Monday, March 7, 2016

Aval Upma | Flattened Rice Upma | Easy Breakfast Recipe

I like aval  in any form , usually i make sweet aval. While browsing more aval recipe, this recipe caught my attention. It's very easy to make and coconut oil gives extra ordinary flavor to this upma, now it's one of our regular breakfast. 

Recipe Source : Raks Kitchen
Ingredients

Thick Aval / Flattened Rice - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 medium size
Green Chili -1 no (adjust to your taste)
Grated Coconut - 11/2 tbsp
Coriander leaves - few
Salt - to taste

To Temper
Coconut Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Procedure

First take the aval in a bowl , add enough salt and pour the hot water into the aval, just enough to immerse the aval.

Let it set for 15 mins. In the mean time, cut the onions into thin slices and split the green chili and keep it ready. After 15 mins, the aval absorbs all the water and it's fluffy. Now heat the kadai, add the oil and temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper".

Once mustard splutters, add the onions & green chili, saute till the onions became translucent. Add the aval and give a good mix.

Place a lid on the kadai and let it be for 3- 4 mins. Then add grated coconut and coriander leaves. Give a good stir and switch off  the flame.

Now Aval Upma is ready to serve.

Notes:
  • If the added salt in the aval is not enough. You can add it before adding coconut , mix it well.
  • Dont water too much water in the aval, it becomes soggy.
  • Use Thick Variety Aval.
  • If you like, you can add peanut or channa dal in this upma.  
  • Highly recommended to use coconut oil.
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Thursday, March 3, 2016

Chettinad Mushroom Biryani | Mushroom Peas Biryani

Chettinad Mushroom Peas Biryani, a flavorful one pot rice recipe made with mushroom and peas. Chettinad cuisine is famous for its unique and aromatic flavor. The flavor from the spices used in chettinad cuisine like marathi moggu, maze and kalpasi are extraordinary and it makes biryani so delicious.

I have been making chettinad vegetable biryani for a long time now and we really like the flavor so much. Ever since i have been following the same recipe for different biryanis or with different vegetables/ meat. This mushroom and peas combination is one of my favorites.

Often i make this biryani with peas or mushrooms alone , still it tastes fabulous. So you can make with just mushrooms or with the combination of mushroom and peas. 

Spices 


Apart from the regular spices used in the biryani like cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and cardamom, here in this recipe, i have used maze(japthri), marathi moggu and kalpasi(black stone flavor) whose are the key flavors in the biryani and make it stand out from the rest of the biryani favorites. 
A few years back and all, it was really hard to source these spices here in North America. But now I can easily get from the many Indian stores here. So if you're interested in buying those spices, look out for those in your next Indian store visit.

Rice 

Mostly for chettinad style biryani, seeraga samba rice is used for its exotic flavor. I have tried with both basmati and seeraga samba rice. Both taste great. Besides, if I have to choose one over the other, definitely I would pick seeraga samba rice because it adds so much flavor to the biryani.  But here i have shared the recipe using basmati rice since it's available easily all over the places.
Biryani made with seeraga samba rice

Related: How to make crispy cauliflower 65

Tips for perfect fluffy biryani

  • Soaking the rice is important. I highly recommend soaking the rice for a minimum 20 mins
  • Mushroom usually leave a lot of water while cooking, so make sure to cook the mushroom till it evaporates all of its water content before adding the water.
  • The ratio of rice and water is 1:1.5. Don't add more water it will make the rice mushy. 

If you haven't tried chettinad biryani before, do g
ive it a try and I'm sure you would be amazed by its flavors. Those who have already tried this chettinad biryani, you already knew how exotic the flavors are, right?!  Now let's check out the recipe.

