Coconut rice

        Coconut rice is a quick, flavorful and authentic rice dish of south India. It is prepared with freshly grated coconut and other green spices. This recipe is given by mom. When I was a kid, I used to wait for Thursday nights to eat this rice as my mom does fasting on Thursdays and in the night she takes no time to cook this dish for us :)

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice (Basmathi/Raw rice) 2 cups
Grated coconut 1 cup
Salt As needed
Oil 1 tbsp
Onion -1 medium finely chopped (Optional)

For Tempering:

Ghee - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Channa dal - 1 tbsp
Green chillies 4 -5 slit them
Dry red chillies -2
Peanuts -- 1/3 cup
Cashew nuts - 8
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric - a pinch (Very much optional)
Curry leaves  - 8
ginger - finely chopped
Cilantro

Steps:

1. Cook rice seperately make sure it is fluffy.
2. Heat ghee in a pan.Add cumin,mustard ,red chilli whole, hing, turmeric and saute till the aroma is released.
3. Now add the channna dal, urad dal , green chillies, ginger curry leaves cashew nuts, peanuts and saute them all till soft.
4. Put the finely chopped onions and mix them pretty well for 3-4 mins till the onions pieces are cooked.
5. Add the freshly grated coconut and fry for about a minute.
6. Now add the cooked rice and mix everything gently.

Check and adjust the amount of salt needed at this stage. Delicious and super quick Coconut rice is ready to be enjoyed. :)

Garnish with cilantro, Serve hot  & enjoy your meal.

P.S: 
Leftover rice can be used.
Turmeric, peanuts, onions are optional, I just added them for color and as per our taste.

Mangalore bajji or Gole baji

Gole baji is a popular mangalore snack which is made using maida as the key ingredient. My husband being from Karnataka border is fond of all the yummy snacks from there. Recently we visited a friend's home and we had this snack there. He loved it so much that he always asks me to google for the recipe and make it for him :) And I am always IN for such deep fried junk food!!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Cup Maida
1/2 cup Curd
Few finely chopped chunks of ginger,
Chillies
& Coriander leaves
1/2 medium sized Onion (Optional)
a pinch of baking soda
Salt as required
Oil (required for deep fry)

Steps:

1. Mix maida, salt,curd, baking soda in a large bowl.
2. Add all the chopped vegetables to it.
3. Keep it aside for 20 mins.
(If you are in a hurry, skip this step)
4. Heat oil in a pan for sometime, make small roundles of batter and drop them in oil.
5. Wait till it gets golden color and put them on a napkin to get rid of excess oil.

                                       Serve them hot with green chutney!

Banana Cake

It's been a while since I made something yummy. So I have decided to start with a simple cake. Hold on, Cake means generally we must have lot of ingredients and even the procedure will be long. Don't worry, here is a banana cake recipe that actually needs just a few ingredients unlike other cakes.

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp baking powder
2 number Bananas
50 grams butter salted
2 cup Maida
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1  cup sugar
few drops vanilla essence
Salt as required

Steps:

Take a bowl mash bananas, make a dough kinda paste, add few drops of vanilla essence.
Take an other bowl put maida, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and blend all of them together.
Next Melt butter, add little salt, put all of them in a single bowl and mix pretty well to avoid lumps if any.
Preheat your oven to 325F, get a cake tray, brush it with some butter, sprinkle maida into it. Rub off the extra maida and spread the dough mould in the tray and bake for 45 mins.

Once the baking is done, leave it for 15 mins and Chop the cake into pieces and you are ready to go!

P.S: This is my first attempt and don't go wrong with the pics. I shud hv added more sugar, the taste is different and I don't have good camera to take pro pics!hmm and yeah...i read a similar recipe somewhere and added ingredients as per my taste.

Palak and Onion Paratha

Parathas are the most yummiest Indian flat breads. They are easy, healthy and delicious to eat either for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Most of the people prefer to make stuffed parathas. But I am a lazy goose. I really don't know to make roti dough and it's difficult for me to flatten them either. Or frankly I don't have patience to make dough and stuffing separately. So here is my version of making parathas.

Ingredients:
1 cup Spinach leaves (chop them finely)
1.5 cup Wheat flour
1 Big Onion (Chop them finely)
4-5 Green chillies (Chop them finely)
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp of Oil
1/2 Cup water
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp lemon juice

Steps:

Take a bowl, add wheat flour, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, mix them well.
Add chopped onions, chillies, ginger garlic paste and spinach leaves and continue mixing them by adding water. In the last, add little oil and lemon juice and mix it. Leave the dough for 15-20 mins and Start making the parathas. I have spread some ghee on the parathas and used Curd while serving.

