WHITE USSAL BHAJI (SPROUTED WHITE PEAS CURRY)

Ingredients

1.5 cup - Dry white peas, soaked overnight

1 medium - Onion, chopped

2 medium - Tomatoes, chopped

1 - Bay leaves

2 sprigs - Curry leaves

To fry & grind to a paste

1'' size - Ginger, chopped

5 big flakes - Garlic, chopped

1/4 shell - Copra Or 1/2 cup - Fresh coconut, grated

1/2 cup - Coriander leaves

2 to 3 tsp - Kashmiri chili powder

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

1 tsp - Garam masala powder

Method

1 ) Soak white peas over night and drain.

2 ) To make gravy - Heat oil in a pan, add onion, ginger and garlic. Fry till the onion turn pinkish. Now add copra / coconut and fry till coconut turns lightly brown in color. Turn off the stove and cool. Transfer to a blender and grind along with coriander leaves, chili powder, garam masala powder to a smooth paste, adding little water as needed.

3 ) Heat cooker with some oil, add bay leaves, curry leaves, onion and fry till lightly brown in color. Now add tomato and fry till tomatoes gets cooked on low heat. Then add ground masala and stir for a few minutes. Then add the white peas, stir and mix well with masala. Add 3 cups of water, salt to taste and stir. Close the cooker and pressure cook for 15 minutes.

APPAM

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked rice , soaked for 4 to 5 hours and drained
1/2 cup cooked rice
1/2 tsp dry yeast
2 pinches of sugar
1 cup coconut milk
salt to taste
2 tsp sugar

Method

1. For the batter
2. Combine the soaked rice, cooked rice and approx. ½ cup of warm water and blend in a mixer to smooth paste. Keep aside.
3. Combine the dry yeast, sugar and ½ cup of warm water in a bowl and mix well.
4. Put a pinch of plain flour, cover and keep aside for 10 minutes.
5. Combine the ground paste, coconut milk, salt and sugar and mix well.
6. Add the prepared yeast mixture and mix very well. Cover and keep aside to ferment for 2 to 3 hours.
7. Heat an appachatti (appam pan) and grease it lightly with oil.
8. Pour a big ladleful of the batter into it and slowly rotate the pan in a circular motion so that a thin layer forms on the side while it remains thick in the center.
9. Put a little oil on the edges, cover with a lid and cook on a slow flame for 2 to 3 minutes, remove the appam when the center fluffy part is cooked.
10. Repeat with the remaining batter to make 14 more appams.
11. Serve immediately with coconut stew.

Manglorean chicken curry

• 1 kg Chicken cut into medium size pieces
• 4 short dry chillies
• 4 long dry chillies
• 1 tbsp. coriander
• 1 tsp jeera
• 1/2 tsp peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp mustard
• 2 medium size onions (for grinding)
• 1 medium onion sliced (to be boiled along with the chicken)
• 1 small onion for tempering/tadka
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 a coconut grated
• Milk of 1/2 coconut (optional - only if you wish to eat a gravy which tastes strongly of coconut milk)
• 1 small ball of tamarind
• 1 tsp garam masala powder

Method:
1. Dry roast the ingredients (dry chillies, coriander, pepper, mustard, jeera, onions, garlic) one by one on a hot pan. Powder the dry ingredients (minus the onions & garlic) first if you are using a mixer grinder and then add the onions, garlic, grated coconut, tamarind & garam masala. Grind to a fine paste using a little water

2. Boil the chicken with 1 onion sliced (toss it in the pan with the chicken, no need to fry it first & all that jazz) and salt and a little water if required. Cook until chicken is done.

3. Add the ground masala to the chicken & bring it to a boil.

4. Heat a small pan, add ghee and when its smoking hot toss in the 1/2 sliced onion, reduce the flame to avoid burning. This is the Tadka/Tempering - Add this to the chicken gravy and serve hot

DAAL MAKHANI

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup whole urad daal (urad sabut)
• 1tbsp Red kidney beans (Rajma)
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 tomato finely chopped
• 1" Ginger piece
• 2-3 green chilies finely chopped
• chopped coriander leaves
• 4-5 flakes Garlic paste
• 1/2 cup stirred curd
• 1/2 cup fresh stirred cream (malai)
• 2tbsp butter
• 1tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1/2tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2tsp Garam masala
• Red chili powder to taste
• 1/2tsp dhania powder
• Salt to taste

METHOD:

Soak rajma and black urad dal in water overnight.

