Instant Apple pickles

Ingredients

1. Granny smith or any sweet-tart apples – 2 ( Chopped into small pieces/chunks)
2. Salt to taste
3. Red chlli powder - 2-3 Tbsp
4. Turmeric
5. Oil – 304 tbsp

Seasoning
6. Mustard seeds
7. Methi powder – ¼ tsp
8. Hing a pinch

Method
1. Take the cut apple pieces in abowl. Add salt and turmeric poder and mix well.
2. Warm the oil in a pan
3. Add the mustard seeds and let it sputter.
4. Add the hing and methi powder and make sure the methi turns browns and the raw smell is gone.
5. Turn off the stove and add the red chilli powder ro the seasoing and mix well.
6. Pour the seasong mixture on top of the apple pieces in the bowl.

Apple Gojju

Ingredients
Apple Gojju

1. Granny smith or any sweet-tart apples – 2 ( Chopped into small pieces/chunks)
2. Gojju Powder/ Pudi or Saarina powder/ pudi – 3 -4 tbsp (depending on the how hot the powder is )
3. Dry coconut/kobri grated – 5 tbsp
4. Tamarind paste – 1.5 tbsp
5. Jaggery/Bella – 3 tbsp
6. Oil – 3 tbsp
7. Turmeric/Haarsina powder – 1 tsp
8. Water – 2-3 cups
9. Salt to taste.

Seasoning
10. Mustard seeds
11. Curry leaves/Kari patta
12. Hing – a pinch

Method

1. Take 3 tsp oils in a vessel
2. Add the mustard seeds and let it sputter. Add rest of seasoing ingridients.
3. Then add the grated coconiut/Kobria nd fry for a minute.
4. Then add the cut apple chunks. And salt. Fry it for 304 minutes ij he oil.
5. Add about 1.5 cup water and cook apples until soft.
6. Then add tamarind paste and boil for 3-4 minutes.
7. Then add the gojju/rasam powder, jaggery and boil for another 5 minutes until the mixture syarts buubling (You can smell the gojju aroma)
8. Turn off the stove

Tip : The quantity of jaggeryand tamrind can be increased ordecreased accoring to one’s taste depending oh how sweet-sour you want your gojju to be. Enjoy the gojju with Chappatis/rotis or rice and dal/thovve/pappu.

Vegetable Saagu

Vegetable Saagu recipe

Ingredients
1. Mixed vegetables - Diced cabbage, carrot, Surti paapdi (Avarekaalu)or Lima beans ,Green Beans – All together 3-4 cups ,Potato – 1 medium finely diced
2. Cilantro/Kotombri – ¼ of a bunch
3. Cumin seeds/Jirge - 2 Tbsp
4. Cinnamon - 1 inch
5. Khus Khus /Ghas Ghase - 3 -4 Tbsp
6. Green chilies – 8-10 depending on how spicy you want it.
7. Fried gram dhal(Hurgadle or putani in Kannada) – ½ a handful
8. Grated coconut – ½ cup
9. Oil – 3-4 Tbsp
10. Lemon Juice – 1.5 tsp
11. Salt to taste
12. Water as required
10.

For seasoning
13. Mustard - 1 tsp
14. Urad dhal – 1 tsp
15. Karipatta or Curry leaves – 4 or 5
16. A ping of hing


Method

1. Boil all the vegetables in a pressure cooker with enough water .I usually put water just enough to cover the veggies and cook them for 2 whistles. The vegetables should not get mashed up too soft. Alternatively you can cook them in the microwave too.
2. Drain and preserve the water from the cooked vegetables.
3. Grind ingredients 2 thru 8 with water as required to chutney consistency.
4. Take oil in a vessel. Sputter the mustard seeds. Add hing and curry leaves.
5. Then add the ground chutney from Step 2 and fry it in the seasoning for a about 3-4 minutes until the raw smell goes off
6. Add the vegetables with some of the water from the cooked vegetables and boil for another 5- 8 minutes. You have to add the water little by little so that the saagu can be of thick consistency. Once the saagu starts bubbling and you can turn off the stove at that point.
Enjoy the saagu with hot pooris

Tip : You can fry onions , 2-3 cloves of garlic and grind with the rest of ingredients for the saagu paste/chutney , add garam masala and make it into a vegetable kurma .

