KOVAKKAI USULLI

KOVAKKAI USULLI

Ingredients

1/2 cup toor dal
2 tbsp chana dal
2 dried red chillies
1/4 tsp hing
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
1 spring curry leaves
1 tbsp oil

Little coconut grates
2 cups length-wise slit kovakkai
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds for tempering
Salt to taste

Preparation for Usuli:

Soak 1/2 cup toor dal with 2 tbsp chana dal, either overnight or for 3 hours in warm water. Grind this to a coarse paste with 2 broken dried red chillies, 1/4 tsp of asafoetida powder, pinch of turmeric powder, 1 tsp salt and a few coconut without adding any water.
Steam this paste in an idli-steamer or a regular steamer for 10-15 minutes until the lentil paste is cooked. Remove to a bowl once cooled and crumble into small pea-sized pieces. Keep aside.

Directions:

Place the slit pieces of kovakkai in microwave safe bowl, sprinkle some water ,add little salt and cook them on high for 5 minutes. Keep aside.
In a non stick pan, heat 1 tbsp oil, and put in the crumbled usili. Stir them around on medium flame till golden and slightly crispy.
In the same pan, take 1 tsp oil, put in the mustard seeds and broken red chilli pieces. Once they crackle, put it the cooked kovakkai, salt to taste, stir around for 2 minutes.
Add the stir fried usili and stir together for 2 minutes until they have come together.
Serve hot with Mor Kozhambu ,Mor Kootu and rice along with some appalams.

Notes:

You could make double the batch, and freeze the lentil 'idlis' for the next time you are making this. Making the Usili is the only time consuming part of this recipe.

Mor kozhambu is the best combination with Usuli as this dish is already heavy with lentils. Combining this with sambhar, which is again made with lentils, makes it a very tough to digest combination.

BHAINGAN BHARTHA

BHAINGAN BHARTHA

Last week, one sleepless night,my thoughts were wondering with so many things.
I just couldnt calm myself and put myself to sleep.So I started browsing something or the other in my ipod touch.
The day before, I had been to safeway,and purchased an eggplant(the big one as shown).

I wanted to make something out of it.Suddenly,I was looking at this site,VahreVah.com and Vah Chef was preparing BAINGAN BARTHA.

I wanted to try it out, but my version.

But I took his advice of cooking the Baingan in my convetional oven.

So lets get started right away.. As I always call it my way, WE DO WITH WHAT WE HAVE IN THE KITCHEN!!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 tsp asafoetida
to taste coriander leaves
1 big eggplant
1 tsp garam masala powder
4 small garlic cloves
1 piece ginger
4-5 number green chilies
2 tsp mustard seeds,
1 tbsp oil
2 number onions
to taste salt
1 small tomato
1 tsp turmeric powdr

DIRECTIONS

1. Rub some oil to the surface of the eggplant and roast eggplant over direct flame flipping the sides a couple of times for even roasting.

Roasting can be done in a conventional oven or a toaster oven at 475deg.F for around 45 minutes.(Do not use microwave). DO NOT FORGET TO SLIT WITH KNIFE(SLIGHT CARVINGS) BEFORE PLACING IN THE OVEN AS BAINGAN MIGHT POP WITH SLITTING!!

2. After half an hour, or when the skin of eggplant loosens up from the inner flesh, insert a knife and check if the inner portion of eggplant has turned soft. Remove eggplant from the fire.

3. Peel the skin off and take only the inner flesh of the eggplant. Scoop out black seeds, if any. Mash it with a spatula or grind coarsely in a chopper / grinder.

4. Chop chilies, onions and tomatoes. Crush garlic cloves. Also grate ginger.

5. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is enough hot, add mustard seeds.

As they splutter, add asafoetida and turmeric powder. Add chilies, onions and fry till onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and again fry till the oil separates from the mixture. Now add mashed eggplant and give it a good stir.

It turned out to be awesome with chapathis. Try it out friends!! Don't forget to post your views about the dish!!

CALORIE CAUTIOUS PANEER MUTTUR

CALORIE CAUTIOUS PANEER MUTTUR





This is one dish that is an extremely popular Indian curry - very popular among Punjabis,people from the land where paneer has been predominantly used since many years. If one has paneer and frozen peas, this can be made out of the stuff you'd normally have in your kitchen racks.

For a person who is busy through out the day and that too with an infant, it's odd that I rarely make the typical restaurant style dishes going mostly with the more earthy simple dishes, where veggies are not drowned in rich gravies and gravies don't take over the meal! However on a jiffy I decided to try out this matar paneer curry, also since I had nothing else in my refrigerator that evening, except for the staple onions-tomatoes-ginger and garlic paste.
This is a much calorie cut version of the normal ones served in restaurants.

Like in one of Vadivel's Comedy,theres a famous dialogue "varum aana varadhu".Like that
"Idhu adhu da..aana adhu illa!"Yes this is a restaurant like tasting side dish but the method and ingredients used is not as rich as that so all those weight watchers can give it a try!!


Matar Paneer ( Indian curry with green peas and cheese )

Vegetarian side to be eaten with rotis, parathas or rice

Time taken - Around 30 minutes

Serves - 3 to 4 people

---

Ingredients

• 1 tsp oil
  


• 1 tbsp broken cashewnuts
  


• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  


• 3 medium tomatoes finely chopped
  


• 1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
  


• 1 tsp finely chopped garlic cloves
  


• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  


• 1 tsp red chilli powder
  


• 1-2 tsp coriander-cumin powder or 1 tsp each
  


• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
  


• 1 tsp salt
  


• 1 cup frozen or fresh boiled peas
  


• 200 g paneer cut into 12 cubes
  


• 1 tsp kasoori methi - dried fenugreek leaves, crumbled into a rough powder
  
  

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed wok. Start by sauteeing the broken cashews till lightly golden.

