Ragi Pakoda

Ingredients needed :

• Ragi flour - 1 cup
• Rice flour - 1/4 cup
• Corn flour - 3 tsp.
• Rava - 3 tsp.
• Onions - 2 medium size
• Curry leaves - 1 string
• Corriander leaves - little
• Green chillies - 1
• Salt - as reqd.
• Water - little
• Oil - for deep frying

Method :

Chop onions + green chillies + curry leaves + corriander leaves and set aside. In a bowl add ragi flour + rice flour + rava + corn flour + salt + and all the chopped items in the first step and sprinkle little water and mix it well ...In a kadai add oil for deep frying , Once it is hot , take small ball size dough and deep fry it till done.

Method 2 :

I had some Cabbage curry ...thought of adding that and make pakodas ....same procedure as above but for this , I made the batter by adding more water and made the dough like bhajji batter and deep fried it ...both the method were too good .

Sending this to Madhuram's, JFI - Ragi event , along with these recipes :

• Ragi Dosa
• Ragi Roti
• Ragi keerai Vadai

Chilli Bhajji

Ingredients needed :

• Bajji Milagai / Chilli - 10
• Gram flour - 2 Cups
• Rice flour - 2 tbsp
• Chilli Powder
• Hing Powder
• Salt
• Oil for deep frying

for brushing / applying (like stuffing) : 

Salt + chilli powder + lime juice + little tamarind juice ...take all this very little quantity and mix it well and keep it ready.

Method : 

Mix Gram flour ,rice flour , chilli powder,salt,hing with little water into thick consistency and keep it aside. Cut the chillies into two halves , Heat the oil in kadai ... meanwhile dip the chillis / Milagais in the Gram flour paste , once the oil is hot, deep fry the chilli ...in this stage we will not get thicker coating of the batter on chillis , after taking it from oil,once it is cooled , slit the chilli bhajji in the middle and now apply the tamarind and lime juice mixture in the middle and then dip it again in the gram flour batter and deep fry it again... Now hot hot Chilli / Milagai Bajji's are ready..

Ps:

Got this recipe from my friend , Padma ... It came out well and we all enojyed it a lot ... Previously , I have posted Stuffed Chilli Bhajji , more than that I loved this version a lot ...I have done slight variations in the method and also I added little tamarind juice for brushing / applying , which was not mentioned in the original recipe , given by Padma.

Entries to Show me your Salad

Sending these salad recipes to Show me your Salad event hosted by Divya Vikram

Event Logo :

1. Cucumber Salad :

2. Healthy Veggie Salad :

3. Cucumber Salad :

Ellu Bella

My friend Shalini sent this Ellu bella to me. In Karnataka , on Sankaranthi day , they do share with their family members and friends , this Ellu bella along with seasonal fruits .

Ingredients needed :

• Peanuts (Skin removed and halved )
• Dalia dhal / Chutney dhal
• Jaggery
• Dried coconut / kopparai
• White sesame seeds

Method :

Peanuts , dalia dhal , sesame seeds are to be roasted slightly and add dried coconut pieces , small small pieces of jaggery and mix together .

Thanks a lot Shalini ..I enjoyed this a lot .

Moong Dhal Halwa - ICC for December

The recipe chosen for december month in Indian Cooking Challenge by Srivalli . Thanks to to Simran's Mom for the recipe and Lataji for the notes on recipe .

Ingredients needed :

• Split (Yellow) Moong dhal - 1 cup
• Ghee - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 3/4 cups to 1 cup (as per required sweetness)
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Cashews/ raisins roasted in ghee for garnish.

Method : 

Soak 1 cup moong dal overnight. Next morning, grind to a paste.Heat a heavy Kadai, take initially only 1/2 of the ghee and heat it. Add the dhal and stir continuously, not allowing lumps to form. This part is very tricky as the dhal cooks really fast, irrespective of the ghee.Keep the heat at the lowest and keep stirring even after the dhal becomes thick.Add the rest of the ghee intermittently and cook the dhal until aromatic and the ghee starts oozing out. Meanwhile mix the sugar with milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Add this slowly to the cooking dhal. Keep the flames low at all times and break lumps if formed while adding the sugar and milk mix. Cook until the ghee surfaces. Garnish with cashews and raisins.

