Friday, November 19, 2010

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.





Thursday, November 18, 2010

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!!