When I announced Dosa Mela, I never knew it will get everybody so excited. I had it in mind more because I was interested in knowing all the varieties that one can make with Dosa. But the response it got, was really overwhelming. Even after the roundups, I got many bloggers sending their entries, all of them eager to includes theirs in the round up. So I will be doing an update post with the pending entries.
Apart from this, many of you wanted to know what's next! Infact many wrote saying they would love to have another such event celebrating something that's common. So what better than Indian Flatbread. I love all types of rotis, stuffed parathas, naans, khulchas. The variety is endless! I use all types of flours and its so interesting to know how one cooks with them!
I have tried to cover most varieties that were easy to make at home, but I am yet to try out khulchas, so that's one challenge for me!
So the rotis can be plain, stuffed, savory or sweet!. Some of the typical varieties that I can think of are:
Chapati, Roti, Akki Roti, Puri, Phulka, Paratha, Stuffed Paratha, Puran Poli, Naan, Rumali Roti, Kulcha, Bhatura, Luchi, Tamil Nadu Parotta, Kerala porotta, Roti prata, the Singaporean variant. Roti canai, the Malaysian variant.
Just google away and you will have so many to choose from!
It can also be one of those from regional cuisines, like from Kerala, Pathiri, etc. By Roti, I am referring to everything that's made as dough and rolled out, or patted out or flipped out and cooked on a tawa, pan, tandoori!
So this is going to be everything that comes under Indian Flatbread category. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have all these in one place!.
To participate in this event, please have these in mind!
1. Cook anything related to Roti and all its varieties and post it on your blog from now till June 20th 2008. Can send in as many entries are you can! I will never say no to a Roti too!
Flour used can be anything, right from APF, wheat to Jower or even Chesternut flour! anything and everything under Sun. But sharing your family secret recipe, or something unique will be great and exciting!
Please also include details on how easy or difficult making that dish is, other notes that you feel is important. Everything in related to preparing your dish easy, will be appreciated!
2. Add a link back to this event announcement, would be nice if you can include the logo!
3. Please send me an e-mail to cooking4allseasons@gmail.com with the following info.
* Subject Line: Roti Mela * Your name * Your blog name and link to the post. * Dish Name * A picture of the dish (250 width).
4. Non bloggers can e-mail me the recipe and the picture and I will include it in the round up.
5. If you feel you want to participate but can't find time enough, I will accept already posted entry, if you create a NEW POST linked to this announcement. But it will be really fun to create a new dish!
I will work on the code to put this on side bar, meanwhile you can just include the logo if you are interested!
Looking forward to all your enthusiastic participation!
Memories jog down fast when you least expect them to, openings gates to long forgot days, happily spent with no care or want. I haste to capture them all in one move, lest I forget! But I guess its bound to happen. The mind is so full of memories, that at times I wonder how one is able to keep pace with it. Better part of my life, I tried recording them in dairies, but life takes a different path each year, that I have never been able to keep up with my writing. I guess this blog has been my best option in trying to record certain daily things or those fond memories. But its so funny yet strange, that almost all of them are related to food!
One such beautiful memory weaves around a Punjabi Chhole, that I ate years back! It was a cold winter Christmas time, it was colder, because we were on a vacation in Bombay. It was my first trip to Bombay and I loved every minute of it. We went there to attend a wedding ceremony of Dad colleague's son. The trip and those 4 days will remain forever fresh in my memory. I need no dairy to itch them down. From the moment I stepped down the train that early morning in Pune, to the time I got on the train back to Madras, its all still so fresh in memory. The drama that unfolded in a typical Punjabi wedding, was too good to be missed for anything. Their culture, their customs, and to top everything, their food, god I simply loved every single part of it. There I was, about to get down the train, I can still feel the cold breeze that hit me sharp. It was 4 in the morning and it felt strange, because for me to feel cold, it must've been a really a cold morning. You don't get to have such cold days in Madras. We spent four wonderful days, enjoying every single moment. The account of that beautiful wedding among other things, will make many posts. I will limit myself to that memory of Punjabi Chhole that stands out the most!
We started for Shiridi Sai Baba temple early in the morning and after a good darshan, started back. The journey back led us through rural rustic villages, paving way into deep dry landscapes. For all it was cold, the midday was so very hot. We were panting with breathlessness, though all we was doing, was just jostling along the car. The journey seemed endless, and we were exhausted just traveling. We had to stop for a break and what better place than a Punjabi dhaba! Ah, that scene unfolds now in my mind and I am transported back to that day in one hot afternoon, all set to devour a roti dipping longingly into that katori full of Punjabi Chhole! It was a black gravy with shy channa peeping out all over it. No where else have I tasted a dish so earthly! It tasted of its land and the soil. Later I found that most authentic punjabi Chholes are mostly black in colour and its mostly due to the roasting of the wholes spices.
I got back with loads of memories of that one meal, happy to keep me going for many years. I have since tried recreating that Punjabi chhole, had asked many punju friends. Then I came across an old torn cookbook, which had some authentic recipes written down it. I have since bookmarked many to try. Though this Punjabi Chhole, topped the list. When I finally got down to making it, it was worth all the wait. Yes, one bite on the chhole, and I was magically taken back to that afternoon.
I have always been making chholes, I must've tried many versions. The change in this was, that I roasted it to almost to blackness and the addition of Black Cardamom. This is the first time I am using Black Cardamom. Green cardamom is very common in my kitchen. So using this black cardamom, changed lot of things. As usual, when I searched a bit on black Cardamom, I was happy knowing so many details about this spice.
Black Cardamom (Amomum subulatum): In Hindi, it is called " Bari illaichi " (Big Cardamom) or " Kali illaichi " (Black Cardamom). The plants are grown in Eastern Himalayan region (Nepal and Sikkim). It is used in making Curries. Black Cardamom are large, hard, black-brown, wrinkled pods and it smells more like burnt rubber. It is a very pungent odour, with a strong camphor smell. Its mostly used in the robust stews and meat dishes. In these recipes, pods are crushed and allowed to simmer with the rest of the ingredients. It takes only a few to give any dish a rustic, smoky flavour.
When I saw this chhole calls for 4 black cardamom, I knew its going to be different!
Ingredients Needed:
Kabuli Channa / Chickpeas / Garbanzo beans - 1 cup
For Gravy
Onion - 3 medium Tomatoes - 2 medium Grated Ginger - 1" Chili powder - 1 tsp Oil - 2 tsp Garam masala - 1/2 tsp Green Chillies - 2 Salt to taste
Masala powder
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp Anardana - 1/2 tsp Cinnamon - 1 " Cloves - 3 Black peppercorns - 1 tsp Black Cardamom - 4 Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Bay leaf - 1 Red chillies - 2
Method to prepare:
Soak the channa overnight in enough water. Remember that it almost doubles, so add enough water and use a big vessel. Else you can soak Chhole in hot water for couple of hours and then add soda along with it when cooking. I normally don't add soda for cooking it. Next morning, you will see a white layer formed, discard it and wash well couple of times.
Pressure cook it for 4 -5 whistles. You can add a quarter tsp of salt along with channa while you pressure cook it. This way, you get the salt into the channa. Some say it doesn't cook well when you add salt, but I have never seen it. 4-5 whistles should work out, else check and make sure, when you press down a chhole, it gets mashed softly! I don't like to chew on a hard chhole.
Take a heavy bottom kadai. Roast all the ingredients listed under masala, together. Keep tossing it constantly, else it will get burnt. Doing this on high flame, gets this done fast, so have an eye on that. The recipe asked it to be almost black, I didn't want to take chances, so tossed it well. Let it cool and grind to a smooth powder.
Heat oil in the same pan, add the grated ginger. Then add the finely chopped onions. Cook on medium till its brown. Now add the tomatoes. I normally add salt at this stage as this will get the tomatoes get mushy fast. Fry till the oil separates. This takes about 10 mins or so.
Once the mix is well cooked, add the fresh ground spice masala, garam masala and red chilli powder. Mix well and cook for 2 mins. Then add the slit green chillies and stir for a few mins. You can remove the green chillies, if you want, I left it as such. Add the cooked chhole. Adjust the salt. Add about 1 glass of water. This of course depends on how thick you want your chhole, hubby dear doesn't like running gravies, so I always make it thick. Cook on high for 2 mins and then simmer for 15- 20 minutes, stirring every now and then. Else you can pressure cook again for 1-2 whistles.
Garnish with onion and serve hot with Pooris or Bhatura.
This goes to Anh of Food Lover's Journey, who is hosting this week's edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn.
When I named my blog as Cooking for all Seasons, I never really had more than a minute to decide on it. But I guess, it came from within. Because that's what life is all about right, we cook for all seasons. Seasons change, our needs changes. But the essence that goes into making great cooking never does! Amma's food is always loved and sought by anybody who gets to taste it. I feel that's because she takes so much care in preparing them. Let it be for whatever occasion or for whomever, it always comes out perfect! Yet I have never heard her saying that she knows everything, she is always ready to learn a new thing that she can cook for her family! I am privileged that I had the opportunity to learn cooking from her, apart from many things in life. The unconditional love that comes, in being a mother, yes that's the extra spice that she always adds in her cooking, and in everything else she does.
Apart from my parents, there have been few others, who have left lasting impressions on my mind. One such person was Ammamma. In the spring of my life, I met Ammama, who was in her autumn. Actually I don't remember her name! I call her Ammama because her grandchildren called her so. And she never treated me any different from them. I must've been about 11, when they moved into our flats. Aunty was Dad's colleague and Uncle was a lecturer. They had two children, very adorable ones. The girl must be about 3 or 4 years younger than me and the boy was much younger. I used to call them Appe and Shok. Since Aunty was always busy, Ammama took care of everything and she did it wonderfully. Just thinking back on those many summers, spent happily at their home, lapping on Tintin, Asterisk besides other things, makes me ache for those lovely days.
Garralu, Boorallu, Poorillu and what not, were some of the yummy things, we used to get treated during that time.. Even now when I eat vada with Avaakkai, I remember them. Ammama had lot of tricks and tips on making soft Chappatis and she used to tell me about them. I guess even then, she knew I am going to be one cranky foodie! With so much interaction every moment, it felt we were all one big family. As Shok was not old enough to climb up to our house, I used to carry him often and we used to play at our home. Those were the fun part. Amma used to make so many goodies for us. Then we used to go down and again feast on the things Ammama would've made for us. Of all the wonderful things, Ammama used to make, most loved were her instant Athirasallu or Ariselu. They were simply out of the world. She always had a ready stock of the dough and used to make them on demand. Traditionally Athirasallu are supposed to be difficult and tedious progress but she used to make them appear so simple and easy. Amma, also makes the regular ones, but these were different I guess, in that you don't have to bother about the pakam or the consistency of jaggary syrup.
Ah, those fives years were the best of my childhood. Aunty, for all the busy schedule she had, still used to find time make lovely frocks for Appe, with all beautiful embroidery. How I wish I had got one made for myself, I was too shy to ask, but I still have the scalpel she gave me. Few tokens of wonderful childhood!
When I read about Jhiva and the theme for this month, being dedicated to Pedatha, I knew I had to write about Ammama. I felt this post was long pending, but this is the most apt time to pay tribute. I feel sad that I have lost contact with them, as they have since relocated. But recently I came to know that my cousin is now in the college where Aunty teaches, I thought of calling her, but time just flew! But luck is on my side, I was able to get Ammama picture and also managed to make these late last night. Though until this morning, I wasn't sure if I will be able to make this post. But I am very happy that I did manage finally.
Finally here it is, Athirasallu as Ammama used to make. These have coloured my childhood with golden syrup of love.
For those who don't know what these are, Athirasallu or Ariselu are traditional south Indian sweet, prepared during Festivals like Sankarnthi, Deepavalli. They are made with Rice flour and Jaggary syrup.
I made very small quantity, as this is the first time I am making it. I could've asked Amma to make these, but I was very particular that I make them myself. And I was so very happy once I was done.
Normally for Athirasallu, rice is soaked, shade dried and ground. I remember my parental and maternal grannies making these, in large quantities in a big stone grinder. I have seen Amma making these and grinding them in mixie. But I wasn't able to follow any of it. I made these with the rice flour we have ground and store.
I am writing both the recipes as given by Amma and what I finally made for record.
Amma's recipe for regular Athirasam
Amma's recipe is with 1 Kg of rice. So you can adjust as per your requirement. With 1 kg, you get about 30 to 40 Athrasams of normal puri size. You got to use paku or pagu bellam or jaggary.
Soak rice for 6 hrs and then shade dry it. Meaning it should not become dry but should still have some wetness in the rice. You can either grind this to fine powder using your mixie or give to mill. The rice flour should have that texture of soft and wet feeling when you take a handful and also it should kind of retain your fist shape. Hope you understand what I am saying. This is very important because if the flour is very dry it wouldn't turn out well.
Have all the things ready when you put the jaggary for cooking.
Take water that is enough to dilute jaggary. Cook it so that the jaggary is also dissolve. Remove any impurities that may be present. Then again cook till the pakam is ready. The consistency here is also very important. Hope you know that pakam is calculated as threads. So after 3 thread, when the jaggary is really cooked well, it become thick. When you take a bit and put it in water, you should be able to make a ball of it. This is when you know the pakkam is ready.
Remove from fire, and add poppy seeds, sesame seeds and cardamom. Mix well. Then slowly add the rice flour and keep mixing well. The consistency is very important, so you need to add the flour little by little so that you have enough jaggary. Some flour might remain, so problem Important factor is you should get the consistency of Chappatis dough.
Divide into lemon size balls and a greased top roll out the balls with hands smeared with oil.
Heat oil for frying and slowly drop these circles into the hot oil. You can simmer for a while until you know the inside is cooked. Turn to the other side and cook till its golden in colour. If you are cooking alone, you can roll out one by one and cook. Else it might get burnt. Once done, remove and drain on a Kitchen towel.
I had the Achu vellam, so grated and added water just enough to cover them. Cooked on high and removed the scum. Then added the cardamom powder. Once it starts boiling, add the grated coconut. You will see lot of bubbles coming out.
At this stage, add the Rice flour slowly and stir it together well. You will know when the consistency is correct, so till then you got to keep adding the flour, but I used up the entire glass of flour.
The beauty of this dough is, you can store and use whenever you want. If it becomes too hard, just add about 2 tsp of water along with 2 tsp of sugar. Get it to boil, while you keep stirring it. The mix should become soft again. When you handle it, it should come together as a soft dough. Divide it to equal balls.
Heat a kadai with oil to deep fry these. In a greased plastic sheet, pat them down to equal sized circles. Press down the sesame seeds over the top. Once the oil is hot, gently drop these into them. Fry on both sides. Since the sesame seeds are just pressed over the top, they will get into the oil. If you want to avoid this, try adding to the dough.
Once they are golden brown, remove and drain them on a kitchen towel.They will be soft when you remove them, will become crunchy once they are cooled.
The regular ones are normally soft and oily, but these were crunchy and no oil at all!
Konda was absolutely trilled that I made these, as she loves them a lot! So will be making these again!
I would like to thank Indira for this event, and Jigyasa and Pratibha, for choosing this lovely theme, what is life without food and food without love!
Well I thought this to be a cake, but thinking again I decided its a brownie! Yea it wasn't so soft and fluffy, as you would expect a cake to be and it was so easy to make, that's the best part! I was inspired by this Chocolate Brownie and I was just too trilled not to try again. Normally when I get the urge for a cake, I either have to bake my own egg less Black Forest Cake or get from shop. Both sounds so alarming always. Though my Black forest cake comes out yummy, its a kind of work I avoid these days. The last time, Konda wanted a cake at home, I planned for the chocolate fudge the previous day and did the cake the next day! This worked out fine, still its not something I would want to do on a regular basis.
Infact, since my oven gave way years back, I never attempted this area of cooking at all. I got a Microwave, thinking things will be simplified, but there simply never was enough time. Those days, I used to spend late nights for these experiments. Late nights suited best as I needn't disturb others. After marriage and then kids, there was no question of late nights being spent for cooking, its was spent sitting up with the babies! So many years later, I find it strange that I am back with my passion stirring to take this up again. Its mostly because of the time spent in this exercise now. Even the Black forest cake comes out pretty fast!
