Hearty Spices

Prep - In a saucepan, bring about 4 cups of Water to boil, gently drop  3 medium Onions and 4 ripe Tomatoes . Cook on high for 10 minutes. Drain the water and let onions and tomatoes cool down. Once cool grind onions and tomatoes to smooth paste, seperately. Soak 3 tbsp of Cashewnuts in little water and grind to smooth paste. Paneer - Heat a tbsp of Butter and fry the 250 gms of Paneer cubes to golden brown. Bring a cup of Water to boil, remove from heat and add the paneer cubes to it, let them sit aside for 5 minutes. Curry - Heat 3 tbsp of Butter in a pan on medium heat. Add and saute the onion paste for 5 minutes till it turns golden brown. Add 2 tsp of Ginger Garlic Paste and saute for another minute. Add  2 tsp of Red Chilli Powder, ¼ tsp of Turmeric Powder, cashewnut paste, Salt to taste and mix. Add the tomato puree, ½ tsp of Kasuri Methi, ½ tsp of Coriander Powder, 1½ tsp of Garam Masala Powder ; simmer and let it cook fo...

Garish - In a saute pan, heat 1 tbsp Ghee / Butter and saute few Cashewnuts and Rasins . till golden brown. Keep aside. Vermicelli - In the same pan, toast 2 cups of Vermicelli until they turn light golden brown. Keep aside. Kesari - Boil 4 cups of Water along with a pinch of Saffron, Cardamom Powder and Food color (Optional). Once the water is bubbling hot, stir in the roasted vermicelli, reduce heat and close the lid. Once the water is absorbed, stir in a cup of Sugar and mix well. Serve hot / cold.

Heat  a tbsp of Ghee or Oil in a pan; splutter  a Bay leaf, 2 Cloves, an inch of Cinnamon, a Cardamom, a tsp of Cumin Seeds, few Cashews and few Curry Leaves . Add and saute a thinly sliced Onion, a tsp of Ginger-Garlic paste and 3-4 few slit Green Chillies till onions are browned. Add a cup of Green peas, 2 cups of Basmati Rice, Salt to taste and stir till everything is coated. Add 4 cups of Water and let it boil. Cover cook on medium heat till all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat, let it sit for 10 minutes and garnish with Coriander Leaves before serving.

3 cups of peeled and cubed Red Pumpkin 1 big Tomato chopped 2 medium Onions, chopped 1 tbsp grated Jaggery 2 Green Chilli, slit 2 dry Red Chilli, deseeded and split into two ½ tsp Red Chilli Powder ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder 1 tsp Coriander Powder ½ tsp Mustard Seeds 1 tsp Cumin Seeds 1 tsp Urad Dal 7 cloves Garlic, slighly mashed 10 Curry Leaves Coriander Leaves for garnishing Heat 2-3 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add cumin seeds, dry red chillis, urad dal, and garlic and curry leaves and fry till light brown. Add the chopped onions and fry till transparent. Add the cubed pumpkins, tomatoes, turmeric and salt and let it cook covered on low heat for 15 minutes. Add chilli powder, coriander powder and jaggery and mix well. Add ½ cup water, cover and cook on slow fire till pumpkin is soft and cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves. Variation: You can add sweet potatoes, chikkidi kaayi (Indian Beans), drum sticks and brinjal along with the pumpkin.

1 cup raw Rice 2 tbsp Chana Dal, washed ½ tsp Jeera 2 tbsp Grated Fresh Coconut ½ tsp Salt 2 cups Water Wash rice well and drain all the water. Spread on a paper napkin to dry out all the water. Rice grains have to be fully dry. Grind the rice grains in a blender/ grinder to a rawa consistency. Place a saucepan on the stove with water, chana dal, cumin and salt. Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat to a medium heat, pour in the rice rawa slowly into the boiling water and keep stirring. Stir till all the water is absorbed by the rice rawa. Add grated coconut and stir in well. Turn off the stove, cover with a lid. After 15 minutes, spread on a lighlty greased plate. With wet hands make small balls. Sprinkle some water if rawa is too hard or breaking. Use a idli steaming stand to steam these rice balls. Place idli stand in a pressure cooker with little water to steam. Cover the pressure cooker and steam for 10 minutes. Notes: Can substitute Rice Rava instead of Rice and skip coconut...

