Poori Masala - a very simple and usual one

I am posting this recipe simply that it goes well with the Poori recipe that i've already posted. This is just for beginners who don't know what to prepare as a side dish for poori.

Ingredients you'll need: 

Potato - 2 medium sized (chopped into four each)
Onion - 1 (chopped finely)
Oil - 3 tsp
Gram dhal - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds and Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - to garnish 
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Procedure:

1. Use a pressure cooker. Heat Oil, add gram dhal, mustard seeds, urad dhal and curry leaves.
2. Add Onion, fry till golden brown.
3. Add salt and turmeric powder.
4. Add potatoes, and 1/2 a cup of water. Close the pressure cooker and leave it for 4 whistles in medium flame.
5. Open the lid after the pressure is out of the cooker. Mash the potatoes well with a spoon. It will look like a semi solid gravy.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with poori.

Poori - Hot & Crisp & Puffed Up for a long time

Many of u know that poori is not something hard to prepare, but there are few things that u can always do to keep the pooris Hot & Crisp & Puffed Up for a long time. This method will also help u to prepare less oil pooris.

Lets start,

Ingredients you'll need:

Atta (Wheat Flour) - 2 cups
Maida (All purpose flour) - 1 cup
Rava (Semolina) - A handful
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water - 1 1/2 cup
Oil - 4 tsp (for the dough)
Oil - required amount for frying pooris

Procedure:

1. Mix atta, maida, rava, salt and water to make a perfect dough.
2. Let it rest aside for 15 mins.
3. Make small balls and roll it into rounds using a chappathi roller.
4. Heat oil in frying pan, and fry the rolled poori dough in it until it puffs up and shows brown dots on the poori. Remove the poori from oil at this stage.
(the poori should get immersed in the hot oil. so use consideably more oil for frying pooris.)
5. Serve Hot with poori masala.

Tips & Notes:

1. The poori should get immersed in the hot oil. so use consideably more oil for frying pooris.
2. To avoid the dough sticking to the roller while rolling, you can use few drops of oil over the dough.
3. Do not dust flour while rolling the pooris as it would make the frying oil polluted and smoky.
4. The usage of rava and maid makes the pooris stiff so try not to avoid them.

Kanava Perattal (Cuttlefish dry gravy)

I tried this out very recently as it turned out to be my brother's favourite, who was also my guest of the day. My mother gave me this recipe which was very simple to do. It came out very well and earned me an appreciation as well. It is easier to clean when compared with prawns and it was tasting much similar to prawns, if u need a change from eating prawns, you can very well try cuttlefish.

Request the fish vendor to clean the cuttlefish for you if you are not aware of it.

Ingredients u'll need :
Cuttlefish - 1/4 kg (cut into squares or rings)
Onion - 1
Tomato -
Freshly prepared Homemade Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 full heaped tsp (u can also use a readymade ginger garlic paste, but it wont be equal to the smell and flavours given out by homemade pastes)
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Curry Leaves - few
Coriander leaves - to garnish
Oil - 2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Use a pressure cooker, heat oil in the cooker, add curry leaves, onion and ginger garlic paste. let it cook until the onion turns Golden brown in colour
2. Add tomato and salt and let the tomato cook until it gets mashed. then add turmeric powder,chilli powder and cumin powder.
3. Add the cuttlefish, and half a teacup of water. Close the pressure cooker and leave it for 3 whistles on medium flame.
4. After 3 whistles, switch off the stove and open it after 5 mins.
5. Serve Hot and Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Paneer Cashew Masala

Hmmm.....Yummy.... While i think of its taste, i feel like eating it now.

The best thing to replace non-veg is paneer, this paneer cashew masala goes very well with chappathis and dosas. 
This is the most easiest paneer gravy when compared with all the other heavy masala gravies.
You can make a dosa, keep this masala in the center and make it like a wrap and serve it as paneer cashew masala dosa.

Every time i cook this masala, my family wants chappathi to go with it, and believe me, not even drops of this gravy will be left over.

