Tomato fry

Tomato fry

The taste of my first outing with my friends to Narmada restaurant… Chapati and Tomato fry… umm. Tomato fry is easy to cook and reddish tomatoes tempt me to cook this delicious recipe. It clubs well with dosa, naan and rice varieties. It takes just 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

Tomato (ripe) – 4 chopped

Onion – 2, sliced

Green peppers - ½ sliced (optional)

Green chillies – 1 chopped

Garlic – 2 chopped

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Coriander leaves – chopped

Salt – to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a pan – deep fry chopped garlic - sauté chopped onion, green chillies and tomato step by step on medium heat. 

Reduce the flame and sprinkle chilli powder and turmeric and mix gently with the sauté mixture. Add Salt for your taste. Now add coriander leaves with curry leaves. Mix gradually and switch off the flame. Serve with chapatti or roti.

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Ragi Idli / Finger Millet Idli

Ragi Idli / Finger Millet Idli

Hunt after diet foods dragged me to this recipe. Apart from dosa and puttu in ragi I never attempted idli. Probably the whitish idli in the mindset prevented me from a trial. But not disappointing ragi idlis are soft, spongy and tasty.  

Ingredients:

Idli Rice/ puzhungal/ your choice rice– 1 cup

Ragi Flour – 1 cup

Urad dal – ¾ cup

Fenugreek – 1 tsp

Salt – as required

Method:

Use the same method for normal idli. Wash and soak rice, ural dal with fenugreek separately for 4- 5 hours. Grind urad dal in a grinder by sprinkling water on top until it grinds smooth and you get an icy touch. Transfer to a vessel where you can mix the grinded rice and ragi flour.  Now grind the rice in a coarse manner with required amount of water. Transfer grinded rice to the vessel and mix well with ragi flour and salt. I use a lengthy ladle to mix the batter. Leave it to ferment for few hours. Prefer 4 hours for 26-29 º temperature.

Heat water in an idli maker or steamer. Mix the Ragi batter with required level of salt. Now grease the idli maker with coconut oil. Pour the batter into the molds and keep it inside the steamer. Steam for 10 minutes. Reduce the flame – use a tooth pick or fork to finalise the steaming period. If the fork is not sticky your idli is ready. Rest of the  batter you can preserve in fridge. I made vegetable curry for this recipe. You can try this with kara chutney, sambhar and coconut chutney.

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Chola Puttu/ Corn flour Steamed cake

Chola Puttu/ Corn flour Steamed cake

After a short break with achu’s exams and after a health checkup back to iron age again. Mental calculations on calorie value...ohhh MG! my grade exams were better :) .

Dietician preferred varities of steamed cake @ puttu as a healthy diet for my diabetic which ended up in chola puttu.  And hope you guys can expect new butterflies of puttu on my desk.

Ingredients:

Cholam/Corn flour – 2 cups (now available in packets)

Grated coconut – ½ cup

Salt – for taste

Water – as required

Method:

Take 2 cups of corn flour in a bowl – sprinkle salt with water in the flour. Do not pour – use your fingers to mix to mix – avoid getting lumps – again repeat sprinkling water – maintain the consistency. You would feel the wet in the flour. Leave it for 10 minutes to get softness. Now get ready your puttu maker pot with water for steam. Add grated coconut on the bottom of puttu maker and then add corn flour. Repeat the process to get 2-3 layers – till the top. Steam well. Serve hot with banana.

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Karivepila/ Curry leaf Chutney

Karivepila/ Curry leaf Chutney

Curry leaves : A vitamin rich natural food which has numerous health benefits. It is abundantly used in preparing hair oil (hibiscus oil) and also used to prepare gastritis powder at our vaidyasala. Instead of taking it as a regular medicine my Father in law prescribes to have it with daily food. Today I did this curry leaves chutney for Idli. It goes well for dosa and appam too.

Ingredients:

Onion – 3, chopped

Dry Red chillies – 2-3 nos

Garlic – 3 nos

Curry leaves – a cup

Soaked tamarind – small gooseberry size

Salt – for taste

Oil – to sauté

To temper:

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Coconut oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

Heat oil in a sauce pan/kadai – fry chillies and garlic on low heat. Sauté chopped onion with chillies, garlic and curry leaves. Sprinkle salt on top. When the onion goes transparent remove from flame to get cooled down. Grind the mixture into a fine paste by adding required water. Add tamarind juice and salt as per your taste. In the same kadai add a tbsp of coconut oil - Temper the mustard – when it breaks add the grinded mixture. Karivepila chutney is ready for soft idilis. 

