spicy baby potatoes

This dish has quickly become one of my goto dishes when I have guests over.
Easy to make and tastes soo good!
Perfect dish to go with this blog name :D :)

I first had this at my friend varsha's place. I used her recipe and clubbed it with couple of recipes I saw online and came up with this.
Here goes:

baby potatoes: 20
onion: 1 (roughly chopped)
bellpepper: 2 (roughly chopped)
garlic: 2 cloves
ginger: 2 inches
curry leaves: 2 stems
chillies: 2 (cut long and thin into 2 inch pieces)
salt: to taste
coriander powder: 2 tbsp.
chilli powder: 1 tsp.
turmeric: 1/2 tsp.

ghee: 3 tbsp.
canola oil: 1 tbsp.

to temper:
mustard seeds
cumin seeds

to make chili sauce:
red chillies: 4 (soaked in water)
onion: 1/4th (sliced)
garlic: 4 cloves
salt: to taste

First, boil the baby potatoes in pressure cooker.
After they are done, run them with cold water. Once they cool down, peel the potatoes and cut
they into four pieces each. Make small slits on the potatoes. This is so, they will absorb the spices.

To make chili sauce, grind soaked red chillies, onion, garlic and salt.

Heat ghee and canola oil together.
Temper mustard seeds and cumin seeds.

Now, add curry leaves, chopped chilli, ginger, garlic, roughly chopped onions and bellpepper.

Let them saute for a few minutes.

Add corianded powder, chilli powder and turmeric

Add baby potatoes and coat with the already added spices. Heat this on medium for about 8 minutes.

Now add the chilli sauce and saute for 5 more minutes.

Check salt and add more if needed.

Turn off the stove and let it sit for sometime before serving.

Enjoy :-)

idli/dosa batter

urad dal: 1 cup
idli rice: 2 cups
sona masoori rice/basmatic rice: 2 cups
fenugreek seeds: 1 tsp.

Soak the above mix in water for 4-5 hours. You should put enough water so that the water stands double the height of the dal mix.
Now, drain the remaining water and grind the mix with 2 cups of water.
The texture should be soft.
Add 1 tsp. of salt and mix the whole mixture with your hand.
Keep the lid and set it in a warm place for 10-12 hours (or longer depending on where you live).
The batter should have risen by now.

The below picture is after the batter was set in the oven with the light on for about 20 hours.

Stuffed brinjal (gutthu vankaaya)

round brinjal (blackish purple): 1 pound

small tomatoes: 2

onion: 1 big 

chillies: 4

thick tamarind paste: 2 tbs.

pappula podi: 1 tbs. (optional)

ginger garlic paste: 1 tsp.

salt: per taste

red chilli powder: 1 tbs.

garam masala: 1 tsp.

turmeric powder: 1 tsp.

curry leaves: 2 stalks

oil: 2 tbs.

cinnamon: 1" piece

cloves: 6

cardamom: 1

cashew nut powder: 1 tsp.

Method:

Roughly chop onions, tomatoes, chillies and then grind these with ginger garlic paste, curry leaves, pappula podi, tamarind paste, garam masala, salt and turmeric powder

Make 2 slits (horizontal and vertical) in each Brinjal such that you get 4 slit quarts.

Don't cut it fully. It should still be joint at the stalk.

Now, keep a deep dish on the stove. 

Add oil. Once oil heats, put cinnamon, cloves and cardamom powder.

Once they splutter, add the prepared paste. keep this on medium heat.

Now, let it simmer for about 3 minutes.

Drop the brinjal in this gravy now.

Reduce the heat to between sim and medium.

Close the lid and let it cook for 10 mins.

Stir 2-3 times in between.

Add red chilli powder now and then close the lid again. Let it cook for 10 more minutes.

Turn off the stove and add cashew nut powder.

Mix it with the gravy.

