Spaghetti & stir-fried vegetables

This is simple spaghetti dish with stir-fried vegetables, I have not some great creation with this

I thought i will change a little, because I got bored of doing the same thing again & again. My children do like spaghetti because it looks just like the noodles and they are long and they like to suck it in the mouth with a slurp!!, here is the recipe.......

SPAGHETTI & STIR FRIED VEGETABLES















Ingredients:

• 300 gms Spaghetti
• 1 big onion
• 3 to 4 pods of garlic
• 1'' ginger
• 4 to 5 sprigs of mint leaves
• 4 to 5 sprigs coriander leaves
• 3 to 4 tbsp Olive oil
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• few sprigs of basil leaves
• 1 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 medium sized carrot
• 3 to 4 French Beans

MEHTOD:

1. Cook spaghetti in boiling water for a few minutes or until they get cooked, drain water from it.
2. Run cold water on it and separate the grains and coat them with a tbsp of olive oil and spread them out so they do not stick with each other.
3. chop ginger, garlic, onion , mint & coriander leaves. Take a pan, add a tsp of oil and fry all the these for a few minutes until they are all get roasted, cool them and grind them into a paste.
4. Take a wok heat oil, add the ground paste and fry for a minute or two, add pepper & Italian seasonings and required quantity of salt.
5. Now add the cooked spaghetti & mix well, cover the wok by a lid for few minutes and cook in a low flame, so that the spaghetti absorbs the masala.
6. Add tbsp of lime juice mix and garnish with torn basil leaves.
7. Cut all the vegetables. In a separate wok heat a tsp of oil & fry all the vegetables stirring it in a high flame, add just a pinch of salt, ginger & pepper.
8. Now serve stir-fried vegetables with spaghetti, with Tomato Ketchup or with anything of your choice.

NOTE: I used the idea of adding lemon juice from RAKS Kitchen. Please note you can change the quantity of ingredients according to your taste. I might be making it more spicy.

Mushroom Manchurian

This is one of my favourite dishes, I love Gobi Manchurians, I always made this at home often after comming here, When I first saw button mushrooms I just fell in love with them, I thought they were so cute, The first time when I bought it, I was thinking what shall I do with it, So the first time I made mushroom bondas!!, I dipped them in the Besan flour with salt & chilli powder and fried in oil, my children thought it tasted nice but what was it they did not know!!, They thought it might be Aaloo, They always want potato in their everyday food!!, well, I told them later on they were not very happy about as I had cheated them because they thought it was potatoes!!!, Next time I made Manchurian and it came out very well, Of course, not a very healthy recipe as I have fried it in oil!!, But as we all know Mushrooms have lot of Folic acid in them which is especially very good for women I thought I can give my children this way too!!, as they do not fancy mushrooms much. Here is the recipe......


MUSHROOM MANCHURIAN

















Ingredients:

• 350 gms Button Mushrooms
• 1 big Onion
• 5 to 6 Garlic pods
• 1 bunch spring onions
• 5 to 6 green chillies
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1'' ginger
• 1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
• salt to taste
• 3 to 4 tbsp oil
• 5 to 6 sprig of coriander leaves (optional)
• 4 to 5 tbsp corn flour
• 2 to 3 tbsp besan flour (chickpea flour)
• Sufficient oil for deep frying

METHOD:

1. Chop onion, garlic, green chilles & ginger into fine pieces and keep aside.
2. In a vessel make a paste of corn & Besan flour using little water & a little salt, it must be of a consistency where in you can dip the mushrooms and put it in the oil, it shouldn't be too watery or too thick, make it into a dosa consistency or just they way when you make Aaloo Bondas.
3. Take sufficient quantity of oil in a wok and deep fry all the Button Mushrooms into golden colour and keep aside on a kitchen paper.
4. Now take a wok, heat oil add the chopped onions, garlic, green chillies and ginger. Fry them nicely now add the chopped spring onion for a minute or two
5. Then add all the sauce, vinegar & ketchup and required quantity of salt, but just remember you have already added little salt to the flour when deep frying the mushrooms so balance the salt properly!!
6. Give them all a good toss add coriander leaves if you want or otherwise leave it, Now add the fried mushrooms and mix well and leave it in the wok for a few minutes frying them so the ingredients in the wok get coated to the mushrooms.
7. Now it is ready to serve.

Note :

If you want you can add chopped peppers, Roast them with the onions, this option I saw in Sailugaru's gobi Manchurian cooking, I cook Gobi Manchurian in the same way as above but had never added chopped peppers, when I read in Sailu's cooking I thought I must give it a try, I have not tried still but, I thought it was a good idea, & I can imagine it definitely would taste very well!!.

Onion pakoras

This snack you can get in all the road sides of Bangalore, it's absolutely delicious and on a rainy day it is a great snack to munch!! Everybody would be knowing how to make this, It just happened my hubby's friend somy came to my house, he loves cooking and I used to teach him rasams, sambhars etc., and I was telling him about my blog and told him now he can look into the recipes from their, as I post everything I cook!!, He was very happy seeing my blog...., Then he asked me if I have posted Onion Bhaji, I said, no I have not done it yet!! well, he wanted to know how it is made because in his office canteen they wanted to know how to make it....That's it.....Grabbing this chance I decided to show him how to make it then & their.....before he finished drinking his chai I gave him this onion pakoras to go with it!!!, I prepared only so much which is in the plate which I have posted their.!! how zit?

But then I wanted to make a little difference so I thought I will bring Sagari, from sagariscooking to my kitchen, her onion pakodis was always in my mind, so as I had told earlier in her blog I used CASHEW NUTS in this recipe, Of course my husband loved it, as always he goes nuts over the nuts in dishes......Thanks Sagari we all loved it with cashews in pakoras.

ONION BHAJI

















Ingredients:

• 2 Onions
• 8 to 10 cashew nuts
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 4 tbsp of Bengal gram flour
• 2 tbsp rice flour
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• salt to taste
• 2 to 3 Green chillies
• a bit of Ginger
• a pinch of baking soda

METHOD:

1. Chop onions length wise, green chillies thinly sliced, ginger into pieces, curry leaves also chopped.
2. Add required quantity of salt, mix it with the above ingredients and leave it for few minutes, The onions with the help of salt gives out water on its own!!
3. Then mix in the cashews and the flours, add water if it is very powdery by sprinkling little by little, do not add too much water, then the pakoras will never turn out crispy.
4. Heat enough oil in a deep frying pan, that is enough to fry the pakoras, just take them in your hand no need to give them any shape, they can be dropped in the oil in irregular shapes and sizes.
5. Deep fry them and serve them with nice Aromatic chai.

Menthyada Gojju (Fenugreek Gravy)

This Gojju I ate in my friend Vatsala's house, They are kind of far relatives for me, Her Mom-in-law and my Atte (father's eldest sister) were very good friends, They also come from Hassan district, she is a very good cook, Once when I went to see her, she had Ubbu roti & Menthyad gojju, After I tried it I just loved it so much, I learnt from her to make it, I think I have altered it a little but, as always First taste is the best taste you can ever get.....I really do not make as she makes but my children say I have done it very well!!! (as they have not tasted her cooking!!).
MENTHYADA GOJJU (FENUGREEK GRAVY)
















Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp of Fenugreek/methi/menthya seeds
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 5-5 Red chillies (Guntur-Badgi)
• a pinch of asafoetida
• 5 to 6 or gooseberry sized Tamarind
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 2 to 3 tbsp of oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds

METHOD:

1. Fry fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds & red chillies in a wok and keep aside to cool, fry fenugreek seeds until they are golden brown in colour do not allow it go black in colour.
2. Soak tamarind in 1/2 a tumbler of warm water and extract thick juice out of it, filter & keep it aside.
3. Take a deep bottomed wok, heat oil and a tsp of mustard seeds when it splutters add curry leaves & the extracted Tamarind juice and allow it boil in a low flame for a few minutes.
4. Meanwhile nicely powder the fried ingredients in a mixie and make it into a paste with very little water .
5. When the juice boils for few minutes and the above paste and mix well together with required quantity of salt & asafoetida and leave it on the stove for few more minutes.
6. If you want you can add a little bit of jaggery it is optional and now it is ready to serve.
7. It goes very well with chapatis, rottis and with rice too!!.

