Sothi - a side kick for Idiyyappam

Sothi - a side kick for Idiyyappam, my mom makes it usually when we have Idiyappams at home.Super easy to make and delicious when you soak Idiyappams on this mild liquid-y sauce.This time it was made by my mother in law in ma kitchen.She claimed to have made this only very few times so far, but she nailed it.

What you need

Moong dal/Pasi paruppu  - 1/2 cup
Onion  - 1 big ( Sliced lengthwise)
Green Chillies - 4-5
Salt - To taste
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Drumsticks - 6 (1 inch pieces) (OPTIONAL)
Potato - 1 cup ( cubed)
Lime juice -  few drops
Coconut milk - 8 oz can

For tempering

Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - a few


How you will make it


Pressure cook  moong dal, cubed potatoes,onion, green chillies with just enough salt, turmeric and water.After pressure cooking moong dal should be completely mashable but potato pieces should be intact.About 3 whistles on medium heat.

Note : If you are little unsure about cooking all together in the pressure cooker, then cook moong dal separately with little turmeric, salt.Then add in the rest of the ingredients and pressure cook for 1 whistle.

Open the lid and Keep the cooker in medium low flame.Now add in the diluted 8 oz can of coconut milk.You cannot heat too much after adding the coconut milk.Keep an eye on it.The consistency of this dish is more liquid-y than usual curry.Once you get the desired consistency, switch off the heat.Add few drops of lemon juice at this point. Add in the tempered ingredients and serve. 

The dish is ready to be served with steamed Idiyappams.

We tried with rice as well and it was a good combo.

Inukku Podi

Inukku Podi, an instant podi made for Dosa/Idly.I am so fond  of this podi that I frequently make it even though I have other sides for Dosa/Idly. 

What you need
Coconut - 1 cup (Shredded)Garlic - 1 podWhole Red Chillies - 6-8Curry leaves - a fewSalt - as neededGingelly oil  - For serving

How you will make it

In a mixie jar , put coconut, red chillies , garlic, curry leaves and salt and pulse it a few times.Viola , that's it , It's ready! The aroma itself will lure you to it.Serve it with few drops gingelly  oil for Dosa/Idly.

Note : Please adjust the amount of red chillies as per your taste.

Chinna Ulli Chutney/Small Onion Chutney

It's fun to see my kids eat Idly . They carry one whole Idly in their hand as if it was a piece of cake , and dip in a bowl of chutney.I have tried to make them eat Idly the right way, my way. My way  especially with this Onion chutney is 'placing 4 idly in a plate, pour a big spoon of chutney and then the fun part , mash them well with your fingers and eat'. :D .The best part is licking that last bits of chutney out of your fingers!

Well , that might not be a sophisticated way to eat in front of others :D

What You need

Small Onions - 1 cup (chopped)
Curry leaves - a needed
Oil -  2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 3 tsp (Warning : adjust as per your taste)
Salt - As needed
Tamarind - 1 small gooseberry sized
Asafoetida - a pinch
Water - as needed

How you will make it


Take tamarind extract and keep aside.In a pan, heat oil and splutter mustard seeds.Now add chopped onion and curry leaves.Saute for next 4 minutes on medium flame.(You don't have to fry it so much as we are going to cook it with tamarind extract).Add salt, red chilli powder and fry a bit till raw smell of red chilli is gone.Finally add tamarind extract and water (as needed).Let this mixture boil until onions are cooked well and chutney has the right consistency.Add a pinch of asafoetida and boil for next two minutes and switch off.Serve it hot with Idly.

Adai in three ways

Adai,One of the healthiest breakfast item.We prefer having it on weekends.I make these yum adai extra special by adding shredded carrots or cabbage to the it.So here goes the recipe for making simple adai,carrot adai and cabbage adai.

Simple Adai

Ingredients

Rice - 1 1/2 cups
Whole red chillies - 10
Hing/Perumgayam - a pinch
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Channa dal - 1/2 cup
Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed


Method

Soak rice and red chillies together and rest of the dals together for about 2 1/2 hours.Grind them separately and coarsely in a mixer with just enough water.Mix both rice mix and dal mix together and add hing and salt to the batter.The batter should be thicker than the normal Dosa batter.If like, you can add chopped onion to the batter.Heat a tawa, and when it is hot enough start making adai dosas.Pour enough oil around the corners to get crispy edges.My mom used make three slits in the center of the adai(after it is turned over) and pour oil there also.Serve hot with Coconut chutney or avial.

