Our most awaited vacation gonna start from tomorrow, we will be leaving earlier tomorrow morning to our summer vacation destination, needless to say that am waiting eagerly for this break and am damn sure i'll definitely enjoy this break, no cooking, washing and mobing for few days..Am very much excited and i'll meet u all after 15days friends, dont forget to send ur entries to my ongoing event..Will definitely check my mails once am back from the vacation..Before leaving for vacation, i wanted to post this healthy,nutritious parathas with drumstick leaves and oats which i prepared today for our dinner, finally i finished my frozen drumstick leaves by using them in parathas..Healthy parathas to enjoy without any guilt and we loved it..Sending to Vegetable Marathan-Drumstick guest hosted by Ruchikacooks and to Global Kadai-Indian Flavoured Flat Bread guest hosted by Sandhya, event by Cilantro..

Ingredients:

• 2cups Wheat flour
• 1cup Oats (grounded)
• 1/2cup Drumstick leaves
• 1tsp Ajwain seeds
• 1tsp Cumin seed powder
• Salt
• Oil
• 1cup Yogurt

Method:
Mix the wheat flour, grounded oats, drumstick leaves, ajwain seeds and cumin seed powder in a large bowl,add the salt,water (if needed) and yogurt,knead everything as soft and smooth dough..Let them sit for few minutes..make medium sized balls with the dough and roll as circles..

Heat a tawa, once its hot, gently drop the rolled circles and drizzle few drops of oil, cook on both sides until they get cooked...Serve immediately with any sort of side dishes...

I often make simple stir fries with any sort of veggies either with dals or simply with a combination of many veggies..Since we are leaving tomorrow for vacations, am very busy in cleaning and finishing veggies before leaving for our long waited trip..There were some leftover chinese cabbage which i used for making rotis and curries and i wanted to finish it as something different along with drumstick leaves..This simple stir fry tastes too delicious also easy and quick to get ready eventhough i prepared them in microwave oven..Healthy side dish to enjoy along with rice or with parathas..I enjoyed having this healthy stir fry along with rasam rice, both together tastes fabulous and i truly enjoyed having this fabulous side dish..Sending this simple and healthy stir fry to Srivalli's 365days of Microwave Cooking, Vegetable Marathon-Drumstick guest hosted by Ruchikacooks and finally to Umm's Iftar Moments..

Ingredients:

• 2cups Cabbage (chopped)
• 1/2cup Drumstick leaves
• 1no Onion (chopped)
• 2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
• 1tsp Mustard seeds, urad dal & channadal
• 2tbsp Grated coconut
• Oil
• Salt

Method:
Heat enough oil in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes in high, add the mustard seeds, urad dal and channadal, heat again for 5minutes in high until the spices turned brown, add the chopped onions and slit opened green chillies, salt to the tempered spices and cook for 5minutes (stir twice) in high in microwave oven, now add the cabbage and drumstick leaves,give a stir and cook for 15minutes (stir thrice in between) until the veggies get cooked.. Finally add the grated coconut, give a stir and serve hot as side dish...

Yesterday i got a bag of tender french beans from farmer's market, usually i prepare them as stir fries or simple as steamed cooked beans..Its has been a long i prepared one pot meal and i tried this sweet corn,beans and soya chunks combination for making out an easy breezy rice and served along with papads and boiled eggs..We enjoyed having this fabulous rice for our lunch and even my H loved it who hardly love corn and soya chunks in his food..With simple ingredients, this rice tastes too awesome also its suits prefect as a lunch box menu and am damn sure that even kids will love this droolworthy rice..Sending this delectable rice to A Veggie/Fruit For A Month-Corn guest hosted by Akheela, event by Priya and to Umm's Iftar Moments..

Ingredients:

• 1/2cup Sweet corn
• 2cups Cooked rice
• 1/2cup Green beans (chopped)
• 1/4cup Soya chunks
• 1no Onion (big & chopped)
• 1tsp Garam masala powder
• 2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
• 1/2tsp Pepper powder
• 2tbsp Soya sauce
• 2tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
• Salt
• Oil
• 3nos Bay leaves
• 1/2tsp Cumin seeds

Method:
Cook the soya chunks in hot water with salt until they double their volume, drain the water and squeeze out the excess of water, keep aside..

Heat enough oil, fry the bay leaves and cumin seeds, add immediately the chopped onions, saute until they turns transculent, add the chopped beans,sweet corn and soya chunks to the onions, saute everything for few minutes, now add the garam masala powder, pepper powder,slit opened green chillies and soya sauce, cook everything in high flame until the veggies get half cooked..

Add the cooked rice and chopped coriander leaves to the veggies, toss everything gently until the veggies and rice get well mixed.. Serve hot with papads and boiled eggs..

I bookmarked long back this cabbage roti and oats coconut chutney at Usha's Veg Inspirations, yesterday i got an opportunity to try out these both dishes for our dinner, i used chinese cabbages to make these rotis which turned out the dough bit sticky eventhough they tasted very delicious and crunchiness of the cabbage turned out this rotis more delicious..Coming to the oats coconut chutney, i didnt even opened my mouth before serving this oats coconut chutney to my family with cabbage rotis, none found out the secret ingredient until i revealed that i used oats in this chutney, I tempered this chutney with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves while Usha didnt went for this ,else i prepared them exactly as she went for..This oats coconut chutney is going to be a keeper for me and thanks to usha for sharing these both delectable and healthy dishes...Sending this both dishes to T&T-Veg Inspirations guest hosted by Saveur..

Cabbage Roti:

• 3cups Whole wheat flour
• 1+1/2cups Cabbage (finely chopped)
• 2tbsp Flax seed meal
• 1tsp Chilli powder
• 1/2tsp Ajwain seeds
• 1/2tsp Caraway seeds
• 1/2tsp Coriander powder
• 3/4tsp Cumin powder
• Salt
• Water
• Oil for cooking

Method:
Mix the whole wheat flour, cabbage, flax seed meal along with all spices, add water little by little until they turns a smooth dough, keep aside for 15minutes, knead again the dough by adding few more flour as this dough tends to be bit sticky..make medium sized balls from the dough and roll them as rotis..

Heat a pan, drop the rolled rotis, drizzle few drops of oil and cook on both sides until they get well cooked..

Oats Coconut Chutney:

• 2tbsp Urad dal
• 2tbsp Channa dal
• 1/2cup Quick cooking oats
• 3/4cup Grated coconut
• 4no Green chillies
• Few curry leaves
• Salt
• 1/2tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal

Method:
Dry roast the urad dal and channa dal one by one until they turns well roasted, dry roast the quick cooking oats for few minutes, dry roast curry leaves in the same pan and keep aside...Grind coarsely the oats, roasted dals and curry leaves, add the grated coconut, green chillies with enough water and grind as bit coarsely paste, finally heat some oil, fry the mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves..add this tempered spices to the chutney and enjoy along with cabbage rotis...

These days office work is getting busier. I still want to keep on blogging as it's my oasis. Let's see how far I can juggle it. Today's recipe is a simple upasache thalipeeth.

Kakdiche Upasache Thalipeeth

Cucumber flatbread

Ingredients

• 1 cup upwas bhajni
• 1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanut powder/daaNyache kooT
• 3 baby cucumbers, grated
• 1/2" ginger, peeled & grated
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• salt to taste
• 1 - 2 green chilies, minced
• 1 tbsp cilantro leaves, minced (optional)
  
• Oil/ghee for shallow frying

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together to make a dough. Do not use water as cucumber will have enough moisture to bind the dough.

2. Make 4 uniform balls.

3. Heat pan or griddle.

4. Using wet hands, spread the ball directly on the hot pan.

5. Using the back of wooden spoon, make 4-5 holes.

6. Drizzle some oil or ghee in the holes and around the flatbread.

7. Cover with a steel lid.

8. Flip and cook on the other side till brown spots appear.

9. Serve hot ThalipeeTH

Note -

1. Since I had garden fresh cucumbers, I didn't bother to peel them. But if the cucumbers are store bought and have waxy coating over them, do peel them.

2. Some people do not eat cilantro and oil for upwas. So make substitutions according to your choice.

3. Use rock salt/sindhav instead of salt if you wish.

4. Upasachi bhajNi is a readymade mix available. If you do not have it, you can mix the tapioca/saboodana flour, varai flour, shingada flour and rajgira flour to make your own upasachi bhajni.

