Adai - Protein Dosa

Nutritional Info - Legumes are an excellent source of easily digestible protein, fiber, iron, folic acid, and other B vitamins. Legumes are rich in soluble fiber, which has been shown to help improve insulin resistance. Legumes contain low levels of sodium and high levels of potassium, calcium and magnesium - a combination that is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. Folate, a mineral also found in abundance in legumes, is thought to reduce blood levels of homocysteine, a compound that can boost heart disease risk.



Adai is an authentic South Indian main dish made with a combination of rice and lentils. It can be had for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Cooking Time : 20 min

Preparation Time : 10-20 min

Serves 4 to 6.







Ingredients



Thoor Dhal - 1/2 cup

Channa Dhal - 1/2 cup

Whole green moong - 1 cup

Brown Rice - 1 cup

Split Urad Dhal - handful

Green or Red chilly - 1 or to taste

Salt to taste

Ginger - 1 inch piece.

Curry leaves - handful

Asafoetida - 1 small piece.

Onion - 1 finely chopped.

Oil

Water





Method to make Adai



1) Rinse and soak the rice and dhal together for 2-3 hours.

2) Drain the water from the rice/dhal and add the ginger, curry leaves, green or red chilly, asafoetida and salt.

3) Use a blender and grind the above to little coarse mixture.

4) Add the chopped onions or you can use your own variation of grated cabbage, carrot, scallion etc to the batter.

5) Heat the iron griddle and pour a ladle full of the batter and make a round dosa, put a small hole(circle shape) in the center of the batter,

as it will evenly and quickly cook.

6) Pour a tsp of oil and once it is cooked on one side , turn and place the other side of the adai and remove it once cooked.

7) Serve it with avial, sambhar, chutney, milagai/Chutney powder.

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Brown Rice Pongal

Good to Know -

Brown rice contains complex carbohydrate that provides 15 essential nutrients, including B-vitamins, niacin and potassium. Brown rice is a very good source of selenium, which is essential for thyroid hormone metabolism and immune function. Selenium is an antioxidant that helps in DNA repair. Lab tests have shown that selenium can inhibit proliferation of cancer cells by inducing them to undergo apoptosis, or programmed cell death.

Cooking Time: 30 min

Preparation Time: 5-10 min

Serves – 2



 Ingredients

 Brown basmati Rice - 1 cup

Moong Daal - 3/4 cup

Ginger grated – 1/2 tsp

Green Chilly – 1 to 2 (optional)



Tempering



Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Cumin- 1/2 tsp

Curry Leaves - few

Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Ghee - 1 tablespoon

Grated ginger – ½ tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste



Method of Preparation

 1) Soak brown rice overnight or atleast a minimum of 1hour, it is not mandatory to soak but soaking brown rice adds one more amino acid and makes it easily digestible.

2) Add moong daal and rinse and add water (for 1 cup rice i use 2 1/2 water and 1 cup daal - 1 cup of water).

3) Add green chilly, half of grated ginger, half of asafoetida and salt and pressure cook the dhal and rice.

4) Remove the cooked daal and rice and mash it using a potato masher.

5) Heat oil and add mustard seeds, once they stop spluttering add black pepper, cumin, asafoetida, and ginger and curry leaves.

6) Add this to rice and dhal and add ghee and pongal is ready to serve.



Note - If you want to thicken it further put the mashed pongal on a stove top on a low heat and simmer till it thickens to your consistency, if you want it little thinner add more water and salt and simmer for 2-3 to three minutes. Once the pongal starts cooling down, it will thicken automatically.



Pongal is a South Indian main dish prepared with rice and lentil, instead of using white rice i substituted it with brown rice for a healthier version.

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Avial(Vegetables in Coconut & Yogurt Sauce)

Know What you Eat : Coconut oil is very useful in reducing weight. It contains short and medium-chain fatty acids that help in taking off excessive weight. It is also easy to digest and it helps in healthy functioning of the thyroid and enzymes systems. Further, it increases the body metabolism by removing stress on pancreases, thereby burning out more energy and helping obese and overweight people reduce their weight. Hence, people living in tropical coastal areas, who eat coconut oil daily as their primary cooking oil, are normally not fat, obese or overweight.



