Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji is one of the most famous chaat items known to south indians.....I have always enjoyed watching the way they mash the bhaji usually outside the chaat shops on a big tawa and add some butter to it while serving.......lip smacking ah?.....I learnt the authentic recipe for Pav Bhaji from one of my roomies in Tampa, a girl from Bombay and it sure is the best recipe I have come across till now......pretty simple and a good change too from the usual rice varieties when u invite some people over ....I usually get the whole wheat dinner rolls or whole wheat hamburger buns for the Pav from the regular American grocery store and u can vary the proportion of potato as per ur taste,though it is usually made with potatoes, I just add half or 1 potato and add more of other veggies such as carrots, cauliflower .....soo here is the recipe for Pav bhaji..Enjoy!
Ingredients:
Potatoes- 1 big
carrots- 2
Gobi- 1 or 2 cups of florets
Green pepper (capsicum) - 1 big
frozen green peas- 1 small cup
Onion- 1 big
Tomato - 1 big
Tomato paste- 1 tbsp (optional)
Ginger & garlic paste or grated- 2 tsp
green chilly- very finely chopped-2
Red chilly powder- 1 tsp
Turmeric poweder- 1/2 tsp
Pav Bhaji masala powder(Any brand, I usually use EVEREST or BADSHAH)- 2 tbsp
Butter
Oil
Salt to taste
Cilantro leaves
For tempering:
Butter & oil -1 tbsp
Cumin seeds- 1 tbsp
Method:

Peel the skin of potato & carrot, dice them, add to a pressure cooker along with cauliflower florets, 2 tbsp of the cut onion & green pepper, a pinch of turmeric powder, a pinch of salt & hing(I add hing to everything specially when using potatoes it is a must). Just adding a piece of onion & green pepper while cooking the veggies will give a nice flavor to the bhaji. Pressure cook this for 4-5 whistles or until the veggies get cooked really well. Open the pressure cooker when ready & mash the vegetables with a potato masher &keep it aside.
Heat oil/butter in a skillet and season with cumin seeds. Then add finely chopped onion, ginger/garlic paste & green chilly and sauté until the raw smell of ginger/garlic goes away. Now goes the finely chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. I add tomato paste to get the texture & color. But if u don't have tomato paste you could used an extra tomato instead. Now goes the mashed veggies, finely chopped green pepper, green peas, salt to taste, red chilly powder, & 11/2 tbsp of Pav bhaji masala. Add 1 tsp of butter(if u wish ) at the this point too. Cook this for 2-3 mins. Add the other half tbsp of Pav bhaji masala powder at the end before turning off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with toasted Pav(toasted with butter), finely chopped onions and a piece of lemon.

Coconut Burfi

Happy Diwali!

Diwali and sweets are inseparable. So I made it a point to make one sweet atleast for this Diwali...Coconut burfi has always been one of my favorite sweet and I always asked my mom to make this for my b'day every year. So I called up my mom and asked her for the recipe and jumped right into it......With the 2 cups of frozen coconut used I got about 15 pieces of coconut burfi
Ingredients:
Shredded Coconut- 2 cups (I used frozen coconut)
sugar- 11/2 cups
Water- 3/4 cup
cardamom powder- 1 tsp
Roasted cashews- 1 tbsp
Ghee- 1 tsp

Add the sugar and water to a deep pan and heat it until the sugar syrup becomes thick and come to a one string consistency.(Simple way to check is to take a little bit of sugar syrup in the spatula, give it a few seconds to cool down, then touch it and try to pull it between two fingers. it should come like a string or thread). Then add the shredded thawed frozen coconut, cardamom powder and mix it to the sugar syrup. Cook it nicely until it thickens. It might take 10-15 mins. In the meantime, roast some broken cashews in a tbsp of ghee and add to the pan. Wait until it thickens nicely and it should leave the sides of the pan. At this point of time, transfer this to a plate greased with ghee. Flatten it with a spatula, then cut it into pieces with a clean knife. Wait until it cools down and then serve the coconut burfi.

Poha

Poha called Avil in Tamilnadu, is a quick tiffin item to make. Poha is basically pressed rice so it is definitely filled with carbs and I personally have always found it to be very filling even with small proportion. Poha in Tamilnadu is usually made with lemon (Lemon avil) or tamarind (Puli Avil). But when I was looking for the north indian recipe of poha on the internet, I came across the recipe of TS for corn poha. Click here for her recipe. Of course I made some modifications to it by incorporating our south indian tempering items, using regular onions and by adding some raisins along with the cashews and peanuts.
Ingredients:
Poha(thick)- 2 cups
Onion- 1
Green chilly- 2 or 3 finely chopped
Frozen Corn or green peas- 2 or 3 tbsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
salt
oil
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Asafoetida- pinch
lemon juice
coriander leaves

For Tempering:
Cumin seeds- 1 /2 tsp
Urad dhal- 1 tbsp
chana dhal- 1 tbsp
mustard seeds- 1 tbsp
curry leaves- few
cashews- few
peanuts- few
raisins- few


