Onion pakoda

Ingredients:
Gram flour - 2 cups (கடலை மாவு)
Rice flour - 1 cup
Corn flour - 1/4 cup (optional)
Red onion - 1 (thinly sliced)
Ginger - 2 inch (julienned)
Green chilli -1 (discard the seeds & chop)
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 10 (chopped)
Coriander leaves - chopped
Salt
Warm oil - 1 tablespoon
Oil for deep frying.
Baking soda -1/4 tsp

Method:
Mix gram flour, rice flour, corn flour (optional) , red chilli powder, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.
Add warm oil to the mixture and mix.
Add onion, ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves, green chillies and mix.
Sprinkle little water and mix.
Do not make the mix more wet. It should barely stick together. (மாவு ரொம்ப ஒட்டிக் கொண்டு இருக்காமல், உதிரி உதிரியாக இருக்க வேண்டும்)
Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying.
Take one handful of mix and keep pinching and drop about 1 inch of mix in the oil. (ஒரு கை நிறைய மாவு எடுத்துக்கொண்டு, அதிலிருந்து தேவையான அளவுக்கு கிள்ளி எடுத்து எண்ணையில் போட வேண்டும்.)
Remove when fried.

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Pudina chutney

Ingredients:

Pudina (mint leaves) - 1 bunch
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup (துருவிய தேங்காய்)
Urad dal -1 tea spoon (வெள்ளை உளுத்தம்பருப்பு)
Green chillies (big) - 2
Tamarind - small piece
Salt
Oil
Mustard seeds (கடுகு)
Cumin seeds (சீரகம்)
Curry leaves


Method:
Heat oil in a small kadai.
Add urad dal and fry.
Add the tamarind piece and saute it for one minute.
Remove the dal and tamarind .
Again add little oil and saute the pudina leaves till the leaves shrink.
Grind the grated coconut, green chillies, fried urad dal, tamarind piece, pudina leaves and salt.
Season the chutney with mustard seeds,cumin seeds and curry leaves.

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Idli using Uncle Ben's rice

Ingredients:
Raw rice - 2 cups (Sona masoori from any Indian grocery store)
Uncle Ben's Parboiled rice - 2 cups
Urad dal - 1 cup (உளுந்து)
Cooked rice - one handful
Salt
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 teaspoon (வெந்தயம்)

Method:
Soak raw rice and parboiled rice for 8 hrs.
Soak urad dal and fenugreek seeds for 4 hrs.
First grind the cooked rice and add the urad dal to it and grind.
Urad dal should be soft and fluffy.
Then grind raw rice and parboiled rice coarsely like rava.
Mix all the batter and ferment for 10 hrs .
After fermentation add salt to the batter and mix.
Grease the idli plates with little oil and pour the idli batter. Cover it.
Steam for 10 minutes.
After 4 to 6 minutes remove idlis from the plate.

p.s. I tried other local brands of parboiled rice. Uncle Ben's rice gave good results. It is available in local grocers (publix, meijers, heb, wal-mart,... that's all I know)

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Banana flower curry

வாழைப்பூ துவட்டல்

Ingredients:
Banana flower (vaazhai poo)- 1
Buttermilk - 2 cups
Whole red chillies - 2
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tea spoon
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tea spoon
Bengal gram - 1/4 tea spoon
Raw rice - 1 tea spoon
Grated coconut - 2 tea spoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tea spoon
Salt
Oil

Method:
Remove unwanted stuff from banana flower. To do this take the florets under the outer cover. From each floret discard the longest and thick stem. Also discard the bottom portion of the floret. The remaining stuff should be used for cooking.
Cut the selected portion of florets into pieces. Immediatelyafter cutting immerse in buttermilk.
Heat oil in a kadai.
Add bengal gram and fry.
Add raw rice and fry.
Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and whole red chillies in the kadai.
Drain the butter milk and add the cut florets into kadai.
Add water(if required), salt, turmeric powder and let it cook.
Add grated coconut just before removing from stove.


p.s. This is nutritious food. Use gloves while working with the flower. Otherwise it will leave stains on the fingers.

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Pumpkin puli kootu

பூசணிக்காய் புளி கூட்டு

Ingredients:

White pumpkin cubes - 20 pieces

Tamarind pulp - 1 table spoon

Tuvar dal - 2 table spoon

Peanuts - 1/4 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - 6 to 8

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Salt

Oil

To Grind:

Channa dal - 3 tea spoons

Whole red chilli - 4 or ( according to mild or hot taste)

Urad dhal - 2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Coriander seeds - 2 tsp

Coconut grated - 2 tsp

Method:

Soak the peanuts overnight or for 4 hours. Boil them and keep aside.

Pressure cook the tuvar dal .

Boil the pumpkin pieces with little water and turmeric powder.

In a small kadai add 1 tsp oil and add channa dal, urad dhal. When the dals are half fried add the whole red chilli , coriander seeds and fry. Switch off the burner. Then add the cumin seeds and grated coconut and saute it in the reamining heat. Grind this in spice grinder.

Heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds.

When mustard starts to splutter add the tamarind pulp and bring to boil ( no raw smell )

Now add the boiled pumpkin, boiled tuvar dal, ground spices, boiled peanuts and little more salt.

Mix well.

Finally add the asafoetida and curry leaves.

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Banana Fritters (Banana Bajji)

Ingredients:
Bananas - 2
Maida - 1 cup
Rice Flour - 1/4 Cup
Sugar - 2 tea spoons
Baking soda - 2 pinch
Turmeric powder - 2 pinch
Salt - 2 pinch
Oil to deep fry

Method:
Cut the banana into two.
Slice the bananas lengthwise. (May be about 3 slices). Then peel the skin.
Mix maida, rice flour, sugar, baking soda, turmeric powder, salt in to batter without lumps.
Batter should be thick.
Heat the oil in a pan.
Dip the sliced banana in the batter(batter should be coated well) and drop it slowly in the oil.
Deep fry and remove.

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