Mamidi kaya thokku (Raw Mango Instant Pickle)

I started very confidently the re-run of JFI series and thought finding mangoes will not be a problem in this season. Ever since I announced the event, it has become really difficult for me to find raw mangoes in the market at all. Hoping that others might also find the same problem, I thought I may have to postpone the deadline, but in this week I found some good mangoes in the market and also there are fellow bloggers who are sending in their entries. So lets stick with the same deadline and try to gather few more wonderful entries.

This is my first entry to the event. Mangoes are the first and highly preferred vegetable for pickles. There are wide range of pickles that are made across India. Depending on the region, the flavours vary. Andhra is famous for pickles and chutneys and trust me there are n number of pickles that are made with mangoes. Famous among them are Avakai and Magai and again there are varieties of Avakais made across andhra. Lets hope to see some of them in the event called Pickle/Achar/Uragayi started by Hima at her wonderful blog SnackORama.

Here is how you make this pickle:

1 Raw Mangoe (Wash, wipe well, peel and grate)
3 tbsp Red chilli powder
2 tbsp Salt (adjust as per taste)
1 tsp Fenugreek (menthulu/methi)  powder (dry roast in a pan and make it into fine powder)

For Tempering:

3 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds (aavalu)
1 Red chilly
a dash of hing

Wash and wipe the mango really well. A touch of water can spoil the entire pickle, it will not stay for too long. Peel the skin and grate into a bowl. Add red chilli powder, salt and fenugreek powder. Mix well and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add the tempering ingredients. When the mustard seeds splutter remove from heat and keep aside until it cools. Add to the pickle and mix well.

Serve this pickle with hot steamed rice with a tsp of ghee or with any breakfast items like idli, dosa, upma etc.,

This is off to my own event Past Is Present - JFI- Re-run - Mango and Pickle/Achar/Uragayi Event being hosted by Hima at SnackORama.

Twist The Traditional - IDLI - Round Up

Thanks to all for taking time to post their wonderful versions of IDLIs. I appreciate that most of you are enjoying the theme behind this event. Here is the list of entries that I received:

Podi Stuffed Idlis from Minu of Chettinad Fiesta

Kanchipuram Idlis from Minu of Chettinad Fiesta

Marbled Idli from Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot

Fenugreek/Vendhaya Idli from Krithi of Krithi's Kitchen

Cocoa Idli from Umm Mymoonah of Taste Of Pearl City

Spinach Idlis from Priya of Now Serving

Celery Cilantro Oats Idli from Denny of Oh Taste N See

Baked Idli Sandwich from Kavya of Kavya's Kitchen

Idli Kurma from Kavya of Kavya's Kitchen

Kollu/Horsegram Idli from PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds

Potato Stuffed Idli from Savitha of Savitha's Kitchen

Tricolor Fried Rava Idli from Anshu of My Mom's Recipes

Organic Rava Idlis from Sonia of My Creative Flavors

TriColour Idly from Chitra of Chitranna

Instant Cornmeal & Oats Idli from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Travels

Flax Seed & Cornmeal Idli from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Travels

Instant Multi-grain Idli from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Travels

Instant Ragi & Rava Idli from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Travels

Mixed Dal Idli from Archana of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen

Polenta & Bulgar Wheat Idli from Jayasri Ravi of Samayal Arai

Marvelous Marble Idli from Mythreyi of Yum! Yum! Yum!

Peas Masala Idli from Shama of Easy2Cook Recipes

Crazy Idlis from Abbhirami of Soulful Creations

Thalicha/Seasoned Idli from Sara of Sara's Corner

Masala Idli Fries from Prathibha of The Chef and Her Kitchen

Fried Idlis from Vatsala of Show and Tell

Polenta Idlis from Umm Mymoonah of Taste of Pearl City

Semolina Steamed cake (rava idli) from Torviewtoronto of Torview

Husked Green Gram Idlis from Jayasri of Samayal Arai

Here are my entries for this event:

Wheat Rava Idlis 

Masala Idlis 

Maggie Masala Wheat Rava Idlis 

Masala Oats Stuffed Idlis 

You are aware of the next theme too. So keep sending your wonderful entries and continue to make this event a big success.

PS: This time I set some rules you need to follow to come up with an entry. So, please read the post and understand the rules.

Looking forward for some amazing twists to the traditional pulihora.

Twist The Traditional - Pulihora (Tamarind Rice)

First of all, a big thanks to all of you food blogger friends for wishing my faster recovery. I really appreciate your warm wishes and here I am back with my next theme for the event Twist The Traditional.

I got good response for this event that I started last month with the theme being IDLI. I will post the round up tomorrow for sure. Promise. I am here to post the next theme for this event today. It is PULIHORA.

Pulihora is south indian delicacy which is very famous across India. The traditional pulihora (tamarind rice) as name suggests is made with tamarind pulp. It differs the way it is made based on the region again, like tamilians make it slightly differently to that of andhrites.

