Sweet / Sakkara Pongal

It is a popular dish and famous in South India. Jaggery is the main ingredients for this dish and which has rich in Iron. Comparatively with sugar, jaggery is a healthy ingredient and which is really good for us.

 It’s mainly prepared during Pongal festivals. We love this dish and having this with melted ghee and cashews you may feel the nice aroma and very good taste…

Ingredients

Rice – 1 cup

Moong Dal – ½ cup

Jaggery – 2 cup

Pepper – a pinch

Grated Coconut – 5 tsp

Milk – 2 cups

Ghee – ½ cup

Saffron – a pinch

Water – 5 cups

Cashew Nuts – 5 tsp

Raisins – 3 tsp

Cardamom Powder – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

Wash and soak the rice with milk for about 30 minutes.

Then take it out and boil rice with salt and moong dal in pressure cook with 5 cups of water. Cook the rice till it cooks well.

Then add milk and cook till rice is mushy and becomes soft.

Add little water with jaggery and heat on a low flame for till it dissolved in water completely.

Then add jaggery mix into rice and mix well with spoon.

Now add pepper powder, saffron, cardamom powder and grated coconuts then mix well.

In a pan, heat ghee. Add cashew nuts, raisin and fry for few seconds.

Then transfer these nuts into rice and mix well. Finally switch off the flame.

Ready to serve this dish!!!

Wheat Puttu

It’s very healthy and easy to make. Normally puttu has to be prepared with rice flour. This is somewhat different and gives nice taste. Kids love to have this dish.

This won’t take much time to prepare. When you have this puttu with fried coconut and nuts you feel the crunchiness and definitely it is one of the delicious snack recipes…

Here is the recipe...

Ingredients

Wheat Flour – 2 cup

Grated Coconut – 1 cup

Sugar – 3 cup

Cashew Nuts – ½ cup

Dry Grapes – ¼ cup

Cardamom Powder – 1 tsp

Ghee – ½ cup

Salt to taste (1/2 tsp)

Warm Water – ½ cup

Method

In a bowl, add warm water and salt, mix it until the salt completely dissolves in water.

In another big bowl, add wheat flour and sprinkle this water little by little and make it into scrambled form and wet enough for steaming.

Add this into Idli cooker let it is for another 15 minutes on medium flame.

Then switch off the flame and let it cool down completely.  Now transfer this mix into big plate.

And break the lumps into fine powder. Then add sugar with this mix.

 If you can’t do it properly by using with your hands, try to follow this simple method.

In a blender add everything (wheat mix and sugar), and grind it as a fine powder.

In a pan, heat ghee. Then fry cashew nuts, dry grapes, cardamom powder and grated coconut one by one.

Now add the wheat fine powder and fry for few minutes.

Then switch off the flame. Ready to serve!

Coconut Chutney (With Cashew Nuts)

Coconut chutney is one of the great and must accompaniment for many South Indian dishes. It is made with some natural and fresh raw food that can taste extremely wonderful when prepared with right spices and ingredients.

It is a perfect combination for idli/dosa/ vada/uttapam/ adai/ pogal/upma…

(For Chutney)

Grated Coconut – 1 cup

Roasted Channa Dal – 3 tsp

Chopped Green Chilli – 2

Red Chilli – 3

Chopped Ginger – 1 piece

Cashew Nuts – ¼ cup

Tamarind – small sized ball

Chopped Coriander Leaves – few

Hing – a pinch

Salt to taste

(For Temper)

Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp

Curry Leaves – few

Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

Urad Dal – 1 tsp

Method

In a blender, add all the ingredients which are under” for chutney” with enough water to make as fine coarse paste and keep it aside in a separate bowl.

In a pan, heat oil. Add the ingredients one by one which are under “for temper”, then transfer this into chutney bowl. And switch off the flame.

Serve with hot idli/dosa…

Gobi/Cauliflower Pakora

It is very popular and tasty deep fried snack served with tea or coffee.  Adding jeera makes pakora gives an extra kick and taste. I have added omam, it helps indigestion. My son likes to have lot pakoras…

Ingredients
Cauliflower – 1 (Medium)
Besan / Chick Pea flour/ Gram Fl our – 2 cups
Rice Flour – 1/2 cup
Cumin Seeds – 2 tsp
Hing – 1 tsp
Caram Seeds – 1 tsp
Chilli Powder – 1 ½ tsp
Oil for deep fry
Salt to taste
Method
In a medium bowl, add besan, rice flour, chilli powder, hing, and carom seeds, salt with water. Then mix it well.
To avoid lump, you can grind it everything together in a mixer grinder. This batter should be too thin or thick. It should be in right consistency.

