Mixed Vegetable Hyderabadi

Mixed Vegetable Hyderabadi is yet another spicy, rich coriander-coconut sauce that envelops sweet green peas and beans. The carrots add color and potato and cauliflower add more flavor. The rich taste of assorted vegetables tossed in with flavors of spices like cardamom, cinnamon and cloves leaves you craving for more.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves: 3-4 people

Ingredients	Quantity
Cloves	2
Peppercorns	3
Cinnamon stick	½ inch
Bay leaf	1 small
Cardamom peels	3-4 peels
Onion (1 grated and 1 sliced)	2 small
Tomato pureed	1 medium
Ginger garlic paste	½ tbsp.
Garam masala powder	1 pinch
Mixed vegetables	1 bowl
Coconut Milk	½ cup
Cream(optional)	to garnish
Ghee or oil	1tbsp
Grind together
Mint leaves	½ cup
Coriander leaves	½ cup
Green chilies	2-3 or to taste
Curry leaves	2-3

Method

Grind together all the ingredients mentioned in the list above to a fine paste.

Heat ghee in a pan, add cardamom peels, pepper, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and cloves when they sizzle, add grated onions and fry till soft. Add tomato puree and fry till soft, add ginger garlic paste and fry till raw smell goes. 

Add sliced onion fry till it is half boiled. It should be crunchy not soft. Later add mixed vegetables and fry well for a minute. Add pinch of garam masala. Add coconut milk, ground masala and bring to a boil. Don't boil much to retain green color.

Serve hot with roti or rice.

Points to remember

• It is best to remove all whole garam masala before adding sliced onions otherwise your gravy becomes very pungent.
• The mixed vegetables I prefer to use are french beans, carrots, cauliflower, green peas, and potatoes.

How to cut thin crust pizza into perfect slices?

Imagine you just baked a thin crust pizza and don’t want to cut it using a pizza cutter or worse you don’t have a pizza cutter. Here’s a hack for you!

Just use a pair of scissors to cut the pizza into perfect slices. The best part is the topping will not fall off when you cut with a scissor.

Tomato Rasam

Rasam is an integral part of South Indian meals. Tomato Rasam is one of those comfort foods that doubles up as a hot soup on a cold day. There are hundreds of recipes to make rasam but this one is my family’s favorite. It is not only tasty but also soothing when suffering from cold or fever. If you intend to use this as a hot soup for a cold day you could add a pinch of pepper powder. Its light on the stomach, aids in digestion and hydrates the tummy as well.

Tomatoes are an excellent source vitamin C and vitamin K. They are also a very good source of copper, potassium, manganese, dietary fiber, vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), vitamin B6, folate, niacin, vitamin E, and phosphorus.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serves: 3-4 people

Ingredients	Quantity
Tomatoes	2-3 medium
Cooked Toovar Dal	2 tbsps
Red Chili Powder	1 tsp or to taste
MTR Rasam Powder	2 tsps
Coriander leaves	few sprigs to garnish
Tamarind paste	1 tsp or to taste
Salt	to taste
Jaggery	1 tsp (optional)
For Seasoning
Ghee/Oil	1 tsp
Mustard seeds	½ tsp
Dry Red Chilies	1 or 2
Curry Leaves	5-8 leaves
Asafoetida	a pinch
Water	to adjust consistency

Method

Wash and wipe the tomatoes. Roughly chop them and drop in a pot with one cup water. Boil for 5-8 minutes; add the cooked dal, red chili powder, rasam powder, jaggery and tamarind paste. Bring to a boil. Close lid and keep for 5 minutes or till it’s cool to touch.

Grind tomatoes and dal in a mixer. Strain and boil in the same pot for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and add finely chopped coriander leaves.

In a small skillet, heat ghee, add the mustard seeds when they begin to splutter break the red chilies into 2-3 pieces and tear curry leaves into half. Add them to the hot ghee. Once the popping of mustard seeds stop, add a pinch of asafoetida and turn off heat let stand for 30 seconds. Add it to the rasam and close the lid to trap the flavour inside the pot.

Serve hot with Rice or as a hot soup in a glass on a cold day.

