My Entires To 15 Minute Cooking @ Spices Etc..

This is my first time sending recipes for an event and I'm so excited about this :-). Here is my list:

Aval Usili
Thayir Oats
Moar Rasam
Avasara Rasam
My Mom's Style Vegetarian Salad
Simple Lemon Rice
Coconut Thayir Pachhadi
Puli Inji
Thaengaai(Coconut) Podi/Thogayal

All the above listings go to 15 minute cooking @Spices etc... hosted by Mahimaa.

Thayir Oats

Oats is full of fiber that helps remove the bad cholesterol. Also, recent studies have shown that it has a specific type of antioxidants that reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. On top of all this, any dish which has oats as its primary ingredient is normally easy to prepare. If you have "moar milagai" (sun dried green chillies that are soaked in buttermilk prior to drying them), it tastes out of the world with this dish, but again, it is not a requirement. Since I don't quite like oats with milk and sugar, I use thayir/dahi/plain yogurt instead.

Ingredients (1 serving):

Oats (not oatmeal) - a handful
Plain yogurt (also called thayir in Tamil) - 3 to 4 tablespoons
More milagai - 3 to 4 (can vary this based on your taste)
(You can use dried red chillies or green chillies as well)
Cooking oil - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Cilantro (optional) - a few strands finely chopped
(I use cilantro only if I don't have moar milagai)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Microwave oats with water (just enough to cover the oats) in a bowl for about 1.5 minutes (could be a little more or less based on the power level of your microwave).
2. In a small pan, heat some cooking oil, pop mustard seeds, add dried red chillies or green chillies and asafoetida after the mustard pops and transfer the contents to the oats bowl from step 1. If using "moar milagai", after the mustard pops you can simply add the asafoetida, transfer the contents to the oats bowl and fry the "more milagai" in the same pan until it turns dark brown in color. Now, crush the "moar milagai" by hand and add it to the oats bowl.
3. Add plain yogurt and salt to the oats bowl, mix the contents well and serve :-).

Note:
The same item can be prepared with aval/poha. If using aval, just soak 1/2 cup (using a measuring cup) of aval in hot water (enough to cover it) for about 5 - 7 minutes and follow steps 2 and 3 from the above procedure.

This serves as a quick, healthy and tasty breakfast for me on most of the working days :-). It may look a little mushy, but trust me, it tastes great!

Avasara Rasam

I've been down with a bad cold for the past few days and my Mom suggested this really quick and soothing rasam that I called "avasara rasam", meaning, "a really quick rasam to make when you are rushed". It didn't take more then 15 minutes to make this rasam. It has garlic and black pepper powder in it which treat cold well.

Ingredients (about 2 servings):

Tamarind soaked in water - 1/4 inch ball
Tomato - 1/2 medium sized cut into small cubes
(If you are using tamarind paste, about 1/4 teaspoon of it)
Cooking oil - 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Garlic - 3 cloves crushed
Dried red chillies - 2
Black pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cilantro for garnish - a few strands
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Extract about 2 cups (using a measuring cup) of the juice of tamarind soaked in water or dilute the tamarind paste with about 2 cups of water and set aside.
2. Heat cooking oil in a small pan, pop some mustard seeds, add the cumin seeds, asafoetida, dried red chillies, turmeric powder, garlic cloves and tomatoes and fry until the tomatoes get cooked.
3. Add the tamarind water from step 1, salt and black pepper powder and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn off the stove once it starts boiling.
4. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot as a soup or with cooked rice.

I didn't have all the energy to stand beside the stove, but this was so easy, tasty and soothing as it could get.

Eggless Savory Toast

The moment I saw this recipe on Mahimaa's blog, I immediately wanted to try it and I did try it the same day :-). I started making it for an evening snack, but ended up having it as my dinner instead. It was that yummy, and the combination with the ketchup was just amazing. Thanks Mahi!!!

Ingredients:

Bread slices - 6
Sooji/rava (semolina) - 1/2 cup (using a measuring cup)
Plain yogurt - 1/2 cup (using a measuring cup)
Onions - about 1/2 cup (using a measuring cup) finely chopped
Tomatoes - about 1/2 cup (using a measuring cup) finely chopped
Green chillies - 1 or 2 finely chopped (vary this to suit your taste)
Turmeric - a pinch
Cilantro - 2 teaspoons finely chopped
Red chilli powder - a couple of pinches (for that extra kick ;-))
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Mix all the above ingredients (except bread) in a bowl and set aside.
2. Coat the bread slices on each side with the mixture from step 1 and shallow fry on a pan with a couple of drops of oil on both sides. Like Mahi had mentioned in her blog, you might want to use your hand to get the mixture on both sides of the bread slice.
3. Serve with ketchup. As simple as that!!!!

I strongly recommend all my friends to try this out as it is very very easy to make and also tastes great. I'm often having it for breakfast and snack these days. It tastes like some kind of cutlet when had with ketchup :-) and it feels good to be able to eat something different with bread.

