Thayir semiya

                                  Kids love this dish,as it is not spicy and also it has creamy texture. Kids loves noodles, but feeding same noodles again and again,make them feel bored. So i used to prepare atta noodles, spaghetti,veg noodles,egg noodles. Recently i added new dish to it, that is thayir semiya. First my son hesitate to have (Thinking it as normal curd rice)but after 2 or 3 feed,he loves the taste. Even me and my husband love it. Generous amount of curd have to be added to make more tastier.


Ingredients:

Vermicelli/semiya - 1 cup
Curd - 1 1/2 cup
Green chilli - 3 no
Mustard seed - 1 tsp
Broken urad dhal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Cashew - 7 no
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp

Recipe:
* Boil 3 cups of water and add little salt to it and boil it. Once it boils, add vermicelli and cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
* Chop green chilli lengthwise.
* Broke cashew into half and fry it in ghee and keep aside.
                 
                                In a kadai,add oil. When it is warm, add mustard seed and broken urad dhal.Once mustard splatter, add green chilli and curry leaves. Fry for a while. Add cooked vermicelli , thick curd,salt and coriander leaves.If needed add little milk and mix well. Finally add fried cashew and serve it hot or cold.

Note:
* I cooked vermicelli separately because it gives a different taste.
* Also add fried raisin to thayir semiya,if needed.

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Poori recipe

                             When we travel in early morning through south indian highway roads, you can see a person in each hotel,preparing hot hot poori's,these poori 's attract the customer a lot. When i was a kid,when i go to village, i used to see poori's are stacked up in a glass shelf in hotels,it tempts me.Those days, poori's are prepared only during festival occasions.But nowadays ,we used to prepare it whenever we like to have. When i tried poori first time, it came out as crispy roti. Slowly only now, i can able to make puffy poori and also the puffiness longs for some more minutes( Earlier,the poori get flatten up after some times).

Ingredients :

Wheat flour - 1 1/2 cup
Fine rava - 2 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
Warm water - 1/4 cup.

Recipe:

      Take all the dry ingredients and mix with warm water. Knead a little hard dough than chappathi. After kneading ,coat the dough with oil and cover with damp cloth and rest for 15 minutes.
      Take the dough and knead for some more minutes and make small small balls . Take oil in wide deep kadai and heat oil in medium heat.Roll the dough with even thickness.Roll four or five poori and slowly drop one in oil, using spatula slowly press center of the poori,so that the poori puffs up. Once the bottom side is cooked and slightly changed color, turn upside down and cook till other side too cooked well.Remove the poori's from oil and transfer to a plate lined with paper towel. Serve poori with traditional potato masala or with channa masala.

Note :

* Sugar is added to poori mix because it gives slight brown color to the poori.
* Rava  is added to make the poori to stay puffy longer.
* Little bit of maida can also be added while mixing dough.

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Potato basket pizza

                                   This is my own innovation snack. Basically i like pizza and my son love's hashbrown. I came up with an idea of this snack,thinking hashbrown and pizza in mind.I tried it for first time and it came out well. I like the taste of having snack ,which had crispy ,crunchy outer layer and chewy cheesy inner layer. Kids will love it.

Ingredients:

Potato basket:
Potato - 1 big
Corn startch - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Pizza sauce:
Tomato - 3
Garlic -  4
Onion - 1/4 piece
Sugar - a pinch
Salt - as per taste
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp(optional)
Oregano - 1/2 tsp
Pepper flakes - 1/2 tsp
Olive oil - 1/2 tbsp

Filling:
Onion - 1/4 piece
Capsicum/bell pepper/green pepper - 1/4 piece
Tomato - 1/2 piece
Mozzarella cheese - 1/4 cup

Recipe:

Potato basket :
1.Boil the potato in a cooker or in microwave . It should not cooked fully.It should be little harder.
2.Shred the potatoes and  spread it in a plate.
3.Once potatoes cools down, sprinkle some corn starch,pepper powder and salt.Milk well. If needed,can sprinkle some water and try to incorporate it.

