New Year Wishes with Carrot-Sooji Halwa

Wish you all a very Happy & Prosperous New Year 2010. Hope the new year brings you lots of happiness & luck in all ways always.

I want to end this year on a sweet note. This recipe is from my mom. It is quick and simple to make, but looks rich and tastes awesome.

Ingredients:
Sooji – ¼ cup
Carrot – 2 small, grated
Dry fruits & nuts – ¼ cup all together ( I used cashews, almonds & raisins)
Sugar – 1/3 cup (or more as per taste)
Milk – 2 cups (I used 1 cup each of whole & 1%)
Ground Cardamom – ¼ tsp
Saffron – pinch, mixed in 2tbsp warm milk

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp ghee in a pan; fry the nuts & raisins until golden and keep aside.
  
• In the same pan; add 1tbsp ghee and sooji; cook till sooji changes color and smells fragrant. Remove and set aside.
  
• In the same pan; sauté carrot till it doesn’t smell raw anymore. Set aside.
  
• Bring milk to a simmer and add sugar. After sugar dissolves, add sooji & carrot and cook on low flame until slightly thick, about 5-7 minutes. Finally add elaichi & saffron. Serve hot, cold or at room temp.

This recipe is off to Nupur's Recipe Marathon - Day 7 series. I thoroughly enjoyed posting everyday for the past one week and going through the yummy dishes fellow marathoners have been making. Thanks Nupur for coming up with this idea and doing a fantastic job of compiling the recipes everyday.
I've bookmarked a ton of them already, I made Sheetal's Vangi-Pohe for lunch and I absolutely loved it. Thanks Sheetal for sharing such a yummy dish.

Whole Wheat Walnut Bread

Recipe Marathon - Day 6

This is yet another bread that I made from Whole Grains baking book by King Arthur Flour. I borrowed the book from the library and I’m totally in love with it. There are a ton of recipes that I’ve already bookmarked to make. I’m planning to buy it from Amazon because there’s no way I can make all my bookmarked dishes before the time runs out on the book.

This is probably the first yeast bread that I baked, not including pizza crusts & naan breads. We really liked the soft bread with the slightly crunchy crust. It is not too sweet nor too savory which makes it ideal for both sweet & savory additions. We had it for breakfast with nutella, butter & jelly and for lunch with egg salad.

Recipe from Whole Grains Baking Book.
Ingredients:
Whole Wheat flour – 3 cups (Recipe called for traditional, I used white ww)
Instant Yeast – 2½ tsp
Walnuts – ¾ cup
Light or Dark Brown sugar – 2tbsp, firmly packed
Vegetable Oil – 2tbsp
Orange Juice - 3tbsp
Lukewarm water - 1 cup

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients, and mix & knead them until you have a soft, smooth dough. I used by hands, but you can use a stand mixer or bread machine to do this. Cover and allow the dough to rise until its puffy and nearly doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.
• Lightly grease an 8½ x 4½ inch loaf pan. Gently deflate the dough, and shape into a 8" log. Place in the prepared pan. Cover it gently with lightly greased plastic wrap or a proof cover, and allow it to rise till it's crowned about 1" over the rim of the pan, 1½ to 2½ hours.
  
• Near the end of the bread's rising time, preheat the oven to 350ºF.
• Uncover and bake the bread for about 40 minutes., tenting it with foil after 15minutes.
  
• The bread is done when it is golden and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 190ºF. (I don't have any such fancy equipment in my kitcehn but the bread was definitely done and delicious.)
• Remove it from the oven, after a minute or so turn it out onto a rack.
  
• Brush with melted butter (I brushed some earth balance), if desired; to keep the crust soft.
• Cool the bread 30 minutes before slicing.
  

