Saagu

Saagu is a vegetable curry sort of gravy. In Bangalore, it is commonly served with Set Dosa or Rava Idli or sometimes even with Poori's.

It is a great way to get your daily serving of vegetables when having dosa or rava idli instead of just the daily serving of potatoes ;-) It's one of the few south-Indian dishes that my hubby will gobble up and ask for more.

Here goes:
A few things:
- All vegetables are chopped small.. maybe a 1cmX1cm cube size
- All vegetables shopped to the same size will ensure that things cook evenly.
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped Chayote squash (Seeme badnekai in Kannada)
- 1 cup chopped potatoes
- 1 cup chopped bell peppers
- 1 cup chopped green beans / 1 cup chopped yellow squash/ 1 cup chopped zucchini
- 1 cup peas.
- 1 inch piece whole cinnamon
- 1.5 tbsp whole coriander seeds
- 2 cloves
- 2 black pepper corns
- 1 tsp poppy seeds (optional)
- 1/4 cup fresh/frozen coconut(you could add more if you like it very coconut-y)
- 2 tbsp roasted channa daal (dalia)
- 2-3 green chillies (I say, more the merrier- if you can handle it)
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- Tamarind (paste or whole). I use whole tamarind, and end up taking a ball of inch diameter
For seasoning:
- 1 tbsp oil
- Black mustard seeds - 1tsp
- curry leaves - 10
- Asafoetida (optional) - a pinch

You can add almost any vegetable, I just make sure I add potatoes, 1 squash of any kind, peas, and bell peppers, the rest - feel free to substitute with whatever you want. - Its a great way of getting rid of that stray carrot or squash lurking at the back of your crisper.

Pressure cook all vegetables (except onion) with salt and a pinch of turmeric. 1 whistle is usually enough, remember, we are making saagu and not pav bhaji. On the bright side, if you do end up over cooking the vegetables to a mush.. there is always pav bhaji!


Now for the curry paste:

Dry roast the cinnamon, cloves, poppy seeds, pepper corns and whole coriander seeds until they are fragrant. Cool down.
Grind, coconut, green chillies, ginger, tamarind and roasted channa daal and the roasted spices with enough water to create a paste.

This curry paste will give you a green curry. Some people make a red curry. They use dried red chillies instead of green chillies. If you want to go that route, roast the red chillies with the rest of the dry spices. I think about 5 red chillies should be enough. Also, skip the dalia (roasted channa dal). Instead, roast about 2 tsbp of raw split channa daal until it starts turning brown, and grind this along with the rest of the ingredients.

Once the paste is ready and the vegetables are cooked, we are ready to bring it all together.

- Heat 1 tsbp oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, add asafoetida, mustard seeds, curry leaves.
- Add onions and cook until transparent.
- Then add the curry paste and heat it for a couple of minute stirring constantly.
- Now add the cooked vegetable.
- Add water if needed to bring it to a curry consistency.
- Now let this boil for 5-10 mins on low heat to allow the tamarind to cook and the flavors to blend.

When one, garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.

Enjoy with dosa, set dosa, rava idli, poori or roti's.

Rajasthani Bharwan Bhindi (Stuffed Okra)

I have eaten and relished this dish on several occasions, but tried it out for the first time last week. Turned out to be very simple and pretty good.

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

What you'll need:
Fresh Okra - 1Kg
Besan (Roasted black-chickpea flour) - 3Tbsp
Oil - 3Tbsp + 2Tbsp
Kalongi (Onion Seeds) - 1tsp + 1tsp
Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp (or more depending how spicy you want it)
Coriander Seed Powder - 4 tsp
Amchoor (Dry Mango Powder) - 1 tsp
Saunf Powder (Fennel Seed powder) - 2 tsp
Salt to taste

And here's how you make it:
- Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan, when hot (not smoking), add onion seeds, and then the besan. Continue stirring until the besan is fragrant and changes color. Add the rest of the spices (chili powder, coriander powder, amchoor, saunf, salt) and stir well and roast for a minute more. - This roasted goodness will be the stuffing.
- While the stuffing cools, snip off ends of Okra. Slit the Okra (not into two pieces, just a slit so you can stuff it).
- Now stuff each okra making sure that the stuffing is divided as evenly as possible amongst the Okra.
- Heat a pan, add 2 tbsp of oil, add 1 tsp of onion seeds and all the stuffed Okra.
- Toss well so that all okra pieces are coated with oil.
- Cover the pan and lower heat (I lower it to 2-3). Let the Okra cook for about 10 mins. Stir occasionally.
- Check if the Okra is soft - it should be cooked by now. If not, cook longer until soft and cooked.
- Once cooked, uncover pan, and let Okra roast on low heat. stir occasionally to ensure all side get crisp.

