Fragrant Lemon Rice

It is surprising that we eat Rice often and yet I had not made Lemon Rice ever! From childhood memories, there was one Holi (the color festival of India to welcome Spring season) when my mom had prepared Lemon Rice. After the exciting morning playing colors with friends and family, the Lemon Rice was distinctly fragrant and flavorful. It is one of those meals that leaves a distinct mark in your memory.

When having friends over for a simple dinner this past weekend, I decided to try my hand at making the Lemon Rice. So scoured the websites and VahReVah! video tutorial on the same. Finally decided to use the recipe posted here at "Chef In Making - Recipes with a twist" and slightly modify it. Thank you, soniaabrol, for the recipe.

To prepare for approx. 20 people, use the following measure of ingredients when you have a few appetizers and other side-dishes to accompany. For more or less people and more or less menu items, change the rice amount accordingly.

Ingredients

Rice - 4 cups (raw)
Canola Oil - 2 tbsp
Asafoetida (Hing) powder - 1/8 tsp or 6-7 pinches
Mustard Seeds - 1 tbsp
Dry Red Chillies - 6-7 (or depending on taste)
Curry Leaves - a bunch, approx 15-20 leaves
Peanuts - 1 cup (more or less on preference)
Cashews - 1/2 cup (optional)
Chana Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Turmeric Powder - 1/8 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp (or depending on taste)
Sugar - a pinch
Lemon Juice - 2 tbsp (or depending on taste)
Coriander Leaves - to garnish (optional)

Method

1. Soak and clean the Rice. Keep it soaked for 10 mins or so.
2. Boil a large pot of water. I cook Rice in open pot instead of Rice cooker. So the Rice should be nicely submerged in water and boiling. I let the Rice boil and continue cooking for approximately 10-15 mins. The Rice should be cooked so that it retains it's shape and is not mushy. Strain the remaining water from the Rice.
3. Spread out and cool the Rice under a fan so that it does not continue cooking in the steam. Stir it every now and then so it uniformly cools down. I use a flat large plate or container for this part to increase the surface area of cooling.
4. Take a large pot. Add Canola Oil.
5. Add Asafoetida (hing) powder and let it sizzle a bit and flavor the Oil. 
6. After a couple of seconds, add Mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter.
7. Add dry Red Chilies, Curry leaves and raw Peanuts.
8. When the Peanuts are almost roasted, add the Cashews if you are adding. Cashews get browned faster, so keep a close watch once you add them.
9. Add Chana dal and Urad dal. Let them cook until they are nicely brown and fragrant. Keep a close watch here as well as they brown quickly. You want them roasted and have a light golden brown color on them.
10. Add Turmeric Powder, Salt, Lemon Juice and Sugar. Mix well. I don't like the Rice too sour, so I add less Lemon Juice - depending on your taste, you will want to add more or less of the same.
11. Stir in the cold rice and fold it into the spice mix. The rice will turn a beautiful light yellow in color.
12. You can garnish with fresh chopped Coriander leaves. I skipped this part coz the Rice was flavorful as-is and did not want the dominant smell of Coriander leaves to take over the same.

Enjoy with Cucumber Raita. It can be made with left-over Rice as a quick breakfast as well. This can be a one-dish meal as well.

Home-made Paneer Spread

I am surprised that I have not posted this recipe so long. Quite rightly, this may have been my very first attempt at preparing a food. We used to have a class dedicated to crafting called SUPW (Socially Useful Productive Work) - every parent's nightmare to help their kids excel in this subject. :)

If I remember right, it was during 7th or 8th grade that girls were assigned to make a sandwich. My cousin had provided a certain version of this sandwich and it was a huge hit. After that, me and my mom must have made it a few times before we lost track of it and did not make it. Fast forward to me hosting a baby shower after almost 15 years and while deciding the menu, this spread came to mind. It is quite easy to make and assemble - something that both kids and grown-ups like! Ever since, if I am organizing a party with people of mixed tastes and palatte, this sandwich is a safe bet! Try it - am sure you won't regret it... :)

Ingredients

White Bread - 2 large packs (using a fine knife, chop off the edges - if you don't want to waste the edges, toast them and prepare bread-crumb to store for later use)

Paneer - 3/4 cup

American Cucumber - 1 large (Remove the seeds)

Tomato - 1/2 medium (Remove the seeds and liquid - we want the flesh alone)

Onion - 1/4 th of a small-sized

Salt - as per taste

Black Pepper - this gives the entire flavor to the spread - I like to put almost 1/2 tsp but go easy if kids will be eating it as well - for the first time, I would put 1/4th tsp or even lesser at a time and stop when the flavor is just right for your taste-buds

Preparation

Except the Bread, blend the rest of the ingredients till it results in a smooth flavorful spread. The Tomato gives the spread a beautiful Pinkish color.

