Cauliflower Pulav

I was talking to my friend last week, and as usual, our conversation moved to food. We got to discuss different kinds of pulav. I got inspired, and decided to make Cauliflower Pulav last weekend. This is the first time I tried it this way. It turned out very delicious indeed. I served it with Peas Kurma. It was so good that there was no left over for my brother to take home.

Ingredients:
2 T Oil
1 Bay leaf
1 small piece cinnamon
2 cloves
1 cardamom
few cashew nuts
1 Onion, sliced
2 C Cauliflower florets
1 Potato, cubed
2 C Basmati rice
2 C Coconut Milk
2 C Water

To make paste/ pound:
2 Pods garlic
1-inch piece Ginger
4 green chili
1 t Saunf

Method:
1. Wash and soak rice for 10 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add bay leaf, cinnamon, clove, cardamom,and cashew nuts, and fry for couple minutes.
3. Add sliced onion and cook till it is translucent. Stir in the ground masala, and fry for 3 minutes.
4. Add the vegetables and mix to coat.
5. Stir in coconut milk and water. Bring to boil.

6. Drain water from rice and stir it into the saucepan. Add salt. Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook till rice is done, about 15- 20 minutes. Remove from heat and serve with Kurma.

Idiappam or Sevai(Rice Noodles)

Popularly known in Canada as String Hoppers, Sevai or Idiappam is a delicious South Indian dish made with rice flour. It is home made rice noodles. It is a tedious job to make it the traditional way. When I was in college, my neighbor taught me an easy way to make this. I love to eat it plain with sweet coconut milk. My mom makes lemon sevai and coconut sevai. It is similar to lemon rice and coconut rice. In Tamil Nadu, people have it for breakfast.  I had brown rice flour at home and made Sevai with it for lunch one day last week.

Ingredients:
2 C rice flour or Sevai flour
4 C water
1 t salt
1/2 t oil
2 C sweet coconut milk

Method:
1. Boil 4 cups water in a heavy bottom pan with salt and oil. Stir in the rice flour. Keep stirring to make a dough. Make sure that there are no lumps. Reduce heat and stir till the dough is cooked. A tooth-pick inserted should come out clean. Remove from heat and keep covered.
2. Take enough dough in Sev maker and press to make noodles over greased idly plates.Steam cook for 10 minutes. Remove from cooker. repeat process with remaining dough. Serve with sweet coconut milk or make lemon or coconut sevai. Look for recipe below.

Lemon Sevai
Juice from one lemon

Mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, red chili and green chili,and curry leaves, for seasoning
salt to taste
1 t turmeric powder
1/4 t asafoetida

Loosen cooked and cooled plain sevai(2 cups) in a  large bowl.
Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a pan and temper mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, chili and curry leaves. Stir in turmeric powder and asafoetida. Remove from heat and stir this to plain sevai, along with lemon juice and salt. Serve with coconut chutney.

Coconut Sevai:
1/2 C fresh shredded coconut
Mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, green chili and curry leaves, for seasoning
salt to taste
1/4 t asafoetida

Loosen cooked and cooled plain sevai(2 cups) in a large bowl.
Fry coconut in 1 teaspoon ghee to golden brown. Remove from heat and mix it with plain sevai.
Heat 1 teaspoon ghee in the same pan and temper mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, green chili and curry leaves. Mix this with sevai. Add salt and asafoetida and mix gently. Serve with coconut chutney.


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Paneer-Makkana Curry

Recently I bought a lot of Paneer, as it was on sale. As I was browsing through my recipe books, I came across this recipe that had lotus seeds and paneer. It looked interesting. I have used Makkana(lotus seeds) to make kheer. They taste like popcorn when toasted. I thought that it would be a different way to cook them and made it for dinner.  It was delicious.

