Parotta

Mom: What shall I order for you?
Me: (spontaneously..without looking thru menu card) Parotta
Mom: Want to try something else today
Me: No. I am fine with Parotta
Mom: smiling.. ok.

This was a usual converstation between me and my mom wenever we eat out. That much I loved it when I was little. One reason for that is its a food which was not made frequently at home like idly, dosa, poori, rice etc., And another one being the tast and flaky nature of parotta thats so inviting for the taste buds.

I have treid to make it so many times, but I would be missing something. Especially the flaky and still soft nature of the parotta. When I wanted to try this time, I was searching for some different recipes and I got this one from ifood.tv with some nice video, though quite a lengthy one. But its worth checking it if you want to try out. And the results were really good too.

 

Ingredients
Maida / All purpose flour - 3 cups
Salt - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Water - approx 1 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup for kneading
Oil - 1/4 cup for toasting


Method:
Dough making and kneading:

Heap 3 cups of maida on a wide bowl. Make a dent or well inside.

Slowly add the water inside. To this water add salt and sugar and mix it slowly with the flour on the sides. Check out for water and be careful not to add too much water.

After all mixing up add oil and knead well well. This is the most important part and it has to be beaten up so the dough gets mixed/kneaded very well. This has to be done for almost 15-20 minutes to get the nice soft texture. Apply some oil on top and keep it closed aside for 30 mts.

After 30 minutes the dough will have rised a little. Make small balls out of it and apply oil on top of it again and let it rest for 10 minutes keeping it covered with moist kitchen towels. If you could notice, it will rise a little.

Spreading and coiling:

Take the balls one by one and roll it as much as you can with a rolling pin, the funny part is, you can watch as you stretch, it rolls back, so apply oil say about a tsp for each parotta and stretch it to paper thin size. It might tear in some areas… thats ok. Stretch using your hands or use the rolling pin, oil makes the work easier.

Hold any one corner of the rolled dough and lift it up. Slowly spiral the dough and make it a ball again. Note that this may need more oil.  Repeat this for all the balls and make them spiral coils and keep them covered under a moist cloth again.

Rolling and toasting:

Take the spirals one by one and start stetching with a rolling pin slightly without applying too much pressure.
Roll them on one side only and don't flip them to roll on the other side. This makes the layers to merge and we won't get the flaky layered texture of parottas. Note parottas will not be too thin like chapatis. So roll them like the size of a pancake.

Heat a griddle/ tawa and keep it on medium flame. Take the rolled parottas one by one and let them cook slightly on both sides. After seeing some spots add about 1 tsp oil/ghee and toast.

You will see it becoming fluffy, flip one more time and then put it back on the counter. Using both hands, try to beat it once, just like clapping, to seperate the layers. Serve hot with your favorite side dish.

Lemon sevai

I always had been making sevai with idiyappam mix. My friends have told about the instant rice noodles but somehow I missed to try it for a long time. Finally I got these instant rice noodles from a chinese super market and made lemon sevai. To my surprise it tasted same soft as the regular idiyappam sevai and even more separate. Since rice noodles cook very quick, this can be made very fast. This can be eaten as breakfast or even as a snack or tiffin, no waiting around time to cook! I used to even make this for my hubby lunch box, since it is quick to cook in the morning.

Ingredients:
1 cup rice noodles
1 tbsp peanuts
1/2 tsp chana dal
1/4 tsp urad dal
1/4 tsp mustard seeds1 Green chilli
1/2 tsp grated ginger
Few curry leaves
1 tbsp oilsalt to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 cup lemon juice (to taste)

Method:
Cook the rice noodles according to package OR Boil water in a pot, Add salt. Add the noodles and cover for only 3-4 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
Add oil in a pan and heat it up.
Add the peanuts and saute for about 30 seconds.
Add the chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds and jeera.
Add the curry leaves, green chili and ginger. Add the turmeric powder.
Add the drained rice noodles and saute along with some salt. (remember you added some salt before)
Add the lemon juice, little by little, so that it doesn't become too sour.At this point taste to see if you have to add more salt or lemon juice.
Serve hot with chutney or pickle.
Enjoy!!!

Badusha

 
Its Diwali and the perfect time for sweets. This time I had Badusha in my sweet list and I got so inspired by looking at the pictures at Raks Kitchen. Also last year my friend made this and my husband  liked it so much and so I wanted to give it a try this time. Its quite easy but have to take care of certain steps. I cudn't make it as exactly in raks kitchen but had tried out my best. I think I should have added little more water to knead and because of less water some of my badushas changed shape while frying. And also it absorbed too much of sugar. But the inside tasted good and flaky and the sugar was okay for my family as we love sugars. I tried to make the doughnut shape instead of curving the corners. But I would like to do that one sometime soon.

Ingredients:

Maida/All purpose flour - 1 & 1/2 cups
Butter+oil - 1/4 cup+1/8 cup
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Curd - 1& 1/2 tsp
Cooking soda/sodium bi carbonate - 2 pinches
Water - 1/4 cup (approx.)
Oil - for deep frying

For Syrup:
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Water- just to immerse the sugar
Elachi powder - 2 pinches
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp

Procedure:

Melt butter and add oil,sugar,curd and baking soda to it and use a whisk to mix well,to make it almost frothy.Add the flour to it.

Mix well to make it crumbly. Add water to make it dough,please be careful when adding,the 1/4 cup is what I used,it was just right,still you adjust accordingly. Make it to a smooth dough without any lumps

Keep on kneading for sometime to get a smooth dough..may be 10 mins,I made 11 small lemon sized balls out of it. You can adjust the size accordingly. 

Now take a ball and pinch the edges and fold it inwards to make rims decoratively as shown in the picture.  Repeat to finish everything and keep covered.