Pizza sauce:
* Chop tomato,onion and garlic into very fine pieces.
*In a kadai,add olive oil and add onion,tomato and garlic. Fry for awhile.If needed can add little water based on the consistency needed. Once the tomato is cooked,add chilli powder,chilli flakes,oregano ,sugar and salt. Cook for 2 minutes. Once it is done, cool down and blend it with hand blender or mixie.

Final stage :
* Preheat the conventional oven to 400 degree.
* In a bowl, mix all vegetables,pizza sauce and half the quantity of cheese.
1.Take a cupcake baking pan and grease it with any spray or olive oil. Now slowly place the shredded potato in cupcake mould and press firmly to make a cup like shape. Finally using a bowl or tumbler,press the potatoes,so that the potatoes stick to the pan and correct shape will be attained.Spray some oil on top.Bake for 15 to 20 minutes,till the basket is slightly brown.
2.Once the basket is cooked, check whether the potatoes are crispy. Fill the filling in each potato basket and on top sprinkle some more cheese and few chilli flakes.
3.Bake for 20 to 25 minutes,till the cheese is melted.

Serve it as snack along with ketchup.

Note:

* Try to make the potato basket little medium thin,so that it won't be too hard to bite and not too soft.
*Those who don't have conventional oven, take a medium size metal strainer,spread it like a shape of a basket or bird nest and place a small metal strainer on top of it(one above other) and place it in medium hot oil and cook till it is crispy.once done,trasnfer to plate. Fill the filling and cheese. Keep this in microwave, till cheese melts.
* We can add any toppings needed.
* Instead of basket,we can make like pizza base using shredded potatoes and top it with pizza sauce,veggies and cheese.

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Akki roti

                              This akki roti is a rice(akki) based breakfast which is prpared in karnataka. My mom and Mil prepare different vareities of roti's like kothuma roti,ragi roti and akki roti. My favorite is akki roti. Other roti's will be little hard than this one. By adding onion,green chilli,ginger,carrot and jeera , gives a different flavor to roti. I used to have roti alone but coconut chutney and kara chutney combined with akki roti will be more tastier.When you make this roti thinner,it will be more crispier.

Ingredients:

Rice flour -  1 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 medium
Green chilli - 2 big
Jeera - 1/2 tbsp
Ginger - 1 " piece
Carrot - 1 medium size
Curry leaves - 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - as per taste
Water - 1 1/2 cup
Hing - a pinch

Recipe:

* Chop onion,green chilli,curry leaves,coriander leaves into very fine pieces.
* Shred carrot and ginger.

1.Take a big wide bowl ,add all the ingredients and mix well with water.The consistency is too be, not too thick and not too thin.(Nor like chappathi dough and not like dosa batter)

2.Take a thick wide pan and sprinkle some oil on top. (Take some water in a small bowl).Dip your hand in water and when it is wet,take a big lump of roti dough and place it in center of the tava. Again dip your four fingers in water and slowly slide the dough outwards .Make a round roti,keep the roti as thin as you can.Sprinkle some oil on top and cover the tava.Cook till down part is slightly brown. Now turn the roti upside down and cook for 4 more minutes in slim flame ,Make a small 2 or holes in roti and sprinkle some oil on corners of the roti and try to press the roti on top,so that the roti will become thinner. Cook till the roti is cooked and slightly brown in color. Once again flip the roti and cook for 2 more minutes(This will make roti crispier in both side).Once cooked, serve with coconut or kara chutney.

Note:

* We can also add any type of vegetables in it. Chop the vegetables very fine pieces,steam it       and add to roti     mix.
* Since we are adding vegetables and other ingredients, this roti will be heavier if we have           more than teo.
* Have this roti hot hot, once it is cold it will be become more harder.