Notes : 

Use a thick bottom pan or better nonstick pan. Don't leave the halwa unattended. The dal can stick and it can go from just done to burnt in a second so keep stirring as much as possible.You should remember to keep stirring to prevent dhal from sticking irrespective of the ghee added. You aren't looking for the halwa to get too thick when you turn off the heat. It will thicken as it cools.
Cook until ghee surfaces on the sides and the halwa attains a very nice shine.
Initially, it may appear that all the ghee is being used up. But as the dhal cooks the ghee separates. So the ghee measure is sufficient. Depending on how you got the moong dal paste, you may require slightly more ghee to get the texture
Though original recipe didn't call for roasting the dhal before soaking, Lataji felt roasting it a bit gives more fragrance.

Happy Pongal

Hi all ,

Hope you rejoice in the charm of your tradition! Wish you & your family a very Happy Pongal.

To know more about Pongal pandigai check this link .

Yours,

Kavitha & Gayathri.

Guacamole

Ingredients

• 2 avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

Source:www.foodnetwork.com

Veggie Chinese Noodles

Ingredients:

• Veggies of your choice (carrot, beans, capsicum, cabbage, green peas, spring onion)
• Pepper pdr - as req
• salt - as req
• oil - 1 tbsp
• Chinese noodles - 1 packet
• soysauce - 1 tbsp
• vinegar - 1 tsp
• Ajinomotto - a pinch (opt)

Preparation:

In a broad pan, cook the noodles in water. Add lil salt and oil to the water. Once the noodles is cooked strain the water out of it and keep the noodles aside.

In the same pan, add oil. Once the oil is hot, add the veggies, salt and saute them till they get half cooked. Now add the already cooked noodles. Then add soysauce, vinegar, ajinomotto and pepper pdr. saute it for 2 minutes and then garnish with some spring onions.

Your Veggie Chinese noodles is ready to serve.

Note: I usually skip the ajinomotto for health reasons.

Brinjal Kulambu

Ingredients:

• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Brinjal - 4 medium size
• Onion - 1 large
• garlic pods - 3
• Curry leaves - as req
• Mustard seeds - as req
• chilli pdr - 1 tsp
• Coriander pdr -1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Ginger - 1 inch
• coriander leaves for garnish
• salt - as req

Preparation:

In a pan, add some oil. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds, and chopped onion (half onion). saute till the onion turns golden brown. To this then add ginger and also chilli pdr, coriander pdr. I replaced these two spice pdrs with some egg curry masala pdr. Saute for a minute and then switch off the flame. Once cooled, grind it to a paste.

In the same pan, add some more oil, To this add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add finely chopped garlic pods and the remaining half of the chopped onion. Add curry leaves and saute for sometime. When the onion turns shade, add the brinjals and saute till they get cooked well. Once thr brinjals are cooked, add the ground masala,salt and req amount of water and cook the curry for anothr 5 minutes till the oil separates from the curry. Garnish with some coriander leaves. Switch off the stove.

This goes excellent with rice, dosa and rotis.

Masala Bottlegourd

Ingredients:

• Oil - as req
• Chana dhal - 1 tsp
• Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Onion - 1/2 of a medium
• Garlic pods - 2
• Coriander pdr - 1 tbsp
• Dry red chilli - 1
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - as req
• Bottlegourd - 1
• salt -as req
• Coriander leaves - for garnish

Preparation:

In heated oil, add channa dhal, urad dhal, cumin seeds, onion, garlic pods. When the onion turns slightly brown, add coriander pdr to it. Also add dry red chilli to this. Switch off the flame. Once it is cool, grind it to a paste and set aside.

In oil, add mustard seeds or vadakam(tadka used in southern part of india), curry leaves. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the chopped bottlegourd. Sprinkle some water to this. Add some salt and cook closed on medium flame. When the bottlegourd gets well cooked add the already ground masala and continue cooking till oil floats on the top of the masala. Garnish with some coriander leaves.

