Aappam with Mutton Kuruma and Thengai pal

It's that time of the year, where the year comes to end with a glory.When you hit the road, you could see the decorative lights on the houses each competing with other.It's festive mood everywhere, the malls, the neighbours.So why not carry that into your own kitchen ..right?.so when Nandita from saffron trail announced theme for WBB#8 as Christmas Special and when Ashwini from Food for Thought announced theme for JIHVA as Coconut, what else do you want to put yourself in the festive mood.Coconut plays an important role in all our festive cooking, like in sweets, payasams, biryani, non- veg recipes etc..you could go on like that.Though we don't celebrate Christmas traditional way, we used to cook special items on just to get in the festive mood.Came to know through friends that Appam and mutton stew is the special Christmas breakfast in kerala.Well, Aappam happens to be our fav. breakfast item in the house.The only difference is that we don't make mutton stew, we make mutton kuruma and thengai pal to go with aappam.

Since we will be out of town for this christmas weekend, i made this dishes last sunday.This is my entry for JIHVA,WBB#8 and for VCC Q4 0 FAHC





For Aappam recipe check here


Mutton Kuruma

Ingredients

Mutton - 1 1/2lbs
Onion - 2 (chopped fine)
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
Red chilli powder - 3tsp
Dania powder - 1 1/2tsp
Tumeric powder - 1/2tsp
Garam masala - 1tsp
Green chillies - 2 (slit)
Coconut - 3tbsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Oil -as needed

Method

Clean mutton three times well in the water and use little bit of turmeric powder while cleaning the third time.In a pressure cooker heat oil.Fry chopped onion, green chillies and curry leaves.Fry till onions are almost brown.Now add gg paste and fry till the raw smell goes.Now add chilli,dania,turmeric and garam masala powders.Fry and then add mutton pieces and salt to it.Fry for abt 2-3 min.s and add enough water just to cover the mutton pieces.Pressure cook these for 3 whistles.After that switch off the heat and let the pressure go away.In the mean time, grind coconut into a smooth paste.Switch on the heat to medium level and add the grounded coconut paste to mutton.Let boil nicely and switch it off.Serve hot with rice/roti/idly/aappam etc.










Thengai pal

Ingredients

Coconut milk - 1/4 can
Sugar - as needed
Cardamom - 2
Water - as needed

Method


Mix coconut milk,water,sugar and cardamoms well.(Add just enough water).Slightly warm it in low flame.Careful not to boil it, just warm it.serve it with Aappam.I used canned coconut milk.You can also extract coconut milk freshly.

Vellarikka Paruppu kootu with Beet+Carrot poriyal

Oh..it's been almost a week, myself and lil' one are down with worst viral fever second time in 3 weeks.Didn't have the least energy to get up and cook something.This is first time i had been down with something this bad and missed mom alot and her cooking.A hot glass of her pepper rasam will just cheer me up right out of the bed.This is the time i hate H's cooking the most..:).As being the only healthy person in the home now, he is the real VICTIM to our annoying tantrums..:))
This is my feel better food that i cooked right before getting sick..:))May be i knew i am gonna get sick and this will come in handy...well it did...Hope to get better soon and post my Christmas Special WBB entry soon...

Rice with rasam, Vellarikka Paruppu kootu and Beet+carrot poriyal.

Vellarikka Paruppu kootu is similar to this recipe , just i replaced beans with vellarikka/Cucumber.


Beet root and carrot poriyal


Ingredients

Beet root - 1/2 of a medium sized one (grated)
Carrot - 1 large (grated)
Curry leaves - as needed
Red chillies - 5
Oil - as needed
Mustard seeds- 1tsp
urad dal - 1/2tsp

Method

In a pan , heat oil and fry mustard,urad dal,red chillies,curryleaves.Finally add beet and carrot with salt.Saute till they are well cooked and raw smell is gone.Serve hot with rice.

Green chilli - Mutton fry

Simple but Delicious mutton recipe...

