Ragi Koozh / Kezhvaragu Koozh/ Finger Millet Porridge

My son, after his short stint with swimming lessons last year, stays away from swimming pools. He won’t even go near the pool at any cost.

It was not surprising that on a day out, my kid was on the trampoline. All.the.time.

He was there from morning 11 till evening 5, when it was time to return. All the other kids were in the pool, even two-year old ones.

He was jumping all day long, yet he didn’t seem tired. So unlike his home avatar, where he goes “I am so tired”, the minute I ask him to do some work.

Kids….and the less said about the dad, the better!

Anyway, after that hot day out, I decided that I will never venture out in summer for outings! Don’t know how long I will hold on to that, but if I do go out next time, I am going to make a batch of this koozhu(porridge) and go.

Ragi koozh is something new to me, it’s farmers’ food. It’s cooling and tasted so nice to me. The taste may not appeal initially to everyone, it’s almost like switching from white bread to whole wheat bread. But give it a try, chances are you won’t regret it.

Check out what other participants are doing for BM 27, a month-long marathon at the Blogging Marathon Page.

Recipe Source: Gayathri’s Cook Spot

Serves: 5-6

Ingredients:

• Ragi Flour       :           1 cup
• Cooked rice    :            1/2 cup
• Salt
• Water

To serve:

• Buttermilk
• Pearl onions
• Pickle of your choice

Method:

1. Mix ragi flour, cooked rice (I mashed it a bit with my hands) and salt to about half a cup water to get a thick batter of idli batter consistency. You might have to adjust the amount of water to get it right.
2. Set aside and let it ferment for a minimum of four hours or preferably overnight.
3.  The batter would have foamed up a little the next morning. Mix it. Measure out this batter. It was about 1.5 cups for me. Bring the same amount of water to a boil and add this batter to it.
4. Stir now and then and stir continuously once it starts to thicken.
5. Stir, stir, stir till it all comes together – for about 20-30 minutes. It was about 40 minutes for me, but I had help. So it wasnt my arms that was aching :D. The koozh shouldnt be sticky when you touch it.
6. Take off the heat and let it rest for 4-5 hours, if possible.
7. To serve : To make one cup of koozh, add 3/4th of the prepared koozh and fill the rest with buttermilk or water or a combination of both. Mix and add chopped pearl onions to it. Serve with any pickle of your choice.

Note: Instead of using cooked rice, you can use uncooked raw rice. You should wash and grind the rice and add it to the boiling water along with the ragi batter. You can refer here for the recipe and step by step pictures.

This needs to be cooked at least for a minimum of 20 minutes, apparently uncooked ragi might give you a stomach ache.

This is an age-old traditional recipe. I don’t know whether I got it correctly or not. I liked this koozh and would welcome suggestions/corrections if there are any!

Goan Style Coconut Rice

After taking a break from last week’s Blogging Marathon, I am now back with ‘Recipes from Goa’ this week.

I was out of ideas for this theme and I tried Priya’s Goan Egg Drop curry first. I made the gravy, I dropped the eggs in the gravy and I went on mixing it. So it finally became an egg burji (scrambled egg) curry. It tasted really good, even if it wasn’t really photogenic.

The next trial was Pradnya’s Coconut rice. Now this, though it tasted good and had a wonderful aroma, turned out to be a bit oily for me. I have no idea where I messed it up this time! But yet, this is a simple recipe to prepare and had this nice and mild flavor of coconut milk. It would pair really well with any spicy curry.  Its a good lunch box recipe without any overwhelming flavors.

So here it is, a simple coconut rice from the State of Goa, served for the third week of Blogging Marathon. Check out this page for entrees from other participating bloggers.

Recipe Source: The Pumpkin Farm

Serves:  2

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice                                       :       1 cup
• Coconut Milk                                      :       2 cups
• Cinnamon                                             :       1″ piece
• Cloves                                                    :       2
• Onion                                                     :        1, sliced thin
• Cashews                                                :        1 tbsp
• Whole black pepper                        :        1 tsp
• Oil                                                            :        1 tbsp

Method: 

1. Wash and clean the rice. Soak it and leave it aside for 10 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add the cashews, cloves, cinnamon, pepper. Stir fry for a minute till the cashews turn brown. Brown, not black!!
3. Add the onions and saute till pink. Drain the rice and add to the onion mix and fry for a minute or two.
4. Add coconut milk, stirring all the while and cover and cook till rice is done. I usually move it to a rice cooker at this stage.
5. Serve with any spicy side dish.

