Bread Poha Recipe

Now that’s what you call a quick fix breakfast 🙂 Plus you have bread loaf at home but not in a mood for toast and omelette? Then this is what you can do…

Oil – 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 2 tsp
Chana daal (yellow gram lentil) – 2 tsp
Urad daal (white lentils) – 1tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Onions – 2 medium (finely chopped)
Green chilli – 2 (finely chopped)
Coriander leaves – for garnish (finely chopped)
Tomato – 1 big (finely chopped)
Tamarind water – 3 tbsp (soak small lemon sized tamarind ball in warm water and squeeze out juice after 10 minutes)
Ginger – garlic paste – 1 tsp
*Sambhar powder – 1-2 tsp
Bread – ½ loaf (cut in squares)
Fried Cashews – 3 tsp

1.    Heat Oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and let it splutter
2.    Add chana daal, urad dal, curry leaves and green chilli and fry well
3.    Add onions, ginger-garlic paste and fry
4.    Add chopped tomatoes and fry well
5.    Now add tamarind water, salt to taste, sambhar powder and cook until dry
6.    Add bread pieces and mix well without breaking the bread pieces
7.    Garnish with coriander leaves and fried cashew
8.    Serve hot

*if you donot have sambhar powder then take in a cup 1 tsp coriander powder + ½ tsp chilli powder and add sufficient water to soak the masala.This can be used in the above recipe for sambhar powder. Add it at Step 2.

Wasn’t this bread recipe cool?

Till next time….happy cooking!

Semolina Upma Recipe

Semolina Upma was another dish that used to find its way into my tiffin box quite often, but I must admit that it tastes much much better when served hot.

Roasted Semolina / Suji – 1 cup
Onion – 1 no big
Coriander / curry leaves – finely chopped
Garlic – 2 flakes (finely chopped) – optional
Ginger – ½ inch (finely chopped)
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Gram daal or white lentils – 1 tsp (also called chana daal / Urad daal)
Fresh / frozen peas – ½ cup
Oil – 1 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Water – 2 cups

1. In a pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once its stops spluttering add Gram daal
2. Now add Ginger and Garlic and sauté lightly
3. Add onions and sauté.
4. Add peas, chilli powder and coriander and sauté.
5. Add water and salt.
6. Once it boils add roasted semolina with continuous stirring, else lumps would form.
7. Close lid and cook on low flame for 10 seconds.
8. Open lid and stir.
9. Garnish with coriander and serve.

You can also use finely chopped green chilli in place of red chilli powder. Serve this with ripe banana. For those who don’t know how to combine these two…its fairly simple. Just cut a piece of banana and smash it along with little upma and tada! :). Few people like to sprinkle sugar too; but its totally your choice.

Till next time….happy cooking!

Vermicelli Upma Recipe

Vermicelli Upma is Q’s favorite of all kinds of upma. It really is a magic how the basic ingredients for all upma are almost same yet it tastes so different. And the best part is that you get to lay on table variety everyday. Check it out….you will surely like it.

Roasted Vermicelli – 3 cups
Onion – 1 no big
Coriander – finely chopped
Garlic – 2 flakes (finely chopped) – optional
Ginger – ½ inch (finely chopped)
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Gram daal or white lentils – 1 tsp (also called chana daal / Urad daal)
Sugar – 2 pinches
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Oil – 1 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Roasted or Fried peanuts / Cashew – for garnish (optional)

1. Boil vermicelli just like pasta. Drain and keep aside. Take care it does not get overtly cooked. Else it will turn into one sticky mass
2. In a pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once its stops spluttering add Gram daal
3. Now add Ginger and Garlic and sauté lightly
4. Add onions and sauté.
5. Add chilli powder and coriander and sauté.
6. Add boiled vermicelli, salt, peanut or cashew and mix gently.
7. Sprinkle sugar and lemon juice and mix lightly.
8. Garnish with coriander and serve.

You can also use finely chopped green chilli in place of red chilli powder. Q likes to add an additional dash of sugar to his vermicelli upma. That also tastes yumm with the sugar crystals crunching in your mouth along with the tasty salty upma 🙂 Do try it out.

