Egg Masala Perattu

This is a very quick and delicious way to make a spicy egg side dish. The cooking time are a few minutes and goes well with almost all the rice varieties. Here's the quick recipe


Ingredients

• Hard boiled eggs - 3, sliced
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Dhania powder - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
  
• Oil - 1 tablespoon
  
• Salt to Taste

Method

It's a very simple method. All you have to do is, heat the oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds crackle, add the Chilli powder, dhania powder and turmeric powder and keep frying for a minute till the raw smell goes away. Add salt as per taste before taking from heat. If you want to go shy on the masala, pour it on the sliced eggs. Otherwise you can go ahead and add the sliced eggs to the pan itself and fry for sometime. Both ways will relish your taste

Lemon Rice

This is a very easy delicious dish that can be prepared in no time. It makes a great recipe for left over rice. All you would need are lemons and the rest is all available to you waiting in your pantry. This is called the 'elumbicham pazha sadham' in tamil. You can see it on menu for almost many festivals and celebrations. The first time when I made this lemon rice with a 'Egg masala perattu' as a side dish for my hubby, he liked it a lot. Here goes how I made it

Ingredients

• Lemon - 1 big, juice squeezed
  
• Rice - 2 cups
• Water - 4 cups
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Urad Dhal - 1/4 tsp (optional)
  
• Channa Dhal - 1/4 tsp (optional)
• Peanuts - 6 or 7 (optional)
• Green Chillies - 4 to 5, slit lengthwise
• Ginger - 1", minced finely
• Turmeric powder - 2 heavy pinches
• Oil - 2 table spoons
  
• Salt to taste

Wash the rice and boil it with 2 cups of water. Cook this before hand and set aside. You could also use the left over rice. It would be good if the rice were separate. When you boil the rice add the salt necessary for it along with the water. This will ensure that the salt has spread evenly.

In a skillet, add some oil and when hot add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds sputter, add the urad dhal, channa dhal and the peanuts. These are optional. These will help enhance the flavour and the texture of the rice. When you bite into the rice you will have a crunchy feel.

After the dhals have got a slightly brown color, add the green chillies and the minced ginger. After a few seconds add the turmeric and turn the heat off. While the skillet is still hot, add the juice of 1 lemon.

Add this juice mixture to the rice which has been slightly cooled. If it was still steaming hot, the rice would not cooperate when we try to mix. It would simply break and become more lumpy. So it is better if the rice was cooled before mixing. Also you would not want to add the lemon juice to the skillet when it is still hot. This will cause the Vitamins to get destroyed and the taste will turn very very sour. So it is better to turn off the heat and then pour the juice.

The best side dish for lemon rice would be a simple lemon pickle or a potato fry or the egg masala perattu.

Try this! Its a real winner and you will not go wrong when you know the few key points to making this rice a delight. Waiting to hear how it turned out for you.

Capsicum Upma, a colorful treat

This weekend we had surprise visitors; it was my hubby's friend and his wife. I wanted to make some breakfast quick for the guests, but at the same time some thing delicious too. All I had in my fridge was some bell pepper and tomatoes. The next thing that came up in my mind was Upma. It turned out to be good. Upma saved my day



Ingredients

• Sooji or rava - 2 cups
  
• Chopped Red Bell pepper - 3 table spoons
• Chopped Green Bell pepper - 3 table spoons
• Onion - 1, big, chopped
• Tomato - 1 big, chopped
• Green chillies - 3, slit lengthwise
• Ginger - 1" piece, finely chopped
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Oil - 3 table spoons
• Water - 4 cups
• Salt to taste
  

In a kadai, roast the sooji or rava till a nice aroma comes. Transfer to another container and set aside. In the kadai, add some oil. To the heated oil add mustard and cumin seeds. After they start to sputter add the green chillies and the ginger. Add the chopped Onion and fry till translucent. Add the tomatoes and keep cooking till the oil starts to ooze out at the sides. Next add the bell peppers and saute till tender. Add the necessary water required. Add the salt required for the sooji and the veggies.


The trick is that you measure twice the proportion of water to cook sooji. Also give it a stir at the first time. Do not keep stirring them often. This way we can reduce the lumps being formed.

When the water begins to boil, add the sooji and close the kadai with a lid. When we see the water being absorbed, remove lid and give a stir so that the ingredients spread evenly. Transfer to plates to serve.

Carrot Halwa - It bought him floating to the kitchen!!

The eye catchy theme of Food In Colors - Orange event hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen, made me make a handful of choices (This edition is being hosted for food In Colors of Sunshine mom). The first dish that came to my mind was this Carrot halwa. This is one of the halwas which exhibits its natural color. No preservatives, no food color and no laborious work. This dish also would not consume more of the sugar, because the carrot has already got some sweetness. Mentioning about Orange, there are a whole of indian stuff that would come to one's mind. Starting from the national flag, the saints of India, the world famous kashmiri saffron, hot and spicy sauces and dishes, the ripe oranges, the kanakambaram flower of india.... Oh boy thats a big list already and I still have a lot to keep counting

Today afternoon I started making this carrot halwa by melting the ghee. Right from that time my hubby had been enjoying the good fragrance. And I did not get to eat much of the Halwa but for a 2 or 3 teaspoons. Here is how I did it

Ingredients

• Carrot - 3, finely grated
  
• Ghee - 4 or 5 table spoons
• Sugar - 1/3 of a cup
• Cardamom - 3 or 4, finely powdered
  
• Milk - 1.25 cups
• Dry grapes - a handful, fried in ghee

As I said earlier, I started out this recipe by heating the ghee in a pan. When they have melted down, add the grated carrot and fry about a min till it absorbs the ghee flavor. Now add the milk to it. Add about 1.25 cups or till the carrots are submerged. Add the sugar and the cardamom.

