Cucumber/Keera Daal(Keera Dosakaya Pappu)

This is yet another simple daal to prepare.Well I get cucumbers to enjoy them as raw food but sometimes it ends up cooked.This comes to my rescue when I am running out of regular vegetables that I use in the daal.I make daal as well as chutney and curry with the cucumber.As the cucumber has a bland taste it adapts the taste of all the seasonings you add to the daal and becomes flavorful.Sometimes I combine cucumber-tomato to make the daal.You can find that recipe here.

Let's see how this cucumber daal is made..........

Main Ingredients :

---------------------

Firm Cucumber/Keera.....................1(large)

Toor Daal........................................1cup
Green Chilly.....................................4
Water..............................................3cups

Seasoning Ingredients :
---------------------------
Ghee/Oil........................................2tsp
Mustard Seeds..............................1tsp
Cumin Seeds.................................1tsp
Asafoetida.....................................1/8tsp
Turmeric.......................................1/4tsp
Curry Leaves................................few
Tamarind Paste.............................2tsp(optional)
Salt..............................................to taste

Preparation :
-----------------
Rinse the daal and cucumber.Peel the cucumber and check the cucumber for bitterness as cucumber might be bitter sometimes.If bitter do not cook with it.If cucumber is not bitter cut it into pieces and place it in the vessel along with daal and water.Also add slit chillies,turmeric,tamarind(if using) and salt to the daal and pressure cook it for 4 whistles.

Once the daal is cooked keep it aside and prepare the sesoning.Place a pan on the stove on medium heat and add ghee/oil and mustard seeds,cumin seeds,red chilly and asafoetida.Once the seeds splutter turn off the stove and add it to the daal along with curry leaves.

Let the daal cook on the stove for 3 minutes so that the seasoning blends in well and once done turn off the stove.

Simple and healthy cucumber daal is ready to serve with rice or rotis.

Note :
-----------
1) You can add tamarind if you want the daal to be sour.If you like it to be sourless do not add tamarind.Either way it tastes very good.

I am sending this to Delicious Dal event hosted by Suma .

I am sending this to MLLA # 23 being hosted by Susan.

Mamidikaya Pappu/Mango Daal

This is a very basic daal recipe but a very famous one which no one would ever get bored to eat .That too summer being around Mango Daal is a very frequent item in the weekly menu.If you can get the perfect firm and sour mango this daal tastes heavenly.This dish tastes heavenly when served with hot rice and gummadi/poosanikai vadiyalu , papad(Appadalu) , or  dahi chilly(Majjiga/Oorina Mirapakayalu).

Let's see how to make this simple and delicious daal---------------

Main Ingredients :

-----------------------

Toor Daal..................................1.5cup

Raw Mango(Sour)......................1

Green Chillies.............................4

Water........................................3cups

Seasoning Ingredients :

---------------------------

Ghee/Oil...................................2tsp

Mustard Seeds..........................1tsp

Cumin Seeds.............................1tsp

Red Chilly.................................1

Turmeric...................................1/2tsp

Paprika(ChillyPowder).............1tsp

Asafoetida................................1/8tsp

Salt...........................................to taste

Curry Leaves...........................1sprig

Preparation :

-----------------

Rinse the daal well and place it in a vessel and add water.Now rinse the  raw mango ,peel the skin and cut the mango into cubes and remove all the flesh from the seed too and add all these pieces along with the mango seed to the daal.

Now add slit green chillies, turmeric and salt to the daal ,mix well and pressure cook it for 4 whistles so that daal gets well cooked and then turn off the stove.

Once the pressure in the cooker is released,prepare the seasoning to be added to the daal.Place a seasoning pan on the stove on medium heat  and add ghee/oil to it.Once it heats up add mustard seeds,cumin seeds,red chilly and hing in the order mentioned.Finally switch off the stove and add chilly powder.

Now add this seasoning and curry leaves to the mango daal and let the daal cook on the stove for 5 minutes so that flavors of the seasoning blend in well.

Turn off the stove and it is ready to be served with rice or roti.

Note :

----------

1) If the mango is very sour we do not add any tamarind to the daal.