 

Assembling the Sandwich involves preparing the Bread by chopping off the edges and spreading the above spread on one side of each bread. Cut them again into halves (as shown in pic) or triangles. 

Enjoy the soft delectable Sandwiches!! :)

Upma using Ready mix

Ingredients

Potato - 1 Medium, chopped into tiny cubes
Cauliflower - 1 cup, tiny pieces

Boil Potato and Cauliflower for a few mins to cook the tiny pieces. Keep aside after draining. Add cold water if you over-boiled and need to stop the cooking process immediately.

Canola oil - 1 tbsp
Chopped onion - 1 Medium
Green Chilli - 1-2, chopped
Rava Uppuma Mix - store-bought, a mix of Semolina, some lentils such as Chana dal and Urad dal with mustard seeds and dry curry leaves - 2-3 cups

Water : 2 times the amount of Rava Uppuma Mix

Method

 Heat Canola oil.
Add chopped Onions and Green Chillis and let it cook till the Onion is translucent.
Add the cooked Potato and Cauliflower.
Add Water and let it boil in High heat after mixing well.
Slowly stir in the Upma mix and keep stirring in circles so that lumps do not form.
Cover the container for a few mins in Medium heat.
Serve hot. We love ours with Coconut Chutney.

Coconut chutney

Grind 1 cup coconut, few sprigs of fresh Coriander leaves, 1-2 Green Chillis, 1/2 cup Yogurt, 1 pinch Sugar, Salt to taste.
For tempering, heat 1 tsp Canola oil and add 1 tbsp Chana Dal, 1 tsp Urad Dal, 5-6 fresh Curry leaves and a pinch of Asofoetida/Hing.
Add to the ground Coconut paste and pulse it a few times to mix all the ingredients.

Corn Tikki

When Kalyani from Sizzling Tastebuds posted the Makai Tikki/Corn Tikki a few days back, I was pretty sure I had to make it some day soon. And so did I for a Friday evening potluck with friends. I should say it was so inviting that I could not resist tasting some as I was making them! :) Mine turned out a little on the softer side - so it's better to watch out the amount of water you add when pulsing the veggie mix. Added a little extra Bread crumbs and fixed it. Thank you, Kalyani, for this delicious recipe.

This dish is kinda similar to another dish I had tried once much before my blogging days - it involved dipping bread slices in milk, adding the veggie mix using corn mainly on top and sprinkling with roasted sesame seeds. Gotta find that recipe and make it again - R and his friends had loved it and R still talks about it! So when making these corn tikkis, I took inspiration from the other dish and added some roasted sesame seeds for decor. I also added some boiled Potatoes to make it hold it's shape. Slight twists but almost the same recipe as Kalyani's! :)



Ingredients

Corn Cob – 4

Onion - 1/2 medium
Frozen Carrot\Peas mix - 1 cup
Salt – to taste
Chat Masala - 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp (or as per taste preference)
Green Chilli - optional, as per taste preference

White Pepper powder – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 TBSP
Cumin / Jeera powder – ½ TBSP
Turmeric – a dash
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Mint leaves - a few sprigs (Coriander leaves would also work)

Potato - 5 small, boiled and mashed
Bread crumbs – 1 cup + some more to coat the Tikkis when shallow-frying - reduce this if your mix is dry enough. 1 cup is when I added about 3/4 cup of water when pulsing the veggies and corn.

Canola Oil – to shallow fry
Roasted sesame seeds for garnishing the Tikkis - a few tbsps

Method

Cover the Corn Cobs with sufficient water and pressure cook for 1 whistle. Let it sit aside till the cover opens by itself. Using a sharp knife, chop off the kernels and keep them aside.

