Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

• Brown Lentils - 1cup
• Carrots -2 ( diced or sliced)
• Celery - 2 stalks ( sliced )
• Onion - 1 small ( chopped )
• Garlic Cloves - 2 ( minced )
• Vegetable Broth - 5 cups
• Salt and Pepper - to taste
• Olive Oil or Butter - 2 tbsp
• Bay Leaf- 1
• Any Italian Herb( oregano or thyme or parsley etc ) - 1/4 tsp

Directions: 

• Heat the oil or butter in a saucepan. Add bay leaf. Saute chopped onions and minced garlic.
• Add broth and bring it to boil.
• Add celery,carrots and lentils. Cook covered till lentils are done and the veggies are soft.
• Add salt, pepper and Italian herb of your choice. 
• Serve hot with garlic bread or crackers.

Note : 

• You can add other vegetables of your choice, like bell peppers, tomatoes etc.
• You can add few drops of lemon juice just before serving. Alternatively, you can add a splash of vinegar to the soup.
• You can adjust the amount of broth depending on your preference, thick or runny.

Prevent Curry Stains on your Plastic Containers

So many of my plastic boxes have turned yellow after I stored curries in them.
The turmeric in the curries are to be blamed.
No matter how much you scrub it , the stain happily stays.
I was reading about it on the net and found a nice tip for the same.

• To avoid this problem, spray your containers with non stick cooking spray before you store your curries or sambars in them. 

Tada........ you will have clean plastic boxes. 

Banana Raisin Cake

Whenever I see over ripe bananas left on my table, the best use of it I can think of, is making either banana cake or banana muffins. Kids love it. And you don't want to trash the overripe bananas.

Ingredients: 

• Over Ripe Bananas - 2-3
• All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
• Whole Wheat Flour - 1/4 cup
• Eggs - 2
• Brown Sugar - 1 cup
• Baking Soda - 1 tsp
• Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
• Black Raisins - 2 tbsp
• Vegetable Oil or Butter - 1/2 cup

Directions: 

• Preheat the oven at 350 deg F. 
• Mash the bananas and keep aside.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and oil ( or melted butter ) together for a couple of minutes.
• Now add the mashed bananas and vanilla extract into the bowl and whisk once again. 
• Now add the flour , baking soda and raisins into the mixing bowl and whisk again  till the mixture is well incorporated.
• Now, grease the cake pan with the oil spray. 
• Pour this mixture into the cake pan.

• Bake for 45 minutes or till the inserted toothpick comes out clean. 

• Take out the cake from the pan and let it cool.

• Cut it in desired shape and size upon cooling.

Note: : 

• I have used the combination of all purpose flour and wheat flour. However, you could use the entire 1 1/4 cup of all purpose OR  entire 1 1/4 cup of wheat flour instead. 

Semiyan Payasam ( Vermicelli Kheer )

Semiyan Payasam is very simple kheer made of vermicelli. You can use either the thin vermicelli or  the slightly thicker one. I prefer the thin ones for kheer. I like the thick ones for making upma.
I usually make this for festivals for naivedyam ( offering to God ).

Ingredients:

• Semiya ( Vermicelli ) - 1 cup
• Milk - 2 cups
• Heavy Cream - 1 cup
• Sugar - 1 cup ( or to taste )
• Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp 
• Ghee ( Clarified Butter ) - 1 tbsp
• Cashew Nuts - 10
• Golden Raisins - 10
• Or any other dry fruits you like in your kheer.

Directions: 

• Heat ghee in a pan and roast cashew nuts till golden. Add raisins and allow them to puff up. Take it out and keep aside in a plate.
• In the same pan, add vermicelli and roast them till golden. You can avoid this step if you buy already roasted vermicelli. Just warm them in the pan for about a minute or half. 
• Boil milk in a separate deep pot. 
• Add this boiled milk in the pan containing vermicelli. Let it cook on low-med heat till the vermicelli is cooked. Keep stirring or the milk will stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Add sugar and heavy cream. Mix well till all the sugar is melted. Add powdered cardamom and mix.
• Turn off the heat and add the roasted cashew nuts and raisins.
• You can serve it hot, or cold or at room temperature.

