Pesarattu/Moong dhal Dosa with Ginger Chutney

Has every one watched the 'Avatar' movie??? if not please watch it soon as this is the must see movie. I watched it the second time with my boy last weekend, I can't believe my boy has grown big to accompany me for a movie and the first time we went as a family ..yes with my 18m old girl and I could not watch the movie peacefully the first time, its a wonderful movie and a woman sitting next to me kept on saying "wow" for each and every scene and its worth it. 
Coming to the recipe, I would say pesarattu with ginger chuttney is the combination and if I don't set a limit say 3 or may be 4 dosas, I would ending eating countless number of dosas, I love it sooo much. The greatness of this dosa is there is NO need for fermentation so as soon as you grind it you make can dosa out of it. Lets get to the recipe of my heartthrob dish.

Pesarattu/Moong dhal Dosa

Ingredients
Green gram dhal - 1 cup
Raw Rice - 1/4 Cup
Onion - 1/2 of 1 chopped
Ginger - 1"
Green Chiles - 2
Cilantro - 1 Cup
Salt to taste

Method
Soak dhal and rice together for 6 hrs and grind to a paste in a mixie with all other ingredients and make like regular dosa and if you want you can aslo add onions in it and it would be more tastier. Enjoy with the ginger chutney.

Ginger Chutney

Ingredients
Ginger - 2"
Urad dhal - 2tsp
Channa dhal - 1tp
Mustard - 1/2tsp
Red chilies - 4 
Curry Leaves - 10
Tamarind - small ball size
Jaggery - 1and 1/2tsp
Salt to taste 
Oil - 2 tsp    

Method
Soak the tamarind in water for 10 mins.
Heat oil in a pan and add the fry the urad dhal and channa dhal till its turns golden brown and add the red chilies and mustard and add the curry leaves and fry for few mins. Grind these fried dhal with oil and with jaggery and ginger to a fine paste and enjoy it with pesarattu.

Mushroom and chick peas Curry and An Award

I love to add mushroom in all my side dishes I make for chapatti as it is very good source of nutritional value and more over I love the taste of mushroom. This is also same kind of dish I tried by adding the mushrooms to the chickpeas and as usual it also tasted excellent and I think for me any dish with mushroom would taste great. I want my family some how they should eat mushroom at least once in a week and I make sure to do that and I try to avoid making anything in fried form using mushroom as  there would be no point in taking the mushroom for what it is. This is the good side dish for chapatti and in every bite you get the taste of channa and the mushroom that's the best of all.

Ingredients
Mushroom - 1 Cup Chopped
Channa/Chick peas - 1 Cup Boiled
Bell pepper - 1/2 cup chopped
Onion - 1 chopped
Tomato - 2 Chopped
Green Chilies - 2
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Kasoori methi / dry fenugreek leaves - 2 tsp
Cilantro to garnish
Salt to taste
Oil - 3 tsp

Method
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and cumin seed and they splutter add the onion and green chiles and saute till its tender and add the ginger garlic paste and mix for a min.
Add the tomato and cook till its turns pulp and add all the dry masala powders and give a good mix and add 1 cup of water and cook cooked for 10 mins and stirring in between.
Add the mushroom,bell pepper and boiled chickpeas and mix and if needed add little water and cook until mushroom is done. Add the kasoori methi leaves and mix and garnish with lots of cilantro and remove and serve hot with chapatti and enjoy!!!

My fellow blogger Renuka Bendre Rao  from http://cookingyummy.blogspot.com/ has shared this wonderful award to me and I thank her for remembering me for this.

Its no good if I keep this award all by my self so I love to share this with ,

Ashkuku from http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/
Latha from http://flourishyourflavour.blogspot.com/
Rohini from http://curriesandspices.blogspot.com/
Muraligeetham from http://ruchibhedangal.blogspot.com/
Babli from http://khanamasala.blogspot.com/  

Please kindly accept this.

