PASTA, has become a part of our life these days, I prefer them than the ready made noodles, As I can cook it with loads of Ingredients and lots of vegetables.  You also get whole wheat Pasta which is really good, My kids have started liking them, Pasta is a staple food in Italy, which has become so popular all over the world, kids just love them.  When you are living abroad and if you are a vegetarian eating food in restaurants in limited and we always have pasta in our menu!,  My friends and family living here say that their children eat pasta more in nurseries / child minders, My sister's  daughter loves Indian food , but when you ask her what you want to eat she says can you make pasta ?,  My kids were not born here but they still like pasta, especially  twin daughter, I always have stock of them at home, they are made with whole wheat but you can also get whole meal brown pasta as well, which still is not her cup of tea.., I am still trying on that side... but I have not yet succeeded !!.
Pasta is basically eaten using sauces and pestos, It is so versatile you can change with whatever you prefer to eat.  This is one such pesto which is quite tasty .
I make different kind of pasta sauces and different types of pesto as well , I had to make this pesto again especially for this bread I baked.
Bread was so delicious and kids loved it.

SUN DRIED TOMATO PESTO

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup Sun dried  chopped Tomatoes in oil ( minus the oil )
1/4 cup fresh Basil leaves
1 Fresh Red chilli
3 to 4 cloves of Garlic
7 to 8 Cashew nuts lightly toasted
1 tbsp Parmigiano Reggiano ( optional )*
1/2 tsp Salt
4 tbsp of Olive oil

METHOD:
Take out Sun dried Tomatoes from oil, chop them into pieces for easy grinding and drain them on a paper for few minutes, until the time you get your other ingredients ready.
I have said 1/4 cup that is around 20 to 25 leaves Basil leaves
Remove the skin from the Garlic
Toast cashew lightly on a dry skillet for a few minutes this helps in releasing its oil and also helps for staying longer when stored.
Toast Chopped fresh Red chilli in a tsp of oil for a few seconds, this helps in removing the moisture in it.
Take all the above said Ingredients in a food processor / Mixer and blend them with Olive oil adjust salt and puree them together.
Now our Sun dried Tomato Pesto is ready to rock...

VARIATION:
* I have used just one tbsp of Parmigiano Reggiano as my kids are not very fond of this cheese you can add an other 2 tbsp of this cheese.
You can use Pine nuts which is authentic, Almonds, Brazil nuts, Macadamia nuts too..
You can use Green chilli than the Red chilli
You can omit Fresh chillies and use 1 tsp of Pepper corns.

USES:
You can use it in making pasta, breads, Noodles, Bruschetta, Bread Toast, Frittata, Tarts etc..,

The post Sun Dried Tomato Pesto - Home made appeared first on My Veg Fare.

VEGETABLE PIES WITH COCONUT AND CASHEW

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE VEGETABLE SAUCE
2 to 2 and 1/2 Cups of Assorted Vegetables ( I have used Cauliflower, Broccoli, Peas, Carrot, French Beans )
2 Green Chilli **
1/2'' Ginger
1/4 cup or 2 fist full of Fresh Grated coconut
8 to 10 or fist ful of Cashews
1/4 cup Milk
1+ 1 tsp Jeera / Cumin seeds
1/4 tsp Coriander seeds
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1/4 tsp Pepper corns (optional )**
3 tsp Oil

1 Block Ready made Short Crust pastry (You can even make it at home which I will post soon on how to make it, you can even use puff pastry )

METHOD:
Thaw the Pastry by keeping it out of the freezer before starting the gravy as directed by the suggestion on the cover.
Soak Cashews in warm milk till you get all the vegetables cut and get them ready. Wash all the veggies and then Chop Beans, Carrots in chunks and Cauliflower and Broccoli in florets,
In a Kadai / Pan heat oil to this add 1 tsp of Jeera / Cumin seeds then add all the vegetables mix them well and cook them in a low flame with 1/4 cup of water and closed lid.

