Mooli Paratha is one dish which I make very frequently. Though it needs little patience to make and time, it tastes great and also healthy breakfast or brunch or dinner as you like. Last time when I went to India , I learned this and a variety of dosa which Iam going to blog soon, from a good cook who was appointed for few days at my mothers' place.

1 tsp red chilli powder

Knead the dough with sufficient water not too hard nor too soft and keep aside for 1/2 hr.

This makes parathas fluffy and soft.Add some oil for in the dough, to knead it again to make soft rounds.

Make equal medium sized rounds as shown in beside picture.

Method For Making Parathas:

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Take one round of kneaded dough and with the help of chapathi rolling pin (bellan) roll the dough into puri sized circle.Fill the stuff into the above flatten circle and close all ends with the help of little water as shown in beside picture.Repeat with all other rounds of dough.

Now take each filled round and flatten for the size of paratha. i.e., it should not be too thin that stuff comes out nor too thick that paratha does'nt cook well.

Heat a heavy griddle (thawa or penam), when hot cook the paratha on each side . Add little oil on top of each side and spread the oil.

Paratha should cook well on both the sides. Cook on medium heat to avoid burning or over cooked paratha. Before removing from heat , spread little oil to the side, which will be folded inside. Serve with fresh chilled curd or with any chutney.

Labels: breakfast, mooli, mooli paratha, paratha, radish, radish bread, tiffins

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments

1/2 onion (cut into thin wide slices)

1. Wash mushrooms twice or thrice. Cut into half if big in size or else keep as it is.
2. Mix all other ingredients with mushrooms except oil. Check for salt and thickness. i.e., each mushroom should be well coated with the paste.
3. Allow to marinate for 1/2 hour.
4. Heat the oil and fry coated mushrooms till the color changes to dark brown. Even mushrooms should also cook. It should not be soft or wattery from in side and should be hard from out side.
5. Remove and allow to dry and absorb extra oil on a paper towel.
6. Once done, sprinkle some lime juice on them and mix well.
7. Serve hot with lime pieces and onion. Enjoy along with tea or just as a crunchy snack with tomato ketchup.

Labels: appetizers, dry mushroom munchurian, munchurian, mushroom, mushroom munchurian, side dish, starters

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

Vinaayaka Chathurthi is one festival which is celebrated through out india and indians althrough the world for 11 days.Complete 10 days we pray to god, do pooja, preparing prasaadam etc, etc. I and Srinivas celebrate this festival very well every year.This year too, though took lot of time for preparations and pooja , it was all done very well.Iam happy to share all thease with all my readers and my other blogger friends. I wish this Chathurthi bring all good things and lots of peace and happiness to all of us.

I always prepare five items for this festival for NAIVEDYAM. This time I prepared Undraalu, Wadalu, Paayasam, Pesarpappu, Bellampayasam(Bellamannamu). This photograph was taken before we performed pooja to Lord Ganesha. I also offered some Navaddanayalu to him. Every thing we get to eat is, his gift to us. Thanks to all the cooks, who really gave a sence , good taste and different flavours to the food. Especially, indian food has got many shades in it. Shades here I mean just not the colors ;-). I mean taste, flavours and ofcourse colors too :-). I have seen photos and read about Chavithi in most of my fellow bloggers sites. They all really did a great job. Getting an idol and performing pooja is one side and making god idle with our hands is another greater side. That great work I have seen in one of my fellow blogger "Cooking Medley" . Its just not only pleasure to do but also great divine work.

Above photograph was taken after we did pooja. This time an indian grocery shop called "Cash 'n' Carry" in Bayarea has really imported beautiful idols. Thanks to them!! Also some books are kept before Lord Ganesha to bless us with great knowledge. I remember when I and my brother were in school we had to keep those books which are optional to carry to the school. And we use to make some excuse saying that, we kept the books before god and can'nt be removed till three or five days to the teachers, especially for the Maths text book. Since it use to weigh alot;-)) Now its time for the next generation to do all those tricks:-)) All thease are fun to remind and gives lot of happiness to us though for few minutes. I wish once again Happy Vinaayaka Chathurthi to all viewers!!!

