Mango chutney

From Reshma again - Thanks!

Mango Chutney (manga chammanthi in Malayalam)

1 raw or a little ripe mango, cut into small pieces for grinding in the mixie
3 small pieces of ginger
2 green chillies or 3 red chillies
6 curry leaves
5 shallots (sambhar onion or small onion)
4 spoons of coconut
Salt to taste

Grind everything together.

A great side dish for ganji, rice, chappathi, idli, dosa and whatever you want to eat with...

Quick breakfast or evening snack

From Reshma - Thanks!

Avalakki mixture (Aval nanachathu in malayalam, the former is my Kannada translation)

1 plate of Avalakki (beaten rice)
4-6 spoons of scraped jaggery
4-6 spoons of scraped coconut
Mixture of milk and water - Enough to soften the avalakki, do not make it a paste

Mix everything.
Ready to relish..

Great dish from leftover chapathis!

From Bhuvana - Thank you!

This is an excellent filling meal, if you also break an egg into it towards the end and stir well - it becomes like kothu parotta, the beloved dish of hostel days :)

The quantity below is enough for 2 people - am counting 2 chapathis per person. I made them fresh when I tried this out.

Ingredients

4 Chapathis (either fresh or extra from the previous meal)
1 big onion
2 tomatoes (you can use hot tomato sauce instead of fresh tomato)
3 green chilies
1 Tea-spoon pepper powder
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves
Oil and mustard for seasoning
Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Cut the onions, green chilies, tomatoes separately and keep it aside.
2. Cut chapathi into small pieces and keep aside.
3. Take a non-stick or any kadai (pan), add oil and mustard for seasoning
4. Add green chilies, curry leaves, onions and sauté. Fry until the onions turn brown.
5. Add tomatoes & salt to taste and cook well.
6. Add chapathi pieces and pepper.
7. Keep it in low flame for 2 minutes and mix well. Add corainder leaves at the end.

[Note: Use less chili or pepper powder, if you don’t want it spicy.]

Brinjal Gothsu - a traditional Tamil side-dish

From my friend Usha - Thank you!

Brinjal Gothsu - a traditional Tamil side-dish (alas nobody makes it anymore except at some weddings)

Ingredients:

Brinjal( Big variety) - 2
Tamarind - half the size of a lemon
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp.
Dry red chillies - 2
Green chillies- 2
Curry leaves - few
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp.
Salt - as per taste
Hing
Rice flour - 1 teaspoon (optional)
Oil - 2 tablespoons

Method:

Brush the brinjals with oil, poke them in a few places with a fork and roast them on direct, medium flame. Turn on all sides by holding the stems till the outer skin turns black. When cool peel the skin and gently rub under running water to remove the small black parts. Mash it slightly and keep aside.
Soak tamarind in water and extract pulp.
Slit green chillies and red chillies.
In a kadai, heat oil and add mustard seeds, green chillies and red chillies, hing, turmeric powder and curry leaves. Now add the tamarind extract and salt and allow it to boil till its raw smell is diffused and slightly thick. Now add the mashed brinjals and allow to cook.

Excellent combination with Ven pongal , idli, arisi upma and curd rice.

Appam!

The classic Kerala food because of which the world forgives us so many of our faults :)

This is my mother's recipe (there are mild variations from house to house) she makes excellent appams - and I have added my own modifications to it.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup uncooked rice
2. 1 cup cooked rice (or 1 cup paper avalakki (beaten rice/poha/aval) moistened with water - this is my experiment - and turned out successful - made the appams crispier, see photo. To balance, you could add half a cup cooked rice and half a cup poha)
3. 1 cup coconut grating (this is half a coconut)
4. Yeast - 5-7 grains
5. Coconut water (optional) My mother stores coconut water in a bottle each time she breaks a coconut, and stores it in the fridge.

