Ruchii

Moving Break

2010-05-04T10:08:00.009-08:00

We are in the process of moving back home, so I'll be taking break from blogging until end of May.

Hopefully I'll be able to resume back to cooking and blogging in June, from my home town.

Until then, Good bye from USA...

Happy Blogging, everyone.

Carrot Stir-Fry

2010-04-28T15:23:00.006-08:00

I have had couple bunches of carrots, laying in my fridge for over a week now. So for tonights dinner I made a quick and simple stir-fry with carrots, using very few basic ingredients. This tastes good with Indian rotis or as a side dish with rice and Dal's.

Here is my recipe for simple carrot stir-fry.

Vegetables :

Carrots - 7 to 8 (medium size, skin peeled and washed)

Onion- 1 medium (thinly sliced)

For Tempering/Seasoning :

Oil - 1 tsp

Cumin/Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Spices (Powders) :

Garam Masala - 1tsp (substitute with cumin-coriander powder)

Red chili powder - 1-2 tsp

Garnish (Sprinkle on top):

Lime : about 1tsp (Freshly squeezed)

Cilantro/Coriander leaves- 1tbsp chopped.

Method :

Peel the skin of carrots, wash and chop them like match sticks, Slice onions thinly to match the cut carrots.
Heat oil, when hot add jeera seeds, when they start to pop add onions fry for few minutes until its translucent. Now add carrots, salt mix well cover and cook till carrots are just tender not too soft.
Add spices mix well, adjust salt if needed. Once the flavors are well combined, switch off the heat.
Finally garnish with cilantro leaves and squeeze some fresh lime juice.

Ready to be served, Enjoy !

Cabbage and Chickpeas Kurma

2010-04-20T17:10:00.003-08:00

Kurma is a vegetable based gravy, made using different kinds for veggies. Along with vegetables, I like to pair them with some kind of beans or lentils to make the gravy wholesome with some Protein added to it. So today I have used Cabbage a veggie and Black Chickpeas a bean to make the gravy.

For making Kurma, a mixture of cooked onion and tomatoes is used along with khus-khus and cashews. This gives the gravy, a rich flavor and texture. So here is my recipe for it.

Vegetables I have used :

Cabbage - about 2 cups (finely chopped)

Chickpeas - about 1 cup ( I have used Black variety,soaked and cooked).

* Use any vegetables of your choice, and if in hurry, use quick cooking small kind lentils which doesn't require much soaking time.

For Wet Masala Paste :

Onion - 1 medium

Tomato (s) - 1-2 medium

Hus-Khus(Gus-Guse) - 2 tsp

Coconut - 2 tbsp

Cashew nuts- 10-15

Cardamom(elakki) - seeds from 2 pods.

Dry red chillies - 2 or more for desired spiciness( if not using red chilies, use red chili powder instead).

Method :

First cook the soaked Chickpea with enough water till soft and keep it ready.
Cook onion and tomato till soft, let it cool. Mix with the other ingredients mentioned above and grind them to a smooth paste. Add little water if required, to help while grinding. Keep this paste ready as well.
In a heavy bottom pan, heat oil when hot add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they start to pop add cabbage and cook till soft, then add cooked chickpeas, add Masala paste. Add water and adjust salt accordingly.
Let it cook for 15 -20 mins or until all the flavors combine well.
Server warm as side with rice,idlies or doses.

Kurma tastes good with any rice based dishes. We had ours with Doses for our lunch today. Enjoy!

I am sending the Kurma to 2 events.

Cooking with the Seeds - Cardamom hosted by Priya.

MLLA #22 hosted by Ruchikacooks .

Sago Murukku (Sagu Biyyam Muruku) - ICC

2010-04-15T10:11:00.004-08:00

Sagu Biyyam Muruku or Sago Muruku is chosen as the Challenge for March edition of ICC by the creator of the event Srivalli.

Muruku is a deep fried Savory snack,very familiar to us South-Indians. I have made and had Muruku countless times. I always made them with pre(Mom)- made Muruku Mixes. But the Challenge had Sago as the main ingredient, which I haven't had or seen in a Muruku before.

The very important step in this recipe, is to soak the Sago in buttermilk, and then mix with other ingredients. Srivalli had cautioned as to do this step right, or else there will be a risk of Sago bursting into the oil. So to be on the safer side I did soak the Sago for 5+ hours, since the sago I have used didn't seem to have plumped up after 3hrs of soaking time. Except the soaking step, I followed the recipe and measurements as given by Valli.

Finally, it turned out very well than I expected it to be. The dough was right consistency,and got a crunchy and delicious Muruku without any Sago fireworks in the oil.

Recipe For Sago Muruku :

Rice Flour (Akki Hittu) - 2 cups
Besan Flour (Kadale Hittu) - 1/2 cup
Fried Gram Dal/Chutney Dal/Dalia Dal (Hurigadale Hittu) - 1/2 cup
Sago/Tapioca Pearla (Sabakki) - 1/2 cup
Curds/Buttermilk( Majjige) -1/2 to 1 cup Diluted
Salt to taste
Red chili powder - 1 tsb.
Oil for Deep Frying ( I used Groundnut/Peanut oil)

*Muruku Press - I used Star shaped disc to make Muruku.

Method :

*Soak Sago in Butter milk for 3 hrs, please ensure that you soak it enough else you may risk having the sago burst. ( I did Soak for 5 -6 hrs, until the sago soaks up buttermilk and plumped up).

Refer above picture (no.1), I have just shown all the flours used.
Mix all the flour together, heat 50 gms oil(1/4 cup of oil), mix to the flour along with salt and chili powder. Then add the buttermilk soaked sago slowly and knead to a chapati dough consistency.
I have used, Star shaped disc. Shown in the Pic above (no.3).
Heat oil for deep frying.In the Muruku achu, add the dough. When the oil is hot, press down directly on to the oil.
Cook on medium flame to ensure the Muruku is cooked well.
When Muruku are golden brown in color, take out . Let it cool.

Enjoy warm. Once cooled can be stored in air tight box for few days.

Notes:

*Ensure sago soaks in buttermilk well and is soft or else it will burst when you press it down in hot oil.

Cook on medium to ensure even cooking.

Fried Gram flour is fried Channa dal that is available commercially. It is general sold as the dal, we have to powder it at home. This is also referred as chutney dal as it is used in making coconut chutney.

In the picture above(no.1) I have added Fried gram dal(hurigadale) along with its flour, just to show in the pics, that the flour is made from that dalia dal. For Making dough i have used only dalia dal powder.

Thanks Valli, for this New kind of Muruku Challenge, I throughly enjoyed making them.

This is going to ICC Event -March, hosted by Srivalli.

Apples,Almonds and Cardamom Shake.

2010-04-13T11:06:00.008-08:00

We get quite a few Apples in our veggie box each week. None of us are big fan of eating apples, so once a week to finish of those apples off, I make milk shakes with it.
Today, I happened to have a few soaked Almonds(Badami), so added them along with the Apples. Almonds gives very rich, sweet and delicious taste to the milk shake.
Along with Apples and Almonds I added few Cardamom seeds, it compliments almonds and apples very much with its aromatic flavor and sweet taste.

So here is a delicious and nutritious recipe with Apples.

Ingredients I have used :

Apples - 4
Cold Milk - 1 cup (Boiled and cooled)
Sugar - 4 tsp ( add more for more sweetness)
Almonds - about 2 tbsp ( soaked and skin removed, this is optional)
Cardamom (Elakki)- Seeds lightly crushed from 2 pods

Wash, peel the skin and remove seeds and chop apples to big bite size pieces.
If using Almonds(soaked), peels the skin as well.
Remove the outer skin, take the seed out of Cardamom and crush them lightly.
Take all the ingredients mentioned above, add milk and sugar.
Blend till smooth in a mixer/blender. Add more milk or water to make to desired consistency.Adjust sugar level.

Enjoy !

* I keep Apples and milk in Fridge for few hours before making shakes to make it cold.

For even more colder shake, use crushed ice cubes or ice-cream.

Off this goes to Priya's Event, Cooking with Seeds -Cardamom Seeds.

Pinto Beans in Ancho Chili Sauce

2010-04-08T15:34:00.004-08:00

Hi all, I am back after a good, long break. Today I am sharing with you all the recipe of Pinto beans in chili sauce (Mexican Ancho chili).

When I was looking at Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian cook book, for some new recipes to cook with Pinto beans, I came across her Tex-Mex style Stew(thick sauce) with beans and Ancho Chiles. The minute saw the title, I just knew this was going to be our side dish for our dinner tonight.

The recipe I am posting today is the adapted version for Madhur Jaffrey's recipe. I have just kept the Pinto beans and Chile sauce as main ingredient from her recipe and added North Indian Garam Masala powder to make it more like Indian Taste, to go with Chapthis.

Recipe Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian Cook Book.

Ingredients :
Pinto Beans - 1 cup (cleaned, washed, soaked and cooked)
*Red beans, kidneys beans/Rajma can be used instead

Vegetables I have used :

Onion, Tomato - 1 medium size (chop/ cut finely)
Ginger - 1 tbsp (grated or finely chopped)
Few cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish
Few fresh slices for Lime and Red Onions for sides

Spices :
Cumin/Jeera powder - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 2 tsp
Red Chile powder - 1 tsp ( optional, use only if required)

For Ancho Chile Sauce :
1 big Chile - I used Mexican Ancho Chile (Substitute with any mild, dried chilies) .
Method :
1. Ancho Chiles are very mild in their spice level, so add according to your desired spice level.
2.First soak the Chiles in hot water for 20 mis or until the Chiles are cool enough to handle.
3. Then blend/grind Chile with soaked water to smooth sauce.
4.This yields about a cup of Chile sauce. Keep the sauce ready and use as required.( I have used the whole batch for the dish).

Preparing the Dish.

Clean the beans, wash and soak in water for at least 6 hrs or overnight. When ready cook with just enough water ( i use pressure cooker) and cook till just soft, make sure not to make it mushy.
Make the Chile sauce and keep it ready .Please refer the method mentioned above for making Chile sauce.

Heat oil, when hot add grated ginger, chopped onions and tomatoes and cook till soft about 5-7 Min's on medium high heat.
The add the Chile sauce, spices mentioned above. Mix well let it all cook for 5 more minutes until the sauce is bit cooked through.
Now add cooked beans, add more water if required. Now adjust salt and spices, taste and add more if required. Mix well and let it cook for 20-30 Min's on medium heat.
Keep stirring in between. Mash few beans so it gives nice consistency to the sauce. When all the flavors have come together and the sauce has come to the desired thickness. Now switch off.
Let it sit for few minutes before serving. Sprinkle fresh cilantro leaves. Serve warm with rice or rotis.

We had with some whole wheat Chapathis and few slice of onions and lime. Enjoy !

I am sending this to MLLA # 22 hosted by Ruchikacooks which was created by Susan.

Short Break

2010-03-03T11:44:00.009-09:00

Hello all,

I am on break from blogging, for a few weeks now and will be for few more weeks. I will not be able to take part in ICC-event as well. See you all in April.

Happy Cooking and Blogging !

Khasta Kachori (Moongdal Kachori) for ICC

2010-02-15T06:00:00.007-09:00

I have eaten Kachoris a few times before, since it was very new type of snack for me to try, I was very happy to see the spicy snack as this months recipe. I have made Samosas(triangular shaped deep fried snacks with potato fillings) many times, so kachoris is like a close cousin to it, with lentil fillings and circular in shape.

Srivalli who have chosen, Khasta Katchoris a North India Snack/Chaat as the recipe for ICC (January) event. She has given 3 different recipes for fillings, I choose the moongdal filling and followed the recipe exactly as mentioned by her.

End result was very satisfying with crunchy outer layer,with warm and spicy filling inside. Since it was made in batches of 2-3 at a time, we just enjoyed them hot as it was out of the oil with some Maggie hot & sweet sauce by the side, and i just made sure to save a few, to click them.

Kachoris - Adapated from Medhaa's Aunty and Tarla Dalal.

Resting Time for the Dough is app 1/2 hr - 1 hr

Frying time for the Kachoris - 20 mins for each batch app.

Soaking Time for the Filling is app. 1 hr

Cooking Time for the Filling is app 15 mins

Yields - 15

For Filling

Khasta Kachori - Moong Dal Kachori

Ingredients Needed:

Split Moong Dal (yellow) - 1/2 cup
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Hing / Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry Leaves - 2 tsp chopped fine (opt)
Green Chilli - Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Sauf / Fennel seeds powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tspRed
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Mango powder / Amchur - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt to taste.

Method

Wash and Soak dal in water for atleast 1 hour. You can go upto 4 hours not more.
Drain the water well.
Grind the dal to a coarsely. (Will resemble Idli Rawa)
Heat oil in a pan.
Add the hing and cumin seeds.
Once the seeds splutter add the curry leaves.
Add the dal.
Lower the heat and keep stirring for 5 minutes till the dal stops sticking to the pan.
Cook for another 10 minutes on low till the dal turns slightly brown.
Add all the masalas.
Cook for few minutes till the aroma of the spices hit you.
Add Salt.
Remove from heat and keep aside to cool.

Special Tips / Notes for the filling:
The fillings have to be really dry if not when rolling they will ooze out when rolling.
Adjust the masalas according to your taste. What is given in this recipe is spicy to the extent one can still enjoy.

For Dough and Stuffing

For the Dough

Ingredients Needed:

All purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups
Oil/ Ghee - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water for kneading

Method

Mix the flour and salt, Add the oil/ghee and mix till you get a bread crumbs texture.
Slowly add water and make a soft dough. Knead well for about 8 minutes.
Cover and keep aside to rest for atleast half hour.

Special Tips / Notes for the dough:
Keep the dough covered at all times, if not it will dry up and not puff up when frying. If the dough is made right wet cloth can be used if not just a towel.
The dough could spring back for many reasons:Dough is too cold (If wet cloth is used)
Dough is not soft enough.Not kneaded for enough time.Oil is less.Not rested enough.

To Make Kachori's

Make a small ball from the dough. Roll out into a 2 inch diameter circle. Or flatten the ball using your fingers having the center thick and sides little thin.
Place about 1.5 tsp of the filling in the center of the rolled dough.
Cover the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling. Seal the ends and remove excess dough. Repeat with all the balls and keep aside for 5 -7 mins.
Then using your palm, flatten the balls by lightly pressing it, as using the rolling pin will make the filling come out. (See notes below). Keep aside covered. Repeat with the remaining dough.

For Frying

Meanwhile heat some oil for deep frying. The oil should not become smoking hot. Test to see if the temperature is right by dropping a tiny ball of dough and see if it is rising slowly to the top.
Drop the kachoris in batches of 3-4 gently into the oil. It should rise up slowly. If you don't want to use lot of oil, use just enough for two or three at a time and fry them. After it rises up (about 2 minutes), turn it over.
Cook for about 6 to 10 minutes till the side down gets a golden brown color. Turn and cook the other side for another 6 minutes or till its golden brown in color. Remove when done, cool and store in airtight container.
Serve with coriander chutney and tamarind chutney.

Special Tips / Notes for making the Kachoris:

You can fry 3 kachori's at a time. The oil should be at a heat when you drop some dough it should come up slowly, if the dough comes up too fast the oil is too hot, if it does not come up then the oil is cold. It will not be crisp if the oil is too hot. Fry the kachori's on medium low to get a crisp outer layer, that is the key. For people using electric stove, the numbers can be going from 6 to 4.

I am sending this to Srivalli's ICC (January).

Aloo Chapathis (Mashed Potato Flat-bread)

2010-02-11T13:37:00.000-09:00

Chapatis(wheat-flour flat bread) are very staple at my home. We have them on daily basis. Once in a while I like to add grated or mashed vegetable to make Chapatis bit more tastier.
I use Potatoes (aloo) mainly, while making the mashed veggie Chapatis. Adding potatoes makes the Chapatis very soft and this will be good for lunch boxes, since it stays soft for longer hours.

Ingredients :
Potatoes (Aloo/Alugadde)- 2 medium size (boiled, peeled and mashed)
(Substitute potatoes with mashed lentils or beans for more wholesome and nutritious Chapatis)
Whole wheat flour (godi hittu) - about 2 cups (use Chapatis atta instead)
Spices : Black pepper powder (menasu), red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt - about 1/2 to 1 tsp.

*Above measurement makes about 10-12 medium size Chapatis.

Wash and boil potatoes till soft, once cooled peel the skin and mash them coarsely.
Add wheat flour, and spices and mix together with the mashed potatoes. No water is required, moisture from the potatoes will help bind the flour.
Mix all the flour and spices until ever thing is combined well and from a stiff dough. Add more flour if required.
Keep the dough covered, for 10-15 minutes.
Then take a big lemon size ball, roll to a circular shape. And toast them on a griddle/tava on both sides. See this link for rolling and toasting Chapatis.

Once ready, enjoy them warm with a some spicy pickle and curds on side.

Avocado with Indian seasoning

2010-02-02T15:18:00.003-09:00

Avocado's also known as butter pear, alligator pear and sometimes as butter fruit. Avocados are most widely used in Mexican cuisine's and Guacamole is one of the famous dip/dish made with this fruit.

We are very fond of spicy Mexican dips, I regularly make authentic Mexican Guacamole to go with some corn chips. Sometimes I do the Indian version of Guacamole in place of chutneys by doing the tempering with mustard seeds, hing and urad dal . Just adding the seasoning/tempering to the avocados, gives a very different taste to it. This will be good as side-dish with Indian kind rotis.

So here is how I make it.

Ingredients :

Avocado(s) - 1 or 2
Lime/lemons - about half (this helps to prevent oxidation or changing into brown color)
Red onions/ Shallot - 2 tbsp finely chopped
Green chillies - 1or 2 finely chopped (depending on level of spiciness)

For Tempering:

Oil - 2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Hing - one pinch

Cut avocados in half, remove the pit/seed and skin. Mash them coarsely.
Squeeze fresh lime/lemon to the avocados.
Add finely chopped onion and chili,add salt to taste. Mix well to combine.
Lastly do the tempering with oil, when oil is hot add mustard seeds and urad dal.
When dal changes color and mustard seeds start to pop add hing and add this seasoning to the Avocado mixture, mix well.

Quick and healthy side dish/dip/chutney is ready to be served. We usually eat this with Chapatis. Enjoy !

I am sending this to Siri's new event Healing Foods - Avocado.

Moongdal Halwa

2010-01-15T09:00:00.009-09:00

For Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC)-December, Srivalli has chosen Moongdal Halwa. When I saw the announcement I was very excited. Since I hadn't made any North-Indian style halwa's before, so I couldn't wait to try it.

I have followed Recipe # 2, for me it took about 50 mins to get to the Halwa stage. I had fun making them and enjoyed them warm, with lots of nuts and raisins.Thanks Srivalli, Simran and Lata ji for the recipe and trying it out for us.

