Thursday, October 26, 2006

Sweet Pongal

Pongal is a name of festival celebrated in the southern India. it is called Sankranti in some states. It is a harvest festival. there is a spicy version of pongal too.

Sweet Pongal is a sweet rice and lentil dish. A speciality generally made on 14th January in the southern part on India on the occasion on the harvest festival. You can use the whole green gram instead of the broken green gram(dal). It is more nutritious . only the colour will change a little.

Ingredients :
· rice – 1 cup
· Moong dal(Green gram) – ½ cup
· Jaggery or sugar – 11/2 cup. (jaggery tastes better)
· Ghee – 2 tbsp
· Cashew nuts – 7-8
· Raisins – 1 tbsp
· Cardamom powder ¼ tsp
· Grated fresh coconut or desccicated coconut 1 cup
· Water -3 cups

Preparation : dry roast moong dal lightly. Wash rice. Add mong dal to the rice. Add 3 cups water and pressure cook as you cook plain rice.

Heat ghee in a pan. Fry cashew nut pieces and raisins. Keep aside.

Mix jaggery and ½ cup water and bring to boil. When jaggery melts, add the cooked rice/dal mixture, grated coconut. Mix and cook on slow fire. Add cashew, raisins, cardamom powder, ghee and mix well. Serve Hot.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Methi(Fenugreek leaves)/ Spinach dal.


This is a very tasty dish. You can serve it as a snack or as an accompanyment to a main meal. You can use only methi leaves or only spinach leaves or a combination of both. Even children, who dislike eating greens love it.
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Methi/spinach vatli dal.

Ingredients: chana dal 1 cup, 1 cup methi/spinach leaves chopped, 4 green chillis , 1/2 inch ginger piece, 3 garlic flakes, salt to taste , hing, 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut, 1 tea spoon lime juice .

Method: Soak chana dal for 1 hour. Grind together chana dal , green chilli, ginger, garlic, curry leaves, salt. Mix chopped methi/spinach leaves. In a pan, heat oil, and mustard seed and cumin seed . when they stop spluttering, add asafotida, turmeric powder, curry leaves. Add ground mixture. Mix well. Cover and cook on slow fire for 10 minutes. Add grated coconut, lime juice, chopped coriander leaves. Serve as accompaniment with a meal or as a snack.

Sweet Coconut rice (Narali Bhat)

This is a very easy to prepare sweet rice. If the rice is already cooked, it takes only 10-15 minutes to make this dish. My husband loves it.
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Sweet Coconut rice.

Ingredients : 1 cup rice. 1 cup freshly grated coconut.
1 ½ cup Jaggery or sugar(Jaggery tastes better). ½ teaspoon cardamom powder.
8-10 cashew nuts pieces. Raisins. 2 ½ cup water.
2 tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter).

Preparation method :
· Wash rice and keep aside for ½ hour. Pressure cook with 2 cups of water till just done.
· Boil jaggery and ½ cup water till jaggery melts.
· Heat ghee in a big pan, fry cashew nut pieces. Remove from ghee.
· In the same ghee, add cooked rice, jaggery syrup, freshly grated coconut. Mix well and cook covered on low fire for 10 minutes. When the syrup is absorbed by rice, add fried cashew nuts, raisins, cardamom powder. Add some more ghee if desired. Mix well. Serve.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Gojju- spicy vegetable curry

Gojju is a special Karnataka dish. It is a combinations of all tastes. spicy, chilli hot, sour and sweet. It is made with a variety of vegetables. Onions, tomatoes, brinjals, ladies finger, bitter gourd etc. It is a great accompaniment for both rice and roti/chapati/bread/nan. I am giving here a simple receipe of tomato gojju.

Ingredients : 1 large onion chopped, 4 large tomatoes chopped, 3-4 green chilies or 1/2 teaspoon green chilli paste, 2 tbsp jaggery, 2 tbsp grated coconut, salt to taste, 2 tbsp oil, 1 tea spoon mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seed(jeera), a pinch of asafotieda, curry leaves, coriander leaves, 1/2 teaspoon of chopped ginger.

Preparation method: In a pan, heat oil. add mustard seeds. when the seeds start spluttering, add cumin seed, chopped onion. Fry for some time. add ginger, green chillies. Continue frying for a few minutes. Add curry leaves, tomatoes. Stir and let cook covered for 10 minutes on low flame. Add jaggery , salt, grated coconut. Add water if necessarry. cook further for 10 min more. Gojju is ready to serve.