Coconut Sambar

Coconut Sambar is one of my DH's favourite dish for the weekend. Mixed Vegetables are cooked with home made sambar powder, dal and grated coconut. 

Ingredients: 

• Tur Dal 1 Small Cup
• Bottle gaurd 1/2
• Medium Sized Carrot 1
• Small sized Onion 1 
• Medium Sized Tomato 1
• Grated Coconut 2 Teaspoons
• Aamchoor Powder 2 Teaspoons
• Sugar 1/2 Teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder 1 pinch
• Red Chili Powder 1/4 Teaspoon
• Salt to Taste 
• Water as needed
• For Sambar Powder:
• Fenugreek Seeds 1/4 Teaspoon
• Urad Dal  2 Teaspoons
• Chana Dal  1/4 Teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds 1/4 Teaspoon
• Coriander Seeds 1 Teaspoon
• PepperCorns 10
• Asafoetida a Pinch
• Oil 1/2 Teaspoon
• For Garnishing:
• Mustard Seeds 1/4 Teaspoon
• Curry Leaves a few
• Red Chili 1
• Cumin Seeds 1/4 Teaspoon
• Asafoetida a pinch
• Ghee 1/2 Teaspoon 

Preparation:

• Wash and pressure cook tur dal with enough water in a pressure cooker.
• Wash and cut all the vegetables into 1 inch pieces
• In a sauce pan add all the vegetables with enough water, salt and turmeric and cook until tender.
• In the meanwhile, in a frying pan add 1/2 teaspoon oil and add all the sambar powder ingredients above and toss until they change the color to light brown.
• Let this mixture cool and the grind into a fine powder.
• When the vegetables are cooked, add the cooked and mashed tur dal to the sauce pan.
• Also add the Aamchoor powder, Grated coconut, Sambar powder, Red Chili Powder and Sugar.
• Add enough water and let this cook for a few minutes.
• In a small pan, add 1/2 teaspoon ghee and when it gets heated up, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, Red chili powder, asafoetida and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds start to splatter remove from heat and garnish the cooked sambar with this and also coriander leaves.
• Coconut Sambar, is a very good accompaniment for rice or any South Indian Breakfast Items.

Alterations: 

• Other vegetables like okra, eggplant etc. can also be added to the sambar
• Tur dal can be grinded to make a smooth paste and make the sambar thick.
• Sambar powder can be made in large quantities and stored for later use.

Warnings:

• Be careful when adding the chilies and peppercorns as this makes the dish spicy, adjust according to taste.
• Do not over fry the sambar powder ingredients.

Spinach fritters in yogurt sauce / Majjiga pulusu

There are many recipes for Majjiga pulusu but I some how cherish this one very much and is one of my favourite ways of preparing this. Kadi Pakodi / Spinach dumplings in Yogurt sauce / Pakodi Majjiga pulusu can be eaten with rice, roti or just like that!

Ingredients: 

• Spinach 1 Cup
• Garbanzo flour / Besan 3/4 cup
• Red Chili Powder 1/4 Teaspoon
• Yogurt/ Curd 1 Cup
• Turmeric powder 1/8th Teaspoon
• Red Chillies 2
• Mustard seeds 1/8 Teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds 1/8 Teaspoon
• Coriander powder 1/2 Teaspoon
• Cumin Powder 1/4 Teaspoon
• Curry Leaves a few
• Oil 
• Water as needed
• Salt to taste 

Preparation:

• Wash and cut spinach. In a bowl, mix spinach, 1/2 Cup Garbanzo flour ( besan), salt and red chili powder an make into a dough. 
• The dough consistency shouldn't be too water nor too stiff. 
• Now, Heat oil in a frying pan and when it gets heated carefully drop morsels of the mixed dough into the hot oil.
• Fry these until the color changes to light brown and keep aside.
• Mix the yogurt and 1/2 cup water and make buttermilk. Now, mix the coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric, red chili powder and salt to the buttermilk.
• In a separate bowl, mix the1/4 cup garbanzo flour with water to make it smooth paste and add it to the buttermilk mixture.
• In a sauce pan, add a teaspoon of oil and when it gets heated up add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and red chillies. 
• Once the mustard seeds start to splatter, add the curry leaves and the yogurt mixture to the pan. 
• Let this cook until it boils by stirring occasionally. 
• Just before serving, add the pakodas or spinach fritters to the prepared yogurt sauce and serve. This is a very good accompaniment for rice, rotis and chapathis.

Alterations: 

• Add green chillies instead of red chilies of you like.
• The pakodas / fritters can be made with any vegetables.

