Tosha - a sindhi desert

Ingredients:

250gms flour (maida)

1/2 cup curd

1/2 cup oil

1/2 teaspoon soda bicarbonate (cooking soda)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups sugar

Oil to fry

Make a dough using flour, oil, curd, salt and soda bicarbonate. Knead well to form a hard dough. Do not add water.

Shape the dough like kebabs or sausages and deep fry until golden brown.

In another pan heat 3 cups of water with 3 cups of sugar to form a thick pasty mixture. 

Dip the fried rolls into the sugar syrup and let cool (room temperature) before serving.

Can be garnished with chopped nuts and rose petals, before the sugar hardens on the rolls.

Chocolate cake

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup oil

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and keep aside.

In a big mixing bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until thick (about 1 minute)

Then add all the dry ingredients and mix so that no lumps are formed and its creamy in texture.

In a baking dish lined with butter paper or greased with oil pour the mixture and bake in a preheated oven for 30-40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

Prick a toothpick in the cake and if it comes out clean the cake is ready.

P.s : to make vanilla cake substitute the cocoa powder with all purpose flour and add 4-5 drops vanilla essence. For other flavours add essence for the flavour and a few drops/ teaspoon of edible colour.

Potato spinach and peanut pinwheels

Ingredients:

4-5 boiled potatoes mashed

1/2 cup blanched spinach, puréed(do not add water, must be as thick as can be)

1/2 cup coarsely grounded peanuts

1 teaspoon jeera

2 tablespoons mint leave finely chopped

Breadcrumbs as required

Red chilli powder to taste

Salt to taste

Coriander powder (dhania to taste)

Oil for frying 

Add the jeera, salt and red chillies to the mashed potatoes and mix well. You may need to add some breadcrumbs so that it doesn't break on frying.

Spread a layer of this on aluminium foil.

Mix the mint leaves with the spinach purée and add some salt. (If the purée is too thin, cook it a while until it thickens, if nothing held, add some gram flour and cook a bit).

Layer this on the potato.

Now with the help of the foil roll into a log. 

Dip this log into the crushed groundnuts and slightly press, so that the groundnuts firmly embed into the potatoes and not come out while frying. 

Cut into 1/2 inch thick circles and deep fry on medium high flame.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup or mint chutney.

Fusion mirchi pakodas

Ingredients:

12-15 green chillies ( the thick ones that can be stuffed)

15 green olives finely chopped

1/2 cup crumbled paneer

1/4 cup grated cheese

A handful of mint finely chopped

6-8 tablespoons gram flour (besan)

A pinch of cooking soda

Salt to taste

Black pepper powder to taste

Oil for frying

Slit the green chillies and scoop out the seeds. Soak in hot water for 3-5 minutes.

Ensure the chillies don't become too soft. The need to be slightly crunchy.

In a bowl mix paneer, cheese, olives, mint, salt and pepper. Stuff this mixture into the chillies. Don't overstuff or the filling will come out while frying.

In another bowl mix the gram flour, soda and some salt and make a thin paste using water.

Dip the stuffed chillies and deep fry on medium high heat.

Serve hot.

You can use capsicum instead of chillies, but will have to cut the capsicum pakora into slices before serving.

Colourful Coconut ladoos

Makes a variety of flavours

Ingredients:

1 tin condensed milk

1/2 kg grated coconut (can be fresh or dry)

For flavouring

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2-3 drops flavoured essence (mango, rose,pista,vanilla)

1/2 teaspoon or a few drops edible colour ( yellow for mango, red for rose, green for pista)

Add 8-10 tablespoons condensed milk in 5 separate bowls. Add the cocoa powder to one and mix, mango essence and yellow colour to the next, rose essence and red colour to the one after, followed by pista essence and green colour and finally vanilla essence in the last one.

Add some of the grated coconut in each of the bowls and ensure the mixture is hard enough and can be shaped into balls. The mixture mustn't be too hard or too soft.

Roll the balls in dry coconut and your colourful coconut ladoos are ready.

You may add nuts to the ladoos. If you add nuts, dry roast them before you add them to your ladoos.

Vanilla essence can be substituted for almond essence.

Quick Mutton curry

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo mutton

4-5 bay leaves (tej pata)

3-4 cloves (Laung)

2-3 one inch sticks of cinnamon (dalchini)

2 black cardamom (badi elaichi)

2-3 peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon shahi jeera

1 1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

1 teaspoon red chili powder

3-4 Kashmiri chillies (any other dried red chilli will do)

Ghee (clarified butter)

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon garam masala

3 tablespoons browned onion paste (sauté onions till brown and make into a paste)

Coriander and cream for garnishing (optional)

In a thick bottomed pan heat about 5-6 heaped tablespoons of ghee and cook the mutton for 4-5 minutes, constantly stirring.

Then add the whole spices and chillies along with the ginger garlic paste and sauté for 2 minutes.

Add the salty, chilli powder and onion paste with very little water and cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Turn of the flame and stir in the garam masala powder.

Garnish with finely chopped coriander and cream and serve with hot roti/naan.