Ada

Who doesn't like Dosa for Breakfast ? (especially if you are from South India) However the effort and time involved in preparing regular dosa is more. Today I happened to find a dish - a variety of Dosa which doesn't require any fermentation process. It is called Ada (got to know that it is a Tamil dish).

Lets start the process...

Ingredients:

1. Rice (4 cups)
2. Urad Dal (1 cup)
3. Chana dal (1 cup)
4. Moong Dal (1/2 cup)
5. Toor Dal (1/2 cup)
6. Methi seeds (1/2 tea spoon)
7. Poha thick (1 cup)
8. Salt

Steps

1. Soak above ingredients in a vessel for around 6 hours or so.
2. Once soaking process is done, drain and Grind it (consistency should be similar to regular Dosa batter)
3. Add Salt accordingly and mix it well.
4. As I said earlier, no fermentation is required, so you can prepare dosas the moment the batter is ready.
5. Serve with Chutney and it would be great :)

This is the basic version of Ada, however you can also you can add few more ingredients while grinding - ginger, green chillies, Hing, grated coconut etc)

Vangibath - Bisibelebath powder

When I was in U.S, I used to prepare Vangibath with store bought Vangibath masala. Even though it used to be tasty, I always felt something is missing. This weekend I got a chance to note down the process of preparing traditional bath powder (the same powder can be used for Vangibath or Bisibelebath with little modifications). Lets start...

Ingredients:

Coriander Seeds

Urad dal

Chana dal

Cinnamon sticks, Black stone flower - dagadfool (dagadful) & Marati Moggu

Cumin seeds & Methi seeds

Hing (Asafoetida)

Dry coconut

Curry Leaves

Steps

1. Add little oil in a frying pan and fry hing, zeera and Methi seeds for 3-4 mins and keep it aside.
2. Add little oil and fry Urad dal, Chana Dal, Cinnamon sticks, Black stone flower and Marati moggu for around 5-10 mins and keep it aside.
3. Add little oil and fry Coriander seeds and curry leaves for 5 mins and keep it aside.
4. Fry dry coconut (without oil) for 5 mins and keep it aside.
5. Now grind all the ingredients and Coconut separately. Mix them and then grind it again.

This masala can be used directly for Bisibelebath with out any additions. However for Vangibath, you need to add crushed cloves while preparing Vangibath along with this masala.

Vadappi

Its a Sunday evening, cloudy...about to rain heavily and I am feeling bored than usual, no mood in doing anything...was simply sitting with my eyes closed...1...2...3..4....5mins and then it hit me...that...that its been more than a year now since we started this blog. How unfortunate to miss the first anniversary and also no activity at all in past few weeks...then i knew what to do....you guessed it right ....post a new recipe :) Its called Vaadappi(its a variety of Akki rotti - a Karnataka dish).

Ingredients:

1) Rice flour
2) Finely chopped onion
3) Zeera
4) White sesame seeds
5) Coriander leaves
6) Green chillies
7) Hing
8) Salt
9) Curd (Yogurt)
10) Oil

Steps:

1) Chop onions as finely as you can.

2) Grind green chillies and coriander leaves

3) Take rice flour in a wide bowl and add chopped onions, mixture from step 2), zeera seeds, sesame seeds, hing, Curd (Yogurt)and salt (accordingly).

4) Mix the above ingredients well and make it as a dough.

5) Add oil to a vessel and apply the dough as thin as possible.



6) Start heating the vessel and keep on rotating it to spread the heat.
7) Dish is ready to remove when the dough turns into golden brown color.

It might sound little complicated and yes its a time consuming process but the end result definitely justifies the effort :)

Prawn/ Shrimp curry

Ingredients:

prawns - 2 cups

oil

mustard seeds

large onion - 1

few curry leaves

tomato (big size) - 1

thick tamarind juice - 2 tsps

turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

red chilli powder - 1/2- 3/4 tsp

coriander powder - 1 tsp

garam masala - 1/4 tsp

water - 1 cup

Method:

• Clean the prawns/shrimp. De-vein them. If you are using the frozen ones, you can just wash them and use (since they are already cleaned). While washing, add 1/2 tsp of salt, mix well and wash. This helps to eliminate the odor.


• In a kadai, put the prawns, add some turmeric powder and fry in high flame. Keep frying to help the water evaporate quickly. Keep them aside.


• Clean the kadai and heat some oil in it, add mustard seeds. Then add onions, curry leaves and saute well.Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for 2-3 mins. Then add chopped tomatoes, salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and saute well.


• Add tamarind juice and mix well. Let it becomes like a paste or wait until oil seperates. Then add the prawns, mix well. Add water and cover it with a lid. Let it cook in medium flame until you get the desired consistency.


• Serve hot with rice or dosa.

Coconut Barfi

I am not a sweet person, but there are a few sweets of which I am very fond of and this is one them. It is a very easy recipe.. so do give it a try :)

Ingredients

Grated coconut (fresh) - 1 Cup

Sugar - 1 Cup

Ghee

Process

1. I usual grate my coconut in a blender, so the texture is fine. Fry a the coconut slightly if you wish and keep it aside.

2. Add the sugar to the same pan and when it starts melting, add the grated coconut and mix well.

3. Take a plate and smear it with little ghee, the sugar and coconut mixture will be placed on it to set.Another option would be to use a aluminium foil and grease it with ghee. It will make things easier.

4. Now when the sugar and coconut have mixed and stop sticking to the pan, pour it in the greased plate and let it set.

5. Once it has set, cut it into pieces and enjoy.