Prawns Curry

If you're looking for the  simple yet delicious recipe of prawns curry. This is the right stop to browse in. This prawn  curry is prepared with few ingredients and method of preparation is very simple too. The main flavours to the curry gets from garlic and fennel seeds. These ingredients make the good pair with prawns and make the curry to taste unique.The curry gets more tempting when you use fresh prawns instead of frozen ones. 
Nothing much to say about the recipe than narrating you all, that how to make this superb delicious prawn curry in southern Indian style.

Mysore Masala Dosa

Mysore Masala dosa is the special version of Masala dosa of Mysore. We too have masala dosa in Mumbai version which is known as Mumbai masala dosa. 

Mumbai masala dosa are regular crispy dosa filled with loads of potato masala . Where as Mysore masala dosa are the crispy dosa from outside and bit softer inside. The special hot garlic chutney and butter is spread on the dosa while cooking and then dosa is loaded with spicy potato masala. The garlic chutney gives the special kick to Mysore masala dosa and adds the unique and amazing flavor into it. It is well served with sambar, coconut chutney and green coriander chutney. This dosa is also known to be the traditional breakfast of Mysore people. So today I am here to post this traditional recipe of Mysore, so that we all can learn and love about the combo platter.

Idli Sambar- South Indian Tiffin

As you all Idli Sambar are the well know traditional breakfast of south India. Idli are nothing but rice savoury cake made with rice and splitted black gram. The batter needs fermentation for atleast for 6 hour and then they are steam into cakes. These are usually served with sambar and coconut chutney. Idlis have many variations like standard idli, mini idlis soaked in sambar, rava idli, Kancheepuram idli, stuffed idli with a filling of potato mixture, ragi idli, pudi idli with the sprinkling of idly podi that covers the bite-sized pieces of idlis. It is also said that Idlis are easily digestible food when served with  sambar that provides a mix of proteins and carbohydrates to our  body.

TO MAKE IDLI

INGREDIENTS

•  Raw rice  – 2 &1/2  cups
• Parboiled rice – ½ cup
• Split Urad Dal/Black Gram – 1 cup
• Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
• Salt – 1 tbsp

 PREPARATION

•  Wash and soak raw rice and parboiled rice together for atleast 6 hours. And also wash and soak the urad dal  and fenugreek seeds for atleast for 4 hours.
•  Grind soaked urad dal into the mixer until it is light and fluffy by adding little amount of water and transfer it to a big container.
•  Now add soaked rice to the mixer  and grind it coarsely by adding water .
• Then add ground rice along with ground urad dal . Mix both the batter well.
• Add salt and with your hand mix the batter well for atleast 5 minutes. This helps in better fermentation.
• Remember the consistency of idli batter should not be too thick or too thin.
•  Ferment the batter for overnight or at least  6 to 7 hours.
•  Next morning or after 7 hours, Mix the fermented batter well and now the batter is ready to make idlis If you are not going to use it immediately, then refrigerate the batter.
• Prepare the idli stand. I use my pressure cooker to steam Grease the idli moulds with some oil. Pour a small ladle full of batter in each idli moulds . Do not pour too much batter as the idlis will expand in size as they cook.
•  Now steam the idlis for about 10-12 mins on high.Add 1 cup of water in the pressure cooker and keep the idli stand in it. The water level should be lower than that of the last idli plate. Cover with the lid of the pressure cooker with the whistle removed
•  After 10-12 mins remove the idli stand from the pressure cooker and let rest for 3-4 mins. Now remove each idli carefully using a flat spoon.Serve with chutney and sambar.

