Chettinaad Style Potato Sambhar

Diposting oleh adiba
Selasa, 17 Februari 2009
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Being a Sambhar Fanatic, Iam trying as many sambhar varieties as i can, so that my hubby don't get bored of it. During our Hostel Stay, we used to be served with this sambhar so frequently. The Potatoes in Sambhar was new to me those days, and i used to complain to my parents, that the canteen people don't have any other veggie other than potato to put in sambhar. But only now i leant that, It was just Potato Sambhar.
This Chettinaad style of sambhar was different from our regular sambhar. This has three different spices in it, like pepper, Green chilli's and Dry Red Chilli's. This Spicy part, really makes it different and it is best when had along with Idli's and Dosa's rather with Rice.

chettinaad sambhar

Ingredients:

  • Potato-1(Peel the skin, cut it thin and into small pieces)
  • Onion-1
  • Tomato-1
  • Green Chilli-2
  • Dry Red Chilli-2
  • Pepper Corns-1/2 tsp
  • Tuvar Dal-4 tbsp's
  • Turmeric Powder-a pinch
  • Corriander Leaves(finely chopped)-2 tbsp's
For Seasoning:
  • Oil-1 tbsp
  • Mustard-1/4 tsp
  • Cumin-1/4 tsp
  • Asafoetida Powder-a pinch
  • Curry Leaves-8


Method:

yyu Cook the Tuvar/Toor Dal in the Pressure Cooker upto 4-5 whistles, till it is cooked mashy.

yyu In a Wide-Bottomed Pressure Cooker, Heat the oil for Seasoning and add mustard. when it makes sound, add cumin, asafoetida powder and curry leaves and Dry Red Chilli's. saute them.

yyu Add Thin Sliced Onion's and saute along till it gets half cooked. add Green Chilli's and Chopped tomatoes and thin sliced small potato pieces.

yyu Now add the Mashed Tuvar Dal and a cup of water. add the turmeric powder, Salt, Pepper corns and chopped corriander leaves.

yyu Mix well and cook it in pressure cooker upto 2 whistles. Wait for the steam to get released and add a tsp of ghee before serving.
Try this for a weekend Brunch, iam sure you all will like it.

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How Clean is your House?

Diposting oleh adiba
Minggu, 15 Februari 2009
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I went missing from this Blog-World, as my son poured a glass of water on to my monitor, its transformer burnt into smokes(it was a bit scary scene for me and for my son it was his one of enjoyable moment..) it was indeed a nice experiment by my one and half year old kid-i say..what do you say?

Coming to the Topic of this post..How Clean is your House? I recently took a quiz under this topic from here. It was funny to read the questions and to respond. Do take it and analyse your Home cleaning skills.

Well, I will place a small quiz from my part...

1. Is your Pillow cover clean, Did you replace it at least a week before?

2. How About Your Curtains? Is it Clean? and was is washed 3 months back?

3. How are your Kitchen Napkins? Are they Tidy?

If your answers are yes..Cheer Up, You are really a Better Person!!!

I will give you some tips to make your home fresh.

1. Open up all your Window's and Door's and let the sunlight get into your house.

2. Replace your Kitchen Napkin's with Fresh one's. also have seperate Napkins for your Gas Stove, Your Mixer, Your Oven, etc.

3. Wash Your Foot Mats.

4. Always make sure, your Kitchen Sink is not occupied and clean your vessels then and ther when you cook.

thats it for now..

Why am I posting about this, instead of posting some recipe? its because, i havent got back into form, of writing a long recipe. I almost forgot my blogging skills. sure, i will gain back all my memories very very soon.

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Puffed Rice-Jaggery Ball's-a Visual Treat

Diposting oleh adiba
Senin, 05 Januari 2009
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Puffed Rice-Jaggery Ball's, I assume it is everyone's favourite snack. When we try this at home, its a real pleasure to present it before the family and say, that u prepared it. I did it and received raised eye-brows reactions and thus here i am presenting it before you all.It is not difficult to prepare, but You need to be little aware of the consistency of the jaggery syrup for this.

Puffed Rice Jaggery Balls front of Deepam

I prepared these Puffed Rice-Jaggery Balls for Karthigai Deepam. I could only find time, in this new year to post it for you all..

The Ingredients Here..
  • Puffed Rice-200gms
  • Jaggery-1/4 Kg(Grated)
  • Chopped Coconut-10 pieces
  • Cardamon pods-2
  • Water-Just to the level of Jaggery in the pan.
Method:

yyu Grate the Jaggery and put it in a pan. Pour the water so that the jaggery is made wet or just to the level of jaggery. say, if the grated jaggery comes to half cup, then half cup water is enough.

yyu Let the Jagger Dissolve in the water. after it had dissolved, filter it and shift it to a thick bottomed vessel, and place it on high flame.

yyu Let it Boil for Five minutes and keep checking the consistency, by dropping a drop of syrup into a bowl of water. the syrup should not dissolve in water, instead it should sit firm on the bottom of the bowl.