Ingredients

Mutton - 1/2 lbs ( boneless and cut into small bite size pieces)
Onion - 1/2 of big sized one (chopped fine)
Green chillies - 5 (chopped fine)
Jeera - 1/2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Oil - as needed
coriander leaves - for garnishing

Method

Clean mutton three times well in the water and use little bit of turmeric powder while cleaning the third time.In a pressure cooker, heat oil and fry jeera, onion and green chillies.Now add mutton pieces, salt and turmeric powder.Mix well and add just enough water.Pressure cook this for 2 whistles.After the pressure goes down, open the cooker and cook till almost all the gravy is evaporated and mutton is almost dry.Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.Serve hot with rice/roti.Believe me, with this much less ingredients, this dish tastes superb...

Pongal

I didn't post some of the dishes i made last week as was lilttle busy.This Pongal is one of them.This one of the special breakfast item of tamilnadu.

Ingredients

Moong dal -1/3 cup
Rice - 1 cup
Jeera - 2tsp
Green chillies - 3(slit)
Whole pepper - 2tsp
Ginger - 1/2tsp (grated or finely chopped)
Ghee - 2tsp
Cashews - 10
Curry leaves - as needed
Asafoetida - a pinch


Method

In a pressure cooker, dry roast rice and moong dal separately and then wash them using water.In the Pressure cooker now heat ghee and fry jeera,pepper,green chillies,ginger,curry leaves and finally cashews.Finally add rice and moong dal.Add salt and 5 cups of water and mix well.(Adding water depends upon your cooker also.Generaly for pongal, more water is addded.).Pressure cook for abt 4-5 whistle.
Serve hot with Chutney and sambhar.

P.S: In pongal sambhar, i usually don't add any veggies.Just onion and tomamtoes.

For sambhar recipe, check out here

For Chutney recipe , check out here

Instant Ras malai

Last time when i made Ras malai, Mandira from Ahaar had mentioned about using canned Rasgullas to make Rasmalai.So when i had friends over last weekend, i decided to go this easy way...came out reallly well.so here goes the recipe...

Ingredients

Rasagullas - 1 can
Sweetened condensed milk - 1/2 can
Whole milk - 1 1/2 cup
Pista - 10
Saffron - 6 strings

Method

Mix condensed milk and whole milk well and slightly heat it in microwave for abt 3-4 min.s.DO not let it boil.Now open the rasagulla can, and start squeezing out maximum sugar syrup from each rasgulla (careful not to break it).Place all the rasagullas into the milk mixture.Add Pista and Saffron into it and again slightly heat it for 2 min.s in microwave.Let it cool down a bit and keep it in the refrigerator until served.

Masala dosai

Masala dosai , yet another delicious dosai type filled with potato masala and coconut chutney.

Coconut chutney

Coconut - 1/2 cup (shredded)
Pottu kadalai/Dalia - 2tbsp
Garlic - 1 clove
Green chillies - 4
Tamarind - a small amla size
Curry leaves-as needed
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Shallots - 2 *chopped)
Oil-as needed
Salt-as needed


Method

Grind coconut,pottu kadalai,garlic,tamarind,curry leaves,green chillies and salt together with little water into a smooth paste.Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds,urad dal,curry leaves and chopped shallots.Pour this tadka into the grounded coconut chutney.


Potato Masala


Ingredients

Potato - 3
Onion - 2 (small sized, sliced)
Green chillies - 3
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Ginger - 1/2tsp (grated)
Fennel/Perunjeragam - 1tsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Oil - as needed
Salt - as needed



Method

Boil potatoes and peel and smash them with a fork.In a pan, heat oil and fry mustard seeds, urad dal,fennel seeds,curry leaves, green chillies,ginger and sliced onions.Fry well till the onions are golden brown.Now add the boiled potatoes and add turmeric powder and salt.Add water and mix well.Adding water is to make little gravy,so add only required amount.Let it boil for abt 2-3 min.s and switch off the heat.