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Rajma Masala/ Red Kidney beans Masala

Rajma Masala/ Red Kidney beans Masala

Batoo this is for you... bit late to try this recipe... you repeated Rajma... in it’s classification. I have tried kidney beans Thoran often, but now I surfed the typical Punjabi recipe.

It’s the hardness of nature that you need patience much! In advance, soak it overnight. The kidney beans have to be cooked well. The perfect Rajma masala is the rajma should melt in your mouth, you should not get them to bite. In restaurant my veggie tried with  naan but this goes well with rice too.

 Ingredients:

Rajma/ kidney beans – 1 cup soaked overnight

Onion – chopped

Tomatoes – 2-3 chopped

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Garlic – 4 cloves

Fenugreek powder – ½ tsp

Coriander Powder – 1 tsp

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Garam Masala powder – 1 tsp

Jeera/ cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Cream/ milk – 2-3tbsp

Coriander leaves – chopped

Salt – as required

Oil – as required

 

Method:

Soak rajma/kidney beans overnight, rinse and pressure cook with water and salt for 6-8 whistles ( you get a nice aroma of cooked rajma by 6^th whistle onwards). Keep aside. Heat oil in a kadai – add garlic and saute till it gets light brown. 

Reduce the flame - Add fenugreek powder – mix well – now add chopped onions. Sprinkle salt on it. 

Then chopped ginger/ ginger paste to it. Toss slowly – till onion gets cooked – add chopped tomatoes – then the listed powder – mix well. 

Allow the mix to cooled down – grind it in a mixer. Heat 1 tbsp of oil - Add jeera/ cumin seeds – allow to splutter. 

Pour the grinded mixture, cooked rajma and salt. Add the excess cooked water in rajma to maintain the consistency. Allow to boil. When the gravy gets thicken add milk/cream and cook for 2 mins. Switch off the flame - Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve with roti, chapati, naan and rice.

Note:

-         Instead of tomatoes you can add tomato paste

-         No need to grind if you have finely chopped onion and tomato paste.

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Devilled Soya Meat

Devilled Soya Meat

Often had Devilled chicken and Roshi in Male’ cusine... especially @ ‘Lemon Grass’ Srilankan buddies behind the secret... Foodie luv the aroma but never tasted it. I googled for a veg dish and found Devilled soya meat recipe. Now it’s an easy dish for chappati.  @ Lemon Grass I like the aroma with betel leaves. But never tried it in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

Soya Chunks – 50 gm/ 1 bowl -Soaked in water – chop into half

Onion – chopped in cubes

Tomato paste – 1 tbsp

Carrot -  1 chopped in cubes

Ginger & Garlic paste – 1 tbsp each

Tomato/ Chili sauce

Soy sauce

Salt – for taste

Oil – as required

Method:

Soak soya chunks in hot water with salt for few minutes. Drain the water and squeeze the absorbed water. Cut soya chunks into small cubes and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan- add chopped onion and stir fry for a while. Once it turns light move the onion towards the side using laddle. Pour oil (if required) – Add ginger garlic paste and fry on medium flame. When it gets cooked mix the onion kept aside and fry again so that onion gets the aroma. Now add chopped carrot and soya. Spinkle salt - Mix well. Add few spoons of water and cook for few minutes. Carrot must not turn ‘mushy’. Now its time to add tomato paste, soy sauce and chili sauce on low flame. Mix well – heat it – turn off the flame- garnish it. Devilled Soya meat is ready.

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Dosas – variety

Dosas – variety

Dosa – probably a brand name or trademark for we the south Indians! Found the value or popularity while in overseas. Lankan brothers do have a variety dosa with lots of veggies especially spinach. My comrade compares her Melbourne experience with pancakes with mine one.

While Dosas companion idili is made out of the same stuff but both have unique qualities. Dosas are traditionally made using iron griddles which provide rich folic acid on every bite. These days non-stick occupied the throne. But still OLD is GOLD!

Ingredients:

To grind:

Urad dal/ black gram – ½ cup

Rice – 2 cup

Fenugreek seeds – 1tsp

Method:

Step 1: Soak urad dal and fenugreek seeds together in a bowl and rice in another bowl for 4- 5 hours.

