My Blog baby turns ONE Today...!!!

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Time flies away so fast ,I never realized that my blog baby will turn one year old so soon!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY my BLOG baby!!!

I am thankful to all my blogger friends,followers and regular readers of my blog for their constant support and encouragement with their lovely words.Blogging has not only become my passion now but also gave me so many good friends who are in touch regularly.My one year of blogging made me to learn lots of tips and new recipes from our wonderful blogger friends and also had widened my exposure to different cuisines around the world.I got to meet even some blogger friends in Bangalore which was really a wonderful experience.

I know I am not regular in visiting your spaces these days as I am little busy with my In-laws who visited us for two weeks.I am missing all your wonderful recipes and I will be back soon with a new recipe,till then happy blogging!!

Oats Uthappam | Instant Dosa Recipes | Indian Oats Recipes

Dosa is always a hot favorite breakfast item for all South Indian's,especially in our family everyone likes all different varieties of dosa's.My week days breakfast menu consists of sandwiches,cornflakes and porridges and all the South Indian breakfast items will be prepared only on week ends Rice being the main ingredient of any dosa is not prefered by many people because of its high calories,for such kind of people I am posting this instant,easy and healthy version of dosa which is made up of only oats.
This Oats oothappam is quite different from the other oats dosa as this does not require any other flour's other than oats which makes it more healthier.These oothappam's are very porous and tastier,all I can say is this version of Oats Oothappam/dosa is the best thing I have tasted so far with oats which are quite boring otherwise to include in other porridge's.I have adapted this version from a cookery show and modified it to make it more tastier and perfect after several attempts.All the dosa's I have posted in this blog were always a hit among our blogger friends,So friends believe me and try my version of healthy and tasty oats oothappam I am sure even you guys will love it.

Ingredients:
1 cup quick cooking Oats(thinner ones)
1 tbsp chiroti rawa/fine semolina
1 cup slightly soar curds
1 tsp Eno fruit salt (or 1 Eno sachet)
salt to taste
oil

for Toppings:
1 Big onion,finely chopped
1 medium capsicum,finely chopped
1 carrot grated
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander


Method:

• Grind Oats into a fine powder,add curds to it and grind again to a fine paste adding some water if required.
• Add sooji(rava) and salt to the mixture and mix well.The consistency of this batter will be very thick,so add water to it and mix well with hand until you get dosa consistency kind of batter.
• Just before making oothappam's, add eno fruit salt to the batter adding little water if required and mix the batter properly.You will see lots of bubbles forming in the batter and even the batter becomes light like normal dosa batter.
• Mix well finely chopped onions,grated carrot,finely chopped capsicum and chopped coriander in a bowl and keep it aside.
• Smear oil on a hot tawa(Iron cast/Non-stick)and pour a ladle of batter and spread slightly like how we do for oothappam's(thicker than normal dosa's).Pour oil all over and around the corners of the dosa.
• Quick sprinkle the onion mixture all over the oothappam and cover it with a lid and let it roast over medium high flame until the edges are golden brown in color.
  
• Slightly press the onion mixture all over the oothappam with a spatula and pour some oil over it and turn to the other side and roast on the other side.
• The batter turns very thick quickly,so keep checking the consistency and add water if required in order to get nice and crispy oothappam's.
• Remove the oothappam from the tawa and serve directly on to the plate.

Serve the uthappam piping hot with coconut chutney/peanut chutney or chutney of your choice.

Note:

• The toppings are basically your choice,you can even add finely chopped tomatoes or colored bell peppers or finely chopped mushrooms.
  
• In order to make the oothappam's bit more chatpata sprinkle some Idli/Dosa podi (kaarappodi/Milagai podi) all over along with the other chopped vegetables.
• I added a table spoon of chiroti rawa to make the oothappam's crispier,it is optional to use it.

Green Peas Usli.....North Karnataka style

Hope Everyone had celebrated this Valentine's day in a wonderful way....Love is in the air and so in the blogs too,all the blogs were so so colorful with those lovely special dishes and themes for the valentines day..