Masala Dosai

Ingredients

Dosa batter - as needed
Coconut chutney - as needed
Potato masala - as needed
Oil - as needed


Method

In a hot tawa, make a thin dosa.Place dosai in a serving plate.Spread one half of the dosai with coconut chutney and the other half with potato masala.Fold the dosai in half and serve it hot with Coconut chutney and Sambhar.

Kozhi varuval / chicken fry

We had this chicken fry for the first time at our friend venky's place.From that time onwards i made it sure to cook this quite often.

Ingredients

Chicken - 1 lb
Red chillies - 10 (seeds removed)
Small onion - 150 gms
Tomato - 1 (chopped)
Perunjeeragam/Fennel -1/2tsp
Patta/Cinnamon - 2 pieces
Lavang/cloves - 2
Whole Peppercorns - 1/2tsp
Curry leaves -as needed
Ginger-garlic paste - 2tsp
Coriander powder - 3tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Green chilli -1 (split)

Method

In oil fry saunf,patta,lavang,curry leaves and pepper.Add onion and fry well.Now add gg paste,tomatoes,greenchilli,red chillies.Fry well till the raw smell goes.Add turmeric and coriander powders now and fry well.finally add chicken pieces and salt and make sure the chicken pieces are well coated with the masala.Only add little water if neccessary.Fry till all the gravy is evaporated and the dish is almost dry.
Serve it hot with rice/roti.

Beans Kootu and Black eyed beans poriyal

Beans Kootu

Ingredients

Toor dal - 1 cup (cooked)
Beans - 1cup(chopped)
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Perungayam - a pinch
Turmeric powder -1/2tsp
Curry leaves - as needed

For grinding

Coconut- 1/4cup
Jeera - 1/4tsp
Garlic - 1 pod
Shallot - 1
Red chillies - 5-6


Method

Grind the coconut with other ingredients listed under "For grinding" into a fine paste.In a pan heat oil and fry mustard seeds,urad dal and curry leaves.Add beans and fry well.After the beans are well cooked add the grinded coconut paste and fry till the raw smell goes.Now add toor dal.Add turmeric powder and perungayam and boil for abt 5-6 mintues.Serve hot with rice.


Black eyed beans poriyal


Ingredients

Black eyed beans - 1/2 cup (cooked)
Coconut - 2tbsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 1 clove
Curry leaves - as needed
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
Urad dal -1/2tsp
Oil - as needed


Method

Soak and cook black eyed beans.Grind coconut,garlic,jeera,curryleaves,chilli powder,turmeric powder into a coarse paste.In a pan heat oil and fry mustard seeds,urad dal, curryleaves and then add the coconut paste and fry very well.After the raw smell goes, add the beans and salt.Fry for some more time.Serve hot with rice or roti.

Lesson learned

Yesterday evening my H called and told he is gonna be late from office and i needed to come and pick him up at the station.So by 7.30 pm , in that cold weather got my lil all bundled up and left for the station.On the way i was thinking only about the news i have been following from morning.The news about James kim and his family.They got lost in the wilderness of oregon with their two kids.After 9 days of hell, only mother and daughters were saved.Hats off to that "superhuman" who lost his life trying to save his family.Now back to my story,i was thinking how i will be handling a situation like this and was wondering would i be able to survive.The main problem with me is that i won't charge my cell phone frequently and have very lil knowledge abt the car(i have been driving only for a year now).So i reached the station, as H got into the car, i tried starting the car..it won't start..tried again n' again..it just won't start...battery died .By this time the station was empty and again it was bitter cold outside.My lil' started to get irritated 'coz of the cold and H tried to start the car again.No luck, so he started calling up the insurance company and thank god for them, they said help will be there in 30 mts.We spotted a cab nearby(he was waiting to pick up someone i guess) and myself and lil ' one got a ride back home while my H was there waiting for the help.Though this not even close to what the Kims went thru, but it could happen easily to anyone anytime.I learned my lesson to have my cell phone fully charged at all time and be prepared at anytime...

My kinda comfort food

This was our sunday's lunch, rice with rasam, nool khol kootu and thayir sadam(curd rice).


