Sweet n spicy Milagai bajji

Milagai - green chili (any variety) ; Bajji - pakora / fried spicy snack of India.

In USA , most us cannot get the real Indian bajji milagai (a bigger version of green chili without any hot chili taste, but smells like one). So we use Jalapeno peppers to prepare pakora / bajji.  Jalapenos are really HOT when compared to Indian bajji peppers.
Nowadays I am seeing these lesser spicy peppers - Cubanelle peppers, in the nearby Asian grocery store. So I prepared a sweet and hot bajji as a variation and we love it very much. My mom used to put some tomato ketchup inside the bajji milagai before dipping it in besan batter, as I was not a fan of spicy foods in my early ages. So I always crave for that sweet touch to spicy dishes till now.
Here I have used a 'Thai sweet chili sauce' instead of ketchup and in my view the chili flavor in that sauce enhances the taste of the bajji.

Try this and I am sure everyone will like it.

Ingredients : 
Non spicy long peppers (Bajji milagai) - 8
Besan flour (kadalai mavu) - 3/4 cup
dosa batter - 1/4 cup
(or) rice flour - 2 tbsp
salt - to taste
red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
hing (asafoetida)- 1/8 tsp
baking soda - 1/2 tsp
garlic - 2 pieces (finely ground)
ajwain (omam / bishop weed) - 1/4 tsp 

oil - to deep fry (250 ml)
Thai chili sauce - 1 tsp per chili

Cubanelle pepper tastes just like Indian Bajji milagai (not spicy).

Ingredients for bajji

I used Sweet chilli sauce from Asian store.

Remove seeds after slitting the pepper.

Apply a little sweet chilli sauce inside the peppers.

Dip them one by one in bajji batter

Fry them in medium heat, both sides.

Take out, drain oil by placing over a kitchen paper towel.

Fried capsicum bajji is ready ! Serve hot !

Cut them into 2 or 3 slices before serving (optional).

Method:

Chili:
Rinse the peppers. Slit the bottom of the pepper carefully (without cutting it in half) and remove all the seeds.  
Scoop a tsp of 'sweet chili sauce' inside the peppers.

Batter:
Grind the garlic and ajwain to a fine paste with 1 tsp water. Mix all the above (except oil, sauce) along with 1/4 cup water to a thick batter. Add more water if needed, but keep the batter like thick idly batter ,otherwise the bajjis will absorb more oil. 

Frying:
Heat oil in a wok. Before it gets smoky hot, reduce flame and keep in medium flame.

Dip the Chili peppers in the batter and put it on the hot oil.  Do not clutter. Flip and fry both sides. Drain oil and take out.

Sweet Milagai bajji / fritter is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Cut these big fried bajji into two or three pieces and serve (easy to bite).
Serve hot as snack along with hot coffee or tea during rainy / winter season.
Tomato ketchup is a good side dish

Note:
*It is always a good idea to make onion bajji or some other bajji along with capsicum bajji , for guests, as everyone can't accept the spiciest bajjis.
 *Instead of stuffing the bajji with 'Thai sweet chili sauce' before frying, we can scoop some after frying too. Thereby we can avoid soggy bajjis, if served after some time.
*The batter should be prepared fresh to avoid excess oil absorption (that means leaving it in room temperature will make it sour soon). Refrigeration for same day use is ok.

Enjoy my other bajjis also:) 
Sweet bajji
Vazhaikkai (plantain) bajji
Potato bajji
Cauliflower bajji
Onion bajji
Kathirikkai bajji
Check out my authentic milagai bajji recipe.

Happy Dussara !

Happy Pooja celebrations and Dussarah !

WOW ! I love this cute bouquet along with our indoor plants !

Our wedding anniversary:  My hubby's gifts for me : Carrot cake and flowers

multi color channa sundal

Sweet coconut Mothagam (using steamer basket)

kolukattai - Indian rice dumplings , usually stuffed with sweet stuffings. The kolukattai goes by the name of the stuffing inside. Jaggery (Indian brown sugar) mixed with either channa dal or shredded coconut or dry fruits or any other creative ingredient is called pooranam (core). The outer layer is made of one ingredient , the rice flour. But the outer layer preparation needs little more skill, experience and dedication (LOL).  After many experimentations I have found the fool-proof way to prepare the rice flour and that's nothing but the old way, and I have given it below.

