Tomato Paniyaram

It has been quite some time since we posted any recipe. When I saw this recipe in a local channel, I was motivated to try it out and post it immediately. It is a simple and easy snack to make for the kiddos. Try it out and let us know.

Ingredients

- Dosa Batter (as needed)
- 1 Onion
- 2-3 Tomato
- Red chilie (as needed)
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp Hing
- 1/4 tsp Mustard
- 1/4 tsp Urad dhal
- Handful of chopped coriander
- 1 tsp oil
- Salt to taste

Method

1. Chop the onions and tomato finely.
2. Add oil in a frying pan and once the oil is hot add mustard seeds and uradh dhal.
3. Once in splutters add hing, onion and fry until it turns translucent
4. Add tomato and fry until it turns mushy. Add chilie powder, salt to taste and fry for 2-3 minutes.
5. Take an appe pan and spray with Pam or add 1/4 tsp of oil.
6. Take a bowl and mix the tomato mixture and dosa batter. The final batter should be a little thick. So add the dosa batter as needed.
7. Once the appe pan is hot pour the batter in each groove. Reduce the heat and let it cook for a minute. Turn it with a spoon.
8. Spray oil on the cooked paniyaram and close the appe pan with a lid. Remove the lid after 20 seconds.
9. Check if the paniyaram is done and remove from the pan

Serve this with spicy coconut chutney. For kids you can grate some carrot,peas and add it to the tomato. You can also reduce the red chilie powder.

Baked Rice

Give me good basmathi, some spices and some vegi. I am sure I can make a rice dish out of it. So when I see ideas from my blogging friends that has rice as the staring ingredient I have tto try those. The rice dish I tried today was an an inspiration from this post. I liked the idea of baking the rice so I tried it with my standard pulav recipe. I cook my pulav on the stove top so I have more control over it. You can surely do it in a cooker.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup basmathi rice - Wash and soak it before you start your prep work
- 2 cups mixed vegetable - (I used beans, carrots, peas and bell peppers, frozen black eye peas.)
- 1 cup small onion pealed.
- 1 big onion cut pealed and cut to round slices
- 3-4 potatoes cooked and cut to round slices
- whole spices (2 anise seed, small piece of Cinnamon stick, 2 black cardamom, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp jeera seeds, fewe cloves)
- 2 tsp puluv/biriyani masala
- 2 green chilies slit
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
- 2 tbsp oil
- salt to taste.

Method:
1. In a large pan (you need a pan to hold the vegis and rice) add the oil. Once hot add all the whole masala and cook till they turn brown.
2. Now add the small onions and saute till the outer layer changes color. Add rest of the vegetable and toss it around.
3. Mix in your spice powders (turmeric, biriyani masala, chili powder). Add salt to this and let it all cook for a few minutes. Now add the soaked rice to this vegetable. Add 2 cups of water. Bring this to a boil. Once it starts to boil reduce the heat and cover the pan.
4. Cook for 5-7 minutes. The rice should be three fourth's done by now. Turn off the stove.
5. In a separate bowl add the sliced potatoes and onion. Add some salt, little bit of chili powder and 1 tsp of oil. Toss them all around. This adds flavor to these vegetables.
6. In a oven safe dish spray some oil and add the cooked rice. Arrange the slices of potato and onion. Add 1/2 cup of water to this. Now cover this and bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

Now serve it hot with your favorite raita or subji.

Sending it to book marked reciepe hosted by Priya

Fajita/Burrito

We have a mexican restaurant near our house. They make fresh tortillas and it is super soft and yummy. We get that occasionally and I try to make some mexican dish. I made some veggie quesadilla for the kids and a veggie fajita for us. It was a delicious and healthy dinner.

Ingredients

Vegetable Stir Fry

- 1 Bell Pepper (any color)
- 1 Yellow Squash
- 1 Zucchini
- 1 Small Red Onion
- 3 tbsp Oil
- Red chile powder (to taste)
- 1 tsp Cumin

1. Cut all the vegetables into thin strips. Add oil, red chilie powder, salt and cumin.
2.Mix it well so that vegetables are coated well. Leave it aside for half hour.
3.In a frying pan add oil and once it is hot add the vegetables. Roast it for few minutes.
4.The vegetables should be crunchy.

