Recipe:
1 cup Pappulu 6 to 8 dried red chillies2 tablespoons of coconut powder or dried pieces of coconut1 tablespoon of cumin1/2 teaspoon of salt or to taste4 garlic cloves (this is optional, even without garlic this powder tastes great)
Mix all off them together and take them in a clean, dry mixie jar. Without adding any water make fine powder of them. Store the powder in an airtight container. Will stay fresh as long as it remains dry.
What I do with this powder:
Tastes great when mixed with plain rice and ghee.Also great when mixed with rice, dal (tomato or spinach) and ghee.To sprinkle on Masala DosaTo dunk Idlis and also with Upmas particularly with my new favorite-oatmeal upma.Good with vegetable curries - mainly cabbage, bell pepper, beans and Indian variety beans.(I usually sprinkle one tablespoon of this powder before turning off the heat while making the curries).To prepare chutneys, mainly for coconut chutney.
that you are getting a proper south Indian food.
Recipe:
1 cup of thinly sliced fresh coconut¼ cup of pappulu(dalia, roasted chickpeas)6 Indian small green chillies, chopped1 tiny red onion or shallot, sliced into chunks6 sprigs of fresh cilantro and 1/2 inch of ginger½ tablespoon of tamarind extract¼ tsp of saltfor popu or tadka1 tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal, fresh curry leaves and few pieces of dried red chilli.extras(optional)1 tablespoon of yogurt and one lime
Preparation:Preparation means grinding. Taste of coconut chutney varies with grinding method. Believe it or not, different grinding tools give different taste. The best taste comes out of using a stone mortar. Closest is the machine, which grinds with a stone. Last is the food processor or the blender etc., The taste is inversely proportionate to how easily you can grind it.
In a mortar or blender, combine all the ingredients (coconut, pappulu, onion, green chillies, cilantro, ginger, tamarind extract and salt). Add half to one cup of water and grind them until the ingredients are pureed. Transfer the mixture to a cup.
In a small pan, add half teaspoon of peanut oil, add the popu ingredients, saut� them until they start to splutter. Remove the pan from heat and add this popu to the pureed coconut mixture in the cup. Stir in little bit of yogurt now (our family variation). The chutney is ready. Just before serving, squeeze few drops of limejuice.
Traditionally coconut chutney is served with dosa, idly, vada, upma, utappam, pesarattu and pongal, as a part of morning breakfast.
Coconut Chutney ~ South Indian Style
joy, a gastronomic kind:) and worth the high price.
Shallot Sambhar - Light and refreshing
Recipe:
My sambhar cooking routine is a three-step process.
1. Pressure-cook the toor dal until soft, so that it can be mashed/pureed into smooth paste. Soak the tamarind in water to extract the juice.
2. In the meantime, cut and cook vegetables for sambhar- usually tomatoes and vegetables (shallots). The process I follow is like this. Heat one teaspoon of oil a big saucepan, add and toast popu ingredients. To it, I’ll add chopped tomatoes and cook them until they turn soft and mushy. Then I’ll add and cook shallots (or vegetables), one cup of water and also the seasoning (sambhar powder, turmeric, red chilli powder and salt).
3. Simmering 1 and 2 together- To the cooked tomato-shallot mixture, add the mashed toor dal paste and tamarind juice. Stirring in between, let simmer for about 15 to 30 minutes. Just before turning off the heat, garnish with finely chopped cilantro and serve.
Ingredients:4 fistfuls of toor dal (3/4 cup)12 to 15 shallots (baby onions)2 ripe juicy tomatoesSeasoning:1 tablespoon of tamarind juice1 tsp of sambhar powder1/2 tsp of red chilli powder and salt1/4 tsp of turmericCilantro for garnishPopu or tadka:1 tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal, curry leaves, minced garlic. Also few curry leaves and dried red chilli piecesVariationI prepared this sambhar for idlies and for idly sambhar, I usually add half tsp of cloves & cinnamon powder, to spice up the sambhar a little bit.
