Totakura - pesala Kura (Amaranth Leaves with Whole Green Gram)

We have started third week of Blogging Marathon today. My theme for this week is Healthy family dinners. I am going to post three healthy dinners from today. We prefer our dinner light like phulka with some curry or idli, dosa or with some upma. Some times I cook broken wheat and will have it with sambar or rasam.  
                                                       In Andhra cuisine we make few dishes with amaranth leaves. Usually we make totakura pappu (amaranth leaves with tour dal or with split yellow moong dal). Few days back my mother tried this recipe. In her recipe my mother didn't add ginger garlic paste and garam masala. I gave that twist and this is a good combination with phulkas...
Lets check the recipe......
INGREDIENTS:----
Whole green moong ---  1 cup (soak in enough water for over night)

Totakura ----   2 cups finely chopped ( Amaranth leaves clean the leaves and wash well in lot's of water for two to three times to remove the mud. Remove little stem near the root and finely chopp the leaves along with stem)Onion   ----  1 medium chopped
Tomato   ----  1 big chopped
Ginger, garlic paste   ----  1 tea sp 
Green chillies  ---  2 chopped
Turmeric powder  ---  1/4 tea sp
Red chilli powder  ---  1/2 tea sp
Garam masala powder  ---  1/2 tea sp
Oil   ----  1 tab sp
Cumin seeds  ---   1 tea sp
Chopped coriander leaves ---  1 tab sp for garnishing
Salt to taste

                                                              

METHOD:---
1. Take moong in a pressure cooker and cook for two whistles switch off the heat and leave a side to cool down.
2. Now heat oil in a pan add cumin seeds fry for a while then add chopped onion fry till onion turnin to pink.

3. Then add chopped green chillies, chopped tomato,  ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt to taste, red chilli powder cook till oil comes out from the masala.
4. Add chopped amaranth leaves stir well and cook till leaves become soft(cooked) 

5. Now add cooked whole green moong dal give a good stir add half cup water cover with the lid and cook till the whole water is evaporated. 
4. Keep the flame in low add garam masala and chopped coriander mix well and switch off the heat...
Serve hot with phulkas.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#55

Fried Gobi Rice

Today recipe is a stir fried rice recipe which I have noted it from a cookery show long back. I usually make this kind of deep fried vegetables as a side dish to bisibelebath, curd rice or with some pulao. I usually note down the  recipes from cookery shows when they sounds different. When I saw this recipe found it interesting. Usually we make fried rice with Manchurian or gobi 65 as a side dish. When you mix both the dishes the marination of the fried cauliflower gives a great aroma to the rice.You can serve it just like that with out any side dish or with any manchurian or simple chilli garlic sauce that's your choice.
Let's check the recipe...... 
INGREDIENTS:---
Cauliflower --- 1 clean and cut in to small florets

Curd (yogurt) --- 1/2 cup or 2 tab sp s

Red chili powder --- 1 tea sp

Ginger garlic paste --- 1 tea sp

Garam masala --- 1/2 tea sp

Corn flour --- 2 tab sp

Rice flour -- 1 tab sp

salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

METHOD:----

1. Place cauliflower florets in a bowl and add hot water and a very little salt and cover and leave a side for 10- 15 min.

2. After 15 min. drain the water and place cauliflower on a kitchen towel to remove all moisture

3. Mix all other ingredients in a mixing bowl and add cauliflower and marinate the flower well and leave for 1 hour to marinate. You can do this marination for over night if you are leaving cauliflower in the marination for over night then keep it in the fridge.

Take it out from the fridge 10 minutes before you deep fry it.

4. Heat oil in a deep frying pan and deep fry the marinated cauliflower in the hot oil in a medium flame till golden color.

if any left over marination in the bowl keep it a side we can use it while making the rice

Now let's start making rice with fried cauliflower:

For rice we need...

Plain rice  ---  2 cups

Chopped garlic  ----  1 tab sp

Chopped green onion ---  1/4 cup

Leftover marination from the fried  cauliflower

salt to taste

Oil  ---  1 tab sp (you can use that in which we deep fried the caulifower that gives a extra aroma to the rice.

METHO:--

1. Heat oil in a pan add chopped garlic and green onion (keep a little green part of the green onion to garnish) Fry for a while. 

2. Then add the marination from the fried cauliflower marination give a good stir then add rice and salt to taste mix well and stir fry the rice for few minutes.

3. Now add fried cauliflower to the rice give a good stir and switch off the heat.

Garnish with chopped green onion and serve hot...

This joins the August Week No 3 Cooking from Cookbook Challenge Group.

