This chutney uses less coconut, so I make this most of the time instead of the traditional coconut chutney. This is very easy to make and if you don't have much time to make breakfast, the onion and dals can be fried the previous day and chutney can be made for breakfast in 5 minutes the next day by grinding all the ingredients. Here is the recipe.
Ingredients
1 onion
1 teaspoon urad dal
1/2 teaspoon chana dal
2 green chilies
2 tablespoon coconut
1/4 teaspoon jeera
1/4 teaspoon tamarind concentrate or small piece of tamarind
1/4 teaspoon chopped ginger
4-5 coriander leaves
2 teaspoon oil
salt for taste
Method
Fry onion in 1 teaspoon oil till transparent. Fry urad dal and chana dal in another teaspoon oil, till brown. Add all the other ingredients to the onion and dals and grind into a fine paste.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2
Last week I made soup from summer squash and other vegetables. My husband loves vegetables and I make lot of soups and salads. This is a light soup and can also be had as a light dinner.
Ingredients
1 cup chopped summer squash (zucchini, yellow squash, pattypan squash)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 handful peas
1 tomato chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon oil
1/4 tablespoon sugar
salt
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro or coriander leaves
pepper for taste
Method
Boil squash, tomato, peas and carrot till well cooked. Mash the vegetables so that some of them are mashed. This will help to thicken the soup. I blend it for around 5-10 seconds using a hand blender. Fry onion in 1/2 tablespoon oil till transparent. Add this to the vegetables. Fry flour in rest of the oil till light brown in color. Cool the flour and mix well in 1/2 cup cold water so that no lumps are formed. Mix the white sauce in the soup, add salt, sugar, coriander leaves and pepper and heat it on a low flame for 20 minutes. Serve hot with soup sticks or bread. I served it with vegetable wheat thins.
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Serves: 2
This is a comfort food which can be prepared in a jiffy. It is great to also just sip it like soup on a cold day. It goes well with rice or pulao. My husband prepares this with vatana bhat. My husband loves ginger and adds it in this Kadhi, but if you don't like it you can skip it.
Ingredients
2 cups curd
2 tablespoon besan (chickpea flour)\
2 green chilies
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger (optional)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
5 pinches asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon oil
salt for taste
8-9 curry leaves (optional)
coriander leaves or cilantro for garnishing
Method
Mix curd, ginger and besan so that there are no lumps. Add water as per desired consistency. Heat the mixture till it comes to a boil. In a seasoning pan and oil and mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add asafoetida, turmeric powder, chopped chilies and curry leaves. Add this to the kadhi. Add salt as per taste. Serve with khichidi, rice or peas pulao .
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4
This is one of my husband's recipe. During his bachelor days, he would make this vatana bhat with kadhi. The other day when I was busy with my studies, he made Kadhi and Vatana bhat for dinner. I was very surprised with the simplicity of this lovely recipe. It is a great comfort food for winters when one cannot eat cold curd. Vatana Bhat can be prepared within minutes and it is a great recipe for lunch tiffins. I am sending it to the “Think Spice: Think Turmeric” event organized by Sudeshna and Sunita.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup basmati rice
1 cup peas
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder or maharashtrian kala masala
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
5 pinches of asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoon coriander leaves for garnishing
1 tablespoon oil
salt for taste
Method
Wash the basmati rice and leave it for aside for 20 minutes. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and asafoetida. Mix in peas and basmati rice and saute for around 5 minutes. Add chili powder and garam masala. Boil 3 cups of water and add to the rice. Put lemon juice and salt for taste. Adding lemon juice keeps the rice grains from sticking. Cook covered till the rice is done. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with kadhi .
Preparation time:40 minutes
Serves:2-3
This is an excellent recipe for your next barbecue party. Last week we went to BBQ with my husband's friends and I had made tandoori paneer. There were 18 people and I took 5 pounds of marinated paneer. These soft, juicy chunks of paneer along with grilled vegetables make a mouthwatering appetizer for any occasion. Paneer should be marinated for around 2-4 hours and should not be marinated for long like chicken or other meat.
