Chole / Chana Masala ( Chickpea Gravy )

Chole , also known as chickpeas or garbanzo beans or kabuli chana is used to make this extremley tasty dish, chole masala or chana masala. This is a very popular dish in Indian and Pakistani cuisine, especially in Punjab.
This is the best side dish for puris or bhaturas or even rice.
You can get the dry chickpeas in any Indian grocery store which need to be soaked overnight.
Alternatively, I sometimes use the canned garbanzo beans when I am in a hurry and I do not have time to soak them overnight.
So here is the recipe for this delicacy:

Ingredients:

• Chole (kabuli Chana ) -  1 cup
• Tea Bags -2 ( optional )
• Cloves - 3
• Cinnamon Stick - 1 inch
• Green Cardamom - 4-5
• Bay Leaves - 2
• Pomegranete Seeds ( anardana ) - 1 tsp
• Onion - 2 medium
• Tomato Puree - 1 cup
• Green Chillies - 2-3
• Ginger Paste - 1 tbsp
• Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
• Red Chili Powder - to taste
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin - Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Chole Masala - 1 tsp ( store bought )
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Baking Soda - a pinch ( optional )

For Tempering :

• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Slit Green Chillies - 2 ( deseeded )
• Ginger - 1 inch  ( cut into juliennes )
• Carom Seeds ( Ajwain ) - 1/2 tsp

Directions :

• Wash and soak chole or kabuli chana in enough water overnight.
• In a pressure cooker, add soaked chana, with aound 4 cups of water, tea bags, and baking soda and cook for around 30 minutes till the chickpeas are soft and cooked. Press one chole in between your fingers to test if they are done. You should be able to squeeze it easily.
• Tea bags are totally optional. The only purpose of those is to add color to the chole. And the purpose of baking soda is to cook chole a little faster. You can avoid it, if you don't like it.
• In a pot, heat oil, add bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cardamoms and cloves. Saute for a few seconds.
• In a grinder, coarsely grind chopped onions, green chillies and anardana. Add this paste to the pot. Saute till onions mixtue is cooked.
• Add garlic paste, ginger paste. Keep stirring till the raw flavour of ginger, garlic are gone.
• Add tomato puree and cook covered till the mixture oozes oil. Keep stirring.
• Add all the dry powders ( red chili powder, garam masala, cumin- coriander powder , salt, turmeric and chole masala ). Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes.
• Discard the tea bags from the boiled chole and add the chole along with the left over water in cooker.
• Cook covered on medium heat for about 20 minutes, till the chole is very tender. Mash few of the chole with the back of the laddle. This will thicken the gravy.
• For tempering, heat ghee in a small pan, add carom seeds, green chillies, ginger juliennes. Saute for just 15-20 seconds and pour it over the chole and give it a mix.
• Serve hot with puri or bhatura or steamed basmati rice.

Note:  Adjust amount of water according to your choice. I like it more watery if I eat with rice. I like it with less water if I eat with puri or bhatura.

Egg Shells Crack While Boiling ??

To avoid egg shells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water before hard boiling.






If you know of any other tip, please mention in the comment section.

Vankaya Pulusu ( Eggplant in Tamarind Gravy )

Ingredients:

• Eggplants - 1 lb
• Onion - 1 Large
• Tomato - 1 medium
• Tamarind - lime sized
• Green Chillies - 2
• Red Chili Powder - to taste
• Jaggery - 1 tbsp
• Salt -to taste
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1/4 tsp
• Chana Dal - 1/4 tsp
• Hing - a pinch
• Curry leaves - 1 spring
• Crushed Garlic - 3
• Chopped Cilantro - for garnishing

Directions :

• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, chana dal, hing, curry leaves, crushed garlic and saute for a minute till the dals turn reddish.
• Soak tamarind in warm water for 10 minutes and extract the pulp. Keep aside.
• Add sliced onions, and green chillies, saute till translucent.
• Add chopped eggplants and diced tomatoes and cook covered on medium heat for around 8-10 minutes.
• Add salt, turmeric powder and chili powder.
• Add the tamarind extract along with 1 cup of water and jaggery.
• Cook covered for another 10-12 minutes, stirring ocassionally.
• Add more water if you think the curry is too dry.
• Cook till the gravy thickens.
• Add chopped cilantro and mix .

Serve with plain rice or plain dal rice or even chapati.

Lauki Chane Ki Dal

A simple yet very healthy dal recipe.