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Ulundu vadai

                        In south india, during festival and special occasions vada is prepared along with payasam. Vada and payasam is yummy combination. As it has very few ingredients, most of the mom's prefer to prepare ulundu vadai than paruppu vadai. The preparation is very simple and easy,but getting the right consistency is the award winning task. Based on the consistency of the batter, the vadai texture differ. I have tried in all type of consistency. Once even, the vadai become stone hard ,which ended up not edible. Right consistency vadai batter and right temperture of oil, will give a crispy outer layer and soft spongy inner layer.

Ingredients:

Urad dhal / Ulatham parupu  -  1 cup
Rice - 3 tbsp
Ginger - 1" piece
Green chilli - 1 small
Onion - 1 medium
Black pepper corn - 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves - 4 tbsp
Curry leaves - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Recipe:

* Chop onion into medium size pieces.
* Chop coriander and curry leaves.
* Soak dhal and rice for 2 hours.
                    In grinder, add dhal ,rice,green chilli ,ginger and salt. Sprinkle little water( say 2 tbsp) and grind it. When you see the batter gets thicken up, sprinkle again 1 tbsp water. (Sprinkle water when the batter gets thicken up and grinder couldn't grind smoothly). Grind it for 20 to 25 minutes.When the dhal and mixture is grinded well and the batter is soft,smooth and fluffy, transfer it to a bowl.
                  In the batter ,add chopped onion,coriander leaves,curry leaves and black pepper corn. Mix the batter well by using hand for atleast 5 minutes. Keep the vadai batter in closed container and keep it in fridge for 15 minutes. ( It will make the batter tighten and easy to make shapes)
                Take oil in a kadai, bring to medium hot temperature. Remove the vadai batter from fridge and mix well for few minutes.(Take a small bowl filled with water and keep nearby)Take a plastic sheet or banana leaf, apply little water,take a small bowl of vadai batter and flatten it in plastic sheet. Dip your pointing finger  in water and make a hole in center. Slowly transfer the vadai batter directly to oil without contacting oil and plastic sheet or transfer the vadai batter to right side hand and slowly slide to oil.After one minutes,turn the vadai to other side.( Reduce the flame to slim-medium) Turn the vadai every 30 sec or 1 minute,so that both side vadai will be cooked and the color of the vadai will slightly orange yellow. Cook till the bubble sound is slightly reduced. Serve it along with payasam for lunch or with coconut chutney for evening snack.

Note:

* Be patience while preparing this vadai. Take enough time to cook vadai, so that we will get crispy outer layer and also soft spongy inner layer vadai.
* The vadai batter should be pluffy. you will feel the right consistency of batter when you take the batter in hand , you can get a fluffy ball. When you drop a small portion of the batter in water, it should float instead of mixing with water.
* Oil should not be too hot,else the vadai will crispy out and uncooked inside.
*  If you are preparing this vadai as neivethiyam to god,avoid onion.Just add black pepper corns.

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Mirchi ka salan

                       This is one of the famous dish in hyderabad.. The ingredient which are used in this gravy is different and sounds intresting too. So far i have prepared gravy using coconut paste, cashew paste, onion paste, tomato and onion puree, but this one mainly prepared using groundnut n sesame seeds.This gravy goes well with roti or any indian bread. In hyderabad , they prepare this gravy as side dish for biryani.

Ingredients:

Mirchi - 4 ( Banana peppers or bhajji milagai)
Jeera - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Sesame seeds - 2 tbsp
Red chilli - 3
Roasted peanuts - 1/2 cup
Garlic - 6 cloves
Ginger - 1" piece
Mustard seed - 1 tsp
Onion - 1 small
Curry leaves - 3 or 4
Turmeric powder  - 1 tsp
Tamarind paste - 2 tbsp

Recipe:

* Chop onion into fine pieces.
* Slit mirchi, remove the seed and fry slightly in oil.
* Dry roast jeera,coriander seed and sesame seed. Grind it along with roasted groundnut/peanut,red chilli,garlic,ginger with 1/2 cup water.
           In a kadai,add oil. Once it is hot, add mustard seed,curry leaves,onion. Fry till onion is slightly brown in color. Now pour the grinded paste, turmeric powder,salt and 1 cup water. Cover the pan and cook till the gravy get thickens up. Now add tamarind paste,mix and bring to boil. Finally add fried mirchi n stir it. Cook for 2 more minutes. Serve the gravy  as a side dish for biryani or any indian bread.

