Green gram curry

I learnt this curry from my mom. I usually serve this with chapathis but you can use it as a side-dish or add more water and make it as a gravy for white rice. The curry has a different flavor which complements the chapathis very well. This side dish is very simple to make and has all the goodness intact as we only pressure-cook the green grams. If you had added more water when cooking the legumes then strain the excess water, add some salt and drink it. It contains all the nutrients. Use the same water if you need the curry to be more gravy-like.

~*What U Need*~
Green gram – 1 cup
Large Onion – 1
Medium tomato – 1
Green chilli – 1
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Water – as needed
Oil – 2 tbsp
Salt – as needed

How I Made it:
Clean the green gram well and pressure cook for 3 whistles. The green grams should not turn mushy but should be cooked well. Chop the onions and tomatoes.
Heat oil and add the mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Next add the curry leaves and green chilli and fry well. Add the chopped onions and sauté till transparent. When done, add the tomatoes and fry well. Now add in the turmeric, coriander and chilli powders and salt and fry till the oil oozes out. Add the green gram and combine well.
Add water till the required consistency. Combine well and cook in medium flame for 3-5 mins. Do a taste check and off the flame.

Serve with chapathis.

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Kabsa Rice / Mildly flavored Chicken Rice | S/S Recipe

Kabsa - What is it? A family of rice dishes that are served mostly in Saudi Arabia — where it is commonly regarded as a national dish — and the other Arab states of the Persian Gulf. These dishes are mainly made from a mixture of spices, rice (usually long-grain basmati), meat and vegetables. I first came to know about this dish from Divya's easy recipes. Huss dear saw this and insisted to make this rice on Sunday. And I had no other choice. The rice was flavorful with a spicy aroma.

~*What U Need*~
Basmati rice – 1 cup
Chicken – ½ kg or big potatoes
Chopped Onion - 1 cup
Chopped tomatoes - ½ cup
Small Green chilies - 2
Coriander leaves – a bunch
Garlic (chopped finely) – 3 nos
Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Oil – 2 tbsp
Butter – 2 tsps
Salt to taste

To Grind
Saffron – a pinch
Cardamom – 2
Cinnamon - ½ inch
Garam Masala - ½ tsp
Pepper Corns – ½ tsp

Fried onion for garnishing (optional)

How I Made It:

Add water to the rice and set aside for 15 to 20 min. Grind all the spices mentioned in the ‘To Grind’ section without adding any water.

Heat a pan, add oil / butter.

When hot add the onion and garlic and sauté. Fry till the onions turn brown in colour.

Add the tomatoes and green chilli and sauté

When done, add red chilli powder and coriander leaves and fry.

When done, add the ground spice powder and salt and combine everything. Now add in the chicken pieces and fry… The chicken will start oozing water. Fry well till the water evaporates and the chicken should be half-cooked.

Add the required amount of water and lime juice.

You may then transfer this to the rice cooker or pressure cook for 1 whistle + 2 minutes. When it comes to boil transfer the mixture to rice cooker. When done, transfer to plate and garnish with fried onions. Serve hot with raita / any chicken side dishes.

Mr and Mrs.A plate - ready to devoured in...

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Rava Kesari

Imagine you with closed eyes, someone sliding a spoonful of rava kesari with some crunchy toasted nuts and a nice sweet ghee aroma filling your nose. The kesari once into your mouth just melts into a flavorful nothingness. Oh I know many out there would die for this experience. Rich rava kesari is an all time yes-yes for me.

I usually cut down as much ghee/oil as I can from our diet. And that repeats on festivals too. My hand actually does this on it own accord. I don't add more than 1tbsp of oil for stir fry and 2 tbsp for shallow fry and don't even start about deep frying :( The family knows very well about me. So when I called up my mom to ask on how to make kesari, she asked me to hand over the phone to Mr.A. Confused, he got the phone from me and then there was laughter n silence followed by laughter again. It was my turn to be confused and I was given the phone. I got the recipe from my mom, asked her wat the fuss was about for which I got a "U will see soon" answer and then a bye.

