Amla Gojju

Ingredients

Alice and Grandson!

My late mother was very fond of amla and always used to tell us its health benefits. She used to advice us to have one amla every day to keep the colds away!

Here's a tangy gojju which can serve as chutney for iddli-dosas or just as a side-dish on your lunch or dinner plate. What's more it can be added to the butter milk too to make a tasty drink in summer! Once tasted, it is addictive for sure!!!

This recipe is given to me by my grandson's nanny Alice, who also happened to be my son's nanny when he was a kid!!

 Here's the receipe:

Ingredients:

Amla               :   3 to 4 ( deseed and keep)
Green chillies  :   5 to 6 (as per taste, but little more than you usually add for chutney)
Peeled garlic pods
 or
1/2" piece of raw ginger

coriander leaves: 2 Tbs cleaned, chopped fresh
Salt                    : to taste

In a mixie grind amla, garlic/ginger and green chillies with salt to a coarse paste. Now add chopped coriander leaves and grind for 3 seconds. The leaves should not become very pasty with over grinding.

Collect and keep in a bowl. You can now use this gojju as chutney or as a side dish for lunch/dinner. Finish in a day or preserve in fridge.

To avoid discoloration while preserving a little sweet curd or lime juice can be added. But as days go buy the sourness will increase, so better to prepare for one/two days of consumption only.

Now come the variations:

1. You can add 2 tbs coconut scrapings while grinding and make a chutney. Season with mustard, urad dal and curry leaves. Use for dosa, chapati or with rice. You can skip seasoning, that's also very nice and yummy!

2. The paste in para1 can be made very smooth and added to butter milk to make a tasty cool drink in summer.

Pongal /Rice and Dal dish

Ingredients:
Broken rice : 1 cup
Moong Dal : 1 cup
Pepper coarsely crushed : 1 Tbsp
Salt : 2 tsp
Green chillies : 4 chopped fine
Fresh ginger scraped and cut fine : 1 inch
For seasoning:
Jeera (cumin seeds) : 2 Tbsp
Fresh Ghee : 1/2 cup
cashew-nuts : 10 numbers
Curry leaves (Karibeva) : 10 to 15
Method:
Wash and soak rice and dal in a vessel 6 cups of water for 15 minutes. To this add chopped ginger and green chillies. Add half of pepper and 1 tsp of jeera and salt and mix well. Keep the vessel covered in a cooker and cook for three whistles or 10 minutes on sim fire.When done and the cooker is cooled down remove the vessel out and stir the cooked contents. Add hot water if necessary and adjust salt if necessary.The cooked dal and rice should be more on fluid side as it absorbs the water and becomes tough when cool.The spoon should move freely when mixing. Finally season with ghee, jeera,pepper,cashewnuts and karbev leaves and serve hot with tomato chutney or onion chutney.

Simple Upma

Ingredients:
Bombay Rava: 1 1/2 cups ( rava is semolina, use medium rava not bansi rava)
Green chillies slit: 5
Curry/karbev leaves: 7 or 8
Fresh ginger chopped to tiny: 1 tsp piece
Grated coconut: 1 1/2 cups
Mustard: 1 tsp Udid dal : 3 tsp
Refined cooking oil : 3 to 4 Tbsp ( add 1/2 teaspoon ghee if desired)
Boiling water : 3 cups
Salt: to taste

 Method:
In a wok add the oil, and when hot add mustard seeds. When mustard splutters add udid dal and fry till golden brown. Next throw in green chillies, chopped ginger and curry leaves. Saute for 30 seconds don't roast-green chillies should be green!. Now add the rava and salt, mix well and saute for 2 minutes. Add boiling water slowly and keep stirring till the water completely covers the ingredients in the wok. Cover and let cook for 3-5 mins on low flame. Finally spread the coconut scrapings on top and serve hot at breakfast or at tea time.

Barbecued Potatoes

Ingredients:
Large potatoes : 6
Grated cheese : 1/2 cup
onion : 1 large
Carrots : 2
Green peas fresh : 1/4 cup
Chilli powder : 1 tsp
Butter : 1 Tbsp
Tomato sauce : 1 Tbsp
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Pressure cook potatoes with jacket till done.
Peel and chop onions and carrots. Cut potatoes lengthwise into half and scoop out the pulp, leaving a thin brim along the skin.To the scooped out pulp add pepper, half of cheese and a little butter and mash well. Fill the potato cases with this filling and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake in a preheated electric oven for about 10 mins till until crisp.

For garnishing , heat oil in a pan and fry onions till golden. Add carrots and peas and saute. Next add the salt and pepper and sprinkle water and cover to get mixture cooked. Add the tomato sauce and mix gently and remove from fire. Place a spoonful of this on the baked potato and serve hot.This is a great favourite with kids.

