Toor daal / Kandhi Pappu Paratha

This is a dish I found to be very tasty when there is left out dals. I had some left over mudha pappu. Thought to make parathas. Instead of stuffing the daal mixture, I just added this to the wheat flour, mixed every thing and kneaded into soft dough same as the roti dough. Fry them with ghee and serve them with spicy red chilli pickle.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour – 2 cups

Cooked Tour daal – 1 cup

Ajwain / Carom seeds / Vaamu – ½ tsp

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Salt
Oil / ghee to fry the parathas

Cooked Toor daal / Mudha pappu and Wheat flour

Method:

Mix the wheat flour, cumin seeds, ajwain seeds and salt in a bowl, add gradually the cooked toor dal / Kandi pappu and knead everything into smooth dough (add water if necessary)..Keep aside for 30 minutes...

Make 10- 12 medium sized balls from the dough, dust the balls with enough flour and roll them into round parathas using rolling pin.

Heat few drops of oil in a tawa, gently place the flattened paratha, cook the paratha on both sides, drizzle oil if needed. 

Serve with any sort of spicy side dish..

Potato / Aaloo Kurma

This is a must have recipe in each and every house of India whether it is Southern or Northern part. A nice companion for pulao rice / Biriyanis as well as chapathis. Adding fennel will give the unique flavour to the curry.

Ingredients:

Fresh Coconut grated / thin slices – 2 tbsp (heaped)

Khus khus / Poppy seeds / Gasa gasalu – 1 tsp (heaped)
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
Cashew nuts - 

Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tsp

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Coriander powder – 1 tsp

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Cloves – 3-4

Cinnamon stick – 1 inch

Cardamom – 1

Onion – 1 small chopped into small pieces

Tomato – 1 large chopped

Potato – 300gms

Salt

Oil – 2 tbsp

Fresh coconut, khus khus, Fennel seeds, green chilli, cashew nuts

Method:

Wash, Peel and dice the potatoes and keep them immersed in salt water

Fry the Khus khus, Fennel seeds, cloves, cinnamon under very low flame.

Allow them to cool down. Add enough water and grind them into smooth paste along with green chilli, coconut and Cashew nuts.

Heat a pan with oil. When it is hot enough, add mustard, jeera, curry leaves and red chilli

Add ginger garlic paste and fry for few seconds.

Add chopped onion along with a pinch of salt and fry until they are transparent.

Add the ground masala and fry until the oil gets separated.
Now add coriander and Chilli powder.

Add chopped tomatoes and potatoes.

Mix everything. Add some turmeric and required amount of salt.

Add some water and cook until the raw taste goes away and the potato is soft.

Shower  some chopped coriander and remove from the flame.

Potato Fry with Spicy Coconut Powder

A simple recipe with minimal ingredients and can be done with less than 10 minutes. Another time management art. Steaming the potato and parallel to this, prepare the seasoning and mix them together with the final touch of coconut powder.

Ingredients:

Potato – Medium size 3
Onion – Large – 1
Mustard – ½ tsp
Cumin – ½ tsp
Curry leaves
Dry chilli – 2
Chana daal / Bengal gram – 1 tsp
Oil – 2 tbsp

For Coconut powder click here

Method:

Wash and peel the potatoes and cut them into small bite size cubes. Spread them in a microwave proof plate or bowl and steam them for 2-4 min by stirring in between. By doing this we require little oil.(Again the time may vary depending on the Microwaves).
Simultaneously, heat a pan with oil and add the seasoning and then chopped onion. When the onion turns tender, add the steamed potato and stir in between for 3-4 minutes.

Finally sprinkle the coconut powder and remove from the fire.

Serve with daal and warm rice

Note: Alternatively, you can add the potato cubes to the seasoning and fry them, which will take a bit more time to cook.

Capsicum chutney

Capsicum also called as Shimla mirch in India. There are various colours of capsicums and interestingly each one has got a unique taste. I have tried to make chutney with this by blending it with some daals, onion and yes, green chili too.