I knew tat asking my huss would just be shouting into deaf ears and hence went into the kitchen silently. Was taken back to see Mr.A following me (a rare thing that has happened say twice or thrice previously). Again confused, I started with the kesari and when it was time to tip in the ghee, I understood wat their conversation really meant. In a matter of seconds, he grabbed the ghee bottle from me and poured nearly 6 tsps of ghee into the kesari. I started yelling and jumping "have u gone mad???" It was then that he explained that my mom had asked HIM to add in the ghee, frightened that I would not add in as much needed and the recipe would fail. Gosh, I didn't know people were so much frightened with me and my oil adventures..
But then the episode was fruitful and I loved the loads of ghee flavor coming out. This is how a kesari is meant to be!!! Lesson Learnt...

~*What U Need*~
Sooji / Semolina / Rava – ½ cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Water – 1 ½ cups + ½ cup
Food color – a pinch
Ghee – 6 tsps + 1 tsp
Broken Cashews + dried grapes - 10

How I Made it:
Dry roast the semolina with 1 tsp of ghee till golden brown and u get a nice aroma. Boil 1 ½ + ½*see notes* cups of water till you see bubbles coming up. Now add the food color and stir well till evenly dispersed. Next add in the semolina and keep stirring till it is half done (My tip: wait till the white spots of the sooji fade away).
Add the sugar and mix well. When the sugar has melted and combined well and the kesari is well cooked, add the ghee to it. You will see that the sweet does not stick to the pan now.
Fry the cashews and grapes in ghee, add this to the kesari and combine well.

Serve hot or cool down and cut into pieces with a cashew on top of each piece.

My Notes:
If you feel that the kesari is too thick, then boil the extra 1/2 cup of water and add this to the mixture as soon as you have added the water. The consistency is totally up to you. I had to add the extra 1/2 cup to get a semi-runny consistency.

This is the final recipe of my gokulashtami platter... Hope you guys enjoyed all my recipes.

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Peanut-Sesame Laddoos

I once came across the quote “No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut.” ~Channing Pollock and thats true in my case. I love peanuts. Roast 'em, salt 'em, boil 'em, season 'em / eat 'em raw they exhibit unique flavors each time (they stand second to potatoes). I love having salted and toasted peanuts as a munch-on. Sometimes I just boil them with some salt and enjoy it as such. Ever since I became a "woman", mom has made it a point that I have kadala urundai ( aka peanut jaggery laddoos), one every day. A handful of peanuts with a piece of jaggery is such a storehouse of proteins/nutrients, she says. But she never allows me to take more than one. I love 'em whole-heartedly that you can find me sneaking into the kitchen to grab a ball and she standing behind my back. Oh god I don't understand how moms sense every step of ours. Thats what the pure soul was created for, right?

This recipe is an extended version of my mom's kadala urundais. I added some toasted sesame seeds & ghee & cashews & dried grapes to give the dish a richness and crunchiness. Expecting mothers please ignore sesame seeds… But you can make the peanut laddoos and have one daily – a rich source of protein and other nutrients

~*What U Need*~
Raw Peanuts – 1 cup
White Sesame Seeds – ¼ cup
Ghee – 2 tbsp
Broken Cashew + dried grapes – 10 each
Jaggery – ¾ cup

How I made it:
Dry roast the peanuts till toasted nicely and crunchy. Repeat the same with the sesame seeds till evenly brown. Roast the cashews and dry grapes in ghee till the cashews turn brown and the grapes puff up. Set aside.
Break the jaggery roughly. Remove the skin off the peanuts.
Now add the peanuts and jaggery into a blender / mixie and coarse grind to the consistency you need. This totally depends on you, u cam make it into a fine powder or with medium/large granules. Once done, tip the mixture on to a plate, add the ghee + cashews + dry grapes and toasted sesame to this, mix well and then form laddoos.

A perfect blend of healthy sweetness & crunchiness. A yummy snack that can be popped into ur mouth on your each visit to the kitchen.

