Bhindi Do Pyaaza

Bhindi do pyaaza ia a popular dish in most restaurant menus.

The hindi name for Okra/Ladyfinger is Bhindi and for onions is Pyaz. Do in Hindi means twice or double. This recipe uses double the amount of onions than what is used generally. Hence the name Bhindi Do Pyaza


I generally use microwave oven to cook okra so that we can use less amount of oil later.







Ingredients:

Bhindi ( Okra) - 250 gms
Onions - 200 grams
Ginger/Garlic paste - 20 grams
red chilly powder - 25 grams
amchur (dried mango powder) - 10 grams
garam masala powder - 10 grams
Oil - 20 grams
Turmeric powder and salt - to taste
Mustard - 5 grams
Cumin seeds - 2 grams
Curry leaves - few

Method:

Wash and clean the okras. Chop them into slightly big pieces.
Chop the onions into small pieces.
Microwave the chopped okras with little salt for about 5 minutes. The okras would be 75% cooked by this time.
In a kadai pour oil. Add mustard.
Once mustard splutters add the cumin seeds and curry leaves and fry for about a minute.
Add the chopped onions and fry until they are light brown.
Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for another 2 minutes.
Add salt, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and Red chilly powder.
Mix well and cook until the raw smell goes away.
Now add the cooked okras and amchur powder. Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes.



Bhindi Do Pyaaza is ready!! Serve with hot rotis/chapathis/phulkas.

Linking this to spicenflavours Turmeric or Garlic, cookin good-food's Only side dishes, Nivedhan's syf-hws-ginger who is guest hosting syf-cook-with-spices-series

Dal Fry

This is one dish which goes very well with rice as well as roti and pretty easy to make.  This is a healthy dish and also guilt free and one which appears for sure in the north Indian thali.

Ingredients:

Toor dal -  100 grams

Onions – 30 grams

Tomatoes – 20 grams

Ginger/Garlic paste – 10 grams

Green chilly – 1 no

Coriander leaves – few

Salt and turmeric powder – to taste

To temper:

Oil – 10 grams

Mustard – 5 grams

Red chilly flakes – 5 grams

Cumin seeds – 2 grams

Curry leaves – few

 

Method:

• Pressure cook the toor dal with salt, turmeric powder and slit green chilly.
• Finely chop the onions and tomatoes.
• In a kadai pour oil and add mustard.
• Once mustard splutters add the cumin seeds, curry leaves and red chilly flakes. Fry for about a minute.
• Add the chopped onions and ginger/garlic paste. Fry until the onions  are translucent.
• Add the tomatoes. Add required amount of salt. Sprinkle a little water. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
• Now add the cooked toor dal. Mix well. Adjust the gravy consistency with water if required.
• Allow the dal to boil. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Dal fry is ready!!! Serve with chapathi, phulka, rotis, parathas or plain rice.

Linking this post to Jaleela's bachelors-feast, spicenflavours Event, cooking good food only side dishes, nivedhan's hws-ginger who is guest hosting syf-cook-with-spices-series

Bajji Platter

I love this snack…. That too on a cold day.. Bajji and tea would be a lovely combination. The other day I made a platter of bajjis and here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Gram flour – 150 grams

Rice flour – 25 grams

Chilly powder – 20 grams

Hing – ¼ teaspoon

Turmeric powder and salt – to taste

Oil – to fry

Capsicum (bajji molaga) – 50 grams

Onion – 50 grams

Potato – 50 grams

Brinjal – 50 grams

Method:

Mix the gram flour, rice flour, chilly powder, hing, turmeric powder and salt.

Add water and make a batter of pouring consistency.

Onion bajji:

Peel the skin of the onions. Cut the onions into disc shaped.

Pour oil in a kadai. Drop the batter in the oil. If the batter comes up immediately then the oil is hot enough.

Dip the disc shaped onions into the batter. Dip it well into the batter and then drop it into the oil.

Fry on both sides. Once bubbles in the oil reduces remove the bajjis.

Potato bajji:

Peel the skin of the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into disc shaped.

Pour oil in a kadai. Drop the batter in the oil. If the batter comes up immediately then the oil is hot enough.

Dip the disc shaped potatoes into the batter. Dip it well into the batter and then drop it into the oil.

Fry on both sides. Once bubbles in the oil reduces remove the bajjis.

Brinjal bajji:

Cut the brinjals into disc shaped. Soak it in water for 5 minutes.

