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Sev Puri


Ingredients (Translation)

For Puris

1/2 cup All purpose Flour (Maida)
1/2 cup Sooji
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

For Sev

1 cup Gram Flour
1/4 cup Rice Flour
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
Oil to fry

Other ingredients

2 tbsp curd
1 Boiled potato
1 Finely chopped onion
Chat Masala
Green Chutney
Sweet Chutney
Finely chopped coriander leaves and grated carrot to garnish (optional)

Mix the ingredients for puris with water to make a not very soft dough. Roll them into rotis and using some lid of small round steel box, press the lid on the rotis to get small round puris.

Using a knife, make small holes in these puris so that they remain flat when fried.

Heat oil and deep fry them till golden brown.

For preparing sev, mix the ingredients with water to get a soft dough. Put this in the machine with small holes and press directly to make sev in hot oil. Remove from oil when the hissing sound stops and the sev changes colour.

Crush the sev finely.

See here for the meetha chutney recipe. Ingredients remain the same. You just have to heat them to get the desired thickness. Green chutney is made by grinding coriander leaves, green chilly and salt.

Now for arranging it.

Place the puris on the plate. Cut the potatoes into thin slices and place one each on the puris. Sprinkle some salt and chat masala powder on the potatoes. Add onions, Sweet chutney, curd and green chutney. Finally add lots of crushed sev on it and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and grated carrot.

Sev puri as tasty as you get in chat shops is ready to eat.

To make task easier, you could even opt to purchase readymade nylon sev from the market. Also the puris neednt be made just before serving. You can make them well in advance and store them in an air tight container.
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Aloo Fry


Ingredients (Translation)

4 Boiled Potatoes
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Cut the potatoes into cubes and add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and asafoetida. You could even add some garam masala powder to it if desired.

Mix well and deep fry the potatoes till golden brown.

You can have it with rice, chapatis or even plain...they are really tasty.
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Groundnut Chutney


Ingredients (Translation)

1/2 cup groundnut
2 tbsp grated coconut
Salt to taste
2 Red chillies
A bit of asafoetida
1/2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Roast the groundnuts without oil till it changes colour. Grind it along with the coconut, salt, red chillies and asafoetida.

Heat oil and add the mustard seeds.When it splutters, add it to the chutney.

Serve as a side dish for dosa, idli varieties.
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Adai

Ingredients (Translation)

1 cup raw rice
1 cup dals (equal proportion of bengalgram dal, blackgram dal and redgram dal)
4 Red chillies
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
Few curry leaves
2 tsp oil (per adai)

Soak the rice, dals and red chillies for atleast 2 hours.

Grind it along with salt and asafoetida to a coarse batter.

Add finely chopped curry leaves and mix well.

Heat the dosa tava and use the batter to make adai. Add some oil and cook on both sides till brown spots appear.

Serve hot with Avial, chutney and jaggery.

You can even add some finely chopped onions to the batter.


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Paruppu (Dal) Podi


Ingredients (Translation)

2 cups of redgram dal
8 to 10 pepper
2 Red chillies
Salt to taste

Dry roast the redgram dal, pepper and red chillies and grind along with salt to a coarse powder.

Mix with rice and serve.

This powder can be stored in an air-tight container for a month.

Sending this over to Roma for her Long Live the shelf event.
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Coriander Seeds (Dhania) Podi



Ingredients (Translation)

5 tbsp Coriander Seeds
2 tbsp blackgram dal
2 tbsp bengalgram dal
2 Red chillies
1/8 tsp asafoetida
8 to 10 pepper
Salt to taste

Dry roast these ingredients and grind them along with salt to a coarse powder.

Mix with rice and serve.

You can store in an airtight container for almost 15 days.

Sending this over to Roma for her Long Live the shelf event.

