Stuffed Idly

Idly, once again!!! Yes, today’s tiffin is yet another version of the good old idly. It received mixed comments from my family, though everyone accepted it as a good idea.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Idly batter – 16 ladles

Potatoes – 2

Bell peppers – 2

Carrot – 1

Chilli powder – 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Method

Finely chop the potatoes and bell peppers. You also use other vegetables of your choice. Grate the carrot. In a pan, heat a tbsp of oil. Sauté the vegetables with salt, chilli powder and turmeric powder nicely. The sautéed vegetables must be dry and not watery.

Grease the idly plates with some oil and pour half a ladle of the idly batter in each hole. Add a tablespoon of the sautéed vegetables in all the holes. Cover the holes with another half ladle of idly batter.

Steam the idly plates for about 6 – 8 minutes or until the idlys are done. Serve hot, stuffed idlys with chutney or tomato sauce.

Idly Fry

Another evening and the dilemma to make something interesting is once again bothering me. Today, I have no vegetables or pasta at home. Gosh, isn’t this a situation! I open the fridge to see if inspiration will strike me and all I see is the idly batter kept in the top shelf. I am not sure if you all know that my husband is a strong supporter of the anti-idly movement. He has dosas, but a complete no-no for idlys. So, the idly batter in fridge does not give me any inspiration until I remembered a dish we had in a hotel in the Bay Area some two years back.

It was a very simple and tasty dish and my husband loved it. And guess what, it is nothing but my favorite idly J

Ingredients (serves 4)

Idly batter – to make 20 idlys

Idly powder/ Millagai podi – 5 tbsp

Gingili oil – 5 tbsp

Method

Grease the idly plates with little oil and pour the batter into each hole. Steam the idlys for about 7-8 minutes or until the idlys are done. Allow the idlys to cool for 5 minutes and then cut the idlys into small pieces.

In a large pan, heat the gingili oil. Add the cut idly pieces and the idly powder and sauté nicely. Keep the gas on medium heat and fry for 15 – 20 minutes or until you see the outsides of the idly becoming crisp and brown.

Serve spicy idly fry with tomato sauce or chutneys of your choice.

Oven-Roasted Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Tomatoes – 6 (medium-large)

Diced onion – ½

Few baby carrots

Garlic cloves – 2

Olive oil – 1 -1 ½ tbsps

Dried mint – ½ tbsp

Dried oregano – ½ tbsp

Salt – ½ tbsp

Method

Line the baking dish with a foil and place the cut tomatoes with the cut side up. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well so that all the tomato pieces are well-coated. Place the baking dish in the preheated oven and let it roast for 30 minutes. Alternatively you can also set the oven to broil (which is what I did).

Check to see if the vegetables are tender, if not leave them in the switched off oven for a few more minutes. Once they are out, keep aside to cool and blend to make smooth mixture. Remove into a pan and let it simmer for a few minutes. Serve hot.  

We had it with quesadillas but you can substitute with grilled cheese sandwiches!

Check out our quesadilla recipe @ http://squaremeals.blogspot.com/2011/10/mexitalian-quesadillas.html

Note  1) You can use regular carrots if you don’t have baby carrots.

           2) The roasting can also be done on the stove top.

           3) Change the herb mix to suit your tastes.
My leftover soup became pasta sauce for another dinner. I heated the soup till it thickened a little, mixed in the cooked pasta, some corn and topped it with a little bit of shredded cheese. Can you beat that?

Dhidir Vadai (Quick Vadai)

This is a super simple vada recipe which needs no soaking of dals. It was some time last year that we saw this recipe on TV and seeing how simple it was to make, my husband offered to make some for our evening snack. The vadas came out really well. Check it out. 

Ingredients

Roasted split peas – ½ cup

Roasted peanuts – ¼ cup

Red chilli – 1 (to taste)

Chopped onion – 3 tbsps

Asafoetida – a pinch

Curry leaves

Salt to taste

Water

Oil for frying

Method

Roast the split peas and peanuts and keep aside to cool. Grind all the ingredients, except the asafoetida and onions, adding little water at a time. To the ground mixture, add onions and asafoetida and mix well. Heat oil in a pan, make small balls of the mixture, flatten and deep fry until golden brown. Bon Appétit. 

