Soya chunks curry – For Dosa and idli

Ingredients:

Soya chunks – 1 cup (meal maker)
Shallots – 1 cup
Tomato – 1 medium size
Coriander powder – 3 tbsp (milagu kulambu podi)
Roasted chickpeas (pottu kadalai) – 1 tsp (very little)
Fennel seeds(sombu) – 1/2 tsp (very little)
Red chilies – 2
Curry leaves – 1 twig
Oil
Salt

Method:

1. Boil water and add soya chunks to it. Turn off the heat and leave it covered for 10-15 mins.

2. Heat a pan, add 2 tbsp oil and saute the shallots. Next add roasted chickpeas and fennel seeds. Once the shallots are translucent add 3 tbsp of coriander powder and saute for a minute. Turn off the heat and let it cool.

3. Grind the shallots to paste. Add enough water.

4. Add this paste, chopped tomato and thoroughly squeezed soya chunks into a pressure cooker. Cook for 2-3 whistles.

5. Temper using mustard seeds, curry leaves and broken red chilies. Add this to the curry and let it boil for a while.

Soraikkai Paruppu Rice

Hi friends….very glad to meet you after long break.

இரு தேவதைகளின் வரவினால் எங்கள் வீடும் ஆனதே சொர்க்கம்!!

What else can i say?!?! 🙂

Having two kids at home, you hardly find time to cook full meals. So this kind of quick nutritious dishes are very helpful. Try it out and lemme know. Sorry couldn’t get a photo for this recipe, will update soon.

Ingredients:

Rice – 1 cup
Toor dhal – 1/4 cup
Bottle guard/ Soraikkai – Small (chop into big cubes)
Jeera – 1 tsp
Pepper – 1 tsp
Garlic – 4-5 pods
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Shallots – 4-5
Red chilies – 2-3
Onion – 1 big (finely chopped)
Tomato – 1 big (finely chopped)
Coconut – grated 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Oil
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Grind to coarse powder the following items: jeera, pepper, garlic, ginger,red chilies and shallots.
2. Grind the grated coconut to fine paste.
3.Take a pressure pan/cooker, add 2 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves.
4. Add onion and saute till golden brown. Next add the coarsely ground powder. Add salt.
5. Next add chopped tomato. Once the tomatoes are crushed add the cubed bottle guard.
6. Add required amount of water and ground coconut paste.
7. Pressure cook to 2-3 whistles till done.

Enjoy the delicious dish.

Egg Kurma and lovely chickens

Past two weeks we had our county fair and there were variety of rabbits, goats, pigs, hen and ducks. They were very different from what I’ve seen in India. My brother is very much interested in all different species of farm animals. He had few pygmy goats, budgies, cockatiel and lovely Indian Fantail pigeons back in India.

Hope you enjoyed these few snaps and here comes an easy recipe of egg kurma. Quick and easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

Roasted chickpeas (pottu kadalai) – 2 tsp (use minimal)
grated coconut – 3/4 cup
green chilies – 2-3
coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Egg – 2-3
Onion – 1 medium size
Tomato – 1
Curry leaves
Fennel seeds
Cardamom – 1
Coconut milk – 3 tbsp (optional)
Oil
Salt

Method:

1. Grind roasted chickpeas, grated coconut, green chilies and coriander powder.

2. Heat 3 tsp of oil in a pan. Add curry leaves,fennel seeds and cardamom. Saute finely chopped onion till they get translucent.

3.Next add tomato and saute till they get mushy. After this add the ground paste. Add required amount of water and salt.

4. Cook the paste for a while and add the eggs one by one. Cover and cook in simmer. After a while stir a little without breaking the eggs. Let the eggs cook completely.

5. Once the eggs are completely cooked, add coconut milk and switch off the heat. Add cilantro on top.

Easy egg kurma ready. This goes well with idly, dosa, aappam and paratha.