Moongdal halwa was very apt for the occasion as well, made this for Sankranthi y'day in place for our regular Sweet pongal. We all enjoyed it very much.

Soaking Time : Overnight

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 30 - 45 mins

Recipe 2 : With just the Dal (no Khoya)

Ingredients :

Split (Yellow) Moong dhal - 1 cup (I have used, split moongdal with husk)
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cups to 1 cup (as per required sweetness)
Milk - 1/2 cup (Notes from Lataji - instead of water for the sugar, milk gives the khoya added taste, Simran's recipe asked for water)
Cashews & Raisins roasted in ghee for garnish.

Soak 1 cup moong dal overnight. Next morning, grind to a paste.
Heat a heavy Kadai, take initially only 1/2 of the ghee and heat it.Add the dhal and stir continuously, not allowing lumps to form. This part is very tricky as the dhal cooks really fast, irrespective of the ghee.
Keep the heat at the lowest and keep stirring even after the dhal becomes thick.Add the rest of the ghee intermittently and cook the dhal until aromatic and the ghee starts oozing out.
Meanwhile mix the sugar with water/ milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Add this slowly to the cooking dhal.
Keep the fire low at all times and break lumps if formed while adding the sugar and water/ milk mix.
Cook until the ghee surfaces.Garnish with cashews and raisins.

Notes :

Use a thick bottom pan or better nonstick pan.
Don't leave the halwa unattended. The dal can stick and it can go from just done to burnt in a second so keep stirring as much as possible. You should remember to keep stirring to prevent dhal from sticking irrespective of the ghee added.
You aren't looking for the halwa to get too thick when you turn off the heat. It was thicken as it cools.
Cook until ghee surfaces on the sides and the halwa attains a very nice shine.
Initially, it may appear that all the ghee is being used up. But as the dhal cooks the ghee separates. So the ghee measure is sufficient.
In both recipes depending on how you got the moong dal paste, you may require slightly more ghee to get the texture
Though original recipe didn't call for roasting the dhal before soaking, Lataji felt roasting it a bit gives more fragrance.

* Halwa looks bit green in color, since I have used the moongdal with husk which gives this color.

Off this goes to Indian Cooking Challenge( ICC) challenge, hosted by Srivalli.

Have a Good Weekend, Everyone!

Ellu-Bella

2010-01-13T16:40:00.003-09:00

Wishing you all a very Happy Sankranthi/Pongal, with a bowl full of Ellu-Bella.

Every year during Sankranthi/Pongal , a mixture of Jaggery, Dried coconut, Dalia Dal, Peanuts/groundnuts and Sesame seeds(roasted) known as Ellu- Bella are mixed together and shared with families, neighbors and friends. Along with this mixture seasonal fruits like sugarcane and oranges are also given to mark the harvest season and sweet beginnings.

Ingredients (all toasted lightly).

Peanuts/Groundnuts (Kadalekayi) - 1 cup (toasted, skin removed and halved)
Dalia dal (Hurigadale) - 1 cup
Jaggery (Bella) - 1 cup
Dried coconut (Kobbari)- 1cup
Sesame seeds (Ellu) - 2 tbsp

Toast all the above ingredients, let it cool and mix them all together and enjoy !

Will send this to Priya's Cooking with Seeds event.

Vegetables in Sesame-Cashew sauce

2010-01-11T14:00:00.002-09:00

I use Sesame seeds (Ellu) in most of my gravy/curries quite often. I usually pair this with roasted peanuts/groundnuts, but this time I tried something different and paired with Cashews.

Both of these are lightly toasted with cinnamon, cloves and dried red Chiles for some spice and flavor and mixed with veggies like onion,tomato, potato and bell peppers.

Sesame seeds and Cashews makes the gravy/curry very rich and cream in taste.

Ingredients :

Vegetables I have used : Onion, tomato, Potato and Bell peppers (capsicum) - 1 each chopped into bit size pieces.

Lightly toast and grind :

Sesame seeds (Ellu) - 2 tbsp.
Cashew nuts (godambi) - 2 tbsp.
Cinnamon & cloves (chekke-lavanga)- 2 each.
Dried red chilli - 1or 2

Others : Oil - 2 tsp, turmeric - 1/2 tsp and salt to taste.

Wash and chop vegetables to bit size pieces.
Lightly toast the above mentioned ingredients, let it cool and then grind them to fine powder, keep them ready.
Heat a pan, add oil when hot add turmeric and then add chopped veggies and fry for few mins, until half cooked.
Then add ground sesame-cashew mixture. Add enough water, salt.
Cover and cook until veggies are cooked though about 10 - 15 min. Keep stirring in between to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Adjust salt, mix well. Garnish with few cilantro leaves and top with few toasted sesame seeds (this is optional).

Serve warm with Rotis or rice. Enjoy !

Sending this to Priya's Cooking with the Seeds event.

Happy 2010

2010-01-01T06:00:00.000-09:00

Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New year.

Pooris

2009-12-31T14:20:00.001-09:00

Day 7 of 7 days of Recipe Marathon.

Closing the week long recipe marathon (in my case its Roti Marathon) with our beloved bread, Poori. This is puffy bread, deep fried in oil. We like having them with vegetable Sagu, or most times with Aloo palya and Coconut chutney.

I made this Pooris using my Mom's recipe. Its a very simple recipe, dough should be kneaded to soft but stiff and should rest for not more that 10-15(otherwise this will absorb lots of oil), and dough needs to be fried at the medium-high temperature, in order for the pooris to puff up.

Ingredients :

Whole wheat flour - 1cup
All-purpose flour/Maida - 1cup ( used any India atta instead of wheat and all purpose flour)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1tsp
Water - about 1 cup ( for kneading)
Vegetable/Peanut Oil - 1 - 2 cups ( for deep frying).

Method :

Take flour/atta, salt and oil mix well. Now add water little by little and mix to form a stiff dough. Add little oil to hands, knead until soft for about 5 mins,cover and let is rest for 10- 15 min.
Heat oil in a pan/wok on medium. Turn to medium high while frying.

3. Roll the dough to about palm size and bit thicker than regular rotis.

4. When oil is hot, drop the rolled dough, through the edge of the wok(just one at a time).

5. In a few seconds, the dough will puff up (if not press gently with back of the ladle).

6. Turn/ flip gently and let it fry for few more seconds on the other side,. Take it out with a stainer, drain, any excess oil on paper towel.

Pooris are ready to be served. We enjoyed ours with Aloo Palya and Chuntey.

* Frying temperature is the main thing while making Pooris, make sure to maintain med-high temperature.

Recipe Marathon : Day 1- Chapatis , Day 2- Jodala Rotti , Day 3- Homemade Bread, Day 4- Naan , Day 5- Aloo paratha , Day 6- Phulkas .

I very much enjoyed cooking for this Week long Recipe Marathon. Thanks Nupur for this lovely event to end 2009.

Phulkas

2009-12-30T13:40:00.000-09:00

Day 6 of 7 days of Recipe Marathon.

Phulkas are the softest of all Indian flat-breads with out the use of any oil. They are made to puff up by the heat(fire), which creates a air pocket in between, hence making the bread very soft.

Few days back, one of my dear friend suggested me, to blog about Phulkas and gave me the recipe and procedure for making them. I did follow her recipe, and did some trail and error and finally was able to get the Phulkas right.

3 things to keep in mind while making Phulkas, 1. kind of flour we use ( Indian atta are the best kind), 2. kneading them to stiff dough and rolling them to circle just about palm size. 3. dry roasting them on tava/griddle and then putting them on a open flame, and let it puff.

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour/maida - 1 cup
Wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Water - about 3/4 cup (to knead the dough.)

*Due to the non-availability of Indian atta, I have used the above proportion of wheat and all -purpose flour.

Mix the flour with little water at a time to make to stiff dough. cover and let is sit for at least an hour. This makes the dough soft and will be easy to work with.

Making Phulkas :

Once ready to make the Phulkas. Make small ball ( lime size) roll them not bigger than palm size, and don't roll them too thin.
Heat tava/ griddle to medium high heat. Put the rolled dough on the tava, when you see small bubbles (half cooked) turn them around.
Roast the other side for just few seconds.

Then with the help of tongues or a spatula put (first side/top side down) on the open flame and it will puff, with in a few seconds (don't allow it sit for too long, it will burn). Take out as soon as it puffs. Refer pic above.
Follow the same steps and do with the rest of the dough. Keep the left overs closed in a box, stay soft up to a day.

Serve warm with favorite sidedish. Enjoy !

I owe a Big thank you to my dear friend Suju, I wouldn't have made it otherwise.

Recipe Marathon : Day 1- Chapatis , Day 2- Jodala Rotti , Day 3- Homemade Bread, Day 4- Naan , Day 5- Aloo paratha .

Aloo Paratha (Potato flatbread)

2009-12-29T14:00:00.010-09:00

Day 5 of 7 days of Recipe Marathon.

Paratha/Parotha is a wheat flour flat bread mostly stuffed with potatoes(aloo) or mixed vegetables and spices. This tastes good on its own, no side dishes required. I like making this when we travel. Simple and satisfying meal on the go. But at home we like to eat this with a cup of Curds/yogurt and little pickle(Indian pickle) on the side.

Making aloo Paratha requires 2 steps,
1. Making the dough &
2. Making stuffing (Aloo Palya/curry).

Making Dough :

All purpose flour (Maida)- 2cups
Wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1tsp
Water - about 1 cup

Add salt to maida & wheat flour, then add water little by little to make a stiff dough. Knead well to soft and cover and keep it aside until ready to stuff them.

For Aloo/Potato Stuffing :

Potatoes - 3 medium size ( boiled and skin peeled)
Onion- 1 medium size(chop finely)
Spices - 1/2 tsp of each Red chili powder, Turmeric and Garam masala.
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste.

Boil potatoes. Once cooled, peel the skin and mash them and keep aside.
Heat oil, when hot add finely chopped onions. Cook them until it soft .
Add all the spices and salt. Switch off and add the mashed potatoes. Mix well to combine.
Adjust salt. Let it cool.
Make small balls and keep them ready.

Making Parathas.

1. Make a medium to big size balls out of the dough, roll them to small circle shape.

2.Now take a aloo stuffing and put it in the middle. Bring all the sides together and press them in the middle.

3.Now roll them gently to a small to medium size circle.Use dry flour if require for rolling.

4.Then roast them on a heated pan/tawa for few seconds on each size. I like to cut them into small wedges and serve. Enjoy when warm.

* Making stuffed Paratha takes bit time, sometimes stuffing tends to peep out of the dough. So to keep the stuffing inside, roll the dough to smaller size and bit thick than usual flat breads. I am still learning to make a perfect round shaped Parathas, I need more practice and have to make them as often as possible.

Recipe Marathon : Day 1- Chapatis , Day 2- Jodala Rotti , Day 3- Homemade Bread, Day 4- Naan.

Naan with Nigella seeds

2009-12-28T13:40:00.003-09:00

Day 4 0f 7 days of Recipe Marathon.

Today I decided to make Naan (Indian flat bread). This is my favorite type of bread to order, in any Indian restaurants we go.

Recipe is very simple, takes few minutes to make the dough. But has to rest for at least an hour before proceeding to roast/bake them. Once the basic dough is ready, one can top them with different spices, seeds, nuts and even herbs.

I have toped it with Nigella/Kalonji seeds (which looks similar to black sesame seeds, but has very mild onion flavor, mostly used in Bengali cuisine). I use them for its flavor and as a topping on this bread, Naan looks so pretty when topped with this seeds.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup ( I use unbleached flour)
Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Salt - 1tsp
Sugar - 1tsp
Oil - 2 tsp ( for kneading)
Yogurt/curds - 1/2 cup
Yeast - 2 tsp
Warm water - about 1 cup (2 tbsp for dissolving yeast + 3/4 cup for kneading).
Nigella seeds - few tbsp for sprinkling on top (substitute with sesame seeds(ellu) or cumin seeds)

Take 2 tbsp of warm water, dissolve yeast in it,add little sugar to it. Cover and let it sit for 5-10 mins.
Now add yogurt to yeast mixture. Combine all purpose flour, wheat flour and salt. Add this to the yeast mixture. Mix well, add little oil for kneading.
Cover and let it rest for at least 1 hour, until raise in the volume.
When ready, make lemon size balls, roll to circle shape(use little dry flour, if the dough is sticking while rolling).

Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of Nigella seeds on top of the rolled dough. Press/roll gently with a rolling pin(so the seeds won't fall while roasting).
Heat griddle/tawa on a medium high heat.When hot,put the rolled dough on the tava.

Leave it for few seconds, until you see small puffy bubbles on top. Flip/ turn over and cook the other side for few more seconds, till you see golden brown spots.
Soft Naan is ready to be served. Enjoy with a side dish.

Recipe Marathon : Day 1- Chapatis , Day 2- Jodala Rotti , Day 3- Homemade Bread.

Bread Baking

2009-12-27T16:05:00.002-09:00

Day 3 of 7 days of Recipe Marathon.

I am not much of a baker. I have previously attempted to bake(bread), but it was a total disaster. So I was waiting to try baking (esp bread) with someone who knows about baking.

Last week I was able to visit our friend (Cindy) who happens to be our neighbor as well. First we baked some sugar cookies for my daughter to take to her Christmas party. Later that week we baked some bread loaf, bread rolls, donuts and Cinnamon rolls. After tasting all the goodies, we are loving the taste of freshly baked home made bread.

After baking with her and getting some tips from her , I feel confident to try it on my own. So today I made bread using her basic bread baking recipe, to give some extra flavor I have added little cumin ,chili powder and Carom seeds (Ajwain/Oma).

So here is very basic and simple recipe for Bread Making. I call it Cindy's Recipe.

Ingredients:

Water - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 cup (Boiled and cooled, one can use a cup water instead)
Vegetable Oil - 2tbsp (butter can be used as well)
Yeast - 1 package (2 tbsp)
Sugar - 2 tbsp ( 1 tbsp for dissolving with yeast + 1 tbsp with the flour )
Salt - 1tsp
All purpose flour - 2 cups ( I have used unbleached bread flour)
Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Spices : 1/2 tsp of each cumin & chili powder and carom (ajwain/oma) seeds,for some extra flavor.

Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 tbsp of sugar (sugar helps yeast to get active). Cover and let it sit for 5-10 mins until foamy.
After yeast turns foamy, add milk and oil mix well.
Mix all the other dry ingredients together in a different bowl. Now add it slowly to the yeast mixture.

Mix well and knead for 5 mins to make the dough soft . Cover and keep for 30 mins to 1 hour or until dough doubles its volume.
Now punch the dough and form into balls(for rolls) or desired shapes.I made some balls and made like a log for bread loaf.

Cover and let it raise for another hour.
Bake the rolls at 350 F for 10 - 12 mins and bake loaf for 20-25 mins or until golden brown on top ( keep checking inbetween, since the oven temperatures may vary).

Take out and butter the top when its warm. Let it cool a bit. Cut a slice and enjoy with little butter on top.

* Make sure the water temperature is not too hot or cold, but just right. This is the most important part, once the yeast is dissloved and foamy. The rest will be easy.

Recipe Marathon : Day 1- Chapatis , Day 2- Jodala Rotti .

Jolada Rotti

2009-12-26T15:50:00.002-09:00

Day 2 of 7 days of Recipe Marathon.

Weekends, I usually make elaborate brunch's, mostly different kind of Rottis(South-Indian flat bread), so today I made one of North-Karnataka specialty Jolada Rotti.

Jola/ Jowar or Sorghum is a gluten free flour, so after the dough is prepared. It takes little patience to roll the dough, since it breaks and requires bit more dry flour than usual. But once you get the hold of it, it will be as easy as making any other kind of Indian Bread.

So here is what we need to make the Dough.

Jowar/Sorghum flour(Jolada hittu)- 2 cups
Water - 2 1/2 to 3 cups
Salt - 1 tsp

1. Boil the water.

2. Take the jowar flour in a wide bowl. Add salt and pour water slowly and mix well to combine. Water and flour should come together to form stiff dough.

3. Cover and let it sit for 5 mins(so the dough will be cool enough to handle). Once cool enough but still warm to touch, knead to a soft dough. Refer pic 3 and 4.

4. If the dough is sticking, add little more flour and knead it.

5. Apply little flour on rolling board and roll it to a small to medium size circle. If it tends to break, add little more flour and roll.

6. Roll the rest of the dough and keep it ready.

7. Heat pan on high heat. Once hot enough, put the rolled dough carefully. Cover with a lid, this makes the rottis soft. Leave it for few seconds turn/ flip them around(on oil is required while cooking).

8.Turn and let the other side cook for few more seconds.Serve warm. This makes about 15 small size rottis.We had Jolada Rotti with Brinjal/eggplant Ennegayi. Enjoy !

* Leftover can be kept in a closed box once cooled. Rottis stays soft if kept this way.

Recipe Marathon : Day 1- Chapatis.

Chapatis (Wheat flour Flat-bread)

2009-12-25T13:25:00.003-09:00

Today is the first day of seven days of recipe marathon, a group of 29 food bloggers will be preparing and posting a recipe a day for 7 days, to countdown to the New Years.

Nupur who is the creator of this marathon was kind enough to let me join in for the event last minute, thanks Girl . I decided to make breads (flat breads as well as baked breads), so I'll be posting recipes for 7 different breads for next 7 consecutive days.

Chapatis or Wholewheat flour breads(flat bread) is our daily bread, we eat them for our dinner daily (almost). So today I'll be posting the recipe I use for making this type of flat bread.

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Wheat germ - 2 tbsp (optional, but very nutritional addition)
Flaxseed's (powdered) - 2 tbsp (known as Agasi seeds in Kannada)
Salt - 1tsp
Oil - 2 tsp ( for kneading)
Water - 1- 1& 1/2 cups
Yogurt (curds) - 2 tbsp (optional, I add to make the breads soft)

Take a wide mouthed bowl, mix whole wheat flour, wheat germ, flax seeds, curds and salt.
Mix them using enough water to form a thick dough, knead them using little oil to make soft dough. Close and keep side for at least 15 mins.
When ready to eat, heat a flat pan/tava (i use cast-iron one). Put it on medium-high heat.
Divide the dough to small balls, flatten it and roll them to circular shape as thin as possible (refer the pics above). Roll the rest of the dough and keep it ready.
Then put the rolled dough on a hot pan, when you start to see few puffy bubbles, press it with the spatula and turn it around . Let it cook for few seconds on the other side, until you see few brown spots. Add oil on top if you prefer.
Above measurement makes up to 8 medium size Chapatis/flat breads.

Enjoy the soft and nutritious bread warm , with your favorite side dish.

Khatta-Mittha Batata

2009-12-24T09:45:00.001-09:00

This is a Gujarati-style Hot, Sweet & Sour Potato dish, from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian (Cook book).