Pour oil in a kadai. Drop the batter in the oil. If the batter comes up immediately then the oil is hot enough.

Dip the disc shaped brinjals into the batter. Dip it well into the batter and then drop it into the oil.

Fry on both sides. Once bubbles in the oil reduces remove the bajjis.

Capsicum bajji:

The capsicum used to make bajjis is the long one which looks similar to green chillies.

The chilly powder used in the batter can be reduced a little bit since the capsicums would be spicy.

Pour oil in a kadai. Drop the batter in the oil. If the batter comes up immediately then the oil is hot enough.

Dip the capsicums into the batter. Dip it well into the batter and then drop it into the oil.

Lower the heat and fry on both sides  so that the capsicums get cooked. Once bubbles in the oil reduces remove the bajjis.

Hot bajjis are ready! Serve hot with chutney of your choice or sauce!!!

Linking this to Jaleela's my-own-event-bachelors-feast

Linking this to Roshni's show-me-your-hits who is guest hosting Sangeetha's HITS

Quick and Easy Sambar

The moment I saw jaleela's event for Bachelor's feast, this is one particular dish I remembered which I have learnt a few years back but have found it very handy when time is a constraint. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Toor dal: 50 grams

Onions: 40 grams

Carrots: 30 grams

Potatoes: 30 grams

Tomatoes: 20 grams

Sambar powder: 20 grams

Green chilly - 1 no

Tamarind - a lemon size ball

Salt and turmeric powder - to taste

To temper:

Oil - 10 grams

mustard - 5 grams

Cumin seeds - 2 grams

Curry leaves - few

Method:

• Wash the toor dal and soak for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile chop all the vegetables listed above. Chop them into big pieces since we are going to pressure cook them.
• In a pressure cooker add the toor dal, chopped vegetables, slit green chillies, salt and turmeric powder.
• Pressure cook for 2 whistles.
• Soak the tamarind in warm water for 5 minutes and make a thick pulp out of it.
• Open the pressure cooker, add the tamarind pulp and sambar powder. Mix well.
• Allow it to boil. Check for salt and and add water if you feel the gravy is very thick.
• In a kadai, pour oil. Once oil is hot add the mustard. Once mustard splutters add the cumin seeds and curry leaves.
• Pour this tempering over the sambar and mix well.

Quick and Easy sambar is ready. Serve with idli, dosa or rice

Tips:

You can add other vegetables of your choice also like, kani vellari (cucumber), bottle guard, etc..

If you want to add ladies finger, add it after the pressure cooker is opened otherwise it will become very mushy, Or microwave the okra with a pinch of salt and add at the end when the sambar is left to boil.

Linking this to Jaleela's my-own-event-bachelors-feast.html and spicenflavours Garlic or turmeric and Only Side dishes

Egg Biriyani

This is one fool proof recipe which I have been using for ages. And I make this egg biriyani in minutes.  Even in my college days, when I started work, I used to make this often with just the side dish changing... This would be a perfect meal for lunch box ...



Ingredients:
Raw Rice - 250 grams
Eggs - 4 nos
Onions - 100 grams
Tomatoes - 75 grams
Ginger/garlic paste - 20 grams
Green chilly powder - 2 nos
Coriander powder - 20 grams
Garam masala powder - 15 grams
Chilly powder - 10 grams
cloves - 2
cardamom - 2
cinnamon - 1/2 inch stick
Oil/ ghee - 25 grams
Salt and turmeric powder - to taste
Coriander leaves/ Mint leaves - few

Method:

• Boil the eggs and keep them aside.
• Wash the rice thoroughly and keep aside.
• Chop the onions, tomatoes and green chillies. We can chop them into big sizes since we are going to grind them in the end.
• In a kadai, pour one spoon of oil. Add the onions, tomatoes, green chillies, ginger/garlic paste. Saute until the raw smell goes off and the mixture become little mushy.
• Alternatively you can take the above ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and heat for about 5 minutes. By this way we can avoid the little oil also.
• Grind the above mixture into a smooth paste. Don't add water while grinding.
• In a pressure cooker, pour oil or ghee. Add the cloves cardamom and cinnamon. Fry for a minute. Now add the ground paste. Saute for about 5 minutes until the paste thickens. 
• Add salt, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and the chilly powder. Saute for one minute.
• Add the rice and mix well. Saute for another minute.
• Pour water. I used the water ratio of 1:2. Check for salt. 
• Close the pressure cooker and cook for 2 whistles.
• Garnish the rice with coriander and mint leaves once ready and serve with boiled eggs.

