Rava idli

So, there are other kinds of idlis than just the regular one which needs planning ahead by 2 days....but when you are short of time and you want to eat an idli right now, then this is the idli . Super fast and delicious.

Ravva idli( streamed sampling dumplings )

Ravva idli with beet root

  Ingredients 

1. 1 cup upma ravva or samolina
2. 1 tablespoons+ extra oil for basting the idli molds
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, salt and baking soda
4. 1 teaspoon Chana dal soaked in water for 10 minutes
5. 1/2 cup plain yogurt
6. 1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
7. 1 tablespoon each of finely chopped ginger, green chillies and cilantro, cashew
8. 2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
9. 1 tablespoon each of grated carrot, beetroot, cabbage

In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin, mustard seeds, few curry and fry for a minute. Add cashew and fry for a minute. Add Chana Dal and all the veggies and fry for 5 more minutes. Add soji and fry/roast for 5-7 minutes.

In a bowl mix the yogurt with lemon juice , salt, baking soda and 1 cup water. Let the soji cool a bit and add this to the yogurt. Add more water to get the consistency of a thick pan cake batter.

Prepare the idli pans by applying oil with a finger. Add a tablespoon of batter. Stream in a cooler for 15 minutes. Enjoy with your favorite chutney 

Chunky bean and chicken soup

So... I went to the dentist today...mmm you figure out the rest and its soup for dinner

Chunky bean and chicken soup

This soup/ chilli is sooo simple, delicious and hardy I love it. You will love it too

Ingredients 

1. 1 large can fire roasted tomatoes ground to purée

2. 1 can beans in mild chilli sauce 

3. 1/2-1lb chicken breasts cubed small

4. 1 tablespoons oil

5. 1/2 cup finely chopped onions

6. 2 large garlic grated

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till translucent. Add garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Add chicken and fry through. Add tomato purée, beans with the sauce and 1 cup chicken stock or water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Enjoy with any crusty bread

Meat empanadas

Lately I have been making things at home which the kids can just heat up in the microwave and eat and won't go bad super fast. This empanada recipe from the food network is my favorite and and filling is ofcourse my own recipe.

Meat Empanada (Meat turnovers)

Meat empanada

Meat or lamb filling

Ingredients for the crust:

1. 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2. 1 teaspoon salt
3. 1 teaspoon sugar
4. 3 tablespoons oil
5. 1 egg, beaten

Combine flour, salt, and sugar and mix well. Add the oil and mix. Add the egg and mix well and add water one tablespoon at a time until dough comes together and is pliable.Set aside.

Take a small golf ball sized dough and roll into 4-5 inch circle. Add 1-1.5 tablespoons filling. Dip your finger in water and run it over the edges and turoldnover on edge to cover the filling. Press the edges with a fork to create the pattern.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30-40 minutes until the empanadas look golden brown. Let it cool a bit before serving

Soya chunk in coconut gravy

Soya chunks is something my mom did not like, so  needless to say she never made it. In my whole life in India, my mom might have made it once and the second time I ate it, was when one of my colleagues/lecturer's brought it for lunch and offered it to me for tasting when I was curious.

But my hubby likes it. I am not a super fan of them but I am not avers to them like my mom. So I do make it. And today I made a recipe with soya chunks in coconut gravy and it was yum yum.

Soya Chunks in coconut gravy

Ingredients

1. Soya Chunks - 1/2 cup
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of ginger garlic paste, salt, chilly powder, turmeric, cumin seeds
3. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
4. Oil - 1 tbsp
5. Few curry leaves
6. 2 dried red chilli

 To grind:

1. Coconut - 2 tbsp
2. Pepper - 1/2 tsp
3. Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
4. Onion - 1 medium sized
5. Tomato - 2 medium sized

 In a microwave safe bowl heat about 2 cups of water for 1-1.5 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to it and mix and add the soya chunks to it. And let sit for 20 minutes. Drain them and squeeze as much water out of them as possible. Set aside.

Ass 1/2 tablespoon oil Add the onion and fry for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and fry for 5-7 more minutes., Let it cool a bit and grind to a paste along with the rest of the ingredients under "to grind".

In a pan heat the remaining oil - add  cumin, mustard seeds, dried red chillies, curry leaves and fry until the seeds start to splutter. Add the ground paste, ginger garlic paste along with all the powdered ingredients and stir to combine. Add the drained/squeezed soya chunks, 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes on medium heat and serve

 

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Rajma

Its been a looooonnng time that I logged anything on my blog. But...whose keeping track.

Anyway...sometime ago, I had a friend of my daughter come over for sleep over. And I asked her mom what her favorite dish is, so that I can make it for dinner and she said Rajma...well, this curry with kidney beans is so super popular in the Northern state (of India) Punjab. But its not that popular in the South. In the south we are more devoted to lentils to supply our protein fix.

So that day, I had to go shopping for kidney beans, because I had none in my pantry...shocker :O.
So, instead of going through the pain of remembering to soak the beans over night...cook them extr long to make them nice and mushy, I just got canned kidney beans. So long as you rinse them atleast twice you are fine. And my daughter loved the curry...and that's how one more of the staple curry's in my household was born.