I was looking for a new recipe to try with potatoes, to go along with Dosa/dose for our lunch this afternoon. So tried potatoes Gujarati style, end result was very delicious. The combined flavors of chilli powder, tamarind and brown sugar(jaggery) with potatoes was very tasty. We literally licked the plate off.

Ingredients :

Potatoes - 3 medium size or 2 cups(skin peeled and cubed)
Tomato - 1 small
Chili powder -1/2 tsp ( cayenne pepper)
Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Corriander-1/2 tsp
Tamarind paste- 2tsp
Brown sugar- 2 tbsp (Jaggery can be substituted)
Vegetable oil - 3tbsp ( Recipe calls for 1/4 cup oil, I have used less)
Cilantro leaves- 2tbsp ( I have substitute it for curry leaves)
Salt to taste.

1. Peel the skin and cut potatoes into small bite size pieces.Put them in cold water.

2. Then drain water, pat them dry and add turmeric, chili powder, cumin- coriander powder and salt. Toss potatoes to coat well with all the spices.

3. In the mean while, heat oil in a wide pan. When hot add the spice coated potatoes. Stir them in-between.

4. When potatoes turn slightly brown on all sides. Add a cup of water.

5. Chop tomatoes and add them at this time as well. To this add tamarind extract or paste, brown sugar. Mix well.

6. Bring it boil, and simmer down and cook for 10 more mins. Slightly mash few potatoes to get nice consistency. Check for taste and add salt if needed.

7. Finally garnish with cilantro/coriander leaves. Serve warm.

Tastes really good with any rice or wheat breads. Enjoy !

Happy Long Weekend !

Chegodilu for ICC

2009-12-15T06:00:00.004-09:00

Chegodilu is a deep fried, ring shaped (ring muruku) Andra snack, is also know by other names such as Chegodi/Chekodi or Chekodilu.

When Srivalli(who is the creator of ICC event) announced Chegodilu as this months challenge, that was the first time I ever heard this name. After reading through her post and recipe, I googled for the picture of Chegodis. It looked very similar to the Kodubales (Karnataka specialty) we make. But the recipe and tastes of chegodis are lot different from the Kodubales.

Out of the two given recipes, I have followed the Recipe #2 exactly. I used a medium size cup measurement, which yield about 25 medium Chegodis.

Chegodilu - Recipe 2

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 3/4 cup
All purpose flour/ Maida - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Ajwain - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric -a pinch
Salt as per taste
Oil to deep fry

Boil 1 cup water in a bowl, add salt to it.
When the water starts boiling, remove from stove, add ajwain, red chili powder, turmeric and flours. Stir with a ladle to make sure it is mixed well. Pour ghee on it and cover.
Once it cools, knead it to form smooth dough.
Pinch out small balls of dough and roll them like threads between your palm, bring the ends together to form into small rings.
Heat a pan with oil, enough to fry 3 -4 at time, if you conscious of not using too much oil. Simmer once it gets hot. The temperature should not be smoking hot.
Grease your fingers with oil and pinch out a small lemon size ball and roll between your palms to form a thick rope. Bring the two ends to together and press to form a rope. Ensure the ends are firmed pressed as not to give out during frying.Continue with the rest of the dough until you are done with the entire batch. You can either cover it with a plate or a cloth to prevent the dough from getting dried.
Check if the oil is in the correct temperature, by dropping a tiny bit into the oil. Then gently slide the rings or the chakodis in batches of 4 -5. The flame has to be on high until the chakodis come up to the surface, then lower the flame to medium and cook till you get a golden colour on the chakodis.
When the chakodis are golden all over, using a slotted ladle, remove to a kitchen towel and cool. Store in an air tight container for longer shelf life.

Notes: Remember to turn the heat to medium to high and high to medium for getting the chakodis to golden colour and also to be cooked evenly. Only this way you get crispy chakodis. These should not be cooked on low flame as they will absorb more oil and can turn soggy also at times.

I made them over the weekend, for our Sunday snacking and very much enjoyed the crunchy Chegodilu.

Off this goes to ICC-December hosted by Srivalli.

Coffee,Chocolate & Chili

2009-12-12T15:00:00.000-09:00

Coffee, chocolate and chili, three of my favorite flavors in any dish or drink. I like anything and everything coffee, just the aroma of coffee makes me awake and alive. In my opinion, chocolate is the best food ever discovered, like them anytime. Chilies, fresh or in powdered form love them all, this has to be one of the food groups I cannot live without. I like them in both savory and sweet dishes. So today I made some hot chocolate with Coffee flavor and little touch of Chili (powder).

Winter is in full swing here, temperature is already below zero degrees. We spend most of our time indoors,cold weather makes us crave something warm and spicy, especially during evening. So this was a perfect drink for the cold evening.

Recipe for hot chocolate (Below measurement is for one cup, increase the quantity as required)

Milk - 1 cup (I have used 2% milk)
Sugar - 2 tsp (add more or less according to taste)
Chocolate - 1 tbsp (Dark and semi-sweet mixed together)
Coffee - 2tbsp ( brewed/decoction coffee)
Chili powder - one small pinch ( I used cayenne powder)

1. Heat milk in a pot.
2. Crush chocolates(corsley chop) so it dissolves easily when added to milk.
3. When milk comes to boil, add crushed chocolates, mix well.
4. Now add coffee, sugar and pinch of chili powder.
5. Mix everything until chocolates completely dissolves and combine well with milk. Switch off.
6. Pour Hot chocolate into a cup and enjoy.

For Kids version :Follow the same method as mentioned above, just skip coffee and chili powder. Mix in milk, sugar and semi-sweet chocolates together. Use whole milk and little more sugar than given measurement. One can also substitute chili powder with cinnamon powder for nice flavor.

Have a good weekend !

Yam (Genasu) Chutney

2009-12-09T16:35:00.001-09:00

Yams(Genasu in Kannada) are also known as Sweet potatoes. Sometimes they are bright orange color, which are very sweet to taste. I like to use the creamy white variety, since they are mildly sweet.

Whenever I get them from store, I usually make chutney with it. I hardly get any coconuts in my local store here. So yams are a very good alternative and tastes as good as regular coconut chutneys. Along with yams I have added walnuts, to give chutney a good texture and some nutrition. I have also made this chutney using pistachio, cashews and peanuts(groundnuts), any kind of nuts combines very well with yams.

So here a very simple, quick, tasty and healthy chutney.

Ingredients

Yams/Sweet potatoes (Genasu) - 1 big/ about 2 cups after grating.
Chilies (Red dried ) - 3-4
Tamarind extract (tamarind paste) - about 2 tbsp
Walnuts - 1/4 cup lightly toasted ( groundnuts, pistachio, cashews, Dalia Dal, coconuts can be used instead)
Salt to taste.

Wash, peel the skin and grate yams.
Lightly toast the nuts.
Extract juice from tamarind.
Once the nuts are cool enough, take chilies, grated yams, tamarind water, toasted nuts in a blender.
Blend them using little water at a time, untill it comes to a course paste.Taste and adjust salt.
Lastly, do the seasoning with oil, mustard seeds and little hing. Mix well and serve.

Tastes good with rice, dose, idly, chapathis or just as a spread on bread toast. Enjoy !

Turnip Fry

2009-11-27T16:24:00.001-09:00

These days we are ordering our vegetable box from one of our neighboring(state) organic farm, so we are able to get very fresh veggies and fruits. I am ordering some new kinds of veggies which I have not used before and giving it a try. This week I experimented with fresh turnips.

Turnips are root vegetables, which is good source of vitamin C. While growing up I never had turnips, so I was bit shy to cook with this veggie all these years. For those of you who haven't tasted this yet, it tastes close to radishes but not as much as pungent as radishes are and cooks very fast as well.

Whenever I try new vegetables, I always do a simple and quick stir-frys(palyas), which is the best way to enjoy them. When having other starchy food like rice, this will be nice as a side dish and good alternative to potatoes.

So here is how I used them.

Ingredient : Turnip(s) - 1 Big or 2 small ones (skin peeled and diced to big pieces).
Tempering : Oil - 2 tsp , Cumin/Jeerige - 1tsp, Turmeric/arishina - 1 small pinch .
Garnish : Lime/lemon juice - 1tbsp, cilantro/kothambari leaves - 2 tbsp chopped , Chili powder - 1tsp (optional and Salt to taste.

Turnips-Photo source : Wikipedia.

Peel the skin of turnip and chop it to big bite size pieces.
Heat oil in a pan, when hot add cumin seeds. Once it starts to turn brown, add chopped turnips.
Add little salt, mix well, cover with a lid and cook on medium heat for 10 - 15 mins or until just tender.
Switch off the heat once its tender/soft. Add lime juice, chopped cilantro and chili powder. Adjust salt and mix well. Now its ready to be eaten.

We enjoyed turnip fry as a side dish, with some rice & rotis, along with some sambar and curds. This was our dinner last night.

* Anyone know any Indian names for turnips, please do let me know.

I am sending this to Think Spice - Think Turmeric Event hosted by Sudeshna of Cook like a Bong, originally started by Sunita of Sunitha's World.

Have a good Weekend !

Gulab(less) Jamun

2009-10-31T14:31:00.003-08:00

This is my first time taking part in ICC (India Cooking Challenge) event. One thing I like about cooking for this ICC event is that, there are no shortcuts and everything has to be done from scratch. I love cooking this way from authentic recipes.

Srivalli who is the creator of this event, has chosen Gulab Jamun for this month. She had chosen three recipes from yum blog, Indo's and Alka's. I decided to go by Alka's recipe, since the measurements were just right amount for me to try. Alka's recipe didn't mention the making for Khova so just followed basic khova making recipe from Indo.

Everyone in our family likes to eat jamuns, be it a warm or cold we enjoy them all. For festivals or simple occasion to celebrate I always made jamuns , of course used the MTR jamun mix for making them, and it always turned out pretty good.

I was excited as well as bit nervous to try the same from scratch. I have followed Alka's recipe exactly, except that I couldn't find rosewater which is the one of the key ingredient for Gulab Jamun , hence named it as Gulab-less Jamun .I have divided her recipe into 3 parts. First one is making khova and kneading them into balls. Second making sugar syrup and third one is deep frying and soaking them in syrup.

Making Jamuns from scratch was a big hit. It took about 3 hrs to make khova, once the khova was done. Jamuns were ready in no time. We all enjoyed them warm and next day had them cold.

Thanks Srivalli for conduction such a nice event, and Alka for the recipe. I quite enjoyed making them and as well enjoyed having them. Loved the texture of soft khova and flavors when fried with ghee and soaked in sugar syrup.

Part 1 : Making Khova

Khoya-the condensed milk thickened till it turns into moist dough, preferably made from cow’s milk, also known as Hariyali mawa.

Milk - 6 cups about 1 1/2 liters (measurements from Alka)

In a wide heavy bottom vessel take milk and heat on medium heat.
When it comes to boil, reduce to low and stir in between.
This process takes about 2-3 hours. Until milk (6 cups) reduces to about (1 cup) and forms a thick khova.

For making balls from Khova : (Alka's Recipe)

Khova/Unsweetened Maawa* - 250 gms (about 1 cup)
All purpose flour - 1 & 1/2 - 2 tsp
Cornflour - 1 tsp
Green cardamom - 1-2 crushed

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a wide mixing bowl until soft textured dough is obtained (keep mixing until it is really soft)
Make very small sized balls (bit larger than pebbles) as they swell up after frying and soaking in syrup
Make sure that the surface of dough balls is really smooth without any cracks.
In case the cracks refuse to go away, slightly wet your palms with water and roll the flour till absolutely smooth.

Part 2 -Making sugar syrup

Ingredients:(Alka's recipes)

Sugar - 500 gms (about 2cups,This can be reduced as per taste)
Water - 1 & 1/2 cup (bit more or less)
Cardamom - 2-3
One spoon of milk (optional) I have not used this
Few threads of saffron (optional)
2-3 drops of rosewater (optional but highly recommended)

*I couldn't find any rosewater so I have not used it.

Method:

Mix about 500 gms of white sugar in one and half cup water and keep it for boiling.
Add a spoonful of milk to remove the impurities (impurities if any, will form a scum on surface)
Add 2-3 green cardamoms also in syrup for strong flavor, and a tad of saffron strings (optional)
Boil until you get just a tad sticky syrup. Gulab Jamun syrup is not very dense nor too dilute as in Rasgulla. Strain the syrup, add rosewater when syrup is slightly cooled.

Always remember two things while using rose water, do not add it while syrup is bubbling hot or on fire, and be particular about the quantity mentioned in every recipe, since even few drops of excess rosewater could lend a bitter taste to the final product.

Part 3 : Frying and soaking .

Oil for shallow frying ( Use ghee for authentic taste)

Now take little oil for frying in preferably flat bottomed pan, and heat the oil.
But gulab jamuns are to be fried on LOW FLAME or else the surface will be browned while the core will remain uncooked.
Some prefer to place an unsalted pistachio in the center of every gulab jamun while making balls, that way the core of gulab jamun is not left uncooked .
Fry one or 2 gulab jamuns at a time and always remember to STIR THE OIL with slotted spoon AND NOT TO TOUCH GULAB JAMUNS, which means keep swirling the oil without tossing or turning gulab jamun.
Fry till light brown in colour, remove on tissue paper and repeat the procedure with rest of dough.
Now soak these in COOL syrup for few hours. They will surely swell up.
These can be stored in the same syrup till consumed. If there are cracks in the balls before frying it will burst open while frying, in that case adding a bit of cornflour will surely help.

Enjoy hot or cold.

This goes to ICC event - October, hosted by Srivalli.

Sohan Burfi

2009-10-19T15:33:00.006-08:00

Hope you all had a nice Deepavali/Diwali weekend.

For the last couple of years, during deepavali festival I am trying out new snacks and sweets, which I haven't made before. So this year for this special day, I had made one of my Aunt's (Chickamma's) delicious sweet recipe by the name Sohan Burfi (Good-tasting fudge).

Like many of you, this was a new kind of sweet to me as well. I have tasted this sweet dish few times, only at my aunt's place. And she is the only one who makes this in our family. This burfi has a very nice crumbs like texture to it, with wheat flour and besan roasted and mixed with hot home made ghee, and gets some crunchy peanuts in between. Once you taste this , I bet you'll be wanting more.

So got the recipe from her, and excited to share this new and very delicious recipe with you all.

Ingredients for Making Sohan Burfi.

Wheat flour(godi hittu) - 1 cup (i have used whole wheat flour)
Crushed Jaggery (bella)- 1 cup (brown sugar can be substituted)
Ghee (tuppa) - 1 cup
Peanuts/ groundnuts (kadalekayi) - 1/4 cup
Besan flour (kadale hittu) - 1/4 cup .

Procedure for making burfi (fudge) is very simple. Take few steps for roasting the flour and can be done with in half an hour.

First roast peanuts till light golden color, let it cool. Then crush coarsely and keep aside.
In the same pan, roast wheat flour on medium-hight heat till you smell nice aroma. Takes about 5-7 min to get nicely roasted. Then take out and let it cool.
Next add besan and roast for few Min's, till the raw smell is goes and gets a nice aroma.
Crush jaggery and keep aside as well. Once all the above ingredients have cooled mix them all along with jaggery and keep ready.
Take a plate, grease well with little ghee or oil .
In a heavy bottomed pan, heat ghee on medium-high heat. When ghee is hot and starts to smoke ( its important to add the mixture when ghee starts to smoke). Everything mixes with ghee and comes together, stir for 1 -2 mins. Make sure not to burn.
Now pour the hot mixture to the greased plate, smear evenly. Let it cool a bit, make desired shape with the help of knife.
Let it cool completely before cutting out a piece. Enjoy !

* The pieces should be hold its shape, but will be crumbly when you bite into it.

*If any one knows this sweet by any other name, please let me know.

Happy Deepavali

2009-10-17T15:26:00.005-08:00

Wishing you all a very Happy Deepavali.

Peppers and Tofu in Peanut-Sesame sauce

2009-10-01T16:15:00.003-08:00

Hello all, I have been missing in action for almost 5 months now. I had been to India on vacation, enjoyed the rainy season over there, got to eat spiciy snacks and good meals during those days. Along with that also enjoyed some street chaats and visited few, new restaurants while I was in my hometown Mysore.

During all this, blogging took a back seat, its been almost 15 days since we got back from our vacation, and I am back to my daily routine. I have been cooking the basic recipes like rice, curry and rotis.
A few days ago, I tried a new type of curry with the combination of green chilli peppers and tofu, along with roasted peanut and some spices. End result was very delicious and it tastes great with chapthis , rotis as well as rice.

So here is the recipe for it.

Ingredients :

Green chilli peppers (long, mild ones)- 4
Onion - 1 medium size
Tomato - 1
Tofu (firm kind) - cubed about 1/2 cup
Tomato paste or tamarind paste - 1 tsp>

For Tempering: Oil- 1tbsp , Mustard seeds-1tsp.
Roast and Grind :

Peanuts-Groundnuts - 1/4 cup
Corrinder seeds - 1tbsp
Sesame seeds - 1tbsp
Black pepper corns - 1tsp
Fennel seeds - 1tsp
Red chillies - 2 (more for more spice level)

Wash and chop onion, tomatoes and green chilli peppers to big bite size pieces.
Heat apan, add the above mentioned ingredients for roasting. Roast on low flame for few minutes, untill everthing smells good and peanuts turns ligt brown. Let it cool. Then grind it to bit course powder (or else use tamarind paste or water and use that to while grinding to make as smooth paste).
Heat oil in a pan, when hot enough add mustard seeds, when they start to pop add cut veggies and saute/fry till onion is soft and pepper changes colour to drak green.
Now add ground mixture, add more water to make the curry to medium consitsancy. Add tomato paste now along with water if using. Add salt ,mix well, let it cook for 10 mins.

Cut Tofu(paneer can also be used) to bite size peices. Now add them with the veggies and peanut mixture. Add more water if required. Mix gently.
Switch off from the heat and let it sit for 10 mins or so before serving. So that, tofu will absorb the flavours from spices.

Serve warm with chapathis or rice. Spicy and healthy curry, Enjoy !

Chutney Chawal / Rice with chutney.

2009-04-23T15:00:00.010-08:00

Chutney Anna (chutney with cooked rice) as we call it. This is one of our favorite meals to eat. Since Chutneys are very staple at our home we enjoy them with idlies, dosas, rottis and rice. Whenever we have some left over chutney, I make some warm Rice, we just mix them with chutney and little ghee(tuppa) on top.

Today being bored to make sambar or any sides for our lunch, I made chutney with cilantro leaves(kothambari soppu)and with some nuts to go along with rice. Simple and satisfying lunch.

Ingredients for chutney :

Cilantro leaves - 1 bunch or 2 big handful (cleaned and washed)
Dalia Dal/ hurigadale - 2 tbsp (peanut/groundnuts can be used)
Cashew nuts- 1/2 cup(any nuts can be used)
Onion- 1 small
Ginger - 1 piece (about 1")
Coconut - 1 tbsp
Tamarind extract - 2 tsp (or tamarind paste)
Salt - to taste

For garnish : 2tbsp of roasted cashews.

