Vella Dosai (Jaggery Pancakes)

There are several kinds of dosais that can be made and one variety is a sweet one made with jaggery. A simple dish which kids will love.

Prep time: 15-20 mins

Makes 8-10 nos.

INGREDIENTS:

Wheat flour: 2 cups

Rice flour: 1/4 cup

Jaggery: 1 cup

Coconut (grated): 1/2 cup

Cardamom (powdered): 1/2 tsp

Ghee: 2 tblsps

Water as required

METHOD:

Take the jaggery in a vessel, add water till it is covered and heat till it is melted.

Cool down till it is just warm.

Add the flours, coconut and cardamom powder and mix well.

Add water as required to make a batter of pourable consistancy.

Heat a tava on medium flame, spread a few drops of ghee and make round dosais.

When done, slowly turn them over and roast. 

Serve hot with ghee or butter.

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Lauki ka kofta (Bottle gourd dumplings in a spicy gravy)

Lauki or doodhi or bottle gourd is a very nutritious vegetable. It helps in digestion, is good for people down with jaundice and helps cure ulcers. I never used to like this vegetable as such, but guess this is the tastiest dish that can be made with bottle gourd and I just love it :)

Prep time: 45 mins

Serves: 3

INGREDIENTS:

For Kofta:

Bottle gourd: 1 medium sized

Besan/ gram flour: 3/4 cup

Corn flour: 4 tblspns

Red onion (chopped finely): 1/4 cup

Green chillies (chopped finely): 5-6 nos.

Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp

Corriander seeds (crushed): 1tsp

Salt as per taste

Oil for deep frying

For Gravy:

Red Onion: 1 medium sized

Tomato: 1 medium sized

Cloves: 4-5 nos

Cinnamon stick: 1/4 inch

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Corriander powder: 1 tsp

Green chillies (chopped): 4-5 nos

Ginger (grated): 1/2 tsp

Fresh cilantro chopped: 1/2 cup

METHOD:

Peel the bottle gourd and remove the soft pith.

Grate the gourd and squeeze out the juice completely (you can save the juice to be used for the gravy).

In a bowl, mix the grated gourd, besan, corn flour and all other ingredients mentioned above for the kofta. 

Mix well such that you can bind them into lemon sized balls (you can spr

inkle some juice squeezed out of the gourd to help in the binding).

Heat oil in a kadai and deep fry the koftas over medium flame. 

Keep aside

For the gravy, heat oil in a kadai, add the cloves and cinnamon. Once they are roasted add ginger, half of the chopped onions and tomatoes and saute well for about a few minutes till they are soft. Cool this and gring into a smooth paste and keep aside. 

In the kadai, heat a little oil, add cumin seeds and wait for them to sputter. 

Add the green chillies, turmeric powder, remaining onion and tomato and saute well. 

Once they are soft, add the ground paste and the juice of the gourd that was saved when making the koftas. 

Add salt, red chilli powder, corriander powder and allow to boil till the raw smell of the chilli powder is gone. 

The gravy is ready.

Place the koftas in a serving dish and pour the gravy over. Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and serve hot with chapathis or naan.

Do not add the koftas to the gravy before serving. This would make the koftas too soft and they could break. 

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Apple Rabadi

Rabadi or rabri is a kind of pudding made with milk and is one of the easiest Indian desserts. There are several variations for this dish. One such variation is with apples.

Prep Time: 45 mins

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

Whole Milk: 3 glasses

Condensed milk: 1 cup

Sugar: 4 tbspns

Dessert apple: 1 medium sized

Cardamom powder: 1 tsp

Almonds: 10-12 nos

METHOD:

In a heavy bottomed pan heat the milk on a low flame. Add the sugar and keep stirring occasionally till it reduces to half. 

You can use any dessert apple; I used washington red apples. Peel and grate the apple. Add the apple and the condensed milk. Mix well. Boil just once after adding apple and remove from heat. 

Add the cardamom powder.  Garnish with blanched and sliced almonds and serve.

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Paruppu aracha curry / Paruppu Usli

Paruppu aracha curry literally means curry made with ground dal. This is a tasty and healthy dish made with channa dal. Beans, cluster beans and cabbage make good candidates for the dish.

Prep. Time: 30 mins

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS: 

Channa dal: 3 cups

Chopped veggie (beans/cluster beans/cabbage): 1 cup

Red Chillies: 5-6 nos.

