Spinach yogurt kootu

Ingredients

Spinach.                       -  4 cups
Yogurt/curd.                -  1/4 cup
Salt to taste

To grind

Shredded coconut.    -  2 tbs
Cumin seeds.              -  1/2 tsp
Rice flour.                   -   3/4 tsp
Green Chillies.           -   2

Tempering

Mustard seeds.          -   3/4 tsp
Coconut oil.                -   1 tbs
Asafoetida.                 -   1/4 tsp
Red chilli.                   -    1


1.  Wash and chop the spinach.

2.  In a pan add the spinach and 1/4 cup water and cook till the spinach is cooked and green colour of the spinach is retained.   Now mash the spinach

3.  In a mixie jar add the items under to grind with little water and grind it to a smooth paste

4.  In a pan add oil and when the oil is hot add mustard seeds.   When the mustard seeds splutters add red chilli and asafoetida and switch off the flame

5.  Add the tempering, salt and ground paste to the spinach bring to a boil and switch off the flame.  After it cools beat the curd and add it to the spinach and mix well

Sweet Jaggery Puttu with Glluten Free multigrain Chapathi flour

Ingredients

1 cup.                  -  Gluten free Multigrain Chapathi flour
Jaggery.              -   1/2 cup
Cardamom.       -   4 pods
Nutmeg powder - pinch
Cashew/Almonds - 1 tbsp
Raisins.                  -  1 tbsp
Shredded coconut - 1 tbsp
Ghee.                      -   2 tbsp

1.  Dry roast the chapathi flour slightly till you get nice aroma.  Cool it completely.

2.  Slowly sprinkle water on the flour and mix it till you get bread crumbs like consistency and if you hold the flour you should be able to make a ball.

3.  Wrap the flour in a cloth towel and stem it in a idli steamer for 10 mts.  Remove the flour from the cloth and transfer it to a bowl.

4.  In a pan add the jaggery and 1/4 cup water and allow it to melt.  When the jaggery melts switch off the flame and strain it.  Again add the jaggery syrup to pan and make the syrup little thick that is when you drop the jaggery syrup to water it should not dissolve.  Switch off the flame and add cardamom powder, nutmeg powder to it.

5. In a small pan add the ghee.  When the ghee is little hot add raisins, cashew/almonds and fry till the raisins puffs up.  Now add the coconut and sautee for sometime  and switch off the flame.  Add this to the steamed flour.

 5.  Add the jaggery syrup to the flour.  Mix thoroughly. Now it is ready to eat.

Black Channa Curry/Kerala Kadalai curry

Ingredients

Black channa.             -  1 cup

To grind

Fennel Seeds.              -  1 tsp
Cardamom  pods.      -   2
Cinnamon.                  -   2 inch
Cloves.                         -   3
Ginger.                        -   1 inch
Garlic.                         -    4
Curry leaves.              -   Few
Onion.                          -   1
Tomatoes.                   -    2
Shredded Coconut.   -    1/4 cup
Coconut Oil.               -    1 tsp
Paprika.                      -    1 tsp or red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder.   -    1 tsp
Garam Masala.          -    1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder.    -     1/4 tsp

Tempering

Mustard Seeds.         -     3/4 tsp
Coconut oil.               -     1 tsp
Green chilli.              -     1
Red chilli.                  -     1
Curry Leaves.          -      Few
Chopoed Small onion or big onion. -   2 tsp


1.  Soak the black channa over night.  Cook the black channa in a pressure cooker for 9 to 10 whistles.

2.  To grind:

In a pan add coconut oil.  When the oil is hot add fennel seeds, cardamom pods, cinnamon and cloves.  Saute for few seconds then add chopped onions, chopped garlic and ginger saute till the onions become golden brown.  Now add the tomatoes and cook till it becomes mushy.  Next add the grated coconut, curry leaves, turmeric powder, paprika/red chilli powder and garam masala.  Saute for a while and switch off the flame.  Add them to a mixie jar and grind it to a paste adding little water

3.  Tempering

In a pan add coconut oil.  When the oil is hot add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter add red chilli, green chilli, chopped shallots/onions and curry leaves.  Saute till the onions are well cooked.

4.  Open the cooker add the ground paste and tempering to the boiled black channa and bring it to boil.  Keep cooking till the raw smell of the ground paste goes.  Switch off the flame.

