Spicy Curry Leaves Powder

కరివేపాకు పొడి

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Curry Leaves (కరివేపాకు పొడి)
• ¼ cup Black Gram (మినప్పప్పు, Urad Dal)
• 2 tbsp Bengal Gram (పచ్చిశనగపప్పు, Chana Dal)
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 8 whole Red Chilies (dry)
• A pinch of Asafetida (ఇంగువ, Hing)
• 1 or 2 tsp Oil
• Salt as required

Preparation:

Wash curry leaves well and spread on a newspaper for some time until the water dries out.

Heat oil in a pan and add red chilies + urad dal + chana dal and sauté well until the dals change color. Transfer to a plate.

Then add cumin seeds + asafetida + curry leaves to the same pan and sauté well for some time. Transfer the contents to a different plate. Leave the contents for some time until they cool down.

Later add dals to the blender first and blend into a powder. To this add red chilies and grind again. Finally add the curry leaves mixture and salt and run the blender until the contents become powdery.

Transfer the powder to a airtight jar and enjoy with rice and a dollop of ghee. Yum!!

This aromatic and healthy (curry leaves are good for eyes) powder can be stored for many days. 

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Brown Rice – Quinoa Dosa

This is another dosa variety I recently tried and liked. My daughter who never liked any kind of dosas that much, said this dosa is super delicious and wanted more. This is a very simple recipe that doesn’t require fermenting.

Ingredients: 2 cups Brown Rice 1 cup Quinoa Salt to taste Oil Preparation: Wash and soak brown rice and quinoa in different bowls for about 6 to 8 hours. Later grind them together into a fine paste. Add some water to dilute it and make into batter of pouring consistency. Add salt as required and mix well. Keep aside. Note: This batter doesn’t require to be fermented. The batter can be used immediately for making dosas after you prepared it. Heat a non-stick pan. Take a ladleful of batter, drop in the center of the pan and quickly spread into a thin circle. Pour little oil around the dosa and allow cooking. Later flip it over and allow cooking on the other side too. Finally transfer to a serving plate. Repeat the same process with the remaining batter or until required amount of dosas are prepared. Enjoy these delicious and healthy dosas with desired chutney.

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Cracked Wheat Payasam for MAITRI

Hope many of you might have heard about MAITRI, a friendship chain started by Priya and Reshmi. I got excited about this chain and immediately joined it. The main concept of this friendship chain is about sharing a mystery ingredient among the foodies who are part of this chain. The foodie who receives the mystery ingredient has to identify it and make a food item with it and post on the blog. Sounds interesting, right? Then what are you waiting for? Join in the friendship chain if you are not already a part of it.

As a part of this friendship chain, I was matched with Shylaja of South Indian Home, who sent me a mystery ingredient and also a cute cuddly bear. I identified the ingredient as cracked wheat/godhuma rawa/dalia and I was right.

Here is the recipe I made with this ingredient,

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Cracked Wheat (గోధుమ రవ్వ)
• 2 cups Milk
• 2 cups Water
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Ghee
• Few Cashews, Raisins and Cardamom

Preparation:

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

Add cracked wheat and fry well until it changes color. Then add sugar and mix well. Later pour water + milk, mix well and keep on low flame until the rawa becomes soft and cooked.

When the mixture starts to thicken turn off the flame and leave the pan for some time.

Then transfer the payasam to a serving bowl and enjoy. 

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Spicy Cantaloupe Seeds Powder

Whenever I get pumpkin or yellow cucumber or cantaloupe, I don’t throw away the seeds inside them. I usually make spicy powder with them to go with rice. They taste super delicious.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup Cantaloupe Seeds (from one Cantaloupe)
• ¼ cup Black Gram (మినప్పప్పు, Urad Dal)
• 1 tbsp Coriander Seeds (ధనియాలు, Dhaniya)
• ½ tsp Cumin Seeds (జీలకర్ర, Jeera)
• A pinch of Asafetida (ఇంగువ, Hing) 
• 1 tsp Red Chili Powder (Can be replaced with dry red chilies)
• Salt

Preparation:

Remove seeds from the cantaloupe, wash well and leave them on a plate or a newspaper to dry for a day or two. If placed under a hot sun, it would take just a day to dry.

Dry roast dried cantaloupe seeds and all the other ingredients except salt and chili powder until they turn golden brown in color. Keep aside to cool down.

Add the contents to a blender and powder by adding chili powder and salt as required.

Enjoy this delicious powder with steaming hot rice. 

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