Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa Recipe | Rava Uttapam Recipe [Video]

Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa is a quick savory South Indian pancake that is made from semolina and topped with finely chopped vegetables. It is popularly served as breakfast along with some fresh coconut chutney.

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I'm a complete breakfast lover! These days breakfast is served with a side of "Man with a Plan" playing on Amazon Prime. The show on the side changes, but the love for breakfast never does.

Right from childhood, I've always woken up hungry. It doesn't matter what time I wake up, it could even be a short afternoon nap, but I am hungry for the first 10 minutes after I wake up. It seems like I spend a lot of energy in sleeping and dreaming. But this also gives me the opportunity to actually enjoy my breakfast. I've heard of people forgetting to eat their breakfast (Gee!) and people not being hungry even an hour after waking up (Raj!), but not me, I was born to enjoy the first meal of the day.

Since this has always been my favorite meal, I keep searching for recipes and ideas to keep it interesting. And for me breakfast has to be instant, else it has to be made the previous night. I cannot wait for hours to prepare something. So instant recipes are always a hit with me, like this Instant Mix Veg Uttappa.

To tell you the truth, Uttappa is my favorite way to eat a dosa, even over a Masala Dosa. It's something about those charred onions on top that just makes me want it more than the others. I just went a little ahead with this Instant Uttappa, I topped it not just with onions but with a mixture of vegetables. You can keep it traditional and just use onions, or just use tomato. I love Tomato Uttappa too, with a little bit of spicy chutney pudi sprinkled on top of it.

This Instant Mix Veg Uttappa requires just a few ingredients. Rava or Semolina or Sooji forms the base along with some sour plain curd (yogurt). A pinch of baking soda or cooking soda is added to give it that slight fluffiness. You can also use fruit salt like Eno, but add just a pinch. These ingredients along with salt and water just form the dosa, the actual base of the Uttappa. As I mentioned earlier, you can now top this with vegetables of your choice - traditional choices are onions or tomatoes, I used a variety - onions, tomatoes, cabbage, capsicum and carrot along with some green chillies, curry leaves and coriander. 

Instant Mix Veg Uttappa can be served for breakfast or as an early evening snack. You can also serve it for dinner (I'm a big "breakfast-for-dinner" person). 

Serve the Uttappa with a fresh coconut chutney.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa Recipe

Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa is a quick savory South Indian pancake that is made from semolina and topped with finely chopped vegetables. It is popularly served as breakfast along with some fresh coconut chutney.

Recipe Type:  Snacks, Breakfast
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     20 minutes
Cook time:     15 minutes
Total time:     35 minutes
Yield:                5 to 6

Ingredients:

1 cup Semolina (Rava)
0.75 cup Yogurt (Curd)
1 cup Water
0.25 tsp Baking Soda
1 Onion, finely chopped
0.5 Tomato, finely chopped
0.5 cup Cabbage, finely chopped
0.5 Carrot, grated
2 Tbsp Capsicum, finely chopped
1 Green Chilli, finely chopped
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves, finely chopped
Oil to make the dosa
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Mix together semolina, yogurt, 0.5 tsp salt and 0.25 cups of water until well combined and keep aside for 20 minutes.
2. After 20 minutes, add in the baking soda and mix.
3. Add a little water and mix until there are no lumps. Add more water as required, the batter has to be of the same consistency of a dosa or pancake batter.
4. If the batter is too thin, you can add in a little rice flour.
5. Mix together the onions, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, capsicum, curry leaves, green chilli and coriander leaves in a separate bowl.
6. Add a little salt and mix well.
7. Grease a dosa tava or a flat frying pan.
8. Once the tava is hot, pour one spoonful of batter onto it.
9. Top it with the mix vegetables. Pour a teaspoon of oil on the top.
10. Allow the uttappa to cook for 1-2 minutes on one side or until slightly browned. Cook on low to medium heat.
11. Flip the uttappa and allow it to cook completely, approximately 2-3 minutes.
12. Remove from tava and serve hot along with some fresh coconut chutney.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Instant Ragi Dosa

Instant Wheat Dosa

Rava Dosa

Read more ...

Eggless Almond Cookies Recipe | Badam Biscuit Recipe [Video]

Eggless Almond Cookies or Badam Biscuits. Crisp buttery cookies made with almonds. 

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These Almond Cookies guys.... are the best cookies EVER!!

