Oats Khichdi (Oats-Lentil Porridge)

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole grains

Dish: Oats Khichdi

We are starting a new week of blogging marathon and my theme for theme this week is 'Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole grains' being hosted by lovely Kalyani @ the sizzling tastebuds. Kid's Delight event is a brainchild of Valli.

Coming up with kid approved whole grain dishes was not easy as I thought it would be. My kids are a little picky and I have blogged about most of the whole grain dishes that they eat. So coming up with new ones was a good exercise for the brain. I cook/ bake with brown rice, quinoa, wholewheat flour etc., and they eat most of what I serve.

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Saravana Bhavan Sambar

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes -- Veena's Veg Nation

Dish: Saravana Bhavan Sambar
For the 2nd day of cooking from Veena's space, I made this perfect Saravana Bhavan sambar. Saravana bhavan is a popular restaurant in Chennai and this sambar replicates the one served there.

I've never been to this restaurant in India, but heard a lot about it. So we went to their Edison location in NJ, but lets just say the experience is nothing to talk about. The food was 'meh' and the service was 'blah' :-) But I want to visit the restaurant in Chennai some time. Hopefully that day will come sooner than later.

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Ragi Paniyaram (Ragi Ponganalu)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Ragi Paniyaram (Ragi Ponganalu) from Priya's recipe here.

For Day 2 of this week's 'Bookmarked recipes', I found this delicious Ragi Paniyaram recipe on Priya's blog. These paniyaram or ponganalu are made with a combination of ragi flour, leftover idli batter and seasoned with onions, green chilies and cilantro. They taste just like tiny bite size uthappams.
I hardly ever make idlis not because I don't like them, but because making them seems to be such a hassle. I always forget to soak dal and even when I do, the batter refuses to ferment in our very cold, chilly house in winter. No matter what I do (leave the oven door open, keep the batter in a warm oven etc etc), it takes almost forever to ferment. That demotivates me from making idlis.

But the other day, my husband out of nowhere said it's been a while we had idlis. So, I took the leap and made the batter. As expected it took almost 2 days for the batter to ferment and after enjoying the idlis and uthappams, I used the leftover batter to make these ragi paniyarams. Adding ragi flour makes these paniyarams taste earthy and delicious.

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Ragi Adai (Finger Millet & Lentil Dosa)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Ragi Adai from Valli's recipe here

We are starting the final week of this month's Blogging marathon. Next month is going to be a month long mega marathon with 'Baking' as the theme, so the marathon group is currently busy firing up the ovens and making tons of baked goodies.
My theme for this week is 'Bookmarked Recipes' and I decided to keep it simple this time around. With thousands of bookmarked recipes, it is practically impossible to make just 3, so I picked an ingredient and found 3 recipes from my bookmarks and that made thing simple and less stressful.

Ragi flour is my ingredient and the first dish I made are these Ragi adai from Valli's blog. Adai are almost instant dosas made with a mixture of different lentils. Here ragi flour is used along with lentils and rice.

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Menthikura-Pesarapappu Chaaru (Methi-Moongdal Soup)

There's an overdose of Methi recipes on my blog this week. After Methi Matar Masala, Methi Chana Pulao & Methi pulusu/ stew, I have a lentil based methi dish today. Recipe is from a Telugu cooking show.

Methi and moong dal are a good combination to make pappu or dal. But in this recipe, the consistency is more like a soup instead of thick like a dal. Soup is flavored with freshly made spice powder made with coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds and peppercorns. This makes the dish taste very earthy and spicy. Finally adding lemon juice to the rasam/ soup gives it the required tang or zing that makes this dish super delicious.

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Arisi Upma

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Cooking for 1

Dish: Arisi Upma

I will be 'Cooking for 1' this week. Ever since I started cooking, just cooking for myself has rarely happened. Back in the grad school days, my roomies and I used to cook for the whole gang. After getting married, never got to cook for just 1. But with my husband traveling a lot lately and both the kids in the school, there are days when I have to cook for myself.

I try to keep the dishes I make for myself very simple with few ingredients (usually the odds and ends in the fridge) and few dishes to clean. So for the first day, I made this simple and comforting rice upma from Sandhya's blog. The good thing about this dish is it can easily be made for 1 or for 10. A quick and easy dish that takes about 30 minutes from start to finish and needs about 15 minutes of hands on time.