Procedure: The Soaking and Grinding

1. Soak the uncooked rice in water and leave it for 8 hours. I usually do this in the night so that I grind in the morning. In winter I keep it for fermenting during the day. Sona Masoori works fine.
2. Then grind the soaked rice, cooked rice/avalakki, and coconut gratings in a grinder. If you have coconut water, add it while grinding. Grind in a mixie if you are using these measurements - one cup rice is too little for a 2 kilo wet grinder. In the mixie it may not come as smooth, but it is okay if the batter is slightly grainy.
3. Heat a little bit of water - and when it is lukewarm, add a few grains of yeast into it - around 5-7 grains will do.
4. When the mixture is well ground to a smooth paste, transfer it in a big open-mouthed vessel, leaving enough space for the batter to rise.
5. Now add the yeast to it, a spoon of sugar and salt and mix real well.
6. Cover the vessel with a thin cloth (old tee shirts are ideal) and leave it to ferment in a warm place, for 8 hours. I usually keep the vessel on the top of my fridge stabilizer, just like I do with dosa batter - remains warm throughout. The other option - heat a glass of water in the microwave/oven, take it out, switch off, and keep the batter inside, open. The steam inside keeps it warm for a while. I did this twice for the appam in the photo, morning and evening, because it was made on a winter day.
   When the batter is ready and smells fermented (that slight toddy smell!), stir well and make sure it's pouring consistency, more watery than dosa batter. Add salt to taste.

Procedure: The Making of the Appam

1. Now heat the non-stick appam pan, the deep one as in the picture (ask for Appam Pan at the shop). Pour a deep-spoon-full of batter into the center when it is hot and the steam has started to come.
2. Take the pan off the fire immediately and twirl the batter around until it spreads in a circle, evenly - see picture. I didn't want that thick soft center - if you want that, add more batter so that some of it will flow down to the center. If the pan is too hot, this mix won't spread, if it's not hot enough, all the batter will flow to the center without cooking.
3. Cover and cook. If your pan's non-stick is not working too well, cure the pan in the beginning by adding a little oil, heating the pan and draining off the oil.
4. Take the appam out when the edges start to brown.

See also Vegetable Stew - that's what goes best with this!

Vegetable Stew

This goes best with appams, but tastes great with just bread too. And it's one of those put-everything-together-and-boil recipes - and absolutely no oil! If you have tinned coconut milk, then even a child can make this so easily :)

Ingredients

1. Potatoes - 3 - small chunks
2. Carrots - 2 - small chunks (will take longer to cook, the bigger they are)
3. Green chillies - 3 or 4 (the coconut milk tones down the chilly a lot - some people add whole pepper in this dish if they want it spicier)
4. Ginger - one big piece, you can just crush and add
5. Curry leaves - a stalk
6. Coconut milk - from one coconut. You could just use canned coconut milk instead, thin it with water. You can add the thicker milk at the end to give it the desired consistency. (To make coconut milk, the hard way - :) - scrape coconut, add to mixie jar with water and extract milk. The first time, the milk will be thicker, keep it aside. Then add more water and repeat - the second milk is what you use to cook the vegetables.)

Procedure

1. Very simple! Add the following in a deep vessel - potatoes, carrots, chillies, ginger, curry leaves - and add enough second coconut milk to submerge them all.
2. Cook! Add salt after a while when the veggies are half cooked.
3. In the end, when vegetables are cooked, add a bit of the first milk - this is just to thicken the gravy.
4. You can also use the leftover first milk to pour over the appam - delicious!

See also Appam recipe.

Tasty ways to eat Green Leafy Vegetables!

We get green leafy vegetables so abundantly in Bangalore - and so fresh, and so cheap (compared to so many other vegetables) - that I am so grateful every time I see a push-cart full of greens coming my way on the road - which is every day :)

And I wonder why so many people don't eat enough of it, or have vitamin/mineral deficiencies when these leaves are so abundantly available.

So have tried to add as many recipes as possible with green leafy vegetables in here - just click on the label Green Leafy Vegetables, and you will see them all. They are all tasty and easy too, believe me!

Please do send any good recipes you have with leaves, will add here and acknowledge you.

Methi-Aloo-Oats Paratha - an Easy Healthy Breakfast!

This one is such a feel-good breakfast on those days when you need a lot of energy/when you have so much work you don't want to be bothered by hunger/late lunch. And I managed to sneak in some oats too, without any change of taste!

And this paratha will not break easily when you roll it out, because there's no onion in it. Even non-experts can make this one!

Ingredients (for 6 parathas)

1. Potatoes boiled in cooker - 3 (The potato basically holds the leaves together and makes paratha soft, you can reduce this quantity and add more leaves. If you add oats, that will also serve as a binder)
2. Methi leaves finely chopped - 2 bunches (Fenugreek leaves). You can also use spinach leaves instead. (Keep the leaves in salt water for a while and wash, so that they are clean. Dry them in a towel after you wash them - if there's water in the leaves, the mix could get watery, and you may not be able to re-use it the next day. )
3. A small cup of oats, powdered (optional - the traditional paratha does not have this, this is just for the health factor!)
4. Coriander leaves chopped (optional)
5. Green chilly, crushed - 1
6. Garlic - a few cloves, crushed
7. Coriander powder
8. Jeera powder (Cummin powder)
9. Salt

Flour for making chapathis - keep dough ready, like you do for chapathis. I add a little soya or ragi flour to the wheat flour.

