Plantain podimas - Thanjavur style

This is again one of my favourite receipe. In my mom's place, I haven't seen her making podimas with platain (vazhakkai). But in my In-laws place, they make this plantain podimas. The main ingredients are as follows:
Ingredients:-

1. Plantain(vaazhakkai) - 2
2. Oil - 2 tbsp
3. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
4. Urid dal - 1/2 tsp
5. Fresh coconut - 1 tbsp
6. Green chillies - 2
7. ginger - a small piece
8. Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Curry leaves - 10 nos
11. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
12. Asafoetida powder -

There are two ways of cooking vazhakkai here, one is remove the skin, cut it into small cubes, pressure cook it adding salt and turmeric powder, upto 2 whistles ( do not mash the cubes). The other method is, cut the vazhakkai into two pieces (after removing the edges), pressure cook it adding salt to it upto 2 whistles. After taking it out from the pressure cooker, remove the skin(it will be easier) mash it. You can choose either one.

Now take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urid dal, green chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida powder, turmeric powder (if you choose the second method of cooking), ginger and try it till golden brown. Now add the vazhakkai pieces or mashed vazhakkai to it and mix everything thoroughly. Turn off the stove and let it cool. After 10 mts add the lemon juice to it and mix it. Sprinkle the fresh coconut on top of it. Vazhakkai podimas is ready to serve. This shoule be a wonder side dish for vatha kozhambu or any kind of kozhambu.

Tomato Pachadi - Tribute to Jayasree Satish

This is another way of making tomato pachadi.  This is a tribute to our blogger friend who passed away last week. We will definitely miss you Jayasree :(

Tomato Rice

Tomato Rice is my favourite dish. I use my Rasam Powder for making Tomato rice instead of Masala powder (coriander powder + Chilly powder). This receipe is based upon my way of making Tomato rice. The ingredients are as follow.

Ingredients :-

1. Basmati Rice (or Regular Rice) - 1 cup (measuring cup)
   
2. Tomatoe - 4 (Chopped into cubes)
   
3. Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Rasam Powder - 1 tsp
   
6. Green chillies - 1 (add or reduce the number acc. to the quantity of Rasam powder cos it has chillies and pepper)
7. Ginger - a small piece
8. Salt to taste
9. Cashews - 5 (acc to taste)
10. Oil - 2 tsp
11. Unsalted butter - 1 tsp
12. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
13. Urid Dal - 1/2 tsp
14. cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
15. Asafoetida - one pinch
16. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
    

Soak the rice in water for 10 mts. Cook the rice in a pressure cooker upto 2 whistles. Do not over cook the rice. keep it and let it cool. In the mean time, take a wide pan, pre heat the oil and butter, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urid dal, cumin seeds and cashews to it and saute for a minute. Now add green chillies, onion to to it and stir it for another one minute. Add the cut tomatoes to it and now add turmeric powder, rasam powder (can be replaced by coriander powder+chilli powder) and salt to it and let it cook in the medium heat. Now add the cooked rice to it and stir it carefully. Do not mash the rice. Garnish it with coriander leaves.

If you need the tomato rice, more spicy, can also add a cinnamon stick, 1 clove, 1 cardamom and 1 bay leaf in the seasoning mixture(mustard seeds, cumin seeds, etc..)

Adai

This is one of the famous Kerala Receipe. I am a very big fan of Adai. Even though I make avial or any sambar as a sidedish for adai, I would love eat it with a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of thick ghee.. My husband is not a very big of adai. So I hardly make it here. But when MIL comes, we make it every week and its her favorite too. Last week I made adai. As usualy I forgot to take picture. So recipe comes first. Will take picture when I make it next time, may be during the weekend..The main ingredients are as follow

