Healthy Chutney

Ma got this chutney recipe from some magazine.


Healthy Chutney

 
1/2 coconut, grated
4 tomatoes
5 garlic pods
10 small onions
1 sprig curry leaves
handful coriander leaves
small piece of ginger
1 green chili
1 carrot, peeled and grated
hing
1/2 cup roasted bengal gram (pottu kadalai)
salt
oil

Fry onion and garlic in little oil. Add green chili, ginger and carrot.  Once carrot is cooked, add tomato and hing and fry till tomato becomes soft. Add the roasted channa dal and fry until light brown. Add coconut, curry leaves and salt and mix well. Keep aside and cool. Grind to a smooth paste, adding little water.

Potato and bread kofta in spinach gravy

I have a non-stick paniyaram pan which I rarely use. Then after going through few blogs, I realized I could use it to make koftas. You need to use only few drops of oil and the koftas are quite tasty. Last night I made koftas with bread and potato and then cooked them in a spinach gravy. I got this recipe idea from Priyas's Recipes. I will be using the paniyaram pan more often now! Will make manchurian next time...

Banana Bread

I know I said I won't be baking for sometime but I was looking at David Lebovitz's food blog the other day when I found this wonderful recipe for banana bread that I just had to make. I also had ripe bananas at home that I had to use up and I did not want to make muffins again. You can find the original recipe here. I made few changes to the recipe and I baked the bread in a loaf pan. This is how I made it.

Banana Bread

1 cup all purpose flour and 1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsps melted and cooled butter
1 egg white
1 egg
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup hung curd
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Butter a loaf pan and keep aside. Preheat the oven to 180C.
Sift together flour, baking  powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add sugar and mix.
Puree the bananas. In a large bowl, mix together the egg white, egg, butter, banana puree, hung curd and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir with a spatula until just combined. There is no need to use blender as the mixture should not be over stirred. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes or until the center is done. Cool on a rack.

Sago Pachadi

I got this recipe from Meenakshi Ammal's Cook and See. I added chili powder instead of green chilies and I seasoned the pachadi with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Sago Pachadi
(from Meenakshi Ammal's Cook and See)

1 tbsp sago
1 cup curd
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
chili powder, pinch
salt
oil

Fry sago in 1 tsp oil till reddish brown in color. Keep aside. In a bowl, add curd and salt and whisk well. Add the fried sago, and chili powder. In a small kadai, heat oil. Add mustard seeds. When it starts bursting, add curry leaves and then turn off the gas. Season the pachadi with this. Chill.

Mango Ice Cream

I had couple of baking disasters last week. I tried to make baked samosas at home. They were really really bad! Some things should just be had fried :-). Then I made buns but it came out rock hard. I hate throwing food but it was either that or a visit to the dentist. No more baking for some time! Mango season has started and it is a good time to make some mango ice cream. I followed this recipe from jugalbandi and the ice cream was delicious. You do not need an ice cream machine to make this. The ice cream was too hard to scoop though so I just kept it out for few minutes before serving.

Baby Potatoes in creamy yogurt sauce

D was not well last week and her diet consisted of dal chawal and potatoes. She was not allowed to drink milk also. So, we had lot of baby potatoes and curd at home. To finish them off, I made this curry. I was thinking of the dum aloo that Mom makes when I started making it but I did not have her recipe so I just came up with my own recipe. K did not like it too much but I thought it was quite nice. Maybe it would have been better if I had roasted the potatoes and then added it to the gravy.

Baby Potatoes in Creamy Yogurt Sauce

12 baby potaotes, boiled and peeled
4-5 cashews (optional)
1 big onion
1 cup yogurt, whisked well
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
chilli powder, to taste
salt, to taste
coriander leaves, for garnishing

Boil the potatoes and peel. Once cool, prick with a fork and keep aside. Grind onion and cashews to a paste. Heat oil in a pan. Add the onion paste and fry till raw smell goes. Meanwhile, mix all the powders including salt with 2 tbsps water and add to the fried ground paste. Stir well for 2 minutes. If it gets too dry, add little water. Reduce heat, add the yogurt and potatoes and cook until potatoes absorb the masala. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with rice or rotis.

Vegetable curry with coconut milk

I was watching a Madhur Jaffrey show once where she made a simple shrimp curry. She just boiled tamarind water, added some spices and coconut milk, and cooked the shrimp in that sauce. This is a modified version of that recipe. I forgot what spices she used but I flavored the curry with just two spices - cumin and coriander powder.   