Baingan (egg-palnt/brinjal) masala

Ingredients:

Tender Green or purple brinjals : 250 gms
cut into longish pieces and
keep in a vessel covered
with water)
Refined oil : 3 Tbsps
Tomatoes (Ripe) : 2
Onion Large (Chopped fine) : 1
Garlic pods : 4
Chilli powder : 1 tsp
Coriander powder : 1 tsp
Til (sesame seeds) : 1 tsp
cinnamon : a small piece
Fenugreek / methi seeds : 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves : 10 nos.
Salt : as per taste.

Method:
In a thick pan add a teaspoon of oil and add the cinnamon,garlic pods and onions and fry till onions are transparent. When cool put in a mixie and grind to a coarse consistency.In the same pan add two tablespoon oil and add the methi,til seeds, roast lightly and then add karbev(curry leaves)and saute. Now add chopped tomatoes and saute well. When done add the onion paste and fry till oil leaves the sides of the pan. Remove this masala and keep aside. In the same pan add the remaining oil and when hot put the brinjal pieces and add salt and sprinkle water,cover and cook till done. Finally add the masala to the cooked brinjals, mix well and cook on low flame for 5 minutes till blended. Serve hot with rice or chappathis/rotis.

Quick Wheat Flour Dosa

Ingredients:

Wheat flour : 3 cups (250 ml)
Butter milk/dahi/yoghurt : 1 cup
Rice flour : 1/4 cup
Salt : 2 tsp
Seasoning : Jeera -1 tsp, Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp, Karbev/curry leaves
edible oil : 2 Tbsp ,Chopped coriander leaves
Dry chillies/green chillies finely chopped

Method:
Mix the wheat flour,dahi,rice floor and salt in a bowl.Add water and mix well without forming lumps. The consistency should be thinner than the normal dosa batter.
Season this with the seasoning ingredients ie heat oil in a tava, add jeera (cumin), mustard and karbev leaves. When mustard splutters add the chopped chillies.Let the chillies roast in oil. Then drop the seasoning into the batter.Add chopped coriander leaves.
Now place a dosa tava on stove and when heated, with a large spoon pour the batter in the center of the tava and slowly spread on the tava to a circular disc shape. Add little oil on the edges and cover . When done use a flat spoon to remove and turn over. The dosas will roast to a golden colour and will be crisp. Serve hot with coconut chutney or tomato ketchup.

Quick Tomato Rasam

Ingredients:
Ripe tomatoes large : 3 numbers
Fresh coconut scrapings : 1 Heaped Tbsps
Green chillies : 3
For seasoning:
Jeera /Cumin : 1 tsp
Oil for seasoning : 2 tsp
Curry leaves/Karbev : a few
Asafoetida : a pinch
Coriander leaves chopped : 1 tsp

Method:
Microwave tomatoes for three minutes and when cooled remove the skin. Put this in a blender with green chillies and coconut scrapings and run the mixie till the mixture is smooth. Remove and put in a vessel, add 1/2 water to the mixie jar and run the mixie for a second and add this water to the vessel. Keep on stove and bring to boil for 5 minutes. Season with the items under seasoning above and garnish with coriander leaves.Goes well with hot rice or had as soup

Tomato Pickle

This is a recipe I found on Indianfood About.com.(http://indianfood.about.com/od/picklesandpreserves/r/andhratomato.htm)It comes out well, I have made slight variation while making it as follows. It is supposed to be made hot as it is mixed with hot rice and ghee and consumed.

Ingredients:

* 1 kg firm red tomatoes washed and cubed
* 6 tbsps sesame oil (you can substitute this with vegetable refined oil)
* 2 lime sized lumps of tamarind
(remove seeds and soak in a little hot water to soften)
* 8-10 green chillies (adjust these to your taste if this amount
is too/less hot for you)and 2 tsp redchilli powder
* 2 tsps fenugreek seeds
* 2 tsps cumin seeds
* 2 tsps mustard seeds
* 1/2 tsp asafoetida
* Salt to taste

Preparation:

In a deep pan, heat 3 tbsps of sesame oil and add tomatoes. Fry until they
are soft and then mash roughly.Grind the tamarind,red chilli powder and green chillies into a paste and add to the mashed tomato paste.
In another pan heat 3 tbsps of sesame oil and add the mustard seeds.
When they splutter add the fenugreek seeds and fry. Now add the asafoetida and remove from the fire.Pour this hot mix onto the tomato-tamarind-green chilli paste and mix well.
Allow to cool and store in a glass bottle in the refrigerator.Use only dry spoon.Eat with plain hot rice with fresh hot ghee or chapati/dosas or as an accompaniment with other dishes.