Note:

* Use kashmiri red chilli , it will give reddish color to the gravy and also less spicy. Else, use red chilli powder instead of red chilli.
* We can also use simla mirch(capsicum) instead of this one.
* We can also add tomato puree in the gravy,  if we don't like the taste of peanut and sesame seed.

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Simple potato fry

                           On weekends,when i feel bored of cooking variety dishes I used to prepare just curd rice and Potato fry. Potato fry goes well with curd rice and any variety rice. No one complaint for simple dish if it served with potato fry.This is very easy to make . I can say it is a bachelor recipe.


Ingredients:

Potato - 1 big
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 1/2 tbsp

Recipe:

*Chop potato with skin in big chunk pieces.
*In bowl ,mix potato and dry ingredients.
              Take a thick bottom pan and add oil, once it is hot ,add marinated potato. Close the lid and cook for 3 minutes. After 3 minute,open the lid and stir the potatoes. Now cook for 3 minutes(Cook in slim-medium flame) without covering the lid. Now stir again and cook again for 5 minutes(slim flame) or till the potatoes turn slightly brown and outer layer is crispy.Switch off the stove and leave the potato in pan uncovered. Once done, serve it with curd rice or any variety rice.

Note:

* Use thick bottom pan,else the potatoes will stick to the pan easily.
*  If needed,can add coriander powder or jeera powder for added flavor .

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Egg puffs

                The first thing which comes to our mind when we are in roadside bakery is puffs.Though many types of puffs available in bakery, my most favorite one is egg puffs.It has both veg and egg stuffing. I like to have it with hot tea. Oru kadi puff oru sip tea....wow...amazing .


Ingredients:

Puff pastry - 1
Egg - 3
Mixed vegetable - 1 cup(Carrot,Beans,Cauliflower,Green peas)
Potato - 1
Onion - 1 big
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - 1  tbsp

Recipe:

* Boil 2 eggs and Cut it vertically.
* Beat one egg in a small bowl and keep aside.
* Chop all vegetables into small small pieces.
* Chop onion into small pieces.
* Boil potato and smash it well.
* Keep the puff pastry in room temperature before start doing filling.

                   In kadai, add oil. once it is warm,add onion. Fry for few minutes. Now add all the vegetables,salt and all powder.Sprinkle little water on top. Cover the kadai and cook for 5 minutes.  Now add smashed potato. Stir well, so that potato mix well with all masala. Cover the lid and cook for 2 more minutes.Once it is done,allow it to cool.
                  Take puff pastry and roll it with rolling pin and stretch it to the thickness we need for puffs.After rolling, cut the sheet in rectangular size. Keep filling in one corner of the rectangular sheet and keep a half egg on top. Now cover this with other side of rectangular sheet.Press the edges firmly . Apply egg coating on top. .              
                   Pre-heat the conventional oven for 325 degree.Take a baking tray and place a parchment paper or just spray oil spray on top and place the puff .Place the baking tray in center of the oven and bake it for 10 minutes on one side and after 10 minutes turn upside down and bake for 10 more minutes.Serve it with tomato ketchup.

Note:

1. Vegetarians can avoid egg and egg coating. Just add the vegetable filling.
2.If you feel too much of filling, just avoid adding vegetable to the filling. Just add onion and masala.
3.This dish is best when we have party at home. Just prepare filling ahead and prepare puffs on the party day.
4.We can also add mushroom instead of vegetables.

