Thursday, August 04, 2011

Tomato Onion Chutney

Another one authentic recipe from Tamil Nadu. Whenever I prepare this chutney, my mind starts to think about the tri-colour chutneys served at hotels here which semi symbolically represents our national flag(White coconut chutney, Red tomato chutney and Green mint chutney) to my eyes. This combination is quite famous here(across world too) and my stomach fills just by looking them with Idly or Dosa when served hot for breakfasts. All my north Indian friends never foget to ask this chutney whenever they visit our house. They like this chutney a lot. We too. :-)







There are many variations for the red chutney served and I have blogged one variation with onion here.



Basic Information:
Preparation Time: <10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes + 10minutes cooling time
Serves: 4-5



Ingredients:


For Chutney:




Red Onion/White onion - 1 no, chopped

Tomato - 4 nos, chopped

Urid dal - 1 tablespoon

Garlic - a small clove

Dry Red chillies - 7-8 / to taste

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tablespoon



For Seasoning:



Mustard seeds and Urid Dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 1 string

Oil - 2 teaspoon



Method:







1) Dry roast urid dal, garlic and dry red chillies in pan till it releases nice aroma and become golden brown colour. Transfer to other plate and set aside.

2) In the same pan, add a tablespoon of oil and saute chopped onions till they are soft.

3) Add tomato and continue sauteing till all tomato pieces mashes well. Remove from stove and allow this mixture to cool.

4) Grind the ingredients to a fine paste by adding salt and little water.

5) In a seasoning pan and heat oil.

6) Put Mustard seeds and urid dal and wait mustard seeds to splutter.

7) Turn off the stove and add curry leaves.

8) Transfer the seasoning to the chutney.

9) Serve with Dosa/Idly.




Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Oats and Besan Kheer/Payasam for Blog Hop Wednesday

 Blog Hop Wednesday, New Event Kick-Started by Radhika of Tickling Palates.A Group of 40 Bloggers (could be even more) are paired together every week to try out recipes from their partner's blog!!!! I m sure, we will get to know more blogger's and get introduced to different recipes and much more than that!!!! A Big applause to Radhika, for taking so much pain (read interest) and Planning!!!! 
This week, i m paired with Nupur Mehra of UK Rasoi, a Budding Blogger from London!!! I tried her Oats and Besan Kheer!!!  A healthy recipe, will be liked by kids too!! 
I have tweaked the recipe a bit for my convenience/liking, So, Please follow the link above for the Original Recipe
Ingredients
500ml Milk
1/2 Cup Oats
1/4 Cup Besan
1/4 Cup Almonds, Chopped
1/2 Cup Sugar
Ghee for roasting the ingredients
Cardamom Crushed for flavor

Method
  • Boil Milk and let it Cool for some time. Heat a pan with little ghee, Roast the Almonds. 

  • Then add oats to the same pan and roast for a minute or two. Spread it on a plate, let it cool.

  • In the same pan, add a tsp of Ghee and roast the gram flour/besan, till a nice aroma arises. Spread it on a plate, and let it cool. 

  • Keep some Roasted almonds for  garnishing, take the rest in a mixer and powder it along with the roasted oats.

  • Take half the milk in a heavy-bottom pan and heat it in a low flame. Add the Oats-Almond Powder to the milk and Keep Stirring, so that it doesn't get burnt @ the bottom. The Milk should not be boiling while adding the powder, or else lumps will form!!! Let it cook in a slow flame for 5-10 minutes. The Mixture will begin to thicken. Switch off the flame.

  •  Take the rest of the Milk , Mix it well with Besan/Gram Flour. Cook the Besan Milk on a slow flame.

  • Add the Oats-Milk to this Besan Milk. Add Sugar and Stir well. Let it cook in a simmer flame for another 8-10 minutes. Add Crushed Cardamom and Put off the flame. Garnish with roasted almonds.

  • Serve Warm. 

This Kheer can be had as a breakfast porridge or as a light dessert too!!! We had it as a Dessert after Lunch!!! This Kheer can be served Chill, But my people, preferred it Warm!!!!

Notes
  1. Take care, while roasting the ingredients, a slight distraction can burn them!!!