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Urad dal: 1 tsp

Asafoetida: 1/4 tsp

Turmeric: 1/ 4 tsp

Curry leaves: a sprig

Oil for tempering

Salt as per taste

METHOD:

Soak the channa dal for a few hours.

Cook the vegetables (do not over cook) and keep aside. 

Drain the soaked dal and grind it with salt and red chillies. It should be slightly coarse. Add minimal water. **

In a kadai heat a little oil and add the mustard seeds. Once they sputter, add the asafoetida, turmeric, urad dal and curry leaves.

Add the ground dal mixture and roast the dal on medium flame (if flame is high, the curry will become too try). Mix well and drizzle oil as needed. The dal paste will now become powder. 

Add the cooked vegetables and mix well.

Paruppu usli is ready. This serves as a good combination with mor kuzhambu or lemon rasam.

** Note: If you want to make the dish with least amount of oil, you can also steam the dal after grinding it. Place it on idly stands and steam it on cooker. Once done, mash the dal into a powder and continue by adding cooked vegetables.

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Sowthekai Kairasa (Cucumber in spicy coconut gravy)

This is a traditional kannada dish made of raw cucumber. Some call it hasi gojju. It is called kairasa in our family. Here is the recipe:

Prep. Time: 20 mins

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS:

Cucumber: 1 medium sized

Tamarind paste: 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

To grind:

Jaggery (powdered): 2 tblspn

Coconut (grated): 4 tblspn

Channa dal: 2 tblspn

Methi seeds: 1/2 tsp

Red chillies: 4-5 nos

To temper:

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves: a sprig

Oil: 1 tblspn

Asafoetida: a pinch

Turmeric powder: a pinch

METHOD:

Peel the skin of the cucumber and chop it into minute pieces. 

The fastest way for me is to hold it vertical and chop several times parallely and then parallely by turning 90 degrees :))

Roast the ingredients for grinding (except jaggery) and grind into a semi

 coarse powder. 

In a bowl take the chopped cucumber, tamarind paste, salt, the ground powder and mix well.

(Since cucumber has a lot of water content already, you will not need additional water. But you can add more water as per the consistency you desire.)

To this, add the tempered ingredients and serve. 

It goes well with rice or as an accompaniment.

I am sending this entry to AFAM: cucumber hosted by Neha of easyandtastyrecipes and started by Maheshwari of Beyond the usual. 

Pavakkai Gotsu (Hagalkai Gojju)

Bitter gourd is a vegetable which not all like. But here is a dish which is not like any other bitter gourd dish. It has a special taste, a combination of sweet, tangy, spicy and a light touch of bitterness. 

It makes a good combination with rasam and rice. I like to have it as a side dish for chapathi and dosa. 

Prep. time: 25-30 mins

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS:

Bitter Gourd: 2-3 nos. (medium sized)

Tamarind paste: 1/2 tsp

Jaggery (powdered): 1/2 cup

Asafoetida: a pinch

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Water: 2 cups

Ghee/oil for tempering

Salt

For grinding:

Corriander seeds: 1 1/2 tblsp

Split chick peas (pottukadalai/dalia): 2 tblsps

Red chillies: 4-5 nos.

Grated coconut: 1/2 cup

Cumin seeds: 1tsp

METHOD:

Wash, deseed and chop the bitter gourds. In a kadai, heat a spoon of ghee or oil (bitter gourd when roasted with a little ghee reduces the bitterness) and add the mustard seeds. When they sputter, add the chopped gourds and saute till they are tender. This takes about 5-8 minutes. 

In the mean time, roast the ingredients mentioned above for grinding and grind them into a paste and keep aside. 

When the bitter gourds are tender, add water, salt and tamarind paste and allow to boil till the tamarind doesnt smell raw. Then add the ground paste and mix well. Heat for about 5 mins. 

Add the jaggery powder and mix well. 

Your gotsu is ready. 

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

MoLaga Bajji (Mensinkai Bajji)

Think of the monsoon days and the first thing that comes to my mind is hot molaga bajji and tea :) These are made with hungarian peppers and are not very hot as the other varieties of chillies. 

Prep. Time: 30 mins.

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS:

Hungarian peppers: 4-5 nos.

