Crispy Karuppu Kavuni Rice Dosa - Crispy Black Rice Dosa Recipe

 Recently I had posted the recipe for Black Rice or Karuppu Kavuni Arisi Sweet Pongal. After seeing that my sister had tried preparing dosa with Kavuni Arisi and she had shared the recipe. So I am sharing the recipe here for you.

 

Before that I am also re-posting the benefits of Black Rice, in case if you haven't checked my previous post.

Benefits:

Rice being a staple food of Asia, this deep Black Rice has an interesting story behind it. Black Rice or Karuppu Kavuni Arisi is also known as the Emperors Rice or Forbidden Rice. It was called so because, in ancient China,  this unique rice was grown in very limited quantities and consumed only by the Emperor to ensure his health and longevity and was forbidden to any common man, due to its enormous nutritional benefits. 

This rice when soaked or cooked turns blackish purple. This is due to the presence of a pigment called Anthocyanin, present in the outer layer of the grains which has potent antioxidant properties. Anthocyanins are a group of flavonoid plant pigments that are responsible for the purple color. The amount of Anthocyanin contained in Black rice is higher than any other grain including brown rice, red rice or other colored whole grain varieties. Studies say that anthocyanins have strong anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer effects and also rich in Vitamin E. Furthermore, it is said that eating foods high in anthocyanins may help protect against several chronic diseases, including heart disease, obesity, and some forms of cancer.

Research says that black rice contains over 23 types of antioxidants and has the highest antioxidant activity of all rice varieties. The high amounts of Lutein and Zeaxanthin, the two types of carotenoids supports our eye health.

Black rice is low in calories, which makes it great for people who wants to reduce weight without giving up on rice. It is also a great source of plant-based protein (which is a great news for vegetarians and vegans) and provides minerals like iron and copper.

Here's a comparison of different rice varieties (100gm serving)

• Polished white rice – 6.8g protein, 1.2g iron, 0.6g fiber.
• Brown rice – 7.9g protein, 2.2g iron, and 2.8g fiber.
• Red rice – 7.0g protein, 5.5g iron, and 2.0g fiber.
• Black rice – 8.5g protein, 3.5g iron, 4.9g fiber.

Other health benefits of this naturally gluten-free rice includes; helps in treating asthma, aids weight loss, natural detoxifier, maintains sugar levels, maintains cholesterol levels, aids healthy brain function, improves digestive health and also an excellent source of good fat.

And, now here's the recipe for preparing Dosas.

 

 Ingredients:

Black Rice / Karuppu Kavuni Arisi - 1 cup

Idly Rice - 1/4 cup

Urad Dal -1/4 Cup

Vendhayam / Fenugreek Seeds - 1 tsp

Salt and oil/ghee as per need

Method:

 1. Wash the black rice, idly rice and ural dal. Add all the washed ingredients along with fenugreek seeds and soak them together for 5 hours.

Soak them

   

2.  In a mixer jar, blend them to a fine batter adding sufficient water. You don't have to drain the soaked water. You can use it for grinding.

Grind in a mixer jar

3. Transfer the batter to a container add enough salt and leave it overnight to ferment.

Transfer to a bowl and allow to ferment

 4. Now that the batter is ready to prepare dosa. Give a good mix, heat the dosa pan and pour a ladle full of batter. drizzle oil or ghee as per your preference, cover it with a lid and cook until it turns crispy.

5. As we have covered and cooked, it is not necessary to flip the dosa. Or if you prefer cooking on both the sides, you can also flip and leave for few seconds and then serve. Enjoy with chutney of your choice.

Karuppu Kavuni Rice Sweet Pongal - Karuppu Kavuni Arisi Sweet Pongal - Black Rice Sweet Pongal - Pressure Cooker Recipe

Rice being a staple food of Asia, this deep Black Rice has an interesting story behind it. Black Rice or Karuppu Kavuni Arisi is also known as the Emperors Rice or Forbidden Rice. It was called so because, in ancient China,  this unique rice was grown in very limited quantities and consumed only by the Emperor to ensure his health and longevity and was forbidden to any common man, due to its enormous nutritional benefits. 

This rice when soaked or cooked turns blackish purple. This is due to the presence of a pigment called Anthocyanin, present in the outer layer of the grains which has potent antioxidant properties. Anthocyanins are a group of flavonoid plant pigments that are responsible for the purple color. The amount of Anthocyanin contained in Black rice is higher than any other grain including brown rice, red rice or other colored whole grain varieties. Studies say that anthocyanins have strong anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer effects and also rich in Vitamin E. Furthermore, it is said that eating foods high in anthocyanins may help protect against several chronic diseases, including heart disease, obesity, and some forms of cancer.

