Sambar

12:55 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

Ingredients:

• Potato - 2
• Carrot - 2
• Tomato - 1
• Shallot onions - 10
• Toor dal - 50 gms
• Tamarind juice - 1/2 cup
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Sambar powder - 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp
• Cilantro (optional)
• salt to taste

Method:

• Pressure cook toor dal along with cumin seeds and asafoetida
• Add chopped vegetables (onion, tomato, carrot, potato) to the toor dal.
• Now add tamarind juice, 1/2 cup water, sambar powder, and salt.
• Cilantro is optional, if you like the smell add it.
• Now again pressure cook the whole mixture.
• Then in a small pan, add oil, mustard seeds, and curry leaves, and finally garnish the sambar with this mixture.

Cooking time: 15 to 20 minutes
Very easy and quick method. You can substitute, broad beans or radish for carrot and potato. 

Beans Poriyal

12:54 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

Ingredients:

• Beans - 1/2 kg
• Mung dal - 1 1/2 tbsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Green chillies - 1 or chilli powder - 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method: 

• Wash and cut beans into small pieces
• In a kadai, add oil and mustard seeds, when mustard starts spluttering add curry leaves.
• Now add beans and mung dal, fry it one minute
• Add one cup of water and then add green chillies or chilli powder along with salt.
• Let it cook until water is drained.

Cooking time: 15 minutes
Similarly you can even prepare Indian broad bean poriyal.

Brinji Rice

12:27 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

Ingredients:

• Basmati rice - 1 cup
• Potato - 1
• Carrot - 1
• Peas - 1/4 cup
• Beans - 6 or 7
• Garlic - 2 (optional)
• Bay leaves - 1
• Cinnamon - 1
• Tomato - 1 (optional)
• Anise - 1 petal
• Turmeric powder - a pinch
• Ghee - 3 tbsp
• Green chilli- 1 (optional)

Method: 

• Wash and soak briyani rice for 10 minutes before cooking
• In the pressure cooker, add ghee and when it melts add bay leaves, cinnamon, and anise.
• Then add onion, tomato, green chilli and garlic, fry this few minutes until onion becomes transparent.
• Now add vegetables (carrot, potato, peas, and beans), and fry for few more minutes
• Add rice and 2 cups of water to the cooker.
• Pressure cook this rice and let it cook for 2 or 3 whistle.

Cooking time: 20 minutes

This is my son's favorite recipe

Ennai Kathirikai Kulambu/ Brinjal Kulambu

11:49 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

Ingredients:

• Brinjals - 1/2 kg 
• Pepper - 1 tbsp
• Fenugreek - 1/2 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Green chillies - 2
• Red chillies - 2
• Turmeric powder - a pinch
• Onion - 3 or shallot onion - 15
• Tomato - 1
• Curry leaves - few
• Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
• Tamarind juice - 1/2 cup
• Dhania powder - 1 tbsp
• Grated coconut - 1 tbsp (optional)
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Make four slits on the brinjals from the top without removing the stem
• In a pan, add oil and shallow fry the brinjals
• Remove brinjals and keep it aside.
• Now add some more oil to the same pan and add mustard seeds, curry leaves, and fenugreek seeds.
• Add chopped onion and fry until it becomes transparent, now add chopped tomatoes and chopped green chillies.
• Grind pepper, cumin seeds, and red chillies, add this mixture to the pan.
• Fry for few minutes and then add tamarind juice, 1 cup of water, chilli powder, salt and dhania powder
• Let the whole mixture boil and when the raw smell disappears, add the fried brinjals.
• Let the kulambu boil for five minutes and if you want add grated coconut before switching off the stove.

Cooking time: 30 minutes
One of my favorite recipes, serve with rice and appalam.

Easy Potato Fry

11:47 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

Ingredients:

• Potato - 1/2kg
• Channa dal - t tbsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Cilantro - 1 tbsp (optional)
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1 or 1 1/2 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Boil potatoes, peel the skin, and cut it into small cubes
• In a kadai with oil, add mustard seeds and let it splutter
• Then add curry leaves, cilantro, and channa dal
• Now add the potato cubes along with chilli powder and salt.
• Fry for few minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes
Very easy to prepare, kids will surely love it. Taste wonderful with curd rice.