TO MAKE SAMBAR

INGREDIENTS

Ingredient  Col 1

• Split Moong Dal/Green gram – 1 &1/4 cup
• Eggplant, small size – 2-3 nos
• Green Pepper – 1 small
• Onion – 1 medium
• Tomato – 2 small
• Green Chili – 3 no. (or more, according to your taste)
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp

 Ingredient Col 2

• Tamarind paste – 2 tsp (or 1 small lemon size tamarind)
• Sambar Powder – 1 tbsp
• Cilantro leaves – a handful
• Salt – to taste

Ingredients to temper

• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Dry Red Chillies – 2 no.
• Curry Leaves – 1 sprig
• Hing/Asafoetida – 1 pinch
• Oil/Ghee – 1 tbsp

 PREPARATION

• Wash dal and add in the pressure cooker.. Chop all the vegetables into small cubes and add it in the pressure cooker. Also add “ingredients of column 1” in the pressure cooker and add sufficient water. Cook for 3-4 whistles.\
• Once the pressure is released, add the “ingredients of column2” and bring the sambar to boil on a medium flame. Add some water if you want to adjust the consistency. Cook for about 10 mins, until the raw smell of tamarind and sambar powder goes away.
• Finally temper the sambar by heating 1 tbsp of oil, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add the curry leaves, dry red chillies and hing. Saute for 15-20 secs and pour over the sambar. Lastly garnish  the sambar with freshly chopped cilantro.

Curd Rice - Dahi Bhaat / Mosaranna

Hello friendzzz.... How you all doing....I am back after a long time with a new recipe. Just waiting to  to view beautiful and lovely comments from my lovely blogger friends.
Curd Rice is the very popular comfort meal of South India.  This rice is called by many names like 'Mosara Anna' in Kannada language, ' Dahi Bhutti' in marathi language, 'Dahyache shith' in Konkani language etc. Curd rice is very close to every South Indian people, their every lunch and dinner ends with curd rice, which has the a soothing effect, balancing the effect of other spicy dishes. Curd rice is easily prepared by simply mixing boiled rice and yogurt.  It is then seasoned with finely chopped green chillies, ginger and curry leaves and along with the seasoning of bengal gram, black gram, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and asafoetida. One can also add grated carrot, dried grapes or pomegranate seeds. Like I have added..Curd rice  tastes great with just a pickle or chutney. Do try it once and I am sure you all will like it.


INGREDIENTS
Serves: 3 people

• Boiled Rice- 2 cups
• Yogurt / Curd -  2 cups 
• Green Chillies, chopped- 3
• Ginger, chopped- 1 inch
• Cilantro,chopped- 2 tbsp
• Sugar- 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil- 2 tsp
• Mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Bengal gram - 1 tbsp
• black gram - 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Curry leaves- 6
• Pomegranate seeds - for garnishing

PREPARATION

• Cook the rice till they are soft. Keep it aside.
• Grind ginger and green chillies along with 2 tbsp of water in to a blender till it gets coarse mixture.
• Take yogurt in a deep bowl, add some salt, sugar and cilantro, mix add ginger and green chilli mixture and mix well.
• Add cooked  rice in yogurt mixture and mix well. 
• Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, bengal gram, black gram, pinch of asafoetida and curry leaves.
• Pour tempering over  yogurt and rice mixture, mix well 
• Garnish the curd rice as the way you like. I use pomegranate seeds and they look so beautiful.

Medu Vada or Uddina Vada

Medu vada is the  most popular snack of southern India. Medu vada is also named as Uddina Vada .Medu vada is a urad dal based fried snack is one of the delights from the South Indian cuisine. The urad dal is soaked then grounded, mixed with some herbs and spices and deep fried. Medu vada is best served with sambar and coconut chutney as breakfast or snack.
Check the sambar recipe " here"


INGREDIENTS
Yield : 16 Vadas

• Urad dal or Skinless black gram - 1 &1/2 cups
• Green chillies -5
• Ginger - 1 inch
• Curry leaves - 7 to 8
• Black pepper powder or crushed black pepper cons - 1/2 tsp
• Cilantro, chopped - 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil - for frying