Research says that black rice contains over 23 types of antioxidants and has the highest antioxidant activity of all rice varieties. The high amounts of Lutein and Zeaxanthin, the two types of carotenoids supports our eye health.

Black rice is low in calories, which makes it great for people who wants to reduce weight without giving up on rice. It is also a great source of plant-based protein (which is a great news for vegetarians and vegans) and provides minerals like iron and copper.

Here's a comparison of different rice varieties (100gm serving)

• Polished white rice – 6.8g protein, 1.2g iron, 0.6g fiber.
• Brown rice – 7.9g protein, 2.2g iron, and 2.8g fiber.
• Red rice – 7.0g protein, 5.5g iron, and 2.0g fiber.
• Black rice – 8.5g protein, 3.5g iron, 4.9g fiber.

Other health benefits of this naturally gluten-free rice includes; helps in treating asthma, aids weight loss, natural detoxifier, maintains sugar levels, maintains cholesterol levels, aids healthy brain function, improves digestive health and also an excellent source of good fat.

I’m sure all these interesting facts about black rice have made you want to include this in your  routine. Kavuni arisi is a popular sweet recipe in Chettinad region. It is served in all Chettinad wedding feast. We can also use this rice for making idly/dosa, kanji/porridge, kuzhipaniyaram etc. Or instead of white rice, you can just have this for your meal with the regular sambar or rasam. Since black rice is unrefined and denser than brown rice, the way we cook it is also slightly different. It has a mild nutty taste and a chewy texture. And it has to be soaked well enough before cooking. With enough heads-up here's a yummy recipe for making Pongal using Black Rice. Let me know how this turned up for you :-)

 

 

Ingredients

Karuppu Kavuni Arisi/Black Rice - 1/2 cup (this will yield more than double the quantity of cooked rice, as we are soaking overnight)

Moong dal - 1 or 2 tbsp

Water - 1.5 cups (2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice. Here I have used extra water as I had used moong dal)

Powdered Jaggery/Country Sugar - 1/2 cup

Cardamom - 3 or 4 pods, powdered

Cashews - as per taste

Ghee - 1 tbsp or as per taste

Milk - 1/4 cup (optional)

Method:

1. Take 1/2 cup of Black rice in a bowl. Wash it couple of times and add water and soak it overnight or atleast for 6 hours.

Karuppu Kavuni Arisi

 

 

Soak Overnight

2. Next morning, the soaked rice and the water would have turned pink. Do not discard this water, measure this and use it along with more water for cooking the black rice.

 

 

 

Rice and water turns pink upon soaking

The soaked water which has turned pink, reserve it for cooking the kavuni arisi

3. In a pressure cooker, add the soaked rice and water. Close the lid and cook for 1 whistle in high and simmer for 10 mins.

Add it to the Pressure Cooker

4. Once the Pressure settles, open the lid, try to mash it a little. This rice wouldn't mash up. If you have added moong dal that would help to stick the rice grains together and give a pongal like texture. If you haven't added moong dal, the rice grains would look seperate. But still they would have a sticky texture.

5. Add the jaggery, powdered cardamom and milk and simmer it for few minutes until all the ingredients binds together.

6. Take a small pan, add ghee and fry the cashews and add it to the Black Rice Pongal. 

7. That's it.. Yummy Karuppu Kavuni Arisi pongal is ready to be tasted.

Veg Atta Pizza - Pizza in Kadai - How to make Atta Pizza in Kadai - No Maida - No Yeast - No Oven

Its been more than 5 years since I baked anything. From the time we returned back to India from US, I hadn't baked anything. My son had tonsillitis and from then on I stopped giving him cakes (except during birthday parties), particularly the icing or the cream and cream biscuits. This quarantine period tempted me to bake a pizza.

Even though Pizza is our favorite, we eat it only once in a year or so; just for the reason that they are not healthy. Still, they are so tempting and we use to crave for it at times :)

Maida is one ingredient which I totally avoid in my kitchen. After having known the health hazards of this white flour, we started avoiding it in all ways. We stopped consuming Parottas for the same reason. I don't remember when was the last time I bought Maida. My mom used to make pooris using Maida, the taste used to be awesome. Only after marriage I learnt that Pooris can also be made with Wheat Flour.When I was looking for a Pizza recipe using Wheat Flour, I came across this recipe from Cooking Shooking. If we have the Pizza Sauce and Chilli Flakes handy, baking a pizza is super easy. So if you can prepare them well ahead and store, baking a pizza doesn't require much of time. To bake a pizza in Kadai, we need a heavy bottom, wide and deep kadai.

