Palli Chutney

The Palli Chutney recipe ..I am going to share today..goes really well with any variety of Dosa / Idly…

Palli Chutney 

Ingredients :

Peanut / Palli - 1/2 cup

Green chili - 4 to 5

Grated fresh / dry coconut - 2 tbl spoon

Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1/2 tea spoon

Tamarind - small chick pea size

Coriander Leaves - 1 to 2 strands

Oil - 1 tea spoon

Salt - As per taste

Seasoning :

Oil - 1 tea spoon

Curry Leaves - 1 or 2

Dry Red chili - 1 or 2

Chana dal / Urad dal / Moong Dal / Mustard seeds  mix - 1 table spoon

Method :

Step 1: Add 1 or 2 drops of oil and roast the Peanut & keep them aside. (I use the peanuts with skin /   husk..It is optional if you want to remove the husk).

Step 2: In the same pan, roast the green chili.

Step 3: Grind roasted peanuts, green chili, tamarind, cumin seeds, grated coconut & coriander leaves with salt.

Seasong :

Heat oil in the pan & roast all the seasoning ingredients & add to the ground peanut chutney. Adjust the salt & enjoy the palli  / peanut chutney with your favorite Dosa / Idly.

Instant Raw Mango Pickle !

The the very thought of MANGO …takes me back to the Indian Summers….officially we start eating Raw Mango from Ugadi..but..for students,…eating Raw Mango with Red chili powder & salt…starts very early…which we get near schools.

So as a grownups..let's make it a time for Raw Mango Pickle ! but, for instant Mango pickle! There are many variations of Mango pickle in all over India…from region to region..& state to state…& I find very few people who don't relish this..Mango Pickle !

I am going to give you a quick & easy instant mango pickle recipe, which you can store it in refrigerator and can enjoy it for 7 to 10 days.

Instant Raw Mango Pickle

Ingredients :

Chopped Raw Mango pieces - 1 cup

Red chili powder - 1 1/2 table spoon

Methi / Fenugreek powder - 1 tea spoon

Grated fresh ginger - 1 tea spoon

Lemon Juice - 1 tea spoon (optional)

Salt - As per the taste 

Seasoning :

Oil - 2 table spoon

Mix of Chana daal / urad daal / Mustard seeds / Cumin seeds / Moong daal - 1 table spoon

Curry Leaves - 5 to 6

Hing / Asafoetida - 1/2 tea spoon

Method :

1. Take a Raw mango , wash & peel off and chop into small pieces.

Raw Mango

2. In a bowl, add chili powder, grated fresh ginger, salt & lemon juice (lemon juice is optional) to the Raw Mango pieces and thoroghly mix.

Raw Mango pickle

3. Now for Seasoning, Heat oil in the pan and add, Chana daal / urad daal / Mustard seeds / Cumin seeds / Moong daal & hing, methi (or) fenugreek powder. And let the seasoning tampered on a low heat.

Seasoning for the Mango pickle

4. Now add the , seasoning to the Mango pieces & mix well. Taste it & adjust the salt. No need to add any water to this pickle. And, as I said, depends on the sourness of the raw mango, you can decide how much (no) lemon juice to be added to the pickle.

Let the Mango pickle settle for some time …and now The Instant Raw Mango pickle is ready to be served !

Enjoy the cooking, enjoy the food & invest in your health !

Instant Raw Mango Pickle !

Ulava Charu

Hi..I want to post one of my favorites..Ulava (Horse gram) Chaaru recipe for you all. Fact is, we love to have Rasam as part of our every day meal. So, I try variety of rasam recipes…This particular ulava chaaru recipe..I remember back then, once had at a wedding feast…but never given it a try, until I had this after many years at my friend's place, Thanks Neelu ! The first time..we tried this recipe at my home…we just fell in love with this..& now, once in a week…this is on our menu.. without a miss :-)

Ulava Charu

Ingredients :

Whole horse gram / ulavalu - 1 cup ( soaked over night or at least 1 to 2 hours before cooking)

Tomato - 1 (diced)

Tamarind juice - 2 table spoons

Garlic cloves - 2

whole black pepper - 1/2 tea spoon

Coriander / dhaniya powder - 1 table spoon

Dry red chili - 2 to 3

Curry Leaves - 2 to 3

Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1/2 tea spoon

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tea spoon

Oil - 1 table spoon 

Salt - as per taste

Step 1 :

Wash & soak the ulavalu / horse gram over night (Preferably) or at least 1 to 2 hours so that it will take less time to pressure cook them.