On seeing how soon the chocolate brownie took to get completed and how delicious it looked, I was sorely tempted to make an eggless version. I was left with half a tin of condensed milk. So that drove me into finding what else was at home. I knew apple sauce or banana would work well. I couldn't find any apple sauce, but a lone banana was resting peacefully in the basket. But on the looks of it, nobody was going to take pity on it. So I was all to its rescue! Armed with half a tin and the lone banana, went in search for the flour to hold these together! Well, of course the cocoa too, I only love chocolate! How can I forget it. Fished out the cocoa tin too, along with the blushing butter! God, I guess the butter was feeling very bitter that nobody got any better out of it!
Now I was all set to get the action going. Can you believe it, it took just under 10 mins, to get everything in order. Melted the butter for a min, blended everything together for about 2 to 3 mins and bang it went into the mw and out it came, all in 5 mins, so gorgeous it was looking! I guess it would've worked well for 3-4 mins too. Digging on it, I felt a pang for the many years of lost pleasure!
Ingredients Needed:
All purpose Flour / Maida - 1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 2 tsp Condensed Milk - 200 gms (Half tin) Butter - 1/2 cup Baking powder - 1/4 tsp Salt a pinch Sugar - 2 tsp Ripe Banana - 1 small one
Method to prepare:
Melt the butter in mw for 1 min. Mix in the condense milk, blend it to a smooth paste using a blender.
Mash the banana well and mix to the above butter & condensed mixture. Blend again to get a smooth paste.
In another bowl, shift the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder. Then add to the butter mix and blend well.
the beauty in this is, you don't have to bother if the cake is going to be hard or soft or handle the batter with care after you have introduced the air in it. With this batter, you can be yourself! Whatever you do, it can't do wrong.
Grease a mw bowl and transfer the mix to it. Spread it well. I dusted it with flour, as I couldn't find a wax paper. I don't remember where those went off! Guess I have refill my pantry with those long forgotten things. Since I dusted, the top had that white coating over it, you can very well scrape it out.
Mw this mix for 5 mins. Let it rest in the mw for a minute, then remove to the wire rack for another 2 mins. Its all done!
Next time I will do it for 4 mins and try. It was very moist and yummy. It had that banana taste. And this taste great when its warm.
My daughter and her friend K, were playing at home when I had this ready. They simply loved it. But most amazing fact was, K found that I added banana in it. I asked hubby dear and Amma if they tasted banana, and they said no! I tell you, kids these days are way too smart!
My entry for my Microwave Easy Cooking event, themed on Cakes this month.I guess its going to be only chocolate cakes as I have only got chocolate cakes till now! But then I love chocolate, so keep them coming!
This is also my entry for the Food for Plastic Challenge III, hosted by Ben at What's Cooking?. Tupperware has named April "Children's Month" and will be donating part of their proceeds to Boys' and Girls' Clubs. Ben has great a great site going with awesome pictures, I simply can't miss out this great cause! Check out his site for more details.
Growing up I have always felt soups to be some fancy stuffs! Infact, I still do now, buts that's another topic. But there have been many times, when we have indulged in some soupy affairs. Amma, makes excellent Vegetarian soups. My favorite, pick me up one would always be her Carrot Soup. Thinking about soup, I was really amazed that Soups have never really featured much on my blog. The only soup that I have featured is my Sweet Corn Soup, my most favorite. Actually I don't take anything else, other than Sweet Corn Soup. I have always felt drinking soup kills my appetite, yeah you heard me right. Why would I want to drink soup when I would be eagerly waiting for my paneer starters and then my paneer kulcha or paneer butter masalas to come! But there have been occasions when we have indulged in lengthy dinners, that these featured too. Now if we ever venture out for dinners, its always one person to his own food! Which is not how I like, so we don't go out at all.
Recently when we thought its high time, we take the kids out, we decided on a Chick King joint that's close to our place. We choose that because it had a kids corner. We landed there by 8.30 pm and it was so crowded with kids. Konda, of course knew this place and was all excited. So it was such a pleasant feeling seeing the twins enjoying it. They had the sliders, swings and many other things to keep the kids occupied. But the other kids were kind of older and very naughty. One girl was rude enough to push both these little ones aside, and Chinnu almost fell down, while Peddu was pushed. Next moment, we saw Peddu charging to that girl and he didn't rest till he was satisfied pulling her pigtail and hitting her. I had great difficult pulling him away from her. I know its wrong, but I was trilled that Peddu knows to defend himself and take care of his brother too. Konda, on the other hand, would always come running back crying and complaining to me. I was happy that I don't have to be the over protective motherhen afterall!
Coming back to this soupy thing, it was an interesting blend of spices and herbs. We make soups out of meat, generally for kids. And during times like pregnancy, recuperating, these are much sought out. I was taking lot of Carrot soups, Tomato or Mint soups during my pregnancy. And this was on request from hubby that I make for my kids. Though it was on spicy side they liked sipping on this.
Ingredients Needed:
Mutton Bones - 100 gms Tomato - 1 medium Onions - 1/2 of a small one Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Coriander powder -1/2 tsp Mint leaves - handful Coriander leaves - handful Cloves - 4 Cinnamon - 1" Whole Peppercorns - 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Water - 2 glasses
Seasoning Curry leaves few Onions - 1/2 of a small one Ghee/ Clarified butter - 1 tsp Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Method to prepare:
Chop the onions, Tomatoes, mint and coriander to fine pieces. Keep half of the onions for seasoning.
Place all the ingredients, except the seasoning items, in a pressure cooker. Put it for 4-5 whistles.
Once the pressure is off, heat the ghee. Sauté the onions, curry leaves. Once the onions are pink, add the boiled Mutton bones along with the other ingredients. Sprinkle more pepper powder based on your spiciness.
Bring to boil and remove and serve. If you want to you can strain all the ingredients and serve just the clear soup. Since all these were pressure cooked with the meat, its juice and spices would have steeped to the liquid.
This soup is quite spicy, so adjust the chili powder, Clove and Peppercorns as per taste.
Else as such it makes very solid soup. Very filling for a early dinner or for a light one.
I am sending this to Meeta's Monthly Mingle, this months being Bollywood Cooking. I thought this would make a perfect Bollywood star! Infact I have a book that features many of the famous Stars and their own recipes and I wanted to cook something from that! But there is nothing like our own dish alluring to them right!
And since this lets out lovely taste of the clove, this also goes to, yes you guess it right, I am sending this to Gretchen, who is hosting this month's Think Spice themed on Cloves, an event started by our dear Sunita!
Things have become pretty slow all of a sudden! I guess I have become used to being so busy offlate on the blogging front, that suddenly things seem just too relaxing! Really I have enjoyed doing it, checking for entries, reading through each of them, labeling it. Well it was fun when it lasted. I have learnt more in this one year of blogging than my entire life time spent otherwise! My blog has brought forth so many wonderful people out there, and reading and seeing what they are doing, makes me feel that I haven't really done anything much. I enjoy the interactions I have had with many of my readers and fellow bloggers. Few bloggers have become close friends, with whom I chat over mails. But in general, I have enjoyed all the comments and suggestions that's poured my way!
While my general blogging has been great, Dosa Mela event has been overwhelming. In this short span of time, I have been able to feast myself with so many new blogs. All of them so interesting and valuable in their own way. Its been my privilege to go through each one. Now that its over, I feel I am left with nothing to do all of a sudden! How do you feel if I come up with something else shortly. Will it be welcomed? Let me know!
Coming to this post, this has been hibernating for a while now! Remember that Spicy Chicken gravy we did. Well I like frying the chicken with spices. And that day, we prepared it by adding ground Pepper powder over it and roasting it well. Hubby loves his chicken with pepper. It gives out a great taste and flavour. I have already done a Pepper Chicken, but this is different from that. I remember those Pepper vines so vividly from our visits to Kerala. Every house will have their Pepper vein in their backyard and it used to look so lovely. It feels so wonderful thinking back on those days.
Peppers are a wonderful spice to have in your food. I especially love that smell that comes out of freshly ground powder!
Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. There are so many varieties of this available. The most common atleast in our parts are the black and the white ones.
Black pepper is produced from the still-green unripe berries of the pepper plant. The berries are cooked briefly in hot water, both to clean them and to prepare them for drying. The heat ruptures cell walls in the fruit, speeding the work of browning enzymes during drying. The berries are dried in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the fruit around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black layer, the result of a fungal reaction. Once dried, the fruits are called black peppercorns.
White pepper consists of the seed only, with the fruit removed. This is usually accomplished by allowing fully ripe berries to soak in water for about a week, during which the flesh of the fruit softens and decomposes. Rubbing then removes what remains of the fruit, and the naked seed is dried. Alternative processes are used for removing the outer fruit from the seed, including removal of the outer layer from black pepper produced from unripe berries. - Source Wikipedia
I have mostly used the fresh ground Black pepper. This actually elevates the taste to a different level!
Ingredients Needed
Cooked chicken pieces - 150 gms (about 5 to 6 pieces) Black Pepper powder - 2 tsp Salt to taste
Method to prepare:
Follow this recipe till the pressure cooking stage. The chicken is fully cooked in all the spices, onion and tomatoes. Just remove the cooked pieces alone.
In a pan, heat oil. Then added the cooked pieces, add the salt and the pepper powder. Sauté well till its nicely browned. The fragrance that comes out after adding pepper is heavenly! Since the chicken is already cooked with the spices, it goes excellent with the pepper powder added over it.
Its been kind of two months since I knew about Taste & Create event, but every time I always messed up with the dates and never remembered on time. So I made it a point to remember this time and I was so excited thinking about doing this. Taste & Create is a wonderful event hosted by Myamii at For the Love of Food, where you get paired with other participant and you got to cook from their blog. I found this concept so very interesting. When I got a mail from Myamii on my partner, I was absolutely trilled. I was paired with Laurie of Heaven is Chocolate, Cheese and Carbs. I immediately scouted out to her blog and was flabbergasted. I was dismayed thinking what have I got myself into!
Laurie says she is inexperienced and has been only experimenting. God, nothing there seems like that. All those drool worthy dishes are something out of the world. And something those I can't, at my present state, even think of recreating. I almost thought to chicken out. But with a faint hope that she may have blogged on something that might be a bit easy, I went through her index many times, reading through all of them. Finally, much to my relief I found Anti-Valentines Day Brownies to be simplest one that I can do. And yes it came out yummy! I found Laurie's blog so interesting and I knew she is one after my heart! She says "I believe cheese, pasta and chocolate are the most important foods life has to offer" I think so too. But knowing this, I left wondering what she will find in mine to dish out! I haven't done much on these either!
I have been off baking for over 10 years now. There was a time during college, when I was baking a cake every other day! Hope sometime soon, I will find myself doing it again. But now I find it too hard to even think of assembling all to get the final one out! Imagine I thought of Cakes for my Microwave event! Anyway I was happy that I did this and was also able to bake another cake shortly.I guess I might even come out of this baking strike, now that the time is so less when baking in a microwave. This worked out so simple. I just did and out within 5 mins, my cake was ready. I am not joking ok. Seriously, it was ready in 5 mins. I loved breathing in that forgotten aroma sneaking from the oven. I was even more happy knowing Konda found it out too. I was thinking I will give her a surprise, but she knew I was baking. I love the fact that she pops in every other second and ask for the status. So I was disappointed that this time, she found it herself!
This was a simple one, still I halved the proportions and happy that it worked out fine.
Deep Dish Brownies
Butter, melted - 1/2 cup Sugar - 1 cup Egg - 1 All-purpose flour - 1/2 cup Unsweetened cocoa - 2 tsp Baking powder - a pinch Salt a pinch
In large bowl, whisk together melted butter, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. I couldn't find my vanilla essence, so didn't add it. Whisk in egg and blend well
In another bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Gradually stir flour mixture into egg mixture until well-combined. Transfer to the baking bowl. Luckily I had a small mw bowl, which worked out perfectly well.
Microwave for 5 mins. Of course, after 3 mins, check with a knife or toothpick inserted in center to see if it. It was all done in 5 mins. The knife inserted should come out clean though some crumbs be attached to it. Some times, brownies may sink in center too. Let it rest for a min, then invert over the wire rack and cool completely!
Thank you Laurie for this delicious brownie, this has kicked started me on something.
Finally here I am with the most awaited round of this Mela. Dosas from the quick and hassle-less batters. After working non-stop on the entries, I know all of them by heart. Well, at least most!
The entries have since gone up and its now 177 entries with 172 dosas varieties. Lets proceed to check them out!
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Adorable Adais
Coming first to us is the multi facet Adais! Adais are simple, yet so very tasty. All you need to get these ready - are just a couple of dals and voila you have a complete meal on your table! You need not worry if it’s fermented properly, 'cos this need not be and what’s more exciting that that!
Lets see what each one looks like!
Here comes a lady with who is dreading this mela roundup! Do you want to know why?'cos she might want to try them all!. Arr yaar, that’s point right??..Ok, a joke apart, Arundati has come a long way! Now her dear hubby thinks she can make dosa out of water!. gosh, hope she goes through the entire list and makes a dosa and not just water for him!
I don’t need to introduce Asha right, she can be rightly crowned the Dosa Queen, she has blogged on about 20 dosas and still plans to do more. I was so happy that she had few left to post for this mela. And you believe, she had a Mela right there at her place! Phew, I actually thought of bringing all those, but I better leave you all to check out yourself! Her beautiful Adai makes for an easy and very nutritious breakfast!
Foodie, is a real foodie! She gave me with a pinch of love four entries in one shot! Wow, actually make it more than a pinch. It was so much entertaining going through her blog and have already bookmarked quite a few. This Adai, she makes is with instant adai powder. Not that, you can also get a recipe for making the instant Adai mix yourself!.
Jennifer Kumar comes in with her version of protein packed dish that can be good for any meal. I was in awe when I went through her site. She not just cooks well with focus on Vegetarianism, but has an active site on India, Hinduism, and spirituality! wow. I shouldn't be partial, but her living in Chennai had me all proud! Thanks Jennifer for letting me discover your wonderful site!
Check out Mrs. Kannan's Spicy Adai. She has done a great job of putting up in steps and must've surely tasted great!
Toor dal is very dear to us. We use it in many forms in our daily cooking. So imagine Mythreyee sending me an Adai with it! It ought to be great!
Priya does a come back show with her tempting Adai. she is one creative gal and her new getup is rocking! Well she says she is scared of making the regular batter. What a reason to enjoy these lovely Adais at her place!
What can I say about mine very own. Except the fact that I simply love it! This is why it’s so very sad that both Dad and hubby dear don’t like it. Shhhh..you know what we do??..When Dad or Hubby is not around, this is what we feast ourselves with!
Medhaa showcases the sindhi cuisine. I had a Sindhi friend, whose lunch boxes I had enjoyed so much. Now I know where to go if I want to make some sindhi food. She brings in Chilro, which is made with Besan and vegetables. What a way to enjoy Dosa!
Pooja comes with a classic Gujarati dish called Ghaaroda. It’s simple yet to an amazing way to use up left out cooked rice. What an innovative dosa!...Thanks Pooja for sharing this with us!
Sunshinemom is one rocking mom. Not only she dishes out exciting stuff for her kid and hubby, she has a trick or two up her sleeve! Imagine grinding channa dal at home and making bajjis with it! But that’s true I tell you, cos that’s what she does and say we might never want to get a store one again!
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Gratifying Greens
Divya says it’s safe to assume that when one loves dosas and one has creativity, one can come with at 100 or maybe 50. You are wrong Divya, we have more dosa lovers than we thought. Well, she comes with dosa filled in with the goodness of Drumstick leaves. Growing up, I have always been told eat Muringa ila, it’s good for health!
Mansi makes sure she comes out with something exciting always! This time round she comes out with gluten-free Dosa using Gram flour! Not just that I tell you, with added goodness of Spinach too!
Who will ever say no to Paneer! And if it comes packed with Palak, its double damakka! And just look at plate! Trupti is one creative lady!
Well when you see so many coming along with Spinach, how I can ignore it. I added these to the batter, and with Spicy podi, it was just too good
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Flooring with Mixed Flour
Anjali wants a quick dosa and only option left is to mix up all flours and make a quick one. Mind you, this delicious dosa is ready in just 10 mins!
Jayashree turns to a vegetable one, which will balance the needs and the quick requirements. This lady is quick in all her dishes. Doesn't believe in toiling long in kitchen, when you can get the same done quickly. I have few things to learn from when I meet her!
Miri said she came panting and puffing to join us for the mela. Well I looked on her and she looked pretty gorgeous. So maybe she said emphatically, though her creation was worth the while! She comes with a kid pleaser, the Sandwiches!