PREPARATION

• Soak the urad dal into water for 5 hours.
• Then grind it into smooth batter, by adding little water as possible.
• Finey chop the green chillies, ginger , curry leaves and cilantro. Add them into the smooth batter.
• Also add crushed black peppercons and salt, adjust as per your taste. Mix everything well.
• Heat oil into the pan on medium flame.
• Dip your hands into water and take a small ball of batter, give it a round shape and then make a hole at the centre. This needs little practice at the beggining.
• Another method is using parchment sheet.All you have to do is sprinkle few drops of water on the sheet, take small ball of batter and place it on the parchment sheet, make a hole at the centre and slide it slowly into oil.
• Fry the vadas till they are  golden brown in colour.
• Medu vadas are ready to serve with sambar or coconut chutney

Bisi bele Bhath - South Indian Special

Bisi bele bhath is a rice-based dish with its origins in the state of Karnataka, India .The name Bisi bele bhath is the Kannada phrase, which literally means “Hot Lentil Rice”, as in Kannada, Bisi means hot, bele means Lentils and bhath means rice.

Bisibele Bhath  is prepared with rice, dal and varieties of vegetables. This is the great combo of all the ingredients and makes the meal very comforting. The people who taste it for the first time seem to love it, so give it a try!

INGREDIENTS

• Rice - 2 cups ( Any short grain rice)
• Red lentil( Toor dal) - 3/4 cup or Split green gram( Moong dal) - 1 cup
• Tamarind pulp - 2 tbsp
• Tumeric powder - 1tsp
• Salt to taste

Vegetables

• Potato - 3 small (cut into 1 inch cubes)
• Carrot - 3medium ( cut into 1 inch of pieces)
• Green bellpepper - 1 small
• Eggplant(brinjal),diced - 3 medium
• Drumsticks - 3 large (cut into 2 inch of pieces)
• French beans - 12 to 15(cut into 1inch of pieces)
• Onion,chopped - 1 medium
• Tomato, chopped - 2 medium

Ingredients for tempering

• Oil - 3 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - 2 sprig
• Dry red chillies - 3 nos
• Peanuts - few
• Cashewnuts - few

Ingredients for Bisibele Bhath masala powder

• Cloves - 3 to 4 nos
• Cinnamom stick - 1inch piece
• Green cardamom - 1 no
• Mace (javitri) - 1 piece
• Nutmeg powder - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Coriander seeds - 3 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Blackgram (urad dal) - 1 tsp
• Bengal gram (channa dal ) - 2 tbsp
• Dry Red chillies - 3 nos
• Dry coconut or fresh coconut - 4 tbsp

PREPARATION

• Roast all the ingredients as mentioned for the bisi bele bhath masala powder on the low flame,till you get nice aroma from the spices.
• Do not add dry coconut powder along with all the spices. Add it when the dal turns into light golden in colour. Just fry for 5 minutes and turn off the flame.
• Let the fried ingredients cool down at room temperature and then grind it to fine powder.
• Leftover powder can be freezed, it stays best upto more than a month.
• Boil the dal in the pressure cooker with 1/2 tsp of tumeric powder and salt.
• Mash the dal after it is cooked and keep it aside.
• Cook the rice with 1/2 tsp of tumeric powder. While cooking the rice use the ratio of 1: 2.5,ie 1 cup of rice and 2.5 cups of water. Rice should be soft and mushy.

 

• Place a large pot on medium flame and add oil into it.When oil heats up, add chopped onion and fry till they are soft and transparent.
• Then add all the cut veggies except bellpepper.Saute for 3 minutes.
• Add tamarind pulp ,salt and 5 cups of water. Cook till the veggies are soft.
• Then add bellpepper and simmer for 5 minutes.
• When bellpepper is cooked ,add masala powder and mashed dal. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes with continuously stirring.
• At this point there should be enough liquid into the gravy,such that all the vegetables are submerged in the gravy liquid.If the water is evaporated,add more water (about 2 cups) to get right consistency.Adjust the salt
• Now add cooked rice ad mix gently ,or otherwise the rice will become too mushy.Simmer for about 5 to 6 mintes.Stir occasionaly.
• When done,turn off the flame and do not close the lid of the pot. Bisibele bhath will become completely dry.
• Heat the oil into another pan and add all the tempering ingredients one by one and fry till cashewnuts becomes light golden in colour.
• Then mix in the tempering into the rice and serve hot.
• Bisibele bhath is served with papads or any chips. It tastes great !!

