C for Chhena Poda from Orissa

C for Chhena Poda from Orissa

As with the other two letter, there are many cuisines from different parts of India starting with C as well. The first to come to mind is the Chhole Bhature from North India.Its one of the most common breakfast in the northern states and Delhi. 

Another common Dish is the Chilla. Though it traces its origin from central India, it is made across the country. Its basically a pancake made from different flour mixed with finely chopped vegetables as per taste. The variety ranges from as simple as rice floor chilla , Besan chilla, rava mixed chilla to stuffed chillas. 

Chana Madra & Chookh are also special dishes and belong to the hill state HP. Tripura has its own special Chakhwi. Churma Ladoo from Rajasthan is also mouth watering and commonly made. And there are the enormous sweet dishes made from Chhena (fresh cottage cheese) like the Chhena Paise, Chhena Murki, Variety of Chhena Sweets, Ras malai and what nots. 

Continuing with this, here I would like to talk about Chhena Poda a special delicacy made in Orissa and is believed to be one of the most favoured delicacy of Lord Jagannath at Puri. Chhena Poda is caramalised cake made of mixture of Chhena with sugar , cashew nuts , raisins & rava.

Ingredients : 

Fresh Chhena (Cottage Cheese) 0 250gm, Powder Sugar - 4 tbsp, Rava - 2 tbsp, Ghee -2 tbsp, Cardmom powder - 1/2 tsp, Milk -4 tbsp, Few Broken Cashews, Few Raisins 

Recipe :

1. Take fresh Chhena / Cottage Cheese /Fresh Paneer and mash it well with your hands. Add powdered sugar and cardamom powder and mix. Add sooji/rava, ghee and milk and mix till everything incorporates well.

2. Add roasted broken pieces of cashews and few raisins to it and mix well. Keep it aside.

3. Now grease a baking pan with1 tbsp ghee and add 4 tbsp sugar spread evenly on the base. Heat the pan on the gas till the sugar caramelizes. 

4. Pour the mixture over the caramelized sugar and spread evenly.

5. Preheat the oven, put the baking tray with mix and bake at 180 deg C for 40-50 min or till the toothpick inserted comes out clean when you check.

6. Cool, take out from tray , cut and serve as dessert or snacks.

Aditya Sinha
03.04.2020

B for Bhutte Ka Kees - From MP

So the second with B. There are lots of  finger licking Regional Dishes with B. 

Bati Chokha as termed in UP ,  is originally called Litti Bharta and has its origin from Bihar. This is perhaps most famous and I would discuss more under L. 

Bise Bele Bhaat  is  a spicy, rice-based, lentil mixed meal from Karnataka is another worth a mention.

Biryani is another world famous delicacy and has different flavours from different parts of India. Moradabadi Biryani would be different from Hyderabadi and so on. 

Bajre ki Khichri is yet another light luncheon which is healthy and is from Haryana. 

But here I will talk about Bhutte ka Kees - A  tea time snack from MP. 

It is easy to cook and a famous street food in Indore. 

The dish is basically a coarse paste of corn (Bhutta) , cooked with ginger, green chillies and common spices as per taste. Many videos & recipe are available on the net that would make the cooking easy. Just for recap , here goes the recipe:

Ingedients:

Corn : 1 cup / Full corn -3

Milk - 1 cup

Garnish / Herbs : Coriander leaves, Green Chilli , Grated fresh Coconut & Lemon Juice

Spices : Turmeric Powder, Asafoetida, cumin and mustard seeds 

Oil for frying, Salt & Sugar

Recipe :

Grate the corn from the full corn and add some milk and make paste. ( Alternatively sweet corn can be used by pressure cooking and making a coarse paste in mixer with some milk).  

Heat ghee in a wok, add asafoetida, cumin seeds and mustard seeds and let them crackle.  Add grated or finely chopped ginger & green chillies. Add turmeric powder, and salt and stir for a minute on medium flame, Add the paste of corn. and Cook for  a few minutes stirring continuously . Add red chilli powder towards the end saute. Add a cup of milk and a tsp of sugar. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes .

Remove from flame and add lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves and grated fresh coconut. Serve hot.

Enjoy with Tea.

Aditya Sinha
02.04.2020

A - Appam from Kerala

Regional Cuisine ….

Let's start with A.

There are lots of regional dishes starting with A with. From different places across India and mouth licking tastes.

In my posts earlier I have written about Aligarh Kachauri. You would love to enjoy this as the morning breakfast anywhere in Aligarh from the state of UP famous for its AMU.

Another mouth watering street food was from a small tehsil in UP Atrauli Alu Chhat. Enjoy These.

Desserts from Apple are also interesting and tasty dishes like Apple Pie, Apple Anchar, Jam , Juice etc.

But for my A to Z post I would talk about the famous dish from Kerala - Appam. 
Appam is a pancake enjoyed with Chatney & sauce. Appam, though originally is from Kerala, it  is enjoyed across south India in breakfast or dinner. It also forms a part of  regular dish in Sri Lanka.

You would find many videos & recipe on the internet for this dish. But just to refresh enjoy it here as well.

Ingredients :

Rice - 1 cup
Cooked Rice 1/2 cup
Fresh Coconut 1/2 cup / Coconut Milk 1/2 Cup
Yeast 1/2 tea spoon
Salt - as per taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
baking Soda - 1 pinch
Oil for oiling of Pan - 4- 5 Tb spoon


Preparation - 
A. - Preparing Batter :
1. Soak Rice in water for three to four hours
2. Drain Water.
3. Add  1/2 cup cooked rice to strained soaked rice
4. Add 1/2 Cup Coconut Milk
5. Make a paste of above mixture in a mixie.

B. - Preparing Yeast for Fermentation : 

1. Take 1/2 tea spoon dry yeast in a bowl

2. Add 1/2 teas spoon Sugar

3. Add 1 cup Luke warm water and mix well.

4. Add a pinch of floor , mix.

5. Cover with a plate and leave for 10 mins for froth to develop.

C. - Fermentation : 

1. Take the froth developed yeast solution after 10 mins and mix with the batter. 

2. Add salt as per taste and leave for 3 -4 hrs to ferment.

D. - Making Appam : 

1. Take the fermented batter and check for consistency it should be loose as to flow on its own.

2. If thick add water and make it free flow as in dosa/ chila batter.

3. Add a pinch of Baking Powder and mix

4. Low heat a Non Stick Kadhai. grease with Oil

5. Pour two servers (with kalchhun) ofAppam batter in the center . Rotate Kadhai so as to spread the batter so that it would take a bowl shape . The edges would be thinner and the center thick. Cover the Pan and let it cook on slow flame .

The edges would start turning crisp and leave the kadhai. Put some oil on the edges with the help of brush to ease crisping. Once crisp ( in 2-3 mins) take out the Appam . Appam is ready - Crispat edges, soft at center. Serve along with Hara Dhania & Cocunut Chatney and sauce.

Relish.

Aditya Sinha

01.04.2020

The Regional Cuisines of India - Regional Dishes

Theme Reveal 2020 - Indian Regional Cuisine.

India is a country, rightly said, that depicts unity in diversity. Think of  a characteristics and you would end up counting tens and twenties of each. Be it language, food,  culture, dress and you name anything - you would find it changing in perhaps every few kms .With its vast expanse and rich cultural heritage, it equally stores a variety of regional cuisines totally different from each other but equally delicious.

So this becomes the essence of my theme for this years "A to Z Challenge" on my blog Regional Cuisine- The Regional Cuisines of India and I would highlight Regional Dishes.

In the past I took this challenge twice. In 2015 I wrote travelogue - all about Himachal Reflections from Adi - A to Z Challenge and made you travel throughout HP - the hill state of India. In 2016 I took two writings each day - One was my poetic journey Reflections on A to Z 2016 - Let the Soul Pour and the other was Festivals of India Reflections on A to Z 2016 - Festivals of India. 

