Cooking for Taste Buds

Ada

2011-08-20T07:46:00.007-05:00

Who doesn't like Dosa for Breakfast ? (especially if you are from South India) However the effort and time involved in preparing regular dosa is more. Today I happened to find a dish - a variety of Dosa which doesn't require any fermentation process. It is called Ada (got to know that it is a Tamil dish).

Lets start the process...

Ingredients:

Rice (4 cups)
Urad Dal (1 cup)
Chana dal (1 cup)
Moong Dal (1/2 cup)
Toor Dal (1/2 cup)
Methi seeds (1/2 tea spoon)
Poha thick (1 cup)
Salt

Steps

Soak above ingredients in a vessel for around 6 hours or so.
Once soaking process is done, drain and Grind it (consistency should be similar to regular Dosa batter)
Add Salt accordingly and mix it well.
As I said earlier, no fermentation is required, so you can prepare dosas the moment the batter is ready.
Serve with Chutney and it would be great :)

This is the basic version of Ada, however you can also you can add few more ingredients while grinding - ginger, green chillies, Hing, grated coconut etc)

Vangibath - Bisibelebath powder

2011-08-14T20:10:00.017-05:00

When I was in U.S, I used to prepare Vangibath with store bought Vangibath masala. Even though it used to be tasty, I always felt something is missing. This weekend I got a chance to note down the process of preparing traditional bath powder (the same powder can be used for Vangibath or Bisibelebath with little modifications). Lets start...

Ingredients:

Coriander Seeds

Urad dal

Chana dal

Cinnamon sticks, Black stone flower - dagadfool (dagadful) & Marati Moggu

Cumin seeds & Methi seeds

Hing (Asafoetida)

Dry coconut

Curry Leaves

Steps

Add little oil in a frying pan and fry hing, zeera and Methi seeds for 3-4 mins and keep it aside.
Add little oil and fry Urad dal, Chana Dal, Cinnamon sticks, Black stone flower and Marati moggu for around 5-10 mins and keep it aside.
Add little oil and fry Coriander seeds and curry leaves for 5 mins and keep it aside.
Fry dry coconut (without oil) for 5 mins and keep it aside.
Now grind all the ingredients and Coconut separately. Mix them and then grind it again.

This masala can be used directly for Bisibelebath with out any additions. However for Vangibath, you need to add crushed cloves while preparing Vangibath along with this masala.

Vadappi

2011-08-07T07:40:00.012-05:00

Its a Sunday evening, cloudy...about to rain heavily and I am feeling bored than usual, no mood in doing anything...was simply sitting with my eyes closed...1...2...3..4....5mins and then it hit me...that...that its been more than a year now since we started this blog. How unfortunate to miss the first anniversary and also no activity at all in past few weeks...then i knew what to do....you guessed it right ....post a new recipe :) Its called Vaadappi(its a variety of Akki rotti - a Karnataka dish).

Ingredients:

1) Rice flour
2) Finely chopped onion
3) Zeera
4) White sesame seeds
5) Coriander leaves
6) Green chillies
7) Hing
8) Salt
9) Curd (Yogurt)
10) Oil

Steps:

1) Chop onions as finely as you can.

2) Grind green chillies and coriander leaves

3) Take rice flour in a wide bowl and add chopped onions, mixture from step 2), zeera seeds, sesame seeds, hing, Curd (Yogurt)and salt (accordingly).

4) Mix the above ingredients well and make it as a dough.

5) Add oil to a vessel and apply the dough as thin as possible.

6) Start heating the vessel and keep on rotating it to spread the heat.
7) Dish is ready to remove when the dough turns into golden brown color.

