Easy Beetroot Raita

Easy Beetroot Raita – A delicious and easy raita. Best as a side dish with rice / pulao / rotis …

Serves: 1 – 2

Ingredients

100 ml curd / yogurt, whisk well

2 tablespoon very finely grated beetroot

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon chopped coriander leaves

Method

In a bowl, mix all the above ingredients together. Serve as a side dish with rice / pulao / rotis.

Apple Pachadi

Apple Pachadi – A delicious side dish with rice  / pulao / biryani  / rotis in Kerala Cuisine. Basic recipe from Asianet cookery show !!

Serves: 3 – 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, very finely chopped

¼ - inch ginger piece, finely chopped

1 green chilli, finely chopped

1 apple, cut into ¼ - inch thin slices

¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

200 ml thick curd, beat well

Method

Heat oil in a pan on a medium heat. Add finely chopped onion and fry until golden brown.

Add  chopped ginger and green chilli. Fry for 2 – 3 minutes until crisp.

Add thinly sliced apple and salt to taste. Gently stir well for 3 – 4 minutes until tender (do not overcook). 

Switch off the heat and keep aside to cool for half an hour. Once it reached normal temperature, add beaten curd and mix well until all the ingredients well combined (creamy and smooth in consistency).

For the seasoning:

1 teaspoon oil

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

4 curry leaves

Method

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add curry leaves and fry until crisp. Pour this seasoning over pachadi. Serve a side dish  with rice and other accompaniments.

Cucumber Raita

Cucumber Raita – A delicious side dish with rice / pulao / ghee rice / biryanis / rotis …

Serves:  2- 4

Ingredients

200 ml thick curd, whisk curd

2 small size or 1 big size cucumber, gently peel off the skin, trim both the ends and grate finely

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

In a serving bowl, gently mix whisked curd with salt and grated cucumber.

For the seasoning:

1 teaspoon oil

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)

¼ teaspoon urad dal

3 curry leaves

Method

Heat oil in a tadka pan. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add cumin seeds and urad dal. Fry on a low heat for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add curry leaves and stir well. Pour this seasoning over cucumber raita and decorate with chopped coriander leaves. Serve as a side dish with rice / pulao / rotis ..

Pasta Chaat / Pasta Salad

Pasta Chaat / Pasta Salad – A low calorie salad !!

Ingredients

1 cup boiled pasta (Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity)

1 onion (1 big size or 2 small size), finely chopped

1 tomato (1 big size or 2 small size),  finely chopped (or you can add any fresh vegetables / sprouts of your choice like cabbage, grated beetroot / carrot / tofu / paneer / boiled chickpeas / boiled egg ..)

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

2  teaspoon lime juice (or to taste)

¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder

¼ teaspoon chaat masala powder

2 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves

Method

In a wide bowl / serving dish, mix all the ingredients together. Finally, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves. Serve as snack.

Challas for Cutlet / Biryani

Challas for Cutlet & Biryani (Challas or Onion Salad is popular in Kerala cuisine. Best with veg or non veg  cutlets and as a side dish with biryanis. Indian Coffee House in  Kerala serves this type of onion salad with cutlets. A very easy salad preparation with minimum ingredients. Here’s the recipe !!!)

Here's the recipe of Baked Vegetable Cutlets

Here's the recipe of Baked Potato Balls

Here's the recipe of Deep fried vegetable cutlets

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1  big onion (I big size or 2 small size)

1 cup / 200 ml water

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 small green chilli, remove seeds and chop very fine or cut with kitchen scissor

1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Method

Cut onion into very thin slices and separate each layer.

Soak sliced onions in 1 cup water for 15 minutes. Squeeze out water (This recipe step is very important to make challas).

Finally mix onion with vinegar, salt and finely chopped green chilli. Consume after half an hour. Then onion will absorb all the flavors and it will become soft too. Serve with cutlet / biryani …

Black Chickpea Salad / Black Chana Salad

Black Chana Salad / Black Chickpea Salad

A low calorie nutritious salad !!!

Serves:  2 - 3

Ingredients

1 cup / 200 ml boiled / cooked chickpeas 

Or

For the  chickpeas:

Please use same measuring cup to measure black chickpea  & water.

1 cup / 100 ml black chickpea /kadala / black chana (Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity)

3 cups water

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon salt

Wash and soak black chickpeas in 3 cups of water for 6 – 7 hours or overnight. In a pressure cooker, add soaked  chickpea (along with its soaked water, final water level should be 1 – inch above the level of soaked chickpeas), turmeric powder and salt and pressure cook for 25 minutes until done and soft (reduce the heat on high after 3 quick whistle and cook on medium heat for 20 - 23 minutes. Switch off the heat. Allow the cooker to cool naturally). Drain out stock.

Other ingredients for salad:

1 onion (1 big size or 2 small size), finely chopped

1 tomato (1 big size or 2 small size),  finely chopped (or you can add any fresh vegetables / sprouts of your choice like cabbage, grated beetroot / carrot / tofu / paneer / boiled egg ..)

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

2 – 3 teaspoon lime juice (or to taste)

¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

¼ teaspoon chaat masala powder (optional)

Method

In a wide bowl / serving dish, mix all the ingredients together. Finally, sprinkle salt and chaat masala powder if required.