Masala Dosa

INGREDIENTS

 For Dosa batter

• Raw rice – 2 cups
• Black gram or urad dal – ½ cup
• Toor dal – 3 tbsp
• Channa dal – 3 tbsp
• Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
• Flattened rice or Poha – ½ cup
• Salt to taste

• Soak rice, urad dal, toor dal, chana dal and fenugreek seeds for overnight or for about 7 to 8 hours.
• Soak poha, ten minutes before you start your grinding process.
• Grind all to the smooth paste, add salt and mix well. Place the batter in the warm place and allow it to ferment for about 5 to 6 hours.
• Keep in a warm place for fermentation.
• If the batter is very thick and you cannot spread the dosa, then just add little water to the batter and stir well.
• If you’re not going to use the batter immediately, place it in the refrigerator.

Potato Masala

• Potatoes – 2 big
• Onion – 1 large, sliced
• Ginger – 1 inch piece, grated
• Green chilies- 3-4 no, chopped
• Cilantro – 2 Tbsp
• Gram masala – ½ tsp (optional)
• For tempering:
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
• Urad dal – 1 tsp
• Channa dal – 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida – 1/8 tsp
• Curry leaves – a few
• Lemon juice – to taste
• Oil – 2 tbsp
• Salt – to taste

• Boil the potatoes until tender.  Cut them into small cubes and keep them aside.
• Heat the oil in a pan and when the oil heats up; add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once the seeds splutter, add the curry leaves, asafoetida, urad dal and channa dal. Sauté for 30 seconds.
• Add the turmeric powder, chopped green chilies and ginger .Sauté for another minute.
• Add in the sliced onions and cook until the onions are soft.
• Then add about ½ cup of water and seasoned it with garam masala and salt.
• Then add the cubed potatoes and cook it in the seasoned water on medium flame until soft and dry.
• Stir the mixture and if you see the mixture is dry. Turn off the flame.
• Lastly garnish the potato masala with chopped cilantro and lemon juice.

For Sambar

• Toor Dal – 1 cup
• Split Moong Dal – 1/4 cup
• Small eggplant – 2-3 no.
• Potato – 1 small (Optional)
• Green Bell Pepper – 1 small
• Carrot – 1 big
• Onion – 1 medium
• Green Chili – 3 no. (or more, according to your taste)
• Tomato – 2 small
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
• Tamarind paste – 2 tsp
• Sambar Powder – 1 tbsp
• Coriander/Cilantro leaves – a handful
• Salt – to taste

For Tempering:

•  Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Urad dal – ½ tsp
• Dry Red Chilies – 2 no.
• Curry Leaves – 1 sprig
• Asafoetida – 1 pinch
• Oil– 1 tbsp

PREPARATION

• Add both the washed dals in a pressure cooker. Chop all the vegetables into small cubes.
• Combine chopped vegetables, chopped onion, tomato, green chilies and turmeric powder in the cooker. Add sufficient water. Cook for 3-4 whistles.
• Once the pressure is released, add the sambar powder an tamarind pulp and bring the sambar to boil on a medium flame. Add some water if you want to adjust the consistency. Cook the sambar until the raw smell of tamarind pulp and sambar powder goes away.
• For tempering, heat 1 tbsp of oil, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add the urad dal, curry leaves, dry red chilies and asafoetida. Sauté for 15-20 secs and pour over the sambar. Finally add the fresh chopped coriander leaves!!

MAKING OF MASALA DOSA 

• Heat up the tawa (frying pan) on medium flame.
• Add few drops of oil and spread all over the tawa.
• Take spoon full of batter and pour on the tawa and spread it quickly from the centre into circular motion to form the thin circle. Drizzle few drops of oil all around the edges of the dosa and some oil in the center.
• When the dosa is crispy and golden brown at the bottom, loosen it along the edges.
• Then place 2 tbsp of potato curry in the center and fold both the ends of dosa above one another.
• Serve immediately with coconut chutney and sambar.