Simply innocence

Pasta in Roasted Peppers freshly infused with Tomato sauce

2009-04-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

I am surprised to get Wild Mushroom Agnolotti from the folks at Foodbuzz. It's generously filled with fresh portobello & crimini mushrooms, imported Grana Padano & Parmesan cheese and fresh roasted garlic.

Thanks to the folks at Foodbuzz for sampling it to every foodies including me to get creative in the kitchen and let them choose what combinations we love.

I wanted to try something creative on my own in the kitchen. Slowly, I came up with idea of bedding little pillowy pasta with roasted peppers and freshly infused with tomato sauce to give divine flavor.

If time is an issue, assemble the baked pasta dishes the day before you plan to serve them Believe it or not, it’s my first attempt to assemble pasta. I never enjoyed an expensive Italian restaurant after coming to US, and so I am not good in expert to assemble pasta.
To invent your own baked pasta combinations, try a mix-and-match approach.
I am sending this plate to Buitoni to create my own masterpiece.

Pasta in Roasted Peppers freshly infused with Tomato sauce

Ingredients:
1 pack Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 big onion chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoon red pepper flakes (As desired)
6 ripe Roma tomatoes chopped finely
2 tablespoon tomato sauce
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar (Optional)
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon chopped Coriander leaves
Grated Parmesan Cheese to serve

Directions:
Cook the pasta of your choice by following its instructions. Drain the pasta reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
Heat the oil in a saucepan and add crushed fennel seeds and minced garlic. Let them infused with the oil for a minute or two, but don’t burn too much
Add onion and fry it for 5 minutes until it becomes translucent.
Add pepper flakes with tomatoes to onion mixture for few minutes, and bring them to boil.
Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes and stirring occasionally.
Cut roasted green, red, and yellow peppers into julienne strips.
Add roasted pepper strips, salt, and freshly ground pepper to tomato mixture and cook for 3 minutes or until cooked through.
Combine tomato mixture, cooked pasta, and basil in a large bowl, and toss mixture well. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Generally, I do not add cheese to any pasta that has seafood, or hot spices as as the cheese would diffuse the heat of the sauce. I like to add little more of the pepper flakes and wait for a few minutes before tasting. You can always add more if desired, but you can't remove them if you have made the sauce too hot initially.

Roasted Peppers:
Cut the peppers in half, and remove the seeds and membranes. Then place the peppers on a baking sheet, and press each with the palm of your hand to flatten them.

Broil the peppers 5 1/2 inches from heat 15 to 20 minutes or until the skins are blackened. Immediately plunge the charred peppers into a bowl of ice water. Peel the charred skins from the peppers, and discard the pepper skins. The soft, slippery roasted pepper flesh will be ready to use or to freeze.

Buon Appetito!

Nadar Mutton Kari Kulambo

2009-04-23T23:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, it took long time for me to post my latest recipes. Let me tell you what I did from April 1st to April 24th. I was so tired of updating my two blogs and I only forgot about myself. Oh, pls dont get me wrong that I took care of my family,cooking and visitng my friend's houses. Then I didnt release my birthday on April 9th. One day before my birthday, my Mom called me to wish me and reminded me of my Birthday. But Karthik knows and wants to surprise me on that day. He just smiled at me. I told them that I wonder how time went so fast that day. Then I took break off to spend more time with my family and friends.
I won Freshwater Pearls when I participated in the contests of other blogs. I feel it's a special gift for my birthday.
Every days after school, I am taking care of my close friend's daughter,Sritha as her mother is working in her office and she'll come to pick her up after her office hours. She's a very sweet girl enough to surprise me with her lovely drawings for my birthday.
Easter day came on April 12th. We had function in our apartment office. We enjoyed lot in egg hunting after having morning free breakfast buffet there. The kids played Pumped-it-up. We were chatting with friends, having popcorn, cotton candy and snow-icecream. We came home with more egg candies, small packets of popcorn and some cotton candies. The next day, my house was in a mess. I was so tired to clean the whole house, throw the empty egg candies that I found everywhere in the house. Ah! lot of mess to clean and made me to foget me and my blog.
My neighbouring friend gave some sweets for us for Tamil New Year. I didnt cook anything special that day as I've enough food for us. After that, I had less free time to browse somethings. Then I came to know that Earth day is on 22 April. I recycled some stuffs and cleaned my kitchen.
On April 23rd, We enjoyed rehearsal program in school. After the program, We rushed to Starbucks with my cup to get free coffee on that day. I am only the coffee lover in the house.
On my birthday, we had fasting for full moon day. Before my birthday, Karthik bought me mutton as we all enjoyed to eat mutton kari kulambo. The recipe is very simple to cook but it gives more flavor and hard to resist. Pls dont blame me if you become addictive!
My Mutton Kari Kulambo goes to Orginal recipe

Ingredients:
Mutton - 2lb preferably Goat Meat
Big Onion - 3 chopped finely
Tumeric ground - 1 big pinch
water to cook mutton - 1 cup
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup (optional)
Oil - 5 tbsp
Salt to taste

Grind to smooth paste:
Dry red chilly - 11
Cumin seeds - 8 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 8 tbsp

Method:
Clean the mutton and keep aside.
Pour some water in the blender and grind the above ingredients to smooth paste like chutney.
In a pressure cooker, heat oil and fry onion till golden brown. Add mutton and fry for 3 minutes. Add the grinded paste, turmeric powder and salt. Add water and bring to boil. Close the lid and let it cook for 15 minutes over medium-low flame. Open the lid after the steam oozes out. Cook it again in low flame to get thick curry.
I also added 1/2 cup of coconut milk if it's too spicy. Serve hot with rice/idly/dosa/rotis.

Notes:
Dont cook it again in low flame if you want thin curry.
Adding 1/2 cup of coconut milk gives great flavor.

Rose Milk: Unconditional Love

2009-03-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

What do you think of the color "Pink"? To me it always represents rose milk, the beautiful smell from the essence of Rose reminds me of my childhood memories. My mom used to make it and put ice on top and gave it to me after school with a big glass of rose milk. It's because I hate milk and never enjoy to drink it plain with sugar or any drink mixes like Ovaltine, Boost, Horlicks etc.
Nowadays, I never tried it and enjoyed lot only in few restaurants in Singapore. Here, in US, I asked indian stores whether rose syrup is available or not. I was happy to get it and tried it. To my surprised, Jaihari too enjoyed it lot but his friend, Sritha just heard its name and didnt try it here as she never liked it.

I read its instruction in the back of the rose syrup. I know it'll be very sweet. So, I prepared my mind to change its measurement on my own. It's very easy and simpe unless you have rose syrup. Using the rose syrup, we can also make Semiya Payasam and other deserts.
I took rose syrup to Food of Miami who asked me what brand she can get it in the supermarket. She wants to try it urgently as it's very easy to make it for her. Let her enjoy drinking my rose milk, slurp...slurp...slurp... Do visit her blog to know the best restaurants, she ever tried, in the places where she travels around the world especially Mumbai.

Here's what I need:
1/4 cup or to taste Rose Syrup
4 glasses of chill milk
Ice cubes if prefered
Blend rose syrup, chill milk and some ice in a blender and push frozen drinks & shakes button to blend well. Serve it in a glass with some ice cubes. I am using Oster fusion and it blends great for smoothies and shakes.
Slurp, slurp, slurp............... and enjoy.

Methi Matar Malai: Scrumptious Delights

2009-03-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

On March 28th 2009, I thought of posting this recipe but unfortunatly we shop to Grapevine mall in texas to buy skate shoes for Jaihari who passed his Math test in Addition successfully. I am very busy mother in spending more time with him and Sritha(my friend's kid) to do their homework after their school. I love to write more in my blog but I didnt have enough time to write more in my blog. Please bear with me. I used to spend more time in cooking, helping to do thier homework, blogging and visiting my friends' houses.

My interent explorer is still not working till now. I use Mozilla Firefox and in that browser, my font sizes are too smaller and if I change it, then it'll look bigger in internet explorer. I dont want to change font in Mozilla Firefox. Pls let me know if anything goes wrong in interent explorer. My laptop is infected with virus. My hubby spend 2 days to clear it. I know it's hard. I'll greatly appreciate to you if you let me know the best software to protect the virus.
I decided to cook Methi Matar Malar to submit this picture to Click at jugalbandi, and the theme this month is wood and My Legume Love Affair - Ninth Helping (MLLA9) events. I dont have any suggestions of paticipating RCI-Lucknow event. Thanks lot dear Lavi of Home's Cook's recipe for asking me to send my recipe for Lucknowi special of Methi Matar Malai. I would be happy if anyone wishes me to choose dishes in my blog to participate their events.

Making time: 30 minutes excluding plucking fresh fenugreek leaves
Makes: 3 servings
Ingredients
1 bunch methi/fenugreek leaves chopped
1 cup green peas
2 small potatoes peeled and cut into cubed size pieces
1/2 cup cream or malai (I used half & half)
2 tbsp ghee or butter or oil
1 tsp sugar or 1/2 tsp splenda
1 pinch turmeric
salt to taste
1/2 tsp. cuminseeds
1 pinch asafoetida

Grind to smooth paste:
1 big onion
4 green chilies
1 tsp cashewnuts or 1/2 tbsp Almonds
2-3 green chillies
1" ginger
2 cardamom
3" stick cinnamon
3 cloves
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 cup Peas(to thicken the gravy)
1/2 cup water

Method:
1.Drain and wash well in colander under running water. Blend into smooth paste with 1/2 cup water.
2.Heat oil in a wide skillet/kadai. Season it with cumin seeds and asafoetida. Add ground paste and stirfry for 5 minutes in medium-low flame until the paste turns light golden brown.
3.Now add potatoes first, then methi leaves and finally peas. Stir fry for 2 minutes until the leaves wilt. Add sugar, salt and turmeric and stir fry for another 2 minutes
4. Add malai and 1 cup of water. Cover and cook in low flame for 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
5. Drizzle little cream or grated panner/tofu on top if desired and serve piping hot with any Indian bread or flavoured Rice.

Notes:
For low fat version of this Methi Matar Malai, replace fresh cream with yogurt. Cashew nuts can also be avoided to replace it with almonds. You can also grind 1/4 cup of almond to get thick gravy instead of peas.
Sugar is optional but recommended to avoid bitterness from the fenugreek leaves. If the curry is too thick, mix in a few tblsp of milk.

Cracked Wheat: Fast To cook, Good To Eat

2009-03-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

On March 24, I had flu in the evening. I felt so drowsy after tablets, make me so tired and sleepy. Dont know what to cook for dinner. Thinking, thinking, thinking, I want to cook some simple and eloborate meal for tonight dinner. Upma is very simple to cook and some varieties of upma will not satisfy us fully. Atleast, I choosed to cook the cracked wheat#2 with tomato. This cracked wheat is little bigger than creacked wheat #1. Some of you may like it or not. We simply love to eat it with banana, sugar and pickle. Whenever I get mood and want to changes from tomato or few mixed veggies or only peas to plain upma only with chopped onion.
Oh, it's getting cold in our house when the weather is very warm outside, it'll be warm when the weather is hot outside and it'll be hot when it's very hot outside. I wonder the temperature inside and outside keep changing. In the same way, when you eat this upma as soon as it's cooked and you'll feel warm inside ur body. Isn't it that amazing?

Ingredients:
2 cups Cracked wheat#2
1 cup Vermicelli/Semiya
6 cups water
1 big onion chopped finely
5 green chilies slit open
1 stick curry leaves
1 small tomato
4 garlic chopped finely
Salt to taste

Seasonings:
2 tbsp Oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tbsp chana dal
1/4 tsp Asafetida/Hing

Method:
Heat oil in a big kadai. Do the above seasonings. Add garlic, green chilies, curry leaves and fry till soft. Add onion and fry till golden brown. Add tomato and let it cook for 5 minutes till it turns pulpy and releases its juice. Add water and salt and bring to boil. Check salt to taste. Finally add cracked wheat and semiya. Mix well and close the lid. Let it cook for 8 to 10 minutes in medium low flame. Serve hot.
It's ok if it burnt little and it gives crunchy and chewy taste. Try it out and enjoy it.
Cracked Wheat with Tomato goes to goes to FIL-Tomatoes event by Sanghi of Sanghi's Food Delights, Srivalli of "Cooking for 4 all seasons", who is guest hosting "Monthly Mingle" this month with "Kids lunches" and JFI- Wheat

Restaurant Style Tomato Chutney/Red Chutney

2009-03-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

I know every one makes regular tomato chutney without coconut. Can anyone say how come this tasty is so tasty in the restaurant and enjoyed lot with idlies or king-sized Paper Dosai? We can sense they only add coconut to make it more chutney to save the costs of tomatoes. Isnt it? If anyone try it, then it'll remind you to get the similar taste that you tried in any good restaurants. Most of the women including me omit coconut as it's not good for health but enjoyed it lot in the restaurants. Yes, it's funny and just give good smile :). I am pleased to everyone to try it and let me know howmany idlies you had. I am very sure that everyone will enjoy it with more idlies especially kids. When I was in the restaurant, I tasted it 4 to 8 times by eating slowly to find out what ingredient they had. Then I found the smell of coconut and tried it. I was amazed that it gives the same taste as in the restaurant.

Ingredients:
1 Red onion
1 big ripe tomato
2 dry red chilly
1/4 cup freshly grated coconut
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp oil
Seasonings:
1 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp split urad dal
1 dry red chilly
6 nos curry leaves
1/4 tsp ground Asafoetida

Method:
Heat 1 tbsp of oil and fry dry red chilies along with chopped onion until translucent. Now add chopped tomatoes and cook until it becomes soft and mushy to blend well and make it a thick curry. Add salt and coconut and grind well. Add water little as required to run the blender to make thick and smooth chutney paste.
Heat one tsp of oil and do the above seasonings. Serve it with idly or dosa by drizzling with Gingely oil on top.

Luckily, only 2 entries I found to pass this chutney to FIL-Tomatoes event by Sanghi of Sanghi's Food Delights and FIC-PINK hosted by Priya of Priya's Easy And Tasty Recipes.

Paruppu Urundai Moru Kulambo:Fool Proof

2009-02-23T11:39:00.000-08:00

Paruppu Urndai Moru Kulambo

I tried it from 660 curries as it sounds new to me. Most of the tamil kitchen make Paruppu Urundai for this plain cury as kulambo. It tastes good but different from our regular moru kulambo. I was panic to use then number of chilies in this recipe but the pigeon peas, buttermilk, half and half, and coconut are all these purpose of lowering the heat.
I didnt follow the same instructions for making this dumplings from that book. I used paniyaram pan and spray cooking oil and put all the dumplings and cook it on very low flame. Outside of the dumplings cooked so fast but 100% is not cooked well inside :( Microwave them for 5 minutes so that they're fully cooked and added them into the buttermilk mixture. If anyone like my idea, you can also try it and you'll get the same result as shown in the above picture.
Serves 8
For the dumplings:
1 cup oily or unoily skinned split yellow pigeon peas (toovar dal),
12 dried red thai or cayenne chiles, stems removed
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh curry leaves
1/4 cup rice flour
1 teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground asafetida
1/4 cup canola oil
For the curry:
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup half-and-half
1 cup shredded fresh coconut; or 1/2 cup shredded dried unsweetened coconut, reconstituted
4 to 6 d dried red thai or cayenne chiles, to taste, stems removed
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt
12 medium-size to large fresh curry leaves
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds
Method:
1. To make the dumplings:
Place the pigeon peas in a medium-size bowl. Fill the bowl halfway with water and rinse the peas by rubbing them between your fingertips. The water will become cloudy. Drain this water.
Repeat 3 or 4 times, until the water remains relatively clear; drain. Now fill the bowl halfway with warm water and the chiles. Let it sit at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap, until the pigeon peas have softenened, at least 30 minutes or as long as 4 hours.
2. Drain the pigeon peas and chiles, and transfer them to a food processor. Process to form a red-speckled slightly gritty paste. Scrape this into a medium-size bowl. Fold in the curry leaves, rice flour, salt and asafetida.
3. Heat a wok or a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over medium-heat. Drizzle the oil down its sides. When the oil has formed a shimmering pool at the bottom, add the thick pigeon pea paste. Cook, stirring and spreading it out evenly with a back of a spoon, until it changes from a wet, sticky-feeling, batterlike dough to a dull, dry-feeling, soft, doughlike mass, 3 to 5 minutes. (At first, the paste will stick to the spoon. Keep scraping it off with spatula. Then, as it cooks, the paste will stop sticking. Dont overcook it, or the dough will dry out, turning into small pebble-like chunks that will be difficult to shap.) Transfer the dough to a plate to cook.
4. Once it's cool to the touch, divide the dough into 16 equal portions. Compress each portion tightly in the palm of your hand, forming a tight walnut-size dumpling. Place the dumplings on a baking sheet, cover them with plastic wrap, and set them aside while you prepare the curry.(You can prepare the dumplings upto 2 days aheas; cover and refrigerate.)
5. Now, make the curry:
Whish the buttermilk and half-and-half together in a medium-size bowl.
6. Pour 1/4 cup water into a blender jar, followed by the coconut, chiles, cumin and coriander. Puree, scraping the inside of the jar as needed, to make a gritty, red speckled citrus-smelling sauce. Pour this into the butermilk mixture, and stir in the salt and curry leaves.
7. Heat the oil in a medium-size saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds, cover the pan, and cook until the seeds have stopped popping (not unlike popcorn), about 30 seconds. Immediately and carefully pour the buttermilk mixture into the pan and stir once or twice. Add the dumplings in a single layer. Lower the heat to medium and bring the curry to a gentle boil. As soon as it starts to boil, remove the pan from the heat. You will notice that the curry has instantly started to thicken, thanks to the rice flour in the dumplings and the coconut in the sauce. Gently lift the buttermilk-drenched dumplings and transfer them to a serving bowl or platter. Pour the sauce over them. ( One or two dumplings may fall apart, but that's okay. That's the reason why you remove the pan from the heat as soon as the sauce comes to boil; The more it boils, the more the dumplings will start to disintegrate.) Serve immediately.
I am sending this entry to My Legume Love Affair-Eighth Helping and Lentils Mela of Ashwini's spicy cuisine.

