Desi Grilled Sandwich

Preparation time:15 mins
Makes 2 servings
Cooking time :3 min


Ingredients:

Cucumber - 1
Tomato - 1
Onion -1
Capsicum -1
Butter - 2 tsp
Red chutney- 3 tsp
Chat masala - 1/4 tsp
Thick wholegrain Bread Slice - 4
Salt

Procedure:

1.Cut cucumber,onion and tomato into round shapes.
2.Chop capsicum finely.
3.Apply butter on a bread slice and place cucumber, onion, tomato and capsicum.
4.Sprinkle chat masala and salt.
5.Apply red chutney on another slice of bread and place it over the vegetables with chutney side facing inwards.
6.Place this in a preheated iron grill, close and cook until crisp.
Serve hot with Orange juice.

Red Chutney

Ingredients:

Onion - 1 small
Tomato - 2 small
Garlic - 1 pod
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
cilantro
Oil

Procedure:


1.Fry the above ingredients in  oil , allow to cool and grind with little water.

Note :
Chutney can be stored in airtight container for a week.

Pongal

Idli-Dosa Batter

Preparing the perfect idli/dosa batter comes with experience & lots of trial & errors :). Although there are several methods followed by people, here is the most common tested and suceeded way of preparing this batter.


Ingredients:


Par-Boiled Rice or idli Rice : 3 cups
Aval (Poha) or cooked rice : 1 cup
Whole Urad dal : 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds or Vendayam : 1 tsp

Procedure:

• Wash and soak the rice for about 6-8 hrs or overnight. 
• Wash and soak the urad dal along with the fenugreek seeds for 2-4 hrs. 
• First grind the urad dal in the grinder to a smooth paste, adding water little by little. It usually takes about 20mins to half an hour. 
• Empty this into a fairly big container.
• Now grind the soaked rice adding water. 
• When it is half way done, add the cooked rice or aval ( soaked for a minute ).
• Add the rice batter to the urad dal batter in the vessel. 
• Mix it well with hands. 
• Cover & leave it to ferment overnight near a warm place.
• The next day , add salt & give it a good mix. The batter is ready for use. 

Notes :

• The rate of fermentation depends on the temperature of the surrounding. I usually keep it in the oven ( unheated, switched off ).You may also leave it near the stove. 
• Store the batter in a large container which gives it room to ferment and rise up.
• Its usually best for idli in the first two days & for dosa in the remaining days. 
• If the batter is refridgerated, keep it outside for 20 mins before using. 

Poori

Preparation time: 30 mins
Makes 25
Cooking time: 2 mins(each)


Ingredients:
Wheat flour - 3 cups
Maida  - 1 1/2 cups
Salt- 2 to 3 tsp
Water
Oil


Procedure:
1.Mix flour and salt.
2.Add enough water and knead into a smooth dough.
3.Apply oil over the dough cover it airtight for about fifteen mintues.
4.Make small balls out of dough.
5.Roll it to a thin circle.
6.Heat oil in a pan.
7.When the oil is hot , add the rolled poori.It will puff .
8.Fry till both sides turn golden brown.
Serve hot

Curd / Thayir Semiya

Preparation time: 15 mins
Makes 3 Servings Cooking time: 10 mins Ingredients: Semiya - 1.5 cups Yogurt - 2 cups Carrot - 1/4 cup , Grated Green chillies - 2, finely chopped Onion / shallots - 1/4 cup, chopped Dry Red chillies - 2 Mustard - 1 tsp Chana Dal - 1 tsp Urad Dal - 1 tsp Jeeragam / Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Ginger - 2" pieces Asafoetida - a pinch Curry Leaves - 1 sprig Raisins - 1 tsp Cashew nut - 1 tsp Pomegranate seeds - 1/4 cup ( optional ) Cilantro - to garnish Salt - to taste Oil - 1 tbs Procedure:

1. Boil water in a pan & add Semiya to it. let it cook for about 10 mins.
2. Switch off the stove. Extract the cooked semiya alone and run it through cold water.
3. Heat 1 tsp oil in kadai & fry the following - Mustard, urad dal, chana dal, dry red chillies, curry leaves & asafoetida - to golden brown.
4. Add onion , green chillies, ginger , salt and saute till onion turns pink .
5. Switch off the stove. Add the curd & mix well.
6. To this add the cooked semiya ( without water ) and mix well. If it should have the consistency of thick payasam. Add some more curd if required.
7. At this stage, you can also add a little 'half n half' or heavy cream. it gives additional buttery yum taste to the semiya.
8. Heat little oil and fry Raisin & cashew. Pour this over the semiya, mix well.
9. Garnish with chopped carrot, cilantro and pomegranate seeds.

Yummy Curd Semiya is ready to be served with mango pickle :)

Pesarattu

Preparation time:3-4hrs
Makes 8 dosa
Cooking time: 2 mins (each)

Ingredient:

Moong dal- 2 cups
Green chilly- 7
Ginger- 2 inch piece
Cumin seeds-1 tsp
Salt

Procedure:

1.Soak the dal for 3 to 4 hours.
2.Grind all the ingredients except oil.
3.Pour the batter over flat pan and spread like a circle.Add oil around the edges.
4.Roast both sides.
Serve hot with chutney.

