Pudina Pulao

Last week saw this recipe in a cookery show. Tried it out and it came out wonderful. I personally don't like pudina much, but after trying out this recipe i do it often. So lets start!!!

Serving Suggestions:   2

Ingredients:
Basmathi Rice - 1 cup
Pudina - 1 cup
Peas(frozen) - 1/2 cup
Small onion shallots - 10
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Green Chillies - 2
Ginger - 1" piece
Garlic - 4
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Salt - as per taste
Water- 2 cups
Lime juice - 1tbsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Clove - 2
Cinnamon - 2
Cardamom - 2

Method:
1.Soak basmati rice for atleast 10 minutes. 
2.In a kadai, add one tablespoon of ghee and add the soaked rice and fry till all the water gets absorbed. Set it aside.Pressure cook the rice with 2 cups of water for 3 whistles.
3.I used frozen peas which can be soaked in water for 5 minutes and can be used directly.If using dry peas, soak it in water 12 hours before.
4.In a kadai, add one tablespoon of oil. Add the onion shallots and fry till it turns golden.
5.Add green chilly and fry. Add ginger, garlic, clove, cardamom, cinnamon, pudina, coriander leaves, coconut. Fry for 2 mins, cool and grind with little water.
6.Add oil and ghee in another pan, fry the ground paste in medium flame for 2 mins. Add salt and peas and mix till raw smell disappears.
7.Now, add rice to it and mix. Add lime juice and required salt for the rice.
8.Add little ghee to the rice, close and cook in low flame for 10 mins.

Serve it with onion or any other raitha of your choice.

Kadamba Kuzhambu

This kuzhambu is my mother's recipe.  It is very easy to prepare and tastes so yummy. As the name says, "kadambam" here refers to the mix of spices used in this kuzhambu. Come on, lets try it out!!!

Serving Suggestions: 4

Ingredients: 
Tamarind - A lime sized ball
Capsicum, green - 1 cup , cubed
Curry leaves - few
Salt - to taste
Sesame oil - 4 tbsp

To roast in oil and grind:
Channa dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Moong dal - 1 tsp
Toor dal - 1 tsp
Black peppercorns - 6
Red chilly - 4
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Hing - little
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method:
1.In a pan, take 3 tbsp sesame oil.  Add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add capsicum, little salt and fry it for a minute.
2.Soak tamarind in hot water.  Drain and collect the tamarind water.
3.To the pan in step 1, add the tamarind water and required salt, curry leaves.
4.When it boils, add the grounded paste and stir without forming lumps.
5.If too watery,add 1 tsp of rice flour in water and pour into the kuzhambu.
6.Add 1 tbsp sesame oil and switch off the flame.

Vazhaipoo Vadai

Here comes the crispiest and yummiest vadai. Vazhaipoo is very healthy veggie.  We can make a variety of dishes using this veggie, from soups to curries.  In this list, i gave a thought to do this vadai.  Though, we usually use all dals in equal proportions to make vadai, to get the crispiest vada i added only channa dal to this. Here it comes!!!

Serving Suggestions: Makes 10 vadas 

Ingredients:
Channa Dal - 1/2 cup
Vazhaipoo - 2 cups
Red chilly -3
Hing - little
Salt - To taste
Curry Leaves - few

Method:
1.Clean and chop the vazhaipoo finely and put it in buttermilk.
2.Take 1/2 tsp of channa dal and soak it separately in hot water for 20mins.
3.Soak the remaining channa dal in warm water for 1/2 an hour.
4.Grind channa dal soaked in step 3 wit salt,red chilly and hing. Then, add channa dal soaked in step2 coarsely.Sprinkle little water if too dry.  Just whip it once.
5.Drain vazhaipoo, rinse it twice in water and clean it thoroughly.
6.Add chopped curry leaves,vazhaipoo and use your palm to shape it into vadas.
7.Heat oil in a kadai in medium flame and drop the vadas.
8.Fry till golden brown.Drain excess oil using kitchen towel.

 Enjoy with your favorite chutney.

Dal Tadka

A light and easy-to-prepare gravy for roti's is dal, i would say.  This is a restaurant style Dal Tadka made at home.  I used only moong dal to prepare this.  So lets see howto do it :

Serving Suggestions:   3

Ingredients:
Moong Dal - 1 cup
Onion, finely chopped - 1
Tomato, finely chopped - 1
Garlic,finely chopped - 3
Coriander leaves - a few
Salt - as per taste
Turmeric - a pinch
Red chilli powder - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 1tsp
Hing - a pinch
Dried Kasoori methi leaves - 1tsp
Lemon juice - 1tsp

Tempering :
Ghee - 1tblsp
Jeera - 1tsp

Garnishing :
Coriander leaves - few

Method:
1.Pressure cook dal with enough water along with tomato and turmeric till it becomes soft. Drain water and mash it till it becomes soft and keep aside
2.Now,heat ghee in a kadai. To this,add jeera and allow it to splutter. Add onions and saute for 2-3 mins.Then,add garlic and fry for a minute.
3.Now add hing,chilli powder,garam masala,salt to this and fry till raw smell disappears.
4.Now add, mashed dal-tomato mixture and allow it to boil for few mins.
5.Add little water to increase consistency. Switch off flame and add crushed methi leaves and lemon juice.
6.Garnish  with coriander leaves and fresh onions and serve hot.

