Bittergourd stir fry (Karela stir fry)

      I have never said NO to a bitter gourd stir-fry. The reason is not that I like bitterness, but it is for the way my mom cooks it by masking its bitterness and stir frying :) The nutritional benefits of bittergourd (Karela/bittermelon) on diabetes, intestinal disorders, weight loss, skin problems, grey hair and dandruff are widely known. It contains a good amount of Vitamin C and folate. Despite the bitter taste, due to its nutritional value, it is worth including in the diet atleast once in two weeks.

Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 25 mins || Serves: 2 || Category: Side-dish/Stir fry

Ingredients:
1. Bittergourd - 3 (medium sized)
2. Oil - 2 tbsp
3. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
4. Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
5. Urad dal - 2 tsp
6. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
7. Hing - 2 tsp
8. Chilly powder - 1/4 tbsp
9. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
10. Salt - as required

Method:
1. Wash the bitterguard and cut off the edges. Slice them into rings, after scooping out the seeds with a knife to a reachable length. Immerse the cut rings into a bowl of salted buttermilk for 5-10 mins. In a pan, add oil and temper with mustard seeds, jeera, urad dal & add a pinch of turmeric powder and hing.

 2. Squeeze the bittergourd rings from buttermilk and add to the tempering. Add chilli powder and pepper powder. Saute for about 2 mins. Then add salt and stir well. Cook covered for about 5 mins.

 3. Drizzle some oil and keep cooking in the pan uncovered, until it has got fried well and attained slightly crispy brown edges.

Suggestions:

• Adding the cut bittergourd to buttermilk reduces its bitterness. This step can be skipped if you want to enjoy the bitterness without masking it :P
• I used gingelly oil as it gives a good flavour.
• For a change, I tried cutting the bittergourd as rings. It can be cut lengthwise into half and further cut into small pieces, which would be easier in removing the seeds.

Tastes great especially with just raw rice and gingelly oil or with curd rice.

Idly (How to grind idly/dosa batter in mixie)

     
     Idly is the most common comfort food of South Indians and is also the most convenient one to make. It is good for health as it is a steamed dish. As a recipe, Idly has never failed me :P always the softer and softest it turns out to be... Whenever we have to head for important meetings in the mornings or plan to go for an outing, Idly would be topping the menu, with each person getting their separate pack of idlis dipped in chilli powder and gingelly oil !!! As I don't prepare separate batter for idly & dosa, everytime the routine follows making idlis twice, then dosa, followed by onion oothapam or kuzhi paniyaram.
     Though it is a common recipe, how can it be called a food blog without this !!! Plus, I wanted it to be documented, as I often get a confusion as to whether the rice is 3 parts or the urad dal is 3 parts :P Every time I get confused, I recollect my mom's saying "If you put 3 parts of urad dal, then you wont get idlis but you will have to be sitting and making only medhu vadais the whole day" 

Prep Time: 3 hours soaking time + 30 mins grinding || Cook Time: 25 mins || Yields: 15 || Category: Breakfast/Tiffin, Steamed dishes

Ingredients:
1. Raw rice (Idly rice) - 3 cups
2. Whole urad dal - 1 cup
3. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
4. Salt - as required
5. Hing - 3 tsp

Method:
1. Wash idli rice and whole urad dal separately and soak for a minimum of 3 hours.

2. Soak 2 tsp of fenugreek along with urad dal. Adding fenugreek gives softness and good flavour to the idly/dosa.

3.If you find in the meantime, that the grains are short of water, add some more water as required.  After 3 hours, the rice and urad dal would have bulged in size absorbing water. Drain the water from urad dal and add it into a mixie jar. Add little amount of water to assist smooth grinding.

4. Keep checking the consistency of urad batter for every 2 mins. Open the mixie jar and add water if necessary and give a stir with the spatula. Continue grinding to get a smooth paste. It took around 5-6 mins for me to get a smooth batter with 2 breaks in between to avoid overheating of the mixie's motor.

5. Transfer the ground urad dal batter to a large container and add some salt and hing to it. In the same mixie jar, add the drained rice to more than half and less than three fourths of the jar's capacity. Add less water and grind slowly into a smooth paste, in multiple batches. (I ground the soaked rice in 2 batches for a total of 6 rounds, with 3 rounds of grinding and intermittent checking for each batch)

6. Keep checking for the consistency of the ground rice batter. The batter tends to become dry sooner. But if the batter becomes too runny, it will take longer time to grind. So, add water accordingly.

