Adai

I succeed in convincing Nithya to be a co-author on this blog and share her recipes, and so now i don't need to post them for her but now she is here as my partner in cooking and posting. Ok so signing off. Thanks Nithya and a warm welcome to you on Cook with me... oops now it's not me but us ofcourse !

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Ok the Shundal comments have been very strong to bring me back here on Lopa's blog..My mom is here to be with me for sometime and as she prepares a variety of delicacies for me decided why not share it with you guys..This dish is very special to me as there are fond memories attached. My mom used to make hot hot adais n my bro n me used to eat from one plate competing who finishes first and that blob of amul butter melting on it.. yummm

So whats on menu.. Well its ADAI... I am very sure most of you might not have heard this dish.. It is prepared in a similar fashion as dosa but with different set of ingredients. The procedure will be soak, grind and use.

So lets get started...

Let's collect the Ingredients :

1 cup boiled rice

1/2 cup toor dal (yellow pigeon peas)

1/2 cup chana dal (Split chickpeas)

2-3 tbsps urad dal (black gram)

Dry red chillies 10

few curry leaves

Finely chopped onion

Salt to taste

Asafoetida

Let's start Cooking:

Well making this is not a tough task. Soak the dals for about 2-3 hours. Strain the water and grind with the red chillies. You need to grind such that the dals are ground properly however it should not be of dosa consistency. Not so fine. It should be a thick batter. You can use this as is or if possible keep it out for a few hours around 2-3 to ferment. This will make the adai taste much better. Add curry leaves, asafoetida and mix well.

Heat a flat thick bottomed tawa. Smear some oil and once hot pur 2 tbsps of the batter and spread as you would do for dosa. It needs to be a layer of around 1 cm thick not thin as dosa though. Make a small hole in the centre which would ensure even cooking. Pour oil around and in the centre. You can put chopped onions on top and press it a little while the adai is being cooked. You will have to use adequate oil. Put the flame on high for 2-3 mins then simmer for another 5 mins. Turn and cook on the other side.

Serve it with a blob of butter on it and some jaggery. There are other add ons like drumstick leaves etc. You can try grated carrot and coconut too. One of such adai itself is a heavy breakfast. Try it out and let me know.

If in case you are going to use the whole of the batter in one time itself then you can add the onions in the batter itself than addidng on top while the adai is cooking.

So guys till I come back with another dish this is Nithya saying-

Happy Cooking

~Nithya

Shundal

Snatching the platform from lopa for a few lines this is Nithya back after a long time. After the semiya upma I thought it is now time for a very simple recipe.

Being born n brought up in the land of gujjus Ahmedabad there was an important habit inculcated- eating legumes on a regular basis. Soak-boil and some simple recipe for your daily balanced food. In gujju we call it kathol. In South the same is called Shundal. But in south it is made on occasions alone. Navratri- The festival of nine nights includes shundal preparation everyday-variety.

I made some today thanks to a colleague/friend of mine Bharrathi for her inputs- no occasion though so thought of jumping in to this blog and sharing it with you all.

You can use this recipe for any kind of legumes- the chickpeas black or white will do full justice to the taste.

Lets get in all the ingredients-

1 cup of black chana soaked for around 3-4 hours

1/2 coconut and 3-4 green chillies

2 tbsp oil

pinch of asafoetida

few curry leaves
Salt to taste

The procedure is very simple
Strain and boil the black chickpeas with some salt. Strain and keep it ready once done.


Grind the coconut and green chillies together. You can add little water but make sure it is 70 to 80 pc dry and not a liquid paste

Heat oil in a wide pan, add the mustard seeds and allow them to splutter.

Add asafoetida and curry leaves and then the coconut and green chillies mixture.. Fry for about few minutes


Now add the black chana.Mix well. Keep it closed for 3-5 mins stirring occassionally.

And now its ready to eat.


