Black Eyed Peas (Lentil) and Brocolli Curry

A healthy Wholesome Meal

Black Eyed Peas

You can either buy the cans or soak it about 4 hours earlier.

I soak the beans.

You will need

2 cups of Black eayed peas (Soaked for atleast 4 hours) and drained

2 Tomatoesv(chopped)

1 Onion (chopped)

7 Cloves of Garlicv(chopped)

2 tsp of oil

1/2 tsp of Pav bhaji masala (yes pav bhaji masala) You can use any masala you have on hand and that you want to finish.

1 and 1/2 tsp of salt

1 tsp of jeera

So take a kadai and add oil to it,

add the jeera to it, and

once the jeera starts to get cooked,

add the onions and garlic and saute for just 5 minutes,

keep moving the onions and garlic around so they dont get too brown,

add the tomotoes now and add about a cup of water.

When the water starts to boil, pour this in to a pressure cooker and with a hand blender and puree this.

Add the salt and the masala powder and then the drained beans to it and give it a whistle or two and Enjoy!

(If you don't have a hand blender, think about getting one or use you regular mixer or food processor to make the gravy.)

This whole process takes about 15 minutes.

A great tasting and healthy dal is ready to eat!

The hand blender is very useful since you dont have to take a mixer or food processor to do the job.

You can even mince some G Chillies if you want to increase the Spice Level..

___________________________________________________________________

Brocolli curry

You will need

2 medium heads of brocolli (chopped)

1 small onion (Sliced)

6 cloves of garlic (Finely Chopped)

1 tsp of oil

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/2 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp jeera

In a kadai, add oil, jeera and then the onions and garlic, once the onions start to wilt add the brocolli and add the turmeric powder, chilli powder and the salt and sautee for 10 minutes.

Mix it well and serve hot!

Pickles...............

Curd Rice and Pickles were MADE FOR EACH OTHER!!!!


My sister was in chennai recently and bought back these two homemade pickles.


The first one is Maagaani Kizhangu (Sarsaparilla Root) Pickle. Smells and tastes delicious. My aunt has made this. I will get the exact recipe and post it here. This is available in December and January in South India. It has a very pungent smell and only a (lucky) few like to eat it and smell it!! This is an acquired taste.
You can take some in a small jar and mix it with curd or buttermilk and keep for a week and eat it, or eat it just the way it is with curd rice. HMMM Delicious!

____________________________________________________________________

This is Naarthangai. My Grandma made this and sent it over.
If you buy store bought then it will be very salty.

But this is homemade, so the salt is just right and of course tastes VERY GOOD!!
My children love to chew on it and eat it. This is also an acquired taste. If you like sour things, you will like this. This has some medicinal value. You can chew on this if you have an upset stomach or feeling puky. I keep this always in my purse for long distance driving, for my kids if they get motion sick.

Upma Kozhukkattai and Kathrikkai Gothsu

My Entry for Vegetable of the week for creativepooja.blogspot.com

This is one of the recipes I made for my golu dinners.

One of the most easiest and tastiest dish.

This is basically Rice upma, but made in a slightly different way.

Kozhukkattai means "modhak" or "dumplings ". There is no stuffing inside this, but since it is in a kind of ball or oval shape, it is called kozhukkattai. I learnt this from my Mother in Law, Mrs Meena Ganesan.

For the Upma Kozhukkattai you will need

A steamer, A kadai.

I used my electric rice cooker, it has a steamer attachment.

1/2 Cup Cream of Rice

2 to 3 tsps oil

1/2 tsp of mustard seeds

2 Green Chillies (slit)

1 Red Chillies

About a handful of coconut, cut in tooth shaped pieces

curry leaves, two strands

1 tsp hing

1 and 1/2 tsp of salt (Depends on your taste)

1/2 tsp of Black pepper (Broken in pieces but not finely ground To acheive this you can do it in a mortar and pestle, incase you dont have one, don't fret, get a nice stone, one which will fit in the palm of you hand. Wrap the peppers in a towel and break them with the stone.)

Method

-> a kadai, add oil

->add mustard seeds once the oil is hot

->When the seeds start to sputter, add the Green Chillies, Red Chillies, Black Pepper, Coconut and Curry leaves annd hing,

-> fry for a little time and then add about 1 cup of water

-> Once the water starts to boil, switch the stove off and add the cream of rice slowly so as not form lumps, and then add salt.

-> mix it thoroughly, and it should be thick

-> Do not worry about cooking it since we are going to steam this.

Let it be in the kadai, and close it.

Prepare to steam the upma.

Take a steamer, I use a cloth inside the steamer so it will not get dry.Shape the upma in balls and neatly stack them in your steamer. You may use you idli steamer but make sure the balls dont get smashed by the idli plate. Steam for 15 minutes.

This dish goes best with Brinjal or eggplant Gothsu.

You will need

2 tsp oil

1 big Italian eggplant or 6 small Indian eggplants

1/2 tsp mustard

2 Green Chillies

1 Red chillies

1 strand curry leaves

1/2 tsp hing

1 small ball sized tamarind soaked in 1 cup of water, (extract the water)

Roast the Brinjals in an open fire on your stove or in your oven.

Please look at Baingan Bharta to roast them in the oven. (Do not add the garlic to it.)

Method

In a Kadai, add oil, and then afdter the oil is hot enough, add the mustard,

once the mustard seeds start to sputter, add the chillies and curry leaves and hing.

Turn the stove off.