Now, Nanditha's post was awesome! I went back reading her post not once but thrice! The story she regales on the magic spice, is something one can't miss! And the story of the overcooked vermicelli taking the form of pancake is just too innovative!
Rinku confesses a universal truth! Dosas are great salvation food! So true and she finds it so convenient to get the vegetables into her kids food. But this dish comes out of need and it was not having enough flour on hand. No worries, we still ended up having a lovely one.
The doc has to come with some magic dish to cure the needs right. And truly Nandita comes in with multigrain pancake that’s made with yeast! This is a great way to avoid eggs!
Smita serves you right! yea I tell you, not only does her dish look tempting but she keeps us hooked with her tales! I rush through two or three times expecting to read what comes next! Read through her account of undeniable dosa craving!
Uma comes with a quick solution for the quick dosa and that’s with all flours. Isn't nice that we can get these quick ones without the hassles of preparations! She showcases authentic Andhra dishes, which sure can't be missed!
Honey & Butter comes with her version of mixed flour dosa. Well these tell me that I got to store lot of flours, if I ever want a quick fix!
Lathamma's Tricolour Pancakes are so colourful!. She came across this during one of her experiments and wow am I glad that she did!
And mine is very simple one! Though I loved the carrot in it!
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Pacifying Pesarattus
This mela has brought in lot of things, most prominent is the awareness of wonderful people around you!. Arundathi sent in her Pesarat and I had a recovery of her wonderful blog! Her picture was just tooo good.
Divya was let into this wonderful dosa while she was talking to her friend. She was so happy 'cos this doesn't need all that preparations one otherwise need to make the traditional dosas.
Check out EC's Green gram dal dosa. I can always trust EC to make me happy with loads of entries. Thank you very much EC.
Mythreyee comes with a nutritious dosa, that’s definitely not filling like other Adai varieties, she says. And that looks so yummy too
Priya sends in another sprouted moong dal dosa...and wow with that garlic I simply love it. I know I have said this many times, but I do love my garlic! Thanks for sending along Priya!
Here comes another story teller. She knows how to captivate you with her stories and beautiful pictures. And all done, she coaly asks if her narration was a tad bit long. Well I don’t find anybody complaining Sia. And these chillias brings back those lovely memories of her hostel days! Reading that made me so J***, I never had a hostel experience you know!
Now that her first experiment was successful, our dear Siri needn't prove anymore! She turns to Moong and says she doesn’t like Pesarattu, isn't that strange, coming from a true andhrite? Well that happens, that doesn't make her any less fond of Moong, for she makes Appachi with the pesulu!
From Telugu ruchi comes another pesarattu. And this time Uma spices it up with lots of chillies! What more do you want on a pesarattu!
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Votes for Oats
Lets move on to how oats are added on to make a more healthy and delicious dosas.
Foody Guru comes with her fond memories of her grandma's Oats dosa. And what a lovely name Babu Ma!
This had me rippling down. Ms thought I might have a way with rotten eggs on her, oh why when she came with the unique entry. One with Oats, paneer and Eggs! Gosh that’s one protein filled dosa. And next time you want to frequent gym, better gear up yourself with this!
Red Chillies in her busy schedule finds making dosas with the flour a much better task than remembering to soak the rice! I am sure many of us find ourselves in this!
Sashree comes with another moong dal dosa with added goodness of Oats. Check out her yummy looking picture here!
Sowmya comes out with a dosa of all flours along with oats. This makes it one perfect healthy dosa!
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Pandora's Pancakes
I was so trilled finally getting happy cook's entry. For one, she was telling me that she will surely send in and then later found it very difficult to convince her daughter to ask for a pancake! I tell you, our folks sure know when to play high. Finally she had to make the pancakes and her folks were left wondering if it’s for them or for the mela!!..well whatever thank you HC and your daughter too!
Now Kay brings in her beautiful Oats pancake! My they look so tempting. And she says these were her first meal request. Believe that! Yeah I can understand so well. I remember those many Mickey cartoons that I have read growing up!
From Lisa comes this beautiful plate filled with pancakes topped by those delicate beans. Wow, though I have never tried beans with Dosa, that plate sure looks tempting enough.
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Refreshing Ragi
I thought she had sent me some. But when I checked in, there was nothing from her! Well how can I have a mela without my buddy's out of the world pictures! Well I can only thank Suganya for taking pains to send me some though she was feeling under the weather! Check out her stunning pictures!
I know Ragi is good for health and if you gonna add some bitter gourd into it, what else do you expect. One healthy packed pancake! Thanks Trupti for your innovative idea, I know we have many events running around!..:)
Ok, here comes Lathamma with her version of Ragi dosa. No one can say no to these right!
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Ravishing Rave Dosas
I must've already confessed my passion to Rava dosas, and I was successful in my attempt in recreating a perfect ones. Still I was left wanting for more after seeing these entries.
Asha perfects the restaurant style Rave Dosa after much trial. She says, her rave dosa is just like the restaurant one, that they need never go there to order that! Be sure to check out her own Dosa mela she has put up together
Bhagyashri from Taste Buds comes with instant Rava Dosa. She resorts to this for a relaxed weekend cooking. And I must say she has some lovely paneer dishes too, once my mind is free of dosas, I will be scouring through hers for my favorite paneer dishes! And do wish her success too, this is her 10th post. We all know how it would be....
I still remember my first time at her place, she had a tempting tomato chutney. And when I checked out, everything seems more exciting than the other. So how can we say no to Mythreyee's Onion rava dosa
Neha is the new kid round the block. But she does put up exciting stuff apart from daily updates on general things. Thank you Neha, I am happy that you finished your first month, I can still remember mine!
Ok, what can I say about Sailu! Her pictures and her list are enough to talk on their own. But she still made a difference in this by showing us a step by step process for getting a perfect crispy Rava Dosa!
We again have another expert amongst us. I have read so many raving reviews of Lathamma's rava Dosa and was so happy to include for the mela. Thank you Lathamma!
Next we have Zlamushka coming with her version of Rave dosa. Her success with moong dal leads her to try rava and was happy with the resultant!
************************************ Getting ground with Rice
Arundathi shares her experience making these Neer dosas. Thinking it might be easy task, they were in for a surprise. But as all things end happy in the end, they got themselves perfect looking Neer Dosas! Shhh...when I meet her, I got to check out her camera!..:)
From Diamond & Pearl comes a Rice Crepe. She says she has always tried out her grandma's recipes and is sure a hit. Well thank you for sharing it with us!
We have the dosa lover here. She sure is very innovative. For what else you call this. Out of Cabbage ambado, she makes a dosa. She says her mil makes the best of these. Well Divya, Mils are rocking ladies! You just need to know which side is buttered!..:)
Another variety from Divya is the Pan pole, these seems too simple to make.
For Ranjeetha, Cabbage dosa is the favorite. Well I haven’t seen many cabbage loves, so this comes in surprise to see a lover of this.
Simple dosas like these got Honey & Butter cooking up these often. No fermentation and no hassle.
While you are at these, don't fail to check out Prajusha's Potato Carrot Dosa
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Tempting Tomato Dosas
Jayashree comes along with her Tomatoes dosa and it sure looks yummy!
As I always say, mommies are the best. Laavanya's mom too makes these so well. These makes these much to the delight of her lil one!
Last I have mine! Well what can I say, I simply love these!
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Whimsical Wheat Dosas!
Cham has her innovative ideas coming to rescue and she changes Korean pancake into Indian! Now that’s patriotism!. I guess with all those veggies and wheat it must've tasted great.
Divya is another dosa lover. She keeps trying new varieties very frequently. No batter on hand, don't worry we have the life saver, she says. Yes she called Wheat flour dosa as that...And she prefers no chutney for this, cos she likes it sugar!. Hope her folks don’t' get to read this!
Peas uttappam though normally made with regular batter, EC tries to make it with Wheat! And it turned out well...well that’s a good change, I must say!
Foodie turns to this for a quick and easy dish and a dosa is a really soft, melt-in-the-mouth variety..
Sandeepa dishes out one delightful read her funny anecdotes and humorous jests. Hop on there to have a good laugh. She says she lacks what requires for a perfect regular dosas, though she can't deny her passion for these. She turns to wheat nevertheless to enjoy herself!
I remember goduma dosas to be part of mine since childhood. Chap Dosa name got its name from my colleague of mine who used to resorts to these for a quick dinner!
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The exciting Others!
From Anjali comes the Mishra Dal Dosa, yeah you read right. She says these keep you warm till afternoon and you are set for a heavy work. And not just these, you got to check out her Eureka Chutney, yep that’s name she has given!
OK, Arundathi said she has one final one to send along. I said she can send as many as she can. So she sent this Akki rotti. of course this is not a rotti. Instead of patting them down, she poured. That makes these dosas right!
Innovativeness comes in different shade. What else will call this other than that. Deepti has a bread dosa! She shares with us her ma's special one!. Thank you Deepti
Divya mixes all dals to make an excellent protein rich dosas. Check out her exciting ones!
Update, I guess my eyes have failed. Just as I thought this is Fatafat Masala Dosa from Foodie!. Kudos to you Foodie, you are really a life saver! Imagine having a Masala Dosa fatafat! Thanks for letting me know. I checked and yes you are right!
Jayasree brings in a rare variety that’s soon disappearing. It’s called the koozhu kaachina dosa. Well that’s indeed too good. Thanks
Kamala shares a quick one and that’s made with Maida. I was so happy seeing this cos I missed making these. Her blog is one excellent resource for authentic south dishes! so go and check out!
Meera'sChora daal na Pooda had me singing for a long time. When I read through I came to know it’s made from Chora daal. wow this is the first time I am hearing this!
Vijaya makes a Dosa with difference that’s with Sooji and Urad Dal, It must've been good. as she said it was crispy and great! And from my kitchen comes Corn flour, Sada pindi dosa and Potato Dosas. Athamma brought corn flour and this is the best way we thought we could use it. But I tell you, it was so good.
Potato dosas works out best in a hurry!
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Sweetening Sweet Dosas!
Finally we have sweet dosas to finish this off!
Dee attempts to Kelapura. She says it’s a Banana coconut pancakes from Tamilnadu. Well this is the first time I am hearing about it. And reading through the recipe and of course her reaction, I know it must've been simply great!
From Foodie comes another, this time it’s a sweet one. well that’s one dish that can cover for many occasions!
Thinking of Vella Dosa, Jayasree takes us down her memory lane. Well how wonderful it is those days right!
Nangil Girl is addicted to sweet. So what else will she bring but a sweet one for the party. Well that’s so sweet of you!
Suganya tries out Sweet Ragi Dosa and remembers her mother giving them these. Cooking up dishes that we had a child is so nostalgic. We wish we go back to those days! Well at least we have those dishes to make us happy!
Finally from the Honey& Butter comes a sweet Dosa, this time it’s with Jaggary. What a wonderful way to eat jaggary!
************************************ Phew! I am done!..I have checked and cross checked some 10 times and I think I have filed all the entries that have come my way. I apology I have missed any, do let me know I will rectify immediately
I would like to thank all for having taken time to send me the entries and have made this mela a grand one. My heartfelt thanks! And all those multiple entries, yes I have many Dosa loving friends! Its been a great pleasure knowing so many wonderful blogs out there!
I checked on and the batter rose up pretty good. So you can see I am back with all the fermented dosa dishes! And my, each one is such a delight for eyes!
After working on the entries, I knew everybody loves Dosas. What else can I say after seeing the enthusiasm shown by all. Lets move on to check out each of them! I wanted to post the pictures the usual way, but I knew this will end up being one long post.
********************************************* Well, let me begin this Dosas with fermented Batter session, with my dear friends humorous account on trying to make the authentic Injera at home!
Injera, they say, is a famous African crepe made with teff, an ancient grain grown in the Ethiopian highlands. This is the first time I am hearing of this dish. The Jungalbandits sure know ways to captivate you, with awesome pictures and elevating informations. I always come back learning something new at their place.
And you know something, after hearing their sad story of not able to get batter ferment in their house, I planned on having a post with only No Ferment dosas, and they came to the party with a fermented dosa and that too with Wheat!..this is the only Wheat dosa that's fermented...Kudos guys for your excellent looking Injera!
********************************************* Sada Dosas or Plain Dosas as you get. Well these can be ghee roast or Paper Crisp or however you want!
Check out Lavi's interesting tips on making perfect paper roasts! Can you believe but you got to be in a good mood if you got to get perfect ones!..that sure had me rofl!
Mythreyee was using Idli batter to make Dosas, until a dear friend shared the dosa recipe with her. And she is kind enough to share with us.
Roopa shares her adventure in trying to get a blender that can do wonders, in other sense get her perfect batter. I was so happy that she has finally got the perfect gadget to give her delicious looking dosas!
Shyamala knows how to hook you to her writing and she had me on, while she was regaling her adventurous deal with Muthu Samba Rice. Its a bag of Muthu Samba Rice that she got from Srilanka, and unfortunately they gave out a most unaccountable smell while cooking. She was happy that she didn't have to waste the bag, by making these soft looking dosas!
Come on everybody, lets congratulate Siri on her very first fermented dosa! I was so pleased when she said, for the Mela she is going to learn to make the regular batter at home and send the entries. How lovely they look!
Ok, I don't claim much credit on my success stories with dosa batter, the climate is good, the recipes are Amma's, so its bound to get good results! Amma's paper roastis simply superb, and plain dosas for anyday!. And while you are at it, check out my Kal dosas! These are our family favorites.
Sunshinemom makes plain dosa unless she is prodded by her kid or hubby for masala dosa. Well I guess we all should start with the basics.
Honey & Butter comes with the basics, and yes they look too soft too!
Vrinda talks about the lovely way her mother used to serve them with ghee and sugar!..yes I remember eating this way as a kid and it used to be yummy
********************************************* Now comes the yummy Masala Dosas! Masala Dosas usually refer to the Potato filling that's tucked into a dosa. So lets see how each one has done their version.
Check out our no fuss, always quick lady who, well did the unbelievable. She has made the Masala dosa. I infact checked her post couple of times, to confirm if this was with the regular batter or not!.Thanks Jayashree.
Mythreyee's Masal Dosa is one yummy looking one. Why not, she is from Salem, where you get the most delicious Masal dosas down South India. Read on her nostalgic account of her experience in her hometown.
Sagari makes a lovely cone with paper Roast. And also talks about her delicious Masala Dosa. Those perfect cones are usually available at hotels, well we can land at her place too!
Seeing the Dosa Mela Announcement, usha knew the perfect one to share with us. Her very new delicious recipe from her neighbour!
The next masala dosa comes from none other than our expert, Lathamma! Well I loved taking these myself I must say. It isn't everyday I go scouting to fish out entries myself. But I loved the fun!
And last but not the least from yours truly. I especially love this as I made this at my Mom's place.
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Who says Masala Dosa has to have only Potato filling? Maybe somebody did, but who cares, check out these lovely varietieswithout Potatoes that's joined us for the party. Each and everyone entry is one tempting fare!
Now who would've thought mushroom while thinking about Dosa? Well Dhivya does and does this frequently too. She says this is her all time favorite combinations!
EC explores her way out by trying out with Lady's finger Masala. She says they normally have this sabzi for rotis, and thought why shouldn't this be good on Dosa. She was right as it went very well.
Now Peas Masala is something of my favorite, though I never imagined it as a filling for Dosa! What an innovative one EC, thanks!
We have Lavi reminiscent about her colleges days spent eating this delicious Gobi Dosa at her favorite restaurant. Lavi, it sure does look yummy!
Maybelle's Mom is busy! Now what can a busy mom rant on, other than not finding enough time to spend with the little ones or cook for them. Mommy dear, I know your situation so well. In spite of all these, she comes out with a lovely looking faux Vietnamese crepes! Well hop on to her place to get charmed by the little Belle!
How well I understand a food blogger's life. With just 24 hrs a day, its not enough to send in for all the events! So I admire Nags, who always manages to send in for all the events, though she never does for my dear MEC...:) For a young girl her age, she cooks up so much!
What else can we expect from Nupur, other than a beautiful plate full of Mysore Masala Dosa! she says she writes kahaniyan, oh yes, but what a delightful posts they are to read. Thank you Nupur for sending along this beauty!
Raaga says she has very busy, yet she remembered on time make me, yet another Mysore Masala Dosa! She says this is very simple, though not simple to stop eating. Now who wants to stop eating dosa, you tell me??
