Fried or Sauted Sweet Corn Kernels

Total Time: 15 minutes
Preparation Time: 2 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 1-2

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp Oil
• 3 Curry Leaves (opt)
• 1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1/2 small size Onion chopped
• 3 Green Chillies chopped (adjust to your taste)
• 1 tsp Garlic Paste/Crushed
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
• Salt to Taste
• 10 oz frozen Sweet Corn Kernels
• 2 tbsp Milk
• Cilantro for garnish

Method:

•  Heat oil in a pan, add curry leave, mustard seeds and cumin.  When the seeds splutter, add onion and green chillies and saute until onions translucent.
• Add garlic and mix well.  Add turmeric, salt and mix well.  Add corn kernels and milk.  Mix well, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes.  
• Remove the cover and cook until all the liquid evaporates.
• Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.  

Fried Sweet Corn

Spinach Rice

Rice can be cooked in many varieties such as Biryani, vegetable pulav, green peas rice, green chana rice, spinach rice and so on. I cook all the above mentioned rices very often in my kitchen except spinach rice. Any variety of rice served with raita is a feast to me. When I saw the Mixed Rice Varieties Event, spinach rice came to my mind. All the other varieties are very common to me and this would be a good excuse to try out my mom’s recipe and a perfect entry to the event.

Total Time: 30 minutes
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 3    

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup Oil
• 4 Cardamoms
• 2 Cloves
• ½ tsp Sahajeera
• Bay Leaf
• Bay Flower
• ¼ “ Cinnamon
• ¼ tsp Methi Powder
  
• 10 Mint Leaves chopped
• 1 small Onion sliced
• 6 Green Chillies slit into 2
• 1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
• 6 oz or 4 cups of chopped Spinach
• pinch of Turmeric Powder
• 1 medium sized Tomato chopped
• Salt to Taste
• 2 cups of Basmati Rice soaked in water for ½ hour
• Cilantro for garnish

Method:

• Heat oil in a sauce pan. Add cardamoms, cloves, sahajeera, cinnamon, bay leaf, biryani flower, mint leaves and methi powder. Fry until mint leaves change color. Then add onion and fry till translucent.
• Add green chillies, ginger garlic paste fry for a minute.
• Add chopped spinach and cook for a couple of minutes. Add tomatoes, salt and cook until soft and water if any evaporates.
• Add a turmeric powder and rice and fry for a minute.
• Add 3 cups of water (rice to water ratio of 1 : 1 ½ ) and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and cook until rice is done.
• Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with raita or any gravy of your choice.

Note:

• If you wish to use an electric cooker, after frying rice, transfer it to the rice cooker container, pour 3 cups of water, add cilantro and turn the cooker on. 

Spinach Rice goes to Mixed Rice Varieties Event

Onion Raita / Onion Salad in Yogurt

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 small Onion chopped or diced
• 1 small Tomato thinly diced
• 2 Green Chillies seeded and chopped
• Cilantro chopped
• 1/2 tsp Lime Juice
• 1 cup Non Fat Yogurt
• 1 tbsp Non Fat Sour Cream (opt) 
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients together refrigerate until ready to serve.

Poni/Popu Annam (Indian Style Fried Rice)

This is my other entry to Mixed Rice Varieties Event. This is a good recipe to finish the leftover rice in your refrigerator. It can be served for brunch, lunch or dinner. I am reposting this recipe for the event.  Read More….

Pappu Charu

This is a common dish in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This is a lentil stew made of toor dal, tamarind and variety of vegetables such as okra, brinjal or egg plant, beans, carrots, radish, bottle gourd or aanyapakaya or kadhu, drum sticks, pearl onions and beans. In this recipe I use bottle gourd, carrots raddish and tomatoes. This is my entry to Jihva For Ingredients (JFI), hosted by Sig of Live to Eat and the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi.

