Photos of Homemade Dishes

Wholewheat Dosa

Potato Onion Stir Fry

One Pot Chicken Rice


Sukha Aloo


Sambar Vada

Sindhi Besan Curry

Sindhi Besan Curry

A tasty main dish, goes well with rice. Basic recipe adapted from 50 great curries of India by Camellia Panjabi

Serves: 6

You will need

1 ½ teaspoons tamarind pulp

6 cocum pieces (optional)

2 – 3 medium potatoes

1 small carrot

10 – 12 okra (bhindi)

6 green chillies

4 baby aubergines

150 g yam

65 ml oil

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)

1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)

2 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped

12 curry leaves

½ teaspoon asafoetida (hing)

½ cup gram flour (besan) or wholewheat flour

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

12 – 15 cluster beans or thin French beans

1 heaped teaspoon sugar

8 mint leaves

1 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped

Method

Soak the tamarind in 100 ml of water and, separately the cocum in 100 ml of water, each for 30 minutes.

Scrub the potatoes. Cut into quarters or chunks if using large potatoes. You can leave the skin on. Scrub the carrot and cut into thin 4 cm thick strips. Trim the stem of the okra but leave a stub or the okra will become mushy when cooking. Chop 2 of the green chillies. Cut the aubergines in lengthwise. Peel and cut the yam.

Using a cooking pot of at least 2.8 litre capacity, heat 4 tablespoons of the oil and add the fenugreek seeds followed by the cumin seeds. After 30 seconds, add the ginger, chopped green chillies and curry leaves.

Fry for a minute, then add the asafoetida, and gram flour or wholewheat flour. Stir continuously for 4 – 5 minutes. The flour will absorb the oil and form a paste, but you must stir it now in order to give body to the taste. Turn the heat down to low and sauté properly.

Add the chilli and turmeric powders and another tablespoon of oil and sauté for 2 – 3 minutes. Then add 1.6 litres (1.6 litres of water for thin gravy like thin dal or 800 ml water for thick gravy - then the spicy vegetables well coated with thick gram flour mixture) of hot water, stirring continuously and the paste dissolves in the water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the vegetables( the yam first, followed 10 minutes later by the potatoes and 5 minutes later by the other vegetables), with salt, sugar, the 4 whole green chillies, tamarind water, cocum and cocum water. Boil until the vegetables are cooked. Then add the mint and coriander leaves. The curry will be thicken slightly on cooking.

The whole green chillies are for those who like to eat chillies whole. If serving as a soup, leave out the whole chillies. The curry should eaten with rice.

Onion Pakoda / Ulli Vada

Onion Pakoda / Ulli Vada

An and tasty deep fried snack, made of sliced onions and gram flour batter. Serve as a starter or with tea / coffee.

Makes: 12 onion pakodas

You will need

2 onions, finely sliced

200 ml oil (to deep fry)

For gram flour batter:

½ cup (100 g) gram flour (besan / kadala maav / chone pitti)

1 teaspoon rice flour

½ teaspoon red chilli powder

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

2 pinches hing (asafoetida)

2 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves (optional)

¼ cup (50 ml) water

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Method

In a bowl, mix all the batter ingredients together and make a batter. Add sliced onions and mix well. Keep aside the pakoda batter for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a frying pan / kadai. Reduce heat to medium and drop teaspoons (or use small spoons which shape like ice cream scoop to get evenly round shape ) of the pakoda batter ( 6 - 7 pakodas at a time ) and fry till golden color on both the sides.

Drain and place on kitchen towel to absorb excess oil.

Serve hot as an evening snack with Tomato sauce or coconut chutney or serve as a starter.

Milkmaid Condensed Milk Kheer

Milkmaid Condensed Milk Kheer

A delicious dessert, made of basmati rice, milk & Milkmaid condensed milk.

Serves: 4- 5 dessert cups

Ingredients

1/3 cup ( 80 ml / 3 oz ) basmati rice / silky raw rice

1/2 litre (500 ml) milk ( do not dilute with water )

4 tablespoons Milkmaid Condensed Milk

2 pinches cardamom powder

Method

Soak rice in 1/2 cup water for half an hour. Drain out water.

Boil milk and keep aside.

Add milk and soaked rice in a pressure cooker. Mix well. Close cooker. Bring to full pressure on high heat till 3 whistles. Reduce heat and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes. Switch off the heat. Allow to cool naturally.

Open cooker. Add Milkmaid Condensed Milk. Mix well. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes / slight change in color / thickens. Stir occasionally. Serve hot / warm / chilled. Sprinkle cardamom powder and decorate with shallow fried cashew nut splits and raisins.

Prawns Vada

Prawns Vada

A very delicious snack !!! (Basic recipe adapted from Veettiloru Sadya by Suma Sivadas (Suma Teacher, Kottayam, Kerala. Cookery book available @ DC Books online store).

Makes: 8 – 10

You will need

225 g prawns (net weight after cleaning)

3 tablespoons (45 g) grated coconut

2 green chillies (3 small size or 2 big size), chopped

½ - inch piece ginger, chopped

6 shallots (chuvannulli / small onion), chopped

¼ teaspoon pepper powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon lemon juice

6 curry leaves, chopped

75 g breadcrumbs (less than ½ cup)

200 ml cooking oil (to deep fry)

Method

Wash, clean and devein prawns. Drain out water completely and wipe well with a kitchen towel.

Transfer all the ingredients (except breadcrumbs and oil) in a mixer bowl and run mixer at a speed 1 for 30 seconds. Do not add water when making paste. It should be a rough mixture ( and also like a soft ball).

Divide the prawns mixture into 8 – 10 parts, make round balls, flatten it (like aloo tikki / pattice) and roll in breadcrumbs.

Heat oil in a frying pan / kadai. Reduce the heat to medium (please wait for 2 minutes. Do not fry on high heat. It will get dark brown color immediately, won’t cook and raw in taste) and deep fry prawns mixture until golden brown color and crisp on both the sides (approximate frying time 3 – 4 minutes for each side). Drain out oil and place on kitchen towel to absorb extra oil. Serve hot with Tea / Coffee or with Tomato ketchup or serve as a starter.