Asparagus Fry

Sharing a simple & yet a crunchy side dish which goes along with rice & also just as a snack. 

Ingredients
1/2 Bunch Asparagus
1/2 Tsp. olive oil
1 Tsp. lemon juice
1/2 Tsp. red chili powder / Paprika
1/2 Tsp. minced garlic
Salt 

Heat a pan with oil. Meanwhile clean the asparagus & keep them aside. Once the pan is hot enough add garlic, asparagus to pan along with salt. Saute them & close with lid. 
After exact 2mins. remove the lid or you might over cook the veggie. Sprinkle paprika & stir fry it. Switch off heat & add the lemon juice to pan. Mix it well.

Serve it with rice or as a snack. 

Tamarind Pulp

Tamarind is one of the main ingredients in south indian dishes. From rasam to chutney & curries we use it to bring a tingly tangy taste to the dish. I sharing a pulp that can be made a head of time & can also be stored for 3 months at-least. I have learned this from my mom & it made my life much easier. 
This year has been a very rough ride to me. I had to visit india for around 4months & was arranging all the essentials things for my husband to cook. I made this tamarind pulp of 2 boxes & freezed one, while refrigerated the other. It's still good till date. 

Ingredients
1 Cup Tamarind
2 Cups water
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- Take tamarind in a bowl & deseed it if any.
- Next clean it with runny water to remove sand stuck to it.
- Next in a vessel take tamarind & water. Bring it to boil.
- Cook till the tamarind becomes soft for around 10mins on low heat. 

- Switch off heat & allow it to cool. 
- Once it is cool blend it to a smooth paste. 
- Transfer the pulp to a air tight container & refrigerate it. 
- It will last for at-least 2 months. 
- Freeze it if your vacationing or if you have made excess of it.

Use it as wanted.

Black Chickpeas Sundal

Sundal is a delicious dish which is offered as a prasad in hindu festivals. It can be made of different lentils & tastes delicious.
You might also like:
Moong Dal Sundal
Oats Khara Sundal

Ingredients
1 Cup black channa dal
2 Tbs. coconut 
Salt
Seasoning
1 Tbs. oil
1 Tsp. mustard seeds 
1 Tsp. jeera 
3 broken red chili's 
Few curry leaves 

- Soak channa dal overnight & pressure cook them with salt for 2 whistles. 
- Allow cooker to cool down & transfer dal on to a plate. 
- Heat oil in a pan & to that add mustards, jeera & red chili's. Once the mustard starts jumping add curry leaves.  
- Add channa dal to pan & top it with coconut mixture. Fry them for few minutes like 2mins & switch off heat.

Serve it as a snack or side dish.

Mullangi Pachadi | Radish Chutney | Mullangi Thuvaiyal | Muli Chutney

Radish chutney that I'm sharing is a fusion of Indo Korean dish. I used Ggakdugi Kimchi (Korean Pickled Daikon Radish) as basic recipe & moderated it with indian spices. It tasted nice & felt crunchy in every bite.

Ingredients
2 Cups diced radish
1 Tsp. salt
Spices
1 Tbs. red chili powder
1 Tsp. lemon juice
Pinch of turmeric
salt ( If needed)
Tempering
1 & 1/2 Tsp. oil
1/2 Tsp. mustard
2 Red chili's cut equally
1/2 Tsp. asafoetida / hing

Preparing radish
- In a bowl add radish & salt. Mix them well. Refrigerate them for 1day. This process makes radish softer & removes any bitterness to it.

- As you see in the above picture you can see water oozing out of radish a little. Now drain radishes using a cheese cloth & squeeze the extra water out of them. 
- In bowl take radishes, red chilli powder & turmeric. Mix them well.
- Heat pan with oil & to that add mustards & red chili's. Once the mustards start jumping add hing & switch off heat. 
- Add it to the radish chutney. Now add the lemon juice & mix them. 

Serve with rice. It tastes crunchy & spicy. 

Note: 
- Taste if you need little more salt. If needed add it.
- Adding garlic enhances flavor. 
- Refrigerate the leftover & finish it as soon as possible.

Quick Oatmeal with Honey & Dates

Sharing a recipe of simple & easy breakfast to start a day in healthier way. 

