Moong Dal Dosa/ Paasi Parupu dosa

I got this recipe from a cookbook and is surely one of the healthiest dosas. I usually love dosas when it comes to tiffin varieties and always love to try different types of dosa’s.

Moong Dal Nutrition:

They are a excellent source of protein, fiber and amino acids also it is rich in potassium and calcium. The highlight compared to other dals is the that it is easier to digest also.
Source:- Google
Let’s get on with the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Moong dal (Paasi Parupu) – 1 cup
2. Raw rice (Pacharisi) – 1/4cup
3. Green chilli – 3
4. Asafoetida – 1/4tsp
5. Big onion – 1 finely chopped
6. Curry leaves – 2 springs, chopped
7. Salt – as needed
8. Oil – for drizzling dosa’s sides

Method:

1. Soak moong dal and raw rice together for atleast 2 hours.

2. Grind it in grinder along with little water,chilli, asafoetida and salt so that it forms a coarse batter (like adai dosa batter).

3. Transfer to a vessel and mix the chopped onions and curry leaves.
4. Heat dosa pan and make dosa out of the batter. Do not make too thin dosa’s as it may stick to the pan.

This dosa taste’s great with chalna. We had it with vegetable chalna!

Notes:

• The batter consistency should not be runny or very thick, so add water accordingly. I used around 1/4 cup water.
• You can also use red chillies instead of green.

Easy Rajma Masala

I saw this recipe in a TV show sometime back and it was very easy to make. So wanted to give it a try. I have not cooked rajma till I saw that show and now I make this masala atleast once or twice a month. I browsed and found numerous health benefits and a few interesting facts on rajma (kidney beans) which I want to share with you all.

Health Benefits:

• It is said to be a very good source of vitamin K.
• It is a good source of magnesium and fiber. High magnesium level found in kidney beans helps the body fight diseases associated with the risk of stroke, heart attack, and peripheral vascular disease.
• The seeds are also a valuable source of minerals like potassium, manganese, zinc, copper and iron.
• The term "kidney bean" refers to the shape of the bean, but it is also true that Native Americans used the bean to treat a variety of kidney and bladder complaints. The bean paste was a vital ingredient in ointments for rheumatism, sciatica, eczema and common skin infections.

Information Source URLs:

http://www.boldsky.com/health/nutrition/2013/six-health-benefits-of-kidney-beans-032222.html
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2003/09/22/stories/2003092200470400.htm

Ingredients:

1. Rajma – 1/2 cup
2. Big onion –1 sliced lengthwise
3. Ginger Garlic paste – 11/2 teaspoon
4. Tomato puree – from 3 tomatoes
5.   Kuzhambu masala powder (curry powder) – 2 teaspoon
6. Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
7. Salt – as needed
8. Kasuri methi – a generous pinch
9. Coriander leaves – to garnish

To temper

1. Bay leaf – 1
2. Cloves – 2
3. Cinnamon – 1 small piece
4. Oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Soak rajma overnight or atleast for 8 hours.
2. Pressure cook rajma with enough water for 5 to 6 whistles or till soft.
3. In a kadai, heat oil and temper with the items under ‘To temper’.
4. Add the onion and saute till transparent.
5. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell leaves.
6. Now add the cooked rajma and saute for a while. Add the tomato puree and let it boil till the raw smell is gone. (maybe 2 to 3 minutes).
7. Add the masala powders and salt. Mash some of the rajma to get a creamy and thick texture for the gravy.
8. Simmer till you get a thick gravy. I noticed the gravy got more thick while cooling down. Towards the end add the kasoori methi and and give a stir and switch off.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with chapathi!

Notes:

1. Proper soaking and cooking of rajma is very important as it kills some particular toxin. Please read the hindu newspaper link I have mentioned at the top.
2. Ginger and garlic helps neutralizing gassy effect.
3. Mash some rajma well to get a thick gravy.
4. In the TV show, instead of oil, they had used butter. But I was calorie consious, so I add oil always. However its up to you.

Homemade Kuzhambu masala podi/ Masala podi

This is the next one on my spice powder list after the sambar powder and is also frequently used in my kitchen. It is very suited for stir fried curries like cauliflower, potato and also for puli kuzhambu, vegetable kuruma and non veg gravies and many more. I have used it in my chana masala and rajma masala already.