I've baked several cookies over the years, but it is to these almond beauties that I keep going back. These were the first cookies I ever baked and posted. Today I'm just reposting the exact same recipe, nothing to fault there, with new photos and a video to make it easier for you to bake these almond cookies. Now you have absolute no reason not to. Right?

I would have never got around to baking anything if it weren't for a quarter packet of unsalted butter staring at me every time I opened the fridge. Frankly, I can't even remember why I bought that butter and when I used parts of it. I've been racking my brain but got nothing so far. So because I was actually bored of seeing that butter in the fridge, I decided I need to bake something. I had excess almonds available, so I got around to baking these oldies again.

Making these cookies is very very easy. All you need is 7-8 ingredients at room temperature. I use a mix of maida or all purpose flour and atta or whole wheat flour, just because I stay a little far from all purpose flour when I can. If you like you can use only all purpose flour or only whole wheat flour. The whole wheat flour here adds to the nuttiness of the cookie and is pretty much unnoticeable. I coarsely ground the almonds, you can also chop the almonds or add extra chopped almonds to give it a more almond-y taste. I plan to add the chopped almonds next time.

The important thing while baking cookies is to not over-mix the mixture. Over-mixing will give you harder cookies, so mix everything until just combined. Also, don't overdo the creaming of the butter, it is a cookie not a cake, so don't incorporate a lot of air in there. I made one batch with the full 100 gms of sugar and found it a tad too sweet. Hence, here in this recipe, I added only 3/4th of the sugar first and then added more as required.

It is recommended to chill the cookie dough before baking as it prevents the cookie from spreading too much. If you are short for time, freeze it for 15 minutes. This cookie dough did not slice well for me as it had almond pieces, so I rolled them instead of just slicing the dough. Once all that is done, just bake the cookie until it is slightly browned on the sides. When you remove the cookies out, they will feel soft, allow them to cool and they will firm up.

These Almond Cookies are crisp and not chewy. They taste great when dunked into a hot cup of chai. Don't you just love dunking your biscuits or cookies in chai? So I'm off to eat my cookies with chai.

Happy Weekend!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Eggless Almond Cookies Recipe | Badam Biscuit Recipe

Eggless Almond Cookies or Badam Biscuits. Crisp buttery cookies made with almonds.

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     40 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Total time:     60 minutes
Yield:                35 cookies

Ingredients:

0.75 cup or 125 gms Unsalted Butter
0.5 cup or 50 gms Flour (Maida)
1 cup or 100 gms Whole Wheat Flour (Atta)
0.5 cup or 100 gms Sugar
0.75 cup or 100 gms Almonds
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
2 Tbsp Milk

Method:

1. Powder the sugar until fine.
2. Coarsely powder the almonds.
3. Take unsalted butter that is at room temperature into a large bowl.
4. Add in 3/4th of the powdered sugar and whisk until the sugar has mixed well and the butter is creamy.
5. Sift in the flour, whole wheat flour and baking powder.
6. Add the powdered almonds and vanilla essence and knead until combined. If it is too dry, add a little milk.
7. Taste the dough and add in more powdered sugar if required and knead again until combined.
8. Wrap in a plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
9. After 30 minutes, divide the cookie dough into 35 equal parts.
10. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
11. Shape the cookies and place on a greased baking sheet.
12. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until the edges are slightly browned.
13. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
14. Store in an air tight box once completely cooled.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Masala Bread Toast

Eggless Almond Chocolate Brownie

Cornflake Chocolate Cookie

Read more ...

Mumbai Masala Toast Recipe | Bombay Sandwich Recipe [Video]

Mumbai Masla Toast or Bombay Sandwich is a popular street side sandwich from Mumbai (Bombay). The sandwich is a stove top toasted sandwich that is stuffed with spiced potato mash, sliced vegetables and grated cheese. 

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

7 Years!!! I can't believe that's how long I have been meeting you guys at this very space!!

On 9th February 2012, I posted by very first recipe Sweet Potato Chips, and started this journey. I was such an amateur in this space of blogging. I was horrible at taking photos, I owned a point and shoot and clicked all my photos under tube lights at home. I didn't know how to edit them or even the right angle to take photos. While I won't claim I am an expert today, I think I have grown leaps and bounds since then in my photography. I was an absolute zero in social media promotion. This is still something, I feel I'm poor at, but I hope to improve this year. Likewise, there is so much I believe I have overcome and improved, and it was you guys who made it all possible.

I love you guys for encouraging me to keep doing this, the comments and feedbacks, that I received have just kept me going. A very big Thank You!!

