Free Imagine Things: Tiffin Varities

Showing posts with label Tiffin Varities. Show all posts

Husked Green Gram Idlis

Hi everybody, how are you all ?, This post was in my draft from 2 weeks, This one I tried in an impulse, and it turned out great, A good way of making kids eat a healthy steam cooked, protein rich food and of course no oil too.., isn't it great about these Idlis, I love Idlis anyday (I love dosas too and love upma Oh! shut up ..), well that would be a long list.
Hmm.., But, I do have to tell you this, when I land in Bangalore go home, have a good bath the first thing I do is straight to the Darshini around the corner, near my house for a plate of Idlis and Vada!, Oh! that is a complete satisfaction don't you say...
Ok will stop now, I have few more posts to link..., Coming back to the recipe, absolutely it was delicious.., should thank satya, because of her I made these... my Idli maniac daughter loved it, that is a very important matter to me, her approval!, made it, served it and looked at her face for reaction, she said to me now and then I do cook well :)). But, she did say that like normal Idlis she couldn't indulge in it more, as it filled her stomach very soon, it kind of cheated on her :)). Oh! God she and her jokes....

HUSKED GREEN GRAM IDLIS

INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups Idli Rice (or Sona Masoori)
1 and 1/2 cup Husked Green Gram
1 Cup Urad Dal
1 tbsp Fenugreek seeds

METHOD:
Soak everything under Ingredients previous night, Soak Rice and Fenugreek seeds together and Urad dal and Husked Green Gram separately.
I have asked you to soak the dals separately because they require more water than the rice.
In the morning Grind the rice for few minutes until they become grain like then add the dals and grind together, you might feel that the rice is still grain like but it is alright.
Do not add too much water when Grinding for Idlis it should not be like Dosa batter, it should be more thicker in consistency.
You can leave it to ferment for few hours or over night.
Grease the Idli plates with little oil every time you steam the batter this helps everytime Idli to come off easily from the plate and with a ladle full fill them up and steam them for 10 to 12 minutes without a weight on the pressure cooker, If you have a Idli cooker no need to bother about the time then as it pops on its own once done.
Serve the Idlis with chutney or sambhar.

LITTLE NOTE : You can use Idli Rice or Sona Masoori, as the rice which you use is very important, sticky rice or pudding rice won't work. You can use Ground rice/ Idli Tari sold in some supermarkets or Asian shops, use the same measurement but you don't have to soak like rice, you just have to soak the dals and grind it to a smooth paste. Just 1 hour before you grind the dals soak Ground rice or Idli Tari in warm water, the warm water should be just to the level of the rice or a bit more 1/2'' more. If you add more water the Idlis become like Dosa batter.
After the dals are grinded add this to the tari, mix well and keep aside for fermentation, later on carry on as you do for steaming Idlis.
If satya hasn't done her round-up I would like to link this to her Twist the Traditional - Idli event.

Polenta and Bulgar Wheat Idli

Hi everybody,
Hope you all had a good week, so you can sit and enjoy your weekend, I had a hectic week, lots of things to do and in a rush :(, I am tired, but I couldn't resist sitting and blogging as I have to do this before they post their round-ups!, when I was browsing through I suddenly remembered I had seen this Idli event going on satya's blog!, I would have posted Idli's I have tried, then I have to start searching all my photos, Oh! my God! why do I do this all the time, and I remembered T and T my favourite event and it was from Taste of pearl city, I had been to her blog, and what a lovely looking blog she has got!, I love all her photographs, I wanted to participate in both the events, and their I noticed something very Interesting!, Yup!, Look I thought that's right ? I am going to participate in both the events, 'Two birds with one stone' can't hit a bird can I ?, so I will go with the Tamil Proverb 'Oru kalale erand Maanga'!
The Interesting part was these Idlis, she has a variety of Idlis (particularly the chocolately one!, check out!, chocolate and sweet lovers, I didn't show my daughter shhhhh.., will try it out someday!), so here is Polenta and Bulgar Wheat Idli to Satya's Twist the Traditional - Idli event.
Don't expect too much from me it is nothing compared to her clicks, check here for the beautiful clicks....