Ingredients


Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Curd - 4 tbsp or as needed to kneed the dough
Baking Soda - 1/8 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Salt - as needed
Oil - 1 tbsp


Salt - 200g (to spread in the kadai, for baking)
A wire rack or bowl - to act as a stand on top of which we can keep the pizza tray
Butter - as needed, for greasing the baking tray/plate and to apply on crust
Red Chilli Sauce - 1 tbsp
Pizza Sauce - 1 tbsp
Cheese - as per preference
Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Herbs of choice
Toppings of choice - I used Onion, Tomato, Capsicum and Paneer

Method

1. In a wide vessel take the flour, add salt, sugar, baking soda and baking powder. Mix well.
2. Then add the curd and bring all the dry ingredients together into a dough. The dough will be very sticky.
3. Wash and dry your hands or take of the sticky dough from hands by adding a little bit of dry flour. Then add one tbsp of oil to the dough, knead for few minutes to get a very very soft dough.
4. Split the dough into two. Take two trays or plates. Grease one with butter, make sure to grease well, else the dough will stick to the base.
5. Roll one dough using rolling pin or use hands to spread the dough into circular discs of desired size. Sprinkle dry flour if needed. Carefully place the rolled dough into the greased plate. 
6. Poke it with fork here and there, leaving some space in the corners. So the corners alone will puff and the center dough will not puff up like it does for a chapati.
7. Take 1 tbsp of pizza sauce and red chilli sauce and spread it evenly on the base. Spread cheese, vegetables of your choice, pepper powder, chilli flakes and herbs. Brush with some more butter on top of the filling.
8. Meanwhile heat a kadai in high flame for around 5 minutes, add the salt and the wire rack/bowl. Close with a lid and pre-heat for 10 mins on high flame.
9. Now keep the pizza tray on top of the wire rack/bowl, cover the lid and bake for 10 to 12 minutes on high flame. Once it gets cooked you can see the corners getting browned and turning crisp. (Meanwhile, you can prepare the second pizza dough and arrange the toppings)
10. Remove the first pizza carefully from the kadai and immediately keep the second tray and cover the lid. Cook similarly for 10 to 12 minutes.
11. Sprinkle more herbs and chilli flakes if you wish and enjoy with tomato ketchup

Notes

• Instead of Kadai you can also bake this in a pan (non-stick pan). Just directly keep the rolled dough in the pan/tawa. Spread the sauces, arrange cheese, vegetables and herbs. Cover with lid and cook on low flame for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Roll the dough thin, else it will take a long time for the dough to get cooked.
• Keep all the ingredients ready to avoid messing up at the moment.

OPOS Pizza Sauce Recipe

After preparing chilli flakes for the pizza, I quickly made this flavory pizza sauce with zero additives. Making homemade pizza sauce isn’t difficult and it doesn’t have to be time-consuming either. Pizza Sauce is a tomato based sauce, cooked along with garlic and some herbs which is used as a spread on Pizza Bread. The regular method would do blanch the tomatoes, take the pulp and cook them along with some garlic, onion, red capsicum and the herbs until it thickens. It's super easy with the OPOS method. With the below measure we can get pizza sauce which can be used for 4 pizzas, depending upon your sauce preference.

Ingredients

Oil - 2 or 3 tsp 
Garlic cloves - 3 nos (I used the bigger variety), minced
Onion - 1, medium sized, chopped
Tomato -  3, medium sized, deseeded and chopped 
Red Bell Pepper- half, chopped
Salt - as per taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
Red Chilli powder - as per taste or spice level
Tomato Ketchup - 1 tbsp
Fresh basil leaves - 1 tbsp, chopped
Fresh Oregano or dry oregano - 1 tsp
Chilli Flakes - 1/4 tsp

Method

1. Add the ingredients in the same order as mentioned below

Layer 1 - 2 tbsp water
Layer 2 - Oil
Layer 3 - Minced Garlic
Layer 4 - Chopped Onion
Layer 5 - Chopped and deseeded Tomatoes
Layer 6 - Chopped red bell pepper
Layer 7 - Herbs, salt, sugar, chilli powder, chilli flakes and tomato ketchup

1. Turn on the flame, cook on high for 2 whistles.
2. Release pressure manually.
3. Allow to cool off and grind to a coarse texture.
4. Pizza Sauce is ready to be used with Pizza Bread or with Pastas. Can be stored in refrigerator and used

Note : 

Pizza sauce has to be in thicker consistency. If you find yours to be a bit watery, heat a pan and add the ground sauce and allow it to thicken for a while

How to make chilli flakes at home for Pizza

When I wanted to prepare pizza at home I was running out of all the necessary store brought ingredients. As a first step I had to prepare this chilli flakes. I used 10 red chillies (cayenne pepper)

Steps

1. Heat a pan or kadai, add the chillies and dry roast them until they turn crisp. You should be able to break it when you try pressing them with your fingers. Before roasting they would bend, that's how you can find if it's well roasted.
2. Allow them to cool down completely
3. In a dry mixer jar, add the roasted chillies and grind them coarsely. If you are doing this with more number of chillies, make sure to use the pulse option, else it might turn out to a chilli powder.
4. Store in an airtight jar or container

