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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Guthi Vankaya - Ennai Kathirikkai

I know, another guthi vankaya recipe, right? The main reason I wanted to post this is because it takes a lot less oil to make than the other recipes I found. My husband doesn't think everything I cook deserve to be on my blog, he thinks they are just yet another dish that everyone cooks. This may be yet another dish that everyone cooks, but I want to post it because after several failed attempts of guthi vankaya, this is a hit and hubby seems to love it. There you go, another reason why it should be on my blog.

Ingredients:

1. Brinjals medium to small size - 8-9
2. Curry powder for stuffing - 8-10 tsp (recipe coming soon)
3. Cumin - 1 tsp
4. Onion - chopped - 1 cup
5. Ginger/Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
6. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
7. Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp (Note that the curry powder also has red chilli)
8. Tamrind - Small lemon size - soaked in warm water
9. Curry leaves - few
10.Oil - 4-5 tbsps (plus 1-2 tbsp for rubbing onto the brinjals)
11.Salt - to taste

Method:

The method seems to be long, only because I want to give all the tips and cautions so that it comes out perfect. If you pre-make the stuffing curry powder, this dish is easy breezy to make. The powder will last for well over a month (or more, I haven't tried) even if you leave it in your pantry.

In a small cup mix salt, oil and turmeric. Slit each brinjal at the bottom, making sure the top is intact and it doesn't fall apart into pieces. If you have a brush you can use it, otherwise just use your fingers to rub the oil mixture to the inside of the slit brinjals. Repeat that for all brinjals, placing the ready brinjals in a microwavable dish. Microwave them for a minute, then turn them around and microwave for another minute. I know this is not my original idea, I read it somewhere, don't remember where, but this is the key to reducing the oil in this recipe.


Note that if you overcook the brinjals it will be hard to stuff them, so make sure the outer skin changes color and the brinjals are still firm enough. You may microwave in 30 seconds interval until you are sure of your settings.

Once the brinjals are cool enough, mix curry powder with salt and stuff each brinjal with curry powder. I microwaved this again for 2 minutes, giving a minute for each side. Make sure the brinjal is almost cooked, that way we avoid frying them in oil. Keep it aside.



In a pan pour 4-5 tbsps of oil. Once the oil is hot add cumin, then curry leaves, chopped onion, ginger garlic paste. When the onions are soft and the raw smell of ginger garlic paste leaves, add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, 3-4 tbps of the stuffing powder and mix well. Now slowly add each brinjal to the pan. I add them one by one with a thong. Move the onion mixture a little bit so that the brinjals touch the bottom of the pan. Be gentle so that you don't break the brinjals into pieces. Reduce heat to less than medium and close the lid, just for a minute. Then turn them around and close the lid again for a minute. Again using a thong to turn them around works well for me.

Add the tamarind water and salt. I make sure that all the brinjals are immersed  in water, if not fully atleast 3/4ths. Again close the lid and cook them in low heat - turning them around mid way, until the gravy thickens.  Now open the lid and cook until the oils start to leave.

That's it, guthi vankaya / ennai kathirikkai is ready to be served with hot rice or even roti.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Black & White Wednesday Week# 44 Round-up!


Thank you all for your participation in Black & White Wednesday Week# 44. I am really excited to present the round-up (in the order I received them). Here are the lovely pictures from very talented bloggers alike. 

For those who don't know about this event, this is the BWW event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned cook, hosted by me this week. 


Baby potatoes by Shruthi of Food & Clicks

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Biyappu rottelu - Rice flour roti


This is one the those recipes from my husband's side of the family. Obviously he loves it, so I had to get the recipe from my sis-in-law. All the ingredients together with the crunch of peanuts tastes really good. It is a simple, quick to make dinner.

Ingredients:

1. Rice flour - 1.5 cups
2. Onions - 1 - small
3. Green chillies - 2-4
4. Cilantro 4-6 sprigs
5. Peanuts - 1/4 cup
6. Salt - to taste
7. Water to make the dough

Method:

Grid the green chillies and cilantro with salt. Pulse the peanuts with it. 
Chop the onions. Mix all the ingredients along with flour adding water little by little until it makes a chappathi like dough. Here comes the tricky part, unlike chappathi dough, there is not much binding for rice flour so it cannot be rolled using a pin. You have to use a plastic sheet like may be a zip-loc bag, or wax paper. Apply oil to it and place a small round of dough on it. Pat it with fingers and make a roti as thin as you can go. Then transfer that onto the griddle/tawa. Roast both sides with oil. 


Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Black and White Wednesday - Week# 44

One day as I was wandering around the web not looking for anything specific I came across the Susan's The Well-seasoned cook blog.  She has such a nice blog and lovely recipes that I am sure to try. Learning that she was hosting this Black and White and also accepting guest hosts for this event, I was excited.  Love the way she promptly responded and gladly accepted my request. So here I am hosting my first event :-) 


Did I say how excited I am? And that this is my first event? .. 


As Susan mentioned clearly:

 As usual, there are no restrictions. Your photo needn't be of food, but anything of a culinary nature, from a stack of dishes to a restaurant storefront. You can also submit more than one photo per week, but do ensure that the photos are distinct from each other so that the gallery will represent as much diversity as possible.

Make sure the pics are 600 x 400 px. Please mention the event and link to this announcement in your post.

So, all my talented fellow bloggers, click-away the pics in Black and White and send it to me at dkavip@gmail.com by the end of Monday, August 6th (I am in Central Time Zone). I will post the pics as early as I can on Wednesday, August 8th.

Note that I am hosting this event for the Week# 44 which is August 8th. If you want to participate earlier or later than Week# 44 check the Susan's host line-up.  

Monday, June 25, 2012

Perfect eggless pancakes

This recipe is from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking. I have tried pancakes at restaurants just to satisfy my occasional craving. Never really relished them for various reasons like, first there is egg in it which I don't cook or  prefer to eat, and then it is made in the same place where they cook other kind of meats which is a big no no for me...  Lets not get into that because we can now enjoy these nice pancakes at home :-)

Pancakes with blue berries


Pancakes for breakfast with fresh carrot juice..