D(h)al Recipe

A simple Dhal Recipe... The fastest...easiest....tastiest........Always @ my house when I feel lazy to spend more time in cooking.




Ingredients:

channa/toor /Mysore Dhal 1 cup
Water 2 cups
Onions 1/2 cup
Green chilli 2
red chilli 3
Tumeric 3/4 tsp
Chilli powder a pinch(optional)
Pepper corns 1 tsp
Garlic 3 pods(chopped)
Cumin seeds 2 tsp
Coriander powder 3/4 tsp
Tomato 1/2
Asafotida Powder 3/4 tsp
Curry leaves 1 spring
Coriander to garnish
Salt to taste


Method:

1)Wash the dhal,pressure cook the dhal with 2 -2 1/2 cups of water,a pinch of jeera,green chilli&allow it to cool.
2)Heat the pan,add 2 tsp of Ghee/oil ,add mustard seeds,cumin,peppercorns,red chilli,onions,garlic pods,coriander powder,curry leaves,tomato,asafotida powder,turmeric powder,a pinch of chilli powder and fry them.Add cooked dhal to this mixture .
3)Add little water and allow it to boil for 10 minutes.Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve Hot...


Note: If you want,you can also Add 3 spns of tamarind juice,2 tsp of grated coconut.U ll get a spl flavor in ur usual Dhal curry.

Best with Rice served with pappad&dry &deep fried Yoghurt chilli.

Tomato Rice

This is one amongst my fav food! This is how I do tomato rice with spices...I love the regular one too. I enjoy when I cook with lot of tomatoes.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes 5
Tomato puree 5 tsp
Briyani leaf 2
Meal maker(optional)10-15
Red Onions 1
Green chilly(vertically sliced) 5-as per ur pref
Fennel seeds 2 tsp
clove 2
cardamom (optional if u don like the taste ) 2
cinnamon stick (medium size) 1
kas kas 3/4 tsp
ginger -garlic paste 1/2 tsp
chilli powder 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 3/4 tsp
oil
curry leaves
coriander leaves
salt to taste.
Method:
1)Wash the rice, pour 3/4 tsp of oil. Add rice, meal maker, bay leaf and cook(usually 1 cup rice- 2 (or)2 3/4 cup water. This would take nearly 15-20 minutes in a rice cooker.
2) Grate the following items in a blender
(5 tomatoes,1/2 onion,1 tsp fennel seeds,2 cloves, cinnamon stick, green chilli, kaskas)
3)Heat the pan, pour oil ,add 1 tsp mustard seeds ,let it splutter, add curry leaves, fennel seeds,cardomom ,channa dhal, remaining cut onions, ginger garlic paste.fry properly till onion turn golden brown.

4) Now add the grinded masala, tomato puree, chili powder , turmeric powder and little water to it...

5)Let this boil till you get a gravy consistency.
6) Now add gravy to the boiled rice and mix it.

Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve with chutney, pappad

Rasamalai

RASAMALAI!!! One amongst my most fav milk sweets..whenever I go to any restaurant, I will first check for the dessert list in the menu card to make sure rasamalai is over there…most of us like the sweets made with fresh paneer(rasamalai,rasagulla,kalakand )….We shall try this.,…

TThe mix for such sweets is readily available at shop…….We could either get this mix,

Make small patties with milk and mix(basically milk powder) -->boil it in sugar syrup -->then soak in milk syrup .This is one way!

Another way,

Milk-->soft paneer---->knead the dough make patties-->prepare sugar syrup -->boil the patties in syrup --->prepare milk syrup with badam powder and sugar -->soak patties garnish with cashews, almond, pistachios.

Will go through the second process now!!!!

First let we be clear in what we use.

Fresh paneer:

Whole Milk 1 litre

Lime juice/Vinegar (to squeeze it in the boiling milk)

Muslin cloth/cheese cloth 1

Syrup (to boil the Patties)

Sugar 1 /2cup

Water 4 cups

Cardamom pods ½ tsp

Malai (Milk Syrup)

Whole milk 1/4litre

Sugar 1/2 cup

Grinded cashew/almond paste ¾ cup (or) as an alternative you can use even badam drink mix.

Garnishing

Nuts and saffron

Method:

Fresh paneer:

1) Take a deep pan, boil milk in low-medium flame .let it boil well...slightly reduce the heat and add vinegar or lemon juice (around 3 -4 tsp) and whisk it slightly.

2) Adding citric acid will make the milk to curdle and float on the to separate them out ,take a muslin cloth drain excess milk from this fresh paneer(It might take from 40 min -50 min),knead this to get a dough consistency and now make small round patties (here I lost my patience in making flat and round ones….I started making different shapes tooJ)

Syrup (to boil the Patties)-do it in medium flame

3) Take another Pan; boil the water with sugar and cardamom powder

4) Put patties, let it boil till it becomes big and soft enough.(remember to close the pan with lid when it is boiling)

Malai (Milk Syrup)

5) Boil Milk with sugar, cashew/almond paste, saffron.(or)just boil the milk with the badam feast mix you have….