Checking For ConsistencyThick String Consistency

yyu When the syrup sits on the bottom of the bowl, slower the flame and add the crushed cardamon pods to it. Now switch off the flame.

yyu Have the Puffed Rice and the Coconut in a large bowl. Pour the Hot jaggery Syrup to the bowl and mix it with a Spoon or Fork.

yyu After a minute apply Oil on your palms and slowly start shaping them into ball shape. keep applying oil on your palm's after shaping two ball's. The oil is to avoid sticking of puffed Rice and Jaggery on our hands.

yyu Now place the balls in a air-tight container. Its texture is very good even for two days.

Look at the Chewiness......
Chewy Texture

The Chewy Texture is so good, if you don't want it to be so chewy, then choose the earliest stage of the jaggery syrup. There are different puffed Rice available, if you want the balls to be crispy, the you have to choose certain puffed rice.
Basket full of Delights..

Puffed Rice Jaggery Balls

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Vegetable Fried Rice

Diposting oleh adiba
Sabtu, 03 Januari 2009
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My son started to take lunch to his school from last week. first i was very tensed on how he will adjust to eat all by himself. then i was worrying on what to pack for him. In this chennai climate, my curd rice could not withstand, even if i add lots of milk and less curd, climate spoils it! so our most comfort food curd rice cannot be packed for lunch! Past week was like a research period, as i am finding out, what he eats, what he brings back home, what he doesn't even touch and stuff's. till now, vegetable pulao is one safe food to pack. have to find out more. today i tried this fried rice, both my hubby and my son liked it very much and the boxes came empty. update: Now my son asks me to pack this fried rice quite often.

veg fried rice


Last year i completely enjoyed my life along with this sweet blog, which gave so many nice friends. This year, i have few resolutions, of making my cooking with less oil, with less sugar. when i said this to my hubby, he said, don't make me feel old so soon. Then i just left the Sunday's as exceptions. I don't believe in implementing the resolutions right from Jan 1st. I planned them well before and am practicing for the past one month. This Veg Fried Rice, really impressed me, as it can be made in minutes and also i feel the nutrients in these veggies are not omitted, just by sauteing them till semi-cooked. I am sending this off to Eat Healthy-During Pregnancy Event.

vegetable fried rice



                                                            Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Basmati rice-150 gms
Sesame oil - 2  tsp's
Carrot - 1
Green Capsicum - 1/2
Cabbage - 1/2
Spring onions - 4
Small onion - 4 / white onion - 1
Garlic - 3 pods
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Soy sauce - 3 drops
Vinegar - 2 drops

Method:

 Measure Basmati rice in a cup and set aside. for 1 cup of basmati rice, you need 1 and 1/2 cup's of water.
so measure the rice and water accordingly and set aside.

Wash and soak the basmati rice for 10 minutes. then drain the water completely. In a Pressure cooker, add 2 cups of water and place a bowl of basmati rice along with measured water. add 2 drops of vinegar or lemon juice and little bit of salt for rice. close the cooker with its lid and put on the weight. pressure cook for up to 2 whistles exactly. once the steam escapes, open the lid and remove the rice to a plate and wide spread the rice. add 1/2 tsp of sesame oil and mix the rice with a fork gently.

Cut the vegetables into very thin strips. use the spring onions, onions also. it gives a good taste to the fried rice. if not use small onions or white onions.

In a pan, add 2 tsp of sesame oil, add finely chopped garlic, then add onions and saute till they turn translucent. then add carrot and saute it. then add the capsicum and the cabbage. saute them, till the vegetables are half cooked. add very little salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper powder to the vegetables for taste. finally add 3 drops of soy sauce and mix with the vegetables. switch off the flame.

Add the cooled rice to the pan and mix well with the vegetables. finely chop the spring onions(green part) and add it to the pan and mix well. do all the mixing, when the vegetables remain hot.

Transfer the fried rice to the serving bowl.

Notes:

It is almost a rule for me to add spring onions to the fried rice. also make it a point to finely slice the vegetables.

You may add a bit of ajina motto at the end. but it is best avoided.


Tip:

We add mustard in our cooking, to remove if any poison present in the food. Before adding the mustard, check whether oil is heated and after adding the mustard let them splutter. this just takes less than a minute.

Over the years mustard has been prescribed for scorpion stings and snake bites, epilepsy, toothache, bruises, stiff neck, rheumatism, colic and respiratory troubles.

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Welcome 2009

Diposting oleh adiba
Kamis, 01 Januari 2009
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Wishing You all Very Happy and Prosporous New Year............................
Have a Healthy and Happines filled year ahead.......