Nool khol kootu

This is the first time i am cooking this veggie and impressed.Got the recipe from a magazine and just skipped coconut.

Ingredients

Nool Khol (Kohlrabi) - 1 cup (chopped)
Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4tsp
Perungayam/asafoedita - 1/4tsp
Curry leaves - as needed

for powdering -- Kootu podi
Dania - 2tsp
Channa dal -1tsp
Ural dal - 1tsp
Red chilli - 3

Method

Dry fry and powder the spices listed under "For powdering - Kootu podi",
Half cook moongdal in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle.Then add nool khol and turmeric powder,salt and cook for another 1 whistle.Now add the powdered spices into this.Let it boil well.In a pan heat oil, fry mustard seeds,perungayam,curry leaves and pour this into the kootu.Serve hot with rice.

Note : I powder Kootu podi in bulk and store it.I add this podi to all kind of kootu.

Kootu Podi

Ingredients

Urad dal - 1/4cup
Channa dal - 1/4cup
Dania - 1/4cup
Red chillies - 1/4cup
Perungayam/asafoedita - 1tsp

Method

Dry fry all the ingredients and powder them.You can add this kootu podi to all kind of kootu.







Thayir Sadam/Curd rice

Ingredients

Rice - 1 cup (boiled)
Curd/yogurt - 1/2 cup
Milk - as needed
Green chillies - 4
Ginger - 1tsp (grated or finely chopped)
Mustard seeds -1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Channa dal - 2tsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Oil -1tsp

Method

Cook rice well and mash it slightly.Add curd,milk and salt to it and mix well.Now in a pan heat oil and fry mustard,channa dal,urad dal,green chillies,ginger,curry leaves.Pour this into the rice and mix well.One of my friend adds grapes to this and is also tasty.






We had this Stuffed chicken by Malabar spices Shaheen on Saturday.Delicious...

Cabbage chutney

This chutney is a bit differentt from the usual coconut, onion chutney..
I adapted the recipe from a tamil magazine.The original recipe calls for coconut, i skipped coconut altogether.Very easy to make and goes well not only with idly,dosas but with any variety rice, i tried with some curd rice.

Ingredients

Cabbage - 1 1/2 cup (chopped)
Urad dal - 1tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
Red chillies - 4
Perungayam/Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves - as needed
Oil - 2tsp
Salt - as needed
Tamarind paste - 1/2tsp

Method

Heat oil in a pan, fry urad dal till golden brown, now add red chillies, curry leaves and cabbage one by one.Then add, turmeric powder,salt and asfoedita.Fry well.Switch off the heat and let it cool down.After cooling down, grind it into fine paste.Garnish with chopped coriander/curry leaves.

Pudalangai(snake gourd) sambhar and Keerai pacchadi

Pudalanagai Sambhar

Ingredients

Pudalangai - 1/2 cup ( chopped) (i used frozen)
Onion - 1 (sliced)
Tomato - 1 (chopped)
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Sambhar powder - 1tbsp
Tamarind - amla size
Red chillies - 3
Curry leaves - a few
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Vendhayam /fenugreek - 1/4tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Perungayam/Asafoedita - a pinch
Oil -2tsp

Method

Pressure cook Toor dal with little bit of salt and turmeric powder and keep it aside.In a pressure cooker, put 3/4 of the sliced onion,tomatoes,pudalanagi and salt.Presuure cook these for 1 whistle and switch off the heat.After the pressure is gone, open the cooker and turn on the heat on medium .Now add tamarind water and sambhar powder one at a time.Let it boil till the raw smell goes.In another pan, heat 2 tsp of oil and fry mustard,urad dal,vendhayam,red chillies, curry leaves and rest of the onion.Pour these into the sambhar.Serve hot with rice.





Keerai Pacchadi

Any type of pacchadi will be a side dish with sambhar in my MIL's cooking as H loves pacchadi.I usually make cucumber pacchadi, this time i tried this chard pacchadi and cameout really well.Very simple with min. igredients and tasted good.