Meanwhile add sugar to a pan and just add water to immerse it and boil till one string consistency ,i.e; if you pour in little water,it should not dissolve and it should lay a fine thread. Add saffron,elachi if desired and squeeze the lemon juice lastly. Heat oil just enough,check it by adding a pinch of batter,if it rises immediately,then its just right. Dont let the oil fume at any point.

Add some five badushas,we prepared ,carefully in to the oil. Remove from fire and let it get cooked in the pre heated oil. Approximately it wud take 5 mins.

At  one stage the badushas float, then again keep the kadai on fire and cook in medium-low flame,adjust heat at the end to make it golden brown,for me it took around 5-8 mins.

Drain in a paper towel and immediately add to the hot sugar syrup,to cover the badusha ,I did this in batches 2-3 at a time.  Leave for a minute and then drain the badushas to a greased surface

After it cools down,the sugar syrup should have turned non sticky,transfer to an clean container. 

Have a colorful Diwali!!!


Points to note:

Knead the dough to a dough consistency. This helps in avoiding it becoming too porous as it excess absorbs oil and sugar syrup.

Sugar syrup should be of one string consistency

Drain the badushas on paper towel before dropping in the sugar syrup. This avoids the sugar syrup getting too oily.


Am sending this recipe for the Navartri - Diwali event happening at Simply food and Festive food at Cuisine Delights.

Spicy Maida Biscuits

This is a simple savory biscuits made of All purpose flour. Its simple to make and can be made for any occasions. Though its called as biscuits, its not baked but instead deep fried in oil. Traditionally this is made as sweets and sometimes chilli powder is added to prepare the spiced versions. This time I made the spiced version and every time I make this it disappears while I fry them. Its so melting on the mouth and very tempting too. I saw some versions of these biscuits with the addition of ginger garlic paste, but I've never tried it and will do it next time.

 

Ingredients:

Maida / All purpose flour - 2 cups
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Salt - as required
melted butter / hot oil - 2 tbsp
water - as needed
Oil - to deep fry

Procedure:

Mix the dry ingredients one bye one and add melted butter/oil to it. Slowly add water and knead it well as a soft chapati dough.

Now make small balls of this dough and roll them as thin as possible.

Now using knife / pizza cutter to cut them to desired shapes. Usually its made as diamond or square shapes. Now keep the cut pieces separately so that they don't get sticked together.

After you have finished cutting them all you can deep fry them. (u can deep fry parallely too if you get a helping hand to roll and cut the biscuits).

Fry them in medium hot oil until it turns nice golden brown color. Drain the oil well and cool it.

Store them in airtight containers and serve it during tea-time.


Variations:

Add sugar instead of salt and chilli powder to get the sweet version

Ginger garlic paste, coriander leaves or mint leaves can be added to get different flavors of the spiced version

Wheat flour/rava (Sooji) can also added in same proportion as maida to get a different taste.

Am sending this recipe for the Navartri - Diwali event happening at Simply food and Festive food at Cuisine Delights.

 

Coriander Rice

Any greens are good for health. When it comes to coriander I get delighted cos of its exotic fragrance. Whether its chutney, rasam, dosa or the rice, coriander leaves makes it extra special. It really makes this rice an awesome dish. The addition of chana dal and urad dal for this rice gives a nice flavor for it. You can  try this wenever you have it a little extra coriander on your refridgerator.

 

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 2 cups
Green peas - 1/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Chana dal / kadala paruppu - 1 tsp
Urad dal / uzhunnu parippu - 1/2 tsp
Hing / Asafoetida - a generouns pinch
Curry leaves - a few
Roasted cashewnuts - a handful
Chopped coriander leaves - 1/4 cup

To grind
Fresh coriander leaves - 1 cup
Chopped onions - 1, medium
Green chillies - 2 adjust to spice level

Procedure

1. Soak the basmati rice in some water for 20 mins and cook in sufficient water until the rice is cooked well, yet firm. I usually use Rice :water ratio as 1:1 1/2

2. Grind the ingredients for the coriander paste with little water.

3. Heat oil for tempering and roast the chana dal and urad dal until golden brown. Add the curry leaves and hing and mix well.

4. Now add the ground coriander paste and blend well adding enough salt. Throw in the green peas and let it simmer for 2-3 mins.

5. Switch off fire and mix in the rice while the paste is still hot.

6. Garnish with roasted cashewnuts and chopped coriander leaves.

7. Serve hot with your favorite sidedish/raita.
 

 

Puran Poli

I am always a fan of stuffed parathas. And I do have a sweet tooth too. So how about a sweet stuffed paratha. And thats nothing else then Poli also popularly known as Puran poli. This is a mouthwatering desert and its quite easy to prepare too. I got this recipe from Vahrehvah and its quite simple. All you have make sure is having a soft dough and the result comes amazing. Enjoy your next festival/occasion with this delicious polis.

Ingredients

Stuffing
Chanadal cooked - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Outer layer

Maida - 1 1/2 cups
Sooji - 1 tsp
Rice flour - 1 tsp
salt - pinch
oil/melted butter - 1 tbsp


Procedure:

Pressure cook/boil the chana dal. Drain all the water and let it get dry. After some time grind it to a powder consistency.

Heat the powdered chana dal and add jaggery to it. The jaggery will melt and get mixed well with the dal. Cook till it thickens to make balls out of it. Add cardamom powder and mix well. Make small balls of it and keep it aside.

Now mix all of the ingredients mentioned for outer layer and mix well. Add some water and knead to a very soft dough  (It should be really soft)

Make balls of the dough and the size should little than the stuffing balls.