Avial is an authentic South Indian side dish cooked with vegetables, grind coconut, green chili and yogurt.









Cooking Time: 20 mins

Preparation Time: 15 mins

Serves : 4 to 6



Ingredients





Cooking banana - 1

Carrot - 1

Small Egg plant - 3

Beans - 1 handful

Bell pepper - 1/2

White pumpkin - 1 Big sized piece.

Green Peas - 1/2 cup

Drumstick - 1

Coconut oil - 2 table spoon

Curry leaves - few

Coconut - 1/2 fresh coconut.

Sour Yogurt - 1/2 cup

Green chilly - 3-4 or to taste

Rice flour - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - pinch

Salt





Coconut Oil - 4 tsps

Curry Leaves - 3 or 4 stalks



Method



1) Cut cooking banana, Carrot, Egg plant, green beans, bell pepper, drumstick pieces and white pumpkin into length wise pieces. Add peas and little bit of water, cook covered with salt and pinch of turmeric.



2) Keep stirring and add water little by little. Make sure not to add lot of water to the vegetables, as the covered vegetables with salt will become watery and the consistency will not come out good.



3) Once the vegetables are well cooked grind the fresh coconut along with the green chili and rice flour and add it to the cooked vegetables.



4) Add the coconut oil and curry leaves and simmer for few minutes to enhance the flavor.



5) Switch off the stove and once it is little cooled add the sour yogurt and mix it thoroughly.

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Lemon Rasam(Soup)

Rasam is a spicy, tangy South Indian soup prepared with tamarind juice or lemon along with pepper and other spices.

Know what you Eat - A half-cup of juice meets 100% of the RDA for vitamin C.

Cooking Time: 10 to 15 mins

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Serves : 2 to 3

Ingredients

1 Small sized tomato chopped into pieces

Green chilly - 1 (if you want really spicy increase it)

Chopped Ginger - 1 tsp

Chopped Cilantro - 2 table spoons

Asafoetida - 1 small piece or 1/2 tsp

Water - 3 cups

Cooked thoor dhal along with turmeric powder - 1/2 cup

Rasam powder - 1 tsp

Lemon - Juice of half lemon (Increase this if you want to taste it more tangy)

Tempering

Oil - 1/2 tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Garnishing

Chopped Cilantro - 1 tsp

1) In a pan combine water, tomato pieces, green chilli, asafoetida, rasam powder, cilantro, ginger,salt and boil for about 10 minutes.

2) Once the tomato pieces are well cooked, add the cooked toor dhal and let this boil for 2 minutes till the dhal is well combined. Switch off.

3) Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, once they stop spluttering transfer it to the cooked tomato dhal mixture.

4) Let this cool for few minutes then add the lemon juice and garnish with cilantro.

5) When the rasam is boiling hot, do not add the lemon juice as it will become bittter.

6) Cilantro is normally used only for garnishing at the end, but when boiled along with all the spices the aroma will be awesome.

This dish is our contribution to RCI-Pondicherry Cuisine, hosted by Lavi as an entry from Tamil Nadu. RCI was originally started by Lakshmi.

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Low fat Channa dal(Bengal Gram) Fritters

Know what you Eat : Channa Dal(Bengal gram) is very high in protein and very low in glycemic index. This bean looks just like yellow split peas, but is quite different because it doesn't readily boil down to mush. It's more closely related to garbanzo beans, or chickpeas. The differences are that chana dal is younger, smaller, split, sweeter, and has a much lower glycemic index. You can substitute chana dal for garbanzo beans in just about any recipe.

Preparation Time : 5 mins

Cooking Time : 10 mins

Serves : Around 15 fritters

Ingredients

Channa dal - 1 cup

Chopped cabbage - 1/2 cup

Chopped mint leaves - 1/4 cup

Chopped onion - 1/4 cup

Green chilli - 1 or to taste

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

I am using the appam pan for years. I use different batters to make sweet and veggie appams. But have never tried out with vada batter. I found this interesting recipe in Uma's blog and tried it out immediately.

Method

1) Soak channa dal in warm water for four hours.

