Tawa Idli

Had made Kancheepuram idli's recently for dinner. Had got so excited with the texture of the idlis and ended up making so many more idlis than can be eaten..:-) So, they became Tawa idli's the next morning for breakfast;-) It was raining idlis from dinner until breakfast that in the end, I had to stop making idli batter for the next 10 days:-)

Tawa idlis are the best way to use up left over idli's and will always be an instant hit and you will be surprised there is no more left over. I have earlier uploaded a different version of this Tawa idli, which is more South Indian....Idli Upma while this is more a North Indian version!

Try making any of these versions and enjoy the flavours of the left over idlis....

Ingredients:

- 8-10 left over kancheepuram idlis or normal idlis
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 medium tomato finely chopped
- 1/2 cup green peas
- 2-3 green chillies
- 1/2 tsp red chilly powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- salt to taste

Seasoning:
- 1 tbsp gingely oil or cooking oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp channa dhal
- 1 tsp urad dhal
- few curry leaves or coriander leaves

Prep time: 10 mins                             Cook time: 15 mins

Preparation:

- Cut the left over idlis into bite sized cubes.

- In a tawa, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the channa dhal, urad dhal and curry leaves and fry them till the dhals turn golden brown.
- Add the onions, green chillies and fry until they turn translucent. Now, add the green peas and tomatoes. To this, add salt, turmeric and chilly powder.
- Fry these until the raw smell of the chilly powder leaves and the green peas is cooked well. This may take 5-7 minutes.
- When the masala is cooked, add the cut idlis and mix up well such that the masala gets coated over the cooked idlis.

- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with any sauce or chutney.

Note: Pls note, idlis already have salt. So, add only salt necessary for the masala to cook.

Potato Sagu

Potatoes are all time favorites for most of us and a dish with potatoes can never go wrong....and even if by chance it messes up, it can still not taste bad:-) So much for my love of potatoes...the most versatile veggie that can be cooked easy and tasty! So, here is a recipe with the lovely dovely potatoes which is quick and easy to make and can go well with roti or dosa! Choice is yours!!!

Ingredients:

- 4 or 5 medium potatoes
- 1/2 cup fresh/frozen green peas
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 3/4 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- Salt to taste
- Masala paste

For grinding masala paste:

- 1 onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 tbsp roasted gram (pottu kadalai / bhuna channa)
- 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp khus khus
- 1/2 inch cinnamon stick
- 2 cloves
- 2 green chilly (optional)

Prep time: 20 mins                                Cook time: 20 mins

Preparation:

- Boil the tomatoes until the skin breaks. Let it cool, peel the skin and then puree the tomatoes and set aside.

 - Pressure cook the potatoes along with the green peas. Drain the potatoes and peas of water and peel the skin off the potatoes on cooling and mash them.

- Grind all the ingredients given above under "masala paste" with 1/4 cup of water.

- In a broad pan/kadai, heat the oil. Add the fennel seeds and once it splutters, add the masala paste.

- To this, add the turmeric powder, chilly powder and salt and cook the paste until you don't get the raw smell of the masala.
- Once the masala is cooked, add the tomato puree, mashed potatoes and boiled peas and cook together for 3 to 4 minutes. Add salt if needed.

- If the gravy thickens after adding the potatoes, add little water to adjust the consistency of the gravy and bring it to a boil.

- Transfer on to a serving dish and garnish with fresh coriander leaves! Potato sagu is ready to eat with your favourite roti or dosa!

Capsicum-Peas Pulav

Come December and begins the season of Music, Dance, Drama in Chennai! Its that beautiful 2 months of the year from Dec to Jan when the city is abuzz with music concerts and dance performances all across the city halls. Some of the best talents in classical music & dance are noticed and come to the limelight every year. What an opportunity for young talented and aspiring artists from all across the globe! So glad to be a Chennai-ite for the sheer opportunities it presents in the field of music & art!

Ok, before you all think am writing a blog on Art of singing and dancing let me quickly u-turn to the Art of cooking:-) Well, come December...is not only the season for ears and eyes but also for the tummy with some of the winter veggies going cheap on the wallet and huge in the market. Time to stock up on green peas and all the bean variety that fill the market in abundance during these couple of months.

