Puran Poli

This is my most favourite dessert of all times - i can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner :). I have had it in places like Grand Sweets in Chennai but nothing beats the ones made by my mom.

Channa Daal - 1 cup
Jaggery shavings - 1 cup
Maida - 1 cup
Haldi - 1 pinch
salt - 2 pinches
2 cardamoms - finely ground

Pressure cook channa daal in 1:2 ratio in medium flame (position 5) till first whistle and then in low flame (position 3) for 4 minutes. Then carefully drain away all the water and spread and let it dry for around 30 minutes till its no longer very moist.Then grind it in a mixie for a couple of minutes (make sure the mixie jar is dry) without adding any water.

Melt the jaggery shavings over a flame with a few spoons of water (Just enough to barely cover it). Once it has dissolved in the water (do not wait till it starts boiling or for 1 string consistency), filter it (jaggery always has some coarse impurities) in a fine metal seive and add to the chnna daal mixture from above.Heat this mixture on low to medium flame (position 4) in a non-stick vessel till the mixture no longer sticks to the sides of the vessel (around 10 minutes). Add ground cardomom powder.

Add salt and haldi powder to maida and mix well. Add enough water (you can also try using milk) to the maida to make a chappati like dough. But you need to add more water than you would for chappati dough to get the right consistency.Then add 1-2 spoons of olive oil on top of the dough, pat lightly and then let it soak for atleast 6 hours at room temperature (After 6 hours make sure you refrigerate so it does not turn sour).

Take a thick polythene sheet (i usually cut opena zip lock bag). Take a small (gooseberry size) amount of the soaked maida dough and pat it lightly till you get a 3 inch dia circle. Add one tablespoon of the purnam (shape it like a ball) and close at the edges. Then using only pressing movements with your four fingers (do not push at the edges it will cause the purnam to spill out) , make a 6 inch dia boli. Then put the boli on a tawa and heat till cooked (you do not need to add oil ).

BANANA FLOWER CURRY

Once upon a time, my dear hubby used to grow banana trees in the backyard. The trees never got to bearing ripe banana fruits since frost use to hit them pretty hard. But we always got the huge banana flowers and my mom gave me this recipe.
Here is a very good link which shows how to clean banana florets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhCYK5U52VA

Ingredients
1. Banana core finely chopped + cleaned banana florets (remove center filament with black head and the small wing which automatically comes away when you remove the black headed filament)– chop finely.(You could try soaking in curd. I did not.)
1 sound in cooker (add water just enough to cover)
Now drain water and keep aside
2. 4 red chilies, 1 cup onion (preferably small onion), 1tbsp jeera – grind well in mixer
3. Small Indian lemon size puli – dissolve in water

Procedure
Heat 4 tbsps of nalennai,
Add the mixture from step 2 and puli water from step 3 boil till the raw smell goes away
Sauté banana core florets till well cooked

Top Ramen Noodles

2 blocks top ramen
1. 5 big onions
1 very small tomato
lots of carrots peas

Heat oil. Add onion, carrots and tomatoes.
Once cooked add peas and the top ramen masale
I cook for nearly 40 mins till evrything is nicely cooked and the masala has blended well with the veggies
add the noodles and heat till cooked.

Chilli Chicken

My recipe is a mix of what my sister in law taught and what i saw the vahchef do in his chilli chicken recipe

Ingredients

Group 1
250 gms chicken thigh pieces - cut in to small pieces
Ginger garlic paste (grind around 20 small garlic fingers with around 2.5 inches long ginger)
chilli sauce - 1 spoon
soy sauce 2 spoons
tomato sauce 1.5 spoons
1 egg white
chilli powder 1/2 spoon
maida 1 spoon
pepper powder 1/4 spoon
salt

Mix all the above ingredients well and let it marinate overnight.Then fry the pieces and keep aside (The pieces should be soft and not overly brown)