I struggled for a while on deciding which recipe should mark this momentous occasion. Gee suggested this one as this is one of her favorites and I liked the idea. It ticked all the check boxes - Easy (check), Delicious (check), Indulgent (check), Snacks (check), Kid friendly (check), Family favorite (check). What more could I ask for?

So, today, apart from all the applause and thanks, I bring to you a very delicious street food dish - Mumbai Masala Toast, from the streets of, ehmmm..... Mumbai!! The coastal city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is home to some of the best street food. Vada Pav, Masala Pav, Pani Puri, Tava Pulao and so much more. And this Masala Toast or Bombay Sandwich is one of those many more street favorites. It is actually such a simple dish, but once you eat it you totally understand why thousands of people love it.

There are several variations of the dish, I am sharing one that I have eaten.

Mumbai Masala Toast is a vegetarian sandwich that is stuffed with so many flavorful things and then toasted. To build the perfect Mumbai Masala Toast, you will need:

• Butter. Butter is your friend, your very best friend, while making this sandwich, The street food cooks, do not shy away from it, and neither should you. So be generous, street food was never meant to be healthy. 
• After butter, embrace those potatoes. The spiced mash can be as simple as I have shared or full of spicy masalas like some folks make. Feel free to adjust the taste to your liking. 
• Then come in all the veggies - now that's the healthy part. Tomatoes, Onions, Beets and Capsicum. Add in cucumber if you are in the mood.
• Green chutney is added for more flavor. 
• Then add cheese, the more cheese, the better. 
• Once the tall sandwich is ready, it is toasted in a unique type of toaster. If you don't have that toaster, you can either grill the sandwich in a sandwich maker or you can toast it in a pan.

Serve these sandwiches while still hot, along with some piping hot adrak wali chai or ginger tea.

Happy Weekend to all you lovelies.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Mumbai Masala Toast Recipe

Mumbai Masala Toast or Bombay Sandwich is a popular street side sandwich from Mumbai (Bombay). The sandwich is a stove top toasted sandwich that is stuffed with spiced potato mash, sliced vegetables and grated cheese.

Recipe Type:  Snacks, Breakfast
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     15 minutes
Total time:     25 minutes
Yield:                6

Ingredients:

12 Bread slices
1.5 cups mashed boiled Potatoes
5-6 Curry leaves, finely chopped
1 Green Chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
2 Tbsp Oil
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 Tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
1 tsp Chat Masala (optional)
Salt to taste
Sliced Tomatoes
Sliced Onions
Sliced Capsicum
Sliced Beetroot
0.5 cup Green Chutney
1 cup grated Cheese
Butter as required

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds.
2. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add in the chopped curry leaves and green chilli.
3. Add the turmeric powder and the mashed potatoes and mix well.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Add chat masala now, if adding. Mix well.
6. Remove from heat and add in chopped coriander leaves and keep aside.
7. Apply butter on 2 slices of bread and then spread 1 tsp of green chutney on each of them.
8. Add the spiced potato mash on one slice of bread, over the chutney.
9. Place sliced tomato, onion, capsicum and beetroot over the potato mash.
10. Add in grated cheese and place the other bread slice with the chutney side down.
11. Grease the stove top toast maker with butter. If using a pan, grease the pan.
12. Apply butter on the outside of the sandwich and place in toaster or on pan.
13. Toast until both sides are golden brown and crisp.
14. Remove from heat and cut the sandwich into half with a sharp knife.
15. Serve hot with chutney or ketchup.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Masala Bread Toast

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich

Mediterranean Veg Sandwich

Read more ...

Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters Recipe | Broccoli Cutlets Recipe [Video]

Broccoli Zucchini Fritters or Tikkis are cutlets made from finely chopped broccoli, grated zucchini, carrots and peas along with some cheese and spices. The fritters are shallow fried in this video. Broccoli Zucchini Fritters are a fun way to eat the healthy vegetables. This recipe is kid-friendly and the perfect dish to sneak in vegetables to your children.

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It's a Fabulous Friday and I'm back with a snack recipe. I realized you can never have enough of those.

These fritters are so DELICIOUS, you won't even know they are made from such healthy ingredients. It has so many vegetables, it is almost a salad! So these fritters are made with one of my favorite veggies - Broccoli. I've been in love with the vegetable since I first tasted it. The taste, the texture, the color, I cannot get enough of it and I find it hard to accept that there are folks out there hating this awesome vegetable. 

