Masala dosa

The Hubby will be joining a new job in Hyderabad, and I wanted to cook him a meal he likes on his last day at home. Since he had mentioned wanting masala dosa a few days back, that became my obvious choice. The recipe was a mix and match of various tried and tested ones, and it tasted lovely because it was made with love.

For the potato filling

5 large potatoes
1 medium onion chopped fine
1 green chillie
1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp flax seeds

1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp haldi powder
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

Method:

Chop the potatoes into eighths, and pressure cook till soft. Peel, and keep aside 

Heat the oil, and temper mustard seeds. Once the seeds have stopped popping, add the onions, flax seeds, green chillies and curry leaves, and saute till transparent.

Add the ginger paste, salt and haldi powder and stir for about a minute.

Mash the potatoes with the fingers, and add to the masala. Mix well, cover and let it cook for about 2 minutes.

Dosa batter
2 measures boiled rice
1 measure urad dal
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
Salt to taste

Method:
Wash the rice well, and soak overnight.
In another container, wash the urad dal and soak overnight, with the fenugreek seeds.
Remove most of the water, and grind separately till smooth.
Mix well, add salt to taste, and let it ferment for 6 hours. 

Assembling the masala dosa
Heat the tawa, till well heated. Sprinkle some water on the surface, reduce the flame, and after the water evaporates, pour in two ladle-fulls of batter*, and twirl it into a circle.
Pour about 1/2 tsp oil around the edges, and let it cook on a low flame. Once the ends start rising, flip it over, and after a minute flip it back.
Arrange the potato masala in half a semi-circle, fold in half and take off the tawa.
Serve with chutney and sambar.

*- I used store bought dosa batter.

Chicken with citrus glaze

I was looking for recipes using chicken breasts when I came across this one. Though it was nothing like what I was looking for, the medley of flavours looked interesting, and I decided to try it out. I am glad I did, because it was lick smackingly good. Next time, I am making it with smaller slices of chicken, and serving it with fried rice.

500 gms chicken breasts
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp honey
Juice of 1 orange*
Juice of 1 lemon/ 1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and chilli flakes to taste
2 tsp canola oil

Method:
Combine orange juice, lemon juice, honey, galic cloves, salt and chilli flakes in a large shallow dish. Add chicken breasts, cover and place in the refrigerator for one hour.
After the chicken has marinated, remove from the fridge. Heat the oil, and once hot, add the chicken. Cook the chicken for about 10 minutes per side till cooked well.
Meanwhile, simmer the marinade in a pan till it reduces to a thick consistency. At this stage, I added some orange food colouring, but it is not necessary.
Arrage the cooked chicken breasts on a plate, pour the glaze over the chicken, and serve.

*- I used one tetrapack of orange juice

Chilean 'humitas'

When I saw this recipe posted on Indian Food Freak, I just had to try. The kids and I love corn, and I have been meaning to make a corn chowder ever since I was mesmerized by the smell of corn from the thela-gadi parked outside the apartment building.
I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull off wrapping it in corn leaves and boiling it, but everyone was so encouraging, I had to give it a try. And I am glad I did, because despite all my misgivings, it turned out pretty good.
The recipe that was originally posted by Gabriela Avendano required you to scrape the corn off the cobs, but I cheated and used corn that was already plucked out. The recipe given here is the one that I ultimately followed.

Dehusked corn from two cobs
1 finely chopped onion
Basil
1 cup of milk
2 teaspoons of paprika- I substituted red chilli powder
salt to taste

Method:
Put the corn into a blender and grind coarsely.
Fry the onion, add to the corn purée with milk, and red chilli powder, to create a firm kind of paste, not too runny.
Season with salt.

Make the parcels using corn leaves & tie up with string.
Cook in boiling water for 30 minutes- while cooking, it should look like this.

Serve with a salad.
In Chile, some people sprinkle castor sugar on their humitas instead of salt when served, but I went with salt instead.

Tengai sevai

Though a childhood favourite of mine, but I don't even remember the last time I had tengai sevai. So when I saw a packet of rice vermachilli at the grocery store, I picked it up before I could change my mind, and worried about not having a recipe for it only after I got back home. Google to the rescue- once I read two or three recipes, I knew exactly what I needed to do to get the taste I wanted, and the result lived up to nostalgia!

To digress a bit. Tengai sevai was a rarity when I was a child, because my mother used to make the rice noodles from scratch, and unless the proportions were just right, the thing could go horribly wrong. And then, she discovered rice vermachilli, and it ended up at the lunch table quite frequently. Once I left home, though, it never found its way to my plate- perhaps because nobody knew I even liked it. Here's to another childhood favourite, recreated.

1/2 cup rice vermachilli cooked according to instructions and drained
21/2 tbsp grated coconut
1 tbsp cashewnuts
Ghee for frying
Salt to taste

For tempering
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Red chilli, as desired
1/2 tsp urad dal

Roast the cashewnuts in ghee, and keep aside
In the same ghee, make the tempering, then add the grated coconut and stir on low heat for about a minute.
Turn off the flame, add the salt and cooked vermachilli, and mix well.
Serve garnished with cashewnuts.

Sevai with green chutney

I've always  loved tengai sevai, and picked up a large packet of rice vermicelli when I saw it at the store. After eating to my heart's content, I decided to try something new, and experimented a bit to come up with this sevai in green chutney, which I quite liked.

1/2 cup rice vermicelli cooked according to instructions and drained
1/2 bunch coriander leaves, washed and destemmed

1/2 tsp lime juice 

1 tbsp walnuts chopped

Ghee for frying
Salt to taste

For tempering
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Red chilli, as desired
1/2 tsp urad dal

Method:

Grind the coriander leaves, and add lime juice, salt and water to make a light paste.

Pour the green paste over the rice vermicelli, and mix well

Heat the ghee, temper and pour the tempering over the vermicelli

Adjust for salt, if required, and serve garnished with walnuts.
Serve garnished with cashewnuts.