Vermicelli with Carrot / Semiya Upma

                                                                 Semiya Upma

When I came to UK for the first time, I was very much disappointed with the vermicelli I found in the supermarkets. It was thick and very sticky unlike our famous bambino brand. Especially the colour has disappointed me. Now I have mastered the art of cooking even with the thick vermicelli.

I trick my elder son by telling him as small noodles as I don’t want to cook ready made noodles for him despite of the tangy taste due to obvious reasons, unhealthy, fatty and salty.

Ingredients:
Vermicelli – 1 cup
Water – 4 cups
Grated carrot – 1 cup
Green chilli – 4
Onion – 1
Mustard + Cumin – 1 tsp

Grated carrot, onion, curry leaves and chopped green chilli

Method.

1. Bring 3 cups of water to boil along with salt and drop the vermicelli into it. Allow it to cook for 5 minutes and then pour 1 cup of cold water. This is called as cold magic. When we pour cold water the temperature gets reduced which eventually allow the vermicelli to cook inside as well properly. Other wise you will find sometimes that the outer part is soft and internally it is hard. The same procedure can be followed whilst cooking pasta / noodles

2. Do not over cook them as they will become mushy. Just cook until they are tender.

3. Drain all the water and pour cold water on top to stop further cooking and again drain all the water and keep it aside.

4. Take a wok and heat it with 2 tbsp of oil. When it is hot enough add mustard, cumin seeds , curry leaves, Green chillies and onion. Fry for a minute and add grated carrot and salt. Do not over cook carrot as you will loose the crispiness.

5. Finally add the boiled vermicelli and mix every thing gently

Enjoy the vermicelli upma with pappula podi

Pongal / Pulagam Roti

Pulagam roti

I was bit surprised when I hear about this recipe. The main ingredient of this recipe is, left over Pulagam or Pongal. Easy to make, yet a very good treat for our tongue.
I got some left over Pulagam / Moong daal rice, which I made last night. I thought of doing some pulagam roti as breakfast.

Ingredients:
Pulagam / Pongal - 3cups
Rice Flour – 3 heaped tablespoons
Salt – 1 pinch (Just enough for the rice flour0
Onion – 1 finely chopped
Chilli paste – 1 tsp
Coriander – chopped 1 tbsp

Method:
Mash the pulagam / pongal thoroughly with out any lumps. If you feel rice is bit hard, microwave it for 1 minute or so. It is easy to mash when it is warm. Slowly add rice flour, salt, chilli paste and coriander.

Pulagam, Onion, chilli paste, Rice flour

Mix every thing until if forms like dough consistency.

Divide the dough into equal parts and make round balls.

Heat the tava (Time management), smear each dough ball or even your palm with little oil and start pressing the dough with palm to make it flat and thin like roti.

Either you can use a plastic sheet or wet cloth or even butter paper. I have used butter paper, as I can directly lift the roti along with the butter paper and place on the hot tawa. When the roti is ready, drizzle some oil on hot tava, and gently place the roti and drizzle some more oil on top.

When it is done on one side, turn the roti to other side, drizzle some more oil and allow it to cook.

Serve hot with a dollop of butter.

Pulagam Roti with butter

Mirchi ka salan

Mirchi ka salan

This is one of the famous Mughalai recipes. Mughalai food is characterized by rich and creamy curry. Mughlai recipes are rich in fat, carbohydrates and proteins. As I am not as rich as the Mughals, I have used less oil and added no cream.

Mirchi Ka Salan is a traditional Hyderabadi salan made in a shallow wide flat bottomed copper or brass pot called ‘handi’. The pot is sealed with dough, and kept on low fire to trap all the rich flavours inside. This is served as a condiment with biryani. Salan means curry spiced with all the ingredients. The mirchi are seeded and fried for a rich, smoky flavour. You can use any milder varieties like bhavnagri chillies, Anaheim chilies, bell pepper or jalapenos. Interesting part of this recipe is adding chilli powder to the chillies which gives the extra kick.

