Thanu's Kitchen

Mushroom and Peas Curry

2011-04-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

Somehow I seem to get tempted to try simple recipes which can be cooked on a regular basis rather than those meant for parties . "Mushroom and Pea Curry" is one such recipe from the book "Entice with Spice" by Shubra Ramineni. Although the dish didn't end up with as much sauce as I expected, it was still very tasty and extremely easy to prepare. I think it would be great with rotis or rice, but I served them with Uthapam and they were awesome.So, yet another simple recipe to my collection before I forget. With very few changes to the original, here goes...

Recipe for Mushroom and Pea Curry(Adapted from "Entice with Spice" by Shubra Ramineni)

Ingredients:
8 oz(250 g) whole mushroom - washed and sliced lengthwise
3 tblspns cooking oil
1 medium onion- grated
1 ripe tomato, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 tspn ground turmeric
1 tspn red chili powder
1/4 tspn ground black pepper
1/2 cup frozen or fresh parboiled green peas
2 tblspns yogurt stirred well
1/2 cup water
salt to taste

Procedure:
1.Heat the oil in a saucepan . Add the onion and saute until golden brown.
2.Reduce the heat to medium and add the tomato.Cover the saucepan and cook until the tomato gets soft .Lightly mash the tomato.
3. Add the turmeric, red chili and black pepper powders along with the salt and mix well. Continue to cook on low heat for few minutes till you get a nice aroma (or until the little one in the living room gets curious and enters the kitchen to enquire about the dinner :) )
4. Add the mushroom and peas and stir well.Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the yogurt and water and bring to a boil over high heat.
6. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for a few minutes. Serve with rice or rotis or like me with Uthapam :)

Ragi Dose / Dosa

2011-01-28T17:37:00.000-08:00

Ragi Dose batter is something which I prepare atleast once every week because of the nutritional richness and the ease of preparation. Eating a few keeps your tummy full for more than a few hours. I guess these are some of the reasons why ragi is the main grain used among farmers in the villages.
Back to the dosa, you can make plain ragi dosa and have it with chutney or you can even make it like a Masala Dosa with the potato filling . I know you will love this coz it is the perfect combination of ease, nutrition and Yumminess :)
My Little sister is a new mother after 2 years into her marriage. She is keen on improving in the cooking front for all the right reasons. I want to help her out with this. This is my first attempt in that direction.
Note: The cups I have used are small ones, not the measurement cups used in baking. If you are using the measurement cups, please use a bit more Methi seeds. The proportion of the ingredients except methi remains the same irrespective of what cups one uses. i.e., rice : dal : ragi flour : poha is 2 : 1 : 3 : 1/2
Ingredients:

Rice- 2 cups
Urad Dal - 1 cup
Ragi(Finger millet) flour- 3 cups
Methi seeds- 1 tsp
Poha/Avalakki- 1/2 cup(soaked in water 15 minutes before the grinding process)

Procedure:

Soak the rice, dal and methi seeds together along with the soaked Poha in water for 4-6 hrs.
Grind it to a smooth batter (of dosa/pancake consistency) in a blender.
Remove the contents into a big bowl.
Add just enough water to the Ragi flour and mix well to make a batter with similar consistency .
Run it in the blender so as to remove any lumps.
Add this to the rice and dal batter and mix well.
Allow to ferment overnight.
When ready to make the dosa, add salt and mix well.
Heat a griddle/tawa and spread some oil with with a cut onion .
Take a ladle full of batter and pour onto the griddle.
Spread into a thing dosa using the ladle .
Spread a few drops of oil around and in the middle of the dosa .
Once done, fold the dosa and serve with any chutney of your choice, my favorite being peanut chutney.

Simple Everyday Tindora Sabzi / Thondekayi palya/ Ivy Gourd side dish

2010-05-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

Simple things which kids say can take you by surprise and put you into the epitome of happiness. Waking up one fine spring morning, sunny boy comes at once and hugs me with a look of such great gratitude . Without me questioning he starts " You know mamma, you are the best. our are just THE BEST."

me :??

Sunny:Well... you not only are good to me in real world, even in my dreams when I am facing trouble , you come and comfort me. You are THE BEST!!
The above incidence has absolutely nothing to do with the recipe below ... I just shared that coz I wanted to :).
Well...kids are not fond of veggies. One trick I learnt was to scare them showing R's grey hair, telling them that the reason he has grey hair early in life is because he never had vegetables when he was their age. Can't believe, Kids are so conscious of their looks , they have improved a lot in the sabzi intake. But every time I serve the vegetables, invariably, the kids topic is always about how Pappa got grey hair early. This annoys R to the extreme. But this particular sabzi is liked by kids and R alike. Simple comfort food- Roti with Tindora sabzi/Thondekayi palya. Recipe follows.
Ingredients:

Oil: 5-6 tblspn
Mustard seeds:1 tspn
Hing: a pinch
Garlic chopped: 2 big cloves
Onion chopped: 1 big
Tindora chopped: 4 cups(ends cut off and discarded and sliced round thin)
Red Chilli powder: 1 tspn or more as per spice tolerance
Coriander/Dhania powder : 1 tblspn
Turmeric powder:1/4 tspn

Procedure:

Heat the oil in a pan. When moderately hot, add the mustard seeds and allow to crackle.
Add the Hing, followed by the chopped garlic for half a minute or so.
Add the chopped onion and stir fry until the garlic and onion turn light brown.
Add the Tindora , stir and cook until the Tindoras are almost half cooked.
Follow this by the spice powders : Turmeric, Coriander and Chilli powder and the salt.
Stir to mix all the spices with the vegetables and cover and cook until done.
Serve with Roti or Chapathi.

