Beetroot Quinoa

by Deerga // February 23, 2016 // No Comments

Today’s recipe is a continuation of my resolution to post healthy recipes as much as I can, going forward. Beetroot Quinoa is a dish made from a well known legume, beetroot and a not so common grain variety called the Quinoa. Like I had described in one of my earlier posts, Quinoa is a South American grain crop well known for its edible seeds. Quinoa is a super food that is rich in calories and easily digestible. Beetroot, as you may all know, is a very good source of iron and vitamins.

Beetroot Quinoa is a very easy dish to make. It literally takes 15 minutes to prepare. Also, with the way it’s made, you can either have Beetroot Quinoa as is or have the cooked beetroot only with rice. Beetroot Quinoa is a cold food and can be retained by refrigeration, making it the go-to food for bachelors and single ladies that is if you want to have healthy food, if not there is always pasta and noodles :). Also, it is a very good menu for lunch box, especially for kids 🙂

For those who worry about getting Quinoa back home, no worries, Quinoa is quite popular there and is called as (Seemai Thinai, literally known as foreign grain 🙂 ). Don’t miss out trying this truly healthy food which I believe will be a good alternative to have once in a while amongst the mundane dishes that we have often.

Beetroot Quinoa

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Olive oil or cooking oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Urad dal – ¼ tsp
Curry leaves – half sprig
Onion, finely chopped – 1 no
Green chilli, finely chopped – 2 nos
Beetroot, medium, grated – 1 cup
Quinoa – 1 cup
Salt as required

Instructions

Wash and drain quinoa using strainer. Pressure cook for 3 whistles adding 1 ½ cups water and enough salt.
Heat a pan and add oil. Season with mustard seeds and urad dal.
Add finely chopped onions and sauté until they turn translucent.
Add chopped green chilli, and curry leaves. Give a quick stir.
Now add in finely grated beetroot. Add enough salt and sauté well. Drizzle few drops of water (2 tbsp) on top, cover and cook for 5 to 8 minutes.
Open the lid and sauté until all the water is absorbed. you can have this as a side or poriyal.
Finally add cooked quinoa and mix well. Enjoy the yummy beetroot quinoa with papad! 

Notes

you can substitute quinoa and add rice instead.i.e beetroot rice.

Pav Bhaji

by Deerga // July 30, 2015 // No Comments

Pav Bhaji is synonymous to Mumbai, next only to Bollywood. It is a type of street food that is sold in road side eateries in India just like gyros in New York City. Pav Bhaji is made of toasted bread roll and spicy vegetable curry usually made of potatoes, green peas and onions.

As with most street foods, the ease of making is one of the pluses here, apart from the taste. Unlike most Indian dishes, you don’t have to follow a specific sequence while adding the spices or take care when slicing the onions (there are specific ways to cut the onions depending on the dish you are making in Indian cuisine). I would call the making of Pav Bhaji an orderly messiness :), where you know what ingredients to add and when but you don’t care about the way you add them.

Pav Bhaji is very easy to make. You can customize the bhaji (vegetable curry) to suit your taste, like the vegetables you want to use and the spice level in the curry. Having hot Pav Bhaji with a cup of tea or coffee on a rainy evening is an experience to live for 🙂

Pav Bhaji

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 3

Ingredients

Unsalted butter – 3 to 4 tbsp, divided
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Onion, slits – 1 no , divided
Potato, medium – 3 nos
Tomato, big, slits – 1 no
Green peas, cooked – ¼ cup (I used frozen peas)
Pav bhaji masala – 1 to 1 1 ½ tsp ( I used sakthi brand )
Salt as required
Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder – ¼ tsp (optional)
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Cilantro, finley chopped – 3 tbsp

Instructions

Add enough water in a pressure cooker just to sink the potatoes and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Allow it to cool. Peel the skin and mash them using your clean hand or with a potato masher.
Heat a flat pan and add 2 tbsp of butter. Add in cumin seeds when the butter starts to melt.
Add ¾th of the thin sliced onions and sauté for few seconds until they turn translucent.
Add the mashed potato and mix well. Add little salt at this stage.
Now add thin sliced tomato into the mixture and saute well for couple of minutes or until well blended with potatoes.
Add in cooked green peas and mix well.
Add in pav bhaji masala and mix well. Saute them for a minute.
And finally add in the rest of the masalas. Mix well until all the masalas are well coated. At this stage you could add some more butter if needed. Sauté and cook for another 5 minutes.
Switch off the flame and garnish with finely chopped cilantro.
Heat a small skillet and add very little butter. When the butter starts to melt, toast the pav ( I used Pepperidge wheat bread slider) on one side until they turn slightly brown.
Serve the pav along with bhaji with a thin slice of butter on top. I like to have it with some onions on the side as well. Enjoy! 