Thaw the frozen Carrot\Peas mix to room temperature.

Dry roast the Sesame seeds.

Using a Grinder, pulse the Onion, thawed Carrot\Peas mix, Salt, Chat Masala, Red Chilli Powder, Green Chilli (optional), White Pepper powder, Coriander powder, Cumin / Jeera powder,Turmeric and Lemon juice. This just smells so tangy - my mouth waters even now thinking of it! :)))

Add the Corn kernels and little water to the Grinder. Continue pulsing. Keep the mix rough in texture - don't fine-grind it. Try to add as little water as your Grinder can handle - else the mix will be watery and the Tikkis will not hold their shape.

Take the mixture in a container. Add extra salt if required. Add the mashed Potatoes and Bread Crumbs. Mix it well. Make small rounds of the mixture. Roll them in hand into small balls. Press them ligthly on some bread crumbs taken in a flat plate. Keep it round or elliptical in shape - these are the Tikkis.

Heat oil in a flat gridle.

Place the Tikkis and cook them in Medium heat for a few mins. As you place the Tikki in the warm oil, sprinkle some roasted Sesame seeds on them and lightly push them onto the Tikki so it sticks. Get one side lightly browned before you turn it to cook the other side.

Enjoy the Tikkis anytime with anything - it goes great with some sliced Onions mixed with Tomato ketchup (a dash of Green Chilli Sauce would rock!) ... This is going for my event "Let's Party - Fusion Food" presently ongoing in my space till July 14th.

 

Sabudana Thalipeeth

I first read this recipe from Pranati's blog which is posted here. It seemed easy to follow, so I made it that evening for dinner. It was easy to make and provided us a wholesome dinner with new flavors. I served it with Indian-style Garlic pickle. My Sabudana Upma is not that reliable yet, so knowing about this recipe (and more importantly, liking it as well!) is good for me to usefully use up this one item in my pantry.

Pranati mentions that this is a Maharastrian recipe. Sabudana is one food item that is good for the fasting days. My MIL mixes it with yogurt and banana - am sure that is a wholesome meal for those fasting days. Following is the recipe almost same as Pranati's with a few changes outlining how I made it.

Ingredients:

1 cup Sabudana / Sago seeds
1 potato boiled
Green chillies
Cumin seeds / Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Crushed Peanut powder - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Sugar - pinch
Ghee or Butter
Chopped coriander leaves- a few sprigs


Method:

Wash and soak sabudana (sago) in water for atleast 2 hrs. (I had left mine soaked for a 3-4 hrs and them removed the water and left it in the fridge for a day - just letting you know this also works, not that I recommend you do this..I wanted to make this but something else came up for dinner that night, so had to push this recipe for the next night!)

Drain the excess water and keep aside.

Mix Green Chillies and Cumin seeds / Red Chilli Powder.

Mix soaked sabudana, mashed Potato , coriander leaves, salt, Sugar, peanut powder together and make a dough.  Sprinkle water if required and knead it to the dough as shown below.

Make small round balls of the dough.

Take any plastic sheet, sprinkle few drops of water on plastic sheet, Flatten them using your hands on plastic sheets. (What I did was place the dough in lukewarm skillet and spread it using the back of my hand. The plastic sheet approach was messy for me! :( Coat some oil/ water on  your palms so that it doesn't stick. )

Heat pan on a medium high, add some oil and place Thalipeeth.

When you hear the crackling sound, flip it on the other side and let it cook till it gets nice golden color from both the sides.


Serve hot with Yogurt, Pickle, Chutney or Tomato Sauce....

Cha Cha Chakuli

After "not concentric circle" dosa post of last month, now is the time for some "concentric circle" Chakuli - a popular Odiya breakfast item! *~*

So light - you can easily finish off 4-5! :)

Long time back, I posted the Maida Chakuli here. I guess Chakuli and Dosa belong to the same family. Here's my take on the Chakuli and this is what works for me. Anytime I mention my recipe, someone or the other jumps in and tells me to do it slightly differently or using a different proportion for the batter - I have decided to not listen to anyone regarding this anymore. Coz everytime I do, my Chakuli's don't turn out good and I am left a angry frustrated person. And you don't want me anywhere near you when I am like this...hmmp! :)

Ingredients

Makes about 40 Chakulis! :)

Urad dal paste : Rice flour paste = 1:2 .. 1:4 depending on how "urady" you want it to taste
Crushed dry Methi 1 tbsp
Eno - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Water - to thin the paste slightly such that when you drop the paste, it should fall in one line from the spoon.

