Udupi Dhania Sambhar with Chutney Palya

This is a very delicious and a simple vegetable udupi sambhar. When you need something comforting & are bored of using your regular sambhar powders, this is a sweet surprise.

Chutney palya is a very easy and nutritious palya which can be prepared in a few minutes. This goes well with sambhar and rice..

For Dhania Udupi Sambhar:
2 cups mixed vegetables
1 cup toor dal
To grind
2tsp regular sambhar powder (use whatever u have on hand, I have used MTR sambhar powder)
2tbsp coriender seeds ( do not roast)
1tbsp fresh grated coconut
1/4tsp hing
Grind everything to a paste using water.

2tsp tamarind paste ( or 1tsp tamarind date chutney)
salt
optional: 1tsp of coconut oil
Method:
Pressure cook dal with vegetables adding a pinch of turmeric with3cups water. In a kadai, add seasoning using a tsp of oil, 1tsp mustard seeds, a pinch of hing and a sprig of curry leaves. To this add the cooked vegetable dal mixture and mix well. Now add the ground paste, salt and a tsp of tamarind date chutney. I have used this since I like the sambhar a little sweet. This is entirely opitional. Bring it to a boil..Switch off the stove. Now add a tsp of coconut oil and mix well..
Enjoy this Udupi sambhar with steaming rice..

Chutney Palya
This is an extremely simple palya loaded with nutrition and a 2minute affair..To make this you need..
1package --cole slaw mix ( you can also shred cabbage, radish and carrot separately and mix them for this)
1tsp chutney powder ( you may use rasam powder if u like)
1/2 tsp dhania powder
seasoning
Method:
In a kadai, heat a tsp of oil. Add mustard seeds, 1tsp urad dal and a tsp of channa dal. Fry till they turn red. In a boil take 1/4cup of water and mix the chutney powder and coriender powder to this. Now add this paste to the seasoning and mix well. Add salt and mix. Now add the shredded veggies and mix well till it is well coated.
Cover the kadai with a lid and in a medium flame cook for 3mins. Remove the lid, add fresh grated coconut and mix well..
This goes well with rice or chapati..

Fire Roasted Yam/Sweet Potato

Fire roasted Sweet Potato/Yam:

This is one of the most delicious cold wintery snack that is very healthy and equally filling...
For roasting directly under fire, you can use your fire place if you have one..This is a great way to enhance the flavour in your sweet potato. Another way of roasting is using charcoal. Place the sweet potato on heated coal for 15 minutes, toss it every 3-4 minutes to make sure the skin is getting charred and its heating equally on all sides..

To serve:
remove the charred skin which comes of very easily. Once fully done, the potato cuts like butter and yet retains its shape without breaking down. I generally serve this with rock salt and pepper or with honey..
Tip: You can mash this and use it for making raita, its an excellent accompaniment with any dish..

Chinese Vegetable Fried Rice & Sweet and Sour Vegetable

Chinese Vegetable Fried Rice with Sweet & Sour Vegetables

This week was chinese food week at my place..We so very much wanted to eat our "Indian Chinese" specialities and I landed up making some of them..Here is a very easy version of this rice.
Chinese vegetable fried rice
1 cup long grain basmati or 1 cup jasmine rice I(I have used Jasmine rice here for added flavour)
1/4cup peas
1/4 cup finally chopped carrots
1/4 cup string beans chopped at an angle
1/4 cup corn (optional)
1 pack coleslaw (I have used the slaw with shredded cabbage, brocolli stems, brocolli florets)
Use any vegetables you have
bean sprouts (optional)
ginger juliennes 1tbsp
garlic finely chopped 1tbsp
1 bunch spring onions
1tsps soy sauce
2tsp red chilly sauce
1tsp green chily sauce
1tbps tomato ketchup
salt to taste
1tsp sugar
1tbsp oil

Method
First boil rice separately and allow it to cool..
In a big wok, add oil till it smokes, to this add ginger first and then garlic, keep stirring continously so that it wont burn. To this add the while onion portion of spring onions and mix well. Now add all the vegetables and fry for 3minutes in high heat. Add all the sauces, sat to taste and fry again till the veggies get a little tender..Adjust spice and salt to taste and mix rice well and fry again for 2minutes till everything mixes together..Garnish with spring onions..Serve this with Sweet and Sour vegetables..

Sweet and Sour Vegetables
This is my favourite chinese veggie dish. I always made it a point to eat this in shanti sagar whenever I visit Bangalore. Here is how you make it..

