Upma Kozhukattai- Pidi Kozhukattai by Uma Sridharan

This is also known as Pidi Kozhukattai.

Ingredients:

Raw rice 1 1/2 cup

Toor dhal  1/4 cup

Salt to taste 

Oil  2 tbs

Ghee  2 tbs

Mustard  1 tsp 

Urid dhal  1 tsp

Pepper corn 1/2 tsp

Jeera  1/2 tsp

Red chillies 3

Asafetida powder- a pinch

Preparation

Grind rice, toor dhall, pepper, jeera, red chillies to a rava consistency. Heat a heavy bottomed pan, pour oil. Add mustard seeds, urid dhall and curry leaves. Pour 4 cups of water and bring to boil. Add salt and ghee. Now slowly put in the ground rice mixture.

Mix well without any lumps till the rice mixture absorbs the water and becomes soft .

Remove from heat and keep aside.

When it is cool shape them into small cylinders.

steam for 15-20 minutes.

Serve with coconut chutney

Makes a different kind of Party Starter dish

Recipe for Kadhamba Vadai with vegetables

Ingredients:
Thuvar Dal/Toor Dal - 1 cup
Bengal Gram Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Raw Rice - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 4 nos
Red Chillies - 8 nos
Hing - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Cashew nuts - 12 nos
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Grated Carrot - 1/2 cup
Finely chopped cabbage - 1/4 cup
Green Peas (Boiled) - 1/2 cup


Method:
Wash and soak the dals and rice for about 4 hours. Better soak Thoor dal and Bengal gram dal together, rice separately and urad dal separately. Drain well.


Grind urad dal first a bit coarsely without adding much of water. Grind other two dals along with red chillies, green chillies, salt, 1/2 of the curry leaves, coriander leaves and hing sprinkling just 2 tbsp of water. Before removing from the mixer add the coarsely ground urad dal and give a spin so that all the dals mix well nicely. Slice the cashewnuts thinly and mix it with the dal. Add the grated coconut and mix that too well. Cut the remaining curry leaves into half and add it to the ground mixture.


Slightly boil the carrot and cabbage or better steam or microwave it to make them soft. Add it to the ground dal mixture along with the peas. 


Mix well with hand again and pat them to make small vadais. You can also make them as balls and serve it as bondos. Fry them till they are golden brown. 


 Serve hot with tomato sauce, tomato ketchup or coconut chutney.

Recipe to make Kadhamba vadai

An easy to make tiffin item. Which also makes a different starter dish for parties. Kids will love it.
Ingredients:
Thuvar Dal/Toor Dal - 1 cup
Bengal Gram Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Raw Rice - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 4 nos
Red Chillies - 8 nos
Hing - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Cashew nuts - 12 nos
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few

Method:
Wash and soak the dals and rice for about 4 hours. Better soak Thoor dal and Bengal gram dal together, rice separately and urad dal separately. Drain well.

Grind urad dal first a bit coarsely without adding much of water. Grind other two dals along with red chillies, green chillies, salt, 1/2 of the curry leaves, coriander leaves and hing sprinkling just 2 tbsp of water. Before removing from the mixer add the coarsely ground urad dal and give a spin so that all the dals mix well nicely. Slice the cashewnuts thinly and mix it with the dal. Add the grated coconut and mix that too well. Cut the remaining curry leaves into half and add it to the ground mixture.

Mix well with hand again and pat them to make small vadais. You can also make them as balls and serve it as bondos. Fry them till they are golden brown.

 Serve hot with tomato sauce, tomato ketchup or coconut chutney.

More Kali or More Koozh - An old is gold recipe

Ingredients:
Rice flour - 1 cup
Butter milk - 1 1/2 cups (a bit sour)
Red Chillies or More milagai - 4 nos
Salt to taste
Oil - 4 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
Urad dal - 2 tbsp
Asafodeita - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup finely chopped

Method:
Mix salt to the rice flour and mix it with butter milk and make a batter not thicker than dosa batter. In a pan heat oil and add mustard seeds and when it splutters add the urad dal and asafodeita. Add the batter slowly and keep stirring continuously so that it does not form any lump. Add curry leaves and coriander leaves. Reduce the flame and cover it with a lid (keep a wooden laddle in the pan, so that there will be a little gap and the steam will go out). Grease a plate with little oil and when it is cooked spread it in the plate, flatten it and make pieces. Serve it hot.

