Taste of Mysore

Obbattu/Holige

2013-05-10T02:53:00.002-07:00

OBBATTU

I gladly combine Obbattu and Holige under same category. From my understanding, the difference between two are :

Obbattu = Patted with hand and they are thick and are smaller in diameter
Holige = Rolled with a rolling pin and thin. These have larger diameter compared to Obbattu.

There was time when my ajji and amma told us, if you can master the skill of making obbattu/Holige you have graduated from your cooking school. So, this dish is equivalent to final exam paper of my mom's kitchen school. Back to recipe now.

Ingredients :

For Skin:
All Purpose Flour (Maida) - 1 cup (You can choose to use only chiroti rava without maida)
Chiroti Rava (fine semolina)- 2tbsp
Salt - a pinch
Water - enough to make soft dough
Oil- 100ml

Method:
Mix all purpose flour, Chiroti rava with a pinch of salt to make a very soft dough. Pour oil over it and leave it for 2-3hrs.

For Stuffing:
Pigeon Peas(Toordaal)- 1 cup
Split Chickpeas(Kadalebele)-1/4 cup
Coconut freshly grated - 4tbsp
Cardamom- 2 pods

Grated Jaggery(Palm Sugar) - 1cup+1/4cup (We call it bella in Kannada)

Method:
1.Cook pigeon peas and chickpeas untill soft. I prefer cooking them on stove top to avoid overcooking.
2.Remove water from dal and reserve the water for making rasam.
When dal cools down, add jaggery to it and grind it to a smooth paste along with coconut and cardamom. Use as little water as possible.
3. Your stuffing is ready for making Obbattu.

Making Obbattu:
You need:
1. Rolling pin (apply oil to the rolling pin)
2. Non-sticky paper (paper with plastic lining)
3. Tava/Pan to fry Obbattu
4. Oil

1.Grease your non-stick paper with oil. Pinch little plain flour dough and spread it on the non-stick paper.
2. Place stuffing in the center, like this :

3. pinch the edges to the center and close it to make a ball. Oil your fingers and pat it down to make a nice circle. Transfer it over warm tava and slowly release the paper.

4. Pour a spoonfull of oil on top and wait for the other side to brown. Turn it over and roast on other side.

5. Serve hot with a spoon of ghee on it. Here is your share if virtual treat :

Enjoy!!!

Chaat - Evening Snack

2013-05-02T02:16:00.002-07:00

For your evening snack pleasures..

This is very simple chaat if you have few things on hand.

Ingredients:

Papdi - 1 packet (these are flat puris which can be bought)

Green Chutney - (Grind Pudina, coriander leaf, green chilli, salt, ginger and onion to smooth paste without adding water. Squeeze half a lemon to it and mix well. Finally sprinkle black salt over it and mix)

Tamarind and date chutney- Store bought.

Tomato, Onion- Chopped into small pieces

Potato - 1 Cooked,grated and mashed well

Yogurt - 1 cup (thick yogurt)

Sev - Store bought

Chaat Masala - to sprinkle

You can see the recipe in picture :

Method:
1.Arrange puris in a plate. Spread green chutney on puri. Place mashed potato on it.
2.Add in little yogurt, followed by onion and tomato. I added grated carrots too.
3.Pour in tamarind and dates chutney. Finally garnish with sev and sprinkle chaat masala to finish assembling the chaat.

Done!!! You just have to pop this in your mouth and ENJOYYY!!!

Churumuri ~ Bhel Puri

2013-04-04T01:41:00.004-07:00

I guess, no one says NO to Churumuri! Here is how I make 'elaborate' Churumuri ..

Ingredients:
Puffed Rice (Puri or Pori or Muri as you may call)
Onions, Tomatoes,Coriander- chopped
Carrots - grated
Boiled Potato (cooked potato) - chopped
Green Chutney
Date n Tamarind Chuteny (Store bought)
Cooked Kabul Chana
Fried Peanuts (crispy)
Oil - 2tsp
Chaat Masala, Sev for garnishing

Green Chutney:
Grind Mint, Coriander, ginger, green chilli 1/2 onion to smooth paste. Do not use water to grind.
Add lemon juice and black salt and mix well. Chutney is ready for your chaats.

Method:

Mix vegetables, chana, potato, peanuts with green chutney and 1 tsp tamarind chutney.
Add oil and mix.
Finally add in puri and toss well.
Quickly serve topped with corainder leaves, tamarind chutney and sev

Enjoy!!!