Note: Tindora needs to be cut into thin round slices for better taste. I will try and put up some pics soon to give a better idea :).

Eat to live or Live to Eat!! Fruit salad with a Mango base.

2009-06-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

I had no clue my kids thought so much about my eating craze. Here i was in a " I can't take it anymore " kind of mood the other day. Hubby and kiddos had tried some tricks to cheer me up, but not to much success . So my almost 7 yr old Dev gets busy thinking and writing, giving the impression of someone doing a thesis on the creation of the Universe. Within minutes, he hands a five point plan to his dad on "How to cheer Mamma". Given below is what he had written down:
1. Whenever she wants to eat something, we give it to her.
2. We keep her enganged. ("engaged" in proper English)
3. Make her laugh and laugh.
4. We take her to a Restaurant.
5. Treat her like a Qeen !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( "Queen" in proper English)
Just a peek at the note was enough to cheer me up until i noticed that 2 of those points was about eating. When i questioned him, his earnest reply is "Well ! thats what you do most of the time!" Seeeeee....
Anyways, here is the recipe for another favorite desert of mine . Everyone who has tasted this until now has fallen in love with it. You will too and so does Dev! Its a fruit salad with a Mango base with all the stuff which adds to the yumminess of the taste of Mango!
The picture was sent by my dear friend Pratima who like others loved it.

Ingredients:

1.Heavy cream: 1 pint (473ml)carton

2.evaporated milk: one 14oz can

3.condensed milk: one 14oz can

4.Mango pulp : one Tin(30 oz)

5.a whole assortment of fruits: a few bananas chopped, 1 or 2 apples, peeled and chopped, grapes, tangerines , any fruit that you prefer.

Procedure:

Whisk the heavy cream , evaporated milk, mango pulp and condensed milk in a big bowl. Add the fruits and chill in refrigerator. Serve cold.
Be warned: all your guests will beg and plead for more coz you can never have enough of this.
I am sending this as an entry to "Mango Mela" at http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2009/0 5/announcing-mango-mela.html .

Aloo methi ki sabzi - MP style

2009-03-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

How would you feel when your husband who has been a faithful ardent crazy fan of your culinary skills comes home after a dinner at a friend's place and goes ga-ga over your friends culinary skills ?I don't know about you but this happened to me for the first time and I for one didn't know how to handle my jealousy :). But i had to face it. Sonu is a great cook but she is also sweet enough to share all her great recipes.One such recipe of her sabzis follows which ofcourse hubby dear loves. Its a typical MP (Madhya Pradesh state of India) style dish , so simple and very delicious. I love the mild bitterness of methi and its combination with potato, especially the roasted taste of this combo. Goes great with rotis /chapatis .

Ingredients:

Potatoes (large) : 2 peeled and cut into small cubes
Methi(fenugreek leaves) : 1 big bunch
Oil :4- 5 tblspns
green chillies: 2 finely chopped
garlic :4-5 chopped
red chilli powder : 1-2 tspn depending on how much you can handle.
turmeric powder :1/4 tspn
salt to taste

Procedure:

Pick the leaves of Methi , wash and chop them up .Keep aside.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes and keep soaked in water.
In a pan, heat the oil. Keeping the heat at low ,add the chopped garlic and fry for a minute.
Once the garlic turns light brown, make sure the oil is not too hot and add the red chilli powder and turmeric powder.
Follow this by chopped Methi and Potato cubes.
Stir fry this on medium heat until all the water from the methi has dried up. That is the vegetables are about 3/4th cooked.
At this stage add the salt and continue to stir fry until the vegetables are completely cooked.Serve hot with rotis/chapati .
The trick here is to not close the lid on the pan while it cooks.Yummmmyyy!!!

Avocado Strawberry desert

2008-11-16T18:24:00.000-08:00

Long hiatus from blogging owing to a very nomadic experience on the family front . Back to blogging and happy to be back. Let me start, rather restart with one simple desert recipe, the source of which I am unaware of . Passed on from friends I guess. This particular recipe has no fixed measurements. Avocado, the key ingredient here is very similar to the butter fruit we get in Bangalore. The juice centres(especially the ubiquitous Ganesh fruit stalls :)) in Bangalore make a soothing milk shake out of the butter fruits. Yummmm....
The recipe I give below has a strong Avocado taste ,( well, because its an Avocado desert , dummy) and I feel only people who love this fruit will like this desert . Wow!!! i talk sense :D .
The chopped strawberries really add a great crunchy taste to this.

Ingredients :

Avocado: 2
Strawberries: 8 chopped
Condensed milk: just enough to give the sweetness.(i used about half a can)
Heavy cream: just enough to give a mousse consistency.

Procedure :

Take the pulp out of the Avocado fruit to a blender.
Add the condensed milk and heavy cream and run the blender.Add the condensed milk and heavy cream in batches so as to get the right consistency and sweetness. I feel the sweetness requirement really varies . For my atrocious sweet tooth , the more, the better :).
Take the mixture out of the blender into a bowl.
To this add chopped strawberries. Mix well and chill in the freezer for not more than 30 Min's.
Serve in individual cups. Enjoy

Happy Birthday to my niece!

