Raw Tomato dry Subji / Thakali Kai podi karameedu

I love raw tomatoes a lot and try out various dishes or curries with it. You will have to patiently pick out raw tomatoes from the load of tomatoes as it may not be sold as a vegetable in itself. I'm lucky because my father-in-law does the vegetable shopping at home!!!
This tangy and spicy dish is great with plain rice or curd rice. You can try this same procedure with brinjal, ladies finger and capsicum too.

Ingredients
Raw tomatoes - 1/2 kg
Oil - 2 tablespoons
Homemade Curry Powder - 4-5 tablespoons
Coconut - 4-5 tablespoons
Salt- to taste
Curry leaves- a few
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida/Hing - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
For Curry powder
Channa Dhal - 1/2 cup
Urad dhal - 1/2 cup
Corriander seeds - 1 cup
Red chillies - 10
Dry roast all the ingredients and grind it into a coarse powder. It stays fresh for nearly 3 months if stored in an air tight container.

Procedure
1. Cut the raw tomatoes into quarters and keep it aside.
2. Heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds, hing, turmeric and curry leaves.
3.Add the raw tomatoes and salt and saute' for a few mins till the tomatoes become soft. Please ensure that the tomotoes don't get mashed.
4. Add the homemade curry powder lavishly along with grated coconut and remove from the stove.
5. Serve hot with plain rice or curd rice.

Kadai Dhokla

I saw this recipe in one of the TV programs and tried it out. All of us liked it a lot. In this kadai dhokla, the inside part is soft and the crust is crunchy. This crunchy and soft combination was a really different experience....

Ingredients

Rava - 1 1/2 cups

Carrot and capsicum chopped finely - 3 tablespoons

Ginger paste - 1 tsp

Gn. chillies paste - 1 tsp

Curd - 1/2 cup

Eno fruit salt - 1 tablespoon

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Water - 1 cup

Oil - 3 spoons

Mustard - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Procedure

1. Mix all the ingredients except oil, mustard and curry leaves and keep it aside.

2. Heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard seeds and curry leaves.

3. Then add the prepared mixture and spread it evenly on the kadai and close it for 10 minutes.

4. Remove the lid and check if its cooked (you may use a fork or a knife and prick it. If it comes out smoothly, then the dhokla is done. )

5. Remove from the stove and allow it to cool. Use a laddle to slowly invert the dhokla on a tray.

6. You'll see the crunchy part of the dhokla on top now.

7. Serve the kadai dhokla with tomato sauce or corriander chutney.

Vegetable Pulao

Vegetable pulao is such a common rice variety in almost every home, both in North India and south India. Each one makes it in a different way. I too have tried different versions and finally I've settled down with this version.

Last Friday was my firend Vidya's birthday and we had a potluck party for the ladies and kids..I had made this vegetable pulao and it was equally liked by the kids and the moms. This pulao is not too spicy.

Ingredients

Carrot, Beans, Cauliflower, Potatoes - 1 1/2 cups cut length wise

Capsicum - 1

Onions - 2 medium sized

Ginger -1 inch piece

Garlic a few cloves

Cardamom - 3

Black cardamom - 1

Cloves - 3

Cinnamon - 1 small piece

Green chillies - 2

Bay leaves - 2

Ghee - 3 tablespoons

Kismis / dry grapes - handful

Cashew nuts - a few

Coconut Milk - 1 cup

Curd - 1/2 cup

Basmati Rice - 1 1/2 cups

Salt - to taste

Corriander leaves - for garnish

Procedure

I use Hawkins Handi cooker so that I can directly cook the pulao in the cooker.

1. Heat ghee in the cooker and add the bay leaf and onions and saute till the onions turn light brown.

2. Wash basmati rice in water and drain the waterand keep it aside .

3.Dry roast cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, kismis and allow it to cool.

4. Dry roast the garlic a little bit and allow it to cool.

5. Grind ginger, garlic,green chillies and the roasted masala items.

6. Add the ground masala and curd to the cooker and fry well for 10 mins.

7. Add the vegetables and coconut milk and mix well till the whole mixture is thick(it should not be watery at this stage).

8. Slowly add the rice, water and salt and close the cooker. For 1 1/2 cups of rice and the vegetables, I add 1 3/4 to 2 cups of water. I keep the cooker for 2 whistles and then turn it off.

9. Fry the cashew nuts in ghee and mix it to the pulao.

10. Serve this vegetable pulao with any raita, papad or pickle.

Diwali Special - Chocolate Burfi

The spirit of Diwali has been bright and colourful in our apartment. For the past two days we have been busy making sweets, eating sweets, making savouries and eating them....Ok, I should add sharing them too with friends!!!

Wishing you all a very Happy Diwali.

I would like to share one of my favourite sweets - Chocolate burfi. After we have made this my son Pranav's visit to the kitchen has increased! Everytime he goes in, he picks one burfi. I must tell you its really irresistable....Try this and you'll know.

