Instant Ragi Dosa

Ragi is popularly known as red millet or finger millet has numerous health benefits. It is a rich source of calcium and iron and good for diabetic. It also aids in weight loss and bone development.
Ragi Dosa is something I cook for breakfast specially when I have very less time during the morning rush hour. It is very simple to cook, yet it is a healthy breakfast option which is cooked within a few minutes. I normally use the ready made ragi flour preferably the organic one.

I like to prepare this dosa as there is no soaking, grinding and fermenting involved. A complete fuss free one. I don't even use oil, not even a tsp as I use a very good quality non-stick pan.

Ingredients:

1 cup ragi flour
2 cup's water
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cooking soda

Procedure:

Mix the ragi flour and water to make a thin batter.
Don't make the batter like the normal dosa batter.
Add more water so that the batter is a bit thin.
Add salt and cooking soda and mix.

Heat a non-stick pan.
Spread the batter and slightly shake the non-stick pan so that the batter spreads around.
Keep it covered for 5 Min's, turn to the other side and serve hot with chutney of your choice.

This is how I prepare instant ragi dosa's.

Goan Fish Curry with Silver whiting or Lady Fish / Muddoshi Hooman

In Goa, fish is found in abundance. If you happen to visit Goa, make it sure to visit the Colva beach early in the morning. You will get to see at least 20-40 trawlers full of fish and fisher folks coming to the shore and emptying the fish there. The fisher folks wait for their respective trawlers and sort out the fish. They divide the fish and everyone takes their share to sell in the local market. They then put the fish into "vante" meaning "share's" and fix some nominal rates for the vante.  Vante normally consists of 5-6 fish depending on the fish types.
Some of them go door to door selling their fish and yelling "Nustya zai goh?", meaning "Anyone wants fish?".
The people living in Goa are lucky as they get fresh sea fish delivered to their door step every day.

Normally the traditional Goan Fish Curry does not contain garlic. Garlic is added only to Malvani fish curries.
The original taste for the Goan Fish Curry can be found right here in Raksha's Kitchen. Also another thing to note is, I added coriander seeds to this fish curry and no teffal. Teffal should be added only to Mackerel fish curry.

Ingredients:
2 - 3 Lady Fish/Silver whiting (Muddoshi)
1/2 cup grated coconut(coconut of small size)
1 marble sized ball of tamarind
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 radish
4-5 dry red chillies / byadgi chillies / shepda
5 peppercorns
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 chopped onion
1 tsp oil

For marination:
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
1/2 tablespoon chilly powder
1 tsp salt

Procedure:

For marination:
Cut the lady fish into 3 pieces.
Mix the turmeric powder, chilly powder and salt.
If required add 1 tablespoon water and make a paste.

I normally don't add water as I clean and wash the fish and then I immediately marinate them.
Apply this to the lady fish and leave it aside for a minimum of 30 minutes.
If you want to marinate for longer time, then keep the marinated fish in refrigerator.

Separately cut the radish into 2 inch long fingers and boil them separately.

For the gravy:
Grind, grated coconut, turmeric powder,tamarind,peppercorns,coriander and red chillies.

In an aluminium bowl, put oil and fry the onions till they look a bit brown.
Now put in the gravy and stir. Add water 1/2 cup.
Put the fish and cook on a medium flame for 2 Min's.

Add the radish and boil for 10 Min's by covering the utensil.

Note: The gravy should neither be too thick nor too thin.

Done, serve it with rice and fried fish and enjoy the rich and authentic Fish Curry Rice from Goa :)

Report for an event : Hot & Crispy Cauliflower and Potato Pakoda's

This is something I loved since my childhood. My mom would prepare these pakodas almost everyday. Now I prepare these pakodas for my little one. She loves them, just the way I do ...

   Potato Pakoda's

Ingredients:

100 grams gram flour

4-5 cauliflower florets cut straight

2 Potatoes cut into slices

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

1 tablespoon carom seeds(ajwain)

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp salt

1 tspn chilly powder

1/4 tsp cooking soda

2 cups cooking oil

                                                    Cauliflower Pakoda's

Procedure:

Apply salt and chilly powder to the cauliflower florets and potato slices, keep aside for 15 mins.

Chilly powder can be excluded if you wish.

Mix the gram flour with 1 cup water to make a thick batter. Ensure that there are no lumps.

Add salt as per your taste to the batter keeping in mind that salt has also been added to the cauliflower florets and potato slices.

Mix into this all the ingredients listed above except cauliflower and potato.

Heat oil in a kadai and wait for it to reach the right temperature. You can check this by leaving a pinch batter in the oil. It will get fried if the oil is set to the right temperature, else it will stick to the bottom of the kadai.

