Drumstick leaves Stir-fry / Murungai keerai poriyal

Ingredients
Cleaned and washed drumstick leaves - 11/2 cups
Small onions- 10
Red chillies- 4 (adjust to your taste)
Grated Coconut -1tablespoon
Mustard seeds -1/2teaspoon
Channa dhal -1teaspoon
Urad dhal -1teaspoon
Sugar - a generous pinch
Oil
Salt
Method
Chop the onions, break the red chillies.
Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and allow them to pop-up.
Then add channa & urad dhals, fry till they turn golden in colour.
Now add the onions & red chilly, sauté for a while.

Add the greens, sprinkle the sugar and little water, n cook it for 3-4 minutes.
Add the grated coconut along with salt, give a quick stir and put-off the flame.
Healthy and yummy stir fry is ready. Goes well with rice / roti.

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Curd Vermicelli / Thayir Semia

Ingredients
Roasted Vermicelli / Semia - 1/2 cup
Thick curd-1/2cup
Milk-1/4cup
Green chilly-1
Few curry leaves,cilantro
Small piece of Ginger
For temperingMustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Cumin seeds -1/2teaspoon
Urad dhal-1teaspoon
Few curry leaves
Red chilly-1
Hing -1/8teaspoon
Salt
Oil
Few cashews(optional)
Method
Chop the green chilly, half of the curry leaves, cilantro into fine pieces.
Boil 2 cups of water. Add the vermicelli when the water comes to rolling boil. Reduce the flame, cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Wash the cooked vermicelli in cold water few times, and strain it with a strainer/colander.

Combine the strained vermicelli, curd, milk, chopped g.chilly,ginger, curry leaves, cilantro with enough salt. Mix everything well and refrigerate it at-least for a couple of hours.

In a tempering pan, heat some oil, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Then add Hing followed by dhals, fry till they turn golden colour. Add the broken red chilly & curry leaves, pour it over the curd vermicelli just before serving.

You can add fruits like pomegranate & black/green seedless grapes. They add more colour and the dish will be very pleasing to eyes.
This is curd rice, the recipe is the same as that of curd semia. Instead of semia, use the cooked rice. The rice should be little mushy. I added a couple of tablespoons of pomegranate seeds and served it along with Pickle, Mor milagai (curd-chilli), Mint chutney & Vengaya vadaam.( Onion flavoured chips). Here is another closer look! :)))

You can add sour cream, few cashews and raisins to make it richer for parties. Adding fruits like black grapes, green grapes along with pomegranate seeds, will make the dish more colourful and definitely its a crowd pleaser. You can make this well in advance and refrigerate. Make the tempering just before serving.

Sending this recipe to Bachelor's Feast event happening at Jaleelaa akkaa's Samaiyal attakaasam

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Brinjal & Potato Stir fry

Ever since I tasted this North Indian style stir-fry in a party, wanted to to make it at home. This combo is our favourite but, I make in a different way. Also I never bought the Italian egg plant so far. At last, tried and hooked with its taste. Italian Eggplants are very yummy to make Bajji, stir fry or simply bake them with cheese. Its really delicious!

Ingredients
Italian egg plant -2
Potato(small)-1
Onion - 1
Green chilly -1
Tomato (small) -1
Chilli powder -1/2teaspoon

Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon
Coriander cumin powder -1/2teaspoon
Garam masala -1/2teaspoon
Oil
Cumin seeds -1/2teaspoon
Few curry leaves & Cilantro to garnish.

Method
Wash n cube the veggies -onion -tomato- green chilly into big chunks. [Real big chunks! ;) ] Keep the brinjal-tomato chunks immersed in water till use.
Heat oil, add cumin seeds and let it splutter.
Add onion-chilly,curry leaves. Sauté for a minute and add the veggies with enough salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder.
Toss it well, and close the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes, tossing them in equal intervals on medium heat.
Once the veggies are soft, add the coriander-cumin powder and garm masala, toss it and put off the flame.
After a minute, add the chopped cilantro and transfer the curry to the serving dish!
Enjoy it with roti/rice!

Note
Always toss the veggies while making this dish. The brinjal pieces are very delicate and will tend to break if you use laddle.

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Meal maker gravy / Soya kuzhambu

Ingredients
Soya chunks/ Meal maker balls - 12 to 15
Onion (big)- 1
Tomato -2
Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon
Coriander seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds -1 teaspoon
Fennel seeds-1/2 teaspoon
2" Cinnamon Stick
Cloves-2
Elaichi -2
Red chilly -5 (Adjust according to your taste)
Grated Coconut -4 tablespoons
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Oil
Salt
Few curry leaves and Cilantro

Method
Chop half of the onion & tomato into fine pieces. Heat some oil in a skillet, add the cumin-coriander seeds, let them crackle. Then add fennel seeds, cinnamon,cloves, elaichi followed by onion pieces. Fry till the onions become transparent, add the red chillies, tomatoes and cook till the tomato becomes soft and mushy. Finally add the coconut, fry for couple of minutes and put off the flame. Let it cool completely and grind it to a fine paste.

