Halu Menasina Saaru | Pepper Rasam made using Milk: An excellent home remedy for common cold

As kids whenever we got cold or sore throat, our mom would make this rasam. She made sure we eat it and gave it as a drink too. Honestly when I was a kid, I didn't enjoy eating this. I gave innumerable reasons to avoid eating this rasam. What goes around comes around, isn't it? Now, my son does the same thing that I did to my mom. I really feel sorry for her now.

Anyways, that's for another day. After I started making this rasam for myself, I enjoy eating, drinking and even bathing with it. You know what I mean ;)

This rasam will wake up your senses and all the blocked sinuses will start running.

Preparation Time : 10 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Serves : 2 to 3

Ingredients:
For the rasam:
Water: About 3 cups
Salt: As needed
Milk: About 1/4 cup, refer notes
Jaggery or brown sugar: 2 tsp
Spice powder: 3 tbsp

For the spice powder:
Pepper corns: 1/2 or 3/4 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Coriander seeds: 1/4 tsp, optional
Dry coconut : 1 tbsp, grated or powdered

For the tempering:
Coconut oil: 1 tsp, or any oil of your choice.
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: 4-6 nos, torn
Asafoetida: a big pinch

Method:
Dry roast the pepper corns, cumin seeds and coriander seeds until they leave out a nutty flavor. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool.

Once cool, blend together the roasted spices with dry coconut. Make a fine powder.

Mix together water, spice powder, salt and jaggery. Allow it to boil on a low-medium heat for 15 mins. Your house will smell amazing during this time!!

After the liquid has thickened up a bit, add the milk.

Allow the mixture to boil again for another 5-7 mins.
Meantime, prepare the tempering. Add coconut oil to a small wok. When oil is hot, add the mustard and cumin seeds. When the seeds crackle, add the curry leaves. Let the curry leaves wilt and turn off the heat. Add the asafoetida/hing after turning off the heat.

Pour this tempering over the boiling rasam and close the lid of the rasam.
The tempering will be infused in the rasam making it more flavorful.
Serve it hot as a drink, or with rice and a side dish.

Notes:

• I mostly use whole milk to make this rasam. If you are using fat free or 1% milk, you might want to reduce the water and add more milk accordingly.
• Do not use hot milk to this. Always use milk that is at room temperature, or else milk will curdle.
• Also do not add milk in the first step. Let the spices boil in water first.

No grind Idli Recipe | Vegan and Gluten Free Idli Recipe | Idli Recipe using Urad dal Flour : Beginner Series

Idli is a South Indian breakfast/tiffin recipe that is mostly gluten free and vegan. Idli is made with fermented lentils and rice mixture. However for instant idlis or no grind idli, we add yogurt to skip the fermentation process. Addition of baking soda, fruit salt or citric acid crystals are common too.

I'm having a tough time cooking these days and always avoid soaking, and grinding of the urad dal. So, I came up with this idli recipe. It does need fermentation but I did avoid yogurt and all other rising agents like baking soda, fruit salt etc.

Preparation Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins, for each batch
Fermentation Time: 8-10 hours
Makes about 15-18 idlis

Ingredients:
Urad dal flour: 1 cup, store bought
Idli Rawa : 1.5 cups, store bought
Fenugreek powder: 1 tsp
Water: About 2 cups, more or less
Salt: As needed

Method:
Add about 2 cups of water to the urad dal flour and whisk well. You can use a hand blender or whisk to make the batter airy and frothy.

Add the idli rawa and fenugreek powder to the whisked urad dal batter. Fold in. You should not whisk now. Just mix it. Add water, if needed. The batter should be like a thick milkshake/smoothie consistency.

Keep the batter in a warm place overnight or for a minimum of 8-10 hours (this depends on the outside temperature too).

Before making the idlis, add salt and mix.
Grease the idli moulds and scoop out about 1.5 tbsp of batter to each mould.

Steam the idlis for about 15 mins.
Allow it cool for 5 mins. Once the steamer is cool enough to handle, remove the moulds and scoop out the steamed idli using a spoon or blunt knife.

Serve the idli hot with a side dish/dip of your choice.

Some side dishes that go well with idli are given below.
Hotel Sambar
Ginger coconut chutney
Red chili chutney
Flax seeds and garlic dry chutney
Peanut Mint Chutney

Notes:
Please refer here for all the tips and tricks to make idli.  

