Nisha and Nishanth's Culinary Debacles

Parippu Vada's remind me of my time back in MCA when friends would get parippu vada's when studying late in the evening for exams. I finally got around to trying to make them and according to Nishanth, it was quite decent. http://www.mariasmenu.com/vegetarian/parippu-vada-lentildal-fritters It did not turn out to be spicy, and it could do with more green chillies if you like a bit of spice in the vadas. I decided to skip the saunf too.

I had soaked some black chick peas and decided to try out the Kerala style kadala curry. I tried the following recipe out: http://www.sailusfood.com/2012/12/31/kadala-curry/ Nishanth liked the curry although it wasn't as spicy. The addition of fennel and coconut milk gives it an interesting twist.

This was the first recipe I tried for Sambhar and I love the recipe primarily because it turns out like the sambhar in the Bangalore restaurants. I got it from the following website: http://cookingmarvel.in/south/sambar.html INGREDIENTS Arhar Dal 300 gms Dry red chilly (sabut) 4 Onion (roughly chopped) 3 Kari Patta 6-7 Tomato (roughly chopped) 250 gms Asafetida (heeng) A pinch Ghiya (roughly chopped) Kg Red chilly powder 1 tsp Fresh coconut (grated) 1 cup Sugar 1 tsp Tamarind Water 1 cup Haldi tsp Sambar Masala * 4 tsp Coriander leaves (finely chopped) A few Mustard Seeds (moti) 1 tsp Oil for Tadka 1 tbsp * You may buy Sambar Masala from the market or click the above link for excel...

Another recipe that turns out good. I do adjust the lemon I put into the rice since my husband dislikes sour food. The papad gives a really awesome taste. I got it from the following website: http://cookingmarvel.in/south/lemon_rice.html INGREDIENTS Rice 2 cups Kari Patta 8-10 Salt To taste Mustard Seeds (moti) tsp Haldi tsp Dry Red Chilly (sabut) 3-4 Lemon 1 Oil for Tadka 2 tbsp Chana Dal and Urad Dal 1 tsp each Papad 2 METHOD Boil rice in the normal way. Heat oil in a kadahi. Add mustard seeds, kari patta, chana dal, urad dal and sabut red chilly. Break papad into small pieces and fry it in the tadka for 30 seconds. Add lemon juice, salt and haldi. Finally, add boiled rice and mix it well. Serve hot. Serves: 4-5 adults

This is another recipe that works out very well that I have adapted into my day to day cooking. I got it from the following website: http://cookingmarvel.in/south/plain_upma.html INGREDIENTS Suji 300 gms Water (in proportion to Suji) 3 times Salt To taste Onion (in fine long cuts or chopped) 2 Green chilly (finely chopped) 2 Ginger (finely chopped) 1 Chana Dal 1 tsp Urad Dal 1 tsp Kari Patta 5-7 Mustard Seeds (moti) 1 tsp Oil for tadka 2 tbsp Lemon 1 Coriander Leaves (finely choppes) A few METHOD Roast suji in kadahi without oil to light brown color. Boil water. Heat oil in a kadahi. Put tadka of mustard seeds, green chilly, ginger and kari patta. Add chana dal and urad dal and fry it in the tadka for 2 minutes. Add...

I tried this recipe out shortly after marriage and it came out so well. The upma turns out soft and yummy. This recipe was taken from the following website: http://cookingmarvel.in/south/vegetable_upma.html INGREDIENTS Suji 300 gms Ginger (finely chopped) 1 Water (in proportion to Suji) 3 times Chana Dal 1 tsp Salt To taste Urad Dal 1 tsp Onion (in fine long cuts or chopped) 2 Kari Patta 5-7 Carrot (finely chopped) 1 (big) Mustard Seeds (moti) 1 tsp French Beans (finely chopped) 4-5 Oil for tadka 2 tbsp Peas (seeds) 50 gms Lemon 1 Green chilly (finely chopped) 2 Coriander Leaves (finely choppes) A few METHOD Roast s...