Ingredients: -

1. Boiled Rice(Puzhungal Arisi) - 1 cup
2. Channa dal - 1/3 cup
3. Toor Dal - 1/3 cup
4. Urid Dal - 1/3 (Black urid dal - Karuppu ulundhu will be good)
5. Pepper - 1 tbsp
6. Red chillies - 2
7. Asafoetida - a pinch
8. Curry leaves - 15 leaves
9. Salt to taste.
10. Sesame Oil - 2 tsp for one adai
    

Method : Soak the above said Rice, Dal, Pepper and Red chillies for 2 to 3 hours. Grind the mixture with salt coarsely without adding much water. Now put the Asafoetida and curry leaves in the batter and mix it thoroughly and keep it aside for an hour. This batter may not need fermentation. If you want sour taste in it, you can keep it in the oven for an hour or two .

Now heat the pan (Iron Dosa Tawa will be good for Adai) and spread the batter , into a medium round shape and make a small hole with a spoon in the middle. Now pour 1 tsp sesame oil along the edges and into the hole. After a minute or two, turn it over and pour one more tsp oil. Take it out after a minute or until it turns golden brown and crispy. It is better to cook the adai in medium heat. Better side dish would be Jaggery and Ghee. Avial will also be a good combination for adai. Try this and lemme know your comments.

Note: Can also make drumstick leaves adai, plantain flower leaf adai with this batter.

Dhall

In my mom's family, my grandparents don't eat onions and garlic. Whenever they make roti or chapathi, my patti make this dhall for them and some other dish for others. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Moong Dhall - 1 cup
2. Toor dhall - 1 tbsp
3. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Green chillies - 3 ( acc to taste)
   
5. Salt to taste
6. Tomato - 1 finely chopped

For seasoning:-

1. Oil - 1 tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
4. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
5. Lemon juice - 2 tsp
6. Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp

First pressure cook the dhall, adding chopped tomato, turmeric powder and salt to it. Now take a pan, preheat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add cumin seeds, green chillies, asafoetida powder and fry it till golden brown. Now add the cooked dhall to it and add 1/4 cup of water if necessary, to it, and let it cook for 3 to 5 mts. Turn off the stove and let it cool. After 10 mts, pour the lemon juice on top of it and garnish it with coriander leaves. Now dhall is ready to serve with hot rotis.

We can avoid using lemon juice, if we add more tomatoes. Also, toor dhall can also be avoided. This is a side dish but can also be used with rice. We can also add onions to this.

This recipe goes to CMT-Dhal/Kadhi/sambar/rasam, hosting by Priya, an event by Jagruti.

Mixed Vegetable Rice

This was our dinner yesterday. It came out very well. The main ingredients are as follow:
Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice - 1 cup (measuring cup) (soak it for 5 mts.)
   
2. Carrot - 1 - (Chopped in an inch size) (if its a big carrot use only 1/2 carrot)
3. Peas - 3 tbsp
4. Potato - 1 (chopped in an inch size)
5. Onion - 1 finely chopped
6. Garlic - 1 clove finely chopped
7. Oil - 2 tbsp
8. Butter - 1 tbsp (unsalted)
9. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
10. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
11. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
12. Salt to taste
13. Cardamom - 1
14. Cloves - 1
15. Bay leaf -1
16. Cashews - 5 to 7 (acc. to taste)
    
17. Fresh coriander leaves - 2 tbsp (finely chopped)

First, clean the rice and cook it up to 1 or 2 whistles. Do not over cook. Keep it aside and let it cool. Now take a wide pan, preheat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add cashews, cumin seeds, Cardamom, cloves bay leaf and vegetables to it. Add 1/2 cup of water and let it cook for 5 to 7 mts. Now add coriander powder and salt to it. Stir it carefully (do not mash the vegetables). Now mix the vegetables with the rice. While mixing the vegetables with a spatula, make sure it won't mash the rice. Now pour the Butter on top it and garnish it with coriander leaves. Now mixed vegetable rice is ready to serve. Potato chips or Onion raita can be a good side dish. We can also replace ghee and oil with cooking spray...

