Tag Archives: South Indian

Idli Stand

Kanchipuram Idlis

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When I get some free time yet don’t want to sit with my phone, I read cookbooks. Reading them is a pleasure of it’s own and I forget the rest of the world and dive into the world of recipes. ❤️

On one such day, I saw a recipe of Kanchipuram idlis in the cookbook “Dakshin Bharat dishes” by Mrs Jaya V Shenoy which is a must have cookbook in every Konkani household. My grandmother and mother refer to the Kannada version of this book while I was lucky enough to be gifted the English version of it by my aunt, Chandriakka during my marriage. It has definitely been the best gift for me. Thank you akka. I always remember you when I read it. ❤️❤️

As I read the recipe for these idlis, I saw that it had baking soda as an ingredient which I try to avoid as much as possible. So I added the naturally fermenting ingredient, Methi which gives soft idlis and also increases the health quotient of the idlis.

The resultant were these super soft, spongy idlis with bites of cashews and chana dal. Also, they turn out so flavourful that you will keep craving for more. We loved it so much that I had to make them again within the week as we could not get enough of it.

These idlis are definitely a welcome change from the regular idlis and can be made occasionally when you are bored of the same old breakfast dishes. Hope you all try and love it like we did. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients: {Makes about 22 idlis}

1 Cup Raw white rice or Idli rice (I use any variety of small grain white rice available here)

1 Cup Urad dal (I use split ones)

1 tsp Methi or fenugreek seeds

1 Tbsp Chana dal (To be soaked and added into the batter after fermentation)

Salt to taste

For seasoning:

1 tsp Ghee

1/2 tsp Jeera or cumin seeds

6 to 8 broken cashews

A sprig of curry leaves

A pinch of pepper powder

1 to 2 green chillies

Step by step recipe:

1. Wash well and soak the Urad dal along with Methi in atleast twice the amount of water. Wash well and soak the rice separately. I soak both for atleast 4 hours. Once soaked, drain the water completely from it.

2. Grind Urad- Methi with 1 Cup water or as required to a smooth paste. (It took me 1 Cup water to grind it.) Remove into a large vessel.

3. Now grind the rice with little of the leftover Urad batter in the mixer to a little coarse paste (like rava consistency). I did not add additional water at all while grinding rice. Pour into the same bowl and mix both batters adding salt.

4. Ferment the batter overnight or for atleast 8 hours in a warm place.

5. While making idlis, add soaked Chana dal and also prepare the seasoning. Heat ghee in a pan. Add cumin seeds, cashews, pepper powder, curry leaves and green chillies. Fry till cashews turn light brown and add the seasoning to the batter.

Note: I usually soak the Chana dal in double the water for about an hour the previous night. Drain the water and refrigerate to add to the batter the next day. This saves soaking time in the morning.

6. Mix well. Pour into greased idli plates and steam for 20 mins or till done.

7. Enjoy with a chutney of your choice.

Notes:

* Grind the rice to rava consistency. If you grind it smooth, the texture of the idlis may not be as good.

* Methi seeds give these idlis a very soft texture. So don’t skip it.

* To save time in the morning, soak the Chana dal in enough water the previous night for an hour. Drain and refrigerate. Add to the fermented batter while making idlis.

* All ingredients in the seasoning give a good flavour to the idlis. So don’t skip it except green chillies which you can skip if serving small kids. My kids are fine with it though. I remove the chillies and give them.

* This chutney is Hing chutney with red chillies. I just grind coconut with dried kashmiri red chillies, Hing powder and tamarind paste with salt and little water to a smooth paste. Drizzle coconut oil on top or season it with mustard seeds and curry leaves. I don’t season most of my chutneys as my daughter does not like mustard seeds.

Idli Stand

Instant Vermicelli Idli

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When I was a child, the only Idlis I knew were the regular white Idlis my mother made and the horsegram Idlis, cucumber Idlis, jackfruit Idlis (kulitha idli, thoushe muddho, ponsa mudho in Konkani) which my grandmother made. These varieties are the only ones I remember apart from the amchi famous Khotto or idlis made in jackfruit leaves.

After I started blogging and kept on look out for variety of recipes, I started making Rava Idlis and other Idlis which don’t need rice at all. Here you can check all of them in my Idli Stand page.

Vermicelli idli was one among the first ones to be tried and loved. So I had to share this here. Its a unique but very tasty idli. Comes out super soft and spongy.

