Dhokla

Another favorite dish rather breakfast of mine. It is super easy and super fluffy and everyone at my house loves it. No need to say, it is the most famous Gujarati Dish.

Ingredients:

Besan/Chickpea Flour - 1 Cup
Sooji/Rava - 1 Tablespoon
Curd - 1/2 Cup
Eno - 1 Small Pouch or a teaspoon
turmeric - A pinch
Ginger - Green Chilly paste - 1 teaspoon or to taste
Hing/Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Green Chillies - 2
Mustard Seeds/Rai - 1/2 teaspoon
Sugar water - 1 Tablespoon of sugar dissolved in a 3/4 cup of water.
Coriander leaves - To garnish

Method

To the curd add turmeric,salt,ginger green chilly paste and mix well. To this add the besan and Sooji and mix well into  a thick  batter consistency. Ensure it has no lumps. Let the batter sit for 15 - 20 minutes

This mixture can be made well in advance and stored in refrigerator.

Just before adding this to the plate for steaming, add the ENO salt and mix thoroughly in one direction and cook immediately.

Take the vessel in which you will be making your Dhokla and grease it lightly with oil. Put the steamer with water in the stove.

Now pour the batter into the greased vessel, put it in the steamer and steam it covered for 15 - 20 minutes.

While the Dhokla is getting done, Lets make the seasoning for this. In a Pan, heat some oil and add the mustard seeds and allow them to splutter.

Then add Green Chillies and Hing/Asafoetida and switch off the stove and add the sugar water.

Demould the Dhokla to a plate and add the seasoning on top of the Dhokla. Cut and Serve.

Tips

• I do not have a Dhokla Stand so I used a vessel which will fit into my Idly Pot. The idea is Take a bigger vessel with water and cook the dhokla in a smaller vessel which sits in the bigger vessel quite tightly.
• Before adding ENO salt, ensure that the vessel in which you are making Dhokla is Greased and the water in the Bigger pot is boiling. 
• The sugar water will ensure that the Dhokla is soft and spongy. 

Parwal Sabzi

 I am not sure how many of you know about this vegetable. As far as I am concerned, I saw it only after I got married. My hubby says it is quite famous in North India.

It looks like our Kovakkai, however, it tastes quite different than Kovakkai. My hubby says it is very healthy too. This was cooked by my hubby :-)

Parwal - The Vegetable looks like this

Ingredients

Parwal - 500 Grams (washed and cut into cubes)

Alo/Potato - 2 (Medium,peeled and cut into cubes)
Bay leaf - 1 

Onion- 1 (Big,Finely Chopped)

Chilly powder- 1 Tablespoon

Dhania Powder -Tablespoon

Turmeric Powder-1/4 Teaspoon

Salt and Oil

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 Teaspoon

Method

In a non stick Kadai, add a tablespoon of oil and add the Parwal and toss it till it is 50% done. This would take about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, In another kadai add 2 tablespoon of oil, add the Bay leaf, Onion and saute till onion is done. Then add the potato and cook for 10 minutes.

Then add ginger garlic masala and all dry masala and saute for 2 minutes.

Then add some water and add the sauteed Parwal.

Cover and cook for another 10 minutes stirring in between and the Parwal Sabzi is ready.

You can have this with Rice or Roti.

Note

• While cooking Parwal sometimes you may get the seed. Don't throw it away. Cook it and eat it. 
• If you want to save time,you can also add boiled potatoes. 

Kesari/Sooji Halwa

Even though I don't have a sweet tooth, I feel like eating sweet usually at odd hours. SO Kesari is a sweet that can be made in a jiffy and with few Ingredients. I have also given the recipe to make Kesari with less amount of Ghee.

Ingredients

Sooji/Rava - 1 cup (Double Roasted)
Sugar - 3/4 cup or 1 Cup (Based on how sweet you wnat it)
Ghee- 1/2 Cup
Badam/Almond - 10
Water - 2 Cups
Kesari Colour - 1/2 Pinch

Method

 These days in market, we have the double roasted rava available. If not, take the regular rava and dry roast it in a kadhai for 5 minutes till the raw smell goes.

