Kudamilagai Poriyal

Bell Pepper is one of the vegetables that is always available in the supermarket here. So it's not a surprise that bell pepper is almost always on our weekly menu. I try to add variety by cooking it differently every time. I found a totally different recipe in Mrs. Chandra Padmnabhan's "Dakshin". So I had to try it. I have tweaked the recipe a little to suit our palette. Gudiya just loves this poriyal. We call it "Traffic light poriyal" since it has all the colors of the traffic light! This name is inspired from the frozen Traffic light bell peppers strips available at Whole foods.

Kudamilagai Poriyal
Inspired by "Dakshin" by Mrs. Chandra Padmanabhan
Ingredients

3 bell peppers, chopped

3 tbsp plain yogurt

2 tsp sambar powder

salt to taste

Tempering

1 tsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp asafoetida

1.2 tsp chana daal

1/2 tsp urad daal

1 red chili, broken

few curry leaves

Method

1. Chop the bell peppers into bite sized pieces.

2. Add yogurt to the chopped peppers and keep aside for 15 minutes.

3. Heat oil in a wok/kadai. Add all the ingredients for tempering.

4. As daals start changing colors, add bell pepper mixture.

5. Cover and let it cook for about 9 minutes.

6. Add salt and sambar powder. Let it simmer for 5 more minutes.

7. Serve with chapati.

Note

1. More oil or water is not necessary as yogurt adds the necessary moisture.

2. Multi-colored peppers are not mandatory. Just green peppers can be used as well.

This post is my contribution to VOW-JFI - Bell Peppers' at Pooja's Creative Pooja.

VOW event is started by Pooja of Creative Pooja.

JFI event is started by Indira of Mahanandi.

Thanks, Trupti & Purnima!

My friends, Trupti & Purnima have awarded me this "Rocking Girl" Award. Blush! Blush! I think all the girls (& a few boys too!) deserve this rocking award. Thanks so much, Trupti & Purnima! You are very sweet.

I do think all of you deserve this award. Many of you have already received this award. So I will pass this award to -

Madhavi

Uma

Seema

Namratha

Divya Vikram

MW Moong Sprouts Muthiya

This is our traditional family recipe, which I converted to use in the microwave for Srivalli's MEC: Steamed Dishes.


Fangavela Mag Na Muthiya

Moong Sprouts Steamed Dumplings

Ingredients

1/4 cup wheat flour

2 tbsp besan

2 tbsp plain yogurt

1 tsp oil

salt to taste

1 tsp sugar (optional)

Grind to a coarse paste

1 1/2 cup Moong Sprouts

1" Ginger

2 green chilies

1/2 Tbsp sesame seeds

1/4 tsp asafoetida

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Tempering

2 tsp oil

1 red chili, broken

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp asafoetida

1 tsp sesame seeds

Garnish (optional)

1 tbsp chopped cilantro/coriander leaves

1 tsp freshly scraped coconut

Method

1. Grind moong sprouts with the other ingredients without adding any water.

2. Add flours, yogurt, salt, sugar - if using, and oil to make a not too stiff and not too soft dough. Add more wheat flour if necessary.

3. Roll into logs of same shape & size.

4. Add water in a microwave cooker. Place steaming rack on top. Place moong logs 3-4 at a time.

5. Microwave for 4 - 5 minutes. Let it stand for 1 minute.

6. When you take the logs/muthiyas out, they should be firm to touch. Let them cool down.

7. Repeat the process for the remaining logs/muthiya.

8. When all the muthiyas have cooled down, cut them into small pieces.

9. Add tempering and garnish on top.

Note -

1. Instead of adding the tempering on top, you can also add the tempering in a wok. and saute the muthiyas till crunchy.

2. You can also shallow or deep fry steamed muthiyas before adding the tempering. But I prefer steamed muthiyas for the health benefits.

3. Microwave cooking times vary. Please use your own judgement.

4. You can steam these muthiyas in the pressure cooker or steamer, if you do not wish to use microwave.

5. You can also add more flours in the above recipe like bajra, jowar, maize, ragi (about 1 tbsp each or so) to make multi-grain muthiyas.

