Cardamom And Cloves

More pieces

2011-12-30T12:44:00.000-08:00

Click on the photos for a bigger view

Necklace with black Czech glass druk beads and a fuschia-colored crazy lace agate pendant, finished off with a bar and toggle clasp-

Necklaces made of lamp-worked square glass beads, finished off with simple barrel clasps-

One size fits all multi-colored seed bead bracelet made in memory wire-

Necklace with a purple dichroic glass pendant-

Yellow turquoise necklace with matching chips and a suspended donut-shaped focal, finished with a pewter (black-metal) bar and toggle clasp-

Colorful,cheery and bright necklace made of millefiori glass beads-

Its all yellow turquoise!

2011-12-28T16:17:00.000-08:00

A favorite piece of mine! Three stranded necklace made of yellow turquoise chips and finished off with a S-shaped clasp.

Recent pieces

2011-12-11T15:32:00.000-08:00

Bread Pudding (microwaveable recipe)

2011-11-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

Call this bread pudding or bread halwa, it doesn't matter! It just tastes great. This recipe was adapted from a recipe I found online long time ago. Really easy to make, completely made in the microwave and can easily be made on stovetop too. Easy enough to whip it up real quick when you have surprise guests! Also, a good one to make when you have to use up old bread nearing its expiration. We and our guests really loved it!

Ingredients:

White Bread- 2 medium-sized slices

Milk

Cardamom- 2 pods, powdered

cloves- 1

Sugar- 1/2 cup or according to your sweetness quotient

ghee- 1/2 tsp

Raisins- 5 to 6

Cashewnuts (broken)- 5 to 6

saffron (optional)-2 strands

How to make:

Break bread into small pieces. They do not have to be uniformly broken. I just tore them with my hand. Remember- they are going to get squished anyways!
Place the bread from step 1 in a microwaveable bowl.
Add ghee, mix well with the bread.
Microwave for 2 minutes on high or until the bread turns out crisp (almost the texture of croutons).
Now add enough milk to submerge all the bread.
Add powdered cardamom, saffron (optional) and mix well.
Microwave for 3 minutes.
Now add sugar, cashews and raisins. Mix well.
Microwave for 3 minutes. Mix well. Repeat this step 3 times or until all the milk has been absorbed by the bread. The consistency should be pudding-like (as shown in the picture). I had to do this step 3 x 3 minutes to get to the consistency in the picture.

Thats it! Enjoy!

A few recent pieces

2011-09-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

More Jewelry

2011-02-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

Coconut rava ladoo

2010-11-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

This seems to have become my Deepavali staple!!! I saw this recipe somewhere about 4 years ago..can't remember where though. But extremely easy to make and a great one for semolina lovers! Here is how I made it :

Ingredients:

Semolina ("Rava") - 1 cup

Coconut - 1 cup + 1/2 cup extra coconut

Powdered Sugar - 1.25 cup

Warm Milk - 3/4th cup

Broken cashewnuts - a handful

Raisins- a handful

Cardamom- 4-5 pods, powdered

Cloves- 4-5, powdered

Ghee

How to make:

In a shallow frying pan, roast semolina lightly in 1 tbsp ghee. Take care to not over-roast. Turn off the stove when you start seeing the semolina turn golden brown.
Add 1 cup coconut and mix in well with the semolina.
Add 1.25 cup powdered sugar. Mix in well.
Transfer contents to a different dish/vessel.
In the same pan, lightly roast broken cashewnuts and raisins in 1 tsp ghee. Add them to the dry contents.
Add powdered cardamom and powdered cloves. Mix in well.
Add warmed milk and use hands to nicely moisten the dry contents. The dry contents should be moistened such that you are able to roll them into balls using your palms. If not, add more of warmed milk.
Now, roll them into lemon-sized balls.
Spread 1/2 cup of coconut in a plate. Roll the rolled balls on the coconut to cover the outside of the balls with coconut.

Notes :

You can reduce the quantity of sugar to 1 cup depending on your sweetness quotient. Scale up or scale down the recipe. Coconut : Semolina : Sugar is 1 : 1 : 1.25 or 1 : 1: 1.

Diwali roundup- Kaju katli

2010-11-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

I made quite a few sweets and savories this year for Diwali- Kaju Katli/Cashew burfi and coconut rava ladoo for sweets. "Mullu thenguzhal" and cornflakes mixture for savories. We thought they all turned out well :) But my favorite in the list is Kaju katli. So will start with this.

I never imagined making kaju katli at home. It is one of those special occasion sweets that I have had only in stores. Although I really LOVE kaju katli, their price always puts me off. So when I was deciding what to make for Diwali this year, I was excited when Subha showed me an easy recipe from here that she had previously tried successfully. I made some modifications and this is how I made it.

Preparation time : 30 minutes

Ingredients :

Whole cashews - 2 cups

Sugar - 1 and a quarter cups

Water - half a cup

How to make :

Grind cashewnuts to a fine powder in a dry grinder. Keep aside.
In a deep skilet, add sugar and 1/4th cup water.
Boil sugar and water to 1 string consistency. What is 1 string consistency : when you take the boiled sugar syrup in a ladle and let the sugar syrup drip from the ladle, it should fall as one continuous string and not drop-by-drop. Test 2 : Take a bowl of water. Drop a drop of sugar syrup in the bowl of water. Sugar syrup should be intact and not break.
One you have achieved one string consistency, turn stove to low.
Now add powdered cashewnuts and stir well. Try to break clumps as you do this.
At this point, the mixture will appear to be crumbling. Now add 1/4th cup of left-over water little by little until you form a thick paste. If you already achieved a thick paste in the previous step, you do not need to add more water to moisten it.
In a greased plate or greased round/square baking pan, pour the paste. Tap it on the counter to let the paste spread.
Take a rolling pin or a smooth round glass/cup and roll it on top to even the paste.
Close it and refrigerate 1 hour to over-night.
Cut to desired shape. I cut them diamond-shaped.

Notes :

Ratio of whole cashewnuts to sugar is normally 2 : 1. But I find the sugar in the US to be less sweeter than the one in India. Hence, I use 2 : 1.25.
Kaju katlis stay good at room temperature for a long time.

Recent jewelry pieces

2010-10-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

Brown chip and stone set:
A collage of necklace and earrings made of czech glass beads.

Olive green set- necklace, bracelet and earrings

Double layered necklace with bracelet and earrings

2010-10-10T22:16:00.000-07:00

Well ! This is no post on cooking!! I tried my hand at making some beaded jewelery recently and I was pretty happy with the way it turned out :) And I designed this piece too :) Might move this to a separate domain depending on how well this goes!

Corn and mango salad

2010-09-26T17:53:00.003-07:00

I adapted this awesome recipe from here. We made this for a get-together and everyone really loved it! It is a very simple and healthy salad. It has the right proportion of sweetness, that comes from the corn, and sourness that comes from the mangoes. It has a bit of everything- dear Italian from the basil leaves and dear Indian from the mustard seeds and cumin powder. Visually appealing too! I thought what really made this dish click was the pomegranate seeds. Try it at your next potluck and this low calorie, healthy dish will certainly be a hit! Thanks to Kanchana for this lovely recipe!

Ingredients:

Corn - 3 cups (We used frozen. Thaw in microwave and wash well in cold water)

Mangoes- diced in cubes, 1 cup. Drain the mango juice well. (I used the juice to make mango lassi!!)

Red onion- finely diced, 1 cup

Pomegranate- 1/2 cup

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp

A couple of longitudinally diced mint or basil leaves

Handful of cilantro- chopped

Olive oil -1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Pepper (Optional)

How to make:

In a pan, add olive oil. Add mustard seeds. Wait until they splutter. When they splutter, add cumin powder. Mix.
Add onions and sauté until they turn translucent. Turn off stove and set the sautéed items aside.
In a bowl, add remaining ingredients. Toss really well.
Add sautéed items to the bowl. Mix well.

Thats it! Your dish is ready. The funny thing is you can add whatever you would like and eliminate whatever you do not like. For example, you can add lots more of mango and pomegranate if you would like!! You can also add pineapples to give it a spin! So you see, its pretty easy and different!

Chana masala

2010-09-26T17:46:00.000-07:00

Chole masala/chana masla- a staple in the Indian vegetarian cuisine. Tastes great. Pretty versatile: goes well with rotis and naans, it can also be eaten for breakfast by sandwiching between bread toasts! Big source of protein for us vegetarians. And above all, not difficult to make! Preparation time is about 10 minutes if using tinned garbanzos; cooking time is about 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

Garbanzo beans - 3 tins (yields 3 -4 cups)

Half an onion- chopped (don't have to finely chop if grinding)

Tomato- 1, chopped (don't have to finely chop, if grinding)

Channa masala- 1 tsp

Optional: Ginger-garlic paste- Half a tsp

Oil- 1 tbsp

Salt- 1 tsp or according to taste

Cilantro or mint for garnishing

How to make:

For garbanzo beans, drain out all liquid from the tin and rinse garbanzo beans gently in running water. If using raw garbanzo beans, soak them in water over-night. Next day, pressure cook garbanzo beans. I prefer using beans from the tin since its convenient and inexpensive. So why not, right?!
In a deep skillet, add oil. Add onions and sauté them until translucent. This takes about 3-4 minutes. Optional: Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for another minute. Turn off stove. Save the skillet!
Grind sautéed items in a blender. Add little water, just enough to submerge the onions while grinding. Grind to a smooth paste.
Add the onion paste back in the skillet and cook for 3 minutes.
While the onions are cooking, grind the tomatoes in the blender. You do not have to add water while grinding tomatoes since the juice in the tomatoes will help with the grinding.
Add ground tomatoes to the onions, after the onions have cooked.
Cook for 3 minutes.
Next, add Chana masala powder and salt. Mix well.
Add garbanzo beans. Mix well. Add water if you would like more gravy.
Cook for 5 minutes so that the gravy and the beans blend in.
Garnish with cilantro or mint and serve.

Goes great with naans, rotis and rice.

Tip:

Garam masala can be substituted in place of chana masala powder.
You can use store-bought tomato puree in place of grinding fresh tomatoes. But, go low on salt if using tomato puree.

Modak/Coconut Kuzhakattai

2010-09-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

I had a picture from the kozhukattais made last year, but had not posted the recipe yet. Here it is, may be you could try for the Vinayaka Chaturthi this year ??!!

For the coconut filling :

Grated coconut- 1 cup

Jaggery- 1 cup

Powdered cardamom- a pinch

In a deep skillet, melt the jaggery in a little water. No need to make syrup.
When the jaggery boils, add coconut and cardamom and mix well. You should reach a consistency shown in the picture below.

