For tempering:- 1 tbsp oil, 2-3 pinches mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp hing, 1/8 tsp turmeric powder, 2 dried red chilies (broken), 1/2 tsp urad dal, 15 to 20 methi seeds, 2 cloves of garlic (crushed), 1 spring of curry leaves.
10 to 12 black pepper, crushed
1 green chilies, chopped
1.5 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp tamarind
Salt to taste
Method:
1) Pressure cook toor dal by adding 2 cups water. Once toor dal is cooked, drain and save the water. Squeeze out water from dal too.
2) Add 1/2 cup hot water in tamarind. Let the tamarind soak in for 10 minutes. Then squeeze the tamarind and get the juice.
3) Mix 2 cups plain water and 2 cups dal water into a saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Add chopped tomatoes, green chili and half of tamarind juice. Simmer for atleast 20 minutes or until tomatoes soften and mashed up.
4) Heat oil in a tadka pan. add urad dal, methi seeds. Wait till color turns to light brown. Add garlic, and red chilies. Add mustard seeds, hing, turmeric and curry leaves. Pour this tadka over rasam.
5) Add salt, crushed pepper, coriander powder and cumin powder. Boil for atleast 10 to 15 minutes.
Check the taste and adjust the spices. Add some tamarind juice if sourness is required.
Serve hot with rice or have it as a soup.
Tips:
1) Use nicely ripe red tomatoes.
2) If you don't like chunky rasam, puree 2 tomatoes instead of chopping.
3) Rasam should be spicy. However, to make it subtle, reduce the amount of black pepper.
4) Flavors intensify (in good way), if you serve rasam after couple of hours.
Ingredients: 1 tbsp butter, room temperature 300 gram fresh broccoli florets (1 and 1/2 cup small florets) 1 medium onion, chopped (3/4 cup) 1 medium carrot, chopped Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1 tbsp all-purpose flour 2 cups Water (tip 1) 1/4 cup cream (I used half and half) Croutons (optional)
Method: 1) Heat 1 tbsp butter into a deep saucepan. Add broccoli, onion and carrot. Also add salt and pepper. Saute over medium heat until onion is translucent. About 5 to 6 minutes. 2) Add all purpose flour and keep stirring for couple of minutes. Add water and bring to boil. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. 3) Pour in the cream. and give a good stir. Blend it well and make fine puree. Adjust salt and pepper. and boil for couple of minutes Serve hot with homemade croutons.
Tip: 1) Vegetable stock or chicken stock may be used instead of water.
Ingredients: 2 to 3 Mushrooms 3 Tbsp Carrot, Julienne 3 tbsp Capsicum, Julienne 2 tbsp cabbage, finely chopped 2 to 3 baby corn, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 green chili, finely chopped 1.5 tsp garlic paste 1 tsp oil 4 cups vegetable stock 30 grams Noodles 1/4 tsp white pepper powder 1 tsp vinegar 1 stalk spring onion, Keep white and green part separate, chop finely Salt to taste
Method: 1) Boil sufficient water to cook noodles. Add 1 tsp salt to the water. Add noodles in boiling water. Cook the noodles and add to cold water after cooked completely. 2) Heat oil in a wok. Add green chili and garlic paste. Saute carrot, capsicum, cabbage, baby corn, white part of spring onion and mushrooms for couple of minutes. Add vegetable stock and let it boil. 3) Once stock starts boiling, add vinegar, and salt to taste. Boil for couple of minutes. Add noodles and cook for a minute. Sprinkle white pepper powder. serve into the soup bowl. Garnish with spring onion. Serve hot.
Tips: 1) If vegetable stock is not available, use water. OR you may use any other type of stock like chicken stock.
Ingredients: 2 cup roughly chopped spinach leaves 1/4 cup onion, julienne 6 to 7 tbsp Besan (chickpea flour) 1 tbsp Rice flour 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste 5 to 7 curry leaves, finely chopped 1 tsp Sesame seeds (optional) 1 tsp Kasoori Methi 1/2 tbsp Red chili powder or to taste 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder Pinch of baking soda Salt to taste 2 to 3 tbsp of water Oil for deep frying
Method: 1) In a mixing bowl add spinach, onion and salt. Mix well and leave for 10 to 15 minutes. This will make onion little mushy and slightly watery. 2) Then Sprinkle besan and rice flour over it. Heat 1 tsp oil till it reaches to its smoking point and pour it over the flour. Wait for 2 minutes and toss gently. 3) Now add other ingredients (ginger garlic paste, kasoori methi, sesame seeds, red chili powder, turmeric powder, baking soda, and little more salt if needed). Mix nicely and add very little water. Make a very thick mixture (dough like consistency). 4) Heat oil for deep frying and put it over medium flame. Drop little pakodas with the help of spoon or just by hand. Deep fry until golden brown and crispy. Place on the paper towel to remove excess oil. Serve hot with Tomato ketchup, green chutney or dry garlic chutney.
Tips: 1) You can add fresh methi leaves (Fenugreek) along with spinach. 2) Adding 1 tsp hot oil over dry flour makes the pakodas crispy. 3) Do not fry over high heat or low heat. Frying over high heat makes the pakoda brown quickly but inside it will remain uncooked. Frying over low heat will make the pakodas very oily. Try to maintain the temperature by changing from medium to medium-high. 4) Baking soda makes the pakodas light. However do not add more than a pinch for the above quantity. 5) If you add water more than few spoons, pakodas wont come out crispy.
Ingredients: 8 bread slices (leftover bread slices can be use) 1 1/2 cup dry Potato sabzi (it will need around 3 medium potatoes) 1 cup Chickpea flour 2 tsp Rice flour 1 cup water (to make batter) 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp Cumin Powder pinch of Baking soda salt to taste Oil for deep frying
Method: 1) To make Potato Sabzi, boil potato. Peel them while they are hot. Make sabzi from peeled hot potatoes. Hot potatoes can get easily mashed without having lumps. Use few extra green chilies to give little more heat as when we deep fry Pakodas, heat from the sabzi gets reduced. 2) In a medium bowl, mix 1 cup chickpea flour and 2 tbsp rice flour. Add 1 cup water to it, whisk and make smooth batter without any lumps. This batter should not be too runny or thick in consistency. Now add turmeric powder, baking soda, and salt to taste. Mix. 3) Cut off the edges from each bread slice (Note 1). Take 1 bread slice, spread 2 tbsp potato sabzi evenly over it. Then place another bread slice and make a sandwich. Cut it into bite size pieces or just into 2 triangles. (Note 2) 4) On each cut piece, sprinkle 2 to 3 drops of water on both sides of bread and press lightly (Note 3) 5) Heat oil for deep frying. Once oil become hot, dip one piece of stuffed bread into the batter and leave in hot oil. Deep fry over medium heat until color turns to golden. Serve hot with Mint chutney, Tamarind chutney or Tomato Ketchup. Also, try these pakodas with Schezwan sauce for extra spicy flavor.
Note: 1) In the remaining batter, add cumin powder, red chili powder and Chat masala or Amchoor powder. Mix nicely. dip bread edges in this batter one by one and deep fry them until golden brown in color. 2) Street vendors generally make bread pakodas in big triangular shapes. I prefer to cup bread slices in four pieces making it bite size. 3) If you use bread without moisture, bread will soak the batter. This will cause the pakodas to be little bit uncooked. To fry the pakodas evenly, sprinkle little water on the bread pieces before dipping them into the batter. This will prevent soaking of batter and your pakodas will be more crunchy. 4) If you want to make plain bread pakodas, skip potato sabzi and dip bread pieces in the batter and deep fry.
Ingredients