Pizza Sauce

 

At one point of time, making pizzas was a weekly affair at our place. Fridays meant pizzas or lasagnas. Its been sometime since we made pizza at home, which is funny, considering the fact that I have two different varieties of pizza sauces sitting in the fridge.

I have tried using the readymade pizza sauces available in the market, but I found them too sweet for my taste. So I make them at home. This one of the frequently used recipes for making the sauce.

There is another recipe with ready made puree alone, I will be posting that soon sometime. In the meanwhile, make this at home, spread it over a pizza, bake them and enjoy biting into that hot cheesy bite!

This is my entry for the second day of Blogging Marathon 25, under the theme ‘Cooking from CookBooks’. Check out the page for more recipes and more themes from participating bloggers.

Recipe Source: Nita Mehta’s ‘Pizza and Pasta’ book

Makes: for 3-4 large pizzas

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes                       :     3 big
• Ready made puree       :     1/2 cup
• Garlic                              :     4-5 flakes, crushed
• Oregano                         :      1 tsp, dried
• Bay leaf                          :      1
• Vinegar                          :      1 tsp (optional)
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil                          :      2 tsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic and saute for a minute.  Add all the other ingredients except vinegar. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 7-10 minutes stirring now and then. I do this in a pan with lid, else the tomatoes splutter all over.
2. Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly. Add vinegar. Boil till the sauce becomes thick enough to spread without being runny. Remove from fire. Store in clean glass bottles once cool.

Mushroom Methi Rice

Like the saying ‘You cannot see the forests for the trees!’, you cannot see my kitchen for the appliances in there! On the counter, you have the OTG, Microwave, Food processor and the kettle. Open any of the cupboards, you are sure to find a less used appliance tucked in there.

My poor panani maker, toaster, hand mixer, coffee maker, rice cooker, induction stove are all tucked in somewhere to save the counterspace. I don’t even know how many more appliances I have in there!! May be, I should finish this post and go count them :))

Thanks to the ‘Cooking with any Electrical Appliance’ theme, some of them are going to be featured here this week. Yesterday it was OTG, today it is Rice cooker and induction stove (preparation in the stove and the actual cooking in the Rice Cooker).

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for more themes and recipes from the participating bloggers!

Recipe Source : Seduce Your Tastebuds

Ingredients:

• Basmati rice                        :            1 cup
• Mustard seeds                    :             1/2 tsp
• Methi (Fresh or Dry)        :             1/4 cup ( 1/2 of it if using dry variety)
• Green Peas                          :            1/4 cup
• Mushroom                           :            1/2 cup sliced (optional)
• Garlic & Green chillies       :            1 tsp each, chopped fine
• Ghee/Oil                                :             1 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder                  :          1/4 tsp
• Salt

Method:

1. Wash and soak the rice. Drain after 15 minutes and keep aside.
2. Heat ghee or oil in a rice cooker, I did this in an induction stove. Add mustard seeds, garlic and green chillies. Once the seeds crack, add the mushrooms, turmeric powder and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the green peas, methi and the rice. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Take off the heat.
3. Now, move this to a rice cooker. Add two cups of water, salt and let it cook.
4. Serve hot with raita or curd and pickle.

Linking this to Valli’s Kid’s Delight, for this month’s theme : Healthy Lunch Box Recipes hosted by PJ of Seduce your Tastebuds

Kerala Green Peas Masala

Day two of Blogging Marathon 24 and we dine at Balaji Bhavan today. I choose one dish each from their Rice/Noodles section (easy peasy Jeera Pulao), Tandoori Kadai (Side dish- Green Peas Masala) section, Fruit extracts (Lemon Juice & ready made pomegranite juice) and Any timers (Chapati, no kurma – though!).

Now, isn’t this is a hearty meal?

Check out the other marathoners here in Blogging Marathon page.

Jeera Pulao

Makes : 2 servings

Ingredients:

• Basmati rice           :       1 cup
• Ghee                         :       2 tsp
• Jeera                         :       2 tsp
• Salt

Method:

1. Wash and soak the rice for 15-20 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
2. Heat ghee in a pan, add the jeera seeds. Once it cracks, add the rice, saute for a couple of minutes. Take off the heat.
3. I usually cook this in a rice cooker. So at this stage, I move the rice to the rice cooker, add salt, two cups of water and cook until done. This can be pressure cooked too, for two whistles.