Aloo Tikki ~ Stuffed, for your sandwiches

2013-04-03T22:30:00.002-07:00

Aloo Tikki stuffed with Peas and Onions

Ingredients :

Potato : 2 Large

Plain Flour : 1 tsp

Salt : as required

Red Chilli Powder : According to your taste

Stuffing:

Onions : 1 Chopped into fine pieces

Peas : Blanched

Redchillipowder+GaramMasala+Chaat Masala+Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Oil for Frying

Stuffing Preparation :

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry onions.

2. When onions turn soft, add green peas and masala powder.

3. Add salt and switch off the stove. Mix everything well.

Tikki:

1. Cook potatoes, peel and grate them

2. Add, salt, chilli powder and plain flour and mix well

Stuffed Tikki :

Take little potato mixture in your palm and spread it.

Place the stuffing mixture in the center.

Close the potato mixture and make a nice ball.

Gently flatten this stuffed ball between your palm.

Shallow fry in a pan and use it for your sandwiches.

Kottambari Pulav

2013-03-19T00:36:00.003-07:00

Kottambari Pulav ~ Coriander Pulav

Ingredients :

Coriander Leaves - 1 cup packed

Cloves - 4

Cinnamon - 2" piece

Coconut - 6tbsp

Garlic - 2 (we get big ones here, so I use only 2 cloves)
Green Chillies - 5

Vegetables - Green peas (if you wish to add other vegetables, you may add)
Bread Pieces from 3 slices of bread. Deep fry them in oil and keep it ready.
Rice : 200g (Basmati Rice)
Curry Leaves : few
Oil : 2 tbsp
Salt

Method:

1. Rinse and soak basmati rice in water for 15mins.

2. Clean and wash coriander leaves. Grind coriander leaves, garlic, cinnamon and green chillies into smooth paste with little water.

3. Thaw green peas and keep it ready for pulav.

4. Heat oil in pressure cooker. Add in coriander n spices paste. Fry till the paste thickens a bit.

5. Add in peas, rice and mix well. Add salt, water for rice to cook and mix well. Pressure cook for 1 or 2 whistles.

6. When cooker cools down, pour the rice in a plate and mix with fork and put back the rice in the cooker. This time, layer the rice with bread slices. Let it sit in the cooker for 20 mins, before your serve it cool raita or mosaru sasive :)

Coffee, Kaapi

2013-02-27T23:03:00.001-08:00

Coffee, Kaapi

Our day starts with a cup of freshly brewed 'Kaapi'. How about yours?

Freshly Brewed Coffee :

Bru Filter Coffee Powder : 2 heaped tablespoons
Water : 250ml (approx 2 Cups of water)
Milk- 1/2 cup
Sugar

You need a coffee filter to brew coffee.

Boil water. Meanwhile, add 2 tablsepoon full of coffee powder into the filter.
Pour hot water over the powder into the filter. Close the lid and wait for 10 mins.
Tap the filter gently with a spoon for the water to trickle down. Decoction is ready.

Photo Courtesy : Wikipedia

Boil milk in a bowl and add sugar. Mix well.
Pull the hot milk between two cups to have a frothy milk.
Slowly, add in hot decoction. Serve immediately.

Monday to Sunday, Day or Night, Coffee is a must......

We have it with our breakfast like this...

Snack time, cuppa is a must...

Dose, bonda etc jote Coffee illa andre hege heli matte??

Coffee is for all time, any time :)

Bhatura

2013-02-27T01:40:00.000-08:00

This post is definitely good for some tips on frying Bhatura which can be extended to pooris as well. Do take a peek!

Bhatura Batter :

Maida - 400g (All purpose flour or plain flour)
Yogurt - 50g (Mosaru in Kannada)
Salt - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Yeast - 7g (Instant yeast)
Oil - for frying

Method :
1. In a deep bowl measure and add sugar, salt, yogurt, plain flour and yeast. Add ingredients in the same order mentioned. It makes some difference when added in different sequence, esp Yeast.
2. Mix all the ingredients. Add more water if you need to make a firm dough.
3. Allow the dough to rest. Cover the dough with damp cloth. The resting time is 1-2hr in a warm place. At the end of 2hrs, you can see the dough rising.
4. Next process is in the pictures :

5. Heat chapathi pan (flat pan) and frying pan with oil. Roll out the dough to make a circle. Transfer this rolled out dough to chapathi pan. Fry this for few seconds on both the sides. Slide this half baked chapathi into hot oil to have instantly puffed up Bhatura.