Method:

• Wash Ural dal clean. 
• Soak Urad dal with crushed dry Methi for half a day. Tip - Methi aids digestion.

• Grind it finely with the methi seeds included.
• Keep it aside outside (not fridge) covered for half a day. This will let it ferment. I usually put them in multiple containers and only take out the container I can finish in a day - it lasts for about a week.
• Mix rice flour with water and make a thick paste. Add little water at a time so that it does not become runny. As Maa says, making it runny and then adding extra flour to fix it will mess up the taste and texture.

• Take 1 serving of ural dal with 2 to 4 servings of the rice flour. This works perfectly for me than by using the pre-soaked forms of ural and rice and using their proportion! :)
• Add few spoons of water if you need to lighten it - the consistency should be such that when the skillet is in Medium heat, you get sufficient time to drop one spoon of the paste and spread it using concentric circles.

Chakuli Batter

• Continue in Medium heat cooking.
• Make sure the batter is in room temperature if it was in the fridge earlier on. Very important else it affects the texture of the chakuli.
• Few drops of oil (optional) - spread the batter using concentric circles and let it cook one side. Optional to turn it over and cook the other side - I do it to make sure it is cooked well as well.

If you were counting, "concentric circles" has been mentioned three times and that is the number of turns I usually get to do for my Chakuli! ;) 

Chakuli - View of both the sides ( Good to have the same in life too! ;) ) 

By the way, this tastes heavenly with a mix of White Sugar and Clarified butter aka Ghee (or as we Odiyas call it Ghia)! Both are sinful and in the list of things to avoid for many, including your's truly, but this is one combination I just cannot resist! Used to wait for and love this as a kid..still do! This also tastes great with spicy Mutton curry - try it! :)

On a side note, you have got to try the Magnum ice-creams - they are delicioso! Check them out - I love the double caramel and white chocolate flavor - it got over so soon! :(

Have a great day, everyone! :)

---

 
Update on 04/13/2012:

This  goes to Divya's Culinary Journey's event "Let's Part Every Month" with this month's theme being "Breakfast". The event announcement page is here - check it out and send in your recipes if you are interested. This event was started by dear Surabhi and the event page is here. Check out all the wonderful posts the event has received!

Sprouting...

Hey All!

I have always got a taste for sprouts. But never got around to making some on my own. Lately due to health issues and the need to include more healthy foods in our diet, sprouts are the first that got added to my menu. My friend Meenal's mother recommended Methi (Fenugreek) seeds sprouts since they have innumerable medicinal benefits and very good for controlling blood sugar spikes. While waiting to lay my hands on Methi seeds, have started eating Moong sprouts.

My Maiin (Mami aka mother's brother's wife) used to serve sprouts to us when we were kids. That is the first recollection I have of ever having sprouts. If I remember right, she used to make it as a salad and serve for breakfast with lot of other delicacies. I have come a long way since then since the Moong sprouts alone are sufficient for a filling breakfast now. On a side note, I always think my Maiin should write books on natural remedies - wish she does some day! Much like how I wish my mom would write an Oriya cooking book - I can only hope someone will listen to me "some" day! :)

Right now, I have about 1/4th cup of sprout every morning before heading for work. It keeps me satiated till I reach work and have my proper breakfast. This way, I am not filling myself up with some sugary granola bar! To be honest, it took some learning and patience to get sprout-making right. Even though it is a very simple process, I am sharing it here just in case there are more people like me with similar mental-blocks!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of whole Moong (green gram lentil) gives me about 1.5 to 2 cups of sprouts which lasts me for 3-4 days

Process:

Soak the Moong in water in the morning before heading for work.
In the evening, drain the water and keep it in a dark place like a shelf or oven.
Note - Avoid Moong sprouting in well-lit places or it will turn bitter - I leave it inside the oven.
By the next evening or the day after, you will have well-sprouted Moong beans.

