Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• Macroni  - 1 cup
• Carrot grated- 1
• Onion chopped 1
• Lettuce shredded- 1/2 cup
• Crushed Pepper- 1 tsp
• Salt- 1/4 tsp
• Mayonnaise - 2 tbsp
• Vinegar - 2 tbsp
• Condensed milk - 150 gm
• Oil- 1 tbsp

Preparation

1. Cook the macroni in boiled water with little salt and olive oil.  Strain the water. Let cold water run over the macroni so that it doesn’t cook anymore.

2. In a bowl combine the condensed milk, mayonnaise and vinegar well. Add salt and crushed pepper to this.

3. Add the cooked macroni to this mixture and combine well.

4. Add the vegetables one by one mixing after each addition. Refrigerate and serve chill.

Green Salad

Green salad/garden salad is most often composed of leafy vegetables. Due to their low caloric density, green salads are considered a common diet food. Salad dressing consist of oil, an acid and seasonings. The ratio of oil to acid is often 3:1.

Ingredients

• Cucumber - 1
• Carrot - 1
• Iceberg  lettuce - 1/2 of one head
• Olive oil - 3tbsp
• Lime Juice - 1tbsp
• Pepper - 1tsp
• Salt - 1tsp

Preparation

1.Wash and shred the lettuce leaves. Slice carrot and cucumber.

2.Put these into a bowl.

3.Add dressing; pour olive oil and lemon juice, then add salt and pepper. Mix everything
together and serve.

Grapes Pickle

Ingredients

• Green grapes –1 cup
• Oil- 1/4 cup
• Fenugreek - 1/4 tbsp
• Turmeric powder -1/2 tbsp
• Asafoetida -1.5 tsp
• Kashmiri chilli powder - 4 tbsp
• Vinegar - 2 tbsp
• Ginger,green chilli,garlic - 1/2 tbsp each.
• Mustard seeds, curry leaves, dry chilli - for seasoning

Preparation

1. In a hot pan ,sauté the grapes in some oil well. Keep this aside.

2. Add ginger, garlic, green chilli in to some hot oil. Cook it well until it gets light brown color.

3.Add red chilli powder, fenugreek, asafoetida, turmeric powder and Sauté this for 2-3 sec. Add few drops of water. Boil this mixture well. Then add the above mixture to cooked grapes.

4.Season with curry leaves, mustard and dry chilli. Mix all together well & add enough salt as required. Remove form heat. Then add vinegar.

Fish Pickle / Meen Achar



Ingredients

• Fish – 1 kg
• Garlic – 20 flakes
• Ginger – 3"piece thinly sliced
• Fresh ginger-garlic paste – 3 tsp
• Curry leaves – 5 sprigs
• Chilly powder- 3 tbsp
• Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
• Green chillies – 4 slit
• Pepper powder –  2 tsp
• Fenugreek powder – 1/2 tsp
• Vinegar – 1/4  cup
• Sesame oil – For deep frying

Preparation

1. Clean and cut the fish into small cubes. Marinate them with salt, turmeric powder and pepper for at least 30 mts. Fry them in oil. Keep aside.

2. In another pan pour some oil and shallow fry the  ginger, garlic and curry leaves and keep aside.

3. Splutter the mustard seeds in the remaining oil. Add the ginger-garlic paste, green chillies  and cook until their raw taste is gone. Remove from heat.

4. Add chilli powder and fenugreek powder. Mix well, add the fried ginger, garlic, curry leaves,fried fish and again mix well. Check for salt.

5. Add vinegar and mix well. Bring to a boil and switch off.

Tips: If you would like to have more gravy you can add around 1/2 cup hot water and heat it.  Store in an airtight container when it cools down completely. Use it after at least 2 weeks for the  flavors to set in.  Refrigerate if you want to keep it for long.

Lemon Dates Pickle

Ingredients  

• Ripe lemon – 10
• Dates chopped – 100 gm
• Sesame/gingely  oil – 1/2 cup
• Sugar – 2 tablespoon
• Mustard seed – 1 teaspoon
• Fenugreek seed – 1 teaspoon
• Green chilly -  4, sliced
• Ginger  – 1 tablespoon, sliced
• Garlic – 1 tablespoon,sliced
• Ginger and garlic paste – 1 teaspoon each
• Kashmiri chilly powder – 1 tablespoon
• Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1 teaspoon
• Vinegar – ¼ cup
• Salt

Preparation

1.Boil 4 cups of water with salt in a saucepan. Remove from gas. Add lemon to it & stir well. Keep it covered for 10-15 minutes till the lemon skin becomes soft.

