Aloo tikki/ Potato patties:

I don’t think there is anyone who dislikes potato, though dieticians may not recommend potatoes make a great snacking vegetable. Today I present you with a snack that can be very easily prepared and of less calorific value.

Ingredients:

• Medium sized potatoes – 3
• Chat masala / garam masala – ½ teaspoon
• Red chilli powder – ¼ teaspoon
• Bread crumps enough to caot
• Salt to taste
• Oil to toast/ grill the patties

Preparation:

• Wash and Bake/boil the potatoes and let them cool down before peeling the skin.
• Add the chat masala/ garam masala, salt and chilli powder to the potatotes and mash them into paste.
• Make the above mixture into flat patties and roll the in the bread crumps.
• In grilling pan add a teaspoon of oil and put the patties to grill for a few minutes on one side and turn them over.
• Grill the patties until the turn light brown in color. Repeat the above procedure for all of the patties. These delicious snacks of potato can be served with ketchup or green chutney.
  

Warnings:

• Add salt, chat masala and red chill powder according to your taste.
  

Alterations:

• Carrots, beans and peas can also be added to the potatoes in order to make it more veggie.

Colorful Peppers Masala:

I was surprised to see the colorful peppers the first time I saw them in USA. Peppers also taste different with different colors. Anyway I have yearning for these peppers. I have a recipe here today which is easy to prepare and tastes delicious.

Ingredients:

• Red Peppers – 2
• Green Peppers – 2
• Yellow Peppers – 2
• Channa Dal – 2 teaspoons
• Urad dal – 1 ½ teaspoons
• Corrainder seeds – 1 ½ teaspoons
• Dried red chillies - 4
• Oil - 3 teaspoons
• Salt to taste
  

Preparation:

• Wash and cut all the peppers to 1” pieces. In a deep frying pan add 2 teaspoons of oil and when the oil gets hot add the cut peppers to it.
• Cover the pan with a lid and let the peppers cook, stirring occasionally.
• In the mean while, in another small pan add 1 teaspoon of oil and add the channa dal, Urad dal, coriander seeds and dried red chillies.
• Fry these ingredients until they turn into light brown in color. Do not forget to stir the peppers in between.
• Once the fried ingredients cool off, grind those into a fine powder.
• When the peppers get cooked, add the ground powder and salt to taste. Let it cook for 2 more minutes.
• A delicious and colorful peppers masala is ready to eat. This can be served with roti, paratha or rice.
  

Warnings:

• Do not allow the peppers or any other ingredients burn as this will ruin the taste.
• Add salt at the end. If added early it may cause the peppers to ooze water and spoil the texture.
• Add dried red chillies according to your taste.
  

Alterations:

• Only one kind of peppers can be used instead of all the three kinds.
• If you don’t have the time to fry and grind the masala, use the store bought curry powder instead.

Paneer Butter Masala

Paneer Butter Masala:

Paneer..I love to eat this any day anytime without getting bored. Paneer is a kind of cheese which is very high in protein. Add paneer to any curry or any rice dish and it will for sure increase the taste of the dish. Here I present a dish which is very popular in my home town. It can be served with Roti, Tortillas or rice.

Ingredients:

• Fried Paneer: 1” cubes-25
• Butter: 4 teaspoons
• Garam Masala powder: 1 teaspoon
• Garlic Paste: 1 teaspoon
• Medium sized onions: 1
• Fried full Cashew nuts: 25
• Medium sized tomatoes: 4
• Red chili powder: ½ teaspoon
• Salt for taste
• Water: 8oz

Preparation:

• Cut the paneer into 1” cubes and fry it in a pan without any oil until it darkens in color or fried paneer can be bought in the regular Indian stores in US.
• Blend Onions, tomatoes, Cashew nuts into a smooth paste in a blender adding water as needed.
• Heat the butter in a pan, Add the garam masala powder to it, when the color of the masala powder changes to brown, add the garlic paste and fry until you smell the odor strongly.
• Add the blended paste of onions, tomatoes and cashew nuts and the remaining water.
• Close the pan with a lid and let this cook until you see butter floating on the top of the pan.
• Now add the fried paneer pieces, salt and Red chili powder to the pan. Cook it for 5 more minutes or until the paneer is soft.
• Delicious dish of paneer butter masala is ready to be served with roti, Tortillas or rice. Hope you enjoy it!!