Rice flour puffed up Bread / Ubbu rotti & an award!!

This is a rotti made out of Rice flour, These rotti I learnt from my father's side, My father is basically from Hassan district in Karnataka, This kind of rotti/ flat bread is also made in Coorg district. Bascially I love this rotti/ bread is fat free a very Healthy diet. My patis, periammas and  chittis  make it.......Even today when I go to my father's village it is like a staple food they make this ubbu rotti so fast so tasty, like our everyday tiffin like dosa, upma and  idlis....My mom does not do it too often, as she is not used to it much, When ever we go to our father's village during the Rathothsavas (chariot festival) in the whole village in everybody's house they cook idlis  and  ubbu rottis with Kaayi chutney.......,I came to know later on from my neighbour Manu aunty who also comes from Hassan district but they are Jain's!!, they also cook this type of rotti but they make it in the size of chappatis, but in my dad's house they made it in palm size!!, This roti goes very well with paruppu Thuviyal (Dal Chutney) or with Brinjal gojju, Here I made it with Menthyad gojju (fenugreek gravy).

UBBU ROTTI (PUFFED RICE ROTI'S)

INGREDIENTS FOR METHOD I
This is the basic way  actually it is done and I still do ubbu rotti this way because I love it this way and is more authentic , learnt this rotti from my paati like this, It is a little tedious job, but it is a good one....

1 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
1and 3/4th  to 2 cup of water

METHOD

Make a thick bottomed vessel, (stainless steel vessel not very apt for this), pour water in it and add salt and oil and allow it to boil for few minutes.

Once it starts boiling bring the stove to a low flame, and pour in the rice flour in the middle of the vessel.

1. Insert a ladle into it and close the lid (the lid won't close completely because of the ladle and allow it to cook for a few more minutes.
2. Take the vessel out from the stove, mix the flour with the help of the ladle like u do when You make Raagi balls,
3. When it is completely mixed take out the rice ball and  press it down nicely sprinkling little water and rice flour and make it into a nice big round Rice ball, cover it with a wet cloth.
4. make lemon sized balls and flatten then into chapatis with the help of your hand or with the help of rolling pin and little rice flour.
5. Actually it should be flattened with the help of ur fingers that is  middle of ur palm, to a big round chapati shape!!, continuously trying this will make u an expert, If u know how to make jolada rotti (corn flour chapatis) it is just like that
6. Put it on the tawa for 3 to 4 min, then u have to take it out and put it on the stove directly it puffs up their just like ur pulkas, nice  soft !!, Mine puffs up the tawa/flattened girdle itself, putting it on the stove top gives that smokey flavour to the rottis
7. They are now ready to serve with any side dish u want.

INGREDIENTS: FOR METHOD II

1 cups Rice Flour
1 3/4 th 2 Cups of water
Required quantity of salt
1 tbsp oil

METHOD: II

1. In a broad vessel, put in the Rice flour, salt and a tbsp of oil and mix well,
2. Then add warm water little by little until it gains the consistency of chapati dough.
3. cover it with a wet cloth
4. Take a lemon sized ball, put some Rice flour on the table top and flatten this ball into palm sized chapati or roll it with the help of rolling pin just like a chapati.
5. It is again cooked in the same way as I have told in the Method I

METHOD III

My mannis (sis- in-laws) told this method to me, They wanted to fore go the above process!! so, they took a short cut method!!!, what they do is they cook the rice or sometimes use the left over cooked rice, Grind it in the mixie to a smooth paste without adding any water, and with the help of rice flour they make it into a big nice round rice ball and taking a lemon sized ball roll them into chapatis and follow the above said method to cook the chapatis!!! how zit? cool ya!!! I will try to post a step wise tutorial to this method.

I served this Menthya (fenugreek seeds ) Gojju, you can serve it with Paruppu Thovaya (Dal-coconut chutney), Brinjal kai gojju, Brijal kothsu etc..,

Well, which ever method you make practice makes you perfect when you are making these ubbu rottis!!, try and enjoy this with any kind of side gravy you want.

I hope you would have understood the way I have explained, it was quite difficult for me to jot it down, I have tried my best to explain this......hope you got it!!

Here, I would like to thank Raji, of RAKS Kitchen has given me an award and i did not know how to post this...raji also taught me how to do it....!!Thanks for remembering me and giving me this award, thank you again.

Methi & Dill leaves Pappu (Andra dish)

This is a Andra dish I learnt from swapna's mum, My friend Uma also keeps doing this often, This is the third time I am making this. uma, who is from Andra gave me a thumb sign after eating it. So, here I am with the recipe. Basically they cut green chillies into it & cook with the dal & green leaves, I have altered it a little, as my children have to eat, I did not want them to bite hot & spicy chili bits. Otherwise the method is same. But, one more thing I have changed is I have used different combinations of vegetables & leaves when ever I cooked this. Uma told me even using parsley it was good so, I did try that too....& it came out well, you can use a variety of vegetables & green leaves to cook this pappu. Here is the list of vegetables you can cook with this pappu:
Variations:
Gonkura leaves, Green Mangoes, Tomato, Bottle Gourd (sorakayi), yellow round cucumber (Dosakaya), Spinach, Amaranth, Fenugreek leaves, Dill (Sabsige soppu/Solikeerai), or any other greens you get goes well.
METHI & DILL LEAVES PAPPU
















Ingredients:

• 1 bunch Methi/Fenugreek/Menthya soppu Leaves
• 1 bunch Dill leaves
• 1 Tomato
• 1 cup Tuvar Dal
• 2 to 3 Green chillies
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
• 4 to 5 Garlic pods
• 2 to 3 Red chillies
• 1 to 1 & 1/2 tsp Red chilli powder (instead of Red chillies)
• 1 Big onion
• salt as required
• 2 tbsp Thick Tamarind extract
• 1 tbsp Dhania powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp oil

Seasoning: 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds, 1 tbsp urad dhal, 1/2 tbsp channa dal

METHOD:

1. Wash the Green leaves thoroughly & chop them, wash Dal.
2. Take a Vessel, Add the chopped leaves, Washed Dal, pinch of turmeric powder, green chillies and pressure cook them till 2 to 3 whistles.
3. Allow it cool, Meanwhile Take a wok or pan heat oil, add the seasonings with red chillies, chopped garlic & chopped onions and fry them till they become transparent.
4. Take the cooked dal along with the greens, mash them thoroughly with a masher, until dal & green mix together.
5. Add the fried seasonings, required quantity of salt and allow it to boil for few minutes with the tamarind extract.
6. Add 1 tbsp of Dhania powder & 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
7. Garnish it with chopped coriander & curry leaves and allow it to boil for another 2 minutes
8. serve hot with cooked rice & a dollop of ghee.