Here is how Pulihora is made in Andhra:

3 cups Rice
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
Salt as per taste
3 lemon sized tamarind (soak in warm water and extract the pulp)

For Tadka:

2 to 3 tbsp Oil
8 Red chillies
5 Green chillies
2 tbsp peanuts/ground nuts
1/2 tbsp Channa dal
1/2 tbsp Urad dal
1/2 tbsp Mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
a dash of Hing
few Curry leaves

Wash and cook rice with 6 cups of water. In a wide dish sprinkle some turmeric powder and fresh curry leaves. Spread the hot rice on top of that. Drizzle little oil, about 2 to 3 tbsp oil (apart from what is given for tadka). Leave it aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add the tadka ingredients, except slit green chillies and curry leaves. When dals turn golden brown in colour then add the green chillies and curry leaves. Fry for a minute and pour tadka on to the spread rice.

In the same pan add the tamarind pulp and add salt as per taste. Let it cook until it slightly thickens and pour that too on the rice and mix thoroughly. Adjust salt as per taste. Leave it for some time aside. Some how tamarind rice always tastes better as it sits for long time.

My mom actually cooks tadka and tamarind pulp together that way, the chillies get cooked in the tangy tamarind and taste excellent. The method that I mentioned above is the way my mother in law prepares it. It depends when I follow which method on who is actually craving for some pulihora. This time it was my husband's choice to have pulihora so I made it my MIL way.

So thats it gals, please send in varieties of pulihoras for this event.

Here are the rules:

1. Previous entries (reposting) are not accepted for this event. It has to be new entry, as I believe we foodies can always come up with innovative ideas.

2. The procedure of making pulihora has to be followed like:
    a. There has to be a tadka, like I have mentioned above.
    b. The rice or any substitute has to be pre-cooked. Entry in which rice or any substitute cannot be cooked after tadka is added (like we do for upma)

You can substitute Rice or Tamarind with anything of your choice. Hope you understood, please drop me a line if you have any doubts

3. The end date for this event is March 15th, 2011 (sorry for the delay caused in posting the theme, but I think we have ample time to come up with an entry)

4. Send in your entry details without a photo to ysatyablog@gmail.com.

5. I haven't posted a logo previously for this event, call me lazy or whatsoever, but I thought that is cool. Just send in you entries linking to this post, thats it.

Looking forward for your lovely entries.

Soya Beans Burgers

Soya beans has become one of my favorite among the beans family and I tend to make experiments constantly with those on a regular basis. I also mentioned that I do not like the texture and taste of soya granules or soya chunks. I consider myself lucky to get introduced to this amazing bean and love to cook varieties of dishes with them.

Me and my husband made a resolution recently to cut down our weight and try to eat healthy. I cannot completely stop eating carbs, instead I can substitute with healthy carbs. That is instead of simple carbs I can have complex carbs which is good for health. Instead of having chapathis on a daily basis I thought I will experiment with different breakfasts in the night dinner time. So I came up with these bean burgers for yesterday night dinner. We had little salad and one burger and thats it. It was filling and yummy too.

Here is how you make it:

1/2 cup soya beans soaked in the morning
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Pressure cook soya beans with turmeric powder upto 6 to 7 whistles in dal cooker or until the bean is thoroughly cooked. Remove from heat and allow it to cool. Drain away excess water and add the below given masalas.

1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp jeera powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
one small onion very finely chopped
one green chilli very finely chopped
2 sprigs of mint, chopped finely
salt as per taste
2 to 3 tbsp bread crumbs

Mix all the above into the cooked soya beans and make big round patties. You can make 4 patties comfortably. Drizzle little oil on tawa and place one patty at a time. Cook on both sides on medium flame until it turns golden brown in colour and cooked through. Carefully transfer it onto a plate.

2 Multi-grain bread slices
few leaves iceberg lettuce
tomato slices cut in circles
onion slices cut in circles
little tomato ketchup

Toast the bread slices on both sides with a drizzle of oil on the hot pan. Assemble the burger by applying ketchup on one bread slice, place the patty and then the tomato slices, onion slices and lettuce on top. It was good.

PS: One change that I might want to do next time is that I will dip the patty in egg white or any flour batter to make a coating on top and then roll in the bread crumbs. Allow it to set in the refrigerator for about 30 min. to one hour and then shallow fry it in on the pan. I dint have time so I did not follow this procedure and I found it difficult to keep the patty in shape as it was breaking off easily. Anybody trying this, try this way and let me know your experience please.

This is off to Fast Food Not Fat Food being hosted at Now Serving by dear Priya.

This is also off to MLLA #32 being hosted at Sandhya's Kitchen this month by dear Sandhya.

Masala Oats stuffed Idlis

I made these few days back, but did not get time to post them, as I was busy with nomulu vratalu etc., (kind of poojas). Finally I found time now to post them before the deadline for my own event Twist the Traditional - Idli.

