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Showing posts with label South Indian Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Indian Recipes. Show all posts
Ingredients: 2 cups Idli Batter 1 tsp ginger paste 1.5 tsp green chili paste, coarse 3-4 curry leaves, finely chopped (optional) 2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped (optional) Salt to taste 2 to 3 tbsp oil for roasting appe
Method: 1) Add ginger paste, cilantro, curry leaves, green chili paste and little salt in batter. Mix well. 2) Heat Appe pan. Add two drops of oil in each mould. Fill moulds with batter. Cover and cook over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. 3) Uncover and brush some oil on the surface. Flip the side, cover and cook for couple of minutes. Serve hot with coconut chutney.
Ingredients: 10 small eggplants (small) Masala Paste 1 cup Onion, thinly sliced 1 medium tomato, roughly chopped 5 big garlic cloves, chopped 1 inch ginger piece, chopped 5 curry leaves 4 green chilies, chopped 1 tbsp roasted peanuts powder 2 tbsp grated coconut 1/2 tsp roasted poppy seeds, ground (optional) 1/2 tsp cumin powder 1 tsp coriander powder 1 tsp garam masala salt to taste 3 tbsp Oil other ingredients: 2 tsp oil 5-6 fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp hing 1/4 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp kashmiri mirch powder 2 tbsp tamarind pulp
Method: 1) Wash eggplants and cut the stems. Cut the eggplants and make 6 to 8 wedges of each one. 2) Masala Paste i) Heat oil into a pan. Add curry leaves, onion, green chilies, garlic and ginger. Saute until onion becomes translucent. ii) Add tomatoes, and cook until tomatoes are mushy. iii) Add peanuts powder, coconut, cumin-coriander powder, poppy seeds, garam masala and salt. iv) Let the mixture cool down. Then ground to a fine paste. Add little water if needed when grinding.
3) Heat oil in a pan. Add fenugreek seeds and wait till color changes to brown. Now add hing, turmeric, and eggplant slices. Also add little salt. Cover the pan and cook for few minutes or till slices become tender. Then add ground masala, tamarind pulp and red chili powder. Add some water to get the desired consistency. Boil for few minutes. Serve hot with white rice or chapati.
Tips: 1) Choose small purple eggplants with glossy skin without any brown rust spots. 2) Kashmiri Red chili powder does not have spiciness, but gives nice red color to the curry. Therefore, its upto you whether you want to add it or not. 3) Little sweetness plays well along-with sourness of tamarind. Hence, if you like sweet and sour combination, add little jaggery or sugar (1/2 or 1 tsp)
For tempering:- 1 tbsp oil, 2-3 pinches mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp hing, 1/8 tsp turmeric powder, 2 dried red chilies (broken), 1/2 tsp urad dal, 15 to 20 methi seeds, 2 cloves of garlic (crushed), 1 spring of curry leaves.
10 to 12 black pepper, crushed
1 green chilies, chopped
1.5 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp tamarind
Salt to taste
Method:
1) Pressure cook toor dal by adding 2 cups water. Once toor dal is cooked, drain and save the water. Squeeze out water from dal too.
2) Add 1/2 cup hot water in tamarind. Let the tamarind soak in for 10 minutes. Then squeeze the tamarind and get the juice.
3) Mix 2 cups plain water and 2 cups dal water into a saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Add chopped tomatoes, green chili and half of tamarind juice. Simmer for atleast 20 minutes or until tomatoes soften and mashed up.
4) Heat oil in a tadka pan. add urad dal, methi seeds. Wait till color turns to light brown. Add garlic, and red chilies. Add mustard seeds, hing, turmeric and curry leaves. Pour this tadka over rasam.
5) Add salt, crushed pepper, coriander powder and cumin powder. Boil for atleast 10 to 15 minutes.
Check the taste and adjust the spices. Add some tamarind juice if sourness is required.
Serve hot with rice or have it as a soup.
Tips:
1) Use nicely ripe red tomatoes.
2) If you don't like chunky rasam, puree 2 tomatoes instead of chopping.
3) Rasam should be spicy. However, to make it subtle, reduce the amount of black pepper.
4) Flavors intensify (in good way), if you serve rasam after couple of hours.