Ingredients:
1 bell pepper--chopped to big chunks
1 onion- chopped into big chunks
1 cup pineapple chunks (you can also use half a can of mixed fruits)
For sauce
1tbsp corn starch
1tsp ginger chopped
2tsp ketchup
1 cup water
2tsp soy sauce
salt to taste
1bunch scallions chopped for garnishing

Method: microwave all the vegetables and fruits for a few minutes till they r soft..
Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl. In a pan, head a tsp of olive oil. add the sauce mix and mix well. When the sauce starts thickening, add the boiled veggies. Adjust the consistency with the boiled water. Mix well..Garnish with scallions and serve with fried rice or noodles...

Menthya-Palak Thovve/Methi Palak Dal/Menthya-Palak Pappu

Menthya-Palak Thovve

Menthya-Palak Thovve/Methi-Palak Dal
This is a very quick and easy recipe with loads of iron, fibre and protein..Try it when you need something very filling quickly..

Ingredients:
1bunch fresh Methi leaves
1bunch fresh baby spinach or regular spinach
3green chillies slit vertically
1/2cup toor dal
1/4 cup moong dal
1/2tsp red chillie flakes
1tsp turmeric
1clove garlic(optional)
1/2tsp amchur/1tsp tamarind pulp

To season
2tsps ghee, 1tsp mustard, hind, 1tsp jeera, 1/4 tsp methi seeds,

To Make

In a pan, roast the dals for a minute till a nice aroma comes. Pressure cook the dals with just enough water to cover them adding turmeric.
In another pan, add the seasonings and garlic. When mustard stops spluttering, add the green chillies and mix well. Now add the cleaned greens and mix well. Cover the pan for 2minutes. The greens wilt at this poin and leaves out water. Now add salt and cover for another 2minutes till the greens cook well.
To this, add the pressure cooked dals and mix everything well. Add little water for desired consistency. Finally add the chillie flakes and mix everything well for another minute and serve hot.
This can be eaten with white rice and ghee, or with rotis..

Honey Cake/Dil Pasand/Dil Khush...

Bangalore Honey Cake, Dil Pasand and Dil Khush

For anybody staying in Bangalore, we all love our good old iyengar bakeries and their goodies. One of the most oldest and favorite bakery product is the Honey Cake and an equally enticing delicacy is the Dil Pasand/Dil Khush.. I am posting this recipe for the benefit of those people who have been searching for these recipes on the Internet, which even included me at one point of time.

So here you go folks. Do try these and it would be great to let me know the results. I have personally tried and tested both the recipes and they come out perfect..

Honey Cake

Note: You can follow any regular white cake recipe for the cake..
Ingredient Quantity
150ml Water
50g Sugar
50g Egg
50g Maida
10gm butter
1/2 T spoon baking powder
1 Tspoon Milk powder
1 Tspoon Vanila Essens........


Honey dip for soaking:
1/ 2 cup fresh honey
150ml water
50ml sugar
25gm coconut powder

In pan boil water with honey, sugar and coconut powder and add 1/4tsp cardamom powder. Boil for 10mines and cool till warm.

Method

Sift the flour.
Add the baking powder and sift the flour again. This makes soda spread evenly in the Maida.
Break the eggs and pour them in a cup. Beat them till the froth color is white. Better if u do it with an egg-beater.
Add sugar and keep beating till the sugar dissolves completely.
Slowly pour the Maida, and as u do, keep mixing to ensure there are no blobs of Maida…
Do not batter it overly. And as soon as the Maida gets dissolved get the batter ready for baking.
I guess u know the baking process. I don't elaborate on that…. Oil the pan, line the bottom of the oven with a waxed paper… oil it again… and then fill it with batter….. Preheat the oven to 350F and bake for around 45mins till the cake is done. Check after every 30 minutes.
After the cake is baked, get it out of the oven and let it cool.
When the cake is done, add this syrup to the entire cake and let it soak for 20-30mins. Cut it and enjoy the Honey Cake.

Tip: Just make sure you adjust the flavor and sweetness of honey and use honey accordingly.

Dilpasand: (serving 4 people)
150Ml Water
250g Maida
150g dalda
10g Salt......

Method: Mix all the above four ingredients to a soft dough like chapatti dough. Cover it and let it sit for an hour.

In a bowl mix.50g dried coconut scrapings, 50gms sugar,50g Cherry frts,50g Dry fruits . Now roll the dough into a thick circle. Dab it either with egg wash or with butter. Add the above mixture and bake it in the oven at 350 for 15mins. Keep checking at 10minutes till it is brown and crispy..


Dilkhush: (Serving 4)

150Ml Water
250g Maida
10g Yeast
60g sugar
10g salt

Mix above ingredients into a dough like chapatti dough and leave it covered for 45minutes-1hr.
For the Masala

For the stuffing
Plum Cake1
Pineapple Essence As desired
Sugar¼ Kilo
Pineapple icing as desired
Coconut grate Grated lengthwise – as required


Mix the ingredients well. Take care that the mix is loose enough just like "alu masala for alu samosa".

