Lahsun Chutney

I tasted this chutney from my roomie a few years ago, she used to get it in small zip lock bags and it used to disappear in no time. I got the recipe from Janhavi's ( The roomie )mom... she is an amazing cook.. and we had the best food when we visited them in Mumbai.this chutney almost tastes like the south Indian ground nut podi, But it had a very distinct smell and taste of garlic... So is the name lahsun chutney.. A very popular accompaniment in Maharashtra… it can be had with any Indian meal. You can use it a spread on your sandwiches also…

Ingredients

1 full dry coconut
¼ cup peanuts
10 dry red chilies (modify according to spice tolerance)
15 small cloves of garlic (if using large cloves, cut down to 10)
2 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Break the coconut into small bite sized pieces. Dry roast separately the coconut till it is golden brown, dry roast the peanuts, red chilies. Set aside to cool. Remove the skins of the peanuts. Meanwhile peel the garlic. Put all the ingredients in a mixer grinder and pulse to a fine powder. Store in an airtight container.

Raw/green tomato chutney

I tasted this beautifully tangy chutney when one of my colleague brought it in her lunch box... it had the sour n hot taste... I immediately asked her for the recipe... but sadly, she dint know all the ingredients... all she could say was it is made of green tomatoes... so my vigorous search on the internet, showed me umpteen recipes.... but none of the recipes gave me the "yes this is it" kind of feeling. so I got down to test my palette, and yay!! the end results were amazing... :-)

4 medium sized firm green tomatoes

1/2 medium sized onion
1/4 cup coriander leaves ( Loosely packed )
3 cloves of garlic
1 inch ginger
8 dry red chilies ( adjust according to heat tolerance )
salt to taste
1/4 tsp amchur
1/2 tsp powdered jaggery

dry roast and grind 1/4 cup peanuts with 2 red chilies and keep aside.


for tempering

5 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
10 curry leaves
1/4 tsp hing/asafetida

roughly chop the green tomatoes, onion and coriander. Blend tomatoes, onions, coriander, garlic, ginger, red chilies and salt in a mixie.

Heat oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing, curry leaves and fry for a minutes. then add the blended paste of tomatoes and fry till the oil leaves the sides of the pan. then add the jaggery powder, amchur, 2 tbsps of peanut powder and cook for 5 minutes. serve with steamed rice or chapati... this can be had as a chutney with idli/dosa.
Sending this post for back to basics B2B event hosted originally by http://jayawagle.blogspot.com/2011/08/reviving-back-to-basics.html, B2B chtney event hosted by Siri @ http://www.cookingwithsiri.com/2011/09/back-to-basics-basic-chutneys-event.html

Puliyogare / Tamarind rice

In southern India any festival is incomplete without this dish. It is one of those dishes which is very frequently served in many temples as an offering/ prasadam. It is a spicy tangy preparation and is widely eaten as a breakfast too. It is very popular in Tamil and Telugu households...
Tamarind – ¾ cup
Jaggery - 1 tsp ground
1 cup warm water
Powder
½ tsp methi seeds
1 tsp dhaniya seeds
½ tsp black pepper
Dry roast all the above ingredients and make a powder in a blender.
For tempering
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Dry Red chilies – 8-10 ( according to the spice that you can handle ) broken into small peices
Curry leaves – 15
Chana dal – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Asafetida powdered - 1/4 tsp ( use less if using the hard and dark variety )
Oil – 10 tsps
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish.
Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of warm water for 15 minutes and pulse it in a blender to get a thick paste, run it through a sieve and Keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan, once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter, add the asafetida, then add red chilies, chana dal, urad dal and fry for about 1 minute, add curry leaves, then add the tamarind pulp. Boil it till the oil starts separating ( about 10 minutes on low flame ), then add the powder made of methi dhaniya and pepper, stir and cook for another 5 minutes add salt according to taste.

Cook 2 cups of rice in 3 ¾ cups of water. Do not mush the rice as each grain needs to be separate. Mix the prepared past according to taste, garnish with coriander leaves.

Chili Idly

Chili idly (Serves 3)

This was a regular lunch box option when I was in college. As I never like idlys much, mom dint have an option but to search for a better option whenever she made idlys. So she came up with this idea and it was a huge hit.. not only at home but also in my friends circle... recently my friend was visiting us and she asked to make the chili idlys.. so I made them and of course they cant go wrong... they were a huge hit with my friends and hubby too ...

here are the ingredients and the recipe..

do reduce the spices if serving to children..


1. Idly batter 1 liter ( I used store bought ID idly/dosa batter which produces fairly fluffy idlys )
2. Tomato 2 ( Big ) finely chopped
3. Onion 1 ( Big ) finely chopped
4. Green Bell pepper 1 ( Medium ) stemmed, seeds removed and finely chopped
5. green chilies 3 slit length wise
6. Coriander powder 1 tsp
7. Kashmiri Chili powder 1 tsp
8. ½ tsp turmeric
9. A large pinch of asafetida
10. 2 tsp oil/ghee
11. ½ tsp each of Mustard, cumin, urad and chana dal for tempering