For carrot adai,

Add shredded carrots (as needed) to the batter and mix well.Make Adai as mentioned above.Note : Don't add too much of carrots as it tends to sweeten the batter.

For Cabbage adai,

Add shredded cabbage ( as needed) to the batter and mix well.Make adai as mentioned above.

Adai




Carrot Adai

Palak/Spinach Paratha

Both my kids love this as a snack with yogurt.Very healthy and easy recipe.



Ingredients

Spinach - 1 cup (chopped)
Wheat flour - 3 cup
Jeera/cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Garlic - 1 clove(minced)
Pepper powder - 1/tsp
Salt - as needed
Oil - 2tbsp
Warm Water - as needed

Method

In a pan,heat oil and fry jeera and finely minced garlic.Careful not to burn the garlic.Once they are fried add the spinach,salt and pepper.Saute till spinach is fully cooked.Add this to the wheat flour and knead into a dough using warm water.Cover the dough with wet paper towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.After 30 minutes,make it into parathas.I made small parathas and served it with homemade yogurt as a snack.

Semiya/Vermicelli Uppuma

Another easy breezy breakfast to enjoy..My mom used make this as an evening snack as well.

Ingredients

Semiya - 1 cup
Ghee - 3tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Channa dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 8
Ginger - 1 tsp (grated,optional)
Curry leaves - a few
Shredded coconut - 3tbsp
Salt - as needed
Hot Water - 1 3/4 cup

Method

In a pan heat 2 tbsp of ghee and fry semiya until golden brown and keep it aside.In a heavy bottomed pan, heat 1 tbsp ghee and fry mustard seeds, urad dal,channa dal,red chillies,ginger and curry leaves.Add semiya and saute for few minutes.Add hot water and salt.Keep stirring and do not let it stick to the bottom of the pan.When semiya is cooked , add coconut.Serve it hot.

Chicken Dosa/Kozhi Dosai

This was our sunday brunch this week....




Ingredients

Chicken - 2 breast pieces ( chopped into small bite size pieces)
Red Onion - 1 (chopped fine)
Greenchillies - 4 (chopped fine)
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Salt - as needed
Pepper powder - 1/2tsp
Dosa batter - as needed
Oil - 3tbsp

Method

Mix chicken,chilli powder,turmeric powder,salt and pepper very well.Marinate this mixture for atleast 1 hour ( it will taste good if you marinate overnight).In a heavy bottomed pan,heat 3 tbsp oil and fry the marinated chicken.Fry till chicken is golden brown.Take the chicken pieces out.In the same pan,(if needed add extra oil) fry green chillies,onion.Fry very well till onions are well roasted.Now add fried chicken into this.Add salt and pepper to this mix as needed.Mix well and saute till everything is well incoparated.Garnish with chopped red onion and coriander leaves.Make dosa and spread this chicken mixture into the dosa.Roll the dosa well with the mixture inside.Serve it hot.

Aval/Poha Uppuma

Ingredients

Aval/Poha - 2 cup
Red chillies - 8-10
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 2tbsp
Mustard seeds - 2tsp
Coconut - 1/2 cup (shredded)(optional)

Method

Soak aval by sprinkling just enough water for about 15 minutes.This aval i used was very thick, i got it from india.So this needed a bit more water and time for soaking up.Once aval is well soaked, heat oil in a pan.Fry mustard seeds,red chillies,curry leaves.Now add the aval and salt.Just saute for another 5-6 minutes on medium flame.Just before switching off the heat, add coconut.Serve hot as snack or breakfast.




Below is the shrimp fry made with small shrimps.

Bread upma

Recipe adapted from my cousin sis V.Thanks V we enjoyed this one a lot.


Ingredients

Bread - 10 slices (toasted and cut)
Onion- 1 medium size (chopped)
Ginger garlic - 1tbsp
Green chillies - 3
Red chilli powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Coriander - cumin powder - 1/2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Tomato - 1
Tomoto paste - 1 6 oz can
kasuri methi - 1/2tsp
coriander leaves - for garnish

Method

Toast the bread pieces if they are little soft.Cut them into small squares.In a pan, heat oil and fry mustard seeds.Now add greenchillies,onion,gingergarlic and fry well.Now add all the powders and salt.After the raw smell goes add chopped tomato and tomato paste.Fry well till it thickens.Lower the heat and add bread slices.Do not mix it hard, just slightly mix it with a spatula until all the gravy is absorbed by bread.Garnish it with kasuri methi and coriander leaves.

Back...

