Happy New Year 2015!

Wish You a Very Happy New Year 2015! 

May this bring happiness, health and wealth to you & your family! 

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Diwali Wishes..

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Taking a break..

 I am traveling to India this week and will be back in the end of September. See you then with some interesting posts. Thanks for the support friends!

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Easy Chutney for Idly & Dosa

Ingredients

Onion(big)-1

Tomato(big)-1

Green chilly-3 (adjust to taste)

Roasted peanuts- one fist full

Tamarind- tiny piece

Oil 

Salt

Method

Chop the onion and tomato into big chunks.

Heat oil in a pan, add the onion-green chilly, sauté them for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. 

Then add the tomato and sauté until it becomes soft.

Add the roasted peanuts and tamarind. Fry for a minute and put off the stove. Let it cool, then grind it into a fine chutney.

No need to add water, the tomatoes we added will do the job.

This is a quick and easy chutney..an inviting variation from regular "red chilly-channa dal or urad dal combo" in our house. It tastes great with idli as well as dosa.

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Cabbage & Wheat flour Adai

Ingredients

Wheat flour-1cup

Chopped onion-1/4cups

Chopped green chillies-3 (adjust to taste)

Chopped cilantro-2tablespoons

Grated coconut-1tablespoon

Salt

Water

Oil 

to saute 

Oil-1teaspoon

Cumin seeds-1/2teaspoon

Chopped cabbage-1/4cup

Method

Heat a teaspoon of oil, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. 

Add the cabbage and sauté for 2-3minutes.

Let it cool down completely. 

Combine wheat flour-chopped onion-chopped green chillies-chopped cilantro-sauted cabbage-salt-grated coconut in a bowl. 

Add water to make a thick batter. The consistency should be thicker than the regular dosa batter.
Heat a griddle, make thick dosa with the mixed batter.
Drizzle oil and let it cook on one side, flip it and cook the other side as well.
Serve hot with your choice of side dish.

Any kind of pickle,  plain yogurt or coconut chutney will be a perfect side for this adai. Can have as such too..which is what obviously I did! ;) :). As I was in a hurry to make the dinner, I just sautéed the cabbage on the griddle itself! It makes the process faster. 

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Vendaikkai Poriyal/Okra Stir-fry/Ladies Finger Stir-fry

This is a quick and delicious stir-fry. I posted it long back, but now the pictures are missing in that post. Thought of updating the recipe with fresh pictures. :)

Ingredients

Vendaikkai/Okra/Ladies finger - 20

Chilly powder-2teaspoon(adjust to taste)

Mustard seed-1/2teaspoon

Salt

Oil

To Mince

Coconut-2tablespoons

Cumin seeds-1teaspoon

Onion-1

Method

Wash and pat-dry the okra/Vendaikkai. Trim the edges, slit them into 4 pieces.

Mince the items in a food processor/mixie to a coarse paste. 

Heat oil in a wide pan, temper with mustard seeds. 

Then add the okra pieces and sauté on medium heat.

 Once the veggie is half-way cooked, add the chilly powder-salt.

 Give it a quick stir, now add the coconut-cumin-onion paste.

 Toss it nicely till the raw smell of the onion has gone. Delicious stir fry is ready to serve.

Goes well with all kinds of rice and roti. 

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Freezing Coconut Paste

Coconut paste is used in lot of kurma varieties and kuzhambu varieties in South Indian cooking. Making the coconut paste in bulk and freezing it will be handy. I used the cute ice cube trays to freeze the coconut.
Ingredients
Whole coconut/Freshly grated coconut
Very little water
Method
Wash the ice cube trays and keep it ready.
Break the coconut, and using a sharp knife, take the coconut, chop into small pieces. (If using freshly grated coconut, you can skip this step)
Take the coconut in a mixer/food processor and pulse it for 3-4 times.
Now add little water and grind it into a fine paste.

Fill the ice cube trays with the ground coconut and freeze it for 4-5 hours. 

Take the frozen coconut cubes and store it in a zip-lock bags.

Use them as needed in sambar-puli kuzhambu or korma/kuruma.

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Methi Leaves Stir-fry/Vendhaya Keerai Poriyal

You might wonder cooking methi leaves alone will result in a bitter dish. But try this recipe, I bet you will love it. Its healthy, quick..more than that its delicious! :)
Ingredients
Methi leaves -1small bunch
Chopped onion-2tablespoons
Red chilies-2 (or) 3
Tomato-1 (small)
Grated coconut-1tablespoon
Mustard seed-1/2teaspoon
Channa dal & Urad dal-1/2teaspoon each
Sugar-1/4teaspoon
Salt
Oil
Method
Keep the onions-tomatoes-redchilly and other tempering ingredients ready.

Clean and wash methi leaves.

Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let them pop-up. Add the channa & urad dal and fry till they turn golden.

Now add the chopped onion-broken red chillies and sauté for a minute. 

Meanwhile chop the methi leaves. (If the green is fresh and tender, you can use the stems of the methi too. I have added the stems as well.)

Add the chopped tomato and cook until its soft. Then add the methi leaves, sprinkle some water. Add the sugar and let it cook. 

Methi leaves get cooked fast, so add the coconut and enough salt to the stir-fry and put off the stove. 

Mix everything well and let the pan be on the stove for 2-3 minutes. By then stir fry would be dry and  ready. Enjoy it with your choice of rice dish or roti. 

I had it with Jeera rice and dhal. It tastes great with plain white rice or sambar rice, rasam rice. It will be perfect side for the roti too. 

