Peanut salad

Peanut - 1 cup toasted
Onion - 1 large , chopped
Tomato - 1 chopped
Green chilli - 1 chopped
Coriander leaf - 3 tbsp
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Salt
Sev - 1/2 cup

Mix all the above. Toss and eat immediately.

Satwik Potato

Potato - 5 , boiled and cubed
Oil - 2tbsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Methi - 1/2 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Nigella seed - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli - 1 broken
Green chilli - 1 - chopped
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Curry leaf - 10
Clove - 2
Cinnamon - 1 inch, broken
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder -1/2 tsp
Jeera powder- 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2tsp
Coriander leaf - 2tbsp

Heat oil. Splutter jeera, mustard, methi, nigella seed, red chilli and curry leaf.
Add the various powders and after 1 mintue add the potato.
Mix well and continue frying till light brown.
Garnish with coriander leaf. Serve hot.

Vegetable dal

I made this recipe with Carrot and green peas. Do try other vegetables like cauliflower, beans and potato.

Tur dal - 1/2 cup
Onion -1 , chopped
Ginger - 1 inch, minced
Garlic - 1 tsp
Green chilli -1 , chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Tomato - 1 medium , chopped
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Carrot - 1 , chopped
Green peas - 1/2 cup
Coriander leaf - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Curry leaf - 6

Pressure cook the dal and mash well. Add 1 cup of water and keep aside.
Heat the oil, splutter jeera.
Add the onion, ginger, garlic, green chilli and ginger garlic paste.
Fry on a medium paste till raw smell goes.
Add the tomato, salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder.
After 1 minute add the carrot and peas.
Cover and cook on a low flame till done.
Add the tur dal and boil.
Decorate with coriander leaf and serve hot.

Aloo Tikki aur chole

This is a tasty filling dish which consists of many individual components. Almost everything can be prepared in advance and it needs to be assembled just before serving.
The individual elements for a single portion are:

Aloo tikki - 4 pieces
Chole - 2 or 3 ladles
Pomegranate - 2 tbsp
Sweet chutney - 2 tbsp
Green Chutney - 1 tbsp
Ground nut - 1 tbsp
Onion - 2 tbsp or less
Sev - 2 tbsp

The above mentioned quantities are according to my taste. Adjust the sweet and green chutney to suit your requirements.

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The following recipes make sufficient quantities for 4 portions.

Aloo Tikki

Potato - 4 medium large; boiled and mashed
Green chilli - 1 , minced
Salt
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Onion - 3 tbsp
Bread crumbs - 4 tbsp
Coriander leaf - 2 tbsp

Mix all together and make small patties.
Pan fry.

Chole


Chick peas / Kabuli Channa - 1 cup; soaked for min 6 hours and pressure cooked
Onion - 1 medium , minced
Garlic - 1 large pod minced
Ginger - 1 inch, minced
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder -  2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
Garam masala - 2 tsp
Jeera powder - 2 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Dry mango powder (aamchur) - 1 tbsp
Oil - 2tbsp

Heat oil, splutter jeera.
Brown the onion, ginger and garlic.
Add the powder and after a minute add the channa and 2 cups of water.
Simmer covered for 10-15 minutes.

Sweet Chutney

This can be stored frozen for months.

Date - 2 cups, deseeded
Jaggery - 1 cup
Tamarind - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1tbsp
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Jeera powder - 1tsp

Simmer all the above in 4 cups of water for 20 minutes.
Cool and strain.

Store in fridge.

Green chutney with onion

This green chutney is a different variant of the traditional green chutney as it contains onion.

Ingredients:
Coriander leaf - 1/2 cup
Mint leaf - 1/2 cup
Small onion - 4
Green chilli - 4 to 6
salt
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Grind and refridgerate until use.

Not Raffaello or coconut burfi

I attempted to make coconut burfi, but I got it wrong. But this 'fiasco' was VERY tasty and I had none left after 2 hours!!
5 years later, I did succeed!

Coconut Burfi

Ingredients for 'not raffaello':
Milk - 1 cup
Coconut grated (fresh) - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp + some more for greasing plate
Dried desiccated coconut - 5 tbsp

Method:
Soak the fresh grated coconut in milk for a minimum of 2 hours.
Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add 1 tbsp of ghee.
Turn off flame and move the ghee around to coat the vessel.
Now add the soaked coconut with all the milk and sugar.
Cook till the mixture starts behaving like 'lava' bubbles. (making small cones and the top opening up?)
Add 1 tbsp of ghee and mix well.
Transfer to a greased tray.
Once cooled, make balls and roll on the dessicated coconut.
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Try another recipe with the same ingredients but in different quantity.
Time consuming, but worth the effort.
It is called the 1-2-3-4 sweet.
Or make the coconut burfi.

Vanilla and Chocolate Chip Icecream

Basic icecream - 1 recipe
Vanilla essence - 2 tbsp
Chocolate chips - 5 tbsp
Chocolate sauce - 5 tbsp
Heavy cream - 1 cup

Cut the frozen basic icecream mix and start beating it while keeping the vessel on a ice bath.
Add the cream and continue beating.
Once doubled , add the vanilla essence and beat for 5 more minutes.
Add the chocolate chips and chocolate sauce on top of mixture and fold in gently.Do not over mix.
Freeze in freezer proof container.
Scoop and serve with more chocolate sauce.

Drumstick leaf (Moringa) / Methi leaf dosa

There are many varieties of dosa available. Obvious ones are Masala dosa, ghee roast, thattu dosa, butter dosa. But these all have the same base.
Rice : Urad dal in the ratio of 3/3.5/4 : 1 is soaked, ground separately and mixed. Salt is added and it is fermented. Later it is spread on a hot tawa and til oil / nallenai is used to make crisp dosa.

If you wish to experiment, try the Adai or Muthira dosa.
In these two, the rice : dal ratio is changed. In Adai, 3 types of dal are used. In the muthira adai, all the ingredients are in equal ratio.

But this Methi / morianga leaf dosa is different. No dal is added, but a chutney is mixed with it and thus this dosa is a meal in itself! No accompaniments required.

This is a typical GSB recipe.

Recipe Courtesy : Mrs. Usha Viswanathan

Please keep in mind that the leaf is added about 1/2 an hour before the dosa is prepared. Moringa leaf is not to be chopped. But Methi leaf can be chopped.

Ingredients:
Raw white rice / Pachari - 1 cup
Idly Rice (ponni arisi) - 1 cup
Freshly grated Coconut - 1 cup
Tamarind - lime sized ball
Red chilly - 3
Salt
Asafoetida powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Drumstick leaf - 1 1/2 cup (or) Fenugreek (methi) leaf - 1 1/2 cup

Til oil / nallenai - as required

Method:
Soak the two varieties of rice together for 2 hours.

Grind the coconut with the tamarind , turmeric powder and red chillies into a fine paste.

Add the soaked rice and grind again into a fine batter.

Add the asafoetida powder , salt and mix well.
You may refridgerate this until required.
Add the leaf half hour prior to making the dosa.

Spread this batter on a hot tawa. Use Til oil as required to make crisp dosas.

Rava Kesari

A very easy sweet!

Rava - 2 cups
Water - 2 cups
Milk - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 1/4  to 1 1/2 cups
Ghee - 4 to 6 tbsp
Raisins - 2 tbsp
Almond slivers - 2 tbsp
Cashewnuts - 2 tbsp
Orange food colour - 3 or 4 drops
(and/or)  saffron - 1 pinch

In a heavy bottomed vessel , heat 2 tbsp ghee.
Roast the raisins and nuts. Once golden, drain them and keep aside. Some ghee will remain in the vessel.
Add the rava to this and fry until nearly golden. Remove the rava from vessel and keep aside.
Into the same vessel, add the milk and water.
Add the food colour and/or saffron.
When it starts to boil, reduce flame and add the rava in a steady stream. Keep stirring so that no lumps form.
Once all the rava has been incorporated add the sugar and stir well.
Add the rest of the ghee.
Keep stirring till the mixture leaves the sides of the vessel. (this will not take more than 1 minute.)
Turn off the flame and add the roasted raisins and nuts. Mix well and transfer to serving dish.

Dry fruit Ice cream

Basic ice cream - 1 recipe
Heavy cream - 1 cup
Sliced pistachio - 2 tbsp + some for garnish
Sliced almonds - 2 tbsp + some for garnish
Raisins - 2 tbsp , each cut into 2 and some for garnish
Saffron - 1 pinch
Yellow food colour - 2 drops
Honey for garnish

Beat the frozen basic ice cream with the cream for atleast 20 minutes while resting the vessel on a ice bath.
Once the volume increases add the pista, raisins, almonds , saffron, food colour and beat for 1 more minute.
Transfer to a freezer proof vessel and set for atleast 12 hours.
Scoop and serve with more nuts and honey on top.
Enjoy!

Basic Icecream

This is the recipe for a basic version of ice cream. This mixture has to be beaten with cream, flavouring and food colour to make ice cream as available at stores.

Milk - 1/2 litre
GMS - 1tbsp + 1 3/4 tsp
Cornflour - 1tbsp + 1 3/4 tsp
CMC - 1/8 tsp
Liquid Glucose - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 6 to 8 tbsp

Mix all the above together and boil until mixture coats back of spoon.
Cool and transfer into a freezer proof vessel.
Freeze for 12 hours.