Rajma (Kidney beans cooked in spicy/aromatic gravy)
Ingredients:

1. Rajma/Red Kidney Beans - 1 can
2. Onion - 1 Large
3. Tomatoes - 2 Large
4. Green Chilli - 2
5. Oil - 2 tbsp
6. Hing/Asafoetida - A Pinch
7. 1/2 tsp each of Cumin Seeds, coriander powder,turmeric, amchur powder
8. 1 teaspoon each of Red Chilli Powder , Crushed Kasoori Methi/Dried Fenugreek Leaves ,Salt  (or less)
9. Chopped Coriander Leaves - 2 tbsp 

 Grind the onions to a paste (I like my gravy smooth) or finely chop them.

 In a pan heat oil add hing, cumin and allow to crack. Add onion paste and fry till it start getting brown. Add chilli, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, coriander powders and mix well, saute for a minute while stirring. Now add finely tomatoes (or ground tomatoes) and stir, cover and cook until tomato gets mashed, stir occasionally. Drain the canned rajma and rinse them under running water and add them to the pan with 2 cups of water and bring it to good boil cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add salt, crushed kasoori methi, amchur powder, and stir to mix well. Simmer in slow flame for another 5 minutes or until gravy becomes thick. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice or your favorite roti

Telaga Pindi Thotakura

Telega Pindi in Telugu or khalli in Urdu is nothing but the husk of sesame seeds after the oil has been extracted from them. So, it's unnecessary to say it's super delicious...if only you know how to cook it. My daadiamm - paternal grandmother was an expert at this and boy did she make some super delicious dishes.

So... This sesame seed powder is made with different vegetables but I couldn't find this recipe anywhere else. This recipe is sesame seed powder with thotakura 

Telaga Pindi Thotakura 

Ingredients

1 cup sesame seed powder

3 cups fresh thotakura or 1 cup packed Frozen thotakura thawed and chopped

2 cup+ 1/2cup water

1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilli powder and turmeric

2 garlic slices into 4 pieces each

1/4 cup sliced onions

1 teaspoon each of cumin, urad dal, mustard seeds, chopped garlic, asoefitida 

1 tablespoon oil

In a deep pan bring to boil, 2 cups of water along with salt, turmeric, chilli powder, garlic and onions. Mix the sesame seed powder with 1/2 cups of water into a paste with no lumps. Add it to the boiling water along with thotakura and keep boiling and stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes until all the water evaporates. In a pan heat the oil and add cumin, mustard seeds and urad dal and fry for a minute. Add broken red chillies and curry leaves and cry for a couple of minutes. Add garlic and fry till light brown. Add asoefitida and fry for 30 seconds and add this to the cooked sesame seed and thotakura. Stir to combine and serve with piping hot white rice and ghee

Methi dal with Chilli Chicken

Dinner time...as usual I was searching for something different to make for dinner. I have made chilli chicken before but it was the wet variety. Today I made it dry and I made methi dal...and it was sooo delicious. My kids ate it without complaining. but I took crappy pictures (one of them, you can see here) so I am not posting it today

Methi Dal (Split peas with Fenugreek leaves)
Ingredients:

1. 1 cup yellow or green split peas/pigeon peas
2. 2 cups fresh fenugreek leaves stripped from the stems
3. 1 big or 2 small cloves of garlic
4. 1/2 tablespoon oil
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, asafoetida, salt, chilli powder and turmeric
6. 1 small lemon sized tamarind (optional)
7. few dried red chillies
8. few curry leaves

In a pressure cooker, cook the split peas and methi leaves for 4-5 whistles with 2 cups of water and turmeric. Let the steam escape. Soak the tamarind in 3 cups of water and add that water to the dal. If not using tamarind, just add water, salt, chilli powder and boil for 10 minutes. In a pan heat the oil and add the cumin, mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves till they splutter. Add asafoetida and stir and add the tempering to the dal and boil for couple of more minutes. garnish with chopped cilantro if desired and serve with white rice.

Note: If serving with roti , just add 1 cup instead of 3 cups of water after the dal is cooked

Chilli chicken (Indo chinese spicy sour chicken)

Chilli Chicken

Ingredients:

1. 2 chicken breast cut into 1 inch cubes
2. Oil for shallow frying
3. 1 medium onion cubed
4. 1 bell pepper (any color you like) cubed
5. 1 tablespoon oil
6. 1/2 tablespoon each of soy sauce, white vinegar, sambal chilli paste
7. 2 garlic pods chopped
8. 4-6 green chillies sliced
9. 
   

For marinate:

1. 3/4 teaspoon salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, ginger garlic paste, onion powder, garlic powder
2. 1 egg beaten
3. 1 heaped teaspoon corn starch, all purpose flour

marinate the chicken with ingredients in "1" for 2-4 hours. Add corn starch and all purpose and mix well. Add egg and mix well and set aside for 30 more minutes.

Heat oil in a pan for shallow frying (or if you like...deep frying) and fry the chicken till they turn golden brown. Drain and set aside. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan and fry the onions for 3-4 minutes. Add slit chillies, bell pepper and garlic and fry for 2 minutes. Add chicken stir well. Reduce the heat add soy sauce, vinegar and chilli paste and mix well. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. garnish with cilantro and green onions and serve