Tadka khichdi | Spiced khichdi | Tempered khichdi

Learn how to make this spicy khichdi. You can replace ghee with coconut oil for the vegan version of this dish. You'll not be disappointed for sure. Just try once :)

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 45 mins
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:
Rice: 2 cups, refer notes
Green gram dal | Hesru kaalu | Hara moong: 3/4 cup
Split moong dal | Hesru bele | Yellow moong: 1/4 cup
Water: 6 cups
Salt: As needed
Hot water: About 1/2 cup, optional

For the spicy tempering:
Oil: 2 tsp, any oil of your choice
Ghee | Clarified Butter: 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds | Saasive: 1 tsp
Cumin seeds | Jeerige: 1/2 tsp
Cloves: 4 nos
Curry leaves: 5-6nos, torn
Finely chopped garlic: 1 tbsp
Green chilies: 4 nos, chopped
Grated ginger: 1 tbsp
Red chili powder: 1/2 tsp
Garam masala: 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp

Method:

Wash the rice, green gram and yellow moong thoroughly.
Add the water and pressure cook the rice and lentils together for 3-4 whistles.Allow the cooker to cool for 15 mins.
Once the rice is cool, open the lid and mash the cooked rice mixture gently.

Heat oil and ghee in a small wok. Keep the heat to a medium.
When oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and cloves. When seeds crackle, add the curry leaves.

Follow it by garlic. When garlic is golden brown, add the chopped green chilies, ginger paste and saute.

Turn off the heat of the tempering and allow it to cool for a minute. Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder and garam masala to the not so hot oil.

Add the tempering to the cooked rice and lentil mixture. Add the salt and hot water (if needed).
Mix well and let the khichdi cook again on a medium heat for about 5-7 mins.

Serve the khichdi hot with a side dish of your choice. We like to eat our khichdi with kadhi, begun bhaja, salad or plain yogurt.

Notes:

• You can use any rice of your choice. I have used basmati rice (long grain white rice), sona masoori rice (small grain white rice), and brown rice.
• If you add the dry spice powders to very hot oil, the powders get burnt and that is not what we want. We want to infuse the flavors into the oil without burning the spice powders.

Mixed Veg Korma | Vegetable Kurma Recipe : Karnataka Style Mixed Veg Sagu Recipe

This one is one of the simplest kurma recipe ever. This doesn't call for the cinnamon, clove and other garam masala spices. It's very unique and tastes awesome. Do try it and let me know.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients: 
Mixed vegetables : 3 cups (cut into strips or cubes), refer notes
Salt: As needed
Turmeric: 2 big pinches, divided use
Water: To boil the vegetables
Tomatoes: 2-3 nos
Oil: 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Onion: 2 tbsp, finely chopped, optional
Curry leaves: 4-6 nos, torn
Red chili powder: 1/2 tsp, or to taste
Kitchen king masala: 1 tsp
Milk: 1/4 cup

For the spice paste:
Cashew nuts: 2 tbsp, refer notes
Poppy seeds | gasgase: 2 tsp
Sesame seeds | yellu | til : 2 tsp
Cilantro: 1/4 cup (use it with the stem)
Green chili: 2 nos
Grated coconut: 2 tbsp
Onion: 1 small or 1/4th cup, roughly chopped
Ginger: 1/2 inch
Garlic: 1 large clove or 3-4 small ones

Method:

Soak the cashew nuts and poppy seeds in water for 30-45 mins.
Add about 1 cup of water, salt and a pinch of turmeric to the chopped vegetables. Boil the vegetables until they are cooked and yet firm.

Make a smooth paste of poppy seeds, cashew nuts and sesame seeds.
To that paste, add grated coconut, green chili, coriander leaves, onion, ginger and garlic. Add little water and make a smooth spice paste.

Heat oil in a wok or sauce pan. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds and cumin seeds.
When seeds crackle, add the curry leaves and finely chopped onion. Saute till the onion becomes translucent and cooked.
To the same pan, add the spice paste and a pinch of turmeric. Cook the spice paste on a low-medium heat for 5 mins. This is to ensure that the spices are properly cooked and there is no raw smell. Keep stirring as the spice paste thickens very fast and can burn easily.
Meantime, make a puree out of the tomatoes. You could blanch the tomatoes, if needed. I normally do not blanch it for this recipe.
When the spices are cooked, throw in the red chili powder and mix.
Add the tomato puree and cook further for 3-4 mins. Ensure the tomatoes are properly cooked.
To this, add the boiled vegetables along with the water. Adjust the salt. Add kitchen king masala and milk.

