Curd Rice

For many of South Indians, curd rice is a must in their meals. many of them end their meals with curd rice. But I have seen people who do not eat curd rice every day. Instead of eating the curd rice plain, if you add spice and some flavors, it will be delicious. I often make this at my home. And of course I eat them at the temple too..:)

I prefer add more curd in this dish. So I added 1 and half cup curd for 1 cup rice. You can also add 1 cup curd and 1/2 cup buttermilk.

Ingredients :

Cooked rice 1 cup
Curd 1 to 11/2 cups
water / butter milk 1/4 cup (optional)
Chopped green chilies - 1 tsp
Chopped ginger 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Urad dal 1 tsp
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Hing - pinch
1 tbsp oil or ghee
salt to taste
Pomegranate seeds - 2 tbsps (optional)
grated carrot - 2 tbsps (optional)

Procedure:

Mix curd with rice and salt. Add little water or buttermilk if required.
Heat oil in a pan.
Add mustard seeds allow to crackle.
Add green chillies, hing, ginger, urad dal and fry till dal turns golden color.
Now add curry leaves.
Pour this seasoning over the rice - curd mixture and mix well.
Garnish with Pomegranate seeds and grated carrot. If you don't like them, you can omit.
Serve with your favorite pickle.

Medhu Vada

Medhu vada is a famous breakfast in South India. All of my family members love it especially my daughter. It is her favorite breakfast and I almost make it once in every 15 days. Main ingredient for this recipe is urad dal. We need to grind urad dal first to make these vada.

Ingredients :

Urad dal - 1 cup
Chopped Onion - 1/2 cup
1 green chili - finely chopped
1 inch ginger piece - finely chopped
2 tbsps chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
salt to taste
oil for deep fry

Procedure :

Soak urad dal for 6 to 8 hours.
Grind urad dal into thick paste. Add very little water while grinding.

 Beat the batter with your hands to remove aeration. when you take small portion and put in a bowl with water, it should float.

Now add onion, green chilies, ginger, cumin seeds, salt, cilantro and mix well.
                               
                                  

Take oil in a pan let it heat.
Make vada with your hands and slowly drop in oil.

                                 

Fry in oil till it turns to golden brown color.

                                 

Serve with any of your favorite chutney or spice powder.

Crispy Cauliflower Bites

Many people don't like eating cauliflower and if you make them like this, anyone will love to eat them.
I made them twice this week and they all gone in no time..:) First cooked the cauliflower florets and coated them with salt, chili powder, cumin powder and rice flour. Fried them in little oil. Thats it. Can serve them as a side dish with sambar or rasam, and can also eat them as a tea time snack.

Ingredients :

1 small cauliflower head
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
2 to 3 tsps rice flour
salt to taste
4 tbsps oil

Procedure :

Cook cauliflower florets until they are soft.
Coat the cooked florets with salt, chili powder, cumin powder and rice flour.

Heat oil in a small pan.
Add florets one by one.Do not add all of them at once. Fry them in batches.

Fry them in both sides until they turn crispy. It will not take more than 3 to 4 minutes for both sides to fry.

Serve hot.

Tindora (Ivy gourd) - Cashew Nut Masala Recipe

Tindora Cashew nut masala can be served as a side dish with rice or roti. The main ingredients are tindora (dondakaya /Tondekai ) and cashews. For this dish, cut tindora into lengthwise pieces. I used broken cashew nuts in this recipe. We can also use whole / halves .

Ingredients :

1/2 cup cashew nuts
1 1/2 cups tindora
1 medium Onion
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste
1/4 cup water
pinch turmeric
cilantro for garnish

wash and cut tindora into lengthwise pieces.
Heat oil in a pan. Add slitted tindora,turmeric and fry for few minutes.

Add cashew nut and saute for 1 min.

 Add chopped onion and fry for 4 - 5 minutes.

Now add salt, red chili powder, masala powder and coriander powder. Stir well and let it cook for 3 more minutes.

Pour 1/4 cup water, cover the lid and let it cook for 3 more minutes or until tindora cooked well.

Open the lid and garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy with rice or roti.

