Corn Capsicum Rice | Bell Pepper Rice Recipe

Again a classic recipe that our family loves to eat :)), dont ask me what is that we dont enjoy eating :-p

Basic recipe of capsicum rice comes from my co-sister, according to her this can be prepared in a jiffy. I have made some changes to this & I cannot say my version can be prepared quick. It consumes time, but the end result would be yummy!!

Here goes the corn capsicum rice recipe:

Ingredients:

3 cups rice (sona masoori/ponni would do)
3 medium sized capsicum cut into 1 inch sized cubes(it will become colorful, if you use red, yellow capsicum too)
1 cup boiled sweet corn
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1.5 tsp urad dal
4 tsp peanuts
10 curry leaves
1 pod garlic (optional)
3-4 red chillies
2 tbsp grated coconut
2 tbsp oil
salt according to taste
1 tsp lemon juice

Method:

• Cook the rice and allow it to cool.
• Meantime dry roast the spices (mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, peanuts, garlic, curry leaves, red chilli) seperately & allow them to cool.
• Remove the skin of the peanuts & crush them into a course powder ( can crush with a belan, no need to put in the blender/mixie)
• Make a course powder of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, garlic, curry leaves, red chilli & at the end add grated coconut and blend it for 30 secs. Dont add water!!
• Heat a broad pan & add oil to it, when oil is hot, add capsicum & fry till capsicum becomes crisp. Add boiled corn to this & saute in oil for a minute.
• Now add the course powder, crushed peanuts & saute again.
• Break the rice & remove lumps if any & add this rice to the capsicum mixture.
• Remove from flame & add salt, lemon juice, coriander leaves.
• Mix well & serve it hot.

The above mentioned recipe serves 3-4 people & the preparation + cooking time is around 40-45 mins (including the time to cook rice).

Balehannu dose | Banana Dosa

I learnt this dosa from my sodaratthe(aunty). She gets couple of nicely ripened bananas from the nearby temple almost 3 times a week. And.., this is how she utilizes the bananas.., quite impressive, isn't it??

As I have mentioned before, because of the humid weather in Singapore.., the bananas doesn't last long, hence.., this is a better way to finish the bananas faster. If you have ripened bananas , go ahead & prepare this in the coming days!!

Ingredients:
1 cup raw rice
1 tsp fengreek seeds
1 nicely ripened banana (banana should be 2 times the rice, so., around 1.5 to 2 cups of banana for 1 cup of rice)
a fistful of rice flakes/poha, avalakki
salt according to taste

Other ingredients:
About 1/4 tsp or a little more of oil for each dosa.

Method:

• Soak the rice, rice flakes & fenugreek seeds together for around 4-5 hours.
• Make a smooth batter of rice, fenugreek seeds & banana. Batter should be like a thick milkshake.
• Keep the batter aside for 8-10 hours for fermentation.
• Add salt just before preparing the dosas. Prepare thick dosas (like pancakes) & serve it hot with chutney or any spicy curry of your choice.

I have published few other recipes using banana.., you can have a look at them here.
Appa
Balehannu chapathi

Basale Saasime (Malabar Spinach Saasime)

One more recipe from red vege( this is the name mentioned on these leaves in NTUC Singapore). It is also called red-stemmed malabar spinach. Picture of the red-stemmed malabar spinach can be found here. And regional names of this leaves can be found here.

As mentioned before in one of my posts that, this leaves if consumed 3 times a day for couple of days can cure mouth ulcers & also has a cooling effect on the body.

Here is the recipe for this coolant:

Ingredients:
1 bunch ಬಸಳೆ ಸೊಪ್ಪು/red stemmed malabar spinach
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
a big pinch turmeric
1 pinch tamarind powder/amchur powder
1/2 cup curd
3 tbsp grated coconut(fresh/frozen)
1 green chilli
salt according to taste
1 tsp oil

Method:

• Discard the stem & chop the leaves.
  
• Add the oil to a broad kadai, when oil is hot, add jeera & urad dal.
• When urad dal becomes golden brown, add the finely chopped leaves, amchur powder & fry it in oil until . Remove from flame & allow it to cool.
• Make a fine paste of grated coconut, green chilli, turmeric & mustard seeds.
• Add this paste, curd & salt to the cooked leaves. Basale saasime is ready to be served. It is a great side dish for rice & also for roti.
  

Bele Guliyappa

This is a slightly different version than the normal guliyappa/gundpongalu/paddu. See the ingredients yourself to make out the difference ;)

Here I go...,

Ingredients:
1/2 cup moong dal (split yellow gram)
1/2 cup channa dal (ಕಡಲೆ ಬೇಳೆ)
1/2 cup urad dal (ಉದ್ದಿನ ಬೇಳೆ)
1/2 cup fenugreek seeds (ಮೆಂತ್ಯ)
4 cups raw or idli rice
1/4 cup poha/beaten rice/ಅವಲಕ್ಕಿ
salt according to taste
1 tbsp oil

Method:

• Soak all the above mentioned ingredients (except salt & oil ofcourse) for atleast 4 hours.
• Make a smooth paste of this soaked mixture (batter should be like normal idli batter).
• Allow it to ferment for 6-8 hours (I normally keep it overnight)
• Add salt to this batter .
• Heat the guliyappa pan & add 2 drops of oil to each of the holes, pour this batter & cook on both sides until it turns golden brown.
• Serve it hot with a chutney of your choice.

Guliyappa pan can be seen here...
Here goes some dal guliyappa for you all...