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Gujarati Khichdi

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Weekend Brunch Recipes

Dish: Gujarati Khichdi

My theme for the first week of this month's marathon is 'Brunch Recipes'. Brunch should be hearty and filling, but not too filling that it is going to make you take an early afternoon nap. Also since we are skipping breakfast to eat brunch, it should be nutritious enough to keep you going and charged for at least 3~4 hours. 

With all those in mind, here's a one pot dish that is sure to keep you full and energized until the next meal. Being a south Indian, I grew up eating rice for just about all the meals. Breakfast could be anything like lemon rice, tamarind rice, curd rice or pongal and that used to keep us full till lunch. But nowadays eating rice for breakfast or even brunch has become quite a rarity in my household.

As I was thinking of Indian dishes to make for brunch, khichdi came to my mind right away. It has dal (lentils) for protein and rice for carbs, which in my mind is perfect dish for any time of day. I found this Gujarati Khichdi recipe in Sanjeev Kapoor's Vegetarian Rice, Biryani & pulao cookbook.

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Amiri Khaman (Split Chickpea Squares)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: North Indian Starters

Dish: Amiri Khaman

I think my geography is a little dicey but I have a pretty good idea of Indian geography. I know where each state of India is located and I promise that I know this even before I did A-Z Indian states marathon. I'm surprised that most of the people from the North are so confused about the 4 south Indian states. They think everyone from the south is from Chennai and no the hindi movie 'Chennai Express' does not help even a little bit.
So anyway I know where today's starter is coming from :-) This dish is from the western state of Gujarat. I saw this recipe in 'Vegetarian Cooking of India' cookbook by Mridula Baljekar. These protein packed squares are simple, delicious and nutritious. They are excellent to serve as snack/ appetizer along with some ketchup and/ or sweet tamarind chutney.

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Darbari Dal (Revisitng Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 45: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Revisiting Old Recipes
Dish: Darbari Dal

We are starting our final week of blogging marathon today and I picked a seemingly easy theme, Revisiting Old recipes. But it was quite a tough task picking just 3 dishes to revisit from my archives. This blog has been around for more than 8 years and there are ton of dishes that need some TLC. So after browsing through the blog for a very very long time I decided on 3 dishes that I wanted to remake and take some new pics.

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Nepal -- Simple Vegetarian Thali (Recipes)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: N for Nepal

Dish: Vegetarian Thali (Recipes)

We are exactly half way through the marathon, 13 done -- 13 more to go. Our next stop is Nepal and this was the very first country that I cooked for. I knew it was going to be Nepal for N from the very beginning. Ever since I saw Sandhya's Nepali dishes for one of the previous BMs, I wanted to try them and this was the best opportunity I got. Also when I was planning the dishes, we were freshly done with the Indian states mega BM and all the thalis that were posted really inspired me to plan a thali for Nepal too.
The Nepalese are mostly immigrants from India, Tibet, North Burma and the Chinese province of Yunnan via Assam. So the culture and the cuisine is mostly influenced by all these countries. Much of Nepalese dishes are made in India too, especially in the North eastern Indian states.

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Bajre Ki Khichdi (Pearl Millet/ Sajjala Khichdi)

Blogging Marathon# 42: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: All about Millets
Dish: Bajre Ki Khichdi

Yet another month rolls by and today we are starting this month's blogging marathon. Big difference for me is I'm joining the lovely BM gals only 2 weeks this month, because it is vacation time and we are packing for a month long trip to India --- yay!!!!!! I wanted to skip this month altogether, but Valli's themes pulled me in.
So for the first week, I picked up a relatively easy theme, All about Millets. I have started cooking with millets about 5~6 years back and interestingly I tried foxtail millet for the first time in a Mexican dish. It wasn't until later that I found out that they are very commonly used in India too.

Millets are an ancient cereal cultivated in the dry climates of Africa and northern China. Interestingly millets were the staple food of Indian, Chinese and Korean civilizations. There are about 6000 varieties of millet throughout the world with grains varying in color. Foxtail millet is one of the oldest varieties.