For the dough-

1 cup rice flour

Oil- 1 tbsp

Water

In a skillet, add oil.
Add rice flour and one cup water. Mix well and break lumps. Water makes the batter really soft. So the more you add, the better! Tip: But be careful, add water little by little because you do not want to make the dough soggy either. Its a balance between keeping the dough soft yet not making it soggy. So what I do is, add water- let it mix in. Add more water again and let it mix in. Do this step by step until you get it like a chapathi dough.
The dough should be smooth and silky. I am sure most of you have seen the dough that your mom makes! Dough resembles chapathi or naan doughs. Will upload a picture when I make it this time.

To make the kozhukattais:

Roll the dough into golf-size balls. Oil your palms so that the batter does not stick to your hands.
Flatten it.
Add the coconut filling. Close the edges (see picture for shape).
Steam in microwave or pressure cooker with little water. You can steam these in an idli plate. Place them in an idli plate. Set a cup of water in a round bottom vessel on the stove. Place the idli plate on top and close with a lid. Steam for 8-10 min. I steamed the kozhukattais in the microwave using microwaveble idli plates. If using a microwave, steam for 4 minutes.

Enjoy!

Brownies

2010-06-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

After a long time, I decided to bake something. I love brownies although I have always made it just out of the box. I decided to make this one from scratch this time around. Tried it and this came out really well. These brownies are for sure every chocolate lover's delight! I adapted this recipe from chefinyou.com and submitted this entry to tried and tasted event organized by Priya and Lakshmi. This is how I made it:

Ingredients-

for the brownies-

Butter- 3/4th cup

Cocoa powder- 8tbsp (vary it according to your chocolate quotient!)

Egg whites from 4 eggs

Brown sugar- 1cup

Vanilla essence -1/2tsp

Walnuts - 1/4th cup, chopped

Flour or self-rising flour - 1/2 cup

for the frosting-

Semi-sweet chocolate chips- 1/2 cup

Butter- 2 tbsp

Sour cream - 2 tbsp

How to make-

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Slightly butter up a 8 x 8 square inch baking pan. This way the brownies won't stick to the pan when done. You can also use a cooking spray. Keep the pan aside.
In a large bowl, melt butter. I microwaved the butter for 30 sec to slightly thaw it. I then used a electric hand blender to smoothen it.
Now add cocoa powder and blend well with the butter. Keep aside.
In a small bowl, add egg whites. Beat them until they froth.
Add brown sugar and vanilla essence. Blend them with the egg whites until they reach a smooth consistency.
Now add the ingredients from the small bowl to the large bowl. That is, add the egg whites-brown sugar-vanilla mix to the butter-cocoa mix.
Blend until all ingredients mix in and reach a smooth consistency.
Add walnuts. Blend again.
Add flour. Blend until the flour blends in well with the wet ingredients. This will take just a little bit more effort.
Pour the batter in the buttered baking pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 35 minutes. Insert a tooth pick to test if the brownies are done. If the tooth pick comes out clean, your brownies are done! Turn off oven and cool the brownies in the oven for just 5 minutes. Remove and place at room temperature.

Frosting-

To save time, you can make the frosting when the brownies are baking.

Place chocolate chips and 2tbsp butter in a microwaveble bowl. Microwave for 1 minute and 30 sec. This will depend on the power on the microwave. To play safe, check after a minute.
Remove the bowl from the microwave and whip the melted ingredients with a spoon until they reach a smooth consistency.
Add sour cream and mix well. Sour cream helps the frosting get a shiny finish!.

When brownies are done and cooled to room temp, pour the frosting on top of the brownies and spread them uniformly with a spoon. Refrigerate for 30 min so that the frosting sets.

Decorate with nuts if you would like. Cut brownies into square pieces and serve!

Judgement: These brownies came out great. We enjoyed them! I used self rising flour and that helped the brownies rise a little bit. You can substitute flour with self rising flour if you would like. I thought the frosting would make the brownies a little too chocolatey, but I was wrong. They were just perfect!

Pav Bhaji

2010-05-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Pav Bhaji - love the dish. Pav bhaji has two components- pav which is the bun and bhaji- the vegetable !! I have hardly made this once or twice. Decided to make this today since it's been a while. Turned out great! Its a lovely dish thats easy to make. For sure, this dish can make your dinner quite special! What makes this dish easy to make is the pav bhaji masala that is readily available in most stores. You can substitute garam masala if you don't have pav bhaji masala but I strongly urge you to try pav bhaji masala. And it is much easier using store bought pav or hamburger buns than trying to make them on your own!! Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

Tomatoes- 2 and a half medium-sized, finely chopped

Potatoes- 2 large, boiled and mashed

1/2 cup of cauliflower, peas, capsicum (should be half a cup when put together) - boiled and mashed

Onion - 1 large, finely diced

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Pav bhaji masala - 1.5 tsp

Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp, moderate according to your spice quotient :)

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Pav or hamburger buns- 5 to 6

Butter/oil for toasting pav

How to make:

In a deep skillet, add oil and saute onions.
Once the onions turn translucent, add ginger garlic paste. Saute for a minute.
Add diced tomatoes. Cook well until the tomatoes are squished well. It also helps a bit to use a ladle to squish the tomatoes. Or else, squish the tomatoes with your hand before adding them.
Add water to just submerge the tomatoes.
Add salt, pav bhaji masala and chili powder. Mix well.
Now add all vegetables. Now add more water to just submerge the vegetables.
Cook for about 5 minutes or until all water is absorbed.

Once the bhaji is done, mildly toast the hamburger buns/pavs on their inner side in a flat skillet with little butter or oil.

Serve pav and bhaji with chopped onions and a lemon wedge- the classic restaurant style!! Place bhaji between the pavs and take the delicious bite !!

Strawberry Mango Milk Shake

2010-05-02T20:20:00.001-07:00

Milk shakes- and all I can think of is blue moon in BITS!! I reminisce those college days when a blue moon milk shake and a fried maggi would appease any hungry soul !! Mango lassi is pretty popular here in the US as an Indian beverage but have I ever heard of a mango lassi back in India ?? O..no..never ever. Mango shakes - o ya, but not mango lassis. However, I must say that I love the mango lassis that we get here. This one was made by S (of course, upon my suggestion :)). And we included strawberries since we had them sitting in our fridge. You can include any fruit that you would like - for sure those that are sitting in fridge and nearing their expiration!! We made this with mangoes and strawberries. This one is especially good for those warm, sultry summer days.

Ingredients::

Mango pulp from 2 mangoes

4 strawberries

Honey - 3 to 4 tsbp (increase or decrease according to your like or dislike for sweet stuff)

Milk - 2 cups

How to make:

Extract the pulp from the mangoes and chop the strawberries to pieces.
Put them in a blender along with the rest of the ingredients.
Add milk.
Blend them for about a minute or until you get to a smooth and uniform consistency.
Add more milk to dilute it, if needed.

Variations:

Substitute milk with yogurt to make fruit lassi.
You can use any combination of fruit- strawberry + bananas, just mangoes, just strawberries - just anything!!
Add ice if you would like to make it colder. Since the milk is cold, I don't like to add ice to it.

Rice and Lentil Crepes aka. Adai

2010-05-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

It is pretty tough to come up with an English translation for a few dishes!! Was wondering how to call our dear adai in English...Adai is made of rice and lots of lentils ("paruppu") and looks like a crepe so rice and lentil crepes is probably befitting!! Anyways, I have always loved adai. Unlike dosas, this one is sort of reserved for "special" occasions may be because the batter is made fresh everytime. It is pretty filling and two or three of these adais are good enough to satiate the most hungry of eaters. Adai is classically had with avial (recipe to come later) but jaggery is great as an accompaniment. I don't think I have ever had avial with adai, it has to be jaggery for me - always.

Adai requires some planning. So give yourself a 24hrs head start before you can eat this!! Here is how I made it - recipe comes from my mom:

Ingredients:

Rice : 1 cup. Preferably parboiled rice.

Chana dal (bengal gram dal) : 1/4th of a cup

Toor dal (split pigeon peas) : 1/4th of a cup

Asafoetida : a pinch

Coconut gratings : 2-3 tbsp

Dried red chillies - 4 to 5

A couple of curry leaves or substitute with 1 tsp curry leaves powder

Salt - 1 tsp or according to taste

How to make:

Soak rice in water for at least 3 hours. Also, soak the lentils separately for the same amount of time.
Drain the excess water out. In a wet grinder or a blender, grind the rice and the lentils. While grinding, add water little by little. The goal is to get the consistency of a dosa or cake batter. Grind in dried red chillies too.
Add asafoetida, salt and grated coconut. Mix well.
Now, pour batter on a heated non-stick skillet and spread the batter around the skillet like you would make a dosa (see the bottom of this page to know more). These "adais" taste pretty well with ghee or clarified butter. So, try not to mind the extra calories for a day and enjoy them :)

"Karadyan nombu" Adai/Jaggery pancakes

2010-04-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

This adai is traditionally made on "karadayan nombu" (check out this link to know more about this festivity). This adai is one of my all time favorites. I wanted to make something really special and different today. I came with a couple of options- nombu adai, muffins and maida halwa. Finally, decided to give vella adai/nombu adai a shot although karadayan nombu was almost a month ago!! Well, any day of the year is a good day for eating something you like, right ? :) My mom makes this one whenever I visit India be it any time of the year!! Here is how I made it. I followed the recipe from Meenakshi Ammal's for the most part.

Ingredients:

Rice flour : 1 cup

Black eyed peas ("karamani") : 1/4th of a cup

Jaggery : 1 cup

Cardamom : 4 to 5

Coconut : 1 tbsp

Unsalted butter for the side

How to make :

Lightly roast the black eyed peas in a skillet. Cook in a pressure cooker to 3 whistles. Drain water and keep aside.
Lightly roast the rice flour in a skillet. Stop roasting when the rice flour starts turning light brown in color in places. Keep aside.
Break the jaggery into small lumps.
In a medium-sized sauce pan, boil 2 cups of water.
When the water boils, add jaggery. Simmer down and let the jaggery dissolve in the water. Stir once a minute. This will take about 5 minutes.
After the jaggery completely dissolves, add cooked black eyes peas, powdered cardamom and coconut.
Add rice flour little by little. Keep stirring. Its best to get some help at this point since its difficult to add and mix simultaneously. Mix the rice flour well with jaggery. Break any lumps that may form.
Once all the rice flour is mixed in, transfer the contents to a bowl. Let it cool for 30 minutes at room temperature.
After 30 minutes, roll lemon-sized balls of the above cooked mix. Flatten them to the size shown in the picture (not more than the size of your palm). Make a hole in the center.
Steam in a microwave for 3-4 minutes. (You can steam these in an idli plate. Grease idli plates slightly with oil. Place the flattened adais. Set a cup of water in a round bottom vessel on the stove. Place the idli plate on top and close with a lid. Steam for 8-10 min. I steamed the adais in a microwave using microwaveble idli plates. If using a microwave, steam for 4 minutes).

