Badusha

If you want real authentic recipe with correct quantities, please refer to the recipe here

I made Badusha many many times and each time it turned out different, I don’t know why. May be the quality of maida or yogurt made them different. I learnt little from each experiment and I used that experience today while making this Badusha. Seriously speaking, I have not measured oil and yogurt in this recipe. And the Badusha has turned out really well. Ravi and Naveen loved those instantly and we finished all at one go.

What I did was, I took 2 cups of maida, added little salt to it, a spoon of baking powder and 1/6th cup of rice flour and mixed them thoroughly (usually people sieve the whole thing together). I kept on adding oil instead of ghee (as I ran out of ghee) until the mixture became like breadcrumbs. Then I kept adding yogurt until the mixture looked like layers and made that into a ball. Do not put water. These are the ground rules for making badusha. Oil/ghee and yogurt form an important part of the recipe. Then covered it with a wet cloth for half an hour. Made small balls out of the dough and pressed in the center. Made thin sugar syrup on the side. Deep fried the balls and soaked in sugar syrup for 15 mins. Took them out and left them aside for an hour.

You can store them for more than a month in a refrigerator. Heat those for 10 sec before eating.

Achari Noodles

My friend's mom (in Hyderabad) used to make this often whenever we went to her place for combined studies. I tried contacting her to get the Recipe and tried many times to get this kind of taste. Finally I found the recipe today and made this with a lot of enthusiasm. The food got ready in 15 mins; I was surprised at how fast this was done. I cooked noodles and the seasoning separately and that saved a lot of time.

I think this is the first recipe I made without any curry leaves, coriander or mint; otherwise I always used to think that there is nothing delicious without those going into the cooking.

Try this recipe and see for yourself how tasty this is. I thought of adding a bit of pickle oil to bring that Achari taste but amchur brought that taste and combined with yogurt, this kind of become like sour noodles. I liked it a lot but Ravi kind of said that I make better things than this. But I enjoyed every bit of it. In just half hour, the cooking was done and food was finished too. Next time, I will try this with organic whole wheat noodles.

You need....

1/2 packet of haka noodles
1/2 onion
1 cup sour yogurt (sweet should work fine)
1 tbsp rice flour
a pinch of turmeric
1 tbsp Jeera/Cumin
1/4 Rai/Mustard
1/2 tbsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp amchur powder
salt as per taste
1/2 tbsp black salt (optional)
2 tbsp oil
water for boiling noodles

1. Heat water in a pan and cook noodles (follow the cooking instructions on the packet).
2. On the side, heat oil in a pan. Add jeera, rai, fenugreek seeds and fry for a minute.
3. Add onions and fry until they become brown.
4. Add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, chilli powder, amchur powder, black salt (recipe calls for this, but I didn't have it in my kitchen) and fry all of them for one minute.
5. Add rice flour, mix well. Lower the flame, add yogurt (whisk it well) and cook for 2 minutes.
6. Finally add noodles and mix well with the yogurt mixture. Remove after a minute and serve hot.

source:tajrecipe

Appam

This recipe is the outcome of a failure. Initially I started making this with the idea of making Chekkalu (I know Andhra guys would laugh at this). I read somewhere sometime back the instructions to make this but I never tried this before and out of blue I felt the urge to eat this right away. I tried the ready made ones from the Indian store but didn’t like any brand so I started making mine.

I made the dough and started frying them but they were coming out soft (Initially I made small circles) and I knew then and there that the recipe failed. After frying a batch, Ravi was disappointed too and asked me do you really want to eat such deep friend stuff? This was taking so much oil and we had to use many paper towels to remove oil from them. I switched off the stove, thinking of keeping the dough in the refrigerator and make Akki Rotis the next day.

I asked Ravi to taste one and he immediately said: oh! this is Appam. It seems like his mom used to make this often in summer holidays. And I asked him if I should continue making them, he said yeah, but make them big and round and thick. I went back to the kitchen, heated the oil again and made appams with the remaining dough. He said we can use various gourds to that and fry them. I thought I will try that next time. But, as I said this needs lot of oil and people with cholesterol problems should better avoid that.

I put a stock pot on the stove, added 6 cups of water, about 4 tbsps of jeera, half cup of chana dal (soaked for half hour), turmeric, and salt and boiled it. Added 2 cups of rice flour and mixed (the end result would be a big ball of rice flour). Used ziploc or wax paper to make shapes, applied oil to palms (because the dough gets sticky) and deep fried in oil. And this frying takes a lot of time and you need to have lot of patience with this.

Besan Toast

These days I am making things out of the leftover stuff lying in the fridge, I am in the process of clearing the fridge and concentrating on many veggies and other stuff. In this case, it is bread, there is a big packet of it unused yet. We don't normally feel like eating bread but I got about 2 packets thinking of making bread roll but I made many with just one packet. Looks like I am wasting a lot of money on food...

