Broken Wheat Pongal (Savory)

Helloooo,

Pongal is a special food in South India, prepared on a special occasion, called "Pongal". There are many varieties of Pongal. Usually these are made of rice and yellow moon dal. Here I replaced rice with broken wheat. It tastes equally good and is a perfect menu for dinner. (In fact you dont have to worry about the calories). This is a very flavorful and aromatic dish.
Here, I am going to show you the spicy version of Pongal. After many trial and errors, now I can say that, I can prepare an error free Pongal dish . The taste not only depends on the seasoning, but also in roasting the lentil and wheat and cooking them together with some spices to add extra flavor to it.

Ingredients

For cooking the lentil and broken wheat

• Yellow moong dal - 3/4 cup
• Broken wheat - 1 cup
• Ghee / oil - 3 tsp
• Ginger - 1 small piece, grated
• Cumin and pepper crushed - 2 tsp
• Green chillies - 2 , slit
• Salt - to taste
• Turmeric - 1 tsp
• Water - 6 cups

For Seasoning

•  Ghee - 3 tsp
• Cumin and pepper crushed - 2 tsp
• Green chillies - 1, slit
• Ginger - 1 tsp, minced
• Red Chillies - 2, broken
• Cashews - 6 - 10
• Curry leaves - 1 spring

 Method

For cooking Lentil and Broken Wheat

• Soak moong dal in water for 1 hour.

• Wash it well and drain the water. Transfer this to a pressure cooker and turn on the heat to, medium to low. Keep frying for 1 minute and add the ghee / oil. Fry them until it starts changing the colour. By doing so, the flavor of the dish will be enhanced.

• Now, add the broken wheat and mix well. Keep mixing it for a minute.

 

• Add 6 cups of water, salt, turmeric, green chillies, ginger, crushed cumin and pepper.

 

• Close the pressure cooker lid and let it cook for 6 whistles. 

• Let the pressure get released by itself and then open the lid. While the pressure comes down, make the seasoning ready.

For Seasoning

•  Heat ghee (only) in a pan. Add crushed pepper and cumin, green chillies and ginger. and fry for few seconds
• Now add Cashews and fry until it becomes slightly golden in color. Add red chillies and curry leaves. 

• Switch off the heat and pour this tempering in to the Pongal and give it a good mix.
• Serve it hot with Chutney / Sambar / Brinjal Ghostu. 

Pongal ,Medhu vada, chutney and sambar makes one of the heavenly delicious menu for the breakfast.. I just love them..

Fusion Dish!!! Gnocchi with white sauce

Hiii all,

Yes!! Today I am here with a fusion dish. Italian Gnocchi with Indian spices. I had some gnocchi and wanted to try something very different. I have previously prepared pasta with white sauce. So, thought of following the same procedure for gnocchi as well. But still made some alterations by slightly Indianising it!! Instead of just adding the the boiled gnocchi in to the dish, I toasted them in the pan with some idian spices such as coriander powder, chilli powder and garam masala powder. This of course gave an additional flavor to this dish. We were quite happy with the results.

This involves 4 step process.
1. Cooking the gnocchi
2. Toasting the gnocchi
3. Making white sauce
4. Cooking the veggies

1. For cooking the gnocchi

• Gnocchi - 200 gms
• Water - 4 cups

Method

• Bring water to boil
• When it comes to boil, add the gnocchi and cook it it is soft. It will not take much time to cook. Hardly 6 to 10 minutes.
• Drain the water and keep them ready

2. Toasting the Gnocchi

• Cooked gnocchi
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Butter / oil - 2 tsp

Method

• Heat butter / oil in a pan (preferably non stick)  and add gnocchi. Always keep the heat in medium. Toast them until  its slightly brown on all the sides. Keep mixing in order to avoid burning.
• Add salt, chilli powder, coriander powder and garm masala and give it a good toss. Cook for another minute or two. Remove from heat and keep it aside.