Cover it and allow it to cook in a simmer. The carrots won't take a long time to cook as they have been grated very finely. Now remove the cover and allow the milk to reduce. Keep stirring frequently so that the carrots wont stick to the pan. At one stage, the carrots would be nice and done and they would not stick to the sides of the pan anymore. At this stage, if you wish you could more ghee or if you are more diet conscious, you just keep stirring till you get the required consistency.

Another tip is that, you can add cardamom powder. But the flavor is more fresh when you grind the whole cardamom. But the cardamom when ground alone do not get ground very well. So the trick is to grind it along with some sugar. You will be surprised to see that it would have become a more fine powder. Also another tip is here. When you grind the granulated sugar, the measurement increases. But do not worry, the sweetness remains the same. Try this recipe and do post your suggestions and comments.

Red Beans Gravy - The Legume affair has caught me this time!!

I was browsing through some of the pages when I found SriValli hosting the My Legume Love Affair - Seventh Helping. It was already mid January when I found this event hosted. Though I had this comfort food my mom used to make for us, I couldn't make the dish in time and participate in the event. Trust me a new mom, tackling a hubby kid and a eight month old kid are not that easy!! But I guess I just caught up on My Legume Love Affair - Eighth Helping, hosted by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook

Ingredients

• Onion - 1 big, finely chopped
• Tomato - 1 big, finely chopped
• Green chillies - 2, slit lengthwise
• Ginger - a small 1/2" bit, chopped or minced finely
• Red Beans - 1 can
• Chilli powder - 2.5 teaspoons
• Dhania powder - 2 teaspoons
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoons
  
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil - 2 or 3 tablespoons
• Salt to Taste

It was a lazy Wednesday afternoon and I had to be in constant look out after my kid. So I made this simple dish for lunch. Heat 2 to 3 table spoons of oil in a sauce pan and sputter mustard seeds. To this add the Green chillies, Curry leaves and the chopped onions. When the Onions are transparent, add the minced ginger. Saute for a couple of minutes and then add the tomatoes. Keep cooking till the oil separates. Add the whole can of Red beans to the sauce pan

Add about 1/4 cup of water and add Red Chilli powder, Dhania powder and turmeric powder. Let it keep cooking till the raw smell of the chilli powder is gone (Also till you get the desired consistency). Garnish and serve hot

The can of beans contains the liquid in it. If you want the gravy to be thick, then add the whole content. Otherwise drain and rinse the beans. You can add water instead and keep simmering till the desired consistency is reached. A thick gravy would be a excellent side dish for chappathi, dosas and idlies. A thinner consistency would be great for plain rice. We had our lunch with plain rice and potato fry. For dinner, I simmered it further more and had it with Chappathi. Bon Apetite

Spicy Masala Bread Toast

Our family does not eat Bread for breakfast and I wonder why I bought bread. Now its time for me to cook it off before it reaches its expiration date. I cannot sell it to my husband (even not to me) as a simple Bread butter jam sandwich. I had to incorporate a slight Indian twist so that he would not complain much before eating. I am posting this recipe for THE BREAD MANIA event posted by Sindura


Ingredients

• Bread - 4 or 5 slices
  
• Egg - 2
• Onion - 1 medium
• Tomato - 1 big
• Corriander leaves - a handful
• Mint or Pudina leaves - a handful
• Ginger, garlic paste - optional
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp
• Dhania powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Pepper powder - 3/4 tsp
  
• Oil - 2 or 3 table spns
• Salt to taste

Method

Here is how I did it. I seperated the eggs to a bowl and added the pepper pwd and salt just for these eggs. I made a paste of the onion, tomato, corriander leaves and mint leaves. In a wide mouthed sauce pan, heat oil. To this add the paste we had made earlier. The ginger garlic paste is added to this paste at this stage (But it is optional). When it is slightly getting sauteed, add the chilli pwd, dhania pwd and turmeric pwd. Add the salt to taste. When the paste is nicely cooked, turn off the heat and allow it to cool. If we do not cool, the eggs might get cooked in this heat. When it is cool, add the beaten eggs to this paste. Beat them up nicely so that they get combined smoothly through out.

Heat up a skillet and add oil to it so that we can toast the bread without it sticking to the skillet or pan. Soak the bread slices in the prepared egg paste and toast it on the skillet. When the eggs get cooked and when the bread slightly browns up, turn to the other side. Repeat for other slices too. Do not soak the bread for too long other wise it will be too hard to handle them. This dish tastes good with tomato ketchup