Kobbari podi

Ingredients:

dry coconut- 2 whole coconut

red chillies - 20

urud dal- 1 tbspn

coriander seeds - 1 tbspn

taramind- 1 tbspn

salt- as per taste

Procedure:

Cut the dry coconut into small pieces. This helps in grinding faster.

add all ingredients except salt into a wok and dry roast them for 8-10 mins

put all ingredients in a mixer add salt and make a coarse powder.

dry out the powder for 5 mins so as not be become a paste from oil oozed from coconut.

This powder can be used for dosa/idly  by adding ghee . it can also be had with rice.

Potlakaya (Snake gourd) podi koora

ingredients: 

potlakayalu - 2 (snake gourd)

 onions- 1

 cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn

mustard seeds - 1/4 tspn

 turmeric powder  - a pinch

chilli powder/green chillies 

senaga podi * - 2 tbspn 

procedure: 

Take the snake gourd and finely chop them.

 cut onions into thin slices. 

add potlakaya and onions and mash well till the water comes out. 

In a wok add oil and add seasoning cumin ,mustard seeds and channa dal .

After splutters add the veggies and mix well. 

fry for 10 mins till its cooked. 

add senaga podi at the end and mix it well. fry for another 5 mins.

Note:

senaga podi  is powder made with dahlia dal.

to make senaga podi ( dahlia dal powder)

dahlia dal - 1/4 cup

salt - 1/2 tspn

chilli powder - 1 tspn

cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn

garlic ( if desired) - 3 pods

put all ingredients in a blender and make into a powder.Can be stored and used later.

Ragi idly

Ingredients:

Ragi - 1 1/2 cup

urud dal - 1 cup

idly rice - 3 cups

salt

water

Procedure:

Soat ragi,urud dal and rice for 5-6 hours. 

Add all ingredients to the grinder and grind till the batter is smooth.

Add some salt and let it ferment for 4 hours for softer idlys. Can also use instantly but wont be too soft.

When making idlies add water if needed to the batter should be of thicker consistency than the dosa batter.

Pour the batter in the idly stand and let it steam for 20 mins.

Alternate procedure ( Instant):

For many people making specific ragi idly batter might be difficult, you can use this alternate method.

Idly batter - 3 cups

ragi flour - 1/2- 3/4 cup ( depends on how much ragi intake you want)

water.

Add the ragi flour to the idly batter and add some water to make it the right consistency. 

Make idlies out of these.

Brinjal paratha

Ingredients:

Brinjal -3 small /big -1 (bharta brinjal)
coriander powder - 1tspn
salt - 1/2 tspn
chilli powder - 1 tspn
wheat flour - 2 cups
oil - 1 tbspn

Procedure :

If using a big brinjal roast it on fire directly. roll over so that every side is roasted properly. Peel out the skin and make a mash of it.

If small brinjals cut the brinjal into pieces. in a pour 1 tbspn of oil and add brinjal , 1/2 tspn pf salt and cook with closed lid for 10 mins. make a mash of it.

in the brinjal mash add coriander powder, salt(if not added), chilli powder and mix well.

Take a bowl and add wheat flour to it.add the brinjal mash to the flour and make a dough of it. Water might not be needed as the brinjal mixes with the flour well.

Make small balls of the dough and roll it with rolling pin to form a circle /parantha.

Take a flat pan and put parantha on it.let it fry for a minute and flip it . after a minute add 1/2 tspn of oil and spread on both sides and cook for another minute.press the corners to cook it well.

Avacado oatmeal

Plain rava idly

Ingredients:

urud dal - 1 cup
idly rava - 2 cups

salt - 2 tspn as per taste

procedure:

soak urud dal and idly rava separately for 4-5 hours.
grind the urud dal into smooth paste and keep in a bowl.
drain the water from idly rava and squeeze water and add rava to urud dal paste .
mix them well and keep it for fermenting for 5 hours.

once fermented it will raise to double the size. add salt and mix it well. the raising dough will come down to normal size.

grease idly plates with slight oil and add a dollop of idly mix in them and steam it for 10-15 mins in high flame.

can be had with any chutney or idly podi.

better to soak in the morning and grind in evening and keep outside for fermenting and use the next day morning.

Cherry tomato and roasted garlic spaghetti

We love pastas and have tried to prepare a variety of them from many years. Though I favourite being a simple aglio olio. In India you get good vegetarian options of pasta but you cannot say the same in other countries. Most of them will be seafood or meat. 

But at home atleast we can prepare a sumptuous vegetarian pasta. You can except lot more pasta recipes from VegCookHouse .

Cherry tomatoes are ignored in Indian cooking. The sweet yet sour taste of cherry tomatoes makes it a good candidate to use in other cuisines. Guess we should experiment with cherry tomatoes in South indian cuisine. 

We use garlic a lot in our food but never roasted it much. The roasted flavour of garlic is mouth watering.

A unique pasta with these two ingredients. We used spaghetti but can also use fusilli, penne  , angel hair pasta

Ingredients:

spaghetti pasta - 200 gms
cherry tomatoes - 100 gms
garlic pods - 15
butter - 2 tbspn
olive oil - 3 tbspn
green chillies - 2
salt - 1 tspn to taste

Procedure:

Take a pot and add water to it. add 1/2 tspn of salt to it and bring it to boil. Add the spaghetti to it. cook it for 3 mins until the pasta is almost cooked (dont cook it completely).

Drain the water ,rinse it with cold water along with a few drops of oil. once completely drained add a drop of oil to the pasta and spread it across. This will avoid stickiness.

Take a pan and add butter and 1 tbspn of olive oil. Chop green chillies to fine. add green chillies and garlic to the pan and fry it till brown.it should be roasted well almost like burnt garlic.

Cut the cherry tomatoes to half. add the tomatoes to the pan and fry it. add salt and cook with closed lid for 1 minute. cherry tomatoes cook very quickly.

once cooked add the spaghetti and mix well. add 2 tbspn of olive oil and mix it well till the pasta is blended.

If you dont want to use butter can replace it with olive oil only.