Dahi Bhendi/ Bendakaya Perugu kura

Ingredients

 Dahi bhendi recipe

Okra/Bhendi/Bendakaya  - wash, clean, dry and cut in big chunks. Fry is oil and keep them aside

Oil for tadka

Jeera

Garam Masala - 1 spoon 

Turmeric 

Red chilli powder

Curd/Dahi/Perugu 

Tomatoes

Cashews - handful

Onion - finely chopped

Besan  - to get thickness (1 spoon or so)

Salt to taste

Method of preparation

- Take a kadai, and add couple of spoons of oil. Add the cut bhendi and fry them until they slightly changed color or until they leave the sticky feeling

- Beat curd and keep it aside.

- Grind the tomato's, Cashews together into a fine paste

- Take a pan/kadai and add one spoon or two spoons or oil to it. Add Jeera and finely chopped onion.

- Once the onion are fried add the tomato cashew paste to it and cook for couple of minutes until raw smell is gone. Add turmeric, red chilli powder, salt, garam masala to it and mix together

- Add Besan to the gravy and let it cook for a minute here. 

- Add the beaten curd now and cook uncovered for couple of minutes. The oil will start to ooze out once the gravy is ready. 

- At this point, add the fried bhendi to the gravy, cover and cook for a minute or two at max and take it off the flame. Your yummy curry is ready.

Butter Murukku

With stuck at home, we need as many snacks as possible however I am not making too much healthy but tried this. There was no red chilli powder at home, so thought I can try this. This came out really good and crunchy. Perfect for even little kiddos. The recipe is simple. Next time I would like to try with baking (not sure how the taste goes, but nothing harm in trying one set). 

Ingredients

Rice Flour - 3 cups

Besan - 2-3 tablespoons (big scoops)

Jeera powder

Butter - 1 stick (you can add less if you want)

Salt to taste 

Pepper powder 

Sesame seeds 

Warm/Hot water 

Method of preparation

Take all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the room temperature butter into this. Mix it well withe flour. Start adding hot water little by little and make it a soft dough just like any other murukku/sev batter.

Keep the oil ready. Once the oil is hot, use the single star kind in muruku maker and start pouring the shape either in oil or you can make hte shapes on a plate and drop them one by one. Once they turn golden color, dry them on the paper towel and store them in air tight container. 

TIPS 
(1) you can add cold water also, but adding hot/warm water gives it more crispiness I feel.
(2) Add Ajwain if you want to
(3) Sesame seeds are optional

Pita wrap

I used store bought lot of items to combine this together and have a quick bite for dinner. I made some cilantro kind of rice and crumbled one falafel into it also to give it a little notch up. I used the tzaziki sauce (home made - mid Yogurt/Curd, Salt, Lemon, grated cucumber), hot sauce(you can use any but I used the sri racha), and store bought falafels along with Hummas and made a little cucumer and tomato salad (Add finely chopped cucumbers, tomato, salt and coriander).

Heat up the pita slightly (toasting level). Then add the 1 scoop of rice in middle. Add cucumber and tomato salad. Add the falafels on top of it. Drizle the sauces on top (tzaziki and hot sauce). Roll and enjoy.

Pav bhaji with beetroot included

Recipe coming soon....

Sprouts pulav

I had some sprouts lying around and not sure what to do with them as everyone refuse to finish them off sooner. So made this sprouts pulav. Here is the simple recipe for it.

Ingredients
Sprouts (any kind, I used Senaga sprouts and moong sprouts)
Bay leaf
Rice
Red onions
cloves
Cardammom
Cinnamon sticks
Salt to taste
Biryani pulav masala
Oil
Cumin seeds
Ginger garlic paste (optional)

Method of preparation
1. Take a pressure cooker/instant pot kind and add oil in it. Once oil is hot, add cumin seeds, ginger garlic paste, Cardammom, Cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon and add red onions. Fry them for a minute  or until the onions are slightly translucent or golden.

2. Add the Sprouts and salt to it. Cover and cook for two minutes until the sprouts are slightly soft. Add the rice and biryani pulav masala. Dont worry if you do not have this masala. This is optional too. You can add garam masala instead if you like (otherwise the plain raw masala's also are good enough).

3. Cover the rice and let it cook (for 1-2 whistles for rice done in pressure cooker or 3 minutes in the instant pot. Once done, serve hot with any Spicy pickle or chutney or just enjoy with ghee.

Note - avoid the ginger garlic paste and the onions if you want to make it as prasadam.