You have to try these Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters if you are a Broccoli lover like me, and you have to especially try it if you hate Broccoli. This recipe will CONVERT you! Trust me when I say, you won't even realize that you ate it with all the delicious medley of flavors in there. 

So these cutlets or fritters are not just about the Broccoli, as I mentioned, it is practically a salad, just shaped beautifully and shallow fried, but a salad nevertheless. It has the added goodness of carrots, now all of us love carrots, right? Now tell me you definitely love Zucchini. I totally do. Carrots, eh, not so much, but Zucchini, I can do so much with. Zucchinis are so versatile, use them in Zoodles, use them as a Lasagna sheet, or you can use them in a frittata like I did. Then I just added in some frozen green peas, because I just wasn't satisfied with all the other healthy ingredients... ok, jokes apart, the peas add a slight sweetness and texture that I really really like.

Some points...

• To make these fritters, the veggies are microwaved before mixing in the other ingredients. This helps in reducing the batter getting moist at a later time. You can also lightly saute the veggies or just steam them slightly before using. 
• Soaked and crumbled bread is added to help bind the veggies together. You can use bread crumbs instead. 
• I used Pizza Cheese, which is a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Use any cheese you have. I recommend something that melts easily.
• Deep fry or bake if you desire, I found shallow frying gives it the texture I desired without using too much of oil.

These cutlets are kid friendly and a perfect way to sneak in vegetables to your children.

These Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters are a perfect appetizer to serve for dinners or as a fancy tea time snack. 

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters Recipe

Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters are shallow fried vegetarian cutlets made from broccoli, zucchini, carrots and green peas.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Total time:     35 minutes
Yield:                Makes 8 cutlets

Ingredients:

1 cup finely chopped Broccoli
0.25 cup Green Peas
1 Carrot, grated
1 small Zucchini, grated
2 slices Bread
0.5 cup Pizza cheese, grated
2 Tbsp Corn flour (corn starch)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Oil to fry

Method:

1. Add chopped broccoli and green peas to a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes.
2. Squeeze out the water from the zucchini and add to the bowl along with grated carrot.
3. Microwave on high for another 2 minutes.
4. Add grated cheese, cornflour, salt and pepper to the bowl and mix well.
5. Soak the bread in water and squeeze out the water. Crumble the bread and add to the bowl. Mix well.
6. Divide the batter and shape into patties.
7. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the patties in it.
8. Flip when the first side browns.
9. Remove from oil once both sides browns.
10. Serve hot with ketchup.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Curried Rice and Zucchini Fritters

Dahi Kebab

Millet Cutlets

Read more ...

Instant Oats Idli Recipe [Video]

Oats Idli is a steamed cake made of oats and semolina. It is a healthy take on the popular South Indian breakfast of rice idli.

So what have you guys been up to? I know I missed posting last week, but I won't make any excuses. I'm just happy I managed to get a post this week.

But in between we got a lot of new additions to the house. 

In came some mango wood wall shelves that helped us drag out all our travel memoirs. I'm so happy I now get to display all the souvenirs we've collected over the years. If you've missed reading about our recent travels, you can now read them here. 

We also finally got a dining table!!! Since we never ate at the table, I never missed having one. But now that I have one, I love it. We had so many discussions and measurements until we finalized on a teak rectangle four seater. I cannot believe we contradicted each other on pretty much everything about the table - the size, the color, the shape. I wonder how we ever buy anything!! Now all I have to ensure is that the table is clutter free.

Straying back to our recipe of the day - Oats Idli. If you've ever been around a South Indian, you have to know how much we love our idlis. Idlis are light fluffy steamed rice cakes made by steaming a batter made from fermenting ground rice and black lentils. While that is healthy too, I now have a healthier version for you, and on the plus side, a quicker version too. 

Raise your hand if you hate oats but still want to include them in your diet for all the health benefits it gives you. That is exactly what inspired me to make these idlis. Raj hates oats, he'll only eat them if he doesn't know it is in the dish. So these oat idlis were the perfect place to hide them. These idlis are made with oats and semolina (cream of wheat) instead of the rice and lentils. Sour yogurt or curd is used to give it the slightly fermented taste. 

To make the idlis light and fluffy, I used Fruit Salt or Eno. To ensure that you don't end up with hard idlis, always have the steamer hot and ready for steaming before adding in the fruit salt to the batter. Once you add the fruit salt, don't over mix, just make sure it is combined and add it to the plate or bowl you want to steam the idlis in.