Corn and Sprouts Salad.

Whole moong, black chickpeas and red chori are soaked in water overnight and left to sprout for 2 – 3 days. The sprouts are then mixed with sweet corn and roasted peanuts. The salad is seasoned with chaat masala and herbs and served with a squeeze of lemon.
Makes: around 2 Cups of Corn and Sprouts Salad.

Ingredients:

• Sweet Corn 1/2 Cup (Fresh or Frozen)
• Moong Sprouts 1/2 Cup
• Black Chickpeas Sprouts 1/2 Cup
• Red Chori Sprouts 1/2 Cup
• Roasted Peanuts 2 tbsps
• Lemon Juice 1 tsp
• Chaat Masala 1/4 tsp
• Red Chili Powder 1/4 tsp
• Cilantro Few Leaves
• Mint 2 – 3 Leaves
• Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

Wash and finely chop the cilantro leaves and mint leaves.
Microwave the corn in enough water for a minute.
Strain the corn.

In a mixing bowl, mix together all the ingredients.
Serve corn and sprouts salad fresh or cold.
Notes: How to make sprouts in various methods.

Suggestions: Adjust the quantity of the ingredients according to your preference.
Variations: You can also drizzle half a tsp of honey if you wish.
Other Names: Corn and Sprouts Salad

Semya Idli.

Vermicelli is soaked in yogurt and spices. It is then tempered with spices and batter is left aside for sometime.Then it is filled in idli moulds and steamed till done. Vermicelli idli can be served with sambar or with any chutney of your choice.
Makes: around 8 Vermicelli Idli.

Ingredients:

• Vermicelli 1 Cup
• Yogurt 1 Cup
• Green Chiles 1 – 2
• Ginger 1 inch Piece
• Salt to taste
• Cilantro to garnish

Talimpu:

• Mustard Seeds 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida a pinch
• Curry Leaves 4
• Oil 1 tsp

Method of preparation:

Wash and finely chop the cilantro.
Remove stems, wash and mince the green chiles.
Peel, wash and mince the ginger.
In a mixing bowl, mix together vermicelli, yogurt and salt.

Heat oil in a pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order.
When cumin seeds change color, add ginger and green chiles.
Fry briefly and remove from heat and add to above vermicelli bowl.
Add around quater cup of water to make the mixture little running so that vermicelli can soak up the flavor.
Set aside the vermicelli mixture for around 15 minutes.

Grease the idly mould with little ghee.
Pour a big scoop of vermicelli mixture into each idly mould.
Steam the idlis for 15 minutes and remove from heat.
Let the idli cool off a bit before removing onto a bowl.
Garnish with cilanto and serve vermicelli idli with any chutney of your choice.
Notes: Make sure to steam the idli well.

Suggestions: For a more firmer idli, reduce the amount of yogurt and water a bit.
Variations: Check out other vermicelli recipes here .
Other Names: Vermicelli Idli, Semya Idly

Preparing Mushroom is becoming breeze for me now-a-days. One day I Prepared this Mushroom Curry for Lunch. It was done so quickly and only after tasting it, I decided to shoot pictures at the Curry to blog here. It tastes that Great. I have added Curd to this curry, which really gives a different sour taste, also the masala's incorporate with the curd very well, than the usual tamarind.

Ingredients:

• Mushroom - 100 gms (washed and wiped clean Mushrooms)
• Big Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
• Tomato - 1 (finely chopped)
• Oil - 2 tbsp's
• Pattai / Cinnamon Stick - 1" inch size
• Lavang / Cloves - 2
• Sombu / Fennel - 1/4 tsp
• Green Chilli - 1 (slitted vertically)
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 and half tsp's
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Chilly Powder / Kulambu Milagaai thool - 1 tbsp
• Corriander Powder - 1 tbsp
• Curd - 3 tbsp's

Method to Prepare Mushroom Curry:

First Wash the Mushrroms thoroughly. wipe them to clean and chop them.

Heat a Pan, Add & Heat Oil. add Cinnamon stick, Cloves and Sombu and fry them in medium flame. add slitted Green Chilli & Ginger Garlic Paste and fry them till the raw smell leaves.

Now add finely chopped Onion to the Pan and fry till it turns translucent. add finely chopped tomatoes and fry it along, till every ingredients in the pan mix with each other.

Add Salt, Turmeric Powder, Chilli Powder and Corriander powder to the pan and mix well with the ingredients. fry them all, till the oil leaves by sides of the pan.

Add the Chopped Mushroom and saute them along the masala's. the mushroom shrinks and leaves little water and gets cooked within 2 minutes.

After the Mushroom is cooked, add Curd to the Pan and mix well. Make Sure, the flame is set low, while adding Curd and even after adding Curd. Add a Cup of water to the Pan and mix well. check for salt and chilli powder. and let the Curry sit in low flame for about 3-4 minutes.
and then remove from flame and Serve Hot with Rice.

This Mushroom Curry Goes well with Rice, Idli's and Dosa's. The Sourness of Curd, tastes different in this Curry and the mushooms blends well with the Masala's too.

Am a person who loves very much quick, filling and simple sandwiches or wraps, i do often whenever i feel like lazy to cook or either if i have loads of work to finish..I have bookmarked this droolworthy gobi tikka rolls at Sushma's space few months back..Sushma have many beautiful dishes in her space, especially her wraps makes me always hungry whenever i go through her blog, when i saw her clicks i immediately got hooked to this simple but yet a delicious gobi tikka wraps which tastes tremendously delicious at the same time its very quick to get ready, we guys loved this delicious wraps for our yesterday's picnic, we carried with us along with some simple fruit salads, this wraps suits prefectly for a picnic eventhough i did few changes when compared to the original recipe where Sushma used sour cream which i replaced with cream cheese also i didnt used dry mint leaves she mentioned in her marination which i completely skipped as i didnt have those dry mints however we enjoyed having these beautiful wraps and we loved it, thanks a ton to Sushma for sharing with us this beautiful wraps and am sending this to Nupur's Blog Bites#5 -Sandwiches and Wraps...

Ingredients:

• 30nos Cauliflower florets (chopped finely)
• 1/2cup Sour cream or cream cheese
• 1cup Lettuce (finely chopped)
• 3nos Tortillas
• Oil
• 1tsp Soyasauce
• 1tbsp Tomato Ketchup

For Marination:

• 4tbsp Greek style yogurt
• 1tsp Ginger garlic paste
• 1tsp Garam masala powder
• 1tsp Red chilly powder
• 1tsp Corn flour
• Salt
• 1pinch Orange food colour

Method:
Marinate the cauliflower florets with all the ingredients given in the list for marination, mix everything well and let them sit for half an hour, now heat enough oil in a pan, add the marinated cauliflower florets and cook in medium flame until they turns almost dry, add the soya sauce, tomato ketchup to the cooking veggies..saute until the masala turns dry...keep aside..

Heat the tortillas in a non stick pan on both sides...now gently spread the sour cream or cream cheese, put the cauliflower tikka filling topped with lettuce leaves, roll the tortillas as wraps and enjoy..Serve warm or cold..

After a better bitter chutney, here comes my recent favourite granita with pineapple chunks, most of us would have know that granita is low caloric refreshing frozen dessert, its usually prepared with fresh fruits, lemon juice and sugar and its really very easy to prepare, also its doesnt need any ice cream maker, whenever i feel like having this low caloric dessert i do them with any sort of fruits...I prepared this pineapple granita before two days and its suits prefectly for our today's lunch dessert as it was too hot here..Fantastic granita to enjoy without any guilt and am sending this granita to Yasmeen's Tropical Temptations..Very light dessert to enjoy after a stomach filling lunch or dinner also this granita goes directly to Umm's Iftar Moments..

3cups Pineapple chunks(chopped)
1/2cup Sugar
2tbsp Lemon juice
1/2cup Water
Combine the sugar and water in a blender and blend until the sugar dissolves,add the chopped pineapple chunks and lemon juice and continue to blend until smooth, strain the juice..pour the mixture in a stainless steel box and freeze for 3hours..scrape with a fork and freeze again for 5 hours or overnight..

Remove the mixture from the freezer and let sit for few minutes, scrape the mixture with a fork and serve in a bowl..Enjoy !!