Dhania podi also goes to Priya's Think spice:Think coriander seeds event started by Sunita
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Coconut (Thengai) Podi


Ingredients (Translation)

1/2 coconut (scraped)
2 tbsp of blackgram dal
2 tbsp bengalgram dal
Asafoetida- little
1/4 tsp Ghee
2 Red Chillies (add more if you want)
Salt to taste

Roast the dals and red chillies without oil till it turns golden brown. Fry the scraped coconut also seperately with ghee and grind all the ingredients to a coarse powder.

Store it in an airtight container for a maximum period of one week.

Mix with rice and serve.

Alternatively you can even add this to any of the dry vegetables to give more tastes and even to sundals.

Sending this over to Roma for her Long Live the shelf event.
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Chutney Podi


Ingredients (Translation)

1/2 cup dry coconut
1 small lime size tamarind
1 small lime size jaggery
Salt to taste
A bit of asafoetida
Few curry leaves
1/4 cup fried dal
2 Red chillies

Grind all ingredients well except coconut and fried dal. Once you get a coarse powder, add these two ingredients as well and grind again to a smooth powder.

Serve with little oil or with little curd. It goes very well with dosas and idli.
Sending this also to Asha's RCI Karnataka event.

Sending this over to Roma for her Long Live the shelf event.
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Davangere Benne Dosa



I had the opportunity to eat this benne dose at davangere few months back. Now sharing it with you.

Ingredients (Translation)

Dosa Batter (Proportions)
1 tsp Unsalted butter
1 Boiled Potato
2 tbsp chopped onions
Salt to taste

Mash the boiled potatoes and add salt, chopped onions and mix well in medium flame for five minutes. This is how the typical benne dose sabzi is made.

Take a big spoon of dosa batter and spread it on hot tava. Instead of the normal dosa where we add oil, spread out the unsalted butter on it. Cook on both sides and serve with potatoes, butter, sambhar and chutneys.
This post is another entry to Asha's RCI Karnataka event
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Idli Batter

Version I (With Idli Rava)

Ingredients (Translation)

1 cup blackgram dal
4 cups Idli Rava
Salt to taste

Soak the blackgram dal for half an hour and grind it to a smooth batter with less water.

Add water to the idli rava and clean it. Add it to the blackgram dal paste and grind it along with it to get a smooth batter. Add salt and mix well.

Transfer batter to a bigger vessel and allow it to ferment for atleast 8 to 10 hours.

Refrigerate after fermentation and best used before 5 days.

Version II (With Boiled Rice and Raw Rice)

Ingredients (Translation)

2 1/2 cups boiled rice
1/2 cup raw rice
3/4 cup blackgram dal
Salt to taste

Soak the rice and dal seperately for atleast 2 hours.

Grind the blackgram dal first to a smooth paste and then add both the rice (without rice). Grind it to a smooth batter and add salt.

Transfer batter to a bigger vessel and allow it to ferment for atleast 8 to 10 hours.

Refrigerate after fermentation and best used before 5 days.
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Dosa Batter

Ingredients (Translation)
1/2 cup Raw rice
2 1/2 cups Boiled Rice
1 cup Blackgram dal
2 tbsp Redgram dal
1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
Salt to taste

Soak the rice (mix of raw and boiled rice) and the dals (mix of blackgram dal, redgram dal and fenugreek seeds) seperately with adequate water for atleast 2 hours.

Grind the dals first to get a smooth paste and then add the rice (without water). Grind with minimum water possible to get a smooth batter. Add salt and transfer the batter to a bigger vessel. Allow it to ferment for atleast 8 to 10 hours.

This batter must be refrigerated after fermentation and is best used within 3 to 4 days.
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Healthy Corn Sundal


Ingredients (Translation)

Corn (Sweet corn or the normal one-anything will do)
Salt to taste
Few curry leaves
Some finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp bengalgram dal
1 tsp blackgram dal

To be ground into paste
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp bengalgram dal
1 tsp blackgram dal
1 Red chilli (add more if you want)
4 tbsp scraped coconut (you can even add it directly without grinding)

Roast the masala ingredients and grind it to a dry coarse powder

Cook the peeled corn in some water. In a separate vessel, heat the oil, add mustard seeds, bengalgram dal, blackgram dal and let it splutter. Add curry leaves and then the cooked corn. Add salt and the masala paste.