Adai Dosa

Adai Dosa

Ingredients

1. Rice– 4 cups
2. Red gram/Toor dal/Togri Bele - 2 cup
3. Bengal gram dal/Kadle Bele/Channa dal – 1 cup
4. Moong dal/Heasru Bele/Green gram dal – 1 cup
5. Urad dal/Black gram dal?Uddina Bele – 3 Tbsp
6. Ginger – One inch
7. Red chillies – 2
8. Green Chillies -2
9. Grated coconut (Optional) – ¼ cup
10. Cilantro (Optional)- ¼ of a bunch
11. Salt to taste
12. Water as required for frinding the batter
13. Oil as required for making the dosas.

Method

1. Soak rice and dals ( 1 thru 5) separately overnight in water.
2. Grind the dals and rice separately to a batter of coarse consistency (Like Idli batter) by adding water as required. Add salt to the batter to taste.
3. Grind ingredients 6 thru 10 with water separately and add it to the batter. This is optional. You can just add salt to the batter and make the dosas and omit adding this.
4. This batter does not have to be fermented and can be made into dosas immediately.
5. Before making the dosas add some more water to the batter so that it is not too thick or watery. Should be in-between.
6. Heat the dosa tava/gridle on medium flame.
7. Take the batter in a ladle and pour it on the tava and spread the batter with the back of the ladle starting from the middle going outwards in circles. The dosas do not have to be too thin as you really cannot spread the batter too much.
8. Then take 1.5 tsp of oil and put it along the edge of the dosa and in the middle. Let is cook for 2-3minutes. The edges will start becoming glen brown and it is time to flip the dosa.
9. Cook the dosa on the other side and crispy delicious Adai are ready to be served.

Tip: If you have batter reaming and it becomes sour after couple of days. You can chop onions and add it to the batter and make the adai. Also this is a modified version of the adai that my mom makes. The one she makes back home is the original adai and it is made thick and crispy and just eating one aid will make you full. You can also add grated Carrots, finely chop mint leaves and onions to the addi dosai. When you spread the batter, spread this veg mixture on the dosa and cover with a lid. Then flip the dosa and cook the underside.

Stuffed Bhindi/Okra

It was raining last evening after I came home from work and the damp weather kind of put me in a mood to cook something warm, crispy and spicy and at the same time I did not want to make something healthy and avoid any deep fried dish. . I opened the fridge and saw the Okras and decided to make some crispy stuffed Okras and some Tomato Rasam/Saaru. So I whipped up the ingredients for both the dishes and had them ready for dinner by about 7:30 PM. We enjoyed our delicious dinner watching the monsoon/autumn rain. It was just wonderful! Here is the recipe for both the dishes. Please try it out and post your feedback/opinion on the blog.

Crispy stuffed Bhindi/Okra /Bendekayi

Ingredients

1. Bhindi/Okra – 25 Nos,
2. Besan flour/Kadle hittu - 1 cup
3. Red Chili powder – 2Tbsp
4. Amchur Powder – 3 Tbsp
5. Jeera powder – 1Tbsp
6. Shania/coriander powder – 1tsp
7. MDH Tava fry masala or any Garam masala – 2 Tbsp
8. A pinch of Haldi/Turmeric powder
9. Sugar (Optional)–A pinch
10. Salt to taste
11. Water as required
12. Oil – 5- 6 Tbsp

For seasoning

13. Mustard - 1 tsp
14. A pinch of hing

Method

1. Wash the whole Okra and pat them dry in a towel.
2. Mix ingredients 1 thru 10 by adding water little by little to form a thick paste.
3. Slit the Okras in the middle starting little away from the head thru the end.
4. Use a small spreading knife to take out the stuffing and fill the slit Okras (See Picture)
5. Take a large frying pan/Tava. Put 4-5 Tbsp oil and shake the tava to spread the oil.
6. Add mustard and hing and let the mustard sputter on low heat.
7. Put the Okra in the pan one by one and cook on low to medium heat. You can close the lid and from time to time you can sprinkle little bit of water so that the Okra and the stuffing inside gets nicely steam cooked.
8. The Okras are cooked when they turn golden brown all sides.
9. It takes about 20 -25 minutes.
10. Enjoy the yummy crispy stuffed Okras
11. Turn off the stove and delicious huli avalakki is ready.