When Krishnaveni posted her fenugreek sprouts chutney, i immediately wanted to prepare them, as i have recently sprouted few cups of fenugreek seeds, but i want to make this chutney with some roasted garlic cloves and more fenugreek sprouts, thats the way my family i can feed them something healthy also they wont blame me for this bitter chutney... I have prepared this chutney along with tamarind paste, dry red chillies with half a cup of fenugreek sprouts and garlic..For my surprise, this chutney tastes tremendous along with dosas and everyone at home enjoyed having this spicy chutney..Am so happy to see even my little one enjoyed with dosas who doesnt like anything bitter loved this chutney..The garlic cloves masked completely the bitterness of the fenugreek sprouts and i have to say a big thanks to Krishnaveni for sharing this healthy chutney, this sprouts with garlic chutney is going to be as a usual chutney in our menu anytime..Sending this fabulous chutney to my event calling for Let's Sprouts..

Ingredients:

• 1/2cup Fenugreek sprouts
• 1cup Garlic cloves
• 5nos Dry red chillies
• 1tbsp Urad dal
• 1no Tamarind (blueberry size)
• Few curry leaves
• Salt
• 3tbsps Gingelly oil

Method:
Heat a tablespoon of gingelly oil, fry the urad dal,dry red chillies until they turn brown, now add the garlic cloves, tamarind piece, curry leaves, fenugreek sprouts and fry until a nice aroma comes from the garlic..Take everything in a mixie jar, add enough salt, remaining gingelly oil and water (if needed), grind everything a bit coarse paste..

Enjoy with idlis, dosas..

welcome,yeah none at home love idlies, after a long hesitation and discussion everyone at home said 'Yes' to some steamed cooked soft fluffy idlies..Instead of making idli batter and fermentation i went for this instant version of healthy idlies with wheat rava,grated carrots and rolled oats for making this soft and healthy idlies..I served this cute soft and healthy idlies along with spicy coconut chutney, for my surprise even my hubby enjoyed having this beautiful, cute looking idlies..This healthy, gorgeous looking idlies goes directly to Bergamot's Steamy Kitchen Event....

Ingredients:

• 1cup Wheat rava/cracked wheat
• 1cup Rolled oats
• 1/4cup Grated carrots
• 2nos Green chillies (chopped)
• 1tsp Ginger (grated)
• 1tsp Eno salt
• 1cup Sour curd
• 1tsp Mustard seeds, urad dal +channa dal
• 2tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
• Few curry leaves
• Salt
• Oil

Method:
Take the cracked wheat, rolled oats, grated carrots, chopped green chillies,chopped coriander leaves, grated ginger, sour curd with enough salt in a bowl, mix everything well, meanwhile heat enough oil, let crack the mustard seeds, urad dal and channa dal, add the curry leaves finally and drop gently this tempered spices to the already prepared batter, mix well...finally add the eno salt and water to turn the batter as thick idly batter... Grease the idli moulds with oil and pour the idli batter in the moulds, steam cook for 10 minutes in idli cooker..

Enjoy this fluffy idlies with coconut chutney...

As told in most of my previous posts, i wont trash anything that much easily and here we cant live without having breads for our breakfast, needless to say the number of stale breads sit sometimes in my bread bag to get cooked, this vada is also prepared with stale bread which happen quite in my kitchen, this time i used some leftover sprouted kala channa and sweet corns to make out this delicious, crispy eventhough its deepfried, somewat healthy vadas for our snacks before few days back, we enjoyed this crispy beauties simply with ketchup for our snacks with a cup of tea, both together works out wonder for our evening snacks..This sprouted channa and corn give a different taste and crunchiness to this simple but yet a quick, easy and delicious crispy vadas....Sending to my event Let's Sprouts, A Veggie/Fruit for a Month guest hosted by Akheela of Torview, event started by Priya and finally to Pj's Scrumptious Dishes From the Leftovers..

Ingredients:

• 1/2cup Sweet corn kernels
• 1cup Sprouted Kala channa (pressure cooked)
• 6nos Stale bread slices
• 2tbsp Rice flour
• 3nos Green chillies (chopped finely)
• Few curry leaves
• 1tsp Fennel seeds
• 1tsp Ginger (minced)
• Salt
• Oil

Method:
Keep few sweet corns and cooked kala channa aside and ground the remaining sweet corns and kala channa as bit coarse paste, grind the stale bread as fine powder, take the grounded paste together add the rice flour,chopped green chillies, curry leaves, fennel seeds, minced ginger with enough salt and water as vada batter..

Heat oil for deepfrying, make a small ball from the batter, flatten them as we for medhu vadas and make a small hole in the middle and drop gently to the hot oil, fry on both sides until the vada get well cooked..

Serve hot with ketchup..

Mullangi Kattu.

Radish / Mooli is peel and chopped up. Moong dal is pressure cooked along with radish or separately boiled in water till cooked. The rasam is spiced up with ginger and green chiles and finally tempered with garlic and spices. Serve radish rasam with steamed rice and a squeeze of lemon.
Makes: around 2 Cups of Radish Rasam.

Ingredients:

• Radish 1 Small
• Moong Dal 1/4 Cup
• Green Chiles 2 – 4
• Ginger 1 inch Piece
• Garlic 3 Cloves
• Turmeric Powder a big Pinch
• Salt to taste

Talimpu:

• Urad Dal 1/4 tsp
• Mustard Seeds 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida a pinch
• Curry Leaves 4
• Ghee 1 tsp

Method of preparation:

Peel, remove ends, wash and chop the radish into small pieces (around 1 Cup).
Wash the moong dal with fresh water and keep aside.
Peel and mince the ginger.
Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles.
Peel and lightly mash the garlic cloves.

Bring to boil a cup and half of water, add moong dal.
Boil till moong dal is just soft but whole.
Bring another cup of water in a pot, add chopped radish and salt.
Boil till radish is just cooked and soft but not mushy.

Combine the ingredients of both pots, add half a cup of water, green chiles, ginger, turmeric powder and salt.
Boil till moong dal disintegrates and radish is cooked well.

Heat ghee in a pan, add garlic and fry briefly.
Add all the talimpu ingredients in order and let the cumin seeds change color.
Remove the tempering from heat and add to the rasam pot.
Mix well and serve radish rasam with steamed rice.
Notes: Make sure radish is cooked well.

Suggestions: If radish is not cooked properly, boil the rasam on low heat till done. Adjust the consistency of the rasam with water.
Variations: Add a big splash of lemon juice just before serving if desired.
Other Names: Radish Rasam, Mullangi Kattu, Mooli Rasam.

Certain Indian, regional food preparations need lot of sunshine and are so meant to be done in summer. Vadiyalu / Papad / Dahi Mirchi are perfect examples that fit into this category. Vadiyalu / papad in a traditional Indian setting are probably equivalent to chips / crackers of the western world. To people who are wondering what vadiyalu are, they can be loosely translated as spicy, dried chips made out of either bean paste, cooked rice flour or sago pearls. Though the basic idea is the same, several varieties of vadiyalu are prepared depending upon what goes into them. The name of a particular vadiyam would give a hint to the ingredient that it has been prepared with. They go under different regional names like vadi / sandige.
Today's recipe minapappu vadiyalu is such a classic example from Andhra. As the name suggests, they are prepared using ground batter of minapappu / uraddal. These fabulous tasting, spicy, dried uraddal chips are a good accompaniment to rice or can be used to prepare pulusu / subzis.
Though the task sounds daunting, this particular one is a child's play if you know how to grind the batter in your grinder. The ingredients mentioned below can be used a rough guideline and can be changed according to one's taste.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of uraddal
• 70 Green chillies (I used Serrano Peppers)*
• 3.5 Tbsp salt
• Asafoetida

* For a kg of uraddal, 1/4 kg of green chillies is usually used. You can taste the batter while grinding, to check the spiciness. Usually the batter should be hot since vadiyalu loose some of the spiciness after drying. Also they have to be hot since they are eaten with plain rice.

Vadiyalu making process:

Soak uraddal overnight. Throw away the water used to soak and wash uraddal in two exchanges of water. Grind uraddal, green chilies, salt and asafoetida together in a grinder into a smooth and a thick batter. If the batter turns watery, it is hard to drop them. If the batter is not smooth, the final vadiyalu would turn very hard.