Ingredients
500 gms paneer
1 1/2 cup curd or yogurt
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoon MDH tandoori masala
1 teaspoon chat masala powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon sugar
4 teaspoon finely chopped cilantro or coriander leaves
lemon juice for taste
salt for taste
oil for grilling
1 capsicum
2 tomatoes
1 big onion
Skewers for grilling
Method
Cut the paneer and the vegetables into big cubes.
You can use the chili powder and coriander powder available in the market. I roasted 7 Byadgi chillis (these are not spicy, but provide a rich red color) and powdered them in my coffee bean grinder. I use this grinder to grind all my spices and it takes just 2-3 minutes to grind the them into a very fine powder. If the chili powder from 7 byadgi chilies is not enough to provide a spicy flavor, then add the normal chili powder to make it spicy as per your taste.
Mix curd, milk and all the powders, ginger, garlic, coriander leaves and lemon juice to make the marinate. Adjust salt in the marinate so that it will suffice for the bland paneer and vegetables.
In a big bowl, add the panner, vegetables and the marinate. Coat the paneer and vegetables well with the marinate.
Let the paneer marinate for 3-4 hours. The paneer can be grilled on a barbecue grill or in a regular oven. Soak the skewers in warm water for around 20-30 minutes, so that they don't char on the grill. Place the paneer and the vegetables on the skewers and and brush them with cooking oil or cooking spray. Grill the panner till brown on all sides. Enjoy the chat-pata tandoori paneer with mint chutney.
Preparation time: 30-40 minutes excluding the marination time
Serves: 4-5
Rava Upma is a very simple dish to make for breakfast. This is a commonly made for breakfast dish in almost all Konkani households. Half of the recipe can be prepared the previous day and then cooked the next day for breakfast within 5 minutes. When I was young, I was not very fond of mustard seeds flavor, and I distinctly remember hating this dish. But later, when I grew up I guess I got used to the mustard flavor and started liking this dish. Spicy sev or chivda or chuda can be used to garnish this dish.
Ingredients
2 cups coarse thick rava or sooji or semolina
4 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon urad dal
2 green chilis or 2 red chilies
5 pinches asafoetida
1 spring curry leaves
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon grated coconut
1 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves or cilantro
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger (optional)
salt for taste
Method
Fry semolina till light brown in color. Keep aside.
Add oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add asafoetida and urad dal and fry till urad dal is light brown. Add chopped green chilies or broken red chilies, ginger and curry leaves. Fry for half a minute and add the semolina. Stir and mix well. You can follow the recipe till here and make it the previous day. Adding water and cooking can be done the next day morning. Boil water and add to the semolina. Mix well so that there are no lumps. Add sugar and salt for taste. Garnish with coconut, coriander leaves and sev or chivda.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serves: 3-4
Mix curd, milk and all the powders, ginger, garlic, coriander leaves and lemon juice to make the marinate. Adjust salt in the marinate so that it will suffice for the bland paneer and vegetables.
Let the paneer marinate for 3-4 hours. The paneer can be grilled on a barbecue grill or in a regular oven. Soak the skewers in warm water for around 20-30 minutes, so that they don't char on the grill. Place the paneer and the vegetables on the skewers and and brush them with cooking oil or cooking spray. Grill the panner till brown on all sides. Enjoy the chat-pata tandoori paneer with mint chutney.
Add oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add asafoetida and urad dal and fry till urad dal is light brown. Add chopped green chilies or broken red chilies, ginger and curry leaves. Fry for half a minute and add the semolina. Stir and mix well. You can follow the recipe till here and make it the previous day. Adding water and cooking can be done the next day morning. Boil water and add to the semolina. Mix well so that there are no lumps. Add sugar and salt for taste. Garnish with coconut, coriander leaves and sev or chivda.
