Vegetable Cutlet (with bread slices)

Vegetable Cutlets  (with bread slices) - A deep fried  delicious evening snack. Best with tea / coffee...

Makes: 10

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, finely sliced

3 curry leaves, chopped

¾ teaspoon red chilli powder

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ cup steamed / boiled  vegetables – 1 carrot, 5 French beans and ¼ cup shredded cabbage or 2 tablespoon grated beetroot)

3 medium size potatoes, boiled and mashed (quantity of potatoes should be more than other vegetables. You can use any vegetables of your choice)

1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder (or a mix of 1/4 teaspoon clove powder + 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder + 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder or 1/2 teaspoon Kerala meat masala powder)

¾  teaspoon salt (or to taste)

2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

3 brown bread / whole wheat bread slices (or normal bread slices)

¼ cup water

1 egg white (or dilute 2 tablespoons maida (all purpose flour) with 4 tablespoons water. Make a smooth smooth solution and keep aside).

80 g bread crumbs (approximately ½ cup) or ½ cup powdered corn flakes

250 ml oil (to deep fry)

Fresh salad and tomato ketchup to serve

Method

Dilute red chilli powder and turmeric powder in 2 teaspoon water and keep aside (spice mix).

Heat oil in a pan. Add sliced onions and fry till golden color on a medium to low heat until golden color.

Add curry leaves and fry for 1 minute.

Add diluted spice mix and fry on a low heat for 1 minute until water dries up and raw smell goes.

Add boiled and mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables, salt to taste, chopped coriander leaves and garam masala powder. Mix all the ingredients well.

Cover with a tight lid and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes. Open the lid and stir continuously for 5 minutes. Do not add water when cooking. Switch off the heat and keep aside to cool for 15 minutes.

Dip bread slices in ¼ water for 30 seconds. Immediately squeeze out water and make a soft ball / dough.

Add this soft bread ball / dough to cutlet mixture and stir well continuously for 5 minutes until it’s well combined with other ingredients. Adding bread will make cutlet mixture easy to mould and strong.

Divide cutlet mixture into 10 parts. Make round or oval shape. Dip each cutlet into egg white (or diluted maida mixture) and roll in breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs should  be coated  well / evenly  and make strong cutlets. 

Heat oil in a frying pan or karahi on high heat. Reduce the heat to medium  (wait for 1 minute,  do not fry on high heat) and deep fry 4 cutlets at a time till brown color and crisp on both the sides. Drain out from oil and place on kitchen towel  / paper towel to absorb extra oil. Serve hot with fresh salad (challas) or tomato ketchup or tea / coffee.

Southenkayi Dosa / Cucumber Dosa

Sounthenkayi Dosa / Cucumber Dosa . Recipe from ‘’The South IndianTiffin recipes by Vasantha Moorthy’’ !!

Ingredients

 1 ½ cup raw rice / pachari /soorai orovu (Indian standard measuring cup of 1 cup / 200 ml / 8 oz cacity)

½ cup poha (avalakki / white aval)

½  cup grated coconut or 6 tablespoons grated coconut

1 medium size cucumber, gently peel off outer skin and chopped

½ teaspoon salt

1/ 4 cup water ( for final mixing)

¼ teaspoon cooking soda

1 tablespoon cooking oil

Method

Wash and soak together  rice and poha  in 3 cups of water for  5 hours or overnight.  Grind rice - poha with grated coconut and chopped cucumber  in a big mixer bowl and make a smooth paste. Add less than ¼ cup water when making paste. Batter should not be too watery. Just like normal dosa batter.

Transfer this batter into another vessel . Add salt and  ¼ teaspoon cooking soda. Mix well.  Cover and keep aside for 4 hours or minimum ½ hour.

In a dosa tawa / griddle, heat little oil on high heat. Reduce the heat to medium.  Pour a ladleful (approximately 120 ml ) of the batter into it. Spread evenly by circular rotations using the base of the ladle, starting from the centre and progressing outwards. Close with a lid.

Allow to cook for about 30 seconds (until top portion done ). Turn the other side and cook  until light golden color. Carefully remove it with flat spatula. Repeat the process with the remaining batter. Serve hot with chutney/ sambar /  spicy vegetable  curry / korma / gashi /  prawns / chicken curry.

