Matar Paneer

Hello everyone,

Matar Paneer is one of the popular paneer dishes where paneer and peas are cooked in creamy onion, tomato gravy. Adding Kus kus and cashew makes the gravy more creamier.

I often make matar paneer as it is easy to cook and it goes well with rice and roti.

 

Ingredients:

Paneer cubes - 1 1/2 cup

Fresh or frozen Peas - 1/4 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chili powder - 1/4-1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch

Bay leaf - 1

Yogurt - 1-2 tbsp

Coriander leaves -  few for garnishing

Kasoori methi - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1/4 tsp

Oil/Ghee - 1tbsp

Salt to taste

 

To Sauté and Grind - Onion tomato paste

Onion - 2 nos chopped(I used 1 big onion)

Tomatoes - 2 nos chopped

Ginger - 1/2 inch

Garlic - 1(big pod)

Kus Kus - 1tsp

Cashew - 6-7

 

Method:

1. Heat oil/ghee in a pan, add onions, ginger, garlic and sauté until onion turns light brown.
2. Add tomato and sauté until it turns mushy.
3. Finally, add kus kus, cashews and cook for a minute. It should give a nice aroma when all of them are nicely cooked.  Switch off the stove. Allow it to cool down and grind it to a fine paste.
4. Heat oil/ghee in a another large pan, add cinnamon stick, bay leaf and fry for few secs until you get nice aroma.
5. Simmer the flame, add chili powder. Sauté until you see nice red color.(Do not sauté for more time. Chili powder will turn brown).
6. Now add the ground paste to the pan and mix well.
7. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder to the ground paste. Mix well and cook for 2-3 mins.
8. Add curd, stir continuously until it blends with the onion tomato paste. Add water to adjust the consistency.
9. Add add paneer cubes , peas and cook for about 6-7 mins in a medium heat.
10. Finally add crushed kasoori methi, then sprinkle garam masala. Switch off the heat.
11. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with chapati, roti, phulkas, naan or jeera rice.

Podalangai poricha kuzhambu

Hello everyone,

Podalangai poricha kuzhambu, podalangai/snake gourd is cooked with moong dal, coconut and other spices. This version of poricha kuzhambu is Tanjore style poricha kuzhambu. It is a healthy dish as it is a combination of vegetable(fiber) and dal(protein).

 

My MIL cooks few Tanjore style dishes as her mom is from Tanjore. She used to cook podalangai poricha kuzhambu and everyone in the family likes it. I learnt this recipe from her and I often make this. It tastes great with hot rice.

 

Ingredients:

Podalangai/Snake gourd - 1 long

Moong dal - 1/2 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Water - 3 Cups

Jaggery - 1tsp

Salt - as per taste

 

To roast and grind:

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1 tsp

Coriander seeds/Dhania - 1 tsp

Black pepper corns - 1tsp

Dried Red Chili - 2

Fresh grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Curry leaves - 4-5

Coconut oil/Ghee - 2 tsp

 

To temper:

Coconut oil/Ghee - 2tsp

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Urad dal - 1tsp

Curry leaves - 2

 

Method:

1. Wash snake gourd and chop it to 1/2 inch pieces.
2. Cook the moong dal in a heavy bottomed vessel with water, turmeric powder, jaggery and little salt for dal.
3. Once the dal is half cooked add chopped snake gourd, salt and cook this on medium heat for 7-10 mins.
4. Meanwhile, heat coconut oil/ghee in a pan and roast all the ingredients under "To roast and grind" except coconut. Roast it until dal turns golden brown.
5. Now add coconut. Switch off the stove. Let it cool down and then grind it to smooth paste.  Keep it aside.
6. Once the snake gourd and dal is cooked, add the ground paste and mix well.
7. Allow it to boil for about 5 mins in low heat. Stir in between so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
8. Heat oil/ghee in a small pan, add mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add urad dal, curry leaves and hing. Add this to the boiling kuzhambu and switch off the heat.
9. Serve hot with rice.

 

Note:

1. You can cook the dal in pressure cooker for 2-3 whistles. Cook gourd in a vessel and then dal can be added to boiling gourd. This will minimize the cooking time.
2. Adding jaggery to this Kuzhambu is optional.

Chettinad Potato Fry

Hello everyone,

 

Chettinad potato fry is a prepared with freshly ground spices which gives nice flavor to the potato fry than the regular one. Chettinad cuisine is from Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu. It uses variety of spices and their dishes are made with freshly ground masalas.