Ingredients for shallot sambhar
For more detailed sambhar recipe (like how to prepare home made sambhar powder etc.,), check out my other blogged recipes- Okra Sambhar and white radish sambhar.
Posted by Indira © in Toor Dal, Amma & Authentic Andhra, Onions, Shallots (Monday February 20, 2006 at 3:28 pm- permalink)
12 comments for Sambhar with Shallots (Baby Onions) »
1. hi indiranice to read about the way you make sambhar. i will try it using your method. i usually pour in the tamarind juice after toasting the popu ingredients. then i wait for five minutes or so until the strong tamarind smell goes away. it is only then that i add sambhar powder and the the veggies usually sauteed or boiled separately.ps - i absolutely love your photos. which software do you use to jazz them up? are there any online tutorials you know of for food photography?
Comment by lulu — February 20, 2006 @ 4:01 pm
2. Hi Lulu,
Everyone has their own method of preparing the sambhar, Is’t it? .:)I prepare tamarind extract from raw tamarind and I usually add it later in the recipe. No smell and cooks fast and thorough too.
Thanks for your comments on photos. I hate to jazz up the photos. Believe it or not, the pictures here are exactly how I shoot them with my camera. Because I reduce them significantly in size to fit in my blog, they lose the sharpness of its original size. I sometimes sharpen them a little bit using adobe. That’s about it. Whatever jazzing I do, I do it with my camera lense.:)
I follow photography discussion on ‘Food Blog School’ and also my husband Vijay’s(he is a professional photographer) advice. I also read and follow some good photography sites, mainly observing how they are shooting the object etc., There is one site “Food Photography Blog”, check it out for some useful tips.Hope this helps.:)
Comment by Indira — February 20, 2006 @ 4:25 pm
3. Hey Indira..Great pictures Indira..I tried your menthi-kura-pappu and it turned out very comforting and I have tried your pesarapappu charu too which also turned out too gooddd and comforting for my tummy..Thanks a tonne and I look forward to try more recipes from your site…I have added your recipe to my sideblog…
Comment by BDSN — February 20, 2006 @ 7:07 pm
4. Wow Indira! This is my kind of Sambhar! I always make Sambhar only using tomatoes and onions, since both me and my hubby don’t like veggies in it.
PS: On a different note, I do hope you remember the FRM event coming up. I can’t wait to see what you have instore for the love theme! )
Hugs, Meena
Comment by Meena — February 20, 2006 @ 8:20 pm
5. Indira - I love shallot sambar with dosa idlis. Do you have a post on making the batter for them? My past several attempts at fermenting the batter for dosas have gone ‘un-sour’ (pun intended). I think the cold temperatures in my kitchen added to the batter not ground well are some reasons for this. I would love your suggestions on ‘better batters’ when you get a chance. Thanks!
Comment by Garam Masala — February 21, 2006 @ 10:35 am
6. Hi Indira,Your blog is awesome! Pictures are superb.
Priti.
Comment by priti — February 21, 2006 @ 12:10 pm
7. Indira,Thankyou for the link about the food photography.Arjuna
Comment by Arjuna — February 21, 2006 @ 2:08 pm
8. thanks for the tips, indira. your photos are just gorgeous!
Comment by lulu — February 21, 2006 @ 4:31 pm
9. Hi Indira,Made my first sambar today! I used your recipe but with different veggies. I think it came out very delicious if I don’t say so myself. The aroma of the sambar powder is heaven! I’m bringing it to my nutrition class this evening for our snack…if there is any left ha!Thanks for your recipe! I hope to get to the idlis soon.Best, Sandy
Comment by Sandy — March 1, 2006 @ 5:51 pm
10. Hello Dear Indra,
Your recipe of sambar & dosa are very easy to cook and serve to my punjabi family.This is tasty and easy to digest dish.
Thanks for your recipe .
