Banana stem curry(dry) Aratidhoota Koora

Ingredients

2 cups Banana stem (finely chopped)
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
2 green chillies (slit length wise)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste

For tempering
2 tbsp oil
1/3 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp split black gram dal/urad dal (husked)
2-3 red chillies
handful of curry leaves
a dash of asafoetida

Preparation

It is a little difficult to clean the banana stem. I learnt it from my mom:) Remove the outer fiberous layer of the banana stem. May be 2 or more layers may be that way. Cut the banana stem in round circular slices. Then cut the slices into smaller pieces. While cutting you can make out the hard pieces to discard.
Drop the soft and crisp banana stem pieces in turmeric water so that they do not turn dark in colour.
Heat a pan, add oil and temper with the given ingredients. To the tempering add green chillies and banana stem pieces after draining the water completely.
Also add turmeric powder, salt, grated coconut and mix well.
Cover with lid and cook for 12-15 minutes on low heat. Check to see if the pieces have cooked completely. Remove from heat and serve with rice.

Chilli Cauliflower

Ingredients

2 cups Cauliflower
1 1/2 cup rice flour
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp kitchen king masala
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Preparation

Cut the cauliflower into small florets and wash well. In a pan bring 3 cups of water to boil and add the cauliflower. Half cook the cauliflower for 2-3 minutes. Drain the water and set aside. In a bowl add rice flour, chilli powder, ginger-garlic paste, fennel seeds, salt, masala powder and mix well. To this rice flour mixture add the cauliflower florets and sprinkle some water just to wet the whole mixture. Mix well so that the rice flour paste coats all the florets. The mixture should be just as thick as pakodi mix, not watery.
Leave the mixture aside for 10 minutes.
Heat oil for deep frying in a pan. Deep fry the cauliflower florets and serve hot with chutney or ketchup!!

Saffron Vegetable Pulao

When ever there is no time to cook elaborate lunch and kids are almost hungry what we do is, drop some ingredients in the cooker and make a pulao. That's what happens with me too but this time with saffron and nuts!

Ingredients

3 cups Biryani rice (Jeera samba rice)or Basmati rice
2 cups sliced onions
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 green chillies slit into two
2 tbsp ghee
2-3 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 green cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 big bay leaf
4-5 cloves
1/2 tsp garam masala
10-12 Saffron strands
10-12 mint leaves
2 tbsp cashew nuts
2 tsp raisins
1/2 cup peas
3 tbsp beans finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped vegetables of your choice like carrots or cauliflower
salt to taste
coriander leaves to garnish

Preparation

In a pressure pan heat 2 tbsp oil. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter, add bayleaf,cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, cashew nuts, raisins and fry for 30 seconds or till you smell the aroma. To this add onions,green chillies, ginger-garlic paste and saute well for a minute. To this mixture add mint leaves, peas, beans, other vegetables of your choice, garam masala, salt and saute again. Wash the rice and add it to the pan. I used biryani rice which is found in the name of Jeeraga samba rice. If not basmati rice can be used. Saute the rice on medium flame along with all the vegetables for a minute. Now add 3 and half cups of water for biryani rice. For basmati rice 6 cups of water. Also add 2 tbsp ghee, saffron strands and pressure cook for 3 whistles. When the pressure is off, garnish the Pulao with fresh coriander leaves and serve with raita.



I have tried many recipes from Dear Rak's blog and here are some

Jangiri/ Imarti From Raks Kitchen



Rasmalai from Raks kitchen



Brinjal Chutney



Sending all Raks recipes to Blogger's Marathon event hosted by Jayasri

Ginger Lemonade

Ingredients

2 inches ginger, grated
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup sugar
4-5 cups water
2-3 lemon slices
mint leaves
ice cubes
kiwi or any fruit slice to decorate

Preparation

Combine the ginger and sugar with two cups of water in a pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring continuously until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for three minutes.
Strain the syrup with a tea strainer and set aside to cool.
Combine the syrup with two and a half cups of water. Add the lemon juice and stir well. Pour into individual tall glasses, add the ice cubes, lemon slices, mint leaves. Decorate the glass with kiwi or lemon slices and serve.

Sending this to Siri and Sara's Healing Food-Ginger and Garlic!

Stuffed Spinach Fritters (stuffed Palak Bajjis)

This is a lovely snack for tea time.