Curd Rice/Thayir Sadham

12:38 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

Ingredients: 

• Rice - 1 cup
• Curd - 1 cup
• Milk - 1 cup
• Green chillies - 2
• Red chillies - 2
• Channa dal - 1 tbsp
• Urad dal - 1 tbsp
• Chopped ginger - 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves - small amount 
• Cilantro - 1/2 cup
• Salt to taste

Method: 

• Boil rice along with salt and it is very important to overcook the rice.
• Now, add milk to the rice and mix it well and then again add curd to the rice.
• After mixing it properly, keep it aside.
• In a small frying pan, add oil, mustard seeds, channa dal, urud dal, green chillies, red chillies, chopped ginger, curry leaves, and cilantro, fry this for one or two minutes.
• Add all the fried items to the rice and mix it well.
• Your curd rice is ready.

Cooking time: 30 minutes.
My son loves this recipe. Serve this rice with any pickle.

Seppakilangu Varuval/ Colocasia Varuval

12:15 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Seppakilangu - 1/2 kg
• Channa dal - 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves - small amount
• Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
• Salt to taste

• Wash seppakilangu nicely and boil it in the pressure cooker.
• Let the cooker whistle for 3 or 4 times.
• Remove the skin of seppakilangu, i prefer to fry seppakilangu without cutting it, if you want, cut it into small pieces.
• Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds, channa dal, and curry leaves.
• Add seppakilangu to the kadai along with chilli powder and salt.
• Mix it well and cook this in a very low flame.
• Add more oil if needed.
• This makes the best side dish for curd rice and simple dal rice.

Mutton liver fry/ Eeral fry/Eeral Varuval

11:56 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Liver - 1
• Onion - 1
• Pepper powder - 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

• Wash liver properly and cut it into small pieces.
• In a hot tawa, add oil and onion, fry onion until it becomes transparent.
• Now add liver, pepper powder and salt.
• Mix it properly and cook this recipe in a medium flame.
• Cook it until the moisture is gone.

Simple Potato Kurma

11:45 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Potato - 1/2 kg
• Onion - 1
• Tomato - 1
• Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
• Curry leaves - small amount
• Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

• Boil potatoes nicely and peel of it skin. Cut potatoes in to small pieces and keep it aside.
• Grind grated coconut and cumin seeds together into paste.
• In a hot tawa, add oil and mustard seeds, when mustard starts spluttering, add curry leaves and onion, fry onion until it becomes transparent.
• Add tomato and fry until its skin starts peeling off.
• Now add chilli powder and salt.
• Add 1/2 cup of water to this mixture, when it starts boiling, add potatoes.
• When the gravy starts thickening, add the ground paste and mix well.
• Heat the gravy for few more minutes and switch off your stove.

Beetroot Poriyal

11:58 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Beetroot - 2
• Onion -1
• red chilli - 1
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
• Channa dal - 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves - small amount

• Remove the outer skin of the beetroot and cut it into small pieces.
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it starts spluttering add curry leaves and channa dal.
• Now add chopped onions and fry it until it becomes transparent.
• Add beetroot pieces and fry this in a very low flame.
• No need to add water to cook beetroot, if you want, sprinkle some water.
• Now grind cumin seeds and red chilli.
• When the beetroot is half cooked, add the cumin seed-red chilli mixture, and mix it properly with beetroot.
• Fry beetroot until it is cooked properly.

Brinjal Serwa/ Brinjal Side Dish for Briyani

11:42 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Brinjal/Egg plant - 250 gm [Remove stem and cut length-wise]
• Onions - 1
• Tomato - 1
• Red chillies - 4
• Black pepper - 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Tamarind - Size of one small lemon[dilute this in water before half an hour itself]
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves - small amount
• Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

• In a flat bottomed pan, add oil and add crushed pepper and cumin seeds. [Don't grind pepper and cumin seeds, simply crush it]
• Then add red chillies, curry leaves, and sliced onion.
• Fry this until the onion become transparent.
• Add chopped tomato, brinjal, chilli powder, and salt.
• Close the pan with the lid and heat this mixture in medium flame for few minutes until the brinjal is nicely cooked.
• Add thick tamarind juice to this mixture and cook in a very low flame.
• Cook until oil separates from the mixture.
• Brinjal serwa is ready and this can be served with briyani.

Onion Raita

11:22 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Curd/Yogurt - 200 gms
• Onions - 2
• Chopped green chillies - 2
• Coriander leaves - small amount
• Salt to taste

• Beat the curd in the mixer without adding water.
• Pour it in a bowl, and add finely chopped onions, chopped green chillies, coriander leaves, and salt.
• Keep this prepared raita in the refrigerator and serve chilled.
• This is the best side dish for briyani recipes.