Usli is one of those traditional dishes of Karnataka people and is prepared in different ways among different parts of Karnataka.It is also our family favorite and is a perfect delight for spicy and garlic lovers.Actually Usli is made up of tender avarekallu(hyacinth beans) which is available only in season and is also a great curry for avarekallu lovers.Though the Usli made up of fresh and tender avarekallu and tastes the best ,but those beans are available only in season,so we do the usli with fresh green peas which are easily available through out the year in India.In our house Usli is prepared in slightly a different way which I will try posting even that version soon.The version I am posting today is done in the way of northern parts of karnataka which is equally yummy and perfect with chapathy's.Try it out at your place to enjoy our family favorite curry.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh shelled Green Peas /fresh and tender avarekallu(hyacinth/mochai beans)
2 large onions,chopped
3/4 cup grated fresh coconut
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
7-8 green chillies,slit
1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste
1 lemon,squeezed
2 sprigs of curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp fresh white butter
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

To grind:
2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1/4 tsp methi/fenugreek seeds

Method:

• Slightly roast jeera and methi seeds until warm,cool it and grind it to a powder.
• Heat butter and oil in a pressure cooker and crackle mustard seeds and add green chillies and fry until they change their color.
• Add curry leaves,ginger and garlic paste and fry well.
• Add chopped onions and fry until they turn translucent.Now add fresh green peas to it and fry well.
• Add ground jeera-methi powder,grated fresh coconut,salt,chopped fresh coriander and fry for a couple of minutes.
• Add 2 spoons of water and pressure cook for 1 whistle.After you open the cooker add freshly squeezed lemon juice to it.

Serve it hot with hot chapathy's/Roti's.

Note:

1. Usli tastes best with fresh and tender avarekallu.So do not miss trying this in avarekallu season.Just replace fresh green peas with those tender avarekallu and follow the same procedure.
2. Usli can also be prepared with the soaked whole green moong/green moong sprouts following the same procedure and is much more a healthier option.
3. Use only fresh green peas instead of frozen one's to enjoy the fresh and tasty Usli.
4. Use fresh white butter in making this curry to get the authentic taste of Usli.Use 2 tbsp fresh butter if you are not calorie conscious,otherwise replace half the quantity with oil.
5. Avoid butter in the recipe for a Vegan version.

Fattoush.....a Lebanese salad

Fattoush is a Lebanese salad where the pita chips are fried or roasted and mixed with other vegetables and is seasoned with sumac(a middle eastern spice) mixed in olive oil with other ingredients.Though in this salad I did not use pita chips and sumac,I used fried bread croutons instead of pita chips as I did not have them in hand when I prepared it.I have adapted this recipe from Sanjeev kapoor's 'Salad's' book where his version is exactly the way I mentioned down where you can convert into complete lebanese salad by just replacing bread croutons with fried pita chips and sumac.It was really colorful, refreshing and hearty salad and goes well in any kind of party or usual dinners.This salad is going to participate in 'Show me your salad' event hosted by Divya of Dil-se.

Ingredients:
1 medium green Capsicum,seeded and cut into 1" cubes
1 medium tomato,seeded and cut into 1" cubes
1 medium cucumber,cut into 1" cubes
1 medium onion,cut into 1" cubes
3 bread slices,cut into 1" cubes
1 small head of iceberg lettuce
5-6 black olives,whole or thinly sliced
5-6 green olives,stoned and sliced
1-2 sprigs fresh parsley
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp vinegar

For Dressing:
3 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Vinegar
1 tbsp Lemon juice
salt to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper crushed
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp dried mint or fresh mint

Method:

• Heat olive oil in a wide pan and add bread cubes and saute over medium heat to make golden croutons.
• Prepare dressing by mixing everything mentioned under the ingredients for dressing and keep it aside.
• Soak chopped onions in 1 tsp vinegar for 1/2 hr.
• Tear the iceberg lettuce roughly and place in a large bowl.Add all the vegetables,green and black olives.
• Squeeze the onions soaked in vinegar and add to the bowl of vegetables.
• Tear the parsley roughly and add to the bowl,toss well and mix.
• Just before serving pour the dressing all over,add fried bread croutons and toss again.

Serve immediately.

Variations to Fattoush:

• You can even add red and yellow bell peppers along with green capsicum to the above salad.
• You can replace fried bread croutons with roughly torn and fried pita bread to the salad.
• If you do not have parsley,you can replace parsley by coriander which adds its own unique flavor to the salad.
• As I mentioned the original fattoush uses sumac as a spice,but if you do not have that for different flavors you can even add 1/2 tsp grated garlic or 1 tsp dijon mustard to the dressing which converts the salad very very flavorful.
  

Spinach and Orange Soup..nice tangy soup to enjoy this winter!!!

What else can one think of other than having hot hot soup with a bread toast during these winters??

These days most of my dinners consists of only soups and salad's with some toasted bread slices,I feel this combo meal is a quiet satisfying and comforting meal and is also very light on stomach to digest.Including greens is also very essential in our daily diet because of its advantageous medicinal properties. such as spinach which has a high nutritional value and is extremely rich in Iron,antioxidants,vitamin A,C,E,K and folic acid.

I have adapted this recipe from her 'Vegetarian soups n drinks' book.This soup is a very interesting combination of spinach and orange where actually the orange gives tangyness and nice twist to the usual spinach soup.I really fell in love with this combination of this soup and now I can't think of making anything else other than this soup if I get a fresh bunch of spinach at home.Try it out by yourselves to believe it,I am sure this soup will definitely tickle your taste buds and enjoy this soup as it did magic with me.