Meanwhile in a dry pan lightly roast cumin, pepper and coriander seeds, In  a blender or mixer grind roasted cumin, Pepper, coriander, coconut, Ginger,  Chillies, turmeric and soaked cashews into a fine paste with the help of soaked milk and some water.
Once the vegetables get cooked 3/4th add required amount of salt and the ground paste and mix thoroughly, taste and adjust the salt.
Let the gravy be in a semi solid consistency. That is not too thick nor too thin.  Allow this to cool.
Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5 / 180 degrees
Take your thawed short crust pastry, dust some flour on to the surface, cut the block into 4 equal pieces, flatten each one of them into a slightly round shape, Now using Pie Cups, I have used the foil ones as you can see in the picture fold in the pastry base to line the foils.
Fill the pie cups with cooled down vegetable sauce equally then top them or cover them over with hanging pastry cases completely.
Then make some cuts here and there and bake these cups until well browned.
Remove it from the oven and keep them on the wiring rack for it cool a little bit then serve.
Serve the Pastry cups in wholesome on individual plates with any sides you like. Just remember they will be quite hot inside and be careful when eating.
The vegetable pies have Indian taste and a great look as well...

** You can either use green chillies or Peppercorns, I have used both, you can increase the quantity of coconut if you wish to make it more rich.
Optional : If you want you can use Eggs in this, I would say after the curry is done and cooled down a bit  you can break two eggs mix it with the sauce, adjust salt and pepper mix well with the curry then fill up the cups and Proceed as indicated earlier.

Sending these wonderful and yummy pies to Champa's Bake-a-thon event, which had to be posted Yesterday, my apologies for being late.., for reasons happened unexpectedly.  Check out my blogger friends Preethi, srivalli, Priya and sumana for their wonderful virtual treats...
And don't forget to tune in tomorrow to what I am going to post for my Bake-a-thon series...
Enjoy make them and tell me of how you like it...

The post Vegetable pies with Coconut and Cashew appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Everybody has favourite food and relish them right ? As for me, Lemon Rice is my all time favourite, If I see it in any blog post I immediately make it :)).  I know I am so crazy of this rice, After started blogging and taking interest not only in cooking, but everything about it like the facts and figures about every Ingredient used, I sometimes feel why I tend to eat spicy and tangy food more often, is it because I lack something in my body which craves for tangy food..?, whatever it is I love this rice, even if given to me everyday I really don't mind. I suddenly realized I have never posted my favourite Rice dish of all time.
I have little story to tell you, Long back when I was doing my SSLC (10th), I was living in my Aunt's house, My Aunt made Lemon Rice and Curd (yogurt ) Rice and asked me to have food and said she would be back after her shopping and said she would come back and eat.  I always adored Radha perimma's cooking, she was my first Guru who taught me cooking from those days. coming back I ate and sat their studying in the lounge, I don't know how or why,  every now and then I must have got up went to the kitchen and kept eating it, God knows how I did it, I had completely emptied the whole bowl, even today when I think how I managed to eat so much rice!!, when she returned she was so upset that nothing was left and she had to eat only curd rice. She is no more but memories like these are my little treasures with her, who was my favourite periamma.
My mom makes the best chitranna according to me, we are all alike right ?, our Mom's are the best cook in the world and to their Grandchildren too.. :).  I have planned to post a few savouries and sweets when my mom is here with me. Her best recipes which she makes most of the times like day to day are the masala vada, Panniyaaram,Thenga burfi etcc..,
Coming to this recipe, it is kannada influenced lemon rice, which amma makes  when it is any special day like festivals or some kind small celebrations when you get bored of vangi bath, puliyodarai etc..,
In karnataka people use coconut just like keralites they use coconut in most of their dishes especially form Mangalore, sringeri and udupi.  we here in karnataka love coconut so much we tend to use it everything possible, sweets to savouries :).  This Masala chitranna is one such dish as it says in kannada coconut grinded with masala has been used to flavour this rice variety..