NOTE:

• When you are cooking with Gonkura you can add 1 tsp of Fenugreek seeds & no need to add tamarind as the leaves itself are sour.
• Increase or Decrease the quantity of chillies or Tamarind according to individual taste
• You can use Red chilli powder instead of Red chillies
• When using Tomatoes check the sourness of the fruit and add Tamarind, you can also use Green gram dal with this instead of Tuvar dal
• Swapna's mum even told me you can omit dhania, jeera and chilli powder and add Dhaniyalu podi in it. This podi I will be posting it in my Masala powder Recipes.

Badanekaayi Yengaayi (Brinjal dry curry)

This is a side dish or a vegetable gravy as you can call it, This I learnt from my friend sunitha, she is a fantastic cook, I learnt quite a few dishes from her......I might be posting them as & when I cook them......I do not know what to call this as & I always call it as sunitha's badanekaayi palya. She is from Hassan and cooks different kind of dishes, Even my father is from Hassan so, some of the dishes are quite alike.
BADANEKAAYI YENGAAYI

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Kg small violet Brinjals
• 3/4 th cup fresh grated coconut
• 4 to 5 onions medium sized
• 1/2 cup Hurigadale/chutney dal/Pottukadali powder
• 1 cup Ucchellu ( a kind of black til seeds which has a glossy finish to it, I do not if it is available everywhere, I know you get it in Bangalore)
• 5 to 6 tbsp with Rasam powder
• 1'' cinnamon stick
• 2 to 3 cloves
• 4 to 5 Garlic pods
• 1 cup oil
• 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 2 to 3 tbsp of Thick Tamarind extract
• gooseberry sized jaggery

Seasoning: 1 tsp mustard seeds

METHOD:

1. Wash the small Brinjals wipe them and keep aside.
2. Take a Besan or a big vessel, Put all the ingredients in it.
3. Add the grated coconuts, nicely chopped onions, garlic, chutney dal powder, rasam powder, oil, tamarind juice & Jaggery.
4. Dry roast the Ucchellu add salt to the required quantity and add cinnamon & cloves to it and grind it into a powder.
5. Add this grounded powder into the other ingredients as well, Mix them all together and keep aside.
6. Take the brinjals cut it into four at the bottom end not completely leaving it near the crust or at the thottu, as shown above.
7. fill the above mixture into them.
8. Take a wok, heat a tbsp of oil and season it with mustard and curry leaves, Then add these filled brinjals into them, If some of it is left over just pour it on the top, pour a glass of water into the vessel clean it and pour the water also into it, add one more glass of water and close the lid.
9. Cook this in a low flame, If you want it like a dry curry just add 1 glass of water or if you want it as a gravy add an other glass of water.
10. When all the brinjals are tender and soft, mix and serve it with hot chappatis or even rice.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Here is the finished dish, I know not a good looking one either!!.

Murmura chitra anna

This is the quickest tiffin you can ever make, but only thing is eat it immediately!! I have done Tiffin Variety with Murmura or Mysore puri or the puri you use to make Bhel puri!!!., and I have called it as Murmura Chitra anna.

MURMURA CHITRA ANNA
























Ingredients:

• 1 litre or 1/2 litre Mysore puri
• 1/2 finely chopped coriander leaves
• 2 to 3 sprigs of curry leaves
• 1/2 cup grated coconut (optional)
• 2 medium sized onions
• 2 tbsp of oil

Seasonings:

• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp channa dal
• 1tbsp urad dal
• 3 to 4 green or Red chillies (ur preference)

METHOD:

1. Take a wok, heat oil, add the seasonings one by one, add onions & fry them until they are transparent, then add curry leaves & coriander leaves fry for a minute add required quantity of salt.
2. Remember the Murmura or puris have salt in them already so do not over do them!
3. Take water in a bowl, Take a handful of puris and dip into the water and take them out immediately and put in the wok, continue doing with all the murmuras.
4. Mix them all together and serve immediately.

Variation:

1. You can even put the murmuras without soaking them!
2. You can also add grated carrots, cooked peas too..... with them.
3. You can squeeze a tbsp of lemon Juice into the wok after the seasonings and later on mix the murmura with it.

Tindora/Thondekaayi bhath

hai,
You must be wondering, why I have published Thondekaayi Bhath again!!, well, I love this vegetable its crunchiness, I love making bhath out of it, Uma got this vegetable for me, she asked me to do something....Here I go again i made this bhath but only with a little difference, I got bored of using my vangi bhath powder again, I wanted a change of taste, so.... I peeped into somebodies kitchen. Lo! that was it, I got this powder from one of our Lovely bloggers who is great with her amazing photographs & has a lovely Blog too...., This Vangi Bhath powder I felt was a little different, and cooked with a fusion of piluv & Bhath powder, I took this Recipe from Raaji of Raks Kitchen, I tried & tasted it was very good, My whole family liked it even uma, Thanks Raji for the recipe.

RAJI'S VANGI BHATH















As you all can see I have not used Vangi (Brinjal) but I have used Thondekaayi which is also called Tindora/Dondanga, I have used Recipe just like what raji has done except for the change of vegetable & the quantity of the ingredients as I made it for 2 to 2 & 1/2 cups of Rice. But, here i will write just her recipe. But, I had to alter a little as I did not use Brinjal & tindora is a little bit takes time to cook. Here goes the recipe......
Ingredients:

• 1/4 Kg Thondekaayi
• 1 cup of Rice
• Tamarind Gooseberry size
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
• 2 Green Chillies
• 1 to 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 1 tbsp curry leaves
• salt to taste
• 1'' Ginger
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 cloves
• 2 Elaichi
• 1 or 2 Bay leaves
• 1'' cinnamon

To Grind

• 1 tbsp Channa dal
• 1 tbsp Urad dal
• 1 tbsp Coriander seeds
• 5-7 Pepper Corns
• 3 Nos. Red Chillies
• 2 tbsp Coconut

Seasoning:

• 1 tbsp of oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp Channa dal
• 1 tbsp Urad dal

METHOD:

1. Wash the rice but did not soak it as Raji said as I did not have time!, Take a wok heat Ghee add elaichi, cinnamon, bay leaves fry add rice and cook it with salt.
2. Mean while Roast all the ingredients under to grind, in a pan you can roast coconut lightly and when cool coarsely powder it and keep aside
3. Cool the cooked rice, and keep aside.
4. Cut the Tindora into 1/2'' pieces and cook them in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles with very little water.
5. Drain the water but do not throw away the water and soak Tamarind in the same water and heat it for a minute and squeeze the tamarind juice out of it. do not add more water.
6. Take a wok, heat oil add the seasonings fry them, add the finely cut ginger, length wise cut green chilles and add the tamrind juice and allow it to boil for a minute or two.
7. Then add the cooked vegetable with required quantity of salt.
8. Then add the Ground coarse powder and allow it to stay in the wok for few more minutes all the water gets dried up.
9. Add the already cooked rice mix well and close a lid and leave it for a 4 to 5 minutes it gives time for the rice to absorb the masala into it.
10. Your Thondekaayi Bhath is ready to serve. you can serve it with any raitha of ur choice!!.