This adai is traditionally enjoyed with unsalted butter. This recipe yields about two dozen adais.

Rasavangi

2010-03-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

Rasavangi aka brinjal stew. A lovely south Indian dish. An easy dish. Goes well with rice, a great accompaniment to dosas, idlis and even chapattis. Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

To roast and grind:

Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp

Coconut - 2 tbsp

Red chillies - 5 to 6

Chana dal - 2 tbsp

Others:

Brinjal (eggplants to those in the US) - 4 to 5 small. If using the longer variety that you get in the US, one long brinjal will do.

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Dried red chillies - 4 to 5

Tamarind concentrate - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 2 tsp or according to taste

Cooked toor dal - 1/4th cup

Oil - 1 tsp

Optional : Jaggery - a pinch or according to taste

How to make:

Lightly roast and grind the ingredients to a coarse powder in a dry grinder. Keep aside.
In a medium-sized deep skillet, add a little oil. Splutter mustard seeds and urad dal. Add red chillies. Saute for a minute.
Add the cut brinjals and roast well (Deep roasting will certainly help the brinjal haters, at least a tad bit!!)
Add two cups water. Add tamarind. Boil well.
Now add ground items and salt. Mix well. Cook for 2 minutes.
Add cooked toor dal. Mix well.
Optional : add a pinch of jaggery. Stir well.

We loved it, loved it, loved it!!!

The dish should be a little thick in consistency. Grinding chana dal should take care of this. I never thought I would like jaggery in any dish!! I tried it for a change and totally loved the sweet tinge to the dish. I don't think I will ever change the way I make this. Even for those of you who hate brinjal, I suggest you try this one. May be, you would like it too.

This was one of my entries to the Think Spice event started by Sunita of Sunita's world hosted by Seduce your tastebuds this time around. The theme this time is tamarind!!!

Banana Nut Bread

2010-02-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

Banana Nut Bread - came out truly yummy!!

This recipe makes one loaf.

Ingredients:

Banana : medium-sized, 2; Mashed.

All purpose flour ("Maida") : 1 and a 1/4 cup

Brown sugar : 3/4th cup

Butter - 1 stick (8 tbsp)

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/4th of a tsp

Salt - 1/4th of a tsp

Eggs -2 (extra large)

Walnuts - 1/4th cup

How to make:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees C.
Lightly butter a loaf pan, keep aside.
In a small bowl, mix the dry ingredients - all purpose flour, baking soda and salt.
Now take a large bowl. First, melt the butter. I normally use a plastic bowl for this and microwave the bowl for 30 sec to slightly melt the butter.
Add the brown sugar. Mix well with an electric or wire blender until the butter and sugar blend in.
Add the mashed bananas. Mix well.
Now, add the eggs and vanilla essence and mix well with the blender.
Add the flour-baking soda-sugar mix to the larger bowl. Blend in the ingredients well.
Add the walnuts and give it one final whisk!
Transfer the contents to the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick or a fork comes out clean.

You can use other nuts (eg. hazelnuts) if you don't like walnuts. Also, it is much easier to blend with an electric hand blender. You can purchase a good one for less than $10.

Onion Sambhar ("Vengaya Sambhar")

2010-01-31T21:00:00.000-08:00

Of all the sambhar varieties, the one that is near and dear to me is "vengaya sambhar" !! My mom certainly makes the best vengaya sambhar !!! So whenever I make this sambhar, I tend to compare mine with my mom's - just to see if mine compares anything close to what she makes (I guess we daughters tend to do that quite a bit, wonder about the sons though :) !!!!). We totally loved today's vengaya sambhar and although I can never surpass my mom's; this one, I should say, was pretty close.

Ingredients:

Pearl onions (small onions)- 20 to 25 (use the ones which are darker in color, not the light pink ones)

Coconut - 3 tbsp

Coriander seeds ("dhania seeds") - 2 heaped tbsp

Dried red chillies - 4 to 5

Tamarind paste - 1/4th tsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

A couple of curry leaves or curry leaves powder

for tempering : mustard seeds - 1/4th tsp, Urad dal - 1/4th tsp, dried red chillies - 2

Toor dal - 1/2 cup, cooked

Salt

Oil

How to make:

Peel the onions - a daunting task!
In a small shallow frying pan, add 1 tsp oil. Add the peeled onions and roast them until they change to a paler color. The idea is to get rid of the raw onion smell. Transfer to a small plate and keep them aside.
In the same frying pan (just to save the trouble of cleaning one more dish!), add a little oil. Add coconut, coriander seeds, dried red chillies (4 to 5) and one small onion. Roast until the onion turns slight brown. Make sure to not burn the coriander seeds. Keep mixing them while roasting. Grind these in a little water to a paste. (Grinding a small onion increases the flavor exponentially!)
In a stove-top safe bowl, add a little oil. Temper mustard seeds, Urad dal ,vdried red chillies and asafoetida. Wait until the mustard splutters and the urad dal turns brown.
Add 3 cups water and tamarind paste. Let boil.
Add the ground items and salt. Mix well.
Add the roasted onions.
Add cooked toor dal. Mix well.
Cook for 5 min on medium flame.
Garnish with curry leaves. Or add curry leaves powder in the previous step and mix well.
Serve along with rice.

Instead of the onions, you can also add potato, okra, carrot or sambhar vadaam (Dried wafers) to make your favorite sambhar !!

Gajar ka Halwa (microwave recipe)

2010-01-24T13:51:00.000-08:00

This carrot halwa came out very yummy ! Pretty easy to make too.

Preparation time : 5 minutes
Cooking time : 15 minutes

Ingredients:
Carrots - 3
Sugar - 4 tbsp
Milk
Cardamom - 3
Cashewnuts - 5
Raisins - 4 to 5
Ghee - 1 tbsp

How to make:
Grate carrots.
Transfer grated carrots to a medium-sized microwave safe bowl.
Add enough milk to submerge the carrots. Add half a tbsp ghee.
Set the microwave to high and boil for 10 min. Important : Stir the carrot-milk-ghee combo every 3-4 min.
Add sugar, powdered cardamom and more ghee (if necessary). Mix well. Microwave for 5 min on high.
Meanwhile, on a stove top, add little ghee in a saucepan. Add broken cashewnuts and raisins. Wait until they turn golden brown.
Add it to the halwa. Mix well and serve.

Paneer Tikka Masala

2010-01-17T17:07:00.000-08:00

I love paneer (cottage cheese) !! For some reason though I seldom try making paneer-based dishes at home; paneer is one of those special items that I mostly eat only in restaurants. I have decided to try out a few paneer-based dishes and this is the first one, I guess, in the series :) I bought a block of paneer and I had three shortlists for what to make- paneer tikka masala, paneer butter masala and navratan kurma (which can also contain paneer). Finally, I decided to make Paneer tikka masala. We had this with roti phulkas and we loved it !!!! It took a little while to make this partly because I don't make paneer dishes so often. It was not too bad though, I was done within 45 min; but with a little more planning, I am sure you can make it quicker.

Ingredients:

Paneer - 200 grams, diced into small cubes

Tomatoes - 1, longitudinally sliced

Onion - 1, longitudinally sliced

Curd - 3/4th cup

Oil - 3 tbsp

Spices:

Kasoori methi - 1/2 tsp

Dhania powder - 1 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Jeera powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

How to make:

Step 1 : Marinating the paneers

In a medium-sized bowl, add 1/4th cup curd and half the quantity of all spices listed (i.e. 1/4th tsp kasoori methi, 1/2 tsp dhania powder, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, 1/2 tsp Jeera powder, 1/4th tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp salt). Mix well such that the spices blend in well with the curd.
Add the paneer cubes to this. Gently press the paneer cubes so that they are submerged well. Marinate the paneer for 15-20 minutes.

Step 2 : Making the masala gravy

In the meantime,

In a deep skillet, add oil. Add the diced onions.
When the onion turns translucent, add tomatoes. Cook for 2 min.
Add rest of the other spices. Mix well. Cook for 2 min.
Add 1/4th cup curd. Mix well. Turn off stove. Keep aside.

Step 3 : Making the paneer tikkas

Now,

Take a shallow frying pan and heat to medium.
Meantime, take the marinated paneers and blot them partially dry in a blotting paper/ paper towel. You can also use a spoon to gently remove the excess curd.
Place the paneers neatly on the frying pan.
Wait until the paneers turn golden brown.
Turn them so that both sides are neatly done to golden brown.

Step 4 : putting the dish together

While the paneers are getting done, add the leftover curd from the marinated paneers to the gravy prepared above.
Once the paneers are done, add them to the gravy. Mix gently.
Garnish with cilantro and serve with hot rotis or parathas.

Masala Bhaat (Microwave Recipe)

2010-01-16T16:02:00.000-08:00

This will be my first post for the new year and I hope to keep the momentum going to try and post new recipes! I tried making this Maharashtrian favorite for the first time and it came out simply superb. I am not savvy on masale-dar cooking. I like to keep home-cooked food a little simple. This bhaat, with the right amount of masalas, can still stay simple yet yummy. Coconut adds a lot of strength to the dish; so more coconut, the better. Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup

Fresh coconut - 1/2 cup

Cardamom - 3 to 5

Cloves - 5

Cinnamom - 1 small stick

Methi seeds (fenugreek seeds)- 1/2 tsp

Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Green chillies - 3 to 4, chopped

Mixed vegetables like carrot, green peas, green beans -1/2 cup

Cashewnuts - 7 to 10

Asafoetida - a pinch

Cilantro for garnishing

Salt to taste

Ghee or oil 2 tsp

To be ground:

Cloves - 3

Cinnamon- 1/2 of a small stick

Dhania (coriander seeds) -1 tsp (can also use 2 tsp dhania powder instead of grinding seeds)

Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tsp

How to make (Set the microwave to "High" before starting):

Grind the "to be ground" ingredients" in a dry grinder.
Take a big microwaveble bowl. Add ghee, mustard seeds, whole cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, jeera, green chillies, asafoetida and microwave for 1 min.
Add 1/4th cup coconut and cashewnuts. Microwave for 1 min.
Add the cut vegetables, mix well. Microwave for 2 min.
Add 1 cup rice.
Add 2 and 1/4 water. Add the ground ingredients and salt. Mix well.
Microwave for 20 min.
After the rice is cooked, mix 1/4th cup fresh coconut. Garnish with cilantro.

Serve with papad, Raita or yoghurt (curd).

