Potato carrot Prawn masala

You will need:

• 1 big onion (finely chopped)
• 3 tbsp tomato puree / 1 big tomato (chopped finely)
• 1 big potato (cut into small pieces)
• 1 big carrot / 10 small carrots (chopped lengthwise)
• 1 cup green peas
• 1 cup prawn
• 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tbsp meat masala powder (I used Shakthi brand)
• ¼ cup coconut milk
• salt for taste

For tempering:

• 3 tbsp oil
• ¼ tsp mustard seeds
• ¼ tsp cumin seeds
• ¼ tsp fennel seeds(perun jeera)
• ¼ tsp urad dal

Procedure:

Step 1:

Cut potato into small pieces. Microwave it for 5 mins or till its fully cooked. Keep it aside.

Step 2:

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and urad dal to it one by one. Then add chopped onions and carrots to it. Saute it till it become translucent.


Step 3:

Now add the ginger garlic paste and saute it for 2 mins. Then add the meat masala powder followed by  tomato puree.

Step 4:

Add the cooked potato, green peas and prawns at this time and saute it well. Check for salt and cover it with a lid. Let it simmer for 5 to 10 mins. Add ½ cup water if needed. You can add coconut milk also for good taste.

Serve it hot with Chapathi, roti or pulka..

Nethili thokku

You will need:

• 2 big red onion
• 2 tomato
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder

For frying:

• 2 handful of nethili
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp pepper powder
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
  
• 1 tsp vinegar
• salt for taste
• 3 tbsp oil for frying

Procedure:


1. Wash nethili nicely by removing it head. If its frozen nethili then wash it using turmeric and salt too.

2. Then marinate it with red chili powder, vinegar, ginger garlic paste, pepper powder and salt.

3. Now heat oil in a pan and add marinated nethili to it. Fry it for 2 to 3 mins. Keep it aside

4. In the remaining oil add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and chopped onions. Saute it till the onion becomes translucent. Now add the chopped tomato and saute it till the oil comes on top.

5. Now add the red chilli powder, salt and saute it for a min.

6. Add the fried nethili mix it nicely. Check for salt and chilli powder.

7. Add chopped coriander leaves.



Enjoy with rasam and rice... Taste yummy yummy..

Chundakai Vathal Kuzhambu

You will need:

• ½ cup chundakkai
• ½ cup grated coconut
• few curry leaves
  
• 1½ big onion (chopped finely)
• 3 tbsp tomato puree or ( 1 big tomato chopped finely)
• 7 garlic pods(chopped roughly
• 2 tbsp sambhar powder
• 2 cup water
  
• salt for taste
• 1 tbsp sugar
  
• tamarind to taste
  
• 3 tbsp gingelly oil(nallennai)
• 1 tsp gram flour (kadala mavu)
• 1 tsp rice flour
  

Procedure:

Step 1:

Dry roast the coconut and curry leaves:

Heat a non stick pan on medium heat and add the grated coconut along with the curry leaves. Roast in low flame till you get nice aroma and dark brown color. In low flame it will take 5 mins. Roasting the coconut at high flame will result burned coconut  which will give bitter taste.

Allow it to cool and dry grind it using a blender or mixie to get fine powder. 

Roasted coconut Powder:

Step 2:

Heat oil in a pan and add chundakkai to it and fry it for 2 to 3 mins. Then add chopped onions, chopped garlic along with chundakkai and keep frying till onions turns transluent.

Step 3:

Add the sambhar masala powder now and saute it for a min. Then add the tomato puree.

Hint: If you are adding tomato pieces, better to add it before adding sambhar masala powder.

Step 4:

Now add the tamarind along with water and salt. Lower the heat and allow it to cook for 20 mins till the oil comes on top.


Step 5:

Mix rice flour and gram flour with  ½ cup water and keep it aside.

Step 6:

Now add the roasted coconut powder. Then add the rice flour gram flour paste and stir it nicely. Close with a lid and allow it to cook for 3 more mins. You can add sugar/sarkarai at this stage.

Serve it hot with white rice. If you dont like bitter taste then reduce the chundakkai to ¼cup. Using nallennai will take out the bitter taste from Chundakkai.