Ingredients :

• Bottle Guard ( lauki ) Cubed - 2 cups
• Bengal Gram ( Chana Dal ) - 1 cup
• Onion - 1 medium
• Tomato - 1 medium
• Green Chili - 1-2
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
• Red Chili powder - to taste ( optional )
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Chopped Cilantro - for garnishing

Directions :

• Soak chana dal for around 1 hour.
• Peel and cube lauki. Do not chop the lauki too fine. Let them be 1/2 inch cubes. If you chop them too fine, it might get mashed up while cooking.
• Pressure cook dal and lauki in enough water till done.
• Heat oil in a pan, splutter cumin seeds.
• Saute chopped onions , ginger garlic paste and slit green chillies. Fry till onions turn translucent.
• Add chopped tomatoes, salt , red chili powder and turmeric powder. Fry till tomatoes are tender.
• Add the cooked dal and lauki along with the left over water in the cooker . Mix well.
• Add little more water , if there is no water left in the cooker.
• Cook covered for 8 -10 minutes .
• Garnish with chopped cilantro.
• Serve with plain rice or chapatis.

Alternatively, you can cook every thing in a pressure cooker . Saves time.

Aloo Kurma

Aloo Kurma goes well with puris, chapatis, jeera rice, coconut rice and many more.
Potatoes are cooked with various flavours and spices in the yogurt gravy.

Ingredients:

• Potatoes - 4 Large
• Onions - 2 medium
• Yogurt - 1 cup
• Green Peas - 3 tbsp
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
• Bay Leaves - 2-3
• Cloves - 2-3
• Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
• Green Cardamoms - 2
• Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
• Chili Powder - to taste
• Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Fennel Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Green Chillies - 2-3
• Ginger - 1 inch
• Cocunut - 1/4 cup
• Oil - for shallow fry
• Chopped Cilantro - for garnishing

Directions :

• Peel , wash and dice potatoes. Microwave them for 3-4 minutes till they are half cooked.
• Microwave green peas for 1-2 minutes and keep aside.
• In a wide pan, shallow fry the potato cubes with little oil till slightly brownish. Keep aside.
• Grind coconuts, green chillies and ginger into a thick paste. Keep aside.
• Heat oil in the big pan, add whole garam masala (Cumin seeds, bay leaves, Cloves, cinnamom, cardamom ) and saute for just few seconds.
• Add finely chopped onions and fry till brown.
• Add the ground paste of coconut, chillies and ginger. Saute.
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, fennel powder, garam masala, red chili powder. Also add just 1 tbsp of water, so that all these dry powder do not get burnt.
• Add beaten yogurt and mix rapidly so that the yogurt does not separate. Cook on medium for around 5-7 minutes.
• Add the fried potatoes and green peas and mix.
• Add water to the consistency of your choice. Don't make it too runny.
• Add salt.
• Cook covered on medium until the oil oozes.
• Add chopped cilantro.

Masala Puri

This is a variation of the plain good old puri.We add few spices to the flour and make it masala puri.This flavorful puri tastes good by itself without any curry, however , goes extremly well with any potato curry or chhole.

Ingredients:

• Wheat Flour - 1 cup
• Semolina - 1 tbsp ( optional )
• Lukewarm Water - 1/2 -3/4 cup ( as needed )
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Chopped Cilantro - 1 tbsp
• Ajwain ( Carom Seeds ) - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Oil - for deep frying

Directions:

• In a mixing bowl, add Wheat flour, semolina, salt, ginger garlic paste, cilantro, ajwain, turmeric powder and mix well.
• Knead the dough by adding little by little water. The quantity of water to make a pliable dough varies depending on the flour. That's why it is advisable to add water little by little as needed.
• After the dough comes together, take 1/2 tsp of oil in your palm and knead again.
• The dough should not be too hard nor too soft.
• Take small lumps of dough and make small balls.
• Roll them into small puris. Puris are half the size of chapatis. They are little thicker than chapatis. Rolling them too thin will make them crispy .
• Heat oil for deep frying.
• The oil should be hot. Test the right temperature by adding a small piece of dough into the oil. It should immediately puff up and float on the surface of oil. If it sits at the bottom, then the oil is not yet ready.
• When the oil is ready, drop the rolled out puri into the oil very carefully.
• While the puri is slowly coming up, keep patting on the surface which helps it to puff up.
• After it puffs up, toss the puri to the other side and cook for few seconds till the puri is golden brown in color.
• Remove it on a paper towel to drain any excess oil.
• Serve them immediately with chole or potato kurma or any other curry of your choice.

