vegetable Poha / vegetable aval upma

I make aval upma very often.  But this vegetable poha was something which I learned from srivalli. Its very easy to make and it took just 10 mts altogether to finish the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Thick Poha (getti aval) - 1 cup
2. Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
3. Carrot - 1 or 1/2 depending upon the req. quantity (finely chopped)
4. Peas - 3 tbsp
5. salt to taste
6. Oil - 2 tsp
7. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
8. Urad dhall - 1 tsp
9. channa dhall -  1tsp
10. Green chillies - 1 (optional)
11. asafoetida -  a pinch
12. curry leaves & coriander leaves - for garnishing.
13. Roasted Almond Powder - 2 tsp

Wash poha nicely and soak it in water for 5 minutes. Drain it after it becomes soft and keep it aside. In the mean time, preheat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall, channa dhall, green chillies & asafoetida for a minute. Add onion and saute for couple of minutes. Now add the other vegetables one by one and let it cook few 3 to 5 minutes. When the vegetable becomes tender,  add the drained poha, add required amount of salt and roasted almond powder ** and mix everything well.  Garnish it with curry leaves & coriander leaves.

** Srivalli has used roasted peanut powder instead of almond powder.

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.