3. For the white sauce

• Butter - 1 tblspn
• All purpose flour - 1 tblspn
• Milk - 1.5 cups
• Salt - 1.5 tsp
• Pepper powder - 1 tsp
• Any processed cheese - 1 tblspn, grated
• Mixed Italian herbs - 1 tsp (Optional - I did not add it. But it will enhance the taste if u add)

Method

• In a saucepan, heat butter and add the all purpose flour. Keep the heat in low. Mix it and add 1/2 cup milk. Mix it well until you see it becomes little thick. 
• Add the remaining milk and increase the heat to medium. Keep mixing vigorously to avoid any lumps. Add salt, pepper and Italian herbs. Add the processed cheese.
• When it starts to thicken, remove from heat and keep aside. 
• Your white sauce is now ready.

4. Cooking the veggies

• Butter / oil - 1 tblspn
• Garlic - 5 - 6 pods, minced
• Green chillies - 3 nos, finely chopped
• Onion - 1 big 
• Veggies of your choice (I added carrot, broccoli, asparagus, bell peppers and mushrooms)
• Pepper powder - 2 tsp
• Coriander leaves - few, finely chopped
• Salt - according to taste

Method

•  Heat butter / oil in a pan. Add garlic and green chillies and fry for few seconds. Add onions and saute them for a minute.
• Now add all the vegetables and cook them until they are half done. It will take 5 to 10 minutes. Keep stirring continuously. Do not add water for cooking the veggies.
• Add salt and pepper powder.
• Cook it for another 4 minutes and remove them from heat. Sprinkle some coriander leaves and mix them.

How to proceed

You will need

• grated processed cheese,
•  pan seared cherry tomatoes (Optional) ,

•  finely chopped coriander and spring onions to garnish.

Method

• In a big pan, first add veggies, then white sauce and gnocchi. Add 1/2 cup of water and turn on the heat. Keep the heat low.
• Sprinkle some grated cheese. 
• Cover the lid and let it cook for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts. 
• The mixture might have thickened by this time. 

• Switch off the heat. Transfer them to serving dish. Garnish with spring onion greens, coriander leaves, pan seared cherry tomatoes and grated cheese.

• Dig in right away!!

 

Spring Rolls

Spring rolls are our all time favorite snack. These are light, crispy and healthy as they are stuffed with veggies. These are served almost in all East Asian meals. Filling may be either vegetable or meat. Here I am going to prepare them using vegetable filling.
I have already posted how to prepare Whole Wheat Spring Roll/ Samosa Sheets at home. You can use all purpose flour as well and follow the same procedure.
I made use of veggies like carrot, cabbage, spring onions, red bell peppers, onions, mush rooms and sweet corn. You can use any kind of crunchy vegetables for the filling.

Ingredients

•  Spring rolls sheets
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Onion - 1 big, thinly sliced
• Ginger - 2 tsp, finely chopped
• Garlic - 2 tsp, finely chopped
• Carrot - 1, cut length wise, thinly
• Capsicum - 1/2, cut length wise, thinly
• Mushroom -5 nos, cut in to thin slices
• Cabbage - 1/2 cup, chopped length wise
• Spring onion - few
• Sweet corn -  1/4 cup, boiled
• Soya sauce - 2 tsp
• Pepper powder - 2 tsp
• Vinegar - 1 tsp
• Corn flour - 1 tblspn
• All purpose flour/ wheat flour - 1 tblspn
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - for deep frying

Method

 Preparation:

1. Keep all the vegetables ready
2. Keep the spring roll sheets ready
3. In a small bowl, mix all purpose flour/ wheat flour along with some water and make it like a batter (like dosa batter)

How to proceed:

• In a pan, heat some oil and add chopped ginger and garlic. Fry for a minute.
• Add all the vegetables together and fry until it is slightly cooked. Add corn starch. Cornstarch will help to absorb all the moisture released out of vegetables while cooking. Always keep the heat in high. It will take 3 to 4 minutes to cook. Keep stirring to avoid burning.
• Add salt, pepper powder, vinegar and soya sauce. Mix well and switch off the flame. Do not over cook the veggies. Crunchiness should still be maintained. Your stuffing is now ready. Keep them aside.

