A PINCH OF HING

Ingredients: 2 cups Idli rice  1 cup Black gram dal 2 cup fine grated coconut 2 cup coconut milk Salt Preparations: Wash the rice and dal  Soak for 6 hrs.  Drain all water and grind with coconut milk to as regular idli batter.  Add grated coconut and salt stir well. Cover the lid and keep for fermentation for about 6 hours or overnight. Next day stir again and  use the batter to make idlis the usual way. I use to pour onto a steel bowl and place it in pressure cooker without its weights. With 1 cup of water. Steam for 15 minutes check through skewers if done , remove and place another one . Serve with any of the usual accompaniments.

Sambar is one of staple dish in Tamil homes. Like Gujarati’s fond of dhokla ,Bengoli’s  fond of fish,Punjabi’s fond of sarso ka saag, Mumbai people are fond of pao bhaji,and we Odia's fond of dahi bara and sweets. Tamil's are fond of Sambar. The food never complete without Sambar. They cook Varieties of Sambar with using of single - single vegetables like lady's finger Sambar, drumstick Sambar,raw mango Sambar, keerai Sambar,radish Sambar,mix veg sambar, young coconut Sambar, bitter gourd Sambar which I like mostly with plain rice.  I usually prepare sambar twice a week with idli and each time I try to cook different flavour of Sambar. My family enjoyed these variations of Sambar. Ingredients : 2 Cups Boiled toor dal 2 chopped Tomato  2 chopped Green chillies 10 Vendakkai / Lady's finger into half ½ cup Tamarind water 1 tbsp coconut powder 1 pinch hing 2 tbsp Sambar powder 2 Dry red chilli 1 tsp Mustard and Cumin seeds 1 tsp fennel seeds

Ingredients: 6 Big sized Potato pinch of hing ¼ tsp Curry masala ¼ tsp Garam masala ½ tsp Aam Chur powder ½ tsp black pepper powder ½ tsp red chili Powder ½ tsp Tamarind pulp Hand full of Coriander leaves Few Curry leaves 4 cross long cut Green chillies 2 tbsp Mustard Oil Presentation: Wash and Cut potatoes into four with skin. Boil the potatoes by adding the required amount of salt. Remove the skin and keep a side. Take a bowl add all dry spices in a bowl mix well along with tamarind pulp and ½ cup of water keep aside. Heat kadai add oil with a pinch of hing,  add soaked wet spices to oil fry till raw smell go out add boiled potatoes , green chilly ,curry leaves and coriander leaves stir on high flames. Add salt stir and roast potato well do not burn the spices. Switch off the flame remove from kadhai to serving bowl. Serve with naan , Chapattis, roti or with rice as side dish.

Ingredients : 1 Cup Moong Dal  1 Cup Rice 1 tbsp desi ghee Salt Preparations: Wash Dal and rice properly.and soak for half an hour. Heat ghee in pressure cooker. Add rice and Dal to the pressure cooker. Fry for a while Add four cups of water to it. Quantity of water can be varied depending on the thickness you prefer. If you want little liquidity add one extra cup of water. Add salt stir well so that it gets uniformly added. Close the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook on low flame wait for steam from cooker when it's start whistling switch off the flame and leave this to cool. After steam come out of the pressure cooker open and stir nicely. Khichadi is ready for serve on late. Top it with ghee.

This is typical South Indian korma Using seasonal vegetables , creamy with combination of curd, Poppy seeds and cashews, Mild sweetness of coconut, Slightly spice of green chillies and flavorful whole spices. Good for health. Ingredients: All mix Vegetables - 1 Bowl (Cauliflower,Tomato, knol khol ,Carrot ,Potato ,Beans,Green Peas ,Broad beans and Capsicum) Chopped Onion - 1 Green Chilly splits - 2 Ginger Garlic paste - 1tsp Hung curd - 1/4 cup Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp Curry Leaves - few For paste : Grated coconut - 2 tbsp Cashew - 5 Poppy seeds - 1 tbsp Cardamom - 1 Bay leaf - 1 Cinnamon - 1 Clove - 1 Green chillies - 2 Preparations: Wash,clean and cut into cubes or your choice of shape and size. Make paste from above paste ingredients keep aside. Beat the hung curd keep aside. Boil all vegetables along with salt use very little amount of water to boil the Veggies. When done separate the water from vegetable. Veg stock and boiled Vegg

