Sunday, November 11, 2007

Tomato Chutney

With the amount of tomatoes I got this season. Tried out a tomato chutney recipe by Devi aunty. It was really superb and I even made so much that I froze it and kept using it. This is the chutney for dosa/idle etc. but it tastes fine with rice too.

I am not writing down the measurements since I had so many tomatoes that I used approximation and I dont remember the measurements now but next time I make it I will remember to update it.

Cut the tomatoes into 4 pieces. Cook tomatoes until soft. They should become paste. This takes a lot of time. In a seperate pan fry Red chillies, Dhania, Jeera.
Grind them with salt and tamrind. When the tomatoes are cooked and cooled add them to the ground powder. At the end add the pope (Mustard seeds, urad dal, jeera, curry leaves)

And then enjoy!!!!

Bean Salsa

This has always been a hit appetizer at all the parties. Make sure you buy thick golden chips for extra flavor.

Black Beans - 1 can
Red kidney beans - 1 can
Corn kernals - 1 can
Onions - 1
Green Chillies - 4 (the more spicy the higher the quantity_
Mixed shredded Cheese - 1 pack
Salsa - 1 bottle (I like spicy salsa but depending on your preference please buy appropriate)
tomatoes - 3 chopped
chopped olives - as much as you like
Green pepper - 1 or 2 chopped
Corrainder - 1 bunch chopped

Wash the canned beans. I like to do this and remove all the liquid in them.
Just mix everything with half a pack of cheese and put it in a pan. Put the remaining cheese on the top. Put this in the oven at 350 for 10 min. And you are ready to dig in. This unlike other dips is going to be chunky and very healthy.

Salsa

Before I knew how to make salsa I thought it was so hard and then I did not really like eating the store bought ones... I did not like those very much so one day I looked up online and made it myself. Depending on how spicy you want adjust the chillies

Tomatoes: 4
Green Chillies: 2
Onions: 1 to 1 1/2
Garlic: 2
Salt: 1 tbsp
Sugar: a pinch
lemon juice: 3-4 tbsp
Corriander - 1/2 bunch

I used a food processor to do this (Warning: The onions might give you a bitter taste if you do it in a food processor and the tomatoes might get over chopped, so watch out!). Add green chillies, garlic, onions and chop them. Now add the tomatoes (Add tomatoes at the end as they would chop easily). Add salt, sugar, lemon juice and coriander. If you dont have a food processor you can just finely chop everything and just mix it. I think that would work.

Cream Cheese Rolls

5 years back or so I think I went out with my uncle and aunt to a desi party and they had this and I loved it so much that I asked my aunt if she knew the recipe and she said it was really simple and I tried it out later and it was always a hit. Friends keep calling and asking me about the recipe so I thought I'd put it online..

1 bread packet, the crust needs to be trimmed (if you are lazy then just buy uncrusted)
1 packet I think 8 oz of plain cream cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 tbsp finely chopped green chillies

Now mix the cream cheese with the onions and green chillies. Apply this mixture on a piece of bread. Roll the bread. With the cream cheese it should stick and make a roll. Now cut the roll into two. Do it for the rest.

Heat oven to 350 and in a lightly greased pan put the rolls. Let it bake till about 15 min or so.. The bread should lightly turn brown as if you were toasting it. Check to make sure you are not waiting too long and actually burning it on the bottom. This is best served immediately. The crusty top with the soft cream cheese filling will definetly win everyones heart.

My aunt suggested that if you had to do a lot.. do everything and just put it in the oven so that it is not totally done but a turns a little crispy then cool and freeze it and whenever your guests come in you can put them back in the oven and finish the cooking.

Guthi Vankaya Curry

This recipe was obtained online (dont remember where) and modified by me. Everyone loved it and my friend kavitha wanted it so I thought I should put it online so.......here goes the recipe for stuffed brinjal. I used approximations so please modify as per your taste.

Garlic -3
Onions-2
Round Brinjal - 7

Corrainder seeds - 1tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1tbsp
red Chillies - 3 to 4
Tamrind Paste - 1 tsp

Fry the chopped onions and garlic. After they are done, let them cool. Grind and make a smooth paste. Keep them aside.

Fry corriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies and then grind them along with a little butter, sugar and salt.

Add this ground mix to the onion paste and mix. Make slits into the brinjal and stuff this paste. Keep the extra remaining paste and add it to the dish later.

In the pan add oil and add cumin, curry leaves, mustard seeds etc. Add the brinjals and the extra left-over paste. Add salt and chilli powder. Add Tamrind paste and a cup of water. Let them cook and then when finished garnish with corrainder.


I was too lazy one day to stuff the brinjals so I just cut up the brinjal into 4 pieces and then just added the paste... the curry still turned out good. I will try and remember to take a picture next time I make it and post it.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Dosa Recipe

This dosa recipe was so far the best recipe... My goodness the batter disappeared so quickly. Anyways here is the recipe

2 cups rice
1 cup parboiled rice
3/4 cup urad dal
3/4 cup poha/rice flakes
4-5 methi seeds

Soak both the rice together with methi. Urad dal and poha separately for overnight or atleast 6 hours. Grind the rice to a smooth paste and then grind urad dal and poha and mix together. Let it stay overnight to ferment. One trick that I learnt is ... if you mix a little with your hand for some reason the batter ferments more than if you mix it with spoon. So try it and the have fun!!!!

Update --- Well I tried to make idli's with the same batter and it was too good. First time my husband complimented saying it almost [ALMOST] tasted like my mother-in-laws .... which I think is a great compliment. So feel free to use this mixture for making a dosa too... but I forgot to add methi seeds this one time and the dosa came out comparitvely white than brown .... which was good for the idlis so if you want to make idli too skip the methi seeds.

Here are a couple of pictures I took later... my wet grinder and my dosa on the pan



Please feel free to leave comments by clicking on the comments link below each recipe. I'd love to hear from you.