3) Prepare a "peda" of thickness u desire out of the dough.
4) Spread the masala on ONE HALF of the peda. Fold the other half of peda sop that it covers the masala. You now have a roti folded in the middle with masala inside!
5) Break an egg. Mix it well in a cup. Take a brush and dab it on the top surface of the bread.
6) Bake the "peda with the mix" for 10 mins. Check if it requires more time. You can check the crust color for that!... to check if it has fully baked, poke it with a toothpick.

Holige/Obbattu/Bottatlu/Puran Poli

Bele Holige/Bele Obbattu

Don’t we all love Holige which is also called obbattu or Puran Poli..

In any Karnataka home, Holige is the traditional sweet prepared whether it is the Kayi Holige, Sakkare Holige or the regular Bele Holige..

All three are a treat to your senses. However, below is a traditional recipe for the Bele Holige..

For Kanaka/Dough you need..

2cups maida

2tbsps Chiroti Rave/fine semolina

A pinch of salt

A pinch of turmeric..

2tbsp oil for soaking

Mix all the ingredients with warm milk till you get soft elastic dough (almost like a chapatti dough). Keep it covered in a warm place and add oil on the dough to prevent from drying..

For Hoorna/suffing

1 cup (1 pav) channa dal

1.5 cups soft dark brown jaggery

2tsps green cardamom powder

½ cup fresh grated coconut

Boil channa dal on stop stop with 3cups of water till the dal is soft but does not break. Strain all the water. Grind the dal to a smooth paste without any water.. In a thick kadai, add jaggery and sprinkle a handful of water and melt the jaggery.. and boil for 2-3 minutes till bubbles form. To this add cardamom powder and mix well. Now add the dal paste and mix well. In a medium flame, keep stirring this mixture for 10-12 minutes till all the water evaporates and the m ixture gets to a halwa consistency. To this add fresh coconut and keep it aside to cool.

To make Holige

Take a pingpong sized dough. Pat it on a foil greased with oil to a little disk. Now take a pingpong sized filling and place it in the poori. Close all the ends and roll out to a desired size. On a tava fry the holige with very little oil if needed.

Tip: Use rice flour for dusting when rolling out the holige. This gives a very unique flavour..

Mysore Badnekai -Kothambari Palya/Green eggplant-Coriender Palya

Badnekai Palya

Mysore Badnekai/green eggplants have a unique flavour.. This is one of my most favourite vegetable. My mom has a very special way of making this vegetable with a coriender masala, it is very simple to make and yet the flavour is out of this world. Here is the recipe..

4 medium sized green eggplants/brinjals(chopped and soaked in cold water)

To make the Coriender masala
a bunch of coriender/cilantro leaves cleaned and chopped
1/2 inch piece of ginger chopped
3-4 green chillies
Make a chutney with the above ingredients..

To make:
In a pan, heat 2tsp oil. Add mustard seeds, 1tsp urad dal, and a little hing. Now add the drained chopped brinjal pieces and mix well. Leave it on a medium flame for 4minutes and these brinjal chunks become crispy . At this point add salt and mix well and leave it for a minute or two. Next, add the coriender masala and mix well for 2-3minutes in a high flame till the chunks are coated well and all the masala seeps through the chunks.
Serve this with chapati/any bread or curd rice..This really tastes very good with plain rice with ghee as well..

Kadubu/Modak/kudumulu

Ganesha Chaturthi!!!

VAKRATUNDA MAHAKAYA SURYAKOTISAMAPRABHA
NIRVIGHNAM KURUMEDEVA SARVA KARYESHU SARVADA

O Ganapati, One with a curved trunk, a large body, and a brilliance equal to a crore (10 million) suns! O God, please make all my undertakings free from Obstacles always.

We all love to celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi dont we?..People of any age group indulge in celebrating Lord Ganapathi on this day to seek blessings and victory in any task they do..

Today, I made the traditional kadubu also called modak..Kadubu comes in various forms, either a steamed one or a deep fried one..I chose to deep fry today:)..Here is how you do it..

You need:
2cups fresh coconut
1.5 cups jaggery
1tsp cardamom poweder
1/2 cup water

For the stuffing: take a heavy bottom kadai. Now add jaggery and water and stir till all the jaggery melts. To this add the grated coconut and cardamom powder and keep stirring till all the water evoporates and forms a thick mass (6-7mins)..

For the dough
2cups maida
2tbps sooji/chiroti rava
2tsp melted butter
Make a dough like poori dough and keep it aside for 10mins.