Heat the ghee and roast the almonds and keep it aside. In the same ghee roast the rava nicely.

Meanwhile boil the water separately (The ratio of Rava to Water is 1:2).Add the kesari colour mixed with few drops of water.

Once the rava is roasted add the boiling water and stir it. then add the sugar and cook it. Decorate with Roasted almonds.

Low Ghee Version

In a vessel, boil water (2 cups of water for 1 cup of rava), to that add the rava. Cook it to 90%.

Then add the sugar and stir it continuously.Stir it well and then add kesari colour. Then roast some cashew/Almonds/Raisins in ghee. Add the cashew/almond/raisin along with ghee to the rava mixture and cook for another 5-8 minutes so that the Rava is cooked in Ghee. 

Tips

• The rava should be 3/4th cooked before adding the Sugar. The rava will not get cooked once we add sugar
• You can use cashew and raisins to decorate it,however, I prefer almonds so I used it.

Caramel Custard

This is my Mom's favorite dish. So whenever I make this, she eats like a kiddo. This recipe is very simple and needs very few ingredients.

As I made it exclusively for my mom this time, the caramel is very less in the picture. However, if you use the measurements I have given in the recipe, you will get enough caramel sauce.

Ingredients

Caramel
Sugar - 20 grams
Water - 2-4 Tablespoon

Custard
Egg - 3
Vanilla Essence - 1 Tablespoon
Sugar - 50 grams
Milk - 500 ml

Method

For Caramel
In a Pan, add the sugar and add little water. Add just enough water to get the sugar wet. Stir it continuously.till it turns into light brown colour and immediately pour into the tray the custard is to be made.
The process will take only couple of minutes, so keep a close watch or else the sugar will get burnt.

For Custard
Blend egg,sugar,milk and vanilla essence using a whisk or hand blender. Ensure there is no lumps. Then pour this mixture into the tray which is coated with caramel.

Bake it in the oven for 45 minutes at 150 C. Refrigerate and serve with fruits or ICe Cream.

Donuts
Donuts...Hmmmm... Tell me one person who does not like this...Whenever I visit CCD I never leave without tasting Donuts.. I always thought I was baked and found that it is  deep fried only couple of years ago.

I learnt how to make this dish from Menu Rani Chellam's TV show. I miss her show these days.

When I made this and gave it to my Dad he just could not believe that I made it from the scratch.. He thought that I bought the Donut base (Don't know whether they sell it) and applied chocolate sauce and gave him. It was that yummy !!!

As most of us in our house are not Egg fans I try to make my recipes Eggless, however, if you want you can always add egg as I would give a shine and binding.

Ok now to the recipe.

Maida/All purpose Flour - 1 Cup
Yeast - 1 Teaspoon
Sugar - 1 Teaspoon
Salt - a Pinch
Luke warm Milk - as required

Method

I used Dry active yeast. So the first step for me was to activate the yeast. Click here to find out how to activate Yeast.

In this recipe I used milk to activate the Yeast.

Then add the Yeast milk and lukewarm milk and make a soft dough. Set aside for 5-10 minutes.

Then dust a clean surface with All purpose flour. Using a rolling pin flatten the dough.

I rolled it to make 1/2 inch thick flat dough. Then using a cutter (I used a round shaped vessel and bottle cap) cut them into circles and in each circle make a small circle in the centre. (For this I used Bottle cap).

In a greased baking tray, place these donuts and cover it with a wet kitchen towel. Covering it with wet towel prevents it from drying

Leave it for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, it would have doubled in volume.

In a kadai, heat some cooking oil and fry these donuts. Please remember the oil should not be too hot. It should be just hot. SOme else, your donuts will burn and will not get cooked.