KAAYI MASAALE CHITRANNA / COCONUT SPICED LEMON RICE

INGREDIENTS:
1 and 1/2  Cups Rice
4 and 1/2  cups Water*
3 Capsicum
1 Cup Fresh Peas
Required quantity of salt
1/4 cup Lemon Juice

FOR SEASONING:
1/4 oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tbsp Channa Dal
1/2 tbsp Urad Dal
Fist full of Peanuts
2 twigs of Curry leaves (10-15)

FOR THE SPICY MASALA TO BE GRINDED
5 to 6 Green chillies (depending on the spiciness)**
1/4 (10 to 12 twigs) cup of Coriander leaves
1/2 tsp Jeera
2'' Ginger pieces

FOR THE SECOND PASTE
1/2 cup Fresh Coconut
1 tbsp of Poppy seeds
15 Cashews

METHOD:
Wash Rice and with a tsp of oil***, cook Rice with the right amount of water. for 2 Whistles switch of the stove, and leave the pressure cooker to cool. (see notes)
The First Paste:
Meanwhile, roast poppy seeds in a dry pan for a few minutes in a low flame, stop when you start hearing it spluttering , and then your broken cashews just for 2 minutes, let it not change colour.  Allow it cool and grind it with fresh coconut with a little bit of water if needed into a smooth paste and keep aside, until needed.
The Second Paste:
Grind every thing under the spicy masala  to be grinded into a smooth paste.

Chop Capsicum/ Green Bell peppers into small chunks.
By this time your Rice would have cooled down, Remove it from the container and spread it on a large plate or something similar, to cool down, Just fork it through so it is nice and fluffy. Do not mix too much, just spread it around carefully.
Take a Large wok or pan heat the oil keeping it in a low flame, from the Seasoning list, add mustard seeds, once it splutters add Peanuts saute for a minute then add the dals until they change colour to light golden, by that time your peanuts would have started making noises be careful some times they might fly !!, so, that is why I ask you to keep the flame low, if you are not used to this kind of cooking.
Then add the Second paste and saute for 2 minutes, then add Capsicum and fresh peas mix them well together, cover it with a lid , keep the flame low. Leave it until both of them are cooked well if the capsicum is a little bit crunchy it is fine, but let the peas get cooked, (you can even cook the peas separately and add it to the pan by draining the water completely) by mixing now and then to make sure it is not stuck.
Once they are done, then add the First  masala paste and mix well, here you can increase the flame to medium but keep an eye on it and leave it for few minutes until the water content is almost dried up.  Do not allow it dry up too much as the coconut will start sticking to the wok.
Bring the flame down to low then add the required quantity of salt and Lemon Juice mix well then add the cooked rice, combine them all well together.
Taste it and adjust salt and Lemon Juice to your liking Leave the wok on the stove for 5 minutes with a closed lid and in a low flame.
Switch of the stove and remove it on to an other base, mix them once again, so it is all well distributed. Serve it warm and Enjoy....

NOTES:
* I have indicated this mark on the rice, Just to mention that I use Sona Masoori, The quantity of water depends on the Rice you use. Your Rice when cooked should be fluffy and beautiful for making Rice varities.
** My Green chillies were quite spicy so I have used 1/4 cup Lemon juice, what you need to observe is these two should balance there must be spiciness and the tangy flavour to it.

sending this to Vardhini's show me your hits - Rice started by sangee
Anu's Healthy kitchen South Indian Cooking - Series Event #1

