Geetika's Recipes!

a collection of practical recipes

Main Course

Easy homemade Pesto Pasta

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This is a very easy and quick homemade pesto pasta recipe, It really tastes good and close to the original. Above all It is not too cheesy like other pasta recipes and has some health quotient from spinach, basil and nuts.

Ingredients

For pesto

  • ½ cup fresh basil leaves
  • 1 cup chopped spinach
  • ½ cup walnuts (or pine nuts or pecan nuts)
  • 2-3 garlic cloves
  • ½ cup grated cheese or cubes
  • ½ cup milk
  • Salt to taste

For pasta

  • 2-3 cups of boiled penne pasta
  • Olive oil
  • Grated cheese

How to proceed;

Boil water in a big pan and add spinach and basil leaves to it. Cook just for 2 mins.

Drain it immediately. You can run it under cold water and allow it to cool.

Once cooled add cheese, garlic, walnuts, and milk. Blend this into a smooth paste in a mixer. You can adjust the quality of milk. The paste shouldn’t be too liquidy. The consistency should be like a thick sauce. Pesto is usually made of pine nuts, but it tastes very good with walnuts and this time I used pecan nuts in place of walnuts. It tasted best!

Heat a nonstick pan, add 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil and add pesto. Cook it for 2-3 mins and add the boiled penne pasta to it.  Mix well and serve hot. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top and a few basil leaves to decorate 🙂

Chicken Biryani

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Ingredients

Basmati rice – 500 g

Chicken – 500 g
Tomatos – 3
Fried onions – 3
Yogurt (curd) – 250 g
Biryani masala – 2 tbs
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala powder – 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Green chilies – 4

Star anise (Anasphal – Badam phool) – 1
Cinnamon stick (Dal Chini) – 1 inch
Bay leaves (Tej patta) – a few
Black paper (Kali Mirch) – 5
Black cardamom (Badi Ilaichi) – 1
Green cardamom (Choti Ilaichi) – 2
Cloves (Loung) – 5
Mace (Jayatri) – 1

Oil for cooking
Mint leaves
Coriander leaves
Pure ghee 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbs
Kewra essense

Fried Onions

  • Slice the onions lengthwise to a thickness of about a 2 millimeters, not very fine
  • Dry them out on newspaper or under the fan
  • Heat oil in a pan and simmer it down when it is hot and fry the onions in parts
  • Repeat till all of them are fried and set aside

Boiled rice

  • Soak the basmati rice for 15 minutes
  • Rinse and wash the rice
  • In a bowl bring 3.5 to 4 times the water to boil
  • Add some cooking oil and salt
  • Add the soaked rice
  • Cook this till it is about 70 percent done, not completely cooked
  • Use a wide spoon to take the rice out to strainer and drain all the water out
  • The rice should all stay separated.

Marinate Chicken

  • Wash the chicken pieces well and make cuts so that the marination is deep inside
  • Dice the tomatoes
  • Whip the curd well so that there are no lumps
  • To the chicken, add
    • Ginger, garlic paste
    • Diced tomatoes
    • Curd
    • All the powder masalas
    • Green chillies
    • Salt
    • A third portion of the fried onions
    • Chopped mint leaves
    • Chopped Coriander leaves
  • Mix these well and set aside for 1.5 to 3 hours covered with a lid

Biryani

  • In a pan, heat oil and add part of ghee
  • Add all the whole masala to the heated oil
  • Fry them well so that the aroma is smelt
  • Add the marinated chicken in portions
  • Mix it well while the flame is high
  • Close the pan with lid and let the chicken cook in low flame for 12-15 mins till the chicken is tender. Keep stirring it a few times so that it doesn’t burn and stick to the bottom of the pan
  • Switch the cooked chicken to a larger vessel or use the same one if it’s bigger
  • Add a small portion of fried onions keeping some for final garnishing
  • Add little chopped mint leaves, you’ll keep some for final garnishing
  • Spread the cooked rice on top of this evenly layered. Ensure that the grains are not broken and tenderly spread
  • Garnish with the oil that was used to fry the onions
  • Add a little kewra essence
  • Add more chopped mint, coriander leaves and fried onions
  • Add two spoons of ghee
  • Cook on high flame for 2 minutes and close the pan with a lid and cook for 10 mins on simmer
  • The biryani is now ready to be served.