The thengai kolukattai (coconut stuffing), is the most common and easy one.

I usually steam cook the kolukattai using a idli steaming vessel. But this time I used my rice cooker's steamer basket and got better results. The kolukattais steamed in an electric rice cooker are more softer, they could hold the shape very nicely (without cracks).  The uniform release of steam has made that possible, I guess.

Anyways try this and enjoy a yummy snack.

Kolukattai prepared using rice cooker's steam basket

Ingredients:
(For 15 mothagam)
Pooranam (sweet stuffing):
shredded coconut - 3/4 cup
besan flour - 2 tbsp (optional)
crushed jaggery - 3/4 cup
cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Outer layer for mothagam:
rice flour - 1 1/2 cup
water - 3 cup
salt - 1/2 tsp
coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Step 1. Outer layer:
Take the rice flour in a pan.
Dry roast it in a dry pan to loose all the moisture.
Add water, oil , salt to the flour so that it becomes like a thick dosa batter.
Now heat the mixture in very low flame and stir continuously, till we get a thick transparent rice dough.
Take off heat and let it cool.

Step 2: Pooranam preparation:
Shred a coconut and keep it handy (3/4 cup shredded coconut). I used frozen shredded coconut, which I had bought from Indian grocery store.
Add 1/4 cup water to the crushed jaggery and heat it, so that the jaggery dissolves completely. (I use soft North Indian style jaggery).
Using a strainer, filter the jaggery solution leaving behind the sediments.
Add the jaggery solution to the shredded coconut and start heating it with frequent stirring.
Stir the sweet mixture till it becomes manageable.
Add besan flour and cardamom. Stir till it becomes thick.
(Adding besan flour is optional, but it makes the job easy).
Sweet coconut Pooranam is ready.

Step 3:
Now take a small ball of rice dough, flatten it on an oiled / wet  plastic sheet.
Put one scoop of sweet pooranam over the rice disc. Fold and make it like a ball.  
(Fold it to semi circle shape if we are using a somas mould). 
Place it inside a kolukattai mold and press to get required shape.
Arrange them all inside the steamer basket (or idli plates if using idli vessel).

Step 4:
Using steamer basket for mothagam preparation:
Switch ON the rice cooker with 2 cups of water.
Set it to steam cooking mode. Place the steamer basket as per instruction.
Arrange the mothagams and cook in steam for 15 minutes.
Let cool for few minutes, take out and enjoy !

Coconut mothagam is ready!

Caramelized peach

If you love extremely quick processes, then this 'quick dessert' is going to be in your good books forever.

I made this for a simple dinner when our Amalraj anna visited us. Summer is the peach season after 'mango time' here. It comes around 99 cents/lb - $ 2.99 / lb  depending upon the store. I wanted to make some dessert with seasonal fruits on that day. So I bought some 3 medium size peaches from stop and shop. Preparation is the key to any dinner. So I had cut the fruit and kept it handy  in fridge and started cooking while serving the dinner.  I made this in low heat in my cast iron skillet (which is my new favorite toy) . I got it from camping section of Walmart (3 various sized skillet set for $9 in their roll back savings offer price). I felt very happy to see how much anna love it. The hot caramelized peach served with homemade mango ice cream and store bought hagen dazs caramel ice cream became the center of attraction on that day.  

Saute' the peach slices in butter.

Cooking the peach slices with butter , brown sugar, cinnamon powder.

Cook in low heat till caramelized (say 10 mins).

My lil menu planning board 

Mint Lemon juice, onion uthappam, coconut chutney, sambar, Poori, kilangu, caramel peach with icecream.

Caramelized peach with mango ice cream and hagen dazs caramel ice cream.

Ingredients:

Peach (ripe) - 2

Brown sugar - 4 tbsp

butter - 2 tbsp

cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Wash and slice the peaches into long wedges.

Discard the seed.

Heat butter in a thick bottom skillet or vessel.

Arrange all the peach pieces and cook for 5 minutes in low heat.

Turn over. Spread the brown sugar, cinnamon powder and cook till the sugar gets caramelized (flavorful and brown color). 

Caramelized peach is ready !

Serving suggestion:

Serve HOT along with any ice cream of your choice.