Ingredients:

To sundry:

1. Coriander seeds – 1/4 kg
2. Red chillies – 1/4 kg
3. Virali manjal/turmeric stick

To dry roast separately:

Mustard/ Kadugu, Peppercorns/Milagu, Jeera, Urad dal/Uluntham Parupu, Toor Dal/Thuvaram parupu, Fenugreek/Vendhayam,Poppy seeds/Kasa Kasa – each 25g

Method:

1. Sundry the coriander seeds, chillies and turmeric.
2. Dry roast the each ingredient under the  ‘dry roast’ section separately..
3. Remove the stalks of the chillies and combine everything and give to grind in mill.

Your homemade masala powder is ready!.

Notes:

• I used long variety of red chillies. If you use small and round variety, spicyness will be higher. You can add half small and half long also.
• Make sure you sundry the ingredients properly and completely.
• You can also double the quantity for 1/2 kg.
• Just dry the powder for sometime incase they dont do in mill.

Homemade Sambar Powder

Hurray! I made my home made sambar powder and my first attempt turned out to be a success! I always love sambar a lot especially my mother's sambar. This sambar powder recipe is given to me by my mother in law and is sure a keeper. She always prepares everything at home be it any flour or podi and gives it for grinding in mill. So, last time when she visited I noted down each ingredient and made it yesterday. I will soon be posting her other home made preparations also.

Its a bit time consuming but its sure special and tastier because its home made right?.

Ingredients:

To dry under sunlight:

1. Red chillies - 1/4 kg (I used long variety)

2. Coriander seeds - 1/4kg

3. Virali Manjal/Turmeric stick - 2 pieces

 To dry roast:

Toor Dal, Peppercorns, Jeera, Fenugreek seeds, Kootu Perungayam (Asafoetida in solid form)- each 25g, Curry leaves - a few, Raw rice (pacha arisi) - 1 handful

Method:

1. Sun dry the chillies, coriander seeds, and turmeric for 1 or 2 days depending on the amount of sunlight. It is very hot here in my place so 1 day was sufficient for me. You can test this by breaking the chilli, it will break with ease.
2. Remove the stalks from the chillies and put those, coriander seeds and turmeric in a container.
3. Dry roast each ingredient separately under the 'dry roast' section. You have to do this with a bit of patience till the toor dal, jeera, fenugreek, asafoetida will turn a brownish color. Do not let it become charred. Dry roast curry leaves and rice also. Its better to do all this in medium low flame or sim.
4. Put all this together in the container and give it to grind in mill.

Please give it a try and leave your feedback!.

Notes:

1. I used long variety of red chillies. The small and round variety will be more spicy. My mother in law uses half small and half long. I did not get the small variety so used long itself. However, it was right for my taste bud. So, its up to you.
2. Make sure you sun dry the 3 ingredients properly.
3. In the mill which I gave for grinding, they dried after grinding the podi also. If they dont do in yours, just dry it at home.
4. After removing the stalks of chillies, be sure to wash your hands before touching your face. I always end up touching my eyes or somewhere in my face and tearing and washing vigorously after that ;-P. This is just a word of caution for people like me.
5. You can also make in higher quantity. For example, for 1/2kg, the chillies and coriander would be 1/2 kg and rest 50 gm.

Mango Squash

Mangoes are in season and I was thinking of posting some recipe based with it.Last week when we were out shopping in supermarket my husband wanted to get mango squash. But I told him I will prepare it at home itself even though I didnt know how to make it ;-P. Atlast my goal is achieved as I found this recipe in a cookbook which I have. The mango squash turned out to be really awesome and it was really a refreshing cool drink!!. So why not make it yourself? It is very simple with only 4 ingredients.

Ingredients:

1. Thick mango pulp - 1 &1/2 cup ( I got the quantity from 3 medium sized ripe mangoes)
2. Water - 1 &1/4 cups
3. Sugar - 1&1/2 cup
4. Citric acid crystals - 1 generous pinch

Method:

1. Peel and cut the mangoes. Crush them in blender WITHOUT water to get thick mango pulp. ( If you want you can strain this mixture further also).

2. Add water and sugar in a pan and heat till the sugar completely dissolves and simmer till a somewhat thick syrup is obtained. Let the syrup cool down.