Note – I placed the split peas and peanuts in a microwaveable plate and heated them for 2.30 minutes.


Thank you Sobha @ Good Food for giving us this award.





We would like to present this award to


Amy @ http://foodssrilanka.blogspot.com/
Ash @ http://indulge-ashscorner.blogspot.com/
Mittu @ http://slurpchompyumm.blogspot.com/
Sobha @ http://sobha-goodfood.blogspot.com/
Vidhya @ http://sweetkaramkapi.blogspot.com/




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North Indian Rices

Mint Rice (Serves 2)

Ingredients

Cooked rice – 2 cups (You can use Basmati rice too)

Fresh mint leaves – 2 cups

Onion – 1, chopped fine

Green chillies – 2-3

Grated coconut fresh / frozen – ¼ cup

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp (if using fresh ginger and garlic, grind with mint leaves)

Cloves – 3-4

Green cardamom pods – 3-4

Cinnamon – 1" piece

Star anise – 1

Bay leaf – 1

Ghee – 1 tbsp

Roasted cashews for garnishing (optional)

Salt to taste

Method

Cook rice and keep aside. Grind mint leaves with coconut, green chillies and ginger / garlic (if using fresh). Heat ghee in a pan and roast the cashews until golden brown and keep aside. To the same pan, add the spices and sauté for about a minute. Make sure you keep stirring them, else they will burn. Add the chopped onions and sauté till they turn transparent.

Add the ground mint paste to the pan and fry for about 2 - 3 minutes until it turns fragrant. Add salt and mix well. Mix in the rice, garnish with the roasted cashews and serve, preferably with raita and pickle.

Pulav Varieties

Jeera Rice (Cumin)

Ingredients

Basmati Rice – 1 cup

Cumin seeds – 2 tbsps

Bay leaf – 1- 2

Cinnamon – 1” piece

Cloves – 2-3

Ghee – 1-2 tbsps

Water – 1 ½ cups

Salt to taste

Method

In a pressure cooker, heat ghee and add spices and sauté until fragrant. Add rice and sauté for a few minutes. Add water and salt and mix well. Cook in a pressure cooker or electric cooker.

Serve this fragrant rice with raita and papad. To make it richer, garnish with roasted cashews.

Peas Pulav (Serves 2)

Ingredients

Basmati rice – 1 cup

Peas – ½ cup (you can definitely add more if you please)

Cumin seeds – 2 tsps

Bay leaf – 1-2

Cloves – 2-3

Cinnamon – 1” piece

Cardamom pods – 2-3

Ghee – 1-2 tbsps

Ginger-garlic paste (optional) – 1 tbsp

Onion – 1 medium (cut into thin long slices)

Water – 1 ½ cups

Salt to taste

Method

Wash peas and keep aside. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker or electric rice cooker and add the cumin seeds. As they start spluttering add the spices. Sauté until fragrant and add the sliced onion. Sauté for a minute and add ginger-garlic paste (if using). Once the raw smell goes, add peas and sauté for a couple minutes. Add rice, salt and water (taste to check salt).

Let the cooker do its job and once the pressure is settled (for pressure cooker), open and serve with raita and papad. You can also garnish the rice with toasted cashews for a rich taste.

Paneer Pulav (Serves 2)

Ingredients

Basmati rice – 1 cup

Paneer cubes – ½ cup (you can definitely add more if you please)

Cumin seeds – 2 tsps

Bay leaf – 1-2

Cloves – 2-3

Cinnamon – 1” piece

Cardamom pods – 2-3

Ghee – 1-2 tbsps

Ginger-garlic paste (optional) – 1 tbsp

Onion – 1 medium (cut into thin long slices)

Water – 1 ½ cups + 2 cups (for soaking paneer)

Salt to taste

Method

Take 2 cups of water in a vessel and bring to a boil. Switch off and add paneer cubes to it and keep aside. This makes the paneer softer. Let the paneer soak for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat ghee in a pressure cooker or electric rice cooker and add the cumin seeds. As they start spluttering add the spices. Saute until fragrant and add the sliced onion. Sauté for a minute and add ginger-garlic paste (if using). Once the raw smell goes, add paneer cubes and sauté for a couple minutes. Add rice, salt and water (taste to check salt).

