Gooseberry Wine

For all those of you who turn their faces when I say Goose berry wine, trust me, this is one of the tastiest of all wines. The smugdy bitter taste of gooseberry doesnt in any way tarnish the taste of the wine. It only adds to its flavour. Enjoy.

Ingredients

Nellikka /Indian Gooseberries - 100 nos.
Water - 3 liter
Sugar - 1 1/4 kg
Yeast-1 teaspoon instant yeast

Method
Wash and cut the gooseberries, boil it and put it in a big clean sterilized bharani / bottle .
Boil sugar & water and add boiled water to the Gooseberry.
When it becomes warm, add instant yeast. Tie the bottle with a clean cloth or close with lid little loose. 
Stir this mixture every day. After 20 days strain the mixture strain the mixture through a cheese/ muslin cloth in to a clean dry vessel.
Pour it in to clean dry bottle and store in the fridge.

Grape Wine

When some one utters the word Wine, I am sure that the first thing that comes to our mind would be grape wine. It us the most commonly made of all wines and one of the tastiest too. tlThis is one that is commonly available in the markets too.

Ingredients

1500 gms black grapes
1200 gms sugar
1 oz. yeast
1 gal. water

Method

Crush grapes by hand and set aside in the fermenting vessel. Bring the water to boiling point and pour in sugar, when the water reaches boiling point again and the sugar is dissolved, cut off heat and pour sugar liquid over grapes. Allow mix to cool, sprinkle yeast on top. Stir in, cover with plastic wrap tied in place with a string. Ferment 14 days, strain and bottle.

Coconut Chutney

Coconut chutney is a tasty accompaniment with all traditional south Indian breakfast dishes. It takes only a few minutes to prepare this chutney if you have fresh grated coconuts already at hand. Idli, Dosa, Vada etc is not complete when it is not accompanied by this chutney.

Ingredients

1 cup grated coconut
2 small green chillies , chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tbsp roasted chana dal
salt to taste

For The Tempering

1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 red chilli , broken into pieces
2 to 3 curry leaves
1 tsp oil

Method

Put the coconut, green chillies, ginger, roasted split gram and salt in a blender with a little water and grind to make a fine paste. Keep aside.
Prepare the tempering by heating the oil and adding the mustard seeds, red chilli and curry leaves and stirring till the mustard seeds crackle. Pour this tempering over the chutney and mix well.
Refrigerate and use as required.

Beetroot Wine

Wine can be made with almost anything. This one is one such kind of weird wine recipe which actually tastes really good. It has the brightest of all wine colours and hence looks awesome when served in wine glasses.

Ingredients:
Beetroot – 2 ½ Kg, grated
Sugar - 2 Kg
Water -5 liter
Yeast - 1 teaspoon
Lime juice- from 4 limes

Method

Wash beetroot, peel off the skin and grate using a grater or food processer.
In a big vessel add grated beetroot along with water and boil.
Reduce the heat to medium and boil for 10-15 mints.
Turn off the heat and let it to cool to lukewarm.
Strain the boiled beetroot water using a strainer or cheese cloth into a bharani (earthen pot) or glass bottle and discard the grated beetroot.
In a small bowl take ½ cup lukewarm water, sprinkle yeast and 1 tsp sugar, mix and leave to rise. 
Add the yeast mixture, sugar and lime juice to the strained lukewarm beetroot water in the bottle and mix well until the sugar dissolves.
Once the mixture is cooled completely close the bottle with the lid and keep aside for 14 days untouched.
After that strain the mixture again; bottle and use.

Coriander Chutney

This is a very common chutney and is popularly known as green chutney. It can go with absolutely anything- from samosas and vadas to chaat and grilled chicken. It can be made easily in no time. We usually make it at home with Dosas.

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoonCumin seed
1/2 teaspoonMustard seed
1 bunchCoriander, large stems removed
1/4 smallOnion roughly chopped 1/4 cups Unsweetened grated coconut
1/2"Piece of ginger roughly chopped
2 green chillies
2Lemons juiced
Salt

Method

Put the cumin seed and mustard seed in a small heavy bottomed pan and roast over heat until the spices are fragrant, but be careful not to burn them. The key is to keep the spices constantly moving in the pan by shaking it with a swirling motion. Put the spices in a spice grinder and pulverize. Add everything including the toasted spices into a blender and blitz until smooth. Add some water if the chutney is too thick then adjust salt to taste. Stored in an airtight container in the fridge your green chutney should last at least 1 week.

Rava Upma

Trust me when I say that I am not a big fan of Upmas. But these days I make it often as my husband likes it very much. Watching him enjoying his upma has made me start a liking for it too. He sprinkles sugar on top and sometimes add a banana too and the ultimate result would be a yummy dish.

