BUTTERMILK CHILLER

Summer is in and so are the coolers. Here I am sharing my way of making the easiest and the most common one of them all, Buttermilk. Actually it is also one of the healthiest of all coolers. Just imagine going out in the Indian summer and coming back home to a chilled glass of buttermilk. Seems like a boon.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup yogurt
• 2 cups chilled water
• 1 tsp ginger (grated)
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 1 dry red chili (broken into 3 pices)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• A pinch of asafoetida (hing)
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves – 2 tbsp to garnish
  

Method:

• Whisk the Yogurt add water to it and stir.
• Add ginger, salt and set it aside
• Tempering: Heat oil in a skillet add mustard, curry leaves and red chillies once they begin to splutter add asafoetida/hing .
• Pour the tempering into the buttermilk mixture and stir well.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve chilled.

There are a lot more variations you can try in flavouring the buttermilk. Here's another one which I like;

Grind coriander leaves, green chillies, ginger, garlic into a fine paste and add it to the buttermilk. The tempering remains the same excluding the red chillies, as we are using green chillies in the ground paste. Add salt to taste, stir well and Masala Buttermilk is ready to be served. Feel free to share your ideas too!

A Healthy Lunch Menu

My refrigerator was getting filled up with left over vegetables; a raw banana here, a beetroot there and lots others in little quantities. As you see, these veggies weren’t suited for a mixed vegetable curry or sambhar. So I decided to make separate dishes of out each for lunch. And I ended up dishing out the following spread.

Dali Thoy
Raw Banana Mashed

Beetroot n Carrot Salad

Dali Thoy
Ingredients:

• 1 cup Toor dal
• ½ tsp Turmeric
• Salt to taste
• For the tempering: 6-7 Garlic cloves (crushed), 2-3 Dry red chillies (broken into halves) and 2 tsp oil

Method:

• Wash and clean the toor dal and drain the water.
• Pour 2 cups of clean water into the dal.
• Add turmeric powder and stir.
• Pressure cook it for 2-3 whistles
• Now mash the pressure cooked dal using a whisker; but remember that the mashed dal should not be not too thick or too watery
• Add salt to it and heat it on a low flame, stir occasionally
• While the dal is heating prepare for the tempering.

Tempering

• Heat oil in a skillet, add garlic cloves and fry them till they turn slightly brown.
• Now add the red chillies and fry for sometime
• Take it off the flame and pour it on the dal.
• Stir well, switch off the flame when the dal comes to a boil. Serve it hot with rice.

Raw Banana Mashed
Ingredients:

• 1 Raw Banana, peeled, cooked and mashed
• 1 Onion (medium sized), chopped roughly/finely
• 1 tsp mustard oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well using your hand. Proper mixing is essential for the salt and the oil to blend evenly.

Beetroot and Carrot Salad:
Ingredients:

• 1 Beetroot - cooked, peeled, grated
• 1 Carrot- peeled, grated
• 1 cup- Yogurt, whisked
• ½ cup- grated coconut
• 1 handful of roasted and crushed peanuts (tip borrowed from Maya of Konkan
  World)
• Salt to taste
• For the tempering: 1 tsp Chana dal, 1 tsp Urad dal, 1 Dry red chilli (broken into halves), 1tsp Mustard seeds and 5-6 Curry leaves

Method:

• In a large bowl, put Grated beetroot, carrot, yogurt, peanuts, salt and set it aside
• Heat oil in a skillet add chana dal, urad dal fry till it becomes light brown
• Add mustard, red chilli, curry leaves to it and wait till it sputters.
• Take it off the flame and pour it over the salad mixture.
• Put in the grated coconut and mix well and the salad is ready to be served.

Subzi Makhani - Mixed vegetables cooked in rich gravy

Cooking mixed vegetable dishes give a great sense of pride, especially if they have a heavy duty name ;) on every restaurant visits I remember ordering dishes which sound really royal ;) Malai murg, Murg Akbari, vegetable Jalfarezi….oooo don’t they sound great? And we know for sure they taste sooo..good.

They say what’s in a name? but I say It’s all in the name!...lol We ladies have a very special talent of turning some boring vegetable dishes into an interesting one. What more? Such innovations christened with Ola! An Eyebrow raising name…. can make any poor simple vegetable dish a show stealer! Hmmm…I can’t be wrong here?!

Without dwelling more on this topic, let me quickly come back to the recipe of the day, ‘Subzi Makhni’. I got this recipe from my good friend R, who is a great cook. R had invited our group of friends over for lunch. I completely loved the array of dishes she had prepared for us. However, I was bowled over by the look and taste of subzi makhani for which, I was quick enough to ask and note down the recipe from her.

I made this dish a couple of times at home. Thanks to R the dish turned out as good as it sounds :) It’s one of my fav. roti accompaniments ,but can't afford to make it very often ....and I think you can guess why? ;0 The recipe for the same follows.

For Subzi Makhni you’ll need:

2 cups mixed vegetables, ( carrot, potato, cauliflower, beans)

2-3 tbsp butter

½ cup green peas

2 tsp cream

¼ tsp garam masala

2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped

1 medium onion, sliced

1 tsp ginger, finely chopped

1tsp garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp green chillies, finely chopped

2 cloves

½” cinnamon

elaichi 3

2-3 tsp cashew nuts

1 tsp poppy seeds

2-3 tbsp oil

Preparation:

STEP 1.

1. A. Brown the onions with a little oil, keep it aside for it to cool

B. Fry separately ginger, garlic, chillies, cinnamon, cashew nuts, poppy seeds in a little oil till it emanates aroma, set it aside and let it cool.

C. Grind it into fine past using little water.

STEP 2.

A. In a Kadhai/wok melt butter.

B. Add the vegetables (including peas) fry for about 2-3 minutes.

C. Now, add cream and masala paste and fry for another 2-3 minutes.

D. Add water (as per your desired consistency of the subzi), salt, garam masala.

E. Stir gently so that all the vegetables get evenly coated with the masala.

F. Cook it covered on a low flame till done, stir occasionally in between.

G. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Tried and tasted Recipe of the week:

Stuffed n roasted Idlis

Yesterday being Sunday, I decided to make Idli's , Wanting to give a break to the same old white beauties I decided to make something different with them. I'd seen the make over that Madhuram of http://egglesscooking.com/ had given to the Idlis in one of her recent posts.

I Made the stuffed n roasted idlis and vola! they tasted really, really good! praise worthy innovation to happen to a simple humble dish like Idli Loved it till the last bite. Thanks Madhuram :)
click on the link for the recipe http://www.egglesscooking.com/2009/03/09/stuffed-roast-idli/