Mix well and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot...A healthy snack for evenings.
Sending this to Hima's WYF -Snacks Event

Also sending this to Sharmi for her Cooking for Kids:Corn event

corn recipes, how to make sundal,

Vegetable Tikki


Ingredients (Translation)

1 cup Boiled potatoes
½ cup boiled peas
½ cup boiled carrots
1 tsp garam masala powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
2 slices of bread

Mash the boiled potatoes and mix with all other ingredients except oil and bread. Wet the bread with water, squeeze out all the water and add to the mix of vegetables dough.

Now make medium size balls and flatten them like vada. Now you have two options- The first one is to deep fry the cutlets by rolling them in bread crumbs . But this consumes more oil.

The second method and the way I did these is- Just place them on the chapati tava, add a few drops of oil and when it is golden brown, turn and cook the other side as well.

Serve Hot with sweet chutneyor sauce. Also an ideal way to utilise leftover vegetables.
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Quick Cauliflower Curry


Ingredients: (Translation)

Cauliflower: 1
Onions: 1-2 (medium size)
Tomatoes: 2-3 (medium size)
Ginger- a small piece
Garlic (optional as per taste)
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Dhania Powder
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
Kasuri Methi- little bit
Chopped coriander leaves 1-2 tbsp
1-2 tsp oil
Asafoetida

Heat water in a pan and side by side cut the cauliflower into small florets. Put the florets in the hot water and let it stay for abt 3-5 mins. Roughly chop the onions, tomatoes and ginger and grind to a smooth paste in the mixie. Heat a pan, add some oil and the jeera, once jeera splutters add asafotedia and the ground paste. Cook the paste till the raw smell disappers. You will notice that the colour of the paste changes to bright red on being cooked.

Meanwhile, cook the cauliflower florets in little water or microwave the florets with salt. Now add dhania powder, garam masala, red chilli powder, tumeric powder and kasuri methi to the boiling paste and mix well. Once the aroma is smelt, add salt to taste (salt for the gravy only). Add the cauliflower florets now and ensure that the masala is well coated on the cauliflower. Water can be added to dilute the gravy as per individual choice.

Let the gravy come to a boil, then serve the curry after garnishing with chopped coriander leaves. This curry takes very less time for preparation.
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Cabbage Cashew Pakoda


Ingredients (Translation)

1 cup Gram Flour
1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
2 tbsp Rice Flour
1 cup chopped cabbage
Few Cashews
Salt to taste
Oil for frying


Mix all the ingredients well and add little water to form a dough.

Make small balls of it and deep fry in hot oil. Strain out excess oil on a tissue paper.

Serve hot with chutney or sauce.
Sending this to Hima's WYF-Snacks Event.

Also sending this over to Pallavi for the Sunday Snacks:Hot and Spicy event and Trupti's Winter Treat event




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Avial- Side Dish



Ingredients (Translation)

Vegetables like potatoes, beans, red pumpkin, white pumpkin, plantain, yam, carrot, sweet potato, cucumber
Salt to taste
1/4 cup sour curd
1/8 tsp Asafoetida

For Masala-
4 tbsp of grated coconut
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1 green chilly(add more if u desire)
2 tsp Bengal gram dal

For seasoning

1 tspMustard Seeds
Few curry leaves

First cut all the vegetables into small and equal pieces and boil them.

Roast the bengalgram dal and grind it along with other masala ingredients to get a paste.

Add it to the boiled vegetables. Add asafoetida and salt to it.

Season with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Before serving, add sour curds and serve with rice or chapatis.
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Rice Parathas,Easy Sandwich Spread and Pakodas with Leftovers - WBB 15

Rice Parathas

I had some rice leftover and was bored of making the usual lemon rice or fried rice from it. So, I decided to try out a new recipe. Parathas make a good breakfast.




