Bisi Bela Bath

This is a Karnataka (kannada) dish which is eaten as a dish which is a mixture of rice, and dal with vegetables.

Ingredients:

1. Rice 1 cup
2. Tur Dal 3/4 cup
3. Vegetables *
4. Tamarind if paste 1 and half table spoon, otherwise take a lemon sized ball of tamarind
5. salt to taste.
6. oil for garnishing and frying
7. Ghee about 2 to 4 t spoons.
8. ground nuts about 2 to 3 table spoons.
9. mustard seeds , channa dal for garnishing and curry leaves for garnishing.

* Vegetables to use are ash gourd (Vella pooshanikkai) a small bit, bangalore kattarikkai half or one (squash), Beans 50 gms , Capsicum 1/2 , Carrots medium sized one. peas 100 gms. tomatoes 2 medium sized.

The above vegetables which ever is available can be used, but potato and onion, okra (ladies finger) , egg plants are normally not used. If drumsticks are available they can also be used.

For the bisi bela bath Masala.

1. channa dal 1 and 1/2 t spoons
2. coriander seeds 2 t spoons
3. urad dal 1 t spoon
4. red dried chillies 8 or 9
5. 1 small bit of cinnamon stick
6. jeera 1 t spoon
7. black pepper few seeds.
8. asafotida a small bit or 1/2 t spoon powder
9. copra or dried coconut grated 3 to 4 table spoon
10. oil for frying the ingredients

Method:

Fry grated coconut till light brown in a 'kadai' or a thick bottomed pan. keep aside.

with half t spoon of oil fry all the ingredients mentioned till the urad dal, and channa dal becomes golden brown.

grind the masala including the fried coconut into a powder. now add one cut tomato and grind this into a paste and keep it aside.

soak the tur dal for an hour or so and then cook the dal in a pressure cooker. keep aside.

cook the rice in the pressure cooker. keep aside.

cut the vegetables into small square pieces.

In a kadai pour little oil and fry the ground nuts and soak the fried ground nuts in water .keep aside.

In the same kadai pour 1 t spoon of oil, put mustard seeds and once it splutters add the curry leaves and then add the cut capsicum. fry a little bit and add all the other vegetables and fry for few minutes. Remove from kadai. (for taste one green chilli can also be fried along with capsicum)

Put the fried vegetables in the pressure cooker and add the tamarind paste mixed with 1/2 cup of water. (if tamarind is used take out the juice from the tamarind. For this it has to be soaked in hot water before you start the cooking process.)

add salt.

add the soaked ground nuts and cut and add one tomato.

pressure cook this.

Mixing:

Take a thick bottomed big vessel keep on the stove, add the cooked rice, cooked dal, the boiled vegetables, the ground masala paste and mix it well. In another kadai take 2 table spoons of oil and add mustard seeds, once it splutters, add 1 or 2 t spoons of channa dal and once brown pour this over the mixed rice . add the ghee also and mix well. once the whole rice is thoroughly mixed with vegetables and dal switch off the stove and serve hot.

Milagu Kulambu

This is good for your stomach if taken with rice once a month or so.

Ingredients:

1. Black pepper/Milagu 1 Table Spoon.
2. Red Chillies/Milagai vattal 3 or 4
3. Urad Dal 1 Table spoon
4. Channa Dal 1 T spoon
5. Coriander seeds/dhaniya 1 T spoon
6. Tamarind/Puli size of a lemon/if paste use 1 and 1/2 Table spoon.
7. Asafotida/Hing small bit/1/2 T spoon powder
8. Jeera 1 T spoon
9. Oil 1 Table spoon
   
10. Curry leaves 2 hand full
11. Salt to taste
12. mustard seeds little
    

Soak Tamarind in hot water and take the (thick) tamarind juice . If paste add little water and keep aside.
Fry all the above ingredients ( blackpepper, jeera, urad dal, channa dal, dhaniya, red chillies, asafotida ) in a thick bottomed vessel with little oil. When urad dal turns brown add the curry leaves and fry for some more time.
Grind the fried items into a paste adding little water.
Keep the kadai/thick bottomed vessel on the stove and add oil and put mustard seeds. Once it splutters add the paste and turn it over a little. Add the tamarind water and salt to taste. Stir well. Let the mixture boil well and once it is thick and in the right consistency of 'milagu kulambu' remove from stove.

This can be kept for 2 / 3 days even in normal temperature. it will not get spoil t. If kept in Fridge can be used for longer period.

Coriander chutney/Kothamalli Thuvayal

This dish can be eaten mixed with cooked rice and can also be eaten as side dish with any Indian Breads.(Chapathi etc).

