Sabudana and Poha Chivda / Big Sago and Flat Rice flakes Mixture

Crunchy crunchy mixture is an all time favorite in my house. The container gets empty in quater time it takes to make it. Its one of the easier mixtures to make using much lesser oil than any of the mixtures which has deep-fried besan sev and other stuff. Most of the ingredients in this mixture are shallow fried in less oil except for the sabudana which has to be fried for them to pop.

The sabudana we used is called 'Nylon sabudana' or sabudana especially for mixture. It bigger in size than the regular sabudana and pop in white balls when fried in oil. Well sabudana or sago in here is just for the crunch, you can leave it out too, if you don't have it.

Use thick poha or thick flat rice flakes for the recipe, because they don't break up easily when fried or sauteed.

It takes about 20-30 min to make it. Adjust spice accordingly.
Ingredients:

1 cup thick poha
1/4 fried gram, buna channa daal, putnalpappu, chutney daal
1/2 cup nylon sabudana
1/4 cup peanuts
1/4 cup cashew nuts (optional)

3-4 tbsp oil
oil for frying nylon sabudana
salt to taste
chilli powder to taste
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1/2 tsp jeera powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
bit of powdered sugar (optional)

1/2 tsp urad daal
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera
6-8 curry leaves
2-3 dry red chillies, broken

Method:

In an open pan, put few drops of oil and fry the channa daal till they are golden brown. Remove and keep aside.

Put a few more drops of oil and fry the poha till they become crunchy and opaque / white. Remove and keep aside.

Deep fry the nylon sabudana carefully, till they pop, remove on a paper napkin and keep aside.

Fry the peanuts / cashew nuts in a few drops of oil, till they start turning brown. Keep aside.

Mix all the fried ingredients together in a bowl. Mix in salt, sugar, jeera and coriander powder and chilli powder.

Prepare for tempering in a small pan. Heat 2 tbsp of oil. Add the urad daal and brown it. Add the mustard and jeera seeds and let them splutter. Add the curry leaves and dry red chillies and saute for few seconds for adding it to the mixture. Add the turmeric to this and mix well.

Store in an air tight container. Stays good for atleast 2-3 weeks. Serve as a snack with tea or coffee. Serve with chopped onions and lemon for a twist. Enjoy!!!

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Nimmakaya Pappu / Katti daal / Tempered Lemony Lentils

This is one of the easiest of all daals. If you don't have any other veggies to put in the daal, but surely have lemons or like in Indian kitchens, have some lemon juice hid away in some corner of the fridge, use it to make this easy dish.
Like pappu kattu which is also easy, but its more liquidy than this. This should be as thick as the usual daal we make and will go with rice or roti. Make it as katti or sour as you want.
The day I made this, I was little worried that I made too much and a lot would be left over for the next day. But to my surprise, not even a big spoon of it was left over. Kids and my husband ate it all up!!!
If you have some left over plain daal, it will take even less time to make it. Otherwise, it takes about the time it takes to pressure cook the daal and about 10 mins to temper it and add lemon.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked toor daal / kandi pappu
1 small onion, chopped
4-5 green chillies, chopped
Enough lemon juice to suit your taste
4-5 garlic cloves, smashed or chopped
1/4 tsp urad daal
1/4 tsp jeera
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
pinch of hing or asfoetida ot inguva
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
5-6 curry leaves
2 dry red chillies, broken
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

Method:

Mash the cooked daal to your consistency by adding some water if required.
In a small pot, heat oil, add urad daal and garlic, saute to brown it. Add mustard seeds and jeera and let them splutter. Add curry leaves and red chillies. Add the onions and green chillies and saute till translucent. Add hing, turmeric powder and chilli powder and saute. Add the daal to this mix and mix well. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice. Add coriander leaves to garnish.
Serve hot with rice, roti or chapathi. Enjoy!!!

This is going to Suma Gandlur from Veggie Platter's 'Delicious Dals' event.

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Stuffed Spring onion and Besan Paratha

Stuffed parathas are delish and have there own special place. The good part is that they can be stuffed with anything you like and then they turn into this healthy and yummy dish! Its one good way to make fussy eaters eat their veggies. But stuffing is not limited to veggies alone, but shredded chicken or lamb can also be used and thats a whole other story.