It might sound little complicated and yes its a time consuming process but the end result definitely justifies the effort :)

Prawn/ Shrimp curry

2011-05-09T21:04:00.004-05:00

Ingredients:

prawns - 2 cups

oil

mustard seeds

large onion - 1

few curry leaves

tomato (big size) - 1

thick tamarind juice - 2 tsps

turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

red chilli powder - 1/2- 3/4 tsp

coriander powder - 1 tsp

garam masala - 1/4 tsp

water - 1 cup

Method:

Clean the prawns/shrimp. De-vein them. If you are using the frozen ones, you can just wash them and use (since they are already cleaned). While washing, add 1/2 tsp of salt, mix well and wash. This helps to eliminate the odor.

In a kadai, put the prawns, add some turmeric powder and fry in high flame. Keep frying to help the water evaporate quickly. Keep them aside.

Clean the kadai and heat some oil in it, add mustard seeds. Then add onions, curry leaves and saute well.Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for 2-3 mins. Then add chopped tomatoes, salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and saute well.

Add tamarind juice and mix well. Let it becomes like a paste or wait until oil seperates. Then add the prawns, mix well. Add water and cover it with a lid. Let it cook in medium flame until you get the desired consistency.

Serve hot with rice or dosa.

Coconut Barfi

2011-01-17T18:41:00.000-06:00

I am not a sweet person, but there are a few sweets of which I am very fond of and this is one them. It is a very easy recipe.. so do give it a try :)

Ingredients

Grated coconut (fresh) - 1 Cup

Sugar - 1 Cup

Ghee

Process

I usual grate my coconut in a blender, so the texture is fine. Fry a the coconut slightly if you wish and keep it aside.

Add the sugar to the same pan and when it starts melting, add the grated coconut and mix well.

Take a plate and smear it with little ghee, the sugar and coconut mixture will be placed on it to set.Another option would be to use a aluminium foil and grease it with ghee. It will make things easier.

Now when the sugar and coconut have mixed and stop sticking to the pan, pour it in the greased plate and let it set.

Once it has set, cut it into pieces and enjoy.

Palak Paneer

2011-01-17T18:30:00.000-06:00

There is no story behind why I started cooking this..except that I like it. But I remember what a huge mess my mom and I made when we tried it for the first time. When we put the spinach into the blender and switched it on, the lid flew off and the spinach was all over the kitchen :). Hope no such thing happens to those who try it. This dish is more of my husband's expertise and he makes it a more elaborate process with more ingredients. The recipe that I gave here is lot simpler with lesser ingredients and the spinach flavor is more prominent in my version.

Ingredients

Palak (Spinach)- 500g

Paneer(Cottage cheese)- 400g

Onion - 1 small

Garlic - 4 big pods

Green chillies

Cumin seeds

Salt

Process

Cut off the stems of the spinach and wash the leaves.
Chop the onions, slit the green chillies and peel the skin of garlic pods
Put the spinach, onions, garlic and green chillies in a cooker. Add a cup of water, it does not require lot of water. Add a little salt as well. Cook for 2-3 whistles.
Meanwhile cut the paneer and pan fry them. I generally cut into bigger pieces for frying and then cut them into smaller pieces later on.

When the spinach cools, drain of the excess water. Remember not to throw the water as it has nutrients can be used in cooking instead of water :).Blend the spinach into smooth paste

In a deep pan add little oil and add the cumin seeds when oil is hot.
When the cumin seeds start to splutter, add the spinach paste. Remember to cover, because if the paste is too thick, the paste will splatter all over. Add a little bit of the water we saved earlier.

Now add more salt if needed and let it boil. Then add the paneer pieces to it and let it cook for 5 mins.

There its all done now... enjoy your meal :)

Double Ka Meetha

2011-01-17T16:46:00.004-06:00

Its been a while since I have posted in this blog, this is an attempt to keep the blog alive as the fellow blogger is pretty busy these days. This dish is a sweet and considered as special in some parts of Andhra Pradesh especially in Hyderabad and called as 'Double Ka Meetha'....

This is fairly a simple dish if you follow few basics correctly, lets get started....and forgot to mention, if you are calorie conscious, you can skip this... :) others may proceed...