 Points to remember:

• Adding tamarind paste is totally optional and depends on the tanginess of the tomatoes.
• Adding toovar dal not only gives some thickness to the rasam, but also adds taste and nutritional value to the rasam.
• Since it is difficult to cook little dal for the rasam, I usually cook half a cup of dal with enough water. Pour in ice cube tray, freeze them, demold and transfer it to a zip lock bag and store them in the freezer. Add cubes to the rasam, sambhar and other dishes that need very little dal.

How to peel ginger? - The easy way! The efficient way!

Peeling ginger is essential but some chefs do not, but I prefer to peel it. Ginger is already pretty difficult to peel with its irregular shape. Trying to remove the skin without taking any excess ginger with it is even harder. Fortunately, ginger skin comes off relatively cleanly with just a spoon.

Scraping ginger with the edge of a spoon can provide enough pressure to pull the skin right off. This not only makes more efficient use of your ginger, but it's safer than using something with a blade to peel it.

Cheesy Spinach and Corn Sandwich

Cheesy Spinach and Corn Sandwich is flavorous, healthy and most importantly very easy to make. This sandwich is inspired by the classic combination of spinach and corn, topped with the goodness of cheese.

Kids will love this sandwich and this is a good way to get them to eat spinach. It’s perfect dish for snack/lunch box. The filling can be made in advance and stored in the fridge overnight, which will help reduce early morning stress for mommies. You can try using different types of bread for this sandwich, like here I have shown a white bread version and a multi-grain version.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Makes: 4 sandwiches

Ingredients	Quantity
Spinach	1 bunch or roughly 1½ cups when chopped
Corn kernels	½ cup
Processed cheese	3 cubes
Pepper powder	½ tsp or to taste
Bread	8 slices
Onion	1 large
Garlic	3-4 cloves
Oil	1 tsp
Butter	1 tbsp. approximate
Sugar	1 pinch (optional)
Salt	to taste

Method

Wash Spinach leaves in water thoroughly, drain and dry them on a kitchen towel. When the water is almost drained chop them into ½ inch pieces. The chopped pieces should be about 1½ cups roughly.

Finely chop the onions. Peel and chop the garlic into thin slices.

Heat oil in a pan, add garlic, and let it sizzle for about 30 seconds. Add the onion, add a pinch of salt. Let it cook till onions are translucent. Add the spinach, mix well, close lid and cook till spinach is almost cooked. Add some salt and pepper powder, mix well. Add a pinch of sugar to reduce the pungent flavor from spinach. Add the corn, cook for about a minute. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. The mixture must be slightly bland as the cheese has some salt in it and spinach also tends to get salty soon when the water dries up. Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts.

Spinach filling

Grate cheese and divide into 4 equal parts.

Apply butter on the bread slices on the outer side, add the filling and grated cheese in between two slices and grill them till crispy in a sandwich maker.

If you don’t have a sandwich maker, apply butter to both the sides of the two bread slices, slightly toast one side of the bread on a tawa and flip it add the filling to the toasted side, add cheese and cover with another toasted side of bread on the cheese. When the bread slice is toasted on the bottom, carefully flip the whole sandwich and toast the bread slice on top. This way the cheese inside will melt.

Points to remember:

• You can use any bread for this sandwich and it will taste equally good.
• Try and use tender spinach leaves for this dish. If the spinach stems are too hard, discard them and use only leaves. The fiber in the stems will make the filling more pungent and stringy to bite.
• The cheese will make the sandwich better, but you can make it without cheese too.

Here’s another version of this sandwich made using white bread.

How to check if oil is hot enough for deep frying?

When you're frying at home, how do you know when your oil is hot enough and ready to go? If you don’t have a clip-on thermometer to tell when the temperature is just right or can't measure the temperature exactly. 

No problem. Your wooden spoon can clue you in on when it's time to add your food.

If you insert a wooden spoon/skewer into the oil, the oil will bubble around the stick when it's ready for frying. Like this:

Or you can just use a grain of rice.

Yes! You just have to drop a grain of rice into your oil to see if it's ready for frying. If the rice pops right back up and starts to cook, you're at the right temperature (which is 360 degrees, by the way). Pretty simple!

