Month: July 2019

Instant Pongal in Kettle:

July 25, 2019

Living away from home can be difficult at times, especially when you are unwell and want to really have a simple homecooked meal. This same situation was the reason behind my experiments in Kettle cooking. Bought a new Morphy Richards Insta Cook Noodle/Pasta and Beverage Maker Electric Kettle( 1 lit) and started my journey to make south Indian comfort meal.

Tried all these for my daughters who will use these premixes and use this kettle in their Hostel.

At first tried my daughter’s favourite comfort meal “Pongal Premix”

For Instant Pongal Mix : I took

Moong dal – 1 cup

Rice – 1 ½ cup

For seasoning: Ghee, mustard, cumin, hing, chopped curry leaves , chopped green chillies, ginger juveniles ,turmeric and pepper powder.

How to make: Take one kadai, add ghee, splutter mustard, cumin, hing, curry leaves ,green chillies ,ginger ,turmeric and fry nicely. Lastly add Pepper powder.

-Now add Moong dal and fry for two minutes. Then add rice, switch off the gas and mix everything nicely for 2 more minutes.

-Cool the mixture, pack it in an airtight container or in a zip lock bag.

Cooking Process:

-Take one and half cup of water, add half cup of Pongal premix and required salt and soak it in a kettle for 10 – 20 minutes.

-Switch on the kettle (Boil mode). It would turn off automatically within 2 ½ minutes if lid is on. Keep as it is for 5 to 10 minutes.

– once again switch on and repeat the procedure for once or twice by checking the doneness as well as water.

-After taking out the Pongal, pour some water for the used kettle to soak in, before you start eating.

-In this way, by the time you finish your eating, kettle will be ready for washing. You can use liquid dish washing soap and nonabrasive scrubber to clean inside. Take care of the outside base (no water should enter)

Note: Here, I have not used any coconut.

It’s ready and you can now enjoy your rice meal hot!

 

Ripe Jackfruit Idli:

July 15, 2019

Jack fruit idli is Instant , if you have left over Jackfruit dosa batter 😀 . Other wise you should soak dosa rice for 2 hours and then you can proceed to make idli. Last week when I made dosa , I had some left-over batter and tried this idli instead of our usual traditional kottige. Which is wrapped and steam cooked in Plantain leaf.

It turned out to be super soft and fluffy. It is very easy, at the same time no compromises in taste.

How I made:

Ingredients:

Dosa rice – 1 cup

Cleaned jack fruit – 1 big bowl 

Salt

Coconut gratings – ½ cup

Grated Jaggery – 2 tablespoons ( as required)

Ghee – 1 table soon (optional, but it surely enhance the taste)

Eno fruit salt – ½ tsp (optional)

Method:

-Wash and soak Dosa rice in sufficient water for 2 to 3 hours.

– Chop the jack fruit, remove bulbs and separate outer cover and inner seed.

– Collect only the outer yellow fruit shell and put it in a mixer grinder, give couple of whipping sessions and remove.

-Divide it in half ( use one half for grinding and other half to ready batter. to enhance the taste.

– Now take soaked rice, half of  fruit chunks  , put little water and grind this into a smooth paste by adding sufficient salt. Batter consistency should be  little thicker.

-Take coconut gratings, mix in jaggery, little ghee( if you wish) and mix in half of jack pieces which we have kept aside.

-Mix this mixture with ground batter. If you want, add Eno and mix everything and make idlies by using idli mould.

-serve this with honey or with ginger chutney.            

Note:

For ginger chutney: Fry red chillies with little oil and grind it with coconut, salt, little tamarind and piece of ginger.

If you have ready Dosa batter, add jack fruit pieces, coconut, jaggery ,ghee, Eno and mix everything and proceed.

If you are using idli stand, grease the idli plate with oil/ghee and pour a ladle full of batter and steam cook them in pressure cooker for 10-15 minutes.
Let it cool for few minutes before serving the idlis with spicy chutney and ghee.

Plantain stem dosa / Bale dandina dosey:

July 4, 2019

Every part of the banana plant has its own benefits to our health. Banana stem is one such thing, which is high in fibre and filled with nutritious water. It is very good for Human gut as well as kidney.

The juice of the banana stem helps in flushing out of toxins as well as to prevent kidney stone formation as well. Overall it acts as a healing food for human body. In coastal Karnataka, we do use plantain stem or flower in various recipes. Today I am going to share our traditional Dosa recipe and previously I have shared Raw salad as well as Rasam recipe.

Plantain stem dosa turns out porous, soft as well as crispy and goes very well with any side dish of your choice.

Ingredients:

Dosa rice – 2 cups

Urad dal – ¼ cup

Methi seeds – 1 tablespoon

Banana/ plantain stem – 2 cups

Salt

Method:

-Wash , soak dosa rice, urad dal, methi in water for 2 to 3 hours.

-Chop Banana stem as I have shown in the picture below.

-Grind soaked rice and chopped plantain stem pieces by adding sufficient salt into smooth paste.

-Ferment overnight or 8 – 10 hours. Next day prepare Dosa .

-If you like crisp roasted one, spread as thin as possible on heated iron griddle.

-Serve with coconut chutney or any other curry.