LEMON RICE

Hello everyone

South Indian flavours are my all time favorite. That's why I often used to prepare South Indian delicacies at my home and everyone loves it a lot. Today I was not in mood of cooking but some thing must be needed for our dinner. Then idea strikes to make lemon rice as I had lots of cooked rice from lunch and these will be perfect for preparing lemon rice in no time. As everyone have their own way of preparing the same dish, so here is mine version of lemon rice which never let me down in flavours. I can relish on these lemonish beauty any time.
Recipe is given below, hope you all will love to try it.

LEMON RICE

Serves: 3-4
Time: 10-15 mins

Ingredients

3- 4 cups cooked rice
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafetida ( heeng)
1 tbsp Chana dal
1 tbsp urad dal
1/4 cup peanuts ( optional)
2-3 springs curry leaves
3-4 dry red chilies
2-3 green chilies, finely chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder ( completely optional, I added to spice up)
1-2 tbsp lemon juice ( adjust as per taste)
Salt to taste
Oil


Method:

Heat oil in a wok, add asafetida and mustard seeds. Let it crackle then add peanuts and fry for 2-3 mins. Then add Chana dal and fry till light golden . Add urad dal and saute for few seconds, till light golden. Now add both chilies and curry leaves. Saute for a minute then add turmeric powder. Just stir for a second and lemon juice followed by rice, black pepper and salt. Mix everything well and saute for 2-3 minutes to incorporate all the flavours in rice. Serve hot with any raita or as it is. It needs nothing to accompany as is full of aroma and flavour.

** Always try to add pre cooked rice ,  cooked atleast 3-4 hrs earlier. This will give nice fluffy rice.

* Don't add both dal together to fry as urad dal burns quickly. So follow the steps religiously.

* After adding lemon juice, immediately add rice as cooking of lemon juice may turn it little bitter.

* Adjust chilies and lemon juice as per taste.

Enjoy this super easy rice dish and satisfy your hunger in a yummy way. This will be best for lunch, dinner, breakfast or even for tiffin too.

Do try this simplest recipe and let me know your experience. Please pour your valuable comments and suggestions here, they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

CURD RICE

Hello everyone

Now a days as weather is changing , it affecting our daily routine too. Sometimes we feel energetic and  after a little feel like lazy . But our tummy is not lazy at all, it needs all its spread ready at time. What to do , when not feel like cooking and also this weather makes us to avoid outside foods. After scratching head for long the idea stuck in , is to prepare curd rice. Simple clear flavours without much fuss and filling too. What else you need😊 it's a life saver easiest dish that can be prepared in jiffy and everyone will like also. I never followed any set rule for cooking my food , so this one is also my way of curd rice, hope you will enjoy digging in.

Step wise recipe is given below, do try and let me know , how's it turned out for you.

CURD RICE

Serves: 3-4

Time : 15-30 mins ( depend on you have cooked rice or not)

Ingredients 

4-5 cup cooked rice ( you can also prepare fresh, I had left over)

1 tsp urad dal

1 tsp Chana dal

1 tsp mustard seeds

3-4 red dry chilies, round or long 

1/4 tsp asafetida ( heeng)

2-3 spring curry leaves 

3 medium onions, sliced

2-3 green chilies, finely chopped

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 - 1 1/2 cup yogurt ( curd), beaten

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat some oil in a wok, add asafetida followed by mustard seeds and red chilies. Let them crackle and add Chana dal , saute till aromatic then add urad dal followed by curry leaves.

 Saute for a minute then add onion and green chilies. Fry till onions become nice transparent. 

Now add ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute. Add beaten curd followed by cooked rice and salt.

 Mix well and cook for another 3-4 mins. 

Your delicious curd rice is ready to serve. 

It doesn't need any thing else to accompany as it already has all the flavours. It's light on your tummy yet delicious indeed. 

Always add urad dal after Chana dal is lightly roasted as urad dal has tendency to burn quickly. So be careful while frying pulses, burnt one spoil your whole dish.

If you don't have left over rice then prepare fresh and use. Generally over cooked rice is used to prepare curd rice but I like well cooked one. You can prepare as per your preference of rice.

Whenever you want to have light lunch/dinner, just go for it. You will never regret. Hope you will definitely give it a try and don't forget to share your experience with me here, your valuable comments and suggestions, meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

RESTAURANT STYLE ONION TOMATO CHUTNEY

Hello everyone

People who are fond of South Indian delicacies will definitely love this yummy onion tomato red chutney generally served with idly and dosa in restaurants. I too love to relish on these tangy chutney every time I make South Indian platter. These are flavour enhancer that goes well with plain dosa and idly too. Stepwise recipe is given below, hope you all will like it.