After cooling the donuts you can glaze with chocolate sauce or just some powdered sugar.

If you have noticed, the number of donuts for glazing went down as My hubby started eating the donuts even before I could glaze it.

Look at my post on How to Do Chocolate Glazing

Alo Palak 

 This dish is so tasty and goes well with Rice or Phulkas. This can be made by Frying the Alo or by adding Boiled Alo. In this recipe I have added fried alo.Dont worry when I say Fried Alo. Here we are not deep frying it. If you have a good non stick Kadai then you can fry it with 1 Tablespoon of oil.

Ingredients

Palak Gravy
Potatoes - 1/2 Cup (Washed,peeled and cubed)
Salt and Oil

Method

In a non stick Kadai, add a tablespoon of oil and place the potatoes. put the lid on for a minute. Then remove the lid and toss the potatoes. Do this till the potatoes are nicely done.

Once the Potatoes are done, add the Palak Gravy to it, check for salt and serve.

Beetroot Masala

Beetroot, it is a fantastic vegetable. i love the colour of this vegetable. Here we go with the recipe to make this amazing,colourful recipe.

Ingredients

 Beetroot - 2 (Peeled and cut)
Onion - 1 (Chopped)
Tomato - 1 (Chopped)
Ginger garlic Paste - 1 teaspoon
Chilly Powder - 1 Tablespoon
Salt and Oil

Method

• In a vessel boil 1 cup of water and once the water is boiling add the Beetroot and cook for 10 miutes or till done.
• While the beet is cooking,let us prepare the masala.
• In a kadai, add a tablespoon of oil and add the onion and cook.
• Once onion is done add the Tomato and cook with the lid closed.
• Once tomato is cooked well, add the GG paste, Chilly powder and cook.
• Then add the water in which beetroot is cooking and cook for till the raw flavour of the masala is gone.
• Then add the beetroot to the masala, also add the required salt and cook for 3-4 minutes. 
• Serve with rotis or simply mix it with rice and have.

Curd

My favourite dish. It tastes heavenly. I love Curd Rice with Vadoo Mango or Roasted Potatoes. Being a chennaite, having curd is a natural way to escape from Curd.

I always always have stock of Curd at my house. I believe I got this habit from my Dad. He needs curd as a part of his food and you can always find Curd at my Mom's house too.

It may sound simple, however making a Good curs is an Art.

In this post, I will share the tips to make perfect curd that you can cut and will taste heavenly.

Ingredients

Milk - 500 Ml
Curd - 1 tablespoon (To set the curd)

Method

Boil Milk. To set curd, the milk should be warm and not hot or cold.

 If you have a candy thermometer cool  the milk till it is between 40-45C

To the warm milk, add 1 talespoon of curd and mix and cover.

Keep it in a warm place (On the kitchen counter) so it will set fast and evenly.

Palak Gravy

When it comes to adding Greens to my cooking, the first Green that comes to my head is Palak. As the cleaning time is less compared to any other local Green that is available. It can done fast and it is tasty and goes well Mushroom,Paneer or Alo.

In this recipe, I am sharing how to make the Basic Palak Gravy. You can use as such or add Mushroom,Paneer etc.

Ingredients

Palak - 2 Bunches (Cleaned,washed and roughly Chopped)
Onion - 1 (Medium, roughly chopped)
Tomato - 1 (Medium, roughly chopped)
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/4 Teaspoon
Chilly powder - 1 Teaspoon
Dhania Powder - 1 Teaspoon
Garam masala - A pinch
Salt and Oil.
Ghee - Optional

Method

•  In a vessel, bring a cup of water to boil.
• once the water starts to boil add the Palak and cook for 4-5 minutes.
• Then remove it and keep it aside. (Don't throw the water)
• In the vessel, add a teaspoon of oil and add the onion,tomato at an interval of 2 minutes.
• Then add GG paste,Chilly powder,dhania powder,salt and Chilly powder and saute well.
• Then add the water from the palak and let this masala cook well.
• Once the masala's raw flavour is gone, allow it to cool.
• Meanwhile, In a blender add the the cooked/blanched Palak and make it into a puree.
• Once the masala is cooled, make that also in to a puree.
• Now in a kadai, add the Palak Puree and then add the Masala Puree.
• Bring it to boil and check salt.
• Add  a teaspoon of ghee before switching off from the stove. (Optional)

