Bhindi Raita | Vendakka Thayir Pachadi Recipe | Easy Raita Recipes

Bhindi Raita or Vendakka Thayir Pachadi or Okra Spiced Yogurt Dip is one of easy raita or accompaniment recipe perfect with Biryani, Pulao or Variety Rice. Vendakkai pachadi or bhindi raita is good variations from usual raita recipe with crispy fried okra/bhindi, chilled yogurt and with tempering or tadka it's taste wonderful. Not only rice but we can also pair this raita with roti or paratha too it goes well with everything.

Beetroot Pachadi | Beetroot Raita | Onam Sadya Recipe

The count down is almost going to finish for Onam and today I am presenting one of the important dish of Onam Sadya - Pachadi and beetroot pachadi (raita) is famous pachadi made during Onam perhaps to make the Sadya looks colorful I guess and if you making Onam Sadya then you should not miss beetroot pachadi as it's colorful and healthy.

Mathanga Vanpayar Erissery | Pumpkin Blackeyed Peas Curry Recipe | Onam Sadya Recipes

Onam is 2 days away and I am sure people celebrating Onam must be very busy with shopping, preparation and all.  I always had people around me celebrating Onam with much fan-fare that I look forward to Onam each year and this year it's going to be not much happening it seems but I am already thinking ways of making it better perhaps a team lunch would do too I think what's say?

Onam Recipes | Onam Sadya Recipes 2013

Onam is Hindu festival celebrated in Kerala - western southern state of India though it's a festival celebrated by all in Kerala.  Onam normally falls on Malayalam month of Chingam (between Aug and Sep) and this year Onam falls on 16th September 2013.  Onam marks home coming of mythical king Mahabali and also consider as harvest festival.

Lemon Pickle | Nimboo Ka Achar | No-Oil Lemon Pickle Recipe | Onam Sadya Recipes

I am a big pickle fan and off all the pickles I really like lemon pickle a lot when I didn't even start to cook I used to make lemon pickle how crazy that can be !! But then I stopped making it for some unknown reason though I still love lemon pickle or nimboo ka achar after all it's so difficult to say no to this tangy, spicy and tongue tickling pickle, I wouldn't say who can say no to this pickle cause personally I know few you do say no to lemon pickle.

Dates Payasam (Kheer) | Onam Sadya Recipes

It's best time of year with all the festivals while we have Ganesh Ustav on-going Onam is also around the corner and people celebrating Vishu must be already preparing Onam Sadya menu and doing all the preparation.  Onam is Hindu festival celebrated in Kerala - western southern state of India though it's a festival celebrated by all in Kerala.

Moong Dal Kheer | Pasi Paruppu Payasam | Ganesh Chaturthi Recipes

Moong dal payasam is something I really like though I make it rare, it always reminds me of our neighbor aunt whom used to share yellow and green moong dal payasam on every Onam with us.  Delicious kheer with bites of moong dal is a treat to eat.  Mostly served as Neivadyam in various festivals, pooja this payasam is easy to prepare and minimal ingredients.

Unniyappam | Inippu Appam | Onam Recipes

Wishing all readers Happy Onam.  For me Onam used to be having moong dal payasam, banana chips, unniyappam and other goodies that our Malayali neighbor aunty used to share with us.  After long time I enjoyed Onam last year with colleagues over sadhya of which managed to post Beans Thoran and Puli Inji, I was suppose to carry unniyappam on special demand but last moment I couldn’t do that.  To makeup for that this year I thought of preparing and posting to feast virtually ex-colleagues whom am missing a lot now! 
 

Unniyappam recipe is much easy than it sounds, I got this recipe from our neighbor aunty long ago.  Traditionally it’s deep fried in unniyappam pan which is deeper to hold oil but here I added less oil, you can do in any way you wish.  If you have ripe banana try any day for evening snack, don’t wait for Onam to enjoy these delicious unniyappam.



Ingredients:
Rice Flour - 1 cup
Ripe Banana - 1 [Kadhali pazham/palayam kodan variety preferred]
Jaggery - 3/4 cup
Black Sesame Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cardamon Powder - 1/4 tsp
Coconut Pieces - 2 tbsp [ I used grated coconut]
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Salt - a pinch
Water - 3/4 Cup
Coconut Oil/Ghee -  For frying



Method:

1. Melt the jaggery in water, strain to remove any impurities and keep aside. Fry coconut pieces in ghee until golden brown.

