Veggie Delight

Quick N Easy Halwa

2006-11-15T13:28:00.000-05:00

Halwa preparation is a elobrate procedure and is prepared using a special type of ingedient called 'samba wheat'. This requires the soaking of wheat and extarcing the milk that goes into the preparation of halwas. Neither do I get this kind wheat in my place nor would I dare to get into that lengthy procedure. My Mom still makes it the traditional way and nothing can beat the taste. My Mom gave this recipe to please my desire for halwa. I can say this came pretty close to the traditional method.

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Milk - 2 cups
Sugar - 1½ Cups
Ghee - as required.
Cardamom Powder a pinch
Cashew - 8-10
Orange food Color a pinch

Procedure:

1. In about a spoon of ghee roast the cashews and set aside.
2. Mix cardamom and food color to the milk and set aside.
3. Roast the wheat flour in about 2 spoons of ghee and fry for 5 minutes over low heat. Stir constantly to avoid burning.
4. Now add milk to the wheat and mix well. This will cook well and form into a ball.
5. Add the sugar and cook till it comes off the pan without sticking.Add little ghee intemitently as reauired.
5. Remove to a bowl greased with ghee. Add the cashews and enjoy the sweet.

Quick N Easy Halwa:

Check out Menu Todays elobrate procedure here....

Cucumber Dosa

2006-10-30T16:04:00.000-05:00

When I read Shilpa's post about Cucumber Cake, it sounded new to me and wanted to give it a try. I set out to prepare - rice flour ready to be mixed with cucumber in the final step. Just then I realised its one of those days when we donot eat rice !!. With the heap of cucumber staring at me, all I could think of is this quick-fix. Thus a cucumber cake became a Dosa in my plate and you know where to send it :)). Yes this is my entry for WBB #6 'Twist in the Plate' hosted by Nandita of Saffron Trail.

Ingredients :

Cucumber - 1 Medium sized.
Wheat Flour - 2 cups
Chilly Powder
Salt

Method:

1. Grate the cucumber and set aside.
2. Add the chilly powder, salt along with cucumber to wheat flour and mix well. Set aside for about 30 minutes.
3. This batter will become watery due to the water content in cucumber. This should be like the normal dosa batter. If not add very little water and mix well.
4. Heat a tava over medium heat and spread out the batter evenly. Pour oil over the edges and let it cook. Turn to the other side and cook till its done.
5. Serve hot.

Cucumber Dosa:

Cucumber dosa with Coconut Chutney

Happy Deepavali

2006-10-21T15:24:00.000-05:00

Wish you all a Very Happy Deepavali !!!

Saaru Pudi

2006-10-11T20:05:00.000-05:00

Saaru or Rasam has its unique place in the daily menu of a Southern plate. My meal is incomplete without rasam!! Though there are varied forms of Saaru, this is the basic one I prepare daily. Rasam is simple to prepare and tates good with any curry or papad. The watery form soothes both the body and taste buds when one is sick. The powder can be stored for days and comes in handy in the daily cooking.

Ingredients (For Powder)

Thur Dal - ½ Cup
Red Chillies - 1 Cup
Coriander Seeds - 2 Cups
Cumin Seeds - ½ Cup
Black Pepper - 2 Tbl Spn
Fenugreek - 2 Tsps

Method :

Dry roast each of the above ingredients separately and powder together till smooth. Store in a airthight container.

Saaru Pudi:

Ingredients: (For Saaru)

Thur Dal - 2 Tbl Spn
Tamarind - One Gooseberry sized ball
Tomato - 1 medium sized
Saaru Pudi - 1 tsps
Jaggery - 1 tsps
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt
Curry leaves

For Seasoning :

Ghee - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds
Cumin Seeds
Asafoetida
Corriander leaves

Method:

1. Pressure Cook the thur dal with adequate water.
2. Cut tomato into very small pieces. Alternatively you can cook the whole tomato with the thur dal.
3. Transfer the dal to a bigger vessel and add about two cups of water and mix well. Set aside for the dal to settle down.

