Masala buns - iyengar bakery style

Ingredients:
Bun
Flour- 2 1/2 cup (50/50 wheat flour and all-purpose flour)
active dry yeast - 1 1/2 tbsp
milk - 1/2 cup
water- 3/4 cup
sugar- 1 tsp
kasoori methi- 1 tbsp
Ajwain seeds- 1/2 tsp
salt- 1/2 tsp
oil - 3 tbsp

Bun filling
potatoes- 3
carrot- 1
green beans- 10
cabbage, chopped- 1/2 cup
ginger, grated- 1 tsp
oil- 2 tbsp
asafoetida- 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
coriander powder- 1 tsp
chili powder- 1/2 tsp
sambar powder- 1/2 tsp
curry powder- 1/2 tsp
dry mango powder- 1 tsp
cumin seeds- 1 tsp
curry leaves- 1 string
coriander leaves, chopped- 2 tbsp

Method:
Dough

• Warm the milk and water. Dissolve the dry yeast and sugar in it and set it aside for 5-10 minutes until it becomes frothy.  
• Mix the flour, salt, kasoori methi, and ajwain seeds oil in a bowl. Add the frothy mix and yeast mixture and start kneading the dough with warm water.  
• Knead the dough well for 10 minutes. transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover it. Allow the dough to rise for an hour.

Filling

• In the meantime steam the chopped potatoes carrots and green beans. 
• Heat some oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds to crackle. Add ginger and curry leaves and saute it for a few seconds and then add the chopped cabbage and asafoetida and saute them until the cabbage turns golden brown. 
• Then add turmeric, coriander powder, chili powder, curry powder, sambar masala, dry mango powder and saute them for a minute. 
• Add the boiled veggies to the pan and mash them. Add salt and saute them well for 5 minutes to make sure that all water from the vegetables has been evaporated. 
• Turn off the heat and sprinkle some coriander leaves and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
• 
  

Rolling and stuffing 

• After an hour when the dough has doubled its size, punch and knead the dough again on a surface dusted with flour. knead for 5 minutes.
• Divide the dough into 10 equal parts. 
• Line the baking tray with parchment sheet and dust it with some flour and arrange the rolls with enough space to expand.
• Roll the filling about 3/4 size of the roll and stuff it into the rolls. The rolls would have risen a little bit. Flatten the rolls on your palm and place the filling in the middles and close them by pinching the sides. 
• Place the stuffed rolls on the baking tray with the pinched side the rolls facing downwards.
• Brush some oil and cover the rolls and allow it to rise for 10 minutes
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Brush some milk on the rolls and bake them for 15-20 minutes until the buns turn golden brown
• As soon as you remove the buns from the oven immediately brush them with oil or butter. This makes the buns to remain soft once it cools down. 
• Allow the buns to cool and serve them with your favorite chutney.

Capsicum Masala rice / Bellpepper rice

Ingredients
Colored Capsicum chopped- 1 cup
Cabbage chopped- 1/2 cup
Basmati rice - 1 cup, uncooked
Ghee-5 tbsp
mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Curry leaves- 1 string
ginger- 1 inch
turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
hing- 1/4 tsp
coriander leaves to garnish
salt to taste

To roast and grind
coriander seeds- 1 tsp
cumin seeds- 1 tsp
urad dal- 1 tsp
chana dal 1 tsp
red chilies-
black pepper- 1/2 tsp
clove- 2
cinnamon- 1 stick, an inch
peanuts- 2 tbsp
Marathi moggu- 1
hing- 1 pinch
ghee- 1 tsp

Method

• Cook basmati rice separately with 2 tbsp of ghee and salt
• Heat 1 tsp of ghee and roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, chana dal, red chilies, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, peanuts, marathi moggu and hing. Cool and grind the spices and set it aside.
• Heat 3 tbsp of ghee in a pan.
• Add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter, add hing, curry leaves, and ginger, and saute is a little bit and then add chopped cabbage.
• Saute the cabbage until it becomes translucent. Now add the chopped capsicum(bell peppers). Add salt and saute it until it becomes soft. Make sure not to overcook the capsicum. 
• Now add the ground spice mixture and garam masala and the cooked rice.
• Turn the gas to low flame and mix the rice, capsicum and the spice mixture. Handle with care not to break the rice.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it with raita of your choice!