Notes

• Whenever you cook Greens, you should never cover them. 
• Never take the shortcut of adding the Palak and masala together in the blender and make a Puree. It tastes bitter.
• So puree them separately and then add together in the kadai. 

Alo Gobi - One Pot Dish

Who does not like one pot dish? I learnt cooking Alo Gobi in this style from my hubby. My mom calls it Alo Gobi Cooked in Bachelor style. Whatever it is called as , it is time saver as it is cooked in pressure cooker and cabbage can be chopped little bigger than usual. Whenever my Servant Maid announces that she won't be in for work then I prefer to do this as I will have less vessel to wash the next day.

Ingredients
Cabbage - 2 Cups (Washed and roughly chopped)
Potatoes - 1/2 cup (Peeled and cubed)
Onion - 1 (Medium, Chopped)
Tomato - 1 (Medium , Chopped)
Jeera - 1 teaspoon
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/4 teaspoon
Chilly Powder - 1 Tablespoon
Turmeric Powder - Pinch
Salt and Oil.

Method

• Heat some oil in a pressure cooker. 
• Once oil is heated, add Jeera and add onion once the Jeera splutters.
• After 2 minutes, add the tomatoes and cook till the tomato is done.
• Then add GG paste,turmeric powder,chilly powder and cook for a minute.
• Then add the potatoes and Cabbage and stir it and cook for a minute.
• Add enough water and salt and put the lid and whistle.
• Cook for 3 whistles on Medium flame.
• Allow it to cool for sometime and serve with rice or roti.

Notes

• Don't worry whether it will become very mushy mushy as we are cooking it in pressure cooker.If you cut the Cabbage roughly and not very fine then the end result will be fantastic.
• The trick of this dish is not to cut the Cabbage too well.

Chocolate Glaze - Double Boiling

In my recipe Chocolate Cake, I did a Chocolate glaze on the cake. In today's post let us cook at the technique known as "Double Boiling " which is used to prepare Chocolate sauce/Glaze.

We use the double boiling technique as chocolate will burn if we put it directly on stove.

Double Boiling is used in lot of recipes,to cook gelatin and egg custard in Mousse.

Let us learn this technique so we can make Mousse in future.

 How to Set a Double Boiler?

We need 2 pots, one that is bigger and another smaller. Put some water in the bigger pot and place the smaller pot of top of the bigger pot.  The idea of Double boiling is that the water should not enter the smaller pot. however, it should get the steam from the water.

Please ensure that there is no gap between the Bigger pot and Small pot. If there is a gap, all steam will escape and it will take a long time for the chocolate sauce to be made.
Now we have made the double boiler ready. Lets make Chocolate Sauce.

Chocolate Sauce
Usually Chocolate is available as bars in the market. Chop the required amount of chocolate and place it in the top vessel of the Double Boiler.

Now switch on the flame. When the water starts boiling, the steam will melt the chocolate in the top vessel.

Stir the chocolate (preferably with a wooden spatula) continuously. After 5 minutes the Sauce will be ready to glaze the Cake and ....? One more favourite dish of all of us... Thats Donuts.

Oats KuzhiPaniyaram

As promised, i am posting the recipe of Oats Kuzhi Paniyaram. If you taste this once, you will make this very often. This is tastier than the Kuzhi Paniyaram made from Leftover Dosa batter.Sending this to the Diabetics recipe event hosted by Priya.

Ingredients

Oats Adai Batter - 1 cup
Onion - 1/4 Cup (Optional,Finely Chopped)

Method

Heat the Paniyaram vessel and drizzle some oil and then add the oats Adai and cook for 2 minutes.
After 2 minutes, flip and cook for 2 more minutes.