POLENTA AND BULGAR WHEAT IDLI

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Makes 45 Idlis

INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups Polenta
2 Cups Coarse Semolina
1 Cup Bulgar Wheat
1 and 1/4 tsp Eno Salt
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
3 Cups Yogurt
2 Cups Water
1 and 1/2 tsp Salt

SEASONING:
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tbsp Urad dal
1 tbsp Chenna dal
1 tsp Oil
few curry leaves
few Coriander leaves
2 Green Chillies
1 tsp Cumin seeds

METHOD:
Oh! it's so easy, no need to ferment!
First of all take a nice broad vessel, add all the Ingredients as said above except for the Eno Salt, Mix them well together.
In a small pan heat oil then add Mustard seeds, followed by green chillies and then the dals fry for a minutes until they change colour, then add curry leaves fry for 2 seconds and then put off the stove and then keep the pan away from the stove so let it cool a little bit, Meanwhile wash and chop coriander leaves add it to the Idli batter.
Then prepare the Idli plates, Apply oil to the cups which makes the Idlis when cooked come out easily, do remember to do this every time you pour the batter into the Idli cups, which helps in taking the Idlis off easily.
Then add the seasoning to the batter mix everything well, Now add Eno Salt mix well together again, Pour a ladle full or whatever you are use to fill in the Idli cups.
Do not fill them to the Brim, give a 1/2'' Gap as you can see in the picture, when Idlis puff up they will not stick to the top of the upper plate, and also keep the plates in a criss cross manner that is the Cup should not come below an other cup but to the flat base (can you see the holes) right at that place this also helps when it puffs up the top of the Idli will have a flat roof!
Oops I don't know if I did explain it properly!
Anyways keep these plates in a cooker with 2 to 3'' of water, as Idlis are steam cooked, If you are using a Idli cooker then also do not forget to pour water in the bottom of the vessel, Close the cooker lid and do not put the weight on it just leave it as it is, In a medium flame cook the Idlis around 12 to 14 minutes (by that time water will get evaporated so be careful to note down the time).
Switch of the stove, give it a minute or two then open the lid you can see the steaming hot Idlis take them out and keep aside for 5 minutes for them to cool down a little bit, If you want to serve immediately (as I did at 10:30 in the night, kids complaining of hunger) take each plate turn it upside down pour some cold water or hold it below the tap for a few seconds(careful don't soak the Idlis!).
Idlis come off easily they still will be hot, Serve Idli with Molagapodi, Chutney podi, Sambhar or with Vada curry, look out here I will post the reicpe soon...
My Verdict: Idlis, turned out so soft and beautiful, nobody new I had used Bulgar wheat in it!, H kept asking what did you use in this ( of course I told him). we all enjoyed it thanks to you for this lovely recipe
Can't serve it you, but you can always make it right ? take another peek at my lovely Idlis.....

Sending this to Satya's Traditional with a Twist- Idli event, (Hope she accepts my late entry) and to T and T of zlamushka's now hosted by Kitchen Chronicles, Guest hosted by Oh Taste and see (hoping she will also accept my late entry)

Stir-fried Veggies with Avocado pulkas

Hi, I am eating pulkas from past two days, I ate chapatis and Bendakaayi gojju, next was with beans poriyal, and then I saw these Avocado lying staring at me!!, you use me or I will bin myself kind of look!!, I was appalled, I dreaded the look of my hubby too!!, He is always on to me, asking why do buy so many fruits if you just want to bin them, leave them alone in the market !!, well, this time I decided I will not bin them and remembered Usha of Veginspirations, who had made this Avocado chappatis, yup!!, that's what I am going to do, only I tweaked it a little bit, I used tomatoes with Avocados and made pulkhas and not chappatis!!, and inspired by Raji of Rak's Kitchen for these stir fried veggies!!, I have never used Indian masala spice, that is south Indian like what raji had done with her stir-fried Broccoli using sambhar powder, well I took that as hint but used my Masala vegetable rice powder somewhere near to vaangi bhath powder, and then I made caramalised onions like parita of parita's world !! and I immensly enjoyed the whole thing just meself!!

