Onion Thepla

Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Flour – 4.5 cups
Curd – 2 Tbsp or more if required
Onion – 2 medium
Green chilli – 1
Ginger – 1/2 inch
Garlic cloves – 4 to 5
Coriander Leaves – a handful
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
Mango powder – 1 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1/2 tsp
Chaat Masala – 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
Fennel Seeds – 1 tsp
Salt
Sugar – a pinch
Oil – as required

Method:

Peel and grate the onions. Can chop them finely also.
Make a paste of green chilli,ginger and garlic.

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan.Once hot, add Cumin seeds and fennel seeds.
Once roasted, add grated onion and salt.
Fry the onion till brown.
Add green chilli-ginger-garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes off.
Add all the powders and fry for few seconds.
Add finely chopped coriander leaves, sugar and fry till coriander leaves are wilted.
Cool the mixture.

In a large bowl, Add wheat flour and little salt.Add 1 tsp of oil and mix well.
Add the onion mixture and mix well till it resembles bread crumbs.
Add yogurt little by little and knead the dough and bring it all together.
Rest the dough for 30 minutes.

Pinch small balls out of the dough. Roll out each ball into a roti form by dusting with little wheat flour.

Heat a Flat griddle .Once hot, Add the roti and cook on both side.
Smear till oil on both sides of roti and cook for few seconds.
Store it in a container.

These theplas serve as a meal for lunch/dinner.
They can also be had along with tea.

ChickPeas Avacado Salad

Ingredients:

Avocado – 1
Boiled Chickpeas – 1/2 cup
Onion – 1 medium
Tomato – 1 medium
Cucumber – 1 medium
Pomegranate Seeds – handful
Coriander Leaves – a handful

For Dressing:
Lime – 1
Oregano – 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli Flakes – 1/4 tsp
Black Pepper – 1/2 tsp
Olive Oil – 1 tsp
Salt

Method:
Mix all the ingredients for the dressing and keep it aside.
Peel and finely chop Cucumber.Finely chop the rest of the ingredients except avocado.
In a large mixing bowl, add chopped cucumber,chickpeas,pomegranate seeds,onions,tomato and coriander leaves.

Just before serving, cut the avocado.Scoop out the flesh and chop it finely.
Add to the salad.
Pour the dressing and mix well.

This can be had as a meal or it can serve as a filling into pita bread.

Raw Mango Dal

Ingredients:
Raw Mango – 1
MoongDal/ToorDal – 1 cup
Shallots/Small Onions – 4
Green Chilli – 1
Ginger/Garlic Paste – 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Udad Dal – 2 tsp
Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
Methi Seeds – 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
Jaggery(Optional) – 1/2 tsp
Hing – a pinch
Red Chilli – 1
Oil – 1 tsp
Curry Leaves – a few
Coriander Leaves – handful
Salt

Method:
Peel raw mango and dice it into small pieces.
Finely chop shallots and green chillies.

Pressure cook the dal along with shallots and green chillies till dal is cooked well.
Once cool,mash the dal mixture.

In a Large Pan, Heat oil.Once hot, add Udad Dal,Mustard Seeds,Cumin,Methi seeds one after another and fry well.
Add hing ,Curry leaves,Red Chilli,Ginger Garlic Paste and fry for few seconds.
Add turmeric powder and cooked dal mixture. Stir well.
Add some water ,salt and let the mixture come to a boil.

If required,add jaggery and cook well.
Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with Rice,Rotis.

Peanut Chutney

Ingredients:
Raw Peanuts – 1 cup
Onion – 1 medium size
Green Chilli – 1 or 2
Garlic – 1
Tamarind pulp – 1/2 tsp
Grated Coconut – 1 Tbsp
Jeera Seeds – 1 tsp
Jaggery – 1/4 tsp
Oil – 1 tsp
Salt
Water

Seasoning:
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Udad Dal – 1 tsp
Hing – a pinch
Oil – 1/2 tsp

Method:

In a pan, dry roast peanuts .Take it out and cool. If required, can remove the skin.
I have kept the skin.
In the same pan ,heat 1 tsp of oil.Once hot, add Jeera,Garlic,Green chilli.
Fry for few seconds.
Add chopped onion and fry till it is brown.
Off the stove. Add tamarind and coconut and fry in the heat for few minutes.Mix in the roasted peanuts.