2) Add green chilli,salt, little bit of water and grind to get a thick batter.

3) Add the chopped cabbage, onion and mint leaves to the batter.

4) Heat the appam pan and put a drop of oil in each of groove and pour the batter.

5) Cover the appam pan for few minutes and once one side is cooked and golden in color flip over.

6) Once the other side is cooked, remove and serve it with ketchup, chutney or sambar of your choice.

Vadai is a South Indian deep fried snack and instead of deep frying i made it in appam pan to get a low fat version.

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Mixed Vegetable Uthappam(Savoury Lentil & Rice Pancake stuffed with Vegetables) & Cilantro(Kothamalli) Chutney

Know what you Eat - Uthappam is Savoury pancake like dish made out of rice and lentil batter stuffed with vegetables. It is a one pot meal with carb, protein and the goodness of vegetables and coconut. The lentil (Urad Dal) is a bean grown in Souther Asia and is black in color. This lentil is a very good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber and are of special benefit in managing blood-sugar disorders since their high fiber content prevents blood sugar levels from rising rapidly after a meal. This lentisl are also a good source of two B-vitamins, protein and iron with with virtually no fat. The dehusked lentil is used in this dish and will be available in any Asian Indian store. Brightly colored vegetables are rich sources of some of the best nutrients available. Vegetables are a powerful source of antioxidants. These antioxidants work together to effectively neutralize free radicals, which can travel through the body causing huge amounts of damage to cells. Free radicals are major players in the build up of cholesterol in the arteries that leads to atherosclerosis and heart disease, the nerve and blood vessel damage seen in diabetes.

Cilantro is a good source of Iron and magnesium and is rich in phytonutrients, flavonoids and active phenolic acid compounds, all of which are good for you. They also contain contain an antibacterial compound that may prove to be a safe, natural means of fighting Salmonella, a frequent and sometimes deadly cause of foodborne illness.

Uthappam is savoury lentil & rice South Indian pancake stuffed with vegetables.

Cooking Time - 20 mins
Preparation Time - 10 mins(Excluding the batter)

Ingredients for Uthappam

White Urad Dal(White Lentil) - 1 cup
Boiled Rice(Idli rice - This is not polished white rice and will be slightly brown in color) - 2 1/2 cups
Salt to taste

Batter - 1 1/2 cups
Finely Chopped vegetables packed - 1 cup(Onion, Red & Green Bell Pepper, Grated Carrot)
Chopped Cilantro - 2 tbsp
Chopped Coconut pieces - 2 tbsp(not grated coconut)
Grated Ginger - 2 tsp
Finely Chopped Green Chilli - 1 tsp(optional)
Oil - 6 tsp

Method

1) Rinse and drain Urad dal till you get a clear water. Now soak in enough water for 2-3 hours.
2) Rinse and drain Idli rice and soak in enough water for 6 hours.
3) Using a stone grinder/blender grind the urad dal adding the soaked water little by little till you get a smooth fluffy batter.
4) Now grind the rice into a fine paste adding water little by little.
5) Mix the Urad dal batter, Rice batter and Salt and mix them thoroughly.
6) Leave it over night for the batter to ferment nicely, on cold winter days switch on the oven light and leave the batter inside the oven overnight. The heat from the light will make the batter to ferment.
7) I use this batter for making Idli as well as Uthappam and this batter can be served for 3-4 people for 3-4 days.
8) Combine the chopped vegetables, cilantro, ginger, coconut and little bit of salt
9) For making Uthappam, heat a iron griddle once hot take a ladle of batter and on the top spread a handful of chopped mixed vegetables and pour a tsp of oil around the batter.
10) Cover it and cook for 2-3 mins in medium heat and once once side is well cooked and the batter on the top has changed color flip and now cook the other side without covering for a minute.
11) Once well cooked remove and serve with chutney of your choice.
12) I make different chutneys and the one in the photo is cilantro chutney and the recipe is as follows.