How to standardise a Pressure Cooker for One Pot One Shot (OPOS) Cooking

Before you start OPOS method of cooking, it is  mandatory to standardize your Pressure Cooker(PC)

Things needed

2L Pressure cooker
Measuring cup
Water
Timer

In a 2L pressure cooker, add 60 ml or 1/4 cup of water. Cover the lid, put the weight and turn on the flame to high. Note the time taken for the first whistle. If your whistle comes between 1 and 2 minutes, your PC is good to use for the OPOS recipes. Follow the lessons and understand the technique before trying advanced recipes.

What is HIGH?

• In a gas stove, the flame should cover the bottom of the cooker, without coming up the sides.

• In an induction, its around 1200W

Standardizing Timing is Less or More?

• If less than a minute, try increasing the flame

• If more than 2 minutes, try decreasing the flame

Kollu Sundal - HorseGram Sundal Recipe

Kollu or HorseGram is a miracle pulse which has been widely cultivated and consumed in India since Ancient times. It is the most protein-rich lentil which is also rich in iron, calcium, anti-oxidants etc. We also know that it aids weight loss as it is low in fat. This pulse has more and more health benefits, at the same time it tends to increase the heat in the body. So we need to balance it by taking in more fluids to cool down the system. Now, to the recipe. Spice powders are optional. I add them to have an enhanced flavor. Doing the tempering is also totally optional. I usually skip the tempering part and have it with just grated coconut.

Ingredients

Horsegram - 1/2 cup
Grated coconut - 2 or 3 tbsp (use generously)
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Sambar powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Salt - as per taste
Hing - as needed

Tempering

Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly - as per need
Curry leaves - few

Method

Soak Horsegram overnight. Wash it well couple of times and pressure cook with hing and salt for 1 whistle and simmer for 10-12 minutes.

I prefer it to be very soft, so I keep it simmered for almost 12 minutes. Once the pressure settles, open the lid, drain the water, it can be used for making kollu rasam, it tastes great.

Do the tempering and add to the cooked horsegram. Add grated coconut and mix well and your horsegram sundal is ready to be served.

Amla Mint Chutney - Gooseberry Mint Chutney - Nellikkai Chutney - Easy No Cook Chutney

Today morning when I had plans of preparing dosa for breakfast, I felt so lazy and bored to prepare the usual accompaniments and my taste buds craved for something super tasty. When I digged in my refrigerator, found two amla's lying seeking attention. Needless to say that the green fruit  can protect us against countless ailments,. And instantly I remembered a chutney recipe which I read in a tamil magazine somewhere. It was an instant hit and my 8 year old loved the tangy, spicy, sweet amla chutney. This chutney needs no cooking or no pre-preparations.

 

 Here comes the recipe

Ingredients:

Amla - 2
Mint leaves - 10 to 15 nos
Coriander leaves - a fistful
Green chillies - 4 (adjust as per your taste)
Ginger - 2 inch slice
Garlic - 1 (optional)
Curry leaves - few
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Coconut oil - 1 tsp (for flavor)
Salt as per taste

Tempering 
Coconut oil, mustard seeds and curry leaves

Method

Deseed the amla. Add all the ingredients mentioned above in a mixer and grind to the chutney consistency. Do the tempering and enjoy with hot idli or dosa.

Note : The right amount of spice, tangy and sweetness gives the actual taste to this chutney. So adjust the ingredients accordingly. My family prefers a mildly hot version, my green chillies were not very spicy, 4 nos were apt for us.

Ragi Halwa Using Jaggery in 15 minutes - One Pot One Shot (OPOS) Recipe

Ragi is a super wonder grain which is perfectly suitable for Indian climatic conditions. It is rich in fiber, calcium, good carbohydrates, amino acids, Vitamin D and also an excellent source of iron. I learnt this recipe from one of the OPOS facebook groups. It was super easy and my son loved it the most.  I have not added any nuts or dry fruits in this, you can add them if you wish. 

Ingredients

Ragi Flour - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp + 1 tsp
Water - 1 cup
Powdered Jaggery - 1/3 cup, heaped
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Cashew nut - 1

Method

1. Heat a pan, add 2 tbsp of ghee, ragi flour and the cashew. Roast the flour in low flame until a nice  
    aroma rises. The cashew will turn golden brown when the flour gets roasted. It takes approximately    10 minutes for this.
2. Once the flour gets roasted set aside. Take a 2 or 3 liter pressure cooker, add 1 cup of water,   Jaggery powder, cardamom powder, 1 tsp of ghee and cook for 1 whistle.
3. Turn off the pressure cooker. Remove the pressure manually, do this very carefully using a spoon.
4. Add the roasted ragi flour immediately to the boiling water and mix well quickly.
5. Close the lid with the weight on and leave it for 15 minutes. (Do not have to turn on the stove, it         will get set in the retained heat).
6. After 15 minutes, you can transfer it to a mould and slice them to pieces or can just serve them in       a bowl with spoon.