Split moong dal with Brinjal Curry:Spirit of Love

2009-02-15T21:14:00.000-08:00

I am very happy that Cooking for kids with Love event is announced to write more about pedatha(amayee) better than food. I thank you, Sharmi of Neivedyam who lovely invites me to participate this wonderful event to make sure that I shouldnt be missed.

The meal that I learnt from her is rice, Kathirikkai paasi paruppu Kulambo(Split moong dal & Brinjal Curry), Valaikkai Porial and Kothumai rava payasam(Cracked wheat Payasam)
Yes, I am very sure that even Kids love to eat that meals to their heart content cooked by my Pedatha.
Let me write one recipe of her Kathirikkai paasi paruppuai Kulambo(Split moong dal & Brinjal Curry)
Ingredients:
Paasi Paruppu(Split moong dal) - 1/2 cup
Brinjal - 4 or 5 (chopped into lengthwise)
Onion - 1 (chopped finely)
Sambar podi - 1 tbsp
Green chilly - 3 whole
Garlic - 3 crushed
turmeic - 1/4 tsp
Shredded coconut - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp + 1tbsp (for frying and seasoning)
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Seasonings:
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
urad dal - 1 tbsp
hing - pinch
Curry leaves - 1 stick or few
Coriander leaves for garnishing.
Wash the dal and pressure cook it with 3 cups of water, green chilly, crushed garlic, turmeric and oil for 3 whistles.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a saucepan. Fry brinjals till soft and keep aside. In the same pan, add one tbsp of oil and do the seasonings. Fry onion till transcalent. Add brinjal and sambar podi into the onion mixture. Fry for few minutes. Add dhal with enough water, salt and coconut. Let it cook for 10 minutes in medium low flame. Add ghee and garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice, roti, idly, dosa.

2009-02-05T01:48:00.000-08:00

Ingredients
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (2 1/2-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more, to taste
2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons plain low-fat yogurt, for garnish

Directions
Heat oil over medium heat in a 6-quart stockpot. Add onions and garlic and saute until soft but not brown, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add the butternut squash, broth, curry powder and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat stir in honey and puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a blender until smooth. Season with salt, to taste.
Ladle into serving bowls and add a dollop of yogurt.

My soup goes to Cooking for kids hosted by Preety, Made for Each Other and Just For You.

Gajar Ka halwa

2009-02-04T23:56:00.000-08:00

Gajar ka Halwa is the most popular Indian desert. Gajar in Hindi means Carrot and it can also be called Carrot pudding. I love to eat it when it's hot or warm as it has a rich taste with a fragrant of cardamon. I love to cook carrot in the pressure cooker to get rid of its raw smell. I dont have khoya and silvered almond in hand for garnishing. It would be good if it's decorated with it. Some people cooked it in a different way like cooking it directly on the pan, adding more ghee and sugar, adding saffron and adding Khoya.
I wanted to cook something sweet for my family. I am thinking over again and again. Then I asked my Karthik to buy bunch of fresh carrots in kroger. I decided to cook Gajar Ka Halwa with less ghee and less sugar to taste. I dint expect that it came out excellent. I feed Jaihari and he told me, "Mummy, that's enough". I was not happy and thinking that he hates it. The next day, his daddy opened the fridge to take it and microwave it for 10 seconds. He knows that I enjoyed when it's hot. I was very busy in blogging and he feed me. He also finished it. Jaihari asked, "Mummy, I love that orange sweet, where's the one for me?" I burst into laughter and told him that it's over and asked why he didnt say that he liked it. He smiled and said that he simply admired it. I made him sure to make some sweets for him the next day. He hugged me.
I want to pass it to my readers and friends in my blog to wish to say thinking of you in a special day with bouquet of roses, smiles, love and hug. Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Ingredients:
5 to 6 Carrots
1/2 cup to 1 cup Milk (adjust)
4 Cardamom pods
1/4 cup Water
3 tablespoons Ghee
1/4 cup of mixed nuts ( walnut, pecan, pistachios, almonds, sunflower seeds, cashewnuts and raisins)
1/4 cup Sugar

Wash and grate the carrots. Pressure cook it for 2 whistles with 1/4 cup water.
Heat one tsp of ghee and add the carrot just to coat well on medium flame. Add milk. Reduce the flame when it's boiling.
Cook on a low flame for 1 hour stirring occasionally. Add sugar, mix well and cook till the sugar has dissolved and all the milk has been absorbed.
Add the slightly crushed cardamoms. Heat 3 tablespoon of ghee in another small saucepan and fry mixed well till golden and add to the halwa. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Remove the gajjar halwa from heat and arrange in a serving dish. Serve cold, hot or at room temperature.
My desert goes to Cooking for kids hosted by Preety, RCI Haryana Event, Made for Each Other, Just For You, LOVE-HEART SHAPED FOODS and Healthy Family Dinners.

2009-02-04T22:44:00.000-08:00

This recipe is orginally adapted by Alfred Prasad, Head chef at London's Michelin-starred Tamarind Restaurant. It's all time favourite to varieties of Indian Bread. I made similar changes to this orginal recipe. It infused oil with redchilles and coriander seeds to make rich flavour to the dish.
What to Need:
1.5 tbsp Vegetable oil ror frying Paneer
3 tsp Coriander seeds
250 grams Paneer (Indian Cottage cheese)
2 Green peppers
1 tsp Kasoori methi
A bunch Coriander leaves
2 Red chillies (whole)
1 tsp Coriander seeds
6 cloves Garlic
3 tbsp Olive oil or ghee
1 tsp Red chilli powder
½ tsp Turmeric powder
6 Tomatoes
11/2 tsp Salt to taste

Making Kadhai sauce:
First, put two whole red chillies and 3 teaspoons of coriander seeds into a blender or food processor, and blend for about 20 seconds until you have a coarse powder.
Put 3 tbsp of oil into a frying pan to heat over a hot flame. Add the coarse powder to the frying pan. Stir, turn down to a low heat, and leave to fry for about 3 minutes
Use a sharp knife to finely chop the 6 cloves of garlic. . Add the garlic to the frying pan and fry for about 5 minutes until golden.
Chop up the tomatoes and add them to the pan. Turn the flame up to a high heat and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add 1 level teaspoon of red chilli powder, and 1/2 a teaspoon of turmeric powder, and stir. Turn down to a medium heat, cover, and leave for about 20 minutes until the tomatoes are pulped.

Frying the Paneer with Capsicum:
If it's store-brought, cut 250g of paneer into 1cm cubes. Then, fill a small bowl with warm water.
Cut the green peppers into squares of a similar size as the cheese.
Heat about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in the frying pan, over a medium heat. Now, add 5g of coriander seeds. The seeds will start to crackle, and pop. When this happens, add the paneer cheese. Fry for about 2 minutes until a little bit golden and keep aside. In the same oil fry the chopped peppers for 2 minutes till it's soft.

Mix Paneer and Green peppers to the sauce :
Add a little water to the pan. Keep stirring until it comes to the boil. Pour in the Kadhai sauce you prepared earlier.
Add one tsp Kasoori Methi to the pan, and stir for a slightly bitter flavour.
Finally, roughly chop a small bunch of fresh coriander and add it to the pan.
Add salt to taste. Stir for a further 30 seconds and then serve.

My kadai goes to Cooking for kids hosted by Preety, Made for Each Other and Just For You.

2009-01-31T00:00:00.001-08:00

When we were in Singapore, I want to try something different and saw Hemant Trivedi's messages in one of the forum. I thank him for sending his recipes.
One remarkable thing about Rajasthani recipes is, without the usage of Onions and Garlic , the dishes that are prepared are remarkably tasty .One such dish which stole my heart is Methiwale Kabuli Chhole. (Chick peas with fenugreek leaves).This curry is prepared both in dry and gravy version. But my suggestion is to prepare semi gravy version. If you taste this once, you would love to try this out again and again.Enjoy this curry with Parathas, Rotis and rice.
(Two servings for a family of four)
Kabuli channa (white) 200 gms
Fenugreek leaves 2 cups
Tomato 1 large
Ginger 1" piece
Green chilies 2 nos.
Kothumalli 1/4 cup
Jeera powder 3/4 tsp.
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp.
Garam Masala 1/2 to 3/4 tsp.
Chili powder 1 tsp.
Asafoetida (raw) 1/2 tsp.
Besan/kadalai maavu 1 tbsp. (I omit it)
Amchur powder/Tamarind to taste
Cooking Soda 1/8 tsp. or three to four pinches.
Salt to taste
Tempering
Jeera 1 tsp.
Fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp.
Cloves 4 to 5 nos.
Cinnamon 3 nos of 1/2 " sticks
Mustard 3/4 tsp. A
safoetida 1/2 spoon
Ghee 2 to 3 ladles
Soak channa for 6 to 8 hours in boiling water with cooking soda added to water. Then pressure cook till channa becomes properly cooked. Please ensure that the channa is really very soft. Cut tomato in small pieces. Pluck kothumalli, fenugreek and cut both very finely. Grate ginger , cut green chilies finely and set aside. Make thick liquid of Kadalai maavu in water in a cup and set aside.
Take ghee in a kadai and add tempering spices. When cloves puff up and mustard starts to crackle, add green chilies and Ginger. Turn for a minute. Now add 1/2 spoon of Asafoetida and immediately add 2 cups of fenugreek leaves. Add salt and turn the leaves in kadai for about four to five minutes. Vendhi kirai (fenugreek leaves) would get cooked by now. Add all the dry masalas including garam masala . Turn for five seconds and add tomato pieces and turn for four to five minutes on medium to slow fire. Ensure that the tomato pieces are softened .
Now add pressure cooked kabuli channa. Mix the fenugreek masala thoroughly. Crush about 10 percent of the Channas. Now add about 150 ml of water (one tumbler) and set the flame on medium and let it simmer for about seven to eight minutes.
Now add thick solution of kadalai maavu in water to the gravy along with half a spoon of raw Asafoetida powder , Amchur powder, or Tamarind extract to taste, and mix thoroughly. Add cut kothumalli and let it simmer for further three to four minutes. Serve hot.
My one pot of meal goes to My Legume Love Affair, Seventh Helping!, JFI Chickpeas and Healthy Family Dinners.

2009-01-29T11:06:00.001-08:00

CornMeal-CrustedRoasted Ratatouille Tart

Recipe Source: Ellie Krieger in the book "The Food You Crave".
Cook Time:1 hr 5 min
Level:Intermediate
8 servings

Ingredients
Crust:
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup whole-grain pastry flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons water

Filling:
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced (about 1/3 cup)
Cooking spray
1/2 pound thinly sliced eggplant rounds (about 1/3 medium eggplant)
1 zucchini, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds (about 8 ounces)
3 medium tomatoes, sliced thinly
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions:
For the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine cornmeal, pastry flour, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to incorporate. Add butter and oil and pulse about 20 times, until mixture resembles small pebbles. Add water and pulse until mixture forms a loose dough. Remove dough from processor and press into bottom and about 1/8-inch up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan with a detachable rim. Press aluminum foil into the bottom and sides of the pan on top of the dough and weigh down with uncooked rice or pie weights. Place tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and remove rice and foil. Return to oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until no longer shiny and wet. Remove from oven and let cool.

For the filling: Increase the oven to 400 degrees F. Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat; saute shallots until soft, about 5 to 6 minutes. Spray 2 baking trays with cooking spray. Arrange the eggplant, zucchini and tomato slices on the trays in a single layer and brush with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and roast the vegetables until soft but not browned, about 15 minutes. Remove the vegetables from oven and cool.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Lay the eggplant slices in 2 layers on the bottom of tart; cover with 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese and some of the shredded basil. Add the zucchini and shallots, top with another 1/3 of the mozzarella and basil, then the tomatoes. Top with rest of the mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and vegetables have further wilted. Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes, and cut into 8 slices. Serve warm. Sending this slices to Bee and Jai, Christey of FotoCuisine, Mallory Elise of The Salty Cod, Manisha of Indian Food Rocks, Rajesh of Eye of Ra and Suganya of Tasty Palettes

2009-01-27T00:15:00.000-08:00

Paal Pongal is cooked on the third day of Mattu Pongal and served with Pongal Kuzhambu or Sambar with atleast 6 vegetables.
During my college days, I stayed with my parents. I never entered into the kitchen to see how my mom cooked it. My maids helped my mom lot. I was so comfortable with my parents, brother and friends, chatting, playing and fighting. On that day, my mom asked me whether I cooked Paal Pongal as she knows I loved it very badly and enjoyed it lot first with Pongal Kuzhambu, then later with curd and pickle. Yum, yum, yum what she cook would be more tasty and finger-licking. I requested my Karthik to get recipe from her on phone. I was busy in teaching my Jaihari to complete his homework. You can see his handwritings in this picture below.

Ingredients:
1 cup - Harvest Rice(Pongal Rice) or Raw Rice
2 cups - Thick Milk(Low fat milk can also be used)
1 cup - Water
Salt to taste
1/4 cup - Cold Milk
Presure Cook rice with milk, water and salt for 3 to 5 whistles. Let it sit on the stove for 10 to 15 minutes till steam oozes out.
Open the lid and then add cold milk. Serve it with sambar or Pongal Kuzhambu.
I am preparing it for Harvest: The Festival of Rice and WHO'S GONA COOK FOR ME????

2009-01-20T16:05:00.000-08:00

Nowadays, banana bread became so popular and enjoy with tiny bits of walnuts or any nuts. It's very easy to make and it’s also extremely moist and flavorful. I know people will love it as much as I do. I am going to try it with different flavor or any nuts combined with correct consistency of sugar with or without eggs.

This banana bread is the perfect solution for the ripe banana problem. As long as the bananas have not fermented well, they will work. Ideally, the skins should be covered with black or yellow spots. An all yellow banana wont lend enough flavor to the bread. You may freeze ripe bananas in a freeze bag to save them for a bake day. Just be sure to strain off and discard any liquid that separates from the pulp when it thaws.

I am really very sad that my son, Jaihari hates to eat any fruits especially, banana. He enjoys to eat it lot and requests me to make it often. We often eat it with a cup of coffee or tea while watching late movies at every Saturday night. Try this recipe, share it with me and enjoy it lot.

Fat free Vegan Banana Bread

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (or grated fresh)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Topping:
1 sliced banana
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Method:
In a large bowl peel the bananas and break them into small pieces. With a potato masher, mash the bananas. Set aside. In a separate bowl add oil, applesauce, white and brown sugar, mix together and whisk briefly to incorporate. Add in the mashed bananas and mix until well blended.
Sift in the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.Without over mixing combine the flour and banana mixtures together. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
Pour batter into a well greased 9x 5 loaf pan.Peel a banana and slice into pieces. Place the banana slices down the middle of the batter. Top the banana slices with chopped walnuts.
Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 55 - 60 minutes until a skewer inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.
Let the loaf cool in a pan for 10 to 15 minutes and turn it out on to a wire rack. Let them cool atleast 1 hour before slicing. Makes 1 loaf.
I’m sending a slice of loaf to Susan at Wild Yeast for Yeastspotting, to Floyd at The Fresh Loaf and to Sindhura of THE BREAD MANIA event.

2009-01-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

One remarkable thing about Rajasthani recipes is, without the usage of Onions and Garlic , the dishes that are prepared are remarkably tasty .
One such dish which stole my heart is Methiwale Kabuli Chhole. (Chick peas with fenugreek leaves).
This curry is prepared both in dry and gravy version. But my suggestion is to prepare semi gravy version. If you taste this once, you would love to try this out again and again.
Enjoy this curry with Parathas, Rotis and rice.

(Two servings for a family of four)
Kabuli channa (white) 200 gms Fenugreek leaves 2 cups
Tomato 1 large Ginger 1" piece
Green chilies 2 nos. Kothumalli 1/4 cup
Jeera powder 3/4 tsp. Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp.
Garam Masala 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. Chili powder 1 tsp.
Asafoetida (raw) 1/2 tsp. Besan/kadalai maavu 1 tbsp.
Amchur powder/Tamarind to taste Cooking Soda 1/8 tsp. or three to four pinches.
Salt to taste

Tempering
Jeera 1 tsp. Fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp.
Cloves 4 to 5 nos. Cinnamon 3 nos of 1/2 " sticks
Mustard 3/4 tsp. Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Ghee 2 to 3 ladles

Soak channa for 6 to 8 hours in boiling water with cooking soda added to water. Then pressure cook till channa becomes properly cooked. Please ensure that the channa is really very soft. Cut tomato in small pieces. Pluck kothumalli, fenugreek and cut both very finely. Grate ginger , cut green chilies finely and set aside. Make thick liquid of Kadalai maavu in water in a cup and set aside.

Take ghee in a kadai and add tempering spices. When cloves puff up and mustard starts to crackle, add green chilies and Ginger. Turn for a minute. Now add 1/2 spoon of Asafoetida and immediately add 2 cups of fenugreek leaves. Add salt and turn the leaves in kadai for about four to five minutes. Vendhi kirai (fenugreek leaves) would get cooked by now. Add all the dry masalas including garam masala . Turn for five seconds and add tomato pieces and turn for four to five minutes on medium to slow fire. Ensure that the tomato pieces are softened .

Now add pressure cooked kabuli channa. Mix the fenugreek masala thoroughly. Crush about 10 percent of the Channas. Now add about 150 ml of water (one tumbler) and set the flame on medium and let it simmer for about seven to eight minutes.

Now add thick solution of kadalai maavu in water to the gravy along with half a spoon of raw Asafoetida powder , Amchur powder, or Tamarind extract to taste, and mix thoroughly. Add cut kothumalli and let it simmer for further three to four minutes.

Your Fenugreek Kabuli Channa is ready. Serve piping hot.

Enjoy!!!

2009-01-05T11:27:00.000-08:00

Semiya Upma is our family favorite meal. Very light and tasty meal for Breakfast or Tiffin. It's cooked with vegetables and tempered with spices for flavor.

