Coriander rice

Serves 4

Ingredients:
Green coriander leaves 1 bunch
Rice 1 cup
Urad dal 3 tbsp
Chana dal 3 tbsp
Red chilli 4
Salt to taste
Ing 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Oil
Curry leaves handful

Method:
Cook rice separately with little salt.
Take a frying pan. Add 1 tsp of oil. Add urad dal and Chana dal and fry it well.
Add  red chillies to it ad fry well, till the dals are roasted well.
Keep it aside and let it cool.
To the frying pan add 1 tsp of oil, add the coriander leaves and sauté till the moisture in it is reduced. The quantity of green coriander almost becomes half.
Grind the dal mixture with the chilli into a coarse powder. Add the coriander to it and grind it again coarsely.
In a pan take a tbsp of oil. Add the mustard seeds. Allow  it to splatter.
Add ing, 1 tsp of urad dal and Chana dal respectively and fry it, till it turns light brown.
Add the curry leaves and ground mixture. Add salt to it.  Remember to add salt, according to salt , which has been added while cooking the rice.
Mix the rice to it. Serve hot with raita.

Note:
Some thinly sliced capsicum can also be added, when adding the ground mixture.
Try to avoid  onions, it masks the taste and good smell of this rice.

Beetroot halwa

Ingredients:
Beetroot s 2
Sugar 1 1/2 cups
Ghee 3-4 tb sp
Milk 2
Water 1 cup
Almonds thinly sliced 2 tsp
Cashews thinly sliced 2 tsp
Raisins 2 tsp

Method:
Grate the beets in a blender or a grater.
Put it in a heavy frying pan or a vessel.
Add the water and milk together to the beets.
Allow the liquids to get evaporated and see to it that the beets are cooked properly.
Add the sugar to it and mix well.
Mix in intervals till it starts solidifying.
Add the ghee in intervals.
Take it out from the flame when a halwa consistency is reached.
Take a small pan, add a tsp of ghee and fry the almonds cashews and raisins and add to the halwa.

Note:
A tsp of cardamom powder can be also added.
Halwa consistency is reached when no more water is left, at the same time it still has some moisture left. The halwa doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Ying yang soup

Serves 4:

Ingredients:
Carrot diced 1/4 cup
Beans diced 1/4 cup
Cabbage 1/4 cup
Cauliflower 1/4 cup
Mushrooms chopped 1/4 cup (optional)
Spring onions finely chopped (separate the greens) 4
Spinach 1/4 cup
Coriander 1/4 cup
Spring onion greens 1/4 cup
Vegetable stock 4 cup
Corn starch 1 1/2 tsp
Oil
Pepper 1tsp
Chili powder 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Take  1 tsp of oil in a pan. Add spinach, coriander leaves and spring onion greens and saute for 1-2 minutes and set aside.
Take the same pan. Add 1 tsp of oil and add all the vegetables and saute for 3 minutes and keep aside.
In a sauce pan, take the vegetable stock and bring it to boil. Add pepper powder, salt (check the stock for the salt and then add) and chili powder and cook for few minutes till it starts boiling.
Take the corn starch and mix it with little water and make it to a paste and add it to the vegetable stock till it thickens.
Add 1/4 th of this vegetable stock to the greens.
To the rest of the stock, add all the sauted vegetables and cook for another 2 minutes.
While serving, divide the stock with vegetables, in the soup bowls. Then add the greens with the stock on top of it, and serve it hot without mixing.

Mothakam

For approx. 30 mothakams

Ingredients:
For the dough:
Wheat flour 1 cup
water
Oil 1 tbsp
salt a pinch

For the filling:
Jaggery 1 cup
Grated coconut 1 cup
green Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
ghee 1 tsp
water 1/4 cup

oil or ghee for frying

Method:
Take the wheat flour in a bowl, salt and mix well. Add enough water to knead into a tight dough and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
Take  a pan, add the 1/4th cup water to it. Add jaggery to it and allow it to melt.
Then add grated coconut and green cardamom powder to it and mix well.
Add ghee to it.
Keep in heat till the water is evaporated and the filling is not too sticky.