My Dad's Style Side Dish

My Dad is an excellent cook, although he doesn't usually make the regular stuff that my Mom makes. He is always into trying something different and that too his own ideas, and, more often than not, it will turn out into a great dish. Since he doesn't follow any recipe, it would be difficult for him to reproduce something that we liked a lot. Every single time, the same dish will come out with a slightly different flavor than the previous time. His rasams were always a disaster though ;-). Or may be, it could be that we were used to my Mom's rasams and were unable to adapt to the flavor change in my Dad's. Nevertheless, although my Dad cooks only when he is in the mood to do so, he displays great culinary skills each time, given that he hasn't had anyone teach/tell him how to cook. So, I asked my Dad one day the recipe for his side dish that goes very well with idli, dosai and chappathi and he gave me a whole bunch of variations. Of course, I decided to try those one at a time and here is the first one.

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Onions - 2 medium sized finely chopped
Tomatoes - 1.5 medium sized finely chopped
Cooking oil - about 2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Channa dhal (optional) - 1 teaspoon
Fennel seeds - 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves - a few
Green chillies - 2 to 3 cut into small pieces
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Besan (chick pea flour) (optional) - 1 teaspoon mixed with very little water
Salt to taste

For seasoning:

Cilanto - 3 to 4 strands finely chopped

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a deep vessel and pop mustard seeds. Add fennel seeds, urad dhal, channa dhal, green chillies, curry leaves and turmeric after the mustard pops and wait for the dhals to turn light golden brown in color.
2. Add the chopped onions to step 1, fry until they turn golden brown in color and then add the tomatoes and fry some more until they get cooked/mashed.
3. To step 2, add red chilli powder and salt and about 1/4 cup (using a measuring cup) or less of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil for about 5 - 7 minutes and if you feel it is watery, you can add a teaspoon of besan diluted with little water, boil for 2 more minutes and then turn off the stove.
4. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

The fennel seeds are the key ingredient to this dish. This can also be had with curd rice (it may sound weird, but it tastes good :-)). You could even throw in some finely chopped veggies to make it more nutritious.

Puli Inji

Inji is ginger in Tamil and puli is tamarind in Tamil. Puli inji is the easiest pickle that I know of as it does not take more than 10 minutes. My Grandma says that including the right amount of giner in the diet helps keep the skin young. There you go ladies. A damn good reason for you to try this :-).

Ingredients:

Ginger (Inji) - about two 3" x 1" sticks peeled and chopped into small pieces
Fresh tamarind - 1 inch piece soaked in little warm water to get the juice out
Salt to taste

For seasoning:

Cooking oil - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Green chillies - 1 cut into small pieces

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, mix the soaked tamarind, the chopped ginger and salt by hand, breaking the tamarind in the process (the friction from the salt and ginger makes it easier).
2. In a small pan, heat some oil, pop some mustard seeds, add asafoetida and cut green chillies and transfer the contents to the ginger bowl from step 1. Mix everything well and the puli inji is ready.

This not only makes for a quick and instant pickle, but also serves as a great side for varuthha upma and moar kili (once again, those are whole new posts themselves :-)). Tastes great with curd rice as well.

Simple Lemon Rice

In my opinion, this is the easiest of all the variety rice dishes. I make it my Mom's way, which is nothing complicated, but I just like it for its simplicity. I have had one other variety of lemon rice though, which had a coarse ground powder of dried red chillies, coriander seeds, channa dhal and a few other ingredients that I don't remember now. I would love to try it if someone can pass me the recipe for that :-).

Ingredients (about 2 servings):

Rice - 1 cup (using a measuring cup)
Cooking oil - 3 tablespoons
Turmeric - 1/8 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Channa dhal - 1.5 teaspoons
Green chillies - 2 to 3 cut into visible pieces
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves - a few
Lemon juice - about 4 to 5 tablespoons (you can adjust it to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Cook rice such that it is NOT mushy (you can add a few drops of oil to the rice and just mix it lightly so that it doesn't stick and break) and set it aside in a wide vessel.
2. Add turmeric and curry leaves to the rice, just on one spot, but don't mix it. Not yet!!!
3. Heat oil in a small pan, pop mustard seeds and add the channa dhal, asafoetida and green chillies and fry until the channa dhal turns light golden brown in color. Now pour the hot contents of the pan right on the turmeric in the rice container.
4. Add lemon juice and salt to the rice and mix everything well.
5. Set aside the rice mixture for about 30 minutes and it is ready to serve.

Note:
My Mom doesn't add turmeric to the oil, but pours the hot oil with its contents on the turmeric, for whatever reason, and I blindly follow that :-).

Whenever I long for variety rice dishes for lunch, this is the first thing that comes to my mind. Goes very well with any fry type sides, chips or raita.