Double Stack Turkey Burger

You can also substitute turkey with chicken....

Ingredients:

• Ground turkey - 1 packet
• whole eggs - 2
• onion - 1 small
• Green chilli - 1
• cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Red chilli pdr - 1 tsp
• garam masala - 1/4 tsp
• Some curry masala pdr (opt) - 1/2 tsp
• pepper pdr - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - as req
• green onions - 3
• EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) - 1 tsp
• coriander leaves - as req - finely chopped
• mint leaves (opt) - 2
• cornflour - 1 tsp
• fat free cheese slice - 1 packet
• burger buns - 5
• tomatoes - 1

Preparation:

To the ground turkey, add 2 whole eggs, onion, green chilli, cumin seeds, red chilli pdr, garam masala, some curry pdr(opt), salt as req, green onions, a tsp of EVOO, finely chopped coriander leaves, 2 mint leaves(opt), pepper pdr, a tsp of cornflour. Make burgers out from the mix. While making burgers make sure that the outer edge of the burger is a lil thick than the center. It should be similar to the pizza shape. Mix all this well and shallow fry in oil. Once both the sides of the burger gets well done and brown in color, to the top of one of the burgers place a sliced cheese. I used fat-free burger cheese which was available in walmart. Then to the burger buns, spray some oil over the inner portion of the buns and place them on the pan for juz a minute. Arranging the burger is totally ur creativity. I'll share how i arranged my burger. On the bottom part of the burger bun, I placed one turkey piece on which I had placed the cheese, n which by now has melted a lil at the edges cos the heat...then I placed another turkey piece....Then it was some onions and tomatoes...Finally to the top portion of thr burger bun, I put some fat-free mayo, and flipped in on top of the Tomatoes. My yummy Double Stack turkey burger was ready to eat...Trust me, tis is soooo healthy when compared to the ones we get from outside. Also you have the freedom to add what you want and reject what you don't want....I'm never ever gonna trade these lovely homemade burgers with any other burger...Juz love 'em....

Chicken Vindaloo

Ingredients:

For Marination paste:

• Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Corriander seeds - 1 tsp
• Peppercorns - 1 tsp
• Turmeric pdr - 1/4 tsp
• Dry red chillies - 2
• Cloves - 3
• Cinnamon - 1/2"
• Ginger - 1/2"
• garlic pods - 3

For Curry:

• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Bay leaf - 1
• cardamom - 2
• Onion - 1 medium
• Green chilli - 1 or 2
• Salt - as req
• Water - as req
• Tamarind paste - 2 tsp
• Vinegar - 1 tsp
• Sugar - 1/2 tsp
• Corainder leaves - for garnish

Preparation:

Dry Roast the marination ingredients...Cool them...Grind them n set them aside.

Rub this marination paste on the chicken well. Marinate for at least one hour.

To oil, add bay leaves + cardamom + onion + marinated chicken. Saute till brown. Then add green chillies + salt + req amout of water. Cover and cook on low medium flame for minimum 30 minutes. Finally add tamarind paste. Cook on low flame for 5 mins. Finally juz couple of minutes before switching off the stove, add vinegar and sugar. After switching off the flame garnish with some coriander leaves.

Sweet n Sour chicken

Ingredients:

For Marination:

• Chicken - 4 leg pieces or about 10 to 15 medium pieces of chicken.
• Tomato sauce - 2 tbsps
• Soysauce - 1 tbsp
• vinegar - 1 tsp
• pepper pdr -  1 tsp
• turmeric pdr - 1/4 tsp
• red chilli pdr - 1 tbsp
• salt - as req

For Curry(opt):

• Oil
• Onion - 1 medium
• Green chilli - 2
• Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp

Preparation:

Marinate chicken in Tomato sauce, soysauce, vinegar, pepper pdr, turmeric pdr, red chilli pdr, lil salt, add some curry masala if u have for atleast half an hour. Then in a heated vessel add a tsp of oil and then add the marinated chicken. Don't add water. Juz cook in the water which oozes from the chicken when it gets cooked. Close and cooked on low- medium flame till all the spices are absorbed into the chicken and the chicken is well cooked. You can also make some gravy for this, which is purely optional by doing the following. In another pan, add some oil + onion + green chilli + ginger garlic paste. Then add the cooked chicken and fry for 5 minutes.

