Allam Pachadi (Ginger Chutney)

Allam Pachadi is a very authentic Andhra recipe. It is a great combination with rice and ghee. It can also be eaten with rotis, idly and dosa. I made this pachadi from the lovely book "Cooking at home with Pedatha". I did some slight variations. I could bring back my grandmother's recipe to life. Thanks to Pedatha:)

Ingredients

1 cup grated ginger
1 big lemon size tamarind
2 tbsp Jaggery
2 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste

1st tempering

1 1/2 tbsp split black gram (husked)
3-4 red chillies
handful of curry leaves
1 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2nd tempering

1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp split black gram (husked)

Preparation

In a pan heat ghee and fry the grated ginger for 5 minutes till it is light red in colour. Do not fry too much. There should be some moisture in the ginger. Set aside.
In another pan heat 1 tbsp oil and temper with black gram dal. When it turns golden add mustard. when mustard pops, switch off the flame and add red chillies, asafoetida, turmeric, tamarind and curry leaves. Grind the whole mixture along jaggery, ginger and salt into a coarse paste without adding water.
Heat oil and add 2nd tempering. Garnish the Ground Pachadi with this 2nd tempering. Delicious allam pachadi is ready!

Eggless Dates Cake

This is a very simple cake which can be made in no time and is a healthy one too!!

Ingredients
15 dates (seedless)
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp almonds for garnish

Preparation

Soak the dates in hot milk for 1 hour. In a food processor blend the milk, dates and sugar into smooth paste.
In a bowl sift the all purpose flour along with baking powder. To this add the puree, oil and mix well with a spatula. Sprinkle almonds over the batter. Pour the batter into a floured baking dish and set in a 150 degree celsius preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or till a clean knife inserted comes out clean. I used microwave so I baked it for 10-15 minutes on high.
You can also add raisins and other nuts. To make it more special for kids during Christmas you can add tutti- frutti to it:)

Sorakaya Podi Kura / Ghiya Sabzi (Bottle gourd curry)

Roasted yellow Moong dal is roasted and added to this curry. This can be served with rice and rotis!

Ingredients
1/2 cup Yellow moong Dal
2 cups chopped bottle gourd
2 green chilli slit length wise
4 tbsp fresh grated coconut
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
handful of curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
salt
2 tsp oil
a dash of asafoetida

Preparation

In a pan dry roast the moong dal till light brown. Let it cool. Powder it in the mixer coarsely and set aside. Heat a pan, add oil, splutter mustard seeds, curry leaves, green chillies and asafoetida. To this add chopped bottle gourd, salt and turmeric powder and cover with lid.
Cook for 10-12 minutes till the bottle gourd gets soft. Add grated coconut and ground moong dal powder. Mix well and leave it on low heat for 2 minutes.
Serve hot with Rice or rotis

Dal Panchmel / Panchmeli Dal

Our Sunday dinner was at a nice restaurant with an elegant buffet. There was this Dal Panchmeli which was very mild and nice. I got the recipe from the chef and made it today:) Any five dals can be used, so I used the dals which I need not soak as it would be time consuming for a busy mommy:) This dal is very healthy for kids!!

Ingredients

Split Bengal gram (chana dal) 1/4 cup
Whole green grams (sabut moong) 1/4 cup
Split yellow moong dal 1/4 cup
Split pigeon pea (toor dal/arhar dal) 1/4 cup
Whole red lentils (sabut masoor) 1/4 cup
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon
Oil 3 tablespoons
Asafoetida a pinch
Cumin seeds 1/2 teaspoon
Green chilli 2
handful of curry leaves
Roasted cumin powder 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder 1/2 teaspoon
Tomatoes, chopped 2 medium
Fresh coriander leaves, chopped 2 tablespoons for garnish



Preparation

Wash the dals and pressure cook with 3-4 cups of water and turmeric. I cooked it for 4-5 whistles.
Heat oil in a pan. Add asafoetida, cumin seeds and curry leaves. When cumin seeds start to change colour, add green chilli and sauté for one minute. Add cumin powder, coriander powder and red chilli powder. Add the tomatoes and cook till oil surfaces. Add cooked dals, salt and water if required. Cook for ten minutes stirring well. Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves.

This one goes to Bookmarked recipes hosted by Priya

Beerakaya podi Kura (Ridge gourd curry)

This is a dry curry to which can be eaten with rice or rotis.

Ingredients

4 tbsp toor dal (tuvar dal/yellow pigeon pea)

2 cups chopped ridge gourd

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2 green chillies slit length wise

salt to taste

grated coconut (optional)

for tempering

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2 tbsp oil

a handful of curry leaves

Preparation

In a pan add 1/2 cup of water, toor dal and turmeric and cook till its get soft on low heat. There will be very little water left.

In another pan temper with the given ingredients and add ridge gourd, greenchillies and salt. Cook without covering the pan on medium heat till the ridge gourd gets soft. Add the toor dal and cook for some more time till all the moisture gets dried up. Serve warm.

Imarti /Jangiri

I thank Raks for making me create a milestone in my kitchen by trying out two great Indian Sweets - Rasgulla and Jangiris/Imarti for this Diwali. It is a real achievement to create such traditional sweets in your own kitchen.


Ingredients

1 cup Split black gram skinless/whole white urad dal
1/4 tsp Rice flour (optional)
1/2 pinch of Orange food colour 1/2 pinch
a dash of salt

For Sugar syrup:

5 cups of Sugar
water just to immerse the sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice (optional)
6 drops of Rose essence
a pinch of orange food colour
1 tsp green cardamom powder



Preparation
Soak urad dal for 2 hrs. Drain and grind with very little water as we do for grinding vadas.The batter should be fluffy and smooth.
Add a dash of salt, food colour and rice flour(makes the imritis crispy) and mix well.
Heat sugar with water just to immerse it. Boil till a syrup of single-thread consistency is reached. Add lemon juice, food colour and rose essence and cardamom powder, mix well and switch off the stove. Keep the syrup hot. Take a zip lock cover or a any plastic cover and make a hole.The hole should be very tiny.
Fill half the cover with the batter and first practice doing on a plate. Draw two circle first and draw small swirl like circles over it.Just needs a little practice to get the right shape:)



Then heat oil in a flat bottomed pan with low heat where oil should be of 1 inch depth.
The oil should not get fully heated,when it starts forming small bubbles in the bottom,then draw jangiris/imarti in the oil,repeat the same to make many.



Once the jangiris/imarti gets cooked and becomes light,turn over and cook till crisp and then take out carefully and transfer to the sugar syrup.






Dunk the fried jangiris/imarti in hot sugar syrup for 1-2 minutes till they have absorbed enough syrup and take out carefully and arrange it a plate.Give a 1/2 hour standing time (says Raks). But I could not wait to taste:)

Instant Cashew Rabdi (Rabri)

I made this as Neivedyam for Goddess Lakshmi during Diwali. It tastes divine!

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
10 cashew nuts
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
2 tbsp khoya
2 tbsp ghee
1 tsp Cardamom powder
Almonds for garnish

Preparation

Grind coconut and cashew nuts into paste with very little water and set aside. Boil milk in a heavy bottomed pan and add the coconut-cashew mix to it. On low heat keep stirring for 2 minutes till the mixture slightly cooks. To this add sugar, Khoya, cardamom powder and ghee. Keep stirring for 10-12 minutes, till the mixture thickens and all the ingredients blend well. Garnish with almonds and serve warm!!

Rasmalai and Rasgulla!!! Diwali Special

Hearty Diwali Greetings to all Neivedyam viewers!!

Thanks to Raks for the lovely recipe. It came out so well! My whole family enjoyed it. I followed her recipe step by step.

Ingredients

whole milk 1 Lit(for paneer)
1/2 lit milk (for syrup)
Lemon juice 3 tblsp
Sugar 2 cups
Water 3 cups
Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
10 Saffron strands
Nuts for garnish

Preparation

Rasgullas
Heat 1 lit milk,when it starts boiling, add lemon juice and stir well.
Heat on low flame until the whey water clearly separates. Turn off the heat.
Take a metal strained, lined with a cheese cloth. Pour the curdled milk in it and wash it well with running water under the tap to remove the lemon smell and sourness.
Squeeze the excess water gently from the cloth and hang it for 30 minutes. After 1/2 hour,take out the crumbled paneer in a bowl. Knead the paneer for 7-10 minutes gently to make it a soft and smooth dough. Make smooth equal sized balls. Round ones for rasgullas and a little flat ones for rasmalai.
In a pressure cooker, add water and sugar to make syrup and boil it. Also add cardamom powder. To the syrup add the paneer balls carefully one after the other. Pressure cook on low flame till one whistle. Let it stay for 5 more minutes. Turn off the heat. Once the cooker cools off, you can see the paneer balls in the syrup have doubled the size.
The Rasgullas are ready and can be served chilled. But in my house it was over as soon as I opened the cooker:)
Since I was making it for the first time the shapes were a little flat like rasmalai so I made some.

For Rasmalai-
Heat 1/2 litre milk, add 1 cup sugar, saffron and cardamom powder. Bring to boil and let it thicken a little. Turn off the heat. when the milk cools a little, remove the rasgullas from the syrup and dunk them in milk garnish with nuts and serve chilled!!