Palak Soya Nuggets Curry (Healthy curry)

Did you ever try making palak and soya chunks in palak-panner style? or wondering how it tastes, then here is the simple recipe. I was craving for palak panner curry today, but I am on a diet so I cannot have panner. When I thought of healthy replacement for panner, the only thing that came into my mind was soya chuks. I tried it and it was wonderful, I couldn't say that it compensated my thrust for panner, but it has got its own taste. Spongy soya chuncks when cooked in spinach curry has got it's own unique flavor that makes you mesmerize.  I tried, tasted and tested on me and my hubby, we loved it I hope you like it too!

Ingredients:
Spinach chopped-4cups
soya chunks dry-1cup
onion chopped-1 cup
oil 3 tbsp
tamarind-1/2 lemon size
cumin seeds-1 tbsp
Mustard seeds (aavalu)-1tbsp
Red chili-1
Red chili powder-1/2tbsp or to taste
salt to taste
cumin powder-1/2tbsp
coriander powder-1/2tbsp
garam masala-1/4tbsp

Method:
Wash and cook soya nuggets/chunks in a water till they are soft by adding a tbsp of salt. When they are done cooking take them out and allow them to cool and squeeze all the water out of it. Do not throw the water you can use the same water for making spinach paste.
Heat 1tbsp of oil in a pan and add onion and when they turn transparent add spinach and cook till it is tender and raw flavor is gone. If you wish your curry to retain green color cook it in an open  pan, but this takes a while to cook and is not a healthy practice too. I cooked in a closed pan under medium flame. When the spinach is done, take it into a plate and allow it to cool. When the mixture gets cooled up add garlic and tamarind and grind it to a paste with the help of water (remember the water you stored after squeezing soya).
When the spinach paste is ready, heat 2tbsp of oil in a pan ad add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and when they start splattering add soya chunks and fry them under slow flame for 5min. Add spinach paste and cook till the mixture comes to a boil. The curry thickens as it cooks so add enough water in the beginning. Now add all spices red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and garam masala and mix well. check for salt and adjust according to your taste. Cook this mixture till oil separates out fro the curry. The curry is ready to serve, enjoy this with roti, steamed rice, biryani or any combination that you like.

Tip: You can add lemon juice instead of tamarind and also you can add little somph (Fennel seeds) while you add cumin in the curry, if you like some sweetness or twist in the dish.

I hope you like my recipe and please visit again.

Click here for Palak Panner recipe
Click here for normal palak and soy chunks curry
Click here for Soya chunks and baby potato curry

Mysore Rasam and Making of Rasam Powder at home

Mysore rasam is one of the exotic South Indian recipes that has a blissful zest and makes us very tempting to have it all time. This is winter time come let us enjoy this wonderful rasam with a hot steamed rice. For me rasam is the only blissful thing that could make me very appetizing to have rice during the winter time, otherwise I not a big fan of rice. For the first time I made this Mysore rasam powder on my own, I just can't resist my self from having this relish dish. It is really easy to make this rasam powder at home, I regret myself for not trying this before, always I used to make rasam with the store bought powder. Believe me it is more aromatic than store bought powder and you can taste the fresh taste of all spices on your first try.

Ingredients for Rasam Powder
Toor dal-1tbsp
Coriander seeds-2tbsp
Cumin seeds-2tbsp
Red chili-2 big
Black pepper-2tbsp
Fenugreek seeds-1/4tbsp


For Making powder
Heat a pan and dry roast all the above mentioned ingredients individually and let them cool to room temperature. Later grind them together into a fine powder. You can store this powder in a tight glass jar and use it for about an year.


Ingredinets for Rasam
Tomato finely chopped-2 large
Tamarind-1 lemon size soaked and extract water
Green chili-2
Onion chopped-1/2cup
Curry leaf-1 spring (10 leaves)
salt to taste
red chili powder to taste
turmeric pinch
red chili-1
cilantro/coriander for garnishing
Garlic-5 cloves crushed
oil-2tbsp
Rasam Powder-2tbsp (Above made)

Method

Heat 2tbsp of oil in a deep bottom pan and add cumin seeds and when they start splattering add red chili. When the red chili starts turning brown add onion, curry leaf and green chili and saute them till they turn transparent. Add turmeric and garlic and mix well, cook till raw flavor of garlic disappears. Finally add tomatoes and mix well, cook till tomatoes are soft. Do not burn tomatoes as this will add sourness to your dish make sure that you cook it on a medium flame, if you sense any burning smell add water and a cup of water and cook it. Add tamarind water, red chili powder, salt, rasam powder and mix well. Bring this mixture to boil and check for taste, adjust if necessary by adding more salt or water. Finally garnish with cilantro and serve hot with hot steamed rice.