 

I personally don’t like the flavor of garlic in vegetables. I usually make the regular potato fry with just salt, turmeric powder and chili powder or the podimas. When I was out for my work on a Saturday, I asked SV to cook. He googled and found recipe for chettinad potato fry. He made this and it was delicious with nice flavor. I then did my research and found recipe for this. Tried on another day by myself and it came out well. Hence, sharing the recipe.

 

Ingredients

Potatoes - 3

Onion - 1 Cup(thinly sliced)

Garlic - 3 small pods(peeled and finely chopped)

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - 6-7

Hing - A pinch

Oil - 2-3 tbsp.

 

To marinate:

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt as per taste

Oil - 1 tsp

 

To roast and grind:

Red chili - 2-3(As per spice level)

Channa dal - 1tsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp

Pepper corns - 1/2 tsp

Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp

 

Method:

1. Boil full potatoes. Peel the skin and cut into cubes.
2. Transfer the potatoes to a bowl, add all the ingredients in 'To marinate' section to the potatoes. Mix well so that the spices is well coated. Keep it aside.
3. Heat a pan and dry roast all the ingredients under "To roast and grind" section until the urad dal turns light brown.
4. Allow it to cool down and grind it to a coarse powder.
5. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add garlic, onion and curry leaves. Sauté till onion turns translucent.
6. Add the potatoes, adjust the salt if needed and sauté for 5-6 minutes until the potatoes are crispy.
7. Finally, add the ground spice powder to the potatoes and mix well so that the potatoes are coated with spice powder.
8. Fry until it is golden brown and switch of the stove.

 

Note:

1. Do not over cook the potatoes. Otherwise it will get mashed.
2. If you want nice color to potato fry, use byadige red chili.

 

 

Carrot Radish Paratha

 Hello everyone,

Parathas are traditional Punjabi cuisine. Mostly parathas are prepared for breakfast and people used to eat with pickle and curd/yogurt.

I always love stuffed parathas. I tasted radish/mooli paratha in Bobby Da Dabha near Ulsoor, Bangalore for the first time. The parathas they serve are delicious.

I usually make sambhar or paratha using radish. When I thought of making radish paratha, I found I had only one which is not sufficient to make parathas for 3 people. That’s when I thought it will taste better if I add carrot.

This Carrot Radish paratha is prepared with grated carrot and radish  and some spices.

Carrot and Radish mix is stuffed in the parathas which gives unique flavor and taste.

Ingredients

For the stuffing:

Grated Carrot-1 Cup

Grated Radish-1Cup

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Chili powder- 1/2tsp

Cumin powder-1/2 tsp

Amchur powder-1/4 tsp

Ajwain/carom seeds-1/4 tsp

Coriander leaves- few finely chopped

Salt- as per taste

For the dough:

Wheat flour/Atta - 1.5 Cups + 1/4 Cup for dusting

Salt- as needed

Water- as needed

Oil- 1tsp

For Roasting:

Oil/Ghee - as needed

Method:

Procedure to make dough:

1. In a large mixing bowl, take wheat flour, salt. Add water little by little to make a soft pliable dough. Then add oil so that the dough will not be sticky.
2. Kneed the dough for 5mins.
3. Cover it with moist cloth and let it rest for 30mins.

Procedure to make stuffing:

While the dough is resting, lets make the stuffing.

1. Squeeze the water completely from grated radish. Keep the extracted radish juice to add in dough.
2. Transfer the radish to a mixing bowl. In the same bowl, add grated carrot and all other ingredients in the 'For the Stuffing' section.

3.Mix well so that all the ingredients are blended with carrot and radish. Now the stuffing is ready.

Assembling and roasting parathas:

1. Take a medium ball sized dough ,roll and flatten it to a circular shape. (Do not make it too thin as we make chapati)
2. Place the carrot radish stuffing in the center.
   
3. Close the stuffing by pinching the edges towards the center.
   
4. Sprinkle some wheat flour and roll it to a think paratha.
   
5. Heat tawa by drizzling some oil/ghee. Once the tawa is hot, place the paratha.
6. Cook the paratha on both the sides by applying some oil/ghee on it. Press it gently.
   
7. Carrot Radish paratha is ready to serve with curd and pickle of your choice.

Kattan Chaya

Hello everyone,

Kattan Chaya/Sulaimaani is a black tea prepared in kerala.