Soaked Horse gram

Step 2 :

Add 3 to 4 cups water & pressure cook the horse gram.

Step 3: 

Once the horse gram is pressure cooked, separate 3/4 of the cooked ulavalu and grind them along with garlic cloves, dry red chili, whole black pepper & dhaniya powder.

Pressure cooked Horse gram

Grind Ulavalu with dhaniya powder, garlic, pepper & dry red chili

Grinded horse gram paste with spices

Note : Don't throw away the water extracted from the pressure cooked horse gram, we can use it while making ulava charu.

Residue after pressure cooking the Horse gram

Step 4:

Dice the tomatoes into medium to large pieces. Heat oil in the pan & start adding jeera, mastard & curry leaves and roast them and then add the diced tomato to the seasoning.

Diced Tomato

Step 5 :

Once the tomato pieces are slightly cooked, add the grinded horse gram paste & remaining pressure cooked horse gram to the seasoning.

Step 6 :

Stir once & add the tamarind juice, the extract or residue of pressure cooked horse gram and add salt and cook well for 5 to 10 minutes. You can adjust the thickness of the Ulavacharu by adding water if you prefer it not so thick.

Turn off the heat & let the Ulava char to settle down & come to room temperature. 

Ulava charu

It tastes divine with hot steamed rice. Enjoy cooking , enjoy the food & invest in your HEALTH !

Chicken Biryani !

This is absolutely for those ardent fans of The Chicken Biryani …yes I am one amongst you…..so, here is my version of chicken biryani..totally totally hassle free…& you can make this layered chicken biryani in ……. a pressure cooker..how cool is that ?!!!!

Chicken Biryani

Before we get into the ingredients & recipe.. i want to tell a small tip..if you are planning to make chicken biryani and you planned it well ahead, I suggest you to …marinate the chicken and keep it in the refrigerator for 5 to 6 hours or over night to get the best of it. But nothing to worry, if it is just an hour ago you planned to make chicken biryani..still no problem..just marinate & keep it in the refrigerator for 1 hour which is good enough too !

Preparation :

Part 1:

Ingredients to marinate the chicken :

Chicken - 2 lbs ( 1 kg)

Red chili powder - 2 tbl spoons

Ginger & Garlic paste - 1 table spoon

Turmeric powder - 1 tea spoon

Garam masala powder - 1 tbl spoon

Curd - 2 tbl spoons

Dhaniya / coriander powder - 1 table spoon

Coriander leaves & Green chili paste - 1 table spoon

Salt - 1 to 2 table spoons

Chicken Marination :

- Thoroughly wash the chicken in the running water and take it into a mixing bowl & add all the above ingredients to the chicken &  mix well.

- Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic cling wrap & keep it in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hr to 1 hour.

Part 2 :

Rice - 3 cups ( I took basmati rice)

Water - 4 cups

Salt - 1 tbl spoon

Ghee - 1 tbl spoon

Whole Garam masala Ingredients :

Bay Leaf - 1 (big) or 2 (small)
Cinnamon / Cassia bark stick - 1
Cloves - 4 to 5
Green / black cardamom - 2
Anis flower - 2 to 3
Cardamom - 1 or 2
Nutmeg - small piece

- Wash the rice thoroughly & add water, salt, ghee & all the whole garam masala ingredients to the rice and cook the rice. In general we add 1: 1.5 - rice : water to cook basmati rice, since we just need half cooked rice we are just cooking rice with 4 cups of water.

- Now half cooked rice with all whole garam masala ingredients and marinated chicken is ready by this time.

Part 3 :

Ingredients :

Chopped coriander leaves - 1 cup 

Chopped mint leaves - 1 cup

Roasted cashews - 1/4 cup

Saffron strands -  soaked in 1/2 cup milk

Lemon juice - 2 table spoons

Oil - 2 to 3 tbl spoons

Ghee / butter - 3 tbl spoons

Fried onions - 1 cup (optional)

Method -

- Add oil to the pressure cooker. Nicely coat the bottom & interior walls of the pressure cooker.