Note :

While roasting the ragi flour, if you over roast the flour halwa might have a bitter taste in it. In case, if your cashew doesn't turn golden brown for some reason and meanwhile you get the nice aroma, just go with your instincts. 

Sweet Ragi Kali - Kezhvaragu Kali - Keppai Kali - Ragi Urundai - Ragi Mudde - Ragi Sankati Using a Pressure Cooker

I always prefer including millets in my routine. Generally, Ragi Kali is consumed for breakfast as it highly nutritious. Learnt this sweet version of Ragi Kali from the OPOS group. As it is a sweet version I made it as an evening snack for my family. It doesn't take much of your effort as you mix in the flour with hot jaggery syrup and allow to sit for a while and then make the balls; no vigorous mixing as we do in the traditional way. They turned out super soft and so delicious.  If you have a picky eater, you can name it a chocolate ball or jamuns. Even you can just flatten it a bit, place a layer of cheese or peanut butter and give it as a cheese or cream biscuit; kids will never say a no to it. So, here is the recipe I followed. Below mentioned quantity yields 20 balls.

Ingredients

Ragi Flour - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Powdered Jaggery - 1/2 cup
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
Ghee - for greasing your palms while making balls

Method:

1. Heat a pan and dry roast the ragi flour until the raw smell goes. May take 3-5 mins. Once roasted set aside.
2. In a pressure cooker, add water, jaggery and coconut oil. Cook in high for 1 whistle. Manually release pressure immediately.
3. Add the dry roasted ragi flour and mix well until no dry flour is seen.
4. Close the cooker lid with the whistle. Let it sit for 20-30 mins. By this time the ragi would have been fully cooked
5. Now make them into gooseberry sized balls, use ghee for a smooth and shiny texture. Place them in an idly tray and steam for 3-5 mins as we do for kozhukattai. Alternately, you can also keep them in a vessel and put the vessel in the pressure cooker and pressure cook for 5 mins. Sweet Ragi Kali is all ready to be gobbled. 

Before Steaming

After Steaming

Note

• For roasting the flour, don't go by time. Believe in your nose. 
• After you steam or pressure cook the balls, when you touch them it should not be sticky, but soft and spongy. That's how you know your balls are perfectly cooked.
• If yours turn out to be chewy or hard, it means you had overcooked them.

Potato Baby Corn Korma - Baby Corn Recipes

Baby corn is one of the favorites for my Lo. He loves to eat it any form. The crunch of baby corn is what attracts everyone and it gives a nice texture to any curry. This korma recipe is slightly altered from the usual kormas wherein we grind coconut. Here in this recipe I have used coconut milk, which makes it a light and easily digestible food. I had used potatoes, you can also use fresh green peas which will also blend well along with the baby corns. Kasuri methi enhances the flavors, once you try this I bet this recipe will be a regular make in your kitchen. Now to the recipe!

Ingredients

Baby Corn - 10 nos
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
Potatoes - 2, peeled and cubed
Hing a pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp
Kasoori Methi - 1/4 tsp
Water - 3/4 to 1 cup
Thick Coconut Milk - 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves - fistful, finely chopped, for garnish
Salt - to taste

To grind:
Big Onion - 1 medium sized chopped
Tomato - 1 medium sized chopped
Green Chilli - 2, adjust as per spice level
Cashews - 4 or 5

To temper:
Ghee or Butter - 2 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
Cloves -2
Cardamom- 1

Method

1. In a pan heat a tsp of oil, add green chillies and onion. Once the onion turns translucent add the chopped tomatoes and fry until they turn mushy. Allow the mixture to cool down and grind it to a smooth paste. 
2. Meanwhile trim the edges of the baby corn and chop them to desired sizes (lengthwise or just cubes). Peel the potatoes and cube them. Make sure the baby corn and potatoes are of same size. 
3. Heat butter/ghee + oil in a presssure cooker and add the items mentioned under "To Temper".  Add ginger-garlic paste and saute until the raw smell goes off.  
4. Then add the ground paste and fry for a minute. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala, hing and required salt and mix well.  Now add the cubed baby corn and potatoes. Mix well. 
5. Add water and pressure cook for a whistle in high flame, simmer for 2 minutes and turn off the stove.  Once the pressure releases, add the coconute milk and allow the gravy to boil for just a minute. Make sure you do not boil the gravy for a very long time after adding the coconut milk. Check and adjust salt at this stage. Add kasuri methi and coriander leaves and switch off. 
6. Potato Baby Corn korma is ready to be served with Phulkas or Chapathi's or Poori's or even with any mildly spiced pulaos.

