Peanut Sundal | Verkadalai Sundal | Navratri Recipes

Wishing All Happy Navratri and Durga Pooja with fun, fare and loads of good food.  Festive times make me miss India a lot, for past few year during pooja times I always been in India and would visit different pandals, the festive mood, song-dance, the unspoken competition of who’s pandal is better than other and not to forget the bhakti songs in popular hit numbers playing day and night is all what makes Pooja days memorable.  Coming back to sundal, popular in South India during Navratri is simple, easy to prepare and taste delicious.  I don’t make much of sundals but I do once in a while and when I saw fresh peanuts in Little India I grab it, last year I posted Mochakottai sundal and to continue the trend this year is peanut sundal.  You can find other Navratri and Vrat recipes here.

Ingredients:

Peanuts - 1 Cup
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Green Chili - 3
Granted Coconut - 3 tbsp
Salt - To taste



Method:

1. Wash and pressure cook peanuts for 2-3 whistles with little less than 1 cup of water and salt.  Drain and keep aside peanuts.
2. In a pan or wok heat oil add mustard seeds and allow to splutter, add curry leaves, green chili and sauté for 30 seconds.
3. Add peanuts and stir for a minute.  Add coconut and mix well and off flame. 

Variations
~ You can use dry peanuts too.
~ You can add finely chopped 1/2 tsp ginger for extra zing, I add some times.   You can grind ginger and chili together and add too.
~ You can replace green chili with dry red chili.
~ You can add little grated mango if you want tangy taste.

Have a nice day ~~

Lemon Rice Recipe

Lemon Rice used to be only for our lunch box during school days along with Aloo fry or bindi fry and that’s makes a perfect lunch box recipe.  Lemon rice has to be one of most easy & quick variety rice recipe and the best part is it’s works well with fresh steamed rice or leftover rice.  Tangy, spicy South Indian dish popular not only during travel but also for festivals like Vinayaka Chaturthi, Navratri etc .   I make this only once in blue moon and lucky DH doesn’t fuss about eating this, on weekend I made this for a friend and she liked it very much, if you haven’t tried lemon rice yet then it’s high time you should do it now.  



Ingredients:

Rice - 1 Cup
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Big Lemon - 1 [ Or 2 small lemons]
Onion - 1 [optional]
Green Chilies - 3-4
Dry Red Chili -1 [optional]
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Channa Dal - 1/2 tbsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Peanuts - 2 tbsp
Asafoetida/Hing - a pinch
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Oil - 2 tbsp
Cilantro - 2 tbsp [chopped]

Method:

1. Pressure cook 1 cup rice with 2 (or 2 1/2) cups water or do same as your regular way of cooking rice.  Rice should be soft but not mashed.  Chop onion and slit green chilies.
2. Once rice is cold enough to handle add salt, turmeric powder and lemon juice and mix gently.  Adjust salt, and lemon if required.

3. In a wok heat oil, add hing, mustard seeds allow to crack.  Add ground nuts and sauté for 30 seconds.  Add channa and urad dal, curry leaves, green and red chili and sauté until golden brown.

4. Add onion and fry until translucent.

5. Add rice mixed with lemon juice, turmeric and salt.

6.  Mix well gently and garnish with cilantro.

Server warm or cold.



Notes ~
~ You can use leftover rice to make this.  If using leftover rice you can use 2-3 cups of cooked rice for this recipe.
~ You can add the seasoning with prepared rice and mix gently instead of adding rice to wok.
~ Don’t ever add lemon juice directly in hot seasoning, it will taste bitter.
~ Using onion is optional, I add only some times. 
~ You can use tbsp of cashew nuts along with peanuts. 
~ I didn’t use channa and urad dal as DH doesn’t like that.

And this goes my Festive Food: Ganesh Chaturthi Event.


Have a nice day.

Peanut Chutney | Mungfali Ki Chutney

Like most of the recipes, peanut chutney is also made in multiple ways and I have my own styles too, though I make the same chutney in different way but this method I use often, of all the chutneys, peanut is my favourite one & so of my nephew, I still didn’t blog the recipe as most of us do know how to make this wonderful chutney.  One of friend was over our place to stay and one day I made upma with apple cilantro chutney plus this peanut chutney for breakfast and from then she is asking me to blog this recipe, this time when I made it I decided to take pictures and to write down, so here presenting peanut chutney in my style.

There are lot of variations in this simple peanut chutney too, you can try with coconut, without roasted gram dal, with ginger etc & that’s makes this chutney perfect side dish for idly, dosa, upma, pongal, vada and for me I can have it with roti, parata, any variety rice…just anything  so do try this and I am sure you will love this simple, easy, quick chutney too. I say easy cause I don’t really do much of tempering in all, this time I did since I knew am going to blog it so let’s make the chutney looks pretty! Otherwise if you ignore the tempering you are not missing anything great. 




