LETZ COOK/CRAFT/MAKE

This is a very easy recipe and can be prepared within minutes. Any kind of vatral (dried vegetable) can be used. Ingredients: Sundakkai Vatral - 2 tbsp Sambar Powder - 2 tsp Thin tamarind extract - 1/2 cup Oil - 1 tbsp Salt - as needed Rice flour - 1tsp Seasoning Ingredients: Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Dry red chillies - 2 Toor dal - 1 tsp Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp Method: Heat oil and add the seasoning ingredients. Fry till the mustard starts to splutter and then add the vatral and fry in low heat for about 10min. Add sambar powder and fry for 5min and then add the tamarind extract. Let it come to a boil. Mix rice flour with 1 tbsp water and add it to the boiling mixture. Allow to cook till it becomes thick. Remove from heat and serve with rice and papad.

This is a very easy and quick recipe. It takes about 20min and tastes great. I try to avoid readymade sauces as much as possible and hence this simple marinara tastes fresh and delicious. It is also free of any preservatives that are usually found in store bought sauces. Ingredients: Angel Hair Pasta - 8 oz Tomatoes (diced and stored in juice) - 1 can Basil (dried) - 1 tbsp Carrots (sliced) - 2 Capers - 1 tbsp Onion (chopped) - 1 Garlic (finely chopped) - 6 Olive oil - 3 tbsp Salt - as needed Pepper - as needed Chilli flakes - 1 tsp (optional) Method: Heat olive oil in a pan and add chopped onions and garlic. Once the onions turn translucent add sliced carrots and cook on medium heat. After about 5 minutes add the diced tomatoes along with the juice and let it cook in medium heat, till the tomatoes turn mushy (about 15 min). Add capers, dried basil, chilli flakes, salt and pepper and leave it on low heat. In the meantime cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Rememb...

I've noticed that most of my north Indian friends are not aware that rasam can be made with so many different ingredients - lemon rasam, dal rasam, pepper rasam, garlic rasam, tomato rasam, neem flower rasam etc etc. Each has its own predominant flavor. I like tomato rasam for its tanginess, that the tomatoes impart. Also for me rasam is a good time saver. It takes exactly 15 min to prepare from scratch. Its a good remedy for indigestion and cold. Ingredients: Thin tamarind water - 2 cups Pepper - 2 tsp (can be increased if needed) Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp Garlic - 3 cloves Green chillies - 2 Turmeric powder - 1 tsp Rasam powder - 1 tsp (optional) Tomatoes - 2 (ripe and juicy ones) Coriander leaves (chopped) - 2 tbsp Seasoning Ingredients: Mustard seeds- 1 tsp Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tsp Red chillies - 2 Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp Methi (fenugreek seeds) - 1/2 tsp Oil - 1 tbsp Method: Grind pepper and jeera in a blender to a coarse powder. Add garlic cloves and green chillies and bl...

Since the E-coli scare ive stopped buying spinach. When I looked into my pantry I found a can of collard greens that I had bought a while ago. So decided to make spinach dal with it. Also I like beetroots a lot but grating them usually messes my counter and my hands turn red too. So I dont buy it often but since its very healthy I decided to make it along with the dal. Spinach dal Ingredients: Spinach(chopped) - 1.5 cups Thur dal - 1 cup Green chillies(slit) - 2 Onion(chopped) - 1 Tomato(chopped) - 1 Tamraind extract - 2 tbsp (optional) Sambhar powder - 1 tbsp Turmeric - a pinch Chilli powder - 1 tsp Salt - as needed Oil - 2 tbsp For seasoning: Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Split urad dal - 1 tsp Red chillies - 1 tsp Asoefetida (hing) - a pinch Method: Heat oil in a pressure pan and add chopped onions and green chillies. Once the onions turn translucent add chopped tomatoes and wait till it starts to turn mushy. Then add spinach, thur dal, sambar powder, turmeric, chilli powder, tamarind extra...

Since Oct16 is world bread day I decided to post a recipe of my favorite Indian bread. The reason its my favorite is I always thought that it was too difficult to make but once I learnt the right way Ive been making it often. Batura Ingredients: Maida flour (All purpose flour) - 2 cups Wheat flour - 1/2 cup Salt - 1 tsp Curd - 3 tbsp Oil - for deep frying Method: Mix all the ingredients with enough water to make a soft dough. Wrap the dough in a moist cloth and let stand for anywhere between 3 - 4 hrs. The dough should have raised by then. Roll out big puris and deep fry till golden and serve with channa masala. Note: While rolling out the puri dust with litte wheat flour so that it does not stick to the rolling pin. Channa masala: Ingredients: White channa dal (garbanzo beans) - 2 cups (i use the canned variety) Potato (boiled and cubed) - 1 (optional) Onions (minced in a food processor) - 2 Tomatoes (minced in a food processor) - 3 Jeera - 1 tsp Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp Chilli po...

This is one of the dishes I first tried out when I started cooking. It is a very easy recipe for potlucks and for hosting a big group of friends at home. Ingredients: Paneer cubes – 1 cup Peas – ½ cup Onions - 2 Tomatoes – 2 Cloves – 3 Cinnamon – ½ stick Chilli powder – 1 tbsp Turmeric – 1 pinch Garam masala – 1 tbsp Coriander powder – 1 tbsp Salt – as needed Sugar – 1 tsp Jeera – tsp Oil – 2 tbsp Method: Grind onions, tomatoes, cloves and cinnamon to a fine paste. Heat oil in a pan and add jeera. Once they start to splutter add the ground paste. At this point turn the heat down a little as it starts to splash. Keep stirring often. Meanwhile heat oil for deep frying the paneer cubes, in another kadai. Deep fry the paneer till it turns golden brown and immediately transfer it to a bowl with lukewarm water. Remove the panner after 2 min into a plate. Continue for the rest of the paneer. Once the oil starts to separate from the onion-tomato paste add chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala,...

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 .

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...

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...

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...