Simple and yummy Bhindi Raitha

Ingredients:
Ladiesfinger - 8-12
Thick Curds - 2 cups
Salt - to taste
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Channa dal - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Hing - a pinch
Oil

Method:



Wash the ladiesfinger and chop into fine pieces. Heat oil in a pan. Fry the ladiesfinger till they are crisp (you can also deep fry them). Keep it aside. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves and hing. Add them to the well beaten curds. Add required amount of salt. Add the fried bhindis and mix well. Serve chilled.

Brinjal Gojju

Ingredients:
Brinjal (big) - 1 (chopped)
Onions - 2
Red Chilli - 3
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Tamarind - lemon size (soak in hot water and extract the juice)
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves and red chilli. Add the chopped onions. Fry till they become brown. Add the chopped brinjal and fry for few minutes. Then add in the extracted tamarind juice and water if required. Allow it to boil till the brinjal becomes soft. If you feel the Gojju has become more watery you can add some besan mixed in water. Boil and serve.

Aadi 18 Perukku

Aadi 18 Perukku, as the name indicates, is a festival observed on 18th day in Tamil month Aadi. It is also known as Pathinettam Perukku. This year, the festival falls on August 3rd ie today. On this auspicious day, we prepare variety rice and offer to God. Here are the items which I prepared today...which is very easy to prepare and ofcourse tasty...

Now goes the recipe for each item:

Lemon rice :

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice - 1 cup

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Channa dal - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Red chilli - 1

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Hing - a pinch

Salt to taste

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp or as required

Oil

Method:

Spread the cooked rice in a plate. Add little Gingelly oil so that the rice does not stick to each other. Heat oil in a Kadai. Add mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves, hing and red chilli. Fry well. Add turmeric powder and salt. Mix well. Transfer the mixture immediately to the rice. Mix well. Lastly add lemon juice and mix again. 

Coconut rice:

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice - 1 cup

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Channa dal - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Red chilli - 1

Coconut - a handful

Hing - a pinch

Salt to taste

Oil

Method:

Spread the cooked rice in a plate. Add little Gingelly oil so that the rice does not stick to each other. Heat oil in a Kadai. Add mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves, hing and red chilli. Fry well. Add the coconut and fry till it becomes brown in colour. Add required salt and mix it with rice. 

Tamarind rice / Puliodarai:

Ingredients:

Puliodarai paste [I havnt tried preparing the Gojju so got readymade :-)]

Cooked Rice - 1 cup

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Channa dal - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Red chilli - 1 (if needed)

Hing - a pinch

Salt to taste

Oil

Method:

Spread the cooked rice in a plate. Add little Gingelly oil so that the rice does not stick to each other. Heat oil in a Kadai. Add mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves, hing and red chilli. Fry well. Add the Puliodarai paste to the seasonings. Mix well. Add salt if required. Add the rice to the above mixture and mix. 

Sweet pongal / Sarkarai Pongal:

For the recipe, click here.

Avial:

For the recipe, click here

Curd rice:

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 1 cup

Thick curds - 1/2 cup

Milk - 1/4 cup

Ginger - 1 small piece - chopped finely

Green chilli - 1 - chopped finely

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Urad dal - 1/4 tsp

Cashews - a few(optional)

Salt - to taste

For garnishing:

Carrots - scrapped

Corriander leaves - a few

Method:

Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, ginger, green chilli and cashews. Fry well and keep it aside. Mix the rice properly with your hands. Add the curds and milk. Mix well. Add required salt. Add the prepared seasoning to the rice and mix well. Serve chilled topped with carrots and corriander leaves. Yummy!!! I love curd rice...Slurp....

Idly - Sambar

Ingredients for Idly batter:

Idly rice - 4 cups

Whole Urad dal - 1 cup

Methi seeds - 1tbsp (optional)

Salt - to taste

Method:

Soak the rice and methi seeds seperately overnight. Soak the urad dal just half an hour before grinding. First grind urad dal and methi seeds to a smooth paste by adding required water. After it is well done, transfer the urad dal mix to a broad vessel. Next grind the rice nicely. Mix both together along with salt using your hands. Allow it to ferment for atleast 8-10 hrs or overnight. Prepare idlies the next day. The Idlies will come out very soft.

Note:

• Use cold water for best results
• You can even use ice cubes while grinding the batter.

Ingredients for sambar:

Mixed vegetables (potato, carrot, brinjal, drumstick etc ) - chopped

Small onion - a few

Tomato - 1 (chopped)

Ginger - 1 piece (chopped)

Garlic - 4 pods (chopped)

Tamarind juice - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Sambar powder - 1 tbsp

Toor dal / Moong dal - 1 cup (both will be good)

Salt - to taste

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp

Hing - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Pressure cook the dal till soft and keep it aside. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, Methi seeds and hing. Add onions, tomatoes and fry for few minutes. Then add the mixed vegetables. Fry for another 5 minutes. Add the tamarind juice, turmeric powder and salt. Add required water and allow it to boil till the vegetables are cooked. Add the cooked dal and mix well. Allow to boil well and serve with hot Idlies / dosas.

