Vegetable Sambar Rice

A healthy one -dish meal with all essential proteins,vitamins and carbohydrates!.

INGREDIENTS:

 Rice - 1 cup

Toor daal - 1/2 cup

Vegetables - 2 cup ( Drumstick, chayote,carrot,beans,potato,green peas,pumpkin,brinjal)

Tamarind - 1 lemon sized.(Dissolved in 1/4 cup water)

Small onion - 7 nos.(If using big onion, use 1 no)

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Oil- 3 table spoon

TO GRIND : (Add a tea spoon of oil, and roast the items mentioned below and grind them to fine powder)

Dry red chilli - 3 

Cinnamon stick - 1 no. ( 1 inch size) 

Clove - 2 no.

Coriander seeds - 1 1/2 table spoon

Bengal gram(kadalai paruppu)- 1 table spoon

fenugreek seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

METHOD:

1. Soak rice and daal for 10 minutes. 

2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker.Then add mustard. Once it splutters, add onion and fry it to golden brown. 

3. Then add all the vegetables and fry for 3-4 minutes. 

4. Then add rice and daal to the mixture and mix well.

5. Now add red chilli powder, turmeric powder,salt, tamarind water  and masala powder which you grinded. Mix all ingredients together.

6. As we have used one cup rice, add 3 cups of water( Not inclusive of tamarind water). 

7. Cover the lid, keep in high for one whistle. Then keep in full sim for 10 minutes and switch off the gas.

8. Once the sound stops, remove the lid and add 2 table spoon of ghee and asafoetida.

9.Garnish with fresh corriander leaves.

Peanut Tikki/Cutlet

This is a simple evening time snacks with a hot tea or coffee....

INGREDIENTS:

Cooked Rice -  1/2 cup
Peanut-1/2 cup( Dry roast peanut and grind it into a coarse mixture)
Ginger - 1 tablespoon
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Besan(chickpea flour) - 2 table spoon
Salt- as required
Coriander leaves - as required
onion - 1/2 cup(Diced finely).

METHOD:
1. Prepare all ingredients and set ready. Dry roast peanut and grind to a coarse mixture. Grind cooked rice in to a paste. Do not add water when you grind.

2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle some water while mixing . Do not add more water , as it will be difficult to make patties. It should be thick in consistency, so that it will not fall apart when u make patties. 

3. Grease your hand with oil, and make flat and round patties with your hand and place it on the tawa and pour oil and fry on both sides, till it change to golden brown.

4. peanut cutlet is ready !. Serve with tomato ketchup.

NOTE: Adding besan, serves as a binding agent and binds all ingredients together and helps in making cutlet, without breaking apart. 

Paneer Butter Masala- Restaurant Style.

Paneer butter masala is a popular dish that goes well with poori,rotti,rice  . Here I have given a recipe that taste similar to paneer butter masala made at restaurants.

INGREDIENTS:

Home made Paneer - 200 gms ( Made from 1 liter thick milk)

Tomato - 4 nos (Diced and pureed)

Fresh green chilli- 2 nos. (slit lengthwise) 

Ginger garlic paste - 1 table spoon

Ginger(optional) ( sliced lengthwise) - 1 tablespoon(for garnishing)

Cashews - 10 no.s ( Or you can use Almonds)

Kasturi methi leaves(Dry fenugreek leaves) - 1 teaspoon

Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon

Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1 tea spoon

Oil - 2 tablespoon

Butter (unsalted) - 2 tablespoon

Water - 1.5 cups

Salt - as required

Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander leaves - for garnishing.

METHOD:

1. Soak  cashews in warm water for 30 minutes . Then filter the water. Blend it into a smooth paste by adding 2 tablespoon of water. Instead of cashews , you can also use almonds with skin or soak the almonds for 1 hour and remove the skin and blend in to a smooth paste.

2.  Blend diced tomatoes into puree, without adding any water.

3. cut paneer in to cubes and fry paneer in 1  tablespoon oil in a nonstick pan and set aside.

4.  In a pan, add 1 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp  butter . Then add, ginger garlic paste and fry for few minutes, till the colour changes.

5. Then add pureed tomato and mix well. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Keep stirring frequently to avoid it gets burnt. Then add kashmiri red chilli powder. kashmiri red chilli powder gives nice color and not spicy. Stir well and cook  until oil leave its sides. It takes about approximately 5 to 6 minutes.

6. Then add cashew paste and mix well and cook for another 5 minutes.

7. Add 1.5 cups of water. Allow it to boil well .Then add sliced ginger . Cook for 1-2 minutes . Add sliced fresh green chillies. Then add sugar ,salt, and garam masala and cook for 1- 2 minutes.

8. Add paneer cubes . Mix gently and cook for 2 minutes, till the paneer blends well with gravy.Add kasturi methi leaves  and mix well. Cook for a minute and switch off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves ! Paneer butter masala is ready !

