Mushroom in Creamy White Sauce

This is an ex-roomie's recipe. We used to take turns to cook on weeknights and she came up with this extremely yummy and versatile recipe. It is so simple to make and can be altered as per your wish. You can add oregano or rosemary to give is a different twist. You can use this as a sauce for pasta or noodles. This is a perfect weeknight dinner...

Ingredients:

Mushrooms - 2 cups (sliced/chopped)
Onions - 2 tbsp (chopped)
Corn flour - 1 tsp
Soy sauce - 1 tsp (Increase or decrease as per your liking)
Milk - 1/2 cup
Cheese grated - 1 cube (Optional)
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt
Pepper - Freshly crushed

Method:

Heat the oil in a kadhai and fry the onions until translucent.
Add the mushrooms and saute until cooked. Be careful while cooking mushroom, make sure it does not overcook. They taste best with a little bite left in them.
Add the milk to the mushrooms and allow the milk to boil.
Lower the heat so that the milk does not overflow.
Dissolve the corn flour in 2 tbsp water or milk.
Add it to the mushrooms.
The gravy will begin to thicken, so keep stirring else it will form lumps.
Add the salt, pepper and the soy sauce.
Add grated cheese.
Keep stirring for about 1 minute.
Remove from heat and serve hot.

Palak paneer

Popeye's favourite and mine too... Spinach aka palak is very rich in nutrients and what better way to eat it than palak paneer. Easy to make and delicious. Use homemade paneer for extra taste.

Ingredients:

Palak / Spinach - 1 bunch or 3 cups
Onion - 1 medium
Garlic - 1-2 cloves
Ginger - 1/2" piece
Green chillis - 1-2 (you may increase or decrease depending on your liking and the spicyness of the chillis)
Jeera/cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Amchur / Dry mango powder - 1 tsp or Lime juice - 1 tbsp
Paneer - 1 cup or 200gms (cubed)
Salt

Method:

Wash the palak leaves until clean.
Boil 4 cups of water in a pan.
Add the palak leaves. Do not cover the pan. Allow the leaves to boil for 3 mins. This gives the palak paneer the bright green color. If you are in a hurry, you can pressure cook the palak for 1 whistle.
Switch off the gas and let the leaves be there for another 2 mins
In another pan, add ice cold water (around 2-3 cups)
Drain the palak and immediately immerse in the ice cold water
Grind the onion along with the ginger and garlic into a paste.
Cool the palak and grind it into a paste along with the green chillis.
Heat oil in a kadhai.
Add the cumin seeds.
Once the cumin seeds splutter, add the onion paste and cook.
After around 2-3 minutes add the palak mixture.
Add salt.
Add water if required and cook for around 5 minutes.
Add the paneer and cook for 2 more minutes.(The paneer can be added as it is or can be fried in a little bit of oil and added)
Serve hot with chapatis.

Paneer

People get daunted by the thought of making paneer, but believe me it is one of the easiest things to make. Since the day I learnt to make paneer, I've totally stopped buying it. The advantages of making your own paneer at home is it is fresh. Fresh paneer tastes so much better than store bought paneer. I think the major advantages are the quantity and cost. Generally, packaged paneer comes in 200gm packets, which turns out to be too much for me for one time. And some brands charge you insane rates for that much paneer. Below is an easy recipe to make paneer at home.

Ingredients:

Milk - 1/2 litre
Lime juice or Curd - 1 tbsp

Method:

Boil the milk
Lower the heat to sim
Add lime juice/curd
Allow the milk to curdle
Continue heating in sim mode until the whey (watery part of milk) and the solid curd is separated
Once this is done, allow it to cool for 5 mins
Do not allow it to completely cool down and reach room temperature
When it is still hot, drain out the whey using a muslin cloth
Tie the cloth up and place a weight on it. (I place the cloth on an upturned vessel and place a plate underneath so that the remaining whey is collected in
it. I also place a plate on top of the cloth and keeps books on it as a weight :))
After 15-20 mins, remove the weight and untie the cloth.
Paneer is ready.

Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake

I wanted to try this for very long... I've made eggless chocolate cakes but never vanilla. Generally, eggless cakes use condensed milk like Milkmaid to replace the egg, but i did not have Milkmaid at home but I did have curd :)... Below is a very easy recipe for eggless sponge cake using curd. Don't worry about the curd, it does not show up in the taste at all....

Ingredients:

Maida /All purpose flour - 1 cup
Thick curd / Yogurt - 3/4 cup (I used home made curd, but I'm sure Nestle and Britannia will do)
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup (You can use vegetable oil in case you don't have butter)
Baking powder 1 tsp
Baking soda 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence 1 tsp

Method:

Sift the flour 2-3 times and keep aside.
Add the sugar to the curd and mix until the sugar dissolves.
Add baking soda and baking powder to the curd and keep aside for 5 minutes until the mixture foams.
Baking soda reacts with the curd to produce the bubbles.
Add vanilla essence and melted butter to the curd and mix well.
Add the flour little by little to the curd and keep mixing.
I use an electric hand mixer, so this reduces all my work :)
Preheat the Oven to 220 degree celcius.
Once all the flour is mixed with the curd and enough air is incorporated into the mixture, grease a cake tin and dust it with flour.
Pour the cake mixture into the greased tin.
Bake for 10 minutes at 220 deg. Lower the temperature to 180 deg and bake for another 20-30 mins.
Prick the cake with a toothpick to check if it is cooked after about 20 mins at 180 degrees, if the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done.
Be sure to prick the pick in the centre of the cake and make sure the toothpick goes all the way to the bottom to ensure the cake is cooked all the way through.

Oats Upma

Sweet oats were never meant for me... I cannot bring myself to eat them. I prefer corn flakes to sweet oats. Now savory oats is something worth eating. Until recently we never got savoury oats all nicely packed, ready to eat. Even then, the packaged savoury oats do contain certain ingredients that are not so healthy like corn starch and cashew nuts. This is an easy way to prepare savory oats at home.

Ingredients:

Onion - 1 (chopped)
Tomato - 1 small (chopped)
Plain Oats - 1 cup (I use Quaker)
Curry leaves - 5-6
Green chili - 1 (chopped)
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder or haldi - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp (chopped)
Lime juice - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Water

Method:

Heat oil in a kadhai and add mustard seeds.
Once the seeds splutter, add curry leaves, onion, chili and fry.
After the onion is cooked and translucent, add the tomato and fry for 1-2 mins.
Add water (enough to cook the oats - read instructions on the box)
Add oats
Add haldi and salt.
Remove from heat once the oats are cooked (Appx 3-5 mins)
Add lime juice and coriander. Serve hot.

Sabudana Khichdi or Sabakki Khichdi

The moment I mention I'm making Sabudana Khichdi, I see lit up eyes at home. Sabudana Khichdi is a famous Mahashtrian Upvas (fasting) meal. It is basically a stir fry of fluffed up Sabudana or Sago Pearls with boiled potato and crushed peanuts.

For a long long time (read 18 years), I assumed Sabudana was a whole grain. The name is misleading. "Dana" means grain in Hindi, so I assumed it is a grain. Much later the internet opened my eyes to reality. It is a man made grain.

I don't know what to classify the Sabudana Khichdi as - slow food or fast food? It is super quick to make once you have fluffed up sabudana. But to get fluffed up sabudana requires some advance planning. I know the prep isn't as much, but you still need to soak the sabudana.