Egg Biriyani is ready!!! Serve with raitha and papad.

Linking this to Jaleela - my own event bachelors feast and Nivedhan's syf-hws-ginger and spicenflavours

Puli Inji

Inji aka ginger is one vegetable which has a lot of medicinal properties. It is very good for people who have gastro-intestinal problems and digestive problems.

The main ingredient in this recipe is Ginger (inji) and tamarind (puli), hence the name puli inji. This item would be found in almost all the sadhyas in kerala and is an important item in Onam sadhya too...

This item is prepared with gingelly oil so that it can stay for a longer time. I generally store this for a period of one week without refrigerating. I have heard that if refrigerated this can be used for about 3 months.



Ingredients:

Tamarind : 100gms.
Ginger : 100gms
Green Chillies: 50gms
Gingelly oil : 50 grams
Jaggery : 50gms
Mustard seeds: 1 tbsp.
Split urad dal: 1 tbsp.
Bengal gram dal: 1 tbsp.
Curry leaves: a few
Red chillies : 3-4
Turmeric powder: 2 tsp.
Salt to taste



Method:

• Soak tamarind in warm water for ½ hour and extract thick juice and keep aside. 
• Chop the ginger and green chillies into very small pieces. 
• Heat oil in a wide bottomed, thick pan. When the oil starts smoking, reduce the heat and add mustard seeds. 
• When they splutter, add urad dal, Bengal gram dal, broken red chillies and curry leaves (in that order). 
• Increase the heat. When the dals turn light brown in colour, add the chopped green chillies, fry for 2 minutes and add the chopped ginger. 
• Fry for another 2 minutes and pour the tamarind extract. 
• Add turmeric powder, salt and jaggery and allow the mixture to boil to a thick consistency.(about 15 minutes ) 
• When the oil starts floating on the surface, remove from heat.

Sweet, Sour and spicy Puli Inji is ready. This is a great accompaniment for curd rice. It also goes very well with roti, dosa, idli etc...

Linking this recipe to Nivedhanam's SYF HWS Ginger who is guest hosting Syf cook with Spices series

Eggless Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

I bought a whole pumpkin from market, which I don’t usually do. So trying out various recipes with pumpkin. And this is one such recipe which turned out to be yummy ….

This is my first trial for a eggless cake. I thought cakes without eggs won’t be soft. But how wrong!! This cake was soft and splendid…

If you want the flavor of pumpkin to be visible in the cake, don’t add the cocoa powder.

Ingredients:

Pumpkin – 150 grams

Maida – 75 grams

Baking powder – 10 grams

Baking soda – 5 grams

Butter – 50 grams

Sugar – 50 grams

Cocoa powder – 10 grams

Cinnamon – 3 grams

Chocolate chips – 20 grams

Salt – to taste

Method:

• Peel the pumpkin and chop it into cubes.
• Cover and microwave the pumpkin pieces for about 5 minutes to make it mushy.
• Grind the cooked pumpkin, sugar and 40 grams of butter into a smooth liquid and keep aside.
• Powder the cinnamon into a fine powder.

• Sieve the maida flour, baking powder, baking soda, powdered cinnamon and cocoa powder and add them into a bowl.
• Add a pinch of salt and the chocolate chips to the above mixture and mix well.
• Now pour the pumpkin juice little by little and mix the flour to make a soft dough.
• For me the pumpkin juice was enough to make a semi solid dough.
• Preheat the oven at 185 degree centigrade.
• Grease the baking tray with the remaining butter.
• Place the dough in the baking tray and bake at 185 degree centigrade for about 50-60 minutes.
• After baking, remove the cake and place it in a wired rack to cool.

Eggless Pumpkin chocolate cake is ready!!!

Store it in a airtight container.

Linking this post to Eggless Bakes and Treats Lets party every month event guest hosted by nivedhanam.

Linking this to Roshni's Show me your HITS who is guest hosting Sangeeths's HITS

Stuffed Idli

I wanted to try something different for breakfast. So tried stuffed Idli and it turned out to be very tasty. This would be a very healthy diet, since I have used brinjals as the stuffing which has lot of iron. The calorie intake would be less if you end up eating the same amount of stuffed idlis as you eat normal idlis, since the amount of batter is less in each stuffed idli as compared to normal idli and this can be eaten without any side dish.