1. Ingredients:

1. Coriander a few bunches
   
2. Urad Dal 1 table spoon
3. Red dried chillies 2
   
4. Channa Dal 1 t spoon
   
5. Tamarind a very small bit, if paste very little
6. Asafotida powder 1/2 t spoon (optional)
7. Salt to taste
8. Cooking oil 1 t spoon

Fry the dals and chillies and asafotida in a 'Kadai' or a thick bottomed pan till brown. Add the tamarind and salt and mix and keep this separate. In the same Kadai put the cut and cleaned coriander leaves and turn around with a ladle for a few minutes. Switch off the stove.
Grind the dals in a mixer/blender and it will become powder. Now add the coriander leaves and grind it into a thick paste adding very little water. Once the paste is smooth remove and keep it in a bowl the chutney is ready.
Second Method.
This also can be done in a different way using fresh green chillies and fresh coconut.
Method is same. Fry the dals without the red chillies (not needed for this method)
Remove the fried dals and put the coriander leaves in the 'kadai' and also 2 green chillies and fry for few minutes. While grinding , after the dals are powdered add the coriander leaves, green chillies and also fresh grated cocnut about 2 table spoons.
once it is ground to a paste the chutney is ready.

'Adai'

Adai is another South Indian Tamil dish which is exclusively prepared by Tamil people.
It is also made like a Dosa on a Hot Plate or Dosai Kallu. This is much more healthier as lots of lentils are used in this dish.
Ingredients:

1. Raw Rice 1/2 cup
2. boiled idli rice 1/2 cup (alternately one cup of raw rice can also be used)
3. urad dal 1/3rd cup
4. channa dal 1/3 cup
5. tur dal 1/3 cup
6. black small chick peas a hand ful
7. green chillies 2 or 3
8. red chillies 3 to 4
9. ginger a small bit
10. Asafotida /perungayam little
11. salt to taste (approximately 1 and 1/2 t spoons )
12. curry leaves and coriander leaves
13. one onion cut into small bits.(optional)
14. 1 to 2 table spoons of grated coconut (optional)
15. oil for making the adai on the hotplate.

Method:

• Soak the rice and the three dals together for 4 to 5 hours

• Soak the chick peas separately for 4 to 5 hours.

• Grind the drained chick peas with chillies, ginger, asafotida, salt into a nice paste in the mixer.

• Drain the water from the dals and add this on top of the paste into the mixer and grind it into a little coarse batter. (If you want smoother 'adai' you can grind this also into a smooth batter.

• Cut the coriander and curry leaves and mix it thouroughlly with the batter.
• Add the grated coconut and mix it well.
• Use the batter to make adai immediately or keep the batter inside the fridge so as to take it out when ever you want to make adai, as this batter should not be kept outside for raising like dosa batter.

• Onion should be cut into very small pieces and added to the batter just before making the adai.

• Heat the dosai kallu very well and make the adai adding oil around the adai and this should be done on a medium flame and wait till the adai becomes golden brown and then turn it around.
• Unlike dosa the adai takes a little longer time to get crisp.

• Eat it with ' sambhar' or 'vellam' (jaggery).

• Adai aviyal is a famous dish in the South Indian Restaurants but some how I don't like the combination of adai with avial
• A little butter on top of the hot adai will add to the taste very much but watch your weight!!

Dosai/Idli Maavu (Batter)

• Dosai is generally called Dosa and I am going to give tips as to how to make the basic batter or maavu.

• Dosai is made out of Rice and Urad dal.

• At home, the Maavu is same for Idli and Dosai and normally the first two days idlis are made and then dosai is made with the same batter .

• If you have a typical Idli Grinder:

• Soak 4 cups of rice for 6 hours. 1 cup of urad dal for one hour.
  

• For this raw rice can be used. if you need good idlis it is better to use idli rice which is boiled rice which is specially used for making idlis and dosas.
  

• For best results use 3 cups of idli rice and 1 cup of raw rice.

• Soak 1 cup of urad dal just one hour prior to your grinding time.

• Grind the rice into a nice batter in the grinder keep aside and then grind the urad dal separately.

• While grinding the urad dal keep adding little water so that you get a fluffy smooth batter.

• Add 1 and half table spoon of salt and mix both the batters thouroughlly with hands and keep for the maavu to raise. (yeast is formed which makes this dish very healthy)

• Normally it is kept over night at normal temperature. (around 30 degree C).

• This can be stored in the fridge for upto 10 days.

• Before making idlis, keep the batter out side the fridge for some time. Just mix the maavu lightly and make idlis for the first two days so that you will get soft idlis.

• Then onwards mix the maavu thoroughly and make dosas.

• Dosas can be made from first day also after mixing the maavu nicely.

• One table spoon of vendhiyam (fenugreek seeds) can be added to the urad dal and ground together for better results and healthier idlis and dosas.

• One table spoon of 'aval' or rice flakes can be added to the rice while grinding it so that you get crispier dosas.

• If you don't have a grinder and you have only the normal mixer here is what should be done:

• Soak 3 cups of Rice and 1 cup of urad dal. the soaking time for urad dal is same . (just one hour )

• Use only raw rice as it is tough to grind the boiled idli rice in the mixer.

• While grinding the dal use ice cold water for fluffy batter.

• Alternately you get what is called 'idli' rava in the stores and you can buy it and just mix some water with it and make it into a batter , just grind the urad dal and mix both adding salt.

• This batter will be nice only for idlis as the idli rava is coarse and dosa will not come out smooth.