Raw Jackfruit Palya/Kadgi Upkari

Ingredients:
Raw Jackfruit pealed and cubed : 2 cups
Fresh Coconut scrapings : 2 Tbsps
Salt : To taste
Seasoning:
Refined oil : 2 tsp
Mustard : 1 tsp
Asafoetida/Hingu : 1 pinch
Urad dhal : 1 tsp
Chana dhal : 1 tsp
Curry leaves/Karbev : few

Method:
Cook the kadgi/raw jackfruit pieces in very little water in cooker. When cool slightly crush with a spoon. Sprinkle salt and mix well.
Keep a thick wok (kadai)on lit stove and pour the oil. Add mustard seeds and when it splutters add the dhals.Fry till dhals turn golden brown, now add the karbev,coconut scrapings and hing.Saute for a while and add the cooked kadgi/raw jackfruit to the seasoning and mix well.Cover and cook on sim fire turning now and then.When the curry is fairly dry turn the stove off.Serve as side dish with South Indian meal

Knol-khol Kurma

Ingredients:

(A)
Knol khol/ganth Gobi : 2 medium sized scraped and cubed to small pieces
Carrot : 1 medium sized scraped and cubed into small pieces
Baby-corn : 2 medium sized chop into 1/4 inch pieces
Shelled peas : 1 fistfull

(B)
Fresh coconut scrapings : 3 Tbsps
Onions : 1 large minced
garlic : 2 pods
Ginger : 1/4 inch
cardamom and Cloves : 3 each
green chillies : 4 or 5
Coriander seeds : 1 tsp
Rice/wheat flour : 1/2 tsp

(C)
Refined oil/Ghee : 3 Tbsp
Kasoori Methi : 1 tsp
Cream of milk : 1 Tbsp
Salt : 1 1/2 tsp or to taste
Method:
Cook the vegetables under (A) in a cooker or micro-oven with very little water taking care not to overcook .
In a mixie, grind to a smooth paste the items under (B).
In a thick pan/Wok add the oil/ghee and place on a stove.When hot add the masala and saute well till oil leaves the masala.To this add the cooked vegetables and salt. Mix well and let boil for 5 minutes.Sprinkle the kasoori methi on top and cover and cook for 1 min.Last add the cream of milk on top and cover and keep. Serve hot with rotis or chappathis.As this kurma is white in color and has a fine aroma, children will love it and is a good way to make them eat vegetables.

Beetroot Raita

Ingredients:
Beetroot large : 1
Thick and fresh curd : 300 ml
Oil : 1 tsp
Mustard : 1/2 tsp
Green chillies : 1 small
Coriander leaves : Finely chopped 2 Tbsps
(Cilantro)
Salt : 1/2 tsp
Method:

Scrape and wash beetroot and shred fine. Keep in a glass bowl with a teaspoon of water and cook in micro-oven for 3 minutes at 600 Deg C.Allow to cool. Add the curds and salt, mix well.Season with mustard seeds and chopped chillies in hot oil. Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves. Serve as a side dish with any Indian meal.

Kalakand with Milkmaid

Ingredients:
Milkmaid : 1 tin ( 400gms)
Milk : 2 cups
Sour Curd : 2 Tbsps
Sugar : 2 tsps

Method
Pour the 2 cups of milk in a thick vessel. Boil the milk and add the sour curd to curdle the milk. Add the milkmaid tin contents and sugar to this and keep boiling till the mixture dries up and leaves the sides of the vessel. remove from fire and set in a large greased plate with edges (not a flat plate- in Indian , a thali)When cool cut into pieces. Store in a container. Keeps for a week in cool climate outside the refrigerator, if at all people are not around to finish it in a couple of days!

Deep Fried Drumsticks

There I come up with one more of drumstick recipe. This is a very tasty fry and you will like it surely.Here's how

Ingredients:
Fresh and tender Indian Drumsticks
(Peeled and chopped into 2 inch pieces.) : 6 or 7
Red Chilli powder : 1 Tbsps
Table salt : 1 tsp or a little bit more as per taste
Rice flour or maida(all purpose flour) : 2 to 3 Tbsps spread on a plate
Refined oil 2 cups for deep frying

Method:
Peel and cut the drumsticks as shown in the picture.Wash well and let the water drain. Put these in a flat bowl. On to the drumstick pieces sprinkle the salt and chilli powder and shake the vessel up and down gently in such a way that the salt and chilli powder get adhered to the drumstick evenly. Keep aside for one hour. Just before lunch is served you must fry this.
Next roll the drumstick pieces in the rice flour and tap the extra flour off, keep all the pieces ready for frying. When the oil in the pan is hot and ready for frying, drop the drumstick pieces in the hot oil and with a strainer spoon turn over lightly.Once you drop the pieces in oil, reduce the flame of the stove slightly. Turn gently in the oil till goden brown and crisp and remove from oil and put it on the brown paper/newspaper in a plate so that the excess oil will be removed.Serve hot with a South Indian meal.I am kind of sure this is not a very common recipe.Am I correct?

