Dal Fry

Dal and rice is really a comfort food for most of us. This recipe takes about 15 minutes to make, tastes delicious.

Ingredients

Toor Dal - 1 cup

Small Onion - 1

Green chillies - 2

Jeera - 1 tsp

turmeric a pinch

salt,oil

Garlic - 2 pods

Curry leaves

Cilantro/coriander

Mint leaves - 4

Method

Cook dal along with garlic in cooker. Take oil in a pan. Add jeera, when it splutters add green chillies and curry leaves. Now add onions and cook for a while. Add turmeric, dal, salt. Mix well and bring it to a boil. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro and mint leaves. Cook some more. Serve hot with rice. YUM

It is ok to skip the garlic in this recipe if you are not used to it

Shown in the picture is Dal fry served with Rice and Beetroot Palya

Beetroot Palya

Lot of people i know are not such big fans of beetroot, I think it is the color that puts them off. I like beetroot though, it is not my favorite vegetable but i can eat it once in a while. Well today we will be making beetroot palya. It is a very simple recipe to make and tastes good with chappati or rice. So here goes.




Ingredients
3 large beetroot(peeled and grated)
1 small onion chopped
3 green chillies slit in the center(add according to taste)
curry leaves a few
jeera 1 tsp
roasted peanut 3 tbsp






Take oil in a pan. Add jeera, curry leaves,chillies,onions and fry for a while. Fry for sometime till the onions turn brown. Now add the grated beetroot, salt and mix well. Let this cook for a while do not add water. Coarsly grind the peanuts and garnish on top of the beetroot. Enjoy!!!!

Sevai

It is one of those days I am really not sure what to make. Don't really feel like make rice/dal /rotis. So just thought will make some tiffen for dinner today. Once again at a loss what to make, was going through the things in my pantry and found a packet of rice vermicelli/Sevai my mom got, well so vermicelli/Sevai it is for dinner tonight. It is easy to make half your job is already done for you, the vermicelli is already made. In south India they make the vermicelli/Sevai from scratch which is a little time consuming but real delicious, it is worth all the effort.

Rice Vermicelli is readily available in any Indian stores. I got a 1lb pack and made 2 kinds of vermicelli for dinner. One is lemon and the other is coconut. You could cook the vermicelli whole and it will look like noodles when done. In this receipe I cut the vermicelli into about 2 inch pieces just because we prefer it that way. Cutting it before cooking makes it easier.



Method

Put all the vermicelli in a big Pan. Boil water seperately and add the boiling water to vermicelli, all of the vermicelli should be covered with the boiling water cover the pan for 5 minutes check to see if the noodles are cooked and then drain all the water.


In a pan take oil. Add mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal, hing, curry leaves and red chillies. When the dal turns brown switch off the heat and add 2 cups grated coconut(fresh or dry ) add salt and mix well add half the cooked noodles and mix. Coconut Sevai is done.

In a pan take oil. Add mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal, hing, curry leaves, grated ginger and green chillies. When dal turns brown add turmeric, mix well add the remaining noodles, salt and lemon juice and mix well. Lemon Sevai is ready.

These dishes taste good by themselves. If u need something to go with it can have it with sundal.

We really loved the taste of these noodles with garlic rasam. Accidently stumbled upon this combination. When I made this sevai at home I also felt like I am starting to get a cold so made garlic rasam and tried the sevai with it and it tastes amazing. Will post the recipe for garlic rasam soon. Till then Happy Cooking !!!!

Tomato Raita

Raita can be one good addition to any meal. Raita can be made with raw vegetables / cooked vegetables. Today we will make tomato raita. It is easy to make, colorful, and tastes delicious.

This raita goes well with sambhar, kootu or chappati. You can use whole tomatoes or tomato puree. With the Puree it is a smooth mixture and also it has a good color.




Ingredients
Tomatoes - 2 large / puree - 3 tbsp
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Urad dal - 1tsp
Hing
Green chillies - 2
Cilantro (Coriander leaves)
Yogurt - 1 1/2 cup
Oil, turmeric, salt

Method
Take oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When it splutters add urad dal, when the dal turns brown add hing, curry leaves and green chillies. Now add the tomatoes, salt and turmeric and cook well till all the tomatoes are nicely mashed. Add finely cut cilantro mix well and remove from fire. The tomatoes have to be completely mashed and should look like this.


Cool this mixture and add it to yogurt and mix well. Enjoy the Yummy Raita

Cauliflower and Peanut Kootu

This one is my moms receipe. I am not a big fan of cauliflower but this dish I really like because my mom makes it real spicy and also it tastes amazing with Tomato Raita, and to finish the meal Curd Rice with the kootu on the side MMMmmmmmm!!!



