Masala Rava Idli 

Rava idlies are so soft and tasty, when infused with vegetables, they become healthier. Here we go, with our Masala Rava Idli 

The below measurements will make 14-16 idlies

Ingerients

1. Rava - 300 gms
2. Sour thick curd - 600 gms
3. Baking soda or Sodium Bi carbonate - 2 tsp
4, Salt to taste
5. Finely chopped carrot - 1/2 cup
6. Finely chopped beans - 1/2 cup
7. Finely chopped Capsicum - 1/2 cup
8. Finely chopped cabbage - 1/2 cup
9. Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
10. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tbsp
11. Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

To Temper

1. Mustard - 1 tbsp
2. Urad dhal - 1/2 tbsp
3. Channa dhal - 1/2 tbsp
4. Asafoetida - 1 tsp
5. Curry leaves - finely chopped
6. Dry red chilli - 2 nos

To Garnish:

1. Carrot - 1/2 cup grated
2. Chilli flakes - 2 tbsp
3. Cashews - few

Method :

1. In a Pan, Add a very little oil about half a teaspoon  and add all the vegetables.

2. Once they get cooked for a couple of minutes, Add the salt for vegetables alone, coriander powder, turmeric powder and chilli powder

3. Saute them well until the seasoning ingredients are cooked.

4. Remove them and allow it to cool

5. In the same pan, add the rava to dry roast it. We need not add oil now.

6. Dry roast it, until every granule of the rava is golden brown. This is a time consuming step, also an important step, as , only the roasting will make the idlies soft. Else they become a hard mass after cooking, making it really less appetizing and less tasty.

7. Roast the rava until it becomes brown as shown below

8. Remove it from the pan and allow it to cool

9. In a separate pan, Add all the ingredients for tempering and fry them 

10. Once the Rava cools down completely to room temperature, add the veggies and tempered ingredients to it and salt and mix well. Cooling of all the ingredients is very important , as hot ingredients might dilute the Curd, which will make batter watery and thus idlies loose their shape.

11. Add the curd to the mixture and stir well.

12. Add the soda Bicarb to the batter and mix well. Allow the batter to rest for 2-5 minutes.

13. Grease the idli mould with oil and then add the grated carrot, chilli flakes, place one cashew exactly at the center of the mould.

14. Add the batter to the moulds very slowly, as the below pattern set should be disturbed , else, cashews , flakes might be misplaced

15. Steam the idlies for 10-15 mins and allow it to cool a little, before carefully un-moulding it. Slowly flip the idlies to find a beautiful colorful pattern on them 

Serve hot with tomato chutney

Tangy Aloo Subji 

A beautiful combination of Tangy juicy tomatoes and the all time favourite potatoes garnished with aromatic Coriander leaves - That is our Subji - Tangy Aloo Subji

The below will serve 4-5

Ingredients

1. Boiled Potatoes - 200 gms (Do not mash them)
2. Ripe tomatoes - 250 gms
3. Green chilli - Finely chopped - 5 Nos
4. Fresh coriander leaves - A handful
5. Ginger - One inch piece - finely chopped
6. Curry leaves - Few
7. Mustard Seeds - 1 tbsp
8. Urad dhal - 1/2 tbsp
9. Channa dhal - 1/2 tbsp
10. Hing  or Asafoetida - 1 teaspoon
11. Gram flour - 2 tbsp
12. Oil - 2-3 tbsp
13. Salt - to Taste
14. Chilli powder - Optional

Method

1. In a pan, Add  1 tbsp of oil and add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter add the lentils and once the dhal has just started to brown add the Curry leaves, ginger, Green chillies and  Hing.

2. Once the tempering ingredients are cooked,  add the chopped toamtoes. Add the salt required for tomatoes to cook.

3. Once the tomatoes gets cooked we1l(They become really soft and the skin starts to peel off), as shown in the below picture , add 2 cups of water. If you like extra spice, we can add around a tbsp of Chilli powder at this stage 

4. Allow it to boil for a minute. Mash the boiled potatoes coarsely. We do not want a smooth paste of aloo. just mash them coarsely and add it to the tomato mixture

5. Allow it to boil for 3-4 minutes as the potatoes need to gel into the cooked tomato mixture and take up all its flavors

6. In a small bowl, mix 2 tbsp of gram floor with 2 -3 tbsp of water

7. Once the potatoes gel in well, add the gram flour mixture to the gravy 

8. This will thicken the gravy, so keep stirring continuously. If  you feel the gravy is too thick now, add water to dilute it a little. Gram flour mixture is added to give a nice body to the gravy. Keep stirring for 4-5 minutes so that the raw smell of the gram flour goes off.

Once cooked, add the freshly chopped coriander leaves

9. Tangy Aloo Subji is ready to be served.

Veg Manchurian Balls

I have made this manchurian balls with vegetables that are healthy to eat raw , but still that does not receives a great reputation among us.
Lets begin the journey


The following ingredients will make 20 inch diameter Manchurian balls

Ingedients

Cabbage - 125 gms - shredded
Capsicum - 100 gms - cut into thin strips
Onions - 1 medium sized- finely sliced
Red chilli sauce - 2 tablespoons
Green chilli sauce - 2 table spoon
Tomato sauce - 2-3 table spoon
Soya sauce - 1/2 tablespoon
Corn flour - 2 table spoon
Maida - 1 table spoon
Rice flower - 2 table spoon
salt - to taste
Pepper powder - a pinch
Oil - for frying


Method:

1. Take the shredder cabbage, sliced onions and green capsicum in a bowl

2. Add all the sauce , salt and pepper powder and mix well

3. Add the flours ( all three) and add required quantity of water well enough to make small balls , to a consistency as shown below

4. Make small balls out of the dough , I prefer making balls of 1 inch diameter . The smaller the balls , more appealing it looks

5. Fry the in the oil. Just take a little light if the balls turn brown because we have added soya, chili sauce to enhance the color.