Instant Sambhar Ready Mix

Category: Ready Mix
Preparation Time: 5 mins  
Cooking Time: 15-20 mins
Servings: yields 1 1/2 - 2 cups

I used to prepare ready mixes only when going out on trips:) These would surely come in handy when we stay in hotel and have access to stove or even just the electric rice cooker. And if we have frozen vegetables, this is even quick. Also this would help the people who stays away from home and still needs quick home made food:) If we roast and grind carefully without any water and untouched by hands, I am sure it will stay good for atleast 1-2 months at the room temperature and also we can refrigerate if needed to prolong the shelf life.

We mostly prepare sambhar by grinding fresh masala (Arachuvitta Sambhar) and i just adapted from that for this Ready mix. You can adjust the ingredients as per your liking and preference:) In this sambhar mix, I didnt roast and grind tamarind since I was having only tamarind paste at that time. One more thing, since I had not included tamarind, we can have it like side dish for chapathi too by adding more veggies while cooking:)

Instant Sambhar Ready Mix

Ingredients: 
For Roasting & Grinding:

• Toor Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Channa Dhal - 3 tbsp
• Coriander seeds - 1/4 cup
• Raw Rice - 2 tbsp
• Red Chillies - 2-6 nos(adjust as per spice level)
• Cumin seeds - 3/4 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Cinnamon stick - small piece
• Pepper - 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
• Dry Coconut - 1/4 cup
• Tamarind - lemon sized
• Coriander leaves - few
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - as required

For Tadka:

• Oil - 1 tsp
• Ghee - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Asafoetida - a pinch

For Preparing Sambhar:
1 Serving:

• 2 tbsp Ready Mix + 1 cup of water + Chopped Tomato + Onion + Veggies (I used frozen) + tamarind paste (if not added) +salt (if required) --------> Boil for 10 mins -------> Sambhar Ready!!!

Method:

1. Dry Roast the ingredients under roast & grind one by one separately in a pan till it gets roasted well and gives nice aroma and allow to cool down. Add the turmeric powder and salt at the end
   
2. Grind the roasted ingredients into a fine powder using mixie / blender
   
   
   
   
    
3. Heat oil+ghee in a pan and prepare the tadka with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves
4. Pour it over the ground powder and mix well
   
   
   
5. Once it cooled down completely, transfer to an airtight container / ziplock bag
6. I usually prefer to write the instruction on the ziplock covers to make it easy when we are travelling / or for the bachelors / beginners to prepare:)
   
7. For 1 serving, add 2 tbsp of prepared ready mix, 1 cup of water, 1 chopped tomato, chopped onions, available veggies around 1/4 cup, tamarind paste (since not included in the mix) to a bowl and heat it up; Adjust salt to taste
   
8. Once it reaches boiling, allow to boil for 10 - 15 mins, until the veggies get cooked and switch off. 
   
9. Hot Instant Sambhar is ready to be served:)
   

Beetroot Chapathi

Category: Chapathi / Paratha   
Preparation Time: 20 mins      
Waiting Time: 30 mins      
Cooking Time: 20 mins      
Servings: 12-15 Chapathis

Beetroot Chapathi

Beetroot Chapathi or Paratha is a nice way to make our kids eat the veggie:) Also sprinkling sesame seeds gives an extra health boost, crunchiness and also attractive to kids!

Since this is kid friendly recipe, I have not added any spice powders but its purely upto one's own choice. We can add Cumin Powder / Red chilly powder / Garam Masala

Ingredients:

• Wheat flour / Atta - 2 cup 
• Beetroot - 1 no (Small / Medium sized)
• Oil - 1/4 -1/2 tsp
• Water - as required
• Salt - to taste
• Sesame seeds - 1-2 tbsp 
• Wheat / Rice flour - for dusting

Optional: 

• Any spice powders of our choice can be added to taste such as Cumin powder, Red chilli powder, Garam Masala Powder 

Method:

1. Wash, peel the skin and chop the beetroot into medium sized pieces; Cook it in little water until it becomes tender
2. In a blender, take the cooked beetroot pieces and grind to a smooth puree by adding required water if needed
3. In a wide bowl, take 2 cups of wheat flour, beetroot puree and required salt
   
   
   
    
4. Mix well and knead into a smooth soft dough (Add water only if required). Coat the dough with 1/4 tsp of oil and keep covered for 30 mins to one hour
   
5. After an hour, knead the dough for 2 mins and divide the dough into equal lemon sized balls 
   
6. Take one dough ball, dust it with flour, flatten it, sprinkle around 1/4-1/2 tsp of sesame seeds and roll into a thin paratha
   
7. Heat the tawa, place the parathas and cook till bubbles started to appear on the surface
   
8. Turn over and cook the other side
   
9. Once it's cooked, transfer to plate or place it in hot box
   
10. Serve hot with any gravy of your choice