Bisibelehulianna / Bisibelebath / Spicy Rice& lentils with mixed veggies

This is a rice based nutirtious dish which has its origin in the sate of Karnataka (India). The presence of different kinds of spices and veggies along with the lentils and rice gives a nice flavor. This is a kid friendly dish and especially kid who are reluctant to eat veggies, bisibelebath is a good option. Bisi- bele-bath is actually a phrase in Kannada which means "Hot- Lentil-Rice" and bisi- bele-huli-anna means "Hot-lentil-Tamarind-Rice. Now lets get on to how to cook this dish.

Ingredients:
Rice- 1 cup
Toor dal(lentil)- 1/2 cup
mixed veggies - 2 cups (carrots, string beans, peas, potato, chayote squash, drumstick)
Tomato- 1
Tamarind- 1 golf ball size
turmeric- 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

To roast & grind:( bisibelebath powder)
corriander seeds- 3 tsp
cumin- 1 tsp
black peppercorns- 1/2 tsp
fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tsp
red chillies- 6 (adjust to taste)
cinammon- 2 (1inch)
cloves- 4
Marati moggu- 3
chenna dal- 1 tsp
urad dal- 2 tsp
coconut- 1/2 cup (preferably dry)
oil/ ghee(clarified butter)- 1 tsp ( for roasting)

seasoning
mustard seeds- 1 tsp
cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
curry leaves- 1 string
cashews- 10
peanuts- 10 (optional)
urad dal- 1tsp
hing 1/4 tsp
Clarified butter/ Ghee- 3 tbsp

Method:

Boil the rice, vegetables, dal turmeric with 6 cups of water in a pressure cooker.
Soak the tamarind in water to get 1/2 cup extract. Roast and grind the spices. Once the rice with dal is done add the tamarind juice, salt, bisibelebath powder bring it to boil on a medium flame for 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of water if necessary. Turn off the heat. Heat ghee in a small wok. Add mustard, urad dal, chennadal, jeera, cashews peanuts and fry them to make sure that the nuts are not burnt. When the mustard and jeera crack add hing and curry leaves and season it over the bisibelebath. Piping hot bisibelebath is usually served with raita and papad.

Minty green peas soup

I first heard about this soup from my mom and dad- they relished this soup at a wedding party. Immediately I got inspired to make it. Here goes the recipe for the minty soup.

Ingredients:
Frozen peas- 1lb
water/ vegetable broth- 2/12 cups
chopped mint leaves- 3 tbsp
milk- 2 cups
light whipping cream- 1/2 cup
butter- 4 tbsp
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
fresh mint to garnish

Method:

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Stir in the peas, vegetable stock, and 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh mint. Increase heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat back to low, cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes.

Remove about 3 tablespoons of the peas, and set aside for garnish. Pour the soup into a blender or food processor along with the milk, and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Throw in a pinch of sugar if desired.

Swirl in 1 tbsp of whipping cream and fresh mint leaves before serving.

The soup can be served either hot or cold.

Tomato Channa Dhal Chutney

This recipe is from my mother-in-law. Simple to prepare. The best combination for this chutney is Kuzhi paniyaram or plain dosa. I generally do not add any seasoning for this chutney, as its taste fine just like that. I don’t grind this chutney to a smooth paste, rather leave it a little coarse.

Ingredients:

Tomato – 4
Red chillies – 3
Cilantro (coriander leaves) – 4 - 5 strands
Tamarind – a little
Channa dhal – 2 - 3 tbsp
Curry leaves – 1 strand
Asofoetida - ½ tsp
Gingely Oil – 1 - 2 tbsp
Salt as per taste

Method:

First cut the tomatoes into cubes. Heat oil in a pan, add the red chillies, channa dhal and fry them till the dhal becomes light golden brown. Next add asofoetida, curry leaves, tomato and salt. Allow the tomato to cook for 4 – 5 minutes so that the raw smell leaves and tomato becomes soft. When done add the cilantro and allow it to cool. Blend the mixture to a slightly coarse paste. Serve it with hot kuzhi paniyaram, idly or dosa.