Take all the ingredients mentioned above in a blender/mixer, and grind them to smooth paste using little water. Adjust salt to taste. Keep aside.
Take one cup of cooked rice ( I use basmati rice), add 2 tsp or more of chutney and mix well to combine. Add salt if required. Garnish with few nuts .

*After mixing the rice with chuntey, one can also do the seasoning with oil, mustard seeds and channadal. This meal can be made with in 10 Min's of time, I like to do this for quick lunches or when just cooking for myself.

Enjoy !

I am sending this recipe to JFI-Cilantro hosted by Cilantro. Originally started by Indira of Mahanandi.

and to 15 minutes cooking to Mahimaa's Kitchen.

Pumpkins in Mint sauce / Pumpkin Sagu

2009-04-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

Dosa/doses are a must at least once a week at our home. I usually make them during weekend, if the batter is ready, I like to wake up late and not to worry about breakfast. As for the side dish to go with dosa, its usually Sagus(curry with poppy seeds) or Palyas(stir-fry) made with aloo/potatoes or pumpkin.

This weekend I made pumpkin sagu with mint. Just adding one not so usual ingredient like mint, to sagus, gives the dish whole new taste. Since mint tends to overpower the dishes, I have just used a few spring to give the dish nice aroma and sweet flavor of mint.

Ingredients :
Pumpkin/kumbalakaayi - about 2 cups (peeled & cubed, i have used butternut squash)

Tempering/Seasoning
Oil - 1tbsp
Mustard seeds/ saasive - 1tsp
Channadal/kadalebele - 1tbsp

For grinding to paste:
Poppy seeds/ gasagase - 2tsp
Coconut - 2tbsp (dried or fresh or substitute with nuts)
Cinnamon, cloves - 2 each
Black pepper - 1/2 tsp
Chili's - 2 Green or red
Cilantro leaves - one big handful
Mint leaves - about 2 springs or 10-15 leaves (steams removed)

Peel and chop pumpkins to bit size cubes and keep aside.
Take all the ingredients for grinding and blend in mixer until smooth using little water.
Heat oil, when hot add mustard seeds and Channadal. When Channadal starts to turn brown add chopped pumpkins mix well. Cover with a lid and cook for 5-7 Min's until its half cooked.
Now add the ground paste and enough water, add salt mix well. Cover and cook for another 10 min or so until the flavors combine well . Adjust salt and spice.
Sagu should be of medium consistency, pumpkins should be soft but not mushy. Serve warm with dosas, rotis or rice.

Pumpkin- Mint Sagu with Set Dose

Tastes great with dosas or rice. Enjoy !

Grated Vegetable Parathas

2009-04-13T15:55:00.001-08:00

Chapathis(flat breads made with wheat flour) or Parathas(flat breads made by combining wheat flour with vegetable and spices) are very staple at our home. I make them almost everyday for our lunch or dinner.
Today I made with some grated vegetables along with cumin and Nigella seeds and had with coconut chutney.

Ingredients I have used :

Grated Vegetables - Zucchini, Carrots, Radish all grated- about 2cups mixed together.
Green onion, dried methi leaves - about 2tsp each
Cumin(jeera) powder and red chili powder- 1tsp
Cumin seeds and Nigella (kalonji) seeds - 1tsp.
Oil - 1tsp
Salt to taste
Whole wheat flour/atta flour- 2cups or more.

Wash and grate the vegetables to (remove/peel the outer skin if its tough).
To the vegetables mix chopped green onions and methi leaves and spice powders and seeds..Add salt and keep aside for 5 mins.
To this vegetable mixture, add wheat flour and mix well to combine, moisture from the veggies will soften the flour so add water little by little to make a stiff dough.
Add little oil and knead for few minutes. Then take a small size ball , roll them thin and cook them on griddle/tava.
Enjoy them warm with chutneys or plain yogurt/curds.

I am sending this to Think spice -Kalonji(nigella seeds) hosted by Ammalu's Kitchen which was originally started by Sunita of Sunita's World.

Baked Plantains

2009-04-02T10:48:00.006-08:00

Plantains or Balekayi as we call in Kannada. Which is most used for making Bhajjis (deep fried with chickpea flour coating) or deep fried chips. We love them both and enjoy eating them, but since its deep fried I make them very rarely.

Last week I was going through a magazine, where I saw this recipe for Baked Plantains(Recipe of Ingrid Hoffmann). I followed her recipe but replaced Cilantro leaves for Parsley. I made this as a evening snack and very much enjoyed them, very healthy way of using Plantains.

(Adapted from Ingrid Hoffmann's Recipe)

Ingredients

Plantain (s) - 1 big or 2-3 small ones
Spices : chili powder, cumin powder
Cilantro/coriander leaves - 2 tbsp (wash and chopped)
Peanut oil - 2tsp
Salt for taste

Pre-heat the oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Peel the skin of plantain and cut them to medium size slices ( not too thin or thick)
In a bowl mix oil, salt, chili powder and cumin powder and chopped cilantro leaves. Mix well (if making for kids mix every thing except chili powder).
Coat the sliced plantains with the oil mixture on both sides. Lay them in a single layer on a Parchment paper or foil in a baking sheet.
Cover them loosely with a foil and bake for about 10-15 mins and turn them and bake for another 5-10 mins. Let it cool a bit.

Enjoy! Have a nice Weekend eveyone.

Tomatilla Salsa

2009-03-31T16:45:00.001-08:00

Tomatilla pronounced as Tom-ma-tia, belongs to berry family. They look similar to tomatoes but green in color and much more tangy/sour in taste.

I found some fresh tomatillas in store last week so brought home a few. Best way to enjoy them is by roasting in oven or stove top. I used it to make a simple Salsa (Mexican version of chutney/dip) and enjoyed with some corn chips.

Ingredients I used

Tomatillas - 5
Yellow onion -1 medium size
Red Tomato - 1 small (I used it to give nice color and taste, this is completely optional)
Serrano pepper- 1 (Jalapeño, Thai or Indian chilies can be used)
Olive oil - 1tsp
Salt, Sugar for taste.
Few cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit(if using stove, heat a thick bottomed pan).
Remove husk (thin layering on tomatillas), wash and chop them to big pieces. Chop onion, tomato and peppers/chili as well.
Arrange them on a foil in single layer, add little oil and salt mix them( if doing on stove top add little oil to pan and then add chopped veggies and roast them until brown) roast them about 15 - 20 mins until veggies are light brown in color. Refer pic below.
Let it cool a bit. Add little salt, sugar ( to balance the tangyness), chopped cilantro leaves.
Grind them in a mixer, adjust salt and sugar. Garnish with few more cilantro leaves.

We had it with corn chips. Can also add with beans and rice or goes as a delicious side with any other Mexican dishes. Enjoy !

click on the picture for bigger image

I am sending this to Vaishali of Holy Cow! for this months Its A Vegan World - Mexican.

Spicy Corn Muffins - Tasty Palettes

2009-03-31T13:00:00.003-08:00

I am a frequent visitor to Suganya's blog Tasty Palettes. everytime I visit her I am just awed by her pictures and delicious recipes. I have tried few of her Tofu recipes, her tofu sandwich is favorite in my house.

Last week I saw this recipe for Spicy corn muffins and instantly thought of giving it a try and did it. Very simple and easy recipe to make with delicious flavors of corn meal. I have followed her recipe but excluded egg. Thanks Suganya for your wonderful recipes, we enjoyed it very much.
I'll be looking forward to cook more recipes from you.

This is my entry for Tried & Tasted with Tasty Palettes hosted by Sweatha of Curryleaf which was originally started by Zlamushka of SpicyKitchen .

Check this link for the Recipe for Spicy Corn Muffins from Suganya's Tasty Palettes.

Cracked-Wheat Idlies (Steamed Cakes)

2009-03-30T15:46:00.005-08:00

Cracked wheat or broken wheat known as Godhi thari in Kannada. I use them regularly in my kitchen for making upma/porridge and Kheer/payasa most often. Last week I tried making idlies with cracked wheat and it really came out very soft with nice texture.

For making Idlies I have used the basic Idly recipe of 1:2 ratio of Urad Dal to rice here instead of rice I have used Cracked wheat. One thing I noticed with these idlies was, wheat fills you up and doesn't make you hungry for several hours. A healthy way to start the day.

Ingredients :

Urad dal /Uddinabele- 1 cup
Cracked wheat/Godhi thari - 2 cups

Wash and soak urad dal and cracked wheat in a 2 separate bowls for at least for 4-5 hours.
Then drain all the water from the urad dal and grind in mixer or blender. Add water little by little to make the batter smooth and fluffy. Takes about 15 mins. Batter should be bit thick in consistency.
Now drain water from soaked cracked wheat, and mix them with ground batter. Mix well to combine.
Cover and let it ferment (i use micro oven) for 7-8 hours or overnight.
After it ferments or doubled its volume. Add little salt and mix gently.
Bring water to boil, lightly grease the Idly mould. Pour the batter and steam for 15- 20 mins. Switch off and let it cool for 10 more mins.
Once cooled Idlies comes off easily from the mould. Serve with chutney or sambar on the side.

Previously posted Dessert recipe using cracked wheat.
Cracked-Wheat Pudding (Godhi Payasa/Kheer).

Off this goes to JFI-Wheat hosted by Roma of Roma's Space which was originally started by Indira of Mahanandi.

Ugadi Wishes

2009-03-27T11:47:00.005-08:00

Ugadi (festival) marks begining for Spring and start of the New year.

Happy and Healthy Ugadi wishes to all my readers.

UGAADI SHUBHASHAYAGALU.

Strawberry-Yogurt

2009-03-23T14:46:00.010-08:00

Hello all,
I was taking a few weeks break from blogging. My daughter turned 4 last week so we were in Disneyland to celebrate it. Missed so many recipes from fellow bloggers,but feels good to be back and blogging again.

Yogurt or curds(Mosaru as we call in Kannada) is very staple in our daily diet, we usually eat them at end of every meal. Be it a curd rice, raitha/pachadi or a simple snack like this strawberry-yogurt, like them all.

My little one is not a big fan of curd rice but likes fruit flavored yogurt very much, so these days i have started making them at home. Here is a simple, easy and delicious yogurt recipe .

Ingredients for single serving.
Yogurt/curds - 1cup ( I have used 1% milk for making yogurt at home, store brought will be good as well)
Strawberries - about 1/2 cup washed and chopped (Substitute with frozen berries or fruits) Sugar/Honey - about a teaspoon or more according to desired sweetness
Nuts- 1tsp chopped ( i have used almonds)

Wash and chop strawberries, add in sugar and cup of yogurt mix well to combine . Keep them in fridge for at least 1/2 an hour.
When ready to eat, take them out from the fridge garnish with chopped nuts and some more fresh fruit if desired.

Enjoy !

This recipe goes to Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes for this months FIC-Pink.

Click - Wood

2009-03-04T14:12:00.009-09:00

Rolling pin and a Board my very first kitchen gadget, purchased as soon as I landed here in US. I have been using it to make flat breads (chapathis) ever since. This is my very essential kitchen tool.

I am sending this to Click-Wood hosted by Jai & Bee of Jugalbandi.

Cauliflower and Red-peppers in Almond sauce.

2009-02-26T15:00:00.007-09:00

I make side dishes like indian gravies almost 3-4 nights a week to go with chapathis. I try using different combination of veggies and flavors usingdifferent spices and nuts. One such dish I tried out was cauliflower and red-peppers combined with powdered almonds with chili powder.
This curry tasted great with chapathis/ whole wheat flat bread. With soft bite from cauliflower and bit crunch from peppers with mild almond flavor and spicyness from chili powder.

Ingredients :
Cauliflower - 1 small (cut into medium size pieces)
Red pepper - 1 cut into small bit size pieces
Ginger- 1tsp grated

For seasoning :
Oil - about 1tsp
Cumin seeds/jeera - 1tsp
Red chili powder - 2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1tsp
Almond powder-about 2tbsp

For Garnish :
A hand full of cilantro/coriander leaves chopped
Fresh squeeze of lime/lemon juice about a table spoon.

Chop cauliflower and red pepper to bit size pieces and keep aside. Take few table-spoons of whole or chopped almonds and grind to fine powder using a blender or mixer.
Heat a tsp of oil in a pan when hot add cumin seeds, grated ginger then add chopped veggies cover the pan with a lid and cook of 5-7 mins until the veggies are just tender.
Now add turmeric, chili powder and almond powder, mix well to coat the veggies. Add few teaspoon of water to it if the mixture is too dry.
Once the veggies are well combined with spices and almond powder. Switch off then garnish with cilantro leaves and squeeze fresh lime juice, mix well and serve warm with rotis or rice. Enjoy !

*Make sure not to chop cauliflower to small size so when cooked it loses its shape and become soft and mashed like. Chop the veggies to medium size.

I'll be sending this to the event JFI-Cauliflower hosted by Mythreyee of Paajaka Recipes which was originally started by Indira of Mahanandi .

Tofu Manchurian

2009-02-19T18:30:00.004-09:00

Weather here has been really bad lately. Its very cloudy and windy, and I have been craving and cooking some spicy snacks and meals. So over last week I used some tofu and made some spicy Manchurian with it for our evening snack time.

I have used the same recipe as for making Gobi Manchurian. Instead of using Gobi/cauliflower, I have used tofu to make the dish healthy.

Ingredients Used
Firm Tofu - about 2 cups when cubed
Red bell pepper/capsicum - 1 big size (any kind of bell peppers will work)
Red onion - 1 medium size
Green chili - 1 (for spiciness)

For Sauce
S0y sauce - 1tbsp
Red chili sauce - 1tsp (Use ketchup for mild flavor)

Garnish
Sesame seeds - 1tsp
Spring/green onions - chopped about a tbsp

First cut tofu into bit size pieces, pat them dry with some paper towel to remove excess liquid.
Heat a griddle/tava or pan, add little oil and wipe it. Put cubed tofu on tava and lightly fry them until all the sides are lightly brown in color.
Gently turn the sides using a spatula. Keep aside once done.

Chop onion and red bell pepper into thin slice. Heat oil in a pan, when hot add sliced veggies and chili and sauté them for few minutes, until just tender.

Now add soy sauce and chili sauce mix well. Add cubed and lightly browned tofu pieces and coat gently with the sauce.

Take the mixture off the heat and garnish with spring onions and sesame seeds.

Spicy,delicious and healthy Manchurian. Enjoy warm !

* Add 2tsp of toasted nuts on top for some crunch.

I'll be sending this to event Click -cheese/tofu hosted by Bee & Jai of Jugalbandi.

Chutney with Eggplant/Brinjal

2009-02-05T10:30:00.001-09:00

We love eggplants at our house. I make curries like gojju and ennekayi, a typical south Indian dish's to make with eggplant. Most of the times I make quick stir-fry or north Indian style Baingan Bartha with eggplants, which tastes wonderful with chapathis.
For the first time today I tried making chutney with eggplant. It tasted creamy with eggplant, nice spice with chilis and sweet taste from shallots,very delicious and it is simple and easy recipe to make.

Ingredients I used.

Eggplant/brinjal/badanekayi - 1 big or 3-4 small
Shallot or red onion - small one
Green chili's - 1or 2 according to desired spice level.

For Tempering/seasoning

Oil - 1 tbsp for cooking eggplant + 1 tsp for seasoning
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Hing/asafeotida - one pinch

Method :

Wash and chop eggplants to bit size pieces. Cut shallots/onions as well.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan, when hot add chopped eggplant and onion and fry till little soft and not mushy. Takes about 10 - 12 mins. Keep stirring in between to make sure the veggies doesn't stick to the pan. Once done keep aside and let it cool.
Once cool enough, take them all in a blender/mixie, add salt and cut chilis and grind it to a course paste.I have not used any water while grinding. Moisture from eggplant is enough to grind them and gives excellent texture to chutney.
Now take this mixture in a bowl and season with hot oil, mustard seeds and hing. Pour the seasoning over chutney and mix well(add little red chili powder while seasoning, to make the chutney more spicier).

We enjoyed with chapathis. Eggplant Chutney will tastes great with hot rice or as a creamy spread on hot toast.
* Instead of roasting the eggplant in a pan, roasting can done in oven and make sure not to make it too mushy . Using shallots instead of onions to gives chutneys more flavor.
I'll be sending this to Chutney/Dip Mania hosted by Ramya of MANE ADIGE.

Here are some other chutney recipes previously posted on my blog.

Classic Coconut Chutney

Sweet Potato Chutney

Zucchini Chutney

Channadal/Kadalebele Chutney

Moongdal Stir-fry/Usli

2009-01-30T06:00:00.002-09:00

Moongdal (small green husked beans) known as Hesaru kaalu in Kannada. We use this bean widely in our daily cooking. We make salads or kosambari where raw sprouted beans are used. This bean is also used with spinach/greens while making sambar(curry). Today I have used the whole green moongdal for making simple stir fry/Usli or Gugari.

Ingredients
Moongdal - 1 cup
Onion - 1 small, chopped (I used red onions)

Tempering
Olive oil - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Garnish
Cilantro/coriander leaves-one handful
Lime juice- 1 tsp
Grated coconut - about a tbsp

Soak Moongdal for at least half an hour. With enough water cook them until just tender( I used pressure cooker).
Heat oil in a pan, when hot at mustard seeds. When mustard seeds starts to pop add chopped onions and fry until soft. To that add cooked moongdal, add salt to taste. Mix gently make sure not to make the beans mushy.
Finally add chopped cilantro, grated coconut and freshly squeezed lime juice. Mix well and enjoy warm.

Simple and satisfying snack or a side dish. Goes well with chapathis and rice.

I'll be sending this to My Legume Love Affair-Seventh Helping hosted by Srivalli, which first started by Susan.

Click Tomatoes

2009-01-29T09:32:00.005-09:00

Red Grape Tomatoes

This is my entry for Click-RED (Jan 09) Hosted by Bee & Jai of Jugalbandi.

Pumpkins with chili-ginger paste

2009-01-16T06:00:00.001-09:00

I cook with Squashes/pumpkins at least once a week. Most of the time I make the recipes which I am very familiar with, like Palya (dry curry),or Sagu (thin curry).

This week I tried something new by adding grated chili's and ginger at the very end of the dish almost like a garnish. Which makes the dish differently delicious, from the raw flavors of chili's, ginger and lime juice.

So here is the recipe.

Ingredients
Delicata squash - 1 (Any kind of pumpkin/squash can be used, potatoes will be good too)
Onion - 1 medium size
Tomato - 1 medium size

Tempering : Oil and mustard seeds - 1tsp

Spices : Green chili's - 1-2 ( I used Serrano kind) ,Fresh ginger- about 1 inch

I grated chili and ginger them with a fine grater ( you can make paste, using blender or motor and pestle or chop finely)

Garnish :Cilantro leaves - 2 tbsp chopped, Lime/lemon juice - freshly squeezed about a tablespoon.