Boil the kurma for another 7-10 mins until the spices are well blended with the vegetables.
Serve the kurma hot with roti, poori, chapathi or rice.

Notes:
The vegetables that I normally use are green beans (French beans), carrots, potato, chayote squash, and green peas or any other legumes.
Instead of cashew nuts, you could use almond meal or putani/daliya (roasted channa dal).
I have an another vegetable saagu recipe here.

Tips to freeze parathas ( Step by step instructions and pictures )

........  How to make Indian food in bulk and freeze?
......... How to freeze parathas for parties?

This space took a back seat because of my travel, many unplanned events and mostly my laziness. However, I am still active in my facebook page.and Instagram . If you want updates about my life, you are free to like me there. Now, hopefully I'm back here too....

Before leaving to India, I had to cook food for three weeks for my kiddo and hubby. So, I started experimenting with freezing the food that I cooked. Not that I didn't do it before, but I did try freezing idlis, dals too. So, I thought I'll share with you some of the tips about freezing the parathas. Parathas can be easily freezed for upto a month.

Here are some paratha recipes that you can cook and freeze.

• Spinach Cabbage Paratha
• Stuffed Vegetable Paratha
• Aloo Paratha
• Broccoli Paratha

All you need is....
Some freshly rolled parathas

Wax paper sheets(cut into a 5" square)

Ziplock bag

Instructions: 
Roll about 10 parathas. Heat the skillet on a medium-high heat.
When the skillet is hot, drizzle about 1/4 tsp of oil to the skillet. Dust the parathas and warm both the sides of the paratha for 20 secs only. Very few brown spots should be formed on both the sides of the paratha.
Remove it from the griddle and repeat the same procedure for the remaining parathas.

Allow the paratha to cool completely. Dont stack them. Spread them on a big plate.
Once completely cool, place the wax paper sheets in between each paratha and pop them in the ziplock bag.

Label them and freeze until further use.

This is how the zip-lock looks after being  freezed for 6 hours.

Notes:
Do not thaw the parathas. Just remove one at a time from the freezer and roast/cook on a hot skillet. (The same way you cook the freshly rolled parathas). 

Bharwan Bhindi | Okra Stuffed with Indian Spices : Punjabi Recipes

I generally avoid buying okra. Not because, I don't like it.., but I feel it takes a helluva time to prepare it. Even if I buy, I make either bhindi besan or bendekai gojju. However recently when I bought okra, my friend suggested me to try out bharwan bhindi. She referred the Harpal Singh's recipe. I tried his recipe & we all liked it. You can try it too!

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:
Okra: 1 lb/ 0.5 kg
Onion: 1 medium sized or 1/2 cup cubed onions
Ginger: 1 inch piece, finely chopped
Garlic: 2 pods or 4 -5 small pods, julienned
Green chili: 2 nos, slit
Oil: 2 tbsp

For the stuffing/spice powders:
Coriander powder: 2 tbsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Amchur powder (Mango powder): 1 tsp
Chaat masala: 1/2 tsp
Salt: As needed
Red chili powder: 1 tsp, more or less
Asafoetida: a big pinch
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp

Method:
With a damp towel, clean the okra & let it dry completely. Or, you could also wipe the with a dry paper towel instead of air drying it. Trim the edges of the okra & make a slit in the center of the okra leaving 1/2 inch gap on each side.

Mix all the spice powders including salt in a small bowl.

Fill in the spice powders carefully in the okra. Keep the stuffed okra aside.

Heat oil in a broad pan. When oil is hot, throw in the garlic & ginger. When garlic turns golden brown, throw in the slit green chili.

Add the cubed onion & saute till the onions are translucent.

Add the stuffed okra & if you have any left over spice powder mixture, pour it over the okra.

Mix the okra gently & cook it covered on a medium heat. Do stir in between to avoid burning of the okra & the spices. Cook for about 15 mins until the okra is soft, but not mushy.
Remove it from the heat & garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve the stuffed okra hot with roti (Indian bread) or rice and lentils.

Notes: 

• It is important to use equal sized okra to ensure even cooking.Also, do not buy long okras. 
• Okras are very slimy. Hence, it is important to dry the okras completely before slitting them.
• Shallots taste much better than the normal onions. If you get shallots, use them instead of the onions.