Hey....missed all you foodies during this vacation.Still tired and didn't cook much for the past two days.Today got myself up for preparing good yummy fish biryani..let see..how it comes.In the mean time this is what we had on the night we reached here...

Chicken Cutlets

Ingredients

Grounded chicken - 1 lb
Onion - 1/2 (large sized, chopped)
Potatoes - 2 (boiled and mashed)
Green chillies - 3 (chopped)
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Garam masala - 1/2tsp
Egg - 1 (separated)
Bread crumbs - as needed
Oil - As needed

Method

Wash grounded chicken by placing it the running water.Drain the water.In pan , saute this grounded chicken with little salt and turmeric powder.Saute well till the chiken is cooked through.In the mean time, boil and mash the poatatoes well.In another pan, heat 1 tbsp oil and fry onions, green chillies until onions are soft.Add gg paste to this and saute till raw smell goes.Add mashed potatoes to this and add garam masala,salt and chicken.Switch off the heat when the raw smell is gone.Mix everything very well and add egg yolk to it.Let the mixture cool a bit.After cooling down, shape it into hearts using a cookie cutter.Take each cutlet and roll it in the beated egg white and then roll it in the bread crumbs.Shallow fry these in hot oil.You can also bake them in the oven at 450 degrees for about 10-12 min.s or until golden brown.






Zucchini Thepla

This is my entry for Coffee's MBP - Let's roll.I tried this delicious and little spicy thepla's from Trupti's The Spice who loved me.Came out very good and a big thanks to Trupti's for sharing this.I served these thepla's with spicy mango pickle.

Mutter Paneer Masala

Mutter paneer masala, my most fav. north indian dish.I served this with Avacado parathas.I made Mutter gobi also, the same way.


Ingredients

Paneer - 1/2 lb
Mutter - 1 1/2 cups
Onion - 2 (sliced)
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
Red chilli powder - 2tsp
Dania powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Tomato - 1
Half n' half - 1/4cup
Kaskas- 1/2tsp
Water - 1/4 cup
Kasoori methi - 1tsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Oil -2tbsp

Method

In a pan, heat oil and fry sliced onions till its color changes.Add gg paste and fry for 3 more mins.Put this into a blender along with red chilli powder,dania powder,turmeric powder,tomato,kaskas and grind well.In a pan add 1tsp of oil and fry jeera.Add the grounded paste into this and fry till oil separates.Add frozen peas and water into this and lt it boil.Once the peas are almost cooked,reduce the heat and add half n' half into this.Add paneer pieces into this and cover and cook for about 5 min.s.Now open and add kasoori methi and cook for another 2 -3 min.s.Serve hot with roti/rice.

Spicy Rava/Sooji Kichadi

This was my fav. "on the go" breakfast item from a small food stall at Besant nagar,Chennai, that i used grab on my way to work.They had wonderful menu for all breakfst items.Though it was very small stall, they were always busy and you won't get your fav. item if you go little late.So here is my attempt on my fav. rava kichadi.

Ingredients

Rava - 2 C (fine)
Onion - 1 (chopped)
Tomato - 1(chopped)
Green peas - 1/2 C
Carrot - 1/4 C (grated)
Ghee - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Salt - as needed
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Curry leaves- as needed
Oil - 2 tsp
Cashews - as needed (opional)

To grind

Garlic - 2 pods
Cinnamon - 1 piece
Cloves - 2
Cardamom - 1
Fennel seeds/Perunjeeragam - 1/2tsp
Green chillies - 3

Method

In a pan, heat 1 tsp of ghee and fry rava in that till nice aroma comes.Keep it aside and let it cool down.In a kadai, heat oil and ghee.Fry mustard seeds,curryleaves.Fry Onions and tomatoes.Add green peas, carrot,turmeric powder and the grounded paste and fry well till raw smell goes.Now add 5 cups of water and salt to this and let it come to boil.Now add rava to this and mix well.Once it is getting to boil, cover the lid and keep it in low flame for about 8-10mts.I served it hot with coconut- mint chutney.

Karivepillai kothu Idyiappam / Curry leaves flavoured Indian Rice Noodles

Curry leaves flavoured rice noodles, a healthy yet simple breakfast item.This is my first entry for WHB hosted by Anna of Anna's Cool Finds.