So then what did I do !!??, not really much, as I said earlier I used Tomatoes with Avocado for my pulkhas (as I thought those 2 tomatoes will go a waste!!), Used Masala vegetable rice powder for the stir-fry, and caramalised onions like parita did to her stir-fry.

STIR-FRIED VEGETABLES WITH AVOCADO PULKAS

INGREDIENTS:

FOR AVOCADO PULKAS:

1 Avocado medium sized

2 tomatoes

1/4 cup water

1 tsp salt

2 to 2 and 1/2 cups of Atta flour (depending of how much you need to make it into dough consistency).

METHOD:

Cut the Avocado into two halves remove the seed and scoop out the fruity portion into a bowl, then finely chop the tomatoes and mash them well in a mixer. you can mash the Avocado into a fine mash just with the back of your spoon easily, I used the mixie because of the tomatoes.

Add this to the bowl containing water, salt, and mix atta flour to it gradually and form it into a soft dough that is just like a chapati dough.

Taking a small round ball from the dough flatten them into a circle with the help of rolling pin and roast them on both the sides, only just about to form little bubbles, then with the help of a clean kitchen cloth you can keep turning them and make them blow up like a poori, without pressing them too hard, just keep pressing them noticing where it puffs up, you can put it on the stove top and flip it now and then and cook it. I will post this on how to make pulkas in my next post, or if you want you can make chapatis with a three fold and cook it with the help of ghee or oil as you like.

VARIATIONS : You can add a tsp of cumin, coriander and chilli powder and Thyme seeds, I did not add anything as my curry was quite spicy!!

STIR-FRIED VEGGIES

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 kg green beans

1 cup Cauliflower florets

1 cup Broccoli florets

1 carrot

1 Big Red onion

2 garlic pods

1 sprig curry leaves

2 sprigs of fresh coriander leaves

2 tbsp of Masala powder

salt as required

2 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp grated fresh coconut

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

FOR THE MASALA POWDER

2 tbsp Channa dal

1 tbsp Urad dal

2 tbsp Coriander seeds

2-2 Guntur-Badgi Dried Red chillies

1 small piece of Tamarind

1'' cinnamon stick

1 clove

1 Marti Moggu

a pinch of Asafoetida

TO MAKE THE MASALA POWDER with a tsp of oil fry all the above ingredients one by one until they change colour and a nice aroma fills the air, cool it and grind it to a fine coarse powder. Use this powder as much spiciness as you require to your curry, and increase or decrease the amount of chillies as per your liking.

METHOD

Cook broccoli and cauliflower florets in a separate water for few minutes with little salt and turmeric, once cooked drain out and discard the water. (other wise you can cook broccoli in the wok with other vegetables in a low flame, by sprinkling water, but do not keep on stirring them too much as it tends to become mushy)

In a wok add 2 tbsp of oil and heat once it is warm add a tsp of mustard seeds and cumin seeds once they start spluttering, add the washed and cut vegetables (carrot and beans) and cook them in a low flame, Once they are well cooked add the florets mix well add salt and the Masala powder as required then the fresh coconut and mix them well.

top it with caramalised onions.

TO CARAMALISE THE ONIONS : Chop the onion finely (cut into half and chop them length wise, just that it looks good :) ), in a tsp of oil fry them until they are soft then add a 2 tbp of sugar and keep frying them for another 2 minutes, until they change colour to a golden brown, Lo!, your caramalised onions are ready!!

I am sending this of to Nupur of one hot stove's, copy cat edition, last time I missed sending my entry, I cook a lot from other blogs!!