Choose a spot where there would be plenty of sunshine (from morning to evening) like your backyard or terrace if in India. Spread a clean, thick plastic sheet there. Using a spoon or hand, go on dropping about 1-2 tsp quantity of batter on the sheet without overlapping, till all the batter is used.

Dry them in full sun and get them back home during evenings. Repeat the process till they are completely dry and crisp. The process would take around 3 - 4 days. After they dry well, store them in an airtight container and use them when needed. They stay good for at least a couple of years if stored well.

Frying:
Heat 1 - 2 cups of oil in a kadai. Add a handful of dried vadiyalu and fry them till they brown. Remove them with a slotted spoon. The process would take only a few seconds. They burn easily if fried longer.
We usually eat them with rice and ghee, slightly crushing the vadiyalu with the hand while eating.

Note:
1. Vadiyalu come off easily after drying, if using a plastic sheet. Some use cloth instead of plastic sheets. In this case, the vadiyalu don't come off the cloth even after they dry. Sprinkle a little water on the backside of the cloth and remove the vadiyalu using your hands. Again dry them in sun for a few hours and then store them.
2. Adding ashgourd / gummadikaya is another variation.

Tomato Bajji Masala.

Whole tomatoes are dipped in besan batter and deep fried on medium heat till golden brown. The tomato fritters are then halved and the juices are scooped out. Chopped onion, spices and herbs are added to the juices and this mixture is filled into the tomatoes and served immediately.
Makes: 4 Servings of Tomato Fritters Chaat.

Ingredients:

• Ripe Tomato 2 Medium
• Besan / Gram Flour 5 tbsps
• Soda bi Carb a Pinch
• Onion 1
• Roasted Peanuts 2 tbsps
• Chaat Masala 1/2 tsp
• Red Chili Powder 1/2 tsp
• Cilantro few Sprigs
• Lemon Juice 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil for Deep Frying

Method of preparation:

Peel and finely chop the onion.
Wash and finely chop the cilantro leaves.
Thoroughly wash the tomatoes and pat them dry.

In a deep small mixing bowl, add besan, soda bi carb, few pinches of red chili powder and salt.
Pour enough water to make the mixture into somewhat thick batter.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan on medium heat.
When oil gets hot, dip the tomato into the besan batter and thoroughly coat it with thick besan batter.
Carefully and slowly drop the coated tomato into the hot oil.

Deep fry the tomato until it turns light golden brown all over (around 5 minutes).
Scoop the hot oil from the deep frying pan and pour over the just dropped tomato if the oil is not deep enough to soak the tomato.
Remove the tomato fritter onto a absorbent paper.
Repeat the same with the other tomato.
Cool down the deep fried tomato a bit and cut it into halves.

Scoop the juicy part of the tomato with help of a sharp edged spoon into a small mixing bowl.
Repeat the same with remaining tomato halves.
To the mixing bowl having the tomato pulp and juices, add chopped onion, cilantro, lemon juice, roasted peanuts, red chili powder, chaat masala and salt.
Mix well and adjust any seasoning if required.
Fill the emptied tomato halves with the just prepared tomato onion mixture.
Garnish with cilantro and serve tomato fritters chaat immediately.
Notes: Make sure to get the besan batter right.

Suggestions: Adjust the deep frying time of the tomato according to its size.
Variations: Use ripe roma tomatoes in place of vine tomatoes if desired.
Other Names: Tomato Fritters Chaat, Tomato Bajji Masala.

Aratikaya Podi.

Plantain / green banana is sliced and roasted till little crisp. Then the plantain is ground into fine powder along with dalia and spices. Tamarind and jaggery provide contrasting dimensions to the plantain chutney powder. Serve the plantain powder with steamed rice or with idly, upma etc.
Makes: around 1 1/4 Cups of Plantain Chutney Powder.

Ingredients:

• Plantain 1 Medium
• Dalia / Putnala Pappu 1/2 Cup
• Whole Dried Red Chiles 2 – 4
• Tamarind 1 inch Piece
• Jaggery 1 inch Block
• Salt to taste

Talimpu:

• Mustard Seeds 1/4 tsp
• Broken red Chiles 4
• Turmeric a Pinch
• Asafoetida a pinch
• Curry Leaves 4
• Oil 1/4 tsp

Method of preparation:

Remove ends, remove thick skin and wash the plantain.
Thinly slice the plantain into circles.

Heat a pan on medium heat, add plantain circles.
Dry roast the plantain until they crisp up a bit indicated by curling of the circles.
Remove the pan from heat and add the dried red chiles to the warm pan.
Cool the roasted plantain to room temperature.

Grind roasted bengal gram / dalia along with tamarind, jaggery and salt into fine powder.
Then add roasted plantain circles and red chiles and grind again into fine powder.
Remove the plantain powder onto a bowl.

Heat oil in a pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order.
When mustard seeds start spluttering, remove from heat.
Once talimpu is cooled, add the ground plantain powder and mix well.
Store plantain chutney powder in a dry jar and it stays for couple of weeks.
Mix plantain chutney powder with few drops of ghee and serve with idly, dosa, upma, rice etc.
Notes: Make sure to roast the plantain well.

Suggestions: If plantain circles are soft, put them back in the hot pan and roast on medium low flame till they crisp up a little.
Variations: Also roast the plantain circles in oven.
Other Names: Plantain Chutney Powder, Aratikaya Podi.

My cooking experience with watermelon white rinds finally ended to a sweet kheer, i simply prepared this delicious kheer by pressure cooking watermelon rinds with sugar and carrot puree cooked along with sago pearls..Am very proud to say that this kheer is one of my invention and am very happy that this kheer turned out very fantastic and delicious..One more new kheer gonna be prepared often in my kitchen...Can you believe it that this kheer is prepared within few minutes?? yea they hardly need very less time and the cooking process doesnt need long hours to prepare and i enjoyed making and having this droolworthy kheer..Sending this yummy kheer to CWS-Sago guest hosted by Niloufer..

Ingredients:

• 1cup Watermelon white rinds (finely chopped)
• 2nos Carrots( pressure cooked & pureed)
• 1/2cup Sago
• 1cup Sugar
• 2cups Milk
• 1tsp Cardamom powder
• Few almond flakes

Method:
Pressure cook the chopped watermelons and half a cup of sugar for 3hisses, meanwhile cook the sago in enough water until they turn transculent, add the pureed carrots, milk, remaining sugar, cook everything in simmer until the sugar get dissolved, finally add the cooked watermelon rinds along with cardamom powder..cook everything again for few minutes..Put off the stove..

Serve topped almond flakes...

Dahi cutlets are always our family favourites, whenever i prepare them they will get vanished with few hours..This time i tried making some sago cutlet along with some leftover soya kheema i prepared for our yesterday's lunch, i combined the soaked sago and already prepared soya kheema along with some cooked and smashed potatoes to make out some delicious cutlets..This cutlet tastes fabulous, delicious also very easy to prepare, once i pan fried these cutlets i soaked them in a tempered buttermilk topped with tangy and sweet tamarind chutney, we enjoyed having this delicious dahi sago and soya kheema cutlet for our evening snacks..A fantastic snacks to enjoy while its too hot, everyone relished each and every spoon of this yummy dahi sago and soya kheema cutlet..Sending this cutlets to Sharmi's Let's Munch, CWS-Sago guest hosted by Niloufer and to PJ's Scrumptious Delights from Leftovers..

Ingredients:

• 1cup Soya Kheema (prepared exactly as here)
• 1/2cup Sago (soaked for 2hrs)
• 2nos Potatoes (cooked)
• 1no Onion(chopped)
• 2nos Green chillies (chopped)
• Few curry leaves
• 1tsp Garam masala powder
• 1/2tsp Fennel seed powder
• 1/4tsp Ginger (crushed)
• 1/4cup Bread crumbs
• Salt
• Oil for shallow frying

For Dahi:

• 2cups Buttermilk
• 1tsp Mustard seeds, urad dal
• 1tsp Grated ginger
• Curry leaves
• Few spoons of sweet tamarind chutney
• Few Chilly powder
• Few Chaat masala

Method:
Combine the soya kheema, cooked potatoes, soaked sago, garam masala powder, fennel seed powder, bread crumbs in a large bowl, meanwhile heat few drops of oil and saute the chopped onions, chopped green chillies, crushed ginger and curry leaves until the onions turns transculent..Add this cooked veggies along with the already prepared sago-soya kheema mixture..Mix everything well along with enough salt, make small balls from this mixture and keep aside..Heat the oil for shallow frying,drop gently the already prepared patties and fry on both sides in medium flame until the crust turns golden brown...