Procedure

1. Mash potatoes well.
2. Add the chopped methi leaves, chopped coriander leaves, crushed garlic and chilly, coriander and jeera powder (add a teaspoon, mix and add more if you want), powdered oats, and salt, and mix well.
3. Now roll out thin chapathis with the dough - the edges should be thinner than the centre.
4. Add this mixture in the centre, take the edges of the chapathis and close over the mixture, make a ball, then flatten it a bit, and roll it out as thin parathas gently. Gently, so you don't break it!
5. Cook them on a tava with a little ghee. It's okay to have some ghee for breakfast, you'll burn it all away! And since this paratha does not break easily, you don't have to add much ghee.
6. Serve with curd and pickle. Well, I have a friend who eats this with jam and loves it!

Leafy Dals!

Mixing with dals is a great way to eat green leafy vegetables - and a very quick and tasty way to make a balanced dish. Goes great with chapathis and rice.

Ingredients

Tuvar dal/Moong Dal/Any other dal of your choice. Tuvar is the best for this, I find. (Dal = Pulse)
Sabbajgi (Dill - the thin needle-like leaves - very high in iron, and fragrant)
And/or Methi (Fenugreek leaves)
And/or Palak (Spinach)
And/or Drumstick leaves (highly nutritious) and any other leaf you get in the carts of the leaf-vendors.
Tomato
Garlic
Green Chilly
Onion (optional)
Jeera/Ajwain (Cummin seeds/Om seeds)
Hing (Asafoetida)
Turmeric
Salt

Procedure

You can do this 2 different ways - and the tastes are slightly different.

Method 1

Cook dal in cooker, with the chopped leaf of your choice. With Tuvar dal, sabbajgi, methi, and palak go very well, either all together or individually. Add a pinch of turmeric while cooking.

When dal is cooked, add some oil in a deep pan and add the seasoning.

You could try jeera, then a chopped green chilly, then the hing, then a chopped tomato and fry a bit. If you have the time, chop and onion and fry after the jeera.

Crushed garlic can be added before the chilly if you like the taste, or you can add it right at the end, after the dal is ready.

Now add the cooked dal+leaves to this, add salt and boil just a little. Leafy dal is ready!

Method 2

Cook dal alone in the cooker, with turmeric.
Add the chopped leaves in the seasoning, after the tomato, and stir-fry for a little bit until the raw look has gone.
Now add the cooked dal to this and boil a little.
Here the taste of the leaves will be stronger. I quite like it this way too. The green will remain dark green this way, so the curry looks nicer.

Methi Chicken

Recipe from my friend Poorna - she's tried it out, says it's great:

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRDBbwI0_sA

Methi = Fenugreek leaves

Pack a healthy lunch the Mix & Match Kichdi Way!

I take kichdi for lunch every day - and there's so many varieties of it, I haven't yet run out of combinations! If you can get your kids to eat this, you don't have to worry about them not getting enough nutrition anymore :)

Ingredients

The basic concept is this:

• Half glass rice
• Half glass broken wheat (you get this in packets in grocery shops). Or millets - you get millets so easily these days.
• One dal/Soya Chunks/Frozen peas/Frozen corn (Soya is very good if you are feeling tired - it gives instant energy)
• One Vegetable
• And/or one Green Leafy Vegetable

So it's as healthy as it can get, and it's all cooked in one go in a cooker! And you can mix and match with all the vegetables/dals you like - just see if you can sneak in some green leaves also, to complete the nutrition.

I usually have this with pickle or some chutney, so the kichdi by itself is bland - though you can always try out various kinds of seasoning to change that.

Procedure

The measurements in here should give you enough kichdi for 2 people, for a meal. So I just cook once in 2 days for my lunch box, I just vary the pickle/chutney to change the taste.

Heat a pressure cooker (the small one in which you cook directly) and add a little oil and add a seasoning of your choice. Jeera is a good option. Also Panch Phoren, described earlier in this blog.

