Dhaliya and pulses khichdi

I love to make healthy and nutritious one pot meal. Many days for dinner I enjoy a mixed vegetables, dhaliya and pulses khichdi. Its the most comforting food, on winter nights.

I have used the most basic ingredients to begin with like dhaliya, yellow moong dal, black broken urad dal and a few vegetables. 

Ingredients

Dhaliya 1/2 cup

Moong dal 1/4 cup

Broken black urad dal 1/4 cup

Onion 1

Carrots 5 (very small and tender)

Beans 10

Green chilies 2 (cut into small pieces)

Ginger a small piece 

Green peas 1/2 cup

Tomato 1 large

Cauliflower a few florets(chopped)

Bay leaf 1

Cinnamon stick a small piece

Elachi 2 (Crushed)

Ghee 1 tbsp

Method

* Wash, peel and chop all vegetables, ginger and green chilies.

* In a kadai dry roast dhaliya, moong dal and broken urad dal. 

*Pour ghee add cinnamon stick and bay leaf, gently toss in onion, ginger, green chilies and rest of the chopped vegetables. Saute for 5 minutes. 

*Add roasted dhaliya, pulses and salt. Mix in add 4 to 5 cups of water. 

* Close lid and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

*Served with subzis(Avarkkai and Bitter gourd), rasam and gooseberry pickle. I had a cup of buttermilk with it. Absolutely delicious.

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Rava/Maida and rice powder dosa

I have tried to create a small video which describe the right method of making rava dosa. Sometimes I follow the same procedure to make maida and rice powder dosa.

Rava/ Maida and rice powder dosa

Ingredients

Maida/rava 1 cup

Rice powder 1/2 cup

Chopped green chilies 1 tsp

Ginger grated a little

Salt as required

Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp

Jeera powder 1 tsp

Coriander powder 1/2 tsp

Crushed pepper a little

Whole jeera 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp

Gingly oil 1 tsp

Hing powder a little

Chopped methi leaves a little

Chopped coriander leaves a little

Method

*In a bowl mix in rava/maida and rice powder. Add sufficient water and make a thin batter.  

Add chopped coriander, methi leaves,salt, red chilli powder, jeera, coriander and mix in.

*In a small pan pour oil add mustard and let it splutter, add chopped ginger and green chilies. Pour it on top of the batter and mix in.

*In hot tawa/griddle pour batter from little height so that it falls and create web.

*Don't worry about the shape as you cannot make rava dosa into exact round shape like regular dosa.

*Flip the other side and cook till golden brown and crispy. Serve with green chutney or coconut chutney.

We had it with pulikachal. It's divine! 

Onion shoots pakodi with ginger, mint black tea

Onion shoots taste great when added to pakodi. Today's evening snack was garden fresh onion shoots, palak, green chilies, curry leaves, red amaranth.

Ingredients

Bean 1 cup
Salt as required
Green chilies 2
Ginger a small piece,thinly sliced
Red amaranth a few
Curry leaves a few
Fresh coriander leaves
Palak a little
Onion shoots a bunch
Kalonji a little
Ajwain a little
Red chilli powder a tsp
Turmeric powder a little
Coriander powder a little

Method

* Chop all greens, chillies, onion, ginger

*In a large bowl mix in Besant, chopped greens, onion, ginger, green chilies, kalonji, ajwain,salt, turmeric powder,red chilli powder,and very less water. Carefully blend them into a soft thick batter.

*Keep oil for frying. When it's medium heat use a spoon to scoop small portions of besan batter and put it in the oil. Fry till golden, crispy brown.

*Remove in kitchen paper napkins and let it absorb any excess oil.

*Serve with masala chai  and hari chutney.

Ginger and mint black tea

Ingredients

Tea powder 1 tsp

Sugar 1/2 tsp

Ginger grated 1 tsp

Mint leaves a few

Water 250 ml

Method

In a tea pot add tea powder, grated ginger, mint leaves and sugar. Boil water and pour into this mixture. Wait for a while and enjoy your ginger, mint black tea. 

Besan ki gravy with parathas

Some days for morning breakfast I make plain parathas, with that I make a besan(Gram flour) gravy. Its something which is very quick gravy it hardly require any preparation.