This post is my contribution to Srivalli's MEC:Steamed Dishes.

Broken Wheat Paratha

What do you do when you discover some 1/4 cup of broken wheat/daliya in the pantry? It's too little to make saanja or fada ni khichdi. Well, I headed directly to Tarladalal.com and put the ingredient "broken wheat" in the recipe by ingredient search. I found the recipe only for the gold memebers which I am not, so I got the ingredients but not the method. So I used my own imagination. The result was delicious broken wheat paratha - which Tarlaji calls "Lazeez Paratha". Since the method described here is mine, I will just refer to it as broken wheat paratha, instead of the Lazeez one!:-D

Broken Wheat Paratha
Inspired by Lazeez Paratha by Tarla Dalal
Ingredients

1/4 cup broken wheat/bulgur wheat/dalia

2 tbsp chana daal

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp besan

1 tsp ginger-green chili paste

4 tbsp chopped cilantro/coriander leaves

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp red chili powder

salt to taste

1 tsp oil

For roasting

Oil for roasting parathas

Method
1. Pressure cook broken wheat and chana daal adding 1 cup water. Let it cool completely.
2. Mix with all the ingredients. Knead into a dough. Add more wheat flour if needed. Do not add water since there will be plenty moisture in the boiled dalia-chana daal mush.
3. Cover and keep aside for 15-20 minutes.

4. Make balls of equal sizes and roll into parathas.

5. Roast on both sides till brown spots appear. Use oil sparingly.

6. Keep in an aluminum foil or clean, cotton napkin till ready to use

Note
1. I have added more ingredients than Tarlaji's version to suit our palette.




These parathas are going to Srivalli's Roti Mela: celebration of Indian flatbreads.

Mango Shikran

In Marathi, Shikran means banana and milk mixed together with sugar and a pinch of cardamom powder. In Gujarati, the same shikran becomes "doodh-kela" - in what-you-hear-is-what-you-get manner!!But during the mango season, my mom substitutes mango instead of banana. and then it becomes royal Ambyache shikran.

Ambyache Shikran

Mango Milk Maharashtrian way

Ingredients

1 ripe mango, chopped

2 cups milk

sugar (if needed, optional)

A pinch of cardamom powder

Method

1. Mix everything together with a spoon.

2. Refrigerate.

3. Serve chilled on a hot summer day.

Note -

1. Do not use blender for the authentic taste. The mangoes need to remain chopped. This is not mango milkshake.

2. If you replace milk with coconut milk, it becomes a Konkani delicacy - Mango Rasayana. But use jaggery instead of sugar - if using- for the authentic taste.

Though it was never served as a breakfast, I think fruit and milk is not a bad idea for breakfast. What do you think?

So this is my entry to Arundathi's WBB - Mango Madness.

WBB is started by Dr. Nandita of Saffron Trail.

Boondi Ki Kheer

Let's savor the Rajasthani sweets now. It's a great way of using your leftover Motichoor/soft boondi ladoos too.

Boondi Ki Kheer
Ingredients
2 Motichoor Ladoos/soft boondi laddoos
4 cups milk (Preferably organic whole or 2%)
1/2 cup evaporated milk

Garnish
1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom seeds

Method
1. Bring milk to boil. Reduce the flame. Simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add evaporated milk.
3. Crumble motichoor ladoos by hand and add to the milk.
4. Simmer for another half an hour till the desired consistency is reached.
5. Garnish with freshly ground cardamom seeds.
6. Refrigerate & serve it chilled.

Note -
1. You can also use sweet boondi instead of motichoor ladoos.
2. If you prefer, you can add more sugar per your taste. But if using ladoos, they already have ghee and sugar so additional sugar, probably may not be required.




This post is my entry to Easy Craft's Think Spice - Cardamom event.
Think Spice event is started by Sunita of Sunita's World.

Kutchi Dabeli

Kutchi Dabeli is also called as Double Roti. It is a spicy-tangy-sweet-crunchy-fruity sandwich. The bread is like a small dinner roll type bread. Dabeli that I had eaten in Gujarat, had shallow-fried bread but in Mumbai, we used to get it just bread (i.e.without frying). A dear friend introduced dabeli to me when I was in college. You need to have a special blend called dabeli masala to make the stuffing. and it also has grapes or pomegranates, sev, onions, spicy peanuts, along with boiled potatoes and sweet-sour-spicy chutneys. It's really tasty.