For Renuka, have a never ending batter at home is a bliss! yet one late evening, this is what she could come up with for her hubby. But it was so yummy that it has become regular. I guess this is what makes a hit and run a success story!
Sunshinemom is another dosa freak, pardon my word. But her entries left me speechless. What else can you say, when you are faced with a Dosa with a what! a Chinese filling! Now this is what I call a fusion in cooking, but I rather call this a masala dosa, what say!
Well, if she did Chinese dosa to please her daughter, her Mint Masala is to please her hubby! Now I know how innovative each one has to be, in order to please our folks! Sunshinemom, I really appreciate your creativity and for sending them all to me!
Well, my freakiness was more predominant when I tried out Paneer Butter Masala on dosa, it actually was good, believe me.
And I save the grace by presenting to you, the Babycorn Masala Dosa, it was one yummy stuffed dosa, I tell ya.
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Now comes the fusion in Dosas!
Check out pizzas out at Anjali's place. Well not pizzas exactly, but Dosa Pizzas. I love dosa and I love Pizza. Now don't ask me what I don't like. So this is a sure tempting one!
EC loves Cheese and loves Dosas. so wondered why she never tried this together until she saw this.
Renuka brings in a kid teaser. Hope I don't have Konda seeing this, else she might want me to do make this for her. The picture looks so tempting with the twists and curls. But Renuka makes it one easy breeezy process!
Next two comes out of sheer need to try out something interesting to get Konda eat. With my addition to cheese and Paneer, this is bound to happen. And yes, I am only too happy that Konda liked it both!
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What can I say, egg seems to be everybody's favorite. And what better way to enjoy them than having it on the dosa!
Check out how Divya's favorite way of eating eggs with dosa. She makes it even rich by adding cheese on it.
Next comes our Indo, well she being the SunGod, has a joyful breakfast with Sunny Side Up! She makes it very healthy by paring this with a bowl of fruits. Well she didn't add them to the dosa ok. She served them along that!
Kamala says her mom ensured they had energy to sustain till the lunch hour by giving them energy filed breakfast of Egg Dosas!
And of course, I have no excuse but except that I needed another variety for the Mela. The fact that hubby likes this, is a bonus you know!
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Here comes the goodness of Greens with Dosa. Well a healthy reason to eat more dosas, I would say.
EC makes a simple dosa filling with Coriander leaves. What a cool way to eat all the coriander, I must say!
From all the way from Australia comes this dosa hot hot! This is Johanna's Darling darling dosa! I felt so touchy reading through her post. What a great tribute to Dosa, than being cooked by Johanna. Thank you for trying and enjoying Dosas!
Nirmala is so sweet that she wanted to bring in a rare variety of Dosas for the mela. I am so glad that she was able to lay her hands on the bunch. Hop on to her place to know more richness about this greeny leaves!
Inspired by Nirmala. Lavi comes out with another dosa of the same type!
The only green I adore is palak, so when it comes coupled with Paneer, what can I say about it. Just Yum! Ramya sure knows how to entice me!
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Now Ladies and gentlemen, if any is reading this too. lets get to the hot stuff. Yes I am talking about the spicy stuff on the Dosas.
Mythreyee makes the best use of Milagai podi that she got as her surprise in Arusuvai chain. And not just that! She makes cute little ones, which I am sure got disappeared the moment they appeared
Rachel resorts to her favorite food when she is lazy to prepare a meal. And yes she spices it up to give a whole different feel to the dosas!
My dear Sra has the best recipe for dosa batter. Now don't ask her, just get the address of the store from where she got the batter. She had me in a fix, making me guess what she is going to send. And I must say she enjoyed it royally! Cos how in the world do you think I might guess pickled one!
My hubby is known for his fixation on anything and everything spicy. What else can you expect Athamma to come up with than these spicy pastes and podis! They make one yummy treats on Dosas!
********************************************* Lets move on to the next form of dosas, the Uttappams! Whatever you do, they tend to come out delicious. You can never go wrong with one. Check out how each one delights with Uttappams
Arundati says Uttappams are what she turns to, when she has batter that is old. Add some veggies to it and you have a breakfast that's ready in less time than you can brush your teeth...I am quoting her mind you...cos I was rofl when I read that comment! She says planning ahead makes life less miserable. And towards that she turns to her abiding friend - the Wet grinder. Now who says pet animal is the man's best friend? Heed Arundati and buy yourself a wet grinder!
Lavi wants to have balanced food for breakfast. And she makes it perfect by adding oats to the batter!.
Nirmala shares with us her wonderful experience in making the perfect Uttappams much to her father's delight. What's more delightful than pleasing our parents! Way to go Nirmala!
Rupa brings on an onion uttappam as way to finish off the left over batter. This sure a way to complete the batter.
And from me another Onion Uttappam, well this is no different from the usual, though we love these small, well cooked dosas! ********************************************* We have seen vegetables topped over Dosas, how about adding the vegetables to the batter and cooking it?
Hima says blog events gets her going on thinking what different to cook. I agree with you on that Hima. So for the Mela, she wanted to bring in something different. And it is different no doubt. Check out how well she blends the veggies into the batter and comes up with a exciting Vegetable Set Dosa!
Maya finds this perfect solution for their needs. She had no mood to steam and wanted some veggies to go in for her son. So what better one than adding veggies to the batter and making delicious Dosas!
Rupa grinds onions along with the batter and also she makes a crispy masala dosa with it!. In the process, she has be very confused! Now what shall call this???..:)
And from me, the spiced dosas to spicy up our mornings! This is one delightful way of adding the onions and other spices into the batter and having a ball! ********************************************* Though I have seen few other recipes using coconut, I have ended up only classifying these three as coconut based ones!
My dear friend Bharathy wanted to send me something very special for the Mela. And special it is indeed. I haven't come across a recipe that calls for tender coconut flesh. check out her awesome pictures of the dosas and the sides dishes she has come up with!
Remya's advise on not skipping breakfast comes out so well. Cos she has a lovely palappam to share. This is one sure healthy dish for breakfast!
Appams have always fascinated me. Only off late, these have become a common Sunday breakfast at home. As this recipe calls for fermented coconut water, imagine my hubby's state. Poor hubby has to ensure, he breaks the coconut properly during the pooja. Our demand became so worse, that one day, instead of chanting the mantras, he found himself praying that the coconut should yield good amount of water! ********************************************* We now come to the last set of recipes that I am going to call other Varieties! Well simply because I am not imaginative enough to come up with names for them.
Divya, being a self confessed dosa freak, tries out this and found it to be very interesting. Well Divya, I love the fact that you are a dosa lover!
EC comes out with lovely looking set dosas. These are called set dosas, because they are served as two!
Jayasree makes a unique dosa, one with Horse gram! Horse gram is known for its medical benefits, so what better way to eating them than as dosa!
Now we have a lone non-veg appearing in this Mela. And the credit goes to kamala. She comes in with a Mutton Dosa! She talks about the famous temple town of Tamil Nadu, where this dish is a most sought one in the joint!
Lakshmi says barley gives her an option to be very creative. And with the increased awareness about healthy eating, what more can you ask than a barley dosa which is a 'high fiber grain.Her family loves barley and that brings joy to her cooking. Not just that, she tops the dosa with vegetables and cheese to suit her little one's taste. How sweet! I got to try this for my little one!
Saswati shares with us her experience in making dosas at her place. The once a difficult taks, has now become quite an easy one. And would you believe she didn't make the regular dosas for about 2 months, cos she forgot to soak the lentils...I guess here comes the reason for instant dosas! Yet her dosa requires fermenting!
Swapna comes with another Protein filled dosa, one with mixed dals in it. Now what's more healthy than this. Thank you Swapna.
I am closing this with two of my entries. Soft dosa and Mini dosas. Soft dosas came so soft because of the poha. And Mini dosa is a sure way to get your kid eat. ********************************************* Take your time reading through these, will be back with the quick ones that can be ready with a jiffy! Though I might take some time, I guess
Thank you everybody for sending in your entries, I have enriched my knowledge and my passion for Dosa has increased more!
Technically, today is the day I posted my first post a year ago! Though it took me another month and half to post my first recipe. But whatever, I think today marks one year completion of my dear blog. I never knew this milestone until recently, because I always remember my first recipe post as my first. So this dosa celebrations comes as such an excellent way to celebrate my blog anniversary too.
It all started and ended in such speed, that I just signed up and in no time, I had a blog on hand. Believe me, I never thought much when I was trying out my blog name. But down somewhere it reflects to what I think and do everyday. Seasons personify the different stages in life and hence how we cook for each season. So this blog is my humble way to record my seasonal cooking and hope it attracts people of all seasons.
I wish to thank each and every one of you for all your support and encouragement, I have been getting all these months. I wish it will continue to be so. Thank you for making this place a wonderful outlet for me. I had wanted to post 365 recipes by the one year mark, I have managed only 290. If I consider my first recipe post, I should try to reach that mark, hopefully! Out of these almost 80% are ones I have learnt from my mom and my mother in law. So I am happy my kids will not have to search far to look for our home made dishes. And I have always rejoiced knowing that somebody tried and enjoyed.
Coming to this Mela, I am overwhelmed with the response. I would like to thank each and everyone of you, who have sent in your entries and those who wanted to send but couldn't for various reasons, I understand we do have a life much bigger than this blog. And to all those of you, who are reading this right now!. Without any of you, this is not a success story!
For the Dosa Mela, we have 94 bloggers coming along with 172 entries. Out of these 167 are recipes and rest are generally on Dosa and its beauty. I have categorized the entries as Dosas made with Fermented Batter and those that are instant. Of course, by instant I don't mean right away, though there are some of those too. After all, you got to put in some effort, to get delicious results right.
And apart from those mentioned, we have those that need overnight soaking. I mean those that need soaking over 4+ hrs. I haven't really categorized these very strictly, but these can be made instantly too, within 2 hrs time.
Ok, before that some little technical information about Dosa, though most know what it is.
Dosa is a South Indian crepe, though now its widely available throughout the globe. It is rich in carbohydrates and proteins as its normally made with Rice and Lentil batter.
Do let me know the other names, will update this list!
Dosa making
Regular dosa batter is made from rice and split, skinned urad bean blended with water and left to ferment overnight. In the dosa batter, the rice is very finely ground. The rice can be uncooked and/or parboiled. The urad bean and rice can be replaced with highly refined wheat flour to make a maida dosa or semolina for a rava dosa.
The batter is then ladled in small amounts onto a hot greased skillet, where it is spread out into a thin circle and fried with oil or ghee until golden brown. The dosa may then be folded in half and served, or it may be flipped to cook on the other side and then served.
Some of the common Dosa Varieties
Sada Dosa - Plain dosa Ghee Roast - Dosa roasted with lots of ghee and made very thin Paper Roast - Dosas made like papers. Masala dosa - stuffing lightly cooked filling of potatoes, fried onions and spices. It wraps the dosa around a onion and potato curry. We now have many other masala filling instead of Potatoes. Mysore Masala - Red chutney applied to its inside surface along with Potato filling Rava Dosa - Made with rava or semolina, which doesn't need fermentation. Wheat dosa - made with wheat flour, and served with coconut chutney. Vella dosa - a sweet dosai made of jaggery[citation needed], with ghee/neyyi. Ragi dosa - made of ragi or millet flour, usually considered "a poor man's fare". Muttai dosai - eggs are added to the regular batter; the word muttai in Tamil means "egg". Set dose - a popular type of dosa in Karnataka, which is cooked only on one side and is served in a set of two, hence the name. Neer dosa - a dosa prepared from rice unique to Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts. Pesarattu - a dosa prepared from moong dal; Andhra special. The variations include a) making from soaked whole moong seeds (along with green cover), which gives a greenish tint to the Dosa, and, b) making with yellow coloured moong dal (green cover removed and dal is refined), which gives a fine golden yellow tint to the dosa when roasted. Both these forms are famous in Andhra Pradesh, and are typically served with chutney made from Ginger and Tamarind. Adai - a dosa prepared from a combination of dals namely Urad, Channa & Moong dal. Appam - a dosa prepared from a combination of patted rice (Avalakki), rice & yogurt. - source - wikipedia
Lets get on with the general entries.
********************************************* Vegeyum through her lens, send us this interesting picture of a Dosa Maker plying his trade. As she was waiting for a train to arrive, all she could do was to capture the delightful picture.
The expertise required to make quick and fast dosas, for customers waiting eagerly to devour them, is one captivating scene. Hop on her blog to catch other interesting pictures. I got to tell you, pictures through her lens come out most beautifully!
Vegeyum was the first to send in her entry and I was so trilled getting my first one. She predicted that I will end up with many, she was so true. Thank you Vegeyum, for your wonderful words.
********************************************* Jayashree shares with the us the picture of the expert dosa maker.
He is seen making many dosas at a time and served them excellent dosas with such skill during a function at their place.
********************************************* From Sree comes a beautiful sketch portraying a Grandma making dosas hot hot!...Oh how I remember mine doing the same!. All her sketches are so captivating and this is no less.
Indira, not just content with the enrichment she gives us, with her cooking and knowledge, she has made Saturday a day for us to be enthralled with Sree's talent. So thank you Indira and Sree for the wonderful entry!
********************************************* Have you ever wondered how easy it would be, if we can get those much needed recipes at a click.
Ramki has done just that. He has created pages with most sought out recipes and compiled as one. So check out his 1001 Instant Dosas!
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I hope Lathamma wouldn't mind. She was busy and said I could take all the entries I wanted and I did just that!
Her tips on dosa batter is a must for all of us who ever had any doubts!. Thanks Lathamma for your wonderful tips and ideas. I didn't want to miss out your excellent entries for any cause.
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Next comes the Dosas with no fuss, no fermentation but you will have to remember to soak them overnight!
I know all of us prefer the batter to be ready at hand for any quick need. But these do come quite handy, provided we remember on time to soak them overnight. I guess these can be made with about 4 + hours of soaking. But I am going to call these as Overnight Soaked Dosas, cos the authors say so!
For these dosas that require to be soaked overnight, Moong Dal contributes most! And if you are using Rice, its just a smooth batter that's required.
The entries are sorted by Alphabetical order.
********************************************* Archy makes a green green dosa, that is with a green gram grean dosa. Well there are too many green in that and I simply love green!
This is the simplest we can get with no fermentation! ********************************************* Cinnamon does a comeback entry with a lovely Onion Pesarattu. These are the ones that she used to order while visiting udipi restaurants. Hey Cinnamon, you sure will have company if we go together!
Not only that, she spends solid time reading through all the dosa Varieties on house. Another dosa lover on sight! ********************************************* Sunshine mom recounts how a falafel turns into a dosa for my Dosa Mela. Well I am happy she has turned something into a dosa, else how do we ever get to see such a lovely creation!
Falafel is a deep fried ball or patty that is made from chick peas and spices. so I think its cool to make dosas out of these!
********************************************* I think I have found another dear friend here. Home Cooked always orders Dosas, while all her friends used to order something else. But with all the passion she has, she feels bad that her dosas never come out well. Though, I don't think so looking at her dish.
Well HC, why bother with the hassles of fermenting when we have the versatile Moong Dal. She fell in love with these and she tempts us too!
********************************************* Here comes no fuss Lady! All her entries were no fermentation, no fuss types. I guess being around her, we will get fed very fast and be most satisfied.
And gals & guys, if you ever get to taste her food, you better be lavish with your praises!
********************************************* Kalai becomes all healthy and makes an Adai with Horsegram and Moong sprouts! I simply love it cos' its so green!
Such inspirational thinking is most welcome. Horsegram, I heard is very very good for health and if you are going to combine it with Moong sprouts. That makes one ultimately healthy dosa.
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Pravs makes this lovely Pesarattu along with Upma. Being an andhrite, I can associate so well with this dish. And it looks so yummy.
Both these together can work out to be an ideal weekend bunch! ********************************************* Seena comes with another Dal and Rice dosa. The dal can be either Channa dal or Tur dal. I think its excellent.
In the entire list, there are only couple of dosas with tur dal! Thanks Seena
********************************************* Sushma comes with a dosa recipe that calls for a Cucumber! The cucumber gets ground with the soaked rice and what can be more tasty than that?
And not just that, she serves it with a Coconut and Jaggery Mix. For all you sweet lovers, this is a sure hit!
********************************************* Ramya finally made it to the mela with a cucumber dosa!...its wonderful to have another cucumber dosa.