Curry leaves, a familiar herb used mainly in south Indian cuisine which loaded with good flavour and medicinal qualities.For more info about curry leaves,Click here









Ingredients

Dry Indian Rice noodles - 1/2 packet
Oil - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Green chillies - 1tsp (chopped)
Onion - 2tbsp (chopped)
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Salt - As needed
Ghee - 1tsp

Dry Roast and Powder the following

Black peppercorns - 1tsp
Urad dal - 2tsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Dry ginger - 2 pieces
Curry leaves - 20 to 30

Method

Cook the dry rice noodles according to package instructions.In a pan, heat 1 tsp oil.Once the oil is hot, fry mustard seeds,green chillies and onion.Onions doesn't have to be fried well, just the color change that's enough.Now add the powdered masala.(Add little bit less masala if don't want it too spicy).Fry well and then add turmeric powder and salt.Reduce the heat and add ghee and prepared rice noodles to this.Mix well without breaking the noodles too much.

P.S. : If you don't have dry ginger at hand, you can substitute that with fresh grated ginger.Add fresh ginger while frying green chillies.
Recipe Source : Kumudam.com




Tips : Curry leaves can be dry roasted and powdered and store for months.To achieve maximum benefits of curry leaves, add this powdered curry leaves to dishes instead of full curry leaves.

Methi - Paneer Chappathi with Egg bhurji

I made these chappathis with home made paneer which i made for the first time.Followed the step by step procedure by Indira.I got such a satisfaction after making these but don't know whether i will make paneer at home again as i recently found out that 2 of our local grocery stores have fresh paneer.Yeap..freshly mad paneer in American grocery stores..so why go for such lengthy process..huh?

Ingredients

Methi leaves - 2 cups
Paneer - 1/2 cup (shredded)
Red chilli powder - 1/2tsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Wheat flour - 3 cups
Oil - 1tsp
Salt - as needed

Method

In a pan heat oil and fry jeera,methi leaves and red chilli powder.Mix wheat flour,salt,paneer and fried methi mixture using warm water.Mix it well into a soft dough and keep it aside for about 30 mts.Divide the dough into equal sized balls and roll each ball into chappathis.Cook each chappathi in a hot tawa.I served this chappathi with boiled egg bhurji and onion relish.

Boiled egg bhurji recipe source here.




Tips : While using store brout paneer, just freeze the remaining paneer for withholding the freshness.

Madras chicken with Avocado parathas

While i was pregnant, we used get this madras chicken masala paste from the local indian store and make madras chicken.I was hooked onto it thru' out the pregnancy.That paste made my H's life lot easier 'coz there was not much to do in the kitchen.Just fry onion, chciken and add this paste.Tasted delicious.Few days ago, when i was going my cookbook, found a recipe called "Madras chicken" and was wondering whether it was the same.Well, it tasted exactly the same.So here is that recipe from the scratch.


Ingredients

Cornish hen - 1 (cut into medium sized pieces)
Onion - 1 (chopped fine)
Tomatoes - 2
Gingergarlic paste - 2tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Coconut milk powder - 2tbsp
Salt - as needed
Coriander leaves - as needed
Oil- as needed

Powder the following

Cinnamon - 2 (1/2 inch stick)
Cardamom - 2
Cloves - 2
Peppercorns - 1/2tsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Red chillies - 6


Method

Marinate chicken pieces with salt and turmeric powder for about 1 hour.In a pan heat oil and fry these chicken pieces till golden brown.In a pan,take 3tbsp of oil from the oil used for frying.Fry chopped onion, ginger garlic paste,tomatoes one by one till everything comes together.Add powdered masala and fried chicken pieces.Mix very well and then add coconut milk powder.If needed add little water.Close the lid and cook for about 5 minutes.Now add chopped corinader leaves and open and cook till only little gravy is left.Serve it with rice/roti.I served this with Spice is Right's Avacado parathas.



Tips: You can subsitute coconut milk powder with powdered cashews also.If adding water to chicken gravy like this always add hot water.

Beet chappathi n' more

I usually add different flavours to plain chappthis just to make my lil one eat it.This is one of them.He likes this because of the color.

Ingredients

Atta/Wheat flour - 1 and 1/2 cups
Beet root - 2tbsp(grated)
Jeera - 1 and 1/2tsp
Garlic - 1 pod(optional)
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1tsp
Salt - as needed
Oil - 2tsp
Warm water - as needed.

Method

In pan, heat oil and fry jeera,chopped garlic.Then add grated beet root and saute for 2 min.s.Add chilli and garam masala powder and fry till it's cooked.In a bowl, add this beet mixture,wheat flour,salt and warm water and mix well into a chappathi dough.Let it rest for about 30 min.s and make equal sized balls out of this dough.Rooll each into chappathis and cook them in a hot tawa.I served this colorful beet chappathi with Gobi subzi.