2008-02-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

17th Feb happened to be my little niece's 6th Birthday. She holds such a special place in my heart, which no words could describe. She is the eldest among the next generation kids in our family and is such a stickler to order that sometimes even irks her mother. I havent seen a kid so particular about everything as she is. She is blessed with such a lovely smile and laughter that could win any heart. I cant believe that my little darling is 6 now, it seems like just yesterday i was holding her as a newborn in my arms,...this tiny bundle of joy!!

Happy Birthday Chaarvee!!!

Methi Pulav / Menthya Bath

2008-01-20T14:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend happens to be a 4 day long one. With the Saturday spent shopping and eating out, hubby was giving me the looks that i need to spend sometime in the kitchen too.Me being the Sweet ME, i cooked an elaborate meal for him today (the cook in me was actually coaxing me to :) ). The main course was Methi Pulav or what we call at home as the Menthya Bath(Menthya in Kannada refers to Fenugreek leaves and bath refers to any rice dish). The recipe being from a sis of mine who cooks just so her family survives :) , i was pleasantly surprised with the end result. It tasted real yumm.... Thanks Veena! I did make some changes to the original recipe ofcourse!

Ingredients:

5 -6 Tblspns Oil
2 Tblspn Ghee
5 cloves
2 small pieces of cinnamon
2 cardamom
1 Tomato chopped
1 large onion sliced thin and slit widthwise
3 Garic cloves(the fat ones) chopped
Pudina(mint) leaves picked from 5 sticks and chopped coarse
Methi(Fenugreek) leaves picked from 1 huge bunch and chopped coarse
1 1/2 cups Rice
1 1/2 cup peas
water
salt to taste

To grind(Masala):

1 onion
8 green chillies(as per your tolerance)
Pudina leaves from 6 sticks
7 garlic cloves(fat ones)
4 cloves
1" cinnamon stick
3 cardamom
1" ginger
1 heaped tblspn Coriander(Dhania) powder
10 sticks fresh coriander
3 Tblspns grated coconut(optional)
2 pinches Turmeric powder

Procedure:

Grind all the ingredients listed in the masala section to a smooth paste and keep aside
Wash and soak the rice in water for 1 hour.
Heat the oil in a heavy bottom vessel.
Add the spices-cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and fry until you get a nice aroma.
Add the garlic followed by sliced onions and fry till soft.
Now add the tomato and greens(pudina and Methi). fry for 1 minute .
Lower the heat ,add the masala and fry till you get rid of the raw smell.
Now drain the water from the rice and add the rice along with the peas and fry for a while.
Add the required amount of boiling water to cook the rice. (here i do not mension the amount of water since it varies depending on the variety of rice. Generally the rice to water proportion is 1:2. For Basmati , water added is a little less ).add the salt to taste.
Cook till the rice is done.
Serve hot with a onion and tomato raita.

Please forgive me for the poor picture. Anyways its the taste that matters, and it does taste good:) .Try it to find out.

Variation: You could add mutton with this same recipe, it tastes amazing.

First try with Cupcakes

2008-01-08T10:50:00.000-08:00

My first attempt at cupcakes and their decor. Though nothing near perfect, i am sure for a first timer like me, the results are quite encouraging.:)

Eerekayi Bus Saaru

2008-01-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

Saaru is a name given to a liquid of a soup consistency which is had along with Rice in Karnataka. If i list the variety, probably this page would not be sufficient. Such is the richness in variety when it comes to just these 'Saaru s' in Karnataka. And there is so much more to Cuisine from Karnataka. Recently when i was telling about Karnataka cuisine to a new aquaintance from another part of India, she was surprised with the variety i mentioned. She said "Really? and i thought all you south Indians ate was idlis and dosas..." Can you believe that?!!!!What i intend to say is that each corner of our country is so rich in every which way, but the awareness of that among others is what is lacking.
Coming back to my post today , this particular variety "Bus Saaru" is one among the different kinds of Saaru which can be made out of almost all the vegetables. The idea is to cook the vegetable /greens in Water , drain, and use that water for the Saaru while the drained vegetable is had as a side dish. I used the Ridge gourd( Eerekayi in Kannada) and Toor dal in my post today as it is one of my favourite vegetable. You could make it with any other vegetable such as all the sprouted beans, green beans and dal, just greens, and so on. Although this is very common in most of the houses in Karnataka, slight variations are found in every house in the kind of masala that goes into it. In our Family it is prepared as follows:

Ingredients:

1 long Ridge Gourd.
1/4 cup Toor Dal.
Pinch of Turmeric powder.
4 cups water.

For the Masala:

1Tblspn Oil.
1/2 Large Onion cubed.
4 large garlic cloves.
3-4 sticks of Curry Leaves.
2 tspn Jeera.
1/4 tspn Pepper.
3-4 sticks of Coriander.
1 medium sized Tomato cubed.
1 Tblspn Saaru Pudi (this is a kind of powder made with several spices like redchillies, Coriander seeds and so on) You could probably use MTR Sambhar powder instead.
1 inch Tamarind piece soaked in water.
1/2 cup Coconut grated.

For Vagarne:

1/2 tspn Musturd seeds.
Few Curry leaves.
A pinch of Asafoetida(hing).