2.Once the skin becomes soft, strain the water completely. Dry the lemon with cloth.  Cut the lemon into 2-3 pieces. Add salt, half of the sugar & asafoetida to the lemon pieces and mix well. Store this at room temperature for 3 days.

3.Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan & splutter mustard & fenugreek seeds. Add sliced ginger, garlic and green chilly. Fry till it becomes golden brown. Keep it aside.

4.Add some more oil to the pan, when it becomes hot, add chopped dates. Cook till it becomes soft. keep that also aside.

5.Add some more oil and when it becomes hot, add ginger garlic paste. When it becomes golden brown, add kashmiri chilly powder, turmeric powder and 1- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar (the powders should be added at lowest flame). Stir well till the gravy becomes dark red. Add vinegar to this masala and let it boil.

6.Once the vinegar boils, add the previously sauted ginger, garlic, green chilly & dates to this. Mix well. Add the lemons stored at room temperature. Combine everything well. Check salt and add more, if needed. Remove from gas & let it cool completely. Store the pickle in airtight jars/containers.

7.Boil the remaining oil in another pan & cool it completely. Pour the cooled oil on top of the pickle stored in the container/jar.


 

Apple Pickle

 

Apple - 3 
Kashmiri red chili powder - 3 tbsp
Garlic - 5 cloves (Sliced)
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida powder - 2 pinch
Salt (to taste)
Oil - 1 tbsp.

1.Chop the apples into small pieces.

2.Heat oil in a pan and put mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves and when it splutters, add sliced garlic.

3. Reduce the flame to low and add red chili powder (Do not allow the red chili powder to get burnt) and toast till its raw smell disappears.

4.Now add the chopped apple pieces and stir gently making sure that each of the chopped apple pieces have got a nice coating of the red chili powder. Check for salt.

5. To this mixture add asafoetida,  cook for 2 minutes stirring well.

Note : If you want add chili powder directly to the apple pieces and saute it in the pan. Since no preservatives are added, this must be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated. This will be best if consumed within two to three weeks.

Kadumanga Achar

Ingredients

• Raw mango - 4
• Chilly powder - 2tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Gingelly oil  - 2tbsp
• Garlic - 1tbsp
• Ginger - 1 tbsp
• Green chillies - 2
• Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
• Fenugreek powder - 1/4tsp
• Vinegar - 1tbsp
• Curry Leaves - a few

Preparation

1.Wash the mangoes and slice them in cubes with the skin on.Mix chilly powder,turmeric powder and salt.Leave aside for an hour till the spices blend.

2.Heat oil in a wok and splutter mustard seeds.Add in the curry leaves,then slide in the garlic,ginger and green chillies.Saute till the raw smell disappears and is slightly browned.

3.Add in the fenugreek powder and asafoetida powder on low flame.Then,quickly add in the cubed mangoes with the marinade.Add in quarter a cup of water.Toss the mix and let it cook for 2mins.

4.Turn off heat and add in vinegar and add a pinch of sugar. Let it cool down completely. Store  it in a airtight container.

Gooseberry Pickle

Ingredients 

• Gooseberry - 10
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Ginger - 1 tbsp (finely chopped)
• Garlic - 1 tbsp (finely chopped)
• Green chilly - 2 (finely chopped)
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Red Chilly Powder - 2 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Fenugreek Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Vinegar - 2 tbsp

Preparation

 

1. Wash and clean the gooseberries. Steam them for 10 minutes or until they get tender. Allow to cool and cut into 4-5 pieces. Remove the seeds. Do not discard the boiled water.

 

2. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Splutter mustard seeds; add chopped ginger, garlic, curry leaves and all spice powders.

 

3. Add salt and the chopped gooseberries and saute for couple of minutes. Add the boiled water and bring to boil over low heat until it is fairly thick. Switch off the heat.

 

4. Allow to cool and add vinegar on top.