2) To enhance the flavors of the sourness of mango we add asafoetida and chilly powder to the seasoning.

3) Don't think this daal is spicy. I used paprika chilly powder,it is not spicy just gives a nice red color  and flavor to the daal.Even though I added green chillies they are just slit not completely cut so the daal is very kid friendly.

4) Do not add onions, it changes the flavor of the daal.Enjoy daal with the flavor of mango.

5) The mango seed also gives lot of flavor to the daal and also soaks in the juices of the spices and tastes great with yogurt rice.We cannot eat the seed but can suck the juices from the seed.It tastes yum.

I am sending this to Delicious Dal event hosted by Suma .

I am sending this  to MLLA#23 hosted by Susan .

Announcement : Tasty and Healthy Juices on Thursdays with Two Healthy Juices

To all my readers I would like to let you know that from today every Thursday I will post healthy and tasty juices that I make for my family . Today I am posting 2 healthy and tasty juice recipes.

We have been thinking of buying a juicer for many years but limited counter space always bothered me .Well the space is never going to get bigger in the kitchen , finally we bought it and we have been enjoying healthy juices for sometime now.For kids its fun to make juice of their favorite fruits and they are enjoying healthy and fresh fruit juices.

Juicers are surely a very nice and useful equipment for the kitchen.We can make fresh,healthy and sugar-free juices and don't have to worry about the sugars and preservatives in the juices.Not only the fruits,we can juice the vegetables too and make healthy juices that kids and the entire family can enjoy.Not an exaggeration but I mentioned earlier too that we rarely drink store bought juices in my house and so we are stuck to eating only certain fruits .Now we are enjoying wide variety of juices with combination of vegetables and fruits.The best part is kids can choose what goes in the juicer and make their own flavorful juices.When they make it gives them more satisfaction and they enjoy every sip of their juice.

 But first let me make it clear that I am not posting these juices as a promotion to any juicer. Everyone is different--- a food that is good for one person may not be right for others so I request you to check your allergies or any other concerns you have with these fruits and vegetable juices that I post here before you make or try them at home.I am making these juices from the recipe booklet provided by the juicer company and some are my own creations.I am just posting the juices we are trying and tasting at home.Enjoy and try these wonderful juices at your own risk.

Now coming to today's recipes . Today I am posting 2 healthy juices with the combination of vegetables and fruits.

Juice Recipe 1 :

----------------------------

This juice has the following ingredients ---------------------

Water Melon............1/2 of medium sized watermelon

Orange.....................3

Carrots.....................2

Zucchini....................1green

Ginger......................1inch piece

Lemon Juice.............1tsp

First rinse all the fruits nicely under cold water.If using a juicer to juice these above ingredients peel the oranges and remove the hard skin of the watermelon and cut it into the size that they can fit into the juicer mouth.Juice the watermelon followed by carrots followed by oranges followed by Zucchini and finally ginger.

Add a little lemon juice to the squeezed juice ,mix well and serve it immediately.

The above quantity yielded 4 large glasses of juice.The color of this juice was red.

Note :

--------

1) Always juice a soft fruit followed by a hard fruit so that you can get more juice out your ingredients.

Juice Recipe 2 :

-----------------------

This is another healthy juice that I made.This recipe I followed from the juicer booklet . I used all the ingredients mentioned in it except for the cantaloupe .The recipe did not ask for ginger but I added ginger in it.

This juice is a blend of the following ingredients-----------------

Oranges.............................2

Grape Fruits.......................2

Apples...............................2

Pears.................................2

Carrots..............................2

Ginger................................1inch

Put the carrots in the juicer followed by grapefruit followed by pears followed by apples and finally ginger.Pass all thes ingredients through the juicer in the order mentioned and finally you have a healthy  juice mix it well ans serve immediately .

This yielded 4 large glasses of juice.The color of the juice was light orange.

Note :

----------

1) It is always good to make the fresh juice when you are ready to consume them immediately.

Amaranth-Mango-Potato-RedRaddish Daal

This is a very healthy Daal that I came up with when I had few vegetables of different kinds in the fridge. Friends were visiting on a short notice and I wanted to make a daal along with other dishes.I planned on making sambar and ended up making Daal.

