Onion-Tomato Raita

Onion Tomato Raita is an excellent side dish for biryani or jeera rice or pulav. This is the most commonly made raita in my home.

Ingredients:

• Plain Yogurt ( curds ) - 2 cups
• Finely Chopped Onions - 1 medium
• Finely Chopped Tomato - 1 medium
• Finely Chopped Green Chillies - 1
• Finely Chopped Cilantro - 2 springs
• Salt - to taste
• Chat Masala - 1/4 tsp or to taste
• Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp ( to be roasted and ground )

Directions:

• Beat the yogurt till it reaches a smooth consistency.
• Add onions, tomatoes, green chillies, cilantro to the yogurt
• Add salt and chat masala and mix it well.
• In a small pan dry roast cumin seeds. Grind it when it cools.
• Sprinkle this powder on the raita. And give a very light mix.

Enjoy it with any rice dish.

Gongura Pachhadi/Pickle

Gongura pachhadi or pickle is made of sorrel leaves and is very famous in Andhra Pradesh. You can ask any random person from Andhra if they like Gongura Pickle, I can bet no one will say " No". I salivate with the very mention of it.  ;)

Ingredients:

• Gongura ( Sorrel )Leaves : 1 bunch
• Tamarind Pulp - 2 tbsp
• Fenugreek (Methi ) seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Coriander Seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
• Oil - 5-6 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Sliced Garlic - 3-4 cloves
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Turmeric Powder - 1/8 tsp
• Hing - a pinch
• Whole Red Chili - 1
• Red Chili Powder - 1 tbsp or to taste
• Salt - to taste

Directions:

• Separate leaves of gongura ( sorrel ) from its stem. The stem is very hard and is difficult to cook. Wash the leaves and dry them a bit with a kitchen towel.
• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and fry the gongura leaves. It might get a little mushy, but nevermind, it will be good after it is totally cooked.

• Fry till the moisture from the leaves is totally evaportated, it is dry and turns darker in color. Let it cool.

• Let it cool before we grind. Don't grind it into a smooth paste.Let it be coarse. Transfer it into a mixing bowl and keep aside.
• Now in a small pan, dry roast fenugreek seeds and coriander seeds for just 1 or 2 minutes. Let it cool and grind them into powder.
• Add this powder to gongura pachhadi.
• Also add tamarind pulp to the mixture. Add salt and give it a good mix.
• We now need to add tempering to the chutney.
• Heat remaining oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, let them crackle. Add whole red chillies, sliced garlic. Saute for about 30-40 sec.
• Add curry leaves, hing, turmeric powder and turn off the flame.
• Now add red chili powder after turning off the heat. We don't really need to cook that, otherwise it will turn black.
• Pour this hot tempering into the gongura pachhadi and give it a good mix. Adjust salt if needed.
• Serve with hot steamed rice. Add a little ghee on the rice before you mix the pickle ,and enjoy the heavenly taste.

Tomato Rice

Tomato Rice is one of the best dishes we can make on a lazy day.

If you are are too lazy to make curry or dal, this is the one you must go for.

And all my friends who are fans of dishes made of leftover rice... here I come again... yayyy... lol... I mean, obviously you do not want to throw away the rice from the previous day, right? So, give a new avatar to it, and enjoy it as a new dish. Whatsay !! ;)

Again, that doesn't mean you can't use freshly cooked rice :)

Ingredients :

• Boiled Rice - 2 cups
• Chopped Tomatoes - 2 cups
• Chopped Onions - 1/2 cup
• Chopped or Grated Ginger - 1 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Chana Dal - 1 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp
• Cashew Nuts - 6-8
• Slit Green Chillies - 2
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp or to taste
• Salt -to taste
• Hing- a pinch
• Ghee - 2 tbsp
• Chopped Cilantro - for garnishing

Directions:

• Boil the rice and keep aside.
• Heat ghee in a pan, add mustard seeds, let them splutter. Add chana dal, urad dal and saute till they start changing color.
• Add Cashew nuts and roast them till they turn slightly golden. Then add hing.
• Add slit green chillies, curry leaves.
• Add chopped oinions and ginger. Fry them till onions turn translucent.
• Add chopped tomatoes , cook till the tomatoes are mashed up.
• Add red chilli powder and salt to your taste.
• Add boiled rice to this mixture and mix well, so that all the rice is nicely coated .
• Adjust salt. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
• Serve hot with plain curds or any raita.

