How to make soft chapathis

Making a chapathi may not a big deal for the North Indians, but for the South Indians as like me bug to make chapathis…. Woooofff  after so many trial and errors amma learned how to make soft chapathis and I very easily copied from her . But, still I hit my head for not making a perfect round-shaped rotis. Somewhere are other I ll go wrong in rolling the dough. In my in-laws place I ll take the job of fluffing the rotis and skip the rolling part!! He he  here in US am stuck with doing the two process and I used to make different shaped rotis, either a triangle one or a zig-zag version chapathis. But I never missed out to turn the chapathi soft. Mine will always turn into a soft rotis… probably cos of my amma’s training. 

I always use olive oil while mixing the dough and avoid adding oil at the end. Some like the chapathis coated with ghee on top. Serve as per ur wish 

Prawn sukka fry – Shrimp sukka fry

Prawn sukka fry – Shrimp sukka fry

Preparation time: 15 mins(includes cleaning steps)
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Onion-Tomato Chutney Recipe

Onion-Tomato Chutney Recipe 

This chutney is my one of the quick-fix side-dish for idlis/dosa. TH loves it with dosa topped with some oil. I prefer to avoid coconuts in my food. To my personal opinion i feel it will increase the cholesterol level. This chutney doesn't need coconut. So if u wants to avoid coconut in ur food (just like me) this chutney is the best choice. And also it doesn't require much time. You can make it while steaming the idlis. Since we are grinding everything together there is no need to chop onion and tomatoes finely. If u likes the mint and coriander flavor, try adding it. I love the mint version of this chutney. 

Preparation and Cooking time: 5-7 minutes

Chilli Paneer Recipe - Dry Version

Chilli Paneer Recipe - Dry Version

I am an addictive personality of paneer.  I knew it has high protein and fat in it but still can’t control eating it.  Very often I make paneer side-dishes for chapathis. TH loves Kadai paneer so much and I wanted to make some different out of paneer. Last week we had chilli chicken in the nearby Indian restaurant and it was awesome. I wanted to make it at home. I had some left over paneer cubes in my fridge, so replaced chicken with paneer  This time we had with jeera rice instead with the usual chapathi 

Preparation time: 15minutes(includes deep frying)

Cooking time: 7-10 minutes

Rava Kichadi - Sooji Kichadi - Semolina Kichadi

Rava Kichadi - Sooji Kichadi - Semolina Kichadi

Ahhh… Rava kichadi  my favorite!!! I can live eating only dat. I love kichadis either done with rava or semiya… but unfortunately TH hates it  . So I rarely make it for dinner. The ultimate taste of kichadi is ghee… it will melt in ur mouth …. And I can’t resist myself from eating and I had 4-5 spoons while taking photos itself... I have served it with Tamilnadu Style Coconut Chutney (Recipe coming soon) 

Preparation time: 5minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Egg Podimas - Muttai Podimas

Egg Podimas - Muttai Podimas

The simplest and easiest side dish I can ever make is Egg podimas. Iam not a great fan of meen kuzhambu but still I always like to have it with this podimas.. Else I can eat as such.

You can also enjoy it by stuffing inside a chapathi or dosas, as like a masala dosa… If u really like garlic flavor try adding it. Amma used to add some vegetables like carrot, cauliflower, broad beans (avarakkai) to it.

Preparation time: 3-4 mins

Cooking time: 5 mins

Coorg Chicken

Coorg Chicken 

I don’t remember from where I got this recipe. When I was searching for some chicken recipes in my diary I got this recipe suddenly out in the middle of the page. This recipe doesn’t need the usual chillipowder, onions and tomatoes. Just marinating and frying makes the dish extra-ordinary. 

We enjoyed having it with jeera rice and even the usual sambhar and rasam are the best choice to accompany.

Preparation time: 2 hours (includes the marination time)

Cooking time: 30-45 minutes

Vangi Bath - Brinjal Rice

Vangi Bath - Brinjal Rice

My very first recipe which I learnt from my MIL. Before marriage I never tried this recipe out. Amma never used to make this recipe. I dono wat was the reason. But TH loves it and in my in-laws place they used to make it very often. It’s actually an easy recipe for making in a hurry-burry morning. My MIL used to make stuffed-brinjal dry curry in the same way. All these recipes are very new to me and I feel it sucks too much of oil in it. So I have reduced the frequency of making it.

Here I have used big-sized purple colored aubergine. To my opinion, green-colored small brinjal tastes too good for this recipe. 

