Simple veg brownie

This is a light and easy to make cake.  It requires very little ingredients. It can be served plain or with a glazing.  It is an ideal accompaniment for tea as it is not very sweet. I generally serve it as a dessert after dinner.

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour (maida) -1/2 cup
Cocoa powder -1/2cup
Castor sugar -3/4 cup
Beaten curd -1/cup
Instant coffee -6gm
Dark chocolate -50gms (chopped finely)
Baking powder -1tsp
Refined oil -100gms


Method:
Mix the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder together. Sieve it twice. Keep aside.
Mix the curd, instant coffee and sugar. Slowly add the oil. Then add the mixed flour and the chopped chocolate. Mix well.
Pour it in a greased pan dusted with some plain flour.
Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 to 25 minutes.

Notes:
I have used 2 small sachets of Bru instant coffee and ¾ bar of Bournville dark chocolate. I have also applied dark chocolate glazing on the the brownie.

For Chocolate glazing

Ingredients:
Dark Chocolate - 1/4 cup
Clarified butter - 1tbsp
Milk – 4tbls
Sugar – 6tbls

Method:

Mix milk and sugar. Then add the clarified butter.  Heat it on a low flame. Then slowly add the Dark Chocolate. Keep stirring it, till it thickens. Remove from flame and cool it before well before applying it over the cake.

Rustic beauty

Here is a painting to take you down the memory lane of backyard sights and sounds that is simply non-existent in the city.

This is an oil painting on canvas board.

Busy bele bath

Busy busy bath comes handy when you want to cook something that is tasty and wholesome on a busy day. This is my version of Bisi bele bath, which is famous in Karnataka.

This mixed rice tastes like sambhar rice as it contains lentils and coconut and some spices common to sambhar. However, the key ingredient for busy busy bath is long pepper .

Ingredients:
Cooked rice -3cups
Shallots -1/2 cup
Split chick pea -3tbls
Tamarind paste -1tsp
Sugar -1tsp
Turmeric powder -1/2tsp
Mixed vegetable -1/2 cup
Grated coconut -4tbls
Mustard seeds -1tsp
Curry leaves -few
Salt and oil - as required
Spice powder -3tbls


Ingredients for spice powder:
Coriander seeds -2tsps
Cumin seeds -1tsp
Cardamom -3
Cloves -2
Long pepper -1tsp
Red chillies -6

Dry toast all the ingredients for spice powder and grind it to a fine powder.

Method to make busy bath:

Heat the mustard seeds and oil in a frying pan. When the mustard crackles, add the shallots, coconut and curry leaves. Fry till the coconut turns brown. Keep it aside.

Cook the split chick pea and the vegetables in a cup of water along with turmeric powder and salt. Add the tamarind paste, sugar, the spice powder and one more cup of water. Boil for few minutes, and then add the cooked rice.
Stir well and garnish with fried coconut mix.

Kaarthigai Deepam

 Kaarthigai Deepam is all about decorating the house with various types of lamps and eating sweets made of various puffed rice besides appam. This festival falls on the full moon day of the Tamil month of Kaarthigai.  It is also about strengthening the relation between brothers and sisters.

Chow-Chow Thogayal (Chayote Chutney)

Chayote is the English name for Bangalore kathirikkai in Tamil and Chow-Chow in Hindi. This squash is generally used for making Sāmbhar, kootu and even rasams. Its thick skin is edible and used along with the flesh to make soups.

https://youtu.be/pvpB43hOF-M

Ingredients: 

Chow-Chow -250gms
Split chickpea - 1/2 cup
Red chillies -5 to 6
Tamarind - lemon size
Jaggery - little (optional)
Chopped coriander leaves - 1cup 
Oil and salt as required

Method:
Skin and cube the Chow-Chow. Cook in one cup of water along with salt. Cool and keep aside.
Fry the split chick pea and red chillies separately with some oil. Cool and grind it to a fine powder. Then add the cooked Chow-Chow, sugar, tamarind and coriander leaves. Beat it in a blender to a smooth paste.
This chutney goes well with adai, dosa and idli. 

Sambhar's many avatars

Sambhar is a South Indian specialty, that comes as an accompaniment for tiffin items like idli, vada, dosa etc. It is also an item in the South Indian main course meals.