Warnings:

• Be careful when adding the chilies as this makes the dish spicy, adjust according to taste.
• Do not over cook the fritters as it will taste bitter.
• Do not add to much water to the flour mix for fritters as it will absorb lot of oil

Tip of the Day:

• If a recipe calls for cashew paste or peanut paste, replace with almond paste. Almonds are very good for health when compared to cashews or peanuts

Tomato Chutney

Today's recipe tomato chutney is a very good accompaniment for all the Indian breakfasts. 

Ingredients: 

• Small Sized Tomatoes 4
• Small Sized Onion 1
• Red Chillies 2
• Red Chili Powder 1/4 teaspoon
• Mustard seeds 1/8 Teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds 1/8 Teaspoon
• Oil 1 Teaspoon
• Salt to taste 

Preparation:

• Cut onions, tomatoes, into pieces.
• Heat a pan and add 3/4th teaspoon oil to it. Once, the oil gets heated add the onions.
• Fry for a minute and the tomatoes and salt to it.
• Now, cook the mixture until the tomatoes get a little tender.
• When this mixture cools down, add red chili powder and grind it into a smooth paste.
• Heat a small pan and add the remaining oil. When the oil gets heated up, add the mustard seeds, Cumin seeds and Red Chili. 
• Once the mustard seeds start to splatter, remove from heat and garnish the tomato chutney with it.
• This chutney is very good accompaniment for all the Indian breakfast items like Idly, Dosa, Pesarattu etc.

Alterations: 

• Add Red Chillies instead of Red chili powder

Warnings:

• Be careful when adding the chilies as this makes the chutney spicy, adjust according to taste.
• Do not over cook the tomatoes and onions as it will be too watery

Tip of the Day:

• If you have too many raw mangoes and you are not using them immediately, then cut and freeze them to retain the taste.

Sprouts and Orange Salad

Sprouts, one of the high protein and high fiber salad ingredients. Whole moong dal is soaked over night and then water is drained in the morning. After draining the water the moong beans are covered with a wet paper napkin or a clean cloth for one more day. Then you can see almost 1" sprouts. The recipe today Moong Sprouts salad is a very good afternoon snack or lunch item.

Ingredients: 

• Sprouted Moong beans 1 cup
• Small Sized Onion 1
• Small Sized Tomatoes 1
• Orange 1
• Cucumber 1/4 piece
• Coriander 2 Teaspoons
• Jalapeno peppers 1 (Optional)
• Chat Powder 1/2 teaspoon (Optional)
• Unsalted Corn Chips (Optional)
• Medium Sized Carrots 1 
• Lime 1
• Water as needed
• Salt to taste 

Preparation:

       

• Cut onions, tomatoes, jalapenos and cucumber into very small pieces.
• Grate carrot and peel orange and cut into 1 inch pieces.
• Now, in a sauce pan boil the sprouted beans by adding little bit of salt until tender.
• Once the sprouts are boiled, in a bowl add all the ingredients except for the corn chips and mix well.
• Just before serving add the corn chips and serve.
• This will be a very good afternoon snack for kids and adults.

Alterations: 

• Any other sprouted beans can also be used in place of moong beans
• Pineapple pieces can also be added to make it more delicious.

Warnings:

• Be careful when adding the chilies as this makes the salad spicy, adjust according to taste.
• Do not over boil the sprouts or do not add too much water while boiling.

Tip of the Day:

• Add the cut plantain/ raw banana to water with turmeric to avoid them from turning black before cooking.

Indian Cucumber and Tomato Dal / Dosakaya and Tomato Pappu

Many of might have cooked and also eaten Tomato Dal and Dosakaya/Indian Cucumber Dal. Today's recipe Dosakaya and tomato / Cucumber and Tomato is a good combination for dal/Pappu.

Ingredients: 

• Tur dal 1 cup
• Medium Sized Indian Cucumber 1
• Small Sized Tomatoes 2
• Green chillies 2
• Red Chillies 1
• Red chilli powder
• Mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon
• Urad dal 1/2 teaspoon
• Curry leaves 5
• Garlic Cloves 4
• Salt to taste
• Oil 1/4th  teaspoons 
• Water  as needed

Preparation:

• Peel, wash and cut cucumber into 1" pieces. Make sure the seeds and the pulp are not bitter. Discard the seeds if you don't like them. 
• Wash and cut the tomatoes into 8 pieces each.
• In a pressure cooker, cook the tur dal, cucumber, tomatoes and green chillies for 3-4 whistles.
• Once the pressure cooker cools down and is ready to be opened, open it and add the turmeric, salt and red chilli powder and mash the dal slightly.
• Now, in a small pan add the oil and when the oil gets heated up, add mustard seeds, urad dal, Garlic cloves and Red Chillies. 
• Once the mustard seeds start to splatter, remove from heat and the curry leaves.
• Transfer this fried mixture into the dal and Cook the dal for a couple of minutes by adding water if needed.
• A healthy and tasty dal is ready to be served. This tastes good with Rice, Chapathi or roti.