Stuff cheese to make it cheese paratha.
Stuff egg burji to make egg paratha.
Stuff shredded / ground chicken to make chicken paratha.
Stuff ground lamb to make lamb paratha.
Stuff veggies to make wholesome veggie paratha and call it by whatever you stuffed it with!!;)
See so many types of parathas.
The stuffing can also be prepared in many different way, just like a curry or like in the following way, a special curry made with besan and any leafy vegetable. Here I used spring onions. Spring onions give a nice flavor and along with besan, the paratha has a different flavor all together.
This recipe is from my Mom. She always makes it this way and I do too now.
I have only tried besan with leafy vegetable and not other veggies, so if any one has let me know!
Take about 15 min for the stuffing to be prepared and about 2-3 min for each paratha, depending on how fast you are in making them!!!

Ingredients:

For dough:

Everyone has their own way of making roti dough, prepare it the same way. I prepare mine like this:

2-3 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
2-3 tbsp of yogurt (optional)
Enough water to mix into soft dough

Method for paratha dough:

Knead all ingredients together in a bowl to form a soft dough. Let it rest for 20 min.

To make stuffing:

2 bunches spring onions (about 12-16 sprigs), chopped
8-10 tbsp of besan / chick pea flour (use more if you need more)
1-2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

Method for stuffing:

Heat oil in a pan, add the chopped spring onion and saute with some salt. when they wither down, add the chilli powder, turmeric powder and saute. After its cooked, add the chick pea flour or besan with continuous stirring. Add more salt too if needed. It should all look like soft dough.

Assembly:

Take a ball, little bigger than a golf size ball, roll it out flat to about 4 inches wide. Make a golf size ball of the stuffing and place in middle of the roll out. Close it from all sides and roll out into a paratha about 6-8 inches wide.
Fry it on a pan until brown on both sides. Add few drops of oil on both side and flip on both sides. Serve with plain yogurt, raita, achaar or any curry. Enjoy!!!

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Neer More / Khara Lassi / Spiced up Buttermilk

In my house, sugar is prohibited to an extent...tho we still make so much sweet stuff, mostly my kids eat them if there is no spicy stuff (they like spicy stuff more), and we eat in moderation. So instead of sweet lassi, salt lassi is preferred in my house. Even my younger kiddo enjoys salted buttermilk if in the mood!!
This was my Bro's favorite too. He used to make it often. Its nice to sip on chilled spicy lassi on a hot summer day. You get the good benefits of yogurt and if you can't have sweet lassi, you can surely have this!
It is served as Khara lassi or Neer More in many restuarants.
This makes 2 servings in about 5 min.

Ingredients:

1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup water
4-5 green chillies
1 1/2 piece ginger, chopped
5-6 curry leaves
pinch of hing
2 tbsp coriander leaves
2 tbsp mint leaves
salt to taste

Method:

Grind all ingredients together with required salt. Serve over ice or chilled. Enjoy!!!

This is going to Srivalli from Cooking 4 all Seasons's 'Thanda Mela'.

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Chekkalu / Spicy and crunchy rice and lentil flats

 
When I was young, this was one of my favorite snacks, spicy and crunchy. Looks like kids followed suit..they like them too, spicy and crunchy.
In days long ago, there was a lengthy way in making these...soaking the rice, grinding into rice flour, then cooking and mixing the rice flour with the other ingredients and then making them flat and frying them. We kids used to help our mom making them flat. I remember we used sit around during Diwali time, talking and laughing while making them, while my mom and grandmom frying them.
Now tho, my kids aren't that old enough that they would help me making them, but they will surely finish them including their Dad!
Now we don't go the long way, by making the rice flour and all...we just use the store bought rice flour. There is a little difference in the texture, but they still are yummy! This way saves us much time and only time required is making them flat and frying them.
They do have to fry on medium to low heat to golden brown, so frying them does take a long time. I sometimes put up 2 frying pans and fry them, so that it will be done quickly when making a lot. To make about 50 -75 it takes about an hour or hour and half. The size also depends on how many you get...I make about a golf ball sized ball of dough. And make it as spicy as you want.
I also use the tortilla press or roti press to press them...but you can surely do it by hand.
Use a plastic sheet and oil to lightly dip the ball in before pressing it.