RESTAURANT STYLE ONION TOMATO RED CHUTNEY

Serves : 4-5

Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

2 big onions, finely sliced

2 big tomatoes , finely chopped

1 tbsp Chana dal

1 tbsp urad dal

1 spring curry leaves

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp asafetida ( heeng)

1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

1/8 tsp turmeric powder

1-2 green chillies or dry red chilies

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp oil

Salt to taste

For tempering:

1 tsp oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp urad dal

Pinch of asafetida ( heeng)

1 spring curry leaves

Method:

Heat oil in a wok, add heeng and mustard seed. Let it splutter then add Chana dal, fry till little golden then add urad dal sauté for 5 secs, or till it become aromatic and little golden, then add curry leaves and green or dry red chilies, again sauté for 1 min then add onion and tomatoes . Sauté for 5 mins then add red chilli powder , turmeric powder and salt. Cover it and let it cook till onions and tomatoes are nicely cooked and mushy. 

Now let it cool and then grind to a smooth paste using little water if required. Now add lemon juice in it and mix well.

Now for tempering, heat oil in a pan , add heeng and mustard seeds. Let it splutter then add curry leaves and urad dal ,let golden and crisp then pour on your prepared chutney and mix well. 

Your your finger licking yummy red chutney is ready to go with idly, dosa or uttapam.

You can increase or decrease the quantity of chilies and lemon juice as per your taste. Use nice red tomatoes and red chiles for good red colour of your chutney. Never fry Chana dal and urad dal together as Chana dal takes more time to cook and urad dal get browned in secs. So if you do so, end up with uncooked Chana dal and burnt urad dal.

 If you are not willing to make sambhar and other stuffs to complement your South Indian platter then this one is sure a heart winning quick and yummy side dish for you.

Hope you all will definitely give it a try and please pour your valuable comments and suggestions , they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

SUPER CRISP INSTANT MOONG DAL DOSA

Hello everyone

Who don't like dosa? I love all South Indian delicacies including crisp dosa. But sometime we instantly have craving for it but couldn't have it due to long process of soaking, grinding , fermenting and then we can have it after a long wait of whole one day. So generally we head towards restaurant to satisfy our instant cravings. So I thought why not to try some healthy , quick yet equally yummy substitute of this traditional delicacy. As a result here is this super crisp, yummy , healthy and quickest dosa for you to relish . It took maximum half an hour from soaking to serving. Even kids too love this quick version. Those who love dosa but can't handle urad dal heaviness can also enjoy these lite and healthy dosas. Now no more waiting for fermentation to enjoy your favorite meal.

Stepwise recipe is given below, hope you all will definitely give it a try and I bet , you will fall in love with this quick version.

SUPER CRISP INSTANT MOONG DAL DOSA

Serves: 3-4

Time: 30 mins ( max)

Ingredients

2 cup split moong dal

1/2 cup rice powder

2-3 green chilies

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

Salt to taste

Method:

Soak moong dal in hot water for 10-15 mins. Then add all ingredients together in a grinder and make a smooth paste using required water . Grind at least for 4-5 mins so that you can see small bubbles in batter. 

Batter should be of pouring consistency but not runny. It should be of consistency like regular dosa batter. Now your batter is ready to make dosa.

Take a non stick dosa tawa, heat it on medium flame. Grease it lightly and wipe with tissue or you can make dosa on it without greasing too. Pour  ladle full of batter in center and spread it in circular motion outwards. Its crispness depends on how thin you spread it. Let it cook till brown patches are visible. 

Then fold it as you like and serve hot with any chutney or sauce of your choice. Your super quick crisp dosa is ready.

*If you have enough time in hand then can also soak moong dal in normal water for 1/2 hr then grind.

You can also make stuffed dosa by adding stuffing of your choice in it.

**If you are making it on normal iron tawa then try to make 1-2 parathas on it before making dosa. After making each dosa wipe tawa with a piece of onion. It will act as non stick coating on iron tawa😁 and you will get nice clean and crisp dosas every time. 

**Always keep heat medium, as at lower heat your dosa can't be spread nicely and on too hot tawa you will get burnt dosa. So to get nice crisp and golden dosa , keep medium heat. If it become too hot , sprinkle some water to lower its temp.

This is easiest and quickest dosa I ever made. Hope you all will love it too and please pour your valuable comments and suggestions , they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

TRADITIONAL IDLI, DOSA AND UTTAPAM WITH OATS

Hello everyone

I always found South Indian foods a real comforting food. Everyone likes idlis, doses, uttapams, sambhar etc  and I too a big fan of these soothing and light comforting food. As I always try to make little healthy changes in my regular cooking, in my previous idli recipe I used Dalia and this time going to introduce you with oats idlis but made in traditional way as soaking and fermentation is included in whole process. So why not give it a try, recipe is given below.