Refried Beans

- 1 small onion
- 1 tomato
- 1 Jalapeno
- 1 can of black beans
Salt to taste

1. Chop the onions,tomato and jalapeno. Add oil to the frying pan.
2. Fry the onions until it turns transclucent. Add the jalapenos and tomato.
3. Drain the black beans and wash it in cold water. You can also add pinto beans. You can also soak the beans previous day and pressure cook it.
3. Once the tomato turns mushy, add salt. Add the black beans and fry it for few minutes and mash it with a potato masher.

Cilantro Lime Rice

- 1 tsp butter/oil
- 1 cup Basmati Rice
- 2 Bay Leaf
- 1 Lime
- 1/4 cup Cilantro

1. Soak the basmati rice in water for 1/2 hour.
2. In a frying pan add butter/oil. Once its hot add the rice and fry it for few seconds. Add 2 cup water and close the pan. Keep the stove in medium heat. Add salt to taste.
3. Once the rice is cooked in about 15 minutes, add lime juice and the chopped corainder.

Other Ingredients

- 1/2 cup lettuce chopped
- Salsa (I used store bought)
- Guacomole (I skipped it as I was lazy :-) )
- Mexican cheese

To assemble Fajita

1. Heat frying pan and add a 1 tsp of oil. Put the tortilla and heat it for few sec on each side.
2. Add the refried bean,vegetables,lettuce, salsa and Guacomole and some mexican cheese. Roll it up and heat in the tawa for few seconds

To assemble quesadilla

1. Heat oil in a fruying pan. Put the tortilla and heat it for few sec on each side.
2. Add the refried beans and vegetables. Sprinkle mexican cheese on top of it.
3. Cover it with another tortilla. Let it remain in heat until the cheese has melted. Remove from heat and using pizza cutter, cut the tortillia into wedges.

Dhal Dokli

You have got to love one pot dish and if it is like a soup it is even better. So this time around I tried making Dhal Dokli an inspiration from showmethecurry... This is a dish where you have dhal and the roti cooked like a soup. This dish resembles dumpling soup a lot. It has a lot of traditional spices and is mild in flavor. Perfect for a cold and blustery winter day...

Ingredients for dhal - very traditional toor dhal

- 1 cup toor dhal boiled
- 1 tomato chopped
- 1 cup peas (optional)
- few red chilies
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp methi seeds
- 2 pieces of Kokam (This is black in color and has a tangy taste)
- 1 tbsp jaggary or brown sugar
- 2 tbsp peanuts
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp oil
- salt to taste

Ingredients for Dokli's
- 1 cup atta/ whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup besan flour
- 1 tsp ajwain
- 1 tsp hing powder
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tsp chili powder
- salt to taste

Method:

1. Start with preparing your dhal. In a big pot add the oil and the seasoning ingredients - Cumin seeds, red chilies and methi seeds. Once they turn color add your peanuts and roast them well. Now mix in your peas if you add them.
2. Add the tomatoes and toss them a bit. Add your chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and chili powder. Add the cooked toor dhal. Mix in kokam, jaggary and salt. Let it come to a boil.
3. Meanwhile thake the ingredients for the dokli and make a stiff dough. Roll it like you will do for a roti. Do not dust it with flour instead use oil to roll this. Cut this roti into diamond pieces. These are your doklis.
4. Slowly add the doklis inside the dhal. Let this whole mixture cook for the next 30 minutes. You need cook it this long so we loose the raw taste of the dough.

Garnish with coriander and optionality serve it with a piece of lime. The slight tangy taste of the dhal with peanuts and the dokli in it makes it a perfect dinner.

Sending it to book marked reciepe hosted by Priya

Kadambam

I happened to see this recipe in one of the Tamil cooking chanels. The reason I was attracted to this recipe is because you make something like sambar rice but without any toor dhal in it. Typically toor dhal is the main ingredient but not in this one. To top it this is a perfect one pot meal.