Baby Corn Pakora

I loved doing experimenting the pakoras recipe, this time used baby corn.I made this over the weekend while we were mostly in a mood to take deep fried snack. A very quick snack if you happen to have some baby corns in your fridge.
whenever , i prepare pakoras remember my office colleagues. I was working in India for a few years before moving to the U.S, and we all friends at office used to enjoy going out for a short coffee break! There were plenty of snack shops in the canteen and we used to enjoy hot pakoras ,samosas, veg. puffs etc with Tea. To me that was a good fun time with friends. I miss those good old days. Well, about this recipe. It's really a perfect snack for the evening.

Ingredients

Baby Corn - 20 (cut into thin Strips)
Ginger - 1 inch
Red Chili - 1
Green Chili - 1
Cilantro leaves - 1tbs
Gram flour / Besan Flour - 1 cup
Corn Starch - 1/4 cup
Carom Seeds - 1/4 tsp
salt to taste
water for binding
Oil for deep frying



Method

Cut the baby corns lengthways into two, set aside.
Grind together the green chillies,red chilli, cilantro and ginger to make a fine paste adding little water.
Combine maida, cornflour,carom seeds, salt, blended paste,and water to form a soft batter.
Take a skillet and heat oil in it.
Dip each baby corn in the batter and fry until crisp and golden.
Baby Corn Pakodas are ready to serve.

Mixed vegetable moong sprouts curry

Sprouts are considered as wonder foods. They rank as the freshest and most nutritious of all vegetables available to the human diet. By a process of natural transmutation, sprouted food acquires vastly improved digestibility and nutritional qualities when compared to non-sprouted embryo from which it derives. Moong sprouts are rich source of protien, Vitamin-C and iron. With moong sprouts I usually make salad or just  a simple dal. This is the first time I tried cooking the sprouts with different kinds of veggies and spices and the outcome was a real hit. Adding veggies to the tthe moong sprouts makes it more healthy and Panchpuran- bengali spice mix adds up to the flavour of the dish.  Its a low fat dish as I have used very minmal oil, just for the seasoning..
Ingredietns:
Homemade Moong dal sprouts- 3 cups
shredded carrots- 2 tbsp
cabbage finely chopped- 1/4 cup
spinach- I cup (chopped)
yellow pumpkins- 1 cup (cubed)
ginger- 1 tsp (shreded0
green chilli- 1(chopped)
tomato- 1 (chopped)
corriander powder- 1 1/2 tsp
cumin powder- 1 tsp
Badshah Rajwadi garam masala- 1 tsp
Dry mago powder (amchur)- 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
Hing- 1 generous pinch
Panchpuran- 1 tsp
oil- 1/2 tsp
coriander leaves(cilantro) to garnish- 3 tbsp

Method:

• In a presurre cooker add the home made sprouts, all the veggies, ginger, chillies, turmeric powder and cook them with 3 1/2 cups of water. (Please check Home-made Moong dal sprouts post to make your own healthy sprouts.)
• Heal oil in a small wok, add panchpuran. 
• When the mustard cracks add, hing, corriander powder, cumin powder, dry mango powder and garam masala and fry for 1 minute in low medium flame. 
• Add 1/4 cup of water and boil them and add it to the cooked sprouts and allow it to cook for 5 minutes. Mixed vegetable moong sprouts curry is ready to serve.This can be serve with rice or chapati.. 

Red Basmati Rice Khichdri

A couple of  weeks back my husband got a new variety of rice called red basmati rice from the Indian stores. This rice is a product of Srilanka. But we could also get this kind of rice at Whole Foods market. Red basmati rice is considered as an aromatic rice. Similar to the brown rice this rice takes long time to cook and the rice slightly splits when its cooked.. It takes about 45 minutes to cook 1 cup of rice in a rice cooker. It resembles cooked wild rice and has an aroma  reminiscent of popcorn. This rice is also rich in dietry fibre. We both started liking the rice and started making it for our regular lunch. Last week I tried making Khichri and it came out really well.
Ingredients:

Red Basmati Rice- 1/2 cup
toor dal- 1/4 cup
Mixed vegetables- one cup (carrot, string beans, peas, potatoes, corn)
Tomato (chopped)- 1
turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
corriander powder- 1 tsp
cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
chilli powder- 1- 1/2 tsp (accoding to spice level)
grated ginger 1 tsp
garam masala- 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
coriander leaves (cilantro)- 1 tbsp , chopped (to garnish)

Seasoning
mustard seed- 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds(jeera)- 1tsp
curry leaves- 1 string
asafoetida- 2 pinch
ghee- 2 tsp

Method:

• Wash the dal and rice. In a vessel boil 3 cups of water. Add the rice, dal and turmeric powder and cook them on a medium flame. 
• When the rice and dal gets half cooked add the mixed veggies, tomato, corriander powder cumin powder, tomatoes, salt, ginger, chilli powder and aloow it to cook on a medium flame. 
• Stir the khichri in between to make sure that the ingredients at the bottom of the vessel doesn't get burnt. 
• When the rice gets 75% cooked add the garam masala and continue to cook on a medium flame.  Add 1/2 cup of water if necessary.
• When the rice and dal along with the mixed veggies get cooked fully, turn off the heat. 
• In a small wok heat some ghee add mustard, cumin seeds. When the mustard cracks add hing and curry leaves and pour the seasoning on the khichri. Mix well and garnish with coriander leaves(cilantro)
• Serve hot khichri with pickle and yogurt.(curd).

Kidney Beans (Rajma) Pulao

This has been a protein week at home. We didn’t decide that we going on a high protein diet but it turned out so. As a fitting finale I tried the Rajma Pulao. I landed on this recipe in a website when I was looking for a different rice variety. Again the website recipe had onions which I dropped and added a few items to the menu and landed on this one. But please excuse me for the picture coz we were running late to office already, so no time to decorate. The picture has been captured directly from the rice cooker. Hope you enjoy this one.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Kidney beans – 1 cup
Capsicum - 1 (sliced into small pieces)
Ginger – 1 inch
Green Chillies - 2
Cumin powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Dry mango powder - 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
Salt according to taste
Bay leaf - 1
Curd – 2 tbsp
Mint leaves – a small handful
Cliantro – for garnishing
Oil/Ghee – 1 tbsp

Method

Soak the kidney beans overnight and cook them three fourth in a pressure cooker. In a pan, add the oil/ghee. When it is hot add the bay leaf, ginger, green chillies, capsicum and the spices. Cook until soft for about 3- 4 mins. Add the cooked kidney beans and mint leaves. Transfer the contents to a rice cooker. Wash the basmathi rice and add it. Mix salt as per taste. Then add curd and required amount of water. Allow it to cook. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with raita.

Green Gram (Whole Moong Dhal) Dosa / Pesarattu

I am a big dosa favourite and love to try different types. This green gram dosa is my mother’s recipe. Its real easy to make and very healthy protein rich item. This one is a regular at my house. Hope you like it too.


Ingredients :


Green Gram (Whole Moong Dhal) – 1 ½ cup
Rice - ¾ cup
Red chillies – 5
Cumin seeds – 1 ½ tbsp
Asofoetida - 1 tsp
Salt according to taste


Method :

Soak the green gram over night for 6 - 7 hours and rice for 3 - 4 hours. Wash the green gram and rice. Add both along with the other ingredients to the grinder and grind the mixture to a smooth paste. Add salt and mix well and leave it outside over night. You can start making the dosas in the morning for breakfast. Actually before making the dosa we can actually cut and add little green chillies, carrot, capsicum, curry leaves, cabbage, ginger and coriander leaves. But this is optional only, we can make the dosa plain as well. This dosa goes well with coconut chutney or tomato thokku.

Palak Roti

One of my friends at work use to bring Palak Roti regularly and I always thought I should try this. But the recipe she gave me had garlic. So I went hunting on the internet and landed on two different types. I kind of did a mix of both and landed on an awesome Palak Roti. Since I was kind of nervous as to how it’s going to taste I made only 10 numbers and after tasting it, me and my husband realized that it’s not going to be enough for us. Hope you enjoy this healthy recipe.