In case of Brinjal Raaji says add the brinjal which is cut in length wise 1 to 1/2 inch size to a tbsp of oil in a wok and cook it saperately until soft and keep it aside, Then add this cooked Brinjal at step 7 and continue with the above said process and your Vangi Bhath is ready.

sweet-corn & bean sprouts pulav

This is a very nutritious pulav, as it has sweet corn & bean sprouts in it. I got used to Sweet corn in Bangalore when the vendors who came on the roads selling American sweet corn roasted on the tawa which had charcoal burning just like the ordinary corn we used to get in Bangalore, I always used to like it the whole cob nicely roasted with the green chutney & lemon drizzled over it, hot & spicy on a rainy day with tears in the eyes, was really exotic!!, when I got married I came to know my Mom-in-law used to like it too....that was fantastic even my children started liking it, so whenever she went out on errands she used to buy us all this & bring home, accidentally one day I came out to buy this I saw 2 men selling in a big cart with loud music these American sweet corns that is what they told me, I thought let me try this, they were quite expensive. Both my mom-in-law & me enjoyed it. Once when I went to market to buy vegetables I came across these cobs which were sold 3 for 25 rupees, I thought this works out well, so I used bring them now & then and make roasted or cooked sweet corns with mint chutney or butter and we all used to enjoy it. when I came to UK I saw sweet corn everywhere in all the super markets I thought this is too good!! I have a stock of this always in the house my daughter loves putting them in the oven & eating it as it is!!!.
Few months back my friend Bhanurekha came to UK to visit her brother krishnan & wife Sucheta with their lovely son Saakketh who live here in Bristol, She dropped by my place one day to see me, As we were chatting she told me that she made sweet corn pilauv, hey ! I thought that's a good idea, I had never thought about it......well, that is how I started making sweet corn pilauv, she doesn't use onions or garlic in her cooking, well, I not too staunch a Tamilian I am very liberal with my onions & garlic, they are always a part of my cooking!!

SWEET CORN-BEAN SPROUTS PALUV















Ingredients:

• 1 tumbler Basmathi Rice
• 1/2 cup sweet corn
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts
• 3 to 4 tbsp oil

To grind:

• 1 cup mint leaves
• 5 to 6 sprigs of coriander leaves
• 3 to 4 green chillies
• 1'' ginger
• 3 to 4 pods Garlic
• 1 onion

Seasoning:

• 2 Bay leaves
• 3 Cloves
• 1'' Cinnamon stick
• 1 Marati Moggu

METHOD:

1. Wash & soak rice for 10 to 15 minutes, Drain out all the water and fry rice in a pan with 1/2 tsp of Ghee, or you can just wash & add the rice directly just wash & add without any soaking or frying, both ways it works well.
2. Grind all the ingredients to a paste in the header 'To grind' or you can take a pan with a tsp of oil and fry all the ingredients, & then grind into a paste.
3. Most of the times I do this because then I do not need to add more oil in the wok or pressure pan to fry the ground paste until a nice aroma comes out of it .
4. Take a wok or a pressure cooker which ever you choose to cook, add all the spices in seasoning and fry for a minute or two.
5. Then fry the ground paste,
6. Then add the corn & bean sprouts fry for a minute or two in a low flame then add the rice mix them all well together.
7. Add the required quantity of salt
8. Add water in the ratio 1:2
9. close the lid of the pressure cooker & keep weight on it, if it is a wok then also close the wok with a lid & cook in a low flame for about 12 to 15 minutes.
10. No need for the whistle to come, just note down the timings and put off the stove, simple & easy. when it is little cool, separate out the grains mix them all well together, & serve it garnished with coriander leaves & raitha of your choice.

Puliyogarai OR Puliyodharai (Tamarind Rice)-SWC Meals on Wheelshttp://tasteofmysore.blogspot.com

When ever I met new people & made friends with them, and when they come to know I am an Iyengar that's it, they always ask me if I know how to prepare Puliyogarai, & they always comment that nobody can beat the way Iyengar's make puliyogarai, and of course in all our celebrations, the functions would be incomplete without this dish......., As I told earlier my father comes from Hassan District from a place called Bylahalli, even today during the chariot festival (Rathothsava) of Lakshmi Janardhana, In the night after Garudotsava, they give a palm (Bhogasae thumba) full of puliyogarai to everybody, Oh! it is such a pleasure to sit & eat it in the mid of the night!!.
This Recipe here I am writing down, I got it from my periyappa (Dad's elder Brother), who was known as Bhagavan mama to lot of people who knew him, he was a cooking contractor, he is no more, He was a such a great cook and his dishes always tasted absolutely fantastic......, Here is the Recipe......do make it & enjoy the taste of it.... as we all love it too......


PULIYOGARAI or PULIYODHARAI (TAMARIND RICE)















Ingredients for Making Puliyogarai Gojju or Pulikaachal or Tamarind Sauce Preparation:

• 1 fistful of Tamarind (tight fist)
• 1 fistful of salt
• 1 fistful of Rasam Powder
• 1 copra or Dry coconut grated
• 1/2 cup Black Til seeds/ kari yellu
• 1/2 Acchu Jaggery
• 50 gms Dhania powder
• 1 tbsp of turmeric powder
• 1/4' of asafoetida piece
• 25 to 30 gms pepper powder (optional)

Seasoning:

• 5-5 Red chillies (Guntur-Badgi)
• 5 to 6 sprigs of curry leaves
• 3 to 4 tbsp of mustard seeds

METHOD:

1. First of all soak Tamarind in 1 to 1 & 1/2 tumbler of water, do not use too much water as you need to boil it and make it like a sauce. Extract the thick juice of tamarind, filter & keep it ready.
2. Take a deep wok or pan, it is very important to take a deep kadai because once the gojju or sauce starts boiling it splutters everywhere, so be Careful when stirring the sauce.
3. Take a deep kadai, heat 3 to 4 tbsp, add mustard seeds when they splutter then add red chillies, turmeric powder & curry leaves.
4. Now add the filtered Tamarind juice extract and allow it boil for few minutes over a low flame, do not add too much oil this also makes the juice to splutter everywhere when it is boiling. Do not forget all the process should go on in a slow fire or flame.
5. Now add salt & Rasam Powder, asafoetida and grated jaggery and keep on stirring over a low flame.
6. Dry Roast the till seeds (Till seeds should be cleaned before using them in any dish you are making) & grind it with grated dry copra add this & coriander powder to the sauce.
7. If you want it little more spicy you can add 25 to 30 gms of pepper powder too!!
8. Keep on continuously stirring .
9. The sauce starts to thicken with out becoming sticky, when you are stirring the sauce should not stick to the container, just like when you make your Halwas, when the mixture leaves the side remove from fire.

To Make Tamarind Rice or Puliyodharai:

• 4 to 5 tbsp of Oil (Gingely or Ground nut Oil)
• 1 tbsp of mustard seeds
• 4 tbsp of channa dal
• 3 tbsp of urad dal
• 100 to 150 gms peanuts
• 4 to 5 sprigs of curry leaves
• 4 to 5 tbsp of Black Til seeds
• a pinch of turmeric powder
• 4 -5 Red chillies (Guntur-Badgi)

METHOD:

1. Cook desired quantity of Rice, the above pulikaachal I have written is made for 1 kg of Rice and even the Tamarind Rice seasonings also is for 1 kg of rice.
2. Spread the rice on a parantha to cool.
3. Take a deep kadai, Heat oil add mustard seeds then add the peanuts once they start cracking up add all the ingredients one by one, cook in a low flame, when the dhals change colour put of the stove.
4. pour the Tamarind sauce or pulikaachal over the rice, pouring is not the exact word as it will not be pouring consistency you can scoop the sauce on the rice and then pour the seasonings over it.
5. If you want you can add cashew nuts & Kadale Kaalu (Brown channa, the one which is used during Ganesha festival to make sundal!!) which should be soaked and fried can also be added to it.
6. Mix well all the ingredients and serve with carrot kosumbari (salad) or with Raitha or papads.

