Macaroni Kulambu

Was in a baby shower party last weekend and learnt this recipe from there. It was really yummy, but mine turned out little spicy, so watch out how much saambaar powder and how much masala you grind and adjust according to your spice levels. More pitures...Macaroni Kulambu.And you could use the same gravy for paneer or maida dosa and make kulambu. It is just the same.
Recipe:
* Soak little tamarind.
* Dry fry - little dhania, big jeera, khas khas, 3 red chillies, little roasted gram.
* Add little coconut and grind the above spices into a paste.
* Add oil to tava, add seasoning and then diced onions and garlic and saute few mins.
* Add one chopped tomato and saute few mins.
* Then add dhaal water if U have and little saambaar powder.
* Pressure cook one handful pasta/macaroni if it is big and then add it to the above.
* I added one handful diced firm tofu.
* Add salt, tamarind water and cook well. Then add the ground paste and cook well.
* Serve hot with rice/idli/dosa/idiayappam....enjoy!!!!

Kadai Paneer

Had half pepper left in each color and the 10oz paneer from Indian store, so decided to make this recipe. Checked out few sites and came up with this recipe similar to my other masalas...so I dint take the detailed pictures.
Recipe:
* Dice all color peppers and the paneer.
* If you like, saute them separately in ghee.
* For the paste...saute onion, tomato, little ginger, garlic, 3 g.chillies and then grind
* Add ghee to tava and add the ground paste and fav.masala powers and salt.
* Cook for few mins and add peppers
* Cook for few mins and then add paneer. Cook for few mins and turn off.
Serve hot with roti/naan/white rice.

Pavakkai Peanuts Kulambu (Bitter Gourd)

Just wanted to heads up that I will be slowing down on my blog as I start to train for my run and they keep insisting on Protein intake and doesnt fit into any of these recipes :-)
Back to this recipe, one of my fav kulambu, loved it due to peanuts I guess. Anything with Peanut seems to be my liking for now. More pictures...Pavakkai Peanuts Kulambu
Recipe:
* Soak 1 handful peanuts overnight, pressure cook with little salt.
* Soak little tamarind, chop onion, garlic and pavakkai into small dices.
* Add oil to tava, add seasoning - urad, mustard, methi seeds,
   black pepper, jeera, curry leaves.
* Add garlic, onion, saute for few mins and then add pavakkai, saute for few mins
* Then add the dhaal water, saambaar powder, salt. Cook for few mins.
* Then add peanuts and tamarind water, cook for few mins and then finally add jaggery.
Serve with dhaal porial and rice/quinoa.....yummy it will be...have fun!!!

Vazhai Poo Thuvattal (Banana Flower)

Vazhai Poo is one vegetable that I buy once a year or so. Since I had it used for the previous post, using the rest for the dhaal Porial. We dont get it that fresh, so I am not tempted to buy often. Please do let me know if you see it really fresh in some store in Bay Area. Suppose to be really nutritious! More pictures...Vazhai Poo Thuvattal
Recipe is quick if you have the veggie sorted out and cleaned.
* Soak 1 handful Toor dhaal for an hr or 2, then open boil with turmeric and lots of water.
* Once cooked, save the water for kaara kulambu.
* Add oil to tava and season with mustard and urad, add half onion chopped and 2 slit g.chillies.
* Then add the chopped veggie and cook for few mins with salt and little water sprinkled.
* Then add the cooked dhaal and serve it with Kaara Kulambu.
Note: Generally I make dhaal porial when I make the kaara kulambu.

Multi Lentil Adai (with Beet/Vazhaipoo - banana flower?)

More pictures..Multi Lentil Adai
Quick recipe :
* Half cup brown or white rice, Half cup mixed lentils (please see at the end of the post)
* Soak the above overnight or for 4 hrs, grind coarse in mixie with
   2 red chillies, 2 g.chillies, salt, jeera
* If you dont mind light green color, add the below while grinding.
   Otherwise, add it to the batter after grinding.
   - Little ginger, cilantro, curry leaves, few spoons coconut
* Mix all well and add fine chopped onions and make adais, cook well on both sides,
   takes a while.

Optional Toppings:
* I split the batter into two
   - On one part I added, half cup shredded beet
   - On the other I added, half cup fine chopped vazhaipoo - banana flower?
* Mix the batter well and make the adais.
* You could try adding the green moong sprout that looks like vazhaipoo too

Note: I mixed all the lentils/beans I had, except the regular dhaals, which I use almost everyday in one form or the other. I missed green moong dhaal, though I had it. Feel free to add them too. You can mix a handful of each and store it in a dry tight container.   