Onion Tomato Chutney

10:08 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Sliced onions - 2
• Chopped tomatoes - 2
• Red Chillies - 2
• Grated coconut - 1 tbsp
• Channa dal - 1 tbsp
• Sliced ginger - 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves - small amount

• In a hot tawa, add oil, after it get heated, add channa dal, sliced ginger, red chillies, sliced onions, grated coconut.
• Fry it for few minutes until onions become transparent, then add chopped tomatoes, and fry this for few minutes until the skin of the tomatoes start peeling off.
• Let it cool for few minutes and grind this mixture along with salt in the mixer grinder.
• Pour this chutney in a bowl.
• In a small frying pan, add oil and add mustard, when it starts spluttering, add curry leaves, pour this mixture over the chutney.
• Serve this chutney with Idli and Dosas

Coconut Chutney/ Thengai Chutney

9:47 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Add grated coconut, chopped green chillies, garlic, chopped ginger, chickpeas, and salt in a mixer grinder, add little water to this mixture.
• Grind this mixture to a fine paste, the consistency of the chutney should not be too watery or thick.
• Pour this chutney in a bowl.
• In a small frying pan or kadai, add oil and then add mustard.
• When mustard starts spluttering, add curry leaves and urud dal, and finally add this to the chutney.
• This chutney makes a best side dish for idli and dosas.

Cheese Omelette

12:16 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Eggs - 2
• Cheddar cheese grated - 1/4 cup
• Salt to taste
• Pepper - 1/4 tbsp
• Butter - 1 tbsp

• Beat eggs nicely and then add salt and pepper to it.
• In a hot tawa, add butter and coat the tawa nicely with butter.
• Add the beaten eggs and spread it across the tawa nicely.
• When the egg is half-cooked, add the cheese on it.
• Just cook the eggs only on one side and let the eggs cook until the bottom of the omelette becomes brown.
• With the help of spatula, tuck the sides of the omelette.
• Serve this omelette hot with any sauce.

Quick Egg Podimas/ Muttai Podimas

12:04 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Egg - 2
• Onion - 1
• mustard seed - 1/2 tbsp
• Left over oil

• Most of the time, after cooking any non-veg varuval, we will be left with oil with all masala mixed. This oil cannot be used for any other cooking. Therefore, here is a easy method to make use of this oil.
• Add mustard seeds to this oil, when it starts spluttering, add onion.
• Saute the onion until it becomes transparent.
• Then add the beaten eggs to this mixture and sprinkle salt over it [be very careful while adding salt as the left over oil contains masalas and salt from the varuval made].
• Stir well and break up the eggs and stir it until the eggs get mixed.
• Serve hot.

Chicken Biryani

12:21 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Chicken - 1/2 kg
• Briyani rice - 1/2 kg
• Onion - 3
• Tomato 1
• Mint leaves - small amount or 1/2 cup
• Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
• Salt to taste
• Ginger-garlic paste - 1 1/2 tbsp
• Yogurt - 2tbsp
• Garam masala powder - 1 tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Green chillies - 2
• Saffron - 1/2 gm
• Hot milk - 1/2 cup

• Wash rice and soak it in water for 10 minutes.
• Cook rice along with some amount of ghee, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom.
• Mean while, in a cup add saffron in the hot milk and keep it aside to prepare saffron milk.
• Boil rice until 3/4 is done, drain water and keep rice aside.
• In a thick bottom pan, add ghee and then add bay leaf, cardamom. 
• Add onions and fry it until it becomes transparent, then add ginger-garlic paste.
• Fry this until the raw smell of onion and paste disappears.
• Then add chopped tomatoes and chicken pieces.
• Add garam masala powder, coriander powder, salt, chopped green chillies, yogurt, mint leaves, and coriander leaves.
• Add little water because chicken itself becomes watery while cooking
• Cook this mixture until the chicken becomes soft and the masala is reduced to thick consistency.
• Now separately cut onion lengthwise and fry it in ghee until it becomes transparent. Keep it aside
• Now, take a microwave safe utensil, add a layer of rice and then add some fried onions and sprinkle saffron milk, followed by a layer of chicken masala.
• Repeat this layer and finish it off with rice on top along with fried onions and saffron milk.
• Microwave this dish for 10 to 12 minutes, alternatively you can heat this dish in a thick bottomed pan for 10 minutes on a very low flame.
• Chicken biryani is ready and you can serve this with brinjal serwa or onion raitha.