Add the meal maker balls in boiling water, cook for 3 minutes.Then wash them well with cold water, squeeze out the water completely and keep it aside.

Chop the remaining onion into big chunks. Heat oil and make the tempering with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the onion chunks, fry for a minutes and add the meal maker balls.
Add enough salt, and fry it for 3-4 minutes.

Add the ground masala paste, and 11/2cups of water (adjust accordingly), cook the gravy for 10 minutes in medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 more minutes and switch off the stove. Garnish with cilantro, serve with hot steamed rice/idli/dosa.

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Baked Apple Cinnamon French Toast

I got a pack of King's Hawaian sweet rolls in Costco, saw this breakfast recipe in their website and followed the same.

Ingredients

King's Hawaiian Sweet Bread - 9 (If using normal bread, take 4-5 slices, cut into 1-inch cubes)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar, divided
1 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided
1/2 of a large apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tbsp. butter
Method

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Place bread cubes in greased 8x8-inch baking dish.
3. Combine eggs, milk, 2 tbsp. of sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon in medium bowl; mix well.
4. Pour half the egg mixture evenly over bread cubes. Cover top with apple slices.
5. Pour remaining egg mixture over apple slices.
6. Mix remaining 2tbsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon together in small bowl; sprinkle evenly over apples. Dot with butter.
7. Bake 40-45 minutes until knife inserted in centre comes out clean.

Serve warm with syrup or honey or plain. We got some left-over, and personally I felt the toast was more tastier the next day! ;)

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Drumstick Leaves Adai / Indian Style Protein Crepes

Ingredients
Brown rice/ Boiled rice - 3/4cup
lentils, combined -3/4cup ( I've used toor dal,channa dal, whole masoor dal, whole moong dal, whole urad dal, red beans, mattar ki dal [split yellow peas] and black eyed peas)
Red chillies -4
Cumin seeds - 1teaspoon
Drumstick leaves - one fist full
Chopped onion - 1/4cup (optional)
Chopped green chilly-1(optional)
Chopped cilantro - 1tablespoon (optional)

Hing/Asafotida -1/4 teaspoon
Oil
Salt

Method
Wash and soak the dals, rice and red chilly to gather for 2-3 hours. Grind it with cumin seeds and little water to a thick batter.

(You can continue the process right away. But I kept the batter for 2 hours then proceeded) Add cleaned and washed drumstick leaves, chopped onion, g.chilly, cilantro and hing. Add enough salt, add little more water,mix everything well.

Heat a griddle on low medium heat. Pour one big laddle of Adai batter and spread it into thick crepe. (It won't come as thin as dosa). Sprinkle oil, once it turns golden in colour at the bottom, flip it over. Sprinkle little more oil (if desired! ;) ) and take it out once its cooked on both sides.
Crisp and yummy drumstick leaves adai is ready to serve. Traditionally adai is served with avial / butter / Jaggery. You can have them with chutney of your choice.

I served it with mild avial and spicy chutney!

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Linking this to "Show me your Hits" , event started be Sangeetha and presently hosted at Julie's "Erivum Puliyum"

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Gulab Jamun

Ingredients
Non-fat dry milk powder - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour - 3 tablespoons
Baking soda - a pinch
Baking powder - a generous pinch
Half & half milk - 1/4 cup (approximately)
Sugar -1 cup
Elaichi -2
Oil - to deep fry the jamuns

Method
Mix the milk powder - all purpose flour - baking powder - baking soda. Sieve it once or twice.
Sprinkle half & half milk little by little, don't knead it too much..just mix it and keep aside for 5-10 minutes.

Now pinch small portion of dough and make smooth balls. Now you can press the dough to bring it to a smooth pieces without cracks.

Heat oil on low medium heat. Fry the jamun's carefully by swirling the pan often for the uniform golden colour on the jamuns.

Take them out and keep it on a paper towel to absorb excess oil for about a minute.
Before you start frying the jamuns, make the sugar syrup by combining sugar with 1/2 cup of water. Reduce the flame to low once the syrup starts boiling, and put off the flame after 5 minutes. Keep an eye that syrup is warm all the time.
Add the warm jamuns to the warm sugar syrup. Note that the syrup should also be warm/hot.
Repeat and finish off all jamuns. Let them soak in the syrup for 2-3 hours.
Enjoy it as such, or chilled or with ice-cream. If serving with Ice-cream, take the jamuns in the serving bowl, warm it in microwave for 10 -15 seconds, and serve it ice-cream on top.

~~~
This happens to be my 200th post! A big thanks to all my readers and friends for your continuous support and encouragement! Enjoy these yummy jamuns as a small note of Big Thanks!
:) :) :)
~~~

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Spicy Egg fry

Ingredients
Hard Boiled eggs-3
Onion-1
Tomato(small)-1
Curry powder-11/2teaspoons [I've used MDH Madras curry powder]
Salt
Few curry leaves

To coarsely grind
Cumin seeds-1teaspoon
Coriander seeds-1teaspoon
Pepper corns-1teaspoon

Method
Heat oil in a pan, add the onions-curry leaves and sauté for a minute. Then add the tomatoes and cook till it becomes soft n mushy.
Add the curry powder-salt and mix it well.
Now add the hard boiled (eggs cut into half), mix it gently and cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Finally add the powdered spices, gently mix it, reduce the heat to low, put off the flame after a minute or two.
Hot n spicy egg fries are ready! Enjoy it with your rice/roti/pulao of your choice.
We had it with vegetable biriyani.



