" Coconut Shrimp "

" Coconut Shrimp "
  By Chef Prashant Adsule.

Ingredients: [ makes 6 servings ]

 1 egg
 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
 2/3 cup beer
 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
 2 cups flaked coconut
 24 shrimp
 3 cups oil for frying

Method:

1. In medium bowl, combine egg, 1/2 cup flour, beer and baking powder. 
2. Place 1/4 cup flour and coconut in two separate bowls.
3. Hold shrimp by tail, and dredge in flour, shaking off excess flour. 
4. Dip in egg/beer batter; allow excess to drip off. 
5. Roll shrimp in coconut, and place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes. 
6. Meanwhile, heat oil to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) in a deep-fryer.
7. Fry shrimp in batches: cook, turning once, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown. 
8. Using tongs, remove shrimp to paper towels to drain. 
9. Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce.

" Tuna Salad Sandwich "

" Tuna Salad Sandwich "
By Chef Prashant Adsule.

I started making tuna fish salad sandwiches this way years ago, and as far as I'm concerned theirs is the best and only way to make a tuna-fish sandwich.

First it helps to start with high quality canned tuna. If you have leftover cooked tuna steaks, then by all means use them instead of the canned tuna. Tuna packed in olive oil may be more flavorful than tuna packed in water, but check on the quality. It may be better to use tuna packed in water, drain it, and then add a bit of your own high quality extra virgin olive oil. This requires a bit of experimentation with brands.

Ingredients:

1 (6 ounce) can of tuna fish (if packed in water, drain it, and add a teaspoon of good quality olive oil)
1/3 cup of cottage cheese
2 Tablespoons of mayonnaise
1/4 purple onion, chopped finely
1 celery stalk, chopped finely
1 Tablespoon of capers
Juice of half of a lemon
Pinch or two of dill
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
(optional - lettuce and sliced tomatoes)
Slices of French bread, lightly toasted

Method:

Mix all of the ingredients. Serve on toast, either open faced, or in a regular sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes. For a low crab option, serve on sliced lettuce.

" Italian Style Grilled Chicken Pasta "

" Italian Style Grilled Chicken Pasta "
By Chef Prashant Adsule.

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

1 lb Chicken Breast Strips, thawed
1 lb Fettuccine Pasta, cooked
1 bunch of Asparagus, cut 1½" long
4 oz Sun-Dried Tomatoes, re-hydrated and sliced ¼" thick
2 oz Capers, drained
¼ cup Olive Oil
½ cup Pesto
5 oz Parmesan Cheese

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. 
2. Add the asparagus and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, or until tender. 
3. Add the Chicken Breast Strips, sun-dried tomatoes and capers. 
4. Cook an additional 2 minutes and stir in the pesto.
5. Add the cooked pasta and toss. In order to reheat the pasta, cook an additional 2 minutes. 
6. Transfer to serving plates, top with Parmesan cheese. Serve Hot.

‎" Mango Keshar Modak "

‎" Mango Keshar Modak "
By Chef Prashant Adsule.

Ingredients: 

¼ Kg Khawa/ Mawa,
½ cup Mango Pulp,
1 cup Sugar,
10gm Keshar / Saffron
1 cup milk powder and pinch of edible orange color.

Method:

1. Crumble Khava/mawa into fine granules.
2. Saute khava/Mawa for 5 minutes in a thick bottom kadai, on low heat.
3. Add mango pulp, orange color and sugar. Stir and cook continuously till it thickens.
4. Remove it from heat and add milk powder to it.
5. Spread in a plate and knead the mixture till it is thick and firm.5) Divide the mixture into equal balls.
6. Put the ball in the modak mould and shape them in to modak.

" Khawa / Mawa Modak "

" Khawa / Mawa Modak "
By Chef Prashant Adsule.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 2 minutes
serves: 3 to 4 people

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup Mawa / Khawa / Khoya
3/4 cup Sugar
drop of Yellow Food Color

Method:

1. Take mawa and grate that with grater. Now add grated mawa to the pan, start the heat on medium high heat.
2. Just heat up the mawa for about two minutes.After mawa starts to loose out ghee from it, turn the heat off.
3. Add powdered sugar in to mawa, add yellow food color and mix well.
4. Transfer mixture in to dish and refrigerate for an hour.
5. Now take the modak mould and stuff it with mawa mixture. Modak is ready!