Hope you all try and like it too. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1 Cup wheat Vermicelli (the regular variety which we use to make upma. Not super thin ones)

1 Cup wheat Semolina/ Rava/ Sooji

1 Cup Yogurt or thick Curd

About 3/4 Cup Water

1/2 Cup grated Carrots

1 tsp Eno fruit salt {*check notes for substitute}

Salt to taste

For seasoning:

2 tsp Oil

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds or Jeera

1/2 tsp split Urad dal

Few broken Cashews

Step by step recipe:

1. Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds, add Jeera, urad dal and broken cashews. Fry little till cashews turn golden. Then add vermicelli and fry on medium flame till it changes colour and turns brown.

2. Now add rava and fry again till it turns light brown.

3. Switch off the flame now and allow it to cool down slightly. Add curd and water. Mix well.

4. Now add grated carrots and mix well. Add salt and Eno fruit salt. Mix well.

5. Steam immediately after adding Eno fruit salt. Steam for 20 mins or till done.

The white colour is due to my kitchen lights. These Idlis get a golden hue due to vermicelli and carrots.

6. Remove and serve with a chutney of your choice. I have served it with my Amma’s tomato chutney.

Notes:

* 1 tsp Eno fruit salt can be substituted with 1/2 tsp Baking soda and 1/2 tsp Lemon juice.

* Steam immediately after adding Eno fruit salt.

* You can also make regular Instant Rava Idlis if you don’t have vermicelli.

* Grated carrots are optional but give a good bite and also increases the nutritional value.

* For 1 Cup Vermicelli and 1 Cup Rava, 1 Cup curds plus 3/4 Cup water gave perfect texture of the batter which is slightly thick. The amount of water depends upon the curd. Start with 1/2 Cup water and add more only if necessary. Don’t make the batter thin.

Chaat street, Curry house, Snacks

Masala Puri chaat

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It is my son’s second birthday today (August 12th) and we are celebrating it since 10th. 10th because it was my husband’s off day from work (we did a small celebration at home), 11th as it was Janmashtami and I love dressing him up as Krishna. He is our little Kishan Kanhaiyya who brought flood along with him during the Kerala floods in August 2018.

I remember those scary days every year and pray that no one has to go through it again. But yes, God has been really kind upon us and we survived the days well.

My parents shifted back to our native Udupi in Karnataka after that as they wanted to be closer to their siblings and the days in Cochin are a beautiful memory to cherish.

One among the food memory from Cochin is piping hot masala puri that we used to enjoy from a small chaat stall behind the Ernakulam Shiva temple. Me and Amma used to sit in our car (as I was very shy to eat in front of other people 😁) and my dad and brother used to bring them to us. The flavours of the masala puri is still in my taste buds. So so delicious. I have never eaten a tastier masala puri than that.

But I am glad after many trials, my version of masala puri does taste almost same to that. I make it during special days and since it was my son’s birthday, I made it for our evening special snack and we all enjoyed it. Hope you all try and enjoy too. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients: {Makes about 4 plates}

For the curry:

1 Cup dry Green peas (soak overnight)

1 medium sized Potato

1 medium sized Tomato

1 tsp Garam masala powder

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 Tbsp Oil

To grind:

1 medium sized Onion

3 Green chillies

1/2 inch Ginger piece

1/2 Cup Coriander leaves

1/4 Cup Mint leaves

For garnish: finely chopped Onion, tomatoes and coriander leaves as desired

For assembling the chaat: {In one plate}

3 to 4 Puris, 3 ladles of the curry, 1 Tbsp Date Tamarind chutney, Green chutney if desired, finely chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves and bhujiya or Sev.

Step by step recipe:

1. Pressure cook the soaked green peas (soak for atleast 8 hours) along with potato and turmeric powder till it turns soft.

Note: It takes 4 whistles at high flame in my electric stovetop.

2. Mash lightly and keep aside.

3. Take all ingredients to grind in a mixer jar.

4. Grind with little water to a smooth paste. Keep aside.

5. Heat oil in a pan and fry finely chopped tomatoes till it cooks.

6. Add the ground masala paste and cook till it reduces and leaves the sides of the pan. Add garam masala powder and salt.

7. Add the cooked and mashed peas and potatoes.

8. Now cook till it thickens and turns into a gravy like below. Remove from flame.

9. For making masala puris, take puris in a plate and break into pieces.

10. Now add two to three ladles of the curry, top with date-tamarind chutney, onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves and bhujiya. Serve hot.