I have been dishing out a lot of peas recipes this month and want to share with you all the best of the lot so you too can relish along with me...the first of the lot is the hot and mildly spicy peas pulav which is light and delicious and so quick to make too:-) Try it and let me know your comments...

Ingredients:

- 1 cup basmati rice washed and soaked
- 1 cup fresh green pea (frozen is ok too)
- 1 cup thinly diced capsicum
- 1 medium onion thinly diced
- 1 tbsp of grated garlic and ginger
- 1 tbsp of ghee (clarified unsalted butte)
- 1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
- 2 -3 green chilies slit across (adjust to taste)
- 2 cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 inch cinnamon
- few cashes for seasoning (optional)
- salt to taste


Prep time: 15 mins                                    Cook time: 30 mins

Preparation:

- Wash and soak the basmati rice in water and set aside while you get the veggies ready.

- Dice the onions, capsicum and green chilies. Grate 1/2 inch of ginger and 3 cloves of garlic.

- Wash the green peas and keep all the veggies ready.

- In a pressure pan heat the ghee. Once ghee is hot, add the fennel seeds and as they splutter, add the bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves and cashews. 

- When the cashews turn lightly golden, add the green chilies, ginger garlic and saute, later, after about a minute add the onions and saute until it turns translucent.

- Now add the green peas and capsicum and salt to taste and saute for a couple of minutes.

- Drain the soaked basmati rice off the water and then, add to the veggies in the pressure pan and toss everything together for a couple of minutes.

- Now, add one and half cup water, close the pressure pan and cook on high for 7-8 minutes and on low flame for 2 mins and remove from heat.

- Allow steam to escape before releasing the pressure off the cooker.

- The measure of water is the same even if you are cooking in a rice cooker. Quick and tasty capsicum peas pulav is ready to serve:-)

Methi Veg mixed rice with Left over Rice!

Had not posted any recipe under the left over section for a long time. Though I try and make the best with the left overs...they are usually done too quickly to remember to be clicked for blog post. This too was one such recipe which I started clicking mid way through the making!

There was enough rice left over from lunch and I did not want to carry it over to the next day. Usually the best way to get this done with is to make a tasty...never can say no...'bagalabath' or curd rice with garnish. However, this time I tried a mixed veggie rice for a change and I turned out quite good.

Off to the making.....If you do not want to try with left over rice, you can use freshly cooked basmati rice too..

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice
1 cup methi leaves(fenugreek)
1 onion
1 medium potato
1 small carrot(shredded)
1 small capsicum
1 small tomato
6-8 long beans
3-4 green chillies
2-3 cashews
2 cloves
1 tsp fennel seeds(saunf)
1 piece cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp ghee(clarified butter) or cooking oil
Salt to taste

Prep time: 10 mins                       Cook time: 15 mins

Preparation:

Cut the veggies into thin long slices. You can use any veggies of your choice.I like to shred the carrots as it addsa rich  colour to the food.
In a wide pan, heat the oil and add the bay leaf, fennel seeds, cloves,cinnamon and once they splutter add the green chillies and onion.

Saute for a couple of mins and add the other veggies, except methi, tomato and carrots.

Add salt to taste and when these veggies are well cooked, add the methi, tomato and carrots and give them a good toss for 3 to 4 mins.

Then, add the rice and mix with the veggies. Quick and easy methi veg rice is ready to serve with your favourite raitha or chips!

Note:
- If pre-cooked rice, heat it and loosen a bit before adding to the veggies. If you add cold rice..it will tend to get sticky.
- You can make this freshly cooked basmati rice too!

Mint-Coriander Green Pulav - with simple and easy flavours!

Hi Friends....its been a really long time since I have been away from blogosphere and must say I have been terribly missing it here but for want of time. As I have said many time before in my posts...I really

admire the bloggers who manage to blog regularly despite juggling between home, kids, work and all the

odd chores....wonder how they manage everything so beautifully...it speaks so much about all of your passion and commitment towards what you are doing....with such inspiring people around me and the motivation from my friends and well wishers am sure I will never want to stop blogging even if I am a little irregular at the moment....

After many months I walked into the kitchen with my camera and cutlery for this post. Listing below the steps to make this super simple and delicious mint/coriander pulav.