Gram flour (besan): 2 cups

Rice flour: 1/4 cup

Red chilli powder: 3 tsp

Corriander powder: 2 tsp

Asafoetida: 1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds: 1/4 tsp

Tamarind juice: 1/2 tsp

Baking soda: a pinch

Salt as per taste

Water

Oil to deep fry

METHOD:

Wash the peppers and make a slit in each of the peppers. Retain the stem. It would help in dipping the peppers whole.

Make a mixture of two tsps of red chilli powder, the corriander powder, salt, tamarind paste, crushed cumin seeds and asafoetida. For each of the pepper coat the insides with this mixture and keep aside.

In a bowl, add the besan, rice flour, 1 tsp red chillipowder, asafoetida, salt and baking soda. Add water and make a semi thick batter.

Heat oil. Dip each of the pepper in the batter so that it is completely covered and then deep fry till golden brown. 

Serve hot.

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Dhania Paratha

Inspired by the recipe for cilantro naan that DK of culinary bazaar posted, I tried the paratha version using cilantro. Here is the recipe.

Prep. Time: 20 mins

Makes 9 parathas (medium size)

INGREDIENTS:

Wheat flour: 2 cups

Corriander seeds (dhania): 2 tblspns

Green chillies: 2 nos.

Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp

Dhania powder: 3/4 tsp

Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp

Jeera (crushed): 1/2 tsp

Fresh corriander leaves (chopped): 3/4 cup

Milk and Curds to mix the dough

Salt

Oil

METHOD:

Dry roast the corriander seeds in a kadai till you get the aroma of corriander. Cool and grind in a mixer (dry). It should be slightly coarse.

In a mixing bowl, take the wheat flour and add all the dry ingredients and mix well. 

Add about a spoon of oil and sufficient amout of milk, curds and make a dough (similar to chapathi dough). You can make the dough with water too. I prefer to use a mixture of milk and curds to get softer parathas. 

Make small balls out of the dough and flatten into small rounds using rolling pin. I would make these slightly thicker than chapathis.

Heat a tava and roast the parathas with a little oil on both the sides. 

Serve hot with any suitable side dish. I love to have this plain with pickles and curd. 

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Kala Channa Masala

Black chick peas or Kala channa as called in India is a rich source of protein and fiber. It helps reduce cholesterol and is a very healthy food. 

Here is my version of Kala channa masala .

Prep. Time: 25 mins

Serves: 3 

INGREDIENTS:

Kala channa (black chickpeas): 3 cups

Tomato: 1 medium sized

Onion: 1 medium sized

Green chillies: 4 nos.

Ginger (grated): 1 tsp

Jeera: 1 tsp

Cloves: 4-5 nos.

Cinnamon stick: 1/2 inch

Maratha moggu: 2 nos

(I do not know its english name. May be someone can help me with this.)

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Dhania powder: 1 tsp

Jeera powder: 1/2 tsp

Garam masala: 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp

Fresh cilantro chopped: 1/2 cup

Lemon juice: 1 tblspn

Water as required

Oil for tempering

Salt as per taste

METHOD:

Soak the channa overnight and pressure cook with a little salt.

In a kadai, heat a little oil and add cloves, cinnamon, maratha moggu and roast. To this, add 2 of the green chillies, ginger, half of the finaly chopped onion and tomato. When the onions turn golden and tomatoes are mashed, cool down the mixture and grind this along with 2 tablespoons of the cooked kala channa. Keep aside.

Heat a little oil in the kadai. Add jeera. Once they sputter, add the remaining 2 green chillies, finely chopped. Next, add the remaining onions and tomatoes, turmeric powder and saute well. 

Add the cooked channa, the ground masala, salt, red chilli powder, cumin powder, dhania powder and mix well. 

Add water as required to dilute the mixture and bring it to a single boil. Remove from the stove and add the garam masala, finely chopped cilantro and lemon juice. (It is better not to heat after adding the garam masala and lemon juice. Heating would reduce the flavour of the garam masala.) Mix well and serve hot with rotis, naans or parathas. It also goes with any rice item.

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Karadayan Nonbu

Based on the story of Satyavan and Savitri each region in India observes a fast in different time of the year. For tamilians, it is called Karadayan Nonbu or Viratham and is observed during the transition of the month Maasi into Phanguni. 