4. Soak the tamarind in water and extract the juice. To this add the cut/cooked tomato, saaru powder, salt, turmeric and curry leaves. Bring this to boil.(till tomato becomes soft if uncooked)

5. As it starts boiling, add the watery dal and reduce heat to medium. For a thicker consistency add more dal. Allow to cook.

6. Remove from heat. In the ghee add the seasoning and pour over the Saaru. Garnish with coriander.

Enjoy !!

Hot Saaru !!

Dhankar !!

2006-10-06T10:48:00.000-05:00

Ok.. I really donot know why this name. But this is a kind of raitha and one of my favorite when my Mom makes it.

Ingredients:

Urad dal - 2 Tbs
Thick Curd - 1/2 Cup
Green Chillies - 2
Asafotida - a pinch
Cumin seeds
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves

To Season: Oil & 1/2 Spn of Mustard seeds

Procedure

1. Fry the urad dal for about 2 minutes and grind into smooth powder when cold.
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Cut the chillies into small pieces and add.
3. Season the mustard ina spoon of oil and add finally.

Raitha ready in minutes.

Note: You can also do a raw raitha without frying the urad dal but directly powdering it.

Dhankar :

I am Back !!

2006-10-05T10:40:00.000-05:00

I am back with a big sad story :( The past two weeks had been a no communication week for me. It all started with our phone going blank one fine morning. After a couple of calls back and forth with the provider for about a week the issue was fixed. In the midst of this my laptop started giving a weird noise and bang.... the hardisk crashed. So are gone all my data and above all those pictures waiting to be blogged. Yes, lost most of my recent pictures of various dishes. Now am in the process of data recovery and restoring the application and sofwares to the new hardisk.

I will back with some of the dishes stored safe in my camera !!. Until then check out 'The dilemma about dieting' . Also I need to catch up with a lot of your posts :)(

From the Blogs - 1

2006-09-21T16:51:00.000-05:00

When I hop among the food blogs anything sweet easily gets clipped in my books. Today 'Vettu Cake' from Archana caught my attention due to its simplicity and that amazing picture of hers. I thought I could give my sweet tooth a treat, especially after all the hardships it went through with the dentist cleaning in the morning :). So here is a sample of how it turned out. Needless to say we enjoyed it a lot.

I followed the recipe as given by her without the egg. Just a word of caution (specially if you are using coil to cook like me)- When you fry do not heat the oil to a high temperature as the outside gets dark quickly while the inside will remain uncooked. So bring it to fry when the oil is still luke warm and do a slow cooking.

Mexican Rice

2006-09-19T21:23:00.000-05:00

This is a recipe I got from my Co-Sis. The first time I made we became a fan of it. So here goes the way I make this on a lazy sunday !!

Ingredients :

Rice -3 cups (Uncooked)
Onion -2 (finely chopped)
Onion -1 (Slit lenght-wise)
Garlic -3 pods
Capsicum - 2-3 (sliced)
Cabbage -1/2 Cup (finely chopped)
Tomato -1 (finely chopped)
Soya sauce - 2-3 tsp
Coriander leaves
Chilli powder-according to taste
Salt
Ghee/Oil

Procedure

1. In a pan, add 1 tbsp ghee, add slit onion, fry until golden brown. Add garlic (mash it a little) saute for 1-2 mins.
2. Now add rice, fry in ghee until pale pink. Add required water (about 2 cups) and pressure cook until 2 whistles
3. In a seperate pan add 6tbsp of oil, add chopped onions, fry and keep aside. In the same oil add cabbage, fry and set aside. Finally add capsicum and fry for just about a minute.Remove and set aside.
4. Now saute the tomato in the oil for a minute.(It should not become watery). Once done add chilli powder, salt and soya sauce. Add rest of the fried veggies and also the cooked rice.
5. Mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Curd/Raitha.

Mexican Rice:

Rava Idli

2006-09-14T10:55:00.000-05:00

Rava idli comes in handy when the regular batter is out-of stock !! This is also quick to make and no waiting time for fermenting.