Curry Leaves Chutney

Curry Leaves Chutney, yeah, I know, it sounds odd. But this chutney tastes just awesome and is a perfect combination with Phulkas. We all use them in our seasoning but pick them and throw them away. But it’s really a very nutritious leaf that tastes good too. There is another reason why I like this chutney, it helps my hair. When weather changes between winter and summer we all experience hair fall. So I thought it might be a good idea to share this recipe with you so you can also get your dose of curry leaves through this chutney.

Curry leaves-commonly used as seasoning, this leaf adds a special flavour to every dish. But there is more to the humble curry leaf than simply flavour. Packed with carbohydrates, fiber, calcium, phosphorous, irons and vitamins like vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin E, curry leaves help your heart function better, fights infections and can enliven your hair and skin with vitality. It helps keep anemia at bay, fights diabetes, improves digestion, lowers cholesterol, and it prevents hair fall and greying of hair.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 5 minutes

Serves: 3-4 people

Ingredients	Quantity
Curry Leaves	20-25 leaves
Grated Coconut	½ of a coconut or 1 cup
Black Chana(whole)	1 tbsp
Tamarind Juice	½ tsp
Red Chilies	2-3 or to taste
Salt	to taste
Water	to grind

Method

Wash curry leaves thoroughly and let dry on a kitchen towel till dry.

In a pan dry roast black chana, keep moving them in the pan using a spoon. You will see that the peels would crack open and they will slowly begin to pop. When you smell the aroma of roasted chana turn off the flame. Be careful not to burn them. Transfer the chana immediately to a plate to stop cooking them further.

Dry roast the red chilies in the same pan till crispy. Transfer to the plate.

In the same hot pan add the curry leaves; do not put it on flame. Just let the leaves roast in the hot pan slightly.

In a mixer jar add grated coconut, tamarind juice, red chilies, salt and grind coarsely. Then add the chana and grind further. After its ground slightly add water little at a time and grind till all the ingredients are ground to a coarse paste. Lastly add the curry leaves and grind further till the leaves are coarsely ground and you can still see bits of it in the chutney. Add water as per your liking.

Serve with Phulkas or Chapathis.

Points to remember:

• Do not use a nonstick pan to dry roast anything as it gets spoilt by the heat and it will start cracking the top layer of the pan.
• I prefer this chutney to be dry as shown in the image.
• I use two byadgi red chilies (the less spicy ones) and 1 spicy variety of red chily. 

Sabbasige Paddu (Appo)

Paddu is a South Indian dish made by steaming or frying batter using a mould. The batter is made of black lentils (urad dal) and rice and is similar in composition to the batter used to make idli and dosa. It is a common breakfast item in all parts of Karnataka. Paddu is also known as – Guliappa, Gundponglu, and Paniyaram. It is called Appo in Konkani. This recipe is unique because of the addition of sabbasige (dill) and onions.

Sabbasige is known as “Dill” in English and is widely available everywhere. Dill weed is a unique perennial herb with pleasant anise-like flavor. Its sprigs (leaves) as well as seeds are used as seasoning in various cuisines worldwide. This popular herb contains no cholesterol and is very low in calories. Nonetheless, it holds many anti-oxidants and dietary fibers, which help in controlling blood cholesterol levels. It is also rich in many vital vitamins, including folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin A, ß-carotene, vitamin-C that is essential for optimum metabolism inside the human body.

You will require two equipments to make this dish:

• Wet grinder- the batter is best when ground in a wet grinder than the batter ground in a mixer grinder.
• Paddu tawa: The use of the special Paddu tawa ensures the best Paddus. You can find this tawa in South Indian stores across the country, and its non-stick variety is quite popular. As an alternative, a regular kadhai may also be used. It is always a good idea to buy a tawa with lid.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Soaking Time: 4-5 hours (Fermentation-overnight)

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Serves: 3-4 people

Recipe Courtesy – Smitha Pai (My Mom)

Ingredients	Quantity
Urad dal (split, skinless)	¼ cup
Fenugreek Seeds	1 tsp
Rice (Dosa variety)	¾ cup
Chana Dal	2 tbsp
Dil leaves	1 bunch
Onion	1 large
Coconut/Vegetable Oil	to fry the paddu

Measurements tip:

The cup that I use here is the standard measuring cup and if you use the same measurements it yields the serving size mentioned. But you can substitute this cup with any cup of your choice where the measure of urad dal is 1 cup, rice 3 cups chana dal 1/3 of that same cup. Adjust fenugreek seeds accordingly.