I made Oats idlis and posted earlier. I like to find ways to cook oats in daily breakfast recipes, as they are healthy. After I made the Stuffed Idlis and posted I was blown away with the idea and the taste. So I wanted to try ways to see if I can cook with anything else and oats was my first choice.

Here is the way I made them:

Idli batter

For Masala Oats:
1 medium carrot grated
1 small onion chopped finely
2 green chillies slit length wise
1/2" piece of ginger grated finely
2/3 cups oats (ginded coarsely)
salt as per taste
little turmeric powder

For tempering:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp chana dal
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
few curry leaves

Heat oil in a pan add tempering ingredients. Let them fry for a second, when they start spluttering add curry leaves, grated ginger and green chillies. Let them fry for a minute and then add the chopped onion and grated carrot. Sprinkle little salt and turmeric powder, cover and cook on low flame until onion turns translucent. Add the coarse powder of oats, little more salt as required and cook on low flame. Keep stirring constantly until everything comes together. If it is too dry sprinkle little by little water and bring everything together. You should be able to make small patties out of the mixture. Remove from heat, let it cool and then make small flat patties out of the mixture.

Wash the idli plates with water and pour one ladle full of batter in each mold. Add the patties in each mold and then pour one more ladle full of batter to cover the patties. Set the plates into a pressure cooker and then cook for 10 to 15 min. without whistle.

Let the idlis cool for a minute, carefully scoop out them from the molds and drizzle little ghee on top of the idlis. Serve it with any chutney of your choice. My favorite is ground nut chutney, which you can see in most of the pictures.

This goes to my own event Twist the Traditional - Idlis event. The deadline is pretty close by so keep sending your wonderful entries...

Oats - Poha Set Dosa

Set Dosa is a mini version of dosa which are thick and small in shape. Unlike normal dosas which are crisy, these are very soft and spongy. I do make these once in a while as they are favorite to my kids. I gave a try to make them with oats and I must say they are good and healthy too.

Here is the recipe:

1/4 cup urad dal
1/4 cup brown rice
3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup poha/beaten rice (atukulu)
1 tsp fenugreek seeds (menthulu)
salt as per taste
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
few curry leaves

Wash and soak urad dal and brown rice with fenugreek seeds for about 6 hours. Just an hour before you grind the dal and rice mixture soak oats and poha in little water. You will see that water is absorbed by both oats and poha. Take the dal and rice mixture into a blender jar and grind it to a smooth paste. In the next batch take oats and poha mixture and grind to a smooth paste. Add both the mixtures to form a slightly thin batter (just a little thin than normal dosa batter) and leave aside overnight to allow it to ferment.

Next day morning add little salt, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Add little more water if needed. Heat a tawa and pour a ladle full of batter and do not spread with the ladle, it just has to spread by itself. So the batter has to be right consistency like pancake batter. You will see that bubbles will form all over the dosa. Drizzle little oil all over dosa and cover with a lid for a minute. Later remove the lid and carefully flip it on to the other side. Leave for a second on the other side also and remove it from the heat.

Serve these dosas with any chutney of your choice.

PS: Since the oats are slightly sticky by nature, you might feel that these dosas are also little sticky your hands, but trust me you will enjoy these with any chutney, better than just soaked oats in either milk or buttermilk.

This is off to CWF - Oats being hosted by Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes and Healthy Recipe Hunt - Poha event being hosted by Kurinji of Kurinji Kathambam.

Maggie Masala Wheat Rava Idli

I never made instant rava idlis. I once bought from store the mix that you get in a box and tried. Some how I did not like it. So, never after that I really was keen at making them. Since my event this time calls for idlis, I wanted to give it a try and see, but with a twist, which is the main idea of the event.

My son was crying for Maggie for dinner and while making it I got this idea of making wheat rava idlis with maggie masala in it. Here is the recipe:

2 carrots (I used gajar for better colour)
1 potato
1 medium onion
1 medium tomato
few green peas
2 green chillies chopped finely
Maggie masala powder
Salt as per taste

For Tempering:
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp chana dal
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
few curry leaves

Wash, peel and chop finely carrots, potatoes, onion and tomato. Heat oil in a pan add chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds and chopped green chillies at a time. When the mustard seeds start spluttering add the curry leaves and chopped vegetables, along with green peas. Sprinkle little salt on top and cook until the vegetables become slightly tender. Add maggie masala and cook for five more minutes and remove from heat.

1 1/2 cups wheat rava
Salt as per taste
1/4 to 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup curd/yogurt

Roast wheat rava in a non-stick pan until it turns slightly brown in colour. Add rava to the above cooked vegetables. Add yogurt, salt and add little by little water to make the batter similar to the one we do for idlis. Leave it aside overnight. By doing so the batter gets fermented.

Next day morning add little baking powder and little water if necessary to adjust the batter consistency. Grease the idli molds and pour a spoonful of batter in each mold. Steam cook them in pressure cooker without whistle for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve them with any chutney of your choice.

These are off to my own event Twist the Traditional - Idli.