Medhu / Uluntha vada

Ingredients:

2 cup of Urad dal
1/2 cup Rice flour
1/4 cup Ginger grated
10-15 Pepper corns
10 Shallot onions or one big onion finely chopped
5-6 Curry leaves cut into small
Salt to taste
Oil to Fry

Method:

Wash and soak Urad dal in plenty of water overnight. Drain, grind to a soft
batter,do not add water and grind..if needed sprinkle a little while blending.
Do not make the batter thin. It should be thick enough to shape vadas.
Add all ingredients and beat well with hand to incorporate air.
Heat oil,take a banana leaf or a ziplock bag apply oil and take a lemon sized lump and press and make a hole in the middle with thumb.
then gently slip into hot oil. Fry the vadas in medium hot.
we can use a medhu vada press to get a neat shape vadas.

Serve hot with coconut chuntney and its a best side for Idli and Pongal.

Paruppu Vadai

Paruppu vadai or masaal vadai is street snack.its not just a street snack..its made specially during festivals and special occasions. Its yummy :)

Ingredients:

2 cup kadalai paruppu / channa dal
1 cup Shallots or red onions finely chopped
3 Dry red chilly
2 tsp Sombu / fennel seeds
1/2 cup Cilantro finely chopped.
Salt to taste
Oli for frying.

Method:

Soak the kadalai paruppu , dried red chilly and sombu in water for 5 hours. then drain the water and grind it coarsely in a blender.add the chopped onion, green chilly, Cilantro leaves and salt.
Shape into vadas and deep fry in the oil.
serve hot with coconut chutney.

Note:do not add water while grinding.

Peas pulav

Peas pulav is one my favorite dish and a easy to cook dish.

1 cup Basmati rice
1 cup Green peas fresh/frozen
1 onion
1 tspGinger garlic paste
2 tbs Ghee
1 no Bayleaf
1 stick cinnamon
1/4 cup cashew (optional)
4-5 Green chilly
Salt to taste.

Method:

Heat 1tbs ghee in a kadai add the cinnamon and bayleaf and onion and fry it for few mins then add the green peas , green chilly , ginger garlic paste and salt and cook for 10 mins.
Mean while wash and soak the basmathi rice.
In a rice cooker add the bastmati rice and add 1 1/2 cup water and add the above cooked ingredients and cook. while serving add a rest of ghee and mix it well. serve hot with any spicy gravy.

Omapodi

This is a Crispy & Crunchy snack and I made for my Thala Diwali :)

Ingredients:

1tbs of Omum powdered
1 1/2 cup of Kadalai/Besan flour
1/2 cup of Rice flour
1 tbs of Chilly powder or to taste
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Method:

Seive the besan flour , Rice flour and omum and add the salt and chilly powder. Add water and mix it into a dough. the dough should be not too thick bcos it will be hard to press.with a help of a murruku presser, change the die to idiyappam die and press the dough into hot oil and cook it exactly for 2 mins.

Fry few curry leaves in oil and add to it for an additional flavor and taste.

Baked potato chips

My Hubby Jai craves for snacks in the evening once he comes home from office and that too he needs a healthy snack not a fried snack and it should be spicy and lot crispy..and this Saturday he craved for potato chips and also complaining that its not healthy and he will put on weight.. I was baking Blueberry muffins and just got the idea of baking some potato chips. I just want to try it out and it came out more crispy and tasty.

Ingredients:

3-4 Russet potatoes

Cooking spray

Salt & Chilly powder for seasoning.

Method:

Pre -heat the oven for 350 degree for 10 mins, meanwhile wash the potatoes and grate it into thin round slices and soak it in a cold water for 10 minutes then drain the potatoes in a papertowel and arrange it in a baking tray coated with cooking spray and sprinkle some salt.

Bake the potatoes for 10 mins in the oven and flip the potatoes after 10 mins and spray somemore oil and bake it for another 15 mins. sprinkle chilly powder according to your spicy level.

Baked potato chips are ready.

Crispyyy,.......!

Stir fried Chicken and Vegetables

I love Thai food. While watching a movie late in the night, Sometimes, I crave for some good snack or a good meal.when i'm hungry in the night and least interested in cooking something for myself.. the first thing comes to mind is a Thai restaurant near my house called "Thai Stick" and I just love the Crab fried rice & Stir fried chicken and vegetables :) and i wanted to try it on my own and got a recipe from teri and here it is.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken tender or breast piece cut into 1/4 " thick slices

1 Onion sliced

1 Green bell pepper sliced

1 carrot sliced

2 tsp Cornstarch

3 tbsp Soy sauce

2 tbsp Oil (Sesame oil)

2 tsp Sugar

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Method:

Clean the chicken and add cornstarch, salt, pepper and sprinkle little water.the chicken will be slightly coated with the cornstarch

Heat oil in a medium size saucepan and add the chicken and saute until brown on each sides. add the carrots saute for 1 min then add the onion & bell pepper and saute for 2 mins add some salt add soysauce and stir for a min add sugar and turn of the flame.

Serve hot with Fried rice or just Appetizer.

Delicious.............!!

Cheddar Rice

This recipe is a Rice sides goes well with a barbecued or grilled Chicken , Lamb , Rib or Steak. Its simple and delicious.

1 cup long grain rice

2-3 florets of Broccoli

1/4 onion finely chopped

1/4 green bell pepper cut into cubes

10 leaves of parsley finely chopped

1 tbsp butter

1/2 cup milk

1 cup water

1/2 cup of Cheddar cheese

salt to taste.

Method:

Heat a medium size saucepan add 1 tsp of butter. then add onions , broccoli and bell pepper for 2 minutes add all the other ingredients and let the mix comes to a boil then simmer it for 10 minutes or until the rice is tender.turn of the flame and serve with a spicy barbequed or Grilled Chicken.

I love it !!

Eggplant Fry

I just started loving this dish. I got this recipe from my dear friend Vinitha. This dish goes very well with Rice or Chappati.

Ingredients:

1 big eggplant or 6/7 small ones

1 tsp Chilly powder

1 tsp Garam masala

1/2 tsp Cumin powder

1/2 tsp Corriander powder

1/2 tsp of Lemon juice

1 tsp of oil

Cooking spray

Salt as required

5-6 leaves of cilantro

Method:

Cut the eggplant into round slices 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

Add the Masalas , salt and lemon juice and mix it with the brinjal and keep aside for 10 mins.

Heat the kadai with oil and fry the brinjal slices each side 2-4 mins. spray some cooking oil while tossing the other side. Garnish with Cilantro leaves and serve hot.

Yummmyyyyyy..........!

Simple Butter chicken

I was browsing through many websites to find a Butter chicken recipe....got one in Vahrehvah.com but I was not in the mood to do the whole process patiently..! and I had a very less time to cook as My hubby invited one of his office colleague for a early dinner. Finally , got this recipe from Itv.com.

Ingredients:

1 Lbs of chicken ( Breast pieces cut into small cubes )

2 tsp - Ginger & Garlic paste

2 tsp - Chilly powder

1tsp - lemon juice

1/4 cup - Butter

1/2 cup - Non fat yogurt

1/2 Tomato

1 tbsp - Cream

a pinch of Red/Orange color powder (optional)

a pinch of Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Method: Marinate the chicken with ginger garlic paste, chilly powder, red color powder, lemon juice and salt for 30 mins.
Heat a kadai add the butter once it melts fry the chicken for 10 mins and then add the tomatoes. cook until the juice oozes out.
then add a little salt and the yogurt. cook for 10 mins and once it comes to boil add the fresh cream and simmer of 2 mins and turn off the flame.

yummy Butter chicken is ready..serve with Pulav, Roti or Naan.

Ribbon pakoda/Seeval

One of my favorite snack..Ribbon pakoda , My mom used to make a huge tub of these during Diwali and send it across to all my relatives and friends. Though My mom's recipe takes a longer time and effort, I simplified the recipe and here it is...

Rice flour - 2 cups

Besan flour - 1/2 cup

Dalia/Pori kadalai flour - 1/2 cup

Chilly powder - 2-4 tsp

Unsalted Butter - 2tbs

Salt to taste

Oil for frying.

METHOD

Sieve the rice flour , besan flour and dalia flour , then add all the flours, add chilly powder , butter and salt and mix together. Now add a little water and knead. The dough should get a consistency where it is not too thick or thin.Heat the oil and with the help of murukku presser with pakoda attachement press the dough and fry it in oil for 3 mins each side and drain it in a paper towel.

Note: Keep the flame in medium high.

My mom used to soak raw rice, channa dal, dried red chillies and grind it together and add dalia flour, pepper powder and salt to the dough.This is the original method of doing the ribbon pakoda and it tastes yummy :)

My First Blog

I’m Aruna, Everyone calls me Aruns or Bugs affectionately. To tell something about me I grew up in Madurai, a small city in Tamil nadu, India. And got my graduation from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore and worked in Bangalore for few years. I got married on 5th December 07 and currently living in San Francisco with my loving hubby Jai :)

Most of my free time now is spent on Cooking, Browsing, Sketching and Chatting with my friends over the phone for long hours. When I sit back and think, what can I do more interesting with the above four things? Just got the idea of writing a blog where I can write , post and share my recipes, my paintings and my thoughts and more…

So here s my blogging journey begins…