EASY DOSAI

EASY DOSAI
For many of us the problem of dinner without dosai batter at hand is always a matter of concern.Here you go with a very easy dosai without fermenting the batter. This is most suited for people living abroad where fermentation sometimes takes even 48 hours.
INGREDIENTS
Raw rice                             3 cups
Urad dhal                            1/2 cup
Buttermilk(sour)                   2cups
Salt to taste
To season: Two tsp of oil, one tsp mustard, one tsp of urad dhal,
one tbsn of curry leaves and half a tsp of asafoetida.

PROCEDURE
1.Soak the rice and dal together in a little warm water for 2 hours.
2.Then grind it in the mixer jar with sour buttermilk and salt nicely ( not water)
3.Let the batter be a little thick, then only it will be a smooth one.
4. Season it with all spices and mix with additional butter milk to
make it to dosa batter consistency.
5. Then you can make smooth dosa with this.
6.Spicy tomato -onion chutney or coconut chutney is best suited to this.
Note: This dosa is for immediate eating, not good for afternoon lunch.

METHI MASIYAL(KUZHAMBU) AND METHI PARATHA -- A WONDERFUL COMBO

METHI MASIYAL AND METHI PARATHA - A LOVELY COMBO

First masiyal or kuzhambu.
1.Take one bunch of methi keerai, cut into bits , wash well and keep.
2.Take a small lemon size tamarind or a tsp of tamarind paste and adding two cups of water and required salt and prepare a solution.
3. Cook 2 tbsn of toor dal, mash it and keep.
4.  In a tawa or cooking utensil, pour two tsp of oil, season one tsp of mustard, 1/2 tsp of urad dal, one green chilli split into two, one tsp of ginger ground and one red chilli.
5.Add the cut methi leaves with a pinch of cooking salt, half a tsp of turmeric powder and one tsp of ordinary sambar or rasam powder, add half a cup of water , close it, let the methi leaves get cooked.(methi leaves will not get cooked soft in tamarind solution)
6.Once the methi leaves are cooked add the tamarind solution with half a tsp of jaggary powder and allow it to boil for 2 minutes till the raw smell of tamarind solution goes off.
7. Finally add the cooked dal, allow it to boil for two minutes and close.
8. If you feel the kuzhambu is a little watery, mix one tsp of rice flour in one tbsn of water and add it to the kuzhambu while boiling and close just in a minute.
So the masiyal is ready.
Try to prepare a quantity more than what is needed for lunch and keep the balance for our paratha.

METHI PARATHA
Very very simple procedure. Take the sufficient amount of atta, mix the remaining methi kuzhambu in it and knead into a chappathi dough. You need not add anything to it except two tsp of oil. Because all salt, karam and spices are there in the masiyal itself. Make a proper chappathi dough with the masiyal and prepare the parathas as usual. In my house if I make methi masiyal, the next day night tiffin is always methi paratha only. Infact we can eat without any side dish, but mango thokku for elders and tomato sweet sauce for kids will go very well. Try it and ENJOY.

EASY PARUPPUSILI (VEG WITH DAL)

EASY PARUPPUSILI

Paruppusili ( vegetables with coarse dal mixture) is something which not all like to do, though everybody loves to eat. It is a delicacy in south Indian menu esp at functions. Here is a very easy method of doing paruppusili which you can do thru out the week changing just vegetables. Now the procedure

PROCEDURE
1. Take two cups of Toor dal, half a cup of bengal gram dal and 4 or 5 red chillis, soak in two cups of water after washing well, all these together for two hours.
2.Then drain the water completely and grind adding sufficient salt, and one tsp of asafoetida powder in a mixie jar to a very coarse batter.
3.Remember don't add water.
4..Take a microwave porcelain bowl with a glass lid.
5.Pour two tsp of oil in the bowl and spread it evenly on all sides.
6.Place the dal batter in the bowl and spread it evenly and add one more tsp of oil on top.
7.Close the bowl with a glass lid and microwave it for full 4 minutes.
8.Open the micowave, take out the bowl, mix the batter well and keep it in the microwave for a minute without lid and take out.
9.Let it cool.
10. Using the same mixie jar,( keep it without washing after grinding the dal) just whipper the cooked dal just once or twice. The batter will be loose and freely flowing and smooth.
11.Take it out and keep safe in a container in the fridge, it will be fresh even for 10 days.