Raagi Dosa

Got this recipe from a friend of mine, you can mix stuff at home and make it, so we call it instant raagi dosa. More pictures..Raagi Dosa
There are 2 versions of Raagi dosa I make...
Instant version as you see in the above pictures
Recipe:
* 1 cup raagi flour, half cup wheat flour or left over dosa batter, little butter milk
* Fine chopped onions little, 1 g.chilli, little salt, fine chopped curry leaves little.
* Mix all of the above together and make very thin batter - watery consistency
* Make dosas as you do for rava dosa.
I have to tell you this, making this instant dosa or rava dosa is an ART! you definitely need to get used to the heat/water/cooking consistencies!!! It does take time to cook, and works well with high heat initially and then low heat for a while.

Other Raagi Dosa Version
* Soak half cup urad dhaal, grind well as if you do for dosa.
* After you grind, add equal qty of raagi flour and water mixed batter and then add salt
* Mix well, ferment it overnight and make regular dosas, cook well on both sides.
* Batter consitency should be like regular dosa batter.

Tri-Color Idiyappam

Was excited to try this recipe. I have already tried white and brown ones, corn was new to me. All 3 flours are available in Indian stores. Please find the brand and more pictures..Tri-Color Idiyappam

Recipe:
* Take one cup of any of the three flours in the above link.
* Boil water...really really hot...boil well
* Pour the boiling water to the flour with little salt added. Mix well in to tight dough.
* Add it to the presser and make idiyappam shapes and steam it for 5 to 10mins.
* Serve hot with a side dish...today I made Tomato Kurma.
Most of the time we have idiyappam with yellow moong dhaal gravy.

Beans Koottu

Beans koottu...not sure if they call this as poricha koottu. I loved the taste of the coconut, jeera, chilli. Very easy to make and aroma is good too, colorful to serve. More pictures...Beans Koottu
Recipe:
* Fresh beans chopped - 1 bowl
* Yellow moong dhaal cooked with turmeric - 1 bowl
* Grind into paste - 3 spoons coconut, half spoon jeera and one or 2 g.chillies.
* Add 2 spoons ghee to a tava, then add little jeera and curry leaves.
* Add beans, half cup water and salt. Cook for few mins till beans is almost done.
* Then add the cooked dhaal and ground paste, just cook for a min and turn off.
* Serve hot with dosas, rotis, rice, etc. Yummy yum it was!!!

Curry Leaves Dosa

Got this recipe from my chithi long time back and atlast got to try it today as a last minute food for dinner. Most of you might be already making it. I was able to make even roast out of it. Recipe:
* One pack curry leaves from Indian store (it is like 40 leaves or so, here it is small), one green chilli, half spoon jeera and salt.
* Grind the above - raw into fine paste and add it to little dosa batter. (like 6 to 8 dosas)
* And make dosas, I was able to make both soft and crispy ones.
Aroma was tooooo good!!! Liked it very much...

Falafel

One of the Mediterranean Recipes that we like and is almost like our chick peas vada. You could serve this with Hummus, Pita Bread. But we liked it with the salad and home made Tahini sauce. More pictures..Falafel
Recipe:
* For the tahini sauce...thick curd(filter in muslin cloth or use greek yoghurt), roasted sesame seeds, one little garlic piece, half spoon lemon juice, little chilli powder and salt. Grind all in mixie and save it in a bowl.
* Soak 1 cup chick peas overnight and coarse grind with salt in food processor
* Fine chopped garlic little, half onion and half bunch parsley.
* Little turmeric powder, pepper powder, dhania-jeera powder, salt, 2 spoons besan or all purpose flour for binding.
* Mix all of the above and make vada shapes and deep fry.
* Serve with Tahini sauce, little lettuce, sliced cucumber and tomatoes.
It was yummy!!!

Burrito Bowl

For those of you who love Chipotle food, you will definitely enjoy this one. One of my fav main dish!FYI, when you make this one, you may want to skip appetizer and dessert as it fills you a lot and prefer to serve this for lunch. Recipe looks long, but takes less time as cooking is very less on this one. More pictures...Burrito Bowl
Recipe - serves 4
* 1/4th cup of Organic Moz.cheese shredded from TJ or 3 mexican cheese blend which is a fine shredded one or any cheese you would like to add
* 1/2 cup - Stirred thick yoghurt or sour cream - I used greek yoghurt with little salt
* 3/4th cup Black bean - soaked overnight, cooked well in pressure cooker (without vessel inside the cooker, takes atleast 10mins) with little salt and chillie powder or taco seasoning from TJ.
* Salsa - mild I made at home - 2 tomatoes diced without seeds, little of fine chopped cilantro, onions, lemon juice salt, little g.chillie or Jalapeno.
* Medium/Hot Salsa - store bought - one small box
* Fajita - onion and mixed bell peppers sauted with little pepper and salt
* Shredded Lettuce
* Gaucamole - 2 mashed avocados with little lemon juice, salt, onions, cilantro
* 3/4th cup - steamed yellow/white corn with little salt
* Half cup cooked rice - let it cool and add little lemon juice and cilantro.

Make everything and arrange in bowls and let the guests make their own bowls.
Mix well with 2 forks in your bowl and enjoy the yummy yummy burrito bowl!!!!