Vegetable Pulao

Ingredients:

1. Rice - 1 cup ( washed and soaked for 15-20 minutes)
2. Assorted vegetables - 2 cups ( Beans, Carrots, Potato, Peas, Cauliflower etc. diced/chopped into small pieces (not the peas of course))
3. Ginger - 1 inch piece (crushed)
4. Garlic - 6-8 pods (crushed)
5. Onions - 2 or 3 (chopped length-wise)
6. Cloves - 2 or 3 (powdered)
7. Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece (powdered)
8. Bay leaf - 1 or 2
9. Green chillies - 2 or 3
10. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
11. Oil - 2-3 tbsp.
12. Ghee - 1 tsp.

Procedure:

1. Heat oil  and ghee in a pressure cooker, season with cumin seeds.
2. Add the crushed ginger-garlic, bay leaf and saute for a few seconds. Add green chillies and onions and fry for 2 minutes till the onions turn translucent.
3. Add the clove and cinnamon powder.
4. Add the chopped vegetables and saute for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add rice to this and stir well.
6. Add water ( Add around 2 cups of water for one cup of rice. It depends on the kind of rice. If you normally add 2 cups per cup of rice, add slightly less in the pulao, since the vegetables leave out some water too.). Stir well.
7. Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles. Do not overcook.
8. Serve with Raita.

Sambhar

Finally blogging my Sambhar recipe. For all my friends who want to make Sambhar the Iyer way....

Ingredients:

For the Sambhar:

1. Tamarind - Enough to make a thick extract of half a cup. (Soak tamarind in warm water and extract the pulp by squeezing it. Throw away the fibre/skin which remains. )
2. Toor Dal - cooked and mashed - 1 cup ( 1/2 cup of dry Toor Dal will yield this)
3. Veggie of your choice - as much as you want ( typically this could be 3 radishes sliced or 3 drumsticks cut into pieces of 2-3 inches length or 10 lady's fingers chopped into 1 inch pieces or 3 -4 onions slit into long pieces or 2-3 brinjals or potates cut into wedges etc. You get it, right?)
4. Rock Salt - 1 tsp. or as per taste
5. Oil - 2-3 tsp. ( depending on the veggies to be cooked)

For the masala:

1. Red chillies - 3-4 or more if you want the Sambhar spicy.
2. Dhania seeds - a handful
3. Chana Dal - a handful
4. Solid Asafoetida - 1/2 inch piece
5. Curry leaves - 1 sprig (optional)
6. Grated coconut - a handful
7. Oil - 1 tsp.

Procedure:

1. In a kadai, heat 1 tsp. of oil and on low flame, roast the Chana Dal. Add the asafoetida piece. After a minue (when the Chana Dal is half roasted) , add the dhania seeds, red chillies and roast for a minute. The Dal should turn slightly reddish and Dhania should start giving out the aroma. Switch off the stove and add the curry leaves. Grind these together in a mixie with grated coconut and a little water to get a paste. This is the masala.
2. In a vessel, heat 2-3 tsp. of oil . Season with mustard and chopped curry leaves. Add the veggie of your choice and cook till the veggie becomes tender/half-cooked.
3. Add the tamarind pulp and boil. Let the veggies cook in the tamarind water. Add more water if required.Add the ground masala paste and rock salt.
4. When it boils, add the mashed dal and boil further. Switch off the flame after 5 minutes.
5. Serve with hot rice.

For a more authentic flavor, use gingelly oil.

Dill Dal

Ingredients:

1. Dill leaves ( Sabbassige soppu) ( cleaned, chopped finely) - 1 cup
2. Toor Dal - 3/4 cup.
3. Onions - 2 medium sized
4. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp.
5. Salt - as per taste
6. Jeera - 1 tsp.
7. Oil/Ghee - 1 tbsp.

Procedure:

1. Cook Toor Dal in a pressure cooker and mash it.
2. Heat oi/ghee in a kadai, season with jeera and add onions. Fry till onions turn translucent.
3. Add the dill leaves and saute for two minutes on low flame.
4. Add the mashed Toor Dal , turmeric powder and salt.Add water if required.
5. Cook till the dal starts boiling and remove from flame.
6. Serve with rice.

Green Moong Dal

Ingredients:

1. Green Moong - 1 cup, soaked for 5-6 hours.
2. Garlic - 5-6 pods, sliced,
3. Onion - 2 medium sized, chopped finely.
4. Green chillies - 2 slit lengthwise.
5. Jeera - 1 tsp.
6. Mustard - 1 tsp.
7. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp.
8. Salt - as per taste
9. Coriander leaves - for garnishing
10. Oil - 1 tbsp.