Chinese Fried Rice

This is the Indo-Chinese fried rice. The actual fried rice in authentic chinese restaurants would be totally different to the fried rice we make in India.
We add Indian flavours to the chinese dishes to suit our taste.
Here's the recipe for the same :

Ingredients:

• Rice - 1 cup
• Water or Vegetable Broth - 2 cups
• Ginger - 1 tsp
• Garlic - 1 tsp
• Vegetables - 1 1/2 ( Carrots, Beans, Cabbage, Bell Peppers )
• Green Onions - 1 -2 springs
• Egg - 1 ( optional ) You can avoid it if you do not eat egg.
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Salt -to taste
• Black Pepper Powder - to taste
• Soy Sauce - 1-2 tbsp
• White vinegar - 1 tsp
• Chilli Sauce - to taste

Directions :

• Cook rice with water or broth . Let it cool. Keep aside.
• In a wide wok , heat oil and saute very finely chopped garlic and ginger for 1 minute.
• Add all the vegetables and saute them for a couple of minutes. Do not cook them completely. We need to semi cook the veggies. They are good crunchy.
• In a separate small pan, add the beaten egg and scramble it. Cook till done.
• Mix the scrambled egg with the veggies in the wok.
• Add the cooked rice and very little salt. Mix well.
• Add soy souce, vinegar and chilli sauce. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes till all the veggies are well incorporated with the rice.
• Garnish with Chopped spring onions ( green onions ) and pepper powder.

Note: Be careful with salt because soy sauce, vinegar and chilli sauce also contain salt.

Poornam Boorelu

Poornam Boorelu is one of the most famous Andhra's festive sweet.
It is mostly made during Sankranthi or Varalakshmi Vratham etc. These are the sweet balls made of bengal gram and jaggery coated with the batter made of urad dal and rice.


Ingredients:

• Black Gram Dal ( Urad dal )- 1/2 cup
• Rice - 1 cup
• Bengal Gram ( Chana dal ) - 1 cup
• Grated Jaggery or Sugar - 1 cup or to taste
• Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - for deep frying

Directions :

• Soak Urad dal and rice for around 5 hours.
• Drain them and grind to a thick paste ( to the consistency of thick dosa batter ).
• Add 1/4 tsp of salt , mix well and keep aside. This is the batter in which we have to dip the filling before deep frying.

• Cook chana dal in a pan with just enough water to cover the dal. Cook till done. Drain any leftover water after the dal is cooked.
• You can also cook chana dal in pressure cooker, without the weight.(We want the dal to be dry and not runny.) You can even spread it on a kitchen towel after it is cooked to soak any extra water. 

• Either mash the dal with a masher or put it in a dry grinder and grind it coarsely without any water. It should be more like powder than a paste.

• Add grated jaggery or sugar to the chana dal powder and mix well and cook it on medium in a heavy bottom pan.

• Keep stirring and cook till it is like a thick paste . The mixture should be such that you should be able to make balls out of it.
• Turn off the heat, add cardamom powder and mix well.
• Make small lime sized balls and keep aside.
• Heat oil for deep frying.
• Dip each ball into the batter , coat evenly and put it in the hot oil for deep frying.

• You can fry around 4-5 balls at a time depending upon how big the pot is.
• Fry till golden brown.
• Remove on a paper towel.

Enjoy the poornam boorelu when they are warm. They taste equally good at room temperature.

You can also make a small hole on top of the boorelu and fill it with a couple of drops of ghee ( Clarified Butter ) and eat.

Potato Onions Storage

We tend to store potatoes and onions together at the same place.

However , it is better to avoid storing them both together because onions release some gases which rot the potatoes little too soon.

Sweet Corn Soup

This creamy sweet corn soup is an excellent Indo-Chinese dish. A hot bowl of this soup makes a wonderful starter for the dinner on a cold day.

Ingredients:

• Sweet Corn - 2 cups ( or Cream Style Corn - 1 can )
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Green Onions - 2
• Grated Ginger - 1 tsp
• Minced Garlic - 1 tsp
• Finely Chopped Vegetables - 1/2 cup ( carrots, beans, celery, cabbage )
• Black Pepper - to taste
• Water or Vegetable stock - 1/2 cup ( adjust accordingly )
• Corn Starch - 2 tsp ( Mixed with a little water )
• Salt - to taste
• Lemon Juice - 1/2 tsp

Directions:

• Chop all the vegetables very finely and keep aside.
• Boil the corn in around 1 cup of water till the corns are soft.
• Set aside 3-4 tbsp of corn kernels for garnishing later, grind the remaining corns into a smooth paste and strain.
• You can avoid the above 2 steps if you use cream style corn can. This makes a very creamy soup. But if you do not have the cream style corn, you can boil , grind and strain like mentioned above.
• Heat oil in a pot or a soup pan, sizzle ginger and garlic.
• Add all the chopped vegetables and saute for a couple of minutes.
• Add the strained corn paste or the can of cream style corn into the pot and mix well.
• Add vegetable stock and bring it to boil. The quantity of stock depends on how thick you want your soup to be.
• Add the corn starch mixture, salt and cook. Do not overcook the vegetables, we need it to be crunchy.
• Garnish with chopped green onions, boiled sweet corn kernels, black pepper and lemon juice.
• Serve hot !!