Let me tell you the story briefly. Savitri was the beautiful and intelligent daughter of king Ashtapathi. She had the permission to choose her husband. One day she saw Satyavan in the forest carrying his blind parents in two baskets balanced on either side of a stick. Impressed by his devotion to his parents, Savitri decided to marry Satyavan. Satyavan was under the curse that he would die within the next one year. Even after knowing this, she was adamant and got married to him. 

One year passed happily and then she realised that the time had come for him to die. She started following him wherever he went and she kept this fast. She cooked a special offering to God (adai) and served the same to her family.

One day, while cutting woods Satyavan fainted and she knew that his time had come. She could sense Yama, the God of death around and she followed him as he carried her husband's soul. 

Yama ignored initially thinking that she would return soon. But she persisted

 through all his tricks. Then Yama tried convincing her that it is against the law of nature to return  the life of a dead person and that he can give her three boons instead. 

Savitri agreed and asked for three boons: a son for her father, kindom and glory for her in-laws and then children for herself. 

Thus, she was successful in winning the life of her husband. 

So to this day, married women perform this viratham for the long healthy life of their husband and unmarried girls perform this in order to obtain a good partner.

Karadai with a dollop of butter is offered to God and the below mantra is chanted:

Urugda Venaiyum oru adayum nan veithen.

Oru kaalam yen kanavan yennai piriyatha iruka vendum

(I offer adai and butter to you. So that my husband and I never separate)

Vella Karadai (sweet) 

INGREDIENTS:

 

Rice flour: 1 cup

Jaggery: 1/2 cup

Kaaramani (blackeyed peas): 2 tblspns

Water: 2 cups

Grated coconut: 1/4 cup

Cardamom: 2

 

METHOD:

 

Dry roast the rice flour on a kadai (roast till golden brown or till you are able to put a like on medai with a pinch of flour). Cook the kaaramani (do not over cook: pressure cook till 2 whistles) and keep aside.

Soak the jaggery and drain.  Heat the water and add the jaggery. When dissolved, add the karamani and coconut. Mix well. Add the roasted flour at once and mix well without lumps. 

Allow to cool for a few minutes.

Make small thin patties out of the mixture and steam it (i use idly stand for this).

You can be sure that it is done properly if the adai has a shining texture and doesnt have broken edges. 

Uppu Karadai (savoury):

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

Riceflour: 1 cup

Kaaramani (blackeyed peas): 2 tblspns

Chopped green chillies: 2-3 nos.

Grated coconut: 1/4 cup

Corriander chopped: a few strands

Urad dal: 1 tsp

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Asafoetida: a pinch

Water: 2 cups

Salt as per taste

 

METHOD:

 

Roast the flour and cook the kaaramani. Keep aside.

Temper the mustard seeds, green chillies, urad dal and asafoetida. Add water and bring to a boil. Add kaaramani, coconut, corriander and salt to this. 

Next, add the roasted flour in one shot and mix well. 

Allow to cool for a few minutes. Make small thin patties and steam.

You can be sure that it is done properly if the adai has a shining texture and doesnt have broken edges. 

 

Wish you all a long happy life with your partners...

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.

Mango Kesari

Kesari is a sweet dish made of rava. It can be made plain or with any of the fruits like banana, mango or pineapple.

I had a lot of mango pulp and decided to make mango kesari. 

Prep. time: 15-20 mins

Makes 3-4 cups.

INGREDIENTS:

Rava (sooji): 2 cups

Mango pulp: 1 cup

Sugar: 1 1/2 to (2 cups if you have a sweet tooth)

Ghee: 3/4 cup

Milk: 3 cups

Water: 1/2 cup

Mango essence: a few drops (optional)

Cardamom: 2 nos. (optional)

Cashews and Raisins for garnishing (optional)

METHOD:

Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add two spoons of ghee.

Roast the cashews and raisins and keep aside.

In the same pan, add the rest of the ghee. When melted, add the rava and roast till light golden brown.

Add the milk and water and mix well without lumps. (Some recipes suggest boiling the water/milk first and adding the rava to it. I prefer this way since it doesnt give any scope for lumps.)

Cover with a lid on a low-medium flame till the rava is cooked.

Next add the sugar and mix well. Add the mango pulp, essence and cardamom and mix well.

All the ingredients will combine well and you will see the ghee seperate a bit at the sides. 

Your mango kesari is ready. 

Garnish with cashews and raisins and serve hot.

Ciao till next time...Have fun! Vidya.