Few days ago, i had tried Seema of Recipe junction's Palak paneer.It was a huge hit with family n' friends.My son was licking his fingers for the last drop of palak.(he rarely does that :))).The only change i made to her recipe was, i grinded the sauted spinach for the smooth texture.I stongly recommend her delicious recipe to all of you to try.Thanks Seema for sharing.






Below is the picture of french toast made out of Challah.





Tips: Using warm water for making chappthi dough makes chappthi softer.Again letting the dough rest for 30 minutes or so helps also.

Another delicious dish from fellow foodie..

We had this today for brunch.An exciting fullfilling meal for a laidback sunday.Annita's Kallappam served with Chicken/kozhi chukka varuval.Will post the recipe for kozhi varuval soon.Kallappam, IMHO is a must try for everyone.Thanks to annita for this delicious authentic kerala recipe.

Challah

It's been long since i baked something good.So decided to bake and started looking into my fav.Cook book "America's test kitchen".Whatever i tried from this book, came out very well.So finally made my mind on this eggy braided bread from Jewish cuisine.Got attracted to this bread just because of the braids.The end product was so good didn't feel like eating it.After started eating it, couldn't stop ..:))These make sensational french toast also.





Ingredients

All Purpose flour - 3 and 1/2 cups
Water (warm) - 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp
Butter - 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Eggs - 2 (large)
Egg yolk - 1 (large)
Egg yolk - 1 (large)
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Instant or rapid rise yeast - 1 envelope ( 2 1/4 tsp)
Salt - 1 1/4tsp
Sesame seeds or poppy seeds - 1tsp (optional)


Method

You can mix the dough either with hand, or stand mixer or even processor.I am posting the food processer method here.Whisk 1/2 cup of the water,butter,eggs, and egg yolk together in a liquid measuring cup.Pulse 3 cups of the flour,sugar,yeast and salt in a food processor(fitted with a dough blade if possible) to combine.With the processor running,pour the egg mixture through the feed tube and process until a rough ball forms, 30 to 40 sec.s.Let the dough rest for 2 min.s, then process for 30 sec.s longer.Turn the dough out onto a clean counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball, about 5 minutes, adding the remaining 1/ cup flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter.Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 and 1 1/2 hours.

Whisk the egg white and the remaining 1 tbsp water together to make egg wash.Turn the dough into a lightly floured counter.Divide the dough into two, one twice as large as the other.Divide each dough into 3 pieces and roll each piece out into 16 - inch ropes( three ropes will be much thicker).Braid two loaves,(just like braiding our hair),one large and one small.Transfer the large braid to a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, brush with egg wash, and secure the smaller braid on top.cover with greased plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until it has nearly doubled in size and springs back slowly when intended with a finger, 30 to 60 minutes.( i had a small amount of dough left over after braiding, so just made a smaller braid and attached it to the top end)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees.Brush the loaf with the remaining egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.Bake until golden, 30 to 40 minutes.Transfer the bread to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature before slicing, about 2 hours.( again i couldn't wait till that time :))





Tips : For easier dough rising, especially on these winter days, heat the oven to 200 degress and then switch it off.After 10 minutes or so, place the dough inside the oven.I use the same method sometimes for dosa batter fermentation.In not so wintery days, just switch on the oven light and place the dough inside.

Akkara vadisal - a pongal special

Wishing you all very very happy pongal...

Ingredients

Rice - 1/4cup
Channa dal/Kadalai paruppu - 1/4 cup
Moong dal/Pasi paruppu - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Jaggery/Vellam - 1/2cup(Use according to your sweet tooth)
Cardamom powder - 1tsp
Saffron - few strands
Cashew nuts - 5
Raisins - 5
2% Milk - 1 cup
Water - as needed.

Method

In a pan heat 1 tbsp of ghee and fry channa dal and moong dal separately.Boil jaggery with 1 cup of water and pass it through a sieve to remove any sand.In a pressure cooker, add cleaned rice, channa dal, moong dal, jaggery water, milk,cardamom powder, saffron and enough water.Pressure cook them for about 6-8 whistles.(changes according to your cooker).In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of ghee and fry raisins and cashews.Pour these into the pongal and serve.






Tips: Use Thiruniru/basmam/vibhuthi for cleaning Vizhakku/oil lamps.This will help remove the black colored oil remains on the lamp.