Dip the cauliflower in the batter and leave them in the kadai with hot oil. Do the same with potato. At a time 4-5 pakoda's can be fried.

Spread them onto a tissue paper. Tissue paper will absorb the extra oil.

Serve hot with chutney of your choice or tomato sauce or have them plain.

This recipe goes to My legume Love Affair 35 hosted by Susan andKannada Cuisine.

Prawns 65

Whenever my hubby feels like eating fish, he just goes to the local super store and gets it. If he does not get the fresh fish, he goes to another store and finally gets the best fish in town.

This weekend he got one of the best prawns. Normally, I prepare the Goan prawns curry or do prawns rawa fry. While browsing through my friends blogs, I surprisingly found prawns 65 recipe in Jay's blog named Tasty Appetite. I made up my mind that I will try this recipe with slight modifications.

The verdict was, the dish turned out great. My hubby showered 1000 praises. He was very happy and just looking at him and how he had the dish, my heart was filled with joy. My hubby loves home-made food. When I got married he once told me " Dear, I am bored of eating the hotel food. Since last 10 years I have been eating hotel food. Prepare anything that you want, I will eat." Since then the journey started and today it landed up here, in my blog.

I used to fearlessly cook since then. Sometimes my dish turned salty and sometimes very spicy... sometimes it even burned. But that was the fun. Whenever we to go to some restaurants, I order dishes which I never had and then try to understand what all went in it. Sometimes the contents of the dish are mentioned on the menu card itself, but only taste makes me understand the spices that went in the dish.

Recipe Source: Tasty Appetite

Ingredients:
10-15 prawns

For marinating the prawns:
1 tspn chilly powder
1 tspn turmeric powder
1 tspn tandoori masala / garam masala
1/2 lemon juice
1 tsp salt

For the dish:
10-15 fresh curry leaves
1 tablespoon corn flour
1 tspn chilly powder
1 tspn pepper powder
1 green chilly
Coriander leaves for garnishing

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

Procedure:
De-shell the prawns and wash them properly.
Marinate the prawns and keep aside for 30 Min's.

Separately mix the corn flour, chilly powder and tandoori masala.
Apply this to the prawns and keep aside.

In a frying pan, add sufficient oil and deep fry the prawns for 5 - 7 Min's on a medium flame.
After all the prawns are fried, switch off the gas and remove the excess oil from the same pan.

Spread the fried prawns on a tissue paper.

In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon of the same oil in which prawns were fried and saute the curry leaves. Add  to this the finely chopped green chilly and saute for few seconds.
Add the fried prawns and saute for 1 minute.

Serve hot and enjoy.


This recipe goes to What's On Your Kebab Platter?, an event organised by Khushi of A Girl's Diary.

BottleGuard Juice - Specially for weight watchers

BottleGuard commonly known as Lauki in Hindi, and Sorekai in Kannada. It is rich in vitamin C and has numerous health benefits. It is recommended to have a glass of this juice on empty stomach early in the morning to loose weight. Take care not to strain the pulp after making the juice, because the pulp contains fiber, and fiber heps in flushing out toxins from the body.

Also it is a wonderful thirst quencher in summer as this vegetable is rich in moisture.
Along with weight loss, this vegetable controls high blood pressure problem, controls premature hair greying and is also used in treating urinary disorders. For more details refer to this link.

Ingredients:
15 - 20 pieces of bottle guard
1 tomato
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp pepper powder
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Take off the seeds from the bottleguard.
Blend all the ingredients in 1/4 cup water (or more).

Sending this to 'Only' - Coolers and Mocktails event organised by Nayna and Pari.

Sweet Corn Masala

Every week I go to More Megastore which is close to my house for the weekly grocery shopping.
This weekend I bought a packet of sweet corn. When I bought them, I thought that I would prepare fried rice and include them in it.
But somehow I did not feel like cooking fried rice, and prepared another dish with the sweet corn. It is very simple to cook and ideal for all working people, as it gets cooked within a few minutes and does not need much efforts.

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh sweet corn
1 onion
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
1 tomato
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tablespoon chilly powder
1 tablespoon garam masala
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Boil the sweet corn for 10 Min's.
Chop the onions straight.
Chop tomatoes into small pieces.

In a pan, fry the onions.
When onions turn pinkish add ginger-garlic paste.
Add the tomatoes and fry them for some time.
Now add turmeric powder, chilly powder and garam masala.
Add 1/2 cup water and let it boil for 2 Min's.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Add salt to taste.

Serve it with chapatis or phulkas.

Stuffed Bhendi / Stuffed Okra

Last weekend was indeed a very memorable one. My in-laws were with me in Bangalore and we had a fantastic time together. Though theirs was a very short visit, we had lot's of fun.

