Badhusha - Indian sweet

Your source is your mother for many recipes. Apart from the daily meals, those special occasion treats like, Adhirasam, Mysore pak, Murukku, etc. especially remind you of mother, home and everything around that. I don't remember my mom making much Badhusha. But I know the few times she made them, they were pretty good. But you know how moms are, eye balling everything. For a tricky item like Badhusha, I needed exact measurements. I ended up at this site, which had all the ingredients my mom was referring to, only better with the exact measure. She even had video on how to make the ends. Nice of her. I tried it, exactly the way it was explained and ended with awesome badhusha that suprised me. I didn't expect them to be this good, this being the first time making them. So the entire credit goes to Rak's Kitchen.

The final shape may not be as impressive as Rak's Kitchen, but hey.. this is good for my first try .....

Murukku

I has been long since I made any snacks at home. Somehow deep frying leaves a guilty feeling. But this week I had some time to spare and few excuses to make some snacks. How hard is it to find excuses, right? Its summer and we have started excising outside, my old friend complimented that I lost some weight, I am stressed I need to relax, we should celebrate the end of a long tiring week. Well, how many more you want :-) I made murukku, sev and ribbon pakora. So here is it is:



 Indian coffee, with home made snacks..

Here is the recipe for murukku. I used to make the ribbon pakoda with the same murukku mix until I saw the ones with beautiful color at Saffron hut. It came out very well too.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup rice flour

2. 1 tsp urad dal

3. 1/2 tbsp butter - at room temperature

4. 1 tsp dalia flour

5. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

6. 1/2 tsp sesame sees

7. 1/2 tsp chilli powder (or more)

8. Salt to taste

9. Oil for frying

Method:

Roast urad dal and grind it into fine powder with dalia and sift it. Mix all ingredients together adding water little by little. You know the rest - choose your attachment (size and shape of your murukku) and using murukku maker press your murukku directly into hot oil. I use a deep fryer for fying. On stove top make sure you maintain the temperature. Also the temperature and frying time differs based on how thick or thin the murukku is. I made the thin ones this time (thicker than sev so that the cumin and sesame seeds can come through). These are my tools of trade.

I also made these thick ones last Diwali. Same recipe, just a different attachment. I squeeze my murukku patterns on the frying spatula itself. Then slowing dip the spatula and wait for the murukku to leave the spatula. It you find it sticking to the spatula, use another spatula to separate it. This is much easier than squeezing than the plastic paper and transferring it to oil carefully without the hot oil splashing on you. In fact I go on a assembly line mode with two spatulas, while one is frying the other will be ready to go ;-)

Adai - dosa

I recently stumbled upon Saffron Hut's - 16 Bean Adai. In my constant quest for cooking healthy food, I found this really interesting. While I was disappointed when I couldn't find it in my recent trip to the grocery store, I was still determined to make Adai. Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, this was not one of my favorites growing up. So I never made it myself.  So I searched a few blogs for the measurements of the dals for this recipe, before asking my mom. All the ones I browsed had rice in a good proportion while the one that my mom gave had very less rice. So my mom wins, again... Here is how I made it.

Ingredients:

1 cup channa dal
1/2 cup moong dal
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup urad dal
Half of 1/4th cup rice
4-5 red chillies
1/4 tsp hing
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 inch piece of ginger - grated
Salt

Method:

So all the dals, rice and red chillies together for about 2-4 hours. Then grind it along with water, hing and salt. You  shouldn't grind this into smoothly, it should be coarse. Then add the cumin seeds and grated ginger. My mom said since it is all dals and may be a little hard on some tummies, the cumin and ginger should help. The batter is ready for dosa. Unlike regular dosa, you soak for less time and no time needed for fermenting. So I guess this is the one if you more time than rava dosa and less time than regular dosa, more importantly if you are looking for something healthy and wholesome.

Adai with onion chutney applied inside and allam (ginger) pachadi on the side.

I will still make the 16 bean adai once I find the beans.. soon.

Weekend lunch

Is it because it was a long and strenuous week, or is it because I am ready to have good weekend? Whatever it is, nothing relaxes me more than cooking food that people enjoy. This time it is just for my husband and I went out all the way to make his favorites, in a restaurant style combo. Took me about an hour to make this and everything tasted pretty decent. Here you have it, south Indian lunch combo...


Menu:

1. Pongal
2. Okra majjiga pulusu
3. Lemon rice
4. Poori
5. Aloo curry
6. Papad

Bisibele bath

This is my husband's favorite dish. I believe my father-in-law used to make this during weekends as they were growing up and he says until today no one could make it like him. There are always some dishes that we can never make as well as our mother or father in this case, or grandparents. Brings nostalgia, isn't it. Well after trying many recipes, I finally asked my sister-in-law and she said this ones is close, but not quiet like their father. 
For me, this is a very healthy dish. It has dal and vegetables, all in one. The other best thing is that I just have to make this one dish, fry some papads and be all done, it can't get any easier than this during the weekends :-)