Labels: ganapathi, vignesha, vigneshwara, vinaayaka, vinaayaka chathurthi

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments

Idli is one among the best tiffins south indians ever have. Though it is liked by all our indians and now becoming world popular as our restaurants are exploring our food culture in different places of world. It is good for health, contains more carbohydrates which are needed for breakfast and easy to digest, since it is cooked on steam. It contains almost no oil. Idli is made almost same by every one except little variations. And that little variations makes lots of difference. Here I prepared Peanut Chutney from Lakshmi's Blog and Endu Kobbari Podi from Sailaja's Blog . I Like both very much. I prepare peanut chutney almost every time I prepare idli or dosa. Thank You Lakshmi!! also Endu kobbari podi is liked by us a lot.Thank You Sailaja. So for the break fast I have choosen thease two along with idli. Here goes the recipe of idli (my version).

1. Soak both boiled rice and urad dal overnight( I soak both togeather and 10 to 12 hrs).
2. Wash both boiled rice and urad dal in cold water for several times.
3. Grind them in 3 or 4 rounds, so that it becomes soft paste and grinder does'nt get heated up soon and delay in the process.Also if so done you require less water, which is good for idle batter to ferment.
4. After you grind completely mix the batter well for some time.
5. If it is winter, put the batter in oven (on warm) which allows the batter to ferment better.
6. Thus, allow the batter to ferment for 10 to 12 hrs.It will rise to the double the size of original batter.
7. Mix salt and soda to the batter very well.
8. Grease the idli plates with little oil and fill them with batter.
9. Do not fill much, because due to soda, idli will rise after cooking.
10. Steam for 15 minutes, and see wheather they are cooked before taking from the heat.

Note: I steam idlis in pressure cooker, which I do for 15 minutes and sim for 1 min and remove from the heat. The batter should ferment very well, to get fluffy and soft idli's. And use less water while grinding.

Labels: boiled rice, breakfast, idli, lentils, peanut, peanut chutney, podi, rice, soft idli, tiffins, urad dal

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

I came to know about JFI Event while going through Veneela's Blog. This event actually started by Indira of Mahanandi .Thank You Indira ,to start such a great event. And thanks to Veneela too for choosing "Milk and Milk Products " as september JFI#5 event. I was thinking what to make for this event. I came across almost all the sweets in all my fellow bloggers, though every one has there own richness and taste in it. Badam Milk or Badam Sharbath are very famous drinks. Based on that I got an idea of making a delicious drink with blend of dryfruits and milk.

Here is the recipe of this drink.

Ingredients:
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1/2 cup of kaju and baadam powder (make powder of both fine or with little nuts left over i.e., crunchy mixture, as you can see in the above picture)
2 cups of 1% reduced fat milk or skimmed milk (as desired)
2 or 3 tsp sugar (as per taste)

Method:
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1. Mix the paste and sugar in milk very well.
2. Serve this drink always chill, one to enjoy its rich flavour of dryfruits.

Note: Those who does'nt like the crunchy taste of dryfruits can make a fine powder of those.And can garnish with little dryfruits. Here You can also garnish with pistacho nuts. This drink is best when it is served after a hot day or after hot indian meal or any other meal.

Labels: accompaniments, baadam and kaaju ka sharbhat, drink, dryfruit drink, dryfruits, milk, sharbhat

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments

1. Heat oil in a pan add cumin seeds.Once they start spluttering add onions and fry till light brown.Before onions starts turning light brown add tofu and fry for till they also turn light brown on all sides.Then add capsicum and fry They should be little crunchy.
2. Now add all masalas one after the other.Ginger garlic paste,turmeric powder,red chilli powder,coriander powder,garam masala powder and salt.
3. Mix well all the ingredients and allow to cook to medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Then add tomotoes and 1 cup of water, soysauce and mix well.Allow to cook on med heat untill tomatoes become soft.
5. Now to make gravy thick add corn flour as required i.e., 1 or 2 tsp.Not more than that. Because the flavour changes.
6. Finally add coriander and mix well and remove from the heat.

Labels: breakfast, curries, curry, firm tofu, indo chinease curry, tofu, tofu curry, tofu masala curry, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments

1. Wash soaked chick peas well and pressure cook till chick peas become soft , drain and keep aside.
2. Take a wide cooking pan. Heat oil and add cloves,sticks,elachi and cumin seeds and fry for 1 min.
3. Add green chillies, onions and fry till light brown. Add ginger garlic paste to it and fry for 1 min.
4. Add turmeric powder and chick peas , mix well and fry for 2 min.
5. Now add tomatoes,red chilli powder, salt and water for gravy and mix well.
6. Cover the pan and allow to cokk on meduim heat for 10 min.
7. Add coriander powder,garam masala powder and dry coriander and mix all the ingredients well.
8. Allow to cook for 2 or 3 min more, so that all spices mix well with chick peas.
9. Finally, add lime juice, mix well and sim for 1 min and remove from the heat.
10. Garnish with tomotoes,onions and some more coriander if want.