My joys had no bounds the first time I managed to get those long juicy sprouts! Happy sprouting! :)

Plain Dosa and Coconut Chutney

Coconut Chutney

Ingredients (Makes approx. 16 servings)

Coconut - 1 small
Fresh Coriander Leaves - 1-2 handful
Roasted Chana Dal (Bengal Gram Lentil) - 3 tbsp
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Green chilli - 2-3, as per taste
Tamarind Concentrate - 1 tsp

Easiest recipe ever - Get all these ingredients into the grinder and go vroom-vroom-vroom till it is a fine paste. Refrigerate and enjoy till it lasts! :)

Devour this chutney with plain dosa, rava dosa and even with puri/paratha. I learnt to enjoy puri with chutney and aloo curry while at my PG place in Bangalore - Thanks, Aunty - you were the best!

Plain Dosa

Ingredients (Makes approx. 16 servings)

Urad dal - 2 cups
Flat Chiwda - 1/2 cup
Methi seeds - 1 tbsp
Rice flour - 3 cups
Canola oil/Butter/Ghee - for garnish on the dosa

Soak cleaned urad dal with methi seeds and flat chiwda overnight. Hot water fastens the process too.
Grind the soaked chiwda in the morning and keep aside. Try to keep it in a warm place (maybe close to the stove) for the ground mixture to ferment. After fermentation, the mixture is raised and fluffy.
About an hour or so before making the dosa, soak the rice flour in some water such that it is slightly runny in consistency.
Add 1:4 ratio of urad dal ground mixture:rice flour mixture and mix well with salt as per taste.
While the tawa is cold or slightly warm, dump a ladle of the ural dal-rice mixture and using concentric circles, spread it out inside-out. Try to avoid lumps in certain places - uneven mixture means you need to take extra care that the lump gets cooked too!
I usually leave it on for 2 mins or so in medium heat so that a brown golden color develops on one side.
Turn it the other side and cook for half a minute or so. Some people just cook on one side.
Dab a little butter (yumm!) and serve with potato filling, chopped onion, chopped green chilli and some sambar/coconut chutney.

A garlic-dry chilli paste can be ground and applied to the dosa as well. I believe adding this paste is a Mysore dosa speciality.

Being a Oriya girl, it has taken me a lot of experiment, trial and tribulation to finally come to a dosa recipe that I like and is kinda similar to the ones we get at restaurants!!! Have never been so proud of myself! :)

I am eagerly waiting to get done with my thesis proposal and make my long long long overdue India trip! Enjoy the winter while it lasts! :)

Simei Upma (aka Vermicelli Upma)

Come weekend and a pretty relaxed one where there is no activity planned out. Feel like having a filling breakfast for a change and want to have something different and not too rich in taste.

How about taking another shot at simei upma? Had tried it a few times before and it had either turned out too bland for our taste or too mushy..yuck! This time, I went about googling and found this and this by dear Archana and Shilpa respectively. Thanks, guys! Ended up with a combi of the two recipes. Here is the final result that we loved to devour and have a satisfied weekend breakfast. A good option for weekday office lunchbox as well!

Ingredients Makes 3 servings

Bambino Vermicilli 1 and 1/2 cup
Canola Oil 1 tsp
Ghee 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Green chillies 3
Curry leaves - 8-10
Urad dal 1/2 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Cashew - 10
Chopped onion - 1 small
Chopped carrot - 1/2 cup
Green peas - 1/2 cup
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/8 tsp
Sugar 1 tsp (Increased or decreased according to taste)
Salt - 1 tsp, or as per taste
Lime juice - 1 tsp

Method

1. Heat ghee and fry the vermicilli till it turns out slight brown in colour. Keep it aside. If vermicelli is not fried properly, it becomes soggy.
2. In the same pan, pour canola oil. Add mustard seeds allow to splutter.
3. Add green chillies curry leaves, urad dal, chana dal/cashew.
4. Add onion, carrot, green peas. Add turmeric.
5. Add asafoetida.
6. Add 2 cup hot water and bring to boil. Note - The quantity of water largely depends on the vermicelli type. Also, and stir till the vermicilli cooks (Tip - After cooking for sometime, if the vermicelli is still uncooked, add water in very little quantity - 1/3 cup at a time - and repeat if you still need more water.).
7. To this, add the ghee-roasted vermicilli, sugar and salt. This upma tastes great when it is a balanced taste of sweet and spicy. Stir together.
8. Turn off heat and add lime juice. Mix well.
9. Keep it covered for a few more minutes with heat turned off for the semia to settle down and for it to remain in string form.
10. Add additional ghee before serving for additional taste. Serve hot. A shot of tomato ketchup also enhances the flavors!

