Indian Food Recipes

Cauli Flower Chutney

2009-03-29T23:24:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
Cauli flower - 1 (around 3 to 4 cups)
Lemon - 3
Dried fenugreek leaves Powder - 2 Tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Chilly powder - 3 teaspoons
Garlic - 4 cloves
Curry leaves
Oil and salt to taste

Method
1) Cut cauliflower into small pieces and soak in hot salt water for 2 min, and dry up the cauliflower pieces.

2) Fry the dried fenugreek leaves Powder 30 second without oil and keep a side.

3) Heat 3 teaspoons oil in a pan. Add garlic, curry leaves, mustard seeds, cauliflower pieces and fry 3 min on medium heat. And then add salt, Chilly powder and fry until cauli flower is cooked.

4) Add Dried fenugreek leaves Powder and keep a side and blend the lemon juice.

Now the Cauli flower Chutney is ready. You can use this as a sidedish for Dosa/Idly/Chapathi/Curd Rice.

Patchi Pulusu

2009-03-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

Ground nuts - 100g

Tamarind - 100g

Sesame - 50g

Chilli powder - teaspoons

Greenchillis - 4

Tomotos - 2

Method:

1) Soak 50g of Tamarind for 5min to take paste.Take ground nuts, sesame, greenchillis Dry roast until it turns to light brown.

2)Blend ground nuts,sesame,greenchillis powder (not too smooth but to maintain the texture of the podi/chutney powder).

3)Heat oil and fry onions,red chillies until they turn light brown, add asafetida, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreekseeds, tomoto pieces and stir-fry until seeds crack.

4) Add Tamarind paste,Coriander power ,Turmaric power, (Chilli powder,ground nuts,sesame,greenchillis) powder,required amount of water and cook on heat for 10 mins.

5) Finaly add Coriander leaves.

Drumsticks Pulusu

2009-03-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
Drum sticks - 3
Tomoto's -2
Tamarind - 50g
Mango - 1 (small size)
Onions - 1
Chilli powder - 2 teaspoons
Garlic ginger paste - 1 teaspoon
Coriander power - 1 teaspoon
Turmaric power - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 2 teaspoons
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves
Salt to taste

Method:
1) Soak 50g of Tamarind for 5min to take paste.Heat 2 Tablespoon sun flower oil in a pan add few chilli flakes, curry leaves & onion pieces fry for 30 seconds. Add garlic & ginger paste make sure not to burn the garlic.

2) Add tomoto pieces,drum stick pieces,mango and salt cook until all tomotos are almost cooked.

3) Add Tamarind paste,Coriander power ,Turmaric power, Chilli powder,required amount of water and cook on heat for 10 mins.

4) Finaly add Coriander leaves.

Drumsticks Tomoto Curry

2009-03-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
Drum sticks - 3
Tomoto's - 6
Onions - 1
Chilli powder - 2 teaspoons
Garlic ginger paste - 1 teaspoon
Garam masala powder - 1 teaspoonCoriander leaves
Curry leaves
Oil - 2 teaspoons
Salt to taste

Method

1) Heat 2 Tablespoon sun flower oil in a pan add few chilli flakes, curry leaves & onion pieces fry for 30 seconds. Add garlic & ginger paste make sure not to burn the garlic.

2) Add tomoto pieces and salt cook until all tomotos are almost cooked

3) Add drum stick pieces, Garam masala powder and cook on low heat for 4 to 5 mins ( Add water if required)

4) Add Chilli powder and Coriander leaves

The Money We Waste on Food

2009-02-24T15:56:00.000-08:00

Nice article about wasting food.

http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/the-money-we-waste-on-food/

Roti - Flat Indian Bread

2009-01-28T22:36:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

* 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup lukewarm water (Use more if required)
* Oil
* 1/4th cup whole-wheat flour for rolling
Method
1) Mix flour, salt and water to make a soft dough by adding more water as needed, cover and keep aside for 10 mins or more

2) Make the dough into 8 equal balls, take each ball and press with dry flour and roll it to a 6 inch circle by dusting it with the dry flour whenever you feel it is sticking.

3) Heat a skillset and place the Roti and once it starts puffing turn it other side by pressing the Roti either with spatula or with hand using the paper towel. You should see light brown spots on both sides of the Roti

4) Spread butter and keep in a covered container

Notes

> Iron skill sets works best for making Rotis
> always keep the rotis covered so that they will not become hard
> Rotis can be kept outside by wrapping with aluminium foil upto 2 days and can be refrigerated upto a week and heat in microwave before eating

Mushroom With Peas

2009-01-28T22:13:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

3 cups of fresh mushrooms (chopped into bite size pieces)
1 cup green peas
1 tablespoon Oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
pinch of asafoetida
2 medium tomatoes
2 to 3 green chillies
1 " piece ginger
2 Tablespoons grated coconut
1 teaspoon garam masala
Salt to taste
Method

1) Blend tomatoes, green chillies, coconut and ginger into paste and keep aside.

2) Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and once they crack add asafoetida and turmeric powder add tomato paste and cook until oil separates from the paste and then add salt, chopped mushrooms and peas

3) Cook for 10 mins by stirring in between and add garam masala at the end.

Serve hot with Roti/Chapati/Puri/White Rice

Bottle gourd(Sorakaya) Fry

2009-01-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

3 cups Bottle gourd chopped into bitesize pieces
1/2 teaspoon Mustad seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
few curry leaves(optional)
Pinch of Turmeric powder & Asafoetida
1 Tablespoon Oil
Salt to taste

For podi (Powder)
1/2 cup dry roasted ground nuts (pea nuts)
2 tsp Chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
3 to 4 cloves of garlic
Method

1) Make a powder of the powder ingredients. Powder need not be very smooth.

2) Heat Oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add cumin seeds, asafoetida, turmeric powder, curry leaves and fry for few seconds.Add the cut vegetables and cover and cook until they are soft.

3) Add the podi and salt. Fry for a couple of minutes until the vegetables are coved with powder.

Serve as a side dish with rice or Roti

Spinach Dal (with Moong dal)

2009-01-28T18:24:00.001-08:00

Ingredients:

* 1 cup moong dal
* 2 cup spinach chopped
* 1 teaspoon grated ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
* 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
* 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (adjust to your taste)
* salt to taste

For seasoning

* 2 tablespoon ghee or clarified butter
* 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
* Pinch of asafetida
* 4 whole red chilies

Method:

1. Pressure Cook Dal with Spinach, ginger, turmeric, salt and 4 cups of water (Add more water to your consistency)
2. Add Lemon juice or garam masala
3. For seasoning, heat oil or ghee, add cumin seeds and once they crack add asafoetida and whole red chillies and pour over Dal and mix well

This can be served with Rice or Roti

Spinach Rice

2009-01-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

2 cups raw rice (cook in such a way that each grain is separate)
1 Big bunch of spinach leaves (chopped)

4 to 5 green chillies (adjust to your spice level)

1 large tomato chopped

1" piece ginger
1 Tablespoon Ghee(Clarified butter) or oil

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

pinch of asafoetida
whole spices (6 cloves, 1 " piece cinnamon stick -3, 6 cardamoms, 3 bay leaves)

Method

1) Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a pan add green chillies to it and fry for few seconds and then add chopped spinach and fry for 1 or 2 mins until the rawness disappears, take out of the flame and cool aside

2) Blend ginger, green chilli-spinach (need not be smooth paste) and keep aside.

3) Heat 1 tablespoon Ghee/oil, add whole spices, turmeric powder, asafoetida and fry for a minute and add the spinach paste and fry for 2 to 3 mins

4) Now add the tomatoes and fry for another 2 to 3 mins, add salt and mix this paste with rice.

Garnish with coriander leaves or cashew nuts and serve with Raita or plain Yogurt

Dhavanai Idly - Dosa

2009-01-28T15:15:00.001-08:00

This Recipe adopted from here and came out great and healthy too since it has got Dhals equally. I also made the Dosa with the leftover Batter. Sorry for Poor picture quality.

Ingredients

Urad dal (Black gram) – ½ cup
Channa dal (Bengal gram)-½ cup
Toor dal(Red Gram) -½ cup
Raw rice -1½ cup
For tempering
Mustard seeds -1 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Coconut ½ cup freshly grated
Ginger finely chopped.

Method
1) Total Dal quantity should be equal to Rice. Soak chana Dal&Toor Dal together and Urud Dal and Rice seperately for 2 hrs

2) Grind Chana Dal and toor Dal first, rice second and Urud Dal last and mix all of them with salt and ferment it overnight.

3) Heat oil in a pan splutter mustard seeds,urad dal,curry leaves, ginger and coconut . sauté it for few minutes and add to the batter. Grease any cup (I tried Glass and China) with Oil and fill with the batter and cook in steam until they are cooked (approximately 20 mins

I used Idly cooker and also pressure cooker without weight and both turned out good.