6. You can use the same technique to fry pooris.
7. Why this extra step? According to my observation, this extra step has reduced the oil required for frying Bhatura and Pooris. The oil does not get dirty with the dusting powder and it instantly puffs up without having to wait for long time. I absolutely loved this trick which was suggested by Tarla Dalal on one of her cookery shows. Thank you Tarla ji for this tip.

As mentioned above, this post is definitely good for tips on frying Bhaturas. These tips are tried and tested in my kitchen and even extended to Pooris as well. They work well for both.

Serve these Bhaturas with Chole, Spring onions and few slices of lemon.

Till the next post, try out these yummy Bhaturas ....

Lakshmi

Rava Dosa / Rava Dose

2013-02-04T21:54:00.001-08:00

Rava Dosa Anyone ?

Serving Size : Makes 30 dosas

Ingredients :
Rava (Semolina) - 150g
Rice Flour - 150g
Plain Flour (Maida) - 3tbsp
Yogurt (Curds) - 100g
Onions, coriander leaves, curry leaves - Adds taste. Add as needed.
Jeera, Pepper - little
Salt

Mix everything and add water to mix well without lumps. Set aside for 20 mins. Mix the batter again. At this stage, you have to add more water to make it a runny batter. Rava dosa batter is very thin.

Heat a non stick pan. Mix the batter well, take a laddle full of bread and pour on very hot pan.

There is no specific protocol on how to pour the batter on the pan. Go ahead and throw the batter, sprinkle or use any method to pour the batter. Thinner batter gives crispy and lacy crepes.

When dosa starts becoming crisp and red, add a tsp of oil on dosa and a tsp on the sides. Take out dosa from the pan and serve.

You can pair it with any side dishes you like. Our favorite side dish for rava dosa has always been onion chutney. This time around I tried sambar and chutney but I guess, onion chutney still tastes good with this dosa for us :D

I tried making 'tiffin sambar' from various blogs. It did taste good to eat on its own. We enjoyed drinking bowlful of sambar. Thanks to fellow bloggers for blogging it.

Enjoy these lacy crepes this weekend....

Lakshmi :)

Heerekayi-kadalebele saaru

2013-02-01T00:40:00.000-08:00

This is a 'no tamarind' saaru for you to try out this weekend.

Ingredients:

Deskinned, Split Chickpeas - 1/2 cup (Kadalebele)
Ridgegourd - 1 (Heerekayi)

Soak chickpeas for an hour. Meanwhile, peel ridgegourd and cube them. Cook both of them with apinch of turmeric in a pressure cooker till dal is soft.

For Grinding to smooth paste :

(Deskinned, Split Chickpeas + Deskinned Black beas)
Uddinabele + Kadalebele : 1tsp each (fried)
Red chillies : 4
Grated fresh coconut : 3-4 tbsp

Fry the above ingredients in a tsp of oil, except coconut. Let them cool.
Add coconut to the fried ingredient and grind to smooth paste using little water at a time.
Add this paste to cooked dal and ridgegourd. Add salt and little jaggery. Bring it to boil.
Adjust salt or jaggery if it needs more.

Enjoy with hot rice. You may want to serve with 'Balaka' or Majjige Menasinakayi.

Pudina Chutney Pudi

2013-01-25T22:39:00.000-08:00

Pudina Podi

Pudina Pudi :

Pudina (Mint Leaves) - 1 packed up
Red Chillies - 2
Tamarind- very little
Salt, Jaggery

Oil, Uriddal

Heat a thick bottomed pan and add spread mint leaves on the pan.
Switch off the stove and let the mint leave wilt on the pan.
Grind pudina with redchillies, tamarind, salt and jaggery to make coarse paste.
Heat oil in the same pan you used before. Add few mustard seeds and urid dal. Let urid dal brown. Add the coarse paste and fry till the moisture in the paste dries up and becomes powder.

Serve the powder with hot rice and ghee.

Curry leaves chutney powder ~ Karibevu chutney pudi

2013-01-14T22:53:00.001-08:00

Curry Leaves Chutney Powder :

Ingredients:
Coriander Seeds: 1tsp
Curry leaves: 1 cup packed
Red Chillies: 3-4
Tamarind: a small piece
Split Chickpeas (Kadalebele): 1tbsp
Split Black beans (Uddinabele): 1+1/2 tbsp
Dry grated coconut- 2tbsp
Salt
Jaggery (palm sugar) - a small piece

Fry all the above ingredients separately in a thick bottomed pan. Do not burn them.