Making pasta is fun ! Here is my version of making pasta. I hope you will enjoy this Spicy pasta My family love spicy foods and to be fair I personally prefer more spicy to any Italian food. Not too much Spicy ; feeling like fire breathing mouth but yes limit of tolerance. This can be enjoyed hot, slightly chilled or at room temperature, making it ideal for kids Tiffin box. Ingredients : 250 g Pasta ½ Cup Tomato puree 1 tbsp Olive oil 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese 2 tbsp Chopped Vegetables (Beans,carrot, capsicum,peas and tomato) 1 tsp crushed garlic 1 tbsp Spicy Curry powder 1 tsp Red Chilly flakes 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste Few Chopped Coriander leaves Olive oil Salt Preparation : Heat a large pan along with olive oil, add crushed garlic,chilly flakes,add tomato puree then add all other spices and vegetables fry till dry and oil separates. At the same time ; boil water, add salt, and then add pasta. No need to add oil. Adding oil may keep the pasta water from bubbling

Munj means knol khol . Haak means green leafy vegetables ; consumed by Kashmiri's. Haak is very popular side dish of Kashmiri Pandits home on their food plate. Pandits avoid to use of Garlic and Muslims were use hand full of Garlic. Today I am sharing ; one of seasonal recipe of Kashmiri Haak with it's vegetable is Munj. Kashmiri's use more mustard oil because of cold weather. Which is suitable for their local climate. We can avoid more oil but for the exact flavour we may drizzle atleast 1 tsp of oil after cooking. Ingredients : 1 Bowl knoll khol leaves 1 Bowl knol khol chopped 10 Garlic pods 2 dry red chilies 1 tbsp hing 1 Cup Mustard Oil Salt Presentations : Wash ,clean, rinse and trim the haak with hands and keep aside. Cut munj into desired shape and keep aside. Heat clay pot along with 4 cups of water add haak ,munj ,oil , garlic and salt. Cover and Cook on high flames till the haak tender. Once the vegetables are

My Mom's favourite Simba Pithou bhajja or Jhatta Pithou bhajja . Pithou bhajja is our traditional and authentic Recipe of Odisha. We make different types of Pithou bhajja. And this is one of them. But this not so likely because of the most bothersome insects inside the broad beans. Choose the best one and cook. Ingredients : Broad beans ½ kg For Batter Rice 4 tbsp Gram flour 2 tbsp Cumin 1 tbsp Ginger 1" 1 Dry red chilly 2 Whole dhaniya ½ tsp Hing 1 pinch Oil for deep fry Salt to taste Preparations: Wash ,clean and remove the fiberous part from both sides of Beans. Keep in a kitchen towel to dry. Blend together all above Ingredients and make a fine thick batter. Take a large bowl along with broad beans sprinkle pinch of salt and toss very nicely applying each and every piece. Now add the batter mix all adjust salt. Keep this for 5 minutes. Heat sufficient oil for deep frying in a kadhai on medium flame. Dip one by one marinated beans to hot oil. Do no

Dal Ingredients: Toor Dal 1 Cup Mix vegetables 1 Cup Tomato 2 chopped One pinch Hing Mustard and Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp Red chilly powder 1 tsp Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp Coriander powder - 1 tsp Green chilly 2 Chopped Salt Ghee Dhokli ingredients: Wheat Flour 1/2 cup Gram flour 2 tbsp Carom seeds 1 tsp Salt Ghee Presentations: Dal: Wash and soak dal for ½ hour. Mix soaked dal , turmeric powder, vegetables, along with 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker. Close the lid cook on low flame until it done . Switch off flame and let the steam escape. Keep the dal as it is in the pressure cooker. Take a deep vessel along with ghee add seasonings one by one , fry the spices for few minutes , add chopped tomatoes. Once tomatoes are cooked, add red chilly powder and mix well. Saute the masala until oil starts separate and comes aromatic smells. Add little water stir , add cooked Vegetables Dal and salt , stir everything very nicely , cook for 10 more minutes. Dal is read

Ingredients : 4 tbsp Sugar 250 ml Full Cream Milk 4 tbsp Corn flour 1 Cup Mango Pulp Unsalted butter For mango caramel : 4 tbsp Sugar 1 tbsp mango pulp Water Preparations : Make one cup of hot water and keep aside. Brush the pudding mold with unsalted butter and keep aside. Take half cup of water in a bowl add corn flour mix well and keep aside. Cut off the mango flesh and discard the peals. Cut the mango into pieces and make a fine paste and keep aside. Now start the process of making pudding. Cook sugar and mango pulp along with little water to caramelized, add hot water quickly and stir for a while, pour syrup to pudding mold. Keep this in refrigerator for quick result. Melt sugar in milk until dissolved add mango paste and corn water to it stir constantly. When it's enough thick ; Remove from flame and immediately transfer to pudding mold. Wrap up aluminium foil on top of the pudding mold to prevent a hard layer on it. Keep this in the refrigerator for 1

