Egg Bhurji ( Indian Scrambled Eggs )

Egg Bhurji is nothing but scrambled eggs made with veggies and few other spices.
It is very easy to make and can be made in no time.


Ingredients:

• Eggs - 4
• Onion - 1/2 medium
• Tomato - 1 small
• Ginger- Garlic Paste - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Green Chillies - to taste
• Chopped Veggies - 1/2 - 3/4 cup
• Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chili Powder - to taste
• Salt -to taste
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Chopped Cilantro - for garnishing

Veggies - You can use the veggies of your choice, typically, carrots, bell peppers, beans, peas.

Directions:

• Beat the eggs well , add a little salt to it and keep aside.
• Heat oil, and saute chopped onions till golden brown.
• Add chopped green chillies, turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste. Saute for a minute more.
• Add tomatoes and all the chopped veggies and saute till solft. Do not over cook them. Let the veggies be crunchy.
• Add garam masala , salt and red chili powder and mix well.
• Add the beaten eggs to the pan and keep stirring constantly till the eggs dry up and form into lumps and egg is coated with the masala. Cook for around 3-4 minutes.
• Adjust salt and garnish with cilantro.

It can be eaten with rice or roti. It can also be used as filling for sandwich or wraps for breakfast.

Peel the skin of Almonds, etc easily

To peel the skin of almonds, tomatoes or peaches, simply soak in boiling water for 5-7 minutes. The skin can be easily removed.


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

Peanut Chutney ( Palli Pachadi )

Peanut Chutney is a very delicious dip for idli or dosa or upma. Peanuts posess rich protein value.

Ingredients:

• Peanuts - 1 cup
• Red Whole Chillies - 2 or to taste
• Tamarind Pulp - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste

For Tempering:

• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Red whole Chili - 1
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Hing - a pinch

Directions:

• Dry roast peanuts till they turn reddidh and are totally cooked.
• Add red chillies to the peanuts and roast them for a couple of minutes. Turn off the heat and let them cool.
• In a grinder, add peanuts, tamarind pulp, red chillies and grind it to a smooth paste with little water.
• Add salt and mix well.
• For tempering, heat oil , splutter mustard seeds. Add torn red chili, curry leaves and hing.
• Pour this over the chutney. and mix well.
• Serve as a side dish with idli or dosa or upma.

You can store this in fridge for about 4-5 days.

Variation:

Additional Ingredients:

• Garlic - 2 pods
• Onion - 1 small

There is an alternative method too. You can add onions and garlic to the chutney as well.

• In a pan, heat oil and saute crushed garlic, then add sliced onion and saute till brownish. 
• Let it cool , then grind it to a smooth paste. 
• Add this paste to the above mentioned chutney. Mix well. Adjust salt. 

Lemon Rice ( Chitrannam )

Chitrannam or lemon rice or nimmakaya pulihora is a tangy South Indian variety of rice.
This is similar to pulihora which is made in a similar way but tamarind is used instead of lemon juice.
In most of the festivals , along with sweets we also make lemon rice or pulihora. It is sometimes made as a part of naivedyam. It is many times given as prasadam in temples or even ganesh pandals during ganeshotsav. You simply can't get enough of this. This dish does not require any side dish . It is best eaten by itself.

Ingredients:

• Rice - 2 cups
• Lemon Juice - of 2 lemons or adjust to taste
• Green Chillies - 3-5 or to taste
• Red Whole chili -1
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1 tsp
• Chana Dal - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - 1 spring
• Hing - 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Peanuts - 2-3 tbsp
• Cashew Nuts - 2-3 tbsp
• Oil - 2tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Chopped Cilantro - for garnishing

Directions:

• Cook the rice and keep aside.
• In a pan, heat oil and roast peanuts until golden. Then add cashew nuts and roast till golden. Remove and keep aside
• In the same pan add mustard seeds, let them splutter. Add chana dal and urad dal and let them turn reddish.
• Add curry leaves, slit green chillies, red chili, hing, turmeric powder and saute for few cesonds.
• Pour this over the cooked rice. Also add roasted cashew nuts and peanuts to the rice.
• Add salt and lemon juice and give it a good mix , but gently without breaking the rice grains.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro.
• Serve warm or even at room temperature. This can be either eaten by itself or with plain curds and pickle.

Bell Pepper Chutney

Ingredients:

• Bell Peppers - 2 ( preferably red and orange, but u can even mix the different colors )
• Tamarind Pulp - 2 tbsp
• Red whole or Green Chillies - to taste
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - to taste

For Tempering:

• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida - a pinch

Directions:

• Dice the bell peppers and saute them in little oil in a pan.
• You can take bell peppers of any color. Try to include 1 red one to get that color.
• Cook till they are tender. Let them cool.
• In a grinder, add cooked bell peppers, tamarind pulp, turmeric and chillies. Grind them all to a fine paste.
• Add salt and mix well.
• For tempering, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Add asafoetida and urad dal. Let the urad dal turn reddish.
• Pour this tempering over the chutney and mix well.
• Serve with steamed rice or idli or dosa.

Palak Puri / Palak Paratha

Palak Paratha or Palak puri is spinach flavoured Indian flat bread wherein Spinach and a few spices are added to the dough and rolled out into puri or paratha. This is one of the best ways to get spinach into picky eaters. Kids are fascinated by the colorful paratha and would not even know that they are eating spinach which they actually  hate to eat.

Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat Flour - 3 cups
• Spinach - 1 bunch
• Carom Seeds ( Ajwain ) - 1/2 tsp
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
• Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
• salt - to taste
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Oil - For deep frying ( in case of puris )
• Ghee - for pan frying ( in case of parathas )

Directions:

• Wash and grind the spinach into a smooth paste with as little water as possible.
• In a mixing bowl, take flour, add ground spinach paste, carom seeds, ginger-garlic paste, red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and knead it with lukewarm water. Add water little by little to make a pliable dough.
• Add 1 tsp of oil and knead once again.
• Cover and rest the dough for half an hour.
• Roll them out and make either puris or paratha.
• For detailed description of how to make puris or paratha click on the following:

How to make Puri

How to make Paratha

Serve hot with any curry of your choice, curd, pickle.

Katiki Pesarapappu Pachadi ( Moong Dal Chutney )

This is one of my favourite chutneys. My mom used to make it very often just for me. When I made this chutney after marriage for the first time, my husband was pleasantly surprised to know such a chutney existed. It doesn't take much time to make this one and goes extremely well with plain steamed rice or even as a dip for idli or dosa.

Ingredients:

• Moong Dal - 1 cup
• Tamarind Pulp - 1 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Red whole chillies - 2-3 or to taste
• Water - as needed to grind.
• Salt -to taste

For Tempering:

• Oil - 3 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Urad Dal - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida ( Hing ) - 1/8 tsp
• Curry Leaves - 5-6

Directions:

• In a grinder, add raw moong dal, broken red chillies, tamarind pulp and turmeric powder and grind with minimum water required for grinding into a smooth paste.
• Transfer into a bowl and add salt and mix well.
• For tempering, heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds. Add urad dal, let it turn reddish. Add hing and curry leaves. Pour this over the chutney and mix well. The chutney is ready.

With the heat of oil in tempering, the raw flavour of dal will disappear and it will taste very good. Hence be little generous on oil.
Mix this chutney with plain steamed rice and a dollop of ghee. This is the best way to eat this chutney. However you can use it as a dip for idli and dosa.

Variation:

• You can soak the dal for about 15-20  minutes before grinding. I prefer unsoaked dal for the crunchy texture.