Horseradish Stir Fry (Mullangi Poriyal)

This is a very simple and healthy indian style horseradish dish, taught to me by my mom.

Firstly, peel and finely dice the horseradish and keep aside.

In a wok, heat up some oil. Once the oil is hot, throw in the onion, garlic, ginger and red chilli and fry for about 1-2 minutes.

Then, add in the diced horseradish and give a quick stir.

Go on to add the turmeric and salt and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the grated coconut and sliced curry leaves and give a good stir. Continue to cook for a minute and remove from heat.

HORSERADISH STIR FRY (MULLANGI PORIYAL)

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INGREDIENTS:

1 horseradish, peeled and finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 inch ginger, finely minced
1/4 cup grated coconut
Curry leaves, a sprig, shredded
1/2 red chilli, deseeded & finely chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp oil

METHOD:

1) In a wok, heat up 1 tbsp of oil. Once the oil is hot, throw in the onion, garlic, ginger and red chilli and fry for about 1-2 minutes.
2) Then, add in the diced horseradish and give a quick stir.

3) Go on to add the turmeric and salt and cook for a couple of minutes.

4) Add the grated coconut and sliced curry leaves and give a good stir. Continue to cook for a minute and remove from heat.

*This recipe serves 4

Healthy Rasam

Rasam is sort of an Indian soup, made with tonnes of spices. Generally, it is quite a healthy side dish and it is really good for cold and digestion. But I'm going one step ahead and calling this recipe healthy rasam because not even a drop of oil was used in this recipe.

Start by peeling and roughly crushing a few small onions using a mortar & pestle. Once crushed,remove it and keep aside.

Repeat the same as above for the garlic. Remove and keep aside.

Lastly, add in all the required spices and give a good pounding.

In a large bowl,place about 1/4 cup of tamarind. To that, add some water and start rubbing the tamarind using your fingers to extract the juice. Once the juice of the tamarind has been extracted, strain the excess pulp and seeds.

To the strained tamarind juice add the crushed onion, garlic, spices, crushed tomato, curry leaves, turmeric and salt give a good mix.

Heat a pan and add the mustard. Once the mustard is lightly toasted transfer the whole mixture to the pan. Bring the rasam to a boil. 

Once it has started boiling, just let it boil for about 30 seconds and immediately remove from heat. Be sure not to over boil the rasam.

HEALTHY RASAM

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INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup tamarind

4 cloves garlic, crushed

4 small onions, crushed

1 tomato, crushed

1 sprig curry leaves

1/4 tsp turmeric

2 1/4 cups water

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp mustard

Spices:

1 tsp fennel
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp black peppercorn

METHOD:

1) Peel and lightly crush the small onions and garlic using a mortar and pestle. Remove the crushed onions and garlic and keep aside.

2) Add in all the spices in the mortar and pestle and roughly crush the spices.

3) Smash a tomato using your finger and keep aside.

4) In a bowl, place the tamarind and to that add 2 1/4 of water and start rubbing the tamarind using the tip of your fingers to extract the juice.

5) Strain the excess tamarind pulp and seeds.

6) To the strained tamarind juice, add the crushed onion, garlic, spices, tomato, curry leaves, turmeric and salt to taste and give it a good mix.

7) Heat a pan and add the mustard. Once the mustard has toasted lightly, transfer the whole mixture to the pan. 

8) Bring the rasam to a boil. 

9) Once it has started boiling, just let it boil for about 30 seconds and immediately remove from heat.

NOTE:

1) The spices used in this recipe has been washed, dried and dry roasted before use. If you have obtained your spices from the supermarket or the sundry, you need not wash them. Just dry roast them till fragrant before using it.

2) Be sure not to over boil the rasam.

* This recipes serves 4

Thick Chicken Curry With Greek Yogurt

This is a very simple chicken curry recipe and I've added a little greek yogurt in place of coconut cream to make it nice and creamy without the added calories from coconut cream.

I started off by making into paste the onions (I used a mix of spanish and red), garlic and ginger. 

Go on and puree one tomato.

Peel and cube one potato and keep aside.

Prepare all the spices ingredients.

In a pan, heat some oil and fry all the spices ingredients till fragrant.

Add the onion, garlic and ginger paste and fry for 1 minute or so. 

Stir in the pureed tomato and continue to fry for another minute.

Add the chicken pieces and cubed potatoes and mix well.

To that add some Baba's meat curry powder and combine well. Add some water and mix well. Add salt to taste and cover the pan. Let it simmer in medium low heat for 30 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender.

Lastly, add some greek style yogurt and continue to cook for a minute or so.

Remove from heat and serve hot with rice or chapathi.

THICK CHICKEN CURRY WITH GREEK YOGURT

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INGREDIENTS:

To make paste:

4 onions (2 spanish, 2 red)

5 cloves garlic

1 inch ginger

To puree:

2 tomatoes

Spices:

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

3 star anise

5 cloves

1/4 tsp cumin, heaped

1/2 tsp fennel

4 cardamom pods, lightly crushed

3 dry chilies

Other ingredients:

500g chicken, cut into pieces
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 1/2 tbsp Baba's meat curry powder, heaped

4 1/2 cups water

1 tbsp greek style yogurt (heaped), or plain yogurt

3-4 tbsp oil

Salt to taste.

METHOD:

1) Make into paste all the to make paste ingredients.

2) Puree 2 tomatoes.

3) In a pan heat 3-4 tbsp oil and fry all the spices ingredients for a minute till fragrant.