Mint Rice ( Pudina Pulao )

Mint Rice is a very aromatic and flavourful rice dish.
Mint has a very good action over the digestive system.
Here is the recipe of mint pulao which is very easy to make and I call it one-dish meal. You really don't need any currys or dals to go with it. It can be eaten by itself or at the most a raita or plain yogurt.

Ingredients:

• Pudina Leaves - 1 1/2 cups
• Cilantro - 1/2 cup
• Green Chillies - 2
• Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
• Rice - 2 cups
• Onions - 1 medium
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Ginger - 1 inch
• Garlic -2 cloves
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cloves - 3-4
• Cinnamon - 1 inch
• Star Anise - 1
• Bay leaf - 1
• Salt -to taste
• Water - 4 cups

Directions:

• Grind Pudina, cilantro, grated coconut, green chillies, ginger, garlic into a fine paste and keep aside.
• Wash and soak rice for 15 minutes.
• In a deep pot, heat oil, saute cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon, star anise, bay leaf for a minute.
• Add finely chopped onions and saute till brownish.
• Add the ground pudina paste and saute for another 4-5 minutes.
• Add rice, saute for a minute then add water , salt and cook covered on medium till the rice is done.
• If you are cooking in the rice cooker, soak 2 cups of rice in 4 cups of water in the cooker. Add this sauted masala to the rice. Give it a good stir and cook till done.
• Serve with Plain yogurt or any raita.

Onions make you cry ?? :((

While cutting onions, some sort of irritants are released which reach our eyes and then we cry like we are watching an emotional drama.
My tears would not stop even 10 minutes after I am done cutting onions.
Many people told different tips like lighting a candle near the onion while cutting or chewing the gum etc. Nothing really worked for me.

• One thing that worked was cooling the onions before cutting them. Keep the onions in fridge for about 1-2 hours before cutting them. (This works best for me )
• Turn on the exhaust fan or vent while cutting , so that the irritants are pulled away from you.
• Try the candle trick if it works for you. Light a candle near the onions while cutting them. The irritants are said to be sucked in by the flame. ( I didn't find it that useful though, may be it works for you )
• Or, wear your swimming glasses while cutting them ( Warning : you might be laughed at by your husband or kids)

If you know of any other tip, please mention in the comment section.

Watermelon Juice

Watermelon is a multivitamin fruit with amazing taste and cooling effect. It is loaded with vitamin C and A.
Just one glass of chilled watermelon juice on a hot summer day can do wonders and make you feel rehydrated.
For those who are trying to shed few pounds, this is a bliss as it is fat free and cholestrol free.
You can make your incredibly refreshing juice in just 2 minutes.


Ingredients:

• Watermelon Cubes - 1 cup
• Crushed Ice - 1/4 cup
• Mint Leaves - 3-4
• Honey - 1 tbsp

Directions :

• Blend all the ingredients in a juicer or blender till smooth.
• Strain it into a glass.
• Garnish with small watermelon chunks, if you like.
• If the fruit is sweet by itself, you can avoid honey.
• Serve chilled.

Pesara Pappu Kattu ( Dhuli Moong Dal )

Pesara Pappu Kattu or plain moong dal tadka is one of the comfort foods of Indian cuisine. It is simple to cook and easy to digest.

Ingredients:

• Pesara Pappu ( Dhuli Moong ) - 1 cup
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Green Chili - 2
• Red Whole Chili - 1
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Hing - 1 pinch
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp or to taste

Directions:

• Pressure cook the dal with sufficient water till done.
• In a deep pan or pot, heat ghee and splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds.
• Add Slit green chillies, torn red chili, curry leaves.
• Add hing and turmeric powder.
• Immediately add cooked dal and salt. Mix well.
• If the dal is too thick add little water and let it simmer for around 10-12 minutes.
• Just before serving, add lemon juice and give it one mix.
• Serve hot with rice.

Swiss Chard Stem Fries

When we cook swiss chard, we usually use the leaves and top part of the stems which are tender. However, the bottom part of the stem which is quite thick can be used like this.

Ingredients:

• Swiss Chard Stems - from 1 bunch
• Grated cheese - as much as you want
• Salt- to taste
• Black Pepper Powder - to taste
• Garlic Powder - to taste
• Red Chili Flakes - to taste
• Olive oil spray

Directions:

• Discard half an inch of the bottom part of the stems and slit them lengthwise.
• Par boil them in water for about 6-7 minutes.
• Greese the baking tray with olive oil spray.
• Lay the stems on the tray evenly.
• Drizzle some more olive oil.
• Sprinkle cheese, salt, pepper, chili flakes, garlic powder or any other seasoning you like.
• Bake it for 20 minutes on 400°F.