Warnings:

• Add salt, red chili powder, garam masala and garli paste according to your taste.
• Don’t fry the garlic paste for too long as this will make the dish taste bitter.

Alterations:

• Tofu can be used instead of paneer.
• Tomatoes can be replaced with tomato paste. Peas can be added to the dish when adding paneer if you like.

Vegetable Pulao

Vegetable Pulao:

Pulao is a blend of rice and vegetables and is a healthy dish as it includes a variety of vegetables. It can be prepared with no big trouble and can be served with raita and curry.

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice: 3 cups
• Medium sized carrots: 2
• Green beans: 20
• Peas: 1cup
• Green onions: 2 bunches
• Cardamom: 6
• Cloves: 5
• Cinnamon stick: 4”
• Jeera/cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon
• Small green chilies: 6
• Oil: 3 teaspoons
• Salt for taste
• Water: 4 ½ cups

Preparation:

• Cut Green beans, carrots and green onions into very tiny pieces and slit green chilies vertically. Wash rice and keep it aside.
• In a deep frying pan or deep sauce pan, heat 3 teaspoons of oil and add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, jeera/cumin seeds and fry them. When they start to turn light brown in color, add the green chilies, and cut vegetables. Fry for 2 minutes.
• Add the washed rice to the vegetables and add water and salt to it. Now transfer the whole contents of the pan into an electric rice cooker and let it cook.
• Mouth-watering vegetable pulav is ready to be served. Take pleasure in it with raita or curry.

Warning:

• Add salt and green chilies according to your taste.
• Add the water according to the directions of the label of the rice variety you are using.

Alterations:

• Add onions in place of green onions to make it taste different.
• Add cashew nuts to make to tastier.
• Cook in deep sauce pan or pressure cooker if you don’t have a rice cooker.
• Frozen mixed vegetables can be used instead of fresh vegetables in order to reduce the preparation time.

Triangular dumplings/Samosa

Triangular dumplings/Samosa:

Samosa is a very common and relished snack in India. It is served in almost every occasion in all parts of India. It is a triangular shaped dumpling filled with potatoes and peas curry. Though it is commonly filled with potatoes it can also be filled with many other varieties of vegetables. I will present here a recipe of samosa which is filled with potatoes and peas. Samosa is a good accompaniment for evening tea and can be served with tomato sauce.

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour/ maida: 1 cup
• Potatoes: ½ lb
• Peas: 1 small cup
• Mint leaves: few
• Ginger paste: 1 teaspoon
• Green chili paste: ½ teaspoon
• Lime juice: 1 teaspoon
• Oil for frying
• Salt for taste
• Water for mixing flour

Preparation:

For the outer layer:

• In a bowl sieve the all purpose flour/ maida, add salt and 2 teapoons of oil to it. Mix it thoroughly so the oil mixes well with the flour.
• Now adding very little water as needed, knead the flour into a ball. Cover it and keep it aside for ½ hour.

For the filling:

• Bake/ boil the potatoes and peel the skin. Cut the potatoes into 1” pieces and keep aside. In a sauce pan heat 1 teaspoon of oil, add the mint leaves, ginger paste and green chili paste to the pan and fry it for 1 minute.
• Add the cut Potatoes, peas and salt to the pan and stir. Close it with a lid and let this cook for 3 min. When the filling is not very hot garnish it with lime juice.

