Saravana Bhavan Sambhar / Restaurant style sambhar

I am a very big fan of Saravana Bhavan Sambhar.we used to order sambhar idlies,where cute mini idlies will be floating in a pool of sambhar.we will literally drink the sambhar .It wud be a perfect match made in heaven.I was frantically searching for this recipe.When I saw the recipe in geetha's space,cudn't stop myself from trying this.Geetha has beautifully explained the recipe in her post here .I have altered a bit.Also I have added sugar as a flavouring agent at the end,to bring out the real taste of retaurant.Its almost 3 years,I tasted this sambhar.It was too good to have with idlies.I prepared today mini idlies .

Recipe Source : En Samayal Araiyil

Ingredients:
For pressure cooking:
1.Toor dal                    -          1/2 cup
2.Onion                        -           1/2 (big)
3.Tomato                     -            1 (medium sized)
4.salt                            -            as required

For grinding:
1.Roasted gram/chutney dal             -           1 tbsp
2.Tomato                                          -            1
3.Turmeric pwdr                              -            1 tsp
4.Chilli pwdr                                   -             1 tbsp
5.Coconut                                         -              2 pieces

For tempering :
1.Onion                                   -          ( 1/2 big) chopped
2.Green chillies                      -           2 (chopped)
3.Mustard seeds                      -           1/2 tsp
4.Cumin seeds                         -           1/2 tsp
5.Fenugreek seeds                   -            1/2 tsp
6.Urad dal                                -            1/2 tsp
7.Curry leaves                         -            few
8.Red chillies                          -            2 to 3
9.Cilantro                                -             a hand full

For garnishing;
1.Cilantro                                     -            few
2.Sugar                                         -            1/4 tsp

Method:
* Take  a pressure cooker,add toor dal,finely chopped onion,tomato ,bit turmeric pwdr and cook with water for 3 whistle.After the whistle is relaesed,mash the dal roughly and keep it aside.
* Grind all the ingredients under "for grinding " into a fine paste ,adding little water.We can also use shredded coconut ,instead of using whole coconut.
* Take a pan or kadai,add oil and temper with mustard,cumin ,curry leaves and methi seeds.When it splutters,add the chopped onion and green chillies.When it is sauteed well,Add the cooked dal into the pan and bring it to boil.

* When the mixture comes to sizzling boil,add the grinded paste,cover and cook in low for 10 mins.
* When the sambhar is cooked,add red chillies ,curry leaves and cilantro and turn off the stove.Cover the sambhar,as the aroma will be retained.This step is very essential in bringing the taste of restaurant style sambhar.
* At last ,add sugar and mix.This is purely optional,but this is a restaurant touch.Serve with idlies,dosai or pongal.Perfect match for these tiffins.

The recipe for soft idlies is here

 Sending this to Aipi and Priya's Bookmarked Recipes events

Butter Naan- Tandoori oven effect made easy

Tandoor naan is my all time favourite.We used to crave for naans in  India,But I have not tried there.After coming to US,started trying this out at home.Previously used to prepare on the tava.It will be soft ,but I was not able to get that smoky naans with brown spots.I was searching thru net to get a tandoor effect for naans.Then came to know the procedure of  making tandoor naans at home thru a you tube video.Cooking naan on a flame is impossible,here as we have electric heaters.So I used the technique of using pans - covering the stove.It gave the naans brown spots and smoky flavour.This method is bit time consuming,but the outcome is so perfect .

Ingredients:
1.All purpose flour                            -          2 1/2 cups
2.yeast                                               -          2 tsp
3.Salt                                                 -          1/2 tsp
4.Sugar                                              -           1/2 tsp
5.Curd                                               -           1 tbsp
6.Luke Warm water                           -           1 cup or as required
7.Oil                                                  -            3 tbp
8.Wheat flour                                     -            2 tbsp (for dusting)

Method:
Preparing  the Dough:
* Take the luke warm water ,add sugar and yeast.Mix and keep it aside for 10 mins.
* After 10 mins,the mix would have become frothy.
* Take a mixing bowl,add flour,salt and curd.
* Crumble it well and now add the yeast water .
* Knead  it into a firm ,yet soft dough.
* Add oil to the dough and cover with a wet towel.
* Keep the dough in a warm place for 2 hrs or untill it doubles in size.
*  Divide the dough into equal sized balls.