Milagu kozhambu

I want to start my favourite receipe as the first post for this new year 2009. The main ingredients are as follow..
Ingredients:-

1. Tamarind paste - 2 tbsp
2. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
3. salt to taste
4. Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
5. channa dal - 1 tbsp
6. urid dal - 1/2 tsp (optional)
7. Black pepper - 1 1/2 tbsp
8. cumin seeds - 1 tsp
9. Fenugreek seeds(methi seeds) - 1/2 tsp
10. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
11. Sesame oil - 3 tbsp
12. Jaggery - 2 tsp
    

For seasoning:-

1. mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
2. urid dal - 1/4 tsp
3. methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
4. asafoetida powder - a pinch
5. curry leaves - 10 leaves

First, take a small pan and pour a drop of oil and fry coriander seeds, channa dal, urid dal, black pepper, cumin seeds and asafoetida, to golden brown. Let it cool and grind it into a fine powder. This is the Milagu kozhambu powder.

Now take a wide pan and pour the remaining oil and season the mustard seeds, urid dal, methi seeds, asafoetida powder and curry leaves to golden brown (do not burn the ingredients). Now mix the tamarind paste with 2 cups of water and pour it in the pan and add turmeric powder and salt. Let it boil for 4 mts. Now add the milagu kozhambu powder to the tamarind mix and again let it cook for another 7 mts in medium flame. Now add jaggery to it and let it boil for another 3 mts until the oil starts to leave the side of the pan. Here also the consistency should be semi-solid. Now milagu kozhambu is ready to serve and we can keep this kozhambu for atleast a week under refridgeration.

Poricha Kozhambu - Thanjavur Style

This is how my MIL make poricha kozhambu in our house. The main ingredients are as follows.

Ingredients:-

1. Toor Dal - 3/4 cup
2. Channa dal - 3 tbsp
3. Brinjal - 4 or 5 (cut it in an inch shape)
   
4. Tamarind - one small lemon sized
   
5. Coriander seeds - 3/4 tbsp
6. Fresh coconut - 1 tbsp
7. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Red chillies - 2 (or according to taste)
9. Chana dal - 1 tsp
10. Asafoetida - a pinch
11. Salt to taste
12. Sambar powder - 3/4 tsp
    
13. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
14. Ground nuts (peanuts) - 2 tbsp

For Seasoning:-

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
3. Curry leaves
   
4. Asafoetida powder - a pinch

Take a small pan, add a drop of oil and fry coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chillies, coconut and 1 tsp channa dal with a pinch of asafoetida powder, to golden brown. Grind it and make it into a paste. Cook both Toor dal and 3 tbsp channa dal in a pressure cooker. Do not overcook the channa dal(its better to cook toor dal and channa dal one by one). Keep it aside.

In a wide pan, put the brinjal pieces, add tamarind water, sambar powder, salt, turmeric powder and peanuts. Let it boil for 10 to 12 mts. Now add the Coconut paste to it and let it boil for another 3 mts. Now add the cooked Toor dal and Channa dal to it and let it cook for another 5 mts. Take a small pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds. when it splutters, add asafoetida powder and curry leaves to it. Pour the oil into the poricha kozhambu. Now the poricha kozhambu is ready to serve. This can be a very good side dish for Dosai. My MIL usually make Thogayal with this poricha kozhambu. We use this kozhambu as side dish for Thogayal Saadam. Try this and lemme know your comments.

Cauliflower Curry

Cauliflower is rich in Folate, Vitamin C and Dietary Fibre. The main ingredients for this curry are as follow..
Ingredients

1. Cauliflower - 1
2. Tomato -1
3. Onion - 1/2
4. Oil - 1 tbsp
5. Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
6. Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
7. Red chillies -1
8. Urid dhal - 1/2 tsp
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Salt to taste
11. Curry Powder - 3/4 tsp (or acc to taste) ***
12. Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tsp
    
13. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp

First, remove the florets from the cauliflower and put it in hot water for 2 mts. It will clean up the florets. In the mean time, chop the tomato and onion and keep it aside. Now take a microwave safe vessel, put the cauliflower in it, add 1/2 cup of water, also add salt and keep it in the microwave for 5 to 7 mts. Cauliflower is cooked now.