Serves: 4-5
Ingredients:
2 cups Vermicelli (I used MTR Vermicelli)
1 medium Onion, finely chopped
1 medium Carrot, peeled and grated
6-8 French Beans, trimmed and cut into small pieces
¼ cup Green Peas (I used frozen and so no need to thaw)
2-3 Green Chillies, slit open
2 Clove, Garlic peeled and cut into thin strips or grated
2-3 tbsp Fresh Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp Fresh Lime Juice
2 tsp Oil + ½ tbsp of Oil or Ghee for roasting Vermicelli
Salt to taste
For Tadka/Tempering:
1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
Hing A Pinch
1 tbsp Channa Dal/Split Chickpeas
½ tbsp Urad Dal/Split Black Lentils
1-2 Dry Red Chilli, halved
2 strings Curry Leaves

Method:
Heat ½ tbsp of Oil or Ghee in a pan and add Vermicelli to it. Roast this vermicelli on low heat till it turns light golden brown in colour, about 2 minutes. Let it cool.
Heat the remaining oil in a pan and and temper with mustard, cumin seeds, channa dal, split black gram, hing, red chillies and curry leaves. Sauté till lentils turn golden, about 1 minute.
Now add finely chopped onion, slit green chillies and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes on low flame till onion turns light golden brown.
Add carrot, beans and green peas and cook covered for 2-3 minutes.
Add water and bring to boil. When it's boiling add salt, lime juice and roasted Vermicelli. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.
Garnish with little coriander leaves and serve with podi or pickle.
Tip:
For 1 cup Vermicelli(semiya) is equivalent to 1¾ cup of Water.
Send this link to Eat Healthy - During Pregnancy , Winter Treat, Recipes for the rest of us,WHO'S GONA COOK FOR ME????, Sunday Snacks - Hot n Spicy

2009-01-05T09:29:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
2 tbsp ghee or oil
1 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1 tomato, peeled and finely chopped
1 cooked potato, diced
1/2 cup cooked peas or if frozen, no need to thaw
1 fresh green chili, chopped
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 tbsp grated cheddar cheese
1.Preheat the broiler to medium. Heat the ghee in a large, heavy-bottom skillet. Add the garlic and onion and cook gently over medium heat. Then add the tomato, potato, peas, chile, ground coriander, cumin and chopped fresh cilantro and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the onion has softenened and the mixture is well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Add the eggs, cover and cook over low heat for 4 to 5 minutes, ou until the underside is golden brown.
3. Sprinkle the cheese over the omelet and cook briefly under the preheated broiler until the cheese has melted and the top of the omelet is set. Slide out of the skillet and serve imemediately.
Send this link to Eat Healthy - During Pregnancy , The 101 Recipe Series, Winter Treat , Recipes for the rest of us.

2008-12-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

I used this recipe from Martha Stewarts’s Baking HandBook. These book brings the pleasure of baking to readers at every level, from beginner to expert and beyond. It guides them through the process of creating an irrestible variety of cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, breads, equipments for baking goods and much more. I learnt Peanut butter cookes without fillings for the very first time. It encourages me to learn more from this book.
My cookies goes to participate 5 entries:Holiday Cookie Baking Event, Eat Healthy - During Pregnancy Baking For Beginners - put on those mittens!!, Cookies/Biscuits Fest ed and Baked sweets & chocolates Cookies/Biscuits Fest. Yes, healthy cookies includes proteins, carbohydrates and fats are good not only for pregnancy women but also for their new born babies growth developments. It should be strictly avoided if they have allergies to nuts or family history of allergies to nuts.

Makes about 3 dozen sandwich cookies
2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ sticks (3/4 cup) butter, room temperature
¾ cup smooth peanut butter, preferably natural
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Filling (recipe follows)

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Place butter, peanut butter and both sugars in the bowl of the electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat to combine, scrap down the sides of the bowl, if needed. With mixer on low add reserve flour mixture and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute.

Divide dough in half and shape into two flattened disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a ¼ inch thickness. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 2 1/2 –by- 1-inch rectangles. I cut a thick piece of paper with these measurements and used it as a stencil. I traced by knife around it. Much easier than eye balling it. Using the floured tines of a fork, score the top of each cookie. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheet, placing ½ inch apart, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until lightly golden around the edges and firm in the center, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Using an offset spatula, spread 1 tbsp. filling onto the flat sides of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping flat sides down. Unfilled cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to a week. Once filled, cookies are best eaten that day, but can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Here's another link for vegan Peanut butter sandwich cookies with fillings in Disney's Vegan Kitchen .

Peanut Butter Filling
Makes enough to fill 3 dozen cookies

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
¾ cup smooth peanut butter, preferably natural
3 tbsp. heavy cream
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachments combine all ingredients. Beat on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Use immediately or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate u to 3 days. If refrigerated, let filling stand at room temperature to soften, you might have to stir or beat to attain desired consistency.

2008-12-18T21:10:00.000-08:00

1 cup Shrimp
2 big Onion (chopped finely)
2 Roma Tomatoes (diced)
5 Green chili (small)
1/4 cup mint leaves/pudina
1/4 cup Coriander leaves
1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp Red chili powder
Salt to taste
2 tsp Ghee
2 tbsp Oil
2 cup Basmati rice
3 nos Cloves
3 nos Cinnamon stick
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1/2 cup curd
4 cup Hot Water
1 lemon
Method:
Clean the shrimp, wash in cold water and set aside. Chop the onions finely, dice the tomatoes and slit open the green chilies. Chop mint leaves and coriander leaves. Beat the curd and keep aside. Wash the rice till the water is clear.
Now take a big kadai, heat oil and ghee, add all the fennel seeds, whole cloves, cinnamon,one by one and let them sizzle for a while. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till raw smell goes away. Add mint leaves and coriander and fry till the leaves are wilt. Add the onions and green chilies and fry till translucent. Add tomatoes and shrimp pieces. Cover and cook over medium flame for 5 minutes to cook the shrimp thoroughly. Now add the red chili powder, curd and salt. Fry till the masala leaves the sides and add rice and fry for 3 minutes to coat the masala well. Then add hot water and bring to boil and check salt to taste. Cover the lid. Simmer at medium-low flame for 10 minutes or till rice is cooked. Serve after 30 minutes.

Pregnant women should strictly cut down the intake of shark, king mackerel, swordfish and tilefish totally as the toxin content in these fish is very high. The fish with lower content of mercury should be avoided that may harm an unborn baby or young child's developing nervous system. Shrimp, canned light tuna, catfish, pollock, tuna streak, marlin and grouper and salmon
The consumption of these products should be confined to only 12 ounces a week.
Sending this entry for Maryann's Seven Fishes Feast and Sangeeth's Eat Healthy - During Pregnancy

Baked Fish Fry:
Pomfret 2
Red chilly ground 1 tsp
Ground cumin 1 tsp
Ground black pepper 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste 2 tsp
Lemon juice 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Crisco Oil 3 tsp

Wash the fish and marinate it with ground redchilly, ground cumin, ground pepper, ginger garlic paste, lemon juice and salt for 30 minutes or overnight.
Preheat 450 degree F, grease the oven plate and place the fish on it. Spray the fish with crisco and bake for 10 minutes on each side by turning it and cooked through.

2008-12-15T12:37:00.001-08:00

Moong dal has good source of low in saturated fat, no cholesterol, very high in dietary fiber, high in iron, high in manganese and high in phosporus. Some dals like toor dal forms gas during pregnancy and so moong dal is better than toor dal and it's easily digested. During earlier pregnancy, it's very hard to consume healthy food cooked with onion and garlic. This dal cooked with rice(Ven Pongal) is a good substitue to prevent nausea for those who hate the sight or smell of onion and garlic for their breakfast or dinner during their earlier pregnancy. This is my past experience, I had during my first preganancy. Thanks to Sangeeth of Art of cooking Indian Food for announcing Eat Healthy-Duing Pregnancy event which would be useful for new moms to-be or others who have less knowledge can learn from her event.
Ingredients:
1 cup raw rice
½ cup moongdal
2 1/2 cup water
11/2 tsp Salt or to taste
Hing ¼ tsp
one green chilli
1 1/2 inch ginger
Ghee 5 tablespoon

Garnishing:
1 tsp coarsely whole black pepper
1 tsp pounded cumin seeds
7 broken cashew nuts
One string curry leaves

This pongal goes to participate 3 events Announcing "Recipes for the rest of us" , Eat Healthy - During Pregnancy and Food In Colors (FIC)

Method:
Wash the rice and dhal 3 or 4 times till the water is clear. In a saucepan, boil rice and dal adding water ,salt, hing, ginger, green chilli and cook till soft ( in a pressure cooker, cook it for 3 to 4 whistles)Open the cooker. Mash the rice well.
In a kadai, pour ghee and fry cashew nuts, coarsely pepper, pounded cumin seeds , curry leaves mix it in the rice mixture.
Pongal ready have with sambar, chutney or Kosthu or maple syrup
Tips:
Add 1/4 cup of milk after it's cooked to look white and soft.

2008-12-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

Green Lentils can either be soaked for 2 to 4 hours to cook fast for about 20 minutes approximately in 2 cups of water OR Cook lentils without soaking for 45- 50 minutes with approximately 3 cups of water. They're whole and soft after cooking. It absorbs lot of water during cooking. It's advisable to add more water if required. We can cook it for making curries, soup, pulao and salad. They're very healthy to eat for those who are pregnant and have low-glycemic for diabetics.
Green Lentils are cooked in a delicious blends of spinach, onion, garlic and spices. Okra is known as bhindi, ladies' fingers great combo for this dal.

Green Lentil with Spinach goes to participate two healthy events of Art of cooking Indian Food and My Legume Love Affair Sixth Helping

Ingredients:

Serves 4
1 cup Green Lentils
5 cups water
3 tbsp oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 leek, trimmed and shredded
12 oz spinach, stalks trimmed and leaves coarsely shredded
1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
1-2 tsp ground chilli
11/2 tsp-2 tsp cumin seeds
11/2 tsp-3 tsp ground coriander
salt and pepper
How to cook:
1. Place the lentils in a strainer and rinse well under cold running water. Drain, then place in a saucepan with the water. Cover and cook for 30 minutes until the lentils are tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan and add cumin and then garlic and onion and fry till transparent. Add leek, spinach and red bell pepper. Fry gently for 8 minutes, stirring and turning frequently until the spinach has wilted.
3. Stir in the chili and spicesand fry gently for a further 2 minutes.
4. When the lentils are cooked, uncover and shake the pan over a moderate heat for a few moments to dry off. Add the lentils to the spinach and onion mixture and toss together. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot with rice and ghee and any rotis.

2008-10-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

Gujarati-Style Black and Yellow Chickpeas with a spicy-sweet sauce

This dish is well blended with four legumes which are health conscious. In hindi, it's called 'Kala Aur Kabuli Chana' and its recipe is adapted by the cookbook in 660 Curries. To make a wonderful meal at our table for the guests, rotis or tortillas smothered with ghee or butter on top gives great aroma with this spicy-rich curry. I submitted my recipes to Weekend Herb Blogging, an an interesting event created by Kalyn which accidently came in October 2005 and it's going to be stronger now which was hosted by Kalyn to highlight the herbs and the other plants used by cooks around the world.
I love to celebrate 3rd Anniversary with Kalyn by passing this meal to her. The meal in this picture are Pooris, Gujarati-Style Black and Yellow Chickpeas and Mushroom and Pea curry.
Recipe that makes 4 cups:
1/4 cup dried black chickpeas
1/4 cup dried chickpeas
1/4 cup whole black lentils(sabud urad)
2 tablespoons Ghee or oil
1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds
2 teaspoon cumin seeds; 1 teaspoon whole left, 1 teaspoon ground
2 teaspoon brown sugar or white granulated sugar or jaggery
11/2 teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, ground
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground asafetida
2 dried red thai or cayenne chiles
1 large tomato, cored and finely chopped
2 or 4 fresh green Thai, cayenne or serrano chiles, to taste, stems removed
cut in half lengthwise(do not remove the seeds)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
for garnishing

1.Place all the chickpeas, beans and lentils in a medium-size bowl. Fill the bowl halfway with water and rinse the legumes by rubbing them between your fingertips. The water will become slightly cloudly. Drain this water. Repeat three or four times until the water; remains relatively clear; drain. Now fill the bowl halfway with hot water and let it sit at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap, unitl the legumes soften, at least 8 hours or as long as overnight.
Soaked legumes are shown in the picture. After soaked overnight, they gives bright color which make me fresh in the morning to cook this curry in a simple way. Legumes are cooked well in the pressure cooker with one or 2 whistles within one hour.
2. Drain the chickpea/bean/lentil mixture, and transfer it to a pressure cooker. Add 3 cups water and bring to a boil, uncovered, over high heat. Skim off and discard any foam that forms on the surface. Seal the cooker shut and allow the pressure to build up. When the cooker reaches full pressure, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 1 hour. Remove the cooker from the heat and allow the pressure to subside naturally (about 15 minutes) before opening the lid.
3. While the legumes are cooking, heat the ghee in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds, cover the skillet, and cook until the seeds have stopped popping (not unlike popcorn), about 30 seconds. Remove the skillet from the heat and sprinkle in the whole cumin seeds, sugar, salt, ground cumin, coriander, turmeric, asafetida and dried chiles. The spices will instantly sizzle and smell aromatic, but the heat of the ghee will be just right to cook them without burning.
4. Immediately add the tomato and the fresh chiles, and return the skillet to medium heat. Cook until the tomato has softened slightly and appears saucelike, about 2 minutes. Set this aside until the legumes are cooked.
5. Add the tomato mixture to the cooked legumes and stir once or twice. Simmer over medium heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened and flavored the legumes, 12 to 15 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with the cliantro and serve.

2008-10-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

From the book 660 curries, in hindi, it's called 'khatte Meethe Chanay'. Dark brown, hot-sweet and highly tart, this sauce blankets two kinds of beans, chickpeas and kidney beans, both quiet widely used in northern indian cuisine. This is a appetizer curry with a basket of naan, either store-bought or home-made, cut into small wedges. Dunk the naan in the addictive sauce, or spoon the legumes over the naan pieces.
I was at home and I didnt go out becos I had terrible cough. The home makes me comfort to take rest and feel warm. I feel in the morning, summer has started and my hubby, forced me to get fresh air in the evening and so he took me out. I wore simple dresses. When I get down the car, I was shivering and the temperature suddenly drops to 40 degree C. The winter has started and I was thinking of what to cook for dinner. Karthik, my hubby dear request me to relax and bought veggie pizza for our dinner. The next day, I made the comfort food, sweet and sour chickpeas and kidney beans for the winter. I am happy that lovely lady Sra in her beautiful blog, "When my soup came alive" is hosting this month's My Legume Love Affair, a lovely event for the winter. I am sending this comfort food to a lovely event.

Recipes that makes 5 cups:
3 cups cooked chickpeas
2 cups cooked kidney beans
1 medium-sized Onion
1 large tomato(optional but highly recommended)
8 medium-sized garlic cloves
4 to 6 dried red thai or cayenne chiles, to taste, stems removed
3 lengthwise slices fresh ginger(each 2 inches long, 1 inch wide and 1/2 inch thick)
2 tabelespoon ghee or oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 tabelespoons ground coriander seeds
2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoons white granulated sugar(I used one tabelspoon of Jaggery/brown sugar)
1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cardomom seeds from green or white pods
2 teaspoon tamarind paste or concentrate
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems

Combine the onion, garlic, chiles and ginger in a food processor, and pulse until minced.
Heat oil in a large saucepan over the medium high heat. Add the cumin seeds and cook till turn reddish brown, and smell nutty, 5 to 10 seconds. Immediately add the minced blend and stir fry until the mixture is pungent(adequate ventilation is a good idea at this point, to prevent upper respiratory discomfort) and light brown around the edge, 5 to 8 minutes.
Stir in the coriander, salt, sugar, fennel, turmeric and cardomom, and stir until the spices are cooked but not burned, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chickpeas and kidney beans, and pour in 4 cups water. Stir in the tamarind paste; it'll turn the murky brown. Bring the curry to a boil. Then lower heat to medium and simmer, unconvered, stirring occasionally, until a lot of the liquid has been absorbed and the sauce has thickened, 25 to 30 minutes.
Stir in the cilantro and serve with a dollop of ghee if needed and with any rotis or chapatti and enjoy. It always taste the best when it's eatten next day.

2008-10-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

Caramelized Onion, Roma tomato & Spinach

In Italy, frittatta are often used as fillings of sandwiches. This hearty version would make an excellent filling.

What to need:

6 large eggs + 2 eggs white

Dried thyme 1/4 teaspoon

Oregano 1/4 teaspon

Dash of garlic powder

1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons milk

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium yellow or white onion, thinly sliced

1 medium roma tomato,

1/2 small packet baby spinach

1 or 2 pounded garlic cloves,

1 minced scallion, (optional)

1/8 teaspoon chopped red pepper flakes or to taste

salt and black pepper to taste

Sour cream for serving (optional)

How to cook:

This healthy frittata goes to three events Announcing "Recipes for the rest of us" , Eat Healthy - During Pregnancy and Calling all Food Bloggers for 'The 101 Recipe Series' .
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Whisk the eggs, salt, herbs, garlic powder, and pepper together in a small bowl. Then mix in the parmesan and milk and pour it in a 10-inch oven-safe skillet.

Heat 1 tablespoons of oil in a non-stick frying pan, over medium-high heat. Add the finely sliced onions and reduce the heat to medium to cook the onions with 2 pinch of salt to caramelized fast less than 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so they brown evenly.

Once the onions are caramelized, put them into the egg mixture and spread them evenly with whisk instead of stirring roughly.

In the same pan, add a little more oil to the pan and saute the chopped scallion and garlic until softened a bit. Add the roma tomato and chili flakes and cook for one minute. Add chopped spinach and cook for 3-4 minutes, or heated through. Season with a few pinches of salt and fresh black pepper. Pour it into the skillet. Make sure not to stir the eggs, so a crust will form.

