Poli (With Channa Dhal/Jaggery)

Poli is a very famous sweet in souther india and also is known as Puran Poli in North. This is a festive season sweet made in almost all houses in TamilNadu and Andhra on their respective new year day. Preparation of this dish is a little time consuming process. I had been always enjoying this delicious sweet at my sweet home for all these years. This is the first time I tried my hands on this tamil new year (April 14,2010) and it turned out yummy!!! I also made the mixed dhal vada along with the sweet and took to office to celebrate the new year and all my colleagues liked it too! 

Ingredients:
1. Channa dhal - 150 gms
2. Jaggery (grated) - 100 gms
3. Maida Flour - 100 gms
4. Oil - 4 tablespoon
5. Salt - to taste
6. Ghee
7. Cardamom - 3
8. Turmeric powder - a pinch

Preparation:

To make the stuffing
1. Soak Channa dhal for 1 to 2 hours and pressure cook it with required water for 4 whistles.
2. After the pressure releases, drain the water from the dhal and grind it to a paste with grated jaggery and cardamom without water. This paste would be in a semi-solid consistency.
3. Heat a pan with strong base and add this paste to the pan. Cook and stir it ocassionally until the wetness goes off and the mixture comes to a solid consistency.
4. Now switch off the stove and bring the mixture to cool.

To make the outer layer

Mix the maida with little salt and turmeric powder. Add little water and knead the dough. Add required oil and knead it without lumps and until it becomes smooth. Once the dough is ready, spread little oil over the dough and keep it aside for atleast 30 minutes.

To make the Poli
In this preparation we need to use either fresh plantain leaves or plastic sheet. Wash it thoroughly in water and wipe it with a clean towel to dry.
It is good to have atleast two leaves/sheets to use alternatively. Wash your hands and get ready to make poli as the remaining preparation needs to be done by hands only.

1. Add 2 to 3 drops of oil in a plantain leaf/plastic sheet and spread it completely. This will help from not sticking the dough to the sheet when you transfer it to the tava.
2. Take a small portion of the kneaded maida dough and make it to a ball shape.
3. Place the ball shaped dough on the sheet and start spreading it with your fingers into a circle of even size.
4. Now make a small ball of the stuffing and place it in the dough and cover it completely with the dough around it.
5. Again spread it with your fingers into a circle of even size. Try to make it as thin as possible.
6. Now heat the tava and when it is hot enough slowly transfer the poli from the plaintain leaf/sheet to the tava without breaking it.
7. Spread 1 tablespoon of ghee around it and allow it to cook. Once it cooks, turn sides and cook it for another 1- 2 minutes.


Hot, tasty and sweety poli is ready to eat. 

Kothamalli Thokku

Ingredients:
1. Coriander Leaves - a bunch
2. Red chillies - 4 (vary according to your spice level)
3. Urud dhal - 3 tablespoon
4. Fenugreek Seeds - 2 teaspoon
5. Coriander seeds - 2 teaspoon
6. Asafoetida - a pinch  
7. Oil - 2 tablespoon
8. Mustard seeds - 2 teaspoon
9. Urud dhal - 1 tablespoon (for seasoning)
10. Salt - to taste

Preparation:
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and fry urud dhal, red chillies, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and asafoetida without over burning.
2. Then clean the coriander leaves with water and add it to the pan and fry well until the raw smell goes off.
3. Cool and grind it into coarse paste with required salt. 
4. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and season mustard seeds and when it splutters, add the ground paste and mix it well for 2 -3 minutes.
Spicy, tatsy kothamalli thokku is ready to eat. 
This is a very good combination for Idly/dosa and also with white rice.  


Tips:
1. You can add few curry leaves along with coriander to make it tastier.

Chole(Channa/Chick Peas) Briyani

This is a variation from the usual vegetable briyani.I wanted to try something new with Chickpeas and rice this time. 


Ingredients:
1. Chick peas - 1 cup
2. Rice - 2 cups
3. Onion - 3 medium sized
4. Tomatoes - 2 medium sized
5. Green chillies - 4 vertically split
6. Red chilly powder - 3/4 tablespoon
7. Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
8. Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon
9. Cloves - 2
10. Cinnamon - 2 small sticks
11. Cardamom - 2
12. Bay leaves - 3 small pieces
13. Salt - to taste
14. Curd - 3 tablespoon
15. Ginger/garlic paste - 1/2 tablespoon
16. Mint leaves - 4
17. Oil - 4-5 tablespoon

