Green brinjal kootu

Ingredients

Green brinjal - 2
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Masoor dal - 1 cup
Green chillies 1 slit
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Hing
Salt

Method

Chop brinjals onion and tomato. Steam dal and chopped brinjal together. Take a pan. Add oil. Sauté onion followed by tomato and green chillies. Then add steamed dal and brinjal. Add the remaining ingredients oone by one. Keep flame in medium and cook for about 5 minutes.

This Green brinjal kootu is an ideal side dish for dosa chapati or it can be had with rice too.

Moon Cakes

Ingredients:

Glutinous rice flour - 150 gm
Icing sugar - 150 gms
Extra Virgin Oilive Oil  (EVOO)  - 3 tsp
Water
Food colours

For moon cake filling:

Coconut milk moong bean paste

Moong dal - 200 gms
Caster sugar - 100 gms
coconut milk - 80 ml
Vegetable oil - 1 tsp
Wheat flour - 1 tbsp



Method:


Moon cake filling:

There are various types of fillings and i have chosen coconut milk moong bean paste.

Steam moong dal until soft. Make puree. Take a pan. Add puree,sugar,coconut milk, oil and salt. Cook over medium heat until the quantity is reduced by 2/3rds.

Add wheat flour slowly and combine the whole thing slowly until it it forms a thick paste soft paste.

Allow to cool completely.


For moon cake dough:

Roast Glutinous rice flour in a pan. Mix with icing sugar. Now add EVOO and  cold water and mix well until it reaches dough like consistency. Divide the dough in equal portions and mix food colours of your choice (Red, blue, light rose, green).

Make round balls then flatten it to place the moon cake filling in it. Close it and then place it in the moon cake mould. Then take it out and press the desired mould designs on top of it.

Chill before serving.

P.S. There is an item called Moon Cake Moulds available specifically  for the preparation of this sweet, you can purchase it. I have used bottle cap and it served the purpose too.

Instant Bread Utapam

Are you 'B'ready for this very different  stuff, colorful looking item? Very easy, quick and nutritious one.And by the way there is a deliberate use of misnomer here, though the title carries the word 'utapam' there is no use of dosa batter here. It is just that the appearance is suggestive of one. This is as relishing as http://preethskitchn.blogspot.com/2016/09/bread-pakoda.html.



Ingredients:

Carrot - 3 tsp (grated)
Tomato - 2 tsp (chopped)
Onion - 1 (chopped)
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup - finely chopped

To be grinded: 

Bread - 6 to 8 slices.
Curd - 1/4 cup
Semolina/Sooji - 1/4 cup
Maida - 3 tbsp.

Salt
Oil

Method:

Take a mixie jar and grind the ingredients given under ' To be grinded' to a smooth consistency. You can add 1/4 cup of water and it should be in the consistency of dosa batter. Then add the chopped vegetables followed by coriander leaves and salt. Along with other vegetables you can add capsicum too.

Mix the batter with the vegetables and coriander leaves nicely.

Take a tawa. Add a drizzle of oil and pour the batter as shown below.

Cook the way as you would for Utapam or dosa. Add a tsp of oil on all sides and then turn it over slowly and surround the Utapam with drops of oil again. Once cooked serve it Onion chutney. You can have it with tomato chutney too but i would prefer onion chutney.

Soya Maida Chips

Combination of Soya flour, Wheat and Maida and the goodness of black pepper corns and Jeera is sure to go down well in your throat. You can add carom seeds too. Enjoy this also as a evening tea time snack with a cup of piping hot adrak ka chai!



Ingredients:


Soya wheat flour - 11/4 cup
Maida - 1/4 cup
Black pepper corns and Cumin  - 2 tsp, each, grounded.
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Ghee
Salt

Oil for frying

Method:

Take a bowl and bring everything together one by one and knead with water to a smooth dough as shown below.

Then take a medium size portion from the dough. Roll it flat, Cut in to diamond shapes ready to be fried in oil.

Repeat the procedure for rest of the dough and store the chips in an air tight container.

I used Datar's Soya Wheat flour. If you can get soya flour separately use one cup of soya flour and add 1/4 cup wheat flour, the other ingredients remain the same.

Arrowroot Milk Cakes

Arrowroot milk cakes can be refrigerated for future consumption,but am only mentioning this considering the nature of the sweet as it contains milk and coconut, but there wont be any left as soon as they are ready for consumption. It simply melts in your mouth and the best part is that just takes 20 minutes or so to prepare...!



Ingredients:

Arrowroot powder - 1 cup
Milk - 500 ml (Reserve 1/2 cup to mix arrowroot powder)
Sugar - 275 gms
Coconut - 2 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Ghee for greasing

Suggested garnishing : Pistachios

Method:

Take 1/2 cup milk and mix the powder devoid of lumps. Boil the remaining quantity and lower the flame till the last stage of preparation. Add sugar. stir well. Add the arrowroot mix, along with coconut and cardamom powder and stir well. This has to be done really quickly as arrowroot powder tends to thicken pretty fast. Once you get a smooth consistency, transfer to a plate greased with ghee.

Take a flat ladle and spread it evenly. Allow it to cool really well. Cut into cubes. Garnish with pistachios or even almond pieces.