Aloo Sandwich | Potato Sandwich

Potato sandwiches are a great option for weekend brunch or weekday dinner.These are our current favorite! I pack them for my hubby's lunch too. These are quick to make & quite filling.

Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Adapted from: Manjula's Kitchen

Ingredients: (Makes 3 sandwiches)
Bread: 6 slices (I used Aunt Millies Potato Bread)
Melted butter: 1 tbsp
Boiled & mashed potatoes: 2 cups
Salt: As needed
Chopped coriander leaves: 2 tbsp
Chili powder: 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice: 1 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Cheese slices : 3 nos (I used grated Cheddar & Mozzarella Cheese)

Method:
Mash the potatoes thoroughly. Add in the coriander leaves, chili powder, lemon juice, cumin seeds, and salt to the potatoes & mix well.

Heat the tava/griddle.
Take 1.5 to 2 tablespoon of potato mixture & spread the mixture onto the bread. Press the mixture hard onto the bread. The potato mixture should stick to the bread.

Do the same on the other slice too.
Smear the butter over the potato spread.
Place both the slices of bread on the griddle (Potato spread should be facing down).

Cook on medium heat until the potatoes are cooked & turn crisp.

Flip one slice of bread. Add in the cheese & cover it with the other slice.

Cook again on both the sides till the sandwich turns golden brown.

Make two more sandwiches similarly.
Serve them hot with a dip/green chutney or tamarind chutney.

Notes:

• Along with the cheese, you could add slices of tomato, cooked beets slice, and a slice of paneer(cottage cheese) too. I often add paneer to this. It tastes great!
• The potato mixture is very flexible. You could play with a lot of flavors. I have tried adding carom seeds/ajwain instead of cumin seeds. I do add jalapenos for the extra kick sometime.
• The above ingredients & recipe is just to give an idea. You could use your imagination to build your own grilled potato sandwich.

Palak Cabbage Pakora | Spinach and Cabbage Fritters

I made these pakoras on a cold snowy & a lazy Sunday afternoon. They are a breeze to make & absolutely delicious!! Go ahead...It's alright to indulge in these fried beauties once a while.

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 15-20 mins

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

Shredded Spinach: 2 cups
Shredded Cabbage: 1 cup
Carom seeds/Ajwain/Om kalu: 1 tsp
Red chili powder: 1 tsp
Salt: As needed
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Gram flour/Besan: 1 cup
Rice flour: 2 tbsp
Fine Rava/Chiroti rava/Cream of wheat: 2 tbsp
Hot oil: 1 tbsp
Water: Approximately 1 to 1.25 cups

Other ingredients:
Oil for deep frying the fritters.

Method:

Mix in the shredded spinach, cabbage, carom seeds, red chili powder, turmeric powder & salt in a large bowl.

Let the mixture sit for 5-10 mins. The mixture will ooze out water.
Next, throw in the rice flour, cream of wheat, gram flour to it.

Pour in the hot oil & mix them all together.
Now, slowly add the water & make a thick batter. The batter should be of dropping consistency.

Heat enough oil in a kadai/wok for deep frying the fritters.
When oil is hot enough, drop in a tbsp of batter at a time to the oil.
Cook the fritters on med-high heat, on all the sides until the fritters are golden brown & crisp.
Remove the fritters using a slotted spoon & let them dry on a paper towel.
Serve these fritters hot with a dip/chutney or ketchup.

Cornmeal idli | Steamed Savory Cornmeal Cakes : Gluten free and vegan recipe

I am experimenting a lot with the corn meal these days. I tried adding them to rice flour roti, rava idli, muthiya and many more. Couple of months back, I thought of making idlis with the corn meal. I replaced the idli rava with the corn meal & got great results!

Here is my version of the corn meal idli.

Preparation Time: 30 mins (Excludes fermentation & soaking time)
Cooking Time: 30 mins

Ingredients: (For about 40 idlis)

• Skinned black gram/Urad dal: 1 cup
• Corn meal: 2.5 cups
• Rice flakes/Poha/Avalakki: 1/2 cup
• Salt: As needed

Other ingredients:
Oil: To grease the idli moulds.

Special utensils needed:
Idli plates with the stand
Steamer

Method:
Wash the urad dal throughly. Soak it for 3-4 hours.
Mix together the corn meal & the rice flakes. Wash it & drain the water. Soak the corn meal & rice flakes mixture for an hour.
Drain the water from the soaked lentils & add them to the food processor jar.

Add 2-3 tbsp of ice cold water to the lentils & pulse for few seconds. Add few tablespoons of ice cold water to the very coarsely done lentils & pulse again. Repeat the whole process of adding ice cold water & pulsing for at-least 5-6 times. 
The lentils paste must be very smooth & frothy. Refer the notes here to know more about how to grind the urad dal.

Scoop out the paste to a broad vessel. 

Add the corn meal + rice flakes mixture to the food processor & grind them to a coarse paste. Do not add more water while grinding.

Pour this coarse paste over the scooped lentils mixture.

Mix well & adjust the consistency of the batter.

Allow the batter to ferment for 8-10 hours or overnight.

Add salt to the fermented batter & gently mix the batter.

Grease the idli plates & pour a ladle full of batter onto each mould.

Steam the idlis for 10-15 mins.

Allow it to cool for another 5 mins.

Remove the idlis with a spoon and serve them hot with chutney/sambar/dip or chutney powder.

Aglio e olio: Beginner Series

Aglio e olio, is Spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, & chili peppers in Italian! I read about this simplest Italian pasta recipe in one of the cookbooks that I borrowed from the Library. I have made this pasta several times & I just love it, period.

