How to make Rava Idlis when you have almost run out of rava

Latha's rava idli recipe had me drooling and ready to grease my idli plates. I've been waiting for god-knows-how-long to find the perfect rava idli recipe....and I tell you, this is it!!! Now, I had all the ingredients on hand except rava....I had just about a quarter cup of this main ingredient. So I packed hubby off to the store to get me some. So what if it was a lazy Sunday evening and he really didn't want to get off the bean bag? Well, it was going to be rava idli or no dinner.....that threat had the desired effect. Only thing is, instead of getting me rava he ended up getting idli rava.....and he blames the store for this....says they don't label stuff properly.......aaaaaarrrrgghhh....MEN!!!

Neways, there was no changing my mind....nothing would come between me and a plateful of fluffy idlis. Latha's recipe is perfect. I've got to thank her for sharing this. I followed it to the t ....except that I used 1/4 cup of rava and 3/4 of idli rava.....the rest of it exactly as she has detailed here.
The idlis turned out soft, fluffy....and I don't know how but they were this wonderful shade that's somewhere between cream and the lightest of yellow.
I do have pics to show, but like I've said in many of my previous posts, it's going to be a while before I upload those.
Iam sending Asha of Foodies Hope a serving of these idlis for her RCI - Karnataka event.

Pic updated..........FINALLY!!!

Janmashtami treats

Lord Krishna was my first love. Nope, Iam not kidding...when most other kids were content with bowing their heads before the lord to seek his blessings before exams, I could be found hugging a mini-statue of his and making grand proclamations of my plans to marry him and none other than him. A streak of atheism during my high school days made sure that I did not become wife no. 16,001. Past high school, I got over my atheism and chose a middle path....neither extreme belief nor total disbelief.

Celebrating Krishna's birthday has always been something that I've enjoyed mostly because of the food. This year I tried my hand at making uppu cheedai and vella cheedai for the first time. Here's a peek at what I made to celebrate His birthday.

Uppu Cheedai

Raw rice flour - 1 cup
Urad flour - 1/4 cup
Jeera - 1.5 tsp
Pepper - coarsely crushed,3/4 tsp
Water
Salt
Butter - 3 or 4 tbsp, softened
Oil - for deep frying

Dry roast both the flours if you are using store bought flour. Mix the flours, jeera, pepper, butter and salt with enough water to form a stiff, firm dough. Shape this into small balls and spread on a newspaper for a few minutes so that it becomes just a little bit dry. Heat oil and gently drop into it a few cheedais at a time. Fry until the cheedai turns reddish brown. Drain oil and store in an air tight container.
I've often been told that cheedai, if not prepared properly will result in disastrous explosions. Expecting nothing short of tiny blasts, I stood a safe distance away from the kadai and dropped a few cheedais in...but luckily for me...there were no explosions...not even a tiny one....and the cheedais turned out quite crisp and brown.


Vella cheedai

Raw rice flour - 1/2 cup
Urad flour - 1 tsp
Jaggery - 1/4 cup
Water - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - a little

Boil water in a pan. Add jaggery to this. When it melts completely, add the two flours, cardamom powder and stir well until it comes together into a smooth dough.
Let it cool for a bit and then shape it into balls. Deep fry a handful at a time in hot oil. Remove when dark brown, drain oil and store in an air tight container.

Neyyappam

Raw rice - 1 cup
Jaggery - 3/4 cup
Cardamom powder - 3/4 tsp
Ripe banana - 1
Ghee - a little

Soak the rice in plenty of water for about two hours. Grind it using as little water as possible to a fine paste. To this, add the rest of the ingredients and grind again until everything is well mixed. Some people swear by certain kinds of banana to get soft appams..I've tried several kinds and found that if you make sure that the batter is ground really well, it doesn't matter which kind u use. Set the batter aside for an hour or two.

Season your appakarai(an aebelskiver pan can be used) with a few drops of ghee( I use a non-stick appakarai...so I use just about a drop or two of ghee in each hollow). Fill about three-fourths of each hollow with the batter. Enjoy the sizzling sound and the delicious aroma that will wrap you up in a loving embrace. When the under side is done to a delicious brown flip it around so the top gets cooked too. Remove....let it cool just a little bit and store. Repeat this process until all the batter is used up.

