Avial

Avial is I believe a Tamil/ Kerala version of the Kannada majjige huli. Majjige huli is made only from white pumpkin, but Avial has loads of vegetables. An awesome combination with dosa or adai (dal dosa). Don't fret if you don't have all the vegetables mentioned in the list, just add what you have at home and make your own version of avail like I did.

Avial

South Indian stew made with vegetables, coconut and yoghurt

Recipe Type:  Main Course
Cuisine:          South Indian
Prep Time:     20 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:              2-3 Servings

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Coconut
3 tsp Jeera / Cumin Seeds
2-3 Green Chillies
1 cup Curd / Yoghurt
2.5-3 cups of mixed Vegetables
4-5 Curry Leaves
2 tsp Oil
Water
Salt

Method:

• Cut all the vegetables roughly, appx 1” pieces.  Generally used vegetables for avail are Drumstick, Carrot, French beans, Yam, Pumpkin, Raw banana and brinjal. I did not have all these, so I used Carrot, French beans, brinjal, potato and capsicum.
• Boil water in a pan and add the vegetables to it and cook until they are done but still firm. Add the vegetables that take longer to cook first. Veggies like brinjal, capsicum, raw banana can be added after 3-4 mins.
• Grind together coconut, 2 tsp jeera and green chillies into a fine paste.
• Add the paste to the vegetables once the vegetables are done
• Add salt and 1 cup water and boil for 3-4 mins. Adjust the water according to the desired consistency.
• Beat the curd until smooth and add to the avial. Cook for 2 mins on low flame.
• Heat oil in a small pan and add the cumin seeds. Once they slightly brown, add the curry leaves and pour this tempering to the avial.
• Enjoy hot with rice or dosa.

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Rice tikkis

This was a busy week and an even busier weekend, so nothing much was cooked. Lunches and dinners were eaten out, cornflakes made it to the breakfast table. That left me with a little leftover rice from friday. So I decided to make rice tikkis as saturday evening snacks. These were relished by hubby dearest and one could not tell these were made from leftovers.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1.5 cups (cooked)
Sweet potato / Potato - 3/4th cup (peeled and grated)
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup (Chopped)
Curry leaves - 5-6
Chilli sauce - 2 tbsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Oil for frying

Method:

Pulse the rice in the mixer for around 2-5 seconds until it is slightly mashed.
Mix the rice with the grated potato/ sweet potato
Add the coriander leaves, curry leaves, chilli sauce, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt and around 3 tsp of oil
Knead for a few minutes to ensure everything is well mixed
Make small balls from the dough and flatten them
Heat a tava and grease it. You can also deep fry these. Deep fried ones taste better (as usual :))
Place the tikkis on the tava and spoon oil over them. I used at least 1 tsp oil per tikki.
Fry until brown on both sides.
Enjoy with ketchup.

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Aloo gobi

Sunday nights bring out mixed emotions… Weekend isn’t yet over but the week is visible at the horizon. Sunday nights confuse my brain, should I be happy that it is still the weekend? Or should I be sad that Monday is approaching? Whenever I am in confusion or in sadness, I find solace in food (hence, the weight issues).  So food has to be simple, so as not to add to the confusion, and tasty, so it improves my mood. Aloo gobi is a perfect meal for Sunday nights. Easy to make and yummy too. It is a recipe that can seldom go wrong. So go ahead and add a teaspoon of life to aloo gobi…

Ingredients:

Cauliflower – ½ large or 1 small

Potatoes – 2 medium

Onion  - 1 medium

Garlic – 2-3 cloves

Ginger – 1” piece

Green chillies – 1-2

Oil – 4 tsp

Cumin seeds / Jeera – 1 tsp

Kasuri methi – 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder / haldi – 1 tsp

Red chili powder – ½-1 tsp

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Coriander powder / Dhania powder – 2 tsp

Cumin powder / Jeera powder – 1 tsp

Hing – a pinch

Coriander leaves – a handful

Method:

Wash the cauliflower in warm water and salt and split into small florets

Peel and cube the potatoes

Cook the potatoes with water and salt until almost done (around 6-7 mins)

Heat oil in a kadhai and add the cumin seeds and chopped green chillies

Add crushed ginger and garlic and chopped onions. You may use ginger garlic paste instead.

Fry until the onion turns translucent.

Add kasuri methi, hing, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala, coriander powder and cumin powder

Fry for 1 min

Add the cauliflower florets and mix well

Cover and cooke for 7-8 mins until the cauliflower is almost done

Add the potatoes and salt and cover and cook until both potato and cauliflower are done

Serve hot with roti.

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Uppit / Upma

Uppit is easy breakfast to make in large quantities. I never liked uppit as a kid, but I think eating the breakfast available in my hostel mess, made me crave for things like uppit. As of most south Indian recipes, the taste of uppit can be altered by the addition/deletion of certain ingredients. You may add capscicum, dill leaves etc, to enhance the taste. You may also exclude vegetables mentioned below to get a different taste.



Uppit

Fry all the vegetable in oil

Add tomato to the fried vegetables

After the water evaporates, cover and rest until rava is cooked




Add coriander and freshly grated coconut and serve hot




 
Ingredients:

Rava/ Semolina – 1 cup
Water – 2.5 cups
Oil – 1-2 tbsp
Potato – 1 small
Carrot – 1 small
Beans – 8-10
Green peas – ¼ cup (optional)
Onion – 1 medium
Tomato – 2 medium
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1/2" piece
Green chillies – 2-3
Coriander leaves – a handful (optional)
Grated fresh coconut – 2 tbsp (optional)
Salt


Method:

Roast the rava in a kadhai.You can add a tsp of oil while roasting.

