Khara Bhath

Khara Bath is nothing but Upittu with a gorgeous name. I got tempted to make it the way Pratibha made after she flaunted her awesome clicks. Basically anything with too much oil or ghee gets a 'no' ticket at home. But, I was heads over heels to make this...err..like this... 

                                                            (Aditya @17 months)

Here is the outcome ..

It was delicious. Akash and Nita (our helper), who dislike upittu, took two servings!

Ingredients:

Vegetables cut into very small pieces : Carrot, french beans, brinjal, onions

I added a half a handful of peas too.

Green Chillies, cut length wise:  6 (depending on the spice levels of chillies)

Ginger-Garlic Paste: 1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder: 1tsp

Semolina/Rava : 1 cup (250ml) (roast rava till fragrant, before you use it for upma)

Ghee : 4 tbsp (You can add more if u wish, this is the highlight of the dish which makes it a winner)

lemon juice : 1tbsp; coriander leaves chopped: 2tbsp and grated coconut : 2tbsp

Seasoning Ingredients : Mustard, Cashewnuts (handfull), chanadal (1tsp), uriddal(1tsp),curry leaves (few)

Method:

1. Heat ghee in a pan. Add cashew nut,chanadal, uriddal and fry till golden. Add curryleaves, greenchillies and fry for 30 sec.

2. Add onions, fry for 30 secs, and ginger garlic paster.

3.Add vegetables and fry till they are soft. Add little salt to aid quick cooking

4.Add 2.5 cups of water (use same cup to measure rava and water) and bring it to boil. Add salt. Mix well and lower the flame. Taste water and check salt levels. If required, add and adjust the taste. Add garam masala powder. Switch off the stove. Slowly add rava with constant stirring. After all rava has been added, switch on the stove again. Cover and cook for next 3-4 mins. Switch off the stove.

5. After 10 mins, add lemon juice and mix well. Sprinkle few coriander leaves and coconut when you serve.

Aloo Tikki Chat

Ingr edients:

For Aloo Tikki:

Potatoes : 3
Cornflour: 2 tbsp
Salt

Cook potatoes, deskin and grate them. Add salt and two tablespoon of cornflour and knead. Divide them into equal portions and make ball from each portion. Flatten the ball to get a disch shaped 1" thick. Shallow fry them on a pan. Tikkis are ready for chat.

For Pudina/Dhania (Mint/Coriander) /Green Chutney :

Roughly chopped fresh coriander leaves : 1 cup
Roughly chopped fresh mint: 1/2 cup
Green chillies: 2-3, stemmed and chopped
Black Salt-1/2 tsp
Sugar: 1/2 tsp
Freshly squeezed lemon juice: 1tsp

1. Take coriander leaves and mint in a blender and add 1/4 cup ( 50ml) of water and blend to a smooth paste
2. Add the black salt and sugar and blend again.
3. Transfer to a bowl and stir lemon juice.

For Dates and Tamarind chutney

Deseeded Dates : 15-20
Tamarind Pulp: 350 ml (soak tamarind in water and squeeze the juice)
Jaggery : 200gms (grated or powdered)

Roast and Powder: 2tsp cumin seeds and 1/4 tsp fennel seeds

Red Chilli Powder :  2 tsp
Ginger Powder: 1tsp
Black Salt: 1tsp
Table Salt: 1tsp

1. Tear/Roughly chop dates. In a non stick pan, combine dates, tamarind pulp and jaggery. Bring to boil. Add all powders and boil over medium heat, continue to cook for 6 mins.
2. Let it cool to room temperature. Preserve in a jar.

Additional Ingredients:
Cooked Green Peas : 1 cup
Finely chopped onions: 1/2 cup
Finely chopped tomatoes: 1/2 cup
Finely chopped coriander: 1/4 cup
Aloo Bhujia/Sev: 1 cup
Chat Masala: 1tsp

To Assemble:
Place Aloo Tikki in a plate. Spread a tsp of green chutney and tamarind chuteny. Top it with few peas,  Add onions, tomato and coriander. Drizzle little chat masala and Sev. Serve.

Enjoy!!

Menthe Menasu Gojju/ Fenugreek seeds & Pepper Curry

An absolutely finger licking gojju for akki rotti is menthe menasu gojju. We love it. This is my dear M-I-L style gojju, which was in draft for the past 2 years. Whenever I prepared m. m gojju I could not click pictures for some or the other reason. Finally! here is the picture :D

You need the following for making gojju:

Ingredients:

Onions : 5
Kaalu Menasu/Whole black pepper : 20 kaalu (powdered coarsely)
Menthya/Fenugreek Seeds : 1 tsp
Mustard : 1tsp
Tamarind Juice: 2 tbsp of thick extract
Curry leaves: few

Blend with water :
Kadalepoppu : 1.5 hidi(fist fulls)
Grated fresh coconut : 4 tbsp
Red Chillies : 6

Other ingredients:
salt and jaggery
Oil

Method:
1. Cut onions into small pieces. Blend the ingredients under the list and keep it ready.
2. Heat oil in a cooking pan. Add mustard. When mustard stops popping, lower the heat and add fenugreek seeds, whole balck pepper and curry leaves. Fry till fenugreek seeds become red. Add onions and fry till transcluscent.
3. Dilute 2 tbsp of thick tamarind juice with sufficiant plain water (enough to make the volume of gojju). Bring to boil.
4. Add coconut paste, salt and jaggery. Mix and bring gojju to boiling point. If gojju is not thick, you can add more kadalepoppu (fried gram/chickpeas) powder to make it thick. Adjust the flavors before you switch off the stove.
5. Allow to sit for 30 mins before you serve. This will allow the flavors to settle well.
6. Enjoy with your favorite akki rotti.

Change is the essence of Life ..

Change is the essence of life. Life once never existed on Earth but 'change' changed the whole scenario. From one celled organism to human being, we all were and are part of this word. From an infant to middle aged woman, change has always made a better person. ..

If you are still wondering why am I so hooked to this word 'change' today, it is because this post is dedicated to Indiblogger's topic "Change is easy".

The event is hosted by Dell Inspirion with Indiblogger. I loved the topic, so picked up to write what I feel about change; change in the gadgets we have been buying over a decade.

Working in research field, I totally believe in change. Without this word, I probably will not earn my bread and butter :D . Research has always brought changes to the gadgets we use and shrinking the world every day. I started with Nokia series which doesn't even exist in the market today. It was like holding on to something precious in those days.  From Nokia to Sony Ericson's to Apple I have had the opportunity to feel the various application these gadgets offered. But, when I 'changed' from Nokia to SE, getting used to the keypad took some time. From 'arrrgghhhh I hate the change' to 'I love it', it took some time but I think I adapted well. Now, I am enjoying the era of 'touch screen'. If 'research' was unable to bring 'changes' to the gadgets we used, the 'fun' would have seized and companies would not have grown and churned out new jobs. I say change is essential and it's easy isn't it ?

We have changed at least 3 laptops till date. We loved our IBMs so much that they died a sad death one day. I learned a lesson. 'Too much is too bad'. Then we 'changed' ourselves, we spent only 'quality' time with our new love 'Dell Inspirion'. Dell reciprocated well and it still is with us. He sits quietly when my toddler pounces on him, followed by Akash's repeated google searches for his class homework/holiday 'research' work. He beems with smile when I blog my tasty dishes with him. He is my husband chess companion too. Well, in total he has adapted to the 'change-in-love' we have offered him after his successor's sad demise. He understood 'change is easy, love it!'

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