Cherry Pineapple dessert

First dessert recipe in my blog...and with cherries! whooa! :)

I don’t know the exact name of this one,  we just call it like this..but someone can name it for me.  ;)

This dessert is incredibly easy to make. I got this recipe from one of my friend and I have figured that it works really well for parties/pot lucks, and it’s perfect to make the day before… 

just mix it up and stick it in the fridge until it’s time for any get together! 

I don’t really have much more to say about this recipe, just that if u like pineapple and cherries, u are bound to go yummm behind this one.... (Don't get mislead seeing the pic...it's really gonna taste better! I assure :)  )

Ingredients List:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can crushed pineapple
1 can cherry pie filling
Few crushed pecans
Whip cream as per your taste

Steps:

1. Take the pineapple chunks from the can and drain it thoroughly.

2. Open  your  can of cherry pie filling, dump that in the bowl and mash it well.

3.  Add the drained pineapple chunks and start mixing.

4.  Now add few pecans may be a spoon full or two max (Don't add more than 2 tbsp) and 70% of the condensed milk from the can into the above mixture.

5.  Stir the mixture until it’s pretty well blended together.

6.  Scoop some amount of whip cream into the bowl (check the taste and add accordingly—I usually add a few scoops because it gets more sweeter)

7.  Stir it completely and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hrs before serving.

Strawberry MilkShake

         This pinkish yummy milkshake is made only with 5 ingredients and it takes less than five minutes of your time. I am sure everyone in your family will love this delicious milkshake which is great for summer.

Ingredients:

1 cup of fresh strawberries sliced
1 cup of milk
3 tbsp of sweetened condensed milk
1-2 tbsp of sugar as per ur taste

Topping:
Strawberry syrup
Whipcream (Optional)

Steps:
1. In a blender, Place all the ingredients listed above, cover it and blend it on medium setting for about 3 mins or until smooth.
2. Sieve the juice in a tall jar or glass, add two layers of whip cream.
3. On top of it, spread some strawberry syrup or just decorate with a strawberry slice; Serve immediately!

 

Gunta punugulu

Once I had guests at home, so I made dosa batter. I have prepared so much that it is left and I didnot know what to do. Then my mom suggested me this recipe.

Left over dosa batter which is sour is great for this punugulu. 

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Dosa batter

1 tbsp rice flour

1 Onion finely chopped

3-5 Green chillies finely chopped

6 Curry leaves finely chopped

Ginger finely chopped 1/2inch piece (optional)

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

2 tbsp channa dal (soak for 2hrs)

Oil

Preparation:

1. Take a Bowl and mix all the ingredient except oil, mix well, now the batter is ready.

2. To prepare this, we need a pan cake pan.Place the pan on stove and keep it medium to high flame and put oil in each impression.

3. When the skillet is hot then take a spoon or small laddle full of batter and fill the impressions with batter keep the stove on medium flame.

4. Cover and cook for 2 minutes remove lid sprinkle little oil on top of ponganalu and cook on medium flame for some time or brown spots appear at the edges.

5. Gently lift them with spoon/ponganalu lifter/ fork (If they are cooked completely, then they should come out easily with out sticking to the pan. Otherwise cook some more time.)

6. Again Pour/season with oil and do the next batch by following the same steps.

7. Serve hot with peanut chutney or with Karam Podi or Coconut Chutney.

Masala Vada (Evening Snacks)

Masala Vada is a famous street food item in the southern India. It can be had as a snack with a cup of hot tea or as a side dish with Sambar rice. I have tried item on the eve of Sankranthi and my husband just loved the taste so I'd like to share the recipe here...

Ingredients:

1 cup of Chana Dal (Split Bengal Gram)
1 tbsp rice (Small amount of this rice helps actually to make the outer layer crispy, so this can be optional)
1/2 onion chopped (don't chop too thin/small)
7-8 Green chilies (Adjust as per your spice)
1 tbsp GingerGarlic Paste
1tbsp cumin seeds
salt to taste
Few Coriander leaves.
Oil to deep fry

Procedure:

1. Soak dal and rice for 3-4 hours. Keep 1tbsp of soaked dal aside. 
2. In a blender grind soaked dal,rice ,green chilies, cumin seeds,Gingergarlic paste, and Salt into coarse paste(don't make it too smooth).
3. Mix chopped onions, cilantro, spice lovers can add chopped chilies too and soaked dal(which we kept aside) with coarse paste.
4. Take a small amount of the paste, make a cute lemon sized ball and flatten it with fingers (it should be in the shape of cutlet). Deep fry these in oil on medium heat. Once they turn golden color remove it from the oil.

 Serve them hot with green chutney/Pea nut chutney or Tomato Sauce :)
 (I like to have them alone just like that)