                                   

Procedure : 

• Heat oil in a pan. Add slitted tindora,turmeric and fry for few minutes.
• Add cashew nut and saute for 1 min.
• Add chopped onion and fry for 4 - 5 minutes.
• Now add salt, red chili powder, masala powder and coriander powder. Stir well and let it cook for 3 more minutes.
• Pour 1/4 cup water, cover the lid and let it cook for 3 more minutes or until tindora cooked well.
• Open the lid and garnish with cilantro.
• Serve with rice or roti.

Cream Cheese Bread Rolls (kids Lunch)

Finding a different food everyday for kids lunch box is a challenging task. Once I tried this cream cheese bread roll recipe and my daughter's lunch box came empty. Very easy and kid friendly recipe.Very few ingredients and easy to prepare. I used blueberries for this roll but one can use strawberries, banana, apple, cherry tomato or any other fruit or veggie of your choice.

Cream Cheese Bread Rolls:

Ingredients :

Bread Slices - 2
Cream Cheese - 2 to 3 tbsps
Some blueberries or any other fruit pieces

Procedure:

First remove crust from bread slices.
Flatten bread using a roller pin.

Apply cream cheese to 1 inch from one end and add blueberries on cheese.

Gently start rolling and seal the end with water.

Now cut the roll into 2 inch pieces.

Enjoy as breakfast or pack in your child's lunch box.

Semiya (Vermicelli) Oats Ponganalu

Ponganalu or paniyaram is a popular dish in South India. You can find authentic traditional ponganalu recipe here. We made traditional ponganalu recipe with leftover dosa batter. But we can make this semiya oats ponganalu instantly. These are simple, instant yet tasty. We need to soak oats and semiya in curd for 30 minutes before preparing them. Thats it.

 Ingredients :

Oats : 1 cup
Semiya : 1/2 cup
Curd : 1/2 cup
Chopped Onion : 2 tbsps
Green Chilli-ginger paste  : 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds : 1 tsp
Soaked Chana Dal : 2 tbsp
Chopped Cilantro : Handful
Water - 1/2 cup.
Salt to taste
Oil to grease molds

Prepare batter by adding oats and semiya to the curd.



After 30 minutes add water, salt, onions,green chilli - ginger paste, chana dal and cumin seeds to the batter.




Add few drops of oil into each mold and pour batter into each mold and allow to cook.



Procedure :

• Soak oats and semiya in curd for minimum 30 minutes. 
• After 30 minutes, add water, salt,cumin seeds, chana dal, cilantro, onions to the soaked mixture.
• Grease oil to each mold and pour batter to each mold, allow to cook for 3 - 4 minutes with lid. Cook on low medium flame.Flip over and allow to cook for 2 - 3 minutes with out lid.
• Serve hot with chutney or spice powder.

Bitter gourd Powder

One of my friend brought this powder from her home town and shared some with me. I really like it and asked her for the recipe. She shared her mom's recipe long back but I did not get a chance to try it and finally now I tried it. It is really nice and tasty. Goes very well with hot rice. Add some ghee on top this powder and have it with hot rice on a rainy day or snowy day. Awesome combination. Just had it and here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Bitter gourd : 7 (medium size)
Oil to deep fry

For Powder :

1 cup roasted chana dal
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup Dry coconut powder
Curry leaves - handful
Dry red chillies - 10 (Adjust according to your taste)
garlic pods - 10 to 12
Salt to taste
Asafoetida or hing - 1/4 tsp

Procedure :
Dry roast sesame seeds and curry leaves. Set aside.
Dry roast red chillies and set aside. Alternately you can also use red chilli powder.
Cut bitter gourd into round pieces, spread them on a plate or on a cookie sheet and leave them for 2 to 3 hours. Alternately, pat dry them using paper towels.

After 2 hours, deep fry the pieces in hot oil until they turn light golden color.

Transfer sesame seeds, red chillies, coconut powder, curry leaves, chana dal, garlic and salt into a mixer jar and grind them into fine powder.
Now add the powder to fried bitter gourd pieces and combine well
Finally heat 1 tablespoon of oil, add asafoetida and fry for few seconds. Add it to the powder mixture.
Serve with hot rice.

Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet potatoes are packed with antioxidants like beta carotene and vitamins C,E,D.
They are incredibly nutritious food. If you eat a sweet potato you will not even feel hungry for an hour or so.

Just bake the sweet potatoes with some spices until they are lightly browned and they are delicious! These oven baked sweet potatoes are just perfect for kids lunch boxes. My daughter loves these fries and she wants me to give them everyday for snack.