While I used rolled oats this time, I have made it in the past with oat meal too. Use either one of them to get the same results - Soft fluffy healthy Oats idlis. Serve them with traditional coconut chutney and piping hot sambar for best results.

Psst... All the pics in this photo are clicked on our new table :)


If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Oats Idli Recipe

Oats idli is a steamed cake made from oats and semolina. It is a healthier version of the popular south Indian breakfast of rice idli. This is an instant recipe and does not require any fermenting.

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     15 minutes
Total time:     45 minutes
Yield:                10 idlis

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled Oats or Oat meal
0.5 cup fine Semolina (chiroti rava) or cream of wheat
1 cup sour Yogurt or curd
0.75 cup grated Carrot
2 Tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
10-12 Cashewnuts
1.5 Tbsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 finely chopped Green Chilli
1 Tbsp Chana Dal
1.5 tsp Fruit Salt or Eno
1 Tbsp chopped Curry leaves
Salt to taste
Water as required

Method:

1. Powder the oats until smooth.
2. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.
3. Once they splutter, add in chopped curry leaves and chana dal. Saute for 30-45 seconds.
4. Add in split cashew nuts and fry until the cashews brown slightly.
5. Add the semolina and saute for 4-5 minutes until the semolina is fragrant.
6. Add in the powdered oats and fry for 2-3 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
8. Add grated carrot, chopped coriander leaves, salt and whisked yogurt to the dry ingredients.
9. Mix well and keep aside for 10-15 minutes. If the batter feels very dry, add a little water. The consistency of the batter is slightly thicker than usual idli batter.
10. Heat up the steamer and grease the idli plate or small bowls.
11. Add the fruit salt and a little water and mix well until combined.
12. Pour spoonful of batter onto the greased idli plate or bowls.
13. Steam for 10-12 minutes.
14. Demould and serve hot with chutney or sambhar.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Paddu

Rava Idli

Battalu Kadabu

Read more ...

Boondi Raita

Popular Indian accompaniment made with yogurt, boondi (fried gram flour balls) and spices.

Namaste guys!! Happy friday, it is weekend, almost!! I hope you are planning for a relaxing weekend.

I've realised that my weekends are busier than my weekdays. I plan every Sunday night, that my next weekend will be relaxed and I won't take on more than I can do, but come weekend, and I'm either cleaning or cooking or gardening and by Sunday night, I need another weekend to recover from my weekend.

But this Sunday is relax-day for sure. It is my Birthday!!! and seriously who cooks or does laundry on their birthday. So I'm all ready to chill out and eat what others have cooked. I've made dinner plans with family for Saturday night and I plan to spend the d-day at home reflecting on my year's achievements. Not really!!! I just plan to not plan anything for Sunday, cause I'm tired of planning. So let's see how Sunday goes, I'll keep you updated on Instagram (may be).

Anyway, this Boondi Raita is as chill as I want to be. It is my favorite kind of raita. Raita is a popular Indian condiment or accompaniment to spicy rice dishes like Biryani. Raita is always made with yogurt and either cooked or raw vegetables, sometime, fruits like pineapple too (I love this one too). In this case it is made with Boondi. Boondi is fried gram flour balls. Boondi can be sweet or savory, in the raita, we always use the savory one. The boondi is soaked in warm water until it gets soft and added to whisked dahi or yogurt or curd and a mix of spices are added to mildly flavor the raita. You can find boondi in the snacks section of supermarket or you can buy "Raita Boondi" online.

Raita is best served slightly cool or at room temperature. It is cooling accompaniment to any spicy meal. 

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto. 

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

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Boondi Raita

Raita is a popular yogurt based Indian accompaniment to rice dishes. Boondi raita is made with yogurt, spices and savory fried gram flour balls called boondi. 

Recipe Type:  Side
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     5 minutes
Total time:     20 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

0.5 cup Boondi
1 cup thick Yogurt
0.5 tsp Chaat Masala
0.25 tsp Red Chilli Powder
0.25 tsp Cumin Powder
2-3 Tbsp Water
1 Tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
Salt to taste
Water as required

Method:

1. Heat water until it is warm on the stove or in the microwave.
2. Remove from stove/microwave and add in the boondi. Let it soak for 8-10 minutes.
3. Whisk the yogurt until smooth and add in the spices.
4. Add salt to taste. The chaat masala has added salt, so add it before adding in regular salt.
5. Drain out the boondi and add to the whisked yogurt.
6. Add water if it is too thick.
7. Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.
8. Serve cool with Biryani and Pulao.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Homemade Yogurt

Vegetable Souvlaki Rolls

Dahi Bread Chaat

Read more ...

