Chana daal poori/paratha is a simple and delicious traditional dish which is famous in Bihar and Uttar pradesh states. It is a local dish made for spacial occasions. Any traditional foods from anywhere always gives a high satisfaction to your test buds. Although this dish is very similar to other stuffed parathas like aaloo paratha, Gobhi paratha, mutter paratha, Mooli paratha however it special as it is filled with Chana dall instead of vegetables. This special dish is made during dussehra and specially when the bride comes to their in-laws place first time after marriage. This paratha/poori is enjoyed with sweet rice kheer and spicy curry. I love this dish and just the name makes me mouthwatering. Chana daal poori/paratha is made with very less ingredients basically using boiled spiced chana daal, filled in wheat flour dough balls. You can skip garlic if you making it for worship during dussehra. To make poori it requires deep frying however for paratha you can cook with greasing oil on a pan.
Ridge Gourd(Uppu Huli) Dosa
Ridge Gourd(Uppu Huli) Dosa is one of the traditional cuisine of Udupi, Mangalore region popularly know as Dakshina Kannada. People here are well known for their unique cooking style with minimum or no wastage. They cook from almost all edible parts of any given vegetables. Ridge gourd is one of the locally grown vegetable. This dosa is usually prepared during rainy or winter season to keep the body warm. There are few variation of this dosa too. Ridge Gourd can be replaced with fine chopped onion, fenugreek leaves or fine chopped cabbage. However Ridge gourd is the most famous authentic and tasty among all variation.
The batter of ridge gourd dosa is made with rice and flavored with methi seeds, coriander seeds, chili, tamarind pulp, jaggery and freshly grated coconut. The right amount of tanginess, spiciness and fresh aroma of coriander seeds gives a trickle to your taste bud. You can adjust the spiciness as per your taste. This dosa doesn’t require any fermentation before preparation. The texture and taste of ridge gourd dosa makes it very different than other any other regular dosa. It’s not as crispy as other regular dosas however it taste really awesome. Traditional recipe does not include Quinoa in the dosa however I have added it give a slight twist. My kids are very picky eater and they doesn’t like any vegetable which they can see, so I generally grind the vegetable and mix it in batter. My kids loved ground ridge gaurd dosa. Goes well when served with hot cup of tea as breakfast.
I learnt about this dosa from one my friend Akhila Ramakrishna as she prepared it for dinner when we visited her place. She is really a good cook especially Mangalore special foods. I am very thankful to her for sharing this recipe with me which helped me posting it on my blog site.
Bisi Bele Bath
Bisi bele bath is one of most popular dish in Karnataka. The recipe is very similar to north Indian khichdi. In Kannada, bisi means hot, bele means daal and bath means rice hence the name. Rice and daal cooked along with veggie, spices, and jaggery makes this dish delicious. I am very fond of south Indian food and this is one of my favorite dish. The aroma of bisi bele bath masala, curry leaves, ghee and tamarind creates a craving for the food. You can use home made Bisi bele bath masala which gives an awesome freshness and taste to this dish but if not available, you could use store bought MTR Bisi bele bath masala powder. Bisi bele bath tastes best when served hot, topped with ghee along with papad and kara boondi.
Tricolor Parfait
Wishing all my Indian friends a very Happy Republic Day!!
This Tricolor Parfait recipe is inspired by the beautiful colors of the Indian Flag. This day brings a lovely childhood memory when it was celebrated in schools with flag hosting, various cultural functions and at the end of celebration sweet especially Motichoor Ladoos were distributed to every one. The recipe is prepared using mainly three ingredients using lauki (bottle gourd), sweet yogurt and sweet fine boondi. The green cardamon, rose and kewra essence gives an amazing taste to the recipe. The three layers arranged in a fancy glass container make this recipe very soothing to the eyes and appealing. Some of the process are lengthy like getting hung curd so plan ahead for those. I have separately posted the recipe for Motichoor Ladoo which is required for this recipe. However I have mentioned the ingredient for boondi here for easy reference.
Maddur Vada
Maddur Vada is a very popular spicy, crispy and mouthwatering snack. The name is based on a place called Maddur in Karnataka which is situated between Bangalore and Mysore. It was one of our favorite snacks while travelling by train between Bangalore and Mysore. Basically, Maddur vada has mainly three ingredients rice flour, fine rava and all purpose flour. The dough is flavored with onion, ginger, curry leaves, hing (asafoetida) and green chili. The beauty of this vada is that it’s crust is very crispy however it is soft inside. Generally, the Vada has round shape, however I tried some experiment with shape and it really looked very nice. I used cookie cutter to give it star and heart shape. You can always customize it’s size of the Vada and spiciness based on your choice. Maddur vada tastes great when served with coconut chutney along with a cup of tea or coffee. I am thankful to my friend Savitha Matad who taught this recipe to me. We had this Vada at her place after long time and it brought back the old memories and I thought of adding it to my recipe blog. Hope you all would enjoy this recipe!
Pomegranate Quinoa Dhokla
Dhokla is a savory steamed tangy, spicy and sweet Gujarati snack which is famous all over India. Dhokla is all time our favorite Snack. There are many dhokla recipe, like a, Khaman Dhokla, Rava Dhokla, Veg Sandwich Dhokla, Green Moong Daal Dhokla, Spinach Dhokla and so on.This dhokla recipe is little different with a slight twist to traditional one. Pomegranate Quinoa Dhokla prepared using Quinoa, fresh pomegranate juice with some spices which makes it more healthy with unique taste and beautiful color. Pomegranate juice gives a tangy-sweet taste to the dhokla. Delicious Dhokla can be served with meal or as an evening snack.
Raw Mango & Guava Chutney
Guava also known Amrood (in Hindi) is a seasonal fruit which could be readily available during its season all over India. This sweet & tangy mouthwatering chutney is prepared mainly using raw mango and guava, flavored with chaat masala and black salt. This delightful chutney goes very well with any Indian snacks like a cutlets, kabab, pakoras, samosa and so on.
Egg-less Pumpkin Cupcake
Pumpkin cupcake is all time favorite of my kids. These are perfect treat for kids. Super moist, fluffy and flavorful pumpkin cupcakes are very delicious. This recipe is egg-less variation cupcake for those people who don’t eat egg. Instead of egg I have used egg replacer which is available in grocery stores. For people who eat egg can replace it with egg. These cupcakes are decorated with tangy and sweet yogurt base frosting, you can use cream cheese instead of hung curd if you like it.