Serve with Chutney of your choice. I had it with green Mint Chutney and it tasted heavenly.

Note:

• This Paniyaram takes a minute longer than the regular paniyaram to get cooked.
• As we are adding Oats, the Paniyaram is soft and Tasty.

Ripe Mango Kuzhambu/ Mambazha Kulambu

Came up with  this recipe when the Mangoes that we bought was not very sweet and we had left it without eating and it has ripen too much. I was surprised with the result as it was amazing. Do try this and let me know your thoughts. You don't need Onion,Tomato or Garlic for this recipe.

Ingredients

 Ripe Mango - 1
Mustard  -1/2 Teaspoon
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Asafoetida - Pinch
Urad Dhall - 1/2 teaspoon
Chilli powder - 1/2-3/4 Tablespoon
Tamarind Juice- 2 cup (It needs to be watery and can be extracted from a Lemon size Tamarind)
Salt and Oil


Method

In a Kadai heat a tablespoon of oil. Let the Mustard splutter and then add fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, Urad  Dhall , curry leaves,chilli powder,Salt and Tamarind Pulp.

Boil till the raw flavour of the chilli powder and tamarind juice is gone.

Then add the chopped Ripe mango pieces and cook for 5-7 minutes and till the nice aroma from Mango fills your kitchen.

Then switch off and serve with rice.

Note

• The tamarind Juice needs to be watery
• Peel the Mango and cut into pieces
• Use Mangoes that are ripen quite well. 

Baingan Bartha

I have posted how the Big Eggplant is made by my Mom - Sutta Kathirikai Thuvayal.

In this recipe we will learn how to Make it the North indian way - Baingan Bartha

Ingredients

Big Eggplant - 1
Green Peas - As per your taste
Onion - 2 (Medium,very finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 (medium, finely chopped)
Green Chillies - 2 (Finely Chopped)
Dry Red Chillies - 2
Garlic Cloves - 20 (Finely Chopped)
Ginger - i inch (finely chopped)
Bay leaf - 1
Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
Chilly powder - 1 Teaspoon
Coriander Powder - 2 teaspoon
Turmeric - 1/2 Teaspoon
Kitchen King - 1 Teaspoon
Garam Masala - 1 Teaspoon
Amchur Powder (Dry Mango Powder) - 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Clove - 2
Cardamom - 2
Salt and Oil.

Method

Apply oil on the eggplant. Put on direct flame (Slow Flame) until the skin gets burnt and the brinjal is cooked 90%. Use Tongs to rotate it in between so it is cooked evenly.Allow it to cool Then remove teh skin and mash the Brinjal with hand/masher/Food processor. It should be coarse and don't make it into a paste.

In a Kadai, heat some oil and add the bay leaf,cumin seeds and allow it to splutter.

Then add chopped ginger and chopped garlic. Saute them for 1 minute. Then add cloves,cardamom ans saute.

Then add onions, a pinch of salt and saute till onions are light brown,

Then add tomato and cook well. Now add Peas, cook it covered for 2 minutes.

Now add all Dry masala,salt and saute it raw smell is gone . This should take 5 minutes.  Sprinkle very little water to avoid the masala from burning.

After 5 minutes add the Mashed Brinjal and cook it covered for 5-8 minutes, stirring it in between.

Garnish with Coriander leaves and serve it along with Phulkas.

Falafel

Usually Falafel is served with Tahini Dip, in a Pita bread.However, Falafel is very tasty without anything else at all. Falafel is a Arab dish, which is deep fried Chickpeas Patty.