Ingredients:

Green chilli with thick skin - 8

Cumin – 1 tsp

Coriander seeds – 2 tsp

Chilli powder – 2 tsp

Chopped coriander – 2 tsp

Bay leaf

Cloves - 4-6

Cinnamon - 1 inch

Roasted Peanuts – 2 tblsp

Roasted sesame seeds – 2 tblsp

Dry cocount grated - 2 tblsp

Garlic pods – 2 large

Onion – 1 large chopped into big chunks

Tomato – 1 chopped into big chunks

Tamarind – 1 lemon size

Anaheim chilli

Roasted peanuts, dry coconut, cloves, cinnamon,

Corriander seeds, garlic and sesame seeds

Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup of hot water for about 15-20 minutes. Squeeze and remove the pulp and keep the tamarind juice aside.

Skin and grind the roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, dry coconut and keep aside.

For garam masala -

Roast cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaf. Allow them to cool and grind them into powder.

Chop onions and tomatoes finely and keep it aside.

Heat the oil and fry chillies with pinch of salt until black spots appear, drain and keep it aside. In the same oil saute chopped onions for 7-8 minutes and then add tomatoes. Allow them to cool and grind them into paste. Grind garlic also into smooth paste. 

Add 2 more tblsp of oil to the same pan and add garlic paste, tomato & onion paste, add garam masala powder, salt and fry well until the oil appears on the sides of the pan.

Add fried chillies to the above and add roasted peanut and sesame powder and fry for 10 minutes. Pour tamarind juice and allow to cook for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle chopped coriander, close the lid and turn off the heat.

 

Serve it with hot rotis or biryani or with simple plain rice.

Quick oats cookies

Oats Cookies

These cookies are very easy to prepare and takes very less time. I have used quick oats which is nothing but powder form of oats. You can also replace the quick oats with rolled oats grinding into coarse powder.

Ingredients:

3 cups Quick cooking oats

1/4 cup self raising floor

¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tbsp Milk

3/4th cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Tutti – Fruity – ½ cup

Quick oats and Tutti frutti

Oatmeal Cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

In the bowl beat the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth (about 2 - 3 minutes). Add the vanilla extract and beat to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, quick oats, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, sprinkle the milk and mix until incorporated. Finally stir in the tutti frutti.

Cookie dough

To make cookies, use a spoon and scoop the dough (I like to use an ice cream scoop) and space the dough about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the baking sheet. Then wet your hand and flatten the cookies slightly with your fingers so they are about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick.

Bake the cookies for about 12 - 15 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges but still soft and a little wet in the centers. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

Oats cookies

Vegetable Upma

I usually prepare this recipe as a meal instead as a breakfast. One reason is, I can finish the meal with just one variety and no need to prepare 2-3 varieties. For this recipe the most important ingredient apart from the vegetables is ginger. This makes the whole story.

Ingredients

Extra Coarse wheat – 2 cups
Water – 4 cups
Carrot cut into small pieces – ¼ cup
French beans cut into small pieces – ¼ cup
Potato cut into small pieces – ¼ cup
Grated ginger – 1 ½ tea spoon
Green chilies slit length wise - 4
Onion large – 1 cut into length wise. If it is too big you can cut into half first and then length wise.
Tomato - 1 large chopped
Mustard + Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Curry leaves - hand full
Channa dal – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp (Don’t avoid this as this adds the aroma)
Cashews – 2 tsp
Oil – 4 tbsp
Salt

Onion, Potato, French beans, Carrot, Tomato

Method:

1. Heat a wok and add oil. When it is hot, add Mustard, cumin, curry leaves, cashews, channa dal and urad dal a bit later due to the small size and can avoid burning.

2. Add ginger, green chili slits, onion, salt and sauté for 1 min

3. Add all the vegetables sauté and cover the lid. (To save time you can even microwave the veggies for 2 -3 min without adding water)

4. Stir occasionally to avoid any burns and cover the lid again until all the veggies are more than half cooked.

5. Whilst stirring the veggies bring the water to boil in a separate vessel.

6. When the veggies are almost done add rava, mix well and fry for 2 min without covering the lid.

7. Finally add the boiled water to rava mixture stir until every thing mixes well, cover the lid and reduce the flame. Stir in between until the upma done.

Serve it hot and enjoy the taste…

Note: If you do not have extra coarse wheat, you can also use normal wheat rava and you need to adjust the amount of water. The more the coarse, the more the water absorption is.

Murukulu / Savoury snack

There is lots of crunchiness in the name itself. Aa ha going back to nostalgia. Mom always prepares them at least once in a month. Just to make her life easy, she always prepares them either before we wake up or after we sleep so that we can avoid the accidents in the kitchen.

