.....From My Palate

South India

Paan Rasam- Betel Leaves Soup To Comfort On Frigid Day

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I like the whole scenery when its snowing outside. Everything wrapped up in white color, looks so calm and peaceful. I really enjoy looking at small cotton balls coming down while sitting cozily on a warm spot near a window with my favorite hot drink “ginger tea”. I prefer to use the biggest cup available to enjoy this incredible moment. Sometimes I do miss a little help like calling a name, (I rather request than order) and the thing is in your hand without moving a bit. Well, I don’t mind requesting some crunchy pakodas with my tea, to make the moment indelible while looking outside the serene view of everything turning white. Wow, I don’t want to come out of my dream moment but all of a sudden the pure, white heaven is covered with footprints.

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Yes!, small cute creatures wrapped up in thick jackets, gloves, hat and carrying their own snow sled invading my invisible territory and crushing my beautiful scenery. In a moment the whole place is in a mess but the noises of laughing, talking, chirping, screaming makes the place so lively and playful.
Well, the place was no more serene and calm but the laughter, fun and happiness makes it still worthy to enjoy with my tea. All of the sudden I realized, one of the small cute creature belongs to our home. He is playing with the snow like there’s no tomorrow.

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The recipe I am sharing today is kind of a home remedy to prevent common cold in the season. Served with rice and ghee, rasam is a comfort food in winter. I like the special ingredient “betel leaves” in the recipe. Its good for digestion too. I tweaked here and there, so this might not be the authentic recipe.

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Paan Rasam
Recipe Type: Soup/ Home Remedy
Cuisine: South Indian
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 2 Betel Leaves, (Paan )
  • 1 Tomato
  • 1/2 cup Tamarind Water, (adjust the quantity of tamarind according to the taste)
  • 1/2 cup Dal Water, (dal cooked and mashed in a thin consistency )
  • 1 tsp. Peppercorns
  • 2-3 cloves of Garlic
  • 1 tsp. Cumin Seeds
  • Bunch of Curry Leaves
  • 1/2 tsp. Mustard Seeds
  • 2 small pinch Asafetida Powder, ( Hing )
  • 1/2 tsp. Desi Ghee ( I prefer more on top too )
  • 2-3 dried Red Chilies
  • 1/2 tsp. Turmeric Powder
  • Salt to taste
  • Shredded coconut or coriander optional for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Grate the tomato and take out the pulp and juice out of it. You can simply grind the tomato too.
  2. Coarsely crush cumin seeds, peppercorn and garlic in mortar and pestle.
  3. Heat ghee in a pan and add some mustard seeds.
  4. When they start popping, add curry leaves and dried red chili.
  5. Now add crushed garlic mixture, tomato pulp, tamarind water and dal water.
  6. Also add turmeric powder and salt. Mix it well and cook on medium flame.
  7. Taste it and add salt or tamarind more as per your taste.
  8. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water and cook for around 5 minutes.
  9. At the end add hing and finely chopped betel leaves.
  10. Cook 2 more minutes.
  11. Garnish and enjoy!

 

Puran Poli

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Maharashtrian cuisine!! What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read it? May be, spicy Vada Paav, steaming hot Paav Bhaji, Misal Paav, Ragda Patties or chatpati Bhel Puri. But the real food of this filmy state is much more than these easily available street food. Today we are talking about the most popular Puran Poli. Puran Poli is a sweet, soft and flaky flat bread that melts in the mouth with burst of sweet nutty flavors and makes every occasion sweet and auspicious with its presence.

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Puran Poli
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • For Puran-
  • 1 cup Chana Dal
  • 1 cup Jaggery (Gudh)
  • Pinch of Nutmeg powder
  • 1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
  • Few strands of Saffron
  • 1 cup Water
  • For Dough-
  • 1 cup Whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup All Purpose Flour (Maida)
  • 1 tbsp Oil
  • Salt to taste
  • (I used only whole wheat flour but adding all purpose flour makes it softer and tastier)
Instructions
Puran
  1. Wash and soak chana dal for overnite.
  2. Boil chana dal with one cup of water and saffron for 3-4 whistles.
  3. Drain and coarsely grind it.
  4. Mix chana dal, jaggery, nutmeg and cardamom powder.
  5. Cook the mixture in a nonstick pan until it thickens (spatula can stand upright in the mixture just to check it.)
  6. Keep it aside and make small balls of the mixture.
Puran Poli Dough
  1. Take maida, whole wheat flour, salt and oil. Mix it well.
  2. Add water as needed and knead it in to a soft sticky dough.
  3. Cover and leave it to rest for an hour.
Puran Poli
  1. Make a soft dough with tsp of oil.
  2. Take small ball from dough and roll like a puri.
  3. Stuff puran in to rolled puri and seal the edges nicely.
  4. Roll it evenly like stuffed paratha.
  5. Heat non stick tawa and cook puranpoli from both the sides with little ghee or oil till it gets nice golden color.
  6. Serve hot with a dollop of ghee over it.

