Tomato Egg Curry and Ambada Dal

This is a variation of a egg curry recipe  I posted more than an year ago. I really loved the egg curry made by one of the cooks' who used to work for us. I was kind of young at that time and I am not exactly sure which of these versions is actually the original. No matter, both of them are equally delicious and easy to make. And it can be served with either rice or Any Roti

Tomato Egg Curry (Boiled eggs in Tomato Gravy)

Tomato Egg Curry

Ingredients:

1. 6 hard boiled eggs, shelled
2. 1 can petite cut tomatoes (I use fire roasted)
3. 1 teaspoon black gram (Urad dal with skin)
4. 2 cloves gralic chopped fine
5. 3/4 teaspoon each of salt, cumin, chilly powder
6. 1-2 dried red chillies broken, few curry leaves
7. 1/2 teaspoon each of  turmeric, coriander powder 
8. 1 tablespoon oil+ oil for frying the eggs

In a wok or pan heat about 1-2 teaspoons oil and fry the eggs (make some slits in the boiled eggs else they will splutter in your face!) and fry for 5 minutes stirring often. Drain and set aside.

If there is not enough oil, add some more. Add urad dal and cumin, dried chillies and curry leaves and fry till an aroma starts emanating. Add garlic and fry for 30-40 seconds. Add all the powders and fry. Add tomatoes and stir well and cover and cook till pulpy. Add eggs and stir to combine and garnish with cilantro and simmer till almost all the juice evaporates. Enjoy with rice and Dal

Ambada Moong Dal (Amaranth leaves with Black Gram)

Ambada Moong Dal

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup yellow moong dal
2. 1/2-3/4 cup Amaranth leaves chopped and washed
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric, salt
4. 1 green chilly chopped
5. 2 dried red chillies broken
6. few curry leaves
7. 1-2 cups juice from a small lemon sized tamarind
8. 1 clove garlic minced

In the pressure cooker, cook the dal and Amaranth leaves with 2 cups of water and turmeric for 4 whistles. Let all the steam escape, open the cooker and mash the dal. Add the salt, green chilly pieces and tamarind juice. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. In a pan heat the oil and fry cumin and mustard seeds for a minute. Add garlic, red chilly pieces and curry leaves and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add this tempering to the dal and bring it to boil again and boil for 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy

Gravy for Biryani

Whenever you order biryani in any of the Indian restaurants you get a side dish of GRAVY with it. I was never a big fan of this dish because it had too much oil and too much garam masala for my liking. But recently, there opened a new restaurant and I love the gravy they serve with the biryani. So I started searching for the gravy recipes and I made it. And I loved it soooooooo much along with everyone else. From now on, whenever I make biryani this is going to accompany it

                    This time around I made Mutton Biryani, gravy and Cucumber Raita. Here is the recipe

Gravy for Biryani (Tomato and Coconut based side dish)

Gravy for Biryani

Ingredients:

1. 1 tablespoon oil
2. 1 medium small onion ground to paste or sliced thin
3. 2 medium tomatoes, quartered (and if they are big, slice into halfs again)
4. 1 teaspoon salt
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of chilly powder, turmeric, cumin powder, ginger-garlic paste, garam masala
6. 1 teaspoon coriander powder 
7. 1/4 cup thick coconut milk
8. coriander for garnishing

Ingredients for paste

1. 2-3 tablespoons desiccated coconut
2. 1 teaspoon khus khus (poppy seeds)
3. 1 teaspoon broken cashew 

Dry roast the ingredients for paste and let them cool. Grind it to a smooth paste . (I used coffee grinder)

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till translucent. Add all the ingredients in number 5 and 6 and fry for a minute. Add tomato quarters, reduce heat and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the ground paste and stir to combine. Add 2 cups water, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the coconut milk, salt and coriander and stir to combine and simmer further for 3-4 minutes. Serve with your favorite rice dish like Mutton Biryani 

or Chicken Biryani or Ground Lamb Biryani

Pumpkin Spice Latte Lite

Yeah, Pumpkin season is here and the weather is surely getting cooler and the days are getting shorter. I am sooooo waiting for the day light savings to begin, just so I can have one more hour of sleep. But, I am pretty sure its not going to happen. Because my kids will be up on that Sunday on time based on their biological clock in their heads. I wish it was a Monday, because then nobody can wake up the kids. And they will sleep till afternoon

Anyway, there was this article about making a Pumpkin Spice Latte at home on Yahoo.com the other day. And I just had to try it. I made a few changes to the recipe (Roll Eyes...as Usual!!!) and the Latte was delicious. I hope you will try it too and DO let me know, when you get a chance

I am using Splenda here instead of sugar but not saying this as Sugar free because Pumpkin Puree has its natural sugars in it. SO its just Lite


Pumpkin Spice Latte (Spiced up Latte with Pumpkin Puree)

Pumpkin Spice Latte Lite

Ingredients:

1. 2 heaped teaspoons canned pumpkin puree
2. 3/4 cup 1 % milk
3. 1/4 cup water
4. Instant coffee depending on how strong you want 1 cup of coffee
5. 1 splenda
6. 1/4 teaspoon each of vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom powders

In a pan heat the milk and add all the ingredients and whisk for 4-5 minutes. Add this to a cup and sprinkle with some nutmeg. Let it cool a bit and enjoy on a cold evening

Cannoli without Marsala Wine

Today is all about improvising. Its all about cooking without the right equipment and getting amazing results.
I made two dishes today. But for both of the dishes I didn't have the require equipment but I made them :D and they were great.

