Dosa,Sambhar, Chutney

Another staple breakfast item from south, Dosa is a commoner at most households. Served with a variety of Podis, Sambhar, Chutney, even sugar and ghee in some cases, this is one dish that very few people dislike.

Dosa
4 Cups Idli Rice
1.5 Cups Urad Dal
2 tsp Methi seeds
2 tsp Aval/Poha
1/2 cup raw rice

Soak all for 6 hours and grind dal and rice seperately to a smooth batter. Keep for fermenting and make dosas.

Sambhar:
1 cup Toor dal
10 Sambhar onions/Shallots
5 Tomato (medium pureed)
2-3 tsp imli extract
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
2 tsp Dhaniya/Coriander Powder
1/2 tsp Haldi
1 tsp Sambhar Powder
Salt to taste
2 tsp oil
1 tsp ghee
2 Dry red chillies
Curry Leaves
Pinch of Hing
Mustard seeds, Cumin Seeds, methi seeds to temper.

Cook Dal and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard, cumin, methi seeds, dry red chillies and let it crackle. Add curry leaves, hing, onions and saute. Add tomato puree, salt, haldi, red chilli powder, dhaniya powder and saute till raw smell goes. Add imli, dal, sambhar powder, 1 cup water and let it boil for 5 mts. Drizzle ghee on top and serve hot garnished with Dhaniya leaves.

I am sending this to the "Think Spice - Think Red Chillies" event going at lakshmi of KITCHEN CHRONICLES and Sunita's blog .


Onion Tomato Chutney
3-4 Medium sized Onions (chopped)
3 Medium Tomatoes (chopped)
2 tsp oil
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Haldi
3/4 Tsp Red Chilli Powder
Mustard seeds and Curry leaves to temper.

Take oil in a pan, add onion, saute till transparent. Add tomatoes, salt, haldi, red chilli powder and saute till raw smell goes. Cool and grind to smooth paste. Do not add extra water else chutney will become watery. Temper with Mustard seeds, Curry leaves and serve.

Poori Kurma

A common in South Indian restaurants, a dish that is liked by all. Poori with Aloo masala also called Poori Kizhangu or served with spicy Kurma, whichever way, its a aure treat.



So here goes my favourite.... a sunday brunch item....

Ingredients:
For poori:
2 cups Wheat flour
Water to knead for dough
pinch of Salt
Oil for deep frying
Knead dough and keep aside for 1/2 hour. Make pooris, deep fry and serve hot.

For Aloo Kurma
1 Potato diced
2 Onion (diced)
1 Tomato (diced)
1 Green chilli
½ tsp Ginger garlic paste
¼ tsp Turmeric powder
½ tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Coriander /dhania powder
½ tsp Salt (or to taste)
3 stks Coriander leaves (for garnishing)
1 tsp Ghee
3 tsp Oil
1 cup Fresh grated coconut
1 tsp Poppy seeds
¼ cup Water (approx)
Curry leaves
1 Bay leaf
¼ tsp Cumin seeds
¼ tsp Fennel seeds
2 Cloves
2 Cardamon
2 Cinnamon stick (small)

Method:
Grind coconut, khus khus and water to make a thick paste and keep aside. Wash and peel the potatoes, cube them and keep aside. Heat oil and ghee in a pressure cooker, add cumin, fennel, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon and fry them for few seconds then add chopped onions and green chilli saute until golden. Now add the ginger garlic paste and fry for few seconds. Add the tomatoes along with turmeric , red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and cubed potatoes. Fry for few seconds and add 1 cup of water and pressure cook up to 2 hiss and switch off. When the steam comes to a stop completely, carefully open the cooker and add the coconut paste and simmer for 5 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Poori.

Microwave Daliya Idli

Idlis are wholesome as a breakfast item, but for dieters, here is a healthier version...

This goes to the Microwave Potluck party September edition hosted by Srivalli @ cooking4all seasons.

Ingredients:

1½ cup Dalia (broken wheat)
1½ cup Suji/rawa
¼ cup Chana dal
¼ cup Urad dal
2 cup Curd
1 tsp Baking powder
Salt to taste
1 cup Mixed veggies
1 Green chili (optional)
1 bunch Dhaniya (chopped)

Method:

Boil veggies till half done and keep aside. Dry roast daliya and suji till golden brown in colour. Dry roast the dals seperately, add water and cook till soft.