Here's how I make it.

Recipe Inspiration-
http://www.tarladalal.com/recipe.asp?id=2812

Dabeli or Double Roti
Ingredients
Dabeli Masala (http://www.tarladalal.com/)
1 red chili
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2" cinnamon
2 cloves
1/4 tsp cumin seeds

Stuffing
1 cup boiled mashed potato
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp dabeli masala (more or less per your taste)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Bread
12 small dinner rolls/paav, roasted/toasted on pan without oil

Garnish
few green grapes, horizontally cut
or
1 tbsp pomegranate seeds
1 tbsp spicy, salty peanuts
1 small onion, minced
1 tbsp nylon sev
1 tsp grated fresh coconut
1 tbsp chopped cilantro/coriander leaves
chili-garlic chutney or sauce (per requirement)
multi-purpose chutney ( per requirement)

Method
1. Heat oil. Add turmeric powder & dabeli masala. Add mashed potatoes & salt to taste.
2. Saute and make sure it is nicely mixed together. Set aside. Let it cool down.
3. Add multipurpose chutney, lemon juice. chili garlic chutney and spread the potato mixture in a deep thali/plate.
4. Add all the ingredients for garnish on top.
5. Just before serving, slit the pavs. Toast them lightly on tawa/frying pan.
6. Stuff the dabeli stuffing generously. Add more garnish if required.
7. Serve immediately.

Note -
1. Dabeliwalas in Mumbai keep the stuffing ready in their huge thalis and stuff it with a spoon in the paav. I used the same method instead of Tarlaji's making different portions for each bread. You can follow any method that you prefer.
2. Depending on the season/availability, dabeliwalas used to have fresh pomegranate seeds or grapes halves in the garnish.
3. You can substitute pavbhaji masala for dabeli masala.
4. Please note that "Kutchi" in the name of this sandwich refers to Kutch, Gujarat.




This post is my contribution to the Sandwich Festival - 2008 at Anupama's Food-n-more.

Tribute & Thanks

I was shocked to read about the serial blasts in the beautiful, historic city of Jaipur. I would like to pay my respects to the innocent victims who lost their lives, and condolences to their families. Let there be peace in this world!


Now, in my blogging life, I got some good news to share.My friends, Purnima & Asha have passed on this "You make my day!" award. Thanks to you both dear friends, for visiting my blog regularly, leaving sweet comments and encouraging me. Actually, you make my day, everyday and also, all of you who are reading this post, also make my day. I want to thank all of you who visit me and encourage me. Also to those, who write wonderful posts and keep me drooling. You make my day too.

Passing the award is the difficult part. But per rules, I can't give the award to all. I am giving this award to following five fantastic bloggers -

Richa
Madhavi
Medhaa
EasyCraft
Homecooked

Thanks for being my friends!

Bharwa Bhindi

Okra or Bhindi is one of my most favorite vegetables. I learned following okra recipe from my friend, Shruti.

Bharwa Bhindi

Ingredients

1 lb okra/lady's fingers/bhindi/bhendi/bhinda

Tempering

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp asafoetida

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

For stuffing

2 tbsp besan

2 tbsp ground roasted, unsalted peanuts

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste

Garnish

1 tbsp chopped cilantro/coriander leaves (optional)

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients for stuffing and keep aside.

2. Wash, dry okra. Cut the tips off on both the sides. Cut the okra into two. Slit the okra, making sure it still remains whole.

3. Stuff the mixture in it.

4. Heat oil in a kadai/wok - preferably nonstick.

5. Add the ingredients for tempering.

6. As the mustard seeds start spluttering, add stuffed okra and any remaining mixture.

7. let it cook on lowest heat. Stir in between.

8. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves, if using.

This post is my contribution to RCI: Rajasthan - Flavours of the Desert.
RCI event is started by Lakshmi of VeggieCuisine.