You would require:
1 cup poha (which is flattened rice), 1 liter of whole cream milk, 5 almonds, 5 pistachios, 5 cardamoms powdered, 1 cup sugar, 4-5 cashews broken, 15-20 raisins, water and little bit of salt.

Wash and drain the poha. Leave it for 10 minutes.  Separate the poha grains using your fingers from the vessel. Boil the milk in a large vessel and when the milk starts boiling add poha and stire gently in it. Bring the mixture to boil. Simmer till the milk volume reduces to half. Stir occasionally once or twice. It is time add sugar and cardamom, stir it to dissolve. Add the raisins and cashews. Simmer the whole mixture for 2 minutes and garnish with chopped almonds and pistachios. The aval payasam is ready.

Masala Dosa

Masala dosa is a very popular south Indian recipe which you can find in almost all types of fast food joints in India and restaurants. The masala dosa is the most popular recipe among south Indian dishes in other parts of India.

You would require:
2 ½ cup uncooked rice, 1 cup of urad dal preferably whole, 2 tablespoon fenugreek, salt to taste and 2 table spoon cooking oil. For Masala you would require 3 boiled potatoes peeled and chopped, 1 onion chopped, 2 chillies, 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp chana dal, ½ tbsp mustard seed, salt to taste and coriander leaves if you wish.

You have to soak the urad dal, rice and fenugreek seeds separately for at least 8 hours in water. Now grind them well together using the requisite amount of water to make a fine paste. Add salt and set the mixture aside for fermentation for the whole day.

Now when you are ready to prepare masala dosa, cut the onions, and arrange the rest of ingredients to prepare the masala dosa. Sauté the chopped onion in a pan with cooking oil and add mustard seeds, chana dal, and chilly to the sauté onion. Fry till they are brown in color. Add salt and the chopped potatoes, turmeric, chilly powder continuously. Cook it for few minutes. It is time now to pour the ladle on a non-stick pan and give it a circular shape. Put little oil around it and turn around while bubbling appears. Now fill the center of the dosa with the masala (one spoon) prepared. Fold the dosa to cover the masala. The dosa is ready to be served with chutney of coconut and sambhar.

If you want to learn or taste the recipes of India, you cannot miss the pickles, chutneys and appetizers of India which are prepared using the best spices and s sorts of fruits, vegetables, and natural ingredients. Appetizers stimulate the digestive system and add taste and flavor to a particular recipe. As well as they are nutritious and good for health. The appetizers are for all occasions and for all seasons.

If you ever buy any book on Indian Recipes and cooking traditions you will definitely find some recipe lessons on Indian appetizers. The appetizers include items like pickles, chutneys, murabbas, jellies, jams, sherbets, cold drinks prepared in home, squashes and raita. The ingredients required to prepare them are easily available in the local market.

The chutneys, pickles, salads, raita and other things used in a variety of ways in Indian homes depending on their moods, lifestyle, region and festivals. They are served as condiments to enhance the taste of food and add an extra flavor to dishes.

Here are recipes of few appetizers in India:

Coconut Chutney

Ingredients:
1 cup of unsweetened/sweetened grated coconut, 1 cup of roasted chana or roasted peanuts, 1 cup loosely filled cilantro leaves, 5 hot green chilly peepers, ½ tbsp salt, 3 pods of garlic, ½ cup lime juice and 1 cup of water. 

Mix all the ingredients in a pour into a bowl. Now take a blender and blend them find. All salt and mix the blended items well. Garnish the chutney with fresh leaves of parsley or mint or coriander or any herb of your choice.

The coconut chutney is ready to be served with dosa or roti or rice dishes.

Amla Pickle

Amla pickle is a widely used condiment in the homes of Indians. Almost all homes do prepare ala pickle during amla season and relish it with favorable dishes like paranthas.

Ingredients:
15-20 amlas, 1 tablespoon mustard seeds, 4 green chillies, 2 tablespoon turmeric powder, 1 tbsp hing, 7-8 tbsp mustard oil, fenugreek seeds, vinegar and salt for taste.