Noodles in Roasted Peanut Sauce

Hi everybody, Hoping you are all doing well, Its such an amazing fact, everyday I see lot of recipes being created, and still we find lot of them to be new and have never tried, I am not talking about baking, its just our everyday cooking!!, isn't it ?, we should thank Google for creating us such a lovely opportunity, which has brought the whole world together, when it comes to food, we all love to try at every opportunity to make the different cuisines from all over the world which has brought an interesting life in our kitchens, everyday I think of something I want to try differently and everyday it is an opportunity I feel I do not want to forgo!!, I try my best do something different everyday!!, That is how this recipe came into my kitchen!!, I just wanted to try something different from the same noodles which I always do, which my family enjoy it. I wanted to try this variation and it was quite a hit, even my friends liked it.

NOODLES IN ROASTED PEANUT SAUCE

INGREDIENTS FOR THE PEANUT SAUCE:

1 Red Pepper ( I used one long Romario Pepper)

1 Fist full of roasted de skinned peanuts

3-4 Red chillies (Badgi - Guntur)

2 tbsp of Sesame seeds

1 tsp of Oil

2 pods of Garlic

1'' Ginger piece

1 small onion

1 tsp of Pepper corns

1 petal of Star Anise

4 cloves

Salt to taste

INGREDIENTS FOR THE NOODLES

1 Packet of Noodles ( I used Hakka Noodles)

2 tbsp of Soya Sauce

1 + 1/2 tbsp of Vinegar

2 tbsp of Tomato Ketchup

METHOD

Slit the peppers and remove the seeds, then on wire rack on the stove top roast the peppers like I have shown above, in a medium flame, remove the charred skin from them and keep aside to cool.

In the same wok heat a tsp of oil add a tsp of mustard seeds, once they splutter add Onions, Garlic and Ginger and saute them for a while until they become transparent

In the same wok heat a tsp of oil add a tsp of mustard seeds once they splutter, add onions, garlic and ginger and saute for few minutes until they become transparent

Then add 4 cloves, literally a very small piece or should I say one petal from the Star Anise, (as it gives too much a smell), which you can see in the middle!!, then the peanut and the other ingredients you fried with them together with 1 tsp of Pepper corns and saute them.

Meanwhile cook the Hakka Noodles immersed completely in water, Once the water starts becoming hot just throw away the water and refill with water completely immersed in the water again and with a tsp of oil and a tsp of salt, once they cooked softly drain them in a colander and run cold water on them, press softly and squeeze out all the water, then add a tbsp of sesame oil to them and separate the threads and keep them aside until required.

Now the Ingredients which you sauted would have cooled down take them all in a Mixie and grind them to a smooth paste, You might not be requiring all the sauce so you can take how much you require and use it in your noodles and store the left over in the fridge, Actually it was so tasty as it was, it can be used on its own for any other varities you want to create from this sauce, may be you can use it in pasta !! or you can eat it with rice etc., well, it was quite tasty.

Take a wok, heat add all the veggies like carrots, bamboo shoots, Mangetouts, Baby corns, french beans, Bean sprouts etc., you can add whatever you love to add to your noodles

Stir fry all the veggies in a high flame for few minutes until they got cooked and add sring onions in the end and stir fry again

Now add 3 to 4 tbsp of the peanut sauce, as it will be quite spicy so you need to adjust to your tate buds, the spiciness it can take!!, then add

2 tbsp of Soy Sauce

2 tbsp of Vinegar

2 tbsp of Tomato Ketchup

As shown above to the veggies and stir fry in a high flame for two or 3 minutes then add the noodles mix well with the prepared Stir fried veggies with the Roasted pepper Peanut Sauce

I usually do my noodles this way I keep the cooked noodles separately and sauce separately in different bowls, then take a tbsp of oil into the wok add a ladle of the veggie sauce and a handlful of noodles and roast them together and serve my family saperately, like they do in resturants, this way the sauce mixes very well with the noodles and tastes much better.

That's my daughter's plate she wanted it on the post!!, It was quite yummy everybody liked it, try it out and enjoy.