Add a split green chilly and/or some crushed garlic, which is optional. Or add a chopped tomato and fry a bit. If you have the time, fry a chopped onion and then the green chilly and then the tomato. I normally do only the chilly and tomato.

Now add whatever chopped vegetables/green leafy vegetables you want. You can add sabbajgi (dill - those spiky needle-like leaves very high in iron), drumstick leaves/methi leaves/spinach. Just stir-fry for a few seconds.

Vegetables - carrot/potato/cauliflower are the most obvious, you could try others too.

Then add the washed rice - half a glass, or even a little less than that.
Dal - half glass. You can use Tuvar dal/Moong Dal/Soaked Green gram/any other soaked dal you like.
Or/and some frozen peas/corn, or soya chunks which you have already soaked in boiling water with salt, and drained and washed.
Half glass broken wheat

Add 3.5 glasses of water to this - this measurement leaves it just the correct consistency without making it dry or watery.

Add salt to the water and taste - add half a teaspoon and then adjust. It is very important to add the salt - this makes sure the kichdi does not get watery.

Put lid on cooker, and cook for 2 whistles.

Eat this with pickles/chutney/leftover sabji from previous night's dinner :)
Non-vegetarians can add some leftovers from their chicken/meat/prawn/fish dishes in the end, after the kichdi is cooked.

You can also crush some garlic and mix in the end - you get the full medicinal benefits of garlic if it is taken raw, so this will be almost raw, but slightly cooked because of the heat.

To make this more like a biriyani, you can use some ginger-garlic paste along with the seasoning, and add some cloves/cinnamon etc. Or of course, some ghee at the end.

Basically, the whole point is that you can mix and match, just make sure you have the basic concept in place :)

How to prevent Capsicum Bite :)

I don't know about you, but I don't like that strong taste that capsicum has, it kind-of-bites - :) - discovered a way to get rid of that, through a friend's pasta recipe.

Just hold the entire capsicum over a flame, on your gas stove for a while until it starts to blacken a bit and wrinkle and splutter. You can stick it on a fork or something. If you have a grill, then just grill it.

Now keep it aside until it cools. And then cut it and use it any way you want - it will not bite any longer!

Spinach Cutlet

Not yet tried out, but sounds like a great way to get that spinach in :)

http://www.aayisrecipes.com/2010/04/21/spinach-cutlet/

Paanch Phoron: A new flavor!

Tired of the same old onion-tomato, ginger-garlic combination? Try out this Bengali mix of spices - so easy to make, and gives a totally different flavor!

From master-chef Antara -

http://salivaah.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html


I added some tamarind to it towards the end - like how her mother did, in the pumpkin dish she prepared for us when we visited her. Delicious!

Spinach and Mushroom soup

My friend Poorna's recipe - delicious! And so easy, and so nutritious. We had it both hot and cold - good either way.

http://gourmetgubbie.blogspot.com/2009/03/cream-of-spinach-soup.html

Chicken Cutlet

My mother's recipe - improvise as you deem fit :)

Ingredients

Minced chicken 500 gms (you can also buy pieces and cook and grind them in the mixie. I bought 500 gms and I got 12 cutlets out of it - reduce as required)

3 Potatoes medium sized, this acts as the binder

Chopped onions

Chopped green chilly

Chopped ginger

Chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

2 eggs

Bread crumbs (I powdered rusk in the mixie, that's nice too)

Salt

Procedure

Boil potatoes and keep ready.

Fry the chopped onion, chillies and ginger until a lil brown.

Add the minced chicken and salt and stir and cook. This cooks real fast. The chicken may curl up and form lumps, keep breaking them.

Alternatively, cook chicken in salt separately and then pass in through grinder so that it becomes fiber-y. I am guessing this consistency may be nicer.

And then add that mix to the fried-onion-chilly-ginger mix. This mix should be dry in the end, no water.

Now let it cool enough for you to roll the mix with your hands.

Mash the potatoes and add to chicken. Also add the chopped coriander now and mix everything well.
Check taste.

Break 2 eggs and carefully separate the white and yellow. Use a sieve or just break in half and keep pouring out the white.

Mix one of the yellows into the chicken mix. Two will make it watery - so keep the second aside and make an omelette or something :)

Keep the white aside in a flat vessel.

Now make round patties with the chicken-potato mix so that they hold well together.

Keep the bread crumbs and the egg white ready in two separate open vessels.

Dip each cutlet into the egg white and then immediately into the bread/rusk crumbs so that it is coated well and dry.

