Paneer Masala dosa

 After a long time I have been able to click pics for the food blog. I have been experimenting a lot with food. Days are busier as I have just enrolled in a teaching course which I am loving a lot. At times I feel that days are flying ahead with wings! Little A is growing up fast too and getting naughtier. Keeps us all busy with his antics. I am loving every moment spent with him.
Coming back to food, whenever we are eating out I prefer to have outside food for lunch or dinner but breakfast I love homemade. I am not big fan of hotel idli's. But if I have to have then I prefer plain paper dosa. I find the other dosa's too oily. For masala dosa's I like the onions in bhaji to be cooked slightly. But I love the colour of hotel dosa's. Thanks to Niya, I can now make such good looking and healthy dosa at home too with much less oil.

Here  is what's needed:
1 cup urad dal
2 cups rice
a fistful of cooked rice
1 tsp methi seeds
Salt & sugar to taste

Procedure:
1) Soak rice, urad dal and methi seeds for 6-8 hours. Grind the soaked rice and dal along with cooked rice to a smooth batter adding sufficient water.
2) Add salt to taste. Let it ferment overnight. Next morning add a tsp or two of sugar. Mix well.
3) Heat a tawa and pour a ladle full of batter. Spread uniformly. Roast on one side by adding a little oil.Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

With the left over batter I made some Paneer dosa for us.It is very simple to make and tastes great. A change from the regular potato masala dosa.

Here is what's needed for the masala:
200 gms paneer chopped into small cubes
1 capsicum chopped
2 onions chopped
1 tomato chopped
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp garam masala and kitchen king masala
a pinch of turmeric powder
11/2 tsp red chilli powder
a generous pinch of kasuri methi
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste
coriander leaves to garnish

Procedure:
1) Heat oil. Add cumin seeds when they splutter add the chopped onions and ginger garlic paste. Fry well until transparent.
2) Add chopped capsicum and cook. Add chopped tomatoes and cook further.
3) Add in the spice powders one by one. Add salt, chopped paneer pieces and cook further until all the paneer pieces are uniformly coated with the masala. Add kasuri methi. Mix well. Switch off the flame and garnish with corainder leaves.

This can be served with chapathi or with dosa's too.

To make Paneer masala dosa:
1) Spread the dosa batter on the tawa. When it is cooked slightly place a spoon full of masala in the center, lengthwise and cook further until dosa is done. Fold and serve immediately. 

Avnaas ambe sasam ~ Mixed fruit curry in mustard and coconut sauce

(Thali ~ Salt, Amla pickle, Mixed veg sambar, Avnas ambe sasam, rice, papad , buttermilk and wheat halwa)

Sunday meals were always special at our household. That was the only day when we would all sit and have an afternoon meal together. Amma always made something special for us on that day of the week. This thali is one of our simple sunday meal. With mango being in season and having a basket full of it we decided to make a curry with it. This is one of the traditional GSB dishes. I love this so much that whenever we attend some functions during summer I look out for this and reach for second helping too. This is basically a sweet curry and is served cold. Traditionally, Pineapple and mango is used to make this but these day mixed fruits are also used. We had an apple and few banana's left, not wanting to make fruit salad opted to use it in this curry. Tasted delicious.

Here is what's needed:

1/2 cup pineapple cubed

5 ripe mangoes cubed

1 apple cubed (Optional)

4 small banana's cubed (Optional)

4 tbsp dry grapes soaked for an hour (Optional - but tastes great)

1 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 coconut grated

5 dry red chillies

1 cup Jaggery scraped or as per taste

salt to taste

Procedure:

1) Cook pineapple pieces till done. If it is not very sweet add a little bit of jaggery. Cool it.

2) Dry roast mustard seeds for few seconds. Remove and in a little oil fry the red chilies.

3) Grind grated coconut, mustard seeds,salt and red chilies to coarse paste. Add jaggery and grind further.

4) Mix the fruits and paste together and refrigerate until the time of serving  chilled.