Aloo Rotti with Papadi lilva Usal

Don't laugh, and think if I am obssessed with Rottis, I love them!!, but these things which I make up is when I cook something more or If I am left over with some ingredients!!, Actually I had planned today to make something with Aloo and methi for my chappatis, everything flopped when I came home hubby dear had made his favourite Aloo Roast and I made some Goddu Rasam as my MIL and Mom calls it, and he had made Paruppu aracha karmadhu (dry curry) with Bittergourd!, so we finished them both for our dinner!!, Aloo dominates too much in my kitchen because of the kids (3 +1)!!, I made this Aloo Rotti which really came out well and of course the aloo mad family loved it. Yes, your guess is right!!, it is of course a very simple dish, here it goes.
Yet again I will not be able to give you exact measurments, you can try this as it is very simple and easy to do.

ALOO ROTTI

INGREDIENTS:

2 to 3 Medium sized Potatoes cooked and mashed without skins

2 to 3 Green chillies

4 to 5 sprigs of fresh coriander leaves finely chopped

1 fresh curry leaves finely chopped

1 to 2 Cups of Rice flour

water as required

salt as required

1 tbsp of cumin seeds

OPTIONALS:

1 to 2 tbsp of Chenna Dal

finely chopped onions

grated carrots

finely chopped cabbage or any veggies suitable for this

Dill leaves

parsley

Val beans/Averekkai/fresh field beans etc.,

Add chilli powder instead of fresh green chillies

METHOD

Cook the potatoes and mash them nicely without any lumps add salt and other ingredients mentioned above mix well.

Now add Rice flour and make into a nice soft ball so that it doesn't stick to your hand, use water little by little by sprinkling, making it into nice pliable dough coming clean out from the bowl, just like the consistency of how you make your Akki Rotti

Now make small Lemon sized balls and flatten them on the wok, I love cooked them in Vaanai's/wok's/kadais/Baanale or whatever you want to call them hope I have tried my best to tell you what it is, the Iron or the ones made Aeroplane metal (!!), that's what mum called the wok she had which was made with!!, is actually the best one gives a nice roast underneath when it is cooking and comes out clean just like the non-stick ones.

You can also do it by taking these balls one at a time on a sheet which will not stick to the Tawa, like what you use for making polis/obattu, If I have to many people in the house to serve this I use 2 to 3 wok's at a time or I also have a Tawa on one of the stoves and put them on it and cook them like chappatis, for this you can use Banana leaves or like me I use the cover of horlicks or Bournvita Sachets !! even when I make polis I use them.

Press them around with your back of the palm nicely it should quite thin that would absolutely gorgeous to devour then!!

Pour oil around and make a hole in the middle cover and cook it in a medium or low flame, I usually cook them in a low flame as you saw here that I use the small pans to cook them, so that it cooks well and gets nicely roasted, it just take 5 to 7 minutes to well done.

Serve it hot with chutnies, pickles, pacchadis, gojjus of your choice.

Hope you also try this out and enjoy, as potatoes have lot of starch, carbohydrates in them it is good for the growing kids.

Tagliatelle with Soyamince & Mango-coconut spiced Sauce

I know you must be wondering, ha! she said she wouldn't take step-by-step photos, I really didn't take them, my kids were so excited at the smell, and they were so happy that I was doing a pasta dish, which is their favourite, the same rice and sambhar/rasam authentic food they love to eat pasta, which is not an exciting dish for me!!, As I like everything spicy. No wonder, I have totally spoilt my kids as my sisters say, you make so many dishes still they get bored !!, actually sometimes they annoy me when they keep saying ''pomma, ade saapdrdak bore adikardh''!!, can you believe, blimey, But, one thing I must confess is I can never satisfy them!!, do you think it is the same story in everybody's house ?. But of course, I must agree that my kids do not complain, and try out all the dishes I make. howzthat ? Thank God!, Bless them.

This one was an other creation of mine, it is not of course some signature dish, I, as always, wanted to use some of the veggies and fruits before they deteriorate in front of my eyes,

Here is my Recipe for Tagliatelle with Mango coconut spiced sauce.