Notes

1.You do not need to finely chop the onions and tomatoes for this recipe.
2.I used kashmiri chilli powder just for the color. You can totally skip that.
3.You can just have them by filling the bhaji on the middle of the sliders with some onions. I like to have them by just taking a piece of pav/bread and scoop some bhaji with some onions.

KADALAI PARUPPU CHUTNEY

by Deerga // August 3, 2014 // No Comments

Kadalai Paruppu chutney or chana dal chutney is a popular side dish to idli and dosa in south Indian homes. It is my HB’s favorite chutney. I normally prefer onion chutney but do try other varieties as well. During my recent visit to India, my MIL prepared Kadalai Paruppu chutney and after having it, I realized how much I missed it. And now, it has joined to my list of chutneys to go for when there is a time constraint 🙂 Kadalai Paruppu chutney, though is had with idli and dosa, it really goes well with idli. It is easy to make and tasty as well. Kadalai Paruppu chutney with idli, podi and gingely oil is a combination that has to be tried at least once :). As I had mentioned above, even though it is popular in South Indian homes, I have never seen it served in restaurants!? (or I might not have recognized it when served ;)) The main ingredient in Kadalai Paruppu chutney, as the name suggests, is kadalai paruppu. As with all other tasty dishes, there is a slight drawback to this chutney as well, i.e., fat. Kadalai paruppu is one of the grams that is used to extract oil and hence the fat content. However, having tasty chutneys once in a while is a welcome relief to otherwise mundane dishes, what say? Do try this recipe in your home and share your thoughts.

KADALAI PARUPPU CHUTNEY | CHANA DAL CHUTNEY

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: Indian

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 3

Ingredients

Oil – ½ tbsp
Chana dal or kadalai paruppu – 2 tbsp
Shallots – 3 nos
Red chilli – 2 nos
Tomato – 1 no
Grated coconut – 1 tbsp
Salt as required

To temper:

Oil- ½ tbsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Urad dal – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – 5 nos

Instructions

Heat a flat pan with oil and add chana dal (kadalai paruppu). Stir for a minute and add roughly chopped shallots. Sauté well and add red chilli and chopped tomato.
Add salt and sauté for couple of minutes.
Allow them to cool and blend it along with grated coconut.
Transfer the kadalai paruppu chutney to a serving bowl and do the seasoning. Enjoy it with hot idlis along with idli podi on the side!

Notes

Do not fry the chana dal for so long. Add onions before the chana dal turn brown. The right state is when the chana dal turns white around the corners.

CHILLI PAROTTA

by Deerga // July 3, 2014 // 1 Comment

Chilli parotta is an amazing dish that is a worthy contender to its non vegetarian counterpart, Kothu parotta. Chilli parotta is a vegetarian entree made with shredded parottta and masala (in a paste form).

My earliest recollection of chilli parotta are those family outings where my dad used to get me chilli parotta to be had at home – only for me to finish it off on the way home:). I don’t recall having chili parotta of similar taste since then, of course, except for the one I make ;). Also, my HB is a very big fan of my recipe that he had declared that he has never tasted this good anywhere else!!!

There is a healthier version of chili parotta too where you don’t deep fry the parotta but just add it as is. Restaurants deep fry the parotta and to be honest, deep frying the parotta makes a huge difference in the taste. Normally, you don’t need a side dish for chili parotta but onion raitha goes well with it.

Try this awesome dish at your home and let me know your comments.

