Back with Bisibele Bhath!

Hi all,

Sorry for such long absence. I must admit I've been having a sneek peep at most of the blogs every now and then :) Now on, I shall try and be as regular as possible in updating my recipes and also visiting your blogs. Happy Ramanavami and God bless!

Today's recipe is a treasured one. I've been preparing bisibele bhath with MTR ready mix for the past 3 years. My land lady Mrs. M is an excellent cook. She had invited S and me for lunch one day, the menu was a great spread with a traditional vermicelli payasam for dessert. The show stealer in the menu was Bisibele bhath for me without doubt. I took down the recipe for the powder and made it at home. Undoubtedly, it was awesome. Since then it's been one of my favourite recipes. Read on....

Ingredients:

For the powder:

Oil- 2 tsp

Red chillies (byadgi)- 5-6

Chana dal- 3 tsp

Udad dal- 1tsp

Coriander seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cloves- 2

Cinnamon-1" piece

Green cardamom- 1-2

Methi seeds- 4-5 seeds

Maratha Moggu- 1

Dagda phool- little

Copra (grated)- 1/4 cup

Khus khus (poppy seeds)- 1 tsp

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Method:

In a Kadhai / Tawa heat the oil and dry fry each ingredients on a medium flame, till it gives out aroma. Cool it and powder it. Store it in an air tight container.

To prepare Bisibele Bhath:

Ingredients:

Rice- 2 cups

Toor dal- 1 cup or (Toordal 1 cup and rice 1/2 cup)

Mixed vegetables- beans, potato, peas, cauliflower, carrot, onion ( cut the veggies into bite size pieces, onion quartered)

Bisibele bhath powder- 2-3 tbsp ( according to your taste)

Coconut grated-1/2 cup (optional)

Tamarind paste- 1-2 tbsp

Jaggery crushed- 1 tbsp

Ghee- 1-2 tbsp

Salt- as per taste

Tempering:

Ghee/oil- 2 tsp

Mustard seeds- 1 tsp

Urad dal- 1 tsp

Chana dal- 1 tsp

Red chillie- 1-2, broken into halves

Note: You can temper it with fried cashews in ghee, after the above mentioned basic tempering

Method:

Cook the dal and rice with enough water and 1/4th tsp turmeric powder. Once cooked mix it well with a ladel so that both dal and rice combine well.

Cook the vegetables seperately.

Take a kadhai/wok place it on medium flame and put tamarind paste and boil for about a minute.

Add cooked vegetables, dal and rice mix, bisibelebhath powder, salt, jaggery. Add some water if necessary.Mix the contents well.

Boil for 5 minutes

Tempering:

In a Tempering utensil, heat oil/ghee and add chana dal, udad dal fry till it browns a bit.

Throw in the red chillies, mustard seeds and curry leaves let it splutter for a couple of seconds.

Pour the tempering ingredients over the simmering bisibele bhath. Mix well.

Sprinkle the grated coconut over the bisibele bhath and it's ready to serve.

Best accompaniment : salted/ spiced potato chips (waffers) or onion raita.

DIWALI GREETINGS!

Wishing You and your loved ones a Beautiful and Bright Diwali !
May the Goddess shower upon you the choicest of wishes!
Praying for the best of Health, Happiness, Wealth and Wisdom !
Let the Goodness within you illuminate as the thousands of lamps lit on this auspicious day!

Whole Wheat Dosa, Coconut - Jaggery Laddoo

A Big Happy Hello! Great to be back to blogging after a long and fulfilling break. The days that went by kept me occupied by yet another relocation. Shifting has always petrified me and will continue to ... :P
Now that we are settled in our new home and life has come to normalcy, I decided to get back to what I missed the most.
In the last couple of days there were invitees over for lunches, dinners and tea. I used my best known culinary skills to impress the aunts, uncles and cousins, hopefully succeded to a good extend. I'd rather not discuss the menu in this post as my camera was not put to use for what it was meant for :)
Today's post would include two simple recipes that I make more than often, one is a breafast quickie and the other a sweet meat. Read on...

Whole wheat dosa:

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups water
1 sprig curry leaves, chopped
1/2 a handful, chopped coriander leaves
1-2 green chillies, finely chopped
1" ginger grated
sugar 1/4 tsp
salt to tasted
oil/ghee for cooking


Method:
1. Mix the whole wheat flour and water in a wide mouthed vessel and stir/whisk it well to make it lump free.
2. To this dough add curry leaves, coriander leaves, green chillies, ginger, salt, sugar and mix well to combine all the ingredients evenly. The batter is runny compared to the regular dosa batter.
3. Heat a tava on medium flame and pour a ladel of dosa batter on it and spread it in circular motion.
4. Sprinkle a little ghee/oil on the dosa and on the edges as well. close and allow to cook till done and flip the dosa on to the other side and cook till some brown spots and seen here and there.
5. Continue the same process with the remaining dosa batter.
6. Serve the dosas hot with chutney or sauce.

Coconut-Jaggery Laddoo:


Ingredients:
2 cups freshly grated coconut
2 cups grated jaggery
1 tsp and a little more ghee ( clarified butter)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Method:
1. In a wide mouthed vessel mix the grated coconut and jaggery using a ladel
2. Put this mixture in a kadhai and place in on a medium flame and keep stirring.
3. The coconut and jaggery will give out some amount of oil and water respectively. Keep stirring.
4. Gradually the mixture begins to tighten as the water evaporates, add a teaspoon of ghee and the cardamom powder and mix well and take it off the flame. Let it cool a bit.
5. When the laddoo mixture is hand managable, apply ghee on ur palms, take enough mixture and make them into perfect rounds.
6. Place the ready to serve laddoos on a greased plate.
7. If u prefer it harder than the regular consistency chill it in the refrigerator.