Place the skillet in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, until the top is set. You can also broil for 5 minutes. Allow it to cool slightly, then turn it onto a plate.

Slice and serve with a dollop of sour cream and enjoy with sandwiches fillings.

Note:

Italian seasonings for both dried thyme and Oregano available in regular store. I replace herbs with 1/2 tsp of Italian seasonings.

Frittata with spinach and Ham:

Omit onion and tomato and replace 1/3 cup of ham cut into small dice and stir fry it with garlic over moderate heat until just golden.

2008-10-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

From the book 'Curry cuisine - Fragrant dishes from India, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia',

black-eye beans with spinach and tomatoes in tamil is called 'thakkali payaru curry'. A refreshing and light tomato dish, easy to make and it's very versatile when u make it with other beans. Be sure not to overcook the tomatoes, so that they retain their freshness.

Serve this with plain rice or chapatti/tortilla to make a meal.
Ingredients: Serves 4

2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

10 curry leaves

2/3 cup chopped onion

2 green chillies, slit lengthwise

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

7 0z(200 g) tomatoes, cut into small pieces

2 0z(50 g) spinach, chopped (I used baby spinach)

4 0z(100 g) cooked or canned black-eye beans

salt

10 oz(300 g) plain yogurt preferly Greek yogurt

Method:

Soak beans overnight and pressure cook it till soft.

Heat oil in a large saucepan and add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, add the garlic, curry leaves and onion. Cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes or until the onion is soft.

Add the green chilies, chili powder, coriander and turmeric. Mix well, then add the tomato pieces. Stir well, then add the spinach. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes.

Now add the black-eye beans with salt to taste. Cook for a further 1 minute or until everything is hot. Remove the pan from heat and slowly add the yogurt, stirring well. Serve warm.

This is my second entry for witty Sra's My Legume Love Affair-Fourth helping orginally created by Susan

Note:

Freshly home-made yogurt can be added. Better to avoid sour yogurt. Some of the yogurts are sour in regular grocery.

2008-10-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

My elder cousin sister, Malar send me recipe of Zuchini bread with chopped walnut. She lives in California and she grows giant zuchini and makes Zuchini bread whenever she wants to and let it rest in her beautiful garden.

Her recipes makes 2 loaves. I scaled down her recipe to make one loaf and rushed to market nearby and bought all items except cooling rack. I took the oven second rack to cool it after baked. My son, Jaihari enjoys to prepare it with me. First time, I made Zuchini Bread and it comes out very excellent.

This bread is baked for 3rd World Bread day event where Zorra collected a huge basket filled with full of 246 breads, all made with love from all over the world. The roundup is splitted up into 4 parts. Here we can find all entries from Trinidad (1), Turkey (1), UK (7) and USA (47), Venezuela (1) in this link http://kochtopf.twoday.net/stories/5279409

Here's the recipe: Serves 3 persons
All Purpose Flour 1.5 cups (I use bread flour)
Baking Powder 1/4 tspn
Baking Soda 1/2 tspn
Cinnamon 1 tspn
Salt 1/2 tspn
Zucchini peeled and grated, 1 cup (I used 1 medium zucchini, to make 1.5 cups)
Walnuts or Pecans 1/2 cup, chopped (I push it twice in the chopped button of the blender)
Vegetable Oil 1/2 cup
Granulated Sugar 3/4 cup(I prefer 1/2 cup as I like less sweet)
Egg one whole + one egg white
Vanilla essence 1 tspn
DIRECTIONS
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spice and baking soda.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F ( 165 degrees C).
Grease and flour one 8x4 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy.
Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla.
Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture.
Pour it in a greased bread loaf pan.
Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Remove loaves from pans and cool in the rack.
Serve with butter or whipped cream.

2008-10-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

This comes from Malabari restaurants speciality and also widely known as Malabar mutton curry. Muslims in Calicut are very fond of this dish as it is easy to cook with roasted coconut base and peppercorn flavor and gives an extraordinary tast. Plain rice or paratha or tortilla are the best accompaniments.
Ingredients
3 tbsp vegetable oil
7 oz(200g) shallots, chopped
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
salt to tasts
11/4 lb(500 g) boned lamb(I prefer goat) cut into cubes
Spice Paste:
4oz(100g) freshly grated coconut or desiccated coconut
1-inch (2.5-cm) piece fresh ginger root, sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1" inch(2.5-cm) cinnamon stick
3 cloves
2 bay leaves
10 curry leaves
5 black peppercorns
For tempering:
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
10 curry leaves
2 green chillies, slit lengthwise
Method:
Make the spice paste by roasting the coconut with ginger, garlic, cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves, curry leaves and peppercorn in a dry pan until the coconut browned. Cool and grind them with 1 cup of water to make fine paste.
Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a frying pan, add the shallots and fry for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the spice paste, the ground coriander, turmeric, chilli powder, some salt and 11/3 cups of water. Bring to boil Add the lamb, then reduce the heat and cook, covered for 30 minutes or until the lamb is well cooked.
Now prepare the tempering mixture. In a separate frying pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. Once they start popping, add the curry leaves and green chillies. Stir-fry for one minute.
Pour the tempering mixture over the lamb curry and continue to cook for about 10 minutes or until the curry is very dry and thick. Serve hot.
Tip:
Reduce water for goat meat as it's cooked faster than lamb.

This is my entry for Lore’s Original Recipe event.

2008-09-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

Desi murgh curry: Special chicken curry
Farmed chicken turned a glorious curry into an ordinary one. To get the real taste of the orginal, you have to use a desi murgh - a young male organic pasturised chicken. It should be cooked slowly till tender to allow the herbs and spices to pentetrate and release the full flavor of the chicken. A regular chicken can be used instead of pasture raised organic bird: however you'll probably reduce the amount of water for cooking. Serve with mango pickle and nans or boiled or pulao rice.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup or 2 tbsp Olive oil
2 large onions finely sliced
2 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp ginger paste
4 tomatoes peeled and finely chopped(Pls dont use canned tomato sauce)
2 oz 50 grams plain Greek-style yogurt
11/2 tsp red chilli (I used one tsp as chilli is too hot)
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp ground coriander seeds
3 large black cardamom pods
6 cloves
1 bay leaf
salt to taste
1 pasture raised organic chicken, about 2 3/4 lb(1.2 kg), cut into 8 pieces skinned if preferred
5-6 tbsp coriander leaves
Method:
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large saucepan and fry onion till golden brown. Remove them with a slotted spoon. Allow them to cool and chop them finely in a food processor. Set aside.
In the same pan, add another tbsp of oil and add ginger, garlic paste and stir for few minutes. Add tomatoes and stir well, then stir in the yogurt and cook for 5-6minutes. Add the brown onion paste and stir to combine, then add all the spices, bayleaf and salt to taste. Cook stirring until the oil separates out.
Put the chicken pieces in the pan and spoon the spice mixture over them. Add 2 cups of water. Put the lid on the pan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, 40-50 minutes and until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Add more water if needed.
Remove the lid and continue cooking for 10 minutes or until the oil in the sauce separates out.
Stir in 1/4 cup of the chopped cilantro. Garnish with the remaining chopped cilantro and serve.
The curry can be made in advance and reheated in the pan over low heat or in a microwave.

2008-09-24T11:59:00.001-07:00

Chana pulao: Chickpea pilau

This is a great combination of protein and carbohydrates, and make a complete meal if servedwith yogurt and salad. It has less or mild spicy according to your taste. It can be packed into lunchboxes to take to school or work and is perfect eaten outdoors on a warm summer evening.
Ingredients:
11/4 lb or 500 grams basmatic rice
1/4 cup or 5 tbsp Olive oil
40z or 115 g thinly sliced onion
1 tsp fresh ginger root, cut in slivers
3 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 black cardamom pods
salt to taste
40z or 115 g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked till tender, or
14oz 400 grams canned chickpeas, drained
Fried brwon onions
2 tbsp from 5 tbsp Olive oil
1 Large onion, thinly sliced
Method
Thoroughly wash the rice in running cold water, then leave to soak in a bowl with enough water to cover for at leaste one hour. Drain.
Heat oil in a saucepan, add onion and fry until golden brown. Add the ginger,all the spices and salt to taste and stir for one minute. Add 3 cups of water and bring to boil. Add the soaked rice and cooked or canned chickpeas. Cover the saucepan, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the rice is 90 percent cooked.
Dampen a clean, thick dishcloth with water. Remove the lid from the saucepan. Cover with the cloth, then put the lid back on tightly and set the pan over very low heat. You can also place the saucepan in a heavy frying pan to further reduce the heat. Cook like this for 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion, and cook until dark golden brown and crisp as shown in the picture. Remove the onion with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Garnish the pilau with the fried brwon onions and serve.

I am sending this recipe to WYF- Party Food and Divya of Diet Foods Event.

2008-09-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

Bottlegourd with adzuki bean in sweet and tangy tomato sauce:

I havent read Amulya Malladi’s “Serving Crazy with Curry” cookbook. Her story is so sad to hear and I am impressed Bottle gourd and Black chickpeas cooked in spicy and tangy Tomato gravy in monsoonspice . Thanks lot to Sia of monsoonspice for giving us wonderful idea of pan frying the lauki that really gives different flavour to the curry. I changed similar recipe of her's and mixed both the North Indian and South Indian dishes to make the curry extraordinary meal for rice, chappati, puris or tortillas and distinctive taste of something as it is experienced in the mouth.

Here's the recipe:

1 medium Bottle Gourd (approx 4-5 cups)

1 large Onion, finely chopped

1 cup Adzuki bean/Red chori bean, soaked with water in overnight and pressure cooked till one
whistle.

3 garlic crushed

2 green chilly

6 baby potatos(4 cooked in the pressure cook, peeled and mashed with hand or masher)

3 Large tomatos chopped into fine or 1 can chopped tomato

Masala powders:

1 tbsp kasuri Methi/Dried Fenugreek Leaves (Optional)

2 tsp amachur powder/Mango powder

1 tsp garam masla powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp red chilly powder

1/2 tbsp jaggery/brown sugar

1/4 tsp turmeric

Salt to tast

2 tsp oil for frying lauki in 3 batch

Seasonings:

1/2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp hing/asafoetida

12 curry leaves

How to cook:

Peel the outer skin of lauki and cut them into thick cubes as shown in the picture.

Heat a tsp of oil in a wide fry pan and arrange the slices and fry till color changes as shown in the above picture. Keep it in the tissue paper. Repeat the second batch arranged with another tsp of oil spread on top and fry and drain it in the same tissue paper and repeat the third batch.

Heat ½ tbsp of oil in the same pan and do the seasonings. Add crushed garlic, green chilly and 2 potato chopped into bite size. Fry well till potato color changes and add onion and saute till brown. Add tomatoes and 1 tsp of salt. Cook till tomatoes are mushy and then add all the masala powders and stir fry for 3 minutes. Add cooked adzuki bean, salt, mashed potato and lauki with one cup of water. Mix well and simmer for 15 minutes till lauki cooked well and well blended. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Variations:

Any grill vegetables like carrot, capsicum, ridgegourd, brinjal can also be added to the curry but make sure the vegetables should not be overcooked and mushy. If you dont want to grill vegetables, then you can easily pan fry them as shown in the picture.

Any one type of beans like rajma, Black-eyed peas, garbanzo bean like white, brown and green

can be added to the curry instead of redchori bean.

Sia of monsoonspice request me to participate her T & T event. Thanks lot to her for reminding me her tried and tasted event.

2008-09-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

Keerai Saag: (Spinach in lentil curry)
Due to my laziness, spinach is cooked with dhal is quiet delicious to eat with rice and any grill food or porial as a wonderful combo. It takes less time to cook it with the pressure cooker till two or 3 whistles.
Here's a recipe given below:

What to need:
Red gram dal - 1 cup (tuvar/yellow lentil)
Spinach - 1 lb (you can easily get one packet of spinach in indian store)
tamarind - lime sized
Onin - 1 chopped into fine
Garlic - 8 crushed
Scraped or shredded coconut - 1/4 cup
Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 11/2 tsp
Pepper - 6
Red chillies - 4
Green chillies - 2 or 3
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Brown sugar/Jaggery - little
Oil - 11/2 tbsps

Method:
Wash and chop leaves and cook it with dhal with pinch of turmeric. crushed 3 garic, green chillies and 1/2 tsp of oil with enough water in the pressure cooker. Let it cook and mass the dhal and spinach well.
Heat 1/2 tsp of oil in a small pan and fry coriander seeds, cumin seeds, pepper and red chillies till golden brown. Grind it with coconut to make smooth paste with little water.
Soak tamarind in hot water for 10 minutes to extract its juice.
Heat oil in a kadai. Season it with mustard seeds to splutter, fry 5 crushed garlic and onion till brown. Add ground paste, salt, jaggery, tamarind juice, mashed spinach and dal. Boil till raw smell goes over medium low flame and the sag becomes thick. Serve it with any roti or tortilla or rice.

2008-09-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

Thanjavur Fish Curry:

Oh, my favourite fish curry. My Mom often cooks fish curry with fish head, some fish and fish tail. I learnt from her that all the stocks from fish head to tail will go to the curry and its taste's very incredible. In India, we have maids to clean the fish head. Fish head is scary to clean. It took nearly took 30 minutes to clean it as I removed its eyes, tongue and other reddish parts. If you're scared to clean fish head, replace it with fish meats. Coconut is well blended with garlic, fennel seeds and cumin seeds. I love to make this curry from half of the fresh coconut. We all know it's not quiet easy to get flesh meat from the coconut shell.
Here's my secret.
Half coconut
Meat hammer
How to:
Preheat oven at 400 degree F. When the oven is hot enough after 5 minutes. Bake the coconut for 10 to 15 minutes or until coconut cracks. Make sure it shouldnt get burnt.
Wrap the baked coconut in a towel, and tap it with a hammer all over. This loosens the meat easily from the shell with less effort.
I met a stranger who's African-American in chinese store. She told me to choose red snapper as it has lot of meats with less bones. We all enjoyed lot with this curry.

Ingredients:
Red snapper fish or any fish : 1 lb
Onion : 1 big or shallots : 100gms
Roma tomatoes : 100 gms
Water : 1cup
Turmeric : 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder : 3 tsp
Red chilly powder : 2 tsp

Coconut paste
Garlic : 10
Coconut : 1/2 from the coconut shell
Cumin seeds : 1 tsp
Fennel seeds(sanuf): 1tsp

Tamarind : one lemon-sized
Salt to taste

Seasonings:
Olive Oil : 1/4 cup (you need more oil for fish curry to give yummy taste, gingelly oil is highly prefered. I used olive oil as it's not available in our indian store nearby)
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Urad dal: 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: 10

Method:
Wash the fish with turmeric to get rid of fishy smell. Blanch tamarind in hot water.
Chop onion and tomato into fine. Blend fenel seeds, cumin seeds, garlic and coconut with less water to make to smooth thick paste. Extract tamarind juice after 10 minutes.
Heat oil in a wide vessel. Do the above seasonings. Fry chopped onion till transparent. Add the coconut paste and stir fry for few minutes.
Add tomatoes, turmeric, red chilly powder, less salt and coriander powder. Fry for few minutes.
Add tamarind juice with one cup of water and boil for 15 minutes in medium low flame. Finally add fish and salt to taste and cook till done. I think it'll cook for 10 minutes.
Close the lid as soon as fish is cooked to trap the aroma from the curry. Taste great either if u eat immediately or after one hour.

2008-09-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Ragi Dosai:

I had less leftover idly/dosa batter that can made just for one person. I was told to make ragi dosai from the leftover dosa batter enough to satisfy tonight dinner for the whole family.
Here is the recipe:
Leftover batter 1 cup
Ragi flour 2 or more cups
curd 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Ghee or Oil
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few(optional)
Onion - 1 chopped into fine(optional)
Chopped coriander leaves - few (optional)
Chopped Green chillies - 2 or 3(adjust the spice level)(Optional)
How I cook:
Make a thin buttermilk from the curd and mix the ragi flour without any lumps and add leftover batter. Mix well to medium thick consistency similar to the dosai batter.
Add salt and the above ingredients and mix well. You can either omit or add the above ingredients.
Heat oil/ghee in a dosa tawa. When it's very hot, pour a big spoonful of the batter to spread evenly round as you do while making regular dosa. Pour some oil on the edges of the dosai and let it cook on both sides. Just flip one side when it's cooked and fold as seen in the above picture. Flip it off after it's cooked on both sides.
Serve it with maple syrup or honey or coconut chutney.

2008-09-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

Tarka Dal

I love good combinations of 2 dals, masoor dal and yellow spilt moong dal. It's very simple to cook and taste good with ghee or butter. For diet conscious, I add only olive oil. You can omit moong dal and use 175 grams of masoor dal.

Here is the recipe:

75 g yellow spilt peas(moong dal)

75 g red lentil dal (masoor dal)

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 garlic cloves crushed

2 green chillies

Salt to taste

Seasonings:

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

2 dried red chillies

1 garlic cloves crushed

Wash the dals and pressure cook the dals till soft with 2 crushed garlic and 2 green chillies with turmeric, salt and one tsp of oil.

Do the seasonings in a small frying pan and add it to the cooked dal. Close the lid to trap the aromas.

Simmer for 2 minutes and serve with plain basmatic rice or any rotis.

2008-08-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Stawberry sorbet in a Popsicle:

Strawberry - 16 to 20 (hulled and chopped)
Sugar syrup - 1/2 cup or to taste
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
The taste of sugar after freezing the sorbet will be reduced and so I added little bit more enough to get sweet taste. For cocktail lovers, 2 tbsp of any liquor can be added.
Puree the strawberry in a blender. Add sugar syrup and lemon juice and blend again and again till the strawberry is well blended.
Pour it into popsicle stick or kulfi mould or ice-cream mould and freeze for 6 hours.