Ingredients:

Ghee
White Bread
Cashew
Raisins
Pistachio
Milk
Sugar
Khoa

Procedure:

Cut bread slices into your favorite shapes/sizes (you can be creative here if you want to), and keep it aside for an hour or so.
Meanwhile prepare the sugar syrup by heating 2 cups of water with 2 cups of sugar. Keep on boiling till it becomes consistent (around 20-30 mins).
Heat Ghee at a medium flame.
Fry the bread pieces in ghee till it gets brown color on both the sides and keep it aside.
Just dip the bread pieces in the sugar syrup for a min and keep it aside.
Roast Cashews, raisins and pistachios in ghee and add on top of the bread pieces.
Take some khoa and make it into tiny pieces (similar to grating). Add this to little amount of milk and start heating it. After getting some consistency, apply this on the bread pieces (don't apply more on each piece).

and you are done...

P.S: For those who are in US, I got Nanak's Khoa from indian store, you can find it at the same place as Paneer. It will be unsweetened so while boiling with Milk add some sugar.

Mysore Bajji

2010-12-06T18:56:00.005-06:00

All of sudden one of my roommates screamed "its snowinggggg!!!!!". I couldn't stop myself running towards balcony and there it is as i stepped outside...i can see it, i can feel it....wow what a wonderful feeling it is to feel the cool breeze while it is snowing, i just closed my eyes so that i can enjoy that feeling and suddenly i felt like eating hot and spicey snack :) I opened my eyes and was going through the list i have...and then i remembered that Mr.Ronaldo has prepared Mysore bajji previous night which came ok but not up to the mark. I thought i should try it and then i called my mom for recipe...so lets start.....

Ingredients:

1 cup Maida (All purpose flour)
1/4 cup rice flour
thick buttermilk
chopped ginger
chopped green chillies
freshly grated coconut
Baking soda
salt

Procedure:

Take all the ingredients into a bowl, i.e. 1 cup of maida and 1/4 cup of rice flour, add salt, 1/2 tea spoon of baking soda, grated coconut, chopped ginger, chopped chillies.
Mix the above contents by adding buttermilk (make sure it is very thick). Don't make the batter very thin.
Keep the batter aside for 1 hr and meanwhile start heating oil.
Once the oil is heated, start frying by dropping small dumplings of batter into oil (make sure you are frying under medium flame)
After frying properly (it should turn into golden brown color) remove the bajjis from oil.
Serve with coconut chutney and it would be awesomeeeeee

P.S: Mr.Ronaldo is my roommate and I seriously don't know why it is called as Mysore bajji :) but i love it :)

Vegetable Pulav

2010-11-18T18:42:00.000-06:00

Another of my quick fix, lazy day favourite. Life is easier, since I get chopped mixed vegetables from the store. So here goes the recipe...

Ingredients

Rice - 1.5 cup
Chopped vegetable - 1.5 cup
Chopped Onion - 1 medium size
Green chillies (slit) - 4
Cloves - 2
Bay leaf - 1
Salt
Water - 3 cups

Vegetables
Carrots, beans,peas, potatoes - my these are my favourite, you can change as per you liking.

Process

Wash the rice and soak in water for 15 mins and drain the water
Add s2- 3 tsp of oil in a pan and heat. Add green chillies, cloves, bay leaf and fry.
Then add the chopped onion and mixed vegetables , fry for 5 mins.
Then add the rice and salt to taste. Fry for another 2-3 mins.
Since I use an electric cooker, I move the contents into its container and pour the 3 cups of water and wait till its done. If using a normal cooker I will doing the frying in the cooker itself and add the water and close the lid. Switch the stove after 3 whistles.
It goes well with raita or veg. or soya nugget kurma.

Gutti Vankaya

2010-11-16T20:28:00.006-06:00

This is a very famous and special dish in Andhra Pradesh and if properly made, tastes delicious :)
I like Brinjal (baby eggplant) a lot and hence like all brinjal dishes :) But gutti vankai is the one of the best brinjal dishes one can prepare :)

Coming to the preparation.....

