Beetroot Sambhar with Freshly ground Masala (Arachuvitta Sambhar)

Category:  Sambhar Recipes
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Servings: 4-5 servings

Beet Sambhar

For the last 1-2 years, I am preparing Sambhar in this way only with freshly roast & ground Masala, since my kid loves it:) Its a bit time consuming, but really worth it. The fresh Masala gives a nice flavour and aroma and of course very tasty than using the Sambar Powder. This time for a change, I added Beetroot in Sambhar and it really comes out very well. Kids who wont like to have beetroot as poriyal will surely like it:)

BeetRoot Arachuvitta Sambhar

 Ingredients: 

For Cooking Dhal:

• Toor Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp (For cooking Dhal)
• Castor Oil - few drops  (For cooking Dhal)
• Water - Around 1 1/2 cups

Veggies:

• Beetroot - 1 no, chopped
• Small onions - 10-12 nos, halved
• Tomato - 1 no, chopped

To Roast &Grind:

• Channa Dhal - 1 tbsp
• Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
• Red chiilies - 1-3 nos (adjust as per spice level)
• Raw Rice - 1/2 tsp (Optional and I didnt use this time)
• Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Methi seeds -  1/4 tsp
• Dry Coconut - 2 tbsp

For Tempering:

• Ghee / Oil -2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chilly - 1 no, broken
• Curry leaves - few
• Asafoetida (Hing) - a generous pinch

Other Ingredients:

• Oil - 1 tsp
• Tamarind - small lemon sized
• Water - as required
• Coriander leaves - for garnishing
• Salt-  to taste

Method:

1. Cooking Dhal: Pressure cook Dhal with required water, turmeric, few drops of castor oil for 3 whistles in medium flame (We can even presoak the dhal for 20-30 mins for faster cooking). Once it gets cooked, mash it up; If we are having more water, reserve a little for adding to the veggies or else take around 1 tbsp of cooked dhal and mix it up with a cup of water and keep it ready
   
2. Preparing Masala: Heat up a small pan, add the Channa dhal and roast it in low flame until it turns golden brown. Then add the coriander seeds, red chillies and raw rice and roast till the seeds start to brown; by this time the chilies would become crisp and rice gets puffed up a bit. Finally switch off the flame and add the cumin seeds, methi seeds and dry coconut, fry well in the heat of the pan itself. Transfer to a plate and alllow it to cool down. Then grind to a fine powder or we can even grind it with little water to a fine paste
   
   
   
   
3. Tamarind Extract: Soak the tamarind in warm water for 15 mins and extract the juice
4. Veggies: Chop the veggies and keep them ready
   
5. Heat 1 tsp of Oil in a pan, add the halved onions and saute for a min
   
6. Add the chopped tomato pieces and saute for 1 min
   
7. Now add the chopped beetroot and saute for 2 mins
   
8. Add the dhal water and allow to cook till the beetroot becomes soft and gets cooked
   
9. Then add the ground masala powder / paste. If we grind to a powder, we can even mix it up with few tsp of water to form a paste so that there will not be any lump formation while adding it. Mix it well and bring it to boil
   
10. Now add the tamarind extract with required salt and allow to boil for 2 mins in medium flame
    
    
    
    
11. Add the cooked dhal and mix well
    
12. Adjust the water quantity and check for salt (Sambhar will tends to become thick while cools down so adjust water accordingly)
    
13. Allow to boil for few mins in low to medium flame 
    
14. Tempering: Heat up a small pan, add ghee / oil, once it becomes hot add mustard seeds followed by cumin seeds. Once it splutters, add red chilly and curry leaves, fry for few secs and switch it off. Finally add the asafoetida
    
15. Pour the tempering over the boiling sambhar and switch it off
    
16. Mix well and garnish with coriander leaves
    
17. Serve hot with Rice or even with Idli / Dosa / Pongal:)
    

Home made Pasta / Pizza Sauce

Category: Pasta Sauce 
Preparation Time: 10 mins       
Cooking Time: 20 mins      
Servings: yields around 1 cup

Pasta / Pizza Sauce

 Ingredients:

• Ripe Tomatoes - 3 nos
• Red Capsicum - 1 no (Can be reduced to 1/2)
• Small Onion, finely chopped - 5-6 nos
• Garlic, finely chopped - 5-6 cloves
• Olive Oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
• Italian Seasoning - 1/2 tbsp (can be replaced with Oregano / Basil leaves)
• Water - around 1/3 - 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Wash the tomatoes and make a slight slit across the tomatoes for easy peeling. Add around 2 cups of water  in a vessel and bring it to boil. When it starts to boil, add the tomatoes and wait for 1-2 mins till the skin started to break off. Then remove the tomatoes using a spoon and place it in a bowl. Then remove the skin off and allow to cool down
   
2. Wash and chop the Red capsicum into cubes. Heat 1 tsp of Oil in a pan and add the capsicum cubes and saute for few mins till it gets roasted well, then remove from the stove and allow to cool down
   
3. In a blender / mixie jar, add the blanched tomatoes and roasted capsicum cubes and grind to a fine puree without adding any water
   
4. In a sauce pan, add 1 tbsp of Olive Oil and heat it up, then add finely chopped onions followed by finely chopped garlic pieces and saute well until they turned golden brown
   