I hope you like my recipe, please keep visiting my blog for more wonderful recipes and do not forget to leave a comment. I love reading comments.

Tindora Chutney/ Dondakaya chutney

Tindora is most popular Indian vegetable, positively and negatively. Yes, some people like my dad love it a lot and people like me hate it a lot. This chutney makes the Tindora haters to love it and Tindora lovers will love it more.

Ingredients
Tindora-20 in number
Tamarind-1/2 lemon size
salt to taste
Green chili-10 in number or to taste
turmeric-pinch
cumin seeds-1tbsp
Garlic coves-4
oil-2tbsp

For tempering
Urad dal (Minapa pappu)-1/2tbsp
Chana dal (Chanaga pappu)-1/2tbsp
oil-2tbsp
red chili-2
cumin seeds-1/2tbsp

Method:
Heat 2tbsp of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds start splattering add garlic cloves, tamarind, green chili, Tindora and mix well. Cook all these ingredients in a medium heat by closing the pan with a lid. When the tindora are slight tender, add salt and turmeric and cook till they become tender but not mushy. Finally turn off the stove and allow the mixture to cool and grind it.
Tempering adds more taste to chutney, for tempering heat 2tbsp of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and when they begin to splatter add chana dal, urad dal and red chili and saute till they turn slight brown. Finally add this tempering to the chutney and enjoy this with hot steamed rice or any dosa/upma.

Hope you like my recipe, please post your comments below, I love reading your comments and getting back to you! Thank you :)

Kolhapuri Chicken Curry - Tambda rassa

This is my first try on making this exotic and delicious chicken. Since I am a vegetarian I cannot tell you how it tasted but, after seeing a huge reaction (WOW!) and a big smile on my hubby's face I can tell you it should have tasted heavenly, he finished it in a single take!!!

Ingredients:

For Gravy

1 big Onion sliced
1 Tomato diced
4 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tbsp Coriander seeds
2 tbsp Sesame seeds
1 tbsp Poppy seeds (Gasagasalu)
2 tbsp minced Garlic
Whole Garam masala spices (Bay leaf, Green Cardamom, 2-3 Cloves, 1/2 inch Cinnamon)
1/2 tsp Garam masala powder
3 tbsp dry shredded Coconut
2 tbsp red chili powder (or to taste) or degi mirch or kashmiri mirch powder
Salt to  taste
Cilantro/coriander leafs for garnishing

Ingredients for Marination
1 lb Chicken drumsticks/ leg pieces
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
1 tbsp Lemon Juice


Method:

Marination:
Remove skin and any extra fat from the drum sticks. Wash them well and drain them. Make deep cuts on either side of the thigh so that the marination will be able to pierce in. Prepare the marination mixture with the above mentioned marination ingredients and rub it on all sides on chicken and keep to marinate for 30 min.

Preparation of Masala:
Heat 1/2tbsp of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, whole garam spices, coriander seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, chopped garlic one by one and cook till spices start to change its color. Add dry grated coconut, sliced onion and cook till onion turn light brown color.
Later when the mixture is ready, turn off the stove and let it cool down. Add this mixture along with tomatoes to blender and grind to make smooth paste by adding some water.

Curry:
Heat 4tbsp of oil in a pan and add ground masala paste, red chilli powder, garam masala and mix well. Cook it for five min. Add marinated chicken pieces, mix well, add water to desired consistency, cover and cook till the chicken gets tender. Finally garnish with cilantro/coriander leafs.

Hot and spicy Kolapuri Chicken Curry is ready to serve!

Christmas Food Fair Event

 Christmas is the big festival here in America, every street and every home here is wonderfully decorated already. Its a holiday season too!! we find kids every where. Some like playing with snow and some love helping their mom in baking. You might have started baking for your loved one too, so dear friends please share your wonderful recipes and help others to find them easy and quickly at one place. This event starts today and continues till Jan 18th. you are free to add as many recipes as you wish, the recipes can be from your archives. 

Here is the procedure about how to link your recipes:

1. Please link this event announcement with your entry, this is mandatory.
2. Use of logo is mandatory, it helps to spread the word. 
3. Multiple entries are allowed, archived are only allowed if reported and updated with this event link. 
4. In the event of problem using linky you can email me the entry at foodblognews@gmail.com

Merry Christmas!!!Happy New Year!!!!!!Merry Christmas!!!Happy New Year!!!!!!Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Vegetable Burger with Yellow peas

There are very few recipes that taste good and do good, vegetable burger is one among them. I always love making veggie burger patties before and refrigerate them, because they make my work simple for the next day lunch box. Yellow peas are readily available in marked in tins, but I prefer soaking the dry peas myself and preparing them for making patties. This is the first time I tried to make a burger with yellow peas, always I used to make with chick peas. Believe me they tasted wonderful.

