Lemon Rice

It has been a while since I posted a South Indian dish here. Here’s something simple and quick that I made for dinner yesterday.

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked basmati (or any other long-grain) rice
2 Tbsp oil (gingelly/sesame oil would be ideal here)
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 red chillies
A pinch of asafoetida
½ tsp turmeric powder
3-4 green chillies, minced
4-5 curry leaves
½ onion, finely chopped
¾ tsp ginger paste
A good handful of coriander leaves, chopped up
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 2 large and juicy lemons)
Salt
Sugar

Method:
Cook the rice. (I always use the microwave for this.)

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large pan. Add chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds, red chillies asafoetida, turmeric powder, green chillies, and curry leaves. Next add the onions, ginger paste, and salt. Cook till the onions soften.

Add the hot rice and mix well. Turn off the heat; add lemon juice to the rice. Add a touch of sugar too if you so desire. Keep for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the rice to absorb the lemon juice and all of the other flavors.

I normally use rice that has been left over from the previous day to make preparations like tomato rice, tamarind rice, ghee rice, etc. In the case of lemon rice though, I have found that it tastes best when the rice used is fresh and steaming hot.

Tomato Dosa

I first saw these dosas on Laavanya’s blog over a year ago, and what I liked most about the recipe was the fact that the batter was really easy to prepare and did not involve fermentation. I have since been making it very frequently.
These dosas make for a perfect breakfast/brunch over the weekend when you don’t feel like doing much, or for that matter, on a busy weeknight when you just can’t!

For Laavanya’s recipe, head over to Cookery Corner.

Here’s what I did.
Ingredients:
1 cup raw rice, soaked for at least an hour
3 large tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 red chillies
A few curry leaves
2 Tbsp grated coconut
1 Tbsp tomato paste
Salt to taste

Method:
Grind everything together, adding water as you go along, to get the right consistency for the batter.
Go ahead and make those dosas now! Everyone knows how to make dosas, right? I have a thing for thin and crispy dosas, so that’s how I made mine.

Here are some other dosas I make very often-
Adai
Cornmeal dosa
Jaggery dosa
Plain dosa (instant)

Rava Idli

I made these soft, fluffy and tasty rava idlis for breakfast yesterday. I came across the recipe for instant idlis on Anita’s blog a relatively long time back. I am one of those South Indians who prefers dosas over idlis any day, but the recipe looked too good not to try. I love the fact that there is no soaking or grinding involved here.

For the original recipe, head over to Anita’s A Mad Tea Party. I had to make a couple of changes to the original recipe since I had to work with what I had. I really wish I had had curry leaves, green chillies and coriander though. You can add whatever vegetables you want to the batter. I only had a couple of baby carrots and some scallions.

Ingredients: (for 24 small idlis)
1 cup rava (I used fine)
About 3/4- 1 cup of yogurt (I did not really measure this)
2-3 Tbsp buttermilk
6-8 baby carrots, finely chopped
3 scallions/ spring onions, finely chopped
1 tsp baking soda
Salt

For seasoning:
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 Tbsp tsp urad dal
1 Tbsp chana dal
¾ tsp of red chilli flakes
A pinch of asafoetida

Method:
Heat oil in a big pan. Add the ingredients for the seasoning followed by the carrots and scallions. Cook for a minute or two.

Add the rava to the same pan and roast it for a few minutes till it smells done. Cool. Transfer to big bowl.

Add yogurt, buttermilk, salt and baking soda and mix well. Add enough water to make a batter that is sufficiently thick yet pourable.

Pour the batter in greased idli trays and steam for 12-15 minutes in a pressure cooker (without the weight). Allow the idlis to rest for a few minutes in the tray itself (very important to avoid a sticky mess) before plating them. Serve hot with accompaniment of your choice. We had ours with coconut chutney.

I have to say that the idlis turned out pretty well, considering the fact that this was my first time ever making idlis of any kind, and they were rather delicious, especially with the spicy chutney that we had it with. I did think that the idlis tasted a lot like the upma I make though.