The post Kaayi Masaale Chitranna / Coconut Spiced Lemon Rice appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Hi Everybody, Hope you are all doing well, It's so cold and a very wet weather here, hope you all have a wonderful weather out there, It's been quite a long time I participated in Blog Hop Wednesday started by Radhika of Tickling palates, I have joined back again to enjoy this fun game. It's fun to be a part of this group, as I love trying new recipes from other blogs, this is a great opportunity to enjoy everybody's blog, this time I was grouped with Lazy cooks Kitchen by Simran.
She has a lovely blog with varied recipes, she is a good baker with lot of lovely designed cakes, she writes very nicely and I enjoyed browsing through her recipes.  I selected this recipe as it was quite different and thought my kids would love it.., It's so easy to make and not too sweet, A simple and delicious recipe.
She calls it Chocolate Salami, I did not want to call it so, as it has a Non-vegetarian name, reading through lot of blogs, books and shows I have heard and read people asking why do you need to use fake meat, fake names if you are a vegetarian, so I don't want anybody saying so.
I have tweaked a bit in this recipe like I have reduced butter, added more nuts and used evaporated milk as I was short of condensed milk, Here goes the recipe hope you all enjoy trying so...

CHOCOLATE NUTTY ROLLS





INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup Condensed Milk
1/2 Cup Evaporated Milk
100 grms Digestive Biscuits
3 tbsp Cocoa powder
1/2 + 2 tbsp Dessicated Coconut
1/4 Cup Sweetened dessicated Coconut
150 grms Nuts ( Mixture of Cahews, Walnuts, Almonds, Roasted Peanuts and Pistachios)
25 grms + 2 to 3 tbsp unsalted Butter
1 or 2 tbsp water

METHOD: 
First of all chop all the nuts using a mixie / food processor or by hand.
Take a Deep Pan / Wok (thick bottom), add both the Milk and start heating it up in a low flame and stir continuously other it will start thickening at the bottom.
Then dissolve Cocoa powder in  1 or 2 tbsp of water (which I didn't do as you can see so I had to use the back of a spoon to dissolve it completely) add it to the cooking milks.

Then add Roasted and Chopped nuts to it and mix well,
Then add powdered digestive Biscuits and mix well and add Butter
Next add Dessciated Coconut and mix well it becomes thick by this time, add an extra 1 or 2 tbsp Butter and keep stirring for an other few minutes until it doesn't stick to the bottom and comes out clean Keep the flame low, this way you will not burn the mixture.
Take it out and place it in a bowl, until it easy to handle, but still warm.

Then spread sweetened coconut on your kitchen slab, I divided the mixture into two parts, Roll each part on the spread coconut and roll it over so it coats completely.
Then spread a Cling film place each of the rolls and cover them completely and twist both the ends and freeze it for at least an hour
Take them out and cut them into discs and serve.

MY VERDICT:
This chocolate rolls were not too sweet, kids were not happy with walnuts, if you have a sweet tooth use condensed milk completely or other wise add some sugar  which would bring out the sweetness.  They were very tasty and delicious..

Check out Radhika's blog other bloggers Blog hop...

The post Chocolate Nutty Rolls appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Who doesn't love coriander :), well, when I started writing this I suddenly remembered yes, their might be few people who might not like right ?. One day I met this lady talking to her I found out that she doesn't like the smell of coriander and than this person he said he doesn't like coconuts :). I am so obssessed with these two that I felt odd that moment but later on I thought I am being silly, each and every body have their choice of what they like. Anyways I love them both and of course Broccoli.
You will be seeing my Blog skip wednesdays for an other two posts!, I made, I ate but never blogged, and my Blog Hop wednesday friends must be thinking Oh! my that is not at all nice on her part that she isn't doing anything from our blogs, but actually I am ahead of my schedule, I have already done my next blog hop too.., fingers crossed hope to post it right on time at least the next one 🙂
When Radhika of Tickling palates  announced Blog Hop Wednesdays and assigned me to Schmetterling words, I found the name very intrigued me, I was talking to my daughter about the name and said it was so different, that's when  she said to me it  means butterfly! mom in German. Wow, I was thinking what a  lovely name for a blog after that I  noticed that she lives in Germany 🙂 Mmm., that is good thinking right ? well, which never occurs to me.
She has lot of non-vegetarian recipes, and I did not want to do any baking, with lot of festivals I had so many sweets and savories at home, so I haven't done any baking at all, I wanted to try out something simple with everyday cooking.  when the first time I opened her blog, she had this Broccoli Coriander curry, I thought look no further and go for it, as I was going to make Chapatis that day so, this would be perfect.  well, I thought why not shuttle through the archives and see if I can find anything else, but Broccoli wouldn't go away from my mind, I love Broccoli so much and even my family loves it so much, I just decided let me go to the market and buy it, so straight to the market and came home with a big Broccoli flower, she says add any veggies you like, but as I had decided on this veggie I had to think what else can go with it and decided on peas.
I made it again don't remember which day it was, it was an Ekadasi or Amavasya or some thing I really can't remember so I did not  use onion and garlic, so I omitted them to make this curry,In the end  either way it turns out very well.
I did tweak it a little bit, not much you can see the original recipe here 

