Tomato Raitha

Ingredients

Tomatoes-2

Curd-1/2cup

Chopped ginger-1/2teaspoon

Salt

To temper

Oil

Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon

Hing/Asafoetida-1/8teaspoon

Chilly powder-1/4teaspoon

Urad dal-1/2teaspoon

Chopped Green chilly-1

Recipe Inspiration : Here

Method

Boil about a cup of water and add the tomatoes. Continue cooking for 4-5 minutes. 

Let it cool, peel the skin of the tomato.

Mash the tomatoes roughly. With that add the yogurt/curd, chopped ginger and salt. 

Heat oil in a tempering pan, and make the tempering, pour it over the raitha. 

Mix it well and serve. 

It goes well with parathas, roti, biriyani and to an interesting dish in the picture below! :) Yup..its broken wheat pongal with tamarind juice(puli pongal), shall post the recipe soon.

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Easy Sundal Kadalai Kuzhambu / Easy Channa Gravy with Tamarind and Veggies

Ingredients

Black Channa/Sundal kadalai/Kondai kadalai-1/4cup

Onion-1

Tomato-1

Tamarind juice-1/4cup

Potato-1

Brinjal-1 (or) 2

Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon

Sugar-1/2teaspoon

Salt

Oil 

To grind

Pepper corns-7

Red chillies-4

Grated coconut-2tablespoons

Fennel seeds-1teaspoon 

Method

Wash and soak the channa over night or at least 8 hours.

Chop the onions into fine pieces. 

Cut the potato into big chunks. Trim the head of the brinjals, make a "+" cut into them.

Keep the potato chunks and brinjals submerged in water till use.

Grind the items to grind with little water to a fine paste.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add in the mustard seeds. Let them pop. 

Now add in the onions and fry till they change in color. 

Add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, cook till the tomato becomes soft.

Add in the veggies along with the soaked channa. 

Fry for 2-3 minutes and add in the tamarind juice and let it boil nicely. 

Now add in the masala paste, enough salt. Adjust the water according to your desired consistency of the kuzhambu.

Add in the sugar, and close the pressure cooker.
Cook for 2-3 whistles in medium heat.
Let the pressure subside by itself, open the cooker, garnish the kuzhambu with cilantro.

Quick and tangy delicious kuzhambu is ready! It goes well with plain rice, idli and dosa. The veggies and channa taste grate as we pressure cook them with the masala.

This kuzhambu can be done in just about 30 minutes! Isn't it simple?! :) 

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Rava Laddu / Sooji ka Laddoo

Ingredients
Rava/Sooji -1 cup
Sugar-11/4cup (adjust to your taste)
Ghee-2tablespoons
Few cashews and raisins
Elaichi-3
Milk-1/4cup + few teaspoons

Method 
Boil the milk and keep it warm.
Powder the sugar and elaichi to a fine powder.

Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a wide pan, roast the cashews and raisins and keep them aside.
Add the rava in the same pan and roast till you get a nice aroma.
Take care of the flame, and do not burn the rava at any time.
Once rava has slightly changed the color and the aroma fills your kitchen, add in the powdered sugar and mix it well.
Finally add in the cashews and raisins, another tablespoon of ghee, give it a good mix.

Now take the pan from the stove and let it cool for a few minutes.
Sprinkle about 1/4 milk and mix it, see whether you can make make laddos out of it. If the mixture is too dry, then add few more teaspoons of warm milk and make the laddoos.

Quick and delicious sweet is ready. You can keep them in room temperature for 2-3 days. If you want a longer shell life, then eliminate milk and add more ghee. They will stay fresh for 10-15 days in airtight box. 

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Broccoli-Carrot Stir Fry / Broccoli-Carrot Poriyal

Ingredients

Broccoli-1cup(washed and chopped)

Carrot-1

Onion-3tablespoons(chopped)

Green chilly-3 (adjust to your taste)

Boiled Toor dhal-3tablespoons

Grated coconut-1tablespoon

Sugar-1/2teaspoon

Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon

Urad dal-1teaspoon

Hing/Asafoetida-1/8teaspoon

Salt

Oil

Method

Wash the carrot, broccoli and chop them into small pieces. 

Chop the onions and green chilly as well.

Cook the dal, with out mashing it and keep it aside. (You can reserve some dal while making sambar/ plain dal)

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let them pop-up. Then add hing followed by urad dal. Let the dal turn golden in color, then add in the onion-green chilly.
Cook till the onions turn shiny, add the veggies, salt and sugar, sprinkle little water and cook for 3 minutes and medium heat.
Open the pan, add the cooked dal and coconut.
Mix everything, reduce the heat and cook for 2 more minutes.
Delicious broccoli-carrot poriyal is ready to serve.

Broccoli should not be cooked for long time, the maximum cooking time is 8 minutes. Since we are chopping broccoli and carrot into small pieces, they get cooked within the mentioned time. This stir fry is packed with nutrients from the veggies and dal. It tastes good with rice as well as roti.

