Hearty Spices

10 Fresh Brinjals 4 tbsp Oil Salt to taste Dry roast and powder: 1 cup Roasted Bengal Gram 10 Dried Red Chillies 1 tsp Cumin Seeds 1 tsp Salt Popu: 1 tsp Mustard Seeds 1 tsp Cumin Seeds 1 Sprig Curry Leaves 2 tbsp Urad Dal 4 Dried Red Chillies 2 Onions, slit length wise 6 Green Chillies, slit Heat a pan and fry roasted bengal gram, dried red chillies, jeera in low flame for about 4 mts. Switch of the flame when bengal gram starts turning its color. Allow to cool, add salt and grind to coarse powder. Set aside. (This powder can be stored in a tight container for about a month). Wash brinjals, slit them into 4 halves (make a plus shape) leaving the stems. Heat oil in a kadhai and fry brinjals in low flame till brinjals turn soft. (Cover with a lid and stir occassionally) Set aside the brinjals once soft. In the remaining oil, add urad dal, mustard seeds, jeera, dried red chillies, curry leaves, green chillies. fry for 2 mts in low flame. Add onions, and fry till soft (for about 4 mts in ...

Mix a cup of wheat flour with 2 to 3 cups of water . Stir in a tsp of black pepper powder and salt . Thoroughly mix the batter without any lumps. The consistency of batter must be like thick buttermilk, not too watery or not too tight. Don’t let the batter sit for long time, it will become gooey mass. To prepare dosas, lightly oil the dosa tava and rub it with a cut onion. Heat over medium-high. When the tava is hot, pour a ladleful of batter steadily from a height of 3 to 5 inches onto the tava. Allow it spread on its own in a thin lace like layer. Sprinkle a ½ tsp of ghee or oil and cook on high heat. Within a minute or two, bubbles start to appear on the surface. Wait until the underside of dosa turns golden and then gently turn it to the other side. Cook for another minute or two. Remove and serve hot with peanut or coconut chutney. Note: Because wheat flour batter is very sticky, trying to shape the dosa with back of the spoon like we do for regular dosa won’t work. Please resi...

1¼ cup All Purpose Flour/Maida (305 gm) Pinch of Salt 1 tsp Baking Powder ½ cup Sugar ½ cup Butter 4 tbsp Lemon Juice 1 tsp Lemon Zest 2 Eggs 1 tsp Vanilla Extract ¼ cup Milk (60ml) Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F. Grease and flour a round baking pan. Sieve maida, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine butter and sugar. Use a hand blender to make a smooth creamy mixture. Add the beaten eggs and combine well. Add vanilla extract, lemon zest and lemon juice and combine well. Fold in the maida mixture little by little alternating with milk. Pour batter into the greased and floured pan. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 mts or till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool, slice and serve at room temperature

1 cup Toor Dal 150 gm Mullangi / Radish 100 gm Sambar Onions 2 tsp Sambar Powder 2 medium Tomatoes Small lime size Tamarind Pulp Few chopped Coriander Leaves 1 tbsp Oil Salt to Taste Turmeric a pinch 4 Green Chillies Popu: 1 tsp Mustard Seeds + Urud Dal + Fenugreek Few Curry Leaves 4 cloves Garlic 3 Red Chillies Clean toor dal and pressure-cook it with 2 drops of Oil and turmeric. Keep it for 1 whistle. Remove and let it cool down. Chop Radish into 1" circles. Pressure it with Dal for another whistle. Keep it aside. Soak tamarind and extract pulp from it. Soak onions in water for 5 minutes. Chop Onions and tomatoes. Heat oil in a pan and add seasoning ingredients. Then add chopped onions & green chilies. Sauté till they are cooked and then add tomatoes and sambar powder to it. Cook till the tomatoes are soft. Then add the cooked toor dal with mullangi, tamarind pulp. The dal should be well cooked. Cook on high flame for 5 minutes, then simmer for 10 minutes till its cooked wel...

Veggies - Cut Onions, Bell Peppers, Cabbage and Carrots into thin long strips . Start with sauteing the onions, and then add bell pepper and then the other veggies. Sprinkle S alt to taste and 1 tsp of Soy Sauce . Cook for a few mins until its semi done and then remove and place in a separate bowl and let it cool down. Wrapper Batter - In a bowl, mix  ¾ cup of All Purpose Flour, 2 tbsp of Corn Flour, Salt to taste, 3 tbsp of Rice Flour and an egg . (Can skip egg and add some baking soda ). Mix well thoroughly making sure there are no lumps. The batter needs to be a pouring consistency - not too thin and not too thick. Wrapper - Now, in a pan pour a ladle of the batter in the center and quickly lift up the pan and twirl it around so that the batter spreads evenly into a circle.  Let it cook for a min - until you start seeing these small holes. Flip over and cook for a min. Make sure you don't crisp them up too much - they should still be soft to...

1 Anabhakaya / Sorakaya, chopped 1 medium Onion, chopped 4-5 Curry Leaves 3-4 Green Chilies, slit ½ tsp Mustard Seeds 1 tsp Urad Dal 1 tsp Red Chili Powder 1 tsp Coriander Powder A pinch of Turmeric Powder 1–2 tbsp Peanut / Groundnut Powder Salt to taste 2 tsp Oil Peel the outer skin of the bottle gourd and cut into 2 inch pieces. Heat a pan with oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves. Add onions, green chillies and turmeric and sauté till onions are pink. Then add the bottle gourd pieces along with salt. Simmer with a lid and cook for 10 mins. Check to see if the vegetable has turned soft. Add chili powder and coriander powder. Stir well. Cook again for 5 - 7 mins. When the bottle gourd is cooked well, finally add the groundnut powder. Combine and remove.

S oak a cup of Rice and ½ cup of Urad Dal for about 4 hours. Drain the water and grind to a thick dosa batter like consistency, add Salt to taste and mix well. Set aside.  Pressure cook 1 ¼ cup of Chana Dal along with 2 ½ cup of Water till the dal retains it's shape. Drain any left over water from the dal after it’s cooked. Add 2 cups of Grated Jaggery / Sugar and blend them together till it folds well. Cook till the mixture starts sticking to the pan. Remove from heat and add a pinch of Cardamom Powder , mix and make small balls. Heat Oil in a wide heavy bottomed vessel for frying. Dip each Channa Dal mixture ball in the dosa batter to coat evenly. Deep-fry it till golden brown.