Cilantro Salsa

Sorry readers, I have been out almost all 2018. But here I am - promising myself to keep up and keep busy myself and update my recipes I try whether self learnt or from some other website to keep posting here.

One of the recipes I liked from my work cafeteria and I love making it whenever I have fresh cilantro and here it is and simple one

Ingredients
Cilantro
Jalepeno/green chillies
Tomato
Olive Oil
Salt

Method of preparation
- Blend the above ingredients together in a blender and enjoy it

Usage
- you can have it like chutney with white rice
- Have it as an appetizer along with chips or
- use it as a spread on sandwiches.

Note
- We need only 1/2 tea spoon or so of olive oil. Do not need much unless quantity is too much
- Jalepenos or green chillies vary on how much spiciness you would like to have. 

Minappodi Pulihora/ Urad dal powder Pulihora

This is one of the old memories I had when I was little. My grand mother's co-sister invited me to lunch as a kanne durga. She served me 9 types of pulihora's and one of the types I really remembered was this. This is so simple and my kids loved it eating it too.

Ingredients
Cooked Rice
Minappodi/Urad dal powder
Urad dal
Mustard seeds
Salt
Karivepaku/Curry leaves
Jeera/Cumin
Oil

Method of preparation
Spread the rice in a serving platter. Take a kadai on stove and add oil to it. Add mustard seeds and wait till it splutters. Now add curry leaves, Jeera, Asafoetida, urad dal to it. Once Urad dal turns nice color remove it and spread the poni on the rice along with the minappodi and salt to rice. Now mix gently all the rice and it is ready to serve. Enjoy!!

Minappodi/Urad dal powder

Urad dal powder or popularly known as minappodi. This can be accompanied with neyyi or ghee with any tiffins or just white rice. here is the recipe from a book. I do not know the book name otherwise the credit would have been given to the author. here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
Urad Dal
Red Chillies
Jeera
Asafoetida (Hing/Inguva)
Salt to taste

Method of preparation
Roast the Urad dal, Jeera, Red chillies separately. Grind all of them together to a powder. Adjust salt and spices and store the powder in a air tight container.

I made Urad dal podi pulihora. Recipe coming soon!!!

Simple Onion Tomato noodle Soup - (Indian Style)

This became one of my favorites after I tried making it for a rainy day. It was done in less than 10 minutes including preparation and satisfies my indian hunger as well as trying out something different other than rice, roti, pasta etc.

Ingredients
Red Onion - 1 no. - Cubed
Tomatos - cut in big chunks
Vegetable Stock - 2 cups
noodles - cooked (fast cooking ones)
Kura Karam (very important)
Salt to taste
Very little oil/butter
little jeera (Cumin) - totally optional - I like to add it to soothe the stomach

Method of preparation
Add little oil in a kadai/pan. Add the chopped onions. Let them saute for a minute. Now add the tomato's along with little salt. Allow them to cook for a minute. Now add the Vegetable Stock and noodles to this along with the Kura karam and salt. Cover and cook until it emits a nice flavorful smell. Add cilantro at end (optional) and serve along with a piece of baked/toasted bread. Sprinkle cheese , spring onions for kids to make it more attractive for them.

I hope you guys try it too!!!

Note:
(1) if the noodles are not fast cooking ones then precook the noodles and add after the vegetable stock is hot.
(2) if noodles are fast cooking ones where the instructions say add only hot water to it, then add it at same time as vegetable stock, so those get cooked too along with soup.

Red Thai Curry Veggie

Not indian but I have been trying other food and since I want quick bites or spend less time in kitchen sometimes this turned out to be a tasty option in quick time. Lets get started

Ingredients

Coconut milk - 2 cans

Red Curry paste - 1 (I used the Thai kitchen Red curry paste)

Veggies you like - I used Red bell pepper, cabbage, spring onions, baby corn, Green bell pepper, Thai basil, beans, carrots. Add 

Salt to taste

Hot sauce - I used the chilli garlic paste I have and Adjust it to your taste. 

Method of preparation

Advantage of the easier preparation is to just follow simple tips and let it take time to cook and serve us. I opened up can of coconut milk and added the thai curry paste bottle to it. Let it boil a little bit and add veggies to it. Once the veggies are little crunchy but cooked add salt and hot sauce to your taste and serve it hot with either rice noodles or white rice. 

  

 Top it with fresh basil before serving. The smell will be heaven. I served kids with some veggie omelet and pot stickers.