Scoop out the insde of the brinjals and mix them (with your hand) with the tamarind juice.

Once the eggplant is fully mashed and mixed, add this to the kadai mixture and turn the stove on just to heat the mixture, but not BOIL. This will be done in two to three minutes if you have a gas stove, add salt and take it out and serve with the upma. ENJOY!

Apple Muffins

When you have 3 apples and don't feel like eating them, make muffins!

Items you need to make this simple muffin

*******************************************

Wet Ingredients

3 Apples - Cored, Peeled and Chopped (makes abut 2 cups of apples)

2 cups milk

2 eggs

1/2 cup veg oil

****************************************

Dry Ingredients

4 cups flour (I used 3 cups all purpose and 1 cup barley flour)

4 tsps baking powder

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp of nutmeg

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of salt

******************************************
Preheat oven to 400deg F

Combine dry items first.

In another bowl, combine wet items

Then mix the dry items in to the wet, slowly... to make muffin batter

Spoon in to the muffin tray

Bake for 20 mins until toothpick comes out dry

You can store these in the fridge for a week.

ENJOY!!!!!!!

Paneer Paratha

This is one of the most easiest and tasty paratha!
My children love this. You don't need any dal or rice to go with this.
Eat this with yogurt and pickle....

You need
Wheat Flour 3 cups
Paneer 1 slab of swad paneer
Ginger 1 inch piece
Garlic 5 cloves
G.Chili 2 or 3 (depending on how much u can handle)
Coriander one handful
Jeera 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Knead the flour like how you knead for roti

Put all the other items in the food processor (make sure you cut the paneer a bit before you throw it in!) and run it once to make the filling.

Make a ball (the size a indian lemon) and start rolling it,

add about 1tbsp of the filling

make a sack

and carefully roll it like you would roll rotis

if it comes out, dont panic, just add some more dough the next time, your 4th parata wil be good!! band put one side on the pan, and after that side cooks trun it over, add about a 1/4 tsp of oil or ghee (i mix both) and apply on each side, so it does not become dry.

These last for atleast 4 days in fridge.

For the last two parathas, I added some horse gram sprouts since the paneer filling was less, that came out great also..

Baingan Bharta

You will need

1 brinjal if it is an Italian eggplant.Or 6 small brinjals

1 big onion-chopped finely

2 tomatoes-chopped finely

7 cloves of garlic

a handful of peas

1 tsp jeera

1tsp garam masala

1tsp chili powder

salt to taste

Method

I oil the brinjal and wrap it in foil along with the garlic cloves (in foil) and put it in the oven for 1 hr at 350deg Fah ...

The other option is to roast it over an open fire if you do not have an oven..

Once it is fully roasted, peel the skin and mash the brinjal well. You can squeeze the garlic out of the skin...

In a Kadai, add some oil, put some jeera, and saute, add the onions, fry till light brown, add tomatoes and peas, fry till the tomatoes get mashed, then add the brinjal and garlic , add 1 tsp of garam masala and the chili powder.. and add salt (about one and half tsp)

garnish with fresh corainder and serve while hot.

You can eat this with roti and raita

Fruit Cake Eggless

I made this for Christmas. I took this recipe from aayi's recipes

It came out quite nicely, even though I did not follow it accurately! I made all the sugar in to syrup and did not caramelise the whole thing, but instead made it like how we make the syrup for gulab jamun....

Sprouted Dal, Brown Rice and Potato Curry

I had a band recital to go to at 7.00pm. I entered the kitchen at 6.00pm . Had to leave the house by 6.30 to find a spot in the auditorium. SO what can you cook in 30 minutes that is healthy and nutritious and tasty and filling at the same time.?

Bring out your biggest pressure cooker!!

Well, I used two, one pressure pan and one regular pressure cooker.
I put some Brown rice and potatoes in the regular cooker.
In the pressure pan I made the dal,

Items you need for the dal:
sprouted dal, (white pattani dal),
1/4th cup of Horsegram (KoLLU)
1/3rd cup of Masoordal)with skin)
3 tomatoes
1 big onion
6 cloves of garlic
handful of coriander(washed)
1tsp of Jeera
1tsp of Kitchen King Masala
1and 1/2 tsp of salt
and of course 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder

chop everything evenly...

Add oil in Pressure pan
add Jeera, add chopped onions and garlic and stirfry till it becomes light brown,
now add the chopped coriander
add the chopped tomatoes
and then the dals, (wash them once)
and add some water to cover the dals nicely (make sure the dal is about an inch under water)and salt and the masalas
and once the water starts boiling close the pan and give it 3 whistles.

When I came back from the recital, I quickly made the potato curry and we were ready to eat...

Golu Picture and Dinner

Navrathri Golu.
I had called some people over for dinner twice during navrathri. I called all my friends in two batches. Below are some pics of the menu items for both the times.
The menu for the first party 1 was
Rotis/Masoor dal kofta/ Vegetable&Paneer subji
Idli/Sambar/Chutney
Pongal/Avial
Chakkara pongal/Mysorepak
Neer Mor
Sundal
I made everything except for the rotis....

*********************************************************************************
The menu for the second party was
Arisi upma kozhukattai/kathrikai gothsu
Idli/Sambar/Chutney
Tamarind Rice/Chips
Curd rice/ Amla pickle (homemade)
Mysorepak/paal payasam
Sundal

Except for the chips, I made everything.
I will share with you the recipes for every dish, soon.