Alterations: 

• Replace oil used with ghee for a better taste.

Warnings:

• Be careful when adding the chilies and red chili powder as this makes the dal spicy, adjust according to taste.

Tip of the Day:

• To avoid burning eyes when cutting onions, refrigerate the onions for an hour and cut them.

Stuffed Eggplant/Gutti Vankaya

Eggplant, one of the Andhra favorites is also called King of the Vegetables in Andhra. Today's recipe Stuffed Indian Eggplants/ Gutti vankaya kura is one of the many recipes available. This recipe is passed to me from my Mom and I used to love this one as a kid and I love it even now.

Ingredients: 

• Small Indian Eggplants - 10
• Fenugreek seeds 1/8th Teaspoon
• Urad Dal 2 teaspoons
• Chana Dal 2 teaspoons
• Coriander seeds 1 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds 1/2 teaspoon
• Red Chillies 5
• Oil 2 teaspoons
• Salt to taste 

Preparation:

• In a small pan add a 1/4 teaspoon of oil and add fenugreek seeds, urad dal, chana dal, cumin seeds, red chillies and coriander seeds. 
• Fry these until the dals change to light brown in color. Let this mixture cool down, add salt and grind into a smooth powder. 
• Now, slit the Eggplants as shown above on both the sides in opposite directions vertically without cutting them into pieces.
• Fill the eggplants with the ground powder.
• In a pan, add the remaining oil and when the oil gets heated, add the eggplants.
• Cover the pan and cook in a low flame turning the eggplants occasionally.
• Once the eggplants are fully cooked a great authentic dish is ready to be served. This dish tastes good with Rice or Chapathi.

Alterations: 

• Peanuts can also be added to the frying mixture and ground along with other ingredients.

Warnings:

• Be careful when adding the chilies as this makes the curry spicy, adjust according to taste.
• Do not cook the eggplants on high flame.
• Make sure to turn over the eggplants without breaking them into pieces

Tip of the Day:

• When you fry ginger garlic paste, add a little water so that the ginger garlic paste does not stick to the pan and cooks very good.

Paneer Wrap

Paneer, I love dishes made with paneer whether it is a curry, wrap, tandoor or whatever. The recipe below, Paneer Wrap is an easy and healthy lunch or breakfast item. 

Ingredients: 

• Grated Paneer 1 cup
• Small sized onion 1
• Medium sized Tomato 1
• Garam Masala Powder 1 Teaspoon
• Turmeric powder a pinch
• Red chilli powder 1/4 teaspoon
• Lettuce leaves 2
• Tortilla/ Chapathi/Roti 1
• Oil 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Cut onions and tomatoes into small pieces. Grate the paneer.
• Add oil in a pan and when the oil gets heated up, add the onions and saute them for a few mins. 
• Now, add the tomatoes, salt and turmeric and garam masala
• After the tomatoes and onions are almost cooked, add the grated paneer and the red chilli powder.
• Let the panner cook with the rest of the ingredients for a few minutes and dish out.
• Now, heat up the tortilla or home-made chapathi.
• Spread the chapathi on a piece of aluminum foil and spread the lettuce leaves on the chapathi.
• Now, spread the paneer bhurji and roll the chapathi. Cover it with the foil and cut into half.
• A healthy breakfast or lunch itema is ready to be served. This can be served with tomato ketchup or just plain yogurt

Alterations: 

• Add sweet peas and more vegetables if you like to the bhurji.

Warnings:

• Be careful when adding the red chili powder and garam masala powder as this makes the wrap spicy, adjust according to taste.

Tip of the Day:

• When you cook or fry onions, add salt to cook the onions faster.

