Cabbage Thogayal

Thanks to Arundati from whom I got inspiration for making this cabbage thogayal.  I made this thogayal along with bottle gourd kootu and tomato rasam. This was a real hit and my husband couldn't find what thogayal it is.  The taste was really awesome and I think I will do this more often from now on. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:-

1. Cabbage - 1 cup (chopped)
2. Onion - 1 (medium sized; chopped)
3. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
4. Urad dhall - 2 tbsp
5. Red chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
6. salt to taste
7. Coconut - 1 tsp (grated)
8. Oil - 1 tsp

Pre heat oil in a pan, fry mustard seeds, urad dhall & red chillies to golden brown and keep it aside. In the same pan, saute onion for few minutes and add cabbage and saute for few minutes adding a hand full of water and let both the vegetable cook. When the raw smell goes away, let it cool and grind it along with the mustard and urad dhall, coconut and required amount of water (add water accordingly). It tastes really good with hot rice, roti and idly and I am sure it will go well with bread also....

Pav Bhaji

This was our evening tiffin last wednesday. My MIL is here with us in Delhi and she really loves to cook different kind of dishes for us. I have a wholesome of side dish recipes to post since her visit to Delhi.  Here goes the recipe for the bhaji she made for the Pav.

Ingredients:-

1. Potato - 1 (boiled and mashed)
2. Carrot - 2 (finely chopped or Shredded)
3. Bell pepper - 1 (finely chopped)
4. Onion - 2 (finely chopped)
5. Tomato - 3 (finely chopped)
6. Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
7. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Red chillies powder - 1 1/4 tsp (acc to taste)
9. Oil - 3 tsp
10. Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
11. Chat powder - 1/2 tsp
12. Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
13. Salt to taste
14. Coriander leaves -  for garnishing.

Pre heat a pan with 2 tsp of oil. Fry the cumin seeds, when it splutters add the ginger garlic paste and saute' for a minute. Now add the finely chopped onion. Fry it till it becomes transparent. Now add the chopped vegetables one by one except potato.  Saute all the vegetables for 3 to 5 minutes. Now add the mashed potato to it. Add turmeric powder, red chillies powder and required amount of salt to it. Add required amount of water and let everything to cook for 6 to 8 minutes. When the vegetables are fully cooked, add the chat powder and garam masala powder and mix it with the vegetables. Mash the vegetables with a masher or with the spatula itself.(this step is absolutely optional). Adjust water according to the required consistency.  Now put the remaining 1/4 tsp red chillies powder on top of the bhaji, heat the remaining 1 tsp oil and pour it on top of the chillie powder. Garnish it with coriander leaves. (Since I ran out of the pav bhaji masala, she used the garam masala and chat powder. If you have pav bhaji masala powder, u can replace it with the above said masala powder.)

Heat the pan, and heat the pav bun, adding required amount of ghee or butter or Pam spray. I used PAM spray.

Tomato Soup

I finally managed to get some time to write a blog post. May was so hectic for me. This is a soup recipe which is lying in the draft for one year. My MIL made this simple soup during last year Chennai trip. I took the picture and learned the recipe from her. But somehow or the other, I was so lazy to write it. Today I thought I will finish this one first. 

Ingredients:-

1. Tomato - 5 (big)
2. Black pepper (whole) - 3 tsp (acc to taste)
3. Salt to taste
4. Corn Flakes - 1 cup (optional)
5. Butter - 1 tsp
6. Corn Flour/Rice Flour- 2 tsp

Soak the black pepper in water for half an hour. In the mean time, boil the tomatoes and remove the skin.  Let it cool for few minutes. Grind it into a smooth paste along with the soaked pepper.  In a wide pan, pre heat butter, pour the grounded tomato paste along with one and half cup of water. Add required amount of salt and let it boil for few minutes. In order to get a thick consistency, mix the corn flour/rice flour with two tablespoon water and pour it on top of the tomato. Let everything mix and boil for another 5 minutes. When you are ready to serve, take required amount of soup in a bowl, garnish it with a handful of cornflakes and enjoy. Since my girls dont eat spicy food, she used little amount of pepper. We had to add couple of more teaspoon of grounded pepper powder in it in order to get some spiciness.