Saffron Badam/Almond katli

Ingredients

Almonds.                -   1 cup
Sugar.                      -   1 cup
Saffron strands       -    Pinch
Milk.                      -    1/2 cup
Ghee.                     -     2 tsp

1.  Soak the Almonds in hot water for 15 mts

2.  Remove the skin of the almonds

3.  Soak the saffron strands in 1 tsp warm milk

3.  In a nixie jar grind the almonds, saffron milk and milk to a coarse paste

4.  In a pan add ghee, almonds paste and sugar.  Keep stirring till the mixture becomes thick. To check the consistency drop the mixture in a plate and try to roll.  If you are able to roll and not sticky that is the right consistency.  Immediately transfer to plate and let it cool

5.  When the mixture cools kneed like a dough and make it like a ball and place it on a parchment paper.   Keep a parchment paper on top and roll it with a chapathi pin. Remove the top parchment paper and cut it into diamond shapes

          

Flourless Broccoli crust cheese pizza

Ingredients

Broccoli florets.         -   2 cups
Bead slice.                   -   1/4
Egg.                               -   1
Shredded Mozzarella cheese.  -   1/2 cup + 1/2 cup
Parmesan cheese powder.       -   1/8 cup  + 1/8 cup
Garlic powder.                            -   1/8 spoon
Italian sesoning.                         -   two pinches
Fresh basil or dry basil.            -   few/ two pinches
Pizza sauce.                                 -   2 to 3 tsp
Pepper powder.                          -   few pinches
Salt to taste
Oil to grease
Parchment paper

1.  Steam the broccoli florets for 5 mts

2.  Squeeze the water out of the broccoli florets with the help of a muslin cloth

3.  Pulse the broccoli  florets coarsely

4.  Lightly beat the egg

5.  In a bowl add the squeezed broccoli florets, beaten egg, salt, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese,  1/4 cup parmesan cheese powder, garlic powder, pepper powder and mix them completely.  Do not knead like a dough

6.  Preheat the oven for 350 degrees

7.  In a baking sheet spread the broccoli mixture into  pizza shape.    Bake the pizza base for 10 - 12 mts till the crust becomes firm and little browning.

8.  Take the pan from the oven and spread pizza sauce on top of the pizza base evenly.   Now spread the remaining two cheeses on top of the pizza sauce.   Sprinkle the Italian seasoning and basil on top of the cheese.

9.  Bake the pizza for 8 to 10 minutes till the cheese melts and the corners of the crust becomes little more browning and looks little crunchy

10.  Remove the pizza and enjoy

Airfryer Bitter Gourd dry curry

Ingredients

Bitter gourd.               -  4 medium size
Red chilli powder.     -  1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder.    -   2 pinch
Coriander seeds powder- 1 tsp
Asafoetida.                 -   2 pinch
Oil.                               -   2 tsp
Besan  flour.                 - 3 to 4 tbsp
Rice flour.                  -    2 tsp
Sugar/ jaggery.          -    1 tsp
Lemon juice.              -   1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

1.  Slice the bitter gourd into thin size rounds

2.  Add the salt and lemon juice to the sliced bitter gourd and leave it closed for 10 minutes

3.  After 10 minutes squeeze liquid from the bitter gourd

4.  In a bowl add the bitter gourd, red cilli powder, coriander seeds powder, turmeric powder, Asafoetida, oil, bean flour, rice flour, sugar and little salt.  Mix everything completely

5.  Line up the bitter gourd slices on the air fryer tray and air fry at 350 deg. for 10 to 15 mts.  After 5 minutes flip the bitter gourd slices.  Remove the bitter gourd slices when it becomes crisp.

Coriander leaves thokku

This thokku can be had with idli, dosa, pongal, yogurt rice.   You can also make coriander  rice with little tempering of mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and peanuts.

Ingredients

Coriander Leaves.   -  2 bunches
Tamarind.                 -  lemon size
Red Chillies.              - 8 to 15 (depending upon the spice level of the chilli and your level to handle it)
Asafoetida.                -  Small piece or 1/2 tsp of powder
Mustard Seeds.        - 1/4 tsp
Sesame  Oil.              - 4 tbsp
Mustard Seeds Powder.   - 1/8 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds Powder - 1/8 tsp
Turmeric powder  1/4 tsp
Jaggery.          - 2 tsp
Salt to taste

1. Soak the tamarind and red chillies in 1/4 cup of hot water.

2. Clean the coriander leaves in water and drain them.  When soaked tamarind becomes soft add the tamarind, red chillies, coriander leaves and salt in a mixie jar and grind it by adding the water used for soaking the tamarind.

3. In a pan add the oil.   When the oil is hot add mustard seeds.  When the mustard seeds splutters add Asafoetida, fenugreek seeds powder and mix it.  Then add the ground paste, mustard seeds powder, turmeric powder and jaggery.  Saute till the oil leaves the sides of the pan.  Switch off the stove.  Cool it completely and store it in a air tight container inside the fridge. 