Vegetable with paruppusili
1.Take any non watery vegetable like Beans, Broad beans(avaraikai) Cluster beans( kothavarankai, this is best suited for paruppusili) Cabbage , Carrot or even Potato.
2.Keep the tawa on stove, pouring 2 tsp of oil, season with mustard, split urad dal, just one red chill and a handful of curry leaves.
3.Add the desired vegetables cut into small bits adding salt (salt is only for the vegetable as we have added salt in the paruppusili, so be careful) and pour a cup of water and close the tawa.
4.Or you can saute the vegetables as you do usually without pouring water or keep it in the cooker. Making this vegetables is up to your choice.
5.Once the vegetable gets cooked and all the water gets drained, add one or two tbsn of this paruppu and mix well keeping it on low flame. Paruppusili is done.
This you can do with different vegetables once you prepare the usili and keep it in the fridge.
A very big plus point in this method of making Paruppusili, is you don't require much oil for the poriyal.
Infact you can call it PARUPPUSILI VAARAM. Nice ???

SEVAI WITH SIMPLE MORE KUZHAMBU

SEVAI WITH SIMPLE MORE KUZHAMBU

Age is no excuse in learning. Anything for that matter, cooking, reading, writing books, stitching everything( I do all these and I completed 75 yesterday) only interest and involvement matter. Coming to the point, I always used to get ready made sevai in departmental stores or make sevai with readymade packets. This quarantine made me think why not I do sevai myself soaking rice, grinding and all. Many in your houses do that regularly, I am talking only about me. The main thing is some two years back when we visited somebody in Nana Nani ( those are malarum ninaivugal now) we had night tiffin there Sevai with More Kuzhambu . The combo tasted wonderful, I tried at home with regular morekuzhambu for sevai, but it did not get that taste. Today after so much research in you tube and all, with slight modification to suit our taste I did that More Kuzhambu and it came out fantastic, in the words of SVR who dose not like sevai so much. I am in 7th heaven as now I have one more regular night tiffin.
I am not going in detail about the preparation of sevai. But I will give the simple More Kuzhambu recipe here. Just take one full cup of grated coconut, put it in the mixie jar, add one cup of thick buttermilk, one green chilli, one red chilli, half a tsp of asafoetida, just a pinch of jeera and a pinch of methi seeds, and add salt to taste. Remember no water. Grind it well as there is coconut, it will not be very smooth. Pour it in a mixing bowl, season it just with mustard and curry leaves in two tsp of coconut oil. That is all, if it is very thick, add some buttermilk to bring it to correct consistency. That is all. Eat and Enjoy. This time I gave you the recipe straight instead of asking you to go to my blog this and that. Enjoy eating.

LUCKY PAATI PULAV

LUCKY  PAATI  PULAV ;

All my grandkids especially Anu's second daughter Trisha, we call her Tichu affectionately,  love the Pulav that I make VERY MUCH. It is a very simple recipe, no grinding this and that, not many ingredients that we don't have in our masala box. Very simple one. See it in my blog, enjoy making it and definitely all your kids love it as it is not at all very spicy!!!
INGREDIENTS:
1.Basumati Rice ( any brand)                          2 cups
2.Water                                                         4 cups
3.All non watery vegetables like
beans, peas,carrot,cauliflower,
onion,4 pearls of garlic, small potato(not big one
 because the small one will not
get mashed when you cook )
All cut into uniform medium bits like cubes      3 cups.
4.Spices-- 4 cloves, one inch cinnamon
 broken into 1/2 inch pieces, cardamom--3
saunf 1 tsp, jeera 1 tsp,marati moggu 2
Just one bay leaf broken into 2 or 3 pieces
5.One small cube butter
6.Refined oil                                                  2 tbsn
7. Green chilli (split into 2)                              4
8.Ginger ground                                             1 tsp
9.Salt to taste
10.Garam masala powder and
red chilli powder                                           1/2 tsp each
11. Lime juice                                               1 tsp
12.Corriander and curry leaves                      1 handful
13. Most important Panner small cube            1 cup