Thanks for having me in your thoughts, and leaving words of concern in my blog.
wishing you wellness and joy!
TC

Bhenda Ghashi / Okra tempered with garlic

Bhenda Ghashi / Okra tempered with Garlic

okra gravy and mix well. Simmer for a couple of seconds and turn off the flame.
Serves: 2
Refrigerated: stays up to 2 days

Ingredients:

10 Small okras / lady’s finger
3 Dry red chillies
A fist full fresh coconut pieces/ grated coconut
½ tbsp Tamarind paste
¼ tsp Turmeric powder
4-5 Fenugreek seeds
½ tsp Coriander seeds
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil

Tempering:

2 tsp oil
7-8 Garlic cloves, unpeeled

Method:

In a small skillet put a few drops of oil and roast the red chillies, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds for a few seconds, do not let it burn. Once roasted let it cool.

Meanwhile, slice the wash the okras, wipe them dry, trims the ends and cut them into one inch pieces.

In a Kadhai/vessel heat 1 tsp oil and fry the okra pieces till they are slightly blackened and there is no trace of stickiness. In the same vessel pour water enough to dunk the okra pieces adding a little salt cook them till fork tender. Once done drain the water and the pieces aside.

Next grind the roasted spices along with coconut, tamarind paste, haldi add a little water and make it into a fine paste.

Transfer the ground mixture into the cooking vessel add salt to taste, water to get the gravy as per the consistency you require (don’t make it too watery). Add the cooked okra slices in it and simmer to a boil and then immediately lower the flame.

Prepare the tempering:

In a tempering pan heat about 2 tsps of oil and throw in the garlic cloves and keep frying it till it turns brownish black ( do not over burn them) once this is done pour it over the simmering
Serve the Okra gravy/ghashi with steaming hot rice.

Raw Mango chutney - meal side dish

QUICK RAW MANGO CHUTNEY

This recipe is a quick creation of S. There are times when u just feel like having a truly simple meal with just dal, rice and pickle, but S just cant have a meal without a dry sabzi or somekind of a side dish. Here's the story how the raw mango chutney was put together in a jiffy by S :)

The last weekend was hectic as we did our provision shopping and came home late, exhausted and famished. The best sought food at such times are dal- chaawal. I was all set to prepare it and hog like a hippo ;) S wanted some side dish with dal and rice, but I wouldnt agree to make anything more than dal-rice( really cruel na?) so he told me he'd make some interesting dish for meal accompaniment..... and within minutes he prepared an amazing chutney which we polished off with so much devotion during and after the meal ...lol

here's the recipe for the CHATAKDAR RAW MANGO CHUTNEY:

Ingredients:

1 medium sized Raw Mango, washed, peeled, cut into small pieces

1- 2 tsp Mustard oil

1-2 Green chillies

salt and sugar to taste

Method:

Grind to a coarse paste the Raw mango pieces along with green chillies with very little water,

(DO NOT GRIND IT INTO A SMOOTH PASTE)

Once it's ground, empty the coarse mango-chilli paste into a container, add mustard oil, salt, sugar to it and mix well.

The chutney is ready to be served.

My take on S's preparation:

This chutney tastes brilliant with plain white rice, I feel this would be the best combination to get the individual taste of each ingredient of the chutney :)

That's all for this week,

Have a great weekend!

Be Good , Be Happy

TC

A Generous Shower of Awards....

Indrani of APPYAYAN and Sashi of Sashi's tasty bites have shared this bunch of awards as an encouranging gesture, Thanks a lot dearies :)

THE SUNSHINE AWARD..............

Ammu of Nature Kitchen

Indrani of APPYAYAN have shared the "Sunshine" award and made my blog a lot more brighter :)

Thanks a lot friends...

I would like to pass on these awards to all of you for being so encouraging, generous and spreading happiness through your visits, comments and sharing your wonderful recipes...

Thanks for accepting :)

Be Good, Be Happy.

Have a Happy Week ahead!

Penne with Creamy Peas and Tomato

Recipe adapted from Tarla Dalal's book - Pizzas & Pasta

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked penne

2 tsp chopped garlic

3/4 cup cooked green peas

1 large tomato, finely chopped

1/2 cup fresh cream

1 cup milk

2 tbsp maida ( plain flour), make a dilute paste of maida by mixing it in few tsps of milk.

2-3 tbsp butter

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

STEP 1 :

How to cook Pasta: Source Tarla Dalal's book : Pizzas & Pasta

1. Use ample water. Always cook pasta in a large pan of boiling water with 1 tbsp of oil.

2. Add the pasta to the boiling water by adding a few at a time.

3. Cook uncovered , stirring occassionlly and gently until the pasta is tender.

4. Cooked pasta should be 'al dente' or firm to bite.

5. Once cooked, immediately drain it in a sieve or a colander. Transfer to a bowl of cold water to

refresh it. Drain again and keep it aside.

6. If the pasta is not used immediately, add 1 tbsp of oil to it and toss it and set it aside.

NOTE: 2 cups of dried pasta will yield 3 cups of cooked pasta. The quantity is suffient for 4 persons.

Step 2:

1.Heat the butter in a large sauce pan, add garlic and stir fry for sometime.

2. Add the tomato and stir further more till the tomatoes become soft, now add the diluted maida and keep stirring so that lumps are not formed.

3. Add milk gradually and mix well, bring to a boil.

4. Add the fresh cream, salt, pepper mix well. Keep it aside.

Step 3.

1. Just before serving , heat the sauce , adding a little milk /water if required ...as the sauce tends to thicken. Toss the pasta in it, garnish it with oregano and serve immediately.