PIZZA AND PASTA SAUCE

Are you planning to make pizza or pasta at home for your friends or family??? And are you planning to do everything from scratch to impress them with your culinary skills?? Well here is the easy and simple recipe for the pizza sauce, which is made quickly and easily at home. Yes you heard it right. You can make pizza and pasta sauce at home and freeze it in airtight container. It can be used whenever you need. I love this recipe for making pizza, on pasta and sometimes I even Eat it as it is like a side dish. No pizza tastes good if the sauce is bad. You don't need to cook this in a slow cooker. Here is a flexible step-by-step recipe for Pizza and Pasta Sauce. Hope you all like it.

 INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 tablespoon Butter
1 cup Chopped Onion
1/2 cup Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup Tomato Paste
2 tablespoon Grated Cheese
1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 small Bay Leaf
1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds
2 tablespoon Tomato Ketchup (optional)
Salt to taste

METHOD:
STEP 1 - In a large pan, melt butter with oil.

STEP 2 - Add the chopped onion.Saute until soft and transparent.

Add tomato sauce and tomato paste in it and mix well.

STEP 3 - Add tomato sauce in it and mix well.

STEP 4 - Add the remaining ingredients and bring to slow simmer. Simmer for 30-60 minutes (or not at all depending on the taste and time frame)

STEP 5 - Add grated cheese in it and stir it well.

STEP 6 - Lastly add a bay leaf in it and cook it for few minutes.

STEP 7 - Simmer it and cook for next 5-10 minutes.

Remove bay leaf and use as required. Store in refrigerator in an air tight container.

NOTE: * It is versatile and can be used for both Pizza and Pasta.
             * You can strain it to achieve smoother look but prefer not to.
             * It stores well in refrigerator for up to 3 months.

EGGLESS MANGO SOOJI CAKE

When life gives you Alphonso make something different and yummy.

This mango rawa cake is made with semolina/ rawa/sooji and mango pulp. It is very easy, moist and very delicious with the flavor of mangoes. When I was looking for some healthy and eggless cake recipe, I saw this easy recipe, I couldn't wait to make this cake which is so tasty. This cake is very simple to make with household ingredients, just combine all ingredients and pour in the cake tin and bake. I added chopped walnuts for extra crunch. On every bite chopped walnuts gives a nice crunchy taste. You can have this cake either for Sunday breakfast or as evening snack with tea or coffee.When baked, the outer surface has a slightly gritty  but still an enjoyable texture while the inside is done to perfection. It was totally effortless recipe and yields an enjoyable cake. Today we learn to make mango sooji cake at home following this easy recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
1 and 1/2 Cup Sooji /Samolina /Rawa
1 and 1/2 Cup Mango Puree/ Pulp
1 ans  1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Cup + 2 tablespoon Sugar
2 tablespoon Melted Butter/ Ghee[clarified butter]
1 teaspoon Cardamom Powder
2 tablespoon Coarsely Chopped Walnuts[optional]

METHOD:
STEP 1 - Combine all ingredients except walnuts in a bowl

and keep aside for 10 minutes.

STEP 2 - Pre-heat the oven at 375 degree F.
STEP 3 - Grease a baking tin.

STEP 4 - Pour the batter in the baking tray upto 3/4 th and sprinkle chopped walnuts.[see notes]

STEP 5 - Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a tooth-pick inserted at the center comes out clean.

STEP 6 - Cool it and slice it and serve.

Serve the yummy mango sooji cake with a hot cup of tea and enjoy.

 NOTES: This batter doesn't rise much, so the batter can be filled upto 3/4 th of the pan.

BOONDI RAITA

Raita is not only makes the food interesting but it is also good for digestion. boondi raita is one of the most easier and straight raita recipe. Cucumber raita, onion-tomato raita and boondi raita are three of the most sought after raitas in Indian cuisine. I din't have much raita recipes on my blog. But will try to post more recipes of raitas here on my blog. In summers, I make raita almost everyday but it's not possible to click the pictures everyday.

INGREDIENTS:
200 gms Curd
50 gms Boondi
1/2 teaspoon Roasted Cumin Powder
1 Chopped Green Chilli[optional]
Salt as per taste
1 teaspoon Sugar
2 teaspoon Chopped Coriander

METHOD:
STEP 1 - Whisk the curd in a bowl with a hand whisker.

STEP 2 - Add salt, sugar and roasted cumin powder in it and mix well.

STEP 3 - Add besan ki boondi and chopped coriander and mix and raita is ready.[see notes]

Serve it with any pulao or biryani and enjoy.

NOTES: Boondi can be soaked first in warm water, as a result, they swell a little in size and become soft. Their entire crispiness is lost, they are squeezed of the excess water and then added to the curd.

