Paruppu Podi/Mixed Lentils Spice Powder

Paruppu Podi is a combination of mixed lentils dryroasted and ground along with dry red chillies and black pepper.Whenever my mom makes a sambar/kuzhambu which I  I don't like ,I resort to this.

Piping hot Rice + A Tsp of sesame oil/Ghee + Paruppu Podi = Delish!!!!!!!

Ingredients:

Toor Dal - 1/2 cup

Channa Dal - 1/4 cup

Dry red chillies - 6(adjust according to your spice level)

Whole Black pepper corns -3 tsp

Salt to taste

I actually doubled the above recipe,but adjusted amount of chillies and pepper corns according to my taste.

Method:

Dry Roast the dhals to a golden brown color.Then dry roast the chillies and black pepper corn seperately.


When cool,grind them to a fine powder adding the required amount of salt.

Serve with hot rice mixed with ghee or sesame oil.

Pin It

Few reposts for Nithya's FIC event

Iam sending these over to Nithya's Food in Colors(FIC)- Express your Mood for the month of July.This event was started by Sunshine mom of Tongue Ticklers


1)Spicy Fried Green Beans

2)Pulipongal

Pin It

Kreativ Blogger Award !

Iam so honoured to receive my second award from Hema at Salt to Taste.It is the Kreative blogger award,honouring favourite,creative blogs.Thanx a  lot Hema!!You made my day.

The rules for this award are :
1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.

5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

When I saw the Rule # 4,I was like "Eeeeeek",because I really don't know whether the 7 things that Iam going to write about me are gonna be really interesting.Anyways here are 7 facts about me:

1)I was born and brought up in the famous RockFort city,Trichy in Tamilnadu

2)Iam an MCA graduate but now totally a Stay at home Mom to a Charming little prince whos gonna be 6 and expecting our second little baby boy in October.

3)Iam not that much diet-conscious and I like junk food.Iam a chocholic too,though Iam forced to control my craving due to my pregnancy :(

4)I love cooking and entertaining others.My latest passion is baking.

5)I took up violin lessons and carnatic vocal lessons for about 5 years when I was still in school.I love singing and  listening  to all sorts of music.

6)When Iam free,I love to read books,watch food channels or browse food blogs.

7)I love making new friends and blogging has helped me in making  a handful of wonderful friends.

Now comes the hard part..Nominating 7 bloggers.I want to pass this award to all,but then following the rules,nominations are

1)Viki of Viki's Kitchen

2)Preethi of Preethi's online cookbook

3)Vrindha at Sankeerthanam

4)Somoo at Home cooked Oriya food

5)Varunavi at My kitchen's aroma

6)Hari Chandana at Indin Cuisine

7)Akal at Akal's Sappadu

These blogs really deserve the award..Be sure to check them all..

Pin It

Kalyana Rasam/Marriage Rasam

Kalyana Rasam is usually served in Tamil wedding Lunch.The spice powder is freshly prepared every time the rasam is made.

Ingredients for Rasam powder:

Fry the following in 1 tsp of ghee :

Channa dal - 1tsp

Dhaniya/Coriander seeds  - 3tsp

Dry red chillies - 3

Curry leaves - a few

Asafoetida - a pinch

Grind them in to a fine powder.

Other ingredients:

Tomatoes - 1 finely chopped

Tamarind - a small marble size

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Toor dal  - 4 tbsp

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Tempering Ingredients:

Ghee - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Method:

Soak the tamarind in water and extract a cup.

Boil the toor dal with extra water and strain a cup of dhal water.

In a vessel,bring to a boil the tamarind extract to which salt and turmeric powder has been added.

When the raw smell goes off,add the dhal water,mashed toor dhal and spice powder and simmer.When it frothes,add the finely chopped tomatoes,simmer for a few minutes and turn off the heat.There is no need for the tomatoes to be cooked.

Finally add the tempered ingredients into the rasam.

Garnish with coriander leaves.

Pin It

Rava Pongal with Thakkali Kuzhambu/Sooji Pongal with Tomato Gravy

I like this Rava Pongal better than the usual Pongal.This is made up of Rava/Sooji with Moongdal.Instead of the usual Gothsu combination for Pongal,I tried Tomato kozhambu..The combo was very tasty..Both the dishes are very easy to make.

Recipe Courtesy - Chitvish of Indusladies

Ingredients for Rava Pongal:

Rava/Sooji - 1 cup

Split Moong Dal/Payatham Paruppu-1/2 cup

Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1tsp

Pepper corns - 1tsp

Coarsely grind the pepper and jeera.