Take a plastic sheet and grease with oil. Slightly press the dough and keep the stuffing inside. cover it with the dough by pulling along the corners. Gently press it with your hand evenly around and flatten it as you can.

Heat a tawa and cook these polis with little ghee until u see brown spots on both sides.

Enjoy the delicious polis with your family.

Am linking this post to Taste of Tropics - Authentic Indian Platter happening at EzCookbook.

Home-made Vatrals/ Vathals (fryums)

Vatahals/Vatrals come as instant saviors when we are running a little low on side dish for rice. They make the meal tasty and satisfying too. Whenever we talk of vathals I remember those days (usually sundays) when we go along with my mom and grandma to the open terrace above our house and make them early morning before the sun starts to show his strong rays. Actually sun light is the most important thing needed for drying this and as it is available sufficient back home in Chennai, making this had never been a question there. Thats is the reason why its usually  made during the months of march - april, when the sun is bright and less wind. And its usually made in huge batches which will be stocked for the entire year.

When I thought of doing this in my place where we don't have a place like open terrace, I decided to keep it near my living room window where I will get some sunlight during the day time (I made it well ahead in summer, but sorry for posting it in fall). I was lucky for the first day, but the second  day didn't had much sunlight to dry up the other side. So I heated my convection oven on "warm setting" to dry it out completely. It took 3 days for my vathals to get dried completely. Thankfully it came out well and my family loves this so much. And I got the satisfaction of making some home-made vathals.

I tried both rice and javvarisi vathals. Here goes the recipe


Javvarasi/ Sabudana vathal

Ingredients:

Javvarisi/sabudana- 1 cup (soak overnight)
Green chilli - 2
Asafoetida/Hing - 1/4 tsp
Water - 1 cup
Salt

Procedure:

Grind the soaked javvarisi with green chillies and hing for 2 secs.

Heat water in a pan and add the ground paste to this. Mix salt.

Boil it till it gets cooked and the water is well absorbed to a semi solid state. Let it cool for half an hour.

Take a clean plastic sheet. Use a spoon to take 1 tsp of the spread it on the sheet. Try to make it flat and thin circles.

Let this dry under sun the whole day. After the top part is dry turn the vathals to dry the other side of the vathal.

Make sure you dry it well, absolutely dry without any moisture, so it will have long shelf life and it will be frying well too.

 

 

 

Rice/arisi vathal

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 1 cup
Green chilli - 2
Asafoetida/Hing - 1/4 tsp
chopped Onion - 1
Salt

Procedure:

Grind the cooked rice with green chillies and hing slightly. Or else you can even mash the rice if its well cooked.

To this mix salt and finely chopped onions. This will be very sticky.

Take a clean plastic sheet. Apply little oil on your hands. Take small balls of the rice mix and keep it on the plastic sheet. The balls need not have to be perfect shape.

Let this dry under sun the whole day. After the top part is dry turn the vathals to dry the other side of the vathal. As the sun was not very hot the day I made it, I had to heat the oven in "warm setting" for an hour and dried it there.

Make sure you dry it well, absolutely dry without any moisture, so it will have long shelf life and it will be frying well too.

Store them in airtight containers. Fry in hot oil and serve. It goes very well with sambar and curd rice.


Store them in airtight containers. Fry in hot oil and serve. It goes very well with sambar and kara kuzhambu.

Mupparuppu Idly

We make idlies usually with rice and urad dal. But this is a slight different idly made with 3 different dals - Toot dal, Chana Dal and Urad Dal. And thats the name "Mupparuppu Idly" meaning 3 Dal Idly. Its rich in protien and it tastes exotic. But believe me, it will be little heavy than regular idlies due to the Dal content. I learned it from one of my friend and I love it so much that I tried the next weekend itself. Be careful when grinding the dal and rice as it should be coarse to get fabulous idlies. This batter also tends to ferment soon as we add dal, ginger and g.chillies. So plan to use it immediately after it ferments.

 

Ingredients:
To GrindIdly rice - 1 1/2 cup
Chana Dal - 1/2 cup
Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 3/4 cup
Ginger - 1 inch
Green chilly - 4

Seasoning:
Pepper - 2 tsp
Jeera - 4 tsp
Urad dal - 4 tsp
Chana Dal - 8 tsp
Cashews - 4 tsp
Asafotedia - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - 2 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt
Coconut powder - 1/2 cup (can add small pieces of chopped coconut instead of powder)

Procedure:

Soak the urad dal separately and the rice with all other dals together for 2-4 hrs.
Grind the urad dal, ginger and g.chilly separately until well ground and fluffy. Add water little by little to make it fluffy.
Grind the rice and other dals togther very coarsely. Be careful when you grind this as it will be done very quickly. If you grind it for smooth, the idlies won't be good.
Mix the ground urad dal and the rice and other dals and let this ferment overnight, the same way as we do for idly batter.
Heat oil in a pan and add the jeera, pepper, urad dal, chana dal, cashews, curry leaves and asafoetida one by one. After the dals turn color, add coconut and saute and turn off the flame. Mix this seasoning to the fermented batter and add required salt.

Mix well and pour this in greased cups (preferably high raised tumblers) and steam for 15 - 20 minutes.

After done cool them and remove from the cups. Use a knife to Slightly loose the corners from the cups and tap them gently from the bottom. Serve them with coconut/mint chutney.
I'm sending this for Let's cook #19 Legumes/Lentils happening in Tickling Palates

Kalakand / Paalgova

Paalgova as it is called in my native place is a milk sweet. The one available at the "Aavin" milk booths are most famous. It usually comes in bowls/tins and doesn't have any shape (just like kesari). Recently I had a similar sweet in my friends house and got to know its name as "Kalakand:. It was shaped square with some nuts garnished on top. She told its simple to make this with Ricota chesse and condensed milk.