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Stuffed tomato gravy

                Being south indian, I am not familiar with stuffed vegetables.When I came to know about  dishes where stuffed vegetables are used as a side dish for roti and rice,it sounds intresting. I like to try stuffed tomato but most of the recipe i came to know is dry one. I feel it won't be intresting to have it alone, So i came up with an idea of preparing stuffed tomato and serve along with a gravy.This recipe is my experimental one,but came out really awesome.

Ingredients:

Stuffing:

Tomato - 3
Potato - 1
Green peas - 3 tbsp
Paneer - small piece
Onion - 3 tbsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Gravy:

Onion - 1/2
Tomato - 4
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 tbsp
Jeera powder- 1/2 tbsp
Chilli powder- 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Recipe:

Tomato stuffing:
 * Chop onion into very fine pieces.
 * Boil potatoes and smash it.
 1.In a pan ,add oil . Once it is hot, add onion and fry for awhile.Once it is slightly brown ,add green peas and panner. Fry and add all the powder.Cover the pan and cook for a minute.Now add potato. Stir well and cook till potato is mixed well with masala. Finally add lemon juice and mix. Transfer it to a bowl.
2.Take a thick tomato and cut it  horizontally at the center.Scoop out the pulp and use it in gravy.Slightly cut the lower part of tomato,so that it can hold in its position in gravy without falling down.
3.Fill the stuffing inside each tomato. Stuff all tomato and keep it in a plate.

Gravy:
 * Chop onion and tomato into very small pieces.
1.In a cooker ,add oil.Once it is hot, add bay leaves and cardamom.
2.Add onion,ginger garlic paste and tomato.Stir for few minutes.
3.Add coriander powder,chilli powder,jeera powder and salt.Close the cooker and cook for 5 minutes without whistle.
4.Open the lid and stir. You can see oil oozes out. Stir well, so that there is no tomato chunks in the gravy.If tomato stuffing is left out,add to the gravy and mix well.
5.Now slowely drop the stuffed tomatoes into the gravy and cover the cooker and cook for few mintues. Reduce the flame to sim and cook.Once the stuffed tomato is cooked and it is tender.Switch off the stove and transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.
  Serve it with roti or jeera rice.

Note:

* If needed,can grind the gravy in blender before adding stuffed tomato.
* Base gravy can be used for any type of veg gravy.
* Any stuffing can stuffed inside tomato.
* Also can add grated cheese on top of stuffing . When it is cooked in gravy, the cheese melt and give a great taste.

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Rava dosa

          One of my favorite dosa is rava dosa. It is crispy crunchy and yummy too. It need experience to get a perfect rava dosa like we used to have in restaurants. Most of us hesitate to try ,because it need more time to cook and need more experiments to get  the ratio of rice,rava ,maida and water. Whenever i try ,either it will be soggy or like maida dosa. I will end up having it like rava dosa podimas. After lot and lot experiments, i came up with this recipe.


Ingredients :

Rava - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Maida -  1/4 cup
Curd - 1/2 cup
Ginger - 1 " piece
Green chilli - 3 no
Onion - 1 small
Coriander leaves - 3 sprigs
Carrot - 1 small
Black pepper corn - 2 tbsp
Jeera - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tbsp
Water - 2 to 2 1/2 cup

Recipe:

* Chop onion ,ginger and green chilli into very fine pieces.
* Grate the carrot.
* Chop coriander leaves into fine pieces.
* Dilute curd into buttermilk by adding 1/2 cup water.
* Take a bowl, add all the ingredients . Mix well and add water. Make a thin batter.It should be like free flowing batter consistency.Set aside for 1 hour.
        Heat up the dosa tava and sprinkle some oil on top and wipe it.Once the tava is hot, sprinkle the batter from end side of tava towards center.The batter when spread on hot tava, makes some holes in between. Don't fill up all holes.Sprinkle some oil on top,cover with lid and leave it for 2 minutes.After 2 minutes,remove the lid and cook for 1 minute. Cook till the dosa is slightly brown .Remove it from tava and serve it in plate with sambar and coconut chutney.