For the mothakams:
Divide the dough into 4-5  big balls. Make big, thin roti shapes out of it.
With a mold or a round lid cut out small, uniform rounds.
Place 1 tsp of filling into it and bring all the ends together to the top and seal it properly without any opening.
Keep oil in a pan for frying the mothakams.
Drop few of the mothakams in oil every time and fry it.
Drain out the excess oil in a kitchen towel and serve.

Note:
The filling shouldnot be too hot while making the mothakams. Let it cool for 15-20 minutes.
Do not over fill, the mothakams, chances of coming out is there while frying.
Do not cook the filling for a long time in flame. Cook it till there is no water.
Seal the mothakams properly and see to it that there are no holes in the dough which is used to make mothakams.

Instant Lemon Sevai

Ingredients:
Lemon 1
Green chilli  chopped 2 -3
Ginger finelly chopped
roasted peanut 2 tbsp
Oil
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Black gram dal 1 tbsp
Chana dal 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Curry leaves 1 strand
Coriander leaves  finelly chopped 1 tbsp
Ing 1 tsp
Cooked Sevai 3 cups
salt to taste

Method:
The instant sevai packs are readilay available in shops. Take the required amount of sevai in a vessel. Add boiled water to it and cover it with a lid and set aside for 2-3 minutes. When it sames the sevai are cooked, sieve it and keep aside without water.
Squeeze the lemon and take the juice. Add some salt and keep aside.
In a pan, for seasoning, Add 1 tb sp of oil. Add Mustard seeds and allow it to splatter. Add Urad dal and Chana dal and let it turn light brown.
Add Curry leaves, ing. Add green chillis, ginger and fry it. Add peanuts to it. Add turmeric powder to it.
Add the cooked Sevai to it and mix well..
Remove the pan from heat. Add lemon juice with required salt and mix well.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Note. To enhance the flavour 1 tsp roasted ground fenugreek seeds powder can be added.

Omapodi

Ingredients
Gram flour 3 cups
Rice flour 1 cup
Annie seeds 3 tbsp
Chilli powder 1 tbsp
Salt
2 tbsp of butter
Water
Oil

Method
Soak the annie seeds in water for 30 minutes  and grind it. Filter the paste through the sieve and use only the juice.
Sieve the gram flour and rice flour together.
Add chilli powder and salt to it.
Add 2 tbsp of butter to it and mix well.
Add enough  water to make a dough of roti dough consistency.
Keep oil in a  frying pan.
Put the dough in the omapodi mold and add it to the oil from periphery (outside) to centre in circles . Fry it till light brown and remove it.
Keep it in an airtight container.

Note: When making large quantities of omapodi, donot prepare a lot of dough together. Finish one portion of the flour and mix the rest after that.

Instant Sweet Appam

Ingredients:
Wheat flour 1 cup
Rice flour 1 tbsp
Jaggery 3/4 th cup to 1 cup
Grated coconut 2 tbsp
 Banana 1/2
Cardamamom powder 1 tsp
Water
Oil or ghee

Method:
Take a little water (1/4 cup ), jaggery in  a pan and heat it, till the jaggery melts.
Remove it from flame. To it add, wheat flour, rice flour and banana and mix well.
Add cardamom powder and mix well. If the banana is not very well mashed, just blend it in a mixer together to a dosa dough consistency.
Little water can be added to reach the required dosa dough consistency.
Add grated coconut to it and mix well.
In a  pan or Appam pan add oil.
When the right temperature  of the oil is reached add this dough with a spoon. After some time with a fork or a stick turn the sides.

Note: If the appam pan is not there, it can be made in a normal pan, as we make bhondas or vadas. Add the dough with a table spoon in small portions.