Kootu is like Sambhar only thicker. This receipe can also be made using beans / carrot and peas / cabbage or all the above vegetables mixed together instead of cauliflower and peanut.


Ingredients

Toor Dal - 1 cup
Cauliflower - 1
Peanut - 1/2 cup
Channa Dal - 2 tbsp
Urad Dal - 2 tbsp
Pepper - 2 tsp
Red chillie - 2 (since pepper is added this is already spicy so u can skip the red chillie if u don't want it too spicy)
Coconut - 2 tbsp
Tamarind Paste - 1 tsp
Curry leaves, cilantro, mustard seeds, Hing, turmeric and salt.




Method

Soak peanut for an hour. Seperate the cauliflower flowerets and wash them. Cook toor dal, cauliflower and peanuts together.

In a pan fry channa dal, urad dal, pepper and red chillies till they are brown. Cool this add the coconut and grind to a smooth paste.

Take oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add hing, curry leaves and 1 cup water. When the water boils add the tamarind paste and turmeric. Mix and let it boil for a while till the raw smell of tamarind has gone. Now add the paste and mix. Then add the dal, cauliflower and peanut, salt and mix well u can add a little water if you feel it is too thick. Garnish with cilantro.







Serve hot with rice or Chappati

In the picture Kootu is served with Rice and Tomato Raita

Modak

Modak is Ganeshas favorite sweet. Modak can be made it lots of different ways like fried or steamed, using rice flour or wheat flour, with different kinds of filling in the modak.

As a kid our neighbor used to make modaks for sankasti and always send some to our house. One of my favorite fillings was a spicy filling with powdered peppercorn in it. When it was time to do aarti I would eagerly be looking at the door to see if aunty is bringing the modaks.

Now that I have started doing the pooja myself I always try to make some sweet. So this time I tried making modaks. I made fried modak using wheat flour with coconut filling. The recipe for the coconut filling is from my friend chitra. It is a perfect measurement. Thanx chitra for this wonderful recipe.

Ingredients

For outer covering

Wheat flour - 2 cups

salt, oil and water

Mix all and knead into a dough and keep aside.

For filling

Coconut - 3 cups

Sugar - 1 cup

Cardamon - 3

Ghee - 2 tsp

Cashews, raisins

Put all the ingredients in a pan and cook till the mixtures is completely mixed and leaves sides of the pan. keep aside and cool.

To make modaks

Make small balls of the dough. Roll them using a rolling pin the size of a puri.

Add a couple of spoons of the coconut mixture in the center

Now bring the centers of the puri together, like a semi circle

Bring the left side of the puri together to the center.

Now do the same thing on the right

Join the whole thing in the center in the shape of a modak.

All the time making sure that the mixture is all inside.

After all the modaks are ready. Deep fry them in oil till they are golden brown.

Paneer Masala

One of my friends made this masala for me when she came to my place for a visit. It is very versatile, the base masala is the same and you can add your own variation. You can make this masala ahead of time and refrigerate it and just before serving mix all the remaining ingredients and microwave it. Thanks Vinita for this wonderful recipe.


















Ingredients
Onions - 2 large
Tomatoes -4 medium
Ginger - 1 1/2 inch
Garlic - 4-6 pods
kasoori methi - 2 tsp
MDH Kitchen King/Garam Masala - 2 tbsp
Chillie powder - 1 tsp
Cream - 1/2 cup
turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Paneer
Capsicum - 1 small(cut lengthwise)
Onion - 1 small(cut lengthwise)

Method

Take olive oil in a pan. Cut the large onions and add it to the oil. Add chopped ginger and garlic. Fry till the onions are completely brown in color( this is very important as this adds flavor to the dish). Now add chopped tomatoes and again cook till it is fully cooked, the tomatoes have to be completely mashed. Switch off the gas, cool the mixture and grind. This is the base masala.

Now take a little oil in another pan. Add the small onion cut lengthwise and fry. Once done remove it and keep aside. Now add the capsicum and fry it and keep aside. Fry Paneer.

Before serving add all the fried vegetables and paneer to the Masala Paste. Add kasoori methi, garam masala, turmeric, chillie powder, salt and cream and mix well and microwave this mixture for 3 minutes or cook the whole thing on the stove top for 3 minutes. Serve with parathas/rice.



Variation : Another way to do this is instead of adding paneer,onions and capsicum for the same mixture add Cooked rajma.

In the picture I have served Paneer Masala with Mixed Rice