Molaga Bhajji/Andhra Chilli Bhajji

These are not made of normal green chillies.In Andhra you get less spicy green chillies as shown above.We can use it to make a quick snack.

Ingredients:

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• Green chillies - 15
• Besan Flour - 3 cups
• ajwain - a pinch
• Salt - to taste
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Hing powder - a pinch
• Water - Use sufficient enough to get dosa batter consistency
• Rice Flour - 1/2 cup
• Oil - for frying

Method:

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• Mix all the ingredients except green chillies .
• Add water little by little to get dosa batter consistency.
• Heat Oil in a tava.
• Dip the green chilli into the batter (holding its stem)and drop it into the oil gently.
• Take it out when it turns golden brown.

Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Cucumber thayir pachadi

Ingredients:

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Cucumber - 1 large

coconut - 2 tsp

Green chillies - 2

salt - to taste

Sugar - 1/4 tsp

Curd - 2 cups

For Tempering:

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Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Urad Dal - 1/4 tsp

Method:

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• Grate the cucumber or chop it finely.
• Grind coconut,mustard seeds(1/4 tsp) and green chillies together coarsely.(Just a turn in a mixie would do)
• Add all the ingredients together and temper it with mustard,curry leaves and urad dhal.
• Just before serving add curd and mix well.

The same pachadi can be prepared with ladies finger,vazhaithandu(Plaintain stem),tomato,ash gourd(Elavan).

For ladies finger pachadi,chop the vegetable finely.Roast it well in a tsp of oil and then use it.

For vazhaithandu and elavan pachadi,chop it finely and cook covered with water.Then use it for pachadi.

Molagooshyam

Molagooshyam is a mild gravy which can be had along with rice.Normally its made of yam and raw banana.Other vegetables like carrot,beans,peas are optional.But without Yam and raw banana its totally incomplete.

This recipe serves two

Ingredients:

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• Raw Banana/Vazhakai - 1 medium size
• Yam/Chenai - 500 grams
• Moong dal,split - 75 grams
• turmeric powder - a pinch
• Pepper powder -2 or 3 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Curry leaves - a sprig
• Coconut oil - 2 tsp

Method:

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• Dry Roast the moong dal till brown and wash well.

• Chop the vegetables into cubes and pressure cook with salt ,turmeric powder,pepper powder ,moong dal and sufficient water.

• After the steam is released.Open the lid and mix well.Add water if the consistency is very thick.
• On a medium flame ,allow it to boil.
• Switch off and pour coconut oil and add curry leaves.

Serve with rice and any pickle..Kadugumanga will go well with it.You can also have cucumber or any thayir pachadi along with it.

Mango thogayal/chamandi

Ingredients:

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• Raw Mango - 1 small
• Coconut - 5 tsp
• Vendayam/Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp(just 5 to 6 seeds)
• Red chillies - 3 to 4
• Salt - to taste
• Jaggery - a pinch

For Tempering:

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Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - few

oil - 1 tsp

Method:

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• In 1/4 tsp of oil,fry the fenugreek seeds till they turn brown.
• Fry the red chillies along with it without getting burnt.
• Peel off the skin of mango and chop them into pieces as shown in pic
• Grind all the ingredients in a mixie without adding water.
• Temper it with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

You can serve with kanji or molagootal.

Pal payasam / Rice Kheer

In Kerala,you get a special variety of rice meant for making payasam.It looks as shown in the pic.

If you do not have it,you can use normal rice.Payasam can be made very easily.

This recipe serves four.

Ingredients:

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Milk - 1 litre

Rice - 2 handful

Sugar - 150 gm

Method:

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• Boil the milk.
• After it boils, set aside till it cools down slightly.
• Add 2 handfuls of rice(after cleaning it in water) to the milk.
• Drop a small spoon to the container.This prevents the milk from being thrown out in the pressure cooker.
• Pressure cook the milk and rice mixture.(After a whistle in a high flame,make it sim and switch off after 10 min)
• After the steam is released,you can see that the colour of the milk is changed from white to cream. Add sugar and constantly stir in low flame for at least 15 min.

Note:-Do not stop stirring the payasam or it may get burnt.

Yummy payasam is ready.You can serve it hot/Chilled.

Medicinal water

People who have constipation/gas problems can keep drinking this water at frequent intervals. It is very simple to prepare.

Just boil water with 1 teaspoon of jeera, 1/4 teaspoon of ajwain (omam) and 1/2 teaspoon of coriander seeds.

Peanut/Groundnut Chutney

Ingredients:

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Groundnuts - 100 grams

Coconut - 50 grams

Red chillies - 3

Green chillies - 1 or 2 (Can vary according to taste)

Tamarind juice - 4 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Onions - 1 medium size

Curry leaves - few

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp

Chana Dhal - 1 tsp

oil - 2 tsp

Method:

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• Dry roast the groundnuts in a pan and keep it aside to cool and peel off the skin..
• In a pan,add 1 tsp of oil .When its hot add chopped onions and 1 tsp of chana dal and fry well.
• Add green chillies and red chillies to it and set aside to cool.
• In a mixie jar,add the above ingredients along with ground nuts,tamarind juice,coconut,salt and grind it well along with little water.( consistency as shown in the pic).
• Temper it with mustard,urad dhal and curry leaves.

