Masala Peanuts

This is an easy and delicious instant snack - A perfect snack for loved one watching TV at home, spicy, crunchy and delicious.
This is my entry for Blog Hop Wednesday an event created by Radhika of Tickling Palates and this week I am paired with Jabeen of Jabeen's Corner, who has a lovely blog full of interesting recipes.
Although this was Microwave recipe, I decided the old fashioned way would work better for us, simply because I think besan needs to be be cooked completely if you do not want it to upset your tummy. And deep frying ensures that :)
Here is my recipe
1 cup of roasted peanuts (without chilka or outer skin)
1tbsp besan
1tbsp rice flour
1tbsp sambar powder/curry powder
salt to taste
curry leaves
a pinch of asafetida
2 -4 tbsp water to make batter
Oil to fry

Preparation
In a bowl mix the powders, salt, asafetida with the water to make it into a thick smooth paste
Now add the peanuts to this paste and mix in well
Heat oil and make in one or 2 small batches
Allow it to cool and break up any lumps

NOTE: in the hot oil, all some curry leaves and crisp them and add to the peanuts. Enjoy with a movie :)

Hummus Fest For Super Bowl

OK... Here's a BIG post from me - A lot of work with not just the recipes, but the photo-editing and posting - But this is a special occasion and trust me when I say I really don't care about the game although as between the two, I am rooting for the Pats, Superbowl is a time for new ads, great half-time shows - Madonna kicked some a.. and for food bloggers it is a time to try out new stuff in the kitchen - because isn't everything ultimately centered around food? So I decided to have a Hummus Fest at our place for the event and here are the 7 different kinds of hummus I made - Easy but takes time esp if you are making so many in one go - Hope you will enjoy this labor of love as much I have posting it.

The common ingredients in all are 1/2 can of garbanzo beans per type washed & strained -
I interchanged between green & dry red chilies & black pepper for spice - 2 red chilies for most that were not already chili based
I interchanged between tsp lemon juice & 1/2 tsp of tamarind paste for the tartness
I used 1-1.5 tbsp of olive oil for each type - 1 tbsp for drizzling and 1/2 tbsp for sauteing the ingredients.
I used 2 tsp of tahini paste in most except the green chilies & garlic and caramelized onions
The rest of the ingredients are as see in the pictures



Roasted Pepper Hummus

1 red pepper
1tsp lemon juice
1tbsp black pepper
roast in oil & grind

Roasted Garlic & Olive Hummus

I used olives stuffed with garlic (about 15-20)
3 Red chilies
Saute and grind

Caramelized Onion Hummus

1 Red onion cut long
2-4 red chilies
raost until caramelized and grind

Green Chilies & Garlic With Thyme

4 green Chilies
2 springs of Thyme
2 cloves of garlic
saute and grind

Jalapenos & Pine Nuts Hummus

2 Fat Jalapenos
2 tbsp pine nuts
Saute & grind
1/2 tsp Tamarind paste

Sun Dried Tomato Hummus

6-8 sun-dried tomatoes -soaked in hot water and softened
1/2 tsp of tamarind paste
2 red dry red chilies
saute and grind

Dates & Honey Hummus

Ending on a sweet note with a sweet Hummus and I think this was my favorite one:)

6 dates soaked in hot water
4tbsp of honey

A few last looks - The white out is a face paint in honor of the game :)

Linking this to Spicy Treats Show me your Hits and Sizzling Tastebuds' Valentines Event..

Sesame Cucumber Chutney & Event Announcement

I am happy to announce a new event on my blog - The Big Chutney Chow Down - This was an idea that struck me as I have been making a bunch of different chutneys and said to myself - Superbowl weekend - and I'm pretty sure people will be dipping and spreading so --- let's make an event of it and see how imaginative my friends are - This will give us a good collection of all kinds of chutneys, Thogayals, spreads, pastes, marinades, dips, hummus and anything ground that is used as a side or mix - - I am including all the things that chutneys are called in different parts of the world - how's that :)

Rules are simple
1) Link your entry to my event using Linky tool below- and please run the logo on your blog along with the recipe  - Any number of entries are welcomed -
2) New and exceptional old recipes that you think must get more recognition are allowed -
3) Please provide an active link to this post on your blog post.
4)NO PRESERVES OR PICKLES please!
5) Please DON'T email your entries to me
6) If you have any questions about the event, feel free to email me at priyamahadevan@hotmail.com

Aside - Please provide accurate measurements of ingredients with photos so that your photos will corroborate with the written recipe - this helps a lot of non-Indian followers who like the visual understanding of it -
Go ahead and have a blast :)

Look forward ...