• The best and easiest method to make dosa while you have only the mixer:

• Just soak 2 cups of raw rice and one cup of urad dal together for around 4 to 5 hours. you can add some fenugreek seeds and also a little rice flakes.

• Grind them into a paste using cold water. add salt.
  
• Keep it outside the fridge for about 6 to 8 hours and you can make crisp nice dosas with this batter.

Tomato Soup

The Receipes I write in these blogs are tried by me many times and come out quite well.
Ingredietns:

1. Ripe Tomatoes 1 kg
2. Onion 1,or if big 1/2
3. Garlic 1 small (optional)
4. Carrot 1 small bit (optional)
5. Elachi or Cardomom few pods
6. Cinnamon stick 2 inch bit
7. Cloves few
8. Black Peppers few
9. Cumin seeds or Jeera 1 t spoon
10. Jeera powder 1 t spoon
11. Coriander seed powder 1 t spoon
12. Chilli powder 1 t spoon
13. Turmeric powder 1/2 t spoon
14. Sugar 1/2 t spoon
15. Pepper powder 1 t spoon
16. Salt to taste
17. oil 1 to 2 tspoons
18. Maida (all purpose flour) 1 tablespoon
19. Butter 1 to 2 tspoon
20. Milk 1/2 cup
21. lemon 1/2 (juice extracted without seeds)

Method:
Cut the onions.
Take a Thick bottomed vessel and add the oil. when the oil gets heated put the jeera, pepper, cloves, elachi, cinnamon stick and fry for a few minutes. Add the cut onions and garlic. when the onions turn light brown , cut and add the tomatoes and the carrot bit. add jeera powder, coriander powder, pepper powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and sugar. Now add 6 to 8 cups of water. keep the vessel closed and let it boil for 1/2 an hour. when the tomatoes are fully cooked and the water level has reduced, switch off stove.
Cool this and strain it through a metalic strainer. Strain it very well till all the juice comes out of the tomatoes and the other ingredients. now sqeeze the half lemon add the lemon juice after removing the seeds.
This base can be kept in fridge for a week or so.
When you want to serve the soup, take out the required quantity of soup and add milk. (For one kg of tomatoes 1/2 cup of milk will be needed. if less quantity of soup is to be served add less milk.)
Take kadai heat the butter add the maida. Stir it well and add the soup to the maida so that the soup gets thickened. Make sure there are no lumps of maida and the soup has a smooth texture.
Serve it hot adding fried bread crumps which can be fried separately and kept in a closed container so as to add when ever it is needed.
Fresh Cream can also be added while serving on top of the hot soup.
Pepper powder and salt can be added as per taste from the dispensers.

Variation for added taste:
Cut a small piece of Pumpkin and add it when you add the carrots in the soup.  Then when you strain the soup after it is cooled down  you will get a thicker soup.  when you strain the  soup if you can not get the whole juice out of the mixture , just blend  it in a mixer and then strain  so that  it can be strained fully.

Rava Upuma or Uppittu

This is a South Indian dish eaten as breakfast or 'tiffin'. This in itself is a complete meal and can be prepared very quickly and easily.

Ingredients:

1. Rava or Semolina 1 cup
2. Oil 1 to 1 1/2 table spoons.
3. Mustard seeds 1 t spoon
4. Broken urad dal 1 t spoons
5. Channa dal 1 t spoon
6. Green chillies 4 or 5
7. Ginger 1 small piece
8. Curry leaves 1 or 2
9. Coriander leaves few (optional)
10. Onion 1 medium size
11. Vegetables few beans, 1/2 carrot, 1 small potato, a small bit egg plant, small bit bell pepper, (simla mirch or kodai milagai), few peas
12. Salt to taste
13. Turmeric powder 1/2 t spoon
14. Ghee 1 to 2 tspoon Optional
15. water 2 to 2 1/2 cupts

Method:

Fry the rava in a dry Kadai or iluppa chatti till light brown. 1 t spoon of ghee can be added while frying for additional taste. keep it aside.

Cur the onions, and other vegetables and chillies and ginger into very small bits.

Put the oil in the kadai and add the mustard seeds . Once it splutters add the urad dal and the channa dal when urad dal turns brown add the cut curry leaves and chillies and ginger. Now add the cut onions. fry till light brown and add the other cut vegetables. (all the vegetables need not be used what ever vegetable from the list given is available can be used.) add the salt and the turmeric powder. fry for a little time add the water. Cover it with a lid. Let it boil. Check if the vegetables are cooked. When done, Reduce the flame, and add the rava little by little and keep stirring the mixture with a sturdy spoon. Stir till there is no chunks of rava in between and all the ingredients are mixed evenly. Cover it and keep it for a few minutes. add the coriander leaves and the ghee and switch off the stove. Upuma is ready.

If no vegetable is available , it can be done only with onions. Even if onions are not availabe it can be done with just green chillies and rava which incidentally was known as 'grahana upuma' in our house, as it is very easy and fast to prepare this and we were supposed to fast during the eclipse (grahana) and eat any food only after taking bath after the eclipse is over. So our mom used to prepare this quickly and it used to taste so good after fasting for few hours!