She says mangaloreans are known to be dosa lovers. Well I am all interested to know more varieties!
********************************************* Priya, a non blogger sent me a recipe for coconut Dosa along with an yummy chutney. I made it and we all simply loved it.
Thanks for sharing this recipe with us, Priya. ********************************************* My Mother in law has always been very innovative and she proved me further by coming up with a dosa that had every dal you can think of.
check out this very innovative dosa from her! ********************************************* This one is my most favorite dosa that Amma makes so yummy. Its our famour Andhra Pesarattu. I was able to reproduce to far closer effect.
The other dosa called for curds, and I was curious. Works out best when you have extra curds on hand and not sure what to do with it!
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Will be back with the entries that have to be fermented, well I got to have them fermenting right. Thank you!
Chocolate Soufflé is a very dear dish that I used to make previous to marriage. My brother, Sree used to love this so much. And since I used to make it with gelatin, I never tasted it. But I knew it must've been rich and so delicious. There were many a happy days spent making this for him. Well, not just him, but Amma used to like it a lot too. I used to buy all those raw things needed and have made these in late nights or early mornings. I really don't remember how many times, I must've made these.
But after marriage, I found hubby dear wasn't very keen on this. And marriage brought in so many things, that we don't have enough time to indulge in those good old memories. These took the backseat and I haven't made these in a long time. Of course, now hubby dear likes whatever I make. And also seeing that Konda loves chocolate of any type, I thought I should try it once again and relive those wonderful times spent in parents home. With this came the want of tasting it. And I remembered China Grass or Agar Agar.
Agar or agar agar is a gelatinous substance chiefly used as a culture medium for microbial work. It is an unbranched polysaccharide obtained from the cell membrane of some species of red algae or seaweed. It can be used as a laxative, a vegetarian gelatin substitute, a thickener for soups, injellies, ice-cream and Japanese desserts such as anmitsu, as a clarifying agent in brewing, and for paper sizing fabrics. The word agar comes from the Malay word agar-agar (meaning jelly). It is also known as kanten, agal-agal (Ceylon agar), or China grass. Chemically, agar is a polymer made up of subunits of the sugar galactose. Agar polysaccharides serve as the primary structural support for the algae's cell walls.
Agar-Agar is the sea's natural gelatin. White and semi-translucent, it is sold in packages as washed and dried strips or in powdered form. It can be used to make jellies, puddings and custards. For making jelly, it is boiled in water until the solids dissolve. One then adds sweetener, flavouring, colouring, fruit or vegetables, and pours the liquid into molds to be served as desserts and vegetable aspics, or incorporated with other desserts, such as a jelly layer on a cake.Agar-agar is approximately 80% fiber, so it can serve as a great intestinal regulator. Its bulk quality is behind one of the latest fad diets in Asia, the a Kanten diet. Once ingested, kanten triples in size and absorbs water. This results in the consumer feeling more full. Recently this diet has received some press coverage in the United States as well. The diet has shown promise in obesity studies.
In Indian cuisine, agar agar is known as "China Grass" and is used for making desserts. Source- Wikipedia
So having these in mind, got all the things needed and finally out with the delicious Chocolate Soufflé
Ingredients Needed
Condensed Milk - 400 gms Coco powder - 3 tsp Milk - 2 cups Fresh Cream - 1 cup China Grass - 4 tsp (Gelatin - 2 tsp) Chocolate chips or just chocolates - 50 gms Mixed nuts - 50 gms ( I used walnuts, almonds, cashewnuts, raisins)
Method to prepare
Dissolve china grass in 1/2 cup water over a pan of hot water.
Add cocoa to 1 cup milk. Heat over a pan of hot water and make a smooth paste.
Add dissolved china grass, cocoa paste, rest of milk, chopped nuts and chocolate pieces to condensed milk. Mix well.
Whisk cream till stiff. Fold into the mixture. Pour the mixture into a soufflé dish and chill.
Serve decorated with stiffly beaten cream and chocolate curls.
Dissolve gelatin in 1/2 cup water over a pan of hot water.
For the first time in my life, I tasted this delicious dessert that I have been making over 10 years and it was worth all the wait. All because of china grass. Wish I have known about this long ago, I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
Sending this to Susan from The Well-Seasoned Cook. who is hosting this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn.
I had a very bad experience last night. It was only 10.30 pm, but I think some strange things were playing on my mind. The most dreaded and unexpected happened. A disaster, infact. I had completed almost 97% of the work on mela and was so happy that I will be able to post the first part on time, and then it happened. While trying to wrap up things, I was thinking that the desktop looked messy and without a thought, deleted the entire folder! First thing, I never work on files that are kept on desktop. Second, I normally don't delete files that soon. And third part was, I had tough job restoring it. I have restored countless deleted files for others. And the first time it happens to me, I found I wasn't able too. Spent a very long night trying to restore, but to no avail, followed by this morning. I finally decided that trying to restore, is going to take more time than trying to compile again.
Never expected this to happen to me, but then its all an experience. Hubby dear felt very bad, was concerned if I had all the mails with me. I said I have them all, but I had already worked on them and doing them all over again, may not give me time to finish it on time. He said, this time round I will be able to do it fast, as I had already seen it. He was right, I have been able to do major part. But some more to go. I guess this is one good lesson learnt! Anyways if I am all done, I will post it tomorrow. Else it will take a day or two. But that shouldn't stop any of you in sending them to me.
Coming to this lunch that we had for Sunday, this was supposed to be last week's but with the dosa posts pending, this got delayed. It was a typical Rayalaseema non-veg lunch, more authentic and common in villages and small towns. We made Ragi Sangati, Mutton Pulusu and Liver Keema Balls. The Keema balls were more dear because they were a specialty of Athamma's mother. She says even she can't prepare it as good as her mother. And very often hubby recollects those days he had these at his ammama's place. I think the unique taste comes because of the grinding and freshly made ingredients. Since we don't have that stone nor a clay burner, the recreation wasn't so authentic, but it kind of matched the taste. The ingredients that goes into this are few, yet the taste doesn't reflect the simplicity. The fresh garlic accounts for the wonderful taste, I am told.
Liver Keema Balls
Ingredients Needed
Liver - 100 gms Chilli powder - 3/4 tsp Garlic - 4 pods Salt to taste
Method to prepare
During those olden days, since they were using those clay stoves, they used to toss the liver directly in the flame. But we boiled it as such and then tossed it over flame. When you boil the liver, it becomes solid, so it will hold its shape, when you keep it over the flame.
Then take the liver, salt, chilli powder and garlic pods, grind to a smooth paste. Make them into medium size balls. After a while they will become stiff. No water is added. Just plain liver roasted and then ground to smooth paste along with spices.
Makes an excellent side dish for rice and Mutton pulusu.
Reminder: Today is the final day for all the dosas to arrive, hope you all have time to bring them on. Do send them on if you are not able to send on time, since I will be anyways doing this in parts, I should be able to accommodate the entries and even after that too, it will be good to have them all in one place!
Ok I think this will be my last post on dosas. Not that I have had enough of them. Believe me, in my dictionary there is no such word like No for Dosas. But I have to consider my family too right. Every other day, they are subjected to different versions and each one is highly treated with great expectations of the end result. Let me tell you one thing, all the different varieties that I have tried have all turned out to be simply delicious! I come to the conclusion that anything and everything on or in the dosa, will taste great!
For the record, I have posted 28 dosas till date and about 13 after the mela announcement. I feel bad that I couldn't make more. But then of course, I now have so many varieties to try and make it 101 varieties! Coming to these varieties, I finally did what I was planning to make for quite sometime now. Took the dosa batter out and tried making different combinations over it. So it didn't involve making anything new but just a combination of sorts! When I used the Paneer Butter Masala and made a masala dosa, hubby dear was very skeptical. He said there is a limit for creativity and this is stretching too far. But actually it tasted great.
Then there was that Carrot and Zucchini Dosa. For the life of me I couldn't understand how this looks or tastes. Finally I read somewhere that its not available out here. Ok, that's fine. So the next option left was to just go ahead with carrot. It came out yummy.
Carrot Masala Dosa
The name was no way like this, but I am calling it so.
Ingredients Needed
Wheat Flour - 1/2 cup Chickpea Flour /Besan - 1/2 cup Grated Carrots - 2 medium Onions - 1 grated Tomatoes - 1 small Green Chillies - 2 (my addition) Ginger - 1" Coriander leaves - few Salt to taste
Method to prepare:
Grate Carrot, Onions, chop tomatoes, green chillies and Coriander finely. Keep aside
In a bowl, take both the flours, add salt and mix well. Slowly add water and mix well. You can use a blender or with hands, make a lump free flowing batter. To this add the vegetables.
Heat a tawa, smear oil, and pour a ladle full of batter as the regular dosa. Sprinkle oil, sim and cook for 2 mins or till its cooked. This might be little sticky, so ensure you cook well before flipping to the other side.
When both sides are cooked, remove and serve hot with coconut chutney. This had a nice soft and crunchy feel on the dosa. As the carrots are fresh, and you have tomatoes chucks to munch on, it gives a different taste all together!
Ok, as the name says, its just the masala kept on the dosa. But then you can work out on the masala if its little liquid. Sauté the masala a bit, which will make the masala coat the paneer pieces.
Make a regular dosa, make sure its crispy! Then once the masala is thick, place on one side and fold over it.
The dosa become very crisp, so I was able to fold it to just one side. That's Konda lifting the top side for a quick shot!
Egg Dosa
This is another simple one, though much relished by the men of my family! I guess the men have a thing for egg, all my male family members especially have an affinity to eggs. So we end up making eggs in different varieties frequently. And egg on dosa is very specialty item, though it doesn't involve any cooking, other than making the dosa.
Normally, we beat the eggs together in a bowl with salt and pepper and then pour over the batter on the tawa. But this time, I spread the dosa, you can say I was lazy to do the other way and so broke the egg over it directly. Spread it around using the spatula. Actually for a moment, I thought I will take a sunny side up but hubby dear doesn't prefer it that way. It might be photogenic, but if no takers are there for it, will cook it that way.
So flipped to the other side for a min, then back to the top, sprinkle lot of pepper and server hot.
Paneer Cheese Dosa Pizza
The batter should be little thin, so that it spread on its own to a small size dosas. Once the tawa is hot, take a small ladleful of batter and just pour on the tawa, don't spread it. Sim for a min, flip to the other side. Let it cook for 2 mins.
Turn over and then spread little tomato sauce over the dosa, sprinkle grated paneer and cheese. Cover for 2 mins. Don't turn over, as cheese will get burnt. If you like burnt cheese, then go ahead that way. I liked it, rather the first one, got burnt and I liked that taste.
You can either toss the paneer cubes, then grate it or else just toss the grater paneer with some masala before adding over the dosas. The varieties are just so many. These make a great one for kids. Konda liked it very much. I had planned on a Dosawich and Burger dosa too, but I guess I have to drop them now!
Hope you enjoyed all the varieties. All the varieties are my Dosa Mela. Another 3 more days to go, so rush them in!
When I checked my Lunch Box Recipes, I felt bad that I haven't posted anything for this series for sometime. So no dosas for today, even though I have another 4 more to post. I thought it might become too boring to see only dosas in one shot. Also I wanted to have one entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, how can I miss, especially when its hosted by our dear jungalbandits..oops jungalbandi couple, I mean. By the way, their new name was christened by Kaykat and not me, ok. So if you want to credit, you know whom to credit for that originality.
Now coming to today's Lunch box, since we started including Plantain Stem in our diet, we have tried using it in different ways. The pith inside the Banana shoot, is the edible part. Plantain Stem is called Arti Danttu in Telugu and Vazhanthandu in Tamil. This edible part is very much recommended because of its medicinal value and it is supposed to help us in many ways. This is so good that it can be had as a juice but if its not possible, can be consumed as a stir fry. This helps in cases like
Bitter & astringent in taste Is a natural diuretic Cold in potency Reduces cholesterol Its astringent quality helps in blood coagulation Is an alkalizer - source Google
The above information researched from websites, though our doctor ascertained on most things.
So with so much goodness packed in this simple plant, it makes sense to consume it more frequently. You may not prefer it the first time as its more bland, but with due course and little added flavxour, you will get to love it. The different ways to consume this is as Stir fry with very minimum oil, Kootu, and as juice.
Today's Lunch Box had
Chow Chow Kootu with Channa Dal Plain Rice Arti Danttu Vepudu ~ Plantain Stem Stir fry in moong dal. Pepper Cumin Rasam Curd Rice
Arti Danttu Vepudu ~ Plantain Stem Stir fry in moong dal.
Ingredients Needed:
Plantain’s pith of the stem – 100 gm Buttermilk – 50 ml Salt to taste
For seasoning Yellow Moong dal - 50 gms Red Chillies or Green Chillies - 3 Curry leaves few Mustard seeds + Urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Method to prepare:
Remove the outer cover and take only the inner pith. Only this is edible. Cut into small pieces. Since it will have lot of fiber, you need to take care to remove them all. Store this in buttermilk for 10 mins, This will prevent it from becoming dark.
Pressure cook this stem to soft. Meanwhile, par boil the moong dal. Keep aside.
Then heat a pan with little oil. Add the seasoning items. Once done, add the cooked dal and stem. Fry well. Adjust the salt. And sim for 10 mins.
The dal and stem will be well cooked by then.
Sending my Plantain Stem Stir Fry to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Bee and Jai at Jungalbandi, an event started by Kalyn.
Thank you for hosting this wonderful event!
Chow Chow Kootu in Channa Dal
Kootu is something that we do on the day we make Idli and Sambar. Since tur dal is already used for the breakfast, we avoid using it again for lunch. So using Channa dal for kootu makes it perfect.
Ingredients Needed
Chow Chow - 1 (chopped square pieces) Channa Dhal - 1/2 cup Onions - 1 small Tomatoes - 1 small Chilli powder - 1 tsp Coriander powder - 1 tsp Turmeric - a pinch Salt to taste Grated coconut - 1 tsp
Take a pressure cooker and cook Channa dal for 3 whistles, then add chopped square chow chow and put for another whistle.
Heat a pan, add the seasonings. Then add the onions, sauté well, then add tomatoes. Add all the powders. Cook for 5 mins. Then add the cooked dal and vegetable, add some water. Let it come to boil. Sim for 10 mins
Finally add grated coconut.
Hope you enjoyed our lunch box, come back tomorrow for dosa varieties!
Between, did you see the new logo for Dosa Mela?. This morning when I opened my mail, I had this waiting for me. Lavi was so sweet to have modified and sent me. Thank you Lavi.
I was leafing through my book and my eyes fell on a pristine white looking dosa called Coconut Dosa. I was intrigued and rushed ahead to read the proportions. It was with sweet stuffing and I knew there may not be any takers for this sweet type of a pancake at home. Still I was very much keen on attempting it atleast once. Then I moved on to others. Since only dosas are running around my mind off late, I happily forgot all about this Coconut Dosa and its proportions. Though everytime I open my book, that picture calls out pleadingly to me!
Two days back, I was chatting with a dear friend of mine. Priya is a regular reader of this blog and in due course, we happened to chat and we hit on fast. She mentioned that she was happy reading through all the varieties of dosas and said, had she had a blog, she would've surely sent in something. I said she doesn't need a blog for that and can send it to me right away. I am so glad that she did. She shared a recipe for Coconut Dosa and was hesitant as this might be known to all. I said there is nothing like a recipe being known to all. And since this is new to me, it gives me a perfect chance to try it. I said all varieties and variations are appreciated. Along with the dosa recipe, she also sent in a lovely onion chutney recipe. I made coconut dosa yesterday along with the onion chutney, it came out very well. I must say it was really so tasty. This was the first time we were having a chutney in this combination, so it made a good change.
The other dosa for today is the Mixed Dal Dosa. This mixed dal dosa is Athamma's pure innovation. On Sunday, when I was telling her that the next 10 days might see lot of dosas for breakfast, she said she doesn't want those dosas based on rice. She remembered Amma making some dal dosa and said it was so tasty. Since it was 11.30 in the night, I couldn't think it was be nice to call Amma at that time. She wouldn't mind though, but Dad will be after me with a stick. He already says that we both are always on the phone chatting. So having that in mind, I said I will look for more dosa recipes, meanwhile she has the field to play on. She was soaking pesulu for pesarattu, so she took whatever was near her, of course only dal, I mean, and soaked together.
