Adai

Adai is another form of dosa filled with nutrients. It has such a wonderful flavour that everyone will love it.. This is one of my favourites since childhood. Adai is a combo of rice and lentils and needs no fermentation.. a sigh of relief...U can make adai immediately after grinding.

Ingredients:

1 cup Idli rice
1/4 cup urad dal
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup channa dal
A handful whole moong (optional)
a small piece of ginger
Red chillies
1-2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 grated coconut
hing/Asafoetida
salt to taste
curry leaves

Preparation:

Soak Rice, dals and red chillies over nite. Drain about 3/4 th of the water before grinding. Grind with curry leaves, ginger and red chillies to a coarse paste. U can add dals at different stages to make more crunchier adai.Adjust salt. Add grated coconut to the batter.

Use a dosa pan, pour a ladle full of batter and spread it evenly. Add oil to the corners, wait till the crisp up. Turn sides to make sure its fully cooked. Serve hot with Avial...

Drumstick channa kurma and Paruppu rasam

Hello everyone

I had problem with my internet connections, couldnt blog and comment on ur blogs... from tommorow i will visit ur blogs to drop a note..(Yesterday post was a scheduled one!!!)

Lets get to business...

This recipe is from Dr. Damodaran’s cooking recipes. His recipes always have a traditional touch to any recipe. He always cooks in mud pots, which enhances the taste of the dish. This recipe was totally new to me; I would have never tried this combo in million years. It tasted too good….This goes very well with Idli, dosa and Rice...





Ingredients:
5 Drumstick (frozen, cut into 3” pieces)
½ cup Channa dal
1 onion
2 tomatoes
3 greenchillies
2 tsp redchilli powder
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp g&g paste
2 Cinnamon stick
2 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tsp sombu
small lemon size tamarind ( Soak and extract water)
¼ cup grated coconut
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Preparation:
Grind grated coconut to a fine paste.
Soak channa dal for 30 mts.
Heat oil in a pan. Add whole garam masala (Cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, fennel seeds). Add onion and sauté till translucent. Add g&g paste, green chilies and tomatoes. Let the tomatoes turn mushy. Add channa dal and drumstick. If u are using frozen drumstick, defrost them and add to the curry. Add red chili, coriander and turmeric powder. Sauté for 2 mts. Add 1 cup of water. Add salt and let it boil. The gravy will be thick. Once the dal is cooked (should be soft, don’t overcook), add coconut paste. Cover and let it boil. Finally add thick tamarind water. Mix well and let it boil for 1 mt. Remove from heat, garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot!!!!



Paruppu rasam

Its one of my favorite version of rasam. If u try this rasam, u will never go back to normal rasam. Dal is the magical ingredient and it makes all the difference to the taste of the rasam.


Cook ½ cup of toor dal with 2 ½ cups of water (or more). Once the toor dal is cooked, strain the water from dal and mash the dal with mathu or masher. Grind 2 tomatoes and ¼ cup of coriander leave to coarse paste. Heat extracted dal water and paste in a pan. Add turmeric powder and salt and let it boil. Extract juice from lemon sized tamarind. Add the tamarind water to the pan. Let it boil for 5 mts. Remove from heat. Add Rasam powder, mashed Dal and adjust salt.
Heat 1 tbsp of ghee and 1 tbsp of oil in a pan for seasoning. Add mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add curry leaves, Asofoetida and 3 red chillies. Finally add mashed Garlic and sauté for 5 mts. Add the seasoning to rasam and transfer the pan to stove. Let it come to one boil. Remove from heat. Garnish with coriander. Paruppu rasam is ready!!!!

Dhal (Lentils curry)

I am quite surprised and amazed by other blogger recipes and new innovations.. I am really of my fellow blogger... Amidst their busy schedule they find time to make some amazing food and share it with everyone..Kudos to them.. My recipes seems to very basic ones when compared to other recipes. I might stick on to Basic recipes for a while..

Dhal is another basic recipe which is usually prepared in daily basis in some houses and occationally in our house. In restaurants, if u go for full meal, the first course will be dhal or paruppu and ghee..I love it. In my house, whenever my mom makes sambar, there will be paruppu and paruppu rasam.. Hot rice, lots of ghee, paruppu and appalam is a small plate of heaven.

Ingredients:


1 cup Toor dhal
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 green chillies
1 onion
1/4 tsp garam masala(optional)
1 tsp mustard seed
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
curry leaves


Preparation:

In a pressure cooker, add toor dhal and 3 cups of water.. adjust accordingly...Don't add to much water.. coz its has to be thick consistency...cover and cook in medium heat. Leave it for two whistles. Remove from heat, allow to cool down. Once cooled, Use Mathu to smash dhal.If u don't have mathu u can use Mixer grinder on whipper mode.

Then the usual process of seasoning, Heat oil in a pan, do the seasoning with mustard seeds, cumin and curry leaves. Add onion and green chilies, fry till translucent. Add turmeric powder and garam masala. Garam masala gives a unique flavour to dhal. Traditional dhal does not require garam masala. So its ur choice... Once the raw smell evaporates, add dhal. Adjust salt and water. Cove and cook for few minutes. Remove from heat.Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with ghee and rice.. Goes well with chapathi too....


This is my contribution to FIC-YELLOW hosted by sunshinemom of TONGUE TICKLERS.

