Multi Beans Adai / Multi Beans Crispy Dosa

Beans Adai with a side of a cup of Blueberry Kesari and Aviyal ( Vegetable Stew in coconut gravy ).

Legumes ( Beans ) are generally referred as "poor people's meat" but i prefer to call them as "healthy people's treat".  Legumes supply more amount of  Good Protein to the body and there are many varieties of legumes found in the world which are widely used in many cuisines across the world.

One of the important health benefits of  legumes ( beans ) is its rich source of cholesterol reducing fiber. It reduces the blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal so its a best choice for diabetic people.  It also protects against breast cancer. In addition to the high fiber content, beans also contain lots of antioxidants, folic acid and other vitamins.

Another important issue that stuck in our mind is the  gas problem due to the intake of Legumes / beans. Its natural for any human digestive system to produce gas ( intestinal gas ) during regular digestion. But after consuming beans, we might feel that excessive intestinal gas getting produced. In order to minimize this excessive intestinal gas, its always suggested in many health magazines to break down the fiber in Beans by mashing, grinding..etc., Also by adding good amount of ginger into the recipe, this problem could be minimised and helps in easy digestion.

Multi beans Adai is one of the food items I tried out last week. I followed the same method of making  traditional adai but substituted legumes ( Beans ) instead of lentils ( Dals / Paruppu ).  As I mentioned, ginger is always a good accompaniment for any legume based food item. So it is a good idea to make some spicy Ginger Chutney and serve this as a side for the Adais.

Ingredients

Black Eyed beans ( White Karamani ) - 1/4 cup

Rajma - 1/4 cup

Soy Beans - 1/4 cup

White Channa Dal ( White Kondakadalai ) - 1/4 cup

Red Moth - 1/4 cup

Brown Masoor Dal - 1/4 cup

White Beans ( Lima Beans ) - 1/4 cup

Green Gram ( Pesara pappu ) - 1/4 cup

Idly Rice - 1 Handful

Ginger -  1 inch square or 3 tbsp grated

Hing - 1 Dash

Dry Red chillies - 3 or 4

Salt - To Taste

Oil - Enough to fry the Adais on the kadai / Pan.

Method

• Soak all the Beans and rice in water for 4-5 hours. Then drain the water and grind them coarsely in a wet grinder along with ginger, dry red chillies.
• Add required amount of salt, dash of Hing, crushed curry leaves to the Adai Batter and leave it aside for an hour.
• Then, heat the frying pan and pour the Adai over the pan, spread them uniformly and make a round shaped Adai.
•  Add few drops of oil along the edges of the adai. Fry them till it turns golden brown in colour on both sides.
• Continue the process for the rest of the batter. Serve the crispy hot Beans Adai with a side of spicy Ginger Chutney and a small bowl of fresh curd.

Tips / Variations

You can add different varieties of legumes of your choice and try it out.

You can add finely grated red onion pieces into the batter and make some yummy Onion Adais too..

A Side of Aviyal is also a good choice for this Beans Adai.

Ragada Patties/ Ragada Pattice/Aloo Tikki Chat

Ragada Patties / Pattice also called as "Aloo Tikki Chaat" in Northern India is one of the famous Street foods in India. Its really difficult to resist a plate of Aloo Tikki Chaat with a cup of Garam Chai on a cold....windy day. More than the aloo patties, the semi gravy Ragada is my favourite. I can even have a bowl of hot spicy watery ragada without a tikki.. The Ragada serves as the main base for many chaats. Also its highly nutritious and adds more value to the Chaat. "Ragada" is a semi gravy made out of white peas / vatana along with tomatoes, onion and other spices and the "Patties" is a round shaped tikki made out of boiled potatoes. The Process of making is also simpler and its an excellent food variety and an after school snack for the kids.