This is a kerala recipe that my mother in law sent me. I tried it out the other day and it came out pretty ok. Ingredients: 1. 1 large raw banana or 2 small raw bananas 2. 1/2 shredded coconut ( can get the frozen shredded coconut which would be around 1 cup coconut) 3. Yam or cucumber (optional) apparently kalan can be made only with raw banana or cucumber or yam or a mixture of these 3 4. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 5. Salt to taste 6. 1/2 tsp chilli powder 7. 2 green chillies 8. 1/4 tsp jeera 9. 2 cups sour curd. 10. 1 tsp oil 11. 4 curry leaves 12. 1/2 tsp mustard seeds Method: 1. Cut the banana, yam and cucumber into small 1 inch square pieces. Boil these in 1 cup water along with the salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder until soft. In the pressure cooker it requires 1 to 2 whistles. 2. Grind the coconut along with 2 green chillies and jeera 3. Make a puree of the curd 4. Add the curd to the boiled vegetables and boil until the mixture thickens (reduces t...

This is a recipe my mother in law sent me recently. Ingredients 1/2 coconut shredded 1/2 cup curd (not sour else use a few spoons of curd and add water) 1/4 tsp red chilli powder salt to taste 1/2 tsp mustard seeds 4-5 curry leaves 1 tsp oil Method: 1. Grind the coconut along with curd, red chilli powder and salt 2. Heat oil up and add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Let the mustard seeds splutter. 3. Add this to the ground coconut mixture. Mix and serve.

Ulli Sambhar is Nishanth's favourite and i had a packet of pearl onions in the refrigerator. I tried out the following recipe and it came out pretty well. http://luvgoodfood.blogspot.com/2006/07/fmr-comfort-foods-ulli-sambar-sunday.html

A friend came over and prepared rasam using the sakthi masala powder. She soaked some tamarind and squeezed out the juice from it, coarsely chopped tomatoes and slit green chillies and boiled these ingredients in water along with rasam powder for around 10 minutes. Thereafter she added boiled toor dal and added a tadka of mustard seeds and aesofetida powder in hot ghee. The way she prepared the rasam was similiar to the directions for the MTR Rasam powder. The sakthi pack does not instruct one to add toor dal. http://www.mtrfoods.com/masalapowders/rasampowder.htm The link to the sakthi rasam powder is: http://www.ishopindian.com/shop/sakthi-rasam-powder-pr-23694.html

The other day a friend came over and made vadas using the MTR vada mix and it came out pretty good. In general, i am not a fan of mixes and always prefer to make the actual food items. Its worth keeping it in the kitchen for those days when you dont want to soak the urad dal and grind it. To the vada mix, she added chopped green chillies and curry leaves and fried them in hot oil until they were golden. They came out pretty crisp. She also poured curd over some of them and let the vadas soak in the curd for some time and there was dahi vada. In case, you are interested you can check out the vada mix at this link. https://www.ishopindian.com/shop/mtr-vada-mix-pr-21653.html

This recipe is courtesy my friend Sunitha. Ingredients: 1 cauliflower, cleaned and divided into small florets 1 onion chopped 5 curry leaves 1 tsp mustard seeds 1 tsp urad dal 2 dry red chillies cut into three parts 2 tbsp oil 2 pinches aesofetida(hing) 1/2 tsp turmeric powder Salt to taste Method: 1. Heat oil in a wok 2. Add the mustard seeds 3. Add the urad dal, curry leaves and dry red chillies 4. Add the hing 5. Add the turmeric powder 6. Add the onions and fry until the onions are golden 7. Thereafter add the cauliflower and mix well 8. Cook on low heat until done, stirring occassionaly

This is a recipe learnt from my friend Sunitha that has become a favourite with my husband and me ! If you do not like the chopping, you could always pick up a packet of frozen tindora and Vadilal is my favourite brand in terms of frozen foods. I use Vadilal for frozen drumsticks, shredded coconut and on days i am lazy or have a tight schedule tindora. Taste wise there is no difference between the fresh and frozen tindora. Ingredients: 3 pinches Aesofetida powder (Hing) 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon corriander powder 1/2 kg tindora 4 table spoons oil 2 red chillies 2-3 curry leaves 1/4 tsp turmeric powder Salt to taste Method 1: Clean the tindora and cut each tindora into 4 pieces length wise 2. Put the same in a microvave safe dish or plate, sprinkle a little water and microwave for 6 minutes. I have heard that those who dont have microwave can pressure cook for one whistle and remove immediately from heat. 3. Heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds an...