Take a pressure cooker. Pour all the amlas after washing them well. Now cook them till they are soft and tender. Five or six whistles will make them tender. Take out the amlas and blend them well with mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, and green chillies. Ass the turmeric powder too. If you wish you can add red chilly powder to prevent them from rotting when they are kept for long. Now heat the oil in a kadai and add the paste of that you blended in the mixture to it when the oil is hot. Cook for at least 6-7 minutes. Take a clean glass container whose mouth can be covered tightly. Pour the rest of the oil in the container and put the amla from kadai in it. Add little amount of vinegar to keep the medium tangy and free from rotting pathogens. For one week keep the bottle under direct sunlight. The amla pickle by now gets ready to be served with variety of dishes.

Fish Recipes of India: Learn To Prepare Some Mouth-Watering Dishes

Amrtisari Fish

You need:
200 gm of flour, 7-8 fish fillet, 1 tbsp garlic paste, 1 tbsp ajwan, 1 tbsp ginger paste, 1 tbsp chilli powder, ½ tbsp turmeric, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 egg, 100 gm curd, oil for deep frying, slat to taste, onion chopped very finely and mixed well with the ginger-garlic paste. Salt for taste

Cut the fish fillet in size of 2 inches cubes and wash it properly. Now mix the chilly powder, turmeric powder, paste of onion, garlic, ginger and lime juice, and add pinch of salt to it. Keep the mixture aside. Make a batter of gram flour, ajwan, egg, curd, salt and water. Marinate the fish with the mixture of turmeric and others. Now add the marinated fish to the batter and keep the pieces dipped for 15 minutes. Now heat the oil in a pan which is deep (Kadai). Fry them till the fish is deep brown in color and crisp. Serve the Amritsari fish hot sprinkled with some chaat masala and lemon wedges.

Maccher Jhol (Fish Curry in Bengali Style)

You need:
800-1000gm of while flesh fish (it is good if you choose Rohu fish, or Catla fish), ½ tbsp turmeric powder or grounded turmeric, ½ tbsp salt, ½ tbsp coriander powder, ½ tbsp cumin powder, ½ table spoon chilly powder, 2 bay leaves, 3 whole green chillies, one onion finely chopped, 1/4 tsp kalonji, ½ tbsp ginger grated, 2 tomatoes mashed properly, salt for taste and mustard oil.

First deep fry the fish pieces in a kadai and put them aside. Now put some oil in a pan which can hold some amount of water. Fry the onion and ginger paste. Add all the ingredients to the mixture of onion and ginger and fry till the aroma of spices are strong and the color of the paste turns brownish. Now add the mashed tomato on it and mixture it well. Low the heat and keep it for two minutes. Add three cups of water and put some salt for taste. Cook the mixture for another 10 minutes in medium heat. Now add the fried fishes and cook in low steam for 10 minutes. The fish curry with jhol is ready to be served with rice.

Each region of India has its own specialty which is inspired by race, history, religion and geography. For instance, the Rajasthan cuisines make use of more milk and milk products than water due to scarcity of water in the place. The Punjabi food reflects the vibrant culture of the place, the tradition of people who love variety and want food filled with not only nutritious ingredients but also some amount of love by which they are prepared.

The secret of Indian style of cooking is the use of spices. Always being hot filled with chilly varieties, spices Indian food is also a complement for the blend of sauces that are used while preparing the recipes. The tradition of Indian cooking is an art and you would have great experience in cooking Indian food. Right from planning your recipe to collection of ingredients in right amount to blending of spices, simmering, steaming and stirring, the cooking is an activity that would enjoy the most.

The good thing about Indian cooking is that it is neither complex nor confusing. You don’t have to work too hard to prepare them. Just you need some patience preparing the spice blend and collect some ingredients for them. You have to be very specific while you cook Indian food for the real taste. For example you must use coconut oil for South Indian dishes to get the real taste and pure mustard oil to get the flavor of Bengal and East.

The traditions of Indian cooking have seen both vegetarian and non-vegetarian style of cooking. There are some recipes or dishes which require not a contemporary roaster or micro-woven, but the burning coal or a perfect fire place to roast them. For instance you can prepare tandori chicken in a woven but the taste of it roasted in a hearth has a different feeling.