Idli

Idli , the most common breakfast in South India. In some homes, it is made almost everyday.
Since it is a steamed food and has no spices, kids love it. It sure is healthy.
If you have the batter ready, it doesn't take much time for preparation. However, it takes long to prepare the batter as it requires fermentation.
You can make enough batter on a weekend and store it in the fridge for upto a week. That would save you a lot of time during the busy weekdays.



Ingredients:

• Idli Rava - 4 cups
• Urad Dal (washed) - 1 3/4 cup
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1tsp
• Salt -to taste
• Water - as needed
• Ghee - to grease the plates

Directions:

• Soak idli rava in water for around 1-2 hours.
• In a separate vessel, soak urad dal and fenugreek seeds for 4-5 hours.
• Drain water from urad dal , grind urad dal mixed with little fenugreek seeds into a fine smooth paste adding little water at a time. Do not add too much water. The consistecy should be like that of pancake batter.
• Drain the water from the idli rava. Take handful of rava and tightly squeeze the water out of it and add it to the urad dal paste. Continue this process for the rest of the rava as well.
• Add salt and mix and pat the batter with your hands.
• Cover and leave overnight in a warm place for fermentation.
• Take the idli stand, grease the idli holder with a drop of ghee and fill each one 3/4 full with the batter. Do not fill it, because they need some space to swell.
• Heat around 2 cups of water in the pressure cooker and place the idli stand in it.
• Close the lid and cook it without the weight on high heat for 10 minutes and simmer it for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it cool down for 5 mintes before you open the cooker.
• Take out the idlis very gently with the help of a butter knife.
• Sprinkle a few drops of ghee on top of idlis and server them hot with chutney or sambar.

Enjoy !!! :)

Egg Pulusu ( Egg-Tamarind Curry )

Egg Pulusu (Telugu) or Egg Puli (Tamil) is a curry made of boiled eggs cooked in the tamarind gravy.

Ingerdients:

• Boiled Eggs - 4
• Finely Chopped Onions - 1
• Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
• Tamarind Extract - 1/2 cup
• Jaggery - 1 small cube
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Red Whole Chili - 1
• Hing - 1 pinch
• Curry Leaves - few
• Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chili Powder - 1/4 tsp or to taste
• Fenugreek Seeds (methi seeds )- 6-8
• Salt - to taste
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Water - as needed
• Chopped Cilantro - for garnishing

Directions :

• Boil the eggs, peel them and keep aside.
• Soak tamarind in water for 20 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind juice out of it. Keep aside.
• In a heavy bottom pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds, let them splutter, then add fenugreek seeds ,whole chili, hing, curry leaves. Let it saute for 30 seconds.
• Add Chopped onions and ginger garlic paste. Cook till onions turn brownish.
• If the onion paste is getting too dry, add little water to it .
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder and mix well.
• Add tamarind juice and a cup of water. Add salt to taste
• Add jaggery. If you do not have jaggery, it can be replaced with 1 tsp of sugar. ( In south Indian recipes, wherever we use tamarind, we also use jaggery , they both usually go hand in hand )
• Make 2-3 cuts on the boiled eggs and add them into this gravy. We make those cuts so that eggs can absorb the masala .
• Cover it and let it cook on low-medium flame, for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro.
• Serve hot with any kind of rice.

Eggplant-Tomato Curry

Eggplant-Tomato Curry ( Vankaya-tamata koora, in telugu ) as the name says, is made of eggplants and tomatoes with some spices.
This is the Andhra style of making eggplant and it tastes heavenly.
I made this curry with the long eggplants, but you can make it with other types of eggplants as well.