Rolling the naan:
After dividing the dough,let it rest for half an hour.This will make the balls again double in size.But I used a technique to reduce the time.I started rolling each ball and cooking it simultaneously.Instead of rolling all the balls and cooking it in a batch.This helps  other balls to raise in the mean time.
The picture shows theraised balls.

* Sprinkle  wheat flour and roll the balls into a medium thicknessed rotis.Using wheat flour for dusting ,helps  naan to spread a bit.
* Pull it into a oval shaped naan.

Cooking the naan in tandoor effect:
* Take a heavy bottomed pan.Apply water to one side of the naan and press it into the pan as shown in the  picture four.
* Now, turn on the stove to high ,place the naan pressed pan upside down .As shown in the picture five.The pan should cover the stove completely.This will create a tandoor effect,where naan gets cooked with smoke and  some fire spottings like the  picture six.

* When the naan gets cooked 90 % ,it will come out of the pan.Make sure that it doesn't fall on the stove .If so, naan will start burning ,after fallen on top of the coil.
* Now turn the naan and cook for a minute  on top of the flame ,with the help of the spatula as shown in the seventh picture.Dont over cook the naan,then it will become hard.
* The eighth picture shows the naan cooked on the other side.

Immediately apply butter or oil and cut the naan into 2.Serve it with any side dish.

Note:
* Instead of using pans,we can also use small pressure pans,which has heavy bottomed.
* Once the naan is cooked on the first side,ther others side will be cooked quickly.So dont keep it on the flame too much.Dont try to cook the naan on the tava .It shud be cooked on top of the flame.

* Since we have electric stoves,I have used this method.In India,we have gas burners.So we can show the naan directly on the flame,instead of covering it on the stove.


Sending this to Ayeesha's A.W.E.D Indian Cuisine started by D.K

Chicken Dry / Chicken Chukka

Chicken dry is a mouthwatering dish,where chicken is marinated in spices and cooked with onion till it turns dry.I was inspired by Priya of  "Priya's easy and tasty recipes".She has done it perfectly.I tried it out immediately,it came out really good.Delicious too.The secret of dry chicken is,the way we saute the onion.Onion shud be sauteed perfectly ,till it turns dark brown.If not,we will not be able to get the blood red coloured chicken.Sure ,it will taste like restaurant style chicken chukka.

Ingredients:
1.Chicken pieces             -         1 pound ( Including leg piece)
2.Onion                           -          1/2
3.Ginger                          -          1 inch
4.Garlic                           -          6 to 7 pods
5.Curry leaves                 -          few
6.Fennel seeds                 -         1 tsp

For Marination:
1.Chilli pwdr                   -           1 tbsp
2.Turmeric pwdr              -           1/4 tsp
3.Red chilli pwdr             -           1/4 tsp
4.Lemon juice                   -           2 tbsp
5.Garam masala                -            1/2 tsp  (optional)

Method:
* Cut the chicken and slit the leg piece.
* Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients under "Marination".
* Let it sit for 2 hours.
* Take a pan,add oil ,splutter with fennel seeds and curry leaves.
* Now add the crushed garlic,chopped ginger and onion.
* Let it get sauteed well.It shud turn into dark brown in colour.This is the essential step for this curry.
* Now add the marinated chicken into the pan,along with its juices.
* Cover the pan and cook till the chicken turns tender or it is cooked 90%.
* Once the chicken is cooked,remove the lid and cook it in high,till the juices are evaporated.Taking the lid off,helps the chicken to be dry without any moisture.
* Squeeze some more lemon juice and serve with sliced onion.

