Dry Coconut Idli Podi

Category: Ready Mix
Preparation Time: 5-8 mins 
Cooking Time: 8-10 mins
Servings: yields about 3 cups

 

Dry Coconut Idli Podi

Idli podi is sure a savior during kids hunger pangs :) When we need a quick side dish for idli or dosa, it comes in handy. This could also be used to make Idly fry or Idly fingers for snack time.

 

While making for toddlers, we can reduce the spice level and If you like coconut, you will love this Idli podi :)

Ingredients:

• Channa Dhal- 1/2 cup
• Whole Urad Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Dry Coconut - 2 cups
• Red Chillies - 3-8 (Adjust as per spice level)
• Asafoetida / Hing - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Jaggery - 1 tsp (Optional)

Method: 

• Heat a heavy bottomed pan, dry roast Channa dal for few mins in low flame

Pulikachal (Puliodharai Paste)

Category: Ready Mix 
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: Around 30 mins
Servings: yields around 2 cups

Home made Pulikachal

Pulikachal or Puliodharai Paste is a ready mix used to prepare Puliodharai. We can prepare and take this during our trips too. Personally I would prefer dry puliodharai powder for trips so that it would be less messy:) I will prepare this paste and store it in refrigerator for around 2 weeks and it sure comes in handy for packing lunch box in the busy mornings. Usually Puliodharai will taste better only after 2- 3 hours of preparation, by when the rice absorbs the favours from the spices and tastes great. We can also use this to make quick lunch and have with some appalam or vadagam. 

Pulikachal

Ingredients: 

• Tamarind - Medium Orange Sized
• Roasted & halved peanuts - 1/2 cup
• Jaggery - a small piece
• Salt - As needed
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

For Tempering:

• Sesame Oil - 3 tbsp + 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Channa dhal - 1/4 cup (soaked for 30 mins)
• Urad dhal - 1 tbsp
• Red chillies - 10, broken into small pieces
• Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Roast and Powder: (Roast separately in a lightly greased pan)

• Channa Dhal - 1 tbsp
• Udad dhal - 1 tbsp
• Red chillies - 10
• Methi seeds - 1 tsp
• Sesame seeds - 2 tsp
• Grated dry coconut - 1/4 cup
• Asafoetida  - small piece / generous pinch

Method:

1. Soak Tamarind in warm water for atleast 30 mins and extract thick juice out of it and keep it aside (I used around 2 cups of water)
2. In a lightly greased pan (add around 1/2 tsp of oil in a pan), roast the above given ingredients one by one separately until they gets roasted and allow it to cool down. Then ground them to a little coarse powder
   
3. Soak the Channa dhal for atleast 30 mins and then drain it and keep it ready
4. In a thick bottomed pan, heat around 3 tbsp of sesame oil and once it becomes hot, add the mustard seeds and allow them to crackle
   
5. Then add the broken red chillies and fry for a min
   
6. Now add the soked and drained channa dhal followed by Urad dhal and fry in low flame for few mins till they become crispy
   
7. Add the curry leaves and fry for few secs
   
   
   
8. Now reduce the flame (to prevent splattering) and add in the tamarind extract, turmeric powder and required salt, mix well
   
9. Allow to boil in low to medium flame until it gets thickened and reached sauce like consistency
10. Now add the ground powder, mix well and allow to cook for 1 to 2 mins in low flame
    
11. Add in the roasted peanuts and mix well
    
12. Finally add in the jaggery and the remaining 2 tbsp of Sesame oil, mix well and switch it off
    
13. For making Puliodharai, add required amount of paste to cooked and cooled rice, mix well
14. If we want to store, allow the pulikachal to cool down and then transfer to a clean glass jar
    
15. If we would be using it in couple of days, we can leave it in pantry otherwise refrigeration is recommended
16. As with other preserves, proper handling increase the shelf life

Pongal Ready Mix

Category: Ready Mix
Preparation Time: 5 mins  
Cooking Time: 15-20 mins
Servings: yields 3-4 cups

Pongal Ready Mix

 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. 

For this Instant Pongal Mix, I had prepared and took for my trips and it stays well for atleast 4-5 days in room temperature or 1-2 weeks in refrigerator. More than that period, I had not tried yet. 

We just need to measure and add the mix along with required water in an electric cooker or pan and cook; Yummy pongal is ready!