Mango rice

Ingredients:
Raw Mango 1
Green chili 8
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds 1 tsp
Asafoetida powder 1/2 tsp
oil
Rice 1 cup
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Urad dal 1 tsp
salt

Method:
Boil the rice separately and keep aside.
Remove the skin of the mango and grate the rest.
In a  pan, dry roast fenugreek seeds and asafoetida and make it into a powder and set aside.
In the same pan add oil and after sometime add mustard seeds. Allow it to splatter.
Add Uradal and allow it to turn light brown.
Add curry leaves and vertically split green chilies to it.
Add the grated mango and stir well.
Add turmeric powder and salt.
Cook till it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Add the powdered fenugreek and asafoetida powder and mix well.
Add cooked rice and mix well. serve hot with Raita or mourkuzhambhu.

Lemon Rice

Ingredients:
Lemon 1
Green chilli  chopped 2 -3
Ginger finelly chopped
roasted peanut 2 tbsp
Oil
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Black gram dal 1 tbsp
Chana dal 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Curry leaves 1 strand
Coriander leaves  finelly chopped 1 tbsp
Ing 1 tsp
Boiled rice 3 cups
salt to taste

Method:
Squeeze the lemon and take the juice. Add some salt and keep aside.
In a pan, for seasoning, Add 1 tb sp of oil. Add Mustard seeds and allow it to splatter. Add Urad dal and Chana dal and let it turn light brown.
Add Curry leaves, ing. Add green chillis, ginger and fry it. Add peanuts to it. Add turmeric powder to it.
Add the cooked rice to it and mix well.. 
Remove the pan from heat. Add lemon juice with required salt and mix well.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Note. To enhance the flavour 1 tsp roasted ground fenugreek seeds powder can be added.

Churma laddoo

Ingredients:
Wheat flour 1 cup
Gram flour 1/2 cup
Semolina 2 tbsp
Ghee 1/3 cup
Green cardamom powder 1 tsp
Sugar 1 1/2 cup
Cashewnuts

Method:
Roast the flours together till the raw smell goes off.
Powder the sugar and keep aside.
In a vessel mix together all the flours, sugar and green cardamom.
Add warm ghee, and make laddoos.
Decorate with cashewnut while making laddoos.

Thai stir fried vegetable in orange juice curry sauce

4 Persons:

Ingredients:
Brocolli 1 cup
Mushroom cut into half 1 cup
Green, yellow capsicum 1 cup
Baby corn sliced 6
Peanuts 2 tb sp
Sesame seeds 2 tb sp
Thai green chilli 2
Tofu cubed 100g
Salt to taste
Sesame oil 2 tb sp
Orange juice 1 1/2 cup
Soya sauce 1 tbsp
Corn flour 1 tbsp
Black pepper powder 1 tsp

Method:
Heat little oil and roast the sesame seeds and ground nuts, one by one and keep aside.
Add some more oil and fry the tofu cubes till light brown.
Add the green chilli and fry it.
Add all the vegetables,  and fry it for 4-5 minutes.
Mix the orange juice, salt,soya sauce, cornflour and add it to the vegetables and half cook it.
Add the roasted nuts and sesame seeds to it.
Add the black pepper at the end.
Serve hot with steaming rice and chilli sauce.

Chinese fried rice

4 persons

Ingredients:
finely chopped beans, carrot, capsicum, baby corn, Cabbage  2-3 cups
spring onions with green leaves , finely chopped 2-3
ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp
Chilli oil 1 -2 tbsp
Soya sauce 1 tbsp
vinegar 1 tsp
salt to taste
Rice 2 cups

Method:
Cook the rice (1cup rice : 2 cups water ) with oil, salt and set aside.
In a pan add 2 tb sp of chilli oil and add the finely chopped spring onions bulbs to it. Saute for 2 minutes.
Add the ginger garlic paste to it.
Add the vegetables and cook it till tender.
Add the soya sauce, vinegar and salt to it.
Add the cooked rice to it and mix well. Cook it for 4-5 minutes.
Garnish with spring onion greens and serve hot.
Note: For chilli oil please refer to chilli garlic noodles in the earlier blog.
For rice, Jasmine rice is preferred.