TAGLIATELLE WITH SOYAMINCE AND MANGO-COCONUT SPICED SAUCE

This is the packet of Taliatelle which I bought it in WM Morrissons which is a pasta made with 100% Durum wheat.

This is Tagliatelle which is in my Big wok ready to get cooked, just add water and cook it just like sphaghetti

This is how it look once when it is cooked, I added 2 tbsp of olive oil, Once they were cooked and after I drained the water, which I did not throw and used it for cooking the vegetables

INGREDIENTS:

I used around 2 cups of all vegetables totally

Beans, carrots, peas, green peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers,

150 gms of Soya Mince (I used frozen )

few Basil leaves to Garnish

METHOD:

Cook the Tagliatelle as said earlier accordingly or check on the Instructions drain and glaze them with olive oil and saperate the strands and keep aside.

In a wok, heat 2 to 3 tbsp of oil and add the vegetables which are chopped and cook them or roast them , with soya mince adding water until well done,

FOR THE MANGO AND COCONUT SPICED SAUCE

1 Large Mango ( Nearly 3/4th cup of pulp with the skin and seed it was around 375 gms)

1 Onion (Red /yellow)

1 1/2 ' fresh ginger

2 to 3 cloves Garlic

3 to 4 Red chillies (according to your taste or use 2 to 3 tbsp of chilli powder adjusting to your taste)

1/4 cup freshly grated coconut (do not press to fit the cup-loosely packed)

2 cloves

1' Cinnamon

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

METHOD:

Roast all the Ingredients in this order adding one by one in a tsp of oil, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander, chillies, onion, garlic, ginger, cocnut (until it is light brown in colour) grated or thinly sliced Mango which is not too sour nor too sweet.

Then Mixie them as shown below into a smooth paste.

Then add the above Mango paste to the cooked veggies and saute them for few minutes

Once everything is gently mixed up close it with a lid and allow the vegetables and the soya mince to absorb the sauce into them and cook in a low flame for few minutes

Now the Mango-coconut Spiced sauce is ready which is not too watery nor too dry that was my daughter's plate she wanted them served saperately and she would like to mix and eat

But we all ate like this mixed the sauce with Tagliatelle and my twins ate it with Tomato ketchup but we three and my friend had it just like that and was really very tasty. It was a thank God!!, everything is completely wiped out clean from the wok job!!.

As always not an eye-catching photo sorry dears...., Garnish the sauce with torn Basil Leaves and serve with Tomato Ketchup or with cheese on top of it.

I would like to send this Pasta to Jo of Panchpakwan who is having pasta party in her blog till March 10th, check out her blog for some lovely dishes

Hope you enjoyed my dish...........

Dill Leaves Upma with Home made pickle

This is my hubby's favourite tiffin, This is most easiest and quickest, breakfast you can muster up within minutes!!, I love this with lot vegetables, nice and hot and with cup of curds, pickle, mm.., love it!, But !? before marriage I hated it so much and we all still call it concrete, and even BBB (bisi bele bath) is called as concrete in our house!!, It just doesn't make you hungry for long time, When I make it my hubby never forgets to box it and keep it in the fridge so he can take it to office next day!!, Mum always made with upma rava, but when I got married my MIL always made upma with Bansi Rava, I sometimes don't even fry it before making upma, and it still does come out very well, A little and a great tip my uncle gave me before making upma is to fry the rawa with a tbsp of Ghee, and fry it very well, so the rawa gives a nice aroma, which is now is perfect for making upma. Now this way upma will not be sticky, I have always made upma with lot of variations:
Tomato and Onion or both saperately
Lot of vegetables (peas, beans, carrots etc.,)
Mum made upma with Chow-chow (Seeme badanekaayi) I love it, it gives a sweetness to the upma!!
With Capsicums
And this one of R's friend one day invited us to Tea, and his wife made upma with Dill Leaves!!, I had never thought about this!, it was great!!, R loved it, so now & then I make with dill leaves.