7. Once it is ground to a smooth paste, transfer it to the same container in which the urad dal batter has been poured into. Mix both the batters well with clean hand. (Mixing with hand is preferable, as it helps in better fermentation of the batter. (But I always use a spatula or a long laddle to avoid messy hands. It still gets fermented overnight may be taking a little extra time)

8. Keep the batter covered overnight  for 8-10 hours or more/less hours depending on the climatic conditions of the region where you live. After the resting period, the batter would have fermented and risen towards the brim of the container. Before using it for making idlis, mix well with a long laddle and check for the consistency and add salt if required.

9. Grease the idly plates generously with gingelly oil and pour the batter into each mould a little less than its level or just equal to the level. (If using cloth for making idlis, make the cloth damp and squeeze the water from it. Spread the cloth on the idly plates and pour the batter onto the dents.) Add water in the idly steamer sufficiently and stack the plates inside the container and close the lid.

10. Keep in high flame initially for 5 mins and then switch to medium flame for 6-7 mins. Once the idlis are cooked, the aroma starts coming out of the steamer. The cooked idlis, will get cracks on their top surface. If you still want to check for the doneness, insert a spoon or a knife which should come out without the dough sticking to it.

Suggestions:

• Rather than mixie, using grinder for making the batter, yields softer idlis. (As I dont have a grinder here, I rely on mixie ground batter)
• Mixing the rice and urad dal batter with hand, instead of a laddle or spatula, helps in quicker fermentation.
• Do not fill the entire container with idly batter. Leave some space between the surface of the flour and the lid of the container giving room for the batter to ferment and rise.
• There is also a practice of adding a long spoon or laddle into the container having idly batter, as it avoids the flour overflowing after fermentaion (Should be working fine but I have not tested it though, as I use a considerably larger container for storage).
• At any point during steaming, if you find a burning smell or a noise from the steamer, take out the plates and check for the level of water in the container.
• I generally grind the urad dal first and rice at the last, as washing the mixie jar is easier with remnants of rice batter than the sticky remains of urad dal batter.
• Keeping the batter filled container in a large plate helps in collecting the fermented and overflown batter overnight, if any. It also makes cleaning the outer part of the container and the resting platform/table mess free.
• Some have the practice of adding a handful of poha while grinding the batter, as it gives softer idlis. (I have not tried this, as the without poha version itself works great for me.)
• Comparing the cloth version with the non-cloth version, softer idlis are undoubtedly guaranteed with the cloth version.
• Though there may be many different ratios, I follow the ratio of 3:1 for Rice:Urad dal always and it has been yielding softer idlis.

     I gulped the idlis with red chilly chutney, milagai podi & milagu kuzhambu !!! With a drizzle of gingelly oil over the hot idlis.

Hotel Sambar recipe

    

 Just the uttering of the word "Hotel Sambar" fills my senses with that magical aroma which accompanies the sambar. I have often longed for replicating a hotel sambar at home. One of my relatives always says, the aroma comes due to the simple trick of frying sambar powder in oil & adding it to the concoction, as against the normal homely cooking by adding the raw sambar powder in the boiling tamarind extract and dal mixture. I got reminded of these, when I was watching Samayal Samayal show, where the chef was demonstrating hotel sambar. As a result of the temptation, I jumped in to try this sambar for lunch, with the pre-plan of having the idlies dipped in it for the evening tiffin. :P

Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 40 mins || Serves: 4 || Category: Sambar / Rice Accompaniment

Ingredients:
1. Toor dal - 100 gm
2. Moong dal - 25 gm
3. Tomato - 2 (small)
4. Shallots - 10
5. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
6. Green chilly - 1
7. Tamarind extract - 100 ml
8. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
9. Kashmiri chilly powder - 2 tsp
10. Salt - as required
11. Sambar powder - 3 tbsp
12. Oil - 3 tbsp
13. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
14. Hing - 2 tsp
15. Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp finely chopped

Method:
1. Wash toor dal and moong dal together. Add required quantity of water and pressure cook for about 6 whistles.