Tip: You can use a non-stick tava or a thick bottomed pan. If you do not like the dryness of this stuffed okra dish you can sauté onion and tomatoes in a little bit of oil and add it to the stuffed Okra. This goes very well with rotis/Chappatis.

Ragi Dosa

Ragi Dosa

I call it the power dosa as it is packed with nutrients and proteins.- Ragi and wheat flour. My kids typically love any kind of dosa and this one is especially very easy to prepare.

Ingredients

1. Ragi flour – 2cups
2. Rava (Coarse/Upittu Rave) – 2 cups
3. Rice flour/Akki hittu- 3/4 cup
4. Wheat flour/godi hittu – 3/4 cup
5. Medium sized onion (Optional) - 2
6. Salt to taste
7. Cumin/Jirige powder – 1 Tsp
8. Pepper Powder - 2 Tsp
9. Green chilies (optional) – 4 or 5 ( I added Banana peppers)
10. Cliantro/Kotmbri soppu - ¼ of a bunch
11. Water as required
12. Oil as required for making the dosas.

Method

1. Mix all the dry flours (from 1- 3) in a big bowl.
2. Add about 2-3 cups water to the flour and mix with hand or a hand mixer and make sure there are no lumps.
3. Add more water as required such that the batter consistency is watery and thin. (like thick soup consistency). You can also add half buttermilk and half water. Refer to the picture
4. Add salt, cumin powder, pepper powder, finely chopped green chilies, onions and cilantro and mix it well into the batter.
5. Let the batter stand for half and hour.
6. Heat the dosa pan on medium flame.
7. Take the batter in a ladle and pour it on the pan starting from outside rim of the pan to inside. You should actually pour it from top and you can see bubbles forming. You do not have to spread the batter with the ladle.
8. Then take 1 tsp of oil and put it along the edge of the dosa and in the middle. Let is cook for 2-3minutes. The edges will start becoming golden brown and it is time to flip the dosa.
9. Cook the dosa for another 2 minutes and take it out of the pan. Crispy healthy, Ragi dosa is ready to be served.

Tip: You can grate carrots and finely chop mint add it to the batter to sneak in some veggies.

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Lime Juice rasam - Nimbehannu Saaru

Ingredients:

1. Toor Dhal/Bengal gram dhal - 1
2. Rasam powder/Saaru pudi (Optional) – ½ Tbsp
3. Lime - 1
4. Slit Green Chilies – 4
5. Red chili - 1
6. Grated ginger – ½ -1 Tbsp
7. Mustard seeds for seasoning
8. Jaggery/gur – ½ tbsp
9. Salt to taste
10. Jeera powder – 1 tbsp
11. Pepper powder -1/2 tbsp
12. Ghee – 1.5 tbsp
13. Hing – A ping
14. Karipatta/Curry leaves – 8-10 leaves
15. Cliantro/Kotombri - handful

Method

• Cook toor dhal 3-4 cups of water in a pressure cooker and keep aside.
• In a pot/vessel which you are going to prepare the rasam, add ½ tbsp ghee. Add the green chilies, red chilies and grated ginger and fry for a few seconds until the raw smell goes away.
• Filter the water from the cooked toor dhal and add it to the seasoning
• Add Jeera powder, pepper powder Karipatta leaves, salt, and turmeric to this and boil it for 2 minutes.
• Then add rasam/saaru powder and jaggery. Boil it for 3-5 more minutes until the rasam froths up.
• Add the juice of 1 lime/lemon to the saaru and boil for another minute and keep aside
• In a 1/2tbsp of ghee add the mustard seeds and let it sputter. Add a pinch of hing.
• Add this seasoning on top of the saaru/rasam . Finally add the chopped Cilantro

RavaDosa

Rave/Rava Dosa

Ingredients

1. Rava (Coarse/Upittu Rave) – 2 cups
2. Rice flour/Akki hittu- 1 cup
3. All purpose for/Maida ¼ cup
4. Wheat flour/godi hittu – ¼ cup
5. Medium sized onion (Optional) - 1
6. Salt to taste
7. Cumin/Jirige powder – 1 Tsp
8. Pepper Powder - 2 Tsp
9. Green chilies (optional) – 4 or 5
10. Cliantro/Kotmbri soppu - ¼ of a bunch
11. Water as required
12. Oil as required for making the dosas.

