Good old Attu~ Simply Homemade…..not really!!! April 3, 2008

Most of us dont like to do a lot of cooking on friday evenings or weekends..at least I dont. And I keep looking for ways to reduce my time to cook and cooks tasty things in less time. This recipe is simple and quick way of making something totally delicious and can serve as evening snack or as party appetitzer. 
 
Here is the recipe..
 
1 pack of Gits Rava Idli Mix/ left over homemade idli batter
1 medium size onion
4-5 Green chillies
Chopped Coriander
Finely chopped ginger
3-4 spring onions , finely chopped
2 pinches of salt to season
 

Method

• Follow the recipe written on back cover of the gits pack and mix it in water. Leave it on for 10-15 minutes.
• Meanwhile mix all chopped onions, chilli, coriander, tomatoes,spring onions and ginger, and add salt for light seasoning. if you have other vegetables that you want to add you can do that also. You can also try other seasonings like italian seasonings…  be creative!!
• Take a deep pan, add some oil and pour 1/4 cup batter and spread evenly and thickly.
• Take a spoonfull of above mix vegetables and spread evenly on the batter. Add few drops of oil around corners of attu and let the attu cook for 2-3 mins per side.
   
  you can make small pancake size attu or one big uthappam style attu…..the small attus of 2 inch diameter can be used excellent apetizer…
   
  This is a very low fat and light dish…unlike uthappam and it can be done very fast. Serve hot with any sambar or plain attu is as excellent tasting as with a companion..If you like spicy…try chopped jalopenos…Sure to blow wind out of your ears. Happy Cooking.

Good old idli.. March 5, 2008

From wikipedia..

The idli (IPA:?dl?i), also romanized “idly” or “iddly”, is a savory cake popular throughout South India. The cakes are usually two to three inches in diameter and are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils and rice.

Most often eaten at breakfast or as a snack, idli are usually served in pairs with chutney, sambar, or other accompaniments. Mixtures of crushed dry spices such as milagai podi are the preferred condiment for idlis eaten on the go.

Making idli batter and fermenting it is not at all rocket science!! The batter will ferment perfectly if the temperature is between 65-70F. The chutneys and sambhar varieties are so many that its difficult to keep count. I sometimes eat it with chintapandu tokku..which my mil had sent all the way from Hyderabad. It has the tangy tamarind taste with hot spice of red chillies. One lick and it blows your mind!!!

This is my official entry to Jugalbandi monthly click event 

For making perfect Idli batter the ingredients are -

1 cup minapappu or urad dal or black lentil
2 cups ground rice or cream of rice
A pinch of baking soda
1 tsp salt

• Wash the dal completely and soak it for 4 hrs.
• Again wash it and grind it thick. While grinding ural dal, wash and soak 2 cups of cream of rice in water.
• Once you  are done with grinding, transfer it into a big bowl. Now remove the water from the soaked cream of rice by pressing it hard inbetween your palms. This is a tedious process but its worth it.
• Now mix the batter well with (your hands of course) and add salt and baking soda and let it ferment.
• The batter size increases when it ferments nicely and emits a strange odour.
• Now comes the fun part, apply some oil on the idli plates and add 1 tbs of idli batter in each and let it steam cook for exactly 18 min. Serve hot with sambhar or coconut chutney. It tastes heavenly!!

 

Egg Chronicles February 29, 2008

Eggs are a rich source of protein and vitamins and are generally healthy to eat, unless you have a high cholesterol level. You can eat eggs raw (I never tried it though), boiled or cooked in a pan as scrambled eggs or an omelet. Generally it is advised not to eat the egg yolk as it is high in cholestrol.The egg white is the commong name for the clear liquid surrounding the egg yolk. It is highly rich in proteins and is of high nutritional value. I once tried to boil in a microwave and the poor microwave gave up on the egg haha..it blacked out! my conclusion..never try to boil an egg in mircowave!!!!

Here is one the funniest mail I got from one my friends..have fun!

Why did the chicken cross the road? 

(Hypothetical answers from various famous people).
(author unknown)

Ralph Nader
“Chickens are misled into believing there is a road by the evil tire makers. chickens aren’t ignorant, but our society pays tire makers to create the need for these roads and then lures chickens into believing there is an advantage to crossing them. Down with the roads, up with chickens.”

