Tikki Pav

I got this pav from Harris Teeter's fresh bakery thinking of making Pav Bhaji. But, things changed and we wanted to eat Vada Pav instead but we didn't want to deep fry anything. We are attending so many parties these days and eating all oily and unhealthy stuff, we thought let's make Aloo Tikkis and use them as vadas, that is how this new recipe, a cross between a sandwich and vada pav was born.

And actually Ravi made this dish (I should have taken pictures of the tikkis he made, he is a perfectionist, I showed him how small the pav was and he made the correct size that would go with the pav and he made exactly 24 for the 24 pavs I had), I only shallow fried them in little bit of oil and arranged the tikkis in pavs.

We made this from organic russet potatoes from whole foods and some green peas.

To make this you need...

3 pototoes

1 cup green peas

1 tbsp red chilli powder

1 tbsp garam masala

1/2 tbsp amchoor powder

1/2 bunch coriander

1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

a pinch of turmeric

half juice of lemon

salt to taste

oil for shallow fry

pav bread

1. Boil pototoes and peas separately, remove skin from potato and mash both potatoes and peas.
2. Add powders like red chilli(you can add green chillies if you like), turmeric, garam masala, amchoor and salt.
3. Add shredded cilantro, lemon juice, and ginger garlic paste and mix everything together.
4. Make small patties of the mixture and keep aside.
5. Heat a pan, put a tbsp of oil and smear evenly on pan.
6. Depending on the size of the pan, cook all tikkis together or some at a time until the tikkis are brown on both sides and remove.
7. To arrange, cut pav into half, put some butter to the sides (we avoided this step) and toast. Smear green chutney and garlic chutney on one side and put the patties on the bottom side, top it with the other side of the bun and press a bit.
8. Do the same for the remaining buns. I made 24 small tikki pav's with this mixture.

Serve with onions and some ketchup or sauce. This was very close to Vada Pav recipe but a healthy one without a lot of oil.

Our Sunday's brunch

Corn Soup

Looks like a Corn Night for us tonight. We ate fruits and drank chocolate milk and thought that that's the end of our dinner, but my hubby wanted something to eat, something spicy. I went to the refrigerator and checked what is in there and found a bag of corn. My corn soup was due from long, it is a super hit among our friends and a lot of them asked me to post this from long, finally I am doing it today.

So, I made both Corn Soup and Corn Roast and added some extra calories to our diet. This corn soup is so heavenly and so easy to make that you would keep going back to make this atleast twice a week after tasting this. Now the winter season is coming to an end in Raleigh and saw some spring flowers blooming on my way back home. Those white flowers without leaves on the trees look fantastic. Along with the winter season, the soup season comes to an end in my kitchen.

This recipe is an ayurvedic one, I found this on some site, couldn't recall where! about 2 years ago. This has all the basic ingredients(ginger, cumin, pepper) that ayurveda suggests for proper digestion of food and it is recommend by doctors for lowering cholesterol problems. And since we get frozen corn so easily in food stores, this definitely adds to the less preparation time.

To make this you need...

2 cups frozen corn
1 inch ginger piece
few cilantro leaves
water to boil
1 tbsp ghee
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 tbsp black pepper powder
salt to taste

1. Boil corn until tender (usually frozen corn takes less time).
2. On the side, put ginger and cilantro leaves in the blender and blend by adding little water. Add the boiled corn to the blender (after cooling). Leave some corn kernels aside to add later.
3. Heat ghee ( you can even add EVOO, it tasted better last time) addcumin seeds, let them splutter. Add the blended mixture, add some water (depending on how thick you want, I leave it thick, I like it that way).
4. Add fresh ground pepper and some salt and the remaining corn kernels and let it boil for a couple of minutes.
5. Remove and serve with either bread or just plain.

I served with some hot puffs tonight.
Sent some to my local friends, I hope they enjoyed the soup and puffs along with their dinner.

Corn Roast

This is one of the easiest things that anyone can make on this earth. And the taste that you get out of this sweet corn keeps lingering in your mouth and makes you go back for another serving.

But, if you make this without the sweet corn the taste differs a lot and I am used to that kind of taste from India. This was also great as you would get almost all the tastes, sweet from corn, spicy from ginger garlic paste and hot from chillis.

You need....

corn
salt
chilli powder
ginger garlic paste
green chilli (optional)
oil

1. Heat oil, add corn and green chillies and roast them until brown.
2. Add ginger garlic paste and about 2 mins. (GGP makes a difference in this dish)
3. Add chilli powder and salt and cook for another minute.
4. Remove and serve hot.