Ingredients:

about 3-4 cups of rice flour
1/2 cup channa daal (chanaga pappu)
1/2 cup moong daal (pesar pappu)
1 tsp hing
2 tsp jeera
5-6 green chillies
5-6 dry red chillies
2-3 inch piece of ginger
6 curry leaves, broken
salt to taste
enough water to mix into dough
Oil for frying

Method:

Soak channa daal and moong daal for about 1/2 to 1 hour. Grind the jeera, green chillies, dry red chillies, ginger into a paste. Drain water from the daals and mix with the ground paste, hing, broken curry leaves, salt and rice flour using some water to make it into a soft dough. Heat oil on the side.
I use tortilla maker to flatten them out, but this can be done by hand too.If making by hand, I use a plastic sheet.
On the tortilla maker, put a plastic sheet, I use ziplock covers cut out. To make the zip lock cover not slip, put a drop of oil between the metal and the plastic which will make it stick.
Make golf ball size balls, dip into teeny tiny amount of oil, rub around the ball and flatten it either by hand or the tortilla maker. Drop them slowly into the hot oil and fry them to golden brown on both side by turning them over. Remove onto a paper napkin.
They will remain fresh as long as they are stored in an airtight container for about a month too. Serve as a snack with tea or coffee or eat it whenever you feel like it!!... Enjoy!!!



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Stuffed Capsicum or Bell peppers with Potato curry

Past weekend, we had good weather and after a very long time we went out to Boston to enjoy our day and good weather. There were pretty tulip blossoms and cherry blossoms all around the city. We had a picnic lunch at Boston Harbor in the beautiful green lawns. Kids enjoyed running around, even behind the poor pigeons. Then we went to the Boston Aquarium and ended the day with eating in Quincy Market and watching the movie Avatar in 3D IMAX. It was a fun day overall. We were all tired by the time we came home!

That morning me, my mom and dad walked thru the farmer's market called Hay market in Boston. Bought some veggies and fruits for real cheap too. There were some small bell peppers, real cute, very tiny than the regular peppers we get in the grocery store. We bought them thinking already with a recipe in mind - Stuffed Bell peppers. Thats what ended up in our kitchen today!!!

We used 2 potatoes to make the Mashed potato curry  since these were really tiny bell peppers, so adjust accordingly. But potato curry is just one type of stuffing, you can always stuff it with what ever you like!!
It takes about 15 min to make potato curry and another 10 to 15 min to shallow fry the bell peppers. You can also bake them if you want to keep it on the healthier side, but it will take a little longer.

Ingredients:

2 potatoes to make Mashed Potato curry

7-8 tiny bell peppers
2 tbsp oil for shallow fry
salt to tast

Method:

In a open pan with a lid, heat oil. Cut open the top and stuff the bell peppers with the potato curry and put into the oil. Salt them all over while turning them. Cover and cook until cooked all over, turning over once in a while. Serve with rice or pulav. Makes a good party dish and a side item. Enjoy!!!

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Mango Lassi

Mango Lassi is nothing but buttermilk with mango in it. If we were lucky enough to get real, fresh, ripe mangoes, I would have made it them. But as for now I settled with the substitute - Mango pulp in a tin :). Well thats the closest we can get to mangoes in pre-mango season or no mango season.
We as kids always have enjoyed sipping on this heavenly drink, now my kids enjoy mango lassi whenever they go to Indian restuarants and so I make it at home too, when the weather is there to enjoy it!
For the kids I would make it using plain yogurt and milk, but for us, yogurt and water. Since the mango pulp is already sweet, I add very less sugar, you can always add it according to your taste. A bit of cardamom powder, gives it a good flavor.
We gobbled it up as soon as it was made, I am sure you will too. It doesn't take much time to make so, making it fresh tastes surely better!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Mango pulp
1/4 cup milk or water
1/4 cup yogurt
sugar to taste
a pinch of cardamom powder

Method:

Blend all ingredients in a grinder or mixie. If its too thick, add some more water or milk. Chill it or serve on ice, with or without a dollop of whipcream on it!!...Enjoy!!!

This is going to -
Srivalli from Cooking for all seasons's 'Thanda Mela'
Priya from Priya's Easy N Tasty recipes's 'Cooking with Cardamom Event'
Jyoti from Panch Pakwan's 'Mother's day event'
                         

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