Renus Kitchen

  Ingredients  Peanuts - 1.5 cups Water - 3/4 cup Salt - 3/4 tsp Seasoning / Tadka Urad daal - 1tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp  Hing (asafetida) - few dashes Curry leaves - 3-4  Red chili, dry, whole - 2-3  Ginger - 1 inch , chopped Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp  Coconut, shredded - 3 tbsp  Method Soak peanuts for 1 hour and pressure cook with salt 2-3 whistles Release water and drain water Prepare tadka/ seasoning by heating oil and adding mustard seeds followed by urad dal, hing, ginger, red chili and curry leaves. Add boiled peanuts and coconut.  Mix well.  Add more salt to adjust the taste. Enjoy it as a snack.

This is Kathiyawadi Gujarati dish which goes very well with Bjari ka Rotlla (millet flat bread). However I do not have bajri ka rotla ready all the time so I enjoy with regular wheat flour roti.  Ingredients  Yogurt - Thick - 2 cups  Garlic cloves - 2 Onion, half - sliced (optional) Water - 2 tbsp to make spice paste Vegetable oil  Cumin seeds - 1 tsp  Hing (asafetida) - few dashes Salt to taste  Spice mix Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp Roasted cumin seed powder - 1/2 tsp  Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp  Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp Method First step is to strain the yogurt to get thick yogurt  Mix all the dry spices with water to make a paste  Add hing followed by chopped garlic and sliced onions Next add spice paste and cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat and add thick yogurt.  Mix gently and now add salt to taste.  Pair this side dish with bajri rotla (bajra ki roti) or just with anything. 

  This is my utmost favorite dish which I love to eat on the ninth day of Navratri with puri and halwa.  Ingredients  Kaala Chana - 3/4 cup  Corridor powder - 1 tsp  Dry mango powder  - 1 tsp  Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp  Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp  Cooking oil - 2 tbsp Hing (asafetida) - 1/4 tsp  Cumin seeds - 1tsp  Ginger, sliced  - 1 tbsp  Cilantro - for garnishing (optional) Salt - to taste Method Soak in water over night and pressure cook chana with few tsp of ghee and salt for 5-6 whistles.   Once pressure cooked, release the pressure and strain chana and keep it aside. Next make paste of dry spices with 1 tbsp water. making paste with water ensures that the the spices will not burn on cooking. Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, heeng and sliced ginger and cook. Now add water soaked spices and cook till oil is released.  Once oil is released,  mix boiled chana , add more salt to adjust the taste an...

This recipe was set out to make Til Patti or Til Chikki, somehow the mixture clumped so much that it failed to form flat sheet, hence quickly before the mix cooled off I make tiny balls and it turned out as good as Chikki.  The recipe below outlines steps to make Chikki and Laddu Ingredients Sesame seeds (white)- 1 cup Jaggery - 1 cup Ghee - 1 tbsp Cardamom powder - 1 tsp Method Dry roast sesame seeds on very low heat till the seeds splutter. To cut this step I used pre-roasted sesame seed. In a thick bottom kadai/wok or pan melt ghee and jaggery on low heat. Keep stirring till jaggery melts and syrup starts to thicken and glossy. Check the consistency of jaggery syrup by dropping few drops of jaggery in water. If the drop rolls into a soft ball then continue cooking.  Keep checking the consistency by dropping  the syrup in water until the syrup form hard ball and breaks with a brittle snap. Turn off heat at this point and mix roasted sesame seeds and powdered cardamom po...

Ingredients Left over rice - 1 cup Besan (Gram flour)- 2-3 tbsp  Yogurt, thick - 1/4 cup Salt - to taste  Ajwain (Carom seeds) - 1/2 tsp Turmeric - 1/2 tsp Onions, diced -  1/2 cup Green chillies - to taste Sweet peppers, diced - 1/2 cup Water as needed to prepare the batter Cilantro chopped  Sugar - optional - I always add 1 tsp or more to balance sourness of yogurt Method Mix everything. Mash rice while mixing with hand  Make sure the consistency is not watery.  Cook it on low flame like pancake till both sides are crispy. It has nice tangy flavor because of yogurt.

1 cup whole almonds  2 tbsp - sooji (Semolina) 1.5 cups water 1/2 cup sugar  2 tbsp Ghee  Grind almonds into fine powder. Roast almond flour and sooji in ghee  Add sugar followed by water. Cook on medium heat until halwa starts coming together. You can add more ghee.  Garnish with nuts and cardamom powder

Ingredients  Topping (Streusel) 1 cup - almond flour 2 tbsp  - brown sugar 1/2 cup - oatmeal flour (optional) 1 tsp - cinnamon flour 1/4 cup - melted butter Filling: 3 - apples, peeled, cored and diced 2 tbsp - brown sugar 1 tsp - cinnamon 1 tbsp - lemon juice (0ptional) Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter baking tray with butter. For topping, mix all ingredients and set aside. For filling, combine all filling ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Spread filling in a baking tray. Top with 1/2 inch of streusel topping, packing down firmly.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees, until streusel topping is lightly browned. Serve warm.

Ingredients  Drained Greek yogurt - 1 cup  Mango pulp - 1 cup  Sweetened condensed milk - 1/3 cup  Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp  Pistachios - for garnishing  Method  Combine all the ingredients and wisk lightly  Transfer the mix in individual remains or a big dish  Sprinkle pistachio.  Cover the dish with foil and steam for 15 minutes  Refrigerate to chill  Enjoy