Ingredients:

Peanuts/Ground nuts/Ver Kadalai/Mungfali - 1/2 Cup
Roasted Gram/Dhalia/Pottu kadalai - 1/2 Cup
Dry Red Chillies - 3-4
Chopped Garlic - 1 tsp
Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Tamarind - peas size
Hing/Asafoetida Powder - A pinch
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Water - As needed (around 1/4 cup)

For tempering
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Dry Red Chilli - 1
Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp


Method:

1. Soak Tamarind in little water and keep aside until we are doing below listed tasks.
2. In a pan or wok heat oil, add cumin seeds and allow to splutter.  Add dry red chilies, garlic and sauté until brown.
3. Now add peanuts and sauté until brown but not burnt, add roasted gram/dhalia and sauté until light brown.
4. Off flame and transfer everything to a bowl or plate and allow it to cool.
5. Once all fried items in room temperature, transfer it to a mixer or blender, add soaked tamarind with water, salt, Asafoetida and grind into smooth paste/chutney.  Add water in intervals if required.
Transfer the chutney in a bowl and add little more water and adjust salt if required. Amount of water depends on how you like your chutney consistency.
For Tempering
6. In a small pan heat oil, add all ingredients listed under tempering in given order, sauté until urad dal becomes brown.
7. Pour the tempering over prepare chutney and give a stir.
Our chutney is ready, the steps seems long but while preparing it’s simple. 


Have a nice day ~~

Sabudana Khichadi | Navratri |Vrat Recipes

Navratri or Navaratri is Hindu festival, workship of Durga or Sakti in all different Avatars.  Navratri (means nine nights) is one of those festival celebrated across India in different forms with Pooja, fasting, dancing and of course lot of good food.    Though navratri comes 4 times a year but the most signficant are Sharada (shard means cold) Navaratri in the month of Puratashi (September-October)  and the Vasanta Navaratri (March-April) of the Vasanta kala. 
Sharada Navratri is celebrated with much fun and fare cause that bring Diwali, lights, crackers, family, friends and again good food. For me Navratri means Durga Pooja going to various pandals, full night sitting & listening to Katha that’s fun too or dance away the evening with dandiya or adore the cute little dolls displayed in Golu.  
Along with Navratri comes the fast and fasting food, there are again different ways of doing fasting some do without water for 7 days or 8 days and some people drink water and/or eat fruits, even the food restrictions vary that I have seen.  Today I’m posting one of the popular fasting food Sabudana Khichadi which is very simple to make and can be done in jiffy if we have done the prep work. 


Ingredients: [Serves -2 ]

Sabudana/Sago/Tapioca - 1/2 cup [ after soaking it becomes 1.5 cups of sago]
Roasted Peanut - 1/4 cup
Potato - 1 medium
Green Chillies - 2
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
Cilantro - few sprig
Ghee/Oil - 1 tbsp
Rock Salt (Sendha Namak) - to taste



Method:

1. Rinse and soak sago for 4 hours with just enough water.  The water should be just above the sago level, if used too much water sago will be soggy, drain water and keep aside.
Now the soaking time vary depending on the type and variety of sago we are using, some needs soaking for 2hours  or 4 hours, 6 hours or over night.  If the sago is of very good quality then even 30 minutes is enough.  So how we know what time is correct, it’s simple soak the sago as mention above and keep a eye when the sago becomes fluffy and double in size, and it should get sticky then it’s has soaked enough, with practice you will learn how much time your sago needs for soaking but generally it takes 4 to 6 hours or most of the people soak over night. 
Here I used 1/2 cup of sago and after soaking for 4 hours it become 1 1/2 cups, so you got the idea?
2. Roast Peanut (if using raw peanuts) de-skin and powder coarse in a mixer or blender.
I just crush a little and have a coarse powder (like to bit peanuts while eating).  But if you want go ahead and make peanuts into fine powder choice is yours. 
3. Chop green chills, peel potato and dice it.
4. In a wok or pan heat ghee/oil add cumin seeds and allow it to crack.  Add curry leaves, green chillies and sauté for 30 seconds. Now add potato, cover and cook until potato gets tender.
5. Now add sago, peanuts mix well and cook with lid on for 5-7 minutes on medium flame.  Add salt, cilantro, lemon juice toss well and cook for a more minute. 
Our sabudana khichadi is ready.



