Ribbon Pakoda

I saved this recipe from some website, not sure which one. But it turned out good. Thanks to whosoever it was

INGREDIENTS:

RICE FLOUR - 2 CUPS
BESAN - 1 CUP
RED CHILLI POWDER - 2 TSP
SALT - AS NEEDED
ASAFOETIDA - A PINCH
SESAME SEEDS |ELLU 1 TSP
MELTED BUTTER - 2 TBLSP
OIL FOR DEEP FRYING

METHOD:

- In a wide bowl, add the rice flour and gram flour .
- Add in the redchilli powder, salt, sesame seeds,butter and asafoetida.
- Mix this into a soft dough using water.
- Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai.
- Add a portion of dough in the murukku press (use the ribbon pakoda achu) and make a round layer in hot oil.
- When it is done on one side flip this carefully using the ladle.
- When the sizzling sound subsides take it out from the hot oil and drain the excess oil in a kitchen towel.
- Repeat this for the remaining dough.
- Store in airtight container.

Coconut Burfi

Ingredients:

Coconut, grated - 1 cup heaped
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom pdr - a pinch
Cashews - 10
Ghee - 1 tsp

Preparation:

In a pan, add a lil ghee and fry cashews till brown. Set aside and when they cool down, chop them to small pieces. To the same pan, add grated coconut and sugar. Saute together till it mixes well. Continue to stir in medium flame till the sugar melts to form a thick syrup texture. When the mixture starts to leave the edges of the pan, with some foamy consistency, switch off the stove. Add cashews and cardomom powder 2 mins before you switch off the flame. Pour this on to a greased plate and level out the top layer. Cut to pieces when still warm.

Pepper Karasev

Ingredients:

Besan - 1.5 cups
Rice flour - 1 cup
black pepper - 15 nos (adjust to your taste)
Oil (heat before adding) - 3 tbsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
salt - as needed
garlic pods - 3 nos

Grind black pepper and garlic pods (do not make it powder like...coarse grind it). Mix this with besan + rice flour + salt + asafoetida + hot oil. Oil can be replaced with softened butter. Mix water as required such that the dough is not too stiff.

Heat oil in a deep pan. Check the oil by dropping a lil dough to the oil. If it comes up immediately then the oil is at the right temperature. Then using the 3 circles thenkuzhal achu in the muruku presser make the karasev. Remove it from oil, once the sizzling stops. Break it to pieces once it cools down. Yummy and crunchy karasev is ready for diwali 

 

 

Oats Bisebelabath

Ingredients:

Toor dhal - 1/2 cup
Turmeric pdr
Veggies of your choice

Oil
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Dry red chillies - 2
Curry leaves
Onion - 1 medium
Tomato - 1 small
Water - 3 cups
Oats - 1 cup
Bisebelabath powder - 2 tbsp
Salt - as req
ghee - 1 tsp (opt)
Coriander leaves - to garnish
hing - a pinch

Preparation:

Pressure cook Toor Dhal with turmeric powder. Also pressure cook veggies of your choice. I used carrots, beans, capsicum, peas, corn, cauliflower. You can mix and match, depending on your taste and veggie availability :)

In a pan, add some oil. After the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. Once the seeds crackle, add dry red chillies, curry leaves and then the onion goes in. Saute it for like a minute and then add tomato. After the tomato mashes well into the onion so that you can see that separate, add water and wait for it to come to a boil. When it boils, add the oats (oats should be dry roasted before adding at this stage of the recipe. Dry roasting prevents the oats to stick to each other when cooked). Once the oats is cooked, add in the cooked dhal and veggies. Give it a quick stir and add in the bisebelabath powder ( I used  MTR brand). You can also replace this with the normal sambar powder. Add hing, adjust salt. Water can be adjusted at any point, depending on the consistency you need the dish at. Top the dish with some ghee and garnish with some coriander leaves. Yummy yumm, healthy oats Bisebelabath is ready to serve.

Desi Shells

This is one of my favs. Something that my mom would cook for me and now I do 'em for my kids. My lil son loved it...no doubts about it..Come'on it is macroni shells. Would any kid say no to it. I bet not. So he gets the yummy shells and I get to cook it in desi style. Two happy people and one happy meal :) Now for the recipe.

Ingredients:


Macroni shells - as needed
Tomatoes - 2
Onion - 1
Capsicum/Bell pepper - 1/2
Salt - as needed
Coriander leaves - to garnish
A dash of lemon juice.

Cook the shells as per the instructions in the box. Remember to always put the shells into the water after it comes to a boil and do not make them mushy soft. They need to stay a lil in shape when taken out of water. I add a drop of the oil to the water so that the shells do not stick to each other and also shock them up with some running cold water as soon as I take them off the stove to drain.

For the masala, in a pan add oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. Once they crackle, add onions. Add salt to cook onions fast. Now wait till they turn translucent and then add the tomatoes and capsicum. Cook till they all merge together to form one dry curry...and it gets difficult to separate tomatoes and onions visually. Add the cooked shells to this curry and mix it well. Garnish with some coriander leaves and add a dash of lemon juice to it. You can add green peas, corn if you like to this Desi shells.

