Thursday, April 8, 2010

Black eyed peas kuzhambu

Being away from home is not fun, especially when you are on partial vacation. I am away from my home and my kitchen. I am in a new kitchen with minimum grocery. I had some black eyed peas but no Indian spices. I decided to make kuzhambu that goes with rice and chapathi. Here is how I made it.

Ingredients
  • 1 Cup of black eyed peas (Soak the peas in water overnight)
  • 1 Big onion, finely chopped
  • 1 Tomato
  • 1 Teaspoon of mustard seeds
  • 1 Teaspoon of jeera/cummin seeds
  • 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
  • 4 Red chillies
  • 2 Tablespoons of sambar powder (or red chilli powder based on the spice level)
  • 1/2 Cup of coconut milk
  • 1/4 Cup of finely chopped cilantro
  • 1 Tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste
  • Salt to taste

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the mustard seeds and allow it to sizzle. Add jeera/cummin seeds and red chillies. Add the onion and tomato and saute them until they are soft. Add the black eyed peas, sambar powder, salt and 1 cup of water. Cover the skillet with a lid and simmer until the peas are cooked. Once the peas are cooked pour in the coconut milk. Simmer it for 2-3 minutes. Add half of the chopped cilantro. Kuzhambu is ready. Pour it into a serving bowl and garnish with remaining cilantro. Serve with chapathi or rice.



Thursday, April 1, 2010

Raagi Dosai

I usually make raagi dosai with the flour that I get at Indian grocery. This time I thought I would try it with raagi seeds. It came out really good. We can also make raagi idly with the batter. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
  • 1 and 1/2 Cups of Raagi seeds
  • 1 Cup idly rice
  • 1/4 Cup of Urad dhal

Directions

Soak raagi overnight in warm water. Soak the idly rice and urad dhal in water for 2-3 hours. Grind raagi separately in a wet grinder. Grind rice and urad dhal together. Mix the batters together and add salt to the batter.

This batter can be used to make raagi idly too. I made tomato peanut chutney as a side for the raagi dhosai. I got the recipe from the blog Akshyapaatram.


Sunday, February 21, 2010

American Sweet Corn

American sweetcorn is found everywhere in India now. A small cup of sweet corn costs upto 25 Rs. Hmmmm...Well I am not going to give recipe for the masala sweet corn. I tried fajita seasoning instead of chat masala and it tasted different and yummy.

Spicy Hot Pakodas

Spending a Saturday evening watching TV with hot tea and spicy pakodas is heaven. Thats what we did. I made pakodas/pakoras with a small ingredient flip. I love to play with ingredients of a regular recipe. I did the same with these pakodas. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
  • 1 and 1/2 Cups of Rye flour
  • 1/2 Cup Rice flour
  • 4-5 Green Chillies, finely chopped
  • 1 Medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1/2 Cup of finely chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves
  • 4 Garlic Cloves, minced
  • 1 Tablespoon Fennel seeds
  • 1/2 Tablespoon red chilli powder
  • 1 Carrot, shredded
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil to fry the pakodas
Directions
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Add debatter moist of water to make the batter. I added only 1/2 cup of water as the onion and the carrot make the
batter without even adding water. Scramble the batter in the hot oil and fry until they are golden brown. Remove the pakodas from the oil and drain the excess oil with a tissue napkin. Serve hot with ketchup or maggie sauce.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Its Pi(ta)zza time!

I have always wondered if there is a quick way to make pizza. Ofcourse we get variety of pizza crust available in the grocery stores. I tried making a pizza with a Pita bread. It was very quick and tasted good. I didnt use marinara sauce because I thought it might make the crust soggy. After tasting the pizza I felt I should have used the sauce. The pizza tasted very bland. Here is the recipe.
Ingredients
  • 1 Whole wheat pita bread
  • 2 Tablespoons of marinara sauce
  • 3/4 Cup of shredded cheese ( I used a mexican style mixed shredded cheese)
  • 1 White mushroom
  • 1 Small bellpepper
  • 1 Small onion, finely chopped
  • 3 Pitted black olives chopped
  • 1 Chipotle pepper chopped*
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 Degrees. Spread the marinara sauce on the pita bread. Layer the bread with the cheese and vegetables. Keep it in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese melt.

*I used a tinned chipotle pepper soaked in adobo sauce. You can used tinned jalapenos too.

We can bring in variations to this recipe by adding pineapple, tomatoes and any vegetables that you like.