Tandoori Idly

Diposting oleh adiba
Minggu, 12 Agustus 2012
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Tandoori idly, I have eaten this idly more than dozen times. i have seen it in menu's only in pondicherry hotels. right from my childhood, it is my favorite dish. though I wanted to share the recipe for tandoori idly years back, the time came just today.


Tandoori means marinating with yogurt and spices, and then cooking in a tandoor oven. so the idly has to be marinated in curd and tandoori masala, after marinating, the idly should be fried. then gravy should be poured over the fried idly. though fried, the idly turns soft on soaking in the gravy. according to me, it’s pointless in frying the idly. also i hate to fry something well cooked. if you prefer frying idly, do that.


You can call this dish as a mock tandoori chicken. the idly gets soaked well in the gravy and the flavor and taste will be so good. never try this with left over idly. even in that case, reheat the idly and pour the gravy over it.



Tandoori Idly

Prep Time: 10 mins 
Cooking Time: 25 mins  
Serves: 3
Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Recipe Type: Breakfast

Ingredients:

Idly – 8
Onion – 1
Tomatoes – 2
Ginger – Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Cashews – 5
Oil – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water – ½ cup
Masala powders or use tandoori masala – 2 to 3 tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Chilly powder/Sambhar powder/Madras curry powder – 1 tsp
Kashmiri chilly powder – 1 tbsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Kasuri methi – 2 tsp

To Garnish:

 Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp (finely chopped)
Cashews or peanuts – 1 tbsp (finely chopped)

Method:

Prepare idly and cut them into half. with a help of fork or tooth pick prick few holes on the idly.

To prepare the gravy, heat a pan, add oil, and then add chopped onion and sauté till it turns translucent. then add the chopped tomatoes and sauté till it turns soft. then add ginger garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes off.

Now start adding tandoori masala or the masala powders one by one, turmeric, chilly powder, dhaniya powder, cumin powder, garam masala and kasuri methi to the pan and mix well. once the masala powders are well mixed with onion and tomato let the flame be in slow, and keep mixing, so that masala’s do not get sticked to the bottom of the pan for about 1-2 minutes till the raw smell of the masala goes off. remove the pan from flame and let it cool. add cashews and little water to the masala’s and grind them into a fine paste.

Heat another pan, add the grounded masala’s and add water as per the consistency you want. add salt and chilly powder as per your taste and let it boil. once it boils for 2-3 minutes remove the gravy from flame.

Once the gravy is ready, place the idly on plate and pour the gravy over it, cover the idly with the gravy. sprinkle some chopped cashews or peanuts over and finally add chopped coriander leaves. do not miss this; it makes the dish visually so impressive also a byte of nuts here and there makes the difference!

Serve with lemon wedges, onion slices or onion raita.



Notes:

I tell you all an idea, if you have left over idly from morning breakfast, prepare more amount of gravy, so that you can use it for this tandoori idly for evening snack and also use up the gravy to prepare aloo masala or pea’s masala or paneer masala for dinner. just add 2 tsp of fresh cream to the gravy at end. it’s done. no one will spot the difference ;)

Also do not use the sour idly batter and make sour idly. this will not work with sour idly. idly should be so soft and fresh.

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Rice payasam with condensed milk

Diposting oleh adiba
Jumat, 03 Agustus 2012
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Rice payasam also known as paal payasam or milk kheer is made with milk and basmati rice as main ingredients. Slow cooking the rice along with milk and sugar for about 1 hour is the traditional way of making the payasam. I was desperate in using the condensed milk, which i had sitting in my fridge. adding condensed milk gave a tasty, thick consistency payasam quickly.


Payasam will be the first dish i start to make on festival days. A good warm cup of payasam at the end of the meal is a perfect way to end South Indian Lunch.


Today is my hubby's birthday and i prepared this rich rice payasam for him. i also made vegetable pulao, which i will share soon.


Serve this payasam warm or chill, they are just awesome. don't get over excited and add raisins,badam etc. this payasam should be devoured just plain like this.