Ingredients
Chick Peas/Kabuli Channa - 250 Gms
Garlic Cloves - 2
Coriander/Parsley - handful
Green CHilly - 2
Onion -1 (Optional)
Salt,pepper and Oil
Flour - 2 Tablespoon (Rice flour/Chickpea flour)
3/4 Teaspoon Baking soda
Cumin Powder - 1 teaspoon

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight. Then in a blender add soaked chickpeas, onion,coriander leaves,onion,garlic,green chilly and grind into a breadcrumb consistency.

Remove this to a vessel, add salt,pepper,cumin powder,flour,baking soda and mix.

Make small patty using this mixture and deep fry them in oil.

Ensure that the oil is hot,but not too hot.

Oats Adai

Oats adai is very tasty and healthy...This recipe was told to my mom by her doctor. She did not try but I did and it is super easy. Only thing is, unlike Lemon Oats, you need to plan in advance to make this dish.

This is pretty much like our usual Adai with lots of Oats. Sending This to Priya's Diabetic Friendly Recipe event.

Ingredients

Gram Dhall - 1/2 Cup
Toor Dhall - 1/4 Cup
Urad Dhall - 1 Tablespoon
Broken Yellow Moong Dhall - 1 Tablespoon
Masoor Dhall - 1/4 Cup (Optional)
Oats - 1 Big Cup
Dry Red Chillies - 6 (Adjust to Taste)
Asafoetida - A pinch
Salt and Oil.

Method

Wash all the dhall and soak them for 3-4 Hours. In a blender add the Oats and Dry Red Chillies and grind coarsely.

Remove it and keep it in a vessel. In the same blender add the soaked dhall and grind them coarsely. Add water as necessary. Now pour this Dhall batter into the Oats powder and stir it well.

Add Asafoetida and Salt.Voila the oats Adai Batter is ready.

You can store this in Refrigerator and use for 2 days. However, in my house like Dosa becomes Kuzhipaniyaram the next Day, Oats Adai becomes Oats Kuzhipaniyaram the next Day (Will Post the oats Kuzhi Paniyaram Recipe soon)

Now late make the Oats Adai. Take a Dosa Tawa and put it on the stove.
Once it is heated, like our dosa pour the batter on the Tawa and smear it in a circular fashion.

After 30 seconds smear some oil on the side and flip it and cook it for another minute.

Serve it with Spicy Onion Chutney.

Note:

• The Oats Adai absorbs lot of water, so check the consistency before making the Adai and add water as necessary. 
• The Oats Adai will not be as Thick as the usual Adai. 

Alo Sabzi for Poori /Potato gravy

Poori is a dish that rarely makes entry into our house. whenever my mom use to make Poori she used to make the Yellow Potato (Non SPicy) gravy for it.

My hubby loves Spice, so he asked me to make Alo Sabzi in North Indian Style for Poori. We had it and it was brilliant.It is a semi gravy dish.

Ingredients

 Boiled Potatoes - 1/4 Kg
Onion - 1 (Medium,sliced)
Jeera - 1 teaspoon
Chilly Powder - 1 Tablespoon
Coriander Powder - 1 Teaspoon
Turmeric - 1 pinch
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 teaspoon
Garam Masala - a Pinch
Salt and Oil.

Method

 In a non stick Kadai, add a tablespoon of oil and add jeera and wait till it splutters.

Then add the onion and saute for 2 minutes and then add the Ginger Garlic masala and saute for a minute.

Then add the dry masala ingredients and saute for 1 minute and then add the potato and saute.

Add water as required and cook for 2 minutes. We have a beautiful side dish for Poori/Roti ready.

Verum Arisi Adai/Rice Adai

This is my very very very favorite dish. The aroma that fills the kitchen when you make this is out of the world. It just needs few ingredients. My mom used to make the processed Rice Flour at home and make this.

I buy ready made Processed rice flour so I can make this fatafat with no prior planning.

Ingredients
Processed Rice Flour - 2 cups
Coconut - 3-4 Tablespoon (Finely Chopped)
Boiling water - As required
Salt and Oil

Method
 In a vessel add the rice flour,Salt and coconut. To this, add the boiling water and mix well using a wooden Spatula. Make a soft dough.