Lemon Rice

 Ingredients:

• Oil - 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• curry leaves - 5 leaves
• Hing - a pinch
• Urad Dhal - 1 tsp
• Cashewnuts - as req
• Peanuts - as req
• Turmeric pdr - 1/4 tsp
• Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp (alter as req)
• salt - as req
• Cooked Rice - 1 cup

Preparation:

To heated oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, hing, urad dhal, cashewnuts(opt), peanuts(opt), turmeric pdr, lemon juice, salt. Saute for couple of minutes and then add cooked rice to it. Stir well such that the rice get well mixed with the lemon Juice and masala. Sprinkle some coriander leaves as garnish.

Kollu Rasam

Ingredients Needed :

• Horse gram / kollu - 1 small cup
• Tamarind juice
• tomatoes - 1
• salt
• turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• jaggery - little
• mustard seeds -1/4 tsp.
• curry leaves
• corriander leaves

roast in ghee and grind all these below ingredients :

• dried red chillies - 3 or 4
• cinnamon pdr - little
• channa dhal - 1 tsp
• dhaniya - 2 tsp
• pepper - 1 tsp
• jeera - 1tsp
• methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
• khus khus - 1 tsp
• grated coconut - 2 tsp
• hing - 1/4 tsp.

Method : 

soak kollu overnight and pressure cook it well , the kollu will not be cooked like toor dhall , so once it is cooled off , grind it slightly in mixie and set aside , in a kadai add oil and temper it with mustard seeds + curry leaves then add the tamarind juice + tomatoes + turmeric pdr + salt + grounded paste and allow it to boil well then add the kollu grinded dhal little and once done garnish with coriander leaves , this rasam will be in slightly thicker consistency

Rava Idli

Ingredients Needed :

• Rava - 2 cups
• Curd - 1 cup
• Water - little
• Salt - as reqd.
• Jeera - 1/2 tsp.
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Urid dhal - 1/2 tsp
• Channa dhal - 1/2 tsp.
• Whole Pepper - 5 to 6
• Oil - 2 tsp.

Method :

Heat the tawa and add one tsp. oil and fry rava well in a medium flame , and keep it in a bowl then add little salt + curd + water and mix well. In the same kadai add one tsp. oil and temper it with mustard seeds + jeera + pepper +urid dhal + channa dhal and add it to the batter and set aside for 10 mins. In the oil greased idli plates pour this batter and steam it till done.

I used wheat rava (Godumai Rava ) . Goes well with any spicy chutneys.

Peanut Chutney

Preparation:

Roast Peanuts in a pan till they become half brown and a lil crunchy in texture. Cool and then grind it with dry red chillies, a lil hing, one garlic pod, a lil tamarind, salt. After grinding, season it with mustard seeds,urad dhal and curry leaves. Yeah, itz as easy as that and it tastes great. Love this chutney for hot crunchy dosas.

Shrimp Biryani

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice - 1 cup
• Water for Rice - 1.5 cups
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Ghee - 1 tsp
• Cloves - 2
• Cinnamon - 1 small stick
• Cardamom - 2
• Bay leaf - 1
• Star Anise - 1
• Onion - 1 medium
• Tomato - 1 medium
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• Turmeric pdr - 1/4 tsp
• Biryani Masala - 1 tbsp
• Mint leaves - 5 leaves
• Shrimp - Large deveined cleaned - 15 to 20
• Coriander leaves - for garnish
• Lemon juice - a splash

Preparation:

Soak Basmati Rice in water for exactly 15 minutes and then cook it. Water : Basmati Rice Proportion = 1.5 cup of water : 1 cup of Rice. Once the rice is cooked, spread it out and cool it. Keep this aside.

