5 Simple Recipes from Me ;)

Gusteau: Food always comes to those who love to cook

I have always loved to cook and lived to eat.  Had to write five of my recipes for a food feature in Udayavani (a local Kannada daily).  Then I just scratched my head woke the Gusteau in my head and wrote these down.  Hope this is a good read and do let me know if you try them too.

1. Simple Rasam

I have been making this rasam for quite some time.  Although I learnt this recipe through my grandmother, I have never been able to prepare it the way my grandmother used to.  This dish takes 20 Minutes to prepare and will Serve 4, remember it should be served pot hot.

Ingredients

250 gms tomatoes, quartered

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

4 green chillies, chopped

1 lemon-sized ball of tamarind

1 tbsp jaggery

1 tsp mustard seeds

10 curry leaves

1 red chilli, broken into two

1 tsp coriander seeds + 1 tsp cumin-seeds + 2 tsps peppercorns roasted & powdered

Oil should be to your taste (I like adding more)

Preparation

1. Extract the pulp of tamarind by soaking it in a cup of hot water.

2. Boil the tomatoes, chillies and garlic in 4 cups of water.

3. Add the ground spices, jaggery and tamarind pulp and simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Heat the oil.

5. Splutter the mustard seeds.

6. Add the curry leaves, red chilli, asafoetida powder and onion and fry for a minute.

7. Pour it over the tomatoes

Uppittu

This is the best and the easiest dish to win hearts of anyone you want.  The deliciousness comes since it’s made in such quick times (about 3 to 5 minutes) and it’s definitely a life saver when you have surprise guests.  This is even is considered as the best diet food one can be advised and also can have millions of variations with just a little twist of the ingredients. Remember a good Uppittu is as good as the seasoning you do. 

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Sooji/Rawa

• 1 Onion (chopped)

• 2 tbsp Ghee

• 2 Cups water

• 1 tsp Urad Dal

• 2 Green chillies (chopped)

• 1/4 tsp Ginger (chopped)

• 1/4 tsp Cumin seeds

• 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds

• Curry leaves

• Salt to taste

Preparation

•             Roast rawa in a dry skillet on low flame until it starts to give off a distinct aroma. Take it out.

•             Heat ghee in the same and add cumin seeds, curry leaves, mustard, urad dal and cashew nuts .

•             Now add chopped greed chilli, ginger, onions and cook again for 3 minutes.

•             Now add salt, roasted sooji and water.

•             Stir well and cover it.

•             Upma is ready. Serve it with pickle

Bread Noodle Toast (Made with maggie)

Bread noodle toast offer the winning combination of noodle and grated cheese on bread slices. Toast the noodles and cheese filing sandwiches and relish crispy hot with ketchup or chutney as breakfast or packed lunch.  This dish takes 10 minutes to cook and preparation time of 5 minutes.

Ingredients

·         4 to 5 slices of bread

·         1 medium sized carrot, grated

·         1 onion, sliced

·         1 to 2 tbsp shredded cabbage

·         2 pcs baby corn, finely chopped (optional)

·         1 packet of maggi noodles (masala flavour)

·         2 to 3 fresh red chillies or green chillies, sliced

·         salt to taste

·         1 tsp oil

·         2 cups grated processed cheese

·         2 tbsp tomato ketchup

·         black pepper (kalimirch) powder to taste

Preparation

·         Boil water in pan and add the noodles with all the vegetables. When almost cooked add the masala and cook for a few minutes.

·         Take a slice of bread and a small amount of this noodle mixture on it.

·         Sprinkle a layer of cheese.

·         Then place a few chilli pieces on it.

·         Top with a final layer of cheese.

·         Bake in an oven till the cheese becomes golden brown.

·         Serve hot and let your heart sink into a mouth watering and filling noodle cheese snack.

Dal Fry or simple Dal

This is a very easy nutritional curry that u can prepare in less time which goes well with rotis and rice.  This one I learnt when I was leading a bachelor life in Mumbai.

1. Pressure cook well washed Whole green Moong daal.
2. In a pan heat some oil/ghee and add cumin seeds, then add couple of split green chillies (optional), lil bit of ginger-garlic paste and sauté well.
3. U can add finely cut onions (again optional)
4. Add 2-3 finely diced tomatoes. Fry for couple of mins.
5. Then add turmeric, salt, 1-2 tsp garam masala, (I use MDH Garam Masala which truly adds a unique flavour) Mix well, Keep frying until mix turns a little dry.
6. Now add the pressure cooked Moong and adjust adding water according to ur desired consistency and salt to taste. Allow it to boil...then add a small chunk of Jaggery to this and mix well. This gives a mild sweetness to the dish.
7. Garnish with chopped coriander and lemon juice (optional)

Annada Rotti or Rice Rotti

This one is a remix thing again learnt in my bachelor days so many of such dishes come under the "Remix" category where you make "ಕಸದಿಂದ ರಸ" or simply creating a dish out of something you want to throw as waste :)  You can complicate the preparation by adding exotic things like mushrooms, cooked cabbage etc.  You need to cook rice very softly and keep chopped onions and green chillies ready.  Mash the cooked rice, add onions, green chillies, coriander leaves, jeera seeds and rice flour.. now tava mele thatti cook it..

Actual Udayavani Article featuring my recipes & a huge one page interview on 6/3/2013