Naan with Okra-Urad Dal Subzi

Diposting oleh adiba
Minggu, 21 Desember 2008
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Ever Since i saw DK's Butter Naan, I wanted to try them. and now the record strikes with four trials. here the photograph is of the second trial. for the recipe of Butter Naan, i going to refer you, DK's Recipe, which is the best. but the method has little variation's.




Here in India, you need 10-15 minutes, for yeast fermentation. and the time for the raise of dough is from 90 minutes to 120 minutes. The better and fast way is to place the dough in a hot box and put it in a dark place.
Well, coming to the method, few added points are,
1. After you have rolled the dough(preferably of medium thickness. it should not be very thick), pull one end of the rolled cirlce dough for the oval shape. and stretch the other end with both of your hands. ( i would soon post an image at this point).
2. Apply water on one side and put it in the Hot Tava, with water applied side resting on the tava. Keep it on High Flame and cover it with a lid. after one minute, check for the bubble raising on your Naan, and check whether your bottom part is cooked. Now place the top part on the direct flame, keep showing all points of the naan on the flame, to ensure proper cooking. this should take less than a minute and it cooks so fast, so make sure you don't burn them.



( I got this point from Mallika Badrinath's Naan Recipe.)
Okra-Urad Dal Subzi:
When my hubby was in IIT, he had tasted this, and was asking me all these year's to try this. I tried googling, but i couldn't land on a perfect recipe. then i tried my hand over this, which really surprised me with amazing taste.


Ingredients:


1. Okra/Ladies Finger- 15
2. White Whole Urad Dal-1/4 cup( soaked for an hour)
3. Onion-1
4. Tomato-1/2
5. Ginger-1/2 inch(finely chopped)
6. Green Chili-2(slitted vertically)
7. Chilly Powder-1 tsp
8. Turmeric Powder-a pinch
9. Oil -1 tbsp
10.Potato-1(peel the skin and cut it into cubes)


Method:


1. Pressure Cook the soaked Urad Dal upto 4-5 whistles. mash them and keep it aside.
2. In a Heated Pan, add oil and heat it, add mustard if you wish and add the ginger and green chili's. saute them and add the sliced onions and fry them. Now add the tomatoes and saute them, till they get cooked.
3. Now add the Okra and fry them, add the potato cubes, salt and Turmeric powder and chilly powder, fry them for a minute.
4. Add the mashed urad dal and add a cup of water, mix well. close it with a lid and let them get cooked in a slow flame for about 10-15 minutes. this makes the subzi thicker and the okra and the potato gets cooked. before you switch off the flame, add the chopped coriander leaves-2tsp and close it with the lid.
You can also make this subzi, little watery and add more okra's, which will be very yummy.
also you can this with black whole Urad Dal.

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BeetRoot Kootu with chana Dal

Diposting oleh adiba
Kamis, 04 Desember 2008
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I was very much less interested in blogging because of the climate over here. As the sun starts to shine again, i feel fresh to try recipe's. last week, we just managed with Rasam. Now slowly iam driving on first gear, before i give full throttle, here is my Beetroot Kootu, which actually i liked it. If any Beetroot hater's reading this, give a try to this simple yummy recipe.

beetroot kootu
 

Ingredients:
  • Beetroot-1
  • Onion-1
  • Dry Red chilli-2
  • Green chilli-1
  • Oil-1 tsp
  • Mustard-1/4 tsp
  • Chana Dal-1/4 cup(soaked for 2 hours)
  • Curry Leaf-8/10
  • Garlic-3 cloves
Method:

yyu First Soak the Chana Dal in hot water for 2hrs, or atleast 30 mins. then pressure cook the chana dal, with the chopped Beetroot, salt and garlic with some water. let the whistle count be 4 whistles.

yyu Cut the Onion's finely. In a Pan, Heat the oil and add mustard, when it makes some sound add curry leaf, red and green chilli's. saute them well. now add the onion's and saute them.

yyu When onions are cooked, add the beetroot and chana dal, say the pressure cooked one's to the pan and mix well.

yyu Add salt and let it boil. add water to get a desired consistency.

beetroot kootu with chana dal

 UPDATE:

** If you wish to have Pepper spice, just avoid the red chilli and green chilli in the recipe and add pepper powder (1/2 tbsp) and stir well, before you remove the kootu from the flame. [I have prepared and tasted this way, we loved it a lot.]

** If you are not calorie conscious, add a tbsp of ghee, before serving. it enhances the taste.
Now serve it with Hot Rice or with soft chapathi's.

It tasted so good with chana dal. Since i prepare lunch, only for me, this single dish was like a whole meal for me. If you prefer, you can also add coconut, when it is prepared dry, without any water added.

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