Recipe Source: Peas Masala

Ingredients:

• Green Peas             :       2 cups(Fresh,Frozen or Dry, but cooked)
• Onion                      :        2
• Red Chilies             :        2
• Coriander Powder :        1 tbsp
• Chili Powder           :        1/2 tsp
• Tomato                    :        1
• Coconut milk          :        1 cup, thick. I use Maggi Powder.
• Salt
• Oil

Method:

1. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan and saute the onions. Add the ginger garlic paste, red chilies- cook for a minute more. Add tomatoes, cook till they are mushy. Add coriander powder, chili powder and turmeric powder. You can add a tsp or two of water, to prevent the masalas from burning. Take off the heat, cool and grind. Keep aside.
2. Heat a tsp of oil, add mustard seeds and curry leaves. This step is optional. Once mustard crackles, add a cup of water and add the peas. You can add more water later, if needed. Add the ground onion masala, salt and bring everything to a boil. Add the coconut milk finally, and bring again to a boil. Check seasonings and adjust, if required. Serve hot with chapati or jeera rice. Tastes even better the next day!

Note : Sometimes I think instead of adding coconut milk, roasting 2-3 tablespoon of  coconut separately and grinding it together with the onion mix will suit this curry better. Should give it a try sometime!

Vegetable Manchurian

‘India is going to burn and we are all going to die! My classmate told me.’ Kiddo informed me, while travelling to my home town for Christmas Vacation. (That was his classmate’s version of the Mayan Calender).

‘What else did he say?’ I asked.

‘My friend told me that we will die, but God will bring us back.’ : Kiddo

‘Why do you want to come back, Shreyas?’: Me.

‘So that I can play with my toys!!’ Silence, lost in deep thought and then ‘Mummy, is God powerful?’

‘Yes, Shreyas. God is very powerful.’ : Me.

‘Is He more powerful than Way Big?’ ,asked the Ben 10 fan.

‘Oh Yes! God is there everywhere – just like air! Why, God is there inside everyone. All you have to do  is listen to your mind and God will tell you what is right and wrong.’ Me.

Kiddo got busy with some other things, but he hasn’t forgotten the conversation yet. Because, even now, I get  a lot of ‘Mummy, God is telling my mind that I need to eat chocolate (or play in the park or not to go to school and what not!)’.

But then, the God inside the mother always wins ;-)

Blogging Marathon 24 is here and so here I am. This week’s theme is Cooking From Restaurants. Its an interesting theme with the participants having to choose from one of the online take away menus. I have chosen starter, noodles and a side dish all from the Chinese menu section of ‘Akbar’s Indian Restaurant’.

The virtual menu card and the real meal experience was a nice, since I hardly make a whole meal in restaurant style at home. The menu for the day was Spring rolls, Veg Hakka Noodles and Veg Manchurian.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for more themes and more recipes from the participants.

Making of the dishes turned out to be more easier than I thought it to be. I did take some short cut methods, by keeping the spring roll filling and the vegetable Manchurian balls the same. I did the deep frying of the balls and the rolls also together, so I could finish both the dishes at the same time.

Vegetable Manchurian Recipe, adapted from Tarla Dalal.

Serves Two

Ingredients:

Filling:

• Bean sprouts                                     :        1/2 cup
• Minced Mixed veggies                  :        2 1/2 cups (Carrot/Cabbage/Capsicum)
• Spring onions                                    :        1/4 bunch (1/4 cup each of white and green)
• Corn Flour & AP Flour                  :        2 tbsp each ( Will have to adjust a bit if the balls don’t come together)
• Salt & Pepper & Chili flakes
• Oil for deep fry

For Sauce:

• Spring onion white                                   :        1/4 cup 
• Capsicum, chopped fine                        :        1/4 cup
• Green chilies                                               :        2 (I didn’t add)
• Ginger                                                            :        1″ piece, shredded (I didn’t add)
• Water                                                            :         1 cup
• Maida/Corn flour                                    :         2 tsp mixed with 1/2 cup water
• Soya sauce                                                   :        1 tbsp
• Salt & Pepper
• Oil

Method: 

1. First prepare the balls. Heat a pan and add a tbsp of oil. Saute the vegetables and the sprouts for 3-5 minutes. This step is optional, but since I was using the same filling for spring rolls, I did it. Add chili flakes, salt and pepper. Check the seasonings.
2. Take off the heat and once cool, add the corn flour, AP flour. Take a spoonful of the mix and shape it into a ball. You can sprinkle a little of water to bring it together.
3. Heat oil for deep frying and fry these balls till they are cooked. Set aside to drain.
4. Prepare the sauce. Saute the spring onion whites in 2 tsps of oil in a pan. Add the shredded ginger and after a couple of minutes of sauteing, add capsicum and chilies. Cook for two minutes and add one cup of water.
5. Add the soya sauce, salt (be careful here since the soy sauce may have salt in it!), corn flour mix and bring it to a boil. Do a taste test and adjust the seasonings. Drop the manchurian balls into the gravy and cook for a minute or two. Serve hot with Noodles or Fried rice.