Rava Idli

I made these soft, fluffy and tasty rava idlis for breakfast yesterday. I came across the recipe for instant idlis on Anita’s blog a relatively long time back. I am one of those South Indians who prefers dosas over idlis any day, but the recipe looked too good not to try. I love the fact that there is no soaking or grinding involved here.

For the original recipe, head over to Anita’s A Mad Tea Party. I had to make a couple of changes to the original recipe since I had to work with what I had. I really wish I had had curry leaves, green chillies and coriander though. You can add whatever vegetables you want to the batter. I only had a couple of baby carrots and some scallions.

Ingredients: (for 24 small idlis)
1 cup rava (I used fine)
About 3/4- 1 cup of yogurt (I did not really measure this)
2-3 Tbsp buttermilk
6-8 baby carrots, finely chopped
3 scallions/ spring onions, finely chopped
1 tsp baking soda
Salt

For seasoning:
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 Tbsp tsp urad dal
1 Tbsp chana dal
¾ tsp of red chilli flakes
A pinch of asafoetida

Method:
Heat oil in a big pan. Add the ingredients for the seasoning followed by the carrots and scallions. Cook for a minute or two.

Add the rava to the same pan and roast it for a few minutes till it smells done. Cool. Transfer to big bowl.

Add yogurt, buttermilk, salt and baking soda and mix well. Add enough water to make a batter that is sufficiently thick yet pourable.

Pour the batter in greased idli trays and steam for 12-15 minutes in a pressure cooker (without the weight). Allow the idlis to rest for a few minutes in the tray itself (very important to avoid a sticky mess) before plating them. Serve hot with accompaniment of your choice. We had ours with coconut chutney.

I have to say that the idlis turned out pretty well, considering the fact that this was my first time ever making idlis of any kind, and they were rather delicious, especially with the spicy chutney that we had it with. I did think that the idlis tasted a lot like the upma I make though.

Cornmeal Dosa

Here’s a recipe for a dosa that does not require any soaking, grinding or fermenting. This instant dosa makes an occasional appearance at my place during weekends. I also add different vegetables depending on what I have on hand, to make it more substantial.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups cornmeal
½ cup rice flour
¾ -1 tsp red chilli flakes
½ – 1 tsp cumin seeds
½ onion, finely chopped
5-6 baby carrots, finely chopped
A handful of cilantro/coriander leaves, chopped
¼ – ½ cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp desiccated coconut
Salt to taste
Oil for making the dosas

Method:
Mix the ingredients together in sufficient water to prepare a batter that is neither too thick nor too watery. (A consistency that is slightly thicker than that of buttermilk would be perfect.)
Set the batter aside for about 20 minutes.

Heat a cast-iron skillet/griddle until hot and smear it with a little bit of oil.
Pour a ladleful of batter onto the skillet. Lift the skillet off the heat and tilt it around so that the batter distributes evenly. (Spreading the batter into a circle using the back of the ladle doesn’t work well here.) Add a couple of drops of oil around the edges of the dosa, turn down the heat a bit and cover and cook till done. Then flip over and cook the other side.

Serve hot with your favorite chutney.

We had it with some onion chutney and chutney podwer.

Other dosas on this blog-
Plain dosa
Jaggery dosa

Cornmeal Dosa

Here’s a recipe for a dosa that does not require any soaking, grinding or fermenting. This instant dosa makes an occasional appearance at my place during weekends. I also add different vegetables depending on what I have on hand, to make it more substantial.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups cornmeal
½ cup rice flour
¾ -1 tsp red chilli flakes
½ – 1 tsp cumin seeds
½ onion, finely chopped
5-6 baby carrots, finely chopped
A handful of cilantro/coriander leaves, chopped
¼ – ½ cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp desiccated coconut
Salt to taste
Oil for making the dosas

Method:
Mix the ingredients together in sufficient water to prepare a batter that is neither too thick nor too watery. (A consistency that is slightly thicker than that of buttermilk would be perfect.)
Set the batter aside for about 20 minutes.

