BAKED POTATO MANCHURIAN

BAKED POTATO MANCHURIAN
I tried the recipe for potato Manchurian from an old Aval Vikatan magazine. Usually, I used to deep fry the potatoes dipped in batter and then mix them with the gravy. My husband suggested me to bake the potatoes and then add them to the gravy instead of deep frying to cut out the oil. I was not sure how will this turn out but this baked potato Manchurian turned out really great. I prepared this as a dry curry to go with rice. This goes well with fried rice, briyani etc. This dish requires Aji-no-moto for taste. It can also be omitted. Here goes the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
Potatoes, medium size, 3.
Red onion, 1.
Green bell pepper, 1.
All purpose flour, around ½ cup.
Corn flour, 1 tablespoon.
Rice flour, 1 tablespoon.
Chili powder, 2 teaspoons.
Salt as per taste.
Ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon.
Garlic, 2 cloves.
Aji-No-Moto or MSG, 2 teaspoon, (optional).
Tomato sauce, 1 tablespoon.
Spring onions, 1 bunch.

PREPARATION:
Peel the potatoes and cut them into ½ inch fingers. Mix the corn flour, all purpose flour, rice flour, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, ginger-garlic paste, salt, and Aji-No-Moto along with some water into a smooth paste for dipping the potatoes. The batter should be thick enough to coat the potato fingers. If needed, a pinch of food color can also be added to the batter. Take a baking dish and spray the dish with any cooking oil. Dip the potato fingers in the batter and arrange the fingers on the dish with sufficient space between each finger. Bake them at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes turn crispy without changing color. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let them rest for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile cut the green bell peppers and red onions into the long, thin strips and chop the garlic into very small pieces. Heat a pan with some oil. When the oil is hot enough, add the cut green bell peppers, onions and crushed garlic and let them sauté for a minute. Then add 1 teaspoon of chili powder, salt, and tomato sauce and mix everything well and sauté for 5 more minutes under low flame and switch off the stove. Then add the baked potato fingers into the mixture and mix everything well. Garnish with spring onions on top and serve hot with rice or rotis.

VEGETABLE KURMA WITH CASHEWS

VEGETABLE KURMA WITH CASHEWS
This was an accidental recipe. Usually I make kurmas with grated coconut or coconut milk and sometimes I add a little bit of cashews while grinding to make it a bit rich. This time, I ran out of both coconut and coconut milk and was left with only cashews and hence decided to prepare kurma with only cashew paste though I had my doubts. The end result turned real good. This kurma tasted great and was rich and creamy with only just a handful of cashews instead of a whole coconut or a cup of coconut milk. At least some of the calories from the coconut have been off this way. This is an ideal side dish for rotis, rice, idlis, and dosas. Here goes the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
Onion, medium-sized, 2.
Tomato, 2.
Vegetables like cauliflower, green beans, cabbage, carrot, peas, corn all coming to around 2 cups when chopped.
Cashews, a handful.
Khus-khus (poppy seeds), 1 tablespoon (optional).
Ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon.
Cinnamon, 1 small stick.
Fennel seeds, ½ teaspoon.
Bay leaf, 1.
Chili powder, 2 teaspoons.
Coriander powder, 1 teaspoon.
Turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon.
Salt, as per taste.
Curry leaves and cilantro for seasoning.

PREPARATION:
Chop the onions, tomatoes, and all the vegetables and keep aside. Grind the cashews and khus-khus into a smooth paste. Heat a pan with some oil. When the oil is hot enough, add the fennel seeds, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf and fry them for 1 minute. Add the chopped onions and tomatoes and sauté for few minutes. Then add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for a minute until everything is well blended. Add the chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and fry for a minute until the raw smell of the spices goes. Now add the chopped mixed vegetables along with the ground paste along with 3 cups of water. Cook closed for 15 minutes under medium flame until the vegetables are tender and the kurma thickens to the desired consistency. Garnish with curry leaves and cilantro on top. Serve hot with idlis, dosas, rotis, or rice.

Weekend lunch

Today's lunch: Egg briyani, vegetable kurma, potato manchurian with rice and rasam

YUMMILICIOUS BERRIES CRISP

YUMMILICIOUS BERRIES CRISP
This recipe was from Epicurious. I saw this dish being prepared a long time ago. I have changed a little bit of the original recipe according to our taste like including cardamom powder instead of cinnamon powder since I like the taste of cardamom in desserts. Similarly, the original recipe asked for old-fashioned oats. I did not have those, so I used the instant oatmeal and it had come out well too. I have also skipped adding brown sugar in the crust. I used regular sugar instead. The berries used here are blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Any other berries can also be used here.