Notes: Like I mentioned, more the coconut, better the dish. A few recipes also include jaggery in the dish but I have not tried this variation. You can also pre-soak the rice for about 20 minutes before cooking in the microwave, in which case you have to decrease the cooking time to 15 min or less (this will depend on the wattage of the microwave). This dish can also be traditionally made in a pressure cooker. However you choose to make, this dish will be an easy one for dinner on a tired day!!

2010-01-01T19:49:00.000-08:00

WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

Aloo Paratha (Potato Flatbread)

2009-12-26T21:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I have a huge blogging backlog. I have the pictures for all these recipes that I have tried but have been a little stretched for time to upload them. Anyways, the timing is perfect. I am sitting at the Hong Kong airport waiting for my flight to Madras. I am desperately trying to not fall asleep :( So thought why not update my blog now ?

So this dish Aloo paratha or potato flatbread is super easy to make. And super tasty too. Parathas are a good alternative to rotis and naan. I essentially adapted the recipe from here and the recipe below has quite a few modifications.

Ingredients

1 cup wheat flour

1/3rd cup maida or all purpose flour

for the filling:

Potatoes 3

Onions 1/2

Jeera powder 1tsp

Fennel seeds 1 tsp

Chilli powder 1/2 tsp

Garam masala 1/2 tsp

Amchur powder 1 tsp

Salt to taste

How to make:

To make the dough

Mix wheat flour, all purpose flour and 1 tsp salt in a bowl. Add water little by little and moisten the dry ingredients. I generally use about 1/2 a cup water to get to the consistency that is shown in the picture.

For the filling

Poke holes on the potatoes with a fork and boil potatoes in the microwave for 7 minutes or until the potatoes are boiled (time with vary depending on the power of the microwave). Cool down the potatoes and peel the skin.
Once the potatoes cool down (I put them in the freezer for 5 minutes to cool them down!), add the chopped onions and the other ingredients for the filling and mix well.

To roll parathas

As shown in the picture, roll the dough to little rounds. Similarly, roll the mashed potato filling to little rounds.
Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough to a small circle. The trick is to use a lot of all purpose flour for dusting so that the dough doesn't stick.
Place the mashed potato rounds in the center and cover the potato rounds with the dough.
Next, roll the above with a rolling pin. The aim is to get a nice flat circle. Remember, the parathas are much thicker than rotis. They are, in fact, more or less the size of a naan. Also, use a lot of maida or all-purpose flour for dusting. The more you use, the easier it is to roll them flat.
In a skillet, add 5-6 drops of oil. Place the rolled paratha in the center and move it around the skillet so that the oil spreads around. You can also use oil for the top.
After 2 -3 minutes, turn the paratha using a flat spatula and heat the other side. Continjavascript:void(0)ue this process until the paratha is done (as shown in the picture).
Enjoy paratha while hot with curd/yogurt or "Achaar" (pickle).

Sprouted Green Gram Sundal

2009-12-25T04:09:00.000-08:00

Well, this sundal is not that much of a common member of the sundal lineage. But, it is loaded with all the rich nutrients that you could ever ask for. This one is super easy to make; however, you would need to start preparing 48hrs in advance.

Ingredients

Green gram dal (also called mung bean, refer wikipedia)- 1 cup

For tempering - mustard seeds -1/2 tsp, urad dal - 1/2 tsp, chana dal - 1/2 tsp, asafoetida- a pinch, Jeera -1 tsp

Coconut - a generous amount

Salt to taste

Oil - 1 tsp

How to make:

Soak green gram dal in water over-night.
Next day, drain most of the water. Just leave enough to cover the green gram dal. Soak for 24 hours.
By this time, the green gram dal should have given rise to white colored off-shoots called sprouts. If this is so, then the sundal is ready to be made.
In a shallow skillet, add 1 tsp oil. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal and jeera. Wait until the seeds splutter and the urad and the chana dals turn golden brown. Add asafoetida.
Drain water completely. Add the green gram sprouts. Add salt. Mix well.
Cook for 2 minutes.
Sprinkle coconut and mix well.

This sundal is a good accompaniment to any rice dish.

Zafrani Pulav (Saffron Rice)

2009-12-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

Zafrani Rice or zafrani pulav is considered the most royal among all mixed rices. No wonder - because of the sheer ingredients that go into making this one. Cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, almonds, cashewnuts, raisins are just a few of its components!! However, the key ingredient that gives the sheer color and flavor for this rice is Saffron. Saffron is most likely the most exotic of all spices that is probably saved to make the best of the best dishes!! So when Indira's JFI- event hosted by "Chef in you" this month announced the theme as "Saffron", I decided to submit this wonderful member of the pulav family for the event.

Cooking time including preparation : 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 cup

4-5 strands of saffron (4-5 strands are more than enough when using the Kashmiri saffron that you get in India. In the US, we generally get the Spanish saffron. Use at least 15 strands when using the Spanish saffron)

cashewnuts- 10 to 15

Almonds - 10 to 15

Raisins- 10 to 15

Cardamom - 4 pods

Cinnamon - 2-3 1 inch sticks

Cloves- 3 to 4

Sugar - 1 tsp

Half of a medium-sized onion chopped longitudinally i.e. as long pieces

Salt to taste

Milk - 1/2 cup

ghee or oil - 2 tsp

How to make:

This is easy-breezy!!

In a frying pan, add 1 tsp ghee.
Add 1 cup basmati rice to this. Mix well. Fry for 4-5 minutes. Make sure to mix it once every minute so that the rice does not burn.
Meanwhile, in half-a-cup of milk, mix saffron. Use a spoon to stir in the saffron. You can also use your finger-tips to sort of mash the saffron. The milk will become light yellow in color when the saffron is mixed in well.
Add the saffron milk to the rice in the frying pan. Stir well such that the rice is mixed well in the milk. Cook for 2 minutes with constant stirring. At this point, saffron milk should have reached a boiling phase.
Now, add the above to a microwaveble bowl/rice cooker. Add 1 and 3/4 cup of water. Mix well.
Add salt to taste (I add one heaped tsp) and mix well. Cook rice in the microwave for 18 to 20 minutes. (You can also cook this in the pressure cooker. Cook for 3 whistles if cooking in the pressure cooker).

While the rice is cooking in the microwave :

Take a different frying pan and add 1tsp ghee or oil.
Add the sliced onions.
Add 1 heaped tsp sugar to this and mix well so that the onions are well-coated with the sugar.
Add cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. Mix well. Wait for a minute.
Add cashewnuts, almonds, raisins. Fry until the cashew nuts and onion turn golden brown.

When the rice is done, add the fried items to the rice and mix well. Garnish with cardamom pods and serve with onion raita.

Note : This dish belongs to those with a sweet tooth. You can add a lot of sugar (3-4 tsp) to make this pulav even more sweeter. Likewise, you can add or decrease the saffron to your liking. No matter what, this one is meant to satisfy anyone's palate!!

Kadambam Rice

2009-11-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

I tried this one for the first time today and this came out awesome! This one's easy to make and belongs to the family of sambar sadam and bisibela bath- however, I added coconut milk to give it a unique taste. This dish comes from kongunadu cuisine. I adapted this recipe from one page cookbooks and soulful creations. Thanks to them for sharing this wonderful recipe.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup toor dal, 1/2 cup coconut milk, 2.5 cups water, mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp, dried red chillies - 4 to 5, jeera- 1/2 tsp, turmeric- 1/2 tsp, sambar powder- 1 tsp, tamarind paste- 1/4 tsp, oil- 2 tsp, 1/2 a medium-sized onion- chopped, vegetables like potatoes, carrot, green beans or cauliflower- 1 cup, salt to taste, curry leaves for garnishing.

How to make:

In a pressure cooker, add oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add 3-4 red chillies, broken. Add jeera and turmeric.
Add chopped onions and fry until they turn golden brown. Now add the chopped vegetables. Cook for a minute.
Add 1/2 cup rice and 1/2 cup lentils along with 2.5 cups water.
Add tamarind paste and mix well. Also add sambar powder, coconut milk and salt.
Cook for 4 whistles.
Garnish with curry leaves.
Serve with popadum or curd.

This was my entry to blog bites hosted by Onehotstove.

Paruppu Usili

2009-10-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

I always loved the paruppu usili that my mom used to make when I was a kid. It is a little elaborate than other conventional curries - but truly worth the effort. Probably a good one to make on a weekend. Paruppu usili can be had as it is as an accompaniment to any rice dish. Usili can also be mixed with other vegetables like green beans or cabbage and served as an accompaniment to rice dishes. I will describe how to make the plain paruppu usili as well as the green beans usili below. This is my mom's recipe.

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 1 cup

Dried red chillies - 8-10

Asafoetida - a pinch

A couple of curry leaves

Oil - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dal ("ulutam paruppu") - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

How to make:

Soak toor dal in water for half-an-hour.
Drain water. Grind soaked toor dal, 5-6 dried red chillies, asafoetida and salt (2 tsp) in a blender. This should be ground coarsely.
Now, steam the coarsely ground paste. You can steam these in an idli plate. Pour the mixture in an idli plate. Set a cup of water in a round bottom vessel on the stove. Place the idli plate on top and close with a lid. Steam for 8-10 min. I steam the ground paste in a microwave using microwaveble idli plates. If using a microwave, steam for 4 minutes.
Transfer the contents from the idli plate to a serving bowl. Break the clumps to small pieces.
In a small frying pan, add oil. When the oil warms up, add mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and the rest of the dried red chillies. When the mustard splutters, add these to the contents in the serving bowl.
Mix well and serve.

To make green beans usili:

Cook green beans in a microwave or pressure cooker.
Add usili made as described above to the beans. Add extra salt for the beans and mix well. You can use 1 : 1 ratio of beans to usili.

You can also use cabbage in place of green beans. Enjoy usili or green beans usili as an accompaniment to sambhar/rasam/curd rice.

Rava Dosai/ Semolina Pancakes

2009-10-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

To me, rava dosai has always sounded a little complicated. To me, it was one of those exclusive dishes that I will probably order when I go out for dinner to a good south Indian restaurant. Sudarshan introduced to me to an easy to make, ready in a jiffy rava dosai. So if you have visitors arriving in an hour and haven't planned anything to make or just want something different to eat, this will be a good one- be it for a Sunday brunch, an evening tiffin or for dinner!! This is also my entry this month to the Monthly Mingle event for Sunday brunch hosted by Meeta.

Ingredients:

"Rava" (semolina) - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1 cup

Curd - 2 tbsp

Jeera - 2 tsp

Chopped onions - 1/4 cup

Chopped green chili - 3 to 4

Salt to taste

Oil for making dosas

How to make:

In a bowl, mix rava, rice flour and curd in water. Water should be just enough to submerge the ingredients. Set aside for half an hour.
Half an hour later, add rest of the ingredients (except oil) and mix well.
Now pour the batter in a pre-heated "tawa" or shallow skillet and make dosai like you would normally make other kind of dosas.