Cilantro (Kothamalli) Chutney

Ingredients

Cilantro - 1 bunch
Red chilli - 4 to 6 or to taste
Split Urad Dal - 2 tbsp
Asafoetida piece - small one(don't add lot of it, the food will be flavorful but will give a bitter taste)
Tamarind - Gooseberry sized ball
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Sal to taste

Method

1) Chop the roots of the cilantro, wash, rinse and remove the thick stalks.
2) Now chop the cilantro leaves and thin stalks and keep it aside.
3) Soak the tamarind in little bit of hot water (1 tbsp) and set it aside.
4) Heat oil add mustard seeds, once they stop spluttering add asafoetida piece, red chilli and urad dal and saute till the dal slightly browns.
5) Now in a blender grind the red chilli, asafoetida and tamarind.
6) Now add the chopped cilantro and grind for few minutes(may be around 2 mins).
7) Add the roasted mustard seeds and urad dal to the cilantro and quickly grind once again for few seconds.
8) Serve it with Uthappam and enjoy

Event Participation

1) This goes to Dosa Corner event hosted by Padma.

2) This dish goes to MLLA-13th helping guest hosted by Sunshinemom, event started by Susan.

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Brown Rice Sambar Sadam(Brown Rice, Pegion Pea in Vegetable Stew)

Know what you Eat - Brown rice is good source of complex carbohydrate. It provides 15 essential nutrients, including B-vitamins, niacin and potassium. Brown rice is a very good source of selenium, which is essential for thyroid hormone metabolism and immune function. Pigeon peas are nutritionally important, as they contain high levels of protein and three important amino acids.

This is a one pot of South Indian dish prepared with rice & lentil. But i replaced the white rice with brown rice. This dish is a well balanced dish with complex carbohydrates, protein and the goodness of all the vegetables. Even though it has so many ingredients, when planned right it is the simplest dish with all the nutrition I normally soak brown rice and tamarind overnight, while the brown rice and dal gets coooked, i make the tempering, sambar powder, garnishing and boil the vegetables and keep it ready. Once the cooker is open, then combine all the ingredients and leave it in the stove top and the dish is ready.

Preparation Time - 10 mins
Cooking Time - 30 mins
Serves - 6

Ingredients

Brown Basmati Rice - 1 Cup
Toor Dal - 1 Cup
Water -5 cups
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp


For the sambar

Tamarind - Gooseberry size ball
Pearl Onions - Around 10
Bell pepper Green, Red - 1/2 each
Carrot - 1
Peas - 1/4 Cup
Pumpkin Chopped - 6 (each 1 inch piece)
Green Beans chopped - 1/2 cup
Water for sambar
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp


Sambar Powder

Channa Dal(Bengal Gram) - 2 Table spoons
Coriander Seeds - 1 Table spoon
Red chilli - 4 or to taste
Cinnamon Stick - 2(each 1 inch piece)
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
Grated Coconut - 2 table spoons
Oil - 1/2 tsp

Tempering

Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asaofoetida powder - pinch
Green chilli - 1
Curry leaves - 2 tbsp

Garnishing

Ghee(Clarified Butter) - 2 tsp
Cashew - 2 tsp
Roasted Peanuts - handful
Cilantro - handful

Method

1) Soak Brown Basmati Rice atleast for an hour in warm water or you can soak it overnight too, soaking improves digestion and includes one more amino acid profile to the nutrition contents.
2) Soak Tamarind ball in little bit of water and keep it aside.
3) Add Toor dal, turmeric powder and water put in pressure cooker and leave it for 4 whistles and simmer it for 5 minutes and switch off.
4) While the brown rice is getting cooked, add 1 tsp of oil in a pan and heat it.
5) Once the oil is hot add the pearl onions and saute for 5 minutes, then add all the vegetables, salt, turmeric powder and just enough water to cook it.
6) Once vegetables are 3/4 cooked add the tamarind pulp and let it boil for 5 more minutes then switch off.
7) Heat a pan, add 1/2 tsp oil then roast all the ingredients for the sambar powder except the coconut. Once all the ingredients are slightly browned then add the grated coconut, saute for 2 minutes and then switch off. Let this cool for a while and grind it into a fine powder and then add it to the boiled vegetable mixture.
8) Now let us finish of the tempering, heat 2 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds, once they stop spluttering add asafoetida, green chilli, fenugreek and curry leaves and then add it to the vegetable mixture. (Adding green chilli to tempering enhances the flavor)
9) Once the brown rice and dal is cooked, remove it and mash it with a masher and then add the vegetable mixture which has the sambar powder and tempering and leave it in the stove top for 5 minutes till all the spices are well mixed and switch off.
10) Garnish with ghee roasted cashews, roasted peanuts and cilantro and serve with Raita of your choice.