Lastly, you can also find a different type of guliyappa recipe @ TOM.

Sihi Kumbala Gojju (Pumpkin Curry)

I rarely buy this vegetable since I do not know many recipes. One & only recipe that I know is what I'm posting now.This curry is also called "Kayi Saasive Gojju"(English: Coconut Mustard Curry). My mother & mom-in-law prepares a lot of dishes that has pumpkin as the main ingredient. Next time, when I visit India, I would learn more recipes from them.



Ingredients:
3/4 kg pumpkin
1/2 cup grated coconut
1 tbsp roasted channa dal/ ಹುರಿಗಡಲೆ/kadale pappu
1 tsp white seesame seeds/ಬಿಳಿ ಎಳ್ಳು
2-3 red chillis
1/2 tsp tamarind juice
1 tsp mustard seeds/ saasive
1/2 tsp powdered jaggery
a pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds (for tempering)
1 red chilli ( for tempering)
salt according to taste
3-4 curry leaves

Method:

• Peel the skin of the pumpkin, remove the seeds & cut the pumpkin into medium sized cubes.
  
• Dry roast the seesame seeds & red chilli separately. Allow it to cool.
• In a broad pan, prepare the tempering by adding mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing & broken red chilli.
• Add pumpkin pieces & little water to the tempering. Cook the pumpkin until soft.
• Meanwhile, grind the roasted seesame seeds, red chilli, roasted channa dal, mustard seeds, coconut & tamarind to a smooth paste.
• Add this paste, jaggery & salt to the cooked pumpkin. Cook the whole mixture for 2-3 mins.
• The pumpkin gojju is ready to be served.

Semolina Idli | Rava Idli : Quick Rava Idli

Rawa idli is one of the top evening snack available in Sagars (Bangalore fast food points). I always tried preparing it while I was in India, but never succeeded, it used to become hard always..After coming to Singapore, I started craving for all those fast foods available in Bangalore. I think it is bound to happen as I was used to eating varieties of dosas, rawa idli, pooris etc for such an affordable price.

I never found rawa idli in any of the restaurants in Singapore :((.., but was wanting to eat. The only option available here is...., cook what you want & eat how much ever you want ;) I did few modifications to the original recipe based on my experience :) It turned out just like how we used to get in Bangalore restaurants. Now, it has found a place in my breakfast list. I cook it at least once in fifteen days.

Here is the recipe, which requires no fermentation.

Ingredients:
2 cups upma rawa/semolina
1.5 cups curd/yogurt (it should have turned little sour)
1 tbsp cashew nuts
1/2 tbsp chana dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
8-10 curry leaves.
1/4 cup coriander leaves
2 tbsp grated coconut (fresh/frozen)
salt according to taste
1/2 tsp baking soda or 1 tsp eno's fruit salt
1 tbsp oil
Water: As needed to adjust the consistency

Method:

• Dry roast the rawa until it turns golden brown. Allow it to cool.
• Add oil to a pan, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds crackle, add chana dal. Allow the chana dal to turn golden brown.
• Add cashew nuts & fry till it turns golden brown. Add curry leaves to it.
• Add this tempering to the rawa.
• Add coconut, coriander leaves to the rawa.
• In a separate bowl, add about 1/2 a cup of water to yogurt/curd & whisk.
• Add the whisked yogurt to the rawa mixture & mix well. Batter should be like normal idli batter or a little thicker than that would do.
• Keep the batter for 1 hour.
• The rawa would have absorbed the moisture & become hard. Adjust the consistency by adding little water at a time. 
• Add baking soda, salt to the batter, just before making the idlis. Mix well & scoop out the batter onto the idli moulds.
• Steam cook the idlis for 15-20 mins.
• Serve it hot with potato sagu (curry) or chutney or any curry of your choice.

Appa/Yeriyappa (Healthier version)

Yeriyappa is a must sweet at my mother's place for Navaratri festival. It is usually prepared on the Saraswathi Pooja day. Yeriyappa is called appa in Udupi/Mangalore.

We had been to our relatives place here in Singapore. We went there without informing about our visit. As soon as we reached there, she started preparing something.., within minutes we were given guliyappa/paddu/gundpongalu. When we tasted.., we were pleasantly surprised.., it was a sweet dish :))

As I generally do everywhere, I asked her about the recipe, she said.., it was made of maida & banana..,I could not get the full recipe from her, but she also told me that the yeriyappa batter can be used to make sweet paddu/gundpongalu. I tried with the yeriyappa batter & it was impressive.

Why I call this healthier version is because the appa is not deep fried in oil. It is prepared using gundponglu/paddu pan.

So, here goes the healthier version of yeriyappa,
Ingredients:
1 cup raw rice
2 ripened bananas
1/3 cup jaggery
1 tbsp dry fruits of your choice ( I used cashew nuts + raisins)
a pinch of powdered cardamom
a pinch of baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oil

Method:

• Soak the rice in water for around 3-4 hours.
• Make a fine paste of rice, bananas & jaggery (dont add much water), batter should be like normal idli batter.
• Mix the dry fruits, sugar, cardamom powder, salt & baking soda to this batter.
• Keep aside the batter for 10-15 mins.
• Heat the guliyappa pan, add 2 drops of oil to each of the holes in the pan. Pour the batter to each of the holes. Cook the appa on both sides on a slow flame, it takes a little more time than the normal guliyappa
  

Guliyappa pan can be seen in the below photo.


Here is some appa for you to taste :)