Preparing and frying the samosa:

• Now make the kneaded all purpose flour/maida into 2” size balls and roll them out round and flat of about 6” circles with a roller.
• Cut the rolled rounds into two semicircles. Now on one of the semi circle apply water on half of the straight side of the semi circle. Make it a cone by sticking the watered half to the other half of the straight side.
• Fill the cone with the prepared potato and peas stuffing and stick the opening side by applying water as needed to make it triangle shaped.
• Prepare all the remaining samosas accordingly and keep aside. The quanties mentioned will make about 15 samosas.
• To deep fry the samosas heat oil in a frying pan. Add the prepared samosas to the heated oil in the pan and fry them until they turn light brown in color. Serve them with hot tea and tomato sauce.

Warnings:

• Add salt, ginger paste, green chili paste and lime juice according to your taste.
• Make sure to stick all the sides of the samosas by using water, if not the stuffing will come out once the samosas are put in the oil for frying.

Alterations:

• Add garlic paste when adding the ginger paste while preparing the stuffing if you like.
• Stuffing can be prepared using any kind of vegetable you like or even leftovers can be used.

Carrot desert/gajar ka halwa

Carrot desert/gajar ka halwa:

As you all very well know, carrots are good for health. They are a good source of vitamin A. Carrots can be eaten in a variety of ways: salads, juice, curries or even as baby foods. Grated carrots are also used in making cakes and even puddings. Until now I’ve been presenting here with various recipes for rice, curries, chutneys etc. Today I’m going to give you a recipe for desert/sweet made with carrots which serves for 4 people. Though preparing Carrot dessert/gajar ka halwa is time consuming, trust me, it is worth the pain. I hope you love it.

Ingredients:

• Carrots: 1lb
• 2% Milk: ¼ gallon
• Sugar: 3 cups
• Cardamom: 4
• Cashew nuts: 15
• Raisins: 15
• Ghee: 10 teaspoons

Preparation:

• Wash, peel and grate the carrots and keep it aside.
• Now in a deep frying pan, heat the 9 teaspoons of ghee. When the ghee is heated, add the grated carrots and fry for 15 min on medium flame.
• Now add milk to the pan with fried grated carrots and let it boil. Keep stirring frequently so that the food doesn’t stick to the bottom and get burnt.
• After almost all the milk is absorbed by the carrots, add the sugar and powdered cardamom.
• Now let it cook in simmer until all the moisture evaporates. Garnish it with cashew nuts and raisins fried in ghee.
• Carrot Desert/gajar ka halwa is ready to be served. This can be enjoyed hot or cold. Hot Carrot Desert/gajar ka halwa can be served with vanilla ice cream to make it even tastier.

Warning:

• Make sure the pan is thick in the bottom; otherwise the food will be burnt.

Alterations:

• Use full fat milk or half and half milk for less cooking time and even better taste.
• Few strands of saffron can be used instead of cardamom powder.

Onion and tomato Raita/Perugu pachadi

Onion and tomato Raita/Perugu pachadi:

Raita is a side dish which can be prepared using many kinds of vegetables. Raita is made with curd/yogurt as main ingredient. Curd/Yogurt is a very a good alternative for milk which will help you increase your metabolism. It tastes good as a side dish for roti, paratha, Biryani or any kind of rice dishes.

Ingredients:

• Curd/Yogurt: 4 scoops
• Small sized onions: 1
• Medium sized tomatoes: 1
• Coriander leaves to garnish
• Salt for taste

Preparation:

• Chop onions and tomatoes into very tiny pieces.
• In a bowl mix the cut onions, tomatoes, salt and curd/yogurt.
• Garnish it with coriander leaves.

Warnings:

• Add the onions according to your taste.

Alterations:

• Onions can be replaced with cucumber if you don’t like the taste of onions.

Tomato Rice

Tomato Rice:

Rice is regular staple food in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh. Rice dishes are very appetizing. Tomato rice is a dish which can be very easily prepared. Today I will present here with a recipe of tomato rice. This can be served with raita or even with just plain curd.