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Ragi Vermicelli Payasam

I had quarter of this packet of ragi semiya lying around my pantry for days together. When I made uppma out of 3/4th of the packet and I got not-so-good-kinda comments from Mr.A I was not interested to buy another packet of it. Left with ¼ packet which cannot be transformed into a dinner/breakfast for 2, I had no other option but to discard it with closed eyes. But then I didn’t have the heart to waste something healthy and useful and hence it remained safe in my pantry.

I was talking to A some days back about the soaring gold rates, some random talks, me asking for a gold ring and finally getting deviated to me not getting a bike for A. I don’t understand till date how if I ask him something always ends up with me not getting him anything (… and that ranges from an Optimus Prime Autobot action figure to a Yamaha Rz/ZZ/??* Bike) *refers to all the bike models coming up everyday and which is Greek and Latin to me.

Coming back to the conversation, though I was demanding something from him, my backend was processing all the leftovers in my pantry that had to be turned edible. Single Broccoli floret and iceberg lettuce gosh I have salad idea for dinner, 1 pomegranate – needs to be made into a refreshing chiller / or can I just make Oh god I just hate popping out the pom seeds, let that be where it is. Oh dear I still have that semiya packet. I hate converting left overs into dishes. You don’t have enough to make a dish out of it. That was when it struck, why not make a paayasam out of the semiya substituting the normal ones with the ragi semiya. Atlast I get to have my favorite paayasam and I use up the semiya packet… I got the thought say 2 weeks back, but then I postponed it so that I could make the dish for Gokulashtami and here is how I made it…

~*What U Need*~
Ragi Semiya – ½ cup
Water – 1 ½ cups
Milk – 1 cup
Thin coconut milk – 1 cup
Thick coconut milk – 1 cup
Sago pearls – ¼ cup
Cashew + dried grapes – 10 each
Sugar – 1 cup
Ghee – 2 tbsp

How I Made it:
Boil water and add in sago pearls. Allow to cook till the sago pearls turn completely glass with no hint of white. Next add in the thin milk of coconut and milk and allow to boil
Add in the ragi semiya and boil till the semiya is half done. Add the sugar and mix well and boil till the sugar melts in. Verify taste and if needed add sugar to taste. I didn’t do a taste check as I had to keep this pooja but 1 glass sugar was sufficient for the quantity mentioned above.
When the sugar has melted add first/thick milk of coconut, heat for 5 seconds and switch off the stove.
Roast the cashews and dry garpes in ghee till the cashews turn brown and the grapes puff up. Add this along with the ghee into the payasam and give it a stir.

Delicious and creamy ragi payasam ready!!! The flavor of raagi in paayasam was different to the regular ones but the dish was worth the effort.

My note:
After adding first milk of coconut, do not boil the payasam or it will curdle.
If the payasam become thick, either add hot milk or water with some sugar added.

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Chocolate coated Cornflakes and An award I would never forget!

Now this is a very simple recipe. Damn simple that even your kiddo can do it under your surveillance. You would have caught a glimpse of these in my 4-in-1 chocolate cup cakes. This can be used as a kids-evening-snack or can be used for decorating or as a munch-on snack or as a shoot-up energy source. Shoot-up energy source!!! That sounds ridiculous rite. Come on guys, u have chocolate in it. Wat else do you need to boost up your energy. For me even the word chocolate makes me jumpy on my feet.

I got this idea when I had some extra melted chocolate and luckily when my eyes fell on the cornflakes jar both at the same time.
Indulging in a handful of crunchy chocolate-y snack from time to time without any guilt is needy at times for all-the-time-on-the-toes beings like me.

~*What U Need*~
Any flavored cornflakes - a handful
Melted milk / dark chocolate - 1/4 cup
Vanilla essence - 1/4 tsp

How I Made it:
Melt the chocolate bar using double boiler method / microwave at high @ intervals of 15 secs.
Pour this in a wide heat resistant bowl. Immediately add in the cornflakes and with a spatula gently fold in so that the cornflakes are fully / semi coated. Spread this in a butter paper and chill for 1 hr / till the chocolate solidifies.
Gently scrap from the butter paper and use for decorating or store in an air-tight container in the fridge to be used later.