                                                
                                              Paal Payasam / Rice Payasam




Serves - 8
Cooking time - 45 - 60 minutes


Ingredients:
  • Basmati Rice - 1/4 cup (45 gms)
  • Sugar - 3/4 cup (175 gms)
  • Milk - 1 and 1/2 litres 
  • Condensed Milk - 100 ml.
  • Ghee - 1/4 tsp
  • Cashews - 5 


Method:

  1. Measure the basmati rice and put the rice in your chutney jar of your mixer or food processor. just pulse for 3 or 4 seconds / times, till the rice gets broken. (or) wash and soak rice in water till it turns white(30mins - 1 hr). drain the water away from rice. now crush the rice with just your hands. its easy, as the rice gets broken because off soaking.

  2. Heat a large and wide bottomed pressure cooker, add the broken rice and 1 litre of milk to it. keep stirring, till the milk boils. then add sugar. Dissolve the sugar well by keeping on stirring. Add the condensed milk and stir well. close the pressure cooker with its  lid and put on the weight. let it cook on high flame up to 1 whistle(just 1 whistle, not more than that). switch off the flame, once the steam releases open the pressure cooker and put on the flame back.

  3. Let the flame be medium, add the rest of milk and stir well. Let the payasam simmer in medium flame in the open pressure cooker for about 30-40 minutes till the rice is cooked well. remember to stir in between, else the rice sticks to the bottom.

  4. Heat a small tadka pan, add ghee and roast the cashews in it. add the roasted cashews to the payasam.
Notes:
  • You can skip condensed milk and add more sugar and milk to the payasam depending on the sweetness and thickness you prefer.

  • Use always raw rice or basmati rice, as it gets cooked fast.

  • If you want to double the quantity, rice, sugar and milk ratio should be 1:3:8. for 1 cup of rice(200 gms), use 3 cup's of sugar and 8 cup's of milk and 400 ml of condensed milk.
  • I used my 5 ltrs pressure cooker. Use a big pressure cooker, giving enough room, for the rice to plump and get cooked.



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Pavakkai curry / Pavakkai kuzhambu

Diposting oleh adiba
Selasa, 31 Juli 2012
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Whenever hubby gets vegetables for the week, he picks bitter gourd, which is my least favorite. i either fry or  prepare Pavakkai pitlai with it. This all changed after my sis introduced me this pavakkai kuzhambu. i referred a cook book and modified the recipe & this kuzhambu came out so good. No wonder we wiped out the bowl clean. so if you are fed up with usual bitter gourd recipes, give this curry a try!! you will love it.



This Bitter gourd curry is a fusion of all tastes, as it is bitter,spicy, sweet and tangy. also this curry becomes thicker with the roasted and grinded raw rice along with chillies and chana dal. i am going to try this part in all my thin kuzhambu to make them thicker!


                                                         Pavakkai Kuzhambu

 serves - 2
preparation time - 30 minutes



Ingredients:

  • Bitter Gourd - 1
  • Onion - 1
  • Tomatoes - 2
  • Garlic - 4 cloves
  • Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
  • Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
  • Dhaniya powder - 2 tbsp
  • Tamarind - a small lemon sized one
  • Jaggery - 1 tsp
  • Oil - 2 tbsp
  • Mustard - 1/2 tsp
  • Curry leaves - 1 sprig