Now heat oil in a wide pan and shallow-fry each cutlet.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup, if you like it that way! Or make a burger.

Pesarattu/Green Gram Dosa with Spinach

Easiest ever dosa! No fermentation required, so you can make this even if you haven't planned it 2 days ago.

Ingrediants

Green gram: 1 glass (serves 2 people, increase as required)
Ginger pieces (optional)
Dry Red chilly (optional)
One bunch spinach (palak) (optional)
Salt

Procedure

Soak green gram in water overnight.
Grind in the morning. Well, that's about it :) :)
If you want, add some ginger and red chilly to the mix, and/or spinach, while it is grinding.

This grinds real fast. Becomes soft and fluffy. Hardly needs any water. Just take out the batter, add very little salt, and make dosas on a hot non-stick pan.

The batter will be fluffy, don't add much water. It won't spread as easy as regular dosa, but just spread it thin, it won't break, and it will come out real crisp! Turn it over and cook the other side too, if you find any uncooked parts.

Now serve this with any chutney you want!

Easy Cabbage

Cabbage, the difficult vegetable, made easy :)

http://www.aayisrecipes.com/2006/02/21/cabbage-sidedishcabbage-upkari/

Palak Tambli

A curd preparation, easy and light good for summer -

http://www.aayisrecipes.com/2009/02/24/palak-tambli/

Cool Summer Drink - Thandai

http://www.aayisrecipes.com/2009/06/30/cool-summer-drinkthandai/

Green & Red coconut chutneys

I usually make a green chutney and/or a red chutney to go with the dosa.

Green Chutney

Half a coconut grated
Curry leaves
Green chillies
Some ginger
Soaked tamarind
Salt

Red Chutney

Half a coconut grated
Dry red chillies
1 onion (or preferably some sambar onions)
Some garlic cloves
Soaked tamarind
Salt

Grind well and add seasoning with jeera or mustard.

My Dosa Recipe

I am told that I make very crispy light dosas, so here is the secret :)  Probably this is the only thing I make really well! This is great for diabetics/is more nutritious if you use only one portion of rice, and the other two portions are jowar and ragi or any other millet. You can also add a bit of flaxseeds or soya dal in this, very high sources of protein, among other things.

Ingredients

1. Half cup red rice [the one with the husk is great, if not the usual red rice you get in stores]
2. Half cup ragi or any other millet
3. Half cup jowar, or boiled rice, if you don't have it [MK Ahmed has jowar, in the Millets section]
4. Half a cup urad dal
5. A big spoon of methi seeds
6. Some Paper Avalakki (Poha) or Cooked rice (Poha is to make the dosa crisper, rice makes it softer)
7. Soya seeds or Flax seeds (a teaspoonful) - make sure you soak this separately, in a different vessel. Before adding it to the grinder with the rest, wash in fresh water.  These are optional, but are highly nutritious, great protein sources. If you add too much, the dosa becomes very heavy.
8. Alfalfa seeds, half a teaspoon (optional)- this is high in proteins, calcium, and various vitamins.

Procedure

1. Soak rice-millets-jowar and the urad dal, and the methi seeds overnight, in the same vessel.
2. If you are using flax seeds or soya, soak separately.
3. The next day morning, grind in a good grinder, which makes it real smooth. The 2-kilo tabletop grinder is a great investment. It will keep grinding, you can continue with your other work, just occasionally check if it needs water.
4. While grinding, add a few handfuls of poha or cooked rice depending on whether you want it crisp of soft.
5. Now keep the dosa batter for fermenting in a wide-mouthed vessel, leaving some space at the top for the batter to rise - this will take a whole day (8 hours) in winter, and half a day in summer.
6. Cover this vessel with a thin cloth - not with a lid, it needs to breathe.
7. I always keep this batter vessel on top of the fridge stabilizer - so it is at a constant warm temperature and so ferments well :)
8. Once the batter has risen, keep in fridge if you are not making dosas immediately.
9. When making the dosa, add salt and extra water as required. Spread these real thin and add ghee for better taste. You can also add grated carrot or finely chopped palak or other leaves on the dosa while it is cooking, to add variety and nutrition.
10. Serve hot with chutney and/or sambar.

If you still have batter left the next day, you can make crispy soft Paddu with it - it's a hit always!

Green Mango & Carrot Salad

By my friend Venkat!