Ingredients:

Brinjal - 100 grams

Onions – 50 grams

Tomatoes – 30 grams

Coriander powder – 10 grams

Garam masala powder – 5 grams

Chilly powder – 10 grams

Oil – 10 grams

Mustard – 4 grams

Turmeric powder and salt – to taste

Idli batter – 250 grams

Method:

• Chop the brinjals and soak them in water for about 5 minutes.
• Finely chop the onions and tomatoes.
• In a kadai pour oil. When the oil is hot add mustard.
• Once mustard splutters add the onions and fry until onions turn translucent.
• Add the brinjals and tomatoes. Add salt and turmeric powder. Mix well and cover and cook until the brinjals are cooked.
• Add the coriander powder, garam masala powder and chilly powder. Mix well and cook for another 2 minutes.
• Grease the idli plate with little oil. Pour 1 spoon of idli batter. On top place 1 spoon of the brinjal filling. Cover the brinjal filling with another 1 or 2 spoons of idli batter.
• Repeat this for all the plates. Steam the idlis for about 8-10 minutes.

Stuffed idli is ready!!! We can also replace the stuffing with vegetables of our choice like potatoes, cauliflowers etc..

Gobi Manchurian:

 This is one dish which we make sure to order in any restaurant. Of late I have started making this at home. And here goes the recipe I follow.

This recipe is for my bro...

Ingredients:

Cauliflower/Gobi – 500 grams

Oil - for deep frying

Maida/All Purpose Flour – 4 tbsp

Cornflour – 4 tbsp

Rice flour – 2 tbsp

Pepper Powder – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Garlic – 5 grams

Ginger – 5 grams

Green Chilly – 20 grams

onions – 50 grams

Capsicum – 30 gramsl (optional)

Tomato Sauce – 1 tbsp

Soya Sauce – 2 tsps

Cornflour – 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves - few

Method:

• Separate the cauliflower into small florets.
• Put them in salted boiling water for about 10 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
• In a bowl, add the Maida, Cornflour, rice flour, pepper powder and little salt and mix well.
• Now add water and make into a batter of dropping consistency.
• Heat oil for deep frying.
• Drop the cauliflower florets into the batter and spoon them into the hot oil one by one.
• Cook on medium flame, till the outer batter is cooked and turns crispy. Drain on to a tissue and keep aside.
• Finely chop the ginger, garlic, onions, capsicum and green chillies.
• Heat a Kadai with oil, add the green chillies, ginger and garlic and fry for a minute. Next add the onions and sauté.
• Next add the chopped capsicum and fry for about 2 to 3 minutes on medium flame.
• Now add the tomato sauce and soya sauce and salt sauté well.
• Dissolve the cornflour in ½ a cup of water and add it. Stir well, till you get a semi solid, shiny consistency.
• Adjust the consistency of the gravy by adding more water if needed.
• Now add the fried cauliflower florets and mix well.
• Switch off stove and leave the mix for some time so that the gravy is absorbed in the fried cauliflower.
• Finally garnish with the coriander leaves.

Yummy Gobi Manchurian is ready!

Vegetable Noodles

My all time favourite!!! I will eat noodles anytime anyplace anywhere, plain or spicy…

I guess most of the present generation are mad about noodles, spaghetti, pasta etc…

My family doesn't prefer buying the ready made noodles pack or the maggi/top-ramen types.

So I just buy plain spaghetti. Heres how I make it.

Ingredients:

Noodles – 100 grams

Onions – 30 grams

Garlic – 2 pods

Carrots – 20 grams

Beans – 20 grams

Capsicum – 20 grams

Tomatoes – 15 grams

Oil – 25 grams

Salt – to taste

To powder:

Coriander seeds – 10 grams

Fennel seeds – 5 grams

Cumin seeds – 2 grams

Dry ginger – 4 grams

Nutmeg – 2 grams

Cinnamon – 4 grams

Cloves – 3 grams

Cardamom – 2 grams

Poppy seeds – 2 grams

Red chilies – 10 grams

Tamarind – 5 grams

Sugar – 2 grams

Method:

• Dry roast the ingredients under “To powder” except sugar. Grind everything including sugar to a fine powder. This masala powder can be used for various dishes. This has a sweet, sour and spicy taste.
• Finely chop all the vegetables and keep aside. We can add more vegetables like cauliflower, peas, potatoes etc…
• Boil around 2 cups of water. Add little salt and put the noodles. Switch off stove. Cover and keep aside for about 5 minutes.
• After 5 minutes the noodles should have been cooked. Drain the noodles from hot water and put them into a bowl of cold water. Keep aside for 2 minutes.
• After 2 minutes, drain the noodles and spread it in a plate. Pour a spoon of oil on the noodles and keep aside.
• In a kadai add the remaining oil,  add onions and garlic and fry until onions turn translucent.
• All all the remaining chopped vegetables and salt. Sprinkle a little water and mix well. Cover and close for 5 minutes until all the vegetables are cooked.
• Add 2 spoons of the masala powder and mix well.
• Now add the cooked noodles and mix well.