Ingredients 
1/2 Cup old fashioned oats 
1/2 Cup milk 
2 Tbs. honey
3 Tbs. finely chopped dates
1 Tbs. chopped almonds 

- In a microwave safe bowl add oats & milk. Microwave it for 2 to 3mins. Check if the oats are cooked or not. If not cook for another 2mins.

- Add honey & dates to the oatmeal & mix them well.

- Top with almonds & enjoy it.

Note:
- Adjust the honey sweetness if you need.

Pedda Usirikaya Pachadi | Pickled Amla | Nellikkai Thuvaiyal

Pickles are the durable than chutneys. The pickle I'm sharing with you today is one of those ones, that can be stored & used refrigerated for months. You can enjoy it the same way or add a little fresh tempering /seasoning before serving for a fresh feel. 
There are many ways of making amla pickle, but this one is the healthier way of making it. 

Ingredients
1 Cup chopped amla
1 Tbs. mustard seeds 
1 Tbs. jeera
1 Tsp. methi seeds 
3 Red chilis 
3 Green chili's ( Adjust acc. to taste) 
Less than 1/2 tsp. of turmeric
1 Tsp. asafoetida / hing
2 Tbs. Oil
1/4 Cup cilantro leaves 
Salt

- Heat a pan with oil. Add mustard, methi & jeera to it. 
- Later add the red chilis to pan. Once the mustard starts jumping add hing & turmeric to pan & switch off heat. 

- Allow the seasoning to cool before you grind. 
- Coarse grind the seasoning & to the blender add green chili's, cilantro & salt. Adjust the taste & the pickle is ready to serve.

Serve with rice & a little ghee.

Onion Pakora / Ullipaya Pakodi / Onion Fritters

Summer is slowing descending & we are feeling chillness in the weather. It's time to welcome fall & to enjoy evenings with hot beverages & snacks.Try this yummy pakoras for your chilled eve's.

2 Servings 
Ingredients
1 Medium onion sliced
1 Cup besan
1&1/2 Tsp. chili powder
1/2 Tsp. jeera powder
1 Tsp. salt ( adjust )
Few curry leaves
6 Tbs. water

- Mix the ingredients other than onion in to a thick smooth paste.

- Mix onions with the batter as shown above. Heat a pan with oil in medium heat. 

- Now take a spoonful of bater & slowly add it to the oil. Cook it thoroughly on both sides till they turn brown as shown above. 

- Remove them on to a tissue & repeat the same with rest of the batter. 
- Serve warm with ketchup or green chutney.

Note: 
- For a crispier snack you can add 1/2 besan & 1/2 rice flour. 
- To check on whether the oil is hot or not you have to drop in a little batter in to oil & it should immediately lift & float on top of the oil as shown above.

Pesarapappu Atlu | Mung Bean Kimchi Pancakes | Moong Dal Pancakes

South Korea, my first international destination to this beautiful country left lots of good memories in my life. Being a vegetarian I never had a chance of experimenting Korean food. But some where in my deep mind I wanted to taste it badly.

Lately I have been exploring on World Wide Web for korean vegan recipes & came across many delightful blogs who are purely vegan & now it’s my chance to experience them.

I chose to make a simple pancake made of mung beans & kimchi. A little intro about Kimchi is that it's a traditional korean side dish made of napa cabbage as main ingredient. 

Kimchi has a fish sauce as one of the ingredients, but I replaced it with a vegan kimchi, which I bought from whole foods store. I served it with a Indian green chutney & it tasted yum. 

I got this delicious recipes from Beyond Kimchi blog & made little changes to it. 
Yields : 10 pancakes 

Ingredients
1/2 Cup moong dal 

2 Tbs. rice 

2 Tbs. scallions / spring onions 

1/2 Cup chopped kimchee (Store bought)

1 Tsp. soy sauce 

1&1/2 Tsp. red chili powder 

Salt for taste

2 Tbs. sesame oil

- Soak moong dal & rice for minimum 8hrs to 24hrs in refrigerator. Grind them coarsely & keep aside. 
- Now to the ground batter add scallions, kimchee, soy sauce, salt & chili powder. Mix them well.