I couldn't take pictures of this entire cooking except for the final pic.This Daal was super delicious and very tasty.Two thumbs-up.

Let's see how I made it---------------

Main Ingredients :

----------------------

Toor Daal.................................2cup

Amaranth Leaves......................1cup(chopped)

Raw Mango..............................1cup(cubed)

Potato.......................................1med(cubed)

Red Radishes............................4(cubed)

Water.......................................4cups

Seasoning Ingredients :

------------------------

Ghee/Oil..................................2tsp

Mustard Seeds.........................1tsp

Cumin Seeds............................1tsp

Red Chilly................................1

Turmeric..................................1/2tsp

Asafoetida................................1/8tsp

Tamarind Paste.........................2tsp

Salt...........................................to taste

Curry Leaves............................1sprig

Preparation :

----------------

Rinse the daal well under water and drain . Now add all the vegetables,turmeric,tamarind,salt and water to the toor daal and pressure cook the daal for 4 to 5 whistles.

Once the pressure has cooled down,place a pan on medium high heat and add ghee/oil to it.Once the oil heats up add the mustard,cumin and red chilly and once they start spluttering add hing and curry leaves and switch off the stove.

Now add the seasoning to the veg-daal mix and let it boil on the stove for few more minutes.After 5minutes switch off the stove and transfer it to a serving bowl.

Yummy and delicious Amaranth-Mango-Potato-RedRaddish Daal is ready to be served with rice or roti.

Note :

---------

1) Adjust tamarind accordingly based on how sour the mango is.

2) You can add chopped gralic to the seasoning too.

3) You can add more or less water to the daal  depending on the consistency you like.

I am sending this to Think Spice : Tamarind Event hosted by PJ and started by Sunita .

I am sending this to Delicious Dal event hosted by Suma .

I am sending this to MLLA # 23 being hosted by Susan.

Tried and Tasted on Tuesday(3T's) : May 18 2010

Today is Tuesday and so it is time for me to share with you the recipes I Tried and Tasted from our fellow bloggers.I have tried few recipes in this last week and they all were very intersting,healthy and tasty.Thank you dear friends for sharing these recipes with us.

Here are the Tried and Tasted Recipes of the day------------------

1) Flax Seeds and Peanut Podi  from Gita's Kitchen by Gita Jaishankar.

I followed the recipe as is and it is really very tasty.Thank you Gita for such a delicious and healthy podi.

2) Spicy  Cashews from Few Minute Wonders by Srimathi .

I followed the recipe as is and these Cashews were a great hit for tea-time.Thank you Srimathi for this simple and healthy snack.

3) Raw Banana Skin Chutney  from Divya's Recipes by Divya.

I make the same chutney in a different way but wanted to try Divya's version and followed the recipe as is.This tasted very good too.Thank you Divya for this delicious recipe.


Friends enjoy these for now and visit their blogs for many more of their delicious recipes.

Quinoa Idli-A Very Healthy Steamed Cake/Quinoa Uthappam

I have been using Quinoa for few years now in my kitchen in making traditional Indian dishes.You can find my other recipes with Quinoa here , here and here.Today I am posting the recipe for Quinoa Idli that I made recently.This is again one of my experiments with Quinoa and turned out great.I have many more Quinoa recipe to share with you soon.For now enjoy this yummy and healthy Idli.

I did not want the flavor of Quinoa to be dominated by the Urad or Rice so I added all of them in equal quantities and made the idli.It's a super hit and got a green signal for permanent residency in our menu. 

This is how I made it-----------------------

Main Ingredients :

----------------------

Quinoa.................................1cup

Urad Daal............................1cup

Brown Rice..........................1cup(Whole High Fibre Short Grain Brown Rice)

Seasoning Ingredients :

-------------------------

Salt.....................................to taste

Oil.....................................for greasing the idli moulds

Preparation :

----------------

Rinse and soak urad daal , quinoa and brown rice over-night (6 to 8 hrs) in separate bowls.

Next day morning you will see that the urad and rice are well soaked and the quinoa is well soaked and sprouted too.(Could not capture the sprouts clearly).