Hot and spicy veg noodles is ready!!!

Keerai Molagutal

Molagutal is a gravy dish popular among the kerala Brahmins which is basically made of dal + coconut grinded with cumin seeds and some vegetable.

I am a big fan of greens/spinach. Greens/spinach given to me in any form, I will manage to eat. But that was not the case in my house. My mom would have a tough day if the menu had greens/spinach. The only dish made of greens that was allowed was keerai molagutal.

Ingredients:

Greens/spinach – 200 grams

Tuvar dal – 75 grams

Coconut – 50 grams

Cumin seeds – 3 grams

Red chillies – 2 nos

Turmeric powder and salt – to taste

To temper:

Oil – 10 grams

Mustard – 5 grams

Curry leaves - few

Method

• Wash the greens and chop them finely.
• Pressure cook the tuvar dal and the greens with salt and turmeric powder.
• Grind the coconut, cumin seeds and red chillies by adding little water into a smooth paste.
• Open the pressure cooker and grind the tuvar dal and the greens. Or you can also just mash the dal and greens with a spatula.
• Add the grinded coconut paste, mix well and boil the gravy.
• In a kadai, pour oil and add mustard. Once mustard splutters, add curry leaves and add the same to the gravy.

Keerai Molagutal is ready!!! Serve with rice and spicy mango pickle.

Mix Veg Uthappam

When we have dosa batter for more than two days, the taste changes. The batter turns more sour and the ordinary dosa doesn’t taste good. So I make Onion uthappams. That is make a thick dosa and sprinkle finely chopped onions on top of that. This time I made Uthappam by including a lot of veggies and the taste was fabulous that people ended eating uthappams without any side dish.

Ingredients:

Dosa batter – 250 grams

Onions – 50 grams

Green chilllies – 10 grams

Tomatoes – 20 grams

Capsicum – 10 grams

Ginger – 5 grams

Coriander leaves – few

Salt – to taste

Oil – for greasing

Method:

• Finely chop the onions, green chillies, tomatoes, capsicum and ginger.
• Place the dosa tava on stove and grease with oil.
• When the tava is hot, pour the dosa batter and make a thick dosa.
• Sprinkle little amounts of all the chopped vegetables.
• Sprinkle a little salt and coriander leaves
• With a spatula press all the sprinkled vegetables so that they get immersed in the dosa batter.
• Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
• With the spatula, flip the dosa and let it cook for another one minute.
• Don’t overcook otherwise the onions and coriander leaves will start burning and wouldn't taste good.

Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

Cauliflower Capsicum Bhaji

Winters are here and this is the season where some of my favourite veggies like cauliflower, peas are found in abundance. And I have started the season with cauliflower. For weight watchers, this vegetable would prove very helpful since about 50% of this vegetable is water.

Ingredients:
Cauliflower - 200 grams
Capsicum - 150 grams
Onion - 75 grams
Ginger/Garlic paste - 15 grams
Coriander powder - 15 grams
Garam masala powder - 10 grams
Chilly powder - 10 grams
Salt and turmeric powder - to taste
Coriander/Mint leaves - few
Oil - 20 grams

Method:

• Separate the cauliflower into florets and put them in hot water with little salt for about 10 minutes.
• Finely chop the onions and capsicum.
• In a kadai, pour oil. Add the onions and ginger/garlic paste. Fry until Onion turns translucent.
• Add the capsicum and turmeric and salt. Fry for about 5 minutes.
• Add the cauliflower florets and all the other powders. Mix well.
• Cover and cook until the cauliflower is cooked.
• Add water as per the required consistency of the gravy.

 Cauliflower Capsicum Bhaji is ready. This is a great accompaniment for Roti, chapathi also with rice. I served this with dosa and people loved this.
Mix the Bhaji with rice and cauliflower rice is ready!!

Linking this to Only Side dishes event.