Black Channa Dry Masala

Black channa dry masala is one of the best combination for variety rice like tamarind rice, lemon rice, tomato rice, curd rice and so. In my family we have a habit of doing lemon or tamarind rice with this channa dry masala when we plan a short one day trip. I still remember the fun having home made food on a trip. Will find a nice calm shady place, spread bed sheets and will have food singing, sharing fun and even playing games.

This is a good one for bachelor's. Do it and store it so if you feel lazy to prepare side dish for rice this will definitely help you. Channa has all proteins and nutrition that our body needs.

It is a simple dish and easy to make while you plan a trip. Just 3 steps. Soak, pressure cook, add masala and boil it. Even store it for days. The day i did this, there was no curry leaves and coriander leaves, so i dint add.  Please add curry leaves and coriander leaves when you try it..

Ingredients:

Black Channa - 1 cup soaked over night
Shallots - 2 finely chopped
Mustard seed - 1 tsp
Split urud dhal - 1 tsp
Chili powder - 2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - pinch
Asafoetida - pinch
Curry leaves - 1 spring
Salt as required
Oil - 1 tbsp
Water as needed

Preparation:

1) Soak black channa overnight in water and cook in pressure cooker until 2 or 3 whistle.

2) Once done drain the water and keep it aside.

3) In a pan add oil and heat it. Add mustard seeds, urud dhal, curry leaves and let it splatter.

4) Add chapped onions and fry it until translucent. To this add chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida. Mix the masala and let it fry in oil for 10 secs.

5) Now add cooked black channa, required salt and mix well.

6) To this add little water and mix.

7) Reduce heat to simmer and cover the pan with a lid. Let it cook for 5 mins.

8) Open the lid and mix well. Let it cook uncovered until all the water reduces. Mix in between to make sure it is not burnt.

9) Garnish with coriander leaves and remove it from heat.

Notes:

1) Do not over cook channa first time as we again cook it with masala for atleast 7 - 8 mins.

2) While pressure cooking channa add salt if desired.

3) Pressure cook channa in high flame until first whistle and then reduce it to medim low until 2 nd whistle.





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Arisi kolukattai/ Modhaka (with jaggery stuffing)

Kolukattai or modhaka's is an Indian Festival dish. Vinayagar Chathurthi is celebrated as god Ganapathi's Birth day. Devotees prepare kolukattai which is Lord Ganapathy's favorite.

Kolukattai is a sweet dish. Sweet fillings are kept inside rice flour. My favorite part in this dish making is the folding part. In my school days every year i use to make so many kolukattai designs while sitting with my mommy (helping her). Am sure all your kids will enjoy the folding part. Whatever they do will turn out into a cute design. Kids love vinayagar god so let them do it for his birthday😊😊.

 Kolukattai is made of pachai arisi flour (Raw rice flour). To know how to prepare this flour at home hit my basics tab. It is a separate post on how to prepare this flour. The stuffing inside is made of jaggery, coconut and kadalai paruppu.  A day or 2 days before chathurthi my mom plans task from grinding flour to everything.

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 1 cup
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 tsp
Water - 1 1/2 cup
Salt - pinch

Method:
For stuffing:

1) First lets prepare jaggery. Heat jaggery with little water. Once it is dissolved filter it to remove impurities. Let it cool down.

2) Dry roast the kadalai paruppu and cook in pressure cooker. Drain the water from paruppu and grind it with jaggery and coconut until paste.

3) Add water if required. mostly water is not needed as jaggery and paruppu has enough moisture. I like to grind coarsely.

4) At this point you can just add ghee and mix it or in a pan heat ghee and add paste to it.

For kolukattai:

1) Sieve the rice flour twice to remove granules. Take flour in a bowl with required salt and mix well.

2) Heat the mesured cup of water (not too hot). Add the water to the rice flour and mix well to form a soft dough. You can grease your hand with oil while kneading.

3) The dough should not dry up. so close it with damp cloth.

4) Make balls, and shape it using your thump by pressing in the middle. It forms a cup shape. Do not make it too thin or too thick. Or place the ball on a small bowl (greased with oil) upside down. Press to get the bowl shape.

5) Keep a tsp of the stuffing that we have made in the center and close it to make a modhaka shape or any of your interest.