INGREDIENTS:
Frozen or fresh berries, 2 cups.
All purpose flour, 1 cup.
Regular or instant oatmeal, 1 cup.
Sugar, ½ cup.
Cardamom powder, 1 teaspoon (optional).
Unsalted butter, ½ stick or around 3 tablespoons.

PREPARATION:
Take a bowl and add the berries to the bowl. Add around ¼ cup of sugar, ¼ cup of flour, and cardamom powder to the berries and mix everything well. If needed, cinnamon powder can be substituted for cardamom powder here. Let the berry mixture stand for a while. Meanwhile take another bowl and add the remaining flour, sugar, oatmeal and the butter. Mix everything well without water until small lumps are formed from the dough when pressed together. If needed, some more butter can also be added. Take a baking dish and spray it with any cooking spray. Add the berry mixture to the bottom of the bowl and spread them evenly throughout the baking dish. Then add the dough over the berry mixture and spread them evenly over the berry mixture by pressing them lightly with the fingers. Bake them at 350 degrees for about an hour to 45 minutes until the top turns golden-brown and crispy and the berries bubble. Let them rest for a while and enjoy the berries crisp by itself or with any ice cream.

CABBAGE-BELL PEPPER PORIYAL

CABBAGE-BELL PEPPER PORIYAL
This was an accidental recipe. I was in the process of making the usual cabbage poriyal for lunch when I was thinking about the some bell peppers in the fridge. I needed to use them in some way since it was nearly a week since I bought them. Then I came up with the idea of adding bell peppers to the cabbage. The flavor of the bell pepper with the cabbage was really good. This is an easy to prepare dish.

INGREDIENTS:
Cabbage, ½ of a small head.
Bell pepper, large, 1.
Red onion, small, 1.
Ginger garlic paste, 1 teaspoon.
Green chili, 2.
Salt as per taste.
Curry leaves and cilantro for garnishing.
Mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon.
Urad dhal, 1 teaspoon.

PREPARATION:
Chop the onion into small pieces and slit the green chilies into two. Chop the cabbage into small pieces and dice the bell pepper into small pieces. Heat a pan with some oil. When the oil is hot enough, add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds starts to splutter, add the urad dhal and fry them for a few seconds until it changes to brown color. Add the onion, chilies, and cabbage and sauté them for 5 minutes under medium flame. Then add ginger-garlic paste and the diced bell peppers and add salt as per taste. Mix everything well and cook closed under low flame for 10-15 minutes until the bell pepper and cabbage is tender. If needed some water can be sprinkled over the dish and cooked closed for a few minutes if the cabbage is not done well. Sprinkle curry leaves and cilantro over the top and serve hot with rice or rotis.

VADAI CURRY

VADAI CURRY
Vadai curry is a very famous dish in Tamil Nadu, especially Chennai. Mot of the hotels in Chennai will have vadai curry served during breakfast. It is an ideal combination for idlis and dosas. The method I have used here is my SIL’s. She does not fry the vadas. She steams them instead and I feel this is a healthy way of enjoying this spicy dish. This time, I have used deep-fried vadas as I had some leftover vadas from previous day lunch and I needed to use them. I prefer this with dosas rather than idlis. It is simply yummy with dosas.

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE VADAS:
Channa dhal, 1 cup, soaked for 2-3 hours.
Fennel seeds, 1 teaspoon.
Rice powder, 1 tablespoon.
Garlic, 2 cloves.
Ginger small pieces.
Green chilies, 3.
Salt, as per taste.
Red onion, medium-sized, 1.
Curry leaves, a handful.
Cilantro, a handful.

FOR THE CURRY:
Onion, medium-sized, 3.
Tomato, 2.
Ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon.
Cinnamon, 1 small stick.
Fennel seeds, ½ teaspoon.
Bay leaf, 1.
Cloves, 2.
Green chilies, 2.
Chili powder, 1 teaspoon.
Coriander powder, 1 teaspoon.
Turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon.
Salt, as per taste.
Butter, 2 tablespoons.
Curry leaves and cilantro for seasoning.