To freeze fast for 3 to 4 hours, it can pour into stainless steel pan and cover with a plastic wrap.
Remove from freeze and thaw for 5 minutes and blend it to break the large ice crystals formed from the sorbet, in the ice crush section of the blender. Pour it back to the same pan and refreeze atleast 3 hrs or upto several days.

Note:

Sugar can also be added instead of sugar syrup but it'll not spread evenly to the sorbet when freezing.

2008-08-27T10:18:00.001-07:00

Cabbage Dal Porial
I made very simple and tasty porial with spilt moong dal(pasaparuppu). I dont want cabbage to
lose its moisture and nutrition by cooking it in the pressure cooker. Cabbage has low in saturated fat, Cholesterol and high in dietary fiber.

What to need:
cabbage - 2 cups, finely chopped
spilt moong dal - 1/4 cup
garlic - 3 pods crushed
green chilly - 3
onion - 1 small
turmeric - 1/4 tsp
salt to taste
Seasonings:
olive oil - 1 tbsp
mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
urad dal - 1 tsp
curry leaves - a few
dry red chilly - 2 to 3
Cooking:
Pressure cook moong dal with 1/4 tsp of turmeric, little oil, crushed garlic and green chilly with enough water till u hear one whistle.
Heat oil in a kadai and do the seasonings. Add onion and fry till translucent. Stir fry cabbage with sprinkle water to cook it till tender for 10 minutes in medium low flame. Add salt to taste. After it's cooked, add cooked moong dal, mix well and cook it for 2 minutes. Tasty cabbage is ready to eat. Sometimes, I enjoyed it directly from the stove.

2008-08-19T12:08:00.001-07:00

Meen Peera Pattichathu (Fish with grated coconut)

This dish is very popular in Kerala, similar to Meen thoran. I bought backwater small fish in Asian store. It's not fresh but it has lots of bone which is very hard to wash it and hard to eat it after cooked. I will try it again with sardines or other fresh small fish available in Chinese store.
I dont like coconut oil and so I used gingelly oil. Its taste is great with gingelly oil. Kerala people simply enjoyed after it's cooked and wont do seasonings.
Ingredients:
1/2 kg fish fillets or any small fish
1.5 cup grated coconut
10 button onions
6 garlic cloves
1/2” ginger
4-5 green chillies, sliced
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
a few curry leaves
Salt to taste
3 pieces kokum (fish tamarind), soaked in water and shredded
1 cup water
Seasonings:
3 tsp oil, preferably coconut oil or gingelly oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp feenugreek seeds
2 - 3 dry red chilli
a few curry leaves
Method
Clean fish well in salted water.
Crush coconut, onions, ginger, chillies and garlic in a blender with little water to form thick paste . Add the turmeric powder.
Mix in the raw fish with the crushed ingredients, curry leaves and salt to taste.
Put the mixture in a non-stick pan or an earthenware vessel, add the kokum and one of cup water to cook the fish.
Bring to boil, lower the heat and allow the mixture to dry out, to make sure that does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
Do seasonings and serve hot.

I am sending this recipe to Fishing Trip Event to Jeena

2008-08-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Jeera Aloo: (Potato sauted with cumin seeds)

It's a dry curry and simply irresistible to saute potato with cumin seeds and other spices. Ingredients
Potatoes -4 medium or small potatoes - 8 (1 inch pieces,boiled)
Oil -4 tablespoons
Cumin seeds-1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - few
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder-1/4 tsp

Black pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander seeds, crushed-1 tablespoon
Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Roasted cumin powder-1 teaspoon
Dry mango powder (amchur) -1/2 teaspoon
Fresh coriander leaves-2 tablespoons
Method:

Pressure cook the potoatoes till one whistle or Microwave it with some water for 6 minutes.
Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and curry leaves. Sauté till it changes colour.

Add salt and stir. Add red chilli powder, crushed coriander seeds,coriander powder,roasted cumin powder and dry mango powder.

Add potato cubes and stir carefully till the masala covers all the potato cubes well.

Add coriander leaves and stir.

Serve hot.

2008-08-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

Ridge Gourd/Turai/Beerakaya Chutney:
I know some varities of cooking Beerakaya. I used to cook it in every week. It has lot of health benefits as well as maintaining good health based on our diet. We, tamilians used to cook it with coconut for kootu and chutney. I used 2 tablespoon of shredded coconut for beerakai kootu as coconut has high in cholestrol.

Its nutrition labels:
Ridge gourd: Low in Saturated Fat, and Cholesterol. High in Dietary Fiber. Suitable for maintaining optimum health and weight loss.
Peanuts: High in protein and dietary fiber.
Cashewnut: Fat and less protein.

ridge gourd - 1 medium
sambar onion - 1 cup or onion - 1
peanuts - 1/3 cup or podukkadali - 1/3 cup
cashewnuts - 1/4 cup
tamarind - lemon size
garlic - 8
green chilly - 4 or jalepeno pepper - 1
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
pepper - 1 tsp
Seasonings:
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
urad dhal - 1 tbsp
curry leaves - few
redchilly - 3
hing - 2 pinch
For cooking:
Peel the ridgegourd and chop into cubes. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a kadai. Fry tamarind in low flame to make sure its color shouldnt change and keep aside. In the same oil, fry cashewnuts and peanuts in medium flame and keep aside. Then fry garlic with the same oil and keep aside.
In the same kadai, add mustard seeds and pepper. Fry onion till transparent and add ridge gourd and cook it with little water to soften.
Blend it with tamarind, peanuts, cashewnuts and garlic with salt and little water to smooth paste like chutney.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil and do the above seasonings and pour it into the ridgegourd chutney. Serve it with plain rice and ghee, ghee rice, any rotis. It tastes heavenly with rice and ghee. It has sweet and sour condiment.
Note: To get more spicy chutney, use Jalepeno peper.
Green chilly can also replaced it with more pepper.

2008-08-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

Mushroom Curry
From my apartment, I went to my close friend, Sudha's house just for a chat. She never let me go without having any lunch in her house. I had this delicious curry in her house. She told me that it's her mother's recipe. I love to collect any elders recipes as their recipes are always traditional. It'll pass from one generation to other generations.
Ingredients:
Big Button Mushroom from Sams club - 1 pack
Big Onion - 1 chopped (half for grinding and half for tadka)
Tomato - 2
Ginger - 3 inch small size
Garlic - 4 pods
Green chilly - 1 or 2 depends on spicy level
Curry leaves - 1 stick
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp or coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Dry Red chilly - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Somu(Fennel) - 1 tsp
Coconut flower - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon - 2 inch
Cloves - 2
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves - few for garnishing
Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Fry somu cinamon, cloves, garlic, ginger, half of onion, red chilly, tomato till good aroma comes. Add coriander powder and fry well for 3 minutes. Grind it well with coconut powder and keep aside.
Pressure cook mushroom till 3 whistles with one cup of water. Drain water and keep aside.
Heat oil in a kadai and fry onion till transparent. Add tomatos, green chilly, curry leaves and fry till tomatos pasted. Add cooked mushrooms, grinded masala, salt, turmeric and one cup of water from the grinded masala. Boil for 15 minutes over the medium flame.
Garnish it with coriander leaves.
It goes well with idly, dosa, chappati, rice, poori.

2008-07-31T22:17:00.000-07:00

Whole green gram Dal/Sabut Moong ki Daal/Cheru payaru

Tamil people often uses it as a side dish for kanji. People in the north often make curry with this dal that goes well with any roti or rice. I know people in the north india often uses garam masala, bay leave and amchur powder for preparing this curry. I made up my mind to omit garam masala, bay leave and amchur powder for preparing this dal as south indian curry.
It's said to clean and cook directly in the pressure cooker and it takes lot of time and effort to cook dal till soft. I washed and soaked it overnight to cook fast directly in the pressure cooker just for 2 whistles. It has more nutrients and high in proteins. It's best to eat this dal once a week atleast.

Here's the recipe of Sabut Moong Ki Daal:
What I need:
Whole green gram(sabut moong) - 1 cup
Water - 4 cups to cook the moong-
Ginger - 1tsp shredded
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Soak the dal overnight and pressure cook it till 2 whistles with turmeric, water, ginger, 1/4 tsp of oil, salt.
To chop:
Onion - 1 big
Tomato - 2 small
Green chilly - 2 slitted
For Masala powder:
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Seasonings:
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Bay leaves - 2(optional)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Garnishing:
Coriander leaves - few
Lemon juice from half lemon
For Cooking:
Heat oil in a kadai and do the seasonings. When it slutters, fry onion and green chilly till onion soft and transparent, add tomatoes and stir fry till it's soft and mushy.
Add all masala powders with little water and mix well.
Add the dal to this mixture and bring to boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes.
Serve hot garnished with the coriander leaves and lemon juice.
You can adjust the consistency by increasing or decreasing water.

Here's south indian recipe of whole green gram dal curry:
What I need:
Whole green gram(Cheru payaru) - 1 cup
Water - 4 cups to cook the moong-
Ginger - 1tsp shredded
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Soak the dal overnight and pressure cook it till 2 whistles with turmeric, water, ginger, 1/4 tsp of oil, salt.
To chop:
Onion - 1 big
Tomato - 2 small
Green chilly - 2 slitted
For Masala powder:
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Seasonings:
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Curry leaves - few
Oil - 2 tbsp
Garnishing:
Coriander leaves - few
Lemon juice from half lemon
For Cooking:
Heat oil in a kadai and do the seasonings. When it slutters, fry onion and green chilly till onion soft and transparent, add tomatoes and stir fry till it's soft and mushy.
Add all masala powders with little water and mix well.
Add the dal to this mixture and bring to boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes.
Serve hot garnished with the coriander leaves and lemon juice.
You can adjust the consistency by increasing or decreasing water

2008-07-22T12:40:00.001-07:00

Spinach(Thandu keerai/drumstic leaves) - 1 bunch
Spilt Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
Tomato - 2 (optional)
Garlic - 4 pounded
Green chilly - 3 pounded
Curry powder - 1 tsp
Shredded Coconut - 2 tbsp
Seasonings:
Oil - 2 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - few
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Onion - 1/2 medium or sambar onion - 6
Salt to taste
Method:
Pressure cook dhal and tomato with pounded garlic and green chilly with one tsp of oil and a pinch of turmeric with enough water.
Pressure cook spinach along with cooked dhal with 1/4 cup of water if necessary for 2 whistles.
Heat oil in a kadai and do the above seasonings. Add cooked dhal. spinach and salt to taste. Add Shreded Coconut and simmer for few minutes to boil.
Serve hot with warm rice.

2008-07-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

Yummy Dosa: We can make different kinds of Dosa. Making Dosa is an art and takes long time to practice to come out its perfect color and crispiness.
Ingredients:
Idly Rice - 4 cups
Urad dhal - 1 cup heaped
Methi seeds - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Preparation for making the batter:
Wash rice and urad dhal + methi seeds separatly for five times till the water is clear. Soak Idly rice and Urad dhal separatly with enough water for 6 to 8 hrs. Grind urad dhal for 25 minutes till it's very soft and frothy. Grind rice for 15 minutes till rawa consistency.
Mix rice and urad dhall with salt. In a heavy container, fement them for 8hrs till the batter raises up.
The batter will ferment very nicely in summer.
In winter, I put them in the oven with lights on to ferment well. Sometimes it'll take another 3 hrs. Most of that time, I ferment for 11 to 12 hrs maximum either in the oven with lights on or with the microwave with night lights on depending on howmuch the batters I have.
Making dosa:
Heat the dosa tawa. Sprinkle the water on the tawa. When the water is dancing, wipe them with tissue paper. Spread the batter on the tawa and make it into circular shape.
When u see the dosa is hot enough, spread 2 tsp of oil. Take out when u see the dosa is ready and repeat other progress for making another one.

2008-07-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Long Beans Sambal with shrimp
I missed all singaporean food like sambal olek, sambal eggs, sambal ikan, sambal belcan ladies finger etc. I can see this dishes daily in each and every food courts there. This dish is all time favourite to Singaporeans. I learnt this recipe only when I was in Singapore. It's very quick to cut long beans and stir fry it within 5 minutes. It's also an excellent dish for crowd pleaser.

It has good source of vitamin C, folic acid and fibre. Prawn has high protein and zero carbohydrates.

What to need:
Long beans = 1 pound
Shrimp = 1/2 pound peeled and devein ( I used frozen salad shrimp)
Sambal Oelek = 2 tbsp or adjust to the spicy level
Small onion = 1 thinly sliced
Garlic = 3 to 4 cloves
Red chilly = 2 sliced fresh or dry
Curry leaves = few
Brown sugar = 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Method:
Cut long beans to 11/2" long. Heat some oil in the wok and add 1 tsp of cumin(optional). Stir fry garlic,onions and curry leaves until lightly brown. Add sambal paste and stir fry for one to two minutes. Add shrimp and cook for 2 minutes and then long beans and chilli. Stir fry for about 3 min or until the beans are cooked.
Singaporeans serve hot with warm rice. I serve it with fish curry or any seafood curry which is a good combo for this side dish.
Variations:
Replace it with asparagus or french beans.

I am sending this recipe to Divya for Diet Foods Event.

2008-07-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

Masala Buttermilk/Mor
I want to skip carbonated drinks and cola for summer. Mor is very healthy to drink and it's also diet conscious. Buttermilk is lower in fat and calories than regular milk . Sometimes I enjoyed it with warm rice.
To make the buttermilk with plain yogurt preferably homemade or Greek
Yogurt = 1 cup
Water = 4 cups of water
I combine yogurt and water with hand churner for 2 minutes.
Green chillies = 1 or 2 dependion on the spice level
Ginger = 1/2 tsp crushed
Cumin seeds = 1 or 1/2 tsp crushed
Curry leaves = Few to crushed
Salt to taste
Lemon = 1/2 from one lemon
Ice cubes = 3 or 4
Coriander leaves and Mor milagai for garnishing
Seasonings:
Oil = 1/2 tsp
mustard seeds = 1/2 tsp
curry leaves = few
Asafoetida = pinch
Do the seasonings with 1/2 tsp of oil. Add it to the buttermilk and after few minutes do blend again with hand churner for one minute to mix it well.
Serve chill
Variations:
To give mint flavour, follow the above ingredients except seasiongs, use it with crushed some mint leaves, Asafoetida = a pinch and 1tsp of chat masala.

2008-03-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Papdi Chaat (Serves 2 to 4)
Papdi = 1 packet
Potato big = 1/2 boiled and chopped into small pieces
Garbanzo beans = 1/4 cup
Mango = 1/4 cup chopped into small pieces
Onion = 1/2 chopped into small pieces
Tomato = 1 small chopped into small pieces
Nylon thin Sev = 1/2 cup
Whipped Yogurt = 3/4 cup
Chaat Masala = 2 tbsp
Cumin Powder = 1 tsp roasted
Redchilli powder = 1 tsp or less
Salt = 1/2 tsp
Tamarind chutney = 2 tbsp or to taste
Mint chutney = 2 1/2 tbsp or to taste
Coriander leaves = few for garnishing
Layer Papdi on the serving plate with potato, tomato, mango, onion, channa.
Whip the yogurt with salt and spread the yogurt with the spoon on the papdi.
Sprinkle cumin powder and chaat masala powder. Spread tamarind chutney and sprinkle red chilly powder. Spread Mint chutney and garnish it with few coriander leaves and sev.

2008-03-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

Mixed Vegetables curry for Pav Bhajji:

I love to make Pav Bhaji for our tonight dinner and so all the vegetables I get from the fridge are cauliflower, cabbage, carrot, beans, frozen peas and potato even though I have idly dosa batter. I chopped each 1/4 cup of vegetables and easy to measure for the below recipe.

Ingredients:

8 pavs (squarish soft buns about 4" x 5" size) butter to shallow fry.
For Bhaji

1 capsicum chopped fine

2 onions chopped fine

2 tomatoes chopped fine

2 1/2 cups chopped mixed vegetables (beans, carrots, cauliflower, potota, beans, bottle gourds, etc.) 1/2 cup shelled peas

1 tbsp. Oil

2 tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp Jeera (Cumin Seeds)

pinch Hing (Asofoetida)

4 tsp. pavbhaji masala

3/4 tsp. chilli powder or more to taste

1/4 tsp. turmeric powder

2 tsp Dhania Powder

1/2 tsp sugar ( you can use 1 small can of tomato sauce or 2 tbsp-tomato ketchup instead of sugar)

salt to taste

1 cup water (that I get it from the vegetables )

2 tsp of each ginger paste and garlic paste

juice of 1/2 lemon.

To Garnish:

one handful of chopped coriander, 1 onion chopped small pieces of lemon

Method:

Pressure cook mixed vegetables and peas with salt, turmeric and water till well done. Mash them coarsely after draining.

Heat oil and butter in a pan. Add Jeera and allow it to sputter. Add Hing and Red Chili Powder. Add Onions, Garlic and Ginger – stir well. Cook until Oil starts to separate. Add Tomatoes and Tomato Sauce and mix well. Cook until Oil starts to separate again. Add Pav Bhaji Masala and Dhania Powder – mix well and cook for 1 minute. Add Vegetables and lightly mash. Add Lemon Juice and adjust Salt/Chili Powder/Pav Bhaji Masala. Cook for 5 minutes.

Garnish with chopped coriander and a block of butter.

For Pavs Slit pavs horizontally leaving one edge attached. (To open like a book). Apply butter (as desired) with few pinch of pavbhaji masala and roast open on a griddle till hot and soft with the surface crisp on both sides.

Serve hot with bhaji, a piece of lemon and chopped onion.

Making time : 30 mins. (excl. pressure cooking time) Serve : 4 (2 pavs each)

2008-03-14T19:17:00.001-07:00

Simple & spicy tomato rice
In winter, it is awefully cold outside and I've become very lazy. When I opened the fridge, I have only some tomotoes and no vegetables. So, I made very simple & spicy tomato in a hurry. I've to change my pic too.

