Whole grain Dosa!

Last recipe for this year...winding up with a healthy recipe...using brown rice, quinoa! More pictures...BrownRiceQuinoaDosa

Wishing U all a healthy, appetizing, delicious...2011 !!!!!

Aappam with Coconut milk

This post marks my 100th blog entry!!!!

Enjoyed this recipe after a long time! For those of U who likes to eat spicy side dish, can make some kind of chutney and have with aappam. More pictures...Aappam. Happy Holidays to U all!

Bhajji with corn flour & maida

Hot snack for a winter evening! Check it out...Bhajji. I used cauliflower and broccoli. Added chilli powder as well, as the ground paste wasn't spicy enough.
Watch out for Aappam next!!!!!

Veg Biryani

A bit long recipe but very yummy. For those of U who are health conscious, U can do half coconut milk, half regular milk. Other veggies that go well..soy beans, peas, baby corn, etc. More pictures..VegBiryani

Hope most of you are having a great Thanks giving weekend. Enjoy the rest of the holidays!

Green Apple Pickle..Instant!!!!

Very quick recipe and tastes yummy with curd rice or curd semia. This is a recipe from my New Jersey cousin. The same way U make mango, this one is made.
* Add oil to tava, then mustard, asafoetida, red chilli powder and salt. Then turn off
* Fine chop 2 green apples with the skin ( I used Granny Smith Green Apple)
* Turn the stove on and then add the apple to it and just saute for a min and turn it off.

Pineapple Pachadi

Tastes yummy, U can eat it by itself. I never knew pineapple would shrink so much. I used the whole pineapple from Whole foods... when chopped it was one quart and when it was cooked it was just a soup bowl quantity! 4 red chillies was little spicy for me, U could add according to your taste. More pictures...PineapplePachadi

Curd Vada (Dahi Vada)

Vadas need to be fluffy & crispy rather than hard, so it can soak well. Check out more pictures...DahiVada

Spinach soup

Winter begins...so time for some soup! I liked this one, so thought will share it with U all. Hope U had a great Diwali. For those of U in the US, have great holidays...in the next 2 months!

Coming back to soup, if u can, U could substitute the last onions with small onions. I never use small onions, so I just used the big ones. More pictures...SpinachSoup

Watch out for dahi vada (curd  vada) next....

Chard Dhaal Porial

ChardDhaalPorial...I liked it very much. Not sure if U get in India. But for those of U in the US, look in the greens section where they have the kale, mustard, collard and other greens, U will see chard. I tried Kale in thick saambaar kind and that was good too.

Methi Pulav

Usually I use methi leaves only in rotis, but this time tried it in rice per my cousin's recipe.
More pictures ... MethiPulav

Saambaar Powder

Achieving yet another milestone in cooking...made saambaar powder at home! It was almost fine but not as fine as the machine ground one in India. But still pretty good and manageable. Here is the proportion

100gms - Red chillies (buy the pack of that wt)
200gms - Dhania  (buy the pack of that wt)
quarter tumbler (small) - raw rice
quarter tumbler(small) - toor dhaal
Little pepper, methi seeds.

* Dry roast dhania for few mins and add the rice, dhaal, pepper and methi and fry for few minutes.
* Make the chillies crisp - either dry in Sun or broil it in oven for 2mins (keep an eye every 30 secs).
* Grind it all in mixie to fine powder. If needed, sieve it and regrind the remaining big ones.

Puli kootu

Got this recipe from my friend. Tastes yummy! Turned out more of a puzhi kulambu kind, probably I should add less saambar powder. More pictures on PuliKootu

Spinach Paneer Curry

A palak paneer kind of gravy, but no grinding of Spinach!
* For the paste - saute little jeera, big jeera, cinnamon, onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger. Let it cool and grind to a paste.
* Chopped spinach. Diced paneer.
* Add oil/ghee to tava, add the ground paste. Add turmeric, chilli powder and other masala powders of your taste and boil for few minutes.
* Add spinach and salt. Cook for few minutes
* Finally add paneer (sauted in ghee).

Serve hot with rotis/rice.

Adai

On request by one of my friends, I am posting Adai recipe. Here is  my proportion

1 cup total - rice (raw rice:idli rice = 1:1)
1 cup total - all dhaals together (major part of it will be toor dhaal, little channa dhaal, little moong dhaal, little urad dhaal)

- Soak all of the above together for 3hrs and grind coarsely along with 5 red chillies, jeera and salt.