Anyways, this is a simple food for the weekend brunches if you are in the middle of weekend chores. Add anything you like to the besan and make a toast of your choice.

I added salt, pepper, chilly powder, turmeric, ginger-garlic paste, fresh chopped coriander to the besan and added some warm water to mix it. Don't make it too thick as it takes sometime to cook and will not cook well. Make the batter into a semisolid consistency and leave aside for 15-20 mins.

Heat a pan, smear some oil on the pan. Dip the bread and shallow fry in little bit of oil. Actually I didn't use oil at all and it was good that way too. I don't know how nutritious this is, it can be if we make the toast with either whole grain or wheat bread. But besan is all protein and I guess that's enough for one meal. Serve it with sauce (something hot) and some juice or milk. I served pista and saffron milk with this meal. It was full and we were not hungry until late night.

Our Saturday's brunch

Kool Kabuli

One more recipe for my buddy Ray. I hear only protein! from men these days, my hubby keeps asking me to make at least one complete protein dish for a day and I think I am running out of ideas though there are some that I haven’t made recently like Pesarattu, Rajma soup, Adai dosa…

I read something in a health magazine recently that Indian vegetarians eat more protein than the required amount, we kind of laughed at it thinking do we? I know that we make sure to have at least one portion of dal every day and I don’t think it has so much protein necessary for the body… anyways!

While I made Chole for Ravi’s potluck this morning, I took out a bowl of boiled Kabuli Chana for this dish. This one is very healthy, loaded with protein and full of nutrients. You can call it Chana poriyal also as it follows the lines of poriyal recipe.

You need…

a bowl of boiled kabuli chana /chick peas (boiled in salt and turmeric)
½ tbsp each of jeera, rai, chana dal, urad dal
3 green chillies, chopped
½ inch ginger, chopped
½ tbsp coconut powder
1 tbsp oil
few curry leaves
coriander for garnishing

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Do bagara (tadka, we call it bagara in hyderabadi lang) by adding jeera, rai, chana dal, urad dal into the hot oil. Fry them for half a minute.
3. Add green chillies, fresh ginger and curry leaves and fry until you get a nice aroma of all the mixed spices. (I love this part in cooking, this combination is so aromatic and flavorful and I don’t think I will be able to describe that taste well in my words, it is indescribable).
4. Add boiled kabuli chana and coconut powder and leave it for a minute.
   Remove and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve it hot or cold, it tastes great and don’t forget a cup of orange juice to go with it.

My breakfast this morning!

4:3:2:1 Lunch Box!

This is my entry to "Show your lunch box" event. I looked at the deadline just last night and I started preparing this for the lunch early in the morning. I had to get up early for one more reason as I had to cook lunch for the potluck at Ravi's work place. I cooked Chole and made some peas and carrots Pulav as an accompaniment for Chole.

My lunch box got ready in no time since most of them are taken directly from the refrigerator, washed and arranged in a box. The only effort I put in was for Dhokla, put the batter in pressure cooker for 12 mins on high and cut them into different shapes, hearts and flowers with cookie cutter and made diamonds with a sharp knife. And in parallel, I put baby potatoes, peas and carrots for roasting in a toaster oven. By the time I finished making Chole, my roasted veggies and Dokhla got ready and here you see my awesome lunch.

Used the 4:3:2:1 ratio of Japanese Bento method with Dhokla, roasted Veggies (baby potatoes, green peas and carrots), Fruits (strawberry and grapes), and I replaced Dessert with dried fruits Walnuts and Cranberries. We eat few walnuts and cranberries everyday as walnuts are supposed to increase the good cholesterol and decrease the bad one and cranberries for their anti-oxidant properties.

There is no recipe to provide for Dokhla as that is made with Swad Instant mix (recipe is on the box) and I will make another post for Roasted Potatoes very soon...

VT Students: May they rest in peace

My heart goes out to those who died in the brutal killings. My friends at this university are still working on their PhDs and were locked down in their labs and were hungry.

My husband did his Master's in this university and it is such a calm and peaceful university town that nobdy would have guessed this happening. It is heavy on the heart to read or watch news on CNN on this issue.

Quick Mixed Veggie Rice

What do you do when you are lazy and don’t feel like cooking?
Those days when you are tired from work and don’t feel like eating out and you want to eat something healthy?

I picked up a packet of Mixed Vegetables and started making this quick dish with left over rice. Good that we get pre-packaged veggies here in this country and no hassle of cutting veggies when you don’t feel like.

Sprinkle some water on the rice and heat in the microwave. This way the grains will be separated.