We had it with coconut rice, boiled egg, paruppu cutney/thogayal. 

Recipe Inspiration : Here

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Paneer Paratha / Paratha stuffed with Paneer

Ingredients - for the stuffing

Grated paneer-1cup

Finely chopped onion-1

Red chilli flakes-2teaspoons(adjust to your taste)

Amchur powder/ Dry mango powder-1teaspoon

Cumin seeds-1/2teaspoon

Crushed whole coriander seeds-1teaspoon

Salt

Cilantro

For the paratha

Whole wheat flour/Aata-2cups

Warm water-1cup

Salt-1teaspoon

Sugar-2teaspoons

Oil-1teaspoon

Method

Combine the aata, salt, sugar in a bowl, mix it well. Start adding water little by little, and knead the dough.  Knead it for at least 5-10minutes, you will get a soft dough. Apply oil on all the sides, and cover it with  clear wrap paper, keep it aside for half an hour.

Take the grated paneer, onion, chilly flakes, cumin seeds, amchur powder (can be replaced by some lemon juice), salt and cilantro in a bowl. Mix it well and the stuffing is ready.

Divide the paratha dough into lemon size balls, roll them into small circles. Keep a tablespoon of stuffing in the paratha, pull the edges and cover it nicely. (Refer here for stuffing the paratha)
Do the same for all the parathas.

Heat a griddle on medium heat. Roll the stuffed parathas into flad disks, use dry flour for dusting. Be gentle while rolling otherwise the stuffing might come out.
Put them in the griddle, sprinkle little oil, cook on both sides.

Delicious parathas are ready to serve. We had it with mango pickle and plain yogurt.

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Tomato chutney

Another day-today chutney recipe from my kitchen! Chutney being a major part of our breakfast and dinners I usually blog-hop for some new chutney recipes. May be its the same ingredients, but the proportion and addition of certain things  differs in every kitchen!  :)
Ingredients
Tomato(big)-2
Onion-1
Garlic- 3 cloves
Red chillies-5 (adjust to your taste)
Pottu kdalai/ Daliya -1tablespoon
Tiny piece of tamarind
Salt
Oil

To temper
Oil
Musard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Urad dhal-1teaspoon
Red chilly-1
Few curry leaves
Method
Chop the onion-tomatoes-garlic.
Heat some oil in a skillet, add in the onions and garlic, fry till they turn slightly brown.
Add the tomato pieces-red chillies and tamarind, cook till the tomatoes become mushy.
Finally add in the pottu kadalai/ Dalia and put off the flame.

Grind it to a fine paste with little water once the mixture cools down completely. 

Heat some oil,  add the tempering ingredients one by one, and let them crackle. Pour it over the chutney and serve.

We had it kara paniyaram. 

Recipe Inspiration : Here

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Gujarati Kadi & Kichdi

This is a quick and delicious meal, does not include lot of time, cutting, frying etc! :) Saw this recipe recently and I could not resist to try it. Gujarati  Kichdi is almost like South Indian ven pongal, but has some different spices. It pairs well with the kadi. To add some crunch to the meal, I prepared a simple cauliflower stir-fry. 

Ingredients for Kadi 

Sour Yogurt - 1/4cup

Besan/Chick pea flour/Kadala maavu -1teaspoon

Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon

Chilli powder-1teaspoon

Chopped Ginger-1/2teaspoon

Sugar-1teaspoon

Salt-to taste

To temper

Ghee-1teaspoon

Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon

Cumin Seeds-1/2teaspoon

Few curry leaves

Method

Combine the sour yogurt-chilli powder -turmeric powder-salt-sugar-ginger- besan in a bowl and mix it with a whisk. Add about a cup of water to it , mix it without lumps. 

Take the content in a pan, start heating it. 

Once the kadi starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 5-6 minutes. 

Make the tempering in a small pan, add it to the kadi and its ready. 

Ingredients for Gujarati Kichdi 
Basmati rice-1/2cup
Split moong dal (with or without skin) -1/4cup
Pepper corns-5
Cumin seeds-1/2teaspoon
Cinnamon Stick-2" piece
Salt
Ghee
[You can add chopped ginger and green chillies as well. As I was not having them at hand, I didn't add]

Method
Wash and soak the rice and dal together for half an hour.
Heat ghee in a pressure cooker, and add the pepper corns, cumin seeds and cinnamon stick. Let them splutter. Then add the soaked rice and dal with enough salt. Add 21/4cups of water, close the cooker and cook for 2-3 whistles. Open the cooker after the pressure subsides, add little more ghee, mash the kichidi well.
Thats it,  healthy and delicious kichdi is ready to serve.

Enjoy it with Kadi and papad/chips or your choice of side dish. I prepared a quick and spicy cauliflower stir fry. To see the recipe, click here. 

Recipe Inspiration : Here

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