Ingredients: 

• Raw Rice - 2 cups
• Moong Dhal - 1 cup
• Ghee - 2-3 tbsp (Adjust as per taste)
• Curry leaves - few 
• Ginger- 1 inch piece, finely chopped 
• Pepper - 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Green chillies - 2-3 nos, chopped (Optional)
• Cashews, broken - 3-4 tbsp
• Salt - to taste

*Notes:

• Rice:Moong Dhal ratio can be altered as per our taste
• If we dont want to add ghee, we can dry roast the rice and dhal and just use oil for tadka
• If making for kids, green chillies can be avoided
• We can also omit salt in the mix and add while cooking

Method:

1. Heat few drops of ghee in a pan and roast the moong dhal for few mins till we get nice aroma
   
2. In the same pan, add the raw rice and roast for around 5-7 mins in medium flame
   
3. Mix the rice and dhal together in a plate and allow to cool down
4. For preparing tadka, add ghee in a pan, add the curry leaves, Ginger, Green chillies and Cashews, fry in medium flame till the cashews turn golden brown. Then add the Pepper and Cumin seeds, fry for a min and switch off
5. Add the tadka to the Pongal mix and mix well, Add the required salt
   
6. Once its completely cooled, pack it in an airtight container or ziplock bags
   
7. 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:)
8. While preparing Pongal, add the Pongal Mix and Water in a ratio of 1:2.5 or as per your desired consistency and cook in electric cooker or pan or in a pressure cooker
9. Enjoy the Hot Pongal!!

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:)
   

Idly/Dosai Podi with seeds and nuts

Category: Ready Mix
Preparation Time: 5 mins 
Cooking Time: 10-15 mins
Servings: yields 2 1/2 - 3 cups

Idly/Dosai Podi with nuts

Ingredients:

• Channa Dhal- 1/3 cup
• Urad Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Horsegram - 1 tbsp
• Red Chillies - 2-5 (Adjust as per spiciness)
• Peanuts - 1/3 cup
• Sesame seeds - 2 tbsp
• Flax seeds - 1 tbsp
• Almonds - 1/4 cup
• Walnuts - 2 tbsp
• Cashews - 2 tbsp
• Coconut - 2 tbsp
• Curry leaves- few
• Dalia / Pottukadalai - 2 tbsp
• Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste

Method: 

1. Dry roast all the ingredients separately in a heavy bottomed pan till it gives nice aroma and gets roasted well. For Dalia, just roast till its hot to touch and curry leaves should turn crispy
   
2. Add asafoetida and required salt and allow them to cool down
3. Once its cooled, grind it to a powder (need not to be very fine)
   
4. Store it in air tight container
   
5. Mix with Gingelly / Coconut oil and serve with hot Idlies / dosa or even sprinkle it over dosas / uthappams

Jiffy Adai using Home made Adai Ready Mix

Category: Breakfast/ Dinner
Preparation Time: 15 mins 
Cooking Time: 1-2 min per adai/dosai

Home made Adai Ready Mix - This would be very handy when we forget to soak dhals for adai and also during busy morning hours or for a quick dinner. 

Adai using Ready mix

Ingredients:

Ready Mix:

• Boiled Rice - 1 1/2 cup
• Raw Rice - 3/4 cup
• Tur Dhal - 1/4 cup
• Gram Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Green Gram - 2 tbsp
• Urad Dhal - 1 tbsp
• Red Chillies - 10-15 (adjust as per spiciness)
• Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida / Hing - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste

For making Adai:

• Sesame Oil - as required

Method:

1. Dry Roast all the ingredients separately in medium flame except salt and allow to cool
2. Once cooled, grind to rava like consistency
3. Store it in air tight container / ziplock covers and refrigerate it
   
4. When you want to make adai, mix 1 cup of ready mix with 1-1 1/2 cup of water and required salt; keep aside for atleast 30 mins
5. After 30 mins, just give a run in the blender / pulse option for uniform mixing
   
6. If you want to add onions or any vegetables like carrots, you can add now and make adai as usual
7. Heat the tawa, pour one laddle of batter, spread, drizzle few drops of oil and allow to cook by covering with lid
   
8. Once it gets cooked on one side, flip it over and cook the other side too
   
   
   
9. Transfer to plate and serve hot with your favourite side dish.
   

 

Paruppu Podi / Dhal Mix Powder

Category: Lunch
Preparation Time: 5 mins 
Cooking Time: 10 mins
Servings: yields little more than 1 cup
Paruppu Podi mixed with hot rice and ghee is a yummy combination:)

Paruppu Podi

Ingredients:

• Toor Dhal- 1/4 cup
• Moong Dhal - 1/4 cup
• Dalia / Pottukadalai - 1/4 cup
• Gram Dhal - 1 tbsp
• Urad Dhal - 1 tbsp
• Horse gram - 1 tbsp
• Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
• Red chillies- 3
• Pepper - 1 tsp
• Dry ginger - 1 inch piece
• Curry leaves - few
• Salt - to taste

 Method:

1.  Dry roast the Toor dhal, Moong Dhal, Gram Dhal, Urad Dhal, Horsegram, Sesame seeds, Dry Ginger and Curry leaves separately till you gets nice aroma
2. Slightly Roast the Pottukadalai, chillies, pepper and salt separately till they are hot to touch
   
3. Add all the roasted ingredients into mixie / blender and grind it to slightly coarse / fine powder
   
4. Allow to cool and store in air tight container
5. Enjoy with hot rice and ghee / Sesame oil