Khara Biscuits ~Indian Cooking Challenge

Indian Cooking Challengers are into baking for the May Challenge. Srivalli chose Khara biscuits and gave us Champa's recipe. The recipe is very simple with easily available ingredients.  It makes a great snack to go with tea. The recipe is a versatile one that you can add any spice of your choice and come out with various flavors. 

You need

• Maida/All Purpose Flour - 2 cups
• Butter - 1/3 cup softened 
• Sugar - 4 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Green Chillies - 6, finely chopped
• Curry leaves - 2 tblspn, chopped fine
• Curd -  3 tblspn

Method

Measure flour and salt into a bowl. Whisk well. Cream butter and sugar in another bowl.  Add 2 tblspn of curd to it and beat well. Add the flour mix to it and incorporate into the cream mixture. Just bring together the dough and don't knead it. Add chopped chillies and curry leaves.  If you feel the dough is too crumbly, add little more curd. The dough need not be wet, but you should be able to roll it. 

Roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 C for 25 minutes. These cookies doesn't brown on top.  The bottom will be golden brown. You can bake it for few more minutes to get crisp cookies. The cookies when removed will be soft to touch and they firm up on cooling. 

Note: You can add crushed pepper for the heat in place of chillies. Mint/coriander leaves can be used.
The baking time may vary depending up on your dough and oven.

Chettinad Mushroom Curry | Indian Curry Recipes

Chettinad cuisine belongs to the Chettinad region of state of Tamilnadu in India. It is known for its aromatic dishes cooked with the freshest spices and ingredients. Mainly known for its spicy non-vegetarian dishes, it is also known for its vegetarian delicacies like variety of paniyarams and rice sweets. This recipe combines the spicy masala with mushroom to make a tasty side dish. Just

Soya Chunks Kurma

I thought of preparing vegetable kurma, but my hunger didn't allow me to get into the mood of preparing this dish as its preparation is a bit lengthy process. So I thought about preparing a easy and quick kurma dish made out of Soya Chunks. Soya Chunks or Soy Meat are high in protein and prepared using soy flour. You can find this in nearby grocery shops. It helps me a lot whenever I run short of vegetables or when I am in no mood to prepare time consuming dishes.

Ingredients:



Soya Chunks - 1/2 cup

Onion - 1 small size or 1/3 cup chopped

Tomato - 1 medium size or 1/2 cup chopped

Green chilli - 1 no

Ginger - 1 inch length piece

Garlic - 2 cloves

Mustard seeds and urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 1 string

Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Coconut cloves - 1/4 cup

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt - to taste



Method:



1) Microwave the Soya chunks for 2 minutes or soak them in hot water for 15 minutes.

2) Meanwhile in a Mixer, grind ginger, garlic and green chilli to a paste and set aside.

3) Grind chopped tomatoes with red chilli powder and set aside.

4) Next, grind coconut with cumin seeds and set it aside.

5) Take a pan and heat oil in medium flame.

6) When oil is hot, add mustard seeds and urid dal. Allow them to pop up.

7) Add curry leaves followed by chopped onions.

8) Saute onion till they turn translucent.

9) Add ginger garlic green chilli paste (As said in step 2) and keep stirring continuously.

10) After few seconds, add Tomato red chilli paste (As said in step 3) and stir fry till the raw smell of tomatoes goes off.

11) Now, drain the water from soya chunks and squeeze them well to remove the absorbed water.

12) Add the drained soya chunks to the pan.

13) Add coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt.

14) Add little water as it suits and allow it to boil.

15) Add coconut paste (As said in step 4) and bring it to boil and remove it from heat when u smell the nice masala aroma.

16) Soya chunks kurma is ready to serve with chapathi.