Dal Dosa With Suji Upma & Peanut Chutney

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When I came to US, all I know about food from south India was Sambhar Idli, Sambhar Vada, Sambhar Dosa and Uttapam. Thanks to my wonderful friends and acquaintances for helping me to discover food from south other than Idli and Dosa. Now I can proudly talk about Bisi Bela Bhat, Bhagare Baigan, lemon rice, Kesari halwa and many many more.

Today I’m talking about Dal Dosa (Pesarattu) with Upma and Peanut Chutney. This is something special for my family as this is not in regular menu. We enjoyed it, its healthy and absolutely delicious.

Just to make it “jara hat ke” I made them with mixed Dal.

Mixed Dal Dosa with Upma

  • 1/4 cup each, Toor Dal, Chana Dal, Moong Dal, Urad Dal, Masoor Dal
  • (Wash and soak in water overnight or at least 4-6 hours)
  • Ginger- 1 tsp chopped
  • Green Chillies- 2
  • Cumin seed Pd
  • Hing- just a pinch
  • salt
  • Oil

Drain the soaked Dal and grind it in the grinder with ginger and green chillies, adding sufficient water to make it in to a smooth dosa batter. Later add salt, cumin pd and asofetida pd. Heat flat pan, pour spoonful of batter in the center and spread it round in shape. Pour little oil on top and edges of dosa. When you can see golden color flip it in to other side. Cook that side for 30 seconds and serve hot with suji upma and peanut chutney.

Suji Upma

1/2 cup Roasted Suji
1 Onion Chopped
1 green Chilli chopped
2 tbsp roasted peanut coarsely grounded
1 tsp Chana Dal
1 tsp Urad Dal
1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
5-6 Curry Leaves
Chopped ginger
salt
Lemon Juice
2 tbsp Oil
1 1/2 cup water

Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds, both dal and curry leaves. Fry for sometime till dal becomes golden in color. Now add onion, ginger and green chillies. Fry until onion is soft. Add peanuts and suji. Mix them well and add water in it.(Be careful while mixing there should be no lumps in it)
Give it a boil and now add salt and cook till it becomes thick.
Serve hot garnished with chopped onion and coriander.

This is super easy and super delicious. We can have it for breakfast, lazy lunch or quick dinner.(If the batter is in the refrigirator)

Vegetable Stir-Fry Idlis

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Ingredients

  • 10- left-over or fresh Idlis
  • 1- Sliced Onion
  • 1/2 cup Julienned Carrot
  • 1/2 cup Thinly sliced Green Pepper
  • 1/2 cup finely shredded Cabbage (I used red cabbage for color)
  • 1 tbsp Oil
  • 1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
  • 2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
  • 1 tsp Hot Sauce
  • salt
  • lemon Juice or chaat Masala (optional)

Method

  • Cut idlis lengthwise.
  • Heat oil in a stir-fry pan and add mustard seeds.
  • When they start to crackle, add vegetables and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes.
  • Add tomato ketchup and hot sauce. Mix it well and cook for few more seconds. (use little bit of water if needed)
  • Add Idlis and salt (use less as tomato ketchup and hot sauce already had some) and toss well until they are well coated with the vegetable & sauce.
  • Avoid hot sauce for kids. Use Kids favorite vegetables for more taste.
  • Serve hot.

One Fine Morning…..

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Upma

Upma For Breakfast

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Roasted semolina/sooji
  • 1 chopped Onion
  • 2 tsp Oil
  • 1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
  • 4-5 Curry Leaves
  • 1 tbsp roasted Channa Dal
  • 1 tbsp roasted Cashew nuts(optional)
  • Salt
  • Lime Juice
  • Chaat Masala
  • Chopped cucumber and tomatoes
  • Chopped Coriander Leaves

Method

  • Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, roasted channa dal, cashews and onion.
  • Saute till onion is brown, now add roasted sooji and 2 and 1/2 cups of water.
  • Add salt and cover the pan and allow it simmer on low heat until it becomes little thick.
  • Sprinkle chaat masala and lime juice.
  • Serve hot with ginger tea garnished with chopped cucumber, tomatoes and coriander leaves.
  • For making it spicy –add chilli pd or green chillies.

Thanks Vijaya, i made upma after a long time. Somehow it just faded in my memory but ur post refreshed my memory and this is one good start of one fine morning……
Thanks