Ingredients


Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Bengal gram flour - 2 tbsp
Palak (Spinach) leaves - 1bunch
Ginger - 1 inch
Green chiliies - 2
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Carom seeds - 1/4 tsp
Few cilantro leaves
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - a little less than 1/4 tsp
Curd - 2 - 3 tbsp
Water to knead


Method

Wash the palak leaves well, boil in hot water for 2 mins and wash them with cold water. Grind all the above ingredients excluding the wheat flour and besan flour to a fine paste. While grinding the paste make sure you don’t add water, the water in the curd itself should be fine, else the dough will become very watery. Mix this mixture with the flour, add salt and make malleable dough. Roll out the rotis, fry on both sides with oil and apply little ghee. Serve hot with curd and pickle.

VenPongal / South Indian Khichri / Steamed rice with lentils

A popular breakfast/dinner option is the Ven Pongal. "Ven" means white. Mildly spiced (according taste preference) it is served with Coconut (White) Chutney and Sambhar. Pongal - Vadai - Sambhar is one of the commonly sought out combination at restaurants. No restaurant menu card in Tamil Nadu is completing without pongal. Each restaurant have their own way of preparation, the recipe below is the way most of the families in Tamil Nadu make pongal at home. Ven pongal is not only famous in restaurants, but it is very popular in many temples in south India. Pongal is commonly referred to savory pudding made with beautiful combination of lentils and rice tempered with spices and nuts sautéed in Hot Ghee. This is very easy to prepare and the taste is filling and yummy.
Here is the easy to cook and ready to serve recipe for you…:)

Ingredients For Pongal :

To go the Cooker

Raw rice / Sona Masoori rice – 1 cup
Split Moong Dal – ½ cup
Water – 4 (1/4 )cups
Hing – 2 pinch
Salt - As required

Seasoning
Ghee – 3 tablespoons
Cashew nuts – 10 to 15 broken
Ginger – 2 teaspoons finely minced
Curry leaves – One string
Whole pepper corns – 15 to 20
Cumin seeds – 3 teaspoon

Procedure:

Wash the rice and dal. Then measure water and mix the dal and rice. Add salt and hing powder. Now cook this mixture in rice cooker or in normal pressure cooker.
In a separate pan add ghee and let it heat. Followed by whole pepper corns then cumin seeds, ( you even crush the pepper & cumin seeds coarsely) when the cumin seeds turns light brown color add the minced ginger fry for few seconds then add cashew nuts, hing powder and let the cashews fry and finally add the curry leaves and let it splutter then remove from the heat and add it to the cooked pongal and mix it well.

Parangikai Arachu Vitta Sambar / Spicy Yellow pumpkin Lentil soup

Sambar is a famous and common dish in South India especially Tamil Nadu. Sambar is a vegetable stew with broth made of tamarind and toor dal. Each state in south India adopts typical variations in preparing sambar. Sambar can be made with an instant spice mix called sambar powder or the spice mix can be fresh ground. The sambar made with fresh ground spice mix is called arachuvitta sambar in. I learnt to make this sambar from my motherin-law  Mrs.Jayalakshmi Narasimhan who specialises in authentic tamil cusines.  Sambar can be made with different vegetables like brinjal, carrot, tomato, potato, beans, drumstick, pumpkin, chayote squash, bell pepper (capsicum), okra (lady's finger) and so on. In this recipe I used the yellow pumpkins.

Ingredients:
Toor dal- 1/2 cup
tamarind- small lemon sized
turmeric- 1/4 tsp
asafoetida- 2 pinch
chopped tomatoes-  1
Yellow pumpkin- 1 1/2 cup (chopped, big cubes)
salt to taste

To grind
corriander seeds- 1 1/2 tsp
red chillis -10
chenna dal- 1 tbsp
cyrry leaves- a string
shredded coconut- 4 tbsp
fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tsp

Seasoning
oil- 2 tsp
mustard seeds- 1 tsp
curry leaves- a string
asafoetida (hing)- 1 generous pinch

Method:

• Wash and cook the toor dal with the yellow pumpkin, turmeric and asafoetida.
• Soak the tamarind in a cup of warm water for 10 minutes to make an extract.
• Heat a wok and dry roast the ingredients to grind, on a medium flame until the chenna dal turns golden brown. Cool it and grind them into a smooth paste with 1/4 cup of water.
• Now boil the tamarind juice in a vessel with a cup water until its raw smell disappears and add the chopped tomatoes.
• Once the tomatoes become tender and cooked add the ground paste and salt.
• Mash the dal slightly( Make sure you dont mash the pumpkins) and add them to the boiling tamarind juice. 
• Allow them to boil for 10 mins and turn down the heat. Sambar is almost ready except for the seasoning.
• Heat some oil in a small wok, add mustard. When it cracks add asafoetida and curry leaves and season it on the sambar

Note: I made this sambar for rice and hence the consistency was little thick. In case if you want to use this same sambar as a side dish for dosas or idly add 1/2 cup of water and a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp of crushed jaggery and boil them and garnish with cilantro leaves (coriander leaves). This would taste like the restaurant sambar.

Aloo Bonda / Potato Dumplings

 It was raining down from the skies; neither wasn’t pouring cats and dogs, it was a pleasant cold weather in the evening. So, thought of making some deep fried snacks. Today, I am coming with one of the famous dish Aloo bonda. Aloo Bonda's are balls of mashed lightly spiced potatoes dipped in chickpea flour and deep fried till golden brown. On a rainy evening this will taste heaven. Oh, it brings back many cherish memories. I remembered the rainy days in India; we used to buy it from the road side tea shops. Myself, my brother & sister used to have a tug of war to get more portion..

I wish there was someone to make this for me so I could enjoy them really hot…so hot that you’d have to huff and puff on them before you eat them and still manage to scald your tongue!

Ingredients
Potatoes - 4 ( boiled potatoes)
Green chilies – 1 or 2 finely chopped
Ginger – ½ tsp (grated)
Curry leaves – 1 string
Salt to taste
Asafetida -1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder -1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 1/2 tsp
Cilantro Leaves – 2 tbs finely chopped
oil -2 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp

Other
Oil – as required, for deep-frying the bondas

For batter
Besan/Gram flour-1/4 cup
Rice Flour – 3 tbs
Salt to taste
Chili Powder -1/2tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
Asafetida -1/4 tsp
Baking soda – 2 pinch
Water – ½ cup

Method

In a bowl mix gram flour, Rice flour, turmeric, chili powder,asafetida,salt,Baking soda and water to make a thick batter..

Next, get the filling ready. Heat oil in a wok. Add mustard seeds, when it pop add urad dal, asafetida, curry leaves, green chilies, ginger, turmeric & coriander powder. Stir well. Mash the pressure cooked potatoes and add them to the wok. Add salt, if you want, add coriander leaves also. When cool make the mixture into small balls.

Heat oil in the kada/wok, dip the balls one by one into the batter and deep fry them…Drain on paper towel..So the tasty potato bonda is ready to serve..Serve hot with chutneys or sauce ….

Vazhakkai Poriyal (Raw Banana Stir fry)

Raw banana commonly know as Vazhakka in Tamil Nadu, India is a good source of dietry fibre, pottasium, magnesium, Vitamin C and Vitamin B6. I usually make a simple stir fry with these raw bananas and not adding much spices. But I got bored with the routine recipe and tried to spice up the dish and the flavour was pretty good.

Ingredients:
Raw banana - 4
tomato (chopped)- 1
shredded coconut- 1 tbsp
ginger- 1"
turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
corriander powder- 1 tsp
sambar powder- 1 tsp
chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds (jeera)- 1 tsp
asafoetida(hing)- 1 pinch
curry leaves- 1 string
oil- 1 tbsp

Method:
Wash and peel the raw banana. Cut them into cubes and put them in a dish with water and a pinch of turmeric to prevent them from turning black. Grind the shredded coconut with a piece of ginger without adding water. Boil water in a vessel and add the  turmeric powder. Strain the raw bananas and add them to the boiling water. Remove the raw bananas from the boiling water when they are half cooked. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the mustard cracks add asafoetida, curry leaves, chopped tomatoes and saute them until the tomatoes become tender. Add the ground mixture and saute them. Now drop in the half cooked raw bananas, corriander powder, red chilli powder, salt and sambar powder. Stir them so that the spice gets mixed evenly on the raw banana. Sprinkle some water and cover it with lid and allow it to cook for 10 minutes in low medium flame and turn down the heat. This makes a great combo with rice and Vathal Kuzhambu.