Chinese Stir fried vegetable

4 persons:

Ingredients:
Sesame oil 1 tb sp
ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp
dry red chilli 2-3
cabbage 1 cup
carrot chopped 1 cup
capsicum chopped 1 cup
Beans 1 cup
mushroom 1/2 cup
cauliflower florets or brocolli florets 1/2 cup
Onion  sliced 1
Soya sauce 1 tbsp
Tomato sauce 2 tbsp
Garlic chilli sauce 1 tsp
salt to taste
corn starch 1 tsp
pepper powder 1 tsp

Method:
Corn starch mix with 2 - 3 tbsp of water and keep aside.
Freshly coarsely ground the dried red chilli.
Take a big pan. Heat some oil. Add these red chilli powder to it.
Add sliced onions and saute for few minutes.
Add ginger garlic paste to it and saute  for a minute.
Add all the chopped vegetables to it and cook for some time.
Add salt,soya sauce, tomato sauce and chilli sauce to it.
For dry curry donot add water and cook till half done.
For gravy add water to it and when half cooked add corn starch to it and simmer for few minutes.
Garnish with freshly ground black pepper powder, spring onions and serve hot with steaming rice.

Semolina Halwa (Kesari)

4 persons:

Ingredients:
Semolina 1 cup
Sugar 1 1/2 cup
Ghee 2-3 tb sp
Cashew nuts 4-5
Raisins 1 tbsp
Water 2 1/2 Cup
green Cardamom powder 1 tsp
Kesari powder 1/2 tsp

Method:
Heat a pan. Add semolina to it and dry roast it till light brown. Keep aside.
Put the kesari powder in 1 tb sp water and keep it aside.
Take the measured water in the pan and add the sugar to it.  When sugar starts melting also add the roasted semolina, kesari powder mix to it and keep stirring.
Add cardamom powder to it.
Add ghee in between and keep stirring till semi consistency is reached.
In a separate pan add ghee and roast the raisins and cashewnuts and give it to the halwa and mix well.
Keep stirring till the halwa doesnt stick to the pan.

Coconut chutney

Ingredients:
Grated coconut 1
roasted chana dal 2 tbsp
tamarind marble sized
chopped green coriander leaves 1 tbsp
ginger 1 tbsp
Green chilli 3-4
salt to taste
for tempering
Urad dal 1 tsp
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Curry leaves 1 strand

Method:
Grind the grated coconut, green chilli, ginger , coriander leaves, roasted chana dal, tamarind, salt to a paste with some water.
Take a teaspoon of oil and add mustard seeds to it and allow to splatter.
Add urad dal ,curry leaves and fry till light brown.
Add to the ground paste and serve with idlis or dosas.

Note: If roasted chana dal (potu kadalai) is not there, roast the normal chana dal and use it.
For garlic lovers, a pearl of garlic can be also used. It need not be fried and can be directly added with rest of the ingredients for grinding.

Paruppu podi

Ingredients:

Toor dal 1 cup
Moong dal 1 tbsp
Black pepper handful
red chilli 4-5
Oil
salt to taste

Method:
Take 1tsp of oil and roast the dals together till light brown in colour.
Roast the black pepper and red chilli.
Let it cool down.
In a mixer grind all the ingredients together with salt and grind to a powder.
Store in an airtight container.
For using, take steaming rice, add ghee and a teaspoon of this powder. Mix well. Goes well with papadams, curry s or vethal kuzambhu.

