CRISPY YUMMY MYSORE MASALA DOSA

Imagine a bright weekend and you want to do nothing but eat and sleep, then here is a dish which will satisfy your taste buds and trigger you to sleep like a lullaby. You must have guessed by now what it is?






Yes it is the famous Masala Dosa. Cool :-) but I donot know how to make it :-(
Here is the simple recipe to bring that smile back on your face

For Dosa
3 raw rice
1 boiled rice
3/4 urad dal
2tsp methi
1/4 beaten rice
1/4 cup channa dal
1/4 tsp soda
1 tsp sugar

Soak raw and boiled rice, channa dal, beaten rice and methi together for 5-6 hours.
Urad dal should be soaked separately for 45 mins before grinding only
Grind together
Let it ferment it
Just before making the dosa ensure you put soda and sugar.
Heat the iron girdle
Smear the iron girdle with oil probably using a onion
Start spreading the dosas on the girdle
Ensure the stove is working at medium flame

Chutneys

Red Chutney
2 medium size onions
6 to 7 red chilli badgi
small piece of tamarind( 1 -2 cm diameter)
salt to taste
hing

Heat a kadai
Add some oil to it
Fry onion till transparent
While the above is being done soak the badgi chillies
Transfer the onion, chillies, tamarind, salt and hing to a mixer container and churn it in the mixer
Use it on the dosa just when you about to reverse it

Green Chutney
1 cup fried gram
1 tbsp coconut
7-8 green chilli
1/2" ginger
salt
a medium piece of tamrind (about 4 - 5 cms)
one or two pod of garlic (optional)
small piece of onion (optional)
coriander leaves

Add all the above contents to a mixer and churn till 3/4 done
Add coriander leaves 10 springs and churn again
Season it with mustard, hing, channa dal, urad dal and curry leaves

Potato Curry
Potato (1 medium size potato per person)
3 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp ajwain
Onion (1:1 with reference to potato)
6- 8 green chillies
curry patha 2 springs
1" ginger grated
1/4 tsp haldi
salt to taste

Wash and boil potato. After it is boiled peel it and mash it. Remember to put a little salt so that it enters the potatoes
Cut Onion.
Heat a kadai
Add oil to it
Add mustard let it splutter then add ajwain
Add onion to it and fry till transparent
Add green chillies, curry patha, ginger, haldi, salt
Add the mashed potato
Mix well and use it on the dosa along with the red chutney

Let us know how was it

Gramatha Khatrikaya Gojju

I understood very well that every problem can have multiple solutions as and how I got involved in kitchen activities. You must be wondering why I say so. The beauty of the kitchen is that it gives you thoughts to do a thing in multiple ways. Written below is another way of making gundu badhane gojju. This dish need not be prepared only with gundu brinjal but it can be done with any brinjal

Ingredients
8 small gundu brinjal
medium lemon size tamarind
1 tsp Red chilli powder (add more depending on your taste)
1 1/2 tsp Dhanya powder (add more depending on your taste)
1/4 tsp haldi
medium lemon size jaggery (add more depending on your taste)
1/4 tsp mustard
hing
curry patha
salt to taste

how to make it

1. Soak tamrind and get its juice out.
2. Add red chilli powder and dhanya powder to it depending on your taste.
3. Add brinjal, which are washed first and then cut into small pieces.
4. Add salt and haldi and boil it.
5. Once well cooked then and add jaggery to it.
6. Let it boil a little.
7. Add curry patha and season with mustard and hing.

Gramatha Cool Cucumber Chutney

As Cool as a cucumber is what everyone says. So how do we become cool then using cucumber? Probably by trying to make sambar off it or raitha or salad but have heard of its chutney... If no please read further on if yes then comment improvements to it

Ingredients suggested considering you will use one medium size cucumber

1 medium size cucumber

1/2 cup coconut

1/4 cup fried gram

small lime size tamrind

Salt to taste

Green chillies to taste

1/4 tsp mustard

1/4 tsp jeera

hing to taste

2 springs curry patha

Steps to make

1. Give the due respects to cucumber by washing it and cleaning it like done usually

2. Cut cucumber into medium size piece and put into the mixer container.

3. Add half cup grated coconut to it.

4. Add green chillies

5. Add about 1/4 cupfried gram.

6. Churn all this.

7. When 3/4 done add tamrind(donot make its water) and salt.

8. Churn it again till smooth paste.

9. Heat oil in a kadai.

10. Add to it mustard, hing and jeera and let it splutter.

11. Add curry patha.

12. Once the seasoning is ready add it to mixture that your churned

What you have made now is the cool cool cucumber chutney

Did you know cucumber is called Cucumis sativus by botanist?