NOTE:

1. The above quantity of pulikaachal or Tamarind sauce is for making 1 kg of rice.
2. The Rasam powder if made fresh just for the sauce gives a nice good aroma for it.
3. The Rasam powder which I have used here is the one I make while I cook my rasams, the Rasam powder recipe is in my Masala powder posting.
4. The ingredients which I have used to make Rasam powder goes very well with this pulikaachal.
5. Do not make the pulikaachal or Tamarind sauce too thick as when it cools down it becomes too thicker.
6. This pulikaachal stays almost a year.
7. You can use more oil when you are making this rice.

I am sending this recipe to SWC-Meals on wheels as this stays longer than 2 days and will taste great the next day!!, The event started by Lakshmi from Taste of mysore.

Arichha Kootu (Ground kootu)

This is a dish which i learnt from my hubby's Atte & her daughter taught me very long back, she used to come to & stay with us every year for a few days, They were really very good pair, they used to sing together, go everywhere together!!!, They taught me few recipes which I had never tried, now when i was going through my book, which I kept writing when ever I used to ask all mamis, aunties, sis-in-laws, amma, perimmas, chitties etc., When i got married , i started to jot down these things..........., Today I decided I will try these dishes one by one!! Here is one of the dish.......
ARICHHA KOOTU

Ingredients:

• Tuvar dal/Moong dal 3/4th cup
• I did a slight variation by using black eyed beans that is what they call it i think, it is in the photo!!, with Moong dal/paitham paruppu/Hesaru Bele just a 1/2 cup.
  Vegetables: Here I have used Snake gourd, you can use any vegetable which is used for making kootus like cluster beans-Gori kaayi/chapparadavare kaayi-broad beans/chow-chow/knol khol etc., with this you can use any lentils or legumes even channa dal instead of Moong dal.

TO GRIND

• 2 tbsp of Urad dal/Black gram dal
• 1 tbsp Fenugreek seeds
• lime sized or 1/2 cup coconut fresh gratings
• 4 to 5 flakes of Tamarind
• 4-2 Red chillies (Guntur-Badgi)
• a pinch of asafoetida
• 1 sprig of curry leaves

METHOD:

1. Cut the vegetable which ever you want to use and the above said dal & a combination of lentils or legumes with it.
2. Here as I said I have used black eyed beans-Moong dal & 1/4 kg of Snake Gourd, cook them all together with a pinch of Turmeric powder.
3. Take a pan and fry all the above said ingredients except for coconut, Add tamarind in the end when you are frying when everything is cool Grind them all together with coconut.
4. Mix the ground paste with the cooked vegetables & dal and add salt, asafoetida & sprig of curry leaves and boil for few more minutes
5. Season it with a tsp of mustard seed in coconut oil.
6. Or otherwise add a cup of curds or yogurt and serve hot with rice.

Seeraga-molagu (Jeera-Cumin seeds)Rasam

This is a Rasam which is very good for health, Mum made this when we were sick, with cold & cough, or definitely once a week to cleanse our stomachs!!, after I got married even mom-in-law made this once a week or somebody not feeling well, The only difference with mom's & mom-in-law's seeraga-molagu rasam was Mom-in law used Thuvar dal & Tomato in it!, Here I have made it the way my Mom made...... I will also tell u how my Mom-in-law made.

SEERAGA-MOLAGU (JEERA-CUMIN) RASAM
















Ingredients:

• Tamarind - 3/4 th Lime size
• A pinch of Asafoetida
• salt to taste
• A sprig of curry leaves

To Grind:

• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp Thuvar dal
• 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 - 1 Red chillies (Guntur-Badgi)

Seasonings:

• 1tsp Ghee or oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds

METHOD:

1. Fry the above in To Grind ingredients except cumin seeds in a 1/2 tsp of oil and grind them with cumin seeds into a smooth paste or fine powder.
2. If you do not want to use oil u can roast them too.
3. Soak the tamarind & with that u make about 1/2 litre of juice, and put it on the stove & allow it boil so that the raw smell disappears.
4. Now add the powder or if u have made it into a paste mix it with little more water & then pour it into the Tamarind juice,
5. Boil for a few more minutes, when the rasam froths up, add curry leaves & asafoetida
6. Remove from fire, season with mustard.

METHOD II

This is my mom-in-law's method of cooking this Rasam

1. Pressure cook a cup of Tuvar dal washed with one or Two Tomatoes, When u increase the Tomatoes reduce the quantity of Tamarind, with a pinch of Turmeric.
2. Follow the same method as in Method I only thing is you have to add cooked Tuvar dal & Tomatoes.
3. Season it with mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing & coriander leaves.
4. Serve it with Rice with a spoonful of Ghee.

Carrot Dosa with Mint Chutney- FIC Orange

hi, I am posting this recipe to aparna from mydiversekitchen who is hosting the Food in colour events started by Harini of sunshinemoms, I hope this looks orange, as I am not a good photographer I tried my best, when cooked it was looking orange in colour!!

This Dosa as the Title says I have made with Carrot lot of people might have posted them long before, but few of my friends & family who still dare to try for them I just thought let me post this!!, Here is the recipe for the dosa & the chutney of course is my mom's recipe, which my as usual my children say nan's cooking is the best cooking.......mum needs to learn still.......!!!
CARROT DOSA















Ingredients:

• 2 cups Rice
• 1/2 Easy cook rice/Kusublakki
• 1 & 1/2 cups grated carrot
• 1 tsp cumin/jeera seeds
• Tamarind gooseberry sized
• 4-5 Red chillies
• salt to taste
• 1 onion medium sized (optional)
• oil to fry dosas

METHOD

1. Soak both the rice together for 2 to 3 hours
2. Then grind them with all the other ingredients said above into a dosa consistency
3. Add salt at the end, & add water and make it more thinner
4. Just like the consistency of a Rava Dosa
5. Use carrot dosa immediately after grinding it
6. you must make dosas just the way you cook Rava Dosas, hold the ladle a little higher and spread it from the outer circle of the Tawa/kaavli, you cannot spread it like an ordinary dosa
7. They are usually very thin & crispy
8. If you want you can even add nicely chopped coriander leaves, curry leaves & thinly sliced chillies & serve it with plain curd/yogurt & chutni pudi.
9. They are now ready to serve.
10. you can store it in the fridge & can be used next day

MINT CHUTNEY

Ingredients:

• A fist ful of channa dal
• 1 cup full of Mint leaves
• 2-3 sprigs of coriander leaves
• 1 tsp of oil
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• salt to taste
• 3-4 green chillies
• 2-3 flakes of Tamarind
• a pinch of asafoetida/hing
• 1/2 cup grated fresh coconut

Seasonings: 1 tbsp oil & 1 tsp of mustard seeds

METHOD

1. Take a pan or wok , heat oil add channa dal & roast till in a low flame
2. Meanwhile pluck mint leaves 2 fist ful or 1 cup & coriander leaves wash, drain & add it to the same wok where you are frying the dal
3. Fry Tamarind flakes too along with it
4. keep them aside so that they cool down
5. Grind them all together with salt, sugar, coconut & hing with adding water.
6. Grind them into a Chutney consistency, Then temper or season them with the above seasonings & is now ready to serve.

http://mydiversekitchen@blogspot.com

Peanut powder

From my childhood I always loved to eat Rice mixed with chutni pudi, Molaga pudi, Gojjus & Rice varieties like chitranna, pulav, mixed vegetable rice etc., My daddy always used to tease me about this, The best thing i remember as a child when ever my mom made Fresh Rasam Powder Daddy used to mix it with Rice & oil and give us all a nice big ball of it & we all loved it so much!! My mouth is watering when I am thinking about those days, we always had a dinner together however late my dad came from his office!!.
After I got married in my in-laws house as they are from Tamilnadu, they used to eat lot of these Rice mix & eat dishes, my mom-in-law used to prepare paruppu podi most of the times, then I started learning lot of other pudis which were not only yummy but good for health!!
well, I am going to start with peanut powder from shivu's mom, actually I have not done so well as she does, first is always the best I think, even though everybody is liking it & it is getting over and I think I need to do it once more in 2 days that too, the way my eldest is consuming !!!!,
Here is the Recipe...
PEANUT POWDER

















