Safna's Cook Book

Sweet Tamarind Chutney Sweet tamarind chutneys are something we cannot avoid while making chaat recipes. This has a long shelf life and can be stored in air tight containers for 2 months  in refrigerator. It can also be served with samosas, pakoras, parathas and chaat.

Ingredients Potato - 2 nos Cauliflower - 1 cup  Cabbage - 3/4 cup Carrot - 1/2 cup Green peas - 1/2 cup Onion - 2 nos Tomato - 2 nos Ginger- garlic paste - 1 tbsp Capsicum - 1 Pav bhaji masala powder - 3 tsp Garam masala - 1 tsp Red chilli powder - 1 tsp Salt - to taste Oil - 2 tbsp Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp Lemon juice - 1 tsp Butter - for serving + fry pav buns Pav Buns - 8 nos Preparation Cut all vegetables into small pieces. Pressure cook potato, cauliflower, cabbage, carrot, greenpeas in two whistles with 1/2 cup water and salt. Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onions. After 2 minutes, add chopped tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, capsicum and saute till it turns translucent. Add pav bhaji masala, garam masala, red chilli powder, salt and mix well. Add cooked vegetables, stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add 100 ml of water, mix and simmer stirring slowly for 5 to 7 minutes to get the desired thickness of the bhaji. Add butter, lemon juic...

Ingredients Urad dal(Black gram) - 3 cups Fenugreek seeds - 2 tbsp Rice flour - 3 tbsp Black peppercorns -  1 tsp (crushed) Curry leaves - 1 sprig(finely chopped) Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp Baking soda - a pinch Salt - to taste Oil - for frying Preparation Soak urad dal and fenugreek seeds for atleast one hour. Drain water and grind with little or no water. Add rice flour, pepper corns, curry leaves, asafoetida, salt, baking soda to the batter and mix well. Heat oil in a kadai and wet your palms to shape the vada by making a hole in the center. Drop this carefully into hot oil and fry on medium heat on both sides to get crispy vadas. Serve hot with idli, sambar and chutney.

Diwali, the festival of lights is the most loved festival in India. Wherever we go outside, we can see buildings and houses decorated with lights, candles, and divas. All the streets, marketplaces, and local shops are flooded with a variety of  crackers, gift boxes, and divas. People exchange gifts and burst crackers on this day. But for me, it is a festival of sweets with gift boxes packed with sweets, chocolates, and dry fruits. Ingredients Full cream milk powder - 2 cups Condensed milk - 1 tin (approximately 400 g) Butter(unsalted) - 100g Milk - 2 tbsp Saffron - few strands Badam - for garnishing

This is a quick snack that can be prepared as an evening snack or for any special occasions. This Mulaku bajji takes me back to good memories of having hot bajjis from exhibitions. Bajji chilies are not spicy and you can even stuff the chilies with desired stuffing of your choice.

Ingredients Prawns - 300 g  Red chilli powder - 2 tsp Cumin seed powder - 1/2 tsp Ginger - garlic paste - 2 tbsp Vinegar - 1 tbsp Lemon juice - 1/2 a lemon  Sugar - a pinch Salt - to taste Oil - to aid grilling Preparation Take a mixing bowl and place all ingredients except oil and lemon juice. Mix well to coat the masala all over prawns and keep this to marinate for at least 15 minutes. Soak the bamboo sticks in water to make the skewering easier. Thread three to four prawns on each stick depending upon the sizes of prawns. Take a baking tray and spray with any oil of your choice. Place the skewers on this and grill for 5 minutes on one side. Take this out and turn to grill the second side for 5 minutes. Heat an iron skillet and spray some oil. Place the half grilled prawn skewers on this hot skillet. Allow the masala to get dried by cooking for a minute on both sides. Squeeze on some lemon juice and serve hot with a dip of your choice.

This is sago payasam or Paal Vazhakka. I had posted my mom's style of paal vazhakka earlier. This is a classic Malabar style dessert which I learned from my mother-in-law. The main ingredient is sago cooked in coconut milk with ripe plantain. A very easy and delicious kheer that can be made during special occasions.

Ingredients Prawns - 500 g Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tbsp Onion - 2 nos Tomato - 1 small Capsicum - 1 Garlic - 5 pods Red chilli powder - 1 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Coriander powder - 1 tbsp Pepper powder - 1 tsp Soya sauce - 1 tsp Tomato sauce - 1 tbsp Red chilli sauce - 1 tsp Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp Oil - 3 tbsp Salt - to taste

Ingredients Moong dal - 250 g Chana dal - 50 g Coconut - 3 nos Jaggery - 500 g Cardamom - 4 pods or 1/2 tsp Cashew nuts - 50 g Coconut pieces - 1/2 cup Ghee - 1/2 cup Preparation Melt jaggery with 1/2 cup water and filter it to remove impurities. Keep this aside. Grind coconut in three stages.Remove the thick coconut milk out of it.This is first milk. Second milk can be removed by grinding the coconut with 1 cup of water. Again grind that coconut with 2 cups of water and remove the third milk. Heat a pressure cooker and add 3 tbsp of ghee. Fry moong dal and chana dal for 3 minutes. Mix fried dals  with third stage  milk and pressure cook for 1 whistle. Transfer this to a thick bottomed Kadai and add the second milk, melted jaggery, cardamom powder. Let this cook over medium heat till the consistency becomes thick stirring continuously. Add the thick milk and mix well. Do not boil the payasam too much after adding the f...