Happy Dussehra - 2016

Happy Dussehra to all the readers of my blog!!!! This is thali I made as prasadam for ammavaru today. It has Kesar Baaath (Kesar annam), Bellam annam (Jaggery Rice), Daddojanam (Yogurt Rice), Nimmakaya pulihora (Lemon Rice), Kobbari annam (Coconut Rice), Neyyi annam (Ghee Rice )

Pappu Thokku (Chana Dal, Lime)

Ingredients
Chana dal - 2 cups
Cumin seeds - 2 tea spoons
Green chillies - depends on how hot chillies are and how much spicy you want. I used 3 hot green long peppers
Lime juice - 1 table spoons (Adjust it according to your taste)

For tadka
Oil - 1 table spoon
mustard seeds - 1 tea spoon
urad dal - 1 tea spoon
red chillies - 2 -3 pinched small

Method of preparation
Soak chana dal for couple of hours. This gives the dal a little softier touch when grinded.
Grind it with green chillies, cumin, Do not make it too smooth paste. It has to be a little grainy.
You can add the lime juice and tadka at this point. Now top it with fresh coriander and serve with hot rice.

-- Will add pics soon.

Tomato Paste Pulihora

This is the simplest and fastest way to get my tomato flavor and yet satisfy the kids crave for pulihora (not regular).

Ingredients:
Tomato Paste
Cooked rice
Fresh tomato (optional)  -1
Peanuts
green chillies
red chillies
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera - 2 tsp
Turmeric
Salt to taste
Asafoetida
Oil

Method of preparation:
(1) Cook the rice so the grains are seperate and keep it aside.
(2) Take a pan and add oil to it
(3) Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, jeera. Let the mustard seeds splutter.
(4) Add the peanuts now and green chillies and red chillies at this point. Add asafoetida also.
(5) Add the fresh tomato pieces and the tomato paste at this point.
(6) Let the mixture cook for a minute or until it looses the raw smell from the tomato paste. Add the salt and turmeric at this point. Do not let the tomato paste dry too much. That will make it hard to spread the taste or for spreading the flavor for all rice.
(7) Mix the mixture to the rice thoroughly and have it with little curd and chutney or as is. Enjoy!!

Chole Rice

Last night as I was going through some recipes for a quick and easy dinner, I have observed that some people were uses different masala's to make the rice recipes other than biryani/pulao/friedrice masala. I asked myself why not experiment it. Since all the rice items do not have any good amount of protein in it, I wanted to add chole and bring some in. (I had the cooked chole ready). My husband and kids loved the rice, as it did not contain any strong spices but mild ones and tasted different and yummy. So try it when you wanna eat something different.

Ingredients
Cooked Rice - a little over 2 cups (I used basmati rice)
Chole - 1 and 1/2 cup of cooked chole
Red Onion - 1 - cut in lengthwise
Ginger garlic paste/Ginger - small bit grated
Tomato - 1
Bay leaves - 2
Cinnamon stick - 1
Pav bhaji masala - 1-2 spoons (increase the quantity if you need more)
Chaat masala - 1 spoon
Jeera - 1 spoon
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 spoons (I am not big of oil fan so I use less. Increase the quantity if you like it)

Method of preparation
(1) Add oil to a pan which can fit rice, Add Bay leaves and cinnamon stick.
(2) I am a big fan of jeera so I keep adding it in all recipes. If you want to have a rich taste, add teh shahi jeera instead of regular one.
(3) Add Onions. If you like Ginger garlic paste add it at this point. Let the stuff fry a little or until raw smell is gone.
(4) Add tomatos and the Masala's to it now. Add chole after a minute of adding tomato's.
(5) Mix and cook until the tomatos liquid is gone and the oil used is oozing out. (This should take probably 2-4 minutes, depending on the stove and its energy)
(6) Mix the cooked rice to it. and your yummy rice is ready. I would suggest serving with a small dollop of yogurt and some cucumber salad on side. Enjoy!!!!

Mint Chutney Sandwich/Pesto Sandwich

I learnt this from my friend Deepali. She had a panini maker and this sandwich comes out awesome in it. I used the regular tawa to make this sandwich. For adults or kids who likes a ting taste of mint add Mint chutney and if kids are too young, add the basil pesto sauce. This is made in seconds and done eating in minute. I like to serve it with Avacado and little ketchup if desired. 

Ingredients

Bread ( I use whole wheat/Whole grain)

Spinach
Peppers (can add multi colored to make it interesting and yummy for kids)
Cheese (I used the pepper jack slices or shredded cheese but can use any kind you like)
Mint chutney or Basil Pesto (I used Deep frozen mint chutney for us and Classico traditional basil pesto sauce for kids)

Method of preparation
Prepare the bread by spreading the sauce on it (Basil pesto or mint chutney).Add cheese to it.

