Cabbage Vada/Vadai

We had a half-cut cabbage stored in an airtight container for a very long time. We wanted to use the cabbage as early as possible. So, my mom and I ended up making some hot vadai’s with Chai/tea and kesari (I know, bad combination, but, why not?). This particular post I decided not to write much, but let the pictures speak for better understanding. You can read the captions below every picture.

Cooking time:- 25 minutes

Soaking/ pre-preparation time:- 4 hours.

Ingredients:-

1. 3/4 channa dal
2. 1/4 cup urad dal
3. 1/4 cup tur dal
4. Water- 2 cups for soaking
5. Red chillies – 4
6. Half cut cabbage – For serving at least 4 people.
7. Coriander powder-2 tbsp
8. Salt to taste
9. Jeera – Optional
10. Cumin seeds – Optional
11. Curry leaves – Handful
12. Oil for frying

• 

  Soak for an hour all the Pulses/dal with the Red chillies

• 

  leave aside some for the Vadai

• 

  Grind the content in a processor/mixie

• 

  The ground paste of the pulses/dal

• 

  Mix the paste to the Pulses/Dal

• 

  Add Coriander Powder, Asafoetida, Salt and Curry leaves

• 

  Mix all the contents to get this grainy onsistency of the content

• 

  Pre-heat the pan with oil for ten minutes.

• 

  Flatten the content and put in the oil for frying. Let it fry well, till it turns golden brown.

• 

  Serve hot with sauce.

Just to make things a bit more interesting, here are few boomerangs.

Aloo Tikki

Aloo Tikki, also known as Hash Potatoes in English, is a 4 PM snack made from boiled potatoes and fried deep. The shelf life, when stored in the chiller, is not more than 24 hours. To be consumed after it is heated thoroughly after taking it out from the chiller. Aloo Tikki’s crispy when eaten hot. Other ingredients like peas, corn, cabbage can also be added along.

When I had been to Ambala and Delhi, my only staple dish over there was Aloo Tikki. I never got tired of eating every time I saw someone selling them. All because I assumed that I may never get to eat the similar in Chennai. But I’m wrong. Two days back, my mom had prepared this for the evening snack, and I feel it’s okay to brag that this is one of the best that I have ever had. How do I miss sharing this recipe in my blog? So, here it goes. 

Preparation time:-45 minutes

Ingredients required:- 

Potatoes – 4 big sized

Peas- 10g

Salt to taste

Chilli Powder 2g

Chaat Powder/Masala 3g

Garlic 2 pods (Optional)

Coriander powder 2g

Corn Flour 10g

Mint 2 strands

Oil – If for frying then atleast 25 ml , if not just 1-2tsp

1. Boil the Potatoes.
2. Add the ingredients mentioned above to the boiled potatoes and mash them well.  If you’re using peas, ensure that they are boiled well before you add them.
3. Ensure that the water doesn’t ooze out and keep mix-mashing them all well. 
4. Make small balls of these mashed ingredients. 
5. Meanwhile, heat a flat pan with some oil. 
6. Once the pan is thoroughly heated, flatten the balls to whichever shape you would like and keep tossing them till they are completely roasted. Indication:- Golden brown color. (Comparatively a healthier option)
7. If okay with deep frying, instead of a flat pan, in a frying pan, add some oil and let them heat well.  
8. Flatten these balls and put them in the frying pan, allow it to fry well, and turn into golden brown- crispier. 
9. Serve with mint or coriander chutney. It is also best accompanied with hot and spicy Tomato sauce. 

Pulungal Arisi Adai/ Parboiled Rice Adai

Adai is a filling delicacy, prepared using a mix of lentils (dal) and rice and is quite different from how dosa is ready. Adai recipe is different yet easy and takes lesser time as compared to dosa. The dish was named Adai because, in olden days, prepared in a bronze vessel with coconut oil. Adai is not exactly dosa, but it is similar to what dosa is. Adai recipe made using lentils, including toor dal, urad dal, and a small amount of chana dal and rice. Unlike a dosa, Adai does not go through the fermentation process and is much thicker than regular dosa.” The use of multiple dals and rice make it a filling dish that can be gorged on during lunchtime or as a snack. Adai is best eaten with coconut chutney or Avial or Aviyal, which is a vegetable and coconut stew. Jaggery mixed with ghee also makes a fantastic accompaniment with Adai.