Ghee -2tbsp

Ginger grated - 2 tsp

A sprig of curry leaves

Method:

Dry roast the moongdhal till a nice aroma comes.Soak in boiling water for 30 minutes.

Pressure cook the Dal in 3 cups of water for about 4 whistles.The Dal must be slightly mushy.Drain a cup of water from the cooked moongdhal.Add another cup of water to it.So altogether we have 2 cups of water.

Boil water in a pan.Simultaneously in a pressure pan heat 2 tbsp of ghee.Add the grated ginger,coarsely ground pepper and jeera,curry leaves and then the rava..Roast the rava till it becomes slightly brown.Add the hot water to it and required amount of  salt and the cooked moongdhal and stir briskly so that no lumps are formed.Close the lid of the pressure pan and simmer for about 8 minutes.Turn down the heat.

Open and top with a little bit of ghee.

Ingredients for Tomato Kuzhambu:

Onions - 2

Tomatoes - 3

Tamarind - size of a small marble

Green chillies - 3

Sambar powder - 2tsp

Mustard seeds -1 tsp

Coconut paste - 3 tsp or 1/2 can of coconut milk

A sprig of curry leaves.

Chopped coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the tamarind in water and extract about a cup.

In boiling water  drop the tomatoes and after  5 minutes immerse in cold water.Remove the skin and crush them roughly.

In a pan heat 2tbsp of oil.Add the mustard seeds.When they splutter add the curry leaves,finely chopped onions.When the onions are slightly brown add the chopped green chillies.

Add the tomatoes and fry till the raw smell goes off.Now add the tamarind extract and sambar powder.Add required amount of salt.

When its starts boiling ,simmer and then add the coconut paste(or coconut milk) and allow them to boil for about 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Rava Pongal.

Pin It

Mysore Rasam

I first had this rasam in the Dharmasthala temple in Karnataka.The temple is famous for Anna Dhana(free distribution of food)everyday.The rasam tasted heavenly that we dint even need  a sidedish..It was so rich and the aroma filled the huge hall where about thousands of people had gathered for the Annadhana.

The recipe is taken from chitvish's recipe.It tasted yumm!!

Ingredients for Mysore Rasam powder:

Roast the following in 1 tsp of ghee and grind it into a fine powder

Gram Dhal/Channa Dal - 1tsp

Cumin seedsJeera - 1/4 tsp

Pepper -1/4 tsp

Hing/Asafoetida- a pinch

Coriander seeds - 2tsp

Grated coconut - 2tsp

Dry red chillies -4

Curry leaves -few

Other Ingredients:

Tamarind - marble size

Tomatoes - 1 quartered

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Boiled Toor dal - 1/4 cup

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Jeera - 1tsp

Chopped coriander leaves

Curry leaves - a sprig

Method:

Soak the tamarind and extract about a cup.Reserve a cup of water from the boiled toor dal.Add both the tamarind extract and dhal water to a pressure pan.
Then add the tomatoes,turmeric powder,mysore rasam powder,required amount of salt,boiled toor dal and pressure cook for 1 whistle.
Open the lid of the pressure pan and add chopped coriander leaves.
Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a pan and add the mustard seeds.When they splutter,add the jeera and curry leaves.
Add the tempered ingredients into the Rasam.
Serve hot with rice.

Pin It

Aama Vadai/Lentils Vada

Vada or Vadai is a South Indian snack made up of mixed lentils.Ive not added onions in this vadai because I made these for Aadi Festival.A little bit of fennel seeds can be added while grinding and chopped onions can be added to the paste for making Masal vadai.

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 1/2 cup

Channa dal - 1/2 cup

Urad dal - 2tbsp

Dry red chillies -4 or 5

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few (chopped)

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying the vadai

Method:

Soak all the dals together along with the dry red chillies for 2 hours.

Drain and keep them for about an hour.

Then grind along with rechillies,required amount of salt,asafoetida into a coarse paste.Add only 2tbsp or 3tbsp of water while grinding.

The paste should be coarse and should not be watery.Add the chopped curry leaves.


Heat 3 cups of oil in a wide pan.Make small balls and gently pat to make into a disc shape.When the oil is hot enough,drop the vadai and fry in high heat for 2 minutes.Then reduce the heat and fry for few more minutes until the vadai turns golden brown in color.