We enjoyed it a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.

This goes for the WBB - Combi Breakfasts event being hosted by dear Latha of Masala Magic. The due date for this event is August 31st.

Luchi-Aloo Bhaja-Simei

Luchi goes great with any potato curry. Following is one such combination. Aloo Bhaja is stir-fried potato. Simei is vermicelli. It can be prepared as a sweet dish to serve as a good partner in taste to the spicy potato fry.

Aloo Bhaja aka Potato fry (makes 4 servings)

Ingredients

Mustard oil - 1 tbsp
Canola oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Dry red chilli - 4 whole
Dry bay leaf - 2
Medium onion - 1/2, chopped into thin slices
Medium potato - 4, chopped into long thin slices
Turmeric powder - 1.5 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Coriander (Dhaniya) powder - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - a pinch
Salt - as per taste

Heat oil. You can prepare this fully with mustard oil. In order to dilute the mustard oil taste, I mix canola oil as well.

Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dry red chilli and dry bay leaf. After the mustard seed crackles, add a pinch of sugar and the copped onions.

When the onion appears cooked, add the chopped potatoes with turmeric powder and salt.

First cook on High till the sizzling sound almost stops. Add garam masala and coriander powder. Next cook covered on Medium-Low heat for approximately 15 mins. Keep checking frequently to prevent the potatoes from burning. When you can break a potato slice comfortably using the spatula, it is cooked. After that, if you want the potatoe fry to be crisp, cook on high heat for about 2-3 mins. Serve hot.

Simei (makes 4 servings)

Ingredients

Canola oil - 1\2 tsp
Simei\Vermicelli - 1 cup
Cashewnuts - a handful dry-roasted
Fat-free milk - 3 cups
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Sugar - 6 tbsp
Salt - a pinch

Step 1

Heat canola oil. Roast the vermicelli in the oil till it is translucent and slightly brown. Keep it aside

Step 2

In the same container, add milk and sugar. Bring it to a boil. Add the cardamom powder followed by the roasted vermicelli and the roasted cashewnuts.

Breakfast Ideas!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Though we often feel inclined to skip it in our hurry to get a head-start to the day ahead, don't we? Well, the following breakfast items are not for those days. We usually have them on weekend when it is a lot more relaxed.

Maida Chakuli (makes 5)

Maida Chakuli used to be my favourite breakfast item as a child. You can have it all by itself or with Spicy Aloo Bhaji (Potato fry) or with some hot mango pickle. My mouth just waters writing about it ;) Not sure if this is a common item in Oriya household or if it is one of my Mom's many delicious cooking inventions! Here is the recipe. Pic below is shown with Potato Curry.



Ingredients
Maida / Refined flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 6 tbsp
Water - 1.5 cup
Salt - a pinch

Mix all the above ingredients. Stir till you see some bubbles. Keep stirring only clockwise or only anti-clockwise for faster result.



Put a flat griddle (tava) on medium heat. Non-stick preferred so that less oil is required for cooking. Add a few drops of canola oil. Take one ladle full of batter and drop on the tava. Let it spread by itself. You will find bubbles on the top as it cooks.



As the lower surface of the maida chakuli cooks and takes on a brown colour, turn it upside down and let the other side cook. Take care that it does not burn while trying to get the brown colour :)



Upma (makes 4 servings)


Ingredients

Rava - 1.5 cup
Water - 3 cup (Rava:Water::1:2)
Frozen Peas and Carrot - 1 cup
Canola oil - 1 tsp
Mustard - 2 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Dry red chilli - 2 OR Green Chilli - 2 (optional)
Onion - 1 small
Ginger - 1 inch minced
Cashewnuts - 10 pieces
Hing - a pinch
Sugar - a pinch

Heat canola oil. Add sugar, mustard, jeera, chilli and cashewnuts. Once the mustard crackles and the cashewnut is golden-brown, add onion. When the onion is golden brown, add ginger and let it cook. As soon as the ginger is cooked, add the defrosted peas-carrot mixture and let it cook. Add hing and salt. Next add water and let it boil.