To assemble:
make small tiny pooris, place a tsp of stuffing and close the outer edges to form a semi circle. You can seal the edges with sugar water. Now deep fry these kadubus till crispy and golden and enjoy..

Menasinakai Bajji/Stuffed Mirchi Bajji/Mirapakai Bajji

Menasinakai Bajji with Coffee....

When we think of a fiery evening snack especially on a cold evening,, the first thing that comes to my mind is the "Mirchi Bajji" lovingingly called as "Menasinakai Bajji" in Karnataka..Especially in bangalore, the cartwheel vendors made delicious bajjis and it was my favourite indulging snack..
My friend got me a bag full of the portugese peppers which are fiery hot fresh from her garden..She warned me about the degree of heat in these chillies..So I decided to make these stuffed bajjis to satisfy my snack craving:)..Here it is..

You need:
5-6 portugese peppers/banana peppers/any kind of peppers which can hold stuffing and long..
Clean them, make a vertical slit on one side and remove the vein with the seeds if you do not like it very hot..
For the stuffing:
2 boiled potatoes
1 onion chopped finely
1/2 cup coriender leaves chopped
2tsps chat masala powder
1tsp peanut powder(optional)
juice of a lime and salt

Mix everything together..

For the batter:
1cup besan/kadle hittu
a tbsp of rice flour/akki hittu
a pinch of turmeric
a pinch of red chillie powder
water
salt
oil to deep fry

mix everything together toa thick batter..
To make
Stuff the potato mixture into the peppers gently and keep it aside..
Heat oil and deep fry the stuffed peppers dipped in batter till brown and crispy.
Cut them into pieces and serve them with lime, chopped onion and cilantro with a steaming cup of coffee..

Tomato Uppinakai/Tomato pickle...& a Tag:)

Tomato Uppinakai"..

With all the tomatoes which has been harvested this summer..my home smelled like a big tomato patch :)..I tried almost all the dishes with tomatoes and still left with many more..Finally I realised I hadnt tried my most favourite pickle which I have eaten growing up , which my grandmom made every summer which is the "Tomato Uppinakai"
This version of the pickle is little labourious for the busy bees but nevertheless its worth the effort..

You need:
3cups of ripe tomatoes (Ihave used a mixture of grape, plum, cherry tomatoes)
salt( preferably sea salt, if you dont have it, you can use the regular table salt) 1/4 cup
red hot chillie powder 3 big tbsps (I love it very hot)
hing 1/2tsp
fresh fenugreek powder/methi powder- 2tbsp
oil- 1 cup
seedless tamarind 1/2 cup soaked

To make
cut the tomatoes into big chunks and place the pieces on a baking sheet.. Now sprinkle salt generously and coat the pieces. Bake it at the lowest temperature for an hour.. Keep checking the tomatoes and tossing once in 30minutes..

Now drain all the water which the tomato leaves and dont throw it away. Now grind the baked tomatoes with all the above ingrediants excluding oil and hing..

In a thick kadai,, heat oil, add turmeric and hing to this and gently add the ground tomato paste..
In a medium heat cook this mixture for exactly 20minutes covering the mixture with a lid to avoid spluttering..

After 20minutes, the paste will be very think and oil will float on top indicating it is ready..
Cool this completely and store..This can be served with roti, rice, curd rice or even bread...

Now time to MeMe:)

Curry Leaf of http://tastycurryleaf.blogspot.com/ and SriLekha of Me&My Kitchen have tagged me for a MeMe :) Thanks guys. Here are the rules
(a) List these rules on your blog.
(b) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
(c) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

B)7 facts about me:

I am a simply complex character :) living in the US but originally from Namma Bengaluru..

I strongly believe in simplistic living and modern in thinking and trying very hard to follow this principle.

I strongly believe a good upbringing & good friendship is very important to positively influence a person. I am proud of all the people who have influenced my life..

I love my family & they always come first in my priority list..

I have a bachelors in engineering and MS in computer science from RPI, new york and presently working..

I love music from mozart to M. S. Subbalakshmi..

Finally I believe life is full of surprises and Life is very beautiful....

C) I would love to know all my blogger friends.. but sticking to the rules..I would love to tag
Divya of http://mixtomatch.blogspot.com/
Vidhya of http://iyercooks.blogspot.com/
Asha of http://foodieshope.blogspot.com/
Rashmi of http://envittuvirundhusamayal.blogspot.com/
Priti of http://indiankhanna.blogspot.com/
LG of http://testtasteofmysore.blogspot.com/
Rajini of http://vegetarianinme.blogspot.com/

Looking forward to knowing more about you guys :)..