Sending this over to MLLA - 13 hosted by Harini of tumyumtreats.This event was actually started by Susan

Pin It

My first ever award

Ive just been given my first award by Nithya of 4th sense samayal for "AHEM" intelligent blogger chef for correctly guessing the name of the dish.

Thank you soo much Nithya!!

Pin It

Blueberry Muffin

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Unsalted butter -1/2 stick or 1/4 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Egg - 1 large beaten

Milk - 3/4 cup

Fresh blueberries/frozen blueberries/Dried Blueberries - 1 cup

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 def F.Line muffin tray with liners or grease the pan with a non-stick spray.

Sift the flour along with salt and baking powder.Melt the butter and allow it to cool.

In a wide bowl,slightly beat the egg and add butter,sugar and milk and mix.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently stir.Don't overmix.Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon the batter upto three-fourths full.

Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the top of the muffins are slightly brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.

>

Cool on a wire rack and serve warm.

Pin It

some more reposts..

Iam digging up my old posts and reposting them for EFM- Breakfast series hosted by Sri..

Sending the following breakfast recipes..

1)Bulghur wheat Upma

2)Tomato dosa with kadapah

3)Upma Kozhakattai with Brinjal Gothsu

Pin It

Set Dosa and Sagu

Set Dosa is a speciality of Karnataka.It is usually smaller in size than the regular dosa and is served in a set of 2 or 3.The ideal side dish is sagu.

Ingredients for Set Dosa:

Raw rice - 2 cups

Poha/Aval - 1/4 cup

Urad dal - 4 tbsp

Curd- 1/2 cup

Salt to taste.

Method:

Soak the raw rice along with Urad dal in water for 4hrs.

Soak the poha in curd for about 1 hour.

Grind the rice along with urad dal.Grind the poha with curd separately.

Mix both well and add required amount of salt.

Allow it to ferment it overnight.

Heat a nonstick pan.Pour 2 ladles of batter and spread it into smaller circles than regular dosa.It will be thicker than the regular ones.Drizzle oil around the dosa.Cook on only 1 side.Don't flip the dosas.Cover with a lid for sometime and cook till the side which is down is slightly brown.

Ingredients for Sagu:

Combination of vegetables like potato,carrot,chow-chow(chayote squash),cabbage,beans - 2 cups

Tomato - 1

Onion - 2

Green chillies - 4

Grated coconut - 1 /2 cup

Poppy seeds - 2 tsp

Fried gram dal/Pottu kadalai - 2 tbsp

Ginger - 2 inch piece

Cinnamon - 1 inch

Cloves - 2

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Oil for tempering

Method:

Pressure cook all the vegetables until soft.

In a pan heat 2 tbsp of oil.when it is hot add the cinnamon,cloves and ginger and saute till a nice aroma comes.Then add the finely chopped onion and green chillies and saute till the onions turn translucent.

Grind the sauteed ingredients along with coconut,fried gram dhal and poppy seeds into a fine paste.

Heat oil in a pan.Add the mustard seeds.When they splutter add the tomatoes and saute till they become mushy.

Then add the pressure cooked vegetables and the ground paste,required amount of salt and 1/4 cup of water.Allow it to boil for sometime.When they become thick,switch of the stove.

Serve with set dosas.

Pin It

Reposts of Snack Recipes

Iam sending the following yummy snack recipes to EC's WYF:Fried snack event

1)Butter Murukku

2)Ribbon Pakoda

3)Crispy thattai

Pin It

Fruit mix cookies

I had a packet of Fruit trail mix.Actually my plan was to bake a fruit cake and I postponed it and ended up making fruit cookies..I browsed soooo many recipes on the internet and came up with this one..my own version :)


Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup

Softened Butter - 1/2 cup(at room temperature)

Light brown sugar - 1/4 cup

sugar-1/4 cup

baking soda - 1/2 tsp

baking powder - 1/2 tsp

vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Egg - 1

Dried fruits - 3/4 cup(I used archer farms fruit trail mix which had dried cranberries,papaya,golden raisins,cherries)



Method:


Preheat the oven to 350 def F.Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.


In a wide bowl,cream the butter and both brown sugar and regular sugar into a smooth paste.Add the vanilla essence and egg into it.Beat the egg until creamy.

Then add the allpurpose flour along with baking soda and baking powder into the wet ingredients.

Stir until the dry ingredients incorporate well into the wet ingredients.

Finally,gently mix the roughly chopped dry fruits into the mixture.

