Ven Pongal

Ingredients

Rice- 1 cup

split/yellow moong dal- 1/2 cup

cashews-a few broken into small pieces or halved

cumin-seeds- 1tsp

pepper- 1 tsp

green chillies- 1slited

ginger - a small piece chopped finely

asafoetida- a couple of pinches

curry leaves- a few

salt to taste

oil-1tbsp

ghee- 1 tbsp

Method

Dry roast the dal lightly for a couple of minutes till a nice aroma comes and set aside. Be careful not to turn it brown.

Heat oil and ghee in a pressure cooker and when hot add the cashews,pepper, cumin, ginger,green chilli ,curry leaves and asafoetida. Keep in a low flame and make sure nothing gets burnt.

Add the dal and the washed rice to it and then add 4 cups of water . Check salt and pressure cook it. ( As we add more water for this , most of the time the water overflows . To avoid this I follow this method: partly cover with a lid, turn on high flame and let it boil. After some time when the rice , dal and water are in even consistency ,close with a lid. When steam comes add weight and simmer for 15 minutes.)

When the steam subsides completely,open the cooker and mix it well so that it gets mashed lightly.

Serve hot with sambar or coconut chutney.

Note

You can pressure cook the dal and rice and then do the seasonings finally too.

Vegetable Upma

Ingredients

rava- 2 cups

onion- 1 chopped finely

tomato- 1 chopped finely

green chillies-2 slitted

ginger- 1 small piece chopped finely

carrot-1 chopped finely

beans- 6-8 chopped finely

peas- 1/2 cup

capsicum-1/4 chopped finely

potato-1 chopped finely

cooked channa- 1/4 cup

turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp or less

chilli powder- 1/4 tsp or acc to taste

garam masala powder- 1/4 tsp

coriander leaves- a few chopped finely

salt to taste

Seasonings

oil- 2 to 3 tbsp

mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp

split urad dal- 1/4 tsp

channa dal- 1/2 tsp

cashews halved- 5

asafoetida- little

curry leaves- a few

Method

Dry roast the rava in a heavy bottomed pan for a couple of minutes till the raw smell disappears.

Transfer the rava in a different plate and keep aside.

Heat oil in the same pan and add mustard seeds, cashews, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves and asafoetida one by one.

When the cashews turn golden brown , add the chopped onions, green chillies and ginger. Then add the chopped tomatoes, fry for some time and then add all the chopped veggies .

Saute for sometime and add salt, turmeric, chilli , garam masala powders and 1/2 cup of water to it.

Simmer the flame and close the pan with a lid .When all the veggies are cooked, add 2 cups of water and the roasted rava (1:1 ratio). Mix well and close with the lid for a minute. Upma is ready now... serve hot with chutney or pickle.

Adai Dosa

It's been a long time since my last post... I went to India for a few weeks , had been busy with other things for the past three months, and now Iam ready to start posting . Adai dosai is a popular tiffin in Tamilnadu and I hope You all like this simple yet tasty recipe.

Ingredients

Raw rice-1/2 cup

Boiled rice or Idly rice- 1/2 cup

channa dal - 1/2 cup

toor dal- 1/4 cup

urad dal- 1/4 cup

red chillies- 4 to 5 or acc to taste

onion-1 chopped finely ( u can use sambar onions too)

curry leaves- a few chopped finely

coconut- 2 tsps grated(optional)

asafoetida- a pinch

salt - to taste

garlic-1 small clove (optional)

Method

Wash and soak the rice and dals for 2 to 3 hours.

Grind it along with salt, asafoetida, coconut ,red chillies and salt into a coarse paste by adding little water.The batter should not be thin and should be thicker than the dosa batter.Add the onions and curry leaves to the batter and mix it well.

Heat the tava, pour a ladleful of the batter and spread it thick.Drizzle some oil on the sides and flip over when it is golden brown.

Serve hot with coconut chutney or avial.

Note:

If you want the adai to be more crispy add 3/4-1 cupof channa dal and 1-2 tbsp each of toor and urad dal.

If you want the adai to be more healthy , you can add more dals like masore and moong dals too.

You can cut the coconut into teeth like pieces and add to the batter along with onions(instead of grinding).

Uthappam

Ingredients

For Batter

Idli rice- 4 cups

Urad dal(whole)-1 cup

fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp

salt to taste

For Uthappam

Red onions- 2 chopped finely

tomatoes- 1 chopped finely

green chillie-1 chopped finely

ginger- a small piece chopped finely

coriander leaves - a few chopped finely

Method

Wash and soak the rice and and dal+fenugreek seperately for 4 hrs. Grind the dal first into a smooth paste by adding water little by little. Then grind the rice seperately into a fine paste. Mix the dal and the rice paste together , add salt and keep aside for 8 hrs or more, till the batter is fermented well. This is the basic dosa batter.

