Hearty beans and vegetable soup

Hearty enough to make a meal by itself, this tasty soup is a medley of protein rich beans, vegetables rich in fiber, vitamin, folate and iron.

Ingredients:

1 cup mixed beans like kidney beans (rajma),
cow peas (lobia) and chickpeas (chana),
soaked overnight and pressure cooked for two whistles
1 carrot (gajar),grated
1 beetroot (chukandar), diced
200gms pumpkin (kaddu), diced
Half zucchini or (torai), diced
2 onions, chopped
6 tomatoes, puréed
1 red capsicum (lal shimla mirch) diced
1 green capsicum (shimla mirch), diced
2 tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic (lehsun)
1 tsp chilli (lal mirch) powder
1 tsp coriander (dhania) powder
1 tsp cumin (jeera) powder
1 tsp dried oregano
½ cup chopped mint (pudina) leaves
6 cups vegetable stock or
1 stock cube dissolved in half a litre of water
Salt to taste
Freshly crushed black peppercorns (sabut kali mirch)

Method:

Heat the oil in a large heavy pan.
Add the onions, carrot, beetroot, peppers, and garlic.
Sauté for about 15 minutes or until the onions are translucent.
Add the chili powder, coriander, cumin and oregano cook for 2 minutes. 
Stir in the tomatoes purée and salt.
If you are using a stock cube add less salt. Add the vegetable stock, pumpkin, zucchini and mixed beans. 
Bring to a boil and then simmer over medium flame until the vegetables are tender, about 20-25 minutes.
Add the crushed pepper and salt.
Serve garnished with mint leaves.

Till Ladoo

Ingredients

1 cup sesame seeds
⅛ tsp. cardamom powder
Fistful of peanuts or almonds or cashews
½ cup grated jaggery or palm jaggery / sugar or chopped dates (can add few tbsps. more)

Instructions
Dry roast sesame seeds till you begin to get a nice aroma. Set these aside to cool.
Meanwhile dry roast peanuts and cool them. Rub peanuts lightly with the bottom of a glass for the skin to become loose. Remove the skin and keep aside.
Grind sesame seeds and jaggery together with cardamom powder to a fine powder
Transfer this to a plate, add skinned peanuts and mix.
Take small portions and roll them to balls
Store sesame seeds ladoo in an air tight jar and handle with moist free hands.

Rose Cookies

Ingredients
Rice powder - 1 cup

Maida or All Purpose Flour- 1/4 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Coconut Milk - 1/2 cup (+ 1 or 2 tbsp if needed)

Egg - 1  (NOTE: If you want to make it egg less, then ignore egg add little extra coconut milk while making the batter.)

Salt - a pinch

Oil - for deep frying

Preparation
Apply oil on the achu murukku mould and let it rest for one or two days. This will help in making the murukkus easily.

Method
1. I usually take all the above ingredients in the biggest jar or the mixie or a blender and blend for few minutes to get a smooth thick batter. You can also mix with just a ladle or hand mixer.
2. Remove it into a bowl. Mix in 1 tsp of sesame seeds - black or white, with the batter.(The batter should have the consistency of dosa batter. If it is thicker, the murukkus won't be crispy. If it is thinner, the batter won't stick to the mould. )
3. Heat oil in a wide kadai. Leave the murukku mould inside the oil. Only if it hot enough, the batter will stick to it.

4. When the mould has become hot, dip it carefully inside the  batter such that only 80% of the mould is covered with batter. This is important so that the murukku easily comes off the mould.

5. Gently hold the mould inside the hot oil. You will see the oil bubbling.

6.  After few seconds, shake the mould handle gently to release the achu murukku into the oil. You can also use a fork to help release the murukku.

7. Let it fry in medium heat till the bubbling of the oil subsides.

8. Turn the murukkus half way so that both sides have an even golden brown color.

9. In the meantime, leave the mould in the hot oil so that it is ready for the next murukku.

Variation (Method 2 - Making murukku batter with raw rice)

Raw rice - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Maida - 2-3 tbs

Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup

Egg - 1

Water - 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup

Wash and soak the raw rice in the exact measure of water for 1-2 hours. Grind it to a smooth batter with the other ingredients. Make the murukkus as above.