Ingredients:
1) Small Brinjal (5 - 7)
2) Groundnuts (Peanuts) - 1 small cup
3) Sesame seeds - 1/4 cup
4) Chilly powder 1 table spoon
5) Sambar powder - 2 table spoons
6) Salt - as per your taste.

Procedure:
1) Roast groundnuts in a pan without oil.
2) Once the above step is done, roast sesame seeds.
3) Let both groundnuts and sesame seeds cool down a bit and then put these two into mixer jar and add 2 spoons of sambar powder and 1 spoon of chilly powder, 1-2 spoons of salt(as per your taste) and grind it well.
4) Cut the brinjals into in a way that you can stuff the above powder into it (as shown below).

5) Take a pan or cooker, add 3 spoons of oil and place stuffed brinjal into it pour one small cup of water.
6) Make sure that you have masala powder left after stuffing brinjal so that you can add on top the brinjal and water.
7) Cook in the cooker till 1 whistle and switch it off.
8) Wait for 10 mins and Gutti vankai is ready.

This goes well with Rice and also with chapathis.

Note that this is not an authentic recipe for gutti vankai but it tastes really good.

Semya Payasam

2010-11-15T17:43:00.011-06:00

My mom used to prepare this on my birthdays and I like this dish especially if my mom prepares.
This is a kind of very basic payasam/kheer, very easy to prepare.

Ingredients:
1) Milk - 1 gallon
2) Semya (vermicelli) - 200 gms
3) Cashews, raisins (dry grapes) and elaichi (green cardamom) powder.

4) Sugar

Procedure:
1) Transfer 1 gallon of milk into a vessel and heat it.
2) Break semya into small pieces and put aside. I have used roasted vermicelli (if you don't have roasted vermicelli, please roast it before adding it into milk)

3) Roast Cashews, raisins and elaichi powder in ghee (roast in small flame)

4) After 15 mins, add 1 cup of sugar (add later as required) and keep heating.
5) Once the milk reaches boiling point add semya pieces into it.
6) After 10-15 mins add roasted cashew, raisins into the mix and keep stirring.

7) Heat the contents till semya is well cooked.

And here it is yummy semya payasam.
Tip: If you feel that semya payasam is thick, add more milk and sugar accordingly as this dish should be thin.

Bisibelebath

2010-11-14T17:34:00.007-06:00

Bisibelebath is a Karnataka dish and it means Bisi - Hot, bele - dal and bath - mixed with Rice. Most of my friends call it as Sambar rice :) but it is not true even though few ingredients are same. In Sambar rice, Sambar and Rice are cooked separately and then mixed. Bisibelebath is all about cooking Toor dal, vegetables, rice and spices together. So lets start cooking.....

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 1 cup
Rice - 1 cup
Potato - 2-3
Carrot - 2-3
Beans
Bisibelebath masala - 2 -3 spoons
Groundnuts or peanuts - half cup
Cashews - as per taste
Tamarind paste
Ghee
Basic tampering (tadka)

Procedure:

1) Take 1 cup of toor dal in a big vessel and add 4 cups of water and start cooking on stove.
2) Soak 1 cup of rice in 1:2 ratio in a bowl.
3) If you don't have tamarind paste, please soak tamarind in a bowl now.
4) Cut 2-3 medium sized potatoes into cubes (not too small and not too big), also cut carrots and beans (you can add different variety of vegetables but i prefer only these three)
5) After 20 mins of cooking dal (dal should be half cooked), add vegetables and peanuts and continue cooking.
6) Mix 2-3 spoons of bisibelebath powder in tamarind juice, also add chilly powder if you want it little spicy.
7) After another 10 -15 mins (dal should be 75 % cooked) add the soaked rice along with water.
8) After another 5 mins, add the mix prepared in 6th step and add salt as per taste.
9) Prepare basic tadka (with oil, mustard seeds, hing, urad dal, curry leaves, cashews, red chillies etc).
10) Once rice and dal are well cooked, add the tadka to it along with lots of Ghee ( you can skip adding ghee if you don't want calories but if you are looking for excellent taste please add ghee and work out a little more in gym :))

There it is hot, spicy bisibelebath.