Ingredients:

• 1 tumbler split roasted skin peeled Groundnuts
• 10-12 pods of garlic
• 1/4 bunch or 6-7 sprigs of fresh coriander leaves
• 5-5 Red chillies (guntur- badgi)
• 1 tbsp or salt as desired
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/4 tumbler dry copra or dessicated coconut
• 3-4 flakes or small gooseberry sized tamarind
• 1 sprig curry leaves (optional)

METHOD:

1. First of all take a pan or wok dry roast Ground nuts until nice aroma starts coming out of them or when the skin starts peeling off.
2. Take out them from the wok & keep it aside to cool
3. Next in the same pan or wok take a tsp of oil, heat then add the garlic pods & fry them until they start changing colour to it add the coriander leaves & fry them till they look like whithering away.
4. With that fry the Red chillies too & fry Tamarind too in it.
5. Once all of them are nicely fried take them out & allow it cool
6. Meanwhile take the roasted peanuts and remove the husk from them & remove the small node like portion from the top of the nuts when you split open them.
7. Take one tumbler of peanuts in measure & mix with all the other ingredients & dry powder in the mixie coarsely.
8. put them in a jar & it may last up to 10-15 days.
9. It is now ready to be served with plain rice & a dollop of ghee in it!

Not only people of Tamilnadu but people from Andra also have Rice mix & eat podis in their first course of their meal.

Moolangi Kosumbari (Radish Salad)

This is my favourite Kosumbari, and is a very healthy dish, Of course lot of you must be knowing this already, but i am posting this for a few of my cousins & friends who live abroad & are new to cooking.
MOOLANGI KOSUMBARI (Radish Salad)

















Ingredients:

• 2 Medium sized radish
• 1 cup of Grated Coconut
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp of oil
• 3 to 4 green chillies
• 6 to 7 fresh coriander leaves
• a pinch of Asafoetida

METHOD:

1. Wash the Radish, Peel the skin, using the grater with medium holes or even smaller one is also fine, grate radish
2. Take a pan, heat oil & season it with mustard seeds, when it splutters add chopped green chillies saute then, add it to the grated Radish.
3. Add salt to taste , grated coconut & finely chopped coriander leaves.
4. Mix well Just make a note that add salt in the end that is before serving otherwise the raw salad will give out water.
5. Serve it with Rasam or sambhar.

VARIATIONS:

This Salad can be prepared in the same way with Carrot & Cucumber.

Kosumbari's can be made with different varities, which is usually served in south Indian houses for marriages & festivals. Other Vairation is you can add soaked Channa dal, Moong dal for 2 to 3 hours, add it with Cucumber & carrot proceed with seasonings as indicated in the above method.

Basoppu masaaru ( A different variety of green leaves sambhar)

hi,
This is a nutritious dish which i learnt from my friend Shivu's mother, Sudha aunty, I like her cooking because, it will be very spicy, I love the way she makes chitra anna, as my hubby was saying to her the other day that it just tastes like the way they give in temple prasadams!!.
This recipe is originally, as she says its best if u make it from a combo of Dill leaves & french beans or white cabbage or combo of all the three!!! (but, you have to use Dill leaves with them!!)
I gave a slight twist to this combination......., we made once with some green leaves which i got in the supermarket & beans & cabbage!!!, An other time we made with water cress combo!!!
But, then I didn't have a blog at that time !! Now, recently I made this again with a slight variation & here I am posting this dish....., This dish in karnataka usually is called Basoppu masaaru means Baseda(drained) soppu(green leaves) maseda(mashed) saaru(Rasam), As we do our Rasam & sambhar some group of people do this often & they say it goes very well with Raagi Mudde (raagi Balls).
Here is the Recipe for this.......
BASOPPU MASAARU (A COMBO OF VEGETABLE & GREEN LEAVES SAMBHAR & DRY CURRY)

















Ingredients:

• 1 Bunch of Dill leaves
• 1 Bunch of Parsley leaves
• 1/4 Kg Green Beans
• 1/4 Kg white cabbage
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 2 cups of Tuvar Dal
• 2 tbsp of Thick Tamarind extract
• 1 or 2 medium sized onions or 1/2 cup of coconut grated

To Grind

• 3 to 4 tbsp of cumin seeds
• 2 medium onions
• 12 to 15 pods of Garlic
• 8 to 10 sprigs of coriander leaves
• 2 to 3 tbsp of Sambhar powder

Seasonings

• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 1 tbsp channa dal
• 1 tbsp urad dal

METHOD

1. First of all wash & cut the green leaves, cut the vegetables into thin pieces
2. Wash the dal & put into a big vessel with the green leaves & vegetables and cook it in a medium flame with around 1/2 a litre of water, or if u are using a pressure cooker, cook the dal in a saperate container with lot of water. The important thing is you need to get more dal water in it, That means dal should be cooked well but should not be too mashed up.
3. Then cook the vegetables saperately, but do not put too much water in cabbage or cook dal & beans together but cabbage saperately.
4. When you cook all this leave it for some time till they get cooled
5. Meanwhile, take a pan or wok add a tbp of oil, heat , add cumin seeds and fry for a minute then add onions & garlic peeled & chopped and fry them until they are soft & start to change colour add washed coriander leaves to it & roast it too...
6. Put them all into a mixie & allow it cool for sometime, then to it add the sambhar powder(spiciness according to induvidual taste) & a ladle full of cooked dal, green leaves & vegetables to it, Grind them all together to a nice paste. This helps in the sambhar to get thickened.
7. When all of them get cooled sueeze tightly the dal , green leaves & vegetables take out the water completely.
8. Take a Vessel, Add this drained out water into the ground paste & pour the Tamarind extract juice to it & allow it to boil for some time until a nice aroma comes out of it & raw smell disappears. Add salt to taste & season it with a tsp of oil & mustard.
9. Take a wok, Heat oil add the seasonings, fry the onions then add the nicely drained out dal-green-vegetable mixture to it and fry for sometime, add salt to taste and the dry curry is now ready, If you are not using onions then you can add grated coconut in the end & now the dry curry is ready to serve.
10. Serve it with Hot Rice or with Raagi Mudde (balls).

Crispy Masala Dosa wtih different kind of Chutneys

hi,
This is my son's favourite Tiffin , If you ask him any time of the day, or take him to a hotel everyday, he will always ask for Dosa, When I prepared this he clicked the photos, He has instructed me to post this recipe because, He keeps saying that, Mum prepares the best Dosas in the world!! and the most crispiest Dosa for my eldest, and tastes just like Masala Dosa from cafesri in Bangalore. I really do not know truthfully if it is just like that, but I like this combo and usually prepare Dosa like this,

CRISPY MASALA DOSA

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of Ordinary Rice
• 1cup of Kusbalakki (White Easy cook rice)
• 1 heaped cup of Urad dal/Black Gram dal
• 2 tbsp of Green Gram
• 2 tbsp of Fenugreek Seeds
• 2 tbsp of Chenna dal

METHOD:

1. Wash thoroughly & Soak all the above said ingredients in one vessel & Urad dhal in a different vessel for 5 to 6 hours.
2. Grind them separately into a nice paste in Grinder or mixer.
3. Leave them until they ferment, may be in warm places they may ferment very soon within overnight but cold places like here you need keep them in a warm place and allow it to ferment for 12 to 15 hours I think
4. Once they ferment add salt, mix well and it is now ready to make Dosas in the usual way,
5. Serve it with Dry Potato Curry & coconut chutney & Onion Sambhar.