3. Add this to the mango pulp and keep stirring while adding the syrup. Mix both well and add the citric acid crystals.

Transfer to a clean bottle/jar and store it. Just add 1/4 of the squash in a glass and remaining cold water to enjoy the squash!.

Notes:

1. The sugar quantity depends on the sweetness of mangoes. So, its better to have a taste of the mango first to determine its sweetness.
2. Be careful with the citric acid crystals quantity. Adding excess will make the squash very sour. So, taste the mango pulp and sugar syrup mixture first and add a pinch. If necessary add excess.
3. Use ripe, fleshy mangoes for best results.
4. There is no need of yellow food color for this recipe.

Wheat and Ragi Roti

This is a nutritious roti as it contains Ragi in addition to wheat flour.

Health Benefits of Ragi/Finger Millet:

There are numerous health benefits of ragi. They are very good source of calcium and helps strengthening bones. They help in improving haemoglobin content. They are apt for diabetic patients and they are high source of dietary fiber too which is useful for weight loss!. You can refer this link http://www.medindia.net/patients/lifestyleandwellness/health-benefits-of-ragi.htm for complete information.

What's more lets get on with this simple recipe which uses ragi.

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour - 1&1/2cup

2. Ragi flour - 3/4 cup

3. Curd -1/2tbsp

4. Oil - 1/2 tbsp

5. Water - 1/2 cup+1/8 cup (as needed)

6. Salt - as needed

Method:

1. In a wide bowl, put in the flours, curd,salt and oil.

2. Add water and combine to form dough. Add extra 2 or 3 tbsp of water if not enough.

3. Knead for about 10 mins so that the dough is not too tight or too loose. Knead it without cracks.

4. Keep aside covered for 15 minutes.

5. Now make small lemon sized balls and roll it into rotis. Dust with flour if necessary for rolling. But dont dust too much.

6. Heat tawa and place the roti. Wait till bubbles appear and flip. Cook evenly on both sides. Transfer to hot pack/serve hot. If you prefer, you can keep it in direct flame also for more puffing. I didnt have tongs at that time so skipped it.

Serve with gravy of you choice!.

Notes:

1. The above measurement makes around 8 rotis.

Chana Pulao

This is a recipe which I tried on my own as I wanted to try a quick fix lunch and it turned out so tasty and flavourful. Its very easy to make and healthy also. I tried this with black chana however, you can make it with white too.

Ingredients:

1. Chana - 1/2 cup
2. Basmati Rice - 1 cup
3. Capsicum - 1 small, cubed (optional)
4. Big Onion - 1 sliced lengthwise
5. Chilli powder-1/2tsp
6. Sambhar powder - 1tbsp
7. Pepper powder - 1/2tsp
8. Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2tsp
9. Tomato Sauce -1/2tsp
10. Salt - as needed
11. Coriander leaves - to garnish

To temper:

1. Ghee - 1/4 tsp
2. Oil (I used refined oil) - 2tbsp
3. Bay leaf - 1
4. Cinnamon - 1 small piece
5. Cloves -2
6. Fennel -1/4tsp

Method:

1. Soak chana overnight or for 6 to 7 hours and pressure cook with enough water for 5 whistles or till the chana turns soft.

2. Cook basmati rice separately with salt in a deep bottomed vessel and set aside . See to that the grains are separated.

3. In a wide vessel (I used my big pressure cooker) add in the ghee and oil and temper with the items under 'To Temper' column.
4. Add in the onions and saute till translucent. Add in the ginger garlic paste and saute for a while.(I didnt have ginger garlic paste in hand so crushed them using mortar and pestle).
5. Add in the chana and capsicum and saute till the capsicum gets cooked. Add in the masala powders,tomato sauce and required salt and mix well.

6. Mix the cooked rice along with this and see to that the mixing is uniform. Switch off and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with papad/raita/or cuury of your choice. We had it with potato podimas, papad and amla lemon juice.

Vada Curry

Vada Curry is a side dish for idlis and dosas. It is basically masala vadas dunked in a tasty gravy. This one is a highlight in my mother in laws kitchen and is my husband's all time favourite. My mother in law prepares this whenever we go home. I am yet to master this recipe so clicked it when my mother in law was making it.

It is quite a time consuming process but the taste is bliss!. I have a tough time remembering the ingredients, so this post is useful for my reference too ;-P.