Take out the Idly with knife or spoon and serve hot with your favourite chutney/Sambar
Here is the Dosa I made with the left over batter

Pesarattu

2009-01-28T14:53:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

1 cup pesalu (whole green moong dal)
1 Tablespoon rice
small ginger piece
2 green chillis
1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
salt to taste
oil
Method

1) Soak Dal and Rice overnight or atleast 8 hours and Grind to a smooth paste by adding, ginger, green chillies, cumin seeds and salt. Do not make it too thin but similar to Dosa or pancake batter.

2) Grease a flat pan with some oil, pour the batter and spread it to make round shape and cook both the side until it turns light brown

3) Serve hot with your favourite chutney

Variations

You can also add chopped onions fried in little oil until transparent to the batter before making pesarattu

Dal Makhani

2009-01-28T11:09:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup whole urad dal (black gram dal)
* 1/8 cup red Rajma (kidney beans)
* 1 teaspoon grated ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
* 1/2 teaspoon mango powder (Amchoor)
* 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
* 1/4 cup cream
* salt to taste
* 1 Tablespoon Oil or Ghee
* 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
* Pinch of asafoetida
* 3 to 4 whole red chilies

Method
1) Soak Urad Dal and Rajma overnight and pressure cook in 4 cups of water by adding ginger, turmeric powder and salt until Dal and rajma are soft and tender

2) Mash the dal and rajma slightly and again cook in medium heat for about 5 mins, add cream, garam masala, amchoor powder and cook in low heat for another 10 mins.

3) For tempering, heat ghee or oil, splutter cumin seeds, add asafoetida and red chillies and mix with the Dal.

Garnish with grated ginger and Serve hot with Roti/Chapathis/Puris

Coconut Rice

2009-01-27T15:49:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

1 cup raw Rice (cooked in such a way that each grain is separate)
2 Tablespoons grated coconut (fresh/frozen)
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon urud dal (black gram dal)
1 teaspoon chana dhal (bengal gram dal)
2 tablespoons peanuts (ground nuts)
3 to 4 green/red chillies(adjust to your spice level)
pinch of asafoetida
few curry leaves
salt to taste
Method

1) Heat oil, fry urud dal, chana dal and ground nuts until they turn brown.

2) Add green/red chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida fry for few seconds

3) Finally add grated coconut and salt and mix with rice.

Serve with any vegetables curry/gravy or as it is.

Curd (Yogurt) Rice

2009-01-27T11:22:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

1/4th cup rice
1/4th cup broken wheat
1 teaspoon minced ginger
few mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
2 green chillies
1/2 teaspoon Oil
Curd (Yogurt) and salt
Method

Pressure Cook rice and broken wheat in 1 1/2 cup water and mash with Yogurt and salt. For tempering, heat 1/2 teaspoon oil splutter mustard seeds,add green chillies,ginger and curry leaves and fry for few seconds and mix this with the rice.

Serve cool with your favourite pickle.

Variations

You can use half milk and half yogurt if you like to reduce the sour taste and 3/4th milk and 1/4th Yogurt if you are going to eat the rice after many hours

Aloo Jeera

2009-01-24T15:27:00.000-08:00

This is very easy to make. No need to keep stirring in a pan and keep watching all the time to make sure it will not burn.

Here is the recipe
Ingredients

4 medium Potatoes chopped thin and long along with skin
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
salt to taste
1 Tablespoon oil
Method

1) Add oil and cumin seeds to the microwave safe container and heat at high for 1 min

2) Now add chopped potato and chilli, coriander and turmeric powders along with salt and mix them nicely and cover and cook in microwave until it is cooked. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

You can use this as a side dish with rice or Rotis/chapathis.

It got cooked in 12 mins for me and i just stirred once inbetween. It turned out very tasty and I just spent less than 5 mins totally.

Tips

I used a big rectangular shaped microwave safe container which has cover so that all the potato pieces are separate and will cook evenly and also no need to stir many times in between to allow the pieces at the bottom to cook.

You can add paprika(mild chilli powder) instead of chilli powder and can give kids as it is.

Pasta with Peas and pasta sauce

2009-01-23T11:14:00.000-08:00

This is very easy to make and my daughter likes this and eats a lot. so when I am tired and don't know what to give I will make this.

Ingredients

1 cup Pasta
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt to taste
pasta sauce

Method

1) Pressure cook pasta with some salt and 3 to 4 cups of water, drain the water and keep aside

2) Heat Olive oil, add peas and cook for 3 to 4 mins and add pasta sauce and cooked pasta and mix. Adjust the salt.

You can also add some cheese powder at the end.