For MASALA DOSAS You need to make Red Chutney which is poured over on the last round of the dosa, with nice bit of oil , keep the potato curry in the middle and fold it in two's or triangles or cones or any way you like in the restaurants and is served with chutney & sambhar. Oh! just thinking of Masala Dosa it reminds me of Vidyarthi Bhavan in Gandhi Bazaar he generously put a dollop of Benne or cheese on top of it before serving. It is heavenly & the whole area is filled with the Dosa smell..... and makes you hungry!!!!!

POTATO DRY CURRY FOR THE FILLING

Ingredients :

• 1/4 Kg Potatoes
• 1/4 Kg or little less Onions
• 4 to 5 Green chillies
• 1 tbsp of channa dal
• 1 tbsp of Urad/Black gram Dal
• 1 tsp Mustard seeds
• 1 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 4 to 5 sprigs of coriander leaves
• 3 to 4 tbsp of oil

METHOD:

1. Wash and cook the potatoes in the pressure cooker from 2 to 3 whistles depending on the potato you are using, and allow it to cool
2. Meanwhile, Chop onions finely, cut green chillies. wash & chop curry leaves & coriander leaves, keep them aside.
3. Next peel the skin of the potatoes, and mash them slightly so they break into pieces.
4. Take a wok, heat oil, add mustard seeds, when they start spluttering, add chopped green chillies and fry until they turn colour,
5. Then add all the dhals and fry them until they change colour, add Turmeric,Then add onions and fry them until they are transparent.
6. Now add the curry leaves mix once & then add the mashed potato, and sprinkle desired quantity of salt, mix well , sprinkle little water & close the lid for few minutes, allowing the potatoes to absorb all the spices into them.
7. sprinkle chopped fresh coriander leaves mix well & now they are ready to serve.

RED CHUTNEY

Ingredients :

• 5-5 (Guntur-Badgi) Red chillies
• 1 tsp jeera
• 3 to 4 flakes of Tamarind
• little jaggery
• 1 big onion
• 2 to 3 pods Garlic (optional)
• salt to taste

METHOD:

1. Soak chillies & tamarind in water
2. fry onion to transparent
3. mix all the above said ingredients and grind it into a smooth paste.
4. Make it little watery so that you can pour it on the Dosa, on the circles created when spreading it.

Some of the Restaurants use Garlic powder as an alternative to Red chutney and here is the Recipe for garlic powder

GARLIC POWDER

• 1/2 cup of Garlic peeled
• 1/2 cup of dry coconut or copra
• 5 to 6 flakes of Tamarind or gooseberry size
• 1/2 tsp of Ghee
• 6 to 7 Red chillies
• little jaggery
• salt to taste

METHOD:

1. Peel and keep the Garlic pods.
2. Heat Ghee in the pan roast the garlic pods nicely
3. Then add dry coconut & Tamarind and just roast them to just warm up
4. Take out and keep them aside, In the same pan add a bit of oil & fry the chillies.
5. Then mix all the ingredients together and grind it into a coarse powder (chutney pudi consistency)
6. Use this just like the Red chutney and sprinkle on the dosa, Then keep the potato curry and fold.

NOTE: This Garlic powder is good for Baananthis (that is ladies who have just given birth to babies and hope you all must have gone through this process after the birth of a baby they give different type of foods, which helps the mothers to get their immunity & strength back to normal for all the trouble they have taken to bring a new life on to the earth!).

COCONUT CHUTNEY:

Ingredients:

• 1 or 1/2 coconut
• Tamarind Gooseberry sized
• 5-6 Green chillies
• 2 to 3 sprigs of coriander leaves
• a pinch of asafoetida
• salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp sugar

METHOD:

1. Slightly warm up the gooseberry sized directly on the stove holding with the help of Tongs (I got this thing from some cookery show I think it says the bad qualities of Tamarind gets diminished of doing so!)
2. Then Grind grated coconut, tamarind, salt, asafoetida, sugar & coriander leaves in a mixie to a nice paste.
3. Give a seasoning with a tsp of oil & 1 tsp of mustard seeds to the ground paste & now it is ready to serve

Hope I didn't bore you with so many chutneys to a single Dosa! well, as we know We all love Dosa & it is a Great South Indian Tiffin Variety which is so famous world wide!!.

Spinach-Dill combo Keerai Masial

hi,

This dish I am posting is my husband's specialty  He loves cooking ,trying new dishes & new vegetables, Because of him I think, I have tried different kind of vegetables after coming here, , he will eat whatever I cook!!!!, isn't that great!!, Here is the method he cooks this recipe with all the different kind of greens I bring home, My children love his Keerai Masial, Here is the recipe,

He started cooking with Dill (Sabasige soppu) leaves, then he used it with spinach, sometimes when I get Kale or some green leaves I get in the supermarket, or with Rocket-spinach-Watercress combo!!!, But on Monday he cooked it with Spinach-Dill combo.....

SPINACH-DILL COMBO KEERAI MASIAL :

Here are the ingredients for the macial :

Ingredients:

• 2 bunch of Dill leaves
• 300 gms or 2 bunch of Spinach leaves
• 2 fist ful of Moong dal
• 2 heaped tbsp of Jeera
• 4 tbsp of coconut gratings or desiccated coconut
• 12 cashewnuts
• 6 Almonds
• 2 to 3 Red chillies
• A bit of asafoetida
• Salt as required.

METHOD

1. Wash both the greens drain out the water and cut them into pieces
2. Wash the dal, Take a vessel pour water and a tsp of turmeric powder and asafoetida, add the washed dal and pour 2 to 2 and 1/2 glasses of water
3. Add the greens in them and pressure cook them for 2 whistles.
4. Meanwhile, Grind all the above said ingredients raw,
5. Once the cooker is cooled mash the cooked dal and greens with a masher then add this ground paste into it and mix well,
6. Add salt as required and cook on a medium flame for a few minutes until they cook well together.
7. Season them with a tsp of oil, mustard seeds and a sprig of curry leaves.
8. Serve it with hot Rice and with a Upperi/Balaka/dried soured green chillies fried in oil.

If you are in India, God! you can get soooo many kinds of keerai, I think its God's own loved land for different variety of vegetables.

Basically KEERAI MASIAL as I learnt it from my Mom-in-law is very simple and  easy to make dish, Ingredients are the same but you can use Thuvar dal also instead of Moong dal, you just have to use any keerai you want, cook them in the same way as above said and mash them , Then take a pan season it with a tsp of mustard seeds, 1 tbsp of Urad dal, 1 tbsp of Chenna dal, 2 to 3 broken Red chillies and a sprig of curry leaves, after tempering just mix with it and cook for a few more minutes, That's it job done and tasty to eat, sometimes she used to cut one tomato with it while cooking with the dal!!.

It was a quick recipe used to go very well with Venthya Kuzhambu or Menthi Kuzhambu

NOTE: If you want you can omit cashew and almonds in the recipe and cook with other ingredients then also it will taste very well.