Veg Hakka Noodles:

• Cook noodles per the packet instructions and keep it aside.
• Heat a tbsp of oil and add two tsp of crushed garlic in it. Add one tbsp of chili flakes and cook for a few seconds. Add shredded vegetables – I used a combination of cabbage, carrot, capsicum and spring onions, and cook for 2-3 minutes. The vegetables should not loose its crunchiness, but since we like it a bit soft, I cooked these a bit more. 
• Add salt and the cooked noodles. Mix nicely. Add spring onion greens. Serve with veg manchurian on the side.

Chana Pulav

I have many many recipe books. So many, that I can start a library with them. Earlier when I used to visit bookshops, I used to go directly to the cookery books section. Comics, Classics, Fiction - everything was given a miss.

This went on for a long time, and finally it came to a point where hubby refused to take me to bookshops! His reason was valid – there were so many cookbooks at home and yet I keep buying more. And worse, I don’t use them much!

So now, thanks to the free recipes accompanied by beautiful pictures in blogs and the internet, the book-buying craze has come down. And now, I concentrate more on cooking from the books I have!

Chana pulav is from one of the cookbook collection. Its a perfect lunchbox recipe and its perfect for this week’s Blogging Marathon theme too.

Check out the other Blogging Marathon participants for more recipes and more themes.

Recipe Source:  Mallika Badrinath’s ‘Rice Delights’ book

Serves : 2-3

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice                                               :          1 cup
• White kabuli Chana                                   :          1/2 cup
• Onions                                                          :         2
• Tomatoes                                                      :          3 big
• Kasuri methi                                                :           1 tbsp
• garam masala powder                               :            1/2 tsp
• Bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves             :            1-2 each, optional
• ghee                                                              :             1 tbsp

to grind:

• pearl onions             : 10 (I used 1 big onion)
• red chilies                 :  4-5 (or per taste)
• Cumin seeds             :  1 tsp
• Garlic                         :   4-5 flakes
• Coconut                     :    2 tbsp (I added this, but felt it would be better to skip)

Method:

1. Wash and soak chana overnight and pressure cook for 6-7 whistles or until cooked thoroughly. Keep aside.
2. Wash and soak the rice for 10 minutes. Grind the three tomatoes into a puree. Grind the items in the ‘to grind’ list into a smooth paste. Keep aside.
3. Heat ghee. Add cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves. Add onions and garlic and saute till brown. Add the ground onion-coconut masala paste. Fry for 3-4 minutes, until the raw smell goes away.
4. Add the tomato puree, garam masala powder, kasori methi, salt and chana. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes.
5. Drain water from the rice and add it. Add one cup of water (tomato puree + water = 2 cups, double that of rice) and cover and cook till rice is done. I usually transfer the rice to a pressure cooker or rice cooker at this stage.
6. Serve with a simple raita.

Linked to:

• Blogging Marathon, under Cooking with Chana Dal theme
• Susan’s MLLA, hosted this month by Simone of Briciole
• Swati’s Favorite Recipes, hosted by Amrita of Sweet n Savory

Vegetable Khichdi

 

Blogging Marathon 22 is beginning today and this week’s theme is Dishes from Bengal for me. Check out the other participants here.

Nilam came here when Sandy was in the US.

There was no power inside the house and the wind was howling outside. It was tug of war with the door, as it was not opening because of the wind pressure.

We had power back up, so things weren’t that bad.

A minute outside showed me how forceful the wind was. It was like walking through a storm (which was what it was!). I had to almost abandon my visit to the temporary shopping mall and manage with what we had at home.

Luckily, except for a couple of fallen roofs, there wasn’t much damage here and by night, things were back to normal.

Another reminder that we are nothing in front of Mother Nature!