Ingredients for Paratha:-(Translation)
Leftover rice- 1 cup
Onion- 1 finely chopped
Carrot- 1 small piece grated
Green chillies –1
Capsicum –1 finely chopped
Finely chopped coriander leaves- 1-2 spoons
Salt to taste
Jeera Powder -1 spoon
Chilli Powder-for more spicy flavour as per taste
Chickpea (Besan)Flour- as per rice consistency
Oil –for the parathas


Take the leftover rice in a bowl and mash it thoroughly, if need be can use a blender too. Add the other ingredients except oil to this mashed rice. The dough will be a bit sticky so apply little oil on your hands to make round balls of the dough and roll into small parathas. I found patting with my hands easy to make small parathas. Dip parathas in flour to aid in easy rolling of the parathas. Heat a tawa and put on the paratha. Add little bit oil around the sides of the paratha. Cook till brown spots appear on both sides of the paratha. Serve the hot parathas with curd/raitha/pickle.





Quick Sandwich Spread

One morning, I opened the fridge to see half onion, one tomato, half green capsicum and a small piece of carrot welcoming me. I prepared an easy sandwich spread which can double up as a raitha too.

Ingredients:
Leftover raw vegetables- 1 tomato, 1/2 onion, 1/2 green capsicum, 1/2 carrot
Leftover Bread slices ( I use Whole Wheat Bread)
Curd-1/2 cup
Salt and chilli powder to taste

Take curd in a bowl and beat it finely to ensure that no lumps remain. Finely chop the onion, tomato and capsicum and grate the carrot. Add the cut vegetables alongwith salt and chilli powder to get a delicious sandwich spread. The spread needs to be put on the bread slice just before eating else the curd will make the bread soggy. Also, the water left out by the onions and tomatoes will dilute the curds after some time, so ensure that the spread is eaten immediately after being made. Leftover spread can also be used as a mixed vegetable raitha.




Pakodas with Leftover Veggies

I had made fried rice the earlier day and realised that I have cooked a bit more vegetables as compared to the rice. The next morning, I added Bengal Gram flour and little bit cornflour to the vegetables to make pakodas. A good item for a leisurely Sunday breakfast.




All the three recipes are my entries to Nandita's WBB-15 event.

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Raw Tomato Dal (Kootu)


Raw Tomato Dal is one of my favourite dishes. This is an excellent side dish for chapatis. Needless to say, this dal goes well with rice too.

Ingredients: (Translation)
Raw Tomatoes- 4-5(big)
Moong Dal- 1 cup
Mustard seeds- 1 spoon
Curry leaves- 5-6
Asafotedia

For masala paste:
Dhania -1 spoon
Red chillies- 1-2 as per taste
Chana dal- 1/2 spoon
Udad dal-1/2 spoon
Coconut- 1-2 spoons (Optional)

Pressure cook the moong dal. Take about 2-3 drops of oil and roast the masala ingredients (except coconut). Grind to a fine paste in the mixie after adding coconut and sufficient water. Heat a spoon of oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds, curry leaves and asafotedia. Cut each raw tomato into 8 equal pieces and add in the kadai. Please note that we are cutting big pieces since tomatoes lose water and shrink on being cooked. Add salt to the tomatoes and let them get cooked. Finally, add in the cooked moong dal, salt and the ground paste and let the dal come to a boil. The salt being added here is for the moong dal since we have already cooked the tomatoes with salt. Depending on your chosen consistency, water can be added if the dal is a bit thick. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Few tips for this dish:
1.Select only green tomatoes which are a bit hard.
2.Make this dish within 1-2 days of buying the green tomatoes, else the tomatoes start ripening and the taste of the dish will change.


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Banana Stem Raitha- JFI Banana


Banana Stem Raitha is my entry to JFI:Banana. This raitha is very easy to make and nutritious too.


