Onion Raita

This is a simple raita prepared with onions and green chillies. It goes well with Pulav, Biryani or any other rice items.

 Ingredients:

   
    Yogurt / Curd - 1 cup
    Green chillies - 1
    Salt to taste
    Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
    Onion - 1/2 cup ( Finely chopped)

Procedure:

Finely chop the onions, green chillies and coriander leaves and add them to yogurt. Add required amount of salt and mix well.

Adjust the amount of green chillies and yoghurt based on your needs.

Dal Tadka

This is a quick and easy Dal recipe. I learnt about this from one of my colleague who is from Andhra. I prepared this today and absolutely loved it. It is very spicy dal with nice tangy flavor from tomatoes and tamarind. Not to forget, it tastes delicious with hot rice.

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 3/4 cup
Onion - 1 medium (Finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 small (Finely chopped)
Green chillies - 3
Asafoetida - A pinch
Tamarind - Small gooseberry sized
Turmeric / Haldi - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp (Finely chopped)

For Seasoning:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Garlic cloves - 5
Red chillies - 2
Curry leaves - few
Onion - 3 tbsp ( Chopped finely)
Oil - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

• Wash the toor dal nicely. In a pressure cooker add dal, chopped onions and tomatoes, slit green chillies, asafoetida, tamarind and a pinch of turmeric. 
• Add around 2 to 2.5 cups of water and pressure cook till dal is cooked completely.

      Seasoning:

• Heat oil in a cooking pan and add mustard seeds. When mustard splutters add cumin seeds, garlic, curry leaves and broken dry red chillies. Fry all these till you get nice aroma. Make sure not to burn anything. 
• Add finely chopped onions and fry well till they become dark brown.
• Now add the cooked dal mixture to the seasoning and mix well. 
• Add required amount of salt and bring the mixture to boil. Let it boil for 5-10 min on medium heat.
• Finally garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Relish yummy dal tadka with hot rice.

Beetroot Podi (Shallow Fried Beetroot)

Beetroot is considered as powerhouse of nutrients and has various health benefits. But i personally do not like beet root due of their sweet flavor. I learnt about this dish from one of my aunts. I tried this for the first time and absolutely loved it.

Ingredients:

Beetroot - 1small
Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Asafoetida powder / hing - a pinch
Salt to taste
Rice flour - little
Oil- for shallow frying

Procedure:

Wash and peel the beetroots. Cook them in a pressure cooker up to 1 whistle. 

Cut the beetroot into medium thick roundels. Add red chilly powder, asafoetida and salt to the sliced pieced and mix well.

Heat a frying pan and spread some oil over it. Coat the roundels nicely with rice flour and shallow fry them on medium heat. When the slices are cooked well on one side, flip them. Fry till they get cooked evenly on both the sides and become crisp.

Ghosale Ambat (Ridge Gourd In Coconut Based Gravy)

Ridge Gourd is one of our favorite vegetables. It is one of the vegetable where every part of it is used. There are numerous dishes in Konkani cuisine which use Ridge Gourd.

This Ridge Gourd curry prepared using coconut based gravy and seasoned with fried onion is prepared commonly by most of the Konkani people.

Ingredients:

Ridge Gourd -  1 cup chopped
Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Dry red chillies - 4 (Roasted)
Tamarind - Small piece
Salt to taste
Onion - 3 tbsp ( Finely chopped)
Oil - 1 tsp

Procedure:

• Cook the ridge gourd in a vessel by adding enough water and little salt. 
•  Pressure cook the toor dal with turmeric in pressure cooker.
• Grind the grated coconut, roasted dry red chillies and tamarind to a smooth paste.
• Add ground paste and dal to cooked ridge gourd and mix well. Add required amount of salt. The consistency of the curry should be medium thick. Bring the mixture to boil. Let it boil for 5 - 10 minutes.
• For seasoning, heat little oil in a small pan and fry the finely chopped onions. Let the onions fry till they turn dark brown. 
• Season the curry with fried onions. Keep the lid of the vessel covered for some time so that the flavors can blend. 

Enjoy the curry with hot rice.

Dill leaves Dosa ( Sabasige Polo/ Sabasige Soppina Dose)

Dill leaves dosa is one of my childhood favorite. This is one of the recipe which i learnt from Mom.There are two versions of  this Dosa - sweet and bland. For the sweet version you add jaggery to the dosa batter and all other ingredients are same for both.

I personally think the sweet version of this dosa tastes better. Sweet dill dosa accompanied with ghee or butter is a great combo.

Ingredients:

Dosa rice - 1 cup
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1/4 cup
Dill leaves - half bunch
Salt to taste

Procedure:

 Soak the dosa rice in water for 4 - 5 hrs. Grind the rice with grated coconut, jaggery and dill leaves to a smooth batter by adding little water. The consistency of the batter should be medium thick. Hence don't add lot of water while grinding.