Bhel Puri - Day 1 of blogging marathon

Happy to be a part of yet another blogging marathon hosted by Srivalli.Last time ,it was fun preparing dishes,picturing and updating it.Its literaly a challenge ,as we had 20 plus bloggers .But this time ,it has been divided into 2 groups.Thanks valli for ur effort.I am going to present u the dishes in the category. "kids friendly",for the next 7 days.Today, I am going to present u my favourite ,from childhood - Bhel puri Chaat.
Bhel puri is a famous chaat item .It is a spicy mixture garnished with green chutney and tamarind chutney.When I am writing this, my childhood memories come flashing all the way.I just go back few years and remember the day,when I was introduced to this chaat accidently.Accidentaly ? yes ,u r reading it right.

   One day when I was studying 8 th or 9 th,we went to a restaurant and about to order some dishes.This bhel puri name fascinated me very much,thinking that ,it is a kind of puri like chole puri.But when the dish arrived ,I started searching for  the puri.Very big dissappoinment.Everyone bursted in laughter and I was literally a fool that day.From that day, it became my favourite dish.Hmm...Yet to introduce to my son.But he loves the sev and other things ,not chutneys.This is again an easy dish,if we have the chutneys handy.

Green chutney and tamarind chutneys are very important component of  bhel puri.Here I am going to give the recipes of green chutney and tamarind chutney first.Then we can see the assembling of ingredients.

Green Chutney   :
1.Cilantro               -             1 cup
2.Mint                     -             1 cup
3.Green chillies      -              1
4.Lemon juice         -              1 tbsp
5.Salt                      -               a pinch
6.Sugar                   -                1/2 tsp

* Grind ingredients from 1 thru 3 in a blender.
* Add all the other ingredients to the grinded mixture and bring it into a chutney consistancy.
* Store it in a container.

Tamarind Chutney:
1.Tamarind juice              -            1 cup
2.Jaggery                          -             1/4 cup
3.Red chilli pwdr             -             1/2 tsp
4.Garam masala                -             1/4 tsp
5.Fennel seeds                  -              1/2 tsp
6.Cumin seeds                   -             1/2 tsp
7.Chaat masala                   -            a pinch

* Boil  the tamarind juice and  reduce it to half in size.
* Roast the fennel seeds and cumin seeds.
* Make it into a fine pwdr.
* Now add the jaggery and  all other dry pwdrs with salt.
* Mix it well and cook it untill it becomes thick.
* Store it in a dry container and refrigerate it .

Ingredients For the Assembling the bhel:
1.Pooris                       -              1/2 cup (broken)
2.Sev                           -               1/2 cup
3.Puffed rice               -                1 cup
4.Mashed Potato         -                1/2 cup
5.Onion                       -                1/2 (chopped)
6.Tomato                    -                 1/2 (chopped)
7.Cilantro                   -                 few
8.Green chutney          -                 2 tbsp or as required
9.Tamarind Chutney   -                  2 tbsp or as required


* Take a mixing  bowl,add all the ingredients .
* Slowly add the green chutney and tamarind chutney.
* Mix it well.
* Garnish with cilantro ,sev and serve on a plate.

Check out my blogging buddies in action...
Champa, Divya, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Monica, Padma Dharmaraj, PJ, Smitha, Srivalli, Usha, Veena Aravind,

Snding this to Champa's Kids Delight - Restaurant Recreation ,started by Srivalli

Onion Pakodas -- Day 3

Texas is again experiencing freezing weather.Today we had 2 inches of snow.For u ,this is very small.but for me it is too good.I will always enjoy this weather.My friend sho will always complain abt the weather  :( Wanted to have some thing crispy.Had onions,so onion pakoda came into my mind.Its a easy snack, which can be prepared and stored.Since adding rice flour ,makes the pakodas crispy even for 3 to 4 days.....Try this recipe ,u will get a restaurant style pakodas.....
                            
Today is day  3 of  Blogging marathon for next seven days. Today I am going to blog in the category "Appetizer".What will u feel like,having hot pakodas,a cup of coffee and its snowing outside.....Splendid isnt it?