Just cut them into rounds or wedges. They are very easy to make and they are very addictive.

Ingredients :

1 Large sweet potato
1 to 11/2 tbsp olive oil or any vegetable oil
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala / coriander powder
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
salt to taste

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
Wash and peel the sweet potatoes and cut of  the ends. Cut the sweet potato in half lengthwise and if they are very long again cut them in half horizontally. Now cut them into wedges.

You can also slice them into rounds.

In a large bowl toss all the above mentioned powders along with oil.

Spread the sweet potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Bake them for 25 - 30 minutes. After first 15 minutes, take out the baking sheet and turn over all the pieces, and cook for 15 more minutes.

Note : If you want them to be more crispy, bake them at 500 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. You can skip adding the sugar. We added sugar for caramelization.

Garlic Bread

Garlic bread is a snack item made with italian loaf bread. Any kind of loaf bread would work for this recipe.
Very easy and require few ingredients. Yesterday I made this at home and whole loaf was disappeared in no time.
Just apply mixture of butter, garlic, cilantro and green chillies on bread slices and bake.
You can also use olive oil instead of butter.
You can use parsley, basil or cilantro leaves. I used cilantro. You can use any of them or simply you can just leave it out. It just tastes great.
So quick to make and enjoy on a rainy day.

Enjoy homemade garlic bread.

Ingredients : 

1 roll of Italian or french Bread / loaf
1/2 stick butter, at room temperature or olive oil
8 to 10 garlic cloves
2 green chillies(optional)
2 teaspoons chopped parsley or cilantro
salt to taste(if you are using unsalted butter)

Procedure : 

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
• In a mixie jar or in a foo processor, add green chillies, butter, garlic and cilantro and make into coarse paste.
• Slice the bread into one inch thickness or your desired thickness.
• Spread the garlic butter mixture on each slice of bread generously. Spread on both sides.
• Bake bread for 10 to 15 mins or until edges of bread are golden brown. 
• If you want them more crispier,turn on broiler for 4 to 5 minutes.
• Take on to a serving plate and enjoy.

Arbi (dry colocasia roots) Fry

My daughter loves to eat root vegetables so I am always finding different ways of cooking. This turned out very yummy and we all loved eating. Goes well with sambar or rasam as a side dish and one can eat them as a snack.It is something different to regular recipe which we made at home.

Let's start looking into the procedure.

First wash arbi / chama dumpalu / chama gaddalu very well.

Take some water in a microwave safe bowl and add these washed arbi into the bowl. Put the bowl in the microwave and cook for 6- 8 mts or until the arbi turns slightly soft to touch.

Remove the peel and cut them into round pieces. You can cut them in any shape of your choice.

Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel, add the arbi pieces and shallow fry them on medium high. Alternately you can deep fry them. When you are shallow frying, do not add all the pieces at a time. Fry them in batches. Take care not to burn them.

                                          

When they are done, take them onto an absorbent paper.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in another pan, add 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds, curry leaves and fry for few seconds.
Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and fry for 30 seconds on low flame.
Now add the fried arbi and toss them well in the spices.
Add mango powder and mix well.
Switch off the flame and add lemon juice.
Garnish with cilantro.
Serve hot as a side dish or enjoy them as a snack.

Arbi / chama dumpalu fry

Ingredients : 
250 gms arbi / colocasia roots / chama gaddalu
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder / dhaniya powder
1 tsp dry mango powder / amchur
few curry leaves
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
salt to taste
oil for frying

Instructions:

• First wash arbi / chama dumpalu / chama gaddalu very well.
• Take some water in a microwave safe bowl and add these washed arbi into the bowl. Put the bowl in the microwave and cook for 6- 8 mts or until the arbi turns slightly soft to touch.
• Remove the peel and cut them into round pieces. You can cut them in any shape of your choice.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel, add the arbi pieces and shallow fry them on medium high. Alternately you can deep fry them. When you are shallow frying, do not add all the pieces at a time. Fry them in batches.Take care not to burn them.
• Take them onto an absorbent paper.
• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in another pan, add 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds, curry leaves and fry for few seconds.
• Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and fry for 30 seconds on low flame.
• Now add the fried arbi and toss them well in the spices.
• Add mango powder and mix well.
• Switch off the flame and add lemon juice.
• Garnish with cilantro.
• Serve hot as a side dish or enjoy them as a snack.