Ingredients

Carrots
Green Mangoes (preferably Thothapuri, the non-sour one)
Green chillies
Onion
Tomatoes
Salt
Lemon

Procedure

Grate or cut the carrots and mangoes into very fine pieces.
Chop onions, chillies and tomatoes into fine pieces.
Add salt and mix everything together.
Squeeze some lemon juice on to this. It's ready!

He says it's even tastier if you keep it for a few hours.

Aayi's Recipes

Found a lot of good recipes in here - many Konkan ones, but also a lot of experimental easy ones. Some of them very good for summer. She has photos of every step, in many of the recipes.

And she has recipes which have vegetables I didn't know what to do with :)

http://www.aayisrecipes.com

Poha!

Easy poha (avalakki/beaten rice) recipes from my colleague Vidya!

Simple poha (mildly sweet)
2 cups thin (nylon) poha
½ cup grated coconut (if the coconut is not freshly grated, you will need a few spoons of water to soften it)
Green chillies, chopped
Salt to taste
4-6 spoons sugar
Coriander seeds (optional)

Mix the coconut gratings, sugar, and salt well. Add a few spoons of water if the coconut is not freshly grated. This mixture should be soft to mix and touch. The sugar will not dissolve, but will feel well mixed. If you’re adding coriander seeds, pound it in now. Add chopped green chilly and mix it in. Add poha little by little, all the time, mixing it in with your hands. Make sure all the flakes become soft, but not soggy.
Eat as is, or with sev, mixture, or bhujia.

(May serve 2)

Spicy poha (hot and sweet)

2 cups thin (nylon) poha
½ cup grated coconut (if the coconut is not freshly grated, you will need a few spoons of water to soften it)
Salt to taste
1 to 2 teaspoons red chilly power
¼ to ½ cup jaggery, grated
Mustard and cumin for seasoning

Mix the jaggery in with the coconut. Again, if the coconut is not freshly grated, add a few spoons of water. Add the red chilly powder and salt, and mix well. Add the poha as described above, ensuring that each flake is soft. Heat a little oil in a seasoning pan, and add mustard and cumin to it. When it splutters, take it off the flame and season the poha mixture. Mix well.
Eat as is, or with sev, mixture, or bhujia.

(May serve 2)

Kanda poha (you’ll get this recipe on the net I guess. Some people make it with only onion, and some with potato and onion. But it’s quick and easy for a lazy morning when you don’t feel like making anything too complex J )

Poha Usal
2 to 3 cups thick or medium poha
½ cup grated coconut
Salt to taste
2 spoons sugar
1 to 2 green chillies, chopped
Urad dal, mustard, cumin, and curry leaves for seasoning
Coriander leaves, chopped (optional)

Heat a little oil in a kadai, and add urad dal. Before the dal turns golden brown, add mustard. When it starts to splutter, add cumin, chopped chillies, and finally curry leaves. Quickly wash poha and add to the seasoning (Some people soak poha in water: this makes the poha sticky. If you want it flaky, wash poha just before adding to the seasoning. If you wash it and keep it aside, it’s almost the same as keeping it soaked. Not a good idea at all!). Add coconut gratings, a little salt and sugar, and mix it all up. Close with lid and let it cook for a min. Add chopped coriander leaves and again let it cook for 2 mins for medium poha. Leave it for a min or two longer if you are using thick poha.
Serve hot as is, or with sev / mixture / bhujia.

(May serve 2)

Bhakris!

Recipes from my colleague Vidya! These are very good as breakfast - and takes very little time to prepare!

Rava Bhakri

http://www.aayisrecipes.com/2008/12/22/wheat-sooji-rotti-ganva-rave-bhakri/ (Rohini sent this link - very good site)

Cucumber bhakri

1 cup rava (A: Bombay rava, the white one - I guess we can use Bansi rava too, I've not tried)
1 big grated cucumber (you need not remove the seeds from the pith); don’t throw away the water from the gratings
A fistful of grated coconut (freshly grated is better than frozen or desiccated; fresh gratings make the bhakri soft)
Ginger: small piece, chopped fine
Green chillies, chopped
Salt to taste

Mix the ingredients together. Use the cucumber water to mix it. If required, add a little extra water. Make sure the consistency is a little thicker than idli batter. Don’t make it too thick: the bhakri will become stiff.