I browsed for the recipes and used the one I found in Show-Me-the-curry. I made this for Krishna-Jayanthi and it was super simple and tastes fabulous. I did it in microwave and you can do it stovetop too by keep on mixing over medium heat. And most important, it takes just one bowl to make and you don't have much cleaning.  Just try it out wen u have a chance.

Ingredients:
Ricotta Cheese – 15 oz
Condensed Milk – 14 oz
Rose Water – 1/4 – 1/2 tsp (or 2-3 drops of Rose Essence)
Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp
Chopped Pistachios – 1/2 tbsp
Chopped almonds – 1/2 tbsp
Yellow food color - a pinch (optional)

Method:
1. In a microwave bowl, mix the Ricotta Cheese and the Condensed Milk well. Mash down all the lumps with a help of a whisk.
2. Cook in the microwave for 5 minutes uncovered. Take out and mix well. Make sure that you loosen the edges.
3. Back in the microwave 3 more minutes, uncovered. Take out and mix.
4. Microwave for 2 minutes, covered. Take out and mix.
5. Microwave for 2 minutes,cross covered, take out and mix.
6. Add the yellow food color, mix well and microwave for another 6 minutes, uncovered taking out and stirring every 2 minutes.
7. It is ready when it reaches a granule consistency but still sticky and together. you can make a ball together at this stage. Mix well then.
8. Add in the Powdered Cardamom and Rose Syrup/Rose Essence and mix well again.
9. Grease a square and rectangle bowl and transfer this mixture to that. Press down and flatten the mixture.
10. Sprinkle chopped Pistachios and Almonds on top and press them down to help them
stick.
11. Cover and allow to set either in the refrigerator for an hour or on the counter-
top for a few hours.
12. Cut into desired shape and serve

Linking this recipe to South Indian Cooking happening @ Anu's Healthy Kitchen.

Rajma Spinach Dosa

Dosas can be made many varieties. The popular being the plain version. My favorite is Onion Dosas. This is an just another quick version. All you need to have is some cooked and mashed(or powdered) rajma with some chopped spinach. Just add this to dosa batter and this instant variation of dosa will be ready in minutes. A tasty and a healthy treat for your appetite. You may also try adding other veggie combinations.

Ingredients:

Dosa Batter -  2 cups
Chopped spinach - 2 tbsp
Chopped onions - 2 tbsp
Cooked Rajma, mashed - 2 tbsp
Salt
Oil

 

Procedure:

Add chopped spinach, onions and mashed rajam to the dosa batter. Add salt as needed. Mix the batter well.

Heat a dosa tawa/griddle and pour a ladle of the batter on the tawa and gently spread around the corners. Spread 1 tsp oil on the corners and keep it covered on medium flame.

After it starts to turn color on the corners, flip over and cook the other side.

Serve hot with your favorite chutney.

I'm sending this for Let's cook #19 Legumes/Lentils happening in Tickling Palates

Kuzhi Paniyaram - Sweet and Spicy

Kuzhi Paniyaram is a delicacy of Southern Tamilnadu. This could be served as a main dish or even for snacks. Traditionally this is made with lots of ghee/oil but thanks to non-stick pans (we need the kuzhi paniyaram pans) we can make this with very less oil.

This recipe has slight variation from my earlier one. I recently came across this recipe being made with a javvarisi/sabudana and the rice was with different proportions too. It was mentioned that it makes soft paniyarams. And it was true that the paniyarams were super soft and spongy. I really liked the texture of it.

Make this ahead for parties and it will be super hit. This time I made both spicy and sweet versions. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Idli rice - 1 1/2 cup
Raw rice - 1/2 cup
Urad dal - 1/4 cup
Javvarisi/Sabudana  - 1/4 cup
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Salt

Spicy

Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Chana Dal - 1 tbsp
Choped onions - 1 cup
Green chillies - 2
Pepper - 1 tsp
Chopped coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 tbsp
coconut powder - 2 tbsp
Oil - 2 tsp

Sweet
Jaggery - 1 cup (adjust according to taste)
Coconut - 1/4 cup


Procedure:

Batter
Soak the rice and dals with fenugreek seeds together 6 hours. Wash and soak the sabudana separately for 6 hours. Grind all of them together to a very nice batter. Add little salt to this and let it ferment (You need not add salt for fermentation during summer. This way batter will stay good for long time).

Separate this batter equally in 2 halves. One half can be used for the spicy paniyarams and other one for sweet paniyarams.

Spicy Paniyarams:
Heat oil in a pan and add urad dal and chana dal. After they turn orange add pepper, g.chillies and onions and saute till they are soft. Now add the curry leaves and coconut powder and mix well. Put these contents with coriander leaves to the batter and add required salt. Mix well and add water if required.

Heat the paniyaram pans with little oil in each hole. Pour this batter and keep covered on medium flame. After one side is cooked flip all the paniyarams to the other side and cook till done.

Serve with Coconut chutney

Sweet Paniyarams:
Put jaggery in hot water(very little) and let it boil to melt it down. Filter this and add this to batter. Add the coconut powder also to this. The batter is ready.

Heat the paniyaram pans with little oil in each hole. Pour this batter and keep covered on medium flame. After one side is cooked flip all the paniyarams to the other side and cook till done.

Delicious paniyarams are ready.

I'm sending this recipe for Anu's South Indian Cooking Event #1

Navaratna Kurma

Kurma is our favorite sidedish for Chapatis. But I always had to add coconut to make kurma and I was searching for alternatives. Then only I came to know that Navaratna kurma is made without coconut. So I tried it out immediately and the result was fabulous. As the word 'Navaratna' says we've to add nine different veggies for this. But I managed with watever was in my refridgerator.