Ingredients

For the Pattice/Patties/Aloo Tikki

Potatoes - 2 big or 3 medium

Multi grain bread corner ones / Brown Bread corner ones - 2

Peas - 1/4 cup

Coriander Leaves - 2 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Dhana Jeera Powder - 1 /2 tsp

Salt - To Taste ( Less than regular as you would be soaking the tikkis with Ragada )

Oil - Enough to Fry them in a pan.

For the Ragada

Vatana / Dried White Peas - 1 Cup

Tomatoes - 2

Red Onion shredded - 1 cup

Green Chillies shredded - 1 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 2 tsp

Pav Bhaji Powder - 1 tbsp ( Not used garam masala powder for this recipe...)

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 tbsp

Tamarind Extract / Thick Tamarind Pulp - 1/2 cup

Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp ( To garnish)

Method

Ragada Preparation

1. Pressure cook the vatana/white peas for 4-5 whistles till they get cooked softly but not mashed. Drain the water and keep it aside. Take 2 tbsp of cooked vatana and mash them nicely and keep the paste ready.
2. In a cooking pan, add oil first. Add cumin seeds followed by ginger garlic paste. When the raw smell goes off, add the finely shredded onion and fry them till they turn golden brown. Add the cut tomatoes, green chillies and all powders and fry them till the tomatoes get mashy.
3. Add the tamarind extract, sugar, required amount of salt and the drained cooked vatana/white peas into the cooking pan and mix them well.
4. Add the drained water also into the pan and allow them to boil for 4-5 minutes. Finally add the mashed vatana paste and mix well.
5. Garnish with coriander leaves and keep it ready for serving.

Patties / Aloo Tikki preparation

1. Cook the potatoes in a separate vessel thoroughly. Peel the skin off and keep the mashed potatoes in a big mixing bowl.
2. Add fine cooked peas also into the bowl. Soak the bread loaf in water and squeeze the water completely. Add them into the mixing bowl.
3. To that, add all the powders, salt and mash and mix them without lumps. Make small rounds of tikki using the mashed mix and keep the rounds ready on a plate.
4. In a flat frying pan, add little oil and fry the tikki rounds to golden brown on both sides. Keep them ready for the chaat.

  

Final Ragada Patties Chaat Making

Take a plate which is slightly deeper in the center. Arrange 2 or 3 Patties / Aloo tikki in the middle.Pour 2-3 servings of hot ragada over them. Sprinkle fine cut red onions and squeeze little lemon juice on its top. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve. Likewise, make other chaat plates and enjoy the evening.

Mint Pulav/ Mint Pulao / Pudhina Pulav/ Pudina Pulav

Mint Leaves also called as "Pudina" is one of the oldest medicinal herb grown around the world. Its widely used in many range of dishes in Indian Cuisine and its an essential ingredient in many food items. Looking at its medicinal benefits, mint is the best cleanser for the entire body and blood. Crushed mint leaves whiten the teeth and fight against bad breath. Though we regularly stock atleast a bunch of Mint Leaves in the kitchen, we mostly exhaust the bunch by adding them in all of our regular food items.  This time, I exclusively got 2 additional bunches mainly to make my favorite Mint Pulao, which i had forgotten for a while. Nice Aroma was emanating from the Kitchen while making the Mint Pulao, which in turn triggered the tongue to taste it immediately...Definitely an awesome pick for any gathering, parties..

Photo Courtesy by Wiki

Ingredients

Basmati Rice - 3 Cups

Mint Leaves Bunch / Pudina Bunch - 2 Big or 3 Medium

Green Chillies - 5 Big

Oil - 2 tbsp

Melted Butter or Ghee - 3 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Red Onion shredded - 1/2 cup

