Medu Vada / Ulli Garelu

Medu Vada is a doughnut shaped, lentil savory and is a very common breakfast in South India.
This can be eaten with any chutney or sambar or rasam or even as dahi vada.
It is a must on any festival like sankranthi, ugadi , Ganesh Chaturthi or varalakshmi Vratham.

So here is the recipe to make these vadas made of whole black gram lentil batter.

Ingredients :

• Urad Dal - 2 cups
• White Rice ( raw ) - 2 tbsp
• Grated Ginger - 1 tbsp
• Finely Chopped Green Chillies - 2 or 3
• Finely Chopped Onion - 1 big or 2 small
• Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
• Hing - 2 pinches
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Whole Black Pepper - around 6-8
• Salt- to taste
• Oil - for deep frying

Directions:

• Soak urad dal for atleast 6 hours or overnight.
• Blend it into a course paste and transfer it into a mixing bowl.
• Now add cumin seeds, chopped onions, pepper, chopped coriander leaves, hing, salt , grated ginger, chopped green chillies to the batter and mix well.
• Heat oil for deep frying in a heavy bottom pan. The oil should not be too hot. Put a very small amount of batter in the oil for testing if the oil is ready or not. The batter should not immediately pop up, nor should it settle down at the bottom. It should sizzle in oil and then pop up after a few seconds. This is the right temperature of oil.
• Now make vadas in the shape of doughnut. Wet your hands with little water. Take a lemon sized ball and flaten it with you fingers on a greesed sheet. Wet your finger again with water and make a whole in the center.
• Slowly and carefully drop it in the oil for frying. Toss it after 2 minutes to fry it on the other side as well, till it turns golden brown in color.
• Remove from oil and drain it on kitchen paper towel.

Serve it hot with sambar and chutney.

Enjoy !! :)

Aritikaya Mudda Kura ( Plantain Curry )

Aritikaya Mudda kura is a famous Andhra dish made of raw plantains .
There are several ways to make plaintain curry. This recipe is the mashed curry ( mudda kura ).

Ingredients :

• Plaintains - 2
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Split Urad Dal - 1 tsp
• Chana Dal - 1 tsp
• Green Chillies or Red Whole chillies - 2
• Curry leaves - few
• Grated Ginger - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 3 pinches
• Cooking Oil - 2 tbsp
• Lemon - 1 small or 1/2 big
• Hing - a pinch
• Salt - to taste

Directions :

• Boil the plaintains along with the peel till they are so soft that they can be mashed.
• Let them cool, peel them and then mash them . Keep aside.
• In a pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds, let them splutter , add urad dal, chana dal, chillies, hing and curry leaves. Saute till the dals change their color to reddish brown.
• Now add grated ginger and turmeric powder, let it fry for about a minute.
• Add mashed plaintains and salt to it and mix it well, let it cook for about 4-5 minutes. Keep stirring so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Turn off the flame and squeeze lemon juice into it and mix well.
• Serve hot with rice or chapati

Shakkar Para

Shakkar Para are very tasty deep fried sugar crisps and is one of my favourite munching snack.

Ingredients :

• All Purpose Flour ( Maida ) - 1 cup
• Semolina ( Sooji ) - 1/4 cup
• Cooking Oil - 2 tbsp
• Oil - For deep frying
• Water - About 1/2 a cup

Ingredients for syrup:

• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Coconut Powder - 2 tbsp

Directions :

• In a mixing bowl, take maida, sooji and oil and mix them adding wated slowly as needed and make a stiff dough. Knead it well and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes.
• Take some dough and make a ball out of it , and roll them into circles ( just like how we do for chapati )
• Prick them with fork all over the rolled dough so that they don't puff up while deep frying.
• With the help of pizza cutter or any knife cut the rolled dough into small squares of about an inch.

• Take a frying pan, and heat the oil for deep frying. Let it be on medium heat.
• To check if the oil is at the correct temperature for frying, take a small piece of dough and put it in oil. It should neither come up too quick nor should it take too long. It should first sizzle in the oil, then come up in few seconds.
• Put those cut paras ( pieces of rolled out dough ) into the oil for frying. Keep tossing them untill you see them golden brown from both the sides.
• Remove them from oil and place them on kitchen paper towel, so that extra oil can be soaked out. Keep them aside and let them cool.
• Repeat the process for the remaining dough.

Now let's make the sugar syrup .

