Instant Onion pickle

There was so much leftover rice after Sunday lunch.  My mind ticked curd rice for dinner. All of them agreed too. My husband said he will make some instant pickle. There was no lemon or Raw mango at home. He said, let’s try with onions. It came out too good.

Thanks to my husband for the recipe.

This pickle can be made within 15 mins of time and stored in fridge for abo

Ingredients:

• Onions – 5 medium size
• Gingely oil – 5 tsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Chili powder – 1.5 tbsp (can be altered according to ur taste)
• Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
• Asafetida – ½ tsp
• Tamarind – 1 big lemon size
• Water for soaking tamarind – 1 cup.
• Salt as required.

To dry roast and grind:

• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp

Preparation:

Soak tamarind in warm water and extract thick juice from it.

Dry roast Mustard and fenugreek seeds in a pan and powder it.

Finely chop onions and keep it aside.

Method:

Heat 5 tsp of oil in a pan.

Once oil is heated, add mustard seeds. Let it splutter.

Add onions, fry till it becomes soft.

Add chili powder, turmeric powder and Asafetida. Stir for couple of mins.

Add the extracted tamarind juice. Nearly 1 cup of juice.

Add salt.

Keep stirring now and then and cook it the oil oozes out from the pickle.

Finally add the roasted and powdered mustard + Fenugreek seeds, mix well and switch off the stove.

Once it is cooled down, store it in a dry jar.

This is instant pickle so it holds up well only for 3 to 4 days if stored in fridge.

Too good with curd rice, idli, dosa and rotis too.

Milk Peda with Milk powder

When the whole world is baking during Christmas, I make milk peda. Somehow my mind is not tuned for baking. Often my daughter asks me to bake cake for her, couple of times I tried too. Not big ones, muffins and cup cake types. It came quite well. But still, my mind is more inclined towards Indian sweets. I am hopeful that I will experiment more in baking in coming years.

This recipe is short cut for making milk peda using milk powder and condensed milk. I have not tried the traditional method of making pedas before.  This is simple and delicious.

Sometimes I feel the store bought milk pedas also use milk powder. I don’t like the taste of store bought ones much. That has the strong powder taste. But trust me, this version is much better.

I saw few recipes using only milk powder and condensed milk, those are too sweet for my taste. So tried my own version of adding milk. This very much taste like palkoa. Making into shapes is easier to serve. So this idea.

Ingredients:

• Milk powder – 1 cup
• Condensed milk – 1 tin (400 ml)
• Milk – ½ cup
• Saffron strands – few
• Pistachios – 10 – finely chopped

Preparation:

Soak saffron strands in a tbsp of milk for half an hour.

Chop pistachios.

Method:

In a non-stick pan, add the milk powder, condensed milk and milk and milk well without lumps.

Add the saffron strands too.

Mix thoroughly and then lit the stove.

Keep stirring in low flame. 

Keep stirring until the mixture leaves the sides and comes as single mass. Mine took around 15 minutes. At this stage it will be little sticky. Once it cools down, it will be ok.

Switch off the stove.

Once it is warm enough, grease your palm with ghee and make into small pedas. Make a dent in the middle and fill the garnish with chopped pistachios.

Store it in a dry container. No need to refrigerate.