Pizza Sauce

Hii Friends,

Sharing with you all the recipe for pizza sauce, which can be stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for many days. It can be used instantly in any Italian dishes.

This is my own version of "Tried and Tested and Successful" recipe and I am sure you will love this

Lets see how to make this

Ingredients

• Tomatos - 2
• Olive oil - 2 tsp
• Onion - 1/2, chopped very finely
• Capsicum - Chopped very finely
• Garlic - 4 cloves, chopped very finely
• Tomato puree - 2 cups (Homemade / Store brought)
• Salt - to taste
• Sugar - 2 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Fennel powder - 1 tsp
• Mixed italian herbs - (Oregano, thyme, marjaram, basil)- few each

Method

• Boil water in a vessel. Give 2 or 3 slits in the tomatoes and dop them in the boiling water. Close the lid and let it sit like that for almost 30 to 40 seconds.Shock the tomatoes in the cold water and remove the skin starting from the slit you made on them. Once it is cool, chop them ery finely. Keep aside
• Heat oil in a pan and add garlic. Keep the heat in medium. Saute until it is fried a little. Now add onions and saute till it is very well cooked.
• Now add the capsicum and saute it fr a minute.Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, salt and sugar. Add litle water, close the lid and allow it to cook for
• 20-30 minutes. Make sure it does not become too thicck. Keep stirring in between and add water if necessary.
• After around 30 minutes, add chilli powder, fennel powder and italian herbs. Close the lid again and cook for a minute or so. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.Turn off the heat. Store this in an air tight container once it is cooled doen completely and refridgerate. Use when necessary.

For Tomato puree at home

Ingredients
 

• Tomato - 6 big tomatoes
• Water - 3 cups

Method
 

• Boil water in a vessel. Give 2 or 3 slits in the tomatoes and dop them in the boiling water. Close the lid and let it sit like that for almost 30 to 40 seconds.Shock the tomatoes in the cold water and remove the skin starting from the slit you made on them.Chop them roughly. Once it is cooled down, blend in a mixer to get a fine puree.

Eggless Milk Powder Cake

The more I bake, the more I love it.. and now a days I am trying to prepare eggless and butterless cakes, so that to some extent it will be useful for weight watchers like me.
I love simple cakes, which is easy to prepare and with mild falvors.
I had a lot of milk powder at home and was confused about how to finish it. I googled and googled to find out something interesting. At last, I came up with this mind blowing cake.
I have modified the original recipe to suit my diet requirements. But I feel the result was really mind blowing, because it had an amazing texture and colour. I couldn't stop with one slice. My hubby liked it so much that he said 100 times that it is too good and asked me to prepare again and again.

 

Ingredients

• All purpose flour / Maida - 1+3/4 cup (210 gms)
• Sugar - 3/4 cup (150 gms)
• Milk powder - 3/4 cup (100 gms)
• Vanilla essense - 1 tsp
• Oil -  1/2 cup+1 tblspn (100 gms)
• Baking soda - 1 tsp
• Baking powder - 2 tsp
• Yoghurt (unsour) - 1/2 cup (120 ml)
• Milk - 1/2 cup(120 ml)
• Water - 1/2 cup (120 ml)
• Almonds - 1/4 cup, chopped
• Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 tblspn

Method

• Take all your ingredients (Forgot Apple Cider Vinegar in the pic)

• Preheat the oven @160 Deg Celcious. Take a loaf pan and grease it well using oil or butter. Sprinkle some flour and coat on all the sides. Tap out the excess flour and keep it aside.

• In a vessel, mix together milk, curd and  water. Mix really well.

• Sieve together flour, milk powder, baking soda and baking powder. Sieve them 2 or 3 times until everything is combined.

 

 

• In another vessel, mix oil, sugar, vanilla essence and Apple Cider Vinegar.

• Now all 3 mixtures are ready; flour mixture, sugar and oil mixture and milk-curd mixture.

• To the sugar and oil mixture, add half of the flour mixture and full milk-curd mixture. Use a whisk/spatula and fold in gently.
• Now add the remaining flour mixture and fold again gently, just until there are no lumps and everything is combined.

• Pour the entire batter in to the loaf pan and sprinkle some chopped almonds on top.

 

 

• Bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

• Take out from the oven and allow it to cool atleast for 20 minutes.
• Run a knife through the edges and remove the cake from the pan. Allow it to cool. Slice / cut them and Serve. 

  

 

Mor Urundai Kulambu

We had this for the first time from my best friend's house, few months ago. Myself and my hubby liked it to the core. I wrote down the recipe and prepared it twice or thrice and did not prepare this for months. Today, when I wanted to prepare this, I forgot the recipe. At last, I found the recipe what I wrote and made it. Not only my hubby, his lunch group friends too enjoyed this dish. A big thanks to my friend..!!!!

Do try this, and you will love this, as we did..