Sooji Dhokla / Rava Dhokla

Sooji Dhokla  / Rawa Dhokla - A delicious & quick Gujarati snack. Best with green chutney !!

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Makes: 10 - 12 medium size dhoklas

Ingredients

Please use same measuring cup to measure gram flour and water.

1 cup / 200 ml / 8 oz (Indian standard measuring cup)  sooji (Bombay rawa)

1 cup / 200 ml / 8 oz curd / yogurt

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon ginger paste

1/4 cup + 3 tablespoon water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Eno fruit salt (available @ medical stores and supermarkets. It's an antacid and good for digestion)

1/2 teaspoon  oil to grease the pan

Method

Grease a steel thali / bowl with ½ teaspoon oil and keep aside.

In a bowl,  mix sooji,  curd, salt,  ginger paste and turmeric powder.

Add 1/4 cup water and make a batter of pouring consistency. Add extra 2 – 3 tablespoon water if required. Finally mix with Eno fruit salt. Stir well until all the ingredients well combined.

Immediately pour the mixture in a greased pan / thali / bowl . Pour a glass of water in the pressure cooker or National rice cooker.  Keep the pan in the pressure cooker over a stand. Close the lid and do not put weight. Steam for 15 minutes or till done ( reduce the steam to low and steam for 15 minutes ).

Keep aside for cool for half an hour and cut into desired shapes.

For the Seasoning:

2 teaspoon cooking oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds ( jeera )

2 green chillies , slit lengthwise

1 spring curry leaves or 6 nos

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoon water

3 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon hing ( asafoetida )

2 teaspoon coriander leaves, chopped

1 tablespoon desiccated coconut ( optional )

Method

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they start sputter add jeera, curry leaves and  green chillies. Fry on a low heat until crisp and fragrant. Add lemon juice, 2 tablespoon water, sugar and hing . Boil for 2 minutes.  Pour this seasoning over dhokla.

Sprinkle with desiccated coconut and chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot / cool  with green chutney.

For Green Chutney:

Makes: 1/2 cup

Ingredients   

                                                          

4 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (or a mix of mint and coriander)

½ - inch piece ginger, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 green chilli, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoon split roasted gram dal (pottukadalai)  or 2 tablespoon grated coconut  - adding grated coconut or pottukadai will make the chutney thick in consistency

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

3 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon lime juice

Method

In a small mixer bowl, transfer all the ingredients (except lime juice) and make a smooth paste. Finally add lime juice and mix well. Chutney should be thick in consistency. Serve with dhokla / khandvi or anyother  North Indian snacks.

Bread Pakoda Sandwich

Bread Pakoda Sandwich – A tasty evening snack. Best with tomato ketchup !!

Makes: 8 small size sandwich pakodas

Main ingredients

4 bread slices (whole wheat  / brown bread or normal bread)

2 teaspoon butter

250 ml oil (to deep fry)

For green chutney:

Ingredients

4 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (or a mix of mint and coriander)

½ - inch piece ginger, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoon split roasted gram dal (pottukadalai) – adding pottukadai will make the chutney thick in consistency or 2 tablespoon grated coconut

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

3 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon lime juice (optional)

Method

In a small mixer bowl, transfer all the ingredients (except lime juice) and make a smooth paste. Finally add lime juice (optional) and mix well. Chutney should be thick in consistency.

For the  batter :

Ingredients

1 cup / 200 g / 8 oz  gram flour ( besan  / kadalamaav / chone pitti)

2 teaspoon rice flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon red chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/4 teaspoon hing ( asafoetida )

Water for mixing ( approximately 1/2 cup  + 3 tablespoon )

Method

Mix gram flour, rice flour,  salt , red chilli powder, turmeric powder and hing. Add water and make a batter of pouring consistency (like bajji batter / bonda batter).  Cover and keep aside for 15 minutes.

Final stage:

Trim crusts from 4 slices of bread. Apply ½ teaspoon butter on one side of each bread. Then apply thick green chutney evenly over butter. Make 2 bread sandwich. Cut into square or triangle. 4 squares or 4 triangles from 1 sandwich.

Heat oil in a karahi / frying pan on high heat. Reduce the heat to medium. Dip each sandwich square or triangle into besan batter (carefully hold sandwich bread) and deep fry till golden color on both the sides. 4 sandwich square or triangle at a time. Drain out from oil and place on paper towel to absorb extra  oil. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Easy Rasmalai

Easy Rasmalai – A delicious sweet, made of milk powder, egg, condensed milk and milk. Recipe from Vanitha Magazine, October 15 – 31, 2010 (page no 104) !!