Now scoop 1 tbsp of cookie dough into the prepared pan leaving about 2 inches space between them.

Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies turn slightly brown on the edges.

Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes.

Store in air-tight container.

Pin It

Vadakari

Are you bored of the same chutney/sambar combo for idli?Then,try this..

Though it is time consuming,it tastes heavenly with idli and dosa.

Ingredients:

Channa dal - 1 cup

Dry red chillies - 4

Fennel seeds/Saunf - 1 tsp

Finely chopped onion - 2

Tomatoes - 3

Green chillies - 3

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Gingergarlic paste - 1tsp

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch

Cloves - 2

Pudina leaves - few

oil for frying the vadas.

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the channa dal in water for 2hrs.Then drain the water completely and grind it along with the dry red chillies,fennel seeds and required amount of salt to a coarse paste.

Then add a little portion from the finely chopped onions to this coarse paste.

Heat 2 cups of oil in a pan.Make small coin sized vadas and when the oil is hot enough,fry the vadas till they become slightly brown in color.Dont fry them till they are crispy.

Drain in paper towels and break them into halves.

In a pan heat 4tbsps of oil.Add the cinnamon and cloves.Then add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes off.Now add chopped onions and saute till they are golden brown in color.

Then add tomatoes and green chillies and pudina leaves and saute till the tomatoes are  are mushy.Now add the turmeric powder,coriander powder and fry for some time.Now add 2 cups of water and required amount of salt.When it starts boiling,simmer and add the vadas into it.Close with a lid.After 5 minutes,turn off the heat.

Garnish with coriander  leaves.


Serve hot with idlis/dosas.

Pin It

Tomato Dosa with Kadappah

Tomato Dosa is very easy to make.There is no need for fermentation for this dosa batter.The slight tangy taste from the tomatoes and the color of the dosas are quite an appeal to taste buds.

Kadappah is an unusual recipe.This recipe is chitvish's of Indusladies.The name itself was catchy..

Ingredients for Tomato Dosa:

Rawrice - 1 cup

Idly rice - 1 cup

Urad Dal - 8tsp

Ripe tomatoes - 4

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Dry red chillies - 8

Salt to taste


Method:

Soak rice and urad dal along with dry red chillies for 2 hours.
Then grind it with chopped tomatoes adding aafoetida and required amount of salt into a smooth batter.No water should be added.After 4 hours,dosa can be made.

Ingredients for kadapah:

Moong dal/Split green gram dal - 1/2 cup

Potatoes - 3 medium

Onion - 2 medium

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch

Cloves - 2

Lemon juice - about half of a lemon

Oil - 4tbsp

Chopped coriander leaves for garnishing


Grind the following into a smooth paste :

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Dahlia/Pottukadalai - 2tbsp

Green chillies - 4

Garlic - 3

Method:

Pressure cook the moongdal in plenty of water(about 2 cups) .Save the stock of the cooked dal.Mash the dal.
Boil the potatoes and dice them.Heat oil in apan.Add the cinnamon and cloves.When a nice aroma comes,add the onions and saute till they are golden brown in color.
Now add the moongdal stock,salt and turmeric powder and allow it to boil.When it starts boiling,add the ground paste.Let it boil for another 2 minutes till the raw smell of the paste goes off.
Then add potatoes and mashed dal and simmer till everything mix well.



Turn off the heat and add chopped coriander leaves and lime juice.
Serve with tomato dosa.

Iam sending this to Padma's Dosa corner Event.

Pin It

Badam Burfi/Badam Cake

Ingredients:

Almonds/Badam - 1 cup

Sugar - 2 cups

Milk - 1/2 cup

Ghee - 1/2 cup

Water - 3/4 cup

Yellow food color - 1/4 tsp

Method:

Soak the almonds in boling water for 5 minutes and then in cold water for about an hour.Peel the skin and grind into a smooth paste adding milk little by little.
In a heavy bottomed pan(preferably a non-stick pan)dissolve the sugar in 3/4 cup of water.In a low flame keep on stirring the sugar solution.
After it starts to boil,don't stir occasionally.Test the consistency of the syrup.It should form a string about 1cm long ,when the syrup is poured from a ladle.
At this time add half of the ghee and the almond paste.
Keep on stirring on low heat till the mixture starts  to leave the sides of the vessel .
Add  the yellow food color and the remaining ghee.
After the ghee is absorbed,pour the contents on to a greased plate .

Wait for 5 minutes and then cut into diamonds.

Pin It