Mysurpa/Mysorepak/Ghee Mysorepak

Mysorepak/Mysorepa is a well known South Indian sweet, which has very minimal ingredients and quick to prepare. I've already posted a recipe long back, but this one is slightly different version. My hometown is very famous for Krishna Sweets Mysorepa, which literally melts in the mouth. We have a big branch (where they make sweets and savories to many Krishna sweets nearby) on the way to our house, and every time while crossing the shop, we can not miss the nice aroma of mysorepa and the other snacks. My hubby is a very big fan of their Rasmalai too!! So when ever you get a chance, don't miss these items in Sri Krishna Sweets.

The simple ratio of mysorepak is 1:2:3, that is 1part Kadalai maavu: 2parts Sugar: 3parts Ghee(or)refined oil/Canola oil. This I made up my mind to follow these measurement, and tried it, it tasted awesome. Just give it a try, once in a while, we can treat ourself! ;) :)

Ingredients
Kadalai maavu/Besan -1/2cup
Sugar-1cup
Water-1/4cup
Ghee/Canola oil - 11/2cups

Method
I have used 1 cup of ghee and 1/2cup of canola oil here, if you are so concerned about the fat, you can change the ratio and use more oil instead of ghee. One more point is use freshly prepared home made ghee for mysorepak, this enhances the taste!

Prepare the ghee and keep it hot. Grease a plate with ghee and keep it aside.[This is an important step, you have to do it in advance, otherwise you will suffer, I bet! ;)]
Gather all your ingredients.

Take sugar in a (preferably non-stick) pan, add 1/4 cup of water and start heating on medium heat.

Meanwhile, take 1/2cup of canola oil in a microwave safe bowl and heat it for a minute, with that add a cup ghee. 

Now add in the kadalai maavu/besan in the hot ghee+oil mixture, use a whisk, mix it with out lumps. [Actually its very simple as the oil+ghee is hot! ;)]

By now, the sugar syrup would have come to a consistency shown in picture. [No need to check the string consistency, take care that the sugar is melted completely and after a few minutes, you will get the stage shown below]

Add the kadalaimaavu/besan to the sugar syrup and start stirring.

Now the stirring process continues for 7-8 minutes on low medium heat, at one stage, you will see that mysorepak mixture is no more sticking to the pan. Within a few seconds, the mixture will become frothy, Immediately pour the mysorepak into the greased plate.

Let it cool for some time (say 30 minutes to 1 hour) then mark the lines according to the shape you want. Don't be too harsh and strong, just mark the lines and let it cool completely(say 2 hours)

Carefully take the mysorepak out of the plate. Delicious and soft mysorepak is ready to serve.

Your house will be filled with the sweet aroma of mysorepak, which reminds me of Diwali/Pongal times back home. :) This has a nice shell life even in room temperature. I made it almost 2 weeks back and still its in a good shape!

Note: My cooking range has a burner with the heat level from 1 to 10,  I kept the heat between 3 to 4 during the entire process. It took 9 minutes for me to get the stage, but I guess its a bit long, as a very little part of my mysorepak was over cooked[but that too was delicious, by the way! ;)],  thats why I have adjusted the time as 7 to 8 minutes. 

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Spicy Turn-overs/Potato Turn-overs

This is an interesting puff pastry recipe. Instead of just folding and baking the puffs, I tried some kinda twist. Everyone loves the food which is appealing to the eyes, right?! :) 

Ingredients

Puff pastry sheets 

Potato Stuffing or Your favorite stuffing

Milk-2tablespoons

Dry flour - to roll out the pastry sheet

Method

Thaw the pastry sheet as per its instructions. [Usually it takes about 30 to 45 minutes for the sheet to come to the room temperature]

Prepare the stuffing according your taste. Here I have used simple potato curry as a stuffing. 

Slightly roll the pastry sheets with rolling pin, with the help of the dry flour. Keep the rolling pin in the middle of the sheet and fold it. With a sharp knife, cut the folded part into thin stripes. 

Open the sheet carefully, separate the stripes and arrange the stuffing. Brush little water on the edges of the stripes, seal the edges in the opposite direction. Finally brush the milk on the turn overs. 

[REFER HERE & HERE for the pictorial of the turn-overs]

Preheat the oven to 425F, bake the turn-overs for about 20 minutes or till they turn nice golden color. 

Flaky and delicious spicy turnovers are ready to serve. Serve with ketch-up and hot tea to make your evenings special! 

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Spinach with Moong dal/Pachai payaru-Spinach Kadaisal

Ingredients
Moong dal-1/4cup
Cleaned and washed spinach-1/2cup[tightly packed]
Shallots-6 (or) Chopped red onion-3tablespoons
Tomato(big)-1
Red chilly-3
Coriander seeds-1teaspoon
Cumin seeds-1teaspoon
Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon
Chilly powder-1/2teaspoon
Sambar powder-1/2teaspoon(optional)
Salt
Oil

Method
Pressure cook the moong dal with tomato and a pinch of turmeric powder.
Chop the onions and spinach.
Heat oil in a pan, add the coriander and cumin seeds, let them splutter.
Add the onions, broken red chillies and fry for couple of minutes.
Now add in the chilly powder, turmeric powder, sambar powder and fry for a minute.
Add in the spinach with 1/4 cup of water and cook for few minutes.
Add the pressure cooked moong bean and tomato with enough salt.
Give it a nice boil, put off the flame and let the content cool.
Mash it with a masher or a ladle, and the delicious moong dal spinach gravy is ready. It goes well with white rice. Serve it with hot rice and a dollop of ghee/coconut oil, along with curd chilly/mor milagai. This is the best combo! You can serve with your choice of dry vegetable curries.

