My Cooking Wonders

This weekend I was organizing my freezer and saw a pack of wonton wrappers and the first thing that came to my mind was wonton soup. But I was not at all in a mood to have soup.. so thought of doing something different and finally made Onion Samosa. Onion samosas are crispy, sweet and savory tiny pockets packed with tons of taste.
While I was a child, back in India, onion samosas are like pop corn to us whenever we go watch a movie.  The ones they used to sell at the movie theaters are bite size and I used to eat 10 of them easily at a stretch. Good old memories..... Here is a simple and easy recipe to make onion samosa with a very few ingredients on hand. Give it a try :)
Ingredients
Wonton sheets
Oil for Deep Frying
For Filling 1 cup sliced onion
3/4 cup pressed rice/Poha/Atukulu
2 green chillies minced
handful of chopped coriander leaves/Cilantro
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp chat Masala or 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp Ajwain powde…

Guthivankaya koora - The one recipe that will make mouth water for people from Southern part of India....well, atleast for people from my home state - Andhra pradesh :) .. Stuffed eggplant with hot steamed rice and a touch of ghee...ummm..ummmm....ummmmm. In my opinion, even non-veg dishes will not be able to compete with this one dish. That is how tasty this curry will be..
There are 101 ways to make the stuffing for egg plants. Here is one of my favorite stuffing I wanted to share today. It is spicy, tangy, nutty, rich, with a hint of sweetness and last but not least--Yummy!!! Give it a try and from my own experience, I promise you will be asked to make this dish more often :). Good Luck...
Ingredients 10 to 12 small round eggplants
2 green chillies slit lengthwise
1 tsp sugar(Optional)
3 to 4 tbsp oil
For Paste(Masala) 1/2 cup peanuts
1/4 cup dry coconut
2 tbsp sesame seeds
3/4 tbsp tamarind paste(or extract from small lemon sized tamarind)
8 to 10 dried red chillies(depending on y…

I have leftover shredded coconut sitting in my freezer. I thought of making something that does not require lot of ingredients and which is not time consuming. This recipe is very easy to make and perfectly fit the bill for people with sweet tooth...Enjoy!!
Ingredients 3 cups shredded/grated unsweetened coconut
3 cups Sugar
2 tbsp Butter
1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
1/2 cup milk(optional)
Method Grease a plate with ghee or line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Melt butter in a non stick pan. Add coconut, sugar, cardamom powder and Milk to the pan. Mix well. Keep stirring. Let the sugar melt and the mixture comes together into a paste. Keep stirring all the time.
Let it cook on medium heat till the moisture is almost gone and the mixture is light golden brown in color. Transfer the mixture to the greased plate and cut into desired shapes. Let the mixture cool down and harden.
Note If using sweetened shredded coconut use 2 1/2 cups sugar for 3 cups shredded coconut.

Craving for something spicy and rich? Here is one dish which satisfies that craving especially on a cold winter day - Chicken gassi. This is a traditional manglorean dish and of course one of my few early culinary adventures after I started cooking. I really do not remember where or from whom I got this dish but it ended in my kitchen and in my recipe diary.
Today I wanted to share this recipe with all the spice food lovers out there..Give this recipe a try for sure..I promise you will not be disappointed at all :)
IngredientsFor Marinade 2 lb chicken
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp turmeric
 Salt per taste
For Paste 1/4 cup dry coconut powder or 1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
1 medium onion
1 tsp black pepper
10 dried red chillies (increase or decrease per spice level)
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds(menthulu)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp oil
For curry 2 medium onions chopped finely(around 2 cups chopped)
2 tsp tamarind paste
1 cup coconut milk
4 clove…

Today I made Uggani, one of the special dishes prepared in Rayalaseema. It is often paired up with Mirchi Bajji in seema. Uggani is made with puffed rice(Maramaralu) and tastes really good even served on its own..
Well, the way I prepared this dish might not exactly be the authentic seema way but trust me, it did taste YUM!!! Just give it a try and find it for yourself :)
Ingredients 4 cups puffed rice(Maramaralu)
4 tbsp Roasted chana dal(putnala pappu/veyinchina senagapappu)
1 medium sized onion
1 big tomato
7 to 8 green chillies
Salt for taste
1/2 lemon
Tempering 1 tbsp oil
couple pinches of turmeric
1 tbsp chana dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
couple of sprigs of curry leaves
Method Soak the puffed rice in big bowl of water. Let sit for 3 to 4 minutes and then squeeze off all the water and set aside. Do not soak the puffed rice more than 5 minutes and try to squeeze as much water as you can.
Grind the roasted chana dal to fine powder and set aside. Mince the green chillies, chop the onion a…