Try it out today and make a delicious dinner. Enjoy!!!

Recipe source : Edible garden

Ingredients:

2 cups of diced, mixed vegetables - I used carrot, beans, peas, corn and potato
A few cubes of paneer
10 cashew nuts soaked in warm water, drained and ground to a paste
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, quartered and pureed
3 green chillies
1" piece of ginger
4 garlic cloves (or use 1 tsp ginger garlic paste)
1 tsp tomato paste (or use another pureed tomato)
1 cup milk
10 raisins
1 tbsp butter (or ghee)
Salt to taste

Spice Powders:
2 tsp garam masala (or use 1 tsp freshly ground masala like cloves, cardamom, cinnamon)
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp jeera

Procedure:

Heat the butter or ghee in a kadai / pan and add raisins. After they bubble up add the onions until transparent

Grind the green chillies with the ginger and garlic and add to the onions. If using ginger garlic paste, just crush the chillies and add along with it. Fry for 30 seconds.

Add all the spice powders. Fry for a minute. Then add tomato puree and paste and fry till butter leaves out on sides (4-5 mts)

Add milk and about 1/2 cup of water, more or less.

Add the chopped vegetables. Mix well an cook covered for another 5 mins or so, until the vegetables are cooked, yet firm.

Add the cashew nut paste and mix well. Add salt and paneer cubes. Cook open for another 5 minutes until the gravy thickens and comes together

Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with chapati, nan, roti, or pulao.

Rice crackers - Chekkalu

It is Krishna Jayanthi and I was searching for some new and easy snacks, I came across this recipe. This is very similar to 'Thattai' / Elladai. But this is made with fully rice flour and no urad flour. This is super simple if you have rice flour ready at home. Just with a few ingredients, we can make this ready in no time. And it tastes fabulous and will just be finished shortly. My husband likes this even with sambhar/ curd rice. Its damn good. The only difficult part, I would say is to flatten the balls. But you can master this after the first 2 rounds.

Enjoy this great, easy snack for any evening.

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 1 cup
Butter - 1 tbsp
Salt -  1 tsp / as required
Chana Dal - 1 tbsp (soaked for an hour. If you haven't soaked put it in boiling water for 10 mts)
Water - few drops
Oil - to deep fry

To grind
Green Chillies - 3
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves

Procedure:

Take a bowl add rice flour & salt.Mix the dry mixture.

Grind ginger,curry leaves & green chillies to a fine paste .Add this paste to the flour along with chana dal and mix well.

Add butter to the mixture and mix well as it will work as a binding agent.At this point add few drops of water.Knead the dough. Make sure not to add excess water.

Divide the dough in equal parts as desired.Make small balls out of it similar to a dumpling.Take a plastic sheet rest the dumpling on it ,cover it with the other side of the plasticsheet & press it with your palm. 

Repeat the same procedure for all dumplings. You can do this flattening parallel when you are frying.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan.Ensure that oil has reached its correct temperature; then add chekkalu slowly.Allow it to cook on medium flame .

They are ready to be served


Tips:

Be careful when adding water to the dough as excess water may not give crunchy taste
Fry in medium temperature.
The dough kneaded is appropriate only when it forms uneven edges when pressed on the sheet.

I am posting this recipe for Let’s Cook #18 ~ Starters / Appetizers happening at Tickling Palate, Celebrate Month of Shravan at Spicy treats and Anu's South Indian Cooking Event #1

Strawberry Banana Popsicle

I got a new popsicle mould and am on the process of experimentting new varieties. I tried some fruit versions to include healthy bit for these cold treats. I tried a blend of strawberry and banana. Basically you can add any smoothies to this and freeze them to get your favorite popsicles. This give a lovely color and great taste. This is very inviting for kids and you can happy about doing home-made popsicles.

Ingredients:
Strawberry - 10
Banana - 1
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 tbsp

Procedure:

Blend the strawberries smoothly. To this add half cup of milk and 1 1/2 tbsp of sugar. Strain this after blending well. If needed add more sugar.

Pour this in the popsicle moulds for 1/3rd. Keep this covered in freezer for 1 hr.

In the meantime blend the bananas smoothly with sugar and half cup of milk. Blend this and strain to remove any solid parts/seeds.

After 1 hr the strawberry flavor will be half set but not watery. Now add the banana mix on top for another 1/3 portion. Keep this covered in freezer for another 1/2 hour.

I added more milk in the strawberry blend for the last part. This gave me a pink color. After 1/2 hour fill the moulds with the remaining strawberry blend. Now keep the popsicle sticks and press them slightly hard to push it till the end. Freeze this for 2 more hours.

Yummy strawberry banana popsicles are ready for kids.

Naan with yeast

I have tried Naan all time with baking soda and fruit salt. But this time I tried it with yeast and the results were really good. The same soft and fluffy naan were ready for dinner. I uesd instant yeast and the dough rises in about 1 hr. I read that instant yeast helps to rise the dough fast than normal dry yeast. But many recipes uses the active dry yeast. But if you have to prepare in short time go for instant yeast.

I used the same method of cooking on tawa for this naan as with chappatis. But some recipes recommend using the convection oven. Try out this and enjoy your delicious soft Naans

Ingredients:

Maida/ All purpose flour - 2 cups
Milk - 1/4 cup
Fresh curd - 1/4 cup
Instant Yeast - 1 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp or as required
Butter - 1 tsp


Procedure:

Mix sugar in warm milk. Milk should be just warm as bearable when you touch with your fingers.
Add yeast to this and leave for 5 mts. After add curd to this and leave it covered for 10 mts. The mix will be frothy and bubbly by this time

Mix salt and butter to the flour in a large mixing bowl. To this add the yeast mixture and knead to a soft dough. Add water if required but be careful not to add too much. Apply oil on your fingers if the dough is sticky. After kneading apply oil on top surface of dough and leave this covered for 1 - 1/2 hrs in a warm place.