- Thats about it. The longer you roast, the crispier it gets.

Enjoy. Do let me know how it turned out if you try it.

Oreo truffles

Hello!!!
Here is the link to the super simple recipe for Oreo truffles.
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/easy-oreo-truffles/Detail.aspx
The only thing I did different was, once I rolled the "dough" into balls, I let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. I think that helped the chocolate stick to them quick.
Also, I used the microwave to melt the chocolate chips instead of using a double boiler. The only thing to remember is to use the microwave on half power , check/stir the chocolate every few seconds and not to overheat since it burns easily.
Enjoy!!

Brussel sprouts and spring onion curry

Brussel sprouts - 1 lb

Spring onion - 1 bunch

Roma tomatoes - 2

Green chillies - 3-4

Cilantro - 1/4 bunch

Dhaniya powder - 1 tbs

Jeera powder - 1/2 tbs

Red chillies powder - 1/2 tbs

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Red chillies - 2

Canola oil - 3 tbs

Salt - to taste

Cut Brussel sprouts into two pieces lengthwise. Chop spring onions and tomatoes. In a kadai, heat oil and put mustard seeds, jeera and let them splatter and then add red chillies and fry for 2 mins. Add spring onion and green chillies and fry them for 5-6 mins and then add tomatoes and cook for 5 mins. Then add all dry powders ( dhania, jeera, red chilli, and salt) mix everything and fry for 5 mins and then add brussel sprouts. Cook till the sprouts are tender. add salt according to taste and when done garnish it with cilantro.

This goes well with rice or roti.

Thayir Semiya or Yogurt/Curd Vermicelli

Ingredients:

Vermicelli-1 cup

Curd/Yogurt- However thick or thin of consistency you want.

Mustard seeds-1/4 tsp

Green chillies-2 small, sliced

Ginger-small bit, minced finely

Curry leaves-few

Asafoetida-Few puffs

Fruits-Grapes optional

Cilantro-For garnish

Procedure:

1.Dry roast vermicelli until raw smell is gone. Now boil it in water and drain.

2. In a dry pan,add oil, mustard seeds, green chillies, ginger, asafoetida,curry leaves and allow to splatter. Now add the vermicelli and mix well.

3. Allow to cool and add curd/yogurt and garnish with cilantro and fruits.

4.Serve with pickle.

Wheat or Godumai Dosa

INGREDIENTS:

Wheat-1 cup

Rice flour-1/2 cup

Yogurt-1 cup

Salt

PROCEDURE:

1. Mix Wheat flour with rice flour and yogurt and water until it reaches a normal dosa batter consistency and pour on dosa pan.

2.Serve hot with onion chutney.

Rava Dosai

Ingredients:

Rava-1 cup

Maida/Wheat-1/4 cup

Rice Flour-1/2 cup

Onions-1/2 of a medium,Chopped

Green chillies-2 chopped

Ginger-1/4 inch-chopped

Pepper-1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp

Asafoetida-few puffs

Salt-As per taste

Curry leaves-Optional

Buttermillk or Yogurt-1 cup.

Procedure:

1. Mix Rava, maida/wheat and rice flour with salt and buttermilk/yogurt and some water until its really watery enough to pour into a thin dosa.

2.In a separate pan, saute onions, green chillies,ginger with cumin seeds,pepper corns, asafoetida and curry leaves and mix with the batter.

3.Pour in dosa pan and serve hot with chutney or Sambar.

Puli Milagai Pachadi (Sweet Sour and Spicy Chilli Pickle)

This is a good recipe when you have more chillies than you would ever want to taste in your food. 

Makes about 2 cups.

(Serrano) Green Chillies - 200 gms

Tamarind pulp - 1/4 cup (If using tamarind - size of 2 Indian lemons)

Jaggery - 2 tbsp

Roasted fenugreek powder - 1/2 tsp

Gingelly (sesame) oil - 1 tbsp

Asafoetida - a 

pinch

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Water - 3 cups

salt - to taste (about 1.5 tsp)

Handle green chillies with latex gloves to avoid burning. Make a slit on the narrow end of the chillies. If using big American chillies, you may need to cut them into two halves with slits. 

Add sesame oil (1 tbsp) to a non reactive vessel (due to acidic nature chillies and tamarind) and let the mustard seeds sputter. 

Add the slit green chillies. Saute them until white and brown spots appear. 

Add the water, salt, tamarind and set to boil.

While boiling, add jaggery and roasted fenugreek powder.

Taste for required blend of pepper heat, sweetness and sourness and remove from fire.

Enjoy with curds and parathas.