To roast and grind

  • Raw rice - 1 tbsp
  • Chana dal / kadala paruppu - 1 tbsp
  • Dry red chillies - 3
  • Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method:
  1. Have a warm 1/4 cup of water and soak the tamarind in it. let them soak for about 10-15 minutes. once soaked, squeeze the pulp out and separate the tamarind extract and set aside. 
  2. Cut the bitter gourd into half vertically. hold it tight and chop into small pieces by cutting side-wise. heat a tbsp of oil in a pan, add the chopped bitter gourd and fry in medium flame for about 4 minutes. sprinkle few drops of water, when it tends to stick to the pan. frying the pavakkai for about 4-5 minutes will reduce the bitterness.
  3. At the same time, heat a pan and dry roast the raw rice, chana dal, dry red chillies and curry leaves one after another and let them cool. once cooled, grind them in your chutney jar into a fine powder.
  4. Chop the onions and tomatoes finely.
  5. In a Pan, add the rest of oil and heat it, then add mustard and let it splutter. then add the curry leaves and garlic. fry the garlic, till they turn soft. next add the chopped onions and saute it till they turn translucent.
  6. Next add the chopped tomatoes and mix with the onions. add salt to taste, turmeric powder, chilly powder and dhaniya powder. give all a good mix.
  7. Add the fried pavakkai / bitter gourd to the pan and mix well with the masala's. then add the tamarind extract and let them boil. add 1/2 cup of water to the pan. once the mix starts to boil, add jaggery and mix well. let the curry boil in medium flame for about 2 minutes.
  8. Finally add the grounded rice, chana dal mix to the curry and mix well. now the curry becomes thicker, so add water as per the consistency you require your curry to be and let the curry boil. then switch off the flame.
Serve with Rice or dosai.

 Notes:


Do not add jaggery and tamarind too much than told in the recipe, as it may over dominate the taste of each other. every taste should be in a balanced level in this curry.





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Butter beans masala

Diposting oleh adiba
Kamis, 26 Juli 2012
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These beans in yellow pods is locally called as butter beans. but it is different from lima beans. I cooked these butter beans and fell in love with it. Thanks to my sis Anu, for giving me this easy butter beans masala recipe.


These beans gets cooked fast. no soaking needed, this sounds like a big relief. isn't it! just cook for 2 whistles if cooking in pressure cooker. if over cooked, they turn mushy, so be careful on it. These butter beans can be made as sundal or it can be added in kurma. it can also be added with other vegetables and made as poriyal.


I clicked pictures of these beans, so if anyone knew, what it is called in tamil, tell me. it will be of great use.


                                                             Butter beans masala

serves: 2
preparation and cooking time: 30 - 40 minutes
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Ingredients:

  • Butter Beans - 1 cup
  • Onion - 1
  • Tomatoes - 2
  • Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
  • Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
  • Chilly powder - 1 tsp
  • Corriander powder - 2 tsp
  • Oil - 1 tbsp
  • Mustard - 1/2 tsp
  • Curry leaves - 1 sprig
  • Chopped corriander leaves - 1 tbsp
  • Salt and water as per needed.

To roast and grind:

  • 1/4 cup of grated coconut
  • 2 dry red chillies
  • 1 tsp of jeera
  • Water - less the 1/4 cup

Method:

  1. Wash and pressure cook the butter beans in 1/2 cup of water with a bit of turmeric powder and salt. pressure cook upto 2 whistles. it gets mashy if overcooked.

  2. Heat a pan and dry roast the coconut, red chillies and cumin one by one. let them cool and grind into a fine paste with little water.

  3. Chop the onion and tomatoes finely. mince the garlic and set aside.

  4. Heat a pan, add oil, then put the mustard and let it splutter, add minced garlic and curry leaves, saute them in medium flame.

  5. Add the chopped onions and saute till it turns translucent. put in the tomatoes and let it turn soft and get mashed. add salt to taste, turmeric powder, chilly powder and dhaniya powder and mix well.

  6. Now add the grounded masala and cooked butter beans and mix well with the masala. add water as per the consistency you require. i prepared in semi-gravy form and we loved it.

  7. Add the chopped corriander leaves and let the masala boil in slow flame for about 4-5 minutes and remove the masala from the flame and transfer to a serving bowl.

  8. Butter beans masala can be served with chapathi or rice.

Notes:

1. I used dry coconut(kopparai) instead of fresh coconut, yet it turned out tasty.

2. Use fennel or cumin to grind, depending on what you like.

3. Add green chilli or increase chilly powder to make it more spicy.




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Bhindi sabzi

Diposting oleh adiba
Rabu, 18 Juli 2012
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Its July, and i want to declare that i failed miserably in my resolutions. one of my resolution was to blog frequently. i don't know, something in me is keeping me away from blogging. probably i should change my mindset, go ahead and fight. coming over to bhindi sabzi. 