4) Add the onion, garlic and ginger paste and fry for 1-2 minutes till fragrant.

5) Add the pureed tomatoes nd continue to fry for another minute.

6) Add the chicken pieces and cubed potatoes and mix well.

7) Add the Baba's meat curry powder and combine well.

8) Add water and salt to taste and mix well. Cover the pan and let the curry simmer in medium low heat until the potatoes are fork tender.

9) Once the chicken and potatoes are done, stir in the greek style yogurt and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes.

10) Remove from heat and serve hot with rice or chapathi.

Instant Idli With Greek Yogurt

If someone asked me what was my one favourite indian food item, I would right away, without thinking twice, I would definitely say "idli". I can have idli every other day of the week without getting bored of it, and that is how much I like it. However, the process involved making the regular idli batter is a quite a lengthy one. Hence, I can't get my idli fix as and when I want it. And then one day I discovered how to make instant idli at home from scratch using semolina/rava from the recipes section in the magazine that I was reading at that time. I finally made time to try out the recipe, with minor tweaks, last weekend. 

In a bowl, combine the semolina/rava, greek style yogurt, soda bicarbonate, oil and salt to taste to make a thick paste.

Go on to add some water to bring the paste into regular idli batter consistency. Once mixed well, cover the bowl and let the batter stand for 30 minutes.

Pour the batter into greased idli moulds and steam for 10 minutes.

After the idli is done, remove from the steamer and let it cool for 2 minutes before removing from the moulds. 

Remove the idlis from the moulds and serve warm with sambar, chutney or any condiment of your choice.  

INSTANT IDLI WITH GREEK YOGURT

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INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup semolina/rava

1/2 cup greek style yogurt

1/8 tsp soda bicarbonate

1/4 tsp oil

Salt to taste

1/4 cup water

METHOD:

1) Combine all the ingredients except for the water in a bowl and mix till it forms a paste.

2) Slowly add in the water and mix to form batter. The batter should be like regular idli batter consistency. 

* I used a little less than 1/4 cup of water. 

3) Cover the bowl and let the batter stand for 30 minutes.

4) Pour the batter into greased idli moulds.

5) Steam in an idli steamer for 10 minutes.

6) Remove the idli pan from the steamer and let the idlis cool for 2 minutes.

7) Remove the idlis from the moulds and serve warm with sambar, chutney or any condiment of your choice.

NOTE:

The greek yogurt in this recipe can be substituted with regular plain yogurt. However, if this is done, you would have to cut back on the amount of water used to make the batter.

* This recipe makeS 5 medium sized idlis.

Amma's Sambar

Till this very day I think that my mum makes the best sambar ever. I bet everyone thinks the same about their own mum's cooking. Anyhow, when my mum was away for holidays the other day, I wanted to have sambar and I had to make it all by myself from scratch. I've only assisted my mum when she makes sambar, and never tried making it on my own. So, when I was left on my own, I had to recollect how my mum made sambar and just hoped that it would turn out well, or at least edible.

I started off by pressure cooking rinsed toovaram parapu/toor dal with cubed potato, garlic, turmeric, chilli powder and water for 30 minutes in an electrical pressure cooker. 

  
Meanwhile, prepare all the other ingredients for the sambar.

Once it is done, remove the potatoes and keep aside and pour the cooked dal into a different pan and gently simmer it. 

 

 

In a separate pan, temper the ingredients which is to be added to the dal. Heat some oil and add mustard seeds and cumin. Then add the green chillies, curry leaves, tomato and carrot and fry for a minute or two. 

Remove the tempered ingredients from heat and pour it into the simmering dal and mix well.

Add some salt and water and cover the the pan. Let it cook for 30 minutes until the carrots are cooked.

Once the carrots are done, add the cooked potatoes and tamarind juice and boil for another 5 minutes. Lastly some asafoetida and remove from heat.

AMMA'S SAMBAR

+PRINT RECIPE HERE
INGREDIENTS:

To pressure cook:
1 cup toovaram parapu/toor dal
2 potato, peeled & cubed
4 cups water
3 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder

For tempering:
3 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin
2 red onion, sliced
2 green chillies, split
1 tomato
1/2 medium carrot, sliced

Seasoning:
4-5 tbsp tamarind juice
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp asafoetida

METHOD:
1) Pressure cook rinsed toor dal, cubed potatoes, garlic, turmeric and chilli powder with 4 cups of water for 30 minutes.
*If you don't have a pressure cooker, soak the dal for 2-4 hours and cook it on the stove for about 30 minutes with all the other ingredients.
2) Once the dal is done, remove the potatoes and keep aside.
3) Pour the cooked dal into a different pan and gently simmer in low heat.
4) In a separate pan start tempering the ingredients for the sambar.
5) Start by heating 3 tbsp oil and add the mustard seed and cumin. Fry for about 15-30 seconds.
6) Add the green chillies and curry leaves and fry for 1 minute.
7) Add the sliced onions and fry for 1-2 minutes till soft and fragrant.
8) Go on to add the tomato and carrot. Fry for another minute.
9) Remove the tempered ingredients from heat and pour it into the simmering dal.
10) If the sambar is too thick at this stage, add about another cup of water.
11) Add some salt and cover the pan. Gently simmer the sambar on low heat for 30 minutes until the carrots are soft.
12) Add the cooked potatoes and tamarind juice and boil for another 5 minutes.
13) Lastly add the asafoetida and mix well. 
14) Remove from heat and serve hot with rice or chapathi.

*This recipe serves 4-6