Green Moong Dal Gravy

Ingredients

For Grinding:

• Onion - 2 nos
• Ginger - 1 inch pc
• Garlic - 5 cloves
• Green chillies - 2 nos
• Cashew - 6 nos
• Cinnamon - 1 small stick
• Cloves - 3 nos
• Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp

Others

• Green moong dal - 1 cup
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Red Chillies - 2 nos
• Tomatoes - 2, cut in to cubes
• Coriander powder - 1 tblspn
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
•  Red chilli powder - 1 tsp (Or according to your taste)
• Salt - to taste
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Method

• Pressure cook the moong dal for 6 or 7 whistles, until soft.
• Grind all the ingredients under "For Grinding" heading to a smooth paste, adding water if required.
• In a pressure cooker , heat some oil, crackle mustard seeds. Add cumin seeds, urad dal and red chillies. 
• Add in the prepared paste ( Step -2), salt, turmeric powder and fry until it is brown .Make sure to cook it really well. So that you dont get the raw flavor of the spices in there.
• Add the tomatoes and cook till it is mushy. Now add the cooked moong dal, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala. Add water and adjust the conistancy. Check for salt.
• Close the pressure cooker lid and allow it to cook for 1 whistle.
• Your moong dal gravy is now ready. Garnish it with coriander leaves.

Serve this protein rich gravy along with Roti, Rice, Appam, Idiyappam or Puttu.

Puttu flour @ home

Ingredients For the Puttu Flour

• Raw Rice / Pachari - 2 cups (Or as required)
• Water - To soak the rice

Method

• Wash the rice and soak it in water, minimum for 4 hours. 
• Wash the rice again and drain the water completely. Spread it on a cloth and allow it to dry for about 30 minutes.
• When the rice is still little wet, add it to a blender and make it to a slightly coarse powder. 
• Fry this powder in a medium heat until it reaches a sandy consistency. It will take 10 - 15 minutes, depending on the quantity of your flour. 
• Now your puttu flour is ready. Store it in an air tight container and use when required.

I stay in a place where ready puttu flour is not available in the market. So I usually prepare this at home and store it. I dont have a puttu steamer. So I make it using my idly steamer. It tastes equally good.

How to Proceed?

• Take the flour in a bowl. Add salt (I added sugar also. Its completely optional). Add water, lilltle by little and mix well with your finger tips, breaking the lumps. 
• Take a handful of this flour and press between your fists. It should hold its shape. When you try to press it a little harder, it should become like a crumble. Not too dry and not too wet. Also, make sure there should not be any lumps. 
• Keep it aside for 20 minutes. 
• Start layering the idli mold by adding grated coconut in the bottom, then the puttu flour and again the grated coconut.
• Repeat the same for the entire mixture. 
• Stake them in a steamer and steam for about 15 to 20 minutes. You will get a nice aroma when it is done.
• Remove from heat and scoop out the  steamed puttus and serve. 
• Serve it with sugar and banana or kerala kadala curry or green moong dal gravy.

    

 And it turned out to be....

We had this with Green Moong Dal Gravy.

Please do try my recipe and give your valuable feedback.

Cabbage Manchurian

Ingredients

For koftas:

•  Shredded cabbage - 1 cup
• All purpose flour - 2 tblspn
• Corn flour - 1 tblspn
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Pepper - 1 tsp
• Onions , finely chopped - 1 tblspn

For Sauce:

•  Onions - 1, finely chopped
• Oil - 3 tsp
• Tomato - 1/2 finely chopped
• Ginger - 1 tsp , minced
• Garlic - 1 tsp , minced
• Green chillies - 2, finely chopped
• Soya sauce - 2 tsp
• Tomato sauce - 1 tblspn
• Chilli sauce - 2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp (Optional)
• Coriander leaves , to garnish
• Salt , to taste
• Lemon juice - 2 tsp

Method

For Koftas:

• Take the shredded cabbage in a bowl. Add salt, pepper and onions to it and mix well. 
• In another bowl, combine all purpose flour and corn flour. Add little water in to it and make a batter. The batter should neither be too thick nor too thin.
• Pour this mixture into the cabbage mixture and mix well until everything is combined.
• Divide the mixture into 5 or 6 portions, and deep fry them in the oil. 
• Drain the excess oil and keep the koftas aside.