Note:

1.  Always all the pickles should be stored in a jar cleaned in hot water and dried completely. 

2.  Use only wooden or plastic spoon to serve.    Again the spoon should be dry

3.  Enough salt, oil and chillies to added because they act as preservatives

4.  At any point of time do not handle the spoon with wet hands

5.  All the above notes will help to maintain a longer shelf life of the pickle

Dal, curry leaves and coriander leaves thogayal/chutney

Ingredients

Tur dal.            - 3 tbsp
Channa dal.    -  2 tbsp
Urad dal.         -  1 tsp
Red chilli.       -   5
Asafoetida.    -   1/4 tsp/ small piece
Tamarind.     -   small piece
Oil.                  -   1 tsp
Coconut.        -   Shredded 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Curry leaves. - 4 strips
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp


Heat a pan and add all the dals, red chilli and saute them till dal changes colour to brown colour.  Now add tamarind and Asafoetida and sautee for few seconds and switch off the flame.

Add everything to a mixie jar and grind to a coarse paste adding little water

Healthy Salad

Ingredients

Sprouted Moong dal (Green Gram).  - one hand full
Cucumber.     -   1
Zucchini.       -   1
Tomato.         -   1
Radish.          -    1/2
Green apple.  -    1/2
Lemon Juice. -     1/2 tsp
Red pepper.   -     1/4
Green pepper -     1:4
Two pinches of black pepper powder
Salt to taste

Chop all the vegetables into smallest cube size.   Mix everything after adding lemon juice, salt and pepper powder.   Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper before serving to avoid sogginess.

Lemon Ginger Green Chilli Pickle

Ingredients

Lemon.    -  2. Nos
Ginger.    -  4  inch
Green Chillies. -  4 nos
Asafietida Powder     -   One pinch
Turmeric Powder.      -   One pinch
Mustard Seeds.     -  1/8 tsp
Sesame Oil.          -   1 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds Powder.  -  1 pinch
Lemon juice - from 1/2 to 1 lemon
Salt to taste.

1.  Chop the ginger and lemons into Julinnes
2.  In a pan add oil and when the oil is hot add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter add asafietida powder, turmeric powder and fenugreek seeds powder mix it and immediately add the chopped green chilli and sauté for few seconds and switch off the flame.  When it cools add chopped lemon, ginger and salt to it and mix it well.   Add juice of half lemon.  Store it in a air tight jar in the fridge.

Ginger Chutney

This chutney goes well with idli, all kinds of dosa and pongal,


Ingredients

Ginger.     -  4 inch
Urad dal.  -   2 table spoon
Red chilli. -   6 to 8
Curry leaves. - few
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida.      -  1/8 tsp
Sesame Oil.     -   2 tsp
Jaggery.           -    2 tsp
Tamarind.      -    small piece
Salt to taste

1.  In a pan add 1 tsp. oil.  When the oil is hot add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter add Asafoetida and few curry leaves and switch off the flame.  Keep this tempering separately.

2.  In a pan add 1 tsp oil and when the oil is hot add urad dal and red chillies saute till the urad dal changes its colour to golden brown.   Now add tamarind and chopped ginger. Sauteed till the ginger is slightly cooked.   Switch off the flame add add everything from the pan to mixie jar after it cools.  Add salt and jaggery to the jar and grind it to a coarse paste adding 1 tsp of water. 

3.  Remove the ginger chutney from the jar and add the tempering to it.  

Almond Coconut Curry leaves Chutney

This chutney has a different taste from the regular coconut chutney and it goes well with idli, dosa, pongal, vada etc

Ingredients

1/4 cup.       -  Shredded Coconut
10 - 15.        -   Almonds
2 nos.          -   Green Chillies
1 tsp.           -   Fried Gram (pottukadalai)
1/2 inch.     -   Ginger
Hand full of curry leaves
Small piece of tamarind
1 tsp.          -  Coriander leaves
4 nos.         -  Garlic cloves (optional)
Salt to taste

Tempering

1/8 tsp.       -  mustard seeds
1/8 tsp.      -  Asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp.      -  Oil
1/4 tsp.      -  broken urad dal
Few curry leaves

1.  In a pan add oil and add slit green chillies, chopped ginger and garlic.  Saute in medium low flame till the garlic is cook (do not burn the garlic).  When it is done add the tamarind, curry leaves and coriander leaves just mix it and switch off the flame.  Cool it completely

2.  Add the almonds and fried gram to a mixie jar and grind to powder then add the above ingredients from the pan to the mixie jar, shredded coconut, salt and grind it by adding water to the required chutney/dip consistency.

