Carrot / gajar ka halwa

Ingredients:

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• Carrot - 1 kg
• Sugar - 1: 3/4( Grated carrot 1 cup : Sugar 3/4 cup)
• Ghee - 2 laddles.(5 tbsp)
• Cardamom(Elaichi Pwd)- 1 1/2 tsp
• Milk - 500 ml
• Cashew nuts or sliced almonds
• Raisins- few

Method:

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• Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a kadai,preferably a non-stick.
• Add the grated carrots and saute for 10 to 12 min till the raw smell goes off.
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• Add milk so that it just immerses the carrots.Mix well and cook for another 10 min .
• 
• The carrots would have cooked well.Now add the sugar.
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• Mix well as the sugar melts and keep stirring till it thickens slightly.
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• At this point,add elachi,saffaron and 3 to 4 tsp ghee.
• Keep mixing till it thickens without liquid and slips away from the sides.
• Switch off .Add ghee in a tadka pan and roast the cashews and raisins.
• Garnish the halwa with roasted dry fruits and serve hot / chilled.

pavaikai / bittergourd thokku

Ingredients:

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• Bitter gourd - 5 tender ones
• Gingelly oil - 1.5 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves - 3 sprig
• Turmeric powder - a pinch
• salt - 2 tsp
• tamarind juice,thick - extracted from a lemon size tamarind
• jaggery , powdered - 2 tbsp
• sambar powder - 2 to 3 tsp
• red chilli powder - 2 tsp

Method:

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• Chop the bitter gourd into very small pieces.(Remove the centre part with sees)
• Wash the chopped pieces and drain excess water.
• Add a tsp of salt.Mix well and set aside for 1 hour.
• Squeeze out the excess water completely .This will remove 70 to 80% of bitterness.
• Heat 4 tsp oil in a kadai,add asafoetida,mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• When it splutters,add the soaked bitter gourd slices with a pinch of turmeric powder
• 
  .
• Saute well for 10 min till it shrinks.
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• Add the tamarind juice ,salt and allow to boil.
• Let it get cooked for another 5 min.Mix well in between.
• Add sambar powder, red chilli powder .Mix well and cook till it thickens slightly.
• Add the jaggery and keep stirring till it turns into a thick paste.(adjust the other ingredients after tasting)
• Switch off the flame.Add 2 tsp of oil over it and mix well.
• Let it cool completely and transfer into an air tight container.

Serve with rice and molagootal or dosa.

pigeon peas ( toor dal bean) Gravy

I got this recipe from one of my colleagues.This is a rich gravy made with potato,pigeon peas and nuts.It tastes excellent with roti.

Pigeon peas is called kandikaya in telugu. It is this bean from which toor dal is made.

Ingredients:

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To grind:

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• Badam - 5
• Cashews - 6
• Dry coconut / kopra - 1 tbsp (normal coconut can also be used)
• Til / Sesame seeds(white) - 2 tsp
• Groundnuts - 1 handful

Method:

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• Dry roast groundnuts and peel off its skin.
• Dry roast the sesame seeds till it bursts.
• Put the roasted ingredients with other ingredients in a mixer and grind into a paste with little water.

For the gravy

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• Potatoes - 2
• Pigeon peas - 300 grams
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• onion - 1 ,finely chopped
• green chillies - 3 to 4
• ginger - garlic paste - 1 tsp
• red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• lavang / cinnamon - 1 inch piece
• jeera - 1 tsp
• oil - 2 tsp
• salt - to taste
• coriander leaves - 3 tsp

Method:

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• Pressure cook potatoes .Peel off its skin and chop into 1 inch pieces.
• Seperate the beans from its cover.
• Grind green chillies,lavang and onion in a mixer.
• Heat oil in a kadai,add jeera ,ground green chillies lavang mixture and saute for 2 min.
• Add the pigeon peas ,saute for 3 min and add water just sufficient to cook the peas.
• Cook covered for 5 min.The peas will get cooked soon.
• Add the potato slices,red chilli powder and the ground paste.
• Saute and cook for 3 to 5 min.
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• Add salt and cook covered for another 2 -3 min.Adjust the consistency with water.
• When it thickens,add garam masala and switch off.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Mix well and Serve with rotis.

Vermicelli pulao with aloo and Italain green beans

vermicelli pulao is just like rice pulao.You can use any veggies of your choice.here I have used only potato and bean of chikudukaya (Italian green beans)

Ingredients:

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• Vermicelli - 1 cup
• potato - 1 big
• Italian beans - 200 grams
• Salt - taste
• ghee - 2 tsp
• whole spices - 2 cloves,i inch cinnamon stick,2 elachi, 1 bay leaf
• onion - 1 big,finely chopped
• ginger-garlic paste - a pinch
• green chillies - 4

Method:

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• Roast the vermicelli with a tsp of ghee till it turns golden brown in colour.