Ingredients Potato - 2 nos Besan / Gram flour - 2 cup Hing - 1/4 Tsp Red chili powder - 1 tsp Cumin powder - 1/4 Tsp Salt - to taste Oil - For frying

Ingredients For pancake Maida - 1 cup Egg - 1 Salt - a pinch Water - required to make a loose batter For filling Egg - 3 nos Cashew nuts - 1/2 cup Raisins - 1/4 cup Ghee - 1 tbsp Sugar - 3 tbsp Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp For Syrup Sugar - 1/4 cup Water - 1/4 cup Cardamom - 1 ( crushed) Lemon juice - 1/4 tsp Rose water - 1/4 tsp Preparation Pancake Take a bowl and add maida, egg, salt, and water. Beat it well using a hand mixer without forming lumps until we get a thin batter. Heat a pan and make pancakes of two different sizes. Big pancake with two ladlefuls of batter and small pancake with one ladleful of batter. Filling Mix eggs, sugar, cardamom powder in a bowl. Heat a pan and melt ghee. Add cashews and fry it till light brown and then add raisins. Pour the egg mixture and scramble it well. The filling is ready . Sugar syrup In a sauce pan,  take sugar and water. Melt the sugar in medium flame and add crushed ca...

Ingredients Pasta - 200 g  Onion - 1 small(finely chopped) Garlic - 5 cloves (finely sliced) Soya sauce - 1 tsp Tomato sauce - 1 1/2 tbsp Chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp Chilli Olive oil - 1 tbsp Grated cheese - 1/4 cup Salt - to taste Coriander leaves - For garnishing Preparation   Cook pasta in salted boiling water, drain well and keep this aside. Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan and add garlic. Cook this until soft but not brown. Add chopped onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add chilli flakes,  pepper powder, soya sauce and tomato sauce. Adjust salt as per taste and add cooked pasta and grated cheese. Toss well for 2 minutes. Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Ingredients Raw mango - 1 (cut into small pieces) Red chilly - 4 - 5 nos Shallots - 12 nos Coconut - 1/2 cup (shredded) Curry leaves - few  Oil - 1 tsp Salt - to taste Preparation Heat a pan and add 1 tsp oil for frying the red chillies. Take a mixer jar and add all ingredients. No need to add water as water comes out from raw mango and coconut act as a good binding agent. Serve with plain rice.

This is a special fry with fish coated by a perfect combination of masala. In my home, my mom used to make a chutney with shallots, fried dry chilli, tamarind, curry leaves,salt and coconut oil. You won't believe this, that was the best chutney I ever had in my life. Even now also whenever I go home, I tell her to make this magic chutney. So I thought of combining this magic chutney ingredient with fish and it came out well. Try out this !! Ingredients Mackerel / Ayala - 5 nos Chilli powder - 2 tbsp Turmeric powder - 1 tsp Lemon juice - 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp Shallots - 1 cup (finely chopped) Tamarind pulp - 2 tbsp Chilli flakes - 1 tbsp Salt - to taste Coconut oil - for frying Curry leaves - 1 sprig Preparation Clean the fish by keeping the head and making cuts , so that the masala gets into the fish fastly. Marinate fish using chilli powder, turmeric powder, lemon juice, salt, ginger-garlic paste and set it aside for 1 hour. Heat oil i...

First I would like to thank my best friend Anusua chatterjee (anu) for teaching me the basic lessons of fondant decorations.You can find beautiful and amazing cakes on her fb page  @chatterjee.cakes . This is a two tiered chocolate cake with chocolate frosting covered with purple and pink fondant.The fondant I used here is a store bought one that is available for purchase at Baking stores, large grocery shops. You can also order it online from any Ecommerce websites or cake decorating suppliers.I had posted chocolate cake recipe which you can view in this link  http://safnascookbook.blogspot.in/2015/02/chocolate-truffle-cake.html   Next step is to cover this chocolate cake with purple fondant.I had used purple color sugar paste or you can mix purple gel color in white sugar paste and knead it into your fondant. Knead the sugar paste until soft.Dust the fondant mat with cornstarch often to prevent sticking as you are kneading and rolling.Use fondant rollin...