Labels: chickpea, chole, curries, curry, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments

Yesterday evening , there was lack of time and I wanted to make some thing which takes less time and also goes well with chapathis. Usually, we take chapathis for dinner. And we like some thing dry and also can be taken with chapathis. Then I thought of making this simple, yet delicious and spicy curry i.e., Gobi Zabzi (or) Cauliflower Curry what ever name it is give in different languages, it has its own flavour. This time I prefered to present this recipe with more photographs, unlike I do. My request to all fellow bloggers and who ever view this recipe is, do tell me wheather a recipe with more photographs is good way to understand it or less photographs and in detail recipe is good. This will help me in presenting further recipes. Thank You!

Ingredients:

Cut cauliflower into different florets. Boil cauliflower in water to its level, till it starts boiling. Remove from the heat once its start boiling because, if it boils more, then it produces some sort of smell, which does'nt taste well when cooked. Or else you can put cauliflower in hot water for some time. Then drain them and keep aside. Heat oil in a wok, add cumin ,fennel seeds and red chillies. Allow them to splutter.

Now stir the contents well, so that salt mix well with them. Allow to cook on low heat for 2 or 3 min and add coriander and mix again. Once you see cauliflower is dry and all the spices mixed well, remove from heat. Here you can take one floret and taste, so that you can add salt if you want:-)

Note: This goes well with chapathis also serves best as a side dish. You can also enjoy with plain rice. This taste little sweet in depth, though it does'nt contain any sugar. That is due to fennel seeds.

Labels: cauliflower, cauliflower curry, curries, curry, gobi, gobi sabzi, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

This dish is already common for many of us.This is my version of recipe.Hope you will all enjoy.In future I will add some more intresting and tasty recipes with Tofu.

Ingredients:
---------------

1lb firm tofu (remove excess water from it by pressing it firmly.
Crush the tofu and keep aside)
1cup peas (fresh peas boiled or frozen.Both washed properly)
1 cup fresh coriander (cut into small and washed)
1 - 1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
6 to 7 green chillies(cut into small pieces)
1 medium onion (cut into small pieces)
1 or 2 meduim tomatoes(cut into small pieces)
2 or 3 tsp oil
salt a/c to taste

Method
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1. Take oil in a pan and heat for some time.Then add mustard seed.After they start spluttering,add cumin seeds and fry till they turn little brown.
2. Now add green chillies, fry for 1 min, then add onions and fry till they turn light brown in color.
3. Add ginger garlic paste to it fry for 1 or 2 minutes.Then add turmeric and fry for 1 min.
   
4. Now add crushed Tofu and peas and fry till Tofu turns light brown in color.Keep sttiring to avoid Tofu and other ingredients from burning.
5. Once it turns light brown, add red chilli powder,salt and mix well with ingredients.Should not add any water here.
6. Allow to cook on medium heat for another 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Now add tomatoes and mix well.Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
8. Finally, add coriander and little lime juice which is optional.
9. Cover it and keep on low heat for 2 minutes and stop.

Note: The final result of recipe should be dry, which taste better with fried rice and chapathis.Can also have with plain rice, which we can give to children and equally healthy.
Reduce tomatoes to 1 instead of 2, if you want its taste to be less in the curry.

Labels: brinjal curry, curries, firm tofu, peas, tofu, tofu burji, tofu curry, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments

I would like to convey my Happy regards on Independence Day.Happy Independence Day to all the Indians around the world.Indian flag has three main colors in it.Saffron,Green,White and Blue Chakra.All has some meaning.Chakra has 24 spokes, which intends to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation. The saffron stands for courage and sacrifice; the white, for purity and truth; the green for growth and auspiciousness.