Now take a pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urAd dhal, cumin seeds, red chillies and asafoetida powder to it and fry it for a minute. Now add onion and tomato one by one and saute for a minute. Now add the turmeric powder and curry powder to it and stir it for another 2 mts. Now add the cooked cauliflower to it and mix everything thoroughly. Close the pan for 2 mts and let everything cook. Now turn off the stove and garnish it with the coriander leaves.

*** - I usually make curry powder and use it for making side dishes like this. Instead we can always replace curry powder with coriander powder + Red chillies powder

Ginger Pulikachal

This receipe comes under hot-hotter-hottest side of cooking. Spicy lovers love to use this pulikachal. This is basically a side dish which can be used with Molagootal or any kind of kootu, curd rice, for dosai... The main ingredients are as follows:-
Ingredients:

1. Ginger - one small cup or 4 table spoon (finely chopped)
2. Green chillies - 3
3. Jaggery - 3 table spoon
4. Tamarind paste - 3 table spoon
5. Salt to taste
6. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Sesame Oil - 3 tbsp
8. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
9. Urid dal - 1/2 tsp

First take 3 table spoon ginger out of 4 table spoons and green chillies and grind it into a fine paste. Now take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, when it splutters add urid dal, add the remaining 1 tbsp ginger, fry it for a minute. Now add the ginger+chillies paste. Add one or 1 1/2 cups of water. Add turmeric powder salt and tamarind paste to it and let it cook for 10 mts under medium heat. Add jaggery to it after 10 mts and mix every thing well and again let it boil for another 10 mts. When sesame oil comes out of the paste, its time to turn off the stove.

It will be really really hot. If we want we can reduce the number of green chillies. Ginger is good for digestion. Its better to consume a little. We can keep this pulikachal for 10 days under refrigeration.

Brinjal Poricha Kozhambu - Kerala Style

This poricha kozhambu is also a Kerala style kozhambu. In this kozhambu we use Azuki Bean (Black Kaaramani) instead of Toor dal. The main ingredients are as follow..

Ingredients:-

1. Black Kaaramani - 3/4 cup (soak it in water for atleast 8 hours)
2. Tamarind - one small lemon sized
3. Eggplant/Brinjal - 4 (cut it in an inch size)
4. Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
5. Chana dal - 1 tsp
6. Fresh coconut - 1 tbstp
7. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Red Chillies - 2 (or according to taste)
9. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
10. Jaggery - 1 tbsp
11. Sambar Powder - 1/2 tsp
12. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
    
13. Salt to taste.

For Seasoning:

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
3. fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
4. Asafoetida - 1 pinch
5. Curry Leaves - 10 leaves

At first, take a small pan pour a drop of oil and fry Coriander seeds, Channa dal, Red chillies, Fresh coconut and Fenugreek seeds with a pinch of asafoetida powder, to golden brown. Let it cool and grind it into a fine paste. Keep it aside. Cook the Kaaramani in a pressure pan upto 6 whistles. Keep it aside. Now take a wide pan, cut the brinjal, mix the tamarind paste, turmeric powder, sambar powder salt and let it boil(cook) for 10 mts. Now add the coconut paste to it and let it boil for another 5 mts. Now add the cooked Kaaramani and jaggery to it and let it cook for another 7 mts. Turn off the stove now. Take a seasoning pan, pre heat the oil add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida and curryleaves and let it fry till golden brown. Now pour it in the poricha Kozhambu. Now poricha kozhambu is ready to serve.

vatha kozhambu

Another spicy recipe. I always love to eat vatha kozhambu. But now a days because of heart burn, I reduced eating spicy stuff. But this pumpkin vatha kozhambu is my all time favorite. The main ingredients are as follow...
Ingredients:-