Keep aside for 5 mins so the rava becomes a little soft. Heat a greased tava. Spread this mixture on it evenly with your fingers. You can use a spoon if you are not used to it, and find the tava hot. Apply a little oil or ghee to the base of the spoon to avoid sticking. Pour a little oil along the bhakri’s circumference so it cooks well. Cover with lid and cook on medium flame for a soft bhakri. If you like it crisp, turn the flame low. When golden brown on the cooked side, turn it over. Apply a little ghee or oil before turning it over though. Don’t close with lid after turning it over if you want it to stay crisp.
Remove from tava and serve hot.

(May serve 2 people)

Snake gourd seed bhakri

1 cup rava
Pulp and seeds from snake gourd centre
A fistful of grated coconut (freshly grated is better than frozen or desiccated; fresh gratings make the bhakri soft)
Green chillies, chopped
Salt to taste
(No ginger in this one)

Grind the snake gourd pulp and seeds with the coconut gratings in a blender. Alternatively, pound the pulp and seeds to make sure the seeds are not too hard. Mix all ingredients as described earlier to the same consistency. The rest of the method of preparation is the same as above.

Onion bhakri

½ cup rava
½ cup rice atta
1 onion, chopped fine
A fistful of grated coconut (freshly grated is better than frozen or desiccated; fresh gratings make the bhakri soft)
Green chillies, chopped
Salt to taste
(No ginger in this one)

Same method as described earlier.

Bread bhakri/dosa

(If you have half a loaf of bread that’s not fresh enough for a sandwich and yet not stale enough to throw away)

6 slices of bread
1 onion, chopped fine
1 tomato, chopped fine (optional)
Green chillies, chopped
Salt to taste

Crush and soak the bread slices in just enough water to make it soft but not too gooey. All the water should be absorbed by the bread in about 5 minutes time. Mix all the other ingredients with the soaked bread. The consistency should be the same as described so far. It may end up becoming a little thinner since bread absorbs a lot of water. You can either drain it out or let it be. If you let it be, it takes a little longer to cook, and is a little difficult to turn over on the tava.
The rest of the method of preparation is the same.

Tomato Chutney with Coriander

Ingredients:

• Onion – 3
• Tomato – 2
• Red chilies – 3
• Garlic – 3 pieces
• Coriander leaves – two strings
• Hing (Perungayam) – a pinch
• Mustard and urad dhal – 1 tspn
• Curry leaves – a string
• Oil and Salt – As required

Recipe:

1. Heat Oil in a pan. Add Red chilies, Onion and Garlic, fry till it turns into golden brown.
2. Then add Tomatoes and fry till it becomes soft.
3. Once it cools off, grind all the fried items with Coriander leaves, Hing, Salt in blender.
4. Heat 2 or 3 tspns of Oil. Add Mustard and Urad dhal. Once it splutters add Curry leaves and the ground mix, fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Healthy Atta Burfi

Recipe by my colleague Vidya -

Here’s the recipe for that quick burfi we discussed over lunch. It’s called Sukhdi. It’s popular in Gujarat and some parts of Maharashtra. I found the recipe in a Konkani recipe book, although it was the first time I was tasting it myself! It’s also called Golpapdi. Apparently, it is also given to babies when they are teething!!

Preparation time: 10 mins
Makes about 25-30 burfis

Atta – 1 cup
Jaggery (grated or sliced thin and really fine) – ¾ to 1 cup
Ghee – ½ to ¾ cup
Cardamom – a few pods, powdered
Pista, Cashew nuts – optional

Keep a greased thali (tray) and spoon ready before you begin.

Roast the atta in ghee until it turns slightly golden. The aroma is the best way to know it’s roasted well. Take it off the flame. Add the grated jaggery immediately and mix briskly. The jaggery melts and should blend well into the atta-ghee mix. Add the powdered cardamom and mix well. If you are adding nuts, now is the time. Immediately transfer this to the thali, spreading it evenly using a greased spoon. When it is still warm, cut into squares/diamonds.

Remove the pieces from the thali when it cools.

Some people add milk and more ghee to the mix when it is still being roasted. Not sure how that is done. This is ‘supposed’ to be the original and most basic recipe. This is usually made in winter, because atta generates heat in the body, so it helps keep warm. A healthy dessert, better than eating high-fat, high-sugar sweets.

Sabudana Kichdi

Recipe from my colleague Rohini, comments are mine. This is a very nice breakfast item, but can be had anytime.