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Channa-Bhatura/ Chole Poori

Ingredients for Bhatura
Maida/All purpose flour-11/2cups
Whole wheat flour/Aata-1/2cup
Sooji/Rava-1/4cup
Sugar-2teaspoons
Baking powder-1/4teaspoon
Curd-1/2cup
Water-1/4 cup (adjust)
Salt

Method
Combine the flours, sooji, sugar, salt, baking powder in a wide bowl. Add the curd and start kneading the dough. Add additional water if required and knead the dough for at least 15 minutes.
Keep it covered for 2-3 hours.
Make small balls out of the dough after 2-3 hours.

Roll them into pooris, and fry them.

Actually I got little help from my hubby while making bhaturas, so could not take step wise pictures. :) Will update the post next time I make the bhautra's.

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Ingredients for Channa masala / Chole

Soaked white channa/Kabul kondai kadalai-1/4cup 

Onion-1

Green chilly-2

Tomatoes-2

Cilantro-to garnish

Potato(small)-1 (optional)

Ginger garlic paste-1teaspoon

Whole garam masala(bay leaf, cinnamon stick and clove) 

Chilli powder-2teaspoons

Coriander powder-11/2teaspoon

Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon

Garam masala-1/2teaspoon

Tomato ketch-up-1teaspoon

Sugar-1teaspoon

Salt

Oil 

To Garnish

Chopped onion-2tablespoons

Lemon juice

Method

Gather all your ingredients

Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add the whole garam masala and let them pop-up. Now add ginger-garlic paste and onion-green chilly. Fry for about 3-4 minutes. 

Then add the tomato and cook till it becomes soft.

 

Add the turmeric, chilly, coriander powders and cook for few more minutes. 

Once the oil oozes out of the gravy, add the soaked channa, potato and tomato ketch-up.

Add enough salt, sugar, 1cup (adjust according to the desired consistency) water..

Close the pressure cooker and cook for 2 whistles.

Now add the garam masala and chopped cilantro to the channa masala.

Tangy and delicious spicy channa masala is ready to serve.

Don't forget to squeeze lemon juice on the channa masala and top with chopped onions while serving.

Its a perfect week end brunch..try it and you won't regret! :) 

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Onion Curry for roti

One evening I was looking for some quick side dish for roti and got this recipe. It's a simple curry which is different from the usual kurma and chutneys. This is a mild side dish and uses only green chilies for the hotness. So adjust the chillies according to the taste.

Ingredients

Onion(big)-1

Green chillies-3 (adjust to your taste)

Tomato(small)-1

Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon

Coriander powder-1/2teaspoon 

Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon 

Salt

Oil 

To make a powder

Desiccated coconut-1tablespoon

Garlic-2cloves 

Method

Juliane the onions, chop the tomato and green chilly.

Powder the coconut and garlic  and keep it aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, let them pop.

Then add the onions, fry for 2-3 minutes.
Then add in the turmeric powder and green chillies, keep cooking for 2-3 minutes.
By now, the onions would have become transparent, add in the coriander powder, tomato, coconut-garlic powder with enough salt.
Add about 1/2cup of water, and let the curry boil nicely.

Once the curry reached your desired consistency, add in the chopped coriander leaves, and put off the flame. Serve along with roti's, idli or dosa. 

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Tomato Rice/Thakkali Sadham

I am not a big fan of variety rices! :) yup...tomato rice is the only exception. During school-college-working days I never take coconut rice, lemon rice or any kind of of one pot meal for my lunch box! Most of the time my lunch box will be either rice mixed with some dal or kuzhambu-poriyal and tomato shows up once in a blue moon! My poor Mom has to cook the lunch for me and pack it every morning! :)))

There is one more method in which I insist my Mom to make the tomato rice. Shall call her and get the recipe later. This one is the easy and quick method.

Note: I prefer boiled rice or sona masoori than Basmati, even though I have used basmati rice here. Basmati rice is good for biriyani-pulao but, cooking it separately and making these rices..I personally feel the taste is not good as boiled rice or sona masoori!

Ingredients
Cooked rice -1cup
Chopped Onion-3tablespoons
Green chilly-2 (or) 3 [adjust to your taste]
Garlic-2 cloves
Ginger- small piece
Toamto-2
Chilly powder-1/2teaspoon
Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon
Sugar-1/2teaspoon
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Urad dal & Channa dal-1/2 teaspoon each
Salt
Oil

Method
1.Crush the garlic and ginger and keep it aside.
2.Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, let them pop. Add in the channa and urad dal, fry till they turn golden in color.
Now add the onion, green chillies, fry for 2-3 minutes, then add crushed ginger and garlic.
3.Continue cooking for few more minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, chilly powder and salt.