Note :

* This recipe need patience, because for each dosa it take times.
* We cant prepare this dosa all together and serve, because the dosa will loose its crispiness when placed one above other and also rava dosa will taste yummy when we have hot and crispy.

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kachayam

                This is one of the sweet snack which is easy to prepare and my mom used to prepare it on weekends. When there is any guest in home, within few minute yummy appetizer is ready to be served. I still remember, on sunday's my mom used to serve hot kajayam's when we wake up from afternoon nap. Having a bite of kajayam and seeing sunday evening movie is a good time pass.


Ingredients :

Maida - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1/2 cup
Banana - 1 riped
Cardamom powder - a pinch
Salt - a pinch

Recipe :

1.Take a pan and add jaggery and less water . Keep stirring till jaggery is fully diluted. Strain it and keep aside.
2. Take a bowl, add maida ,salt and cardamom powder.Mix well. Now add banana pieces and smash it well.Now pour the diluted jaggery and mix slowly till we get a smooth lump free batter. The batter should not be watery.If needed can add baking soda to get fluffiness.
3. Heat a pan with oil and once it is warm, add one spoon of kajayam batter one at a time. Turn kajayam for awhile and once it turn brown color,take it with a spatula and transfer it to a plate lined with paper towel. Serve hot or cold. It taste yum.

Note :

1.If the batter is too thin, then kajayam will flatten up. so the batter should be not too thick and not too thin.
2.Those who hate banana in snacks, can avoid it.
3.Instead of jaggery, we can add powdered sugar too.
4.Adding a pinch of salt to sweet dish will enhance the sweetness in the snack.

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Nombu kanji

               This is one of my unforgettable dish ,which i had during my childhood days.My neighbour muslim patti used to send me this nombu kanji along with yummy masala vada without fail every two days once during ramadan month. Me and my brother used to have it hot hot with vadas. Till i was in india, i used to get it every year without fail. After coming US, i missed it. I got the recipe from my muslim friend and tried it. It came out perfect .


Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 1 cup
Pasiparuppu - 1/2 cup ( moong dhal)
Onion - 1 big
Carrot - 2
Beans - 7 no
Green peas - 1/4 cup
Green chilli - 3 no
Pattai - 1 " piece
Kirambu - 2 no ( cloves)
Ginger - 1 " piece
Garlic - 4 no
Putina - 1/2 cup (Mint leaves)
Kothamalli - 1/2 cup  (clantro)
Tomato - 1 big
Salt - 2 tbsp
Water - 5 1/2 cup

Recipe:

* Chop onion lengthwise.
* Chop tomato into lengthwise pieces.
* Chop mint and coriander leaves.
* Smash garlic and ginger using hand grinder or ammi kal.
* Chop all vegetables in big pieces.
* Soak rice and dhal for 15 minutes.

1. In a cooker, add enough oil and warm it up. Add pattai and kirambu,fry for awhile.
2.Add onion,green chilli,smashed ginger and garlic. Fry till onion is translucent.
3.Add tomato,mint,coriander leaves,chopped carrot and beans, green peas.Give a good stir.
4. Now add soaked rice and dhal. Add enough salt and water. Give a stir and taste for salt. If salt needed, add now and stir it.
5.Close the cooker lid and leave it for 3 or 4 whistle.After 4 whistle, open the lid and check the consistency. It is should me semi solid.Some used to have in liquid form and some like to have it in little thick consistency.If the kanji is not smashed well, smash it with spatula. Serve hot with vada or bonda.

Note:

 * This is vegetarian version, non vegetarian can add chicken keema to it.
 * This is similar to veg biryani but only thing is we don't add any masala powder to it.

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