Step 2: Drain first two items and grind it in a grinder with the water you used to soak.

Step 3: Transfer the ground mixture into a container and keep aside.

Step 4: Drain soaked rice and grind it. Transfer the ground mixture to the above said container.

Step 5: Close the container and allow to ferment for 8- 12 hours.  

Plain dosa:

Batter will be ready by now. Add required salt and water if required. Heat a griddle and apply gingelly oil and wipe it using a cloth. Pour a spoonful of batter on it and spread it in a circular motion... like a moon J. Sprinkle ghee or oil over it and along the edges. Apply medium heat and turn the other side using a ladle so that both sides will be brown and crisp.

Repeat the same with the remaining batter to make dosas. Serve with chutney and sambar.

Leafy Dosa

The secret behind seasoning with curry leaves in each and every dish proves the health benefits apart from adding a special flavor to the dish. A huge pack of carbohydrates, calcium, iron, vitamins etc... etc... but how to include it apart from seasoning ended up in leafy dosa. Instead of grinding I chopped it finely so that the color of dosa won’t change. Try this with the white chutney a zero spicy combination.

Ingredients:

Dosa Batter – 1 cup

Coriander leaves – chopped ¼ cup

Curry leaves – chopped ¼ cup

Green chillies - 2 chopped

Onion – 1 medium size, finely chopped

Salt for taste

Gingelly oil – to grease tava/iron griddle

Method:

Saute onion for few minutes in a kadai. Mix chopped coriander leaves, curry leaves, green chillies and half cooked onion with the batter. Make crispy aroma rich dosas.  

Ingredients: For Chutney

Coconut grated – 1 cup

Small onion – 3 nos

Ginger – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Curry leaves – a sprig

To temper

Oil – 2 tsp

Mustard – 1tsp

Method:

Grind grated coconut, ginger and small onions in a mixer to form a thick paste. Heat oil in a pan/cheenachutty – add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Sprinkle curry leaves on it. Reduce the flame and mix the grinded paste into it. Add salt for taste. Don’t over heat it.

Carrot Dosa

Ingredients:

Batter - salt - water

grated carrot - 1/2 cup

curry leaves 

oil - to smear

http://www.achuscook.in/2014/05/carrot-dosa.html

Note:

1.      Urad dal should be grinded to the maximum so that air bubbles appear in round circles.

2.      Make sure the batter won’t spill out of the container. 

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Pottukadala/ Roasted gram Chutney

Pottukadala/ Roasted gram Chutney

The stock of dosa and idili batter remains for 2-3 days no matter if it goes fermented. For that we have chutney’s with less sour taste which is a packka match. Amma used to soak red chilli before grinding it. But I prefer to fry it with onion and garlic. This gives a nice aroma to the chutney. Enjoy having this simple chutney.

Ingredients:

Onion – 5, chopped

Dry Red chillies – 2-3 nos

Pottukadala/roasted gram – 2-3 tbsp

Garlic – 3 nos

Soaked tamarind – small gooseberry size (if required)

Salt – for taste

Oil – to sauté

To temper:

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – a sprig

Coconut oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

Sauté chopped onion with red chillies and garlic in a greased sauce pan on low heat. Sprinkle salt on onion. When the onion goes transparent remove from flame to get cooled down. Grind the mixture into a fine paste by adding required water/tamarind juice. The quantity of tamarind can be adjusted with the level of fermentation in batter. Add potukadala/roasted gram and grind well. Some hotels in Tamilnadu prefer pottukadala as a major ingredient.

Heat oil in a pan. Temper the grinded mixture with mustard and curry leaves. Goes well with dosas.

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Rava/ Sooji Upuma

Rava/Sooji Upuma

Purely Bachelor cooking! A popular recipe in most parts of India and Srilanka. Whether it’s wheat semolina or rice semolina no matter it is easy to cook, healthy and more than that tummy full.

Ingredients:

Rava – 1 cup

Onion – 1 finely chopped

Green chilli – 1 finely chopped

Ginger – 1 tbsp finely chopped

Grated coconut – ½ cup

Salt – for taste

Water – 2 cups/as required

For seasoning:

Oil – 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Urad dal – 1 tbsp

Red chilli- 1

Curry leaves – a sprig

Method:

Fry the rava in a kadai until you get the flavour and keep aside. Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dal, red chilli and curry leaves. 