Garnish with coriander.

tindora curry

Ingredients:
tindora: 1 pound
onion: 1 big (chopped)
chillies: 3 (chopped)
velluli kaaram: 1 tbs.
pappula podi: 1 tsp. (optional)
curry leaves: as much as you want
salt: as needed
turmeric powder: 1 tsp.

for tempering:
cumin seeds: 1 tsp.
mustard seeds: 1 tsp.
channa dal: 1tsp.
urad dal: 1 tsp.
oil: 2 tbs.

Cut tindora into small pieces (I use the vidalia vegetable cutter).
Take a pan and once oil heats, add all the ingredients under tempering.
Now, add curry leaves and after few seconds, add onions and chillies.
Let this fry for 2 minutes. After that, add tindora.
Mix it well and let it cook for 15 minutes on low flame and keep the lid on during this time.
Now, remove the lid and  add salt and turmeric powder.
Let it cook for 5 more minutes now.
After that, add velluli kaaram, mix and turn off the stove.
You can add a litlle pappula podi here before turning off the stove if you desire.
Garnish with coriander.

pappula podi

Ingredients:
coriander seeds: 1/2 cup
peanuts: 1/2 cup
channa dal: 1/2 cup
urad dal: 1/2 cup
garlic: 6 cloves
dried coconut flakes: 2 tbs.
cumin seeds: 2 tbs.
curry leaves: 2 tbs.
mint: 2 tbs.
salt: to taste

Set a Pan on the stove. After it heats, put it on sim.
Now, add coriander seeds, peanuts, channa dal, urad dal, coconut flakes, curry leaves, mint and heat this mix on sim.
Keep stirring every now and then ... and let them all roast for about 15 minutes.
Turn off the stove and add cumin to the mix now.
After it cools down, grind the roasted ingredients into dry powder.

After it gets grinded, add salt and garlic to this and grind again.

You can add this to stir fry curries and tamarind based gravies -- it gives a nice flavor to the taste.

velluli kaaram

Garlic:                  15 big cloves
Red chilli powder: 1.5 cup

First, pulse garlic by itself without any water for about 5 seconds.
Now, add chilli powder and grind the whole thing again.
Pulse and mix every 1 mins.. for a total of 2-3 mins.

Beans curry

Indian broad beans (chikkudukaaya) (we used 2 kinds of these beans): 1/2 pound
Onion: 1 small (chopped)
Garlic: 4 cloves
Salt: to taste
tumeric: 1 tsp.
velluli kaaram: 1 tbs.

Tempering:
urad dal: 1 tbs.
channa dal: 1 tbs.
cumin seeds: 1 tsp.
mustard seeds: 1 tsp.
curry leaves: few
oil: 2 tbs.

Peel the sides of the beans, check if there is any worm inside and chop it with a knife or you can break it into pieces with hand itself.
Boil beans with water steam. (If using pressure cooker, keep it for 2 whistles on high).

In a non-stick pan, heat oil. After it heats, put garlic. After a few seconds, put all the tempering ingredients at once. Now, put onions. Once onions come light brown, put cut beans.
After 2 minutes, put salt and turmeric.
After it sautes for some time (around 5 minutes), put velluli kaaram and turn off the stove.

Garnish with some chopped coriander.

Pulihora

Ingredients:

Tamarind: 100gms. (or 3 spoons tamarind paste)
Rice: 2 cups cooked and cooled.
chillies: 3 (whole)
ginger: 1/2 inch (chopped)
oil: 5 tablespoons.
curry leaves: 1 stalk
coriander leaves: 2 tablespoons.
turmeric: 1 1/2 tea spoon.
salt: as needed

tempering:
chillies: 2 (whole)
channa dal: 1 tablespoons
urad dal: 1 tablespoon
cumin seeds: 1/2 spoon.
mustard seeds: 1/2 spoon.
peanuts: 2tbs. (roasted)
cashew: 2tbs.
ginger: 1/2 inch (chopped)
curry leaves: 1 stalks
uppu mirapakaayalu (salted dried chillies): 3

Method:

Let tamarind soak in warm water for 1 hour.
Now squeeze/extract it well and throw the remains of the tamarind.
Now, add chillies and ginger to it and cook it on low flame.
Put the lid on, now.
The paste should become thick and reduce to half the original quantity.

