Capsicum Rice

Capsicum, also known as red pepper or chili pepper, is an herb. It is used for various problems with digestion including stomach upset , gassy,  stomach pain, diarrhea, and cramps. It is also used for conditions of the heart and blood vessels including poor circulation, excessive blood clotting, high cholesterol, and preventing heart disease. 
Capsicum peppers are rich sources of antioxidants and vitamin C. Red peppers have twice the vitamin C content of green peppers. It has much of varieties as we can see from their colors and sizes.
Including much of peppers in your diet while pregnant or breast feeding is not likely good. 
Here is a tasty capsicum rice, an easy 30 minutes recipe, good for lunch packs. It adds a good filling dish in a party too.

Ingredients: serves 3

Capsicum - 3 nos, chopped lengthwise (You can always mix with red bell peppers.)
Ginger - Finely chopped 3 tsp
Green chillies - 8 nos(upto taste) chopped finely
Rice - 2 cups
Milk - 2 cups
Water - 2 cups
Oil -  1 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 4 tsp
Whole garam Masala - each 2 nos. (cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks )
Cashew nuts - few (Optional)
Salt - to taste

Preparation:

• Heat a heavy bottom cooking vessel. Add 3 tsp of oil and put whole garam masala items in it. Add 2 tsp of cumin seeds.
• Add washed rice and mix well. Stir fry rice for 2 minutes.

• Add 2 cups of milk and 2 cups of water to rice. Slowly stir out the sticky rice. Keep the rice exactly on medium heat. Close it using a lid with an outlet whole for steam. Wait exactly for 15 minutes and remove the vessel from stove. 

• During that 15 minutes, in a wide pan, heat 3 tsp of oil and sputter 2 tsp of cumin seeds. Toss capsicum and saute. Remember to put the stove on medium heat, since we are using less oil and capsicum got to cook while sauteing. 

• Once the capsicums are halfway cooked, add ginger and green chillies. Sprinkle salt to speed up the process. Add cashew nuts.

• When the rice is ready, wait for a minute or two to open the lid and add the hot rice into the capsicum pan and mix them well, gently.

• Garnish with coriander. Optional

• Serve hot with curd or chenna curry.

Potato Kurma

One of the tastiest kurma is this potato kurma, made with onion, tomato sauce and coconut milk with most fragrant Indian spices..
Here I present an easiest way to make it quick and easy without changing the original taste.

Ingredients:

Potato - 4 nos. medium size, peeled and cubed
Onion - 1 small size, big onion, finely chopped lengthwise.
Curry leaves -  1 stem

Green Chilli - 2 nos.
Ginger / Garlic - 2 tsp crushed.
Tomato - 1 no.
Coconut - finely sliced/ shredded - 1/2 cup
Tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon sticks - 2 small bits
Cloves - 2 nos
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Sambar masala powder / curry powder - 2 tsp (upto taste)
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Channa dhal - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Coriander leaves - to garnish

Preparation:

• Sputter mustard seeds, channa dhal, cumin seeds in hot oil in a pressure cooker or a pan.

• Saute chopped onion, curry leaves. Add crushed ginger, garlic and saute.
• Add sliced tomato and saute till it oozes out oil. Add salt to make the process fast.
• Add the masala powder.

• Add cubed potatoes into it. saute for a  minute or 2.
• Meanwhile, grind coconut, fennel seeds, cloves, cinnamon adding some water.
• Add the ground coconut into the saute.
• Mix well. Add some water to cover the potatoes.

• Add tamarind paste / 1/2 cup tamarind extract into it.

• Pressure cook it till the potatoes get cooked.
• Let the pressure go away and smash some potatoes, if required. If needed, add some hot water to get the consistency you want.

• Serve with idly, dosa, idiyaappam, chappathi, rice or any rotti.

Uludhu(Urad dhal) Murukku

Murukku is all time favorite snack for everyone. Ulundhu murukku gives not only different taste, the crispiness and the flavor in it make it so crunchy.

Ingredients:

Rice flour- 2 cups
White whole Urad dhal(Ulundhu ) - 1 cup
Split dalia (Pottukkadalai ) - 1 cup
Chilli powder - 2 tsp(up to your taste)
Garlic powder / crushed garlic - 2 tsp / 4 pods (Optional)
Salt - 1 tsp(upto your taste)
Water - 2 cup(approx.)
Sesame Seeds - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Oil - to deep fry


Preparation:

• Dry roast urad dhal and grind it into a fine powder. Dry grind split dalia (potukkadalai). Mix them with the rice flour.

• Add salt, chilli powder, sesame seeds, finely crushed garlic / garlic powder to the flour and mix well.

• Heat ghee in a small pan and pour it into the flour mix. Nicely spread ghee so that each flour particle catches some ghee in it. More ghee will dissolve murukku in oil, or it will become too brittle.

• Add water little by little to the flour and mix well for a consistency that is easy to go through the murukku presser.
• Heat oil in big kadai or a deep frying pan. Make murukku shapes and carefully drop them in the hot oil. Flip when one side is done.
• When the sizzling goes down, drain the murukkus out.
• Let it cool down and crunch.

Brocoli Fritters

Melt in your mouth brocoli fritters... It's a recipe same as the recipe for chilli gobi(cauliflower fritters), I gave in this blog. It is also a shallow fry fritters with wheat flour instead of besan(chick peas flour). People who does not like to eat brocoli, but want to include in their menu can try this recipe.




Ingredients: 

Brocoli - 1 big floret
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Water - necessary to make dip
Oil - for shallow frying
Chilli Powder - 2 tsp (as much as hot you want)
Salt - 1 tsp (to taste)




Procedure: 

• Cut brocoli into small florets and clean it with hot water.
• Use a wide open pan. Pour oil up to 1/4 of the pan height. Heat oil.
• While oil is getting heated up, mix wheat flour, salt, chilli powder with water and make it as thick flowing consistency batter. Not watery. not too thick.