Group 2
capsicum - 1/2
onion -1/2
red chillies - 2 (diagonally cut with scissors as how the vahchef does it)
finely chopped ginger and garlic - half a handful
soy sauce - 2 spoons
chilli garlic sauce - 1 spoon
corn flour mixture - 3-4 spoons
spring onion to garnish - 3
pepper powder 1/2 spoon
vinegar - dash

1.Heat sesame oil. Add red chillies and the gg mixture
2.Add soy sauce, vinegar, chilli garlic sauce ,capsicum and onion
3. Once the capsicum is cooked (still lil crispy though),add corn flour as thickening agent. Once the raw flour smell goes away, add chicken fried before.
5. mix well and add the finely chopped spring onions

Tandoori Paneer

Ingredients

200 gms paneer
Tanddori masala - 3 spoons
chilli powder
chaat masala 1/2 spoon
ginger garlic paste 1/2 spoon
curd 3 spoons
garam masala 1/2 spoon
jeera powder 1 1/2 spoons
lemon juice


Mix all the above ingredients and marinate.

Place in oven and heat for few minutes. Then toss the paneer and let it cook for 5 minutes.

Palak Tofu

Ingredients

1 box spinach
1/2 box medium firm tofu (get the tofu thats made from soy thats not genetically engineered)
Jeera - 1 spoon
garlic - 2 big fingers
onion -1/2
tomato -1/2
ginger garlic paste 1 spoon
garam masala 1 spoon
rasam powder - 1/2
chilli powder 1 spoon

Gobi Paratha

Ingredients

1 Onion
6 green chillies (Indian chillies finely chopped)
1 cauliflower
cilantro - 1 handful
aamchoor powder - 1spoon
kasuri methi 1 spoon
red chill powder 1/2 spoon
ginger garlic paste - 1spoon
lime juice
garam masala - 1/2 spoon
few mint leaves (around half a handful)

Steps
1. Grate the cauliflower in a food processor
2. Heat oil in a tawa, add onion ,gg paste and green chillies
3. Add grated cauliflower.
4. Once the onion is well cooked, add the masalas (except kasuri methi)
5. Open cook till cauliflower is well cooked. Add kasuri methi.
6. add lime juice
7. Roll a chapati.Place a big spoon of the filling in it and spread it on one half. Now folder over the chapti. Seal the edges.Cook

Vaangi baath

Yet another week day lunch recipe :)

My husband loves it and i don't need to make a veggie side dish to go with it since there are already so many veggies in it!

Ingredients
MTR vaangibaath masala
1.5 cups raw rice
1 capsicum , thinly sliced longitudinally
10-15 baby carrots , cut longitudinally in to thin slices
15-20 beans sliced in to diamonds
handful of peas (Too lazy to get the fresh peas, so i end up using frozen :( )
Cilantro to garnish

For saute
1/2 - 1 handful channa daal
mustard
curry leaves
3 dry red chillies
optional - handful peanuts

Procedure
1. Heat sesame oil in a pan.Add channa daal, mustard, curry leaves, red chillies and peanuts.(You can roast peanuts in the microwave)
2. Add the veggies with turmeric and salt. Saute till cooked
3. Add tamarind and boil till raw smell goes away.
4. Add the MTR masala and mix well
5. Add cilantro to garnish

Masala Rice

We had this dish at a movie party at our friend Santhan's place.Our friend Abhi made it and I was surprised to learn how easy it was to make it.

I make it often for weekday lunches.It goes well with raita and chips (baked, of course :).

Ingredients
Raw rice - 1 cup
Toor daal - 1/3 cup
peanuts - 1/2 cup (approx. a handful)
Onion - 1, finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 spoon
turmeric
Garam masala - 1 tbsp (or more if you want it to be more spicy)
(Ideally you should use kaala garam masala, but i could not find it in the indian store)
4.5 cups water

For Saute
Mustard 1 spoon
Jeera 1.5 spoons

Procedure
1. Heat oil.Add mustard, jeera, gg paste.
2. Add onions with salt and saute till onions turn golden brown.
3. Add rice and daal with water.
4. Add garam masala .
5. Cook for 3 or 4 whistles.