Notes:

* You can also make green chutney for a spicier masala Puri. Since I make it for my kids, I skip and make the curry mildly spicy for them to enjoy.

* For the green chutney, just grind green chillies with coriander leaves, mint, salt and little water to a smooth paste.

* I also use Mother’s recipe date tamarind chutney. If you don’t have it, just grind dates with tamarind and salt with little water to a smooth paste. That’s your sweet chutney.

* For the puris, I have bought these ready to be fried puris long back (more than 2 years actually) and still they are good. I just microwave it on high for 1 minute and they are ready. No need to deep fry at all.

* The curry can be used as an accompaniment to rotis and rice meals. If you add paneer to it, it becomes matar paneer. I do the same when I have leftover curry.

* You can grind tomatoes if you don’t like tomatoes as it is in the gravy.

Curry house

10 min Restaurant style Veg Kurma

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I have tried many Kurma recipes in the past but once I tried this one, I did not have to try any other. It comes out too delicious for words. Although this technique was new to me, I found that cooking with almost zero additional water in the pressure cooker makes the Kurma taste amazing.

Whenever I make this Kurma, the husband comes to know through the aroma and he asks if it’s Kurma that is cooking 😂. You have to try it to know. I have made it for many get togethers and people love it a lot.

Best part of this curry is once the chopping is done, it hardly takes 10 mins. No sauteing or cooking for long time. I make this specially during weekend now when I don’t want to spend the whole day in the kitchen.

Hope you all try and love it too. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

About 3 Cups mixed Vegetables (Potato, peas, carrots, capsicum, cauliflower)

1 Cup Paneer cubes

2 Tbsp Coconut oil

1 Tbsp Ghee

2 green chillies

1/2 inch Cinnamon stick

3 Cloves

2 Cardamon pods

1 large Onion, finely chopped

1 large Tomato, finely chopped

1/2 Cup Milk

2 Tbsp Coriander leaves, finely chopped

For the masala paste:

1/4 Cup Yogurt/ Curd

1/4 Cup freshly grated or desiccated Coconut

5 to 7 Cashews

3 to 4 cloves of Garlic

1 inch Ginger piece

1 tsp Red chilli powder

1 tsp Garam masala powder

1 tsp Coriander powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Step by step recipe:

1. First add all the ingredients mentioned in the masala paste and grind to a smooth paste without adding water. Don’t forget to add salt too. Keep aside.

2. Keep the vegetables ready as well.

3. Now take a 2 liter or 3 liter pressure cooker. Don’t keep it on the flame. Add ghee and oil in the cooker. Also add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon stick along with green chillies. Bay leaf too if you have.

Note that I have not yet kept the cooker on the flame or stove top.

4. Now layer finely chopped onions evenly.

5. Layer tomatoes evenly too.

6. Layer the veggies after this.

7. Add paneer cubes layer over this.

8. Now add the masala paste as the top layer.

9. Now pressure cook the above layers on medium flame for 7 mins or till 3 whistles. There is no need to add water while cooking. The juices in the vegetables will release water and that’s what makes this Kurma tasty.

10. Allow it to cool down by itself. Now add milk and cook for about 2 mins.

11. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis or rice.

Notes:

* OPOS is a patented technique owned by Mr.Ramakrishnan. It is a copyrighted term. I have adapted this recipe from this site and since she used this technique for making this Kurma, I followed the same. I have no intention of owning this technique. The full credits to this technique goes to Mr Ramakrishnan Sir only.

* If you don’t know to use a pressure cooker, you can saute tomato and onions in the seasoning and cook the veggies with the masala while following all the steps in a kadhai.

* In the original recipe, it says to keep on high flame for 5 mins but it sometimes burnt my Kurma. So I keep the flame on medium for 7 mins. It works well for me.

* In case your veggies don’t cook when you open the cooker, cook after you add milk for 5 more mins.

* Don’t forget to add salt in the masala paste itself. It makes a huge taste difference if you add later.

* Also don’t add water at all while grinding the masala paste. The yogurt does the job well and you can see it while grinding.

* Paneer is optional. I add because we love it. You can also add any combination of veggies that you have.

Curry house

Paneer Sukka

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I am actually a non vegetarian turned into vegetarian post marriage ( ie since 9 years now). People ask me how can I even turn just like that and don’t I crave for it. The truth is I was not much fan of chicken or fish even before marriage. So it was not much difficult to leave it completely.