2. Chop the tomatoes, slit the green chilly & peel the outer skin of shallots. 

3. After 6 whistles, rest the cooked dal for about 20 mins and then mash it well. To the mashed dal, add tomatoes, shallots, curry leaves, green chilly and mix well. Cook for about 5 mins.

4. Add turmeric powder and kashmiri chilly powder.Cook for 5-7 mins allowing the sambar to boil. 

5. Parallely in a kadai, heat oil & splutter mustard seeds in that. Add sambar powder and stir well for a few seconds. Then add hing to the oil and mix well. Switch off the flame and transfer the contents to the sambar. Stir well, bring it to a boil and switch off the flame. Add the chopped coriander leaves and keep it covered.

Suggestions:

• Adding kashmiri chilly powder is optional. It is added for the purpose of giving a bright color to the sambar. 
• The combination of vegetables can be altered as desired. Brinjal, shallots, drumstick and tomato combo gives a perfect taste.
• Adding moong dal gives thickness to the sambar. 

Tastes great with Rice, Idli, Dosa etc.

Strawberry Milkshake

     I was having a fascination towards strawberry when I was in India. I always loved to have a juice or milkshake with this berry.. The fondness continues even now. Though no one at home likes this fruit except me, I go for a pack of this once a month to satiate my craving :P
Having tried jam for couple of times, I wanted to move on with the next easy recipe - Strawberry Milkshake -- from the list of mousse, scones, shortcake, ice-cream, cupcakes & smoothie.

Prep Time: 15 mins || Serves: 1 || Category: Milkshake / Smoothie

Ingredients:
1. Strawberry - 6 or 7
2. Sugar - 3 tbsp (as required based on the taste of strawberries)
3. Milk - 150 ml (preferably cold)
4. Dark Chocolate - 1 tbsp (grated)

Method:
1. Wash, hull the strawberries (remove the leafy part on the top) and cut them roughly.

 2. In a blender, add the strawberries and sugar and about 50 ml of milk and grind it to a frothy paste. 

 3. Finally add the remaining milk and give a quick run. Pour on tall glasses and top with grated chocolate. Garnish with strawberry pieces if desired.

Suggestions:

• Chocolate gratings are optional. Can also squeeze some liquid chocolate on top.
• The milkshake can be refrigerated for a while and then served chill. I had it as such, as I used cold milk.
• Along with Strawberries, hershey's liquid chocolate can be added in the blender, to give a chocolaty touch.
• Amount of sugar varies as per the sourness of the berries.
• Adding well beaten fresh cream with a few strawberries, for the bottom layer, gives Strawberry Mousse, another variant.

Birds Nest (with potato & vermicelli)

     I came across these lovely little potato vermicelli birds nests in a potluck conducted at office some 3 years ago. One of my teammates had done this along with many other dishes. I couldn't get a bite of it as there were many hands fighting for the few nests :D From that day, I wanted to try this mentally bookmared eye-catcher dish...
     This would surely serve as a very good irresistible starter for the guests in any party. The visual appeal of this dish would be a great hit among kids and keep everyone hooked to it...

Prep Time: 20 mins for Boiling potato + 15 mins || Cook Time: 10 mins || Yields: 6 || Category: Starters/Kids Recipes/Finger Food

Ingredients:
1. Potatoes - 1  (Boiled)
2. Green Peas - 1/4 cup (steamed)
3. Chat masala - 2 tsp
4. Garam masala - 1 tsp
5. Red chilly powder - 2 tsp 
6. Coriander powder - 2 tsp
7. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
8. Asafoetida (hing) - 2 tsp
9. Amchur powder - 2 tsp (optional)
10. Salt - as required
For Coating:
11. All purpose flour (Maida) - 1/2 cup
12. Corn flour - 1 tbsp
13. Rava (Sooji) - 2 tbsp
14. Salt - as required
15. Roasted Vermicelli - 1 cup (Broken to small pieces)
16. Oil - For deep frying

Method:
1. Mash the boiled potatoes completely without any lumps. To this mash, add about 3/4 quantity of the peas (I used steamed frozen peas. Hence soaked in hot water for 2 mins to bring it back to the soft texture). Add the masalas and powders (chat, garam, coriander, red chilly, turmeric, amchur), asafoetida, salt and mix well to form a soft mass.