All you need is a few tablespoonful of besan, green chilies, ginger, curry leaves, little curd, salt and hing.

Well, I will explain how to make besan ki gravy in a jiffy. 

Ingredients

Besan - 2 tablespoon

Buttermilk - 1/2 cup

Water - 2 cups

Green chilies - 2(chop into extremely thin pieces)

Ginger a small piece( cut into thin slices)

Hing a little

Salt as required 

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

For tempering 


Mustard oil 1 tablespoon

Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp

Dry red chili 1 broken into halves

Curry leaves/coriander leaves a few


Method

*In a bowl add besan and buttermilk, use a hand blender to blend it to a smooth paste, no lumps at all. Add turmeric, red chili powder, salt. Add water and mix well. Keep aside.

*In a heated kadai pour oil, mustard, allow it to splutter, add broken red chili. Pour the besan mixed with water. Add hing, curry leaves and stir. 

*Mix gently. Allow it to cook in medium flame. Stirring in between. Within a few minutes it will start boiling and the quantity will reduce to half of what you have poured. Off stove. Serve hot with parathas and a cup of masala cahi.  Its a dish in itself. Yum!

Bread and mixed vegetables patties with pan roasted tomatoes

Evening snack for teens should be really rich in essential fibre, vitamins and carbs. That's the time kids really feel hungry and would love to eat and relish food. I have made a soft dough using bread and mixed vegetable subzi. Boiled an egg and in slow fire roasted tomatoes in the griddle.

A quick snack which is really filling and you can make your teen enjoy the subzi you made for lunch with whole wheat bread. 

Ingredients

Whole wheat/Multi grain bread slices - 5

Mixed vegetables subzi 1 cup

Salt a little

Method

In a bowl add mixed vegetable subzi and add pieces of bread, Use hands to crumble the bread and mix it well with the subzi. Make a soft dough and divide into equal 6 parts, make small patties by flattening it and pour olive oil in griddle. Gently place all the patties an roast t till golden brown, flip and make sure both the sides are roasted well. Serve hot. 

Pan roasted tomatoes

Tomatoes 3

Parsley a little

Rosemary a little

Salt as required

Crushed pepper a little

Grated cheese a little (optional)

Method

* Wash and cut into halves all the tomatoes.

*Pour a little olive oil place the tomatoes, in medium flame let it cook, after a while flip the tomatoes and cook further. It will emit smoke and get cooked in its own juice. Flip it and sprinkle herbs, salt and pepper. 

*If you prefer add grate cheese. Further cook in very low flame until the cheese melt. Serve hot with bread patties. It's delicious with the tangy, salty, peppery flavor and mild spices adding the zing to the dish.

Pumpkin soup with bread toast

Pumpkins are such an incredible vegetables, you can make a lot of dishes, South Indian,North Indian, continental and Pan Asian cuisine using the humble pumpkin.

The local variety we get here are little yellowish and tastes good.

Ingredients

Pumpkin 200 grams

Cinnamon stick a small piece

Bay leaves one

Ginger a small piece

Garlic a few pods

Yellow tomatoes 6 to 7(homegrown) 

Onion one large

Parsley leaves a few

Dry rosemary 1/2 tsp

Dry parsley leaves 1/2 tsp

Basil leaves a few

Coconut milk one cup

Crushed pepper a little

Method

*Wash,peel and cut pumpkin into large cubes. 

*In a preheated kadai pour olive oil roast garlic and onion. The garlic should turn into dark brown and burnt. Add cubed pumpkin, other Italian spices, bay leaves, salt and basil leave, crushed pepper, Saute for a while. 

*Add yellow tomatoes, mix well. 

*Pour water to the pumpkin and close the lid cook it for two whistles. Off the stove. 

* Grate coconut and extract it's milk by adding warm water or grind it in mixer and extract milk.

* Open pressure pan"s lid, use a hand blender and blend pumpkin to puree, to this add coconut milk and keep the pan back to stove. Heat it further in low flame, adjust salt, pepper. Off stove. Serve hot with bread toast.

I love it cold. I think it taste great when it served in room temperature or chilled in refrigerator with crushed pepper. Yum!

