Garlic pickle🌶

Hi friends as we all know garlic is good for you. It has many health benefits.you can use garlic in every day cooking like soups, sauces and garlic bread, or you can make garlic chutney and garlic pickle.
I like to make fresh garlic chutney to eat with breads, rice, vegetables and dal or soups.
I already posted a recipe for garlic chutney you must check it out you will be glad you did , that’s my favorite chutney.
Today I am going to make garlic pickle. This pickle you can keep it in a refrigerator for few months .
Let’s make garlic pickle.
Ingredients.
About two cups garlic peeled and sliced.
Two fresh lemons.
Half cup oil.
One tablespoon salt.
Half cup Jeggary.
Half cap red chili powder.
Two tablespoons crushed mustard seeds.
Two tablespoons crushed fenugreek seeds.
Two tablespoons coriander seed powder.
One tsp mustard seeds.
One tsp cumin seeds.
Half tsp hing. Asafetida.
You can also add pickle masala if you have .
One tsp turmeric powder.
Keep saucepan on a medium heat
Add oil. Once oil gets hot
Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds
Add hing. Right after
Add turmeric powder
Add crushed fenugreek and crushed mustard seed powder. Keep stirring.
Add coriander powder. Mix.
Now add Jeggary. Once Jeggary starts melting
Add red chili powder and salt. Mix it. Keep stirring
Now add lemon juice. and sliced garlic.
Mix it well.
Garlic pickle is ready.

Turn off the heat.
Let the garlic pickle cool down completely then store it in a jar. Keep it in a refrigerator. Enjoy this garlic pickle for few months with your favorite food.
Hope you like this recipe.
Do like this page and share to inspire others.
Have a wonderful day.

Bittermelon flat bread

For breakfast

Just had a couple of spicy Bittermelon flat bread while making it 🙂

I can’t think of any better way of eating Bittermelon without tasting any bitterness.

Made spicy Bittermelon flat breads using frozen Bittermelon I freeze up in summer time, tastes as good as fresh.

To make a Bittermelon bread

in a large bowl added

whole wheat flour

Milet  flour

Salt

sugar

red chilli powder

ajwain seeds

sessame seeds

coriander and cumin powder

crushed green chili peppers

shreaded bittermelon

couple of tablespoons cooking oil

mix it all

add little bit of water at a time to make soft dough to make a small balls to roll bread

on a stove top, on a medium heat  place cooking tawa or pan to cook bread

roll the bread in a small circle

cook both side with couple of tablespoons of cooking oil until it turns golden brown and crispy on both side.

spicy Bittermelon flat bread made to perfection:)

 

Note: all the spices and Bittermelon used according to the amount of flours you going to use to make breads and according to your taste.

enjoy this delicious flat breads with yoghurt and garlic chutney

or

Hot and spicy Bittermelon flat breads with ginger and cardamom tea☕️

Delicious:)

hope you like this recipe

do like and share to inspire others

Have a wonderful day friends❤️

 

In the garden: Turmeric

All about turmerics 

Turmeric is from the ginger family . Its a tropical plant.
Turmeric also known as curcuma longa has mild bitter taste and fragrant like orange and ginger. It has numerous health benefits. You can check it out in any health site for more information.

Turmeric is the most important spice in Indian cooking. Fresh turmeric you can use in soups, sauces, curry or any vegetables. Turmeric gives nice color to food and it’s good for health. You can also make turmeric pickle by adding salt and fresh lemon juice in cleaned, peeled sliced turmeric, store in a jar, keep it refrigerated. You can eat few pieces of this pickle with bread, rice or any food you like to eat with. You can also use fresh turmeric adding small piece in your favorite juice or smoothie. I also make a turmeric pickle to keep long time so we can have pickle for year around until next season. I will post recipe soon for spicy turmeric pickle.

Turmeric is easy to grow in any home garden or in pots.
You need good soil, good compost and warm spot in garden. It takes about eight to ten months to mature and ready to harvest. You can buy turmeric bulbs or roots from any Asian grocery stores, plant them in spring six inches apart and just few inches deep in good organic soil, cover with compost add little mulch on top and water. Keep soil moist but don’t over water. It will take almost all summer to grow turmeric. End of summer you can dig it up turmeric.

Instead of harvesting all turmeric, pick most of them, leaving few with plant, cut the leaves from top and plant it back in the soil for next season so you don’t have to buy new turmeric to plant. You can divide and grow more plants. Turmeric is very easy to grow and very important for our health.

Here are some pictures of turmeric and turmeric plants in my garden.