Onion Uttapam

Preparation time:2 mins
Makes 2
Cooking time: 3 mins (each)

Ingredient:

Dosa batter - 1 cup
Onion - 2 medium
Oil

Procedure:

1.Pour 1 1/2 laddle full of batter over flat pan and spread like a circle.
2.Add finely chopped onions.
3.Roast on both sides till golden brown.

Serve hot with chutney or sambhar.

Ghee Roast

Preparation time:0 min
Makes 6
Cooking time: 3 mins (each)

Ingredient:

Dosa batter - 2 cups
Ghee

Procedure:

1.Pour the batter over flat pan and spread like a circle.Add ghee around the edges.
2.Roast on one side till golden brown and flip to other side.
Serve hot with chutney or sambhar.

Masala Dosai

Preparation time:2 mins
Makes 6
Cooking time: 3 mins (each)

Ingredient:

Dosa batter - 3 cups
Potato - 2 medium
Onion - 1 big
Green chilly - 4
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Procedure:

1.Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, green chilly,curry leaves and onions.Fry until onions are translucent.
2.Add boiled and mashed potatoes and salt.Stuffing is now ready.
3.Pour the batter over flat pan and spread like a circle.
4.Roast on one side till golden brown.
5.Add oil and flip to other side.
6.Apply the stuffing like a paste in one half of dosa.
7.Close the stuffing with other free end of dosa.
Serve hot with chutney or sambhar.

Note:
To make this dosa more delicious, garlic-tomato chutney can be applied before placing the stuffing.

Idli

Preparation time:2 mins
Makes  9
Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredient:
Idly batter - 3 cups


Procedure:

1.Heat water in idli cooker.
2.Apply oil in the idli plate.
3.Pour batter in each plate and keep in idli cooker.
4.Allow it to cook for 10 to 15 mins.
5.Remove each idli from plate using a spatula or sppon dipped in water.

Serve hot with chutney or sambhar.

Lemon Sevai

One lazy evening, I was thinking about what to make for dinner and had just returned from the Indian store and had bought frozen Idiyappam. I remembered my friend telling me that she once made sevai with that and I thought let me try that for tonight :) Sharing the recipe of delicious lemon sevai with all you guys..

Preparation Time : 10 mins

Makes servings : 2

Cooking Time : 5 mins

Ingredients :

Frozen Idiyappam - 1 packet (contains 10)

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Black gram dal - 1 tsp

Chana dal - 1 tsp

Turmeric pwdr - 1 tsp

Green Chilis - few

Ginger - small piece

Curry leaves - a few

Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp

Procedure :

1. Thaw the frozen Idiyappam for some time by leaving it outside for sometime.

2. Put some oil in a pan, temper when hot with mustard seeds and dals.

3. Add turmeric pwdr to this and fry for few seconds. Then put green chilis and ginger which is cut into small pieces.

4. Add the curry leaves to the same.

5. When this is getting done, make the Idiyappam to small pieces and put it in the mixture.

6. This gives the "sevai" texture.

7. Add coriander to this if needed. Gives a wonderful flavor to it.

Raagi Dosa

Preparation time: 15 mins
Makes 6 servings
Cooking time: 5 mins (each)

Ingredients :

Finger millet flour- 2 cups
Rice flour- 4 tsp
Yoghurt - 4 tsp
Shallots - 15 (finely chopped)
Drumstick leaves - a handful(optional)
Curry leaves - a handful (optional)
Green chilly - 8
Salt
Water

Prcedure:

1.Mix finger millet flour,rice flour, yoghurt,salt.
2.Water should be added to make a consistant batter of your choice.
3.Add onions,curry leaves or drumstick leaves,green chilly to the batter.
4.Heat a flat pan,spread the batter in circular direction like a dosa.
5.Cook till dark brown on both sides.
Serve hot with a chutney of your choice.

Adai

Adai is a protein-packed nutritious dish that is prepared by grinding together a combination of rice and different lentils.

Preparation time: 1 hr 15 mins
Makes 10 servings
Cooking time: 5 mins (each)

Ingredients:

To soak

Rice      -   2 cups

Toor dal  - 1/2 cup

Urad dal - 1/4 cup

Channa dal -1/4 cup

Moong dal - 1/4 cup

-------

red chilly   - 10

asafoetida - a pinch

shallots - 10

oil

salt

grated coconut (optional)

drumstick leaves- handful(optional)

Procedure:

1.Soak the ingredients under "To soak" for 1 hour.

2.Grind coarsely the soaked ingredients along with redchilly and asafoetida.

3.Add curry leaves, salt, shallots, coconut, drumstick leaves to grinded paste.

4.Mix the mixture well and spread over a pan in circular motion like dosa and roast till golden brown.

Serve hot with aviyal or chutney of your choice.

Note:

One tablespoon of oil can be added, while flipping adai from one side to other.