• Now, we will fill the spring roll sheets with these veggies.
• Take a spoon of filling and place them in one corner of the spring roll sheet. Do not over fill, as you will face difficulty while rolling them

 

• Start rolling from the same side, very tightly,from where u kept the filling. Roll it half the way. Apply flour mixture on both the sides.

•  Fold both the sides and apply the flour mixture on remaining portion of the sheet.(refer pic)

• Now, fold downwards

• Repeat the same for rest of the sheets and keep them ready for frying

• Heat oil in a pan/ vessel and deep fry the spring rolls until golden brown.

• All done

  

Alternatively, you can bake them instead of frying. But for better results, frying is recommended. 
For baking it in the oven, fill your sheets, roll them and brush some oil on all the sides. Bake them in the pre-heated oven @150 deg for 20 minutes or until they become golden brown in colour.





I fried 1 batch and baked 1 batch. Look at the difference. Fried (left side) and baked (Right side)
 
 

Tawa Idli

Hate idlies??? Just try these spicy tawa idlies.. You will start loving it.

These are usually made using left over idlies. But I always prefer to prepare using freshly made ones. The main ingredients in this are pav bhaji masala and gun powder / idli podi, which, together gives a great flavor to this dish. A hint of chilli, garlic and onion also enhances the taste. Another specialty is that, these are prepared using tawa, as the name implies, which gives a different taste to this dish.
This can be had as a starter / snacks along with plain coconut chutney. Sometimes we do not even need a chutney. Tastes great just like that.

Servings : 2

Ingredients

• Idli batter
• Butter - 1 tblspn
• Garlic - 1 tblspn , finely chopped
• Green chillies - 2 nos, finely chopped
• Coriander leaves - few, finely chopped
• Onions - 1/2 no, finely chopped
• Salt - to taste
• Pav bhaji masala - 2 tsp
• Idli gun powder - 1 tblspn
• Onions - to garnish
• Coriander leaves - to garnish
• Coconut chutney - to serve

Method

• Fill you idli molds with idli batter and steam them.

• In a tawa, heat butter.

 

• Add finely chopped garlic, green chillies, coriander leaves and onions. Fry for few seconds.

 

• Add salt, pav bhaji masala and gun powder. Cook for a minute

 

• Meanwhile, the idlies might be ready. 

 

• Place these hot idlies on the tawa. Make two at a time.

• Toss them nicely in the masala. Let it cook for a minute or two on both the sides.

 

• Remove them from the tawa and place on the serving dish. Garnish with chopped onions and coriander. Serve hot with Coconut chutney.

I made mini tawa idlies in the same way.. :) :) :)

Creamy curd rice

Ingredients

• Rice - 1 cup
• Milk - 1 tblspn
• Curd - 1/2 cup
• Cream - 1 tblspn
• Salt to taste
• Sugar - 1 tsp(or to taste)

For tempering

•  Oil - 2 tsp
• Mustatrd seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Green chillies - 2 nos, chopped finely
• Ginger - 1 tsp, minced
• Red chillies - 2 nos
• Cashews - 10 nos
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Method

• Cook rice until soft. Mash it slightly with the back of your spoon.
• Add milk, salt and sugar to it and mix well. Add the yoghurt and keep them aside.
• For tempering, heat oil in a pan. Crackle mustard seeds. Add urad dal, cashews, green chillies and ginger. (you can even add raisins)
• When the cashews just starts changing its color, add red chillies and curry leaves and turn off the heat. 

• Pour this mixture immediately to the rice.
• Finally, add the cream and give it a good mix.
• Your creamy curd rice is now ready.