Enjoy with chutney or potato masala.

This is for those of you who are new to making dosas: Dosas are a slightly bigger version of pancakes, they are in fact more similar to crepes. To make dosas, pre-heat a shallow skillet for five minutes on medium heat. After the skillet is pre-warmed, add drops of oil around the skillet. Take a ladle full of batter and pour it in the centre of the skillet. Now, using the rounded part of the ladle, gently spread the batter in a circular motion along the surface of the skillet. Well, this is one of those things that is better learnt while watching someone make it. I will try to upload a video of this sometime.

While adding batter to the skillet, make sure the skillet is not too heated. I often cool the skillet with water- by just adding a few drops of cold water on the skillet before adding the batter.

Coconut Cilantro Chutney

2009-10-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I updated the blog. We made many new dishes and even clicked a picture or two of each but I have not had the time to put them up here. So today I am finally getting to "pen" some of my latest rendezvous with cooking!

As an accompaniment to Sudarshan's Rava Dosai (recipe to follow), I made a super-tasty coconut cilantro chutney. This is not much different from the traditional coconut chutney - I added a couple of strands of cilantro while grinding the chutney. Cilantro, at least in the US, is very cheap. I get so much of cilantro for half a dollar that sometimes I don't find enough use for it. Hence, I add cilantro to almost everything that I make including chutneys!! Cilantro in coconut chutney is not only delicious but also gives the chutney a very nice color.

Ingredients:

Shredded coconut - 1 cup

Fresh cilantro - 1/4 cup

"Pottu kadalai" (roasted gram)- 1/4 cup

Chopped green chilli- 3 to 4 (can increase the quantity depending on how hot you like your chutney)

For tempering: mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp, urad dal- 1/4 tsp, oil - 1 tsp

Salt to taste.

How to make:

In a blender, grind coconut, cilantro, "pottu kadalai" and green chillies with little water. (Start with every little water that is just enough to moisten the ingredients. Then, increase water quantity slowly to reach your desired consistency. Too much water can result in the chutney not grinding well- so make sure to start with very less).
Transfer the contents from the blender to a serving bowl. In a small frying pan, add oil, mustard seeds and urad dal. When the mustard crackles and the urad dal turns golden brown, add them to the chutney.
Add 1 tsp salt and mix well.
Garnish with cilantro.

This chutney goes well with idlis, dosai and pongal.

Sambhar

2009-10-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

Sambhar can be made two ways: by either adding Sambhar powder while cooking it or by adding freshly ground ingredients that comprise the Sambhar powder + some coconut. The former is easy to make and this is the one that I have described below. Recipe for the latter one is here.

Ingredients :

Concentrated tamarind paste- 1/2 tsp, Sambar powder - 2 heaped tsp, for tempering- mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp, urad dal- 1/2 tsp, a couple of curry leaves, dried red chillies- 4 to 5, hint of asafoetida, vegetables like potatoes, okra, onions or carrots, rice flour -1 tsp, toor dal - 1/3 cup, salt to taste, oil - 2 tsp

How to prepare:

Cut vegetables and microwave or pressure cook them. Set them aside.
Meantime, pressure-cook toor dal to 4 whistles. Set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl/saucepan, add 2 tsp oil. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, asafoetida and dried red chillies. Wait until the mustard splutters and urad dal turns golden brown.
Add 3 cups water. Let the water boil.
Add tamarind and mix well. Boil for a minute.
Add Sambhar powder, a few curry leaves and salt. Mix well. (Do not add all of the curry leaves, save some for garnishing).
Add cooked vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes so that the flavor blends in.
Add cooked toor dal. Mix well.
Mix rice flour with little water, add to sambhar while mixing. This should help thicken the Sambhar.
Garnish with curry leaves and serve with rice. Also, goes with dosas and idlis.

Like pitlai, you can use any kind of vegetable that's in your freezer. Also, you can do the tempering at the very end and add it to the Sambhar. This will give it a fresh taste. I prefer to do it in the beginning - one less utensil to wash, right ??!!

Badam (Almond) Halwa

2009-10-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

Easy to make and truly yummy! We totally relished this one today.

Ingredients:

Badam (100 pieces), Sugar- 1/2 cup, cardamom- 3 to 4 pods (unskinned), Water- 1/2 cup, ghee- 2 tsp, saffron- couple of strands

How to make:

Grind badam and cardamom seeds to a fine powder in a dry grinder. This should yield about 1 cup.
In a small frying pan, add sugar and 1/2 cup water. Badam : sugar : water ratio is 2 : 1 : 1.
Keep stove on a medium heat and keep stirring sugar and water. Add saffron to this.
When water starts boiling, add ground badam & cardamom, keep stirring.
Add 2 tsp ghee.
Turn off the stove once the water evaporates and Halwa thickens. You should hear popping noises once halwa thickens!
Garnish with whole almonds and cardamoms.

Note: A lot of people prefer removing the skin of badam. Badam can be unskinned by soaking badam in hot water for 30 minutes. I do not unskin badam and don't think that should influence the taste of the halwa.

"Mor" (Butter milk) Kuzhambu

2009-09-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

Cooked dal is not required for "Mor" (Buttermilk) kuzhambu.

Ingredients:

Toor dal- 1 tbsp

Chana dal- 1 tsp

Jeera- 2 tsp

Green chillies- 3-4

Couple of curry leaves

Buttermilk- 1 cup

Vegetables (eg. Okra) or "sambar vadam"

For tempering: mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp, 5 dried red chillies, a hint of asafoetida, 10 methi seeds

Oil- 2 tsp

Salt to taste

How to make:

1) Soak toor dal and chana dal in water for 20 minutes.

2) In a frying pan, roast jeera, green chillies and curry leaves in a little bit of oil. After jeera turns darker in color, add coconut and roast until coconut turns golden brown. Grind these in a blender with items in (1) with 1/4th cup water. The ground product should be thick in consistency.

3) In a medium-sized stove top-safe bowl, add 1/2 cup water. Let boil. Add the ground mixture. Add salt.

4) Add cooked vegetables (see below). Cook for 5 minutes.

5) Meanwhile, in a small frying pan, add 1 tsp oil. Add mustard, red chillies, asafoetida and methi seeds. After the mustard crackles, add these to #4 above.

6) Turn off stove and remove kuzhambu from stove to cool down. Add buttermilk and mix well.

Notes:

You can use any kind of vegetable for Mor kuzhambu. My favorite is okra or ladies finger (roast cut okra in a little oil and add to kuzhambu at step 4). Or else, you can add sambar vadam to kuzhambu (roast "sambar vadam" in a little oil and add at step 4).
Buttermilk should be sour. The more sour it is the better.

Brinjal Roast

2009-09-30T20:39:00.000-07:00

Things required:

Brinjal- 1 lb, sambar powder- 2 tsp, chilli powder- 1/2 tsp (optional), for tempering: mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp, urad dal- 1/2 tsp, asafoetida- a pinch, turmeric- a pinch, besan/chickpea flour ("kadalai maavu")- 1 tsp, oil- 2-3 tbsp, salt

How to make:

Chop brinjal to reasonably small pieces (as shown in the picture). Put chopped brinjal in a bowl of water since brinjal gets oxidized when exposed to air and turn brown.
In a skillet, add oil. When oil heats up, add mustard seeds, urad dal, turmeric and asafoetida.
Meantime, drain water completely from chopped brinjal.
When mustard splutters and urad dal turns brown, add chopped brinjal to the tempered items in the skillet. Note: Mustard will crackle fast, since oil is already heated up. So these steps should be done fast. Or, turn down the stove accordingly.
Add sambar powder, chilli powder (optional), 2 tbsp more oil, salt and mix well.
Cook for about 10 minutes and keep mixing every 2 minutes. The goal is to get nice roasted brinjal (should be golden brown).
When done, add besan and mix well. Besan should absorb all oil- this gives brinjal a very unique taste!!

Notes:

- The nasty part of cooking brinjal is the quantity- you will probably get only 25% of what you start with since brinjal gets squished while cooking.

- It is also important to use fresh brinjal. Do not store brinjal in the refrigerator for a long time- better to make it when it is fresh.

- Besan is not absolutely necessary. However, adding besan at the end gives brinjal a unique flavor. You can also use rice flour or "maida" in place of besan!

Coconut rice

2009-09-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Coconut rice- easy to make and yummy!! Shown in the picture above: coconut rice (on the left) and curd rice (on the right).

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 2 cups, Shredded coconut- 1.5 cup, Mustard seeds- 1 tsp, Urad dal- 1 tsp, Chana dal- 1tsp, A couple of curry leaves, Green chillies- 2-3, chopped, Asafoetida- a pinch, Ground nuts- 10, Cashew nut- 10, Oil, Salt

How to make:

1) Cook rice.

You can use any kind of rice. Make sure the rice comes out "loose" and not clumpy. Transfer

rice to a servingbowl and keep aside.

2) In a frying pan, add oil. Add mustard seeds, toor dal, chana dal and ground nuts. After mustard splutters and urad dal, groundnuts turn golden brown, add green chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida. This should take about 3 minutes. Keep mixing these with a ladle to spread the heat uniformly.

3) Add cashews. Cashews should turn golden brown quickly in the heat.

4) Now add the coconut. Saute for a minute. Add salt and mix well.

5) Add these to the rice and mix well.

Serve with popadums and vadam. Coconut rice can be enjoyed with with other rice varieties such as lemon rice and curd rice.

Penne Basil Alfredo

2009-09-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

Well, this one's by no stretch Indian, but I probably love Italian as much as I love Indian!! I tried this for dinner one of the days this week and it came out awesome, possibly similar to what we get at CPK, one of my favorite places to eat!!

Ingredients: Penne Pasta (2 cups), Alfredo sauce- 3 tbsp, olive oil- 1 tsp, Basil pesto sauce- 2 tsp, a hint of Thyme, chopped fresh basil- a couple of leaves, grated parmesan- 2 tsp or according to preference, salt to taste.

How to make:

* Boil penne pasta according to instructions in the pack.

What I did: Add 4 cups water in a large vessel, bring to boil on stove top. Add 1/2 tsp salt. Add pasta and boil for 10 min or until the pasta becomes soft. Keep stirring every 2 min. When pasta becomes soft, add I cup cold water and turn off stove. Drain water completely with a colander.

* Transfer pasta to a serving bowl. Add oilve oil and alfredo pasta sauce. For alfredo, start with 2 tbsp, and add additional alfredo according to your preference for cheese. I try to go low on cheese.

* Add basil pesto sauce (This one smells great!!).

* Add thyme and fresh basil. Mix well.

* Garnish with grated parmesan and serve.