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp

Cinnamon Sticks - 2 Big

Lavang/ Cloves - 5 or 6

Marathi Moggu - 1

Bay Leaves - 4 or 5

Cardamom Seeds / Elachi - 4 or 5

Cashew Nuts - 1 Handful

Red Potato / Golden Potato cubes - 1 Cup

Method

1. Wash the Pudina leaves and make a smooth paste of Pudina and green chillies using a mixer grinder and keep them ready. Soak the Basmati Rice in water while starting the process.
2. In the big cooking pan ( I used a big non-stick pan), add ghee and oil first. When its heated, add the cinnamon stick, lavang, marathi moggu, cardamom seeds and fry them for a minute.
3. Add the ginger garlic paste next and fry them till the raw smell goes off. Next add the onions and fry them to golden brown. After that, add the grounded paste of mint leaves and green chillies to the pan and fry them for 2-3 minutes. A nice aroma would start filling the kitchen now...
4. Finally add the cashew nuts, potato cubes, bay leaves to the contents and fry them again for a minute.
5. Add 6 cups of water to the cooking pan / vessel, required amount of salt, 1/2 tsp of sugar and mix them well. Allow them to cook on  a low flame directly. When its completely cooked, the cooked mint rice would nicely come up till the rim of the vessel.
6. Switch off the flame and allow them to settle down for a while.
7. Serve this with a side of any raita and enjoy...A healthy mixed rice treat with excellent aroma for us.!!!

Tips / Variations

If its for a special party, add little more ghee and make it rich. Instead of cooking directly on the vessel, you can transfer the contents to an electric rice cooker and cook them outside too...

Tomato Puliogare / Thakkali Puliodharai / Tomato Puliodarai

 Puliodarai / Puliogare is an authentic south indian rice variety which is generally made during festivals or on special occasions. Puliodarai is mostly liked by all and we love to taste this tangy rice during odd days also. As we all know that puliogare is generally made with thick tamarind paste along with other ingredients, I wish to try making "Tomato Puliogare" by adopting the method of making Puliogare with thickened tomato gravy instead of  tamarind gravy/paste. And I named my yummy, tangy Puliodarai as "Tomato Puliodarai". If you have "sour" tomatoes, then the taste would be heavenly. With an addition of few drops of Gingelly oil, the flavour of Puliodarai would be upgraded. With good accompaniments like Appalam, Vadams, or just with Potato chips, we can enjoy the Tomato Puliodarai at any time of the day. A good lunch box recipe, of course...

Ingredients

Tomato - 10 to 12 Medium size

Salt - To Taste

Gingelly Oil - 3 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Basmati Rice / Sona Masoori Rice - 2.5 Cups

Hing/Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Mustard Seeds - 1 tbsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Dry Red Chillies - 5

Urad Dal /Minna Pappu/Ulutham Paruppu -  1 tbsp

Channa Dal/Senaga Pappu/Kadalai Paruppu - 1 tbsp

Ground nuts / Peanuts - 2 handful ( Adjust according to your taste )

Curry Leaves - 2 stems

Jaggery - 1 tsp

For the powder

Channa Dal / Senaga Pappu / Kadalai Paruppu - 1.5 tbsp

Urad Dal / Ulutham Paruppu / Minapa Pappu - 1 tbsp

Vendhayam / Fenugreek seeds / Methi Seeds - 1 tsp

Coriander Seeds - 3 tsp

Dry Red chillies - 5 or 6 big

Method

1. Wash the tomatoes and chop them ready. In the frying pan, add a tsp of oil and fry all the ingredients for making the spice powder till a nice aroma emanates. Then, grind them nicely using a mixer grinder and keep the spice powder ready.
2. Cook the Basmati Rice / Sona Masoori Rice and keep it ready. For 1 cup of basmati rice add 2 cups of water. For 1 cup of Sona Masoori rice, add 2.5 cups of water. But this ratio totally depends on the type and age of the rice.
3. In a separate frying pan, add a tbsp of oil and when its heated, add the chopped tomatoes and a pinch of salt and fry them till they become mashy. Make a thick paste of this tomato gravy and keep it ready.
4. In a big frying pan, add the remaining oil and start adding the ingredients for the tempering process like Hing, Mustard seeds, Urad Dal, Channa Dal, Ground nuts, Dry red chillies, curry leaves. Roast them till they turn golden brown.
5. Then, add the thicken tomato paste and the spice powder to the pan. Mix them well and fry them for about 2-3 minutes till they all blend together.
6. Add the cooked rice to the pan and spread them using a spatula. Add the Gingelly Oil, required amount of salt to the rice and mix them well with the spicy paste.
7. Leave the rice in the pan as it is for couple of minutes and transfer the rice to the serving container.
8. Tomato Puliodarai is now ready to enjoy with a side of few papads and crunchy vadas.

