LETZ COOK/CRAFT/MAKE

This dish is a good way to use all leftover vegetables in the fridge. It takes a little bit of ground work but its a full course meal by itself. It can be served with raitha and chips or appalam (i personally like the later). Ingredients: Vegetables (beans, carrots, peas, drumstick) (chopped) - 1.5 cups Onions (chopped) - 1 big Tomatoes (chopped) - 2 Toor dal (boiled and mashed) - 1 cup Rice (cooked) - 2 cups Chilli powder - 1 tsp Turmeric - a pinch Sambar powder - 1 tsp (optional) Tamarind extract - 1/4 cup Curry leaves - 1 sprig Salt - as needed Oil - 2 tbsp To Powder: Red chillies - 2 Coriander seeds (dhania) - 1 tbsp Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1 tsp Cloves - 2 Cinnamon - 1/2 stick Channa dal - 1 tbsp Toor dal - 1 tbsp Shredded coconut - 2 tbsp Method: Dry roast all the 'to powder' ingredients except coconut for 2 min. Finally add coconut and remove from heat. After it cools grind to a fine powder. I use a small coffee grinder for grinding my spices (Never mix a grinder used for

Ingredients: Paneer (cut into cubes) - 1 cup Capsicum (sliced) - 1 Onion (sliced) - 1 Tomato paste - 3 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste - tbsp Chilli powder - 1 tsbp Green chillies (slit) - 2 Coriander powder - 1 tsp Garam masala - 1 tsp Cream - 2 tbsp Lime - 1/2 Salt - as needed Method: Heat oil in a pan and add onions and capsicum. Fry till the onions turn transparent. Then add tomato paste, ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt. Add half a cup of water and let it cook in medium heat till the raw smell goes (about 10min). Then add cream and the paneer cubes and let it cook for about 5 min till the gravy thickens. Remove from heat and squeeze half a lemon on top. Coriander leaves can be used for garnishing. This can be served with roti, naan or pulav. I also used this to make an Indianized burrito .

I have a friend who likes chinese/thai food a lot. Since I had lots of beans and carrots that I harvested from my garden I decided to make vegetable fried rice with it. Also because I was tired of eating poriyal which is what I normally make with beans. This is my second entry to Inji Manga's Green Blog Project . Ingredients: Beans (thinnly sliced) - 1 cup Carrots (thinnly sliced) - 1 cup Peas - 1/2 cup Spring onions (chopped) - 1 bunch Onion (thinnly sliced) - 1 Capsicum (thinnly sliced) - 1/2 cup Green chillies (slit) - 3 Rice (preferably basmati) - 2.5 cups Soy sauce - 2 tbsp Chilli sauce - 2 tbsp Tomato ketchup - 1 tbsp Ajinomoto - a pinch (optional) Salt - as needed Black Pepper powder - as needed Oil - 1 tbsp Method: Cook rice in a rice cooker using less water than you would normally use, making sure it does not turn mushy or overcooked. Heat oil in a wide wok (kadai). Add onions, capsicum and green chillies and fry till the onions turn transparent. Add all the chopped vege

After a long battle with myself regarding what I should make for the JFI#5 - Milk and Milk Products event I decided to make dahi vada (fried lentil dumplings in spiced yogurt mixture). This is thayir vadai in tamil and is made on festival days. It tastes yummy when served a little chilled. Dahi Vada: Ingredients: For vada: Urad dal (whole) - 2 cups Green chillies (finely chopped) - 2 Whole pepper corns (optional) - 1 tsp Salt - as needed Curry leaves (chopped) - 2 sprigs Coriander leaves (chopped) - 2 tbsp Oil - for deep frying For dahi: Curd - 1 cup Water - 1/2 cup Butter milk - 1/2 cup Black salt - 1 tsp Cumin (jeera) powder - 1 tsp Chilli powder - 1 tsp For garnishing: Tamarind chutney - 1 tbsp Green chutney - 1 tbsp Coriander leaves - a bunch Method: Soak urad dal for 1hr. Grind to a fine paste adding as little water as possible. This will help absorb less oil while frying. Add salt, green chillies, pepper corns, curry leaves and coriander leaves and beat with a wooden laddle to i

Last evening I went home early and decided to make an evening snack. During the day I was browsing through other food blogs and the samosas I saw on hooked on heat were very inviting. Also last week I went to a friend's place and helped her make samosas. So I decided to follow the same recipe and method from hooked on heat . Making samosas were always a frightening thing as I always thought the task impossible. But they were not so complicated and did turn out well. I served them with tamarind chutney and green chutney . I made 4 yesterday and froze the rest so that I can make them whenever I want to in the coming days.