• Pound the whole spices(clove,cinnamon and elachi) in a pestle and mortar.
• Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a kadai,add the whole spices,bay leaf and saute for 2 sec.
• Add slit green chillies ,chopped onions and ginger-garlic paste.
• Saute till the raw smell goes off .Add the bean and potato slices .Saute for a min.
• Add water just enough to immerse the contents and cook covered for 5 to 10 min till the bean gets cooked.
• Add salt and water.( for every cup of vermicelli,add 2 cups of water) and let it boil.

• Add the roasted vermicelli .Mix well and cook till the vermicelli is cooked.
• Take care not to add more water as the vermicelli will get mashed.
• Seve hot with onion-tomato raitha garnished with coriander leaves.

Oats dosa

I got this recipe from my cousin's blog.Very slight modification to it.Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

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• Oats - 1 cup
• Rice - 3 to 4 tbsp (add 4 tbsp for more crispy dosa)
• salt - to taste
• Hing - a pinch
• jeera ,crushed - 1 tsp
• coriander leaves - finely chopped, 3 to 4 tsp
• sour yogurt / thick buttermilk - just sufficient enough to soak the oats
• pepper - finely crushed , 1 tsp
• green chillies - 2 to 3

Method:

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• Wash rice well.Add it into a bowl with oats.
• Pour yogurt/buttermilk over it.Mix well and set aside for 2 hours.
• Grind the soaked ingredients with salt,hing and green chillies.
• Add the crushed jeera,coriander leaves and crushed pepper .
• Mix well .Let the consistency of batter be like a rava dosa batter(pouring consistency).Adjust with water.
• Pour a laddle of batter from outside to inside(like a rava dosa) in a skillet .
• Cook on both sides on a medium flame with little oil.
• Serve hot with any chutney / podi.

Gooseberry rice/ nellikai sadam

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients:

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• Gooseberry (the big variety) - 10
• Rice - 1 cup , washed and soaked for 1 hr
• Haldi - a pinch
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• curry leaves - a sprig
• salt - to taste
• mustard - 1 tsp
• urad dal - 1 tsp
• red chillies - 2
• coconut shredded - 3 tsp
• green chillies - 3
• gingelly oil - 2 tsp

Method:

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• Add the gooseberries in boiled hot water and close with a lid.Set aside for 1/2 an hr.
• Drain the water and set aside to cool. Seperate the gooseberries into fragments.(just piercing through the centre of each gooseberry with the thumb will help)
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• Drain excess water from soaked rice and saute in a tsp of ghee.
• Cook the rice and set aside the cooked rice to cool.The grains should be seperate.
• Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds,urad dal,asafoetida ,curry leaves, red chilli and saute for 2 min.
• Add the gooseberry fragments(chop if needed) ,turmeric powder and saute for another 5 min.
• Grind green chillies and coconut togther (just pulse once).
• Add it into the kadai and saute for another 2 - 3 min.
• Add the cooked rice and mix well.

Serve hot with curd.

Onion Tomato sabzi for roti

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients:

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• Tomatoes fresh - 6 big
• Onions - 2 big , chopped finely
• haldi - a pinch
• red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Green chillies - 4
• Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp
• cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Ginger - 1 inch piece , chopped finely
• garlic - 6 pods
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• salt - to taste
• bay leaf - 1
• jaggery - a pinch
• oil - 3 tsp

Method:

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• Blanch the tomatoes and peel off its skin.Make a puree with the blanched tomatoes and green chillies using a blender.
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• Add jeera,ginger ,garlic in a pestle and mortar and pound nicely.
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• Heat oil in a kadai, add crushed items,bay leaf and saute for 2 min.
• Add finely chopped onions and saute till it becomes translucent.
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• Add the tomato puree,haldi, jaggery,red chilli powder,coriander powder,salt and saute continuously.
• The tomato puree will start popping out as it get cooked.Do not panic.Keep stirring on a medium flame .
  
• Once it thickens,the popping will stop and cook till it thickens like a paste.
• Add garama masala powder at this stage .Mix well and switch off the flame.
• 
  

You can use this gravy as a side-dish for roti ,especially when you travel long distances as this will not get spoiled upto 3 days.

Aloo ka paratha and gobi ka paratha

This recipe serves 10 paratha.

