Bombay Chutney with Broccoli & Mushroom

Bombay Chutney - one of the default recipe when I don't have time or shortage of vegetables at home. With an effort to make healthy and quick breakfast for kids, I started adding Broccoli and Mushroom. And now, Bombay chutney without broccoli/mushroom tastes boring :-). Here is the simple recipe that goes well with Poori, Dosa or idli...

Ingredients:  

•     Gram Flour or Besan – 4 tbsp
•     One medium size onion
•     2 Green chillies
•     2 or 3 dry chillies (optional)
•     Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
•     Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
•     Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
•     Curry leaves
•     Coriander leaves
•     Asafoetida
•     Salt
•     Oil - 1tbsp
•     Mushroom
•     Broccoli

Preparation:   

Cut Broccoli and Mushroom into smaller pieces and keep them aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add pinch of  asafoetida, mustard and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to splutter, add curry leaves, chopped onions, chopped green chillies, dry chillies and fry for few seconds.

In a separate bowl, add gram flour, turmeric powder and salt.  Add two cups of water and mix well with hand to avoid lumps. Pour this liquid into pan and mix well. Add more water if needed.

Cook on medium flame for few minutes, stir constantly till Gram flour is cooked well.

 
Turn off the stove and add Broccoli, coriander leaves and mushroom.

Serve it hot with hot hot poories...

Diamond snacks

It's been three months since my last post.... been busy with our Bangalore move. Also my father's demise left us with a feeling of immeasurable emptiness. We not only lost a great father, but also a great cook.

My kids call my father "Diamond tAta(grandfather)". When my kids return from school, the diamond snacks he used to make earned him this name. Now I'm happy to see my father's smile on my kids' faces. LOVE YOU APPA!!

Here is the recipe for this simple and crunchy snack:

Ingredients:   

• Whole wheat or Multigrain flour
• Oil for deep frying
• Salt
• Chilli powder

Preparation:    

Mix flour, salt and little bit water. Prepare the dough just like roti dough and make rotis.
Tip: You can use the leftover roti dough.

Take a sharp knife and cut the roti into horizontal and vertical lines to get diamond shapes.

Separate the shapes into a plate. Take your kids help if needed...they love this activity :-)

Take oil in a deep frying pan and deep fry the shapes until golden brown in color.

Take out the shapes into a plate, sprinkle chilli powder and salt when they are still warm. That's it...in just few minutes, crunchy snacks are ready to eat....

Nippattu/Ellada

Ellada...a spicy snack that makes my wish-list whenever I visit my parents. I always had the pleasure of eating nippattu ...but never made it myself...as it needs lots of patience and time. Now being a full-time mom, wanted to stack up the snack boxes for my kids. All I was targeting was the taste...and happy to get it in my first trial...but crispness needs bit more improvement.....better luck next time :-).

Ingredients:   

• 1 cup parboiled rice
• 2 tbsp parboiled rice (for powder)
• 2 tbsp urad daal 
• 2 tbsp chana daal 
• 2 or 3 red chillies
• 1 tbsp whole dhaniya seeds
• 2 tbsp peanuts
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• Hing (asafoetida)
• Salt
• Oil

Preparation:    

Soak parboiled rice for 4 to 5 hours and prepare batter.

Roast urad daal, 2 tbsp parboiled rice and dry chillies in a kadai and make powder.

Soak chana daal for 15 minutes and drain the water. Crush dhaniya seeds and peanuts into half (or whatever shape you can)....but don't crush them too much.
Tip: If you want to remove peanut skin: roast them slightly, remove skin with hand and then crush them.

To the parboiled rice batter, add <urad daal, dry chillies, parboiled rice> powder, sesame seeds, chana daal, crushed dhaniya seeds, crushed peanuts, salt, hing and 2 tbsp oil.

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

Take lemon sized dough and make nippattu shapes. I made the shapes on a piece of cloth by pressing the dough with wet hand. To get crisp nippattu, you can add more oil to the dough and press them using rolling pan on an aluminium sheet.

Heat oil in a Kadai and deep fry the nippattu until golden brown.

While I was busy with rest of the preparation, three nippattus silently made their way into my tummy. Combined taste of crunchy peanuts, chanal daal, sesame seeds and dhaniya seeds is hard to resist :-).

Kandagadda fry

Kandagadda (Elephant Yam or Suran) fry is easy to make and a great after-school snack for kids. For souls surrounded by summer heat, this vegetable seems to be a great tool to cool down the hypertension. Didn't know its health benefits until I started writing this blog ;-). Click on the following link to see more health benefits: Elephant Yam - health benefits.

You'll find this vegetable in any Indian store...usually in refrigeration section.....