Yam Fry(Suran/ chena kilangu masala)

We visited one of our close friend's place few months back. They prepared yam fry as one of the side dish. OMG... It was tasting really good. Lini akka your yam fry rocks. So few days back, i gave it a try . It came out really good and we loved it. Same taste like lini akka's yam fry. Next time i have to try her beef fry recipe.

I used frozen chopped yams to make this dish. If you are using fresh yam, peel off the skin. Then chop into bite size pieces and cook along with some water, salt and turmeric till it become soft. Simple to make and tastes very good with mild curry's/ gravy's.

You will need:

• 2 cups of chopped yam
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp pepper powder
• salt for taste
• 2 tbsp oil

Procedure:

Step 1:

Cook the yam for few mins in water along with turmeric and salt till it become soft. Discard the water once the yam is cooked well

Step2:

Heat oil in a non stick pan. When the oil becomes hot add the cooked yam and saute it for 2 mins. Then add chilli powder, pinch of turmeric powder, cumin powder. Check for salt at this time. Saute it uncovered in a low flame for 10 more mins. When its ready add some pepper powder and saute well for one more min. Serve it hot with dal curry and rice.

I got few awards last week from my wonderful friend Ramya.


Thanks Ramya for passing these awards to me.

Ceylon Egg Parotta

You will need:

• 2 cups All purpose flour/ maida
• ½ cup water
• 2 tbsp oil
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar

½ oil for kneading, flattening and toasting.

For egg Mixture:

• 4 eggs . (You can reduce to 2 eggs also)
  
• 1 red onion(chopped finely)
• 3 green chillies(chopped finely). You can use pepper powder also)
• 5 curry leaves(chopped finely)
• few coriander leaves/cilantro(chopped finely)
• salt for taste

Procedure for making egg mixture:

Mix together all the ingredients under egg mixture and have it ready.


Procedure for making Parotta dough:

Step 1:

Take a bowl and add flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and 2 tbsp oil. Start kneading by adding water little by little.

I used my hand mixer to do the work for me. You can use atta kneader, stand mixer, or hands to do kneading. Using hand mixer, mix it for 10 mins with medium speed.

Step 2:

After kneading the dough, make it as a ball shape and apply 2 tbsp oil and knead it nicely with hands. Then cover it with a wet cloth or wet paper towel and keep it aside for 2 hours.

Hint: Wet cloth/ wet paper towel(tissue) means soak the cloth/tissue in the water and the squeeze out all the water from it. Then cover the dough with this cloth.

Step 3:

Now make a big working surface to work with these parotta. Granite table or mica works perfect for this.

Step 4:

Divide the balls into 5 equal portions. Each balls need minimum 1 tbsp oil to flatten and toast. Apply oil on top and start rolling using rolling pin till you get paper thin texture. In the mean time heat the tawa on medium high heat.

I used electric griddle. Temp is 350 F.

Rolled dough:


Step 5:

After rolling the dough thinly, lift it carefully and spread it on the tawa . Apply oil on top and after 30 seconds flip it carefully. Now its time to add egg mixture.

Step 6:

Add 2 tbsp to 3 tbsp egg mixture in the center as shown in the picture.


Step 7:

Fold it from sides to form square shape. Pic is shown below



Step 8:

Now take approximately 1 tsp egg mixture and apply it on top to give more shine and colorful look.

Heat till it get golden brown color on both the sides by applying some oil. You can serve it by cutting it into 2 pieces also. Serve it with any spicy side dishes like chicken masala, mushroom masala, crab masala or even with simple sambhar.

Bottle Gourd Masala

You will need:

• 1 bottle gourd
• 2 onion(chopped into fine pieces)
  
• 1 tomato / 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
  
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• pinch of mango powder/ amchoor powder (optional to get more of sour taste)
  
• 3 tbsp oil
• salt for taste
  

For seasoning:

• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp channa dal
• 1 red chilli
• few curry leaves
  

Procedure:

Step 1:

Peel off the skin. Chop the bottle gourd into bite size pieces. Heat some water in a pan and cook the bottle gourd pieces along with some salt till it turns soft. You can even pressure cook the bottle gourd for a whistle or 2 to save time.


Step 2:

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, channa dal one after other. Then add red chilli and curry leaves.