You should be able to get Alfredo pasta sauce and basil pesto sauce at your local grocery store in the Italian aisle. You can also make this with other pasta kinds like fettucine.

Optional: Add pine nuts to the pasta.

Rajma

2009-09-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

Simple and easy to make!!

Ingredients:

Cooked Rajma (red kidney beans)- 2 cans (If you don't get cooked rajma, then use 1lb of "dry" rajma)

1 small onion- chopped

1 small tomato- chopped

3-4 green chillies- chopped

Jeera/Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp

Garam masala- 1 heaped tsp

Salt for taste

Oil- 3 tsp

Cilantro for garnishing

How to make:

If using canned rajma, pour the rajma in a large colander and drain the liquid. Wash 2-3 times in water. Drain off excess water. If using uncooked rajma, soak rajma in water over-night (Water should just be enough to submerge the rajma). Then cook rajma in a pressure cooker to 2 whistles.
In a large frying pan, add oil. Fry onions until they turn translucent. Add tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes become soft.
Add jeera and garam masala and mix well.
Add cooked rajma and mix.
Add water just enough to submerge the rajma.
Cook for 5 minutes or until you get the desired consistency.
Garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy with rotis ot rice!!

Hint: You can substitute garam masala with chana masala or even pav bhaji masala to get a different taste!!

Cabbage Curry

2009-09-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

The worst part of making cabbage curry (poriyal) is chopping the cabbage. Besides that, its very easy to make!!

Things Required:

Medium sized Cabbage- chopped

For tempering: oil- 1 tsp, mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp, urad dal- 1/2 tsp, optional: chana dal- 1/2 tsp, dried red chilli- 3-4, jeera- 1 tsp, turmeric- 1/2 tsp and hint of asafoetida

Sambar powder- 1 heaped tsp

Grated coconut- 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

How to make:

Chop cabbage to reasonably small pieces. You DO NOT need to cook cabbage. Keep cabbage aside.
In a large frying pan, add oil. Add mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal (optional).
Wait until the mustard crackles and urad dal turns brown.
Add dried red chillies, jeera, asafoetida and turmeric.
Add cabbage.
Add sambar powder and salt.
Mix well.
Sprinkle very little water (no more than 1 tbsp). Cook for 5 minutes. Do not close it with a lid- keeping it closed makes the cabbage soggy.
Turn off stove. Add grated coconut and mix well.

Sunday Special- Bisibela Bath!!

2009-09-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

Bisibela bath has been one of my all time favorites!! Back in the days when I was a kid, I loved the bisibela bath that my mom made - I considered those days when she made bbb as special days!! Last year, when we visited India, my m-in-law made a truly wonderful version of the Madhwa bisibela bath with home made plantain chips (yes, home made!!). Today, Sudarshan made a super-awesome bisibela bath. This is the recipe for the one that Sudarshan made today.

Ingredients (serves four for 2 meals):

1.5 cups rice : 0.5 cup toor dal : 2 cups water- pressure-cooked,

vegetables (can use anything in your freezer): carrots, beans, cauliflower and potatoes- cooked,

dhaniya seeds- 3 heaped tbsp,

toor dal- 2 tsp,

dried red chilli- 5-6,

shredded coconut/kopra - 3 heaped tbsp,

tamarind paste- 1/2 tsp,

cardamom- 3 pods (unskinned),

cloves- 5,

cinnamon sticks- 2,

curry leaves- a couple,

cashewnuts- 10, ground nuts 10,

oil, mustard seeds (1/2 tsp) and dried red chillies (2-3) for tempering,

salt for taste

How to make:

Cook 1.5 cups rice : half a cup toor dal : 2 cups water in a pressure cooker. The rice and dal should be nicely squished. You can use any kind of rice including basmati rice. Just make sure that the rice comes out squished.
In a frying pan, add 2 tsp oil. Add dhaniya, uncooked toor dal (2 tsp) and 5-6 dried red chillies. Roast for 2-3 minutes. Add coconut/kopra. Wait for 2 minutes. Add cardamom and cloves. Grind to a paste in a blender.
In a large bowl, add 2 cups water. Add 1/2 tsp tamarind. Boil for 5 minutes.
Add cooked vegetables.
Add the ground paste and salt. Mix well. Cook for 5 minutes.
Add cooked rice and toor dal. Mix well.
Finally, splutter mustard seeds, 2-3 red chillies and curry leaves in a little oil and add it it to the rice.
Fry cashew nuts and ground nuts in a little oil and mix it with the rice.

Enjoy with thayir pachadi (recipe to come later), appalam (paapad) or any vegetable curry.

Dal

2009-09-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

A healthy and filling accompaniment to rotis. Easy to make.

Things required: cooked dal- 3 cups, one medium-sized onion- chopped, Optional: 1 small tomato- chopped, jeera/cumin seeds- 2 tsp, garam masala- 1 tsp, oil- 2 tsp, salt for taste, cilantro for garnishing.

How to make:

Cook dal in a pressure cooker to 4 whistles. You can use toor, masoor or moong dal ("paasi paruppu"). You can even use a combination of these. Today, I used 1:1 of toor dal : masoor dal. When using moong dal, roast dal in a frying pan with a little oil and then cook in the pressure cooker.
In a skillet, add oil and fry onions. Use as little oil as possible to keep this healthy.
Optional: Add tomatoes. Cook until the tomato becomes soft.
Add jeera. Wait for a minute or until jeera turns darker in color.
Add garam masala.
Add the cooked dal and mix well.
Add enough water to submerge the dal.
Add salt, mix and boil for 3-5 minutes.
Garnish with cilantro

You can vary water quantity to get the desired consistency. This dal serves as a good side dish to rotis. This can also be had with rice and paapad (popadums).

Hint: You can add sambar powder or rasam powder in place of garam masala to get a south Indian flavor!! You can also add half a cup cooked spinach to this to make it even more healthy!!

Potato Roast

2009-09-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

Potato roast in the picture was made by Sudarshan!

Things required: Potato (1 lb), Sambar powder- 1 heaped tsp, 2 tsp oil, for tempering: mustard seeds, urad dal ("ulutam paruppu")and Jeera- 1 tsp each, turmeric- 1/2 tsp, salt- 1 tsp

How to make:

1) Boil potatoes in the microwave and slice.

To microwave potatoes, poke random holes in the potatoes using a fork. Keep potatoes directly inside the microwave and microwave on high for 10 minutes. Turn potatoes and microwave another 5 minutes. Peel skin after cooling potatoes under running water.
2) In a skillet, add oil.
3) Tempering : Add mustard seeds, urad dal and jeera. Wait until the mustard splutters and the urad dal turns brown.
4) Add turmeric.
5) Add potatoes. Add Sambar powder and salt.
6) Mix well. Cook for 10 minutes. Turn the potatoes once every 2 minutes. Add more oil.

The more oil you add, the "roastier" it gets!!

Hint: You will not need to peel the skin in case of white potatoes or the baby dutch potatoes since the skin is very thin (they are edible). For russet potatoes, you will need to peel the skin since the skin is thick.

You can also roast onions and add it to the potatoes!!

Tomato Rasam

2009-09-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

This rasam in the picture was made by Sudarshan!!

Ingredients (for 2 for 2 meals): tomato (2 medium)- diced, mustard- 1 tsp, urad dal ("ulutam paruppu")- 1 tsp, dried red chillies- 5, tamarind concentrate- 1/4th tsp, rasam powder- one heaped spoon, jeera/cumin seeds- 1 tsp, cooked toor dal - 1.5 karandis/ladle, curry leaves- a couple or curry leaves powder, cilantro, asafoetida, salt.
optional: ghee

How to make:

Add 3 cups water in a bowl.
Add tamarind paste. Boil well.
Add diced tomatoes to the water. Boil well. (Hint # 1: it is better to squeeze the diced tomatoes while adding them to water rather than adding them straight away as diced cubes, this can exponentially increase the flavor!)
Now, add rasam powder. Simmer and heat for 3-5 minutes.
Add salt and mix.
In a frying pan, add 1 tsp oil/ghee. Add mustard seeds and urad dal. When the mustard splutters and when the urad dal turns golden brown, add jeera, curry leaves, asafoetida, dried red chillies. Wait for a minute. Add this mixture to the rasam and mix well.
Dilute rasam with water according to taste, if required.
Add cooked toor dal and mix. Turn off stove.
Garnish with cilantro.

Hint # 2: I also prefer to use vine ripe tomatoes for my rasam since they have the best flavor! The quality of the tomatoes are important for a good rasam.

South Indian Pitlai

2009-09-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

Pitlai is similar to Sambhar; the only difference being that urad dal is ground and added; this gives pitlai a really thick consistency. Pitlai can be enjoyed with rice. Makes a good accompaniment to dosas and idlis as well!!

Ingredients (enough for 4 for 2 meals, scale down accordingly): concentrated tamarind- 1/2 tsp, toor dal (split pigeon peas)- cooked 1 cup, urad dal ("ulutam paruppu"/black gram dal) 5 tbsp, coriander seeds- 3 tbsp, dried red chilli- 4 to 5, coconut- 3 tbsp, cooked vegetables (pretty much anything in the freezer like cauliflower, beans, carrot, potatoes)- 1 cup, a couple of curry leaves, salt for taste, roasted peanuts and microwaved or fried appalam/poppadum for garnishing.

for tempering: mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp, urad dal ("ulutam paruppu"/black gram dal)- 1/2 tsp, chana dal- 1/2 tsp, dried red chilli- 1 to 2, oil- 1 tsp.

How to make:

1) Cook toor dal in a pressure cooker. Turn off stove after 4 whistles.

2) In a frying pan, add oil. Add 3 tbsp toor dal (uncooked), urad dal, coriander seeds and dried red chilli. Roast for 3-4 minutes or until the lentils start turning color.

3) Grind the roasted items in a blender by adding 1/2 a cup water. The ground items should be in a consistency of a paste.

4) In a medium-sized bowl, add 3 cups water. When water boils, add tamarind and mix.

5) Add cooked vegetables.

6) Simmer and add the ground items.

7) Add salt.

8) Boil for 5-10 min. Add cooked toor dal and mix well.

9) Tempering: In a frying pan, add the ingredients required for tempering as mentioned above.

10) When mustard splutters and urad dal turns to a golden brown, add them to the cooked pitlai and mix well.

11) Garnish with roasted peanuts and microwaved poppadum/appalam.

If you like a little thinner consistency, you can decrease the amount of urad dal that is roasted and ground.

This was one of my entries to the Think Spice event started by Sunita of Sunita's world hosted by Seduce your tastebuds this time around. The theme this time is tamarind!!!

Vazhakai (Plantain) Podi

2009-09-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

This is one of my all time favorites and this is my mom's recipe.

