KalaChana Masala/Senagala masala snack

Ingredients:

• Black channa / Kala Channa – 1 cup (soaked whole night in water)
• Green chillies – 2 small sized (finely chopped)
• Onion – 1 medium size (finely chopped)
• Kothimeer/Cilantro - to garnish
• Dry coconut powder/fresh coconut powder – 2 tsp
• Carrot- 1 grated
• Cumin seeds /Jeera - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds/Avalu – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves – few handfuls
• Oil-3 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Lemon juice-1 tbsp
• Hing – a pinch

Method:

• Boil the soaked black channa (actually they will be brown in colour), by adding little bit of salt.
• Boil them till they become soft and remove from heat and let them cool down.
• Heat a pan with some oil in it and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds curry leaves to it and let them pop up.
• Now add onions, green chillies, grated coconut, grated carrot and stir fry them with a spatula till they are cooked well.
• Add the cooked black channa to the above mixture and mix well with a spatula and let it cook for 2 – 3 min.
• Sprinkle the lemon juice on the top of it and mix well with a spatula.
• Garnish it fresh cilantro leaves.
• Kala channa masala is ready to be served hot with rice/roti or as a snack in the evening time.

Vankaya Velluli Karam Koora / Brinjal Curry

Hi Friends, Missing from the blogging scene from so many days, Busy in packing and unpacking of the things, finally moved to Atlanta safely and presently staying in Duluth in a hotel room, this week-end planning to search for a rental apartment and will try to move over there. Atlanta is good , but it is too hot for a person coming from California , definitely they will have a sunstroke, night till 9:00 no sunset and till 10:30 the heat wave will be there , Oh my god… seriously me and raj were like going crazy with this weather and humidity over here . Without AC in the room and in the car we cannot stay for even 2 min. so just imagine the heat around here,  Getting slowly adjusted with time difference between LA and Atlanta , Finally , today I found some time and thought of starting the blog once again , but as I  am staying in a hotel , there is no dedicated line for internet and the line is too slow , so couldn’t write anything new. This one is one of my older drafts , so thought of just posting it. Here goes the recipe:

 

Ingredients :

•  Brinjal/Egg plant – 2( medium sized )
• Onion -1 (medium size) (finely chopped)
• Curry leaves- few
• Garlic- 2 pods (DO NOT REMOVE LAYERS)
• Red chilly powder-  2 tsp
• Jeera- 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Oil-1 tbsp
• Haldi/Turmeric--a pinch
• Kothimeer-a few handfuls
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Finely chop the brinjal pieces into small cubes and place them into water , otherwise the pieces will loose their colour.
• Heat oil in a pan , add Cumin seeds/Jeera  , Mustard seeds, curry leaves ,haldi and let them splutter up.
• Add Chopped Onions and stir fry them till soft, now slowly add  the brinjal pieces taken out from the water.
• Mix well the onions and brinjal with a spatula and cover it with a lid and let  it cook under low flame for 5 min by stirring in the middle.
• Once the brinjal gets cooked, add salt to it and mix well and let it cook for another 2 mins, Mean while , prepare the masala.
• Take a small jar of the grinder/mixer , add Jeeera seeds, Garlic Pods, red chilly powder,  little pinch  of salt and grind  it to a coarse powder .
• Add this powder to the cooked brinjal-onion mixture and mix well with a spatula , cover it with a lid and cook for 2- 3 mins.
• Brinjal Curry is ready to be served hot with Rice/Roti.

 Note: while cooking brinjal if it becomes sticky underneath to the pan, add some water on the top of the lid and cook under low flame. 

Kara Sev (Step by Step procedure for ICC -June 2010)

Kara Sev is yet another delicious Snack from the South India, Usually prepared during the festival times and when children are there at home especially during summer season the snack is more helpful for all at home. Even though, my mom used to do all these in my childhood. I never gave an attempt to prepare this. When Srivalli announced this snack as a part of ICC (Indian Cooking Challenge) this month challenge, I really thought of giving it a try .But I have my own doubts, about preparing the sev with a holed ladle, giving  a try is always fun in cooking and  without any kind of second thoughts, I immediately started preparing it and they really turned out well and crispy. Raj also was happy and by the time he came back from office I just gave him few for taste and later  in no time he completed a small bowl of Kara sev just chit chatting with me. So what else we want when someone are eating happily, what we are cooking.  Thanks to Srivalli for choosing this snack. I made some modifications to the original recipe. So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Gram Flour (Besan)-  2 1/2 cups
• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
• Black pepper coarsely powdered - 1 tsp
• Ghee -  2 1/2 tsp ( I used vegetable oil ) 
• Cooking soda pinch (optional)
• Salt to taste.
• Crushed garlic (optional) 2 pods (original recipe calls for this I didn’t use this) 
• Oil to deep fry.
• Ajwain/Vamu - 1 tsp (I used)
• Jeera – 1 tsp (I used)

Method:

• Sieve both Gram flour and Rice flour together in a bowl and make a pit.
• Add chilli powder, Pepper powder, Salt, Ajwain, Jeera, Oil, Cooking soda.