Ingredients: (Translation)

Banana Stem- 1 small piece
Curds- 1 cup
Salt to taste
Oil-1 spoon
Mustard seeds-1 spoon
Curry leaves- 5-6
Asafotedia

Take curd in a serving bowl and beat it well so that no lumps remain. Add some water if the curd is really thick. Remove the outer layer of the Banana stem and then cut the stem in round slices. You will notice fibre sticking to the slices, gently take the fibre off. If this is done, cutting into smaller pieces becomes very easy. Using this method, cut the banana stem into small pieces and immediately put the pieces in the curd so that it maintains its colour. If left open after cutting, banana stem pieces will turn brownish in a short span just like apples. Next add salt as per taste. Heat one spoon oil, when the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add curry leaves (cut into small pieces) and then add asafotedia. Pour this over the curds and mix well. Delicious raitha is ready.
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Vegetable Paratha




Ingredients-(Translation)


Boiled Vegetables like potato, beans, carrot and peas
1 cup Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp Ajwain powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Finely Chopped coriander leaves
Oil
2 tbsp of ghee

Prepare of soft dough with wheat flour, salt and water. Keep it covered for some time

Mix and mash all the boiled vegetables, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, ajwain powder and finely chopped coriander leaves. Make medium sized balls of it

Now take a small ball of the wheat flour dough, roll it into chapatis with more dough in the centre and thinner chapati outside. Place the ball of vegetables mix in the centre and cover it well from all sides.

Again roll it out into chapatis but thicker ones, ensuring that the vegetables dont come out

Cook them on a tava with some oil. When both sides are cooked well with brown spots on it, transfer to the serving plate and add a drop of ghee to it.

Serve hot with pickles and curd.

It is also an excellent way to utilise your leftover boiled vegetables and wheat flour dough

Sending this recipe to the leftover cooking event hosted by Nandita of Saffron Trail

how to make parathas with vegetables, parota recipe

Kozhakattai and Sundal

This time for ganesh chaturthi, tried out kozhakattais for the first time...they came out really nice. I followed the recipe given by Viji.

For Kozhakattai (Modak)

1 cup raw rice
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp milk

For coconut filling

1 cup grated coconut
3/4 cup jaggery
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

For sesame seeds filling

1/2 cup roasted black sesame seeds
1/4 cup jaggery
1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Soak the rice for an hour in sufficient water. Drain out the water and grind to a fine paste with 1 cup of water. Heat one more cup of water in a vessel and add a pinch of salt and milk to it. When it starts boiling, add the rice paste and keep stirring on low flame for 15-20 minutes. To check if the dough is ready, spread a drop of oil on the palms and take a small ball of the dough. Knead well and roll out into a long thread. If it doesnt break, then the dough is cooked well and of the required consistency. Switch off the gas and cover it with a wet cloth and let it stay covered for an hour.

For the coconut filling, heat the jaggery with some water and when it starts boiling add the cardamom powder and grated coconut. Cook till it becomes one big lump. Cool and make small balls of it.

For the sesame seeds filling, grind the sesame seeds, cardamom powder and jaggery together. Make small balls of it.

Now make small cups of the rice dough and keep the desired filling inside. Now shape it into modak/kozhakattai. Repeat for the rest of the dough. Also you could make small rounds of the rice dough, spread the filling in half of it and cover it with the rest of the dough to get semi-circle shape.

Steam the kozhakattai for 5-8 minutes in the idli cooker. Cool a bit and serve Lord Ganesha's favourite prasadam.

Also, I made sundal and semiya payasam.

For Sundal-

Ingredients-(Translation)

1 cup Chick Peas/Kabuli Chana (to be soaked in water overnight)(red or white chickpeas)
2 tsp of oil
1 tsp Coriander Seeds
2 tsp Bengalgram dal
2 tsp Blackgram dal
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 Red Chilli
4 tbsp of grated coconut
Salt to taste
Few curry leaves


Pressure cook the soaked chick peas.

In a kadai, first roast 1 tsp of bengalgram dal, 1 tsp of black gram dal, red chilli and 1 tsp of coriander seeds. Grind it with coconut.

