A huge pack of Idli rava was sleeping in my pantry.., guess it might be the same with many of you too. I couldn't think of anything productive other than turning them to Hotel Idlis. Well, home made idlis with regular idli rice are whiter, spongy and soft. Whereas these Rava idlis…when steamed turn out to be slightly yellowish, soft but bulgy. They turn out to be like the ones which we get in restaurants. Mostly these are kind of staple in many telugu households but to us or atleast me they remind me of hotel idlis.
You may wonder if one such dish exist, paneer has no connection with south Indian classics.. but why not ?? Try this crazy combination…. plain paneer tossed in my authentic chettinad blend, another simple but exquisite preparation under my roof. Panner Masala / Chettinad Paneer Curry / Chettinad Curry / South Indian Paneer Curry / Masala Ingredients-1 20 cubes Paneer cubes…
Onion Preserve / Pickle / relish / Chutney is a semi thick spicy jelly like coarse paste usually an accompaniment for south Indian tiffin items. In our family we make this thokku in big batches and store for upto 6 months. Great for picnics, instant side for any tiffin like idli dosa or puri. We even spread this on a plain bread toast and quick snack. Fresh ingredients, more oil and using dry spoon every time.. will make this preserve last for long time. Only disadvantage it takes about 1 1/2 hours approximate to make this thokku, which is worth a try for its uses.
Quick restaurant style fried rice made with mixed veggies and eggs!
Simple bread / moist cake made with over ripe bananas and toasted walnuts.
Banana Bread / Banana Nut Bread / Moist Banana Cake / Walnut banana cake / Walnut Banana Bread
Poricha / Poritha rasam is one interesting variation to regular rasam where tamarind is totally avoided and prepared with crushed tomatoes, dal water and all jazzed up with unsual combination of spice powder. This recipe is little time consuming unless you have everything prepared ahead. Definitely you need dal water which has to be pressured cooked and of course my spice powder version has coconut… and has to be prepared fresh for an fulfilling taste.
Poritha Rasam / Poricha rasam / South Indian Soup / Lentil soup / Sathamudu / Healthy Sathamuthu / Lentil water / Soupy gravy
Cheesy soft bread rolls for a quick evening snack. Bread flour is used for this recipe which usually yields slightly chewy, but soft dense texture bread. My college cafeteria used to have this soft white bread sticks which i always crave for …. as there is no escapism, the whole corridor smells like parmesan cheese and just makes irresistibly hungry during mid morning breaks. So… tried that at home too which was soo easy and satisfying. This is made with all-purpose and its quite similar process wise with slightly change in measures and temperature. Try both and have fun.
Simple pan roasted garlicky flavoured potato.
Aloo fry / Potato Fry / Roast Potatoes / Urulai Kizhangu Varuval
Badam burfi is one popular katli variety found in most sweet shops in India. Here is simple homemade version of this item. Coming to making perfect soft and sharp katli is quite an art and needs lot of practice. Fine grounding the nuts is one key factor which is hard to do with regular mixies… so mine will look slightly coarse texture wise. Adding milk while grinding is also another trick to grind them to a paste consistency but shelf life is limited and also mostly yields halwa like chewy bufis which I personally don't like and always powder mine after drying.
Murukku takes many turns with every region and culture. Here is an Andhra speciality… murukku is called Janthikalu in Telugu and they always make theirs very hot and spicy. This recipe is similar to our thenkuzhal preparation but made with gram flour instead of Urad flour along with some additions.
Murukku / Spicy Janthickalu / Chakli / Deep fried Snacks