Method

Wash urad dal thoroughly and soak in enough water, along with fenugreek seeds for about 4-5 hours.

In another vessel wash together rice and chana dal and soak in enough water for 4-5 hours.

Strain water from urad dal; keep the water for later use. In a wet grinder, grind urad dal and fenugreek seeds till it’s completely smooth and starts to fluff up (just like you do for idly). Drain water completely from rice and chana dal add it to the grinder; continue grinding till the rice is ground coarsely. Add water a tablespoon at a time to help grinding, but do not make the batter very runny. Stop in between to check from time to time. The rice should be grainy (about the consistency of rawa) but not very coarse. Transfer the batter to a deep vessel to avoid over flowing, close with a lid. Let it sit overnight on counter top.

In the morning wash dill (sabbasige) leaves thoroughly, chop to ½ inch long pieces. Finely chop onions. Add dill and onion to the batter, add salt, mix well and keep for few minutes. Add water if required. The batter should be of idly batter or porridge consistency. Basically if you take some batter in a spoon and tilt, the batter should flow easily.

Heat up the Paddu tawa for minute, add few drops of oil in each compartment, spoon the batter to the tawa, close the lid, turn heat to high for 30 seconds and then lower the flame to sim. Cook with lid closed for approximately two minutes. When you lift the lid up you should see the paddu would have started to brown on the bottom and sides, but the batter must be raw on top, then using a skewer prick the paddu and turn it over, the bottom side should be golden brown as shown in the image, if not let the other paddus cook for some more time before turning them. Once flipped, add some oil; continue cooking other side till its golden brown, this time with the lid open. Serve hot with Red Coconut chutney and Pudina Chutney.

Points to remember:

• When you strain water from ural dal save the water and use it for grinding. Use the same water to wash your batter from the grinder and preserve the water separately. Next morning you can see a thick layer of batter in the bottom and thin water on top. Add the same water to adjust consistency of the fermented batter. If the batter does not need all the water then drain the water on top and pour the thick batter settled in the bottom into the fermented batter.
• The quantity of dill and onions are completely your choice. You can also make them with just onions without the dill.
• To ensure that the Paddus taste just right and are spongy and soft in texture, the batter needs to be fermented for at least 8 hours.
• I use a nonstick paddu tawa. It needs very less oil and paddus don’t stick unlike the traditional paddu tawa.
• For best taste use coconut oil to fry paddus.

How to tell if the eggs are good or bad?

Have you kept the eggs in your refrigerator and forgotten? Not sure if they are still edible? Here’s what you need to do!

Fresh eggs are delicious and nutritious foods, rich in vitamins,proteins, minerals and antioxidants. Our nose and eyes are the best tools for determining freshness with meats, produce and herbs, but we can’t really use our senses to test an egg before we crack it.

If you want to be sure whether the eggs you have in your fridge are fresh enough or not, here are three simple methods that can answer your question within a few seconds.

First Method:

Take a deep glass bowl or cup and fill it with water. Gently place the egg inside and observe what happens.

Fresh egg will sink completely and will be “stuck” on the bottom.

Not so fresh eggs will be at the bottom with one part and the other part will be raised to the surface.

Eggs that float on the water are pretty old and risky for consumption so do not eat them.

Second Method:

Take the egg in your hand and hold it against your ear. Shake it gently and hear the sound coming from inside the egg.

If you hear no sound, the egg should be fresh and good for consumption.

If you hear unusual noise coming from inside the egg, it is probably old.

Third Method:

Take an egg, break down the shell from the edge of the bowl and open it. Pour it into bowl and observe its looks.

If bile is standing firm and raised and the white remains gathered around it, the egg is fresh.

If the yolk is firm but slightly spread and little bit pressed and the white is completely transparent and has not spilled, the egg is older, but still good for consumption.

If the yolk is soft, completely flat or has diffused immediately, and the white is watery and fully diluted, the egg is probably old, so do not eat it.