Now heat oil, add mustard seeds and the remaining 1 tsp of bengalgram dal and blackgram dal. Add the curry leaves and then the cooked chick peas. Dont throw away the water used to cook the chick peas. Add them also here and cook till the water is absorbed. Now add salt and the grinded masala paste.
Mix well and serve.

Semiya Payasam


Ingredients-(Translation)

1 cup vermicelli (semiya)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
Few Cashews
2 tbsp of ghee


First roast the cashews and vermicelli in ghee and when it starts turning brown, add 1 1/2 cups of water to it. Let it cook for five minutes.

Now add sugar to it and cook for 2 more minutes.

Let it cool a bit and then add the milk to it.
Serve hot or after refrigeration.



And now for the most interesting part-

The rice flour mix made for kozhakattai was more than the sweet filling for it. So, my mom suggested to add some salt, green chillies, curry leaves, mustard seeds, bengalgram dal and blackgram dal and make salt kozhakottai of it...


If you end up with more filling, then go for Sugiyan



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Mandakki Usli

Puffed Rice (Mamra or pori) is known as Mandakki in Karnataka. Kara-Mandakki is often given as a snack item in Kannada households. I first ate Mandakki Usili as a kid when my grandma made it. Since then, the dish is one of my top favourites. Mandakki Usili is easy to make and a break from the usual rava and vermicelli upma.

Ingredients:

Mandakki- 2 cups
1 finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped tomato
A small carrot peeled and grated
Curry leaves and coriander leaves
Oil- 1 spoon
Mustard seeds- ½ spoon
1 Green chilly- slit in between
Asafotedia

Take the mandakki in a big bowl and pour water over it. You will hear hissing sounds, gently try to mix the mandakki with the water. Then pour off the water and collect the mandakki in another bowl. Repeat this couple of times till the water comes out clear indicating that the mandakki is clean. You will notice that the mandakki reduces in size and absorbs water as seen below. Squeeze out excess water from the mandakki.






Take a pan and heat a spoon of oil in it. Add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter, then add green chillies and curry leaves and asafotedia. Add the chopped onions and fry till cooked, then add in the tomatoes and cook for some time. Finally add the grated carrot and salt to suit the vegetables. Please note that the mandakki already contains some salt, so adjust the proportion of salt to be added accordingly. If you prefer more spicy mandakki usili, little bit chilli powder can also be added. When the veggies are cooked, they will look like this.



Finally add in the mandakki to the veggies and mix gently. Now taste the same and add salt if need be. A minute later, delicious mandakki usili is ready to serve. Garnish with grated carrot and coriander leaves. This recipe is our entry to Asha’s RCI Karnataka event. Hope readers trying out this recipe will surely like it.


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Jeera Kashayam

When we overeat at parties/weddings or sometimes even at home resulting in a heavy/bloated tummy, Jeera Kashayam (Kaada) is the perfect solution. This kashayam is very easy to make, requires very less ingredients and most of all offers good relief. The kashayam can be taken on a daily basis also since it aids in easy digestion.

Ingredients: (Translation)

4-5 spoons Cumin Seeds
Jaggery- 1-2 teaspoons
Water
Milk
(Makes 1 glass kashayam)

Roast the jeera in a saucepan on slow heat. You will hear crackling sounds, that is normal. Ensure that all the contents get roasted evenly. The seeds must not fully blacken and not be raw at the same time. The aroma given out will aid in recognising that the jeera is roasted.


At this stage, add about 1.5 glasses of water and allow it to come to a boil. Crush jaggery with your fingers/cut into small pieces with a knife and add it to the boiling water. Use a spoon to mix the contents.
Now, add about a quarter cup of milk (depending on your taste). Some people prefer to have the kashayam without milk. Let the milk come to a boil, then put off the gas and filter the kashayam. All jeera seeds will remain in the filter. The resultant kashayam is pictured below.

P.S: The colour of the kashayam may change depending on the colour of jaggery used. Sugar can also be substituted for jaggery. The main purpose of adding jaggery is for flavour.
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Choco-Coconut Burfi



Recipe courtesy: My aunty

Aunty had come home with a box full of these burfis. The recipe is quite simple and the chocolate flavour adds a dash to the burfi.