Ingredients:

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For the filling

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• Potato - 3 big
• Ajwain / carom seeds - 1/2 tsp
• jeera ,crushed - 1 tsp
• green chillies - 4 , cut into very thin pieces( ie, 1 mm thickness or else the paratha will slit open)
• salt - 1/2 tsp
• haldi - a pinch( optional)
• Coriander leaves - 3 to 4 tsp (finely chopped)
• red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Method

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• Pressure cook the potatoes.(just 1 whistle will do).Do not over cook it as the filling may come out of paratha.
• Drain the excess water.Peel off the skin and mash the potatoes using a masher.
• Add crushed jeera ,ajwain,salt,haldi, red chilli powder, coriander leaves ,green chillies to the mashed potatoes and mix well.

For the paratha

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• Make roti dough and set aside for 1/2 an hr.
• Make a small roti and place a small ball of aloo filling in it.
• Fold from all the sides and again spread it into a normal size roti.
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• Do not press the roti too much as the filling will come out.
• Heat a skillet and put the paratha on it.
• After 2 min,flip to the other side .Smear little ghee /oil on both the sides.
• Cook on both the sides till the outer layer gets light brown spots.
• Serve hot with curd and pickle.
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• 
• we can also make the filling with raddish (mooli) ,cauliflower ,spicy cheese , mathi corn , panneer ,pudina ,cauliflower ,etc.
• I will mention the recipe for the cauliflower filling here.
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• Separate the florets of cauliflower.Retain the tender stems.
• Wash it very well and boil water with a pinch of turmeric powder and salt.
• Add the florets in the boiled hot water and close with a lid.
• Set aside for 1/2 an hr.
• Drain the excess water completely.
• Grate the tender florets using a grater.
• Squeeze the water from the grated cauliflower completely and save the water for making the chapati dough.
• Heat 1 tsp of oil in a kadai,add the squeezed grated cauliflower into it.Add salt,ajwain,red chilli powder,finely sliced green chillies,finely chopped coriander leaves,crushed cumin seeds and saute till the the moisture is gone.This may take 5 to 10 min.
• The filling is ready .Make the paratha in the same way as aloo paratha.just keep 2 to 3 tsp of filling in each paratha.

Chatpata peanuts

Ingredients:

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• Groundnuts with shell - 1/2 kg
• Onion - 1 big, chopped very finely
• carrot - 1 big ,shredded
• Curry leaves - a sprig
• green chillies - 3 to 4 ,chopped finely
• Oil - 1 tsp
• mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• asafoetida - a pinch
• Lemon juice - extracted from 1/2 lemon(can be more if y0u like tangy taste)
• coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
• chat masala - 1/2 tsp

Method:

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• Wash the peanutswell (with cover) and pressure cook with sufficient water and pinch of salt.
• Drain the excess water completely and set aside to cool.
• Remove the shells and keep aside the cooked peanuts.
• Heat oil in a kadai.Add mustard seeds,asafoetida and curry leaves.
• When it splutters ,add green chillies and saute for a sec.
• Add onions and saute till it turns translucent.Add shredded carrot,coriander powder ,little salt and saute till raw smell gos off.
• Add the cooked peanuts.Mix well and switch off the flame.
• Sprinkle chat masala and mix well.
• Pour lime juice as per taste .Mix well and serve with tea.

Ragi sevai with readymade ragisticks

Ingredients:

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• ragi sevai - 1 packet (any brand....anil/concord / any other brand)
• salt - to taste
• veggies(optional) - carrot/beans/potato/ all the three
• onion - 2 big
• green chillies - 4
• asafoetida - a pinch
• oil - 2 tsp
• mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• chana dal - 2 tsp
• shredded coconut - 2 tsp( optional)
• curry leaves - a sprig
• Lemon juice - 3 tsp
• ginger - 1 inch piece,chopped finely

Method:

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• Soak the ragi sevai sticks in water for just 2 min.(not more that that)
• Squeeze the excess water and keep the ragi sticks in a perforated plate.
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• Steam for 10 min.
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• Add oil in a kadai.Add mustard seed,asafoetida .when it splutters add chana dal and saute till it turns golden brown.
• Add curry leaves ,green chillies ,ginger,onions and saute till it becomes translucent.
• If you use any veggies ,chop them finely and add into the kadai.
• Saute for 3 min,sprinkle water and cook covered till it becomes tender.
• Add the steamed ragi sevai,salt and mix well.
• Switch off the flame.Keep covered for 5 min.
• Pour lemon juice ,mix well and serve hot.
• Garnish with shredded coconut.
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Seethaphal /custard apple milkshake

This recipe serves 7 to 8 .

Ingredients:

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• Custard apple - 6
• Milk - 1 to 1.5 cups
• Honey - as per taste
• Dry fruits - fig, roasted cashews , raisins

Method:

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• Wash the custard apple and cut into half.
• Scoop the inner part with a spoon and remove the black seeds.
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• Add honey to the scooped contents and mix well.
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• Transfer the contents into a mixie jar .
• Ad milk and blend well.
• Garnish with dry fruits and serve chilled.