Total Time: 35 minutes
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:  

• ¼ cup Toor Dal/Kandhi Pappu
• 1 ½ tbsp Oil
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 5 Curry Leaves
• ½ tsp Methi Powder (opt)
• 1 small Onion sliced or diced
• 6 Green Chillies (adjust to your taste, you can substitute chillies with chili powder)
• 1 ½ tsp Garlic paste or crushed garlic
• ½ tsp Coriander Powder
• 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
• Salt to Taste
• 1 Carrot sliced
• 3 small round Radish sliced
• 1 cup Bottle Gourd sliced
• 1 medium sized Tomato diced
• 1 ½ tbsp Tamarind Paste or small lime size tamarind soaked in water
• Ingredients to add when boiling
  • 1 tsp Garlic Paste or crushed garlic
  • ½ tsp Cumin Powder
  • 5 Curry Leaves
• 1 tsp Sugar (opt, I don’t use it but some people do)
• Cilantro for garnish

Method:

• Pressure cook toor dal with ½ cup of water for 5 whistles and another 5 minutes on low heat.
• If using tamarind, soak it in ¾ cup of water for 10 minutes and extract the pulp. OR microwave tamarind with water for a minute and extract the pulp.
• Heat oil in a sauce pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and methi powder .
• When seeds start spluttering add onions and saute until translucent.
• Add green chillies and garlic paste saute until chillies change color.
• Add coriander powder, turmeric and salt and mix well.
• Add the vegetables, mix well and cover and cook for a minute or 2.
• Add dal and cook for another couple of minutes.
• Add tamarind paste and 3 cups of water. Mix well and check for sourness. If required add more tamarind paste. Bring to a boil.
• Add tomatoes and all the ingredients to add when boiling and reduce the heat to medium and boil of 10 minutes.  
• If using sugar, add it and simmer for another couple of minutes. Add cilantro and remove from heat.
• Serve with hot rice.

Egg Pulusu

This is my second entry to Jihva For Ingredients (JFI), hosted by Sig of Live to Eat.

Total Time: 40 minutes

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 3-4

Mutton Shorva

          

Total Time: 45 minutes
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4 – 5

Ingredients:

• To boil the meat
  • 2 lbs Goat meat
  • 1 ½ tsp Chili Powder
  • 1 ½ tsp Coriander Powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
• 6 tbsp Oil
• ¼ cup Mint chopped (opt)
• 4 Cardamoms
• 3 Cloves
• ¼ tsp Sahajeera
• ½ tsp Methi Powder
  
• ½ cup chopped Onions
• 2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
• 2 tsp Onion Paste
• 2 long Chillies or Jalapeño Peppers sliced (opt)
• 1 ½ tsp Coriander Powder
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 ½ tsp Chili Powder
• ¼ cup Yogurt
• Cilantro for garnish

 

• For Onion Paste
  • ½ tsp Oil
  • ½ Onion small, chopped
  • ½ Tomato small chopped
  • 2 Cardamoms
  • 2 Cloves

Preparation:

• Mix all the ingredients to boil the meat. Pressure cook for 5 whistles and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
• Meantime, in a pan add all the ingredients required to make the onion paste.
• Fry until onions turn golden brown, remove from heat and let cool.
• Make a fine paste using little water.
• This paste can be refrigerated for 7-10 days.  I normally make this paste with 3-4 big onions and freeze it in small containers.
• If you are in a hurry, skip the frying process and grind all the ingredients to fine past. OR skip the process of making the paste and substitute the paste with its ingredients.

Method:

• In a sauce pan heat oil, add cardamoms, cloves, sahajeera and mint. Fry till mint turns dark green.
• Add methi powder, onion and saute until translucent.
• Add ginger garlic paste and onion paste and saute for couple of minutes.
• Add chilies, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chili powder and saute for a minute.
• Add yogurt and and cook for couple of minutes, until oil separates.
• Add cooked meat and cook for few minutes. Add 1 ½ cups of water and bring to a boil. On medium heat cook for 10 – 15 minutes.
• Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice, roties or puries.