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked Rice (basmati) 2 big juicy red tomatoes, finely chopped 3 to 4 big garlic cloves, roughly chopped 2 tbsp ghee or oil, 2 pinches cumin seeds, 1/8 tsp hing, 2 green chilies, 1 spring of curry leaves Salt to taste chopped cilantro for garnishing
Method: 1) Heat ghee into a pan. Add garlic and cook over high heat. Stir continuously. Saute garlic until edges become brown. 2) Once garlic cooks nicely, add cumin seeds, hing, green chilies, curry leaves. Fry for 15 to 20 seconds. 3) Add chopped tomatoes and salt. Cover and cook over high heat, stir occasionally. Let tomatoes become completely mushy. 4) Mix in the rice and toss well. Rice should get coated with sauteed tomato. Cover pan and cook for couple of minutes over medium-low heat. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.
Tips: 1) dried Red chilies can be used instead of green chilies 2) Garlic should get nicely brown (do not burn). Raw flavor of garlic doesn't taste good. 3) Choose good quality, red, fully riped and juicy to get tomato flavor. 4) You may add garam masala in the recipe. However, garam masala overpowers flavor of tomato.
Ingredients: 1 cup Nachani Flour (Raagi flour) 1/2 cup Rice Flour 1/2 cup Urad Dal 7-8 Methi seeds Salt to taste Oil to drizzle while roasting dosa
Method: 1) Soak Nachani Flour and Rice flour in water for 5 hours. The consistency should be thick. Also soak urad dal and methi seeds together in water for 5 hours. 2) Grind urad dal to fine paste. Add very little water while grinding. Now mix urad dal paste and soaked flours together. Add enough water to get usual dosa consistency. Add salt. 3) Heat a nonstick tawa. Pour a ladleful batter and spread with spoon in swirling motion. Drizzle a teaspoon oil around the dosa. After one side is done, flip the dosa and roast the second side. Serve hot with - Coconut chutney, sambar, garlic chutney.
Tips: 1) Consistency of batter should be just like usual dosa batter. Nicely spreadable batter will make thin and light dosas. 2) Its a very good breakfast option. To make dosa for breakfast soak flour and urad dal overnight. Then grind urad dal in the morning and make dosas as per above method. 3) Cook the both sides of dosa. Uncooked Nachani flour doesn’t taste good. 4) To variate the recipe, add chopped cilantro, onion, tomato or green chili to your preference.
Ingredients: :: To cook Rice :: 1 and 1/2 cup Basmati Rice 3 cups hot water 1 star anise, 2 bay leaves, 2 Cloves 1 tbsp Ghee 1/2 tsp salt :: To make Masoor Gravy :: 1/2 cup Masoor 1 tbsp ghee 2 cardamoms, 2-3 black pepper 1/4 tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp red chili powder (I used 1/2 tsp kashmiri red chilil powder for color and 1/2 tsp normal red chili powder for spiciness) 1/2 cup finely chopped onion 1 tsp ginger paste 1 tsp garlic paste 1/2 cup yogurt 1 tsp coriander powder 1/2 tsp cumin powder 1 tsp garam masala 2 tbsp golden raisins, few cashews salt to taste
Method: 1) Soak Masoor overnight or 7 to 8 hours in sufficient water. Pressure cook Masoor up-to 1 whistle without adding water (For details see tip below). Add little salt when pressure cooking. 2) Heat ghee into a pan. Add cardamom and black pepper. Saute for 10 seconds. Add turmeric powder, chili powder, and ginger garlic paste. Saute for 15 seconds. Add onion and saute till it becomes translucent. 3) Now add cooked Masoor and 1/2 cup water. Add little salt (remember- salt added while pressure cooking). Simmer for few minutes. Add garam masala, cumin-coriander powder, raisins, cashews. Check the taste and adjust the spices. Remove from the heat. gravy should be thick in consistency as we are going to add yogurt once it cools down. 4) Let the gravy cool down a bit. Add yogurt and whisk well. Add little salt if needed. 5) Soak basmati rice for 10 minutes into cold water. Then discard the water and keep the rice aside for 20 minutes. 6) Heat a medium saucepan. Add ghee and wait till it melts. Add star anise, bay leaves and cloves. Saute for 10 seconds. Now add rice. Saute continuously until rice becomes completely dry. You will also notice the changes in texture of rice. 7) Once rice is nicely roasted, add hot water and salt. Give a nice stir and let it boil uncovered over high heat. Turn the heat to low, the moment water on the surface disappears. Cover the pan and let the rice cook in steam until grains are almost done. Let the rice sit for a while, because if we add gravy in hot rice, the grains are likely to brake. 8) Fluff the rice with a fork and mix in the gravy little by little. Mix well but gently. 9) Add some ghee. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes over low heat. Serve hot with Raita
Tips: 1) Roasting rice over high heat for 6 to 8 minutes results in fluffy rice after cooking. 2) If you don’t have enough time for soaking, immerse the masoor in hot water for couple of hours. 3) Pressure cooking without adding water means - Add a cup of water at the bottom of pressure cooker and DO NOT add water in the steel container inside the pressure cooker. In this steel container we are going to put only soaked masoor. 4) To lessen the amount of ghee, use oil for making Gravy and skip adding ghee at the end.