6) Transfer the drained patties in to the milk syrup bowl, garnish with nuts

Refrigerate and serve Cold!!

Thakkali(Tomato) Rasam

Typical south Indian Soup!!!!!!
right?

freshly prepared with spices...

Ingredients:

Tomato 3
Tamarind less than lemon size
Small Onions 2
Green chilli 1
Curry leaves 2 sprig
Chilli powder 1 tsp
Garlic 3 pods
Cumin powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Pepper powder 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida powder 3/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish
Method:
1)Soak very little amount of tamarind in water
2)Cut the tomatoes,boil it in water for few min and let it cool.
3)Now mix the tomatoes and the tamarind extract(taste and check for the sourness)& add salt too
4)Heat the pan,pour oil/ghee ,add cut onions,green chilli ,curry leaves,fry it and then add tomato extract to it.
2)Pour some water(if needed).now add all the powders except asafoetida powder.
3)Smash the garlic and add to the rasam,now add asafoetida powder.
4)Finally the coriander leaves.
Note:
Freshly grinded combination of cumin seeds,coriander,pepper,garlic ,asafoetida,curry leaves will add very good taste your rasam.

Serve hot with rice.

Bread Bajii

Bread Bajii-A solid Snack with Tea... ultimate taste....itz not the method we cook... Who ever makes this..itz going b yummy. our part is juz dip and fry... the flour and bread with oil...make an excellent yummy combination...

ALL U need is
Sojii flour 1 cup
chilli powder 1 tsp
cumin seeds(optional) 1tsp
Hing powder 1 /2 tsp
Salt to taste
Soda oil

Method:
1) Pour oil in a deep frying pan Let the oil heat up..

2)Add Chilli powder,cumin seeds,Hing powder salt ,soda to flour,mix it well without leaving any balls..whisk it once..so that u get a even batter.

3)cut the bread in any shape u like,dip it in batter fry in the oil.


Here u go......A sweet an salty snack!!! Best with coconut chutney /sauce

Beetroot Thovaiyal

Beetroot- a beet grown for its edible red root.....
This Solid vegetable has
The capacity to Lower blood pressure
Normalize cell respiration
0% fat
high source of fibre...........

shall we include this vegetable in our cooking menu...?????????
WE SHOULD!!!
Ingredients:

To grind:
Beetroot(Grated) 1 cup
Red chilli 5
Toor Dhal 3-4 tsp
Channa dhal 2 tsp
Red onions 1/2 cup
Tomatoes 2(medium size)
Salt to taste.
Seasoning:
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Oil 1 tsp

Method:
1)Heat the pan, to 2 tsp of oil,add all the grinding ingredients and fry them for5 -10 min.allow it to cool for few minutes.
2)Then transfer the contents to the blender and grind to get a fine paste.
3)Season it with mustard seeds &curry leaves.
4)Serve with Rice/Idly/Dosa.

Rich in calcium

VennPongal

One of the "for sure" dish in any function and festivals esp Thai pongal( ref as harvesting festival in tamil nadu).The dish is perfect when it is "Not pressure cooked/not boiled in pans.
My granny has a spl pots...black pot with deep & heavy bottom which adds spl flavors to all the dishes she cooks in that pot.Over here....i dont have neither a pot nor a heavy pan.So I used this pressure cooking Style!
any way...let us start with it..

Ingredients:
Rice 1 cup(slightlyroasted)
Moong dha( slightlyroasted)l 1/2 cup
Ghee 4 tsp
Ginger(chopped) 1 tsp
Cumin 1 tsp
Pepper corns 1 tsp
Cashew nut(roasted in ghee) 1/4 cup
Asafotedia powder(hing) 3/4 tsp
Water:
This is the main source which gives the consistency you wish..".Grainy" consistency wont go good with pongal.So pour more water!!
If you juz pressure cook Moongdhal and Rice-quantity of water used for this dish should be slightly more tgan normal 1:2 1/2
If you happen to boil it in a deep pan then for 2 cups , pour 6 -7 cups of water

Method:
1)Wash the slightly roasted Rice and Dhal.

2)Take the pressure cooker,heat it,pour Ghee add cumin seeds,peppercorns,roast them for few seconds.

3)Now add Rice and Dhal to it, pour 4-4 1/2 cups of water,salt to taste and leave it for 4 whistles.

4)Take another small pan,heat ghee add ,curry leaves,chopped ginger,hing powder.

5)Now add to the roasted cashews and the fried spices to the cooked rice-dhal mixture.

Venn pongal is ready to be served with Chutney.