Ingredients:

1. Channa dal - 1/2 cup
2. Big onion - 3 (finely chopped)
3. Curry leaves 1sprig
4. Green chilli (sliced)- 2
5. Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
6. Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Salt as needed
8. Coriander leaves - to garnish

To grind separately:

I. For the vada

• Soaked channa dal
• Fennel seeds -1/2tsp
• Green chilli -1
• Garlic - 3 pods
• Ginger- 1 small piece, chopped
• Salt as needed

II. For gravy - part 1

• Tomato- 2 chopped
• Garlic  4 to 5 pods
• Ginger - 1 small piece chopped

III. For gravy part 2

• Coconut -1/4 cup
• Cashews - 2 to 3
• Poppy seeds -1/2tsp
• Small Onion - 10
• Kuzhambu masala powder (recipe coming soon ) - 1&1/2tbsp or you can use sambhar powder also.

To temper:

1. Bay leaf -1

2. Cinnamon - 1 small piece

3. Cardamom -1 

4. Fennel seeds - 1/4tsp

5. Oil - 2tbsp

Method:

1. Soak 1/2 cup of channa dal for 2 hours.

2. Grind the 'For Vada' ingredients. Drain all the water from chana dal before grinding and just whip in mixie to get a coarse texture. Sprinkle water ONLY IF NEEDED. Excess water at this stage will make the whole dish a disaster.

                                           

3. Heat oil in a kadai to cook the vadas. Just sprinkle the coarse mixture over the heated oil and deep fry till golden brown and drain in tissue paper. Set aside. You can also make small vadas and break them after deep frying.

                                           
4. Grind the 'For Gravy' ingredients to smooth paste. (part 1 and part 2 separately).

5. Heat oil (2tbsp) in kadai and temper with items under 'To temper' column.
                                         

6. Add the onions chopped finely and saute till transparent. Add the green chillies and curry leaves and saute.

7. Add in the tomato paste (to grind for gravy part 1) and saute till the raw smell leaves. Add salt, turmeric and chilli powder and mix well.

 

8. Add in the ground coconut paste (to grind for gravy part 2) and mix well and then add in the broken vadas.

9. Add 1 cup water (or more if required) and mix well. 

10. Let it come to boil and then simmer and wait till it reaches a thick gravy consistency. Switch off and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with idli/dosa!

Notes:

1. Adjust spice level according to your taste!.

Eggless Butterrless Apple Cake

This post is dedicated to my friend Sujatha as today is her wedding anniversary and she had asked for a cake recipe also. So, I made it on her special day. Happy 2nd wedding anniversary Sujatha!.

Ingredients:

1. APF/Maida - 1cup
2. Baking powder -1/2tsp
3. Baking soda-1/2 tsp
4. Apple - 1 medium sized
5. Oil - 1/4 cup plus 2tbsp
6. Curd - 1 and 1/2tsp
7. Vanila essence -1/4tsp
8. Sugar - 1/4cup
9. Honey - 2&1/2tsp
10. Milk - 1/4cup plus 2tbsp
11. Cinnamon powder - a pinch

Method:

1. Sieve APF, baking powder and baking soda and set aside.

2. Take the apple, peel skin and chop the apple. In mixie, take the apple and add 2tbsp water and grind to a paste. Little bits of apple is fine.





3. Preheat oven to 200 deg C.
4. Meanwhile in another bowl, take oil, apple paste, vanila,milk, curd,honey,sugar and cinnamon powder stirring well at each stage. Make sure sugar dissolves well.

4. Now make a dent in the flour and add the wet mixture and mix well.

5. In cake tin, grease the bottom and sides with oil/butter and pour the batter.

6. Bake the cake at same temp for 20 to 25 mins. Insert a toothpick at the center of the cake and see if it comes out clean.
                       

7. Place the cake tin on a wet cloth for 10 mins and then unmould the cake. Let the cake cool for 15 mins and then cut and enjoy!.

Notes:

1. If you have a sweet tooth, increase the sugar.
2. Make sure you follow the correct measurements, as this was just tried by me now without any reference. Not sure of the result if any measurement is changed :).
3. I didnt have any icing or anything fancy to decorate, so just did with pomegranate seeds as per my mom's idea. You can make any icing of your choice.
4. Use a smaller cake tin than the one I used and fill the batter a little higher than 3/4 of the tin. I used this just because of the heart shape.