Whole Moong Dal Curry

Since I joined CCC from this month and my first recipe for this challenge is a simple recipe. Whole moongdal curry is a simple dal recipe, my mother used to make this for rotis. Usually In Andhra cuisine we make pesarattu, pesara sunni undalu with this whole green moong. When I ask my mother she told me that she tasted this dal first in Shirdi,then I remember. Now Shirdi is devoloped a lot and many hotels came up there. But when I was a child there was no hotels, we used to stay in sai samsthan hall. In temple they cook food like rotis and dal and subji, spiced butter milk they offer this food to Baba and serve them to devotes. Those rotis will be soft like melt in mouth kinds and they serve this hot whole moong curry with rotis. My mother didn't have the recipe she just imagine the ingredients and tried this recipe and it was a hit at home. She continued the recipe and passed it to me. There are many variations of this dal, this is my mother's version so...
Let's check the recipe..... 
INGREDIENTS:----
Whole green moong ---  1 cup (soak in enough water for over night)
Onion   ----  1 medium chopped
Tomato   ----  1 big chopped
Ginger   ----  1 tea sp chopped
Green chillies  ---  2 chopped
Turmeric powder  ---  1/4 tea sp
Red chilli powder  ---  1/2 tea sp
Garam masala powder  ---  1/2 tea sp
Oil   ----  1 tab sp
Cumin seeds  ---   1 tea sp
Chopped coriander leaves ---  1 tab sp for garnishing
Salt to taste
METHOD:---
1. In a pressure pan heat oil add cumin seeds fry for a while then add chopped onions, green chillies fry till onions turn in to light pink.
2. Now add chopped tomato, chopped ginger, turmeric powder, salt to taste, red chilli powder cook till oil comes out from the masala.
3. Add soaked whole green moong dal give a good stir add one and half cup water cover with the lid and cook for two whistles and switch off the heat.
4. Allow the pressure cooker to cool down, open the lid mix well and bring back to the heat, keep the flame in low add garam masala and chopped coriander mix well and switch off the heat...
Serve hot with phulkas and lemon wedges.
This dall should be little running consistency not thick like other dal recipes so check and add 1/2 cup more water just before you switch off the heat. Add half cup water bring to a full boil and remove from heat..

This joins the August Week No 2 Cooking from Cookbook Challenge Group.

Steamed Cake with Fruit Compote

My second recipe for No Bake Desserts theme is a cake. This is a steam cake, yes you can steam a cake. This steam cakes are not like baked cakes in texture. Steam cakes are more moist, when you serve the cake with a fruit compote that will turn in to a delicious dessert. You can also serve any one chopped fruit and top with whipped cream
So let's check the recipe....
INGREDIENTS:---
All purpose flour  ---  1 and half cup
Custard powder  ---   1 tab sp
Baking powder ---3/4 tea sp
sugar  ----   1/2 cup
Vegetable oil  ---  1/4 cup
Milk  ----   1/4 cup
Melted butter  --- 1/4 cup
Eno ----  1 tea sp
Vanilla essence  ---  few drops
Salt  a pinch
METHOD:--
1. Shift flour, baking powder, salt and sieve for 2 to 3 times ans keep it ready.
2. Mix oil, butter, sugar and beat till sugar dissolves beat for two minutes and keep it a side for a while.
3. Now mix both flour mixture and oil mixture mix well and add milk, mix well to make pouring consistency,add vanilla essence mix well
4. Pour water in a cooker or a heavy bottom vessel till 2 inch. and place a holder in side the cooker. This holder will keep the cake vessel above the water. Grease a cake pan with little butter.
5. Add eno to the cake batter just before you pour in to the greased cake pan mix well once and pour the batter in to greased vessel.
6. Now place this cake batter vessel in the cooker over the holder.
7.  Close the cooker lid, Don't put the whistle.
8. Steam the cake in medium heat for 30 to 40 minutes
9. Switch off the heat and take out the cake and let it cool for some time and de-mould the cake
 and serve with mixed fruit compote.
Pour the mixed fruit compote on the cake with it's syrup and chill it for one hour and serve.
You can add a scope of ice cream to this to make it more delicious.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#55

Shrikhand Parfait

This month edition of Blogging Marathon already started ! But I am little late this month because of my health issues. This month I am doing two  weeks, I have to get ready with my mega BM recipes. My first week theme this month is No Bake Desserts! when I first saw this theme I was little confused why particularly no bake desserts!.. Because all our Indian desserts are no baked recipes,then I understood the challenge. :)
                                                                       When I was searching for the no baked dessert recipes the first thing I found is a Parfait recipe. This one is my kind of dessert because I like to have mango with curd and fruit yogurts are my all time favorite. Finally decided to give an Indian touch to this dessert, so I used shrikhand instead of cream you can use greek yogurt in the place of hung curd. Using chopped fruits makes this dessert more crunchy, but you can make a compote with berries or any other fruits. I like my dessert less sweet so I didn't make compote. You can make a layer with crushed oreo biscuits to give it a chocolate flavor. Because chocolate flavor makes a good pair with strawberry and curd....
                                                                    

So let's check the recipe....
INGREDIENTS:---
Hung curd ---   1 cup
Powdered sugar  ---  1 and half tabsp
Vanilla essence --  1/2 tea sp
Almonds  ---  1 tab sp chopped
Muesli  ----   1/2 cup
Strawberries  ---  1/2 cup chopped
Blueberries  ---  1/2 cup (I used frozen)
METHOD:--
1. Mix hung curd, powdered sugar and vanilla essence and whisk for two minutes, leave this shrikhand in the fridge for one hour.
2. Now layer the dessert glass with alternate layers of chopped fruits, muesli and shrikhnd.
3. Start the layers with chopped fruits and finish with shrikhand and top with chopped fruits.
Chill it in the fridge at least for two hours before serve.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#55