Chana Dal Payasam

It's a quick way of making this payasam. I heard people making this payasam but never made one. My mom makes Polelu (Puran Poli) on Ugadi with Pachadi and some kind of dal with the dal and jaggery/bellam (gur). I never thought I would make this when I started cooking, but somehow ended up making this dish

You need...

1 cup chana dal
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1 tsbp ghee
dry fruits
3 cubes Jaggery/bellam
1 spoon cardammon powder

1. Cook chana dal in pressure cooker. Mash half of it.
2. Make jaggery syrup in the pan by adding a cup of water to jaggery. Let it come to a boil
3. Heat 1 cup milk in a microwave and add it to the syrup.
4. Add chana dal and cardammon powder.
5. Heat a small pan, add ghee, fry dry fruits (cashews, almonds, raisins) and add it to the payasam.

Serve hot or cold, it tasted good both ways. You can try adding dried cocunut pieces along with other dry fruits. For the picture, check my previous post

Happy Ugadi

After all the confusion and controversies on when to celebrate Ugadi because of Solar Eclipse, we have decided to celebrate the festival today. Our SV temple pandits also recommended the same.

Ravi and I wish our family, friends and visitors of this site a very Happy Ugadi & Gudipadwa!

My mandir at home

I got up at 5.30 am today and made some tamarind pulihora, chana dal payasam and Ugadi pachadi.

Chana Dal Payasam, Pulihora, Ugadi Pachadi

Palak Rava Cheela

I went home early and wanted to make something nice for the dinner. I have searched various blogs, the cookbooks at home and stood near the refrigerator looking at the vegetables for long but I didn’t feel like eating any of them. And we both were not in a mood to eat heavy food because of the heavy lunch we had, rice and drumsticks sambhar.

I was looking to make food that is something light and easy on stomach. And I had one more issue on mind that whatever I make I should be able to take that for next day’s lunch instead of cooking two different items. And I am working on 8 am shift these days, so it is not possible to cook in the morning. After an hour of thinking, browsing, struggling on what to cook, I ended up making this pakal rava cheela. I decided to make rava cheela in the beginning but added spinach to it at the end. These days I am adding spinach in almost all the dishes, even in chole and aloo mutter.

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Ingredients
--------------
1 cup rava
1 cup palak/spinach
4 Tbsp besan
1 small onion
2 green chillies
½ inch ginger
1 Tbsp yogurt
1tbsp ajwayan (oregano seeds)
Few springs of coriander
Curry leaves (optional)
Salt to taste
Water (about a cup)

1. Chop palak, onion, green chillies, ginger, coriander, curry leaves and keep aside.
2. Add besan and salt to rava and mix all together.
3. Add yogurt and water to step2 to make a smooth batter.
4. Add chopped veggies from step 1 to the batter. Add ajwayan.
5. Heat a pan and season it with a little oil (just like you do for Dosas).
6. Put some batter on the pan and spread in the shape of a circle. Spray oil on the sides for crispiness (you can avoid this if you are conscious about fat).
7. Cook on both sides until light brown.
8. Remove and serve with ketchup or coconut chutney.
   

The outcome was better than expected; the taste of palak was completely different with this dish. You can even puree palak before adding to the batter for uniform taste.

Black and Red Art Piece

I made this one with Black and Red velvet paper. I searched for this kind of paper everywhere, online, stores like Michaels, A.C Moore, Ben Franklin crafts but nobody even knew about this paper. Back in India, I used to make a lot of designs for walls and greeting cards for friends with this paper. This paper is so versatile that you can make anything out of it. But, unfortunately it is not available in the US. I had to ask my mom to bring all colors avaialable in India for me when she came to visit me. The one I have at home in India is a similar one but the colors I used were yellow and maroon and I added two peacocks on the two sides. I made a simple one for me.

You can make this too in just 2 or 3 hours. All you need is a black and red velvet paper. Cut Red velvet into mini circles, gel them as you wish and put a jewel in the center. I bought these jewels from Michaels, these are called acrylic jewels.

Mouth-Watering Muthiyas

These muthiyas are so tasty (writing as I eat) and so extra rich. I never thought these would be so good. I saw this post on Trupti’s site and was trying to make this from that day but never found time. This dish got ready in no time. I made this with Whole Wheat Flour and thought that this might turn bad but it did not.

I would have asked you to refer to Trupti’s site for the recipe, but I have added few more items, so I am presenting that here.