For the vegetable Palya(vegetable side dish):

1/2 tspn mustard seeds.
1/2 Large Onion chopped.
5-6 green chillies slit lengthwise/ 5-6 Red chillies split once
few Curry leaves.
Grated coconut for garnishing.
1Tblspn chopped Coriander for garnishing.

Procedure:

Peel the ridge of the Ridge gourd. Make sure you do not overdo this. Just the ridge part must be removed. The rest of the peel should still be intact.
Now cut the Ridge Gourd lengthwise. and chop them into approximately1/2 inch width pieces.
Cook the Ridge gourd and Toor Dal in about 4 cups of water in a pressure cooker with a pinch of turmeric for 1 whistle.
Drain and preserve both the vegetable and broth(the water in which the vegetable is cooked) seperately.
In a pan fry the onions with the curry leaves and jeera in 1tblspn of oil until the onions turn transclucent. If you want to avoid the smell of raw garlic , you could add this also for frying.
Grind the above along the rest of the ingredients mentioned in the Masala section. Grind to a fine paste.
Now add this masala to the broth , add salt to taste and bring this to a boil. Add more water if required to give a soup consistency.Continue to boil for 4-5 mins.Put off heat.This is the 'Saaru'.

Vagarne(tadka):

Vagarne in kannada refers to the final touch given to certain dishes by adding mustard seeds and a few other optional ingredients fried in a little oil.

In a seperate pan(kadai) add 1 tblspn oil, Once hot, add 1/2 tspn mustard seeds.Once they splutter, put off the heat. when still hot add curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida(Hing) powder.
Now add this into the "Saaru'

Palya(side dish):

In a pan, heat about 2-3 tblspns of oil. Add the mustard seeds and once they splutter add curry leaves, green chillies and onion. Cook till the Onions turn transclucent.
Now add the drained Ridge gourd and toor dal. Add salt and stir . Keep covered in low heat for 2-3 minutes or until hot uniformly.
Remove lid , transfer to a serving bowl , and garnish with chopped coriander and grated coconut.Serve Bus Saaru and palya along with Rice.

Easy Ghee Rice

2007-12-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

Lazy Sunday noon having Ghee rice and chicken curry by my Mom are very comforting childhood memories for me even todate.Mmmm... the aroma would kindle anyone's taste buds. To end the lunch with a store bought jilebis /jahangir would just be perfect. I am so happy to see that my otherwise picky 5 year old and my sweet 3 year old also relish this equally. I make this Ghee rice in two ways depending on how much time i have.The easier version i post below, while the more time consuming one i will post in the near future. The former one is equally good but the latter is more rich because of the coconut milk added to it.
I hope this stays as a pleasant childhood memory for my kids as it has to me.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup rice(preferably jeergsamba variety)
2Tblspn refined Peanut/Sunflower oil
2 Tblspn Ghee
1 heaped Tblspn green chilli, ginger and garlic paste(all the more better if made fresh)
3 Cardamom
5 Cloves
2-3 small pieces Cinnamom
1 Large Onion
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 1/2 cup milk(the regular milk that we drink:) , not the coconut milk)
1 1/2 cup water
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Slice the onion thin and cut them width wise once.
Wash and soak the rice in water for 1 hour. drain and keep aside
Heat a Heavy bottom Vessel.
Add the ghee and oil.
When the oil is hot, add the cloves, cinnamon and cardamom.
Once the spices begin to give a strong aroma, add onion and cook until soft.
Now add the green chilli-garlic-ginger paste and stir. Fry this for a few mins.
Put in the green peas and rice and stir for 2-3 mins.
Now add the milk , salt and water and bring the whole thing to a boil.
Once it comes to a boil, bring the heat to LOW, stir, cover the lid tight and let cook for 8 -9 mins.
Put off the heat. Let stand for 5 mins.
Open the lid,stir once and serve with any coconut based Chicken gravy of your choice.

Oven Procedure:

Follow the same steps until 8. Bring to boil milk and water together in a seperate vessel.
Preheat the oven to 350 Degree Fahrenhiet.
Take a Baking pan of appropriate size. Add the rice mixture, pour in the hot milk and water.Add the salt. Now stir once, cover with a Aluminium foil or lid.
Put the pan in the oven , allow to cook for 40 mins.
Remove from Oven , stir once and serve with any coconut based Chicken gravy of your choice.

Peas Paratha

2007-12-21T06:07:00.000-08:00

After returning home from work , although you are tired , you wouldn't want to compromise on the food you serve to kids. At the same time, no energy to make an elaborate dinner. Parathas were a good choice as they wouldn't take much time and also make the kids eat them without picking the vegetables out. One of my neighbours Neema, a Rajasthani , came to my help and taught me all these wonderfully easy nutritious parathas. Soon i started making Parathas with dal, peas, methi, palak and so on... What made the difference was that these were not stuffed parathas and so all the more easier to make. Kids eat them without a fuss , especially when served with butter or curds. Here's my version of Peas Paratha.