PROCEDURE:
1.First wash the basumati rice just once and soak it in 4 cups of water.
2.Let it soak till you finish cutting the vegetables and get ready all spices.
3.After the ingredients are ready and within hand reach,
put a big non stick tawa or pan on stove with suitable lid.
Remember no pressure cooker.
4.Put butter in the tawa, in medium heat fry the panner cubes and
if you want it to be more luxurious a small cup of cashew and raisin,
fry them and take it out and keep aside.
5.Now add the oil to the butter, add all the spices(heat should be medium)
 add onion bits and garlic pearls cut into bits, saute a little.
6. Now add all vegetables,chilli, ginger ground, saute them for full five minutes.
7. Now drain the water from the soaked rice into the tawa to the vegetables to get cooked in that water, leaving the rice alone.
8. Cover the tawa or pan as you call it with a suitable lid
adding salt to the vegetables.
9. When the vegetables are half cooked, add the soaked rice to it,
keep the flame to medium high and close.
10. Remember the water is just the 4 cups with which you soaked the rice.
11. It will be nearly one hour soaking till you finish all other chores of
cutting vegetables and all.
12. Just in 10 to 15 minutes, all the water in the pulav will get absorbed, then simmer
 the stove and close the lid.
13. Let it be in sim for 5 minutes.
14. Switch off the stove.
15. Now add lime juice, fried panner, cashew, raisin
with curry and coriander leaves., masala and chilli powder.
16. Mix all very gently with a wooden spoon  when it cools half way or
else the rice will be broken
17.Just don't hesitate, it is all once in a while, so add one big tbsn of ghee
and mix well.
18. Serve with onion carrot raitha, don't season the raitha.
19.Add plenty of coriander bits to raitha, of course with enough salt.
The recipe seems very long, absolutely not, the time consumption is more for
cutting vegetables and collecting the ingredients.
Cooking process is very easy.
TRY AND ENJOY.

Table of Contents

I	Nutrition and General Information
II.	Sambars/Kuzhambus/Rasams
III	Dosai/Adai Varieties
IV	Idli Varieties
V	Poha Dishes
VI	Green Gram Recipes
VII	Broken Wheat Recipes
VIII	Dhal and Rice Dishes
IX	Oats Recipes
X	Vadai Varieties
XI	Raithas/Curries/Chutneys
XII	Snacks
XIII	Sweets/Desserts
XIV	Drinks/Juices
XV	Useful Powders (Podis)

Table of Contents I

Nutrition and General Information
Level of Carbs in Indian food
The levels of Carbohydrates,Protein,Fat and Fiber …
Carbohydrate choices
Importance of Fiber in food for GD women
Magic of Brown Rice.
Natural Cures
Mushroom and Diabetes.
Broken Wheat
Eggplant Nutrition
Cucumber Nutrition
Moong and Diabetes
Amla( Gooseberry)
Onion Nutrition
Health Benefits of Green Peas
Health Benefits of Tomatoes
Basmati Rice
An All Rounder in Easy Cooking
Green Chili Nutrition
Ginger Nutrition
Lime Nutrition
Health Benefits of Almonds
Reducing Sugar Consumption
Health Benefits of Tea
Disheartening Diabetes
A Word About Breakfast
Methi Seeds (Fenugreek)
Benefits of Jaggery over Refined Sugar
A Balanced Diet with Broken Wheat
Neem and Diabetes
Curry Leaves and Diabetes
Nutritious Ragi Paniyaram
Millet Paniyaram