TRADITIONAL IDLI, DOSA AND UTTAPAM WITH OATS

Serves: 4-5

Time: 2 hrs( excluding soaking and fermentation time)

Ingredients 

1 cup split urad dal

1 cup oats

2 cup rice ( idli rice or any old variety rice)

1 tsp fenugreek seeds( methi)

1 fistful cooked rice or soaked poha ( flattened rice)

1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Soak oats, rice +fenugreek seeds and dal separately for 3-4 hrs. Then grind dal using little water till light and tiny bubbles are visible in it. It will take nearly 15-20 mins for grinding each batch of dal, so have patience, as it's needed for good soft and spongy idlis. Now grind oats and rice + cooked rice or poha + methi to a smooth paste. Now mix all together and add salt. Give it a good stir and let it ferment overnight in a quit big vessel to avoid overflow of batter.

Always use little water at a time for grinding other wise you may end with runny batter. Idli batter should be as thick to be fall as a blob.

When it get nicely fermented it will become frothy. Ready your steamer or cooker with rolling boil water .Now grease idli molds and fill 2 tbsp batter in each of them and steam for 8-10 mins. Let it rest for 2 mins after done ,then scoop out warm idlis with wet spoon. Serve with your choice of chutneys and sambhar.

If you wish to make uttapam out of this batter then dilute a little. It's batter should be little thinner than idli batter and thicker than dosa batter. Thick pouring consistency batter. Now heat a non stick pan on medium heat, Apply some oil on it and pour 2-3 ladle full of batter on it and spread like a thick dosa. Sprinkle some finely chopped veggies ( grated carrots, finely chopped onions, tomatoes, capsicum,coriander leaves, chilies etc) over it and press lightly with a spatula so that they get nicely stick to batter. Cover it with lid and cook till upper sides looks dry, then flip it and cook for another 1-2 mins.

 Now your steaming hot spongy uttapam is ready to be served.

For making dosa, dilute batter further more till dosa batter consistency. Now heat nonstick dosa tawa on medium heat apply some oil and wipe it with tissue paper. Pour 1 ladle full of batter on it and spread  with light hand in circular motion outwards. Let it cook till brown patches are visible , then fold and serve with chutney and sambhar. 

Your crispy, crunchy dosa is ready. You can also stuff it with your choice of stuffing.

If you are soaking dal and rice over night then try to soak oats in the morning, it will be ready in 1/2 -1 hr. Overnight soaking of oats may leads to smelly batter. Don't  over ferment your batter , once it's done try to use it or keep it in fridge. Before using it let it come to room temperature for best result.

Your all the three South Indian delicacies are ready with the same batter, either enjoy at a time or have three times, different breakfast ,lunch and dinner . 

Hope you all will like this little healthy addition to this traditional recipe, pour your valuable comments and suggestions here, they meant a lot.

Happy cooking....

SOFT AND FLUFFY DALIA IDLIS

Hello everyone

In my family everyone like idli and doses. I make them very often, but this time thought to give some more healthy touch to it. So tried adding Dalia which generally people don't like to have. As dalia is full of fibers , so to increase nutritional value of regular idlis I added them too. And too my surprise it turned out so soft and fluffy that no one can distinguish between regular and these ones. I used to make its dosa too and it too came out perfect. Hope you all will enjoy these two South Indian delicacies with a twist. Recipe is inspired from Ruchi airen's blog so want to thank her too. Recipe is given below.

SOFT AND FLUFFY DALIA IDLI

Ingredients 

2 cups Dalia

1 cup rice

1 cup urad dal

1 tsp fenugreek seeds( methi seeds)

1 fistful of cooked rice or soaked flattened rice

1 tsp salt

Method:

Soak all above ingredients separately except cooked rice for at least 4-5 hrs.

Then grind it separately using little water to smooth paste then mix together well to form batter of idli consistency and add salt in it.

Now take half of the batter and add water in it to make dosa batter consistency ,it's  ready for dosa prepration. 

Let other half batter to sit overnight to ferment.

Make dosas of the former batter on a non stick dosa tawa , believe me its much more easiar to spread it on tawa than regular batter and taste n crunch  is almost same of regular ones... I made paneer stuffed and plain dosas,you can also make stuffed ones with filling of your choice.Now enjoy it  with sambhar , red chutney and coconut chutney.

For idli , after fermentation pour 2tbsp batter in each greased idli mold and steam for 10-12 mins or microwave it for 4-5 mins ,as we do with normal idli batter and enjoy steaming hot with sambhar and chutney.

While grinding urad dal make sure to get light and fluffy batter. More light the urad batter will give more lighter and fluffy idlis.

This way you can enjoy two delicacies to two consecutive days as I do😊😊...hope you will like this little healthy twist in regular dish. So please let me know your likes , dislikes, comments and suggestions here, they meant a lot to me.

Happy cooking....