Fried Uddinabele Kadalebele

Fried pulses ready to be powdered

Fried Chilli, curry leaves and coriander seeds

1.Powder salt, chillies, curryleaves, tamarind and salt together. Keep it aside.

2.Powder dals (pulses), coriander seeds and grated coconut into grainy powder. Keep it aside.

3.Mix both the powders well with a fork (I use my hands) and powder them together to

get fine powder. Chutney powder is ready! Taste the powder and add more salt or jaggery if needed.

4. I like the powder coarse, so I did not make it to fine powder.

Add a spoonfull of chutney powder to hot rice and pour ghee on it. Mix well and enjoy!

Ambode ~ Dal Vada

2013-01-05T04:31:00.001-08:00

Ambode/Dill Leaves Vada

Ambode/ Dal Vada with Dill

You need :

Kadalebele/Chanadal - 2 Cups (1cup=100ml)
Green Chilli - 8 (adjust according to your spice levels)
Dill Leaves - 3/4 cup packed (washed and chopped)
Onion - 1 big or 2 small (chopped into small pieces)
Ginger- small piece
Salt
Oil for deep frying

Method :

1.Soak dal for 3-4 hours.
2.Chop onions into fine pieces. Wash and cut dill leaves.
3.Blend all chana dal leaves with ginger and green chillies into coarse paste.
4. I used food processor to blend these into coarse paste. Add in chopped onions and dill leaves.

5. Add salt and mix well. Check salt in the batter and adjust as needed.
6. Heat oil in a pan. Take little batter at a time and press them down between your palm and slide them down in the oil. Deep fry till they are golden brown.
7. Enjoy with a cup of tea/ coffee :)

Menthesoppu Uppittu ~ Methi Upma

2012-12-28T01:24:00.003-08:00

Menthesoppu Uppittu

Learned this recipe from my sister-in-law's mother-in-law ..phew! so many laws !!

Adding menthesoppu (methi leaves) gives a good flavor and enhances the taste.

Ingredients :

Menthesoppu

(Methi leaves or Fenugreek leaves) : 1 cup (washed and chopped)

Onions : 2 (deskinned, washed and cut vertically)

Green Chillies: 5 (slit vertically)

Coriander Leaves: 2tbsp (chopped finely)

Curry leaves: few

Semolina - 150g (measure in any cup and keep semolina aside)

Note: Use fine grain variety of semolina. We call it 'bengaluru rave'

Water - 2 cusp (use the same cup that you used to measure semolina to measure water)

Oil- 3-4 tbsp

Salt as required.

Lemon Juice : 1tbsp

Other ingredients for seasoning :

Namma maneya Oggarane Dabbi

Method:

1.Fry semolina untill fragrant in a thick bottomed pan. At this stage semolina or rava must have turned slightly brown in color. Perfect for making upma. Transfer it to a plate.

2. Cut vegetables as per instructions given next to the vegetables in the ingredients section.

3. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once mustard stops spluttering, add chanadal(kadalebele),Urid dal (uddinbele) to the oil. When dals turn brown, add green chillies and fry for half a second.

4. Next add curry leaves, onions and menthesoppu (methi) leaves to the oil and fry untill onions turn transcluscent. Add salt and water (2 measures) and bring it to boil.

5. Taste the water to check salt. Salt must be little more than required since you have not yet added rava(semolina) to the water. Adjust salt.

6. Reduce the heat and start adding semolina to the boiling water. Add semolina little at a time and stir the mixture soon after adding semolina. Finish off adding all semolina. Allow this mixture to cook for 3 minutes before you switch off the stove.

7. Cover the pan and let the upma rest for next 8-10minutes. Add lemon juice and mix well.
Serve it with chutney powder or pickle.

Upma is ready to eat!!!

ENJOY

Avocado (Benne Hannu) Milk Shake

2012-12-25T22:07:00.001-08:00

Benne Hannu (Avocado) Milk Shake

We had this tree in our garden when we were young. That time we never realised it as Natures Power Food. Enjoy Benne Hannu if you are getting plenty and at a throw away price.

It is a simple milk shake and here is how I make it.

