Potato Masala / Poori Kilangu

Cooking Time : 20 mins
Serves            : 2

Poori is one of the rich breakfast which is loved by all age groups esp Kids. This Potato Masala is a very good combo for puffed up Pooris. I used Roasted Gram powder to get a good flavor. Do try this Masala and enjoy with puffed Pooris.

INGREDIENTS:

Boiled Potato	1 - Big Size
Onion	1
Grated Carrot	1 tsp
Turmeric Powder	1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds	1/4 tsp
Cumin Seeds	1/4 tsp
Dried Red Chillies	1
Green Chillies	1
Asafoetida	A Pinch
Ginger	1/4" - Finely chopped
Roasted Gram	2 tsp
Curry Leaves	As Required
Coriander Leaves	As Required - Optional
Salt	To Taste
Oil	2 tsp

STEPS:

1. Remove the skin of boiled potatoes and mash it well. Grind the Roasted Gram and keep aside.
2. In a pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add Asafoetida, Cumin Seeds, Green Chillies, Red Chillies, Ginger and Curry Leaves one by one. 
3. Add onion and fry till golden brown. Add the mashed Potato and stir well. 
4. Add Turmeric Powder and stir well. Add some water, salt and let it boil for 2 mins. Add Grated carrot, Roasted Gram Flour and keep in simmer for 5 mins. Let the Masala gets thickened to a required consistency and remove from the flame. Garnish with Coriander leaves. 

Tips:

• Roasted Gram Flour helps to thicken the Masala and give a good taste.

Porikadalai urundai / Roasted gram Laddu - Another Version

Preparation time : 20 mins
Yield                 : 15 laddus

This Laddu is very popular in my mom's home and in my mother-in-law home. It is loved by my family very much. My mom adds grated coconut and less ghee in this laddu . I have already posted this version. Please check here. My mother does not add coconut, but more ghee. I have tried this version. Additionally I added Oats as well. This laddu will be the kids favorite. Do try this.

INGREDIENTS:

Roasted Grams /Fried Grams (Porikadalai)	250 gms
Sugar	1 Cup
Oats	1/4 cup
Coconut Water	As Required
Milk	1/4 cup
Ghee	3 tbsp

STEPS:

1. Grind the Roasted grams, Oats and Sugar in the mixer and keep aside in a deep bowl.
2. In a pan, heat 2 tbsp Ghee and add to Roasted grams. Add milk.
3. Add Coconut water little by little to the Roasted grams mixture till it binds and make round balls. Repeat the same step to the rest of the mixture.

Tips:

• Add Sugar according to your taste.
• If you have fresh coconut water, you can use it to bind the mixture. It gives very good taste. If you don't have coconut water, go for water.
• you can add roasted cashews also.

Dahi Vada / Thayir Vada/Curd Vada - South Indian Style

Today I prepared Medhu Vadas for Breakfast and had leftover batter. So thought of preparing Dahi Vada with them. I have made this in South Indian Style. Here, the fried Vadas are soaked in the flavoured yoghurt sauce. It is a perfect summer snack.

INGREDIENTS:

Medhu Vada	5
Thick Curd	1 Cup
Green Chillies	4
Ginger	1/2 "
Cumin Seeds	1/4 tsp
Asafoetida	a pinch
Carrot (Grated)	To Garnish
Coriander Leaves	To Garnish
Boondi/Sev	To Garnish
Salt	To Taste

STEPS:

1. For the Medhu Vada recipe, Click here. Grind the green chillies,Ginger, Salt, Cumin Seeds and Asafoetida with 2 tbsp of Curd. Again use the remaining Curd and grind. If required you can add little water. 
2. Take the Medhu Vadas and keep it in a wide bowl. Soak the Vadas with the curd from step 1 for atleast 30 mins. 
3. How to Serve: At the time of serving, Garnish with Carrot, Coriander Leaves and Boondi.

Tips:

• Don't use sour curd. Use thick curd.
• While serving, you can temper with Mustard seeds and curry leaves. 

Masala Vada

Masala Vada is a Simple crispy vada that is very popular in tea shops. It is raining heavily here every evenings.. Would like to have some crispy crunchy snack and so thought of preparing Vada. I usually make this vada so often at my home. Recently, I tasted this Masala Vada at my friend's home. The taste was too good and I loved it very much.  I asked her about the ingredients.  The special ingredient that made the vada too flavourful is Crushed Garlic. So, In this version, I added Crushed garlic and it turned out very well. Vada serves as a good snack along with Tea/Coffee. It tastes best when served hot.