Ingredients

Rava  - 1 cup
Onion - 1
Green chilli -1
Ginger - 1 inch piece finely chopped
Water - 2 cups
Ghee - 3/4 tsp (optional - added for flavor)
Salt needed

   For the seasoning
Oil - 3 tsp
Mustard seeds -1 tsp
Urad dal - 3/4 tsp
Red chillies -1
Curry leaves - few

Method

Dry roast rava until it is hot to touch. If you have got ready made roasted rava, you can skip this step.

Chop onions, ginger and green chillies finely.
Heat 3 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves.
When dal turns golden brown, add chopped onions, green chillies and ginger.
Saute until onions turn transparent.
Then add 2 cups of water, ghee and salt needed. Taste the water and check for salt.(if it is a bit salty, then it will become perfect after adding rava).
When the water starts boiling, reduce the flame to low, add rava gradually with one hand and keep stirring with your other hand.
Once the rava absorbs all the water, cover and cook on low flame for 6-7 minutes. Do not forget to stir in between.

Delicious rava upma is ready to be served.

Masala Dosa

Masala Dosa is the pride of every vegetarian. The sizzling hot dosa with its yummy masala mixture inside and a tasty filter coffee to top it up can cheer up any day in your life. If you have had it from restaurants only till now, you can make it at home from today onwards with this simple easy to make recipe.

Ingredients

For The Aloo Masala (makes Approx. 1 1/3 Cups)
1 1/4 cups boiled and peeled potato cubes
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp split urad dal
1 tsp finely chopped green chillies
7 to 8 curry leaves
1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
salt to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp lemon juice
a pinch of sugar
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander

Other Ingredients

1 1/2 cups readymade dosa batter
salt to taste
9 tsp butter for greasing and cooking

Method

For the aloo masala..
Heat the oil in a kadhai and add the mustard seeds.
When the seeds crackle, add the urad dal and sauté on a medium flame for 30 seconds.
Add the green chillies, curry leaves and onions and sauté on a medium flame for 2 to 3 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
Add the potatoes, salt, turmeric powder, lemon juice and sugar, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 2 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
Add the coriander, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 1 minute.
Allow it to cool.
Once cooled, mash lightly with the back of the spoon and keep aside.

How to proceed
Combine the dosa batter, salt and a little water, mix well and keep aside.
Heat a tava /non-stick tava (griddle), grease it lightly with ¼ tsp butter, sprinkle a little water on it (it should sizzle immediately) and wipe off using a wet piece of cloth.
Pour ¼th of the batter on the tava (griddle) and spread in a circular motion to make a 175 mm. (7") thin dosa.
Smear 2 tsp of butter on the edges of the dosa
Spread ¼th of the prepared aloo masala evenly over the dosa using a spatula and cook till the dosa turns golden brown in colour.
Fold over while pressing it lightly, using a spatula to make a flat roll.
Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 3 more dosas.
Serve immediately with coconut chutney.

Carrot Wine

This is another tasty wine which involves a bit more effort than the commonly made wines. Here fermentation takes place in two stages- one with the carrot pieces and one after it is taken out. But the taste is worth the efforts.

Ingredients

1.5 kg carrots
1 kg sugar
4 tablespoon Lemon Juice
Yeast

Method

Boil the carrots and simmer until soft and strain on to the sugar. Stir in the lemon juice. When the liquid is lukewarm, add the yeast. Cover and leave for 7days, stirring twice daily if possible.
Using a fine sieve strain the liquid into a bottle and store in a warm place and allow the fermentation to work itself out(7 days).When fermentation has ceased, rack the wine into a clean jar and place in a cooler.

Banana Wine

Who doesnt like wine?? And when it is nade with your own hands in the comfort of your home, it adds to its value. This Christmas time, I have decided to make a variety of wines and I started the journey with banana wine Which is my personal favourite and the tastiest and easiest of all.

Ingredients

Banana (palayamkodan)- 20 nos
Sugar- 1 kg
Yeast- 2 tsp
Water -  4 bottles

Method

Mix together the palayamkodan pieces, water, sugar and
yeast. Put the mixture in to a large jar and securely close
and tie the mouth of the jar. For the first ten days, open the jar and stir its contents very well. Later strain it and pour it into bottles. It will be ready to use after two or three weeks.

Pasta Frittatta

This is a tasty snack recipe which can be made from leftover pasta. It is an extremely tasty and filling recipe and can be made very easily. My little kid who likes everything made with eggs is its loyal fan.

Ingredients

4 large  eggs
40g Parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve
salt
Freshly ground black pepper
400g leftover cooked pasta
extra virgin olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then finely grate in the Parmesan. Season with a little salt and a good twist of pepper. Whisk well, then stir in your pasta.

To cook the frittata, heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a 26cm non-stick ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat. Add the frittata mixture and cook for about 5 minutes, or until crisp underneath, then place in the oven for another 5 minutes, or until firm. Carefully flip the frittata onto a large plate, then slide it back into the pan and return it to the oven for a further 5 minutes, or until crisp underneath. Serve with an extra grating of Parmesan.