Spicy Shrimp/Prawn Curry

This is one of the easiest and tastiest shrimp curry ever. Shrimp is one favorite food of my boy and he likes different variety of dishes prepared with shrimp so I have to keep trying out new dishes with it by making changes with the ingredients and even a little variation to the same dishes he likes a lot but this dish turned out to be little spicy than I expected so he did not like this dish L but he did like it to eat with dosa, this is a excellent dish when eaten with rice and I really enjoyed every mouth of it with rice. This is very simple to make and I bet every one of you will sure love this dish.

Ingredients
Shrimp – ½ lb
Onion – 1 finely chopped
Tomato – 2 finely chopped
Tomato paste – 1 tsp (optional)
Green chilies – 2 slit
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 2 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Chili powder – 1 tsp
Cloves – 3
Cardamom – 3
Cinnamon – ½”
Salt to taste
Cilanto to garnish
Oil – 3tsp

Method
Clean and de-vein the shrimp and set aside.
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add the clove, cardamom and cinnamon and when its aromatic add the onion and fry till it turns brown and add the green chilies and ginger garlic paste and fry.
Add all the dry powders one by one and mix and add the tomato and cook until tomato turns to pulp by adding little water to it.
Now add the tomato paste and mix and add shrimp and give a good mix and add 1 and ½ cups of water and close and cook in a reduced flame for 10 mins or until the curry like consistency is reached and garnish with cilantro.
Serve hot with rice and enjoy!!!

Bhindi/Okra Masala

This is another one recipe I got from cleaning my old crap. I don’t remember taking drown this recipe and also never tried this recipe before, might have forgotten completely about it but actually this dish tasted really good when I prepared and it’s a very good combo for chapati. This is a totally dry dish and I was not sure whether everyone in my family would like it so I have to make another dish to be on safer side but surprisingly everyone liked it.

Ingredients
Bhindi/okra – 1lb cut lengthwise
Onion – 1 chopped
Tomato – 2 mediums chopped
Green Chilies – 2 slit
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Bay leaf – 1
Clove - 2
Coriander powder – 2 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1 tsp
Chili powder – ½ tsp
Amchur powder – ½ tsp
Garam masala – 1tsp
Ginger garlic – 1 tsp
Oil
Salt to taste
Cilantro to garnish

Method
In a non-stick pan, heat 2 tsp of oil and fry the okra until its cooked and turns light brown in color and set aside.
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, clove and bay leaf and when its aromatic add onion and green chilies and sauté well.
Add ginger garlic paste and fry for few seconds and add tomato and cook till tomato are mushy and now add all the dry ingredients leaving garam masala and cook.
Now add the fried okra and mix well to coat with the masala and finish it of by adding the garam masala and garnish with cilantro. Enjoy with roti, naan or chapatti.

Chettinad Chicken Curry

I am very obsessed with the word “chettinad”, to me they are very tasty and really spicy to eat and they are the best. Any restaurant or any food with a chettinad tag to it drives my attention and every one can guess I gonna order only that. I lived in Chennai for a very short period of only six months and within that short time I had visited almost all of the chettinad restaurant there. Not just visiting restaurant, if anyone says I have the authentic chettinad recipes I waste no time to take the recipe from them. This recipe I got it from internet long time ago that’s before I started blogging and during my transit from Illinois to North Carolina I misplaced it, though I have prepared this recipe many times, its always difficult for me to remember all the ingredients and more over the method of cooking is what adds the taste to it and I also have no idea from which site I got this recipe, so didn’t get a chance to prepare it until now during these holidays while cleaning my old crap I got this recipe back and I was so much delighted and prepared it the following Sunday and relished it so much. I actually made for breakfast, as a side dish for idli and every one loved it, especially my boy who always prefers dosa for idli, loved idli with this chicken curry.