Pressure Cooker Biryani is not a big deal. I make this pressure cooker version of white biryani hope you all like. I love this biryani as it turns out perfect every time whenever I prepared the delicious , a Unique taste of whole spices and without any colour. Cooker biryani is bad impression by few but to know the secret behind it ; I suggest few steps like before soaking, citrus to cooked rice , adding spices into half, adding milk and more . Comes perfect fluffy biryani. Taste, look and perfection in one pressure pot. So here is the recipe of delicious biryani with 3 combination cooked in a pressure cooker. Ingredients: 2 Cups Basmati rice 6 Boiled Eggs 3 Potato cut into Cubes 1 Cup Boiled dry peas 2 Crushed Cardamom 1 Bay leaf into half 4 Cloves (2..2 ) 2 Anis (1 each) 1" Cinnamon into half 1 tbsp Lemon juice 1 Sliced Big Onion 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder 1 tsp Garam Masala Powder 1 tsp Sahi Zeera 1 Cup Hung

This saag recipe is very old authentic Recipe of Odisha. The combination of saag,rice and few vegetable which gives a unique taste and flavorful to this side dish. Rice stock and brinjal gives thickness to curry. Sweet potato give a mild sweetness . Garlic is the inhencer flavour of the greens( Saag Ghanto) 1 Bunch green leaves 1 Brinjal 1 Sweet Potato 1 Cup Rice stock 1Pinch hing 10 Crushed Garlic 2 Dry Red Chillys 1 tsp Mustard,Cumin seeds 2 tbsp Broken Rice Salt Oil Preparations : Chop the green leaves ,Cut brinjal and Sweet potatoes into small cubes Keep aside. Soak rice for 15 minutes. Heat oil in kadhai. add hing ,mustard and cumin seeds when start spluttering add red chillies ( broken into half) crushed garlic fry till brown , add rice stock after one boil add broken rice cook till done. Add brinjal and Sweet Potato cook another 10 minutes, add saag stir well when saag shrink down add salt cook till done. Serve as side dish with rice.

When ever I am not in the mood to cook anything. I choose to make easy and quick recipe with using pressure cooker. And yes, at the same time our tummy is full with one delicious meal without doing any hard work. Whether you make it for breakfast or for dinner, one thing is for sure. It is a healthy dish which your whole family will enjoy. Ingredients: Cooked rice 2 bowl's Black gram Dal 1tbsp Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp Cumins 1/2 TSP Chopped Green chillies 1 tbsp Hing 1 pinch Few Curry leaves Salt to taste Oil Presentations: Add one cup of rice and 2 cup of water in the pressure cooker. Close the lid and pressure cook at Low Pressure till 1 whistle, switch off the flame wait till cool down the pressure. Once it's cool remove the lid. Now heat a pan with oil add seasonings. When the urad dal starts to turn slightly brown, add curry leaves, Chillys, hing and continue to saute until the dal are golden brown. Remove from heat. Pour this seasonings to cooked rice and

The taste of the tomato leaves, whether as a puree, sauce or paste is quite different from sauces Chutney and puree. The tomato leaves are extremely fragrant. Whenever I hold a leaf just start crushing after crushing it I really enjoying the fragrance . The beautiful smell of the leaf give me an idea of what should I do with this without losing the smell. Now I have used tomato leaves to Sandwiches, Pizza toppings,egg bhurji , Salad , any curry instead of coriander leaves I switched to tomato leaves. Chopped handful of leaves after finishing curry just sprinkle and cover the lid. Use tomato leaves as herbs for its wonderful savory smell. ( Do not use tomato stems or branches because it's a full of toxic in nature ) Ingredients: 4 Cups Tomato leaves ( only leaves) 1 Large Onion 2 Green Chillys 1/2" ginger 2 Garlic Cloves 1" Radish 1 tsp vinegar Oil Salt Preparations: In a pan add all ingredients along with salt accept leaves fry till they slightl

Lentils and pulses are good source of protein. This is my favourite lentils soup . This tastes so yummy that I cook it often and enjoy my day. I mostly skip my breakfast for this wonderful protein based soup. Ingradients: Mixed lentils Toor , Moong, Channa Dal, Masoor Dal,Urad Dal Each 1 tbsp Black pepper 1/2 tbsp Hing 2 pinch Garam masala powder 1 tsp Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp Onion 1 roughly chopped Garlic roughly Crushed Ginger 1" Butter 1/2 tsp Oregano few for garnishing Salt to taste Preparations: Wash properly all lentils and Soak in 3 cup of water for half an hour. In a pressure cooker add the soaked dal and cook for about 10 minutes . Cook on low flame and remove with one whistle. Cool down and slightly beat with egg bitter. Take a soup pot add butter then add boiled dal stir well. Garnish with oregano. Serve hot in a soup bowl or a coffee mug.

