PEERKANGAI (RIDGE GOURD) THUVAYAL

Fry Ridge Gourd Skin till tender.

Fry little urad dhall,red chillies and grind with coconut,salt and tamarid

Ridge gourd skin thuvayal ready

ORANGE RASAM

Orange Rasam

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup Orange juice (freshly squeezed or Tropicana Juice)
• 1 no Tomato (crushed)
• 1/2 tsp Rasam powder
• 2nos Garlic cloves (crushed)(optional)
• 1/2 inch ginger(optional..i didnt use it today)
• 1/4 cup Cooked dal
• 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp Asafoetida powder
• 2 nos Dry red chillies
• Few curry leaves
• Salt
• 1/2tsp Ghee or oil 

METHOD:

1. With little water, boil,tomatoes,garlic for a minute or so.
2. Take the cooked dal with rasam powder,crushed tomato,crushed garlic, salt along with enough water.
3. heat the ghee, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida powder, red chillies,curry leaves and fry until they turns brown.
4. Add the tomato - dal water.
5. Turn off the stove once they starts boiling add the orange juice after a minute or so..
6. Serve hot with rice!!

 

RidgeGourd Bhaaji (Peerkangai Sabzi)

Ingredients:

• 1 Ridge Gourd ( Dodka)
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1/2 tomato finely chopped
• 3 tsp oil
• 1/4 cup Chana Dal
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 5 to 6 curry leaves
• 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
• 1 tsp Coriander Powder
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 small piece of Jaggery
• Salt to taste

Method:


1) Wash ridge gourd and peel its sharp edges and hard skin. Cut in to small bite size pieces.


2) Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, pinch of hing, curry leaves, chopped onion and saute till it becomes translucent.


3) Add ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell from ginger garlic goes away.


4) Add coriander powder, mix and add chopped tomatoes.


5) Add red chilli powder and garam masala, mix, add soaked chana dal, mix, cover and cook for 10 mts. Add small piece of jaggery. ( Its optional)


6) Add ridgegourd, add salt, mix, cover and cook till it gets done.


7) Garnish with coriander leaves.





Notes:

•  Don't Discard the skin of the ridge gourd after you peel them.They turn out into wonderful Peerkangai Thuvayal which will follow in my later blogs... 
• This Thuvyal will go well with hot rice and pappad.
• Be careful when you choose your ridge gourd. Some Gourds are bitter.As you cut the gourd for preparation, taste a piece of it to see if its bitter.. if so discard that Ridge gourd as your dish itself will turn bitter.
• A teaspoon of sabzi masala can be substituted for the separate masalas added.
• Goes well with Chapathi/rice/pooris.

RidgeGourd Bhaaji

MYSORE MASALA DOSA

Ingredients:

For Dosa batter:

• 4 cups Raw rice(sona masuri or any equivalent regular rice)
• 2 cups Boiled rice(par boiled rice or idli rice)
• 1 1/2 cups poha(flattened rice)
• a handful Whole round Urad dal
• 1 tsp Methi seeds

For Potato masala:

1. 2 large potatoes,boiled
2. 1 medium Onion chopped(optional)
3. 3-4 green chillies,slitted
4. 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
5. 1 tbsp chana dal
6. 1 tsp urad dal
7. 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
8. 2 tbsp chopped coriander
9. 8-10 chopped curry leaves
10. salt

For red(Onion-garlic) Chutney: (can be substituted with red channa chilly mix for onion/garlic haters)

• 1 Big Onion chopped
• 8-10 garlic pods
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp tamarind pulp
• salt to taste

Method:

Step 1 : Potato Masala

• Mash the boiled potatoes and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a pan,crackle mustard seeds and fry chana dal,urad dal till brown.
• Add slitted green chillies,curry leaves and onions and fry until they turn pinkish in color.
• Add haldi,salt and mashed potato to it and give a nice stir and cook it for a couple of minutes.
• Add coriander to it and mix properly and keep it aside to cool down.
• Adding “Maa ingi” gives extra flavour to the masala

Step 2 : Red(Onion-garlic) Chutney

• Grind Onion,garlic,red chilli powder,tamarind pulp and salt into a very fine paste.
• For those who dont prefer this paste, fry 6 red chilles,1 Tblsp Channa dhal and urad dhall and grind with little coconut.