4. Cook till the tomatoes become soft. Add in the sugar and give it a good mix.
5. Add the cooked rice and mix it with the tomato masala without breaking the rice .
6. Reduce the flame to low and cook for 2 more minutes.
Tasty tomato rice is ready. Its a good choice for lunch box or to finish the left over rice or for a quick fix lunch or dinner! Serve it with your choice of side dishes or chips.

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Beans Stir-fry/ Saravana Bavan style Beans Porial

 This beans stir-fry is slightly different from the usual one. This became a regular dish in my kitchen soon after Asiya akka posted this recipe. It tastes really good with rice as well as roti's. The fresh and tender beans make this dish more tasty. To tell you the truth, I have never been to Saravana bavan at all! We are "Anna poorna-Gowrishankar, Aariyabavan" people!  Asiya akka mentioned that this is the way they cut beans for the stir fry in Saravana bavan restaurant and thus the name! :)

Ingredients
Chopped Green beans-1cup
Chopped onion-2tablespoons
Green chilly-1
Chilly powder-1/2teaspoon
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Urad dal-1teaspoon
Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon
Sugar- a generous pinch
Salt
Oil
To make a coarse paste
Grated coconut-1tablespoon
Garlic cloves(small)-2
Cumin seeds-1/2teaspoon

Method
Heat oil in a pan, make the tempering with mustard seeds. Once they pop up, add the urad dal and fry till it becomes golden color. Add in the onion and chopped chilly, fry for a while.

Add the beans after the onions turn transparent, add turmeric powder, salt and sugar. Sprinkle little water, cover the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium heat.

Meanwhile take the coconut, garlic and cumin seeds in a small jar of the mixie, pulse it a few times.
Once the beans is 3/4th cooked, add in the coconut masala powder, chili powder. mix everything well, reduce the heat to low, and continue cooking till the raw smell of the spices are gone.
Tasty and delicious beans porial is ready to serve.

Beans porial with Tomato rice and Potato fry

Note: Instead of red chilly powder, whole red chillies can be used. In that case, powder them along with coconut, cumin and garlic.

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Ooththappam

Its a very common South Indian Breakfast/ Dinner item. I have already posted vegetable oothappam here. This one is simple and comfortable food for everyone.
Ingredients
Boiled rice/ Idli rice -2 cups
Poha/Aval/Flattened rice - 2 fist full
Vendayam/ Methi seeds -1/2 teaspoon
Urad dal -1/2 cup
Salt
Method
Wash and soak the rice, vendayam and poha together for 4-5 hours. ( I do soak for 6 hours)
Wash and soak the urad dal  separately for 11/2 hours.
Grind the rice, methi seeds and poha to a thick batter. Batter need not be too smooth or too grainy.
Grind the urad dal also. (add little (cold) water at uniform time interval and grind it to a fluffy batter)
Mix the rice batter, urad dal batter with enough salt. [This step is important, use your hands and mix it for 5 minutes]
Let it ferment over night or 8 hours.
This time may vary according to your place. If its cold weather, you can keep this batter in any one of your (unused) stove burners while you cook on other burners. This will make the batter ferment well. Or you can use conventional oven too.

The method I have given here is my usual idli batter proportion. I always follow this method, once the batter has risen enough, I make idlies one or two times and then use the same batter to make dosai, oothappam, paniyaram etc.

Oothappam
Take the required amount of fermented idli batter, add little water and mix it.
Heat a griddle. Pour a ladle of batter into a griddle, and spread it into a thick pancake.
Sprinkle oil on and around the oothappam, cover the griddle with a lid and cook.
It takes about 30 seconds to cook. Open the lid, check the oothappam, and transfer it to the plate. [Need not flip it, as we close the griddle while cooking.]

Soft and spongy oothappam is ready to serve.

Oothappam with Tomato Kurma

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Bulgur pongal with Tamarind juice / Broken wheat puli pongal

Ingredients
Bulgur/Broken Wheat -3/4cup
Water-1cup
Tamarind juice-1/2cup
Onion-1
Garlic-3cloves
Red chilly -4, Green chilly-1 (adjust to your spice level)
Few curry leaves
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Urad dal-1teaspoon
Hing/Asafoetida-1/8teaspoon
Sugar-1teaspoon
Salt
Gingelly oil -1tablespoon (or more! :) )

Method
Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add in the mustard seeds and let them pop-up. Add the urad dal, fry till it becomes golden in color, then add the hing/asafoetida.
Add the chopped onion-garlic-green chilly and broken red chillies.
Fry till the onion becomes transparent.

Add the sugar, salt, water and tamarind juice to the pressure cooker. Let it boil nicely.

Now add the bulgur/broken wheat, mix it well. 

Close the pressure cooker and cook on medium heat for 2 whistles. 

Let the cooker cool down and open it. 

Tasty and tangy puli pongal with bulgur is ready to serve.

Serve it with plain curd or any raitha/chips of your choice.

I had it with tomato raitha. 

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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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