DILL LEAVES UPMA

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup of Rawa (Upma Rawa or Bansi Rawa)
salt as required
1/2 bunch of Dill leaves
1/2 cup of peas
6 to 7 Coriander leaves to garnish (optional)
1 sprig of curry leaves
2 and a 1/2 cup of water

SEASONINGS:

1 tbsp Chenna dal
1 tbsp Urad dal
1 tsp Mustard seeds
2 to 3 Green chillies
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
4 to 5 tbsp of oil

METHOD:

Take a wok heat a tbsp of Ghee and fry Rawa nicely until it turns slighlty golden in colour keep the stove in a low flame, until a nice aroma comes out of the kitchen!!
Once the Rawa is roasted well take it out and put in a plate, and put the wok back on to the stove and heat oil, once it is hot add mustard seeds, Green chillies, chenna dal,urad dal and curry leaves until they change colour.
Clean Dill Leaves, and chop them finely, keep it aside.
Then add water and allow it to boil with the chopped Dill leaves and add salt, and pinch of asafoetida, Once the water starts boiling add Rawa slowly stirring all the way through.
Once all the Rawa has been added, mix well and close the lid for 15 to 20 minutes in a low flame, then well, it is done, and is ready to serve with a dollop of Ghee, pickle, curds, sugar, or chutney pudi, or what ever you like eating it with!!

METHOD 2:

Once the seasonings are done you can add rawa with out roasting it first and roast it now, all together, but if you are adding vegetables, Tomatoes or Onions you fry them first immediately after the seasonings and then add the rawa and roast it all together, even dill leaves you add rawa first and dill leaves with it and roast them together, Before starting to Roast, In a vessel Boil the required quantity of water, once it is well roasted add salt, mix well and add required quantity of water and mix well again, and close the lid for 15 to 20 minutes, and then it is ready to serve.

You can also add 1/2 a cup of fresh grated coconut and a squeeze of 2 to 3 tbsps of Lime/Lemon Juice (according to your taste), mix well and serve.
Mmm.., you will love it, even though my click is nothing to fall for, Well, You all know how to make a upma, but I thought as this is a food blog, and thinking someday it will useful to somebody (my Kids too!!), I thought of posting this recipe.
Even though we all follow the same method, I have always felt that each one of us make this defintely with our unique taste, like my mom, MIL, Sisters, Mannis, Maamis and me we all have different tastes to our upma !! how funny is that right !?..

Cous cous Dosa

Dosa's are one such Tiffin where in you don't have to worry that it might not turn up well, when you change the basic recipe, that is what I feel and I have always told my friends and family, I never am scared when I change my dosa recipe, the only time I get worried are Idli's, They are a challenge to cook!!.

let me come back to this recipe, when I got up in the morning I was wondering what shall I make when my kids come home, I first started thinking I will make something like a upma with cous cous, but ended up making this dosa!!

Cous cous is a versatile alternative to rice or pasta, it is Durum wheat semolina, it can also be used in cold salads or with roasted vegetables, it is quite yummy and is rich in proteins.

Cous Cous Dosa

Ingredients:

1 & 1/2 cup Cous Cous
2 cups Raw Rice
1/2 cup Moong dal
1/4 cup Chenna dal
1/4 cup Urad dal
1/4 cup Tuvar dal
1 tbsp Fenugreek seeds
1/2 Cup Rice flour

METHOD

Wash and soak Rice, seeds and dal saperately for 3 to 4 hours.
Soak Cous in enough water, you will be surprised to find it becomes so much that it keeps absorbing lot of water you can pour more water and soak it well say you use 3 times the cous cous in the recipe.
Then grind them all together as we grind for dosas
Add salt as required
Take them out and add Rice flour to it and mix well without any lumps,
Make dosas and check if they are coming out well and add water as required and cook dosas on the girdle on both the sides
These Dosas can be made immediately
You can even reduce the soaking time as the dals just require just 2 hours of soaking and then of course cous cous too, they are quite quick too.
If you soak early in the morning (6 am), you can make dosas by around 10 O' Clock.
Enjoy the very healthy dosas with sides of your choice.