Chicken Curry – Thanjavur style

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Ingredients

  • Chicken – 1/2kg
  • Onion – 1 finely chopped
  • Tomato – 1 finely chopped
  • Ginger garlic paste – 11/2tsp
  • Turmeric Powder – 1/2tsp
  • Chilly Powder – 2 tsp – recommended is 1 tsp or less
  • Coriander Powder – 3tsp
  • Curry Leaves – 1 Spring
  • Coriander Leaves – few
  • Bay leaves – 1
  • Red chilly – 1
  • Cinnamon – 1”stick
  • Cloves – 2 nos
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil

To Grind

  • Cumin seeds – 1-1/2 tsp
  • Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
  • Kasa kasa -1 tsp
  • Small onions – 20 to 25 or use normal onions about 3 to 5
  • Curry leaves – 1 Spring
  • Granted Coconut-1/4cup

Method

Ground Masala

  • Take a pan, heat 2 tsp of oil and add all the above grind items one by one.
  • Fry it few minutes and allow to cool.
  • Then grind it into a fine paste and keep aside.

Curry Preparation

  • Take a vessel add oil and add cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves and fry well
  • Add onions and fry till it turns golden brown. Then add ginger garlic paste and saute it well until raw smell disappears
  • Add chopped tomatoes and add turmeric powder. Stir it well
  • Add Chilly Powder,coriander powder and salt. Stir it for few minutes and then add chicken
  • Saute them well for 10 minutes
  • Add the ground masala, water and salt. Close the vessel and allow to the chicken to cook.

Garnishing

  • Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, 1 whole red chilly and curry leaves. After the fireworks are over pour this over the gravy.
  • Sprinkle finely chopped coriander leaves.
  • Tasty and spicy chicken gravy was ready to serve

Source: http://geethaeasycooking.blogspot.in/2011/11/chicken-gravythanjavur-style.html

Baked Brinjals

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Ingredients
2 medium purple brinjals, cut into round slices
2 large onions, sliced into thin rings
2 large tomatoes sliced into thin rings
1 inch piece ginger
6 flakes garlic
4 green chilies, handful of coriander leaves
1 tblsps dhaniajeera
Salt and chili powder to taste.

Method
Grind all the above ingredients to a paste with the exception of vegetables. Arrange onions, tomatoes in alternate layers in a shallow pan sprinkle ground paste in between each layer. Pour a little water on top. Bake 20 minutes in a moderate oven till the vegetables are cooked and a thick gravy is left.

Wholewheat & Veggie Samolina Cake

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Ingredients;

For Batter
1 cup Semolina
1/2 cup wholewheat flour
1 cup yogurt/curd
1 cup water
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. red chilli powder
1/4 tsp. Turmeric powder
Salt as desired
1 tbsp.Fresh coriander leaves

For tempering;
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
A pinch of asafoetida powder
2. tbsp. oil

1 cup veggies;
1 small onion
Fresh sweet corn kernels
Carrot cubes
Fresh green peas
1 tsp. grated ginger
2 pearls of garlic

Method; Peel carrot and dice it into small cubes. Slice onion into small pieces. Take another vessel and soak semolina in water for 10 minutes.

Heat oil and crackle mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Add asafoetida powder, diced onion, ginger Juline and crushed garlic in the oil and cook for a minute. Stir in all the veggies in tempering and cook for another minute. Take off the flame and add this tempering to the wet ingredients below.

Take a large vessel and add wholewheat flour, baking powder, turmeric powder, red chilli, salt and mix it well. Add yogurt in the soaked semolina and pour it into the dry wholewheat flour mix.

Grease a rectangular baking tray with oil and pour the prepared batter into it. Sprinkle fresh coriander leaves over the batter and stir it lightly so that the leaves get mixed.

Bake it at 190° C for about 30-40 minutes till the top is slightly brown and a knife when inserted comes out clean. Let it cool for 10 minutes before slicing the cake to get perfect slices.