I am not a tea lover and I don’t drink tea but I love to make tea. I learned to make good tea from my sis. SV and my in-laws like my tea. SV usually makes Kattan Chaya that is black tea without milk. Just plain tea with only water and honey.

It is spring and weather is pleasant in seattle. SV asked for evening tea. I said I will make Kattan Chaya and I wanted to make it with more flavor and tasty. I tried adding few other ingredients. It turned out well :) I thought of sharing this recipe with others.

Ingredients:

Water-1cup

Tea Powder - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon stick-1/2 inch

Ginger -1/2 inch

Mint leaves - 4-5 leaves

Lime juice - 1tsp

Honey as per taste

Method:

1. Take water in a saucepan ,add ginger,cinnamon stick, tea powder. Cover and boil for a minute.
2.  Then add tea powder and mint leaves. Let it boil for a minute.
3.  Switch off the gas and close the pan. Leave it for 2-3 minutes.
4.  Strain it using filter.
5. Add honey, lemon juice and serve.

Vendakkai Puli Kuzhambu

Hello everyone,

Vendakkai puli kuzhambu is a south indian curry which is easy to make. It can be made with or without coconut. Vendakai is sautéed with little salt in oil and then cooked in tamarind, onion, tomato and coconut gravy. My mom used to make as like vatha kuzhambu. When I started cooking, I googled and found many recipes which is by grinding onion, tomato. I tried and liked the taste. Hence, I thought of sharing with others.

Whenever I make this for lunch,I make little extra to keep for dinner. I make pongal or rice usili for dinner. Pongal tastes good with Vendakkai puli kuzhambu.

Ingredients:

Ladies finger – 10 tender cut into 1inch pieces

Pearl onion – 6 or 7 peeled

Tomato – 1 chopped into cubes

Coconut – 1/4 cup grated

Tamarind – gooseberry size

Sambar powder – 2 tsp

Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp

Jaggery - 1tsp

Sesame oil / Oil – 2 tbsp

Salt – As needed

Oil – 2 tblsp

Mustard – 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek seeds– 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Method:

1. Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup hot water and extract the juice by adding another 1/2 cup water.

2. Heat sesame oil in a pan, add Pearl onion Saute until it is translucent. Then add tomato. When it becomes mushy add coconut. Switch of the flame, grind it to a smooth paste and keep it aside.

3. In another pan, add 1tbsp sesame oil, add mustard seeds and once it splutters add fenugreek seeds. Then add Curry leaves and ladies finger. Fry it until there are black spots in ladies finger.

4. Add tamarind juice to the pan, then add sambhar powder, jaggery, turmeric powder, salt. Allow it to boil until ladies finger becomes soft and raw smell of tamarind goes.

5. To the tamarind , ladies finger add ground tomato onion paste and allow it to boil for another 5 mins untill the gravy is thick. Switch off the stove.

Finally serve Vendakkai puli kuzhambu with hot rice. It goes well with pongal or upma as well..

Ribbon Pakoda

Hello Everyone,

Ribbon Pakoda|Robbon Muruku|Nada|Ola Pakoda is an Indian snack prepared during festivals days especially Diwali. It can be made using rice flour, gram flour and roasted gram flour or only gram flour or rice flour and roasted gram flour or rice and gram flour. If you want to retain the crisp for more than a week, I would suggest making it with rice flour, gram flour and roasted gram flour.

All three flour is mixed with water to form a dough and then pressed in oil using muruku maker.

Ingredients:

Rice flour- 3Cups

Gram flour/Kadala Maavu/Besan - 1 Cup

Roasted gram flour - 1/2 Cup

Hot Oil - 1tbsp

Melted Butter - 1tbsp

Hing a pinch

Red Chili Powder - 1tsp

Salt and Water as required

Method:

1. In a bowl, take rice flour, gram flour, roasted gram flour, hing, red chili powder, salt, hot oil, butter and mix well.
2. Add water little by little and knead the dough using hand to make a smooth, non-stick and soft dough.
3. Fix the muruku maker with ribbon pakoda mold. Grease the muruku maker with oil.
4. Heat oil in a Kadai.
5. Fill the muruku maker with prepared dough. Close and tighten the muruku maker.
6. Press the dough into the hot oil by moving the hand in circular way.
7. When the bubble reduces, flip the muruku and cook until the bubble stops or until it is crispy in both sides.
8. Drain them in a paper towel. Server with hot coffee or tea.
9. Store in an air tight container to retain the freshness.