Serve with idli/dosa.

Tips for getting the tava ready for dosa

• Switch off the flame when the tava is sufficiently hot.
• Add a tsp of oil and a pinch of salt.
• Cut onion into two pieces and with the cut portion facing the tava,make circular movements so that the oil and salt is spread across.Do it for couple of minutes and clean the tava with a tissue.
• Sprinkle few drops of water on the tava everytime before pouring the batter.
• Take some water in a bowl and dip the spatula in it everytime before taking out the dosa .You can take out dosas easily.

Cauliflower Dosa/Roast

Young Kids or even adults are really fascinated by the yummy and crispy dosas served at the restaurants.But if the same thing can be done at home!!!!Wow...Come on....we will be learning many varieties of dosa recipes in the forthcoming days...Now lets see how to make cauliflower roast.............

Recipe for Dosa Batter--Please refer to my Dosa/Idly batter recipe.

Recipe for the filling

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Ingredients

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This recipe serves two.

• Cauliflower - 1
• Onion - 2 medium sized
• Tomato - 4 medium sized
• Peas - 1 cup(optional.I have not used it here.But adding it enhances the taste)
• Capsicum
• /Bell pepper - 1 big
• Jaggery - a pinch
• Kasuri methi - 3 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• green chillies - 2 big
• Garam masala
• powder - 3/4 tsp
• turmeric powder - a pinch
• Hing/asfoetida - a pinch
• Coriander leaves - a bunch
• Somph/Fennel seeds- 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• oil - 3 tsp
• ginger garlic paste- a pinch

Method:

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• Remove cauliflower into small florets and put them in boiling water along with little turmeric powder and cook it for 5 to 10 min closing the vessel with a lid.
• Strain the water completely using a strainer.
• Break them into very small florets (Do not mash them)
• Add oil in a tava .Add fennel seeds and cumin seeds.
• When they splutter add a little bit of onion and saute for a minute.Then add ginger garlic paste and rest of the onions and saute them till they turn light brown.
• Add capsicum and saute till they are cooked.
• Add kasuri methi ,peas and tomatoes along with hing,turmeric powder,chilli powder, garam masala powder,jaggery and salt.
• Note:-Add peas directly like this if its frozen peas.Or else pressure cook the peas first and then add.
• Saute them nicely till the raw smell goes.
• Now add the cauliflower florets and mix them well and cook for another 3-5 min.
• Switch off the stove and add finely chopped coriander leaves and mix it well.

Dosa with filling:

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Dosas taste best when they are made in an iron/Indalium tava than when made in non- stick.So if you have any of the above,make sure the tava is ready to make dosa.Refer to tips section.

• For this recipe make sure that the dosas are not too thin in the middle.
• Add 2 tsp of gingelly oil on and around the dosas.
• When it is cooked inside and the bottom side is roasted, add 2-3 tsp of filling and spread it across only on one half. and fold it.

Yummy and crispy dosas are ready.Serve with hot sambar and chutney.

Peanut chutney goes well with it..Enjoy!!!!!!!

Kanji and Karamani fry

Kanji is a very light dish which can be had for dinner.This is made out of "Podi ari" which can be got in Kerala or any malayali shop in any place.

Since kanji has a bland taste,we need some strong side dish.Normally mango chutney / Chamandi ,Puzhuku can be made .I will post the recipies for this soon.Now I am posting a different recipe - "Karamani/Cow peas fry".

Recipe for Kanji

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This recipe serves two

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• In a small glass take 2-2 1/2 measures of Podi ari.
• Wash it well a couple of times.
• Pour water in the ratio 1:5.(Ari:water)
• Pressure cook the Podi ari.(After you get a whistle in a high flame, minimize the flame and switch it off after 10 min)

When the podi ari is cooked and if there is no water left in that,Boil water seperately and pour over cooked podi ari to get a semi solid consistency.Add salt and 1tsp of ghee according to taste.

Side dish-Cow peas fry

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Ingredients:

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• Cow peas - 21/2 measures of a small glass.
• Small Onions - 20 to 25
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 3 to 4
• Curry leaves - few
• Coconut Oil - for frying(You can also use refined oil)
• Salt - to taste
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• turmeric powder - a pinch
• Hing/asfoetida powder - a pinch

Method

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• Soak the cow peas for about 6 to 7 hours.
• Pressure cook the peas.(Just leave two whistles in the high flame).Do not over cook.
• Allow it to cool down for at least 15 min .
• Peel onions and chop them..
• In a frying pan ,Add 3 to 4 tsp of oil,add mustard seeds.When they splutter,add red chillies,asfoetida and curry leaves..
• Add the onions,fry them till they turn transparent.
• Add salt,turmeric powder and red chilli powder and saute for 2 min.
• Add the cow peas and mix with the onions well.
• Allow it to roast in sim flame.

When the cow peas turn roasted ,serve them hot with kanji.

First Post

Hi folks,

I plan to post recipes which you may find helpful.

Your comments are highly appreciated and suggestions are welcome.

Happy cooking !!!!