Ingredients:

Sooji (Rava) - 2 Cups
Oil/Ghee - 5 Tbs
Green Chillies - 5/6
Thick Curd/Yogurt - 2 Cups
Onion - 1 (Cut into small pieces)
Boiled Peas - 1/4 Cup (Optional)
Baking Soda - 1/2 Spn
Grated carrot - 2 Tbs (Optional)
Grated coconut - 2 Tbs (Optional)
Salt
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves

To Season:

Mustard - 1/4 T.Spn
Urad Dal - 1/2 T.Spn
Bengal Gram - 1 T.Spn
Broken Cashew nuts - 10/12

Procedure

1. Fry the sooji for 2 minutes and mix with curd without forming any lumps
2. Heat oil and add the seasonings.
3. When the mustard splutters, add onion and fry for 2-3 minutes
4. Add this to the rava batter along with salt, baking soda and finely chopped green chillies. Also add the corriander leaves. Mix well.
5. Grease the idli plates with oil and spread the grated carrot and/or cocunut on the plate.
6. Pour the batter over this and steam cook for about 7-10 minutes

Serve hot with a side dish of your choice.

Rava Idli:

This is my entry for 'Weekend Breakfast Blogging' hosted by Nandita of Saffron Trail.

Ragi Unde

2006-09-07T12:07:00.000-05:00

Finger Millet or Ragi is highly nutritious food grown in India and Africa. Being a rich source of calcium, it is suitable for toddler and the old alike. 100 Gms of ragi has 344 mg of calcium as against 9mg found in the same quantity of rice.

Though not a big fan of 'Ragi Unde'(meaning Ragi Balls) back when my Mom made, I have started taking it often due to the nutrients. Also this recipe uses jaggery which is a rich source of iron and folic acid.

Ingredients:

Ragi (Millets) - 2 Cups
Jaggery - 2 Cups
Ghee - 5/6 Tspn
Powdered Cardamom

Procedure:

1. Fry the ragi in about a spoon of ghee till the raw smell goes off.
2. Shift to a wide bowl and add the jaggery to it.
3. Mix completly so jaggery and ragi blends well. Add the cardomom powder.
4. Take a handful and make them into balls. The heat together with jaggery gives wetness to the mixture and helps forming the balls easily, else add the remaining ghee as required.

A healthy snack is ready in minutes !!

Note : In place of jaggery, brown sugar can also be used

Ragi Unde:

Aval (Poha) Pakora

2006-09-02T14:03:00.000-05:00

Its was raining all day at my place and had to do something to brighten it up.Nothing like having pakoras with a hot cup of chai on such a dull day. I headed out to the kitchen and made this simple dish !!

Ingrediens:

Aval(Poha) - 2 cups
Onion - 1
Green Chilly - 1 or 2 as per taste
Besan - 2 Tbs
Ginger - a piece
Curry leaves
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Wash the poha and set aside for 5 minutes.
2. Cut the onion,ginger and green chillies into small pieces.
3. Mash the poha completely adding hot water as required.
4. Once fully mashed add onion,green chillies,ginger,besan,salt and curry leaves and make into a dough.This should NOT be too watery and will hold together.
5. Heat oil in a pan.
6. Using the dough pinch small pieces with your hand directly into the oil.
7. Deep fry both sides and remove on to a paper towel to soak excess oil.

Serve hot with a steaming cup of tea !!

Aval Pakora:

Paneer Mango Kheer !

2006-08-30T16:55:00.000-05:00

I came across this recipe in a magazine some time ago and made an attempt today. It turned out very tasty and we enjoyed it a lot. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Mango - 1 medium sized
Milk - 2½ cups
Sugar - 1½ cups
Sooji(Rava) - ½ cup
Ghee - 5 Tbs
Cashew - 10-12
Almonds - 8-10
Cardamom as required

Procedure:

1. Peal the skin and cut the mangoes into small pieces
2. Fry the sooji with a spoon of ghee and set aside. Similarly fry cashew and almonds too.
3. Take the milk in a wide vessel and bring it to boil.
4. When the milk is well boiled add the mango pieces and continue heating.
5. At this stage the milk will start to crackle as in picture below. Donot bother, this is paneer for the kheer ! (Ok that is not a good picture).

6. When this paneer boils with the milk add the sooji and stir well.
7. Once the sooji is cooked add the sugar. Let it melt and mix well.
8. Now add the ghee and cardamom.
9. Remove from fire add almonds and cashews.