PREPARATION:
FOR THE VADAS:
Wash the soaked channel dhal and set aside. Grind the channa dhal along with the fennel seeds, chilies, garlic, and ginger without water. Chop the onion, curry leaves, and cilantro into small pieces. Add the onion, curry leaves, cilantro, rice powder, and salt to the ground channa dhal and mix everything well. Heat a kadai with 1 cup of oil. When the oil is hot, take a small amount of the ground mixture and flatten it with the palm of the hand and drop into the hot oil. When the vadas rise up and turns golden-brown, remove them from the oil and drain the excess oil with a paper towel. When the vadas have cooled break them into small pieces and keep aside.

ALTERNATE METHOD OF COOKING THE VADAS:
Instead of deep frying the vadas in oil, they can be steamed. Make small balls of the vada mixture and arrange them on idli plates and steam them for 15-20 minutes. Let them cool for another 15 minutes and break them into small pieces.

FOR THE CURRY:
Chop the onions and tomatoes into small pieces. Split the green chilies into 2. Heat a pan with some oil. When the oil is hot enough, add the fennel seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves, and bay leaf and fry them for 1 minute. Add the chopped onions, tomatoes, and green chili and sauté for a few minutes. Then add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for a minute until everything is well blended. Add the chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt and fry for a minute until the raw smell of the spices goes. Now add 1-1/2 cups of water along with 2 tablespoons of butter to the gravy. Then add the broken vada pieces and cook them closed for 5-10 minutes until the gravy thickens. Garnish with chopped curry leaves and cilantro and serve hot with idlis and dosas.

SIMPLE KEERAI PORIYAL OR SAUTÉED GREENS

SIMPLE KEERAI PORIYAL OR SAUTÉED GREENS
This is my mom’s recipe. Usually I prepare dhals with greens. Today I was not in the mood for dhals. I wanted to have something simple. This was the first time I prepared keerai poriyal. We had it today for lunch as a side dish to go with rice. My mom used to prepare this with amaranth leaves or drum stick leaves. I have used baby spinach leaves here. It was also delicious like the other greens. This is a simple and fast dish. The seasonings used are mustard seeds and green chili. They can be eaten with rice or rotis.

INGREDIENTS:
Any greens like spinach, 1 big bunch.
Small onions, ½ cup or medium sized red onion, 1.
Garlic, 2 pods.
Mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon.
Red chilies, 2.
Salt as per taste.

PREPARATION:
Chop the small onions or red onions into small pieces. Crush the garlic coarsely. Clean the greens thoroughly and chop them into small pieces. Heat a pan with some oil. When the oil is hot enough, add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. When the mustard seeds have spluttered, add the red chiles. The red chiles can be broken into 2 or added as whole. Then add the chopped onion and crushed garlic and sauté them for 2 minutes. When the onions are well cooked, add the chopped greens along with salt and sauté everything for a few more minutes under medium flame. Cook them closed for a few more minutes until the greens have wilted and the dish has become dry. Then switch off the stove and serve this poriyal with rice or rotis.

APPALA KOOTU

APPALA KOOTU

This is traditional Tamil Nadu recipe, which I love. It tastes delicious with just rasam and may be any fried item for side dish. Made with channa dhal and vegetables like eggplants, cabbage etc, it covers all food groups in itself with some rice. My mother used to crumble some fried pappads at the end. I used to love the soaked pappad taste. Here goes the recipe of my mom.

INGREDIENTS:
Channa dhal, 1 cup.
Any vegetable like eggplant or cabbage, chopped, 1 cup. (I have used cabbage here).
Onion, small, 1.
Green chilies, 2.
Garlic, (optional), 2 cloves.
Turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon.
Curry leaves for seasoning.
Salt as per taste.
Asafetida, 1 pinch.
Cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon.
Grated coconut, 2 tablespoon.
Papads, fried or microwaved, 3-5.

PREPARATION:
Cook the channa dhal in pressure cooker for 4 whistles and keep aside. Chop the onion and cabbage into small pieces. Slit the green chilies into two. Heat a pan with some oil. When the oil turns hot, put the cumin seeds and curry leaves and let them fry for a minute. Add the chopped onions, cabbage, and chilies and sauté them for a minute. Crush the garlic coarsely and add to the pan and sauté for another 2 minutes. When the cabbage and onion is well cooked, add the channa dhal, turmeric powder, salt, asafetida, 1 cup of water and cook closed in medium flame for 6-10 minutes until the dhal turns to a thick consistency. Turn off the stove. Crush fried pappads and mix well. Serve with hot rice and rasam.