The dough will raise after 1 1/2 hours. Gently knead the dough again and make balls slightly bigger than for chappatis.

Dust the rolling surface with flour and roll the balls. It should be slightly thicker and try to elongate on the sides like the traditional naans.

Heat the tawa on medium flame. Apply water on one side of the rolled naan. And put this side on  the hot tawa. This helps it to stick the rolled dough on the tawa. It will start bubbling up slowly.

After you see the bubbles, turn the tawa upside and show it direcly on the flame. This will help in cooking the top part of the naan. After you even spotting on the naan remove from the tawa and apply butter on top.

Alternatively you can take the naan and flip it on a flame directly over a stand which is used for making rotis directly on flame. and flip it on wither sides to get even coloring. Spread butter on top. a

Serve the butter naans hot with your favorite side dish.


Options:

After rolling to the desired size, add thin slices of garlic pieces and roll again slightly. This will give Garlic naans
Similarly you can add sesame/cumin seeds on top and roll once to get Sesame/Cumin Naans

Teddy bear cookie

Cookies are ever time favorite for kids. Why not make it even more interesting for them? Yeah.. its cookie in the shape of teddy bears with a cool handle to hold. I got a cool idea from Howdini.com.  This will be perfect for birthday parties too.

And the most important thing, we can involve them in decorating. My cookies were decorated by my kid. So please don't bother about the perfection. All I'm happy is they are getting engaged outside the TV box..For the video recipe please check here. I used the instant cookie mix this time, but you can try with your own cookie recipe.

Ingredients

For making Cookie Betty crocker peanut butter cookie mix - 1 packet
Egg - 1
Oil - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/4 cup

For Decoration Icing mix
Colored candies
Popsicle sticks


Procedure

Mix all the ingredients for cookie to a dough.

Make a big ball around the size of a golf ball of the cookie dough. Shape it round and keep it on the greased cookie tray. This is for the face of the teddy

Make two small balls for and keep on the top part of the big ball to shape as ears. These 3 balls(1 bug and 2 small) makes 1 teddy.

Make similar balls and keep 8 teddy in one sheet with spacing inbetween.

Next insert the popsicle sticks to the neck part and press down. Gently press the balls to flatten them

Bake them in a preheated oven at 375F for 10_12 mts until slightly brown. Cool them in a cooling rack.

After they cooled down using icing mix for making the parts of face.. eyes,  nose and mouth

Keep a drop of icing mix and press a candy on top of that for making nose. Similar way do for the eyes. Using the icing mix, draw the mouth part. Add some bows to make the teddies really inviting.

Yummy Teddy bear popsicles are ready to crunch.

I'm sending this recipe to Cookie-Mela happening at Cooking 4 All Seasons.

Carrot Halwa

A simple and healthy treat. Great for any occasions. The color of this halwa is the most tempting part. How much I eat this, I will always need somemore extra at the last bite. Try out sure and u'll love it.

There are recipes which use condensed milk instead of milk and sugar. I've never it but this sure is delicious. To speed up the process, u can pressure cook the carrots too. But the grated texture of carrots will get mashed up in that procedure.

Ingredients:

Juicy orange carrots, grated - 3 cups
Water - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1/2 litre
sugar - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Cashews - 1 tbsp
Raisins - 1 tbsp
elaichi powder (cardomon) - 1/2 tsp

Procedure:

Heat Ghee in a pan and roast the cashews and raisins one after another. To this add the grated carrots and saute till the raw smell goes off and add water. Close it and cook for 5 mins on medium flame

Add the milk after five mins and mix well. Once the milk comes to a boil, slghtly reduce the flame and let it keep boiling and get thick well. Keep stirring occasionally.

Once the milk is almost half reduced, add sugar and continue the heating and stirring.

Continue on low heat till the mixture collects in a soft ball and ghee oozes out. Add cardamom powder and mix well and turn off the flame.

Carrot halwa is ready to serve.

Easy Banana Muffin

This is an easy dish with leftover bananas. Quick to make and can be served instantly. I did this on microwave and this can be done in conventional baking method too. I added some cereal to this and it added some extra crunch.

Ingredients:

Ripe Banana - 2
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
Oil - 1/2 cup
Egg - 1
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Left over cereal - 1/2 cup, crushed
Sugar - 1 cup

Procedure:

Mash the bananas well in a mixer

To this add egg, sugar and oil and mix for 2 minutes

Mix the flour and baking powder and crushed cereal. To this add the egg mixture and mix well with a spoon.

Grease the microwave muffin pan with oil and pour the muffin mix till 3/4th.

Microwave this for 3 minutes on 60% power. Check if its done by picking with a toothpick. If not done, microwave for another minute.

Cool for a while. Yummy Banana muffins are ready to serve.

Muttai(egg) kuzhambu

Egg is always my favorite. And this is my most wanted one of my mom's recipes. As I am fond of puli kuzhambu and eggs, this combination of eggs with puli kulambu is excellent and is a best accompaniment with rice.