Ingredients

Red Swiss chard - 1 cup (chopped)
Green chillies - 2 (chopped)
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Yougurt - abt 3tbsp ( Slightly beaten with fork)
Salt - as needed
Oil -1tsp

Method

Clean and chop swiss chard . In a pan heat oil and fry mustard seeds and urad dal.Add curry leaves and green chillies to it.Now add chopped chard and fry for 1-2 minutes.No need to add water.Then cover and cook for few more mintues.Switch off the heat when chard is cooked well.After coolong down, mix the cooked chard with salt and slightly beaten yogurt.Serve it with rice/roti.

Parotta/porotta

Parottas..one of my fav. indian bread and my latest successful culinary experiment.I learned the procedure from my dear friend S abt 6 monthes ago.Ever since,whenever i make these, i was overwhelmed by the results.My mom didn't believe first, so i had send her the snaps :)).As we were planning for this vacation, my cousin sis first request was to teach her how to make these parottas.As i got my finger cut while making the side dish for the parottas, her hands posed for these snaps.Thanks to sweet brother-in-law and my DH for being patient and taking photos and shooting
videos and helped me post those here.A big special thanks to my sweet cousin sis.


Ingredients

Maida - 8 cups
Eggs - 2
Sugar -2tsp
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed

Method

Sieve maida and mix it with egg,sugar and salt.Knead it into soft dough using water.It took about 15-20 minutes of punching the dough with my fists.Divide the dough into equal sized balls and dip them in oil(half of the ball should be covered in oil and just pour some oil on top of the balls.(i know what u r thinking..this much oil..not to worry..the dough won't absorb the oil.The oil is just to keep the balls moist.You can very well reuse this oil for later cooking.Another option is, just rub the each ball very well with oil and keep it in a airtight vessel).Set this aside for 4-5 hrs.After 4-5 hrs, take one ball at a time.Roll that into a small chappathi.As shown below,keep one hand under and another over the chappathi and start beating it on the counter top.Keep going around the chappathi doing this until, the chappathi is very thin.Now try streching the chappathi with your hand to max level.Sometimes the chappathi breaks, that's just fine. Now pick the chappathi up by one end.Hold it vertically and try streching a little, careful not to break it.
Now keep rolling this in spirals and tuck the end into the center.just spread little oil on the sprial ball.After done making all the spiral balls, now get ready for the last step.Take one spiral ball at a time, roll it into small thick chappathi.Cook this in a hot griddle till it's golden brown on both the sides.(if you want u can add little oil while cooking).When 4-5 parottas are cooked, take and stack it up.Now try pushing them with both the hands from all the sides.This is just to separate the layers.Yeah...it's done serve is hot with mutton/chicken curry.We served these with Mutton salna, just like u get in the road side tattukada.(will post that recipe soon).

This is little time consuming one, but i bet u will never regret it..




Two eggs,flour,salt,sugar..getting ready to knead...




kneaded dough




dipped in oil




rolling into chappathi




Beating starts



Making it thinner






Streching to the max...



Streching vertically alil' bit





rolling spirally







Fully rolled one



Making thick chappathi out of spiral balls



Parottas cooking




Finished product..delicious..

Back...

Well i'm back home after a wonderful vacation.Got to taste my friends and cousin's cooking after a long time.Soon after coming home me and lil' one got sick, fever.so DH cooked dinner for us yesterday.This chicken recipe is from a TV show.

Kashmiri chilli chicken

Ingredients

Chicken - 2 lb (cut into small pieces)
Onion - 2 (sliced)
Tomatoes - 2 (chopped)
Mustard seeds - 1/4tsp
Vendhyam/fenugreek -1/4tsp
Jeera - 1/4tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
Coriander leaves - as needed
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder - 2tsp
Cashew nuts - 5 (powdered)
Oil -2tbsp

Method

Clean and marinate chicken pieces with turmeric powder and salt.Heat oil in a pan, fry onions till golden brown.Add gg paste, tomatoes and chilli powder one at a time and fry till oil separates.Grind mustard,fenugreek and jeera into powder(used coffee grinder for this).Add this powder into the pan and fry for some more minutes.Now add chicken pieces and salt.Cover and cook till chicken is done.Now add powdered cashewnuts and mix well and cook.Finally add chopped coriander leaves.Serve hot with rice/roti.