Serving tip: Server Bisibelebath with Boondi, chips, mixture or Papad (my favourite is Papad)

Fish Fry

2010-10-14T17:10:00.001-05:00

I like fish fry in comparison to the fish curry. I don't know what type of fish my mom used to cook at home. The fish I use here is Salmon. This the recipe I use for fish fry.

Ingredients
Fish - 200 gm
Salt
Red chilly powder
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Curd - 2 tbsp
Chopped curry leaves
Chopped coriander leaves

Optional ingredients
All purpose flour(maida) - 1tbsp
Tamarind juice - few drops

Process

Wash the fish and pat it dry with a paper towel. cut it into smaller pieces if required.
In a bowl mix the remaining ingredients - salt, red chilly powder, coriander powder, curry leaves, coriander leaves and curd. Add a few drops of oil to the paste(I used olive oil).
You can add the tamarind juice if you want the tangy taste in fish and I used all purpose flour because it has binding effect and will bind the ingredients to fish giving a crispy crust on frying. You can also substitute it with corn flour.
Now smear the paste onto the fish and let it sit for 15-20 mins.
Heat a frying pan and start frying the fish pieces, no additional oil should be required as we already add oil in the spice paste. You can add few drops if fish is sticking to the pan. When done the color of the fish will change, remove from pan when done.
Eat it hot and be careful with the fish bones. Enjoy !!

Masala Capsicum

2010-10-01T12:38:00.001-05:00

I have never been fond of capsicum.. until the day when a neighbor of sent us a gravy dish of capsicum.I loved it, So began the quest for making a similar dish and I came up with my version. The gravy is inspired from the 'Gutti vankaya'. So here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:

Capsicum (Green Bell peppers) - 3
Onions - 2 medium
Peanuts - 1 cup
Sesame seeds - 2 tbsp
Green chillies
Curry leaves
Chopped ginger - 1 tbsp
Chopped garlic - 1 tbsp
Tamarind pulp - 1 tbsp
Salt
Red chilly powder
Turmeric powder
Garam masala

Process:

Heat a pan. Dry roast the peanuts and remove them from pan.
Add some oil for frying in the pan. now add slit green chillies, ginger, garlic and curry leaves in it.
After 2-3 min add the onions. when they turn translucent, add the sesame seeds, tamarind pulp and fry.
Finally add the salt, chilly powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and mix well. Add roasted peanuts as well to this. Take out from pan and let it cool.
Meanwhile, chop the capsicum into medium sized cubes and fry them in the same pan. Cook them till they start changing color and soft.
Once the peanut and onion mixture cools down, grind them to paste. Add some water if required.
Add this paste to the capsicum in the pan and mix well. Switch of the stove after cooking for 5 mins.

Spicy Vegetable Bread Pudding

2010-10-01T11:33:00.000-05:00

Few days after I made sweet bread pudding, I decide to try making a spicy version of it. I put together whatever ingredients I had at hand, so you can try with whatever you have at hand keeping the basic ingredients the same.

Ingredients:

Basic
Bread - 10 slices
Milk - 2 cups
Egg - 2
Salt
Red Chilly Powder
Cinamon powder

Additional
Brocoli
Paneer (Cottage Cheese)
Mushrooms
Note: You can also try other combination of vegetables

Process:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.Break the bread slices into smaller pieces and put it in a baking dish.
Mix milk, eggs, salt, chilly powder and cinamon powder.( you can also try adding your variation of spices)
Chop the vegetables and paneer. Add it the bread slices and mix. Pour in the milk mixture from step 2.
Bake for 30 - 40 mins.
Take let it cool. Enjoy with a dash of ketchup if you like :)

Sweet Bread Pudding

2010-10-01T11:14:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid my mom used to make a dish using bread, eggs, milk and sugar. She used to mix milk, egg and sugar and then dip the bread slice in them and fry it on a fry pan. I used to call it sweet bread. The taste of that sweet bread led me to find this recipe for the bread pudding.