This is my entry to Latha's Janmashtami event.
Iam also sending a plateful of appam to JFI Banana hosted this month by Mandira of Ahaar
All three snacks are a huge favourite at home....which makes it a perfect entry to the WYF Snack event hosted by Hima.

Simple Okra subji

Ladies finger/okra is said to be good for the brain. As a child I remember being told that I would grow up to be super intelligent if i ate plenty of this pretty green veggie. I don't know if I achieved the promised end result, but I did eat plenty of okra as a child and I still do so now as an adult.
This is a simple yet delicious dry curry that goes well with roti/puri.

What you need:
Ladies finger/okra - choose small, tender ones that can be cooked whole.
Onion - minced
Garam masala
Salt
Turmeric powder
Cumin seeds

Wash and wipe dry the okra. Make a small slit upto the middle of each one. Stuff some garam masala into the okra using the back of a spoon or a knife and set aside.
If you do not find baby okra.....use normal okra....just cut it into two halves and then make a slit in each half and proceed.
Heat a little oil/ghee in a pan. Add the cumin seeds. When they sputter, add the onions and fry until golden brown. Now add the okra, turmeric powder, salt and any remaining garam masala. Stir well. Cover and cook until done.
Serve hot with roti, puri or rice.

Who doesn't love a deep fried,crispy,spicy snack on a rainy day???
Did I hear you gasp "Calories"!!!
What if I were to tell you that this snack is made out of a flour packed with nutritional benefits???
Not a rainy day, you say???
Well, I live in hot.....hot....hot Chennai and I still love this any time of the day.

Now if you've run out of excuses, let's move on to the recipe.....

I came to hear of the several health benefits of ragi(millet) only after having a baby. In fact, my little girl's introduction to the world of solid foods was through ragi koozhu (porridge???)
Now I make sure that it is a part of our weekly diet in one form or the other.

Here's a quick snack that can be made using ragi.

What you need:

Ragi flour - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Fried gram - 1 tsp
Cashew (broken into small pieces) - 1 tsp
Groundnut - 1 tsp
Salt
Red chilli powder
Curry leaves & cilantro - a handful each, chopped fine
Onion - 1, minced
Carrot - 1, chopped into tiny pieces

Mix all the ingredients to a stiff dough adding water a little at a time. Take care not to add too much water. The dough should be a little stiff.
Tear off unevenly shaped bits from the dough and deep fry in hot oil until crisp.
Serve hot.

Recipe source: A cookery show on a TV channel(don't remember which one, though) watched while I was channel surfing....

This is my entry to Hima's new event What's your Favourite Snack.

Most of us associate Punjabi food with rich, creamy, aromatic curries and wholesome breads like naan, kulchas and rotis . The restaurant culture often makes us forget that there are other simple, yet delicious foods that are prepared at home. Here is one such refreshing treat.

Lassi

Fresh thick curd/yoghurt - 1 cup
Chilled Water - 1.5 cup
Sugar - to taste

Blend all the ingredients together and serve chilled.
Now, wasn't that simple???
For those among you who don't like the idea of adding sugar to yoghurt, try this out with salt instead.

This is my entry to RCI-Punjab hosted by Richa of As Dear As Salt.

Edited to add : For some reason blogger and my comp are acting up and not letting me upload pics. So, it will be a while before you can see the goodies that I whip up....until then, it is going to be just recipes.

Dec. 6, 2006......No, that's not a date that's going to be immortalised in history for any reason. It's just the date on which I last posted here.....
Thank you, blogger buddies for checking in and asking me how I am doing. It's been a long absence, but what with moving across continents and taking my little girl to visit all her relatives for the first time....I've been extremely busy.
What better way for a foodie to make a comeback to blogosphere than to send in a recipe for the mother of all events - Jihva for Ingredients???