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Soya Puli Kuzhambu/Mealmaker in Tamarind Gravy

Ingredients

Meal maker/Soya chunks - 20

Onion-1

Green chilly-1

Tomato-1

Garlic-10cloves

Few curry leaves

Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon

Shakti Vatha kuzhambu podi-3teaspoons[can be replaced by 11/2teaspoons chili powder + 11/2teaspoons coriander powder]

Coconut milk powder-1tablespoon

Tamarind juice(thick) -1/4cup

Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon

Methi seeds-10

Salt

Sugar-1/2teaspoon

Gingely oil - 1tablespoon

Method

Wash and put the soya chunks in boiling water, cook for 3 minutes. Drain them and squeeze out the water and keep it aside. 

Chop the onion and garlic cloves, green chilly and tomato into big chunks.

Heat gingely oil/nallennai in a pan, add the mustard seed and let them pop-up.

Add the methi seeds followed by the onion-garlic-g.chilly and curry leaves(which I didn't add). 

Saute for a while then add the soya chunks and cook for couple of minutes. 

Now add the chopped tomatoes, tamarind water, masala powder  and salt.

Let this boil nicely till the raw smell of the tamarind has gone. Then add the coconut milk powder and adjust the water according to the desired consistency.

Cook for one boil, reduce the heat to low, add the sugar and let the kuzhambu simmer for 4-5 minutes.

Tangy and delicious kuzhambu is ready. Soya chunks will absorb the tamarind juice and will be soft and yummy!

Enjoy the meal maker puli kuzhambu with piping hot rice.

Recipe inspiration : HERE

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Wholegrain Bread Pudding with Condensed milk

Ingredients

Wholegrain Bread - 4 slices

Condensed milk-1/4cup

Eggs-2

Butter-1tablespoon

Milk-1/2cup

Sugar-1tablespoon

Raisins-one fist full

Cinnamon powder -1/4 teaspoon (or) Vanilla essence-1/2teaspoon 

Method

Cut the bread into bite size pieces and keep it ready.

Take the condensed milk and butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat it for a minute, whisk it well and let it cool.

To that, add 2 eggs, sugar and 1/2cup milk, cinnamon powder (or) vanilla essence and beat everything well.

Add the chopped bread, raisins  fold them gently into the milk.

Pour the bread mixture into a greased baking pan. 

Bake it for about 35-40 minutes in a 350F pre heated oven.

Take the pan and let it cool for an hour. Loosen the edge of the pudding, slice it into desired shape and serve with ice cream or whipped cream or as such. 

As Hubby dear didn't know I am gonna cut the pudding, he mixed the pudding gently before an hour. :) ;) We all enjoyed the delicious pudding!

 Yup..thats Geno, waiting for his share after the photo shoot! :D

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Quinoa Paniyayarm

Ingredients
Wild quinoa/Quinoa -1cup
Brown rice-1cup
Methi seeds-1teaspoon
Urad dal-1/4cup
Salt

Method
Wash and soak the rice-quinoa and methi seeds for 4 to 5 hours.
Wash and soak urad dal for 11/2 hour.[Can soak it separately or with quinoa itself, I soaked with quinoa]
Grind everything to a fine batter, add enough salt and let it ferment for at least 8 hours.
Check the consistency of the batter, add water if necessary while preparing paniyarams.

Heat a paniyaram pan on medium heat with little oil in each of the hole. Pour a small ladle of batter in each hole and let it cook.

Turn the paniyaram once its cooked on one side and cook on the other side. Remove them from the pan and serve hot with your choice of chutney.

We had it "Madurai chutney", perfect combo for paniyaram.

Note
I have used wild quinoa in this recipe so the color is little brown. If we use plain quinoa the color will be slightly different. Here is the picture of the paniyarm with normal quinoa.

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Ridge gourd Stir-fry / Peerkangai Poriyal

Ingredients
Ridge gourd - 1 (chopped 1 cup)
Chopped onion-2tablespoons
Green chilly-1 or 2
Grated coconut-2teaspoons
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Channa dal & Urad dal-1/2teaspoon each
Oil
Salt

Method
Trim the edges and skin of the ridge gourd and cut it into desired shape pieces. [I like veggies to be on the bigger size so chopped them into small cubes]

Heat oil in the pan, add the mustard seeds and let them pop-up.

Add the channa and urad dal, let them turn golden in color.
Add the onion, green chilly, sauté for a minute and add the chopped veggie.

Sprinkle little water and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. [Remember, just sprinkle water and don't add salt at this stage. Ridge gourd releases water and shrink in the size]

Once the veggie is done, add the salt and grated coconut. Give a good mix and put off the stove after a minute.

Mildly sweet and delicious stir fry is ready to serve.

Its a simple South Indian, in fact, kongu nadu special poriyal which can be a perfect side dish for rice-sambar-rasam etc. We had it with Pachaipayaru kadaisal and rasam. 

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Lemon Pickle/Elumichai Oorugai

Ingredients

Large Lemons -5

Chilli powder-3tablespoons

Methi seeds-2teaspoons

Hing/Asafoetida - 1/2teaspoon

Salt-1/4cup

Mustard seeds-1teaspoon

Oil-1/4cup

Method

Wash and pat dry the lemons. 

Cut them into desired size pieces. [As I had big lemons, I have cut each one into 16 pieces]

Add salt, mix it well with the lemon pieces and keep it aside for a day.  

The next day..
Dry roast the methi seeds and hing/asafoetida. Let it cool, then grind it into a fine powder.
Mix the chilly powder with the lemon pieces.
Heat oil and add the mustard seeds and let them pop-up, then add the broken red chillies, fry for a few seconds.

Now add the lemon pieces and the methi powder.

Mix everything well, cook for 7 minutes on medium heat.

Delicious and spicy pickle is ready. Let it cool completely, then transfer it to a clean glass bottle.

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