Lunch box special - peas and corn pulav

Basmati rice - 1 1/2 cup
Green peas - 1/2 cup
Sweet corn kernels - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 medium , minced
Ginger - 1 inch
Garlic - 1 clove
Green chilli - 1
salt
Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Oil - 1tbsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Coriander leaf - 1tbsp
(opt) Decoration -Cashew nuts , onion - golden fried

Soak the rice for 10 minutes and cook till done. It must not be sticky.
Grind the ginger, garlic and green chilli into a fine paste.
Heat oil and splutter the jeera.
Add the paste and fry on a low flame for a minute.
Add the onion and fry till translucent.
Add the green peas and sweet corn kernels. Cover and cook on a low flame till done (5min).
Add the salt, turmeric powder and garam masala. Mix well.
After a minute add the rice and mix till heated through.
Turn off flame and add the lemon juice and coriander leaf.

Vathakozhambu

The options to make this easy curry is amazing. Make it with just 1 fresh vegetable or an array of fresh vegetables or with dried vegetables.
Here I am writing down a basic recipe with plenty of options.
If you want to know how to make vathakozhambu with fresh chundakka, please click here.

Important points:
1. I have written down 3 different oils in the recipe, you MUST use these 3 - til oil for fragrance, ghee for richness and vegetable oil. If you do not have vegetable oil, please do not use coconut oil or any other oil with a strong smell. Just increase the quantity of the til oil and ghee.

2. Similarly you MUST splutter methi seeds / fenugreek seeds with the mustard.

3. The rice flour in the recipe is used for making the curry thick - as a thickening agent. Before you add this to the curry, taste it. Adjust the taste as per your family's requirements. Once you add the rice flour, you cannot do anything to the curry.

4. You start the curry by spluttering mustard, so the final tadka is optional.
But the addition of fried coconut, does enhance the taste!!

5. I usually add 'marthangali' , a dried berry to this curry. Fry that at the very end with the coconut. Not in the very beginning. It is a very small berry and can get burnt easily.
If you have any other 'vettal' - dried vegetable, fry those in the beginning with the tadka.

6. Use good quality Sambar powder. It is the back bone of this dish.

Ingredients:

Vegetable - 1 cup
(either small onion or ladies finger or brinjal or Bhajji chilli or drum stick or a mix of vegetables)

Tamarind - use 1 lemon sized ball to get 3 cups of pulp
Til / sesame oil / nallenna - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seed / methi - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli - 2, broken
Curry leaf - 1 sprig
Salt to tatse
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Rice flour - 1 tsp
Sambar powder - 2 tbsp

Final Garnish (opt):
Oil - 1 tbsp
Fresh / dry Coconut - 2 tbsp

Other options
       Dried Marthangali - 2 tbsp
       Dried Chundakka - 10 pieces
       Fresh Chundakka
       Fresh Fenugreek leaves - 1/2 cup
       Deep fried appalam / poppadom - 4 no:s

Heat the til oil, ghee and vegetable oil together.
Splutter the mustard , fenugreek seed , red chillies and curry leaf.
If using any of the dried optional items add now and fry till deep brown.
Add the vegetables and cook on a low flame till half cooked.
Add the salt, turmeric powder and asafoetida.
Pour the tamarind pulp and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the sambar powder and cook a further 5 minutes.
Add the jaggery and 1 cup of water.
Boil for a minute.
Taste and adjust seasoning.
Mix the rice flour with 1/2 cup of water and add to the curry.
Keep stirring till the curry thicken and starts getting a glaze.
Turn off flame (add the fenugreek leaf, if using) and cover the dish.

Garnish:
Fry the coconut in the coconut oil and once brown add the marthangali. Fry for a minute and add on top of the curry.

Some people make this curry with no vegetables and just before serving add the deep fried crushed poppadam / appalam.

The photo is a vattakozhambu made with lady's finger, dried 'chundakka' and fresh methi leaves.

Sukhiyan

 A favorite tea time snack in Kerala.

Only 3 ingredients are used in making this evening snack. Green Gram dal, coconut and jaggery. All healthy.

The ratio of ingredients is
1: 1-1/2: 1
Green gram dal : Jaggery : Coconut

Green gram dal - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 1/2 cups
Coconut - 1 cup
Cardamom - 2 pods, ground into a fine powder
Flour (maida)- 4 tbsp ,mixed with water to make a thin batter
oil for deep frying

Soak the dal in water for 2 hours and cook till soft. (pressure cook till 3 whistles)

Boil the jaggery in 1 cup of water and strain to remove the impurities.
In a heavy bottomed vessel add the dal, jaggery , coconut and elaichi.

Heat till all the water is evaporated and becomes dry.

Make small balls of the dal mixture.

Dip in the thin watery maida batter and deep fry.

Serve at room temperature with evening tea.