Masala Vada - 1

Masala Vada can be made both from Ulundu Vadai and Aama Vadai ingredients. Here is the method to make Masala Vadai from Ulundu Vadai Ingredients

Ingredients:
Urad Dal - 2 1/2 cups
Green Chilly - 4 nos
Asafodeita - 1 tsp
Curry Leaves - a few
Coriander leaves - a few
Onion - 2 nos
Salt to taste

Method:
Soak Urad dal for about 2 hours. Grind it to a fine paste along with 3 green chillies, asafodeita, curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt. Cut the onions finely. Mix it with the dough. Cut the remaining green chilly into thin rounds and add that too to the dough.

Make vadas out of the dough and serve hot with coconut chutney and sambar.

Potato rolls - A great snack for evening after school

Ingredients:
Potato - 4 nos
Green Peas - 4 nos
Cumin powder - 1 tbsp
Amchur - 1 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tbsp
Green chilly - 5 nos
Salt to taste
Bread slices - 4 nos (White sandwhich bread)
Corn flour - 1 tbsp
Bread crumbs - 1 cup

Method:
Boil, peel and mash potatoes and green peas. Chop green chillies finely. Chop the coriander leaves finely. Soak the bread slices in water for about 2 seconds after removing the sides. Squeeze out the water completely.

 In a big bowl add the mashed potatoes and peas along with jeera powder, green chillies, coriander leaves, salt and amchur powder and mix well to a fine dough. Add the bread slices to the mixture and knead well so that the bread get mixed thoroughly. Roll the dough to cylinder shapes.

In a shallow bowl, mix 1/2 cup of water and corn flour to make a thin paste. Dip the rolls in the corn flour paste ensure that it is evenly coated. Roll the cylinders in bread crumbs.

Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the rolls in the oil till they turn golden brown and crisp. Serve hot with tomato sauce or green chutney.

Rawa Upma using Rawa Mix

Ingredients:
Rawa Mix - 1 cup
Onion - 2 medium sized
Water - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup

Method:
In a pan heat oil and add the onion. Pour water, add curry leaves and salt. When it boils add the Rawa mix. Mix thoroughly without forming any lumps. Reduce the flame and cover it with a lid. Cook for about 10 mins. Decorate it with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with chutney, sambar. But the best side dish is sugar.

Recipe for Rawa Idly using Rawa Mix

Ingredients:
Rawa Idly Mix - 2 cups
Butter milk - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Salt to taste

Method:
In a shallow vessel add the mix, butter milk, water and salt and mix thoroughly without forming any lumps. Keep it aside for about an hour. Pour it into idly moulds and steam for about 10 minutes. Serve hot with coconut chutney or mint chutney or coriander thokku.

Neer Dosa - Delicious evening tiffin

Neer Dosa or Neer Dosai is a dish originated in the Manglore and Udupi region of Karnataka. It makes a great everning snack and is also quite filling. The best thing about this dosai is that it is very thin in texture but quite soft. 

Ingredients:
Raw Rice - 1 cup
Coconut grated - 1/2 cup
Oil for adding to the dosa - 1/4 cup
Salt to taste

Method:
Soak the rice for 2 hours and grind it along with coconut to a thin batter. Add the salt and mix well. Let the mixture set for about 1/2 an hour.

Heat tawa and spread the batter thinly. The dosas have to be very very thin. Turn to the next side and leave it just for 1/2 a minute. Turn to the first side and fold it into 4.

Sweet Poha

Ingredients:
Poha - 1 cup
Jaggery - 3/4 cup
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method:
Soak poha for about an hour. Drain all the water and separate it with the back of the laddle. Add ghee, cardamom powder, grated coconut and jaggery to it and mix well.