Wash and Clean cauliflower florets and let it be for 15 minutes in hot water.
Then take it out and dip the gobi pieces in mixture, so that it gets the coating on all sides.
Heat oil in a pan, when its hot deep fry this gobi pieces and transferred into serving bowl.
You could use paper towel to remove excess oil from this gobi pakora. The hot cauliflower pakora is ready to serve.

Prawn/Shrimp Gravy

It’s one of my favorite dishes. And it is very easy and tasty dish which can be prepared quickly. This gravy should give a thick consistency and I have added creamy cashew paste.

This is delicious prawn gravy which goes well with steamed 

rice/biryani/fried rice/ idli/dosa/chapatti/roti…

Ingredients

Prawn /Shrimp – ½ kg

Chopped Onions – 2 (big)

Chopped Tomatoes – 1 cup

Chilli Powder –  1 and ½ tsp

Coriander Powder – 1 and ½ tsp

Cumin Powder – ½ tsp

Fennel Powder – ½ tsp

Salt to taste

To Temper

Vengaya vadagam – ½ tsp

Curry Leaves – few

Chopped Coriander Leaves – few

Mint Leaves – few

Oil - 2 tsp

(For Paste)

Coconut – 6 tsp

Cashew – 3 tsp

Curd – 2 tsp

Method

Clean and wash the prawns properly in water and keep it aside.

In a blender add all the ingredients which are under ”for paste” and grind it as coarse paste then keep it aside.

Heat oil in a kadai, add all the ingredients which are under ‘to temper” one by one.

Add chopped onions and fry till it turns golden brown in color. 

Then add prawns, salt and fry well on a low flame for about 5 minutes.

Now add chopped tomatoes and fry till it becomes mushy. Add fennel powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder and mix well.

Then add 2 cups of water and keep cook on medium flame for about 10 to 15 min.

Now add the coconut paste and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Then switch off the flame and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Bitter Gourd Curry

It is an easy normal recipe and has many medicinal benefits. To prepare this delectable and delicious bitter gourd curry, firstly slice the bitter gourd into thin pieces.

Apply salt and keep aside for about half an hour. This reduces the bitterness from this veggie. This goes well with steamed rice/tamarind rice/lemon rice/curd rice…

Ingredients

Bitter Gourd – 3

Finely Sliced Onions – 2(big)

Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Coriander Powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp

Garam Masala – 1 tsp

Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tsp

Tamarind Water – 1 cup

Jaggery – a small piece

(To Saute)

Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

Urad Dal – ½ tsp

Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp

Butter – 2 tsp

Oil – 1 tsp

Chopped Curry Leaves – few

Chopped Coriander Leaves – few

Method

Clean and wash the bitter gourd, then remove the edges. Slice the bitter gourd thinly and remove the seeds. Apply salt and keep aside for 15 to 30 minutes.

Heat butter in a kadai, and fry all bitter gourds then keep it aside.

Heat oil in a kadai, and add mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds one by one.

Add the sliced onions, curry leaves and coriander leaves and fry till onion turns golden brown.

Add the fried bitter gourds and mix well. Then add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, salt and mix well.

Now add jaggery, tamarind water and cook till it turns soft. Then add another tsp of butter and fry well on a low flame.

