Doodhi Yakhni

This is a Kashmiri Special recipe, very simple and easy to make. Traditionally they call this dish as Al Yakhni or doodhi Yakhni. Al or doodhi means bottle gourd, Yakhni is a curd based sauce. This is no onion, no garlic recipe perfect for virad days and summer seasons, Please try and give your feedback.

Ingredients

Bottle Gourd medium size - 1

Curd -  1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Kashmiri red chilli powder - 2tsp

Dry ginger powder - 1/2 tsp

Fennel powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Hing powder - little

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Black cardamon - 1

Cinamon stick - 1 inch

Cloves - 2

Salt and oil as needed

Coriander leaves ( optional) for granishing,

Method

1. Cut the bottle gourd into big pieces or slice then round, deep fry them in oil till they cook well and become soft, keep them aside,
2. Beat curd well, keep aside.
3. In a pan add oil, add cumin seeds, cinamon, cloves, black cardamon, saute them for 1 minute.
4. Then add beaten curd, using ladle keep sittirng for ine minutes.p
5. Then add the spices powder, salt, keep stirring for one or two minutes.
6. Then add fried pieces of bottle gourd, water, mix well and keep in sim flame for few minutes.
7. Switch off the flame, garnish with coriander leaves.
8. Serve hot with rice, pulave, roti.
9. You can use green chillies in place of red chilli powder.
10. May add curd after adding masala powder , both will give different taste.

Vennai puttu

I prepared this vennai puttu for marriage day of my parent...my dad's most favouirte sweet... My grandma used to prepare this in villlage... It is a famous dish in the village side of thanjavur district of tamil nadu...but I dont know why this name came to this dish, if anyone knows it please inform.... Ok let us go to the recipe...

Ingredients

Raw Rice - 1 cup

Channa dhal - 1/2 cup

Jaggery - 1 cup

Cashewnut - 5 to 10

Cardamon - 1

Ghee - 3 tsp

Water - as needed

Salt - one very small pinch

Coconut ( grated) - 1/4 cup ( optional)

Method

1. Soak raw rice for three hours ( even can soak for over night).

2. Grind it to fine paste.

3. Soak channa dhal for one hour.

4.  Pressure cook channa dhal adding enough water.

5. Add  water to smashed jaggery, boil, when jaggery completely dissolved in water, filter it and keep aside.

6. Boil 2 cups of water.

7. Add rice batter and mix it well without forming lumps, better keep flame in sim and do this step. 8. 8. When rice flour is cooked, add the jaggery syrup and cardamon powder. Mix well and allow to cook till it begin to leave sides of pan,

9. Add channa dhal , coconut and mix well. Add two tsp of ghee. Mix well. Keep sittirng.

10. Cook for more time if you want to cut it in to pieces,.

11. Grease a plate with ghee, pour the cooked mix over it and spread well. Allow to cool. Cut it into pieces.

12. Decorate it with ghee roasted cashewnuts. ( didnt add today in my recipe)

 

Massaman Potato Curry

Massaman curry is a Thailand based curry and this recipe has influence of Indian recipes, with addition of Indian spices. It has been a traditional recipe previals for hundreds of years in thailand. Usually they make this in both vegetarian and non vegeterian form. In vegeterian recipe, they add peanuts, baby pitatoes.  Thai curries mostly made with coconut milk and hence this recipe too is made with coxonut milk. I saw this recipe name in food website and searched various recipes in the internet, modified little accoriding to the ingredients I had in home. i didnt added even single spoon of oil. Ok lets us go to the recipe

Ingredients

Baby potatoes - 15 to 20

Coconut milk - 1 cup ( thick) ( have one more cup if want gravy to be watery)

Onion - 1

Tomato - 1

Lemon - 1/2 

Palm sgar - 1 tbs

Water - 1/2 to 1 cup

Salt - as needed 

For Paste 

Roasted peanuts - 1/4 cup

Small onions - 10

Garlic - 5

Red chillies - 8

Ginger - 1/4 inch

Lemon grass - 1 

Cardamon - 3

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tbs

Cloves - 1/2 tbs

Cinnamon stick - 1/2 tsp

Nutmeg - one pinch

Coriander seeds - 1 tbs

Method

In a pan add water , when it begins to boil, add potatoes, allow to cook ... When it cooked switch off the flame...take care that poatoes not become too much cooked and become mushy... Peel off the skin... Either pierecd the potato using fork or cut it into two and keep aside.

In a pan, roaste peanuts keep aside. Then add cumin seeds, cloves, cinamon stick, coriander seeds, nutmeg, dry fry for two minutes, switch off the flame.

Make a paste of peanuts, dry fried masalas, small onion, ginger, garlic, lemon grass, red chillies adding either coconut milk or water.