Viraal Meen Varuval

11:50 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

• Viraal meen - 1/2 kg
• Chilli powder- 1 1/2 tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
• Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• pepper - 1/4 tbsp
• Oil - to fry
• salt - to taste

• Wash the fish with water and then with turmeric powder and salt.
• Again wash the fish with water to remove the turmeric powder and salt.
• Dry the water thoroughly.
• Add chilli powder, ginger-garlic paste, salt, and pepper to marinate.
• Keep it aside for half an hour.
• In a hot tawa or skillet, add oil and then add fishes.
• Fry it and serve hot.

Dal Roti

1:25 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
• Left over parupu sambar - as required
• salt - as required
• oil - small amount

Method: 

• Knead the wheat flour with the parupu sambar and salt [add salt only if required because parupu sambar alreasy has enough salt].
• Coat this with little oil and keep it aside for fifteen minutes.
• Make golf-ball sized balls from the dough and roll it over the rolling pin.
• In a hot tawa or skillet, cook the rotis.
• Your hot rotis are ready and it taste wonderful with any side dishes.

Alternate Option:


Ingredients:

• Cooked and mashed dal - 1 cup
• Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
• Cumin powder - 1 tbsp
• Garam masala - 1/2 tbsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
• Salt - as required

Method:

• Add all the above said ingredients and knead it well.
• Coat the dough with little oil and keep it aside for few minutes.
• Make golf-ball sized balls and roll the balls on the rolling pin.
• In a hot tawa, cook it until bubbles start to forms.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes.
Dal roti is the healthiest option and kids will surely love this roti. Also, this is one of the easiest way to feed children with dals.

Easy Parupu Sambar/Parupu Kulambu

1:03 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

Ingredients:

• Toor dal - 1 cup
• Shallot onions/ Sambar Onion- 3 to 4
• Garlic Pods - 2
• Tomato - 1
• Green Chilli - 1
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Salt - as required

Garnishing:

• Mustard seeds: 1/2 tbsp
• Red chillies - 3
• Curry leaves - few
• chilli vadagam - few [you can easily get this vadagam in most of the supermarkets]

Method:

• In a pressure cooker, add toor dal, sliced onion, sliced tomato, finely chopped garlic, chopped green chilli, turmeric powder, and salt.
• Pressure cook this ingredients, let the whistle blow for at least 4 or 5 times, so that the ingredients are nicely cooked and blended.
• In a frying pan, add mustard, curry leaves, red chillies, and chilli vadagam.
• Add this to the parupu, now your sambar is ready.

Note: If you don't have vadagam, don't worry, leave it and add the other garnishing items.
Preparation Time: 15 to 20 minutes.
This is the simple version of sambar and you can prepare this very easily. Add ghee to the rice before adding sambar, it tastes yummy. Nothing can beat this taste.

How to make Idli

12:39 AM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

Ingredients:

• Par boiled Rice - 4 cups
• Urad dal - 1 cup
• Salt - as required

Method: 

• Soak rice and urad dal separately for about 4 to 5 hours.
• First, grind urad dal and then grind soaked rice separately.
• Mix the grinded dal and rice together to make idli batter.
• Let the batter to ferment for at least eight hours at room temperature or say warm temperature.
• After eight hours, add salt to batter.
• Grease the idli plates and steam cook idllis for ten to fifteen minutes.
• Serve idlis with chutneys or sambar.

Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Idli is one of the staple food in most of the south Indian homes. This is also the healthiest food as it does not contain oil or spices.

Javvarisi Semiya Payasam

7:21 PM Chandra Karthikeyan 0 Comments

Ingredients:

• Javvarisi/sago - 2 tbsp
• Vermicelli/Semiya - 1 cup 
• Ghee- 1 tbsp
• Cardomom - 3
• Sugar - 1/2 cup or according to your taste
• Raisins - 10
• Cashew - 10
• Milk - 2 cups
• Ghee - some amount for frying semiya, raisins, and cashews.
• Water - as required

Method:

• In a heavy bottomed pan, add some ghee and then add javvarisi, fry this for few minutes until it becomes transparent and cooked. Don't over fry it because it will get easily burned.
• Then add vermicelli and fry it in the same pan along with javvarisi.
• Add one cup of water, don't add too much of water as the payasam would become watery and also less water will burn the entire preparation.
• Once the vermicelli is cooked well, add sugar, now the consistency would be thick.
• Now, its time to add milk and cardamom.
• When the milk start boiling or simmer, turn off the stove.
• Garnish the payasam with fried raisins and cashews.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Payasam can be served hot or cold and this is the one of the easy dessert that can be served with any meals.