Matar Mushroom

Its winter time and the season of fresh green peas and mushrooms are here. You can make a variety of dishes with green peas ranging from salad and curry to rice. Why not blend it with mushrooms. Here, I am giving a semi- gravy form of a recipe. I have already posted  creamy matar mushroom.

Basic info about the recipe
Cuisine          - North Indian
Serves          - 2 people.

Ingredients
1. Green peas - 200gms
2. Mushroom - 100 gms
3. Onion - 1 large
4. Tomato         - 1 large or 2 small
5. Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
6. Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
7. Red chilli powder - ½- 1 tsp
8. Coriander powder - 1.5 tsp
9. Vegetable masala - 1 tsp
10. Jeera powder         - ¼ tsp
11. Salt         - to taste
12. Oil        - 2-3 tsp

Method: wash and slice the mushrooms. Dip in hot water with a pinch of turmeric powder added to it.

Wash and microwave the green peas for 5 mts.

Heat oil in a pan and add onion and ginger-garlic paste. Fry till golden brown.

Add tomato and fry till soft. Add all the powders and fry well till the raw taste disappears.

Add the mushrooms and the half cooked peas and cover with a lid.

Serve hot.

Note: Instead of microwaving the peas, you can add it straight to the fried masala mixture. In this case add the mushrooms only when the matar is almost done. Mushrooms does not take much time to cook. Over cooking will make them harder.

You can add coriander leaves before serving.

Grilled Aloo Sandwich

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Whether it is breakfast, lunch or tea-time snack, sandwiches are the best option. You can make different varieties of sandwiches if you are creative enough. I had some vegetable cutlet mixture (which I had previously posted) in my fridge and thought of making this grilled aloo sandwich.

Ingredients:

Bread                                                   - 4 slices

Butter                                                   - for toasting

Cutlet mixture                                       - 1 bowl

Method: Butter the bread slices on one side. Spread the potato mixture evenly on the other side.

Grease the sandwich maker with butter and place the bread slices. Grill till done.

Cut diagonally and serve with green chutney or sauce.

Note: I have used brown bread. You can use any bread of your choice.

To the buttered bread slice tomato, onion or cucumber can also be added.

If you do not have carrots and peas, you can use aloo alone and the rest of the masalas mentioned in the veg cutlet recipe

Tawa Fried Vegetable Cutlet

Tawa Fried Vegetable Cutlet

 Cutlet is a very popular snack item. If you have some boiled vegetables you can easily prepare the veg cutlets. Of course, you can make your own variations to it by adding chicken, fish or meat. There are varieties of veg cutlets like aloo, soya, paneer, raw banana etc. In today’s health conscious world, the best way to prepare cutlet is by shallow/ tawa frying and not deep frying them.

 Basic info about the recipe
Cuisine - South Indian
 Serves - 2 people.

 Ingredients
 1. Mashed Potato - 2 large
2. Carrot - 1 medium
 3. Green Peas - 25gms
 4. Onion - 1 medium
5. Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
 6. Green chilli - 1- 2 nos
 7. Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
8. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
 9. Coriander leaves - few sprigs
 10. Salt - to taste
 11. Bread crumbs - 1 cup
 12. Egg - 1 no:
 13. Oil - for frying
14. Hing - a pinch.

 Method: boil and mash the potato, carrot and green peas.

 Heat a tsp of oil in a pan. Add onions and ginger-garlic paste and fry till golden brown.

 Add green chillies and stir well. Add turmeric, coriander powder and hing and mix well.

 Add the veggies to the mixture and stir well adding salt

 Finally add coriander leaves and switch off the gas. Keep aside for 5 minutes.

 Take small portions of the mixture and shape them into cutlets.(It can be round –shaped, oval or any other shape.)

 Dip the cutlet one by one in the beaten egg and roll with bread crumbs.

 Take a non-stick tawa/pan. Add 2-3 tsps of oil and place the cutlet one by one. Shallow fry them till golden brown and serve it with tomato ketchup or green chutney.