Method

1. Mix all the dry flours (from 1- 3) in a big bowl.
2. Add about 2-3 cups water to the flour and mix with hand or a hand mixer and make sure there are no lumps.
3. Add more water as required such that the batter consistency is watery and thin. (like thick soup consistency). Refer to the picture
4. Add salt, cumin powder, pepper powder, finely chopped green chilies and cilantro and mix it well into the batter.
5. Heat the dosa pan on medium flame.
6. Take the batter in a ladle and pour it on the pan starting from outside rim of the pan to inside. You should actually pour it from top and you can see bubbles forming. You do not have to spread the batter with the ladle.
7. Then take 1.5 tsp of oil and put it along the edge of the dosa and in the middle. Let is cook for 2-3minutes. The edges will start becoming glen brown and it is time to flip the dosa.
8. Cook the dosa for another 2 minutes and take it out of the pan. Crispy Rava dosa is read

Huliavalakki

Huli/Gojju Avalakki or Poha

Ingredients

1. Avalakki – 5 cups
2. Tamarind Paste - 2TBSP
3. Red Chilies – 3 -4
4. Grated Coconut or dried coconut powder – 1.5 cups
5. Oil – 8- 10 TBSP
6. Salt to taste
7. Water as required
8. Black sesame seeds – 3 TBSP
9. jaggery /Gur – 4- 5 tsp – adjust according to your taste
10. Rasam powder – 2 tbsp
11. A pinch of Haldi/Turmeric powder

For seasoning

Mustard - 1 tsp

Urad dhal – 1 tsp
Karipatta or Curry leaves – 4 or 5
A ping of hing
Channa Dhal – 1tsp
Raw peanuts - A handful

Method

1. Powder the Poha/Avalakki to a coarse mixture like Idly rava and keep aside in a bowl.
2. Roast and fine powder the Black sesame seeds.
3. Mix the tamarind paste, Rasam powder, salt, Haldi and Jaggery in a cup of water and add it to the Poha mixture.
4. Add 3 TBSP oil and some more water to the poha mixture. Take care not to add too much water. The mixture should be just moist enough that if you take it in your hand it should be soft and crumbly texture. Let the mixture stand for 10-15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile take the rest of the oil, Add the mustard seeds and let is sputter
6. Add urad dhal, channa dal, hinga and karipatta and fry for a minute on low heat. Take care not to brown it.
7. Then add the raw peanuts and fry for a minute.
8. Add the black seasame seeds powder , grated coconut and fry for another minute
9. Finally add the poha mixture and stir well with the seasoning. If it is too dry sprinkle some water little by little so that the mixture is soft. Close the lid and let is stand for 2-3 minutes on low heat
10. Turn off the stove and delicious huli avalakki is ready.

Tip : This poha goes very well with Rasayana ( sweet Banana-Frut mixture) . recipe to follow

Onion Chutney

Onion Chutney

Ingredients

1. Onions – 2
2. Channa dhal or fried gram dhal(Hurgadle or putani in Kannada) – 1 handful
3. Green Chilies - 2
4. Red Chilies – 2
5. Coconut (Optional) – 5-6 Tbsp
6. Oil – 2 Tbsp
7. Tamarind paste – Half tsp
8. Salt to taste
9. Water as required

10. A ping of hing

For seasoning

10. Mustard - 1 tsp
11. Urad dhal – 1 tsp
12. Karipatta or Curry leaves – 4 or 5

Method

1. Put 1 tsp oil in a pan.
2. Add Onion and fry for 5-6 minutes until the raw onion smell is gone. Does not have to turn golden brown
3. Take the fried onion out.
4. In the same pan fry the green chilies, red chilies, channa dhal and coconut for 3-4 minutes. Make sure the dhal and coconut do not get burnt.
5. Let the fired onions and other fried ingredients from Step 4 cool down
6. Grind all the fried ingredient with water, tamarind and salt in mixer/blender to the desired consistency
7. Then take 1 tsp oil in the pan and put the mustard and allow it to sputter.
8. Then add the rued dhal and roast until light brown
9. Turn off the heat, Add hang and Curry leaves.
10. Add the seasoning to the chutney.

Tip : This chutney goes very well with Rava idlys.

