. basil 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1 pound can tomatoes (diced, or whole if cheaper and scrush 'em up yourself) 12 oz tomato paste 1 tsp. parsley flakes Brown meat, add the rest, let barely simmer Cheese: Combine: 3 cups small curd cottage cheese 2 eggs slightly beaten 2 T. parsley 2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. pepper 1/2 cup OR MORE grated mozzerella you can add some parmesan* to this as well Lasagne noodles cooked al dente. Layer: noodles, cheese mix, 1 # (or more) grated mozzerella, and meat sauce until all igredients are used up. A 9X13 pan struggles to hold it all. If you have a "lasagne pan" that's best. Cover and bake @ 3...