Hope you like my turmeric garden.
Do like, share and inspire others.
Have a wonderful day.

Mohanthal.

First of all, l like to wish you happy Diwali to all my friends world wide.

Mohanthal is a traditional Gujarati sweet we make during Diwali. This festive sweet is made with chickpeas flour also call gram flour, ghee made out of butter, sugar and added nuts and spices like almond, pistachios, cardamoms,nutmeg and saffron.
To make mohanthal perfect and easily, you need to prepare everything ahead because once you start cooking,you have to pay full attention on roasting flour and making syrup. This is very important to make good mohanthal.

Let’s start making mohanthal.
Ingredients.
2 cups gram flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk to prepare flour
1/2 cup water to prepare syrup
1 cup ghee to roast flour
4 tablespoons ghee to prepare flour
1/2 tsp saffron
1/2 tsp cardamoms
Pinch of nutmeg powder
Few sliced almonds
Few sliced pistachios

Let’s start preparing

First grease the dish to pour mohanthal.

Prepare flour
In a bowl:
Add flour, milk and ghee mix it well, press it down, cover it for few minutes.
Now crumbling flour with two hands , make flour smooth, fluffy and grainy with out any lumps.
Prepare sugar syrup.
On a medium heat, add water and sugar in a saucepan and bring it to boil until turn into thick syrup . Take drop see it sticks to your two fingers.
Add saffron in syrup, turn off the heat , keep it aside.
Let’s roast the flour
On a medium heat, in a heavy bottom pan
Add ghee
Add flour you prepared
Roast it keep stirring constantly until flour looks golden brown. Turn off the heat.
Add cardamom powder
Add nutmeg powder
Add syrup mix it well
Pour the mixture in to greased dish.
Let it settle for few minutes.
Sprinkle sliced almonds and pistachios.
Press it gently with small bowl.
Cut it in to pieces.
Let it cool down completely.

Mohanthal is ready to enjoy with friends and family.
Have a happy Diwali.
Hope you like this recipe.
Do like my page, share and inspire others.
Have a wonderful day.❤️

Sweet and Spicy cereal snacks

This cereal snack so easy, quick and tasty for anytime sacks. It can be made with any available cereal you have in kitchen. Any leftover or new box of cereal you can use to make this tasty cereal snacks. Cereal like corn flakes, Honey Nut Cheerios and rice crispy. You can also add poha and mamra available in Indian grocery store. You can any cereal more or less.
Main important thing is you have to prepare all the cereal you want to use, spices, nuts and fruits you want to use ahead than you start cooking.

Ingredients.
Cornflakes, Honey Nut Cheerios, rice crispy or any other . Mix in large bowl keep it ready.
Nuts: Cashews, peanuts, pecans or any nuts you like.
Sesame seeds if you have.
Raisins
Shredded coconut
Salt
Sugar
Turmeric powder
Red chili powder
Oil for tampering
Mustard seeds, fennel seeds and coriander seeds
Curry leaves couple of green peppers thinly sliced
NOTE: if you don’t have couple of things you still can make this snacks with out it.

Let’s start cooking.
On a medium heat, Ina large saucepan add oil. Once start heating and moving around in pan
Add mustard seeds, fennel seeds and coriander seeds. Add curry leaves and green peppers.
Add sesame seeds and the nuts.
Keep stirring while you adding
After nuts you add raisins
Add turmeric powder
Add half the salt and half the red chili powder.
Keep stirring and start adding cereals
Keep heat very low and add remaining salt , sugar,shredded coconuts,and red chili powder according to your taste. You can taste at this point and see if you need to add any salt, sugar or red chili powder. Mix it well until all cereals, nuts, fruits, seeds and spices incorporate to desire taste.
NOTE: use all the nuts, fruits, seeds and spices according the amount of cereal you going to use. Just add whatever you like and what ever you have in kitchen available at a time.

Once it done turn off heat and switch pan to aside to cool down. After few minutes it will turn in to sweet, salty and spicy much crisper cereal snacks. It tastes so good you can’t stop eating.
Hope you like this recipe.
Do like my page, share and inspire others.

Bottle gourd flat bread/dhebra/thepla

Bottle gourd flat bread, Thepla or also call Doodhi na Thepla or Dhebra.

This Bottle gourd flat bread is great for morning breakfast with tea or for lunch with yogurt and garlic chutney.
Let’s make bottle gourd bread.