Yum, Yum Kheer is ready!!!

Note: If I am to do it again I would cut the mangoes still smaller.

Paneer Mango Kheer:

This is my entry for JFI#5 hosted by Vineela under the theme 'Milk and Milk-products'

Ghee Roast Dosa with Onion Chutney

2006-08-29T21:13:00.000-05:00

Dosa.... ssh.. this is one of my favorites.

Here is the recipe for one type of Dosa - Ghee Roast.

Ingredients : (for Dosa)

Boiled Rice (Idli Rice) - 4 Cups
Urad Dal - 1 Cup
Fenugreek seeds - 1 Tbs
Aval (Poha) - 1 Tbs
Salt
Ghee (Clarified butter)

Procedure : (to make Batter)

1. Soak rice and urad dal separately in water for 4 hours.
2. Grind Urad dal for about 40 minutes adding water as required. Remove it when the batter almost rolls into a ball in the grinder/blender and set it aside. Take care that it does not become too watery.
3. Grind rice adding the required water. This might take about 20 minutes.
4. Mix with the urad dal batter.
5. Add salt and mix thorougly with hand. This helps in better fermenting.
6. Let it stay overnight and it should be fermented next day showing an increase in quantity.

Note: I usually use the same batter for Idli in the first two days.Adding poha make the Idlis soft.

Procedure :(to make Dosa)

1. Heat the tava. Pour the batter in the center and spread it across in circles.Pour oil across the outer edge.
2. Let it cook in medium heat until slightly brown. Turnover & cook the other side.
3. Turn again & while still in the tava, apply a coat of ghee (as required).
4. Serve hot with the chutney below.

Ingredient: (for Onion Chutney)

Pearl onion - 15 to 20 (or) One large onion slit length-wise.
Tomato - 1 chopped
Red Chilly - 2
Bengal gram - 1 Tbs
Oil - 1 Tbs
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add bengal gram and red chilly, fry for a minute.
2. Add the onion and fry till transparent.
3. Now add the tomato & saute till it cooks.
4. Let it cool. Add salt and blend.

Note : Do not add water as the tomato loosens it.

Ghee Roast with Onion Chutney :

This is my entry for WBB #4 hosted by Pavani of Cook's Hideout

Check the other versions of Dosa
Sudhav of Samayal
Menu Today
Foodie's Hope

Happy Ganesh Chathurthi !

2006-08-27T15:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Ganesh Chathurthi to All !!

Ganesha is the God of wisdom and prosperity and is invoked before the beginning of any auspicious work. Known by varied names,he has an elephant face and human body. Ganesh Chathurthi falls on the 4th day after no-moon in the month of Shraavana (lunar Hindu calendar).The festival usually falls in the month of Aug/Sep.

As with any other festival, this is celebrated with a grand naivedhyam,a Sanskrit word meaning 'to offer' to God. One can see kozhukattai (Modakam is Sanskrit) in every household in varied forms. One other main side snack found in all Kannadiga household for every occassion and festival is 'Ambode'. Being prepared on special occassion, ambode will be devoid of onions.

The recipe for Ambode is:

Ingredients:

RedGram Dal(Thur Dal) - 1 Cup
Broken black gram - 1/2 Cup
Bengal Gram(Channa Dal) - 1/2 Cup
Red Chillies - 3/4
Asofoetida
Curry leaves
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Procedure:

1. Soak thurdal & broken balck gram together. Separately soak Channadal. Let it stand for 1/2 hour.
2. Drain the water out of the soaked dals.
3. Grind these dals together with asofoetida, salt and red chillies into a coarse paste. Use little water if required. Add the curry leaves.
4. Make small balls of the dough and flatten it with a mild press.
5. Heat the oil in a pan and fry both sides until golden brown.

Note: The dough should hold together.It should neither be watery nor too hard.

Ambode

Cabbage Curry

2006-08-25T07:49:00.000-05:00

Curry, a sauceless vegetable dish is a regular item in any Indian menu.This dry curry is served with main dish while the one with gravies goes well with Indian bread.Curry being part of the daily meal one out of of the '5 A DAY' rule is met.