Ingredients:

Bread - 10 to 12 slices
Milk - 2 cups
Condensed Milk - 200 gm
Eggs - 2
Butter - 4 tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract
Cinnamon Powder (optional)
Raisins

Process:

Break the bread slices into smaller pieces and put it in a baking dish.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Mix all the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Add a few drops of vanilla extract and a very small pinch of cinnamon powder.Pour this mixture into the baking dish with bread.
Garnish with raisins
Bake for 30 -45 mins.
Take out and let it cool. Cut it out and enjoy :)

I garnished it with some blue berry fruit preserves and drizzled some concentrated milk (pic next to ingredients).

Oven roasted sweet n spicy corn cobs

2010-09-14T14:35:00.003-05:00

Roasted corn cob is one of my favorites especially on a rainy day. I don't remember when I started eating them first, but the first memories of my roasted corn are when we were in gaya, they used to come out around rainy season. I like the coal roasted corns the best with salt, red chilly powder mix rubbed with a lemon wedge.. thats yummy. My mom also used to roast them over the gas top and we used to rub the salt, chilly powder and ghee paste. After coming to US, I started craving for them when I saw then in walmart. Though no where near to the taste of those found in India.. they are the best we could get. The corns found here are sweeter and softer in taste. I generally roast then on electric stove but this time I experimented roasting them in oven.

Ingredients:
Corn cobs
Salt
Red chilly powder
Ghee/Lemon wedge

Procedure:

Spice mix: Mix the salt and chilly powder as per your taste. Then add ghee and mix them well else squeeze the lemon juice and mix well.
Rub the paste on the corn. When roasting on stove top, i first roast them and then rub the mix. I did the other way round as I was experimenting.
Heat the oven to 350 F, then put the corn cobs and cook for 15-30 mins.
Keep turning the cobs if they are getting a burnt char on them
Before taking them out I put the oven on broil and give slightly more char. Note: when in broil, food chars very fast so keep a very close watch or the food will get burnt and will not be very edible.
Take out and let it sit for some time. All yours to enjoy.

Toordal Chutney

2010-08-08T07:04:00.007-05:00

My mom makes this chutney during functions at our home. Toordal chutney is good with hot rice with ghee or can be used as side dish with main items like dal/sambar or even curd.

Ingredients:

Toordal (1 small cup)
Dry coconut
Dhania seeds (one table spoon)
Methi seeds (1/2 table spoon)
Mustard seeds (1/4 table soon)
Red chilly powder
Sugar/Jaggery
Salt
Tamarind

Procedure:

Fry Toordal in little Oil, till it gives nice flavour (or till 10 mins in medium flame)
Roast Dry coconut pieces for about 5-10 mins
Fry Mustard, Methi and dhania seeds in little oil fo about 5 mins.
Add all the above into a mixer along with tamarind, sugar, salt, chilly powder, water and grind it nicely. Check for the consistency and add water if needed.
Once grinding is done, transfer the content to a bowl and mix with regular tempering (with Mustard seeds,hing, red chillies, curry leaves etc)

I like this with hot rice with Ghee :) try it...

Groundnut Chutney

2010-08-08T06:42:00.008-05:00

Its 7:45AM here, my taste buds are craving for Rava Dosa (check rava dosa recipe in this blog) and my favourite compliment witht rava dosa is Groundnut/peanut chutney, I borrowed this recipe from my mom :). Very very simple and perfect for all kinds of dosas/idle/vada , so lets start.