- Place all marinated chicken in the pressure cooker. depending on the size of the cooker, you can arrange one or more layers.

- Now add one layer of half cooked rice over the chicken in the pressure cooker.

- On the each layer of rice, top it with ghee, lemon juice, chopped coriander & mint leaves, milk (saffron soaked), cashews & fried onions..evenly.

- Repeat the these steps until you finsh layering chicken & rice. I used a 7.5 liter pressure cooker, so I just got 2 layers.

- Add any leftover marination mix on top the rice layer..it gives you a great taste to the biryani.

- No need to add any extra water to this, just close the pressure cooker with the lid & DO NOT KEEP THE WHISTLE . Yes, you read it right..we don't keep the weight.

- NOTE : we have to cook the biryani on a SLOW / LOW HEAT and it takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

- Once the chicken is cooked well you can feel the nice aroma coming out of the cooker. Once you feel it is done, turn off the heat & let all the pressure come down. Open the lid & gently mix the layers, so that Rice & chicken will be mixed together.

Now, it is time to enjoy the chicken biryani with any sides like kurma / gravy & raitha !

We enjoyed chicken biryani with Aloo kurma & raitha. Check out the Aloo kurma recipe @ the below link !

Aloo / Potato Kurma Recipe

Chicken Biryani !

Tomato Rasam !

Hey..time for some spicy & tangy delicious rasam …for the coldest winters….mmm.. yummy… ! This is not so new recipe for many of you…but everybody has their own version …as one of my best friends says…& I can't deny that ..Fact is a Fact :-)

ok…Let's quickly get in to recipe…zoooommm…..

Steamed Rice with Tomato rasam !

Ingredients :

Tomatoes - 3 medium sized 

Water - 2 to 4 cups

Tamarind pulp / juice - 1 to 2 table spoons

Ginger - 1 inch piece chopped / crushed

Garlic cloves - 2 chopped / crushed

Coriander / dhaniya powder - 1 tea spoon

Black pepper powder - 2 tea spoons

Jeera / cumin powder - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder - 1 tea spoon

Dry Red chili - 2 

Curry Leaves - 3

Mustard seeds - 1 tea spoon

Oil - 1 table spoon

Chopped coriander leaves - 1 cup

Salt - as per the taste

Preparation :

- Grind the tomatoes & make tomato pulp ( before grinding, I just microwaved the tomatoes for 1 minute..which is totally optional ).

Tomato pulp

- Crush / finely chop the ginger & garlic , don't need to grind them to a fine paste. I hand crushed them.

Crushed ginegr & garlic

-  gently crush the dry red chillis, make sure you don't accidentally rub your eyes with the same hands…

- Now, we are ready to fire up the rasam … are you ready…?! Heat the oil in the sauce pan & slowly add crushed ginger & galic, dry red chilli, mustard seeds, curry leaves and fry them until you feel nice aroma……

- Now add the Tomato pulp to this seasoning & add turmeric powder, dhaniya powder and little salt. Let it cook until you see the water getting slightly separated from the pulp…& bubbling up….

- Now add the tamarind juice ( This time I bought the tomatoes they are not too tangy so I used 2 table spoons of tamarind juice, if you bought nicely ripped tomatoes then you can add just 1 table spoon of tamarind juice. ) & add water and bring it to boil on a medium heat.

- Now add the jeera & black pepper powder. This Jeera and black pepper powder I made at home. which I use for Pepper rasam, will share the recipe soon.

- On a medium heat boil the tomato rasam for 5 to 10 minutes & keep tasting to adjust the salt as per your preference. Once turn off the heat, add the chopped coriander leaves. 

Note : When it comes to the preferences like spicy, hot, salt, sweet, sour…it depends on individual choice. So, please adjust them as per your preference. I try to give you the moderate measures ..but you always can keep a control on the measure of spices as per your choice.

Now..it is time for you to enjoy the hot steamed rice with yummy tangy & spicy tomato rasam with any of your favorite side….we had with picnic aloo on the side..yes..I will share the recipe soon ! Enjoy the food !