Note:

This dessert can be traditionally prepared in oven too. But the above said method is quicker.

Kadaai chukka paneer

Stir fried paneer (Indian cheese) with capsicum and peas.

Most of us wish for something extra special for a Friday dinner and this recipe would definitely fit the bill. This Friday I made my own version of kadaai paneer, which is one of the most favorites for hubby and myself. In my view, this dish should take very less time to prepare, but would give a gorgeous look. 

Kadaai paneer came in to our kitchen, only after we tasted it in a restaurant (Data Udipi hotel) in Chennai after our marriage. As we both are from typical south Tamilnadu, our foods wouldn't have much of garam masala or strong spices. Sambar, dal , chutney, idli, dosa, vada are our specialties along with occasional non veg.  So these kind of flavorful north Indian dishes became more appetizing for us (especially when it comes to vegetarian foods). I started preparing them as close to the restaurant version after that.

Nowadays kadaai paneer takes a more liquid form, while in those days it resembled like a chukka fry (dry curry). So here is my own version of early style kadaai paneer.

Ingredients: (for 2 generous servings)

Paneer - 150 gm (cubed into small pieces)

red onion - 1 small (chopped)

red / green capsicum - half (sliced)

green peas - handful

tomato - 1 (vine tomato / country variety)

peanut oil - 2 tbsp

fennel - 1 tsp

butter 1 tbsp

salt - to taste

turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

cumin powder - 1/4 tsp

red chili powder - 1/2 tsp

coriander powder - 1 tbsp

garam masala - 1 tsp

ginger - 1 inch , garlic - cloves (crushed together)

To garnish:

chopped cilantro - 2 tbsp

finely chopped green chili - 2

Special vessel needed :

A thick iron kadaai (or) wok (or) any heavy bottom pan.

Method:

Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel.

Add fennel, after it gets red, add chopped onion.

Stir fry it till it gets soft (not red).

Pound the ginger garlic together in a mixer or hand mortar & pestle.

Add the crushed ginger garlic mixture and stir fry for few seconds to remove raw smell.

Then add finely chopped tomato , pinch of salt.

Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, cumin powder, salt. 

Cook covered in low heat.

Cook this till oil separates.

Microwave and cook the green peas with a tbsp of water.

Then add sliced capsicum, cooked green peas. Saute well. 

Meanwhile heat butter in a tempering wok (kadaai).

Cube the paneer.

Saute the paneer pieces all at once , till they turn soft and golden.

Pour this to the prepared masala. Stir well and bring it to a dry curry consistency.

Switch off , garnish with chopped green chili, cilantro and serve hot.

Kadaai sukka paneer is ready!

Serving suggestion:

Serve as side dish with any kind of roti, chapati, naan.

Also goes well with cumin rice, brinji rice or plain ghee rice.

Calorie calculation:

30 gm paneer (5 big pieces) - 90 cal.

This is a calorie rich dish.

Zucchini pasta

Zucchini noodles or zoodles has become a favorite for many people nowadays. I started thinking about it a lot after my sweet friend Raji told me that it tastes great and that's a low calorie food. I said to myself, 'if she says that, then that's correct'.
Then last year during the Thanksgiving sales, I got a cuisinart food processor as gift from my hubby and this spiralizing  attachment came along with that. Cuisinart's sprilaizing attachment is more user friendly (but expensive). I got it along with  13 cup food processor for $99 + free shipping from costco,  while the original price on other days is over $149.
When it comes to zoodles, I would say that it is as much satisfying as a flour based noodle. Pasta is not my childhood food, so my taste buds agree more with this plant based pasta. Hubby and myself like this very much. Whenever I prepare this, I would prepare some chicken kebab too and that's our favorite.
Hope you all like it too !

Ingredients:
Zucchini - 2
garlic - 3 cloves
Extra virgin olive oil - 2 tbsp
salt - to taste
crushed red chili pepper - 1/2 tsp
Ragu sauce (old world style) or any pasta sauce - 1/4 cup

Method:
Spiralize the zucchini into spaghetti shape noodles. I used Cuisinart food processor's spiralizing attachment. (If the zucchini is longer, cut it into two pieces and it would be easier to spiralize in cuisinart).
Heat olive oil in a wok.
Add crushed garlic, saut'e for few seconds to remove raw smell.
Then add the zucchini noodles.
Sautee it till it is semi cooked. Add required salt, crushed chili, tomato sauce / Ragu sauce.
Mix well.
Zucchini noodles / pasta is ready !