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Mixed Vegetable Appam

Know what you Eat : Choosing dark green vegetable ensures calcium and other nutrients, while red and orange veggies give us beta carotene, lycopene and other antioxidants. Now we know the importance of colorful vegetables; it turns out there are thousands of phytochemicals that pour the benefits into our food. Don't forget the onions, the allium family of vegetable is instrumental in addressing elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol, as well as bacteria and yeast infections.

Preparation Time : 10 mins

Cooking Time : 15 mins

Serves : Makes around 10 appams.

Ingredients

Idli Batter - 1 Cup

Chopped vegetables - 1 1/2 cups (Onion, bell pepper(green,red,orange,yellow), carrot, beans

Chopped coconut - 1 tbsp (chop coconut into small pieces(don't grate) will give a crunchy taste)

Grated ginger - 1/2 tsp

Chopped curry leaves - 1 tsp

Chopped Cilantro leaves - 1 tsp

salt to taste

Oil - 2 tsp

Method

1)Heat 1 tsp of oil and add curry leaves, ginger, onion, beans, carrot, bell pepper, salt and saute till they are half cooked.

2) Now add the half cooked vegetables to the idli batter, cilantro leaves and chopped coconut pieces and mix thoroughly.

3) Heat the appam pan and put a drop of oil in each of the groove and pour the batter evenly in all of them.

4) Cover and cook till one side turns golden in color (covering will make the appams to cook quickly).

5) Flip over and leave till the other side is well cooked, remove from appam pan.

6) Serve with chutney, sambar or ketchup of your choice as a quick guilt free snack.

This South Indian snack  is our entry to WYF Quick Meals event hosted by EC.

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Mixed Vegetable with Mung Beans & Spices (Gothsu)

Know what you Eat : Want to color your life healthy? Brightly colored vegetables, whether green, red, orange or yellow, are rich sources of some of the best nutrients available. These antioxidants work together to effectively neutralize free radicals, which can travel through the body causing huge amounts of damage to cells. Free radicals are major players in the build up of cholesterol in the arteries.

Gothsu is an authentic side South Indian dish prepared with vegetables, cooked lentils and spice.

Preparation Time : 15 mins
Cooking Time : 20 mins
Serves : 4
 Ingredients

Carrot - 1
Onion (medium) - 1
Potato (small) - 1
Beans - handful
Bell Pepper(Red,Green, Yellow) - 1
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Curry leaves - few
Green Chilly - 2 or to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Channa Dal - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - small piece
Tamarind - goose berry size ball
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste.

Garnishing

Chopped cilantro - 2 tbsp

Method

1) Soak tamarind in water.
2) Cook the moong dal and keep it ready.
3) Heat the oil add mustard seeds.
4) After they splutter completely add asafoetida, channa dal, after the dal browns add curry leaves, ginger pieces, green chilli and onion.
5) Once the onion changes color add the chopped carrot, egg plant, beans, bell pepper and potato pieces.
6) Add turmeric powder, salt and sauté till the vegetables are well cooked.
7) Once the vegetables are cooked squeeze out the tamarind pulp and add it along with enough water to the vegetables.
8) Boil it for 5 minutes and add the mashed mooing dal and simmer it for a minute or two and switch off.
9) Garnish with chopped cilantro.
10) This can be served with Idly, Pongal or Dosa.


This dish is our contribution to RCI-Pondicherry Cuisine, hosted by Lavi as an entry from Tamil Nadu. RCI was originally started by Lakshmi.

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Quick Sambar (Stew)

Sambar is a vegetable stew based on a broth made with tamarind and yellow lentils and a very popular South Indian dish.