Procedure:

1. Cook soaked green moong in a pressure cooker till it is slightly over-cooked. Do not drain the water.
2. Heat oil in a kadai and season with mustard and jeera.
3. Add the green chillies, chopped onion and garlic and fry lightly.
4. Add the boiled green moong ( along with the water), turmeric powder and mash well till it looks like a homogeneuous gravy. Add salt.
5. When it starts boiling, add coriander leaves and remove from flame.
6. Serve with rotis or rice.

Aloo Kundri Pepper

The experiment turned out ok...And I need to pen down the recipe before I forget it...

Ingredients:

1. Kundri/TondeKayi/Kovakkai/Ivy Gourd - Around 150 g
2. Potatoes - 2 medium sized
3. Onions - 2 medium sized
4. Pepper powder - 2 tsp.
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp.
6. Salt - 1 tsp.
7. Oil - 1 tbsp.
8. Mustard - 1 tsp
9. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
10. Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Procedure:

1. Chop kundri length-wise ( One kundri into around 6 pieces). Chop potatoes into 2 inch long pieces ( around the same size as the kundri pieces). Chop onions finely.
2. Heat oil in a cooker and season with mustard,cumin seeds and curry leaves.
3. Add onions and saute for a minute.
4. Add the chopped potatoes and kundri and saute for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add salt, turmeric and pepper powder.
6. Add half a cup of water and pressure cook till one or two whistles.
7. After cooking stir well and cook for a minute on open flame.
8. Serve with rotis.

Rasam (Obbattu Saaru)

Many people I have met often ask me the recipe for rasam. Rasam does not have a single standard recipe and each person makes it differently. In fact the way a person makes rasam becomes her signature. Most cooks are judged solely by the quality of rasam they make. Apart from this, one more thing we need to understand is that there are at least around 20 varieties of rasam. I make a few of them at home, most of them improvised versions of the existing recipes.
This one is called obbattu saaru. My m-i-l makes it whenever she makes obattu (holige/poli). Obattu filling is made by boiling dal and grinding it with jaggery and coconut. The water drained after boiling dal is used to make this rasam. I really love this rasam and cannot wait for the day obattu is made for having it. So here's my version.

Ingredients:

1. Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
2. Garlic - 6-7 pods
3. Red chilles - 3-4
4. Pepper - 1 tsp.
5. Jeera - 1 tsp.
6. Tamarind - the size of a small lemon.
7. Oil/Ghee - 2 tsp.
8. Mustard - 1/2 tsp.
9. Salt - to taste

Procedure :

1. Boil the dal along with water in a cooker (can be cooked along with rice). If the dal can be completely mashed into a paste, mash it. If the dal is whole even after cooking, drain the water and use for rasam and use the dal for some other dish. This depends on the quality of dal.
2. Extract the tamarind pulp using warm water.
3. Roast pepper, jeera and red chilles in oil ( or dry roast them). grind them along with garlic pods. Add this masala to the above and boil until the raw smell of tamarind is gone.
4. Add dal/ dal-water to the above and add salt.
5. When the rasam boils, season with mustard/jeera in oil/ghee.
6. If this rasam is made along with obattu, we can add a lemon-sized amount of the obattu filling to the rasam. It will give it a sweetish taste. On other days, if you like the sweetish taste, you can add a small piece of jaggery.

Paneer Capsicum Bhurji

Ingredients:

1. Crumbled Paneer - 1/2 cup
2. Capsicum, Onion, Tomato - 1/2 cup each (very finely chopped)
3. Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp.
4. Jeera - 1 tsp.
5. Green chilles - 2-3 (very finely chopped)
6. Oil - 3-4 tsp.
7. Garam masala - 1/4 tsp.
8. Salt - as per taste

Procedure:

1.  Heat oil in a kadai. Season with Jeera.
2. Add ginger garlic paste and chopped onions and fry for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add greem chillies and chopped capsicum and cook for 5 minutes till capsicum becomes tender.
4. Add chopped tomatoes and cook further till the whole mixture turns slightly pulpy. Add a little water for cooking if required.
5. Add salt and garam masala.
6. Add the crumbled paneer and fry for around 5 minutes so that all the water evaporates and the raw smell of paneer is gone.
7. Serve with phulkas.