You need…

2 cups of mixed vegetables (add potato, green peppers or cauliflower)
1 onion, medium, chopped
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp chilli powder
2 tbsp oil

1/2 tbsp garam masala
few green chillies (optional)
shahjeera (optional)
a pinch of turmeric
few springs of pudina/mint
coriander for garnishing
Salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a cooking pan.


2. Add chopped onion, shahjeera and try them until brown.


3. Add green chilies, ginger garlic paste, pudina and try them until the raw smell goes.


4. Add mixed vegetables and stir fry them for 5 mins.


5. Add turmeric, red chilli powder, garam masala and mix all together for a minute.


6. Finally add rice and mix the whole thing well until the masala coats the rice.

Garnish with coriander and lemon wedges and serve hot with yogurt.

Ready to eat in less than 20 mins.

School Days

This was forwarded to me by my friend Ravi A recently and it really reminded me of my school days.

Most of you might have seen this already but I just couldn't help laughing on the expansion and on an infinite answer.

Moong Sprouts Bhel

I guess I will dedicate this to my friend Ravi A(Sunray-as he is called), who has been asking me to make some protein dishes. This one provides good amount of protein and you can eat this either for breakfast or dinner with a glass of orange juice.

Sprouts have been described as power foods and a boon to mankind from ancient days. Sprouts bear the largest relative amount of nutrients per unit of intake of any food known to man. They have enough first - quality proteins to be classified as "complete". More importantly, sprouts are totally chemical-free, leave no waste, are delicious when raw and are super low in calories.

You need...

2 cups of moong/green gram sprouts
1 cup murmura (optional)
1/2 onion, chopped
2 green chillies, optional
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp jeera
1 tbsp green chutney
1 tbsp saunf (fennel seeds)
a pinch of ginger powder
1/2 tbsp chat masala
1/2 cup yogurt, sweetend
red chutney, as needed

1. Heat oil in a pan.


2. Add jeera, saunf to the oil and let them splutter.


3. Add chopped onions and cook them until light brown.


4. Add green chillies, moong sprouts and cook them for a minute or two. If you cook more, they will become hard to eat.


5. Soak murmura in water for a minute and add them to the above mixture.


6. Add green chutney, ginger, chat masala and salt and cook everything together for a minute. Remove from heat.

To serve, you can either eat them as it is or you can make behl this way by arranging the cooked moong in a plate, add red chutney and sweetned yogurt (add sugar to yogurt). Garnish with both coriander and sev.

Sprouts are the best "living food". In fact, they are so alive that they are still growing when you eat them.

Our Sunday's breakfast

Source: http://www.healthandyoga.com/html/food/sprout.html

Ragi Dosa

One of the easiest recipes (even my bachelor friends can make it..they have been requesting me to post some simple dishes, one of my close friends requested me to post only protein dishes and a lot of them are asking me to post my Hyderbadi specialities, I am coming there guys...but slowly!)

There is so much information about this Ragi or Millet Flour on web and it was surprising that I didn't know much about it until recently (Thanks to the blog community who introduced me to this).

I made this for our dinner tonight and the result was pleasing. It didn't taste like what I had expected but it was OK. It was different actually. You guys should try and let me know whether you liked it or not. I made putnalu/chana dalia chutney to go with this and the combination was very right.

But make the batter's consistency little thinner than dosas as it tends to break. But, I somehow managed by putting more water and making it light. Good thing about it is: there is no fat involved, I didn't put any oil on the sides at all but I tried on just one and the taste was the same.

I used the recipe from MyDhaba but modified it to our taste.I used frozen coconut as I didn't have fresh one at home.

You need...

2 cups Ragi flour
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup cocunut
few coriander leaves, chopped
5 green chillies, chopped
1 tbsp sugar
salt to taste
oil or ghee (optional)
water to mix.

1. Mix all of them and make batter a little thinner consistency than dosa's and keep aside for 15 mins.


2. Heat tava or pan, rub some oil on the pan for the first time. Add a spoonful of batter and spread round like a cake.


3. Once cooked, takes about 45 sec-1 min, turn it and cook on the other side also. Repeat the same for others...

I served this with putnala chutney but you can try coconut or mint chutney.

Ragi Dosa

Putnala Chutney

My mom makes this chutney whenever she makes Idlis and this goes really well with Dosas too. You can actually try different variations with his and modify according to your taste, add more ginger, less putnalu...make it in anyway, it tastes great.

But, remember not to put the chutney into the hot seasoning pan. Let the seasoning cool down and mix all of them together, otherwise I have observed the coconut gets sticky and brings out the oil from it.

You need...