Ingredients: 3/4 cup basmati rice 1 cup finely chopped spinach 3/4 cup hot water 1 tbsp butter 1/4 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp finely chopped ginger 1 tsp finely chopped garlic 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 small green chili Whole spice: 2 bay leaves, 1 cardamom, 2 cloves Salt to taste
Method: 1) Soak rice in water for 10 minutes. Drain the water after 10 minutes. Leave the rice for 10 minutes. 2) Add 1/2 cup of water to spinach and puree. 3) Heat 1 tbsp butter into a deep nonstick saucepan. Add cumin seeds, whole spices. Saute for 5 seconds. Add ginger garlic and green chili. 4) Add soaked rice. Roast for few minutes over high heat. Stir continuously to avoid burning the rice. You will notice that rice has become completely dry and rice grains are popping when touched directly to the pan's bottom. That means rice is roasted perfectly. 5) Add 3/4 cup hot water, salt and spinach puree. Keep the flame on high. Boil until you don't see water on the surface of rice. Then put the flame on medium low and cover the pan. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until rice is cooked completely. Fluff with a fork. Serve hot with raita and fryums/ papad.
Tips: 1) To make this rice more healthy and colorful, add vegetables like peas, carrot, french beans, cauliflower etc 2) Roasting rice helps to keep the grains separate after cooking. Also, use hot water and follow step 5 for better results. 3) Kids would love to eat this green rice. Do not add green chili to make it kids friendly.
Ingredients: 2 cups bottle-gourd cubes (First, peel and deseed the bottle-gourd) 1 tsp + 1 tsp Ghee 1/4 tsp cumin seeds 2 to 3 tbsp roasted peanuts powder 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk Salt to taste 2 dried red chilies 1/2 tsp urad dal Cilantro, finely chopped
Method: 1) Heat 1 tsp ghee in a pan. Add cumin seeds and wait for few seconds. Add bottle-gourd cubes and little salt. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. 2) Then add milk and let the bottle-gourd cook. Add peanuts powder after bottle-gourd is cooked. Simmer for couple of minutes. 3) Take a small tadka pan. Add 1 tsp ghee and let it melt. Break the chilies into 2 pieces. First, add urad dal and wait till the color turns to pink. Then add broken chilies and stir with spoon. Pour this tempering over bottle-gourd sabzi. Serve hot with chapati.
Tips: 1) Some people eat bottle gourd for fasting. In that case, skip the tadka of ghee- cumin-urad dal. This sabzi may be eaten as a one bowl meal. Also, it tastes great if accompanied with sabudsana khichdi.
