Masala Powder (Palya pudi)

This spicy mixture is my go to powder/pudi as we call in Kannada, I use this every day in my dishes like palya(dry veggi curry), sambar/huli(along with mom made sambar pudi), upma and for some rice dishes like Besibele Bath. Just adding a spoon of this Pudi makes the dish very flavourful.

Ingredients for Spicy Powder

Channa dal//kadalebele - 1 cup

Urad dal/ uddinabele- 1cup

Corriender seeds/ dhania- 2 tbsp

Methiseeds/menthia- 1tbsp

Cumin seeds/ jeerige- 1tbsp

Black pepper seeds/ menasu- 1 tbsp

Cinnamom-cloves/chekke-lavanga-2-3 each

Red chillies- 10 (for medium Spice)

Few curry leaves

Oil - 2tbsp for roasting all the above ingredients.

Roast all the above ingredients with 2 tbsp of oil one by one and when it cool enough, grind it to a fine powder.

*Using Badage chilli , adds more colour(redness) to the powder and dish.

I have used a tbsp of the above powder to make Chayote squash/semebadane kaayi palya/curry.



Recipe for Palya:

1. Heat a table spoon of oil in a vessel, when hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, channdal and urad dal.



2. When dals start to change colour add chopped squash and salt, cover and cook for 10 min on medium heat.



3. Once squash is soft add 1 tbsp of spicy powder and 1 tbsp of grated coconut and squeeze 1 tbsp of lime juice. Add fresh cilantro/correinder leaves for garnish.

Enjoy !

Peach-Strawberry Crumble

I had totally forgotten about this month's AFAM, until Mansi who is hosting this month, reminded me. I have never cooked anything with peaches before but have eaten raw fruit just once :). So looked for recipes online finally liked the recipe from Food Network Website(Robin Miller's Recipe).

Recipe was very simple, with very few ingredients and just 15 mins of baking. So decided to make it and followed the recipe as it is but made few changes with the ingredients.

My entry for this Month's AFAM-Peach hosted by Mansi of Fun & Food. Thanks Mansi for the reminder, or else I wouldn't have made it.

• Peaches (canned in lite syrup) and frozen strawberries.
• All purpose flour -1/2 cup
• Rolled oats- 1/2cup
• Cinnamon- sugar- 1tbsp
• Raw sugar- 3 tbsp
• Olive Oil - 3 tbsp
• Almonds- 2 tbsp chopped
• Butter - just 2 pinches to put on top

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Wash peach and thaw strawberries and cut into bit size pieces.
3. In another bowl mix all the other ingredients (add more oil if required)except butter.
4. I used 2 ramekins to bake,first put the chopped fruits then add the above mixture. Add little butter on top (can skip this part).
5. Bake in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes, until the top is golden brown and fruits starts to bubble up.
6. Let it cool a bit, enjoy when its warm straight from the dish.

I have served up-side down for the picture :). It was mildly sweet with little crunch(from oats and almonds) and fruity at the same time.

Vade and Payasa

Over the weekend for Vijayadashami I made Moongdal payasa and Channdal vade . Would like to send this to Viji of Vcuisine for this months RCI-Tamil festivals.

Recipe For Moongdal Payasa

• 1 cup - Moongdal/ hesarubele


• 3/4 cup - Jaggery/bella


• 1Pod- Cardamom/ellachi


• 1/2 cup- Grated coconut


• 1/4 cup-Alamond-cashewnut powder


• 1tbsp- Ghee.

1. Clean and wash moongdal then presssure cook upto one whistel.


2. Then in a heave bottom vessel put ghee, then add coconut, cardamom, nut powder add crushed jaggery and 2 cups of water. Bring it to boil.


3. Then add cooked moongdal and let it simmer for 10 more minutes. Untill you get nice consistnacy.


4. Enjoy it .

*Garnish with some ghee fried nuts. To make it even easier , wash moong dal and add all the above ingredints and pressure cook for 2 whistel of 15 minustes. Enjoy once its cool.

Recipe for Channadal Vade

• 1 cup - Channa dal/ kadalebele


• 1-Red onion


• 2tbsp-Curry leaves


• 2- Green chillies


• 1tbsp -Red chilli powder


• 2tbsp- Rice flour(makes vade crisp)


• Salt to taste


• Peanut Oil for deep frying

*Above proption makes about 15 vades.