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice: 3 cups
• Medium sized tomatoes: 8
• Medium sized onions: 1
• Ginger and garlic paste: 1 teaspoon
• Cardamom: 3
• Cloves: 5
• Cinnamon stick: 4”
• Jeera/cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon
• Oil: 2 teaspoons
• Red chili powder: 1 teaspoon
• Salt for taste
• Water: 4 ½ cups

Preparation:

• Cut the onions and tomatoes into small pieces and keep it aside.
• In a frying pan add the 2 teaspoons of oil and heat it. When the oil gets heated add the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, jeera and fry till they turn light brown in color.
• Now add the ginger garlic paste and onions to the pan. Let it fry for 2 mins.
  Add the tomatoes salt and red chili powder to the pan.
• Wash the 3 cups rice and it to the pan and add the 4 ½ cups of water to it.
• Simmer the flame and close it with a lid. Cook it until the rice is fully cooked.
• Delicious tomato rice is ready to be served. Enjoy it with raita or curd/yogurt.

Warnings:

• Add salt, red chili powder, ginger and garlic paste according to your taste.
• Do not add more water as this will make the rice sticky and tasteless.

Alterations:

• Add tomato paste instead of tomatoes.
• After adding rice and water to the pan all the ingredients can be transferred to an electric rice cooker or pressure cooker.
• Any other variety of rice can be used instead of basmati rice.

Chickpeas/Channa Masala

Chickpeas/Channa Masala:

Chickpeas/channa masala can be easily prepared using the canned chickpeas. Of course it is not very hard to prepare it from scratch but it requires early start. First, you need to soak the chickpeas/channa overnight and then boil them. I prefer using the canned chickpeas as it is the easier method. Here, I present with a recipe of chickpea/channa masala which will be sufficient to serve 4 people. This would taste good with jeera rice, plain rice, poori or even roti.

Ingredients:

• Canned chickpeas/channa: 2 cans
• Medium sized onions: 2
• Medium sized tomatoes: 3
• Amchoor powder: ½ teaspoon
• Jeera: ½ teaspoon
• Bay leaves: 2
• Garam Masala powder: 1 teaspoon
• Jeera/cumin seeds powder: ¼ teaspoon
• Dhania/corriander powder: ½ teaspoon
• Garlic paste: 1 teaspoon
• Chili powder: ½ teaspoon
• Oil: 3 teaspoons
• Water: 12oz
• Salt for taste

Preparation:

• Cut the onions and tomatoes into very tiny pieces. Wash the chickpeas/channa from the can and mash half a can of chickpeas/channa and keep aside.
• Now in a sauce pan, heat the 3 teaspoons of oil. Add the jeera and bay leaves and fry until they turn brown in color.
• Add the onions to the pan and fry till they are cooked. To the onions add the tomatoes and and half the amount of water and close the pan with a lid and le it cook till oil floats.
  At this time, add the garlic paste, jeera powder, coriander powder, garam masala, amchoor powder, salt and chili powder to the pan.
• Let it cook for 2 mins. Add water, mashed chickeas/channa and channa to the sauce pan. Let this cook for 5 more mins.
• Lip smacking dish of chickpea/channa masala is ready to be served. Get pleasure from it with rice, poori or roti.

Warnings:

• Add salt and chili powder according to your taste.

Alterations:

• 2 teaspoons of tomato paste can be used instead of tomatoes and amchoor powder.
• Pureed onions can be added as a substitute of cut onions.

Raw mango chutney/Mamidikaya pachadi

Raw mango chutney/Mamidikaya pachadi:

Chutney or pachadi is made very frequently in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. There is an old way of using a manual grinder/ rokali in India. Many people there use an old method of grinding the vegetables to make pachadi as it is really delicious if made in a traditional way. You can almost all kinds of vegetables to make pachadi. Chutneys can be eaten as side dish, dip or even can be mixed with rice. Here is the recipe to make raw mango chutney/mamidikaya pachadi.