First cut the squash, onion and tomato to bite size pieces.
Heat oil in a pan, when hot add mustard seeds. When it starts to pop add chopped veggies and cover and cook till soft about 7-10 mins.
Add salt and adjust to taste.
Add chili-ginger paste(about 1tspor more grated), mix well and adjust spicy level accordingly
Finally add chopped cilantro leaves and squeeze fresh lime juice and mix well.

Enjoy this Spicy curry with chapathis, rotis, dosas or rice.
I'll be sending this to Sunshinemom of Tongue Tickler for the event FIC-Yellow.

Broccoli-Channadal Stir-Fry

2009-01-07T10:00:00.003-09:00

Broccoli belongs to cabbage family. They look very similar to cauliflower, except they are green in color. Broccolis are rich in Vitamin C and Vitamin K, has a soluble fiber which is very good for health. I have been using this vegetable for cooking for the last 2-3 years, but have known of them for much longer. More about Broccoli here.

I was introduced to Broccoli in a restaurant long back. I had ordered a Mexican dish which came with a side order of Raw Broccoli, so I said to the waiter 'No broccoli' on the side, but when I got my dish I could only see Broccoli on it, then I realized that she might have heard it as "more broccoli instead of no broccoli ". It was the first time I tried to taste it and obviously didn't like it. But I couldn't stop laughing about it :).

After that I really just didn't want to cook with it. Within the last couple of years I realized its very good for health and started to used it little by little with the vegetables curies I make. To my surprise it really tastes good. It was not broccoli I was turned off by, it was the way it was presented (big raw pieces). Now I use them on regular basis, along with its stems (I like the stems).

If you don't like to eat them raw like me, best way to use them are by steaming them or by stir frying them.

Here is the Recipe of stir-fry/dry curry .

Ingredients

Broccoli - 1 medium head (including steams)
Onion - 1 medium size
Small Lentils- 1/2 cup ( i have used split Channa Dal, any quick cooking lentils can be used)

For Tempering : Oil - 1 tbs and mustard or cumin seeds - 1tsp.

Spices : Red chili Powder - 1tsp ( less or more according to desired spice level)
Garnish

Cilantro/coriander leaves - washed and chopped about 2 tbsp
Lemon/lime juice - 1tsp freshly squeezed
Coconut - 1tsp grated (optional)
Toasted sesame seeds - 1tbsp

Salt to taste.

Cook lentils with enough water and keep aside.
Chop onions and broccoli to small bit size pieces. Peel the outer layer of the broccoli stem and chop them as well.
Heat oil, when hot add mustard seeds when they start to pop add chopped onions and broccoli, cover with lid and cook them till just soft (takes about 7-10 Min's). Add cooked lentils and mix well.
Now add salt and red chili powder. Switch off and garnish with toasted sesame seeds, cilantro leaves, lime juice and fresh grated coconut. Adjust taste.

Enjoy with rice, rotis/flat breads or use to stuff bread and make sandwich's. We had this for our lunch with rice and sambar.

One more recipe with Broccoli : Broccoli-Potato cutlets.
This recipe goes to My Legume Love Affair-Seventh Helping hosted by Srivalli, which first started by Susan.

Happy 2009

2009-01-01T00:00:00.001-09:00

I wish my Readers and Foodie Friends A very Happy, Healthy and Nutritious New year..

Cheers Everyone !

A Look Back and Best Recipes of 2008

2008-12-31T18:23:00.001-09:00

Today is the last day of the year 2008, there is no better way to end the year, than by taking a look at the good memories I (we) had this past year, by writing and sharing with you all.

This was a very good year for me. The year stared with a resolution(as always) to make life little healthier by eating healthy and exercising at least 2-3 days a week. To keep up with it I took a online course on Fitness and Nutrition(to expand my knowledge on nutrition) and am still studying on it. And I also joined aerobic classes which I am doing pretty much regularly.

One highlight about food, this year is the boxes of Organic produce we are getting each week, which I look forward to cook with every week.

Personally it was a good year as well, first 6 months of the year I traveled a lot and stayed in India for almost 4 months, attending weddings, baby showers, festivals and welcoming a new member to our own family( my sister's baby), got to meet a few good old, long lost friends, through Orkut. Totally it was fun times with family, friends and food of course.

My little one started her Pre-school this year, its a milestone for me. When I think year goes by so fast,Life goes by even faster..I still remember my first day of school, and now I am sending my kid to school. During all this, Blogging took a back seat.

After my long vacation, it was Marathon(DK's Recipe Marathon) time. It was nice warm up for me to get back to blogging again and challenge myself to cook and post non-stop for 30 days. It was very fun. Last thing I did was, moving from Wordpress to Blogspot, due to more options and things I get to do on Blogspot.

All in all, it was a fabulous year, I will be looking forward to spend more time with family, friends and cooking healthy food in the coming year.

Thank you all Readers, foodie friends for your comments. I appreciate your time.

Here is a look at a few of the recipes from my 2008 Posts. These are all the recipes I tried for the first time and making them as healthy and wholesome as possible.

Edamame Salad

Sprouted Moongdal Dosa

Spinach & Black-eye pea Fritters

Chili Relleno

Zucchini Chutney

Purple Cabbage Stir-fry

Cornmeal Idlis

Pineapple Gojju

Palak Paneer

Pear Crumble

Off this goes to Srivalli's Best of 2008 event.

Sprouted Channadal Kurma

2008-12-29T11:35:00.009-09:00

Kurma is a kind of curry usually made to accompany rice dishes like ghee rice or jeera rice. Commonly used vegetables are cauliflower and potatoes used along with green peas. Kurma is a very rich curry, made using nuts and some spices, roasted and grounded along with cooked tomato and onion mixture.
Today I have used this recipe and have used sprouted Channadal (black and green chickpea) to make kurma, to go with it I have made whole wheat flour chapathis/rotis.

Sprouting Beans/Lentils : Wash and soak beans(any dry beans) in enough water for at least 6-7 hours or over night until beans are plumped up from their original size.
Drain water and cover them inside a cloth or in a box. keep them in warm place (like next to stove) for 4-5 hours or until you see small sprouts appear.

Ingredients I used for making Kurma.

Sprouted Channadal - about 1 1/2 cups (Use any kind for canned beans or different types of vegetables for making this kind of kurma)

Roast and Grind

Onion - 1 medium size, Tomato - 1(chop into pieces).
Cinnamon sticks - 2 small, Cloves - 4, Black peppercorn - 10, Poppy seeds - 1tsp, Coriander seeds - 1tsp, Almonds- 2 tsp (nuts like peanuts, walnuts, cashews and pine nuts can be used) Red chilies - 2 or 1 tsp of red chili powder.

Garnish : Coriander leaves- one handful, lime juice- 1tsp

Procedure :

First pressure cook ( cook the beans on stove top) with enough water till soft and keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan, when hot add chopped onions and tomatoes and cook till soft and keep aside.
Roast the spices and nuts mentioned above till golden, and keep aside.
Once the onion-tomato mixture and spice mixture are cool enough, take them in a mixie or blender and grind them to smooth paste.
Heat about 1 tsp of oil in the pan (I used the same pan used to cook onion and tomato). When the oil is hot enough add ground paste and cook for few minutes, then add cooked sprouted beans, add salt adjust to taste.
Add enough water (adjust to your desired consistency) and let it cook for 10 -15 until the ground paste and beans are well combined.
Finally garnish with some cilantro leaves and squeeze fresh lime juice.

Enjoy warm, with rotis or rice.

I am sending this to My Legume Love Affair( MLLA)-Hot&Spicy hosted by Suganya of Tasty Palettes, which was originally started by Susan of Well Seasoned Cook and JFI-Sprouts hosted by Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen.

Grated Pumpkin Fritters / Vada

2008-12-26T09:00:00.001-09:00

We have been getting different kind of squashes/pumpkins in our weekly produce box. I have used those in making curries, sagu, stri-frys so I was looking for some new recipe to try with pumpkins, so I got the recipe from 'Madhur Jaffery's World Vegetarian' Cook book. As soon as I read the title I wanted to try it, so made fritter with pumpkin/squash. Along with pumpkin i also added some onions for some crunch, we all enjoyed them very much. It tasted like onion pakodas but with little more sweeter than that.

Ingredients:

Delicata Squash - 2 cups coarsely grated (any kind of pumpkin/squash can be used)
Red onion- 1 medium size thinly sliced
Cilantro/coriander leaves- one handful chopped

Spices

Chickpea flour and rice flour about a cup
Cayenne pepper- 1tsp (use less or more to desired taste)
Turmeric- 1 tsp (for color) optional
Salt to tasted
Peanut/groundnut oil - for deep frying.

Little info about Delicata Squash

Delicata squashes are oblong in shape, small in size measures about 5 to 10 inches long. They are also known as peanut squash, because of the way it looks.

Outer skin is light colored with greenish orange strips and can be cut easily and skins can peeled easily using regular vegetable peeler.

Inside flesh is light yellow in color, sweet to taste. Can be used in making stir fries, curries, baking.

Grated delicate squash, I used for making fritters.

Making Fritters

Heat oil in a pan.
Mix together grated squash, sliced onions, chopped cilantro leaves to that add rice flour and chickpea flour, salt and Cayenne pepper.Add water little by little to make the batter, it should be thick enough to drop into the oil.
When oil is hot enough, take the batter make like a Pattie on you hand or on a parchment paper and slide down slowly into hot oil 2 -3 at a time( or just drop little by little using a spoon). Fry till golden brown.
Take out and drain excess oil on paper towel, serve warm with chutney or hot sauce.

We enjoyed with hot cup of coffee.

*Not in a mood to eat deep fried snacks, this can also be shallow fried. Make sure the mixture is not too thin.

I'll be sending this to the event Sunday snacks-Hot n Spicy hosted by Pallavi of All thingz Yummy.

Pepper-Onion Quesadillas

2008-12-24T09:59:00.002-09:00

Quesadilla pronounced as 'kesa dia' is a Mexican snack or fast food item, Which means 'little cheese things'. It is mostly stuffed with only cheese or veggies and cheese inside a corn tortialls(flatbread).

This kind of snack is great to do with leftover stir-frys or curries. I make this more often as our evening snack sometimes with corn and beans or sometimes with eggplants. This time around I used Green bell peppers/capsicums, roasted red peppers and Onions and Natural Pepper-jack cheese.

Very simple, spicy and satisfying snack.

Ingredients : Corn Tortiallas - 3 (used store brought)

Pepper jack cheese- 3 slices

Vegetables : Onion, green bell pepper- 1 each cut length wise

Roasted red bell pepper- 1 (used store brought)

Spices : Cumin/jeera powder, red chilli powder and turmeric - 1tsp each

Salt to taste, Lime juice - 1 tsp.

Heat a pan when hot add oil, and cut veggies saute it until it is soft. Then add spices and salt mix well, adjust the spice and salt. Squeeze fresh lime juice. Keep aside.
Heat a griddle on meduim-high heat, when hot put one tortialla and worm one side, turn to other side, now add veggie mixture and little or more cheese on top of the mixture.
Fold on one side, leave on the griddle until cheese melts, let it cool a bit.
Cut into wedges and serve warm with hot sauce.

Enjoy !

I'll be sending this as my entry to the event EFM- Savory Series hosted by Srilekha of Me & My kitchen.

Sweet Potato-Tomato Chutney

2008-12-21T18:54:00.008-09:00

Before seeing this recipe of Suma I had no idea one can make chutneys with sweet potatoes,I have made this chutney several times now.
But the recipe I am posting today is bit different, I have changed it a little bit to make it more tangy to go with Idlies.

Sweet potato - 1 medium size (skin peeled and grated, about 1 cup)

Tempering : Oil- 1tsp, Cumin seeds, mustard seeds,channadal - 1tsp each, asafeotida/hing - 1 pinch.
Onion and tomato medium size each- chopped, red chilies - 2 to 3, tamarind soaked in water.

Grate sweet potatoes and keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan, when hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and channdal once dal starts to change colour add onion and tomatoes. Cook for few minutes untill tomatoes are soft. Let it cool.
Once the mixture is cooled, add them along with grated Sweet potatoes, add tamarind water or use tamarind paste, add salt to taste. Blend/grind together to smooth paste with water, to desired consistency.

Enjoy with rice, dosas or idlies.

We had Chutney with idlies, our weekend Brunch.

Edamame Salad

2008-12-19T12:54:00.010-09:00

Edamames are also known as Soybeans, these are tender beans harvested before they become hard. They have a beautiful green color and have a soft bite to it when boiled in water. Very nutritious beans with lots of protein and vitamins.

I was first introduced to this beautiful beans in a party couple years ago, where one of our friend made a salad with it, and very much liked the taste and texture of it.

For the first time today, I tried to give it a shot in my kitchen. Very simple to make and yet very fulfilling, can be eaten as such or as a side with rice and curry. I had some left overs,which I used in making fried rice, tasted very delicious.

Ingredients

Edamame- about 1/2 cup (I used frozen)
Corn - about 1/3 cup ( I used Frozen)
Red onion- 2tsp chopped
Calamata olives - about 5-6 chopped
Roasted red peppers- Few chopped (used jared)

Garnish : Few springs of cilantro leaves and few sprinkles of hot sev for some crunch.

Seasoning : Black pepper, salt, olive oil and lime juice according to taste.

*Grated carrots, tomatoes and toasted nuts can also be added.

Bring water to boil, add salt and edamame and boil for 3-4 minutes until they are just tender and still have a bite to it. Drain and keep aside.
In a bowl mix, olive oil, salt pepper and lime juice to that add chopped veggies and cooked edamame. Combine well and adjust the seasoning
Finally garnish with cilantro leaves and sprinkle some sev on it. Enjoy !

Baked Sweet Potatoes

2008-12-04T17:49:00.004-09:00

One of the best ways to enjoy sweet potatoes is to bake them with some spices and olive oil and eat warm out of the oven. Thats what I did this evening, for our snack time. It was delicious with sweet taste from the potatoes and little hint of spice from red chilli powder.

Sweet Potato - 1 big (skin peeled and cut into thin strips)
Spices: Cumin powder, red chilli powder, black pepper and salt - about 1tsp.
Olive oil - 1tsp

Pre heat the oven 400 degrees.
Mix the sweet potatoes with oil and spices, sprinkel salt.
Spread them on a baking sheet in a single layer.
Bake them at for 10 min, take out and turn them to other side and bake for 10 more mins(watch carefully to make sure it doesn't get burned).

Enjoy !

Vermicelli Pudding (Shavige Paayasa/kheer)

2008-11-30T15:36:00.005-09:00

Vermicelli is very thin noodles, usually made with wheat or semolina. Its used very much in Indian cooking, most common dishes made with this is upma/porridge and kheer/pudding.

I made Kheer with Vermicelli, this is a classic Indian dessert, made for so many occasions like festivals or for a simple dessert.

Ingredients

Vermicelli - 1/2 cup (use any small noodles instead
Milk - 1 to 1 1/2 cup
Sugar- 1/2 cup
Saffron - few strands
Dry fruit& nuts - 2 tsp(almonds,cashew and raisins mixed together)
Ghee - 1tsp (for roasting vermicelli and nuts)

First roast vermicelli using little ghee , till golden color,keep aside. In the same pan roast almonds and keep aside. Let them cool a bit.
In a heavy bottom pan heat milk, when it comes to boil add roasted and cooled vermicelli, and add sugar as well and few strands of saffron to milk. Let the vermicelli cook, it plumps a bit and milk with thicken. Add more milk or water if need to thin the mixture.
Once milk and vermicelli have incorporated well and cooked, add toasted nut on top.

Enjoy warm or when cooled to room temperature, put it in fridge for at least an hour and eat it cold. Either way tastes good.

Sweet-Potato Paratha(Flat-Bread)

2008-11-29T15:52:00.002-09:00

Yesterday for our dinner I made parathas out of sweet-potatoes, I usually make these kind of paratha with regular russet potatoes, I tried them with sweet-potatoes. So here is how I made it.

Sweet potato - 1 medium
Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Kalonji/nigella/onion seeds- 1tsp
Dried Dill leaves-2 tsp

Cook sweet potato in water till soft, mash it well.
Mix all the above ingredients to soft dough (no need to add water water content in the sweet potato is enough to make the dough), add more flour if required.
Once it forms to stiff dough, roll to thin circles and cook them on griddle/tava.
Eat warm with favorite side dish. Enjoy.

White Carrrot Salad

2008-11-28T16:54:00.004-09:00

From last couple of weeks, we are fortunate enough to get a box full of fresh organic vegetables to our doorsteps. Some of the vegetables I get, I am using them for the first time, like White carrots, which I used today to make salad and eating carrots raw is best way to enjoy them.
So here is how I made it.

Carrots - 2 washed, peeled and grated

Green onions/spring onions- 3 springs

Tempering : Oil, Mustard seeds and cumin seeds.

Spices : Pepper and salt. Lime juice - 1tsp.

First grate carrots and finely chop onions.

Mix them with salt and pepper, squeeze little fresh lime juice on top.

Do the tempering, heat oil when hot add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When it starts to pop, switch off and mix with veggies.

Eat as such, or with rice. Enjoy fresh !

Rava Dose

2008-11-27T14:50:00.002-09:00

This recipe is a small twist on one of our favorite breakfast/tiffin dish. Along with regular sooji/suji/rava/rave/semolina and rice flour, I have also added wheat germ to make the breakfast item more nutritious.

Ingredients:

Rice flour -1 cup
Semolina/rava - 1/2 cup ( use the very fine kind here, know as chiroti rava in Kannada)
Wheat germ - 1/4 cup
Chopped or grated veggies- carrot and cilantro leaves
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Water about 3-4 cups

* Can also add green chillies for more spice, grated zucchini and onions can also be used here.

Mix all the above ingredients with salt and water to smooth batter( Batter should be thin, once poured over the hot griddle/tava it should from like lace) .
Heat griddle on medium high heat, when hot pour the batter around little by little to from a circle .
Let it roast for 2-3 mins on side, when sides starts to leave, flip/turn and cook the other side for a minute.
Fold into semi-circle and serve with favorite side dish.

Simple, easy and healthy breakfast ready in minutes. Enjoy !

Apple-Cranberry Squares

2008-11-26T19:25:00.003-09:00

I had few apples which was sitting in the basket for last week, so I baked today using that.
To make it more tasty, I added dried cranberries, some nuts and chocolates.

Ingredients

Apple - 1 chopped (about a cup)
Cranberries- 1/2 cup( I used Dried)
Almonds chopped -1/2 cup
Semi sweet chocolates- 1/4 cup (I used Hershey's Kisses)

Dry Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Unbleached all purpose flour - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1tsp
Cinnamon sugar - 1 tsp
Nutmeg- 1/4 tsp
Brown Sugar - 3/4 cup or more for more sweetness.