• When the oil is hot enough, Just cover each florets with the batter and shallow fry them in oil. While dipping the florets, it need not to be entirely covered with the batter.

• Flip the florets when one side is all cooked.

• When they are done, drain them in a paper towel for excess oil and serve with green chutney, or onion, which helps digest the oil. Enjoy your brocoli fritters.

Murukku

An easy version of murukku made out of split channa dhal and rice flour, with the slight variation in my Mother’s recipe, makes the snack time more special. It’s one among the snack varieties made on special occasions like Diwali celebrations. She soaks rice, wet grind it and mix it with split dahlia (Pottukkadalai ) powder. I tried simply using the dry rice flour instead of wet grinding it. Murukku comes as same as the crunchy, yummy flavor and taste. So I continue doing it over and over using the rice flour, since after my marriage…

Ingredients: yields 15-20 murukku
 Rice Flour – 2 cup
Split Channa dhal (Pottukkadalai) – 2 cup
Chili Powder – 2 tsp (to taste)
Salt – 1 tsp (to taste)
Sesame Seeds – 1 tsp, preferably black seeds, just to enrich the look. White seeds can also be used instead.
Water – approximately 1 cup
Oil – for deep frying
Ghee – 2 tsp (Optional)

Preparation: 

• Dry grind split channa dhal into a fine powder and sieve. Add it to rice flour (always sieve rice flour for quality testing). 

• Heat ghee or little oil, say 2 tsp, and mix it well in the rice-dhalia powder. Ensure each powder particle gets evenly mixed with the ghee/oil. 

• Add salt, chilli powder and sesame seeds, and mix. Note: Too much ghee will make the murukku so light and brittle… 
• Add water little by little to the flour and mix well until you feel it is easy to use it with the murukku presser. Too much water consumes more oil while frying… Make it consistent. 

• Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Meanwhile, make murukku shapes. I usually use small plates to make my murukku shape. I invert the plates and coat the bottom of the plates with oil and make murukku shapes using the murukku presser. Try a pinch of murukku mix into the oil to check for the temperature. If it sizzles up, the oil is ready. When the oil is hot enough, carefully invert the murukkus in it. Just a gentle tap with the plates, at the sides of the pan will do that. 

• Flip murukkus when sizzling goes down on one side. When the oil is calm, your murukku is done cooking. 

• Dry excess oil and let them cool down. Your yummy treat is ready. Store them in an air tight container for freshness. 

I couldn’t find its shelf life, because it usually runs out within 3 days…

Green gram Curry / Moong Lentil Curry

  Green Moong bean / green gram is a lentil variety, a most healthiest food bundled with vitamin B, vitamin C and a complex carbohydrate rich in fibers, which aids in digestion. Regular intake of green gram will reduce unwanted bad cholesterol and improves the weight loss. It also aids in maintaining blood pressure and stability of blood sugar level. It is also considered to have anti fungal and anti cancer properties.
Green gram lentil, we almost have once in a week in the form of this curry. It suits well for rice and chappathi. When eaten with sprouts its nutritional value is almost increased to 10 times of the dry bean., with less calorie and carbohydrate.

Here is one of the easiest way, how I cook this at home. This recipe is from my Mother., which also keeps my family healthy and good.

Ingredients:

• Green Gram -  1 cup
• Turmeric - a pinch
• Onion - chopped 1/2 cup., preferably Pearl onion or Shallot will make a sure difference in taste.
• Green Chillies - 4-5 nos. or up to your taste.
• Tomato - Small 1 no. Chopped finely.
• Oil - for sauteing, preferably coconut oil, adds good flavor.
• Curry leaves - 1 stem
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste.

Preparation:

• Dry fry the lentils just to turn down the pasty, viscous property., when cooked.
• Steam cook the lentils with a pinch of turmeric. I prefer pressure cooking. Cook well so that it would be easy to smash.
• Meanwhile, sputter cumin seeds, and saute onion, chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Add tomatoes once onion are done sauteing. Add some salt to cook tomatoes well.
• Once the lentil is done cooking, drain excess water. When the lentil as well as the sauteing is done, keep them aside to cool down a little.

• Smash lentil first using a hand smasher or use mixer grinder for just 1 round. Add the saute onion tomato to it and mix well.  Add some drained lentil water to it to make it up to the consistency you want. Check for salt.
• Serve with rice. Here I served a plate of rice with lentils and crispy ladies finger.

• For chappathis/ rotis, it goes equally good. A slight variation is to add a tsp of ginger garlic paste with onion for sauteing and a half tsp of garam masala at the end of cooking will make a difference.

Cleaning Vegetables and Fruits

 
 Friends, here is the simple tip for cleaning vegetables and fruits, which keeps them fresh for long time.
Most of the vegetables and fruits we buy from store / even farm, may have pesticides on them.. Also the dirt and bacteria on them reduces the life of the vegetables and fruits.  If not properly washed, we may be taking in some bacteria and germs along with them and remember the pesticides too. Washing vegetables and fruits in running water will help? Ofcourse, it is always good to wash fresh produce under running water rubbing briskly with hands.

    Some fruits like strawberries, and vegetables like ladies finger wont stay for long, say up to a week time though they are kept in the fridge. Pour 1/2 cup of white vinegar to 3 cups of water and mix them. Put vegetables or fruits you want to clean. Let it be in there for 15 minutes. Vinegar will do the magic of taking the pesticides, most of the bacteria and germs from them. Drain the dirt water. Rinse the fresh produce under running water and store them dry in the fridge.. I'm sure it will stay  fresh for atleast a week time..