More Kolambu

This a a good dish for hot summer days!!I usually make urulakangu or beans usuli to go with this dish.

Ingredients

Soak and grind:
1.5 heaped spoons coriander seeds
1 spoon channa daal
1 spoon jeera
2 dry red chillies
1 small slice coconut (if you dont want coconut, just increase the amount of channa daal and coriander seeds.It comes out great)

For Saute:
Mustard
Asafoetida
Red chilli -1
Curry leaves
Turmeric

Procedure

1. After grinding, slowly add curd and beat in the mixie so that the curd mixes well with the other ingredients.
2. Heat sesame oil.Add mustard, asafoetida, chilli, curry leaves and turmeric.
3. Add mix from step 1.Add salt.
4. Remove after the mix just starts boiling.
5. Add finely chopped cilantro. (I sometimes add lemon juice to make it more sour).

Rasam

Rasam from scratch - heavenly with paruppu, appalam and uralakalangu!! It is easy to make !!

Ingredients

Grind:
2 Tomatoes on the vine
3/4 spoon pepper
1.5 spoons Jeera
5 cloves of garlic
4 curry leaves
1/2 handful cilantro

For saute:
mustard
asafoetida
red chillies-2

1/4 lime size tamarind

Procedure
1. Heat sesame oil in a pan.Add mustard, red chillies curry leaves and asafoetida.
2. Add the mix ground above.Saute for 5 minutes or so. the color of the mix will change and the raw smell will go away.
3. If needed, you can added the tamarind as well with some water.(I also add one spoon rasam powder and half spoon saambhar powder that my mom makes for more flavor.)
4. Add ghee if you want its delightful aroma
5. Dont let the mix come to a boil (if you did not add tamarind) .Remove from heat once froth appears.

Masal Dosai

This is a dish that i used to take for granted back home. My mom used to make it even on week day mornings with saambhar and chutney. After 4 years of having cereal and milk in the morning, that seems like the breakfast that dreams are made of!!

But I cant even imagine going through so much trouble for breakfast - my husband may get used to such comforts all too soon ;) So I usually make it for dinner on weekends or when we have friends come over for brunch.

Ingredients
Potatoes- 2 (I get the big, long baking potatoes)
Onions - 2 (big Sweet Onions)- Finely chopped
Green chillies - 2-3 finely chopped green chillies
Cilantro - Few stems
Mustard - 1/2 spoon
Channa daal - 1-2 spoons
ginger - 1 inch finely grated
garam masala - 1 level spoon (You can add more if you want more flavor)
Jeera - 1/2 spoon
Saunf - 1/4 spoon (crush it in you palm before adding)

Procedure
1. Heat oil.Add mustard, channa daal, green chillies, ginger and Jeera (Take care not to burn the jeera -add it last )
2. Add onions, saute, then add salt. Salt will help in getting the onions get cooked faster.
3. Add potato (after boiling in a cooker) and some water till potato and onions get well mixed and cooked.
4. Add cilantro till cooked. Add garam masala and saunf.

Ven Pongal

This is one of my favorite dishes. My mom always made pongal on sunday mornings.In fact, it the enticing aroma of saambhar that convinced me to wake up early. This is a very easy and simple dish to make. But to truly enjoy it, you need to make saambhar and chutney as well.

Ingredients
1 cup raw rice
1/2 cup paasiparuppu
1 spoon pepper
1 spoon jeera
1/4 inch ginger - finely grated
green chillies - 2 , finely chopped
8-9 curry leaves
Asafoetida, salt
5.5 cups water


Optional
1 spoon ghee
Few cashew nuts

Procedure
1. Heat spoon of oil.Add pepper,jeera,cashew nuts,ginger, green chillies .Add jeera last since it browns very fast.
2. Add rice and daal (after washing and draining) and saute
3. Add salt and asafoetida
4. Add water
5. 4-5 whistles in cooker will make it really soft.Add ghee after opening the cooker.
Important : Cook pongal just before you plan to serve else it tends to become little lumpy.Else, add half a cup of hot water and mix well before serving.

