Thenkuzhal

Ingredients:

This is an awesome recipe from my mother-in-law who is an expert in making this snack.

Rice flour - 5 cups
Urad dal powder (sieved) - 1 cup
Besan flour - 2 cups
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Hing/Asafoetida- 1/2 tsp
Salt as required
Oil to deep fry
*Need thenkuzhal press to make this dish. I have used store-bought flours for this recipe. Comes out crispy and tasty.

How to:

Mix all the ingredients, add little water. Heat oil in a deep frying skillet. Add 2 tbsp of mildly hot oil to the dough and mix well again. Dough should not stick to your hand but it should be loose enough to get pressed.
Check oil heat by putting a pinch of dough in it. If the dough raises up immediately, oil in ready for frying. Then use press to make thenkuzhals. Flip them until they are golden brown on both sides.

Paneer tikka

Ingredients:

Paneer
Color bell peppers - 1 of each color
Bamboo Skewers - few sticks
Onion 1
Cilantro - to garnish

For marinating:

Yogurt - 1 tbsp
Tandoori masala - 1 tsp
orange color - a pinch
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt for taste

How to:

Mix all the ingredients mentioned for marinating. Cut paneer into cubes or triangles, bell peppers into squares and onions (a little wide ) and dip them in yougurt mix. yougurt is just a binding factor. Do not add more yougurt. Refregirate them overnight.

In a baking tray place all the veggies and paneer and broil in the oven for 7 mins ( unlike bake mode, broil does not have temperature control). Take the tray out, reverse the paneer and veggies and broil for another 7 mins. Do not keep paneer for more than 16 mins put together. It will burn. Once they are broiled, arrange them in skewer , add finely chopped cilantro to garnish.

Alternatively dip the skewer in cold water (else skewer will burn), spit paneer and veggies in the skewer and broil. Timing will be the same.

A good way to start your party!

Rainbow Raitha

Well after a long time I am re-entering my blog. I read somewhere that a meal platter should look like rainbow with all colors of food. I am not talking about the artificial colors but the colorful veggies and fruits.

I picked this recipe from www.veggiebelly.com , an awesome blog for vegetarian recipes.

 Unlike usual raitha, this recipe will have less yougurt/curd and loads of veggies. Remember the recipe as 7 Cs viz.
Carrot -1
Corn - 2 tbsp
Cucumber -1/2 small
Capsicum ( all colours green, yellow, red and orange )- 1/2 each
Curd -3 tbsp
Cherry tomatoes-10 cut into halves
Cilantro
Chillies (optional)- 2

How to:

Finely chop all veggies. Refregirate them overnight. Add yogurt and salt before serving.This makes the raitha crunchy and yummy.Trust me you will fall in love with this dish. And have it as frequently as you can as it is loaded with nutrients.

Note:If you add salt early, it leaves the veggies watery.Also veggies get soaked in yogurt if it is added early.