 

Chettinad Mushroom Biryani

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Biryani | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Chettinad Mushroom Biryani, Mushroom & Peas Biryani, Mushroom biryani,one pot meal, Chettinad peas biryani. description.
Ingredients
Basmati Rice - 1/2 cup
Mushroom - 1/2 cup (Cleaned & Sliced)
Fresh Peas - 3 tbsp
Onion - 1 small size
Tomato - 1 small
Coriander leaves - few
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - a pinch
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - few
Mint leaves - few
Cashew - 4 nos
Ghee - 1 tsp
Water - 3/4 cup
To Temper
Bayleaf - 1 no
Cinnamon - 1 small piece
Cloves -1 no
Cardamom -1 no
Marathi moggu - 1
Maze(Japthri) - 1 small piece
Kalpasi/Black Stone flower - 1 tsp




Procedure

Chop the onion, tomato & mushroom into thin slices. Soak the rice for 20 mins and take all the ingredients for temper to ready. Heat the pressure pan with ghee.
Add the tempering ingredients, saute it for a while and then add cashew fry it till golden brown and then add onions .
Saute it till translucent and then add ginger garlic paste , give a quick stir , add peas and mushroom one by one.
Add the tomatoes, saute it well. Mushroom leaves lot of water, it's good enough to saute the veggies. 
Then add all the spices (turmeric, red chili powder) & salt. Mix it well and then add the water.
Bring the water into boil. Add the rice, coriander leaves, mint leaves & finally squeeze some lemon juice.
Put on the lid and whistle. Cook it for 3 whistle. Let the pressure releases all by itself. Open the lid , remove the bay leaves , give a quick stir before serving.
Serve it with any raita for your choice.  

Related : How to make Chettinad Chicken Biryani

Notes:

  • I like more mushroom in my biryani , so i added 1/2 cup for 1/2 cup of rice. You can reduce/increase as per your liking.
  • Saute the veggies till all the moisture from mushroom are evaporated and then add water.
It's time to dig in.






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Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Rava Dosai with left over dosa batter | Easy Rava Dosai

Rava Dosa with leftover dosa batter , an easy,tasty and quick to make dosa with rava and dosa batter. Whenever i have very little dosa batter that's not enough for us and i don't want to make anything elaborately for our breakfast/ dinner, then most probably, i would have made this dosa. I had learned this from my mom who often made this for our dinner when we were kids, those days, i was not big fan of this dosa because of the additional ingredients added into the dosa, i picked each and every dal,curry leaves & all other stuff from the dosa before eating it. But now, this is one of my favorite dosa and i never miss a opportunity to make this dosa,wondering how my taste changes with time.Coming to this dosa, unlike the regular rava dosa, this is not lacey in texture but taste wise, it's too good with chutney and/or sambar,  


Rava Dosa with leftover dosa batter

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 15 minsMakes : 7 or 8 dosa 
Recipe Category: Dosa/Dosai | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Rava Dosa, Rava Dosai,rava dosa with dosa batter, rava dosa with leftover dosa batter, rava dosa with sour batter, rava dosa with idli batter, rava dosa, tamil nadu rava dosa,Semolina dosa,Sooji Dosa, Ravai Dosai,Quick Rava Dosa, Easy Rava Dosa Rava Dosa with leftover dosa batter , an easy,tasty and quick to make dosa with rava and dosa batter.
Ingredients
Dosa Batter - 1 cup
Rava/Sooji - 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves - few 
Salt - to taste
To Saute
Onion - 1 medium size
Green Chili - 1
Channa Dal - 1 tsp
Mustard & Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Oil - 1 tsp


Procedure
Soak rava in water for 1/2 hr . Take dosa batter in a bowl , add the soaked rava into it.Add salt and enough water to the batter and make it as pouring consistency.Now finely chop the onions, green chili, curry leaves & coriander leaves and keep it ready. Heat a kadai with oil, add mustard & urad dal, let it splutter.Then add channa dal, onions, chili & curry leaves one by one and saute it with pinch of salt.Once the onions become translucent, remove it from heat and add into the batter. Finally add some coriander leaves too and mix the batter well.Heat the tava , pour a laddle full of batter and spread it like our regular dosa. Drizzle oil on the edges.Cover the dosa with lid for quick cooking, once you see the color changes, flip the dosa and cook it on other side too.That's it . Tasty Rava dosa is ready. Serve it with your favorite chutneys or sambar.
Notes:
  • As rava takes more time to cook than our regular dosa, i covered it with lid for quick cooking, but that's not mandatory.
  • As the batter has salt already, be careful in adding salt.
  • If you like coconut, add bits of coconut too in the batter.
  • We like some crunchiness in the dosa,so added the chana dal,but if you dont like it, skip that.

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