Ingredients
One medium size bottle gourd. Washed, peeled and shredded.
Two cups whole wheat flour
Two tablespoons chickpeas flour
Three tablespoons oil
Half tsp turmeric powder
Half tsp sugar
Half tsp salt or according to taste
One tsp red chili powder
One tsp sesame seedsIn a large bowl
Add flours and oil. Mix it well
Now add remaining ingredients mix it all to make a dough. Start making bread immediately other wise dough will get too soft.

Let’s start cooking
Place Tava we cook roti in or any heavy bottom pan
On a medium heat
Make a small ball of dough, roll in a flour and make circle using rolling pin and board.
Place it on a hot Tava let it cook one side then flip it to cook other side. Spread little oil on top side , flip it again. Spread oil on other side, let it cook both side until bread looks golden brown and little crispy.
Your Doodhi Thepla or Dhebra are ready .

Enjoy your bottle gourd flat bread.
Hope you like this recipe.
Do like my page, share and inspire others.
Have a pleasant day.

Bottle gourd burfi.

Bottle gourd Burfi made from fresh bottle gourds from my garden 🙂

Bottle gourd burfi is healthy and delicious sweet also known as Doodhi or lauki burfi. Bottle gourd burfi is so easy to make, you only need few ingredients and you can make it in just few steps.

Ingredients.
2 cups shredded bottle gourd
2 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons ghee
1 tsp powdered cardamoms
Few sliced almonds and pistachios
Let’s make bottle gourd burfi.
On a medium heat place saucepan
Add ghee
When ghee melts
Add shredded and squeezed bottle gourd.
Sauteed it for a minute
Add milk
Mix it, stir it, let it cook for about five minutes. Once it starts getting thicker , add sugar and some cardamom powder, mix it well, let it cook until it thickens.

Turn off the heat . Transfer the burfi in greased dish, spread it, sprinkle cardamom powder, sliced almonds and pistachios if you like. Cut it in to pieces.

This bottle gourd burfi tastes delicious hot or cold.

Hope you like this recipe.

Do like this page, share and inspire others.

Have a wonderful day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Friends!

Welcome to Kokila’s Kitchen Garden.

And

Kokila landscape art

This is my humble try to share my knowledge and experience in growing organic foods, cooking healthy nutrition food for body and soul and showing my love for nature through my landscape art.

My way to inspire others to live a healthy lifestyle as well inspire others.

This is my way to show my love for nature.

Hope you enjoy my gardening, cooking and landscape art.

AThank you for visiting, join and  being here with me ❤️

Bittermelon flat bread

For breakfast
Just had a couple of spicy Bittermelon flat bread while making it 🙂
I can’t think of any better way of eating Bittermelon without tasting any bitterness.
Made spicy Bittermelon flat breads using frozen Bittermelon I freeze up in summer time, tastes as good as fresh.

To make a Bittermelon bread

in a large bowl added

whole wheat flour

Milet  flour

Salt

sugar

red chilli powder

ajwain seeds

sessame seeds

coriander and cumin powder

crushed green chili peppers

shreaded bittermelon

couple of tablespoons cooking oil

mix it all

add little bit of water at a time to make soft dough to make a small balls to roll bread

on a stove top, on a medium heat  place cooking tawa or pan to cook bread

roll the bread in a small circle

cook both side with couple of tablespoons of cooking oil until it turns golden brown and crispy on both side.

spicy Bittermelon flat bread made to perfection:)

 

Note: all the spices and Bittermelon used according to the amount of flours you going to use to make breads and according to your taste.

enjoy this delicious flat breads with yoghurt and garlic chutney

or

Hot and spicy Bittermelon flat breads with ginger and cardamom tea☕️

Delicious:)

hope you like this recipe

do like and share to inspire others
Thank you❤️

 

Sautéed okra.

This spicy okra is quick and easy to make.
You only need few ingredients to make this delicious okra
Since okra get slimy, it’s good to make in small portion.

Ingredients:
Okra about 1 cup wash, towel dry and cut in small pieces.
2 tablespoons oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of hing.
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 a tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Let’s cook
On a medium heat in a pan add oil
When oil gets hot add mustard seeds
Add pinch of hing.
Add okra ang stir
Add turmeric powder
Add red chili powder
Add salt
Mix it all
Cover it only for a minute until okra starting to get softer now keep it uncover and let it cook on low heat keep stirring until okra gets cooked, dry, little crispy.
Do not cover it until okra cools down.
Your sautéed okra is ready to eat with rice, dal or roti.

Hope you like this sautéed okra recipe.
Do like the page, share and inspire others.
Have a wonderful day.

Thank you.