Avakkai Pickle

Ingredients needed :

• Mango - 6 cups
• Chili powder - 1 cup
• Mustard powder - 1 cup
• Methi seeds - little
• Turmeric powder - little
• Hing powder - little
• Rock Salt - 3/4 cup
• Gingely oil - 1 cup

Method : 

• Spread a cup of mustard seeds on a plate and keep it for 30 minutes or so in sunlight. If you are staying in cold place , then heat a kadai for 2 or 3 minutes and switch off the flame and immediately drop the mustard seeds and keep it in hot kadai for few minutes and then powder it finely .

• If you are in Chennai , you get Avakkai mango in shops and you can get it chopped from the shop keeper , if using that buy it and wash it well and spread it in white towel till the water completely dries off ... or you can try any type of mango and make this pickle ...

• Take blender and grind rock salt for a second and keep it aside ...If you don't get rock salt , you can use powdered salt and adjust the quantity according to the sourness of the mango . 

• Take a glass bowl or (mix it in a bowl and store it in glass bottle ) add chopped mangoes + Turmeric powder + methi seeds + hing + mustard seeds powder + Chili powder and mix it well and to this add Salt and immediately add gingely oil and mix it well and keep it aside and then mix it well every day for 4 days or so ..You can store avakkai pickle in fridge and stays good for long ...

Vada Pav

Ingredients needed :

To make Vada, Outer covering, Garlic chili powder : 

For Stuffing : 

• Potato - 2 
• Green chili - 1
• Ginger - little
• Coriander leaves - little
• Salt 
• Turmeric powder - little
• Hing Powder - little

For outer covering :

• Gram flour / Besan flour - 1 cup
• Salt 
• Hing powder 
• Turmeric powder 
• Chili powder 
• Oil for deep frying .

For Garlic Coconut chili powder :

• Grated Coconut 
• Salt 
• Chili powder 
• Garlic cloves 

To serve : 

• Paav, buns  or Burger buns .
• Ghee

Method : 

Wash and roughly chop potatoes and boil it and once done allow it to cool well and peel the skin and take a bowl and mash it well to this add salt + turmeric powder + salt + hing powder + chopped green chili and ginger and mix it well and set aside, take little mashed potato + coriander leaves and make small roundels and keep it in a plate ..

Heat a kadai and add little oil and saute chopped galic and to this add grated coconut + salt + turmeric powder + chili powder and mix it well .. 

You can use desicated coconut , kopra / dry coconut ..if using fresh coconut grate it and fry it in kadai for few minutes ...

Heat a kadai and add oil for deep frying meanwhile , take a bowl and add besan flour + salt + hing powder + turmeric powder + chili powder and mix it well to this add water little by little and mix it well make sure no lumps are there and the batter is little thicker in consistency ..

Once the oil is hot take a each potato (balls) mixture and dip it in gram flour mixture and drop it in hot oil and allow it to cook well and drain the excess oil and set aside . 

When Serving Heat a tawa , spread ghee on buns and roast it for few seconds and spread a tsp. of garlic - coconut chili powder and place a potato vada / bonda on top of it and serve it . 

Vendakkai Thayir Pachadi

Ingredients needed : 

• Vendakkai / Lady's finger - 10 to 15
• Chili powder - little
• Salt - little
• Hing powder - little
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp.
• Urid dhal - 1/4 tsp.
• Curry leaves - 5 
• Curd  2 cups

Method: 

             Trim both the edges and chop lady's finger finely . Heat a kadai add oil + mustard seeds + urid dhal + curry leaves and then add the chopped lady's finger + 1 tsp. of curd and allow it to cook for few minutes to this add salt + hing powder + chili powder  and cook it till done and allow it to cool well. 

Just before serving , Take a bowl add curd and beat it well to this add fried lady's finger and mix it well and serve it . 

Tips : When cooking lady's finger add a tsp. of curd , this helps to remove the stickiness and you get crispy lady's finger .

Puli Milagai

Ingredients needed : 

• Green Chili - 20 to 25
• Tamarind juice - 1 1/4 cup
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp.
• Curry leaves - 1 string
• Hing powder - little
• Jaggery - little 
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.
• Urid dhal - 1/2 tsp. 
• Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp. 
• Salt 
• Gingelly oil 

Method : 

                   Wash and pat dry chilies well and finely chop it . Heat kadai add gingelly oil + mustard seeds and allow it to splutter to this add urid dhal + methi seeds + curry leaves + hing powder to this add chopped green chilies + salt + turmeric powder and fry it for few minutes to this add thick tamarind water and allow it to cook well to this add grated jaggery and allow it to cook well till it gets thicker. 

Goes excellent with Dosa / Idli / Curd rice. 

Milagu Jeera Sadam / Samba Sadam / Onion Rice

Ingredients needed : 

• Cooked rice - 2 cups
• Onion - 1
• Curry leaves - 6 to 7 leaves
• Milagu / Pepper powder - 1 tsp.
• Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1 tsp. 
• Mustard seeds 
• Urid dhal
• Hing powder
• Salt 
• Oil 

Method : 

           Cook rice separately. Chop Onions finely. Heat a kadai add oil + mustard seeds + urid dhal + jeera + curry leaves + hing powder + Onions + salt and fry well to this add pepper powder + cooked rice and mix it well. 