Gundu Badne and Black pepper gojju

For those who love black pepper and small round brinjals, here is a mouth smacking dish. This dish, for sure, will go well as a side dish with Dosa, Roti/chappathi, rice and sambar, curdrice, Akki roti etc. For those who do not like brinjal well this is not for you until and unless you decide to change your liking and try this dish. So how do you make it...

Ingredients

2tsp black pepper corns

1tsp methi seeds

2-3 badagi chillies ( badgi is the crinkled dried red chilli. It adds color more than spice)

2 Springs of Curry leaves

9 small round brinjals

2 tsp of oil

3 tsp of jaggery powder

one small medium lemon size tamrind

Ingredients for seasoning

1/4 tsp mustard

1/4 tsp jeera

hing to taste

1 tsp black channa dal

Steps to make

1. As usual wash brinjals

2. Cut them into 4 halves ( not completely)

3. Heat a kadai

4. pour the 2 tsp of oil

5. Add mustard, jeera, black channa dal and hing and allow it to splutter

6. Add half or 3/4 slit brinjals to the seasoning

7. fry for about 4 mins

8. Now add the tamrind water

9. Let it cook

10. Once it is done (which I presume you can make out) add jaggery powder and let it boil till it is done again

11. While the brinjals are cooking parallely make the powder.

12. Now in the kadai add a spoon of ghee and roast pepper, red chillies, methi seeds and curry leaves and then powder it.

13. Now add the powder to the brinjal that is cooked in jaggery and allow it to simmer for a couple of mins and then

14. Add curry leaves to it

15. Serve it and donot forget to eat it yourself

Chayote Squash Salad

For those folks who do not know what a Chayote Squash is, here is a picture from one of the Google Searches. It is called as Seeme Badhanekayi in Kannada. I like the vegetable a lot especially if two items are prepared with it - Upma and Raita. So, as usual my wife (Priya) gets into the kitchen to make the night's dinner. It was tacitly understood that she would be preparing Papdi Lilva Sambhar and Rice. Now we needed some curry to eat along with the sambhar. So, Priya gets to chop the Squash. I jumped in and seized the moment - I told her, let's make raita with the squash instead of the plain curry. She agreed and continued to cut the vegetable. Needless to say we all enjoyed the food with the raita. Here is how you can prepare it too and enjoy then same...

Ingredients:
[1] Chayote Squash - 3 to 4
[2] Mustard seeds - 2 teaspoons
[3] Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
[4] Urad Dal - 1/2 teaspoon
[5] Chana Dal - 1/2 teaspoon
[6] Chillies - 4 to 5 depending on the level of hotness you want
[7] Coconut - 1/2 to 1 cup (I know the size of the cup is left to you, but still ...)
[8] Turmeric - a pinch
[9] Buttermilk - 2 cups
[10] Cilantro leaves - 1/2 a bunch finely chopped
[11] Ginger - a bite to taste
[12] Salt - to taste
[13] Water

Recipe:
[1] Start out by chopping the Squash into fine pieces
[2] Place the frying pan on medium flame. Add some oil and allow to heat for sometime
[3] Put in a teaspoon of mustard seeds to the heated oil and let it spatter
[4] Then put the chana dal and the urid dal and nicely stir to fry the dal. Make sure you don't burn the dal and believe me the urid dal is the one that gets black first :)
[5] After the dal has fried to brownish color, add the chopped the Squash and allow to cook
[6] Add some water and close the lid to make the cooking faster, but make sure you keep the flame in low heat as the high flame might burn your pan
[7] Stir occasionally until the Squash is cooked
[8] While the vegetable is getting cooked, prepare the raita masala
[9] Put the coconut in the mixer along with the chillies, cilantro, turmeric, ginger, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds. Add some water and nicely grind the mixture to make a fine puree
[10] Then add some buttermilk to that and mix well
[11] After the vegetable is cooked turn off the flame and allow to cool
[12] Once cooled, add the buttermilk mixture to the vegetable andmix well
[13] Add salt to taste and serve with chapati or rice

How does it look? Does it look like the picture below? If not then don't worry - just tinkle in to our home and we will make it and also serve it for you. What do you say?


Friends, hope you are enjoying my blog on Indian Vegetarian recipes...