In a pan, heat some oil and ghee. To the heated oil, add whole garam masala (cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, Bay leaf, star anise). Then add thinly vertically sliced onion. Once the onion turns translucent, add ginger garlic paste and saute for couple of minutes. Then add finely chopped tomato, Mint leaves and salt. saute for a minute and then add turmeric pdr, biryani Masala. Saute till the tomato turns mushy. Then add the shrimp and saute for 5 mins on medium flame. Once the shrimp is cooked, turn the flame to low and mix the already cooked basmati rice to the Masala. Make sure that the rice mixes well with the curry. Finally garnish the rice with some coriander leaves. Splash a lil of lemon juice if req. Yummy Shrimp Biryani is ready to be served.

Dhal Tadka

Tadka is a generic term which refers to adding the spices to the hot oil or Ghee and then adding this tadka into your dish.

Ingredients needed :

• Toor dhal - 3/4 cup
• Moong dhal - 1/4 cup
• Tomato, Chopped - 1 cup
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Dhania powder - 1/2 tsp
• Jeera Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - little
• Lemon Juice - little
• Salt - to taste.

For Tadka :

• Onion - 1
• Garlic clove, Chopped - 2
• Ginger, Grated - little
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Hing powder - little
• Curry Leaves - one string
• Green chili - 1 

For Garnish :

Chopped Coriander leaves

Method :

Clean, wash dals add tomatoes, turmeric , water and pressure cook till done.. once the pressure is released, Whisk the mixture a little bit. Heat a kadai add Cooked dal mixture + salt + dhaniya powder + Jeera powder and bring it to boil then a add lemon juice and transfer it to the serving bowl ..

In the same kadai clean it with water then heat it again add oil + mustard and cumin seeds + green chili + ginger garlic grated + curry leaves + hing powder + onion and fry it for few mins..once done add it to the cooked dal and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Vellarikkai Kootu

Ingredients needed :

• Channa dhal - ½ cup
• chopped cucumber - ½ cup
• green chillies & ginger - 2 tsp
• Salt, haldi, hing - as reqd.
• mustard seeds
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Jeera - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves - to garnish

Method :

Soak and pressure cook dhal. Heat oil, temper mustard seeds + jeera + hing add chopped green chillies + ginger, red chilli powder & fry lightly. Add cucumber + dhal and allow it to cook well then garnish it with corainder leaves .

Tomato Capsicum Chutney

Ingredients:

• Oil - 3tsp (1 tsp for tempering)
• Onion - 1/2 medium
• Green chilli - 2
• Channa Dhal - 1 tsp
• Garlic pods - 2
• Tomato - 2 medium
• Capsicum - 1/2 of medium
• Mint Leaves - 5 leaves
• salt - as req
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• curry leaves - as req
• Broken urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
• Hing - a pinch

Preparation:

To heated oil add chopped onion + green chilli + Channa Dhal + Garlic pods + Tomatoes + Capsicum + Mint Leaves + salt. Saute till the veggies gets into a lil mashy consistency. Cool it and grind it.

To heated oil, add mustard seeds + curry leaves + broken urad dhal + hing a pinch + grounded paste. If the ground chutney is too thick add req amount of water. Cook for juz a minute and then switch off the flame.

This recipe goes to Mahimaa's 15 minute cooking,

Mango Pachadi

This Mango Pachadi was done on account of Tamil New year's day . So I have added Vepampoo (Neem flower) . It is optional ingredient .

To know more about Tamil New Year Day , check out these blogs :

http://hindutradition.blogspot.com/2009/04/puthandu-tamil-new-year.html

Ingredients Needed :

• Raw Mango - 1
• Jaggery 1 - 1 1/2 cup
• Dried Red chillies - 1
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Urid dhal - 1/4 tsp.
• Veppampoo (Neem flower ) - little
• Salt - a pinch
• Oil - 1 tsp.
• Ghee - little

Method :

Chop mangoes it to pieces . you can peel the skin of mangoes if needed. In a kadai add ghee and fry the vempampoo well and keep it aside then add 1 tsp oil and temper it with mustard seeds + urid dhal + dried red chilli now add the mango pieces + a pinch of salt and add little water and allow it to boil , till done then add the jaggery add allow it dissolve well , if needed add little water. Once it gets thicker switch off the flame and add vepampoo finally.