BROCCOLI AND PEAS IN CORIANDER CURRY



INGREDIENTS:
To Grind:
1 bunch Coriander leaves
10 pieces of Cashews
1 big Onion
3 to 4 Green chillies (depending on spiciness you want)

To Temper:
2 to 3 tbsp of oil
2'' Cinnamon stick
3 piece Cardamom (I omitted but used 3 piece of cloves)
3 piece Garlic cloves
2 '' Ginger
400 gms Broccoli
250 gms of Peas (frozen)
3 tbsp Coconut milk ( I used fresh coconut and grinded it with the other grinding ingredients)
Salt as required

METHOD:
First of all Clean the Coriander bunch, chop into lovely nice 1/2'' pieces, I used the whole with stalk, chopping is necessary so it helps in grinding into a nice paste.
Soak Cashews in warm water so it softens, so is easy to grind.
Cut the broccoli into florets wash them and cook them with the frozen peas with very little water until cooked, be careful if it cooks too much it becomes too mushy, once it is 3/4th done, keep it aside draining the water (keeps this water for future use) Or you can cook the florets in a cooker, in a low flame for 6 to 7 minutes with the lid and weight on it, do not leave it in the cooker for too long it  might become too mushy, Once you have switched it off, slowly start lifting the weight on the cooker in intervals of few seconds, the steam starts coming out and within 1 or 2 minutes it completes releases all the steam and you can lift the weight easily then you can open the lid and Lo!, your veggies are ready to be taken out.
Chop the onions, green chillies and garlic, grind them into a  fine paste and keep aside
Then Grind coriander, cashews and coconut into a paste and keep aside.
In a large pan heat oil, once it is hot, bring it to a low flame, add cinnamon sticks, cardamom (if using), cloves once they start sizzling add the Onion paste and fry until it starts changing colour and the raw smell disappears now add the Coriander paste and fry for few minutes, do not fry for too long, I love the smell of coriander and I did not want it to disappear.
Now add the cooked Vegetables into it and 2 cups of water and required amount of salt close the lid and cook further for 8 to 10 minutes so the veggies absorb the masala and salt.
Remove the lid if you find it watery you can dissolve a tbsp/tsp of corn flour in little water add to it and cook for another 2 minutes and close the lid and switch it off.
That's it the curry is ready to be served with chapatis/pulkas/Nan's etc....

That was a lovely curry we all enjoyed it, thank you very much Ayaesha for this lovely recipe, thanks to Radhika too... 🙂 and very sorry for posting it so late.

The post Broccoli and peas in coriander Curry appeared first on My Veg Fare.