Let the cooker do its job and once the pressure is settled (for pressure cooker), open and serve with raita and papad. Garnish with toasted cashews for a richer and crunchier finish. 

Note – Here is an interesting fact. Once you have tried making the above three recipes separately (jeera rice, peas pulav and paneer pulav), try putting it all together. You will have a wholesome pulav with paneer and peas, seasoned with cumin and other spices. Sounds good? Try it and let us know.

Soya Chunks Pulav (Serves 2)

Ingredients

Basmati rice – 1 cup

Soya chunks – ½ cup

Cumin seeds – 2 tsps

Bay leaf – 1-2

Cloves – 2-3

Cinnamon – 1” piece

Cardamom pods – 2-3

Ghee – 1-2 tbsps

Ginger-garlic paste (optional) – 1 tbsp

Onion – 1 medium (cut into thin long slices)

Water – 1 ½ cups

Salt to taste

Method

Take 2 cups of water in a vessel and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and add soya chunks. Let the chunks cook for 15 minutes. The chunks will puff up and become soft. Meanwhile, heat ghee in a pressure cooker or electric rice cooker and add the cumin seeds. As they start spluttering add the spices. Sauté until fragrant and add the sliced onion. Sauté for a minute and add ginger-garlic paste (if using). Once the raw smell goes, add cooked soya chunks and sauté for a couple minutes. Add rice, salt and water (taste to check salt).

Let the cooker do its job and once the pressure is settled (for pressure cooker), open and serve with raita and papad. Garnish with toasted cashews for added taste.

Vegetable Biriyani (Serves 2)

Over the years, I have seen many recipes for vegetable biriyani, some from friends and some from various websites. Given below is the recipe I follow now. It is from a fellow blogger. The recipe is so simple that my husband, a novice in the kitchen was able to follow it to make delicious tasting biriyani.

Ingredients

Basmati rice – 1 cup

Water – 2 cups

Coconut milk (optional)

Vegetables – 1 cup ( carrot, beans, cauliflower, potato)

Paneer cubes – ½ cup

Cloves – 2

Cinnamon – 1” piece

Bay leaf – 1

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Oil – 2 tsp

Ghee – 1 tsp

Masala

Onion – 1

Grated coconut – 3tbsps

Green chillies– 2-3

Garlic – 3 cloves

Method

Wash and cut the vegetables and keep aside. Wash and soak the rice for 15 - 20 minutes. Grind the onions, coconut, garlic and chilies into a fine paste. Heat ghee in the pressure cooker or electric rice cooker, fry the paneer cubes and keep aside. Add oil to the cooker and add the whole spices. Sauté for minute and add the ground masala. Continue sautéing for 2-3 minutes till the raw smell goes.

Add the chopped vegetables and salt and mix well. Add the rice and sauté for couple of minutes. Then add 2 cups of water or coconut milk. The coconut milk will give the rice a more creamy texture. Alternatively, you can also use a combination of water and coconut milk. Add the garam masala and cook.

Garnish with the fried paneer and serve with raita.

Vegetable Pulav (Serves 2)

Ingredients

Basmati rice – 1 cup

Vegetables – potato, beans, capsicum, green peas, cauliflower, corn, and carrot (2 cups)

Onion – 1 (finely chopped)

Bay leaves – 1 or 2

Ghee – 1 tbsp

Masala

Tomato – 2 or 3

Coriander leaves – 2 tbsps

Green chillies – 2 - 3

Cloves – 1 - 2

Cinnamon powder – 1 pinch

Cardamom powder – a pinch

Salt

Method

Blend the masala ingredients in a blender to make a smooth paste. In a pan, heat ghee. Add the bay leaves and onions and sauté well. Add basmati rice and sauté for two minutes. Add the cut vegetables and sauté for about five minutes. Pour the masala on the rice and mix well. Add a cup of water and bring it to boil. Remove from the stove and cook the rice in a pressure cooker or rice cooker.

Serve hot pulav with raita.

Vegatable pulav can also be made plain without the masala. The plain pulav can be served with spicy curry or mint raita.