6) Also can make round shape like chapathi (but small). and place the stuffing in the middle . Fold into half and seal it by pressing the edges.

7) Place the prepared kolukattai's on a idly plate. Steam it for 10 mins.

8) Let it cool for 5 mins and taste it. Feel the juicy stuffing inside and enjoy!!!!

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Prawn pepper masala (Chetinad style)

My first post with prawn. One of my favorite in sea food is prawn. It is good for health and it is easy to cook. It takes less time to cook. Talking about prawn there are varieties. You can also see really big ones called lobsters. But i prefer the smaller ones which are more delicious.

Chetinad style is known for its special masala, spice and aroma. Prawn pepper masala goes well with briyani, roti / chapathi. I was once surfing for prawn recipe in YouTube. Saw a video of a grandma doing this prawn pepper fry. The look tempted me a lot. So i tried it the next week. Really turned out delicious.

I dint take step by step pics because i was just trying. But it turned out prawnly delicious in my first attempt. I could not wait to post it and here it is. Lets start...

Ingredients:

Prawn - 250gms (Shell off)
Onion - 1/2 cup chopped
Pepper powder - 1 tbsp
Cloves - 2 nos
Cardamom - 1 no
Cinnamon - 1 stick
Fennel seed - 1/2 tsp
Ginger - 1
Garlic - 2
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves to garnish
Salt to taste

Preparation:

1) Clean the prawns removing its shell.

2) Marinate prawn with turmeric powder, chili powder and salt for 10 - 15 mins.

3) In a pan heat 2 tsp oil and add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, fennel seeds, ginger, garlic. Cook it for a min and allow it to cool.

4) Grind it to a paste and keep it aside.

5) In a pan add 2 tsp oil and add onion. Cook it until translucent. To this add grind paste and cook it for another min or 2.

6) Now add in the marinated prawn and cook covered for 2 mins. Prawn has water content in it. It releases it while cooking.

7) After cooking covered for 2 mins, cook uncovered for 2 mins. the water released from prawn evaporates and you will get a thick gravy texture.

8) Now add in cumin powder, pepper powder, required salt and cook for another 2 - 3 mins.

9) Garnish with coriander leaves and turn off the heat. Serve hot.

Notes:

1) Prawn cooks in 5 to 6 mins. When it curls and turns pink it is cooked.

2) If you would want a gravy type add in tomatoes with onions and adjust the spice levels accordingly.





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Creamy Mushroom Soup

Mushroom is well known for its health benefits. It has all essentials needed by our body. There are tons of recipes with mushroom as main ingredient. My favorite is mushroom soup. I like soup a lot. I know it is a must and good to include mushroom in our diet once in a week.

It is very easy to make mushroom soup at home. It tastes really delicious. Like me my kid also loves soups. Mushroom is all what he needs to make that a little healthy. There are 2 ways of preparing mushroom soup. The recipe here is the simplest of it. I will post the other version of making mushroom soup later. Let do version 1 today...

Ingredients:

Button Mushroom - 1 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp (unsalted)
Corn flour - 2 tbsp
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Milk - 2 cups
Pepper as required
Salt as required
Oregano leaves to garnish

Preparation:

1) Cleaning Mushroom

Mushroom should be clean before use. Wipe gently with a damp cloth or kitchen tissue to remove all black spots on it. Then wash mushrooms in running water for just few seconds. Do not soak in water.

2) Cut mushroom into medium slices. In a small bowl mix the corn flour with a tbsp of milk. Make sure there are no lumps.

3) In a pan heat butter and saute onions and ginger garlic paste. Once the onions turn translucent add in the sliced mushrooms.

4) Cook for 2 or 3 min. Add milk and stir.

5) When milk begins to boil add in the corn mixture. The whole thing will get thicker.

6) At your desired consistency add salt and pepper and garnish with oregano leaves.

7) Serve hot with corn chips in it.

Notes: 

1) Ginger garlic paste is optional.

2) After adding corn mixture stir continuously to avoid sticking to the pan.

3) Like oregano you can also add parsely, basil or any variety. This just adds up an extra aroma.

4) Soup gets thick when it comes to room temperature. So have when it is hot. While reheating add little milk to it to attain your desired consistency.



