Rava idli is one of the easy quickly prepared tiffin, in case we don't have the usual idli dough. It is also tastier and different from normal idli. I guess, it compensates the traditional idlis for the bachelors.
Ingredients: - Rava- 2 cups
- Curd- 1 cup
- Water- 1 cup
- Green chillies-2
- Ginger- 1 inch
- Garlic- 5
- Grated coconut - 2 tablespoon
- Grated carrot- 3 tablespoon
- Soda salt - 1 teaspoon
- Salt
For seasoning: - Oil -2 tablespoon
- Mustard- 2 teaspoon
- Urad dal- 2 teaspoon
- Channa dal - 2 teaspoon
- Red chilli - 1
- Asafoetida- pinch
- Curry leaves
Method: - Mix a cup of curd with a cup of water and add the chopped green chillies, ginger garlic paste, grated coconut, grated carrot, salt and keep it aside.
- Heat oil in pan and add all the seasoning items one by one.
- After the items have been fried to golden brown, add the rava.
- Fry the rava in medium heat evenly till the raw smell goes off.
- Now mix the fried items with curd to which the other ingredients are added.
- Add little water if needed. Take care that the consistency is like that adai dosa(thicker than usual idli dough)
- Finally dont forget to add the soda salt before cooking.
- Soda salt should be added only before cooking.
- Grease the idli plates and pour the dough in it.
- Cook it in steam for approximately 12- 14 minutes. (or in microwave for 8-9 minutes)
- Can also be garnished with cashews and carrots before steaming.
Here is another tasty kolambu in chettinadu style with prawns.
Ingredients: - Big Prawns- 10 pieces
- Curd - 1/4 cup
- Onion -2
- Tomato- 2 small size
- Grated coconut- 3 tablespoon
- Tamarind- a size of a small lemon
- Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon
- Chilli powder- 3/4 teaspoon
- Coriander powder-1/2 teaspoon
- Ginger - 1 inch
- Garlic -5 or 6
- Cumin seeds- 1/2 teaspoon
- Oil - 3 tablespoon
- For seasoning- Mustard, fennel, curry leaves
- Salt
Method: - Soak the tamarind in warm water for 15 minutes and extract juice out of it.
- Clean the prawns in curd and then in water.
- Make the paste of ginger and garlic seperately.
- Make another paste of coconut, half onion and cumin seeds seperately.
- Heat oil in pan and add all the seasoning items one by one.
- When the mustard starts spluttering, add ginger garlic paste.
- Then add onions and fry till it becomes transparent brown.
- Add the cut tomatoes and some turmeric powder.
- After the tomatoes are cooked, add the prawns with little salt.
- Allow it to cook in closed lid.
- When the prawns are half cooked add the chilli powder, coriander powder, coconut onion paste with little water and cook it in closed lid.
- Add water little by little when needed and check for the salt.
- When the prawns are cooked well, add the tamarind juice and allow it to boil for 3 minutes.
- Serve it with hot plain rice, jeera rice or idli, dosa.
The other member of the variety rice comes here:
Ingredients: - Rice- 300 gms ( approximately)
- Tomatoes-4
- (or 3 tablespoons of Tomato puree+ 2 tomatoes)
- Large Onions-2
- Green chillies- 2
- Cinnamon- a small piece
- Cloves-2
- Puthina/Mint leaves-2 teaspoon(optional)
- Ginger- one inch piece
- Garlic -4
- Turmeric powder- 1/4 teaspoon
- Chilli powder-3/4 teaspoon
- Coriander powder- 1/2 teaspoon
- Garam masala powder- 1/2 teaspoon
- Coriander leaves for garnishing
- Oil-4 tablespoon
- Butter or ghee - 1 tablespoon(optional)
- Salt
Method: - Cook the rice seperately using slightly less water than usual and allow it to cool in a plate.
- Heat oil and butter in pan(if you like to use ghee, it can be added finally)
- Add cloves, cinnamon, mint leaves uncut green chillies and ginger garlic paste to the pan.
- Add the cut onions and fry till it becomes transparent and slight golden brown.
- Add the cut tomatoes (or tomato puree) and required salt.
- Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and finally after few seconds garam masala powder to the pan.
- Allow it to cook nicely.
- Add little by little the cooked rice and mix it with tomato masala.
- Add enough rice according to the amount of tomato masala.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it hot with any kind of chutneys.