TAWA PULAO

Tawa Pulao is one of the popular street foods of India. There are so many ways of making a pulao recipe. Tawa pulao is very common street food from Mumbai which is made on a same  tawa or a griddle in which the street vendors used to make their pav bhaji. Tawa pulao is nothing but cooked rice is sauteed with vegetables and spiced with pav bhaji masala. It is an easy and simple recipe which tastes delicious. You can make it for lunch box or for your meal on a busy day without much effort. If you like schezwan fried rice then you will love this Mumbai style tawa pulao. It's like a fusion of pav bhaji and a fried rice into a single dish. It is very sinple, easy and quick recipe and tastes irresistible. Just give a try for this recipe and share your views. Here is the step by step recipe. Hope you like it.

INGREDIENTS:
For making rice:
2 Cups Basmati Rice[long grained]
3 and 1/2 Cup of Water
Salt as required

Other Ingredients:
2 Medium sized Onions, chopped finely
2 Large Tomatoes, chopped finely
1 Big Capsicum, chopped
3-4 tablespoon Green Peas
2 teaspoon Ginger-Garlic Paste
1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
2-3 teaspoon Pav Bhaji Masala
Salt as per taste
1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
2 tablespoon Butter
1 tablespoon Oil
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice
1 tablespoon Chopped Coriander

METHOD:
For making rice:
STEP 1 - Rinse the rice under running water till the water will become transparent during the rinse.[see notes]

STEP 2 - Soak the rice for about 30 minutes in a bowl.

STEP 3 - Now pressure cook the rice with the ingredients given under title 'For making rice'for three whistles. The grains should be separate and cooked well.

STEP 4 - Let  the rice cool and then you can proceed with the rest of the procedure.

For making rice:
STEP 1 - In a wide kadai or pan, add oil and butter.

Let melt the butter and then add the cumin seeds in it.

STEP 2 - Add ginger-garlic paste and onion in it and cook well till the raw smell goes away.

STEP 3 - Then add finely chopped tomatoes and capsicum in it.

STEP 4 - Cook well and now add all the spice powders, mix well and saute the whole mixture till you see butter releasing from the sides.

STEP 5 - Add green peas and sprinkle salt and stir.

STEP 6 - Add cooked rice and gently and uniformly mix the veggies with the rice.

STEP 7 - Finally, garnish with chopped coriander,

drizzle some lemon juice and serve.

Serve the hot tawa pulao with any type of your favorite raita accompanied with papad and pickle.

Here I served it with fresh boondi raita and onion slices.

NOTES: *If there is starch in the water, then the rice becomes sticky. So wash it well.
               * You can add finely chopped potato and carrots also.
               *You can cook the rice in a vessel directly on the gas stove.
The recipe of boondi raita is shared separately in my blog under title ' RAITAS' .

HOMEMADE CHOCOBAR ICECREAM

Chocobar is one of my favourite ice cream ever, I love to make and eat  ice creams without any occasion whenever I crave for it. I tried kulfis, rose milk popsicles before but never tried a coated ones. So tried this.When chocolate and ice cream mix together, nothing can beat this combination. Chocobar is nothing but  a vanilla ice cream inside covered with crunchy chocolate. I have been dreaming about this for quite a long time. Finally, I made it today and sharing it with you immediately because I couldn't wait more. I am quite thrilled so don't want to make you more curious about it. Hope you will give a try and let me know about your experience.

INGREDIENTS:
Outer Crust:
1/3 Cup Dark Chocolate[or you can use milk chocolate]
2 -3 tablespoon Chopped Almonds[optional]
Inner Creamy Part:
1 Cup Whip Cream
1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 3/4 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Milk Powder

METHOD:
Inner Creamy Part:
STEP 1 - Take a bowl and pour the cream in it. Whip the cream till semi stiff peaks.

STEP 2 - Add powdered sugar in it and whisk it properly again.

STEP 3 - Now add vanilla essence and milk powder, fold it and mix it well.

STEP 4 - Keep it in freezer for about 3-4 hours.

Outer Crust:
STEP 1 - By the time melt chocolate by double boiler method.

STEP 2 - Add chopped nuts in it if adding it.
How to proceed:
STEP 1 - Pour a spoonful of chocolate in the Popsicle mould, cover it from all sides and remove the extra chocolate from it.

STEP 2 - Keep the mould for 2 minutes in the fridge. After that clean the edges of the mould.

STEP 3 - Now take the solidified ice cream mix from the freezer and fill the mould with the ice cream mix. Clean the mould properly.

STEP 4 - Keep the mould in the freezer for 3-4 hours or until the chocobar get firm..

STEP 5 - After 3-4 hours remove the popsicle mould from freezer, keep the popsicle mould in water for 2-3 minutes.
STEP 6 - Gently remove the chocobar and serve the homemade chocobar to your dear ones.

Serve chilled or slice them and serve them on a platter.