Ingredients:

Scraped Fresh Coconut- 1 cup
Sugar -1 to 1.5 cups as per individual taste
Elaichi powder- a bit
Nuts (Cashew, pista and badam)
Cocoa powder- 1-2 teaspoon

In a kadai, melt the sugar with sufficient water to get a one-string consistency syrup. Then add the coconut scrapings and stir slowly in one direction. Add the elaichi powder. Mix well with the syrup, add cocoa powder and nuts. Stir till the mixture starts leaving the sides of the vessel and then empty the contents onto a plate smeared with ghee. Allow the mixture to cool a bit and then cut into desired shapes.

P.S: Another variation in this sweet is by using mango pulp and adding it alongwith the coconut scrapings to the sugar syrup.

Fall of the Wall

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Sago/ Sabudana Upma


Ingredients (Translation)

1 cup sago/sabudana
1/4 cup groundnuts
2 tsp of oil
salt to taste
2 green chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
Coriander leaves to garnish

Soak the sago in water, it should be just wet. Keep mixing it every 30 minutes and keep it wet. The sago should become very soft in about 2 to 3 hours.

Roast the groundnuts and grind it coarsely with 1 green chilly.

In a fry pan, heat the oil, add cumin seeds and the other green chilly. Now add the sago and the groundnut powder. Add salt, mix well.

Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.
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Onion Pakoda

I came across Hima's Blog Snackorama, where she has announced the theme of Whats Your Favourite Snack for September. One of the all time favourite snacks is onion pakodas/pakoras/fritters. This dish is simple to make and is well-loved all over India. Onion Pakodas are my contribution to the above event.

Ingredients: (Translation)

Onions-2
BengalGram Flour-1/4 cup
Rice Flour-2 big tbsp
Chilli Powder- as per taste
Green chillies-1
Salt to taste
Curry leaves - a bit
Coriander leaves finely chopped- a bit
Oil for frying


Finely chop onions lengthwise. Chop green chillies and add to the flours. Add salt, chilli powder, curry leaves and coriander leaves and onions and mix well. Heat oil for frying and add a spoon of hot oil to the flour mix. Prepare a bit powdery dough from the flour mix using little water. When the oil is hot, take a big ball of dough and drop in small pieces in the oil. Fry till reddish brown colour. Put the pakodas on kitchen paper to drain excess oil and then serve the pakodas with chutney.

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Lemon Sevai


Ingredients (Translation)

1 cup of MTR Rice sevai
2 tsps of lemon juice
Salt to taste
2 Green chillies
2 tsps of oil
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tsp of bengalgram dal
1 tsp of blackgram dal
Coriander leaves to garnish
10 cashews

Boil 3 cups of water and add the rice sevai to it. Allow it to cook for five minutes.

Remove and transfer to a strainer and allow the water to drain completely.

Heat oil, add mustard seeds, bengalgram dal and blackgram dal. When it starts spluttering, add the green chillies and turmeric powder and finally the cooked rice sevai. (ensure that it is completely dry without any water).

Add salt, lemon juice and mix well. Cook for medium flame for 2 minutes.

Garnish with roasted cashews and finely chopped coriander leaves.

Other variations-

You can mix dry puliyogare powder to the cooked rice sevai and omit all other ingredients.

Also, instead of lemon juice and turmeric powder, you can add some scrapped fresh coconut to the rice sevai.
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Bhendi Masala


Ingredients (Translation)


1/4 kg Ladies Finger
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Oil
2 tbsp Tomato Puree
1/2 tsp Garam masala powder
1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1/4 tsp Cumin seeds powder
1/4 tsp Coriander seeds powder
Salt to taste

Heat oil and add cumin seeds. Now add the ladies finger cut into long pieces and mix well. Allow it to cook on medium flame for five minutes. When cooked, add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, tomato puree, cumin seeds powder and coriander seeds powder.

Mix well and bring it to a boil.

