Rajma Chaval

Blogging has definitely taken a backseat with the little one around. I have been cooking a lot lately but most of the dishes are what we make at home on everyday basis.

This is one of my favorite combi meal. My sister R often used to make Rajma curry with ghee rice. I still remember the taste that she used to make :) This is somewhere close to how she makes it but not entirely the same.

This is not an authentic recipe and it is how we make it at home. We had the curry with jeera rice. I used Maggi bhuna masala as I had a packet of it :) You can substitute this with tomato-onion paste.

For the Rajma masala:

1 cup Rajma beans (Soaked for at least 6hrs and cooked until soft)

1 big tomato (blanched and pureed)

3 medium Onions (chopped fine)

1 packet maggi bhuna masala

or

fry 2 medium onions and 2 tomatoes with ginger garlic paste and puree

2 bay leaf

2 tbsp red chilli powder (increase according to your taste)

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

a big pinch kasuri methi

1/4 tsp amchur powder

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp garam masala powder

oil/ghee

salt to taste

Procedure:

1) Heat oil. Add bay leaf. Add chopped onions and fry until golden.

2) Add tomato puree & maggi bhuna masala. Fry well.

3) Add the spice powders and fry till oil seprates.

4) Add rajma. Reserve 2 tbsp of rajma and puree it. Add salt to taste and rajma puree & water(Use the water used to cook rajma).

5) When it boils add kasuri methi and cook till done. When done garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice and salad.

Jeera rice:

I have already posted a recipe for jeera rice. This is another method making jeera rice in jiffy using pressure cooker. I have used plain sona masuri rice and this gets done in flat 10 mins.

Here is what's needed:

1 cup Sona masuri rice washed

2 onions sliced

2 tbsp oil/ghee

1 tbsp Cumin seeds/jeera

1 bay leaf

4 cloves

4 green cardamoms

1" Cinnamon stick

salt to taste

Coriander leaves to garnish

Procedure:

1) Heat oil in pressure cooker. Add jeera when it splutters add the whole spices.

2) Add sliced onions and fry till golden.

3) Add rice and fry for a while. Add 2 cups of water, salt to taste and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

4) When done fluff with a fork, garnish with coriander leaves.

We washed this down with a glass of mango milkshake topped with yummy vanilla ice cream.

For the milk shake i just blended ripe mango slices with sugar & chilled milk. Served it with vanilla ice cream.

Instant Shevai ~ Instant Rice noodles

Shevai or rice noodles is one of the most common breakfast in GSB household.

It seems in earlier days when guests used to stay longer than hosts expected to shevai was prepared. Since shevai is made by pressing into the the maker and pushing it out guests were also given a hint that it was time for them to push themselves out. We still laugh on this when we make shevai at home.

Normally shevai is made by soaking rice and then grinding it along with freshly grated coconut. The mixture is then stirred continuously on medium flame until it turns into solid mass until it is non sticky. I will share the traditional recipe next time. Here is an instant version of Shevai that my sister-in-law's mom shared with us. She is an excellent cook who loves to try a variety of dishes and always has something new to share. This version of shevai does not call for soaking rice or grated coconut.

Here is what's needed:

2 measure Rice Rava (Readily available in stores also known as idli rava)

21/2 measure water(Ratio of 1:11/4 - rice rava:water)

salt to taste

Procedure:

1) Mix all the ingredients in a thick bottomed kadhai or vessel. Keep on medium flame and keep stirring continuously it thickens. To check if it is done dip your finger into cool water and touch the mixture. If it does not stick to your hand then it is ready. Switch off.

2) When hot make balls of the size of an orange and steam it. Once done fork inserted should come out clean.

3) Add 1 or 2 balls (as per the capacity of your shevai press) and press onto a clean plate. Transfer to a bigger tray lined with wet clean muslin cloth. This is to prevent the shevai from drying up. Repeat until all the balls are used up.

Serving suggestions:

1) Shevai can be served with pickle and coconut oil. (I used tender jackfruit pickle in the picture above and coconut oil).

2) Kids love powdered shevai ( slightly crush using your hands) with ghee and sugar.

3) It can also be served with daLithoy.