Note :

        Jaggery may contains impurities so dissolve it separately in a kadai and strain it and then add it to the mangoes at the final stage , you can also add little rice flour mixed with water , to get the pachadi into thicker consistency.

Sending this Post to Srivalli's Mithai mela :

Chilli Garlic Cauliflower

Ingredients:

• Red chillies - 4
• Garlic - 4 to 5 pods
• Oil
• Onion - 1/2 medium
• turmeric pdr - 1 /4 tsp
• Curd -1 cup
• salt - as req
• Veggies - carrot, capsicum
• Cauliflower florets - 15 nos

Preparation:

Grind red Chillies and Garlic. Grind them such that they "don't" get mash to a paste.

To heated oil, add the ground red chillies and garlic. Saute them for a minute and add finely chopped onion. Add turmeric pdr. Then add a cup of curd. Saute on medium heat for 3 minutes.Then add the vertically cut veggies of ur choice(carrots,capsicum, celery). Finally add cauliflower and salt. Add very lil water if req. Then cook closed on medium heat for 5- 10 minutes. Spicy chilli garlic cauliflower is ready to be served.

This recipe goes to Mahimaa's 15 minute cooking and EC's WYF Quick Meal

Potato Masal

Ingredients:

• Potatoes - 4
• Oil
• Mustard seeds -1 tsp
• Curry leaves - 5
• Channa Dhal - 1 tsp
• Onion - 1 medium
• Green chilli - 2 or 3
• Kasthuri Methi - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - as req
• water - as req
• green peas - as req
• garam masala - 1/4 tsp (opt)

Preparation:

Boil Potatoes and when they cool, mash them and keep aside.

To heated oil, add mustard seeds + curry leaves + channa dhal + vertically sliced onion + green chillies and saute till the onion becomes translucent. To this add the mashed potato + salt + kasthuri methi + green peas. Add req amount of salt and water. Cook on medium heat for 5 -10 minutes. After switching off the flame, garnish with corriander leaves.

This easy potato masal goes well with roti and puri.

Kollu / Horsegram Sambhar

In Tamil, this is referred as KOLLU (கொள்ளு). Normally used to feed horses. But Tamil Cuisines are also common. Kollu porial, Kollu avial, kollu sambar, kollu rasam. Like any traditional ayurvedic cuisine that is referred as "Food is Medicine & Medicine is food", this is also one such food grain. In Telugu (Indian Language), this is called Ulavalu. These are much better for any unhealthy person suffering from jaundice or swelling of body by water. Obese persons can also use horse gram in their diet for better results. Also horse grams strengthens food for people with iron deficiencies. It is tastier also. It keeps body warm in winter season as well .

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_gram

Ingredients Needed :

• Cooked kollu - 1 cup
• Small Onion - 10
• Tomato - 1
• Vegetables - 1 cup (Brinjal , potato , Drumstick )
• Tamarind extract - as reqd
• Sambhar powder - 1 1/2 tsp.
• Oil - 1 tsp.
• Salt - as reqd.
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp.
• Urid dhal - 1/4 tsp.
• Jeera - 1/4 tsp.
• hing powder - little
• Curry leaves - 1 string
• Corriander leaves - little

Method : 

Soak kollu overnight and pressure cook it till done ., This dhal doesn't mash well ...so drain all the water in a cup , this can be used with the sambhar and grind it in mixer coarsely . Chop all reqd. vegetables + tomato , peel the skin of onions and keep it aside. In a kadai add oil+mustard seeds+jeera+urid dhal+curry leaves+hing+onions and saute well,add tomatoes+vegetables and fry well,then add sambhar powder + salt + tamarind juice and allow it to boil till done then add cooked & grinded kollu allow it to boil well. Once it gets thicker. switch off the flame and garnish with corriander leaves

(Got this recipe from my friend Padma )

Kunukku

Kunukku is traditionally prepared by soaking dhals and rice and grinding with chillies and salt and the batter is deep fried like bonda. But for a quick version, we can make it with left over idli / dosa batter also.Here is the recipe:

Ingredients needed :

• Idli batter - 2 cups
• Maida - 1 tbsp.
• Rawa - 1 tbsp.
• Onion - 1
• Green chillies - 1
• Curry leaves - One string
• Hing powder - 1/4 tsp.
• Oil - for deep frying

Method :

Chop onion and green chillies finely. Add maida or rawa to the idli batter and mix well. If necessary add little water to make the batter flow easily from a spoon when poured. Add a pinch of salt + hing powder + chopped onion + green chillies and curry leaves to the batter. Heat oil in a kadai and take a small spoon of batter and pour it in the hot oil. Fry till it turns light brown. Serve with chutney.