Till next time….happy cooking!

Poha Recipe – Kerala style (called Avil Upma)

Hi, I am back. Was off home and couldn’t get online. But I promise  that in the coming few days  I will bring to you some fine home recipes, that are simple and quick to make yet tastes  great. Here’s one…

This blander version of poha is simple to make and tastes quite unique. It s prepared by most of the Keralites as breakfast. I like it and surely hope you do too 🙂

Flat rice – 3 cups
Mustard seeds – 2 tsp
Urad daal (white lentils) – 1 tsp
Dried red chilli – 2
Onions – 1 cup (finely chopped)
Green chilli – 2 (finely chopped)
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Salt to taste
Oil – 2 tbsp

1. Sprinkle water mixed with salt over the flat rice to sufficiently moist it.
2. Add oil to skillet and let it warm
3. Add mustard seeds and leave it to splutter. Now add white lentils and red chilli
4. Add onions, curry leaves and green chilli. Sauté.
5. Add curry leaves and stir
6. Add moistened flat rice and stir well
7. Add coconut shavings generously
8. Serve hot pha or Avil upma with ripe bananas and sugar

Till tomorrow… happy cooking!

Kadala

Kadala Pic Credit: Priya Q

Thanks to my mom, every time I make the Chickpeas using this recipe I get loads of praise and that too from all genders! You try once and you will never stop making it ever….

Black chickpea – 1 cup
Turmeric – ½ tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Coconut shavings – ½ cup
Coriander seeds – 2 tbsp
Garlic flakes – 2-3 nos
Dry red chilli – 2 nos
Black peppercorn – 3-4 nos
Onion – 1 small (finely chopped)
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Ginger – 1 inch (finely chopped)
Tomato – 1 medium (finely chopped)
Oil – 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves – for garnish (finely chopped)

1. Soak chickpea over night and pressure cook in the morning with turmeric and red chilli powder for upto 4-5 whistles.
2. Fry in 1 tsp oil – coconut shaving, coriander seeds, red chilli, pepper and garlic and set aside to cool. Once at room temperature grind to a smooth paste in a grinder adding little water.
3. Open the cooker and add ginger. Now cook in open (cooker)
4. Add chopped tomatoes and stir.
5. Once tomatoes turn tender add the ground paste. Stir
6. In a separate pan add remaining oil and heat.
7. Tip in onions and curry leaves and sauté till onions turn dark brown.
8. Add the fried onions to the chickpea and let it boil
9. Garnish with coriander leaves
10. Serve with puttu or chappati (Indian bread)

Normally, people don’t add coriander, but I just love the flavor. I am a big fan of fresh coriander so much so the Q teases me by picking up only coriander leaving vegetables when we walk in to a local super market! There was a time even the super market guys specially asked me if I needed coriander!!

Anyways… you do try it and leave me a feedback!

I am off home…hopefully will come back with more recipes from my mom 🙂

Till next time …happy cooking!

contributor of the recipe…Jayalakshmi ….my super mom

Vegetable Stew

One of my favorites, the aromas of the spices and sweet smell of the coconut milk will want you to have more and more of this absolutely delightful delicacy.

Potatoes – 4 nos medium sized (diced)
Carrots – 2 nos (diced)
Peas – 1 cup
Onions – 1 big (sliced)
Ginger – 1 inch (slit length wise)
Green chilli – 1 no (slit length wise)
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Coconut milk – 100 ml
Warm water – 2 cups
Cloves – 3 nos
Cardamom – 4 nos
Cinnamon – 1 inch stick
Black peppercorn – 3 nos
Clarified butter (Ghee) – 2 tsp
Salt to taste

1.    Grind to powder (roughly / fine) – Cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper
2.    Heat clarified butter in a wok and add the powdered spices
3.    As you get nice aroma tip in the sliced onions, chilli, ginger and curry leaves and sauté
4.    Add rest of the vegetables and sauté well
5.    Add 60 ml of coconut milk and water and stir.
6.    Cover the vessel and cook till vegetables get tender
7.    Take off from the stove.
8.    Add remaining coconut milk and salt.
9.    Serve Vegetable stew with bread, puttu, idiaapam or aapam.