Step 3:

Now add the chopped onions and sate it till it become transluent. Then add the ginger garlic paste. Saute it for a min and add tomato. Saute tomato till it become soft. Then add the chilli powder along with garam masala powder.

Step 4:

Now add the cooked bottle gourd along with 1 cup of water and amchoor powder. Check for salt. Cook till you get thick gravy. It will take 3 more mins on medium heat to get thick gravy. Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves.

This spicy gravy goes well with chapathi, kulcha, roti.

Hint:

You can even add uncooked bottle gourd after adding masala powders. But it will take long time for the bottle gourd to cook. .

Garlic Pickle

A click with flash light OFF:


A click with flash light ON:



You will need:

• 1 cup garlic cloves
• 10 green chillies (optional)
• ½ cup vinegar or ¼ cup lemon juice
• ½ cup gingelly oil (nallennai)
• salt as reqd

To roast and grind:

• 2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 10 dry red chillies
• ½ tsp fenugreek seeds (venthayam)
  
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• few curry leaves
  

Procedure:

Step 1:

Peel off the skin from the garlic and keep it aside. If the garlic is too big chop the garlic cloves lengthwise.

Step 2:

Dry roast the spices:

Heat a pan on medium high heat. Dry roast coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and cumin seeds for 3 to 5 mins till it leaves a good aroma and well roasted. Then dry grind the spices and keep it aside

Step 3:

Heat oil in a pan and add garlic, green chillies to it. Saute garlic till it turns golden brown color. Then add the ground spices to it and saute well for a min.

Step 4:

Now low the heat and add vinegar/ lemon juice to it along with salt. Taste the pickle and check for salt. Enjoy!!!!!!


Hint:

• I added green chillies with garlic pickle, because i love green chilli pickle too.

• To thicken the pickle, you can do one more simple step. Peel ¼ cup garlic and microwave it for 1 to 2 min till it becomes soft. Grind it to a fine paste and add it after adding the ground spices.

Potato bajji & Onion bajji

Potato Bajji

Onion Bajji



You will need:

Ingredients 1:

• 1 cup gram flour (kadala mavu)
• ½ cup rice flour
• ½ tsp red chilli powder
  
• 2 pinch of asofoetida (hing, perunkayam)
• 2 pinch of thymol seeds (omam, vaum, ajwain)
• 2 pinches of baking soda
• salt for taste

Ingredients 2:

• 1 big potato
• 1 red onion
• oil for deep frying

Procedure:

Step 1:

Mix all the ingredients under ingredients 1 by adding water to form a paste texture. Approximately 1½ cups of water.

Step 2:

Heat oil in a deep frying pan on a medium heat.

Step 3:

Cut the potato and onion into very thin slices. Dip the potato and onion pieces one by one into the gram flour paste and fry it in the hot oil. Flip it once a while till its done.

Step 4:

Crispy bajji is now ready to serve with any chutneys like red chutney, coconut chutney.


Hint:
Onion bajji takes more time to fry than potato.

Potato Cauliflower Semi gravy

My friend Shanthi tried Potato cauliflower semi gravy and sent me this picture. Wow Yummy Shanthi.... Will come to your home sometime this week to try your recipes....

Rava Idli/ Sooji idli

 Including rice in every meals is not that good for health right?.  So just replaced rice with rava. The taste was really good. The texture was very soft. We loved it.

You will need:

• 1 cup urad dal
• 3 cup rava/ sooji
• ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds (Venthayam in tamil, uluva in malayalam)
  

Procedure:

Step 1:

Soak the urad dal and fenugreek seeds together for minimum 5 hours. Then grind this to a fine paste by adding water.

Step 2:

After that just mix rava/sooji to the urad dal paste and grind it just for 5 more mins by adding water. By doing this rava will get mixed with urad dal perfectly. You can also mix rava to the urad dal paste using hands.

Step 3:

Allow it to ferment for minimum 8 hours. Grease the idli vessel and make idli's. You will get fluffy and soft idli's. Enjoy with peanut chutney, dal sambhar or with any of your favourite chutney's.

Optional:

Adding 1 cup of cooked rice will give you soft idli. Specially if you are staying in cold place, add 1 cup of cooked rice.