Kashmiri Pulav (Serves 2)

Ingredients

Basmati rice – 1 cup

Dry fruits – raisins, cashews, almonds, walnuts, figs and apricots (1 cup)

Ghee – 1 tbsp

Bay leaves – 1 or 2

Salt

Saffron – a pinch

Milk – 1 tbsp

Method

Mix the saffron into the milk and set aside. Heat ghee in a pan and add bay leaves. Add basmati rice and salt and mix well. Add the dry fruits and sauté for a minute or two. Remove from the stove and add two cups of water. Pour the saffron milk on the rice. Mix well. Cook the rice in a pressure cooker or rice cooker.

Serve hot Kashmiri pulav with Lijjat papad.

Kushka Rice (Serves 2)

Ingredients

Basmati rice – 1 cup

Onion – 1 (finely chopped)

Bay leaves – 1 or 2

Masala

Mint leaves – ½ cup

Green chillies – 2 or 3

Ginger – 1 tsp

Garlic – 2 cloves

Cloves – 1 or 2

Cinnamon powder – a pinch

Cardamom powder – a pinch

Salt

Method

Blend the masala ingredients in a blender to make a smooth paste. Heat ghee in a pan and add bay leaves. Add the chopped onions and sauté well. Add the rice and mix well. Pour the ground paste and mix well. Cook the rice in a pressure cooker or rice cooker.

Serve hot kushka rice with raita and papad.


Cabbage Rice (Serves 3)

Here is another dish from my mother-in-law's recipe collection.

Ingredients

Cooked rice – 2 cups

Cabbage (finely chopped) – 1 ½ cups

Onion (finely chopped) – 1 medium

Bell pepper (finely chopped) – 1 cup

Salt to taste

Pepper powder to taste

Method

Cook rice and keep aside. In a wide pan, add oil and sauté the onions till they turn translucent. Add the chopped bell pepper, cabbage and salt and cover and let it cook well (approx 8-10 minutes). Add freshly ground pepper powder and mix with the cooked rice. Serve hot with your favourite raita.

Cashew & Almond Cookies

Guess what, Gomathi and I are classmates once again, after 6 long years. Both of us are doing an online course in Technical Writing and have a common paper this month. I wish we were in the same place; we could have had group study sessions (you all know how well they work right!). Anyway, I just finished writing up my assignment for the week and decided to do some blog hopping and came across a recipe for cashew cookies. I have made a few changes to the recipe, so let’s hope they turn out good :-)

Ingredients (Makes 18 small cookies)
Coarsely ground cashews and almonds – 1/2 cup
Aatta (wheat flour) – 1 cup
Cardamom Powder – 1 tsp
Olive oil – 1/3 cup
Light brown sugar – 1/2 cup
Baking Powder –1/4 tsp
Milk – 2-3 tbsps

Method
Roast the nuts and grind them coarsely. Add all the ingredients except milk to a bowl and mix well. If the dough feels tough, add milk, a tbsp at a time and knead to make soft dough. Refrigerate it for 20 minutes. Towards the end of the 20 minutes, preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F.

Line a cookie sheet/baking tray with parchment paper or foil (takes the hassle out of cleaning burnt on stuff). Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out into small balls. Flatten slightly, place on a lined sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes. I guess, the substitutions I made caused it to take longer. Keep an eye on them though; the cookies might get done faster in your oven. Don’t worry if the cookies feel soft when just out of the oven, they will harden a bit as they cool. Enjoy with a cup of joe…or tea! Bon Appétit.

Link to original recipe - http://neetzkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/11/eggless-soft-and-chewy-cashew-cookies.html

Note  1) Roasting the nuts in the microwave - Place the nuts in a microwaveable plate (make sure they are spread out evenly) and microwave for 2 minutes. Toss and microwave for another minute or so. This is much faster than roasting them on the stove-top or in the oven.

          2) I have learned from my mistake. The cookies needed to be flatter and thinner. Mine were slightly thicker and took a longer time to cook.

           3) If you have powdered nutmeg, well and good. But I love the aroma of freshly grated nutmeg, so that’s what I use.  A handheld grater works really well for this.

Whole Wheat Dosa with Peanut Chutney

Last week when I was talking to my mother, she said that she made this dosa which became a big hit with her colleagues. I tried it this morning and it was a big hit here too. Hope you all like it.