Everyone loves it when it is well made. There are so many ways to mess up this otherwise simple khichdi, go through the "Quick Tips" list below:

Quick Tips:

1) To get fluffy Sabudana or Sago, soak it in water for around 15-20 minutes. Then drain out the water completely. Cover and leave it to fluff for 2-3 hours.
2) If you plan to make it for breakfast, you can follow step (1) and then after draining out the water, cover and leave it in the fridge overnight.
3) If you do not remove the water completely, it tends to get sticky and becomes one big lump, so drain the water completely.
4) Do not soak for more than half hour to one hour depending on the variety of Sago / Sabudana you have, they tend to dissolve in water.
5) Don't add any water while cooking. If you need to loosen it, add oil. Water will make it sticky and gluggy.

Sabudana Khichdi or Sabakki Khichdi

A famous Maharastrian Upvas snack made with sabudana or sago pearls and peanuts.

Recipe Type: Breakfast / Snacks
Cuisine: Maharastrian
Prep Time: 2 hours
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup Sago Pearls or Sabudana
1 Potato(boiled, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes)
8-10 Curry leaves
1-2 Green Chilli (chopped)
3-4 Tbsp Peanuts
1/2 tsp Lime juice
4 tsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin seeds
Salt to taste
A handful of fresh Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

Wash the sabudana and leave it aside for 2-3 hours until the sabudanas are soft. In case you don't have enough time to leave it aside in the morning, wash them the previous night, drain the water and store in a box in the fridge. You can use it in the morning. Refer to the Quick Tips above for more info.
Roast the peanuts and grind them to a powder in a mixer. This can also be done the previous night and kept ready for morning. You can replace this with flax seed powder as well or roasted pumpkin seed powder.
Heat oil in a kadhai and add the cumin seeds. Once the seeds splutter, green chillis,curry leaves and potato.
Cook for around 1-2 mins. Add the sabudana and salt.
Stir on stove for around 2-3 minutes, then add the peanut powder. Mix well.
Remove from heat and add coriander and lime juice and serve hot.

Tomato omelet or cheela

This is another easy to make breakfast or evening snack. It is filling and yummy. Not unhealthy at all. Unless of course you decide to eat it with butter like me :)...

Ingredients:

Besan or Gram flour or Kadle hittu - 1 cup
Tomato -1 large ( finely chopped)
Cumin seeds / Jeera - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp (chopped)
Green chilies - 2 (chopped)
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder or haldi - 1/4 tsp
Oil
Water
Salt to taste

Method:

Add 1/2 cup water to besan and mix until there are no lumps. Add the tomato, cumin seeds, coriander, turmeric powder and mix well. Add salt and chili powder according to taste. You may also add chopped onion if you like, I generally don't.
You may add more water to achieve a pouring consistency.
Grease and heat the tava.
Pour the batter from a ladle.
Spoon a tsp of oil on the omelet.
You may cover it with a lid or leave it open.
Once the underside is brown, flip it over for 1-2 minutes and then remove from tava.
It can be served with butter or chutney or ketchup or pickle or just eaten plain.
A restaurant in Bangalore makes a sandwich out of it by placing the omelet between slices of buttered bread.
This recipe makes 3-4 small tomato omelets.

Paddu | Appe | Gundpangla

It's been super hot today. I wish the someone could just turn down the Sun a bit. I feeling all icky and sweaty. Definitely not in a mood to slog in the kitchen. All I want to do is slump on my bean bag and sit under the fan and not move a muscle. I would love to have some Cold Coffee or Lassi to complete my mid summer's day dream.

No matter what I eat for dinner or what time I go to sleep, I have this quirk that at around 7 ish in the morning I get very hungry, even in my sleep. And while I can have a liquid diet, an absolute essential in this heat, for all other meals of the day, I need carbs for breakfast.

These Paddu or Appe or Gundpangla as they are called in many languages are perfect for days like today, when I want something filling but not something that leaves me feeling full and bogged down the whole morning. Paddu is light yet it fills you up. It gives you energy to power through the morning.

Paddu is a South Indian dumpling made from leftover Dosa Batter. You can either buy Dosa batter from the supermarket or make your own.