- Top it with fine chopped onions, cilantro, curry leaves, grated ginger.
- Make dosas from the above batter, little thick. Cook both sides well.
- Serve hot with Kurma or red chutney.

Alternatively instead of full rice, I substitute sometimes with wheat rava or brown rice.

Eggplant (Brinjal) Curry

A Hydrebadi dish learnt from a North Indian friend and cooked by me!!!!! I am sure the final product is not even close to the original version, but we liked it! Mine turned little bitter due to methi I guess. So watch out when U add the methi seeds. Rest of the pictures..BrinjalCurry . I like making this around this part of the year as we get tiny eggplants(brinjals).

Beet vada

Most of U might be making it already. Just a tip...adding yellow split peas makes it little more crispier.
More pictures...Beet Vada

Trying out an eggplant (brinjal) recipe today, will post it next if it turns out good :-)

Spinach Cutlet

Yet another recipe from St.Louis cousin! Good way to use up lots of Spinach. Spinach will water a lot, so make sure to drain all the water after rinsing it. More pictures..... SpinachCutlet

Interesting recipes...

A couple of recipes that I came across experimenting, learning, watching TV shows!

* Next time U make adai, try replacing raw rice with brown rice...absolutely no difference.
* Coconut chutney with Almonds - Soak and peel 25 almonds, add 5 spoons coconut, 4 g.chillies, salt and little tamarind and raw grind.
* For those of U who can get fresh tender coconut, try making sweet pongal with tender coconut water instead of water and top it with the tender coconut peices along with roasted cashews, elachi, ghee.
* Avocado Banana smoothie - Grind all together avocado, banana, sugar, honey, yoghurt.

Veggie Cutlet

Breaking the silence with a lengthy recipe...yes it is a time consuming one, but worth it! Here are the pictures...Veggie Cutlet

Vaazhakkaai porial (Plantain dry vegetable)

Breaking the silence again with a quick vegetable! Sorry, din't get a chance to picture step by step. Here are the steps:

1. Chop plantain into cubes, boil in water with little turmeric and salt.

2. Filter the water and save the vegetable in a bowl.

3. Dry grind - red chilli, jeera and little coconut (no water)

4. In tava, add oil, mustard and urad dhaal.

5. Add the boiled veggie and add the ground powder.

6. Cook for few minutes and turn the stove off.

Will try to post Kaaraa Sev in the next few days....

Puttu

One of my favorite recipes....I used Periyar brand brown puttu podi. Would suggest trying the same with wheat puttu podi and white puttu podi. I used the same flour for kozhukattai. More pictures : Puttu

Garlic-Onion gravy for Dosas/Idlis

Yet another yummy recipe for dosas and idlis. Enjoy!  GarlicOnion Chutney

Black Urad recipe

For those of U wanting to use your black whole urad.... ...Black Urad Recipes

Lunch Box Ideas!

On request by my friend, I would like to post some lunch box ideas. Due to time constraints for the working women, I generally recommend making single item or quick 2 items with as much veggies as possible! Some of the items from my blog and few other items :

Poha with Green Moong Dhaal gravy
Semia (vermicili) with Carrot, Beans
Pasta with Veggies
Sabudhana
Rotis:
For those of you who buy rotis, here are some quick side dishes
Roti wrap with Spicy Porial
Roti wrap with Mushroom Tofu masala
Roti with Raita/Dark dhaals
Roti with easy Channa Masala
Kothu Paratha
Rice Items:
Rice with Brinjal Pachadi
Veggie Rice
Beet Rice
Carrot Rice
Cilantro Rice
Capsicum Rice
Salads : (U could chop while the dhaal cooks)
Peanut Salad
Sprout Salad
Sandwiches....just add veggies of your choice with wheat bread and some light spread.

Easy kozhukattai (rice cakes)

An easy and quick appetizer. For people in US, check out Periyar brand brown idiappam podi or brown putti podi. It turns out good. Kozhukattai Pictures

Paruppu Urundai Kulambu (Lentil balls!)

Another top hit recipe...hope you guys enjoy! ParuppuUrandaiKulambu Pictures

Note: Ball turns hard if it is not ground at the right consistency....make it coarse....and leave it in the gravy without stirring for few minutes. Mine turned good in the second attempt. Funny my first attempt was...even if it would fall on the floor it would never break, it was that hard :-)

Wishing U all a wonderful year ahead.