But there are some dishes that I loved in non veg especially the gravy and one of them is the south Karnataka speciality Chicken sukka. I remember how my aunt Shaila mhave used to ask a person who was an expert in making it to make specially for us when we visited her. The flavours of the gravy is unforgettable.

So after marriage, when I craved for it, I tried to recreate it and added the vegetarian favourite Paneer. My husband is a huge paneer lover and can eat it everyday. 😂 So was Paneer sukka born in my kitchen and we love it with Matta rice meal.

Hope you all try and love it too. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

200 gms Paneer cubes

1 large Onion

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

Salt to taste

2 tsp Oil

For the masala paste:

1 Cup fresh/ desiccated coconut

3 Kashmiri red chillies

1 tsp Coriander seeds (to be roasted)

2 tsp Cumin seeds (to be roasted)

Step by step recipe:

1. Heat a pan and dry roast coriander and cumin seeds for couple of minutes till it gives out an aroma.

2. Take coconut, red chillies in a mixer and add the roasted coriander- cumin to this.

3. Grind with water to a slightly coarse paste adding little water.

Note: Don’t add a lot of water. Also don’t make a fine paste.

4. Heat oil in pan and add finely chopped Onion. Fry till translucent.

5. Now add the ground paste.

6. Also add red chilli powder, garam masala powder with salt.

7. Cook till the mixture dries off which can take around 10 mins.

8. Now add paneer cubes with little water and allow to come to a boil.

9. Now put the flame on medium and cook till the mixture turns dry.

10. Paneer sukka is ready to be served with rotis, rice or Neeru dosas.

Notes:

* Paneer can be substituted with mushrooms or cauliflower too.

* The main part of this curry is to grind the paste slightly coarse and also to cook the paste well till it turns dry.

* If your red chillies are spicy, you can skip the red chilli powder.

Curry house

Mushroom Chettinad

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I have been getting a lot of recipe requests for curries after my simple Cabbage Aloo Sabzi which many have tried and loved. Glad I posted it even though I was thinking people would laugh that I am posting such easy recipes on the blog. Guess some recipes are not as widely known as I thought they were.

So here is yet another delicious gravy with mushrooms that I make always. I am not much of a mushroom lover but the husband is. And since he’s the one shopping now, mushrooms enter weekly into our house. I have to make it super tasty so that I can eat it 😀.

Much to my happiness, my daughter loves this curry so much that she finishes off her rice within minutes. Hope your family loves it too. Happy and healthy cooking!

Thank you Usha Bhat mai for the recipe! ❤️

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

250 grams Button mushrooms, cut into quarters

1 medium sized Onion, roughly chopped

1 medium sized Tomato, roughly chopped

1/2 inch Ginger piece, finely chopped

1 tsp Red chilli powder or to taste

1/2 tsp Coriander powder

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

2 tsp Oil

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves and curry leaves for garnish

For the masala paste:

6 to 8 Cashews

3 Tbsp grated Coconut (fresh or desiccated)

1 Cardamom pod

2 cloves

A small piece of cinnamon

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds

1 tsp Peppercorns

Step by step recipe:

1. Put all the ingredients for the spice mix and fry till the coconut turns little brown.

2. Keep it aside and cool it. When it cools, grind with little water to a fine paste.

3. Heat oil in the same pan again and add ginger and onions. Fry till the onions turn translucent.

4. Now add tomatoes and fry till they cook.

5. Add the spice paste along with turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder. Cook for about 5 mins till the gravy thickens.

6. Now add mushrooms with salt and cook covered till the mushrooms cook well.

7. Now garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rotis or rice.

Notes:

* I add curry leaves when possible to the seasoning when I find it. It gives an amazing flavour. So add it if you are lucky to get it.

* You can add coriander seeds to the spice mix if you have. Don’t add Coriander powder then. I usually add powder only.

* Dry saute the coconut spice mix only till the coconut turns light brown. Don’t allow it to burn or turn black.

* Take care to grind the spice mix to a smooth paste and not coarse.

* Cook the spice mix well and don’t add much water after that. Mushrooms let out a lot of water while cooking. So while making any mushroom curry, don’t add water at all. It cooks in its own water and tastes delicious that way.

* You can substitute mushroom with Gobi or paneer too.