You can add chicken/ mutton pieces to make it chicken stew / mutton stew respectively. And if you are not in India and do not have access to curry leaves…tip in some coriander leaves for aroma. Nothing can replace curry leaves though.

Till tomorrow….happy cooking!

Puttu

Puttu Pic Credit : Priya Q

I was at Varkala in one of the restaurants on the cliff when I noticed a vague thing on the menu called Bamboo cakes. It took me few minutes to guess that i was actually the delectable puttus that they were calling bamboo cakes in the interest of the tourists. Hmm..you need to have the puttumaker but trust me its worth it!

Coconut shaving – 1 cup
Rice powder – 3 cups
Salt – 1 tsp
Water

1.    Sprinkle salt over the rice powder and add water little by little.
2.    Mix with hands and keep adding water till you reach a consistency where in you can make balls out of the powder but breaks easily.

3.    That’s the consistency you are looking at!

4.     Leave aside for 10-15 minutes before you start making puttus
Well you need to invest in a vessel to make puttu…this is how it looks

The compartment below is filled up with water. The perforated plate at the bottom of the tubular structure prevents the mixture from falling into the water below and allows the steam from the water to travel up cooking the mixture in the process! Isn’t the technology cool!

1. Now in the tubular compartment add coconut shavings first then 3 Tbsp of rice powder alternatively.
2. The first and the last layer should be that of coconut.
3. Remove the tubular structure once you see steam coming out and push out the puttu to a serving plate.
4. Serve with Kadla (chick peas) curry / vegetable stew / sugar!

You can also make puttu with semolina (rava), corn powder and raagi powder… the one with Semolina is Q’s favorite. Btw, while making puttus with semolina….you can immediately start making puttus…no need to wait for 10-15 min.

Till tomorrow…..happy cooking!

Dosa Recipe along with Coconut Chutney Recipe

photo credit: David Davies

After Idli its dosa that a must eat specially when you are visiting South India.  With little bit of love and effort you can make it at home too! Given below is a recipe for plain dosa. If you planning to make masala dosa then make bhaaji and use it as filling. We have an outlet in Kochi which serves 57 varieties of dosas. You get my drift? All you need is to get creative and make your fillings – potatoes, beetroot, egg, chicken,mutton….anything! go crazy with your experiment! 🙂

Raw rice – 3 cups
Golden or par boiled rice – 1 cup
Black Gram daal – ¾ cup

Soak all together for atleast 3 hours and grind to a fine paste.
Add salt and leave it overnight to rise.
The final batter will be of medium consistency (neither thick nor watery)

1. Take a flat pan
2. Ladle out batter in the centre of the pan and swirl it around with the help of the ladle so that it takes a thin pan cake kind of form. Cook on medium flame
3. With a flat spatula overturn the dosa and let it cook on the other side on low flame
4. Serve hot with chutney and sambhar

Coconut Chutney

Coconut shaving – 1 cup
Tamarind – 1 pinch
Sugar – 1pinch
Ginger – ¼ inch piece
Green chilli – 1 No.
Salt to taste

For tempering

Mustard seeds – 1-2 tsp
Curry leaves – 2-4 leaves
Red chilli – 1 No.

1.    Grind all ingredients for the chutney in a mixer adding bit of water to a fine paste
2.    Temper the ingredients in a bit of oil and add to the ground chutney*

Till tomorrow….happy cooking!

*For those who are new to tempering here is what you need to do ….Oil + warm + mustard seeds + let it splutter + add curry leaves + red chilli and add to the chutney!