So now, stay with me - and this year enjoy four blogs each day. This one would be a food blog. The Others would be my favourite - A poetic journey both in English & Hindi. And there would be a fiction - Learnings of life - 5 Sentence Fiction. Theme Reveal 2020 - Life just in 5 Sentences.

So - Just stay glued.

Aditya Sinha

26.03.2020

Choose the best RO water purifier - Enjoy tempting food and healthy living !

In the modern cities where even air are becoming polluted, what to say about water? The quality of drinking water has always been a question mark. Be it the municipal supply or the directly pulled from your own boring, none of them seem to be fit for health or for healthy food. Thus, we must go for purified water – to have a safe health and tasty tempting food to relish.

Water purifiers today are thus slowly and steadily becoming popular among the modern society in our country. It is now understood that a better lifestyle and the need to safeguard family from water-borne diseases are the reasons for the increasing use of water purifiers. BUT the search to find the best solution lies in the answer- is it the best RO water purifier for your family? - How to do that? Without going into the details of all cumbersome analysis of water, we must look out for the following in the water purifier and then select as per our requirement and budget.

 1.   It should be RO Water Purifier – RO or reverse osmosis water purifier is the best ultimate water purifier to buy because it can purify all known water problems in India. Even if the water test results show that the TDS is high, then also only an RO water purifier can reduce the TDS of water by removing the excess dissolved salts. Livpure offers the best in the series of RO Water purifiers. An RO water purifier is acknowledged as the most advanced home device to purify tap water. In these purifiers, water is purified using the Reverse Osmosis process which involves using a semipermeable membrane to remove ions, molecules, and larger particles from your tap water.

2.   Look for UV Filtration- RO Water purifiers that use UV or Ultraviolet filters like LivpureRO-UV Water Purifier, are able to eliminate bacteria and other pathogens from water and thus provide the most purified and safe water.

3.   Other things to keep in mind is the storage capacity : Livpure offers a wide range of RO water purifiers from 7ltrs to 11ltrs which you can chose from as per your requirement.

4.   And before going to compare the price, the brand and its after sales service is equally important. LIVPURE has highly commendable after sales service . Any complaint can be registered through SMS on 56767, through is website, email or on its toll free no. 1800 419 9399.

5.   And lastly is the pocket: So compare the RO water purifier prices of the selected brands with specification. Livpure offers most value to money and the whole list can be checked at https://www.livpure.in/water-purifier/ro-purifier

For more details you may visit Livpure website where you get RO water purifier price and its various benefits in order to compare the features and choose the right RO UV water purifier for your home.  Look for the nearest Livpure store and have happy shopping !

Aditya Sinha

Veg Poha - Breakfast special from MP

In the series of regional cuisine pls find specia from MP today . Veg Poha is a common breakfast people relish there.

Pls try it this sunday & Enjoy.

Aditya

Egg Bhurji : (Scrambled Egg)

Egg Bhurji : (Scrambled Egg)

Egg Bhurji : (Scrambled Egg)

Egg bhurji is one of the common snacks prepared in no time. Its quickly preparable and can also serve as a side dish in main course.

Ingredients :

EE         Egg - 6 pieces ( or as per requirement ) - Sufficient for 2 to 3 persons

             Onion - 2 to 3, Medium size , chopped

             Green Chilly - 2 , chopped

             Tomato - 2 to 3 - chopped,

             Green peas - 1/2 cup , boiled, sieved

             Salt - as per taste

             Chilly powder - 1/4 tsp or as per taste

             Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp or as per taste

             Butter - 25gm - to fry  

Process :

         Melt the Butter in a shallow frying pan. After the butter melts sauté finely chopped onions and green chilly. When the onion turns pink add  chopped tomato and sauté a little more and add the peas. Fry for some time sprinkle  red chilly powder, garam masala and salt and fry till cooked and well mixed. Add the battered egg and stir continuously . After two minutes remove from flame . Masala Egg Bhurji is ready to be served.

Note :  If you want a simpler taste , tomato & peas can be avoided.

Aditya Sinha