INGREDIENTS:

Channa dal	1 cup
Raw Rice	1 tbsp
Onion	1 - Finely Chopped
Green Chillies	5
Curry Leaves	As Required
Fennel Seeds	1 tsp
Cumin Seeds	1 tsp
Crushed Garlic	4 pods
Coriander Leaves	As Required
Salt	To Taste
Oil	To Fry

STEPS:

1. Soak Channa Dal and Rice for atleast 2 hrs. Drain the water completely and grind to a coarse paste. Mix all the other ingredients  except oil and keep aside. 
2. In a deep bottomed pan, heat oil and take the small amount of batter and flatten it to a thin round shape and drop it carefully. Fry vada till it turns golden brown. 

Tips:

• If you have forgotten to add Rice while soaking, Add 2 tsp Rice Flour. This will make the vada so crispy.

Tofu Stir Fry - Guest Post

Dear Friends,
I am so happy to do my 3rd Guest Post on one of my favorite blog - Priya's Food Lovers.. She is an active blogger with a very good collection of Recipes. She is organizing an event know as Friday Chat with Bloggers  where the fellow bloggers are invited to do a guest post on her page with an interesting chat.  I have posted the recipe of Tofu Stir Fry on her blog. Do visit her blog to know more. I have received the participation certificate as well.

Chana Dal Halwa

Cooking Time : 30 mins

Today , I am posting my second Challenge for the well known event organized by Divya from youtoocancookindianfood - SNC Challange. This time Swasthi from South team challenged north team with Hyderabadi Dum Biriyani. Krithi from North team challenged South team with Channa Dal Halwa..

As I am from South team, I have completed my challenge by trying Chana Dal Halwa. I had this Halwa once long time back and now I got a chance to prepare it. I don't know that it is a Mughal Cuisine till I read Krithi post. Thanks Krithi for sharing such a delicious Halwa. It has such a good taste when Refrigerated. My family enjoyed it. Coming to the Recipe..

INGREDIENTS:

Chana Dal	1 cup
Sugar	1/2 cup - Adjust according to taste
Milk	2 cups
Cardamom Powder	2 pinch
Almonds	8 - Chopped Lengthwise
Ghee	3/4 cup

STEPS:

1. Wash and soak chana dal in water for 4 hrs. Pressure cook with 2 cups of water till the chana dal is cooked. Allow the cooker to cool. Drain the excess water and mash the dal well to a thick paste using spatula.
2. In a wide Pan, heat ghee and add the mashed Chana Dal and cook it in medium flame. Keep stirring continuously till the raw smell goes. This will take atleast 15 mins. 
3. After sometime, you will be able to see the Ghee separating from the Dal. At this stage, add 1/2 cup of milk and cook in high flame till the milk get absorbed. Repeat the same step for the remaining milk. 
4. Add Sugar, Cardamom Powder, Half of the almonds and stir for another 5 mins. 
5. Remove from the flame and transfer it to the plate and allow it to cool. Once it cools, cut into desired shape. It can stored in air tight containers or can be refrigerated. 

                                 

Tips:

• While mashing the Dal, Don't add extra water. 
• Don't add all the milk at one time. 
• Keep stirring the pan continuously else the bottom will get burn.

Rava Idli / Semolina Idli

Preparation Time : 20 mins
Serves                 : 8 Idlis

Rava Idli is one of the famous South Indian Breakfast. Traditonal Rava idli will take more time and the below prepared is the instant version. The important tip that I learnt in making this idli is that the Yoghurt should be sour enough and the batter you prepare should be thick. If you want, you can ad ENO fruit salt only before you are going to steam the idlis. I usually add Lemon flavour ENO Fruit salt and adjust the salt accordingly. In the below recipe, I did not add ENO fruit salt, but then the Idlis were good. It also serves as a great evening snack. It goes very well with Sambar and Coconut Chutney. Kids will also love this.

                    

INGREDIENTS:

Idli Rava	1 1/2 cup
Carrot	2 tbsp - Grated
Green Chillies	3 - Finely chopped
Coriander Leaves	As Required
Ginger	1" Finely chopped
Yoghurt	1 cup
Salt	To Taste

TO TEMPER:

Mustard	1/4 tsp
Urad Dal	1/4 tsp
Channa Dal	1/4 tsp
Asafoetida	a pinch
Curry Leaves	As Required
Roasted Cashew Nuts	4 - Cut into half
Gingelly Oil/Ghee	1 1/2 tbsp

STEPS:

1. In a wide pan, heat Oil/Ghee and add Mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add Urad Dal, Channa Dal, Cashews (half of the cashews) and saute till they turns golden brown. Add Asafoetida, Curry Leaves.
2. Immediately add the Rava and stir constantly for 3 minutes and remove from the flame and allow to cool.
3. In the Mean time, add Coriander Leaves, Carrot, Ginger, Green Chillies to the yoghurt and mix well. Add Rava mixture to the Yoghurt and mix well. Let it stand for atleast 15 mins.
4.  Boil water in the Idli Cooker and grease the Idli Plates with oil and Place cashew, Coriander Leaves, Carrot first and then fill with the batter so that you will get cashews, Coriander leaves and carrot at the top. If you are going to add ENO Fruit salt, you need to add at this stage and mix well. Just before filling the batter to the Idli plates. 
5. Steam for 15 mins and remove from the flame. After 5 mins, Carefully take the idlis out and serve hot with Sambar and Chutney. 

Tips:

• Make sure that you use sour yoghurt and batter consistency should be thick.
• Along with Carrot, you can use cabbage or any of your favourite vegetables also.

Rava Kesari

Rava Kesari - A very good mouth watering Indian Dessert that is prepared during various special occasions. It is one of the classic dessert that is served along with breakfast during wedding functions. It is one of the easy sweet recipe that can be prepared in minutes. I used to prepare this on Birthdays. It serves as a good dessert when served with Idli. I used to add milk also while preparing this dessert as it gives a very good taste. Coming to the recipe..

INGREDIENTS :

Rava / Semolina	1 cup
Kesari Powder	a pinch
Cashews	As Required
Raisins	As Required
Sugar	1 1/4 cup (Adjust to your taste)
Milk	1/2 cup
Cardamom Powder	a pinch
Ghee	4 tbsp

STEPS:

1. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat 2 tbsp of Ghee and add Cashews and Raisins. Toast till Cashews becomes light brown color. Remove from the flame and keep aside.
2. In the same pan, Add the Semolina and Roast it for 5 mins in a low flame by stirring it continuously. Else it will burn. Now add sugar to it and mix well.
3. Add water and milk to it and keep stirring constantly till it becomes a thick pudding. It will take 5 - 8 mins.
4. Add kesari Powder, Cashews, Raisins and mix well. Add the remaining ghee at the top and remove from the flame. 

Tips:

• Instead of Kesari Powder, Saffron soaked in milk also can be used.

Wheat Pakoras / Kodumai Pakoda

Dear Friends,
I am so happy to write my 100th post. My 100th post is all about Wheat Pakoras. I added Oats also with wheat flour which made the pakoras so crispy and tasty. I wanted to try this Pakora long time back and finally made it. It came out well and esp my kid loved it a lot. It goes very well with a cup of coffee/tea..

Preparation Time : 15 mins
Yield                   : 25 Pakoras


INGREDIENTS:

Wheat Flour	5 tbsp
Gram Flour	2 tbsp
Rice Flour	1 tbsp
Oats	2 tbsp
Ginger	1/2 "
Onion	1
Green Chilies	2
Salt	To Taste
Curry leaves	Few
Coriander Leaves	Few
Asafoetida	a pinch
Oil	As Required to fry

METHOD:

1. Grind Oats to a fine powder
2. Mix Wheat Flour with all the ingredients above other than oil.  Don't add much water.
3. Mix well to produce a thick batter. 
4. Heat enough oil in a deep frying vessel and drop the batter slowly into small fritters. Don't overcrowd the vessel. Fry till it becomes golden brown.
5. Serve hot with tea/coffee.

Tips:

• While mixing the flour, make sure that the flour is not too sticky.

Paneer Peas Masala

Cooking Time : 30 mins
Serves           : 2

This Recipe was in my draft for a long time, but couldn't post it due to my tight schedule.. Today i thought of writing a post somehow in my busy schedule.. Paneer is my favourite recipe and I make it often. This goes well with Chapathi/Roti, Naan.

INGREDIENTS:

Paneer	250 gms
Salt	To Taste
Peas	Handful
Onion	2
Tomato	2
Turmeric Powder	1/4 tsp
Red Chilli Powder	1 tsp
Green Chilies	2
Curd	2 tsp
Kasturi Methi	As Required (Optional)
Coriander Leaves	As Required
Sesame Oil	As Required

To Grind:

Ginger	1"
Garlic	4 cloves
PepperCorns	1 tsp
Coriander Powder	1 tsp
Garam masala	1/4 tsp

STEPS:

1. Cut Paneer into small equal cubes and keep aside. 
2. In a Pan, heat Sesame Oil and saute Onion till it turns to light golden brown. remove from the flame and keep it aside. In the same pan, saute Tomatoes and remove from the flame. Grind the items mentioned in "To Grind" section to a fine paste along with the Onion and Tomato.
3. In the same pan, heat enough oil and add green chillies, ground paste, Peas and stir for few mins. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, Salt, Kasturi Methi and stir well. If required add some water. 
4. Wait til the Oil gets seperated. At this stage, add curd and stir well. Add Paneer cubes. 
5. Allow to boil for few minutes in medium flame.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves, Green chillies and serve hot.



