Toordal Chutney

My mom makes this chutney during functions at our home. Toordal chutney is good with hot rice with ghee or can be used as side dish with main items like dal/sambar or even curd.

Ingredients:

1. Toordal (1 small cup)
2. Dry coconut
3. Dhania seeds (one table spoon)
4. Methi seeds (1/2 table spoon)
5. Mustard seeds (1/4 table soon)
6. Red chilly powder
7. Sugar/Jaggery
8. Salt
9. Tamarind

Procedure:

1. Fry Toordal in little Oil, till it gives nice flavour (or till 10 mins in medium flame)
2. Roast Dry coconut pieces for about 5-10 mins
3. Fry Mustard, Methi and dhania seeds in little oil fo about 5 mins.
   
4. Add all the above into a mixer along with tamarind, sugar, salt, chilly powder, water and grind it nicely. Check for the consistency and add water if needed.
   
5. Once grinding is done, transfer the content to a bowl and mix with regular tempering (with Mustard seeds,hing, red chillies, curry leaves etc)
   

I like this with hot rice with Ghee :) try it...

Groundnut Chutney

Its 7:45AM here, my taste buds are craving for Rava Dosa (check rava dosa recipe in this blog) and my favourite compliment witht rava dosa is Groundnut/peanut chutney, I borrowed this recipe from my mom :). Very very simple and perfect for all kinds of dosas/idle/vada , so lets start.

Ingredients:

1. Groundnuts (1 cup)
2. Green Chillies
3. Salt
4. Jaggery/Sugar
5. Tamarind
6. Mustard seeds/curry leaves/Hing/Red chillies (for tempering)

Procedure:

1. Roast Ground nuts on medium flame
2. Fry Green chillies in little oil.
3. Add roasted groundnuts, fried chillies, little tamarind, salt to your taste, little jaggery/Sugar into a mixer.
   
4. Add water (1/2 cup) and nicely grind the ingredients. Check regularly for the consistency and add water if necessary.
   
5. Once grinding is done, transfer the content into a bowl and add tampering with mustard seeds/Hing/red chillies etc.
   

Groundnut chutney is ready, so simple isn't it.

Onion Pakoda

One rainy day my husband for craving for the hot pakodas and a cup of tea. So I decided to make the onion pakodas. The same batter mix can be tried with other vegetables like potatos, brinjal or even with the spinach. So many options, try all at same time if feasible and you will have a platter full of different types of pakodas, great when entertaining more people.

Ingredients

Besan - 2 cups
Salt
Red chilly powder
Chopped green chillies - 6 med.
Chopped curry leaves
Onions - 4 or 5
Water
Oil

Process

1. Put the besan in a big bowl. Add salt, red chilly powder, chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Mix well.
   
   
   
   
2. Start heating the oil for frying in a deep pan.
3. Thinly slice the onions and add them to the besan. Mix all the ingredients.
   
   
   
   
4. Now add water little by little and stop when the batter is thick enough to be fried. If the batter becomes too water to hold onto the onions add a little more besan to thicken it.
   
   
   
   
5. When the oil is hot enough for frying, take small quantity of the batter and put it in the oil. Fry till golden brown.
   
   
   
6. Take them out and put on a paper towel to remove the excess oil.
7. Serve hot with ketchup or green chutney if you prefer. Enjoy

Lazy day favourite - Fried Rice ( Veg., Egg or Both)

A favorite of mine,especially after coming to USA. This helps me survive the days when I don't want to do lot of chopping, cutting, cooking and cleaning. I usually have a packet of frozen mixed vegetables in my freezer which makes my life a lot easier. In India I had to make everything from scratch like peeling the carrots and then chopping all the veggies. Its quite flexible based on the ingredients you have at your disposal. The good thing about this is that it can also be made for just one person :). Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients
Cooked rice
Salt
Powdered black pepper
Eggs
Coriander leaves(optional)

Veggies:
Carrots
Green beans
Peas(optional)
Spring onions(optional)

Process

1. Cooked rice should not be mushy, the grains should be fairly separate. Can also use the leftover rice.
2. Chop all the carrots and beans into small pieces. Chop the spring onions into pieces of approx. 1 inch.
3. Heat a pan and add enough oil to fry the veggies. When the oil is hot add the veggies, little salt and pepper powder and fry till they are cooked. Take out of pan.
   
   
   
   
4. Add little oil and break the eggs into and mix to make the scramble egg add little salt and pepper. Take out of the pan. Note: In the pictures I did not the veggies and eggs as I was cooking for one person.
5. Now add the rice to the pan and fry it for some time. Now add the veggies and scrambled egg. Mix in well. Check for the salt and pepper, add more if required.
   
   
   
   
6. Garnish with coriander and serve.

As I said it is quite a flexible dish, add the veggies you like and skip on eggs and it becomes a veg. fried rice . Add the eggs and skip the veggies it becomes the egg fried rice. Try out your own variations and enjoy.

Haryali Chicken Tikka or Try Paneer

I tried this recipe mainly because I was curious as to how the broil feature of the oven works.. lucky for me that this turned out well :). For the vegetarians out there, they can try using Paneer instead of chicken.

Ingredients
Chicken breasts - 400 gm
Curd - 1/4 cup
Salt
Lemon - 1 small
Red chilly powder
Turmeric powder
Green chillies
Coriander leaves
Mint leaves
Curry leaves
Garlic
Ginger
Olive oil

Process

1. Clean the chicken and chop into cubes.
   
   
   
2. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Note:Remember to keep the top most rack of oven approx. 6 inches from the top of oven.
3. Roughly chop the coriander, mint and curry leaves. Also chop the green chillies, ginger and garlic. Grind all these into a fine paste.
   
   
   
4. Add the above paste to chicken. Also add the salt, turmeric and red chilly powder and lemon juice mix it in well. Leave out lemon juice if you don't want the tangy or sour taste to your chicken.
   
   
   
5. Add the curd to the chicken and blend it well. Mix in 3-4 drops of olive oil (or any other cooking oil).
   
   
   
6. Let this sit for at least an hour in refrigerator.
7. Put the oven in broil and the place the chicken inside the oven in a baking vessel. The food cooks fast in broil option, so watch the it. This should be done in 10-15 mins. You can use the skewers if you have them. Note: Remember to line the baking dish with an aluminum foil to make cleaning easier later on ;)
8. For even charring of chicken flip after 10 mins and cook for another 5 mins or so.
9. Take out and enjoy :)