This is a very tasty kulambu without using tamarind juice. Whenever I feel tired of the usual kuzhambu and sambar, I just do this easy kuzhambu, which my mother taught. Though my mother taught this , the credit of cooking it in a best way goes to my aunt (periamma), because I have never tasted the same garlic kuzhambu tastier than hers anywhere else. Here is the recipe to enjoy:-)
Ingredients:- Garlic- 10-12
- Mustard- 1 teaspoon
- Jeera or Cumin seeds- 1 1/2 teaspoon
- Black Pepper- 1 teaspoon
- Turmeric powder- 1/4 teaspoon
- Red chilli -2 (or more according to taste)
- Grated coconut- 1 1/2 tablespoon(can also be roasted slightly, if desired)
- Gingerly oil - 5 Tablespoon(1 kuzhi karandi)
- Salt- for taste
Method: - Grind mustard, cumin seeds, black pepper, red chilli, grated (roasted) coconut into a fine paste.
- Take oil in a pan and fry the garlics in medium flame.
- Take care that it does not turn brown.
- When the garlics are half cooked, add the turmeric powder, the ground paste and enough salt.
- Add little water and allow it to cook till the garlic is well cooked and the oil comes out.
- Do not add much water as we do in normal kuzhambu.
- This has to be somewhat thicker in consistency.
- Suits well with plain rice.
- Potato fry, brinjal fry, lady's finger fry are some of the best combo.. :-D
I think this is one of the tastiest south indian snacks and the most common.Yet simple to do it ...
Ingredients:
- Onion or potato or plaintain (vegetable) or brinjal
- Gram flour(kadalai maavu)-5 cups
- rice flour-2 cups (approximately)
- red chilli powder-1 teaspoon
- Asafoetida-1/4 teaspoon
- Salt-1 teaspoon (approximately)
- kesari colour powder- a pinch
- Oil- for deep frying
Method:
- Cut the potato or plaintain vegetable or the brinjal longitudinally or the onion horizontally into thin round pieces.
- Mix other ingredients in water into a loose paste (similar consistency as that of dosa)
- Dip each piece of any vegetable and deep fry it in oil.
- Serve it with coconut chutney and sambar.
I think there is nothing special in paruppu or dal , but still if you didn't add enough ingredients, it really won't taste that much better.
Once my mother was ill and my father tried to cook..( I should say , he really just tried).He chose the paruppu as he thought that was the easiest one in cooking..He just cooked the paruppu in pressure cooker and just added some salt in it and served me with rice..I was too young to know about the ingredients, but still managed to say something was wrong..we struggled a lot that day.....my mother laughed when he explained how he really cooked dal...From that day, my mother had never asked my father to cook again.Whenever I cook dal, I remember everytime my father's tastiest dal :-D...
Ingredients:
- Thuvar Dal(thuvaram paruppu)-100 gms
- Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon
- Chilli powder-3/4 teaspoon
- Asafoetida- a pinch
- Garlic-3 or 4
- Small onions-3 or 4
- Salt - for taste
For seasoning:
- Oil- 2 teaspoon
- Red chillies-1 or 2
- small onions-2
- Mustard, Jeera(cumin seeds),curry
Method:
- Wash the thuvar dal and soak it in enough water for 15 minutes.
- Add the garlics , 3 small onions (without cutting), turmeric powder, chilli powder, asafoetida to the dal and cook it in pressure cooker.
- Allow it for 2 - 3 whistles.
- Drain the excess water, add enough salt and just smash the dal along with the cooked garlic and onion.
- Heat oil in pan and add the mustards cumin seeds and the curry leaves.
- When they start to splutter, add the red chillies and the( vertically) finely cut small onions and fry it till it is roasted.
- Add the smashed paruppu (dal) along with the excess drained water and allow it to boil.
- You can also add one tomato along with dal in pressure cooker, if desired.
- Serve it with hot rice or chappathi.
Ingredients:
- Moong dal(Broken)( Payatham paruppu)-200 gms
- Brown sugar(vellam)-400 gms
- Grated coconut-6 to 7 tablespoons
- Cardamom-6 or 7
- Cashew and other nuts-8 to 10
- Oil to fry the nuts
- Ghee-2 teaspoon for taste
Method:
- Fry the cashews and other nuts in oil and keep it aside.
- Wash the moong dal and cook them seperately in water.
- Do not use much water to cook.Use right enough water so that the cooked water need not be wasted.
- Boil two (approximately) cups of water and add the brown sugar when the water starts to boil.
- Dissolve the sugar and remove it from flame immediately.
- Filter it to remove the dirts and heat it again.
- Add the cooked moong dal along with the cooked water (if it is more, drain some of the water) and allow it cook in the sugar water. Add enough water if needed.
- When it blends together, add the grated coconut and allow it to cook for 2 more minutes.
- Finally add the crushed cardamom powder, fried nuts and some ghee.
- Serve it hot or cold.