This proves to be a very simple easy to prepare breakfast/snack. The legumes and the coconut make sure you get your dose of nutrients. There is another variety where you can add red chillies, some onion and tomatoes instead of the coconut. The coconut actually reduces the shelf life :) So if you living in a very warm climate make sure your shundal gets some place in your fridge.
Till my next entry in Lopa's cooking den.. Happy Cooking...
Thanks Lopa :)

Schezuan Fried Rice with some awards

Schezuan rice is fast and easy. Anyone can prepare them in minutes without any specific cooking skills.

Let's Collect Ingredients:

2 cups Chinese rice, cooked.

1 tsp garlic, chopped.

1 cup vegetables (carrots, bell pepper, cabbage ), finely sliced.

2 tsp celery, chopped.

2 tbsp Schezuan Sauce

1/2 cup sprouts ( I didn't add them as i didn't have at that moment)

1 tbsp vinegar

1/4 cup spring onions.

1 tbsp oil.

Salt to taste.

Let's start cooking :

1. Heat the oil, add garlic and saute till it turns golden color.

2. Add the celery and onion white. Add vegetables and saute for 2-3 mins.

3. Add the Schezuan sauce and cook for another min.

4. Add rice, bean sprouts, salt and mix well.

5. Toss for a few seconds till all the ingredients are mixed.

6. Mix in vinegar. Garnish with spring onion greens.

Serve hot.

Received this awards from Kiran from SUMADHURA a few weeks back.

And also this award...
Thanks a lot Kiran for those, that is so nice of you.

Rules for this award :

a) I must brag about it. ( brag???? what's that? hehehe)

b) I have to display the badge on my blog and link to the one who tagged me to prove that I didn't tag myself . (who would do that? but anyway i linked so trust me i didn't tag myself guys hehehe )

c) Share 10 things about myself. (10 things?? I have a whole blog where i share things about me, those interested to know more of me are more than welcome to check it out... HERE)

d) Pass the award to other fellow bloggers by visiting their site

I pass on this award to...

meeso, jagruti , cooking foodie , shanthi , Parita , Treat and Trick , Nithu Bala , Babli, Stephanie

Semiya Upama

Today's post is from very good friend Nithya. Knowing her cooking skills and love for food I have been unsuccesfully trying to convince her to be co-author on my blog. When i recieved her mail with this post, it was a pleasant surprise ! But atleast this is a start !

Now handing - over stage to Nithya.

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Hey there I am here all inspired by Lopa’s posts. India with its varied culture and taste holds a treasure of cuisines. Every part of the country stands out for its own unique taste, tradition and culture.

After my marriage I was exposed to lot of cooking J Never had I entered the kitchen for regular cooking, it was just those special pasta or Chinese items that I used to venture into that adda.

Now I experiment a lot with gujju n south Indian food. So I though why not share it with you guys. It was always a nightmare for my mum that I would make these two areas meet one day but thankfully I have been successful in retaining each cuisine’s identity. I remember my neighbour who literary used to murder the taste by giving a Jeera vaghar in Sambhar and mixing both the cuisines. The ingredients are just as us. They have a few friends and there are a few whom they don’t like. So if you put them all in one they are not going to behave well and your dish is not gonna be like the one that you can boast of.

Ok enough of all these stories lets get on to some action

Since this is my first article for recipe I shall play safe and start off with a very simple recipe. Semiya Upama. Its very similar to the normal sooji upma that we eat but the texture and form gives a different taste to it.

My memories of this dish go 12 years back when there was a programme on DoorDarsham. Instead of showing an outrightly cooking show, they took a different concept. They show a big group of neighbours of a flat all from different parts of India. One of the senior member’s wife leaves for her hometown for 2 months and this uncle is left behind all alone no food. So to help him out and solve the food problem the ladies of the flat make different varieties taking turns each day. And each dish is one show. I saw the semiya upma then and still remember the images of the fluttering sweet neem and mustard seeds in piping hot oil.