Tips:

1. If you don't have Modak Moulds then just roll the mawa mixture in to small balls just like Pedha.
2. If you like add a bit of Cardamom powder for flavoring.
3. It stays good for up to week.

" Chocolate modak "

" Chocolate modak "
  By Chef Prashant Adsule.

makes approximately 25 modaks

Ingredients:

1 cup khoya/mava
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup milk powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method:

1. Saute the mava, cocoa powder & milk powder over low heat until mixed properly
2. Take off the heat, Stir in the icing sugar & leave to cool down to room temperature.
3. Place the mixture into metal modak moulds and press the 2 parts of the mould together. (NOTE: You can shape them with your fingers if you don’t have this mould)
4. Place each modak on its base and leave to set at room temperature.

" Modak "

" Modak "
  By Chef Prashant Adsule.

The sweet filling inside a modak is made up of fresh grated coconut and jaggery, while the soft shell is made from rice flour, or wheat flour mixed with khava or maida flour. The dumpling can be fried or steamed. The steamed version, called ukdiche modak, is eaten hot with ghee.
Modak has a special importance in the worship of the Hindu god Ganesh; modak is believed to be his favorite food, which begets him the monicker modakapriya (the one who likes modak) in Sanskrit. During the Ganesh worship ceremony, known in India as Ganesh Chaturthi the puja always concludes with an offering of modaks to the deity and as prasad.

Serves : 8-10
Preparation Time : 90 mins

Ingredients :- For Stuffing:

250 gms coconut (grated)
250 gms jaggery (gud)
1½ tablespoon sesame (til)
1 tablespoon ghee
10 cashew nuts (kaju), crushed
15 raisins (kishmish), yellow variety

For Modak base:

400 gms maida or all purpose flour
2 tablespoon oil
Salt to taste

Method :-

1. Make soft dough of the flour (maida) by adding oil and salt.
2. Heat ghee in a vessel, add jaggery, coconut, and sesame seeds. Keep stirring continuously on medium flame. The jaggery dissolves and a sticky solution is formed. Leave it to cool thoroughly.
3. Make small balls of dough and roll it; let the diameter be 3-4 inches approximately.
4. Start stuffing the above ingredients and pack it by taking all the corners up, thus giving it a shape like a cone on top. This is a modak.
5. Dip these in water and place on a light muslin cloth (this keeps the modaks soft).

Steaming the modaks:
1. Boil water in a large vessel and place the modaks in a plate (like ?idli? plates or in a steamer) and steam but see to it that they do not get pressed. 
2. Serve with ghee, spread on the modak.
3. Serve hot or cold, both ways it tastes good.

" Kakori ke Kebab "

" Kakori ke Kebab "
  By Chef Prashant Adsule.

The Kakori Kebab is an old recipe from the kitchens of the Lucknow’s , while royalty that has been preserved through the ages. It is essentially minced lamb meat, infused with raw papaya and then smoked in a large closed container by way of a lump of smouldering coal and a dollop of ghee.

Ingredients: 

Mince meat (from leg without any white ligaments) 1kg

Raw papaya (paste) 1oogms
Salt to taste
Kidney fat 100gms

Kakori masala (A) (Roast and make powder)
Green cardamom 10 pcs
Black cardamom seeds ½ teaspoon
Clove 5 nos.
Nutmeg 1 pinch
Mace 1 small blade
Shahi jeera ½ teaspoon
Rose petal 1 teaspoon
Kebab chini 10pcs
White pepper ½ teaspoon
Kashmiri mirch 1tablespoon
Yellow chilli ½ teaspoon
Roasted gram powder 100gms

Kakori masala (B) (Make paste)
Desiccated coconut 50gms
Khuskhus 10gms
Khoya 50gms
Onion (to be sliced and fried) 100gms
Cashew nut 25gms
Fresh cream 100gms
Saffron 1 gm
Rose water 2 tablespoon
Kewda water 2 tablespoon

Method:
1. Mince meat and fat thrice to very fine consistency
2. Add papaya paste, salt, and powder masala (A). Mix well with both hands.
3. Add masala paste (B) along with rose water, Kewda water and saffron
4. Mix thoroughly and keep for half an hour
5. Clean and wipe skewers. Take a portion of mince mixture and stick it to the skewers evenly in round shape like a Seekh Kebab
6. Roast on charcoal grill. Remove carefully from the skewers.
7. Serve Hot with green chutney.

