Idli with Vadacurry - A mighty breakfast

Its been quite a busy weekend for us.We went out on a short trip with some of our friends to a lake near wisconsin and had a great time.The view of the lake was deadly.
Iam attaching a picture of that, for you all to enjoy.

On such weekends we prefer to have a nice and heavy breakfast/brunch and then hit the road.So I made some Idli's and vada curry to go with it.Since we have seen so many versions of making Idli's I do not want to elaborate on that one.(my ratio is 4:1).Vada curry is a most known side dish for Idli in chennai.I am not sure how many people have heard or tasted it.As far as I know if there is any dish that is indigenous to chennai city that would be vada curry.Its spicy and at the same time very subtle and has a delicate flavour.This is one of my favorite receipe from my Mom.Whenever I come home from college for the holidays, Iam very sure that mornings breakfast would be Idli and vadacurry.Those are the days that I yearn for nowadays.
Traditionally vada curry is made out of dhal vada's.But my mom makes it differently.She either steams the dhal mixture or make adais out of the mixture.Give it a try and let me know how it turned out.

Ingredients:
1 cup channa dhal (soaked for two hours)
1tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp jeera1

1 inch cinnamon strip
3 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp minced garlic
1tsp minced ginger
1 medium sized onion sliced thinly
2 medium sized tomatoes chopped finely
1 cup chopped coriander leaves
1tsp chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
salt as needed
Method:
For Vada/Adai:


 Soak the channa dhal for two hours and grind it coarsly along with fennel seeds(like we do for masal vadai).Heat a dosa pan and make thick adai's(about 2 inch thickness) by adding little oil on the sides.Keep the heat in medium and allow it to cook well, until browned on both sides(as shown in picture above).Cool it and scramble it into tiny pieces.You can do this the night before, store it in refrigerator and use it the next morning.

For Curry:
Add 2 tsp of oil in a sauce pan.Add cinnomon, cloves and bay leaf to it.When the cloves pop add the sliced onions and fy till translucent and the add the chopped garlic and ginger.Fry well till the raw smell goes.Add the chopped tomatoes to it and fry till mashed well and the oil leaves the surface.Now add all the powders and stir well till the masala mixes well with the tomatoes.Now add 5 cups of water.It should be very watery at this stage.close with a lid and allow it to boil. After 10 mins, add the scrambled adai/vadai pieces to this liquid and mix well.The chana dhal mixture will soak up all the liquid.Add the chopped coriander leaves and stir well.

 Serve with piping hot Idli's!!

Variations. - Use equal measures of channa dhal and thoor dhal combination  or just thoor dhal  to make the Adais. These also turns out very well with slightly different taste.
You can also use ginger garlic paste instead of  chopped ginger and garlic.
Adjust the amount of water to the gravy according to the consistency needed i.e., reduce the amount of water for a thicker consistency.
Do not skip the coriander leaves, it is a must for this dish.

Rajma curry with Garlic bread

Last week when we went to Sams club, we could not resist the aroma of freshly baked french baquette. We ended up bringing home a big long loaf of french bread. My idea was to make some kind of sandwich or panini during the weekend. But then on Saturday night I changed my mind and tried some garlic bread with the french baguette and Rajma curry to go with it. Initially my hubby thought that my idea was an excuse for rolling out chappati's, but then he loved the combination.
The taste of garlic bread in Rajma curry was absolutely amazing.
Hope you all try it sometime.

Here is how I made it...

Ingredients:
11/2 cup Rajma (soaked for 6 hours and cooked)
1 medium size onion
1 can of Tomato sauce.
1 tsp chilli powder.
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
Some Paneer cubes - stir fried(optional)

Method:
Cook the soaked Rajma in Pressure cooker for 4-5 whistles
In a pan add 2 tsp of olive oil, add the garlic and ginger when the oil is hot.
Stir and add the chopped onions, fry till translucent, and add the tomato sauce.
Allow it to get heated thoroughly and then add all the powders.
Cover and boil for 10 mins.Add the paneer cubes which is optional. You can also add tofu pieces if you want. Simmer for another 5 mins. Add the chopped coriander leaves and switch off the stove.