Vannila Cornmeal Cake ~~ 250th Post

Well, time sure runs fast these days...or is it my posts than the days which are running in a more faster pace with all due help and support from my lovely contributors...Lotz have happened, both gud ones and bad ones from my journey starting from 200th to 250th post...To be frank, I was juz nt in a mood for all this chitchats..but finally somehow found tat tis was the best way i cud get out with all tat was troubling me...Now don't get confused...This post is sure a special one n ur sure to get the cornmeal cake recipe :) I've got 2 gud and sweet reasons for the cake but one not so gud one in queue too...Tatz life nways...filled with both joy n sorrow..the first sweet reason, the reason for this cake being baked...It was baked on april 14th 2009...On our personal Valentines Day....yeah, u heard it rite..ourz was a love marriage n hubby dear proposed me on April 14th 2006 :) so Mr.K alwayz makes it a point tat the valentine's celeb is never on Feb 14th for us...rather itz on our very own special April 14th...well, since all i wanted was a celebration, the date juz does nt seem to matter a lot..itz more personal n happy wen u hav ur own day for love...rite guys :) So this was the reason for the vannila cornmeal cake...Having said the happy news first, i want to go ahead with the hard part of the post nw...yeah, the bitter one...Don't worry, i've got another happy news to end the note...

Bitter part of the post...A kid who I know personally has been diagonsed with blood cancer...n the kid is juz 11 months old...god, if he exists, sure must have been crazy to have given the lil one such a pain...the only gud thing abt it is tat he was dignosed at the beginning stage and so things are believed to come back to normal with the lil one soon...It has taken me days to digest this news and I'm yet to come out of it fully...It was one big reason which has holded me back from my daily routines and blog work...our prayers will be there for you always da thangam...waiting to c ur innocent smile soon...

Final part of the blog...as I already mentioned tat it was goin to end up with a gud news...we hav bought a new car...it has been our dream for the past one year...after so many hinderances finally here v r, with our dream car....Havin said all tat I had, time to move on with the recipe...I knw I've been totally off track with this post, but who else do I have to share all this, if not u guys...thanx for making my heart feel more lighter and once again Thanx sooooo much for all ur support guys...Keep visiting, contributing and commenting on my blog....Take care n C ya :)

Ingredients:

• Eggs - 4
• Sugar - 2 cups
• Oil - 1/2 cup (canola or similar)
• Cornmeal - 1 cup
• Milk - 1cup
• All purpose flour or cake flour - 1 cup
• baking powder - 1 tbsp
• Vannila Essence - 1 tbsp

Preparation:

Preheat oven at 350degreesF. Butter a non-stick 30cm cake pan well and set aside.

Whisk together Eggs, sugar and oil. Make sure you beat the ingredients well to a mix. Then mix cornmeal with warm milk in another separate bowl. Mix the two beaten ingredients (eggs mixture and the cornmeal mixture) together now. Sift the all purpose flour and baking powder and add it to the batter at this stage. Whisk well. To this add some vannila essence and mix well with the cake batter. Pour this to the already butter spread cake pan. Make sure you fill only 2/3 rds of the pan. Bake it for 15 minutes. After 30 minutes, check if the cake is done by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, then the cake is ready. Else bake the cake till it passes the toothpick test. Once the cake is ready, take it out from the oven and cool it at room temperature for 10 minutes. Then remove the cake from the pan and serve it topping it with some fresh cream.

Also a special Thanks to Sanghi for sharing the "Lovely Blog award"...You made me feel special da...