Bisibela bath with Broken Wheat

2009-01-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

This is a healthy and tasty dish and tastes as good as the one which we make with rice and also good for health to consume wheat more than rice especially for diabetic people. I made this last night and liked it very much and brought the same for today’s lunch too. Easy alternative for chapattis at nights. It is always a healthy idea not to eat rice at nights so we can make dishes with broken wheat or pasta as alternatives instead of spending lot of time for making rotis/chapathis.

Ingredients

1 cup broken wheat
1/2 cup Red gram dal (Tur dal)
Vegetables - Beans, Peas and Carrot - chopped
Tamarind- a small lemon size
1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
1 teaspoon Urud Dal (Black gram dal)
Curry leaves (optional)
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder
pinch of asafoetida
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Oil

1 1/2 Tablespoon Bisibela bath mix powder

Or make Bisibela bath mix (paste) with the below ingredients

1 teaspoon Bengalgram dal
1 teaspoon Urud Dal (Blackgram dal)
1/2 teaspoon Coriander seeds
2 whole Red chillis
small piece of Cinnamon
2 Cloves
2 Cardamom
3 teaspoons grated Coconut

Method

1) Clean Dal and pressure cook with broken wheat in 3 to 4 cups of water. It is a good practice to soak Dal for 15 mins to 30mins in water before cooking so that Dal cooks soon and soft.

2) Extract the juice from tamarind and keep aside. Heat tamarind with water in microwave for a min and extract juice immediately instead of waiting for tamarind to soak in water

3) Heat Oil, splutter mustard seeds, add urud dal and once it turns brown add curry leaves, turmeric powder and asafetida and fry for few secs

4) Add chopped veggies fry for couple of mins and then add Bisibela bath mix (readymade or homemade paste) and 1 cup of water and cook until vegetables are cooked. Now add tamarind juice, cooked wheat/Dal, salt. Mix and cook in medium-low heat for another 5 mins.

Garnish with coriander leaves and ghee and serve hot.

Vegetable Sandwich

2009-01-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

Vegetable sandwich for today's lunch. Very quick and easy to make. I like the sandwich maker i bought recently which really makes a crispy sandwiches without using any oil. If you are going to eat fresh then you can use spicy coriander chutney as a spread or if you want to pack for a lunch then you can avoid this to maintain the crispy texture.

I am sure even without using the sandwich maker this tastes good as it is.

I used sliced cucumber, black olives, sliced yellow bell peppers and sliced beetroot to fill in the sandwich. Also used coriander chutney as a spread last night for eating fresh and did not use the same to bring for lunch. Also white bread tastes great for this sandwich but you can use wheat bread which is more healthy. I used white :-)
Ingredients to make 2 sandwiches

Your choice of chopped vegetables
4 bread slices
coriander chutney
chat masala
salt and pepper

Method

Spread coriander chutney to 2 slices and arrange veggies on the other 2 slices by spreading salt, pepper and chat masala. sandwich the slices and eat as it is or use sandwich maker until they turn brown and crispy

Chickpeas Soup

2009-01-22T10:53:00.000-08:00

Chickpeas soup is another tasty and healthy soup i made last night

Ingredients

1/2 cup chickpeas(soaked overnight and pressure cooked)
1 green chilli
small piece of ginger (1 teaspoon grated)
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
salt and pepper to taste

Method

1) Heat oil and throw in cumin powder and rest of the ingredients, fry for a min.

2) Cool and grind to a paste with some water. Strain the liquid to the same pan with a strainer and add more water if required and bring to boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

server hot with croutons of your choice

Notes

Make sure the green chilli is very small and do not add more than one. We can add pepper to adjust the taste but if chilli is more we cannot do anything except throwing the soup. Even without chilli it will taste good. So think about your spice level and decide whether to add chilli or not

Tomato Rice

2009-01-21T16:46:00.000-08:00

Here is the Tomato rice which i made for today's lunch.

Ingredients

2 cups raw rice (cook with less water in such a way each grain is separate)

4 large tomatoes
1 Tablespoon grated ginger or 1 " piece of ginger
4 to 5 green chillies (adjust to taste)
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 Tablespoon oil
whole spices (4 cloves, 1" piece cinnamon sticks -3, 4 cardamoms, 3 bay leaves)
salt to taste

Method

1) Blend tomatoes, ginger and green chilli into paste

2) Heat oil, fry whole spice for few seconds and add the ground paste and fry until oil separates from the paste. It takes around 5 to 6 mins and the quantity reduces to half.

3) add coriander powder, salt and mix with the rice.

server hot with Raita

Variations

1) You can add chilli powder if required
2) You can fry crushed garlic & chopped onions before adding the paste after frying whole spices.
3) You can add curry leaves too along with the whole spices

Beetroot-Carrot soup

2009-01-21T16:38:00.000-08:00

I am trying various soups to replace dinner so these trails with different vegetables. Last night soup is with Beetroot and Carrot. Turned out great taste and color too.