Comment by Mamta Vohra 8-9-06
Comment by mamta vohra — September 8, 2006 @ 6:12 am
11. This site is incredible! I love it.
Comment by Jason — October 29, 2006 @ 9:41 am
12. madam.Thank you for the wonderful web site. you are keeping alive the traditional art of cooking
Rava Idli(makes about 24 medium-sized idlies)
2 C coarse sooji/rava (semolina)1 C dahi (yoghurt)1 T oil1 t mustard seeds1/4 t heeng (asafoetida), the mild kind (or a speck of the real kind!)1 T chana dal (split chickpea)1 T urad dal3 dry red chilli peppers (cut into half-inch pieces)curry leaves, a bunchchopped coriandera couple of chopped green chilliessalt1/3 t baking soda (soda-bi-carb)1/4 t citric acid crystals (optional)colourful chopped veges such as carrots, beans, spinach (optional)fried bits of cashew as suggested by Priya (see comments)a few tiny bits of fresh coconut may be nice too!
Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan or karahi. Splutter the mustard (it’s a good idea to cover the pan at this time or you will have mustard popping all over your kitchen!) and add the heeng. Now add the red chillies and the curry leaves. Stir for a few seconds and add the dals. Once the dals turn a dark pink toss in the sooji. Keep stirring turning the heat to medium as the sooji starts to emit a roasted aroma. Turn off heat just as it turns pink. Let cool.
Into the cooled sooji mix in the rest of the ingredients, except the baking soda, adding water (as needed) to make a thick batter. In another large pan (or pressure cooker) put about an inch of water to boil. Smear the idli moulds (or whatever you may be using for steaming the batter) with a little oil. Mix the baking soda into the batter and pour into the idli stack-mould. Steam covered (without pressure) for 10 minutes. Take out and rest the idlies for a few minutes before removing from the moulds. They will come out effortlessly if you are able to control the instant-gratification-mood for these couple of minutes, resulting in pretty idlies (with less work).
Serve with gunpowder and/or coconut chutney.
These turned out so good that I made them again a couple of days later. Instant gratification without the guilt pangs later (unlike the not-really-two-minute Maggi!). And if you have gunpowder ready, as I usually do, then you can have this under 30 min! If you are efficient in the kitchen and can work parallel-ly, then you can also make the peanut chutney within this time.
Recipes for gunpowder: hereIndira’s peanut chutney: hererecipe for sambar: here (Sambhar with baby shallots)
These have all ended up referencing Indira’s Mahanandi. I Googled but her recipes are closest to how I make my Sambar and Gunpowder! What can I say, I must cook authentic Andhra
Tags: breakfast, rava idli, sooji, semolina, low fat, under 30 min
Vanilla Choco Burfi

Vanilla Choco Burfi
Are you looking to make a Sweet that shall surprise everyone at the Party?Here goes A two layered burfi with Maida that shall bring you to the limelight.Ingredients Needed:1. Maida 1 cup2. Milk Powder 2 table spoons3. Sugar 1-1/2 cups4. Water 1 cup5. Ghee 1/2 cup + 2 Tsp6. Cocoa Powder or Any Chocolate Drink Powder 2 tablespoons.7. Vanilla Essence few dropsMethod:1. Fry Maida in ghee till you get its good aroma. ( On Slow fire)2. Add Milk Powder to it and divide it to 2 portions.3. In a thick bottomed vessel make Sugar syrup [Sugar 1/2 portion and water 1/2 cup till 2 string consistency.] and Switch off.4. Mean time grease a plate and keep it aside.5. In the Sugar syrup [No need to cook or heat further] mix One portion of Maida, add few drops of Essence and Mix briskly.6. When it becomes a whole lump, add One Spoon of Ghee and pour this on a greased plate. Level it well.7. In the same Vessel, add remaining Sugar and make Syrup of 2 string consistency.8. Now, In Sugar Syrup add Cocoa powder, the second portion of Maida, add few drops of Essence and Mix thoroughly.9. Now spread this lump on top of White layer.10. Level it with a little amount of Ghee.11. While it is still hot, Cut into pieces of any required shape.12. Decorate it with Badam slices.}{Colourful burfi in just 45 minutes. }{
This is My Submisssion for VCCQ3 Festival Foods By VKN MYDHABA
Posted by Menu Today at 9:10 PM 22 comments
Labels: Burfi, Traditional Indian