You Need :

Avocados : 3 (deseed and take out the pulp)

Honey : 2 tbsp

Sugar : 6 tbsp (I used more since the avocados were bland)

Milk : 1/2 litre

Ice Cubes : 1 tray of ice cubes (12 cubes)

Take all the ingredients in the Juicer. Grind them well untill they blend well.

Add more water if the milk shake is thick and blend again.

Serve in tall glasses topped with some whipped cream :)

We skipped the serving step and had it plain like this :

Done!! You can enjoy your milk shake now :) Slurrp! I want to have one more glass.

Fruit Cake for Christmas

2012-12-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all !!!

I had craving to 'bake' this fruit cake rather than eating it. I have tried various recipes from
Joy of Baking. All recipes have been a hit. I tried this and I was quite satisfied with the results.

There was no alteration in the recipe made except for the amount of dry fruits used was less comapared to what was reccommended in the recipe. I just used everything I had at home :)

http://www.joyofbaking.com/FruitCake.html

I shared this huge cake with my colleagues and family. Here is how a piece of cake looked like:

You can add the same amount of fruits mentioned in the recipe to get a more fruity cake. This cake had so much that I felt it was the right amount. I used 360g of currents and raisins assortments where the recipe demanded 680 g. I added same amount of nut assortment though.

Merry Christmas to you all again. Enjoy your holidays!!

Hitikida Avarekaalu Sambar ~ Huliyar Style

2012-12-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

Hitikida Avarekaalu Sambar

The recipe is from Huliyar, a small town in located in Southern part of India, Karnataka (Tumkur District). The town has many Arya Vysya families and this recipe comes from my mom's grand parents house. Over the years, the recipe has seen many modifications by my ajji (grand mother) and my mother herself. I am the perhaps the 4th generation (in between we have many older cousins)

who is using this recipe. It is a real yumm treat to us whenever my mom cooked this at home.

Here is how my mom made this sambar.

Ingredients :

Avarekaalu (deskinned) - 250g

Deskinned Avarekaalu

Masala :

Red Chillies - 5 or 6 (Spicy ones) + 4 byadi chillies

Coriander Seeds - 1tbsp + 1tsp

Cumin - 1/2 tsp

Black Pepper - 5 seeds

Poppy Seeds - 1tbsp

Cloves - 5

Cinnamon - 2" stick

Marathi moggu- 2

Sauteed Onions - from 1 onion

Raw onion - 1tbsp

Garlic - 1 clove or 1 piece

Grated Coconut - 6 tbsp

Oil for frying

Tamarind Juice - 4tbsp

Jaggery or brown sugar for balancing the taste

Heat a pan and fry all the ingredients separately listed in 'masala' except coconut. Add a drop of oil when you fry red chillies and a tea spoon oil when you fry onions.

Method 1:

Grind the following in a mixer ginder :

Chillies, sauteed onions (pan fried onions), raw onions and garlic with little water to a smooth paste. Cook avarekaalu in this masala untill the beans are soft. This method takes a long time to cook beans.

Beans are cooked on stove top and not in pressure cooker.

Meanwhile, grind the following in mixer grinder :

Grated coconut, corainder seeds, cumin, pepper, poppy seeds, clove, cinnamon and marathi moggu into a smooth paste using water. Add this masala to the cooked beans. Add more water if needed.

Add in tamarind paste, salt and jaggery. Adjust the flavors and switch off the stove. Hitkavre is ready to eat. I prefer the curry to cool down before I serve.

Method 2 : Short Cut ;) my way...

1. Cook beans in water on stove top. Once it is cooked, beans look like this :

Skim away froth when the beans is cooking.

In a mixer grinder, grind all the ingredients (ater frying) listed under 'masala' into a smooth paste.

Add tamarind juice, jaggery salt and enough water and bring to boil. Adjsut the flavors and sambar is ready to eat.

We love to eat it with Dosa! Slurrrp!!!! Try it out to know it...

ENJOY!!!!

Palya Bonda ~ Stuffed Bonda

2012-12-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

Palya Bonda

It is raining contineously here in Singapore. Looks like rain god is very happy with us here :) It is always good to have a cup of coffee with these bondas and stare at the rain which is pouring like there is no tomorrow to it.

It is very simple to make these ..

Ingredients:

For palya (vegetable stuffing)

Potato -3 (cooked and mashed well)

Onion-1 (chopped into fine pieces)

Green Chilli - 2 or 3 (slit vertically)

Oil

Turmeric

mustard seeds

For bonda batter :

Chickpea flour (1 cup), salt, rice flour (1tbsp), soda-bi-carb (adige soda or cooking soda)

Sieve the flours and mix with enough batter to make a thick batter which looks like dosa batter.