Tips:
• Add freshly ground ginger-garlic paste to get good taste.
• You can also take Tomato Puree.
• Wait till the ground paste separates from the oil properly so that the raw smell won't be there after cooking. 

Rajastani Mini Ghevar Topped with Kesar Rabdi

This is the first time I am going to participate in SNC Challenge, a very successful event organised by Divya from youtoocancookindianfood blog. Manjula from Desi Fiesta Challenged South team with a traditional Rajastan Recipe - Ghevar topped with Kesar Rabdi. Ramya from LemonKurry challenged North team with VadaCurry. As I am from South team, I have to make Ghevar.

I have never heard of this traditional recipe so far. When I went through Manju's Recipe, I felt that it is a big procedure to complete this successfully. But Surprisingly, It turned out great for me. The main thing we need to take care while preparing this is the Maida batter consistency and the oil should be hot enough to prepare ghevar. I really loved the sweet and even my lil one tasted it and loved it so much. Definitely I will try this again. I had some leftover Kesar Rabdi and I used that for topping my fruit salad and fruit salad tasted great. Thanks Manju for sharing this Recipe. Coming to the recipe...

                                       
To Prepare Batter & Frying :

Maida	1 1/2 cup
Milk	1/4 cup (At Room Temp)
Ghee	2 tbsp
Water	As Required to make a thin batter
Cardamom Powder	a pinch (Optional)
Ghee/Refined Oil	As Required to Fry

For Syrup :

Sugar	2 cup
Water	1 cup
Saffron Strands	a pinch

To Prepare Kesar Rabdi :

Whole Milk	3 cup
Sweet Condensed Milk	1 Tin
Almonds,Pistachios	Crushed - As Required
Saffron Strands	a Pinch
Cardamom Powder	a pinch (Optional)

To Garnish :

Almonds,Pistachios	Crushed - As Required
Saffron Strands	a Pinch

STEPS:

To Prepare Batter:

1. Mix Milk and Ghee together for 2-3 mins.
2. Add Maida to it and Mix well.
3. Add Water little by little to the above mixture till the batter comes to thin consistency. 

To Make Ghevar:

1. Heat enough Oil in a deep bottomed flat vessel. Once it is hot, take the batter in a laddle and pour it in the middle of the vessel from 1 foot height. Make sure that the Oil is hot else the batter would stick to the bottom of the vessel. You can increase the height as much as you can to get good texture. Ghee also can be used in this step for frying purpose.
2. Once you pour the batter, you can see bubbles from the oil. if you see more bubbling, stop for few seconds and continue again because the oil may spill out.
3. Repeat the above till you get the required size of the Ghevar. It actually depends upon the size of the Vessel.
4. When frying ghevar, Make a circle at the centre of the Ghevar with the Skewer once the batter is settled. 
5. Allow the Ghevar to fry till golden Brown.
6. Take the Ghevar out carefully and place it in a paper towel to remove excess oil.

To Make Sugar Syrup:

1. Take 1 1/2 cup sugar and add 1 cup of water to it and bring it to boil. heat it till you get one string consistency.

To Make Kesar Rabdi :

1. Boil the milk in low flame till the Milk is reduced to half the quantity. Add Cardamom powder, Saffron Strands, Crushed Pistachios to it and mix well.
2. Add Condensed milk to the above and bring it to boil. Keep on stirring.
3. Allow the milk to turn thick and remove from the flame and allow to cool.

To Serve:

1. Add the sugar syrup to the Ghevar. Don't keep Ghevar in syrup for long time as it will become so wet.
2. To remove excess syrup, keep the Ghevar tilted in the plate.
3. Top up with Kesar Rabdi and nuts and now Ghevar topped with Kesar Rabdi is ready to eat. Serve immediately.

Soya Chunks Curry / MealMaker Curry

Cooking Time : 30 mins
Serves           : 2

Soya.. As you all know, It is a high source of protein and is highly beneficial for health and is important to have it in our diet. It is a healthy meat replacement ingredient. I have made this curry with the easily available ingredients in your pantry. Adding Peas with Soya chunks serves a good combination. This goes well with Chapathi/Roti.