Pat Buchanan
“To steal a job from a decent, hardworking American.”

Dr. Seuss
“Did the chicken cross the road?
Did he cross it with a toad?
Yes! the chicken crossed the road,
but why it crossed, I’ve not been told!”

Bill Gates
“I have just released eChicken 2000, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook — and Internet Explorer is an inextricable part of eChicken.”

Ernest Hemingway
“To die. In the rain.”

Aristotle
“It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.”

Karl Marx
“It was a historical inevitability.”

Grandpa
“In my day, we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough for us.”

Saddam Hussein
“This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it.”

Ronald Regan
“What chicken?”

Captain James T. Kirk
“To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.”

Fox Mulder
“You saw it cross the road with your own eyes. How many more chickens have to cross before you believe it?”

Sigmund Freud
“The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying se***l insecurity.”

Senator Lieberman
“I believe that every chicken has the right to worship his or her God in his or her own way. Crossing the road is a spiritual journey and no chicken should be denied the right to cross the road in his or her own way.”

Jerry Falwell
“Because the chicken was gay! Isn’t it obvious? Can’t you people see the plain truth in front of your face?
The chicken was going to the ‘other side.’ That’s what ‘they’ call it — the ‘other side.’
Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And, if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too.
I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like ‘the other side.’
That chicken should not be free to cross the road. It’s plain and simple as that.”

Einstein
“Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road move beneath the chicken?”

Bill Clinton
“I did not cross the road with THAT chicken.
What do you mean by ‘chicken?’
Could you define “chicken” please.”

Louis Farrakhan
“The road, you will see, represents the black man. The chicken crossed the ‘black man’ in order to trample him and keep him down.”

The Bible
And God came down from the heavens, and He said unto the chicken, “Thou shalt cross the road.” And the chickens crossed the road, and there was much rejoicing.
 

Vermicelli Upma December 3, 2007

 

Ingredients

1 cup bambino vermicelli
1 cup diced Onion
2 diced green chillies
Curry leaves – 4 to 5
1 potato cut into pieces
1 cup boiled peas
1 cup diced carrot
half cup chopped spring onions
2 cups water

Popu or Tadka

1 teaspoon sanagapappu
1 teaspoon minapappu
1 teaspoon  mustard seeds
1 teaspoon  jeera
2 or 3 red chilli
half a teaspoon of ginger garlic paste
salt to taste

Method

Pour some vegetable oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add sanagapappu, minapapappu, jeera and red chillies. Stir well. Add onion, green chilies, curry leaves and ginger garlic paste and keep stirring until onions are transparent and soft. Add potato, peas and salt and let it cook for a while. Add spring onion. Now slowly add the wheat bran and mix well. Fry till vermicelli turns slightly brown. Now add 2 cups water and boil. Put a lid on the pan and let it cook for 10 min stirring in between.Garnish it with coriander leaves and server hot

Rava Upma November 28, 2007

Its one of the good old breakfast!! Here is the simple recipe.. 

 

Ingredients:

1 Cup Upma Rava
4 Green chilies
1 medium Onion
1/2 ” Piece Ginger
10 cashew nuts
Peanuts as required
Salt to taste
4 tbsp Oil or Ghee
Curry leaves
1tsp urad dal
1 tsp chana dal
2 red chilis Broken halved
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 1/2 cups water
 

Method

Take a pan and add half tsp ghee and fry rava till it becomes light brown in color. Keep it aside. Now chop onion into thin long pieces.Chop green chilis and ginger finely. Heat 2tsp oil in a pan,add chanadal,red chili,Urad dal muster seeds and fry till the dals turn into brown color. Add chopped oinon and ginger green chilis fry 2-3 mins,and Put curry leaves ,cashews and peanuts to it. Add wateand salt and stir it well.. Cover with a lid so that it comes to a boil.Allow it boil for 7-8 mins.
When the water comes to boil add 1 tsp ghee. Add the roasted rava slowly and keep stirring until it becomes thick. Put a lid on it and let it cook for at least 5 minutes.  Serve hot with the pickle or allam chutney.
 

Rawa Dosa November 2, 2007

Rawa Dosa

Ingredients

1 cup rawa
1/2 cup rice flour
A pinch soda bicarb
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup chopped coriander
3 chopped green chillies
Salt to taste

Method

Blend all the ingredients in a blender.  The batter should be of thin consistency. Add salt and soda bicarb and keep it aside for 15 minutes. Now take a griddle or a tava. Take a spoonful of the batter and spread it around. Apply some oil to the sides and keep turning it over till both the sides are gloden brown. Serve hot with coconut chutney or sambhar!