Ingredients:

• 4 Eggs (no need to boil)
• 1 Onion
• 1 Tomato(small)
• 6 Garlic Flakes
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 2 tsp Coriander Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder
• 3 tbsp Tamarind Paste
• 1 cup Water
• Oil for cooking
• Mustard seeds
• Jeera / Cumin seeds
• Curry leaves
• Coriander Leaves for garnishing
• Salt to taste

To grind (powder)
Pepper - 2 tsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp 


How to make Muttai Kulambu:

• Chop the onion, tomato and garlic.  Grind the pepper and cumin to a powder (coarse is okay)
• Heat the oil. Its better to use a wide pan as we need more space for dropping the eggs separately
• Add Mustard seeds and jeera. Allow spluttering. 
• Add the chopped curry leaves, onion, tomatoes and garlic.  Saute till they turn brown and tender. 
• Mix turmeric powder, red chili, coriander powder and salt and fry for few minutes
• Fry the mixture for few minutes. 
• Add tamarind paste and water.  Bring it to boil and keep it covered for 5 mins.
• Add the ground pepper, cumin powder.
• Now reduce the flame to medium and break the eggs directly to the gravy one by one separately. A wide pan will help this to give more room for the eggs.
• Cook it covered over medium flame for 10 minutes.  Once the eggs are cooked properly, adorn the gravy with coriander leaves. 
• Serve it with steamed rice.

I am sending this post for Spotlight: Curries and Gravies happening at Cuisnie Delights

Idly manchurian

I am always a fan of Gobi manchurians. This is an excellent starter and have tried it in all ranges, from street-side shops to restaurants. This week when I had excess idly batter, I made some idlys keeping in mind to try out this mouth-watering Manchurian with fried idly. It came out very good and we all enjoyed a variety snack this evening.
I thought  that idly may absorb lots of oil. But if the batter is perfect, its as good as Gobi Manchurian with less oil in idly.

Ingredients:
Idly - 8
Chopped onions - 1 small size
Chopped capsicum - 2 cups
Red chilli sauce - 1 tsp
Soy sauce - 3 tsp
Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp
Green chillies - 2 (I skipped for kids)
Finely Chopped Ginger & garlic - 1 tbsp each
Salt
Water - 2 tbsp
Sesame Oil - 2 tsp
Batter for frying idly
Corn flour - 4 tbsp
Rice flour - 1 tsp
Salt - very little as idly has salt already
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Oil - to fry

Procedure:

First mix the ingredients for the batter with little water. It need not be too watery or too thin. As that tends to absorb more oil. So maintain a slight thick consistency. Cut the idlys into cubes and roll over them in the batter. Fry them in hot oil till golden brown. Drain them and keep aside Heat sesame oil (or any other u use regularly) in a pan and saute the chopped ginger and garlic. To this add green chillies and onions. After sauting for a minute add peppers/Capsicum and saute till it turns tender. add the soy, chilli and tomato sauce one by one and little salt. now if needed add little water and let the gravy get mixed well. To this add the fried Idly and mix well. And turn off flame. Arrange in a plate and sprinkle spring onions and serve hot.

Veg Pulav with coconut milk

This is an easy to make veg pulav.  Addition of coconut milk gives it a nice taste and it serves a great recipe for parties and potlucks. I learned it from a friend and have tried it successfully so many times. I actually bake this recipe which really makes the rice elongated and absorb the flavor perfectly. But keep in mind you have to allot 1 hr for baking. This can also be tried in the traditional rice/pressure cooker method. This will be very mild and kids will love it too. This dish goes very well with any gravy veg/non-veg.

Ingredients:
Basmati rice -2 cups, soak in water for 1/2 hr
Onions- 1 big size, thinly sliced
Tomatoes - 1
Mixed veggies (carrots,beans, peas) - 2 cups
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
green chilli - 2
Whole garam Masala
Oil/ butter - 2 tbsp
Salt
Coconut milk - 1 1/2 cups
Water - 2 cups
Chopped Mint leaves, Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp

Procedure
Pre-heat oven to 400F and grease a oven-safe container with oil and keep ready
Heat oil/butter in a pan and add the whole garam Masala
Add sliced onions and saute them well for 2 mins. Then add ginger garlic paste and saute for 1 more min
Then add green chilli, tomatoes and veggies and saute for few more minutes. Drain the water from the soaked rice and add it along with salt.
Now turn off the flame and add the chopped mint and coriander leaves. Mix well

Convection-oven method:
Transfer this to oven-safe container and add the coconut milk and water and mix well. Cover this with aluminium foil and seal the edges and let it bake for 1 hr in 400 F. After 1 hr tun off the oven and take it out safely and mix well. Sprinkle little water on top if needed and close it again with aluminium foil and keep it back in the oven until ready to serve.

Rice/pressure cooker method:
Transfer the mixed contents to the rice cooker and add the coconut milk and water. Cook until done.
For Pressure cooker, cook this on low flame for 5 mins and increase the flame for 3 whisltes.
Serve with your favorite Rita/gravy

Pav Bhaji

This is a famous street dish on the roads of Mumbai but has got famous allover Indian. The Bhaji is the main thing which is served with Pav bun and the combination is exotic. The aroma and color are most inviting for this dish. Its quite nutricious too as it has lots of veggies in it, potato being the main. This compensates for the butter we add to the recipe. I actually served this bhaji with Hotdog buns but that didn't had anything les for the dish except have to be called as Hotdog Bhaji. :-),. I actually grinded my own Bhaji Masala, but u can always use store bought Pav bhaji Masala powders.