Garlic Pickle

Ingredients:

1. Peeled garlic : 3 cups (200 ml cup)
2. Table Salt : 5 Tsps
3. Chillie Powder : 9 Tsps
4. Coriander seeds : 1 Tbsps
5. Jeera (cumin) seeds : 1 Tsp
6. Methi (fenugreek) : 1/2 tsp
7. Lime juice (fresh) : 1/4 cup
8. Til oil : 1 cup

Method:

Take a fairly broad vessel and fill it with water to less than 1/4 it's capacity. Cover the vessel with a thin , clean cloth .The cloth should be stretched lightly, with a slight sag in the center.Then tie a thread around the rim of the vessel so that the cloth is held in place across the mouth of the vessel. Take care to see that the cloth is not hanging too long along the sides of the vessel, lest it catches fire!

Place the peeled garlic on this and cover with a plate.Keep the vessel on the stove on sim fire and let the water boil for ten minutes. The garlic will get cooked and change color. Remove and transfer the garlic on to a dry cloth on a plate plate to cool.

Dry roast the items from (3) to (6) and powder. Put half the oil in a flat, dry vessel and add the powdered ingredients and mix well.The powder should soak in the oil. Add oil if necessary to let it soak well. Then add the garlic and lime juice and mix well. Cover and leave it aside for an hour. Take a clean bottle/jar and just pour little oil in it and turn the bottle so the the oil forms a film along the insides of the bottle. Using a spoon transfer the pickle from the vessel to the bottle. Top up with some more of the remaining oil so that it stands on the top of the pickle. You can start using the pickle in a couple of days, but should refrigerate so that it can last for 2 to three weeks.

Jaggery syrup for dosas

Children are fussy about food is it not? And if you made dosas they do not like chutney or sambar with it. Probably you serve them ghee and sugar or may be jam? But here is a simple jaggery syrup ( which is better and healthier than refined sugar).

Ingredients:

Jaggery : 500 gms.

cardamom : 3 or 4 peeled and powdered fine

Method:
Put the jaggery in a thick pan and pour a cup of water.Keep on stove and let it boil and melt. When all the jaggery is dissolved use a fine strainer or clean cloth to strain this thin syrup. In India jaggery has some impurities and small stones/sand.by straining this way you get clean syrup. Transfer this clean syrup to a thick pan and keep boiling till it thickens and forms syrup of 1 to 2 string consistency. Add powdered cardamom and stir well.When cool this syrup should be fluid enough to come on a spoon ( like honey).If not you can add a little bit of water and keep on stove for one boil.When cool store in a air tight container and serve with iddlies and dosas to the kids.See how they will love it.

Bhindi/Okra and curd curry.

Ingredients:

1. Okra : 250 gms
2. Coconut scrapings( fresh) : 1/2 cup ( 200 ml cup)
   
3. Jeera : 1 tsp
4. Curd : 150 ml ( should be beaten smooth and should not be very sour)
   
5. Salt : as per taste (1 1/2 tsp)
6. Refined cooking oil : 1 Tbsp
7. Karbev leaves : 5 or 6
8. Green chillies : 2 slit lenghtwise
9. Red dry chillies : 2 whole
10. Rice flour : 1/2 tsp
11. Cilantro ( coriander leaves) : a few sprigs
    

Method:

Wash the okras well and let the water drain totally. Now chop off the ends and cut into 1" long pieces. Pour half the seasoning oil in a pan, add 1/2 tsp jeera , add slit green chillies and the cut okras and fry well.Do not add salt now as it will make okras very slimy. Let it cook till done. This is best done like chinese dishes- high fire and quick tossing in oil till done! This will let the okras remain green and still cooked. Remove from the stove.

In a mixie grind the coconut scrapings to a fine paste with water and rice flour. Transfer this into a vessel and add the water with which you would have washed your blender jar ( not more than 1/2 a cup).Drop the salt and bring to boil for 2 minutes. Add the cooked okras now and mix well when hot. Remove from fire and let the heat reduce to "warm". Now add the curd and mix well. Season with the remaining oil, jeera, red chillies (whole) and curry leaves. Add the chopped cilantro on top and serve. Can be had with hot rice or taken as a side dish in a south indian meal.