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Cauliflower bajji / Gobi bajji

When a days evening is cloudy, breezy or rainy my mind circles around kitchen for some hot, crispy snack to go with my tea. This recipe is one among the best.

My mom does this as a evening snack. Weekly once was our gobi day. So mom tries variety of gobi dishes for evening snack. It is a very simple and easy recipe to make. It is always better to make snacks at home and enjoy than to eat outside. This even goes well with variety rice like lemon rice, tamarind rice, curd rice.

Ingrecients:

Cauliflower / Gobi - 1
Gram flour - 1 cup
Rice flour - 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp (optional)
Red chili powder - 2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - pinch
Turmeric powder - pinch
Red food color - pinch ( optional)
Salt as required
Water as required to make a batter and to cook gobi
Oil to deep frying

Procedure:

1) Bring water to boil with a tsp of salt and a pinch of turmeric powder.

2) Cut gobi florets into medium size, rinse and add it to the boiling water.

3) Let it cook for 3 - 5 mins in simmer. Drain and keep it aside.

4) In a bowl take gram flour, rice flour, ginger garlic paste (optional), red chili powder, cumin powder, garam masala, asafoetida, food color and salt.

5) Mix well or sieve it once or twice. Make a smooth batter by adding water little by little.

6) Make sure there are no clumps. It should be of idly batter consistency.

7) Heat the oil, Take each floret, dip it in the batter and deep fry it in oil. Make sure each floret is well coated with batter.

8) Fry until golden brown and then drain it and put it in kitchen tissue to absorb excess oil.

9) Serve it with your choice of chutney or sprinkle some chaat masala over it to spice it up a little bit.

Note:

1) If you are a calorie watchers, try baking them. But make the batter thicker. Bake it at 350 for 10 - 15 mins. Flip and bake again until crispy and golden color.

2) Use a pinch of baking soda for a more crispier bajji.

3) Instead of rice flour, add maida (all purpose flour) for soft textured bajji.



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3 in 1 Green Chutney

3 in 1 green chutney - As the name this recipe has 3 main ingredients which makes it 3 in 1. This is also one of my crazy idea. When i was planning for dinner i decided to do dosa and was thinking about chutney. I wanted something different. When i opened the fridge i had little coriander leaves, and mint leaves. I usually save some for briyani. This time i decided to make chutney.

I washed both coriander and mint leaves that is when i remembered that i had a bunch of curry leaves. Here in US curry leaves are costly and i never eat it from dish. I just keep it aside. In recent days i started doing curry leaves powder or i grind it with coconut when i plan to make masala.

Same way i wanted to add curry leaves along with mint and coriander. Initially i was not very sure of the taste, coz curry leaves usually gives a different smell and taste. Adding a little will not make any difference but i decided to add whole curry leaf packet.

Result was amazing. I liked it very much. Even the the next day morning i used this chutney as a bread spread. That was sooooo good. Here is the recipe for you all.....

Ingredients:

Coriander leaves - 1 cup
Mint leaves - 1 cup
Curry leaves - 1 cup
Ginger 1 inch
Garlic - 3 nos
Green Chili - 3 or 4
Whole urud dhal - 2 tsp
Coconut - 2 tbsp (chopped or grated)
Tamarind -
Salt as required
Oil to temper
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Split urud dhal - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1) Wash all the leaves together or separately. Peel garlic, slice ginger, green chilies and chop or grate coconut.

2) Heat a pan with a tsp of oil. Add peeled garlic, sliced ginger and green chilies. Then add Tamarind and coconut. Cook it for 1 min.

3) Now add in the leaves and cook for 2 mins. The leaves shrink well and mix up well. Seperately roast whole urud dhal and add to cooked leaves.

4) Let the mixture cool down to room temperature.

5) Grind up the mixture to a fine paste.

6) Heat a pan with 1 tbsp oil. Add mustard seed and urud dhal, let it splatter.

7) Add in the ground paste with little water. Let it boil for 2 - 3 mins.

8) Remove it from heat when it reaches your desired consistency.

Note:

1) Store it in a air tight container and refridgerate. Use dry spoon for long life. Can store it maximum 1 week.

2) If wanted to store longer avoid using coconut. Use 1 tbsp channa dhal instead.







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