Peanut sesame powder

I tried it at one of the community friends home and loved it. I got some from my relative the same and my kids loved to eat it with sambar rice or yogurt rice. So I tried it at home and still enjoying it. Hope you like it too. This can be accompanied with several options like with plain white rice or a side dish for yogurt rice, idli or upma etc. So try it with whatever you like ..... explore your options and here goes the recipe..

Ingredients
Peanut powder - 1 cup (roasted and grinded coarsely without the skin)
Sesame powder - 1 cup (roasted and grinded coarsely)
Coconut powder (preferably dry but I used the frozen grated one)
Amchur powder  - 2-3 spoons
Red chilli powder - (according to your taste and spicyness of powder)
Salt - according to your taste
Dhania powder - 1/4 cup ( Roasted and grinded)
Jeera powder - 1/4 cup (Roasted and grinded)
Cilantro - wash, dry and cut into small pieces

Method of preparation
Mix all the ingredients nicely with hand. Make sure the powders and mixed properly and the taste is spread out even. Taste it to adjust salt and red chilli powder. Your powder is ready to go...Enjoy.

Beans Cauliflower Curry

One of the simple curries which can be made regularly can home without any hiccups is this. I love both the veggies and here is the simple recipe for it. Go ahead and try it for simple dinner.

Ingredients
Beans - chopped
Cauliflower florest
Tomatos
Oil
Mustard seeds
Jeera
Red chilli powder
Turmeric
Salt
Coriander to garnish

Method of preparation
Add oil in a pan(kadai), and let it heat. Add mustard seeds after oil is heated. Let them splutter. Add jeera and then add the veggies (beans and cauliflower). Add red chilli powder, turmeric to it. Mix it and cover and cook for some time until veggies are almost cooked. Once they are cooked, add salt and tomatos. Cook until tomatos are done and serve after garnishing with the coriander leaves. Enjoy !!!

Gongura pulihora

We tasted it at my friend's place and I liked it. I requested my mom to do it for a potluck and they all liked it.  So here goes the recipe for it.

Ingredients:
Gongura (Sour greens)
Peanuts
Chana Dal
Mustard seeds
Red chillies
Green chillies
Coriander

Method of preparation:
1) Cook rice as usual. Make sure the rice grains are seperate after they are cooked. Mostly we use Sona       masoori rice or basmati for this type of rice.
2) Take a kadai (pan) and add 2-3 spoons of oil in it. After oil is heated add the chopped Gongura leaves to it. The leaves will be cooked in very less time. Add salt to it and turmeric. Mix thoroughly and put it aside.
3) Next is preparation of the tadka (popu/poni) for the pulihora. Take a small kadai and add sufficiant oil to it. After oil is heated properly, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add red chillies, asafoetida (Hing/inguva), peanuts, chana dal and little urad dal to it. Cook till all the dals turn color and the peanuts and well fried.
4) Spread the rice in big bowl easy to mix. Add the fried gongura mixture as well as the tadka to it. Mix all of them thoroughly till each grain of rice color is changed. Do not mash or use much pressure while mixing (otherwise the rice will become sticky or mushy, Rice should be seperated to get the exact taste). Garnish with coriander and serve.

Banana Bread (Eggless)

 This is a recipe which my cousin Hema gave me long time back. As I am not a banana lover nor banana bread, I never attempted it. This time I really wanted to do something with those riped banana's and there goes my experiment. It turned to be good. Simple easy recipe from her.... here it goes:

Ingredients

1/2 cup oil or use 1/3rd cup applesauce ( I used oil)

1 cup white sugar 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 very ripe mashed bananas 

1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla

1/4th cup walnuts roasted

Method of preparation

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a loaf pan.In a large bowl, cream the oil  and sugar and add vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Blend in the mashed bananas. Stir in the nuts and pour batter into prepared pan.(dust with butter and flour ). Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until it tests done with a toothpick.

Bhendi Tomato fry curry

Ingredients
Bhendi - I used one frozen packet
Tomato - 1 chopped finely
Red chilli powder
Salt to taste (I used 1 spoon)
Oil - 5 spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Jeera - 1/4 teaspoon

Method of preparation
This is a simple curry. Can be done by even bachelors also. Add oil to kadai and after the oil is heated then add mustard seeds and let  it splutter. Add jeera to it. Add bhendi and let it fry nicely. Add salt to it (around 1 tea spoon). Once the tangleness of bhendi goes, add the tomato and then red chilli powder also. Your curry is ready.

Note: Add some yogurt like 1 or 2 spoons to make the bhendi detangle fast.

Chinthakaya Pachadi

(Took lot of break for posting this ... but finally did)
I loved when one of my colleague actually got this for lunch. I loved it so much, that I had to ask for recipe and share with you all. Her version ( I do not know the name), was much spicy and yummy tooo but since I use less green chillies the taste came out to be a little different. Here goes the yummy pachadi recipe:

Ingredients
Chintakaya paste - 3-4 spoons (generally we get it from india - green chintakaya paste)
Garlic (few pods)
Red chillies
Green chillies
Peanuts
Sesame seeds
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds
Jeera(Cumin seeds)
Dhaniya powder/seeds
Asafoetida
Curd
Tamarind - little bit (soaked and get thick water of it)
Curry leaves

Method of preparation
Dry roast the peanuts, sesame seeds and red chillies.
Grind green chillies, garlic, sesame seeds, peanuts and red chillies.
Add the Chintakaya paste, curd, tamarind liquid and grind together. Add salt as needed and very little water for it to grind and mix thoroughly.

In a pan, add some oil. Add dhaniya, mustard seeds (let them splutter), jeera, and curry leaves. Take a small bowl with little water and add asafoetida to it. Mix it and then add it to the above and close the lid. After couple of minutes add the grinded paste from above. Cook for about 5 - 10 minutes until the oil leaves the sides of hte pan or floats on top. Enjoy it !!!!