Kaddu ki Dalcha (Sorakaya Masala Kura)

Recipe Marathon - Day 5

I saw the recipe for this dalcha in Eenadu which is a telugu newspaper. Recipe was actually for a pumpkin dalcha, but I used regular kaddu (sorakaya/ bottle gourd) instead. Also I have to admit that I didn’t know dalcha is a Hyderabadi dish (I AM from Hyderabad.. just so you know) and I thought it could be either a Bengali or Rajasthani dish until I googled and found out.

Dalcha has cooked & liquidized chana dal base which is seasoned with spices and the main ingredient could either be a veggie or meat.

Ingredients:
Kaddu (Sorakaya/ Bottle gourd) – 1 medium, diced (about 3-4 cups)
Chana dal – 2/3 cup
Onion – 1 medium, chopped
Tomato – 2 medium, chopped
Tamarind paste – 2tsp
Ginger + garlic paste – 1tsp
Mustard & Cumin seeds – 1tsp
Red chili powder – 1tsp
Turmeric – a pinch
Ground cinnamon – ½ tsp
Ground Cardamom (Elaichi powder) – ½ tsp
Jaggery (Bellam) or Brown Sugar – 2tsp
Green chilies – 4, slit vertically

Method:

• Pressure cook dal until soft (the more the whistles, the better). Blend it with tamarind paste and 1 cup of water. Keep aside.
  
• Heat 2tbsp oil in a large pan; add mustard seeds & cumin seeds and once they start to splutter add onions and sauté till translucent.
  
• Add g+g paste and sauté for another minute. Next add chopped bottle gourd; cover and cook till the veggie is tender, about 12-15minutes.
  
• Then add tomatoes, red chili powder, turmeric, cover and cook till tomatoes turn mushy.
  
• Add the chana dal, ground cinnamon, cardamom (elaichi), jiggery, green chilies, salt and 1 cup water. Simmer the mixture for 5-10 minutes so all the flavors mingle together.
  

Serve with rice or roti. It tasted much better the next day.

Bittergourd in Spicy Kolhapuri gravy

Recipe Marathon: Day 3

Kolhapuri Misal has been on my list to make ever since I saw Sia’s detailed recipe and droolworthy pictures. It took me all this time to get around making it. I made it way less spicy than Sia’s version since I was making for a 2 year old also. We enjoyed it a lot even though the dish has quite a few components that need to be made. I don’t have the pictures of the misal itself since we ate it right away.

But today’s recipe is not the misal but another dish I made with “Kat” or the Spicy curry that is one of the components of Misal.

I had about a cup of leftover kat that needed to be used and since I didn’t have any sprouted moth beans, I used it as gravy in this buttergourd curry and it was awesome. We really enjoyed the spiciness of kat with the bitterness of the veggie.

Here’s the recipe for Kat from Sia’s post (adapted from Chakli's recipe).

Once you have the Kolhapuri masala & Kat ready this dish is a snap to make.

Ingredients:
Bittergourd – 4 medium, chopped into half moons
Onion – 1 medium, chopped
Kat – 1 cup
Tamarind paste – 2tbsp
Salt – to taste
Mustard & cumin seeds – 1tsp each
Curry leaves – 6-8

Method:

• Place the bittergourd pieces along with tamarind, pinch of turmeric, ½ tsp of salt and ½ cup water in a microwave safe bowl. Nuke for 6-8 minutes or until the gourd is ¾th cooked. Drain and rinse under cold water; wring all the water out and set aside until ready to use.
  
• Heat 1tbsp oil in a pan, add the seeds & curry leaves, once the seeds start to splutter add onions and sauté until lightly browned around the edges.
  
• Add bittergourd and sauté on medium-high heat until they start to form a crust, about 8-10 minutes.
  
• Reduce the flame to low and add Kat and ½ cup water; simmer for another 8-10 minutes. Check for seasonings and adjust accordingly.
  

My gravy was spicy enough, so I just had to adjust the salt. But if you want it spicy add some Kolhapuri masala. This spicy dish is great for a chilly night dinner, warms you up inside-out.