Achari Bhindi Dahiwali | Spicy Okra Curry with Yogurt [Video]

Pan fried okra cooked in a curry made with pickle spices and yogurt.

There are 2 kinds of people in the world, one who love Okra or Bhindi and one that wouldn't be caught dead eating it. I was a latter, I hated bhindi all through my childhood - I mean which kid really enjoys the slime? Until about 5 years ago, when I had run out of veggies to cook for the day, I picked up some fresh bhindi and decided I could try to convert the hate to at least a tolerable feeling. Frankly, all I needed to do that was learn how to cook the okra correctly. See my tips below.

I have the following tips to cook the okra, just right:

• The first tip for cooking okra, if you don't like slime, is to never cover it while cooking. Cook the okra in an open pan, always.
• Preferably use a flat pan and do not crowd it. A wok or a kadhai, ends up steaming a few pieces of okra at least, and when steamed, okra tends to get slimy.
• Be liberal with the oil. If cooking on a stove, use sufficient oil. The oil helps make the okra crispy and stops it from steaming. If you want to use less oil, grill the okra in a pan in the oven. This recipe tastes equally delicious with grilled okra.
• Cook okra on medium to high heat stirring regularly. Okra cooked in low heat, again, tends to get slimy.
• Avoid adding water to the okra while cooking. Okra loves oil, let it cook in oil alone. Don't add any water or any ingredients that may leave their juices (like tomatoes) until the okra is almost cooked.

Once I had mastered the art of cooking okra, there was no turning back. I've made okra innumerable times since then, and loved it.

This Achari Bhindi Dahiwali translates simply into Pickled Okra in Yogurt. This curry uses the pickling spices used in North Indian pickles. While the okra is not pickled, it is cooked with a spice blend made inspired by the pickles. Pickle spices usually include - fennel seeds (saunf), carom seeds (ajwain), mustard seeds (rai), fenugreek seeds (methi dana), asafoetida (hing) and dried mango powder (amchur). I have reduced the quantity of fenugreek seeds as they are bitter in taste. 

To make this recipe vegan, use vegan yogurt like cashew yogurt or coconut yogurt.

To make Achari Bhindi Dahiwali, we first slice the okra lengthwise. You can chop it how you please, lengthwise just made it visually appealing to me. The okra is pan fried with oil. I've made it before by grilling the okra in the oven, the curry tastes the same and uses a lot less oil.

Then the gravy is made by cooking onions and tomatoes with the pickling spices and blending it. Whisked yogurt is added to the gravy to finish it off. Toss in the cooked okra and serve it hot with rotis.

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Achari Bhindi Dahiwali

Okra cooked with Indian pickle spices and whisked yogurt. Bhindi curry made with North Indian achaar masala and dahi.


Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:          North Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     45 minutes
Yield:              2-3 Servings

Ingredients:

25 small Okra (bhindi)
1 Onion
1 Tomato
1 cup Yogurt (dahi)
4 Tbsp Oil
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
0.5 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tbsp Fennel Seeds (Saunf)
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Carom seeds (Ajwain)
4-5 Fenugreek Seeds (Methi dana)
1 tsp Dry Mango Powder (Amchur)
Pinch of Asafoetida (Hing)
Handful of Coriander leaves
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Dry roast the fennel seeds, mustard seeds, carom seeds and fenugreek seeds.
2. Grind them to a fine powder along with the asafoetida and the dry mango powder. Keep aside.
3. Heat 2 Tbsp Oil in a flat pan and add the chopped bhindi to it. Saute until the bhindi are soft and cooked. Never cover the bhindi while cooking, it will tend to get slimy. Remove and keep aside.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp Oil in the same pan and add the ginger garlic paste.
5. Once the ginger-garlic is fragrant, add finely chopped onions and fry until translucent.
6. Add in chopped tomato and stir well.
7. Mix in the achari spice blend we made earlier along with salt and turmeric powder and cook until the tomatoes are soft.
8. Blend into a fine paste with little water once cooled slightly.
9. Heat the remaining oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds.
10. Once they brown slightly, add the blended paste and cook on low heat for 4-5 minutes.
11. Stir in whisked yogurt and red chilli powder. Adjust seasoning if required. Cook for 2-3 minutes on low heat.
12. Add the pan fried bhindi and mix well. Simmer for 4-5 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.

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