Ingredients:

Groundnuts (1 cup)
Green Chillies
Salt
Jaggery/Sugar
Tamarind
Mustard seeds/curry leaves/Hing/Red chillies (for tempering)

Procedure:

Roast Ground nuts on medium flame
Fry Green chillies in little oil.
Add roasted groundnuts, fried chillies, little tamarind, salt to your taste, little jaggery/Sugar into a mixer.
Add water (1/2 cup) and nicely grind the ingredients. Check regularly for the consistency and add water if necessary.
Once grinding is done, transfer the content into a bowl and add tampering with mustard seeds/Hing/red chillies etc.

Groundnut chutney is ready, so simple isn't it.

Onion Pakoda

2010-08-05T14:46:00.001-05:00

One rainy day my husband for craving for the hot pakodas and a cup of tea. So I decided to make the onion pakodas. The same batter mix can be tried with other vegetables like potatos, brinjal or even with the spinach. So many options, try all at same time if feasible and you will have a platter full of different types of pakodas, great when entertaining more people.

Ingredients

Besan - 2 cups
Salt
Red chilly powder
Chopped green chillies - 6 med.
Chopped curry leaves
Onions - 4 or 5
Water
Oil

Process

Put the besan in a big bowl. Add salt, red chilly powder, chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Mix well.
Start heating the oil for frying in a deep pan.
Thinly slice the onions and add them to the besan. Mix all the ingredients.
Now add water little by little and stop when the batter is thick enough to be fried. If the batter becomes too water to hold onto the onions add a little more besan to thicken it.
When the oil is hot enough for frying, take small quantity of the batter and put it in the oil. Fry till golden brown.
Take them out and put on a paper towel to remove the excess oil.
Serve hot with ketchup or green chutney if you prefer. Enjoy

Lazy day favourite - Fried Rice ( Veg., Egg or Both)

2010-08-05T14:11:00.001-05:00

A favorite of mine,especially after coming to USA. This helps me survive the days when I don't want to do lot of chopping, cutting, cooking and cleaning. I usually have a packet of frozen mixed vegetables in my freezer which makes my life a lot easier. In India I had to make everything from scratch like peeling the carrots and then chopping all the veggies. Its quite flexible based on the ingredients you have at your disposal. The good thing about this is that it can also be made for just one person :). Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients
Cooked rice
Salt
Powdered black pepper
Eggs
Coriander leaves(optional)

Veggies:
Carrots
Green beans
Peas(optional)
Spring onions(optional)

Process

Cooked rice should not be mushy, the grains should be fairly separate. Can also use the leftover rice.
Chop all the carrots and beans into small pieces. Chop the spring onions into pieces of approx. 1 inch.
Heat a pan and add enough oil to fry the veggies. When the oil is hot add the veggies, little salt and pepper powder and fry till they are cooked. Take out of pan.
Add little oil and break the eggs into and mix to make the scramble egg add little salt and pepper. Take out of the pan. Note: In the pictures I did not the veggies and eggs as I was cooking for one person.
Now add the rice to the pan and fry it for some time. Now add the veggies and scrambled egg. Mix in well. Check for the salt and pepper, add more if required.
Garnish with coriander and serve.

As I said it is quite a flexible dish, add the veggies you like and skip on eggs and it becomes a veg. fried rice . Add the eggs and skip the veggies it becomes the egg fried rice. Try out your own variations and enjoy.

Haryali Chicken Tikka or Try Paneer

2010-08-05T13:29:00.003-05:00

I tried this recipe mainly because I was curious as to how the broil feature of the oven works.. lucky for me that this turned out well :). For the vegetarians out there, they can try using Paneer instead of chicken.