Pulikachal the traditional recipe

Recipe 1

Pulikachal recipe from my Mom's kitchen, this last for 2 to 3 days, so make less quantity. 

7 to  8 green chillies, I have used a special variety green chillies available in Trivandrum

4 to 5 green chillies non spicy

One piece ginger chopped

A few curry leaves

For the seasoning

One tbsp gingly oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urad dal

1/2 tsp chana dal

2 dry red chillies broken

1 tsp grated jaggery

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup tamarind pulp extracted (One small gooseberry sized tamarind soaked in hot water)

Method

*In a kadai pour oil, add mustard seeds, methi seeds, urad dal, chana dal and dry red chillies, allow mustard to splutter.

*Add chopped green chillies, spicy and non spicy, ginger and saute for a few minutes.

*Add turmeric, salt and curry leaves. Mix in pour tamarind pulp. Cook until  the raw smell to goes.

*Now we will add grated jaggery, reduce the flame, the jaggery quickly gets melted in the tamarind pulp.

*Adjust salt and off the stove.

*Serve with curd rice, dosa, kozhukattai and enjoy with your favourite dishes. 

Recipe 2

This recipe has more shelf life, it can be kept in refrigerator for a weeks time or more if kept in air tight containers. 

Last week I learnt to make pulikachal from my husband's cousin, whose mother was the best pulikachal expert  in our family.

It was a tradition to make batches and batches and distribute among friends and relatives. 

 I have fond memories of our periyammai  make such wonderful dishes whenever she used to come to our home. I will request her to teach me. By helping her in chopping, grinding and giving all ingredients according to her measurements.

Well little preparation is needed for this dish. We've made almost 2  bottles of pulikachal.

The specialty of this dish, it's sweet,tangy,spicy,and salty.

Ingredients

Tamarind one orange size(soak it in hot water)

Green chilies 20 (I used non spicy home grown)

A handful of green chillies bought from Trivandrum, this variety is only available there, I guess. 

Ginger 3 big pieces (home grown)

Curry leaves 1/2 cup(a few of course that too from my terrace garden)

Gingly oil 3 tbsp

Mustard 1 tsp

White urad dal 1 tsp

Chana dal 1 tsp

Methi seeds 1/4 tsp

Red chilli broken into half 2

Red chilli powder 1 tsp ( it's optional. As I used the non spicy chillies we have added a tsp of red chilli powder for spicyness)

Jaggery 1/2 piece

Salt as required

Tips

In a small pan roast til seeds gently crush it.

Extract tamarind pulp using hands, add more water if needed and extract maximum quantity of pulp.

Method

In a thick bottomed kadai pour gingly oil add mustard seeds, let it splutter, add urad dal, chana dal and broken red chillies. Add peanuts and roast it. Now add chopped green chillies, ginger, roasted peanuts and sesame seeds, and curry leaves. Cook it for a while 

In a stoneware/eartern pot pour tamarind pulp add cooked green chillies and ginger, mix well, add turmeric powder. Allow the tamarind pulp to boil, simmer the stove, cook further and add grated jaggery, salt and red chilli powder. 

By now the pulikachal should have reduced to half, if not please let it reduce. The raw smell of tamarind should completely go. 

The whole kitchen will be filled with the delicious aroma of roasted till, peanuts,ginger and curry leaves. 

Puli aval using pulikachal

Ingredients

Aval (Flattened rice flakes) 1 cup (soaked in water and water drained)

For tempering

Gingly oil 1 tsp

Mustard seeds a little

Urad dal a little

Chana dal a little

Methi seeds a few

Peanuts a handful(roasted)

Sesame seeds 1 tbsp(roasted)

Curry leaves a few

Pulikachal a small cup

Method

In a kadai pour gingly oil, add mustard seeds, let it splutter, add urad dal, chana dal, methi seeds, curry leaves, broken red chilli. 

Add roasted til seeds and peanuts.Add a little turmeric powder, 

Now add aval, mix in, sprinkle little water if needed, Mix in pulikachal. Toss gently, adjust salt and serve hot. It's anytime snack. I love it for breakfast.