NOTE: check my blog , for how to make paneer.

Cucumber Payasam/Kheer

Cucumber is one of the least used vegetable in our kitchen except for sandwiches and salad. Here , I have given a very simple dessert that use ingredients that are available at home. Please do try and share your comments.

INGREDIENTS:

Cucumber - 1 big no.

Cooked rice - 1/2 cup

Sugar-1/2 cup (If you want it to be more sweet, add 3/4 cup sugar) 

Whole milk - 500 ml

Cashews,almond (roasted)- 2 table spoon

cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon

METHOD:

1. Prepare all ingredients and set ready. 

2. peel the cucumber skin and slit the cucumber into four parts from top as in picture below.

3. Place each part of cucumber flat on a board and use knife to scale the seeds of the cucumber.

4. Cut cucumber in to fine pieces . 

5. Now , in a flat bottomed pan, boil milk well.

6. Once it boils, add cucumber and cooked rice. Before adding rice, mash the cooked rice well and add. Else, it forms lumps. 

7. Allow it boil for 10 minutes. Stir constantly, so that it doesn't get burnt. Once the cucumber and rice gets soft, add sugar and mix well.

8. In another pan, add 1 table spoon of ghee and roast cashews, almonds. 

9. Pour it over the kheer and add cardamom powder and mix well. Cucumber kheer is ready ! 

10. Allow the kheer to cool down. Then refrigerate it. Kheer taste good when refrigerated. 

Broccoli Stir Fry

Broccoli is considered as one of the healthiest vegetables with dozens of nutrients like vitamin k(Essential for bone health), vitamin c( For anti oxidants which gives a clear skin), potassium(for nerves and heart) and high fiber content. Broccoli is said to prevent cancer, provide abundant anti oxidants and helps in reducing cholesterol . A cup of broccoli has as much protein as a cup of rice or corn with half the calories.

Stir-fry helps in retaining the health benefits of broccoli. Over cooking would result in lose of nutrients and also taste and flavor of broccoli would get spoiled. Here I have provided a very simple broccoli stir fry with some flavorful spices added to make it tastier . 

INGREDIENTS:

Broccoli- 2 big no.s

Fresh Garlic- 1 table spoon( Diced finely. I used 3 cloves of garlic)

Fresh red chilli - 1 ( You can increase according to your spice level.)

Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1 tea spoon

Garam masala - 3/4 teaspoon

Salt - As required

SEASONING:

Ghee - 2 tea spoon

Mustard - 1 tea spoon

Cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon

Urad dal - 1 tea spoon

METHOD:

1. Wash and cut broccoli in to florets .Please do not throw away the stems. Cut them also  in to small pieces. Dice garlic and chilli in to fine pieces.

2. In a flat bottomed pan, add ghee . Then add mustard. Once it splutters, add cumin and urad dal.

3. Then add diced garlic and chilli and fry till golden brown.

4. Add Broccoli florets . Add salt and turmeric powder and mix well. Then add, red chilli powder,corriander powder and garam masala powder and mix well. 

5. Sprinkle some water and cover with a lid. After 2 minutes, stir again and if it is dry, sprinkle some more water and cover the lid. Adding all the water at a stretch would make the broccoli soggy . So keep stirring frequently every 2 minutes and sprinkle water. Broccoli benefits are retained if we cook it slightly. Do not overcook it .cooking for longer time, will make it mushy, very soft and lose its nutrients.  The maximum cooking time is 7-9 minutes. Switch off the gas. Sprinkle asafoetida powder over it . 

6. Broccoli stir fry is ready !. You can take it with rice or rotti. 

NOTE: 1. Adding turmeric to broccoli or any green vegetables at first, will help in retaining the green color of the vegetables .

2. Adding garlic , garam masala in broccoli would help in reducing the smell of broccoli and gives a nice flavor. Some people, avoid broccoli mainly due to its smell.

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Paneer

How to make paneer at home?.. Here is the step wise method to make paneer at home. I always find it difficult to bring it in cube form .Mostly, it used to get crumbled and comes out like cheese powder. Thanks to my friend  +Nidhi Aggarwal  , who explained me clearly with pictures and this time I succeeded . Am sharing it for those who are still trying to make paneer as cubes ;) ... Good luck !

INGREDIENTS:

Whole Milk - 1 litre ( Use full fat milk only)( Yields 200 gms of paneer) .
Vinegar or lemon juice - 1 table spoon


METHOD:

1. In a large pan, pour the milk and allow it boil. Keep stirring continuously , so that  the milk doesnt get stick to the pan and get burnt.

2. Once it comes to boil , add 1 tablespoon vinegar or 1 tablespoon lemon juice  and mix well for a minute. You can see, that milk starts to curdle and comes out as in picture below.Switch off the flame. Wait for 5 minutes and let it cool.