  2. While Mixing besan with milk,though nupur has told it can be added straight after roasting the besan to the same pan, i had a small doubt of lumps, so i preferred to cool the besan and then mix it with milk, then take to the flame again. 

  3. I would recommend using boiled milk, coz  i have had some bad experience using fresh milk curdling, when used directly to make kheer. At the end, this is my personal experience. 

Check out what other bloggers are cooking for this Blog Hop Wednesday!!!

Vegan Black Bean Oats Papad Pockets with Mayonnaise Sauce


I once saw this recipe when Deeksha's posted it few weeks ago and wanted to try it. Today she is my first partner for the event that I am participating. The event is hosted by Radhika, which is a great event where you get to look at your partner's blog in order to find recipes that you can make and publish in your own blog. This is a nice platform where you can get to know more friends and bloggers, because we usually after looking a blog we forget about it...but in this way we have to see different blog's and explore and create new recipes.
Yesterday and today I am not much active as I have severe back pain and not able to explore much. I did look at all the recipes on Deeksha's blog, but didn't want to try something which would worse my back pain. As I already thought of making this recipe, I am sticking to it.
I would like to thank Radhika and Deeksha for letting me, explore her blog and letting me make her recipe my way or the way I like it to be.

Ingredients:
------------
4 big Papads ( I used spicy papad with cumin, black pepper and chili flakes)
3 tbsp Oats ( I used quick cooking oats)
1 small Onion chopped
1 can Black Beans, liquid drained and washed
1 roasted Red Bell Pepper, char skin, seeds and stem removed and chopped
1 small Green Chili
1 Tomato chopped
1/2 Cucumber chopped
1/4 tsp Red Chili Powder
1/4 tsp Pepper powder
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Amchur powder (dry mango powder), you can also use fresh raw mango chopped or ripe mango chopped )
Salt to taste
1/4 cup Cilantro chopped
1/4 + 3/4 tsp Olive Oil

Method:
-----------
To Make Roasted Red Pepper:
---------------------------------

1. On the stove top directly place the bell pepper by applying bit oil over the top of the bell pepper and char it over medium high flame on all sides.

2. Remove it from the coil and place it in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. The steam from the pepper will moisten the charred skin and make it easy to peel. and keep it aside for 5-10 mins.

3. remove the plastic wrap and peel off the skin. and use it as desired.

To Make the Black Bean Filling and Make Papad Pockets:
--------------------------------------------------------------


1. In a pan add oil, when it's hot enough add the onions, saute it until translucent.


2. Add the masala, i.e cumin powder, salt and chili powder and saute it unitl the raw masala smell is gone.



3. Add tomatoes and saute it for a min, then add red pepper and green chili and saute it for another min.


4. Add the black beans, salt and pepper and mix well.


 

5. Off the flame and add cucumber and oats, mix well, oats will help to absorb the moisture from the cucumber.


6. Add the chopped cilantro and mix again. Allow it to come to room temperature.
7. Meanwhile take a bowl of water, dip the papad, so that it becomes soft and easy for us to fold. Make sure you don't keep it for long else it will get too soft and cannot handle.




8. Place a wet paper towel on the counter or plate, place the papad over it, add the bean filling and fold it as shown.


9. Make as many as you want and arrange these papads in a microwave safe plate/bowl, brush with rest of the oil on the bottom of the plate or bowl (this will help the papad from sticking to the bowl or plate) and microwave it for about 2 mins then flip the papad pockets and then again microwave it for about 2 mins.



10.Repeat fliping the papad two times more or until the papad is fully cooked and crisp.
Note: You can also make each papad pockets separately in the same way but it will take 2 mins on each side or a total of 4 mins.

Mayonnaise Sauce:
---------------------

1/4 cup Mayonnaise (I used Olive oil Organic Mayo)
1 tbsp Hot Sauce
1 tbsp Ketchup
1 pinch Salt

Method:
----------


1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk it together and serve it with the crispy papad pockets.

Sending this recipe to the Event: "Blog Hop Wednesdays" hosted by Radhika and also linking this recipe to my partner Deeksha's post.


You Might Also Like:




Vegan Oats Stuffed Peppers

Vegan Oats Stuffed Peppers


Black Bean Burger with Tomato Mayonnaise

Black Bean Burger with Tomato Mayonnaise