Steam the idlys for 15 to 20 minutes in a pressure cooker on medium low flame, do not use the weight
Note: If you are using steel idly plates, make sure to apply oil lightly so that removing idlys will be easy. Also remember to dip your spoon in water and then try taking them off the plate… they come of easily without sticking. And do not try to take them off when really hot... Let them cool for couple of minutes and then take off.
Once the idlys are ready, break them into small pieces and keep aside.
Heats oil in a pan, add asafetida, turmeric and all the ingredients for tempering, once the mustard starts spluttering, add the slit green chilies and fry for a couple of minutes.
Then add onions and fry till they turn translucent, then add the chopped tomato and wait till it turns to a mush. Add coriander powder, Kashmiri chili powder, and fry for 2-3 minutes. Then add the idly pieces and stir to coat the masala on all the idly pieces. Serve by itself or with chutney

Baked Oatmeal with Apple Compote

I am posting this recipe for the event called 'wholesome wholegrain cooking' hosted by Monika Manchanda @ http://sinamontales.wordpress.com/ see this link for the event announcement http://sinamontales.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/eevnt-announcement-wwc-oats-in-baking/ and originally started by Sanjeeta @ http://litebite.in/. Find the event details @ http://litebite.in/event-wwc/

This recipe is an absolute no brainer ! and this is a real treat for people who do not like to have oats in the same old mundane way! with milk :-) Just spare 30-40 minutes and you have a yummy breakfast or you can very well have it for dessert :-)

Ingredients for oatmeal:
Oats- 1 ½ cups
Butter- 1 tbsp melted
Brown sugar- ¼ cup packed tightly
Milk - 100 ml
Egg - 1
Vanilla essence- 1 tsp
Baking powder- 1 tsp

For Apple compote
2 Apples
1 tbsp butter
4 Tbsp sugar
A dash of vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Powder the oats in a blender. Mix the powdered oats, sugar, baking powder, essence, egg and milk together without any lumps. Finally add the melted butter and mix well. If you are looking for a soft texture pour it in a shallow baking dish and bake it in for 15 to 20 minutes until the top layer looks firm.

While the oatmeal is baking, peel core and coarsely chop the apples. Melt butter in a saucepan; add apples along with cinnamon, sugar and vanilla. Stir everything together, cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burning of the sugar.
Serve baked oatmeal with Apple compote

P.S: Just look at my blog background for the baked oatmeal pic... but anyways.. m gonna post a better one as soon as I get home !

Spiced Mango coconut whole wheat oat crumble

There were lots of mangoes in my fridge… courtesy my granny. I keep wondering how all grand moms can be so loving... and they all have warmth of a huge mug of hot chocolate … I wanted to bake with Mangoes and dint want to do a huge cake... So it was time to put my beautiful ramekins to use, out came the ramekins and an hour later, some warm mango crumble. Here is how I made it.
For the crumble

1 cup of whole wheat flour
½ cup butter chilled and cubed
½ cup damerara sugar
½ cup oats
Mix all the above crumble ingredients and rub with the finger tips to resemble coarse bread crumbs and chill while you prepare the fruit.
For the fruit base
2 medium mangoes peeled and diced to bite sized pieces
Large pinch of cinnamon
Large pinch of nutmeg
6 table spoons of freshly scraped coconut
3 tablespoons of brown/ damerara sugar (Avoid if your mango is very sweet... like mine was)
Mix the spices and coconut with the fruit , place about 2 tablespoons of mixture in a lightly buttered each ramekin, then add 2 tablespoons of the crumble on the top and bake in 108 degree preheated oven for about 25 minutes/ till the crumble is golden brown. This mix will make 8 ramekins of mango crumble... Serve warm with whipped cream/ice cream.

Bisibelebath

Bisebelebath


lazy day? having thoughts about eating out?? This is the kind of food you would love to cook....

Just a little effort with the masala and you are all set to have a wholesome filling meal...

Veggies, rice, lentils all in one... this is what is called one pot meal!!!

I am not gonna say this was a meal that brings back childhood memories.... cause my mon never made/makes this dish.. this a Karnataka special..

But this is my current fav.. and any trip to MTR would be incomplete with out bisebelebath...

recipe looks long... but it is easy. feel free to double or triple the masala recipe and store in airtight container for future use.


1. Rice - 1/2 cup
2. Toor Dal - 3/4 Cup
3. 5 3/4 cups water
4. jaggery 1 tsp powdered

soak rice and toor dal togather for half an hour

Vegetables

1. capsicum 1, chopped finely
2. 2 small carrots Diced
3. 1 medium onion thinly sliced
4. 8-9 beans chopped into 1 inch peices
5. key lime size tamarind, soaked in 1/4 cup water


Tadka

1. 2tsps desi ghee
2. 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
3. 1/4 tsp jeera seeds
4. 12 curry leaves
5. a large pinch powdered hing/asafoteda
6. turmerci - 1/2 tsp


masala powder

1.8 red chillies (Adjust according to taste)
2.1/4 tsp each of cumin,corainder seeds
3.5 methi seeds
4.1 tsp each of chana dal and urad dal
5.8-10 pepper corns


dry roast all the above ingredients for masala powder, cool and grind to a fine powder

pressure cook soaked rice and dal till 5-6 whistles and mash.
par boil the vegetables
Meanwhile, in a pan heat the ghee, add mustard, cumin and curry leaves stir for 10 seconds, add in asafateida and turmeric, add in onions and saute till they are transparent, add boiled vegetables and stir.
Then add the mashed rice dal mixture and stir well.
Mix 2 1/2 tbsp of masala powder in 2 cups of and add it to the rice, followed by tamarind pulp, and 1 tsp powdered jaggery.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve with potato chips/papads....