3. Take a thin cloth. I used an unused white towel, with little big pores  to filter the water. 

4. Take a sieve and put the cloth over it, with a vessel under neath . pour the contents in pan over the cloth . Leave it like that for another 15 to 20 minutes, until it gets cool down to touch. 

5. Once it cool down , lift the cloth together with paneer and roll it and squeeze the excess water out of it. 

6. Now take a cutting board.Place the rolled cloth over it and press it all sides and form a round shape as in picture below. 

7. Now, the paneer ready. We need to keep more weight over that, so that it wont fall apart or break. I used a filter plate as shown below for placing the paneer. 

8. Now, take a big bowl. Place the filter plate over it. Then put the paneer with cloth over it. Above the paneer, put a plate. Above the plate, keep a pressure cooker or any heavy vessel with water. The point is, if you keep more weight, the paneer gets hardened. Allow it to stay that way for 45 minutes.

9. After 45 minutes, slowly remove weight , and put the paneer with cloth in a vessel and refrigerate it. No need to keep it in freezer. You can just keep in the fridge for around 2 to 3 hours. After that, take out from fridge, and remove the cloth. You can see , the paneer has hardened as in picture below. 

10. Now it is ready to be made to cubes. Cut to your desired shapes and use it for any subzis of  your choice. Please note that, you can cut to cubes only when you wish to make the subzi. Other wise, you can keep in fridge as a whole block and take out and make cubes when necessary. 

NOTE: 

Please also check my paneer butter masala recipe in my blog.  

Sambar Powder

HOME MADE SOUTH INDIAN SAMBAR POWDER:

This is my mother's version of typical Tamil Nadu  sambar powder. It can also be used for poriyals, kootus apart from normal sambar.

INGREDIENTS:
[ For 1/4 kg sambar powder]

Dry Red Chili - 1/4 kg
Coriander seeds - 1/4 kg
Bengal Gram(Kadalai paruppu) - 100 gms
Toor Dal- 100 gms
Whole black pepper - 50 gms
Cumin seeds - 50 gms
Fenugreek seeds(Vendhayam) - 50 gms
poppy seeds(Kasa kasa) - 50 gms
*Dried Whole Turmeric  - 50 gms
Asafoetida - 10 gms

METHOD :

 Heat tawa. Dry roast coriander seeds slightly for 2 minutes. Then add remaining ingredients and dry roast for 1-2 minutes.. Do not over roast and burn it. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool. Grind them to a fine powder.

NOTE : If you dont get Whole turmeric, you can use turmeric powder 50 gms. But , you dont need to dry roast the turmeric powder. Instead, after you grind sambar powder, add turmeric powder to that and mix well.

Brinjal Kootu

Who ever likes brinjal, will definitely love this recipe.. It is very simple and easy to make .

INGREDIENTS:

Brinjal - 3 No.s ( I used  long brinjal  . )

Tomato - 1 no

Onion - 1/2 ( I used Big onion. So, I just put half of it. If you are using Indian onion, you can use 1 no.) 

Green /Red fresh chilli - 1 (You can add more, if you want it spicy.)

Coconut powder - 1 table spoon

Moong Dal(Paasi paruppu) - 2 table spoons.

Sambar powder - 1  table spoon 

Salt - As required.

Water - 1 cup

Oil- 1 teaspoon

FOR SEASONING:

Oil - 1 table spoon

Mustard - 1 teaspoon

Urad dal - 1 tea spoon

Hing(Asafoetida) - As required

METHOD:

1. Soak  Moong dal in water for 10 minutes. In another vessel, add water and 1 table spoon curd and mix well. Cut brinjal into small pieces , and put it in the curd water and leave it for 10 minutes. Soaking brinjal in curd water will remove the bitterness from it and gives a good taste to the dish.

2. Cut onions,Tomtatoes and chillies finely.

3. Put all ingredients in pressure cooker(Brinjal, moong dal,coconut powder,chilli,tomato,onion), add sambar powder ,salt, 1 tea spoon oil, 1 cup water and close the lid. Do not add more water, if you want the kootu to be  thick*. 

4.Keep the cooker in High , and check the time. Total cooking time is 7 minutes. You may get a high whistle in 5 minutes. After that, lower the flame , and wait for 2 minutes and then switch off the gas. Wait until the pressure release.

5. Now the seasoning part. In a small pan, add 1 tablespoon oil, add mustard,urad daal,hing and fry till golden brown and add it to the kootu. 

6. Brinjal kootu is ready ! .It goes well with rotti,rice and even for pongal and dosa.

NOTE: * For pongal,dosa, you can make it little watery by adding more water (1.5 - 2 cups) in pressure cooker.