This award comes with the following rules:
1) Add the logo of the award to your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs (Only if you like).
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blog.

I'm passing this to the blogs which i love and to some of my new and always evergreen friends...

1. Gayathri's http://hindutradition.blogspot.com/

2. Padma's http://www.padmasrecipes.blogspot.com/

3. DV's http://divya-dilse.blogspot.com/

4. Anu's http://www.myscrawls.com/

5. Veda's http://iyengarskitchen.blogspot.com/

6. Pooja's http://saikitchen.blogspot.com/

7. http://simpleindianfood.blogspot.com/

Inji Kulambu

Ingredients Needed :

• Small Onions - 10 - 15
• Inji / ginger - 150 gms.
• Curry leaves - 1 string
• Tamarind extract - 2 cups
• Hing - little
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.
• Salt - as reqd.
• Oil - 2 tsp. (preferred Gingely oil)

for Grinding :

• Dhaniya seeds - 1 tsp
• Dried Red chillies - 2 or 3
• Urid dhal - 2 tsp
• Channa Dhal - 2 tsp.
• Methi seeds - 1 tsp.

Method : 

Heat a tsp of oil in a kadai , add and roast the above given ingredients for grinding ,allow it to cool , and grind it along with the skin peeled inji (Ginger ) into coarse paste by adding little water. Now add a tsp. oil in a kadai and temper it with mustards seeds + curry leaves + hing and add small onions + salt and fry well then add the grinded paste and little water and fry well till the raw smell goes. Then add the tamarind extract , check for salt , if needed more add accordingly..and allow it to boil well , till gets thick.

Kesari

Ingredients Needed :

• Rawa - 1 cup
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Water - 2 cups
• Ghee - 3 tsp.
• Cashew nuts - 5
• Badam - 5
• Raisins - 10
• Elachi powder - 1/ 2 tsp.
• pinch of kesari colour

Method:

In a kadai add 1/4 tsp. ghee and fry the rawa, and set aside. In the same kadai, add 1/2 tsp. ghee and fry cashew nuts, badam and raisins separately and keep it aside. Add ghee + one cup sugar and pour two cups of water and bring to boil , till the sugar gets dissolved well . Then add the rawa and stir continuously till the rawa is thick and cooked soft. Make sure there is no lump. Add a pinch of kesari colour and mix well. Now add elachi powder, fried cashew nuts and raisins and mix well and remove from fire.

Ragi Dosa

Ingredients needed :

• Ragi flour - 2 cup
• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Maida flour - 1/2 cup
• Salt - little
• Jeera - 1 tsp
• Chopped Green Chilli - little
• Curry leaves - little
• Oil

Method :

In a bowl add ragi flour+maida+rice flour+salt+jeera+chiili+curry leaves + water and mix well into thick dosa batter consistency. Heat Tawa and pour a ladle batter and do the dosas . U can also add chopped onions to the dosa batter

Sending this to Madhuram's, JFI - Ragi event

Dhal

Ingredients Needed :

• Cooked Moong dhal - 2 cups
• Onion - 2
• Tomato - 1 1/2
• Peas - 1/2 cup
• Lime juice - little
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Jeera powder - 1/4 tsp
• Dhaniya powder - 1/4 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp.
• Salt - little
• Hing - little
• Curry leaves - 1 string
• Corriander leaves - little
• Oil - 1/2 tsp.

Method : 

In a kadai add oil and temper with mustard seeds +curry leaves +hing then add onions +salt +peas and fry till done then add tomatoes+jeera powder +dhaniya powder+chilli powder and fry well ,then add cooked moong dhal +water +lime juice and allow it to boil well,till it gets thicker garnish it with coriander leaves . U can also add cauliflower,potato. Goes well with Idli ,Dosa,Chapathi.

Kosambari

Ingredients needed :

• Moong Dhall - 1 cup
• Cucumber - 1/4
• Mango 
• Carrot 
• Grated Coconut (Opt.)
• Green chili 
• Ginger 
• Lime Juice - little
• Salt - little
• Mustard seeds - little
• Jeera - little
• Hing powder - little
• Curry leaves - 1 sting
• Coriander leaves - little
• Oil - 1 tsp.