Oil for deep frying

Method:

1.Pressure cook potatoes, peel the skin, mash into rough pieces.

2. Cut onions into small pieces and slit chillies vertically.

3. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds stop popping, add turmeric

and green chillies.

4. Add in chopped onions, reduce the flame, add salt, cover and cook for few mins.

5. When onions are soft, switch off the stove and add mashed potatoes. Mix well.

6. You can add in chopped coriander leaves. Mix well and make small lime sized balls.

7. Heat oil on medium heat for deep frying.

8. Prepare bonda batter as said above. Drop the potato balls in bonda batter and coat them

with bonda batter and spoon them into hot oil. You can use a spoon for this purpose.

9. Deep fry untill golden brown.

Drain them and serve hot. A cup of coffee would pair well with them.

Pick one from here and enjoy!!!!

Lakshmi

Rasmalai ~ Almost Instant

2012-12-10T01:59:00.000-08:00

Rasmalai

Almost Instant Rasmalai :

You need the following :

Rosogolla Tin - 1

Nut & Spice Powder - 5-6 tbsp

Sugar- 4 tbsp

Milk - 1 L

* You can use any reputed brand's Badam Milk Powder if you like. If you are very particular about the ingredients and proportions used in the Badam Milk Powder, you can make some like how I have done it at home.

Method:

1.Bring 1L milk to boil and thicken it. Reduce it to 3/4th of qty.

2. While milk is boiling, open Rosogolla can and squeeze rosogollas and keep them aside.

3. When milk is reduced to required thickness, add sugar, Nut&Spice powder and stir well. Switch off the stove.

4. Add in rosogolla's to this hot milk and set it aside till the milk cools down. You may sprinkle saffron strands on hot milk. Rasmalai is only 1 step ahead from serving.

5. When milk comes to room temparature, refrigerate the Rasmalai for 2-3hrs.

6. Serve chilled rasmalai to your family/friends

I do not have any pretty picture to show you how it was served, but I can say that this was 'super hit' with my chinese colleagues who loved it to the core in my deepavali party!

Enjoy!!

Saagu for Dose/Dosa

2012-12-07T01:43:00.001-08:00

Saagu and Dose

For some good reason, we have several types of curries to eat with Dose/Dosa. Everytime you make dose, you have something different to eat with.

Ingredients :

Coriander Seeds - 1tbsp

Cumin (Jeera)- 1/2 tsp

Red Chillies - 5 or 6

Grated Fresh Coconut - 3tbsp

Roasted chickpeas (hurgadle) - 2-3tbsp

Cinnamon stick - 2"

Cloves- 4

Pepper - 4

Roasted poppy seeds - 1tsp

Vegetables - Carrot, French Beans, Onion, Peas, Tomato, Potaoto cut into small pieces of 2" and pressure cooked.

Tamarind Juice, Salt and little jaggery(palm sugar, bella in diff languages) to balance the taste

Method:

Pan fry coriander seeds, cumin, chillies, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and poppy seeds. Once they cool, add roasted chickpeas and grated coconut and grind to smooth paste.

Add this paste to cooked vegetables. Add salt, tamarind juice and jaggery to adjust the taste. Bring to boil and check taste before you serve.

Serve it with set dose or paper dose or paper dose ...

Dose/Dosa recipe can be taken from here....."Click here for dosa recipe"

Enjoy!!

Nutella Cup Cakes ~ We went mad over them!

2012-12-04T20:10:00.002-08:00

Nutella Cup Cakes

We indeed went mad over them.. Who are we here..We reffers to all my colleagues in office.

They all loved it and I even made more than 30 cupcakes for a collagues daughter birthday..

Box1 of the cupcakes for birthday

For those of you who have not heard of Nutella, here it is :

It is choclate and hazelnut spread which is yummy!!!
What you need ?

Nutella - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Plain Flour -3 tbsp
Soda bi Carbonate - 1/2 tsp
(no sugar required as Nutella has sugar in it)

Method :

Beat Nutella and egg untill they are combined well.
Sieve flour and sodabicarbonate together.
Add little at a time to nutella egg mixture and mix well.
It looks like this :

Spoon the batter to cupcake moulds and bake at 170degree C till skewer inserted comes out clean. Looks like this when done :)
You can sprinkle walnuts on top before baking as I have done.