• Recipe Source: Rummana’s Kitchen
• Serves : 2-3
• Ready in : 45 min
• One pot meal

Ingredients:

• Rice                                :            1 cup
• Moong dal                   :            1/2 cup
• Mixed Vegetables    :            1 cup ( potatoes, carrots, peas and beans)
• Ginger garlic paste  :           1 tsp
• Green chilies             :            2-3
• Bay leaf                       :             1, optional
• Salt
• Onion                            :            1 small, optional
• Cumin                           :             1 tsp
• Ghee                              :             2 tbsp, or per taste

Method:

1. Wash and clean the dal and rice separately and let it drain while you prepare the vegetables. Heat a kadai and roast the dal for a minute (optional step, after the dal is dry).
2. Clean the vegetables and dice them into even sized pieces. Mix the rice, dal, veggies together in a 5L pressure cooker. Add the turmeric powder, chilies, ginger garlic paste and bayleaf. Add 4.5 cups of water. Pressure cook for 3-4 whisles or until rice is cooked. Take off the heat.
3. Chop the onion and keep aside. In a small kadai, add a spoon of ghee. Add cumins and chopped onions. Once the pressure falls, add this onion tempering to the khichdi and mix well. Dot with ghee and serve with Aloo Bhaja/Begun bhaja.

This recipe is off to :

• Susan’s MLLA, hosted this month by Simone of Briciole
• Swati’s Favorite Recipes, hosted by Amrita of Sweet n Savory

Quick Capsicum Curry

‘Yes and No’ means ‘First I will and then I won’t’.

Says my son when I question him why his lunch box is coming back as such. Nothing is eaten from it, not even the fruit pieces. The lunch box is returned to me in the evening with a matching foul mood to accompany it.

I have learnt that in the evenings, a warm early dinner is more welcome than a lecture on not to waste food. I feed him his dinner first, almost as soon as he returns from school.

And the lecture…that I serve later!

I made the dough for rotis (for about 6 rotis). While it was resting I made the capsicum curry. The curry was done in less than 15 minutes. I made the rotis and the entire meal was done within 30 minutes.

Recipe Source: UK-Rasoi

Serves : 3

Ingredients:

• Capsicum                           :           3 big
• Gram Flour/Besan         :           5-6 tbsp
• Red Chili Powder           :            1-2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder          :            1/2 tsp
• Half of a lemon or 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Salt
• Oil

Method:

1. Clean and dice the capsicum into 1″ squares.
2. Heat about a tablespoon of oil. Add the capsicum pieces and cook for about 4-5 minutes. I prefer the peppers cooked than crunchy, so I cook for another 3-4 minutes until the peppers change color.
3. Add salt, turmeric powder and chili powder. Mix well.
4. Add the besan and mix well. Cook for 4-5 minutes, mixing frequently to avoid burning.
5. Once the gram flour changes color and is cooked completely, take off the heat.
6. Add the lemon juice and mix for the flavors to blend.
7. Serve with chapati or rice.

Linked to:

• Blogging Marathon 19, under 30 minute meals
• 30 Minute Mela

Short, Sweet & Spicy

Some things in life are short.

Some others are sweet. Some spicy.

Like this post. Short and sweet :-D

And the recipe shared here : an easy to make sweet, spicy and tangy Menasina Saaru (Pepper Rasam).

Enjoy it with Carrot Palya and Beans Palya, all cooked in 30 min flat!

My Blog Hop Partner for this month is Smitha from Kannada Cuisine. And my Blogging Marathon theme is 30 minute meals. So here is the best of both worlds, a simple meal that can be put together in 30 minutes – all chosen from Smitha’s space.

This menu needs a bit of planning so that everything gets cooked within 30 min. You need to start off with rice (and I always cook dal along with it). Once the rice is in the cooker, you need to prepare the rasam. While the rasam is boiling, you can start preparing the vegetables. When the veggies are in the MW, you can finish off the rasam and get the seasonings ready for the vegetables. It was easy for me since I was only cooking for two. If the quantities were higher, I am not sure I could have managed two side dishes.

Carrot Palya

Serves 1 – 2.

Ingredients:

• Carrot               :      1 big (or beans :  10-15)
• Coconut           :       1/4 cup
• Salt
• Oil                      :        1 tsp
• lemon juice    :         1/2 tsp, optional

Tempering

• Mustard seeds    : 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal          :      1/2 tsp
• Chana dal       :       1/2 tsp
• Red Chilies     :      1
• Curry leaves

Method:

1. Wash and clean the vegetable. Slice into circles or chop into small cubes. Microwave covered for 5 minutes, or until the veggies are cooked.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add the tempering items one after the other. Once they splutter, add the cooked carrots.
3. Add salt and coconut and mix.
4. Cook for a further minute, take off the heat and add lemon juice and serve.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#19

Linked to:

• Blog Hop Wednesdays
• Blogging Marathon #19, under 30 minute meals
• 30 Minute Mela