Add 1 tbs. of oil and curry leaves, coriander to the cooked rice and then, let it cool.
After it cools down, add turmeric and salt and mix it.
Now, add tamarind mix.

Now, do the tempering with the ingredients under tempering.
Now, pour the tempering over the tamarind rice.

If not enough sourness at the end, add some more tamarind paste (after frying it in some oil a little bit).

Andhra fish pulusu

Ingredients:

Fish: 1.5 pound (any fish.. I tried with tilapia and salmon)
Onion: 1 big (cut lengthwise)
tomatoes: 2 chopped
chillies: 3 big/ 4 small (slit in between)
tamarind: 50gms. (soaked in warm water for 15 - 20 mins)
few curryleaves
ginger garlic paste: 1 tbs.
oil: 2tbs.

fenugreek seeds + cumin seeds - smashed in dhinchik or grinded (1 tbs.)
chilli powder: 2 tablespoons
salt: as needed
turmeric: as needed

For tempering:
cinnamon:  1 small
cardamom: 1
cloves: 4

Method:
Fry the fish using the method described in:
http://www.sharmispassions.com/2012/09/masala-fish-fry-fish-recipes.html

In a wide vessel, put oil.
Once oil becomes hot, put tempering items.
Once it splutters, put onion, tomato and chillies. (keep this on medium flame)
Let it fry for 3 minutes.
Now put salt, turmeric and chilli powder.
Let it cook for 1 more minute and put ginger garlic paste.
After that, put the tamarind juice in that.
Let the tamarind juice come to a boil. After it comes to boil, keep it for 5 more minutes.
Now, put the fenugreek and cumin seed powder.
Mix it well once and put the fried fish pieces.
Let them cook for 10 mins with the gravy.
Now, turn off the stove and put chopped cilantro.

Baked red snapper fish + fruit salsa

I was looking for recipes on how to bake fish online and I came across quite a few recipes that combined fish and fruit salsa.
It got me excited right away.. cause I simply love fruits these days.

Fish:
I adapted this recipe from http://www.yoursouthernpeach.com/2012/02/chili-salmon-tropical-salsa.html

Red snapper: 2 fillets

spices for marination:
olive oil
lime juice
salt
pepper
kozambhu powder http://easyhappycooking.blogspot.com/2013/08/kozambhu-powder.html

I cut each fillet into 2 halves.
After cleaning the drying these fish fillets, I marinated them with the spices needed for marination.
I added the spices per intuition.
I lined an oven tray with foil and rubbed it with little bit oil.
I put the marinated pieces on the oven tray (skin side down).
I covered and chilled them in the refrigerator for 3 hrs.

After that, I preheated the oven to 450F and put in the marinated fish.
I left it on each side for 20 mins (total of 40 mins).
and tadaa.... its done!

Fruit salsa:
I adapted the recipe from http://rachelvoorhees.com/2012/09/drunken-fruit-salsa/
(except I didn't use the liquor... so, it's not quite drunken :D)

I pretty much did everything exactly as per that recipe except I didn't have pineapple and green peppers handy.. so, I skipped them.
And, I didn't bother to roast any peppers.
It tasted great and tummy felt calm and good :)

baked muffin pan idli's with baked sweet potato fries

Baked idli's

baked idli's have got to be one of the best discoveries I made.
The idli's come out soo soft and fluffy... they are just great! and the cleanup is so much easier than the pressure cooker method.

Method:
preheat the oven to 350F.
pour idli batter into muffin pan moulds (so, it fills upto half of each mould).
Get another oven pan half filled with water ready.