In a pan add coconut milk, when it begin to, add the grinded paste, mix well and when it boils, add potato, nicely chopped onions, tomato, salt keep in sim flame, allow to cook for 5 minutes.... Add lemon extract and switch off the flame.

Add coriander leaves and serve with roti or rice.

Aloo Paratha

Good morning friends.... Heavy rain still continues in Chennai.... First two days of rain in summer season giving much happiness.... But when it extends for more days, little fear in the minds of Chennai people whether December flood will occur again...cant avoid that feel.... But i blame people for Chennai too for all happening, the least vote recorded in tamilnadu in Chennai city only, in rural voting percentage is very high, 85%, but chennai city, voting is very low, 60%.... So when city people cant spend or take efforts to vote, then whats is use in blaming government, politicians, bad roads, drainage systems etc.... I feel happy to see interest in rural people to vote, but feel so bad to see laziness or carelessness of city people to avoid voting... That too this year election commission took much effort to increase vote percentage.... But voting reduced than previous time , mainly due to city people.....

Ok let me come to my breakfast... Alooo paratha... Yesterday seeing posts in food group, i developed desire to prepare aloo parotta... I used wheat flour and very little maida and prepared, had it with curd.... Tasted good...

Ingredients

For dough

Wheat flour - 2 cups

Ghee - 1 tsp

Salt - little

Water - as needed

For filling

Potatoes - 3

Green Chillies - 1

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

Ginger - 1/2 inch

Mango Powder - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves -  few

Method

Mix wheat flour, little salt, water, one teaspoon of ghee, together to form soft dough and keep it covered for 15 minutes. Can use pure wheat flour, or mix of wheat and maida, both will taste good.

cook potato in pressure pan, mash it, add nicely chopped green chillies, ginger, red chilli piwder, garam masala, salt, mango powder, mix everything together.

Makes balls out of chappathi dough... Roll it  to cricle.. Spread potato mix stuffing over it..

Sprinkle little wheat flour over it

Roll another ball and place it over it and roll together little.

The  place it over hot dosa tawa or kadai, tawa should be hot when place it, then flip it, spread oil or ghee over it.... Then again flip... Spread oil or ghee over it... Like this two to threee times flip it, you will get crispy aloo paratha...

Eat it hot with curd as side dish.

Bread roast with left over dosa batter

Simple and easy snacks for kids.... Today I had little left over dosa batter, but when I prepare dosa on Sunday kids will become tensed.... So tried bread roast with dosa batter... 

Ingredients

Bread slices - 10

Dosa Batter - 1 cup

Onion - 1

Carrot -1

Curry leaves - few

Green Chilles - 3

Ginger - 1 inch

Salt and oil - As needed

Method

In a pan add oil, add onion, green chillies, ginger, grated carrot, nicely chopped curry leaves, saute well adding little salt... Add this to dosa batter.... Take a bread, dip bottom side of bread in batter and place it in heated dosa tawa, spread batter in the upper part also ( or can dip whole bread, but when doing so bread may break up, so better dip bottom portion alone and then spread batter on top) Sprinkle oil around, cover it , cook, when one side is roasted, turn and cook the other side... At a time you can place two to three breads in dosa tawa depending on size of dosa tawa....

serve it with sauce... Today i served it with chettinad style tomato chutney... Kids loved its taste......

Lotus seeds candy

Good Morning dear friends..... Today is important day for Tamil Nadu and Kerala ...... Vote counting day and we will know who is going to rule us for next 5 years.... To tell truth this is important day to every citizen in thosestates, more important than routine functions, celebrations etc.... I wish in future people should be more aware of the importance of election and its reuslts, so that we can have very bright future...

I rushed preparing sweet before first announcement of any result, because people should not think am celebrating winning of particular party.... I prepared my mind to welcome anyone who is going to capture throne, they are elected by our people, congrats to all the candidates.... 

Am welcoming our new Chief Minister with Lotus seeds candy.... Lotus seeds candy is very good for health.... If you take this before sleeping, it relieves stress and will give you good sleep.... It need to be cooled little more to get prefect candy texture, but i clicked and posting snap now itself, because wanted to post it before announcement of result.

Ok let us go to the recipe

Ingredeints

Lotus seeds - 1/4 kg

Sugar - 1/4 Or 1/2 depending upon your taste

Fruit essense or Venilla essense or any other essense - 2 drops

Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - very little 

Method

Soak lotus seeds in water over night ... next day put it in boiling water... already due to soaking seeds will be soft, so just keep it in boiling wster for few minutes, enough, take care not to over cook, filter water, wash with cold water, then allow to cool, make sugar syrub, for one cuo 1/4 cup of water,  when sugar dissolves and form thick syrub, add cooked seeds, allow to.boil little till balls absorbs sugar and coated over all well... then remove it and place in a plate and allow to cool and then serve or store.

