Tomato Thokku

Tomato Thokku is my favourite recipe which I make frequently especially for Dosa and Idly. It can also be used as a dip, spread, curry or a pickle. You can eat it with Naan/Bread, with Idli / dosa /upma, curd rice, spread it over bread or eat it mixed with hot rice and ghee. Lets go to the recipe!!

Ingredients:
Tomato - 10 - 12 nos
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Red Chilli - 3 nos
Salt to taste
Jaggery  - 1 tsp 
For Thadka:
Gingely Oil - 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Chana Dal - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 1 pinch 
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 tsp 
Red chilli  - 2 nos (depends upon your spice interest :-) )
Curry leaves - 10 - 12 leaves


Method:
Grind the tomatoes with 3 red chillies and keep it ready.
Take big pan & add all the ingredients given under Thadka into Gingely Oil. Once you hear the spluttering of mustard seeds, saute until light brown.
Add the ground tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt into it and stir it in frequent intervals to avoid it sticking into the pan. Make sure the flame is medium- low. You would know when the raw smell is gone. Now add jaggery. 
When the oil gets separated from the tomato thokku, it means its done. Put 2 tsp of gingely oil into it, Switch off the gas & Close the pan with lid. Let it cool.
Now enjoy your thokku with hot rice, rotis, Idly, Dosas!!

Paneer Wrap

Its been long I posted any of my kaivannam :-)
I tried few recipes last week, I thought I would share with all of you.
My Bhabhi told me about the paneer wrap her friend made for thanksgiving party and I thought I would make it in my style.
Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
Tortilla - 3
Paneer - 1/2 cup grated
Onion - finely chopped
Ginger - 1/2 tsp grated
Carrot - 1/4 cup grated
garlic - finely chopped
Chilli (optional) - finely chopped
Cream Cheese - 3 tsp
Garam masala, coriander pwder - 1 tsp
Parmesan cheese - grated - 1 tsp
Method:
Fry onion, ginger, garlic, chilli, carrot, paneer & then add salt, garam masala, coriander powder.
After it gets blends, add parmesan cheese and mix with it.
Heat Soft Tortilla on a Tawa for a min both sides, then spread 1 tsp of cream cheese(I used garlic herbs cream cheese), then place 1 big spoon of the stuff in the cener and spread it over the Tortilla, roll it. Cut it into pieces and serve hot with tomato sauce or any hot chutney.

Bitter gourd stuff

Karela/Bitter gourd(BG) is always been my favourite vegetable since childhood.
My mom used to make stuff, pulusu(kozhambu) and pitla (koottu) very tastily.
I made a little change and added some more ingredients to add more aroma and taste. hope you like it.
Lets go to the recipe.
Ingredients:-
Bitter gourd 7 nos
Oil 3 tbsp
For stuffing :-
Onions finely chopped - 2 nos
Garlic finely chopped  - 3 cloves
Ginger finely chopped - 1"
Green chilli  - 3
Jeera powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Saunf - 1/4 tsp
channa dal/urad dal  each 1 tsp fried and ground (you could use sambar powder instead)
Methi leaves  - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder 1/2 tsp (optional)
shredded coconut 1/4 cup
Oil 1 tbsp 
Salt as per taste
Fry onions, garlic, chilli, ginger in the oil until roasted.Add the other ingredients given under stuffing. Saute for 3 minutes till it gets mixed up.
I don't use besan for karela stuffing, instead I use coconut.
Scrap the outer skin of kakarakaya/karela. Make a slit in the middle and remove the seeds. Put all the bitter gourds in a bowl of water mixed with salt and tamarind pulp. This helps in reducing bitterness.
Take oil in a pan and put the BG's, fry for 2 min, then sprinkle some water and close it with lid. Keep the flame in medium. Make sure to keep an eye on it and sprinkle more water if required. This will make the BGs cook and the masala to get deeper into it.
When you find them cooked, keep the pan open and fry them by turning the BG's frequently.
Once they are fried, server hot with rice.

Spinach Tomato Dosa recipe

Spinach Tomato Dosa recipe 

Dosa (crispy savory pancakes) from South India is a staple food in its home region.I want to share a recipe which I made for my husband's lunch.
When I don't find time to make side dish for dosa, I tweak with some garnishing that would make a person forget about any sambar.
Ingredients:
Dosa batter
Cherry tomatoes - 5- 6 nos
Chilli  - 2
Spinach - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Garlic ( optional)

Spinach Tomato Spread
Grind all the above ingredients except dosa batter.

Method
Fill the ladle upto the 3/4 level with Dosa batter. Gently pour this batter onto the center of the pan.
Now begin to spread the batter in sweeping circular motions to form a pancake of roughly 8" diameter.
When the upper surface begins to look cooked (it will no longer look soft or runny), spread the spinach tomato paste over it and wait for few seconds before flipping the Dosa. By this time, ideally, the surface that was underneath should be light golden in color.

You could replace any other veggies for the spread, this way kids too get their veggies in the form of spread!!