Ingredients

Dosa

Whole wheat flour – 1 ½ - 2 cups

Diced tomato – 1

Curry leaves

Ginger – small piece

Green chillies – 2 (to taste)

Salt

Water

Chutney

Roasted peanuts – ½ cup

Chopped onions – ¼ cup

Green chillies – 1-2 (to taste)

Salt

Water

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Oil – 1 tsp

Curry leaves

Method

Dosa

Put all the ingredients for the dosa into the big jar of your mixie/blender and blend together. Add water as the batter thickens. But make sure it isn’t too watery. Blending the batter in the mixie gives it a super smooth texture. Make dosas and serve hot.

 

Chutney

Grind together the peanuts, green chillies, onions and salt to make a smooth paste.  Heat oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the curry leaves and pour onto the chutney. Enjoy with the whole wheat dosas or with any south Indian snacks like idly, vada, uthappam etc. Bon Appétit. 

Note  1) You can add cumin seeds for an added flavour. Try your own versions and let us know.

           2) You can easily toast raw peanuts in the microwave; place the peanuts on a plate and microwave  for 1.30 – 2 minutes. Toss and roast longer if required.

 

Sweet Ragi Dosa

Come evening and the question of snacks or tiffin for the day comes up. To come up with new and healthy ideas everyday isn’t easy. Today was no different. My mother-in-law and I were sitting in our living room at around 3:30 PM and the question of the evening’s tiffin hung over us.

My mother-in-law came up with the idea of making sweet dosas, something we had not done in a while. So, today we had steaming hot and sweet dosas with butter melting on top of it. Yummy, yum, huh?

Ingredients

Rice flour – 1 ladle

Wheat flour – 1 ladle

Ragi flour – 1 ladle

Jaggery – 1 to 1½ ladles

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Coconut – 3 tbsp

Method

In a bowl, mix all the flour, cardamom and jaggery. Jaggery tends to ooze out water, so be careful to add very little water. Let this batter sit for a few minutes.

Mix the batter well and add water if necessary. Add the grated coconut and mix well.

Place a flat tawa or griddle on the stove and make dosas with the prepared batter.

Serve hot sweet dosas with butter or try my combination of sweet dosa with spicy avakai :-)

Note - Ragi flour is optional. You can also use mixed grains to make this dosa.

 

Sheera Bhaat or Kesari

Square Meals has been around for a few months now. Aparna and I decided it was time for us to take the blog to the next level and opened our Facebook page a few days ago. As one of the prerequisites for opening a page, we invited our friends to become a part of our culinary experience. Thank you all for the amazing responses and we hope to serve you all with healthy and tongue tingling recipes.

This recipe is dedicated to Yeshi Khando Lama, a dear friend of ours. Yeshi, who has been eating the ready-to-eat version of this recipe until now, had asked us for this recipe a couple days ago. 

Yeshi, here’s the recipe for Sheera Bhaat or the popularly called Kesari.

Ingredients

Rava (semolina) – 1 cup

Sugar – 11/2 cups

Water – 3 cups

Ghee – 5 tbsp

Cashews – 2 tbsp

Raisins – 2 tbsp

Cardamom – a pinch

Food color – orange or yellow (optional)

Saffron – a pinch

Method

Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a pan. Fry the cashews and remove from stove. Repeat the process for raisins and keep the cashews and raisins aside. Add another tbsp of ghee and roast the rava until it turns slightly brown and emits a nice aroma. Remove from stove.

Soak saffron strands in 1 tbsp of milk or water. Boil 3 cups of water in a pan. When the water starts to boil nicely, add food colour (optional) and the soaked saffron syrup. Add the roasted rava slowly and stir well.

Stir continuously and make sure no lump is formed. Cook the rava well on medium flame. Once rava is cooked well, add the sugar and mix well. The sugar will dissolve and blend with the rava.

Add the remaining ghee and cardamom powder. Stir continuously until the rava starts to leave the sides of the pan. Remove from stove and add the fried cashews and raisins.

Serve hot sojji (Kesari) with bajji – the typical bride-viewing tiffin in South India :-)

Please check out http://www.4shared.com/document/PNOIRWs9/Leftover_food_recipes-_ebook.html where two of our recipes have been presented.