Ingredients

Sabudana (sago)- 2 cups (those small white balls, made from tapioca)
Roasted peanut Powder (Danyacha kut) - 1 cup (this is a chutney powder we anyways make and keep, to go with chapathi, rice etc - roasted groundnuts, chilly powder, raw garlic, salt. I also add curry leaves to this.)
Potato - 1 medium
Green Chillies - 4-5
Grated Ginger - 1 tea spoon
Pure ghee - 2 tablespoon
Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1 tea spoons
Sugar - 1 tea spoon
Lemon - 1
Salt for taste
Grated coconut & Coriander for Garnishing.


Procedure

Wash Sabudana 2 to 3 times.

Soak the sabudana in water . Water level should be just above the sabudana level. Soak sabudana for 3-4 hours. (I've managed with one hour actually - just make sure all the water has been absorbed)

I generally prefer "Varalakshmi Sabudana" , for this 3-4 hours is sufficient but you can keep for few more hours if the sabudana does not become soft in 4 hours.

Wash peel and cut potato in cubes. Heat ghee in kadai, Put jeera in it. Now add chopped green chillies and potatoes, mix it and cover it with lid till potatoes cooked properly.

Mean while mix sabudana, groundnut powder, sugar and salt in one bowl. Now add this mixture into kadai. Mix it well. Put a lid for steam. Please don't stir it in between, otherwise khichadi will become dry. When sabudana gets soft, add lemon juice and switch off the flame. Serve hot with the garnishing of coconut and coriander.

Serve Khichadi with curd.

www.khaugiri.com

Moong Dal, Uttar Pradesh style

This is very simple and healthy, nothing is fried. A tasty accompaniment to chapathi and rice. Moong dal swells up during cooking, so if you are just cooking for 2 people, reduce quantity, 200 gms comes up to a lot. Reduce water accordingly.

Ingredients

200 gms Yellow Moong Dal (This is the green moong dal shelled)
2 Large Tomatoes, chopped
2, Green Chillies, chopped
2.5 cms (1 inch) square piece of fresh ginger, chopped
3 plump garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt
1 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped
about 8 curry leaves
1 tablespoon butter/ghee/oil

Procedure

Wash the dal well. Soak for 15 mins.

Bring 1 litre water to the boil in a cooking pot. A small cooker in which you can directly cook stuff is good for this.

Add the dal with the tomatoes, chillies, ginger, two thirds of the garlic, and the turmeric powder.

Return to the boil, then add salt to taste.

Cook for around 30 mins. (If you are in a hurry, cover cooker and cook for 1 whistle. But this dal cooks real fast, not really required. Cover and cook, so it will be faster. Keep an eye on it, it will boil up in the beginning, so leave lid open a bit in the beginning)

Remove from the heat and whisk gently with the egg beater, until the grains are completely mashed. (I did not do this, because I wanted the dal to be thick, not watery.)

Add the coriander and curry leaves and cook for 5 mins.

Heat the butter/ghee/oil in a ladle, add the remaining garlic and fry until golden. Pour into the dal, which is now ready to serve. The consistency should be like a creamy soup.

From: '50 Great Curries of India', Camellia Punjabi, Rupa Books (2006)

Potatoes with fenugreek leaves and dill, from Punjab and Sindh

This is aloo methi with dill. Lots of green leaves, very healthy. If you want to shorten cooking process, boil potatoes in cooker first and then add. There is very little chilli in this, so it doesn't kill the taste of the other ingredients. Goes very well with chapathis, also with rice.

You can make this dry subji, the moong dal recipe I posted above this, and make chapthis and/or rice, probably some curds too - and you have a complete meal.

Ingredients

250 gms, potatoes, preferably new (you can use those baby potatoes too for this)
3/4 cup fenugreek leaves (methi leaves)
salt
3 tablespoons oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder
4 stalks of fresh dill, chopped (sabbajgi, those thin needle-like leaves)
1 tablespoon chopped coriander

Procedure

If not using new potatoes, peel and cut into bite-sized pieces. New potatoes can be left whole with the skins on.

Soak the fenugreek leaves in a bowl of water with a pinch of salt for 30 mins. This will remove the slightly bitter taste. Then drain and chop.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the garlic and chilli. After a few seconds add the fenugreek leaves and fry for a minute.

Add the potatoes, turmeric powder and salt to taste and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add the dill and coriander leaves.

Cover, reduce the heat to very low and leave to cook for 15 mins or until the potatoes are done. If necessary sprinkle just a little water.

From: '50 Great Curries of India', Camellia Punjabi, Rupa Books (2006)