As soon as the water boils, stir in rava slowly. NOTE - Keep stirring continuously as you are adding the rava. Serve with tomato sauce or garlic pickle. Optional - Add a tsp of ghee on top while serving.

Luchi And Potato Curry

Luchi with Aloo Curry has been mine and R's favourite breakfast item right from our childhood days. These days, we have it for Sunday brunch after R gets back from his cricket games.

My luchi's are a combination of puri and luchi actually. Puri is made with wheat flour, also known as atta. Luchi's are made with refined flour aka maida. My luchi are made with 1:1 atta and maida. Since I and R cannot avoid unhealthy and oily food, I try to come up with compromises like this :)

Posted this also for Anita's A Mad Tea Party "It's Party Time!". Lots and lots and lots of Puri - Aloo Bhaji recipes in there!

Update on 09/08/2007 - Round-up link is here.

Luchi (Makes about 20)

Ingredients

Refined Flour (Maida) 1.5 cup
Wheat flour (Atta) 1.5 cup
Salt 1.5 tsp (as per taste)
Canola Oil 3 tbsp (or Ghee) + additional oil for deep frying

Mix maida, atta, salt and canola oil. Add water 2 tbsp at a time to knead and get the desired consistency. Keep aside covered for about an hour. Knead again.

Make small balls of the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out the balls into circles. If you get approximately circle shapes, that also works :)

Heat oil. Check if the oil is ready by dropping a tiny pinch of the dough into the oil. If the dropped pinch of dough bounces up to the surface immediately, the oil is ready for frying luchi.

Tip from Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals - Another method to check if the oil is ready is by putting the handle of a wooden spatula into the oil. If bubbles appear, then the oil is ready for frying.



Drop the rolled out luchi slowly into the oil. Keep pressing the luchi softly in the oil so that the luchi can puff up. Take the luchi out of oil using a slotted spatula. Place the luchi on a tissue paper to absorb away the excess oil.



Best eaten hot with potato curry or potato fry or meat curry (Oriya "Mangso Tarkari").

Potato Curry (Makes 6 servings)

About a month back, I tried the potato curry recipe as per Latha's Masala Magic's Potato curry. Don't think I will ever go back to my old recipe for potato curry. This turns out real yummy and makes the house smell so good also. The smell of chana dal, urad dal, curry leaves and mild hing when used as tempering is heavenly! Following is the same recipe with minor changes, as it suits our taste.

Ingredients

Potato - 5 Large
Onion - 1 Large
Green chilli - 3-4
Curry leaves - 10-12
Ginger paste - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

For seasoning - 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp mustard, 2 tsp chana dal, 2 tsp urad dal, pinch Asafoetida or hing

Step 1

Cut potato into halves. Boil with water and some salt. After the water boils, reduce the heat to Medium and cook covered for another 15 mins.



Step 2

Heat oil. Add sugar and mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard crackles, add chana dal, urad dal and Asafoetida. As soon as the chana dal-ural dal is roasted, add the chopped green chillies, curry leaves, chopped onions and minced ginger. As soon as the onion turns golden-brown, add turmeric pd. and mashed potato. Add salt to taste. Add 1/2 cup water so that the spices mix well with the potato. Cook for 10 mins on Medium heat. Garnish with coriander leaves and 5-6 drops of lemon juice (optional if you don't like it sour).



Serve with roti or phulka or puri or luchi. Also goes well with Chakuli pitha (an Oriya bread item similar to the South Indian Dosa).

Alternative method:

Heat oil. Season with a pinch of sugar, mustard seeds, chana dal and urad dal. Add sliced onion, green chillies, minced ginger, curry leaves. Once cooked, add mashed potato, pinch of turmeric and water to mix everything well. Add salt. Garnish with coriander leaves.