Ingredients
Whole cut chicken – 1lb
Pearl onion/sambar onion – 15
Tomato – 2 chopped
Garlic – 10 cloves
Green Chilies – 2 slit
Ginger Garlic paste – 2 tsp
Cilantro to garnish
Oil – 4 tsp
Salt to taste
To marinate
Yogurt – 2tsp
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 2-½ tsp
Chili powder – 1tsp (use to your taste)
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt
To Grind
Coconut – 3 tsp
Poppy seeds – 2 tsp
Fennel seeds – 1tsp
Seasoning
Cloves – 5
Cinnamon – 1inch
Cardamom – 2
Fennel seeds – 1tsp
Pepper Corns – 1tsp
Curry leaves - 5

Method
Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients under 'to marinate' and set aside for minimum half an hour.
Dry roast poppy seeds and soak in hot water for 5 mins and grind with coconut and fennel seeds.
In a big pan, heat oil and add all the ingredients under 'seasoning', one by one and when its aromatic add onion, garlic and green chilies and sauté for 5 mins and add the tomato and fry till tomato is soft and mushy.
Now add the ginger garlic paste and mix well and add the marinated chicken and mix and add little water or as much water depending on the consistency to need and cook closed until the chicken is cooked well.
Add the coconut paste and cook for just 5 mins and garnish with lots of cilantro.
Enjoy it with rice.

Crackers with toppings – A chaat dish

In Bangalore, one of the most crowded place I would say is the chaat shop, there is one such shop I am aware of is the Calcutta chaat shop at koramangala area and if happen to visit that chaat shop in one fine evening, you would be surpurised to see the place flooded with people and you have to wait for a long time to place your order and I would say its worth all the wait, they serve the best chaat there and even now my tongue tickles when I just think of their dishes….wow awesome. The recipe today is the toppings I made is good as such or can be served as a topping for crackers or even with chaat poori. I served mine with the multi grain cracker made especially for serving with toppings and it tasted really wonderful and I am sure this is a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients
For topping
Frozen peas – 1cup
Boiled potato – 1 Chopped to small cubes
Green Chiles – 2 slit
Onion – 1 medium finely chopped
Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1 tsp
Chaat Masala – ½ tsp
Cilantro
Oil – 2 tsp
Salt to taste

For Serving
Crackers of your choice
Chaat tamarind sauce
Yogurt
Chopped tomato - 1
Sev

Method
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and sauté the onion till cooked and then add the green chilies and sauté for few mins.
Add the green peas and cook until its soft.
Add the masala powders and keep mixing to avoid burning of the masala powders.
Add the potato and mix well and now finish it of by adding chopped cilantro and make sure add liberally and this gives a wonderful aroma and taste in each bite.
While serving, place the crackers in a serving plate and in each cracker put a spoon full of peas topping on it and top it with yogurt, little tamarind sauce, tomato and sev. This is a wonderful chaat to enjoy.

Chicken Malai Kabab

I am back from my holidays, had a wonderful vacation at Myrtle Beach so still not able to come over from that mood. This recipe was lying in my draft for quite a long time and since I didn’t prepare anything new to post, I am taking this opportunity to post my old recipe. I prepared this dish on my hubby’s office grill out get together, where most of them were American and I made it less spicy and more cheesier to suit them and surprisingly this dish turned out to a huge hit among them, so if have any American family coming over your house sure this dish is gonna make them drool. This recipe is taken from the vahrehvah website and I am sure many would be familiar with this recipe but still I am posting for those who haven’t tried. Here is the recipe ..

Ingredients
Boneless Chicken Breast – 1lb Cut to a desired size cubes
Mozzarella Cheese – 1 Cup
Cream – 3 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste – 2tsp
Meat Tenderizer – 2 tsp (optional)
Cardamom powder – 1tsp
Pepper and salt to taste
Green Chilies – 3
Cilantro – ½ cup
Wooden Skewer – 3 (soak in water for min 30mins)

Method
Pat dry the chicken with a kitchen towel and cut to cubes and marinate with ginger garlic paste, meat tenderizer, salt, pepper and cardamom powder and keep refrigerated for 1 hour.
Grind green chilies and cilantro to a coarse paste and mix with the chicken.
Mix cheese and cream and add the chicken and marinate for 2 hrs.
Pre heat oven to 400*F
Put the chicken in the skewer and place in a oven safe bowl and place it the oven for 10 mins on both the side and now turn the oven to broil mode and cook till the chicken turns brown on both the sides. Serve with some mint chutney and Enjoy!!!

I got a award from Ashkuku and thanks dear for passing on to me ....