Sharing an orange coloured Thali meal today of Tomato saaru served over rice, Vodi ( onion fryums) Capsicum fritters, Cauliflower stir fry, potato papad, Onion Tamballi and dosa batter dessert. Recipe links to all the items are given below.
This is just an experiment which turned out delicious. Usually a dessert called Thaen Mithai is prepared from Idli batter. Spoons full of Idli batter are dropped into hot oil, fried and dipped into a sugar syrup. I had Dosa batter on hand. Just added sugar, cardamom powder and some safron to it. Mixed it well and allowed it to stand for five minutes. Then dropped spoons full of the batter in hot Ghee. Deep fried to a golden brown and drained on a kitchen towel. This dessert is ready in just ten minutes. Recipe link to the Dosa batter is given below.
Sharing a Thali today of Rice, Rasam, Mangalore Cucumber and drumstick Ambat,, capsicum and potato subzi, onion fryums, masala buttermilk and a banana. Recipe links to all the items are given below.
Sharing a Thali today of Rice, Black pigeon peas and raw Jackfruit bendhi, potato ,peas and onion dry curry,, coriander leaves gozzu, peanut chutney, Avakai pickle and Vermicelli kheer. Recipe links to all the items are given below.
This is an easy to make Pea Patties. Avoids hassles of preparing a separate stuffing and saves time of filling it. Just boil, mash, mix, add spices, roll into desired shapes and fry. Serve hot with a mint chutney or Tomato ketchup.
Ingredients:
100 gms or 1 cup of shelled peas
4 medium sized boiled potatoes peeled and mashed
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
1 cup bread crumbs
5 green chillies
2 inch piece of ginger
5 cloves of garlic
1 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Garam masala
1/ 2 tsp Chilly powder
Salt
Juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
Oil for frying the Patties.
Method:
Tip the peas in a pan of boiling water and simmer for five minutes. Drain and keep aside. Mash them gently and add them to the potato mash. Grind the green chillies, ginger and garlic coarsely. Tip it into the potato, peas mixture. Also add the salt, finely chopped onion, cumin powder, lemon juice, garam massala, chilly powder and coriander leaves. Drop in the bread crumbs and mix thoroughly. Roll out into desired shape and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan. Drop in the Patties two to three at a time and fry to a golden brown. Drain and serve hot with a mint chutney or Tomato ketchup.
The other day, a good friend called up to ask why she couldn’t see a recipe of Caramel Popcorn in my blog. I promised her that I would make and post it today. Decided to skip the white stuff and give it a healthy twist by caramelizing jaggery. It’s turned out delicious. I used the ready to make packet of Act II Popcorn as I wanted to try a small batch. Everybody liked it so much that I ended up making of two more packets
Ingredients:
1 packet of Act II Popcorn (Golden Sizzle) 90 Gms
100 gms of Chikki jaggery
2 tbsps of Amul butter
Half a glass of water
Method:
Tip the jaggery and water in a pan. Bring the water to a boil and lower heat. Allow the jaggery to melt slowly. In the meantime, heat a pan and tip in the Act II Popcorn into it. Cover it with a lid and allow it to pop. When the popping sound stops, switch off the gas, open and pour the popped corn into a dish. Allow to cool a little. Check the consistency of the melted jaggery. The jaggery by this time would have started frothing. Pour a drop of the syrup into a bowl of water. The drop should come together and when picked should be hard to touch. Drop it into the water. It makes a ‘click’ sound. Switch off the gas and tip in the butter. Mix well and add the popped corn into it. Coat the popcorn evenly with the jaggery syrup, by mixing it well with a slotted ladle. Once coated tip the caramel popcorn onto a large dish. Allow to cool thoroughly. Separate the caramel popcorn and store it in an airtight container.
I have tasted Chole prepared by quite a few of my Punjabi friends and each one was different from the other. Though each one was extremely tasty, yet it lacked that ‘something’ which makes the Chole found in the dhabas in the North a class apart. I always wondered if it was the vegetable oil that they used that gave it it’s distinct taste and flavour. It was by chance that I got to know from my dear friend Simran Kaul that it is Anardana ( dried pomegranate seeds) which takes Chole to the next level. The other is a tadka / seasoning of garlic, green chillies, chilly powder and garam masala which adds flavour to the Chole.
Ingredients:
1 cup Chickpeas soaked overnight.
Potli: 2 tsps tea leaves 2 dry red chillies 2 cinnamon sticks of an inch each 6 cloves 6 cardamom 2 Bay leaves Tie all the above mentioned spices in a muslin cloth. This is referred to as a Potli.
3 onions 3 tomatoes 1 inch piece of ginger 6 cloves of garlic
Seasoning:
4 tsps of Ghee 4 cloves of garlic 1/2 tsp Garam masala 1 tsp Chilly powder 4 green chillies
Other ingredients required:
4 tsps Ghee 3 tsps oil Salt Coriander leaves for garnishing.