Directions for syrup :

• In a souce pan, take water and sugar and bring it to boil on medium heat.
• Keep stirring and let the sugar dissolve completely.
• Simmer it and let it heat till the syrup reaches the thread consistency. Turn the heat off.
• Add coconut powder and cardamom powder to the syrup and mix well.
• Now put all the paras into this syrup and mix it making sure all the paras are well coated with this syrup.
• Take a greased tray and spread these shakkar paras onto it. Make sure they are not clumped .

• Let it cool before you eat them.
• They can be stored in air tight container for few weeks.

Variations : The Similar recipe can also be made with jaggery syrup intead of sugar syrup.

Just replace sugar with jaggery . It tastes totally different and absolutely yummy.

Beet Root Fry / Beet Root Poriyal

Beet Root was referred by my mom as blood building vegetable.

It is rich in Vitamin C, Calcium and Iron. It has liver and kidney cleansing properties . Hence try to include this vegetable in your regular diet. It can be eaten raw or cooked.
It tastes very good when fried, and is an excellent side dish for steamed rice.
It is very easy to make. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients :

• Beet Roots - 2 large or 3 medium
• Chopped Onions - 1 small
• Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Split Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp
• Red whole chili - 2
• Hing - a pinch
• Curry Leaves - few
• salt - to taste

Directions :

• Peel Beet Roots and chop them into small cubes.
• Take water in a microwave safe bowl and boil them in microwave for 6-8 minutes till they are tender. You can also boil in pressure cooker for 1 whistle.
• Heat oil in a pan, add musturd seeds and let them splutter.
• Add Split urad dal and saute them till they turn reddish in color.
• Add hing, curry leaves, red chillies and finely chopped onions, saute them till onions are golden brown in color.
• Add the boiled beet root to it and cook till soft and done. Add salt. Fry little longer if you want crispy. keep stirring at regular intervals making sure it does not burn at the bootom of the pan.

This can be eaten with steamed rice or chapati.

Variation:


Add grated coconut at the end , just 2 minutes before turning off the flame. It gives a different taste to it and is simply yummy.

Baingan Ka Bharta

Baingan Ka Bharta is a Punjabi dish made of big eggplant which is roasted.

Tastes absolutely wonderful and goes well with chapati and rice.

There are many ways you can roast the eggplant:

• Put the eggplant directly on the flame on stove top. Keep turning the eggplant at regular intervals so that it is roasted evenly on all sides. Cook till the skin of the eggplant is charred and soft inside.
• If you have electric burners, then place it on a grill ( as shown in the picture below ) and cook in a similar way.
• It can be roasted in oven till the skin is charred and soft inside.
• It can also be roasted on barbecue grill.

Ingredients :

• Eggplant - 1 Large or 2 small
• Cooking oil - 2 tbsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
• Chopped Onions - 1 large
• Chopped Tomatoes - 1
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
• Green Chillies - 2
• Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
• Salt -to taste
• Chopped Cilantro - for garnishing

Directions :

• Roast the eggplant in one of the above mentioned ways and let it cool.
• Once it is cool, peel the charred skin and discard it. Mash the eggplant and keep it aside.
• Now in a pan, heat cooking oil, and add cumin seeds to it, let them splutter.
• Add finely chopped onions and suate them until translucent.
• Add ginger garlic paste and slit green chillies and fry for a minute.
• Now add chopped tomatoes and cook till they r tender.
• Add all the powders ( coriander , cumin, garam masala ) and mix well. Cook for about 4-5 minutes ( or till the raw smell of onions, ginger garlic is gone ) making sure the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. You can sprinkle few drops of water to it, if it sticks to the bottom.
• Add the mashed eggplant and salt to this mixture and mix well. Cook for just a couple of minutes and turn off the flame.
• Garnish it with Chopped Cilantro.

Enjoy it hot with chapatis or steamed rice.

Note - Green Chillies can be replaced by red chilli powder ( whatever you prefer )

Veggie Sandwich ( Plain or Grilled )

Veggie Sandwich.... Ok, now this is one most common and quickest breakfast which has no fixed recipe. You can just play around with your sandwich. You can stuff your sandwich with any vegetable you like, any bread spread you like, in any quantity you like. :)

Lemme mention a few ingredients which can be used.