Ingredients:

Cooked Basmati Rice = 1 cup
Tomato big = 3
Big Onion = 1 chopped
Ginger = 1 inch piece cut into bite sized
Green Chilli = 2 or 3
Mint = few (Optional)
Hing = 1 pinch (Optional)
Coriander leaves = few for garnishing
Seasonings:
Oil or Ghee = 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds = 1/4 tsp
Channa dal = 1 tbsp
Spilt urad dal = 1 tbsp
Broken cashewnut = 1 tbsp(optional)
Fennel seeds(saunf) = 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves = 1 spring
Dry red chilly = 1 or 2 (optional)

Masala Powders:
Garam masala pwd = 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder = 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Heat oil in a wok and add mustard seeds, red chilly, saunf, cumin seeds, channa dal, spilt urad dal, broken cashewnuts, hing and curry leaves.
When they turn color, fry onion, mint and green chilly till onion gets transparent. Add tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes till tomatoes get mushy and soft. Add garam masala pwd, chilli powder and salt to taste. Fry for few minutes and reduce the heat to low, add the cooked rice and mix well.
Garnish it with coriander leaves.
Adjust the seasonings and serve hot with any raitas of your choice.

2008-03-06T22:08:00.000-08:00

Vegetable(Onion or Brinjal or Plantain or Potato) Bajji
It's quiet good snack for winter. I enjoyed it with a cup of tea.
Ingredients:
Gram flour – 2-1/2 cups
Rice flour – 1 cup
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder – 3/4 teaspoon
Cumin and Ajwain seeds - 1/2 tsp each
Baking soda - 2 pinch
Any one Vegetable – Brinjal/Onion/Plaintain/Potato
Oil – 2 cups, for deep frying
Salt to taste
Water to make thick like pancake batter.

Method: Sieve or mix gram flour, rice flour, salt, red chilli powder, cumin, ajwain and baking soda with water to make thick batter. Slice any one vegetable into thin slices long as you desire. Dip them in the batter and they must coat well evenly. When the oil is very hot enough and deep fry few of them by turning on both sides till golden brown. Drain them well on absorbent paper towels.

Serve hot with Coriander chutney or Maggi Tomato-garlic sauce.

2008-02-12T01:45:00.000-08:00

Amma's Tomato Dhal Rasam
This is my Amma's recipe. It's all time our family favourite. It's very good to eat it for flu. We love it as it's very tasty to eat it with dhal and tomato juices.
Ingredients:
Tamarind = key lemon size
Toovar Dhal = 1/2 cup
Ripe Tomatos = 3 big or 4 small
Crush & pounded ingredients:
Garlic = 3 to 4 cloves
Dry Red chilli = 1 piece
Black Pepper = 1 tsp
Cumin seeds = 1 tsp
Sambar Onion = 3 to 4 pieces
Coriander leaves = few
salt as needed
For tempering:
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp Feenugreek seeds
1 red chilly
a pinch of hing
few curry leaves
For Cooking:
Pressure cook dhal with a pinch of tumeric and oil till soft.
Make tomato juice in a blender.
In a pan, add tomato, tamarind, pounded ingredients, salt and enough water. Simmer and cover to cook till small bubbles appear on top. Add cooked and mashed dhal from the Pressure cooker. Let it boil for few minutes.
Do the seasonings and add it to the rasam before turning off the fire.
Serve it piping hot with white rice, chips or papad and egg dry curry as a side dish

2008-02-11T23:43:00.000-08:00

Bottlegourd Curry (Lauki Tamatar Subzi)
Easy way of Punjabi Cooking with the Pressure Cooker. To dress it up for a special occasion, use ghee instead of oil or equal parts of ghee and oil. Enjoy the dish!
Ingredients
Bottle gourd - 1 medium sized, chopped into cubes
Onions - 2 large, chopped
Tomatoes - 3, chopped
Ginger - 1 inch piece, sliced
Green chillies - 2, chopped
Jeera - ¾ teaspoon
Coriander powder - ½ teaspoon
Chilli powder - ½ teaspoon
Amchoor - ½ teaspoon
Garam masala - ½ teaspoon
Turmeric - a pinch or two
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tablespoons

Method:
Heat oil/ghee in a pressure cooker. On medium-low flame, add jeera and add onions and fry till onions are soft but not brown. Add turmeric, ginger and green chillies. Fry till onions are light brown and then add chopped tomatoes. Cook for a while till they are pulpy and soft.
Add the spices, salt and cook till the oil/ghee separates. Add bottlegourd, stir for a couple of minutes, and add half a cup of water. Close the cooker, after it emits one whistle. Keep on fire for another three minutes on low flame. Remove from fire.
After it has cooled a little, fry the curry on fire for 2-3 minutes and serve hot. It goes well with either chapathis or rice.

2007-12-06T10:18:00.001-08:00

Sundal Kozhambu
Black Chick peas (Kala chana in Hindi) cooked with brinjal in tamarind gravy. This dish is very common prepared by tamil brahmins. My Amma gave me this recipe and she often cooked for my lunch during my college days.

Ingredients:
Black Chick peas = 1 cup (Soak sundal overnight and pressure cook it till soft)
Small Brinjal violet or green = 1/4 kg
Garlic = 5 pods
Green chilly = 2
Tomato = 3
Curry leaves = 1 stick
Tamarind = key lime size
Oil = 4 tbsp
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste
For Grinding:
Shallots(sambar onions) = 6 to 12 (half for grinding and another half for tadka)
Cumin seeds = 1 tsp
Coriander seeds = 1 tbsp
Dry Red chilly = 3 big pieces
Black Pepper = 3 to 6
Somu = 1/2 tsp
Cocunut flower = 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder = 1/4 tsp
For Seasonings:
Mustard seeds = 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal = 1 tsp
Somu = 1/2 tsp
For Cooking:
Dry roast the grinding ingredients except coconut and turmeric till aroma comes and grind it with coconut and turmeric.
Heat oil, do the seasonings and add garlic, green chilly and fry till garlic in red color.
Add Brinjal, half chopped onion, curry leaves, tomatos and fry till tomatos are well pasted.
Add grinded masala, sundal, salt and tamarind water. Add one cup of water from the grinded masala.
Boil well and simmer for 15 minutes.
Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve hot.
It goes well with rice, puttu, idly and dosai.

2007-12-05T10:53:00.000-08:00

Kerala Aviyal
Aviyal is highly nutritious when mixed with varieties of fresh vegetables. It goes very well with rice and ghee. It's kerala's most favourite traditional side dish. I choosed any six vegetables from the fridge to prepare it.

Ingredients:
Green Plantain - 1
Frozen Cut Yams or fresh- 1 cup
Carrot - 1 big
Green Beans/Long String beans-1/2 cup
Zucchini(Instead of cucumber)-1/2 cup if needed
Capsicum - 1
Potato -1
Drumsticks -2
Green Chillies - 4
Indian Brinjal -1
Raw Mango -1 slice (optional)
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as needed
For Grinding:-
Grated Coconut - 1 cup
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Chopped Gralic - 2 pods
Pearl Onions(Kunjulli)- 3
Curry Leaves -1/2 sprig
Green Chilly - 4

Rice - 1 tbsp
For Garnishing:-
Curd - 2 tbsp(Optional)
Coconut Oil- 1 tbsp
Curry Leaves -1/2 sprig
Method:
Cut all the veggies into 1 inch cube or lengthwise. I pressure cook all the vegetables with 1/2 cup of water, turmeric and salt in just one whistle.
Grind all the above ingredients and added it into the vegetables and mix well and cook for few minutes. Switch off the gas.
Add curd and garnish it with curry leave and coconut oil. Close the lid to get good aroma mix well into the curry.
Serve it with rice and ghee.

2007-11-16T11:39:00.000-08:00

Help Keep your skin healthy and hydrated
1. Moisture is a must for your skin every day.
2. Use Cleansing Products that are mild and moisturizing
3. Keep the faucet turned to warm - hot water can dry skin
4. Gently pat skin dry with a towel, do not rub
5. Choose a moisturizer with high levels of emollient ingredients to help skin stay hydrated
6. Protect skin from sun damage with a product that contains SPF

2007-11-14T13:16:00.000-08:00

Amma's Kovaikkai Poriyal:
My Amma prefers to use sambar onions instead of big onion. I dont like to peel sambar onion. To me, I dont find any difference between sambar onions and big onions as we in US couldnt get the orignal quality of sambar onions.
Kovaikkai = 11/2 pound cut lengthwise into four each
Big Onion = 1/2 chopped into fine pieces
Tomato = 1 chopped
Sambar Powder = 2 tsp
For Seasonings :
Mustard seeds = 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal = 1 tsp
Curry leaves = 1 stick
Oil = 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
For Cooking:

In a kadai, heat oil and do the seasonings. Fry onion till soft and add tomato and fry till it becomes pasted.
Add Kovaikkai and salt.
Cover and cook till it's half cooked. Add Sambar powder and again cover and cook till it's fully cooked.
Serve it hot with chappathi and rice as a side dish.

2007-11-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

My most Favourite Amma's Araichu Vitta Sambar
Ingredients:
Thuvar Dhal = 1 cup
Any Vegetables:
Brinjal = 5
Drumstick = 2 cups
Tomato = 5
Green Mango = 1
Garlic = 3 pods
Green Chilly = 2
Oil = 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Ghee = 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Sambar Masala for Grinding:
Bengalgram dhal(Kadalai paruppu)= 2 tbsp
Urad dhal = 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds = 1/2 tbsp
Coriander seeds = 1 tbsp
Dry Red chilly = 5
Pepper = 1 tsp
Curry leaves = few
Hing = little
Fenugreek seeds = 1/4 tsp
Seasonings:
mustard seeds = 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal = 1 tsp
Feenugreek seeds = 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves = few
Hing = 2 pinch
Heat little oil and fry the above sambar masala one by one till color changes. Cool and grind it to masala paste with little water.
Pressure cook thuvar dhal with green chilly and pounded garlic, little oil and little turmeric. Mash it and keep aside.
Heat oil in a big vessel. Fry the seasonings, add onion and fry till soft. Add tomotoes and cover and cook till it's soft and pasted.
Add brinjal and fry till color lightly changed. Add drumsticks and fry for 2 minutes.
Add sambar masala, salt and water mixed it with grinder. Fry till good smell comes for 10 minutes.
Add mashed thuvar dhal and simmer for 10 minutes.
Decorate it with corriander leaves and add ghee to give great taste and flavor.

2007-11-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

To Make Simple Syrup:
Combine 1 cup sugar with 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan.
Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat and cook until reduced to a
slightly thick syrup, about 10 minutes.
The syrup will keep in the refrigerator for upto 6 months.
Makes about 1 1/4 cups. It can be used for popsicles or ice cubes, sorbets, shakes and summer coolers.

2007-11-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

CUCUMBER LEMONADE:
Active time: 10 min Total: 1 Hour 10 Minute
To Make Ahead: Refrigerate upto 3 days
English (hothouse) cucumbers = 2
Fresh lemon juice = 1/2 cup
Spring or filtered water = 2 1/2 cups
Simple Syrup to taste
Finely grate cucumbers into a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl.
Drain the cucumber for 1 hour and collect the juice.
Add lemon juice, water and syrup to the cucumber juice.
Serve chilled or over ice.
Makes 6 servings about 2/3 cup
Nutriton per serving:
Calories 21
Fat 0(Sat and Monosat = 0 grams)
Cholestrol = 5 grams
Carbs = 2 grams
Protein = 2 grams
Fiber = 2 grams
Sodium = 2 mg
Potassium = 25 mg

Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (28% Daily Value)

2007-11-10T13:34:00.001-08:00

Pepperoni Pizza:
Total time: 35 minutes
To Make Ahead:
Use leftover tomato sauce and pumpkin to make a second batch of pizza
sauce.
Refrigerate upto 5 days or freeeze for 3 months.
Prepared Whole wheat pizza dough,thawed if frozen = 1 pound
Canned unseasoned pumpkin puree = 1 cup
Canned no salt tomato sauce = 1/2 cup
Garlic powder = 1/2 teaspoon
Shredded part-skim mozzarella = 1 cup
Grated Parmesan cheese = 1/2 cup
Turkey Pepperoni = 1/2 cup (2 ounces)
1. Place oven rack in the lowest position; preheat at 450 degree F
Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to the size of the
baking sheet. Transfer to the baking sheet. Bake until puffed
and lightly crisped on the bottom, 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Whisk pumpkin puree, tomato sauce and garlic powder in a small
bowl until combined.
4. Spread sauce evenly over the baked crust.
Top with mozzarella, Parmesan and Pepperoni.
Bake until crust is crispy on the edges and the cheese have melted,
about 12 minutes.
Makes 6 serving
Nutrition Per servings:
CALORIES 280
FAT 6 GRAMS(3 GRAMS SAT, 2 GRAMS MONOSAT)
CARBS 35 GRAMS
PROTIEN 16 GRAMS
FIBER 3 GRAMS
SODIUM 567 GRAMS
POTTASIUM 145 MG

NUTRITUTION BONUS: VITAMIN A CALCIUM(25% DV)

2007-11-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

Moong Dal Halwa:
I got this wonderful recipe from Menu Today and tried it as it has high protiens and very healthy snack and comes out excellent. I served it as a Diwali Sweets to my friends in my apartment. They really enjoyed it.
Ingredients :
1. Yellow Moong dal - 1 cup
2. Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
3. Ghee - 4 +1 tablespoons
4. Elaichi Powder
5. Cahsew Nuts and Grated Badam
6. Milk - 2 1/4 cup
Method:
1. Dry roast Moong Dal till golden colour. (At this stage you get a nice aroma.)
2. Cool it and Fine Powder it.
3. Heat 4 tablespoons of Ghee in a kadai (preferably non-stick) fry the moongdal Powder in slow flame for 4 minutes.
4. Boil Milk in a vessel and pour it over this dal mixture and cook till done. (You get a glitter on this, If it is fully cooked.
5. Gradually add Sugar and mix well, stir well to make this a lump and ghee oozes out from the edges.
Halwa Test:- If you touch with wet finger, it should not stick, then Halwa is done
Garnishings:- 1. Garnish with Elaichi Powder.
2. In remaining ghee fry cahsewnuts and pour over halwa and mix well
3. Before serving garnish with grated badam.
For even richer taste, add sugarless Khoya at the end.
To make Halwa Glossy look:
1. Apply ghee in the mould.
2. Before serving slightly reheat in microwave oven.

2007-09-21T08:29:00.002-07:00

GREEN Chutney:-
Taste greet with idly, dosa and paniyaram.
For Chutney:-
FriedGram - 1 Handful
Greenchillies - 2
Garlic - 1 pod pounded
Tamarind - a small grape sized
Coconut - 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup
Corriander leaves - 3 sticks
Salt - To taste
For Tadka:-
Oil- 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 5-6 leaves
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Method:-
1) Grind togther all the ingrediants for the chutney to a smooth paste along with the salt and little water.
2) Do the tadka and add it to the chutney.

2007-09-21T08:29:00.001-07:00

FriedGram Chutney:-
For Chutney:-
FriedGram(Podukadalai) - 1 cup
Greenchillies - 4-5
Garlic - 3-4 pods
Tamarind - a small grape sized
Salt - To taste
For Tadka:-
Oil- 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4tsp
Curry leaves - 5-6leaves
Urad dal - 1/4tsp
Hing - a pinch
Method:-
1) Grind togther all the ingrediants for the chutney to a smooth paste along with the salt.
2) Do the tadaka and add it to the chutney.

2007-08-31T00:07:00.000-07:00

Carrot Kheer
Ingredients
Carrot Juice 1 cup(Made from cooking, blending and straining)[ Carrots - 4 OR 5 OR 2 cups of Baby carrots]
Milk 1 cup
Sugar 4 tablespoon or 1/4 cup (add more or less to your taste)
Cardamom 1 pod(powdered)
Cinnamon stick and clove 1 each(added whole)
Grate the carrots.
Pressure cook untill soft (about 3 whistles).
Mash or grind them in a blender. Untill smooth(can add little water while blending)
Using a Stainers seperate juice and thick pulp. You will get about 1 cup of carrot juice.(If Making kheer leave this part)
In a sauce pan mix equal amount of milk with carrot juice sugar,cardamom powder,cinnamon and clove.
Bring it to boil and simmer it down for about 15-30 min or till it becomes thick.
Switch off the heat. Let it cool for little bit. (Take out the whole cinnamon and clove after switching the heat off)
Serve Hot or warm or Cold. Once it cooled down to room temperature put it in the fridge and chill for an hour.
* Cooking carrots in the milk with cashew will increase the taste which you will find.
* Since carrot is a sweet veggie, can adjust the sugar accordingly.
* Can omit even saffron since carrot already gives orange color.
* Similarly, if you want it to be thin, use 3 cups of milk and if not, reduce the milk qty to 1 cup or so.
*For making kheer you can use less amount of milk and lastly add nuts and raisins with ghee.

2007-08-30T23:57:00.000-07:00

Gongura Dal
1 bunch of Gongura, leaves separated & washed
1 cup or four fistfuls of toor dal
Green chillies at least 6, jalapeno variety
1 medium sized onion, cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp of turmeric
Gring to smooth paste with one clove of garlic, 1/2 tsp of corriander seeds and 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds.
Method:
In a pressure cooker, take all of the above ingredients and add one glass of water. Mix them once and pressure cook until three to four whistles or until toordal is soft. Wait until the pressure is released, remove the lid and add one teaspoon of salt to this cooked mixture and mash it with a wooden spoon or potato masher or using an immersion blender into smooth paste.
Now, in a sauce pan, over low medium heat, do seasoning mustard, cumin seeds, red chilli pieces and curry leaves in one tablespoon of ghee or oil. Add the cooked and mashed gongura dal to this popu. Stir all of it once and cover with a lid. Gongura dal is ready.
Tastes great with rice, ghee, pappad or jowar roti.

