Sambar Idli

Sambar idlis or 17 idlis can be seen in every menu card of south indian hotels . Particularly in Tamil nadu all major restaurants has this menu. I remember those I had in HSB chennai. They are cute rice dumplings dancing in a pool of sambar. Mini idlis are my son's favourites.




Sambar idlis are quick and easy break fast. The average preparing time is half an hour.Lets just get into the recipe of sambar.

Ingredients:


I have taken 1/2 a cup of moong dal,a medium sized onion, 1 tomato and 9 green chillies .

For tampering i have taken 3 to 4 red chillies, 1 tsp of mustard seeds, 1 tsp of cumin seeds, some curry leaves and cilatnro for garnishing.
Method:
Chop the onions, tomatoes and slit the chillies.

Add all the ingredients with a pinch of turmeric in a pressure cooker and cook until 3 whistles. When the whistle is released , take a hand mixed and mix it well , so that all the ingredients are smashed well.


In a heated pan, add mustard seeds,cumin seeds , hing,curry leaves and transfer the mixture into the pan. Let it get into a boil and add salt to taste .


Garnish it with cilantro and serve it with idlis in a cup. Kids will enjoy the mini idlis swimming in a pool of sambar.
Toor Dal

Ginger Chutney (Inji thuvayal)

Ginger is a tuber that is consumed as a delicacy,medicine or spice.Ginger was cultivated first in south Asia and then it spread throught the world. Ginger is used as an ingredient - in cooking and also as a medicine. In cooking , ginger plays a vital role. It is added in all the recipes.It brings a wonderful flavor to the dish. It is also very good for digestion.
I love the ginger tea, which is prepared during the rainy days. A cup of ginger tea and the rain drops on ur windows enchants u and takes u to ur own world of fantasy.....................

Here I am going to show u, how to prepare ginger thuvayal.My SIL gave me this recipe and it came out really well.Thanks viji anni.Ok lets get into the dish.

Ingredients:

I have taken 1 fingure sized ginger ,5 red chillies,1 piece of coconut, 1/2 tbsp of urad dal,1 gooseberry sized tamarind ,1/2 tsp of mustard seeds ,1 spring of curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida.
Take a kadai or pan and pour 1 tbsp of oil and slightly fry all the ingredients except coconut , mustard seeds and curry leaves. After frying , take it out and cool it for some time.
Once the ingredients are cooled , throw it in a food processor and grind it. In the below pic u can see the texture of the grinded mixture.
Now in the same kadai , add some oil and splatter some mustard seeds and sprinkle some hing and curry leaves.Once the mustard seeds are splattered , add the grinded mixture to the hot pan. Saute it for few minutes or until the raw smell is gone and store it in a container.
Serve this thuvayal with hot rice and a tsp of sesame oil , the flavor is wonderful. U can giv this rice for kids also , as it helps in digestion process.

Spinach dal

Spinach is rich in iron and minerals. It helps us to fight against prostate cancer,ovarian cancer,cardio vascular diseases, and it helps our bones to retain its calcium level.As spinach is rich in iron , it is compared with red meat. Becoz it gives iron with no fat.
Popeye the sailor man introduced spinach. But it is too bad that he ate that from a can as ,spinach looses the delicacy of texture and the jade green color, when it is processed. It is always good to use fresh spinach. Spinach has a crispy ,sweet taste ,which allows us to use it in salads.

Here i am going to show u how to prepare spinach dal .This is my fav dish.And i love to eat when my mom cooks it. I learnt this from one of my friend. She does this very well.

Ingredients:
I have taken a bunch of spinach. Wash and chop the spinach finely.Pressure cook 1/2 cup of urad dal and keep it aside. The ingredients for tampering are 1 tsp of mustard, 1 tsp of cumin seeds, curry leaves and 4 to 5 red chillies.I have also taken 1 onion,1 tomato, 8 to 9 green chillies ( this depends on ur level of spicyness, i want really spicy), 2 tbsp of tamarind juice,few curry leaves ,cilantro and salt to taste.

 Method:
Chop the onion ,tomatoes and slit the green chillies. Take a pan and pour oil into it and splatter the mustard seeds, cumin seeds ,red chillies,curry leaves. Saute the onion until it oozes out some oil.Now add the tomatoes and sprinkle some salt for cooking it fast.Once tomato disintergrates into the mixture, add the chopped spinach.Let it fry for a minute.

Now add the cooked toor dal and let it boil.When it comes to a boil, add the tamarind juice and turn it off after a minute. Garnish it with cilantro and serve with rice.Looks yummy right.........

Indian-Style Spinach

Bottle gourd fry

Bottle gourd or opo squash or long melon is a vine, grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable or harvested mature, dried and used as a utensil ,bottle or pipe. There are 2 varieties long and round .Its a watery vegetable and has a lot of fibre content.Here we r going to see the recipe of bottle gaurd fry. It has all different kinds of spices. It is very gud for kids as it helps for constipation.U can also freeze the bottle gaurd for later use.

Ingredients:

I have taken 1 bottle gourd . Peel the bottle gourd and cut into cut into cubes. I have taken 3/4 of the bottle gourd and froze the remaining for later use. Method:
Here I have taken 1 onion,1 tomato ,4 to 5 green chillies, 4 red chillies , curry leaves and some cilatnro for garnishing. For splattering ,I have taken 1 tsp of mustard , 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tbsp chilli pwdr ,1 tsp turmeric a pinch of hing and salt to taste.