Makes: 14 – 16 ras malai

Ingredients

1 cup / 200 ml / 8 oz (Indian standard measuring cup) milk powder

1 level teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoon ghee

1 small size egg, beat well

1 cup / 200 ml / 8 oz boiled milk

½ tin milkmaid sweetened condensed milk (or 4 tablespoons)

¼ teaspoon cardamom powder

1 teaspoon chopped dry fruits (to decorate)

Method

Sieve twice milk powder and baking powder.

Transfer sieved milk powder into a bowl. Grease hand with ghee. Gently knead milk powder  with beaten egg and make a soft dough. Do no give much pressure while kneading.

Divide this soft dough into 14 – 16 portions. Make round balls and flatten it slightly. Arrange these prepared balls in a separate plate.

In a bowl / sauce pan, boil milk and condensed milk together. Boil for 10 minutes until slightly thickens. Switch off the heat and gently keep prepared balls one by one. Cover and keep aside for  two  hours.  Ras malai will absorb milk and it’ll become larger in size. Sprinkle cardamom powder and decorate with chopped dry fruits.

Basic Sponge Cake

Basic Sponge Cake

All the ingredients should be at room temperature and please use standard measuring cups and teaspoons. Please use same measuring cup to measure flour, sugar and unsalted butter. Ratio is 1: 1: 1, equal amount of flour, powdered sugar and butter. This batter is also useful to make cup cakes, easy fruit cake and various types of fillings.

Ingredients

For the flour:

1/2 cup (100 ml) all purpose flour ( maida ) (please use fresh all purpose flour) Please use Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity.

½  level teaspoon baking powder

One pinch salt

Other ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted soft butter (cooking butter). Keep aside to cool for half hour. Then it will become soft (weight measurement is 50 g)

1/2 cup (100 ml) sugar, measure sugar and then make a powder (or 3/4^th level powdered sugar in Indian standard measuring cup of 1 cup / 200 ml / 8 oz capacity)

2 eggs  (net weight of 2 eggs are 106 g)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Extra 1 teaspoon butter ( to grease baking dish)

Method

Grease baking dish with 1 teaspoon butter and dust with 1 tablespoon flour (sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of flour inside a cake pan and shake to coat all greased surface. Turn pan upside down to tap out the excess flour ).

Sieve thrice flour, baking powder and salt.

Preheat oven (OTG) at 180 *C or 350 *F.

In a big bowl, beat  soft unsalted butter (@ room temperature) until creamy with the help of an electrical beater.

Add powdered sugar and beat until creamy.

Add egg one by one and beat until smooth and creamy / light golden color (use electric beater).

Add sieved flour in batches (2 batches) and gently mix with the help of a thick tablespoon (do not use electric beater at this stage) until well blended / smooth cake mixture.

Add  1 teaspoon vanilla essence and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Mix well with a thick tablespoon.

Final procedure:

Transfer this cake mixture into a greased baking pan - ring, square or round (or paper lined ). Here I’ve used is 15 cm x 5 cm round pan. Spread evenly with a spatula, and bake at 180 * C or 350 * F for 30 - 35 minutes or till golden brown or till a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean / leaves from the sides of the pan. Keep aside to cool for one hour.

Run a knife round inside of the pan to loosen the cake, and then invert the pan. Once it reaches normal room temperature, cover cake gently with a butter paper / cling film / aluminium foil and store in a refrigerator for minimum 2 hours or overnight. Then it will be very easy to make perfect slices.

Cake cutting tip:

Heat a knife first before cutting a cake for crumble-free slices. To heat the knife, you can run the knife under very hot water (or heat knife directly in a gas flame) then wipe dry with a clean towel.

Here's the recipe link of Eggless Cake (Recipe from Tarla Dalal)

Idiyappam with Green peas Curry

Idiyappam with Green peas curry – A tasty curry, goes well with Idiyappam (string hoppers)

Serves: 2 - 3

Ingredients

100 ml / ½ cup / 4 oz (Indian standard measuring cup) dried green peas

300 ml water

½ teaspoon salt

Method

In a bowl, wash and soak green peas with 300 ml water. In a pressure cooker, boil soaked green peas (along with  water in which it’s soaked) and ½ teaspoon salt. Final water level should be ½ - inch level above green peas in pressure cooker. Close the pressure cooker lid and cook until 2 quick whistles. Switch off the cooker and allow to cool naturally. Open the lid and check whether it’s cooked. If it’s not cooked and water level is reduced, add ¼ cup water and cook again for 1 whistle. Normally green peas will cook very fast and more than 3 whistles will overcook green peas.