Once the oven is preheated, put the muffin pan on the top rack and the pan with water in the
bottom rack.
(The way I look at it, you are sort of emulating pressure cooker here with the muffin pan and the water to steam).
The idlis should rise and be done somewhere between 15-20 mins.
You need to pull them out as soon as you see that its starting to form a thin crust on the top.

Sweet potato fries

Serves: 4
Sweet potatoes: 2
olive oil: 1 tbs.
salt: to taste
pepper: 1/2 table spoon
paprika: 1/2 table spoon

(Note: vary amount of pepper and paprika to your taste)


Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into thick fingers.
In a bowl, mix the sweet potato fingers with olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika.

Preheat the oven to 450F.
Now take a flat oven pan and line it with aluminium foil.
Spread the sweet potato fingers on it without crowding them (else, they won't be crispy).
Once the oven is preheated, put the pan with sweet potato fingers in.
After 10 mins, take the pan out and turn the fingers around.
Put it in for another 10 mins.
Now, take them out and enjoy :).

Aloo/brinjal gravy

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Aloo/Brinjal: 1 pound
onions: 1 medium (chopped)
tomatoes: 2 large
yellow habanero chillies: 2 (with seeds removed) - gives a nice flavor.
kozambhu powder: 2 1/2 heaping teaspoons
turmeric powder: 1/4 teaspoon
salt : to taste
Oil: 3 tablespoons

In dhinchik, smash:
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 stalks curry leaves
5 flakes of garlic

Boil the potatoes in a pressure cooker. Peel and cut them into small pieces.
Now,  heat oil in a pan. Once oil heats, add the dhinchik smash.
once this splutters, add onions. Keep heat high (setting: 8).
Once onions get golden brown, add tomatoes.
Now, add aloo/brinjal. Stir it for 5 minutes.
Add all the spices.
Stir for another 5 minutes.
Add 3 cups of water.
Close the lid and boil it for 15 minutes on a heat setting of 6.
Open the lid and sim it for 10 minutes (on heat setting: 2).
Now, you should see the oil oozing out on all the sides of the pan.
Now, garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

kozambhu powder

To make 2 pounds kozambhu powder:

Ingredients:
200 grams red chillies
400 grams coriander seeds
50 grams of cumin seeds
25 grams fenugreek seeds
25 grams mustard seeds

Optionally, slightly dry roast the spices.
Cool it down and then grind it into a fine powder.

chamadumpala(arbi) fry

Serves: 4 people

Arbi: 2 pounds
kozambhu powder: 3 heaping teaspoons.
turmeric powder: 1/2 teaspoon
salt: to taste
tamarind paste: 1 teaspoon
oil: 5 tablespoons

mustard seeds: 1 teaspoon
split urad dal: 2 teaspoons
curry leaves: 3 stalks


Directions.

Boil Arbi in pressure cooker (on high (setting: 8) for 3 whistles).
Now, peel and cut into small pieces.
Mix arbi with all the spices and sprinkle little water (for spices to stick onto arbi).

Heat oil on the stove on sim (setting: 4).
Add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Now, add urad dal and curry leaves.
Add spice mixed arbi and fry it till browned (about 15-20 minutes) (at the same sim setting),

potato fry

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients:
potatoes (boiled, peel and cut into small pieces): 1 pound
Chilli powder: 1 teaspoon.
Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon.
Salt: per taste
turmeric powder: 1/4 teaspoon
oil: 2 tablespoons.

Directions:
mix potatoes in a separate bowl with all the above men
tioned spices.
Heat the oil on sim (setting: 4).
Add cumin seeds.
Once cumin splutters, add potatoes with the spice mix.
now, fry them at the same sim heat setting for about 15 minutes.
Fry it for another 10 mins if you like it more fried.

