Ven pongal

Ingredients

Raw rice - 1 cup
Split moong dal - ½ cup
Ghee (clarified butter) or butter - 4 tbsp
Mustard seeds - ½ tsp
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Peppercorns - 1 tsp
Fresh ginger - 1 tbsp (chopped)
Cashewnuts - 10 to 15
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves - few
Water - 5-6 cups (you may replace ½ of it with milk)
Salt as per taste

Mehtod
Fry the cashew nuts in ghee for golden colour.
Wash and rinse the rice and dal then cook along with salt for 5 to 6 whistles. If you use a small cooker then milk will boil over, so use a big one. Or do it in the pan so you can stir well.
After they are done, take a small pan and fry the mustard seeds, peppercorns, cumin seeds, asafoetida, ginger and curry leaves in the ghee.
Pour this and the cashews into the cooked rice and mix well. Serve hot with sambar.

Sesame seeds poha / Ellu aval

Ingredients

Poha - 1 cup
Red chillies - 3
Sesame seeds (till) - 3 to 4 tbps
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Spilt moong dal - 1 tbsp
Onion - 1
Curry leaves - few
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Method
Fry sesame seeds and red chillies until the seeds turn reddish-brown. Don't burn it. Ground this to a coarse powder.
Soak the poha in water before starting for not more than 5 minutes.
Heat the oil add mustard seeds. When it pops, add dal. After dal is fried
add onion and curry leaves. Fry until onion turns translucent.
Now filter the poha from the water and mix with onion. After a few minutes add sesame seeds, powder and salt, stir for few minutes.
When poha is hot remove from heat and serve with chutney.

Poori and Panner butter masala

Poori

Ingredients
Atta - 2 cups
Warm Water - 1 cup
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Oil for deep frying

Method

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add water and make a stiff dough without any cracks. Cover the bowl and set aside for 30 minutes(optional) Making a stiff dough would result in puffy pooris.Divide the dough into round balls of equal size. Roll each ball into a thin round using a rolling pin. Sprinkle a little wheat flour for dusting if you feel the dough is sticking on to the surface.
Heat the oil (piping hot) drop a poori gently, press with a slotted spoon which would allow the poori to puff up like a balloon. Flip the poori on the other side and fry for a few seconds.

Serve hot with any curry, we usual prefer potato one, this time I try it with panner curry. 

Paneer butter masala

Ingredients:
250 gms paneer
3 medium sized onions
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
Whole garam masala (cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, cumin seeds, cloves)
2 tsps red chilli powder
4 ripe tomatoes
3-5 tbsps cashewnut
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
1 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
salt to taste
3 tbsps butter
Small amount of cream
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method
Heat the pan pour some oil, add the onion fry for few minutes then add tomatoes fry for about 5 minutes (do not fully cook). Before you turn off the stove add cashew nuts. Once it cools grind them into smooth paste. 

Aside from this, peel the skin of some tomatoes and grind to smooth paste. 

Heat a tbsp of ghee and fry the paneer cubes to golden brown, keep aside. In a pan/kadhai heat 3 tbps of butter on medium low flame. Add whole garam masala one by one, then add ginger-garlic paste fry for few minutes then add the tomoto paste, increase the flame to medium and fry it till oil leaks separate from the tomatoes, stirring frequently. Cover with lid. Add chilli, turmeric, and coriander powder, and salt to taste. Pour some water combine well.

After few minutes add kasoori methi and garam masala powder. Simmer the flame and let it cook till the gravy has a thick consistency. Add fried paneer, mix gently. Finally add cream two minutes before turning off the flame.

Let it sit for at least 10 minutes and garnish with freshly chopped coriander before serving.

Serve hot with rotis, paranthas or naan.

Rava idli

Ingredients

1 cup upma rava/sooji
1 tbsp chana dal
½ tsp mustard seeds
1″ ginger - grated
4-5 fresh curry leaves - finely chopped
2 medium sized carrots - grated
2 tbsps freshly chopped coriander leaves
2 1/2 cup well beaten thick yoghurt
1 tsp baking soda
Salt to taste
1 tbsp ghee/clarified butter
3 tbsps of cooking oil
¼ tsp turmeric powder
10 -12 cashew nuts (optional)

Method :
Heat ghee in a wide bottomed pan . On medium flame fry chana dal till lightly brown, then add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add grated ginger curry leaves, and turmeric. Fry on low flame for a minute.
Add rava and on medium flame stir fry continuously for 3 - 4 mts till a nice aroma comes out. (Take care not to burn the rava. If you see the rava turns out to be changing brown then lower the heat and fry.) Allow to cool for a few minutes.
Add grated carrot, chopped coriander, 1 cup yoghurt, salt to taste, baking soda and mix well. Cover and leave it aside for 30 mts. The batter rises a little bit by this time.
Remove the cover, add 3 tbsps of oil, and the rest of the yoghurt and give it a good mix. The mixture now looks like thick idly batter.(you can add some water)
Grease idli plates, place a roasted cashew nut in the center of each idli mould, pour the rava batter over the cashew nut. Don’t over fill the idli mould. Fill it ¾ and leave the rest for the idli to rise while cooking.
Steam them covered on medium flame for around 10 mts. Turn off the heat. Let it sit for 5 more minutes before you open the lid.
Remove, and carefully spoon the idlis from the mould.
Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

Wheat / Gothumai Dosa

Ingredients
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Salt per taste - about 1 tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp(optional)
Water - 2 to 3

Thoroughly mix the batter without any lumps. The consistency of batter must be like thick buttermilk, not too watery or not too tight. Don’t let the batter sit for long time.Heat the tava over medium high and pour a ladleful of batter on the hot tawa and spread it in the shape of a dosa .sprinkle little oil on the surroundings of the dosa and cook for a minute or two.
Wait until the underside of the dosa turns to be golden and then gently turn it to the other side.cook for another minute or two.
Remove and serve hot with any chutney.