Ingredients :

• Long Eggplants - 4
• Finely Chopped Onions - 1 medium
• Finely Chopped Tomatoes - 2 medium
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Oil - for shallow fry
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Hing - a pinch
• Curry Leaves - few
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Coriander Powder - 3/4 tsp
• Chilli Powder - to taste
• Red Whole chilli - 1 or 2
• Peanuts - 2 tbsp
• Sesame Seeds - 1 tbsp
• Salt -to taste

Directions :

• Cut the eggplants , we shall semi cook them , not totally cook. In a pan, heat some oil and shallow fry them and keep aside.
• In the same pan, you might have some oil left, in that add cumin seeds and let them splutter.
• Add curry leaves, hing, red whole chillies, chopped onions and ginger garlic paste. Let it fry till onions are translucent and the raw flavour of ginger garlic paste goes away.
• Add chopped tomatoes, and cook it covered till they are tender. If the mixture gets too dry add one or two tbsp of water.
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and salt and cook for couple more minutes.
• Now add the semi cooked eggplants to this mixture and cover it and cook on low-medium flame. We had semi cooked the eggplants to speed up the cooking process.
• While the curry is getting cooked on slow flame, take another small pan and dry roast the peanuts.
• After the peanuts are roasted, add sesame seeds and fry for just one minute till they turn slighty brown. Sesame seeds cook very fast, so make sure you keep stirring it and turn off the flame in just a minute. Let it cool.
• Grind peanuts and sesame seeds into a coarse powder.
• After the curry is cooked, sprinkle this powder on it mix well and cook just for a couple of minutes and turn off the flame.
• Eat with rice or chapati..

I just love this recipe. In the picuture, you can see I was way too generous with the oil. You might want to be little careful. After shallow frying, if there is too much of oil left in the pan , you might want to throw some, which I din't and result of which I ate only salads for the next two days ;)

Jalebi

Jalebiiiiiiiii...... Remember that cute kid in Dhara advertisement, who had left his house because he thought no one loved him but returned for jalebis... ha ha ha.. I would too... who doesn't love jelebis...
jalebi has to be a part of any party, wedding or birthday buffet. Or even when it is raining. You really don't need reason for it. Aahh... my mouth waters while I write this.
For instant preparation, you can buy the jalebi mix from the store and make it, but incase you want to make the mix at home, here is the recipe..

Ingredients :

For Jalebi Batter :

• All Purpose Flour ( Maida ) - 1/2 cup
• Gram Flour ( Besan ) - 1 tsp
• Yeast - 1/2 tsp
• Lukewarm Water - 1/3 cup
• Oil - 1/2 tsp
• Sugar - 1/2 tsp

For syrup:

• Sugar - 1 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Cardamom Powder - a pinch
• Food color ( Yellow or Orange ) - a pinch
• Lemon Juice - 1 tsp

We also need :

• Oil - for deep frying
• Piping bag / empty ketchup or musturd bottle

Directions :


Batter :

• Dissolve the yeast in luke warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes.
• In a mixing bowl, mix both the flours, sugar and oil together.
• Add the yeast solution and food color to this flour mixture and mix well making sure no lumps are formed.
• The consistency of the batter should be like that of a pancake batter or Dosa batter, neither too thick nor too thin.
• Leave the batter for fermentation for one hour. Do NOT over ferment it.

Syrup:

• Boil sugar and water together on medium till it reaches one thread consistency.
• Add cardamom powder and lemon juice. Turn off the heat. We add lemon juice to the syrup so that the syrup does not solidify when it cools.

Note: One-Thread Consistency can be tested like this : Take out one or two drops of syrup and when it cools down a bit, take it with your forefinger , and then touch your forefinger and thumb together and pull apart gently. While doing so if the single thread is formed without breaking immediately, that is called One-Thread Consistency.

Jalebi :

• In a flat frying pan, heat the oil for deep frying.
• Check if the oil has reached the right temperature. There are two ways to check. One, if you have candymaking thermometer, the temperature should be 350 F. Second, if you do not have it, then put a drop of batter in the oil . That batter should neither puff up immediately, nor should it take too long. It should sit at the bottom for 2-3 seconds before it pops up. That is the right temperature.
• Fill the jalebi batter into the empty ketchup bottle or piping bag ( I use the bottle ).
• Squeeze the batter into the hot oil in round pretzel shape . ( Traditionally , round is the shape, but if you are crazy enough, try star or square shape ... why not ?? ) But whatever shape you chose make sure you do it in 2-3 seconds before the jalebi puffs up on the surface.
• Let them fry for 30-40 seconds and toss them to the other side. Fry till jalebis are golden on both the sides.
• Transfer the jalebi into the warm sugar syrup. Let them soak in the syrup for 2-3 seconds and take out in the serving plate.
• Serve hot.

Slurrpppppp !!!!!