- Heat pan with oil & add the batter as shown. You can make 3pancakes at a time depending on the pan width.

- Close it with a lid allowing it to cook completely. Now reverse the pancakes & cook them crisp on both sides.

- Once they are done crisp & cooked both sides remove them & repeat the same with other batch. 

- Serve them warm with a sauce or chutney. I served it with cilantro chutney. 

Note: 
- The recipe I followed asked to refrigerate the soaked dal & rice.
- You can replace kimchee with other veggies like onion, ginger, corn & etc. 

Nan Khatai - Indian Eggless Cookies

Nan Khatai, the Indian eggless cookie is a perfect treat for any occasion. I saw this recipe going around in many blogs & was just waiting for the perfect moment to make them. 

This is one of those recipes, which requires very few ingredients & can just get a perfect cookie. There are many variations for this recipe that I have come across & I tried the simple one as a beginner. 

Yields : 8 Nan Khatai's 

Ingredients

½ Cup All-purpose flour

1/4 Cup ghee/butter

¼ Cup powdered sugar (Adjust Acc.)

½ Tsp. cardmon powder

Crushed pista & almonds for garnish

- Preheat oven @ 200 degrees. Layer your baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Take all the ingredients other than garnishing ones. Mix them well to a round dough.

- As shown above make little balls as shown above. They make 8 to 9 balls.
- Pat the ball into a flat round & roll it in pistachio & almond mixture & place it on the baking sheet.
- Repeat same with rest of the balls. 

- Bake them @ 200 degrees for 20 mins.
- Remove them from oven & allow them to cool for 10mins on wire rack before you serve. 

Serve with tea, coffee & milk.

Note: 
- Add another 2 Tbs.butter if needed.
- Garnish the cookies as you wish.
- Don't over bake them for more then the time needed. They become hard on the outside. ( Own experience) 
- Once you have rolled the dough check if you need to do any sugar adjustments. 

Nimmakaya Pulihora | Lemon Rice

Lemon Rice is a most comforting & easy dish. I love to have this rice at any time of the day. Making this dish is easy & tastes very delicious too. I love this dish very much when my mom makes it. She is a good cook & I love observing her while she cooks. The simplest changes she makes to the dish do bring a lot of difference in the flavors. My mom makes this lemon rice for dinner on weekdays. She generally uses a little more of seasoning than I used here. It tastes heaven. So sharing my comfort food recipe with you all here.

Prep Time:10mins 

Cook Time:1hr {Includes cooking rice & cooling it off}

Serves:2-3people

Ingredients 

2Cups uncooked rice /4Cups cooked rice 

4Cups water

Few curry leaves 

2Tbs oil

Juice of 2 lemons

Salt 

For Seasoning

2Tbs mustard seeds

2Tbs chana dal 

2Tbs urad dal 

1/4Cup peanuts

6Red chili's cut into half

3Green chili's slit into half

1Tbs grated ginger

2Tsp turmeric

2Tsp hing

1/4 Cup oil 

Cilantro for garnish

Directions 

- To cook rice add in rice, oil, curry leaves & water to the cooking bowl. Cook rice accordingly & cool it before making lemon rice.

- Heat pan with oil. To that add channa dal, urad dal & peanuts. 
- Allow them to fry till channa dal changes a little color. 
- Add mustard seeds, ginger, green & red chili’s to pan. Once the mustard starts jumping add hing & turmeric to pan & switch off heat. 

- Take a wide pan or plate. Add cooked rice & seasoning to it. 
- Next add lemon juice & salt little by little according to your taste. 
- Sprinkle coriander & mix it well. Taste the rice & adjust taste if needed. 
- Allow rice to sit for 30mins before you serve.  
- Serve it with your favorite chutney & enjoy.

Note
- Cook rice according to your convenience. Electric cooker is my to go everyday & cooked rice according to it's instructions
- Using basmati rice will give a nice texture to the dish. I don't feel using basmati for south indian dish. Don't feel authentic.
- Allow the seasoning to cool before you touch it or there is a chance you might burn your hand. 
- Every lemon is different  & some have too much of juice. So add little by little as said above to avoid too much tanginess to the recipe.

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