2. Next, add the chopped ginger-garlic and onions and cook on a low flame with a pinch of salt till they soften and turn light brown.

3. At this stage, add the tomatoes with the turmeric powder. Stir well and cook for 5-7 minutes, till mushy.

4. Remove the contents of the wok and blend to a fine puree in a blender, once cooled throughly. You may use upto 1/2 cup water to aid the blending process.

5. In the same wok, transfer the fine puree. Season with spice powders (red chilli powder, cumin coriander powder, garam masala) and salt. Simmer for 3-4 minutes till the gravy is infused with the spices.

6. Add the frozen / boiled green peas to this gravy and simmer for 5 minutes, after which the paneer cubes go in. Simmer for another 2 minutes, check for salt, sprinkle crushed kasoori methi and give it a stir.

7. Matar paneer is ready to be removed in a serving bowl.

Serve hot with rotis, parathas, naan,Poori or plain steamed rice seasoned with cumin seeds.

I personally prefer to have this with Chapathi.But today I wanted to see how the Poori-Paneer combination works.It turned out to a blast!!

A raita on the side would be nice too.

Health(y) Advice

• It's perfectly okay to use store bought paneer.
  


• In restaurants, this dish is made with plenty of ghee /butter, a large chunk of nut paste (almond or cashew) plus a dollop of fresh cream added towards the end to make it even richer.
  


• This version uses just one teaspoon of vegetable oil and the small quantity of cashewnuts are enough to provide the rich creamy restaurant taste without the added calories from fat.
  

So try out this version of Muttur Paneer and please dont forget to provide your honest feedbacks.These feedbacks help me to serve you better with more good choices of dishes.

I am also going to try a different dish very soon with the same ingredients except for one.

Until I meet you people next time with a new dish..Keep guessing on this one!

BAKED CUTLETS

BAKED VEGETABLE PUFFS

It has been months that I have prepared anything special for my husband.I was flipping the pages of a snacks book when the word "VEGETABLE CUTLET " caught my mind.
I tried out a different method..not the usual way of making cutlet.
WE have Ovens here so why not use them??
Initially I was skeptical about baking, as I am
still learning as a baker. But I have tried a couple of things like VEGETABLE PUFFS.

It came out so well that my
hubby just loved it.
Though previously, I used to deep fry it oil, this
time I tried baking it.
I was lucky! The Vegetable cutlet turned out to be very tasty and great looking.

So much adieu,here is the recipe of Baked/Fried Vegetable Cutlet

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of vegetables which includes Beans, carrot, Peas, Potato or any vegetable combination of your choice.
• 1 tsp of chilli powder
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 cup of cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp of cashew nuts (optional)
• 1 tsp of coriander powder
• 1 tsp of cumin seeds
• 1 tsp of Ginger garlic paste
• Oil for deep frying. If baking, you will need 2 tsp of oil to prepare the mixture.

To dip:

A thin mixture of 1 tbsp of all purpose flour/maida and water.

To Coat:

1 cup of bread crumbs

Method:

• Pressure cook all the vegetables till you get 3 hisses.
• Immediately release the pressure and remove the vegetables from the cooker.
• Separate the potato alone and peel and mash it in a bowl.
• Place all the other vegetables in a tissue paper and squeeze to remove excess water.
• In a Pan, add oil, cumin seeds and saute them. Now add ginger garlic paste and cashew and saute.
• Add the vegetables and mix well. Add chilli powder,turmeric powder,cumin and coriander powder and mix well. Now add salt.
• Saute them until the water is evaporated.
• Now add this mixture to the mashed potato along with finely chopped cilantro and mix well.
• Take
  small amount of this mixture and make it into a cutlet shape, it can be
  round, oval or heart shaped and dip it in the all purpose flour and
  water mixture and immediately coat them with bread crumbs. This step
  needs to be done very quick so that we can prevent the cutlets from
  absorbing more water.

To Bake the Vegetable cutlet:

• Preheat the over to 375 degree F and Place these cutlets in the baking pan for 15 -20mts.
• Now remove the pan and turn the cutlets and bake it for another 15 mts.
• Remove and serve hot with mint chutney/Tomato sauce.

To Fry the Vegetable cutlet:

• In a Pan, add enough oil and deep fry them until they are brown.
• Serve hot with mint chutney/Tomato sauce.
• Note:
  In either case, make sure that the cutlet mixture has less moisture it
  in. This will help in getting a crispy vegetable cutlet.

PALAK PANEER

Recently,I have started to experiment some side dishes for Parathas/Rotis.Reason being,my husband prefers Rotis for his lunch box rather than Rice. So how long can he take the same old side dishes again and again?? I wanted to make sure he doens't get bored or regret for taking Chapathis.So my first experiment was with Palak Paneer as its ingredients were readily available at home. So here's the Menu and Make that turned out to be a scorer!!!

Ingredients
Paneer - 10 to 12 big cubes
Spinach (Palak) - 2 cups of finely chopped leaves
Onion - 1 medium sized - finely chopped
Tomato - 1 or 2
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 3 to 4 cloves
Garlic - 1 small piece
Green chillies - 2 - finely chopped
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Fresh ground black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Oil to saute
Salt to taste

Method
Fry the paneer in some oil and keep aside.
Cook the spinach (palak) in boiling water, drain and grind into a paste/puree.
Add oil to a kadai, saute the onion along with cumin seeds, turmeric powder, garlic, ginger and green chilies.
Grind the tomato along with a small portion from the sauteed mixture into a puree.
Add the puree to the kadai, stir until the oil separates in the corners.
Now add the palak puree, paneer cubes, garam masala, pepper, salt and some water to cook well.
Serve along with rotis/parathas.

Try it out and let me know how it turned out!