Veg Pulao

This vegetable pulao is my mom's recipe. My all time favorite too. I make it for my hubby whenever i'm bored to cook as its very easy to do.  And another reason is i like basmati rice a lot.  So let me share it with you all :

Serving Suggestions:   2

Ingredients:
Basmathi Rice - 1cup
Onion - 1 big
Mixed veggies(carrot,beans,peas) - 1 cup
Green Chillies - 2
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Water- 2 cups
Ghee - 2 Tblsp

To Temper :
Clove - 2
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cardamom - 1
Bayleaf - 1

Garnishing :
Onion - 1 big

Method:
1.Soak Basmathi Rice for atleast 10 minutes.Slice onions and other veggies lengthwise.  Keep few onions aside for garnishing.Slit green chillies length wise and keep it aside.
2.If using dry peas, soak it in water 12 hours before.I used frozen peas which can be soaked in water for 5 minutes and can be used directly.
3.In a kadai, add one tablespoon of ghee and add the soaked rice and fry till all the water gets absorbed.  Set it aside.
4.In the pressure cooker, add 1/2 tablespoon of ghee and add the seasonings mentioned under the temper table.  Once it is done, add the onions and green chillies to it.
5.Now add peas and other veggies with little salt and garam masala and fry for a minute.
6.Now add the rice, required amount of salt for the rice(remember that already salt has been added to veggies), water to the pressure cooker.  Keep upto 3 whistles and remove from stove after switching off the flame.
7.I have not garnished it.But you can deep fry the remaining onions in 1/2 tablespoon of ghee and garnish it if you wish.

Serve it with onion or any other raitha of your choice.

Note:
You can add more chilli than mentioned according to your taste!!!

Bisi Bele Bath

This is basically a popular dish of  Karnataka. Though, it may involve many steps, once the result is out yourself!!!

Serving Suggestions:   3

Ingredients:
Rice - 1cup
Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Small Onion - 1/2 cup
Mixed veggies(carrot,beans,brinjal,drumstick) - 1 cup
Peas - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - a few
Tamarind Paste - 1/2 tsp
Jaggery - 1/2 tsp
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup
Salt - as per taste
Water- 3 cups
Ghee - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp

Fry n Grind :
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Channa Dal - 3 tsp
Coriander Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Clove - 2
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cardamom - 1
Red chillies - 2

Tempering :
Ghee - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1tsp
Red Chilly - 1

Garnishing :
Fried Cashewnuts - 10-12
Coriander leaves - few

Method:
Step 1:
1.Pressure cook rice with 3 cups of water and keep it aside.
2.Now, cook dal with a pinch of turmeric.  You can also cook rice and dal in two separate vessels in the cooker itself.
3.Add a little salt and jaggery to the vessel containing the vegetables and cook them(cook all veggies except small onions).This enhances the taste of the vegetables.
4.If using dry peas,soak it in water 12 hours before.  I used frozen peas which can be soaked in water for 5 minutes and can be used directly with other veggies used for cooking in step 3.  Once cooked, keep them aside.
5.In a kadai, add one teaspoon of ghee and fry the small onions till it becomes translucent and keep it aside.

Step 2:
1.In a kadai, add one teaspoon of oil and fry the ingredients under Fry n Grind table one by one till all ingredients turn golden brown.Keep it aside.
2.Grind the ingredients in above step with grated coconut.  Add little water to the mix to make a smooth paste.

Step 3 :
1.Add water to the tamarind paste and allow it to boil for a minute.  Add the masala paste with little water and let it boil for 3 minutes.  Keep on stirring to avoid lumps.
2.Now add the cooked rice, dal and vegetables.  Add required salt and little jaggery.  Keep stirring.  If its too thick, add little water and let it boil for 5 minutes.
3.Now add the fried small onions to the rice mix above and mix it well.

Step 4 :
1.Take 2 teaspoons of ghee in a pan and add mustard seeds.  Once it splutters, add urad dal and red chilly.
2.Fry these till dal turns brown.Now add this mixture to the bisibelabhath.
3.Garnish with coriander leaves and fried cashews.

Serve with boondi,potato chips or raitha.