Friend’s favourite Chutney – Mint/Cilantro chutney

Another version of mint/cilantro chutney. This recipe is from my aunty(periamma).  Now that mint is everywhere in the backyard i tend to prepare this often. This chutney is my friend’s favorite. They all loved it a lot.

Ingredients:

Urid dal – 1 tsp
Red chilies – 2-3
Shallots – 10-15 or red onion – 1 medium
Mint/ Cilantro – few twigs
Tamarind – 2-3 small pieces
grated coconut – 1/2 cup
Oil – 2-3 tbsp
Salt

Method:

1. Heat a wide skillet pan and add oil. Once it gets heated add urid dal and red chilies. Fry till urid dal gets brown.

2. Next add the shallots/onion. Fry till golden brown.

3. Add mint/cilantro. Saute till they wilt.

4. Add tamarind, salt and coconut. Turn off the flame and saute the coconut with skillet heat.

5. Grind all the ingredients into fine paste.

This goes well with rice, dosa and idli.

Kanna laddu thinna aasaiya?!?!

Laddu is one of my favorite sweet and my DD loves it too. Almost everyone in my family loves it.I recently tried making some for my DD’s birthday. It certainly didn’t turn out like my mom’s but i was proud that it was certainly good for the first timer. LOL.

Lemme take you directly to the recipe.

Ingredients:

Besan flour (Chickpea flour/Gram flour) – 2 cups
Sugar – 2 cups
Cashew
Raisin
Cardamom
Cloves (Optional)
Oil – 1/2 litre

Method:

1. First make batter out of besan flour. It must be little watery than dosa batter/pancake batter.Make sure you don’t have any lumps.

2.Make sugar syrup.Take a stainless steel pan and add sugar. Add little water till the sugar completely immerses in it.

3.Boil the sugar syrup. Now and then take few drops of syrup and test it in cold water. If the syrup dissolves away keep boiling for some more time. You should switch off the stove when the sugar syrup forms a ball when rolled in a cold water. (This part is more important)

4. Heat oil in a wide pan. Using a small holed strainer add the besan batter so that it drops to form small balls like dippin’ dots(called Boondhi). Remove when it is cooked and add immediately to the sugar syrup. (Don’t let it brown.)

5. Keep mixing boondhi once in a while in sugar syrup so that all absorbs the sugar syrup completely in.
Fry some cashews, raisins and cloves in little ghee and add to boondhi.

6. Finally when all the besan batter is done, it is time to roll the laddus. Make balls out of boondhi absorbed in sugar syrup right away when it is warm. (In pic we have molded laddu using my daughter’s cereal scoop)

Yummy laddu is ready!!

P.S : If  the syrup turns crystallized by the end, try adding some warm milk before rolling.

Ragi Puttu & Thalattu paattu

When my daughter was born i was desperately searching for some tamil thalattu songs, but my grandmom couldn’t recollect any. I was able to find only half a song from aunt. I wish my ancestors had written few songs on some kalvettu 😉

I would like to publish at least that half song so that everyone can enjoy.

தூரி தூரி என்று சொல்லி என் கண்ணே நீயும் கண்ணுறங்கு
தூங்காத கண்ணுனக்கு  என் கண்ணே நான் துரும்பு கொண்டு மை எழுதி
உறங்காத கண்ணுனக்கு என் கண்ணே நான் ஓலை கொண்டு மை எழுதி
சுத்தி சுத்தி புளிய மரம் என் கண்ணே சுழித்து வரும் பாலாறு
பாலாற்று தண்ணியிலே என் பாலகனும் நீந்தி வர (தூரி)

For my daughter i substituted the word “balagan” with “pattu kutty” 🙂 If you want the tune , please call me..LOL. With this beautiful song running in mind let us get to the recipe which i tend to prepare frequently these days. Ragi (Finger Millet) also called kelvaragu is rich in calcium and it is the first semi-solid food given to my daughter. She used to love those. If time permits i shall blog later about the food prepared for babies at different stages. Now let us get to the recipe.