U can make uthappam with this basic dosa batter. But uthappams will taste best when the batter becomes a bit sour , that is after 2 or 3 days. So usually i make uthappams with the left over dosa batter.

Heat tava and spread little oil on it. Pour a ladleful of batter and spread the batter into a thick pancake with the ladle. Add little of the chopped veggies and drizzle a tsp of oil on the sides. When it is cooked on one side, carefully turn over and cook for a couple of minutes.

Serve hot with idli podi or any chutney.

Rava Idly with coconut and coriander chutney

Rava Idly is a famous breakfast in the southern part of Karnataka. Do you know that Rava idlies were first invented at MTR? During World War II, rice was in short supply. MTR experimented with wheat and thus was born the enormously popular "Rava Idli."Source:MTR Foods

I have been making Rava idlies with MTR instant mix for a long time... they come out very well.

But I wanted to try it without the mix and then followed this method.. it turned out even more softer than the instant mix . So needless to saythat from then on I am making rava idlies without the instant mix. You can find the recipe of Rava idly in most of the blogs .... here is my way of doing it. This is my entry to the "Regional Cuisines of India" aka RCI event is started by LakshmiK from "Veggie cuisine" and hosted by dear Asha of Foodies hope.

Ingredients

Rava- 2 cups

curd- 2 cups

cooking soda- 1/4 tsp

oil- 3 tbsp

ghee- 2 tsp

salt to taste

seasoning

mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

urad dal - 1/2 tsp

chana dal- 1 tsp

cashews broken-2 tsp

ginger- a small piece chopped finely

green chillies- 3 chopped finely

curry leaves- a few

coriander leaves- a few chopped finely

Method

Heat oil + ghee in a pan and add the seasonings one by one. Then add the Rawa to it and fry for sometime till u get a nice aroma in a medium heat. (Be careful and dont burn it)

Transfer the rava to a bowl and let it cool . Beat the curd well and then add it to the rava.

Set aside for 2 to 3 hrs.

Add the cooking soda to the rava mixture and mix well. Add little water or milk if it is too thick.

Grease the idly plates and pour the batter in them. cook them on medium heat for 10 - 12 minutes.

serve hot with chutney or sambar or saagu.

Note:

U can add carrots and peas to make vegetable rava idlies. Check out Supriya's rava idli here

Coconut and coriander chutney

Ingredients

coconut grated-3/4 cup

coriander leaves- a handful(3 tbsp roughly) finely chopped

ginger- a small piece

roasted gram dal- 2 tsp

green chillies- 4 or acc to taste

salt to taste

mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp

urad dal - 1/4 tsp

curry leaves- a few

red chilli -1

oil -2 tsp

Method

Grind coconut, coriander leaves, ginger,roasted gram,green chillies and salt to a fine paste adding water. Transfer the ground paste to a bowl.

Heat oil in a kadai and add the seasoning ingredients one by one.pour over the ground chutney and mix well.

Serve with hot idlies.

I Thank Kribha of 'veetu samayal' for giving me the inspirational blogger award, Sandeepa of Bongmom's cookbook for giving me the Thoughtful blogger award,

and Richa of 'As dear as salt' for giving me the schmooze award. Got these awards almost a month back and wanted to thank them from then on, but somehow kept missing them ...and now finally ,have done it. Thanks guys.. feel proud and happy on getting these awards.

Orissa cuisine

Luchi and Ghuguni

Iam a bit late for the RCI oriyan cuisine and Asha had already announced the RCI for karnataka too. Thought that Aug 30 was the last date... anyhow doesn't want to miss this and hope Swapna accepts the late entry.I have never been to Orissa nor had an oriyan friend ...so before the announcement of RCI Orissa, I knew nothing about their cuisine. Googled and read abt their cuisine here and here. I have always thought 'Rasagullas' to be a bengali sweet , but was surprised to learn that they were originated from orissa. Their curries too are different from the usual spicy indian curries.

I wanted to try out a sweet from their cuisine ,as oriyans are very fond of sweets but as I have posted lots of sweets I thought I would try Luchi and Ghuguni.

Luchis are nothing but pooris made with maida. Ghuguni is a simple dish made with peas and potatoes. This is my contribution to RCI Orissa hosted by Swapna and started by Lakshmik.