 Now add the spinach and peppers in any way you like. I added like below:

Just combine the two bread slices and heat it in panini maker. For those who do not own a panini maker, add little ghee to tawa and add the bread sandwich. Once you feel that the side is done, carefully turn it to other side for a little bit of time and serve with your favorite sauce or serve as is. This can be used as lunch/snack/dinner anything. Enjoy!!!

Boorelu/Bobbatlu - Traditional way

Going with traditional how to do boorelu here.I never knew that they were made like this I saw my masi making it on the Ugadi. I will share how the poornam (Stuffing inside the boorelu) is made in another seperate post. but here is the way to make boorelu. 

Method of preparation:

Add the whole wheat or roti mix with more water than required and add the oil to it. Our final product should look like below.

Apply oil to your hands and make a small flat round out of the dough made above. Add poornam ball in between and wrap the ball with the dough flattenned. It looks something like below.

Here is another picture of the poornam bals with couple of balls ready to make boorelu or bobbatlu.

Take a zip loc or any plastic cover. Apply oil over it. Take one dough covered poornam and press gently with your hand until it is round like shown below.

Heat the tawa/pan/penam and put little oil or ghee on it.Add the boorelu flattenned on it. Make sure you turn side after a minute or two and that side should almost be done. you will know when they are done by their color and smell.

Here are some virtual boorelu ready for you to taste. Enjoy!!!!

Tofu & Guacamole

Another quick snack which my kids love it and Thank you to my friend Deepali for sharing this recipe for us. Shallow fry the tofu cubes, and keep them aside. 

When ready, apply the guacamole on top and serve kids fresh. I hope your kids and you love it too!!!!

Cheese and Crackers (kids Special)

This was a quick snack which I give my kids when they are hungry. The crackers and cheese are ready made from market. I cut the cheese square slices I get according to the cracker slices. Bingo your snack is ready and kids love it !!! try it out 

Kobbari Annam/Coconut Rice

This is one of the simple rice item to do. My recommendation for this item, it goes very good with any of gravy curries or Perugu Pachadi (Yogurt pickle) or with Sambar or Pulusu kind of liquid.

Ingredients

Grated Coconut ( you can use fresh if you have or use Frozen one also)

Chana Dal (add good amount of this, if you like crunchy in between)

Urad dal - 1/2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin - 1 tsp

Asafoetida 

Salt to taste

Green Chillies  - 5 or 6 cut lengthwise

Red Chillies 

Coriander (optional, for garnish only)

Basmati rice cooked (grains should be seperate, one way to do it is, add a litttle oil in the rice cooker )

Curry leaves (optional, but adds good taste)

Oil

Method of preparation

Take a very little oil (a spoon or two) and fry the coconut (until it is slightly brown or until the raw smell goes away, whichever is faster). Spread the cooked rice in a wide bowl and add the grated and fried coconut to it. Now for the popu(talimpu, poNi, tadka), add some oil to a tadka bowl. Once oil is hot, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetidam lengthwise slit green chillies, Chana dal, urad dal, curry leaves, red chillies to it. Once Chana dal is little fried, add salt to here and turn off flame/heat. Add the tadka to the above coconut and rice mixture and mix all ingredients thoroughly. Your coconut rice is ready and garnish with coriander before serving. 

Hope you like it !!!!

Note: Add fried cashews, peanuts if interested.

Healthy Salt biscuits (Salt Biscuits made with wheat flour)

I used the healthy in the title because instead of regular old maida, I used wheat flour for this recipe. I got this recipe from my aunt and made it instantly the next day. Turns out, kids love it as a time pass snack.

Ingredients
Wheat Flour (Roti flour)
Red chilli powder
Salt to taste
Warm oil
Water to mix it to dough
Sesame seeds (Can avoid if you have nut allergies)
ajwain seeds (very little)
Cumin seeds (very little)

Method of preparation
Mix the wheat flour along with red chilli powder, salt, sesame seeds, ajwain, cumin. Now add warm oil slowly and mix it up. Add water to above and make it like a dough. Keep it aside for few minutes and then flatten it out with a rolling pin or belan. Cut into diagonal pieces with either pizza cutter or a knife and fry them in a hot oil for a minutes or until it turns a little brown. Drain and store them in an air tight container. Your snack is ready whenever you want.

Note: If the flattened out dough is thin then the snack will turn out crispy.