Indian cooking thus involves all types of cooking- frying, boiling, steaming, roasting and low steam frying. There are few recipes where banana leaves are used to steam meat and fishes. Your mouth would just water while you see them prepared!

Indeed the place is known for their variety of vegetarian food styles. Whether you talk of Lapsi which is wheat porridge or the ‘bhujia-roti’ combination, you have something to stuff in your mouth without any sort of hesitation. If you wish to learn about the taste of Rajasthan and its vivid culture which is reflected in the dishes, read the book on Rajasthan Cuisin by Maharani Gayatri Devi.

Rajasthani food is mostly known for the cooking in Royal Kitchens. Food here is a serious business because of the tourists flooding the state almost all the year round. The cooking here has its unique flavor and they use the simplest ingredients in them. Gram flour is widely used in some delicacies like Pakoda, Ghatta ki Sabji, Khata and others. They use bajra and corn to make bread (rotis). The place is also known for Khichri a particular dish prepared by ingredients like – rice, vegetables, ginger, spices, and some amount of butter. Rajasthan is also known for richly snacks like – ‘Daal-Moth’, Papad, Chips and Bhujia.

Here are few things which you always find in Rajasthan:

Lassi

This is natural yoghurt which is churned to remove the butter and make Lassi (buttermilk) a cool beverage served in summer.

Rajasthani Dal-Bati-Churma

This is a common food of Rajasthani people. Daal-Bati is cooked lentils and roasted balls of dough which is accompanies by pickle berries cooked in different methods. The Churma is a sweet dish made of jaggery or sugar in ghee. For taste and variety some ingredients like coconut, khoya and resins are also used.

Frying Puris and Chola

This is also a Punjabi favorite snack. Grams are soaked in water and later on cooked to a delicious stuffy recipe called chola masala which is served with fried white thin breads that puff like balloons when they are put on hot boiling oil in big pans.

The other common things which you would be able to taste in Rajasthan are – sweets having some spicy flavors, jalebis, mithais, faldas and glass of milk served with thick cream.

India is a country which has a history of more than 3000 years and this place has been home to different sects of people from time to time – Buddhists, Hindus (Aryans, Dravidians), Muslims, and many other religions like Sikhism, Jainism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism and to name a few. They all dictated food habits to people and the result is present day variety and richness of Indian regional foods.

There are many styles of cooking in India- somewhere there is high use of underground vegetative products like – onion, garlic, and ginger; while at some other regions people avoid them with the belief that such food items increase body heat and keep your head hot all time. From the lap of Himalayas in the North to the Southern tip of Coasts; from the Western Deserts to the Eastern hills you will find hundreds of region style of cooking in India. They are the reflection of their culture, climate, geography and people. But one thing which is very much common to almost all types of cuisines is the use of aromatic and flavor filled spices for which India has been known from times immemorial.

Kashmiri Cuisine

The valley which is often called the Heaven of India leaves you spellbound not only with its scenic beauty, Shikaras (large boated houses), and the brightening ice caps on the mountain; the cuisine of the place also leaves a long lasting impression in your mind. The place is known for some traditional style of Mughal cooking. The people mostly eat here meat of lamb, mountain goats, chicken, mutton, and to some extent buffalo-meat also. The place is known for Rogan Josh, Ristas, and mouth watering deserts like ‘firni’ and green tea called kawah. The dishes here are very rich, nutritious and reminiscent of the history of the place.

Maharastrian Cuisine

Mumbai or the famous Bombay has been the financial powerhouse of India and the second largest film Industry in the world. But the city is a bustling paradise for tourists and people because of the famous Maharashtrian cuisine and the famous Dubbawalas. You find food from very ethnic and regional culture to the eclectic and electrifying international culture. The famous dishes of the place are – Upma, Saar, Modaks, Sabudana Wada, Puranpolu, Vaara Paw, and other types of recipes. You have a comfort while you relish the deserts of the place. Mumbai is one of the renowned places in the world for sea-food.

The other famous regional cuisines of India are Kerala Delite, Tamilian Cuisine, Hyderabadi Cuisine, Bengali Cuisine, Assamese Cuisine, and Punjabi and Delhi cuisine, Rajasthani Cuisine and to name a few which have the vigor and versatility of cooking.