Ingredients you'll need:

Paneer - 200 gms (cut into cubes)
Big Onion - 2
Tomato - 2
Cashew nuts - 1 hand full of them
Green Chilly - 1
Salt - 1/2 tbsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Butter - 2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Heat a frying pan, add butter, saute onion until it turns golden brown, add tomatoes and salt to it, let the tomatoes cook very well, the tomatoes will look get mashed up when it is completely cooked.

2. Add the green chilly, cashew nuts and red chilli powder to it. switch of the stove and leave it to cool.

3. When it is cooled put this fried items in a mixer and grind it into a paste. (Do not put hot items in the mixer, it might burst on your face while the mixer is running)

4. Put this ground paste in the frying pan again and let it cook for 2 mins, you can add water in between to adjust the gravy consistency.

5. Add the paneer to this gravy and close it with the lid, let the paneer cook in the gravy for 15 mins.

5. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.


Tips & Notes:
1. Do not put hot items in the mixer, it might burst on your face while the mixer is running.
2. If u want to make paneer cashew masala dosa, then make the gravy thicker.

South Indian Ven Pongal

Pongal doesn't need heavy cooking, but if you do it the right way, u can always earn appreciation for it. It was one of the dishes i cooked for my son's 1st birthday and everyone who ate it really loved it.

Ingredients you'll need:

Jeera Rice or Raw Rice - 1 cup or  200 gms (Jeera rice gives good smell to the pongal and flavours it more)
Unpolished Moong Dal - 3 tbsp 
Salt - 1 tbsp
Peppercorns - 3 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 3 tsp
Ghee - 5 tbsp
Cashewnuts - 3 tbsp (broken by hand)
Curry leaves & Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Procedure:

1. Cook the rice and the dhal together in a pressure cooker for 15 mins by adding 4 cups of water and salt to it (for 1 cup of rice use 4 cups of water i.e 1:4 ratio). The rice should cook to the level of mashed up consistency.

2. Heat Ghee in a separate pan, add peppercorns, cumin seeds, cashewnuts, curry leaves and coriander leaves. Add this to the cooked rice and dhal and mix really well.

3. Serve it hot for best results.

Tips & Notes :

1. The more ghee you add, the more taste the pongal would gain, for that don't add toooo much of ghee.

2. If you are using a gas stove, please switch of the stove while adding curry leaves to the hot oil, it may bring flames in the oil if the curry leaves are added to hot oil while the flame is on.

First Success, South Indian Fish Gravy

If you are a non-vegetarian, and you want to impress someone especially if it is your in laws then this is the recipe that would take you to that place. This fish gravy got me a name among all of my relatives 6 years back and still i am the Queen of it (that's how they say).

Ok lets get going, here is the recipe to impress everyone.

Ingredients you'll need are:

Sliced Fish - 1/2 kg (any fish can be used but it is preferred to be Seer Fish)

Small Onions - 15 (chopped finely)

Tomatoes - 2

fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Red Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 3 tsp

Cumin powder - 3 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Green Chilly - 1

Coriander leaves - to garnish

Curry leaves - to garnish

Tamarind juice - 1 cup

Coconut milk - 2 cups

Oil - 2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Heat oil on a frying pan, add fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, small onion, fry till onion get golden brown.

2. Add tomatoes to it, add salt and fry till the tomatoes are cooked well.

3. Add chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and turmeric powder and cook well, add 1/2 a cup of water in order not to let the gravy burn.

4. Let the gravy give out the raw smell of the powders added, add the tamarind juice and let it cook for 1 min.

5. Now add the Coconut Milk, and let it cook for 1 min.

6. Finally add the fish slices to it and cover it with a lid, let it cook for 5 mins.

7. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Tips & Notes :

1. If u want to add more taste to the gravy, u can add raw mango slices while you are adding the fish slices.

2. This is a very tasty fish gravy, the speciality  of this gravy is that, it gains more taste the next day of cooking which goes very well with idly and dosa and even with rice.

3. If a mud pot is used for the cooking of this gravy, then the gravy would taste great. But the mud pot should be seasoned very well, if u r a basic cook and if u dont know anything about seasoning or cooking in a mud pot then dont try it, it'll spoil the gravy.