Rasaswad

Chop bhinda in two pieces, in a pot, heat a spoon of oil, add bhinda pieces, and saute until they lose all stickiness and are mostly cooked. Take them out. In the same pot, heat a tsp of ghee, add jeera (could have added methi too), slit green chillies, curry leaves, ginger pieces, hing, haldi, and one chopped tomato. Also add a bit of dhania powder. Saute till the tomato softens. Now add the bhindi, and stir. in a bowl, mix yoghurt, besan and water, and add to the pot. Add enough water to get the right consistency. Add salt. Let the kadhi boil for 10-15 mins. Add fresh cilantro. Inspired by this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE2L5BcSDvY&t=386s For the khichdi, I used about 2 parts green moong daal and 1 part khichdi chokha. Washed and soaked them for about 20 mins. Then, in a pressure cooker, I first boiled lots of water, salt, turmeric, and then added the washed rice and dal. Closed the pressure cooker, and on a medium heat, let it have about 5-6 whistles. After ...

Super simple, and super tender: Here's the original, but I made some adjustments, and used homemade apple sauce.  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17683/spiced-applesauce-bread/ 1/2 cup oil + 11/4 cup apple sauce + 3 tbsp milk + 2 eggs + 1/2 cup sugar+ 1/4 tsp salt + 1/4 tsp all spice powder + 1/4 tsp nutmeg + 1/2 tsp cinnamon+ 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1 tsp baking soda + 1 cup AP flour + 1 cup whole wheat flour + 1/2 cup pecans. Bake.

8 apples, peeled, cored and cut into large cubes. Add 1 cup of water, juice of half a lemon, a dash of cinnamon, 3 tbsp brown sugar. IP manual high 8 min + instant release. Mash with a potato masher. Sooo gooood!  https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/instant-pot-applesauce/

Leave the icecream maker bowl in the freezer overnight.  Start with the Cusineart plain vanilla icecream recipe: https://www.cuisinart.com/recipes/desserts/5200/ 1 cup whole milk + 2 cups heavy cream + 3/4 cup sugar + 1 tbsp vanilla extract + pinch salt. Mix everything, cool overnight in the fridge. Add it to the icecream maker, and run it for about 15 mins (almost set consistency). With the churner still running, pour Dabur rose syrup (around a couple tablespoons), make sure there's still streaks of pink and white. Crush the chikki coarsely, and fold into the icecream, transfer to a container and freeze. The cashew and rose petals in the Swad chikki makes this really special! It looks something like this: https://www.amazon.in/Charlie-Chikki-Cashew-Rose-Petal/dp/B01D33KINY This could be plated with some Gulkand, some chikki crush on the side, to make it fancy. http://www.dabur-usa.com/Rose-syrup.html

- Banana, dates, almonds, flax seeds, milk - Banana, dates, walnuts, flax seeds, milk - Banana, walnuts, flax seeds, chocolate powder, sugar, vanilla, milk - Banana, Bournvita, milk - Apple, peanut butter, honey, milk - Pear, walnuts, flax seeds, honey, milk - Mango, pistachios, honey, cardamom, milk - Mango, cashews, sugar, cardamom, milk - Mix nut powder, saffron, sugar, milk - Chikoo, sugar, milk - Thandai, milk - Rose syrup, milk - Horlicks, Milk - Malt powder, milk

I might have died and gone to heaven. Our ancestors were really geniuses. How can such a "simple" meal be so satisfying? How could I have taken Idlis for granted for all my life? This meal was sublime, and made from scratch, and so worth it. Of course, there is no ways I could have done it without a plethora of gadgets and frozen and jarred stuff in my American-Indian kitchen. How did women accomplish this meal without them? Ok, enough drama. I got inspirations from too many internet sources (and a lifetime of exposure to south indian food), so won't list them, but here's exactly what I did: Friday afternoon (around 4 pm): - Wash and soak 1 cup of udad daal. - In another bowl, wash and soak 2 cups of khichdi rice + 1  tsp whole methi daana. Friday night (around midnight): - Wash and soak 2 cups thick poha(it needs about 10 mins to soften) - Drain most of the water from the daal and grind in vitamix (around 4-5 level) until the daal is very smooth. - Remo...

This really does make a very nice kadhi with very little effort/supervision. Perfect for those days when you get back home tired and need something comforting. In a mixing bowl, mix about 2 cups of yoghurt, 3/4 cup besan, salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder, a pinch of amchoor, mix well. Add about 4-5 cups of water. Take a big red onion, slice half of it thinly, and dice the remaining half. Start the IP on saute mode. Add oil + ghee, add jeera, kalonji, methi, whole dhania seeds (crushed using your palms), hing, 2 whole red chillies, and the sliced onions. Also add some grated ginger. Saute till onion softens, and add the kadhi mixture. Stir and close IP. Set it on Soup mode (with pressure). In the same mixing bowl, mix the diced onion with more besan (about a cup), salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, whole coriander seeds (also crushed by hand), a pinch of baking powder, a splash of oil, and water to make a batter. Make pakodas in an appe pan. It only ...