Ingredients:

1 cup Peas( frozen or fresh)
3/4 cup Wheat flour
1 tblspn Ghee
1 tspn Cumin(Jeera)
1tspn Red chilli powder( increase or decrease as per taste)
salt to taste
Oil for frying

Procedure:

Boil the peas and mash them.
Take the mashed peas in a bowl, add the jeera, red chilli powder , salt and ghee.
Now add the wheat flour.Mix all the ingredients to make a dough like chapati. The amount specified is an approximate value.You could adjust the flour so as to finally get a dough like chapati. Do not add water at all.
Knead well and keep aside for 15 mins.
Make small balls out of the dough.
Roll out the balls into round flat parathas of medium thickness .
Transfer the parathas onto pre heated Tava. After a 20-30 seconds, flip over and spread little oil all over. Now flip over again and spread oil to the other side.
Cook for a min or so and remove from Tava.
Serve with butter or curds.

Note: Do not roll the parathas very thin. If they are on the thicker side, they tend to be very soft.

Grated Egg Burji

2007-12-18T14:09:00.000-08:00

Why egg burji??! Believe me, the egg being grated in this recipe brings a totally different texture to our regular Egg Burji. If some of you have already heard and done it like this before, this one is not for you. I am posting this for those like me who had never heard about egg being grated before.When i tried it, It tasted more or less the same as the regular egg burji but the look and texture was so different. really appealing! Isn't it nice to try the same thing in different ways sometimes just to break the monotony?!

Ingredients:

2 large Onions finely chopped
1 tblspn ginger grated fine
4-5 Green chillies finely chopped
1/2 tspn Red chilli powder(optional)
3-4 Eggs hardboiled with shell removed
3-4 Tblspns Oil
1/2 tspn garam masala
salt to taste

Procedure:

Heat the oil in a pan.Add the onion and green chillies and fry until it is transclucent.
Now add the ginger and stir well for a minute or so.
Now add the red chilli powder,garam masala and salt and stir.
Lower the heat.
Using a grater, Grate the hard boiled egg into the pan.
Stir to mix all the ingredients well.
Serve with an optional garnishing of chopped coriander.

Note: My idea is that you can use any base to suite your taste and then grate in the boiled egg.

Akki Rotti

2007-12-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

Akki Rotti is a kind of flat bread made with Rice flour ("akki hittu" in kannada).Again, there are several versions of it.Some make it plain and have it with a rich gravy like stuffed brinjal gravy while some make it with a lot of ingredients going into it like onion, green chillies, coriander, grated coconut, grated cabbage and so on. The following version of Akki Rotti is how its made in our house. Everybody in my family loves it and so when i have to make it for the entire family , my fingers begin to ache as you need to flatten the rottis using the fingers. But isn't it fun cooking when you see the yearning for more? :)

Ingredients:

1 cup Rice flour
1/2 cup finely chopped Onion
5-6 finely chopped Green chillies
1 tblspn coarsely powdered peanut(optional)
1 tblspn coarsely powdered channa dal(optional)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped Methi leaves
2 tblspns finely chopped coriander/dill greens
salt to taste
water to make the dough
Oil

Procedure:

You need to use boiling water to make the dough as it half cooks the flour ,so u don't have to keep it for a long time on the tava , and it also makes patting the rottis easier.

To make the dough you can use one of the following 2 methods.

A. Mix all the above ingredients except water and oil in a bowl. Now add boiling water to it and turn the ingredients using a steel spoon so as to make a dough which is neither to hard nor too soft.

B. Take only the Rice flour in a bowl. Add boiling water and mix well to form a reasonably stiff dough.Once it cools down a bit add the other ingredients except oil and mix to form the dough for Rotti.

Make round balls with a handful of dough.

Add a few drops of oil onto a plastic sheet.( You could use one side cut out of a ziploc cover) and spread the oil across the entire sheet.This is done so that the dough does not stick to the sheet and can be taken out easily.

Take one ball of dough and flatten it onto the oiled sheet. Using your fingers continue patting and spreading the dough across so as to form a round shape.

Transfer this onto your hand and then onto the preheated tava.(Alternately you could pat the rotti on a aluminium foil or wax paper. Invert the sheet onto the tava, and peel off the sheet.)

Spread a few drops of oil over the rotti. After a little less than a minute, flip it over .Cook for another few seconds .

Remove and serve with Kadlekai chutney.

Tips:

You can keep the groundnut powder and channa dal powder prepared earlier on in a larger quantity and store in an airtight container.This saves time.
To make the groundnut powder, dry fry the groundnuts. After it cools down, dehusk and powder in a mixie .
To make the channa dal powder, dry fry , then after it cools down, powder in a mixie.

Egg Curry

2007-12-12T06:52:00.000-08:00

Egg is one thing that can be used for preparing any part of the meal, be it starters, main dish or desert and in so many zillion ways too. This egg curry is one among them which goes really well with chapati.

Ingredients:

5 eggs
2 onions finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 tblspn freshly prepared ginger garlic paste
4-5 green chillies finely chopped
1/2 tspn red chilli powder
4 tblspn Oil
1 tblspn chopped coriander

Procedure:

Heat the oil in a pan.
Add the onions and green chillies and fry until they are tender and cooked.
Now add the ginger garlic paste and stir for 2 mins.
Then add the tomatoes and cook.
Once the tomatoes are cooked, add red chilli powder and stir .
Add a few tblspns of water to the gravy and gently shake the pan so that the gravy spreads evenly across the pan.Do not add much water.
Now reduce the heat to the lowest possibe.
Break eggs one by one, each at different places across the pan.Cover the lid and cook till the eggs are done.DO NOT stir at all after you add the eggs.It may take awhile for the eggs to completely cook.Have patience:)
Garnish with chopped coriander.
Once cooked you will notice that the dish thus prepared is very appetizing, with the top layer hard with the boiled eggs and the layer below is the soft gravy.You can actually cut it with the serving spoon so as to include the egg and the gravy below while serving into plates.