• Bread ( white, brown , wheat, multi grain , Italian sub or any other kind of bread ).
• Spread ( ketchup , mayonnaise , green chutney, Ranch , sandwich dressing or any other spread you like ).
• Vegetables ( like cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, onions, jalepenos, lettuce, or anything else you can think of )
• Grated Cheese ( any cheese you like )
• Seasoning ( black peper or chili flakes or garlic powder or oregano or any other sesoning you like )

Wow.... I told you , you can play around, no fixed recipe :)

Directions:

• I am making a 2-tier sandwich. If you are crazy enough you can try 4 or 5 tiers ;)
• Take one slice of bread and spread your favourite bread spread. I used green chutney, in the picture.
• When I am making a sub sandwich, I like to use ranch or any other sandwich dressing.
• Arrange cucumber slices and few tomato slices on it.
• Sprinkle grated cheese and any of you favourite sesoning on the vegetables.
• Take another slice of bread, and spread a different sauce this time. I used ketchup for the second layer.
• Arrange other veggies, like bell pepper ( sliced very thin ), and sliced onions, sliced jalepenos.
• Sprinkle grated cheese and your favourite seasoning.
• Cover it with another slice of bread.
• Cut it diagonally into 2 halves.

You can either eat it raw or grill it for 2-3 minutes.
Goes very well with tea , coffee, juice or soft drinks and some chips .

Matar Pulav ( Peas Pulav )

Matar Pulav is one of the easiest recipes of rice items. It doesn't take much time to prepare , yet tastes very good. It can be eaten with any gravy curry or raita.

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice - 1 cup
• Peas - 1/2 cup ( fresh/frozen/canned )
• Water - 2 cups
• Finely Chopped Onion - 1
• Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
• Green Chillies, slit lengthwise - 4
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
• Cinnamon Stick - 1
• Cloves -2-3
• Bay Leaves - 2
• Clarified Butter/Ghee - 1tbsp
• Salt - to taste

Directions :

• Soak rice in water for around 20 mintes , drain and keep aside.
• In a big heavy bottom pan, heat some ghee , add cumin seeds, green chillies, bay leaves, ginger garlic paste, cinnamon and cloves.
• Add chopped onions and saute them till they turn transparent.
• Add peas to it and fry just for a minute.
• Add 2 cups of water and bring it to boil.
• Add rice to the boiling water and salt. Let it cook covered.
• Stir it once to make sure the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan. ( Don't stir it too much, it will break the rice grains )
• When you see the rice is almost cooked , simmer the stove for 2 minutes and turn off the flame.Let it be covered.
• Mix the rice very very gently making sure you don't break the long grains.
• Serve it hot with any gravy curry or raita.

Tip : You can also cook in Pressure cooker in a similar way for 2 whistles.

Tomato Rasam

Tomato Rasam , also known as tomato charu, is a part of a daily meal in South India. This sour and spicy dish goes very well with dal and rice .
This recipe is the basic and simple one without any dal in it. Rasam can also be made with dal, which is called Pappu Charu, which I shall blog soon.


Ingredients :

• Ripe tomatoes - 4
• Water - 5 - 7 cups
• Jeera - 1 tsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Red whole Chilies - 3
• Hing - a pinch
• Whole Pepper - 5-7
• Curry leaves - one spring
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Rasam Powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Jaggery - 1 inch
• Tamarind Pulp - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Chopped Cilantro - for garnishing

Directions :

• Blanch tomatoes in hot water, peel the skin , mash or grind the pulp.
• Add water to the pulp, salt, rasam powder, turmeric powder, tamarind pulp, jaggery, whole peppers ( or can be powdered coarsely) and boil the misture.
• For tempering : In a separate small pan, take oil, add mustard seeds, after they crackle, add cumin seeds, red whole chillies, curry leaves and hing.
• Add the tempering to the rasam, boil for another 8 - 10 minutes.
• Add chopped cilantro at the end.

Aloo Sabzi ( Potato Curry )

Potatoes cooked in the onion-tomato gravy and spices

Ingredients :

• Potatoes - 4 Medium
• Chopped Onion - 1 Large
• Tomatoes - 2 Medium
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Cilantro - for garnishing
• Green Chillies - 2-3 slit length wise
• Red Chilli Powder - to taste

Directions:

• Boil Potatoes and dice them approx 1 inch. Keep aside.
• In a pan , take oil , let it heat, add mustard seeds and let them pop. Then add cumin seeds.
• Add ginger garlic paste and chopped onions and saute them.
• Add green chillies and chopped tomatoes. Fry till tomatoes turn mushy.
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder.
• Add bolied potato cubes, salt and add water enough to cover potatoes.
• Cover it with a lid and let it boil for 5 minutes.
• Keep stirring once in a while so that the curry doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Simmer it till it reaches the desired consistency.
• Turn off the flame and garnish it with chopped cilantro.
• Serve with roti or paratha or steamed rice or jeera rice.