Step 3 : Dosa Batter

• Soak both the types of rice,methi,poha in a big vessel for 6-7 hours.Soak urad dal separately for the same time.(minimum of 4-5 hrs)
• Grind urad dal into a very fine and smooth batter.
• Grind the rice mixture to a very smooth batter.Mix both the batter's and add salt to it and mix properly.Ferment it overnight.
• Mix batter well.Pour a big ladle of batter onto a medium hot pan into a thick dosa,it should be thicker than the regular dosa.
• Pour 1 tbsp oil approx over it.
• Let it initially cook on low flame for 1-2 mins.Increase the flame later and cook for a couple of mins until you see brown/red patches.(No need to turn the dosa).
• Pour some ghee in the center and spread some red chutney all over evenly and place potato masala on one side and fold the dosa.You can even close it from two sides or three sides like we get in hotels.
• Serve it directly.It should be served on to the plate immediately to enjoy the flavor and crispiness of the dosa.



Red Chutney over cooking hot Dosa just before serving

• Reduce the flame for one minute and then start preparing the next dosa.Do not pour the batter on high flame.

Serve it hot right off from the flame with coconut chutney and coriander-mint chutney.

DRUMSTICK PORIYAL

I friends and family! I know its been a pretty long time since I said I’ll be back. Sorry for keeping you guys on hold for so long. Its just that ever since I moved to this new place,something or the other has been keeping me busy.
We are currently residents of Oregon and like I mentioned in my last post we are now new proud home owners as well!
It has taken till date for me to get used to my new big spacious kitchen and here I am back with some exciting ,simple recipes that I have tried out in my new workshop! :)
Last week I was lucky to get hold of a bunch of drumstick leaves so damn fresh and washed! So I thought why not repost my recipes with a “green revolution” in mind! :)
So here we go friends..sit back ,read,try and enjoy the dishes but don’t forget to leave your feedbacks! 

Guys...Pictures will be uploaded soon..sorry for the delay! Thanks for your patience...
INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch	Drumstick leaves (stalks)
1 no	Onion (purely optional)
2 tbsp	Toor dal
¼ tsp	Mustard seeds
¼ tsp	Split black gram
3 nos	Dry red chilli
4 nos	Curry leaves
¼ tsp	Asafoetida powder
2 nos	Garlic cloves (optional)
2 tbsp	Fresh grated coconut
2 tsp	Oil

METHOD:

1. Discard all the stalks, just use only the leaves, little consuming but that's how it goes.
2. While doing that strenuous job, soak the toor dal in some water. I prefer atleast 1/2 hour soaking. When done boil the dal in little water until its soft but firm.You can also make the job easier by pressure cooking the toor dhall with enough water and tumeric until 1 to 3 whistles depending on your pressure cooker. Its should take about 10 minutes over medium flame. Wash the drumstick leaves and chop them finely.
3. In a kadai, add oil and temper with mustard, cumin, split black gram, dry red chili and asafoetida powder. Add chopped onion and garlic, fry for some time and then add the chopped leaves. Saute until the leaves shred the water and wilt.
4. Since I kept the drumstick leaves prepared the previous night itself(removed from stalk and washed), I had to add little water to enable it to cook till tender. Don’t forget to cook in medium flame.High flame will burn the leaves resulting in a non tasty dish.
5. When the leaves are tender, add the cooked toor dal and mix.
6. Now add salt and shredded coconut to garnish and switch off. Fresh grated coconut will suit best for this recipe, as this keerai is little bitter.
7. My Porial turned out to be awesome with Garlic Rasam.
8. I decided on Garlic rasam since there was already dhall in my porial ,didnt want to end up adding too much of protien to my diet.
9. So Porial,Rasam and “soota appalam” became a perfect balanced diet!

Drumstick porial

with steaming hot garlic rasam...