Things required: "vazhakai" (plantains) half a dozen, Toor dal (2 table spoon), dried red chillies 5-6, mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp, urad dal ("ulutam paruppu")- 1/2 tsp, asafoetida- a pinch, turmeric- 1/2 tsp, oil, curry leaves- a couple, coconut oil- 3 tsp (optional), salt to taste.

How to make:

1) Cut plantains in half. Keep them in a microwaveble plate and microwave on high for 10 min. Time may vary depending on the power of the microwave. The goal is to get nice soft plaintains.

Hint #1 : The skin should turn brownish black on all sides.

2) Carefully remove plantains from the microwave, cool under running water and peel the skin.

3) Mash the plantains well. Use your hand or a ladle for this.

4) In a frying pan, add 1/2 a tsp oil. Add toor dal, asafoetida and red chillies. Wait until toor dal turns slight brown. Don't roast it too much. You should smell a distinct aroma when they are ready.

5) In a dry grinder, grind #4. Add a pinch of salt to prevent oil from sticking to the sides of the grinder.

6) In a skillet/"kadai", add 2 tsp oil, add mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves (tempering). Wait 2 min, urad dal will turn golden brown.

7) Add turmeric. Add the mashed plantains. Add the ground items. Add salt.

8) Mix well. Cook for 5 min. Break plantain lumps (if present) with a ladle.

9) Add coconut oil and turn off stove.

Hint #2: If you are in a rush and don't have time to grind #4 or if you don't have a dry grinder, skip #4 and #5. Instead, add "paruppu podi" in step #7 to the plantains and mix well. If paruppu podi contains salt, remember to reduce the salt.

Meenakshi Ammal recommends roasting and grinding urad dal along with toor dal in steps 4 and 5. I tried that today and it came out well. It was not much different than grinding toor dal alone taste-wise.

This one goes well with rasam, sambhar or pitlai !!

Glossary of common Indian lentils, seeds and spices

2009-09-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

The above picture shows the common spices, lentils and seeds used in a typical south Indian kitchen. These are analogous to what basil, thyme and oregano constitute in an Italian kitchen.

Tempering: Any south Indian dish is started with or ended by tempering. How do we do this? Add 1-2 tsp of oil in a frying pan. Wait for 2 minutes or until the oil heats. Add mustard. Wait until the mustard splutters. Add 1/2 a tsp each of urad dal ("ulutam paruppu"), chana dal ("kadalai paruppu"), cumin seeds ("jeera") and asafoetida. Wait until urad turns golden brown. Add dried red chillies and turmeric. Proceed with the cooking or add it to the item prepared!! Optional : You can replace ghee (clarified butter) for oil for an added flavor.

Asafoetida: Click on the picture on the left for a bigger image. This gives a very different flavor. Used commonly in south Indian cooking. Very cheap and one box will last a long time!! Add a pinch or two to get an awesome aroma.

An important lentil variety used in both south and north Indian kitchens is toor daal (split pigeon peas). Toor dal is a part of rasam and sambhar in the south. It is also made as cooked "dal" that can be had with rotis (I will talk about that in one of my later posts). I normally buy 4 lb stock of toor dal at a time since it is used quite a bit!!

<- Moong dal on the left and masoor dal on the right (enlarge the image for a close-up)

Apart from these moong dal (Mung bean or "paasi paruppu") and masoor dal (pink lentil) are also used. Moong dal is a part of pongal and kootu (I will talk about these in a later post). Masoor dal, to my knowledge, is not used much in south Indian kitchen but extensively used in the north.

You will be completely equipped to cook Indian if you have a stock of garam masala, chilli powder (paprika) and dhaniya powder. These are extensively used in North Indian cooking. These and many other spices (like pulav masala, chana masala, pav bhaji masala) are readily available in Indian grocery stores and are not expensive. I will talk about these later.

Potato Subzi for Dosa and Poori

2009-09-02T21:49:00.000-07:00

Although this recipe is for dosa and poori, this potato subzi can also be had along with rice!

Things required: Potato (1 lb), 3-4 green chillies - chopped, ginger- chopped, onion- chopped (see picture for quantities of ginger, chillies and onion), 2 tsp oil, for tempering: mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal- 1/2 tsp each, turmeric- 1/2 tsp, salt for taste (1 tsp to start with), cilantro for garnish.

How to make:
1) Boil potatoes and slice.
2) In a skillet, add oil. Add onion and fry until they they turn translucent.
3) Tempering : Add mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal. Wait until the mustard splutters and the urad and chana dals turn brown.
4) Add turmeric and salt.
5) Add 1 cup water. Let water boil.
6) Add potatoes and mix well. Add more water to just submerge the potatoes (if needed).
7) Close with a lid and cook for 10 min. (Hint: When done, 90% of the water should have evaporated). Taste and add more salt if needed.
8) Turn off stove and garnish with cilantro.
Optional: You can add 2 tsp of squeezed lemon to get a tangy taste!

Aloo Gobhi

2009-08-29T15:56:00.001-07:00

Things required:

1/2 lb potato- diced and boiled, equal amount of cauliflower- boiled and cut to a single floret, 1 medium-sized onion- chopped, chilli powder/paprika- 1 tsp, sambar powder- 1tsp, turmeric- 1/2 tsp, jeera/ cumin seeds- 2 tsp, oil- 1 tsp, salt to taste, cilantro for garnishing.

How to make:

1) In a skillet, add oil.

2) Add the chopped onions and fry until they turn translucent.

3) Add turmeric and cumin seeds. Fry for a minute.

4) Add chilli powder, sambar powder and salt. Mix well.

5) Add potatoes and cauliflower and mix well.

6) Cook for 5 minutes.

7) Turn off stove and garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy with chapathis, naan or rice.

Optional: You can substitute garam masala for sambar powder. You can also add 1 cup of boiled green peas to increase quantity!

Thayir Sadam/Curd Rice

2009-08-29T14:08:00.001-07:00

In south India, every meal consists of three courses. First course being Sambar/kuzhambu/kootu rice. The second course being rasam rice and the last course is curd rice. Every meal is inevitably finished with the curd rice. It is meant to soothe the spicy food eaten during the earlier courses of the meal. Normally plain rice is mixed with yogurt or curd and eaten with a hot Indian-style pickle or cooked vegetables (I will write bout this in a different post). But, on a few "special" days, thayir sadam is made as mentioned below. This gives a totally awesome taste to the curd rice!!!

Things required:

cooked rice- 2 cups, plain yogurt, mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp, urad dal- 1/2 tsp, 3-4 green chillies chopped, ginger- chopped (8-10 pieces), a couple of curry leaves, 1 grated carrot, green grapes - 5 to 10, salt for taste, 1 tsp oil for saute.

How to make:

In a frying pan, add a little oil. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, green chillies, ginger pieces, curry leaves and saute until mustard splutters and urad dal turns golden brown. Add rice and salt. Mix well with the saute'd items. Add enough yogurt to mix in all the rice. You should reach the consistency shown in the picture. Garnish with green grapes. Enjoy with your favorite Indian hot pickle.

Hint: Since curry leaves are expensive here, I substitute curry leaves with curry leaves powder.

Raita

2009-08-29T14:07:00.001-07:00

Main ingredients: Plain yogurt, salt, asofoetida.

A good accompaniment to pulav. This one's also called thayir pachadi in the south.

1) Grate carrots (2 medium-sized).

2) Add the grated carrots to a bowl. Add plain yogurt or curds to it.

The amount of curd that you add depends on the consistency you like. One cup will be a good place to start. You can dilute the curds/yogurt with water or buttermilk. If you like a thicker consistency, add more yogurt to it.

3) Add 2-3 pinches of asofoetida. Add 1/2 a teaspoon salt.

4) Mix well.

5) Garnish with cilantro.

6) Serve chilled.

Optional: 1/2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds powder, 1/4 tsp chilli powder, 1/2 tsp dhaniya powder.

Since the pulav is normally loaded with a lot of masala (spices), I like to keep my raitha simple and hence, I don't add any extra spices to it.

Carrot can be substituted with chopped onions, boiled potatoes or even boondi (that you get in the Indian stores). You can get a little bit creative and even mix and match these ingredients!!

Veggie Pulav

2009-08-27T22:07:00.000-07:00

Pretty easy to make!
Ingredients:
Cooked rice- 2 cups, onion (medium-sized) chopped, 3 to 4 green chillies- longitudinally sliced, mixed vegetables (pretty much anything in your freezer or fridge like carrots, green beans, green peas, corn, potatoes, cauliflower) all chopped and boiled, your favorite pulav masala- 1 heaped tsp, jeera/cumin seeds- 1 tsp, turmeric- half a tsp, cashew nuts (cut in half)- 5-7, oil- 2 tbsp, cilantro for garnishing.

How to make:
1) Cook rice (see hint #2).
2) While the rice is cooking, prepare the vegetables. Chop and cook veggies in the microwave.
3) Add oil in a skillet. Add onions and fry until they turn transparent.
4) Add green chillies, cashew nuts and jeera. Fry until the cashews turn golden brown.
5) Add veggies and cook for a minute.
6) Add turmeric, pulav masala and salt. Mix well.
7) Add rice. Mix.
8) Turn off stove and garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy with your favorite raitha. I will upload raitha recipes later.
Hint #1: I personally like the veggies chopped longitudinally rather than diced for pulav. This gives it more of a "restaurant-look"!!
Hint # 2: For making rice for pulav, preferably use basmati rice. Cook rice in a microwave or rice cooker. Rice :water :: 1:2. It is important to not cook the rice clumpy. If clumy, try to break them with a ladle.
Hint # 3: Pulav masala can be substituted with garam masala.

Lemon Rasam

2009-08-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite in the rasam family and pretty much make it when its my turn to make rasam.

Ingredients (for 2 for 2 meals): tomato (2 medium)- diced, mustard- 1 tsp, urad dal- 1 tsp, chana dal- 1 tsp, 3-4 green chillies- chopped, rasam powder- one heaped spoon, cooked toor dal- 1.5 karandis/ladle, curry leaves- a couple or curry leaves powder, one lemon, cilantro, asafoetida, salt.
optional: ghee, tamarind

How to make:
1) Add 3 cups water in a bowl.
2) Add tomatoes to the water (Hint # 1: it is better to squeeze the diced tomatoes while adding them to water rather than adding them straight away as diced cubes, this can exponentially increase the flavor!).
3) Boil well.
4) Now, add rasam powder. Simmer and heat for 3-5 minutes.
5) Add salt and mix.
6) In a frying pan, add 1 tsp oil/ghee. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal. When the mustard splutters and when the urad dal turns golden brown, add curry leaves, asafoetida, green chillies. Wait for a minute. Add this mixture to the rasam and mix well.
7) Dilute rasam with water according to taste if required.
8) Add cooked toor dal and mix. Turn off stove.
9) Squeeze lemon and mix well (Hint # 2: You can also use lemon concentrate that you get in stores).
10) Garnish with cilantro.

