Mooli ki dal(radhish cooked in non-spicy moong dal gravy)

Ingredients required

One cup of chopped radhish – 200 gm

One spoon jeera

One red chilli

4-5 garlic cloves

Half a cup moong dal

¼ cup chopped onion

(the green part in the cup pertains to the top of radhish(the head part)  which has spinach and is completely optional)

Method

Heat 2-3 tsp oil in a vessel and add a cup of radhish and onions.  Saute nicely

Then sprinkle water if necessary and wait for radhish to cook partially, later add moong dal which has been pressure cooked for one whistle with a pinch of turmeric.

   Later on when the dal is cooked  and radhish is completely cooked, add tempering of minced garlic cloves, one red chilli, jeera and 2-3 curry leaves (optional)

Finally add salt to taste and the divine gravy is ready to serve…

Classic pepper masala (base for gravy)

  One sunday previous month, i prepared this base in a hurry and served it with boiled crab, MUST TELL U GUYS, IT WAS EXTREMELY TASTY, and not only that it goes good with veggies too, so just try out and let met know.  This base can be stored in fridge for some six days, in case of storing so, just avoid to add milk powder and add all other ingredients

Ingredients required

One small milk powder packet, one ladle of khuskhus, one handful of pudhina, 1tsp of peppercorn(roasted and cooled), 1 tsp of jeera(roasted and cooled) , 1/2 cup coriander leaves, 2 red chilli, 1 green chilli, 1 tomato, 1 onion, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste, 1 tsp dhanya whole, 2-3 scrappings of tamarind, 2-3pieces of cinnamon, 2 cloves, 3 cardamom pods

At first, grind all dry ingredients together like cinnamon, clove, cardamom, red chilli, dhanya, tamarind, peppercorn, jeera, khuskhus, milk powder

 Now, you will get some mixture like this

 Then add onion, tomato, all other ingredients and grind to get a smooth paste like this

This is our base

You can

1. Store this and use as required (for 5-6 days)

2. Use this for non-vegetarian gravy preparations like chicken, mutton, crab.  I personally recomment it with crab since i have tried and got super result

3. For vegetarians can do so for tofu, mushroom , capsicum gravies.  This is not recommended for veggies that turn soggy soon like cauliflower, better use so for tougher veggies

For example, i used the base and added one cup of chopped mushrooms, and cubed capsicum, and cooked till mushroom got done, my mushroom masala dish is over without any delay :)

Add i served yummy mushroom pepper masala with sambhar rice, it went well :)

Saalna omlette

    We have heard of saalna served with parotta, this salna omlette is also a street side food, where the masala mixed with curry is folded into omlette(half boiled, but here i made it with full boiled)  and served as it is as a snack.  My husband told it was super delicious as he and his college-mate used to have this in T-Nagar street-side food shop.

    I tried this out and it came soooooo gooddd...Ladies, kindly try this ,, for am sure your respective husbands will luv to have it ...

    Ingredients required:

Basic masala (the one i used in masala omlette version, you can get this http://savaadhjevana.blogspot.in/2012/10/masala-omlette.html ), one egg, any curry (here i used my fish curry, you can see this in http://savaadhjevana.blogspot.in/2012/10/nethili-poondu-kolambu-anchovy-cooked.html)

  

Method

Break one egg in a large bowl, and add salt, pepper accordingly

Pour it in a hot tawa, rotate it

Now is the important step, place one tsp of basic masala, and then add two to three big ladles of curry

And then mix it, fold it four sides and serve

Note the difference between masala and salna omlette, for masala omlette, we place one big heap of masala, fold and serve.  But for salna, the inner content must be too watery (that s y called as salna), so one small tsp of masala combine with four large spoons of curry will help.

Cook n enjoy!!

Masala omlette

   Masala omlette is healthy accompaniment for curry rice or can be had as such with tomato sauce.  It can also be given as a evening snack for kids

Ingredients required

For the basic masala:

Half a tomato, 2 tsp chopped onion, 4-5 mushrooms, one egg, half a cup boiled veggies (like cauliflower, carrot, potato), half capsicum and spice mix( 2tsp crushed almonds,1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp amchoor, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp dhanya powser, 1/4 tsp garam masala, a pinch of turmeric powder), one egg

Guys, dont worry if you lack some veggies, you can always use ur veggie combo like bottlegaurd, cabbage or watever u have in ur refridegerator :) :) Almonds can also be replaced by peanut or pottu kadalai

Method

Finely chop onion, tomato, capsicum, mushroom

In a kadai, melt butter( i used low fat butter)

Add all finely chopped veggies, and add spice mix, let this cook for some 15- 20 minutes

After it is almost done, add the cup of boiled veggies

And mash them thoroughly , this is the basic masala for the omlette

In a large bowl, break an egg and mix with salt and pepper powder

Pour over hot tawa

 Turn around the tawa, to make it a circular shape

Spoon one large heap of masala into egg

Fold four sides of egg to parcel the masala like this

Flip it over other side, (if you want half boiled, you can have as like it is)

That is it, i served this with hot rice and nethili poondu kolambu

Really an awesome and healthy lunch!!!! Isnt it??

Nethili poondu kolambu (Anchovy cooked in garlic garvy)

        When spending my vacation @ chennai [yes, all my friends, relatives are there, we got transferred here two years back :( :( ] my sister very secretely drank some stuff in a glass, when i viewed it, it was the curry prepared by my aunty, Mrs. Sumathi Umashanker (obviously she was the one behind the amla stuff).  I actually laughed at her for drinking a fish curry, but i was curious enough to have a sip, my goddddddddddd that was purely heavenly, later i called her and got the recipe for her basic fish masala.  So, with base for gravy in my head, i tried this out with her suggested masala, it really came great!

 

   Ingredients required

For basic poondu masala, you will need: 12 large garlic flakes, 2-3 red chilli, 1 tsp dhanya, 1/2 tsp jeera, 1/4 tsp methi, 1/2 tsp chana dal, 3-4 onion scrappings, 4-5 coconut scrappings,4-5 peppercorns

Othr ingredients are 10anchovy fish(nethili), 2 tomatos, 1 onion, tamaring extract

For tempering: one red chilli, few curry leaves, 1/2 tsp rai

Othr ingredients: haldi(turmeric powder), chilli powder, dhanya powder, coriander leaves(to garnish), salt

Method

At first, dry roast all dry ingredients in masala list like chana dal, jeera, dhanya, methi, red chilli, peppercorn

Then grind this along with garlic, onion, coconut, will get a paste like this

In a kadai, heat oil and add temper like rai, curry leave, red chilli

Then add finely chopped onions, and cook till they become soft, transculent.  This will take  some 5 minutes

Later on, add finely chopped tomatos, followed by 4-5 tsp thick tamarind extract

After tamarind extract, kindly add turmeric, salt 

After the tomatos become mushy, add paste of masala, let this cook for some 20 minutes, till smell of masala emits out

Check or taste the gravy, if you need more spice, can add red chili and dhanya powder.  Finally after masala gets cooked, add anchovy.  (My aunty says after smell of masala emits, just wait for 5 more minutes in simmer flame, then add fish and not immediately after you get smell of masala)

Simmer to 3-4 minutes, then turn off the flame, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with idly, dosa or rice