Meanwhile let fry the mustard seeds, urad dal, grated ginger, curry leaves in hot oil and keep aside, beat the buttermilk and add the tempered spices and salt, mix well..take this tempered buttermilk in a shallow bowl and drop gently the cutlets..pour the tamarind chutney and springle chilly powder and chaat masala over the soaked cutlets and let them sit in fridge atleast for an hour..

Enjoy!

Everyone at home can have pastas everyday, they fond that much to this Italian dish, i do prepare as many version using cream, meats or simply with veggies..Here is one of my version of enjoying pasta with an Indian touch, by making out kheema with soyachunks and finally sauting the already cooked pastas in this spicy soya kheema...Easy breezy pasta get ready with less time and this soya kheema pasta tastes fantastic when served warm also as a salad by adding veggies to this soya kheema pasta when served chilled...Soya kheema is a vegetarian kheema as its suits prefectly for vegetarians and its looks quite like the minced meats..This soya kheema can be served even as a side dish along with rotis, also as filling in buns or rotis..U can add green peas or veggies to make out as soya veggies kheema, yea this kheema is definitely versatile and can prepare them as so many varieties of dishes..I add this soya granules in many dishes and everyone at home love this healthy and nutritious granules..Do try friends u will definitely love this..Sending this Indianized version of pasta to Global Kadai-Pasta guest hosted by Indu, event by Cilantro & Susan's MLLA-23...

Ingredients:

• 250grms Pasta (any type & cook as per instructions)
• 1cup Soya chunks
• 1no Onion (chopped finely)
• 2nos Tomatoes (chopped)
• 1tbsp Ginger garlic paste
• 1/2tsp Turmeric powder
• 1tsp Chilly powder
• 1/2tsp Garam masala powder
• 1/4tsp Cumin powder
• 1/2tsp Fennel seed powder
• 2nos Whole spices (bayleaves, cloves, cinnamon stick)
• Oil
• Curry leaves or Coriander leaves as per need

Method:
Cook the soyagranules in water until they doubled their volume..drain the water and squeeze out the excess of water..Heat enough oil, fry the whole spices and add the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes and ginger garlic paste, saute everything well until the onions turns transculent..meanwhile grind the already cooked soya chunks as slightly coarse...Now add the grounded soya chunks,cumin powder, fennel seed powder, turmeric powder, chilly powder, garam masala powder and salt to the cooking veggies, put the flame in simmer, cook until the oil get separates..Finally add the cooked pasta, coriander leaves or curry leaves, toss everything gently and cook for few minutes simmer...put off the stove..

Serve immediately !!

Serve this simple curry with plain rice or rice bhakri/chapati.
Tondli - Pandhara Vatana KuvaL
Ivygourds curry
Ingredients

• 1 lb ivygourds/tondli/tendli/tindora, sliced
• 1/2 cup cooked white peas/pandhra vatana
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp jaggery

Tempering

• 2 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida

Gtind to paste

• 1/2 cup fresh coconut
• 3 - 4 byadgi chilies, roasted in few drops of oil
• 2 tsp coriander seeds, roasted in few drops of oil
• 1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds, roasted in few drops of oil
• 1 tsp urad daal, roasted in few drops of oil

Method
1. Heat oil in a saucepan. Add asafoetida. Add ivygourds. Saute for 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water. Cover with a lid. Let it cook till soft.
2. Add cooked white peas, salt & jaggery.
3. Add ground masala paste and water to adjust the consistency.
4. Bring to boil.
5. Switch the gas to low. Let it simmer.

Note -
1. Pressure cook the white peas and let them cool down completely before proceeding.
2. Adjust the consistency by adding adequate amount of water to make thick or thin curry.

Some recipes are very down to earth simple, yet they can't be made to perfection. The flavor, taste, texture and conversation that's etched in the memory can never be achieved especially when you are trying your grandmothers' creations. Gurgutya bhaat is one such simple soft rice recipe. It needs grandmother's touch to achieve the perfection. Still, I attempted it here thinking about my loving grandmothers.

Gurgutya Bhaat

Super Soft Rice

Ingredients

1 cup rice

1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds

6 cups water

salt to taste

Suggested Accompaniments

Limbache Goad LoNche

Metkoot (Recipe coming soon)

Toop/Ghee/Clarified Butter

Papad

Yogurt

Method

1. Soak rice & fenugreek seeds in water for at least 30 minutes. Drain.

2. Bring water to boil in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add salt. Lower the gas.

3. Add drained rice and seeds.

4. Let it cook on a low flame till all the water is absorbed.

5. Switch off the gas. Cover tightly with a lid.

Note -

1. Rice to water ratio is intentionally kept high. However, the consistency shouldn't be watery. It should have soft porridge like texture.

2. The suggested accompaniments are actually "must have" accompaniments to enjoy this delicacy.

My mom used to prepare this sweet puttu often when we were kids, she makes these puttu even for breakfast or else for snacks..This puttu was one of my favourite dish which hardly needs raw rice, sugar, a teaspoon of ghee, cardamom powder and grated fresh coconuts..This dish gets ready in very less time and my mom prepare her rice flour herself at home but grinding soaked and slightly dried raw rice which she used to steam cook in pressure cooker and finally add the remaining ingredients when the steamed rice flour were still warm and serve us immediatley..But i prepared this rice flour puttu using the store bought rice flour by roasting them and steam cooking the rice flour, this method is really handy, quick, easy also very simple to make out this delicious rice puttu..Sending this steam cooked rice puttu to Bergamot's Steamy Kitchen Event...

Ingredients:

• 2cups Rice flour
• 1cup Sugar
• 1tsp Cardamom powder
• Salt
• Water as per need
• 1cup Grated coconut
• 1tsp Ghee

Method:
Roast the rice flour in a pan for few minutes..Sprinkle enough water and salt to the rice flour little by little, you should be able to form balls at the same time you should able to crumble it back..Steam cook this flour for 20 minutes in pressure cooker..Take the flour and transfer to a big plate, smash if they are some lumps, add the sugar, cardamom powder, ghee, grated coconut and mix everything well using a wooden spatula....

Serve immediately..

Porridge are quite a healthy, filling breakfast dish which is usually prepared with oats cooked in milk and served along with nuts,fruits or else simply with honey..My version of porridge goes for a powder prepared with sprouted green gram,sprouted horsegram, sago,quinoa, oats, barley,flaxseeds, wheat,ragi and brown rice..This porridge mix is really very handy and very filling breakfast porridge for people who were dieting..Adding horsegram to this porridge mix turned out this mix as an interesting porridge coz horsegram are very much adviced to the peoples whoever wanted to reduce their weight, usually this porridge mix goes for nuts like almonds and cashews which i skipped completely in this mix...U can cook this porridge mix with milk or water by adding honey or sugar, my choice goes for water and honey, its such a filling breakfast sometimes i dont even feel tired or hungry for long hours..Sending this healthy mix to my own event Let's Sprout, Kiran's CWF-Barley and finally to CWS-Sago guest hosted by Niloufer...

Ingredients:

• 1cup Sprouted green gram
• 1cup Quinoa
• 2cups Sprouted horsegram
• 1/4cup Sago
• 1/2cup Barley
• 1/2cup Brown rice
• 1cup Wheat
• 1cup Rolled oats
• 1/4cup Flaxseeds
• 1/2cup Whole ragi

Method:
Dry the sprouted green gram and sprouted horsegram in sun or over a thick towel for overnite..once everything gets dry, dry roast all the ingredients given for making the porridge mix one by one until a nice aroma comes, keep aside and let them cool completely...Grind this roasted grains as fine powder, sieve the powder, grind again until all the grains get finished and conserve them in air tightened bottle..

Making Porridge:

• 2tbsp Porridge mix
• 1cup Water/milk
• Honey/Sugar

Method:
Bring boil the water or milk, add the porridge mix, mix well without lumps, finally add the honey or sugar and enjoy for breakfast...

Recreating restaurant style food at home is fun but can be frustrating when the same flavor cannot be replicated at home. In most restaurants, while ordering biryani, they serve a gravy to go with it. The gravy that accompanies the biryani differs from restaurant to restaurant. Often at home we try to recreate this subtly spiced gravy at home but with little success. Today’s recipe came close to the restaurant flavor, a vegetarian version with absolutely no meat in it and goes well with vegetable biryani and pulao as well.