Tips / Variations 

• Instead of directly adding the chopped tomatoes, you can add the crushed tomato puree into the frying pan while making the thick tomato paste.
• You can add cashew nuts too while making this Puliodarai for a special occasion.
• Try not to forget the Gingelly Oil as its the main taste maker in Puliodarai.
• Cook the rice to the right consistency so that its not sticky or pasty. Rice should look separate but cooked.

Pal Kova / Theratti Pal / Thiratti Pal - Using Ricotta Cheese

Pal Kova, also called as Theratti Pal in Tamil is a creamy milk sweet made with thick milk, jaggery or sugar and some melted butter or ghee. Out of all Pal Kova I tasted, Aavin Palkova stands the best. Its always tricky for me to understand how they arrive at the unique taste of  Aavin Palkova and howmuchever I try, my version would not taste the same. But this time, I used my brain so much to come closer to that version. I made this specially for one of my friend Preetha's Seemandham / Baby Shower. I used the combination of both sugar and jaggery while making this Pal Kova so as to get the brownish colour. Process is much simpler as I used only microwave for my entire cooking. This basic idea was originally given by my friend Soundarya couple of years back..I customized little bit and tried her method and the final result was awesome.

Ingredients

Ricotta Cheese - 32 Oz ( Used Part Skim 32 Oz / 2 lb ) or 5 Cup

Fat Free Milk Powder - 2 packets / 3 Cup

Condensed Milk Can - 1

Powdered Jaggery - 1 Cup

1% Milk - 1 Cup

Melted Ghee - 1 Oz Bar / 3/4th of a cup

Cardamom Powder / Elachi Powder - 2 tsp

Roasted Cashew nuts - 1 Handful to decorate.

Method

• In a big deep glass vessel or any deep microwave vessel, add all the ingredients except cardamom powder and cashew nuts and mix them thoroughly.
• Cook them on high in microwave for about 5-6 minutes. Open the microwave and stir them on all sides.
• Continue the process for another 3 to 4 times. Every time stir the PalKova and you would notice the Kova changing to light brownish colour and getting closer to a thick consistency.
• When the Kova comes to the actual semi solid state, add the cardamom powder and mix well.
• Microwave for another 1-2 minutes and decorate with roasted cashews.

Tips / Variations

• Instead of Sweet Condensed Milk you can add sugar directly.
• Instead of fat free versions, you can very well make it with whole milk Ricotta Cheese and milk powder to achieve a more richer taste.
• Don't microwave till the kova gets completely dry. In order to obtain the right kova taste, try to retain some moisture in the Pal Kova.

Dal Shorba - Healthy Indian Soup

Dal Shorba is a very tasty, healthy, lentil based soup in Indian Cuisine flavoured with Indian spices. This soup is an excellent appetizer for a gathering. I never tried making this soup before. So I am just presenting my Husband's recipe through this post. This is totally made by him with his own customizations. So all plus and minus should go to him.!!! As he always try to upgrade any existing version with his own healthy customization, he did the same for this soup too..He chose three lentils that are pink, red based..( like Red Masoor Dal, Red Moth, Brown Masoor..) for the base and other vegetables like Carrot, Celery, White onion, Broccoli, beans, butternut squash as an addition. He started making the soup from scratch and the soup was awesome for that cold wintery night. Needless to say that he is an excellent foodie who enjoys cooking and always gives right feedback (!!) to my food too. We all enjoyed the soup with a side of few toasted multigrain bread. ( An Appetizer item turned out to be a wholesome meal with a slice of bread for all of us.!!!! ). Recipe follows as described by him....