Ingredients

10-15 big size palak leaves(spinach)
oil for deep frying

for stuffing
2 Boiled and mashed potatoes
2 finely chopped green chillies
1 onion finely chopped
salt to taste
1/2 tsp garam masala

For batter
1/2 cup Gram flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chilli powder
water to mix batter

Preparation
Wash the spinach leaves gently so that they do not tear. Wipe with dry cloth so that there is no water on the leaves.
Prepare stuffing by mixing potatoes, onions, salt, garam masala and geen chillies.
Gently spoon the stuffing on the spinach leaves and fold them carefully as shown in the picture.


The leaf will stick together because of the potato filling.
Prepare bajji(pakoda) batter by mixing all the batter ingredients. Dip the palak fillings in the batter and deep fry in oil till brown and crisp. serve hot with chutney and chai:)



Sending this to "Food Palette series green"

Gobi Masala Naan ( Cauliflower masala stuffed Naan)

This Stuffed Naan came out very well though I tried it for the first time after lot of research on the web:) Kids loved it! I followed the ingredients for making naan from Sailu's blog!

Ingredients
For Naan
2 cups all purpose flour (Maida)
1/2 cup warm milk
1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
a dash of baking soda
2 tsp butter

For stuffing

1 cup grated cauliflower
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1/3 cup finely chopped tomato
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp kitchen king masala
salt to taste
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
2 tsp oil

Preparation

Sift the flour along with baking powder and baking soda. Make a dough by adding yogurt, milk, salt and sugar. Cover with lid and set aside for 2 hours.

Mean while we can prepare the stuffing. Heat a pan and add oil. Splutter with cumin and fennel seeds. Add onions, ginger-garlic paste and fry for 10-15 seconds. Add grated cauliflower, all the masalas, tomato and salt. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes or till all the ingredients blend well and all the moisture has evaporated. The stuffing should be dry. Switch off the heat and let the stuffing cool down completely.

To make stuffed naans, Knead the dough for a minute, dust the working surface with some flour and take a small portion of the dough and roll it on the dry surface. Take a spoon full of stuffing and fill it inside the dough as we do for Parathas. Seal the dough in an elongated manner very gently. Roll the stuffed dough only towards one direction very gently so that the stuffing does not leak out.
Heat the iron tawa (Cast iron skillet) and transfer the prepared dough to the tawa. On medium heat cook the naan on both the sides. You can add little butter and cook till it is brown on both the sides.
Serve hot with chutney and kids will love it with tomato ketchup.




I am sending this to Pari's "Cooking with bread event".



I am also sending my Amish Friendship Bread and Christmas tree Pizza to this event!!

Ginger Rasam ( Allam Charu)

Rasam is a great comfort food especially during winter. We make rasam powder in large amount at home and its a must have. Rasam powder recipe will be posted later.

Ingredients

3 cups water
2 large tomatoes ( chopped)
1/2 cup tamarind extract
1 tbsp rasam powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ginger
2-3 pods of garlic
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
diluted thoor dal water
salt to taste

for tempering

2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
a dash of asafoetida
handful of curry leaves

Preparation

There are two ways to make this rasam.

First method is to grind all the ingredients like tomato, ginger, garlic, coriander leaves and curry leaves in a mixer and mix it all with 3 cups of water. Bring this mixture to boil by adding tamarind water, salt, rasam powder and turmeric powder. At last add water of cooked thoor dal and temper with the given ingredients. We call this rasam/charu medicinal(mandula charu) as it helps in clearing cold and fever.

The second method is to add all the ingredients without grinding. In water we add crushed ginger, chopped tomato, coriander leaves, tamarind water, turmeric powder, rasam powder, salt and bring it to boil. Once the rasam starts boiling add thoor dal water and temper with the given ingredients. In this tempering you can add finely chopped garlic. This will give a nice taste to the rasam!


This rasam is being sent to Siri and Sara's Healing Food-Ginger and Garlic!

I am also sending Allam Pachadi to this event!

Baingan-Mooli ki subzi (eggplant-raddish dry curry)

This is a yummy subzi I learnt while in North India. Many of us reject raddish because of its smell. I usually make only sambar out of it! But this subzi goes great with rotis and tastes great.

Ingredients

2 cups diced raddish
1 cup diced eggplant
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup diced tomato
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste
1 tsp cumin seeds
a dash of asafoetida
2 tbsp oil
fresh chopped coriander for garnish

Preparation

Heat a pan and add oil. To the oil add cumin seeds, while they splutter, add asafoetida and onions. Once the onions are sauted for a minute, add raddish, eggplant, salt, chilli powder, coriander powder and at last tomatoes. Mix it all well and cover with lid and cook on low heat for 15 minutes or till the veggies are soft and cooked.
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve warm with rotis!!

This chutney is from Rak's kitchen:) I truly enjoyed the Sutta Kathirikkai chutney