Heat a cast-iron skillet/griddle until hot and smear it with a little bit of oil.
Pour a ladleful of batter onto the skillet. Lift the skillet off the heat and tilt it around so that the batter distributes evenly. (Spreading the batter into a circle using the back of the ladle doesn’t work well here.) Add a couple of drops of oil around the edges of the dosa, turn down the heat a bit and cover and cook till done. Then flip over and cook the other side.

Serve hot with your favorite chutney.

We had it with some onion chutney and chutney podwer.

Other dosas on this blog-
Plain dosa
Jaggery dosa

Apple Gojju

I came across this recipe on Vani’s blog and decided to put the apples I had to good use. This is a simple, quick and tasty gojju that goes really well with rice.

Ingredients:
2 small apples, diced (I used Granny Smith)
A small piece of tamarind, soaked in hot water and juice extracted
1 tiny piece of jaggery
1- ½ tsp sambar powder
1-2 tsp rice flour mixed in some cold water (to thicken the gojju a bit)
Salt to taste

For seasoning:
1 Tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
A pinch of asafoetida
½ tsp red chilli flakes
3-4 curry leaves

Method:
Heat the oil and temper it with the ingredients listed above

Add the chopped apples along with sambar powder. Mix well. Cover and cook till the apples are all soft and mushy, 7-8 minutes.

Add the tamarind extract and the jaggery along with a cup of water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium and add the rice flour dissolved in water. Cook for another 2-3 minutes till the gojju thickens.

Serve hot with rice.

Thank you for sharing your mother’s recipe, Vani!

Here’s another gojju, one with spring onions and tomatoes, from my archives. I love fruit-based curries/gravies like this apple gojju. This pineapple pulissery is another one of my favorites that my mother makes so well.

Yellow for Bri

First, please do take a look at this post if you haven’t seen it already. This one’s too important to have been missed.

Please contribute generously to help Bri and her family. Let us all keep her in our thoughts and prayers.

CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri

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Mysore Rasam
I am home alone a lot these days and rarely feel like making something nice just for myself unless it’s blog-worthy. I usually make do with leftovers or store-bought frozen meals or even cereal (yes, sometimes I like to have it not just for breakfast, but for lunch and dinner too!). Today I felt like making something special for myself. I was going through my blog list of old favorites and came across Mika’s blog. I went through her archives and saw this recipe for Mysore rasam and decided that it just had to be tried out immediately. I make rasam frequently, but this was something I had only eaten at the typical South Indian hotels back home, and had never prepared before. So I got to work in my kitchen.
Ingredients:
3-4 Tbsp cooked toor dal (yellow pigeon peas)
1 ball of tamarind (lemon-sized), soaked in hot water and juice extracted
1 tomato, chopped
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
For roasting and grinding to a paste:
1 Tbsp ghee (using oil just will not give you the same taste!)
2 tsp chana dal (split chickpeas)
1 tsp toor dal (yellow pigeon peas)
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander seeds
6-7 black peppercorns
3-4 red chillies
3 Tbsp grated coconut
A big pinch of asafoetida

For seasoning:
1 Tbsp ghee
Cumin seeds
Mustard seeds

For garnshing:
Coriander leaves.

Method:
Cook the chopped tomato cubes in tamarind water to which turmeric powder and salt have been added.

In a small pan, roast the above mentioned ingredients in a bit of ghee. Cool and grind to a paste.

Add the ground paste and the cooked toor dal to the tomato-tamarind mixture. Adjust to the consistency you reqire by adding desired amounts of water.

Bring to a boil. Season with cumin and mustard seeds. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot.

I had this along with rice and

this koora.

Yellow for Bri

First, please do take a look at this post if you haven’t seen it already. This one’s too important to have been missed.

Please contribute generously to help Bri and her family. Let us all keep her in our thoughts and prayers.

CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri

******************************************************************************
Mysore Rasam
I am home alone a lot these days and rarely feel like making something nice just for myself unless it’s blog-worthy. I usually make do with leftovers or store-bought frozen meals or even cereal (yes, sometimes I like to have it not just for breakfast, but for lunch and dinner too!). Today I felt like making something special for myself. I was going through my blog list of old favorites and came across Mika’s blog. I went through her archives and saw this recipe for Mysore rasam and decided that it just had to be tried out immediately. I make rasam frequently, but this was something I had only eaten at the typical South Indian hotels back home, and had never prepared before. So I got to work in my kitchen.
Ingredients:
3-4 Tbsp cooked toor dal (yellow pigeon peas)
1 ball of tamarind (lemon-sized), soaked in hot water and juice extracted
1 tomato, chopped
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
For roasting and grinding to a paste:
1 Tbsp ghee (using oil just will not give you the same taste!)
2 tsp chana dal (split chickpeas)
1 tsp toor dal (yellow pigeon peas)
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander seeds
6-7 black peppercorns
3-4 red chillies
3 Tbsp grated coconut
A big pinch of asafoetida

For seasoning:
1 Tbsp ghee
Cumin seeds
Mustard seeds

For garnshing:
Coriander leaves.

Method:
Cook the chopped tomato cubes in tamarind water to which turmeric powder and salt have been added.

In a small pan, roast the above mentioned ingredients in a bit of ghee. Cool and grind to a paste.

Add the ground paste and the cooked toor dal to the tomato-tamarind mixture. Adjust to the consistency you reqire by adding desired amounts of water.

Bring to a boil. Season with cumin and mustard seeds. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot.

I had this along with rice and

this koora.

Raspberry Shrikhand

Shrikhand is an Indian dessert made of strained yogurt. It is one of the main desserts in Maharashtrian cuisine and Gujarati cuisine.The yogurt is tied and hung until all the water has drained off, the result being a thick and creamy yogurt. Dried and fresh fruit such as mango are also added. Other ingredients include sugar, cardamom powder, and saffron. Shrikhand is popular in western India.

The dish is prepared by placing the strained yogurt and sugar in a deep bowl and mixing it thoroughly. The cardamom powder and saffron are then added and mixed. The dish is served chilled. In Gujarati cuisine, shrikhand is eaten as either a side-dish with breads such as
poori , or as a desert. It is commonly served as part of a vegetarian thali in Gujarati restaurants and it is very popular as part of wedding feasts. It is often served chilled and provides a refreshing counterpoint to hot and spicy curries.
(Source:Wikipedia)

I like shrikhand but only in small quantities. It is a little too sweet for my taste, especially the store-bought ones. In spite of the fact that I’ve lived a major chunk of my life in Mumbai, I have had this Maharashtrian favorite only on a couple of occasions.

Since we’re focusing on raspberries this month for A Fruit A Month, I decided to make my shrikhand using raspberries. This recipe that I came across a few days back was my inspiration.

For tips on how to strain yogurt, see here or here.

I used 2 coffee filters placed inside a strainer kept over a bowl (to catch the whey that drained off), to get the job done. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours at least (overnight for best results). I started getting impatient after 2 hours and went ahead and started preparing the shrikhand.

Ingredients:
(For 1 regular serving/ 2 small servings)
½ cup drained, thick yogurt (obtained by straining a little more than a cup of low-fat yogurt for 2 hours)
2 Tbsp honey
2 tsp powdered sugar (adjust according to taste)
20-25 raspberries (puréed and strained)
A pinch of cardamom powder
A pinch of salt
A few slivered almonds

Method:
Mix all the ingredients together. That’s all!

Chill before serving. Top with almonds and raspberries.

The raspberries paired very well with the yogurt to make an easy and delicious dessert that’s healthy too.

Notes:
While 2 hours of straining the yogurt did give me a shrikhand which was nice and thick, I would like to make it “properly” the next time by leaving it overnight for a richer and creamier texture. I might even just go for Greek yogurt and skip the step of straining the yogurt altogether.

The batch of raspberries I had were a little too tart and I had to add some sugar in addition to the honey.

I am going to try my hand at Amrakhand (shrikhand flavored using mango pulp) very soon.

This yummy dessert is going to:
Dee of Ammalu’s Kitchen for AFAM: Raspberry
Easycrafts of Simple Indian Food for the Think Cardamom event
Susan of Food Blogga for Beautiful Bones


I also just wanted to mention very quickly that Easycrafts has kindly passed this onto to me. Thank you!