2. Mash banana well in a small bowl and keep aside. In another bowl add rice flour, salt, cardamom powder, fried coconut, sesame seeds.

3. Add mashed banana, melted jaggery water and mix well to form thick batter.

4. Batter should be like idli batter consistency.  Cover and keep aside to ferment for 1-2 hour.   Heat unniyappam or paniyaram pan, add 1/2 tsp of oil or ghee in each hole and fill it up with prepared batter.

5. Cook in medium heat until sides of appam gets brown, gently flip over other side, drizzle little oil and cook until golden brown.

Serve warm.


Notes ~
~ If batter is too thick add little water or milk. Or if batter is runny add rice flour, consistency should be similar to idli batter.
~ For deep frying fill paniyaram pan with oil and fry appam.  Oil will float on top of each hole.
~ You can ferment batter 5-6 hours if time permits.  I heat up my microwave for 30 seconds and keep batter inside for 2 hours.
~ If you don’t have paniyaram pan you can deep fry these in wok like small pakodas.
~ You can use wheat flour instead of rice flour too.

Have a nice day ~~

Puli Inji | Onam Sadhya Recipes

I am a big pickle fan, I used to eat pickles a lot though now a days it has reduced to a great extend thanks to DH!. This Puli Inji or Inji Puli as they call it was again made my ex-colleague for Onam Sadhya lunch and I took pictures. It was 1st time I had this puli inji and I instantly fall in love with it.  Fabulous as it looks it taste great too, I have made this couple of times in small quantity but never really got a chance to take pictures, let’s blame my laziness for it but that not going to stop me from sharing this wonderful tasty Inji curry recipe.  If you are not celebrating Onam never mind, you can still try this recipe and relish.  Other pickle you can try for sadhya is Instant Mango Pickle.

Ingredients: [Adapted from YummyOYummy]

Ginger - 1/4 Cup, finely chopped
Tamarind/Puli - large lemon-sized
Green Chillies - 5 - 6
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
Grated Jaggery -  4 tbsp or to taste
Salt - To taste
Water - 11/2 Cup
For Tempering
Coconut Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Dry Red Chilies - 2
Curry leaves - 1 sprig



Method:

1. Soak the tamarind in 1/2 cup warm water for a 5-10 minutes.
2. Squeeze tamarind and pour the extract into a deep saucepan. Add a cup of water, salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and bring it to a boil (do not cover with lid).
3. Reduce flame add the chopped ginger, jaggery and let it simmer until it reaches thick consistency, stir in interval. It would take more than an hour to achieve this consistency in slow flame. [adjust tamarind and jaggery if required]
4. Heat oil in a small pan add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Add dry red chillies, curry leaves and fry for 1 minute,off flame . Pour tempering over the prepared puli inji.

Our Inji Puli is ready to be part of Onam Sadya. 



Have a nice day ~~

Beans Thoran | Poriyal | Onam Sadhya Recipes

This beans thoran was not made by me but by my ex-colleague for Onam Sadhya lunch, I just happily took the pictures, oh ya I did chop the beans though.   I make beans poriyal same way too except ginger and add carrot most of times.   It makes a tasty side dish for rasam rice than anything, a perfect comfort food and I like this with rasam rice too.   A simple yet satisfying stir fry for any day.  If you want something different then here is my carrot and broccoli thoran.

Ingredients:

Beans - 2 cup [chopped]
Shallots - 4-5 [chopped]
Green chillies - 4 [chopped]
Minced Ginger - 1 tsp ( optional)
Dry Red Chilli - 1
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Grated Coconut - 1/4 Cup
Oil - 3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water - 2-3 tbsp


Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan add cumin, mustards seeds and allow to sputter, add urad dal, curry leaves sauté until golden brown.
2. Add  dry red chilli, shallots, ginger, beans, turmeric, salt and green chilli, stir well.
3. Sprinkle 2-3 tbsp water and cover the beans, cover and cook in medium flame for 5-7 minutes, stir in 2-3 times in between.
4.  Add grated coconut and stir well.  Cover and cook again for 5 minutes (stirring in intervals) or until beans gets cooked fully.
Serve warm with Onam Sadya or Rice, sambar, rasam. 