Note : The measurements I have mentioned will make 8-10 jalebis. If you want more, you can increase the quantity accordingly.

Carrot-Beetroot Juice

Carrot - Beetroot juice was introduced by my mom to my daughter, when she was an infant.
Surprisingly , she liked it she used to drink the entire cup.
But it was not too late before she turned into a picky
eater., and learnt her favourite word, "NO".... And I have not been able to give her this juice ever since.
If anyone is successful in fooling their child with this one, please let me know :)
I know this juice does not have the best taste, but it is very rich in calcium and vitamin C, so try to have it once in a while.

Ingredients :

• Beetroot - 1 small
• Carrots - 1 medium
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Crushed Ice - for serving

Directions:

• Peel and cut beetroots and carrot.
• Juice them using a juicer. If you are using a blender or mixer then, blend them with little water till smooth.
• Strain the juice using strainer or muslin cloth. You don't need to strain if you are using a juicer.
• Add little sugar to it. ( Kids like it if you add sugar to it, otherwise sugar can be avoided )
• Add some crushed ice in a glass and pour the juice over it. Serve chilled.

Variation : You can add pieces of apple along with beet and carrots.

A very healthy juice is ready in just a few minutes.

Mooli Paratha

Mooli Paratha is an Indian Flat Bread stuffed with white raddish .

Ingredients :

• Mooli ( white raddish ) - 1 lb
• Salt - to taste
• Green Chillies , finely chopped- to taste
• Cilantro, finely chopped - 4 springs
• Ajwain ( Carom Seeds ) - 1/4 tsp
• Ghee or Butter - for pan frying

For the dough:

• Wheat Flour - 1.5 cups
• salt -1/4 tsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Water - for kneading

Click here for the step by step procedure of how to knead the dough.

Directions :

• Shred the moolis , sprinkle salt , mix well and keep aside for 10-15 minutes. This will ooze out the water from raddish.
• Squeeze out the water from the raddish and keep aside. Do not throw this water. use this water to knead the dough.
• Add cilantro, green chillies, ajwain to the raddish and mix well.
• Divide the dough into equal sized balls ( little bigger than a lemon ). And divide raddish mixture into the same number of portions.
• Roll out one dough ball into a small disc with the help of a rolling pin.
• Place one portion of the raddish filling at the center of the rolled out disc.
• Slowly lift the edges and bring together in the center to form like a pouch.
• Press the ends together tightly to seal the pouch. Gently press between both your palms to flatten a bit.
• Dust this into the dry aata ( dry flour ) once , and gently roll out the paratha, with light hands, making sure the filling doesn't come out. But if little bit of filling oozes out, don't worry. It's ok.
• Place the paratha on a hot skillet ot tava.
• When you see small bubbles appear on the surface of the paratha, flip it over.
• You will see small brown spots on the surface of the paratha. Coat the surface with ghee or butter. Again flip over.
• Sprinkle some ghee or butter to this side as well and gently press it all over.
• The paratha is done when both sides are crispy and golden brown.

Serve them hot with cold raita and pickle.

Yummmm !!!!

Bharwan Karela ( Stuffed Bitter Melon )

Bharwan karela is a curry made of bitter melons stuffed with onions, gram flour and spices.
I know , not many people are karela fans, but trust me, this is one of the best ways to make karela.
Not to forget the medicinal value it has got. It is beneficial for the people with diabetes , it acts as blood cleasnser , it is useful for de-worming etc. These are few of many reasons my mom used to tell us to convince us to eat karela.

Ingredients :

• Karela ( bitter guards ) - 4-5
• Finely Chopped Onion - 1 medium
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tsp
• Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder - to taste
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Besan ( gram Flour ) - 2 tbsp
• Fresh cilantro - 2 tbsp
• Amchoor ( Dry Mango Powder ) - 1 tsp
• Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Mustard Oil - 5 tbsp ( 2 for filling + 3 for frying karela )

Directions :

• Wash karelas a couple of times and scrape the skin of all the karelas. Do not throw this, keep aside.
• With a knife , make a slit in the karelas , length wise carefully making sure not to cut it into two .
• With the help of your thumb, remove all the seeds from inside the karelas and make them hollow . save these seeds a long with the scrapped skin.
• Sprinkle some salt and lemon juice on the slit karelas. Gently rub salt on them, and let it sit for an hour.
• After letting it marinade for an hour, gently squeeze out all the water from the karelas and wash them under the running tap. We marinade to wash out the bitterness from the karelas.
• Now let's make the filling for the karelas.