Let the batter ferment overnight. Add required amount of salt to the batter and mix well before making dosa.

 Heat oil in a frying pan and pour a ladle full of batter. Spread the batter evenly on the pan.

 When the batter is cooked on one side, flip it and cook on another side. Serve it hot with ghee or butter.

 If you are looking for more Dill leaves recipes then do check Dill-Potato stir fry and Dill leaves Stir fry with Moong Dal

Dill - Potato Stir Fry (Sabasige - Batate Upkari)

Dill leaves are one of my favorite veggies. I love eating them in any form. The wonderful aroma of the cooking dill leaves itself is tempting. Dill helps strengthen immune system and is considered healthy due to various health benefits.

This is a very easy stir fry prepared with dill and potatoes. After trying this i realized that potatoes and dill leaves go well together.

Ingredients:

Potato - 2 small
Dill leaves - 1 small bunch
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 2
Garlic cloves - 4 ( Crushed)
Coriander powder  - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Procedure:

First cut the Potatoes into small cubes and keep aside. Finely chop the dill leaves and keep it aside.

Now heat Oil in a cooking pan. Add mustard seeds. When mustard splutters add slit green chillies and crushed garlic. Saute them well for few minutes.

Add turmeric powder and coriander powder and saute well. Then add potatoes and saute for few minutes.

Now add dill leaves and saute well. The dill leaves slowly start to shrink in size. Add required amount of salt and mix well. Add 4 tbsp water and cook by covering the lid of the vessel. Cook on medium flame till both dill leaves and potatoes cook completely. Keep stirring in intervals to make sure it doesn't burn.

Dill-Potato stir fry is now ready to serve. It goes well as a side-dish with rice and roti.

Thick 'n' Creamy Mushroom Soup

This thick 'n' creamy Mushroom soup is lip-smacking. It is an easy-peasy recipe and most of the ingredient which goes in are commonly available in every kitchen.

The weather here was bad this evening - it's cold and rainy. I felt like eating something hot which is soothing to the stomach. I was lazy to spend much time in kitchen and thought of dishing up a comforting bowl of Mushroom soup for the two of us.

Ingredients:

Butter - 1 tbsp
Bay leaf - 1 small piece
Garlic cloves - 2 (chopped finely)
Onion - 1 small
Button Mushrooms - 1 cup ( chopped finely)
Milk - 2.5 cups
Cornflour - 1 tbsp
Salt and pepper powder to taste
Grated cheese - 1 tbsp
Mixed herbs powder - 1 tsp

Procedure:

 In a small bowl add cornflour to 1/2 cup cold milk and mix well. Make sure there are no lumps. Keep this mixture aside.

Heat Butter in a cooking pan. Add the bay leaf and finely chopped garlic cloves. Saute it for a minute.

Now add finely chopped onions and saute. When onion turns translucent, add the mushrooms and saute well for few minutes.

Then add salt and pepper powder and saute for a minute. Now add 2 cups of milk and boil the soup for around 5 minutes.

Now add the mixed herbs powder to the soup.

Simmer and add the cornflour mixed with cold milk. Keep stirring to avoid the formation for any lumps.

The soup now slowly starts thickening. If the soup becomes very thick, add little milk and mix well to adjust the consistency.

Add grated cheese to hot soup and mix well before serving. [ The soup tastes great even without cheese]

Creamy mushroom soup is now ready to Slurp !!!!

Onion Capsicum Chutney

This is a simple chutney which goes well with Dosa. It is one of the outcome of my kitchen experiments. I had prepared this today with mixed flour Dosa. I was satisfied with the end result and hence decided to share the recipe. It has a nice spicy and tangy taste with the flavor of cumin and coriander powder..

Ingredients:

Onion - 1cup
Tomato - 1/4 cup
Capsicum - 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves- Few
Asafoetida - A pinch
Green chilli - 2(Chopped finely)
Salt to taste
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Amchur powder - 1/2 tsp (Optional)
Cooking oil - 1 tsp

Procedure:

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When mustard splutters add asafoetida, curry leaves and green chilly. Fry them well in the oil. Add the onions and saute till they turn golden brown. Add tomatoes and saute till they become mushy. Add the capsicum and saute for few minutes. Now add coriander powder, cumin powder, salt and amchur powder ( Adding amchur powder is optional. I have added little amchur powder because the tomatoes which i used weren't tangy). Grind the mixture coarsely for just few seconds.
Onion-Capsicum chutney is now ready to serve with Dosa. :)

Note :

1. Adding amchur powder is optional. I have added little amchur powder because the tomatoes which i used weren't tangy.
2. Instead of tomatoes and amchur powder, you can also use soaked tamarind.