For Garlic bread

Take 4 tsp of olive oil in a bowl
Add 2tsp of chopped garlic to it and let it set for 15 mins
spread this oil over the top of the bread and broil in the oven for 5 mins or until toasted brown

Eggless Carrot Raisin/Walnut Muffins

I got this receipe long time back from the back of whole wheat flour packet, but didnt get the time or ingredients together to make this one.Today being Tamil New year, I wanted to make something sweet, but my hubby said no to the usual Payasam as he is cutting down on sugar. So I decided to make the long pending carrot mufins..which I thought would be a treat for the New Year as well as the weekend. Afterall we should eat what we enjoy the most right !!!!

Happy Tamil New Year Everyone...Enjoy.
Here is the receipe

Ingredients:
2 cups of shredded carrot
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup brown sugar/white sugar
5tbl sp butter
1 cup milk
1 cup raisins
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnomon

Note:
You can substitute whole wheat flour with white flour if you dont like the smell of whole wheat.. I just wanted to make it more nutritious.
You can also add an egg, and reduce the amount of milk to half.
You can also add walnuts instead of raisins or both.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350F .
Sieve the flour, baking powder, soda and cinnomon two ot three times.
Beat buter and sugar together until frothy , t0 this add the dry ingredients and the milk alternatively in small batches , end with the dry ingredients. Mix slowly till no traces of flour is found. The mix should be thick.Now add the carrots and raisins and fold in the mixture two or three times. Spoon the mixture into mufin cups and bake for 20-25 mins. A tooth pick inserted at the center should come in clean.
Serve warm with a cup of Tea!!

Updated on 2nd November 2009
Here are some recent pictures of these muffins .This time I added walnuts instead of raisins.

Spicy Turnips.

Have you ever tried this vegetable?

Few months back, I was bored of having the regular vegetables you know like brinjal, carrot, beans, cabbage, spinach...etc.I wanted a vegetable to make a spicy fry.I came across this half violet vegetable and it immediately gained my attention.It was more similar to 'knol khol ' that we get back in India so wanted to give it a shot.This dish turned out so great that I have become addicted to it.Nowadays turnip gets into my shopping list just like, onions and tomatoes.
This receipe is kind of dry and spicy, but it can also be had with just plain rice/chappati as a curry and its also a good replacement for potato for people who count calories.

Ingredients:

3 medium sized turnip
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium sized onions chopped
1 tsp fennel powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
few cury leaves chopped or 1 tsp of curry leaves powder
salt as needed

Method

Peel and chop the turnips into small cubes
Chope the onions and mince the garlic
Add 1 tsp of olive oil, and the garlic and onions when its hot
Fry till tranlucent, now add the turnip pieces and mix well with the onions and galic twice.
Now add chilli , turmeric, fennel powders and curry leaves/powder
Add salt as needed.Mix well , sprinkle some water and close with lid.
reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5-8 minutes.
Open the lid,Stir well cook in low flame for 5 mins and switch off the stove.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Enjoy.

Oven Roasted King Fish Steak

Both me and my husband love Fish compared to chicken or other nonveg items. But the grocery store we visit do not have much variety in fish, so we always end up buying tilapia fillets, not that its not great or anything, but we get bored of it sometimes.The past few weeks I found some king fish steaks which were very tempting, but the size of it made me think, morever I have not tasted king fish before..it looked more like 'vanchiram' in our place.But this week I decided to give it a try and brought back a nice beautiful piece of king fish steak.
Since the piece was very thick, I decided to roast it in the oven, as I do the chicken sometimes.
It turned out good and we both enjoyed it.
So here's how I did it.

Ingredients:
1 King fish steak (large)
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp sombhu/fennel seeds powder( optional)
1tsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp chopped garlic
salt to taste

Method:
Mix all the ingredients and make a paste.
smear oer the fish on all sides, and allow it to marinate in the refrigerator for minimum 30 mins
Preheat the oven to 425F, place the fish in a tray covered with foil
bake for 10 mins on each side and then broil for 3 mins on each side.

Enjoy.

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