1. Tamarind - one small lemon sized or 2 tbsp paste
   
2. Pumpkin or pearl onion - one small cup (may 10 small cubes)
3. Tumeric powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Sambar powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
5. salt to taste
6. Sesame oil - 4 tbsp (may need more)
7. Jaggery - 1 tbsp
8. mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
9. urid dal - 1/2 tsp
10. channa dal - 1/2 tsp
11. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
12. Red chillies - 1 or 2 (acc. to taste)
    
13. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
14. Rice flour - 1 1/2 tsp
    

Take a wide pan, pre heat 3 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urid dal, channa dal, fenugreek seeds, red chillies and asafoetida powder and fry these ingredient in low flame, to golden brown. Now add the vegetable to it and saute for a minute. Now put the tamarind paste(if you are using tamarind, squeeze out the juice from it and pour it) and add 1 1/2 cup of water to the paste. Add turmeric powder, sambar powder and salt and let it cook for 10 mts. in medium flame. Now add the jaggery to it and again add 1/2 cup of water and let it boil for another 5 to 7 mts. In order to make the consistency thick, now mix the rice flour with a tbsp of water and pour it on top of the kozhambu and also pour the remaining oil. Let it boil for another 3 mts. Now Vatha kozhambu is ready to serve. Serve it hot with rice. Potato curry will be a good side dish for this rice.

7 Cups Cake

Lets Start the diwali postswith a sweet. The name of the sweet is 7 cups cake. The necessary ingredients are as follows.
Ingredients:

1. Besan Flour - 1 cup
2. Sugar - 3 cups
3. Fresh coconut - 1 cup
4. Ghee ( or melted unsalted butter) - 1cup
5. Milk - 1 cup.

Pre-heat a wide pan for a minute, add all the above said ingredients and stir it thoroughly in a steady steam. Continuously and thoroughly stirring, cook until the ghee starts to leave the sides of the pan and the mixture starts to thicken and turns to kind of semi-solid and light gold in color. Immediately pour it in a big greasy tray or plate and cut it into squares or diamonds whichever shape you want.

When it is still hot, we can decorate each diamond or square with a cashew or almond. It will taste more like mysore pak. But the main difference is, we are adding coconut and milk in this receipe. It will take 20 minutes to finish this receipe and the kids will definitely love this.

I usually don't decorate. If you wish to do it, you can do it.

This post goes to Priti's Diwali Celebrations

Bisibelebath

Bisibelebath/ Sambar Saadam needs lot of work and patience. But I like to do this once in 10 days cos we add lots of veggies in one rice and that kids like to eat it with lots and lots of melted ghee. The ingredients are as follows

Ingredients:

1. Sonamasuri Rice(ordinary rice) - 2 cups (wash it and keep it aside)
   
2. Toor Dal - 1 cup(wash it and keep it aside)
   
3. Sambar Powder - 1/2 tsp (if necessary)
4. Turmeric Powder - 3/4 tsp
5. Pearl onion (small onion) - 15 (remove the skin)
6. Beans - 12 (3/4 inch chopped) (can also grab some frozen cut beans)
7. Peas - a hand full (regular or frozen)
8. Carrot - 1 (3/4 inch chopped)
9. Potato - 1 (3/4 inch chopped)
10. Drumstick - 1 (3/4 inch chopped) (can also use frozen drumstick)
11. Brinjal (Egg Plant) - 1 (3/4 inch chopped)
12. Chow chow - 1/2 (3/4 inch chopped)
13. Tamarind - 1 small lemon sized (or 3 tsp paste)
14. Ghee - 3 tbsp
15. Oil - 2 tbsp
    
16. Salt to taste
    

Bisibelebath Masala Powder:

1. Coriander seeds - 3 tbsp
2. Channa dal - 1 tbsp
3. Toor dal - 1 tbsp
4. Asafoetida powder - 1 pinch
5. Cinnamon stick - 2 ( 1 inch)
6. cloves - 3
7. Cardamom - 2
8. Bay leaf - 1 (can also be avoided)
9. Red chillies - 3 or 4 ( according to taste)
10. White Sesame Seeds - 1/4 tsp ( can also be avoided)
11. Coconut - 2 tbsp

Fry these masala ingredients except coconut in a pan with a drop of oil, to golden brown and grind it. Excess powder can be used later. For the above said ingredients, we may need 2 or 3 tbsp masala powder. Now take the required amount of masala powder and add coconut to it and now grind it finely.

