Nami's Cookbook

Theplas are soft Indian bread. It's a famous Gujarati dish and often served during breakfast, sometimes snack or even during meal time. Theplas can be carried during long journey since it remains soft even after hrs. The shelf life is 2 days at room temperature. Theplas are made using whole wheat flour, Besan and sometimes even millet flours adding spices to it. Even theplas of fenugreek leaves, radish and bottle gourd are made. It can be eaten without any accompaniments and also can be relished with curd, pickle, mint chutney and chundo. It tastes soo good. Beetroot is a very healthy vegetable. It is good to add in our daily diet. We love beetroot. So every week I prepare some or the other recipe using beetroot. Yesterday I tried making these beetroot theplas. It was so good that my 2.5 year old daughter loved it a lot. We relished it with curd and pickle.  Let’s start with the recipe.  Recipe video : Recipe card : Print Beetroot Thepla Yield: Makes 12 theplas Author: Namitha She

BOTTLE GOURD/LAUKI/SOREKAYI MANCHURIAN GRAVY is a vegetable manchurian gravy is a popular combination of the Indian and Chinese style.  Bottle gourd is one of the choice to do the manchurian. This recipes make good side dish for fried rice and noodles. We Indians are fond of Manchuri. May it be Gobi, veg, paneer, Mushroom, chicken, etc.. etc.. There are varieties of manchurian dish present in restaurant menu. Here I am presenting you, my version of manchurian recipe. That is Bottle gourd /Lauki Manchurian. Bottle gourd is very healthy vegetable. But hated by many. So if you make this recipe, then definitely bottle gourd haters will start loving it. Trust me!!  I have also used paneer in the recipe. You can skip if you don't have. You can even add other vegetables. But I suggest you just uses bottle gourd and Paneer. Recipe video : Recipe card : Print Bottle gourd Manchurian gravy Yield: 3-4 servings Author: Namitha Shenoy Prep time: 30 M Cook time: 15 M Total time: 45 M Deep fried

Catla or Bengal Carp is a river or freshwater fish. It is rich in omega 3 fatty acids. It is a very tasty fish and also very delicate. So before adding to the gravy it's always fried.  I am not a big fan of fish. But my hubby is. He likes seafood a lot. Since we stay in North India, we don't get fresh sea fish. Only available fish is Catla and rohu/ruhi. I used to prepare bengali style jhol always.  One day, I prepared adding Mustard - poppy seed paste to the jhol. And it tasted awesome. Even my hubby's bengali colleague loved it.  Catla fish curry tastes best with plain rice.  Recipe video : Recipe card : Print Catla fish curry / Bengal Carp curry Yield: 3 - 4 servings Author: Namitha Shenoy Prep time: 15 M Cook time: 25 M Total time: 40 M A freshwater fish in tomato - Mustard gravy Ingredients: Catla fish - 1 kg Potato (cut into wedges) - 1 Onion (chopped) - 2 Mustard paste - 2 tbsp Curd - 2 tbsp Panch poran - 1 tbsp Bay leaf - 1 Cinnamon stick - 1 inch Turmeric powder -

My husband, daughter and me love pasta. So once in a week I prepare pasta for breakfast or dinner. If I prepare for breakfast, my 2.5 yr old daughter wants it for lunch and dinner also. So every time I prepare different variety of pasta in different sauces. I always make pasta sauces. But here its the dry pasta recipe which is very simple and very easy to make. Even its healthy. You can add any spices of your choice. I have used mix of pav bhaji masala, chaat masala and cumin powder. Also ready-made pasta masala. You can skip this if its not available. Lets start the recipe. Recipe Video : Recipe Card : Print Indian Style Macaroni Yield: 3-4 servings Author: Namitha Shenoy Prep time: 10 M Cook time: 15 M Total time: 25 M Elbow or Macaroni pasta tossed with Indian spices, cottage cheese and lots of vegetables. Ingredients: Macaroni - 1 cup Butter - 2 tbsp Saunf - 1 tsp Onions (sliced) - 2 Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tsp Vegetables - 1 cup (Carrots, beans, green peas, sweet corn) Paneer c

Sweet Appo/Appe/Paniyaram are sweet dumplings which is often offered as naivedhya/naivedyam to Lord Ganesh during Ganesh Chaturthi. There are many varieties of sweet appo. Some prepare with raw rice/ dosa rice, some prepare using wheat rawa, wheat flour and many other. Actual recipe of the appo has freshly grated coconut which gives a very soft texture and enhances the taste. In this recipe, I have used only 5 ingredients. Yes!! You heard it right! And the result was very soft and spongy appos. Thanks to my mom for the recipe. She told me to add baking soda. But I skipped it. And use Ghee for frying the appos. So let's start the recipe. Look at the perfect texture Recipe Video : Recipe Card : Print Sweet Appo/ Sweet Paniyaram /Godu Appo Yield: Makes 35 Appos Author: Namitha Shenoy Prep time: 4 H & 30 M Cook time: 3 M Total time: 4 H & 33 M A sweet dumpling made of raw rice, jaggery and puffed rice, flavored with cardamom powder and fried in ghee. Ingredients: Dosa Rice /

Cornflakes crusted fried chicken, as the name suggests, these are deep fried chicken coated with Cornflakes. It's crispy outside, soft n Juicy inside. Marination plays the important role here. The more you marinate, the more chicken absorbs the flavor.  I marinated for 5 hrs. Let’s start with the recipe.  Recipe Video : Recipe card : Print Cornflakes crusted fried chicken Yield: 3 - 4 servings Author: Namitha Shenoy Prep time: 5 H & 15 M Cook time: 15 M Total time: 5 H & 30 M A well marinated chicken coated with Cornflakes and deep fried Ingredients: For Marination : Chicken (with bones) - 750 gms Buttermilk - 1½ cups Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp Blackpepper powder - 2 tbsp Salt - 1 tbsp Seasoned Flour : Refined flour - 1½ cup Red chilli powder - 1tbsp Garlic powder - 1 tsp (optional)  Salt - 1 tsp Other ingredients : Whole Eggs - 2 Crushed Cornflakes - 1 cup Oil for deep frying Instructions: For Marination : Wash and clean the chicken thoroughly. In a bowl, add buttermi

Galouti or Galawati means melt in mouth. Galouti Kebabs is a part of Awadh Cuisine and are made using minced meat in Lucknow, India.  Lots of spices are used in making this kebabs. I tried to make vegetarian version of it using Mushrooms. This is a delight for vegetarians. These kebabs tasted so yummy. I had tried the galouti kebabs before using Mushroom. You can find the recipe here . There I used minced mushrooms and I didnt grind it to smooth paste. I have tried exact the same way how the actual Galouti kebabs are made but easier version. Of course with spices available at home (Where will I get 150 variety of spices in this Pandemic😏) For binding, I have used boiled potatoes and roasted gram powder (chutney dal/putani in Kannada). Ingredients I have used here are easily available in everybody's house. So please give a try to this recipe and let me know how was it :) Recipe reference : NDTV FOOD Recipe Video : Recipe card : Print Mushroom Galouti Kebab Yield: Makes 12-14 keba