Ingredients

Maida 1 1/2 big cups

Sugar 3 big cups

Cocoa powder - 4 tablespoons

Ghee - 4 tablespoons

Chopped Almonds - a few(Optional)

Procedure

1. Sieve Maida and keep it aside.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee in a non stick kadai and add the maida and roast it till the raw flavour goes and transfer it to a plate and allow it to cool.

3. Add the sugar in the kadai and water to immerse the sugar and bring it to boil. Keep stirring till the sugar syrup is thick and falls firmly like a stick. Remove from the stove.

4. Mix cocoa with a little milk to form a creamy liquid.

5. Keep the kadai on the kitchen counter(not on the stove) and add the cocoa liquid and mix well.

6. Slowly add maida little by little and and mix well so that there are no lumps. Keep mixing till there is heat in the kadai. At this stage it will become like the chapathi dough.

7. Add the remaining ghee and cut almonds and keep it in the stove for just 2 mins so that we give it a final mix. All the ingredients will be well blended at this stage.

8. Greese a steel tray with a little ghee and transfer the above mixture into the tray. Spead it well and press it with a small plate so the the top portion is flat and uniform. You may add so more chopped almonds at this stage.

9. Allow it to cool in room temperature and use a knife to cut it into squares or diamonds and leave it like that. Do not wait for it to cool completely to cut it as it will be difficult if you wait till that stage.

10. Once it is completely cooled, use the knife to pull out the burfis.

11. Enjoy the yummy Chocolate Burfis.

Raw Banana Curry / Vazhakai Curry

One day, I thought of doing something different with raw banana and came up with this recipe. Every one at home loves this recipe and we make this quite frequently. We eat this mainly with rice. It also tastes good with chapatis.

Ingredients
Raw Banana - 2
Green Chillies - slit - 3
Grated Coconut - 3 tablespoons
Onions - 2 medium sized
Tomatoes - 3 medium sized
Ginger - one small piece
Coconut oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Hing /Asafoetida
Turmeric powder
Salt

Procedure
1. Grind coconut with a little water and keep it aside.
2. Cut the raw banana into cubes and cook them in the microwave for about 5 mins.
3. Heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard seeds, hing, green chillies, ginger, turmeric powder and curry leaves.
4. Add the onions and fry well and then mix in the tomatoes and fry till they are tender.
5. Add the cooked raw banana along with half cup of water so that all the ingredients mix well.
6. Now add the ground paste and add 1 more spoon of coconut oil for extra flavour.
7. Mix well and once it boils, remove from the stove and serve hot with rice.

Mini Meals

Its been more than 2 weeks that I've worked on my blog. We had a grand celebration in our apartment for Independence day and I was busy with its preparation for the last 2 weeks.
I thought that I should compensate for this silence and came up with the idea of Mini meals. Most of the South Indian restaurants offer 2 types of meals - Mini meals and normal South Indian meals. The normal meals is quite elaborate and requires you to have enough time to eat!!
For the rest, who don't have enough time and still don't want to settle with a sandwich, Mini meals is a good option. I thought of doing something like that for lunch today.

Mini Meals Menu
Chapathi
Channa Masala
Tomato Rice
Beetroot rasam
Kovakkai /Tindoora Fry
I'm not sharing the recipe of chapathi because its so simple and known to all. I shall probably add it another day. Moving on to the rest of the list...

Channa Masala
Ingredients
White Channa - 1 cup
Tomatoes - 4
Onions - 3
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tablespoon
Channa Masala - 1 tablespoon
Green Chillies - 2
Corriander leaves - a small bunch
Tea powder - 1 tsp
Bay leaves - 2
Oil - 2 tablespoon
Ghee - 1 tablespoon
Lime Juice - 1 tsp
Dry mango powder/amchur- a pinch(optional)
Salt - to taste
Procedure
1. Boil 1 cup of water and add the tea powder and filter the black tea.
2. Pressure Cook the channa with water, 2 bay leaves, 2 cloves and the black tea. This gives a dark tint for the curry along with good aroma.
3. Heat ghee and oil in a kadai and add Jeera, ginger garlic paste and onions and fry for 5-6 mins till it turns brown.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook till it becomes thick.
5. Mash a few pieces of cooked channa and add it to the kadai. Mix in the channa masala, amchur and the remaining channa.
6. Add 1 cup of water, salt and close it for 5 mins.
7. Once all the ingredients are mixed well, remove from the stove and add lime juice.
8. Garnish with corriander leaves.
9. Serve hot with Rotis /chapathis.