Here is another special recipe from my favourite Drumstick leaves.   I love drumstick leaves from my childhood and I never ever say no to any recipes from drumstick leaves. These leaves are available all seasons but in winter season the drumstick leaves are very soft and smooth and very fresh small size branches which is removed within a day from tree. These fresh drumstick leaves are full of nutrients. Good for children but due to bitter in taste they avoid to eat. I ensure that my daughter enjoy this wonderful leaves without creat any problems. So I choose to make soup from this. Ingradients: Drumstick leaves 2 cups Salt to taste Black pepper powder 1/2 tsp Fresh cream 1 tbsp Preparations: Wash the leaves properly and put it on pressure cooker along with 1 cup of water , boil till 2 whistle. And remove from flame wait for cool down. Once it is cool, blend it in a mixer to make a smooth puree. Transfer this puree in the pan again and add one cup of water,

Ingredients: 3 Bitter Gourds ½ Cup Gram flour 4 tbsp Fine Rice flour 1 tsp Ginger /Garlic paste 1 tsp Garam masala powder 1 tsp Red chilly powder Oil to deep fry Salt to taste Presentations: Wash the bitter gourd , trim the top and tail and then cut the bitter gourd as round in shape like rings. Collect all rings in a colander and sprinkle 1 tsp of salt mix them well , leave this for half an hour so that the rings are observed salt and leave the excess water and bitterness from bitter gourd. In another bowl, take all other ingradients along with 1 tsp of oil , using your hand mix well till smooth powder. Now add the sliced bitter gourd to the flour mix. Sprinkle few drops of water so that the masala coats all the pieces well. Heat the cooking oil in a kadhai on medium flame. When hot , add the masala coated slices 10 to 12 at a time & fry till crispy. Stir often to avoid stick each other. When done remove on a paper . Store in an air tight container. You can enjoy t

Pigeon peas are the main bean which turned out lentils and used to make the popular recipe all over in India is "Dal". Pigeon peas are also known as Whole Red Gram , Arhur or Kache Toor ke beej in Hindi, Thuvarai in Tamil and in Odia it's Kancha Kandula Manji or Harada Manji. Mostly we use dry peas  by soaking process. But I got some raw pigeon peas on this season. My mom makes with jackfruit , potatoes and dry pigeon peas masala curry which is my favourite. Due to the season jackfruit is not available in market so I prefer using the fresh beans pairing it with only potatos in a thick gravy . It tastes great when made with fresh peas.  Ingredients: 4 Potatoes  1 Cup fresh pigeon peas 2 Chopped Tomatoes  2 Sliced  Onions 1 tsp Ginger/garlic paste ½ tsp Curry masala ½ tsp Garam masala ½  Turmeric powder ½  Chili powder  Presentations: Shell the pigeon peas ,wash them and place them on pressure cooker along with 1 cup of water. Cook the pigeon peas on high flame till 2

Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup pumpkin puree 1 cup salty milk powder (To skip milk powder ;You may also use Hung Curd  for nice texture and taste ) 1 tsp cinnamon powder 1 tsp chilli paste 1 tsp onion paste 1 tsp ginger/garlic paste Pinch of hing Salt to taste Presentations: Combine all ingredients in one bowl mix nicely to avoid any lumps. Add warm water mix well cover and keep this mixture for ½ an hour. After half an hour stir again ,the batter should be soft and smooth. Coat a pan with butter Over low-medium heat, pour 1 laddle of batter onto hot pan do not spread. Cover and cook this pancakes about 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Do the same process for all batter. Serve with your choice of Chutney or sauces.

I feel bad throwing the leftovers away.  These tasty rice pancakes are something that I used to make for my daughter when I m in hurry to make breakfast and when  there some rice from yesteday is leftover. I make these rice pancakes  in varieties. with few veggies, with only coriander leaves,with mint flavour, with spinach, with egg,with cheese and with green masala which today I served. Ingredients: 2 cups leftover cooked rice 1/2 cup wheat  flour 2 tbsp green masala 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1cup hung curd 1/2 cup chopped coriander 2 tbsp green chillis Salt to taste Oil for frying Presentations: Combine all ingradients in a bowl and mix continuously until well combined like a batter. Heat a pan with oil and pour 2 full ladles of the batter onto pan and spread  smoothly until it is a circle and about 5 to 6 inches round. The pancakes need to cook for about 5 minutes on each side. Flipping them too early will result to loose the batter and it will break.