Luchi

Ingredients

Maida- 2 cups

oil/ghee- 2 tsp

salt to taste and water for the dough

oil for deep frying

Method

Mix all the ingredients and knead to a soft dough. Set aside for 1/2 an hour . Make small balls as u do for puris ,roll out and deep fry it in hot oil.

Ghuguni

Ingredients

Green peas(dried)- 1/2 cup

Potato- 1 medium

onion- 1

tomato-1

oil- 5 tsp

cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

salt to taste

cinnamon- 1 piece

cloves- 3

ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp

chiili powder-1 tsp

coriander powder- 1 1/2 tsp

cumin powder, turmeric powder, garam masala- 1/4 tsp each

coriander leaves- a few chopped finely

Method

Soak the peas overnight and pressure cook it. Boil the potatoes and cube it.

Grind onion and tomato with all the powders and ginger garlic paste.

Heat oil in a pan and add cumin, cinnamon and cloves. Then add the ground paste and some water. Let it boil for some time till the raw smell disappears.

Add the cookes peas and potato and keep in medium flame for 5 to 10 mins . Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with puffed up luchis.

Toast with Oats

Oats are not only the perfect way to start your day with , but also the best way to manage your weight too. Check out the health benefits of Oats here.This recipe is a tasty and easy way to include oats in our diet and this is my entry to WBB #13 (Weekend breakfast blogging) 'OATS' for the month of july, hosted by Madhuli of 'My Foodcourt'. Richa's 'Malai Toast' inspired me to make this recipe.

Ingredients

Bread slices- 6

Yogurt- 3 tbsp

Milk- less than 1/4 cup

Oats- 1/2 cup roasted and ground coarsely

Chilli sauce

Carrot- 1/2 grated finely

Salt and pepper to taste

Butter- 1tbsp

Method

Add all the ingredients except bread in a bowl and mix/whisk well. The batter should not be very thin or very thick, so adjust milk accordingly.

Cut the bread slices diagnolly and dip in the mixture.

Heat tawa and add little butter. place the bread slices , simmer the flame and cook until golden brown on both sides.

serve hot with tomato sauce or mint chutney.

Check out my other recipe of masala oat pancakes .

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.

Masala Oat Pancakes

When I went to India last time, I got this book named'Oats Breakfast Cookbook' by Nita mehta. The book had very good healthy recipes of oats. I tried this masala oat pancakes and it turned out great. Iam giving u the recipes as it is in the book.

Ingredients

Oats- 1 cup ground to a powder in a mixer

Onion- 1 chopped finely

Tomato - 1 chopped finely

green chilli- 1 deseeded and chopped finely

Kasoori methi- 1 tsp

coriander leaves- 1 tbsp chopped

red chiili powder- 1/2 tsp

turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

garam masala- 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

water- 1 1/2 cups approx

Method

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and beat well adding enough water to make a batter of pouring consistency.

Heat a tawa or a non stick pan and add 1/2 tsp of oil in the center. spread the batter to make a thin pancake.add oil to the sides of the pancake. when the top is cooked turn over and cook.

Serve hot with tomato or mint chutney

Dosa, Sambar and Strawberry Cheese Cups

These are my entries for this month's AFAM(strawberry cheese cups) by Maheshwari and Pooja's valentine's special. You may wonder what Dosa and Sambar has to do with Strawberry cheese cups...Yes this is what I made specially for my husband. Dosa and sambar is my husband's all time favourite. He can have it without any complaints for breakfast,dinner and even lunch. He doesn't like many desserts... doesn't eat icecream ,almost all sweets ... I had made these strawberry cheese cups before and he liked it . As I wanted to make a really nice dessert for him, I chose this one. Though the menu sounds extreme, I wanted to make only this because this is SPECIALLY FOR HIM!!!!!

Dosa

Ingredients
Idly rice- 4 cups
Urad dal- 1 cup
Methi seeds- 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
Method
Wash and soak rice and Dal+methi seeds seperately. soak for atleast 4 hours. Grind dal in to a fine past by adding water little by little . Then grind rice into a fine paste and mix it with dal .Add salt to taste and ferment it for abt 8 hours or overnight.(It may take a longer time in winter)
Sambar