Ingredients

2 Beetroots chopped
2 Carrots chopped
1/2 teaspoon Olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves of garlic (optional)
Dried Basil or Oregano to garnish (optional)

Method

1) Heal oil and add chopped vegetables and garlic and fry for 1 to 2 mins. Pressure cook with 1 cup of water, cool and blend to a smooth puree

2) Bring the puree to boil by adding 2 more cups of water, salt and pepper at the end.

3) Garnish with Dried basil or Oregano and serve hot with your favorite bread

Variations:

1) Add the lemon juice at the end if required.
2) you can avoid using garlic if you don't like them
3) You can also add a green chilli to compensate the sweet taste of Beet, i added more pepper and tasted good.

Idly Manchurian

2009-01-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

Idli Manchurian is another way to consume left over idlies apart from making Idly Upma. Since I want to avoid taking too much oil i am not frying the idly pieces but if using oil is okay then one can fry the idly pieces in oil.

Ingredients

8 Idlis (each idli cut into 4 pieces)

1 medium size onoin chopped
Ginger-Garlic paste
1 tablespoon Chilli sauce (or adjust to taste)
1 tablespoon soysauce
2 Tablespoons tomatosauce
2 Tablespoons Oil
1 teaspoon Paprika(mild chilli powder)
small bunch of spring onions chopped (white and green parts seperated)
salt to taste
Method

1) Spray 1 Tablespoon oil and paprika on idly pieces and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 mins

2) Heat remaining oil in a pan, add ginger-garlic paste and fry for couple of mins and then add chopped onions and fry until they turn transparent

3) Add chilli-soy-tomato sauce and salt. make sure not to add much salt since Idly itself will have salt already. Fry for 3 to 4 mins and then add baked Idlies and fry for another 2 to 3 mins

4) Garnish with spring onions and serve hot.

I am sure kids will love this and also people who feel bored to eat Idly always. It is not very tough to make if you have all the sauces ready.

Bell Pepper Soup (Capcicum)

2009-01-20T12:39:00.000-08:00

This is another soup which i tried and is a big hit. Quick and healthy made with very less & fresh ingredients. I used 1 yellow and 1 red pepper, but it is okay to use both red or both yellow. I felt this is the best way we can consume healthy vegetables. This soup with a your choice of bread makes a complete healthy low fat meal. Good for weight watchers.

Ingredients

2 large peppers chopped, 1 Yellow and 1 red (capcicum)
2 garlic cloves peeled
1 small onion (1/2 cup chopped)
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
salt to taste

Method

1) heat Oil olive and throw in cumin powder, add chopped onion and fry for a minute and then add chopped red and yellow bell peppers, garlic and cover and cook in medium-low heat for around 10 mins

2) Once the ingredients are cooled, blend them into smooth paste with 2 cups of water and Strain the juice to the same pan you used for frying the veggies.

3) Bring the soup to boil, add salt and pepper. At the end add dried Basil and serve Hot with your choice of bread

Notes:

You can avoid garlic/Onion if you don't prefer to eat

Coriander (Cilantro) Rice

2009-01-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

2 cups raw rice (cook in such a way that each grain is separate)

2 bunches of coriander (Cilantro) leaves (chopped)
4 to 5 green chillies (adjust to your spice level)
2 Tablespoons grated coconut
1 large tomato chopped
4 cloves garlic
1" piece ginger

1 Tablespoon Ghee(Clarified butter) or oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
pinch of asafoetida

whole spices (6 cloves, 1 " piece cinnamon stick -3, 6 cardamoms, 3 bay leaves)
Method

1) Keep the rice in Pressure cooker. Soaking the rice in water for about 15 to 30 min before cooking gives soft rice but if you don't have time to soak it is okay to cook as it is. I soak only when I have time and not always.

2) clean 2 bunches of coriander leaves and chop roughly.

3) Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a pan add green chillies to it and fry for few seconds and then add coriander leaves and fry for 1 or 2 mins until the rawness disappears, take out of the flame and cool aside

4) Blend ginger, garlic, coconut, green chilli-coriander to a smooth paste and keep aside.

5) Heat 1 tablespoon Ghee/oil, add whole spices, turmeric powder, asafoetida and fry for a minute and add the coriander paste and fry for 2 to 3 mins

6) Now add the tomatoes and fry for another 2 to 3 mins, add salt and mix this paste with rice. garnish with coriander leaves or cashew nuts and serve with Raita or plain Yogurt