unique dried cucumber seeds podi

When my grand mom visited me last month, she bought cucumber seeds and i was like "cucumber seeds???"

my dad had cucumber plants in the farm and like in olden days she dried the seeds from the excess cucumbers she had.

Usually cucumber seeds are not used in curries. scrape out the seeds and pour them onto a plate and keep it under sun.
If its summer, it will take half day for them to get dried in India :)
Other wise keep them daily under the sun for 2-3 days.
I am sure you can find them in some indian spice stores.

I am not a big fan of podi's, but this one tasted very different and yummy.

Ingredients

dried cucumber seeds - half cup
red chillies - 3 (as per your taste)
garlic pods - 3
Jeera - 1 tbs
tamarind - 1 strip, 1/2 lemon size (I am always confused how to give the measurement for tamarind, any ideas?)
salt - as per taste


Step1: roast cucumber seeds along with on low flame until seeds start to change color. It is easy to burn them, so make sure you roast them on low-medium flame

Step 2: roast red chillies for couple of minutes separately.



Step 3: grind all roasted stuff with salt.


Step 4: add garlic pods and tamarind and grind

Yummy podi is ready


Tastes great with rice along with ghee. You can also have with with idli or dosa.

Store it in an air tight jar and it will stay for over a month.

Happy cooking :)

flower (cauliflower) pakoda

My husband and me are like north and south poles when it comes to taste in food.
Whatever he likes i dislike and what ever i like, he does not even touch.

Its a good thing as it gives us a chance to taste dishes otherwise we would not have.
It is like a challenge for me to cook dishes, present in a way that he does not know what vegetable it is and impress him.

One such successful experiment is cauliflower pakoda. He loves pakoda but he hates cauliflower.
so i thought why not combine these and see how it will turn out.

Ingredients:
Cauliflower - 1
onion - 1(medium size)
chillies - 2
curry leaves - 10
salt - 1 tsp (as per taste)
chilli powder - 1 tsp (as per taste)
coriander powder - 1 tsp
gram flour - 1 cup
rice flour - 2 tbsp


Step1: cut cauliflower into small pieces as shown in pic. Add cut onion,cut chillies, chopped curry leaves, salt, coriander powder, turmeric, chilli powder to cauliflower pieces.


Step2: Add gram flour and rice flour and mix all of them well with little water.

Tip: When doing any pakoda, add as little water as possible for the flour to coat the vegetables completely. The pakoda will be crispy if you add little water, otherwise they will be soggy.



Step 3: Deep fry until golden brown. Crispy flower pakoda are ready.


Enjoy masala tea with these pakodas and spend great evening with your loved ones.

Healthy Veg Ukma

My son gets easily bored with regular dishes, i have to cook something different for him to eat properly.
At the same time i make sure that the food is healthy and has all vegetables.

One such healthy dish is Veg Ukma


Ingredients:

Onion - 1 (cut into small pieces)
green chillies - 2 (cut into small pieces)
Cabbage cut pieces - 1 cup
potato - 1 (cut into small pieces)
carrot - 1 (cut into small pieces)
green split gram - 1 cup (soaked for 1/2 hr)
Oil - 3 tbsp
pepper corns - 5
Ukma Rava - 2 cups
Water - 4 cups
Salt - 1 tsp (as per taste)


Step 1: Take a deep pan, add oil. add onion, green chillies and pepper corns. Fry until onion become transparent, then add cabbage, potato and carrot pieces and fry for a minute.

Tip: You can add any vegetable you fancy, like peas, beans etc


Step 2: Add soaked and drained green gram. Fry for minute and then add water. And add salt as per your taste

Tip: The best way to know that you have added correct amount of salt is to taste the
water after adding the salt.



Step 3: Once the water starts boiling, add ukma rava, make sure there are no lumps and let it cook for another mimute

Tip: When adding ukma rava, add it slowly while stirring water. This way you are sure no lumps are formed




Enjoy healthy Ukma, and my son loved it.

non recipe : coriander powder

Now a days every one buys ground masalas.
I want to show how easy it is to make them at home.

Advantages of making masala powders at home

1. masala powder is fresh
2. You need to used only half the amount with home made compared to the store bought ones
3. They smell great and have great flavor
4. You are sure there are no fillers or preservatives added to them
5. They are easy to make
6. It is way cheaper than store bought ones.


If i had time i would like to make masalas just before using them but i think i can do that only when i retire from my job and have all the time in the world to cook dishes.

Today we are going to see how to make coriander powder.

Ingredients: coriander seeds


You can find them in any Indian store.
They have nutty-sweet flavor.



Step1: lightly roast the seeds for few minutes. You will start to get the auroma of the seeds.






Step2: Grind and store in a air tight container.

Simple :)

spicy brinjal(egg plant) chutney

I Love eggplant recipes. My husband does not eat it.
I usually make eggplant chutney and tell him its peanut chutney. He happily eats it and then i disclose that its eggplant. He complains that i am cheating him.

If our loved ones are missing out on delicious dish, we can go to any extend to make them taste those dishes. What say :)

Here a delicious recipe for all those who don't like brinjal.

Ingredients



Egg plants (Brinjal) - 5 (medium size)
Green chillies - 10 (as per spice you like)
onion -1 (medium size)
garlic pods - 5
tamarind - lemon size (as shown in pic)
jeera - 1 tsp
oil - 2 tbsp
salt - as per taste

Step 1: Take a non-stick pan, add oil. add cut brinjal peices and chillies and fry for a minute.



Step 2: Add tamarind, garlic pods, cut onion and turmeric .

Step 3: let them fry until nicely done, will take around 5-6 minutes. Now grind all the fried ingredients with little salt.

That is all, delicious brinjal chutney is ready.



Step 4(optional) : add tadka as with all chutney recipes, which is optional.

Enjoy :)