Rice Rava Upma

Another post to another event. Divya is hosting this month's Tried and Tasted.



Tried and Tasted was originally started by Zlamushka. Every month, the host chooses one blog and the participant has to cook any recipe from the blog to enter.

Divya has chosen Raaga for this month. I was amazed how simple yet tasty her recipes seemed. And I wasn't disappointed when I chose her Arisi Upma. It was extremely simple but very tasty.

I like onions in my upma. So here's my version of the recipe (Its the same. I just added onions)


Ingredients
1.5 cups rice rava /idli rava
3.5 cups of water
1 onion - chopped
2 green chillies - slit
2 red chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp asafoetida (hing)
1/2 tsp ginger paste
10 - 15 curry leaves
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste
coriander leaves for garnish


Method

1. Heat oil in a pan.
   
2. When hot, add the chana dal and urad dal.
3. When the dal changes colour, add the mustard seeds and asafetida.
4. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the green and red chillies and fry for a min.
5. Now add the curry leaves and the ginger paste and fry for 2 mins.
6. Add the onions and fry till translucent.
7. Now add the rava and fry for 4 - 5 mins.
8. Add the water and bring to boil on med - high.
   
9. Reduce heat and let cook.
10. When the upma is not sticky, its done.
    

Palak Dal - Akkoora Pappu

Another post to another food blog event. Hopefully, I'll take part in more events and keep updating my blog.

Healing Foods was started by Siri of Siri's Corner. This month, its hosted by Divya of Dil Se, the topic being "Spinach".


I like spinach and am glad even my one and half year old son likes it too (atleast he doesn't say no to it).

I am sure many people make Palak Dal in a lot of different ways. Here's my take on it:


Ingredients
300gms Frozen chopped spinach
1 cup toor dal - washed
1 medium sized onion - sliced
5 green chillies - slit length wise
1 tomato - chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garlic paste
lime sized tamarind soaked in water and deseeded.

For the tadka (popu / tiragamata):
2 red chillies
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi / mentulu)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
few curry leaves
2 tbsp vegetable / sunflower oil

Method

1. Pressure cook spinach, toor dal, 3/4 of the onion, green chillies and turmeric powder with 3 cups of water for about 3 whistles (till the toor dal is done). You can blend it if you want it really smooth. I prefer not to.
   
2. In a separate pan, heat the oil and break the red chillies. Add the fenugreek seeds and fry for 30 seconds. Now add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves.
3. Once the mustard seeds start spluttering, add the garlic paste and fry for 30 seconds - taking care it doesn't burn.
4. Now add the rest of the onion and fry till it starts turning brown. Then add the tomato and cook till its done.
5. Add the tamarind paste and bring to a boil.
6. Add this to the pressure cooker and add the salt.
7. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat.
8. Serve hot with rice.

Catch Up & Fish Fry

A lot has happened since my last blog entry... I am now a mom of a hyper 11 month old boy...

My 1 year maternity leave is about to finish and I'll be starting work full-time. Lets see how I'll manage.

During the past year and a half, I got used to eating freshly made food for dinner. You guys must be thinking "what did she eat before that???". I know. Well, I would make a batch for the week and eat the same for lunch and dinner. I would make 3-4 varieties so it was ok. And we also used to have ready cooked foods from the supermarket or go out or call for a pizza. Weekends were always out. Now when I think of it, I am like - how did i eat like that?

So, now my aim is to make fresh dinners every day after work. I am trying to plan out what I'll be having for the next week in advance so that I can prepare the vegetables I need (mainly onions - if i need them sliced or chopped or what ever). That should make things easy. Most of my menu consists of one-dish-meals. Not all though.

So I am adding a new tag "Weekday Dinner" for everything I make on weekdays.

One such item is this fish fry. You can have it with soup (its going to be lovely in winters) or with rasam or sambar and rice or with Jeera Rice. Or if you want a really light dinner, have it with some salad.

Here goes...


Ingredients
500 gm - Fish - cut into chunks (firm white fish) - I used Vietnamese River Cobbler
1/2 small Onion
3 tsp Chopped Tomatoes
1 tsp - chilli powder
1 tsp - coriander powder
3/4 tsp - cumin powder
1/2 tsp - turmeric powder
2 tsp - ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp - Lime / Lemon Juice
a hand full of chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste
oil to shallow fry

Method:

1. Make a fine paste of the Onion, Tomato, Chilli Powder, Coriander Powder, Cumin Powder, Turmeric Powder, Ginger Garlic Paste, Lime Juice and coriander leaves.
   
2. Marinate fish in the paste for atleast 20 mins.
   
3. Take a flat non stick frying pan and add 2 tbsp oil.
4. Once the oil is hot, add the fish pieces one by one and fry them on both sides till they are done.
5. If you have more fish left, proceed in the same way. You might need to add a little more oil to fry.