Bhindi sabzi is one side-dish that i am trying very frequently now a days. this can be prepared quick and makes a great pair with roti or chapathi. Dry vegetable curry is called as sabzi. what i like about this sabzi is, its tangy, as we add amchur powder or lemon juice. and the kasuri methi(dried methi leaves) gives an extra taste. 


If you have sabzi masala, you can use it. you need not add any other spice powders. if you dont have sabzi masala then you have to use various spice powders like cumin powder, curry powder, garam masala, amchur powder and kasuri methi. 


                                                                Bhindi Sabzi
                                                                                                                            Print this post 

serves - 2
preparation and cooking time: less than 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • Okra / Bhindi - 250gms
  • Onion -1
  • Tomato - 1
  • Green chilli - 1
  • Ginger - 1 inch size (finely chopped)
  • Garlic - 3 cloves (finely chopped)
  • Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Curry powder or Sambhar powder - 2 tsp
  • Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
  • Garam masala / Kitchen King masala - 1/4 tsp
  • Amchur powder - 1/4 tsp or Lemon juice - 1 tsp
  • Kasuri methi - 1/2 tsp
  • Oil - 3 tbsp
  • Cumin - 1/2 tsp
  • Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Method:

  1. Chop the onions and tomatoes finely. slit the green chilli and set apart. chop the head and tail of bhindi's and cut them diagonally as 2 inch sized pieces. 

  2. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and fry the bhindi pieces for about 2 minutes. remove them from pan and set apart.

  3. Heat the rest of oil in a pan, add cumin, garlic, ginger, green chilli and curry leaves, saute them at medium flame, till they are almost roasted.

  4. Add finely chopped onions and saute till they turn translucent. then add finely chopped tomato and saute till till they turn soft and mushy. add salt, turmeric powder and mix well. 

  5. Add salt to taste, curry powder, cumin powder, garam masala and amchur powder and mix well with the onion and tomato mix. 

  6. Then add the fried bhindi to the pan and mix well with the masala's. keep the flame in medium and cook the bhindi in the pan with its lid covered for about 3 - 4 minutes. make sure to check the bhindi in between, so that they don't stick to the bottom of the pan and get burned.

  7. Once the bhindi is cooked, add kasuri methi and lemon juice(if amchur powder is not added) and mix well. switch off the flame and garnish with corriander leaves.

Serve with roti or chapathi.



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Methi Thepla

Diposting oleh adiba
Minggu, 08 Juli 2012
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Thepla is one of the different types of roti's made in gujarat. these theplas are ideal to have as travel food or to pack for lunch box. Its so easy to make and you need not prepare a separate side-dish for these theplas, as they have the spice and masala in it.


Last month, we went to cochin and munnar for our vaccation. the climate was just perfect for us to enjoy. when we were in munnar, we stayed at one of the most beautiful place called, Kaivalyam. it was surrounded by nature and the views from rooms were too good. it really cleansed my soul! Its such a well maintained place!


Did i say, the view was so stunning from the room, what i liked is, there was no building structure and it was full of green with mist floating!! Its a best place to sit back and relax. They even have a Yoga Hall, where every morning they conduct yoga session for about 90 minutes. 


We had good food there, which was prepared with much care as we prepare at our home. when we were there, we were served theplas, which me and my hubby liked it a lot. i instantly asked the recipe for it and made it back home.


I don't know, why i did not even think of clicking pictures. the spread was so mouth watering and delicious, might be i first wanted to Digg in.. I just tried to re-create the way how it was served.


Just roll these theplas in a aluminium foil sheet and put them in fridge. when you are above to eat, put the theplas in microwave and m/w at high for 1 min. its ready to be served. 


                                                                        Methi Thepla

                                                                                                                                   
Serves: 3 - 4 adults
Preparation time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

  • Wheat Flour - 2 cup's
  • Methi leaves - 1/2 cup (finely chopped)
  • White sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
  • Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Asafoetida powder - a pinch
  • Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tsp
  • Green chilly paste - 2 tsp
  • Butter - 2 tbsp (melted)
  • Curd - 3 tbsp's
  • Salt to taste
  • Water needed to knead the dough
Method:

  1. Wash the methi leaves and chop it finely. make sure you do not add stems of it. as it may not be easy while rolling.

  2. Mix all the ingredients mentioned above together. sprinkle water and knead the dough just we do for our chapathi dough. the dough may stick to your hands, because of curd in it. add little flour or grease your palms with oil while kneading. 