Now take aluminium foil and grease it with oil. Take a golf ball sized dough and flatten it.

Now heat a Tawa, place the flattened dough on the tawa and cook for 3-4 minutes and smear some oil.

Then flip and cook for another 3 minutes and serve hot with Spicy Onion Chutney.

Note

• This Adai may take some time to cook. 
• Cook for medium flame so it gets cooked well inside and crispy on the outside.

Sutta Katthirikkai Thuvayal/Smoked Eggplant Thuvayal 

This is a south Indian way of cooking the Big Brinjal. I will very soon post the North Indian version of this called as Baingan Bartha.

When I was a kid, I never liked eggplant/brinjal. But I love thuvayal in any form. So to make me eat brinjal, my mom used to make me this dish. This is the second time I tried out this dish, and it came off very well. In fact it tasted better than the first time.  The recipe was given to me by my mom, and I managed to execute it to near perfection!

Ingredients:

----------------

1 big eggplant

2 cloves of finely chopped garlic

1 onion – finely chopped

1 tomato – finely chopped

Little of mustard seeds and cumin seeds

2 dry red chillies.

Little tamarind water.

Little oil and salt to taste.

Insert a knife or any other sharp object with a handle, in the eggplant. Apply a little oil on the skin of the eggplant.

Place the eggplant on fire, and rotate it slowly. This process will burn out the skin, and will cook the eggplant as well. This needs to be done for about 10 minutes, until the skin becomes black, and the eggplant gets cooked and soft. 

After it cools down, remove the skin, and cut the eggplant into small pieces. Keep this aside. This will be used later.

Add little oil to a heated pan, and then add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and dry chillies. After this, add the finely chopped garlic, and then onions. Saute this until it becomes golden brown. 

After this, add the finely chopped tomatoes. Saute until the tomato is also cooked.  Now, depending on the preference, we can add a little chilli powder, or a masala powder of your choice, to spice it up a bit. 

However, make sure that you don’t add too much of masala powder. We don't want the flavour of the masala to dominate the taste of the smoked eggplant. 

Now, add tamarind water. The quantity of the tamarind water should be lesser than what we add for sambhar. It also depends on the number of tomatoes that we have added. The more the tomatoes, the lesser the tamarind water has to be. Also, the tamarind water should not make the dish like a gravy. It may be actually a better idea to just add a spoon of tamarind paste. 

Now, allow this to be cooked for 2 minutes. Now add the smoked and cut eggplant. Saute well for minutes. Add salt to taste.

Now you have a lovely side dish ready!! This goes well with Chapathi or with rice as well. In fact, this will be a good side for curd rice as well. Try it out, enjoy the dish, and post your comments. 

Sending this recipe for Vegan Thursday.

Mushroom Manchurian

Mushroom is my Hubby's favourite. He was asking me to make the Manchurian for a long time. So the other day, when I made Fried Rice , I served it with this and he really loved it.

Ingredients

Mushroom  - 1 Box (Washed,dried and cut into halves)
Cornflour - 1+ 1 Tablespoon
Rice Flour -  1/2 Tablespoon
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/4 teaspoon
Soya Sauce/Chilli Sauce/Vinegar - a dash 
Manchurian Gravy - 1/2 Cup
Garlic - 10 (finely chopped)
Ginger - 1/2 inch (finely chopped)
Spring Onion - 1 Tablespoon (finely chopped)
Capsicum - 1/4 cup (finely chopped - optional)

Method

•  In a vessel, sprinkle courflour,rice flour,salt,ginger garlic paste,soya sauce,chilly sauce,vinegar and mix.
• Now add mushroom and toss it.
• In a kadai,please heat some oil and fry the mushroom.
• Keep in a paper towel.
• In a wok, add a tablespoon of oil and heat it to the smoking point. 
• Then add the garlic, Ginger,onion and Capsicum and saute  for 1-2 minutes.
• Then add the base for manchurian gravy and cook for a minute.
• Then add fried Mushroom and cook for a minute.
• While this is happening, take a tablespoon of Cornflour and mix it well little water.
• Adding the cornflour water thickens the gravy and also gives it a shine. 
• Then add the cornflour water,salt and spring onion and serve hot with Vegetable Fried Rice. 