Mash dals, add to suji, daliya mixture, add veggies, salt, chili, salt, chopped dhaniya, curd and warm water to form a batter.

Make idlis and steam in microwave plates for 10 mts on high power. Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

Cottage Cheese Club Sandwich

I love eating sandwiches for breakfast. My family calls me a westerner in this regard as they somehow are yet to develop a taste for it as breakfast dishes. This recipe, which is inspired from tastypalettes,spicy chilly, impressed me, partly because it calls for so many vegetables and partly because it is so darn simple. But since tofu is not easily available in my market, i have substituted it with Cottage cheese. health conscious people can take cottage cheese made from skimmed milk or low fat milk. I have also made changes here and there whenever i ran out of the ingredients hoping that it would still make for its taste. And yessss it did......

Take a look.....

Ingredients:

Brown Bread- 4 slices

Cottage cheese (paneer) 50 gms

1/2 capsicum chopped finely. (take any colour you want, i have taken green which was readily available).

1/2 carrot grated or finely chopped

Little cabbage grated

Mixed sprouts 1/4 cup (boiled) (Take care to boil in less water and keep the water for kitchen use rather than discarding. It can be added to gravies or rasam)

Salt to taste

Pepper powder 1/2 - 3/4tsp

Mixed herbs ( readymade powder available) 1/2 tsp

Lemon Juice 1/2 tsp (optional)

Butter or Nutralite (got widely in India) (it is cholestrol free butter so healthier)

Method:

Take the boiled sprouts in a bowl, add grated cabbage, chopped carrots, capsicum, crumble paneer and add. Add salt, pepper powder, mixed herbs, lemon juice and mix well.

Toast bread slices on tawa with little butter on it. Keep the stuffing in between 2 slices, cut in between to form 2 triangles. Serve fresh else the bread will get soggy.

Serve with a glass of your favourite juice (i have served with fresh homemade pomegranate juice) and a bowl of cut fruits to complete your power breakfast.

Idli Sambhar

South indian breakfast mainly consists of Idli, Dosai, pongal and vadais...

Don't we drool over it even if we have it every second day.

Steaming hot idlis served with piping hot sambhar is a must have.....

Ingredients:

IDLI

4 cups idli rice (ponni) available widely in tamil stores.

1.5 cups Urad dal

2 tsp Methis seeds (for the lovely aroma and flavour)

2 tsp soaked aval (for softer idlis)

1.5 cup Raw rice (for brown dosas)

I follow this ratio and this is taken from Ms.Mullai's website (http://www.spiceindiaonline.com/)

Soak all the ingredients for 5-6 hours and grind. Add 4 tsp Kallu uppu for the batter. It gives better taste. Keep for fermentation.

Make idlis with the fermented batter.

For Sambhar:

Arachu Vitta Sambar
Oil – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Curry leaves - few

Quartered shallots or sliced red onions – ½ cup
Toor dal – ½ cup

Moong dal – 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder – 1+1 tsp

Tamarind paste – 2 tbsp

Salt
Cilantro – 2 tbsp, chopped
Spice mixture
Oil – 1 tsp

Coriander seeds – 2 tbsp

Chana dal – 1 ½ tbsp

Dried red chillies – 8

Raw rice – 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp

Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
Red onions – 2 tbsp, chopped

Tomato – ¼ cup,chopped
Heat oil and roast coriander seeds through coconut and grind with onion and tomato to a smooth paste. Alternately, you can grind 2 tbsp of sambar powder (homemade or store-bought) with onion and tomato.
Method
Pressure cook toor dal and moong dal until soft, with 1 tsp of turmeric powder.
In a sauce pan, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds and lightly sauté shallots or red onions with curry leaves. The onions should turn just soft, but still crunchy. Remove and set aside.
In the same pot, boil tamarind paste, salt and the remaining 1 tsp of turmeric powder with 2 cups of water. When tamarind doesn’t smell raw anymore, add the cooked dal, ground spice paste and a cup of water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add sautéed onions and garnish with cilantro.

Taken from http://www.tastypalettes.com/

Serve hot