Yield: around 15 to 18 medium Idlis Time: 35 to 40 minutes (Prep time - 15 mins + steaming time - 20 to 25 mins)
Ingredients: 1 cup Rava /Semolina (Coarse quality) 1 tsp Oil, pinch of mustard seeds, pinch of asafoetida (hing), 1/2 tsp urad dal, 1/2 to 1 tsp chana dal, 4 to 5 curry leaves 1/2 tsp grated ginger 1/2 cup sour plain yogurt, well beaten 1/2 cup water salt to taste 1 tsp Eno fruit salt (Eno Soda) - original flavor (do not use flavors like cherry, lemon)
Method: 1) Heat oil in the pan. Add mustard seeds and hing. Immediately add chana dal. Let the chana dal turn pink. Then add urad dal and saute for few seconds. Add curry leaves and ginger. Now add Rava and roast for couple of minutes over medium heat. 2) Transfer roasted rava into a deep bowl. In other bowl mix beaten yogurt and water well. when rava becomes warm, add yogurt+water mixture to it and blend well (tip 2). Add salt and mix. Let it stand for 10 minutes. Consistency should be like usual Idli batter, not too thick or thin. 3) Pour about 2 to 2.5 cups of water into the Idli cooker. Put it on the stove over high heat. Light grease the Idli stand (molds) with little oil (tip 3). Add Eno salt to the batter and mix in one direction. Spoon the batter into Idli molds. 4) Once water starts boiling, put the Idli stand inside the cooker (important tip 4). Close cooker with the lid. Steam the idlis for 12 to 15 minutes. After 12-15 minutes, turn off the heat and wait for 7-8 minutes before opening the cooker. Remove idlis with sharp edged spoon (Do not use knife, it will break the idlis)
Tips: 1) Some variations can be done in the above recipe. Vegetables like carrot, peas, cabbage can be added to the idli batter. Just put small quantity of grated carrot and 2-3 peas into idli molds and then spoon the batter over it. Another idea is you may add the vegetables to idli batter.Though, it changes the color of Idlis. 2) If you have roasted the rava a little longer, it will soak more water. So, you may need to add little more water to adjust the consistency. 3) If you have small Idli stand (8 to 12 medium molds), Do not add Eno soda into whole batter. Divide it into 2 equal portions. Add 1/2 tsp of soda into one portion. Make idlis as per above instructions. Now add remaining 1/2 tsp soda into second prortion of batter and make idlis with the same directions. 4) If using normal pressure cooker, remove the weight (Pressure whistle) and then before steaming idlis.
Ingredients: 3/4 cup Sooji (Rava, Semolina) 1 to 2 tbsp Ghee For Tempering - 1 tbsp Ghee, pinch of mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp Urad Dal, pinch of Hing, 3 green chilies, 4-5 curry leaves, 1/4 tsp Ginger grated 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped 1/4 cup Green Peas (Optional) 1/2 cup Tomato, finely chopped (Optional) Salt and sugar to taste 1 tbsp Ghee (Optional) Cilantro, Lemon, fresh coconut for garnishing Microwave safe glass bowl with glass lid
Method: 1) Roasting Semolina (Roast it in a microwave safe plate) 3/4 cup Rava :- 1.30 min + 1.30 min + 1 min + 1 min = Total 5 minutes 2) Tempering (Use a big glass bowl which has lid) Heat the ghee:- 1.30 min Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal :- 1.30 to 2 mins - Stir once in between Add asafoetida, green chilies, curry leaves, ginger - High Power :- 30 to 40 seconds 3) Cooking Onion, Tomato Add finely chopped onion :- 1.30 min + 1.30 min + 1 min + 1 more min if needed = Total 4 to 5 mins - Stir once or twice in between Add Tomato, green peas :- 1.30 min + 1.30 min - stir once in between Add 1 and 1/4 cup water, salt and sugar to taste - Mix :- 1 min 4) Upma Add roasted semolina, mix - Cover the container :- 2 mins + 2 min - Stir once in between and also add some ghee. Keep the upma covered for 3 to 4 minutes before serving.
Tips: 1) Every microwave's power differs a little bit. So the time given in the above recipe may vary by a minute. 2) Ghee can be substitute with oil. However, ghee makes the upma more delicious. 3) Add cashews according to the availability and choice. 4) Upma will be ready to eat within 20-22 minutes if the time utilized properly. Chop onion, tomato, chilies while microwaving sooji. 5) In first 3 steps keep the glass bowl uncovered. In 4th step cover the bowl with lid
Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cup Vermicelli (I used Bombino Sevai) 1 cup Water, hot water. 1 tbsp Ghee For tempering: Pinch of Mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp Cumin seeds, pinch of asafoetida, 2 to 3 green chilies, chopped 3 to 4 curry leaves 1/4 cup carrot, small cubes 1/4 cup Green peas, frozen 2 tbsp Fried peanuts/ roasted peanuts Salt to taste 1/2 tsp Sugar Cilantro for garnishing
Method: 1) Heat ghee in a pan. Roast vermicelli over medium heat until golden in color. 2) Remove the roasted vermicelli from the pan. Prepare the tadka by using the leftover ghee after roasting vermicelli. Add mustard seeds and let them crackle. Then add cumin seeds, asafoetida, green chilies and curry leaves. 3) Add carrot cubes and green peas. Cover the pan and cook them for few minutes over medium heat. 4) Add fried peanuts and roasted vermicelli. Saute for a minute. Keep the flame over medium low heat. 5) Add half of the hot water. Mix, add salt and sugar to taste. Cover the pan, let the vermicelli cook and absorbs the water. Add more water and cook the vermicelli nicely. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.