Come and join with me to have some hot pakodas and a cup of coffee      :)

Ingredients:
1.Besan Flour                -                1 cup
2.Rice Flour                  -                 1/2 cup
3.Onion                          -                 1
4.Green chillies              -                 3
5.Ginger                         -                  1/2 inch
6.Cashews                      -                 1 tbsp
7.Curry leaves                -                  few

Method:
* Julienne onion,green chillies and ginger.
* Make sure everything is thinly sliced,add little salt and keep it aside.
* Soak cashews in water for 5 to 10 minutes.
* Take a bowl,add besan flour and rice flour.Mix  it with little salt and add it to the chopped onion,ginger and chillies.
* Slowly scald the mixture and add little oil.
* Now add the soaked cashews and chopped curry leaves.
* At last ,sprinkle little salt and keep it ready.
* Slowly deep fry the pakodas,by dropping in little chunks.

Enjoy with a hot coffee.......

Check out my blogger marathon buddies in action..u will surely be treated well with their appealing treats, Sri valli, Azeema ,  Bhagi , Champa , Gayathri Anand , Gayathri Kumar , Harini , Jay , Meena , Minu , Padma, Pavani  , PJ, Priya Mahadevan, Priya Suresh, Priya Vasu ,Rujuta, SantosBangar , saraswathi , Shanavi, Smitha, Sowmya, Suma, Usha, Veena,Kamalika.

KFC style Chicken Drumstick

KFC chickens are everyone's favourite.But I used to wonder,how they make it.I used to marinate the chicken and coat it with bread crumbs.But ,the juicyness was missing.When I was going thru sites ,got this incredible idea.Yes.marinating the chicken in masala water,made the chicken juicier . Geetha of "En samayal araiyil",has shown the exact procedure.Inspired by her preparation,bookmarked it.Fearing to try it with a whole pad of drumsticks,bought whole chicken and tried with the two drumsticks alone.It came out really well.The chicken was crispy outside and juicy inside.Give it a try, u will never go fo KFC again....ha ha ha.

Ingredients:

For Marination:
1.Chicken drumsticks                -         2
2.G&G paste                             -         1 tsp
3.Chilli pwdr                            -          2 tsp
4.salt                                         -          1/4 tsp
5.Coriander leaves                   -           as needed

For Egg coating:
1.Egg white                               -         2
2.Chilli pwdr                            -         1/2 tsp
3.Pepper pwdr                          -          1 tsp
4.Orange color                          -          a pinch


Dry Coating :
1.All purpose flour                   -          1/2 cup
2.Bread crumbs                         -          1/4 cup
3.Salt                                         -          1/4 tsp 

Method:
* Wash and slit the drumsticks in fleshy areas,for the masala to penetrate.
* Take a bowl , add all the ingredients under "For marination" and place the chicken .Now ,pour water till,the chicken gets immersed in masala .By adding water,masala is absorbed quickly into the chicken.
The chilli pwdr added is purely up to our taste.Leave the marination for atleast 3 hrs.
* Take the egg white in a small bowl,and add all the ingredients under " Egg coating".The chilli pwdr,fully is not absorbed by the chicken,in the marination.To compensate that , I have added it to egg coating mixture.

* Now ,take a a plate and mix all the ingredients under "Dry coating".
* Take the chicken and dip it with egg mixture.Let it get coated fully.
* Now roll,it in the flour-Bread crumbs mixture.The chicken ,shud be coated well with the flour mixture.
* Take a pan and shallow fry the chickens .
* Wipe off  with a tissue to remove excess oil.
* Serve hot with ranch or ketch up.

Note:
We can also increase the amt of chili pwdr.But usually KFC chicken will not have much spicy.

Chicken Biriyani ( Anjappar style)

Chicken biriyani is a one pot dish, where chicken is marinated in spices and cooked with  rice .Its a famous South Indian dish I still remember the days ,when we had chicken biriyani at 'Anjappar '.No one can say no to those juicy chickens .I was longing for those anjappar style biriyani ,here in US.Since I cudnt get that,  started searching for good biriyani recipes and ended in this.Its very easy and simple.My husband just loves this biriyani.He was bugging me to do that for long time.To brighten up his face, I did this today.