Snacks for this weather...

As i am heading for a vacation after long time, thought of leaving you all two delicious snacks to enjoy .My lil' one calls both of these as "chicken", which happens to be his fav.food.Whenever he calls something i cook "chicken", then i know it's a hit...:))

Vendhaya keerai/Methi vadai

Ingredients

Yellow split dal - 2cups

Methi leaves - 1 cup

Jeera - 1tsp

Red chillies - 10-12

Ginger - 1 inch piece(grated)

Green chillies - 4 (chopped)

Onion - 1 (chopped)

Asafoetida/Perungayam - 1

Method

Soak yellow split dal for 2 hours.Take out abt 3-4 tbsp of dal and keep it aside.Grind rest of the dal with red chillies into a coarse paste without adding water.In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and saute methi leaves well.Now in a bowl, mix dal paste,methi leaves,kept aside dal,ginger,green chillies,jeera,perungayam and salt well.Make them into small patties (vadas) and deep fry them in oil till golden brown.

Noodles balls

Ingredients

Noodles - a handful (i used lo mein noodles, you can use pretty much any type)

Onion - 1 medium sized ( chopped fine)

Green chillies- 4 ( chopped)

All purpose flour or maida - 4 tbsp

Cheese - optional

Salt - as needed

Oil - for frying

Method

Cook noodles in boiling water and drain them.In a bowl, mix cooked noodles,onion,green chillies ,salt and maida together.Make balls out of it and deep fry them in hot oil.

For kiddie version, i placed tiny pieces of parmesean cheese in the midlle of the ball and replaced green chillies with little crushed pepper.Try adding ginger,coriander leaves...

Happy Thanksgiving

I take this oppertunity to thank all of you who have visited here and encouraged me to keep sharing my experiments with food.I thank, my H for being supportive and encouraging without even visiting my blog unless i force him to..:))A big thanks to my lil' one who is been very cooperative while I cook ( not the times when he messes around with Atta n' rice).Happy thanksgiving....


As i have mentioned, my fav. hobby is playing with the yarns..so here some of the my latest products which i knitted time in between.This is for my lovely cousin whom we will be visiting this thanksgiving.One of the scarf is for my H, who is having a bad time with the weather...:))

Mothagam

Mothagam, one of my fav. snack from kerala.There is no tea shop in kerala without these wonderful snacks on their glass shelves.Me and H both luv this alot and got a perfect oppertunity to make these for this month's Jihva as the ingredient is Jaggery.So this my entry for Jihva - Jaggery.


Ingredients

Chrupayar/Green gram dal - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup (small pieces)
Maida - 1/2 cup
Water - as needed
Salt - as needed
Oil -for deep frying


Method

Soak green gram dal overnight and boil it in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle.Switch off the stove and let the pressure go down.now open the cooker and drain water off from the dal.Now take dal in a bowl and add tiny pieces of jaggery and mix them well.Make them into small sized balls.For the batter , mix maida,salt with water into a smooth batter.(If you want u can a pinch of baking soda).The batter should be slightly thinner than the dosa batter.Roll each balls into the batter till they are fullt coated and deep fry them in hot oil.

Methi chappathi

Ingredients

Methi levaes - 1cup
Wheat flour - 1 1/2 cup
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Salt - as needed
Oil - as needed
Ghee- as needed


Method

In some oil, saute methi leaves till cooked.In a bowl, mix wheat flour, salt and sauted methi leaves.Make it into a chappathi dough using hot water.Cover the dough with wet paper towel and keep it aside for 1/2 hr.After 1/2 hr, roll into chappathi.Now heat tawa and cook chappathi using ghee.Serve hot with raita/pickle/dal.