Note : 

• You can avoid heavy cream. Add a cup of extra milk instead. 
• You can also add condensed milk instead of heavy cream. You might want to reduce the quantity of sugar in that case.

Bobbatlu (Obbatu/Puran Poli)

Bobbatlu from Andhra or Puran Poli from Maharashtra are basically the same, a traditional sweet flatbread.
It is a paratha made of plain flour stuffed with a sweet mixture called Puran ( in hindi ) or Purnam ( in telugu) .

Ingredients:

For Dough:

• All Purpose Flour ( Maida ) - 2 cups
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Ghee ( Clarified Butter ) - 1/2 cup
• Water - 3/4 cup ( or as needed to knead )

For Purnam ( Stuffing ) :

• Chana Dal - 1 cup
• Jaggery ( Powdered ) - 1 cup
• Dessicated Coconut - 1/2 cup
• Cardamom Powder - 2 tsp ( adjust to taste )

Directions: 

• In a mixing bowl, add flour, salt and 1 tbsp of ghee. Adding a very little water at a time, knead the to form a pliable dough. 
• Add a tbsp more of ghee and knead . Let is stand for about 2 hours. Cover and let it rest.

• While the dough rests, make purnam. Pressure cook the chana dal with very little water ( just enough to cover the dal ) for only one whistle. Do not over cook the dal. We do not want the dal mushy. We want it just cooked but not mashed or broken. 
• Drain the dal using a collander. You can save this water to make rasam or sambar later. 

• Spread out the drained chana dal on a clean kitchen towel ( cloth or paper ).

• Leave it for about half an hour or till you see all the moisture absorbed.
• In a blender, blend the dal without adding any water. The texture should be like powder. let it be course.

• To make purnam mixture, heat a pan, add this ground dal, powdered jaggery on medium heat. Keep stirring till the jaggery is melted and the mixture is formed like a dough. Add dessicated coconut and cardamom powder and give it a good mix till all the ingredients are well incorporated. 
• Remove it in a plate and let it cool.

• Now to make bobbatlu we need to make parathas with the dough and stuff this purnam mixture in it. This is traditionally made on greased banana leaf, but if you do not have it, make it on greased plastic sheet ( cut open a ziploc cover ) or greased aluminium foil. 
• Grease your palms with ghee so that the dough doesn't stick to your fingers while working with it. Take a lemon sized ball of the dough and place it on greased sheet. With the help of your fingers press it gently to spread the dough.
• Now take a portion of purnam ( slightly bigger than lemon ) and place it on the center of the spread dough.

• Bring the edges of the chapati together to seal it. 

• Grease this stuffed ball with few drops of ghee and start spreading it gently with the help of your fingers. After spreading for about 4 inches, roll it further using a rolling pin to make it thinner and even.
• Roll it very gently making sure the stuffed mixture doesn't ooze out.

• Heat the tawa or griddle, grease with ghee. And gently place this rolled out poli on the tawa.
• Roast on both the sides by smearing ghee. Be generous with ghee for this recipe , its ok... You can run a few extra miles the next day. 
• When both the sides are roasted well, take it out on a serving plate. You can add few more drops of ghee on top of this bobbatu or poli just before serving. Don't be guilty. You don't eat bobbatlu every day afterall.

We usually make this on festivals like ugadi, Sankranthi, Diwali etc.. and put it for naivedyam ( offering to God )

Flax Seed Ladoo

Ladoos made of flax seeds and roasted gram dal are very tasty and healthy too.
My daughter loves ladoos and whenever she asks for them, it doesn't take me much time to make these. These can literally be made within 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Flax Seeds Powder - 1/2 cup
• Roasted Gram Dal ( Dalia ) - 1 cup
• Powdered Almonds - 1/4 cup
• Powdered Jaggery - 1/2 cup
• Powdered Sugar - 1/4 cup or adjust to taste
• Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Ghee ( Clarified Butter ) - 1/4 cup

Directions: 

• Dry roast the dalia until it slightly changes the color and a nice roasted aroma is released.  Let it cool and then grind it into a fine powder. Transfer it into a mixing bowl.
• Powder the almonds and add it in the mixing bowl.
• Add flax seeds powder, cardamom powder, sugar and jaggery in the mixing bowl too. Mix well. 
• Add melted ghee and make small balls out of the mixture. The ghee will help the powder bind. 
• You can store it in an air tight container for a few days.