Ingredients:
3/4 C grated onion
1/2 C grated Khoa
1/2 C milk
1 C thick curd(yogurt)
1 t red chili powder
1 T cumin-coriander power
salt as required
1/2 t Garam Masala
1/2C chopped tomatoes
1/2 C green peas
1/4 C Makkana(puffed lotus seeds)
1/2 C Paneer cubes, fried
Cilantro for garnish

Method:
1. Roast Makkana in little oil; keep aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a broad pan to medium heat, and fry onion till golden.
3. Add cumin-coriander powder, chili powder, garam masala, and salt. Stir for a couple minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for 4 minutes.
4. Stir in whipped curd and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add cooked peas, and makkana  with just enough water. Cook till it becomes thick.
5. Add milk, khoa, and fried paneer cubes. Bring it to a boil and remove from stove. Garnish with cilantro before serving. 

Dahi Vada

My mom always orders Dahi Vada when ever we go to Indian restaurant.  My daughter likes it too. But,it is a risk to order Dahi Vada. It will be a bust if the vada is hard or yougurt is sour.

Ingredients:
20 Medhu Vada
2 C fresh plain yogurt,whisked with a little salt
4 green chili
1/2 - inch ginger(optional)
1/2C chopped fresh cilantro
Boondi(optional)

Method:
1. Make Medhu Vada without onion. As soon as you remove vada from oil, dip into a bowl of water for 2 seconds and press lightly to remove water. Place vada in single layer on a shallow tray.
2. Grind chili, ginger, cilantro and salt to a paste.
3. Stir this into whisked yogurt. Spread the yogurt over vada.  Garnish with boondhi.

Note:
If you do not like the green look of dahi vada, omit the green chutney and sprinkle chili powder and chopped cilantro on top.
Do not use yougurt that is sour.

Medhu Vada(Urad Dal Vada)

My sister makes the best Medhu Vada in my family. It is always perfect in shape and texture. For many years I could not make vada like hers. Then I learned  the secret. Now, my vada comes out well. But hers is still the best.  Last year, my neighbor's dad, who was visiting , gave me some tips for soft and crisp vadas.  Last week my mom said that she made Medhu Vada using split black gram(urad dal). I tried the same last weekend. They turned out  very well indeed. I was reminded of "vada malai" in temple.  I had a lot of left over vada, and made Dahi Vada next day. My daughter loved it.

Ingredients:
1 C Whole Urad
1 t rice
green chili, as per requirement
salt, as required
1 t asafoetida

curry leaves

1. Soak dal and rice for 2 hours.
2. Drain and grind with chili, adding very little water to a slightly coarse batter. Make sure the batter is fluffy  while grinding. Add salt and asafoetida. Remove the batter and stir in curry leaves.
3. Heat oil in a pan.  Dip your fingers in water; wet a plastic sheet; take a tablespoon size batter and pat it on the sheet; make a hole in the center and slide it into the hot oil. Depending on the size of the pan, you can fry 2-4 Vada at a time. Fry on both sides till golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter.
3. Serve with coconut chutney and sambar.

Note:
Chopped onion can be mixed into the batter.
Vada can be soaked in sambar and served as Sambar Vada.
 Do not soak the dal for too long.
Make sure not to grind the batter too smooth.
Make the vada immediately.

Bluberry Cake

I had a lot of blueberries in my refrigerator that I had to use before we left for Canada last week.  In January 2012, I read a recipe for blueberry cake in Woman's Day by Valerie Bertinelli, and made it. It was an easy recipe to follow and is low in calories too. Since it was July 4 last week, I thought it would be a great idea to make the cake again.  Also, it was a nice gift to bring to my sister. We all enjoyed it for breakfast while visiting her. I served a warm slice with Maple Walnut ice cream. Oh it was heavenly!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
3/4 t salt
3 3/4 C plus 1 T all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 3/4 C buttermilk
1 1/2 C granulated whiet sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 t freshly grated lemon zest
2 C fresh blueberries
2 T coarse sugar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the baking powder, baking soda, salt and 3 3/4 cups flour; make a well in the center.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, buttermilk, sugar, oil and lemon zest.  Pour into the well of the flour and stir to combine.
4. In a medium bowl, toss the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon flour to evenly coat.  Fold all but 1/2 cup of the blueberries into the batter.  Spread the batter into the prepared pan and top with the remaining 1/2 cup blueberries.
5. Sprinkle with the coarse sugar and bake until the cake is brown and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean, 70 to 75 minutes.
6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then unfold(remove the outer ring) and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note:

It is alright to have a few lumps in the batter. Be cautious not to over mix.