My mom’s preparation starts with soaking the rice, drain and dry them under shade. Roast Urad daal and the shade dried rice and bribe one of us to go to the grinding mill (Pindi mara). She also adds coarsely ground roasted peanuts to give the extra nutty flavour and crunchiness. Unfortunately due to lack of time, now-a-days most of us end up with buying the ready made flours. I managed to find the ready made roasted flours in London.

Ingredients:
4 cups – Rice flour
1 cup – Roasted Urad flour
½ cup – sesame seeds - roasted
½ cup – pea nuts – roasted,skinned and coarsely ground
Salt – 1 1/2 to 2 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Oil to deep fry

Method:

Heat a kadai/ deep pan with oil to deep fry. Whilst oil is getting hot (Time management), sieve the flours along with salt and chilli. This is the easiest method I found to mix different flours with out much effort. If you don’t have the sieve, no worries. Just mix every thing with hand and add coarsely ground peanuts and sesame seeds. Once all the dry bits are mixed well, add about 3 ladles full of hot oil. Do not put your hands straight into the hot oil, instead, cover the hot oil with the flour and slowly try to mix every thing by adding water little by little until you get the dough consistency.

Muruku dough

Take the muruku mould and fill it with the dough.

Muruku mould filled with muruku dough

Apply pressure to squeeze the dough. Experts, they squeeze the dough directly into the oil, where as the beginners like me will squeeze the muruku on a butter paper or plastic paper. 

Slowly lift them into hand one at a time and slowly slip them into the oil. Fry them till golden colour. Remove them using slotted spoon. Drian and allow them to cool down. Store them in an air tight container.

Enjoy spicy muruku with hot chai

Note: If you feel, the dough is bit dry or hard, take part of the dough, sprinkle some water and then knead it again.

Semiya Ponganalu / Vermicelli pan cakes

Semiya Ponganam

This is one of the favourite breakfast of my family including the two years old little one. He always call them as ball due to the funny shape. I personally like it due to the crispy nature outside and soft inside.

Ingredients

Dosa Batter – 1 ½ cup
Boiled Vermicelli – ½ cup
Onion – 1 Chopped into small pieces
Green chilli chopped - 1 tbsp
Salt
Roasted pea nuts or roasted channa dal in oil
Curry leaves
Cumin seeds
Curry leaves chopped - 1 tbsp
Corriander chopped - 1 tbsp

Dosa batter, Boiled Vermicelli / Semiya

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients. Heat the special pan (Ponganala penam) with little oil and pour the batter to full length and cover it with lid for two minutes.

When you see the light golden colour outside turn the ponganam / Pan cake with spoon and allow it to fry for another two minutes until it turns to gold shade with out covering.

Enjoy ponganalu with spicy coconut powder

Ponganalu with Coconut powder

Note:

Instead of boiled vermicelli you can also use left over semiya upma or even rava upma. The rava or vermicelli gives extra crispiness.

 You can also prepare ponganalu with out vermicelli and by just adding onion, chilli, cumin, curry leaves.

Eggless Chocolate cake

Chocolate cake 

This is a two-tiered chocolate cake with very light texture importantly without the use of eggs. The cake’s light texture is mainly due to the sour milk.

Ingredients:


125g (6-7 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
1 cup – sugar
1 tsp – vanilla essence
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ cup – hot water
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup milk
1 2/3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp – baking soda
Pinch salt

Method –

Preheat oven to 180C / 355 F

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy.

whisk cocoa powder into the hot water and mix to a smooth paste.

Fold together cocoa mixture and butter-sugar mixture.

Combine the lemon juice with the milk and keep it aside to sour it which makes an excellent egg replacer.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) salt and add it to the creamed mixture alternatively with the sour milk. Mix thoroughly.

Spoon the cake mixture into two buttered 9 inch cake tins.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Allow the

cakes to cool in their tins for 10 minutes.

Turn out and allow to cool completely. Fill with chocalate cream and ice with whipping cream. Finally decorate with glazed cherries.

 

For Whipped Cream:

1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon sugar

For whipped cream, in a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract and sugar and stir to combine. Chill the bowl by placing it in an ice cubes container and beat the mixture until stiff peaks form. It takes approximately 5 mins.

For Chocalte cream

To the above mentioned ingredients add an extra tablespoon of sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Chocolate cake

You can find Plain Cake recipe with more tips.