Method:
Pressure cook the Chickpeas with a little salt and the Potli in enough water for six whistles on a medium flame or for ten minutes in the Instant pot with natural pressure release. Once cooked discard the Potli. Reserve the stock or water in which the Chickpeas have been boiled. Heat a mixture of four spoons of Ghee and three spoons of oil . Drop in the ground paste of the gravy to make Chole and roast it till the oil separates. Drop in the Chole masala, and roast for a couple of minutes. Add the Chickpeas and the reserved stock or water in which the Chickpeas have been boiled.Simmer on a very gentle flame for half an hour. This releases the flavours . Mash a tablespoon of chickpeas for thickness. Finally heat the Ghee for seasoning in a pan. Drop in the garlic cloves and roast to a golden brown. Drop in the green chillies, garam masala and chilly powder. Immediately pour the seasoning into the chole to avoid burning of the spices. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with Basmati rice, Kulcha, papad, lime pickle and a bowl of salad.
Alwathi is a traditional Konkani preparation made with wild colocassia leaves . During my trip abroad I had no access to Colocassia leaves so prepared it with Palak. Sweet corn added is the icing on the cake. I have not made use of any red chillies which is normally used for spice. Green chillies and ginger make it extremely flavourful. Tastes best with hot rice.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of Palak leaves
2 sweet corns chopped into pieces of choice
2 inch piece of ginger
7 green chillies or more as per choice
1/2 of a small coconut grated
1 tsp rice flour ( optional)
1 tsp tamarind paste
Salt
For the seasoning:
2 tbsps coconut oil/ or oil of choice
1 heaped tsp mustard seeds
2 sprigs curry leaves
Method:
Wash and chop the Palak roughly. Tip it into a pan. Add half a glass of water and give it one boil. Cover and keep aside. Pressure cook the sweet corn pieces till they are soft and tender. Once the pressure is released drop it into the Palak and add salt. Grind the coconut, ginger, green chillies, rice flour and tamarind to a smooth paste. Tip it into the Palak corn mixture. Add water to make a gravy of pouring consistency. Bring to a boil and simmer on a gentle flame for a couple of minutes. Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter drop in the curry leaves. Pour the seasoning into the simmering Alwathi. Give one boil. Switch off, cover and keep aside. Allow the Alwathi to stand for fifteen minutes before serving to allow the flavours to infuse.
A healthy and delicious dosa which is diabetic friendly. Millets add fiber to our diet and also provide satiety. Here I have used an equal proportion of Jowar/ Sorghum and Bajra/ Pearl millet flour to make the dosa.
Ingredients:
1 cup Bajra flour
1 cup Jowar flour
8 green chillies
2 inch piece of ginger
1 tbsp Jeera/ cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Hing/ asafoetida
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 small tomato finely chopped
5 tbsps finely chopped coriander leaves
Salt
Method:
Take both the flours in a bowl. Grind the green chillies and ginger to a coarse paste. Add salt , asafoetida, cumin seeds and the ginger green chilly paste to the flour. Drop in the finely chopped onion, tomato and coriander leaves. Pour in enough water to make a batter of pouring consistency. Keep aside for fifteen minutes. Heat a tava/ skillet. Pour a ladleful of batter and swish the tava around. Drizzle a tsp of Ghee or oil. Allow to roast on a medium flame till it turns a crispy golden brown. This dosa need not be flipped and roasted on the other side. Serve hot with chutney of your choice.
Chinese potato is called Kooka, Koorka, Sambrani gadde depending on the region from where it comes from. Two places in the South of India grow it in abundance. There is a slight difference in the flavour as well as the texture of the Chinese potato grown in these regions. The Konkani community prepares a variety of dishes from it. Posting a spicy and tangy upkari today. Thanks to my friend Vinanti Gauri who shared this recipe with me.
Ingredients:
500 gms Chinese potato
1 heaped tbsp chilly powder
Salt
1 heaped tbsp Coriander powder
Juice of one lemon or 1 tsp of Amchur
1 heaped tbsp Jaggery syrup / powdered jaggery
For the seasoning:
2 tbsps oil
1 tsp Mustard
1 tsp Urad dal/ split black gram
2 sprigs curry leaves
1/4 tsp of powdered Hing/ asafoetida
Method:
Wash the Chinese potato well and pressure cook to three whistles. Allow to cool and peel. Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard. After it crackles add the urad dal. After it turns golden, switch off the flame so that the spices that will be added into the seasoning do not burn. Drop in the curry leaves, asafoetida, chilly powder and coriander powder and toss. Immediately add the Chinese potato and salt. Give it a good stir, turn on the flame and heat the upkari, stirring gently all the while. Drop in the lemon juice and jaggery syrup or powder, cover and allow the flavours to infuse. All the while the flame must be extremely gentle so that the upkari does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Once it’s thoroughly heated switch off and serve hot with rice and dal.