Tip:Make sure that the onions, tomato and green chillies are very finely chopped.

Pakka Vada

2007-12-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

Being married to a mallu, i thought it was about time i posted some recipe from Kerala. Just in time, Rajju's elder sister mails me this simple snack recipe from Kerala. After nearly a year in US, Rajju was happy to have something like this he has been missing.Thank you Rejitha chechi!

Ingredients:

1 cup Rice flour
2 cups Besan
2 tspn Red chilli powder
1/2 tspn Hing
1/4 cup Curry leaves
Salt as per taste
Oil for deep frying

Procedure:

Take the rice flour in a bowl. Add boiling water and mix well using a spoon to make a soft dough.
Once it cools down a little, add the Besan , salt, hing, redchilli powder and mix well to form a dough similar to chakli dough.If required, u could use some more room temperature water to make the dough.
Take a chakli press and use the one with narrow slit which results in a tape shape.
Heat oil in Deep botton pan(kadai).
Now add the dough prepared in parts into the chakli press, close and press into the oil in a circular fashion so as to fill the entire surface area of the oil.
Fry until golden brown .Remove onto a kitchen towel.
Once cooled , break into smaller pieces and garnish with deep fried curry leaves. This also gives a good aroma.

Aalu Baaji

2007-12-09T14:58:00.000-08:00

Aalu Baaji is a side dish which goes very well along with Pooris or Chapatis. I learnt it at a friend's house. As a beginner,in an attempt to get the dish to a rich red colour as in her house, I added more and more of red chilli powder. Didn't realise that her dish was red becoz she had used a particular variety of the chilli powder(Byadige Menashinakai). The poor soul who visited our house first was my bro's friend, who inevitably had to taste it first along with a chapati. I was wondering why he didn't speak the entire time he was eating hurriedly or why he vanished as soon as he was done. I was told later that he had run to the street corner departmental store to gobble up some sugar to compensate for the extreme spiciness of my Baaji. I had to throw away the entire dish. It still brings a smile to my lips when I think of that guy. Why the hell didn't he stop eating??!!! Make sure none of you make the same mistake :) .

Ingredients:

1 Onion medium sized chopped fine
1 Tomato chopped fine
2 Potatoes boiled and peeled
1 cup Green peas
To grind: 1 small sized onion coarsely chopped , 6-7 garlic cloves, 1inch ginger, 3 cloves, 1 small piece cinnamon, 1-2 sticks coriander greens, 2tspns Red chilli powder, 1/2 cup Coconut grated.

Procedure:

Grind the ingredients mentioned under "To grind" to a paste adding the required water .
Heat 1/4 cup oil in a thick bottom pan, add the chopped onions and fry until they are tender.
Now add the tomatoes and fry for 2 minutes.
Later add the peas and cook for a while.
Add the paste, stir and reduce the flame.
Cook covered until the masala seperates from the oil .
Now add the water to give the required consistency of a thick gravy. Bring to boil.
Crumble the potatoes with hand into the pan .Make sure you do not smash the entire potatoes. Let there be small lumps of potatoes in between.Stir.
Reduce the heat and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve with pooris or chapatis.

Chakli

2007-12-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

When i had just started to cook, i thought making stuff like chakli, nipattu and kodbale was only possible by experts who had years of cooking experience.To prove me wrong , Doordarshan telecast a cookery show which showed this easy recipe for chakli. I gave it a try albeit with a little apprehension, and was really happy with the outcome.Eversince i have tried different recipes from this category and have made a collection of them from different sources.So when i was wondering which one of these to post first, i felt the first one that i learnt from the Doordarshan show would be right, coz it rid me of my fear to try.

Ingredients:

1 cup Maida
2 cups Rice flour
2 tspn Til (sesame seeds)
2 tspn Jeera (cumin seeds)
Red chilli powder as per taste(I put 1 tblspn)
Salt to taste
11/2 Tblspn Sugar dissolved in water
4 Tblspns Ghee
Oil to fry

Special utensil required: Chakli Press available in Indian stores

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients first except the water.Then add water in which sugar is dissolved and make a dough.
Using the chakli press, fill the dough in parts into the chakli press and press the dough out in form of concentric circles onto a plastic paper.
Meanwhile heat oil in a Deep bottom Pan(kadai).The quantity of oil should be more to facilitate deep frying.
When the oil is reasonably hot( mind u! not very hot as this may burn the chaklis), add the chaklis into the oil and fry them till they are done. Remove them onto a Plate .
Allow to cool.Once cooled, store in a airtight container

Note: You may note that when the chaklis are done, they sink to the bottom of the pan.They can be taken out after this point.

Masala Vada / Vade

2007-12-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

Vade in Kannada and Vada in some other Indian languages, is an Indian snack made from split Bengal gram ,crispy on the outside, soft inside.This particular snack was prepared at home only on festivals to accompany the several other delicacies for lunch. But i would never like it as a part of the lunch ,coz by then , it would have turned cold. I felt ,it tasted best when it was hot, so i would have it as soon as my mom would fry them , and ended up getting shouted at. Now since I am the one who cooks, I make them at my will and eat more than I serve :). Since it snowed here today and is really cold, I thought why not treat myself to this wonderful healthy snack.