Ingredients:

Ragi flour – 2 cups

Sugar – 3-4 tbs

Grated coconut – 2 tbs

Salt

Method:

1. Take two cups of ragi flour in a bowl. Add little amount of salt. Sprinkle water little by little and knead the flour. Stop adding water when the flour makes small balls when you take your fingers through the flour round and round.

2. Try to break the lumps as much as possible.

3. Now place the flour on idly tray or you may use a stainless steel sieve with a dry cloth inside it. (Sieve idea is from my mom and it is an easy way to cook most of the stuff these days like kozhukattai , ragi sevai , ragi puttu etc) Support the sieve with an inverted plate or a stable cup.

4. Steam cook the ragi dough for around 10-15 mins. Taste the cooked ragi. Raw ragi causes stomach upset.

5. Now for sweet version mix the cooked ragi with grated coconut and sugar. For spicy version temper with mustard seeds, urid dal, curry leaves, green chilies and little bit of chopped onion and mix with ragi.

This is a very healthy dish. Adding ragi as much as in diet is really good for health. Now that heart attacks are more prevalent change in diet is more essential. I was sad when i heard about chef Jacob. I used to like his style of cooking and his interaction with kids.RIP chef Jacob.

Chole Bhatura

A nice excerpt.

“Some kids are there to teach you a lot of lessons. And it is okay for mothers and fathers to sometimes get upset with their kids. You don’t have to bring them up with all rosy, rosy, nicey, nicey and sweet words all the time. Then you will make them very weak.
I have seen parents who have never scolded their children. These children when they grow old, they can’t stand any criticism. A little criticism, a little disrespect from someone or a little bit of failure rattles them. They become so upset because they never experienced anything like that at home.
So at home, being upset with kids sometimes (not all the time), is like giving them a vaccination so they get stronger to the world outside home. But don’t take this as an excuse to all the time get upset with the kids, it does not work. Too much of it is also bad. If you are scolding your children every day on a routine basis, they become so thick skinned and they go all the way to the other side, which is also not good. A little dose here and there is okay.”

Bhatura:

Ingredients:

Maida – 2 cup (You may use all purpose flour, but i haven’t tried it)
White bread – 4 slices (Edges removed)
Milk – As required
Baking soda
Salt

Method:

1) Soak the bread slices in the milk. Combine the bread slices, milk, flour, salt and baking soda into a fine dough.

2) Roll into small pooris and deep fry.

Batura ready!! Next lets goto Chole

Chole:

Ingredients:

Chickpeas – 2 cups (Soak overnight and pressure cook 4-5 whistles with salt)
Onion – 2 large (cut one into four quarters and chop the other finely)
Tomato – 2 large
Clove – 2
Cinnamon – 2 small pieces
Bay leaves – 2
Chili powder – 1 tbs
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Tamarind – little

Method:

1) Boil some water and add onion quarters to it.Remove the cooked onions and add both the tomatoes to it.

2) Grind the cooked onion to paste and keep it aside. Similarly peel the skin off the tomato and grind to paste.

3) In a pan add some oil and saute cinnamon,cloves and bay leaves. Add one chopped onion. Saute till they get brown.

4) Add some salt.Next add ground onion, cook for a while then add ground tomato paste.

5) When the gravy thickens add chili powder and garam masala.

6) Next add very little tamarind juice.

7) Finally add the cooked chickpeas.

Roasted Cauliflower and life as mom

Motherhood is very exciting and takes your life into a different dimension. Each time you look into those innocent eyes you get recharged. How come there is always a glitter in a baby’s eyes? Have you ever thought over what a color actually is? How do you explain them what a pink is?  I feel like I’ve started to learn everything from scratch….over again but with better understanding. Life gets wonderful and you tend to admire at each and every simple thing around you. When you start seeing the world through a child’s eyes everything is different and totally changes your point of view.