Capsicum Chutney

Ingredients:

Capsicum - 1 large

Green chilii - 3

Onion - small 1

Coriander - Handful

Chana daal / Senagapappu - 1 tbsp

Urad daal - 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Salt

Method:

Dry roast chana daal, urad daal and cumin seperately.

In the same pan add 1 tsp of oil and when it is warm enough, toss the capsicum chunks. Leave them as crunchy. Remove them and keep aside.

To the same pan add chopped chilli, onion and coriander one after the other.

Allow them to cook till soft.

Now bring everything to the room temperature and pulse it by adding enough salt.

Ready to pulse

Dondakaaya Pallila koora / Ivy gourd curry

Ivy Gourd - Gentleman's toes. Isn't it interesting., It has got lots of medicinal values which controls diabetes. The leaves of Ivy gourd are applied on the skin for the wounds. 

We can make lots of recipes using these little wonders. Today, I have prepared a gravy variety which can be served with either rice or chapathi. The ivy gourd is sauted and cooked in peanut sauce.

For the peanut masala

Onion chopped and  fried in oil until transparent– 1 small

Roasted and skinned Peanuts – 3 tbsp

Roasted Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp

Green chilli – 3-4

Garlic – 2-3 cloves

Coriander powder

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Aamchur powder -1/4 tsp (optional)

Salt

Grind all the above into smooth paste by adding some water

Slit the ivy gourds length wise by keeping one end intact.

Fill each one with the peanut masala.

Heat a broad pan with 1 ½ tbsp of oil.
Add 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds, few curry leaves and 1 tsp of chana daal.

Add the ivy gourd and fry them for a while by adding some salt and turmeric.

If you want, you can par boil them. As I like them crunchy., I have added them directly.

When they leave the raw aroma, add the peanut masala paste and fry for a minute.

Pour 1 – 1 ½ cup of water and cook under medium flame by covering the pan.

When the oil gets separated sprinkle some chopped coriander and remove from the fire.

Leave it for a while to get it thickened by covering the pan with the lid.
You can have this with rice or roti.

Ivy gourd in peanut sauce

Pita Boats

This is a nice way of presenting the food to the fussy kids. So simple to assemble the various nutritious vegetables in one place. 

To attain this, I chose the wholemeal Pita bread in oval shape.

Cut the Pitas into length length wise in boat shape.

Bake / toast them until bit crunchy.

Fill them with Paneer tikka, cucumber, lettuce and top them up with capsicum salsa.

Serve them warm..

Paneer Tikka

Paneer tikka is marinated in yoghurt sauce with added spices and grilled or barbecued in a traditional tandoor along with onions, tomatoes and vibrant bell peppers. I chose cherry tomatoes, green pepper and white onion each imparting a different color and taste to the paneer. The delicacy and balance of the flavours, infused in the paneer pieces along with crunchy vegetables makes paneer tikka, a delicious appetizer/starter.

You can either grill the vegetables or just include them raw. In order to get some flavours infused into them and get some good taste, I  just heat a tsp of oil and toss the vegetables with a dash of salt and lemon juice and serve them along with the paneer tikka.

Ingredients:

2 inch paneer pieces – 200 gms

4-5 tbsp hung curds
Salt

Chili Powder – ½ tsp 

Tikka masala – 1 tsp (Or ½ tsp of garam masala)

To prepare the hung curd, strain the thick or any normal yoghurt using a muslin cloth and drain all the water by hanging the cloth to the kitchen tap. Leave it for 1 hour.

Mix hung curd, salt, chili powder and tikka masala

Marinate the paneer pieces in the above mixture for 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Skewer the vegetables and paneer pieces and grill them for 5-6 minutes turning them around while its cooking to ensure they don’t burn and cook them till they are soft and attain a light golden shade.

Serve them in the bed of lettuce leaves