Masala tea

Ingredients:

Tea masala powder: 1/2 heaping teaspoon (you can reduce this if you want the tea to be less strong)
(http://easyhappycooking.blogspot.com/2013/08/tea-masala-powder.html)
Tea leaves: 1/2 heaping teaspoon (you can reduce this if you want the tea to be less strong)
water: 1/2 cup
milk: 1/2 cup

Directions:
Boil water.
Once water boils, put masala powder and mix.
Then, add tea leaves and mix.
Now, add milk and sugar and let it come to a boiling point.

As soon as the mix starts to come to a boiling point, reduce the heat to sim and stir it continuously for the next 10 mins.
Now, turn off the heat and sieve the tea into a cup.

Tea masala powder

Ingredients:

Dry ginger: 250 gms.
Whole Elaichi: 1/2 cup (full heap)
Whole Peppercorns: 1/2 cup

In dhinchik, smash dry ginger.
Now, grind the smashed dry ginger and the other two ingredients and make into a fine powder.

This makes an extremely fragrant tea masala that makes your tea taste sooo goood!

Gulab jamun quick recipe

I tried this quick recipe from :
http://www.veggiebelly.com/2012/09/milk-powder-gulab-jamun-recipe.html

I followed the recipe word by word and my gulab jamuns came out awesome. It took me 40 mins to make 30 gulab jamuns.
Here is the picture:

Vegetable Biryani

This recipe belongs to Manish. He taught me how to make biryani :) and now Kalyani has asked for the recipe. SO here you go Ms. Kaly :)

Rice:
3 cups basmati rice - 3/4th cooked with bay leaves and 2 cloves
Dried mint crushed- 3-4 tbspn
Lemon juice- 2 tspn
Salt- 1 tbspn

Masala:
1 - packet (1lb) frozen mix veg (corn, beans, peas, carrots)
2 potatoes - chopped
3 onions
1 cup grated ginger
4-5 cloves garlic
2-3 whole black pepper
2-3 cloves
2 green chillies
2 tspn cumin seeds
3 tomatoes - pureed
1 1/2 cup yogurt
Shan Biryani masala - 1 packet

Method:
In a microwave safe bowl add water and chopped potato and cook it for 5 mins. The drain out the water and keep potatoes aside. Then in another microwaves safe bowl add frozen veggies and water and boil them for 7-8 mins stirring it in between. Drain out  all the water.

Grind onion, ginger, garlic, black pepper, cloves, green chillies and cumin seeds together.
Heat oil in a pan. Add onion paste to it. Let the onion paste cook completely. Then add pureed tomato to it.
Let the tomato cook completely. Then add  yogurt, red chilli  powder(to taste) and shan biryani masala to it. Once the masala leaves oil on the sides then add salt to it. When masala is completely cooked then add veggies to it. Let the veggies cook for 10-15 mins on medium-low heat.

On the side cook rice(3/4th done) with Cloves and bay leaves. Spread the rice in a plate to let it cool down completely. When rice cools down completely then add dried mint powder, salt and lemon juice to it and make sure that you coat the rice properly.

Then in an oven safe dish put one layer of rice and top it with a layer of veggies masala. Repeat the process once again. And rice should be the final layer on the top. Then just drill some holes in the layered biryani(4-5) and add few drops of milk in each one.

At 350C cook biryani for about 15-20 mins till eat is hot from inside as well. You can garnish the biryani with some sauteed red onions.

Mutton pepper fry

Same as Mutton kurma (http://easyhappycooking.blogspot.com/2013/07/mutton-kurma_22.html) except:

1. Dry fry pepper and fennel seeds and powder it. (2 tbs. of pepper and 1 heaping tbs. of fennel seeds)
    instead of coconut and cashew paste
2. use 2 big tomatoes (instead of 4 big tomatoes)
3. once the mutton is cooked, take a pan - add 3 tbs. of oil and add the mutton to it.
    If the curry is a little water, let it boil and let the sauce thicken a little bit (about 8 minutes on medium heat - 4).
    Now, add the above pepper + fennel powder mix to it. The sauce should thicken here more.
    Now, let it fry till the needed consistency.