Serving suggestions:
Serve as dinner or lunch with side dish.
I made baked chicken kofta kebab along with this.

Kitchenaid hand blender and Keerai masiyal

"And sometimes we all say a million reasons why we cook an elegant meal....for the love of someone, for the kid, for charity, for a party , for testing a new gadget etc, but the real reason is we all  love cooking , cooking excites us, it cools the hunger and, in simple words....cooking makes us feel like an artist"

This is another comfort food from the basic Indian cooking. The greens are indispensable in a well balanced Indian menu and much praised for the health benefits.
Generally the arai keerai and siru keerai (smaller leaved amaranth) are good for this blending recipe. I have used spinach here.  

In this recipe I have used the kitchenaid hand blender to mash the 'hot spinach'. In Chennai I used to blend the keerai, using a small rough clay vessel and a wooden pestle ( In Tamil - keerai kadaiyum mann pathiramum , mathum). That traditional clay vessel imparts an earthen flavor to the simple keerai masiyal.
Nowadays Indian mixie is used to prepare this masiyal , palak paneer, pavbhaji masala, soups, dals and all those dishes that needed a good mashing. But the drawback is, everything we put in mixie should be cooled to room temperature to avoid them gushing out while grinding. So we have to wait till its cool. Then we have to heat it once again before serving. This multi heating and long hours of wait can be thwarted by using a hand blender.

A hand blender is handier than an ordinary mixie, as we can blend the hot contents right out of the stove and we can serve immediately without reheating. That's the best feature I like about hand blenders. 
I prepare keerai masiyal on almost all weekends along with fish curry or sambar rice and I palak panneer once a week. So this is one of my favorite gadgets.

I bought this some 2 years back from Kohl's in the Kitchenaid section. Since then I have been using it almost twice or thrice a week. I would say this is sturdy, pretty and useful.

 I am an avid fan of Kitchenaid equipments. Just like the old fashioned stand mixer (which I absolutely love), this blender is gorgeous and an useful tool for all who love to cook. 
Kitchenaid hand blender has been an all time  favorite among chefs and homecooks. Mostly it is used to prepare soups, mashed potatoes, mixing hot stuffs in the western world. Just like that the Indian kitchens also need a hand blender nowadays for those busy hands.

Hope you all fall in love with this pretty hand blender !

Vanjiram meen kulambu (king fish curry),  fish fry , rice, mango, spinach 

Keerai masiyal with rice, fish curry and fish fry

Using Kitchenaid hand blender for mashing pav bhaji masala.

Controlled mashing is a good feature of hand blenders.

Ingredients:
Spinach- 1 bunch (300 gm approx)
water - 1/4 cup
shallot - 2
green chilly - 2
garlic - 4 pearls
cumin seed - 1/4 tsp
salt - to taste (very little only)
Lime (sunnambu) - a very small pinch (optional)

Method:
While as a bunch, trim off the hard stem side and take the spinach leaves. Rinse thrice or more times and clean the leaves well.
Take a narrow wok and bring to boil 1/4 cup water. Remove the skin of shallot and garlic. Add them to the boiling water along with the chillies, cook till they get soft. Add the spinach and cook them without closing the lid. 
After a few minutes, gently turn the whole lot and cook the other side too.
Check the stems if they are cooked. Wait till all the moisture is gone and put off fire.
Add cumin, salt and blend in a mixer to a coarse paste using a hand blender.
(Just two or three pulse is enough).

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with rice or as a curry over rice.
We generally prepare this masiyal along with fish curry and rice.

Note:
In my native place , they add a pinch of lime (calcium oxide , that we use along with pan leaves)while blending to get more nutrition. Its purely optional here.
No tadka / tempering is necessary.

Some folklore from my native place (arai keerai / small amaranth):
This masiyal can be prepared with black pepper instead of green chillies and consumed daily to reduce the obesity. 

Example of recipes that can be prepared quickly using a hand blender  in Indian cuisine:

Mashed dal, Soups, Pavbhaji masala, Kheers, Palak paneer, mashed spinach, mixing hot stuffs for samosa,  baby foods, pureeing etc.