You won't believe, but I know Athamma has just created a new variety! It was too good. I was shocked knowing what all went into this. But best part was, Athamma went on and on, praising this variety. So I know for sure, this is going to feature again on our table. Hubby dear has some certain aversion towards Adai. When I told him that we made another variety, he wanted to know what all went in it. I said all dals. You mean Adai? he asked. I said this is not that. Anyway I couldn't convince him to eat this, if only he knows what he is missing. One day, after all this crazy needs gets cleared, I will make this alone and nothing else, so he has no option but to eat! Yeah that's what I am going to do.
Now lets see how Priya does her Coconut Dosa and how Athamma came about on Mixed Dal Dosa!
Coconut Dosa with Onion chutney Recipe Source : Priya Arun
Soaking Time : 6-8 hrs Preparation Time : 5 mins Cooking Time : 3 mins each Serves: 4 medium size dosas
Ingredients Needed
Raw Rice - 1 cup Grated Coconut - 1 cup Salt to taste Oil for cooking
Method to prepare
Clean and soak rice in water for 6-8 hrs. Have the grater coconut ready.
There are two ways to make this batter. Either you can grind the grated coconut along with the soaked rice or you can add this after grinding the rice to a smooth batter.
If you add the grated coconut directly, it will be little difficult to spread it as a dosa. But you get to munch on the coconut.
When its ground along with rice, you get a smooth batter, which is easy to spread as a dosa.
Once the batter is ready, you can immediately make the dosas as this does not require fermentation.
Heat the tawa and smear oil. Pour a ladle full of batter in a circular way and join it to make a even spread pancake.
If the batter is really smooth, it can be spread as a regular dosa too. Sprinkle oil, sim for a while and flip to the other side and cook well.
Serve this with Onion chutney.
Onion Chutney
Ingredients Needed
Red Onions - 2-3 (Sambar Onions - 1 cup) I used the sambar onions Tamarind - Marble size Ginger - 2" Green Chillies - 3-4 (you can use red chillies as per your taste) Salt to taste Sugar - 1 tsp ( I didn't add this) Instead I added few curry leaves Oil - 1/2 tsp
Method:
Heat a pan with little oil and sauté all the ingredients, except tamarind. Fry till onions turn pink. Let it cool.
Meanwhile soak tamarind and once the onion mix is cooled, grind it with tamarind, salt and sugar, if you use to a paste.
Heat some oil and pour the hot oil over the paste. By adding the oil, this chutney stays good for a while.
Serve this with Coconut Dosa.
Thank you Priya for your lovely recipe, we liked it a lot and will surely be making this again.
Mixed Dal Dosa
Now coming to Athamma's innovative dosa, she added whatever was accessible. This is just an idea, you can work out on the dals you want to add and have a ball!
Ingredients Needed
For Batter:
Rice - 2 tbsp Urad Dal Toor Dal Kabuli Channa whole Horse Gram Yellow Moong Dal Moong Dal Groundnuts Rajma Mocha Black Eye pea Peas Black dal/ Sabit urud dal
All the dals added to a 1 & 1/2 cup and it gave us about 5 dosas
For garnish
Finely chopped Onions Cumin Seeds
Method to prepare:
Ok, that lists about all the dals that are in our pantry! She just added a tsp of all the above and soaked together. Soak overnight the above list and grind everything to a smooth paste.
Heat a tawa, smear with oil. Since the batter was on the thin side, I was able to spread it as a regular dosa. Top it with chopped onions, cumin seeds. And sprinkle oil or ghee.
Once its cooked, flip to the other side and let the onions get browned.
This turned out to be really yummy! Serve it with Coconut chutney!
Just five more days to go for the deadline, do hurry up with your entries! I just landed myself with 4 more new pancake recipes, hope I can cook them on time!
Ugadi, meant Poli for me, for many years. Yes, Amma used to make Poli only on ugadi day, as it used to be an elaborate process and she used to make for our neighbors and friends. I have always helped her in making these. I used to love these so much and it was surprising that I never got around blogging on this favorite Indian Sweet, so special to Andhra. Of course, now I know its common to all states. But all of us want to think of it, as our very own, right. While it was the custom to make Polis specially for Ugadi, in my in-laws place, all and any festival, is marked by making Poli and a unique combination. Athamma makes Vangakaya urlagedda Kura as a combination for the Sweet Poli. I must say it goes quite well.
And as usual, this Ugadi too was the same at home. I didn't want to post our ugadi lunch as its the same lunch that we prepare for all festivals. Though we might be preparing these separately on other days, for any festival, these items are paired together. We planned the previous day for the pooja preparations. Though we had everything done on time, as hubby was held up at office, we couldn't get it done on time as planned. So I was really exhausted and didn't have the energy for a photo sessions. So only have the polis to share with you..
Polis, always brings back those wonderful memories of childhood. I can still remember the many occasions, when I have waited patiently for Amma to finish her pooja, before I could enjoy this. This dish is very special and we take extra care to get it the right texture and taste. The rolling out of the dough can be done in the banana leaf or plastic paper. In those days, the dal filling was ground in the stone grinder or Rubbo Raiya, as it was called. Now since we don't have convenience of that, we grind it in the mixie. Even Athamma used to make it only in that stone at her place, so she doesn't know about making it in the Mixie. So its surely falls on me to get the whole thing done.
We get the dough made much in advance and let it rest for atleast 2-3 hours. Amma used to leave it covered with wet muslin cloth, whereas Athamma would have lot of oil on it and allow it to get soft. I make it both the ways depending on my mood.
Ingredients Needed
For Dough All purpose Flour / Maida - 3 cups Turmeric - 1/2 tsp Salt a pinch Oil - 1/2 cup
For the Dal filling
Bengal Gram / Channa Dal - 2 & 1/2 cups Jaggary - 2 & 1/2 cups (Can add more if you want it to be sweeter) Cardamom powder a pinch
Oil for frying
Method to prepare:
For the dough
Take the maida in a big bowl, where its easy to mix well. Add a pinch of salt, turmeric and mix well. Slowly add the oil to the flour and rub well. If you prefer ghee, you can add the same amount. Then add water slowly to get a soft pliable dough. Knead well. The consistency should not be sticky but rather very loose but soft. This needs to be kneaded well Add some more oil on the top and let it rest for about 2-3 hrs. Alternatively you can cover it with wet muslin cloth. Amma always adds turmeric to give it a nice yellow colour.
For the Dal filling
Wash and soak the Bengal Gram for minimum 15 mins. Then pressure cook it with enough water to get soft dal.
Normally we get two varieties of jaggary, one type will have lot of impurities in it. So we grate and cook it in water and sieve the impurities before adding to the dal.
Add this jaggary to the cooked dal and pressure again. This will make both the dal and jaggary well mixed.
Once its cooled, grind to a smooth consistency but though not like a paste. Most times, the water content will be more, this can be handled by sautéing this dal paste in a pan. Heat the pan, and add the dal paste. Sauté to remove the water content. But keep an eye to make sure it doesn't get burnt. You will know its ready when the paste starts coming off the pan. We also need to make sure its not too dry.
Divide into equal balls to be stuffed into the dough.
Heat a tawa and simmer it so that its hot by the time you have the poli rolled out. Smear oil everytime before placing the uncooked poli. This way it will not get struck to the pan.
Smear oil on the banana leaf or the plastic sheet, which ever you are using. Take a portion of the dough, spread it on the plastic paper and place the dal filling in middle. Cover it with the dough, remove the excess dough.
Add oil, and using fingers, slowly spread them out. This will get spread well, provided the dal filling is little soft and not too dry. And the maida dough has to be elastic.
Once you have the poli spread to the correct size, holding the plastic cover in the left hand, lift and remove the poli and place on the hot tawa. Sprinkle oil around the sides and let it cook on one side before flipping to the other side.
Traditionally, we spread ghee on each poli after removing it from the tawa. Allow it to cool on a plate before storing it in a box.
This can stay good for about a week when stored in fridge. Microwave before eating.
Allow it cool for a while. This stack of polis are a great attraction for kids. My konda loves polis and the days I make this, she only has this and nothing else for lunch or dinner, at times she even has it for breakfast. That is her love for this sweet dish. Since this is the only dish she loves that I know of, I just allow her to indulge.
When I came across Barbara's LiveSTRONG Event, I knew I had to support. When I saw my polis in Yellow colour, I knew I had to sent her this. So this is my entry for Barbara's LiveSTRONG - A Taste of Yellow.
Well, its going to be exactly one more week for the mela deadline and I am actually wondering if I will be able to cook and post all the different dosas that I had planned. It was going to be 3 dosa posts every week, but I find quite hard. Coming to the varieties, I am yet to get most of the planned ones. But I wanted to get those requested ones to be on the list, atleast! Nirmala suggested I make one Paneer B.Masala Dosa and I replied that I planned for it too. But I am yet to get that done. Just last evening I made Paneer B Masala, after a week's pester from Konda. I still have some left in the fridge. Though I try never store anything for second serving, this is one exceptional dish, pun intended!
The other day, hubby said I should try storing shop made Paneer, as I get this requested at odd times. So I had gone to Nilgiris and got two chunks of Paneer. I remember Amma using this often. I used to be like Konda, so when Amma couldn't make home made, she used to use these. While I was riding back home, I was thinking about the different varieties that I can come up. The ideas were flowing at amazing speed and I was actually upset that I didn't have a pen to jot them down!. I wonder why I never could think much on rocket science or something else! How can I, when all I can imagine, is revolving around food! Anyway, I planned on some varieties with paneer, hope I come up with them on time!
Coming back to this topic on hand, once upon a time, while I was on my search for something, I stumbled on something called Aloo or Potato Dosa. At first shot, I thought it was the regular Masala dosa. But I was wrong, on further investigation, to my surprise, I saw the potatoes being added to the batter. Now that's a great idea right. I have been planning to make that one for a long time. When I had to plan for the breakfast one morning, I thought Potato Dosa makes the perfect solutions for both the needs! This is instant and works out perfect for a quick dosa cravings! Though this may not sound very healthy for grown ups, this is great for growing up kids. I am always finding ways to include carbs to my daughter's diet. So this works out fine.
Aloo Dosa ~ Potato Pancake
Preparation Time: 10 mins Cooking Time : 5 mins Serves : 8 medium size dosas
Ingredients Needed
Potatoes - 2 big Rice flour - 1.5 cups Curd / Yoghurt - 1 cup Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup Green chillies, finely chopped - 4 Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp Salt to taste Water for making batter Oil for cooking
Method to prepare:
Boil the potatoes to soft. Potatoes get cooked well if you cut them into half and pressure cook. Once done, let it cool, then peel, mash and keep that aside. I used pav bajji masher but any dal masher also will do. Just make sure there are no chunks.
In a bowl, take the rice flour, curds, Green chillies, Cumin seeds, Coriander leaves and salt. Mix well. Then add the mashed potatoes and sufficient water to achieve a dosa like consistency. Using your hands, mix well to ensure no lumps are formed. If you have a blender, you can blend the flour with mashed potatoes with water and then add the rest of the ingredients.
Now we are set to make the dosas! Heat a tawa, smear oil and once the pan is hot, pour a ladleful of batter in the center and spread like the regular dosa. If this doesn't work out, you can drop in circle, then try to make a dosa from it.
Get the flame to medium, so that it gets cooked well. If its not cooked fully, you will not be able to flip it to the other side. So sprinkle oil and wait till its cooked well. Then flip to the other side and cook its done.
This goes well with coconut or ground nut chutney. Even Podi will be great.
Mini Dosa ~ Beauty comes in small size!
Well there is no recipe as such for these, just a trick to make kids eat the dosa. Konda, though a dosa lover, still has problems eating it herself. So I find myself trying very hard to make her to eat them herself. If she is eating on her own, its got to be crispy dosa. No soft ones for her, you know!. And you can't get crispy dosa just like that right. So I was toying with the idea of making things interesting for her.
I have always seen these mini dosas, mostly in the parties where dosas are on the menu. Dad is a great host and he goes to great extent to ensure the menu is catered to the invitees personal preference too. But whatever party he is hosting, he always ensures he arranges for the dosa master, to prepare hot dosas for the guest. We, south indians eat dosas almost everyday at home. Yet, these hot dosas never fail to attract the crowd. In most parties, where the dosa master is ready with his batter ready, you will find a big queue, waiting patiently for their hot dosas. Such is our love for these lovely crapes!
Its always so amazing to find these people at work. They have this big tawa burning constantly and they take the batter with a cup and swoosh they do and you find yourself staring at the most delicious looking dosas, getting cooked. It comes out so thin and crisp. They do these swoosh some four to five times and take a ladleful of oil and just pour on top. You have four to five dosas getting ready at the same time. It gets cooked in flat 2 mins. Most times, they don't even flip to the other side. One warning though, if you are not very attentive, your dosas will disappear, right in front of your eyes!
On request, they do these small dosas also, this takes a little longer to get cooked, still its a piece of art to watch these being made.
I was wondering it must be great to have these mini dosas done at home, I just took a spoon of batter and just poured on the hot tawa. You should not spread it, but rather allow it to get settled by itself. The batter should not be thick, it will spread on itself if its little thin. Sprinkle some oil, cover with a lid. Cook for a min, flip to the other side if you want.Voila! your mini dosas are ready!
I smeared podi and ghee over it and served with urad dal tomato chutney. As expected, my daughter was trilled to see these cute little ones.
Kids are so amazing, they find pleasure in such small ones, literally! Seeing her reaction, I remembered an incident that happened during our trip to my parents place. Dad took us for shopping and he got her so many things. She was happy but on seeing some pens, she insisted that he buy her those too. I refused saying she is going to break them in no time. He, anyway got them for her. She was so trilled and excited on having them. We were surprised that she was so very happy on getting those inexpensive pens. Dad said how wonderful it is, that we can please a child with such small things. It is true indeed!
Aloo dosas and Mini Dosas are ready to join the Mela!
With that I take leave, with a gentle reminder that, its just a week left for all those of you, who want to indulge in dosa love! Of course, it doesn't stop with the deadline, but we want to be prompt, dont'we?
Ok, once we had our delicious dinner with Luchis and Alur Dom, I was prepared for another dose of Bengali feast. From all the recipes that I finally collected and decided that I could do, I selected those that were comfortably within out domain. Yeah we got to experiment, but then when its the dinner for the entire family involved, we can't take chances of it not being liked.
And I must say, the bongs have so much liking to Posto, that its surprising!We, of course use the poppy seeds mostly for our non-veg items, so imagine that gets itself into veggie! Well since I don't' eat meat, poppy seeds are not very close to my taste buds, that is, being quite sometime. So digging into something with loads of that was an attack on the senses.
Having decided that its going to have all those poran, went shopping to get all the ingredients required. This is the first time, I am cooking with kalo Jeera, I understood bengalis use this for seasoning as we use mustard. Because, all the dals asked for tempering with Kalo Jeera. Well no probs, I have just the thing on hand. Athamma on seeing the seeds, was very curious knowing how it might be used. She asked if it was sesame seeds. I told her that its something that Bengalis use it a lot and I have no idea of the taste!
I was all set for the dinner. Hubby dear took everybody to the terrance so that I could complete the dinner without any disturbance. I had quite a few on hand. But before actually getting to do, I planned on how to do things at the same time. it was quite interesting to note how different each cuisine is and the way its cooked.
I had some massoor dal at hand and have been planning to cook this for a long time, So when I saw a recipe with this dal, I was so happy. And naturally with Aloo Posto being so common and enjoyed, I can't miss out that right! And I read no bengali feast is complete without Uchche or Bitter Gourd. And that too as a bajji. Now who wouldn't want to eat this deep fried. Anyways, both hubby and Athamma are very fond of bitter gourd.
Musuri Dal
Preparation Time : 10 min Cooking Time : 10 mins Cuisine : Bengali Serves - 3
Ingredients Needed
Red Masur Dal - 1/2 cup or 50 gms Finely Chopped Onions - 1 small Tomatoes - 1 small chilli powder - 1 tsp (I added this) Fresh Coriander Leaves few Kalo Jeera/Kalonji - 1/2 tsp Turmeric a pinch Salt to taste
Method to prepare
Pressure Cook the Masur Dal with a pinch of turmeric
Heat oil, temper with Kalo jeera/Kalonji. The add the finely chopped onions and fry till they turn pink in color.
Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they become a fine pulp, To make it soft, add salt.