I am kick starting this event with my promised Cucumber -Sesame Chutney - which i made as a side for my last previous post Green Moong Bondas


Sesame Cucumber Chutney

Ingredients
1/2 cup Cream colored Sesame seeds
1 Long cucumber peeled and de-seeded
2 tbsp Urad Dal
3-4 Dry red chilies
A pinch of asafetida
2 tsp of sesame oil

Preparation
Heat oil and add the ingredients and roast until the sesames & urad dal are popping and turning golden.
Remove from flame, cool and grind adding desired salt
Temper by heating 1 tsp of sesame oil and spluttering a few mustard seeds and curry leaves

NOTE: If the cucumber or sesame seems to add a slight bitterness (which I LOVE) and you don't like it, just dissolve 1/2 tsp of sugar in 1-2 tsp of lemon juice to the chutney after you have ground it
This is a great dip for a variety of dishes, including dosais or with raw cucumbers themselves:)

This is the first of many to come so stay tuned and do link your wonderful, innovative, chutneys to this event.

Green Moong Bonda

This was an off the cuff recipe I tried after salivating over several Mysore Bonda recipes - It was that time of afternoon when the tiffin pangs struck hard and I said, hmmm, how about I make something delicious like that - then I open my pantry and the first thing that I saw was my pachai pasi or green moong split - I had just made a dal out of it which I have yet to blog and I says, why not give this a shot and see how it turns out and the verdict was totally worth it :) So do try this different Bonda recipe and see if you like it.

Here is the recipe
1 cup  Green moong split
1/2 cup urad dal
1/2 cup grated coconut
Desired amount of ginger (see in picture if you are not certain)
1 tbsp black pepper
1/4 tsp asafetida
2 fresh green chilies
4-5 dry red chilies
curry leaves - optional - I added them after I took the pictures :(

method
Soak in about 2 cups of water for 2 hours
Drain all the water out and grind small amounts into a fine paste till the entire lot i done
Add salt

Ready your frying pan with oil
Drop small balls into the heated oil and fry to a fine brown crisp

Enjoy with Cucumber Sesame Chutney - recipe to follow next :) Enjoy this lovely tea time or any time indulgence with your families

Paruppurundai Vetha Kozhambu - Lentil Dumplings in spicy gravy

Ok ... So this is  very traditional, very South Indian dish, that I would compare to the North Indian Kofta perhaps -  I have found that koftas can be made in a variety of different ways, whereas, as the name suggests the balls or dumplings in the southern counterpart is made up of lentils - I guess we can change up the lentils we use or change the name of the dish :) There are various gravies one can use for this recipe, I decided to go with another traditional one Vetha Kozhambu. Please note in the vetha Kozhambu recipe, normally tamarind paste is used in place of kokum and this is how I made the preparation below - all else remains the same in the recipe.

Here are the ingredients for the dumplings
1 cup toor dal/ thoram paruppu
3-5 ref chillies
1tbsp moong dal
1/4 tsp asafetida
1/2 cup grated coconuts
1 stem of curry leaves
1tbsp of sesame oil + 2 tsp
1/3 cup water +

Method
Heat the oil in a pan and add all the ingredients and roast until the lentils and coconut are golden brown. Cool it down and dry grind into a coarse powder.
Then in a pan, add the 2 tsp of oil and splutter some mustard seeds. Add the powder and turn once. Now add 1/3 cup of water and mix ingredients well until it gets to a dumpling-able stage - Be cautious in adding more water - if you need to.

Once this is somewhat cool, make balls out of them and keep. Get your steamer out, spray them with non-stick oil.
Arrange the balls spaced apart and steam for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, make your vetha kozhambu -
Once the balls are cooked, allow them to cool while you are still boiling the kozhambu.  Once fully cooked, transfer the kozhambu into the serving dish -
Gently add the dumplings into the gravy when it is still hot.
Allow it to soak in nicely before serving

NOTE: If the gravy cools down - no sweat - make sure the rice you serve it with is piping hot :)
Or the chappatis!