Serve with chapatis.

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Special Ghee Roast Dosa



The first step---Normal Dosa








Next- Add 2 tsps of ghee









Third step- Cut it from the centre to the outer corner




Fourth- Start rolling





Final Look



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Ven Pongal


Ingredients (Translation)


3/4 cup Raw Rice
1/4 cup Greengram dal
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Cumin seeds
Cashews-10
Salt to taste
Curry leaves- few
2 tbsp Ghee


Pressure cook the rice and greengram dal together with required quantity of water (water should be 3 to 4 times the quantity of rice).


In a small kadai, heat the ghee, add the cashews. When it turns golden brown, remove the cashews and add the cumin seeds, pepper and curry leaves to the ghee.

Transfer all of these to the cooked rice. Mix well.
Serve hot with chutney and sambhar.


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Confused with Ingredients

Translations-
English-- Hindi, Tamil
All purpose flour-- Maida
Asafoetida --Hing, Perungayam
Bay leaf --Tej patta
Bengal gram dal-- Chana dal, Kadalai paruppu
Black gram dal-- Urad dal, Uluttam paruppu
Black Sesame Seeds-- Kaala til, Karuppu yellu
Cardamom powder-- Elachi powder, Yelakka podi
Cinnamon-- Dal Chinni, Pattai
Cloves-- Laung, Krambu
Cumin seeds-- Jeera, Jeeragam
Coriander seeds-- Sabut Dhania, Kottamalli vere
Coriander Leaves-- Hara dhania, Kottamalli
Curry leaves-- Kadi patta, Karuvaipallai
Fenugreek seeds-- Methi dana, Venthiyam
Fenugreek-- Methi, Methiya keerai
Fried(roasted)dal-- Dalia, Pottukadalai
Groundnuts-- Singdana, Ver Kadalai
Gram flour-- Besan, Kadalai maavu
Green gram dal-- Moong dal, Payatham paruppu
Jaggery-- Gud, Vellam
Mustard seeds-- Rai, Kadugu
Pepper-- Kali Mirch, Molagu
Spinach-- Palak
Red gram dal-- Toor dal, Toram paruppu
Red chillies-- Lal Mirch, Kanja milagai
Red chilli powder-- Laal mirch powder, katta podi
Rice Flour-- Chawal ka atta, Arisi maavu
Sago-- Sabudana, Jevarisi
Salt-- Namak, uppu
Sugar-- Cheeni, Sakkarai
Tamarind --Imli, Puli
Turmeric --Haldi, Manjal podi
Thymol seeds --Ajwain, Omam
Vermicelli-- Semiya
Wheat flour-- Gehu ka aata, Godum maavu
White sesame seeds--Safed til, Vella yellu

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BisiBela Bath


Ingredients (Translation)

1 cup Rice
1/2 cup Redgram dal (Tur dal)
Tamarind- a small lemon size
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Bengalgram dal
1 tsp Blackgram dal
Groundnuts- few
Curry leaves- few
Carrot- 1
1/4 cup Peas
Beans- 10
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
Jaggery- little
Water
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Oil

For masala paste
1 1/2 tsp Bengalgram dal
1 tsp Blackgram dal
1/2 tsp Coriander seeds
2 Red chilli
Cinnamon stick- a small piece
2 Cloves
2 Cardamom
3 tsps Coconut powder

Cut the carrot and beans into long pieces. Clean the rice and dal and pressure cook it.

Soak the tamarind in some water and extract the juice.

Roast the masala ingredients and grind it to a paste.

Heat oil, add mustard seeds, bengalgram dal, blackgram dal. When it starts spluttering, add the curry leaves, groundnuts, turmeric powder and finally the extracted tamarind juice. Add the masala paste, salt, vegetables and jaggery. Let it cook for some time.

Finally add the cooked rice and dal and mix well. Bring it to a boil.

Garnish with coriander leaves and some ghee. Serve hot.

Sending it over to Shama's First cooked food event.
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Microwave Version of the recipe

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