Ingredients:
1.Chicken                       -    1 pound
2.Basmati rice                 -    2 cups
3.Onion                          -     1 ( big)
4.Tomatoes                    -      11/2 (big)
5.Green chillies               -       5
5 (a)Chlli pwdr               -     1 tbsp
5(b) G&G paste             -     1 tbsp
6,Whole garam masalas ( 1 inch cinnamom stick,4 cardamoms,5 cloves,a pinch of jaadhikkai,few bayleaves)
7.Mint leaves                  -      hand full
8.Cilantro                       -      hand full
9.Ghee                           -      1/2 cup
10.Oil                            -       1/2 cup


Method:
* Wash and soak basmati rice for 15 mins
* Chop onion length wise and cut tomatoes into chunks.
* Slit green chillies.
* Wash and cut chicken .
* In a pressure cooker, add a tbsp of ghee and fry the soaked basmati rice ,till it turns slight yellow color.

* In the same pan,add ghee ,oil and splutter with whole garam masalas .
* Dump in onion,green chillies and sprinkle some salt.
* When the onion becomes, translucent add tomatoes and sprinkle some salt.
* This makes tomato to cook fast.
* Now add chicken and toss it with G&G paste.
* Allow chicken to cook until it turns white color .
* Now add the chilli pwdr and mix well.
* Turn on the heat to high and make sure u cook chicken well,without any moisture.
( But dont over cook it)
* Now add 4 cups of water and bring it to boil.Now turn ur stove to medium low.

* Slowly add the fried basmati rice and mix it with mint leaves and half of cilantro .
* Adjust salt to taste.
* Close the cooker ,after adding 1 tsp of ghee and  cook it for 1 whistle.( this ghee will enhance the flavor)
* Turn the heat to low and keep in dhum for 15 mins.
* Remove the whistle and transfer immediately to another container.
* This makes the rice non-sticky.
* Garnish with remaining cilantro and serve with raitha.
I am thankful for my friends Sheena and Manju for teaching me this recipe, in my initial days of cooking.

I am sending this dish to Akila's event.

Also sending this recipe to Dr.Sameena's event

Biryani

Secrets of crispy Ulundhu vadai ( Urad dal vada)

Ulundhu vadai is my husband's all time favourite.But when we prepare it ,it wont have its crispness till we serve for guests.I was wondering ,how we get crispy vadas in hotels.I got the answer to this question, when i went for my friend manju's function.Her mom ,gave me this secret of crispy vadai.

Diwali gave me the oppurtunity to prepare vadai.I tried, believe me even my son started asking for vadai more and more.I am thankful for manju's mom,who gave me this secret.




Ulundhu Vadai

Ingredients:
1.Urad dal                             -        1 cup
2.Rice                                    -        1 tbsp
3.Rava                                   -         1 tsp
4.Green chillies                     -         4
5.Ginger                                 -         1/2 inch
6.Onion                                  -         1/2
7.Curry leaves
8.Cilantro

Method:
* Wash and soak urad dal for 1 hour.
* Chop onion,2 green chillies ,curry leaves and cilantro.
* Grind urad dal,rice,ginger and remaining 2 green chillies into a fine batter.
* Try to add little water while grinding.
* Transfer the batter into a bowl and mix it well ,until it gives out bubbles.
* This mixing makes the batter fluffy.
* Add the chopped onion,green chillies,curry leaves and cilantro into the batter.
* At this point, add rava to the batter.This rava makes the vadai retain its crispness.
* Heat oil in a pan.
* Wet ur hand and place a ball of  batter and pat it .
* Slowly drop it in oil.
* Fry the vadai in hot oil.
* Take the vadai out and wipe it off with tissue.
* serve with chutney or sambar.

Believe me this vadai will retain its crispness for atleast 2 to 3 hrs.