Enjoy !!

Swiss Chard

Today I went for grocery shopping with a very good friend of mine, Sheela. She introduced me to this huge green vegetable called Swiss Chard. I had never eaten that before. She shared her recipe with me , so I got a bunch for myself.

The stems were of different colors: red or yellow or white.

I googled a bit about chard, and found that it is very popular among Mediterranean cousine. It is also known by few other names like silver beet , spinach beet, etc. Swiss Chard is high in vitamin A, K, C . Also rich in minerals, fiber and protein.

So I guess I shall buy it more often now. Thanks to Sheela. :)

So here's the recipe for you all :

Ingredients:

• Swiss Chard - 1 bunch
• Olive oil - 1 tbsp
• Fresh Garlic - 2 cloves
• Salt -to taste
• Black Pepper Powder - to taste

Directions:

• wash the leaves thoroughly and pat them dry with a paper towel.
• It has thick stems which can be little difficult to cook, hence separate the leaves from the stem.
• Do not throw the stems , it is edible. Save it for another dish ( Swiss Chard Stem Fries )
• Chop the leaves and keep aside.
• Chop the upper part of the stem which are thin and tender. That can be used in this dish. Chop them fine and keep aside.
• Heat a pan, add olive oil. Add those chopped stems first because it needs little more time to cook. Saute them till they are tender.
• Add chopped garlic then add chopped chard leaves.
• Add salt and pepper, toss them well and let it cook till done.

That's it !! Simple . You can eat this dish as is or use it in pasta dish or as side dish.

Variation: I did a little variation to this recipe to suit my taste buds. I added 1/2 tsp of red chilli pepper flakes and 1 tbsp of crispy fried onion flakes along with chopped garlic and that tasted good too.

Dosakaya Mukkala Pachadi

Dosakaya, yellow cucumber is one of the most loved vegetables in Andhra Pradesh. It can be used in a variety of dishes from curry to dal to sambar to pickle to chutney. Oh My God ! It's an all rounder !!

This is a recipe of cucumber chutney

Ingredients:

• Dosakaya ( Yellow Cucumber ) - 1 medium
• Green Chillies - 4
• Red Chillies - 2
• Urad Dal - 2 tbsp
• Fenugreek Seeds - 5-6
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Tamarind - 1 inch
• Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Chopped Cilantro - 1 tbsp

Directions:

• Peel the skin of the cucumber and cut it into half.
• Scoop out the seeds from both the parts and keep aside. We shall use them later.
• Taste it to check if it is by any chance bitter. Sometimes they are bitter, which might spoil the chutney.
• Chop the cucumber very finely. Keep in a mixing bowl.
• Heat 1 tbsp of oil and saute fenugreek seeds and half of the urad dal till they turn reddish. Save the remaining urad dal for tempering.
• Add Mustard seeds and let them splutter.
• Add red and green chillies and fry them. Add hing.
• In a grinder, add this seasoning mix, tamarind, turmeric, salt and the seeds which we had kept aside and grind it into a paste.
• Mix this paste to the chopped cucumber pieces and mix very well.
• For tempering , heat 1 tbsp of oil, fry remaining urad dal till reddish brown and add to the chutney.
• Mix well , adjust salt and add chopped cilantro.
• Serve with steaming hot rice and a few drops of ghee.

Note : You can avoid tamarind if the cucumber is sour.

You can make the same chutney with green cucumber too  :  Click here 

Enjoy !!

Long Lasting Fresh Cilantro !!

Fresh cilantro or coriander leaves is a very commonly used ingredient in Indian cooking or used for garnishing . However it perishes quickly, the leaves turn black too soon. That's beacuse we tend to store it in the fridge in the same cover we baught it in from the store.

Try the following tip for a longer lasting cilantro:

• Chop off the roots . Wrap in a sheet of newspaper. Store it in the fridge.

If you know of any other tip, please mention in the comment section.

Is your Okra too sticky ??

Okra ( Ladies Finger or Bhindi ) gives off a sticky, slippery substance when cut, which can make the curry slimy.
To avoid the okra curry to turn so slimy, try the following tips :

• Dry each okra well after washing. There should be no moisture on it. Either wipe each okra with a kitchen napkin, or wash them a day before you want to cook so that they get air dried by the next day.
• Add 2 drops of either lemon juice or tamarind juice in the okra when you cook.
• Add salt in the okra curry at the end , i.e after the okra is cooked.