When I found that this month's JFI hosted by Sangeeta features brinjals, I knew that I just had to post. Needless to say, brinjals are a favourite in my household. Be it the slowly simmered baingan bharta, the spicy vangi baath or just plain sauted brinjals, my family loves their eggplant.
The dish that is featured here today combines my love for eggplants with my love for all things Kerala.....it is a simple Koottu curry. Traditionally this koottu curry is made with yam or pumpkin, but I substituted that with brinjals with lip smacking results.

Here's what you will need:
Brinjal aka eggplant - 3, cut into medium sized pieces (I used the long green ones. If u are using the small, oblong ones, use more and if you are using the larger chinese eggplant, use less......How many brinjals u need also depends on how many people you are cooking for)
Channa dal - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coconut (grated) - 1/3 cup
Red chilli - 4 ( U can use more or less depending on your tolerance for spices)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Sugar/Jaggery - a little

Heat some coconut oil. Fry about 2-3 tbsp of the grated coconut in it until it turns reddish brown and keep aside. Take care not to burn it keeping in mind that there's a very fine line between aromatic reddish brown and charred coal black.
In the same pan, fry the cumin seeds and red chilli for about a minute or two and then grind it with the remaining coconut.
Cook channa dal in a pressure cooker until one whistle. It should only be about three-fourths cooked....not mushy. Add brinjal pieces to the cooked dal along with some salt and turmeric powder. Cook until the brinjals turn soft...but do not overcook or you will end up with a gooey mess that'll taste fine but you won't be able to discern the brinjal in it.
Add the ground mixture to it along with a tiny piece of jaggery. Stir well and cook for a few minutes.
Remove from fire and mix in the fried coconut.
Tamper some mustard seeds and urad dal in oil and pour it over the curry.
Garnish with fresh curry leaves.

Njoy!!!

Do you ever do this???
When you visit a blog, do you give the blog author a face? Do they have certain characteristics in your mind?
I know I do. I have a mental picture of what my blogger buddies look like.

I wanted to bake this in time for Nandita's WBB event....but got tied up with lots of other stuff going on in my life now....so it had to wait until today.
Without further ado, let me introduce you to my Berry muffin. The basic recipe, I borrowed from here but I did play around with the quantities.


Here's how you make berry muffins:

What you need:
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - 1.5 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Brown sugar - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon - 2tsp
Egg - 1
Milk - 1 and 1/4 cups
Butter - 1/2 a stick
Berries - 1 and 1/4 cups (I used Frozen Triple berry mix)

Beat egg, milk and butter until smooth. Add all the other ingredients except berries and blend at low speed for about a minute. Fold in the berries. Line the muffin pan with paper cups or spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Fill each cup until it is 2/3rds full and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
Njoy!!!

Tomato biriyani

Monthly Mingle - Give Thanks

We Indians as a nation have a problem with uttering the words Thank You. Before you flame me, let me explain. It is not that we don't feel thankful....it is just that we have a problem putting it into words. We genuinely do feel the emotions associated with being thankful...our body language, our actions...all these show the other person that we truly appreciate what they are doing, but we still find it akward and uncomfortable to say it. Still don't agree?? Think back and tell me....honestly, how many times have you said these words to your mom, dad, sister, brother, best friend? Now, how many times have you felt thankful? There....I rest my case.
Meeta of WFLH made me sit up and think of all the people that I'd like to give thanks to.
I am thankful for having a loving husband who puts up with my idiosyncracies, who takes up diaper and feeding duties on weekends so I can have some extra sleep, who encourages me to make my dreams a reality and gives me every opportunity to do that.
Iam thankful for a wonderful family - my always supportive and understanding mother, my father who is a pillar of strength, my grandparents from whom I've known nothing but love, and my fantastic brother.
Iam thankful that I've been blessed with a beautiful daughter who has truly made me understand how such a tiny being can fill your heart with so much love.
Iam thankful to all the friends that I've made through life, who've helped in shaping different aspects of my personality. Every person that I've come in contact with has in some way knowingly or unknowingly contributed to my being.
Iam thankful that I found my way into the world of blogging. I thank each and every one of my blogger buddies who cares enough to let me know that they've read my blog and that they appreciate it. A special thank you to Meeta for choosing such a wonderful theme.
Iam thankful for my mistakes and failures because they have made me strive harder to become a better person.
Iam also thankful that I have a lovely home, food to eat, and above all that there are people who love and cherish me.
What could say thank you better than a simple meal lovingly prepared and served with a smile??? That's what I have done today...I've made some tomato rice. It is very easy to make...so once you are done with the cooking you have plenty of time to sit and chat with your loved ones and your family is sure to love it.