Most Indians and particularly South Indians know to make sambhar.  However, the method of making it differs in different regions. There is the palaght sambhar that tastes completely different from the Chettinad sambhar.

There are also a variety of sambhars depending on the vegetables used to make it. For instance, drumstick sambhar uses drumstick, lady's finger sambhar uses lady's finger while onion sambhar uses shallots.

Sometimes a combination of seasonal vegetables are also used to make sambhar. However, care must be taken to choose the right kind of vegetables to get the right   flavour of sambhar. Vegetables like onion, lady's finger and potato can be combined, while brinjal with potato make for a bad combination.

Coconut is a key ingredient in sambhars and the one without coconut is called podi sambhar.I make instant sambhar by adding coconut scrapping to ready-made sambhar powder.

Sambhar for tiffin should be like dal and hence should have less tamarind while sambhar for meals can be little sour.

Recipe for Onion Drumstick Sambhar

1 Coriander seeds (dhania) 4tsps
2 Fenugreek seeds (methi seeds) 1tsp
3 Red chillies 7 numbers or as required.
4 Cumin seeds (jeera) 1tsp
5 Asafoetida powder(hing) 1tsp.
6 Coconut scraping 2tsp.
7 Madras onion/shallots 200gm
8 Tamarind water 1 cup (from lemon sized tamarind)
9 Turmeric powder (haldi) 1tsp
10 Mustard seeds 1tsp
11 oil as required
12 Brown sugar 2tsp
13 salt to taste
14 Few curry leaves
15 Chopped coriander leaves 1tsp
16 Cooked and mashed pigeon pea/toor dal  2cups

Method:

Roast 1,2,3,4 & 5 separately with little oil. Add coconut scrapping and grind to a smooth paste. Keep it aside.Fry the shallots and drumstick in little oil. Add to the tamarind water along with salt, turmeric powder and brown sugar. Cook it well. Then, add the ground paste and mashed pigeon pea. Check for salt and consistency. Bring it to a boil. Temper mustard seeds in little oil and add to the sambhar. Garnish with curry leaves & coriander leaves.

Kanchipuram idli

There are many types of idlis. For instance, vegetable idlis incorporate vegetables, while green gram idlis forgo rice completely. The latter is preferred by diabetics as it has a low glycemic index.

Kanchipuram idli, which is also known as Kudalai idli is famous in Kanchipuram district of Tamilnadu. These are usually steamed in Lotus leaf cups, which are known as donnai in Tamil language. Donnais lend a beautiful aroma to this idlis.

This idli is reported to have been made first in Sri Varadarajaperumal Temple of Kanchipuram district. The temple still continues the tradition of making and offering this idli to the lord.

I prepare this idli from left over idli batter that has become very sour. Then it is spiced up with ginger and pepper to give that extra pungency to the idli.

Ingredient:

Idli batter -2 cups
Ginger paste -1tsp
Green chilli paste -1tsp
Eating soda -1/4tsp
Black pepper powder -1tsp
Mustard seeds -1tsp
Asafoetida powder- 1/2tsp
Oil -2tsps

Method:

Mix the pastes and eating soda to the idli batter. Keep aside.
In a frying heat some oil and mustard seeds. When it crackles add the asafoetida powder. Fry for few seconds and pour it into the batter.
Mix the batter and pour it on a greased plate or flat pan. Sprinkle the pepper powder on top. Steam it till done. Cool and cut it into small pieces.

 

Mathan kootu (pumpkin in fried coconut)

This famous side dish of Kerala is little sweet and drenched in fried coconut. It goes well with sambhar or any kuzhambu of your choice.

Ingredients:
Pumpkin -200gms (cubed)
Chilli powder- 1/2tsp
Turmeric powder- 1tsp
Grated coconut- 1/4cup
Mustard seeds- 1tsp
Black gram- 1tsp
Curry leaves- few
Sugar- 1tsp
Salt and oil- as required

Heat some oil in a frying pan. Add the mustard seeds. When it starts to crackle add the black gram and fry. Then add the coconut and fry till it turns brown. Keep aside.

In another pan cook the pumpkin pieces in one cup of water along with turmeric powder, chilli powder, sugar and salt. When the pumpkin turns tender, stir in the fried coconut. Switch of the flame and garnish with curry leaves.