3.  Make the tempering with the above ingredients and add it to the chutney/dip.

Pav Bhaji in Pressure Cooker

Ingredients

Bhaji

Chopped Cauliflower.   -  2 cups
Potatoes.                        -  4 medium size
Tomatoes                       -  4 medium size
Carrots.                          -  2
Green Pepper/Capsicum-  1
Onions.                           -  2 medium size
Green peas.                    -  2 to 3 tbsp
Beetroot.                        -  1 small size
Ginger.                           -  1 inch
Garlic.                            -  4 cloves big size
Chopped coriander
Paprika.                          -  1 tsp
Cumin Seeds Powder     -  1/2 tsp
Pav Bhaji masala powder- 1 tsp
Coriander Seeds Powder -  3/4 tsp
Mango Powder.               - 1/2 tsp
Oil.                                      -  2 tsp
Butter.                               -  1 to 2 tsp

For serving

Pav buns
Chopped onions
Chopped coriander leaves
Lemon wedges

1.  Chop all the vegetables except onion into big chunks.  Pressure cook them for two whistles mash them and keep aside.

2.  In a pan add oil and when the oil is hot add cumin seeds stir and then add finely chopped onions, garlic and ginger.  Saute till the onion are well cooked. Now add cumin seeds powder, paprika powder, coriander seeds powder, mango powder and sauteed till the oil leaves in the sides of the pan.  Now add the mashed vegetables, pav bhaji powder and butter.  Bring it to boil, switch off the flame and garnish it with coriander leaves.

3.  In a pan add butter and toast the pav buns.   Serve it with bhaji, chopped onions, coriander leaves and lemon wedges

Brown Sugar/Jaggery kesari

Ingredients

1/2 cup.                    -  Rava
3/4 cup to 1 cup.      -  Jaggery
1 tsp.                        -  Shredded Almonds/Cashews
3 to 4 tsp.                 -  Ghee
1/8 tsp.                     -  Cardamom Powder
Pinch.                       -  Nutmeg Powder

In a pan add 2 tsp of ghee, rava and add almonds/cashews.  Roast them for a while.   Make sure rava doesn’t become brown.   Now add 1 1/4 cup of boiling water to the rava and stir it quickly to avoid formation of lumps. When the rava is cooked add jaggery, cardamom powder, nutmeg powder and keep stirring till it becomes thick like halwa consistency.  Now add rest of the ghee stir it and switch off the flame.

Pot in pot rasam

I would like to start a new series of pot in pot cooking. I think everyone should be already knowing this method.  We used to keep rice and dal together in Pressure Cooker in separate containers and cook.    I thought why not we keep the ingredients of sambar, rasam, kootu etc on top of the rice and dal in the cooker. I tried it for two days hence this recipe came out. Actually we could avoid cooking of the rasam and sambar on stove top and boiling it for a long time in order to remove the raw smell.  After pressure cooking the ingredients all we need to do is adding tempering to it.  This reduces lot of our cooking time. For this we need bigger cooker depending on the members of the family.  This recipe is for a family of 5 to 6 people. Almost all my recipes are for a family of 5 to 6 people.

Ingredients

Tur dal.        - 2 tbs
Tomato.       -  2 medium size
Tamarind.    -  Small Gooseberry size
Green chilli.-  1
Garlic.         -  4 to 5 cloves (optional)
Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp
Rasam/Sambar Powder - 1 - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves
 Salt to taste

Tempering

Mustard Seeds - 3/4 tsp
Pepper powder. - 1/8 tsp
Cummin seeds. -  3/4 tsp
Ghee/oil.           -  1/2 to 1 tsp
Asafietida.        -   1/4 tsp
Curry leaves

1.  Take 3 containers which fits inside the pressure cooker to be staked one on top of the other.  One container you can keep rice with required water

2.   Chop the tomatoes to big chunks and split the green chili.

3.   In one container at the bottom of the cooker u can keep rice adding required water to it.

4.  In the second container on top of the rice you can add tur dal with required water and turmeric powder to it.

5.  On top of the tur dal you can keep another container adding chopped tomatoes. Green chilli, sambar/ rasam Powder, garlic and tamarind and close it with a lid.

6.  Close the lid of the pressure cooker and cook it for 6 to 7 whistles.

7.  When the pressure releases normally take the rasam ingredients out of the cooker and blend the whole thing with a hand blender.

8.   Keep a pan and add ghee/oil to it.  When the oil is hot add mustard seeds after it splutters add asafietida, cumin seeds, pepper powder and curry leaves sauté for few seconds and add the ground paste and add required water around 2 to 2 1/2 cups of water. When you see some lathers on top of the rasam switch off the flame and add chopped coriander leaves.

The same recipe can be done instapot.  Cooking mode - rice.