Know what you Eat: Lentils are one of the best vegetable sources of iron. This makes them an important part of a vegetarian diet, and useful for preventing iron deficiency. Iron is particularly important for adolescents and pregnant women, whose requirements for it are increased.
 Cooking Time: 15 min
Preparation Time: 15 min
Serves: 4

Ingredients

Tamarind – Goose berry size ball
Green chilly – 2 or to taste
Onion – 1 medium sized chopped lengthwise
Tomato – 1 medium sized finely chopped
Garlic (optional) – 2 peeled and crushed cloves
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Cooked Toor Dhal – 1 cup
Asafoetida – 1 small piece
Curry leaves – few
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Quick Sambhar powder – 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil – 1 tsp
Water


For Quick Sambar powder

Cumin seeds – 4 tsp
Coriander seeds – 4 tsp

I got this recipe from one of my friend long time back. This is very easy to make and very delicious and goes very well with Idli, Dosa and Vada. The consistency should be slightly watery than the regular sambar.

1) Dry roast cumin seeds and coriander seeds till they are nicely toasted, make sure they don’t become black and let it cool and powder it and keep it aside. You can take just 1 tsp each of cumin and coriander and dry roast, but in lot of blenders you can’t make a fine powder if the contents fall below the blade level and can only get a coarse powder. You can make this powder and use two tsp for now and store the rest for later use.
2) Soak tamarind in some water.
3) Heat a pan add oil, once the oil becomes hot add the mustard seeds and the asafoetida piece.
4) After the mustard seeds splutter well add the chilly, garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add the sliced onion and curry leaves.
5) Once the onions turn translucent add the tomato pieces, turmeric powder and salt, sauté till the tomato pieces are half cooked.
6) Now squeeze out the tamarind pulp from the soaked tamarind with just enough water and add it to the above, let this boil for 5 minutes.
7) Combine the quick sambar powder to the cooked dhal and mix it thoroughly without any lumps and add it to the above. Add water if required, the consistency of this sambar should be slightly thin then the regular sambar. Stir and cook for 5 more minutes.
8) Switch off and garnish with chopped cilantro and the sambar is ready to serve.

This dish is our contribution to RCI-Pondicherry Cuisine, hosted by Lavi as an entry from Tamil Nadu. RCI was originally started by Lakshmi.

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Garlic Rasam

Good to Know - Garlic is thought to play a role in providing natural protection against some forms of cancer, and the compounds in this herb continue to be studied as possible cancer treatments. It is thought that many of the compounds found in garlic have the ability to neutralize many cancer causing compounds, and that the compounds found in garlic may even be able to slow the growth of tumors.

Rasam is a South Indian soup cooked with spices, lentil and tamarind or lemon juice.
Cooking Time: 10 min

Preparation Time: 5 min

Serves: 3

Ingredients

Tamarind - 1 small lemon size ball.
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp or to taste
Garlic - 8 cloves
Curry leaves

Oil/ Ghee - 1/2 tsp


To Grid (Rasam Masala)

Red Chilli – 1 (or to taste)
Black pepper - 1tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 3/4 stalks
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Ghee – ½ tsp

Tempering

Ghee – ½ tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Method

1) Soak tamarind in warm water for a while and once soaked squeeze the juice thoroughly and filter and keep it.
2) Heat the ghee and roast Black Pepper, Jeera, Red Chilly and curry leaves and set them aside.
5) Chop the tomato and keep it aside, crush the garlic slightly without making them to pieces.
6) Now heat 1/2 tsp oil and add the crushed garlic and saute till they turn golden.
7) Add the tamarind juice, salt, asafoetida and tomato pieces and boil for till the tomato and garlic is cooked.
8) Mix the cooked horse gram and the roasted pepper, jeera, red chilly and curry leaves into a fine paste and add it to boiling mixture.
9) If the mixture is thick add little more water and boil it for another 5 minutes till all the spices are well mixed.
10) Heat the 1/2 tsp ghee and add cumin seeds and once they splutter turn golden add it to rasam.

This dish is our contribution to RCI-Pondicherry Cuisine, hosted by Lavi as an entry from Tamil Nadu. RCI was originally started by Lakshmi.