Add chopped onions when dal turns golden brown. Now add chopped green chillies and ginger. Saute well. 

Add grated coconut when onion turns transparent. 

Grated coconut gives a nice aroma when on heat. 

Now add 2 cups of water and salt. Water and rava must be in 2:1 ratio. 

Taste the water and make sure it is salty. Allow it to boil. 

When water boils well reduce the flame and add rava slowly and stir slightly so that there will be no lumps. 

Allow to heat for 5 minutes on low flame. Switch off stove and close kadai with a lid. Hot upuma is ready. Serve with banana/chutney/sambar as your wish. 

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Dosa Podi/Idli Podi

Dosa Podi/Idli Podi

One of the item in our backpack. This coarse powder varies from county to county with black lentil as the main ingredient. Amma made this for the first fly and then she gave this thir-moorthy recipe. It served us a lot when we ran out of side dish for dosas and idilis. Try this bachelor recipe.

Ingredients:

Black gram – 100 gm

Red chillies – 4 nos

Salt – for taste

Method:

Shallow fry black gram with red chillies on medium flame. Switch off the flame when dal turns golden brown. Allow it to cool and grind it. Add salt to taste. Store in air tight container. Add oil at the time of serving it with dosas and idilis.

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Puttu/ Steamed cake

Raw Rice Puttu/ steamed cake

Raw Rice puttu with kadala curry one of the best recipes in kerala cusine. My little man enjoys the compartment breakfast very much than anything. My off days can be managed with this combination.

Ingredients:

Raw Rice powder – 2 cups

Grated coconut – ½ cup

Salt – for taste

Water – as required

Method:

Rinse Raw rice for 2 times - drain the water and dry it in a cool place (not under sun). Powder it into a coarse powder(not smooth). Roast it in a heavy bottomed pan. Transfer to another bowl when the powder goes silky smooth. Take 2 cups of powder – sprinkle salt with water in the flour. Do not pour – use your fingers to mix – again repeat sprinkling water. You would feel the wet in the flour. Leave it for 10 minutes to get softness. Now get ready your puttu maker pot with water for steam. Add grated coconut on the bottom of puttu maker and then add puttu powder. Repeat the process to get 2-3 layers – till the top. Steam well. Serve hot with kadala curry.

Wheat Rava Puttu

Pappa’s all time favourite... puttu... no matter if it is rice flour, wheat or millet flour, rava, top ranking breakfast for him. Now having the next generation ... my little one... after white (rice) puttu with kadala curry :) his treasure in lunch box. He claims he tricks his class miss while she insists a big ‘NO’ to breakfast.

Ingredients:

Wheat rava – 2 cups

Grated coconut – ½ cup

Salt – for taste

Water – as required

Method:

Fry the wheat rava in a kadai until you get the flavour and keep aside. Sprinkle salt with water on roasted rava and soak for few minutes. Leave it for 10 minutes to get softness. Now get ready your puttu maker pot with water for steam. Add grated coconut on the bottom of puttu maker and then add soaked rava. Again repeat the process to get 2-3 layers. Steam well for few minutes till you get the aroma of puttu. Serve hot with bananas.

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Thuvayal/Cherupayar Parippu Thuvayal

Thuvayal/Cherupayar Parippu Thuvayal

Pappa’s feverish recipe... but after marriage an inevitable dish in my MIL’s recipe... especially for dinner with wheat dosa/rava dosa. Recipes with Moong dal/cherupayar parippu/Paasi Paruppu are healthy which provides fibre along with protein. Ammooma use ‘thiruvakkal’ grinder in splitting cherupayar and use the finely powder to make thuvayal and the rest for parippu curry. Gone all those good olden days where our paddy fields shower proteins in off season. My little 1 loves to eat thuvayal balls alone...

Ingredients:

Moong dal/cherupayar parippu/Paasi Paruppu – ½ cup

Coconut grated – 1 cup

Red chillies – 2

Garlic – 1

Cumin seeds/ jeera – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – a sprig

Coriander leaves – to garnish

Salt – for taste

Method:

Fry Moong dal/cherupayar parippu/Paasi Paruppu in a kadai and keep aside. Powder it once it gets cooled down. Add grated coconut, red chillies, garlic, cumin seeds with salt and grind well. Sprinkle water if required. Add curry leaves and run mixer once. Use your hands to mould into balls. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with wheat/ ragi/ rava dosas. 

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