If you know of any other tip, please mention in the comment section.

Mamidikaya Pappu ( Mango Dal )

Mamidikaya Pappu is an Andhra dish made of toor dal and raw mango. The tartness of mango gives this dal an absolutely wonderful flavour.

Ingredients:

• Toor Dal ( Split Pigeon Pea ) - 1 cup
• Green Raw Mango - 1
• Green Chillies - 3-4
• Red Chili Powder - to taste
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Fenugreek Seeds - 4-5 seeds
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Salt -to taste
• Ghee - 2 tbsp

Directions :

• Peel and chop mango into small pieces. Keep aside. Discard the seed.
• Wash dal and put in pressure cooker, add the mango pieces, turmeric powder, sufficient water and pressure cook for 2 whistles and then simmer the heat and let it cook for another 10 minutes till the dal is cooked.
• Give a standing time till all the pressure escapes by itself.
• Heat ghee in the pan, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds , let them splutter.
• Add slit green chillies, hing, curry leaves.
• Now to this seasoning, add the cooked dal and mango and chili powder. Add little water and salt and mix well.
• Cover and cook for 10 minutes on low heat.
• I like to keep the dal little watery, because it tends to thicken when it cools down. So you can adjust water according to your taste.
• Serve hot with rice and pickle.

Too Much Salt !!!

If you accidentally add too much salt to your curry, you can try the follwing tip :

• Peel and cut one potato and add to the curry.Let it soak for a while , the potatoes will absorb the extra salt, then later, remove the potatoes. Make sure you cut the potato into large cubes( just cut into 2-3 parts ), so that it is easy for you to find them later.
• The other obvious thing we do is to either dilute it or simply add more of other ingredients.

If you know of any other tip, please mention in the comment section.

Capsicum Fry ( Simla Mirch )

Ingredients :

• Bell Peppers ( Capsicum ) -3 ( Add yellow or orange bell peppers to add color to the dish )
• Onions - 1
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1tsp
• Tomato - 1
• Salt- to taste
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin - Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - 1 tbsp

Directions:

• Heat oil in the pan. Add chopped onions and saute them till transparent.
• Saute ginger garlic paste. 
• Add chopped tomatoes, salt and turmeric powder and fry till soft.
• Add cubed capsicum ( bell pepper ) and cook covered on medium heat. Keep Stirring ocassionally.
• After the capsicum is almost done, add garam masala and cumin coriander powder.
• Mix well and cook for another 3-4 minutes and turn off the heat.

Sooji Halwa

Sooji Halwa is made on several occasions especially on Navratri festival and Krishnashtami as prasad.
It is a sweetdish so it is best eaten by itself, however it is wonderful when combined with Poori and chana.
I remember as a kid we used to be invited to Kanjak which is performed on ashtami and navami of navratri wherein they carry out mata pooja and hold a seating for young girls ( 5 or 7 or 9 or 11 ) and are given poori, halwa, chana and some money or some small gift . I remember people used to give Rs 2 or Rs 5 in those days. It used to be lots of fun and earning for us girls on those 2 days.
Aah good old days !!! ~ sigh ~

Anyways, let me get back to the recipe of Halwa.

Ingredients:

• Sooji ( Semolina ) - 1 cup
• Milk / Water / Milk+Water - 2 1/2 cups
• Ghee ( Clarified Butter ) - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Saffron - a pinch ( optional )
• Cardamom Powder - a pinch
• Almonds, Raisins, Cashew Nuts , Pistachios - for garnish

Directions:

• Mix sugar and cardamom powder in water/milk and bring it to boil to make a syrup. ( you can either use water entirely or milk entirely or even mix the both of them in any proportion ).
• Turn off the heat , add saffron and keep aside.
• In a pan , heat ghee, roast all the nuts except pistachios just for half a minute till they slightly change color. Remove from ghee and keep aside for garnishing at the end.
• In the same ghee , add sooji and roast till golden brown color on medium heat. Keep Stirring to avoid burning.
• Slowly add the sugar syrup to the roasted sooji while stirring and let it cook till all the water is absorbed. This will not take more that 2 minutes. So keep stirring.
• Garnish with the roasted nuts and raw pistachios.
• Eat warm or at room temperature.

Green Beans Fry / Beans Poriyal

The combination of green beans and coconut makes an excellent proiyal. Very healthy and very easy to make. Goes extremely well with sambar rice or rasam rice.

