Radhika Prabhu - My secret kitchen

Appams

radhikamprabhu — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 08:17:54 +0000

Dosas

radhikamprabhu — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 05:57:39 +0000

It’s been quite a very long time since I have posted anything here. Now I am back and I hope, I keep posting more frequently. I am going back to the roots…Enough of me trying North Indian, Chinese and Continental food. I have started cooking and learning more of the traditional South Indian Konkani food which my mom prepares daily at home.

Here is my first recipe of very simple and easy dosas. I am giving the proportion of the ingredients of the various items that go in the dosa batter

1. Masala dosa – 1 cup udad dal, 1.5 cups of rice, 1/2 cup of chana dal, 2 tea spoon methi (fenugreek) seeds all soaked for 5-6 hours. Make a smooth batter and keep it in a warm place for about 6-7 hours to ferment. Add salt and finely grated chilies as per taste. Make very thin and crispy dosas.

2. 1 cup udad dal, 1.5 cups of rice soaked for 5 hours. Grind everything and keep it aside in a warm place for about 6-7 hours. Add salt as per taste and make thin dosas

3. 2 cups of moong soaked overnight. Grind this the next morning and add salt as per the taste. Pour the batter over a non stick pan. The dosas have to be thick unlike the normal thin crispy dosas. Garnish dosas with finely chopped onion and green chilies. Then turn it upside and all both sides to be properly cooked.

4. 1 cup udad dal, 1 cup moong dal soaked overnight. Grind both the ingredients the next morning. Add salt, grated ginger and finely chopped chilies. Make thin dosas.

5. Rava dosa – 1 cup rice flour, 1 cup maida, 1 cup rawa all mixed in butter milk, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera), finely grated ginger, salt as per taster. Keep this mixture aside for about half an hour before you make dosas. Sprinkle finely chopped onions on the nonstick pan and pour the batter evenly on the pan by sprinkling it using your hand. This way, the dosas are very crisp and have the desired large holes on them.

6. 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup horse gram, 1/2 cup udad dal, 1/4 cup chana dal. Soak everything for 4-5 hours. Grind everything and keep it in a warm place for 6-7 hours (or overnight). Add salt, grated ginger, finely chopped green chilies. Make thin dosas.

7. Neer dosa – 1 cup rice soaked overnight , 1 cup grated coconut grinded to a fine paste. Adding lot of water is recommended while grinding. The batter should have the consistency of milk. Add salt to taste. Make thin dosas. This dosa is specially eaten with jaggery syrup rather than chutney. To make the jaggery syrup, 1 medium piece of jaggery is heated along with water in vessel until it becomes a thick syrup. This takes about 10 minutes.

8. Cucumber dosa – 1 cup rice soaked overnight , 1 cup grated coconut , one medium piece of jaggery ( if powdered should be around 3 – 4 table spoon) are grinded. Do not make the batter very thin. De-seed the cucumber and chop it very finely. Add 3/4 cup of finely chopped cucumber and salt in the batter. Make dosas immediately.

Cheese Crackers

radhikamprabhu — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:23:21 +0000

Cheese Crackers

Stuffed Capsicum

radhikamprabhu — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:35:29 +0000

6-8 small size green Capsicums
100 gms of shelled green peas
Finely chopped vegetables like carrots,cauliflower
3 boiled potatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. Chili powder
1/4 tsp. Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chat masala
1/4 tsp. Coriander powder

1/2 lemon
Oil as required
Salt according to taste

Method

1.Wash the capsicums and cut them into two equal halves. With a sharp knife, gently cut out the stem and seeds of the capsicums
2.Heat 2 tsp of oil in a frying-pan and fry the chopped onions till they turn brown.
3.Add the mashed potatoes,peas, other vegetables,spices(except chat masala), salt and fry together.Once the vegetables are cooked, turn off the gas stove and add the chat masala and lemon juice as per the taste
4.Stuff the slit capsicum with the potato mixture and press the open end hard so that the stuffed vegetables do not come out of the capsicum
5.Heat oil in a non-stick pan (2 tbsp) and fry the stuffed capsicums on a very small flame for about
3-4 minutes on each side. Once they start spluttering cover with a lid and cook of 10 more minutes.
6. Serve hot with your choice of dish

Mushroom stew

radhikamprabhu — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:13:27 +0000

Hi guys…I am back again after a veryyyyyy long time. Was on hibernation like a Bear for sometime

Okay today I am posting this recipe of mushroom stew which I tried sometime back after referring to one of the recipe books. My husband is a huge fan of Continental food so thought of trying this one on him

The stew turned out to be good and not as bad as I expected.

Here’s the recipe

15-20 fresh mushrooms

2 large onions

2 table spoon corn flour and 2 tablespoon of maida

4 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon of Oregano

2 large tomatoes

Cilantro

Chop each of the mushrooms in 4 pieces. Finely chop the onions and tomatoes. Do not deseed the tomatoes. Take a cup of water and add corn and Maida to it. Stir it well so that there are no lumps in it.

Sauté chopped onions in a small amount of butter until the color turns transparent in a big pot. Add the tomatoes and the mushrooms to the pot and let it cook for 2 min on medium heat. After the mushrooms are cooked halfway, add oregano powder, freshly ground pepper and salt as per taste. You can also add a bit of chilli powder if needed(but I won’t recommend this) Finally add the flour mixture to thicken the gravy. Also add finely chopped Cilantro to this. Let it heat on medium flame for around 15 min. The gravy should not be too thick. You can have this as a side dish.