Side Gravy for Biryani Recipe
Prep: 10 mts Cooking: 30 mts
Serves 4-5 persons
Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients:

• 3-4 cloves
• 1 elachi
• 1″ cinnamon
• 2 onions, finely chopped or sliced
• 1 1/2 tsps ginger-green chilli-garlic paste
• 3-4 small tomatoes, quartered or make a + sign on each, leaving them whole
• 1 tsp red chilli pwd
• 1/4 tsp turmeric pwd
• 1/2 tsp coriander pwd
• pinch of cumin pwd
• large pinch garam masala pwd
• salt to taste
• few curry leaves
• 2-3 tbsps thick coconut milk
• 1 1/2 tbsps oil
• chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Dry roast for 2 mts and grind to a paste:

• 1 tsp khus khus
• 3 tbsps grated fresh coconut
• 2-3 cashew nuts

Method:

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel, add cloves, cinnamon and cardamom and saute for a few secs. Add onions and fry till transparent. Add ginger-green chilli-garlic paste and saute for 3 mts. Add curry leaves, red chilli pwd, turmeric pwd, coriander pwd, cumin pwd and combine. Add the quartered tomatoes and fry for 4-5 mts.
   
2. Add the ground paste and cook for 5 mts, stirring so that it does not stick to the vessel.
   
3. Add 2 cups of water and salt and bring to a boil. Cook with lid on simmer till the gravy thickens. Add thick coconut milk and combine. Turn off heat. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Turn off heat.
   
4. Serve with pulao, biryani, coconut rice or rotis.

Gongura Pulusu.

Oil is tempered with spices and onion is turned translucent. Sorrel leaves / gongura aaku is chopped up and briefly fried before slowly cooking in stew. Sorrel leaves stew is served with steamed rice and plain toor dal or with steamed rice and dollop of ghee.
Makes: around 2 Cups of Sorrel Leaves Stew.

Ingredients:

• Sorrel Leaves 1 1/2 Cups Packed
• Onion 1
• Green Chiles 1 – 2
• Tamarind 1/2 inch Sized Ball (optional)
• Chana Dal 2 tbsps
• Red Chili Powder 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric Powder a Pinch
• Salt to taste

Talimpu:

• Urad Dal 1/2 tsp
• Mustard Seeds 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida a big pinch
• Broken Red Chiles 2
• Curry Leaves 4
• Oil 1 tsp

Method of preparation:

Separate sorrel leaves and wash them thoroughly.
Chop the sorrel leaves and keep aside.
Peel and finely chop the onion.
Remove stems, wash and roughly chop green chiles.
Grind green chiles into coarse paste.

Heat oil in a pot, add chana dal and fry for couple of seconds.
Now add all talimpu ingredients in order.
When urad dal changes color, add onion and chana dal.
When onion turns translucent, add sorrel leaves, green chile paste, tamarind, red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt.
Fry for a minute or two, pour around a cup and half of water.
Bring to a bubble and boil till it reduces to almost of the original quantity.
Remove from heat and serve sorrel leaves stew with steamed rice and a tbsp of cooked toor dal.
Notes: Make sure to boil the stew on medium – low flame.

Suggestions: If the stew is too sour, stir in a small piece of jaggery.
Variations: You can also soak the chana dal in water for couple of hours before adding to the stew.
Other Names: Sorrel Leaves Stew, Gongura Pulusu.

While its too hot, everyone at home love to have ice creams or else sorbets, two days back while its was too hot here i prepared this simple, creamy and delicious pops using kiwi fruits, thick cream along with agave syrup..This pops is really very quick to prepare also easy at the same time, its quite quick to prepare and after few hours, these pops are ready to relish..With few ingredients, an easy breezy delicious pops get ready to enjoy anytime, even a small kid with an adult's help can make out this pops very easily...Needless to say everyone at home enjoyed having this pops and its one of the easiest way to feed picky eaters who ever never like kiwi fruits in their diet as kiwi have numerous health benefits and they are extremely healthy..Sending to Yasmeen's Tropical Temptations..

Ingredients:

• 2cups Kiwi chunks
• 3tbsp Double cream or fat free cream
• Agave syrup or sugar as per need

Method:
Blend everything as a smooth paste, dont add water..pour this puree in popsicle moulds, kulfi moulds or plastic cups and arrange them in freeze..When the pops get partially firm, insert a popsicle stick in the middle of these pops and arrange in freezer until they get completely frozen..


Run warm water over the moulds to remove the pops and serve immediately...

Dunno wat about u all, but my pantry is always filled with breads and buns, coz everyone at home like to have a simple bread toast served either with jam or nutella or simply with butter along with hot coffee or chocolate..Before we used to buy white breads and have them usually for breakfast, since i started enjoying healthy and fibre rich foods, i changed even my white bread slices to whole wheat bread slices, my teddies like bread as upma and i do prepare often in stove top, for the first time i wanted give a try in microwave oven...Yesterday, i prepared this simple bread upma with some leftover wheat breads in microwave oven coz it was too hot here and its completely a hard task for me to cook something especially for our dinner, so i prepared this simple bread upma for our sterday's dinner in less than 30minutes through microwaven oven and we enjoyed along with ketchup also with a simple tomato salad..These bread upma goes directly to Srivalli's 365 Days of Microwave Cooking & MEC-Favourites guest hosted by PJ, event by Srivalli..

Ingredients:

• 6nos Whole wheat bread slices (cubed)
• 1no Onion (big & chopped finely)
• 2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
• 1tsp Ginger (minced)
• 1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
• 1/2tsp Channadal
• 3nos Dry red chillies
• 1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
• 1/4tsp Turmeric powder
• Curry leaves
• Oil
• Salt

Method:
Heat enough oil in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes in high, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, dry red chillies, asafoetida powder to the oil and cook again in microwave oven for 5minutes in high until the dals turns golden brown..now add the chopped onions, minced ginger, slit opened green chillies, curry leaves and cook everything again in high for 10 minutes (stir in between)along with turmeric powder and salt...finally add the cubed bread chunks, toss everything gently until they get well mixed with the spices, cook everything again for 10minutes in high (stir in between)..

Serve with ketchup or spicy chutneys..

Bangala Dumpa Kurma.

Onion and tomato are cooked in tempered oil. Potato is boiled and cubed and added to the onion tomato mixture. A freshly made spice powder is used for taste and aroma. Once the potato is absorbs all the flavors, the kurma is served with chapati or with roti etc.
Makes: around 3 Servings of Bangala Dumpa Kurma.

Ingredients:

• Potato 1 Large
• Onion 1 Large
• Tomato 2 Medium
• Green Chiles 3 – 4
• Red Chile Powder 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder a big Pinch
• Salt to taste

Talimpu:

• Chana Dal 1/2 tsp
• Urad Dal 1/4 tsp
• Mustard Seeds 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida a pinch
• Curry Leaves 6
• Oil 1 tbsp

Masala:

• Cinnamon 1 1/2 inch Stick
• Cloves 3
• Star Anise 1/2
• Coriander Seeds 1 tbsp
• Oil 1/2 tsp

Method of preparation:

Peel and slice the onion.
Wash and finely chop the tomato.
Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles.
Halve the potato and boil it in enough water till just soft.
Strain the potato, peel off the skin and chop into big cubes.
Mash couple of potato cubes and keep aside.

Heat oil in a small pan, add all masala ingredients in order.
Fry them on low flame till aromatic or till they change color.
Cool the roasted ingredients and grind them into fine powder using a spice blender.

Heat oil in a pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order.
When chana dal changes color, add onion and green chiles.
Fry briefly and stir in chopped tomatoes.
When tomatoes turn a little mushy, add chopped potato, mashed potato, ground masala powder, red chile powder, turmeric powder and salt.
Fry for a minute, add around half a cup of water and cook covered on low flame.
Once the oil separates, uncover and fry for a minute and remove from heat.
Serve potato kurma with chapati or with steamed rice.
Notes: Make sure potato is cooked properly.

Suggestions: If the potato is not cooked well, add a splash of water and cook covered till done.
Variations: Also check the potato tag or try the browse page for more variations.
Other Names: Potato Kurma, Bangala Dumpa Kurma, Aloo Kurma.