What you need:
Onion - 1, chopped
Ginger - small piece, chopped
Green chilli - 2 or 3, minced
Garlic - 1 pod, chopped
Tomato - 3, chopped very fine, or pureed
Basmati rice - 1 cup
Salt - as required
Red chilli powder - as required
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Cardamom - 4 pods
Cinnamon - small piece
Cloves - 4
Black pepper corns - 4

Soak rice in water for 20 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
Powder cardamom, cinnamon, clove and peppercorns coarsely. Melt butter in a pan. Add the powdered spices, pepper, ginger, garlic, green chillies and onion. Saute until onions turn slightly brown. Now add the tomatoes, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Fry for a few minutes. Add the rice and stir well. Add 1.5 cups of water and cook in a pressure cooker until one whistle. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves and serve hot.
Njoy!!!

Mangakari (Cut mango pickle)

Mangakari (Cut mango pickle)

Growing up in Kerala, we used to have an abundant supply of fresh mangoes in our backyard. Once we were done eating our fill of raw mangoes, kadumanga pickle, manga kootan and umpteen other dishes, the tummy would crave for the simplicity of this pickle to go with some rice and curd. It does not have a long shelf life unlike other pickles, but you don't have to worry about that 'coz you can be assured that you'll finish this long before you start thinking of how long it'll stay good for.

What you need:
Raw mango - 1
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp (adjust to taste)
Gingely oil - 6-8 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Asafoetida - a little

Peel the mango and cut it into tiny pieces. Add salt, asafoetida and chilli powder to it. Mix well. Heat the oil. Add mustard seeds. Once the seeds pop, pour the oil over the mango pieces. Mix and let it stand for a couple of hours.
Njoy!!!

Oh So Good.....From the pages of fellow bloggers to my kitchen

Meena's Gobi Manchurian is spot on....it tastes just like something you'd get at a restaurant with the bonus that you know exactly what is going into it. I stuck to the original recipe with some very minor changes like adding half a chopped bell pepper and changing the amount of sauces used to my taste. I also skipped the green onions. The dish looked so good that it is no surprise it didn't take us long to finish it off. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Another recipe that I tried and absolutely loved is Sangeetha's Bisi Bele Baath. I have always made BBB with store bought BBB masala. Never again. Now that I know what authentic fresh ground masala does to the dish Iam not ever going to buy the ready made powder that's sold any more. The dish is a little on the spicy side...so tone down the chillies if you aren't much of a spice lover. I love my food HOT. So to me the recipe is just perfect.
Thank you Meena and Sangeeta for sharing these wonderful recipes.

I loved the picture associated with this fried rice recipe so much that I decided I had to try it out. However, I did not have all the ingredients that the recipe required. So I decided to improvise and make it what I had on hand. Here's what I did.....


What u need:
Basmati rice - 1 cup
Vegetables(carrot,beans,potatoes,peas)-1 cup, cut into thin long pieces
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Green bell pepper - 1/2, cut into thin strips
Green chillies - 2 or 3, minced
Red Chilli sauce - 5 tbsp
Soy sauce - 2 tbsp
Tomato ketchup - 2 tsp
Salt - as required

Cook rice in a pressure cooker with 1.5 cups of water until one whistle. Heat 3 tsp of ghee/oil. Fry the cooked rice in this until the grains are separated. Set this aside.
Heat 2 tsp of oil. Saute green chillies and onion until browned. Add bell pepper and other vegetables. Stir everything together and add 1.5 cups of water. Cook on a high flame until all the water evaporates. Add this to the rice.
Heat 2 tsp of oil. Add the red chilli sauce, tomato ketchup and soya sauce and stir for a minute until the mixture thickens slightly. Pour this on top of the rice. Add salt and stir everything together until it is thoroughly mixed.
Serve hot.
Njoy!!!