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of chopped potato (about 2)
2. 1 cup of chopped beans (about a bunch)
3. 1 cup of chopped carrots (about 2-3)
4. 1/2 cup of chopped bell peppers (1 or 1/2 bell pepper, any color)
5. 1 cup of chopped tomatoes (about 2)
6. 1 cup rice
7. 3/4 cup toor dal
8. 1/4 cup peanuts
9. 1 tspTurmeric
10. Small lemon size tamarind
11. 1 -2 tsp of red chilli powder


For poopu/tadka:

1. 1 tsp mustard seeds
2. 1 tsp cumin seeds
3. Hing/Asafoetida
4. Curry leaves
5. 3 tbsp of oil

For the masala paste:

1. 1 tsp urad dal
2. 2 tbsp channa dal
3. 3 tsp coriander seeds/dania
4. 1 tsp cumin
5. 2 cloves
6. 2-3 cardamon
7. 2 inch cinnamon pieces
8. 3-4 red chillies
9. 3-4 methi seeds
10. 1/4 dry coconut or about less than 1/2 cup pieces


 



Method:

Soak tamarind in hot water, while you are working on the others. Wash and cook the rice, dal and peanuts in pressure cooker with turmeric. The ratio of water will be 3 cups of water for each cup of rice/dal/peanut. For my above mentioned portion, I used 6 cups of water.  While the rice is cooking, prepare the bisibelle bath paste.  Roast the dals first with just a spoon of oil, then add the rest of the ingrediens one after the other. You can also fry them separately. Finally fry the coconut and once they are cool, grind them all into a paste with a little water.

Now in a pan, do tadka. Heat oil, fry mustard seeds and once they splatter add cumin, then hing, then curry leaves. Now first add bell peppers/capsicum. Ater frying them a litle bit, add the other vegetables, add salt and mix well. You can now add the tamarind water and the paste. Mix everything well, close the lid and cook well until the vegetables are cooked. Or you can also add them back to the rice/toor dal in the cooker and cook it for one more whistle. I cooked them all together in the cooker because you will be sure that everything cooked well. Once it is done, optionally you can add one or two spoons of ghee and mix well. I don't usually do that. Serve hot with papads.

Chilli Paneer

I know, after so many bloggers posting chilli panner, we really don't need one more of thse. But what to do, this has become my favorite dish lately, to the extend that my husband thinks I have gone crazy ;-) Since I make it in a jiffy, I make it very often. It is so easy to make and so filling and I can eat it guilt free when it is my low carb high protein diet day. I love the spicy and tangy taste that comes with the green chillis, tomatoes etc. This is not entirely my recipe, I must have tried several recipes from several blogs/sites. This is what I have finally settled in and I don't think I need any more experimenting.

Ingredients:

1.  One small red onion
2.  Half of red and green bell pepper/capsicum
3.  5-6 cloves of garlic
4.  7-8 green chillis (more or less according to your taste)
5.  1 inch piece of ginger
6.  Curry leaves
7. Green onion - 1 bunch
8.  2 tbsp of tomato paste (sometimes I make do with tomato ketchup)
9.  2-3 tbsp of maggi chilli garlic sauce
10. 2 tbsp of soy sauce
11. Sesame oil or Vegetable oil
12. 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
13.1 pack of fried paneer (I buy Nanak fried paneer)
14. Crushed red chilli flakes


Method:

Cut green chillies length wise into two pieces. Cut the onions into long pieces or more like small square. Cut the capsicum also into small pieces of square, just a little smaller than for tikka. Grate garlic and ginger or you can use ginger-garlic paster. I always grate them fresh. Chop cilantro. Chop green onions and keep the bottom and top seperately. That's all the chopping/grating. Now in a pan add oil and once it is hot add green chillies and curry leaves. Don't let the green chillies fry too much because we want them in whole form until the dish is complete. Then add red onions and the bottom portion of green onion, after frying it a little bit add ginger-garlic paste. Once the raw smell is gone, add capsicum. There is no need to cook capsicum all the way, because it will be good if it is crunchy. Now add the tomato paste, maggi sauce. Tomato paste gives the red color we are looking for. If you add tomatoes instead, there is a chance of the dish getting gravy. Add soy sauce and then some salt. Add the top portion of the chopped green onion. Since I use store bought frozen panner, I thaw it or put it in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute and then finally add it to dish. Mix well, but make sure you don't break the panner. Let it sit with the other ingredients on low flat for a few more minutes. Finally add fresh chopped cilantro.  If you feel it needs a bit more spice, add crushed red chilli flakes. Thats it....

My little vacation

It is that time of the year for giving and sharing.
It is also that time of the year, when most of us get to take our vacation with family and friends. Here are some pictures of my vacation in California.

 It was a beautiful day with bright blue skies and water.

Beaches on the pacific ocean.

The roads were long and winding on the mountains with the ocean on one side. What a beautiful site!

 It is just water and mountains for as far as you can see.

The sun light was sparkling in the water like crystals.

The sunsets were even more beautiful before the darkness takes everything away from you.

It was the drive along this stretch that was really amazing to me.

Happy New Year

Hope you had a very Happy New Year!