Method :

             Soak Moong dhal for 1 hour.  Grate cucumber , mango  finely or you can chop it and peel skin of carrot and grate it . Finely chop Ginger and green chili. In a kadai add oil and temper it with mustard seeds + Jeera +  curry leaves + hing and temper it .

 In a bowl add soaked moong dhal + salt + grated or chopped cucumber, mango + grated carrot  + grated coconut + green chili + ginger + lime juice + tempered mustard seeds and jeera  and mix well garnish with coriander leaves.

Panakkam & Buttermilk

Both Panakkam and Buttermilk, are prasadams, to be made on Rama Navami .

Ingredients needed :

• Jaggery - 1/2 cup
• Water - 2 cups
• Dry ginger / chukku powder - 1/4 tsp.
• Cardamon Powder - 1/4 tsp.

Method :
Dissolve jaggery in water and add chukku powder + cardomon powder and mix well .

Buttermilk :

Ingredients Needed :

• Curd - 1 cup
• Water - 1 - 1 1/2 cup
• Salt - little
• Chilli - 1/4 piece
• Mustard seeds - little
• Curry leaves - little
• Hing powder - little
• Ginger - little
• Oil - 1/4 tsp

Method : 

Add curd + water + salt mix well . In a kadai add oil + mustard seeds + curry leaves + hing powder + ginger + chilli and add it to the buttermilk.

Schezwan Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• Veggies (cabbage, carrot, beans, capsicum) - use as req. Make sure you don't use too much of veggies for the fried rice cos tat cud be dominating the taste.
• Egg - 1
• Chicken - 10 to 15 medium pieces
• Dry red chillies - 5 to 7 nos
• Vinegar - 1 tbsp
• Ginger - 1/2 inch
• Garlic pods - 4
• Butter or ghee - 1 tbsp
• Basmati Rice - 2 cups
• Water - 4 cups (Rice : water = 1 : 2 )
• Onion - 1 medium
• Green chilli - 1
• salt - as req
• Soysauce - 1 tbsp
• Spring onion - for garnish
• celery - for garnish
• coriander leaves - for garnish
• fried onions (opt) - for garnish
• fried cashews(opt) - for garnish

Preparation:

Slit Veggies vertically (cabbage, carrot, beans, capsicum) lengthwise and keep aside.

Fry Egg(like scrambles) and chicken in lil oil and keep aside.

Soak dry red chillies in vinegar for half an hour. Then grind it along with ginger + garlic to a fine paste. Soak Basmati rice in water for 15 minutes. In a pan, roast this rice with butter or ghee for 5 mins. Then cook it, cool it and keep aside.

In a pan, add oil. To the heated oil, add chopped onion. Saute till it becomes translucent. Then add green chilli + veggies + salt. Saute till the veggies get cooked. Make sure that a small amount of crunchiness is maintained in the veggies. Then add the ground paste + soysauce + already saute egg-chicken pieces + rice + spring onion + celery. Garnish with fried onion, fried cashew and coriander leaves.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients:

For Blending:

• Cashew - 5 nos
• Tomatoes - 2 medium

For Marination:

• Chicken - 15 pieces
• Turmeric pdr - 1/4 tsp
• Any Chicken Curyr pdr - 1 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Kasthuri Methi - 1 tsp
• Curd - 1 cup
• Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - lil
• Oil - 1 tsp

Other Ingredients for the Masala:

• Cloves - 2
• Cinnamon - 1
• Cardamom - 2
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Finely chopped or ground onion - 1 medium
• Salt
• Chilli pdr - 1 tsp
• Cumin pdr - 1 tbsp
• Coriander pdr - 1 tbsp
• Cream (opt) - I used half n half - 1 tbsp
• Corianderleaves - for garnish

Preparation:

Blend Cashewnuts(5) and Tomato(2 medium) and keep aside.

Marinate Chicken with turmeric pdr + any chicken curry pdr + Ginger garlic paste + Kasthuri Methi + Curd + 1/2 tsp lemon juice + Salt + oil. Marinate the veggies (capsicum, onion, tomato, green chilli) with the same spices as mentioned above.