Method: 1) Heat tawa over medium high flame. 2) Take 1 dough portion. Make it smooth and round. Make it little flat by pressing between the palms. Dust it with dry flour and roll into evenly thin round Chapati. 3) Place the rolled Chapati on heated tawa. Flip to another side immediately after 5 to 6 seconds. Roast this side till brown spots appear. Press gently with clean cotton cloth to roast the chapati evenly. 4) Flip to the other side and roast this side nicely. Remove from the tawa. Apply very little oil or ghee. Serve hot or put in the insulated chapati container.
Tips: 1) If you are staying in cold region and you want to carry chapatis in your office for lunch. Then better use oil instead of ghee to smear on chapati. Due to the cold ghee thickens on chapati and it won't taste good. 2) Roll chapati and roast one at a time. If you roll all the chapatis and then roast them one by one, it will make the chapatis very hard. If you practice you will learn to roll and roast the chapati simultaneously. 3) If you want to keep the chapatis ready for any function or get-together and to keep them soft as they are cooked, place them in a towel-lined chapati and fold over the sides of the towel. 4) You may vary the thickness of the chapati to your preference. The only thing is, it should be rolled evenly. So that, it will get cooked properly. 5) Tawa should heated over medium high heat. Very hot tawa will burn the chapatis. Also, do not cook chapatis over low heat as chapatis will remain undercooked. 6) Use tawa without vertical outer edge. However, you can use shallow pan. Tawa should be large enough to fit the whole chapati in.
Approx 15 to 18 medium Gulabjamun Time: approx 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients: 250 gram Khoya (Use special Gulabjamun Khoya) Sugar Syrup:::: 1 and 1/2 cup sugar 1 and 1/4 cup water 1/2 tsp cardamom powder Other ingredients:::: Oil of Ghee to deep fry Gulabjamun 1 tbsp Maida (All purpose flour) Milk as needed (You will need very little, may be few tsps) Pinch of Baking Soda
Method: 1) Grate the khoya. Sprinkle all purpose flour and baking soda over grated khoya. Mix. Drizzle little milk and knead to medium consistency dough. Use very little ghee if needed. Cover the dough with a damp clean cloth. 2) Make one thread consistency sugar syrup. To make it, mix sugar and water in a deep medium pan. Boil and make one thread consistency syrup. While sugar syrup is getting ready, divide the dough into equal small balls (1 and 1/2 cm to 2 cm). Give them a smooth round shape. There should not be any cracks on the surface. 3) Heat the oil over high heat and them turn the heat to medium low. Oil temperature is a very important while frying the gulabjamun balls. To check the temperature, drop one ball in the heated oil. If it floats immediately on the oil surface and start browning, the oil is hot. So wait for couple of minutes to get the right oil temperature. If the dough ball sits at the bottom of kadai for few seconds and rises slowly, this is the right temperature. Then, you can drop multiple jamun balls into the oil. Turn and roll them with slotted spoon to get same color at all sides. Fry them into batches. Cook them until they become reddish brown in color. Remove the first batch of fried jamun out of the oil and let them rest for couple of minutes. Then put them into hot sugar syrup. Repeat the same process for other jamun balls. One thing to remember that sugar syrup should not be boiling hot or warm. It should be in the middle. Let the jamun soak into the sugar syrup for atleast 5 to 6 hours. For better results, soak them overnight.