• Mix thoroughly with hands so that salt, jeera, vamu gets mixed up. Divide the dough into small ball like portions.

• Take one portion of this mixture, sprinkle water, and knead like Puri dough.
• Heat oil in a kadai, Use a ladle with lot of holes (Kara Sevai ladle).

• Put some dough on that and rub directly into oil.

• It will be like split string. Deep fry in oil drain excess oil.

• After cooling this off, Store this in an airtight container.

Kakarakaya/Bitter Gourd /Karela Sweet Masala Curry

Ingredients:

• Karela/Bittergourd/Kakarakaya – 3 medium sized
• Onion- 1 big
• Haldi-pinch
• Jaggery or sugar to taste
• Dalchina / Cinnamon – 1 small stick
• Lavang/cloves - 1
• Elachi- 1
• Salt to taste
• Garam Masala - pinch
• Oil- 1 tbsp
• Red chilli powder- 1 tsp
• Ginger/Garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Cilantro – few leaves
• Water – to sprinkle

 Method:

• Clean the karela and peel it and cut into small circles / any shape u like and add some salt, haldi to the karela pieces and keep it aside for 15 min.
• Cut the onions in to small pieces.
• Grind the onion, salt, Chillipowder, cloves, cinnamon, Jaggery, Elachi/Cardamom, and Garam Masala and make it to a coarse/ fine paste.
• Now take the Pieces of Karela and press the pieces gently to remove water from it.
• Heat a pan and add oil to it and add the karela, fry it till it becomes soft / completely cooked. (If required, sprinkle some water and cover with a lid).
• Add the masala paste to the cooked karela and mix it well with a spatula.
• Stir well till the water in the curry gets evaporated and comes close.
• Cover it with lid and cook for 5 min and remove it from heat.
• Curry is ready to be served with hot rice /roti.                           

Note: To Remove the bitterness of the bitter gourd peel  the skin and add the salt to the bitter gourd pieces over night.

Sorakaya/Kaddu/Bottle Gourd chutney

 Ingredients:

• Sorakaya/bottle gourd - medium size (chopped into small cubes)
• Garlic-3 pods (layers removed and finely chopped) [optional]
• Green chillies – 3(small) (as per spice level)
• Tamarind pulp – small lemon size
• Salt as per taste
• Oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

• Take sorakaya/kaddu/bottle gourd peel it and cut it in to pieces (Remove the seeds if it is hard and add if the seeds are soft)
• Take a pan and heat the oil, once heated add the bottle gourd pieces to it and let them get cooked  in low heat by  adding little salt and sprinkling of water and cover it with a lid. 
• Once the kaddu is cooked / becomes soft add green chillies and let it cook again for 2 mins, Mix it with a spatula in the middle.
• Turn off the heat and let it cool for 10 mins.
• Grind the cooked kaddu mix with garlic pods; tamarind pulp and check for salt if required add salt to it and grind to a fine /coarse paste as per taste.
• Remove the mixture into a bowl and if required add jeera, hing and mustard seeds tadka and serve hot with rice /roti. 

Carrot Capsicum Curry

Ingredients:

• Capsicum -1 big
• Carrot-3 
• Onion- ½ (finely    chopped)
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
• Oil- 1 tbsp
• Curry Leaves-4
• Cilantro - few handfuls to garnish
• Salt for taste.
• Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Haldi-Pinch
• Garlic – 1 pod (layer removed and finely chopped) 

Method:

• Cut the Carrot, capsicum into small cubes /pieces.
• Heat a pan with some oil and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves and turmeric powder and let them splutter.
• Add onions and let them fry till they are transparent / little pink in colour then add carrot & Capsicum pieces to it.
• Add required amount of salt and cover with plate or lid, let it cook in low heat for around 5 min.
• Grind red chillies, jeera, garlic pod, salt to a fine powder (no need to fry /roast these things, it should be like “Velluli Karam”).
• Now add this powder to the Cooked Vegetables in the pan and mix well with a spatula and let it cook for 5 min.
• Sprinkle little water if required to get the vegetables cooked. Place the lid and cook for 5 min and turn off.
• Garnish it with fresh cilantro leaves.
• Curry is ready to be served with hot rice / roti.