Note

• You can also add paneer instead of potatoes. In that case add more chilli powder to adjust the spicyness.   
• After adding the coconut milk, do not boil the korma for a long time. Else it will start curdling.
• You can replace coconut milk with milk too, but coconut milk gives the best taste.
• In case if you are not a fan of coconut milk, you can just add grated coconut along with the sauted ingredients and grind altogether
• If using coconut milk, do not skip the kasuri methi. That gives the best taste for this korma.

Thinai Adai - Thinai Arisi Adai - Foxtail Millet Adai - Millet Recipes - Healthy Dinner Recipes

Its been a long time since I posted any recipe.  Hardly I could manage to find any time these days. Evenings are totally busy with my lil one and his homeworks, whereas daytime and late nights are totally dedicated for my Jewelleries. Thats my new venture for the past two years, ViJosDesignerBangles . Check out the collections if interested! And, very Happy to come back again :-). Nowadays, millets play an equal role in my kitchen. The best part is, millets can be substituted for rice and wheat in most recipes. Millets are highly nutritious and gluten free, they are easily digestible. Hence can be had for both breakfast and dinner. Today's recipe is going to be Thinai Adai. Thinai is known as Foxtail Millet in English, Kangni in Hindi, Korra in Telugu, Navane in Kannada and Thina in Malayalam. This adai is made using millets and lentils, so it is rich in protein, full of fiber and highly nutritious. Try making this and I am sure it will become one of the regular preparations in your house too. Now, to the recipe!
 

 
Ingredients

Thinai arisi/foxtail millet - 1 cup
Channa dal/kadalai paruppu - 1/2 cup
Tur dal/thuvaram paruppu - 1/2 cup
Whole Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Red chillies - 3-4
Hing and salt as per taste
Oil for making adai

Method

Wash and soak the dals together for 3-4 hours. Grind it along with hing, red chillies and salt as we grind for regular Adai dosa. The consistency of the batter should not be too thick or too thin.

Preparing the adai dosa

Heat a tawa, (check by sprinkling water to see if the tawa is hot enough to pour the batter) pour a ladle full of adai batter and spread it in a circular motion just as you do for regular dosas.

Drizzle a tsp of oil around the adai. Once it is cooked, the corners will start lifting up. Flip it over to the other side. Drizzle another 1/2 tsp of oil and cook well.

Remove from tawa and serve hot with any chutney of your choice or with Avial.

Note

You can also add finely chopped onions, green chillies, 1-2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves to the Thinai Adai batter to make it more delicious.

Dates Almond Milkshake

This is VJ's favorite milkshake. This healthy and delicious shake will both fill you up as well as give you that extra burst of energy that will refresh & rejuvenate your body after a hectic long day of work.

Ingredients

Chilled milk - 2 cups
Almonds - 10
Dates - 10
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Method

Soak the almonds in hot water for 15-20 mins. Peel of the skin and add it to the blender. 
Remove the seeds from dates and add them to the blender too. Add a teaspoon of vanilla essence and pour 1/4th of the milk and blend well until the dates and almonds are combined and smooth. Then pour in the remaining milk and give a quick whip.
Transfer these to a serving glass and enjoy

Instant Ragi Dosa Recipe Using Leftover Idly Batter

Ragi (Finger Millet/ nachni) is a nutritious grain which is staple food in most of the South Indian states. If you have some left over idly batter then this ragi dosas are quick and easy to prepare. You can also check the other method of preparing ragi dosas here

Ingredients

Dosa batter - 1 cup
Ragi flour - 1/2 cup
salt and water as needed

Method

Mix the ragi flour along with the dosa batter and add required amount of salt and water. The batter consistency should be similar to our regular dosa batter.

Heat a tawa, when it is hot, pour a ladle of batter and spread it in a circular motion. Drizzle a tsp of oil around the dosa.

When the corners start lifting up, flip it over to the other side. Let the other side also get cooked.

Then remove the dosa from the tawa and serve hot with any Chutney or Sambar of your choice.

Check out the other method of Fermented Ragi Dosa where ragi is soaked along with idly rice and urad dal, ground and allowed to ferment.

Ragi Dosa Recipe - How To Make Ragi Dosa - Fermented Ragi Dosa

Ragi is known as finger millet in English, Kezhvaragu in Tamil and nachni in hindi. It is rich in calcium, protein, iron and is also a good source of fiber. It is said to be good for diabetic patients also. It is said to be a poor man’s grain since it is cheap and highly nutritious. The most interesting fact is that this grain needs no fertilizer and no pesticide while growing up. Rarely do they get infestations. In such cases very minimal quantities of pesticides are used. This is one of the main reasons why it is preferred by most people especially in small towns and villages. Now, here comes the recipe

Ingredients

Ragi - 1 cup
Idly rice - 1/4 cup
Whole urad dal - 1/4 cup
Methi seeds - 1 tsp
Salt as per taste

Method

Wash and soak all the ingredients together for 6-7 hours or overnight.

