Thursday, April 25, 2019

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.

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

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.