Tindora-Potato fry with Collard greens-radish kootu

Tindora-Potato fry (Kovakkai-aloo fry)

Ingredients

Tindora - 5-10(quarterd lengthwise)
Potato - 3 medium sized (chopped lengthwise)
Redchilli powder - 1 1/2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
curry leaves - as needed
Oil - as needed
Salt - as needed


Method

In oil , fry mustard seeds, urad dal and then curry leaves.Now add tindora and fry for sometime.Then add potato, turmeric powder and salt.Finally when almost cooked add red chilli powder and fry some more min.s.Serve with rice.



Collard greens-radish kottu

Only a month ago i started cooking with collard greens, but fell in love with it.(thanks to Priya for Sugar and Spice).For this kootu, i used some leftover collard and radish.


Ingredients

Toor dal - 1 cup (cooked)
Collard greens - 1cup(chopped)
Radish - 1/4 cup (chopped)
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Perungayam - a pinch
Turmeric powder -1/2tsp
Curry leaves - as needed

For grinding

Coconut- 1/4cup
Jeera - 1/4tsp
Garlic - 1 pod
Shallot - 1
Red chillies - 5-6


Method

Grind the coconut with other ingredients listed under "For grinding" into a fine paste.In a pan heat oil and fry mustard seeds,urad dal and curry leaves.Add Collard greens and fry well.In the mean time, cook radish in microwave for abt 5-6 min.s.After the greens are well cooked add the grinded coconut paste and fry till the raw smell goes.Now add radish and toor dal.Add turmeric powder and perungayam and boil for abt 5-6 mintues.Serve hot with rice.

Pillsbury..

Baking for breakfast, this month's WBB#7 theme.As soon as Nandita announced, i went to search for an ingredient with which i could play around.Got it, it was right there in my fridge( which i had totally forgotten abt),Pillsbury dinner rolls.So from last week, i was playing around with many possible ways of breakfast items using these wonderful rolls.


Cinnamon swirls

This recipe was adapted from a recipe idea i found on Pillsbury website.This was the first one to try and came out pretty well.

Ingredients

Pillsbury® Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls - 1 (8-oz.) can
Granulated sugar - 2tbsp
Cinnamon powder - 1/2tsp
Chocalate icing - for topping

Method

Heat oven to 375°F.Separate dough into 4 rectangles; firmly press perforations to seal. In small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle mixture evenly over rectangles. Starting at shorter side, roll up each rectangle; pinch edges to seal. Cut each roll into 5 slices.Place them in a parchment paper line cookie sheet ,Bake at 375°F. for 13 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.After it is cooled down , top it with chocalate icing.



Cinnamon Swirls



Spicy Egg Roll


Ingredients

Pillsbury® Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls - 1 (8-oz.) can
Egg - 2 ( hard boiled and shelled)
Onion - 1/2
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
Vinegar - 1/2tsp
Oil - 1tbsp
Salt - as needed


Method

Take the hard boiled egg and shell them and and cut them into 4 slices(lengthwise).
In a pan. heat oil and fry sliced onion till brown.Now add chilli,turmeric powder and salt and fry till aroma comes .finally add the vinegar and fry for some more minutes.Heat oven to 375°F. Separate dough into 16 triangles.working one trinagle at a time, place one egg slice with the onion masala on the longer side of the triangle.Now start rolling from the longer side towards the shorter side, make it as tight as possible.Place them in a cookie sheet and bake them till they are golden brown(13-20).







Spicy Egg roll

I made apple roll and simple parmesean roll the same way.For apple roll , i used appleslices with some sugar,cinnamon,nutmeg and limejuice.For parmesean cheese roll, just sprinkled some parmeasean cheese :)).In the case of other swirls, i made kale+parmesean swirls.I mixed finely chopped kale greens with some salt,pepper and parmesean cheese and sprinkle them into the dough.For the tiny square pizzas, i used onions,tomatoes and cheese.

I gave egg wash for some of the above items and have to say it really makes a difference.




Apple roll



Kale Swirls




Parmesean roll



Itsy bitsy pizzas