Wet Ingredients (Liquids)

Orange juice - cup
Apple sauce - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1tsp (for greasing)

Pre-heat oven 375 degrees farenheit.

Grease a square baking pan or use muffin cups.

Sift in all the dry ingredient, mix all the wet ingredients. Mix chopped apples, nuts, dry fruit and chocos.

Slowly add liquids to flour mixture and mix to a smooth batter. If thick add more juice or milk.

Now fold in apple mixture gently, and pour them to the greased baking pan.

Bake for about 35 to 45 mins. Once the top get golden brown, and bounces a little when touched. It will be ready.

Take out of the oven, let it cool a bit. Cut into squares and enjoy when its warm.

Taste great the next day, we like to have this for Breakfast with hot coffee.

Chili Relleno

2008-11-25T16:23:00.002-09:00

As much as I like making quick meals, I also like making elaborate meals once in a while. I keep these kind of meals on leisure days like weekends.

Apart from Indian food we love Mexican foods for the spice, and any Mexican recipe can be made into vegetarian recipe. So I tried making Chili Relleno over the weekend.

I got the basic sauce recipe from the TLC's Take home chef show, sauce was very simple and at the same time looked very authentic. I have modified the recipe according to my taste.

Here goes the recipe for it.
For making this dish, some Preparations are required. It takes little time, but its all worth it once you put those hot chili's with some beans and melting cheese into your mouth.

1. Roasting peppers ( Can be done on a open flame or I have used oven for roasting peppers, when roasting many peppers its very convenient doing this way)

2. Soaking Mexican chili for at least 20 min in hot water,and then grinding, this chili sauce is the base for the sauce.

3. Cooking beans, I used small lentils to stuff the chili's so it takes no soaking time and less cooking time. One can also use store brought beans, or skip beans and stuff the chili's with just cheese.

Roasting Peppers

Pre heat oven at 450 degree Fahrenheit, Rub little oil on the peppers and arrange them on foil on a baking sheet and put it in oven, when top side starts to brown (takes about 10-12 mins) turn and brown on the other side (5-10 mins)
Once this step is done, take out from oven and put all the chili's in covered with plastic wrap or with a plate or lid. Let it steam and leave for 10 Min's. This helps skin come out easily from the peppers.
Once cool enough to handle, remove the skin, make slit and remove the seeds inside as well. Keep aside.

* While pepper are roasting , make the chili sauces. Explained below.

Chilli Sauce

One big Mexican hot chili. Soak in warm or hot water for at least 20 Min's or till soft. Then with the water grind to make a sauce( use adobe sauce instead). This is the base for the sauce. Keep aside.

Cook beans or use store brought. Take a spoon full and stuff the chili's, stuff all of them and keep aside.
Make the sauce, Chop onion, tomato (1 each), heat oil when hot add chopped veggies, once they are cooked till soft add chili sauce prepared earlier. Adjust according to your spice level( i have used 3/4 portion shown above) Allow it to cook and combine well add salt and adjust to taste.
Once done, simmer the heat on the stove.
Add the stuffed pepper onto the sauce, sprinkle with cheese little or more.
Cover with lid and cook until cheese melts (since beans and chili's are cooked, it doesn't take much time at all, it can also be done inside the oven)
Once the cheese melts, serve. Eat warm. Garnish with few cilantro leaves.

It tasted very authentic, spicy and very flavorful better than any restaurant food I have tasted. Making sauces at home from scratch make whole lot of difference to the dish.

Enjoy !

Cucumber Salad

2008-11-24T10:46:00.008-09:00

We call this as Kosambari/ raw salad. This is a simple and refreshing salad made with cucumber and Channadal/kadale bele, one can substitute Channadal with moongdal or small cooked lentils.

Ingredients

Cucumber - 1 medium size
Channadal - 1/4 cup soaked for and hour in warm water
Cilantro leaves- one hand full
Lime/lemon- 1tsp freshly squeezed
Fresh grated coconut - 1tsp (optional)
Salt to taste

Tempering : Oil, mustard seeds- 1tsp and red chilli's -1.

Peel cucumber and chop finely, rinse the soak Dal and drain all the water. Mix with chopped cucumbers. To this add chopped cilantro and grated coconut.

Do the tempering by heating oil , when hot add mustard seeds and red chili's.

Mix the tempering with cucumber and add salt and adjust to taste. Finally squeeze lime juice on top mix gently. Serve.

Can be eaten as such or as a side with rice and curry. Enjoy !

Yellow Squash with Roasted spices.

2008-11-23T16:13:00.008-09:00

I brought some fresh yellow squash from store this week, I decided to make a simple side dish with it. We enjoyed this delicious squash gravy for our Sunday brunch with some doses.

Vegetables

Yellow squash - wash and chopped to bite size pieces (peel skin and cut into cubes)
Onion- one small
Tomato - 1 medium
Ginger- 1tsp grated

Tempering : Oil, mustard and cumin seeds - 1tsp each

Masala powder (roast and grind) : Channadal/kadalebele(peanuts can be used) , Sesame seeds , coriander seeds and red chili's dried - 1tbsp each.

Chop all veggies to bite size pieces, heat oil ,when hot add mustard seed, cumin seeds.
Then add all the cut veggies, mix well cover and cook on medium heat till just tender.
Meanwhile, roast and powder all the ingredients mentioned above (roast with or without oil).
Once the veggies are soft add the ground spice powder, add enough water, adjust salt.
Let it simmer for 10 more mins. Switch off and garnish with few springs of cilantro leaves.

Serve warm. Tastes good with rotis, rice and doses.

Oven roasted Red Potatoes

2008-11-22T16:33:00.004-09:00

Spicy, crunchy, warm and healthy potato snack.

Ingredients

Red potatoes - 3 big ones

Olive oil - 1tsp

Spice Powders : Cumin, black pepper and red chili powder

Garnish - Chopped cilantro leaves

Pre heat oven 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Wash potatoes and cut them to long strips. Put them in a bowl of water to avoid discoloring. Remove them and pat them dry on a kitchen towel.
Meanwhile mix spice powders with Olive oil and coat potatoes evenly.
Arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake them for 15-20 minutes. Check them and turn around and bake the other side till golden brown. This takes about 10-15 more minutes.
Once done on both sides, take them in bowl, garnish with herbs.

Simply delicious, warm oven roasted potatoes, crunchy on outside and soft on inside. This makes for a nice side dish with Burgers, healthier than potato fries.

*Squeeze some fresh lime juice, for some tangy taste. Fro more crunchy potatoes bake them in 400 degrees for little bit more time, make sure to check them and turn them , make sure they wont get burned.

Enjoy them warm.

Mooli Parathas /Flat bread with Radishes

2008-11-21T16:33:00.003-09:00

Mooli is the hindi name for radish, in USA its known as daikon and Mulangi in kannda. While growing up in Mysore (my home town) we got lots of fresh white radishes, so my mom made sambars and raithas with it, and we all like it. After getting married, I came to know that my hubby didn't like radish. So I hardly prepared anything with it.

Like many parathas, I discovered mooli paratha after I started blogging. Since it was a new recipe to me, I did try it once and for my surprise, he did like the parathas. So from there on I make use of the fresh radishes, when ever I get in the store.

I have previously tried stuffing them, I find mixing everything in one bowl, is much more convenient to me. So this is how I make these Parathas.

Ingredients :

Radish - 1 big grated (about 1 cup,look for fresh and crisp radishes when buying them)
Green/Spring onions - 2or 3 springs (optional, I use this to give nice color and mild onion flavor)
Cilantro/coriander leaves - one hand full chopped
Spices : Turmeric, Cumin seeds, Red chili powder - 1tsp each
Whole wheat flour/ atta flour - 2 cups + more for dusting and kneading if needed.

Peel skin and grate radish ( i use large hole grater,so the mixture won't be very watery), finely chop onions and cilantro. mix everything with spices mentioned above, add some salt and keep for 10 min.
Then add wheat flour mix well to combine, add little oil and knead well. Since radish leave lots of liquid, i have not used any water.
Once it forms to stiff dough , cover and leave for 10 more Min's.
If you find the dough is sticky, add more flour and knead well and make small balls with it and roll to small,thin circles.
Heat a griddle/tava on medium high heat, once hot transfer the rolled paratha and cook for a min or so on each side until you see small brown blisters( don't leave rotis too long, flip/turn to other side as soon as see little bubbles). If its too dry add little oil while cooking.

We had ours with spicy chili pickle and some curds/yogurt. Enjoy !

Bok Choy Stir-fry

2008-11-20T16:33:00.005-09:00

This is the first time, I used Bok Choy in my cooking. Like a typical south Indian, I tried to make a stir-fry with it, and it tasted like cabbage but bit more crunchy than cabbage. Here goes the recipe for it.

Ingredients

Bok choy (i used baby) - 3 bunches
Onion - 1 medium
Tempering : Oil, cumin seeds - 1 tsp each
Red chilli's- 1tsp crushed

Separate the stalks of bok choy, wash and chop. Slice onion into thin slices.
Heat oil, when hot add cumin seeds then add chopped bok choy and onion and fry them till soft. Takes about 5-7 Min's.
Crush some red chilli's or used chili powder, add salt mix well. Serve as a side with rice or noodles.

Enjoy !

Bendekaayi Gojju

2008-11-19T17:24:00.006-09:00

Today, I am posting one of my all time favorite side dish/gojju with my all time favorite Vegetable, Okra/lady's finger (bendekaayi as we call in Kannada). Gojju is a combination of sour-spicy- sweet flavors all combined and cooked together. Tomatos, onions, brinjals, bellpeppers(Capsicum) and okras are most widely used vegetables for making this kind for curry.

Ingredients :

Okra/bendekaayi - 1 packet frozen ( use fresh tender once if available )

Tempering : Oil, mustard seeds and channadal - 1tsp each.

For spice-sour-sweet sauce :

Red chili powder/ Sambar powder for spicyness- 1tsp ( add green chillis for more spicyness)
Jaggery/ brown sugar for sweetness - 1tbsp.
Salt accordingly.

Method :

Heat oil in wide pan, when hot add mustard seeds and channadal, when dal starts to change colour add Okra ( thaw the frozen okra before putting it in, if using fresh chop first and then add)
Let it cook on medium heat untill its colour changes from light to dark green ( to avoid stickness , donot turn frequently).
Gently turn them and let it cook through. It takes about 15 20 mins for okra to cook and loose the stickness. Once this is done.
Add tamarind water (squeeze tamarind, discard pulp and use the water), add more water if required and add chili powder, jaggery and salt to taste. On medium-high heat allow it to cook and let the flavors combines will. Once the curry thickens, switch off.
Allow it to stand for 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy with rice or rotis.

Tamarind for sour/tangyness - Dried tamarind soaked in water( tamarind paste can be used)

Hummus with Pimmentos

2008-11-18T17:56:00.003-09:00

Pimentos are also called cherry peppers which are small, round in shape, like red bell peppers(roasted) they also can be found in canned jars. Read more about pimentos here.

I was thinking of making something quick and light for our evening snack, so I used a can of chickpeas and small jar of pimentos to make hummus. I can say this recipe is a 5 minute wonder !

Ingredients

Chickpeas - 1 cup (I used store brought, so rinse with water and drain well)
Pimentos - about 2 tbsp (I used store brought, Roasted red bellpeppers be used instead)
Roasted sesame seeds - 1tbsp ( use tahini paste instead)
Green chilli's- 1 for spiciness
Cilantro leaves- 1 hand full
Olive oil - 1tsp
Salt to taste.

In a blender, put all the above ingredients and grind together to smooth paste. If required add more Olive oil or water, while grinding. Thats it, enjoy with chips or crackers.

* Leftovers can be used as a base for making noodles or spread on pizza.

Beet Greens Stir-fry

2008-11-17T18:11:00.000-09:00

Being Vegetarian and living in remote part of Alaska has its disadvantage, mainly with the produce we get. Selection of vegetables we get here is very limited, and we don't get any organic produce what so ever. Sometimes I do feel like cooking with greens, just thinking for chemicals and pesticides used to grow that greens, puts me off from buying that. I never thought of cooking with organic vegetable, as long as I lived here in this part Alaska.

Well, things have changed lately, we are able to get fresh Organic veggies and fruits from a neighboring state. They ship about 10 -12 types of different fruit and veggies which are fresh that week. This week we got a bunch of fresh beets along with its stem along with other fruits and veggies.

So I made a quick stir-fry with the beet greens and also used the stem. Taste was absolutely amazing. For a change I used powdered Dalia Dal/roasted gram Dal(hurigadale) instead of coconut.

Ingredients :

Beets greens - 1 bunch(l used both leaves and stems)
Spring Onions - 1 bunch (optional)
Onion - 1 medium
Green chili- 2 slit (optional, can use red chilli powder instead)
Lime juice- 1 tsp freshly squeezed
Dalia Dal- 1tbsp powdered ( coconut can be used)

Tempering : Oil, mustard seeds and Channadal - 1 tsp each

Clean beet greens, wash and chop them , Chop green onions and yellow onions as well.

Heat oil in a pan, when hot add mustard seed and Channadal, when Dal starts to change color add onions and fry till soft.

Then add chopped greens, cover and cook till the greens are wilted (reduced to half). Then add salt and powdered Dalia Dal. Squeeze some fresh lime juice. Mix well.

We had with rice and Dal. Enjoy !

Majjige Huli /Vegetables in Yogurt sauce

2008-11-16T17:09:00.003-09:00

Majjige (meaning curds/yogurt in kannada), Huli means thick curry made by grinding coconut with spices(huli also means sour/tangy). I make this whenever I have lots of yogurt at home or sometimes when I am bored of eating sambar with rice.

Different kinds of squashes are used for making this curry, most common is ash gourd, other veggies and squashes like cucumber, winter squash, chayote, bottle gourd are used. I made this with Chayote (seemebadanikayi/chow chow) squash, which is available in our store all year.

Ingredients

Curds/yogurt - about a cup ( I used home made)
Chayote squash - 1( skin peeled, core removed, chopped and cooked till tender)

For grinding into paste

Coconut grated- 1tbsp or more
Dalia Dal/hurigadale - about 2tbsp
Cilantro/coriander leaves- 1 big hand full cleaned and washed
Chillies red or green - 2 or 3
Cumin seeds - 1tsp

Tempering

Oil, mustard seeds, urad Dal and - 1tsp each
Hing a pinch

Cook squash with little water, until just tender.
Grind into smooth paste all the above ingredients with adding enough water.
Mix grind paste with yogurt, to the add cooked squash mix well. Add salt and adjust to taste.
Do the tempering by adding mustard seeds and urad dal to to oil, add hing. When dal starts to change color add the tempering to yogurt mixture. Mix well.

Enjoy with hot rice.

Zucchini Chutney

2008-11-15T17:18:00.005-09:00

Zucchini is a very new vegetable to me, started using this vegetable very recently. I don't know very many dishes to cook with it, I always make sambar or curry with it. But today I tried making chutney with it, same way we make Ridge gourd (heerekaayi as we call in Kannada) chutney. It turned out to be a very creamy,spicy and tasty chutney. We had this with Ragi Rotti. This was our Saturday Brunch.

Zucchini -1 medium (cut into big chunks)
Onion - 1 very small chopped
Channadal - 1tbsp (peanuts or sesame seeds can also be used)
Coconut grated - 1tbsp (optional)
Cilantro leaves- few springs
Red chillies - 3or4 ( Green chillies can also be used)
Tamarind(dried one soaked in water)- about 1tsp (use tamarind paste)
Oil - 1tsp

Heat oil, when hot add Channadal and fry for few minutes until its golden. Remove from heat and keep aside.
Chop zucchini and onions and fry them in little oil for 5-7 minutes, until just tender.
Once its cool enough, in a blender first grind Channadal and then add veggies, tamarind water, coconut , chillies and salt.
Grind them to smooth paste. I skipped the tempering part, since I had sautéed them in oil previously.

Tastes good with doses, idlies, rottis or use this as a dip with some chips. Enjoy !

Potato Sambar - Aloogadde Saaru

2008-11-14T12:37:00.004-09:00

I make Sambhar (south Indian lentil curry) at least 3 or 4 times a week, I make this for our mid-day lunch. So here is my recipe for making Sambar.

Potatoes,Onion and Tomato - each cut into big chunks.
Sambar powder, tamarind paste and jaggery - 1 tsp each.
Tempering : Oil, mustard seeds - 1tsp and Hing/asafoetida- 1/4 tsp or a pinch.
Toor Dal(split pigeon peas) - 1/2 cup
Garnish few cilantro/coriander leaves.

Wash Dal, chop veggies and pressure cook till soft.
Once done, add sambar powder(I use Mom made, one can substitute with corrinder-cumin-redchilli powder ),tamarind dissolved in water (or tamarind paste) and jaggery or Brown sugar. Mix well and let it cook for 10 mins until the raw smell of sambar powder is gone.
Then do the tempering, add mustard seeds and hing to hot oil, when it mustard seeds starts to pop, switch off and add that to sambar.
Garnish with few fresh cilantro springs. Serve warm.

We like to eat sambar with rice. Enjoy !

Avocado-Coriander Chutney

2008-11-13T12:23:00.003-09:00

Avocado chutney/dip is a small twist on classic Indian cilantro-chili chutney. This is a very simple, quick and tasty chutney.

Ingredients:

Avocado - 1 ripe
Cilantro/coriander leaves - 1 bunch
Green Chillies- 2-3
Lime or lemon juice - 1tsp
Salt to taste

Cut and mash avocados, squeeze lime juice all over it and mix well
In a blender/ mixer grind cilantro, chillies along with little salt and water to smooth paste.
Mix that with mashed avocados. Thin little bit using water to use as a dipping sauce.

I use this as a spread on cutlets, burger patties, sandwiches. Will be nice as a side dish for parathas too.
Enjoy !

Chutney Powder/ Spice Powder

2008-11-12T17:22:00.003-09:00

This is my mother's recipe for chutney pudi/chutney powder. This is a very essential powder in my kitchen.

Channadal / Kadalebele - 1 cup
Urad dal/ Uddina bele - 3/4 cup
Split Moonddal / heserubele- 1/2 cup
Red chilies - 6 (use byadagi type chillies to get good red colour)
Tamarind- dried about 1tsp
Dried coconut and Jaggery - 1tbsp grated
Salt to taste

Tempering : Oil - 1tsp and Hing/asafeotida - 1/4 tsp

Dry roast (or roast with little oil), all the above ingredients(except dried coconut, jaggery and salt) till golden brown in colour.
Once done, let it cool compeletly to that add dried coconut, jaggery grated, add salt.
Using a blender/mixie grind them to fine powder.
Heat oil, when hot add hing and add that oil to powder mix well and use as needed.