For variety 
1. You can add egg with some water instead of full water.
2. Add onions, chilli, curry and coriander leaves.

Adai

Ingredients:
1 cup - Rice
1 cup - mixed dals -Chana dal, toor dal, green moong and urad dal
3 nos - dried Red chillies or to taste
1 tbs fenugreek seeds
A pinch of hing/asafoetida
A sprig of curry leaves
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking the dosa - approx 2 Tbsp

Optional: 1" inch - ginger piece, Chopped onion, Cilantro

Method:
Soak the rice, dals and red chillies in water for about 3 - 4 hrs even over a night .
Grind the soaking ingredients with the curry leaves to a coarse paste. The coarseness is what gives the adai the crisp texture.
Add salt to taste and the asafoetida and mix well. Heat a shallow, wide pan for making the dosas and spread a little oil on the pan and get started with the adais.
The adai should be a little thicker than the normal dosa. 

You can sprinkle those optional items on top of the adai.
Serve hot with Avial, sambar even Chutney also.
For an extra touch, my mom would also add a small dollop of home made butter or ghee.

Simple Dosa and Idli

We usually use idli rice for dosa batter, but you can also use parboiled rice.

Ingredients
4 cups rice
1 cup urad dal
1 tbs fenugreek seeds
Salt to taste
Oil for fry
¼ cup Poha(optional)Soak few minuets before grind

Procedure
Soak rice, urad dal and funugreek seeds at least 6 hour or overnight in water.

  

Grind to paste along with poha.(Use wet grinder not in mixie for good result)(For idli batter you have to grind little coarse,dosa is a smooth)
Mix together, add salt with water to make batter.
Leave in room temperature overnight.

For Idli
Take the idli holder spray oil or butter and fill each of them with 3/4th full of batter.

Steam cook idlis on medium flame for about 10 minutes or until done.
Use a butter knife to remove the idlis.

  


  


For Dosa 

For crispy dosa the batter must be thin.
Heat pan or griddle with little ghee or oil.
Spread the mix on pan in circular motion to make thin Dosa.
Cook on both the sides, if desired.

Thenga chutney

Ingredients (chutney):

Coconut-1/2 cup
Channa dhal fried/ Porikadalai-3 to 4spoon
Greenor red chillies-3
Salt to taste
Curry leaves (optional)
Coriander leaves (optional)

Tempering
Oil
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
split urad dal-1 tsp
Curry leaves few
Chilli -1

Procedure
Just add everything in to the mixie that i mentioned above.
Then add water little bit and grind well.
Then pour the paste in to the bowl.
Now heat the oil do tempering pour it over the chutney.
Note: You can add Ginger also along with grinding mixture.

Rava Dosa

Ingredients:

1 cup rava
1/2 cup Rice flour
1/4 cup Maida
1 cup slightly diluted curd
2 medium onions finely chopped (optional)
1" ginger,grated or finely chopped
3 tbsp coriander finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped curry leaves (optional)
1 tsp finely chopped green chillies
2-3 tbsp grated fresh coconut
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp slightly crushed pepper corns
salt to taste
1 1/2 to 2 cups water approximately

Mix rava, rice flour and maida with curd and add enough water to it and mix until no lumps are formed
The batter should be thin enough to pour over the pan, but not so thin that it disperses
Keep this aside for 10-15 minutes
Add finely chopped onion, ginger chopped, coconut, salt, green chilli paste, coriander, chopped curry leaves, jeera and slightly crushed pepper corns to it and mix well.
Now check the consistency of the batter as rava absorbs water, add enough water to get it back to pouring consistency

Heat tawa till just smoking hot
Pour a ladle full of dosa batter from the outer edge of the tawa in a circular motion to the centre, fill all major gaps. But do not try to fill the small gaps, those gaps help in making the dosa crispier.This is a very important step in making rava dosa.The crispiness depends on the way you pour the batter on the tava and also on managing the flame (heat of the tawa) while cooking the dosa.



Pour oil over the dosa and cover with a lid. Let it cook initially on medium flame for 1-2 minutes, then remove the lid and increase the flame, and cook for another 2 minutes until you see brown/red patches. (No need to turn the dosa).
Remove it from the pan and serve immediately
Reduce the flame for one minute and start to prepare the next dosa. Do not pour the batter on high flame. Always stir the batter before preparing the next dosa.
Serve it hot right from the pan and on to the plate with chutney or sambar.