Ingredients:

• Medium sized raw mango: 1
• Mustard seed: ½ teaspoon
• Urad dal: ½ teaspoon
• Chana dal: ½ teaspoon
• Fenugreek seeds: ¼ teaspoon
• Red chilies: 6
• Hing: pinch
• Turmeric: pinch
• Oil for frying: 1 teaspoon
• Coriander leaves
• Salt for taste

Preparation:

• Wash, peel and cut the raw mango into 1” pieces.
• In a frying pan, heat the teaspoon of oil, when oil gets heated add fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, urad, dal, chana dal, red chilies and fry until the mustard seeds splatter and the dal turns light brown in color.
• When the mustard seeds start to splatter add the hing and let it cool.
• In a blender add almost all the fried ingredients leaving a little bit to garnish. Also add salt, turmeric and the cut mango pieces to the blender and make it into a paste.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and the remaining fried mixture. Delicious chutney is ready to serve. Enjoy this as a side dish with roti or rice.

Warnings:

• Add salt, green chilies and red chilies according to your taste.

Alterations:

• Add coriander seeds to the frying ingredients if you like.
• Add Coconut powder to make it tastier.

Raw mango lentils/Mamidikaya pappu

Raw mango lentils/ mamidikaya pappu:

Raw mango the word itself makes my mouth water. It is the summer season in India where you can see mangoes all over. Mangoes are used in a variety of ways in cooking like dal, chutney, pickle etc. I can eat anything prepared from mango. I’ll present here with a mango dal recipe which I like to cook very often.

Ingredients:

• Medium sized raw mango: 1
• Tur Dal/ lentils: 1 small cup
• Red chilies: 3
• Green chilies: 2
• Coriander leaves
• Curry leaves: 1 strand
• Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon
• Urad dal: ½ teaspoon
• Hing/inguva: pinch
• Turmeric: pinch
• Garlic: 5 cloves
• Water: 2 ½ cups
• Oil: 1 teaspoon
• Salt for taste

Preparation:

• Peel and wash the mango and cut into pieces of 1”. In a frying pan fry the dry lentils/dal until it turns to golden brown in color.
• Add the fried dal to a bowl and add 2 cups of water. In another bowl add the cut mango and green chillies.
• Now, put the two bowls in a pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles. After the pressure in the cooker goes down take out the cooked dal/lentils and mango pieces and mash them with a spatula together.
• In a deep frying pan heat the oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal, cut red chilles and peeled garlic cloves. When the mustard seeds start to splatter, add hing and then add the mashed dal/lentils and mango pieces.
• Now add the remaining water and salt for taste and cook in medium heat for 2 min. Garnish it with coriander leaves. A mouthwatering mango dal/mamidikaya pappu is ready to serve and enjoy it with plain rice or roti.

Warnings:

• Add salt, green chilies and red chilies according to your taste.
• Make sure to put the lentils and cut mango in separate bowls while cooking do not mix them. The bowls must be able to hold the cooked lentils which will be higher in volume than the raw ones.
• Raw mango used must be sour in taste.

Alterations:

• Dal/lentils can be used without frying if you like.
• Add curry leaves to make it tastier.
• Can be cooked in a bowl directly instead of using pressure cooker but make sure you cook the lentils and mango separately. Not using pressure cooker may increase your cooking time.

Mint/Pudina Rice

Mint/ Pudina Rice:

“Mint” wow! It is the aroma of mint that makes the dish yummy. I love to use mint in many of my dishes, here I’m going to present you with a healthy recipe of Mint Rice. There are a lot of varieties to prepare mint/pudina rice but I like to prepare it in this method as it is tasty and nutritious.

Ingredients:

• Fresh mint leaves – 2 medium sized packs


• Jeera – 1 ½ teaspoon


• Cinnamon – 2” stick


• Cloves – 6


• Green chilies – 6 small sized


• Basmati Rice – 3 cups


• Onions – 1 medium sized


• Carrots – 1


• Potatoes – 2 medium sized


• Green beans – 10


• Peas – a handful


• Salt for taste


• Oil – 3 teaspoons


• Water – 5 cups

Preparation:

• Separate the mint leaves from the stems and wash them. Cut the onions into thin long pieces and the remaining vegetables into 1’ pieces.