You can skip onions and instead of Jeera you can add jeera powder ..very healthy rice goes excellent with potato curry . 

Maavadu

Ingredients needed :

• 1 Kg  mavadu
• 1 cup rock salt (kal uppu)
• Castor oil - little
• Mustard seeds - 2 tbsp.
• Dried red chilies  - 20
• Turmeric powder

Method :

keep mustard seeds + chillies in sunlight and then powder it well

First clean the mavadu in water and with a towel pat dry it well ...apply castor oil in your hand well and spread it well on Mavadu (thadivu vidavum mavadu mela )

Grind rock salt in mixie just a second will do ....no need to powder ....now add rock salt + turmeric to mavadu and shake it well ..now add the chilli + mustard powder and mix it well .... and keep shaking it daily once or twice for 2 days ....

then keep it in fridge and once it starts to shrink well ..it is ready to use. 

 

Goes excellent with curd rice

Mixed Vegetable Kurma

Ingredients needed : 

• Potato - 2
• Cauliflower florets - 1 cup
• Peas - 1 cup
• Mushroom - 10
• Capsicum - 1
• Beans - 10
• Carrot - 1
• Jeera , fennel seeds, shahi jeera - little
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp.
• Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp.
• Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp.
• Chili powder - 1/2 tsp.
• Salt 
• Oil 

To grind : 

• Onions - 2
• Tomatoes - 2
• Cashew - little

Method:

To make Onion + cashew Paste : 

                Chop onions lengthwise .  Heat a kadai add 2 tsp. oil + onions + salt and fry well and allow it to cool well ...in the same kadai add cashew and fry it well and grind it along with fried onion ...

To grind tomatoes : 

                Clean tomatoes and make 4 slit on top of tomatoes ..in the kadai add water + tomatoes and allow it to boil for few mins. then allow it to cool well and then remove the skin and grind it in mixie ...

To fry vegetables: 

               If using dried peas , soak it overnight and pressure cook it till done . Chop all the vegetables and boil potatoes, heat a kadai and add oil + fry all vegetables (capsicum, carrot, beans , potato , cauliflower, mushroom, peas) + salt + chili powder separately 

in the same kadai add oil and temper jeera, fennel seeds, shahi jeera and then add onion paste and cook for few minutes to this add tomato juice + turmeric powder + jeera powder + chili powder + garam masala powder allow it to cook for few mins. and to this add fried vegetables and cook it till done . Yummy mixed vegetable kurma is ready and goes well with chapathi / roti . 

Basundi ~~ Happy birthday kavitha / 600th Post

                Today Happy to share a special recipe in our blog this is 600th post . Thanks a lot to each and every followers / friends for constantly encouraging us to post more and more recipes with you all ...and also today Kavitha's birthday ..Wishing her a Very Happy birthday enjoy this virtual small treat ..

Ingredients needed :

• Milk - 2.5 litres 
• Water - 1/2 cup 
• Badam - 10
• Cashew - 10 
• Pista - 10 
• Elachi powder - little

Method: 

               Ground Badam, cashews, Pista coarsely and keep it ready. Heat a big kadai or Pressure cooker add milk and allow it to boil well .

Once it starts to boil keep the flame in medium to low heat and keep stirring it occasionally make sure it doesn't get burnt , when the milk is getting reduced add sugar (adjust sugar according to your taste) and mix it well ..

Once it is almost getting thicker add the grounded cashew, badam, pista and elachi powder and keep it stirring it well and when it gets thicker switch off the flame ...allow it to cool well and serve it chili ..

Yummy Basundi is ready .

Once again Wishing you many more Happy returns  to you. 

Vegetable Cutlet / KFC style Veg Strips

Saw this recipe here and tried it already twice once like Vegetable strips and next time like cutlet ...both tasted yummy .

Ingredients needed:

• Potato - 2
• Peas / Corn - 1 cup
• Carrot + beans - 1 cup
• Maida flour - little
• Corn flour - little
• Red chili flakes - little
• Pepper powder - little
• Chat masala powder - little
• Salt
• Bread crumbs - little
• Cornflakes powder - little
• Oil - for deep frying 

Method : 

• Heat a pan add dried red chili and fry it and then grind it coarsely and set aside 

• In a small bowl take maida flour + corn flour + red chili flakes + salt and little water and make thin paste and set aside ..

• Take a blender tear bread slice roughly and grind it for a second and keep it in a plate

• Grind cornflakes roughly in blender and set aside or use rolling pin snd powder it 

• Peel potato skin and finely chop beans +carrot take it in a bowl along with peas + corn add little water and place the potatoes in the base of pressure cooker and cook it till done .

• If using dried Peas , soak it overnight and pressure cook it and take it in a blender and using the whip button grind it for a minute and use it.

• Take a wide bowl , mash Potato + cooked veggies + corn + peas + salt + red chili flakes + chat masala powder + pepper powder + maida flour + corn flour and mix it well 

• Take a small ball size of the dough and either flatten it or make it in oblong shape and do the same for rest of dough ...

• Dip it in maida + corn flour mixture (step 2) and then coat it in bread crumbs (step 3) repeat the same steps again and finally 

• Then roll it in cornflakes powder and keep it aside for few minutes ..

• Heat oil for deep frying and drop one vegetable strips or vegetable cutlet and fry it till done ..you can even fry 2 or 3 at a time ...

Serve it hot with Tomato + chili sauce .