During this time, I thought I should cook something special. My hubby suggested stuffed bhendi / okra.
The dish turned out yummy.
I caught my father-in-law telling my mom-in-law to prepare such a dish for him when he goes back to Goa :)
Sharing this recipe with you. Do try it and let me know how it turns out.

Ingredients:
2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilly powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp amchur powder
2 medium sized onions
20 Bhendi/okra
2 tomatoes
5 garlic pods
1/2 inch ginger

Procedure:
Cut the okra as shown in picture below with a sharp knife.

Make a paste of all the masala's along with 1/4 tsp salt by adding 2 tablespoon water.
The quantity of water may be adjusted to get a thick or thin masala paste.

Carefully stuff the masala paste inside the bhendi and keep them aside for 20 Min's.

Make a paste out of the ginger and garlic.

In a pan, fry oil. Add onions and close the pan lid for 5-10 Min's.
When onions turn pinkish add ginger-garlic paste. Close the pan lid.
Fry till the strong smell of garlic gets reduced.
Now put in the tomatoes and fry them for 5 Min's.

Finally put the stuffed okra in the pan, add 1 cup water and close the pan lid.
After 10 Min's, check if the water has been absorbed by the okra. Also check if okra is cooked.
Add another 1/2 cup water or as required till the okra gets cooked and all the water is absorbed. I prefer to keep it a bit dry.
Add salt to this as per taste.

Refreshing Kokum Sherbet

Ingredients:
5-6 dry kokum pieces
1/2 tsp asafoetida
1/4 tsp sugar (optional)
1 cup water / Soda
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Pinch of salt

Procedure:
Soak the dry kokum in little water for 30 Min's.
After 30 Min's, add 1 cup water or soda to this.

To this, add all the other ingredients mentioned above.

Stir well. If needed add ice cubes and drink.

This is a perfect summer cooler. Simple isn't it?

Dry Kokum

Sending this to 'Only' - Coolers and Mocktails event organised by Nayna and Pari.

Also sending this to "Healthy Recipe Hunt -3" event.

Lemon Rice

I was wondering what to post today. Long back I had come across this recipe in some blog in which it was mentioned to add moong dal powder to the lemon rice. I actually forgot where I had read it.
This is a simple lemon rice which I once prepared on a lazy day. The lemon rice turned out as expected.

Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1/2 chopped onion
1 tspn mustard seeds
1 tspn asafoetida
1/2 tablespoon urad dal / Bengal gram dal
1 tablespoon moong dal / Green gram dal
1 tspn cumin seeds
3-4 red chillies
7-8 curry leaves
1 tspn turmeric powder

Procedure:
Boil the rice and keep aside.

Fry the moong dal for sometime.
After it cools, grind in mixer.

In a kadai, put oil and put mustard seeds.
When they flutter, add cumin seeds, asafoetida, urad dal and red chillies.
Now add curry leaves.
Fry the onions. When onions turn pinkish add the moong dal powder.

Now mix in the rice. Mix the lemon juice. Add salt to taste and garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve it hot with dal or eat it as it is :)

Stuffed Brinjals ( Step - by - Step )

Stuffed Brinjals is a dish which I loved since childhood. My mom has a unique style of preparing this. My mom once prepared this dish for a cookery contest and she had won the 1st prize for this dish.



My mom in law has yet another style of preparing this. The recipe discussed below is what I learnt from my mom in law as my hubby loves this dish. I prepare each and everything that my hubby loves. A well known saying goes as "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach".

Ingredients:
5 - 6 small brinjals
2 onions
1 tomato
1 marble sized ball tamarind
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste(made out of 1/2 inch ginger and 5 garlic cloves)
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup grated coconut
1 tablespoon jaggery
5 - 6 perrercorns
1/2 tspn corriander seeds
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
4 red chillies
1 tspn garam masala
2 cloves
1/2 tsn cumin seeds

Procedure:
Cut the brinjals as shown in picture and put them in salt water for 1/2 hour.

Grind the grated coconut,tamarind,red chilies,4 cloves garlic,turmeric powder,peppercorns,cloves and garam masala.
To this add 2 tablespoon chopped onions and grind it again.

In a frying pan, add oil and fry onions. Add the ginger garlic paste.
Add tomatoes and fry. Add the ground mixture. Add jaggery and stir well.
Add salt as per taste.

Now carefully stuff the masala into the brinjals as shown below.

 Keep them in the same pan.
Add little water to the rest of the masala and keep the pan covered.

Occasionally turn the brinjals.
Let this get cooked for 30 mins.

Serve it with love along with either rice or chapatis :)