Good night until tomorrow

Papdi Lilva Sambhar

I still remember those days in Bangalore when I grew up around Papdi Lilva. For the non-kannadigas papdi lilva is the twisted english version of avarekayi. Actually papdi lilva is not the exact english phrase for avarekayi, but still its fine to pull out a conjecture. See the adjoining picture and you will get a clearer picture of what it is we are going to talk about. So coming back to those good old days I grew up in Bangalore, I still remember my mom and grand mom preparing every dish with avarekayi. In the season the beans sell for like 5 bucks a kg and we used to bring in loads of it. Hence it is pretty natural for me to love this particular beans in the family of beans. Although papdi lilva is not termed as beans, it is a bean after all. What do you say? Check out the picture for goodness sake, isn't that a bean? :)

After having my afternoon lunch I left for work as usual today and when I came back home, my grand dad had kept the papdi lilva ready to be cooked. It was decided that we make sambhar with the lilva (believe me it is actually a discussion to decide what needs to be done with this papdi lilva, as anything can be done). What I like most of the papdi lilva - it is ubiquitous. Any dish can be prepared with this. So I started to help my wife in the kitchen to prepare the dish. I know you must be thinking - hey dude, cut the crap and tell us how to make it...Here I unroll it for you

Ingredients:
[1] Papdi Lilva - 3 to 4 measures
[2] Toor Dal - 2 measures
[3] Tamarind
[4] Tomatoes - 2 to 3
[5] Chili powder
[6] Sambhar powder (prepare one on your own, I will tell you how later someday in my blog OR get it from a strore selling MTR products)
[7] Mustard seeds
[8] Asafoetida (Hing, dude)
[9] Turmeric
[10] Oil
[11] Salt - to taste
[12] Water

Recipe:
[1] Take some dal in a pressure cooker and to that add the papdi lilva and water. Add enough water depending on the quantity of the sambhar you want to prepare
[2] To this add a spoon of oil and some turmeric
[3] Do I need to need to tell what to do next? :) Put the cooker on a flame and allow it to whistle 2 or 3 times. Once the dal is done you can turn off the flame under the cooker
[4] Its not that the cooker is going to whistle the moment you keep it on the flame, so lets get to work with the tamarind paste while the dal cooks :)
[5] Chop some tomatoes and put it in a mixer. To this add some tamarind (either the paste or the actual tamarind) and water and grind nicely
[6] Filter the tomato and tamarind liquid from the tomato skin/tamarind seeds into a separate vessel
[7] Put the vessel on a medium flame and begin heating
[8] To this add about 3 or 4 spoons of chilli powder and nicely mix the powder in the liquid making sure there are no knots
[9] After the liquid boils add some sambhar powder (3 to 4 spoons depending on how thick you want the sambhar) again making sure there are no knots formed
[10] Allow to boil for some time until the masala cooks
[11] Hopefully you have not forgotten to turn off the flame under the presssure cooker...
[12] Now add the dal + papdi lilva to this liquid and nicely mix the two
[13] Add some salt to taste
[14] Add some seasoning - to some heated oil add mustard seeds and allow to spatter and then add some Hing
[15] Serve hot with rice

Here is one tip: If you want to make sambhar that is less viscous, you can skip Step [9]

Enjoy folks, this dish is very tasty. My stomach is already rumbling

Good night!

Yellow coconut curry

Well, Raddish is one of the stinky vegetables that no one wants to open it's dish in public. Yet, yet it's dishes are indeed tasty (provided you stick to eating them @ the luxury of your own home, better yet in your own room). Today we had prepared Raddish Kolumbu. It was indeed yummy with the Apples & Bell peppers Gojju. Want a 'byte' of the kolumbu - here it is... Want to know how to prepare it?

Items you need:
[1] Raddish - a couple
[2] Coconut - depends on how many chillies you put
[3] Turmeric - a spoon
[4] Mustard seeds - a teaspoon
[5] Cilantro seeds - 10 to 15 seeds
[6] Red chillis - depends on the level of hotness
[7] Toor Dal - 1 or 2 measures
[8] Rice - a handful
[9] Salt - to taste
[10] Water - the universal requirement

Recipe:
[1] Put some Toor Dal in the pressure cooker alongwith some water (as if you did not know that). Put water enough to soak the dal and the quantity is upto you depending on how much kolumbu you want.
[2] Chop the Raddishes into roundlets. Put the cut raddishes in a vessel. Yes, you need to add water. Put the vessel for boiling in moderate to high flame.
[3] While the 2 are getting cooked, you are ready to make the spicy gravy for the kolumbu.
[4] Put some coconut, cilantro seeds, rice, turmeric, mustard seeds, red chillies and water into a mixer and grate them finely.
[5] Once the pressure cooker whistles for about 2 or 3 times, turn off the flame under the cooker and allow to cool.
[6] Check if the raddish is cooked and if so, add the grated gravy to the raddish
[7] Let the mixture cook for sometime under a low flame (Please take care in continously stirring the mixture as the base might get burned on the inside giving you a burnt taste)
[8] Once the mixture is cooked, add the cooked dal and stir to completion
[9] After it is cooked and boiled turn off the flame under the vessel and Raddish Kolumbu is ready!

Wasn't that easy? Just make sure you dont burn the vessel used for the Kolumbu.

Enjoy folks, feeling really sleepy after the sumptuous dinner.

Good night!