Wheat Bran upma or godumulu upma October 24, 2007

Wheat bran upma

I am sure all south indians are all familiar with semolina or rava upma. But there is another variety of upma too…goduma rava upma or wheat bran upma. Its highly nutritious and really tasty.

Here is the recipe :-

Cooking time 20-25 min

Ingredients

1 cup wheat bran
1 cup diced Onion
2 diced green chillies
Curry leaves – 4 to 5
1 potato cut into pieces
1 cup boiled peas
1 cup diced carrot
2 cups water

Popu or Tadka

1 teaspoon sanagapappu
1 teaspoon minapappu
1 teaspoon  mustard seeds
1 teaspoon  jeera
2 or 3 red chilli
half a teaspoon of ginger garlic paste
salt to taste

Method

Pour some vegetable oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add sanagapappu, minapapappu, jeera and red chillies. Stir well. Add onion, green chilies, curry leaves and ginger garlic paste and keep stirring until onions are transparent and soft. Add potato, peas and salt and let it cook for a while. Add 2 cups water and let it boil. Now slowly add the wheat bran and mix well. Put a lid on the pan and let it cook for 10 min stirring in between. After it is cooked, garnish it with coriander leaves and savour it!

Sandwich Tikki Squares October 12, 2007

Sandwich Tikki Squares

This is another quick breakfast recipe especially if you have kids. Kids generally spend a lot of time eating so they will definetly enjoy these little squares. I used  this amazing coriandar mint chutney or you can call it a spread. Here is the recipe..

Ingredients 

Coriander and Mint chutney or spread
2 bunches of coriander leaves
half cup chopped onion
two green chillies
1 tbs salt or salt to taste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
Half cup of curd or Butter milk
 
Method

Mix all the ingredients listed above in a grinder and grind them properly. It will be almost like a paste. Keep it aside.
 
Potato Stuffing

Ingredients

1 cup Boiled potatoes
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp dhaniya powder
1/2 tsp thinly cut green chillies
 
Method

Mash the boiled potatoes and add all the spices and green chillies. Mix them properly. You can add a spoon of corn flour in the potato mix. This will help in binding the mix. Take a spoonful of this mix and make small cakes or tikkis and fry them in a pan with vegetable oil till they are properly roasted. This is the method of making a tikki though!

Take two pieces of bread and  spread the coriander and mint paste on the bread. Place a slice of lettuce, a slice of Tomato,Onion and the Fried Potato cake or tikki. Add little bit of unsalted butter and keep one more bread slice on  the top and Toast in toast maker for a half minute. If you do not have a toast maker at home, you can toast the sandwich in pan.  After its roasted, apple some butter on to the top and serve it hot. For children, you can cut the sandwich in squares..otherwise you can eat it as it is with hot cuppa of tea! Enjoy!

Delicious Poha with sweet corn October 11, 2007

This dish is really easy and one can make it in a jiffy. Poha or beaten rice flakes upma is nutritious and quite healthy. One can add colorful vegetables like green,red or yellow bell pepper, carrots, peas..and it increases the taste!! I am sure children who generally avoid veggies would definetely try this one..may be out of curiosity! I added one more ingredient this time..i add boiled corn. Here is the recipe.

Poha upma 

Ingredients

1 cup poha or beaten rice flakes

1 cup – red,green and yellow bell pepper – nicely diced

1/2 cup boiled corn

1/2 cup carrot

1 cup onion

2 or 3 green chillies

a pinch turmeric

1/2 tsp red chilli powder( adjust according to your taste)

salt to taste

Method

Sprinkle some water on poha or rice flakes so that they become soft and keep them aside. Put some oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, jeera, chana daal and urad dal (1/2 tsp each). After they splutter add onion and green chillies and fry for a while. Add all the cut vegetables – carrots, boiled corn, and peppers. Add salt, turmeric and red chilli powder, mix it well and let it cook for a while. Add the poha and mix it well so that the entire masala gets coated on the flakes. Sprinkle some lemon juice and serve it hot with hot tea! Its an amazing breakfast combination!