Tomato Rice
Ingredients
Rice - 1 cup
Tomatoes - 6
Onions - 3
Oil - 3 -4 tablespoon
Jeera - 1tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tablespoon
Garam Masala - 1 tablespoon
Cardamom powder 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Corriander leaves - a few
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1tsp



Procedure
1. Cook the rice separately with a few bay leaves and cloves and transfer into a plate and allow it to cool.
2. In a kadai, heat oil and add the cardamom powder, jeera, ginger garlic paste, curry leaves and onions. Fry till golden brown.
2. Add the tomatoes and cook till it becomes thick.
3. Mix in turmeric powder, garam masala powder, salt and make it into a thick paste.
4.Add the corriander leaves and remove from heat.
5. Slowly add a few spoons of the paste to the cooled rice until the entire paste is mixed with the rice.
6. Heat this in the microwave before serving.


Kovakkai Fry /Tindoora Masala
Ingredients
Kovakkai /Tindoora - 1/2 kg cut into thin long pieces
Onions - 2 cut into thin long slices
Sambar powder - 1 tablespoon
Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 3-4 tablespoons
While cooking some vegetables we may have to reduce our health consciousness as these vegetables require a little bit more oil than others. Kovakkai is one such vegetable!! So, be a little lavish if you really want kovakkai fry...


Procedure
1. Heat oil in a kadai and add jeera, curry leaves and the onions and fry till golden brown.
2. Cook the kokkai with very little water in a microwave for 5-7 mins and drain the water. (You may use this water for the rasam instead of throwing it.)
3. Add the cooked kovakkai and add turmeric powder and salt and saute for 5-6 mins.
4. Now mix in the sambar powder and fry for 5 more mins in sim so that it turns light brown colour.
5. Tasty kovakkai fry is ready.

Beetroot rasam
I had earlier promised to share other tasty beetroot recipes like beetroot rasam....here it goes..
Ingredients
Beetroot -1
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Tamarind - 1 lime size(Squeeze the juice)
Rasam powder -2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1tsp
Pepper powder -1 tsp
Asafoetida/Hing - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Corriander leaves- a few chopped
Jeera - 1tsp
Green chillies - 2
Ghee - 1 tsp
Procedure
1. Cut the beetroot into big pieces and cook it in the microwave for 5 mins.
2. Allow it to cool and grind it into a smooth paste.
3. In a thick bottom vessel, boil the tamarind pulp(approx. in 2 cups of water).
4. Add the beetroot paste, turmeric powder, hing, salt and allow it to boil for 3-4 mins.
5. Add 1 cup of water and simmer for 2 mins till a frothy layer is formed on top. Remove from the stove.

6. Heat the ghee and add Jeera, ginger paste, curry leaves and green chillies. Pour this to the tasty and health rasam.
7. Garnish with corriander leaves and have it as a soup or with white rice. Either ways, its too good.

Spicy Tomato Rasam snd Cucumber Kootu/Curry

Its been raining continuously in Bangalore and during these rainy days, I just love to have spicy rasam and a kootu with hot pipping rice....You can even have this rasam as a soup.




Spicy Tomato Rasam

Tomatoes - 3-4 cut into quarters
Tamarind- size of a small lemon
Rasam Powder - 3 spoons
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Jeera Powder - 1 tsp
Ginger chopped - 1 tsp
Green Chillies - 2
Coconut grated - 1 tablespoon (optional)
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Asafoetida / Hing - 1 tsp
Water - 3 cups
Cooked Toor Dhal - 2 tablespoon (Optional)
For seasoning
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Procedure

1. Soak the tamarind in 2 cups of water and take the extract. I normally put it in the microwave for 30 secs and its much easier to squeeze the juice.
2. Heat the tamarind water in a thick bottom vessel and add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, green chillies, ginger and hing.
3. Once it boils for 5 -7 mins and the tomatoes become tender, add the rasam powder and stir well so that there are no lumps.
4. Add the cooked toor dhal with 1 cup of water and simmer it for 3 mins till a frothy layer forms on the top.
5. Add the jeera powder, pepper powder and coconut and take it off the stove.
6. Heat the ghee in a kadai and allow the mustard seeds to splutter. Then add the curry leaves and mix this with the rasam.
7. The spicy rasam is ready..

Don't start off your lunch straight away....check out this Cucumber Kootu / Curry...Its a great combination.

Cucumber Kootu / Curry
Cucumber (cut into cubes) - 1 1/2 cups
Cooked Toor dhal - 1 cup
Grated Coconut - 4 tablespoons
Jeera / cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Green Chillies - 1
Pepper - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
For Seasoning
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 1 tablespoon

Procedure
1. Cook the cucumber with very little water in the microwave till it becomes soft.
2. Grind coconut, cumin seeds, green chillies and pepper to a smooth paste.
3. Heat oil in a kadai and allow the mustard seeds to splutter. Then add the curry leaves.
4. Mix the ground paste and add a little water and fry it for 2 mins.
5. Stir in the cooked dhal and the cooked cucumber and mix well.
6. Add salt and turmeric powder and allow it to boil for 4 -5 mins.
7. The tasty curry is ready. You could use the same recipe for other vegetables like carrot and cabbage combination or using white pumpkin.

Enjoy this combination on a rainy day with hot rice and don't complain that you ate a little too much...!