Grind it to a smooth batter adding little water needed. This doesn't require as much water as we use for our regular idly/dosa batter. Once ground, add needed salt and mix well.

Keep the batter in a warm place for 8-9 hours so that it gets fermented. Prepare dosas just as you make regular dosas.

Heat a tawa, when it is hot, pour a ladle of batter and spread it in a circular motion. Drizzle a tsp of oil around the dosa.

When the corners start lifting up, flip it over to the other side. Let the other side also get cooked.

Then remove the dosa from the tawa and serve hot with any Chutney or Sambar of your choice.

Vegetable Stew Recipe - How to make kerala style vegetable stew

One of my friend had been asking me to post the recipe of this vegetable stew for a very long time. Minimal ingredients and the simplicity of the recipe is what wins you over.  The stew is flavored with warm aromatic spices along with giner, fresh coconut milk and finally tempered with coconut oil. It goes well with idiappam or appam or even with plain steamed rice.

 Ingredients

Onion -1
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Garlic - 3 cloves
Green chilli - 2 slit, adjust according to taste
Mixed vegetables - 2 cups ( carrot, beans, potato, cauliflower, peas etc)
Thin coconut milk – 1 1/2 cup
Thick coconut milk – 3/4 cup
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt as required

For the seasoning

Bay leaf -1
Cloves -2
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece

Final seasoning

Coconut oil - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Pre-Preparation - How to extract coconut milk

Take coconut gratings of a medium sized fresh coconut in a mixie jar, add 1 cup of water and grind well for couple of minutes. Strain the ground coconut using a strainer. You can even use tea strainer or a colander lined with a soft cotton cloth or cheesecloth. Press it with a ladle or squeeze to extract as much milk as possible. What you got now is the first extract or thick coconut milk or onnam paal. This thick coconut milk cannot be boiled, if boiled it will curdle. 

Now add 1 more cup of water to the already ground coconut and grind it again nicely. Again strain the ground coconut with a strainer. The milk extracted now is the second extract or thin coconut milk or rendam paal which is thinner than the first. This can be boiled and generally can be used for cooking vegetables or payasams.


Chop all the vegetable into medium sized pieces or cubes. Finely chop onion, garlic and ginger.

Method

Heat oil, add the ingredients mentioned under seasoning, saute for a few seconds, then add onions and garlic. Saute till onions turn transparent.

Then add ginger, green chilli and the rest of the vegetables.

Add thin coconut milk, required salt and pepper powder. Cook till the vegetables are soft.

Once the vegetables are cooked, add thick coconut milk and heat it a little. Its very important not to boil the stew after adding the thick coconut milk. The consistency of the stew should be thin.

Finally, heat a tsp of coconut oil, saute curry leaves in it for a second and add to the stew. Serve Kerala style vegetable stew with aappams or steamed rice.

Rava Kesari Recipe - How to make Rava Kesari - Easy Indian Sweets

Rava Kesari is one of my favorites. I really don't know why I kept delaying to post such an easy and basic sweet.  Today is a special day, VijosKitchenCorner is 2 years old and its our 7th wedding anniversary too. Every year we used to plan something for our anniversary. This year we were not in any celebration mood with all the floods and the scars it has left in most of the families here. VJ and his friends are volunteering to rebuild an orphanage home nearby which has been completely washed out with the floods. We hardly had any time on hand for us. So today morning I thought I can atleast prepare this quick kesari. Here is the simple and easy recipe.

Ingredients

Rava - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 cup or a little lesser than that
Water - 1 & 1/2 cups
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Cardamom - 3-4 crushed
Cashew nuts - 10-15, broken into quarters
Raisins - 10
Kesari colour - a pinch

Method

Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add a teaspoon of ghee and roast the cashew nuts until they turn golden brown. When they start turning golden brown add the raisins and fry until it puffs up. Transfer them to a separate bowl.

In the same pan add the rava and fry until a nice aroma comes out of it. Transfer the rava to a plate. Then add the water, kesari colour and the crushed cardamom to the pan and bring it to a boil. When the water starts boiling add the roasted rava, simmer and cook.

After all the water evaporates, add sugar, roasted cashews and raisins, mix well and cook on low flame until the kesari starts to leave the sides of the pan. Serve hot or warm.