Enjoy this healthy and utterly delicious dish to your heart's content!

Colorful Multi-Pepper Pulao

This is my entry for the previous Blog Hop Wednesday, a wonderful interactive event started by Radhika of Tickling Palates. I was in a house full of "colds and coughs" and there was not much time to browse my partner's blog and cook - Last week I was paired with Rudra of Mom's Corner and sifting through her recipes to find one to blog, I decided upon this rice. I liked the idea but decided to make it with my own recipe and variations therein.

So here we go
Ingredients
1/2 each of Red, Yellow, Orange & Green bell peppers
1/2 medium sized Red/ purple Onion
3-4 green chilies sliced thin and long
1 tsp Urad Dal
1tbsp curryma powder (if you are using store bought curry-powder, would not recommend more than 1/2 tsp)
1.5 cups of basmati rice
2-3 tsp of oil

Preparation
Dice into little cubes all the veggies
Heat a frying pan with the oil and saute the veggies with the salt, curry powder urad dal and chilies
Add the raw rice to the mix (wash and dab dry before you do this)
Stir in and roast for a minute or 2
The rice is fully seasoned at this point.

Either in a pressure cooker or in a rice cooker,  steam/pressure cook them using appropriate amounts of water - for a rice cooker 1/5 cups of rice will require 3 cups of water
Serve warm with a cilantro garnish

Enjoy this simple yet completely healthy and wholesome one pot meal anytime!

Adais - Lentil Crepes

This is a very popular south Indian tiffin item or an evening "palagaram" dish which substitutes a rice dinner. Palagaram as generally termed in Tamil parlance is in fact Phala-Agaram (which means a meal of fruits) as opposed to what we have understood in Tamil as "pala-agaram or many kinds of foods) - My cousin was kind enough to educate me on this and I thank him for it :)  I for one will say that Adai is a rather heavy dish considering it is made up of a medley of lentils - rich in protein and carbs, this dish is rather versatile and can be made in a number of different ways - The big thing is the inclusion of onions.

Clearly, in my home when we were growing up, there were two distinct preferences and I recall being a non-onion person - I cannot for the life of my fathom why based on how much i love that darned thing now. But there were the plain ones and the ones with caramelized onions. I did not make it for a long time since I was under the impression my kids when they were younger did not much care for it. And kids rule, as you well know. Now that they are older, I thought I'd give it another shot. Although I made 3 different variations with coconut, grated carrots and good old onions, I have a few more I wish to try out and blog about in the near future. but for now here is my recipe. These can be made as large and as crisp as you desire - But note that the moment you start adding veggies, the adai tends to get softer, esp caramelized onions - Those who prefer raw onions can go for that, but I have never been able to appreciate raw onions in any of these kind of dishes.

The other important thing to remember about these are, since this is protein heavy, sometimes digestion can be a pain (literally) hence adding veggies to it softens up the effect and actually eases

I cannot talk about this dish without talking about my brother and sister-in-law - they had their Saturday ritual of adai and avial - a most common combo with adai and I have enjoyed them plentifully at their home -

Here is proportions that work for me

Ingredients
1 cup channa dal
1/2 cup each of
Rice
Urad Dal
Thoor Dal
2 cups of warm water to soak

Spicing
4-6 green chilies
2-3 red chilies
1/4 inch piece of ginger
1 stem of curry leaves
2 tbsp of finely shopped cilantro (optional)
A pinch of asafetida

Add-ons
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup sauteed onions
1/2 cup grated carrots

Wash and soak the lentils for 2-4 hours
Soak also the spices that have been mentioned above
Grind into a course paste adding required amount of salt

Now divi up the batter and add your add-ons. Mix well, check for salt and start making. If size matters make smaller ones and have at least 1 of each kind.
Enjoy my friends - If you want to try this with avial, click here for the recipe :)

Much love and adios amigas and enjoy the pictorial :)

Two things My MOM served these with are 1) Jaggery and 2) Freshly churned butter (what we eat as sour cream) It tasted divine and also my mom insisted that the cream and sugar helped the stomach better  digest the lentils - so the possibilities are endless :))

There is also the mung dal or Pasiparuppu version of this called Pesarattu - check it out here