Ingredients:

- 2 cups of slit veggies ( beans, potato, carrot, capsicum, onion)

- 1 cup Basmati rice washed and soaked for 20 mins

- 1 pinch cup or 1/2 measuring cup Mint leaves

- 1 pinch cup or 1/2 measuring cup Coriander leaves

- 1 pinch cup or 1/2 measuring cup green peas
- 5-6 nos small onions
- 3 nos green chilly or to taste
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 cloves garlic

- 1 tsp saunf

- 1 tsp of mixed spices( ur choice)

- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp clarified butter(ghee) or oil
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- few cashews(optional)
- Salt as desired

Prep time: 20 mins                               Cook time: 30 mins

Preparation:

- Wash and soak the basmati rice and set aside while you get the veggies and the masala ready.

- Cut the onion, capsicum, carrot, potato and beans into thin long slice.

- Sort and clean the mint and coriander leaves and wash them well to clean off any sediments.

- Grind the small onions, ginger, garlic, green chilly and the mint-coriander leaves into a paste adding a couple of tbsp of water as necessary.

- If you like the spices to be biet size you can add them directly or if you do not like to chew on the masala, you could grind them with the masala paste.

- Heat the oil in a pan, add the bay leaf, saunf and the cashews. Later add the onions and saute for 2 mins.

- Now add the ground paste and the green peas and saute until the paste is dry of all the water and comes together with the oil.

- To this add the slit veggies and little salt and mix everything together and saute for 2 - 3 mins. Set this aside.

- In the same pan, heat the ghee, drain the rice of water and add to the pan. Saute the rice for a couple of minutes and add the veggies to it and mix everything together.

- Now, add this into a pressure cooker or a rice cooker.

- Add 1 and 1/2 cups or 1 and 3/4 cup water just so you have a little extra water for the veggies to cook.

- Add salt as desired and pressure cook for 8 minutes on high and 2 minutes on low flame.

- Allow the steam to escape and serve hot with onion raitha for the side!

Nartham-pazham Rasam / Lemon Rasam

Amidst my crazy work schedule, I should say I am managing pretty well! Have been taking a lot of weekend breaks to nearby cities from Chennai and managing to get the much needed unwinding time:-) Ofcourse that keeps me off my blog though. Have been waiting to upload some recipes for quite sometime but for want of time they had been left to hybernate. I am beginning to write this recipe in the hope of publishing one this week. Have chosen a simple yet very tasty rasam (South Indian soup) which can be eaten with rice or taken as a soup too...choice is yours.....

Rasam has a special place in most South Indian cuisines and makes for the lightest part of any meal. Among Tambrahms (Tamil Brahmins) there is a practice of making rasam in "eeya chombu" a vessel made of Tin and its alloys. The rasam made in this vessel has a different taste to the one made in an ordinary steel vessel. For more information about this vessel and its composition read the article(link) published in The Hindu recently http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article3001718.ece

Though, one needs to bear in mind a few things before setting out to use this vessel. This has a melting point of 200 deg C. So, for some reason if you plan to be away from the kitchen while letting your rasam come to a boil, be sure there is enough liquid in the vessel and the flame is on low. Otherwise, you have a very strong chance of melting the vessel down:-) I can say this because I learnt to use this vessel the melting way....lol! But if you still manage to melt the vessel...don't worry...collect the melted and remaining portion of the vessel and go to your nearby Bazaar. Any vessel merchant would gladly buy the melted vessel and be willing to give you a new one in exchange! Its an expensive metal and fetches value any which way:-)

OK, now off to the recipe....

Ingredients:

- 1 jaathi naartham-pazham(used in this recipe) or 1 lemon
- 1 tsp whole black pepper
- 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp sambhar powder(optional)
- 1/8 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 green chilly
- 1 small tomato
- 3 cups water
- 1/4 cup boiled toor dhal
- Salt to taste

Temper and Garnish:

- 1 tsp ghee (clarified butter)
- 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
- few curry leaves
- freshly chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Prep time: 5 mins                       Cook time: 20 mins

Preparation:

- In the "eeya chombu", add 2 cups water, slit green chilly, sambhar powder, salt, turmeric, cut tomato and boil all on low flame for 7 to 10 minutes until the tomatoes cook and you loose the raw smell of the sambhar powder .