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Sprouts Mixed Vegetable Pulao

Today's recipe is from a Telugu cooking show and I have made it a number of times since I watched the show. It is a healthy and delicious dish with sprouts, mixed vegetables and spicy masala paste. This is a great way to use sprouts and with the addition of mixed vegetables, it is a balanced dish to serve for lunch or dinner. It also reheats really well making it perfect for lunchboxes. 

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A Vegetarian Indian Thali

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Bookmarked recipes from BM# 39
Dish: Indian Thali

So for the last day of the marathon, I created a thali with some of the recipes that I bookmarked from last month's mega marathon. Indian thali usually consists of a Bread, Rice dish, a dry curry, a gravy curry, chutney and something sweet to end the meal. 

Most of the dishes in this thali are from the North Eastern states of India. To be honest, I had no idea about the eating habits or the popular dishes from any of the North Eastern states. Thanks to the research that all of the marathoners have done last month, I know a lot more about these cuisines now. I also wanted to make this black rice pudding from Nagaland for dessert, but I made this thali for myself and I wasn't motivated enough to make a dessert and also I was tooooo full after eating this meal. buuurp!!

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Ragda Pattice/ Patties (Chaat from Mumbai)

Ragda Pattice is a very popular Chaat item from Mumbai. This was the first dish I made for Maharashtra, but changed it to Vada Pav and kept this for 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge' instead. I've never made ragda pattice at home until I saw this recipe being made on a Telugu cooking show and made it twice since then. I remember enjoying this snack on the road side stalls in Hyderabad, one particular one close to my aunt's house was our favorite.

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Rajasthan -- Lunch Thali

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 24
State: Rajasthan
Dish: Rajasthani Lunch Thali

Today we are going to the 'Land of Kings or Land of Kingdoms', Rajasthan, previously known as Rajputana. It is India's largest state by area and is located on the north western side of India. The main geographic features of Rajasthan are the Thar desert and the Aravalli Range. The northwestern region of Rajasthan is generally sandy and dry because of the Thar desert. The Aravalli range and the lands east and southeast of the range are generally more fertile and better watered.
When I think of Rajasthan, I think of the beautiful forts, palaces, colorful outfits and the colorful outfits. Like the many states I mentioned, my dad went to Rajasthan too for work years ago and brought us back lot of beautiful dress materials (for salwar kameez) and bed sheets. I still have a couple of dresses that I don't wear often, but kept them for the memories and colors -- the one you see in the background is from way back when :-)
Cuisine: Rajasthani cuisine is very rich much like its culture. It is a splendid array of colorful, spicy and unique dishes. The Rajasthani platter is a gastronomic delight and if you have been to a Rajasthani restaurant you will know the amount of food they serve and the number of dishes/ courses they have -- that is one belt bursting feast indeed.
Rajasthani cooking is influenced by the availability of ingredients in this arid region and the lifestyle of its inhabitants. Food that lasts for several days and that can be eaten without heating is preferred. Scarcity of water and green vegetables have all had their effects on the cooking.
Specialties: Churma, Gujia, Ghevar, Dal, Baati, Kachori etc.

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Orissa -- Mitha Khechudi & Mitha Dali

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 21
State: Orissa
Dish: Mitha Khechudi & Mitha Dali (Sweet Khichdi with Sweet Dal)

Today we are going to Odisha, formerly known as Orissa, located in the east coast of India. Orissa shares a border with Andhra Pradesh, but I never had a chance to visit it. My dad went there for work years ago and brought back a souvenir from Konark Sun Temple. I've seen his pictures at Puri Jagannath temple and Bhubaneshwar. That's the most I knew about Orissa.
Cuisine: Odisha has culinary tradition spanning centuries. I was really surprised to read that rasgulla actually originated from Odisha, I always thought it was from Bengal. Also Kheer or rice pudding, that is relished all over India, also originated in Puri 2000 years ago.
Oriya cuisine is rich and varied and relies heavily on local ingredients. The flavors are usually subtle and lightly spiced, unlike the fiery curries typically associated with Indian cuisine. Only 6% of the population of Odisha is vegetarian. Oriyas are very fond of sweets and no Oriya meal is complete without the dessert course at the end.
Specialties: Dali, Dalma, Khechedi, Mittha Dali, Pakhala, Chena Poda, Dahi Bara, Kalakand etc.