Once they cool down you can ice them with your favorite icing. I topped it with Nutella and sprinkled some colorfull sprinklers.

or just plain cakes taste yummy too...

Enjoy!!!

Fried Idlis ~ Left Over Solutions

2012-11-28T23:27:00.002-08:00

Fried Idlis

I have seen people (non-Indian) trying to read Indian menu card and finding it difficult to understand certain items like :

Dal Fry - Why is it Dal Fry why not Fried Dal ?

I was with a colleague trying to teach her how-to-read Indian menu card and I fainted after a while!
After my failed attempt to explain 'Dal Fry' logic, I changed my mind about my next title of my blog post. I had named it 'Idly Fry' before and after this incident I changed it to Fried Idlies....poor friends who are reading my posts should not get confused again!

Few Pre-Notes before I proceed :

1. Thanks to Pratibha, Jeyashree and Raks Kitchen for their awesome posts with varied versions of this recipe. I spent a while reading all their recipes and came out with my own which best suited my familys' taste.

2. You can deep fry idlis for a more sinful taste. I chose to stiry fry. Pratibha says, you can bake them too..I did not try that though.

3. Idli Powder- I have tried many versions. Do not hesitate to alter the ingredients if you think that is how it makes you feel good.

4. For the final seasoning, using Gingely oil makes all differnce. You can use sunflower oil too.

Idli Podi/ Idli Chutney Powder/Milaga Podi

Kadalebele - 2 Tbsp (other names - deskinned split chickpeas, Chanadal)
Uddinbele - 3 Tbsp (other names- deskinned split black lentil, Uriddal)
Sesame Seeds - 1tsp (White sesame seeds)
Hingu - 1 big pinch (Asafoetida, Hing)
RedChillies - 5 (Mix of Spicy and non spicy varieties)
Salt - 1tsp

Method :
Fry all ingredients separately with a drop of oil and blend them to a coarse powder. This is ready for the next step.
I prefer sprinkling hing on hot lentils just out of pan rather than frying it.

How to make Fried Idlis:
Step 1
1. Cut left over idlis into desired shape. I had them cut into wedges.
2. In a non-stick pan, heat about 3-4tbsp oil and fry Idlis till their outer skin is brown.
3. Switch off the stove and Scop these idlis on a plate.

Step 2

Oil, Jeera, Idli Podi, Salt

Optional Ingredients :
1. Chopped Onions
2. Green Chillies
3. Curry Leaves

1. Heat a pan, add a tbsp of oil. Add jeera and fry for a second. Add in onions, chilles and currry leaves and fry if you are using them.
2. Add idli podi and mix with the onions. Throw in fried idlis and salt and toss them well.
3. Continue to mix and toss till all idlis are coated with the powder. Switch off the stove and let
the idlis sit in warm pan for 5 mins before you serve them.
4. Enjoy fried idlis. These idlis were super spicy because of the number of chillies I used but
they were very tasty. We did not use any accompaniment to eat it with.

Samosa

2012-11-27T00:11:00.001-08:00

Samosa

Disclaimer : 1. This is not any mysore food. Viewers & Readers this is a evening snack recipe from rest of India.

Samosa

Ingredients List: makes 25 samosas

For Samosa Skin

Plain Flour (Maida) - 200g

Oil - 100ml

Salt to taste

Carom Seeds (Ajwain) - 1/2 tsp

Water as needed

For Samosa Filling

Potato - 5 medium sized

Peas - a handful

Onions- 2 (chopped into fine pieces)

Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric - a big pinch

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp

Coriander Powder - 1tbsp

Jeera Powder - 3/4 tbsp

Garam Masala Powder -1tsp

Oil for Tempering

Oil for Deepfrying.

Samosa Skin :

1. Add oil, carom seeds & salt to plain flour and rub well.

2. Add little water at a time and make a stiff dough. Rest it for 15 min in refrigerator. It looks something like this:

3. Pinch a lemon sized portion from the dough and work it on a smooth surface. Using a rolling pin roll the dough into oval shape

Cut in the middle. You get two halves which can make 2 samosas. Folding explained in this picture:

After folding is done, folded samosas line up to be fried ..