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Kollu Rasam

Good to Know - Horse gram is a very healthy legume and is one of the home remedies for cold and body aches.

Rasam is a South Indian soup cooked with spices, lentil and tamarind or lemon juice.


Cooking Time : 15 min
Preparation Time : 10 min
Serves : 4

Ingredients

Kollu (Horse Gram) - 4 tbsp
Tamarind - 1 small lemon size ball.
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp or to taste
Garlic - 5/6 cloves (optional)
Tomato - 1/2
Curry leaves
Asafoetida - 1 small piece or if using powder 1/2 tsp


To Grid (Rasam Masala)

Red Chilli – 2 (or to taste)
Black pepper - 1tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 3/4 stalks

Tempering

Oil - 1 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Garnishing

Chopped cilantro – 2 table spoons

Method

1) Soak tamarind in warm water for a while and once soaked squeeze the juice thoroughly and filter and keep it.
2) Dry roast the horse gram till it is well roasted, watch carefully as it will burn out very quickly.
3) Remove the horse gram and pour enough water to immerse it and pressure cook it along with rice or whatever you cook. Once cooked filter any excess water
and keep this aside
4) Dry roast Black Pepper, Jeera, Red Chilly and curry leaves and set them aside.
5) Chop the tomato and keep it aside, crush the garlic slightly without making them to pieces.
6) Now heat 1/2 tsp oil and add the crushed garlic and saute till they turn golden.
7) Add the tamarind juice, salt, asafoetida and tomato pieces and boil for till the tomato and garlic is cooked.
8) Mix the cooked horse gram and the roasted pepper, jeera, red chilly,curry leaves and grind into a fine paste and add it to boiling mixture.
9) If the mixture is thick add little more water and boil it for another 5 minutes till all the spices are well mixed.
10) Heat the remaining oil and add mustard seeds and once they splutter add it to the rasam.
11) Garnish with cilantro and serve.

This dish is our contribution to RCI-Pondicherry Cuisine, hosted by Lavi as an entry from Tamil Nadu. RCI was originally started by Lakshmi.

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EggPlant Gothsu (Side dish for Pongal,Idly etc)

Good to Know - An eggplant, which is commonly referred to as a brinjal or an aubergine is a fruit that is native to India. The fruit, which contains small, edible seeds, is generally used as a vegetable in cooking. Eggplants have low calorie content and are good sources of vitamin C, potassium and calcium.

Gothsu is a South Indian side dish cooked with vegetables, tamarind, spice and some times with the addition of cooked bean/lentil.

Cooking Time: 20 min

Preparation Time: 10 min

Serves – 4



Ingredients



Egg Plant (small) - 4 to 5

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Onion (medium) - 1

Curry leaves - few

Green chilly - 2 to 3 or to taste

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad Dhal - 1/2 tsp

Channa dhal - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - small piece

Tamarind - goose berry size ball.

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Rice Flour - 1 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste.



Garnishing



Chopped Cilantro – 2 tablespoons





This is normally made by roasting the egg plant and peeling the skin and using the pulp inside. The eggplant I had was too small to roast and I didn’t have the time to bake it and peel and take the pulp out.



Method



1) Soak Tamarind in water.

2) Heat Oil and add mustard seeds, once they splutter well add urad dhal, channa dhal, and asafoetida.

3) Once the dhal brown a little add green chilly, chopped ginger, onion pieces and curry leaves.

3) Cut the egg plant into small pieces and add it to the above.

4) Now add turmeric powder and salt and cover it for a while till the egg plant gets cooked.

5) Once it is cooked squeeze out the tamarind pulp from the soaked tamarind using water and add it to the egg plant mixture.

6) This should be in-between consistency of rasam and sambhar, so add water accordingly.

7) Once the tamarind water boils well and the raw smell is gone, mix the rice flour in little bit of water and add the paste to this mixture.

8) Simmer for a minute or two till the gravy thickens and is not very watery and switch of and garnish serve with Pongal or Idli.

This dish is our contribution to RCI-Pondicherry Cuisine, hosted by Lavi as an entry from Tamil Nadu. RCI was originally started by Lakshmi.

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