2 tbsp of ragi flour 1 cup water 1½ cup of water + ½ cup milk 4 tsp of sugar or powdered jaggery ½ tsp of powdered cardamom Take the ragi flour in a cup and add ½ glass water to it slowly. Combine to smooth, lump free paste. In a vessel, take one glass of water or milk. Heat till the water reaches boiling stage. Then add the dissolved ragi flour solution slowly to the boiling water (milk), continuously stirring with a spoon. Wait for water (milk) to start boiling, and then add the flour mix. Add sugar or jaggery per your taste and pinch of cardamom powder. Reduce the heat to medium level, and simmer the ragi malt for 5 minutes, stirring in-between. Turn off the heat. Let it cool to warm, and then pour into a glass or cup. Makes 4 cups.

Wash, drain and cut the 500 gms of Chicken (boneless or with bones) into bite sized pieces and keep aside. Grind 3 Ripe Tomatoes, 10-12 Cashews, 3-4 slit Green Chillies into smooth paste and keep aside. Heat a heavy-bottomed pan and add 1/3 cup of Oil to it. Add a Cinnamon Stick, 1/2 tsp of Cumin Seeds, 2 Cardamoms, 1 Bay Leaf and let them splutter. Add a large finely chopped Onion to it and fry until light golden brown. Add a tbsp of Ginger Garlic Paste, 2-3 slit Green Chillies and fry until golden brown. Add the drained chicken and cook on high heat for 4 minutes, while stirring. Add Salt as needed, 1/2 tsp of Garam Masala, a tbsp of Red Chilli Powder, a tsp of Coriander Powder, a tsp of Cumin Powder, a pinch of Turmeric Powder and mix well. Cook for 8-10 minutes until the oil separates. Add the ground tomato paste and cook on medium heat for another 5-6 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of Water and cook further by stirring for another 10-12 minutes. Add a tbsp of Butter, 2 tbsp of Heav...

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.

1 cup Rice Flour 1 cup Sooji ½ cup All Purpose Flour Salt as per taste 1 tsp Cumin Seeds A pinch of Asafetida 1 tsp crushed Ginger 1 tsp Green Chilli paste ½ cup chopped Onion 3-4 cups Water Oil Mix sooji, maida, rice flour, salt, cumin seeds, asafetida, crushed ginger and chilli paste, salt with 3-4 cups of water to make very thin runny batter. Heat griddle and once it is hot sprinkle chopped onion. Now sprinkle the batter with your hand. Drizzle oil on top. Let it get golden brown and crispy on the bottom. Serve hot with spicy coconut chutney. Cocunut Chutney: 1 cup freshly grated coconut ½ cup fresh Coriander Leaves 3-4 green chillies chopped Salt as per taste Sugar ½ tsp ½ tsp Lemon Juice For tempering: 1 tsp Oil 2 dry Red Chillies 3-4 Curry Leaves ½ tsp Mustard Seeds a pinch of Asafetida Grind all ingredients together into a smooth consistency. Heat a tsp of oil, add mustard seeds let them splutter, add red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a few seconds on low heat. Now add a...

Heat ½ tbsp Ghee  in a pan; saute a cup of cubed Paneer  for 2 minutes till golden brown. Remove them and place in warm  water for 3 minutes, drain and keep aside. In the same pan; saute  a tsp of Ginger Garlic paste  for 2 minutes. Add a pinch of Turmeric Powder, a tsp of Coriander Powder, a tsp of Red Chilli Powder, 4-5 slit Green Chillies  and mix well. Add 2 diced Green Capsicums and cook till they turn slightly soft for 5-7 minutes. Add and stir a quartered Tomato and cook for 7 minutes with a lid. Add the paneer cubes, toss well and cook for 5 minutes. Add a pinch of Garam Masala Powder, ½ tsp of Kasuri Methi and mix well. Garnish with few fresh Coriander Leaves and serve hot with rotis.