- Now, mash the boiled dhal with 1 cup of water and add it to the boiling solution on the stove top. To this add the powdered cumin seeds and black pepper.

- Now bring this whole solution to a boil until you see the corners frothing. After adding the dhal, the rasam should not boil too much. It should be switched off the moment it comes together frothing from the corners.

- After switching off the heat, add the nartham pazham juice or lemon juice. If you add while on heat, the rasam will turn bitter. So, add only after removing from heat.

- Heat ghee and temper the mustard seeds and curry leaves until they splutter and add on top of the rasam. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

- Tasty and fresh rasam is ready to be served with rice or taken as a hot soup!

Foot note:

- If you are not using sambhar powder, you could add more pepper or one more green chilly for extra spice.

Home made Potato Chips....Ready to use anytime!

Summer holidays to me spark in mind, lush green fields, a river or stream flowing across, pump sets that gush out water in full force into the fields and kids drenching themselves in that fresh cold water, a country home full of kids running helter skelter, a huge swing in the middle of the larger than life living room, a home filled with all possible summer fruits in abundance, pickles, all kind of sun dried fryms in the backyard waiting to be fried in oil, sheds with cows and calves and fresh milk, Children covered with mud and dust from head to toe completely tanned by the grace of Sun, Grandparents waiting to pamper these kids who are already immensely let loose....and I can go on and on and on....  


Kids these days hardly know how a Village looks or feels like! Infact, I was taken by surprise when I heard that some of my close friends have themselves never lived or experienced village life. I have reason to feel proud that I had been fortunate to know the country life in India and experience the love and gratitude of the people who live there.

Now, how does the above story relate to this post?!Well, thinking of summer holidays I was reminded of all the fun things I did as a kid and while discussing with a colleague en-route to work, I learnt from her this super simple potato chips that she enjoyed making as a kid during summer hols! So, all the Urban Mom's out there, am sure you are busy rolling up your sleeves to keep your kids engaged in the holidays! So, why not get your kids to do some fun thing with their favourite veggie the potato....and make them feel good about themselves. Am sure they will enjoy this immensely....though this job is'nt all that messy it still is fun to be out in the sun, waiting to get the potatoes off the terrace into the oil and snack heartily on them while watching their fav cartoon!

Don't go laughing at my ingredients list but truly this is all you need!


Ingredients:

- 1 kg big potatoes
- 1 tsp oil
- a big pot of boiling water
- Salt to taste
- 5 to 6 slit green chillies(optional)
- 2 large white clothes:-)
- ample space with ample sunlight (preferably backyard or terrace)!

Prep time: 15 mins                            Cook time: 4 mins               Dry time: 8 hours

Preparation:

- Peel the potatoes and wash them.

- Slice them into big round pieces using a chips slicer/shredder.

- While you finish slicing a half potato, turn it over to the other side to slice the rest. Makes the job easier and faster and safer for your hands!

- Boil a large pot of water, add slit chillies, salt and 1 tsp oil( helps to keep the slices seperate).

- Add the potatoes and boil them exactly for 3 mins( not more than 3 minutes)
- If you feel the potatoes are still too raw, switch off the heat and leave them in the hot water for 1 more minute.

- Drain them immediately on to a strainer.

- In your terrace or backyard, where you have enough direct sunlight, spread a white cloth and place stones on all corners to prevent the cloth from flying/folding.
- Now, spread the slices of potatoes next to each other.

- Since the potatoes might start flying around when they begin to dry up, it is best to cover them over with another white cloth!

 - This way you can also prevent the potatoes form being picked by birds!

- When they are let to dry for 7 to 8 hours, voila...you have sun dried potatoes, that can be stored in a box and fried whenever you need a quick snack!

- On frying them, you can spice them up with some salt(if needed) , chilly powder or pepper or any other flavour your family likes!


Foot note:

- Do not boil the potatoes too long. They would get cooked and would be difficult to handle.
- Spread them out as soon as you drain them. If you let them stay in the strainer for too long, they could get cooked up in the heat.
- Instead of using slit chillies you can grind them and add into the water. I found, the spiciness from slit chillies did not get into the potatoes.
- Be very careful with your fingers and palms while slicing the potatoes! You can use wavy slicers to create shapes on the potatoes too.