If you wish to feel the elate and richness of Indian food, you cannot afford to miss the Punjabi dishes of India. The Punjabi Cuisines are renowned throughout the world for their highly energetic food. The have some awesome cuisines which are very much indigenous to the land of Punjab and which are now eaten by people of all regions. They have brought about a revolution in the breakfast table with so many types of ‘Parathas’ for a heavy and perfect breakfast along with curd and other healthy items.

There are more than hundreds of original Punjabi dishes which you can prepare in your home and serve them. The great feeling of Punjabi food lies in the variety and versatility of their recipes. Here are few popular Punjabi dishes of India which are relished by people from all regions throughout India. They are simple to prepare and very tasty to gulp them down.

Alo-Gobi Recipe:

You need:

1 cauliflower, 4 potatoes, 1 tomato, ½ spoon turmeric powder, ½ spoon red chilly powder, 1 table spoon coriander powder, ½ table spoon sabji-masala, salt to taste, Ghee or oil. The ingredients mentioned here are for two-three people. You can increase the amount according to the servings you need.

Method:

Cut the potatoes (Alo) and cauliflower into pieces. Wash them properly. Now heat the oil or ghee in a cooking pan. Add some amount of chopped onion, paste of garlic and ginger. Fry the mixture till it is brownish in color. Now add the chopped cauliflower and potatoes. Cook in medium flame for 5 minutes. Now add chopped tomato, the turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander and cook it for another 5-10 minutes. If you wish you can add little amount of water so that the stuff don’t stick to the pan. Serve hot with bread (rotis).

Roasted Baingan ka Barhta

You Need:

two eggplants, I large onion chopped, 1 tomato chopped, garlic cloves, chopped green chillies, ½ oil, fresh coriander leaves chopped, and salt for taste.

Method:

Roast the eggplants till they are soft. Peel the skin of the eggplants and mash them. Add the desired amount of salt on it and mix the mash with salt. Make a mixture of oil (preferably mustard oil), chillies, onion, garlic cloves and coriander leaves. Add the mixture to the mashed eggplant and mix the whole stuff properly. You can pour one tablespoon of lime juice over it for taste and little amount of butter. Serve it with rotis.

Scorching summer, sweaty weather has again made its existence felt, in its every possible way. Now what is your strategy to fight back or to give it up? In case you opt for latter one, here’s how . All the seasons bring with them definite do's along with don’ts. So does this sweltering and blazing summer, especially Indian summers.

Avoid oily food

Eating excess of fried food causes lethargy. So go for grilled stuff, steamed, boiled and roasted eatables instead. Such food not only keeps you healthy but also makes

Reduce ingestion of beverages

Consuming excess of tea and coffee increases your urination period, leading to more water loss. You can always go for required amount of such drinks, but as they dehydrate your body fluids, so keep a proper check on their intake level.

Avoid eating stale foodstuffs (fruits and vegetable)

Do not cut Fruit and vegetables much earlier since it leads to water loss thereby causing degradation of their nutritional content that is why it is always recommended to consume only freshly peeled and chopped fruit and veggies. Make sure you avoid stale food because such a Food might be breeding floor for various bacteria.

Avoid excessive smoking and alcohol intake

Avoid both drinking alcohol and smoking cigars and cigarettes, as they dehydrate the contents of our body taking away the required oxygen substance from the blood vessels thereby causing suffocation in our lungs.

Avoid drinks rich in acidic contents

Try to Avoid such soft drinks since they produce gases in our body which leads to digestion problems like gastrointestinal distresses like stomach aches, diarrhea, vomiting etc. so, instead of feeding yourself with such processed carbonated drinks you can consume lemonade, lassi, jaljeera and home-made drinks like mango panna. These drinks help in maintaining the electrolyte balance of the body. Also, yoghurt if consumed with sugar reduces the acid that gets produced in the body because of former carbonated drinks.

Eat in less quantity

Over eating in any season is bad. Make sure your Chew your food bites properly and leave the habit of eating in hurry. In such sweltering summer, go for light meals, particularly at night. Otherwise you may go through indigestion, loose motions or vomiting. Avoid long gaps between meals too. Eat three times a day, interspersed with frequent snacks like salads, sprouts and fruits.