 2. Make a thick paste with maida, corn flour, salt adding required amount of water. Make small balls out of the potato peas batter. Shape them in the form of nest and give a gentle dent at the center to make small oval cups. 

 3. Dip the potato nests in the maida paste and then in pre-roasted vermicelli. Rest the dipped nests for 2-3 mins in freezer.

 4. Deep fry the potato nests in hot oil until they turn golden brown. In a bowl add the remaining green peas, 1 tsp chat masala, salt and mix well. Fill the potato nests with 4-5 green peas and serve with tomato ketchup.

Suggestions:

• Can add ginger garlic paste if desired.
• The amount of masala powders can be adjusted according to availability and one's requirement.

Serve with Tomato ketchup or Raw mango chutney.

Pizza Dosa

     I love the combo of sauted onion and capsicum as a filling for any rolls or for bread/pizza. Even if I had eaten tummy full, the aroma of the onion-capsi duo whets my appetite :P  Whenever the idly batter is made, the everyday line-up of breakfast dishes follows a boring pattern of - idly for 2 days - oothapam- dosa and then kuzhi paniyaram if the batter is left over and sour. This time, in order to break the routine and try something new, I moved my focus to dosa pizza as the basic ingredients for the topping were in stock :P
     We have attached stickies and small flyers on the fridge saying or warning "No more Pizza"... "No more Cheese".. blahhh... blahhh.. !!! after having had so many frequent gobbles of pizza feeling guity over the addiction...  Again the pizza mania got turned on... which was successfully converted to Pizza Dosa to utilize the left over sour dosa batter and also to avoid the cheesy gooey maida base of a store bought Pizza.. :)

Prep Time: 5 mins || Cook Time: 30 mins || Yields: 4 || Category: Breakfast / Leftover special

Ingredients:
1. Dosa Batter -  for 4 dosas (preferably sour)
2. Capsicum - 1 small
3. Onion - 1 medium
4. Tomato Ketchup - as required
5. Oregano (Italian seasoning) - 2 tbsp
6. Red Chilly flakes - 1 tbsp
7. Olives - 5 or 6
8. Cheese - 2 slices (or 50 gms grated parmesan)
9. Salt - as required

Method:
1. In a pan, heat olive oil and saute onion, capsicum with oregano (or mixed italian seasoning) and salt till a light brown tinge appears. Allow it to cool for a while. 

 2. Keeping the flame under medium, spread the dosa batter thickly like oothappam, do not spread with ladle. Let it automatically take its shape. Close it with a lid and cook for 40 secs. Sprinkle oil and flip to the other side and cook evenly.

 3. Then flip back to the first side, keeping the flame very low . Spread tomato ketchup evenly and add the grated cheese and cook closed for 1 min allowing the cheese to melt. Then top with the sauted capsicum and onion. Sprinkle oregano, red chilly flakes and top with sliced olives if desired. Cook covered for a few seconds. Switch off the flame and cut into pizza wedges and serve hot.

Suggestions:

• The choice of toppings is purely open to one's own creativity and the availability of ingredients. Baby corn, green peas, corn, de-seeded tomato can be used too.
• Adding olives is optional. If olives are not available, jalapeno (mexican chilly) can be used or both oives & jalapenos can be skipped. But their flavour gives the aroma and taste of real pizza.
• Grated parmesan cheese can be used. As I had the cheese slices in plenty, I cut them into small pieces and used them. 
• Also the amount of cheese can be altered based on one's preference.
• I avoided chilly flakes as I wanted it to be mild.
• If the pizza is desired with a soft spongy base, spread the batter in the oothappam consistency. If it is required in crispy flaky form, then spread the batter very thin like a paper roast.

Aloo Gobi Masala

     When I was in India, we had never used cauliflower in our cooking. If it is in restaurant too, we ate cauliflower dishes unwillingly or simply avoided. The reason for avoidance that I could remember is the fear of worms !!! But after having come to USA, being deprived of so many greens (keerai) and couple of other good vegetables available in India, I had to slowly get accustomed to including cauliflower in cooking. Hence now I am going in search of recipes to try with this vegetable.

Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 20 mins (boiling potato & cauli) + 25 mins || Serves: 3 || Category: Side-dish for roti/chappathi/phulka

Ingredients:
1. Potato - 1 big 
2. Cauliflower - 12-15 florets
3. Turmeric powder - 2tsp
4. Salt - as required
5. Oil - 3 tbsp
6. Jeera (cumin seeds) - 2 tsp
7. Green chillies - 2
8. Onion - 1
9. Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
10. Tomato - 1
11. Red chilly powder - 2 tsp
12. Kashmiri chilly powder - 1 tsp (optional)
13. Garam masala - 2 tsp
14. Jeera powder - 1 tsp
15. Kasoori methi - 1 tbsp
16. Ginger - few strands (julienned)

Method:
1. Cut potato into medium sized cubes and cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Immerse cauliflower in a solution of turmeric powder, salt and water for 10 mins and then filter and wash the florets. 

 2. Cook potato and cauliflower for just 1 or 2 whistles with sufficient water. (I cooked in a steamer for 15-20 mins). 

 3. Flash fry (very quickly deep fry in hot oil) the cooked potato and cauliflower in hot oil to give a crispy outer texture. (I sauted the cooked veggie in just 2 tbsp of oil in a pan as I wanted to minimize the use of oil). In a pan add oil, 2 tsp jeera. Once they splutter, add 2 slit green chillies, finely chopped onion. When it starts to turn golden brown, add ginger garlic paste and saute for 2 mins. 

 4. Then add chopped tomato, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, kashmiri chilly powder, garam masala, jeera powder and mix well. Saute for 2 mins and add required water and salt. Meanwhile soak kasoori methi in water for few mins.

 5. Once the onion tomato mixture turns into a gravy consistency, add the fried potato and cauliflower and toss well. Before switching off the flame, add the soaked and squeezed kasoori methi to the gravy and give a stir. Serve hot, topped with julienned ginger.

Suggestions:

• Adding Kashmiri chilly powder is optional. I have added it to give a good colour to the gravy.
• Flash frying or shallow frying the cauliflower and potato helps to maintain the texture and consistency of the vegetables. It is optional.

Tastes great with roti/phulka/poori and also as a filling for sandwich.

Channa Masala (Semi-dry version)

     Its been quite a long time, since I used chickpeas for some side-dish. Wanted to make a common side-dish for the rotis for dinner & something for the jeera rice for lunch. I went in for Channa Masala, which I thought would be an apt accompaniment for both. Was slightly tempted to make Batura for the Channa instead of rotis in the evening. But "the lazy me" inside me woke up and didn't allow me to do it :P

Prep Time: 8 hrs (overnight Channa soaking time) || Cook Time: 35 mins || Serves: 3 || Category: Side-dish for chappathi/roti, Semi-dry gravy

Ingredients:
1. Chickpeas (channa / Kondai kadalai) - 150 gms
2. Oil - 1 tbsp
3. Jeera (cumin seeds) - 2 tsp
4. Onion - 1 large
5. Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
6. Green chillies - 2 (slit)
7. Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
8. Hing (asafoetida) - 2 tsp
9. Tomato - 1 big
10. Kashmiri chilli powder - 2 tsp (optional)
11. Red chilli powder - 4 tsp
12. Salt - as required
13. Cumin seeds powder - 3 tsp
14. Water from cooked channa
15. Channa masala - 1 tbsp
16. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp (finely chopped)

Method:
1. Wash and soak channa overnight for 8-9 hours and pressure cook for about 6-8 whistles. Save the water used for cooking chickpeas for later use. In a pan, drizzle some oil & add jeera (cumin seeds) and fry them. Then add the chopped onion, green chillies, turmeric powder & ginger garlic paste. Saute the onions till they turn translucent & the raw smell of ginger garlic paste subsides.

 2. Now add the chopped tomatoes, roasted cumin seeds powder, salt, red chilli powder, kashmiri chilli powder and give a stir.Cook for about 4-5 mins until the tomatoes turn mushy. Then add the water that has been saved from cooked channa & stir well. Cook for 5-6 mins. 

 3. Then add channa masala and cook for 2-3 mins. Add the cooked channa & mix well. Cook for about 3-4 mins and add chopped coriander leaves and switch off the flame.

Suggestions:

• Adding Kashmiri chilli powder imparts red colour to the gravy. It can also be skipped.
• If desired, after the gravy has cooled down slightly, add lemon juice for enhanced flavour.
• If channa masala is not available, it can be replaced with garam masala.

Serve hot with rotis/phulkas/batura or jeera rice...