Sambar Powder

My mom always makes Sambar Powder in bulk for all her children. I freeze some and store some in the pantry. Even after 2 years the flavor does not change.  She usually gets the ingredients powder in the flour mill. I'd like to share her recipe on my blog.

Ingredients:
4 Cups Dry Red Chili
7 Cups Coriander Seeds
1 Cup Toor Dal
1 Cup Black Peppercorn
1 Cup Cumin Seeds
1 Cup Methi Seeds
1 Cup  Mustard Seeds
3 teaspoon Turmeric power

 Powder everything  in a blender. Store in air tight container

Note:

While making sambar:

1. Heat oil (sesame or olive) in a saucepan on low medium heat.

2. Add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds and 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi).

3. Add sambar powder (to taste and volume of sambar), and sauté well as the ingredients of the powder were not roasted. This is very important.

4. Stir in the vegetable of your choice.

5. Add tamarind water and salt, cook until the smell of tamarind leaves and the vegetable is cooked.

6. Stir in mashed cooked toor dal. Add water as required. Bring it to a boil. Turn the stove off. Sambar is ready to eat with rice.

Creamy Doodi(Bottle Squash)

The first time I had bottle squash was at a party. The dish tasted very good, but I was not able to guess the vegetable in it.  When my friend told me what was in it, I was floored. I got the recipe from her, have served it at many of my parties.  It is a creamy dish that can be served with flat bread or rice.

Ingredients:
1 inch cinnamon, 2 clove, 1 cardamom
1 C chopped onion
2 t ginger, garlic, crushed
2 green chili, slit
2 goda masala
1/4 t turmeric powder
1 t Kashmiri mirch(red chili powder)
2 large tomatoes, chopped
2 C chopped bottle squash(doodi)
1/2 C fresh curds(yogurt)
salt to taste
To make paste:
1 T cashew nuts
1 t almonds, blanched
1 t poppy seeds

Method:
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan to medium heat; add cinnamon, clove, and cardamom and stir for a minute. Add chili, ginger, and garlic; saute for 2 minutes. Stir in onion and cook well for 10 minutes.  Add tomatoes, and cook till soft. Stir in turmeric powder,chili powder, and goda masala.  Add doodi, salt, and enough water.  Cover and cook on low medium, till doodi is soft, for 20 minutes.
2. Mean while, blend cashew nuts, almonds and poppy seeds with little water to make a paste.
3. Stir in the paste to doodi; add yogurt; mix well and cook for 10 minutes.  Add water as required.  Serve with hot roti, naan, or rice.





 

Dosa Powder(Chutney Powder)

I love my mom's Dosa Powder. She uses various pulses like chick peas, dry green peas, and sesame seeds along with the usual ingredients. I make it the traditional way.

Ingredients:
1 C Channa dal
1 C Urad dal(black/white)
1-1 1/2 C Red chili(adjust according to taste)
pebble size tamarind
asafoetida to taste
salt to taste
oil for roasting

Method:
1. Roast everything separately in 2 teaspoon oil.
2. Cool slightly before powdering separately. Do not roast tamarind.
3. Roast chili last.
4. Add salt, and asafoetida; run everything together in the blender once.
5. Store in air tight container.

Note:
Powder dals to your requirement, smooth or little coarse.
Mix in powdered red chili according to taste.

Tomato Chutney

Over the years of cooking I've come across many ways to make Tomato Chutney. But, I love my mom's recipe the best.

Ingredients:
2 large tomatoes
4 green chili(adjust to taste)
1 t mustard seeds
1 1/2 t urad dal(black or white)
1-2 red chili(optional)
1 t fresh cilantro, chopped
salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a pan to medium heat; temper mustard, urad dal,and chili. Remove from pan.
2. In the same pan, add 1 teaspoon oil; roast tomatoes till the skin breaks. Remove from heat; allow to cool.
3. Grind everything in a blender. Mix salt to taste. Serve with idly or dosa.

Note:
Cherry tomatoes work well for this recipe.