Tips: 1) Some people like a nice aroma of rose to the Jamun. For that, add 1 or 2 drops of rose essence in the sugar syrup. 2) You can give little twist to the traditional recipe. While make balls out of dough, place a small piece of dry fruit (cashew, pistachio), small piece of rock sugar or a seed of cardamom in the center of the ball. Then fry them normally. 3) You can replace all purpose flour with Araroot powder or corn flour. 4) Oil temperature is very important while frying the Gulabjamun. If the oil is too hot, jamun will get reddish color immediately. however inside, they will remain uncooked. Therefore adjust the oil temperature first. 5) Sugar syrup should be one thread consistency. Thick sugar syrup is hard to absorb into the gulabjamun.
Ingredients: 1/4 cup urad dal 1/4 cup chana dal 7-8 Dry red chilies 6-7 Curry leaves 1 tsp oil salt to taste
Method: 1) Roast chana dal and urad dal separately until lightly pink. 2) Heat 1 tsp oil in the pan. Add red chilies and curry leaves. Roast slightly. 3) Grind chana dal, urad dal, red chilies, curry leaves and salt together to a powder. Keep very little coarse for crunchy texture. Sprinkle over Dosa to make it flavorful.
Tips: If you want the podi little more spicy, mix 1 tsp red chili powder to it.
Ingredients: 2 and 1/2 cup leftover rice 2 tsp pure Ghee 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 1/8 to 1/4 tsp Asafoetida 1/2 tsp grated Ginger 4 to 6 Curry leaves 1/4 cup Peanuts 1/2 tsp Urad dal 3 Dry red chilies 1 and 1/2 tbsp lemon juice Salt to taste Cilantro, finely chopped
Method: 1) Gently fluff the rice to separate grains. Also, remove rice lumps if any. Add lemon juice and salt, mix nicely. 2) Heat ghee in a wok. Add peanuts and roast over medium low heat until color changes to light brown. Then add cumin, asafoetida, ginger, curry leaves, urad dal and red chilies. Saute well and add cooked rice. Stir nicely with wooden spatula. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot. Other left over rice recipe - Fried Rice and other Rice recipes
Note: If you want to make lemon rice of fresh cooked rice, make it very fluffy and not gluey. Each rice grain should be separate. Spread this cooked rice in a big plate for about 10 minutes to cools down and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This will help to keep the rice grain separated and after stir-frying rice will taste better.
Ingredients: 1 cup fresh coconut (shredded) 1/4 cup Chana dalia (Which we use in poha chiwda) Salt to taste 1/4 tsp sugar 1 green chili For tempering 1/2 tsp oil 1/8 tsp mustard seeds 1/2 tsp Urad Dal 1/8 tsp hing 5 to 7 curry leaves 1 dry Red chili 1/8 tsp ginger paste
Method: 1) Grind coconut, chana dalia, green chili, salt and sugar in a grinder to fine paste. Add little water if required. Pour this mixture into a bowl. 2) Take a small kadai, heat oil and prepare tempering by adding mustard seeds and Urad Dal. wait till urad dal becomes light brown, then continue by adding hing, curry leaves, red chili, and ginger paste. Pour it over coconut mixture. Mix nicely and serve with Idli, Medu vada, Masala Dosa, Utthappa, Appe and other south Indian recipes.
Note: 1) This chutney recipe is basic type usually found in Mumbai udipi hotels. You can create different combination using ingredients like yogurt, cumin, tamarind etc. 2) Another delicious Chutney recipe which goes well with Maharashtrian meal.
Ingredients: 1/2 Toor Dal 1/4 cup Tamarind (Soak in water and make 1 cup juice) 4 to 6 Shallots or pearl onions (peeled) 4 to 6 medium cubes of Bottle gourd 5 to 6 medium cubes of Eggplant 2 Drumsticks, cut into 3 inch sticks 2 medium tomatoes, big cubes 1 tsp Jaggery Sambar Masala For tempering 2 tsp Oil, 1 tsp Urad Dal, 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds, 1/8 tsp Hing (Asafoetida), 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder, 10 curry leaves, 1 green chilies
Method: 1) First make Sambar Masala. Pressure cook Toor dal until tender. whisk nicely. 2) Heat oil for tempering. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, asafoetida, curry leaves and green chili. Add onion and drumsticks, saute for 1 minute. Add 1 cup water, cover and cook over medium heat until half done. 3) Once drumsticks and onions are half cooked, add eggplant and bottle gourd. Add tamarind juice and 1 tsp salt. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes. Add some water if needed. 4) After all vegetables get cooked add cooked toor dal and little water. Taste and add salt if needed. Add ground Sambar masala, jaggery, and tomatoes. Cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes over medium heat. Add 1/2 tsp red chili powder for little color. 5) Taste samhar, and add any ingredient if needed. Serve hot with Idli, Dosa, Uttappa, Medu Vada and other south Indian recipes.