Gulab Jamun

Gulab Jamun…. Oh my God! My mouth is already watering thinking of a hot gulab jamun with cold ice cream melting in my mouth.This is a classic sweet dish,dried milk dumplings,deep fried and soaked in sugar syrup makes a favorite subcontinent sweet.It is a perfect dessert for any occasion like wedding, birthday party, potluck or dinner.I used the Gulab jamun mix from the store.

Ingredients
Gulab Jamun Mix - 1 1/2 cup
Whipping cream - 4 tbs

For sugar syrup
Water – 2 cups
Sugar – 2 cups
Rose Essence – few drops, optional
Cardamom Powder – 1/2 tsp or to taste
Saffron – few strands, optional
Oil – for deep frying

Method
Make the syrup in a pan by adding Water, Sugar, Rose Syrup, Cardamom Powder and Saffron. Put the pot on the flame and bring to boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat and allow it to simmer.

In the Meanwhile, get the oil for deep-frying ready. Heat up the oil on low-to-medium heat.
For the dumplings,sieve the gulab jamun mix and add the whipping cream little by little. Slowly start mixing a make a dough.
Allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Make sure they are smooth and do not have any creases.Take each part and press in the palm and roll it into fine balls.
Drop the balls in the hot oil at medium flame and fry these balls until they turn golden brown color.Take them out into a paper towel.
Bring the syrup to another quick boil and drop in the dumplings.Turn off the flame and cover the Gulab Jamuns and let them soak in the syrup for an hour or more.

Yard Long Beans Lemon Rice

I tasted this recipe in the life member prasadam counter in Mayapur. Actually I am not a big fan of Lemon Rice but this one was out of the world. The lemon rice gets a unique taste because of the yard long beans. So I decided to try this at home and it did come out well. Moreover for office goers this is a real quick dish to prepare.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup
Lemon - 1
Yard Long Beans – 10-12
Turmeric powder – 1tsp
Ground Nuts - a few(optional)
Green Chillies - 3.
Curry leaves – a few
Oil – 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad Dhal – 1 tsp
Channa Dhal – 2 tbsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Corriander leaves – a small bunch
Salt – as per taste

Method :
Wash and cook the rice in a pressure cooker.

Squeeze the juice from the lemon and keep it.

Cut the yard long beans into 2cm size pieces.

Heat oil in a pan, add the beans and fry well till the beans becomes tender and soft.

Remove the beans from the oil and keep it separately.

Next in the same pan to the oil, add the mustard seeds and once they burst add the urad dhal and channa dhal. When they become golden brown add the green chillies, curry leaves and ground nuts and fry well.

Next add the fried beans, then add the asafoetida and the turmeric powder.

Next add the cooked rice, lemon juice and salt. Mix well.

We can also add little dry grapes and cashew if need along with the ground nuts and fry them.(This is optional) Garnish with coriander leaves and Serve Hot.

Amrakhand

I was browsing through for the Shrikhand recipe and landed on this one. Amrakhand is nothing but Aam plus Shrikhand where Aam means Mangoes and Shrikhand supposedly means Ambrosia of the Gods. Shrikhand is also the name for a traditional Maharashtrian dessert made from yogurt, nuts and saffron. So this version of Shrikhand which uses Mango as its central taste factor is termed as Amrakhand. In simplest western terminology you can call this Mango Smoothie. It came out very well and we loved it. One added advantage is that you can make this for ekadesi also.

Ingredients:
Curd - 400gms.
Sugar - 5- 6 tbsp
Cardamom - 3.
Few strands of Saffron
Milk – 1 tbsp
1 fresh mango, to make about 1 small cup mango pulp (you can use canned mango pulp too)
1-2 tbsp charoli nuts for garnish
few fresh slices of mangoes for garnish

Method:

Tie curd in a clean muslin cloth overnight. (6-7 hours). Put into a bowl. Powder the sugar and cardamom and mix it with the curd. Rub saffron into 1 tbsp. milk till well broken and dissolved. Keep aside. Beat well till sugar powder has fully dissolved into curd. In case the saffron strands have not dissolved completely, add them along with the milk to the mangoes. Make the pulp and add it to the curd mixture and Mix well. Empty into a glass serving bowl, top with the nuts and mango slices. Chill for 1-2 hours before serving.