1. Wash and soak channadal for 2 hours.


2. Chop onion, chillis, curry leaves.


3. Grind channadal using little water to thick dough.


4. Mix in chilli powder, rice flour and chopped veggies.


5. Mix will and adjust the salt to taste.


6. Mean while, put some oil on medium heat.


7. When oil is hot enough , fry 3-4 at a time till golden brown

Enjoy!

Badam Barfi

When Sunitha announced spice for this month as Saffron, the only thing I had in my mind was Badam barfi. So today I made it and was very delicious with rich flavour of almonds and saffron.

When ever I make sweet dishes I use saffron for garnishing and for its pleasent aroma and light yellow colour it gives to the dish. For this badam dish I have added saffron for coloring(added bit more) and for garnish.



This is my entry for Sunitha's Think Spice-Saffron



Ingredients for Burfi:

• Almonds - 1cup


• Sugar- 1/2 cup(Use more for more sweetness)


• Water- 3/4 cup


• Milk - 2 tbsp (to disslove saffron)


• Ghee - 2tbsp (1tbs for greesing the plate)


• Saffron- 1/4 tsp


• Cardamom- 1 pod (crushed)

This above measurement makes 12 peices of the size of the above picture.

1. Add one cup of whole almonds to boiling water, switch off and cover and let it stand for an hour. Then peel the skin (it slights of easily).


2. Grind the almonds with little water(can use milk)to smooth paste.


3. Take a thick bottomed pan add water and sugar and disslove sugar. Then add almond paste and saffron dissloved in milk.Add 1 tbsp of ghee and cardamom powder. Mix well.


4. Mixture will be very dilute, keep stirring every few minutes on medium-high heat. It takes about 30 -40 minutes untill the mixture gets thick.


5. Once it starts to get thick and starts leaving the edges of the vessel, transfer it to the greased plate(see the above picture).


6. With back of the spoon knead it like dough(to smooth is out and keading give glossy finish) and spread on plate and cut to desired shape.(At this point one can make like balls or pedas). Garnish with some saffron and chopped almonds on top.


7. Let it cool and Enjoy !

*I have added just 1 tbsp of ghee, so mine was bit chewy. Adding more ghee give crumbly texture to the burfi.

Spicy Nuts

Winter is already here for us. Over last few weeks its snowing and very cloudy and windy. Temperatures are around 10 to 15 degrees. So I am making soups and spicy things these days. And one more exciting thing I am doing these days is I have joined aerobic classes and taking online course on Food and Nutrition. Reason? to educate myself and to have a healthy life style.

So here is the recipe for spicy nuts..

1. I just chopped nuts like almonds, cashews, pinenut and added some sumflower and pumkin seeds along with some raisins and dried cranberries(no roasting).


2. Heat 2 tbsp of oilve oil add few crushed curry leaves and 1/2 tsp of garam masala.


3. Add this to nuts, mix well and enjoy.

*I store this in refrigerator so the nuts stays fresh.

Banana-Soji Bath/Balehannu Sajjige

Sajjige is very simple dish made with rave/soji, sugar and water. Today along with those basic ingredients, I  have added Ripe Bananas. Simple, sweet dish to have anytime.



My entry for JFI-Bananas hosted by Mandir of Aahar.

Ingredients:

• Banana - 1(Cut into small peices or mashed gently)
• Rava/sooji- 1/2 cup
• Sugar- 2 tbsp(i used raw sugar)
• Ghee- 2tbsp( 1 tbsp for roasting rava and 1 tbsp to add later)
• Honey-1 tbs (optional)
• Cardamom pods- 1 crushed
• Raisins-2 tbsp
• Water- 2 cups (for bit thin consistancy)

Method:

1. In a thick base vessle, heat 1 tbsp of ghee and lightly fry rava on medium heat untill the raw smell is gone.
2. In another pot bring 2 cups of water to boil.
3. When Rava is well roasted add sugar,bananas, raisins and cardamom powder. Mix well.
4. Now add boiling water to it. Stir well .
5. Keep stiring inbetween to break any lumps cook untill everthing mixes well and swith off.
6. Finally add 1 tbsp of honey and ghee mix well and serve warm.
7. Garnish with few slices of bananas and sprinkle with raw sugar.

*Above recipe is for medium sweetness, since bannans are also sweet I have used just 2 tbsp of sugar.

Enjoy!