Garlic & Coriander Nan with Rajma & sarson ka masala

It is been such a long time I made Nan, as my children don't like it much, they prefer to eat roti than Nans, when we go to resturants all the four of us choose to eat roti with any kind of subzi, but my hubby always opted only for Butter Nans, Kulchas. This event announced by Trupti's food corner is hosting this month's edition of Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted event featuring Wandering Chopsticks. made me look into wandering chopsticks, she has got lovely recipes from nook and corner of the world, It is so amazing, I took this Nan recipe from her blog but tweeked it a little bit by adding garlic and coriander to it, otherwise my kids won't eat it, venturing into events has got me introduced to so many blogs, now my list of looking into other blogs and book marking recipes has also increased with this, I am also sending this to JFI-Rajma, hosted by Divya of Dil se, JFI is the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi, JFI is Jihva for ingredients is an online monthly food event celebrating the natural ingredients and what they can do for our jeeva, look out in her blog for all the JFI events, She is blogger with some great recipes and lot of things you can know from her blog.

GARLIC &CORIANDER NAN WITH RAJMA & SARSON KA MASALA

INGREDIENTS FOR NAN:

For half a dozen naan, you'll need:

2 cups All purpose flour
3/4th cup luke warm water
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp yogurt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 & 1/2 tsp yeast
Ghee or butter melted for brushing on naan
Minced garlic & coriander chopped for topping

METHOD:

Mix Sugar, yeast and water in a large mixing bowl
Add all the other ingredients except for ghee and the toppings
Knead it into dough, cover this bowl with a clingfilm or a wet tea towel and leave it in a warm place and let it rise for 2 to 3 hours or until doubled in size.
Once it is raised make it into balls and flatten them with the help of rolling pin in a kind of triangular shape and pull the tapering end a little bit, now it just looks like a Nan
let it 1'' thick do not make it too thin
Now top it with the mixture of garlic & coriander leaves and press it on them lightly and place 2 of them on a baking sheet and bake it for 10 to 15 minutes you can see those red speck marks on them and just like a chapati bloating up here and there!!
That means your nan is done
Now you can take them out and brush them with butter or ghee and serve them hot with what ever side dish you like
You can see this done in a video by http://varehva.com/, he even tells you how you can do it on a stove top.
I started with the oven but ended up making them on stove top, they were very soft and nice, children did enjoy it.

RAJMA & SARSON KA MASALA

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup of Rajma or Red Kidney beans
1 bunch of Sarson or Mustard leaves
2 small tomatoes
1 large onion
4 pods of garlic
1'' ginger
5 to 6 sprigs of chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
marble sized Tamarind or 2 to 3 tbsp of Thick Tamarind extract
1tsp of Coriander powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 & 1/2 tbsp of Chilli powder
1 medium sized cooked potato
4 to 5 tbsp of oil

METHOD:

Soak the Red Kidney beans or Rajma on the previous night with a pinch of baking soda, this helps in softening the beans, next day wash it well with clean water and cook it till soft
soak the tamarind in water and squeeze out the juice and keep aside
wash the mustard leaves well and chop them into fine pieces or else you can cook and make it into a puree or just cook it and keep aside until needed
Grind onion, garlic pods and ginger into a smooth paste.
Take a wok, heat oil and add mustard seeds, once they splutter and the ground paste and fry them until they turn golden in colour
Then add the chopped tomatoes and fry them until the water gets evaported and oil separates out.
Then add all the spices and fry them
Now add the tamarind juice extracted and allow it boil for few minutes until the raw smell seizes, If you are using tamarind extract add 1/2 cup of water and allow it boil
Now add the mustard leaves and rajma , mix well and allow it to boil for few more minutes
So that the masalas are obsorbed by both,
peel & mash the potato and mix it in the gravy, this helps the gravy to thicken
add required quantity of salt and chopped coriander leaves mix well and in simmer allow it cook for another few minutes
Now the Rajma mustard leaves gravy is ready to be served with rice, paratha, nan, chapati or roti.

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