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Showing posts from October, 2011

Parangikaai Paal Kootu (Red Pumpkin Curry)

Ingredients: 1. Yellow Pumpkin- 1/2 kg (Peeled and cut into small cubes). 2. Grated coconut- 4 tbsp 3. Cumin seeds- 1 tbsp 4. Green chillies-4 5. Turmeric powder- 1/2 tbsp 6. Milk- 1/2 glass 7. Salt as required To saute: 1. Mustard seeds-1/2 tbsp 2. Channa dhal- 1/2 tbsp 3. Curry leaves- little. How to make this yummy curry? This is a Kerala dish and I learnt this from my mom. It tastes little Srilankan too. Boil, the pumpkin cubes, adding turmeric powder and 1/2 glass water and little salt. When the pumpkin has cooked, add the finely ground mixture of coconut, cumin seeds, green chillies and cook for another 5 minutes. Then, add milk and cook in slow flame until it becomes little thick. Add little oil to sauting pan, and add mustard, curry leaves and channa dhal. Add the sauted mixture to the pumpkin mixture. This is a side dish for rice.

Quick and Easy Snack- Spicy Puffed rice

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There are a variety of nutricious snacks that can be instantly prepared. One such item is Spicy Puffed rice. Puffed rice is sold in most of the Indian grocery stores. Other ingredients: 1. Ground nuts- 1 cup 2. Channa dhal- 5 tbsp 3. Turmeric powder- 2 tbsp 4. Chilli powder- 4 tbsp 5. Curry leaves- 1 handful 6. Salt and oil- as needed. I took about 500g of puffed rice for this recipe. Heat oil in a wok, and add channa dhal, ground nuts, turmeric powder, chilli powder, curry leaves and salt. When the ground nuts, are fried nicely, add the puffed rice to the wok and sim for 2-3 minutes and store in an airtight container. This is an excellent tea time snack

Vankaya Vepudu- Spicy Brinjal- the Andhra way

I chose round brinjals for this stir fry and the brinjals melted like butter, in the mouth. This is a very simple recipe, but very tasty. I cut the brinjals into thin, long slices and i boiled them, adding 1/2 tbsp of turmeric powder and 2-3 spoons of water. (Water must be sprinkled occasionally while cooking brinjal, else taste will change). To grind: 1. Big onion- chopped (1) 2.Garlic pods- 6 3.Ginger- peeled and chopped - 1tbsp 4.Coriander powder- 1 tbsp 5. red chilli powder- 2 tbsp I prepared a fine paste of the above and added to the brinjal and let it cook in slow flame, turning occasionally. Once the brinjal cooked nicely, I added salt and served this with rice and paapad.

Mix.Veg Chaat

Ingredients: 1.Groundnuts- 1 cup (soaked in water) 2.Cucumber- finely chopped - 1 cup 3.Onion- finely chopped-2 big size 4.Tomatoes-4 finely chopped 5.Coriander leaves- 1 handful, (leaf portions alone finely chopped) 6. Green chillies-2 finely chopped 7. Grated Raw mango- 3 tablespoons 8. Sev (or any Haldiram's Bhujia)- 1 cup. 9. Puffed rice- 1cup Katta Meeta chutney: (Sweet sour sauce) 1. Boil 6-7 dates in a pan with little water for about 5 minutes 2. Grind the dates, with tamarind (cherrysize only), a tablespoon of chilli powder and 1/2 tbsp of chaat masala and 1/2 tbsp of black salt. Chaat is one of the famous evening snack items of India and I tried this variation involving fresh vegetables. I prepared the chutney first and mixed all ingredients in a big bowl, except Sev (ingredient number 8 in the list). This Sev, will be crunchy and has to be added on top of the plate before serving. Needless to say, we enjoyed this yummy snack!

Apple Halwa

This tasted like the apple crumble, we get in McDonalds,but in a very fine texture. I peeled one big apple and finely grinded the apple pieces in a blender. Then, in a sauce pan, I added this mixture and equal quantity of sugar and 3 tablespoons of clarified butter and kept stirring. I also added orange food color and a small pinch of cardamom, to get that Indian touch. This is really fast!!!