Ingredients:
Pav buns - 20
Big Potato -1
Carrots - 1
Cauliflower - 4 big florets
Green peas - 1/2 cup
Capsicum - 1/2 cup
Green chilli -2
Onions - 1 chopped finely
Tomatoes - 1 chopped finely
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Salt
butter - 1 tbsp
Red food color - optional
To saute and grind
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Ginger - 1 inch
garlic - 3

Procedure:
Pressure cook all the vegetables from potato to green chillies with 1 cup of water till they become well cooked. This has to be mashed so cook very well. Vegetables are your choice and u can add or reduce any vegetables
Mean while saute the ingredients for grinding with little oil and grind to a smooth paste with water
In a pan heat 1/2tsp butter and add the chopped onions and tomatoes one by one and saute very well. This has to be cooked well but take care not to burn them. To this add the ground paste and red chilli powder. Cook well and add little water if needed.
Mash the vegetables that we pressure cooked. we don't want to see anything whole so mash very well. Add this to the pan and mix well and mash again. Now add the food color if needed (I didn't) and salt.
Finally add remaining butter and chopped coriander leaves
When this is ready toast the buns with butter and serve with Bhaji. While serving decorate with fresh chopped onions, coriander leaves and lemon juice.
Let your soul say yummy while u enjoy..

Palak Paneer

If there is one dish in which my family loves Spinach, my vote is undoubtedly for "Palak Paneer". Its simple and nutritious dish makes my family have an extra bite of chapati. Lets go for the recipe now.

Ingredients:

Palak leaves - a bunch
Paneer - 150gm, cubed
Milk - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1
Green chillies -2
Ginger - 1 inch
Garlic - 4
Cloves -3, cardamom stick - 1/2
Oil - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1/2tsp
Salt


Procedure:

Heat oil in a pan and add cloves and cardamom. After they splutter add ginger, garlic, green chillies and onions. Saute them well and add the washed palak leaves to this. Cook for 3 minutes and turn off the flame to let it cool.

Grind, after it cools down to a smooth paste.

Heat butter in a pan and the ground paste. Add salt and let it boil for a minute. To this add the milk and let it boil for 1 more minute.

You can add cream to this instead of milk which enhances the flavor more. Turn off flame.

Before serving add the cubed paneer pices to the gravy. If the paneer pieces are not fresh, you can deep/shallow fry them and add it.

Serve with ur favorite rice or Rotis.

Vegetable Biriyani

After marriage I had tried Vegetable biriyani so many times. But failure every time. I don't know how such an easy recipe which my mom will make so tasty cud be a flop. But slowly I observed many people cooking and corrected and now I could say its somewat to my mom's level. There are so many things which could get the nice aroma and taste. Starting from ingredients, the amount of sauting, cooking time etc., If we miss few things the taste definitely varies. So experience is the best teacher.

Now, here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 1 cup

Sliced Onions - 1, sliced

Tomatoes - 1, chopped

Mix vegetables - 1 cup (I used carrots, beans, potatos and green peas)

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Yogurt - 1 tbsp

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Salt

Whole garam masala (Cloves -3, cardamom stick - 1/2, Cardamom/Elachi-1, bay leaves -1)

Butter /Oil - 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves, chopped - 1 tbsp

Mint leaves, chopped - 1 tsp

Procedure:

Heat Oil in a pan and add the whole garam masala

To this add the Onions first. Let the onions cook to tender and turn light brown. Do this on low flame as it will not burn the onions. Next to this add the ginger garlic paste. Adding this next to onions gives good time for onions to get fried. If we add ginger garlic first then it tends to stick to the bottom of the pan and the onions may not be sautee well

Now add the tomatoes and keep cooking well till it gets mashed

Next is to add the mixed veggies. Now we can add the salt, turmeric and chilly powder but hold adding coriander and mint leaves

Once all the vegetables are mixed well, turn of the flame. Now add the yogurt, lemon juice and chopped mint and coriander leaves. Mix well. The reason for adding at the end is hold the aroma of the leaves wen the rice is getting cooked. Also turning off the flame, helps the yogurt to get mixed well. Now add the clean and dranied basmati rice

Add 1 and 3/4 cup of water and put it the pressure cooker. (Alternatively you can use rice cooker)

After 1 whislte reduce the flame to very low for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, increase the flame and allow for 2 more whisltes. Turn of the flame and open after pressure is released.

Awesome Vegetable Biriyani is ready.

Quick tips:

Addition of lemon juice, yogurt and mint leaves gives a nice aroma and great taste.

Saute the onions and vegetables for the perfect time and add enough oil. A little extra oil means extra taste.

If using pressure cooker, instead of cooking the rice directly in the pressure cooker, use a separate bowl that will fit in your cooker. Fill the cooker base with 1 cup water and keep the bowl with the rice and the measured amount of water inside. Cooking procedure and time will be the same as usual. This way you can avoid rice burning at the bottom.

Beetroot Moongdal Pakoda

One beetroot was sleeping in my refridgerator for a long time. Lasttime when I made beetroot poriyal, it was left with me at end as noone had interest. An idea striked suddenly and they were transformed to pakodas shorlty. My usual pakoda are made of onion and gramflour. This is very different as it is made with moongdal and had the slight sweetness of beets. In fact I thought it was a healthy pakodas though being deepfried.

Ingredients:

Beetroot - 1, shredded

Onions - 1, thinly sliced

Chopped Curry leaves, coriander leaves - 2 tbsp

Salt

Oil - to deep fry

To coarsely Grind:

Yellow Moong Dal - 1/2 cup (soak for 1 hr)

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Red chilly - 1

Ginger - 1 inch, thinly sliced,chopped

Garlic - 3 crushed into pieces

Procedure:

1. Wash the soaked moong dal and grind coarsely with fennel seeds, ginger, garlic and Red chilly. Please grind without any water.

2. To this add the beetroot, onions, curry and coriander leaves. Mix salt to this.

3. Heat oil in a pan. Make small balls and drop in the hot oil slowly.

4. Cook it medium heat, till cooked on all sides.

5. Drain the oil well and serve hot.

I am sending this recipe for "Only" Snacks And Starters event happening at Vegetarian Tastebuds