My cooking journey - A twist in time

My name is Anitha a software architect by profession and married to a wonderful, caring and loving husband with two adorable kids. I am a sports buff and love to play ping pong, Tennis actually any sport for that matter. I also love reading books which I don't get to do as much as I would have liked to juggling between a busy career and home. Cooking is something I really enjoy although I can admit that there are some days when I wish food was ready at the table or order some” to go " khan. In my growing up years, I never cared about cooking. I never helped my mom with cooking. My younger sister was the enthusiastic cook of the house always trying out new recipes and helping my mom. I was more of an outgoing person and dreaded the kitchen. As a matter of fact I had never prepared or cooked any kind of meals until my marriage. The only food I remember cooking was making Magii 2 minute noodles and coffee occasionally. My encounter with cooking was limited watching my mom or sister cook. So when my wedding was fixed (It is an arranged marriage), ironically the every first thing on my “to do” checklist was to get the recipes from my mom and sisters. So my journey with cooking started with writing down the recipes in an old diary. This diary today is one of my most prized possessions and to this day the cooking bible for me.

I come from a South Indian Telugu Brahmin family. My parents were born and brought up in Tamilnadu and migrated to Bangalore after they tied the knot. So the cuisine in our house was varied containing variety of dishes prepared in all styles of South Indian cooking - the Madras Iyer style, Iyengar ,Palghat Iyer style, Andhra style or Karnataka style. My beloved dad who is no more on this earth was a connoisseur and stickler for food. I always felt that my mom spent most of her hey days cooking in the kitchen dishing out breakfast/Tiffin, lunch, evening snack and dinner. These days cooking one meal is a such a difficult task and nobody eats so many meals a day !. The food had to be cooked to perfection for my dad and everyday a different variety. There had to be a Chutney or oorpundi, a vegetable/Curry, some kind of Sambar /pulsu, pickle (sometimes freshly made like carrots, ginger mango) and papad. Rasam/Chaaru was a must everyday no matter what. Anyway the point that I wanted to bring across was my mom like all other moms out there is the best cook in the world for me. She is the goddess of cooking. Even a simple Rasam amde by her tastes out of this world and while she is cooking, the aroma that flows out and fills the air is so intoxicating and makes you feel so hungry for food. The secret she tells me in cooking any food is – first and foremost You have to cook whole heartedly (Pour your heart ad feelings into it !) , then the time taken to cook or simmer the food at the right temperature is very critical and the order of adding the ingredients at the right stage of cooking. Believe me! This indeed makes a big difference. I will try to highlight these in my recipes.

I am married to a Sankethi Brahmin and again their style of cooking is completely different and incorporates a blend of tastes from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. Their signature dishes are Chomai (Steamed Rice vermicelli or Idiyappam) made from scratch and Kolakattais (Steamed rice dumplings) and needless to say they are so heavenly in taste that you can eat it all day as a three course meal.

So after marriage when I lived with my in-laws, luckily I was not asked to cook as my lovely MIL took care of it. I would help with the side chores of cutting vegetables, grating coconut etc... When I came to live with my husband in the U.S, for the first one month I never cooked. My husband and his friend who lived with us at that time cooked for all of us but after that I slowly started experimenting with my recipes one by one and my poor husband was the guinea pig. Actually the food I churned out did turn out to be pretty good. I guess I had inherited the sense and art of cooking from my mom naturally. Today after 15 years of marriage, I can confidently say that I have attained the ranks of 5 star cook and my husband and friends can vouch for it. My mom stayed with us in the U.S for sometime and she was amazed and astonished with my culinary talent. She went back home to India and spread the word and sang the praises of my cooking in my family - about how a tom-boyish kinda girl with no desire of cooking let alone stepping into the kitchen has transformed into a lady who loves to spend time in the kitchen, wielding the ladle, playing with the different spices and ingredients and fix some mouth-watering, delicious food for her kith and kin, friends, realtives ....

As a wife and mother cooking is something that I have learned over a period of time and I truly enjoy doing. I strongly feel that there is an aspect of cook hidden in every woman and does blooms out naturally when there is a time and need to cook especially when you are trying to please a man with cooking some delicious food.

Now I am a frequent visitor to the several food blog sites sprawling the World Wide Web and an avid fan of all cooking shows on the T.V. I have always wanted to start my own culinary blog to share some the recipes which I have tried , added my own twist and have turned out into some really delicious platters.
So friends and people – I hope you try out the recipes from my blog and enjoy the gastronomical experience!