Once the above mixture is cool, grind to smooth paste adding water.
Instead of water,we can add curd or milk also.

Heat oil in a tadka pan. Once hot, add Udad dal,Mustard seeds and Hing.
Fry well and pour over the chutney.

Serve with idlis ,dosa,appam.

Moong Bajra Dosa

Ingredients:
Whole Moong Dal – 1 cup
Deskinned Udad Dal – 1 cup
Bajra – 1 cup
Idli Rice – 1 cup
Methi Seeds – 2 tsp
Salt
Oil

Method:

Wash and Soak Udad dal with methi seeds overnight.
Wash and soak Moong,Bajra and Rice together overnight.

Grind Udad dal till fluffy. Take the batter in a large bowl.
Grind Bajra,Moong,Rice together till smooth.
Mix both the batter together.
Add salt and ferment the batter for 10-12 hrs.

Heat a griddle and grease with oil.
Mix the batter well .
Take a big spoon of batter and pour over the griddle .Spread the batter in circular motion.
Once the bottom of dosa is crisp,turn it over and cook on the other side.

Serve hot with chutney.

Baked Shakarpara

Shakarparas are deep fried  diamond-shaped sweet/salty cookies .
This is an healthier version of the same.Instead of deep frying it is baked.

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour – 1/2 cup
Refined Flour/Maida – 1/2 cup
Powdered Sugar – 4 to 5 tsp
Crushed Fennel Seeds/Saunf – 1 tsp
Cardamom Powder – 1/2 tsp
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Ghee – 3 Tbsp
Chilled water – as required

Method:

In a large bowl, add both the flours,salt,baking powder,powdered sugar,fennel seeds,cardamom powder and mix well.
Add ghee and mix the flour well so that texture of flour becomes crumbly.
Add chilled water little by little to make a stiff dough.
Rest the dough for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven at 200C for 10 minutes.
After 30 minutes, Roll out the dough and cut into small diamond shapes.
Grease a baking tray and place the diamond cut dough pieces on it.
Little brush little ghee on top of the pieces and bake for 15 minutes.

Keep a eye on the baking as the dough cooks fast. If required ,after 10 minutes,bring down the temperature to 175C.

Cool the shakarparas on the cooling rake.Serve it as snack along with tea.

Green Peas Paratha

Ingredients:
Fresh/Frozen Green peas – 1 cup
Ginger – 1 inch
Green chillies – 1 or 2
Besan/Rice Flour – 1 tsp
Fennel Seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
Dry Mango powder – 1/2 tsp
Dry pomegranate powder – 1/4 tsp
Kala namak – 1/2 tsp
Chat masala – 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Hing – a pinch
Red Chilli powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt
Ghee – Few drops per paratha
Oil – 1 tsp

For Dough:
Whole Wheat Flour – 1.5 cups
Wheat Flour – for dusting
Oil – 1 tsp
Caraway Seeds/Ajwain – 1 tsp
Water

Method:
For Paratha Stuffing :

If using fresh peas, keep it in boiling water for 5 min for blanching.
Drain and let it come to room temperature.

In a Mixer, add green peas,ginger,green chillies,Fennel seeds.
Grind the mixture to a coarse paste.

Heat Oil in a kadai,add cumin seeds. Once they change color,add the ground paste and all the masala powders,salt and mix well.
Add besan or rice flour to the mixture and cook well till the mixture is dry.
Cool the mixture.