My Notes:
U can use milk or dark chocolate. However I preferred the milk chocolate the most as it was sweet and went well with crunchiness of the cornflakes.
I have come across recipes in which this mixture is dropped as balls / truffle like. You can go for that too.
Drop the dipped cornflakes into clusters, cool it. Melt some white chocolate in a double boiler, put it in a zip-lock bag and pipe this in a zigzag motion on top of the clusters, sprinkle some colored sugar balls and viola!!! U have Chocolate-cornflaky truffles in hand.
Now that you have different flavors of cornflakes coming out, experiment with them. I have been eyeing the strawberry one for a long time. Would love the color and taste as well.

Now to the award. This is not "just another award" but a very special one from my blog friend Laxmi. When Laxmi commented on one of my posts telling that I have an award waiting @ her space, little did I know that she had made my day. I went to her space expecting another lovely blog award but to my surprise she had written, composed and made an award for individual bloggers. I was awed by the pain and time she had put in to make special awards for each of us. She had given me the "Innovative blogger award" and had written some beautiful words on my blog. Thanks a lot Laxmi. U rock dear!!! *Hugs to U*
I am really happy to have made some sweet friends thro' blogging. Thanks u guys...

These were the sweet words that she had put up for me!

Check out her blog SamayalDiary for some yummy recipes!

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My Gokulashtami - 2011 | Thattai / Indian Savory Crackers

Hi u guys, hope you all had a blast celebrating Krishna Jayanthi - drawing the traditional krishnar paadam, putting maa kolam, making crunchy seedais etc,. When I was with my parents, mom used to make just a sweet, put maa kolam minus the krishnar paadam (psst… try as much she hasn’t got the paadam right till date) and we used to do a small prayer. The same repeated @ my MIL’s house too… But now away from both homes, me being the boss(i) of the home and inspired by all my blog friends putting up traditional Gokulashtami recipes, I was very much interested to do everything as passed down by our elders.

I am really awed by all my blog friends who have been posting recipes for Gokulashtami beforehand. Try as much, I don’t have the will to drag myself into the kitchen lest it is a compulsion or a necessity. To me, it is just a helter-skelter mess on the morning of the day in concern. So yesterday after breakfast, took a paper n pen and jotted out all the things that I wished to do. Going through all the blogs and drooling over all the pics cost me 2 hours with an empty paper in hand. Finally spent 5 mins and listed one savory snack and three sweets. Oh my.. forgot to announce! I am a sugar freak. Love rava kesari and paal payasam to the core. Out through the window goes my diet schedule on days of celebration and then I sweat an extra 20 mins on the thread mill to melt down the sugar-caused-fat.

This is the first time I got a Krishna toddler to celebrate the day… of course after permission from my mom and advices of “Donot get the Pulaangulal oodum Krishnan (Krishnan with flute – heard superstitions that he will blow of the happiness from the house and when told to huss contradicted it with “Why don’t you think that he would blow off the sorrows of the house?”. Finally settled down for the Vennai thirudum (the one who steals butter) and Thavalum Balakrishnan. I preferred the former while huss the latter but then after lots of pondering settled for Thavalum Balakrishnan. And now he sits beautifully in my pooja room with a small speck of butter in his mouth (courtesy: me)

Happy Birthday to you Krishna!!

Onto my Gokulashtami specials, I made thattai, peanut-sesame laddoos, rava kesari (Love it) and Ragi semiya payasam. All the sweets with sugar except for laddos with no concern about my diet. Oh I just love yesterday. So today I will be sharing the recipe for thattai and moving forward this week it will be recipes for all the others.

Thattai is an Indian savory cracker with the perfect blend of spiciness and crunchiness fit for our tea-time snacks and hunger swings. This is my first attempt in making this cracker and it came out so nice.