We use this Powder,mixed along with oilve oil or ghee or sometimes with curds/yogurt as a side dish with dosas, rottis, chapathis and rice as well.

Enjoy !

Brinjal Stirfry (Badanekaayi Palya)

2008-11-11T17:12:00.003-09:00

I like the combination of brinjal/eggpalnt with tomatoes and onions. So I make this quick stir-fry with brinjals.
Here is the recipe for it.

Ingredients

Brinjal /Eggplant - 1 big (if using small one 5-6)
Onion - 1 small thinly sliced
Tomato - 1 small finely chopped

Spices : Red chilli powder, cumin powder and Palya podi/kara podi (optional) - 1tsp each
Tempering : Oil, cumin seeds and channadal - 1tsp each

For garnish few cilantro springs.

Chop veggies thinly. Do the tempering by adding cumin to hot oil, add channadal when it starts to change colour add all the veggies. Cover and cook for 5 mins or untill its just soft.
Add salt and spices,mix well and let it cook for 5 more minutes or untill all the flavour combines well.
Switch off the heat and Garnish with corriender leaves. Goes well as a side dish with rice and sambar or rotis.

Enjoy !

Palak Paneer with home made Paneer

2008-11-10T16:23:00.003-09:00

I like making paneer at home, whenever I make them I used that to make Palak paneer. Here is the recipe for making paneer and palak paneer.

Ingredients for making Palak Paneer

Palak/Spinach - 1 bunch or more
Green chillies - 2or3
Onion and tomato - 1 each chopped
Ginger and garlic - grated 1 tsp each
Sesame seeds - toasted 2tsp ( to give rich taste and texture)(cashews, walnuts or peanuts can also be used)

For garnish I used few spring/green onions and few slices of red onions.

See below instructions for making paneer and keep it ready. If using store brought paneer, follow steps 7 and 8 (cut into bit size cubes and shallow fry them little oil till golden brown).
Toast and powder sesame seeds and keep that aside.
In the same pan,add cleaned and chopped spinach and chillies, cover and cook till spinach is all wilted down. Transfer to a blender/mixie when cooled little bit smoothly grind with toasted sesame seeds.
In the same pan add oil when hot add cumin seeds and once it starts to pop, add ginger-garlic paste and then add chopped onions and tomatoes. Cook till they are soft. Once done add Spinach mixture, add sesame powder mix well. Add salt and adjust to taste. Cook on medium heat for about 10mins or untill flavours combines well.
Add roasted flavoured Paneer, mix and garnish with raw onions. Allow it to stand for atleast 10 mins before serving.

This is how I make Paneer. I have flavoured it with black pepper, cumin and red chilli powder.

Heat 2 liter of milk(i use 1% milk) on a thick bottomed pan.
When Milk comes to boiling point(this takes about 20 mins or so) add lime juice or white vinegar(about 2 tbsp). Turn off the heat.
Stir the milk mixture after adding vinegar, it should starts to curdle, if not add some more. At this point whitecurds separates from the greenish white whey.
Place clean cloth or cheese cloth into a colander, pour the mixture in, let the whey drain. Let it stand for 5 - 10 mins.
Once the whey is completely drained, I wash it once with cold water to remove the smell of vinager and let it drain well. Now add 1tsp of each salt,cumin,pepper and red chilli powder. Mix well, tie the cloth tightly and squeeze all the water let it stand for 2-3 hrs. Put a pan or weight on it so most to the liquid drains out and hardens to a nice shape.
Remove from the cloth and use paneer to make desired curry (or store it in the fridge to use later).
Cut into bit size pieces. Fry with little oil and use as such.

Making paneer at home has its advantages, we can make it low fat or high fat . And add flavours with our favorite spice.

Coconut-Coriander Chutney

2008-11-09T15:45:00.004-09:00

Today being sunday I made Idlies, and to go with it coocnut-coriander chutney. Here is my recipe for simple and classic chutney that goes good with almost any dish.

Coconut - 2 tbsp grated
Coriander/cliantro leaves - one handful chopped
Green chillies - 1-2
Red onion and garlic - few peices
Roasted gram dal (hurigadale)- 2 tbsp
Tamarind water/paste- 1tsp
Salt to taste.

Wash and clean cilantro leaves, chop onion, chillies.
In blender/mixie grind all the ingredints adding little water to make to smooth paste.
One done , transfer to a bowl and temper with oil, mustard seeds and urad dal.

Enjoy !

Chickpeas Masala / Channa Masala

2008-11-08T15:38:00.002-09:00

I make this dish with chickpea (channa, kabul kadalai) at least once a week. Here is my recipe of makng this curry.

Ingredients

Chickpeas - 1 cup ( soaked overnight and cooked till just soft, can use canned chickpeas instead)
Onion - 1 meduim
Tomato - 1
Capsicum/bellpepper- 1 small
Ginger and garlic- 2 pieces
Tomato paste - 1tbsp (gives rich colour to the curry)
Jaggery or Brown sugar - 1tsb (to balance the taste)

Spices

Redchilli powder and Garam masala - 1tsp each (use channa masala powder instead).

Garnish : Corriender/cilantro leaves and thin slices of red onions.

Chop onion, tomato and capsicum to big chunks. Along with ginger and garlic grind them to paste using enough water.
Heat oil, when hot add cumin seeds, add in ground paste and cook till raw smell of veggies are gone, the mixture becomes thick and changes to dark colour.
Now add spices and jaggery mix well, add cooked or canned chickpeas.Add enough water and cook on medium heat for 10 mins or so untill all the flavours combines well.
Garnish with few cilantro leaves and red onions. Tastes great with puri and rotis.

Enjoy !

Roasted Pepper Raitha

2008-11-07T15:24:00.003-09:00

Raitha or pachaddi is a yogurt(curds) based dish, I usually make it when I prepare one pot rice dishes. Raithas are usually prepared by adding raw onion,tomato or cucumber. For a change and something different from regular ones, I tried making using roasted Bananna pepper, and the taste was divine. I'll making this raitha more often now.

Ingredients

Home made yougurt/curds - 1 cup
Bananna Peppers - 1big (Red bellpeppers and pablano peppers will be good too)
Red onion- 1 small
Red chilli powder and Amchur powder - 1 tsp each
For tempering : Oil, mustard seeds and cumin seeds - 1tsp each

On a grill or directly on flame roast peppers untill all sides are blacken. Cover for 5 minutes, the skin comes of easily(discard the skin and seeds). Chop the peppers and keep aside.
Chop onions mix with peppers to this add salt, chilli powder and amchur powder (this is optional, I add to give raitha little tangyness). Mix everting with yogurt.
Do the tempering by heating oil, and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once they start to pop add this to pepper-onion mixture, mix well.

We had this with corriender-mint pulav. Enjoy !

Pear Crumble

2008-11-06T15:14:00.002-09:00

After posting many curries or side dishes, I am posting something sweet. No special occasion, last night for dinner we had left overs from afternoon, so I made something simple and warm dessert using the pear I had. I made pear crumble using basic recipe, along with it I also added some raisins and almonds. Crunchy and tasty.

Ingredients for filling

Pear - 1 choped
Raisains - 2tbsp (any dry fruit works best)
Almonds - 2tbsb chopped

For topping

Brown sugar- 1tbsp
Oats - 1/2 cup
Cinnamon sugar- 1tsp
Nutmeg- 1/4 tsp grated
Butter- 1tsp crumble

Pre heat the oven 350 degrees. Chop all the ingredients mix together.

Combine all the ingredints for topping.

Lightly oil the baking dish add chopped pear mixture. Top with oats mixture, Crumble in butter(use more butter for more cripsiness).

Bake for about 25-30 mins untill the top is golden brown and bubbly.

Let it cool for about 10 mins before serving. Serve warm.

Enjoy !

Pumpkin Sagu

2008-11-05T14:56:00.005-09:00

This is my MIL's recipe, she makes this sagu whenever she makes Dosas. I too made dosa today for our lunch and would like to share her Recipe.

Ingredients

Pumpkin - 3cups chopped
Onion - 1 meduim chopped

Tempering

Oil, Mustard seeds and Channadal - 1tsp

For Grinding (no need to roast)

Coconut grated - 2tbsp
Poppy seeds, Dalia dal (roasted gram dal, hurigadale) - 1 tsbp
Corriender leaves- one handfull
Green chillies- 1-2
Cinnamon, cloves - 2 each
Black pepper - 1/2 tsb

1.Cut/ chop pumpkin and onions.
2. Heat oil, when hot add mustard seed and channadal. Once dal starts to change colour add veggie mix well. Cover and cook till pumpkin is bit soft takes about 10 mins.
3.Meanwhile put all the ingredients in a mixer for grinding and add enough water and grind to smooth paste.
4.Once pumpkin is soft add ground paste, salt to taste add more water for desired consistancy.
5.Cover and cook for another 5-7 mins untill veggies absorb ground mixture. Once done switch off and serve.

We enjoyed with Dosa.

Aloo-Methi with simple seasoning

2008-11-04T14:02:00.003-09:00

This is my favorite dish to do with red potatoes and methi leaves. Very easy recipe and goes well with rotis,chapathis and dosas. Leftovers can be used to make sandwiches or bondas.

Ingredients

Red Potatoes - 3 meduim size
Onion - 1 medium
Methi leaves - 2 tbsp dried (fresh leaves can be used too)

Tempering

Oil - 1tsp
Cumin/jeera seeds - 1tsp
Red chilli powder- 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Garnish :Cilantro leaves and fresh juice of lime juice about a tea spoon.

Wash potatoes and cook till soft not mushy. Keep aside. Chop onion( if using fresh methi leaves wash and chop).
Heat oil when hot, add cumin seeds, turmeric and red chilli powder. Then add in onion and methi leaves mix well. Let onion cook till soft.
Crumble cooled potatoes( I left the skin on) and mix with onion mixture, make sure not to mash it too much. Adjust salt to taste.
Finally garnish with cilantro leaves and squeese fresh lime juice. We had our with chapathis.

Simple yet satisfying meal. Enjoy !

Purple Cabbage Stir-Fry

2008-11-03T14:48:00.000-09:00

This is a simple south Indian stir-fry(palya), I made for our lunch today. I do this kind of stir-frys with brussel sprouts and green cabbage, this time I used purple or red cabbage. Simple yet delicious side dish to go with rice or rotis. One can use this for sandwichs or as topping on pizza with some cheese.

Ingredients

Purple/Red cabbage - 1 meduim, thinly sliced.

Tempering

Oil - 1tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Channa dal - 1 tsp
Red chillis - 2 broken or crushed

Granish : Cilantro/corriender leaves, coconut grated and fresh lime juice - 1 tsp each

Slice or chop cabbage and wash with cold water, drain the water.
Heat oil, once hot add mustard and channdal. When dal changes colour add red chillies and add chopped cabbage.
Cover with a lid and cook on meduim heat for about 5-10 mins. Make sure not to over cook the cabbage, it should still give some crunch. Adjust salt to taste.
Once cabbage is done switch off heat. Squeese fresh lime juice, garnish with grated coconut and cilantro leaves.

Enjoy !

I'll be sending this to Sunshinemoms Blog for FIC-November.

Capsicum Curry

2008-11-02T13:32:00.004-09:00

Combination of onion, tomato and capsicum(bell peppers) sure to make a tasty and colorful addition to any dish. Along with that I added peanuts, sesame seeds and poppy seeds to make the curry well balanced and nutritious.

Ingredients

Green Bell pepper - 2 medium cut into big chunks
Red onion - 1 medium
Tomato- 1 medium
Tomato paste- 1 tsp to give some tangyness to dish.
Brown sugar or jaggery - about 1tsp to balance the spice and tangyness.
Red chili powder- 1tsp

Tempering

Oil and cumin/jeera seeds - 1tsp each

Roast and grind

Peanuts,sesame seeds (ellu), poppy seeds (gasgase) - 1tbsp each
Cinnamon and cloves - 2 each

Garnish

Coriander/cilantro leaves one handful chopped.

Wash and chop veggies to big chunks, meanwhile roast listed ingredients(roast & grind) one by one. Once they have cooled enough, grind them to fine powder (I use coffee grinder to dry grind them. If using wet grinder use little water or tomato paste and grind them to fine paste).
Heat oil in pan , when hot add cumin seeds. When seeds starts to pop add veggies mix well, cover and cook for about 5 mins. Then add roasted and ground powder or paste. Add tomato paste, brown sugar and chili powder. Add enough water and salt to taste. Let it cook for 10 or more mins until the veggies and peanut mixture combines well. Adjust salt as per taste.
Switch off heat, and garnish with cilantro leaves.
Serve warm and Enjoy !

Moongdal-Rice

2008-11-01T13:22:00.003-08:00

Since rice being staple at my home I have made moongdal-rice (a.k.a rice(akki) usli in kannada) for our lunch today. This is a one pot rice dish, which is tasty and wholesome. Has protein from moongdal, carbs from rice, Vitamins from veggies like carrots and peas and I have also used some Almonds for crunch and extra protein.

Here is the recipe for it.

Rice- 1 cup
Moongdal - 1/2 cup

Vegetables

Onion - 1 medium thinly sliced
Carrot - 1 thinly diced
Peas- 1/4 cup I used frozen

Spices

Red chilli powder and garam masala - tsp each ( instead of this green chillies can also be used)

Tempering

Oil - 1tsp
Mustrad seeds- 1/2 tsp
Channa dal- 1 tsp
Turmeric-1/4 tsp

Garnish

Coconut grated, corriender leaves and fresh lime juice - about 1 tbsp each.
Almonds- 1 tsp lightly toasted.

First roast moongdal and rice together with or without oil on meduim heat untill golden in colour. keep aside.
Heat one tsp of oil, when hot add mustard seeds and channa dal, once dal starts to change colour add all the veggies, cook for few minute(If using green chillies add along the veggies).
Then add spices, and 3 cups of water( add 1:2 rice mixture to water), adjust salt to taste. Now add rice-moondal roasted early to water, mix well. Close lid and on meduim heat cook up to 3 whistels ( I directly make this in a pressure cooker so I do this way).
Switch off cooker after 3 whistels and let it cool. Now garnish with corriender leaves, coconut and squeeze fresh lime. Mix well finally add roasted cashews.

* If not using cooker for making this dish, and using regular pan follow the same procedure untill 3, before adding rice mixture, let the water comes to boil and then add it. cook on med-low heat for 10- 15 mins and switch off and garnish.

Serve warm. Enjoy !

I'll be sending this to Srivalli's Rice Mela.

Recipe Marathon # 2

2008-10-31T10:52:00.001-08:00

Dhivya of DK's culinary bazaar has come up with an event for cooking and posting recipes non-stop for 30 days starting tomorrow Nov 1 and ends Nov 30th. I decided to challange myself to join the craziness of cooking, clicking and posting recipes each day for next 30 days. I don't have any theme, i'll be posting the recipes that I cook on that day or one I have cooked the previous night.

Also joining me are 23 other blog friends, by the end of this month, we all will have cooked up more than 500 recipes. So Ladies, I wish you all the best.

Here are the names of Fellow bloggers who are also running Recipe Marathon with me.

Checkout the recipes of other Marathoners.

1. DK 2. Siri 3. Srivalli 4. Ranji 5. PJ 6. Curry Leaf 7. Medha 8. Priya 9. Bhawna 10. Raaji 11. Anu 12. Kamala 13. Roopa 14. Divya Kudua 15.Rekha 16.Divya M 17.Lakshmi 18.Raaga 19.Lakshmi Venkatesh 20.Sripriya 21.Viji 22.Kamalika 23.Pavani

Let have fun cooking !

Spaghetti with Pumpkin-Chickpea sauce

2008-10-30T10:50:00.002-08:00

Atleast once a week I make spaghetti at home, usually for our dinner. Today I made the sauce using roasted pumpkin and chickpeas. Few weeks ago I have made pumpkin-chickpea soup for my daughter she loved the flavour. Chickpeas makes the sauce very rich and creamy so I made it again for spaghetti.

Ingredients I used.

2 cups - chopped pumpkins ( and kind of winter squashs can be used)
1- medium onion
1 cup - Cooked chickpeas (soak about half cup overnight and cook in pressure cooker for 20 mins)
1 tsp- tomato paste
2-3- Red chillies
1tbsp- oilve oil
3 handful Spaghetti ( I used whole wheat thin spaghetti)
Salt to taste

For garnish

Handfull of chopped corriender/cilantro or parsley
Few tablespoon of grated parmasen cheese
Few tablespoon of toasted pumpkin seeds

Chop pumpkin and onion put them on a baking sheet and bake them for 30 mins in a 350 degree oven. Meanwhile, cook soaked chickpeas. When pumpkins and chickpeas are cool enough puree them along with tomato paste and chillies in mixie/blender to smooth sauce like consistancy.
Heat water in big pot when it comes to boil put spaghetti and cook till they are soft.
In another pan heat oilve oil, add blended sauce, add more water if required to deisred consistancy. Add salt to taste.
Once the spaghetti is done cooking, drain well and add this to sauce mix well.
Before serving, garnish with chopped herbs, pumpkin seeds and little cheese.

Very simple tasty and healthy, satisfying meal.

*Roasting pumpkin and cooking chickpes takes time, so if any one wants to make this dish in a hurry use store brought pumpkin puree and canned chickpeas.

I will be sending this dish to AFAM-Pumpkins hosted by Madhuram of Eggless cooking. Originally started by Maheswari of Beyond the usual.

Moongdal Burfi (Halwa)

2008-10-28T10:49:00.003-08:00

I made this sweet dish for deepavali this year. Main ingredient in this dish is roasted split yellow moongdal (hesarubele in kannada). For making this dish I have used the basic recipe, used for making sweets. Since my family likes mild sweeetness and less oily, I have tried to make it low fat and tasty at the same time.

Ingredients I used

Split yellow moongdal - 1 cup
Brown sugar or Jaggery powdered - 1 cup (add more of more sweetness,white sugar can also be used)
Home made Ghee - 2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp for roasting and 1/2 tsp for greasing plate.
Cardamom/Eliachi- 2 pods chrushed
Water- 1/2 cup (milk can be used instead of water, to give more richness)

For Garnish

Poppy seeds (Gasgase)- 1tsp lighted toasted.

* Using above measurements I got about 20 medium size peices.

Roast moongdal with 1/2 tsp of ghee untill its golden in colour. Once moongdal cools down, make into fine powder. Using ghee while roasting , gives very nice aroma to the sweet.
Toast 1 tsp of poppy seeds and keep aside for garnish.
In a heavy bottom pan, mix together brown sugar and water then add powdered moongdal, cardamom powder and 2 tbsp of ghee mix well (more ghee can be used to make the sweet more rich in taste).
On medium-low flame keep stiring the mixture until it forms to a dough, and all the moisture is gone, this process takes about 20-30 mins. Once the sides starts to leave, put the mixture on to a greased plate. Press evenly with back of a spoon and spread on the plate.
Sprinkle toasted poppy seeds all over. Mark lines using a knife when it still warm, to a desired shape.
Allow it to cool for atleast 15 mins. Then cut along the marked lines, take a piece and enjoy.