Uthappam

Ingredients needed :

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Idli rice - 1 cup
• Toor Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Urid dhal - 1/4 cup
• Salt - to taste .
• Onion finely chopped - 2
• Corriader leaves - little
• Green chillies - 2

Method : 

Soak rice and dhal for 5 to 6 hours and grind it into smooth batter and add salt , mix well , allow it to ferment well , then prepare dosa, slightly thick in size and then add finely choped onions + corriander leaves + green chillies and add oil , allow it to cook well , then slowly turn it to the other side and cook for few mins ...and serve with Onion chutney.

Note : 

I used dried red chillies instead of green chilli ...and I grinded the chillies along with rice and dhal . I added the onions + corriander leaves fully to the batter and made like normal dosa ...u can try in either way .

Shrimp Pulao

Ingredients:

• Whole garam masala - as req
• cashews - as req (optional)
• Onion - cut as juliennes
• Shrimp - 10 raw (cleaned and unveined)
• Gingergarlic paste - 1tsp
• capsicum - 1/4 of medium
• Basmati rice - 1 cup
• soysauce - 1/2 tsp
• pulao pdr - any brand - 1 tbsp (opt)
• Garlic pods - 2 (finely chopped)

Preparation:

To heated oil, add whole garam masala(cloves, cardamom, bay leaf). Then add cashews, onions and finely chopped garlic pods. Saute till the onions become brown. To this add capsicum and saute for another 1 minute. Now add ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell leaves from the paste. Add shrimp, soy sauce, salt as req and saute till the shrimp gets cooked. It should take abt 5 minutes. Then add the pulao mix. Pulao mix is optional. You can skip it and itz still gonna taste gud. Else if you are in need of some spices, try adding some turmeric pdr, chilli pdr and coriander pdr to it. Add cooked Basmati rice to this (cooked in 1 cup of rice : 2 cups of water proportion) and stir it well such that there is no lumps of rice. Garnish with some coriander leaves.

Note: Will get the pix of this dish next time I prepare it. Why? What happened now? Why the hell did I nt take a pix of it? If any of these is ur question :) then here is the reply....I FORGOT :( Thought will take the pic of the dish after hubby dear finished his lunch...n guess wat...he finished everything :D

Thiruvadirai Kali

This is a very special recipe ...Oh yeah we have reached 350th post , and the first recipe to be posted in this new year / decade in our blog and also a special Prasadam recipe ......Thiruvadirai Kali.

Thanks to all our friends and followers of this blog ...It's because of your encouragement , we were able to post many new recipes and we were able to achieve this ...

Thiruvadirai / Arudara darisanam festival :

On this day a special prasadam , Kali is made and offerred to Lord Nataraja.

Ingredients needed :

• Raw rice - 2 cup
• Paasi parruppu / Moong dhal - 1 Handful
• Jaggery - 2 3/4 cups.
• Cashews - 10 
• Raisins - little
• Elachi powder - little

Method :

               Wash rice well . Heat a kadai and dry fry washed rice till it turns slight reddish colour, and fry dhal , once cooled grind rice and dhal coarsely like rawa consistency .

 Take a big kadai , add 2 3/4 cup powdered jaggery and pour 5 cup water and allow it to dissolve well and strain it to remove impurities. Heat kadai again and pour jaggery water and allow it to boil well then simmer the gas flame and pour slowly grounded rawa , keep stirring it well till it gets thick, like upma consistency ..transfer to a vessel ..

Take pressure cooker and add required amount of water and place the vessel with cooked kali and pressure cook it for 3 whistle .

 Heat a small pan add ghee and once melted add Raisins , Cashews, and fry it add it to the Kali and mix well.

the best combination with this kali is Kuzhambu which is made with a combination of 5 or 7 vegetables. 

check this link for kuzhmabu recipe ::

http://kaviskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/7-kari-kuzhambu-mixed-vegetable-sambhar.html

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Happy New Year Glitter Pictures