Preparation:
1. Soak Chikpeas overnight
2. Pressure cook the soaked chickpeas with little salt for 3 whistles. Meanwhile soak the rice in water.
3. When the pressure is released, strain the water and add ginger/garlic paste, curd,red chillies, coriander powder, garam masala and settle it down.
4. Now boil rice in a vessel with little salt and 2 drops of oil until the rice is cooked 3/4th and strain water.
5. In the meantime, finely chop the onions lengthwise and tomatoes in to fine pieces.
6. Heat oil in a pan and when hot, add the spices (cloves,cardamon,bayleaves) and when they splutter, add the onions and fry well.
7. Add green chillies, and mint leaves and cook well until the onions turn into golden brown.
8. Add chopped tomatoes and smash them and fry until the tomatoes are cooked fine.
9. Then add the chole masala and required amount of salt and sprinkle little water.
10. When this mixture is almost cooked, spread the drained rice over the chole mixture and close the vessel with a lid and cook for next 5 to 7 minutes until the rice is cooked completely.
11. Now mix the chole with rice without breaking rice.


Serve hot and spicy chole briyani with raitha/pappads. I also use some roasted cashews for extra crunchiness.

Strawberry Milkshake

Strawberry was not my favorite fruit until i started tasting it in the form of milkshake. This is the first time I got to try the milkshake at home and it came out very well. 


Ingredients:
Strawberries - 6
Milk - 300 ml
Sugar - 10 Tablespoons
Vanilla Ice cream - 2 scoops

Preparation:
1. Boil milk in a low flame until it becomes 3/4th of the initial volume
2. Allow the milk to cool.
3. Now blend the strawberries with milk, sugar and ice cream.
4. Refrigerate the milkshake and serve it with ice cream for more taste


PS: 
1. I use 2 to 3 tablespoons of sour cream or few drops of vanilla essence instead of ice cream for a variation in taste
2. I do not filter the milkshake as i like the little crunchiness you get out of the strawberries. If you do not prefer that, you can filter the milkshake before serving

Potato Curry

A simple spicy curry with potato. I pefer to make fresh ground powder for this preparation, but you can also try the same with garam masala. 

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1. Potato - 4 medium sized
2. Onions - 2 medium sized
3. Garlic - 10
4. Oil - 4 Tablespoon
5. Red chilly powder - 1 Tablespoon
6. Coriander powder - 1 1/2 Tablespoon
7. Cloves - 4
8. Cinnamon stick - 2 small pieces
9. Salt - to taste

Preparation:
1. Chop potoato and onions into fine pieces.
2. Grind cloves and cinnamon stick to a fine powder.
3. Heat oil in pan and add onions and garlic and fry well.
4. When onion becomes golden brown, add potatoes, salt, red chilly powder, coriander powder and cook well for next 15 minutes.
5. Do not add water. When the potato is almost cooked and looks little mushy, add the masala powder and cook for another 5 minutes.

Hot and spicy potato curry is ready. This curry is a very good side dish for Sambhar/rasam/curd ice.

Tomato Rasam

There are different versions of tomato rasam - either with or without dhal. Recipe presented here uses toor dhal and gives the perfect taste. Tomato rasam with paruppu thogayal would be like Amirtham if I return back home after any trip.

Preparation Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

1. Toor dhal - 1/2 cup

2. Tomatoes - 3 medium sized

3. Red chilly powder - 3/4 Tablespoon

4. Pepper and Jeera powder - 1 tablespoon

5. Salt - to taste

6. Ghee - 2 Tablespoon

7. Mustard seeds - 2 Teaspoon

8. Red chillies - 3

9. Asafoetida - a pinch

10. Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

11. Tamarind Juice - 50 ml

12. Coriander Leaves - for garnishing

Preparation:

1. Pressure cook toor dhal with required water and turmeric powder and smash it nicely.

2. Grind tomatoes to a coarse paste.

3. Mix the cooked dhal, tomato paste and the tamarind juice. Add salt,red chilly powder and pepper/jeera powder and bring it to boil in a pan.

4. When the mixture comes to boil, switch off the stove.

5. Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee and when hot season with mustard seeds, red chillies and asafoetida.

6. Add the seasoning to the mixture and garnish with coriander leaves.

Hot tomato rasam is ready to serve. You can serve it with rice or even drink it as a soup.