Ingredients:   

• Kandagadda 
• Salt
• Chilli powder
• Turmeric powder
• Dhaniya powder
• Oil

Preparation:    

Peel the outer layer with a sharp knife and cut it into thick slices.

Tip: If you are too lazy, wash it thoroughly, cut it into big pieces, boil them and then peel the skin and cut into slices.

Boil the slices until cooked.

Drain the water and take the boiled pieces into a plate/bowl.

Color the pieces with red chilli powder, turmeric powder, dhaniya powder and salt.

Heat a flat pan and spread oil. Shallow fry the pieces (in medium heat) until they turn golden brown.

Yummy Yam slices are ready to eat.... and it doesn't take much time to empty the plate...healthy and tasty....

Tip: If the slices are overcooked, mash them into paste, add powders and shallow fry them like cutlets :-)

Cauliflower stem chutney

Cauliflower stem...the fiber part of cauliflower that never goes into dustbin when my mother-in-law is home. Before marriage, I never saw anyone eating cauliflower stems...always used to think that the best place for it is the dustbin. Over a period of time, I got into the habit of saving the stems and using them in mixed vegetable curries like my M-I-L.

For me, it doesn't taste that great...but still, take it as a fiber intake. Always used to think of making a better recipe out of it. Thanks to "Maa Oori Vanta(Maa TV)" for giving me a tip of preparing chutney out of cauliflower stems. Tried it and trust me, now it's one of my favorite chutney for Dosa.

Here are the ingredients followed by preparation:

Ingredients:   

• Cauliflower stems 
• 1 cup peanuts
• 1 medium sized onion
• 3 small sized tomatoes
• 3 green chillies
• Coriander leaves
• Curry leaves
• Salt
• 1 tbsp oil 
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp jeera
• 1 tsp urad daal
• Heeng

Preparation:    

Take out the stems from Cauliflower florets, wash and cut them into small pieces. 

Roast the peanuts in a kadai or pan.

Make powder out of roasted peanuts and keep it aside. In the mean time, heat oil in a kadai/pan, add cut onions, tomatoes and green chillies. Stir fry for sometime and then add Cauliflower stem pieces. Fry for some more time and let it cool to make a paste. 

In a mixie, add the above ingredients, water, salt and coriander leaves and grind it into paste. Then add peanut powder and make it into smooth paste. In a kadai, heat oil and add heeng powder, mustard seeds, jeera, urad daal and curry leaves.

Then add the paste and stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes. 

Chutney is ready to serve with Dosa...our today's early morning breakfast :-).

And here is a slight variation of Dosa...added a layer of chutney on Dosa to fill kid's breakfast box...no hassle at school.... easy to grab and eat.

Baby corn Bajji

My father who enjoys cooking, is very fond of snacks and bajji is one of his favorite. And whenever I ask my younger daughter, what she wants for snacks...her immediate response will be "thatha(grandfather) bajji" :-).

Few months back, I tried baby corn bajji, and now it's on her favorite list too. Try it when you have time...

Ingredients:   

• 8-10 baby corns 
• 6 tbsp besan flour
• 2 tbsp maize(makki) flour
• 1 tbsp rice flour
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tsp fresh ginger (grated)
• Salt
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• Oil for deep frying
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Preparation:    

Wash and cut baby corns lengthwise, sprinkle salt and little bit turmeric powder and apply evenly on all the baby corn pieces.

Prepare thick batter by mixing besan flour, makki flour, rice flour, salt, chilli powder, sesame seeds, little bit turmeric powder, baking soda, grated ginger and garlic paste with water.

Heat oil in a Kadai/pan. Dip baby corn pieces in batter and deep fry till they turn into golden brown in color.

Crunchy bajjis with half boiled baby corns taste good even without chutney or sauce :-).

Jawar vada

Jawar roti (jonna rotte) is one of my favorite....and what to say when it's served with Karela fry (Kakarakaya vepudu). Unlike regular Jawar roti, my father used to prepare this deep fried version, tastes totally different from regular one. Now I'm preparing it for my kids, very easy to make, doesn't take much time and a perfect time saver if you have school going kids.

Ingredients:   

• 3 cups Jawar flour 
• 1 medium sized onion
• 3 green chillies
• Coriander leaves
• Oil
• Salt

Preparation:    

Finely chop onions, green chillies, coriander leaves and add them to Jawar flour.

Add salt and make dough by adding water.

Take lemon sized batter, dip your hand in a bowl of water and then make vada shapes with your four fingers. Gently wet the cloth before making each vada, this will help to detach the vada from cloth easily.

Lift the cloth with left hand and carefully transfer the vada with your right hand into hot oil. Deep fry until the vada turns into golden brown color.

Serve them hot or cold. Try with Daal...tastes really yummmy....