Capsicum dry curry

Oil + mustard seeds + urad dhal + curry leaves + bell pepper + soaked channa dhal + salt + sambar pdr (chilli pdr + coriander pdr) + turmeric pdr + sprinkle some water. Cooked with lid closed for 5 minutes. Yummy Capsicum dry curry is ready. When different shades of capsicum is used (orange, red, green, yellow), the curry turns out to be really colorful.

Coriander thuvayal - MIL special

In a tsp of oil, add urad dhal (make sure you do not make it black. It should be light brown in shade. To this add green chillies (3 or as per taste) + a small piece of tamarind + fresh cleaned and cut coriander leaves + coconut pieces + hing pdr. Add some salt to the ground paste.

Temper this ground mixture with oil, mustard seeds.

Karuvadu thooku

Soak karuvadu in warm water until it becomes soft (max 10 mins).

Add oil to the pan. When the oil is hot add mustard seeds. After the mustard seeds splatter add onion + tomato + garlic + chilli pdr + turmeric pdr + coriander pdr + washed karuvadu + salt as per taste and little water. Cook this in medium flame till the nethuli karuvadu is fully cooked. This should be done in not more than 10 mins.

Coconut rice

Ingredients needed :

• Oil - 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• curry leaves - 5 leaves
• Hing - a pinch
• Urad Dhal - 1 tsp
• Channa dhal - 1 tsp. 
• Dried red Chili - 1
• Green Chili - 2
• Cashewnuts - as req
• Peanuts - as req
• Salt
• Cooked rice

Method: 

In a pan, add some oil. When oil is hot add mustard seeds + urad dhal + dry red chilies + curry leaves + green chilies (2) + Channa dhal + Hing powder + Cashew + Groundnuts + Grated coconut + Salt and saute it for few mins. to this add cooked rice and mix it well 

Tomato pickle

This is such an easy version of tomato pickle that you will want to do this one immediately. Trust me on its taste. It is so yummmm........to people back in India, I've been hearing that the tomato prices have hiked up sky level these days and I know that this one is going to be a tempting post for you guys. Sorry, but with tomatoes overflowing in my garden, i just HAD to do this :) Kudos to my MIL for sharing this recipe.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 10 nos
Dry red chilli  - 6 (change as per taste)
Hing powder
Mustard seeds
Oil

Preparation:

Grind tomatoes + dry red chilli + salt (adjust spice and salt as per taste)

In a pan add oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. After it crackles, add hing and the ground paste. Keep on a medium flame and cook atleast for half an hour, till the raw smell leaves and it comes to a pickle consistency. Store it in an air tight container.

Spicy Baby Potatoes

Ingredients:

Baby potatoes - 20 nos
Onion - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
Capsicum - as needed
salt

Spice powders used (as required):

Turmeric pdr
Coriander pdr
Chilli pdr
Garam masala
Amchur pdr

Preparation:

Cook the baby potatoes with a lil salt in a pressure cooker. I had to leave them for 3 whistles in mine to get well done. Strain the water. Remove the skin off from the potatoes and keep them aside.

In some water, add all the spice powders.

In a pan, add some oil. When oil becomes hot, add the onion, salt

and saute till its becomes translucent. Now add the ginger garlic paste and after the raw smell leaves off from it, add the spice powder water to it. Cook well till the oil separates and then add the baby potatoes. Cook covered on a medium flame for 5 minutes. The masala should coat well over the little guys. Remove this off from the pan. In the same pan, add a tsp of oil and saute the capsicum slices. Spread them over the potato and garnish with some coriander leaves. Yummy spicy baby potatoes are ready to be served. You can also add some lemon juice to top this up. It goes great with pulaos and rotis. Give it a try !!!

Back again with some Papaya popsicle :)

Hey there everyone, yes, its me :) It has been quite sometime since I blogged. Been busy with kids...yep, you heard it right, I said kid"S"....I have 2 of 'em now. Life has been hectic, running around, trying to catch up with the change. I think I have kinda settled now, or even if not, I've planned to get back to blogosphere. This is something I love doing and maybe it would bring down my stress. You never know what would make the magic :D so why not give it a try. Cling on friends, cos the kitchen is going to get busy again, with lotsa food and fun. A plus to the blog this time would some baby food preparations :) :) :)  As already mentioned, I'm a mom of two now and it is summer here in AZ. So I plan to kickstart with some easy breezy Popsicle. They are my son's fav and now the lil gal seems to get a grasp of it too. Here go the recipe. Give it a try and let me know how much the kids loved it.

Ingredients:

Papaya chunks
Milk
Half and Half (optional)
Sugar (or) Maple Syrup

Preparation:

Blend all the above, adjusting the maple syrup as per your taste. Pour them into the Popsicle tray and freeze them. After couple of hours, take them out from your freezer for some yummy papaya popsicle :) I bet the kids will love them.