Last night I had some leftover sambar. Just wanted to make something spicy to go with it and hence decided to make fish fry. I always play it safe when it comes to fish. I either buy tilapia or catfish as I live in an inland area where most fishes come from the coast but are not fresh. Both tilapia and catfish are farm raised here in Colorado so they taste a little fresh. Ingredients: Cat Fish fillet (cut) - 8 pieces Chilli powder - 2 tbsp (can be increased if needed) Turmeric - 1 tsp Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp Shaan fish masala - 1 tbsp (any other brand can also be used) Lime juice - 1/2 a lime Salt - as needed Oil - 4 tspn Method: Mix all the above ingredients with the lime juice and marinate fish in this mix for 30-60min. A little vinegar can be added, either instead or in addition to the lime juice, if you like the fish to be a little sour. This fish can be deep fried, shallow fried, baked or grilled. I like mine a litte crispy so decided to shallow fry it in a pan. Note: I just

This year my garden is abundant with tomatoes. Every week I have been harvesting about 1kg of tomatoes and are out of recipes to use them in. My mom suggested that I make this thokku that can be used with idli, dosa, chappathi or to make instant tomato rice. This recipe uses a little extra oil than normally needed, as it helps in preserving the thokku for a long time. This is my first entry to injimanga's Green Blog Project . Thakali thokku (tomato mix) Ingredients: Tomato - 1.5 kg (approximately 8 tomatoes) Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp Curry leaves - 2 sprigs Vinegar - 2 tbsp Oil (preferably gingelly) - 1/2 cup Powder ingredients: Chilli powder - 2 tbsp Turmeric powder - 1 tsp Fenugreek (methi) powder - 1tsp Salt - as needed Method: Blend tomatoes to a fine puree. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed or non-stick vessel. Add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Wait till the mustard seeds start to splutter and then add the tomato puree and all the powder ingredients. Let this simmer for about 1 hr.

Last weekend, I had a couple of friends home for dinner. One of them likes the coconut milk ghee rice that I make. So decided to surprise him with that. Wanted to make a gravy dish to go with it and chicken curry was the first thing that came to my mind. This rice is very easy to make and takes about 10min stove top cooking time and then it can be cooked in the electric rice cooker. I used the pressure cooker to make the chicken curry as it takes less time. It can be cooked in an open pan but will need to be simmered for 20-30 min to get a thick gravy. Coconut milk - ghee rice Ingredients: Basmati rice - 2.5 cups Onions - 2 (one thinl sliced for garnishing and one chopped) Green chillies - 3 Clove - 2 Cinnamon - 1 stick Bay leaf - 2 Elaichi - 5 pods Raisins - 10 Cashew - 10 Coconut milk - 1cup Ghee - 3 tbsp Salt - as needed Method: Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan. Add cinnamon stick, cloves, crumbled elaichi, bay leaf, green chillies and chopped onions. Wait till the onions turn transparent.

Last week I tried my hand at some chaat items. Though I am not a big fan of chat items I decided to make pani poori and papdi chat. I used store bought poori's for pani poori (these need to be fluffy and crispy) and made fresh poori's for the papri chat (these need to be flat, crispy and crunchy). I made aloo-channa chaat mix which can be used for both items. I also made tamarind (sweet) chutney and green chutney. These can be stored in the fridge for upto a week. I used store bought pani poori masala to make the dipping water mix. Pani poori: Ingredients: Poori (puffed) - 10 Aloo-channa chat mix – ½ cup Green chutney – 1 tbsp Tamarind chutney – 1 tbsp Pani poori masala (available in most Indian stores) – 2tbsp Method: Mix the pani poori masala with 1cup of water. Make a hole in the poori and stuff some aloo-channa chat mix. Add both green chutney and tamarind chutney as needed and dip it into the pani poori masala mix and pop it into your mouth. Papri chat: Ingredients: Poori

Last weekend I wanted to make something special for breakfast. Also I had lots of beans and carrots fresh from my garden. So after much thinking, decided to make appam and vegetable kurma. This will be my entry for saffron trails weekend breakfast blog event . Aappam: Ingredients: Rice (preferably raw rice) – 2 cups Cooked white rice – ½ cup Coconut milk – ½ cup Shredded coconut – 2 tbsp Baking soda – ½ tsp Salt – as needed Oil – as needed Method: Soak rice for 4hrs. Drain the water and grind rice along with the cooked white rice, shredded coconut and coconut milk. Add as much as water needed while grinding to obtain the consitency of dosa batter. Ferment overnight in a warm place. I preheat the oven to 350F for 3-5 min and keep the batter in the oven overnight. The next morning add baking powder and salt to the batter and beat well and let it rest for 1hr. Heat a small round bottomed kadai, wipe it with a tissue dipped in oil and pour a ladleful of batter in the middle. Life the kadai

Last night I was in the mood for idli or dosa but did not have the batter ready. The idli/dosa batter usually takes time preparing (6hrs to soak the ingredients and 6 hrs to ferment the ground batter). So I decided to make Adai as it takes about 2hrs to soak, grind, ferment and to prepare. Adai is pretty filling and high in protein as different varieties of dal are used. Adai: Ingredients: Idli rice (can be substituted with any available rice) - 1 cup Whole urad dal - 3/4 cup Channa dal - 3/4 cup Thur dal - 3/4 cup Ginger - 2 inch piece Shredded coconut - 1/4 cup Red chillies - 4 (can be increased for additional spice) Jeera - 2 tsp Curd - 1 tbsp Salt - as needed Method: Soak rice and all dal ingredients together in enough water for 2hrs. If you are in a real hurry 1hr should be enough. Grind all the above ingredients to a dosa batter consistency. It is fine if the mix is a little course. Also if you are using an US bought blender, grind the above in batches as the motor heats up prett