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Cooking Time: 15 mins

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

Spaghetti : a fistful
Water: Around 1 liter.
Olive oil: 3 tbsp
Garlic: 2 pods, chopped
Broken chili: 1/4 tsp, see notes
Salt: As needed

For the garnish:
Pepper powder: a pinch
Salt: a pinch
Parmesan cheese: 1 tsp, completely optional

Method:
For boiling the pasta:
Boil the water in a sauce pan.
When water comes to a boil, salt the water generously & mix. Add couple of drops of olive oil. (See notes)
Slide in the spaghetti.

Let it boil on med-high heat uncovered for 8-12 mins until al dente.

For making the sauce:
Mix in the olive oil, garlic & chili in a saute pan.

Keeping the heat very low, let the garlic turn golden brown. It should take around 8 mins.
The flavors of garlic & chili should get infused in the oil.

Drain the cooked pasta & immediately add the drained pasta to the flavored oil.

Mix well.
Scoop it out on a serving plate, garnish it with salt, freshly cracked pepper, and Parmesan cheese.
Serve immediately.

Notes:

• I am repeating again, let the olive oil get heated up in a low heat. This is the secret for the beautifully flavored olive oil.
• I did not have chili, hence used crushed dry chili.
• To prevent the pasta from sticking to each other, couple of drops of olive oil is added to the boiling water.

Sajjige | Cream of wheat pudding | Sheera

Sun is playing hide & seek from the last couple of months. In fact, I hardly saw him in this period. To add to it, the days are extremely short. All these things add to "not so good quality pictures". I have 20+ recipes along with the pictures waiting in the draft. Since, I am not happy with the pictures I am waiting to make them again, retake the pictures & then share the recipe.

Sajjige is a very simple & quick pudding. Sajjige along with the mashed banana is served as a prasadam/neivedyam/bhog/offering on Satyanarayan Pooja. The recipe calls for just four ingredients...., milk, sugar, ghee (loads of) & cream of wheat. But, you could add other ingredients for flavoring & garnishing the main dish :)

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 10-15 mins

Ingredients:

• Cream of wheat/Fine Rawa/Chiroti Rawa: 1 cup
• Milk: 3 cups (I use 2% milk)
• Sugar: 3/4th cup*
• Ghee/Clarified Butter: 1/3 cup, divided use
• Saffron: a pinch
• Cardamom powder: a big pinch

For the garnish:

• Ghee: 1 tbsp
• Cashew nuts: 1 tbsp
• Raisins: 1 tbsp

Method:
Heat 1/4th cup of ghee in a broad pan. When ghee is hot, pour in the cream of wheat.
Keeping the heat in medium, saute the cream of wheat for 6-8 mins. Keep stirring the cream of wheat to ensure even roasting of the rawa.

Meantime, start heating the milk.
Once the aroma of the roasted rava fills the kitchen, pour the hot milk over the roasted cream of wheat. Mix well.

Throw in the saffron strands & let the cream of wheat cook on a low-medium heat.

In 3-5 mins, the cream of wheat will absorb all the milk & starts leaving the edges of the pan (see pic below).
During this stage, pour in the sugar and the cardamom powder.

Mix well. The cooked rava will loosen up because of the sugar. Keep mixing. Ensure no lumps are formed while mixing.

Add in the remaining ghee & continue mixing for a couple of more minutes. The mixture will thicken, ooze out ghee & starts leaving the edges of the pan.

Remove the pudding from the heat.
Fry the cashew nuts and raisins in ghee. Add the fried nuts to the cooked pudding.

Mix well & serve hot!

Notes:

• If your family prefers sweeter sajjige, increase the sugar to 1 cup. I add one cup of sugar when I cook only for my family. When I have guests at home, I add 3/4 cup sugar as most people prefer it that way!
• Any variety of milk could be used to make this pudding.
• Do not be stingy in adding ghee. More the better!!

Beetroot Palya | Boiled & Sauteed Beets : Beginner Series

There are many dishes I cook often & do not take time to click them before serving. Beetroot palya is one such!! I make this palya to go with Indian flat bread/roti and rice. Palya is called poriyal in Tamil.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:
Beets: 1 pound
Oil: 2 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Skinned black gram/Urad dal: 2 tsp
Gram dal/Channa dal: 1 tsp
Green chillies: 3-4 nos
Curry leaves: 4-6 nos, torn
Salt: As needed
Sugar: 1/2 tsp, optional but recommended
Vaate huli pudi*: 1/2 tsp (refer notes)

For the garnish:
Grated coconut: 3 tbsp, fresh or frozen

Method:
Trim the edges of the beets.Add sufficient water to the pressure cooker & drop in the beets along with the skin. Pressure cook the beets for 1 whistle or 15 mins on medium-high heat.
Let the beets cool. Once the beets cool down to room temperature, peel the skin of the beets (Refer notes).
Dice the cooked beets.
In a saute pan, heat oil. When oil is hot, throw in mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal & channa dal.

When dal turns golden brown, add in the green chillies & the curry leaves.

When curry leaves wilt, add the diced beets, salt, sugar, and vaate huli powder.

Toss in medium heat for the seasoning to blend in. Cook it covered on a low heat for another couple of minutes.

Turn off the heat & add the grated coconut. Mix well & serve it with rice or Indian flat bread/roti.

Notes:

• Vaate huli pudi or powder is a tangy powder. It is used as a souring agent for stir-fried vegetables (palya in Kannada)by my mom-in-law. It is available in Mangalore/Udupi/Sirsi Districts of Karnataka. It is available in few specialty stores in Bangalore too. I do not have much information about this powder. I would be happy if someone would share more info about this fruit. You could substitute this powder with amchur powder/dry mango powder.
• Once the beets are cooked, the outer skin can be peeled easily. As easy as peeling the skin of a boiled potato!