Note: 1) Do not roast Masala ingredients for too long it can change color of sambar. 2) Peel bottle gourd before adding, the peels take longer to get cooked. 3) Add Potatoes, red pumpkin in sambar according to your taste. 4) If you don't have shallots, just dice normal onion into big chunks and use it.
Ingredients Sambar Masala 1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds 1 tsp Urad Dal 6 to 7 Dried Red chilies 2 tsp Coriander seeds(I used coriander powder, added later to sambar with sambar masala) 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut 15 to 20 Curry leaves
Method: Roast Fenugreek seeds, Urad dal, Chana Dal, Coriander seeds over medium low heat until color changes to light brown. Immediately add dried red chilies, curry leaves, and coconut. Stir for 2 minutes and let it cool down. Grind to fine paste.
Approx: 15 to 18 Appe Time: 1 hour to rest mixture + 30 minutes to make Appe
Ingredients: 3/4 cup Sooji 3/4 to 1 cup Sour buttermilk salt to taste 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds, crushed 3 Green chilies, finely chopped 5-6 curry leaves, finely chopped 1/4 cup Onion, finely chopped 1/2 tsp Ginger paste 2 pinch baking soda 1/4 cup Oil
Method: 1) Mix Sooji and Buttermilk and let it sit for an hour. Then add crushed cumin seeds, Green chilies, curry leaves, ginger paste, Onion, and salt to taste. Mix. 2) Grease Appe mould (appe patra) and heat it. Add 2 pinches of Soda into the mixture and mix well. Put spoonful batter in each segment of appe mould. 3) Cover and roast one side for 4 to 5 minutes over medium heat. drizzle little oil, turn the side and roast for 3-4 minutes or until color changes to brown. Serve hot with Coconut chutney.
Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cup Urad Dal 4 to 6 whole black pepper, crushed 2 tbsp thin slices of coconut 2 green chilies, finely chopped 5 to 6 curry leaves, finely chopped 1/2 tsp ginger, grated Salt to taste
Method: 1) Wash and soak Urad Dal in the water for 4 to 5 hours. Drain all the water. Grind to fine paste. Do not add water while grinding. (Note 1 and 3) 2) Transfer the batter into a deep bowl. Beat this mixture with hand-mixer or egg beater for 2 minutes. This will incorporate air and make the batter light. Then add crushed pepper, coconut, green chilies, ginger, curry leaves and salt to taste. Mix well. 3) keep ready a bowl of water, before starting the frying process. Wet your hand every time shaping the batter into wada. 4) Heat Oil for frying. Turn the heat to medium high. Method 1 dip your hand in the water bowl. Pick and hold lemon size batter on four fingers, poke in the center with your thumb. immediately drop carefully into hot oil. Use your thumb to push the batter ahead from your fingers. It needs little practice. Method 2 (Step By step Images) Take a thick plastic paper (min. 4"x4"). Grease with little oil or wet with some water. Place 2 tbsp batter over it, do not spread. Make a hole in the center. Hold the paper in your left hand, wet your right hand. Carefully transfer this shaped batter from plastic sheet to your right hand fingers and now leave it into hot oil. Method 3 If you are unable to shape up the vada, drop 1 tsp vada batter into hot oil and make small Bonda or Pakoda. It will not change the taste though.
Deep fry vadas into hot oil till color turns to golden brown. Serve Hot vadas with Sambar and Chutney.
Note: 1) If the batter is very thick, test the batter by frying one vada. If Vada doesn't become fluffy and light from inside, add very little water to the batter. Do not add too much water, otherwise you will not be able to shape the vadas. 2) Do not fry Vadas over low heat. It makes Vadas very Oily. 3) If the batter becomes thin in consistency, add little Rice flour till you get perfect consistency. Rice flour gives nice crisp to vadai outside, but from inside vadas remain less fluffy
Ingredients:
