Vadai Curry

Idli with Vadai curry is a famous dish in chennai restaurants... I have tasted this yummy dish many times from one of the restaurants near my house in chennai,but have started cooking it only 3 years before. This is a recipe of my friend Renu, who is a great cook. Vadai curry is one of our favourite recipes and i would love to share it with u all.

Ingredients

Channa dal- 1 cup soaked for 2 hrs

red chillies-2

Cinnamon- 1 " piece

Cloves- 3

Saunf- 1 tsp

Green chillies- 2 chopped finely

Garlic- 4 - 5 flakes chopped finely

Onions-2 medium chopped finely

Tomatoes- 2 chopped finely

Chilli powder-3/4 tsp

Coriander powder- 1 1/2 tsp

Garam masala powder- 3/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil

Method

Grind the soaked channa dal with salt and red chillies with very little water to a coarse paste.

Make small balls of the ground paste and deep fry in oil until golden brown.

Heat oil in a pan and add cinnamon, cloves, saunf garlic ,green chillies and onions one by one and saute till the onions are transparent.

Add the chopped tomatoes and salt. fry till the tomatoes turn mushy, add chilli powder, coriander powder ,garam masala powder,salt and the fried vadais.

Add 1 cup of water to it , simmer and close with a lid. After 5 minutes mash the vadais with a ladle(if u have potato masher use it.)

Add 2 to 3 tbsps of oil and saute for some time till the oil seperates . Sprinkle coriander leaves and serve hot with Idlies or Dosas.

Puran Poli

I love puran polis and wanted to try this out for a long time. I tried once using all purpose flour but it did not turn out well . The poli puffed up and I didn't know the reason. May be it could be because of the all purpose flour..

My native is near Tiruchendur , a place in South Tamilnadu. We go there for our summer vacation every year .When we go in train there comes a station called 'Maniyachi' near Tirunelveli. You can hear food sellers shouting 'boli,boli,boli'(yes they call poli as boli). They have two varieties of polis..coconut and dhal polis. We never forget to buy poli there...It would taste very delicious and as a child I loved those.

When I saw polis in Sailu's blog,I tried it and it came out very well. Click for the recipe here. Watch Pattu maami making Wonderful polis.This had been a great help to me.Those who want to make polis by spreading it with hand should definitely watch this. This is my entry to coffee's MBP for the month of May .

I followed mostly her recipe except I used 1 1/4 of jaggery for 1 cup of Maida and 1 cup of channa dal and added 5 to 6 tsp of oil to make the dough.

Making the dough is very important in making polis. This is how I made the dough. Add a pinch of salt and 4 tsp of oil to 1 cup of Maida and make a soft dough by adding enough water. knead well for a minute and add 1 tsp of oil. knead well again for 2 minutes and then add 1 tsp of oil. knead to a soft and elastic dough and keep aside covered with a wet cloth for 1/2 an hour.

To make the filling I just soaked the channa dal and cooked with lot of water in a pan. when it turned soft drain it(u can cook in pressure cooker too) . Then add the jaggery in a pan and when it melts add the channa dal and cardomom powder(no need to add water) . When it becomes thick remove from fire and cool it.

I did not use rolling pins to make polis .. Just with hand flatten a small ball of dough and keep double the amt of filling in it , fold and flatten in to thin polis using little bit of oil .

When roasting the polis in tawa I applied ghee on both sides.

Poli came out very well and we all enjoyed it.

Vegetable Manchurian

Ingredients

For Manchurian balls

Cabbage- 2 cups finely chopped

Carrots- 2 grated

ginger- 1" piece, chopped finely

garlic-2 cloves chopped finely

green chilli- 1 chopped finely

spring onions(scallions)- 1/2 bunch chopped finely

cornstarch- 3 tbsp

maida- 1 tbsp

salt to taste

chilli powder- 1 tsp

oil for deep frying

For Manchurian Sauce

Spring onions- 1/2 bunch chopped finely

ginger- 1/2" piece chopped finely

garlic - 2 cloves chopped finely

green chilli- 1 chopped finely

chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Tomato sauce- 2 -3 tsp

Soya sauce- 2-3 tsp

cornstarch- 1 tbsp ,mix with water to make a paste.

water- 1 cup

salt to taste

oil-4 tsp

Method

Mix cabbage, cornflour,carrots,chilli powder, salt, cornstarch,maida,ginger, garlic and chopped spring onions together in a bowl(preferably with hand and no need to add water as the water from vegetables are enough to bind). Make small balls out of this mixture and deep fry in hot oil till golden brown.

