Sambhar (Restaurant Style)

Its been long since we have tried some new recipes(held up with some release work). So we want to restart again with a simple recipe but a flavored one like sambhar but with a little difference. Its Friday today and the night never ends.. and its restaurant mood. Instead of spending time in getting ready and going out with baby, we just tried this simple hotel sambhar recipe.

Ingredients
No of people 3

1. Toor dal - 3/4 cup
2. Vegetables -
1. Raddish - 5-6
2. Drumstick - 4-5
3. Carrot - 5-6
4. Brinjal - 1
3. Tamarind water - 1/2 cup
4. Grinded paste
1. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
2. Coriander powder - 3/4 tsp
3. Ginger - 1 inch
4. Garlic - 4-5
   
   
5. Onion - 1(chopped)
6. Tomatoes - 2(chopped)
7. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
8. Asafoetida - a pinch
9. Seasoning items
1. Oil - 2 tbsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Urad dal - 1/4 tsp
4. Curry leaves - 5-6
5. Red chillies - 3-4
10. Salt - as needed
11. Water - as needed
12. Garnish - Coriander leaves

Method

1. Boil Toor dal in a pressure cooker with turmeric powder for 3 whistles and keep it aside
2. Boil all vegetables in cooker for 1 whistle
3. Grind ginger, garlic, cumin seeds, coriander powder into a fine paste
4. Add tamarind water, grinded paste, to the boiled vegetables
5. Add salt and water and allow it to boil for few mts till the raw smell is gone
6. Add the boiled toor dal and boil for 5-10 mts
7. Heat oil in a pan and add seasoning items
8. When it splutters, add onions and fry till it turns golden brown
9. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry it is completely cooked
10. Add the toor dal mixture and boil for few mts
11. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Rice Murukku

Thought preparing muruku would be difficult and takes much time. But to the wonder, it was so easy and simple. During festival times, when we hear from friends about their muruku and other sweets preparation at home, we used to think how on earth these guys are having this much time to prepare murkku and now we found that to be very simple and can be prepared in an hour or so.

Ingredients

1. Muruku maker
2. Rice flour - 4 cups
3. Urad flour - 1 cup
4. Sesame seeds - 2 tsp
5. Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
6. Butter - 1 tsp
7. Salt - to taste(2 - 21/2 tsp of iodised salt should be fine, I guess...be cautious in adding salt..because it cant be added later and it can spoil the entire effort, if added more).
8. Water - as needed
9. Oil - To fry

Method

1. Mix rice, urad flour, sesame seeds, cumin seeds, butter and salt.
2. Add water to the mixture slowly and make it as a dough(neither too soft/watery nor too dry).
3. Put the dough in the muruku maker
4. Heat oil in a pan and squeeze the muruku in the oil in a twisted shape(as much as you can)

Note: if you are afraid of squeezing directly into oil, reduce it to a medium flame and try it out..Oil will not pop out...you can give a bold try...

Vegetable Manchurian(Gravy)

Indo-chinese recipes have their own fans for its ingredients and flavor. May be, the soy sauce and vinegar flavor binds the people together. We remember the days when we got introduced to indo-chinese recipes in chennai, Fried rice/Gobi/Veg Manchurian would be in our order by default. Today our little one is completing 7 months and we wanted to prepare something favorite, special, new and make this as a special day. Though he cant have these foods, we enjoyed having this favorite dish in the name of him :))

Ingredients
No of persons - 3

1. Vegetables
1. Carrot - 1/2 cup(finely chopped/grated)
2. French beans - 1/4 cup (finely chopped/grated)
3. Cauliflower - 1/2 cup(finely chopped/grated)
4. Lettuce - 1/2 cup(finely chopped/grated)
2. Red/green bell pepper - 1/4 cup(chopped)
3. Egg - 1(beaten)
4. Maida - 1/3 cup
5. Corn flour - 3 large tbsp
6. Green chillies - 3-4
7. Ginger - 2 tsp(finely chopped)
8. Garlic - 7-8(finely chopped)
9. Soy sauce - 2 tbsp(large)
10. Vinegar - 2 tbsp(large)
11. Garnish - Spring onions
12. Salt - to taste
13. Sugar - 1 tsp

Method
Veg balls

1. Mix all vegetables, beaten egg, maida, spring onions(white part), 1 1/2 tbsp corn flour, salt(remember that gravy is also salted and add accordingly) till everything blends well
2. Make small balls and keep it aside
3. Heat oil in a large handi and put 4-5 vegetable balls at a time by making sure that they dont stick to the sides of the pan
4. Deep fry vegetable balls in the medium flame till it turns golden brown
5. Remove the balls from the flame and drain the excess oil in the tissue paper.

Gravy

1. Heat oil in a pan and add grated green chillies, ginger, garlic
2. Add soy sauce to the mixture and allow it to boil for 1-2 mts
3. In the mean time, dissolve 1 1/2 tsp of corn flour in water and pour it to the boiling mixture
4. Add salt, sugar, pepper powder and mix it well.
5. Add 4-5 cups of water and allow it to boil for few mts
6. When the mixture starts thickening, add vinegar and spring onions to it
7. Allow it to boil till it becomes reasonably thicken
8. Add the vegetable balls and boil the whole mixture for a min
9. Remove it from the flame and serve hot with Fried rice

Egg Parota

In the modern world, cooking has become simpler with modern gadgets and people would love to spend less time in the kitchen and enjoy their free time with family. It has become hard to think of a day without using modern gadgets like microwave, oven etc. But still people are in search of more simpler and delicious dishes to save their precious time for family and friends. This is one among 'easy-to-prepare' recipes without any modern gadgets but still easy to prepare. When your mouth is lingering for some egg flavor recipe and still want to be simple, this recipe could stand first

Ingredients
No of persons - 2

1. Indian Frozen Parota - 4
2. Egg - 3
3. Big Onion - 1 (chopped)
4. Green chillies - 3-4
5. Red bell pepper - 1/2
6. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
8. Oil - 5 tsp
9. Seasoning items
1. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
2. Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Curry leaves - 5-6
10. Salt - to taste

Method

1. Thaw frozen parota in microwave for 1 min(or till it becomes soft)
2. Split into small pieces and keep it aside
3. Blend the egg in hand mixer, add pepper powder and keep it aside
4. Heat oil in a pan and add seasoning items
5. When it splutters, add green chillies and red bell pepper
6. When it is completely cooked, add the chopped onions
7. Add turmeric powder, salt and wait till the onion turns brown
8. Add the thawed parota and stir the mixture well
9. Pour the beaten egg over the mixture and stir till parota and egg blends well.
10. Boil for few mts and remove it from the flame.

Vegetable Pulav

Today we were in mood of preparing a regular recipe but with some difference. So we used only fresh vegetables for pulav and added cucumber, jalepeno, red bell pepper as new ingredients.

Ingredients
No of persons : 4

1. Basmati Rice - 4 cups
2. Onion - 1 - 1 1/2(chopped)
3. Jalepeno - 1 (chopped)
4. Red bell pepper - 1/2 (chopped)
5. Ginger - 1/4 tsp
6. Garlic - 3-4
7. Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Asafoetida - a pinch
11. Cashewnut - 4-5(optional)
12. Vegetables
1. Carrot - 1/2 cup
2. Beans - 1/2 cup
3. Corn - 1/2 cup
4. Cucumber - 2-3(small)
5. Peas - 1/2 cup
13. Oil - 3 tsp
14. Seasoning items
15. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
1. Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
2. Cardamom - 2-3 (or) pinch of powder is also enough
3. Bay leaf - 2
16. Garnish -
1. Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
2. Mint - 1/4 cup
17. Salt - as needed

Method

1. Soak basmati rice in water
2. Grind ginger, garlic, coriander powder, pepper powder into a paste
3. Heat oil in a pan and add seasoning items, cashewnut
4. When it is ready, add chopped onions and saute for few mts
5. Add turmeric powder and salt to the frying mixture and saute till onion is fried.
6. Add all vegetables and stir it well( we microwaved corn for 5 mts and peas for 1 min before adding)
7. Add the grinded paste and boil for few mts
8. Add the basmati rice to the mixture and stir it well
9. After a few mts, add 6 cups of water(almost 1(rice):2(water) ratio)
10. Add coriander and mint leaves and cook the mixture for 12-14 mts

Serve hot when ready

Latcha

Actually we are not expert in preparing chappathis and not always satisfied with home made chappthis. But (always a but when you keep trying ), this latcha was good though this was our first try. We got this recipe from Maheswari's blog and the picture looked attractive. so wanted to give a try. The recipe is simple(same as chappathi), but layering has to be done.

Ingredients
No of people : 3

1. Wheat flour - 6 cups
2. Water - as needed
3. Oil - as needed
4. Salt - to taste

Method

1. Mix wheat flour with salt and add water little by little till it becomes a dough
2. Cover it with wet tissue and keep it aside for 5-10 mts
3. Take a small ball size dough and roll out like chappathi
4. Spread oil on the top and fold it to half size
5. Continue rolling, spreading, folding for 3-4 times until you get a desired no of folds and size
6. Put it tawa and boil for 3-4 mts like chappathi

We bet this will be very soft and come to your mind when you are craving for some good and healthy food option