Badam Halwa - Almond Halwa - Diwali Sweets - How To Make Badam Halwa

The festival of lights, Diwali is round the corner. And I have been getting requests from my friends for some new sweets. When one of my friend asked for a sweet made out of badam I remembered Chef Venkatesh Bhat making halwa out of almonds in a show. I had roughly noted then. So for an exact recipe I had to do a little bit of googling and finally adapted with this version. I had made few alterations to the sugar and ghee proportions, still the halwa was super delicious and soft.

Badam halwa is a rich and delicious Indian sweet made with pureed almonds, milk, ghee, sugar and
saffron. Stirring continuously at the right heat is the key for this recipe. Over heat can very easily
burn the halwa. Just make sure you follow the exact steps, the yummy halwa will melt in your mouth

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

Badam - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Water - 1/4 cup (for dissolving sugar)
Yellow food colour/kesari color - a pinch
Saffron - few strands


Method

Soak almonds overnight and peel the skin. Alternatively you can boil them in hot water for a few minutes and peel the skin.




Grind almonds with 1/4 cup of milk to a smooth paste.




Take a heavy bottomed pan, (I used a non-stick pan, so that it doesn't stick to the bottom) bring 1/4 cup of water to boil, switch off the flame, add sugar and stir, so that the sugar dissolves completely.



Now add the badam paste, remaining milk, kesari color, sugar, saffron and cook on medium flame stirring continuously.



Add ghee little by little, mixing evenly. Add all the ghee except 2 tsp and cook stirring continuously on low flame.

 

It will start bubbling and spluttering. Cautiously keep stirring.



At one point, the ghee will be completely absorbed and the halwa will start leaving the sides of the pan. This took around 15 minutes for me.

Now switch off the flame, add the remaining 2 tsp of ghee and stir for about 3-4 minutes. I learnt that this is important to keep the halwa softer when it sets. The halwa will thicken even more when it cools down.

How To Cook Corn In Pressure Cooker

What else can be a better snack on a rainy or misty evening. A boiled corn, few shakes of salt with a mild layer of butter and its all ready to munch on!

 Ingredients

Corn, salt and a little butter is what all you need.

Method

Take a pressure cooker, drop in the corn (break them into halves so that it fits well), add water, the corn should be all immersed. If you like salted corn, add some salt. Cover the cooker with its lid. Turn on the flame to high. After the first whistle, simmer for 3-5 minutes and then switch off the flame. Wait until the pressure subsides, then open and strain the water. Spread a smear layer of butte and ta..da.. boiled salted corn ready for munch'in!!

Kathirikai Rasavangi - Brinjal Rasavangi

This is the first time I am trying this rasavangi. This has been in my to-try list for a very long time. I haven't tasted this before. I came to know about this recipe couple of years back when I used to browse for a variation to our regular sambars and rasams. When I decided to make this few days back I pinged all of my brahmin friends to get the recipe :-) As always there are a number of ways to make the same dish and I got different versions too. From that I had to adopt my own version. Rasavangi is one of the traditional and authentic Tamil Brahmin recipe made using brinjals or ash gourd. I would say this is very much close to the way we prepare arachu vita sambar with a slight twist in the ingredients and you end up in different taste. A perfect alternative for the regular sambars. I prepared bitter gourd poriyal for side and it matched perfectly with the rasavangi. This is a no onion-no garlic recipe too. 

Ingredients

Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Brinjal - 1/4 kg
Tamarind - a small gooseberry size, soaked and extracted
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Hing - a pinch
Black channa - 2 tbsp, soaked overnight (optional)
Jaggery - 1/2 tsp
Salt as per taste

To Grind

Coriander seeds -1 tbsp
Bengal gram/Kadalai paruppu - 2 tsp
Pepper - 1/4 tsp or some 10 peppercorns
Red chillies - 2 or 3 ( adjust as per your spice level)
Grated coconut - 3 tbsp

For seasoning

Coconut oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds, urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves as per taste

Method

1. Pressure cook the dal along with turmeric powder, mash it and set aside. Also pressure cook the black channa until soft.
2. Meanwhile dry roast all the ingredients mentioned under "To Grind" section one by one, allow to cool down and grind to a smooth paste by adding very little water.
3. Wash and cut brinjals lengthwise or into bite sized pieces. Keep them soaked in water until we cook them to avoid discoloration.
4. In a broad vessel or pan take the cut brinjals and add water, turmeric powder and salt and allow the brinjals to get cooked. Once half cooked add the tamarind extract and allow to get cooked until soft. Now add the mashed dal and boiled black channa. 
5. Then add the ground paste, jaggery and mix well. Allow this to cook for few more minutes until everything blends together. Once done, turn off the flame.
6. Now do the seasoning. Heat 2 tsps of coconut oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dal, red chilli and curry leaves and pour it over the rasavangi.  Mix well and enjoy with rice.