~*What U Need*~
Rice flour – 1 cup
Pottukadalai - ¼ cup minus 1 tbsp
Hing powder - a big pinch
Salt
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Channa dhal - 1 tbsp
1.5 tbsp channa dal soaked for 2 hours
Dry red chillies - 2
Garlic cloves - 2

How I Made it:

Soak the channa dhal for 2 hrs(min). Powder the pottukadalai in a mixie. Grind the red chililes and garlic together into a paste. Use water if needed.
Mix the rice flour and pottukadalai flour. Add hing, salt, chilli-garlic paste, curry leaves and soaked channa dal. Mix together.
Using water form a stiff dough. Apply little oil on a plastic cover. Pinch a small ball out of the dough and place on the plastic cover. Flatten using fingers to form a circle.
Remove slowly. If it sticks, apply a drop of oil on the ziploc cover before flattening the next ball.
Heat oil and fry the thattais till evenly brown on both sides. Remove excess oil by placing on a paper towel.

Store in air tight containers and serve as tea-time snacks.

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Broken wheat Uppma / Godhumai Rava uppma

A very healthy uppma which can be made in half an hour's time. I always have a packet of Broken wheat in my pantry to make this delicious recipe whenever I turn up late from office.. We usually have this with coconut chutney which makes a yummy combination but @ times I make some crunchy deep fried snacks like my Crispy fried cauliflower to go with it and we love this combo too… I learnt this uppma from my MIL who makes this very often. Thanks to her for teaching such a healthy recipe.

Making certain dishes does not drain your energy especially when you are out of it and at the same time are packed with flavors and nutrients. Such simple and healthy recipes need to be bagged and kept in a corner of your mind, never to be forgotten but to be used, tried, relished, shared and passed down generations. I am sharing one such recipe which was passed down by my MIL and which has come handy to me on days of after-hours @ office.

~*What U Need*~

Broken Wheat – 1 cup
Chopped veggies (carrot & beans) – ½ cup
Chopped onions – 1 cup
Green chilli – 1 or 2
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad dhal – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Toasted peanuts – a handful (optional)
Water – 2 cups
Oil – 2 tbsp
Salt – as needed

How I Made It:
Heat oil and add the mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Add the urad dhal and fry till brown. Next add the curry leaves and green chilli and fry well.
Add the chopped onions and sauté till transparent.
When done, add the chopped veggies and salt and fry till half done.
Now add the water and bring it to boil.
The ratio of rava to water is 1:1 1/2 i.e., for 1 cup of rava use 1 1/2 cups of water. Boil the water till veggies have cooked.
When done add in the broken wheat rava and mix well. Close the pan with the lid and allow it to cook for 5 mins. Stir in between. Cook till most of the water has evaporated and the rava granules are not sticky.

Mix in the toasted peanuts and serve with coconut chutney or dishes of ur choice.

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Keerai / Palak Stir Fry

When I was a chottu mottu kid, I used to runaway from my quota of greens. Now I think this is applicable with everyone. We hate our greens, and moms used to just beg around with us and when frustrated they just stuff them inside our mouths. My mom however preferred the latter, no begging and cajoling, just stuffing and me crying around for the next 15 mins.

Grown-up and now a responsible home-maker cum working woman, I do not walk away from greens and they have become a regular part of my grocery bag. Just see how time changes. These days when mom comes with me for grocery shopping, she just laughs out when I run towards fresh greens and I would be glaring at her saying the words "Unga mind voice kekudu ma" (I hear ur mind voice mom). The wholesome greeny truth is that consuming keerai aka greens on a regular basis is good for health. One which has sinked in only after I have become the lady of the house.

This stir fry is a simple one fit for kids as the ingredients added masks the flavor of the greens, the most hated by kids.

~*What U Need*~
Any kind of Palak / Keerai - 1 bunch
Shallots - 1/4 kg
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Urad dhal - 1 tbsp
Green chilli(Medium) - 2
Salt - to taste
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Oil - 2 tbsps

How I Made it:
Peel the skin of the Pearl Onions and slice it thinly. Chop the palak finely. Heat Oil in a kadai. Add the mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Next add the curry leaves and the urad dhal. When the dhal has browned, add the green chillies and fry well. Add the shallots and saute till transparent. Add salt and mix well
Add the chopped leaves and saute well. The total quantity of the leaves will reduce to half. When the leaves have cooked, add the grated coconut and combine well. Cook in medium for 3 mins and then turn off the flame.

Serve with rice !!!


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