Chutney Powder

Ingredients:
Chana dal 1 cup
Urad dal 1 cup
Tamarind marble sized
Red Chilli 1 cup
Sesame seeds 2 tbsp
Jaggery a small piece
Oil
Salt to taste

Method:
Take 1 tsp oil. Add chana dal and roast it till light brown.
Similarly  roast the Urad dal and chilli separately.
At the end dry roast the sesame seeds and add to the dals.
Let it cool down.
In a mixer first grind the chilli, tamarind, salt.
Then add the dals, jaggery, sesame seeds  to it and grind coarsely.
Store in a airtight container.
For use, take a teaspoon of this chutney powder and mix it with sesame oil and serve it with steaming Idli s or Dosas.
Note: Donot use lot of oil for roasting the dals and chilli. Use of nonstick pan will reduce the consumption of oil and thus will increase the shelf-life of the powder.
For roasting the sesame no oil is required as the seeds contain oil.

Puran Poli

For 12 pieces

Ingredients:
Maida 1 cup
Salt a pinch
Ghee 1 1/2 tsp
Oil 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder a pinch
water to make dough

For filling
Bengal gram dal 1 cup
Grated jaggery 1 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder 1 tsp

Oil or ghee for frying the poli

Method
Mix salt, turmeric, ghee to the flour.
Pour oil on top and mix well till the oil is absorbed completly. Gradually add water to make to a soft dough.
Half cook the dal and drain the rest of the water.
Grind to a smooth paste with jaggery and cardamom.
If the filling has still some water, then fry till dry.
Divide the dough into small balls. Make a small roti and keep a ball of the filling and seal it carefully. Press it uniformly and make into big, thin polis by dusting some flour on the polis.
Heat a  frying pan, put this poli. Change the sides and brush some ghee on both the sides.
serve hot.

Note: Donot use the dough immediately. Wait for an hour or two before using it.
Rest of the dough and the filling can be refriegerated and used when it is required.
Always serve hot with a little topping of ghee on top. It tastes better.

Hotel Vethal kuzhambu

serves 4

Ingredients:
Coriander seeds 1 tbsp
Coconut 2 tbsp
poppy seeds 1 tsp
Red chilli 4
Chana dal 1 tsp
Urad dal 1 tsp
asafoetida 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
curry leaves handful
small sambhar oinions 100g or one big onion
Manathakaali 1 tbsp
Tomato big 1
Chilli powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
Tamarind lemon size
salt to taste
 Sesame Oil

Method:
Soak the tamarind in water for 10 minutes and take the tamarind water extract for use.
Roast the redchili, coconut, coriander seeds and poppy seeds separately in a teaspoon of oil and grind it.
Take a vessel. add 2 tbsp of oil to it, Add mustard seeds and asafoetida and allow it to splatter.
Add Urad dal and chana dal and fry it till light brown. Add curry leaves and Manathakaali to it .
Add sambhar onions to it and fry it till transparent.
Add tomato to  it and fry it till the tomato is completely mashed.
Add coriander powder, red chilli powder and turmeric powder to it and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the tamarind extract and cook well till the raw smell of tamarind goes off.
Add the ground mixture to it and required salt to it and cook till the semisolid consistency is reached.

Note: Use of Sesameoil enhances the taste and aroma of the dish. If not available any other oil can be used.
Manathakaali ( Withania somnifera) are dried southindian berries, with lot of medicinal properties.  The use of this berry enhances the taste alternatively this vethal kuzhambhu can be prepared without it, by adding the rest of the ingredients.

Coconut Rice

serves 4

Ingredients:
Grated Coconut 1
Urad dal 1 tsp
Chana Dal 1 tsp
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Green chilli 2
Ginger 1 inch
Red Chilli 1-2
Ground nut 2 tb sp
Curry leaves handful
Cooked Rice 250g
Oil 2 tbsp
salt to taste

Method:
Take a pan. Add oil to it, add mustard seeds and allow it to splatter.
Add chana dal and urad dal to it, and fry it till golden brown.
Add curryleaves, green chilli, red chilli and ginger to it and fry it.
Add groundnuts to it and fry it till light brown.
Add the grated coconut to it and fry it till light brown.
Add salt to it.
Add cooked rice and mix well. Serve hot with chips.

Note. Instead of fresh coconut , dry dessicated coconut can be also used.  Fry it till light brown.