Filling :

• Heat oil in the saucepan, add cumin seeds
• When they start spluttering, add very finely chopped onion, ginger garlic paste , turmeric and saute them till they turn golden brown.
• Add gram flour and saute for another couple of minutes, keep stirring.
• Now , add the scrapped skin and the seeds which we had removed and kept aside.( optional )
• Add spices like coriander powder, amchoor powder, red chilli powder. Also add Chopped Cilantro.
• Let it cook for 2-3 minutes and let it cool. 

Filling

• Stuff the slit karelas with this filling and tie each one of them with a cotton thread, so that the stuffing doesn't fall apart while cooking. However that is optional. If you very carefully toss the karelas while frying, the filling should stay intact.  ( I save some of this filling for adding in the curry later, (optional) )

Stuffed Karelas

Frying the stuffed karelas:

• Heat 3 tbsp of mustard oil in a pan.
• Arrange stuffed karelas on the pan, sprinkle with salt and cook them covered for a couple of minutes.
• Toss the karelas with the help of a fork to the other side and let it cook for another 2 minutes.
• If you think, the karelas are getting too dry and sticking to the bottom of the pan, sprinkle 2 spoons of water and cover it.
• Keep tossing karelas every 2-3 minutes till all the sides are equally cooked and are tender.
• When the karelas cooked , sprinkle the left over filling into the pan. And garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve with rice or roti.

Dal Makhani

Dal makhani is a very famous Punjabi dish made of urad dal and rajma. It is a must in every marriage buffet, and goes extremely well with naan, tandoori roti or rice.


Ingredients :

• Whole Black Gram ( urad sabut ) - 1/2 cup
• Red Kidney Beans ( rajma ) - 3 tbsp
• Butter - 3-4 tbsp
• Tomato Puree - 1/2 cup
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tsp
• Finely Chopped Onions - 1 medium
• Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Garam Masala Powder or whole - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Bay Leaf - 1
• Cream - 3 tbsp

Directions :

• Wash Urad dal and Rajma and soak it in 3-4 cup of water for about 4 hours.
• Pressure cook them for about 4 whistles or till it turns very soft.
• Heat butter in a pan and add cumin seeds, bay leaf and whole garam masala. If you do not use whole garam masala then you can add the powder at the end.
• Add chopped onions and ginger garlic paste and saute them till golden .
• Now add tomato puree ( fresh or canned ) and red chilli powder. Let it cook covered till the tomatoes are cooked and reduced.
• Add the cooked dal and rajma along with the water left in it after boiling. If there is no water left, add some water to it if you find it too thick.
• Add salt to taste. And if you are using garam masala powder, add it at this stage.
• Let it cook on medium, covered, for about 15 - 20 minutes till the dal is totally soft.
• You can garnish it with some more butter and cream on the top and run 2 extra miles on the treadmill :))

Serve it hot with naan, or tandoori roti.
Enjoy !!

Masala Peanut

Masala Peanut is a mouth watering appetizer that is found in almost all the clubs and bars in India. It is great if paired with cocktails .
This is my husband's favourite.

Ingredients:

• Peanuts - 2 cups
• Onion - 1 small, finely chopped
• Tomato - 1 small, finely chopped
• Green Chillies - 1-2, finely chopped
• Cilantro - 8-10 springs , finely chopped
• Lemon Juice - 3 tsp or to taste
• Chat Masala - 1/2 tsp or to taste
• Red chilli Powder - 3-4 pinches or to taste
• Salt - to taste
• Finely Chopped Cucumber - 2 tbsp ( optional )

Directions :

• Dry roast the raw peanut in a wok till they turn golden brown and turn crispy. If you wish you can roast them in 1 tbsp of oil.
• Once they are well roasted, transfer them into a mixing bowl.
• Add onions, tomatoes,green chillies, cucumber, chat masala , salt, red chili powder, cilantro and mix well.
• Add lemon juice , and give it another good mix.

Note : Some people do not prefer cucumber, so that can be avoided.

Enjoy it with your cocktails or any drinks. Easy appetizer for any party.