For the manchurian sauce heat oil in a pan and add ginger, garlic and the white bottom portion of the spring onions. saute for a minute and add salt, chilli powder, tomato sauce and soyasauce. Add 1 cup of water to it and when it boils add the cornstarch paste.

When the sauce starts to thicken add the manchurian balls and immediately off the stove. Add the top green portion of the spring onions on top. Serve hot with Fried Rice. Check out the fried rice recipe here.

Seppankizhangu/Colocacia/Taro root Roast

Ingredients

Seppankizhangu/Colocacia- 8 to 10

chilli powder- 1 to 1 1/2 tsp or acc to taste

turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Garam masala powder- 1/2 tsp

salt to taste

oil for deep frying

Method

Pressure cook Seppankizhangu/Colocacia until one whistle, or u can boil the vegetable in water. Be careful not to overcook the colocacia as it will turn mushy.

When cooled peel the skin and cut into round slices(not very thick or thin).

Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the slices. When the slices start to turn golden brown at sides drain it in a paper towel.

Heat 4 to 5 tsp of oil in another pan(You can use the same pan after transferring the oil to some other bowl) and add all the powders and salt. Keep the flame low and add the fried colocacia pieces to it. Mix well ,stir in between and let it be in a slow flame till the oil bubbles and the pieces turn crispy .

Pesarattu with upma

Pesarattu is a key item in Andhra cuisine, it is more similar to Dosa but the batter is made of green mung beans, the taste is unique and fantastic. It is usually thin and crispy, with onions, green chillies and coriander chopped and filled. It is accompanied by Allam Chutney mainly made of ginger. MLA Pesarattu is more popular variety of pesarattus which has Upma as filling.
Source:wiki

You wouldn't believe that I had never tasted pesarattu until last year. I have heard abt pesarattu thru my Andhra friends and the pesarattu which I saw in sailu's blog really attracted me. I made pesarattu the first time seeing the recipe from her blog and it came out very well. Now it is a regular menu in our house.This is my entry for this month's RCI event(Andhra cuisine) which was started by LakshmiK of veggie cuisine and hosted by Latha of Masalamagic .As pesarattu starts with the letter 'P', this is also an entry for the Nupur's A-Z of indian vegetables for this week.

Ingredients

Whole moong dal- 1 cup
Raw rice- 1 tbsp
cumin seeds-1 tsp
green chillies-3
ginger- 1" piece
salt to tsate

oil
For topping
onions- 2 finely chopped
green chillies-2 small finely chopped
ginger- a small piece finely chopped

For upma

Rava- 1 cup
water- 2 cups
mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
channa dal- 1/4 tsp
curry leaves- a few
green chillies- 3 slited
ginger- a small piece chopped finely
oil/butter- 4 tsp
turmeric powder(optional)

salt to taste

Method

Soak the moong dal, cumin seeds, green chillies, rice and ginger in a bowl overnight or for 8 hrs.
Grind all this with salt and water into a fine batter.
For preparing upma , heat oil/butter in a pan and add mustard seeds,channa dal,curry leaves,onions,ginger and green chillies. Saute till the onions become transparent, then add water and salt. when the water boils simmer the flame add the rava slowly little by little stirring continuously , so that there are no lumps. Close it with a lid for 2 to 3 minutes or till the rava is cooked.

For making Pesarattus , heat a tawa and spread the batter in a circular way, like how u do for dosa. Spread chopped onions, chillies and ginger on top and sprinkle oil to the sides. When it turns brown underneath flip it over and abt a tsp of oil on the sides .

Pesarattus are ready... keep some upma in the center of the pesarattu, fold it and serve hot with ginger chutney.