Ladies Finger Curry (வெண்டைக்காய் புளி கூட்டு)

I generally make sambhar/mor kuzhambu/karakuzhambu with Ladies Finger. At times i also make simple curry with it. I wanted to try a recipe that i tasted once in my friend's lunch box with a little variation and it came out very well.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1. Ladies Finger - 300 gms
2. Coconut (grated) - 3 Tablespoon
3. Cumin seeds - 1 Tablespoon
4. Mustard seeds - 3 Teaspoon
5. Urud dhal - 1 Tablespoon
6. Asafoetida - a pinch
7. Red chillies - 4
8. Tamarind juice - 1/2 cup
9. Salt - to taste
10. Jaggery - 1 Tablespoon
11. Oil - 3 Tablespoon
12. Curd - 2 Tablespoon

Preparation:
1. Chop ladies finger to fine pieces.
2. Grind coconut, cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds and red chillies into a paste with little water.
3. Heat oil in pan and when it is hot, add 2 teaspoon of mustard seeds, urud dhal and asafoetida and fry well.
4. Add chopped ladies finger and cook with required amount of salt for 10 minutes.
5. Add the ground paste and tamarind juice and cook until the raw smell goes off.
6. Now add the jaggery and curd and cook for another 5 minutes.

Ladies finger curry is ready to be served with Rice/Roti.

Yam Smashed Curry (கருணைகிழங்கு மசியல்)

Masiyal means anything that is Smashed. Yam goes well in this preparation and this is a very authentic tamil dish with easy and quicker preparation.

Preparation Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

1. Yam - 300 gms

2. Onion - 1 meidum sized

3. Red Chilli powder - 1 tablespoon

4. Salt - to tatste

5. Tamarind juice - 2 tablespoons

6. Mustard seeds - 2 teaspoon

7. Red chillies - 3

8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

9. Curry Leaves - 5 to 6

10. Urud dhal - 1 tablespoon

11. Oil - 2 tablespoon

12. Asafoetida - 1 pinch

13. Jaggery - a small piece

Preparation:

1. Peel the skin from Yam and boil it in water until it is completely cooked. Meanwhile chop the onions into fine pieces.

2. When the yam is cooked, strain the water completely and smash it finely. Add the tamarind juice, red chilly powder, salt, turmeric powder and crushed jaggery and mix it well.

3. Heat oil in a pan and when hot add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add urud dhal, curry leaves, red chillies and asafoetida one by one and fry.

4. Add the chopped onions and fry it until it turns transparent.

5. Now add the yam mixture and cook it for next 4 to 5 minutes with continuous stirring. You can add couple of more table spoon of oil if required.

6. Remove from flame and garnish with Coriander leaves and serve.

Tips:

1. Use non-stick pan for cooking the dish without sticking to the pan.

Spicy Mushroom Curry

Every time I get Mushroom, I want to try some different recipe out of it.  I had tried out few recipes with mushroom - mushroom briyani, mushroom kurma, mushroom pepper fry. This time wanted to give it a different flavor. It really came out very well and tasted yummy. If you are not a mushroom lover, try this recipe with Potato or cauliflower and it would be good choice too.

Preparation Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

1. Mushroom - 500 gms

2. Onions - 2 medium

3. Tomatoes - 3 medium

4. Ginger/garlic paste - 1 tablespoon

5. Red Chilly powder - 1 tablespoon

6. Coriander powder - 2 tablespoon

7. Curd - 4 tablespoon

8. Salt - to taste

9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

10. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tablespoon

11. Curry leaves - 7 to 8

12. Oil - 3 tablespoon

Preparation:

1. Wash the mushrooms and marinate with ginger/garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander powder, curd and salt for 15 minutes.

2. Chop onions and tomatoes into fine pieces.

3. Heat oil in a pan and when hot, add cumin seeds and curry leaves.

4. Add chopped onions and cook until it turns transparent.

5. Then add the tomatoes and cook well by smashing it.

6. When the tomatoes are almost cooked, add the marinated mushroom and mix it well. 

7. Do not add water, as mushrooms will leave some water as it cooks. Also since we have used curd for marination, the mushrooms would cook in that liquid.

8. Close the pan with a lid and cook for next 15 minutes by continuous stirring.

9. When the mushroom is completely cooked and the tomato and onion paste is blended well, add the Garam masala and cook for another 2 minutes.

10. Garnish with coriander leaves and our spicy mushroom curry is ready to serve.

You can serve this with rice/rotis/idly/dosas.  

Aaloo Tikki

A quick evening snack item prepared with potatoes and green peas. There are few variations of this dish, and I love to keep the preparation simple.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1. Potato - 2 medium sized
2. Green Peas - 1/2 cup
3. Red chilli powder - 1 tablespoon
4. Salt - to taste
5. Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon
6. Corn Flour - 2 tablespoon
7. Oil to cook

Preparation:
1. Boil the green peas in required amount of water.
2. Grate the potatoes to thin strings.
3. Mix the potatoes and peas with the other ingredients (except oil) and rest for 10 minutes.
4. Make small patties with the mixture.
5. Heat a shallow pan and place the patty in it and start cooking. Add required amount of oil around the patty.
6. Turn the patty and cook both the sides until it turns golden brown.