Note: 

• You can either make it with only sugar or only jaggery or mix of both. You can also replace white sugar with brown sugar. 
• You could add raisins to the mixture before you start making ladoos. 

Khara Pongal

Ingredients:

• Raw Rice ( Sona Masoori ) - 1 cup
• Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
• Salt - to taste

For Tempering: 

• Whole Black Peppercorns - 1/2 tsp
• Pepper Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Ginger ( grated or very finely chopped ) - 1 tsp
• Cashew Nuts - 10 -12
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Asafoetida ( hing ) - a pinch
• Ghee - 2-3 tbsp

Directions: 

• Dry roast moong dal in a pan till a slight aroma is released. Do not let the dal change its color. 
• In a pressure cooker, mix this roasted dal with rice. Add 4 cups of water and salt and pressure cook for about  3-4 whistles. Some like is grainy and some like it mushy. So cook till the desired consistency is reached. 
• In a small pan, heat ghee, roast cashew nuts till golden. Add whole peppercorns, cumin seeds, ginger, curry leaves, hing, and pepper powder. Saute for a few seconds and pour this tempering over the cooked dal and rice. 
• Mix well and serve hot with sambar and chutney. 

Adding more oil while cooking

If you find that you need more oil in the pan while sauteing, add it along the edges of the pan, so that by the time the oil reaches the ingredients being cooked, it will be heated.

Tomato Puri

Just adding tomato puree to the usual puri dough adds a beautiful color, and a different taste to it.
Needless to say, kids love anything that is colorful and attractive.

Ingredients:

• Wheat Flour - 1 cup
• Semolina - 1 tbsp ( optional )
• Lukewarm Water - 1/4 cup ( or as needed )
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Tomato Puree - 1/2 cup
• Oil - for deep frying

Directions:

• In a mixing bowl, add Wheat flour, semolina, salt, tomato puree and knead the dough with minimum water needed. Because you have the puree, you some times don't even need any water. But if needed any, take a tbsp of water at a time. 
• 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 hot with any curry you like. Esp. goes well with any potato curry or chhole. 

Variation:  You could add some spices and other ingredients to the dough, to make it more interesting, like:

• Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Chopped Cilantro - 1 tbsp
• Ajwain ( Carom Seeds ) - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Red Chili Powder - to taste

Aloo Ki Sabzi

Potatoes are the best among all the vegetables to fall back on. Always there at home, long shelf life, quick and easy to make, last but not the least, tasty.
This particular recipe is the easy and simple one with minimum masalas.

Ingredients:

• Potatoes - 3
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Coriander Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1/2
• Green chillies - 2 or to taste
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Mustard Oil ( or any other oil ) - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Amchoor - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
• Chopped Cilantro - to garnish

Directions:

• Boil the potatoes, peel and dice them.

• In a pan, heat oil. Splutter mustard seeds, and cumin seeds. Add coriander seeds and urad dal. Fry till  they start to change the color.
• Add chopped chillies, curry leaves and turmeric powder. 
• Add diced potatoes. Give it a toss till all the potatoes are well coated with the tempering. 
• Add half a cup of water and cover and cook for about 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. 
• Add salt and amchoor. Mix well. 
• Turn off the heat. Add lemon juice and chopped cilantro on the top. 

Serve hot with chapati or puri.
You can even use this curry in between two toasts and make aloo sandwich, however, when you want to stuff it inside the sandwich , it would be better if the potatoes are mashed a bit.

Variation:  Well this recipe, as mentioned in the introduction, is the plain and simple one. You could obviously make it more interesting by adding few other ingredients, like onion, ginger, garlic, tomatoes or other masalas like garam masala, coriander powder, red chili powder etc.