Add the cashews, peanuts and raisins to hot oil + 1/2 tbsp of ghee. when the cashews turn light brown add the other tempering items. When the mustard seeds splutter add the chopped onions + green chilly and saute until onion turns soft. In the meantime, wash the poha twice and drain the water & keep it aside.Now add the frozen corn or peas, turmeric, pinch of chilly powder, poha and salt to taste. Mix everything well and cook for 2-3 mins. Add a pinch of asafoetida, chopped coriander leaves, 1/2 tsp of ghee, squeeze some lemon juice and serve... I served it with some sev on top (I've heard that it is usually served with sev but this is optional of course)

Potato Stew

This is a traditional Keralite dish that is usually served with Appam, Idiyappam or Dosa. I prepared this today with some frozen idiyappam that I had in my freezer. It is absolutely a heavy, creamy and high calorie food...so save it for a special weekend when u want to treat ur tastebuds....if u look at the picture posted here u would know what I mean....and it sure was a treat for us....
Ingredients:
Potato- 2
Green chilly- finely chopped 2 or 3
Ginger- finely chopped (1 tbsp)
Onion- 1 finely chopped
Curry leaves- few
Green peas- 1/4 cup (optional)
Coconut milk- 1 can
salt
Coconut oil- 1 tsp

Method:
Saute' chopped onion, green chilly, curry leaves and ginger in some canola oil and fry till onion gets soft..make sure the onions do not turn brown....u can sprinkle some water and salt to help the onion get cooked fast and not turn brown....In the meantime, peel the skin of the potatoes and chop into cubes and microwave for 10 mins... take 1/4 cup of coconut milk from the can dilute it with some water and add it to cooked onion. Also add the cooked potato, frozen peas(optional) salt to taste and let this boil in the diluted coconut milk for 5-7 mins. Then add the rest of the thick coconut milk(without diluting it) from the can and cook for 2 mins. Add a tsp of coconut oil and serve hot with Appam or Idiyappam.

Thayir(Curd) Vadai

This is my mom's favorite snack item and is generally had as an accompaniment with the main course tiffin or as appetizer. I was thinking that this might be an elaborate procedure and never bothered to try it until I came across the recipe by Menutoday. Click here for her recipe. I followed the recipe exactly as she has explained. Thanks MT for yet another great recipe. I got to say I fell in luv with the pics of my curd vadai, so couldn't stop with just one pic. Oh well, u guys try this and let me know how it came out.

Minestrone soup

Minestrone soup is the name given to the famous Italian soup which is cooked with vegetables, beans, and/or pasta. This can be made with any veggies available readily and is cooked by slowly simmering the veggies in the stock with garlic, Italian seasoning & basil. I generally use a can of diced tomatoes and add water for the veggie stock.I remember reading somewhere that people in Italy at one time believed that minestrone soup would cure most aches & pains. Oh well, all I can think of is with all those veggies & garlic, it definitely ought to be good for health:)
Ingredients:
Onion- 1 big
Chopped Garlic- 2 or 3 tbsp
Diced Tomatoes- 1 can
Chopped Vegetables- 3 cups (I used carrots, celery, green beans, zuchinni)a
Red kidney beans- 1/2 can
small sea shell pasta- 1/2 cups
Italian seasoning- 2 tbsp
Basil- 1 tbsp
Black pepper- 1 tbsp
Oil- 1 tsp

Saute Onion and garlic in 1 tsp of oil and then add all vegetables, saute lightly for a min (do not let the veggies turn brown), then add the canned diced tomatoes and enough water to form the stock. Add some salt, cover and cook in low flame. The vegetables have to be slowly simmered in the stock.This will easily take at least 10 mins. When vegetables are almost cooked, add the kidney beans, pasta & the spices (Italian seasoning, basil & pepper) and let this cook again for another 7-8 mins or until pasta is cooked. Use a deep pan like stock pot so that there is enough room for water to be added. Add more salt & pepper if needed at the time of serving depending on each one's taste.
Sprinkle some grated cheese if u like at the end. I don't care for cheese on my soup, so I skipped that.

Optional:
1. Any kind of stock (chicken or beef) can be used for this, even though this soup has mainly veggies. For this reason, I always ask the waitress in restaurants what kind of stock has been used in the soup since I'm a vegetarian.

Upma Kozhukattai

This was my favorite tiffin item that my mom used to make very rarely. I knew that it involved washing the rice, drying it on a paper towel,dry grinding it etc. etc so I didn't have the patience to go through the elaborate procedure of making it until I came across the simpler recipe for this using Idly Rava(available in most indian stores) by Nandita of Saffrontrail. Click here for Nandita's recipe. I followed the recipe exactly the same way as she did.
Variations:
1. I have also seen some people soak 1 tbsp of tur dhal, jeera, red chilly,& pepper and grind and add it to the boiling water before adding the idly rava. This should taste good too.
2. I came across this other recipe for upma kozhukatai using oat grits by Lakshmik of Veggie cuisine which I'm yet to try but thought was a very good healthy choice.Click here for Lakshmik's recipe.