Ingredients:

1 cup Channa dal( split Bengal gram)
½ inch Ginger chopped
5-6 garlic flakes
3 cloves
1 small piece cinnamon
1 large onion chopped fine
7 green chillies chopped fine(you can decrease or increase as per your choice)
2 tblspn Coriander chopped fine
¼ cup Dill( sabakki soppu) chopped fine(optional)
2-3 sprigs of coriander to grind
¼ tspn turmeric powder
1 Tblspn rice flour
Salt to taste
Oil for deep fry.

Procedure:

Soak the channa dal for about 2 hours and drain.
Keep aside one fistful of channa dal.
Grind the remaining channa dal along with the ginger, garlic,coriander, cloves and cinnamon.
Now add the channa dal kept separate , chopped green chillies, onion, dill, coriander , turmeric powder , rice flour,salt. Mix well.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Make lemon sized balls , pat slightly in your palm, and fry them in the oil until brown.
Serve hot along with the chutney of your choice although I devour them up just like that or along with my cuppa tea.

Note:The onions, green chillies and greens should be chopped very fine .
Do not add water while grinding . The paste needs to be thick.

Prep time : 25 mins. this excludes the soaking time.

Godhi halwa / Wheat halwa / Aate ka halwa

2007-11-30T12:33:00.000-08:00

Well, this happens to be the easiest indian sweet i have ever prepared. I would drop one of my coleagues on my two wheeler and all along the 25 mins ride in the now infamous Bangalore traffic, we would gossip about things at office and exchange loads of recipes , (the typical lady conversation :) ). This is the result of one such ride. I was so happy to learn about such an easy recipe that as soon as i reached home, i tried it and was thrilled with the outcome.After that day, when there were any sudden guests , i would prepare this in a jiffy and get appreciation :). As the maggie noodles ad in India goes.... "fast to cook, good to eat".

Ingredients:

1 cup Wheat flour(aata)
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Milk
3/4 cup Ghee( you could add 1 cup if you want it richer)
1/2 tspn Cardamom powder
Dry grapes and cashew for garnishing
1Tblspn ghee for frying cashews and grapes

Procedure:

Heat a heavy bottom pan (kadai) , add the ghee and flour together.
Fry on medium heat stirring continously until you get a strong aroma and the contents change to a little darker shade.
At this point, lower the heat and add the milk . Stir the contents immediately ,as they thicken fast after adding milk.
Now add the sugar and stir until the sugar melts.
Add the cardamom powder, stir and remove from heat.
In a seperate pan , heat a tblspn ghee and fry the dry grapes and cashew seperately .Add to the halwa, mix and serve.

Note:1.Be careful when you add the milk , because it splutters for a few seconds .

2.If the sugar granules are very large, you could run it in the mixie to powder it a bit so as to ease the melting.

Prep Time: approx 20 mins

Chilli Chicken

2007-11-29T10:59:00.000-08:00

Chilli chicken is one of the first dishes i cooked for my hubby. It was a safe dish with not too complex ingredients and would always turn out well. This semi - dry side dish has the strong flavours of garlic and chillies combined to give a great taste.

Ingredients:

10-12 medium sized chicken pieces
2 large onions sliced thin and then cut widthwise once.
8 large garlic cloves crushed well(not a paste though)
1 tspn red chilli powder
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
2tspn Coriander (dhania) powder
15 green chillies slit
3/4 cup chopped coriander
salt to taste
oil 4tblspn

Procedure:

Heat the oil in a thick botton pan(kadai).
Add the garlic and fry until it begins to turn brown in colour.
Now add the onion and cook until the onions become real soft, stirring occasionally in between.
Add the chicken , red chilli powder, turmeric powder, dhania powder and salt.Mix all the ingredients well. Sprinkle a little water, cover the lid and allow to cook until the chicken is almost done.(Do not add more water as the chicken leaves water while cooking making it too watery.)
Now add the green chillies and coriander , Mix well, close the lid and simmer for 5 minutes.Adding the green chillies at this stage doesn't make the dish too spicy , yet at the same time imparts a nice chilli flavour to it.
Turn off heat and serve.

Toor dal Dosa

2007-11-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

This is a dosa recipe which among our family circle is called as the 'Masala dosa' because of all the spices(masalas) that go into it.It needs no fermentation and can be done right away after the batter is ready. Somehow i didn't see this being prepared among any other families i knew, hence didn't know it's offcial name. One of my friends liked the recipe but didn't know what to name it, because Masala dosa otherwise is the name for the dosa with the potato curry inside. Hence she named it Thanu's dosa :).

Ingredients:

2 cups Raw rice
1 cup Toor dal
1 tspn channa dal
3 big garlic cloves
1 inch ginger coarsely chopped
6-7 green chillies
few sticks of fresh coriander
1 medium sized onion coarsely chopped
3 cloves
1 small piece of cinnamon
1 small bunch of Fenugreek greens
1 small bunch of Dill greens(optional)
1/2 tspn turmeric powder.
Salt to taste
Oil for making the dosas

Procedure:

Soak the rice and dals together for 1-2 hours.
Heat a tblspn of oil in a pan, add the onion, ginger , garlic, green chillies , cloves and cinnamon.
Fry them to rid the raw smell of the ingredients. do not over do it, just until the onion turns transclusent.let it cool
Grind the soaked rice and dal along with the fried ingredients and the coriander adding enough water to give it a dosa consistency.
Pick the Methi leaves , wash and chop them coarsely .fine chopping would give a bitter taste to the dosa.
Add the turmeric powder, chopped methi leaves and finely chopped Dill and salt.
Heat a tava or a heavy griddle .Spread some oil .
Take a ladle full of the dosa batter and pour onto it.spread it in a circular motion to make it as thin as possible. pour a little oil around the dosa and on it .
Once it is cooked crsip on one side flip it over for few seconds.
Fold in half and serve with the chutney of your choice. It can be had without any accompaniment too.