Now let me jump to the recipe. This is a very easy recipe and goes well with sambar, dal and any curry of that sort.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower – 1 big
Ginger paste – 1 tbs
Olive oil – 3 tbs (or any cooking oil)
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Chili powder – 1 tbs
Salt

Method:

1) Break the cauliflower into small florets.

2) Mix oil,salt, mustard seeds, ginger paste, turmeric powder and chili powder in a large bowl.

3) Add the florets and keep tossing till all the florets are fully coated in the mixture.

4) Preheat oven to 375 F. Spread the florets on to a baking sheet and put it in the oven.

5) Roast the cauliflower for about 25-30 mins. Take the baking sheet out every 10 mins and toss around the florets.

6) Roast till the cauliflower gets golden brown.

Mango Sambar – Easy Sambar

People who like sambar but couldn’t attempt because of its complexity in preparation , please go ahead and read this recipe. This one is for you.When you enter south India the first word you could probably hear is sambar. I haven’t seen a person who don’t like sambar. This is a very simple recipe and doesn’t involve tamarind, all you need is a raw and sour mango.
Ingredients:

Raw mango (Don’t use ripe mango, sambar tastes good if the mango is sour)
Toor dal – 1 cup
Onion – half
Tomato – 1
Sambar powder – 1.5 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Red chilies
Salt
Oil

Method:

1) Clean the toor dal and add 2-3 cups of water in a pressure cooker.Add turmeric powder, sambar powder, chopped onion, chopped tomato and chopped mango pieces (1 inch size pieces). If the mango is not sour enough add little bit of tamarind juice in the end.

2) Pressure cook the dal to 2-3 whistles.

3) Temper the sambar using mustard seeds, curry leaves and red chilies.

Tasty sambar ready!!!
If you can make sambar easier than this please do let me know. 🙂

Chicken Biryani

Back to blogging after loooong break. Biryani being my DH’s favorite dish, i tend to collect recipes from everyone i know. This recipe has worked out very well and turned out tasty each time…fool proof. This one was offered by my anni(sister-in-law), who is a great cook indeed.Let me jump to the recipe directly.

Ingredients:

Spice list:
Clove – 2+1
Cinnamon – 1 inch stick + small piece
cardamom – 2+1
Bay leaves – 2
Star anise – 2
Mace – small piece
Kalpasi – little (dagad phool)
Marathi mokku – 2
Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp

Ghee – 3 tbs (clarified butter)
Green chilies – 4
Onion – 2 big
Tomato – 2 small
garlic – 10 cloves
ginger – 1 inch
Coriander powder – 1 tbs
red chilies – 3
Mint leaves – 5-6 twigs
chicken – 1 lb
Basmati rice – 2 cups

Method:

Grind to paste : ginger, garlic, 1-clove, small piece of cinnamon, 1-cardamom, coriander powder and red chilies

1) Heat half portion oil and half portion ghee in a pressure pan. Add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves , remaining spices in the spice list and slit green chilies.
2) Next add onion and saute it. When the onion is golden brown add the ground paste. Next in line is the chopped tomato. Saute till oil oozes out.
3) Add pudina leaves and chicken pieces
4) Soak rice for few minutes and drain the water. Add few drops of lemon juice and mix the rice well.
5) Add rice and 3.5 cups of water (approx).Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles.

I prefer conventional oven to get perfect biryani each time.
If you have conventional oven, skip step 5 and come here.

5) Add rice and 4 cups of water and transfer the contents to a large conventional oven safe bowl coated with ghee.
6) Preheat the oven to 375 deg F.
7) Cover the bowl with aluminium foil, seal as much as possible and place it in the preheated oven.
8) Cook for 20-25 mins.

I hope the biryani taste wonderful as it did for me.Please let me know if you ever try this recipe.
Photo that i shoot lately at my grand dad’s place.