2007-08-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

Methi Chole (Fenugreek~Chickpeas Curry)
I tried it for the first time with frozen green chickpeas.
Recipe:
2¼ cups of green chickpeas (chana, green garbanzos)
(of which ¼ cup removed and pureed to smooth paste - to thicken the sauce)
2 cups of fresh methi leaves (fenugreek leaves)
4 big, ripe, juicy tomatoes - cut to small pieces
1 onion - finely chopped
Seasoning:
1 tablespoon of chana masala powder (homemade or store-bought)
Salt, chilli powder, turmeric, jaggery (or sugar) and amchur powder - to taste or ½ teaspoon each
1 teaspoon of ghee
In a big saucepan, heat ghee on medium heat.
Add and saut� onions to soft and then fresh methi leaves for 2 minutes. Add the green chickpeas and tomatoes. Stir in the pureed chickpea paste, and all the seasoning. Add about 2 cups of water. Cover and cook for about 20 to 30 minutes, stirring in-between, on medium heat, until the chickpeas become tender. Serve warm with chapatis or any roti.
This recipe can also be prepared with dried chickpeas (soak and cook them to tender first and follow the recipe steps mentioned here).

2007-08-30T23:39:00.001-07:00

Chicken Chalna
We had very great dinner with chicken chalna with parota.
Ingredients:
Marinade:
chicken-1lb
salt-required
chilli powder- 3/4 tsp
turmeric powder
lemon juice
DryRoast & Grind:
sombu- 1tsp
jeera- 1 tsp
peppercorns- 3/4 tsp
red chillies- 4
pattai- 1/2″
Masala:
roughly chop everything and roast in 2 tsp oil.
Onion- 1
garlic- 5 pods
ginger- 1/2″
tomato- 1
coconut- 1/4 cup
Procedure:
Heat oil in a kadai and fry coconut until color changes. set aside. roast the rest of the ingredients under masala until soft. grind this along with the coconut until smooth.
Heat oil in cooker and fry chicken for 2- 3 mins. Then add all the masalas. Add required salt. Mix well and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Finally add corriander leaves. Chicken chalna is ready.

2007-08-30T23:35:00.001-07:00

Chicken Jalfraezi
In Singapore, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor is very popular and participate every Thrusday in local tv. Some more of his books are there in the library. I used to borrow his books whenever I go to library. There is a good collections of indian cookbooks especially Singapore cook book by Indian author.
Ingredients:-
Boneless chicken - 1/2 kg
Onions sliced thin - 3 medium sized
Capsicum - 1 medium sized
Ginger - 1 inch + 1 and 1/2 inch pieces
Garlic - 10 cloves
Fresh coriander leaves chopped- a few sprigs
Vinegar - 2 tbsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 and 1/2 tsps
Cumin seeds - 1 and 1/2 tsps
Red Chillies Whole - 3
Tomato Puree - 1/2 cup
Tomato Ketchup - 2 tbsps
Salt - to taste
Oil - as needed
Method :-
Wash,pat dry chicken and cut into thin stripes.Wash,halve,deseed and cut capsicum into thin stripes.Peel and cut 1 inch piece of ginger into julienne.Grind the garlic and remaining ginger into a smooth paste.
Marinate chicken strips in 1 tbsp vinegar,half the red chilly powder,half the ginger-garlic paste and salt to taste for half an hour,preferably in a refrigerator. Heat oil in a pan and allow cumin seeds to splutter.Add whole red chillies and stir fry for few seconds.Add the sliced onions and stir fry till translucent.Add remaining ginger-garlic paste and saute for 2 to 3 mins. Now add in marinated chicken strips and stir fry for 3-4 mins.Mix in tomato puree,tomato ketchup,remaining red chilli powder and fry chicken until it is almost dry,stirring in between.
Adjust the seasoning and add ginger julienne,capsicum strips,chopped coriander leaves,remaining vinegar and toss.Remove from heat and serve hot with rice/roti.

2007-08-30T23:32:00.000-07:00

Panner Manchurian - 1 Pound
Capsicum - 3 (Red, Yellow and Green)
Onion - 1 poundSpring Onion - 1 bunchGreen chilli - 2
To Marinade:
Soya sauce - 2 tsp
Vinegar - 1 tsp
Ajinomotto - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Ginger & Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Red color - 2 pinch (optional)
Cornflour - 2 tbsp
Maida - 1/2 cup
Red chilly pwd - 1/2 tsp
Green chilly sauce - 2 tbsp
Tomato sauce- 2 tbsp
Cut the Panner into cubes. To make a batter, mix corn flour, maida, red chilly powder with little water enough to coat the panner evenly. Marinate it for atleast one hour preferably in the refridgerator. Fry it till light reddish brown on the dosa tawa with 2 tbsp of oil or cooking spray.
Make a sauce of tomato sauce, vinegar, soyasauce, ajinomotto, red food color and chilli paste. Keep it aside.
Heal oil in a kadai. Fry onion for 5 minutes. Add Ginger & garlic paste for 5 minutes to fry. Add Capsicum and fry till crisp. And fried panner to coat well.
Add above sauces and cook till oil seprates. Garnish it with spring onoin and 2 whole green chilly. Sever Hot.
For Chicken Manchurian:
Follow the same above recipe and just dd one egg to mix it with the batter. Fry till goldnen brown but not too crisp

2007-08-30T23:23:00.000-07:00

Mixed Vegetables Stew:
It is very excellent to go well with iddiyappam and appam, pulao, or fresh basmathi rice, or phulkas. It’s very easy to prepare, very healthy dish and even to save time for the kitchen.
Ingredients -
*Any 2 cups of chopped vegetables - beans, carrots, cauliflower, peas, zucchini squash, lima beans(any combination and proportion works)
1 peeled chopped potato
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup sliced onion
1 tbsp chopped ginger
5 curry leaves finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 can thick coconut milk
3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
2 green chillies slit lengthwise
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 pinch hing
1/2 tsp chilli powder
Method -
Heat the pressure pan and add 2 tsp oil, add jeera and fry slice onions, chop ginger, curry leaves, green chillies and tomatoes for 5 minutes. Add all the veggies, turmeric powder, chilli powder and stir fry for another 5 minutes
Add enough water to cover all the veggies and pressure cook for 2 whistles(not
let the veggies over-cooked). Remove the pan, add salt and coconut milk. Let it simmer for few minutes. Garnish with the chopped cilantro

2007-08-30T23:21:00.001-07:00

Kuli paniyaram comes out very well with FriedGram Chutney. Chutney has a low calorie chutney without using coconut. It’s quick and very easy to make it with idly batter.
For Kuli Paniyaram:-
Ingrediants:-
Finelly chopped Onion -1 medium onion
Finelly chopped Green Chillies - 4
Finelly chopped Curry and Corinder Leaves - 1 1/2tbsp
Mustard seeds - 3/4tsp
Urad dal - 1tsp
Method:-
Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, chillies and onions and sauté for a few minutes. Add this sautéed mixture to the idli batter and mix well. Heat the Kuli Paniyaram Chatti and add little oil in each hole and pour 1 spoon of batter in each hole. Cook them on both the sides. Serve it with chutney.

2007-05-12T06:22:00.000-07:00

Home-made Ghee Preparations
How to prepare:

I bought unsalted butter from costco to prepare Ghee.

Before making ghee, we should know it has 3 layers, milk-solids which has more proteins at the bottom, clarified-butter in the middle and milk-soiled foaming less on top.

Take a heavy bottomed vessel, put the butter sticks in it, and on medium heat melt them. When the butter starts to melt, there will be lot of bubbling.

Reduce the flame to low, in a few minutes the butter will begin to develop foam at the top.
Simmer on low heat, uncovered and undisturbed, for 45 to 1 hr minutes, until milk solids on the bottom of the vessel turn dark brown color and butter on top disappear and becomes transparent like oil or clear water. Turn off the heat. Add handful of curry leaves that gets great aroma from the ghee. Let it stand for 10 minutes before straining it with with coffee filter or muslin cloth and store it with air tight container at room temperature.

After straining it, I never throw milk-soilds at the bottom becos it has proteins. I mix it directly with cooked rice and feed my kids with some currys and any porials.
Dont use high heat to make ghee. Drumstick leaves or a pinch of jeera or curry leaf can be added to give aroma flavor.

2007-04-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

CARROT TOMATO SOUP
Here goes one more healthy and easy to make soup recipe.
Ingredients:
Carrot 2 big
Tomatoes 2
Pepper 1/2 tea spn
Butter 1 tea spn
Salt
Method:
Cut carrots and tomatoes into big pieces. Cook them with one cup of water in pressure cooker or microwave until they are completely cooked. Cool and blend in a blender to a smooth paste (I dont strain the soup, because I feel straining will remove all the fibres from the soup).
Bring the mixture to boil adding 2 cups of water. Add salt and pepper.
Serve hot garnished with butter.
Serves : 3
Preparation time : 20min

2007-03-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

Masala Mushroom
I made masala mushroom in a very simple way. I used canned mushrooms. It's just a dry curry and quick fix meal at any time of the day.
Ingredients:
Mushrooms(chopped) 2 cups
Onions 2
Chilli powder 1 tea spn
Garam masala 1/2 tea spn
Salt to taste
Oil 2 teaspoon
cumin seeds 1 tsp
curry leaves few (optional)
Coriander leaves few
Method:
Heat oil in a pan.Brown cumin seeds, add curry leaves and fry onion till slightly brownish. Then add mushrooms, cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle some water if necessary. Add all the masala and cook for 2 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot. Serves for 2 persons.

2007-03-06T12:32:00.000-08:00

Bagara Baingan (stuffed brinjal curry with peanuts and sesame seeds)
I heard that Andhra people used to cook stuffed brinjals in a wide flat pan. It'll take lot of time to cook them. I learnt from my friend, Neelu to microwave stuffed brinjals with little water for 5 minutes. She and me didnt like to cook stuffed brinjals for long time in the wide flat pan.
I always look for small, fresh, young, blemish free brinjals.
Small brinjals - 8 to 12
Stuffing:
Peanuts - one handful
Seasame - 3 tbsp
Cashewnuts - one handful
Dried red chillies - 6
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Cumin - 1tsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Clove - 4
Cinnamon - 1"
Tamarind - key lime sized
Onion - 1 half (optional)
Salt to taste
Seasonings: (optional)
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
curry leaves - few
Garlic - 3 pounded
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Soak the tamarind in hot water for 10 minutes to extract the juice.
Blend the above ingredients except onion with tamarind water to make smooth thick paste like thuvayal.
Stuffing:
Cut the brinjal into (+) 4 peices, not completly. Just gently slit them up to make a narrow gap and then stuff the paste into it. I stuffed them easily by taking dollop of the masala directly from the blender with teaspoon as I dont like to mess things up in the kitchen. So that I can mix the remaining paste with tamarind water nicely for gravy.
Microwave:
Now take the stuffed brinjal into a microwable flat bowl or steam bowl and add little water and put it in microwave for 5 minutes.
Cooking:
Heat oil or ghee in a wide flat pan. Do the above seasonings and fry onion till trnsparent.
Add the stuffed brinjals, fry them so that the outer skin is turned brownish. Add the paste with tamarind water or water if necessary and cook in a lower heat till the paste is cooked.
You see oil coming out on the edges and garnish with corriander leaves.
Serve with rice or roti, this curry is a party favorite and a crowd pleaser.
Variations:
Omit peanuts and cashewnuts,
Chana dal and urad dal - 1/4 cup each
Roast them with black pepper, cloves, dried red chillies, cumin, coriander seeds & 1 tsp of methi seeds till golden and blend them with 1/2 cup of fresh or dried coconut, tamarind juice and one tabeteaspoon of powdered jaggery.

2007-03-05T15:47:00.000-08:00

MUSHROOM CURRY -2
Ingredients
10 large button mushrooms, quartered
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
2 tablespoons onion paste
1 teaspoon tomato puree
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
3 tablespoons curds
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon oil
Salt to taste
For garnish
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
Method
1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the ginger-garlic paste and the onion paste and saute for some time.
2. Add the tomato puree and chilli powder and stir for some time.
3. Add the mushrooms and saute till they are tender.
4. Finally, add the curd, garam masala and salt. Mix well.
5. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with chapathi
Instead of onion paste,tomato paste & gin-gar paste i chopped everything & sauted onion,gin ,gar in 1 tsp oil...& then added tomatoes..cooked for a min...took off the flame & let cool...& the ground it with chilli powder & added back to the pan & let boil for a while with little water & proceeded as given in the recipe. This way we can reduce the consumption of oil.Remember not to cook for a long time afer adding the curd...just mix it & take off flame...

2007-03-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

Cabbage & tomato porial

Ingredients:
Cabbage [chopped finely]- 5 cups
Onion[chopped finely]-1
Tomato [chopped finely][big]- 1
Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Shredded coconut- 2 handfuls
Chopped coriander- 3 tbsp
Cooked Bengal gram- 3 tbsp
Oil- 3 tsp
Finely chopped ginger- 1/2 tsp
Asafotida powder- 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Procedure:
Heat a pan and pour the oil. Add the mustards and the cumin seeds. When they splutter, add the asafetida powder and fry for a few seconds. Add the chopped onion with the ginger and fry for a few seconds. Then add the tomato with the turmeric powder and the chilli powder. Cook well until the tomato is mashed well. Add the cabbage and cook on slow fire. Sprinkle water in intervals if needed. When it is almost cooked add the coconut, Bengal gram and the coriander. Cook the poriyal until it is done. If the cabbage is cooked fully and has become soft and soggy, then the taste will decrease a little.

2007-02-27T04:54:00.000-08:00

Lime-Ginger Rasam
Ingredients:
for rasam:
2 nos - Ripe Tomatoes, halved
4 nos - Green Chillies
2 nos - 1 inch piece of crushed Ginger
1 no - Lime or 2 Tbsp lime juice
1 sprig - Curry Leaves
1/2 cup - Coriander leaves
1 cup - Toor dal, boiled and mashed
Salt to taste
for seasoning:
1 tsp - ghee
1 tsp - Mustard seeds
1 tsp - Jeera/Cumin seeds
Procedure:
Boil one cup of toor dal and mash it well once cooked.
In a vessel, add 3 cups of water and toss all the rasam ingredients except the dal and lime juice and curry leaves( i.e tomatoes, crushed ginger,coriander, chillies and salt)
Bring the rasam to a boil, the tomatoes would have lost shape by this time
Add in the cooked dal now and mix well to get rid of lumps and bring the rasam to a boil again. You could add a little rasam powder now if you want
In a separate pan, heat the ghee and add in the mustard seeds and jeera and a few curry leaves. Once the seeds start popping add it to the rasam.Also add in the juice of one lime or its equivalent.
Serve hot with rice or enjoy it as a soup :-)

2007-02-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

Menthi Kura Pappu(Methi Dal/Fenugreek Lentil Curry)
1 cup fenugreek,methi washed and picked
1 cup tur dal
1 medium sized onion chopped finely
4-5 green chillis slit length wise(indian variety)
1/3 tsp turmeric
2 whole dry red chillis
5 garlic flakes slightly crushed
1 tsp chopped ginger
10 curry leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds(jeera)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp salt
oil
chopped coriander leaves for garnish
Method:
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a sauce pan and add the mustard seeds and let them splutter.
Now add the cumin seeds,slightly crushed garlic,whole red chilli pieces and curry leaves and fry for a minute.This is called “Popu” or “Taalimpu”in Telugu (Andhra).The seasoning adds to the dish. Now add the chopped onions,chopped ginger and green chillis and fry for 2 minutes on medium heat.Remove from heat. Add the “popu” and turmeric to the tur dal and add 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker. Now add the washed and picked fenugreek leaves(menthukura)on top and pressure cook till three to four whistles or until tur dal is soft.
Wait until the pressure is released and remove the lid. Add salt to this cooked mixture and mash with laddle till well combined.
Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve hot with rice and ghee,some papad and vadiyaalu and its a complete nutritious meal.

2007-02-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

Keerai Kootu with Rasam Podi(Spinach Kootu with Rasam powder)
Spinach - one bunch
Moongdal - 1/2 cup
Rasam powder - 2 tsp
Shredded Coconut - 4 to 5 tsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Pressure cook dal and spinach with 1/4 tsp of oil and a pinch of tumeric
Blend coconut and rasam powder in a blender.
Heat some oil in a bottom vessel. Add mustard and cumin seeds.
Pour the dal and Spinach mixture and Keep it boil for 3 to 4 min.
Add coconut and rasam mixture. Add salt to taste.
Boil for few more minutes and swtich off the gas and serve hot.

2007-02-02T12:33:00.000-08:00

Bittergourd with Potato(Pavvakkai with Potato porial)
Ingredients:

Bitter gourd - 4 small

Onion - 2 chopped

Garlic - 3 pods crushed

Ginger - one small inch crushed

Potato - one small (optional)

Coriander powder - 1 to 11/2 tsp

Redchilli Powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Buttermilk -one cup

Tumeric powder - 2 pinch for soaking

Seasonings:

Mustard seeds - 1/4tsp

Cumin seeds -1 tsp

Curry leaves -10 leaves or one stick

Spilt black gram dhal - 1/2 tsp

Oil -2 tbsp

To remove bitterness from Pavvakkai:

Wash Pavvakkai and cut open. Take out thick seeds if there is any. Cut into small pieces bite sized. Soak these pieces in buttermilk with turmeric and salt for 15 minutes to remove some of these bitterness.

Method:

Heat oil in a pan, season it with mustard, cumin, curry leaves. Saute onion till light brown and add crushed ginger and garlic. Fry this till crisp lightly.

Now drain out the excess water from the bittergourd and squeeze out the extra water if there is any. Potato can be added along with Pavakkai. Add them to the onion mixture and add turmeric powder and cook till tender. Add red chilly powder, coriander powder, jaggery, salt and fry till the masala blends well. It gives more taste and flavour when it's fried for almost 20 minutes over the very low flame stirring often or till pavvakkai becomes shrink. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve as a side dish for rice or it is best to mix with rice and a dollop of ghee.