Ingredients

Yellow peas-dry-100 grams

Soft boiled small potato mashed

Lemon juice 1/2 tbsp

oil 6 tbsp

walnuts-hand full

onion-1/2cup

cilantro-1/4cup chopped

cumin powder-1/2tbsp

coriander powder-1/2tbsp

green chili t taste

turmeric-pinch

cumin seeds few

ginger garlic paste to taste

Method

Soak dry yellow peas for at least 8 hrs and pressure cook them for 3 whistles (or until soft). Let the pressure in the cooker come down then in the mixi jar take all the above mentioned ingredients along with peas and grind them coarsely. Now in a pan heat 2tbsp of oil and add few cumin seeds and allow them to splatter and immediately add ginger-garlic paste and cook under medium flame till the raw smell disappears. Finally add the ground mixture, lemon juice and turmeric and mix well. 

After 10 min of frying under low flame, take this mixture in to separate bowl and allow it to cool. Finally divide the mixture in to 4 equal parts and flatten them in to Patti shape with your hand. Grill them on both sides with sufficient oil. Now the patties are ready and when they cool down to room temperature place them in zip lock bags and freeze them. you can use them for one week if you perfectly freeze them. when you are about to use take them out from freezer 30 min before you serve and microwave them fro 20 sec. Now, place them in the bun with your favorite toppings and dressings. Hope you like my recipe.

Click here for Chickpea Vegetable Burger
Click here for blackeyed peas burger
Click here for Indian food calorie chart

Tip: Kindly note it please, these burgers are very tender, they break easily since there is a very little binding, if you do not mind having egg then I recommend you to add one egg along with onions and carrots and mix well. Egg acts as a super binding agent and also adds moisture and great texture to your patties. If you do not like adding egg then add more wheat flour, if your patties are tender.

Vegetable Kofta with capsicum masala curry

Holidays are around the corner, colorful lamps and beautiful embellished Christmas trees started reappearing in the corners of every hall way. It is time to have fun and celebrate holidays with all our friends and relatives. I know many of your houses are filled with aroma of butter because you should have started baking cakes and cookies for your loved one. I also knew that many of you might start looking for the best recipes on the Internet, I wish good luck to all of you on your cookies and happy surfing!

Vegetable Kofta is one of the most elegant and delicious curry. I prepared this curry in many different kinds, every time it tasted heavenly. This time I was having a capsicum sitting in my refrigerator from many days, so I thought I would use it to make some rich curry with a twist; and here is the twist I made some vegetable koftas and added to the capsicum gravy. Believe me it made me spellbound, when I first tasted it. My hubby just loved and showered a ton of compliments which is very rare event in my home. Now its your turn to try it and dunk your self in the shower of compliments.

Ingredients:
To make Koftas (vegetable balls)
Soft boiled potato-2
Cauliflower + green peas- boiled-1/2cup
Cilantro-2 springs chopped
capsicum- 1/4 cup shredded
salt to taste
Green chili paste-1/4tbsp
Ginger-Garlic paste-1/4tbsp
oil for deep fry
Gram flour-2tbsp (helps binding)

Mix all the above ingredients and prepare a small lemon size balls. Deep fry them under medium flame till they turn golden brown. DO NOT dump all your koftas at once, sometimes they spread out. Check with one kofta first, if it is intact then add another batch. If your koftas are not intact then you may have to add some more gram flour.

For making curry:
Capsicum- 2 large- chopped
Roasted dry coconut powder-3tbsp
Roasted ground nut (pea nuts)/cashew nuts/ almonds- 1/2cup
Cumin seed-1/4tbsp
mustard seeds-/14 tbsp
red chili-2
green chili-1
cilantro for garnish
red chili powder-1/2tbsp
salt to taste
onion finely chopped-1/2tbsp
Tomato chopped-1 cup
Garam masala- to taste
kasuri methi powder-1/2tbsp
oil-2tbsp

Method:
First grind coconut and pea nuts in to a fine paste by adding water.
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and red chili. When they start spluttering add onion and capsicum and saute till they turn golden brown. Now add ginger garlic paste and turmeric. When the raw flavor of ginger starts disappearing add tomato, coconut and pea nut paste and mix well. When all this masala is well cooked, add red chili powder, garam masala powder, kasuri methi powder and salt to taste and mix well. Finally add vegetable koftas and garnish with cilantro and serve hot. You need not have to cook koftas in the gravy, just mix them with the gravy. Hope you like my recipe and please do not forget to comment before you leave. Thank you for visiting my blog and keep visiting for more wonderful recipes to come.