Preparation Time:- 1 hour

Ingredients Required:-

1. Parboiled rice/ Pulungal Arisi- 1 cup

2. Channa Dal- 3/4 Cup

3. Split Yellow gram dal- 1/3 Cup

4. Tur Dal/ Pigeon Pea- 3/4 Cup

5. Black gram lentils/ Urad Dal- 1/3 cup

6. Some salt to taste

7. Oil

8. More love

– Soak all the ingredients in water for an hour. Add salt.

– Filter the soaked parts and grind them with red chillies.

– Heat the pan. Add some oil (any oil as per your wish). With the help of a spoon, pour some ingredient of acai and spread around/ circle shape.

– Serve hot with Vegetable stew/ Coconut chutney/ Tomato chutney

Lettuce Wrap

It’s dinner time and it was raining heavily out. I realized I was left with only some lettuce leaves, tomatoes, and onions while browsing my vegetable stock and so was born the lettuce wrap. From that night on my husband and I crave this delicious (yes!) dish. As Famously quoted by Oscar Wilde ” To Expect the Unexpected” was the key ingredient here. I would love to name this dish as “The Best Bachelor’s Dish”, as this required hardly any ingredient and is simple to make.Preparation time:- 10 minutes

Ingredients Required:-

1. Frozen Lettuce leaves
2. Finely Chopped Tomatoes
3. Finely Chopped Onions
4. Garlic Pods- 2
5. Turmeric
6. Chilli Powder
7. Coriander Powder
8. Olive oil
10. Butter – as per your need
11. Salt to Taste
12. Toothpicks
13. More Love

• If you using fresh Lettuce, you can skip this step. For frozen Lettuce, dip in boiling water and dry them until they are soft and free of moisture.
• In a pan, add oil, garlic, onions and tomatoes, salt, turmeric powder, chili powder, and coriander as per your taste. Sautee them well.
• In a flat pan, add some butter and toss the lettuce leaves (take the ones which are big and can easily be rolled/wrapped)
• After tossing, add this curry paste to these leaves and roll them. Make a small hole at the edges and fix a toothpick to hold the wrap well.
• Keep tossing the wrap front and back till they are roasted and visibly turn golden brown. 
• Serve the wraps with a Tahini dip or Hummus or have it with Tomato sauce and thank me later!

NOTE:-

1. Instead of vegetables, you can use Hummus for the filling. You can try the Green Moong Hummus recipe – http://www.lesssaltmorelove.com/2019/11/green-moong-hummus.html

2. You can use ANY filling- Panneer Burji, Egg Burji. ANYTHING!

3. If you don’t have Lettuce, use Cabbage. Tastes similar.

4. Ensure you use toss them well for better flavor and crispy texture.

5. You can also use your leftover gravies or vegetables for the filling.

6. Perfect substitute for Gluten allergic people and diet conscious.

7. Through this, you can slowly learn the skill of wrapping. That is a technique which I’m slowly getting used to.

8. Store under chiller condition for not more than 24 hours.
9. Heat only once before consumption.
10. Don’t have when it is cold.
11. If the filling is perishable, have it immediately the same day of preparation.

Trust me, after having this, you will never feel like having the wraps made of Wheat or Maida. You will definitely feel like you’re going to lose at least 5 kilos (because no carbs bro!!). Give it try and let me know how this worked!

Rice Upma / Arisi Upma with Onion-Tamarind Gothsu

My Graduation Thesis/ Course end project was about Ready to cook and eat Brown rice upma. My professor took time to realize the fact that Upma can be made with rice as well. He was from Pune and so was just used to their poha’s, chivda’s and rava upma. The end product was received very well I should add.

Continuing talking about the rice upma : the upma that I’m going to share is different in form, taste and the accompaniment, it’s served with usual recipes. My Grandmother usually prepares this accompaniment more often with the best side dish, which I would call – Onion Tamarind Gothsu. and once you have had the rice upma with the Gothsu, you will have either dish alone. It’s a match made in food heaven all the while being a very humble eathly dish.

Also, unlike the other usual Upma, my Grandmother shapes it into a dumpling. The same variety can be made with Raw rice as well as boiled rice (which will be finer and not coarser like this dish). I will also share the recipe for the boiled rice upma in my upcoming blog post.

Preparation time :- 30 minutes

Ingredients Required:-

1. Raw rice: Tur Dal : Bengal Gram dal – 250g :50g :50g

2. Red and Green chilies – 3 and 4 pieces respectively

3. Peppercorns – 5pieces

4. Jeera

5. Coriander leaves

6. Oil

7. Water – 250ml

You can check out the recipe for Onion-Tamarind Gotsu/Gothsu here :- https://pavithrakrishnaprsad.blogspot.com/2019/10/onion-tamarind-gotsugotchu.html

1. COARSELY GRIND THE ABOVE MENTIONED RATIO OF RAW RICE, BENGAL GRAM DAL AND TUR DAL ALONG WITH SOME PEPPER CORNS. YOU CAN ADD SOME SALT HERE 2. IN A SAUCEPAN, ADD OIL AND SAUTEE THE CHILIES WITH SOME MUSTARD SEEDS, CORIANDER LEAVES AND URAD DAL. TILL THE CONTENT TURNS BROWN AND CRISPIER

3. ONCE AFTER THE MUSTARD SEEDS START TO SPLATTER, ADD 250ML OF WATER AND WAIT TO BOIL 4. AFTER BOILING, ADD THE COARSE GROUND POWDER AND MIX TO ENSURE NO LUMP FORMATION. YOU CAN ADD SOME SALT HERE 5. YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THERE IS NO OIL LEFT IN THE PAN AND THE CONTENT IS MUCH MORE LIKE AN UPMA CONSISTENCY 6. COOL DOWN THE UPMA FOR LIKE 5 MINUTES. 7. SHAPE THEM INTO BALLS / SHAPE OF A DUMPLING ONCE AFTER THE CONTENT IS WARM 8. STEAM THE SHAPED CONTENT IN A COOKER FOR 10 MINUTES

ARISI UPMA/ RICE UPMA IS NOW READY TO BE SERVED WITH HOT ONION TAMARIND GOTHSU

 

Idly Usili

What would you do if there are leftover Idlies from your breakfast batch? Well, I always end up making A LOT of them , partly on purpose, so that I get to eat like idly manchurian/ fries or most simple recipe Usili recipe for dinner. In this post I will be sharing the recipe of one of my most favorite tiffin “Idly Usili”.A simplest recipe which wouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to prepare.

You will need the following ingredients:-

– Leftover Idlies (depending on the no of serves)
– 20 ml of any type of oil
– Urad and Tur dal
– Coriander leaves

-Green chillies
– Turmeric
– 10 ml lemon juice
– Salt to taste

1. In a heating pan pour some oil (I use olive oil, as I feel it adds some taste and flavor)  and add the variety dals with coriander leaves and green chillies until they brown and crispier
2. Meanwhile, Mash the idlies
3. Add these mashed idlies to the heating pan and mix, mix!!
4. Add turmeric and salt. Keep mixing!!
5. In the end, to boost up the taste add the lemon juice and keep mixing.

I could not click pictures for every step , but just clicked the final product. Serve this hot and the best side which will compliment this is the Avvakai Oorkai (Pickle) or with Tomato thokku (Preserve).

For the best Avvakai Oorkai/Pickle recipe, please check the below link.

https://pavithrakrishnaprsad.blogspot.com/2019/03/south-indian-mango-pickle-avvakaai.html

Awesome Twosome!

The Clockwork Orange” Soup

Carrot-Orange Ginger Soup

Carrot-Orange soup is simply delicious. The aroma and tanginess of the orange along with the heat of the ginger are the hero of this soup!
The addition of orange rind strenghtens the flavour with a hint of bitterness cutting through the sweetness of orange and complimenting the heat from ginger. I have not added any milk or cream.
I’ve added butter in the end to make the soup a bit more creamier.

The slightly tough part is seperating the white portion of the orange rinds. The white part is the pith which is very bitter. I’ve tried my best to show how it can be done through the pictures.
This soup had an intrinsic balance of sourness, bitterness and that heat!!
All you need is :-

2-3 medium sized peeled carrots
Orange rinds
Very very little chopped ginger
Salt to taste
Black pepper powder
1 Butter cube

1. Keep all the ingredients ready. Peel the Orange rind by removing the white part.
2. Chop some gingers and onions.
3. Pressure all the above ingredients for 15 minutes (medium flame- 4 whistles) by adding some salt and black pepper.
4. Remove the Orange rinds from the mixture.
5. Put the ingredients into the blender and make it to a fine soupy-paste.
6. In a pan, add some butter and pour the pasty ingredient on to the pan.
7. You can add a bit of sugar and two spoons of Orange juice to this mixture and keep under lower flame for 2 minutes.
8. Serve this delicious soup with some garlic bread or croutons.

PEELED CARROTS

CHOPPED GINGER

REMOVE THE WHOTE PORTION FROM THE RIND

SEPERATION OF THE WHITE PORTION ADD ALL THE INGREDIENTS INTO THE PRESSURE COOKER POUR SOME WATER AND LET IT COOK UNDER PRESSURE REMOVE THE ORANGE RINDS PUT ALL IN TO THE BLENDER BUTTER IN THE PAN ADD THE BLENDED MIXTURE TO THE PAN AND KEEP MIXING

Pumpkin Soup

So, today I have decided to prepare Pumpkin Soup. For some reason pumpkin never got my attention. But today was different. 
And the result has been so good that people who have tasted, opine it is the best soup i have made yet. 
I,too,instantly fell in love with the aroma and color! So creamy and glorious it looked.
There’s not lot of ingredients that I used here. 

All you need is :-

1. Peeled Yellow Pumpkin- 1 Cup
2. Finely chopped (purple-pink) onions – 1 cup
3. I used 4 pods of finely chopped garlic (you cannot miss adding this!)
4. Green chillies- 1 (chopped)
5. Boiled milk- 1/2 cup
6. Salt to taste
7. Black pepper powder
8. Olive oil
9. Cream- 1 scoop

PEELED AND DICED PUMPKIN

Lets begin the process, 

1. Heat the pan add olive oil, garlic, onions and green chillies. Sautee, till they shrink a bit
2. Add the peeled-diced yellow pumpkin to the pan and sautee. 
3. Add some salt and black pepper. Keep mixing. 
4. Add some amount of water and let the content boil completely (minimum of 15 minutes), till they turn into a paste consistency. 
5. Once they are in a semi-liquid consistency, add them all to the mixie/mixer/food processor (medium to higher speed)
6. Add some milk (according to your requirement) and mix
7. Bring back the content to the pan and cook it on low flame for 10 minutes. 
8. Add some cream on top and serve with lots of love!!

BEGIN WITH THE OLIVE OIL IN THE PAN

SAUTEE THE ONIONS, GREEN CHILLIES AND FINELY CHOPPED GARLIC

ADD THE DICED PUMPKIN, SALT AND PEPPER

ADD WATER AND BOIL FOR 15 MINUTES

IN THE MIXIE, ADD SOME MILK AND PROCESS IT

      

ADD SOME CREAM AND WHISK ONCE

LOOK AT THAT COLOUR!!

 

Creamy Spinach Thick Soup

This soup is SO filling. Usually, I make this soup as my dinner accompanied with garlic bread.

I don’t know why I love garlic in every dish I prepare and it gives me such a pleasure, urge to cook and eat more!!

As promised, I’m going to be posting more on soups. Previously, I had made the clear Lemon-Coriander soup which was lighter.

This Creamy-Spinach soup will ensure it keeps you full for the whole night.