2007-01-24T23:22:00.000-08:00

Kothu Parotta/Chilli Parotta
Ingredients:
Kerala Porota-3- cut into small pieces
Egg-1
Ginger+Garlic-25g chopped
Onion-1 large-chopped
Shimla Mirch/Capsicum-1 chopped
Spring onion-6 stalks chopped
Chilli powder-1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/4tsp
Green chillies-3 chopped
Tomato Sauce-3 tbsp
Soya sauce-2 tsp
Red chilli sauce-2tsp
Oil-2 tbsp
Coriander leaves-a few sprigs
Salt-as required
Method
Heat oil in a wok.Saute onion,green chillies,ginger,garlic,capsicum&spring onion till they become transluscent.Now add chilli powder,turmeric powder.Saute for a minute.Add the sauces one by one.Mix well.Add the Porotta pieces.Mix together and cook for 2 or 3 minutes.Break egg into it.Mix well. Cook till the egg dries up.Finally garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy!!

2007-01-24T23:03:00.000-08:00

Vendaikkai Curry
Ingredients:
1 lb Okra(cut okra into medium size pieces)
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 Medium size onion
1 Medium size tomato
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1/4 tsp Chili powder
2 tbsp Yogurt or thick coconut milk
Oil
Salt for taste
Method:
Heat 2-3 tbsp of oil in a kadai put the cut pieces of okra & fry the okra for 15 minutes in low flame. Keep the fried okra seperate.Now,in the same kadai heat 1 tbsp of oil & splutter the mustard seeds. Add the chopped onion & fry till golden brown.Add the chopped tomato,salt & turmeric powder & cook for 5-6 mts. Then,add the fried okra & cook for 5 mts.Add the coriander powder& chilli powder & yogurt. Mix well keep it in low flame & close the kadai for 3-4 mts. Okra curry is ready serve hot with Roti & Rice.

2007-01-24T22:12:00.000-08:00

Radish Raitha
Bringing the ingredients together:
Radish – 2, medium size, grated into shreds or julienned, red ones
Yogurt/curd – 2 tablespoons with less water
Green chilly – 1, medium size, medium hot
Table salt – 1/4 teaspoon
Ghee – 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds – 1/4 teaspoons
Curry leaves – a sprig, fresh
Method: Heat a pan and pour in the ghee. When the ghee becomes very hot, add the mustard seeds to splutter, the chopped green chilly, and then the curry leaves taking care not to burn the mustard seeds. Add the radish shreds (both roots and leaves) and fry for 2 minutes taking care not to brown them. Remove from the heat. When cold, combine with the curds and serve. Enjoy!

2007-01-22T23:38:00.000-08:00

As far as possible, use whole wheat instead of refined flour.
Stevia, a herbal sugar substitute which is 400 times sweeter than sugar claims to have zero calories.
Use jaggery instead of honey as natural substitutes for sugar. They are rich in iron.
Butter can be substituted with buttermilk. If a recipe calls for 100gms butter, use 150gms buttermilk.
If buttermilk makes your cake very dry, add a small quanity of refined oil.
Cream can be substituted with low-cal curds.
You can avoid butter for greasing if you use good butter paper.
If you bake bread at home, give it a water wash instead of a milk wash

2007-01-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

Quick Pepper Rasam
Ingredients:
3 cups of tamarind juice by soaking and squeezing lime size tamarind in water (or) 2 tsp tamarind pulp dissolved in 4 cups of water.
2 tsp pepper powder
2 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
4 cloves garlic smashed and roughly chopped
1 medium size tomato
1/cup chopped coriander/cilantro leaves
salt as needed
For tempering:
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp jeera seeds
1 red chilly
a pinch of hing
few curry leaves
Method:
Take the tamarind juice in vessel.Add all the powders, garlic and salt to it. Squeeze the tomatoes by your hand and mix with the liquid well.Check for salt and spice level.Add the coriander leaves and keep aside.
Heat 2 tsp of oil. To this add the tempering ingredients one by one.When it splutters, add the tamarind juice mixture to it.
Reduce the heat to medium. When you see bubbles forming on the top, remove the heat and immediately close with a lid to give good aroma of this rasam. Allow it to rest for atleast 15 mins.
Serve it piping hot with white rice, chips or papad and egg curry as a side dish

2007-01-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

Chakkarai Bananna
Ingredients
Ripe Bananna 2-3 or as much as you like
Jaggery few table spoon(grated or powdered)
Coconut few table spoon
Cardamom seeds chrushed (optional)
Method
Slice bananna into bit size pieces, sprinkle jaggery, coconut and cardamom powder.
Toss/mix gently and eat. It can also served with a dallop of ice-cream.

2007-01-17T21:33:00.000-08:00

SARKKARAI PONGAL
Ingredients:
Jeera rice/Ponni Raw rice – 1 cup
Split moong dal – ¼ cup
Jaggery – 11/2 cups
Milk – 1 cup
Water - 3 cup
Ghee – ¼ cup
Cardamom – 2, powdered
Cashew nut – 2 tablespoon
Raisins – 2 tablespoon
Almonds - 2 tablesppon (Blance in hot water and remove the skin)
Water – 3 cup + 1 cup
Saffron - a pinch
Shredded Coconut - 2 tablespoon
Fry 1/4 cup of split green gram dhal in a kadai in 1sp ghee to a light brown colour or until a nice aroma floats on the air.
Soak 2tbsps of almonds in hot water and then remove the skins. Slice them nicely.
Fry the almond slices, 2tbsps of split cashew nuts, and 2tbsps of seedless raisins separately in ghee.
Fry 2tbsps of shredded coconut in a tbsp of ghee.
Soak a pinch of saffron in ¼ cup of warm milk.
Pressure cook rice and dhal with 3 cups of water till 4 to 5 whistles.
Add milk after opening the lid.
Make thin syrup of jaggery with less than 1/4 cup in another pan in low flame.
Pour it slowly into the rice dhal mixture little by little and mix well. Let it cook for few minutes in low flame and finally add 1/4 cup of ghee. Mix well and cook until the pongal is set well.
Serve it with Coconut pieces and Simple Dessert - Chakkarai Bananna

2007-01-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

Carrot Kheer
Ingredients
Carrot Juice 1 cup(Made from cooking, blending and straining)[ Carrots - 4 or 5 or 2 cups of Baby carrots)
Milk 1 cup
Sugar 4 tablespoon or 1/4 cup (add more or less to your taste)
Cardamom 1 pod(powdered)
Cinnamon stick and clove 1 each(added whole)
Grate the carrots.
Pressure cook untill soft (about 3 whistles).
Mash or grind them in a blender. Untill smooth(can add little water while blending)
Using a Stainers seperate juice and thick pulp. You will get about 1 cup of carrot juice.(If Making kheer leave this part)
In a sauce pan mix equal amount of milk with carrot juice sugar,cardamom powder,cinnamon and clove.
Bring it to boil and simmer it down for about 15-30 min or till it becomes thick.
Switch off the heat. Let it cool for little bit. (Take out the whole cinnamon and clove after switching the heat off)
Serve Hot or warm or Cold. Once it cooled down to room temperature put it in the fridge and chill for an hour.
Tips:
Carrot is a sweet veggie, can adjust the sugar accordingly.
Similarly, if you want it to be thin, use 3 cups of milk and if not, reduce the milk qty to 1 cup or so.
Use less amount of milk and lastly add nuts and raisins with ghee.

2007-01-08T23:25:00.000-08:00

Milagu cauliflower ( Cauliflower pepper fry)
This recipe I got it from some magazine by Revathi Shanmugam and simple recipe with pepper.
cauliflower- 1, small,
onion- 1, chopped,
lime juice- 1 tbsp,
turmeric pwd- 1/4 tsp,
salt to taste,
oil- 3 tbsp.
To grind:
Peppercorns- 1 tbsp, cumin seeds- 2 tsp, saunf- 1/2 tsp, cinnamon- 1, clove- 2, cardamom- 1, ginger- 1 inch piece, garlic- 3 cloves.
Grind all the above ingredients to a smooth paste.
Method:
Heat oil & fry the onions till golden. Now add the ground paste & stir fry for 1 or 2 mins. Add the cauliflower florets, turmeric pwd,lime juice, salt to taste & a little water & cover & cook till cauliflower florets are tender . Serve hot with steamed basmathi rice & poricha kozhumbhu. Taste best with Parota.

2007-01-08T23:14:00.000-08:00

Murunga keerai porial (drumsticks greens porial)
Murunga keerai- 1 bunch,
green chillies- 3,
coconut- 4 to 5 pieces,
cumin seeds- 1 tsp,
mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp,
curry leaves- few,
salt to taste,
oil- 2 tbsp,
turmeric- 1/4 tsp.
Grind the coconut , chillies & cumin to a fine paste. Heat oil in a kadai & season it with mustard & curry leaves. Then add the murunga keerai, ground paste, salt , turmeric & little water and cook till the greens are done.
Serve hot with basmati rice, roasted papads & ghee.
The same dish can also be prepared using seeru keerai instead of murunga keerai.

2006-12-27T22:06:00.000-08:00

Pooshnikkai with Channa dal Kootu
I've tried and cooked this recipe from Manpasand ... From my kitchen to yours It's good for health to cook Channa dal with Pooshnikkai. Anyone can cook it with confidence.
Pooshnikkai or white pumpkin : 3 cups, cubed
Kabuli chana or Kondakadalai in tamil or brown sundal in English : 1/4 cup
Thuvaram paruppu /split pigeon peas: 1/4 cup
Turmeric: a pinch
For the paste:
Chana dal: 1 tsp
Dried red chillies: 2
Coriander seeds: 2 tsp
Jeera : 1/4 tsp
Black pepper,whole : 1/4 tsp
Coconut: 1/4 cum of grated
Oil : 2 tsp
Salt: to taste
Ghee: 1 tblsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Urad dal: 1 tsp
Cilantro: to garnish
Pressure cook dal till soft. Cook pumpkin and chana separately, adding salt, till done. Pressure cook chana in one whistle over medium high flame.
Heat oil in a pan. Add chana dal. Fry till golden brown. Add dry red chillies, coriander seeds, jeera and black pepper. Saute till coriander seeds lose their raw smell. Add grated coconut. Saute for 30 seconds. Turn the heat off. Let it cool. Grind this to a smooth paste adding little water.
Mix cooked pumpkin, turmeric, arhar dal and chana together until well blended. Add about a cup of water. Let this boil. Add the paste. Mix well and let this continue boiling till you get a semi-solid consistency. Adjust the salt to taste. Turn the heat off.
Heat a ghee in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they begin to pop, add urad dal. When they turn golden brown , add this to dal-pumpkin mixture. Garnish with cilantro.
Serve hot with rice or roti.

2006-12-22T00:11:00.000-08:00

Vendakkai Puli Kulambu (Small Lady's finger Gravy)
Ingredients:
1lb Vendakkai(cut into medium size pieces)
1 Large Onion
2 Medium size Tomato
1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds
4 tsps Coriander powder
1 tsps Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Tumeric powder
2 tbsps Tarmarind concentrate
3 tbsps Coconut paste
Oil
Salt for taste
Method:
Heat the oil in a kadai & put the fenugreek seeds & let them splutter.add the onion & fry for 5-6 mts.
Add the tomato & cook it 7-8mts.Add the turmeric powder,salt,spices & the okra pieces combine them & cook them for 10mts.
Now,add the tamarind concentrate & add 11/2 cups of water & close the kadai & cook the gravy till okra cooks in high flame.
Finely,add the coconut paste & cook the garvy for 10mts in medium heat.
Serve it with rice & roti

2006-07-19T01:48:00.000-07:00

Egg curry
Serves – 4
Ingredients:
Eggs – 4, hardboiled and halved + 1 raw egg
Onions – 2, medium size, finely sliced
Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon
Coconut milk extract - 1-1/2 cups, fresh and thick
Oil – 2 tablespoons
Coriander leaves – for garnishing
Method:
Heat a flat-bottomed pan and pour in the oil. When very hot, add onion slices and saute it until golden brown. Add the spice powders and coconut milk extract. Allow it to boil over low heat. Add the raw egg and mix well. Add the halved egg pieces and cook for 10 minutes. Serve it hot garnished with coriander leaves.

2006-07-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

Palappam:
Palappam is Kerala’s own divine breakfast .It is also known as Vellayappam in some parts of Kerala. Appam is usually served along with a coconut-flavoured stew.But it goes well with egg roast or Kadala(chick peas) curry.
Ingredients:-
Raw rice - 2cups
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Yeast - a pinch
Egg -1(Optional)
Salt - 2 pinch
Method:-
Soak the rice in water for 5-6 hours or overnight and drain it. Grind it with grated coconut and cooked rice to a smooth paste.Combine sugar and yeast in luke warm water and keep aside for 5-10 mts. Add it to the grinded batter .Stir well and allow it to ferment for 8-10 hrs.
Separate egg white and yolk.Just before cooking, beat egg white and salt well and mix it with the fermented batter. Egg white will make the appam so soft to touch.
When the pan is well heated,pour a big spoon of mixture into it to spread it well by rotating the pan holding both the handles.Cover the pan and let the appam cook in the steam for 2 to 3 minutes.
You can also add leftover egg yolk on the appam batter. It'll also cook along with appam. I omit egg yolk. It has more fat and cholestrol.
Variations:
You can also add egg into the appam to cook along with it instead of adding egg white into the batter.

2006-06-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

Thayir Sadam (Curd rice)
Raw rice - 1 cup
Water - 3 cups
Milk - 2 to 21/2 cups
Salt to taste
Seasonings:
Mustards seeds - 1 tsp
Green chilli - 3
Ginger - 1" small piece
Asafotida - 2 pinch
Curry leaves - one handful
Garnishing:
Coriander leaves - few
Pomegrate seeds - 1 handful(optional)
Boil the milk separatly. Pressure the rice with water and salt.
Heat 2 tbsp of gingelly oil and do the above seasonings except green chilly and ginger.
Mash the rice and add milk, seasonings, green chilly, ginger and curd.
Cover the vessel with a lid and keep it like that for 5 to 6 hours.
After 6 hours, can add 4 to 5 tbsps of curd or a cup of tasty butter milk of a thick variety. Mix well. I always mix both butter milk and the curd for the extra taste. The tastiest curd rice depends on the quality of rice, cooking method, quality of the curd and the milk.
Garnish it with coriander seeds and pomegrate seeds.

2006-06-22T02:25:00.000-07:00

Dal Chawal(PARUPPU SADHAM)
Wash and soak 1 cup of raw rice and ½ cup of lentils in water for ½ hour.
Grind ½ sp fennel seeds, 1/2sp cumin seeds, 1sp chilli powder, 1” cinnamon, and 2 cardamoms to a coarse powder.
Heat 1tbsp of ghee and 2tbsp of oil in a kadail. Add 2 onions chopped and fry till golden brown. Then add 2 big tomatoes and fry till soft, add 1tsp turmeric powder and 2tbsp chopped coriander. Cook until the oil floats on the surface and then add the powder.
Mix well and fry for a few minutes. Add this to the drained rice and the dhal and fry for 2 minutes. Measure the water and add it to the rice with enough salt.
Mix well and pressure cook the rice up to five whistles. Let it cool, mix well and serve.

2006-06-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

Vegetable Biryani
Ingredients:
Basmati rice - 1 cup
Vegetables
(Carrots, Beans, Green peas, Cauliflower) - 2 cups
Onion - 1 no
Tomato - 1 no
Yoghurt/Curd - 1 tbsp
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Bay leaves(Vazhana/Karuga ela)
Cinnamon(Karugapatta)
Cumin seeds(Jeerakam)
Cloves(Grambu)
Oil
For masala:
Ginger - 1/2 " piece
Garlic pods - 5 - 6 nos
Green chillies - 1 - 2 nos
Coriander leaves - 1/2 bunch
Mint leaves(Pudhina) - 1/2 bunch
Preparation Method
Heat oil in a pressure pan. Add all the spices, sliced onion and the ground masala.
When it turns colour, add tomato.Add rice and fry. Add all vegetables to it along with yoghurt, lemon juice and salt. Add enough water and check the level of salt. Close the lid and pressure cook it, till you hear 1 whistle.
Serve with Raita or a Kuruma.

2006-06-15T01:50:00.000-07:00

Green Gram Dhal Sambar
Ingredients:
Green gram dhal - 1 cup
Onions -2 (chopped)
Tomatoes - 4 (chopped)
Green Chillies - 3 or 4 (chopped lengthwise)
Tamarind - walnut size
Turmeric - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Curry leaves - few
Seasonings:
Mustard - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Red chillies -2
Asafetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Oil - 3 teaspoons
Preparing Method
Pressure cook dhal with turmeric, green chilly and garlic till done. Pressure cook again with tamarind juice,onions, chopped tomatoes, green chillies and salt to it and enough water to cook for 2 whistles. Add asafetida powder and allow it to cook until cooked flavour comes
Heat the oil in a kadai and do the seasonings and add the dhal mixture. Serve with idly, dosai and even rice.

2006-06-15T00:57:00.001-07:00

KARAMANI KARA KUZHAMBU[Chettinadu style]:
Ingredients:
Karamani paruppu- ¾ cup
Tamarind- a small lime size
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Cumin seeds- ½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds- ½ tsp
Garlic fales-5
Small onions- 1 cup
Finely chopped tomatoes- ¾ cup
Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
Chilli powder- ½ tsp
Coriander powder- 2tsp
Drumstick pieces-8
Grind to a paste:
shredded coconut-4tbsp
sambar onions-3
fennel seeds- ½ tsp
Enough gingelly oil
Salt to taste
Procedure:
Soak the Karamani paruppu for 4 hours and then drain the water.
Add 1 cup of fresh water and cook the karamani in a pressure cooker for 4 whistles. Soak the tamarind in water for ½ hour and then extract its juice.
Heat a kadai and pour enough gingelly oil.
Add the mustards seeds and when they splutter add the cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and the garlic flakes. Then add the sambar onions with the tomatoes and cook under moderate fire until they are well mashed. Pour the tamarind extract, with the turmeric powder, chilli powder,coriander powder, rdrumstick pieces and enough salt.
Let the kuzhambu simmer for 15 minutes. Then add the ground paste to the kuzhambu and allow it to simmer for few more minutes.
Note: You can add brinjals instead of drumsticks.