I will be sending this to Srivalli for JFI-Festival Treats and Aparna for Sweet Celebrations.

Stuffed Capsicum Buns

2008-10-22T10:44:00.001-08:00

Three items that I always like from a bakery is bread toast, potato stuffed buns and capsicum puffs. I very much like the dry capsicum curry they use in making the puffs, but don't feel like eating much since puffs are so flaky with butter. Today I recreated two of my favorite foods from bakery into one, by stuffing capsicum curry inside home made bread dough.

For dough I used:

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Unbleached all purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Yeast - 1tsp (dissloved in warm water)
Carom seeds- 1tsp
Salt as per taste and oilve oil to knead the dough.
Warm water - about a cup

Disslove yeast in warm water .
Mix whole wheat and all purpose flour along with carom seeds and some salt.
Now add warm water in which yeast was dissloved, mix in to form a stiff dough.
Knead with little oil, close and keep in a warm place for about an hour.

To make the curry for stuffing I used 4 different kinds for peppers. One can also use potatos, onion along with peppers.

Making Capsicum curry

Chopped peppers and Peppers sauted and mixed with spices

Wash and chop peppers( i used pabalano, redbell pepper, 1 jalapeno and 2 bananna peppers). Heat 1 tsp of oil and when hot add cumin and add chopped peppers. Cover and cook till soft make sure it does not get mushy. Now add chilli powder and garam masala. Adjust salt per taste. Finally squeeze in 1 tsp of lime juice. Let it cool completely.

When dough has raised or doubled its volume and curry mixture is completely cooled. Pre-heat the oven for 400 degrees F.

Divide the dough into 5 equal parts. Flatten it and put the curry mixture on it. Bring all the sides together and tuck it in and put tucked side down on baking tray (just like we do for stuffed parathas). Rub with little oil before putting in the oven, so the dough won't dry out. See pics below.

Now bake for 12 mins or untill the crust is golden brown. Take out and let it cool before eating.

*Bananna peppers peel off their outer skin once sauted. So make sure to remove them before stuffing. If made in large batches make sure to use them within 1or 2 days.

Enjoy !

Rice with Lentils

2008-10-20T10:43:00.001-08:00

Hello all, I had been on vacation (India) for last few months. Days/months went by so fast, I enjoyed the sun, the rain and I did eat a lot of food cooked by my mom, my aunts and enjoyed countless plates of panipuris and chaats. Before leaving to India I thought of cooking and posting recipes from there but I was just happy to sit back and enjoy others cooking, which I miss here a lot.

So its been almost 3 weeks, back in Alaska getting back to my daily routines. Have been checking recipes and pictures of my fellow bloggers and events going on. I have been doing the same basic cooking like rice, sambar, chapatis, dosas and idlies since we got here.

Yesterday I made one pot rice dish using lentils (masoor dal /red lentils) for our dinner. One can use small lentils which does not require much soaking time like whole moong dal, brown lentils and green lentils. Combined with rice and topped with corriender leaves and chopped almonds its one wholesome and tasty meal.

Ingredients for Recipe :

Rice - 1 cup
Lentils- 1/2 cup

Tempering : Oil - 1tbsp, Fennel seeds - 1tsp

Onion - 1 medium chopped

Spice Powders : Red chilli powder - 1tsp and Garam Masala - 2 tsp

Garnish : Corriender leaves - one hand full chopped ,Almonds - 2 tbsp chopped and Lime - 2 tsp freshly squeezed.

Wash and soak rice and lentils together for about 10 mins.
Do the tempering, I do it directly in Pressure cooker. So put oil when hot add fennel seeds and onion. Fry till onion are soft. Add chilli powder and garam masala ( if not using garam masala ,one can use cumin and corriender powder). Mix well.
Now drain water from rice-lintels, add it to onion mixture. Add water about double the amouny of rice(for 1 1/2 cups of rice-lentils I added 3 1/2 cups of water). Add salt adjust to taste. Cover with cooker lid and put weight on, cook on meduim low heat till 2 whistle.
Once cool enough transfer it to plate squeeze lime juice, garnish with corriender and chopped almonds.

*If doing in open pan, after sauteing onions add water first, when it comes to boil rice mixture and cover and cook on low heat for about 10-15 mins.

Enjoy !

I'll be sending this to Srivalli of cooking 4 all seasons for Rice Mela and to SRA of When my soup came alive to My Legume Love Affair , which was first started by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

Spinach-Black-eye peas Fritters / Halasandekalu-Soppina Vade

2008-06-05T10:42:00.002-08:00

I don't make deep fried food very often, reason one being health conscious and secondly I don't like frying, after doing it I don't like eating them. But I don't mind eating it once in a while made be others.

When I get huge cravings to eat some spicy fried food, I can't help but try and make it little healthy by adding spinach and lentils. So over the last weekend I made some Halasandekalu vade(black-eye peas) and spinach (soppu) vada.

I'll send this as my entry to Mansi's Fun & Food for Monthly Mingle-Appetizers & Hors'Doeuvres.

Ingredients required

Black-eye peas - 1 cup (soaked for 2 hours in water)
Red onion- 1 medium chopped finely
Spinach - 1/2 cup chopped( I used frozen)
Cilantro leaves-1/4 cup chopped
Green chillies- 3 or more chopped
Ginger- 2" piece chopped
Red chili powder- 1 tsp
Salt to taste.
Peanut oil for deep frying.

Soak peas in 3 cups of water for 2 hours. Drain all the water and grind it to course paste.
If using fresh spinach chop and add. Since i used frozen i thawed and squeeze water out of it and then used it.
Add all the above chopped veggies mix well. Add chili powder and salt to taste.
Heat oil on medium-high heat and fry them in batches of 3-4 at a time, till golden brown on both sides.

Enjoy !

Pumpkin stir-fry / Kumbalakayi Palya

2008-05-30T10:36:00.002-08:00

While growing up my mother never prepared any dish with pumpkins, this was the vegetable that we always used to eat at our grandmothers house in village, where they grew their own pumpkins in the backyard. I like the flavour and texture of pumpkin very much and enjoyed them.

After I got married, at my MIL's place they also had a small backyard and they too grew pumpkins. When ever she make doses she always make pumpkin sagu, i'll post the recipe sometimes. Most times I make palya a dry stir-fry with Pumpkins.

Apart from the fact that it has nice colour and texture this veggie is loaded with Beta-carotene when consumed converts into Vitamin A, a powerful anitoxidant. That is one more reason I use them often now.

Recipe is very simple.

Vegetable

Pumpkin I used is Butternut squash - about 2 cups chopped to bite size peices

Tempering

Oil - 1tsp
Mustard seeds/ saasive - 1/tsp
Cumin/ Jeera/Jeerige - 1/2 tsp
Channadal/Kadalebele - 1tsp
Red chillies - 2 crushed
Hing- 2 pinchs

Garnish

Fresh/frozen Coconut-1tbsp
Cilantro leaves- 1tbsp chopped
Lime juice - 1tsp

Peel the outer layer and cut pumpkin into small bite size peices.
Heat oil in a pan, when hot add all the tempering ingredients one by one, when channadal starts to get brown add cut veggies. Cover with a lid and cook on medium heat untill just tender. This takes about 15 minutes.
Once the pumpkin is tender, switch off heat and add salt, and garnis with coconut and cilantro. at the very end sqeeze lime/lemon juice and mix well.

We had it with rice and sambar for our lunch today. Palya also tastes good with dosas and chapathis.

Enjoy !

Vegetable-Chutney Sandwich

2008-05-21T10:35:00.001-08:00

As many of you have guessed this is my entry for Sandwich festival hosted by Anupama of Food and more. At our house we like sandwichs with chutney spread inside and vegetables raw or roasted and always toasted and warm.

So here is the recipe for chutney.

Cilantro leaves- 1 bunch
Green chillies- 2(medium hot)
Ginger and garlic- 1 each
Lime juice- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste.

Clean cilantro leaves and grind together with little water. Squeeze lime juice and mix well. Chutney is ready to be used.

Chutney can be stored in fridge up to 4 days and can also be used as spread for burgers, on soups, making fried rice and goes very well on top of chats and puffed rice.

For making Sandwich
Whole wheat bread- 2 slices

Whole wheat bread- 2 slices
All natural swiss cheese- 1 slice
Vegetables- tomato, shallot and avacado slices
Salt and pepper for taste
Mustard (optional)
Olive oil- 1 tsp for roasting

Arrange 2 slices of bread, spread chutney on one side and top with veggies sprinkel salt and pepper. On another bread put cheese and close it , put little oil on both sides and toast on grill which I have used. Can also be made on griddle/tava or in the oven.

Makes for quick breakfast or snack. Enjoy when its warm.

Sprouted Moongdal Dose

2008-05-12T10:38:00.001-08:00

I make dosas atleast once a week for our weekday or weekend brunch. We like to eat dosas with aloo palya and chutney or only with chutneys somethimes or even gojju. The leftover dosa batter I always use that for making onion-chilli uttapam. This week I had some sprouted moongdal, so tried it along with some onion and tomatoes.

These days I have upgraded my dosa recipe from regular rice to brown rice to make it little more nutritious. With sprouts added to it, this will make a complete healthy breakfast.

Recipe for Dose Batter

2 cups - brown rice
3/4 cups-urad dal
1/2 cup - poha/aval/avalakki
2 tbsp - channa dal
1 tbsp - methi seeds

Soak all the ingredients in enough water for 8 hours. Grind to smooth batter, let it ferment for 8 more hours. Then it will be ready to me made into dosas/pancakes or use pancake mix for batter.

For making utthapa/ toppings

1/2 cup - sprouted moongdal
2tbsp- sweet sliced onions
2tbsp- tomatos
1tsp of each- chilli powder, cumin powder and salt.

Mix them all together. Keep aside.

Pour a laddle full of dosa batter on hot griddle/tava. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of mixture in top. It will spread on its own.
Cover for few seconds, let the bottom side get light brown and cook through.
Flip for few seconds and serve.

Can eat it like that, we had ours with yogurt mixed with chutney-powder.

Enjoy !

Back to blogging with Pineapple Gojju

2008-05-09T10:40:00.001-08:00

Hello dear friends,

Its been more than 2 months since I posted any recipe, days are going so fast. I was on vacation for 5 weeks to my cousins house in NJ. It was fun I did lots of shopping, chating and enjoyed spring there.

Now I am back in Alaska, where its still snowing. Getting back to my regular routine of cooking and checking my fellow bloggers recipes and finally today I got to update my recipes.

So here is the recipe of Pineapple gojju, which I have been thinking to make from very long time.
Gojju is a combination of sweet-sour/tangy-spicy-salt . While making regular gojju like tomato,onion or brinjal we use tamarind and Jaggery. Since Pineapple tend to be both sweet and sour I have not used tamarind and jaggery instead its made with roasting and grinding few spices and lentils with coconut, this kind of gojju is usually made during special occasions and festivals.

Since we get lots of canned, pre-cut pineapples here, I made it for our lunch today. This is a very simple, easy and tasteful side dish goes well with rice, dosa and idlies or any rice based items.

Ingredinets :

Pineapple chopped/crushed - 1 Can (I used Del Monte with natural juice)
Garnish - 1 spring onion

Tempering :

Oil - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
Channadal - 1/2 tsp
Hing - 2pinchs

To Roast and Grind:

Channadal - 2 tsp
Uraddal - 1tsp
Cumin/jeera - 1tsp
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Methi seeds- 1/2 tsp
Red chilles- 2-3
Coconut fresh - 1tbsp
Oil - 1tsp

1. Remove the pineapples from the can, drain the juice, give it a rinse to remove sweetness. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan once hot enough add mustard seeds, Channadal and hing. When dal turns light brown add pineapple and fry for few minutes just to make them coat with oil and seasonings.

2. In a pan heat 1 tsp of oil and roast all the ingredients mentioned above. Once cooled down grind into powder or make paste using little water.

3. Add the grounded mixture to the pineapple, add water if required or pineapple juice. Add salt let it simmer for 10- 15 minutes until pineapple mixes will with the flavors of the ground mixture.

4. Switch off the heat, garnish with fresh herbs I used spring onions as a garnish. Ready to serve.
*This curry was bit too sweet for me, so I added more chili powder at the end to balance the sweet-sour flavor.

We enjoyed gojju with dosa.

Baigan Bharta (Grilled Eggplant/Brinjal with Spices)

2008-03-11T10:31:00.003-08:00

Baigan Bharta a very well know North Indian roasted eggplants/brinjal. I usually do the roasting in the oven, when I have lot of time on hand and in good mood I'll used grill to do this. I love the smokey flavour it gives after grilling. Grilling takes about 45 minutes and needs constant attention and have to turn every 5 mins, but its worth all the work. Once the grilling it done, curry can be made in under 15 mins. We had this with chapathis for dinner last night.

Ingredients

Eggplant - 1 Big
Onion - 1 medium size(chopped)
Tomato - 1 big(chopped)
Ginger- 1 inch(grated)

Spices

Garam Masala powder - 1tbsp
Cayenne pepper(red chilli powder)- 1 tsb

Oil for tempering and salt to taste. 2 tbsp of fresh lime/lemon juice.

Roasting Eggplant : Heat griddle on high. Rub little oil on eggplant and keep it on grill. Keep turning every 5 mins or so. It takes about 30 to 45 mins to get all the skin on the eggplant to turn black. Have to trun very gently so the skin won't break. Once the inside becomes soft, switch off and transfer to a plate. Peel the skin and mash with fork. Now its ready to be used.

Convenient/easy method : Poke few hole with a fork all over the eggplant. Cover with foil and roast in 400 F oven for 35- 45 mins. Eggplant will collapse once its done. Let it cool, remove skin and mash the eggplant.

On a medium high heat ,put oil in a pan add choppen onions and grated ginger, saute till soft them add tomatoes cook till soft. This takes about 5- 7 mins.
Then add spices mix well, now add mashed eggplant. Mix well and keep stiring untill all the flavours comes together.
Add salt to taste. Squeeze lime juice before serving.

Enjoy !

I'll be sending this to Pooja for her Vow-Brinjals event .

Cooking and Awards

2008-03-07T10:31:00.001-09:00

I have been trying out recipes from my fellow bloggers lately. Here are some of the recipes i have tried so far.

This is Suma's Sweet potato chutney. The day I saw this recipe on her blog, I brought home some sweet potatoes and tried it, it was very delicious and nutritious too. Now I make this very often, reason being apart from healthy its as easy as grate and grind. Now I keep this veggi on hand all the time, goes very well with rice, dosas and idlies. Thanks Suma for this delicious and healthy recipe, I love making and eating it.

Couple months ago I was talking to my cousine who is in NJ, she was telling me that she has a new gujarathi neighbour and she is learning new dishes from her and they made Khandvi and it was delicious. She told me over the phone how they made that using inverted plates and so on. At that time I had no idea was she was telling. Then for RCI - gujurat cusine I saw many recipes of khandvi on blogs and came to know about it.

When I saw this on Nupur's blog (she calls it Suralichi wadi)I thought of making it. But when I saw the same on Sia's blog I was drooling over it. So the next day I reffered Nupur's blog and read the recipe and instruction for more than 10 times and finally made it at first attempt. It was differently delicious I must say. Thanks to Nupur and Sia for their mouthwatering pictures and recipes, which they have explained very beautiful, even first timers like me can make it.

The above dish is of baked chickpea falafel from Siri's Corner. The magic word baked, is why I made this dish. One thing I did wrong with this recipe is that, I kept the mixture for too long(more than 24 hrs)in the fridge, so when baked it was bit dry. But it was very delicous, nice recipe to do for get-togethers, easy thing is will be done under 10 minutes (baking part).Thanks Siri for this healthy falafel recipe, i'll be making this often.

I am not a big fan of mushrooms, I have tasted them only as a topping on my pizzas, which I don't like. When I saw this recipe of Mushrooms I was really impressed by the way the dish looked, very colourful and tasty, its from Suganya's Tasty palettes. If I ever wanted to try any dish with mushrooms, this was the dish. I made this last week for our dinner with chapathis it was delicious and I liked it, sesame paste combines very well with mushrooms.

I was expecting the result to be same as Suganya's but didn't, its in the chilli powder I will try this using kashmiri chilli powder next time. Thanks Suganya for the recipe, next on my list is your Sweet potato fries.

Now coming to awards, I am very excited to recive this award from fellow blogger Vanamala of Nalapak. Thanks Mala.

I like to pass this awards to Latha, Lakshmi and Asha.

Apple-Cheese Sandwich for Kids

2008-02-27T10:28:00.002-09:00

I make cheese sandwiches for my daughter for her evening snack, recently I started to add fruits to that. I got this idea of using fruits, from a kids magazine. My daughter likes apple in it because of its crunchness. I have also made with strawberries and kiwi. This is very easy and healthy meals for kids.

Will send this to Vanamala for Kid's Food Event.

Here is the recipe

Apple - Green few sclices
Chedder cheese- 1 slice
Bread- 2 slices(whole wheat)
Cinnamon sugar and honey- 1tsp
Butter- 1tsp

Slice Apples, remove the skin if it is tough to chew. Arrange apple slices, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on one slice of bread. On other bread add cheese slice and spread honey or jam. Close them and spread little butter or oilve oil and roast on tava /griddle on low medium heat untill cheese melts. Cut in the middle and serve.

Enjoy!

Aloogedde Pachadi/Potato Raita

2008-02-21T10:28:00.001-09:00

When ever I make one-pot rice dish I make pachadi/raita to go with it. I had cooked potatoes which was in fridge for last two days, so today for our lunch I used that for making pachadi/raita.
One can add veggies like tomatoes, cucumber, green chillies, grated carrot along with this. During festival, back home when we donot cook with onions, potato is used to make raithas. I just wanted to keep it simple so just added potaotes(cooked) and onions with little cilantro leaves. This is very simple recipe to make along any rice dishes.

Here is what I have used :

1 cup - home made yogurt
1 potato- skin removed and choped( can also crumble)
2 tsp - red onion and cilantro finely chopped

Spices-red chilli powder, black pepper powder, turmeric and salt to taste.

Tempering-1 tsp of oil, mustard seeds, red chilli and hing.

Cook potato in boiling water untill tender. Once cooled chop/ crumble.
Sprinkle with salt, chilli powder, turmeric and black pepper.
Mix pototes with yogurt add chopped onion and cilantro. Mix well.
Do the tempering and pour over yogurt mixture.

We had this with rice usli. Enjoy!

Will send this to Sia for Ode to Potatoes and Dk's for Potato Fe(a)st Events.