You can have this as a cold or a hot soup, either ways it tastes delicious.

(Don’t forget to have it with Garlic Breads!!)
All you need is:-

1 Cup of blanched and Pureed Spinach leaves
1 TSP of Butter
Half a cup of refined flour
500 ml of Milk
Salt to taste
Black Pepper Powder
Olive Oil (Your Choice!)
Finely grounded and chopped Walnuts (All for that crunch!)
2 pods of Garlic- finely chopped (Ah!! That smell and the flavour)
Amul Cream – as per your requirement

Here we go:-

1. Heat butter a non- stick pan. Add refined flour, mix and sautee for a minute.
2. Add milk and cook till it turns thick. Keep Whisking continuously.
3. Add Pureed Spinach to mixture and keep whisking
4. Add some salt and pepper powder, stir well and simmer for 2-4 minutes
5. Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add the finely chopped garlic and walnuts.
6. Mix the above seasoning on top of the soup content and serve hot. (If you want you can some fried leaves of spinach on top)
7. You can add some sour cream or cream on top of the soup.

The taste of the soup with the garlic and the walnut blended reaaaaaalllyy well.

Chopped Walnuts and garlic just melted away deep inside. WOW.

(Sorry Guys, was so engrossed in cooking that I completely forgot to click pictures during the process :), but, look at that colour!!)

Zesty-Lemon Coriander Soup

I am going to be making soups which haven’t been tried usually.
In this attempt, I started off with making Corriander-Lemon clear soup.
When I researched, I found out that chicken broth is generally used as the stock for the soup.
However, I have used Celery, Potatoes and Cauliflower to make the stock.
The soup was very light. Think Lemon Rasam.
But the corriander and celery held back the acidity of lemon that you would get from Lemon Rasam, making it more balanced.
You can perhaps alter this balance by reducing the stock more or by adding more celery and potatoes.
To summarise, it was a right balance between tanginess of the lemon and mushiness of the celery and potatoes.
It’s a soothing-hearty soup to have when you’re sick with a cold.

All you need to make the soup is :-

1. 1 small cup of coriander leaves
2. 1 and a half lemon- depending on your requirement.
3. Vegebtable stock of 500 ml – depends on the requirement.
4. Salt to taste
5. Grounded/ Powdered pepper for the spice
6. Finely chopped onions
7. Four pods of finely chopped garlic
8. One green chilli- finely chopped
9. Turmeric powder
10. 1 litre of water

CHOPPED ONIONS, GREEN CHILLIES, GARLIC

FINE CHOPPED CORIANDER LEAVES

LEMON JUICE FROM 1 AND A HALF LEMON

BLACK PEPPER POWDER

Making of the Vegetable Broth:-

1. In a non-stick pan , add cauliflower, celery and potatoes (can be any vegetable that helps in giving the better broth/stock. Thicker and better consistency)
2. Add water till the brim of the pan.
3. You can add some salt
4. Let it boil for 15 minutes till you see the stock bubbling
5. Strain the solid vegetables and pour the vegetable broth in a seperate vessel and keep it aside.

VEGETABLE STOCK INGREDIENT

Making of the Soup:-

1. In a non-stick pan, add some olive oil (you can add some butter as well) with finely chopped onions, garlic and chillies.
2. Sautee till they turn transluscent.
3. Meanwhile, squeeze the lemon juice
4. Add the chopped coriander leaves, lemon juice to the pan and keep mixing.
5. Add the vegetable broth to the mixture. You can keep adding water as per however you want the consistency.
6. Add some salt to taste with a pinch of Turmeric powder as per the requirement.
7. Add one spoon of the black pepper powder and keep mixing the ingredients.
8. You can add some water.
9. Set the pan on medium flame. This will take at least 15-20 minutes for the ingredient to completely boil (you can witness the bubbles)
10. Serve with a sprinkle of Oregano seasoning and some butter.

PAN SAUTEE

KEEP MIXING AND LET IT BOIL

READY TO BE SERVED. ADD A SCOOP OF BUTTER AND ENJOY YOUR SOUP!!!