Schezuan vegetable fried Rice

Who does not like Chinese? Or should I say Indo Chinese food.. When I had authentic Chinese I did not  like it at all. So I decided to stick on to Indo Chinese Food.

Fine, now lets look at the recipe. 

Ingredients

Schezuan Sauce - 1 Tablespoon (Adjust to your taste)
Rice  - 2 cups
Capsicum- 1/4 (Finely Chopped)
Cabbage - 1/2 Cup (Finely Chopped)
Other Vegetables - 1/4 cup (Finely Chopped)
Garlic- 10 (Peeled and Finely chopped)
Ginger -1/2 inch (Peeled and finely chopped)
Spring Onion - 1 Bunch (Washed and finely chopped)
Soya Sauce - 1/4 Teaspoon
Chilli Sauce  - 1/4 Teaspoon
Vinegar  - 1/4 Teaspoon
Ajinomoto  - 1/4 Teaspoon
Salt and Oil

Method

In a wok, heat some oil to the smoking point. Then quickly add garlic,Ginger,onion (from the spring onion) and Saute. 

Then add the cabbage and other veg and saute them. Then add the Schezuan Sauce and cook for 2 minutes.

Then add the Soya sauce,chilli sauce,vinegar,salt and ajinomoto and Saute.

Now add the rice and saute. Garnish with Spring Onion. Serve with Paneer Manchurian or Mushroom Manchurian.

How to cook the Rice for Chinese fried Rice

• Wash the rice thoroughly and soak in 3 cups of water for 30 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
• Boil 6 to 8 cups of water, add salt
• Add the rice to the boiling water. Cook till the rice is 3/4th cooked.
• Pour into a colander and let the water drain out. Pour some cold water on the rice to arrest further cooking.

Schezwan Sauce

We use Schezuan sauce in almost all Chinese Dish. I am not a great fan of buying these ingredients. So I make it at home as and when it is required.

You can make it well in advance and store in refrigerator.

Ingredients

Dry Red Chillies - 12
Garlic - 15 (Peeled)
Salt and Oil

Method
 Boil some water in a vessel. Once the water is hot, remove it from the stove and soak the Dry Red Chillies and Garlic in it for 20 minutes.

Drain the water and grind the Garlic and Red chillies. Use the drained water if required. Add some salt and very little oil.

Use it in Schezwan Fried Rice,Manchurian Sauce etc.I will post these recipes in the coming days.

Poha

I still remember the first time I had this dish. One of the fashion models had wrote that Poha is her favorite dish and the recipe was also given there in THE HINDU.

Immediately my mom made this dish and till date it is always made in our house.

The first time when I gave this to BIL Chandu, he also loved it. Whenever, he comes to Chennai I make it for him.

Ingredients

 Flat Rice - 2 Cups
Roasted Groundnuts - 1 Tablespoon
Green Chillies - 2 (finely chopped)
Onion - 1 (Finely chopped)
Potato -1 (small, peeled and boiled and mashed)
Peas - 1 Tablespoon
Turmeric and Asafoetida - a pinch
Lemon Juice - A Dash
Salt and Oil
Green Coriander - Finely Chopped

Method

In a kadai heat little oil. To this add some Mustard seeds and after it splutters add the onion,green chillies and cook well. Then add the potatoes and Saute.

Now add Peas, turmeric,salt,Asafoetida and saute.

Meanwhile,wash the flat rice and keep it aside for a minute. Now add the washed Flat rice and saute for 2 minutes. then add the groundnuts and coriander leaves .Once you switch off the stove, add some lime juice and serve it with Curd.