Chickpea Salad

Chickpea Salad

A low calorie nutritious salad !!!

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 cup (200 g / 4 oz) boiled chick peas

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tomato, finely chopped (or you can add any fresh vegetables / sprouts of your choice like cabbage, grated beetroot / carrot / tofu / paneer ..)

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

2 teaspoon lime juice

¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

¼ teaspoon chaat masala powder (optional)

Method

In a wide bowl / serving dish, mix all the ingredients together. Finally, sprinkle salt and chaat masala powder if required.

Boondi Raita

Boondi Raita - A very tasty raita, made of boondi and spicy curd. Goes well as a side dish with Rice / Rotis / Pulao varieties.

Serves : 2 - 3

Time required : 10 minutes

Ingredients

200 ml 1 cup / 8 oz  medium thick curd

1/2 teaspoon cumin ( jeera ) powder

Black pepper powder and salt to taste (or ¼ teaspoon each)

½ teaspoon chilli powder

2 pinches teaspoon rock salt

1 small bowl (or 3 tablespoons) kara boondi (reserve 1 teaspoon for decoration) Kara boondi or normal boondis available @ all supermarkets or please follow the recipe given below.

2 teaspoons chopped coriander leaves

Method

Beat curd well with an electrical beater or with Tupperware quick shaker. Add cumin powder ( reserve a little for later use ), black pepper powder, salt, red chilli powder, rock salt and kara boondi to the beaten curd and gently mix well.

Refrigerate raita till serving time. Garnished with coriander leaves, reserved boondi and a pinch of cumin powder. Serve with rice / rotis / pulao ..

How to prepare Boondis for Boondi Raita?

Boondi Maker / Flat ladles with holes available @ Santhosh Super Store, Anna Nagar, Chennai (or other steel utensil show room). Boondis are small and round if using boondi maker. Boondis will be big in perforated ladle.

Boondi - A very crispy deep fried snack, made of gram flour batter and spices.

Ingredients

1 cup / 200 ml (Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity) gram flour (besan / kadala maav / chone pitti), sieve flour

¾ cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

2 pinches red chilli powder

1 pinch hing (asafoetida)

200 ml oil (to deep fry)

Method

For the  batter:

In a bowl, mix sieved gram flour, red chilli powder,turmeric powder, hing and salt with water (first start with 1/2 cup (100 ml) water. If the batter is thick then adjust with extra 1 - 2 tablespoons of water. It depending upon the quality of the gram flour and texture) and make a smooth batter. Batter should be slightly thinner than dosa batter and bajji batter / pouring consistency. Keep aside for half an hour.

Final preparation:

Heat oil in a frying pan / kadai. Reduce the heat to medium and pour the batter over boondi maker  or perforated ladle and gently shake the ladle or spread the gram flour batter on top the perforated ladles with the help of tablespoon (Maintain a safe distance from the gas stove). Then the batter will fall through the holes of the ladle evenly into hot oil. Fry till golden color and crisp. Drain out from oil and place on kitchen towel to absorb extra oil well. Keep aside to cool for 15 minutes and later store in an airtight container. Serve as a snack with tea / coffee. This boondis are also very useful to make boondi raita / Kerala mixture / Aval mixture / or the preparation of North Indain chaats.

Brown Bread Raita

Brown bread Raita

An excellent side dish with Pulao / Biryani / Rice / Rotis …

Serves: 3

You will need

3 slices of Brown / whole wheat bread, cut off the edges of bread slices with a warm knife and then cut into ½ - inch square or triangular pieces. Shallow fry (without oil) in a non stick pan until golden color.

For dahi (curd / yogurt):

200 ml medium thick curd, blend well

½ teaspoon coriander powder (dhania)

½ teaspoon jeera (cumin seed) powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon red chilli powder

2 pinches chaat masala powder

1 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves

Method

In a blender or Tupperware quick shaker, blend curd with coriander powder, cumin seed powder, salt and red chilli powder.

Transfer this blended spiced curd in a serving bowl and gently arrange shallow fried bread pieces ( the bread pieces are to be added only just before consuming - just like bread croutons which are added to soup; else they may become too soft). Sprinkle chaat masala powder / seasoning of your liking - tamarind chutney etc - and decorate with chopped coriander leaves.

Onion Sambal

Refreshing Sambals

Simple, quick to make, and a delicious addition to any curry meal, sambals use similar ingredients to western salads: onions, cucumber, tomatoes. But there are the similarity ends. The vegetables are thinly sliced and dressed with lemon juice, salt, fresh herbs such as coriander or mint leaves, and (if you wish) a touch of chilli or chilli powder.

Serves: 3 - 4

You will need

2 or 3 medium onions

Salt, sugar and lemon juice to taste (or 1/2 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon sugar and 2 teaspoon lemon juice)

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

Few slices of hot fresh red chilli or pinch of red chilli powder

Method

Peel and slice onions thinly. Sprinkle salt, sugar and squeeze lemon juice. Stir in coriander leaves and chilli or red chilli powder, if desired. Serve at once.