For the dough:

In a bowl, add wheat flour,ajwain and oil. Rub the mixture till crumbly.Add water and make it into a tight dough.
Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Take small portion of dough. Roll out into small disc.Add some stuffing.Gather the edges of the disc into a ball.
Apply some wheat flour and roll the stuffed ball into paratha ensuring that filling doesnot come out.

Heat a Tawa. Once Tawa is hot, add the paratha and nicely roast on both sides.
Take it off the heat and apply few drops of ghee on the paratha and smear it well.

Serve the Paratha with curd and butter.

Spinach StirFry

Ingredients:
Spinach – 1 Big Bunch
Onion – 1 Medium size (Optional)
Green Chilli – 1
Garlic Cloves – 4
Ginger – 1/2 inch
sambar powder/Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Grated Coconut – 1/4 cup
Roasted Peanuts – 2 Tbsp
Jaggery – to taste
Tamarind paste – 1/8th tsp
Salt – to taste
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Udad Dal – 2 tsp
Red Chilli – 1
Hing – a pinch
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – few strands
Oil – 2 tsp

Method:

Wash and finely chop spinach.
Crush Green chilli,Ginger and Garlic to a coarse paste.
Crush Roasted peanuts .
Finely chop onions.

Heat oil in a kadai.Once hot, add Udad dal,Red chilli,mustard seeds,hing,curry leaves and fry .
Add the crushed green chilli,garlic and ginger paste and fry for a few seconds.
Add chopped onions and fry till onions turn brown.
Add turmeric powder and mix.
Add chopped spinach,salt,jaggery and mix.
Add some water ,cover the kadai and cook till spinach Wilts and all the water dries up.
Add tamarind paste and sambhar powder and mix and cook for few minutes.
Add grated coconut and mix well.
Off the stove. Add crushed peanuts and mix well.

Serve it as side dish for Rotis and Rice.

Avial

Ingredients:
Mixed Vegetables – 3 cups
Grated Coconut – 3/4 cup
Jeera Seeds – 2 tsp
Shallots – 2 to 3
Green Chillies – 2
Curd – 1/2 cup
Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp (Optional)
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Udad Dal – 2 tsp
Red Chillies – 1
Curry Leaves – handful
Coconut Oil – 1 to 2 tsp

Method:

One can make Avial with any type of vegetables. The most commonly used vegetables are: Elephant Yam,White Pumpkin,Cluster Beans,Long Beans,Potato,Carrots,Green Peas,
Red Pumpkin,Brinjal,Raw Banana etc.
Take small quantity of the above mentioned vegetables.
Wash and dice the above mentioned vegetables into thin long pieces.

In a large pan, add all the vegetables ,salt and turmeric powder .Cover and cook till the vegetables are soft.
Take care not to over cook the vegetables.

Make a smooth paste of grated coconut,shallots,Jeera seeds,Green chillies with little water.

Once the vegetables are cooked, add the ground paste and cook it for 5 to 10 minutes.

In a tadka pan, heat coconut oil .Once the oil is hot, add broken red chilli,Udad dal,Mustard seeds,Hing and Curry leaves.Fry the mixture well and pour over the avial.

Once the avial is little cool, add half a cup of curd and mix well.

Serve as a side dish for Dosas,Rice etc.

Neer Dosa

Ingredients:
Idli Rice – 3 cups
Grated Coconut – 1 cup
Salt
Water
Oil

Method:
Wash and soak rice overnight or over 6 hours.
Grind along with coconut and salt to a smooth paste.
Add water so that when batter is mixed, it lightly coats the back of spoon.

Heat a Dosa tawa. Once it is hot,pour the dosa batter in circular motion.
Fill the holes with batter as much as possible.
Drizzle the dosa with little oil.Cover the tawa for 30 sec.
Once the dosa slightly lifts in the edges,flip the dosa and cook the other side for few seconds.
Fold the dosa and take it out.
Serve the dosa with coconut chutney,egg curry or sprouts curry.

Note: When the Dosa is hot,dont stack the dosa one over the other. Dosas will stick.