Spicy garlicky noodles

 Indian Chinese is one the popular cuisines in India. This cuisine is our take on the Chinese cuisine. When we first moved to Shanghai my relatives had so much to question about Chinese food. Manchurian, Manchow soup etc which are easily available here was not available there. They had the notion that for me as a vegetarian eating out was easy like in Indian Chinese joints. Initially, I used to avoid going out for dinner as it was difficult to get some decent vegetarian food. Plus, I was scared of chopsticks. I did not want to use spoon and fork as it would make me the center of attraction.
One day when we had decided to go out for sightseeing on a weekend, hubby decided to teach me how to use chopsticks. Thinking that I would get some noodles I made maggi for dinner and learnt the art of using chopsticks. In my mind I had the visualized that if I order noodles I would be getting non spicy version of dry noodles but when we actually ordered it we got a huge pot of noodles with lot of soup in it. The noodles were so slippery and  the broth was so hot that I did not have the courage to dig in with chopsticks. To my bad luck I had not carried forks from home and all I had was disposable spoons. The hotel too did not have any fork. Finally I manged to drink some soup and fish out some noodles from it. And had some rice too with broccoli. I remember the experience very well as after dinner my table was completely. After some practice sessions with my hubby, now I can comfortably eat rice, vegetables, noodles and even pick groundnuts using chopsticks and also enjoy Chinese cuisine.

Noodles is one of our favorite Indo-Chinese dish. I make a spicy version of it. It can be had on its own or with some hot & sour vegetables.

Here is what's needed:

200 grams chow noodles

2 tbsp oil

3 dry red chillies - torn to bits

2 tsp red chilli powder

8 flakes of garlic finely chopped

2 tsp soya sauce

2 tsp vinegar

1 tsp Tomato ketchup

2 capsicum shredded

2 carrots shredded

1/2 cup shredded cabbage

 2 Onions sliced

small bunch of spring onions chopped (Reserve the greens for garnishing)

2 tsp pepper powder

salt to taste

Procedure:

1) Boil water in big vessel. Add noodles and cook until the noodles are just cooked through. Do not overcook as it can make the noodles mushy. Drain the noodles and rinse it with cold water. Add a tbsp of oil and keep aside to cool.

2) Prepare seasoning by heating oil. Add chopped garlic and red chilles. Cook for 1/2 minute. Add vegetables - Onions, capsicum, carrot and cabbage. Saute on high flame until done yet the vegetables are crispy  Add chilli powder, pepper powder, soya sauce, vinegar, tomato ketchup, salt. Saute for a minute.

3) Add the noodles and mix well until well incorporated and garnish with spring onion greens.

Serve hot. Wanna have some?

Bhindi Do Pyaaza ~ Tried & Tasted

It is truly said that things that are easily available to us are the one's that we ignore the most. One such instance is that of this vegetable. I never cared much for Bhindi during my growing years. It was always there at our dinner table but was never special to me until I got married and we moved to Shanghai. Bhindi was not easily available. Even in summer we had to travel by metro, four station across to a farmer's market but  it would get sold out easily. It was available at Thai stores but was very very expensive. Suddenly my love for bhindi increased and everytime I would search for bhindi on Indian restaurant's menu card. During one such visit I fell in love with Bhindi Do Pyaaza. I wanted to make it at home but as always I kept pushing it forward until next time. Yesterday when we got some fresh bhindi I decided to make it. I searched for the recipe and reached at Sailu's food.I was bowled over by her great pictures and immediately decided to do it. Thank you Sailu it turned out to be wonderful and was loved by everyone at home. I just modified the recipe a little. To view the original recipe click here.
Here is how I made it.

What's needed:
1/2 Kg Bhindi/Okra - washed and dried
6 medium Onions sliced
2 Tomatoes chopped
2-3 tbsp Red chilli powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp Ginger & Garlic paste
1/2 tsp Garam masala powder
1/2 tsp Corainder powder
1/4 tsp Amchur powder
a generous pinch of Kasuri methi
a pinch of Asafoetida
1/2 tsp Sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Oil
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves chopped for garnishing

Procedure:
1) Trim the edges of bhindi and chop into bite sized pieces.
2) Heat 1 tsp oil and fry bhindi until it is just done yet crunchy. Keep aside.
3) Heat oil,add cumin seeds. When it splutters add sliced onions, ginger paste and fry until they are transparent. Add the spice powders,salt and saute.
4) When done add the chopped tomatoes and cook until they are soft. Add the fried bhindi and cook further until well incorporated.
5) Add the kasuri methi, lemon juice and sugar. Mix well.
6) Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Thanks Sailu, We too reached out for second helping of this wonderful dish. This recipe is a keeper :) I added Amchur powder and avoided curds. 

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.