To the sugar syrub can add cardamom powder and any essense you had in home, i added badam essense... you can add any fruit essense to increase its flavour...

Baby potato gravy

My kids love baby potatoes in any form. I tried many varieties using baby potatoes and this gravy is one among the most favourite recipe. I thought of cooking with skin of baby potatoes, since I love to eat with skin, but at last changed mind and removed skin. Even in gravies there are many varities, after so much thinking, finally decided to follow Punjabi style dum aloo recipe.m

 

Ingredients

Baby Potatoes – ½ kg

Onion –  2 (chopped )
Ginger – ½ inch piece grated
Garlic – 2 cloves nicely chopped
Green chili es-1 slitted
Tomato – 3 chopped

Red chili powder –  2 teaspoons
Coriander powder – 2 teaspoons
Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon

Fennel seeds – ½ teaspoon
Cinnamon stick – one small piece
Cardamom – 2
Bay leaf – 1
Cloves – 2
Cashews – 8
Salt – to taste

Oil – as needed

Dry methi leaves – Little

Fresh cream  - 2 tablespoon

Method 

 

 Cook the potatoes in a pressure cooker, cook for one whistle, remove skin, deep fry in oil. If you want to avoid oil, can shallow fry in a pan adding one teaspoon of oil and little salt. But I deep fried today. Keep aside

Heat oil in a pan, add fennel seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf and cloves. Sauté well. Add onion, ginger, garlic, green chili. Sauté well till onion become soft, then add tomatoes, add little salt, sauté well  till tomatoes become so soft and cooked well and blend with all.Cool this mix and grind to a thick paste adding cashewnuts too.

Heat little oil in a pan.  Add cumin seeds , when it splutters, add the grinded mix. Keep saute in between.When it become thick, add red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt. Mix well, let it boil, at this stage, add cream, little sugar, baby potatoes. Keep in sim flame for few minutes. Add dry methi leaves and serve.

 

Carrot Chutney

Whenever I feel bored up with regular chutnies, I make chutnies using different vegetables. This is an easy method to make kids eat vegetables. Today hubby and kids enjoyed this chutney with crispy dosa, very good combo.

Ingredients

Carrot - 5 

Red Chillies - 5 ( increase or decrease according to your taste)

Channa dhal - 1 tbs

Small Onions - 15

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Sesame oil - 2 tsp

Hing powder - 1/2 tsp

Tamarind - little pinch

Curry leaves - few

Salt as needed

Method

Grate carrot, in a pan add oil, add carrot and saute till it raw smell goes. Allow to cool. In same pan add oil, add channa dhal, red chillies, small onion and keep sauting till onion gets soft and cooked. Now grind everything together adding salt and tamarind, if needed add little water.  Season with mustard seeds, hing powder, curry leaves and pour over it and serve. 

Aloo Gobi Masala

I had one big cauliflower in my fridge... So when I was thinking "what to make with this?"... First recipe came to my mind is Gobi 65 , nothing can beat its taste, but controlled my mind and taste buds, said to myself, "yesterday only prepared briyani, so count calories, no oil, no oil" ... Then finally decided to make chapathi with aloo gobi mattar masala, famous north indian dry side dish, but i made it bit gravy type since my hubby and kids dont like dry side dish for chapathi...ok let us go to the recipe...

Ingredients

Cauliflower florets - 1 cup

Potato - 1 cup ( Diced into cubes after removing skin)

Green peas - 1/4 cup

Small onion - 1 cup

Tomatoes - 1/2 cup

Green chillies -  2

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Bay leaves - 1

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

coriander powder - 1 tsp

Mango powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

Salt, oil, water - As needed

Method

Blanch Cauliflower florets in hot water.

Cut potato into cubes and put it in water till we cook.

Add small onion, tomatoes, green chilles into the mixie cup and run it for just one  second or one pulse, should not become paste, just it should look like crushed coarse....

In a pan add oil, add jeera, bay leaves, when it splutters, add ginger garlic paste, saute well, then add crushed onion, tomatoes, green chillies, saute well without taking hand, when it raw smell goes, mix red chilli powder, cumin seeds powder, coriander powder, amachur  powder in little water and add this to the cooking gravy, mix well and cook for two minutes, then add potatoes, cauliflower , add water if necessary, take care not to add much water. Cauliflower should not be over cooked. When potato is cooked well, add salt, green peas, mix,keep in sim flame, lastly add dry methi leaves , garam masala and switch off the flame.

Serve hot with chapathi or pulav.