Ingredients
For sambar powder
Red chillies- 2 to 2 1/2 cups
Coriander seeds- 2 cups
Bengal gram dal- 1/4 cup
Thoor dal- 1/4 cup
Pepper- 3 tsp
Fenugreek- 2 tsp
Jeera- 3 tsp
Curry leaves- a few
Dry roast all these seperately and powder.
Thoor dal- 1 cup
green chillies- 5 sliced
garlic- 5 cloves
tomato- 1 chopped
pearl onions- a few( u can use one chopped big onion too)
methi seeds- 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Hing- little
Tamarind juice- from small lime sized ball
Veggies of ur choice- (carrots, brinjal, drumsticks... etc)1/2 cup
For Seasoning
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
red chillies-1
hing- little
jeera-1/4 tsp
pepper- 4 to 5
methi seeds- less than 1/4 tsp
curry leaves- a few
coriander leaves- a few
Oil - 3 tsp
salt to taste
Method
Wash 1 cup of dal and add greenchillies, garlic,turmeric powder, hing, methi seeds, tomatoes in one bowl and the veggies in another bowl and pressure cook this .
Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds , when it splutters add the other ingredients for seasoning and then the onions . Saute till the onions are transparent . Add the tamarind juice and 1 to 2 tsp of sambar powder. now add the cooked dal (mash it well with a ladle) and the cooked vegetables. Add enough water and salt to it.simmer it and close it with a lid for 10 mins. garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Sambar is ready. Serve hot with dosa,idly or rice.

note

Sometimes when I grind sambar powder I was not able to get good colour cos of the red chillies. so I reduced the amt of chillies (10 ) and prepare powder. Then when making sambar I add 1 tsp of readymade sambar powder(i use shakti masala) and 1 tsp of the sambar powder which I made.By this way I get good colour for sambar.

Strawberry cheese cups

Actually I found this recipe for the cups, in the Pepperidgefarm puff,pastry sheet packet . They had printed a recipe for choc peanut butter cups and I replaced it with creamcheese filling.. Crispy puff and creamcheese was real Yumm!!
Ingredients
pepperidge farm's puff pastry sheets
cream cheese-1/2 cup
powdered sugar-1/4 cup or to taste
heavy cream- 2 tbsp
strawberries- a few(slitted half)
Method
Thaw the pastry sheet at room temperature 40 min. Preheat the oven to 400F.Unfold the pastry on the lightly floured surface , roll it and cut into 4" squares approx.Press the squares in the muffin pans. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Mix sugar, creamcheese and cream together and beat well till u get a smooth texture.
Place the cream in the puff cups and then a piece of strawberry on top.

About Valentines day... Though we knew what is valentine's day in our schooldays we didn't celebrate it or bother about it much.There was an 'Archie's gallery' opposite to my college and it used to sell wonderful valentine cards. That's how I got a better picture of valentine's day . Me and my husband had exchanged valentine cards only in the first year of marriage as feb 14 was only one week after our wedding. After that we don't care much for V'day because I feel that if u want to epress ur love to someone u can do it anytime, not only on v' day.

And now about my Husband.. His Name is Sundar.. He is a person who doesn't talk much while on the other hand I talk a lot...(I think in these 7 yrs it has reduced a bit ). He is a very patient guy while Iam not.Though we are chalk and cheese in some aspects there are a lot of other aspects where we have similar tastes too, and all these makes life interesting... He has stood beside me during some of the hard times in my life and I can never forget that. In short, He is a real gem of a person(My Husband who sitting near me ,reading this gave a big,broad smile )Happy Valentine's day!!!

Rava Dosa

Rava dosa is a favourite recipe in our house. I make this once every two weeks. There are different versions in the measurements of riceflour, sooji and maida and I have tried many. Somehow I am comfortable with this version as it is quick and easy to make. It tastes delicious with sambar and chutney.This is my entry to Pavani's Weekend Breakfast Blogging Event .

Ingredients

Riceflour-1 cup
Rava or sooji- ½ cup
Maida- ¼ cup
Salt to taste

For seasoning

Mustard seeds- ¼ tsp
Green chillie-1 chopped finely
Pepper- a few
Curry leaves- a few
Ginger- a small piece chopped finely
Coriander leaves- a few chopped finely
Onion- ½ chopped finely
Oil and ghee

Method

Mix the rice flour, maida and rava and add water and salt to it. The batter should be watery and flowing. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, when it splutters add onions and other ingredients .Fry for 2 minutes till the onion turns transparent. Add this to the rava batter.
Heat the tawa (the tawa should be very hot while u are pouring the batter) and take one ladleful of batter and spread on the tawa starting from the sides and finishing off in the middle as rava dosa cannot be spreaded like ordinary dosa. Drizzle ½ tsp of oil and ¼ tsp of ghee on the sides. When it becomes golden brown turn it over.

Serve hot with sambar.

Note:

Make sure the batter is very thin(thinner than the dosa batter). If the batter becomes thick after making few dosas add little water to it.

Some people use equal amts of rice flour and sooji too.