I have a Thanksgiving luncheon at my office this week and I wanted to make some dessert for the event. I was looking for something quick, easy and tasty and this recipe on joyofbaking.com caught my eye.
This recipe was so simple and easy to make and tasted out of this world as well. Give it a try and see for yourself :)
Ingredients 1/2 cup  unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (or crushed Digestive Biscuits)
1 1/3 cups sweetened flaked or shredded coconut
1 cup  bittersweet or semisweet or white chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chocolate chips
1 cup  chopped walnuts or almonds or mix of both
1 - 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
Method  Preheat oven to 350F and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Take a 13x9inch baking dish and Lightly butter or spray with a non stick cooking spray.
Melt the butter and pour it evenly over the bottom of your pan. Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs evenly over the butter. Sprinkle the coconut over the crumbs. Sprinkle…

I want to share a recipe I made for my hubby dear's thanksgiving potluck at work. This is one dish you can make for big work potluck parties which is very easy and does not consume much of your time. I can tell that this dish turned out real well from the fact that there are no left overs. They ate it ALL!!
All the chopping and dicing can be made ahead the night before and all you got to do on the day of is to put everything together....
Ingredients 1/3 cup Butter
1 medium Onion finely diced
3 stalks Celery finely diced
1/4 cup all purpose Flour
2 cups Milk
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Thyme
4 cups cooked Chicken, diced (around 2 lbs boneless chicken)
3 cups cooked Rice
1 can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts drained
1 cup Mushrooms sliced
1/2 cup slivered Almonds
Topping 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 15 to 20 crackers)
4 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 cup slivered almonds + hand full
Prep Work on previous day
Preheat the oven to 375F. Take the chicken bre…

Today I made one of the traditional and melt-in-mouth Indian dish  - Mysore Pak. Many people think this is one sweet which is very hard to make. But if you have time on hand this is one recipe which is real easy to make.
Here is version of Mysore pak recipe from my mother in law. If you follow the exact measurements and procedure there is no way you can go wrong. Knowing the right time to take the mixture off the stove is the key.
Little patience, attention and time is all you need to make this yummy sweet.. Good luck :)
Ingredients 1 cup Besan
2 cups Sugar
3/4 cup water
1 cup Ghee or clarified butter(I melted 1 1/2 cup of butter sticks)
Method Melt the butter in a pan. Add 3 to 4 tbsp of melted butter(or ghee) to besan flour and mix well. Set aside
Now take a deep plate or baking pan, apply ghee all over the plate and set aside.
Take the sugar and water in a deep pan and place it on medium heat on one stove. On another stove heat the ghee in another pan simultaneously. Let the sugar m…

I had left over rice on hand and I do not eat meat on Thursdays. So I am thinking of making a vegan recipe and then one recipe from Sanjeev Kapoor's collection passed my mind. This is customized version of the recipe to match my taste. You can alter it any way you want and add whatever vegetables you have on hand.
This is a one dish meal with lot of veggies and lot of taste packed into it, just like that. Just give it a try!

Ingredients 1 tbsp oil
2 medium sized onions cut into cubes
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 big tomatoes cut into cubes
1/4 cup tomato paste or any tomato sauce used for pastas
2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1 1/4 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp pav bhaji masala
1 green bell pepper cut into cubes
2 green chillies minced
2 small Potatoes boiled and cut into cubes
Salt per taste
6 cups cooked rice(I used approximately 2 1/2 rice cooker cups raw rice cooked)
1/4 cup green peas
For Garnish Handful of Coriander Leaves
Method Heat oil in a pan. Add the ginger garlic p…

Back in the days there is one recipe that caught my eye while browsing - Tangdi Kabab. I did tweak the recipe to match my taste. This is one of the famous kabab recipes in northern part of India.
I prepared tangdi kabab for the weekend and made some lemonade to go with it. I have to tell you this meal made my hubby dear's weekend. Tangdi kabab makes a great starter for parties. The next time you host a party for a smaller group, this is one recipe worth trying..Good Luck!! :)....
IngredientsMarinade A 1 tbsp lemon Juice
10 Chicken Drumsticks
1 tbsp Red chilli powder
Salt per taste
Marinade B 1 cup tightly packed coriander leaves + 2 Green chillies made to fine paste 1 cup thick Yogurt 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste 1/2 tbsp Garam masala powder 1/2 tsp black pepper powder 2 tbsp Besan(Senagapindi) 1/4 tbsp cumin powder
2 tbsp oil
Garnish 1 Onion sliced lengthwise
handful coriander leaves chopped
Lemon quarters
couple of pinches of chat masala
Method Clean the chicken drumsticks and ma…