Vegetable Stir-Fry Hot Dog

radhikamprabhu — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:47:10 +0000

hot dogs with coffee

Pasta

radhikamprabhu — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:48:17 +0000

Pasta

This one is the easiest to prepare, since I am using some canned items.

Ingredients :
Canned Olives (Both green and black olives)
Pasta sauce (Available in a wide variety of flavours in the super market)
One large onion very very finely chopped
Salt as per taste
Grated cheese
150 gms of pasta(of any shape)
Freshly ground pepper
Olive oil

Preparation:
In the boiling water add salt & oil.Boil pasta for about 5-10 min. till it becomes partially soft.Drain the pasta in a seive and pass it through cold running water. Add a tablespoon of oil in pasta, mix well so that they do not stick each other. Allow the pasta to cool down.

In a non stick pan pour a spoon of olive oil and fry onions till golden yellow. Add 1/2 cup of green and black olives along with 2 -3 tablespoon of pasta sauce. Heat the mixture for about 3-4 min on a low flame. Now add the boiled pasta and heat it for another 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle salt and freshly ground pepper.

Take a platter and place the grated cheese. Then pour the pasta over it. Serve hot

Quick Stir-Fry

radhikamprabhu — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:26:19 +0000

Stir Fry

Ingredients:

1 cup onion chopped into fairly large pieces
1/2 cup dried mushrooms
1/2 cup mushrooms chopped vertically
1/2 cup babycorn and carrots chopped into thin long pieces
1/2 cup corn
salt, sugar as per taste
freshly ground pepper
Schezwan sauce
Soya sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame
1 tablespoon oil

Preparation:
Heat wok and add 2 tablespoons of Olive oil. When the oil is hot, add all the chopped vegetables along with the sesame seeds. Stir-fry for 5 minutes until all the vegetables are partially cooked. Then add the schezwan and soya sauce, pepper, salt and a pinch of sugar. Stir fry for one more minute and serve hot.

Baby corn & Mushroom Momos

radhikamprabhu — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:57:16 +0000

Stuffing

Momos with Mustard dip

Dough for wrappers:

3 cups All-purpose flour(Maida)
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
Pinch of salt

Filling:

1 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup spring onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 capsicum finely chopped
1/2 cup cabbage,mushrooms, capsicum finely chopped
1/2 cup baby-corn finely chopped into round pieces
2 tablespoon oil
4-5 tablespoon of schezwan sauce
1 teaspoon of soya sauce
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Dip :

2 tablespoon Dijon mustard sauce
1 tablespoon very finely chopped onions
Finely chopped coriander leaves
3 tablespoon olive water
1 tablespoon water
Freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

Dough:
In a large bowl combine flour, oil, salt and water. Mix well, knead until the dough becomes homogeneous in texture, about 8-10 min. Cover and let stand for at least 30 min. Knead well again before making wrappers.

Filling:

In a frying pan, add 2 tablespoon of oil along with all the finely chopped vegetables. Stir fry the mixture along with schezwan and soya sauce. Finely add pepper and salt as per taste. Let the mixture cool for about half an hour. Take care to see that there is no water content left in the mixture.

Assembly:
Give the dough a final knead.
Make small, marble-sized balls out of the mixture prepared earlier. Roll out very thin and small chapattis from the dough. Fill them with the filling and give it the desired shape.
Then steam them in the idli maker for about 10 minutes.

Tangy mustard dip:

Combine all the ingredients in a glass bowl and give it a good whip until the mixture is homongenous.

Vegetable Cutlets

radhikamprabhu — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:05:18 +0000

Vegetable Cutlets with Corriander & Mint Chutney

Yesterday evening, when I was checking out the fridge to prepare the evening dinner, all I found was a carrot, 2 beetroots, a hand full of peas and a few slices of bread. There was no way I could do some decent meal out of these left over vegetables.

Then it suddenly dawned upon me that I could try doing some cutlets of the leftovers.

Check out this one and let me know your comments.

Ingredients:
2 beetroots
1 big potato
1 big carrot
hand full of peas
2 green chilies
1 onion
coriander leaves
1 lemon
chat masala
Garam masala
Salt as per taste
Oil for shallow frying
10-15 cashew nuts
3-4 slices of bread
1/2 cup semolina

Method :
Peel the potato and beetroots. Place them in a cooker along with peas and let it cook for around half an hour on low flame.

Remove all the vegetables from the cooker and allow the water to drain away off the vegetables.

Grate the boiled beetroot. Strain all the water from the grated beetroots. Grate the raw carrot and strain it as well. In a non-stick pan, roast the cashew nuts in any vegetable oil and then add the finely chopped green chilies and onions together. When the onion turns slightly brown add the grated beetroot and carrot into the pan. Add salt, chat masala and garam masala as per your taste. Gently stir the mixture in the pan for around 5 minutes so that there is no moisture present in it. Remove from the flame and allow the mixture to cool down for half an hour.

Place the mixture now in a bowl. Crush the potatoes and peas into this mixture along with finely chopped coriander leaves and bread crumbs.Add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice to this mixture. The bread crumbs absorb all the moisture content if at all present in the mixture. The potatoes help to bind the mixture together. Shape into flat-oval patties. Roll on semolina and shallow-fry in hot oil till golden brown. Serve hot.