• Using a blender/mixer grind 1 teaspoon of jeera, cinnamon and cloves into powder, then add mint/pudina, green chilies, into a smooth paste.


• In a deep sauce pan, heat the oil and add the remaining jeera and let it turn brown in color. Now, add the blended paste and fry for a minute now add all the cut vegetables and peas to the pan. Add the basmati rice to the pan and fry for 5 min.


• Add salt and 5 cups of water to the mixture in the sauce pan. Let the water boil.


• When the water starts to boil close the sauce pan with a lid and cook it in low flame for a few minutes. Check if the rice is cooked frequently.


• Delicious mint/pudina rice is ready to be served. Enjoy it with plain yogurt, raita or even with the eggplant masala.

Warnings:

• Add the salt, green chilies according to your taste.


• Make sure that the sauce pan is thick at the bottom; otherwise the rice will be burnt.


• Do not stir the rice while it is cooking.

Alterations:

• You can spinach leaves to the mint leaves if you don’t have enough mint.


• If you like add 2 teaspoons of coconut powder and also cashew nuts to make it yummier.


• You can use any rice variety instead of basmati but make sure it is not sticky.

Eggplant Masala/Gutti Vankaya kura

Eggplant masala / gutti vankaya kura:

Eggplant is popularly known as vankaya, king of vegetables in Andhra Pradesh India. Eggplant masala is one of my all time favourite curries. It tastes good with rice, chapathi / roti or biryani. There are a lot of varieties to make this dish but according to me the time at which the ingredients are added to the dish makes it different in taste. I hope you like and enjoy making this method.

Ingredients:

• Small sized Eggplants: 1/2lb
• Medium sized Onions: 1
• Medium sized tomatoes: 5
• Cashew nuts: 15
• Garlic: 4 cloves
• Small piece of ginger
• Garam Masala – 1 teaspoon
• Coconut powder – 1 teaspoon
• Chili powder – ½ teaspoon
• Water – 8 oz
• Salt for taste
• Oil for frying

Preparation:

• Slit the Eggplant/Vankaya into two for one side and do the same from the opposite side of the eggplant. Do not cut them into pieces.
• Put Onions, Tomatoes, fried cashew nuts, garlic, ginger, garam masala, coconut powder, chili powder together in a blender and blend them into a smooth paste adding some water as needed.
• In Frying pan heat 3 teaspoons of oil. Add the Slit Eggplants and fry them until they are completely cooked.
• Take out the eggplants from the frying pan and in the remaining oil add a teaspoon of oil. Add the Masala paste into the frying pan and water. Let it cook until you start to see oil floating. Stir the masala paste frequently while cooking.
• Add the fried eggplants, salt and chili powder to the masala paste and cook it for 2 more min. A delicious eggplant masala/gutti vankaya kura is ready to eat. Serve it with plain rice, pulav, biryani, roti or tortilla.

Warning:

• Add the salt, chili powder and garam masala according to your taste.

Alterations:

• Bigger Eggplant which is commonly available can be used if you don’t find the small sized ones. Cut the bigger Eggplant into squares of 1.5’ approximately.
• Peanuts can be used instead of cashew nuts.
• Tomato paste can be used instead of whole tomatoes.

Welcome to my cooking world!

Lip smacking recipes, as the name suggests, is a webpage where you will find a variety of mouthwatering recipes.

Little Intro: I was born in an Indian city named Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh. I'm a woman with typical Aquarian qualities like friendly, emotional, takes-to-heart and at times short-tempered. By profession, I’m a software Engineer. Living in US of A since 2001, I miss my parents and my home land. Being away from my country and food had made me an ardent lover of cooking. I really enjoy cooking and feeding food lovers, of course I also love to hear the positive comments. According to what I believe there is no one in the world who doesn’t enjoy eating good food. I hope you’ll all try out and enjoy my recipes.