Ridge Gourd Pachadi

Hi,
This is a pachadi my mother taught me very very long back, I keep doing it now & then, The other day when I was talking to my sister (who is in India ) , asked me what I had prepared for Lunch & I was telling her I did vendakaayi sambhar, Moolangi kosambari & Ridge Gourd pachadi, she said what is it ? how did I prepare that? I told her it was Mum's Recipe, She was upset because mom never taught her, well, I was the one who always loved cooking so, I always helped her in the kitchen & both of us trying new recipes & methods was great time, those bygone days .... was really fun, I told her how I did it and here I am posting this Recipe, My family do like it & I keep it doing it now & then.
As usual as Raji says no pachadi photo!!, I forgot to take one, next time I make I will take a photo & post it in the blog. Even though there is no interesting you all try & make this recipe which is really very nice.
Here is the Recipe :
RIDGE GOURD PACHADI
















Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized Ridge Gourd

To Grind

• 1/4 cup of fresh grated coconut
• 2 tbsp of Roasted gram (Hurigadale/chutney dal)
• 1 tbsp of Black Til
• 2 to 3 flakes of Tamarind
• little bit of jaggery
• 2 green chillies
• a pinch of asafoetida
• salt to taste

METHOD:

1. First of all scrape the Ridge Gourd skin and keep it aside do not throw them, If the Ridge Gourd are quite tender you can make chutney out of them, I have posted, how to make it, you can try and it really is very tasty.
2. Dice them into pieces & cook them in one or two tumblers of water until they become soft.
3. Meanwhile, Take a pan, dry roast the til seeds, until they start spluttering
4. Grind all the above said ingredients with the cooked Ridge Gourd & its water.
5. Season the pachadi with a tsp of oil & a tsp of mustard seeds.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves & serve with hot rice.
7. If you want, you can add plain thick curds/yogurt to it & serve.

VARIATIONS:

This pachadi can also be made with Mooli/Moolangi/Radish & cucumber, These Vegetables need not be cooked as Ridge Gourd, you can grate them & grind them with all the other ingredients said above & with cucumber chop them into thin slices as you cut them for Kosumbari (salad) and mix with it, season it & serve. Some people call this as Southekaayi Gojju.

When I was writing this I thought we can even try with chow-chow/seemebadanekaayi/Bangalore Katharika, but you have to cook them & not to grind the vegetable but just the ingredients, mix it with the cooked vegetable & cook them for few more minutes on the stove, season & serve!!!.

Vendakkai Mandi & Banana Varuval for RCI-Chettinadu Vegetarian Cuisine

hi,
This Recipe I am sending to RCI: Chettinadu Vegetarian Cuisine, event announced by Srimathi of Fewminutewonders.
I was asking Raji of RAKS Kitchen, was their any event announced so i could participate, She sent some of the blog names which I could participate, and that is how I came into participating and cooking these dishes!!!!, Thanks raji, we had a lovely dinner day before yesterday, but only today i had the time to post it, and I think on time to enter. When I saw I had to cook something chettinadu, I called up my sister to get me some recipe, her sis-in-law lived in coimbatore for quite some time, she keeps a book like me, writing out all the recipes if we find it interesting and asking mum,chittis,perimmas, mannis and even cooks etc., She looked into her recipe and gave me these two recipes but she doesn't know where she got it from!!!.
Here are the recipes:
VENDAIKAI MANDI:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Kg Ladies Finger (Okra/vendakai/Bendekaayi)
• 1 cup Small onions (peeled)
• 2 Green Chillies
• 2 Red chillies
• 1 tbsp Red chilli powder
• 5-6 pods o Garlic
• 2- Tomatoes
• Tamarind- small lemon sized
• 1/2 cup of Thick coconut extract
• 2 tbsp oil of frying
• salt as required

Seasoning:

• 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
• 1 tsp Black gram dhal/Urad dhal
• 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
• 1 sprig of curry leaves

METHOD:

1. Soak Tamarind in warm water, Then wash and drain out water from okra, and taking a cloth wipe them clean, Then peel and slice onions & Garlic into small pieces.
2. Cut Okra into 2 inch pieces and chop the tomatoes and keep aside.
3. Take a wok, pour a tbsp of oil add the seasonings, then add the broken Red Chillies and Slit Green Chillies, fry then add sliced onions till transparent and stir in the tomatoes until they becomes soft.
4. Then add Ladies Finger pieces and fry for few minutes
5. Add Tamarind extract water and cook okra until it becomes soft and some more water to increase the quantity of the Sambhar.
6. Add salt and a tbsp of Rice flour and cook till the gravy becomes thick,
7. Mix coconut extract just before removing from fire & garnish with coriander leaves.
8. Serve this with hot Rice & I think it might go well with chapati too.

BANANA VARUVAL (DRY CURRY)

Ingredients:

• 2 Raw Bananas
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 & 1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
• 1/4 tsp Aniseed (saunf)
• 4 pods of Garlic
• 3 to 4 tbsp of 1 sprig of curry leaves
• Salt as required

METHOD:

1. Peel the outer skin of Bananas and cut them into four lengthwise and again cut them into thin slices
2. Mix salt, chilli powder & turmeric powder and marinate these with the banana slices and leave it for an hour or so.
3. Heat oil in a wok or a pan, once the oil is hot add nicely crushed Aniseed & crushed garlic pods and then add the marinated Banana Slices
4. Fry in a medium flame until the banana gets cooked and turn into a golden brown in colour, adding more oil gives a good crunch in them!!

It was a great dinner and we all loved it with oven baked jeera papads and Vegetable pickles, Thanks to srimathi for hosting this cuisine, I had never used Aniseed like this and it was really very nice & a dare try, My family loved it very much.

http://fewminutewonders.com/

Pal Kooda

This is an other dish which i learnt from my sister, when i had been to her house during Christmas. I don't know, if it is a coincidence or that she would have already made it exactly on the day I go, This was the third time I had this in her house but never asked her what it was , I just assumed it was a kootu, but, she must have made it in a different method, I always forgot to ask her. After I came back home, I suddenly remembered after 3 days, that again I have forgotten to ask her, This time, I did ask her because I wanted to try it out and post it in my blog!!, well, I did not think I made as good as she did it, but, my hubby dear and children liked it, that is all what I wanted. Here is the recipe for Pal Kooda, which my sis learnt it from her Mom-in-law.
PAL KOODA















Ingredients:

• 1/4 Kg Snake Gourd
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 2 tbsp Grated fresh coconut
• 2 tbsp Rice

Seasonings

• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1tsp oil
• 2 to 3 Chillies ( Green or Dry Red)
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 2 tbsp of milk

METHOD

1. First of all soak rice & poppy seeds in warm water for an hour or so, Then cut the Snake Gourd into 2 halves take out the pith from it, if it is still tender do not throw them away, remove and keep it aside.
2. Cut each 2 halves into 2 halves again and dice them into 1/2'' piece, sprinkle a tsp of salt on them and leave them for an hour or so. My mother says you need to leave it like that because the bitterness gets removed from it.
3. After an hour drain out all the salty water from the vegetable, and cook the vegetable in a thick bottomed vessel with 3 to 4 glasses of water, or in a pressure cooker for just one whistle, until they become soft, not too soft!, otherwise, they get mashed.
4. Grind soaked rice, poppy seeds & coconut into a nice paste.
5. Then add the above said paste to the cooked snake gourd, mix it and allow it to boil for some time in a medium flame, stirring now & then, otherwise it separates out into water.
6. After to 10 to 15 minutes,
7. Heat oil in a small pan put mustard seeds when they splutter add Green chillies or Red Chillies,( I used Red chillies) & curry leaves and fry for a minute or two & pour it onto the sambhar.
8. In the end add milk and put off the stove.
9. Serve it with hot Rice & upperi or Balka or soured dried Green chillies fried in oil goes well with it.

Note: Here rice is used to bring the thickness to the sambhar & one more thing is I cook my food little spicy so, always use them as you require as the taste of chillies Green or Red vary, You would be best person to judge how many you need!!!!.