Ingredients:

• Chopped Green Beans - 2 cups
• Grated coconut - 4 tbsp
• Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp
• Red Whole Chillies - 1 or 2
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Hing - 2 pinches
• Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Salt -to taste

Directions :

• Heat oil in a pan, let mustard seeds splutter.
• Add urad dal, and saute till they turn reddish.
• Add hing, curry leaves, red chillies.
• Add finely chopped green beans and salt. Mix well.
• Add just a couple of tbsp of water and cook covered on medium.
• Keep stirring in between and sprinkle few drops of water if the curry is sticking to the bottom.
• When the beans are tender, add grated fresh coconut or coconut powder. Toss well and cook uncovered for another 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat.
• Serve with rice and rasam or sambar or dal.

Variation : You can add finely chopped onions and ginger garlic to the curry to make it spicy.

Dosa / Dosai

Dosa is Indian pancake which a very common breakfast dish in South India made of a batter made of rice and lentils.
The process includes fermentation so it takes long time.
If I intend to make dosa for breakfast, then I soak the rice and dal the previous day in the afternoon.

Ingredients:

• Rice - 3 cups
• Split Urad Dal ( Split Black Gram ) - 1 cup
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cooking oil

Directions:

For batter :

• Wash rice and dal well. Soak rice, dal and fenugreek seed in enough water for atleast 6 -8 hours.
• Drain the water and grind it with very little water to a smooth and fluffy paste.
• Transfer into a big mixing bowl and add required amount of water to make batter. ( the consistency of the batter should be such that if you dip a spoon in it, the batter should coat the spoon thickly. )
• Add salt to taste and cover it loosely. The lid should not be air tight. Keep it in a warm place overnight for fermentation.
• It will be fermented by the next day morning and the batter is ready for breakfast.
• It may take longer, say around 15-18 hours if you live in cold climate. You will know it only with trial and error method. So if you do not get the right dosa the very first time, don't give up.
• You have to make sure you keep the batter for fermentation in a warm place. For example, the washer dryer room is little warm compared to the other rooms in the house or you can keep it in the oven and keep the light on. Do not turn on the oven, just the warmth from the light should be good enough.
• After fermentation the volume of the batter will almost be doubled, hence it is good to keep it in a large bowl so it has some space to rise.
• If you think the fermented batter is too thick , add little water till you reach the pouring consistency. But don't add too much otherwise it will be runny.

For making dosa: 

• Heat a non stick tawa or skillet on high heat.
• Sprinkle few drops of oil on the hot tawa and take an onion cut into half and with the help of the surface of the cut onion, spread the oil drop all over the tawa.
• Now sprinkle a few drops of water on the tawa and the water droplets should sizzle and evaporate right away. You can repeat this step before making each dosa.
• Now pour a ladle of batter ( 1/4 cup ) on the hot tawa and gently spread it into a circle. ( spread it by the back of the ladle, moving into circular motion )
• When it is spread, spray or drizzle a few drops of cooking oil or ghee all over the dosa.
• Cook on medium till the bottom part of the dosa turns brownish.
• Now, you can either turn into half or roll it up and remove from the tawa.
• If you like crispy dosas, you can flip over the dosa and cook the other side as well for just half a minute.
• You can also make it like a cone. Kids are amused by this shape. You need to make your dosa crisp to hold a cone shape.
• To make a cone shape, make a slit from the center to the edge ( radius ) and roll it up like a cone.
• Serve hot with sambar or coconut chutney or any other chutney you like.

This is a very basic recipe of dosa, also called plain dosa. You can make different variations from this one like masala dosa , set dosa and so on.... which I shall blog some time soon.

Vegetable Pasta Salad

This recipe is very easy and quick. This makes a perfect lunch box dish for kids or for a picnic.
You can make this much ahead as you can eat it cold or at room temperature.

Ingredients:

• Shell Pasta - Half a packet
• Italian Dressing - Just enough to coat pasta
• Red , Green, and yellow Bell Peppers - 1 cup
• Grape Tomatoes - 1/4 cup
• Black Olives - 1/4 cup or to taste ( I did not add any, no one in my family likes olives ;) )
• Diced Carrots, Peas, Brocolli ( or any vegetable you like ) - 1/4 cup
• Red Chili Flakes - to taste
• Oregano - for garnish
• Salt - to taste
• Black Pepper Powder - to taste
• Parmesan Cheese - to taste

Directions :

• Cook pasta as directed on the package. Drain and keep aside.
• Transfer into a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients to it and toss well to coat evenly.
• Now if you wish you can saute the vegetables just for a couple of minutes in olive oil before mixing it into the pasta.
• If you like them all raw, but only carrots need to be cooked , you can microwave only carrots. It totally depends on how you like your veggies.
• Let it rest for an hour for best taste. You can either eat it at room temperature or cold from fridge.

Note : All the ingredients can be adjusted to suit your taste.