Roast for around 3-4 mins until it turns slightly brown. It may take longer. Make sure you don’t burn it.  Generally color and fragrance tell you it is done.
Heat oil in a kadhai. Add mustard seeds and jeera and allow them to splutter.
Add urad dal and crushed ginger piece.
Add finely chopped onion and slit green chillis and fry until the onions are translucent.
Add finely chopped potato, carrot and beans. Add the green peas.
Cover and allow to cook for around 6-7 mins until the vegetables are almost cooked.
Add tomato and cook for another 2 mins until the tomato softens
Add the water to the kadhai.
Add salt and allow the water to boil.
Once the water has boiled, add the roasted rava and cover and cook until all the water evaporates (approximately 3-5 mins)
Once the water has evaporated, cover the kadhai and rest for around 10 mins.
Add coriander and grated coconut and serve hot. 

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Sabudana Khichdi or Sabakki Khichdi

The moment I mention I'm making Sabudana Khichdi, I see lit up eyes at home. Sabudana Khichdi is a famous Mahashtrian Upvas (fasting) meal. It is basically a stir fry of fluffed up Sabudana or Sago Pearls with boiled potato and crushed peanuts.

For a long long time (read 18 years), I assumed Sabudana was a whole grain. The name is misleading. "Dana" means grain in Hindi, so I assumed it is a grain. Much later the internet opened my eyes to reality. It is a man made grain.

I don't know what to classify the Sabudana Khichdi as - slow food or fast food? It is super quick to make once you have fluffed up sabudana. But to get fluffed up sabudana requires some advance planning. I know the prep isn't as much, but you still need to soak the sabudana.

Everyone loves it when it is well made. There are so many ways to mess up this otherwise simple khichdi, go through the "Quick Tips" list below:

Quick Tips:

1) To get fluffy Sabudana or Sago, soak it in water for around 15-20 minutes. Then drain out the water completely. Cover and leave it to fluff for 2-3 hours.
2) If you plan to make it for breakfast, you can follow step (1) and then after draining out the water, cover and leave it in the fridge overnight.
3) If you do not remove the water completely, it tends to get sticky and becomes one big lump, so drain the water completely.
4) Do not soak for more than half hour to one hour depending on the variety of Sago / Sabudana you have, they tend to dissolve in water.
5) Don't add any water while cooking. If you need to loosen it, add oil. Water will make it sticky and gluggy.

Sabudana Khichdi or Sabakki Khichdi

A famous Maharastrian Upvas snack made with sabudana or sago pearls and peanuts.

Recipe Type:  Breakfast / Snacks
Cuisine:           Maharastrian
Prep Time:     2 hours
Cook time:     15 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup Sago Pearls or Sabudana
1 Potato(boiled, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes)
8-10 Curry leaves
1-2 Green Chilli (chopped)
3-4 Tbsp Peanuts
1/2 tsp Lime juice
4 tsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin seeds
Salt to taste
A handful of fresh Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

Wash the sabudana and leave it aside for 2-3 hours until the sabudanas are soft. In case you don't have enough time to leave it aside in the morning, wash them the previous night, drain the water and store in a box in the fridge. You can use it in the morning. Refer to the Quick Tips above for more info.
Roast the peanuts and grind them to a powder in a mixer. This can also be done the previous night and kept ready for morning. You can replace this with flax seed powder as well or roasted pumpkin seed powder.
Heat oil in a kadhai and add the cumin seeds. Once the seeds splutter, green chillis,curry leaves and potato.
Cook for around 1-2 mins. Add the sabudana and salt.
Stir on stove for around 2-3 minutes, then add the peanut powder. Mix well.
Remove from heat and add coriander and lime juice and serve hot.

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Batata Poha | Avalakki Uppit

Diwali mandated this dish in our house. Apparently when Rama was returning to Ayodhya after killing Ravana, he was served avalakki on the way by villagers. Hence, we make this every diwali. At least from what I know people in North Karnataka, Goa and Maharastra make this on diwali. I've heard the same story but with different dishes. People in mangalore claim Rama was given dosa, so they make dosa. People around Bangalore claim he was served akki rotti with pumpkin palya and they make that. But in my heart I will always believe he was served avalakki :) It isn't that this is made only on diwali, it is a very common breakfast dish anyway and very easy to make.
The type of avalakki or poha or flattened rice used differs between people. Nobody uses the paper variety for this dish though. Preferably medium or thick.

Batata Poha | Avalakki Uppit

Batata Poha or Avalakki Uppit is a popular breakfast in South and West India. It is made by stirfrying soaked poha or avalakki or flattened rice with potatoes. 

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     15 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

3 cups medium Poha (Avalakki/Flattened Rice)
1 small Onion, sliced
1 green Chilli, chopped
1 Potato, boiled and diced
3-4 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder (Haldi)
2 Tbsp Coriander leaves, chopped
1 Tbsp grated Coconut
1 Tbsp Lime juice
6-8 Curry leaves
Salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a kadhai.
Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds.
After the mustard seeds have spluttered, add the green chillies, curry leaves and chopped onion to the oil and fry until the onions turn translucent.
Once the onions are cooked add the potato and the turmeric powder. Mix well. Stir for 1 minute.
Wash the poha twice in water and drain the water immediately. This is for medium thick. In case you are using thick avalakki (it actually resembles rice), you may need to keep it soaked for sometime to make it soft. Soak it for at least 5 mins in warm water before starting to cook it.
Add poha to kadhai and mix well.
Add salt to taste.
Stir for sometime and remove off heat.
Add lime juice as per taste.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and grated coconut. Serve hot.

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