Preparation time: 5 mins

Cooking time: 20-25 mins

Poondu-Milagu Kuzhambu - Kuzhambu Recipes

Poondu-Milagu Kuzhambu - Kuzhambu Recipes

The worst part in life is getting running nose and sore throat together. I have been going through my own worst-est ever part in my life...  haaaatcchhu….!!!  I neva used to take medicines for my running nose... I wonder from where this word “running nose” comes from ... is dat mean ur nose is running some where??  Aahha … leave dat... This is not a post about running nose … 

So ultimately I made this kuzhambu for my sore throat and on eating it with a spoon full of ghee on top makes me to feel heaven…  I served it with vazhakkai podimas

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Vegetable Biryani Recipe

Vegetable Biryani Recipe

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Fried Idli - Kaima Idli

Fried Idli - Kaima Idli 

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Cabbage korma - Cabbage kuruma

Cabbage korma - Cabbage kuruma

Ingredients

1 cup cabbage (finely chopped)

1 onion

2 green chillies

1tsp chilli powder

Salt

Oil

Coriander leaves (to garnish)

To grind

1tsp poppy seeds/kasa kasa

1tsp roasted gram/udacha kadalai

To temper

1 clove

1 cinnamon

1 bayleaf

Pudhina Rice - Mint Rice

Pudhina Rice - Mint Rice

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Vazhakkai podimas - Raw banana podimas

Vazhakkai podimas - Raw banana podimas

Preparation time: 3-5 minutes
Cooking time: 7-10 minutes

Garlic infused potato fry

Garlic infused potato fry

Most of us like potatoes when it is prepared in any form. Some like to be fried and I love to have it with rasam or with curd. I wanted to insist some garlic flavor in potatoes and I asked amma for the recipe which she makes rarely. As I said, this can be taken with sambar, rasam, curd and any rice of choice.

Always use coconut oil for making this recipe. It gives very good smell for the dish. I exactly dono whether it is a mallu based dish. So I dont want to name as “kerala style”. If u feel it is a kerala based dish kindly leave ur comments.

Preparation time: 3 minutes

Cooking time : 10 minutes

Serves: 2-3 

Chettinad Fish Fry - Chettinad meen varuval

Chettinad Fish Fry - Chettinad meen varuval

Before I start I need to tell this, am a great great fan of fish.  Either if it is a fry or gravy I can eat it as such. I badly need any non vegetarian food for my Sunday and mostly amma makes fish, since dats my first choice. And you know it is comparatively healthy when compared to other meat varieties  .Whenever amma makes fish I ll be the first person to taste it, even if it is hot on the tawa. Even am famous among my relatives as a fan of fish and they definitely include fish fry on the menu whenever I make a visit to their place. 

This recipe I have adapted from a cookery show and I haven’t tried it before. Once I tried, I could not able to resist myself. The flavor arrested me and I ate some pieces before taking the photo   

Here I have used catfish and it is really very soft. I have also tried with salmon and tilapia. Both are equally good. So, as like me enjoy ur Sunday with this delicious chettinad fish fry. 

Preparation time: 2 hrs
Cooking time : 30-45 mins 

Red Coconut Chutney

This chutney is TH’s favorite one. I always used to prepare it when I was in Chennai. Its goes great with dosas as well as idlis. My mom makes coconut chutney with green chillies and also with red chillies. Sambhar along with this chutney for hot, super soft idlis makes a perfect combination for weekend breakfast. I made it with grated frozen coconut since I don’t get fresh and good coconut here.

TH adds sesame oil on top of it along with idli-milagai podi for dosa. I don’t have any idea how it taste. But he loves it. Since we are giving a quick fry it can be stored for 1-2 days. 

Mutton Biryani - Mutton Dum Biryani - Lamb Biryani

Mutton Biryani - Mutton Dum Biryani - Lamb Biryani

No one will compromise anything with their mother’s preparation. Yes definitely I am one among them… my mom used to make biryani with seeraga sambha rice. Generally in South India people use seeraga sambha where as North Indians use basmathi rice for biryani. I have tried both the rice and they tastes well.  In dindugalthalapakkati they always use the authentic ingredients and prepare with seeraga sambha. I love the taste of it. But TH likes biryani when it is cooked with basmati rice. Hmmm....!!! Taste differs from person to person..

 I can say biryani is the easiest recipe, if u goes with the right procedure. I tried chicken biryani many times and it never ruined me. I have heard cooking mutton biryani is tedious. So I wanted to give it a try.Here in US we got lamb. Lamb is very tender and cooks easily. So I dint use pressure cooker and all that. I just boiled with some water. But, goat is not like dat. It needs to be pressure cooked. You can also marinate some masalas with the mutton pieces before cooking.

In this method I tried “dum” using dough. Generally people use charcoal on top to put dum. It is not  possible for me to do it here as my fire alarm will screw me here. So I have used wheat flour and made it as dough. I sealed biryani completely so that the flavor retains in it. 

Jeera Rice - Jeera Pulao

Jeera Rice - Jeera Pulao

One of the simplest and easiest meals I make whenever I feel lazy. This recipe jus needs maximum of 15-20 minutes. Cumin seeds itself have a lovely flavor in it. When you mix it with plain rice, the exotic flavor is really awesome. Since I wanted to enhance the flavor much more, I have used green peas and corn in it. The original recipe doesn’t require all this. It’s just the rice tempered with lots of jeera.

 I prefer to make this rice atleast in a month since jeera aids ur digestion process.  I sometimes make this for dinner along with chicken hariyali tikka or with kadai paneer.