Cauliflower in tomato sauce (Ekadhasi recipe)

On the austerity of Ekadhasi - every time I think what to prepare differently .. I tried this cauliflower recipe for the buckwheat dosa it turned out really good. A combination of tomato with few ingredients transform this simple vegetable dish into a delight for the senses.

Ingredients

Cauliflower - 1 whole ( i used small size)
Tomatoes - 5-6
Green chili - 1
Ginger - 1 inch
Cashew nuts - 15 whole
cilantro - 2 tbs
water - 1/cup
salt - as required
oil
cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - few strands

Method

In a blender add tomato ,green chili,ginger,cashew, cilantro and process it well. Make it into a smooth paste.
In a wok add oil ,cumin seeds once it started crackle add the curry leaves. Immediately pour the blended gravy in the wok and add water to it.let it boil for sometime. Once the raw smell of the tomato goes add the cauliflower florets in the tomato gravy and salt. let it boil till the cauliflower is cooked. Once the gravy thickens ,sprinkle cilantro and serve it with hot Dosa.

Cauliflower

Vegetable Dum Biriyani/ Spicy Vegetable Rice

I saw this recipe on a website and thought the person had made it really well. It looked yummy and tasted the same when made. It is definitely a time consuming process but worth every minute of it. Please try this out sometime. I am sure you will love it

The Rice:

§ 1 and half cup basmati rice

§ 2 green cardamoms

§ 2 black cardamoms

§ 2 cloves

§ 1 cinnamon of 1 inch

§ 1 bay leaf

§ 2 mace strands

§ 3 cups water

§ Salt

The Vegetable Gravy:

§ 1/2 medium sized cauliflower, florets removed

§ 1 medium sized carrot, diced

§ 1 medium sized potato, cubed

§ 1 cup of chopped french beans

§ 1/2 cup frozen/fresh peas

§ 1 green chili, slit

§ 2 tbsp julienned ginger

§ 2 green cardamom

§ 2 black cardamoms

§ 2 cloves

§ 1 cinnamon of 1 inch

§ 1 bay leaf

§ 2 mace strands

§ 1oo gms whisked curd

§ 1/4 tsp turmeric powder

§ 1/2 tsp red chili powder

§ 2 tbsp cashewnuts

§ 1 tbsp raisins

§ 2 tbsp almonds, blanched, peeled and sliced

§ 3 tbsp ghee

§ salt

Herbs and Spices for the assembling:

§ 1/2 cup chopped coriander/cilantro leaves

§ 1/2 cup mint leaves

§ 100 gms whisked curd

§ a few saffron strands

§ 1 tbsp milk

Method :

Cooking the Rice:

§ Pick and clean the rice in running water. Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes.

§ Now you can microwave or pressure cook the rice. You have to cook the rice till its 3/4th done. The rice should not be fully cooked but almost cooked.

§ In a pressure cooker or a microwave cooker, add the pre-soaked rice, all the spices mentioned above, salt. Cook till almost done.

For vegetable gravy:§ Heat ghee in the cooker or pan.
§ Add all whole garam masala: cardamoms, mace, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves. Fry the garam masala till they crackle. Add green chillies and Ginger.

 § Add the turmeric and red chili powder. Give the mixture a stir


 § Now add the vegetables and stir for a minute. Add curd, stir, add 3/4 cup water and salt. When the vegetables get cooked, add raisins and nuts.


Assembling the Biryani and slow cooking it on Dum:

§ Warm the milk. Add saffron to it. Let this saffron-milk mixture cool. Add the curd to this mixture and mix well.

§ In the same vessel with the cooked vegetables, sprinkle half each of saffron-flavored curd/yoghurt, mint and coriander leaves. Spread half the rice. Add the saffron curd mixture again, sprinkle rest of mint leaves, coriander leaves and spread remaining rice. Place moist cloth on top, cover the lid and seal the edges using kneaded wheat dough. Place the vessel on a tawa and slow cook for 20-25 minutes. Mix well before serving.


It is a big recipe and i apologize if the fonts and typing is not very good.

 Hope the recipe won't disappoint you.