How to make paddu appe gundpangla gundapangala recipe at www.oneteaspoonoflife.com

Making your own Dosa Batter:

To make your own dosa batter, you need planning. It takes at least 24 hours before dosa batter is ready from start to finish. A lot of it is just resting time, but it needs that time for the flavor to develop.

Dosa batter measurements vary from state to state in South India, I use the 3:1 ratio i.e. 3 cups of rice for every 1 cup of urad dal.
Wash the rice and urad dal and soak them along with 1/2 tsp of methi or fenugreek seeds for at least 8 hours.
Then drain out the water and grind into a smooth batter using very little water.
Cover and let it ferment overnight or for 10-12 hours.
The batter is ready when it rises and taste sour.
Add salt and water as required and you can now use this batter to make fluffy dosas or to make Paddu.
If you are only planning to make paddu, I suggest halving the above recipe for dosa batter.
The batter stays well in the fridge for almost a week if you don't add salt to it. So my tip is to remove how much batter you need into a different vessel and adding salt only to that.

To make Paddu, you need a special Tava - Paddu Tava. A paddu tava has little depressions where you pour in the batter. You get them easily in any steel shop. There are nonstick ones as well as the old fashioned cast iron ones.

You can make plain paddus that have nothing added to them or you can make them like I do with finely chopped onions, green chillis, coriander and curry leaves. Paddu tastes best with spicy coconut chutney.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Idli - Another popular South Indian breakfast of steamed rice and lentil cakes.
Mysore Masala Dosa - Rice and lentil pancake smeared with spicy red chutney and stuffed with potato sabzi
Battalu Kadabu - Steamed bowls made using rice semolina or rava.
Rava Idli - Steamed cake made with an instant batter of semoline or rava and yogurt. No fermenting required.

Paddu - Dumpling made with fermented rice and urad dal

Paddu | Appe | Gundpangla

Paddu / Appe / Gundpangla is a dumpling made from fermented rice and urad dal batter or leftover dosa batter. Popular South Indian breakfast or snacks

Recipe Type: Breakfast
Cuisine: South Indian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Yield: 15-18

Ingredients:

2 cups Dosa Batter (See recipe for dosa batter above)
1 Onion, finely chopped (optional)
1 Green Chilli, finely chopped (optional)
1 Tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped (optional)
1 sprig Curry Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:

Add the onion, chilli, coriander and curry leaves to the dosa batter. Make sure the dosa batter is salted, else add salt as per taste. Remember the chutney will have salt, so do not add too much salt the batter.
In case you wish to have it plain, do not add anything to the dosa batter except salt.
Grease the paddu tava the first time. After that you can spoon in about 1/4-1/2 tsp oil before pouring in the paddu batter.
Spoon in the batter in all the cups.
Cover with a domed lid so that the lid does not touch the paddus.
Once the paddus are cooked on the bottom, flip them using a small spoon or a fork.
Poke a knife or a fork through them, if it comes out clean then it is cooked.
Remove from tava and serve hot with chutney.

Batata Poha | Avalakki Uppit

Diwali mandated this dish in our house. Apparently when Rama was returning to Ayodhya after killing Ravana, he was served avalakki on the way by villagers. Hence, we make this every diwali. At least from what I know people in North Karnataka, Goa and Maharastra make this on diwali. I've heard the same story but with different dishes. People in mangalore claim Rama was given dosa, so they make dosa. People around Bangalore claim he was served akki rotti with pumpkin palya and they make that. But in my heart I will always believe he was served avalakki :) It isn't that this is made only on diwali, it is a very common breakfast dish anyway and very easy to make.
The type of avalakki or poha or flattened rice used differs between people. Nobody uses the paper variety for this dish though. Preferably medium or thick.

How to make Avalakki Uppit or Soosla recipe at www.oneteaspoonoflife.com

Batata Poha | Avalakki Uppit

Batata Poha or Avalakki Uppit is a popular breakfast in South and West India. It is made by stirfrying soaked poha or avalakki or flattened rice with potatoes.

Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yield: Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

3 cups medium Poha (Avalakki/Flattened Rice)
1 small Onion, sliced
1 green Chilli, chopped
1 Potato, boiled and diced
3-4 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder (Haldi)
2 Tbsp Coriander leaves, chopped
1 Tbsp grated Coconut
1 Tbsp Lime juice
6-8 Curry leaves
Salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a kadhai.
Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds.
After the mustard seeds have spluttered, add the green chillies, curry leaves and chopped onion to the oil and fry until the onions turn translucent.
Once the onions are cooked add the potato and the turmeric powder. Mix well. Stir for 1 minute.
Wash the poha twice in water and drain the water immediately. This is for medium thick. In case you are using thick avalakki (it actually resembles rice), you may need to keep it soaked for sometime to make it soft. Soak it for at least 5 mins in warm water before starting to cook it.
Add poha to kadhai and mix well.
Add salt to taste.
Stir for sometime and remove off heat.
Add lime juice as per taste.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and grated coconut. Serve hot.

Rava Dosa

Rava Dosa is like my favorite INSTANT food. It is instant in the real sense. It is truly an example of Indian fast food.

I have it for breakfast, or as a snack in the evenings or as a light dinner at times.

I've personally struggled to get the right texture. It took a fair number of attempts to nail down the ratio of the ingredients. But once that was achieved, this is a winner every single time.

Rava Dosa is a crispy crepe made using very humble ingredients - rava or fine semolina, Rice flour, All purpose flour, yogurt or curd, salt and lots of water. All the other mentioned ingredients are optional, but I recommend adding them as they enhance the flavour.

Coconut chutney usually accompanies a Rava Dosa. Sometimes, it is accompanied by Potato Bhaji. Frankly, I can have it just plain. I don't need accompaniments, it tastes awesome just as is.

Some pointers to get it perfect:

Use a good tava or griddle. By good, I mean it should be even and flat, not bulging or concave. Non stick works the best.
Don't skimp on the oil. Rava Dosa needs sufficient oil to become crisp and not stick to the tava / griddle. Oil the tava and spread it well so the whole thing is coated in oil.
The tava / griddle should be very hot while pouring the batter on to it to get those nice holes on the Rava Dosa. Lower the heat thereafter and continue to cook until it crisps up. I usually crank up the heat after one Rava Dosa is ready and removed to the plate and wait for 30 secs for the tava to heat up again before pouring on the batter for the next one.

Batter should be the consistency of buttermilk

Throw spoonfuls of batter on the tava

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If you liked this, you may also like:

Instant Ragi Dosa - Instant dosa made from ragi flour (finger millet flour). Super healthy.
Instant Wholewheat Dosa - Instant dosa / savory pancake made with whole wheat flour.
Mysore Masala Dosa - Masala dosa with a spicy garlic chutney.
Adai / Bele Dosa / Lentil Pancake - Dosa made with mixed lentils
Neer Dosa - Super thin dosa (pancake) from Mangalore / Udupi.

Rava Dosa

Rava Dosa is an instant crisp crepe made with fine semolina and rice flour. It is a popular breakfast in South India.

Recipe Type: Breakfast
Cuisine: South Indian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Yield: 5-6 Dosa

Ingredients

1 cup Semolina / Chiroti Rava / Bombay Rava / Sooji
0.5 cup Rice Flour
0.25 cup All Purpose Flour / Maida
1-2 Tbsp Yogurt / Curd
3 cups Water
2 tbsp chopped Green Chillis
2 tbsp chopped Coriander Leaves
2 tbsp chopped Onion (Optional)
5-6 Peppercorns
1 tsp Cumin Seeds / Jeera
6-8 Curry Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method:

Mix rava, rice flour, flour, curd and water. The consistency of the batter must be like thin buttermilk. In case the batter is thick add more water and if it is too thin, add a little more rava.
Add salt to taste. Add the onion, chillis, coriander, peppercorns, cumin seeds and curry leaves. These are optional and can be skipped.
Allow to rest for half an hour.
Grease and heat the tava (girdle)
Mix the batter once again as all the ingredients would have settled at the bottom.
Pour on the tava using a ladle. It is more like throw. Do not try to pour batter to cover the tiny holes in the dosa, the dosa is supposed to have holes.
Do not try to spread the dosa like regular dosa.
Keep the stove on a low-medium flame.
Spoon oil on the dosa. Be a little generous if you want it crispy.
Rava dosa isn't flipped generally, so let it remain on the tava until it cooks completely.
Generally once it is cooked, the dosa will rise slightly at the edges making it easier to remove from the tava.
Serve hot with chutney.

Idli

Sunday morning always made me happy as a kid... My mom would cook some of the yummiest things on sundays... Breakfast would generally be idli or dosa. Personally I have always liked idlis more. Though idlis and dosas are so commonly available in south India, it wasn't the case where I grew up. So sundays were a treat. Below is the traditional way of making idlis..

Ingredients:

2 cups Idli Rava or Rice Rava
1 cup Urad Dal
Salt to taste
Oil to grease
Water as required

Method:

Soak the urad dal for 3-4 hours. If it is a cold day, then soak in lukewarm water.
Just before you start grinding the urad dal, soak the idli rava in warm water. Make sure the water is not very hot, else, you will end up cooking the idli rava.
Grind urad dal with water till smooth.
Drain out the idli rava and mix with the urad dal.
Cover it and allow to ferment overnight or for 8-10 hours in a warm place. If it is a cold day, you may need to let it rest for longer. You can also keep it an oven that is at no greater than 40 degree celsius.
Add salt in the morning. Adding salt at night may prevent the batter from fermenting.
Add a little water to achieve a pouring consistency. Batter must be thicker than what is used for dosa.
Grease the idli plates/bowls with oil and spoon in the batter.
Steam in an idli cooker for around 10-15 mins.
When you put a knife through the idli, it should come out clean.
Serve with chutney or sambhar.

Lauki soup / Bottle gourd soup / Sorekai soup

Lauki or Gheeya or Bottle gourd is a low calorie vegetable and a good ingredient for soup. I learnt this recipe from my sister who seems to love it and apparently this aids in digestion. I was tired of the same old tomato soup and the instant soups are worse, they all taste so synthetic, so I decided to try this out. It is one of the easiest soups to make and full of fibre too...

Ingredients:

Bottle gourd - 1/2
Tomato - 1
Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Ginger - 1/2" piece (Optional)
Pepper
Salt

Method:

Peel and core the bottle gourd.
Cut it into 1 inch cubes
Pressure cook the bottle gourd along with the tomato and dal until soft and the dal is done. Around 4-5 whistles or 10-15 mins in the pressure cooker
Let it cool
Blend the cooked bottle gourd, tomato, dal and ginger in a blender.
Transfer the soup to a kadhai or sauce pan and heat. Add salt and freshly ground pepper.

This soup served 2 people in medium sized bowls.

Baked Sweet Potato Chips

Baked Sweetpotato Chips

Healthy baked crispy chips made from Sweet Potatoes.

Recipe Type: Snacks
Cuisine: International
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yield: 2 Servings

Ingredients:

1 medium sized Sweetpotato
1 tsp Olive oil(or any other oil of your preference)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Red chilli powder to taste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degree celcius
Wash and slice the sweet potato into thin slices. If you have a food processor or a grater with this facility, you can use it to make your work easier.
Put the slices in a bowl, add the oil and mix slightly so that the chips are at least partially covered with oil.
Lay out the slices on the non stick pan/cookie sheet. Ensure that the chips don't overlap each other.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
Let them cool (I leave them inside the oven only until the oven has finished cooling itself)
Add salt/pepper/seasoning as you desire. Personally I preferred adding nothing since the sweet potato itself had an inherent sweet taste that made it really yummy.