These curries are flavored either with coconut or onion and goes well with the South India mainstay of sambar or rasam. Just to break this routine and for those conscious of high cholesterol in coconut, this is a slightly varied version of 'cabbage curry'.

Ingredients:

Cabbage - chopped
Red Chilly - 1
Peeled broken green gram - 1 Tbsp
Salt to taste

For Seasoning:
Mustard
Cumin Seeds
Broken green gram
Curry leaves

Procedure :

1. Soak 1 Tbsp of peeled broken green gram in water for about 15 minutes
2. Take the desired amount of cabbage and chop into small pieces.
3. Add the seasoning,red chilly in a pan with little oil & let it splutter.
4. Now add the cabbage and the soaked greengram in the kadai with sufficient water for it to cook.
5. When the cabbage is half-cooked add salt.
6. Continue cooking till water evaporates & curry becomes dry.
Enjoy the curry...

Cabbage Curry:

Corn Soup

2006-08-23T12:06:00.000-05:00

The market being flooded with Corn, I went hunting(browsing !!) for a new recipe.One that caught my attention is the baby corn soup. With some modification to suit my need, this 'Corn Soup' took shape.

Raw Materials:

4 cups water
1 tsp ginger-finely chopped
1 garlic-finely chopped
1 green chilies-finely chopped
1 tbsp coriander leaves-finely chopped
2 tbsp cabbage-finely chopped
2 tbsp capsicum-finely chopped
2 tbsp carrot- Grated
2 tbsp peas
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp soy sauce
3 tbsp oil
salt as required

Production:

1. Pressure cook the corn and let it cool.
2. Remove the kernel from the cob & blend into a smooth paste in blender.

3. In a pan stir fry ginger, garlic and green chilies for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the capsicum & corn paste and stir fry again for 2 minutes.
5. Now add salt,pepper,soy sauce along with water
6. Stir constantly till it thickens slightly,then add the cabbage,peas and carrot.
7. Remove from heat,add coriander and serve hot.

Final Product:

I like this with variety of veggies in it and an instant success with my hubby too!!

Indian Curry beats Aspirin !

2006-08-23T06:48:00.000-05:00

Here is more reason to go the traditional way of eating Indian food. A new research has found that eating curry is a better cure for a headache than aspirin.Also it comes without the unwanted frill of 'side-effects'.

Spices such as Cumin, Turmeric and Paprika, all of which are used in curries, are particularly rich sources of salicylic acid - the main ingredient in aspirin, the study said.

Continue reading 'Indian curry beats aspirin'....

Orange Peach Smoothie

2006-08-22T16:31:00.000-05:00

Unable to contain my smoothie craving after reading this in My Cook Book, I headed to the kitchen.Not having any banana or blueberry,this Orange-Peach smoothie took shape.

Raw Material:
Peach - 2
Orange - 1
Curd/Yogurt - 3 scoops
Suagr - 4 Tsp

Production:
Peal the peach,orange and blend with sugar in the blender till smooth. Add the yougurt and blend again to mix properly. Add a spoon of honey to taste. Serve chilled.

Final Product:

Mangoe Milkshake

2006-08-22T14:43:00.000-05:00

This easy to make Mangoe Milkshake is a real soother for the summer heat.Mangoes make your body hot and my Mom usually insists on taking milk/yogurt after we have a mangoe. This pupose is also easily met in this milkshake.

Raw Material:

Mangoe - 1
Sugar - 6 Tsp
Milk - 7 Oz (obout 400ml)

Production:

1. Cut the mangoe into small pieces after pealing the skin.
2. Add the cut pieces along with sugar and very little water in a blender
3. Blend till smooth.
4. Now add the milk after pouring into a serving jar and stir completely to mix well.Can also be done in the blender.
5. Serve chilled

Final Product:

I like it with couple of pieces of mangoes in the shake !!

Veggie Delight !!

2006-08-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

This blog is inspired by a host of food blogs(I shall slowly start linking them) that I came across in the past few days and also this article from the pages of 'The Hindu'

Not being an expert, I shall do the updates from my daily cooking and anything interesting related to food that I come across. The title is inspired by Subway's sandwich by the name and also implies it will showcase only Lacto vegetarian items - me being one.

Happy Cooking !!