Ingredients
Chicken breasts - 400 gm
Curd - 1/4 cup
Salt
Lemon - 1 small
Red chilly powder
Turmeric powder
Green chillies
Coriander leaves
Mint leaves
Curry leaves
Garlic
Ginger
Olive oil

Process

Clean the chicken and chop into cubes.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Note:Remember to keep the top most rack of oven approx. 6 inches from the top of oven.
Roughly chop the coriander, mint and curry leaves. Also chop the green chillies, ginger and garlic. Grind all these into a fine paste.
Add the above paste to chicken. Also add the salt, turmeric and red chilly powder and lemon juice mix it in well. Leave out lemon juice if you don't want the tangy or sour taste to your chicken.
Add the curd to the chicken and blend it well. Mix in 3-4 drops of olive oil (or any other cooking oil).
Let this sit for at least an hour in refrigerator.
Put the oven in broil and the place the chicken inside the oven in a baking vessel. The food cooks fast in broil option, so watch the it. This should be done in 10-15 mins. You can use the skewers if you have them. Note: Remember to line the baking dish with an aluminum foil to make cleaning easier later on ;)
For even charring of chicken flip after 10 mins and cook for another 5 mins or so.
Take out and enjoy :)

Chicken Curry

2010-08-05T12:55:00.004-05:00

This is the simplest way of making chicken curry that I know of. It requires some marination time, so it would be good to have it marinated at least for an hour.

Ingredients
Chicken breasts - 400 gm
Curd - 1/2 cup
Salt
Red chilly powder
Turmeric powder
Coriander powder
Garam masala

Chopped onions
Ginger garlic paste
Green chillies (slit )
Bay leaf
Cardmom pods (slightly opened)
Cinnamon stick
Cloves
Coconut milk (optional)
Chopped coriander leaves

Process

Marination:After cleaning the chicken, cut it into small pieces and put it in a bowl.Add the curd, little salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and little garam masala. Let it sit for at least an hour in refrigerator.
When ready to cook, heat some oil in a cooker or deep pan. Add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and cloves.
After a minute, add the chopped onions and fry till they become translucent. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is gone.
Add the marinated chicken and the marinade to the cooker/pan.Add the coconut milk if using. Mix well.
If using a cooker - Add some water enough to submerge the chicken and close the lid and cook for 4 to 5 whistles.
If using a pan - when chicken starts turning white, add little water and cook for 10 - 15 mins. The chicken will be cooked if turns white even inside. Chicken cooks faster even in open pan, if required cut n check :).
Garnish with coriander leaves.

This goes well with both rice and roti. Enjoy !!

Palak Fry

2010-08-05T12:43:00.006-05:00

Too bored to eat the palakura pappu (palak dal), I tried this simple recipe which goes well with both rice and roti.

Ingredients

Spinach

Onion - 1 medium

Garlic pods - 5 to 6
Salt
Red chilly powder

Process

Wash the spinach and chop it well.Chop the onion and the garlic pods.
Heat some oil in a pan, add the chopped onions and garlic and fry till the onions turn translucent.
Add the spinach, close the lid and cook for 10- 15 mins.
Add salt and red chilly powder to taste. Mix well and cook for another 1 to 2 mins.
All done :)

Capsicum curry

2010-08-03T17:47:00.004-05:00

I was bored with regular vegetables, so I thought of preparing Capsicum fry, Capsicum is a delicate vegetable with unique flavour. So lets start..I am already hungry :)

Ingredients:

Chopped Capsicum (2-3 medium size)

Chopped Oninon (one medium size)

Coriander powder

Coconut powder

Mustard seeds

Turmeric Powder

Hing

Curry leaves

Chilly powder

Urad dal

Procedure:

Heat oil on a pan and add mustard seeds wait till it crackles/splits, then add hing, curry leaves, urad dal and fry little bit.
Add onions, curry leaves, turmeric powder, Salt and fry till onions turn into translucent.
Add chopped capsicum and fry it in medium flame (don't put lid while frying). When the capsicum is half cooked, add half table spoon of coriander power, 1 table spoon of coconut powder and little chilly powder.
Fry for another 10-15 mins in medium flame and capsicum fry is ready to serve :)