5. Then add the tomato-Capsicum puree into it and cook in medium flame for 3-4 mins
   
6. Now add around 1/3 - 1/2 cup of water to it and mix well; bring it to boil
   
7. Once it starts to boil, add Sugar, Salt, Pepper powder and Italian seasoning
   
8. Allow it cook in low flame for another 5-7 mins till it reaches the sauce consistency
   
9. Once its done, remove from the flame and use as required
10. If storing, we can transfer into a airtight glass container after it gets cooled down and store it in refrigerator for atleast a week or upto 10 days
    

Cheesy Veggie Pasta with Homemade Pasta Sauce (Baked Version)

Category: Pasta
Preparation Time: 15 mins  
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Servings: 1-2 Servings 

Cheesy Veggie Pasta

 Ingredients:

• Pasta (Elbow / Shell Variety) - 1/2 - 3/4 cup
• Home made Pasta Sauce - 3-4 tbsp
• Mozarella Cheese, grated - 1/3 cup
• Olive Oil - 1 tsp + 1 tsp
• Capsicum, finely chopped - 3 tbsp (I used a mix of Red, orange and yellow capsicums)
• Sweet corn kernels, boiled - 2-3 tbsp
• Broccoli florets, blanched - 1/4 cup
• Salt - as required
• Water - for cooking pasta

Method:

1. Cook pasta as per the package instructions; (Boil water; add pasta with little salt and cook for 8-10 mins until slightly soft yet crunchy enough to bite). Drain the excess water and keep aside
   
2. Chop the veggies; Boil the sweet corn and blanch the broccoli florets; grate the cheese and keep all ready
3. Heat a tsp of oil in a frying pan, add chopped capsicum pieces and fry for a min in medium high flame
   
4. Now add the broccoli florets and saute for a min
   
5. Then add the boiled corn and sprinkle little salt and saute
   
6. Saute all the veggies for another 1-2 mins and switch it off
   
7. Add 3-4 tbsp of Pasta sauce to the cooked and drained pasta
   
8. Mix well until combined. adjust sauce quantity as per taste; Check for salt
   
9. Add in the sauted veggies to the pasta and around 1 tbsp of grated cheese, mix well
   
10. If preparing in stove top, cook the pasta along with veggies and cheese in low flame until the cheese melts and serve hot
11. For Baking version, Preheat Oven to 350F for 10 mins; Grease a baking dish with a tsp of oil
12. Transfer the Pasta into the greased dish
    
13. Add the grated cheese over it 
    
14. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 mins until the cheese melts and starts bubbling
    
15. Once its done, Transfer to serving bowl and serve hot!
16. If making for kids, we can also bake it in small sized baking dishes and serve as indivdual portions

How to keep Green Chillies fresh for long?

Category: Kitchen Basics / Tips

In our home, we wont use green chillies very much, so need to find out a way to keep them fresh in refrigerator atleast for 1-2 weeks. I would like to share the steps I am following so that it would help someone like me:)

The important thing with green chillies is it will get rot soon if we left them with the stem on so we just need to remove the stem and store. Sounds easy right??:)

• Remove any water / moisture from the chillies
• Gently pull out the stem from the chillies
• Line a plastic box with a paper towel
• Place the chillies inside it
• Close and store it in refrigerator
• If we find any bruised / slimy chillies, just remove them right away so that it wont make the rest of them bad. Also check this regularly to prolong the storage time
  
  
  
  
  

Suraikkai Sadham (Bottlegourd Rice)

Category:  Lunch / Rice
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Servings: 3 Servings 

Suraikkai Sadham / Bottlegourd Rice - I adapted from my mom's recipe:) Its a nice way to include vegetables like bottlegourd to the picky eaters:)

Suraikkai Sadham

 Ingredients:

• Rice - 1 cup
• Bottlegourd - 1 small to medium sized
• Tomato, chopped- 2 nos
• Onion, thinly sliced - 1 no
• Green chillies, slitted - 2-3 (adjust spiciness)
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Annasi poo - 1
• Bay leaf - 1
• Oil - 1 - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste 
• Water - around 2 cups

·         Grind to paste:

• Ginger - 1 1/2 inch piece
• Garlic cloves - 4-5 nos
• Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
• Cloves - 3 nos
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
• Poppy seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Soak rice in enough water for atleast 30 mins
2. Grind the above given ingredients into fine paste by adding little water
3. Peel off the skin and finely chop the bottlegourd and keep it ready
   
4. Heat oil in the pan / pressure cooker, once it's hot, add Annasi poo and Bay leaf, fry for 30 secs
   
5. Add green chillies and onions, saute well till onions become soft and transparent
   
6. Add chopped tomatoes, little salt and turmeric powder, saute well for 5 mins till it turns mushy
   
7. Then add the ground paste, saute for 2 mins till nice aroma arises
   
8. Add the chopped bottlegourd pieces and saute for 2-3 mins, Add required salt and mix well
   
   
   
   
9. Add required water (around 2 cups-depend on the rice variety) and bring to boil
   
10. Add the soaked and drained rice, mix well; Check for salt
    
11. Cook for 2 whistles and reduce the flame to low for 5 mins
12. Switch off and wait till the pressure releases
13. Serve hot as such or with Raita or Curd!