Ingredients:
1 medium bunch Spinach(approx 1 1/2 cups when chopped)
1 medium Onion,sliced
1 medium sour Orange
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp fresh cream
1 tbsp grated cheese
1/2 tsp Sugar
1/4 tsp pepper powder(freshly ground)
salt to taste

For Spice bag:
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
2 garlic pods
1/4 tsp black pepper corns

Method:

• Wash the spinach properly and soak it in salted water for 8-10 mins.Drain and chop them.
• Peel the outer skin from orange.Remove seeds,pith,skin and separate it into segments.
• Crush the spices(mentioned under spice bag) lightly in a mortar and pestle and tie it in a muslin cloth to form a potli.
• Heat butter and fry onions and then add chopped spinach leaves.I replaced the butter by adding a tsp of oil to avoid the extra calories.
• Still till the leaves shrink and moisture is absorbed in reduced flame.
• Pour just enough water to cover,add orange segments,spice bag and cook for 7-8 mins(do not cover it).You can even pressure cook the above mixture,but you will loose the lovely green color of spinach in that process.
• Cool down and then discard the spice bag after squeezing well.Blend the spinach mixture into a smooth puree and then strain through a sieve if necessary.I prefer mine without sieving the mixture.
• Dilute it with required amount of water,I like soups of medium thickness consistency so I added little more water,So add water according to your desired consistency.
• Add salt,sugar and pepper powder and reheat till the boiling point in reduced flame stirring in between.
• Pour hot in individual soup bowls and dot with whipped cream and sprinkle grated cheese over it.I completely avoided whipped cream and cheese and I just sprinkled some freshly crushed pepper and a fried crouton over it.It is your choice completely to make the soup rich and yummy.
  

Serve it hot with any accompaniments.


I served the soup with Fattoush,garlic bread with cheese and cut fresh fruits.It was a refreshing wholesome dinner.


Soups are incomplete without a toast of bread and they taste best with cheese layered garlic bread.So I am sending this combo of soup and garlic bread to the 'The COMBO' event by Pari of Foodelicious,I wish her All the best for her very first event.

This soup is even participating in Usha's 'Healthy Inspiration Event-Soups'.

Stuffed Capsicum..in a truly rich gravy

Stuffed Capsicum is really a exotic dish and is one of my favorite dishes which I generally order if we go to any restaurant.It is little elaborate to prepare at home,but when prepared with a bit of patience the end product is so amazing which is worth all the effort that you have put in.I generally make it on some special occasions to celebrate it with more fun having good food.I assure you that you will not miss the restaurant touch in this curry and it tastes really really yummy,all I can say it is just finger licking food.I have already told you in this post that the addition of melon seeds instead of cashew nuts works like a magic and makes all the difference in the taste of gravy.In most of the dhaba's they use melon seeds in the gravy as it works out cheaper for them when compared to cashewnuts and it also gives a very special taste to the gravy.I kept on postponing this post as I thought that I will update the post with good pictures,but these days I am really lazy to cook anything elaborate.So,I have decided to post this and will update later with some updated photographs.Here comes the recipe of my one of the favorite curries,hope you all enjoy making this a home.

Ingredients:
6 medium sized green capsicum
2-3 tbsp fresh cream(optional)
1.5 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp Garam masala
1 tsp kasuri methi
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

For gravy 1:
2 Onions,sliced
1/4 cup melon seeds or 8-10 cashewnuts
1 tsp oil

For gravy 2:
4 Tomatoes
1 tsp tomato sauce
1" ginger
4-5 garlic pods
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp jeera powder
1/2 tsp amchur powder
a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
1 tsp oil

For stuffing:2 medium potatoes,boiled
1/4 cup fresh/frozen green peas
1/4 cup finely diced paneer
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 small onion,finely chopped
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp jeera powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp amchur powder or 1/2 lemon squeezed
1/4 tsp jeera +1/4 tsp fennel seeds/saunf
1/4 tsp kasuri methi
4-5 cashewnuts,broken
2 tbsp raisins
salt to taste
1 tsp oil


Method: For gravy 1:

• Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and fry sliced onions until brown in color.Keep them aside.
• Soak the melon seeds or cashew seeds in warm water for 15 mins.
• Grind the fried onion and melon seeds to a very fine paste adding some water while grinding if necessary.