Drumstick Leaves Dosa

Tender drumstick leaves -1 bunch
Chana dhal : 250 gms
Grated (fresh) coconut : 1 Tablespoon
Green Chillies : 3 or 4 Chopped fine
Fresh Ginger : 1/2 inch chopped fine
Salt to taste

Method:

Grind the above ingredients other than the leaves to a rough paste in the Mixie without adding water.
Scoop out from the mixie and add the tender leaves and mix with a laddle.

Keep a Tava on stove and when heated, spread the dosas ( diameter 3"). Add cooking oil around the edge of the dosa. Turn and fry the other side also. Serve hot with lunch or dinner as a side dish.

Drumstick leaves are rich in iron and also supposed to be an aphrodisiac!

Drumstick Palya/Curry

You may be wondering why so many recipes of drumstick and its accessories! We have a drumstick tree in our backyard and when it is season ,we distribute the harvest of the juicy drumsticks ( everybody says these short drumsticks taste special, and it is indeed true)to our neighbors and with what is left I used to make so many types of dishes and this is a simple one at that.

Ingredients:

Tender drumsticks : 6 or 7 Chopped into 2" pieces.
Red dry chillies : 5 or 6 cut into small pieces
Jaggery : 100 grams
Refined Oil : 1 Tbsp
Mustard and urad dhal : 1 tsp each:
Salt : 3/4 level tsp or as per taste
Method:
Take a banali (kadai/thick deep pan),keep on lit stove, add oil when hot add the mustard, when it splutters, add the red chillies pieces and urad dal. When the dal becomes golden brown, drop the drumstick pieces and add one cup water.Cover and cook till done. Now you can add the jaggery and cover and cook again adding water if necessary. The jaggery should melt and get absorbed in the drumsticks and the water in the curry will turn into a thick liquid because of the jaggery. This is the indication that the curry is done.Transfer to serving dish and serve hot with a South Indian Meal.

Drumstick Flowers Buththi

Ingredients:

1. Fresh drumstick flowers : 1 cup
   
2. Fresh coconut (1/2) grated
3. Red long chillies : 6 ( shallow fried in oil)
   
4. Seedless Tamarind : Marble size -made into pulp by soaking in water.
   
5. Onions large : 2 numbers finely chopped
6. Edible oil : 2 Tbsp
7. Salt : 1 1/2 tsp
   

Method:

Sort and pluck the flowers and clean thoroughly and wash in water and drain in a colander.

Grind to a paste coconut, fried chillies and tamarind pulp.The paste should not be very smooth nor too coarse, say medium coarse. Cook the drumstick flowers in very little water till it is just cooked ( in a micro-oven, cook for 3 minutes in 1 Tbsp water in a glass bowl for 2 mins; at 600 watts setting)

Add the oil in a thick pan and when it is hot add the chopped onions and fry till transparent. Now add the masala , salt and mix well, next add the cooked flowers and mix well. Keep the stove on sim and cover and cook for 5 minutes taking care to stir now and then. The whole curry should be fried well on sim fire till slightly roasted. Remove and keep in serving dish.

Goes well as a side dish or can be had with rotis and chappathis.

Gooseberry Curd Pickle

Ingredients:

1. Big gooseberry : 2 kgs
2. Til(sesame) Oil : 250 gs
3. green chillies : 200 gms
4. fresh curd : 200 gms
5. TableSalt :to taste
6. Asafoetida : 1/4 tsp Haldi : a pinch
7. Mustard seeds for seasoning
8. Dry fried 1/4 tsp methi seeds and 1/4 tsp mustard seeds: Powder fine.

Method:
In a non-stick pan add two Tbsp oil and heat, add the gooseberries and toss well in the oil so that the oil covers all the gooseberries.Cover and cook for 15 to 20 mins taking care to toss it in between so that nothing will get burnt.

After this, cool the well cooked berries totally. Now remove the seeds by slightly prodding with a spoon so that the berries split into 4 pieces and are not crushed.
Now to this cooled and deseeded berries add asafoetida,haldi , curd and chopped green chillies and mix well but gently. Now add the powdered items under (8)

Heat the remaining oil, add 2 tsp mustad seeds, let it crackle fully. Now pour this hot oil into the pickle pan and toss well to mix. Let it cool, cover and keep aside for 5 to 6 hrs and then transfer to refrigerator. Can be eaten the next day , will keep for two weeks in the fridge.

Gooseberries are very good for health and de-toxify the system. They are a rich source of Vitamin C.
Eat one or two pieces a day with your meal.