On this eve, my recipe is Sabuddana Upma. I love this recipe which is from my mother's cook book .(Here I tried to bring our nation's pride by using colors from our flag in this recipe text and some can find in the pictures too :-))

Method
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1. Wash Sabuddana 2 to 3 times.Fill water upto its Sabuddana level or little less and soak for over night.
2. Boil potatoes , peel them and cut into small cubes and keep aside.
3. Heat the oil in a wok, add mustard seeds and fry until they begin to splutter.
4. Now add cumin seeds and fry for few seconds, then add green chillies,curry leaves and fry for a minute or two.
5. Now add onions and gingergarlic paste and fry till onions turn light brown in color.
6. Now add boiled potatoes,sabuddana and turmeric powder and salt.
7. Mix all the ingredients well on medium heat.Once mixed well add lime juice or peanut powder and coriander.Mix well and keep on low heat for a minute.
8. Stop and remove wok and keep aside( other wise it will start forming lumps)
9. Serve hot and enjoy as a break fast (or) as a light dinner (or) on a cold wheather day:-)

Labels: breakfast, sabuddana, sabuddana upma, tiffins, upma

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments

Today, since its a weekend(Happy friday), I thought of making some thing apart from rice and enjoy it along with a movie.So, I made Aloo kurma and Puri, which are easy and does'nt need any prior preparations.We were watching "Bombay to Goa" movie.yeah! It's an Amithab Bhachan movie.We were wordering, seeing him so young and thin and tall.It seems after this movie only he got his first break as full fleged hero in "Zanzeer".It is always pleasant to watch old movies.Haa..now coming back to my recipe "Aloo kurma", here is the preparation.

Ingredients
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3 potatoes (peeled, cut into small cubes and washed)
1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas(fresh need to be boiled separately, to avoid delay while cooking)
1 small size onion (cut into thin slices)
3 Tomatoes (cut into thin slices)
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp kuskus (gasagasalu)
1 tsp fresh coconut powder
1 tsp coriander powder( dhaniya powder)
1/4 tsp Garam masala
1/2 cup fresh coriander (washed and cut into small)
Salt as required
Oil as required

Method
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1. Heat oil in a container for few seconds then add onions and fry till light brown in color.
2. Add peas,potatoes and fry for some time.Add ginger garlic paste and turmeric to it and fry for few more minutes.
3. Add tomatoes and salt and allow to cook on medium heat till potatoes become little tender.
4.Now add red chilli powder,coriander powder,garam masala powder and little water if needed and cook for some time till all spices mixed well with other ingredients.
5.Now finally add coconut powder,kuskus and fresh coriander and cook for some more time.
6.Finally you can add some lemon juice(1/2 tsp) which is optional.



Goes well with puri (also with rice and chapathis).

Labels: aaloo, aloo, aloo kurma, curries, curry, kurma, potato, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments

This is my first recipe in the blog.The reason behind choosing this as my first recipe here is, its simplicity,its unique and easy to make and enjoy with many dishes like, idly,dosa,wada also with chapathis(This can be applied on chapathis as a paste and can enjoy as a chapathi roll, which I do generally.)This recipe I took from my mother-in-law's cookbook.Hope you will all like and enjoy it too.On that day we enjoyed with wada as you can see in the picture above.

Main recipe
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Ingredients used:
-------------------
10 to 12 dry red chillies(endu nirapakayalu)
1/2 the size of small lime tamarind(chinthapandu)(washed and Soaked in small amount of warm water for few minutes)
2 tsp chenna besan (thine chenagapappu pindi)
1 tsp fresh or dry coconut powder(kobbari podi)
1/2 onion cut in into thick cubes
Salt (as required)
Water (as required)

For Seasoning
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1/2 tsp mustard seeds(or as required)
1/4 tsp cumin seeds(optional)
5 to 6 curry leaves
required oil for seasoning(use very little,not much required for this recipe)

Method
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1. Roast red chillies for 2 to 3 min in low heat(pachi vasana raakunda)
2. Wait to cool down
3. Add coconut powder,chenna besan,onion,tamarind (along with soaked water)and salt to the redchillies in a blender(or grinder what ever you choose to use).
4. Make a fine paste of all above ingredients by adding more water if you want it to be thin paste or else ramarind soaked water will be enough.
5.Finally add the seasoning to this paste.




Note: Number of red chillies can be vary according to your taste.That is if you want more spicy , increase the number or else decrease by one or two, which will do.

Labels: chutney, errakaaram, kaaram, karam, pickel, pickels, spicy chutney

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments