Moong dal Halwa

My friend Pushpa Sriram is an awesome cook and makes delicious sweets and she shared this with me, one of her mother's recipe, a halwa made with moong dal which is very nutritous:

Ingredients :  1 Cup Moongdal ; 

                       1 cup sugar; 

                       1 cup ghee; 

                       1/2 cup milk; cardamom  powdered for taste; a pinch of clove powder; 

                       a pinch of nutmeg powder;

                       saffron few strands. 

                       Khova - optional

Garnishing:  slivered almonds, pistas, roasted cashew and raisins.

Soak moong dal for 4 hours. Soak saffron in a little warm milk. Drain water from

soaked moongdal and wash it well.  It has to be washed well many times so that

the raw smell goes away. Grind the soaked moongdal coarsly without adding

water. Heat 1/2 cup of ghee in nonstick pan or heavy bottomed dekchi, add the

ground moong dal, and roast on low heat.  Be careful not to allow to form lumps.

If required add a little milk to make it easier. The moong dal has to be roasted on

low heat. It takes time and patience, keep adding ghee slowly little by little and

as the ghee starts separating, add the sugar and a little more milk and cook well

to halva consistency and add khova (2-3 spoons) .  

Add cardomom powder, clove powder, nutmeg powder and soaked saffron and mix well. 

When cooked well to golden colour remove from flame. Garnish with almonds, pistas, 

cashew and raisins. 

This can be stored in fridge and when heating for serving add little milk and heat, so it 

does not dry out. If required sugar can be increased to suit your taste.

Fruit salad with Sweet Yoghurt

This is a healthy fat-free fruit salad that old and young alike would love.

Peel and chop fresh fruits of your choice and keep in a bowl in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. ( I have used apples,oranges, seedless grapes, and bananas)

Take fresh homemade sweet curd in a large bowl and add sugar to taste and beat well till the sugar is dissolved add a pinch of salt also while mixing.

When the chopped fruits in the bowl is cooled add to the curd above and gently mix. Add honey on top as a decoration if desired. Serve when cool as a dessert. You can also skip sugar and add only honey for sweetness.

South Indian Tomato Chutney

©ashashenoyfineart

This is a spicy tasty chutney that goes with idli/dosa/vada/phulka/chapathi or with a plate of steaming rice topped with ladles of ghee! You can make and preserve it in the fridge for up to a week, don't keep the container out of the fridge every day, but transfer how much ever you need for the day to a bowl and return the chutney container to the fridge!

You need red ripe tomatoes, fresh coriander leaves for this preparation.

Ingredients:

Ripe red tomatoes: 1/2 kg  ( remove the stalk area by scooping and chop into 4 to 6 pieces)

Urad/udid dal: 2 heaped Tbsp

Mustard: 1 tsp

Methi seeds: 8 to 10 (fenugreek)

Asafoetida/Hing: 1 large pinch   ( I mean LG Hing powder)

Dried red chillies: 6 ( to taste)

Green chillies: 2 or 3

Garlic: 2 to 3 pods

Chopped fresh coriander leaves (cilantro) : 2 Tbsp

Refined oil: 5 to 6 Tbsp ( or a little more, don't cringe on oil usage plz)

Salt to taste

Process:

Pour the oil into a thick deep pan. (Not the flat non-stick types) and keep on the stove.

When oil is hot drop the mustard seeds, reduce to medium flame, when these splutter add udid dal and wait for a few seconds, till the dal turns light brown. Now drop the methi seeds and the dry red chillies and toss til udid dal turns golden brown. Immediately add hing powder, it will give a nice aroma in oil, keep stirring. Next, add the garlic pods, green chillies and the chopped tomatoes into the pan and add salt. Finally, add coriander leaves and stir well and let it fry well till oil comes slightly on the sides.

💥DO NOT ADD WATER at any stage.💥

Let this cool completely.

Transfer to a mixie jar and blend till done but the paste should not be too smooth. The dal should be seen in the chutney. Transfer to a dry airtight jar. 

💥Do not use water while grinding or transferring to the dry jar. 💥

Yummy chutney is ready. 

You can use cleaned peels of ridge gourd instead of tomatoes in this recipe. For this, first, peel the hard ridges on the gourd. Wash the gourds thoroughly and wipe dry. Now peel the skin off the gourd and in the above recipe use it instead of the chopped tomatoes. This will be another chutney treat to relish with hot rice, yummy!😋😋

Instant rasam/saar

Sorry folks, long time since I posted recipes. This is a good "saar" or rasam in these days of high cost of pulses! And good for health too.

Ingredients:
Coriander seeds : 1 Tbsp
Jeera : 1 tsp
Pepper corns : 1 tsp
Chana dal : 1 Tbsp
Red chillies : 2
Grated coconut : 3 Tbsps
Tamarind : lime size soak in water
For Seasoning : Oil 1 Tbsp, mustard 1/2 tsp,curry leaves 5 or 6


Method : Dry fry all the above (except coconut and tamarind)to golden color and grind to a smooth paste in a mixie with tamarind and coconut and 1/2 cup water. Transfer to a vessel and add 2 cups of water and salt as per taste. Bring to boil. Season with mustard and curry leaves.Serve with hot rice.

Apple Ginger Jam

Ingredients:
Apples: 1 kg
Sugar: 1 kg
Ginger: 50 gms
Limes: 2
Citric acid: 1 tsp
A few drops of colour if desired

Method:

Core apples and cut into small cubes, scrape and clean ginger and chop fine. Pressure cook these with a little water for 8 mins. ( You can also cook these in Microwave)
Extract puree by passing through a fine strainer or mesh. You can also use a crusher and then strain to extract the puree.

Add sugar, citric acid and lime juice to the puree in a thick vessel and boil rapidly, stir with a wooden spoon and remove scum from the top of the mixture. When the setting point is reached remove from fire, add colour and KMS ( optional). Bottle while still hot in a clean dry glass jar. Don't forget to keep the bottle on a wooden surface lest it cracks when hot jam is poured.

To test if the jam is done, drop a blob of jam in a bowl of cold water and if done it will remain as a shiny blob, if not it will start dissolving.

Bhaghara Baingan (Brinjals)

©ashashenoyfineart

Ingredients:
Step-1
Fry the following on slow fire to light golden brown:
Groundnuts            : 3 Tbsp
Til seeds                 : 2 Tbsp
Coconut scrapings  : 3 to 4 Tbsp
(or roast 1/4th dry coconut /copra roast on flame,
poke a fork into the coconut and turn on flame)
Cool the above, make a coarse powder in the mixie, add water and complete the grinding, remove the paste and keep in a bowl.

Step-2
Eight to ten small, fresh and tender brinjals.
Wash and wipe dry the brinjals. Remove the stalks. Slit the bottom of each brinjal into 4 sections at right angles till a little before the stalk
In a kadai (thick pan) pour oil. Keep on stove and heat the oil till very hot (drop a tiny piece of brinjal, it should pop up in the oil immediately and not sink and stay at the bottom) but don't over heat.
Drop the brinjals one by one and fry till the color changes, you can reduce the flame slightly to avoid over frying. When done remove with a frying ladle and place in a colander to drain the oil.

Transfer the oil used for frying from this pan, leaving behind about 6 Tbsps oil.

Now take two medium size onions. Poke a fork in the onion and tun over a medium flame till the onions turn translucent. Now slice the onions and blend in a mixie. Keep aside.

Step-3
Ingredients
Mustard seeds:  1 tsp
Black til    : 1/2 tsp (kalonji)
Red chillies:  2
Methi seeds:  8 numbers
Karbev: 10 leaves
Onion paste: as in Step-2
Ginger garlic paste: 1 tsp
*Salt: to taste

Dhania powder: 1 level tsp
Jeera powder: 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder:  1 tsp

Lime-sized tamarind, wash well add water and extract thick juice.


Now heat the oil in the pan, and drop one by one of the above ingredients up to salt*. Fry well on a slow fire and then add dhania, jeera, chilli powder. Fry again and then add the paste made in Step -1, mix well fry again, add oil if necessary and 1/2 cup water to blend. Keep frying till oil leaves the sides of the pan. Now carefully place the fried brinjals, add tamarind juice, and cook for 10 mins slowly turning the brinjals in the masala. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes on slow fire. Put off the flame and add chopped coriander leaves. Bhagara baingan is ready to serve!!

Pepper Chicken

Ingredients: 

(A) Broiler chicken : 600 gms (good pieces) 

Ginger-garlic paste : 1 Tbsp each 

Curds/yoghurt                    : 150 ml 

Vinegar : 1 Tbsp 

Salt : 2 tsp 

Chili powder : 1 tsp 

Haldi/Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp (B) 

Large onions : 2 Chopped and ground coarsely in a mixie 

Ginger garlic paste : 1 Tbsp 

Coriander/dhania powder : 1 Tbsp 

Pepper : 2 Tbsp pepper corns freshly powdered 

Garam masala powder : 1 tsp  (you can buy a branded pack of Garam masala

Green chillies (slit) : 4 

Tamarind lime size : soak in water and extract thick juice 

Curry leaves(karbev) : 10 to 15 

Refined oil : 6 Tbsps or 100 ml 

Salt : 1 tsp ( adjust salt) 

For seasoning : Coconut oil/rice bran/sunflower oil, 1 tspfull mustard seeds ,2 dry red chilies and few curry leaves. 

Method: 

Mix the items under (A) and marinate the chicken pieces in it for 1 hour. Take a thick pan and pour the oil into it. Keep on stove and when hot add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté. 

When the raw smell goes, add the onion paste and saute, add the the garam masala, pepper, dhania/coriander powder, slit green chilies and karbev(curry leaves) leaves next and saute well. Keep turning till the mixture is fried nicely and oil is leaving the sides of the mixture. 

Add salt and the marinated chicken pieces, pour the tamarind juice. Mix well and cover and allow to cook adding very little water to help in cooking the chicken pieces. Instead of water you can also use 1/2 cup of coconut milk for cooking the chicken in the gravy. This enhances the taste of the curry.The chicken pieces should cook well in about 15 minutes. Finally season with the seasoning items and decorate with chopped coriander leaves . Serve hot with chicken biryani. This is a spicy Southie Indian chicken curry.

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?