4) Goes well with Potato song or any spicy side dish.

5) Upma can be made with leftover shevai.

Poha Chivda

I am huge fan of cookery shows and cookbooks. Whenever I find some recipe interesting I generally note it down. This is one such recipe that I saw in a regional cookery show called Bombaat Bhojana. This is a simple poha chivda recipe. I made slight changes as per our taste.

Here is what's needed:

6 cups Poha/Beaten rice (* Sun dry poha for a day to become crisp)

1/2 cup Kopra ( dried coconut) thinly sliced

1 cup unsalted Peanuts

1/2 cup Fried gram

2 tsp Jeera/Cumin seeds

2 tsp Mustard Seeds

8 dried Red chillies

6 sprigs of Curry leaves

1 tsp Turmeric powder/Haldi

3 tbsp powdered Sugar

2 tbsp powdered Fried gram

Salt to taste

Oil

Procedure:

1) Prepare seasoning by heating oil. Add mustard seeds, when they splutter add cumin seeds. When they sizzle add Kopra pieces and peanuts.

2) When the peanuts turn golden add torn red chilli, fried gram, curry leaves. Fry well. Add haldi.

3) Keeping the flame on medium add Poha. Mix well. Add fried gram powder. Mix well. Add salt and sugar. Mix and turn off the flame. Cover and let it cool. Store in a clean dried air tight container.

* If you are unable to sun dry it then you can add poha and fry it on low flame until crispy.

Serving Suggestions:

This can be serve on its own. You can add grated coconut at the time of serving or add chopped onions, coriander leaves and grated coconut at the time of serving.

Dosa ~ Mushti PoLo

Dosa's are the most common breakfast item in our kitchen. I love making dosa's as most of the preparations can be made the previous day. This is one of our fav dosa. We normally serve this dosa with chutney but on makar sankranthi day we make it with sweet khichidi.

These dosa's are generally made thicker than other dosa's and it is actually roasted on one side. But at my place we like it a little thin and roasted on both the sides. These are soft and fluffy dosas.

Mushti PoLo uses measurement according to our fist size hence the name Mushti ( which means fist in Konkani) PoLo (Dosa in konkani).

Here is what's needed:

1 measure Dosa rice

1 fistful Urad Dal

2 fistful Poha (Beaten rice)/Puffed Rice ( You can use either of them)

1 tsp Methi(Fenugreek seeds)

2 tsp Sugar

a pinch of Baking soda

Salt to taste

Procedure:

1) Soak rice + dal + methi seeds for 4-6 hours.

2) Wash poha/puffed rice. Grind soaked rice + dal + poha/puffed rice. Let it ferment overnight.

3) Next day add sugar, salt and baking soda. Mix well.

4) Heat a griddle. Add 1/2 tsp oil. Spread the batter in circular motion. Let the dosa be a little thick. Cover and cook on medium flame until the dosa is cooked. You can flip the dosa and cook the other side if desired.

Serve hot with chutney or khichidi.

Happy Makara Sankranthi

Wish you all a very happy Makara Sankranthi. We normally prepare Dosa and Khichidi (Sweet) during sankranthi.

The khichidi that I am referring to is a sweet dish. It is made with lentils and rice or lentils and broken wheat. It can be made with sugar or jaggery too. I love the one with sugar in it. But will soon update the next version with jaggery too :)

Here is what's needed:

1/4 cup Chana Dal

3/4 cup broken wheat

1 1/4 cup Sugar

2 cups grated Coconut

3-4 tbsp of ghee

1 tbsp each broken cashews and raisins

1 tsp Cardamom powder

Procedure:

1) Dry roast chana dal until it gives a nice aroma. When cooled wash it well and pressure cook along with broken wheat and water until done.

2) Add sugar to the dal mixture and give it a good boil stirring in between.

3) Add the grated coconut, 3 tbsp ghee and keep stirring until it comes to a rolling boil. Add water if the mixture seems to be too dry. Make sure that mixture comes to a boil if water is added.

4) Heat 1 tbsp of ghee , add cashews and fry till golden. Remove them and add raisins to the same ghee and fry till they are fluffy. Add the cashews, raisins and cardamom powder to the sweet and switch off.

Serve hot.

P.S: Fully ripe banana can also be added to the same. If adding, finely slice it and add after you switch off the gas. Also note that if banana is added the sweet turns stale the next day. So make sure to add to a small portion that you can finish. It tastes delicious with chopped banana.

Some also add finely chopped dates along with banana slices. Tastes wonderful. Both are optional.

Ending the year on a sweet note

The year 2010 has been a roller coaster ride for us. I had been very slow in terms of blogging and my personal life was racing ahead. We made new friends, shifted from Shanghai to my hometown for good, caught up with a lot of relatives and friends, welcomed a cute little boy into our lives.... There are so many reasons for which I have to be thankful to the year that will soon pass by. I am very much looking forward to the new year. Here is wishing everyone "A very happy and prosperous new year". Hope this brings a lot of joy, peace and happiness with good health and wealth to all of them. Ending this year on a sweet note with a sweet and simple dish.

This dish is usually made with ripe (over ripe) nenthrapazham banana. It goes well with puri's, chapathi etc. The recipe is similar to making Banana halwa which is a delicacy Mangalore is famous for. For banana halwa it needs to be cooked further until it reaches halwa stage.

Here is what's needed:

4 ripe nenthrapazham banana chopped

1/4 cup sugar increase if you like sweeter)

4 tbsp ghee

a pinch of cardamom powder

Procedure:

1) In a thick bottomed kadai add the banana pieces, ghee and sugar. Keep the flame on medium.

2) Cook the mixture by stirring until the banana turns soft and mushy. Let few pieces be still in shape as it gives a nice texture to the finished product.

3) Add cardamom powder, mix well and put off the flame.

Serve hot with fluffy puris, Chapathi or on its own. We like ours to be mildly sweet with few pieces to bite in between. Kids love to have this with dosa's too.

Plain Dosa/ Paper Dosa

Thank you dear friends for your wonderful wishes and blessings to the little boy. Time surely flies by and very soon li'l munchkin will be two months old. I am enjoying my time with the little one.

I have been trying to get back to cooking ( and blogging), but being at my mother's place there is hardly any need to do so. I have been enjoying her cooking and when time permits I experiment.

Here is one of my favourite breakfast item "Plain dosa or Paper dosa". I love crispy thin dosa's than the thick ones. This dosa must be relished hot and crispy as it loses its texture when cooled. I use my Futura Tawa for this dosa as I can spread them big and thin with little oil. I have been a big fan of this Tawa and have been using it for almost 2 years now. This is similar to the Urad-Rice dosa but the Urad propertion is less than normally used.

Here is what's needed:
4 cups rice
1 cup Urad dal
1/4 tsp Methi seeds
Salt and Sugar to taste

Procedure:
1) Soak rice, Urad Dal and methi seeds for 6-8 hours and grind to a smooth paste with suffecient water. Add salt and let it ferment overnight.
2) Next day mix it well and add sugar to taste. You may add little water if the batter is too thick.
3) Heat a tawa.
4) Spread a ladle full of batter in circular motion until it forms a uniform circle. Roast it with little oil/ghee in medium flame.
5) (Optional)When it turns to slightly golden colour flip it over and roast the other side for few seconds.
6) Repeat 4 and 5 until all batter is used up.

Note: Always sprinkle water over the tawa before spreading batter again to bring down the temperature of tawa. If the tawa is too hot you will not be able to spread it well as the batter gets cooked fast and will stick to ladle.

Serve hot with Chutney and sambar.

You may also fold it like you would do for masala dosa to make it paper dosa and serve it with a dollop of butter on top.

Back with a good news

Dear friends,

I have been missing from the blogosphere for quite some time now. I have some good news to share. We are now proud parents of a little boy. Our son is 4 weeks old :)

I was busy with my pregnancy, my brother's wedding and shifting back toIndia for good. At present I am enjoying motherhood completely.

I have not updated this space for quite some time as I had severe aversion towards food and also since I have not been cooking regularly too ( Since my mom is doing all the cooking and I am enjoying eating them :P).

