Tomato Curry/Takkali curry

A simpe tomato curry with coconut perfect to go with flat breads and rice.

Tomato-2 nos(sliced long)
Onion-1 medium(sliced long and thin)
Green chilli-1 no(sliced to round)
Turmeric-1/4 tsp
Red chili powder-1/2 tsp
Coriander powder-1/2 tsp
Grated coconut-1/8 cup+ 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Coconut Oil-2 tsp
Mustard-1 tsp
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves-1 tsp(chopped)

Method of preparation:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Sputter mustards and then add curry leaves.
2. Then add the chopped onion along with green chilies and fry them till it is golden brown and transparent.
3. Add tomatoes and mix well. cook for 2 minutes and then add the powders along with salt.
4. Mix well and cook it till tomatoes are soft.
5. Grind the coconut along with little water to a smooth paste.
6. Mix the coconut paste to the tomato mixture along with water to make a curry.
7. Heat the curry till the coconut mixture boils. Check for salt and add accordingly. Turn off the heat and then add the coriander leaves and mix well.
8. Serve with rice or with flat breads.

Chocolate Raspberry Sandwich Cookies

   Sometimes you just want to kill the evening when you have a super excited son and a completely drained mommy. Those are the times when I want him to sit with something instead of frog hopping or running. I offered him a lot of options like reading, painting and all he did was suggest me frog hopping and running...offcourse with a smile that I cant say No to..Then I finally decided to tell him I will give cookies if you go and play..oh come on you guys do that too...right... So after 5 minutes of playing he came running for the cookies. Now to fight with a 3 year old over cookies is something you rarely want to do...because they always win it...No matter what.:(..So finally there I was searching for a simple recipe with less work.

    That when I found this recipe and thought of keeping my son busy with it. So we started with the work. Mixing and rolling was done by me and half of the cutting as my son got quite bored after doing one set. He was much interested playing with all purpose flour as a powder.So at the end I had a completely white faced son..:), quite bit of white floor and these delicious cookies.

Raspberry Jam:

Raspberry-1 cup
Sugar-1 cup
Lemon juice-1/2 tsp

Method of preparation:
1. Wash the raspberries and pat them dry.
2. Add the sugar to raspberries and crush them little and set aside for 15 minutes.
3. Heat a pan and add this mixture to it. Mash the raspberries little more and cook the mixture till it boils and then add the lemon juice and mix till it becomes thick. It wont take much time.
4. Turn off the heat when its done and transfer it to a clean bottle.

Chocolate Cookies:

All Pourpose Flour -3/4 cup

Cocoa Powder-1/2 cup
Butter-6 tbsp(at room temp)
Salt a pinch
Brown Sugar-3/4 cup+ 1 tbsp
Egg-1 large
Vanilla-1 tsp

Method of Preparation:
1. In a bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.Beat in the egg and vanilla on low speed.
3. Add in the dry ingredients and mix well. Roll the dough into two balls and set aside in the refrigerator to chill for about 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Take a ball of dough and place it between two parcment papers. Now slightly press the dough and using a rolling pin roll it to 1/4 inch thick.
5. Using a cookie cutter cut out shapes. Do dip the cutter in flour to prevent sticking of the dough to cutter.
6. Place the cut out cookies on baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 mins. Let cool on a wire rack.
7. Once cooled transfer them to an airtight container. Five minutes before serving sandwich the jam between two cookies.

Notes:
1. When the dough becomes soft and difficult to handle keep it back in the refrigerator.

Rava Kesari

There was a time when we wanted to indulge in something sweet and dint have anything in hand. It was at that movement I realised about this sweet and rich dish. There was no second thought and I just whipped it up and we enjoyed it to the last spoon.
Rava kesari is a sweet made of rava, milk,sugar and ghee. Its very delicious and quite easy to prepare.

Rava- 1/2 cup
Milk-1 nd 1/2 cup
Sugar- 1 cup
Ghee-3 tbsp
Cardamom powder-a pinch
Cashews-2 tbsp
Raisins-2 tbsp
Orange food color-a pinch(optional)

Method of preparation:
1. Heat a pan on low and add about 1 and 1/2 tbsp of ghee into it.Add the cashews and raisins and fry them till golden brown. Drain and set aside.
2.  Now add the rava into it and roast it till it gives a nice aroma and has light golden color to it.
3. Heat the milk in another pan and once it gets boiled pour it into the rava and give a nice mix. Let the rava get cooked in the milk.
4. Once the rava is cooked add the sugar into it and mix well. This will end up into a runny mixture. Continue cooking and mixing and slowly the mixture starts to thicken.
5. Add the food color(if using) and give a good stir so that it mixes up well.
6. Then add the remaining ghee little at a time and mix to form almost a lump. The mixture shouldn't stick to bottom.
7. Now add the cardamom powder along with fried cashews and raisins and mix. Turn off the heat and serve warm.

Notes:
1. Cook on low flame to reduce the risk of burning milk or kesari.
2. Add sugar only after the rava is cooked completely.
3. You can add any nuts in there, though traditionally its just cashews and raisins.

Egg Cooked With Kasuri Methi

Simple spicy and quick side for rice.

Eggs-4 no(hard boiled)

Onion-1 medium(thinly sliced)

Green chili-1 no(slit)

Capsicum-1/4 piece(cut to cubes)

Tomato-1 no(thinly sliced)

Ginger garlic paste-1 tsp

Red chili powder-1/2 tsp

Biryani Masala-1 tsp

Salt to taste

kasuri methi-2 tsp

Oil-1 tbsp

Method of Preparation:

1.Heat oil add garlic paste and fry onions.When they turn soft and light brown add tomatoes and cook till mushy.

2. Then add the spice powders and mix. Cook the capsicum in this mixture till its soft and has crunch.

3. Add the kasuri methi and then half cut egg into it and mix well and softly.

4. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes and serve as side with rice.

Idli

Idlis with sambar and chutney is a traditional breakfast that you will find in  south Indian houses. They are made by steaming a batter of fermented  rice and urad dal.

Idli rice-1 cup
Whole Urud dal -1/2 cup(without skin)
Fenugreek Seeds-1/2 tsp
Water as required
Salt as required

Method of Preparation:

1. Wash the rice and urud.
2. Soak the rice with fenugreek and urud in different vessels with sufficient water over night or for min 4 hours.
3. Grind the urud first with the little soaked water to smooth paste.Add more water if needed. The end product should be a thick. So add water only if really needed. Transfer it to a big vessel.
4. Drain the water from the rice. Grind the rice and fenugreek using the water from the soaked urad dal. You can use plain water too.
5. Grind it to smooth but slightly coarse paste with minimal water.
6. Mix this with the urad paste. Add salt and mix it with clean hands for some time. The batter should be medium thick.
7. Set it on a warm place to ferment overnight. When the batter is fermented it will rise by the next day morning.

To make idlis:
1. Mix the batter nicely with the ladle. If batter is too thick add little water. Check for salt.
2. Pour water into the steamer and keep it to steam. Oil the idli tray.I prefer using coconut oil. Pour about 3/4 full of batter into the tray and keep it on heat and steam it for 10 minutes on medium heat.
3. By this time the idlis will be done.To check them insert a stick/back of spoon and if it comes out clean, remove the tray from heat. Using a spoon remove the idlis from the idli tray.  Pour more batter into the vessel and steam if making more idlis.Serve with chutney powder/chuney or sambar.