Uluva Dosa

Dosa has become a very popular item all over India. Now a days, everyone makes varieties of dosas. There are some restaurants in Kerala which are providing more than 50 varieties. My mom used to make uluva dosa at home and I love it. Its usually served with onion, tomato or coconut chutney. The ingredients of uluva dosa is the same as that of a normal dosa even though the measurements differ. Fenugreek seed is called uluva in malayalam, which means more of fenugreek seeds are to be added in this dosa. Basic info about the recipe Cuisine - South Indian Serves - 2-3 people. Ingredients 1. Idli rice - 1 cup 2. Urad dal - a little more than ¼ cup 3. Fenugreek seeds - 2 tsp 4. Salt - to taste 5. Water - as required. 6. Oil/ ghee Method: Soak together idli rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds 5 hrs. Grind them to a fine paste adding required water. Let the batter rest for 7-8 hrs or overnite. After fermentation add salt to the batter and mix thoroughly. If required add additional water to bring it to a pourable consistency. Grease a non-stick pan with little oil. Drop a ladle of batter and spread it around. Uluva dosas look somewhat like uthapams. Pour a tsp of ghee/oil over it and let it roast. When dosa turns brown from the bottom, flip to the other side using a spatula. Remove from pan when cooked and serve hot.

Matar Pulao

Its winter season and of course, the fresh green peas time. Definitely, you can prepare this with frozen ones too, but will not taste as good as the fresh peas. If you are tired of making the normal pulaos and biriyanis you can try this recipe. It is very easy and simple too. As you all know, this very tiny vegetable is rich in nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants. Basic info about the recipe Cuisine - North Indian Serves - 2 people. Ingredients 1. Green Peas - 100 gms 2. Basmati Rice - 1 cup 3. Onion - 1 large 4. Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp 5. Green chilli - 2 nos 6. Salt - to taste 7. Oil/ Ghee - 2 tsp 8. Cinnamon - 1 inch piece 9. Cloves - 2-3 nos 10. Water - as reqd. Method: Wash the basmati rice. Soak it for half an hour. Drain and keep aside. Heat water in a vessel. Add salt and a spoon of oil. (You can also add lime juice. This will prevent the cooked rice from being sticky) Transfer the rice to the vessel and let it cook. Rice should only be cooked 70%. Drain and keep open the lid. Heat ghee/oil in a pan. Add cinnamon and cloves and fry for a minute. Add ginger-garlic paste and onion and fry till golden brown. Add green peas, slit green chillies and salt and cook till done. Now add the cooked rice and mix well. Serve hot. Notes: You can pressure cook the pulao. Wait for 2 whistles on high flame.

Parippu Vada

Parippu Vada is a traditional South Indian snack made with sambar dal. Whenever I think of making some South Indian evening snack for tea for my North Indian friends, parippu vada is the first thing that comes to my mind. It is a popular street food which is served with tea even in small thattukadas(dhabha) in Kerala. Basic info about the recipe Cuisine - South Indian Serves - 3-4 people. Ingredients: 1. Sambar/toor dal - 1 cup 2. shallots - 6-7 nos 3. Ginger - 1 inch long piece 4. Curry leaves - 7-8 nos 5. Salt - to taste 6. Green chilli - 2 nos 7. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp 8. Oil - as required. Method:- Soak the dal for an hour. Drain the excess water and grind for a minute without adding water to form a coarse mixture. Mix the finely chopped vegetables and turmeric and salt to the mixture. Check salt at this stage by tasting the mixture. Wet your hands with water. Make small balls of the paste. Flatten it using your palms and drop in hot oil. Deep fry the vadas till golden brown flipping both sides in between. Transfer to a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Serve hot. Note- Some people does not like to chew ginger, green chilli and onions. They can grind everything together. If you are making for children, you can avoid green chillies and add chilli powder. Sometimes, I add coriander leaves or pudina alongwith curry leaves. Instead of shallots, you can add onions. Adding a pinch of asafoetida will prevent acidity arising from the consumption of dal.