Add water & little salt and pressure-cook Rajma and urad daal till soft for about 20-25 minutes. Mash and boil again for 15-20 minutes and add curd and cream to the daal.

Now in kadhai heat oil, splutter cumin seeds and add garlic paste, fry till light brown. Add onions and fry till golden brown.

Now add ginger, green chilies and tomatoes and fry till tomatoes soften.

Now add dry masalas (turmeric powder, chili powder, dhania powder & salt) and fry again for a moment.

Add daal and stir on medium flame. As soon as it starts boiling remove from the gas stove.

Sprinkle garam masala powder and garnish daal makhni with cream and add butter.

Serve daal makhni hot. Goes well with laccha paratha, naan or rice.

BAINGAN KA BHARTA (EGGPLANT CURRY)

INGREDIENTS:

1 large eggplant

1 large onion chopped very fine

1 large tomato chopped very fine

2 green chillies chopped very fine (optional)

7-8 cloves of garlic chopped very fine

1/4 cup chopped coriander

2 tbsps mustard oil

Salt to taste

1/2 lime

METHOD:

Baingan Ka Bharta requires that the eggplant be roasted. This can be done in several different ways:

• Roast on a gas cooktop by just placing the eggplant straight on the burner and keeping the flame on low setting. Keep turning and cooking till all the skin on the eggplant is charred and the inner flesh looks really soft. A good sign to watch for is that the eggplant seems to 'cave in' on itself! OR
• Grill in your oven grill or on your barbecue grill. Again, keep turning periodically till all the skin on the eggplant is charred and the inner flesh looks really soft OR
• Preheat oven to 400. Slice eggplant lengthwise and sprinkle salt on the fleshy side. Rub both sides with olive oil and roast, skin side up for 25-30 minutes until tender. When the timer goes off, switch oven to broil and roast another five minutes until caramelized and golden.
• Once the eggplant is roasted, allow to cool fully and then peel off and discard the charred skin and stem.
• Mash the eggplant roughly, in a mixing bowl.
• Add the mustard oil, onion, tomato, green chillies, garlic, coriander leaves and salt to taste. Mix well.
• Add a squeeze of lime juice and mix well.
• Serve with hot rotis.

VADA SAMBHAR

INGREDIENTS:
FOR VADA

• 1/2 cup Urad Daal
• 1/2 cup Moong Daal
• 1 Onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp Ginger
• 1-2 Green Chilies finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda

FOR SAMBHAR

• 3/4 cup toor dal
• 1/2 cup onion
• 1/4 cup tomato
• 1/4 cup potato
• 1 tea spn sambar powder
• A pinch turmeric
• Oil
• 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
• A pinch asafoetida
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 2-3 strands cilantro leaves
• Salt 

METHOD:

FOR VADA

• Pick, wash and soak daals for 3-4 hours.
• Grind them coarsely in a blender.
• Now add onions,ginger, green chilies salt and baking powder and mix well and set aside for 5 minutes.
• Heat oil in a pan or kadhai and deep fry a spoonful of batter till golden
• Serve with chutney as a breakfast or sambhar or rasam as a meal.

FOR SAMBHAR:

Cook toor dal with turmeric. Cook potato, tomato and onion separately, I mean do not mix them with dal while cooking. (If you have the cooker vessels, use the down one for the dal and the upper one for vegetables. This way the dal cooks faster than the vegetables). Around 3-4 whistles are enough in cooker. (If using microwave, cook both separately one after the other). Mash the dal with a spoon. Add the vegetables to dal and add sufficient water (this sambar tastes good when the dal is cooked well and mashed well). Heat the dal, vegetables mixture. Add salt. When it starts boiling, add the sambar powder (Do not hold the entire packet of sambar powder on boiling sambar. The steam gets into the packet and the powder gets spoiled. So use spoon to take out the powder away from the boiling sambar and then add the powder). Add the chopped coriander leaves and cook for 2-3mins. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add asafoetida and curry leaves (tear the curry leaves into two to increase the aroma). Add this seasoning to Sambar and immediately close the lid.

  

PEANUT-GARLIC CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup dry coconut
• 1/3 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts coarsely ground
• 1 full head of garlic (15-20 cloves)
• 2 dry red chillies
• Salt to taste

METHOD;

• Roast the coconut on a low fire till it begins to turn golden.
• Roast the sesame seeds in the same way.
• Mix all the ingredients except the peanuts together and grind in a food processor.
• When done add the peanuts and mix well. Season with salt.