Now coming back to cooking, This dish was prepared by my sister-in-law during her recent visit home. It was so simple and tasty that I had to share it. She made use of ready to use Chicken - 65 masala powder. (Even Kebab masala powder works fine) This serves as a great starter dish.

Baby corn Rava fry

Ingredients:

Baby corn 200 gms

Ginger & Garlic paste : 1tbsp

Chicken 65 masala powder : 2-3 tbsp

Salt & Chilli powder to taste

Fine Rava ( enough to coat all the pieces)

Procedure:

1) Cut baby corn into 2-3 pieces.

2) Marinate baby corn with ginger garlic paste and set aside for 30 mins.

3) Add the powders and salt to taste. Add little water.

4) Add enough rava to coat all the baby corn pieces. Deep fry in hot oil.

Drain and serve hot.

Hot Cross Buns...

The buns that I am mentioning is not the plural form of bun but a very famous breakfast item that can be found in most of the homes and restaurants in Mangalore. This is basically a deep fried Indian bread that is usually served with either chutney or dalithoy. At our place we usually have it without any side dishes. As kids we used to dunk it in hot coffee and eat :) I know its a little wierd.

This is slightly sweet due to the addition of banana and sugar If you are not fond of the sweetness you may serve it with some spicy coriander leaves chutney or any other chutney of your choice.

Here is what's needed:

2 cups Maida (All purpose flour)

1 cup Atta (Whole wheat flour)

1 pinch Baking soda

2 medium sized Ripe banana

1/2 cup Curds

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tbsp oil + extra to deep fry

Procedure:

1) Mix sugar and curds and let it sit for 10-15 mins.

2) Add mashed banana,cumin seeds to the sugar - curd mixture and mix well.

3) Sieve the flours and soda. Add it to the mixture and knead it. It will be a sticky mixture. Resist the urge to add more water or curds. The liquid from curds and banana is sufficient to knead the dough.

4) Heat a tbsp of oil until hot and pour it over the dough and let it rest overnight or at least 8-10 hrs.

5) Knead the dough again incorporating the oil. Make small balls and roll it using a rolling pin. The rolled out disc should be slight thick.

6) Deep fry in hot oil and drain it on a tissue paper.

Serve hot.

P.S: Often the top of the Buns tend to crack up in oil causing oil to splutter a little. So make sure that you are careful when you flip the Buns in oil.

Capsicum and Potato side dish (2 Variation)

This is another variation of using capsicum and Potato. You can check my previous version here. I got this recipe from my dear friend R who is a Rajasthani. I have already made it twice and every one who has tried this recipe have loved it a lot. I normally look for different varieties of side dishes as I get bored pretty easily. R makes these only with capsicum and I added Potato as the day I made it for the first time I had just one capsicum in hand. But we loved addition of it (who does not love potato). This is going to feature regularly in my hubby's lunch box :) I have started making phulka's regularly along with rice and some curry. Hence I have to come up with new side dishes everyday :)

Here's what's needed:

1 large Capsicum deseeded and cubed

1 large Potato peeled and cubed (Store in water until the time of use)

1/2 tsp each Mustard seeds and Cumin seeds

2 tbsp Chickpea flour (Besan)

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder (Haldi)

1-2 tsp red Chilli powder

1/4 tsp Garam masala powder

a small pinch of Asafoetida (Hing)

Salt to taste

Oil

Finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Procedure:

1) Heat Oil. Add in mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add Cumin seeds and when they splutter add hing and saute for a while.

2) Drain the potato's and fry for a 3-4 mins,until slightly soft. Add in all the spice powders and saute it well.

3) Add in cubed capsicum and fry. Add salt and cook covered. Make sure that the flame is always on medium. When capsicum is slightly soft i.e it breaks easily add the besan. Fry until the raw taste goes away.

4) Add little water to prevent the mixture from getting completely dry and cover for 2-4 mins. Check for seasoning and add any if desired. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with Phulka.

I love this curry as it does use any ginger garlic paste or onion to be sliced. Easy breezy recipe and tastes great.

P.S: I have been working out with some changes in this blog and by this month end I am hoping to come out with the changes. So may not blog regularly but will definitely come over to your blog.