First grind the urad to a batter nice and smooth using less water and pour it into a bowl.

Later grind brown rice to a smooth batter using less water as well.Now add the brown rice batter to the urad batter and mix well.

Now grind the quinoa to a smooth batter using less water as well and pour it into urad-rice batter ,add salt and mix well.

Place the bowl of batter in the oven with the light on and let it ferment for 6 to 8 hours.You can see in the pictures how well the batter is fermented .

Once the batter is fermented take it out mix well and check for salt and adjust salt accordingly.

Now take a pan/idli cooker/pressure cooker ( in which the idli stand can fit ) and place it on the stove on medium- high heat and pour 2 glasses of water.While the water in the pan or cooker is heating  up grease the idli moulds with oil and spoon the batter into the moulds.Do not overfill.

Place the idli stand in the pan/cooker and cook it covered for 15 to 20 minutes and then switch off the stove.
(If using pressure cooker do not put the cooker whistle).

Wait for the steam to settle down and take the idli stand out and remove the quinoa idlis into a bowl or hot pack.

Serve the yummy and healthy Quinoa Idlies with Chutney , Sambhar or Chutney Powder of your choice.

Along with the idlis I made small pancakes or utappams with this batter and I should say they really came out so nice and spongy like the western pancakes.

We had the Quinoa Idlies and Quinoa Utappam with Dalia-Coconut chutney and CurryLeaves-Lentil Powder.


Try these wonderful idlies and let me know how you like them.

Note :
---------
1) After fermentation if you taste the batter it feels bitter because of the natural bitterness in the Quinoa but once you make the idlis or utappams you will not feel the bitterness in it as Quinoa tends to loose the bitterness after it's cooked.
2) As this was the first time I made idly with Quinoa I did not add too many ingredients to it as I like to enjoy the original flavors at first.Now that I know how it tastes I will try adding veggies to this batter next time and make vegetable idlies.

This goes to CWF-WG : Quinoa Event hosted by Priya Mitharwal .

Guthivankaya Kura/Stuffed Eggplant with Minapappukaram

This draft has been waiting to be posted for a long time now and finally it is published.For me, till I came to USA this is the only method of stuffed eggplant that I knew and ate for many years.This is a dry version of stuffed eggplant.Only after coming here for the first time I had the gravy version or masala version of eggplant.I like both the ways of making it but my favorite version is eggplant with spiced lentil powder.Try it and you will love it too.

Generally, in traditional way when this curry is made it needs more oil to cook the stuffed eggplant.But today I am going to share with you a very healthier way of making it without comprimising with it's taste.

Let us see how it is made-----------

Main Ingredients :

--------------------

Tender Eggplants........................2 lbs(or 10 small)
Canola Oil..................................2 tbsp

Seasoning Ingredients :
-------------------------
Minapappukaram/Spiced Lentil Powder................just enough for stuffing the eggplants(you can get the recipe for this powder here)

Preparation :
---------------
Take small tender eggplants and nicely wash them.Now slit them in such a way that you make a slit half way and turn it to the other side and slit it half way in the opposite direction.Make sure you don't cut the eggplant completely.

Now take the spiced lentil powder/minapappukaram and stuff it into one side of the eggplant,turn it to the other side and stuff it with the powder.

In the above way cut and stuff all the eggplants and place them in a dish that can be kept in the pressure cooker.

Cover the dish with a plate.Do not add any water to the vegetables.

Place the dish in the pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles(do add water to the pressure cooker) and switch off the stove.Once the pressure is off take the dish of stuffed eggplants out.

Place a pan on the stove on medium high heat and add 2tbsp of oil and once it is very hot add these pressure cooked eggplants to the oil and cook.

While frying them make sure not to break open the eggplants.Fry them for 10 minutes and switch off the stove.

This very yummy Gutti-Vankaya Kura stuffed with Spiced Lentil Powder goes well with hot rice,rotis,chapatis and parathas.

Try it and you would love to make it again.

Note :
--------
1) As we already add salt to the spiced lentil powder I did not add any to the eggplants again,but if you think salt needs to be adjusted please go ahead and add some.

2) A very healthy way of having stuffed eggplant or guthivankaya kura.