Note: Make sure that the dosa batter is not too thick, it spoils the texture of the dosa.

7th Dec '07: Browsing through the net i just learnt about JFI Toordal hosted by Linda of Out of the Garden .Although this post of mine is a few days old, i guessed it would still qualify for the event since the key ingredient is Toordal and is such a nutritious recipe. I am sending it at the last minute, and i hope it gets entry into the event.

Spicy Methi Paratha

2007-11-21T06:10:00.000-08:00

Methi Paratha is prepared in different ways in different corners of India with ofcourse different names, owing to different states speaking different languages. Too confused?!! Let me keep it simple for you.This recipe is one among the several varieties in Indian bread.It can be had as a snack along with Indian Chai.U could have it with tomato curry, curds, butter or even tomato ketch up.

Ingredients:

1: Ingredients for the dough

1cup Wheat flour(atta)
1/2 cup Bajra flour
1 bunch Methi greens
1/2 tspn Turmeric powder
1tspn Red chilli powder
4tspn Sugar
1tspn Cumin powder(optional)
1tspn Ajwain
1Tblspn Peanut oil
2tspn paste of green chillies, ginger and garlic
3tspn Tomato ketchup(optional)
Salt to taste

2: Water to make the dough
3: Oil to make the Paratas

Procedure:

Pluck the Methis leaves from the stem , wash and coarsely chop them .
Mix all the ingredients along with the chopped methi leaves in a big bowl except water uniformly mix them.
Now add water in parts and mix the flour.Knead to make a soft dough similar to that of chapati.Cover and leave aside for one hour.
Make lemon sized balls out of the dough
Using a rolling pin roll out the balls into flat round parathas dusting some wheat flour .
Heat a heavy griddle/Tawa .
Put the paratha on it.Once the parathas get brown patches , flip it over and put some oil around and over it.
Repeat the same for the other side so that both sides have golden brown patches over them.
Remove and serve along with your preferred accompaniment .

Mushroom Fried Rice

2007-11-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

This is one of those recipes which i usually prepare with leftover refrigerated rice.The refrigeration makes the end result very granular.Its not really authentic chinese food,but i love it just the same and it has always been liked by whoever i have served it to.

The best part is you can add what you like so as to enhance it's flavour as per your like.You can put in french cut beans, peas to make it more nutritious. I prefer it this way and it makes a quick and tasty meal.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked basmati rice cooked and refrigerated atleast for 2-3 hours.
1 cup mushroom sliced
1/4 cup shredded carrot
4 garlic finely chopped
1/2 inch ginger finely chopped
1Tblspn soysauce
3Tblspn cooking oil
Salt and pepper powder to taste

Procedure:

Heat 1Tblspn of oil in a wide bottom pan or wok. Add the sliced mushroom and fry until tender adding a bit of salt towards the end.
Move the mushroom to a side in the pan. Add the remaining oil in the center of the pan. Add the chopped ginger and garlic and stir fry for about 20 seconds.
Add the rice,carrots and toss evrything together until it is uniformly hot.
Now add the seasoning salt, pepper powder and soysauce. Toss well to mix all the ingredients together.Remove from heat and serve.

Kadlekai(Groundnut) Chutney

2007-11-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

This particular recipe has been a favorite among all of our cousins and to whoever it has been passed on to. It has a fairly simple procedure and is a good accompaniment for Dose, Idli or even Akki Rotti. Another variation would be to cook the chutney in a particular style which I will mention at the last and have it as an accompaniment for rice.(we call it Chutney Anna in Kannada). I have seen a few of the recipes for kadlekai chutney , here’s my version.I should dedicate this one for my princess daughter Jahnavi who eats dose only for this chutney:-)

Ingredients:

1 cup Groundnuts
5-6 Green Chillies (you could add more or less depending upon your taste)
10 Curry Leaves
3 flakes of Garlic
4-5 strands of Coriander leaves.
½ inch piece Tamarind soaked in water for at least 5 minutes (optional)
Salt as per taste

Procedure:

Dry fry the groundnuts along with the green chillies and garlic until the groundnuts are well roasted.
Set aside the green chillies and the garlic .
Dehusk the groundnuts .
Grind the groundnuts along with the chillies, garlic, curry leaves , coriander and salt adding just enough water to give the right chutney consistency.
You could also add the tamarind while grinding to give a tangy taste. I avoid it.

Variation:

Chutney Anna: Heat 2 Tbl spns of sunflower/groundnut oil in a pan. Add 1tspn of mustard seeds , once it is done spluttering, add a few broken red chillies followed by 1 cup of chopped onions.

Fry until the onions turn pink. Now add the chutney prepared as above to the pan along with a little water so as to give it a pouring consistency. Bring to a boil and simmer for a few more minutes. It tastes excellent with rice.