Ingredients

Masoor Dal ( Red Lentils ) - 1 Handful

Brown Masoor Dal  ( Brown Lentils)- 1 Handful

Red Moth Dal ( Moth Beans )- 1 Handful

Lavang / Cloves - 2

Cinnamon Stick - 1 Small

Bay Leaves - 2

Oil - 4 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon

Powders to be added :

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Cumin / Jeera Powder - 1 tsp

Black Pepper Powder - 2-3 tsp ( He added more for his portion..)
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp ( Optional )

Vegetables

Garlic crushed / shredded - 1 tbsp

White onion - 1/2 finely shredded

Carrot - 1 Medium

Broccoli - 12-15 florets

Tomato - 3 Big ripe

Butternut Squash - 1/2 cup cut into small cubes

Celery - 5 Sticks

Peas - 1 Handful

Coriander Leaves - 1 handful finely shredded

Grated Ginger - 1 tbsp

Lemon Juice - 2-3 tsp

Method

• Wash the lentils / Dals and pressure cook them separately or cook them in an electric cooker. Keep the cooked lentils paste and the dal water if any separately.
• Wash all the vegetables and cut them into different size as desired and keep them ready.
• Meantime, dry roast the cumin seeds, black pepper seeds and powder them nicely and keep it ready.
• In a big thick bottomed soup pot, first add the oil. When its heated, add the crushed garlic and onion first. Fry them well with a pinch of salt till the onion pieces get translucent.
• Add the Bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves, turmeric powder into the pot now and fry them.
• Next add the other vegetables like carrots, broccoli, butternut squash, peas, tomatoes into the pot and cook them with some water. At this time, you can even add the remaining cooked dal water into the pot.
• When they are cooked enough, add the cumin/black pepper powder, red chili powder and crushed ginger into the pot. Add the other watery vegetables like celery into the pot now.
• Add the cooked dal paste into the pot and required amount of salt, 1/2 tsp of sugar and water into the soup pot. Stir them well and allow them to get cooked for about 3-4 minutes on a medium flame.
• When the soup is boiled well enough, remove the Bay Leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves from the pot carefully. Using a masher or hand blender, gently mash the soup for few seconds just to set it to the right consistency.
• Switch off the flame. Finally add the lemon juice and mix it well.
• Before serving, garnish with coriander leaves and few drops of melted butter on its top.
• A Healthy and tasty appetizer loaded with protein and good amount of other vitamins is an ideal choice before a healthy meal.

Tips / Variations 

You can include your favorite vegetables in this soup but try to include atleast two watery vegetables in your choice.

Blueberry Kesari

In the Krishna Temple, I first tasted this purple colour kesari and got attracted with the colour, flavour and taste of that Kesari. Since then, I have been thinking to make this kesari in my kitchen. Maha Shivarathri was the best choice to try out this Prasadam as I somehow feel some closeness between Lord Shiva and Blueberry, may be due to the colour.!! My version also turned out good with the exact blueberry flavour, taste and colour..So, I have decided to make this Prasadam mainly for Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna for the reason I mentioned.

 

Ingredients

Blueberries - 1/2 cup

Rava / Sooji - 1/2 cup

Sugar - Between 1/4 and 1/2 cup

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Cardamom Powder / Elachi / Elakkai - 1 tsp

Ghee roasted cashew nuts - 8 or 10 small pieces

Method

• In a cooking pan / frying pan, first roast the Sooji / rava with a drop of ghee till it turns golden brown.
• Then add 2 cups of water and stir them well. When the sooji is cooked well, add sugar and blueberries into the pan. Stir constantly till the blueberries get cooked and mashed thoroughly.
• Slowly the Kesari would be turning into light purple colour when the blueberries are getting mashed.
• Next add the Cardamom powder and ghee and stir them well on a medium flame.
• Switch off the flame when you notice the kesari coming out of its side easily and the ghee oozing out of the Kesari.
• Drop few ghee roasted cashew nuts on its top and offer the prasadam to Lord Shiva.