Today's Dish(es): After reading about the Oriya cuisine, I initially planned on making a dessert. But after making quite a few desserts for the marathon, I decided against it. I wanted to make something simple, yet traditional and authentic to Orissa. So after a lot of searching, I found this Oriya blog, Turmeric Kitchen, by Jagruthi. She has a ton of traditional dishes and I picked two that were simple and easy to make.

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Jharkhand -- Dhuska & Ghugni

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 12
State: Jharkhand
Dish: Dhuska & Ghugni

Jharkand is a state located in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar in the year 2000. The name Jharkhand means The land of forests, Jharkand accounts for 40% of the mineral resources of India.

Cuisine: Jharkhand's cuisine is very similar to Bihari cuisine. Jharkhandis use different types of flowers as vegetables like the flowers of drumstick etc., Use of Saag, i.e., leaves of different shrubs and other small plants, is perhaps another peculiarity of Jharkhani food.
Staple Food: Urad dal, Rice, Vegetables.
Specialties: Litti Chokha, Dhuska, Dudhauri, Charpa

Today's Dish(es): I made a traditional dish from Jharkhand and Bihar. Dhuska is made with unfermented rice & lentil batter and is usually deep fried. I followed Vaishali's tip and cooked them like dosas instead. I had some batter leftover after making dhuskas which I left to ferment for about 10~12 hours and then made dosas with the batter. Dosas turned out crisp and perfect. Dhuska is served with ghugni traditionally and that's what I made.

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An Ayurvedic Meal (Thali)

With the ongoing BM mega marathon, thalis have become quite popular among our BM group. I wish I had more time to make thalis for some of the states. But it is what it is, so I decided to make a thali for Cooking from Cookbook Challenge instead. Today's thali is an Ayurvedic Thali from Sukham Ayu.

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Gujarat -- Mini Thali

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 8
State: Gujarat
Dish: Mini Gujarati Thali

Gujarat is a state in the North-Western coast of India. It is known locally as Jewel of the West. Gujarat is the home of many many freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, successful entreprenuers like Dhirubhai Ambani (Reliance Industries), Azim Premji (Wipro Limited) and Jamsetji Tata. Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India.

Cuisine: Gujarat is primarily a vegetarian cuisine due to the influence of Jain vegetarianism and traditional Hinduism. When i think of Gujarat, I think of the wide variety of dishes they have. There are so many snack items, so many breads, so many of everything. Gujaratis travel with bags full of snacks wherever they go and most of them are probably homemade. Adding a little sugar or jaggery to some of the dishes is common in Gujarat, the sweet flavor is believed to neutralize the slightly bland taste of the vegetables. Sweets (desserts) are extremely popular too in Gujarat.

Staple Food: Wheat, Rice, Lentils

Specialties: There are hundreds of Gujarati specialties, here are a few: Handvo, Muthia, Patra, Undhiyu, Khandvi, Dhokla, Kachori so on and so on.

Today's Dish(es): I wanted to try more than one dish from this amazing cuisine and with the time I had, I made a mini thali with simple and everyday Gujarati dishes. I have some good Gujarati friends and was lucky enough to enjoy their delicious home cooked dishes. Most of the dishes look so simple to make, but they are tricky and need some practice to make them perfect like Khandvi, Dhokla, Handvo etc.

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Chhattisgarh -- Chila (Rice flour Crepes) & Katte Masoor Dal

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 5

State: Chhattisgarh
Dish: Chila (Rice flour Crepes) & Katte Masoor Dal

Chhattisgarh is a state in Central India. This state was formed in 2000 by partitioning Chattisgarh speaking districts from southeastern Madya Pradesh. It is the source of elecrticity and steel for India. Chattisgarh accounts for 15% of the total steel produced in India. It is one of the fastest growing states in India.

Cuisine: Chattisgarh is known as the Rice bowl of India and has a very rich food culture. The food is classified into tribal & non-tribal cuisines. The tribes of Chhattisgarh primarily add the various types of fruits that are commonly found in the forest areas of Chhattisgarh.
Staple Food: Rice, wheat, jowar & maize
Specialties: Most of the traditional dishes are made of rice or rice flour, curd and green leafy vegetables. fara/muthiya (rice rolls in white sauce), angakar roti, chousera roti (rice puri's). state. Petha and rakhia badi are the two popular delectables of the tribes of Chhattisgarh.

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