Hint # 3: I also prefer to use vine ripe tomatoes for my rasam since they have the best flavor! The quality of the tomatoes are important for a good rasam.

Hint # 4: Lemon should be added according to taste. To increase tanginess, you can also add tamarind concentrate (1/4 tsp) to the water before adding tomatoes!!

Vatral Kuzhambu

2009-08-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

Things you need:
For Vatral kuzambu powder: Toor Dal 2 tbsp, Urad dal ("ulutam paruppu") 2 tbsp, Chana dal 2 tbsp, pepper corn 4-5, red chilli 1-2. Roast these with a little oil in a tawa/frying pan. Grind in a dry grinder.
Other ingredients: mustard seeds 1/2 tsp, asafoetida- a pinch, curry leaves- a couple or curry leaves powder, tamarind paste- 1/2 tsp, manathakkali 2 tsp, methi seeds- 1 tsp, rice flour 1 tsp, salt- 1-2 tsp.

How to make:
In a saucepan, add 2 tsp oil. Add mustard, asafoetida, curry leaves, methi seeds, manathakkali and roast for a minute. When mustard splutters and when manathakkali changes to a darker color, add 3 cups water. Add tamarind paste to this and mix well. Add vathakuzhambu powder and salt. Boil well ( for about 4-5 minutes). To thicken, dissolve rice flour in water and then add to the boiling kuzhambu. Boil for a minute, turn off stove and serve. Truly yummy!!

Kuzhakattai/ Modak

2009-08-23T21:23:00.001-07:00

I had a picture from the kozhukattais made last year, but had not posted the recipe yet. Here it is, may be you could try for the Vinayaka Chaturthi this year ??!!

For the coconut filling :

Grated coconut- 1 cup

Jaggery- 1 cup

Powdered cardamom- a pinch

In a deep skillet, melt the jaggery in a little water. No need to make syrup.
When the jaggery boils, add coconut and cardamom and mix well. You should reach a consistency shown in the picture below.

For the dough-

1 cup rice flour

Oil- 1 tbsp

Water

Salt

In a skillet, add oil.
Add rice flour and one cup water. Mix well and break lumps. Water makes the batter really soft. So the more you add, the better!
Add salt. Mix well. The batter should be smooth and silky. I am sure most of you have seen the batter that your mom makes! Will upload a picture this time.

To make the kozhukattais:

Roll the dough into golf-size balls. Oil your palms so that the batter does not stick to your hands.
Flatten it.
Add the coconut filling.
Steam in microwave or pressure cooker with little water. You can steam these in an idli plate. Place them in an idli plate. Set a cup of water in a round bottom vessel on the stove. Place the idli plate on top and close with a lid. Steam for 8-10 min. I steamed the kozhukattais in the microwave using microwaveble idli plates. If using a microwave, steam for 4 minutes.

Enjoy!

Rava Upma

2009-08-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

Upma is one of my all time favorites. Especially, rava upma. There are several recipes to this and like poha, could be had for breakfast, evening tiffin and for dinner.

Things you need (enough for 2 for one meal):
Rava/semolina (1 cup), ghee/oil- 1 tsp, 1/2 tsp mustard, 1/2 tsp urad dal, 1/2 tsp chana dal, 1/2 a medium-sized onion- chopped, 1 small tomato- chopped, 4-5 green chillies- finely chopped, ginger- finely chopped (half a tsp), 10-12 peanuts, 5-10 cashewnuts, turmeric- a pinch, salt- 1 tsp or as per taste, vegetables like green peas, beans, cauliflower and potato (a dinner plateful, steamed), cilantro for garnishing.

How to make:
1) Roast rava until it changes color to brown. It is important to not burn the rava. Turn the stove off when you see the color changing and when you will smell a distinct nice flavor.
2) When you are roasting the rava, chop the vegetables and steam them in microwave/pressure cooker.
3) In a medium-sized frying pan/tawa, add little bit of oil or ghee for saute. Ghee gives a much better flavor then oil. But yes..for the calorie conscious, not a great option :)
4) Add the chopped onions and fry until they turn translucent.
5) Add mustard, ural dal, chana dal and saute until the mustard splutters and the ural dal turns color to light brown.
6) Add chopped green chillies and ginger. Add peanuts and cashews. Fry for a minute.
7) Add tomatoes, vegetables and turmeric. Fry for a minute.
8) Here is the important part. Add water and boil. The amount of water you add is extremely important. Meenakshi Ammal recommends adding 1 and 1/2 cup of water to 1 cup rava. This makes the upma more "udiri" or light.
I personally like to add 2.5 cups of water to every 1 cup of rava. This makes it more like khichdi.
9) Let the water boil. Add salt
10) When the water starts boiling, add the rava and mix.
11) Keep mixing until all the water evaporates.
(Note: I recommend wearing oven mitts when adding the rava and mixing to prevent scalding from steam).
12) Garnish with cilantro.

Poricha Kuzhambu/Vegetable Stew

2009-08-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

I tried this for the first time today and I should say, it came out well. It is one of those dishes that will go with anything- rice, chapathi and even as a side dish to the thayir sadam (curd rice). It is pretty easy to make and ready in a jiffy. You do not require any pre-cooked dal (lentils).

Things required: 1 tbsp Toor dal, 1 tbsp ural dal, couple of pepper corns, 3-4 red chilli, 1 tsp jeera, veggies (anything frozen like beans, carrots, cauliflower, green peas), little bit of coconut, curry leaves or curry leaves powder, turmeric, salt.

How to make:
1) Thaw vegetables if frozen in the microwave.
2) Add water in a saucepan, and boil.
3) Add microwaved veggies in the water with a pinch of turmeric.
4) Roast toordal, urad dal, jeera, red chilli, pepper corns and curry leaves with a little bit of oil.
4) Grind the roasted items in a dry grinder.
5) Add the roasted items and salt to the veggies and let cook for 2-3 minitues.
6) Turn off the stove and add coconut. Mix well.

You can also use potatoes or any kind of squash for this dish in place of the frozen veggies.

According to Meenakshi Ammal's Samaithu Paar, coconut should be roasted lightly and grinded with the other items. I added coconut at the very end without roasting and it tasted pretty good.

The awesome Poha!!

2009-08-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ok. Today I will write about Poha. Poha originates from Maharashtra. Its a "light" dish, easy to make and can be had for breakfast, tiffin or a light dinner. This recipe comes from my sister passed on to her by her in-laws.

Things you need (enough for one meal for 4): Poha (beaten rice/"aval")- 1/2 pound, half of a medium-sized onion chopped, one potato longitudinally sliced and microwaved (5 min on high) or boiled, 3-4 green chillies chopped, one teaspoon jeera, 10-15 peanuts, generous amount of coconut (half a cup), cilantro.

How to make: Soak poha in water. This part of the recipe is the most crucial to get "udiri"/non-stiky poha. Take poha in a bowl and add water just enough to submerge poha. Soak poha for 5 minutes and then completely drain the water. Poha must be much softer now.
In a kadai, add oil and saute onion until they turn translucent. Add peanuts and saute until they turn golden brown. Add green chilli, jeera and potatoes. Saute for a minute. Add turmeric. Mix. Now add the pre-soaked poha and mix well with the saute'd items. Add salt and mix. Turn off the stove. Add coconut generously and mix well. Garnish with cilantro. Bon appetit!!

Semiya (vermicelli) Payasam (Kheer)

2009-08-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Possibly, this is some kind of a motivation after watching Julie and Julia! So, I have decided that I am going to pen down notes of my cooking and the recipes that I use in my future blogs. This is not only going to help newbies to cook (or so I hope :)), but also help me try new recipes. Guess, kinda similar to what Julie Powell had to do. Anyways, like Julia Child (the cooking legend) I really like to eat :) South Indian, North Indian, Greek, Italian, Thai being my order of liking. Since I am a south Indian, most of the recipes that I will be blogging about will be common items cooked in a typical south indian kitchen.

Today, I am going to share the recipe of semiya (vermicelli) payasam. Its really simple, easy to make and truly yummy!

Things you need: 1/2 cup semiya (thin), 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup condensed milk, 3-4 cardomom pods, 5-6 cashewnuts (broken), 2 cloves (ground), couple of raisins

In a tawa, add little ghee and roast semiya until golden brown. Keep aside.
In the same tawa, roast cashewnuts until golden brown, keep aside. Add raisins and briefly roast.
In a saucepan, pour the milk and heat. Add cardomom and cloves. When the milk starts boiling, reduce flame and add the roasted semiya. Boil until semiya becomes soft. This will take about 2-3 minutes (hint: take a few pieces and see if they can be squished between your fingertips). When the semiya becomes soft, turn off the flame. Add condensed milk and stir well (start with 1/4 th of a cup of condensed milk, mix well and taste. Add additional condensed milk, if needed, to suit your taste!!). Add cashewnuts and raisins.

For decoration, you can use the cardomom pods and decorate on top. Cashewnuts and raisins can also be used for garnishing.

To give it little more zest, you can add grated coconut (roasted in ghee) on top.

Joys of cooking ??

2009-08-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

I remember the times when my mom used to cook twice everyday. Yes, twice!! She would get up at 5, and by 7, would have a complete meal ready! We would have sambhar/kootu/kuzhambu/rasam and a curry ready. Some times even more, like a pachidi and/or payasam. Same in the evening. We used to eat freshly cooked meal everyday for every meal. And yeah, she would go to work 6 days a week.

And now, I wonder. why have I not inherited that from my mom. Yes, I work too. Probably, more like 45-50 hrs a week. But, I don't cook everyday. and even when I cook (which is more like 2 times a week, at the maximum) I don't feel like it sometimes:( o-o. Its more like a chore to me. I think I just don't like to do the routine cooking. I would rather try out something new or bake. Ya, my new thing is to bake. Like Julie Powell, I have bought myself a book on 250 something baking recipes and am set to try them all out; well, at least a few of them :) I have so far made wonderful muffins, breads, cakes, cookies and totally liked them all. Set to try a lot of those in the coming days and glad that I love to bake though not the routine cooking that my H is taking care of when I don't feel like it!

modern day diary

2008-10-19T00:45:00.000-07:00

I was just reading thr' a few blogs...made me wonder why I don't blog when almost the whole world does..well, isn't blogging the modern day version of keeping journals?! although the e-journals are more public then the olden day diaries!! I remember those days in school when I tried penning down my thoughts in a diary at the end of each day although the process did not last very long!!well, here is a start to my e-diary, and only time can tell how much i am gonna continue blogging..