Notes~
1. Add 1 cup of grated carrot if you wish, add it in step 2 along with beans.
2.  Skip ginger if you don’t like.
3. Stir in regular interval while cooking to avoid beans from burning.
4. You can make this without coconut too, it still taste great.
5. For authentic Kerala style thoran, use coconut oil.
Have a nice day ~~

Instant Mango Pickle | Manga Oorugai

Summer and Mango goes hand and hand and so mango pickle, like in most homes my mom use to prepare 10-15 kgs of mango pickle for the years around and same goes for in-laws now though the recipe is different.  Last year I posted my sister version of Rajasthani Mango Pickle recipe which always looks attractive & delicious and today is going to be my another favourite mango pickle which is not only easy to prepare but also it’s instant.  When I didn’t even started cooking or hardly enter in kitchen still the 2 things I use to prepare was Lemon and Mango pickle(this version), from this you can see my love for these pickles.  I wanted to post this recipe last year along with Sweet Mango Pickle as made this last year too but couldn’t click cause it got over before that!  If you haven’t tried this version of mango pickle/ Manga Oorugai  then you have to and you sure going to love it. 

Ingredients

Raw Mango - 1
Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp
Fenugreek Powder - ½ tsp
Asafoetida/Hing - ¼ tsp
Salt - To taste
Oil - 1 tbsp [Used here sesame oil]
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dry Red Chillies - 2
Curry leaves - 1 sprig




Method
1. Chop the mango into small pieces.
2. Mix chopped mango pieces with chilly powder, fenugreek powder, asafoetida/hing and salt &. keep it aside until ready to use or leave it for a 2-3 hours.
3. In a pan heat oil, add mustards and allow to splutter, add dry red chillies, curry leaves & sauté.
4. Now add the mango pieces and mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes in medium flame or until mango become slightly soft.

Our pickle is ready, allow it to cool and store in sterilized dry pickle jar or bottle.  Isn’t it easy?  Goes well with Curd Rice, Any variety rice and for me I can just eat like that .




Variations:

1. Add roasted fennel seeds powder 1 tsp, it adds nice flavour to pickle.
2. Masala coated mango pieces keep for 2-3 hours or more if you have time.
3. Add more oil if required. 
4. Always use clean and dry spoon. 

Have a nice day

Broccoli & Carrot Poriyal | Thoran | Stir Fry

From last one year plus broccoli has been so regular at home thanks to vegetable shopping at done  mostly in supermarkets! Most of the time I make Broccoli Soup or Stir Fry or some time I venture into another recipes provided I have the mood.  This is a very simple, quick and delicious recipe which can be done in just 10 minutes including chopping if you are using a chopper.  I didn’t add coconut as I was short of it but it tasted delicious, am sure coconut will add wonderful flavour to the dish.   Try this combination to make your broccoli stir fry more interesting. 


Ingredients:
Broccoli - 1 head
Carrot - 2
Green Chillies - 2
Oil - 2 tsp
Asafoetida/Hing - a pinch
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dry Red Chilli - 1
Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
Grated Coconut - 3 tbsp [ I didn’t use]
Salt - to Taste

Method:
1. Wash and finely chop broccoli or you can grate it too, I used my chopper which does  very fine chopping.  Wash, peel and finely chop carrot, green chillies.

2. In a pan or wok heat oil, add asafoetida, cumin and mustard seeds and allow to splutter.  Add curry leaves and dry red chilli and sauté for 30 seconds, add carrot and fry for a minute.

3. Add broccoli and give a good stir let it sauté for a minute too.  Now add turmeric, chilli powder, salt mix well,  cover the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on medium flame.

5. Add grated coconut (if using) and mix well cook for a minute or until everything is cooked but still crunchy.

It hardly takes 5 minutes to cook as broccoli and carrot are finely chopped.  Goes well with plain rice or with dal/sambar, rasam rice.

I had it with rice and mochakottai kulambu, a yummy meal.

Have a nice day ~~