Last nite I felt very lazy to cook. So decided to make something fast and easy. I had some leftover sambar so had to make only subji. Hence opted for these two dishes and they are easy and takes very less cooking time and tastes awesome. Spicy Aloo Masala: Ingredients: Aloo (boiled, peeled and chopped into big cubes) - 5 Onion (finely chopped) - 1 Tomato (finely chopped) - 1 Tomato paste or puree - 2tbsp Chilli powder - 1tbsp Turmeric - a pinch Salt - as needed Oil - 1 tbsp Method: Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onions. Once the onions turn golden brown, add finely chopped tomatoes and tomato paste/puree. Fry till the oil seperates and then add chilli powder, salt and turmeric. Add half a cup of water and let it come to a boil. Finally add the potatoes and fry till the gravy turns dry. Spicy potato masala is ready to be served. Variations: This dish tastes best with baby potatoes but prick the potatoes with a fork before adding to the masala as that helps the spice to penetrate the

I have lots of Indian vegetables stocked in my fridge after my last week's Indian grocery shop visit. I had murungakai (drumsticks), podalangai(padval), kovakkai(tindora) and fresh coconut. So decided to make some very Indian (specifically Tamilian) dishes with those vegetables for dinner last night. When I think of drumsticks the first thing that comes to my mind is Sambar. I was bored of making the regular sambar and hence decided to go with arachu vitta sambar. The main ingredient in this type of sambar is the freshly ground masala and it adds a very unique and different taste. Then decided to do something spicy and dry to go with it and hence a varuval. With the fresh coconut I decided to do some poriyal. So the final menu was arachu vitta murungakkai (drumsticks) sambar, kovakkai (tindora) (ivy gourd) varuval and podalangai (padval) (snake gourd) poriyal. Arachu Vitta Sambar: Ingredients: Thur dal (cooked and mashed) – 1½ cups Drumsticks (cut) – ½ cup Onion (chopped) – 2 Tomat

Sundays I usually try to laze around the house and not go out. So I had more time to cook. Had some friends over in the evening and hence decided to make soemthing special. The only non-veg item I had at home was shrimp and also had lots of pudina (mint). Hence I decided to make biriyani, onion raitha and boiled eggs for dinner. There are two methods that I use to make biriyani. The first method is fast and easy where I use the pressure cooker and cook everything at one go. The second method takes more time where I make the curry/masala and rice seperately and then bake them together (tastes more like traditional dhum biriyani). Yesterday I used the first method. Later I will try to post a detailed description of the second method. Shrimp Biriyani: Ingredients: Basmati rice – 2 cups Shrimp – 200gm Onions (sliced) – 2 big ones Tomatoes (chopped) – 2 Ginger-garlic paste – 2 tbsp Green chillies (sliced) – 5 Turmeric powder – a pinch Garam masala – 1 tbsp Biriyani masala – 1 tsp (optiona

Saturday I had to go to my company picnic which was a beach party. Had lots of fun playing beach volleyball and came home tired. Wanted to have something cold and decided to make a milkshake. I had mangoes, banana and apple at home but wanted to try something new. Long time ago a friend of mine had introduced me to Dates milkshake and I loved it. Hence I decided to it and have it chilled. It was very refreshing. Dates Milkshake Ingredients: Dates (pitted and chopped) – ¾ cup Milk – 2 cups Sugar – as needed Cream – 2 tbsp Method: Heat milk in a heavy bottom pan. Add chopped dates and let it come to boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 10min. Switch off the heat and let it cool. Grind the milk mixture in a blender, adding sugar (as needed) and cream. Chill and serve. Variations: Finely chopped nuts can be added just before serving along with a dollop of fresh cream.

Yesterday I came home from work with a headache. The only two good things I do best when I have a headache is either sleep or cook. I was in no mood to sleep so went to the Indian grocery shop to find something interesting to cook for dinner. It was Thursday and there are fresh Indian vegetables available on Thursdays. I was surprised to find fresh drumstick as this was my first time seeing those in America. Anyway from the little expertise that I have picking vegetables (obtained by looking at my mom pick in India) I picked some not-so-ripe drumsticks as the ripe ones taste bad and also picked a lot of other veggies which hopefully I will have the patience to cook in the coming days. Came home and decided to make eggplant-drumstick poriyal, potato podimas and milagu rasam for dinner. Kathirikai-Murungakai Poriyal (Eggplant-Drumstick fry) Ingredients: Eggplant (chopped into big cubes) – 1 cup Drumstick (chopped into big strips) – 1cup Onion – 1 Tomato – 1 Oil - 2tbsp Powder ingredients