For the coconut paste:

Ingredients

6 tablespoon grated coconut

½ teaspoon red chilli powder or 4 dried red chillies

½ level teaspoon thick tamarind paste

2 tablespoon water

Method

Make a  smooth paste of above ingredients in a small mixer bowl. Keep aside.

Other ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

6 curry leaves

Boiled green peas

Coconut paste

50 – 75 ml water

½ teaspoon homemade meat masala powder or  garam masala powder

Method

In a pan / karahi, heat oil on a medium heat. Add thinly sliced onions and fry till golden color on a medium heat.

Add curry leaves and fry well for 1 minute.

Add boiled green peas, coconut paste, adjust salt to taste, extra 50  - 75 ml water and ½ teaspoon garam masala powder. Mix all the ingredients well. Cover with a tight lid and cook on a medium to low heat for 10 minutes.  Serve with idiyappam / appam / chapati ..

Homemade Kerala Meat Masala powder (Recipe from Kuttanadan Ruchikal by Ashok and Meril)

Makes: 45 g

Ingredients

3 tablespoon fennel seeds (perumjeerakam)

2 teaspoon cardamom (elakka) seeds from 18 cardamom, do not use skin

2 teaspoon cloves (grambu)

2 teaspoon or 4 small size star anise (thakkolam)

2 cinnamon sticks (karuvappata)

2 teaspoon khus khus (poppy seeds)

Method

Please select good quality spices. Gently wipe cinnamon sticks with a soft dry towel.

Heat iron  karahi / pan on a medium heat. Reduce  the heat to low and gently dry  roast above spices until light fragrant (approximate time 8 - 10 minutes on a medium to low heat). Keep aside to cool for half an hour.

Transfer dry roasted ingredients into  a small mixer bowl and make a fine powder and then sieve it through a fine sieve (now the net weight is 45 g). Store it in an airtight container (or in Tupperware dry storage box). ½ teaspoon meat masala powder required for egg curry  and mushroom (2 servings, 2 boiled eggs or 200 g mushroom) and 1 teaspoon meat masala powder required for 500 g  chicken  / mutton preparation (for curry and biryani).

Ridge Gourd Dal

Ridge Gourd Dal  (Ghossale galnu Dal) -  A very tasty, simple  dal with  jeera seasoning. Best combination with any Indian breads and rice of your choice !!!!

Serves: 2 - 3

Ingredients

For the dal:

Dal and water ratio is 1: 3 ( 1 cup dal + 3 cups water)

½ cup / 100 ml tur dal (Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity

300 ml water

1/2 teaspoon oil

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Method

For the dal:

Wash and soak dal in 300 ml  water  for 30 minutes. Add  oil, turmeric powder (along with water in which dal soaked)  and pressure cook for 20 minutes or until done / soft (reduce the heat to medium after 2nd whistle and cook for 15 minute). Switch off the heat. Allow the cooker to cool naturally. Open the lid. Blend dal well.

Other ingredients

1 small size ride gourd (gossale), Wash, clean and remove the ridges from the ridge gourd ( ghosale ) and cut into thin slices or any other shape (or 1/2 – inch cubes)

2 slit green chillies

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

½ to ¾ cup hot water

Method

Transfer cooked dal along with stock into a bowl and boil with ridge gourd pieces, slit green chilli, salt to taste. If the cooked dal is too thick in consistency, add ¾ cup hot water. If the dal is pouring in consistency, adjust with ¼ - ½ cup of hot water. Mix all the ingredients well. Cover with a lid and boil on a medium to low heat for 12 – 15 minutes until ridge gourd well cooked. Switch off the heat.

Final tadka (seasoning):

Ingredients

2 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)

4 curry leaves

Method

Heat oil in a small pan / tadka pan. Add jeera and fry on a low heat until fragrant. Add curry leaves and fry until crisp. Pour the seasoning  over dal and serve with rotis / rice …