The first dish was a cheese stuffed chicken breasts dish and the second was this-Cannoli. Cannoli is a dessert made of fried tubes and filled with sweet ricotta or some other stuffing. First off, I did not have any Marsala wine with me today. Second I don't have the Cannoli tubes which are used to wrap the dough and fry in hot oil. Thirdly I didn't wanted to deep fry it. So here is the healthy (as per not being deep fried) version of Cannoli without wine

Cannoli without Marsala Wine

Cannoli without Wine

Ingredients:

1. 1 egg
2. 1/2 cup white sugar
3. 2 tablespoons each of butter, vegetable oil
4. 3/4 cup all purpose flour
5. 1/8 teaspoon each of  baking powder and salt
6. 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
7. 11/2 teaspoon each of distilled white vinegar and chilled water

Ingredients for filling:

1. 1-11/4 cup lite ricotta cheese
2. 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift the flour with baking soda and salt. In another bowl stir together the egg, sugar butter and oil till well blended. Add the flour to this along with vinegar and mix well. Add the water a little at a time until you get a thin pancake like batter.

Mix all the ingredients of the filling and leave it in the fridge until ready to use.

Heat a griddle to medium heat. Take 1/2 tablespoon of batter, place it into middle of the griddle and spread it with the back of a ladle with a light hand into about 4 inches circle. Let fry for about 2 minutes. Turn and fry for 1 more minute. Flip again and place a wooden cooking spoons handle and roll the hot cannoli onto it. Take it off into a place. Let it cool.

Right before serving, fill in the filling from the middle from both sides. Enjoy crunchy and cool Cannoli

Home Made Tomato Soup

Today, my little lady wanted to eat Tomato Soup and I didn't notice I didn't have her and my favorite store bought tomato soup, Campbell's Heat and Eat Tomato Soup. I had cans of tomato Sauce though. So I searched for the recipe and made my Home Made Tomato soup with canned Tomato Sauce. And it was as good as the store bought one but with just as much salt as I want.

Home Made Tomato Soup with Canned Tomato Sauce

Home Made Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

1. One 8 oz can of tomato Sauce
2. 1/2 cup whole milk
3. 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
4. 1 tablespoon finely chopped onions
5. 1 garlic clove minced
6. 1/8 teaspoon lemon pepper
7. salt to taste
8. 1/8 teaspoon Italian seasoning
9. 2 teaspoons olive oil
10. Grated Parmesan cheese for garnishing (optional)

In a small pan heat the oil and fry the onions till tender. Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Add the tomato sauce and stir well and add all the ingredients except milk. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add milk and simmer further for 10 minutes. Let it cool a bit and enjoy with your favorite toast or as it with a little garnish of your favorite cheese

Allum Pachadi

Its the weekend to time to eat something special dinner, lunch, brunch or breakfast. Today was Idli for dinner. And Idli is never complete without Chutney and Sambar. And the sambar recipe I finally was able to perfect is something which takes me back to a specific breakfast place in Hyderabad


Allum Pachadi (Sweet and Spicy Ginger accompaniment)

Allum Pachadi

Ingredients:

1. 1-1/2 cup of peeled and chopped
2. 2 teaspoons chana dal
3. 1 teaspoon urad dal
4. 2 red chillies
5. 3-4 garlic cloves
6. 3/4-1 teaspoon salt
7. 2 teaspoons brown sugar or jaggery
8. 1 tablespoon oil+1 teaspoon
9. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds
10. few curry leaves
11. 1/2 cup thick juice from a lime sized tamarind

In a pan heat 1 tablespoon oil and fry the chana dal and urad dal and red chillies. Drain and set aside. In the remaining oil fry the ginger and garlic for 5-7 minutes. Let it cool

Grind all these ingredients along with the tamarind juice into a smooth paste

Heat the teaspoon oil in a pan and fry the cumin and mustard seeds till they start to splutter. Add curry leaves and fry. Add this tempering to the chutney. Enjoy

Sambar for idli (Sweet and spicy lentil soup)

Sambar

Ingredients:

1. 1-11/2 tablespoons home made sambar powder or any store bought
2. 1 cup toor dal soaked in 2 cups of water
3. 2 cups juice from tamarind the size of a medium lemon
4. 1/2 teaspoon salt, chilly powder, turmeric
5. 1 green chilly chopped
6. Vegetable mix ( 1/4 cup each of roughly chopped onions, carrots, potatoes, 1 indian brinjal, 1 drumstick cut into pieces)
7. For tempering:  1 tablespoon oil, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, mustard seeds, Hing/ asafoetida 2 red chillies, few curry leaves
8. 2-3 teaspoons sugar

In a pressure cooker add the dal and the water they were soaking in and cook for 4 whistles. Let the steam escape, open the cooker and mash them. Add the tamarind juice and all the other ingredients and bring it to a boil and slow boil for 20 minutes. Add the tempering i.e heat the oil fry the cumin, hing and mustard seeds. Add red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a couple of minutes. Add it to sambar, bring it to boiling again. Boil for 5 more minutes. Serve with your idlis or vada or dosa.