Note:

The spice level of the dish can be adjusted by type of chillies used, by using with seeds/deseeding (traditionally cooked with seeds) and adjusting the other ingredients in proportion (tamarind. jaggery and salt)

Sour Sour Cranberry Pickle

I ended up with one of those boxes of disgustingly sour cranberries. If I threw it away, I will have to squirm as DH pokes me on one more failed experiment in 'exotic' grocery shopping. So I decided to take advantage of the sourness, blend it with spice, oil and some flavor - the ideal recipe for a pickle.

Fresh cranberries - washed (but dry - with no moisture) 2 Cups

Curry leaves - 1/2 a cup or to taste

Dried Red Chillies - 10-12 or to taste

Urad Dal - 1-2 tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

Gingelly (Sesame) oil - 1/4 cup

Ginger - 2tsp grated

Salt to taste

Dry roast the Urad Dal, Red Chillies and fenugreek seeds and grind into a powder in a spice grinder

In a tablespoon of oil, lightly saute the curry leaves and transfer to mixer/blender.

In a tablespoon of oil, saute the cranberries until they burst open and mash up into a glob.

Grind with curry leaves, ginger and dry roasted spice blend.

Add oil, salt and ground blend to wok and stir with ladle until raw smell disappears and everything comes together (time spent in this stage depends on the quality of cranberries - the worse the quality the more time it spends on the flame to get rid of the edge (துவர்ப்பு))

The pickle goes well with parathas and curd rice.

Watermelon Iced tea

Ingredients:

Iced tea

Club Soda

Sugar

Mint leaves

Watermelon- made into small balls

Ice cubes

Procedure:

Mix above ingredients and serve chill. You can add vodka if you want to make it alcoholic.

Cool cool jal jeera drink

Ingredients:

Lemonade-1/2 bottle

Jal Jeera Powder1-2-3 tbsp according to taste

Mint leaves- A handful

Ice cubes- Handful

Procedure:

Mix the above ingredients in a punch bowl and serve cold.

Iced Coffee or Mocha Frappucino

Ingredients:

Vanilla Icecream-1/2 scoop

Instant Coffee powder-1 tsp

Milk-1/2 cup

Sugar-1 tbsp

Ice cubes-2 or 3 cubes

Procedure:

1.In a blender, add icecream,milk,instant coffee powder,sugar and ice cubes and blend until smoothe and foamy.

2.Pour in a glass and serve chill.

Saag Mushroom

Ingredients:

Baby Spinach-1 bundle or 1 box

Onion-1/2 of a medium ,grated

Serrano Chilli-1 or 2

Ginger-1/2 inch

Garlic-2-4 pods

Button Mushroom-6 to 8 nos cut

Tomato puree-1 tbsp

Half and Half or whipping cream-3 tbsp optional

Sour cream-1 tbsp

Honey-1 tbsp

Turmeric powder, Chilli powder, Garam Masala,Coriander powder- 1 tsp

Cumin seeds-2 tsp

Procedure:

1.In a chopper, grate onion,green chillies, ginger and garlic.Meanwhile boil spinach and grind coarsely.

2.In a pan, add oil of your choice,cumin seeds and let splatter. Now add the grated mixture and then add mushrooms. Let it fry until done. Now add tomato puree,honey, all the spice powders, salt and mix well with sour cream and optional cream or half and half.

3. Add the spinach puree and let boil until the water evaporates.

4.Serve hot with chapathis or naan.

Options:

You can substitute Mushrooms with Boiled Potatoes for Saag Aloo or tofu for Saag Tofu or Chicken for Saag Chicken or even chickpeas for Saag Channa.

Instant Mysore Bondas

Ingredients:

Maida-1 cup

Rava-1 tbsp

Rice Flour-1/4 cup

Baking soda-1/8cup or 1/2 tsp

Onions-1/2 small chopped

Buttermilk-As needed

Green chillies-1 or 2 according to taste

Black pepper corns-1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp

Cilantro-Little, chopped

Asafoetida-2 puffs

Salt-According to taste

Procedure:

1.Mix rava,maida,baking soda,rice flour,cumin,pepper corns,salt and asafoetida with buttermilk until it reaches a thick consistency and allow to stand for 10 minutes.

2.When ready to fry in oil,add vegetables and fry till done.

3.Serve with coconut chutney or ketchup.

Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients:

Sweet Potatoes-1 cut

Carrots-2 cut

Bell Peppers-1/2 cut

Beets-1 cut

Potatoes-1 cut

Balsamic Vinegar-1/2 tbsp

Olive Oil-1/4 tsp

Mushrooms-Few

Fresh Basil Leaves-Few cut

Salt and Pepper-To taste

Procedure:

1.Mix all ingredients in a baking dish.

2.Cook in oven at 350F for 40 minutes.

3.You can eat as appetizer, mix with pasta or have it as a sandwich with mozarella cheese slice and some fresh basil leaves.