Add the previously cooked dal and mix well and add some water
Bring it to boil and cook till thickens. Since you are going to mix with rice, it can be on the thin side.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Alu Posto
This was a change from our usual Aloo fry, it had a nice coating with poppy seeds.
Ingredients Needed
Potatoes - 4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cubed Poppy seeds (Khaskhas/Posto) - 5-6 heaped tsp Green Chillies – 2/3 Dry Red Chillies - 2 Jeera or Cumin seeds - 2 tsp Salt to Taste Turmeric Powder Oil - 1 tsp Mustard Oil - a dash (original recipe calls for this, but I didn't add)
Method to prepare
Grind the posto/poppy seeds to a fine powder. I had a tough time with grinding this as my jar is not small enough. So I soaked for a while, then using the chopping board, ground this using a stone. Best would be to grind the entire batch and dry and store.
Cut the potato in cubes and soak in water, else they develop black spots. Slit the green chillies.
Heat oil in a Kadai/Pan, add the Cumin seeds, once they sputter, add dry red chillies.
Drain and add the potato cubes in the oil with a pinch of haldi/turmeric powder. Saute well so that it gets covered well. I normally add the salt at this stage as they get soft.
Simmer and cook till they are lightly golden. Add the posto/poppy seeds paste
Cook on medium heat till the paste has uniformly coated the potatoes
Add little water and the chopped green chillies.
You can sprinkle very little sugar if you want. But I didn't.
Cover and cook till the potatoes are done. I almost let it get dry as suggested. Take care that the potatoes don't get mashed up though.
The Aloos had a nice posto coating and we felt the difference. It was a good change
Uchche bajji or Bitter Gourd Fritters
Ingredients Needed
Bitter gourd - 2 medium Salt to taste Turmeric a pinch
For the batter
Maida - 1 cup (Besan can also be used for cover) Posto/ Poppy Seeds - 1/2 tsp Kalo Jeera/Kalonji - 1/2 tsp Soda a pinch Salt to taste Oil for deep frying. Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (I added this)
Method to prepare:
Wash and cut the bitter gourds into 1 " circles. Boil water and add the bitter gourds. Let it cook for 3-4 mins.
Drain and add turmeric and salt.
In a bowl, add the maida, salt, soda and the other ingredients. Mix well and let it rest for 5 mins.
Heat a kadai to deep fry the bitter gourd. Once its hot, dip the bitter gourd rings and drop them into hot oil
Fry on both sides and once done drain to kitchen towel.
Since I did all the dishes together, it helped being little organised. I soaked the rice for 15 mins. Then cooked it. By which time, had the water for bitter gourd boiling and cooked the bitter gourds. This removes the bitterness to greater extent. Pressure cooked dal along with this.
Once all this were on way, got the things for aloo ready. While the aloo was getting cooked, got the dal tempered with onions and tomatoes.
Finally had the batter ready for bitter gourd and just before serving, deep fried them and served.
Our Bengali thali was ready in 45 mins! wow, everything was yummy. Of course, my hubby wouldn't eat a bland dal or bajji, so I had added chilli powder to it. I am not sure if this change is accepted but still it added a good taste to the overall dishes.
I am sending my Bengali thali to Sandeepa, for her RCI Bengali.
And wanted to share my Bitter gourd bajji with Pooja from My Creative Ideas for her VOW: Bitter gourd. Thanks for hosting such wonderful events ladies!
It all started when Bhags sent a packet to Nags. It was a packet of Yeast! And as expected, it grew to a much bigger one than expected. Much before this happened, there was this Amish Bread starter that was making its rounds among the US bloggers. Each one was coming up with such captivating perfections that left us breathless. Of course, the same starter wouldn't work out here. Still I was thinking how nice it might be, if it was happening in India too. Then I forgot all about it and just enjoyed reading through the adventure each blogger was having with the starter.
Then one day, it happened. I got a mail from Bharathy. I was very surprised at the content. It was even more surprising for me to note, she so nicely remembered my kids names from Lak's post, where Lak had mentioned in passing. That made quite an impression. In her mail, she mentioned about the sweet gesture of Bhags and how they thought it might be interesting to start something on that basis. We knew bread starter is out of way, but we decided that we should just go ahead. She asked how wonderful it will be, if we ask Lathamma to be the first one to start this chain. I said it will be great. That's it. I didn't get to know about it for sometime, until I got a mail from Bharathy, that they had everything in place and Lathamma is going to post about this in her blog. It all sounded so exciting.
Finally it was announced and we could see the fervor passing through all. The packet was waiting for me when I went back from office. I was all excited to guess what it was. It was custard! I have made only custard with the powder but wanted to do something different. Then I remembered a booklet that had new recipes. Finally I was ready with my post. But panic gripped me, when I realized I got to send to two other bloggers. Initially it was decided to pass on to two bloggers, but by the time it came to me, I didn't know to whom I should send. Though I had two bloggers residing in my place, we thought it will be fun if I reach out far. So mailed to Anita, the first thing in the morning to find out if she will be interested and hoped that she will check her mail that day. I was trilled to get her positive response.
After that, it was becoming tough job to get people roped into this. This was when Bharathy and I started co-coordinating this chain. It happened almost without much thought. As she mentioned, we must've exchanged many mails and chats. There were times, when I got almost gone crazy souring through profiles. It was becoming too hectic. We wanted the chain to reach all corners. I think it was quite successful.
But I think the success was more because of the enthusiasm shown by Bharathy. It was fun interacting with her and she never failed to update me on even a small bit she did. The credit for maintaining the list and leaving gentle reminders goes 100% to her. She just did a marvelous job out of it. And not only that, its fun dealing with her. There is never a dull moment with Bharathy, she can crack you up like anything. One of the many incidents that I remember from our interactions, are the times when she will send me an urgent msg saying she found a blogger, only for me to tell her that, we have already roped that person. She will say the name is different. I will then clarify that on the blog, the blogger has used a nickname. Then she will say..."ahhhh...I was so happy thinking we found a new person!...All in all this was a fun ride!
But time had come when we just couldn't find anymore interested blogger or even a blogger residing in India blogging on food. So we thought its time, we bring this chain to a stop. This doesn't mean this is the end, people interested can still pass on and continue the friendship chain. I have really enjoyed working on this and value my friendship I have personally gained, while interacting with people on this list. I would like to extend my appreciations to each of them, who so wonderfully took our pestering on stride and did a marvelous job in creating new dishes with the surprise ingredient sent to this.
The list so far:
Lathamma --> Renuka & Bharathy
Renuka received RAGI FLOUR, out of which came healthy and amazing RAGI VEGGIE PAKODA
And Bharathy got CORN FLOUR, out which she made yummy looking Gobi Manchurian
Renuka --> Arundati & Srivalli
Arundati got whole moongdalout which she made an authentic kerala Payar Mathan
Whereas I got Custard Powder, out of which came Custard Malpua
Bharathy --> Lissie & Lakshmi
Lissie got Aval, she dished Aval Vilayichathu is an all time favourite of Keralites!
And Lakshmi got a box full of dry fruits, being so true to self ate most of it except badam out of which came Badam Halwa! I know this tasted yummy because I cup full of this myself!
Srivalli --> Anita & Kamini
I sent Sambar powder which Anita found it very mysterious and finally came with 101 ways to cook with the spice powder, well actually only one, we have prod Anita for the other 100!
And I sent china grass to Kamini, out of which she made a beautiful looking Peach Pie!
Lissie --> Rachel & Lathamma (back)
Rachel got coconut milk powder and the Keralite in her wanted to go with stew and only stew..so she came with...Chicken stew
Lathamma got back a surprise ingredient, though I know she has cooked with it, I will let her spell the surpise herself
Lakshmi --> Raaga & Nags
Raaga got Horse Gram out which came the delicious Kultha Saar!
And as Bharathy said, while all of us came with one post, Gaurav came up withthreeposts, way to go!
And while I was doing this, I was surprised to note that no two bloggers got the same ingredient and the created dishes were unique too..Great Job!
When I received some comments from US bloggers on how they wished to have this passed on to them, I had planned to send something through my friend, who was visiting India. But unfortunately couldn't make it in the last moment. So I was very happy when Latha of Masala Magic, started this in US. We are trilled to see the success of this among them!
Thank you everybody for making this one exciting event!
Groundnut chutney is made daily and is so common like rice at home. But still the attachment and affinity each of us have towards this is amazing. We have it for chapati, Idli, dosa and many times with Rice too. Hot rice, ghee and ground nut chutney and we are ready for the feast! For many years, we used to get the groundnut grown in our lands. Now we don't take the hassles of transporting it from so far. Still this can't hindered us from enjoying it, in all its form. We have it boiled, roasted and cooked in gravies! Most of the times, we even eat the roasted ones just after dinner too!
Roasted Peanuts and Groundnut powder with Garlic, makes my basic things to have in Kitchen. This post covers so many aspects. Basics of South Indian Cooking, our passion for Ground nuts and not to mention its great paring with Garlic. Garlic is another important ingredients in our cooking. No Sambar, dal or Rasam is complete without the Garlic. Infact, the tadka that Athamma does for Dhal with Garlic is so intoxicating. It takes you to heaven! Many times, hubby on returning home, asks me if Athamma was doing the tadka. When I say yes, he says, yes I could smell the garlic ourside.
For many dry or medium saute curry that Amma makes, she adds the final touch of magic with the ground nut powder with garlic. So this powder is something we have handy for completing the dish. There are many memories associated with ground nut chutney. Though I find it strange to remember so much about this simple chutney! It was during my 7th grade, when I had gone to visit our family friends place. Aunty had made idlis with groundnut chutney for tiffen.You won't believe, this is a combo that Amma makes almost every time, yet I was so excited about getting to taste it again. That afternoon remains still so fresh in memory. Aunty is a great cook and whatever time you land at their place, she won't let you off without eating. So naturally she made me eat Idlis with groundnut chutney and I enjoyed every bite of it. There are many other dishes of her's that I have enjoyed, but this lone incident is the one that comes to mind when I think of her!
And groundnut chutney without garlic is not groundnut chutney. I love Garlic, infact I love eating them raw. So when it is coupled with my other favorite, the result is so satisfying. When Mathy asked us to cook Garlic, I was thinking there is no dish without garlic, though its not the main ingredient, without it the dish is not complete! So doesn't this also make it a main one! But time just flew and I didn't have anything for Jihva and Mathy asked us to think about two recipes, I was racking my mind, when I suddenly remembered my basic powder in my pantry and my favorite chutney. Though garlic is added raw to the chutney, I want to think of it as cooked.
Here are my two garlicky recipes!
Peanut Garlic Powder
Roasted Groundnut - 1 cup Garlic pods - 6-7 big ones
Method to prepare:
If you are used to roasting the groundnuts, do so and store them for frequent usage. Take the groundnuts in the mixie or food processor. Peel the garlic and grind together in the mixie.
The powder will come together as the garlic tends to stick to the peanuts. Once the powder is fine, spread it on a plate for a while and then store it in an air-tight container. This remains fresh for about 2- 3 days at room temperature else in fridge, it remains good for about 4 -5 days.
I suggest on having roasted peanuts on hand and powder it for 2 days as the garlic tends to be more effective this way. Another way is storing the powdered peanuts and just before adding to the gravy, you can crush the garlic or run it agian with the powder. This way you get fresh garlic taste. Either ways are good.
Roasted Groundnut - 1 cup (100 gms) Green chillies - 3-4 Sambar Onion (shallot) - 2 medium, if using regular ones, use about same quantity Tamarind - marble size Salt to taste Garlic pods - 5-6
Seasoning (optional) Mustard seeds + Urud dal - 1/4 tsp Curry leaves few Oil - 1/2 tsp
Method to prepare:
Chop the green chillies to small bits, peel the onions, soak the tamarind to make it soft.
Then take all the ingredients in a mixie and grind to not so smooth paste. The taste is more when you have it a bit coarse. I actually don't mind the smooth paste too.
Though this chutney is the simplest of all, getting this correct is a master piece. Adding the correct amount of tamarind is very important. You can have more garlic if like or grind the onions coarsely, your choice. When you making this chutney for idlis, Dosas, go little on tamarind, as these already be little sour. But when this is to be eaten with rice, you can add a bit more of tamarind.
You can serve as such or else season it with mustard and curry leaves. Seasoned groundnut chutney tastes great with Ven Pongal, most of the other combinations can be great with just plain chutney too.
There was a time, when we are bored with everyday cooking and feel nostalgic, Amma makes rice with Groundnut chutney. Add a wee bit ghee, as I told you there is no better heaven than your plate!
Sending my bowl of Groundnut Garlic powder and Groundnut Chutney to Mathy, who is hosting the Jihva for Ingredient, an event started by Indira, this month featuring Garlic!
I have a long time love affair. I know this might sound very strang. Even eccentric. Yet its true, I am talking about my affinity towards the humble tuber, the Arbi. We call it Samagadda in telugu. You may call it, by whatever name you may want. But it pulls my heart in many ways. Do I sound strange? Thank you! I can't hide my love for long, right. I have cooked it many times in almost the same type. Like a deep fried one or a shallow fried one. This does has a thing about getting fried in oil. The taro pieces selflessly scarifies itself in the piping oil to please our palate.
Though this is quite a common vegetable, if I may call it a vegetable, at home, today is the first time, I have actually tried to learn more about this tuber. While I was reading about it, it was interesting to note the different ways this gets cooked in different parts. Did you know that this is the main ingredient in the famous Chembila curry of Kerala or Patra of Gujju cuisine. I didn't know it till now. Rather I choose not to know. I was content cooking this in the most simplest way.
More healthy stuff on Taro
Taro, is a tropical plant grown primarily as a vegetable food for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable. It is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants. Taro is extensively used in South Asia. Typical of leaf vegetables, taro leaves are rich in vitamins and minerals. They are a good source of thiamin, riboflavin, iron, phosphorus, and zinc, and a very good source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, niacin, potassium, copper, and manganese. Taro corms are very high in starch, and are a good source of dietary fiber. Oxalic acid may be present in the corm and especially in the leaf, and these foods should be eaten with milk or other foods rich in calcium so as to remove the risks posed by ingesting the oxalate ion, especially for people with kidney disorders, gout, or rheumatoid arthritis. Calcium reacts with the oxalate to form calcium oxalate which is very insoluble. - SourceWikipedia
Knowing this small tuber have so much value, makes me reach more for it. This quest for a different version started, when hubby dear once commented that he used to eat a delicious dish in Delhi. He said it was a gravy one and it used to be yummy. Since then I have been on the look out of a gravy made with Arbi. Then one day, I suddenly remembered I can very well google for this, to see if there are people out there, who like it in other ways than I know. Well you know how it is right, ask google one and it will give you 100! For many days I was swamped with so many Arbi gravies. Finally I decided on one. Since its from Sanjeev kapoor, I knew I can just go through it blindfolded.
When I declared to hubby dear that I am going to make this for dinner, he looked dismayed as he planned to take Konda for swimming. Boy, did two left hands suddenly crop up! My twins suddenly realized that they loved their momma very much and wouldn't let me a sec away. I was looking at the time and dreading the impeding catastrophe was going to fall on me. Finally I managed to rope in somebody to distract the kids and in a marathon run, completed the dinner. Infact I had that extra few mins for a photo session.
Preparation Time : 10 mins Cooking Time : 35 mins Cuisine : North Indian
Ingredients
Colocassia / Arbi - 250 gms Onions - 2 medium Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp Curds / Yogurt - 1 & 1/2 2 cups Poppy seeds / Khus Khus - 2 tsp Chilli powder - 1 tsp Coriander powder 1 tsp Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder a pinch Garam masala powder ½ tsp Nutmeg powder - ¼ tsp Green cardamoms - 2 Salt to taste Oil - 2 tsp + about 2 tbsp to deep fry
Fresh cream - ¼ cup
Method to prepare
To get things running in parallel, have most of this going at the same time to get this dish out in record time.
Wash the arbis and let it soak for a while. At times, we get arbis that have lot of mud, so soaking gets all of it out. Best and easy way to cook Arbi, would be to pressure cook it for almost a whistle but not full whistle. This way its half cooked, yet not soft. Once the stream is out, run them in cool water and peel them once they are not hot. Make sure the knife and the board is dry, else you have sticky and running arbis on hand. Chop them to 2" size pieces as in the picture.
Meanwhile, boil one cup of water and drop the chopped onions. Let it come to boil. Drain the water and let it cool. If you have ground ginger garlic paste, you can use, else grind ginger, garlic and onions to a smooth paste.