Vegetable Curry with Coconut Milk

1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 capsicum, cut into cubes
1 onion, sliced
1/4 cup peas
1/2 cup coconut milk (I used 4 tbsps maggi coconut powder mixed in 1 cup water)
1 sprig curry leaves
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
chilli powder, to taste
salt
oil

Boil potato, carrot and peas until just tender, drain and keep aside. Heat oil. Add curry leaves and onions and fry the onions till transparent. Add 2 cups water and boil. Add tamarind paste, cumin powder, coriander powder and chilli powder and let it simmer till liquid reduces in half. Add capsicum and once capsicum is cooked, add rest of the boiled vegetables and coconut milk. Simmer for few minutes. Serve hot with rice.

Stuffed Bhindi

Another recipe with no measurements which is most unlike how I cook usually. I got this recipe from my aunt when I lived with her in Mumbai.

Mix dhania pwdr, jeera pwdr, salt, turmeric pwdr, red chilli pwdr, amchur and a little pepper. Slit the bhindi such that they are still attached at the bottom. Stuff and saute.

Karela subzi

I got this recipe from my mom-in-law. I don't have any measurements for it - all by andaaz:-)) It usually comes out very well. Unfortunately, no pics.

Cut karela into half and then slice them. Rub some salt into the karela and leave for a couple of hours. Squeeze hard to remove water. Slice one large onion long and fine. Heat oil in a pan, then add the onion. Once the onion browns, add the karela and cook on slow fire until the karela browns/cooks. Then add dhania pwdr, jeera pwdr, red chilli pwdr and anardana pwdr. Can substitute amchur if anardana powder is not available (very important to add something sour) - it comes out better with the anardana. Add more salt if necessary. Can also saute potato fingers separately and add them at the end (I usually do). Sprinkle garam masala on top.

Rasam (without dal)

This is Mom's favorite rasam now. It is very easy and simple to make. V used to make a similar kind of rasam with a can of diced tomatoes. Here, the tomatoes are ground with a few other ingredients and then boiled.

Rasam (without dal)

 3 fresh tomatoes
1 tsp cumin seeds
handful of coriander leaves
1 sprig curry leaves
3-4 whole black pepper
ghee
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
salt

Grind first 5 ingredients. Heat ghee in a pan. Burst mustard seeds. Add the ground tomato paste and 1-2 cups water, salt and allow to boil well. Serve hot with rice. Had this for lunch today with roasted baby potatoes.

Pasta in quick mushroom sauce

I had this packet of mushroom soup lying around for quite some time. Since it is so hot here we did not feel like having hot soup. Instead, used it as a sauce for pasta and dinner was ready in a jiffy. 

Pasta in quick mushroom sauce

2 1/2 cups pasta, any shape
1 packet cream of mushroom soup (I used Maggi)

Boil the pasta al dente and keep aside. Make the soup according to the instructions in the packet. Stir in the pasta. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. That's it! Meal is ready. You can also saute some vegetables and add to the pasta.

Neer Dosai

I first had Neer Dosai at Kanua restaurant in Bangalore. It was so good that we could not have enough of it. Kept ordering plate after plate of Neer dosais. I tried making it at home the other day and it turned out ok. It was not as thin as the restaurant ones but still very tasty. And it is very simple to make.

Neer Dosai (makes approx 15 dosais)

1 cup raw rice, soaked
salt to taste
oil

Soak rice for atleast 2 hours. Drain and grind to make a very smooth batter. Add salt and water to make a very thin batter. Heat tava (I used my cast iron tava). Grease the tava with a little oil and pour a ladleful of batter. Do not spread the batter with a spoon. Make it like rawa dosai. You need to cook on one side only but if you want, you can flip the dosai and cook on both sides. But be careful not to brown the dosai. Fold it twice to make a quarter circle. Serve hot with chutney or stew.

Sri Lankan Egg Curry

This recipe is adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. At the end of this book, there are some recipes for spice mixtures including the Sri Lankan curry powder. This is the first time I am making this curry powder and I loved it. I used it in this egg curry and the sauce was wonderful.  Instead of eggs, vegetables like potatoes, mushrooms, or okra can be cooked in it.

Sri Lankan Curry Powder

2 tbsps coriander seeds
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 1/2 tbsps cumin seeds
1 tbsp fenugreek seeds
3 sprigs fresh curry leaves
1 tbsp dessicated coconut
1  1/2 tsps raw rice
1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds (I used black)

Spread the seasonings on a pan and roast lightly on medium flame till the spices are a shade darker. Cool and grind to a fine powder. Store in a tightly lidded jar.

Sri Lankan Egg Curry

 3 hard-boiled eggs
1 big onion, sliced
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 cup coconut milk
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tbsp Sri Lankan curry powder
salt, to taste
turmeric powder, pinch
red chili powder, to taste
oil
coriander leaves for garnishing

Heat oil in a pan. Saute sliced onions and curry leaves. Add salt, curry powder, turmeric powder and red chili powder and fry for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, and coconut milk and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, peel the eggs and make 4 lengthwise slits in the eggs without cutting them fully. Slip the eggs into the gravy, and carefully spoon the sauce over the eggs. Serve hot with rice.