Crispy sago vadais are always welcome when its comes to evening snacks, i love this simple, quick and crispy vadais which get ready very soon and also get vanish within few minutes...Just dip this crispy vadais in some spicy coconut chutney or in ketchup and enjoy it...We enjoyed having this sago vadais, my H enjoyed each and every bite of this vadais..I have prepared this crispy vadais long back, sometimes eventhough we dont want to make anything special for evening snacks,few events going on this blogsphere will pull us to make some delicious crispy beauties like this sago vadais..Yes this sago vadais goes directly to CWS-Sago guest hosted by Niloufer..

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Sago (soaked for 4hrs)
• 1no Onion (chopped)
• 3tbsp Peanuts (powdered coarsely)
• 3nos Potatoes (cooked)
• 2tbsp Rice flour
• 1/4tsp Cumin seeds
• Few Curry leaves
• 3nos Green chillies (finely chopped)
• 1/2tsp Red chilli powder
• Salt
• Oil

Method:

Mash the potatoes..add the soaked sago, rice flour,mashed potatoes,chopped onions and mix well, now add cumin seeds, red chilli powder, peanuts,curry leaves and salt, mix everything well..Heat enough oil for deep frying, makes small balls from the dough, flatten them in ur palms and drop gently to the hot oil, deep fry until they turns crispy..

Enjoy with ketchup or any spicy chutney..

When summer is around, we guys couldnt stop buying watermelons, once they get finished either me or my H will definitely get them from the nearby chinese store, where we get tiny but very sweet seedless watermelons, after having the sweet watermelon chunks, immediately my H will cut the leftover white rinds and arrange in a plastic box so that i can cook them whenever i need to make something with those white rinds..I have prepared gravies and halwa with those white rinds of watermelon but this time here comes a roti which i saw in Usha's Veg Inspirations and immediately i wanted to try them, i prepared this rotis two days back and served with mixed veggies kurma for our dinner, this roti was really amazing, tasty, healthy at the same time none at home found out the secret ingredient i used in this rotis, when i told that i used some finely grated watermelon white rind in this rotis, they were surprised and enjoyed having this roti...Thanks to Usha for sharing this healthy roti and its gonna be often present in our menu...Sending this rotis to T&T-Veg Inspirations guest hosted by Saveur..I followed the same process as Usha went for making this rotis, eventhough i have added few ajwain seeds to give more flavour to this beautiful rotis..

Ingredients:

• 3cups Wheat flour
• 1cup Watermelon white rinds (finely grated)
• 1/2cup Carrot (grated)
• 1tsp Red chilli powder
• 1tsp Cumin powder
• 1/2tsp Coriander powder
• 1/2tsp Cumin seeds
• 1/2tsp Ajwain seeds
• Salt

Method:
In a large bowl, add the wheat flour, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder,cumin seeds and ajwain seeds and mix well, add the grated watermelon rinds and grated carrots, mix well into the dough and knead with enough water (if needed) as a smooth, stiff and non sticky dough..Let them sit for few minutes..makes medium sized balls with the dough and roll as circles..

Heat a tawa, once its hot, gently drop the rolled circles and drizzle few drops of oil, cook on both sides until they get cooked...Serve immediately with any sort of side dishes...

Alasanda Charu.

Black eyed beans rasam is made with a fresh blend of spices and beans. Black eyed beans / lobia are soaked and pressure cooked in enough water till soft. They are then mashed up and added to the rasam. Serve black eyed beans rasam with steamed rice.
Makes: around 2 Cups of Black Eyed Beans Rasam.

Ingredients:

• Black Eyed Pea 1/3 Cup
• Tomato 1 (optional)
• Onion 1
• Green Chiles 2
• Ginger 1/2 inch Piece
• Tamarind 1 inch sized Ball
• Turmeric Powder a Pinch
• Salt to taste

Masala:

• Peppercorns a Pinch
• Cumin Seeds 1/2 tsp
• Coriander Seeds 1 tsp

Talimpu:

• Urad Dal 1/4 tsp
• Mustard Seeds 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida a pinch
• Curry Leaves 6
• Oil 1 tsp

Method of preparation:

Soak black eyed beans in water for around 6 – 8 hours.
Refresh the beans under fresh water and pressure cook in around quarter cup of water for 3 whistles.
Cool the cooked black eyed beans and grind them into fine paste.

Peel and finely chop the onion.
Wash and finely chop the tomato.
Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles.
Peel, wash and mince the ginger.
Soak tamarind in half a cup of warm water and extract all the juice discarding the veins.

Heat few drops of oil in a pan, add all masala ingredients in order.
Fry till aromatic or until the ingredients change color.
Cool to room temperature and grind the masala ingredients into fine powder.

Heat oil in a pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order.
Once cumin seeds change color, add ginger, onion, tomato and green chiles.
Once onion turns translucent, stir in black eyed beans mixture, tamarind extract, quarter cup of water and salt.
Bring to boil, add ground masala powder, cover and remove from heat.
Serve black eyed beans rasam with steamed rice and dollop of ghee.
Notes: Make sure black eyed beans are cooked well.

Suggestions: Adjust the consistency of the rasam with water.
Variations: You can also add a splash of lemon juice just before serving.
Other Names: Black Eyed Beans Rasam, Lobia Rasam, Alasanda Charu, Bobbarlu Charu.

Pandara Pootharekulu.

Pandara poothareku is a famous coastal Andhra sweet made with thin flaky sheets of paper made of rice flour. For pandara pootharekulu, powdered sugar is folded into the rice paper sheets along with pure ghee. Store the pootharekulu tight in a jar and they stay fresh for around a week or two.
Makes: around 5 Pieces of Pandara Pootharekulu.

Ingredients:

• Rice Paper Sheets 15
• Sugar 1/2 Cup
• Pure Ghee 5 tbsps

Method of preparation:

Melt the ghee and keep it aside.
Grind the sugar into fine powder using a spice grinder.
If necessary, process the ground sugar through fine sieve to obtain fine sugar.

Damp a kitchen towel with few splash of water.
Take a sheet of rice paper on the damp cloth.
Damp cloth helps to make the rice sheet little pliable.
Alternatively, sprinkle few tiny drops of water onto the sheet to make the folding easier.

Layer around a tbsp of powdered sugar onto the first rice paper sheet.
Pour a tsp of ghee all over the rice sheet.
Layer another rice paper sheet on the first sheet.
Spread around another tbsp of powdered sugar onto the second sheet.
Pour a tsp of ghee all over the rice sheet.

Spread around another tbsp of powdered sugar onto the third sheet.
Pour a tsp of ghee all over this rice sheet.
Fold one longest side onto the center of the sheets.
Fold other longest side to overlap the first folded side.
Spread around another tbsp of powdered sugar onto the folded strip.
Pour a tsp of ghee all over the rice strip.
Fold the ends of the sheet together once and fold the remaining part into a rectangular strip.
Repeat the same with remaining rice paper sheets.
Store the pootharekulu in a tight jar and serve when necessary.
Notes: Use 2 rice paper sheets during starting stage if one seem to be too thin and flaky.

Suggestions: Adjust the powdered sugar according to the preference.
Variations: Bellam Pootharekulu made with grated jaggery.
Other Names: Pootharekulu, Panchadara Pootharekulu, Pandara Putharekulu

Alasanda Dosalu.

Black eyed peas / lobia are soaked in water for around 6 hours or overnight. They are then refreshed in water and ground into smooth batter. The batter is spread on hot pan and layered with spices and onion. Black eyed peas dosa is served with any chutney or with sooji upma.
Makes: around 6 Alasanda Dosalu.

Ingredients:

• Black Eyed Peas 1 Cup
• Onion 1
• Ginger 1 inch Piece
• Cumin Seeds 1 tsp
• Green Chiles 2
• Salt to taste
• Oil as required

Method of preparation:

Peel and mince the ginger.
Peel and finely chop the onion.
Remove stems, wash and chop the green chiles.

Soak black eyed peas in water for 4 – 6 hours.
Refresh in water and strain the soaked black eyed beans.
Grind the black eyed beans into smooth paste with least amount of water.

Thin out the batter if required with water to make a pour-able somewhat thick batter and stir in required amount of salt.