Poori Bhaaji Recipe

It’s a bit oily affair since the pooris are deep fried. But alls well that ends well. This breakfast combo is deadly. Don’t have it daily though….as I said it oily. And you surely are not looking at putting on extra kilos…! But do try making poori bhaaji out…you will love it 🙂

Potatoes – 5 medium sized (boiled and mashed)
Onions – 2 medium nos (finely chopped)
Tomato – 1 big sized (finely chopped)
Ginger – 1 inch (slit into pieces)
Green Chilli – 2 nos (slit vertically)
Red chilli powder – 1-2 tsp
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad daal (while lentils) – 1 and half tsp
Dry red chilli – 2 nos
Coriander leaves – for garnish (finely chopped)
Oil – 2 tbsp for bhaaji
Salt to taste
Water – ½ to 1 cup

1.    In a wok heat oil and add mustard seeds.
2.    Wait till it stops spluttering and then add Urad daal and red chilli.
3.    Tip in onions and sauté well
4.    Add tomatoes and stir well
5.    When tomatoes turn soft add boiled and mashed potatoes
6.    Tip in chilli powder and turmeric and give it a nice stir
7.    Add water and salt and stir and let it boil
8.    Check for seasoning
9.    Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with fresh coriander

For pooris

1.    Knead dough
2.    Roll out small circles. Smaller than normal chappatis
3.    In a wok heat 3 cups of oil
4.    Tip in rolled out pooris and deep fry
5.    Turn for the other side to cook
6.    It will puff up. Take out on an absorbent paper.
7.    Serve with bhaaji and mango pickle

Did you like it? Do leave your feedback

Till tomorrow…..happy cooking!

Idli Recipe alongwith Sambar Recipe

photo credit: avlxyz

This is my favorite all time food… I can have idlis for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yeh, thats how much i love them!During our stay in the North India….my mom used to be a official idli supplier to most of our north Indian and Punjabi neighbors! No kidding…you should have seen the amount of batter my mom used to ready in the huge electric grinder we had at home!

Though I know how to make the batter for Idlis, I play a little lazy. Now that I am staying in the south ready made batter is available, which I use. But for bigger families better option is to prepare the batter at home…Its much more viable.

Idli Recipe

Idli rice – 4 cups ; Raw rice – 1 cup
Black Gram dal – 1 cup

Batter
1.    Combine both rice and soak for 3 hrs
2.    Wash daal and soak separately
3.    Grind daal first. It comes out fluffy. Remove it into a container
4.    Now grind rice
5.    Mix both ground rice and daal. Add salt and leave it overnight to rise.
6.    Please note that the final batter should be of drooping consistency.

Making idlis
1.    Fill water in the water compartment
2.    Grease stand slightly with oil using your fingertips
3.    Place the batter into the greased idli stand ith the help of a spoon
4.    Steam it for 15-20 minutes
5.    Serve with Sambar

* you need idli stand / vessel to prepare idlis

Sambar Recipe

This is an easy recipe I learnt from my mother while I was working and hardly had time to cook!

Toor dal / Arhar dal (Yellow lentil) – 1 cup
Combination of vegetables (drumstick, lady’s finger, carrot, aubergine) – 1 cup
Onions – 2 medium (diced)
Tamarind water – 4 tbsp (soak small lemon sized tamarind ball in warm water and squeeze out juice after 10 minutes)
Tomato – 1 big (finely chopped)
*Sambar powder –2-3 tsp

For tempering
Asafoetida (heeng) – ½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1-2 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Red chili – 1 No.

1.    Pressure cook or boil Toor daal till soft and mushy.
2.    Add vegetables and onions to boiled dal and let it cook
3.    Add tomatoes when vegetable are half cooked
4.    Add salt and tamarind water
5.    When its starts boiling, add sambar powder
6.    Take a small pan and add 1 tsp oil. When warm add mustard seeds and wait till it splutters
7.    Add red chili, fenugreek seeds, Asafoetida,curry leaves and add to the main dal
8.    Garnish with Coriander leaves (optional)

Serve hot and steaming idlis with hot sambhar 🙂

*if you do not have sambar powder then take in a cup 1 tsp coriander powder + ½ tsp chili powder and add sufficient water to soak the masala. This is to be used in the last stage along with tempering and added on to main dal.

Till tomorrow….happy cooking!