Avil laddoo, Rava laddoo, Pal therattipal and Ribbon pakoda for Diwali

Hope all of you had a wonderful Deepavali. I did.
Back home the festival of lights is all about decking up in new clothes, going to the temple, lighting firecrackers and of course the all important festival food. When I was growing up we used to look forward to the sweets and savouries that we would get to eat on that day. The firecrackers are another major highlight of the day, but I always was and still am terrified of them. Here we'd gone to the temple where there was a fireworks display....it really felt nice and brought back a feeling of being back home. Here's a look at some of the dishes I made......

(A triple serving of sweets : Avil laddoo; Rava laddoo; Pal terattipal)

All of these sweets are really easy to make and are guaranteed to disappear almost as soon as you've made them. Here are the recipes:

Avil/Poha/Beaten rice Laddoo
What you need:
Avil - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Cashews - a little
Ghee - just enough to form laddoos ( I used about 8 tsp)

Dry fry the poha a little at a time until reddish brown. Take care not to burn it. Powder it in the mixie. Also powder the sugar. Fry cashews in a little ghee. Mix everything together. Pour hot melted ghee on top and shape into laddoos while the mixture is still warm.

Rava Laddoo
What you need:Rava/Sooji/Semolina - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Cashew and raisins - as per taste
Ghee - enough to form laddoos ( about 10 tsp)

Fry rava until it is hot but not changed in colour. Powder it in the mixie along with the sugar. Fry cashew and raisins in a little ghee. Add the powdered mixture to it. Add hot ghee and shape into laddoos.



Pal therattipal Well, I'll let you in on a secret. Usually pal therattipal involves a lot of stirring and hovering over a hot stove...but this version is very quick and all that you need is a microwave...and about 8 minutes of your time(depends on you microwave's power). I found the original recipe here.

What you need:
Milk powder - 1 pack
Condensed milk - 1 tin
Unsalted butter - 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Mix all the ingredients in a microwave safe dish and heat for about 8 minutes....checking constantly and stirring it whenever it starts rising to the top. When it is a nice reddish brown colour, take it out and when it is warm, shape it into small balls or if you like you can just scoop it up with a spoon and serve it as is.

Now, after all those sweets, if you are craving something that's salty and spicy, here is some Pakodam....
What you need:
Gram flour - 1 cup
Rice flour - 3 cups
Salt - as per taste
Red chilli powder - as per taste
Butter - 2 tbsp
Oil - for deep frying

Mix all the ingredients together and knead to a smooth pliable dough by adding a little water at a time. The dough should be neither too watery nor too crumbly. It should roughly be the consistency of chapati dough. Heat oil. Now take a little bit of the dough and fill it into the pakoda nazhi. (I don't have a pic of the nazhi right now but will post one soon.) Squeeze the dough out in a circular pattern into the hot oil. Deep fry until golden brown on both sides. Remove with a slotted spoon so that all the excess oil gets drained out. Store in an airtight container. This pakodam stays good for several days.
Njoy!!!

If you are like me and missed the Special edition JFI-Diwali event, you do get a second chance. You can still send in your entries to Vee....just make sure you do it before the 28th...

Aloo-Peas Paratha

What you need

For the paratha:
2 cups wheat flour
Hot water - as reqd
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp

For the filling:

Potato - 2(boiled,peeled and mashed)
Peas - 1/2 a cup(I used frozen)
Onion - 1 small(chopped)
Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 3/4 tsp
Salt
Oil - a little

Kneading the dough:

Mix the wheat flour, salt and oil. Add hot water a little at a time to this and knead well until the dough is soft and pliable. Take care not to add too much water.
Keep covered for atleast 3-4 hours.




Making the masala:

Heat oil in a pan. Saute onions until brown. Add jeera powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and salt. Stir for a few seconds. Add the mashed potatoes and peas. Stir and remove from heat.





Making parathas:

• Divide the dough into several small balls.

• Roll the ball into a small circle.

• Place a little bit of the masala in the centre of the circle.

• Gather the sides and close into a ball again.
• Flatten and roll into a thick paratha.