As you have one burner having the boiling onions, dry roast the poppy seeds in a skillet and soak in water for half an hour. This was the hard part for me as I don't have a smaller jar nor a mortar and pestle to grind the poppy seeds to fine paste. I just ran the soaked seeds with water and then using dal masher, mashed down the gravy. It did come out smooth.
Whisk the yogurt along with red chilli powder, cumin powder and turmeric powder. Keep it aside.
Heat a pan with oil, add green cardamoms, after a min, add boiled onion paste. Sauté till light golden brown. Then add ginger-garlic paste and coriander powder. Mix well. Stir in poppy seeds paste and cook for about 5 mins.
When the onion paste is getting cooked, heat a kadai with little oil, to deep fry the half boiled arbi. Fry them till crisp and golden brown. Drain onto a kitchen towel and keep aside. Use little oil as arbi tends to leave out pieces.
When the onion paste with poppy paste is well cooked, add the whisked yogurt, bring it to a boil. Add little water to this and add fried arbi, grated nutmeg, garam masala powder and salt.
Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and simmer for thirty minutes. Dum can be done by covering with aluminum foil or sealing the lid with wheat flour dough, so that the aroma does not escape. Since I didn't have either on hand, I just inverted a heavy pressure pan on it. This also allowed me to stir in between. This has to be little on the gravy side, mine got very thick, though it tasted yummy.
Just before serving open the lid and stir in fresh cream. Infact I add the cream to the bowl.
When I served hubby the Dum Ki Arbi, I was looking eagerly at him to check his reaction, he said it tasted yummy. I asked if it was the same from Delhi, he gave me one funny look and said, actually I don't remember how it tasted since it was very long ago, just that it was good. It can all be this, for all you know. Do make a tick against this, we can have it again. Well that got me in finally!
Ok, I have been scouring web sites like mad to get the perfect bangali recipes that I will be able to make and at the same time, my folks will eat. Athamma is game for anything, but hubby dear on the other hand, will not touch anything that's sweet. So having all these in mind, I asked the google God, show me bengali recipes!. Well google being google, brought me many sites, of course, most of the top listed ones, I already have bookmarked because of RCI. But still it was interested to check them out again. After going through few, I decided I will opt for the common vegetable, as it might be easy to get family eat them.
I squared on Alur Dom, this sounded very much like my own Dum Aloo, but with certain variations. Clicking few random links, I found myself, where you know? At our host's place, my what a wonderful place she has. I got hooked reading through her posts. Finally out of sheer necessity logged out myself. Thus end the day one of my search. Day two, saw me pretty much the same and I finally had about 5 Bengali recipes on hand that I wanted to try. You know they say that Fried bajjis is very famous as part of their feast, sadly couldn't find one recipe that has details about it. After much search, I was able to land myself with something.
Made a declaration that its going to be Bengali feast for dinner, not exactly in terms of number dishes, but in terms of satisfaction we had it was a feast. I had earlier thought of asking Amma to ask her neighbor for authentic bengali dishes. But I knew trying to understand a new cuisine over a long distance call will be very tedious. Amma was invited many times for a bengali fare at her neighbor's place. And Amma was saying, Mrs. M, was telling me some pesto besto, I didn't understand and I didn't want to sound impolite, so didn't ask her. With my new whatever little learnt knowledge of Bengali cuisine, I possess, I explained to her what it meant.
So here I am with my first set of dishes that I tried and I must say we just loved it. Though I have previously prepared dough with only All purpose flour, this was the first time I am making it as a poori or deep fried. We make maida dough for Poli. The white poori tasted divine, I read somewhere that they offer luchi as neivethyam for Durga mata. No wonder, I thought. Throughout my cooking session, I had each member dropping in asking me how its coming up. It was very interesting on the whole. In all my previous RCI cooking, none of them really understood it. Now I guess they have an idea of what events are and how wonderfully they get treated with delicious goodies.
I also wanted to make some sweet, but since I couldn't decide on one, I thought I will just go ahead with Misti Dohi. I guess setting the curds along with the sugar makes the difference. Because it was different. Though we are used to eating curds with sugar, it always has that tartness in the curds, whereas Misti Dohi was just sweet. Overall experience was yummy, one satisfied and great dinner it was. Best compliment was, hubby asking me to jot down these dishes in our frequent to do dishes.
Luchi
Preparation Time : 10 mins Cooking Time : 10 mins Setting Time : 30 mins Cuisine : Bengali
Ingredients needed
All Purpose Flour / Maida - 3 cups Salt to taste Oil - 3 tsp Warm Water - to make the dough. I used about 1 & 1/2 cup Oil for rolling out Oil for frying
Method to prepare:
In a bowl, take the flour and salt. Mix well and add the oil. You can rub the flour with the oil for some 3 - 4 times, you will the oil well mixed with the flour. Gradually add the water and gather the flour together. Once you get the consistency where it doesn't stick to your hands, you are done. Now if you want to work out your palm, you can do that right now.
This process is something that I like a lot, its very interesting to see the soft dough coming so well after you knead it well. The more you knead, the softer it comes out. Take a wet muslin cloth and cover it and keep it aside for sometime. I kept it for 30 mins.
Once you are ready to roll out, divide the dough into equal round balls. Luchi calls for rolling out with oil and not flour. If you are used to rolling out atta dough with oil, this should not be a problem.
Roll out the balls to make flat circles 4-5 inches in diameter. You can even use a lid to cut out perfect circles. But you got to ensure, its not thin and thick at places. I guess perfection in this area comes with experience.
Heat a kadai with Oil and simmer it. By the time you want to deep fry, the oil has to be hot. So you can simmer it too. Roll out as many as you want and then proceed to fry each one. As with pooris, this is also best done with company. I normally roll out and Athamma fries. But this time, she was with the kids. So I rolled out a batch and fried each one after the other.
Once the oil is hot, gently slide the luchi into the oil, make sure you don't just drop it, as oil might splash out. With the back of the slotted spatula, press on the luchi. This way it will puff up. once it puffs up, flip to the other side. Once its cooked on both sides, remove to a kitchen towel.
Alur Dom ~ Potatoes in an exciting gravy!
Preparation Time : 10 mins Cooking Time : 20 mins Cuisine : Bengali
I followed Sandeepa's recipe, though made some changes to suit our taste. She mentioned curds and ghee as optional, I used both. And she didn't say what to do with the ginger paste!!!...of course I added it with onion. But still...:D..Since I had to make a paste of onions, I ground the ginger along with onions. And I prepared the dish in Ghee. After all this is RCI right,
Ingredients Needed
Potatoes/Aloo - 4 medium (I didn't have enough baby aloos, so I cubed the big ones)
For Tempering
Bay leaves/ Tej Pata - 1 Asafetida/Hing a pinch
For the Masala
Onion - 1 medium Ginger - 2" Tomatoes - 1 small Jeera Powder/Cumin powder - 1 tsp Garam Masala Powder - ½ tsp Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp Curds/ Yogurt - 2 tsp Ghee ~ 1 tsp Salt to taste Sugar - I added about 1/4 tsp.
She had said all non-bongs can go less on the sugar and increase the Red Chilli powder, that's exactly what I did!
For garnishing Coriander leaves ~ fresh and chopped
Method to prepare:
Pressure cook potatoes to 1-2 whistles, once done, let it cool and peel the outer skin. If you are using the baby ones, boil and then remove the outer skin.
Heat ghee in a pan, Add Bay Leaves and Asafetida
Then add the Onion and Ginger paste and fry with a tsp of sugar till the onion turns a pinkish brown. Everything will stick as a solid mass.
Add the finely chopped tomato and sauté till its well cooked. I normally add salt at this stage to get the tomatoes to cook well.
Simmer and add the Cumin Powder, Garam masala Powder, Red Chilli Powder with 2 tsp of yogurt. Since you are adding the curds, it might curdle, so simmer and cook on low flame.
Sauté the masala till you see the oil separate from the masala. Then add the cubed potatoes
I added about 1/2 cup water as my folks won't eat dry gravy with poori. But this will be medium sautéed thick gravy as per the recipe.
Finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves. I saved some for the plate decoration too!
Misti Dohi.
I remember Misti Dohi from my trips to Calcutta. Oh how I loved hearing them say the word. It has a rhythm to it. Since I knew I may not have time for any Bengali sweet, I thought Misti Dohi was the best option. Of course, I ended up eating all myself. Athamma won't eat sweets and hubby dear refused to touch anything sweet after that fabulous Luchi with Alur dom.
You need just lukewarm milk and sugar to set the Misti dohi
Milk - 50 ml Sugar - 1 tsp Heat milk and mix with sugar. Let it come to lukewarm temperature, add the curds for it to set. It will be done in 6 hrs time. In our climate, we need the milk to be just warm and I add about a quarter of curds for it to set.
Misti dohi tasted great. Though I have eaten this in Calcutta, I don't remember the taste and it was such a pleasant taste after the wonderful loch and aloof dump.
Now I can't wait to prepare the other interesting recipes I have bookmarked. Sending my plate to our dear friend Sandeepa for her RCI Bengali. I hope she rises out of her hibernation to come and check this out. Thank you Sandeepa for your lovely recipes and for hosting this beautiful cuisine. We loved every bite of it!
Here I am, to find another round of Microwave Easy Cooking recap upon me and I am surprised at the pace time is flying!. I thought I had just done the recap on Greens. Well, this past month has been quite hectic. And on top, I went and announced a mela for dosa, boy, am I ducked into batter or what! But read me correctly, I am enjoying every bit of it and expect all of you to join me in this crazy drive to get all dosas in one place! Many wrote back asking if they can send more than one. I thought I had said in the beginning, that I am never content with just one!.
Coming to MEC round up, we have couple of new bloggers joining us in this party and old gals, finally deciding they better cook up in mw. By old, I didn't mean they age, mind up. Just that they have a long standing status. I am sure when you go through the list, you will identify them on spot!
Now before going to the recap, let me announce what we can do during the month of April. In April, lets bake Cakes! No Puddings, only Cakes, we can have them next time, please!The cakes obviously need to be done fully in the Microwave, no half baked stuffs please, I know it can't be that way. But I just putting it here to be more clear.Send in as many ever you want, by 30th April, 2008, with Subject line MEC: Cakes! Check out here for more details.
I feel very happy to find new members joining us in the merry of cooking in MW. I do hope, given due time, there will be more dare devils.
Lets proceed to check out the beautiful rice dishes!
********************************************* Eskay from A Bon Vivant's Chow Chronicles, lets us peek into the beautiful adventure she had, while cooking Rice in Microwave. She gets a surprise ingredient as apart of Arusuvai Friendship Chain. And its none other than Sambar Powder.
What can be more wonderful and delicious to a south indian like me, than a Sambar rice. I got sold looking at her beautiful picture which spoke volumes of delicious treats awaiting!
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Asha brings us this lovely Masoor dal Khichdi. Khichdi is a mixture of rice and various dals cooked with flavorful spices, usually it's thinner and wetter than the usual Pulao or Biryani. Cooking Khichdi in MW is relatively easy since it's a one pot dish. Or so she says!
Trust Asha to make a dish sound so simple. She always manages to bring on very exciting dish for whatever event it may be. I was so pleased looking at that picture when I opened my mailbox. Thanks for the lovely looking bowl Asha!
********************************************* No South Indian festival is complete without a Paal payasam. But I seriously never thought about a sweet dish, when I decided for Rice as the theme. So I was very pleased when Cham gave me this pleasant surprise by coming up with a mw method for preparing this very traditional delicacy...
and the dessert for the whole round up! Cham, thank you for giving me a colourful dessert..you are very sweet!
********************************************* There is nothing more complementing than somebody trying out your dish and loving it. And Laavanya indulges in this link love many times. She has amazed me many times, with her dedication in trying out other blogger's recipes. I get trilled just seeing those lovely dishes replicated!..Mera Number Kab Aayega kalia..oops Lavanya..:D
This time though its her very own, Mushroom Biryani. I am strongly compelled to try it out myself..
********************************************* You love Orange, Yellow and Green??..then its Capsicum Rice with Multi-Colored Peppers for you. Uma brings us this lovely looking rice, made so quickly in mw.
Now all of you, who want to have this rice rise your hand. What I see one hand not up??..well that's Uma's cos she is going to cook this for us! ********************************************* Meera brings us this beautiful looking dish called Tahiri. Tahiri is the vegetable pulao popular in Uttar Pradesh.
When its a dish from Meera, I am all excited. She does know how to make maximum use of her mw. This dish is its proof! ********************************************* EC, as always brings in many varieties of rice. Be sure to check out all the versions of rice being cooked her place. Cabbage Rice, Coconut Rice, Tomato Peas Pulav and Bisibela Bhath jus to name some.
She cooks so many varieties in mw as I may do, on a stove top and yet make them sound so simple!..thanks for the entries EC. ********************************************* Divya started her blogging very recently and I am amazed at her enthusiasm.
She prepares this lovely lemon rice in Mw. The simple lemon rice looks way too yummy!
********************************************* Sig's place is a lovely space to wander about and you get trilled at her yummy looking dishes on display. I was so very glad when she finally made a dish in the mw.
Cravings for homemade food, led her to prepare this awesome looking saffron Rice. I do wish they get more such cravings to cook in mw!
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Jayasree from Kailas Kitchen brings with a yummy Jeera Rice and serves Aloo paneer along with it. I am sure they had a lovely time.
********************************************* One thing I have always noticed was very strangely, I always have both the jayashree's commenting at the same time on my blog and it was no surprise when they sent their entries at the same time. They may not know this. But I find it so strange!
Jayashree experiments with food and makes a Paneer Pulav.
I must confess anything with paneer is my favorite! ********************************************* Priyanka, a new blogger round the corner, makes rice in mw and then cooks up masala on stove top to make Tomato Rice.
Though I wanted everything to be made in mw, I guess its fine if we learn how to get the perfect rice too..Thanks for the entry!
********************************************* Divya made Kalkandu Sadham or Misri Bhath as its also called. This is a beautiful dish made with Kalkand. I am so fond of Kalkand and sometime back I had seen this recipe online.
I had thought of preparing the same, but couldn't. so I am so happy Divya prepared this. Her picture looks so yummy, don't you think! ********************************************* Rachel cooks a lovely fried Rice in mw. It has carrots, chicken and eggs..what more can you ask for in a rice!!
Its a great one pot dish out from mw. ********************************************* And finally my own dish. The dosa excitement has kept me from cooking anything else. As I have said I am thinking only of dosas these days. So finally last night, when I realised that round up has to come out today, I couldn't postpone it any longer.
So thought of the saffron rice I had been planning and got things out. I was really amazed at the quickness of the dish. Of course, I tried out only a cup of rice as I had already prepared chapatis for dinner. All of us liked it a lot and I am sure I am going to be making this in mw from on.
Saffron rice
Preparation Time : 1 min Soaking Time : 15- 20 mins Cooking Time in mw : 8 mins
Ingredients
Basmati Rice - 1 cup Water - 3 cups Warm Milk - 1/2 cup Saffron threads - abt 5-6 Ghee - 1 tsp Jeera - 1/2 tsp Bay leaf - small piece Clove - 1 Cinnamon - 1" Salt to taste
Method to prepare
Soak the rice in water for 15 mins. The rice was a bit hard, so thought next time will soak it for 20 mins
Soak the saffron strands in warm milk.
Once you are set to cook, place the ghee along with all the spices in a large microwave safe bowl and micro for 2 mins uncovered.
Remove from the microwave, add the drain rice and micro for 30 sec, Stir well and keep for another 30 sec.
Add the drain water and milk along with saffron to the rice. I measured about 3. 5 cups totally.
Micro again for 5 mins. Then stir well and keep it again for 1 - 2 mins.
Let it rest for another 2 mins, before serving. The rice was prefect except for a tiny winy bit. But I guess since we have always had it either pressure cooked or in a pan this might be so for the first time.
Totally I had the rice ready in appx. 10 mins, whereas normally on stove top, it will take about 15- 20 mins. I liked that convenience.
Serve hot with any spicy side dish.
********************************************* I hope I have listed all the entries sent to me, do let me know if I have missed out any. If you have sent entries, do link back to this event announcement post.
That's all folks, thanks for dropping by and to those who participated, thanks for keeping this event rolling. Now lets get on our measurements cups out, to bake a perfect cake!
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