Vankaaya Kootu (Eggplant/Brinjal Stew)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Toor Dal (Kandipappu)
• 4 small Eggplants
• 1 tsp Coriander Seeds
• 1 tsp Urad Dal
• 1 tsp Chana dal
• 1 tsp Coconut
• 3 or 4 Green Chilies (or more)
• A pinch of Turmeric powder
• A pinch of Asafetida (Inguva, Hing)
• Salt
• 1 tsp Oil
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
• Few Curry Leaves
• Few Cilantro Leaves

Preparation:

1. Place toor daal and eggplant pieces together in a bowl and pressure cook until 3 whistles.
2. Meanwhile, dry roast (with no oil) coriander seeds + urad dal + chana dal and grind into a paste along with coconut and green chilies. Keep aside.
3. Take out the toor dal + eggplant mixture out of the pressure cooker and mash it well with a fork or back of a spatula until you get smooth texture.
4. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add cumin seeds + curry leaves and fry well.
5. Add cooked dal + ground paste and mix well. Add turmeric + asafetida + salt and mix well again. Keep on low flame for some time until bubbles appear on top and turn off the flame. Garnish with cilantro and serve with steaming hot rice with a dollop of ghee. Yum!!

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Carrot – Radish Chutney

A delicious chutney with a perfect combo of carrots and radishes and other simple ingredients.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup White Radish, skin peeled and cubed (red radishes also can be used)
• ½ cup Carrots, skin peeled and cubed
• ¼ cup Onions, chopped
• 10 dry Red Chilies
• ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1 tsp Coriander Seeds
• ¼ tsp Fenugreek Seeds
• Salt
• 2 tbsp Oil
• Few Curry leaves (optional)

Preparation:

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and sauté cumin seeds + red chilies + coriander seeds + fenugreek seeds until they turn golden brown in color. Remove from oil and transfer to a plate to cool.

Add rest of the oil and add radish + carrots + onions + curry leaves and sauté well again (at least for 5-6 minutes) until the curries change color. Remove them from the pan and transfer to a different plate to cool.

Later grind them all into a fine paste by adding little water. That's it! Great tasting chutney is ready!!

Enjoy this yummy chutney with rice/chapathis.

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Brown Rice Laddu

Here is another variety where you can sneak in brown rice for anyone who doesn’t like to eat brown rice. As this a sweet item they won’t say no to it. :)

I made this for this Diwali as a healthy sweet treat and it was a hit.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Brown Rice
• 1 cup grated Coconut (I used dry)
• 1 cup Sugar
• ½ cup Ghee
• Few Cardamom Seeds
• Few Cashews and Raisins
• ¼ cup Milk, if needed (just keep on hand)

Preparation:

Heat a pan and dry roast brown rice until it becomes little puffed up. Keep aside to cool.

Then mix brown rice + sugar and powder them into a fine powder. Add coconut to this and mix well. Keep aside.

Heat a pan and melt ghee. Add raisins + cashews + cardamom and sauté well until raisins bubble up and cashews turn golden brown in color.

Pour this on top of brown rice mixture and mix well until it is blended well.

Note: At this point, if the brown rice mixture remains dry and can’t be made into balls, add milk mentioned in the ingredients and mix well.

Take small portions of the mixture and shape into round balls. Spread on a big plate and allow them to dry for some time.

Enjoy the tastiest and healthy laddu. I felt like these tasted similar to Rava Laddu.

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Brown Rice Dosa – Version 2

Before going into the recipe: Check out my guest post on Be@Home website where two of my recipes were published.

Now to the recipe: As I wrote in my previous post, this is a second version of brown rice dosa where I soaked brown rice and fermented the batter. There is version 3 too, which will be coming soon in the series.

Ingredients: 3 cups Brown Rice 1 cup Black Gram (Minappappu, Urad Dal) Salt Oil Preparation: Wash and soak rice and dal separately in plenty of water overnight or for 6 hours. Grind them into a fine paste adding water as required. As I observed, brown rice has taken a little longer time to grind than the regular white rice. Add salt to the batter and mix well. The batter should be of dropping consistency. Allow the batter to stand overnight and get fermented. When the batter is ready, mix it well and check for salt and add some water if the batter became thick. Heat a non-stick pan and pour a ladleful of batter and spread into a thin circle. Pour a little oil around the dosa and allow it to cook for some time. Then flip over the dosa and add more oil if desired and allow it to cook again. When the dosa is done, transfer it to a serving plate and enjoy the crunchy dosa with desired chutney. Repeat the same process with remaining batter. We ate our dosas with Onion Chutney and Peanut Chutney.

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Brown Rice Dosa – Version 1

This is an instant dosa with no soaking or fermenting. I named it version 1 because I also tried another version of this dosa by soaking and fermenting. Both of them tasted so good and felt healthy. I will post the second version soon.

Ingredients: 2 cups Brown Rice 1 cup Rice Flour 1 tsp red Chili Powder 1 tsp Cumin Seeds ¼ cup finely chopped Onion ¼ cup finely chopped Mint Leaves 1 cup Buttermilk 3 cups Water (or as needed) Salt to taste Oil Preparation: Powder brown rice and add to a mixing bowl. Add rice flour + chili powder + cumin seeds + onion + mint leaves + buttermilk and mix well to form a thin batter by adding water. Adjust salt. Heat a non-stick pan and pour a ladleful of dosa batter. Then quickly spread into a thin circle with the back of the spatula. Pour oil around it and allow cooking for a while. Then flip it over and pour more oil around the dosa and allow cooking. When dosa gets cooked remove it from the pan and place on a serving plate. Repeat the same process with remaining batter and enjoy this healthy and yummy dosa with your favorite chutney.

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Happy Diwali 2010

HAPPY DEEPAVALI TO ALL MY READERS AND FRIENDS!

MAY YOUR DAYS SPARKLE WITH PEACE AND JOY!

HAPPY DIWALI

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Onion Chutney – Another version

 

This is a slightly different version made by dear hubby which tasted so good. He called it as the modern version of onion chutney.

I previously posted two other versions of onion chutney. You can find them at the following links.

Onion Chutney – Zero Oil (Erra Kaaram)

Tomato Onion Chutney (Oil Free)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized Onion, chopped
• 1 cup fresh Coconut pieces
• • 1 big Tomato, chopped
• 1 stalk of Celery, chopped (makes ½ cup)
• 12 dry Red Chilies
• 1 tsp Coriander Seeds
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
• 2 tsp Oil
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

Pour oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add cumin seeds and all the other ingredients except chilies + coriander seeds + salt and sauté well.

Keep stirring until the veggies become little brownish on sides (approx. 5 minutes). Keep the flame on med. low setting.

Finally add red chilies + coriander seeds and sauté well for a minute. Then turn the flame off and allow the contents to cool for some time.

Then grind the contents into a smooth paste by adding a very little water and salt.

That’s it! Great tasting onion chutney is ready to be eaten!!

This chutney goes will with dosas as well as rice.

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