For Seasoning/Thalikka:

1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
2. Urid dal - 1 tsp
3. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 seeds
4. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
5. Red chilli - 2
6. Cashews - 10
   

Now in a pressure pan, pre-heat 2 tbsp ghee and oil fry the seasonings to golden brown now add all the vegetables to it and stir it for a minute. After a minute, add rice and toor dal to it. stir it for 1/2 a minute. Let it mix with the vegetables. Now add water in the ratio of 1:6. So we need 12 cups water. Add turmeric powder, Sambar powder(optional), asafoetida powder and masala powder(with coconut) to it. Add salt to taste. Now pressure cook these ingredients up to 7 or 8 full whistles. After opening the pressure pan (after 10 or 15 mts depending upon the pressure), add the remaining 1 tbsp ghee and coriander leaves and stir it thoroughly. Again close the pressure pan for 5 minutes. Now Bisibelebath is ready to serve. We can serve this Bisibelebath with Onion Raita or/and chips.

This rice should be in a semi- solid consistency than normal rice. Some people also add 1 tsp sugar to the rice (before cooking).

Bisibelebath is a famous receipe in Karnataka. My neighbour in my apartment(from karnataka) taught me this. We can also give this rice to kids after adding few more spoons of ghee. Try this and lemme know your comments.

Carrot Rice

This is a simple receipe for making Carrot Rice. The ingredients are as follows: 1 cup Basmati Rice(or regular sonamasuri rice) Soak it in water for 5 minutes, 1 Big Carrot - chop it, grind it and get juice out of it, 2 tbsp oil, 1tsp unsalted butter, salt to taste, Mustard seeds, urid dal, 1 green chilli, 5 cashews, 5 shredded almonds, pinch of asafoetida, turmeric powder, 1 finely chopped onion, Coriander leaves, curry leaves.

It needs a masala Powder which we can make it at home and keep the excess for some other variety rice. The ingredients for masala powder are:

1. 1 cinnamon stick
2. 2 cloves
3. 1 bay leaf
4. 1 cardamom
5. 1 tbsp channa dal
6. 1tbsp urid dal
7. 3 red chillies
8. 2 tbsp coriander seeds

Fry these ingredient in a pan with a drop of oil and grind it. Keep it aside. In a pressure cooker pre-heat the oil and butter. Season the mustard seeds, urid dal, cashews, almonds, green chillies and finely chopped onion to golden brown. Now add the Rice (drain it after 5 mts of soaking), carrot juice in 1:2 ratio(1rice:2juice), 2 tsp masala powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt. Pressure cook this upto 2 whistles. Before serving garnish it with Coriander leaves. Raita can be used as side dish for this Rice. Try this receipe and lemme know your comments.
This goes to Srivalli's Rice mela event.

More Rasam

This is another rasam we make with buttermilk. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Tomato - 1 (chopped)
2. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
3. Rasam Powder - 1 tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Watery Buttermilk - 1 cup
   

For seasoning:-

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
3. Fenugreek seeds - 5
4. Curry leaves - few
5. Asafoetida powder - pinch

Take a pan, put the chopped tomatoes in it, turmeric powder, rasam powder, salt and let it cook for 7 mts. When tomatoes is fully cooked, add the watery buttermilk to it and turn off the stove when foam forms. Take a small pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and asafotida powder an fry it golden brown. Pour it on top of rasam. Close it with a lid and serve it asfter 5 mts.