Ingredients

For the coconut paste

• Coconut - 1/2 cup
• Fried gram dal / Pottu kadalai - 1 tblspn
• Green chillies - 2
• Red Chillies - 2
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Yoghurt - 1/2 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup

For the Dal dumplings

• Toor dal - 1 cup
• Urad dal - 1 tblspn
• Green chilly - 1 or 2, according to your spice preference
• Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
• Onion - 1 , finely chopped
• Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn, finely chopped
• Salt - to taste

For seasoning

• Oil - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 2 nos
• Curry leaves - 1 spring

Other ingredients

• Coriander leaves - 2 tblspn
• Curry leaves - 5 or 6

Method

For the coconut paste

• Combine all the ingredients in the "For the coconut paste" heading under the ingredients list, in a blender and blend it to a very smooth paste. Keep aside

For the Dal dumplings

• Wash and soak toor dal and urad dal together for 1 hour

• Drain the water completely and grind it along with some salt, ginger and green chillies. Do not add water while grinding. Grind in to a coarse paste.

• Transfer this paste in to a bowl and add onion and coriander leaves and mix well.

• Grease your idli molds well

• Make small lemon sized balls out of ground lentils and place them on the idli molds

• Steam it for about 7 - 8 minutes in a medium heat. Open the lid and check whether it is raw. It will be little hard if it has cooked properly.

• Your Dal dumplings are now ready

How to proceed?

• Transfer the coconut paste in a vessel and bring this heat. Add water and adjust the consistency. It should not be too thick nor too thin.

• When it is just about to boil, add the half of the curry leaves and coriander leaves. Save the rest for seasoning and garnishing.

• Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.
• Take the steamed dal  dumplings and add in to this

• Mix very gently. Make sure not to break them. Allow it to cook for a minute and them turn off the heat
• In a seasoning pan, heat oil and crackle mustard seeds. Add urad dal. Mix until it starts turning golden brown. Add red chillies and curry leaves. Turn off the heat. Pour this hot seasoning in to the curry.
• Transfer the curry to a serving dish and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with hot rice or string hoppers / idiyappam.

Kerala Kadala curry (black channa masala)

I was brought up in Kerala and I had this particular dish for the first time in my friend's house when I was young. I totally fell in love with this heavenly delicious dish served along with puttu. From then, I was behind my mom asking her to prepare that same dish. And now, my mom is an expert in preparing kadala curry. There are many variations in preparing this curry.You can also follow the same recipe for white chick peas, if you do not have the black ones.
After marriage, I tried this a couple of times but was not fully satisfied with the outcome. But this time, I can say that both myself and my hubby liked what I prepared with some tips and tricks given by my mom. So, I am posting my own style of kadala curry recipe which can be had with idiyappam / string hoppers, Appam or puttu.

Ingredients

To Roast and Grind

• Coriander seeds - 1 tblspn
• Red chillies - 3 nos
• Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
• Cinnamon - a very small piece ((1/2 inch)
• Cloves - 2 nos
• Cardamom - 2 nos
• Pepper corns - 5 - 6 nos
• Star anise - 1/2
• Shallots/ pearl onion - 4 nos
•  Tomato - 1, cubed
• Coconut - 1/2 cup
• Oil - 1 tsp

 Other Ingredients

• Black chick peas - 1 cup
• Onion- 1 , thinly sliced
• Shallots / pearl onion - 4 (Optional, but it adds taste)
• Oil -  2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - 1 spring
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Ginger - 1 inch, sliced thinly
• Salt - to taste
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Kitchen king masala / garam masala - 1 tsp (Optional)
• Coriander leaves - to garnish
• Coconut milk - 1 tblspn (Optional)

Method

To Grind

•  Heat oil in a pan. Add coriander seeds , Red chillies, Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, star anise and pepper corns. Saute for 1 min or till it releases nice aroma. 
• Add shallots and fry until it becomes transparent.
• Add the tomatoes. Saute everything together for a minute or two. Make sure the spices are not burnt. If it get burnt, you have to start the entire process from the beginning.
• Turn off the heat. Mix the grated coconut with this and allow the mixture to cool completely. 
• Blend it to a smooth paste by adding water. Do not make it too watery. It should be a thick paste. Keep this aside

How to Proceed

• Wash Black chick peas well and soak them in water for about 6 hours to 8 hours or over night. Pressure cook by adding enough water and salt, allowing it for 8 to 10 whistles.Do not throw away the water after cooking the chick peas.
• In a pan, heat oil and crackle mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add shallots/ pearl onion, sliced big onions, ginger, turmeric powder and salt. Fry them really well until it is transparent. 
• Add the water from boiled chick peas.Bring it to one boil and add the boiled chick peas.
• Let it cook for 2 minutes, then add the prepared coconut paste and kitchen king masala. Give it a good mix. Adjust the water consistency. Close the lid and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
• Turn off the heat. Add coconut milk and finely chopped coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with puttu/ idiyappam/ Appam.

We had this with Corn meal Idiyappam