Heat a flat pan on medium high heat, apply a tsp of oil with back of a spoon.
When pan gets hot, pour a ladle full of black eyed beans batter and spread it with back of the ladle in circular motion into thin dosa.
Immediately, sprinkle a big pinch of cumin seeds, a pinch of minced ginger, few chopped green chiles and a handful of chopped onion.
Lightly press all the toppings into the dosa.

When bottom and edges of the alasanda dosa start to turn brown, carefully turn the dosa on other side.
Reduce the heat a bit and cook on this side for a minute before removing from heat.
Repeat the same with remaining black eyed beans dosa batter.
Serve hot black eyed beans dosa with upma and ginger pickle or with dalia chutney.
Notes: Make sure to get the consistency of the batter right.

Suggestions: If the black eyed beans dosa doesn’t come out crisp, make sure to pan is hot all the time. Try to spread the batter on the pan as fast and as thin as possible. If the dosa doesn’t come out, make sure dosa batter is not too thin. If dosa comes thick, make sure batter is not too thick.
Variations: Some recipes call for grinding the green chiles and ginger along with soaked black eyed peas.
Other Names: Black Eyed Beans Dosa, Bobbarlu Dosa, Alasanda Dosalu, Lobia Dosa.

Quick ,healthy and easy dals or pappu are always my favourite, one among those pappu is this watermelon rind and sprouted fenugreek pappu, i prepared this delicious, healthy as a diabetic friendly pappu which is quite a complete food when served along with cooked cracked wheat;rotis or with hot steaming rice..The bitterness of sprouted fenugreek is completely masked by the watermelon white rinds i used in this pappu, both watermelon rinds and sprouted fenugreek works out wonder and i spiced this pappu simply with rasam powder, pepper powder and lemon juice...Fabulous comforting food when served along with papads and lemon pickle, we loved it..This pappu goes directly to my event Let's Sprouts..

Ingredients:

• 1cup Toor dal (cooked)
• 2cups Watermelon white rinds (chopped finely)
• 1/2cup Sprouted fenugreek seeds
• 1no Onion (chopped)
• 1no Tomato (chopped)
• 1tbsp Rasam powder
• 1/4tsp Turmeric powder
• 1tsp Pepper powder
• 1tsp Mustard seeds,urad dal +cumin seeds
• 1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
• 3nos Dry red chillies
• Few curry leaves
• 1tsp Lemon juice
• Salt
• Oil

Method:
Heat enough oil in a pressure cooker and saute the chopped onions and tomato chunks until they turned mushy, add immediately the watermelon rinds, sprouted fenugreek seeds, saute until the watermelon rinds turns soft..now add the rasam powder, pepper powder, salt and cooked dal along with turmeric powder and enough water, bring everything to boil..Close the pressure cooker and cook until the veggies get well cooked..

In a small pan, heat a tsp of oil and let splutters mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds, dry red chillies, asafoetida powder, curry leaves, add this tempered spices to the cooking pappu..finally add the lemon juice and put off the stove..

Serve hot with rice along with papads or pickles or else with rotis..

The name of this dosa sounds very interesting also long at the same time na?? yeah this dosa is prepared with sprouted moong, sprouted black eyed peas and drumstick leaves which doesnt need fermentation also its very healthy and nutritious...I'll be leaving for vacation next weekend for two weeks, everyone at home waiting eagerly for this two weeks of vacation, so before leaving to vacation am trying to clean my freezer and fridge, while going through my freezer i got a bag of drumstick leaves which i have frozen two months back and also some sprouted black eyed peas which i sprouted and arranged in freezer before few months..Immediately i wanted to make something for our dinner with these frozen leaves and sprouted peas along with freshly sprouted whole moong beans which i sprouted two days back..I just soaked half a cup of brown rice for two hours and prepared this healthy dosa batter using sprouted moong, sprouted black-eyed peas and drumstick leaves, we enjoyed this dosa with Oats coconut chutney which i prepared from Usha of Veg Inspirations, we loved having this crispy dosa with healthy chutney..Do try this combo friends, u will definitely enjoy having this dosa for the sure..This healthy dosa goes directly to my event Let's Sprouts & to Vegetable Marathon -Drumstick guest hosted by Ruchikacooks, event by Anita also sending Drumstick clear soup,Ragi& Drumstick Leaves Adai,Drumstick,Brinjal & Jackfruit Seeds Curry to the same event..

Ingredients:

• 2cups Sprouted whole moong
• 1cup Sprouted black-eyes peas (thawed)
• 1/2cup Brown rice (soaked for two hours)
• 1/2cup Drumstick leaves
• 2nos Green chillies
• 1tbsp Ginger (minced)
• Salt

Method:
Grind as a bit coarse paste with sprouted whole moong, sprouted black-eyes peas, brown rice, drumstick leaves, green chillies and minced ginger with enough salt..

Heat a pan or tawa, pour a ladle of this dosa batter, spread the batter as circles, drizzle few drops of oil and cook on both sides until they get well cooked...serve hot with spicy chutneys...

Pan con tomate is one among the tapas served in a party menu or either as appetiziers everywhere in Spain, this bread sounds similar as the garlic bread, which goes for garlic cloves, ripen tomatoes prepared with salt and some olive oil.. Easy breezy tapas to enjoy anytime also very much flavourful bread i have ever enjoyed..This pan con tomate is one of the simplest, most widely eaten and most famous dishes from Cataluna, a region in Spain..Coming to the tomato bread , its simply prepared with toasted bread or toasted french baguettes and it can be eaten by itself or else served along with cheese, ham or sausage, but we enjoyed having simply without any cheese or meats...Sending this delicious tomato bread to AWED-Spain

guest hosted by Priya, event by DK..

Ingredients:

• Few bread slices or baguette slices
• 2nos Large ripen tomatoes
• 3nos Garlic cloves
• Olive oil
• Salt

Method:

If u r using baguette, slice the pieces horizontally as few inches long...Toast the bread in a bread toaster, once u take them out, rub the slices with garlic cloves, slice the tomatoes in the middle as half pieces and rub these tomato pieces over the garlic rubbed side of the bread...drizzle few olive oil over the slice and springle salt to taste..U can serve along with cheese, chorizo sausage or with Serrano ham..

Serve immediately..

Chimili.

White sesame seeds are ground into fine powder using a grinder or a heavy pestle. Soft jaggery is used in binding the sesame seeds powder. Soft jaggery is ground along with sesame seeds powder or crumbled and mixed with the powder. The mixture is made into small laddu and served.
Makes: around 10 Sesame Seeds Laddu.

Ingredients:

• White Sesame Seeds 3/4 Cup
• Soft Jaggery 1 Cup

Method of preparation:

Grind white sesame seeds into fine powder using a grinder.
Alternatively, roast the sesame seeds on low flame before grinding.

Crumble the soft jaggery using hands.
If jaggery is little hard, grind it into fine powder using a grinder or a pestle.

In a mixing bowl, combine ground sesame seeds powder and jaggery.
Mash both the ingredients thoroughly using hands.
Take around 3 tbsps of mixture into hands and form into a soft ball.
Repeat the same with remaining mixture.
Store the sesame seeds laddu tight in a jar and serve when necessary.
Notes: Make sure jaggery is soft enough.

Suggestions: If the jaggery is too hard, microwave it for couple of seconds to make it little soft.
Variations: You can also add roasted chopped coconut to the sesame seeds mixture. The same recipe can be made with black sesame seeds (black sesame seeds are soaked in water and dried under sunlight before pounding them to remove some of the skin).
Other Names: Sesame Seeds Laddu, Til Laddu, Til Ka Laddu, Yellina Unde, Chimili.

This is a simple flatbread made with rajgira flour. As Ashadhi Ekadashi is just around the corner, I thought of posting some farali/upwas special dishes.

Rajgaro-KeLa Bhakri

Ingredients

• 1 cup Rajgira/rajgaro flour
• 1 ripe banana, peeled & mashed
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp green chili-ginger paste
• 1 tsp oil

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients except oil. Knead into soft dough without adding any water.
2. Roll into 6 flatbread using more flour if needed - for rolling.
3. Heat tawa/griddle. Roast the flatbreads using oil or ghee. Make sure that the flatbreads get brown spots on both sides.

Note -
1. If making for fasting, ghee/clarified butter is used instead of oil.
2. Gujaratis use rock salt/sindhav/saindhav instead of regular sea salt for preparing fasting food.