Chocolate Strawberries

Last month I was in Chicago to attend my niece’s first birthday. The food for the party was catered from an Indian restaurant. My aunt wanted to make something at home for the party, her own touch for her first grand child’s, first birthday. For a gathering of 70-80 people, what would be easier than chocolate strawberries. Kids love it and so do adults. She and I got to work in the afternoon, on the day of the party. We experimented a little and finally prepared the chocolate strawberries in time for the party. It wasn’t much of a work nor were we exhausted with the preparation. We just wanted everyone to love it and it was a super hit. Ever since I got back from Chicago, I wanted to try it at home and finally today is the day.

Total Time: 2 ½ hours
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Setting Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

• 16 oz Strawberries
• 1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1-2 tsp Vegetable Oil
• ¼ cup White Chocolate chips for decoration(opt)

Ready to pop into the fridge, for the choco to harden

Method:

• Wash the strawberries and pat dry with paper towel.
• Line a cookie sheet or a platter with wax paper
• In a microwave safe bowl, take the semi-sweet chocolate chips and heat it for 1 minute.
• Remove from microwave, add vegetable oil and mix well until the chips are completely melted.
• Dip each strawberry in the melted chocolate so that 3/4ths of the strawberry is coated.
• Put it on the wax paper and continue dipping all the strawberries.
• In a separate microwave safe bowl, melt ¼ cups of white chocolate and fill it in a ziploc bag.
• Squeeze all the chocolate to one end/corner of the bag to form a cone. Make a small cut at the tip of the bag. Squeeze the chocolate forward and pipe the chocolate coated strawberries .
• Put the strawberries in the fridge for 2 hours to let the chocolate coating harden.
• Remove from the fridge 5-10 minutes before serving.

Note:

• Use ripe but firm strawberries.
• Finish the chocolate strawberries in 48 hours of preparation.
• Microwave settings vary. Don’t over heat the chocolate. Very thin mixture of melted chocolate doesn’t coat the strawberries well. If the mixture is too thin, add some vegetable oil or shortening. Don’t use butter. Moisture in the butter doesn’t let the chocolate coat the strawberries.

Roasted Corn Kernels with Garlic Butter

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 1-2

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Fresh Corn Kernels
• 1 tbsp Butter
• 1 tsp Garlic crushed/paste
• 1 tsp Chili Powder
• Salt to Taste

Method:

• Heat the pan, add corn kernels, cover and cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• When the corn is golden brown, remove the cover, increase the heat and roast for few more minutes.
• Add butter, garlic, chili powder and salt. Mix well, cook for a minute.
• Serve immediately.

Murmura Upma

Total Time: 15 minutes
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 3

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp Oil
• 4-6 Curry Leaves
• ½ tsp Jeera
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1 small Onion chopped
• 10-12 Green Chillies chopped
• 2 tsp Garlic Paste
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• Salt to taste
• 15 cups Murmuras or Puffed Rice
  
• Cilantro chopped for garnish

Method:

• Cut the vegetables.
• Wash the murmuras and squeeze all the water from it and keep aside.
• In a pan heat oil, add curry leaves, jeera and mustard.
• When the mustard seeds start spluttering, add onions and green chillies and saute until onions are translucent.
• Add garlic paste and saute for fews seconds and add turmeric and salt. Stir well.
• Add the washed murmuras and mix well.
• Cook for few minutes, about 5 minutes on medium heat.
• Add cilantro and serve immediately.

Note:

• If you like peanuts, you could add some peanuts to upma.  Add peanuts along with the mustard and jeera, and roast for 1-2 minutes until peanuts are roasted. Then add onions and rest of the ingredients as mentioned in the method.

This is a very quick breakfast recipe and goes to  WBB#23 hosted by The Singing Chef.