CAULIFLOWER - PEAS KURMA

INGREDIENTS:
1 (around 600gms) Cauliflower Florets
2 (around 280 gms) Onions
2 (around 220 gms) Tomatoes
1 and 1/2 Cup Peas
1/2 tsp Turmeric
Salt as required
3 to 4 tbsp of Oil
Few Coriander leaves to Garnish

GRINDING:
1/4 Cup Coconut fresh
10 Nos Cashew nuts
1 Onion chopped
1 tbsp Pottukadalai/Daria/Chutney Dal
2 to 3 pods of Garlic
1 No. Cardamom
1/2 '' Cinnamon
2 cloves
4 to 5 Green Chillies
3 Red chillies
1 tsp Coriander seeds

METHOD:

Grind Using all the things under Grinding and from the Ingredients heading the Tomatoes and Onions into a smooth paste.
In a large bowl cook cauliflower and Peas with little turmeric and salt until well cooked then drain and keep them aside until required.
Take a large pan, Heat oil then add the Ground paste and turmeric to it, fry until the oil leaves the sides of the pan and the raw smell of the onions and tomatoes disappears.
Now add the cooked Cauliflower and peas into it with required quantity of water and boil for few more minutes with chopped coriander leaves and a closed lid in a medium flame say around 10 minutes, until they are all well combined and the veggies absorb the masala.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Chapatis, dosas, Ghee rice etc..

I am sending this to my own event Bloggers Marathon from Raks kitchen
It was so lovely thanks Raji for sharing this recipe...

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Hi friends, After a long time I decided to post something to start with! this is long awaiting post from my blog, I know lot of you would have posted this recipe, I made this on January 11th as it marks the 27th Stanza of Thirupaavai, and is called Kudaarai vellum.

I belong to a community called Iyengars (Vaishnavites), as we all know that we follow calendars according to Lunar or Solar, Tamilians follow the Solar calendar and so they call their month in different names and follow a Tamil Panchangam for auspicious events like Marriages, Upanayanam etc., So accordingly this month is Maargazhi Maasam (December 15th to January 14th), This month is very Important to us as People get up very early in the Morning and Pray to God for Moksha (Salvation).  So, why is this in this month....
It's a little story which I will not be able to write it down here as it will take a lot of space!, Godai or Andal as she is called is one of the 12 Alvars, She Devoted her whole life in trying to reach God! as a small girl and in the end she marries him that's how she at last reaches his abode If you click on to the link on her name you can read the story of her, She Prays to Lord Vishnu in the month of Maargazhi, as it is the coldest month and her penance is nothing concerned to religious rites but she says as the month is so cold getting up so early in the morning and following these simple things in her life she tries to please the Lord It is kind of Tapas (Penance) in her own way and yearns for the everlasting Service to the Lord , she has a written a Poem of 30 Stanzas which is called Thirupaavai, also called Paasurams in Tamil in praise of Lord vishnu and it is a part of the Divya Prabandham, a work of the Alvars.
Each song is sung each day during this month, and unmarried girls try to follow the little things she describes as kind of penance to the Lord to get Good Husbands!!, Vishnavas sing these songs to bring Peace, Prosperity and Divine Grace towards reaching Moksha (Salvation).
In the 27th stanza, she comes out of her Penance and Dresses up nicely and makes this sweet Porridge offering to the Lord, she even describes how this sweet should be...
She says '' Today is the day she will come out of her Vratham and adornes herself with beautiful jewels and clothes and will make Ksheeranam with milk and Jaggery and lots of ghee, wherein the ghee will flow down to her elbow when offering it to the Lord'', So that is how this Shakkarai Pongal should be made with lots of Ghee!!.
Well, as the days went by and People became health consicous, nobody wants to make Pongal that way!, but still we do get Sweet Pongal as Prasadam in temples the way she describes :)).

So here is my version of Sakkarai Pongal....