Serve it hot as a snack accompanying tea/coffee

Garlic Rasam

This is a simple variety of rasam with garlic. Since we dont use cooked dhal in this preparation, this consumes lesser time to prepare.


Preparation Time: 20 minutes


Ingredients:
1. Tomato - 2 
2. Tamarind juice - 2 tablespoon
3. Oil - 2 tablespoon
4. Garlic - 6
5. Curry leaves & coriander leaves for garnishing
6. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
7. Red chillies - 2


To make paste:
1. Garlic - 5 pods
2. Red chillies - 3
3. Coriander seeds - 1 tablespoon
4. Toor dhal - 1 tablespoon
5. Methi seeds - 1 teaspoon
6. Curry leaves - 4 to 5
7. Asafoetida - a pinch




Preparation:


1. Dry roast all ingredients given for paste, cool them and make a wet paste.
2. Chop the tomatoes to fine pieces and cook in 2 cups of water along with 6 pods of garlic.
3. When tomatoes are almost cooked, add tamarind juice, the ground paste and salt. Bring it to boil for 5 to 7 minutes and bring it off the stove.
4. Season the rasam with mustard seeds, red chillies and asafoetida in 2 tablespoon of oil.
5. Garnish with curry leaves and coriander leaves.


Serve it with hot white rice.

Kathirikai MochaiKottai Kuzhambu (Brinjal and Val bean Gravy)

This is a gravy recipe with Brinjal and white Val bean (mochai) in tamarind juice and coconut paste. Freshly prepared coconut paste adds a rich flavor to this dish. 

Preparation Time: 1 hour


Ingredients:
1. Brinjal - 3
2. White dried Mochai - 1/2 cup
3. Onion - 2 medium
3. Tomato - 1 medium
4. Tamarind juice - extracted from small lemon sized tamarind.
5. Sambhar Powder - 2 tablespoon (you can vary this per your spice level)
6. Salt to taste
7. Oil - 3 tablespoon
8. Mustard seeds - 2 teaspoon
9. Methi seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
10. Vadagam - 1 tablespoon
11. Curry leaves - 5 to 6
12. Garlic - 10- 15 pods


To make paste:
1. Coconut - 1/2 cup
2. Poppy seeds - 2 teaspoon

Preparation:
1. Soak mochai in water overnight and boil them in the cooker for 2 - 3 whistles.
2. Cut the stem of brinjal and slit it into 4 to 5 pieces, do not cut them separately. Chop onions into fine vertical pieces and tomatoes into fine pieces.
3. Make a paste with coconut and poppy seeds.
4. Heat oil in a pan, and when hot add mustard seeds, vadagam and methi seeds.
5. Add onions and fry until it turns transparent. Add garlic, tomatoes and curry leaves and fry well for 3 to 4 minutes.
6. Add the brinjal, boiled mochai, sambhar powder, salt and mix it well and cook for another 5 minutes.
7. Now add the tamarind juice bring it to boil and cok until the raw smell of tamarind goes off. This would take atleast 15 to 20 minues.
8. Add the ground paste of coconut to the boiling mixture. Cook for another 5 to 7 minutes.


Spicy, yummy kuzhambu is ready to serve. This can be served with rice/idly or dosas.


Tips:
1. You can roast the beans a little before cooking. This will give an additional flavor.

Colocasia roast (சேப்பங்கிழங்கு வறுவல்)

Colocasia roast had been the most favoirte dish for me and my two little cousin sisters since our childhood.Whenever I make or eat this dish, it reminds me of my lovely sister who is crazy about this. She just loves eating the roast just as soon as it is taken from the pan and makes it vanish in seconds :) I found frozen Colocasia in the Indian grocery store here, after so many months and madeup my mind to make the roast and surprise my husband.

Preparation Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
1. Colocasia - 200 gms
2. Sambhar powder - 2 tablespoon
3. Salt- to taste
4. Rice flour - 2 tablespoon
5. Oil - to fry

Preparation:
1. Cook the colocascia in water with skin.
2. Once it is cooked completely, cool and peel the skin and cut into small round pieces with thickness of 1-2 cms.
3. Add sambhar powder, salt and rice flour to the cut pieces and mix it well. Add little water to blend it nicely with the colocasia. 
4. Set this aside for 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Heat oil in a deep fry pan. When the oil is hot, add 10- 12 pieces at a time and deep fry it.
6. Turn both sdes until it is roasted to a golden brown colour.

Crispy and hot roast is ready to eat.

Tips:
1. If you use frozen colocasia, since it comes without the skin, instead of boiling them in water, steam boil it.
2. If you dont have sambhar powder, use 1 tablespoon of red chilly powder and 2 tablespoons of coriander powder.