" Chatpata Corn Chat "

" Chatpata Corn Chat "
By Chef Prashant Adsule.

Ingredients:

2 cup sweet corn
1/2 tsp salt(according to the taste)
1 chopped green chili
1 tsp chopped cilantro (green coriander)
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder 
1 tsp Chaat Masala
1 table spoon Lime juice
1 chopped tomato
1 chopped onion

Method:

1. Boil corn for 5-7 minutes.
2. Mix all ingredients and enjoy! 

Variations:

Try adding 1 spoon butter in boiled corn, this will give a different flavor to your chat.

Serving Suggestions:

It can be serve as side dish or as a salad in lunch.

" Unni Appam "

" Unni Appam "
By Chef Prashant Adsule.

Appam is traditional south Indian sweet made during special Holidays and Festivals . It looks similar to kuzhipaniyaram, except it is made mainly with rice and jaggery. They are always available as prasad in most kerala temples. It's soft and fluffy inside with a slight crisp to bite outside. Adding banana, especially " poovan" variety makes it very soft. Adding ghee to the batter makes it quite flavorful and that's the trade off for frying it in ghee!

Ingredients :

Rice powder-2 cups
Maida or flour-’ cup
Banana-2 (squashed)
Jaggery-1.5 cups
Ghee-4 tablespoons
Cardamom powder-2 teaspoons
Cinnamon powder-1 teaspoon
Coconut pieces-20
Oil-2 tablespoon

Method :

1. Heat 1 cup of water in a pan and when it it is steaming add the jaggery to it. The jaggery will eventually melt and take on a syrup like consistency.
2. Cut small pieces of coconut and fry them in ghee. Add them to the molten jaggery and simmer for a few minutes.
3. Meanwhile, make a mixture of rice powder and flour in a mixing bowl.
4. Take the bananas, mash them and add it to the boiling jaggery soup. Let it simmer for another 2 minutes for the flavours to bleed.
5. Pour the jaggery syrup over the mixture and stir it simultaneously to prevent the formations of chunks of unmixed flour.
6. Add the cardamon and cinnamon powder for flavour now and mix it well.
7. The paste like semi solid mass you have is your batter for appams.
8. Pour the the batter into appam moulds and give it the sitting time of an hour to solidify.
9. Now fry both sides of the appam in ghee or oil as you choose and serve hot on Onam.

" Sheer Korma, Eid Special Dessert "

" Sheer Korma, Eid Special Dessert "
  By Chef Prashant Adsule.

Sheer Korma Recipe, An Eid special dessert, it is made in almost all Muslim households on the day of this pious festival. The word ‘Sheer’ stands for Sweetened Milk and ‘Korma’ signifies Dates or Khajoor.

Ingredients :

1 package vermicelli / seviyan
3 cups fresh whole milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
Dry Fruits – 1 cup slivered almond, cashews and pistachioes
7-8 small pieces of Dry Coconut
1/2 cup fresh cream (optional)
1/2 teaspoon saffron strand
3 tablespoons charoli (piyali seeds)
1/2 cup light brown raisins
1/2 teaspoon rose water
1 tablespoon butter
2 tbsp Dates / Khajur

Method : 

1. Heat butter in a non-stick pan and fry vermicelli till it attains a golden brown color.
2. Add milk and sugar and bring to a boil. Keep stirring till the sugar dissolves.
3. Now add the prepared dry fruit, raisins and cardamom powder and mix well. Cook for 4-5 min.
4. By now the milk would have halved in quantity and the vermicelli would become very soft.
5. Now add the dates, rose water, charoli seeds and fresh cream and cook on low heat for over 8 min.
6. Serve hot or cold, garnished with saffron strands and dry coconut pieces.

*The dry fruits should be soaked in water overnight.

Tip: If you forget to soak them, boil a cup of water and put all raisins in it. Cover with a lid and let it simmer for 5 min. Once they are properly plumped, remove from fire and keep aside.