For grinding:
1 cup of putnalu
1/2 cup cocunut
1/2 inch ginger
1/2 tbsp sugar
3 green chillies, or according to your spice levels
few coriander leaves, choppedsalt to taste

For seasoning:
1/2 tbsp each jeera, rye, urad dal, chana dal
1 or 2 curry leaves
1/2 red chilli
1 or 2 tbsp oil

1. Grind all together until smooth.
2. Heat oil in a pan add all the seasoning items and saute for
   a minute. Remove from the stove and let it cool.
3. Mix it with step 1.
   Enjoy this chutney with Idlis and Dosas.
   

Putnala Chutney

Tutti Fruiti Lassi

It was one of the most sunny and muggy days for this season today, surprisingly. It is just the beginning of April and it is only spring but the temperature went upto 98 degrees.

We all went for an afternoon walk (we have a nice trail around our office location, it is more than 4 miles but we walked only 3 miles) and we were dead tired by the time we came back to work. We didn't feel like going back to work after going through all this humid and unpleasant climate.

Then, I took off from work early and started driving towards home. The inside of the car was so hot and the heat was so direct on my face, it was a scorching heat, almost felt like it was
going to burn my hands.

I wanted to come home and drink something very cold to cool my body off. I could not wait to get home and take a cold water bath. Then I made this Tutti Fruiti lassi. It is basically a plain lassi but I added a Tutti Fruiti ice cream ball to eat at the end. That quenched my thirst for something cold and nice. I then relaxed for a while indoors before fixing dinner.

You need...

2 cups yogurt
1/2 cup waterl
little crushed ice
pista, 3 or 4 (optional
1 spoon cream (optional)
little cardammom powder
little salt
4 spoons of sugar
Tutti Fruiti Ice Cream (you will find this in Indian Stores)

1. Blend all except the Ice Cream.

Just before serving, put the Ice Cream ball in the Lassi and serve cold.

Birakaya Pappu

This is one kind of dal/pappu that Andhra guys die for. And the taste and the process of making this differs from region to region. This is the kind of recipe that my mom makes and I made this on the weekend.

When I got sick in my childhood, I used to think of eating this curry to get back that depleted energy. I love this so much in any way. We make dal(we use either tool dal, or moong dal), stuffed birakaya, or cook with methi or milk and make some snacks during summer.

I usually cook a lot of toor dal together and use little everyday to make a variety of dals for the next two or three days.

I made this recipe with toor dal this time. Eat this by adding little ghee and you would realise how heavenly the taste is.



You need...

1 birakaya (peeled and chopped)
1 Tomato (chopped)
few red chillies
few curry leaves
1 tbsp each of jeera, mustard
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 cups cooked toor dal
a pinch of turmeric
1/2 tbsp red chilli powder
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste

1. Heat the oil in a pan and fry jeera, mustard until you hear the popping sound. Add red chillies and curry leaves and cook for a minute.
2. Add birayaka and cook until soft.
3. Add tomatoes and ginger garlic paste and cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Add turmeric, red chilli powder and salt and mix them all.
5. Add the cooked toor dal and stir for a minute. Reduce heat and cook for another 3 mins.

Serve hot with rice and ghee, it tastes great.

Happy Birthday Naveen!!

Your Birthday

is a celebration of
the special bond we share,
sending you my sweet wishes to say...

Hope your day is as wonderful
as you are!

Happy Birthday

Easy Tomato Rice

Finally! I am sending my first entry to JFI (an online food blogging event started by Indira of Mahanandi). This month, it is hosted by RP of My workshop.

This time the topic is Tomatoes. We need to submit any recipe made with tomatoes as the main ingredient and send the recipe along with pictures to RP, she in turn posts all the recipes sent to her on her blog.

I wanted to make Masala Tomato Curry for this event but due to my hectic schedule all last week and also the weekend, I didn't have enough time to make that curry. So, I chose to make Easy Tomato Rice instead and sending over the entry in the last minute. I hope my recipe will be entered into this event.

I bought a big box of Tomatoes from the farmer's market last week and I am using those to make this dish.


You need...

2 tomatoes (cut into small pieces)
1 onion2 cups cooked rice (preferably basmati rice)
2 green chillies, cut into small pieces
2 dried red chillies
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 bay leaf
3 cardammoms powdered
3 cloves
2 Tbsp cashews, optional
2 Tbsp oil
1 tbsp shah jeera (optional)
a pinch of cinnamon
few mint leaves, chopped
few curry leaves
few coriander leaves, chopped
salt to taste

1. Add oil in the pan and heat it. Add onions and shah jeera and fry until the onions turn brown.
2. Add ginger garlic paste, green chillies, dried red chillies, mint leaves, curry leaves and mix.
3. Add bay leaf, cinnamom, cardammom powder, cloves, cashews, and mix again and cook all of them for 2 mins.
4. Add tomatoes and keep mixing until the tomatoes are cooked.
5. Add a pinch of turmeric and salt.
6. Finally add rice and mix them all together.
7. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with Raita.