Fry the chicken and the veggies in a pan else grill them in a griller. Once they get well cooked, set it aside.

In heated oil, add whole garam masala(cloves, cinnamon, cardamom) + cumin seeds + finely chopped onion (you can also grind it to a paste) + salt + chilli pdr + sprinkle some water + turmeric pdr + cumin pdr + corriander pdr + blended tomato paste. Cook this closed for 2 mins. After 2 minutes and the spices smell leaves, add the grilled chicken and veggies. Finally add some cream (opt) and garnish with coriander leaves.

Garlic Chilli Chicken

Ingredients:

• Dry red chilli - 5 nos (or as per ur req)
• Garlic pods - 6 nos
• Oil
• Turmeric pdr - 1/4 tsp
• Onion - 1 medium (finely chopped)
• Curd - 1 cup
• Chicken pieces
• Salt - as req
• Lemon juice - a splash
• Coriander leaves - for garnish

Preparation:

Grind dry red chilli and garlic pods in a chopper. You can also use a mixer for this but make sure that you don't grind it to a paste consistency.

To heated oil in a pan, add the grinded mixture + turmeric pdr + Onion + 1 cup curd + chicken pieces and salt. Sprinkle lil water if necessary.

Once the chicken is cooked, switch off the flame and add a splash of lemon juice. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Chicken Kulambu (Type 3)

Ingredients:

• Turmeric pdr - for marination
• Chicken pieces
• Oil
• Poppy seeds - 3 to 4 tbsp
• Coconut grated - 1/2 cup
• Whole garam masala(cumin , cloves, cardamom) - as req
• Onion - 1 large
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
• Corriander pdr - 2 tsp
• Chilli pdr - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves
• Water - as req
• Pepper pdr -1 tsp
• Coriander leaves - for garnish

Preparation:

Marinate chicken pieces with turmeric pdr paste. Shallow fry these chicken pieces and keep it aside.

On low flame Dry roast poppy seeds and grated coconut in a pan. Once it poppy seeds turns color switch off the flame. Grind this to a paste.

To the heated oil in a pan, add whole garam masala + cumin seeds + onion + salt + gg paste + turmeric pdr + poppy coconut paste + 2 tsp corriander pdr + 1 tsp cumin pdr + curry leaves + chicken + water . Cook closed till the juice from chicken oozes out. Finally juz before couple of minutes of switching the flame, add pepper pdr. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Badam Payasam

Ingredients Needed :

• Badam - 20 to 25
• Jaggery - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 3 cups
• Elachi Powder - little

Method : 

Soak badam overnight and remove the skin. Grind it into fine paste by adding little milk , if needed. Boil milk and keep it ready. In a kadai add jaggery and little water and dissolve well then add grinded paste and add milk and allow it to boil well. Keep stirring it continuously , to avoid sticking to the vessel finally add elachi powder , and u can serve it hot or cold

Note : As i couldn't soak it well before , I boiled the badam with little water for 5 to 10 mins , and it was very easy to remove the skin.

Ghee Rice

Ingredients:

• Ghee - 4 or 5 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• peppercorns - 15 (change as per ur req)
• Cloves - 3
• Cinnamon stick - 1
• Green chilli - 1
• Capsicum - 1/4 of medium
• Onion - 1 medium
• Biryani Rice - 2 cups
• Water - 4 cups (2 cups for each cup of rice)
• salt - as req
• Coriander leaves or green onions - for garnish

Preparation:

Add ghee or butter to the pressure cooker. Once it becomes hot, add cumin seeds, peppercorns,whole garam masala (cloves, cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaf). Saute it for a minute and then add vertically slit green chilli and capsicum. Then add thin sliced onions and saute till it becomes translucent. To this add Biryani Rice and saute for 2 minutes on medium flame. Then add water, salt and when the water starts to boil, close the pressure cooker and leave for 2 whistles. Switch off the flame. Once the pressure leaves, open the cooker and garnish the rice with coriander leaves and green onions.

You can serve this with some spicy side dish like Aloo curry...

Yummy, easy to prepare Ghee rice is ready to be served.