Cucumber and Moong Dal Kutu

Ingredients: 

• Moong dal 1 cup
• Large size Cucumber  1
• Shredded Coconut 1 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds 1/2 teaspoon
• Corriander Seeds 1/2 teaspoon
• Green Chillies 2
• Pepper corns 10
• Mustard seeds 1/4 teaspoon
• Urad dal 1/4 teaspoon
• Red Chilli 1
• Oil 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric powder a pinch
• Water as needed 

Preparation:

• Peel and cut the cucumber into 1 inch pieces.
• Grind the green chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, coconut and peppercorns into a smooth paste by adding some water
• Cook Moong dal with 3 cups water by adding salt and turmeric
• Add the cucumber pieces when the dal 3/4th done. Add water if needed.
• After the cucumber and dal is fully cooked, add the grinded mixture to the dal.
• Let it cook for a few mins. Now, in a small pan heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, urad dal.
• When the mustard seeds start to splatter, remove from heat and add it to the dal.
• A very tasty and healthy cucumber and moong dal kutu is ready to be served. This one tastes very good with rice, chapathi or roti.

Alterations: 

• Use ghee instead of oil for a better taste.
• Lime juice can be added after the dal cools down if you like.

Warnings:

• Be careful when adding the chilies and peppercorns as this makes the dal spicy, adjust according to taste.

Stuffed Bitter Guard / Kakarakaya

Bitter guard, as is the name so is the taste, but if you cook it by adding proper ingredients it comes out to be very tasty. Bitter guard is very commonly available in India and it is very well known for its medicinal nature. It is said to be a remedy for stomach upset and also for people suffering from diabetes Bitter guard should be taken either once or twice month according to people in India. Today I’ll present here a recipe of bitter guard stuffed with chickpeas powder/besan.

Ingredients:

• Medium sized bitter guards: 6
• Chickpeas powder / gram flour/ besan: 3 teaspoons
• Jeera powder 1/2 teaspoon
• Corriander powder 1/2 teaspoon
• Chili powder 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt for taste
• Oil for frying

Preparation:

• Slit the bitter guards in the center vertically on the longer side. Wash and boil them in the microwave for 6 min on high or pressure cook for 2 whistles.
• In the mean while, fry the chickpeas powder/ besan in a frying pan. Add salt, corriander powder, jeera powder and fry it till it turns into light brown in color. Once you start smelling the aroma of the besan in the room then it is done. Now, add the red chilli powder
• Heat oil in a frying pan. While the oil is heating stuff the bitter guard with the fried besan mixture.
• Using a spoon pour very little heated oil over the stuffing. This will make the besan to stay in place.
• To the remaining oil in the pan, add the stuffed bitter guards/ kakarkaya. Fry them on medium heat until they turn brown, flipping them as needed.
• A delicious and healthy dish of bitter guard is ready to serve. You can enjoy this with plain rice.

Alterations:

• Water can be used instead of oil to hold the stuffing in place in the bitter guards.

Warnings:

• Do not cut the bitter guards completely. Just make a slit on one side to make a hollow space such that it holds the besan mixture.
• Do not stir the bitter guards while frying them; turn them to the side to be cooked.
• Make sure that the frying pan holds all the bitter guards flat on the bottom of the pan.
• Add the chilli powder according to your taste.

Oats, one of the healthiest options for breakfast. Today's recipe Vegetables and Oats Porridge, is a savory oats recipe unlike the regular. This is one of the easiest ways and healthiest ways to eat oats in a savory taste.

Ingredients: 

• Steel cut oats 1 cup
• Small sized potato 1
• Carrots 1
• Beans 10
• Peas 1/4 cup
• Cabbage small piece
• Cashews 10
• Ginger 2” piece
• Green chillies 2
• Mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon
• Urad dal 1/2 teaspoon
• Channa Dal 1/2 teaspoon
• Curry leaves 5
• Salt to taste
• Oil 2 teaspoons 
• Water 2.5 cups

Preparation:

• Cut all the vegetables into 1/2”  pieces and cut ginger and chilies into very small pieces
• Heat a sauce pan. Add oil to the pan and once it gets heated up add the mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal and cashews(optional). Fry until the mustard seeds start to splatter. 
• Now, add the curry leaves, cut chillies and ginger pieces and all the cut veggies. 
• Fry this mixture for 1 min in medium flame. 
• Add the steel cut oats and fry for 30 secs.
• Now add 2.5 cups of water, salt to taste and mix together.
• After the water starts to boil, simmer and cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for about 1/2 an hour.
• A very delicious  and health breakfast or lunch item Vegetables and oats porridge is ready to be served. This tastes good with raita or coconut chutney.  

Alterations: 

• Replace half of the oil used with ghee for a better taste.
• Vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli can be added to make it more nutritious. 

Warnings:

• Be careful when adding the Ginger and chilies as this makes the rice spicy, adjust according to taste.