Variations ~
1.  You can add boiled diced potato instead of raw.
2. You can add 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder.
3. If you are making this while not fasting then you can add 1 chopped onion.  You can use normal table salt too.
4. Add 1 tsp of sugar for a sweet, sour taste.  And for better taste and flavour use ghee. 
5. If you are  making this on a Friday fast, skip the lemon as mostly tangy things are not used during Friday fasting.   If you don’t take green chillies during fasting then skip that and add freshly crushed black peppercorn to taste.

Other Sago (sabudana) Recipes you might like

• Sabudana Tikki/Vada | Sago Cutlet
• Sabudana (Sago) Thalipeeth
• Sabudana (Sago) Murukku
• Sabudana Kheer | Sago Pudding
• Mango Sago

Have a good day ~~

Sabudana Vada |Tikki

First time I had sabudana vada was at a friend's place and liked it very much, though I wanted make these vada but never really did. My friend has shared with me these vada recipe long back and after Pari post of same it was quite tempting and I end up making my own.  I followed little of my friend's recipe, some of Pari's and came up with my own version; also instead of deep frying I used shallow fry method and it did tasted equally good and little less guilt;) 
Since I made these during weekend late evening, the picture didn't do real justices to these yummy tikkis. 

Makes 12 medium size tikki's

Ingredients:

Sabudana/Sago - 1/2 [ it becomes 1 cup after soaking]

Boiled Potato - 1 Large [ I used red potato]

Peanuts - 1/3 Cup [Roasted and Crushed]

Green Chillies -  2-3

Cilantro - 2 tbsp chopped

Singhada/Water Chestnut Flour - 1 tbsp [optional]

Flaxseeds Powder - 1 tbsp [optional]

Sugar - 1/4 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Rock Salt/ Kala Namak -1/2 tsp [optional]

Salt - to taste

Oil - 2-3 tbsp

Method:

1. Wash and soak sago overnight or for 4-5 hours ( the water should just cover the sago).

2. Drain the water and squeeze sago to remove excess water, peel n mash the potato.  Add all the ingredients with sago except oil.   

3. Mix well everything and divide in equal portions and make firm tikkis, smooth the edges.  If required grease hands with oil to make proper tikkis.

4. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry tikkis until golden brown both sides on medium flame (you can also deep fried the vada).  

Remove in kitchen towel and serve with any chutney or sauce.  I served with green chutney, shall post the chutney recipe some time.  

It makes a great tea time snack, and wonderful way to please your guests :)

Other Sago (sabudana) Recipes you might like

• Sabudana (Sago) Thalipeeth
• Sabudana (Sago) Murukku
• Sabudana Kheer | Sago Pudding
• Mango Sago

Have a good day ~~

Bagara Baigan~ Eggplant Curry from Edible Garden

I had eggplant/brinjal/baigan with me for more than 3 weeks now lying in the fridge giving up the hope on me.   The problem was the eggplants were it was neither big enough for me to make baigan bharta or small to make bagara baigan, they were in bigger than medium size.  

I wanted to make bagara baigan for very long time now but never tried it so far due to the complicated recipe.  One Saturday I saw Nags FB status that she is making something with eggplant, I went and checked her site and found the Hyderabad style bagara baigan which was looking simple enough for me to give a try and I’m glad that I did. 

It tasted yummy with the scope of improvement (perhaps next time add all the ingredients ;)).  Never mind that I didn’t had coconut and  use large eggplant ;)  So here the recipe my way.  


Ingredients:

Eggplant /Bringal - 4 medium size or  6 small size
Sesame Seeds - 2 tbsp
Peanuts - 2 tbsp
Onion - 1 large
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 2 tsp
Redchili Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind - one small lemon size
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Water - 2 cups

Method:

1. In a pan roast sesame seeds until golden brown, followed by peanuts and set aside.

2. Once cool grind sesame and peanuts to fine paste using little water. [Add coconut if using]

3. Soak the tamarind in water for 15 mins and extract the pulp in approximate using 1 cup water.

4. Wash, chop onion.  Wash and slit the eggplant/brinjal (more of making a plus (+) sign) and keep aside.

5. In a pan heat oil and saute/fry the eggplant until golden brown or eggplant becomes soft, keep aside.

6. In a same pan add chopped onion, ginger garlic paste  and fry until golden brown (add little more oil if required).

7. Add grounded paste and fry for 2-3 mins or until the rawness disappear.

8.  Add all the spices powder, salt and fry for 2 mins.  Now add the tamarind extract and mix well, cook for 5 mins with lid on.  Add 1/2 cup of water and cook for 5-7 minutes or until gravy become thick.

I made channa daal, broccoli stir fry along too to enjoy the sat’day meal :)

Enjoy your day ...