In a heated pan, add oil and splatter some mustard seeds , cumin seeds,red chillies and curry leaves.Once the mustard is splattered, add hing, onion and green chillies .Once the onions are sauted well, add tomato with little salt .This salt takes out the moisture in the tomato and cooks fast.

Now add the bottle gourd and saute it well.When it is half cooked, add chilli pwdr and turmeric pwdr.Once the raw smell is gone ,sprinkle some water and let it cook until, the bottle gourd is fully cooked.


Once the bottle gourd is cooked, garnish it with cilantro.This goes very well with white rice,chapathi.Bottle gaurd , can aslo be cooked along with prawns .It gives nice texture and taste with prawns.

Mango rice

Mango is rich in nutrients. It has vitamins A,C,E ,K and B6 and also has, potassium,copper and amino acids.Its very healthy to eat mangoes either raw or cooked. India is the "number 1" producer of mangoes with 13,501,000 tonnes, produced every year.

Besides its nutritional values, it has a bond on everyones life. U can never forget the days when we used to buy mango pieces in front of our schools , with our little pocket money.The mangoes which are a like semi circles, with slighlty sprinkled salt and chilli pwdr........hmmmm i am just going back to St'Marys school - Chengalpet. "Memories"- the only vitamin ,which keeps man to move on. And i still remember my days with my twin sister in Tamilnadu ,where we used to eat mangoes from a big basket- both hiding at each door.........

wow..thank u mango for making me so happy..

Sorry , iam bit carried away.....Lets get into the dish.When we think of variety rice, we think of festivals.Bcoz variety rice are cooked during pregnancy for poo mudi,baby shower etc......
I have taken a medium sized green mango as in pic.Wash and peel the mango. I hav grated the mango in the larger holes of the grater as it shud be seen in the rice.

These are the ingredients for tampering. Six to seven red chillies, 4 green chillies, 1 tbsp of chana dal,1 tbsp of urad dal, a pinch of asafoetida,curry leaves cilantro and salt to taste.

Take 1 1/2 cup of basmati rice and cook it with a tsp of oil and transfer it to another bowl.
In a heated pan, add mustard . Once it gets splattered, add the chana dal and urad dal. Fry the green chillies and red chillies along with hing and curry leaves. Once the red chillies gets its light brown color, add the mango and saute.Make sure that, u dont cook the mango too much.Add salt to taste. Now add the rice to the mango mixture and saute it .

Garnish with cilantro and serve it.Wow wat an aroma...................

Note:

Make sure that the mango is little sour ( pulippu).If not just add some lemon juice to restore the sourness of mango.

Carrot Halwa

Carrots are rich in vitamin A,dietery fibre,anti oxidants and minerals.It helps to improve eye sight and can be eaten raw or cooked. Carrots are believed ,to have come from Afghanistan.
Carrots are used in salads,rice and puddings.Carrot juices are made from fresh carrots and marked as a healthy beverage.


Carrots come in different colors. In north india, carrot or gajjar ka halwa is very famous and they are prepared from redish orange carrots.This gives a unique color to the dish.
Grate the carrot after peeling.Make sure that u grate it in the larger holes of ur grater , bcoz carrots shud not be disfigured.I have taken 4 cups of carrot, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of milk,1/4 cup of ghee, pinch of cardamon pwdr and 1/4 cup of condensed milk.Milk and sugar can be increased, depending on ur taste.1 tbsp of cashews and 1 tbsp of raisins for garnishing.



Take a pan and pour some ghee .Fry the raisins till they r blown like balloons and fry the cashews untill they r golden. Keep it aside.In the same pan roast the carrots for few min and pour the milk. Let the carrot boil 8 to 10 mins or until they r cooked.Add sugar and mix it well.U can see the above pic, where sugar melts into carrot mixture.Now turn ur stove to medium heat and let all the moisture gets evaporated. This is the point, where carrots are smooth- not watery, add the condensed milk and stir it for 2 mins and turn off the heat.


Leave the halwa for cooling and transfer it to a container.U can garnish it with, cashew,raisins,pistas even almonds.

Here is my southern gajjar halwa is ready with a wide smile.................he he he :)
Carrot Halwa

Tomato Rice

Tomato rice also known as tomato bath, plays a vital role in south indian cuisine.Every thali served in south india, has tomato rice.So lets get in to the very basic method of preparing tomato rice.....






Ingredients:


For preparing 2 cup of tomato rice, u can take 1 onions ,3 tomatoes (big ) ,5 to 6 chilles and 4 to 5 pods of garlic.

Chop onions,tomatoes and slit the chillies.Garlic can be crushed.



Basmati rice ( 2 cup) is boiled with 1 spoon of oil.This oil makes the rice non-sticky and once the rice is boiled, transfer it to another container.



In a pan,splatter some whole garam masalas (cinnamon,cardaman,cloves)and curry leaves.Add the onion and saute till light brown.Add the chillies and crushed garlic and fry it for a minute.Now add tomatoes.Always add salt to cooking in a regular basis, instead of adding it in the end.Once the tomatoes are cooked, add chilli pwdr,turmeric pwdr and mix it well.When the raw smell of the masala is gone ,add water to the mixture and let it boil till the oil ooses out.Then add the gravy to the rice and garnish with cilantro.Here i hav served with yam fry and raitha.

Tomato rice and raitha goes very well.This tomato rice can also done in cooker, where we put all. ingredients together and pressure cook it

Tomato Rice