Moong dal dosa (Pesarattu)

INGREDIENTS:
* Whole Moong Dal – 1 cup (green colored)
* Rice – 2 tbsp
* Green chilli – 2
* Ginger
* Coriander leaves (Optional)
* Cumin Seeds
* Finely Chopped Onion
* Salt – as per taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Soak Moong dal and rice overnight.
2. Grind them with ginger, green chilli and coriander leaves to a soft batter, with dosa like consistency.
3. Add salt and cumin seeds to this batter.
4. Make dosa on tava and sprinkle finely chopped onion. Roast well on both sides and serve with chutney.

Raw Mango Tambuli

INGREDIENTS:
* Raw mango – peeled
* Coconut
* Green chilli
* Buttermilk

For Seasoning:
* Mustard
* Red chilli
* Asafoetida

DIRECTIONS:

1. Grind peeled mango, coconut, green chilli with buttermilk.
2. Add salt and sugar to this mix, as necessary
3. Season with mustard seeds, red chilli and asafoetida.

Don’t make this very watery. It is best served with rice!

Eggless Orange cup cake

Inspired by this blog, I decided to try making eggless orange cup cakes.

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 cups wheat flour
0.75 cup all purpose flour
0.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
0.5 cup vegetable/canola oil
1 cup white sugar
0.25 cup yogurt
1.25 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp orange zest

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a bowl mix oil, sugar and yogurt.
2. To this mixture add orange juice and orange zest.
3. Add flours, baking soda and baking powder to the above mixture and mix well.
4. Grease cup cake pan and fill each cup 3/4th with above mixture, giving it room to rise.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degree F and place the above in the center rack (Make sure the rack is in the center).
6. Bake for 22-25 minutes. Remove when a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.
7. Cool for 2 minutes, remove cakes from pan and cool for another 10 minutes.

I was just left with one, to taste. That is self-explanatory how they turned out

Cabbage Pakoda

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 cup chopped Cabbage
* 3/4 cup chopped Onion
* 3 tbsp Besan flour
* 1 tbsp Rice Flour
* 1 Green Chilli chopped finely
* Salt to taste
* A pinch of Asafoetida
* 1/2 tbsp Red Chilli Powder
* Oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix onion and salt and leave it for sometime. The water from this can then be used to mix all the other ingredients.
2. Add all the other ingredients  and mix them using as little water as possible. Use very little flour, just enough to get the ingredients to stick together. (Tip: Too much flour or water will not make the pakoda’s crispy)
3. Fry the mixture, taking little at a time and putting them in hot oil.
4. Dry them and serve with ketchup or spicy chutney.

Pesto Pasta

INGREDIENTS:

* 1/2 pound Penne pasta (or any other kind of pasta)
* 2 tablespoons pine nuts
* Sun-dried tomatoes
* Pepperoncini – cut into small pieces (Optional)
* Salt and pepper, as per taste

For pesto sauce:

* 2 cloves garlic, peeled
* 2 tablespoons pine nuts
* 2 cups of fresh basil leaves
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. For the sauce, grind all of the ingredients adding olive oil little at a time. Do not make the paste too smooth. Keep it a little coarse for better taste.
2. Cook pasta as per directions on the pack, usually anywhere between 10-15 minutes.
3. After the pasta is done, set aside about 1/2 cup of water and drain the rest.
4. Put pasta back in the pan, add pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, pepperoncini, salt, pepper and the pesto sauce and warm it for a few minutes.
5. Granish with basil leaves and grated parmesan cheese.

Ginger – Buttermilk curry (Tambuli)

INGREDIENTS:

* Ginger
* Coconut
* Green chilli
* Buttermilk

For Seasoning:
* Mustard
* Red chilli

DIRECTIONS:

1. Grind ginger, coconut, green chilli with buttermilk.
2. Add salt and sugar to this mix, as necessary
3. Season with mustard seeds and red chilli.

Tambuli is usually quite watery and is best served with rice!

Aloo Capsicum Masala (Yenagai)

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 Capsicum (Green bell peppers)
* 1 Potato
* 1 Onion
* Dry coconut powder
* Coriander leaves

For Dry masala

* Gram Dal (Kadle Bele)
* Urad Dal (Uddina Bele)
* Cumin Seeds
* Coriander seeds
* Sesame (Ellu)
* Red chilli

DIRECTIONS

1. Fry the above dry masalas in very little oil and grind them into a coarse powder.
2. Microwave potatoes for about 5 minutes.
3. In a kadai, heat some oil and fry onions till brown. Add capsicum and fry it too.
4. Now add the potatoes and fry for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the masala powder and fry for 2 minutes. Add some dry coconut and garnish with coriander.

The original recipe is made with capsicum only. I added some potatoes too and it tastes awesome!

Banana Dosa

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups rice
* 1 spoon Poha
* 1 spoon Methi seeds
* 2/3 ripe bananas
* Salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak rice, poha and methi seeds for about 5-6 hours.
2. Grind the above into a smooth batter with the bananas.
3. Ferment this overnight.
4. Add some salt just before making dosa and there you are! nice soft banana dosa – ready to be served with spicy chutney.

Variation : Use jackfruit instead of banana.

Zucchini Bread

INGREDIENTS

* 3 eggs
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 2 cups packed brown sugar
* 2 cups grated zucchini
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 cup raisins
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
* 1/4 cup wheat germ

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla. Mix well. Add flours, baking powder, soda, salt, wheat germ, and cinnamon; stir to combine. Stir in raisins and nuts, if desired.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30-40 mins, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.