Andhra Meal on Christmas Eve

Wish you all a very Happy Christmas.

I made a traditional Andhra meal for our Christmas eve dinner. I just wanted to try some recipes from "Cooking at Home with Pedatha" and since I had the time and ingredients, I made three recipes last night.

Since I'm a eggplant fanatic, I made 2 types of Vankaya pachadlu (eggplant chutneys) and to keep us warm in this freezing temps, I made theeyati charu(Sweet Rasam). Very delicious meal, I have to say. Here's the picture of my plate:

Clockwise: Rice, Potato-Carrot Curry, Version1 Eggplant Chutney, Version 2 Eggplant Chutney, Rasam & Onion Pakoras

Eggplant Chutney - 2 ways

Version 1: This is a tangy, spicy chutney with tamarind, green & red chillies. I baked one large eggplant in 400F oven for 35-40 minutes and used half of the eggplant for each of the chutneys.

Ingredients:
Eggplant - 1 large
Tamarind pulp - 2tbsp
Salt - to taste

For Tempering:
Urad dal (Minapappu) - 1tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 2tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies - 3
Green chillies - 3
Curry leaves - 10-12 (I didn't have these on hand)
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup chopped (didn't have these)
Asafoetida powder (hing) - 1tsp

Method:

• Roast the eggplant directly on low flame till the skin turns black and starts cracking. Alternately bake it in the oven until well cooked through. Scrape the skin and mash well with a fork and set aside.
• In a small sauce pan, heat 2tsp oil; add dal and as it turns golden, add the mustard and then the fenugreek seeds. Switch off the flame and with the browning of the fenugreek, add the red chillies. As they turn bright red, stir in the remaining ingredients for tempring.
• Let this cool a bit and grind along with the tamarind pulp and salt into a coarse paste. Do not add water while grinding.
• Add this paste to the eggplant pulp and mix well.

Serve with steamed rice and a dollop of ghee.

Version 2: Milky Eggplant Chutney (Iguru Pachadi)
This version has milk in it and is very mild and delicious.

Ingredients:
Eggplant - 1 large
Milk - 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste

For Tempering
Urad dal (Minapappu) - 3/4tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Green chilies - 3, slit
Ginger - 1/2 tsp, grated
Coriander leaves - 1tbsp, chopped fine
Curry leaves - 6-7

Method:

• Roast the eggplant; mash well and keep aside.
• When the pulp has cooled, ad the milk and mix well.
• In a small sauce pan; heat 1tbsp oil; add dal; as it turns golden, pop the mustard. Switch off the flame and add remaining ingredients for tempering.
• Mis this tempering into the pulp. Add salt just before serving so that the milk does not curdle.

Serve with steamed rice.

Theeyati Charu (Sweet Rasam)

Ingredients:
Toor dal (Kandi pappu) - 2tbsp
Tamarind - medium lemon sized ball
Jaggery - 2tbsp
Turmeric - 1/2tsp
Ginger - 2" piece, crushed
Garlic - 3 cloves, crushed
Ground coriander - 1/2tbsp
Ground Pepper - 1/2tbsp
Ground Cumin - 1/2tbsp
Rasam powder - 1tsp (optional, I used Ambika brand Rasam pd)
Salt - to taste

For Tempering:
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida powder (Hing) - 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Grind toor dal into a fine powder.
• In a medium sauce pan, add all the ingredients along with ground dal and 4-5 cups of water. Bring to boil. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
• Heat 1tbsp ghee in a small sauce pan; add tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter, pour the tempering into the charu. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with steamed rice or enjoy as a soup.

This post is part of Recipe Marathon that kicks off a countdown to the new year. Nupur @ One Hot Stove has gathered 29 bloggers to participate in the marathon. This week is going to be packed with yummy recipes in the blogosphere.
As a bonus I gave you 3 recipes instead of one today :-) Hope you enjoy these Andhra dishes as much as we did.