Pongal - Roast ½ cup of Moong Dal in a pan till golden brown in color. Pressure cook ¾ cup of Rice and the roasted moong dal with a pinch of Turmeric Powder and 3 cups of Water for 5 whistles. Keep the cooker aside and let the pressure in the cooker subside.  Heat 2 tbsp of Ghee; saute slightly grounded - 20 Peppercorns, 1½ tsp of Cumin Seeds , followed by 1 tbsp of finely chopped Ginger and few Curry Leaves . Add this seasoning to the rice and dal mixture along with Salt to taste and mix well till the consistency is like soft and velvetty pudding. Add hot water if the pongal is too thick. Serve hot with gosthu or chutney. Gosthu: Spice Mixture - Roast ½ tbsp Coriander Seeds, 1 tbsp Chana Dal, 4 Dried Red Chillies and 1 tsp Gram Flour or Rice Flour (if needed ) in a tsp of Oil until aromatic and lightly browned. Cool and grind to a paste. Alternately you can also use 1 tbsp sambar powder.   Gosthu - Pressure cook ¼ cup of Moong Dal in ½ cup of Water until soft a...

Heat 1 1/2 tbsp of Ghee in a pan. Add and roast 2 tbsp of chopped Cashews until golden brown and remove them. In the same pan, add a cup of Besan and roast for 6-8 minutes on medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, add another 2 1/2 tbsp of Ghee and keep mixing and cook for another 25 minutes. Remove from heat, once it emanates aroma and then add 1/2 cup of powdered Sugar, a tsp of Cardamom Powder and mix well. Make laddus from the mixture once cooled down. 

2 big bunches fresh Spinach Leaves (washed thoroughly and blanched in hot water for 3 mts) 1 Onion, finely chopped pinch Turmeric powder Pinch roasted Methi powder pinch Cumin powder ½ tsp Coriander powder ½ tsp Ginger Garlic paste 1 tsp Red Chilli powder Salt to taste 1½ tbsps Olive Oil For poppu ½ tsp Cumin Seeds 2 Garlic Flakes, crushed 5-6 Curry Leaves Chop the blanched spinach and keep aside. Heat olive oil, add the cumin seeds and once they splutter, add the garlic flakes and curry leaves and saute for few secs. Add the onions and saute till transparent, approx 4-5 mts. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 4 mts. Add salt, turmeric pwd, roasted methi pwd, coriander pwd, cumin pwd and red chilli pwd and combine well. Add the chopped spinach leaves and saute for 8-10 mts. Turn off heat. Serve hot with rice

2-3 cup Snake gourd/potlakaya, de-seeded and chopped into small pieces 2-3 Green Chillies, finely chopped ½ tsp Turmeric Powder Salt as per taste Popu: 1 tbsp Oil 1 tsp Mustard Seeds 1 tsp Cumin Seeds 1 tsp Urad Dal 4-5 fresh Curry Leaves Pinch of Asafeotida Clean potlakaya by scrubbing thoroughly some salt on its skin. Rinse in water. Cut into half and remove its seeds. Chop potlakaya into small pieces. Finely chop green chillies also. Heat oil in a medium pot. Add first three ingredients under tempering. Fry for a minute or till the blackgram dal turns reddish brown. Add curry leaves and asafeotida/inguva and fry for a minute, then add finely chopped green chillies. When the chillies are cooked add chopped potlakaya and sauté till all flavours are mixed together. Add turmeric and mix and let it cook by covering a lid on medium heat for 20 mins approx. When all pieces are cooked and curry becomes dry as water gets evaporated. Lightly whip some home-made yogurt, once the curry is coole...