Friday, April 24, 2009

Paruppu poli

For the filling:
jaggery - 3 cups
chana dal - 2 cups
coconut - 1 cup

Dough:
maida (all purpose flour) - 2 cups
turmeric - 1/2 spoon
salt - 1 pinch

oil and ghee

Filling:
Soak chana dal overnight and boil in pressure cooker with water at half the level of the dal (8-10 whistles). Grind dal with coconut and litle water and add jaggery and blend. Heat the mixture with 2 spoons of ghee till it balls up and comes together like a dough.

Dough:
To prepare the dough, mix flour, turmeric and salt with water and add oil until it is non-stick and comes together.

Take marble size dough and a ping ball size of filling and stuff and stretch with oil greased hands. Cook in tava till brown patches appear.

Alternate filling:
Bring coconut and jaggery together in a heated pan until they reach ball consistency.

Thattai

Makes 10-12 thattais

rice flour - 1 cup
roasted urad flour 1/4 cup
sesame seeds - 2 tbsp
soaked bengal gram (chana dal) to taste
asafoetida - to taste
chilli powder and salt - to taste
butter - 1 tbsp

Make a stiff dough and flatten to palm size discs on cloth. The cloth removes some moisture to enable easy frying. Fry till cooked, stiff and crisp in medium-low flame.

Aapam

Makes 20-25 Aapams

Ingredients:
Raw rice (2 cups)
parboiled rice - 1 cup
Poha (flattened rice) - 1 cup
cooked rice (1/2 to 1 cup)
whole urad dal (black gram lentils) - 1/4 cup
fenugreek - 1/2 tsp
coconut - 1 tbsp - 1/4 cup (optional)
salt to taste

Grind to a very smooth paste in the grinder. Ferment until it at least doubles in volume.
Swirl in hot rounded pan and close with lid to steam.

Serve with coconut milk/stew/kurma/vadai curry

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Quick dinner??















I know. I know. Miracles do happen and I will have a recipe to share every so often.
Alright. This dish was a total experiment and I think it turned out OK(or I was very hungry). It is super quick to make, has a decent amount of vegetables, not overcooked and is yummy.

To make rice, start cooking basmati rice in a cooker and when it is half cooked add a lot of chopped green onions, some lime juice and a couple of pinches of salt.

Chop baby carrots, red potatoes, cauliflower and string beans. Cook for potatoes thoroughly in microwave but half cook everything else in microwave.
Add very little olive oil in a pan, some italian seasoning add the veggies and eggs (optional). Let egg got cooked around the veggies or cook till veggies are hot if you didn't add eggs. Add salt and pepper. Add some paste sauce. (I bought something is Safeway called tomato, herb and parmesan. the fresh type not the bottles ones)
Done!

Just Serve over rice.