Sending this recipe to Bachelor's Feast event happening at Jaleelaa akkaa's Samaiyal attakaasam

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Coconut Bun / Thenga Bun

This is a famous snack back home, you can find these soft and sweet coconut stuffed buns in almost every bakery. I have tried it several times at home and finally this time am satisfied with the outcome, and here comes the egg-less version of the coconut bun from my kitchen. :)

Ingredients
All purpose flour/ Maida -11/4cup
Rapid rise yeast-1teasppon
Sugar-4teaspoons
Salt-1/2teaspoons
Warm milk-1/2cup
Warm water - 3 tablespoons
Olive oil - 2teaspoon
Butter -2 teaspoon

Stuffing
Sweetened coconut flakes -1/2cup
Sugar -1/4cup
Nuts (Cashew, Almond)- 1/4cup
Raisins- 15
Ghee-2teaspoons
Method
Heat ghee,roast the nuts n raisins, keep it aside.
Combine the coconut flakes and sugar, cook on low heat,till the sugar melts down and put off the flame.

Combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt in a wide bowl. Add the warm milk and
start kneading. Add water little by little and make soft,elastic
dough. Add the olive oil n knead for few more minutes. Keep the dough
in a greased bowl and let it rise for about 90minutes.

Punch the dough, flatten it into a round disc.(say 12-15cm diameter),
spread the stuffing, pull the edges of the disc together and make a
ball. Flatten it to fit an 8x8 greased pan, let it rise for one more
hour.
Preheat the oven to 375F, brush the raised bun with little butter,
bake the bun for approximately 35 minutes. Take it out, give a quick
butter/ghee wash, let it cool half an hour. Cut into desire shapes n enjoy!

Note

• Here I have used sweetened coconut flakes, instead you can use desiccated coconut flakes, in that case increase the quantity of sugar according to your taste. If using fresh coconut flakes, roast them to make dry and use it.
• Usually tutty-fruity & dried cherries are added in the stuffing. I didn't add them, as I didn't had them in hand...instead added almonds! ;)
• You can add couple of crushed cardamom in the stuffing for a nice aroma! :)
  
  

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Carrot Beans Stirfry / Carrot Beans Poriyal

Ingredients
Carrots-2
Beans- 15
Onion(small)-1
Green chilly-1
Few curry leaves (which I didn't add, as I was not having it! ;))
Grated coconut -1tablespoon
Turmeric powder-1/8powder
Chilly powder -1 teaspoon
Sugar -1/4teaspoon
Salt
Oil
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Channa dhal-1teaspoon
Urad dhal -1teaspoon

Method
Wash and cut the veggies into small pieces.

Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds and let them crackle. Then add the channa & urad dhal, fry till they turn golden in colour.

Add the chopped onion-green chilly-curry leaves and fry till the onion becomes translucent.

Add the veggies with 1/4th teaspoon of sugar.

..and turmeric-chilli powders, salt and 1/4 cup of water.

Mix it well, close the pan and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.

By now the veggies would have become soft. Add the coconut and put off the stove.

Quick & Delicious colourful stir-fry is ready.
I served it with Meal maker kuzbambu, rice and rasam. Goes well with roti's too!

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Onion-Tomato & Mint chutney

Ingredients
Onion-1
Tomato-1
Mint Leaves- a small bunch

Cilantro leaves - a small bunch (optional)
Tamarind- a tiny piece
Red chillies-4
Urad dhal-1tablespoon
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Grated Coconut - 3tablespoons
Salt
Oil

Method
Chop the onion and tomato into big pieces. Clean and wash the mint leaves.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds followed by urad dhal and red chillies and tamarind. Roast them without burning..

Remove them and let it cool. Add the Onion-tomato chunks in the same kadai and sauté them for 3-4 minutes. Finally add the mint & cilantro leaves and switch off the flame. They will get wilted in the heat of the pan itself.

Now combine the roasted items with salt and coconut in a mixer jar and grind it to a nice paste.
Add the onion-tomato-mint and give it a few quick pulses. Tasty chutney is ready.

You can temper it with little mustard seeds-urad dhal and curry leaves(which I haven't done while taking the picture!;) ). It goes well with Idli/dosa/Oothappam/roti.

Recipe Inspiration : Here

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