Ingredients

1.5 cup whole wheat flour
4 tbsp besan
1 tbsp rava
1 cup spinach leaves
½ cup methi leaves
1 cup corn
2 big chopped green chillies
½ inch chopped fresh ginger
1 tbsp oil from pickle
Yogurt to bind the dough
Handful of cilantro leaves
Salt, sugar, turmeric as per your taste

For seasoning

2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp asatofoetida
1 tbsp sugar
Few drops of lime juice
Cilantro leaves for garnishing

1. Mix wheat flour, besan, rava, spinach leaves, methi leaves, corn, green chillies, ginger, pickled oil, salt, sugar and slowly add yogurt. Don’t add too much yogurt, you need it just to bind everything together and make the mixture into small balls.
2. Steam the balls until they are well cooked. You can check if they are cooked by inserting the knife, the knife should come out clean. Cut them into pieces after they cool down.
3. Put cooking pan on the stove, add oil and let it heat for a minute
4. Add mustard seeds, let them splutter, and add sesame seeds, asatofoetida. Add cut muthiyas to the seasoning and stir fry them until light brown.
5. Add sugar and lime juice (fresh juice is preferable) and garnish with cilantro.

Serve with sweet yogurt or ketchup.

Weekend News & Ragi Malt

Watched many movies this weekend. Illayaraja fans (my friends) made a big deal about this movie and made us all go to watch Anumaspadam, but it was not upto the mark.

I never got a chance to watch Bend it like Beckham before and I viewed that this weekend, it inspired me so much and I told Ravi that we should not stop playing sports. Not just sports but any dream you have, I guess you should try hard to fullfill that.

I made Ragi Malt followed the recipe of Indira at Mahanandi and the drink was nutritious. My husband asked me to buy Ragi Flour from the Indian Store and I didn't know what I would be doing with that, when I searched on the google for some Ragi recipes, I found this recipe and it was not only tasty, but it has some good nutritional value too. Heard that this is good in both Calcium and Iron. I am planning to make some Ragi Dosas with the leftover flour.

Ragi malt recipe from Indira is here!

Mango Lassi

I took my brother to an Indian restaurant lately and he took Mango Lassi as his drink. He liked that so much that he kept asking me to make one at home. On his request, I made this with readymade mango pulp. I got this can from the store and I don’t remember the name of it, I already threw the can. I wish I had fresh mangoes in the kitchen; it would have made a big difference in the taste.

I envy those who are in India and who get to eat Raasalu in the summer. I love that variety of Mango so much. I just could not wait to get them home in those days. My mom used to buy them and soak them in water until evening and we used to eat them soon after the dinner. Ah! Who can forget those summer days with those mangoes around?
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Ingredients
-------------
½ cup of mango pulp
1 cup of yogurt (or buttermilk)
½ cup water
Sugar (as per your taste)
½ tbsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp cream

Blend all together and serve cold. Add some ice before serving.

Malai Bhindi/Okra

The thought that came to me soon after seeing these fresh, tender, soft Bhindis(Lady’s Fingers/Okras) is Malai Bhindi recipe. It’s been a while since I made this curry. Plus I had some naans at home and thought that, that would complete my meal.

There are so many childhood memories I have with this vegetable. My mom would make bhindi fry atleast once a week for the lunch along with parathas. And I used to wait for the lunch break to eat them. This was one of my favorites in those days esp those small eggs inside of bhindi, it was so much fun eating them. The thought that makes me laugh even today is the way we used to eat bhindi curry during the exams season as bhindi is supposed to sharpen the memory. Not just us but my cousins and everyone around.

Deep fried okra is quite popular in the United States but I never tasted that. Did anyone of you tried that? let me know how it tastes?


To prepare this you need...
------------
Ingredients
------------

20 bhindis
1 medium onion
1 medium tomato
1/2 cup cream
6 tbsp oil
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
cilantro for garnishing

powders

1 tbsp coriander
1/2 tbsp jeera
1/2 tbsp garam masala
1 tbsp chilli powder
a pinch of turmeric

1. Cut the head and tail of the bhindis and cook them by roasting them in 2 spoons oil.
2. On the side, blend onion, tomato.
3. Heat a cooking pan, add 3 spoons oil, add the onion, tomato mixture and let it cook for 10-15 mins.
4. Add the ginger-garlic paste and try for 2 mins.
5. Add all the powders and cook for 2 more minutes.
6. Add bhindis, salt and cook for another 5 mins.
7. Finally add cream and switch off the stove and keep it covered for 5 mins.
8. Garnish with cilantro at the end.

Serve with naan, it tastes great. You should eat this to know its delicious taste.

Weekend News...

Watched Madhumasam on Friday. It is an OK film. The reviews are here

Working today (being a Sunday) for the release.

Happy Holi

Happy Holi to all of you with rainbow colors around you!