In this rasam we can soak urad vadai and eat it as curd vadai. If necessary we can also add toor dhall water before adding buttermilk to the rasam.

More sambar

This is another recipe I learned from my mother in law. I was first amazed when she told me about this recipe. Here is the recipe

Ingredients:-

1. wintermelon - 1 cup (chopped)
2. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
3. Salt to taste
4. Toor Dhall - 3/4 cup
5. Thick buttermilk (or curd) - 3/4 cup

For Grinding:-

1. Coriander seeds - 1/2 tbsp
2. Channa dhall - 1 tsp
3. Coconut - 2 tsp
4. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
   
5. Red chillies - 2 (or acc to taste)
6. Asafoetida powder - a pinch

For Seasoning:-

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Fenugreek greek - 1/4 tsp
4. Curry leaves - few
5. Asafoetida powder - a pinch

First pressure cook toor dhall with a pinch of turmeric powder and keep it aside. Take a small pan, pre heat oil, fry coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chillies, asafoetida powder, channa dhall and coconut to golden brown and let it cool. Grind it into a fine paste. Keep it aside.

Take a wide pan, put the vegetables, add required amount of water, turmeric powder and salt and let it cook till it becomes tender. Now add the coconut mixture and cooked toor dhall to it and let it boil for 5 mts. Now add the thick buttermilk to it and turn off the when the foam forms from it. This is more sambar.

Take a small pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida powder and fry it till golden brown. Pour it on top of sambar.

Kunukku

This is basically a snack item which is made out of the leftover Adai batter. The method is very very simple. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Adai Batter - 1 cup
2. Onion - 1 (Finely Chopped)
3. Oil - To fry.

First chop the onion finely and add it to the batter. Mix it nicely. Pre heat the oil, make a small balls out of the batter and deep fry it until golden brown. It should come out nice and crispier. Tomato sauce can be a wonderful side dish. If we planning for a long drive, we can make these kunukku and take it to go with us for a little snack.

Chappathi Veggie cheese rolls

Here is a receipe for kids.

Ingredients:-
Wheat Flour – 2 cup
Shredded cheese – ¼ cup
Potatoes – 3 (cook it and mash it without skin)
shredded carrots - 1
shredded raddish – ½ raddish
Groundnut or Peanuts powder – 2 tbsp
Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
Garam Masala Powder (Can be found in all Indian stores) - ¼ tsp (if necessary)
Coriander leaves finely chopped – 2 tbsp
Bread crumbs – 8 tbsp
salt to taste
Oil(canola or olive oil whichever suitable for you)

Method:- Add a pinch of salt to wheat flour and mix water to it. Make it a thick batter and make chappathis and keep it aside.

Add shredded cheese, shredded carrots, raddish, peanut powder, coriander leaves, salt, chilli powder, garam masala powder to the mashed potatoes. Mix it well and roll it in a small cylindrical shape. Now dip the potato rolls in bread crumbs. Now in a separate pan pre heat the oil and fry the potato rolls to golden brown. Place the fried rolls in the chapathis and roll it again. Now cut the chapathis in to two and serve it hot. Tomato ketchup will be a good side dish.

Tomato-Onion Uthappam

Another receipe with left over Idly batter. My MIL call it south Indian Pizza:). Here is the receipe and the main ingredients are as follows:-

Ingredients:-

1. Idly Batter - 1 small cup
2. Tomato - 1/4 finely chopped
3. Onion - 1/4 finely chopped
4. coriander leaves - 1 tbsp finely chopped
5. oil - 2 tsp

Pre-heat the dosa pan, pour the batter, sprinkle the tomato, onion and coriander leaves on top of it and pour one tsp of oil and let it cook for 3 mts. Flip it over and pour the remaining oil and let it slow cook for 3 more mts. Serve it hot with coconut chutney or sambar.

The above said quantity of ingredients is enough for one big uthappam.