Mango Sambar (Lentil Curry)

Sambar is a authentic south Indian dish for Rice or Idli!!!. No breakfast is complete without sambar. Pongal and sambar is a great combination!!! Idli and sambar is heavenly!!!!. U can use vegetables like Drumstick, Raddish, Brinjal, Okra, pumpkin...etc but I used mango which gives unique flavour to sambar....

Ingredients:

1 cup Toor dhal or Masoor Dhal
1 raw mango
1 tomato
3 pods garlic
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Redchilli powder
2 tbsp sambar powder
salt to taste
small lemon size tamarind or 1 tsp tamarind paste

Seasoning:

2 tsp ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin
3 redchillies
curry leaves
Asofoetida
1 small onion or 3 shallots

Preparation:

In a Pressure cooker,add all the ingredients except tamarind. Add 3 cups of water, cover and cook. Leave it for 3 whistles. Remove from heat allow to cool.

Meanwhile soak tamarind in hot water for few minutes. Extract tamarind water from the pulp. ( For mango smabar, they wont use tamarind water. I use it because the raw mangoes we get here is not tangy enough!!!)

Heat ghee in a pan and add the seasoning items one by one. Once the onions become translucent, add tamarind water ( adjust according to ur taste). Allow to boil for 5 minutes. Add this seasoning to sambar. Sprinkle 1 tsp sambar powder, cover and cook for 10 mts. Finally sprinkle coriander leaves and remove from heat.

Serve hot with Rice!!!

Note:

Instead of mango, u can use other vegetable mentioned above!!!
Adjust tamarind, redchilli powder according to taste




More Curries for rice:

Gobi Masala
Cabbage Kootu





Please leave Ur valuable Comments

Lentil & Spinach Soup

Soup is a starter dish, it is served before meal. The consistency may be thick or thin, I prefer thin soup!!!. When I was in UK, thick soup is served as lunch with garlic bread in TGFS( Fast food shop). My colleague used to buy this everyday for lunch. She use to say, this is a good way to avoid junk food and to maintain ur weight!!!.


In south Indian restaurant, most famous soup is vegetable soup with basmati rice stew. I love that, it is very light starter for meal. Here I have given Lentil and spinach soup recipe which is thick and has healthy benefits!!!
(Image Courtesy )

Ingredients:

1/2 bunch spinach chopped

2 medium onions sliced

1 large tomato chopped

1/2 cup toor dhal

3 flakes garlic crushed

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp lime juice

1 tbsp oil

salt to taste

Preparation:

In a pressure cooker, saute the onions, garlic and tomatoes in oil. Add spinach, toor dhal and 4 cups of water. Close the cooker, bring to full pressure on high heat. Reduce the heat. Cook on low heat for further 10 mts. Turn off the heat and allow to release pressure. when cool blend in the mixer or u can blend in a spatula so that u can feel dhal and spinach .

Heat milk and to the soup. Add the chilli powder and salt and bring to boil. Serve hot with dash of lime juice and pepper!!!!

More Spinach recipes:

Spinach Kootu

Spinach Dhal Curry

Paruppu Arisi Sadam (Rice & Lentil)

Paruppu arisi sadam is one of the lunch specials in Coimbatore. While i was doing my UG in Coimbatore my friends use to bring this rice for lunch which tasted very good. We r from Chennai ,so my mother didn't know how to make it. After marriage, I came to know this is one of my mother in laws speciality!!!. I found out the recipe and started making it by my own!!!

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

1/2 cup toor dhal

2 tbsp oil

1tsp mustard seeds

curry leaves

salt to taste

Paste:

1 small onion chopped

1 large tomato chopped

4 garlic cloves
4 redchillies
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

5 whole pepper

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1" cinnamon stick

2 cloves

Preparation:

Make a paste of above mentioned ingredients.

In a pressure cooker, add rice, dhal, and the ground paste with 2 cups of water. In a pan add oil mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add this to rice and dhal mixture. Add salt, cover and cook in medium heat. After 1 whistle remove it from heat and leave it to cool. Garnish with coriander leaves!!!

Pickle and Yogurt is best side dish for this rice!!!

P.S Basmati and water ratio 1:2

Spinach Dal curry

Greens are very good for health. In India we use to get different varieties of greens and they had a unique taste. In US all i find is spinach and methi leaves. I love the taste of spinach and it is a rich source of iron. I use spinach for all the green recipes and comes out very well. Especially, this recipe is my hubby's favourite!!!. This curry goes almost with everything.

spinach dhal curry with rice & chow-chow poriyal

Ingredients:

1 Bunch spinach

1/2 cup Toor Dhal

5 Green chillies

1tsp Cumin seeds

1 large tomato chopped

1 small onion chopped

3 Garlic pods

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 redchillies

Asofetida

2 tbsp Sambar powder

Salt to taste

Preparation:

cleaning spinach is must coz it has dust & sand particles. Easiest way to clean them is, Fill half of the sink with water and put the spinach leaves in the sink. Leave it for few minutes. All the dust and sand will accumulate at the bottom. U can take and chop the spinach.

In a cooker, add spinach, toor dhal, cumin seeds, greenchillies, garlic, tomato and turmeric powder. Add 2 cups of water. Close the lid and leave it for 3 whistle. Leave it to cool.

In a nonstick pan, pour oil wait until hot. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add rechillies asofetida and onions. Fry them for few minutes and add the cooked spinach and dhal mixture. Add sambar powder, close and cook for 10 mts. Once the raw smelll is gone, garnish with coriander leaves and remove from heat!!!!