Poori - Masala

Ingredients:

For Poori:

Wheat flour - 2 cup

Salt - 1/2 tbsp

Water - as required

For Masala:

Potatoes - 3 (boiled and smashed)

Onions - 2

Green chillies - 2-3

Curry leaves - a few

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Channa dal - 1/2 tsp

Hing - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Besan powder - 1 tbsp

Method:

Prepare dough using wheat flour, salt and water. The dough should be little hard. Keep it aside. Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal and green chillies. Fry well. Add onions and fry till golden brown. Add turmeric powder and required salt. Mix well. Add mashed potatoes and mix well. Mix besan with water and add to the potatoes. Allow to boil till thick.

Take a small ball of the prepared dough. Roll using a rolling pin with little flour. If you want the pooris to be fluffy, the rolling should be thick. Heat oil in a pan. Deep fry the pooris. Serve hot with the above prepared masala.

Palak Kura pappu - Spinach Dal

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 1 cup

Spinach - 1 cup (chopped)

Green chillies - 3-4

Onion - 2 (chopped)

Tomatoes - 2 (chopped)

Ginger - a small piece (minced)

Garlic - 3-4 pods (chopped)

Curry leaves - a few

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Channa dal - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Pressure cook the dal and keep aside. Wash and boil the chopped spinach and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, curry leaves, green chillies, ginger and garlic. Fry well. Add chopped onions, tomatoes and turmeric powder. Mix well. Add required salt and fry for few minutes. Add the boiled palak. Mix well. Lastly add the dal and allow to boil once. Thats it. Palak Kura Pappu is ready.  This is an Andhra special. It goes well with chappathis. Mix with rice and have it along with any spicy side dish or mix rice and Avakkai pickle and make this pappu as side dish. Slurp!!! Yummy....

This dish goes to an ongoing event “ Dish it out - Spinach and Garlic" hosted by Vardhini of http://vardhiniskitchen.blogspot.com

Ven Pongal

Ingredients:

Rice - 2 cups

Moong dal - 3/4 cup

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Ginger - 1 inch piece (chopped)

Green chilli - 1

Black pepper - 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Curry leaves - a few

Cashewnuts - a few

Ghee - as required

Method:

Heat ghee in a pressure pan. Add cumin seeds, curry leaves, black pepper, green chillies and ginger. Fry well. Grind some black pepper and cumin seeds together and keep aside. Wash rice and dal together. Add to the above. Mix well. Add required salt and water. Mix well. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Heat ghee in another pan. Add the grounded mixture. Fry well and add to the pongal. Lastly add fried cashews in ghee. Add more ghee if required before serving. Serve hot with chutney or sambar.

Note: You can add ginger , pepper etc at the last also instead of adding together along with rice.

Lemon Rasam

This is one of my favorite rasam. Usually I prepare this atleast once or twice a month.

Ingredients:

Toor Dal - 1 cup

Tomato - 1 chopped

Green chillies - 3 slit

Ginger - 2 tsp

Lemon - juice of 3

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/3 tsp

Corriander leaves

Rasam powder- 1/3 tsp (use home made one)

Salt - as per taste

Method:

Wash dal. Add tomatoes, green chillies and ginger. Pressure cook them together. Allow to cool and mash them slightly. In a kadai, add oil, mustard seeds and the cooked dal. Add turmeric powder, rasam powder and salt. Allow it to come to boil. Switch off the gas. Add corriander leaves and allow rasam to cool for 5-10 min. Add fresh lemon juice and serve with hot rice.

Thenga Aracha Kozhambu

Ingredients:

Urad Dal - 1 tsp

Red Chilli - 7-8

Methi seeds - 1tsp

Any vegetable (brinjal / small onion / drumstick)

Tamarind juice - 1/2 cup

Coconut (shredded) - 1 handful

Salt - as per tastes

Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp

Method:

Dry roast urad dal, red chillies and methi seeds. Grind it along with coconut and keep aside. Boil the vegetables in tamarind water with turmeric powder and salt. After it is well boiled, add the grounded powder. Boil well. Add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Serve hot with rice.

Onion - Tomato Gotsu

This is a perfect side dish for Adai. I learnt this from my mother in law. Try it..

Ingredients:

Onion - 3

Tomatoes - 2

Green chilli - 5-6

Curry leaves

Corriander leaves

Mustard seed, urad dal , channa dal - each 1 tsp

Oil

Salt to taste

Hing

Besan powder - 1 tbsp

Method:

In a kadai, add oil, mustard seed and the dals. Let it splutter. Add hing, chilli, curry leaves, onion and tomato. Fry till all the ingredients are mixed well. Add salt. In a bowl, mix besan and water to make it thin batter. Add this to the mixture. Add required amount to water. Let it boil till it thickens. Lastly add corriander leaves and serve hot with adai.