Once it done, then switch off the flame. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Aloo Podi Curry

It’s a great dish. I prepared this podi by home itself . It gives very good taste to this dish. You can use this podi for any veggie fry or varuval. You can keep this podi in a tight container and use for any other recipes. This goes well with steamed rice/ idli/dosa…

Ingredients
(For Podi)
Bengal gram/channa dhal - 2 tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds – 1-1/2 tsp
Dry Red chillies- 8
Hing - small piece
Salt to taste
(For Curry)
Chopped Onions – 1 (big)
Toor Dal – 1/4 cup
Chopped Tomatoes – 1(big)
Boiled Potatoes – 1 cup (cubed)
Chopped Drumstick – 10 pieces
(For Saute)
Coriander Leaves – few
Curry Leaves – few
Vengaya Vadagam – 1 tsp
(For Paste)
Coconut – 4 tsp
Cashew – 2 tsp
Curd – 2 tsp
Method
Dry roast all the ingredients except salt, cool it and grind slightly coarsely with salt.
In a pressure cooker, cook toor dal till 3 to 5 whistles comes out.
In a kadai, heat oil. Add chopped onions, fry till it becomes mushy.
Then add chopped tomatoes fry another 2 to 3 minutes. Then add 3 tsp of podi and mix well.
Now add boiled potatoes and drumstick pieces then fry for a minute.
In a blender add all the ingredients which are under “for paste” and grind it as a coarse paste.
Then add cooked toor dal and 1 cup of water. Let it cook for 5 to 10 minutes on a low flame.
Finally add the cashew paste and cook for another 2 minutes.
In a pan, heat oil. Add vengaya vadagam, curry leaves and chopped coriander leaves and saute for few seconds.
Then switch off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Palak/Spinach Kofta

Palak/Spinach Kofta

Here is the simple and quick palak kofta recipe. Palak is very healthy to eat. Normally we used to prepare poriyal, kootu… but it’s really different and nice to have.

My recent trail was this palak kofta which turned out to be delicious. It is very soft and really good with the gravy.

This goes well with chapatti, roti, idli, dosa and fried rice…

Ingredients

(For Gravy)

Spinach Puree – 1 bunch

Red Onion Paste – 2 (big)

Tomato Paste – 2 (big)

Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder – ½ tsp

Cashew Curd Paste – 1/5 cup

Salt to taste

(For Kofta)

Mashed Boiled Potatoes – 1 cup

Chopped Spinach Leaves – 1 cup

Grated Paneer – 3 tsp

Chopped Green Chilli – 3

Crushed Ginger & Garlic – 1 tsp

Corn Flour – 4 tsp

Bread Crumbs – ¼ cup

Oil for deep fry

Salt to taste

(To sauté)

Butter – 4 tsp

Jeera/cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Chopped Coriander Leaves – few

Method

(For kofta)

Take all the ingredients which are under “for kofta” and make a lemon sized is corn balls.

Add little water into corn flour in a small bowl. Then take a kofta ball and dip into this corn mix. Then roll them in bread crumbs and 

deep fry in oil.

(For gravy)

Heat oil in a kadai, add cumin seeds let it be for few seconds.

Now add onion paste, and fry for 5 minutes on a low flame. It should not burn.

Then add crushed ginger and garlic and fry for few sec. Then add red chilli powder and salt.

Add tomato puree; let it cook another 5 min on a low flame.

Now add palak puree and mix everything together and then the raw smell goes well.

Then add the cashew paste into this gravy. Add 1 cup of water and garam masala. Then mix well, close the lid and keep cook on a low flame.

Finally add the kofta into spinach gravy. This should be observed by the gravy.

Wow.... Serve with chapatti!!!

Urad Dal Chutney

It’s a simple & very easy to prepare. This chutney is good for health. Especially for women, this should be one of the best food(Mensural and pregnancy) times. Its goes well with hot steamed rice, idi, dosa… You can use this chutney with ghee and papad.

Ingredients
Dry Red Chilli – 10
Urad Dal – ¼ cup

Tamarind – small sized ball

Grated Coconut – 1/2 cup

Sesame Oil – 2 tsp

Salt to taste

(To Temper)

Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

Urad Dal – ½ tsp

Red Chilli – 2

Curry Leaves – few

Sesame Oil – 1 tsp

Chopped Coriander Leaves – few

Method

In a pan, heat a tsp of oil. And add red chilli then fry for a min.

Now add urad dal and fry till it turns slight golden brown in color.

Then add tamarind ball and fry for few seconds, and then take it out.

Now add grated coconut and fry till it turns golden brown in color.

Then switch off the flame. Let it completely cool down for another 15 minutes.

In a blender, add all the ingredients and grind it well by adding little bit salt.

In a pan, heat sesame oil. Then add mustard seeds, red chilli, curry leaves and chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot chutney with idli/dosa...