Vengaaya chutney

Ingredients :

• Peeled small onions - 1 cup
• Red tomato - 1 big [ cut into small pieces.
• Red chillies - 10
• Salt - as required
• Sugar or jaggery - 1 tsp
• Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
• Oil - 2 tbl. sps.

Method :

Heat oil in fry pan and  fry red chillies, onions, tomato till golden brown.  Then grind in mixer along
with tamarind, salt and sugar or jaggery. Your yummy gvengaaya chutney is ready.

Sponge dosai [ bun dosai )

  Ingredients :

• Raw rice - 3 cups
• Rice flakes [ aval ] - 1 cup
• Black gram [ whole ]  - 1 / 2 cup
• Fenugreek seeds - 1 tbl.sp
• Salt - as required
• Oil or ghee - enough for frying

Method :

Wash rice and rice flakes separately without mud and then soak them together for 4 to 5 hours. Soak dhal, fenugreek together. Then grind it  to smooth paste, with salt. Allow to ferment till next day morning. Heat  a tawa and pour thick dosa. [ do not spread ]. Put little ghee or oil  around and close with a lid. Cook in medium flame for few minutes till there is no raw batter on top of the dosa. Do not turn over, serve hot with coconut chutney or vengaaya chutney.

Dry jamun [ sweet ]

Ingredients:

• Maida - 1 1/2 cups [ heaped ]
• Fine rawa - 1 tbl spn
• Saffron - few
• Rose water - 1 tsp
• Resins [Kismis] - 1 tbl spn
• Milk powder - 1 tsp
• Fresh thick curds - 1/4 cup
• Ghee - for frying
• Small sweet  boondhi - little [ for garnishing ]

For syrup:

• Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
• Water - 3/4 cup

Method:

Mix maida, milk powder and rawa together. Heat saffron over a hot bowl and then crush it. Whip curds and mix with flour to form a dough. Keep it closed for 1/2 an hour. Then make small balls with kismis inside. Deep fry few balls at a time [in medium flame] in hot ghee till it becomes golden brown. Then prepare sugar syrup on one string consistency [ thick string ]. Add crushed saffron to this. Add fried jamuns to the hot syrup. Take out from syrup after an hour and keep on a flat plate. Sprinkle rose water on top. Garnish with sweet boondhi.

Carrot Sugian [Sweet Carrot fried in batter]

Ingredients :

• Dosa batter - 3 cups
• Jaggery or brown sugar - 1/2 cup
• Carrots  - 3 to 4 [ grated ]
• Cradamom powder - 1/2 tsp
• Fresh ghee - 3 tsp
• Oil - for deep frying

Method :

Add 1/2 cup of water to jaggery and melt over, in a low flame. Strain to remove dirt. Again keep  the jaggery syrup to the flame, add the grated carrot and cook in a medium flame stirring continuously for 5 minutes. Scrape on the sides and the bottom with landle. When it leaves the sides of the pan and becomes a sticky mass, add the cardamom powder and ghee. Mix well and remove from the gas. From that make small small balls. Dip these balls in the dosa batter and when coated well on all sides, deep fry in oil in a low flame. Turn gently until it turns light golden on all sides.

Note :

If you need thick batter, then add a tablespoon of rice flour.

Keerai Dosai [ spinach pancakes ]

Ingredients :

• Dosa batter - 3 cups
• Spinach - 1 / 2 bunch [ washed and chopped with stem ]
• Onion - 1 big [ chopped ]
• Asafoetida - 1 / 2 tsp
• Salt - as required
•  Fresh coriander leaves - 2 table spoon
• Oil - 1 / 4 cup

Method :

Stir the spinach in a teaspoon of oil for 2 minutes, till it shrinks and become soft. Then add onions, asafoetida, and salt. When the onion is transparent and soft.  Grind this in mixer and mix with  batter along with coriander leaves.  Then heat a non- stick pan or an iron tawa , lightly grease with seasame oil. Keep the heat on medium throughout. Pour a ladle of batter.  Spread the batter thinly, pour oil around edges of dosai and top with light hand. When the bottom of the dosai is crisp and golden, turn it over and let the other side be done. Serve with sambhar and idli milagai podi mixed in seasame  oil.


Note :

This is a tasty and healthy variation and you will be left with wanting more.

Doodhi ka Muthiya [ gujarati dish ]

Ingredients :

• Wheat flour - 1 cup
• Gram flour [ besan ]  -1 cup
• Grated doodhi - 200 gms
• Oil - 6 tbsp.

Masala :

• Salt - as required
• Turmeric powder - 1 / 2 tsp
• Coriander cummin seed powder  -1 1 / 2 tsp
• Ginger chilli paste - 2 tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp

For tempering :

• Green chillies - 2 to 3
• Fenugreek seeds - 1 / 4 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 / 2 tsp
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• White seasame seeds - 1 / 2 tsp
• Chopped coriander leaves - little

Method :

Mix the wheat flour, besan, oil and masalas.Grate doodhi finely. Apply salt. Add this salted doodhi to the flour. Prepare a soft dough by adding water. Apply little water on the palm. Prepare three to four rolls from the dough. Place each roll on a greased thali or a metal seive. Steam the muthias till tender by placing the seive on a stand in a large vessel filled with water. When cool cut them in to small pieces. Then heat oil for tempering in a kadai, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, green chilli pieces. When the seeds splutter, add asafoetida and cuury leaves. When done, add muthias. Keep on a medium flame, stirring constantly till the muthias turn red and crisp.  Before serving sprinkle fried seasame seeds and chopped coriander leaves.

Carrot Hopper [ fresh juice ]

Ingredients :

• Fresh carrot - 1 / 2 kg.
• Beetroot - 100 gms.
• Ginger - 1 / 2 inch piece
• Honey - 1 / 2 tsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Palm sugar [ panam kalkandu ] - 2 tsps.

Method :
Wash carrots in warm water using a vegetable brush for cleaning. [ do not scrape the skin. More vitamins and minerals are present under the skin.] Remove top and tail portion and cut in to big pieces. Scrape thin skin from beetroot and cut in to big pieces. First put peeled ginger in to the juicer and follow with other vegetables. Mix salt, honey and palm sugar to the juice. Serve in small glass topped with crushed ice.

[ always use fresh carrots to obtain more juice.]