INGREDIENTS:

Soya Chunks	15 no
Salt	To Taste
Peas	Handful
Onion	2
Tomato	2
Turmeric Powder	1/4 tsp
Red Chilli Powder	1 tsp
Green Chilies	2
Curd	2 tsp
Coriander Leaves	As Required
Gingelly Oil	As Required

To Grind:

Ginger	1"
Garlic	4 cloves
PepperCorns	1 tsp
Cumin Powder	1 tsp
Coriander Powder	1 tsp
Garam masala	1/4 tsp

STEPS:

1. Soak the soyachunks in water. Add salt and boil in medium flame. Once the water starts to boil, remove from the flame. Take the soyachunks from water after 10 mins so that the water will be cooled by that time. Drain the water and squeeze all water from soyachunks and cut it into 4 pieces. Repeat the same for all the remaining Soyachunks. 
2. In a Pan, heat Gingelly Oil and saute Onion till it turns to light golden brown. remove from the flame and keep it aside. In the same pan, saute Tomatoes and remove from the flame. Grind the items mentioned in "To Grind" section to a fine paste along with the Onion and Tomato.
3. In a pressure cooker, heat enough oil and add green chillies, ground paste, Peas and stir for few mins. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, Salt and stir well. If required add some water. 
4. Wait til the Oil gets seperated. At this stage, add soya chunks, curd and stir well.
5. Pressure cook for 2 whistles in medium flame and keep in low flame for 10 mins and remove from flame. Allow the cooker to cool and open.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Tips:
• Add freshly ground ginger-garlic paste to get good taste.
• While preparing Soya Recipes, use more oil since soya  requires more oil.
• You can also take Tomato Puree.
• Wait till the ground paste seperates from the oil properly so that the raw smell won't be there after cooking. 

Kollu Sundal / Horsegram Sundal

In my previous post, I have updated Kollu Rasam. This Kollu Sundal is made with the Kollu that I used to prepared for Rasam. This is a very quick recipe and it goes very with Rasam Rice, Dal Rice or can be tasted raw.

INGREDIENTS:

Kollu/HorseGram - Pressure cooked	1 cup
Salt	To Taste
Gingelly Oil	1 tbsp

TO TEMPER:

Mustard	1/4 tsp
Urad Dal	1/4 tsp
Curry Leaves	As Required
Asafoetida	a pinch
Onion	2 tbsp
Green Chillies	2 tbsp

STEPS:

1. In a Pan, heat Oil and add all the items one by one as mentioned in "To Temper" Section. Don't fry Onion too much.
2. Add the Kollu, Salt and stir for a minute. Delicious Sundal is now ready to be served. 

Tips:

• Red Chillies can also be added while tempering.
• Don't fry onion too much. 

Kollu Rasam / Horsegram Rasam

Dear Friends, I am back after my long vacation. Had a good time in my native. After a long gap, I am seeing my page as well... :) Love to post recipes..
I bought Kollu from India this time. I heard many health benefits of it also. So, thought of including Kollu as a part in my menu. As soon as I came from my vacation, I suffered from fever and cold. My mom told that Kollu is good for fever and cold and she asked me to take Kollu flavoured rasam. Kollu rasam tasted too good and I was benefited as well.. Kollu need to be pressure cooked before preparing this rasam. The water  is used to make rasam and with the Kollu, I prepared Kollu Sundal and had as a side dish for Kollu Rasam Rice. Will update Kollu Sundal in my next post. Coming to the Recipe..

INGREDIENTS:

HorseGram/Kollu	1 cup
Tomato	1
Garlic	5 cloves
Rasam Powder	2 tsp
Curry Leaves	As Required
Coriander Leaves	As Required
Tamarind	Gooseberry size
Salt	To Taste
Dry Red Chillies	4
Pepper corns	1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds	1/4 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds	1/4 tsp
Asafoetida	a pinch
Oil	To Saute

STEPS:

1. Clean Horsegram and pressure cook with 4 cups of water. Extract the water and separate the Kollu. Crush Garlic and Pepper corns.
2. Soak mashed Tomato, Rasam powder, Crushed Garlic, Crushed Pepper Corns. Curry leaves, Coriander Leaves, Tamarind with the extracted Kollu water  and keep aside. 
3. In a  pan, heat 2 tsp oil and add mustard and fenugeek seeds. Once it splutters, add Red chillies and asafoetida. Add the above soaked mixture and let it boil for 3 mins.
4. Add salt in a vessel where you are going to pour this Rasam. Add the Rasam to the vessel and serve.