Besan ke Ladoo

Besan ke ladoo are made of roasted chickpea flour and are amazingly easy to make.
This is my sister's favourite and so are mine.
Enjoy this extremely easy yet extremely tasty sweet on any festival esp. diwali or navratri or Ganeshotsav.

Ingredients :

• Besan ( chickpea flour ) - 1½ Cups
• Semolina - 2-3 tbsp
• Ghee - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1 cup or to taste
• Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Sliced pistachios or almonds - for garnishing

Directions :

• Take a pan and put besan, semolina and ghee and mix well.
• Roast this mixture on low-medium heat.
• Keep stirring making sure the besan doesn't burn.
• Keep roasting the mixture until the besan is aromatic and slightly brownish.
• Turn off the heat and let it cool down a bit. Do not cool it completely, it should be warm.
• Add sugar and cardamom powder while the besan is warm. That temperature would be enough for sugar to dissolve. Mix it well.
• Make lime sized balls out of the mixture , pressing gently between your palms.
• Garnish the ladoos with your favourite nut.
• Let it cool down to the room temperature.
• You can store it in air tight container for 2 weeks.

Tip : You can make it in microwave . Put besan , sooji and ghee in a microwave safe bowl. Mix well and heat for 5 minutes, mixing it every 1 minute. At the end of 5 minutes, you will see besan changing color to brownish and it will become aromatic. Remaining steps remain the same.
Enjoy !!! :)

Gajar Gobhi Sabzi

Gajar Gobhi ki Sabzi ( Carrot - Cauliflower Curry ) is yet another simple recipe and tastes delicious.

Ingredients:

• Chopped Cauliflower - 2 cups
• Chopped Carrots - 1 cup
• Chopped Onions - 1 small
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Green Chillies - 2
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Hing - 1 pinch
• Chopped Cilantro - for garnishing

Directions :

• Heat oil in the pan, splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds.
• Add slit green chillies, curry leaves, hing, turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste.
• Add finely chopped onions and saute till brownish.
• Add cauliflower florets and chopped carrots. Add salt and sprinkle around 2 tbsp of water and mix well.
• Cook covered on medium stirring ocassionally till the vegetables are tender.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro.
• Serve hot with phulkas.

Variation : I prefer this curry very simple, however you can add garam masala, red chili powder, amchoor, and coriander powder to the curry to make it more spicy.

Kheera Pickle

Ok, I am not really sure if anything like this exists. It is just a quickie I experimented when I was running out of pickle and Indian meal is so incomplete without pickle that I had to make some ' stop gap arrangement' :)
I would not say this is the best, but it turned out not so bad afterall, with the least ingredients. As I said, when you have nothing else, this is a substitute.

Ingredients:

• Kheera ( Cucumber ) - 1
• Red Chili Powder - 1 tbsp or to taste
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Salt -to taste
• Hing ( Asafoetida ) - a pinch

Directions:

• Wash and dice the cucumber into small cubes. (You can leave the skin if you like, it will add good crunch to your pickle. or peel it if you do not like skin )
• Add salt and let it rest for 10 minutes. Drain the water released from cucumber.
• Add red chili powder and give it a good mix.
• Heat oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds and let them splutter, then add hing.
• Pour this tempering on the pickle and mix it well.

There you go. Your quickie pickle is ready.

This would not have a long shelf life like other pickles, so you can make it in less quantity and use it up in a day or two.

Undrallu / Kudumulu

Yesterday was Vinayaka Chaviti ( Ganesh Chaturthi ) and Undrallu is compulsorily made in every house in South India on this day. We also make modak.
Both are made of rice flour, modaks are sweet, they have coconut-jaggery stuffing whereas undrallu are savory and you can say low-fat.
Lord Ganesh is believed to love these , hence made as naivedyam on this day.

Ingredients:

• Raw Rice - 1 cup
• Water - 2 cups
• Chana Dal ( Bengal Gram ) - 1/4 cup
• Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Ghee - 1 tsp

Directions:

• Wash rice, dry and grind into a coarse powder ( not too fine ). Keep aside
• Soak chana dal for 10 minutes and drain. Keep aside.
• Heat ghee in a pan, add chana dal and jeera and immediately add water to it. We don't really need to saute them.
• Add salt ( less than what you usually take )
• Bring the water to boil, and slowly add ground rice powder while stirring making sure no lumps are formed.
• Keep stirring till all the water is absorned and it looks like upma.
• Let it cool.
• Make lemon sized balls and place them on greesed idli stand.
• Steam it in the cooker and let it cook for 7 -8 minutes without the weight.

Tip :

• You need to totally dry the rice after washing . This may take around 45 - 50 minutes if spread on a large plate or tray.
• You can eat with any chutney , esp ginger chutney.

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