• Transfer parathas to a heated pan.
• When tiny bubbles form on the top flip the paratha over and cook the other side.
  
• Brush some ghee on top of the paratha and serve hot with yogurt and pickle.

(In the pic I've served parathas with a raw carrot salad)

Butterfly effect meme

My very first tag....Iam so excited about this. Thank you Vani for tagging me.

This is a foodie meme which asks you to talk about stuff that has had a profound influence on your foodie life(in the words of Dan@saltshaker.net who started this meme). Well, not just any kind of stuff...but specifically an ingredient, a dish/recipe, a meal, a cookbook/other written work, a food personality, and another person in your life.
Before I get down to the meme, here's some info:
A meme is an Internet phenomenon (sometimes called an Internet meme)which occurs when something relatively unknown becomes hugely popular, often quite suddenly, through the mass propagation of media content made feasible by the Internet.(source: wikipedia)
Alright, that said, let's talk....

• Ingredient - I had a tough time deciding on this one.....there are several ingredients that I absolutely love but if I must choose just one, then it would have to be potatoes. Whether it is a spicy potato fry with ulli sambar, drenched-in-oil Mc Donalds french fries, Hard Rock Cafe's Baked potato which is a meal in itself, or the "no one can eat just one" chips...I love 'em all.
• A dish/ recipe - No thinking twice about it....it is nothing other than the very south indian sambar. Can you believe Iam so particular about how sambar should taste that I hardly ever touch it if I go to a restaurant??? And of course, in my opinion, my mom's sambar is the absolute best in the world....Iam always striving to recreate that in my kitchen.
  
• A meal - There's a restaurant run by Arusuvai Arasu on Chennai's East Coast Road(known locally as just ECR). Usually Iam not the kind of person that orders a full thali meal in a restaurant....'coz if you've been reading carefully u know that Iam picky about my sambar....but this is one restaurant where as soon as i stepped in, I knew I'd love the food. I had their several course lunch served on a banana leaf....and the taste lingers to this day.
  
• A cookbook/other written work - When I got married and moved from a small town in Kerala to the US, the extent of my cooking was limited to sambar, rasam and tomato rice. The only thing that saved us from eating those dishes day in and day out was the several Mallika Badrinath cookbooks that I carried with me.
• A food personality - Don't know if he fits this label perfectly, but it would have to be Hemant Trivedi. All of his recipes are perfect....each and every one that I've tried out has come out delicious.
• Another person in my life - Let's start with my husband. He has always encouraged me to experiment with food, try out new dishes....and yeah, he is the only one that's had to actually eat my "not-so-perfect" creations. And then there's mom....moms are fantastic in that they are able to whip up great tasting meals within what seems like no time at all. I always find myself comparing anything that I cook with her cooking and also strive to keep my kitchen as neat as she keeps hers.

With that said, it is now my turn to tag......and I tag Prema of My Cookbook.

Onion-tomato curry

The name is not fancy....the curry is so easy to make - the recipe - simple to follow....but the taste is fantastic....Iam still drooling just thinking about it....can't think of any words that would do justice to the taste. The recipe is adapted from a Mallika Badrinath cookbook that I have. Let's get to it without further dialogue.

What you need:
Onion - 1 large, chopped fine
Tomato - 3 large very ripe ones, chopped
Green chilli - 4(adjust to suit your palate), minced
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt
Besan(gram flour) - 1/4 cup
Cilantro - to garnish

Heat oil. Add mustard seeds and urad dal. When dal turns reddish brown and seeds pop, add the green chillies and onion. Fry till onions turn translucent. Then add the tomatoes and salt. Saute for a few minutes. Make a smooth paste of besan with water....make sure there are no lumps. Stir this into the curry....stirring all the while so no lumps are formed. If necessary add some water and cook for a few minutes until desired consistency is reached.
Garnish with freshly cut cilantro.
This tastes great with chapatis which is what I had it with for dinner last night.














Oh....yeah....and if u do have any leftovers(hard to believe, but I did have some)...it makes a great spread for a breakfast sandwich.
Njoy!!!