Ingredients :
- 1 cup rice cooked
- 1 eggplant cut to pieces
- 1 small sweet potato cut to pieces
- 1 small white pumpkin
- few beans
- 2 tbsp black channa dhal
- 1/4 cup whole green moong dhal
- 1/4 cup black eye peas
- 1 lemon size tamarind soaked and juice extracted
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- salt to taste

Fry and grind:
- 3 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp urad dhal
- 2 tbsp channa dhal
- 5- 6 dried red chillies

Seasoning:
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp jeera
- curry leaves
- 1/4 tsp hing powder
- oil to taste.

Method:
1. Soak all the dhals (black channa, whole moong and black eye peas) the previous night. Cook till they become soft.
2. In another big vessel add all the vegetables, tamarind extract, turmeric powder and salt. Cook till it becomes soft.
3. Now add the ground powder and let it boil for a few minutes. Add the dhal and rice finally and boil it for 5 - 10 minuts.
4. In a separate pan add the oil and the ingredients for seasoning. Once they splutter add it to the cooked rice. Serve this hot with raita or papad.

Variation: 1 - Make small urad bhoda and add them to the rice at the end. This makes the rice a little bit richer.

Sending it to book marked reciepe hosted by Priya

Gobi and Carrot Roti

When you want to spruce up your daily roti try this combination. It tastes yummy and it is pretty easy to put together. The trick in making any stuffed roti is to drain the water completely. You see when I first started making roti's I was not very familiar with this step. So my dough will become messy and my roti will tear. You know how frustrating it is when this happens. One of my friends told me this trick. She said no matter what you need to drain the water from your vegetables even if they look dry. Ha who knew ... Try this and see what a difference it makes

Ingredients for stuffing:

- 1 whole Cauliflower
- 2 carrots
- 1 tsp chili powder or to taste
- 1 tsp garma masala
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp corriander and cumin powder

Ingredients for the roti:
- 2 cups atta
- water to kneed.

Method:

1. Shred your vegetables. I used my food processor. It was fast and easy to do this. Mix all the spices and the salt with the vegetables. Keep it aside. This gives time for the vegetable to release some water.
2. Meanwhile mix atta and water to get a stiff dough. Don't add too much water as you will be stuffing this roti. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
3. Now in a muslin cloth (I used one of my father's old dhoti) dump the vegetable mixture and squeeze all the water out. You will be amazed how much water you get out this vegetables. Do not waste this water. Use it for any other subji you might make.
4. Now roll out a roti. Add a little bit of stuffing and spread it across the roti. Roll another roti and place it on top of the stuffing. Now carefully seal these roti's together and roll them a few more times. Be patient and you are sure to get a perfectly round roti.
5. Heat a tawa and add a little butter to it. Place the roti and let it cook on both sides. Either spray it or if you are brave add a huge pat of butter. It tastes so much better with butter.

Serve them hot with a dish of your choice.

Sending this to bookmarked recipe hosted by USmasala and started by Priya

Kanchipuram Idli

For my son's birthday party last week my MIL prepared Kanchipuram idli. It was a big hit. Kanchipuram idli is a spicier version of normal idli. So we do not need any specific side dish. Plain idli podi goes well with it. The cooking time is around 45 min. It is a simple and tasty dish. I have not given measurements for the ingredients to be mixed in dough. Please add it based on your spice level.

                                             

Ingredients

Idli Dough

- 1 cup Raw Rice
- 1 Cup Idli Rice
- 1 cup Uradh Dhal
- Salt to taste

Ingredeints to mix in the dough

- Ground pepper and jeera
- Dry ginger powder (Sukku in Tamil)
- 4-5 tbsp oil
- Coriander leaves
- Curry leaves

Method

- Soak the dhal and rice together for at least for 8 hours
- Grind it together, add salt. The batter should be in dosa batter consistency.
- Let the batter ferment  overnight
- Before making the idli add ground pepper,jeera , dry ginger powder, oil, coriander and curry leaves. Mix it well.
- Pour the batter in a bowl and steam it in a pressure cooker (like idli) for 45 min. You can test it by inserting a knife in the middle. The knife should come clean.
- Remove from stove and let it cool down. Cut it in small pieces.

Serve it hot with idli podi. The idli tastes better when it is hot.