Potato Kumra !

Hi..I am back with Aloo Kurma / Potato Kurma recipe for you…Kurma is basically a spiced up gravy that goes well with any rice item / roti / parathas….

Aloo Kurma

Ingredients :

Potatoes - 1 lb  or 1/2 kg
                             
Whole Garam masala Ingredients :

Bay Leaf - 1 (big) or 2 (small)
Cinnamon / Cassia bark stick - 1
Cloves - 4 to 5
Green / black cardamom - 2
Anis flower - 2 to 3
Cardamom - 1 or 2
Nutmeg - small piece

Coconut (grated) - 1/4 cup (can use dry coconut scrape if fresh coconut is not available)
Coriander powder / Dhaniya powder -  1 tbl spoon
Cashews - 1/4 cup (to be soaked in water)
Onion - 1
Water - 1 cup (can be adjusted as per your preference of gravy consistency)
Ginger & Garlic paste - 1 tbl spoon
Red chilli powder - 2 tbl spoons
Oil / Ghee - about 3 tbl spoons
Turmeric powder - 1 tea spoon
Chopped Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Salt - As per the taste

Preparation :

- Wash & boil the potatoes. Don't over boil the potatoes because we don't need to mash them., remove the skin & keep them aside.

- Grind the onion & make onion paste.

- Grind coconut , coriander poder & soaked cashews together.

- Heat ghee / oil in the pan and fry all the whole garam masala ingredients.

- Now add onion paste to the pan & fry it until it turns golden brownish and you can feel the aroma.

- Now add Ginger & Garlic paste and fry for 2 to 3 minutes.

- Add the coconut & cashew masala and stir well.

- Add chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and water.

- On a low heat bring it to a boil.

- Add the boiled potatoes to this gravy and cook for 5 to 10 minutes on a low heat & adjust the salt.

- Once the done, turnoff the heat and add the chopped coriander leaves to the kurma. 

Aloo kurma

- If potatoes are small sized you don't need to cut them, but if taken large potatoes dice them.

Pancakes !!!!

It's time for pancakes …& I just enhanced the taste by adding blueberries to them….try this & enjoy !

This time the pancakes turned out to be much tastier because of  my Mr. S …he helped me to whisk the milk & eggs and  taking batter's consistency pic ! Thank you Mr. S you are so supportive as always !

Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients :

All purpose flour - 2 cups
Milk - 3 cups
Eggs - 2
Baking powder - 2 table spoons
Sugar - 1 or 2 tables spoon (can increase the quotient if you have a sweet tooth :-) )
Salt - 1/2 tea spoon (can be lessen if you prefer less salty)
Baking Soda - 1/2 tea spoon
Butter - 1 / 2 stick (for batter)
Oil - to grease the pan / griddle
Blueberries - 1 cup (optional)
Honey / any syrup of your choice / whipped cream / fruits on the side - As per your choice

Preaparation :

whisk / blend milk, eggs & butter together. I blended them in a mixer juicer ( Magic bullet !)

Milk / Eggs & butter mixture

Now mix well all the dry ingredients (Flour / baking powder / baking soda/ sugar / salt) in another bowl.

All purpose flour /baking powder /baking soda/sugar/salt

Now add the milk & eggs mix to the dry ingredients mixture. Blend well all the ingredients. Again I used the juicer blender to blend all the ingredients to a finer batter. Your pancakes batter is ready !

Pancakes Batter

Now heat the griddle / pan & grease it with either butter / oil ( I used olive oil to grease the griddle). Take a scoop at a time and firmly add to the pan. Don't spread it all over / thin flat. Depending on the pan / griddle size can make more than 1 pancake at a time. I topped the pancakes with blueberries which is optional & you can add chico chips or any of your favorite topping just enhance the flavor of your pancakes.

Pancakes with blueberries

 Flip them to the other side after cooked on one side.

Pancakes

Now your yummy / fluffy pancakes are ready to be served with honey / any syrup of your choice / whip cream and some fruits on the side.

We enjoyed our pancakes with Honey & the mixed berries & banana on the side …..

Blueberry pancakes !

                                                        Hope you enjoy this recipe !