Peas Dosa

If you live in India and have tasted UNIBIC biscuits, you will read (on the back cover) that in those days in England, when cooks had to taste their cakes, they would test a small portion of their cake batter in the oven. It would not be soft like the cakes, but, it would be brittle. This yummy thing is what is known by the name of cookies today.

Similarly, you don’t have to be a great cook to realise that the best of our recipes are those born due to some contingency, or some minor innovation that happens on-the-go. My peas dosa was born this way. I had run out of moong. So, just substituted dry green peas and followed exactly the same procedure that I follow for making pesarettu. A healthy wholesome meal is ready for the family!

Ingredients

Dried green peas: 1/2 cup
Raw rice: 1/2 cup
Onions (medium): 2
Green chillies (medium): 3
Ginger: 1/4 inch
Coconut: 4 tbsp (optional)
Salt to taste
Oil - to make dosas

Method

Wash and soak peas and rice separately for eight hours.

Chop onions, ginger, green chillies roughly and grind into a smooth paste.

Grind the soaked green peas and raw rice separately.
Mix everything and add salt.

Make dosas.

Cook on a medium flame so that the dosa is well cooked.

Incidentally, this recipe also got published in the Hindu. This is my entry to MLLA-13 conceived by Susan of the "Well-Seasoned Cook" and currently being hosted by Sunshinemom of "Tongue Ticklers......".

Kaima Idli

Saturday was given a divine farewell by doing absolutely nothing.. We landed ourselves in Sunday evening almost instantly. The thought of the hectic impending week was not quite pleasant. The Aussies and the English were wrestling each other at the Ashes. At the bottom of our hearts, we were happy that the English had an upper hand.

Against this backdrop, K wanted something fiery to munch on. I gave him a couple of options.. “Nah, not this” came the replies. Then I left him to himself to figure out what he wanted. “Kaima idli” came an enthusiastic voice!! ”Make kaima idlis, I really love them”, K said. I had eaten it in once in Chennai and remembered very vaguely how it tasted. But in those days, I never bothered what went down my throat.

What is google there for?? I immediately chose two recipes http://homecookreceipes.blogspot.com/2009/02/kaima-idli.html and http://food.sify.com/vegrecipes/Kaima_Idli-147953 which I thought came closest to the kaima idli of my faint memory. This is what I used:

Ingredients (Serves one)
· Idlis – 2 Nos, cut into squares or small rectangles
· All purpose flour / Maida – 3 tbsp
· Chilli powder – ½ tsp + ½ tsp
· Mustard – ½ tsp
· Urad dhall – 1 tsp
· Jeera – ½ tsp
· Onion – 1 (Big)
· Tomatoes – 2 (medium)
· Green chillies – 2 (medium)
· Ginger (grated) – ½ tsp
· Garlic (sliced fine) – 2 big cloves
· Tomato sauce – 2 tbsp
· Curry leaves – 10
· Corriander (finely chopped) – 1 tbsp
· Oil – 1 cup + 2 tbsp
· Salt to taste

Method of preparation

· Cut the idlis into small squares or rectangles
· Make a running batter out of maida, chilli powder and salt, adding necessary water
· Dip the idli pieces in this batter and deep fry the pieces till reddish brown
· Drain them on a kitchen towel and keep aside
· Chop tomatoes and green chillis; slice onions and garlic and grate ginger
· Take a non-stick kadai
· Add 2 tbsp oil
· Add tadka of mustard, urad dhall, and jeera
· Now add, ginger, garlic, green chillis, curry leaves, onions, tomatoes and cook well.
· Add salt, chilli powder and keep stirring
· The water content from the tomatoes should dry to a great extent. Keep cooking till the onions and tomatoes should get cooked really well. Only then the dish tastes good
· Now add the fried idlis
· Mix well
· Add the 2 tbsp of tomato sauce. Mix well again
· Cook for yet another 2 minutes
· Garnish with coriander leaves
· Serve hot with chutney of your choice

Doodh Peda

These days, whenever I visit anyone, friends or relatives, I make it a point to make something nice, mostly a sweet dish and take it for them, instead of randomly picking up something on the go from a sweet shop. The whole cycle of thinking about what to make - depending on the distance of the visitees (is there a word like this?? I know consignor and consignee exists), buying necessary ingredients, putting in my effort preparing it, spending some anxious moments thinking how it would turn out and say a silent prayer that the people for whom it is made enjoy it..... all this give me a greater sense of satisfaction than buying a packaged box of assorted sweets from any renowned sweet shop.

On one such occasion, I made Doodh pedas for K’s aunt. The recipe is absolutely followed from http://showmethecurry.com/2007/11/05/peda-indian-sweet/ It yielded about 18 fairly large sized pedas. Also, it took me seven minutes in my M/W, but for Hetal and Anuja, it took only three mins. That was the only difference. Else, their recipe is absolutely untweaked.

Ingredients

Butter - 1/2 cup or 113 gms
Milk powder (Nestle Everyday) - 150 gms
Condensed milk (Nestle Milkmaid) - 1 tin of 400 gms)
Elaichi powder - 1 tsp
Saffron - one pinch or few strands
Raisins / badam / pistas - to decorate
Oil - 1 tbsp - to grease your hands while making pedas

Method

• Take a fairly deep Microwave safe bowl
• Add butter in it and just melt the butter. No need to bring it to a boil
• Once this is done, add the condensed milk and milk powder
• Mix very very well.
• Now M/W for one minute
• Stop and mix again
• M/W for another minute and mix again
• After two minutes or so, mix the cardamom powder and the saffron into this mixture
• M/W again for one minute
• Keep M/W-ing till the custardy-mixture reaches a slightly soft chapati dough consistency
• Once this is reached, mix well and allow the mixture to cool for ten minutes. This is what the cooled mixture looks like.

Once the mixture comes to a manageable temperature, make pedas after greasing your fingers and palms with oil

• Garnish with raisns or halved badam or pistas or with anything that suits you.
• Delicious pedas are ready!!
  

Well, off these pedas went to K's aunt's house.. I am glad she liked them.

Chronicle of my cooking

I have been a silent follower and awed admirer of many food blogs for quite some time now.. wondering how on earth these extremely busy women find time to write things on the web.. I realise, what starts as a humble hobby becomes an absorbing passion and finally turns out to be a compelling obsession. As one of the blogging marathoners rightly suggested, blogging about food makes you look at food differently. I think that is what keeps all these energized bloggers going.

A natural consequence of what I have been reading - an urgent fire to start a blog and write all I know began burning one day. I finally managed to take the plunge this January, but, for reasons known best to me.. it never took off.. With all my vigour, i managed to post one recipe. And that was the end of Solomon Grundy!!

I pulled myself up to start yet another one.. This time, I am hoping my indefatiguable spirit would help me cross the first 21 days of blogging, after which it would become installed as a habit (says Robin Sharma in The Monk who Sold his Ferrari, anything done continuously for 21 days becomes and habit and remains with the person forever).

So, here is me, awaiting all your encouragement to make this blogging journey a very memorable and pleasant one.

Come, lets cook along!!

Happy eating and happy living!!