Vegetable Masale Gojju

MIL makes this wonderful curry to go along with anything from Dosa to Chapati and everything in between!! We love it. It is rich and spicy and can satisfy any palate craving something savory.

We will need,

Mixed vegetables     2 cups
Coconut grated         1/3 to 1/2 cup
 Oil                              4 tbsp
Mustard seeds             1/4 tsp
Jeera                           1/2 tspSalt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Grind to paste: 
Onion                        1 small ( chopped and toasted )
Garlic                        3 cloves (optional)
Ginger                        1/2" piece
Coconut grated          1/4 cup
Cinnamon                  1" piece
Clove                         5-6
Poppy Seeds              1 tsp (toasted and coarsely pound)
Green Chillies             5-6 or according to taste
Coriander                   a small bunch
Mint                           about a handful
 
Method:

• Heat oil in a thick bottomed pot. Throw in the mustard and Jeera. Once they stop spluttering pour in the masala paste. Bring it to a boil.
• Throw in the vegetables. Cover and cook till the vegetables are tender- crisp. 
• Adjust salt. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon and serve hot with Rice/Roti/Dosa

Tomato Palya

MIL is not just a sweet person but also a super cook. I have always wondered how her signature dishes taste consistently awesome every time she makes them, anytime, anywhere! Me..I get lost if I do not find my measuring cups and spoons :)
This time around I measured all the ingredients so as to never go wrong.
Honey adores Tomato Palya. I like it too. It goes very well with Chapatis and a dollop of ghee. 

We will need,
Tomatoes (Plum or the Jamoon variety )    3 large
Onion                                                        2 large
Oil                                                            4 tbsp
Green Chillies                                            4-5
Channa Dal                                                1 tsp
Urad Dal                                                    1 tsp
Curry leaves                                               a handful
Sugar                                                         1 tsp
Huli Pudi / Sambar Powder                        2 tsp
Mustard Seeds                                           1/4  tsp
Cumin                                                        1/4 tsp
Hing                 a dash
Salt  to taste

Method:

• Dice tomatoes and onions roughly. Slit the green chillies.
• Heat oil a Wok. Throw in the mustard seeds, cumin and the hing. Once they splutter, add the channa dal and urad dal. Saute for a couple of minutes.
• Now add the curry leaves and green chillies. Stir for a minute and add the onions. 
• Once the onions are translucent, about 5-8 minutes add the tomatoes with their juice.  Toss in a pinch of salt. Cook covered for 5-10 minutes.
• Now add the Huli Pudi and sugar and mix well. 
• Cover and cook till the tomatoes are soft. Most often than not tomatoes are juicy and does not need additional water to cook but if the mixture becomes dry before the tomatoes are done add half a cup of water.
• Once the tomatoes are done, adjust salt and serve hot with fresh chapatis.

Ragi Dose

After a long vacation in India, cooking seems like a  very distant proposition! Food and family goes together and no wonder they say, a family that eats together, stays together. Back home it was all about endless dinner-lunch-breakfast invitations. Me and Honey had prepared a chart of all the eateries and restaurants we would visit when in Bangalore, alas, we did not have enough time for all the dinner-lunch-breakfast invitation that we did go to a favorite restaurant to eat. With all the running around we managed to eat at Inchara in J.P.Nagar, S.L.V, Sathayanarayana tiffin (near actor Ambarish's house in J.P.Nagar, Veena Stores and Nandini.

After all the wonderful food and the warm sunlit days, we are back to our normal routine. But the good news is the holidays are just round the corner and I am already humming the holiday tunes...Yeh yeah...Santa is already in town. I got to get down to baking! Got some pumpkin and cheese will see how my cheesecake turns out to be. Till then it is just some Ragi Dosa

We will need,

Urad Dal    1 cup
Ragi Flour   2.5 cups
Fenugreek Seeds 2 tsp

Koshar Salt to Taste
Ghee to cook the Dosa.

Method:

• Soak the Urad Dal and fenugreek seeds for at least four hours. Then Grind it into a smooth batter.
• Stir in the Ragi flour and salt. Set it in a warm place to ferment overnight. Sometimes fermentation requires about 13-15 hours, as it does in the New England region during the Winters. Just that with fermentation the volume of the batter should increase.
• At this point the batter stores well in the refrigerator for a week. 
• To prepare Dosa, preheat a skillet. Pour a ladle full of batter right at the center of the skillet and spread it in a circular action starting from the center, fanning out to the edge of the skillet. 
• Dab some ghee /butter/ oil on the dosa and cover it with a lid for about 3-5 minutes.
• Once the Dosa is cooked it comes off the skillet pretty easily. Serve hot with some coconut chutney.

Happy Deepawali

It was Dasara just yesterday and it is already time to make Kajjayas! I am not complaining..Love the festival season.
Let the festive season bring a lot of joy and prosperity to each one of you and your families! Happy Deepawali.


Here is a peek at our Deepavali celebration..