Example : I made this curry few days back when we had friends come over for dinner.My friend mentioned that she likes to eat the eggplant curry only the way she makes at home.Then I told her it's okay but if she likes she may try it.Then she said she would like to try a small piece and had it,she liked it so much that she had the whole eggplant.She said that this is a new variation and loved it.Well they liked this curry so much that I packed some to go.

Minapappu Kaaram /Spiced Lentil Powder

You can see me using this Minapappu Kaaram or Spiced Lentil Powder in many of my dishes.A must in my kitchen.This is a very favorite and famous spice powder in our families.We use this powder as stuffing for eggplant and bhendi when cooked whole.We also use this powder as seasoning in curries instead of using chilli powder. I have promised earlier to give the recipe and finally here it is.

Let us see how this powder is prepared---------------

Main Ingredients :
--------------------
Urad Daal..........................1cup
Chana Daal........................1cup
Coriander Seeds................3/4cup
Red Chillies.......................1/2cup to 1cup(depending on the size of the chilli and  to your taste.)
Cumin Seeds.....................1/5cup
Methi Seeds......................1tsp
Mustard Seeds..................1tsp
Sesame/Peanut Oil.............2tsp( these oils  are preffered)
Tamarind Flakes................small lemon size(more or less as per your taste)
Salt....................................to taste

Preparation :
---------------
Take a pan and place it on the stove on medium heat and add 2tsp of oil.Only this amount of oil not more please.

Once the oil heats up add all the ingredients except tamarind and salt. Fry all the ingredients nicely till they are golden brown.Do not burn them,stay near the stove until done.Turn off the stove and tranfer the fried mix to a plate to cool it down.

Once the ingredients have cooled down transfer them into a mixie jar and also add the tamarind flakes to this jar and grind them to make a coarse powder(not too coarse not too fine).

Finally add required salt and grind the powder one more time,take it out and store it in an air tight container.

Note:
--------
1) This powder can be made ahead and refrigerated for an year.A powder that comes handy in many ways.

2) Use only sesame or peanut oil for frying the ingredients if you are making it in large quantity.If you are making the powder just for 1 time use,you may use any oil you like.

3) Adjust chillys  and tamarind to your taste.

I am sending this to Think Spice : Tamarind Event hosted by PJ and started by Sunita .

Potato Yogurt Chutney

Who doesn't like potatoes? I don't think there would be any one who doesn't eat potato.In one form or the other it is consumed by people all over the world.In Indian cuisine we use it in curries,sambars,parathas and the list is endless.

Today I am posting a yogurt chutney recipe with potato.This is another very yummy yogurt chutney and just right for the summer time.We can make this chutney in 2 different ways and I am presenting you with one way of making it today.

Let us see how this is made-----------------

Main Ingredients :

--------------------

Potatoes.........................2 med

Onion.............................1small

Yogurt............................2cups

Seasoning Ingredients :

-------------------------

Canola Oil.......................2tbsp

Cumin Seeds...................1tsp

Mustard Seeds................1/2tsp

Turmeric.........................1/2tsp

Red Chilly.......................1

Asafoetida.......................pinch

Curry Leaves...................few

Salt.................................to taste

Preparation :

----------------

Wash and cut potatoes into small cubes and dice the onion.Take the yogurt into a bowl and whisk it well and add salt and turmeric to it and mix well.

Place a pan on medium heat and add oil to it.Once oil is hot add mustard,cumin and red chilly.Once they start to splutter add hing and curry leaves.

Once the seasoning is ready add potatoes to the pan and stir well and cook it covered for 5minutes.

Take off the lid and add onions to it and stir well and cook coverd for few more minutes.Once the onion is added the potatoes become softer.

Now take out the lid add little salt(remember we already added salt to the yogurt)and stir well.You can see that the the potatoes and onions are very well steamed as we cooked it covered.Try to mash it a bit with the ladle.

Now switch off the stove and  transfer these potato-onion mix to the yogurt and mix well.

Yummy and delicious Potato Yogurt chutney is ready.Serve it with rice or rotis.

I am sending this to Twenty-20 Event hosted by Niloufer.