SPICY CAULIFLOWER ROAST

SPICY CAULIFLOWER ROAST
For the past one month, my husband and I were simply obsessed with cooking everything in the oven. He even suggested me to bake vadas!!!! Hmmm, may be I could try that! This recipe was also the result of my experiments with the oven. I am not that good with cauliflower poriyals. They either turn up too mushy or end uncooked. In the end, I stopped making cauliflower poriyals. Instead of that, I used to prepare gobi manchurian. Today I was in the mood of something less oily being a weekday. This oven-roasted cauliflower was great and soft with the correct spices. I served this as a side dish for rice with parupu keerai and potato fry. I used only a spray of canola oil for the whole dish. Here goes the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
Cauliflower, cut into small flowerets filling up a big bowl or around 5-6 cups.
Chili powder, 2 teaspoons.
Coriander powder, 1 teaspoon.
Ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon.
Tandoori masala powder or garam masala (optional), 1 teaspoon.
Salt as per taste.
Turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon.
Cilantro and curry leaves, a few sprigs.

PREPARATION:
Cut the cauliflower into medium-sized flowerets. Blanch them in boiling water for 2 minutes and drain them. Chop the cilantro and curry leaves and keep aside. Take a big bowl and put the flowerets into the bowl. Add the chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt and mix everything well. Take a baking pan and spray the pan with any oil. Arrange the cauliflower flowerets on the pan and cook them at 400 degrees for around 15-20 minutes. Then reduce the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees and cook for another 15 minutes. In the end, add the chopped cilantro and curry leaves to the cauliflower and mix everything well and cook for another 1 minute. Serve hot with rice or rotis.

SOYA CUTLETS

SOYA CUTLETS
My husband loves cutlets. I usually prepare them once a week but I was worried about all the carbs from the potatoes. I came upon this healthy version of the cutlets one day and the taste was simply yummy. In fact it tasted better than the regular potato cutlets. I used more carrots and soya granules and just one potato. If needed any other vegetables like cabbage, green beans can also be used. The bread crumbs used here are also whole wheat bread crumbs for health reasons. The measurements used here makes around 12 small cutlets.

INGREDIENTS:
Potato, medium-sized, 1.
Soya nuggets, 1 cu.
Carrots, medium-sized, 2.
Red onion, small, 1.
Chili powder, 1 teaspoon.
Salt as per taste.
Corn flour, 3 tablespoons.
Bread crumbs, 2cups.

PREPARATION:
Boil the potato for 15-20 minutes and mash it well without lumps. Take a cup of soy nuggets and put them in boiling water for 5 minutes until the nuggets are puffed up. Let them sit for 5 minutes, then rinse them well, drain them, and cut into very fine pieces or they can be minced well using a blender. Take care not to make them into a paste, just one or two pulses in the blender will be fine. Chop the onion into small pieces and the grate the carrots and keep aside. Mix the mashed potatoes, chopped onions, grated carrots, chopped soya nuggets, chili powder, salt and mix everything well. Make small patties out them and keep aside. Take the corn flour in a small and some ¼ cup water and make a batter. Take the bread crumbs in a pan. Heat a flat bottomed pan and create a work station arranging the plate with the patties first, the bowl with the corn flour batter next, and the bread crumbs plate next to that. When the pan is hot enough, add a teaspoon of oil and spread that evenly on the pan. Take a patty and immerse it in the corn flour batter. Then put it on the bread crumbs plate and cover the patty with the bread crumbs and put it on the hot pan. Add a teaspoon of oil over the top of the cutlet. Repeat the same with a few more patties until the pan is covered. There should be some space between the cutlets while cooking to move them around. Let then cook for 5-7 minutes until the side facing the pan is golden-brown and crisp. Flip all the patties to the other side and let them cook for another 5 minutes. Repeat the same with the remaining patties and serve the cutlets hot with tomato sauce.

VINAYAKA CHATHURTHI CELEBRATIONS

Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi to all! These were the dishes I prepared for the occasion: Waltnut halwa, sambar, sundal, pongal, vadai, kozukatai. I prepared only one type of kozukatai since my husband is not a big fan of these sweets. The walnut halwa came out very well. I'll post the recipe for walnut halwa on my next post.