Samosa Filling :

1. Cook potatoes, peel and mash it well.
2. If using frozen peas, defrost and keep them in warm water for 5 mins.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of oil, add jeera. When jeera turns brown, add onions and fry till they are soft.
4. Reduce heat and add turmeric, coriander powder, jeera powder, garam masala,
sprinkle 1 tbsp of water and mix well. Adding water prevents these masalas from getting burnt.
5. Add in salt and mix well. Now goes potatoes and peas. Mix spices and potatoes well.
6. Switch off the stove and taste the potatoes. Adjust salt n chilli if required.

Frying :
1. Spoon the filling inside the samosa skin and deep fry them in oil till they are light brown.
2. Drain them on a tissue paper. Fry all samosas.
3. Re-fry samosas till they are golden brown like this

Drain them at this stage and refry after few minutes to get crispy skin..

They are ready to eat with your favorite accompaniment.

Enjoyyy!!!!

Lakshmi

Bread Uppitt

2012-11-25T19:42:00.000-08:00

Bread Uppitt

Have some left over bread sitting there for 2-3 days? Here is something which you can make..

What you need ?

Ingredients look like this :

Tempering Ingredients : Mustard, Uriddal, Chanadal

Vegetables :

Peas in hot water

Chillies, Onions, Curry leaves, Coriander leaves

Bread, torn into rough pieces and sprinkled with 2 tbsp water

Apart from these, you need :

Turmeric - a pinch

Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp

Salt - as per taste

Lemon juice - if you prefer

Oil

Method:

1.Heat oil in a pan and pop mustard seeds. Add dals and fry till they are golden brown.

2.Throw in chopped chillies, curryleaves and onions. Fry till onions turn soft. Add peas and continue to stir.

3. Reduce the heat and add chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala powder, salt and give a good stir. Wait for 30 seconds.

4. Add bread pieces and mix well. Continue to stir and fry for next 1 or 2 mins till bread is warm and nice. I like to continue frying till bread turns a little crisp at the edges.

5. Garnish with coriander and little lemon juice if you prefer.

6. Serve it warm. This is in my lunch box today :

My lunch today :)

Lakshmi

Aaloogadde Sagu (Potato Sagu)

2012-11-21T03:48:00.001-08:00

This is our favorite accompaniment for rava idli or rave idli.

Ingredients :

Potato : 3

Grind to smooth paste :
Coconut : 4 spoons (freshly grated coconut)
Gasagase : 1tsp (toast it on a hot pan till it starts changing it's color)
Khuskhus (Hindi), poppy seeds (English)
Cloves : 4 (toast it on a hot pan till it plumps)
Cinnamon: 2" stick (toast it on a hot pan till it gives good aroma)
Roasted chickpeas : 1tsp
Green Chillies: 4
Ginger : a small piece
Coriander leaves : 1tbsp (chopped)
Star Anise powder : a pinch

Temper: Oil, mustard, asafoetida

Method:
1. Pressure cook potatoes, peel them and roughly chop them into pieces. Keep them aside.
2. Grind all the ingredients under 'grind to smooth paste'
3. Heat oil and add mustard seeds plus asafoetida. When mustard stops spluttering, add ground paste and a cup of water. Add salt, potatoes and bring this mixture to boil.
4. Taste and adjust the salt. Switch off the stove and let it sit for 10 minutes before you serve with rava idlis.

Lakshmi

Balekayi Palya(Raw Banana curry) ~ Easy

2012-11-19T19:22:00.005-08:00

Banana image courtesy: on time exports

Disclaimer: Pictures don't do any justice to the curry blogged here. It tastes far more tasty than it looks :)

Ingredients :

Raw Banana : 3 (peeled & chopped into 1/2" or 1" cubes)
Oil : 1 tbsp
Rasam Powder : 1tbsp
Coconut grated : 1 tbsp (fresh coconut)
Turmeric : a pinch
Salt
Tamarind Juice
Jaggery
All the above 3 ingredients to be adjusted according to your taste.
Mustard seeds and curry leaves for tempering

Method :

1. Heat oil in the pan and add mustrard seeds. When mustard stops spluttering add curry leaves and add turmeric + chopped banana.
2. Good to use a non-stick pan or else the chances of banana sticking to the pan is high.

3. Fry till banana is little soft. It takes around 3-4 mins. Add in tamarind juice, salt, jaggery, rasam powder, grated coconut and 1 cup water. Bring it to boil and cook banana.
4. Taste and adjust the salt, sour and sweetness of the curry before you switch off the stove. This is done in 15 mins time.
5. The curry does not have too much water or gravy. Why call it curry? Me still thinking..

Serve with chapathi :

Enjoy!

Lakshmi