I am back with another recipe featuring bell pepper. The recipe is loosely based on my memory of a dish I ate at a friend's house years ago when I was not interested in recipes, methods or ingredients. I have used ingredients that I had handy. The dish is very easy to make.....takes not more than twenty minutes including prep work.
What u need:
Bell pepper(capsicum) - 1 large, diced
Spring onions - a few(optional)
Salt
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Grind together without using water:
Coconut - a few spoons
Green chilli - 3
Fried gram dal(Dalia) - a handful

In a pan, heat the oil. Add urad dal and mustard seeds. When the seeds pop, add onions, bell pepper and salt. Stir, reduce heat and cook covered until the pepper softens....takes about 5-10 minutes. Add the ground mixture. Stir well. Serve hot with rice.
Njoy!!!

Navaratri to me means good food....well, isn't that what any festival/celebration is supposed to be about anyway??? As a kid, I remember dressing up in different pattu pavadais each day and going to different houses for golu and chundal. A group of about seven or eight of us would plan our route and set out armed with some empty plastic covers which would be filled to the brim with different kinds of goodies by the time we came back home.
Last Friday, I had some of my friends over and I made Gosemalli....no one seemed familiar with that name....don't know if it is a term that is used only in a particular region.....one of my friends said she had heard the name, but the dish she talked about was made with moong dal and sounded totally different. Here's how I made it:

What you need:
Channa dal - 1.5 cups
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Green chilli - 4 (adjust to suit your palate)
Salt
Asafoetida
Ginger - a small piece, chopped

Cook channa dal in about 6-7 cups of water. Make sure it is not overcooked. Drain the water and keep aside.
Heat oil. Add urad dal and mustard seeds. When the seeds pop, add the cooked dal, salt, asafoetida and ginger. Grind coconut and green chilli together without using any water. Alternatively, you can crush the chillies coarsely with your hand. Add this to the dal. Stir well.
If you'd like to, you can also add some lemon juice to this. I did not....
Enjoy!!!

Padavalanga Thoran

What u need:
Padavalanga (Snake gourd) - 1
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Green chilli - 2 or 3
Channa dal - 2 tsp
Urad dal & mustard seeds
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt

Deseed, remove the pith and chop the snake gourd into small pieces. In a pan heat 1 tsp of oil. Add mustard seeds, urad dal and channa dal to this. When the mustard seeds pop, add the chopped gourd, turmeric powder and salt. Add some water and place on medium heat until it is cooked. Grind green chilli and coconut together without using any water. Add this to the vegetable. Stir well. Garnish with fresh curry leaves.
Serve hot with rice.
Njoy!!!

Check out other versions of this thoran by Priya and Inji

Capsicum Rice

The flavour that bell-pepper induces to any dish that it is added to is unique....it makes even the most humble of dishes take on an exotic aroma. The combination of fragrant basmati, ghee and bell-pepper appeals to all your senses....it looks great especially when you throw in orange, yellow, red and green peppers....smells divine....tastes just as good....I could go on and on...but let's get to the recipe now:

What you need:
Diced bell pepper - 1 cup(a combination of red,green,orange and yellow can be used)
Basmati rice- 1 cup
Onion - 1 small, chopped fine
Cardamom - 3
Clove - 4
Cinnamon - a small piece
Ghee - as required
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Juice of half a lemon
Shredded coconut - 3 tsp

Cook basmati with 1.5 cups of water in the pressure cooker until one whistle. Spread this on a plate to cool.
Heat some ghee in a pan. (You can substitute this with oil if you like, but ghee gives the rice a special taste) Powder cardamom, clove and cinnamon coarsely and add this to the ghee. Add some urad dal, mustard seeds and channa dal too. When the mustard seeds pop, add the chopped onion and turmeric powder. Saute until onions are slightly browned. Add salt and bell pepper. Stir well and cook covered on medium heat until the pepper is soft but not mushy. Add shredded coconut and mix well. Now add this to the cooled rice. Also add the lemon juice. Mix well. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves or curry leaves and fried cashew nuts.
Serve hot.
Njoy!!

This is my entry to Sam's Jihva for Ghee & Butter