Masoor Dal Kichidi

I felt like eating Rasam today with rice. And I remember when I made Rasam last time, I had it with Kichidi and the combination was awesome. I tried that combination this time too and it was perrrrfect. But, unfortunately the pictures of Rasam have come out real bad as I accidently moved the pointer to the night mode on the camera.

Kichidi is the easiest thing to make of all the foods I believe. Very less work involved and less time in cooking and overall result is mind-blowing, a tasty and delicious kichidi. You have both carbs and protein in this dish. We can make Kichidi using both masoor dal and moong dal. I even made kichidi one day with whole moong and served that with coconut chutney that was wonderful too. My mom makes kichidi with split moong and serves with cocunut or pudina chutney.

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Ingredients
------------
1 cup rice (basmati or sona masoori)
1/2 cup masoor dal
1/2 onion
3 spoons oil or ghee
2 cardammoms
2 cloves
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1. Heat oil in a pan. Cut onions into small pieces and add to the oil. Let the onions cook until brown.
2. Add coriander, coconut (optional), cardammoms, cloves, ginger garlic paste and keep stirring. Cook for 3 minutes.
3. Lower the heat and yogurt and leave it for a minute.
4. On the side, wash both masoor dal and rice and add salt plus 3 cups of water (2 cups for rice and 1 cup for dal) .
5. Add everything into the rice cooker, dal and rice and the onion mixture.
6. Cook until done.

Serve with Rasam or any Chutney. Picture shows Chole, Yogurt and Bitter Gourd fry. I had these at home, so we finished eating with this meal and but the main one was Rasam to go with kichidi.

Akki Roti

I got so excited after seeing this recipe at Supriya Krishna's blog that I was determined to try this out soon after coming home. I saw this just before leaving the office tonight and on my way I was thinking if I had the right ingredients at home but this recipe doesn't need a lot of stuff, just the regular variety like onions, carrots, curry leaves etc..

I came home and asked Ravi what he wants to eat, he said anything that you want to make or let's order a pizza if you are not interested to cook. I immediately asked him if he likes to eat "Akki Roti" he was like, sure, why not? And then I asked him, do you know what that is, he said no I don't! but I am sure it must be good. And that's how I went down to make this recipe and this was ready in minutes. My first 3 rotis have come really in nice shape but the later ones got broken. May be because the dough became cold after a while. I kept the remaining dough in a container to make some more, may be tomorrow.

Thought of adding more veggies but since this is rice flour that we are dealing with, I thought it would break if I add too many, so I didn't bother. I just went with the recipe posted on http://supriyakrishna.blogspot.com. Please refer to the recipe over there.

Shahi Gobi/Cauliflower

Vitamin C, K, Folate and Fiber are excellent in this nutty flavor Cauliflower. It is mostly grown in tropical countries and belongs to the same species as Broccoli and Cabbage. It is a common vegetable found in Indian Kitchens; however, I never tasted this vegetable back in India. I used to hate this and would tell my mom never to make this at home. But, things changed, my student life taught me to eat and taste everything. Cabbage was also listed in my hatred category. But, I do eat Cabbage now and make delicious Poriyal and Salad.

I had unexpected guests at home yesterday and since I got off from work early, I started making this shahi gobi for us and for friends. During leisure days, you marinate this gobi with spices and cook in the evening, but since I was in a hurry, I marinated gobi only for 15 mins and started cooking this delicious dish.

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Ingredients
--------------
2 Tbsp Malai/Cream
4 cloves
3 Tbsp oil or more
2 cardamoms crushed into powder
Salt to taste

To marinate Gobi:

½ gobi/cauliflower
½ cup yogurt
2 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp garam masala
A pinch of turmeric
For the paste:
2 medium tomatoes
2 medium Onions
2 tbsp kaju/cashew
3 green chillies
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1. Marinate Gobi by adding chilli powder, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, yogurt, garam masala and keep aside for 4 hours if you have time, otherwise 15 mins is fine. (But dish tastes good if you marinate). After marinating it, Cook this in the microwave for 6 mins, stopping every 2 mins to mix.
2. Make a paste of tomatoes, onion, green chillies, kaju and add ginger-garlic paste to it.
3. Heat a cooking dish and pour oil, add the step 2 paste and let it cook for 15-20 mins on a medium flame.
4. Add step 1 marinated and cooked gobi to step 3 and add a pinch of turmeric, chilli powder and garam masala. Also add cloves and cardamom Powder.
5. Add 2 Tbsp of malai/cream, chopped coriander and salt. Let that cook for another 10 mins or until you see the oil on the top.
   
   Serve with hot rice or paratha. I made Jeera rice and Spinach Paratha to go with it and the combination was simply great.