  3. Once the dough is kneaded, split the dough into lemon sized balls. it should make about 12 or 14 balls. roll the balls over little flour before you start to roll them. roll them out thin to about 6 inches in diameter. if  it cracks while rolling, just patch it up with hands. and dust little flour then start to roll again.

  4. Heat a Skillet and cook the rolled theplas at high heat. drizzle oil to the sides of the thepla and cook till brown spots appear on them. it takes about 1 to 2 minutes of time to cook each thepla. cook the other theplas the same way and stack them one above other.

  5. Serve the methi theplas with curd and pickle.

Notes:
  1. I have added chilly powder and dhaniya powder and made other version of these theplas without ginger garlic and green chilli paste. i liked the version i am sharing with you. its more like a masala chapathi to me.

  2. You can substitute the butter with oil. 

  3. If you do not get methi leaves, prepare it with finely chopped corriander leaves.






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Hotel Dosa recipe

Diposting oleh adiba
Kamis, 28 Juni 2012
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My son kept asking me, why don't try to make crisp dosa's like in hotels. when i was able to make good dosa's today, i cant postpone in sharing the recipe with you. so on breaking my month long gap, here i am. I got a Happy News to share with you all. Yes finally my blog got its own domain name. I am proud and happy looking my blog with .com extension. Thanks to my blog readers and blog friends for all the encouragement. 


Coming to this hotel style dosa, got the recipe from Revathi Shanmugam's Tiffin Varieties book. I just gave a try and the dosa's turned out pretty good. When i tasted, it was more like karnataka / mysore style dosa in taste. the colour of the dosa is nice golden colour, which may be because of adding sugar. This dosa batter will work fine, if you are planning masal dosai for your guests.



Hotel Dosa Recipe

recipe from revathi shanmugam's tiffin varieties
makes about 25 dosa's
soaking time : 4 hrs
fermentation time: 8-10 hrs.
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Hotel Dosa Recipe

Prep Time: 40 mins 
Cooking Time: 05 mins  
Serves: 6
Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Recipe Type: Breakfast





Ingredients:


Par boiled rice / puzhungal arisi - 2 cup's
Raw rice / pacha arisi - 1/2 cup
Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Toovar dal - 1 tbsp
Chana dal - 1 tbsp
Fenugreek - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tbsp




    Method:

    Wash and soak the rice, dal' s, and fenugreek together. soak them in water for about 4 hours.

    After soaking grind them into a smooth batter. add little water while grinding to get the smooth batter. You can use your mixie to grind. i used mixie and it just took 5 minutes to finish the grinding work. transfer the batter to a big bowl, so that it has space when the batter doubles on fermentation. add salt to the batter and let it ferment on your kitchen top for overnight or 8-10 hours.

    After fermentation mix the batter well and add sugar to the batter and give a mix.

    Heat a dosa tava, sprinkle few drops of water to find the tava got heated up or not. the water should sizzle and evaporate soon. then add a drop of oil and use a slice of Brinjal or a potato to spread the oil on the tava.

    Pour 2 heaped laddle full of batter to the centre of the tava and make a big circle with the help of laddle. spray oil to the sides of the dosa and let it turn golden colour and flip the dosa so that the other side is also cooked. it takes 90 seconds for each dosa to be cooked at high flame.

    Serve hot with sambhar or chutney. i will soon share my hotel sambhar recipe with you.




    Its such a easy recipe, of soaking rice and dal's together and grinding them together, instead of grinding separately.  also the dosa turns out crispy and comes in nice golden colour. but eat the dosa hot. its not good, when the dosa gets cooled down!!

    One of my friend had tried twice this dosa, after i had posted here. it seams her family loves this dosai!


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