For gravy 2:

• Slit tomatoes(make a cross at one end of tomatoes) and drop them in boiling water and cook for 2-3 mins.Remove them and let them cool for sometime.Peel out the skins,remove the seeds and chop them roughly.
• In a pan heat a tsp of oil and add chopped ginger and garlic and fry for a minute until brown.Add chopped tomato(blanched,skinned and seeded) to it and fry until the oil leaves the mixture.Add coriander powder,jeera powder,turmeric,amchur powder,salt,tomato sauce and fry for a minute.Cool the mixture and blend into a very smooth puree.

For Stuffing:

• Peel the skins of boiled potatoes and grate it or mash it properly.
• Microwave fresh/frozen peas for 3mins until tender.
• Heat oil in a pan and crackle jeera and fennel seeds and add broken cashewnuts, finely chopped onions and fry until light brown in color.
• Add mashed potatoes and boiled peas and fry until the mixture is well mixed.
• Add red chilli powder,jeera powder,amchur powder,garam masala,kasuri methi,salt to taste.Fry for a minute and switch off the flame.
• Add finely diced panner,raisins,and chopped coriander to it and mix well.If you are using lemon juice instead of amchur powder add it and now mix well.

For stuffed capsicum:

• Remove the tops of capsicums and remove the seeds and white edges inside.Grease the inner and outer side of capsicums with oil and arrange it on a aluminium foil lined baking dish.
• Pour a tsp of tomato gravy(gravy 2) in all the capsicum shell and stuff 1 tbsp of potato stuffing and then pour again a tsp of tomato gravy and continue the process until the capsicum is completely filled.Take care that the top layer should be potato stuffing mixture.The addition of gravy in between the stuffed potato mixture makes the capsicums more juicy and tasty when you bite in and also will not make the capsicum dry.Repeat the process for all the capsicums.
• Brush the top portion with some butter and keep the baking tray in the preheated oven @ 180 degrees for 15-20 mins until the edges of capsicum start slightly brown in color.

The Final gravy:

• Heat 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter in a big pan and add the onion melon seed mixture and fry for a couple of minutes.
• Add tomato puree(gravy 2) to it and let it cook until the oil leaves the edges.
• Now add cream to it and red chilli powder,garam masala,kasuri methi powder(slightly roast kasuri methi and crush it in hands) and required salt to it and cook for a minute.
• Arrange the stuffed capsicum in the serving platter and pour the gravy all over it and garnish with coriander.

Serve hot with Naan/roti/kulcha/pulao/jeera rice.

I served mine with whole wheat Naan and some tofu tikka.

Note:

• You can even use red or yellow bell peppers or big sized tomato instead of capsicum and follow the same procedure to prepare it.
• If you are using big capsicum,cut it vertically into half (2 portions) and can also make the same way.
• The process of addition of gravy in between the stuffed potato mixture while making the stuffed capsicum makes the capsicums more juicy and tasty when you bite in and also will not make the capsicum dry.This is a very important process which makes the stuffed capsicums more tastier,so do not skip the process.
• You can even top the stuffed capsicum's with grated cheese and bake it and serve as a starter without the gravy.

Coconut Vegetable Pulao

Me and hubby both are big fans of any kind of pulao being it a vegetable pulao or greens rice like spinach/methi/coriander/mint rice or a simple jeera rice.They are very easy to make and forms a very good one pot meal and also a nice lunch box dish too.Coconut milk when added to the pulao gives a mild flavor and aroma to the pulao and also makes it much tastier than the regular one and when paired with any spicy gravy makes an excellent combination.The addition of grated coconut makes you feel the crunchy taste and feel of coconut in each and every bite.

Ingredients:

1 cup Basmati rice
2 medium carrots,diced
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup fresh/frozen green peas
1/4 cup frozen/fresh corn
2 tbsp scraped fresh coconut
1 medium onion,sliced(optional)
2-3 green chillies,sliced
1" cinnamon stick
4-5 cloves
1 star anise
1 green cardamom
1 Bay leaf
salt to taste
1 tsp butter
2 tsp oil


Method:

• Soak Basmati rice in enough water for 10 mins.Drain the water and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a pressure cooker or thick bottomed pan and add cinnamon,cloves,cardamom,star anise and bayleaf and fry for a minute.
• Add chopped green chillies and sliced onions and fry until the onions are translucent.
• Add chopped carrots,peas and corn and fry for a couple of minutes.
• Add soaked basmati rice and fry again for a minute.Add 1 cup of coconut milk and 3/4th cup of water to it and add enough salt and let it come to a boil.
• If you are using cooker,pressure cook for 1 whistle,lower the flame and let it cook for 7-8 mins.If you are thick bottomed pan cover it with a lid and let it cook on low flame for 12-15mins.
• Add scraped coconut to it at the end and give a nice stir.
  

Serve it with any gravy dish/kurma and tomato-onion raitha with papad.

Notes:

1. You can even add finely diced beans/potato/cauliflower to the above pulao.
2. Avoid butter for a Vegan version.