For the Sauce:

• In a pan, heat some oil and fry ginger and garlic until it becomes slightly crispy. It will take just less than a minute. Now in the onions and green chillies. Add salt. Dont fry the onions too well. The crunchiness should be maintained. Add the tomatoes and cook for a minute. Bring down the flame to simmer.
• In a small bowl, combine soya sauce , chilli sauce, tomato sauce, garam masala, chilli powder and coriander powder and 2 tsp of water. Mix them well and add it to the onion tomato mixture in the pan. switch off the flame after 2 minutes.
• Check for salt and adjust accordingly.
• Your Sauce is now ready

How to Proceed:

• When you are ready to serve, drop the koftas into the sauce and mix well. Switch on the heat and cook for 1 minute until everything is combined. Transfer it to the serving dish.
• Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve it immediately. These can be served along with rotis, naan, fried rice etc. You can also use spring onions to garnish the dish.

Tomato Salan

Ingredients

For Grinding:

• Coconut - 1 tblspn
• Peanut - 1 tblspn
• Sesame seeds - 1 tblspn

Other Ingredients

• Oil - 3 tspn
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Red chillies - 2 nos
• Curry leaves - 1 spring
• Sliced onions - 1 no
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tblspn
• Tamarind - 1 lemon size
• Jaggery - 1 tblspn (or as per taste)
• Chilli powder - 3 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tblspn
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Mint leaves - 3 medium sized leaves
• Coriander leaves - few
• Salt - to taste
• Small size tomatoes / cherry tomatoes - 200 gms - 250 gms
• Coriander leaves  - to garnish

 Method

• Dry roast Peanut, coconut and sesame seeds for 3 minutes / until it is roasted. When it is cooled down, blend all together with litlle water, in to a smooth paste
• In a pan, add some oil. When it is hot crackle mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, fenugreek seeds, dry red chillies and curry leaves.
• Add onions and fry till golden brown. Add salt. Now add the ginger garlic paste and saute until raw flavor of ginger garlic paste is gone. The onions should be slightly crispy. So make sure u slice them length wise, very thin.
• Now add the prepared coconut paste (step 1), and 1 cup of water. Close the lid and let it cook for 30 minutes in a slow flame. Adjust the water accordingly.
• After 30 minutes, you can see the oil floating on top, that is when you know that your gravy is cooked perfectly. Add tamarind extract, jaggery, mint leaves and coriander leaves. Allow it to cook for another 5 mins. Check for salt and add at this stage.
• Meanwhile,work on your tomatoes. Cut both the ends of your tomatoes (top and bottom), squeeze the tomato juice a little bit in to the gravy and add the tomatoes also in to the gravy. This will make the tomatoes more tastier. Do this for all the tomatoes.
• Cover the lid and let it cook in slow flame for 5 minutes. Switch off the flame. Transfer it in to a serving dish after 10 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Pulao. It will taste heavenly with mild flavored pulao, jeera rice or ghee rice.

Do try this recipe and give me your feedback.

Onion tomato gravy

Ingredients

To Grind:

• Coriander seeds - 1 tblspn
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 4 nos
• Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
• Cloves - 2 nos
• Onion - 1 no , sliced
• Coconut - 1/2 cup, grated

Other Ingredients:

• Onion - 2 nos , thinly sliced
• Tomatoes - 4 nos , sliced length wise
• Tamarind extract - Extract from 1 lemon size tamarind
• Jaggery - 1 tblspn
• Salt , to taste
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Method

For paste:

• Dry roast Red chillies, Coriander seeds , Cinnamon, fennel seeds, cloves and red chillies. Keep it aside.
• In a pan, heat few drops of oil and fry onions. Fry them until golden brown. Switch off the flame and add the grated coconut
• When the mixture is cool grind everything together (step 1 and step 2).

How to Proceed?

• Fry the remaining onions in some oil until onions are nicely cooked. Now add the tomatoes and stir continuously. Tomatoes and onions should become mushy. Add tamarind extract and jaggery.
• Add the prepared coconut paste. Close the lid and cook it for 5 minutes or until it is dry.
• Your tomato curry is now ready. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with dosa / roti.

This is a spicy, sweet and  tangy gravy.