4.0 from 1 reviews

CHILLI PAROTTA

Recipe type: Dinner

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

For the batter:

All purpose flour – 1 cup
Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Chicken 65 masala – 1 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp (couple of pinches)
Red food color – a pinch

To grind:

Coconut – 3 tbsp (1/2 cup)
Cashews – 1 tbsp
Poppy seeds – 2 tbsp

For the masala:

Oil – 2 tbsp
Whole spices – 4 cardamom, 1” cinnamon, 4 cloves
Onion, medium, chopped – 1 no
Curry leaves – ½ a sprig
Tomato, medium size, chopped – ½
Ginger – Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
Chicken 65 masala – 1 ½ tsp
Water – 1 cup
Salt as required
Red food color – a pinch
Oil – to deep fry
Parottas, cut lengthwise – 4 nos
Cilantro – for garnishing
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp

Instructions

Step 1:

Mix all the batter ingredients given above with enough water and make a thick batter – Batter should not be too thick or too thin. The right consistency is the bajji batter.
Grind the above ingredients to a thick paste and keep it ready.

Step 2:

Heat a wide pan with oil and add the whole spices. When they start to sizzle add in the chopped onions and curry leaves together.
When the onions turn translucent add in the chopped tomato and sauté well for a couple of minutes.
Now add in the ginger – garlic paste. Sauté until the raw aroma disappears. Add all the powders give a quick stir and add a cup of water. Add salt and food color and bring them to boil.
Add the ground coconut paste to the masala and sauté well. cook until they blend together and ooze out on the rim.

Step 3:

Heat oil in another pan to deep fry the parattas.
While the oil is getting hot, cut the parottas lengthwise.
Dip the parotta pieces one by one to the batter and deep fry them. Repeat for all the parotta pieces – Do not soak the parottas for more than a second. Just dip it and deep fry it right away. Otherwise the parottas become more soggy and it would be hard to hold while frying.
Drain on a plate lined with paper napkin and allow them to cool.

Step 4:

Cut the fried parottas to the desired size pieces.
Heat the masala that is made in step 2. Add in the fried parotta pieces to the masala and mix well.
Switch off the flame when the masala is well blended with the parottas.
Garnish with cilantro. Drizzle few drops of lemon juice on top and serve it hot. Enjoy the chilli parotta with onion raitha on the side!

KOTHU CHILLI DOSA

by Deerga // July 2, 2014 // 2 Comments

Tired of having the same old idli and dosa? Worried about what chutney to make for dosa or idli? Worry not, kothu chilli dosa will save the day. Kothu chilli dosa is a variety of dosa made with regular dosa and masala.

I came across kothu chilli dosa recipe on the internet and was intrigued by it. Naturally, I tried it right away and it turned out to be awesome. Kothu chilli dosa is easy to make and most importantly does not require any sort of accompaniment, like chutney or sambar to it. Also, for health conscious folks out there, you can customize your masala with vegetables like broccoli or zucchini instead of potato.

Kothu chilli dosa can be made using regular dosa batter or a substitute that consists of gram flour. I personally prefer dosa batter and the recipe below uses the same. Having shredded kothu chilli dosa with onions sprinkled over is a taste that you should try at least once 🙂
And without further delay, here is the recipe for the wonderful kothu chilli dosa.

5.0 from 1 reviews

KOTHU CHILLI DOSA

Recipe type: Dinner

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Dosas (preferably uthapam) – 5
Oil – 3 tbsp
Onion, chopped – 1 no , divided
Ginger- Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Tomato, medium size, chopped – 1 no
Green chilli, chopped – 2 nos
Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
Salt as required
Cilantro , chopped – 5 tbsp

Instructions

Shred the dosas to desired size pieces and keep it aside.
Heat a pan with oil and add onions. Sauté until they turn translucent - Add enough oil so that you don’t have to add water later on.
Add in ginger – garlic paste and sauté until the raw aroma disappears. Now add the chopped green chillies and cilantro. Give it a stir and add tomatoes.
Reduce the flame and cook the tomatoes well (without any chunks). Add all the powders and give a quick stir. Cook until the oil ooze out – Do not add water.
Finally add in the shredded dosa pieces to the tomato sauce and give it a stir. Switch off the flame when the dosas are well blended with the tomato sauce. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Sprinkle few drops of lemon juice and onions on top and serve it hot. Enjoy!

Notes

1.Add enough oil in the beginning so that you don’t have to add water later on.
2.Having the kothu chilli dosa with onions adds more taste to this dish.