Friday, July 30, 2010

Onion 1

Small carrot 1/2

Green bell pepper (Capsicum) 1/4

Green chillies 1 or 1 1/2

Fresh coconut 1/2

Salt 1 tsp. or as necessary

Oil 2 tbsp.

For seasoning:

Oil 1 tsp.

Mustard 1/2 tsp.

Fried gram 1 tsp.

Curry leaves a few

In a pan fry chopped onion.

when it turns pink, add finely chopped carrot and bell pepper.

Fry well till they become soft.

Grind in a blender along with coconut, chillies and salt.

Season with mustard, fried gram and curry leaves.

Goes well with Idli , Dosa , Sevai, Kichadi and Upma.

Variation:

Use only onion and carrot or onion and bell pepper, tastes equally good. A combination of all the three also makes a tasty chutney.

Although this is called instant dosa, it takes a minimum of two hours for the dough to set before you can make the dosas. If you mix the flours and keep the mixture overnight, you'll get better tasting (crisper) and easy-to-make dosas.

Some people dislike the taste of mint in dosa. You can avoid it in such cases. I like to add mint to almost any recipe because of its nutritive value. The rest is your own creativity, you can try many variations according to your taste.

Wheat flour 1 cup

Rice flour 1/2 cup

Water 2 to 2 1/2 cups

Salt 1 tsp.

Onion 1

Green chillies 2

chopped Mint leaves (optional) a handful

chopped Coriander leaves 2 tsp.

Mix wheat and rice flours with salt and 2 cups of water to make dosa batter of pouring consistency.

Take care to remove lumps by mixing well. This takes a little time and patience.

Add more water if necessary to get the right consistency.

Leave covered for at least an hour. The longer you let it stay, the better is the dosa texture.

Chop onions, green chillies and mint and coriander leaves finely and add to the batter. The batter should be almost watery.

Heat a dosa pan and make dosas by pouring the batter in circles starting from the outside and filling the inside.

Do not spread. The heat should be slightly high.

Pour a teaspoon of oil around the dosa and turn in half a minute. It cooks very fast.

Let it cook for another half minute, then remove.

Slightly high heat gives the dosa a nice brown colour.

Goes very well with Onion Tomato Chutney or Coconut Chutney.

Variation:

Grind 1 tomato and cilantro leaves and add to the batter. This gives it a lovely taste.

You can grind curry leaves(just a few), cilantro and/or mint leaves and add to dosa batter.

Onion 1

Carrots 2

French Beans 10

Potatoes 2 small

Green peas (fresh or frozen) 1/2 cup

Green bell pepper (capsicum) 1 medium

Milk 1/2 cup

Cooking oil 2 to 3 tbsp.

Wheat flour 2 to 3 tsp.

Finely chopped Cilantro 3 tsp.

To be ground to a smooth paste:

Green chillies 2

Tomatoes 2

Ginger small piece

Garlic 5 big pods or 2 tsp of ginger garlic paste

Aniseeds (saunf) 1 tsp

Khus Khus 1 tsp.

Coriander seeds 1 tsp.

Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp. OR coriander cumin powder-1 heaped tsp.(2 parts coriander seeds and 1 part cumin seeds lightly roasted and powdered).

Garam masala 1 tsp.

Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp.

Fresh coconut scrapings 2 tbsp. (optional)

Cut all the vegetables lengthwise into finger-sized pieces.

Boil vegetables in just enough water(1 to 1 1/2 cups) and milk.

Grind together all the dry ingredients with tomatoes and coconut along with ginger and garlic.

Chop onions lengthwise and fry in oil till they turn pink.

Add the ground paste to the onion and fry till the raw smell leaves. If the mixture is very thick add some more milk and let boil.

Now mix in the cooked vegetables along with the water, add salt and let it boil for a few minutes.

Make a slightly watery paste with wheat flour and water.

Once the kurma boils say for about 5 minutes, add the paste and keep stirring as you add it to avoid lumps forming.

After a few more minutes of boiling with the lid on, remove from heat. Serve hot with chapathi, poori, idiyaappam and aappam.

Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Cilantro can be added to the ingredients to be ground. This gives it a different flavor.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Welcome to my wonderful world of cooking

As a first timer, I used to find it difficult to get a recipe right. With practice and a lot of experimenting, I found that there was a great cook in me. If I could do it, why not you? I'm dedicating the contents of this blog to beginners/first-timers in cooking. Of course, experienced cooks may also find a recipe or two new and interesting. No harm in trying out a simple yet innovative recipe, right? Let's get started then friends!! I earnestly believe that you would find this humble beginning of mine useful. Please do give me a feedback, so that I can make changes wherever necessary. Happy Cooking!!!!!!!!!!!

The making of this chutney was by a strange coincidence. I prepared vegetable raitha with onions, tomatoes, cucumber and carrot to go with Vegetable Biriyani. For this I deseeded the tomatoes for the salad to be crispy. I did not know what to do with the seeded portion- did not have the heart to throw it away, (if I hadn't thought of a recipe I would have simply consumed them-after all tomato is full of vitamin C!!!). I thought, why not try making a chutney with the tomatoes. When it turned out well, I tried it once again with whole tomatoes, and here goes the recipe:

Small tomatoes 4

Chilli powder 1 tsp.

Dhania Powder 1/2 tsp.

Jeera powder 1/4 tsp.

Hing (asafoetida) 1/2 tsp.

Salt 1 1/2 tsp.

Sambar powder 1/2 tsp.

Cilantro (optional) a little

Mustard and curry leaves for seasoning.

Method:

Grind tomatoes with all the powders including salt and cilantro to a fine paste.

No need to add water while blending.

You can add a little water at the end and mix well with the paste. Check spiciness of the paste. If you want it to be spicier, add 1/2 tsp. of chilli powder.

To 2 tsp. oil (if you don't mind consuming more oil, then you can add 3 tsp.-the more the oil, the tastier the dish and less healthier of course) in a pan.

add a little mustard, hing and curry leaves, then the tomato paste and fry well till the raw smell goes.

A very easy-to-prepare chutney and a very tasty one too.Goes well with Idli, dosa and upma.

Variation:

Grind a handful of mint leaves with the tomatoes and you have a tastier chutney.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Onion Tomato Chutney

Onions 2

Tomatoes 2

Red Chilli powder 1 tsp.

Mustard 1/4 tsp.

Urad dal 1 tsp.

Ginger a small piece

Salt 1 tsp.

Cilantro a little

Oil 1 tbsp.

Add mustard and urad dal to hot oil in a pan.

Add chopped onion and fry till it turns pink and transparent.

Add chopped tomatoes, red chilli powder and fry till soft and pulpy.

Let it cool. Grind with ginger, salt and cilantro leaves.

Serve with Idli, Dosa, Pongal and Upma.

Coconut Chutney

People prepare this chutney in different ways. So it is up to you to make your own variations after trying this basic recipe. Some people add tamarind to coconut chutney, but I don't add because, in my personal opinion, it is better to avoid tamarind as much as possible from your diet. Now let's see what you need to make this delicious chutney.