Puffed Rice Masala

Ingredients:

• Puffed rice/Marmaralu-2 cups
• Mango slices raw – 2 slices (cut in length wise) (sour one preferably)
• Garam masala- 1 pinch
• Salt to taste
• Red chilli powder-1 tsp
• Ajinomoto- ½ a pinch
• Carrot - 1 grated
• Cilantro to garnish
• Onion- 1 (finely chopped)
• Lemon juice-1 tbsp

Method:

• Take a bowl and add puffed rice.
• Add all the above masala’s, onions to the puffed rice and mix it well.
• Finally add grated carrot, kothimeer/Cilantro and salt.
• Sprinkle Lemon Juice and serve it.

Carrot Chutney

Ingredients:

• Carrots-4 (finely chopped)
• Red chillies-5
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Tamarind juice - 1 tbsp

 Tadka/ Seasoning:

• Haldi - a pinch
• Cumin seeds/Jeera – 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds/Avalu – 1 tsp
• Hing/Inguva – 1 tsp
• Curry Leaves – few hand full

 Method:

• Heat the pan and add oil to it.
• Add the chopped carrots and cook it till tender soft.
• Remove from heat and keep it aside and let it cool. 
• Take another pan and add few drops of oil and add red chillies and fry them.
• Take a blender/grinder and add carrot, red chillies, tamarind juice, and salt and grind to form a coarse paste.
• Remove the mix into a bowl and add the tadka to the chutney.
• Serve hot with Rice /Roti.

Pudina Rice / Mint Rice

Ingredients:

• Pudina Leaves – 1 bunch
• Spring onions / Onions - 4 finely chopped (or) 2 finely chopped
• Green chillies- 4 (slit in length wise)
• Cashew nuts - 6
• Garam masala-1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Ginger/garlic paste -1 tsp
• Cooked white rice- 2 cups
• Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

• Take a pan and heat it, when the pan gets heated ads oil to it.
• Add spring onions, green chillies and make them fry till onions become transparent.
• Add cashew nuts   to the above mix and fry them too.
• After the onions get cooked add mint leaves and turn with spatula to cook for 2 mins.
• Now add garam masala and mix it well.
• Finally add ginger/garlic paste and cook it for 2 mins
• Take a large vessel and add the cooked rice to it.
• Add all these Mint Masala to the rice and add salt.
• Serve Hot the Pudina Rice with a Dollop of Ghee.

Capsicum Tomato Curry

Ingredients:

• Capsicum/Green bell pepper – 2 (finely chopped)
• Tomato- 1 (finely chopped)
• Cilantro – few handfuls
• Salt to taste
• Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
• Carrot - 1 (grated)
• Haldi/Turmeric powder - a pinch
• Vegetable oil -2 tbsp

Tadka/Seasoning:

• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp 
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp 
• Curry leaves – few 

Method:

• Take a pan and heat the oil and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves, haldi to it and let them splutter and pop up.
• Add onions to it and stir fry them till onions become transparent, now that add the tomatoes and capsicum pieces in to the pan and cook it for 2 min.
• Mix them with a spatula in the middle and cook till both the tomato and capsicum are tender soft.
• Add little salt and once again mix well. Finally add the grated carrot mix it well with a spatula.
• Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves and serve them hot with rice/ Roti.

Sweet Corn Masala Chat

Now, it’s time for summer and the children will be at home and  they need something to fill their stomach from time to time , so thought of posting some easy and quick snacks which can be prepared in very less amount of time. This snack is one among them “ Sweet Corn Masala Chat ”. Here goes the recipe :

Ingredients:

• Sweet corn- 2 cups
• Salt to taste
• Garam Masala- 1 tsp
• Dhaniya/Coriander powder- 1 tsp
• Red chilly powder – ½ tsp
• Cilantro/ Kothimeer – handful
• Melted butter- 1 tbsp
• Onions- 1 small (finely chopped)
• Jeera powder – 1 tsp
• Lemon juice – 2 tsp
• Tomatoes -1 (finely chopped) 

Method:

• Boil the sweet corn, let it cook completely, keep aside and let it cool.
• Take a pan and add the melted butter /ghee and add onions and let it fry till onions turns to slight golden brown in colour.
• Now add tomatoes, salt, garam masala, jeera powder, chillipowder, dhaniyapowder and mix it with spatula.
• Finally add cooked corn to the masala and squeeze the lemon juice on the top of the corn and mix well with a spatula.
• Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves, grated carrot

Rava Laddu

Hi Friends, Back here after a long time, enjoyed my long week end in Grand Canyon, one of the most beautiful scenic place and one of the wonders of the world. The trip was so enjoyable and of course, the Arizona is also too hot, when we were there it is 105 degrees Far Hein heat so it’s really very hot but the struggle we took to reach to north rim and south rim of canyon was all gone once we reach over there and started viewing all the spectacular views of the canyon. So over all my trip is good and back to Torrance by Monday night and started thinking of writing the blog since a week busy with things at home so couldn’t post anything. This July I really wanted to start with a Sweet Dish.Rava Laddu is one of the most traditional, simple, easy sweet. This sweet can be prepared in less than 15- 20 min. It can be prepared for any kind of occasion / as a snack for children at evening time. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Sooji rava/Bombay rava - 1 cup
• Ghee /melted butter - 3 tbsp
• Cashew nuts – handful
• Raisins-6
• Almonds-6
• Grated Coconut – 1 cup (use the fresh grated coconut, dry one is not preferable)
• Sugar- 1 cup

Method:

• Take a pan, add two spoons of ghee and roast all the nuts and raisins, keep them aside.
• In the same pan add 2 tsp ghee and roast the sooji (not deep) until it turns light golden colour.
• Keep this sooji aside and let it cool.
• Now add remaining ghee to the pan, add the coconut and roast it in medium low flame until all the ghee absorbs the coconut and it turns to little golden brown in colour.
• Now take a vessel and mix all the roasted sooji, coconut, nuts, sugar and mix well.
• Sugar need to be added when a coconut and sooji are hot, other wise sugar cannot be mixed up properly.
• Try to make into round balls by rolling the mixture in between the hands.
• Rava Laddu is ready to serve.

Whole Wheat Pizza

It was almost all a week, that I have been thinking of preparing pizza at home but in a different manner so every time I m just preparing the dough with all purpose flour so this time why not ii try with a whole wheat flour, the thought in my mind immediately came into existence and I replaced the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour and tried it worked out but the dough didn’t raise well like the original one, some how taste came well and we ate it. But, still the recipe is still not up to my satisfaction level. So started again level 2 experiments with 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup   all- purpose flour and tried out. Unexpectedly it turned out very well in all aspects and finally tasted very well than I expected and hubby is also is very happy to eat as it turned out perfectly. So here goes the recipe:

Pizza Dough:

• All purpose Flour /Maida – 1 cup
• Whole Wheat Flour /Atta – 1 cup
• Active Dry Yeast /Rapid Rise Yeast - ½ tsp
• Luke Warm Water – 1 cup
• Sugar – 1tsp
• Olive Oil – 3 tbsp
• Salt – 1tsp

Method:            

• Take a big bowl and mix 1 cup of all purpose flour /Maida and 1 cup of whole wheat flour   along with yeast, sugar, salt and warm water and mix the dough to form a smooth ball without any lumps in it.
• Stir in additional flour until the dough begins to form a ball and becomes easy to handle.
• Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Knead it at least for   5- 8 minutes.
• Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover it with a lid and let it rise in a warm spot. I kept in an oven without turning it on until dough doubles its size (approximately for 1 hour).
• Punch down dough and knead it again. Allow it to rise for 30 min.
• Roll the dough into a circle, forming a ¼ inch rim around the edges and little bit of olive oil onto it and bake it for 5 min at 450 degrees.
• Turn off the oven and remove the base and now add the tomato sauce and what all toppings you would like to add to it( I used onions , bell peppers, olives , tomatoes and finally cheese). Don’t add the cheese right now just before turning off the complete oven and when everything is done. You add the cheese as it melts very easily.
• Bake all the toppings on a preheated pizza stone that has been sprinkled with corn meal at 450 degrees Far Hein Heat for 25 min. Just check in the middle for the golden brown crust.
• Add the cheese on the top of it   and let it melt for 2 min and take out the pizza let it cool for 3 min. 
• Cut the pizza by using the pizza cutter and Serve hot with a Tomato Sauce.