Peserat Dosai - Moong dal dosai

This is an Andhra style Adai dosai that is made specially with moong dal.

Ingredients:
Moong Dal - 3 cups
Boiled Rice - 1 cup
Red Chilly - 6 nos

Peserattu Batter

Green Chilly - 2 nos
Salt to taste
Curry Leaves - 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Asafodeita - 1 inch piece

Method:
Wash and soak the dal and rice for about 2 hours. Grind it along with the other ingredients to a fine batter.

Heat a tawa and pour the batter just like dosa and spread it evenly. When one side is crisp, turn it to the other side. Cook for about a minute.

Transfer to a serving plate and serve with mint chutney, sweet mango pickle, mor kuzhambu or honey.

Keerai Vadai

Ingredients:

Bengalgram Dal - 1 cup
Thuvar Dal - 1 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 2 nos
Red Chillies - 6 nos
Black Pepper - 1 tsp
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
Greens (preferably Mulai Keerai) finely chopped - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Asafodeita - 1 tbsp
Oil - for deep frying

Method:
Wash and soak the dals together in water for about 1 hour. Drain the water and spread to dry all the excess water thoroughly. Grind it coarsely along with pepper, red chillies and salt. It should be ground without any water.

Chop the onions finely. Mix it along with chopped greens to the ground dal finely. Using chisel and pellet grind the fennel seeds. Add that too to the dal mixture and mix well.

Heat oil in a pan and when hot make vadais out of the batter and fry in the oil. Fry till both the sides turn golden brown in colour.

To make soft keerai vadai, it can be made only with Urad Dal.

Nine grains dosa

Ingredients:
Green Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
Black Urad Dal - 1/2 cup
Channa Dal - 1/2 cup
Boiled Rice - 1/2 cup
Raw Rice - 1/2 cup
Thuvar Dal - 1/2 cup
Horse Gram - 1/2 cup
Soya bean - 1/2 cup
Corn - 1/2 cup
Green Chillies - 6 to 8 nos
Red Chillies - 8 to 10 nos
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Asafodeita - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Mint leaves - 1/4 cup
Ginger - 1 inch piece
salt to taste
Oil

Method:
Wash and soak all the dals for about 6 to 8 hours. Grind all the dals along with grated coconut, green chillies, red chillies, ginger, curry leaves, salt, asafodeita and mint leaves coarsely. Chop the coriander leaves finely and add it to the grind batter.

Heat a tawa and when hot reduce the flame to medium and spread the batter to a thin dosa.Sprinkle oil on the sides. When one side turns golden brown, turn to the other side and cook it for a minute.

Can be served without any side dish or can be served with coconut chutney.

Recipe for Paneer Samosa

Ingredients:
Maida or All purpose flour - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Salt little
Oil - to fry
Paneer - 200 gms
Onion - 1 big
Salt to taste
Green Chillies - 1 no
Coriander Leaves - 1/4 cup

Method:
Grate paneer. Grate green chilly. Chop Onion finely. Mix paneer, green chilly, salt, coriander leaves and onion.

Make a dough of Maida. Let the dough set for about an hour. Make small balls out of Maida and roll them into small chappaties. Place 1 to 2 spoons of the paneer mixture inside the chappati and fold them in triangle shape. Make all the samosas and leave them in freezer for about half an hour.

Heat oil and when hot reduce the flame to medium. Fry the samosas in hot oil. (You can add one or two at a time). Keep turning the samosas till it becomes golden brown in all the sides.

Serve hot with mint chutney and Katta meeta chutney

Recipe for Upma (Semolina Upma)

Upma is one recipe, which is made very fast and very easily. Whenever a fast tiffin for the evening time had to be made, I prefer making this. As far as I know many of the south Indian households add Semolina in their monthly budget.


Ingredients:
Semolina/Sooji/Rawa - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Green Chilly - 2 nos
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Broken Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Asafodeita - 2 pinches
Salt to taste
Curry Leaves - few
Coriander Leaves - chopped 1/4 cup
Water - 2 cups


Method:
Dry roast rawa. Let it cool. In the same pan add 1 tbsp of ghee and roast the rawa again till it is coated well with ghee. Remove from the pan and spread it on a plate.


Add oil and mustard seeds to the hot pan, when the mustard seeds splutters add the urad dal, green chillies, hing, curry leaves and finely chopped ginger. Add water and salt bring it to a boil. When the water boils add the roasted rawa slowly by constantly stirring so that no lumps are formed. Cover the pan and lower the flame and cook till the rawa becomes soft and non sticky. 


Add the remaining 1 tbsp of ghee and remove from fire. Decorate it with finely chopped coriander leaves.


Variations:
Chop 2 medium sized Onions finely and add it while seasoning and when it turns glossy add the water.


Dice vegetables like carrot, beans, potatoes and along with peas and cauliflower florets cook it till they are soft (say half cooked) and add it after the seasoning is done and before the water is added (if you are adding vegetables, instead of 2 cups of water add 3 cups of water). 

Ven Pongal - A protein rich breakfast

A day have to be started with healthy breakfast and one of the very famous south Indian breakfast dish is Ven Pongal commonly known as Pongal.Ven - White, why this is called as Ven Pongal? thas because, whenever we talk of Pongal in South India, it is only the Sweet Pongal or the Sarkarai Pongal . So to differentiate this spicy pongal which is also white in colour, it is called as Ven Pongal

Ingredients need to make Pongal
Rice - 1 cup
Moong Dal - 1/4 cup
Black Pepper - 1 spoon
Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1 spoons
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Green Chillies - 2 nos
Asafodeita - a pinch
Salt to taste
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Cashew Nuts - 10 to 12

How to prepare Ven Pongal the way it is prepared in hotels and restaurants?
In a pan fry moong dal and rice separately till they become golden in colour. Wash them separately then mix them together. The total quantity of rice and dal is equal to 1 1/2 cups. Add 4 cups of water and pressure cook rice and moong dal together. When done remove and add salt.

Chop the ginger to fine pieces. Slit green chillies into two halves without cutting it fully. Grind black pepper and cumin seeds coarsely. Add ginger, green chillies, pepper and cumin powder and asafodeita to the cooked rice.

In a frying laddle, add 1/2 of the ghee and fry the cashew nuts till they become golden brown. Cut the curry leaves into small pieces and spread on top of the Ven Pongal. Pour the fried cashew nut along with ghee on top of the curry leaves. Heat  the remaining ghee and pour it too. Mix everything thoroughly.

Adjust the salt if needed. The best side dish for Venpongal is Chutney and Tomato Gojju.

Adai| Adai Dosai| 3 Gram Dosa - A recipe for all times

Adai or Adai Dosai, is one of the most favourite recipe in our house hold. It can be made soft, it can be made crispy, add it with coconut, can be had without any side dish. Most favourite dish of my brother and my daughter, I make this dish whenever my brother and his family come to visit us even though I had made it just the previous day. My daughter likes it much better with Jaggery

Ingredients to make Adai:
Raw Rice - 1 cup
Boiled Rice - 1 cup
Bengal Gram - 1 cup
Urad Dal - 1 cup
Thuvar Dal - 1 cup
Green Chillies - 2 nos
Red Chillies - 6 nos
Curry Leaves - 1/2 cup
Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup
Hing - 2 to 4 pinches
Salt to taste
Oil - to use to cook (1/4 cup)

How to make Adai Batter:
Soak all the dals and both the rice together after washing them thoroughly. Let them soak for about 4 hours. Grind them in a mixie coarsely along with green chillies,  red chillies, coriander leaves, curry leaves, hing and salt.

How to make Adai:
Heat a tawa and when hot simmer the flame and pour the batter on to the hot tawa and spread it like a dosa. If a thin and crispy adai is needed then use less batter and spread it thinly. If you want it thick use more batter and spread it very less. Make 5 holes in the batter and add oil all around the dosa and also in the holes made. After a min and when the you are able to take the dosa from the tawa, then remove it slowly without damaging it and turn it around. If you are health conscious and you are using a non-stick tawa donot add oil on the second side. Ensure both the sides are cooked (if you are making it thick, then the second side is to be kept in the tawa for more than a min). Serve hot with Aviyal, or Jaggery or Honey or even Rasam.

Variations to Adai:
Add  1 cup grated coconut to the batter and if the batter is not so spicy can add 1/2 spoon of red chilly powder.

Add thinly sliced onions to the batter to make Onion Adai.

Aloo Poha Recipe

Poha is a very healthy dish for any age. Aloo Poha can be had as an evening snack or as a full fledged dinner if you are dieting.

Ingredients:
Poha - 2 cups
Potatoes - 1
Onion - 1
Green Chillies - 2
Channa Dal - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry Leaves - 1/2 cup
Peanuts - 2 tsp
Oil - 4 tbsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 pinch
Lemon - 1
Coriander Leaves - finely chopped
Salt  - To taste


Method
Soak Poha in water for about 30 mins. Wash and drain the water and spread it in a bowl. Add salt, turmeric powder and toss it well. Pressure cook the potatoes, peel and mash it well. Cut chillies into small pieces and chop the onions into fine piece.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and when it splutters add channa dal, urad dal, peanuts, curry leaves, green chillies and fry for a while. Add the onions and saute for a while. Add the potatoes and mix everything together very well. Add salt and cook till everything is mixed thoroughly. Add poha and mix well.

Remove from flame and decorate it with coriander leaves. When cool add lemon juice and mix well.

Idly - Every one's favourite

Idly is one dish that will not do any harm to any one. Right from toddlers to adults can have idly as their diet. Lactating mothers, ill people all are subscribed with idly if you are a south Indian. Idly digests very easily and as it is steamed, there is no need to worry about diet.

How to make idly batter:
This is the basic every one should know even before making idly.

Ingredients:
Par Boiled Rice  - 4 cups (You get good quality idly rice now a days in market)
Urad Dal (Whole) - 1 cup
Methi seeds - 1 tsp

Method to Make Idly batter:
Wash and soak rice and Urad dal separately. Methi seeds can be added along with the urad dal. Soak for about 6 to 8 hours. Grind Urad to a fine batter and rice to a coarse batter. Grind them separately. It is better to grind the urad dal first and then grind the rice. In a deep vesserl add a hand ful of rock salt and beat the batter thoroughly with hand, which will help in better fermentation.

Once ground, leave it to ferment for atleast 8 to 12 hours. (But now the summer is starting it will ferment within 2 to 3 hours itself normally). Refrigerate the batter. Before making idlies, bring the batter to room temperature.

Method to make Idly:
Wash the idly plates and smear them with gingelly oil. Pour the batter only up to 3/4th leaving place to raise. If pressure cooker is used, there is no need to use the whistle. Let it steam for about 15 to 20 mins. Remove from flame and let it cool. Before removing the idlies from the plates, sprinkle water on the plates so that the idlies will come off smoothly without sticking to the plate.

Serve hot with idly chilly powder, different chutneys or sambars.

Uppadai - A neivedhyam for Karadayan Nonbu

Ingredients:
Roasted flour - 1 cup
Water - 1 1/2 cups
Karamani - 1/2 cup
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Broken Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Red Chilli - 1
Green Chillies - 2 nos
Curry Leaves - 1/4 cup finely chopped
Asafodeita (Hing) - a pinch


Method:
In a kadai heat oil and add mustard seeds. Add urad dal, red chillies, green chilles, hing and when all is tempered well add curry leaves. Add water and salt. And when the water comes to a boil add the karamani and grated coconut. Add the roasted flour and when it all blends together remove from fire and knead thoroughly. Make balls and flatten them in the idly plates and pressure cook them. (While flattenning them add a hole in the middle).