SAKKARAI PONGAL (SWEET PONGAL) 

INGREDIENTS:
1 to 1 and 1/2 of Jaggery (use Paaku Jaggery / Unde Bella)
1 Cup of Raw Rice
 1/2 Cup of Green Gram /Hesaru Bele / Paitham Paruppu / Moong dal
1 tsp of Cardamom powder
A Pinch of Pacchai Karpooram (Edible Camphor)
1 and 1/2 Cup Milk
1 and 1/2 Cups of Water + 1/4 cup Water
1/4 tsp of  Nutmeg
2 tbsp of Cashewnuts
2 tbsp of Kishmish/Raisins/Dried Grapes
1/2 Cup of Pure Ghee / Clarified Butter (increase it more if you enjoy eating ghee)

METHOD:
First of all in a wok add a tsp of Ghee and fry Green Gram into Golden colour, which gives a nice aroma around the Kitchen.
Then In a thick bottomed vessel take the washed rice and Moong dal with 1 and 1/2 cup of Milk and 1 cup of Water and either cook it directly on the stove if you are using a thick bottomed vessel (Vangala Paanai) or Mud Pot, I made this in a pressure cooker, Cook dal and Rice with milk and water close a lid to the vessel and pressure cook up to 3 whistles, ( If cooking directly I close a lid to the vessel as we know that when milk boils it froths up and spills out so it is better to close it with a lid and put a ladle in it, which helps the liquid not coming out ).
Meanwhile take Jaggery and 1/4 cup of water (use Jaggery according to your tastebuds) and allow it to completely dissolve it in the water, then leave it for 2 minutes allowing the impurities to settle down,  filter the Jaggery as it usually has impurities, take the filtered Jaggery in a vessel and start to boil it, until it reaches a ball consistency you can test this by dropping a tiny bit into a cup of water, where you can see that it doesn't spread out into the water but you can see it well and where you can bring it into a ball (next time I will try to take a photo tutorial of this).
It is important that you do this even after the cooker cools because when it reaches ball consistency it becomes hard and you have a add a little bit of water to keep in this consistency until your cooker cools, It's just the timing no need to panic, Once the whistle is gone, take the cooker out from the stove and keep it on a table top on a stand (as it will be very hot!), otherwise the heat from the stove keeps the cooker still warm for a bit longer.

The post Shakkare Pongal (Sweet Pongal) / Rice Pudding made with Jaggery and Ghee appeared first on My Veg Fare.

But then I wanted to make a little difference so I added some cashew nuts , Of course my husband loved it, as always he goes nuts over the nuts in dishes.......

ONION BHAJI

Ingredients:

• 2 Medium sized Onions
• 8 to 10 cashew nuts
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 4 tbsp of Bengal gram flour
• 2 tbsp rice flour / Chutney dal powder **
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• salt to taste
• 2 to 3 Green chillies
• a bit of Ginger

METHOD:

1. Chop onions length wise, green chillies thinly sliced, grate ginger , curry leaves also chopped.
2. Add required quantity of salt, mix it with the above ingredients and leave it for few minutes, The onions with the help of salt gives out water on its own!!
3. Then mix in the cashews and the flours, add water if it is very powdery by sprinkling little by little, do not add too much water, then the pakoras will never turn out crispy.
4. Heat enough oil in a deep frying pan, that is enough to fry the pakoras, just take them in your hand no need to give them any shape, they can be dropped in the oil in irregular shapes and sizes.
5. Deep fry them and serve them with nice Aromatic chai.

The post Onion pakoras appeared first on My Veg Fare.

This dish I am posting is my husband's specialty  He loves cooking ,trying new dishes & new vegetables, Because of him I think, I have tried different kind of vegetables after coming here, , he will eat whatever I cook!!!!, isn't that great!!, Here is the method he cooks this recipe with all the different kind of greens I bring home, My children love his Keerai Masial, Here is the recipe,

He started cooking with Dill (Sabasige soppu) leaves, then he used it with spinach, sometimes when I get Kale or some green leaves I get in the supermarket, or with Rocket-spinach-Watercress combo!!!, But on Monday he cooked it with Spinach-Dill combo.....

SPINACH-DILL COMBO KEERAI MASIAL :

Here are the ingredients for the macial :

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