Lets Collect the ingredients:

250 gms vermicelli (not the roasted one)

3 tbsp oil

1 onion finely chopped

Boiled peas and carrot ½ cup

2 green chilly sliced

½ spoon mustard seeds

Pinch of asafetida

1 tsp Urad dal
1 sp Bengal gram (Chana Dal)

Few curry leaves

4 glasses of water

Let's start cooking:

Heat about 1 tbsp of oil in a non stick Kadhai and roast the vermicelli for a while say about 5-10 mins. If you ignore it, its going to get angry and turn brown which we don’t want. So continuously stir it and take care of it.

Once it slightly changes colour immediately turn of the gas and transfer on to a flat plate and spread it.

In the same kadhai heat the remaining oil. Add mustard seeds and asafetida. Then the urad dal and chana dal, fry them till they are golden brown. In the meantime you can heat the water in a separate container.

Once the dal is golden brown you can add the chopped onion, chillies and curry leaves. Once done you can add the boiled peas and carrot. Then add the roasted vermicelli and mix well for about 2-3 minutes.

In case you have missed the first step of roasting the vermicelli or do not have time for it then you can increase the roasting time here at this step. Just make sure you do not burn it.

Once its done add boiling water to this such that the whole mixture is exactly dipped in water. Add salt about 2 spoons level and put it on high flame and fold continuously.

Make sure the upma does not stick to the bottom. You just need to fold till the water evaporates.

Make sure you don’t stir or mix as it turns the upma to a paste. Add 2 spoons of ghee in this process so that the upma does not become very sticky. Once done put the flame off and spread the upma in the kadhai itself and keep it open for some time.

Closing it will mean that you will give it a porridge consistency which will not be good.

Probably when you make the first time you will know the correct consistency and also the judgement for amount of water to be added.

So happy cooking. Next in- line some chutneys that you can have with dosa/bread etc.

- Nithya

Coconut Rice and Award !

Hope you all had a great long weekend. So what did you all do in this weekend break?

We had great fun, we went to Berlin, Germany by road. More about it i would be writing at my other blog where i write and try to share things around "Life as it goes on" !

Coming back to this post, We never were fan of rice, but lately we have started eating more rice than we ever did back home. Funny thing is Ashu never ate rice, but now actually he likes it ( yes but still no to plain rice ) and so now i keep trying different kind of rice as well.

This is the first time i tried coconut rice, and really liked it, rice and creamy coconut milk makes a unique combination and with lentils it is fulfilling dish on its own.

Let's collect Ingredients:

1 cup long grain rice ( i used Basmati)

1 tbsp split black gram ( Urad dal)

2 tbsp split yellow gram ( moong dal)

4-5 red chilies ( as per taste )

a few curry leaves

1/4 cup salted peanuts, crushed lightly

1/2 cup grated coconut

2 cups coconut milk

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp oil

salt to taste

Lets start cooking:

1. Soak the rice in warm water for about 20-30 minutes.

2. Heat the oil, add split black gram, split yellow gram and fry for 2 minutes.

3. Add the red chilies, curry leaves, peanuts and half of grated coconut. Fry for about 1 minute.

4. Add the rice and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Add the coconut milk and salt and cook it covered.

6. Serve hot, garnish with remaining of the grated coconut and coriander if you prefer.

And now the Award... this award was passed on to me a few weeks back by Jagruti from Joy of Cooking !

Thanks a lot Jagruti for this beautiful award :)

Rules for the award:

1. Put the logo within your post ( done)
2. Pass on to atleast 12 bloggers ( will do )
3. Link the nominees within ur post ( will do)
4. Let the nominees know they have recieved the award (will do)
5. Share the love and link to the person form whom you have recieved the award :) (done)

Ok so to complete that "will do" list, I nominate Lizzy, Daisy Blue, Ms.Chitchat, Priya, Sarah Naveen , Smitha, Kiran, Cool Lassi(e), A 2 Z Vegetarian Cuisine, Deepa , Siddhi S, Pari

Have a great weekend ahead.