Chicken chettinad

Sara had this dish at our friend Prabha's place. She said that she took it from chef damu's website. The site goes down a lot so i have put it here again.
The original recipe calls for coconut . Also, i have changed the quantities of the various spices to suit my hubby's taste.

Ingredients
Chicken -1/2 Kg.
Anasi Poo -3 wings
Marathi Moogu -3 little pieces
Kalpasi - 1/2 Teaspoon.
Cinnamon - 3 Nos.
Cardamon - 3 Nos.
Cloves - 3 Nos.
Coriander seeds - 1.5-2 Handfull.
Cumin seeds - 1 heaped teaspoon.
Red chillies - 8-9 Nos.(7 ended being a lil bland)
Fennel (Somph) - 1 heaped Teaspoon
Curry Leaves - 3 Sprigs.
Onion - 1 big red onion
Tomatoes - 1 big roma tomato
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 heaped Teaspoon
Jathi Pathri - 5 Nos.
Oil - 150 ml.
Coriander Leaves - 1 bunch.
Salt To Taste


1. roast and grind all spices except cinnamon, cardamon and cloves.
2. Heat a thick bottomed vessel.Add oil. Then add the cinnamon, cardamon and cloves.
3. add onions. Once well fried,add the gg paste and then the tomato.
4. Add chicken.
5. add the chettinad powder when chicken is 3/4th cooked.
6.Add the cilantro as well
7. garnish with finely chopped cilantro leaves and serve.

Vegetable Biryani

This is absolutely my favorite veggie biryani recipe.It is my grandmom's recipe.It is very masaledhar and so my spice loving husband really likes it!! so do many of our friends. So its a no brainer for me when figuring out what to cook for a party or a potluck!

The original recipe calls for coconut milk.You can add it if you wish.

Ingredients:
600gms basmati
Onion - 2 big Sweet onion (the huge costco ones)
Tomato - 2-2.5 roma tomatoes
potato - 1 big potato diced
beans - around 20-25 fresh beans
carrots - around 20 baby carrots
peas - 1 cup frozen or fresh peas
cilantro - 1/2 bunch
mint - 4 springs
3 -3.5 serrano peppers (or 4-5 indian chillies)

2 spoons gg paste
1 bay leaf

Masalas
Freshly roasted and ground dhania powder - 1.5 level spoon
freshly roasted and ground jeera powder - 1 spoon
chilli powder - kashmiri chilli powder - 1-1.5 spoons (dont add more, it masks the green chilli flavor)
shakti biryani masala - 2.5 spoon (dont fret if you have it, it does not make a big difference)

grind the following
pattai - 2 inches
lavang - 3
elaichi -3
saunf - 1 spoon heaped
2 small coconut pieces


Procedure
1. Heat oil. (If you have , add little bit of jathipathri, marathi moogu and kalpasi). Else, just add one clove, one elaichi, little bit pattai and a bay leaf

2. Add finely chopped green chillies.Wait till fried.

3. Add onions and then the gg paste.

4. Add tomatoes.Saute till a smooth paste is obtained.

5. Add veggies.Cook in open pan till 3/4 th cooked.Add salt

6. Add the masalas

7.Add 4 cups water (You can add 3 or 3.5 cups.Should be fine for basmati.But i havnt tried it that way)

8. Add rice (you can roast it if time permits)

9.'Open cook' till rice is almost cooked and absorbs 90% of the water.Then cook in a pressure cooker at the lowest possible heat level for 10-15 minutes. Switch off. Leave for .5 hours before openingg and serving.

10.serve with raita